Transport properties of the Lorentz gas: Fourier's law

We investigate the stationary nonequilibrium (heat transporting) states of the Lorentz gas. This is a gas of classical point particles moving in a region gL containing also fixed (hard sphere) scatterers of radiusR. The stationary state considered is obtained by imposing stochastic boundary conditions at the top and bottom of , i.e., a particle hitting one of these walls comes off with a velocity distribution corresponding to temperaturesT ₁ andT ₂ respectively,T ₁ <T ₂. Letting be the average density of the randomly distributed scatterers we show that in the Boltzmann-Grad limit,,R 0 with the mean free path fixed, the stationary distribution of the Lorentz gas converges in theL ¹-norm to the stationary distribution of the corresponding linear Boltzmann equation with the same boundary conditions. In particular, the steady state heat flow in the Lorentz gas converges to that of the linear Boltzmann equation, which is known to behave as (T ₂-T ₁)/L for largeL, whereL is the distance from the bottom to the top wall: i.e., Fourier's law of heat conduction is valid in the limit. The heat flow converges even in probability. Generalizations of our result for scatterers with a smooth potential as well as the related diffusion problem are discussed.Research supported in part by NSF Grant no. Phy 77-22302.On leave of absence from the Fachbereich Physik der Universität, München. Work supported by a DFG fellowship.     

On the ν-dimensional one-component classical plasma: The thermodynamic limit problem revisited

We prove theH-stability property and the existence of the thermodynamic limit of the free energy density of the two-dimensional, one-component classical plasma. We give lower and upper bounds on the free energy density in any dimensionv and draw some consequences.     

An exactly soluble case of the triangular ising model in a magnetic field

An anisotropic triangular Ising model in which the first- and second-order parameters and the field parameters are functionally related is solved exactly by representing the distribution of the atom patterns in terms of a suitably constructed Markov process. The probabilities of patterns, defined as the probabilities generated by this process, are a mathematically tractable alternative to the classical representation of these probabilities in terms of the partition function. The interaction and field parameters of this Ising model, its magnetization, free energy, and its nearest neighbor correlation functions, are expressed in terms of the parameters of this Markov process. Special cases are worked out in detail and numerical examples are given.     

Strong-field multiphoton ionization of hydrogen. TheS-matrix treatment of the elementary process

Summary A theoretical model is presented to treat the elementary act of strong-field multiphoton ionization of atoms when the electron continuum final-state distribution is important. It is based on theS-matrix formalism and treats the final-state electron-radiation interaction in an essentially nonperturbative way. Selected numerical calculations concern the ionization of hydrogen atoms and include differential and total cross-sections of several multiphoton channels as a function of the laser intensity. Good, qualitative agreement with the experimental observations is found for values of the field intensity which are not critical with respect to the simplifications adopted in constructing the theoretical model. It applies particularly to the use of an ideal model for the laser field. Significant departure from observations is instead found when the implications of the ideal laser model play a critical role, as occurs at channel inversion and suppression. It is concluded that the theoretical treatment to be completely satisfactory needs essentially to incorporate a more realistic laser model such as a multimode one.

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Riassunto Si presenta un modello teorico per il processo elementare della ionizzazione multifotonica di atomi da parte di un forte campo laser quando diventa importante la distribuzione degli stati finali del continuo dell'elettrone. Il modello si fonda sul formalismo della matriceS e tratta l'interazione elettrone-radiazione nello stato finale in modo non perturbativo. I calcoli numerici qui riportati si riferiscono alla ionizzazione di atomi d'idrogeno e includono sezioni d'urto totali e differenziali per diversi canali multifotonici in funzione dell'intensità del laser. Si trova un accordo qualitativo con i dati sperimentali per valori dell'intensità del campo che non sono critici rispetto alle semplificazioni adottate nella costruzione del modello teorico. Un significativo distacco dai dati sperimentali si ha quando le implicazioni del modello di laser ideale giocano un ruolo critico, come si ha per l'inversione e la scomparsa dei canali. Si conclude che il trattamento teorico per essere completamente soddisfacente necessita dell'introduzione di un modello di laser piú realistico, quale, ad esempio, quello a molti modi.

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Резюме Предлагается теоретическая модель для рассмотрения элементарного акта многофотонной ионизации атомов в сильном поле, когда распределение электронных непрерывных конечных состояний является существенным. Подход базируется на формализмеS-матрицы и взаимодействие электронов в конечном состоянии с полем излучения рассматривается непертурбационным образом. Численные вычисления касаются ионизации атомов водорода и включают дифференциальные и полные поперечные сечения для некоторых многофотонных каналов, как функции интенсивности лазерного излучения. Получено хорошее качественное согласие с экспериментальными результатами для значений интенсивности поля, которые не являются критическими по отношению к упрощениям, используемым при конструировании теоретической модели. Используется идеальная модель для лазерного поля. Обнаружено существенное отклонение от экспериментальных результатов в тех случаях, когда имеет место инверсия и подавление каналов. Делается вывод, что теоретический подход становится удовлетворительным, если используется более реалистическая модель лазера, как например, многомодовая модель.

     

On the quantum langevin equation

The quantum Langevin equation is the Heisenberg equation of motion for the (operator) coordinate of a Brownian particle coupled to a heat bath. We give an elementary derivation of this equation for a simple coupled-oscillator model of the heat bath.Deceased.     

Eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of the Fokker-Planck equation for the extremely underdamped Brownian motion in a double-well potential

The eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of the Fokker-Planck equation describing the extremely underdamped Brownian motion in a symmetric double-well potential are investigated. By transforming the Fokker-Planck equation to energy and position coordinates and by performing a suitable averaging over the position coordinate, a differential equation depending only on energy is derived. For finite temperatures this equation is solved by numerical integration, whereas in the weak-noise limit an analytic result for the lowest nonzero eigenvalue is obtained. Furthermore, by using a boundary-layer theory near the critical trajectory, the correction term to the zero-friction-limit result is found.     

Diffusion and reaction in random media and models of evolution processes

A diffusion equation including source terms, representing randomly distributed sources and sinks is considered. For quasilinear growth rates the eigenvalue problem is equivalent to that of the quantum mechanical motion of electrons in random fields. Correspondingly there exist localized and extended density distributions dependent on the statistics of the random field and on the dimension of the space. Besides applications in physics (nonequilibrium processes in pumped disordered solid materials) a new evolution model is discussed which considers evolution as hill climbing in a random landscape.We dedicate this work to the memory of Ilya M. Lifshitz.     

Numerical study of the directed polymer in a 1 + 3 dimensional random medium

The directed polymer in a 1+3 dimensional random medium is known to present a disorder-induced phase transition. For a polymer of length L, the high temperature phase is characterized by a diffusive behavior for the end-point displacement R² ∼L and by free-energy fluctuations of order ΔF(L) ∼O(1). The low-temperature phase is characterized by an anomalous wandering exponent R²/L ∼L^ω and by free-energy fluctuations of order ΔF(L) ∼L^ω where ω∼0.18. In this paper, we first study the scaling behavior of various properties to localize the critical temperature T_c. Our results concerning R²/L and ΔF(L) point towards 0.76 < T_c ≤T₂=0.79, so our conclusion is that T_c is equal or very close to the upper bound T₂ derived by Derrida and coworkers (T₂ corresponds to the temperature above which the ratio remains finite as L ↦ ∞). We then present histograms for the free-energy, energy and entropy over disorder samples. For T ≫T_c, the free-energy distribution is found to be Gaussian. For T ≪T_c, the free-energy distribution coincides with the ground state energy distribution, in agreement with the zero-temperature fixed point picture. Moreover the entropy fluctuations are of order ΔS ∼L^1/2 and follow a Gaussian distribution, in agreement with the droplet predictions, where the free-energy term ΔF ∼L^ω is a near cancellation of energy and entropy contributions of order L^1/2.     

Kinetic market models with single commodity having price fluctuations

We study here numerically the behavior of an ideal gas like model of markets having only one non-consumable commodity. We investigate the behavior of the steady-state distributions of money, commodity and total wealth, as the dynamics of trading or exchange of money and commodity proceeds, with local (in time) fluctuations in the price of the commodity. These distributions are studied in markets with agents having uniform and random saving factors. The self-organizing features in money distribution are similar to the cases without any commodity (or with consumable commodities), while the commodity distribution shows an exponential decay. The wealth distribution shows interesting behavior: gamma like distribution for uniform saving propensity and has the same power-law tail, as that of the money distribution, for a market with agents having random saving propensity.