52,684 research outputs found
Dynamics of a Semiflexible Polymer or Polymer Ring in Shear Flow
Polymers exposed to shear flow exhibit a rich tumbling dynamics. While rigid
rods rotate on Jeffery orbits, flexible polymers stretch and coil up during
tumbling. Theoretical results show that in both of these asymptotic regimes the
tumbling frequency f_c in a linear shear flow of strength \gamma scales as a
power law Wi^(2/3) in the Weissenberg number Wi=\gamma \tau, where \tau is a
characteristic time of the polymer's relaxational dynamics. For flexible
polymers these theoretical results are well confirmed by experimental single
molecule studies. However, for the intermediate semiflexible regime the
situation is less clear. Here we perform extensive Brownian dynamics
simulations to explore the tumbling dynamics of semiflexible polymers over a
broad range of shear strength and the polymer's persistence length l_p. We find
that the Weissenberg number alone does not suffice to fully characterize the
tumbling dynamics, and the classical scaling law breaks down. Instead, both the
polymer's stiffness and the shear rate are relevant control parameters. Based
on our Brownian dynamics simulations we postulate that in the parameter range
most relevant for cytoskeletal filaments there is a distinct scaling behavior
with f_c \tau*=Wi^(3/4) f_c (x) with Wi=\gamma \tau* and the scaling variable
x=(l_p/L)(Wi)^(-1/3); here \tau* is the time the polymer's center of mass
requires to diffuse its own contour length L. Comparing these results with
experimental data on F-actin we find that the Wi^(3/4) scaling law agrees
quantitatively significantly better with the data than the classical Wi^(2/3)
law. Finally, we extend our results to single ring polymers in shear flow, and
find similar results as for linear polymers with slightly different power laws.Comment: 17 pages, 14 figure
A renormalization group approach to time dependent transport through correlated quantum dots
We introduce a real time version of the functional renormalization group
which allows to study correlation effects on nonequilibrium transport through
quantum dots. Our method is equally capable to address (i) the relaxation out
of a nonequilibrium initial state into a (potentially) steady state driven by a
bias voltage and (ii) the dynamics governed by an explicitly time-dependent
Hamiltonian. All time regimes from transient to asymptotic can be tackled; the
only approximation is the consistent truncation of the flow equations at a
given order. As an application we investigate the relaxation dynamics of the
interacting resonant level model which describes a fermionic quantum dot
dominated by charge fluctuations. Moreover, we study decoherence and relaxation
phenomena within the ohmic spin-boson model by mapping the latter to the
interacting resonant level model
Local Cyber-Physical Attack for Masking Line Outage and Topology Attack in Smart Grid
Malicious attacks in the power system can eventually result in a large-scale
cascade failure if not attended on time. These attacks, which are traditionally
classified into \emph{physical} and \emph{cyber attacks}, can be avoided by
using the latest and advanced detection mechanisms. However, a new threat
called \emph{cyber-physical attacks} which jointly target both the physical and
cyber layers of the system to interfere the operations of the power grid is
more malicious as compared with the traditional attacks. In this paper, we
propose a new cyber-physical attack strategy where the transmission line is
first physically disconnected, and then the line-outage event is masked, such
that the control center is misled into detecting as an obvious line outage at a
different position in the local area of the power system. Therefore, the
topology information in the control center is interfered by our attack. We also
propose a novel procedure for selecting vulnerable lines, and analyze the
observability of our proposed framework. Our proposed method can effectively
and continuously deceive the control center into detecting fake line-outage
positions, and thereby increase the chance of cascade failure because the
attention is given to the fake outage. The simulation results validate the
efficiency of our proposed attack strategy.Comment: accepted by IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid. arXiv admin note: text
overlap with arXiv:1708.0320
Matrix Minor Reformulation and SOCP-based Spatial Branch-and-Cut Method for the AC Optimal Power Flow Problem
Alternating current optimal power flow (AC OPF) is one of the most
fundamental optimization problems in electrical power systems. It can be
formulated as a semidefinite program (SDP) with rank constraints. Solving AC
OPF, that is, obtaining near optimal primal solutions as well as high quality
dual bounds for this non-convex program, presents a major computational
challenge to today's power industry for the real-time operation of large-scale
power grids. In this paper, we propose a new technique for reformulation of the
rank constraints using both principal and non-principal 2-by-2 minors of the
involved Hermitian matrix variable and characterize all such minors into three
types. We show the equivalence of these minor constraints to the physical
constraints of voltage angle differences summing to zero over three- and
four-cycles in the power network. We study second-order conic programming
(SOCP) relaxations of this minor reformulation and propose strong cutting
planes, convex envelopes, and bound tightening techniques to strengthen the
resulting SOCP relaxations. We then propose an SOCP-based spatial
branch-and-cut method to obtain the global optimum of AC OPF. Extensive
computational experiments show that the proposed algorithm significantly
outperforms the state-of-the-art SDP-based OPF solver and on a simple personal
computer is able to obtain on average a 0.71% optimality gap in no more than
720 seconds for the most challenging power system instances in the literature
Hubble-Lema\^itre fragmentation and the path to equilibrium of merger-driven cluster formation
This paper discusses a new method to generate self-coherent initial
conditions for young substructured stellar cluster. The expansion of a uniform
system allows stellar sub-structures (clumps) to grow from fragmentation modes
by adiabatic cooling. We treat the system mass elements as stars, chosen
according to a Salpeter mass function, and the time-evolution is performed with
a collisional N-body integrator. This procedure allows to create a
fully-coherent relation between the clumps' spatial distribution and the
underlying velocity field. The cooling is driven by the gravitational field, as
in a cosmological Hubble-Lema\^itre flow. The fragmented configuration has a
`fractal'-like geometry but with a self-grown velocity field and mass profile.
We compare the characteristics of the stellar population in clumps with that
obtained from hydrodynamical simulations and find a remarkable correspondence
between the two in terms of the stellar content and the degree of spatial
mass-segregation. In the fragmented configuration, the IMF power index is ~0.3
lower in clumps in comparison to the field stellar population, in agreement
with observations in the Milky Way. We follow in time the dynamical evolution
of fully fragmented and sub-virial configurations, and find a soft collapse,
leading rapidly to equilibrium (timescale of 1 Myr for a ~ 10^4 Msun system).
The low-concentration equilibrium implies that the dynamical evolution
including massive stars is less likely to induce direct collisions and the
formation of exotic objects. Low-mass stars already ejected from merging clumps
are depleted in the end-result stellar clusters, which harbour a top-heavy
stellar mass function.Comment: 22 pages, accepted for publication in MNRA
Solution of Optimal Power Flow Problems using Moment Relaxations Augmented with Objective Function Penalization
The optimal power flow (OPF) problem minimizes the operating cost of an
electric power system. Applications of convex relaxation techniques to the
non-convex OPF problem have been of recent interest, including work using the
Lasserre hierarchy of "moment" relaxations to globally solve many OPF problems.
By preprocessing the network model to eliminate low-impedance lines, this paper
demonstrates the capability of the moment relaxations to globally solve large
OPF problems that minimize active power losses for portions of several European
power systems. Large problems with more general objective functions have thus
far been computationally intractable for current formulations of the moment
relaxations. To overcome this limitation, this paper proposes the combination
of an objective function penalization with the moment relaxations. This
combination yields feasible points with objective function values that are
close to the global optimum of several large OPF problems. Compared to an
existing penalization method, the combination of penalization and the moment
relaxations eliminates the need to specify one of the penalty parameters and
solves a broader class of problems.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure, to appear in IEEE 54th Annual Conference on
Decision and Control (CDC), 15-18 December 201
Dynamical temperature study for classical planar spin systems
In this micro-canonical simulation the temperature and also the specific heat
are determined as averages of expressions easy to implement. The XY-chain is
studied for a test. The second order transition on a cubic lattice and the
first order transition on an fcc lattice are analyzed in greater detail to have
a more severe test about the feasibility of this micro-canonical method.Comment: 9 pages in Latex(revtex), 7 PS-figure
Convex Relaxations and Approximations of Chance-Constrained AC-OPF Problems
This paper deals with the impact of linear approximations for the unknown
nonconvex confidence region of chance-constrained AC optimal power flow
problems. Such approximations are required for the formulation of tractable
chance constraints. In this context, we introduce the first formulation of a
chance-constrained second-order cone (SOC) OPF. The proposed formulation
provides convergence guarantees due to its convexity, while it demonstrates
high computational efficiency. Combined with an AC feasibility recovery, it is
able to identify better solutions than chance-constrained nonconvex AC-OPF
formulations. To the best of our knowledge, this paper is the first to perform
a rigorous analysis of the AC feasibility recovery procedures for robust
SOC-OPF problems. We identify the issues that arise from the linear
approximations, and by using a reformulation of the quadratic chance
constraints, we introduce new parameters able to reshape the approximation of
the confidence region. We demonstrate our method on the IEEE 118-bus system
Chance-Constrained AC Optimal Power Flow Integrating HVDC Lines and Controllability
The integration of large-scale renewable generation has major implications on
the operation of power systems, two of which we address in this work. First,
system operators have to deal with higher degrees of uncertainty due to
forecast errors and variability in renewable energy production. Second, with
abundant potential of renewable generation in remote locations, there is an
increasing interest in the use of High Voltage Direct Current lines (HVDC) to
increase transmission capacity. These HVDC transmission lines and the
flexibility and controllability they offer must be incorporated effectively and
safely into the system. In this work, we introduce an optimization tool that
addresses both challenges by incorporating the full AC power flow equations,
chance constraints to address the uncertainty of renewable infeed, modelling of
point-to-point HVDC lines, and optimized corrective control policies to model
the generator and HVDC response to uncertainty. The main contributions are
twofold. First, we introduce a HVDC line model and the corresponding HVDC
participation factors in a chance-constrained AC-OPF framework. Second, we
modify an existing algorithm for solving the chance-constrained AC-OPF to allow
for optimization of the generation and HVDC participation factors. Using
realistic wind forecast data, for 10 and IEEE 39 bus systems with HVDC lines
and wind farms, we show that our proposed OPF formulation achieves good in- and
out-of-sample performance whereas not considering uncertainty leads to high
constraint violation probabilities. In addition, we find that optimizing the
participation factors reduces the cost of uncertainty significantly
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