NoSo and NoS pi detection as a function of masker bandwidth in normal-hearing and cochlear-impaired listeners

NoSo and NoS pi detection thresholds for a 500-Hz pure-tone signal were measured as a function of masking noise bandwidth in normal-hearing and cochlear hearing-impaired subjects. NoSo and NoS pi critical bands were derived from the bandlimited noise functions. A notched noise measure of the monaural critical band was also obtained for each ear. One hypothesis tested was that an asymmetrical monaural critical band would result in a relatively steep improvement of the NoS pi detection threshold as a function of decreasing masker bandwidth and would, therefore, be associated with a wider binaural critical band. This was hypothesized because the outputs of the left and right auditory filters would be more decorrelated the greater the interaural difference in the monaural critical band. However, as the noise bandwidth was narrowed, the decorrelation would lessen, resulting in a relatively steep improvement in NoS pi detection. Results indicated that the masking level difference (MLD) was smaller and that the monaural critical bands were generally wider in cochlear-impaired listeners. NoSo and NoS pi critical bands were somewhat larger in the cochlear hearing-impaired listeners having relatively wide monaural critical bands. There was a significant correlation between monaural critical band asymmetry and the NoS pi critical band; however, this correlation was insignificant when a control was employed for the critical band in the worse ear. Therefore, the present results did not support a strong association between monaural critical band asymmetry and the width of the NoS pi critical band.     

Crossover Critical Behavior in the Three-Dimensional Ising Model

The character of critical behavior in physical systems depends on the range of interactions. In the limit of infinite range of the interactions, systems will exhibit mean-field critical behavior, i.e., critical behavior not affected by fluctuations of the order parameter. If the interaction range is finite, the critical behavior asymptotically close to the critical point is determined by fluctuations and the actual critical behavior depends on the particular universality class. A variety of systems, including fluids and anisotropic ferromagnets, belongs to the three-dimensional Ising universality class. Recent numerical studies of Ising models with different interaction ranges have revealed a spectacular crossover between the asymptotic fluctuation-induced critical behavior and mean-field-type critical behavior. In this work, we compare these numerical results with a crossover Landau model based on renormalization-group matching. For this purpose we consider an application of the crossover Landau model to the three-dimensional Ising model without fitting to any adjustable parameters. The crossover behavior of the critical susceptibility and of the order parameter is analyzed over a broad range (ten orders) of the scaled distance to the critical temperature. The dependence of the coupling constant on the interaction range, governing the crossover critical behavior, is discussed.     

非平衡相变的临界标度理论及普适性

综述了作者近年来在非平衡相变临界（ Ｎ Ｐ Ｃ） 标度理论及普适性研究的进展。主要包括一般 Ｎ Ｐ Ｃ 系统规格化模型,局域序参量的概率分布,广义势的临界渐近形式,空时有关函数及其临界奇异行为。论证了 Ｎ Ｐ Ｃ 系统的临界可标度性,导出了一组普适的 Ｎ Ｐ Ｃ 标度关系,由之计算出的４ 种 Ｎ Ｐ Ｃ 普适类的临界指数与目前已知的实验及理论结果吻合得非常好。此外,还讨论了非平衡相变临界标度理论的普适性,将平衡相变临界标度理论作为一种特殊极限情况含于同一理论体系中。     

Critical behavior of light in mode-locked lasers

Light is shown to exhibit critical and tricritical behavior in passively mode-locked lasers with externally injected pulses. It is a first and unique example of critical phenomena in a one-dimensional many-body light-mode system. The phase diagrams consist of regimes with continuous wave, driven parapulses, spontaneous pulses via mode condensation, and heterogeneous pulses, separated by phase transition lines that terminate with critical or tricritical points. Enhanced non-Gaussian fluctuations and collective dynamics are present at the critical and tricritical points, showing a mode system analog of the critical opalescence phenomenon. The critical exponents are calculated and shown to comply with the mean field theory, which is rigorous in the light system.     

The critical magnetic field of anisotropic two-band magnetic superconductors

The upper and lower critical fields, and the critical field ratio of an anisotropic two-band magnetic superconductor in the Ginzburg–Landau (GL) scenario is derived analytically. The temperature-dependent upper critical field is investigated and applied to Fe-based superconductors. We find that a very high value of zero-temperature upper critical field in Fe-based superconductors can be found in the negative differential susceptibility region. The temperature-dependent upper critical field is presented in two formulas, in the empirical view and in the GL two-band view, which agrees with the experimental results.     

A general isomorphism approach to thermodynamic and transport properties of binary fluid mixtures near critical points

A general isomorphism approach to critical phenomena in binary fluid mixtures that may exhibit complex critical-line behavior is developed by relating the two relevant scaling fields to linear combinations of three physical field variables. These physical field variables are related to the temperature and chemical potentials of the two components. The proposed approach includes crossover from vapor-liquid critical behavior to liquid-liquid critical behavior and incorporates also the critical behavior near other special points on critical loci. It is shown that the key factor which determines the apparent behavior of the thermodynamic and transport properties of near-critical mixtures is the shape of the critical locus. The number of system-dependent coefficients that determine the asymptotic critical behavior is elucidated. The choice of zero-points of entropy and energy in binary mixtures is also discussed. The approach provides a powerful tool for predicting thermodynamic and transport properties of fluid mixtures in the critical region.     

Critical phenomena in a disc-percolation model and their application to relativistic heavy ion collisions

By studying the critical phenomena in continuum-percolation of discs, we find a new approach to locate the critical point, i.e.using the inflection point of P_∞ as an evaluation of the percolation threshold.The susceptibility, defined as the derivative of P_∞, possesses a finite-size scaling property, where the scaling exponent is the reciprocal of ν, the critical exponent of the correlation length.A possible application of this approach to the study of the critical phenomena in relativistic heavy ion collisions is discussed.The critical point for deconfinement can be extracted by the inflection point of P_(QGP)-the probability for the event with QGP formation.The finite-size scaling of its derivative can give the critical exponent ν, which is a rare case that can provide an experimental measure of a critical exponent in heavy ion collisions.     

非平衡相变的临界标度理论及普适性

综述了作者近年来在非平衡相变临界（ Ｎ Ｐ Ｃ） 标度理论及普适性研究的进展。主要包括一般 Ｎ Ｐ Ｃ 系统规格化模型,局域序参量的概率分布,广义势的临界渐近形式,空时有关函数及其临界奇异行为。论证了 Ｎ Ｐ Ｃ 系统的临界可标度性,导出了一组普适的 Ｎ Ｐ Ｃ 标度关系,由之计算出的４ 种 Ｎ Ｐ Ｃ 普适类的临界指数与目前已知的实验及理论结果吻合得非常好。此外,还讨论了非平衡相变临界标度理论的普适性,将平衡相变临界标度理论作为一种特殊极限情况含于同一理论体系中。     

Critical sizes and characteristics of nanoclusters and nanostructures

Critical sizes and characteristics of nanoclusters and nanostructures are introduced as parameters of nanosystems. The following critical characteristics are under consideration: atomic and electronic magic numbers, critical size of cluster nucleation, critical size of melting–freezing of cluster, critical size of the first order magnetic phase transition. The critical characteristics are treated in terms of thermodynamics and tested by Mössbauer spectroscopy, Atomic Force Microscopy, heat capacity and other methods.     

Spontaneous-search method and short-time dynamics: applications to the Domany-Kinzel cellular automaton

The one-dimensional Domany-Kinzel cellular automaton is investigated by two numerical approaches: (i) the spontaneous-search method, which is a method appropriated for a search of criticality; (ii) short-time dynamics. Both critical frontiers of the system are investigated, namely, the one separating the frozen and active phases, as well as the critical line determined by damage spreading between two cellular automata, that splits the active phase into the nonchaotic and chaotic phases. The efficiency of the spontaneous-search method is established herein through a precise estimate of both critical frontiers, and in addition to that, it is shown that this method may also be used in the determination of the critical exponent ν_⊥. Using the critical frontiers obtained, other exponents are estimated through short-time dynamics. It is verified that the critical exponents of both critical frontiers fall in the universality class of directed percolation.     

Stretching instability of intrinsically curved semiflexible biopolymers: A lattice model approach

We apply a Monte Carlo simulation method to lattice systems to study the effect of an intrinsic curvature on the mechanical property of a semiflexible biopolymer.We find that when the intrinsic curvature is sufficiently large,the extension of a semiflexible biopolymer can undergo a first-order transition at finite temperature.The critical force increases with increasing intrinsic curvature.However,the relationship between the critical force and the bending rigidity is structuredependent.In a triangle lattice system,when the intrinsic curvature is smaller than a critical value,the critical force increases with the increasing bending rigidity first,and then decreases with the increasing bending rigidity.In a square lattice system,however,the critical force always decreases with the increasing bending rigidity.In contrast,when the intrinsic curvature is greater than the critical value,the larger bending rigidity always results in a larger critical force in both lattice systems.     

Detecting topological order through a continuous quantum phase transition

We study a continuous quantum phase transition that breaks a Z2 symmetry. We show that the transition is described by a new critical point which does not belong to the Ising universality class, despite the presence of well-defined symmetry-breaking order parameter. The new critical point arises since the transition not only breaks the Z2 symmetry, it also changes the topological or quantum order in the two phases across the transition. We show that the new critical point can be identified in experiments by measuring critical exponents. So measuring critical exponents and identifying new critical points is a way to detect new topological phases and a way to measure topological or quantum orders in those phases.     

Critical phenomena for a triangular spin lattice I: Triplet interactions

Critical phenomena in an Ising-like spin system on a triangular lattice are studied by means of the renormalization theory. The critical indices of the critical point due to triplet interactions are determined approximately, in fair agreement with the exponents, known from the exact solution due to Baxter and Wu. The cross-over from triplet critical behavior to ferromagnetic (nearest neighbor) critical behavior is calculated.     

Effect of longitudinal applied magnetic field on the self-pinched critical current in intense electron beam diode

The effect of applied longitudinal magnetic field on the self-pinched critical current in the intense electron beam diode is discussed. The self-pinched critical current is derived and its validity is tested by numerical simulations. The results shows that an applied longitudinal magnetic field tends to increase the self-pinched critical current. Without the effect of anode plasma, the maximal diode current approximately equals the self-pinched critical current with the longitudinal magnetic field applied; when self-pinched occurs, the diode current approaches the self-pinched critical current.     

Fabrication and properties of the meander nanowires based on ultra-thin Nb films

We report the fabrication and the study of superconducting properties of ultra-thin Nb superconducting meander nanowires, which can be used as superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors （SNSPDs）. The ultra-thin （about 7- nm thick） Nb films are patterned into micro-bridges, and 100-nm wide meander nanowires by using e-beam lithography （EBL）. The average transition temperature （Tc） of the nanowires is about 4.8 K and the critical current density jc is about 2.8 × 10^6 A/cm2. Superconducting characteristics of the specimens at different applied magnetic fields up to 8 T （parallel or perpendicular to the specimen） are systematically investigated. The normalized temperature t （= T/Tc） dependences of the parallel critical field （HcⅡ） for both the micro-bridge and the meander nanowire are almost the same, following the Ginzburg and Landau （GL） formalism for ultra-thin films. However, in perpendicular field and in the vicinity of Tc （〉 0.95Tc）, the critical field Hc⊥ of the nanowire exhibits a down-turn curvature nonlinear temperature dependence while the micro-bridge displays a linear temperature dependence. The nonlinear behavior of Hc⊥ in the nanowire is believed to be due to the fact that in the vicinity of Tc the coherence length becomes larger than the line width. Additionally, the localization of carriers in the nanowire could also contribute to the nonlinear behavior. The resistive transitions could be described by the phase-slip model for quasi-one-dimensional system. Moreover, the hysteresis in I-V curve of the meander nanowires can be illustrated by a simple model of localized normal hotspot maintained by Joule heating.     

Exact order-parameter distribution for critical mean-field percolation and critical aggregation

We show that the order-parameter distribution for the mean-field percolation at the critical point is the Kolmogorov-Smirnov distribution and that it coincides with the corresponding distribution for a mean-field aggregation process at the critical time. Both processes are known to belong to the same universality class in the sense that they share the same set of critical exponents, but percolation is at the equilibrium while the aggregation is a dynamical critical process. This shows that, in this case, the probability density for order-parameter fluctuations is universal at the critical point of the infinite lattice, independent of the hypothesis of thermodynamic equilibrium.     

On the critical behavior of the Ising model with mixed two- and three-spin interactions

A study is made of a two-dimensional Ising model with staggered three-spin interactions in one direction and two-spin interactions in the other. The phase diagram of the model and its critical behavior are explored by conventional finite-size scaling and by exploiting relations between mass gap amplitudes and critical exponents predicted by conformal invariance. The model is found to exhibit a line of continuously varying critical exponents, which bifurcates into two Ising critical lines. This similarity of the model with the Ashkin-Teller model leads to a conjecture for the exact critical indices along the nonuniversal critical curve. Earlier contradictions about the universality class of the uniform (isotropic) case of the model are clarified.     

Boundary entropy of one-dimensional quantum systems at low temperature

The boundary beta function generates the renormalization group acting on the universality classes of one-dimensional quantum systems with boundary which are critical in the bulk but not critical at the boundary. We prove a gradient formula for the boundary beta function, expressing it as the gradient of the boundary entropy s at fixed nonzero temperature. The gradient formula implies that s decreases under renormalization, except at critical points (where it stays constant). At a critical point, the number exp((s) is the "ground-state degeneracy," g, of Affleck and Ludwig, so we have proved their long-standing conjecture that g decreases under renormalization, from critical point to critical point. The gradient formula also implies that s decreases with temperature, except at critical points, where it is independent of temperature. It remains open whether the boundary entropy is always bounded below.