Effects of the network structural properties on its controllability

In a recent paper, it has been suggested that the controllability of a diffusively coupled complex network, subject to localized feedback loops at some of its vertices, can be assessed by means of a Master Stability Function approach, where the network controllability is defined in terms of the spectral properties of an appropriate Laplacian matrix. Following that approach, a comparison study is reported here among different network topologies in terms of their controllability. The effects of heterogeneity in the degree distribution, as well as of degree correlation and community structure, are discussed.Comment: Also available online at: http://link.aip.org/link/?CHA/17/03310

A Stochastic Immersed Boundary Method for Fluid-Structure Dynamics at Microscopic Length Scales

In this work it is shown how the immersed boundary method of (Peskin2002) for modeling flexible structures immersed in a fluid can be extended to include thermal fluctuations. A stochastic numerical method is proposed which deals with stiffness in the system of equations by handling systematically the statistical contributions of the fastest dynamics of the fluid and immersed structures over long time steps. An important feature of the numerical method is that time steps can be taken in which the degrees of freedom of the fluid are completely underresolved, partially resolved, or fully resolved while retaining a good level of accuracy. Error estimates in each of these regimes are given for the method. A number of theoretical and numerical checks are furthermore performed to assess its physical fidelity. For a conservative force, the method is found to simulate particles with the correct Boltzmann equilibrium statistics. It is shown in three dimensions that the diffusion of immersed particles simulated with the method has the correct scaling in the physical parameters. The method is also shown to reproduce a well-known hydrodynamic effect of a Brownian particle in which the velocity autocorrelation function exhibits an algebraic tau^(-3/2) decay for long times. A few preliminary results are presented for more complex systems which demonstrate some potential application areas of the method.Comment: 52 pages, 11 figures, published in journal of computational physic

Feedback control of unstable steady states of flow past a flat plate using reduced-order estimators

We present an estimator-based control design procedure for flow control, using reduced-order models of the governing equations, linearized about a possibly unstable steady state. The reduced models are obtained using an approximate balanced truncation method that retains the most controllable and observable modes of the system. The original method is valid only for stable linear systems, and we present an extension to unstable linear systems. The dynamics on the unstable subspace are represented by projecting the original equations onto the global unstable eigenmodes, assumed to be small in number. A snapshot-based algorithm is developed, using approximate balanced truncation, for obtaining a reduced-order model of the dynamics on the stable subspace. The proposed algorithm is used to study feedback control of 2-D flow over a flat plate at a low Reynolds number and at large angles of attack, where the natural flow is vortex shedding, though there also exists an unstable steady state. For control design, we derive reduced-order models valid in the neighborhood of this unstable steady state. The actuation is modeled as a localized body force near the leading edge of the flat plate, and the sensors are two velocity measurements in the near-wake of the plate. A reduced-order Kalman filter is developed based on these models and is shown to accurately reconstruct the flow field from the sensor measurements, and the resulting estimator-based control is shown to stabilize the unstable steady state. For small perturbations of the steady state, the model accurately predicts the response of the full simulation. Furthermore, the resulting controller is even able to suppress the stable periodic vortex shedding, where the nonlinear effects are strong, thus implying a large domain of attraction of the stabilized steady state.Comment: 36 pages, 17 figure

Master equation approach to friction at the mesoscale

At the mesoscale friction occurs through the breaking and formation of local contacts. This is often described by the earthquake-like model which requires numerical studies. We show that this phenomenon can also be described by a master equation, which can be solved analytically in some cases and provides an efficient numerical solution for more general cases. We examine the effect of temperature and aging of the contacts and discuss the statistical properties of the contacts for different situations of friction and their implications, particularly regarding the existence of stick-slip.Comment: To be published in Physical Review

Synchronous solutions and their stability in nonlocally coupled phase oscillators with propagation delays

We study the existence and stability of synchronous solutions in a continuum field of non-locally coupled identical phase oscillators with distance-dependent propagation delays. We present a comprehensive stability diagram in the parameter space of the system. From the numerical results a heuristic synchronization condition is suggested, and an analytic relation for the marginal stability curve is obtained. We also provide an expression in the form of a scaling relation that closely follows the marginal stability curve over the complete range of the non-locality parameter.Comment: accepted in Phys. Rev. E (2010

Properties of a Discrete Quantum Field Theory

A scalar quantum field theory defined on a discrete spatial coordinate is examined. The renormalization of the lattice propagator is discussed with an emphasis on the periodic nature of the associated momentum coordinate. The analytic properties of the scattering amplitudes indicate the development of a second branch point on which the branch cut from the optical theorem terminates.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figur

Five-Dimensional QED, Muon Pair Production and Correction to the Coulomb Potential

We consider QED in five dimensions in a configuration where matter is localized on a 3-brane while foton propagates in the bulk. The idea is to investigate the effects of the Kaluza-Klein modes of the photon in the relativistic regime, but in low energy, and in the nonrelativistic regime. In the relativistic regime, we calculate the cross section for the reaction $e^+ + e^- \to \mu^+ + \mu^-$. We compare our theoretical result with a precise measurement of this cross section at $\sqrt{s}=57.77$ GeV. As result, we extract a lower bound on the size of the extra dimension. In the nonrelativistic regime, we derive the contribution for the Coulomb potential due to the whole tower of the Kaluza-Klein excited modes of the photon. We use the modified potential to calculate the Rutherford scattering differential cross section.Comment: minor changes, three new refs. added, to appear in IJMP

Hydrogen Atom in Relativistic Motion

The Lorentz contraction of bound states in field theory is often appealed to in qualitative descriptions of high energy particle collisions. Surprisingly, the contraction has not been demonstrated explicitly even in simple cases such as the hydrogen atom. It requires a calculation of wave functions evaluated at equal (ordinary) time for bound states in motion. Such wave functions are not obtained by kinematic boosts from the rest frame. Starting from the exact Bethe-Salpeter equation we derive the equal-time wave function of a fermion-antifermion bound state in QED, i.e., positronium or the hydrogen atom, in any frame to leading order in alpha. We show explicitly that the bound state energy transforms as the fourth component of a vector and that the wave function of the fermion-antifermion Fock state contracts as expected. Transverse photon exchange contributes at leading order to the binding energy of the bound state in motion. We study the general features of the corresponding fermion-antifermion-photon Fock states, and show that they do not transform by simply contracting. We verify that the wave function reduces to the light-front one in the infinite momentum frame.Comment: 20 pages, 10 figures; v2: some changes in discussion, accepted for publication in Phys.Rev.

Desynchronization of pulse-coupled oscillators with delayed excitatory coupling

Collective behavior of pulse-coupled oscillators has been investigated widely. As an example of pulse-coupled networks, fireflies display many kinds of flashing patterns. Mirollo and Strogatz (1990) proposed a pulse-coupled oscillator model to explain the synchronization of South East Asian fireflies ({\itshape Pteroptyx malaccae}). However, transmission delays were not considered in their model. In fact, the presence of transmission delays can lead to desychronization. In this paper, pulse-coupled oscillator networks with delayed excitatory coupling are studied. Our main result is that under reasonable assumptions, pulse-coupled oscillator networks with delayed excitatory coupling can not achieve complete synchronization, which can explain why another species of fireflies ({\itshape Photinus pyralis}) rarely synchronizes flashing. Finally, two numerical simulations are given. In the first simulation, we illustrate that even if all the initial phases are very close to each other, there could still be big variations in the times to process the pulses in the pipeline. It implies that asymptotical synchronization typically also cannot be achieved. In the second simulation, we exhibit a phenomenon of clustering synchronization

Bounds on universal new physics effects from fermion-antifermion production at LEP2

We consider lepton-antilepton annihilation into a fermion-antifermion pair at variable c.m. energy. We propose for this process a simple parametrization of the virtual effects of the most general model of new physics of \underline{universal} type. This parametrization is based on a recent approach, that uses the experimental results of LEP1, SLC as theoretical input. It introduces \underline{three} functions whose energy dependence is argued to be smooth and, in first approximation, negligible. A couple of representative models of new physics are considered, as a support of the previous claim. Explicit bounds are then derived for this type of new physics from the available LEP2 data, and a discussion is given of the relevance in this respect of the different experimental measurements. The method is then extended to treat the case of two particularly simple models of {\it non universal} type, for which it is possible to draw analogous conclusions.Comment: 15 pages, 3 tables and 4 figures. e-mail: [email protected]