6,433 research outputs found
An event driven algorithm for fractal cluster formation
A new cluster based event-driven algorithm is developed to simulate the formation of clusters in a two dimensional gas: particles move freely until they collide and "stick" together irreversibly. These clusters aggregate into bigger structures in an isotompic way, forming fractal structures whose fractal dimension depends on the initial density of the system
Dilute Wet Granulates: Nonequilibrium Dynamics and Structure Formation
We investigate a gas of wet granular particles, covered by a thin liquid
film. The dynamic evolution is governed by two-particle interactions, which are
mainly due to interfacial forces in contrast to dry granular gases. When two
wet grains collide, a capillary bridge is formed and stays intact up to a
certain distance of withdrawal when the bridge ruptures, dissipating a fixed
amount of energy. A freely cooling system is shown to undergo a nonequillibrium
dynamic phase transition from a state with mainly single particles and fast
cooling to a state with growing aggregates, such that bridge rupture becomes a
rare event and cooling is slow. In the early stage of cluster growth,
aggregation is a self-similar process with a fractal dimension of the
aggregates approximately equal to D_f ~ 2. At later times, a percolating
cluster is observed which ultimately absorbs all the particles. The final
cluster is compact on large length scales, but fractal with D_f ~ 2 on small
length scales.Comment: 14 pages, 20 figure
Pion production from a critical QCD phase
A theoretical scheme which relates multiparticle states generated in
ultrarelativistic nuclear collisions to a QCD phase transition is considered in
the framework of the universality class provided by the 3-D Ising model. Two
different evolution scenarios for the QGP system are examined. The statistical
mechanics of the critical state is accounted for in terms of (critical) cluster
formation consistent with suitably cast effective action functionals, one for
each considered type of expansion. Fractal properties associated with these
clusters, characterizing the density fluctuations near the QCD critical point,
are determined. Monte-Carlo simulations are employed to generate events,
pertaining to the total system, which correspond to signals associated with
unconventional sources of pion production
Cooling and aggregation in wet granulates
Wet granular materials are characterized by a defined bond energy in their
particle interaction such that breaking a bond implies an irreversible loss of
a fixed amount of energy. Associated with the bond energy is a nonequilibrium
transition, setting in as the granular temperature falls below the bond energy.
The subsequent aggregation of particles into clusters is shown to be a
self-similar growth process with a cluster size distribution that obeys
scaling. In the early phase of aggregation the clusters are fractals with
D_f=2, for later times we observe gelation. We use simple scaling arguments to
derive the temperature decay in the early and late stages of cooling and verify
our results with event-driven simulations.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, suggestions of the referees implemented, EPAPS
supplementary material added:
http://netserver.aip.org/cgi-bin/epaps?ID=E-PRLTAO-102-00391
Conformal mapping methods for interfacial dynamics
The article provides a pedagogical review aimed at graduate students in
materials science, physics, and applied mathematics, focusing on recent
developments in the subject. Following a brief summary of concepts from complex
analysis, the article begins with an overview of continuous conformal-map
dynamics. This includes problems of interfacial motion driven by harmonic
fields (such as viscous fingering and void electromigration), bi-harmonic
fields (such as viscous sintering and elastic pore evolution), and
non-harmonic, conformally invariant fields (such as growth by
advection-diffusion and electro-deposition). The second part of the article is
devoted to iterated conformal maps for analogous problems in stochastic
interfacial dynamics (such as diffusion-limited aggregation, dielectric
breakdown, brittle fracture, and advection-diffusion-limited aggregation). The
third part notes that all of these models can be extended to curved surfaces by
an auxilliary conformal mapping from the complex plane, such as stereographic
projection to a sphere. The article concludes with an outlook for further
research.Comment: 37 pages, 12 (mostly color) figure
Complete trails of co-authorship network evolution
The rise and fall of a research field is the cumulative outcome of its
intrinsic scientific value and social coordination among scientists. The
structure of the social component is quantifiable by the social network of
researchers linked via co-authorship relations, which can be tracked through
digital records. Here, we use such co-authorship data in theoretical physics
and study their complete evolutionary trail since inception, with a particular
emphasis on the early transient stages. We find that the co-authorship networks
evolve through three common major processes in time: the nucleation of small
isolated components, the formation of a tree-like giant component through
cluster aggregation, and the entanglement of the network by large-scale loops.
The giant component is constantly changing yet robust upon link degradations,
forming the network's dynamic core. The observed patterns are successfully
reproducible through a new network model
From compact to fractal crystalline clusters in concentrated systems of monodisperse hard spheres
We address the crystallization of monodisperse hard spheres in terms of the
properties of finite- size crystalline clusters. By means of large scale
event-driven Molecular Dynamics simulations, we study systems at different
packing fractions {\phi} ranging from weakly supersaturated state points to
glassy ones, covering different nucleation regimes. We find that such regimes
also result in different properties of the crystalline clusters: compact
clusters are formed in the classical-nucleation-theory regime ({\phi} \leq
0.54), while a crossover to fractal, ramified clusters is encountered upon
increasing packing fraction ({\phi} \geq 0.56), where nucleation is more
spinodal-like. We draw an analogy between macroscopic crystallization of our
clusters and percolation of attractive systems to provide ideas on how the
packing fraction influences the final structure of the macroscopic crystals. In
our previous work (Phys. Rev. Lett., 106, 215701, 2011), we have demonstrated
how crystallization from a glass (at {\phi} > 0.58) happens via a gradual
(many-step) mechanism: in this paper we show how the mechanism of gradual
growth seems to hold also in super-saturated systems just above freezing
showing that static properties of clusters are not much affected by dynamics.Comment: Soft Matter, 201
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