Relaxed Disk Packing

Motivated by biological questions, we study configurations of equal-sized disks in the Euclidean plane that neither pack nor cover. Measuring the quality by the probability that a random point lies in exactly one disk, we show that the regular hexagonal grid gives the maximum among lattice configurations.Comment: 8 pages => 5 pages of main text plus 3 pages in appendix. Submitted to CCCG 201

Relaxed disk packing

Motivated by biological questions, we study configurations of equal-sized disks in the Euclidean plane that neither pack nor cover. Measuring the quality by the probability that a random point lies in exactly one disk, we show that the regular hexagonal grid gives the maximum among lattice configurations

Frustration of freezing in a two dimensional hard-core fluid due to particle shape anisotropy

The freezing mechanism suggested for a fluid composed of hard disks [Huerta et al., Phys. Rev. E, 2006, 74, 061106] is used here to probe the fluid-to-solid transition in a hard-dumbbell fluid composed of overlapping hard disks with a variable length between disk centers. Analyzing the trends in the shape of second maximum of the radial distribution function of the planar hard-dumbbell fluid it has been found that the type of transition could be sensitive to the length of hard-dumbbell molecules. From the ${NpT}$ Monte Carlo simulations data we show that if a hard-dumbbell length does not exceed 15% of the disk diameter, the fluid-to-solid transition scenario follows the case of a hard-disk fluid, i.e., the isotropic hard-dumbbell fluid experiences freezing. However, for a hard-dumbbell length larger than 15% of disk diameter, there is evidence that fluid-to-solid transition may change to continuous transition, i.e., such an isotropic hard-dumbbell fluid will avoid freezing.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure

Relaxed spanners for directed disk graphs

Let $(V,\delta)$ be a finite metric space, where $V$ is a set of $n$ points and $\delta$ is a distance function defined for these points. Assume that $(V,\delta)$ has a constant doubling dimension $d$ and assume that each point $p\in V$ has a disk of radius $r(p)$ around it. The disk graph that corresponds to $V$ and $r(\cdot)$ is a \emph{directed} graph $I(V,E,r)$, whose vertices are the points of $V$ and whose edge set includes a directed edge from $p$ to $q$ if $\delta(p,q)\leq r(p)$. In \cite{PeRo08} we presented an algorithm for constructing a (1+\eps)-spanner of size O(n/\eps^d \log M), where $M$ is the maximal radius $r(p)$. The current paper presents two results. The first shows that the spanner of \cite{PeRo08} is essentially optimal, i.e., for metrics of constant doubling dimension it is not possible to guarantee a spanner whose size is independent of $M$. The second result shows that by slightly relaxing the requirements and allowing a small perturbation of the radius assignment, considerably better spanners can be constructed. In particular, we show that if it is allowed to use edges of the disk graph I(V,E,r_{1+\eps}), where r_{1+\eps}(p) = (1+\eps)\cdot r(p) for every $p\in V$, then it is possible to get a (1+\eps)-spanner of size O(n/\eps^d) for $I(V,E,r)$. Our algorithm is simple and can be implemented efficiently

Towards frustration of freezing transition in a binary hard-disk mixture

The freezing mechanism, recently suggested for a monodisperse hard-disk fluid [Huerta et al., Phys. Rev. E, 2006, 74, 061106] is extended here to an equimolar binary hard-disk mixtures. We are showing that for diameter ratios, smaller than 1.15 the global orientational order parameter of the binary mixture behaves like in the case of a monodisperse fluid. Namely, by increasing the disk number density there is a tendency to form a crystalline-like phase. However, for diameter ratios larger than 1.15 the binary mixtures behave like a disordered fluid. We use some of the structural and thermodynamic properties to compare and discuss the behavior as a function of diameter ratio and packing fraction.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure

Binary mixture of hard disks as a model glass former: Caging and uncaging

I have proposed a measure for the cage effect in glass forming systems. A binary mixture of hard disks is numerically studied as a model glass former. A network is constructed on the basis of the colliding pairs of disks. A rigidity matrix is formed from the isostatic (rigid) sub--network, corresponding to a cage. The determinant of the matrix changes its sign when an uncaging event occurs. Time evolution of the number of the uncaging events is determined numerically. I have found that there is a gap in the uncaging timescales between the cages involving different numbers of disks. Caging of one disk by two neighboring disks sustains for a longer time as compared with other cages involving more than one disk. This gap causes two--step relaxation of this system

Phase Changes in an Inelastic Hard Disk System with a Heat Bath under Weak Gravity for Granular Fluidization

We performed numerical simulations on a two-dimensional inelastic hard disk system under gravity with a heat bath to study the dynamics of granular fluidization. Upon increasing the temperature of the heat bath, we found that three phases, namely, the condensed phase, locally fluidized phase, and granular turbulent phase, can be distinguished using the maximum packing fraction and the excitation ratio, or the ratio of the kinetic energy to the potential energy.It is shown that the system behavior in each phase is very different from that of an ordinary vibrating bed.Comment: 4 pages, including 5 figure

Electrical networks and Stephenson's conjecture

In this paper, we consider a planar annulus, i.e., a bounded, two-connected, Jordan domain, endowed with a sequence of triangulations exhausting it. We then construct a corresponding sequence of maps which converge uniformly on compact subsets of the domain, to a conformal homeomorphism onto the interior of a Euclidean annulus bounded by two concentric circles. As an application, we will affirm a conjecture raised by Ken Stephenson in the 90's which predicts that the Riemann mapping can be approximated by a sequence of electrical networks.Comment: Comments are welcome