The Entropy Influence Conjecture Revisited

In this paper, we prove that most of the boolean functions, $f : \{-1,1\}^n \rightarrow \{-1,1\}$ satisfy the Fourier Entropy Influence (FEI) Conjecture due to Friedgut and Kalai (Proc. AMS'96). The conjecture says that the Entropy of a boolean function is at most a constant times the Influence of the function. The conjecture has been proven for families of functions of smaller sizes. O'donnell, Wright and Zhou (ICALP'11) verified the conjecture for the family of symmetric functions, whose size is $2^{n+1}$. They are in fact able to prove the conjecture for the family of $d$-part symmetric functions for constant $d$, the size of whose is $2^{O(n^d)}$. Also it is known that the conjecture is true for a large fraction of polynomial sized DNFs (COLT'10). Using elementary methods we prove that a random function with high probability satisfies the conjecture with the constant as $(2 + \delta)$, for any constant $\delta > 0$.Comment: We thank Kunal Dutta and Justin Salez for pointing out that our result can be extended to a high probability statemen

Phase transitions and configuration space topology

Equilibrium phase transitions may be defined as nonanalytic points of thermodynamic functions, e.g., of the canonical free energy. Given a certain physical system, it is of interest to understand which properties of the system account for the presence of a phase transition, and an understanding of these properties may lead to a deeper understanding of the physical phenomenon. One possible approach of this issue, reviewed and discussed in the present paper, is the study of topology changes in configuration space which, remarkably, are found to be related to equilibrium phase transitions in classical statistical mechanical systems. For the study of configuration space topology, one considers the subsets M_v, consisting of all points from configuration space with a potential energy per particle equal to or less than a given v. For finite systems, topology changes of M_v are intimately related to nonanalytic points of the microcanonical entropy (which, as a surprise to many, do exist). In the thermodynamic limit, a more complex relation between nonanalytic points of thermodynamic functions (i.e., phase transitions) and topology changes is observed. For some class of short-range systems, a topology change of the M_v at v=v_t was proved to be necessary for a phase transition to take place at a potential energy v_t. In contrast, phase transitions in systems with long-range interactions or in systems with non-confining potentials need not be accompanied by such a topology change. Instead, for such systems the nonanalytic point in a thermodynamic function is found to have some maximization procedure at its origin. These results may foster insight into the mechanisms which lead to the occurrence of a phase transition, and thus may help to explore the origin of this physical phenomenon.Comment: 22 pages, 6 figure

Quark matter revisited with non extensive MIT bag model

In this work we revisit the MIT bag model to describe quark matter within both the usual Fermi-Dirac and the Tsallis statistics. We verify the effects of the non-additivity of the latter by analysing two different pictures: the first order phase transition of the QCD phase diagram and stellar matter properties. While, the QCD phase diagram is visually affected by the Tsallis statistics, the resulting effects on quark star macroscopic properties are barely noticed.Comment: 10 pagens, 5 figure

Metric Features of a Dipolar Model

The lattice spin model, with nearest neighbor ferromagnetic exchange and long range dipolar interaction, is studied by the method of time series for observables based on cluster configurations and associated partitions, such as Shannon entropy, Hamming and Rohlin distances. Previous results based on the two peaks shape of the specific heat, suggested the existence of two possible transitions. By the analysis of the Shannon entropy we are able to prove that the first one is a true phase transition corresponding to a particular melting process of oriented domains, where colored noise is present almost independently of true fractality. The second one is not a real transition and it may be ascribed to a smooth balancing between two geometrical effects: a progressive fragmentation of the big clusters (possibly creating fractals), and the slow onset of a small clusters chaotic phase. Comparison with the nearest neighbor Ising ferromagnetic system points out a substantial difference in the cluster geometrical properties of the two models and in their critical behavior.Comment: 20 pages, 15 figures, submitted to JPhys