Predator-prey cycles from resonant amplification of demographic stochasticity

We present the simplest individual level model of predator-prey dynamics and show, via direct calculation, that it exhibits cycling behavior. The deterministic analogue of our model, recovered when the number of individuals is infinitely large, is the Volterra system (with density-dependent prey reproduction) which is well known to fail to predict cycles. This difference in behavior can be traced to a resonant amplification of demographic fluctuations which disappears only when the number of individuals is strictly infinite. Our results indicate that additional biological mechanisms, such as predator satiation, may not be necessary to explain observed predator-prey cycles in real (finite) populations.     

Resonances while surmounting a fluctuating barrier

Electronic analog experiments on escape over a fluctuating potential barrier are performed for the case when the fluctuations are caused by Ornstein-Uhlenbeck noise (OUN). In its dependence on the relation between the two OUN parameters (the correlation time tau and noise strength Q) the nonmonotonic variation of the mean escape time T as a function of tau can exhibit either a minimum (resonant activation), or a maximum (inhibition of activation), or both these effects. The possible resonant nature of these features is discussed. We claim that T is not a good quantity to describe the resonancelike character of the problem. Independently of the specific relation between the OUN parameters, the resonance manifests itself as a maximal lowering of the potential barrier during the escape event, and it appears for tau of the order of the relaxation time toward the metastable state.     

Reformulation of n→0 models using anticommuting scalar fields

We show that a class of models which are described by the n→0 limit of an n-component field theory can be reformulated so as to avoid this limit. Generalisations to a wider class of models are discussed.     

Determination of loads applied perpendicularly to the outer boundary of a ring using coefficients of influence

A procedure is explained to determined the amount of several pairs of diametrical loads applied to the outside boundary of a ring when stresses at selected points of the inside or outside boundaries are known. Coefficients of influence are used, following an approach similar to the one presented in a previous paper. Examples of application are given and the possible increase in precision is shown when the number of points of measurements is larger than the number of loads to be determined.     

Inertial effects on the escape rate of a particle driven by colored noise: An instanton approach

A recent calculation, in the weak-noise limit, of the rate of escape of a particle over a one-dimensional potential barrier is extended by including an inertial term in the Langevin equation. Specifically, we consider a system described by the Langevin equation , where is a Gaussian colored noise with mean zero and correlator (t)(t')=(D/)exp(–|t–t'|/). A pathintegral formulation is augmented by a steepest descent calculation valid in the weak-noise (D0) limit. This yields an escape rateexp(–S/D), where the actionS is the minimum, over paths characterizing escape over the barrier, of a generalized Onsager-Machlup functional, the extremal path being an instanton of the theory. The extremal actionS is calculated analytically for smallm and for general potentials, and numerical results forS are displayed for various ranges ofm and for the typical case of the quartic potentialV(x)=–x ₂/2+x ₄/4.