Minkowski Tensors of Anisotropic Spatial Structure

This article describes the theoretical foundation of and explicit algorithms for a novel approach to morphology and anisotropy analysis of complex spatial structure using tensor-valued Minkowski functionals, the so-called Minkowski tensors. Minkowski tensors are generalisations of the well-known scalar Minkowski functionals and are explicitly sensitive to anisotropic aspects of morphology, relevant for example for elastic moduli or permeability of microstructured materials. Here we derive explicit linear-time algorithms to compute these tensorial measures for three-dimensional shapes. These apply to representations of any object that can be represented by a triangulation of its bounding surface; their application is illustrated for the polyhedral Voronoi cellular complexes of jammed sphere configurations, and for triangulations of a biopolymer fibre network obtained by confocal microscopy. The article further bridges the substantial notational and conceptual gap between the different but equivalent approaches to scalar or tensorial Minkowski functionals in mathematics and in physics, hence making the mathematical measure theoretic method more readily accessible for future application in the physical sciences

Tensor-based multiscale method for diffusion problems in quasi-periodic heterogeneous media

This paper proposes to address the issue of complexity reduction for the numerical simulation of multiscale media in a quasi-periodic setting. We consider a stationary elliptic diffusion equation defined on a domain $D$ such that $\overline{D}$ is the union of cells $\{\overline{D_i}\}_{i\in I}$ and we introduce a two-scale representation by identifying any function $v(x)$ defined on $D$ with a bi-variate function $v(i,y)$, where $i \in I$ relates to the index of the cell containing the point $x$ and $y \in Y$ relates to a local coordinate in a reference cell $Y$. We introduce a weak formulation of the problem in a broken Sobolev space $V(D)$ using a discontinuous Galerkin framework. The problem is then interpreted as a tensor-structured equation by identifying $V(D)$ with a tensor product space $\mathbb{R}^I \otimes V(Y)$ of functions defined over the product set $I\times Y$. Tensor numerical methods are then used in order to exploit approximability properties of quasi-periodic solutions by low-rank tensors.Comment: Changed the choice of test spaces V(D) and X (with regard to regularity) and the argumentation thereof. Corrected proof of proposition 3. Corrected wrong multiplicative factor in proposition 4 and its proof (was 2 instead of 1). Added remark 6 at the end of section 2. Extended remark 7. Added references. Some minor improvements (typos, typesetting

Non-geometric Kaluza-Klein monopoles and magnetic duals of M-theory R-flux backgrounds

We introduce a magnetic analogue of the seven-dimensional nonassociative octonionic R-flux algebra that describes the phase space of M2-branes in four-dimensional locally non-geometric M-theory backgrounds. We show that these two algebras are related by a Spin(7) automorphism of the 3-algebra that provides a covariant description of the eight-dimensional M-theory phase space. We argue that this algebra also underlies the phase space of electrons probing a smeared magnetic monopole in quantum gravity by showing that upon appropriate contractions, the algebra reduces to the noncommutative algebra of a spin foam model of three-dimensional quantum gravity, or to the nonassociative algebra of electrons in a background of uniform magnetic charge. We realise this set-up in M-theory as M-waves probing a delocalised Kaluza-Klein monopole, and show that this system also has a seven-dimensional phase space. We suggest that the smeared Kaluza-Klein monopole is non-geometric because it cannot be described by a local metric. This is the magnetic analogue of the local non-geometry of the R-flux background and arises because the smeared Kaluza-Klein monopole is described by a U(1)-gerbe rather than a U(1)-fibration.Comment: 19 pages, 2 figures; v2: dimensionful factors corrected throughout, exposition improved; Final version to be published in JHE

A micromechanics-enhanced finite element formulation for modelling heterogeneous materials

In the analysis of composite materials with heterogeneous microstructures, full resolution of the heterogeneities using classical numerical approaches can be computationally prohibitive. This paper presents a micromechanics-enhanced finite element formulation that accurately captures the mechanical behaviour of heterogeneous materials in a computationally efficient manner. The strategy exploits analytical solutions derived by Eshelby for ellipsoidal inclusions in order to determine the mechanical perturbation fields as a result of the underlying heterogeneities. Approximation functions for these perturbation fields are then incorporated into a finite element formulation to augment those of the macroscopic fields. A significant feature of this approach is that the finite element mesh does not explicitly resolve the heterogeneities and that no additional degrees of freedom are introduced. In this paper, hybrid-Trefftz stress finite elements are utilised and performance of the proposed formulation is demonstrated with numerical examples. The method is restricted here to elastic particulate composites with ellipsoidal inclusions but it has been designed to be extensible to a wider class of materials comprising arbitrary shaped inclusions.Comment: 28 pages, 12 figures, 2 table

Fibre-like cylinders, their packings and coverings in SL2R~\widetilde{\mathbf{S}\mathbf{L}_2\mathbf{R}} space

In this paper we define the notion of infinite or bounded fibre-like geodesic cylinder in $\widetilde{\mathbf{S}\mathbf{L}_2\mathbf{R}}$ space, develop a method to determine its volume and total surface area. We prove that the common part of the above congruent fibre-like cylinders with the base plane are Euclidean circles and determine their radii. Using the former classified infinite or bounded congruent regular prism tilings with generating groups $\mathbf{pq2_1}$ we introduce the notions of cylinder packings, coverings and their densities. Moreover, we determine the densest packing, the thinnest covering cylinder arrangements in $\widetilde{\mathbf{S}\mathbf{L}_2\mathbf{R}}$ space, their densities, their connections with the extremal hyperbolic circle arrangements and with the extremal fibre-like cylinder arrangements in $\mathbf{H}X\mathbf{R}$ space In our work we use the projective model of $\widetilde{\mathbf{S}\mathbf{L}_2\mathbf{R}}$ introduced by E. Moln\'ar in \cite{M97}.Comment: 23 pages, 5 figures. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1403.3192, arXiv:1304.054

Matter from Space

General Relativity offers the possibility to model attributes of matter, like mass, momentum, angular momentum, spin, chirality etc. from pure space, endowed only with a single field that represents its Riemannian geometry. I review this picture of `Geometrodynamics' and comment on various developments after Einstein.Comment: 37 Pages, 17 figures. Based on a talk delivered at the conference "Beyond Einstein: Historical Perspectives on Geometry, Gravitation, and Cosmology in the Twentieth Century", September 2008 at the University of Mainz in Germany. To appear in the Einstein-Studies Series, Birkhaeuser, Boston. v2: Reference [7] added and typo in formula [42] correcte

Spectral curves and the mass of hyperbolic monopoles

The moduli spaces of hyperbolic monopoles are naturally fibred by the monopole mass, and this leads to a nontrivial mass dependence of the holomorphic data (spectral curves, rational maps, holomorphic spheres) associated to hyperbolic multi-monopoles. In this paper, we obtain an explicit description of this dependence for general hyperbolic monopoles of magnetic charge two. In addition, we show how to compute the monopole mass of higher charge spectral curves with tetrahedral and octahedral symmetries. Spectral curves of euclidean monopoles are recovered from our results via an infinite-mass limit.Comment: 43 pages, LaTeX, 3 figure

Symetric Monopoles

We discuss $SU(2)$ Bogomolny monopoles of arbitrary charge $k$ invariant under various symmetry groups. The analysis is largely in terms of the spectral curves, the rational maps, and the Nahm equations associated with monopoles. We consider monopoles invariant under inversion in a plane, monopoles with cyclic symmetry, and monopoles having the symmetry of a regular solid. We introduce the notion of a strongly centred monopole and show that the space of such monopoles is a geodesic submanifold of the monopole moduli space. By solving Nahm's equations we prove the existence of a tetrahedrally symmetric monopole of charge $3$ and an octahedrally symmetric monopole of charge $4$, and determine their spectral curves. Using the geodesic approximation to analyse the scattering of monopoles with cyclic symmetry, we discover a novel type of non-planar $k$-monopole scattering process