18,112 research outputs found
Emergence of macroscopic directed motion in populations of motile colloids
From the formation of animal flocks to the emergence of coordinate motion in
bacterial swarms, at all scales populations of motile organisms display
coherent collective motion. This consistent behavior strongly contrasts with
the difference in communication abilities between the individuals. Guided by
this universal feature, physicists have proposed that solely alignment rules at
the individual level could account for the emergence of unidirectional motion
at the group level. This hypothesis has been supported by agent-based
simulations. However, more complex collective behaviors have been
systematically found in experiments including the formation of vortices,
fluctuating swarms, clustering and swirling. All these model systems
predominantly rely on actual collisions to display collective motion. As a
result, the potential local alignment rules are entangled with more complex,
often unknown, interactions. The large-scale behavior of the populations
therefore depends on these uncontrolled microscopic couplings. Here, we
demonstrate a new phase of active matter. We reveal that dilute populations of
millions of colloidal rollers self-organize to achieve coherent motion along a
unique direction, with very few density and velocity fluctuations. Identifying
the microscopic interactions between the rollers allows a theoretical
description of this polar-liquid state. Comparison of the theory with
experiment suggests that hydrodynamic interactions promote the emergence of
collective motion either in the form of a single macroscopic flock at low
densities, or in that of a homogenous polar phase at higher densities.
Furthermore, hydrodynamics protects the polar-liquid state from the giant
density fluctuations. Our experiments demonstrate that genuine physical
interactions at the individual level are sufficient to set homogeneous active
populations into stable directed motion
Synchrony breakdown and noise-induced oscillation death in ensembles of serially connected spin-torque oscillators
We consider collective dynamics in the ensemble of serially connected
spin-torque oscillators governed by the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert-Slonczewski
magnetization equation. Proximity to homoclinicity hampers synchronization of
spin-torque oscillators: when the synchronous ensemble experiences the
homoclinic bifurcation, the Floquet multiplier, responsible for the temporal
evolution of small deviations from the ensemble mean, diverges. Depending on
the configuration of the contour, sufficiently strong common noise, exemplified
by stochastic oscillations of the current through the circuit, may suppress
precession of the magnetic field for all oscillators. We derive the explicit
expression for the threshold amplitude of noise, enabling this suppression.Comment: 12 pages, 13 figure
Feedback control of spin systems
The feedback stabilization problem for ensembles of coupled spin 1/2 systems
is discussed from a control theoretic perspective. The noninvasive nature of
the bulk measurement allows for a fully unitary and deterministic closed loop.
The Lyapunov-based feedback design presented does not require spins that are
selectively addressable. With this method, it is possible to obtain control
inputs also for difficult tasks, like suppressing undesired couplings in
identical spin systems.Comment: 16 pages, 15 figure
Holography of AdS vacuum bubbles
We consider the fate of AdS vacua connected by tunneling events. A precise
holographic dual of thin-walled Coleman--de Luccia bounces is proposed in terms
of Fubini instantons in an unstable CFT. This proposal is backed by several
qualitative and quantitative checks, including the precise calculation of the
instanton action appearing in evaluating the decay rate. Big crunches manifest
themselves as time dependent processes which reach the boundary of field space
in a finite time. The infinite energy difference involved is identified on the
boundary and highlights the ill-defined nature of the bulk setup. We propose a
qualitative scenario in which the crunch is resolved by stabilizing the CFT, so
that all attempts at crunching always end up shielded from the boundary by the
formation of black hole horizons. In all these well defined bulk processes the
configurations have the same asymptotics and are finite energy excitations.Comment: version submitted to journal. Note added referring to previous work
on holographic instantons
Stabilizing an Attractive Bose-Einstein Condensate by Driving a Surface Collective Mode
Bose-Einstein condensates of Li have been limited in number due to
attractive interatomic interactions. Beyond this number, the condensate
undergoes collective collapse. We study theoretically the effect of driving
low-lying collective modes of the condensate by a weak asymmetric sinusoidally
time-dependent field. We find that driving the radial breathing mode further
destabilizes the condensate, while excitation of the quadrupolar surface mode
causes the condensate to become more stable by imparting quasi-angular momentum
to it. We show that a significantly larger number of atoms may occupy the
condensate, which can then be sustained almost indefinitely. All effects are
predicted to be clearly visible in experiments and efforts are under way for
their experimental realization.Comment: 4 ReVTeX pages + 2 postscript figure
Matrix Theory for the DLCQ of Type IIB String Theory on the AdS/Plane-wave
We propose a recipe to construct the DLCQ Hamiltonian of type IIB string
theory on the AdS (and/or plane-wave) background. We consider a system of J
number of coincident unstable non-BPS D0-branes of IIB theory in the light-cone
gauge and on the plane-wave background with a compact null direction, the
dynamics of which is described by the world-line U(J) gauge theory. This
configuration suffers from tachyonic instabilities. Having instabilities been
cured through the process of open string tachyon condensation, by expanding the
theory about true minima of the effective potential and furthermore taking low
energy limit to decouple the heavy modes, we end up with a 0+1-dimensional
supersymmetric U(J) gauge theory, a Matrix Theory. We conjecture that the
Hamiltonian of this Matrix Theory is just the DLCQ Hamiltonian of type IIB
string theory on the AdS or equivalently plane-wave background in a sector with
J units of light-cone momentum. We present some pieces of evidence in support
of the proposal.Comment: LaTeX, 35 pages, 2 eps figures; v2: minor changes, references added;
v3: minor change
Hydrodynamic synchronization of flagellar oscillators
We survey the theory synchronization in collections of noisy oscillators.
This framework is applied to flagellar synchronization by hydrodynamic
interactions. The time-reversibility of hydrodynamics at low Reynolds numbers
prompts swimming strokes that break symmetry to facilitate hydrodynamic
synchronization. We discuss different physical mechanisms for flagellar
synchronization, which break this symmetry in different ways.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures; accepted for publication in EPJ Special Topics
Issue,Lecture Notes of the Summer School "Microswimmers -- From Single
Particle Motion to Collective Behaviour'', organised by the DFG Priority
Programme SPP 1726 (Forschungszentrum J\"ulich, J\"ulich, 2015
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