Covering with blocks in the non-symmetric case

Considering an infinite string of i.i.d. random letters drawn from a finite alphabet we define the cover timeW _n as the number of random letters needed until each pattern of lenghtn appears at least once as a substring. Sharp weak and a.s. limit results onW _n are known in the symmetric case, i.e., when the random letters are uniformly distributed over the alphabet. In this paper we determine the limit distribution ofW _n in the nonsymmetric case asn. Generalizations in terms of point processes are also proved.Dedicated to Endre Csáki on his 60th birthday.     

Gibbs states of the Hopfield model with extensively many patterns

We consider the Hopfield model withM(N)=N patterns, whereN is the number of neurons. We show that if is sufficiently small and the temperature sufficiently low, then there exist disjoint Gibbs states for each of the stored patterns, almost surely with respect to the distribution of the random patterns. This solves a provlem left open in previous work. The key new ingredient is a self-averaging result on the free energy functional. This result has considerable additional interest and some consequences are discussed. A similar result for the free energy of the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model is also given.     

Energy relaxation in aϕ 4 with long range interactions

We investigate the influence of long range interactions on the relaxation behaviour of a lattice model with an on-site potential of ⁴-type and infinite range harmonic interactions. For finite number of particlesN, it is shown that the autocorrelation functions <E _n(t)E _n > of the fluctuations of the one-particle energiesE _n(t) decays exponentially. The corresponding relaxation time is proportional toN and is given by (T, N) =N₀(T). The temperature dependent time scale ₀ can explicitly be related to the dynamics of a one-particle correlator of the noninteracting system. The results are derived using Mori-Zwanzig projection formalism. The corresponding memory kernel is calculated within a mode coupling approximation and by a perturbative approach. Both results agree in leading order in 1/N. It is speculated that any interaction of range generates a timescale .