Cosmological Solutions in Macroscopic Gravity

In the macroscopic gravity approach to the averaging problem in cosmology, the Einstein field equations on cosmological scales are modified by appropriate gravitational correlation terms. We present exact cosmological solutions to the equations of macroscopic gravity for a spatially homogeneous and isotropic macroscopic space-time and find that the correlation tensor is of the form of a spatial curvature term. We briefly discuss the physical consequences of these results.Comment: 5 page

The dynamics of critical fluctuations in asymmetric Curie-Weiss models

We study the dynamics of fluctuations at the critical point for two time-asymmetric version of the Curie-Weiss model for spin systems that, in the macroscopic limit, undergo a Hopf bifurcation. The fluctuations around the macroscopic limit reflect the type of bifurcation, as they exhibit observables whose fluctuations evolve at different time scales. The limiting dynamics of fluctuations of slow observable is obtained via an averaging principle.Comment: 27 page

Brownian particles in transient polymer networks

We discuss the thermal motion of colloidal particles in transient polymer networks. For particles that are physically bound to the surrounding chains, light-scattering experiments reveal that the submillisecond dynamics changes from diffusive to Rouse-like upon crossing the network formation threshold. Particles that are not bound do not show such a transition. At longer time scales the mean-square displacement (MSD) exhibits a caging plateau and, ultimately, a slow diffusive motion. The slow diffusion at longer time scales can be related to the macroscopic viscosity of the polymer solutions. Expressions that relate the caging plateau to the macroscopic network elasticity are found to fail for the cases presented here. The typical Rouse scaling of the MSD with the square root of time, as found in experiments at short time scales, is explained by developing a bead-spring model of a large colloidal particle connected to several polymer chains. The resulting analytical expressions for the MSD of the colloidal particle are shown to be consistent with experimental findings