Trace norm estimates for products of integral operators and diffusion semigroups

We give trace norm estimates for products of integral operators and for diffusion semigroups. These are applied to differences of heat semigroups. A natural example of an integral operator with finite trace which is not trace class is given.     

Thermal and chemical nanofractal relaxation

We studied shape relaxation of nano-fractal islands, during annealing, after their growth from antimony cluster deposition on graphite surface. Annealing at 180^°C shows evidence of an increase of the fractal branch width with time followed by branch fragmentation, without changing the fractal dimension. The time evolution of the width of the arm suggests the surface self-diffusion mechanism as the main relaxation process. With Monte Carlo simulations, we confirmed the observed behavior. Comparison is done with our previous results on fragmentation of nano-fractal silver islands when impurity added to the incident cluster promotes rapid fragmentation by surface self-diffusion enhancement [1].     

Numerical analysis of time-dependent Boussinesq models

In this paper we analyse numerical models for time-dependent Boussinesq equations. These equations arise when so-called Boussinesq terms are introduced into the shallow water equations. We use the Boussinesq terms proposed by Katapodes and Dingemans. These terms generalize the constant depth terms given by Broer. The shallow water equations are discretized by using fourth-order finite difference formulae for the space derivatives and a fourth-order explicit time integrator. The effect on the stability and accuracy of various discrete Boussinesq terms is investigated. Numerical experiments are presented in the case of a fourth-order Runge-Kutta time integrator.     

High-order harmonic generation with a strong laser field and an attosecond-pulse train: The Dirac-Delta comb and monochromatic limits

In recent publications, it has been shown that high-order harmonic generation can be manipulated by employing a time delayed attosecond-pulse train superposed to a strong, near-infrared laser field. It is an open question, however, which is the most adequate way to approximate the attosecond-pulse train in a semianalytic framework. Employing the strong-field approximation and saddle-point methods, we make a detailed assessment of the spectra obtained by modeling the attosecond-pulse train by either a monochromatic wave or a Dirac-Delta comb. These are the two extreme limits of a real train, which is composed by a finite set of harmonics. Specifically, in the monochromatic limit, we find the downhill and uphill sets of orbits reported in the literature, and analyze their influence on the high-harmonic spectra. We show that, in principle, the downhill trajectories lead to stronger harmonics, and pronounced enhancements in the low plateau region. These features are analyzed in terms of quantum interference effects between pairs of quantum orbits, and compared to those obtained in the Dirac-Delta limit.     

Scalar and axial-vector mesons

Almost thirty years ago, Penny G. Estabrooks asked “Where and what are the scalar mesons?” (P. Estabrooks, Phys. Rev. D 19, 2678 (1979)). The first part of her question can now be confidently responded (E. van Beveren et al., Z. Phys. C 30, 615 (1986)). However, with respect to the “What” many puzzles remain unanswered. Scalar and axial-vector mesons form part of a large family of mesons. Consequently, though it is useful to pay them some extra attention, there is no point in discussing them as isolated phenomena. The particularity of structures in the scattering of --basically-- pions and kaons with zero angular momentum is the absence of the centrifugal barrier, which allows us to “see” strong interactions at short distances. Experimentally observed differences and similarities between scalar and axial-vector mesons on the one hand, and other mesons on the other hand, are very instructive for further studies. Nowadays, there exists an abundance of theoretical approaches towards the mesonic spectrum, ranging from confinement models of all kinds, i.e., glueballs, and quark-antiquark, multiquark and hybrid configurations, to models in which only mesonic degrees of freedom are taken into account. Nature seems to come out somewhere in the middle, neither preferring pure bound states, nor effective meson-meson physics with only coupling constants and possibly form factors. As a matter of fact, apart from a few exceptions, like pions and kaons, Nature does not allow us to study mesonic bound states of any kind, which is equivalent to saying that such states do not really exist. Hence, instead of extrapolating from pions and kaons to the remainder of the meson family, it is more democratic to consider pions and kaons mesonic resonances that happen to come out below the lowest threshold for strong decay. Nevertheless, confinement is an important ingredient for understanding the many regularities observed in mesonic spectra. Therefore, excluding quark degrees of freedom is also not the most obvious way of describing mesons in general, and scalars and axial-vectors in particular.     

Melting of heterogeneous vortex matter: The vortex ‘nanoliquid’

Disorder and porosity are parameters that strongly influence the physical behavior of materials, including their mechanical, electrical, magnetic and optical properties. Vortices in superconductors can provide important insight into the effects of disorder because their size is comparable to characteristic sizes of nanofabricated structures. Here we present experimental evidence for a novel form of vortex matter that consists of inter-connected nanodroplets of vortex liquid caged in the pores of a solid vortex structure, like a liquid permeated into a nanoporous solid skeleton. Our nanoporous skeleton is formed by vortices pinned by correlated disorder created by high-energy heavy ion irradiation. By sweeping the applied magnetic field, the number of vortices in the nanodroplets is varied continuously from a few to several hundred. Upon cooling, the caged nanodroplets freeze into ordered nanocrystals through either a first-order or a continuous transition, whereas at high temperatures a uniform liquid phase is formed upon delocalization-induced melting of the solid skeleton. This new vortex nanoliquid displays unique properties and symmetries that are distinct from both solid and liquid phases.     

Barycentric systems and stretchability

Using a general resolution of barycentric systems we give a generalization of Tutte's theorem on convex drawing of planar graphs. We deduce a characterization of the edge coverings into pairwise non-crossing paths which are stretchable: such a system is stretchable if and only if each subsystem of at least two paths has at least three free vertices (vertices of the outer face of the induced subgraph which are internal to none of the paths of the subsystem). We also deduce that a contact system of pseudo-segments is stretchable if and only if it is extendible.     

A novel approach based on recurrent neural networks applied to nonlinear systems optimization

This paper presents an efficient approach based on recurrent neural network for solving nonlinear optimization. More specifically, a modified Hopfield network is developed and its internal parameters are computed using the valid subspace technique. These parameters guarantee the convergence of the network to the equilibrium points that represent an optimal feasible solution. The main advantage of the developed network is that it treats optimization and constraint terms in different stages with no interference with each other. Moreover, the proposed approach does not require specification of penalty and weighting parameters for its initialization. A study of the modified Hopfield model is also developed to analyze its stability and convergence. Simulation results are provided to demonstrate the performance of the proposed neural network.