2,906 research outputs found
Quantum Thermodynamics
Quantum thermodynamics addresses the emergence of thermodynamical laws from
quantum mechanics. The link is based on the intimate connection of quantum
thermodynamics with the theory of open quantum systems. Quantum mechanics
inserts dynamics into thermodynamics giving a sound foundation to
finite-time-thermodynamics. The emergence of the 0-law I-law II-law and III-law
of thermodynamics from quantum considerations is presented. The emphasis is on
consistence between the two theories which address the same subject from
different foundations. We claim that inconsistency is the result of faulty
analysis pointing to flaws in approximations
Statistical Mechanics Analysis of LDPC Coding in MIMO Gaussian Channels
Using analytical methods of statistical mechanics, we analyse the typical
behaviour of a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) Gaussian channel with
binary inputs under LDPC network coding and joint decoding. The saddle point
equations for the replica symmetric solution are found in particular
realizations of this channel, including a small and large number of
transmitters and receivers. In particular, we examine the cases of a single
transmitter, a single receiver and the symmetric and asymmetric interference
channels. Both dynamical and thermodynamical transitions from the ferromagnetic
solution of perfect decoding to a non-ferromagnetic solution are identified for
the cases considered, marking the practical and theoretical limits of the
system under the current coding scheme. Numerical results are provided, showing
the typical level of improvement/deterioration achieved with respect to the
single transmitter/receiver result, for the various cases.Comment: 25 pages, 7 figure
A walk in the statistical mechanical formulation of neural networks
Neural networks are nowadays both powerful operational tools (e.g., for
pattern recognition, data mining, error correction codes) and complex
theoretical models on the focus of scientific investigation. As for the
research branch, neural networks are handled and studied by psychologists,
neurobiologists, engineers, mathematicians and theoretical physicists. In
particular, in theoretical physics, the key instrument for the quantitative
analysis of neural networks is statistical mechanics. From this perspective,
here, we first review attractor networks: starting from ferromagnets and
spin-glass models, we discuss the underlying philosophy and we recover the
strand paved by Hopfield, Amit-Gutfreund-Sompolinky. One step forward, we
highlight the structural equivalence between Hopfield networks (modeling
retrieval) and Boltzmann machines (modeling learning), hence realizing a deep
bridge linking two inseparable aspects of biological and robotic spontaneous
cognition. As a sideline, in this walk we derive two alternative (with respect
to the original Hebb proposal) ways to recover the Hebbian paradigm, stemming
from ferromagnets and from spin-glasses, respectively. Further, as these notes
are thought of for an Engineering audience, we highlight also the mappings
between ferromagnets and operational amplifiers and between antiferromagnets
and flip-flops (as neural networks -built by op-amp and flip-flops- are
particular spin-glasses and the latter are indeed combinations of ferromagnets
and antiferromagnets), hoping that such a bridge plays as a concrete
prescription to capture the beauty of robotics from the statistical mechanical
perspective.Comment: Contribute to the proceeding of the conference: NCTA 2014. Contains
12 pages,7 figure
Tsallis Distribution Decorated With Log-Periodic Oscillation
In many situations, in all branches of physics, one encounters power-like
behavior of some variables which are best described by a Tsallis distribution
characterized by a nonextensivity parameter and scale parameter .
However, there exist experimental results which can be described only by a
Tsallis distributions which are additionally decorated by some log-periodic
oscillating factor. We argue that such a factor can originate from allowing for
a complex nonextensivity parameter . The possible information conveyed by
such an approach (like the occurrence of complex heat capacity, the notion of
complex probability or complex multiplicative noise) will also be discussed.Comment: 17 pages, 1 figure. The content of this article was presented by Z.
Wlodarczyk at the SigmaPhi2014 conference at Rhodes, Greece, 7-11 July 2014.
To be published in Entropy (2015
How glassy are neural networks?
In this paper we continue our investigation on the high storage regime of a
neural network with Gaussian patterns. Through an exact mapping between its
partition function and one of a bipartite spin glass (whose parties consist of
Ising and Gaussian spins respectively), we give a complete control of the whole
annealed region. The strategy explored is based on an interpolation between the
bipartite system and two independent spin glasses built respectively by
dichotomic and Gaussian spins: Critical line, behavior of the principal
thermodynamic observables and their fluctuations as well as overlap
fluctuations are obtained and discussed. Then, we move further, extending such
an equivalence beyond the critical line, to explore the broken ergodicity phase
under the assumption of replica symmetry and we show that the quenched free
energy of this (analogical) Hopfield model can be described as a linear
combination of the two quenched spin-glass free energies even in the replica
symmetric framework
Thermodynamics and Fractional Fokker-Planck Equations
The relaxation to equilibrium in many systems which show strange kinetics is
described by fractional Fokker-Planck equations (FFPEs). These can be
considered as phenomenological equations of linear nonequilibrium theory. We
show that the FFPEs describe the system whose noise in equilibrium funfills the
Nyquist theorem. Moreover, we show that for subdiffusive dynamics the solutions
of the corresponding FFPEs are probability densities for all cases where the
solutions of normal Fokker-Planck equation (with the same Fokker-Planck
operator and with the same initial and boundary conditions) exist. The
solutions of the FFPEs for superdiffusive dynamics are not always probability
densities. This fact means only that the corresponding kinetic coefficients are
incompatible with each other and with the initial conditions
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