Dynamics of forest fire under rotational constraint

A rotationally constrained forest fire model is studied on square and triangular lattices of size 400×400. The critical probabilityp _c for onset of fire propagation is determined. The scaling relationsMt ^d _r, R_gt^v andMR _g ^d _f are analysed at fire propagation probabilityp=p _c whereM is the number of burnt trees,R _g the radius of gyration andd _f the fractal dimension of the cluster of burnt trees at timet. Numerical estimates ofd _t, v andd _f have been obtained.     

Long-range connections, quantum magnets and dilute contact processes

In this article, we briefly review the critical behaviour of a long-range percolation model in which any two sites are connected with a probability that falls off algebraically with the distance. The results of this percolation transition are used to describe the quantum phase transitions in a dilute transverse Ising model at the percolation threshold p_c of the long-range connected lattice. In the similar spirit, we propose a new model of a contact process defined on the same long-range diluted lattice and explore the transitions at p_c. The long-range nature of the percolation transition allows us to evaluate some critical exponents exactly in both the above models. Moreover, mean field theory is valid for a wide region of parameter space. In either case, the strength of Griffiths McCoy singularities are tunable as the range parameter is varied.     

Crossover scaling,correlation function and connectivity in dilute low temperature ferromagnets

For quenched dilute ferromagnets with a fractionp of spins (nearest neighbor exchange energyJ) and a fraction 1 —p of randomly distributed nonmagnetic atoms, a crossover assumption similar to tricritical scaling theory relates the critical exponents of zero temperature percolation theory to the low temperature critical amplitudes and exponents near the critical lineT _c (p)>0. For example, the specific heat amplitude nearT _c (p) is found to vanish, the susceptibility amplitude is found to diverge forT _c (p →p _c ) → 0. (Typically,p _c =20%.) AtT=0 the spin-spin correlation function is argued from a droplet picture to obey scaling homogeneity but (at fixed distance) not to vary like the energy; instead it varies as const + (p _c —p)^2β +? for fixed small distances. A generalization of the correlation function to finite temperatures nearT _c (p) allows to estimate the number of effective percolation channels connecting two sites in the infinite (percolating) network forp>p _c ; this in turn gives, via a dynamical scaling argument, a good approximation for theT=0 percolation exponent 1.6 in the conductivity of random three-dimensional resistor networks. This channel approximation also givesΦ=2 for the crossover exponent; i.e. exp(?2J/kT _c (p)) is an analytic function ofp nearp=p _c . An appendix shows that cluster-cluster correlations atT=0 (excluded volume effects) are responsible for the difference between percolation exponents and the (pure) Ising exponents atT _c (p=1).     

Bounds of percolation thresholds in the enhanced binary tree

By studying its subgraphs, it is argued that the lower critical percolation threshold of the enhanced binary tree (EBT) is bounded as p_c1<0.355059, while the upper threshold is bounded both from above and below by 1/2 according to renormalization-group arguments. We also review a correlation analysis in an earlier work, which claimed a significantly higher estimate of p_c2 than 1/2, to show that this analysis in fact gives a consistent result with this bound. Our result confirms that the duality relation between critical thresholds does not hold exactly for the EBT and its dual, possibly due to the lack of transitivity.     

Variational calculations on the energy levels of graphene quantum antidots

The critical properties of the two-dimensional Ising and Blume-Capel model on directedsmall-world lattices with quenched connectivity disorder are investigated. The disordered system is simulated by applying the Monte Carlo method with heat bath update algorithm and histogram re-weighting techniques. The critical temperature, as well as the critical exponents are obtained. For both models the critical parameters have been obtained for several values of the rewiring probability p. It is found that these disorder systems do not belong to the same universality class as two-dimensional ferromagnetic model on regular lattices. In particular, the Blume-Capel model, with zero crystal field interaction, on a directedsmall-world lattice presents a second-order phase transition for p < p _c , and a first-order phase transition for p > p _c , where p _c  ≈ 0.25. The critical exponents for p < p _c are different from those of the same model on a regular lattice, but are identical to the exponents of the Ising model on directedsmall-world lattice.     

Quantum critical phenomena, entanglement entropy and Hubbard model in 1d with the boundary site with a negative chemical potential −p and the Hubbard coupling U positive

Recently the ground state and some excited states of the half-filled case of the 1d Hubbard model were discussed exactly for an open chain with L sites. The case when the boundary site has the chemical potential −p and the Hubbard coupling U is positive was considered. We model CeAl₂ nanoparticles, in which a valence of 4f electron number changes on surface Ce atoms, by this Hubbard model. A surface phase transition exists at some critical value pc3 of chemical potential (its absolute value) p in the model; when p<pc3 all the charge excitations have the gap, while there exists a massless charge mode when p>pc3. The aim of this Letter is to find whether this surface phase transition is of the first order or of the second order. We have found that the entanglement entropy and its derivative has a discontinuity at pc3 in general and thus this transition is of the first order (with exception of two points for the probability w₂ of occurrence of two electrons with opposites spins on the same site). There is a divergence in the difference of entanglement entropy for points w₂=0 and . The first point w₂=0 corresponds to ferro- (antiferro-) magnetic state at half-filled case. The second point does not correspond to any state for halffilled case. In the first case there is present the surface phase transition of the second order type.     

What drives pseudogap physics in high-Tc cuprates? A view from the (resistance) bridge

Taking into account the evolution of the in-plane resistivity with temperature and doping, a candidate proposal for the (hole-doped) cuprate phase diagram is constructed. Many features of the phase diagram are viewed as a consequence of an anisotropic interaction that intensifies with decreasing doping from the heavily overdoped side. At a critical doping p_c, that coincides with the development of the normal state pseudogap, the interaction becomes sufficiently strong that all electronic states near the zone boundary are effectively incoherent even at T = 0.     

Optical spectroscopy of Dysprosium Aluminum Garnet (DAG)

The absorption spectrum of antiferromagnetic dysprosium aluminium garnet (DAG) (T _N =2.50 °K) has been investigated at low temperatures. The groundstate splitting due to all interactions in the antiferromagnetic state is (5.27±0.10) cm^?1 extrapolated to 0 °K. The temperature dependence of the lineshift of the absorption lines is measured. Zeeman effect studies give theg-tensor of the groundstate asg _z =18.4±0.5,g _x =g _y =0.5±0.2. The studies also allow the determination of the critical fields asH _c ^[100] =(5.0±0.1) koe,H _c ^[111] =(3.9±0.2) koe andH _c ^[110] =(4.9±0.6) koe. In addition an investigation of a number of satellite lines is performed. Some of them can be interpreted as spin wave sidebands (Stokes and anti-Stokes); others obviously come from dysprosium ions which have impurity ions on regular lattice sites as neighbours.     

Self-Organized Forest-Fires Near the Critical Time

We consider a forest-fire model which, somewhat informally, is described as follows: Each site (vertex) of the square lattice is either vacant or occupied by a tree. Vacant sites become occupied at rate 1. Further, each site is hit by lightning at rate λ. This lightning instantaneously destroys (makes vacant) the occupied cluster of the site.This model is closely related to the Drossel-Schwabl forest-fire model, which has received much attention in the physics literature. The most interesting behaviour seems to occur when the lightning rate goes to zero. In the physics literature it is believed that then the system has so-called self-organized critical behaviour.We let the system start with all sites vacant and study, for positive but small λ, the behaviour near the ‘critical time’ t _c , defined by the relation 1 − exp(− t _c ) = p _c , the critical probability for site percolation.Intuitively one might expect that if, for fixed t > t _c , we let simultaneously λ tend to 0 and m to ∞, the probability that some tree at distance smaller than m from O is burnt before time t goes to 1. However, we show that under a percolation-like assumption (which we can not prove but believe to be true) this intuition is false. We compare with the case where the square lattice is replaced by the directed binary tree, and pose some natural open problems.Part of vdB’s research is supported by BRICKS project AFM 2.2.     

Modeling of the out-of-plane resistivity of cuprate superconductors

The out-of-plane (c-axis) resistivity, ρ_c(T), of high-T_c cuprates have been modeled in this study. The non-Fermi liquid like temperature dependence of ρ_c(T) has been described by considering (i) the full impact of the pseudogap (PG) in the electronic density of states (EDOS) and (ii) the presence of a quantum critical point (QCP) beneath the superconducting dome at slightly overdoped region. This simple phenomenological model describes the experimental ρ_c(T) data over a wide range of hole content (from the underdoped to slightly overdoped regions) remarkably well. The PG energy scale, ε_g (dominated by the anti-nodal parts of the Brillouin zone) extracted from the analysis of ρ_c(T) data was found to decrease almost linearly with increasing hole concentration, p, in the CuO₂ planes. We have also discussed about the possible origin of more conventional behavior of ρ_c(T) observed in the deeply overdoped side of the T–p phase diagram in this paper.     

The Scaling Limit Geometry of Near-Critical 2D Percolation

We analyze the geometry of scaling limits of near-critical 2D percolation, i.e., for p = p _c+λδ^1/ν, with ν = 4/3, as the lattice spacing δ → 0. Our proposed framework extends previous analyses for p = p _c, based on SLE ₆. It combines the continuum nonsimple loop process describing the full scaling limit at criticality with a Poissonian process for marking double (touching) points of that (critical) loop process. The double points are exactly the continuum limits of “macroscopically pivotal” lattice sites and the marked ones are those that actually change state as λ varies. This structure is rich enough to yield a one-parameter family of near-critical loop processes and their associated connectivity probabilities as well as related processes describing, e.g., the scaling limit of 2D minimal spanning trees.     

Critical behavior of the absorbing state transition in the contact process with relaxing immunization

We introduce a model for the Contact Process with relaxing immunization CPRI  . In this model, local memory is introduced by a time and space dependence of the contamination probability. The model has two parameters: a typical immunization time τ$\tau$ and a maximum contamination probability a$a$. The system presents an absorbing state phase transition whenever the contamination probability a$a$ is above a minimum threshold. For short immunization times, the system evolves to a statistically stationary active state. Above _τc(a)${\tau }_c\left(a\right)$, immunization predominates and the system evolves to the absorbing vacuum state. We employ a finite-size scaling analysis to show that the transition belongs to the standard directed percolation universality class. The critical immunization time diverges in the limit of a→1$a\to 1$. In this regime, the density of active sites decays exponentially as τ$\tau$ increases, but never reaches the vacuum state in the thermodynamic limit.     

Burning velocity of triple flames with gentle concentration gradient

We investigated the local flame speed of a two-dimensional, methane-air triple flame in a rectangular burner. The velocity fields and the concentration profiles were measured with particle image velocimetry and the Rayleigh scattering method, respectively. There was a requisite combination of initial velocity and initial concentration gradient for consistency of the local concentration gradient at the leading edge of the flame. In these cases, the flame curvatures were also consistent. Accordingly, the burning velocity, defined as local flow velocity at the triple point, was determined by the flame curvature. The burning velocity increased with increasing flame curvature, when the curvature was near zero. After that, the burning velocity decreased with increasing curvature. The peak value thus exceeded the adiabatic one-dimensional laminar burning velocity. Comparing the effects of the measured flame stretch rate on the flow strain κ_s and flame curvature κ_c, κ_s is larger and increases more rapidly than κ_c for flame curvatures satisfying 1/R_f < 250 m⁻¹ and then becomes constant while κ_c still increases for 250 m⁻¹ < 1/R_f, so that κ_c becomes much larger than κ_s. There is also a peak in burning velocity at roughly the transition in flame curvature specified above. Therefore, the burning velocity for a low concentration gradient correlates with the flame stretch rate.     

Dynamic transitions in Domany-Kinzel cellular automata on small-world network

We study Domany-Kinzel cellular automata on small-world network. Every link on a one dimensional chain is rewired and coupled with any node with probability p. We observe that, the introduction of long-range interactions does not remove the critical character of the model and the system still exhibits a well-defined phase transition to absorbing state. In case of directed percolation (DP), we observe a very anomalous behavior as a function of size. The system shows long lived metastable states and a jump in order parameter. This jump vanishes in thermodynamic limit and we recover second-order transition. The critical exponents are not equal to the mean-field values even for large p. However, for compact directed percolation(CDP), the critical exponents reach their mean-field values even for small p.     

Mean-field theory for interacting rotons in superfluid helium

It is shown within the framework of mean-field theory that the gas of roton excitations in superfluid helium becomes unstable at a critical temperatureT _c if the roton-roton interaction is attractive. The instability is characterized by a singularity of the specific heat and signals the transition into the normal fluid state. The roton energy gap remains finite atT _c .     

Crystal orientation dependence of the critical current density in a-axis- and c-axis-oriented MgB2 films

We have investigated the critical current density for MgB₂ films having various crystal orientations prepared by using a hybrid physical-chemical vapor deposition system. An enhancement of the critical current density is clearly presented in MgB₂ films with an a-axis or a b-axis orientation rather than a c-axis orientation. X-ray diffraction patterns reveal a suppression of c-axis orientations while a (100) orientation becomes dominant, and the surface morphology of the a-axis-oriented film shows that the orientation of the c-axis-oriented MgB₂ grains parallel to the plane of the substrate. As the a-axis orientation becomes more dominant in the MgB₂ films, the field performance of the critical current density clearly becomes better. These results suggest that the synthesis of MgB₂ with high ab-plane orientations is one of the keys to enhancing the critical current density in MgB₂.     

Phase Transition in a Generalized Eden Growth Model on a Tree

We study analytically the late time statistics of the number of particles in an Eden growth model on a tree. In this model, a cluster grows in continuous time on a binary Cayley tree, starting from the root, by absorbing new particles at the empty perimeter sites at a rate proportional to c ^−l where c is a positive parameter and l is the distance of the perimeter site from the root. For c=1, this model corresponds to random binary search trees and for c=2 it corresponds to digital search trees in computer science. By introducing a backward Fokker-Planck approach, we calculate the mean and the variance of the number of particles at large times and show that the variance undergoes a ‘phase transition’ at a critical value . While for the variance is proportional to the mean and the distribution is normal, for the variance is anomalously large and the distribution is non-Gaussian due to the appearance of extreme fluctuations. The model is generalized to one where growth occurs on a tree with m branches and, in this more general case, we show that the critical point occurs at .     

On the topology of the Fermi surface in dense neutron matter

The model of dense neutron matter has been considered, where the topological rearrangement of the ground state of the system of Landau quasiparticles, which is associated with the appearance of the second sheet of the Fermi surface, occurs through two different scenarios. The rearrangement scenario depends on the relation between the wave vector q _c of critical spin-isospin fluctuations and the Fermi momentum p _F. Rearrangement at q _c < p _F occurs continuously with vanishing of the topological rigidity, whereas rearrangement at q _c > p _F occurs with the stepwise appearance of a bubble with a radius of about 0.5p _F in the filled Fermi sphere.     

Superconductivity and Peierls instability in coupled linear chain systems

We study the superconducting transition temperature (T_c) and the Peierls instability temperature (T_p) using Eliashberg type equations for both T_c and T_p self consistently with finite interchain coupling. We show that T_c > T_p below a critical electron-phonon coupling constant which depends on the bare phonon frequency. This determines an upper bound on T_c so that for higher transition temperatures T_p > T_c and superconductivity is unlikely. Higher values of T_c are possible if the interchain coupling is increased above a critical value where the Peierls instability is suppressed.     

Richtungseffekte der Lichtausbeute von Anthrazen bei Beschü\ mit Protonen im Energiebereich 200–600 keV

The results of the three-dimensional liquid droplet model are compared with experiment and other phenomenological theories. The homogeneity assumption of the scaling laws holds both above and belowT _c , and various series expansions can be derived. But there is a nonanalyticity near the critical isotherm aboveT _c for fixed “field” μ?μ(p _c ,T); and liquid and gas are not symmetric about the critical isochore aboveT _c . Both results contradict the usual scaling assumptions and experiment. The equation of state is fixed if the density on the coexistence curve and the critical pressure are known. Therefore we can derive various relations between critical quantities. They are compared with experiment and the corresponding relations in the Vicentini-Missoni ansatz, the parametric representation, and the generalized Landau ansatz. The disagreement ranges from about 20% to one order of magnitude.