Kinetically Constrained Lattice Gases

Kinetically constrained lattice gases (KCLG) are interacting particle systems which show some of the key features of the liquid/glass transition and, more generally, of glassy dynamics. Their distintictive signature is the following: i) reversibility w.r.t. product i.i.d. Bernoulli measure at any particle density and ii) vanishing of the exchange rate across any edge unless the particle configuration around the edge satisfies a proper constraint besides hard core. Because of degeneracy of the exchange rates the models can show anomalous time decay in the relaxation process w.r.t. the usual high temperature lattice gas models particularly in the so-called cooperative case, when the vacancies have to collectively cooperate in order for the particles to move through the systems. Here we focus on the Kob-Andersen (KA) model, a cooperative example widely analyzed in the physics literature, both in a finite box with particle reservoirs at the boundary and on the infinite lattice. In two dimensions (but our techniques extend to any dimension) we prove a diffusive scaling O(L ²) (apart from logarithmic corrections) of the relaxation time in a finite box of linear size L. We then use the above result to prove a diffusive decay 1/t (again apart from logarithmic corrections) of the density-density time autocorrelation function at any particle density, a result that has been sometimes questioned on the basis of numerical simulations. The techniques that we devise, based on a novel combination of renormalization and comparison with a long-range Glauber type constrained model, are robust enough to easily cover other choices of the kinetic constraints.     

Diffusion of directed polymers in a random environment

We consider a system of random walks or directed polymers interacting weakly with an environment which is random in space and time. In spatial dimensionsd>2, we establish that the behavior is diffusive with probability one. The diffusion constant is not renormalized by the interaction.     

Numerical simulation of diffusive conductivity in Rashba split two-dimensional gas

We numerically model the conductivity of a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) in the presence of the Rashba spin–orbit (SO) interaction in the diffusive transport regime. We performed simulation using samples which width W and length L are up to 200 and 30 000, respectively, on a tight-binding square lattice. When the system is in the diffusive regime, the quadratic increase of the conductivity with SO interaction strength λ_SO derived previously by Born approximation is reproduced except for very weak SO interaction. In order to obtain satisfactory agreement between numerical and analytical results, the sample width and length should be much larger than the mean free path ℓ but the length should be shorter than the localization length ξ, e.g. 4ℓW and 10ℓLξ. The anomaly at weak SO interaction is also observed in the conductance fluctuation and the localization length, and is attributed to the finite size crossover from symplectic to orthogonal class with decreasing SO interaction. The typical values of the SO interaction characterizing the crossover obtained for ℓ48 are λ_SO1.0/W and 0.2/W when we impose open and periodic boundary conditions, respectively.     

Decay to equilibrium in random spin systems on a lattice. II

We study the continuous spin systems on ad3-dimensional lattice with random ferromagnetic interactions of finite range. We show that, if the temperature is sufficiently high and the probability of interaction to be large is small enough, the almost sure decay to equilibrium has a subexponential upper bound.     

Diffusion of directed polymers in a strong random environment

We consider a system of random walks or directed polymers interacting with an environment which is random in space and time. It was shown by Imbrie and Spencer that in spatial dimensions three or above the behavior is diffusive if the directed polymer interacts weakly with the environment and if the random environment follows the Bernoulli distribution. Under the same assumption on the random environment as that of Imbrie and Spencer, we establish that in spatial dimensions four or above the behavior is still diffusive even when the directed polymer interacts strongly with the environment. More generally, we can prove that, if the random environment is bounded and if the supremum of the support of the distribution has a positive mass, then there is an integerd ₀ such that in dimensions higher thand ₀ the behavior of the random polymer is always diffusive.     

Mixed spin transverse Ising model with longitudinal random crystal field interactions

The effect of a longitudinal random crystal field interaction on the phase diagrams of the mixed spin transverse Ising model consisting of spin-1/2 and spin-1 is investigated within the finite cluster approximation based on a single-site cluster theory. In order to expand a cluster identity of spin-1, we transform the spin-1 to spin-1/2 representation containing Pauli operators. We derive the state equations applicable to structures with arbitrary coordination number N. The phase diagrams obtained in the case of a honeycomb lattice (N=3) and a simple-cubic lattice (N=6), are qualitatively different and examined in detail. We find that both systems exhibit a variety of interesting features resulting from the fluctuation of the crystal field interactions. Received: 13 February 1998 / Accepted: 17 March 1998     

Lattice random walks for sets of random walkers. First passage times

We have studied the mean first passage time for the first of aset of random walkers to reach a given lattice point on infinite lattices ofD dimensions. In contrast to the well-known result ofinfinite mean first passage times for one random walker in all dimensionsD, we findfinite mean first passage times for certain well-specified sets of random walkers in all dimensions, exceptD = 2. The number of walkers required to achieve a finite mean time for the first walker to reach the given lattice point is a function of the lattice dimensionD. ForD > 4, we find that only one random walker is required to yield a finite first passage time, provided that this random walker reaches the given lattice point with unit probability. We have thus found a simple random walk property which sticks atD > 4.Supported in part by a grant from Charles and Renée Taubman and by the National Science Foundation, Grant CHE78-21460.     

Finite Trotter Approximation to the Averaged Mean Square Distance in the Anderson Model

We prove that a finite Trotter approximation to the averaged mean square distance traveled by a particle in a disordered system on a lattice ℤ ^d exhibits at most a diffusive behavior in dimensions d≥3 as long as the Fourier transform of the single-site probability, [^(m)]\hat{\mu }, is in L ²(ℝ).     

A remark on diffusion of directed polymers in random environments

We consider a system of random walks or directed polymers interacting with an environment which is random in space and time. Under minimal assumptions on the distribution of the environment, we prove that this system has diffusive behavior with probability one ifd>2 and <₀, where ₀ is defined in terms of the probability that the symmetric nearest neighbor random walk on thed-dimensional integer lattice ever returns to its starting point. We also obtain a precise estimate for the mean square displacement of this system.     

Lyapunov Bounds for Lattice Gauge Dynamics

We study the classical Hamiltonian dynamics of the Kogut–Susskind model for lattice gauge theories on a finite box in a d-dimensional integer lattice. The coupling constant for the plaquette interaction is denoted λ². When the gauge group is a real or a complex subgroup of a unitary matrix group U(N), N≥ 1, we show that the maximal Lyapunov exponent is bounded by , uniformly in the size of the lattice, the energy of the system as well as the order, N, of the gauge group. Received: 20 December 1997 / Accepted: 21 July 1998     

Chaotic diffusion and 1/f-noise of particles in two-dimensional solids

We investigate the classical nonlinear dynamics of a particle moving conservatively in a two-dimensional periodic potential. The particle exhibits diffusive motion in the absence of random forces. In a broad range of energies above the potential barrier, the diffusion process is anomalously accelerated and associated with 1/f-noise in the power spectrum of velocity fluctuations. The analysis of Poincaré surfaces of section and the distribution of free paths indicate that the phenomenon is caused by a trapping of orbits in a self-similar hierarchy of nested cantori. We describe a statistical theory for this mechanism in terms of a renewal process and a random walk on a hierarchical lattice.Work supported by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft     

Random Time-Dependent Quantum Walks

We consider the discrete time unitary dynamics given by a quantum walk on the lattice \mathbb Z^d{\mathbb {Z}^d} performed by a quantum particle with internal degree of freedom, called coin state, according to the following iterated rule: a unitary update of the coin state takes place, followed by a shift on the lattice, conditioned on the coin state of the particle. We study the large time behavior of the quantum mechanical probability distribution of the position observable in \mathbb Z^d{\mathbb {Z}^d} when the sequence of unitary updates is given by an i.i.d. sequence of random matrices. When averaged over the randomness, this distribution is shown to display a drift proportional to the time and its centered counterpart is shown to display a diffusive behavior with a diffusion matrix we compute. A moderate deviation principle is also proven to hold for the averaged distribution and the limit of the suitably rescaled corresponding characteristic function is shown to satisfy a diffusion equation. A generalization to unitary updates distributed according to a Markov process is also provided.     

The diffusive motion of silver ions in α-AgI: Results from quasielastic neutron scattering

The diffusive motion of silver ions in σ-AgI at 250°C has been studied by quasielastic cold neutron scattering. Spectra were taken in the range of wavevector transfer 0.5 < Q < 2.2Å^?1 for elastic scattering. The quasielastic line shapes contain a narrow and a broad component. They are compared to model calculations allowing for the superposition of two kinds of motion on two different time scales, a local random motion and a translational motion of the jump-diffusion type. The model closely fits the data. The local random motion takes place on a time scale of the order of 10^?12 s, with amplitudes of the order of 1 Å. It is probably caused by rapid fluctuations of the local potentials due to the diffusive motion of the other cations. The translational motion results in a mean displacement of the silver ion over a distance of the order of a lattice constant (5 Å) with a correlation time of the order of 10^?11s. This correlation time is composed of a residence time and a time-of-flight, which are both of comparable magnitude.     

Nature of interacting electron states of Coulomb glass in local energy minima

Non-equilibrium relaxation of Coulomb glass in disordered thin films is investigated by kinetic Monte Carlo simulation. We numerically confirm aging phenomena in the autocorrelation function C(t, t_W ) in a quasi-two-dimensional system with finite thickness and clarify the effect of an external electric field on the elongated relaxation time due to aging. We also study the statistical properties of electron states belonging to local energy minima in random site models. Our results highlight the difference in the properties of energy landscape between two different models to describe Coulomb glass, called the random site model and the lattice model.     

Driven Tracer Particle in One Dimensional Symmetric Simple Exclusion

Consider an infinite system of particles evolving in a one dimensional lattice according to symmetric random walks with hard core interaction. We investigate the behavior of a tagged particle under the action of an external constant driving force. We prove that the diffusively rescaled position of the test particle εX(ε^-2 t), t > 0, converges in probability, as ε→ 0, to a deterministic function v(t). The function v(⋅) depends on the initial distribution of the random environment through a non-linear parabolic equation. This law of large numbers for the position of the tracer particle is deduced from the hydrodynamical limit of an inhomogeneous one dimensional symmetric zero range process with an asymmetry at the origin. An Einstein relation is satisfied asymptotically when the external force is small. Received: 5 December 1996 / Accepted: 30 June 1997     

Evaluation of entanglement measures in spin systems with the random phase approximation

We discuss a general formalism based on the mean field plus random phase approximation (RPA) for the evaluation of entanglement measures in the ground state of spin systems. The method provides a tractable scheme for determining the entanglement entropy as well as the negativity of finite subsystems, which becomes analytic in the case of systems with translational invariance, in one or D dimensions. The approach improves as the spin increases, and also as the interaction range or connectivity increases. Illustrative results for different types of entanglement entropies (single site, block and comb) in the ground state of a small spin lattice with ferromagnetic type XY couplings in a transverse field are shown and compared with the exact numerical result. Effects arising from symmetry breaking at the mean field level are also discussed.     

Driven diffusive system: A study on large n limit

We study the generalized n component model of a driven diffusive system with annealed random drive in the large n limit. This non-equilibrium model also describes conserved order parameter dynamics of an equilibrium model of ferromagnets with dipolar interaction. In this limit, at zero temperature a saddle point approximation becomes exact. The length scale in the direction transverse to the driving field acquires an additional logarithmic correction in this limit. Received 24 January 2000 and Received in final form 29 May 2000     

Random walks with infinite spatial and temporal moments

The continuous-time random walk of Montroll and Weiss has been modified by Scher and Lax to include a coupled spatial-temporal memory. We treat novel cases for the random walk and the corresponding generalized master equation when combinations of both spatial, and temporal moments of the memory are infinite. The asymptotic properties of the probability distribution for being at any lattice site as a function of time and its variance are calculated. The resulting behavior includes localized, diffusive, wavelike, and Levy's stable laws for the appropriate scaled variable. We show that an infinite mean waiting time can lead to long time diffusive behavior, while a finite mean waiting time is not sufficient to ensure the same.     

On the Convergence to the Continuum of Finite Range Lattice Covariances

In (J. Stat. Phys. 115:415–449, 2004) Brydges, Guadagni and Mitter proved the existence of multiscale expansions of a class of lattice Green’s functions as sums of positive definite finite range functions (called fluctuation covariances). The lattice Green’s functions in the class considered are integral kernels of inverses of second order positive self-adjoint elliptic operators with constant coefficients and fractional powers thereof. The rescaled fluctuation covariance in the nth term of the expansion lives on a lattice with spacing L ⁻ⁿ and satisfies uniform bounds. Our main result in this note is that the sequence of these terms converges in appropriate norms at a rate L ^−n/2 to a smooth, positive definite, finite range continuum function.