Stabilizing stick-slip friction

Even the most regular stick-slip frictional sliding is always stochastic, with irregularity in both the intervals between slip events and the sizes of the associated stress drops. Applying small-amplitude oscillations to the shear force, we show, experimentally and theoretically, that the stick-slip periods synchronize. We further show that this phase locking is related to the inhibition of slow rupture modes which forces a transition to fast rupture, providing a possible mechanism for observed remote triggering of earthquakes. Such manipulation of collective modes may be generally relevant to extended nonlinear systems driven near to criticality.     

Chains are more flexible under tension

The mechanical response of networks, gels, and brush layers is a manifestation of the elastic properties of the individual macromolecules. Furthermore, the elastic response of macromolecules to an applied force is the foundation of the single-molecule force spectroscopy techniques. The two main classes of models describing chain elasticity include the worm-like and freely-jointed chain models. The selection between these two classes of models is based on the assumptions about chain flexibility. In many experimental situations the choice is not clear and a model describing the crossover between these two limiting classes is therefore in high demand. We are proposing a unified chain deformation model which describes the force-deformation curve in terms of the chain bending constant K and bond length b. This model demonstrates that the worm-like and freely-jointed chain models correspond to two different regimes of polymer deformation and the crossover between these two regimes depends on the chain bending rigidity and the magnitude of the applied force. Polymer chains with bending constant K>1 behave as a worm-like chain under tension in the interval of the applied forces f ≤ Kk(B)T/b and as a freely-jointed chain for f ≥ Kk(B)T/b (k(B) is the Boltzmann constant and T is the absolute temperature). The proposed crossover expression for chain deformation is in excellent agreement with the results of the molecular dynamics simulations of chain deformation and single-molecule deformation experiments of biological and synthetic macromolecules.     

The steiner minimal network for convex configurations

SupposeX is a convex configuration with radius of maximum curvaturer and at most one of the edges joining neighboring points has length strictly greater thanr. We use the variational approach to show the Steiner treeS coincides with the minimal spanning tree and consists of all these edges with a longest edge removed. This generalizes Graham's problem for points on a circle, which we had solved. In addition we describe the minimal spanning tree for certain convex configurations.     

Semi-Iterative Minimum Cross-Entropy Algorithms for Rare-Events,Counting, Combinatorial and Integer Programming

We present a new generic minimum cross-entropy method, called the semi-iterative MinxEnt, or simply SME, for rare-event probability estimation, counting, and approximation of the optimal solutions of a broad class of NP-hard linear integer and combinatorial optimization problems (COP’s). The main idea of our approach is to associate with each original problem an auxiliary single-constrained convex MinxEnt program of a special type, which has a closed-form solution. We prove that the optimal pdf obtained from the solution of such a specially designed MinxEnt program is a zero variance pdf, provided the “temperature” parameter is set to minus infinity. In addition we prove that the parametric pdf based on the product of marginals obtained from the optimal zero variance pdf coincides with the parametric pdf of the standard cross-entropy (CE) method. Thus, originally designed at the end of 1990s as a heuristics for estimation of rare-events and COP’s, CE has strong connection with MinxEnt, and thus, strong mathematical foundation. The crucial difference between the proposed SME method and the standard CE counterparts lies in their simulation-based versions: in the latter we always require to generate (via Monte Carlo) a sequence of tuples including the temperature parameter and the parameter vector in the optimal marginal pdf’s, while in the former we can fix in advance the temperature parameter (to be set to a large negative number) and then generate (via Monte Carlo) a sequence of parameter vectors of the optimal marginal pdf’s alone. In addition, in contrast to CE, neither the elite sample no the rarity parameter is needed in SME. As result, the proposed SME algorithm becomes simpler, faster and at least as accurate as the standard CE. Motivated by the SME method we introduce a new updating rule for the parameter vector in the parametric pdf of the CE program. We show that the CE algorithm based on the new updating rule, called the combined CE (CCE), is at least as fast and accurate as its standard CE and SME counterparts. We also found numerically that the variance minimization (VM)-based algorithms are the most robust ones. We, finally, demonstrate numerically that the proposed algorithms, and in particular the CCE one, allows accurate estimation of counting quantities up to the order of hundred of decision variables and hundreds of constraints. This research was supported by the Israel Science Foundation (grant No 191-565).     

QCD sum rules for heavy quark systems

In this paper we present in a detailed and coherent fashion our work on QCD sum rules for equal mass heavy quark meson states. We discuss the technical procedures used to calculate the perturbative and non-perturbative contributions to the vacuum polarization, which have been calculated for all currents up to and including spin 2⁺⁺. Using dispersion relations, sum rules are derived. Extensive applications are made to the lowest lying states of the charmonium and upsilon systems. The masses of the S- and P-wave charmonium levels are reproduced to a high degree of accuracy, and the mass of the ¹P₁ level is predicted at 3.51 GeV. For the upsilon system it only appears to be possible to predict the γ-η_b splitting which gives 60 MeV. Very accurate values are given for the current quark masses at p² = ?m_q²: m_c = 1.28 GeV and m_b = 4.25 GeV.     

Choice of optimal search strategy

The problem of searching the extremum of a scalar function of a vector argument is considered. It is assumed that a finite set of algorithms, each of which is capable of finding the extremum, is specified. Every algorithm is characterized by a given number of operators each of which is identified with the state of the system. Each algorithm is defined by a transition probability matrix over the possible states (operators) and a corresponding matrix of the respective changes in the value of the function toward the extremal point.A procedure is given for selecting an optimal sequence of algorithms which maximizes the total expected change in the value of the function toward the optimum.     

Repeated two-player games with ruin

The class of repeated two-player games (with long-run average payoff criterion) is extended to accommodate initial holdings of wealth and the possibility of ruin. Equilibria of these games are studied under the assumption that each player regards his own ruin as the worst possible outcome of the game and his opponent's ruin as the best possible outcome.     

Properties of polyphenylene films deposited electrochemically in an HF-benzene system

Free-standing polyphenylene films, prepared by the electrochemical oxidation of benzene in an HF-benzene, two-phase system, were investigated. From electron microscope pictures, x-ray diffraction patterns, and infrared (IR) spectra of polyphenylene films and commercial polyphenylene powder it is concluded that the films, which are largely para linked, contain in addition a substantial amount of meta and possibly ortho linkages and are amorphous in nature. Doping with AsF₅ increases the electrical conductivity of the otherwise insulating films to 10^?4?10^?2ohm^?1cm^?1; doped films are relatively stable in air. The lower conductivity of doped films with respect to reported values for chemically synthesized poly-p-phenylene appears to be the result of the amorphous nature of the films.