Ageing in the contact process: Scaling behavior and universal features

We investigate some aspects of the ageing behavior observed in the contact process after a quench from its active phase to the critical point. In particular we discuss the scaling properties of the two-time response function and we calculate it and its universal ratio to the two-time correlation function up to first order in the field-theoretical epsilon-expansion. The scaling form of the response function does not fit the prediction of the theory of local scale invariance. Our findings are in good qualitative agreement with recent numerical results.Comment: 20 pages, 3 figure

Emergence of superconductivity in the cuprates via a universal percolation process

A pivotal step toward understanding unconventional superconductors would be to decipher how superconductivity emerges from the unusual normal state upon cooling. In the cuprates, traces of superconducting pairing appear above the macroscopic transition temperature $T_c$, yet extensive investigation has led to disparate conclusions. The main difficulty has been the separation of superconducting contributions from complex normal state behaviour. Here we avoid this problem by measuring the nonlinear conductivity, an observable that is zero in the normal state. We uncover for several representative cuprates that the nonlinear conductivity vanishes exponentially above $T_c$, both with temperature and magnetic field, and exhibits temperature-scaling characterized by a nearly universal scale $T_0$. Attempts to model the response with the frequently evoked Ginzburg-Landau theory are unsuccessful. Instead, our findings are captured by a simple percolation model that can also explain other properties of the cuprates. We thus resolve a long-standing conundrum by showing that the emergence of superconductivity in the cuprates is dominated by their inherent inhomogeneity

Realization of the Optimal Universal Quantum Entangler

We present the first experimental demonstration of the ''optimal'' and ''universal'' quantum entangling process involving qubits encoded in the polarization of single photons. The structure of the ''quantum entangling machine'' consists of the quantum injected optical parametric amplifier by which the contextual realization of the 1->2 universal quantum cloning and of the universal NOT (U-NOT) gate has also been achieved.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, to appear in Physical Review

The largest root of random Kac polynomials is heavy tailed

We prove that the largest and smallest root in modulus of random Kac polynomials have a non-universal behavior. They do not converge towards the edge of the support of the limiting distribution of the zeros. This non-universality is surprising as the large deviation principle for the empirical measure is universal. This is in sharp contrast with random matrix theory where the large deviation principle is non-universal but the fluctuations of the largest eigenvalue are universal. We show that the modulus of the largest zero is heavy tailed, with a number of finite moments bounded from above by the behavior at the origin of the distribution of the coefficients. We also prove that the random process of the roots of modulus smaller than one converges towards a limit point process. Finally, in the case of complex Gaussian coefficients, we use the work of Peres and Vir{\'a}g [PV05] to obtain explicit formulas for the limiting objects

Universal representations of braid and braid-permutation groups

Drinfel'd used associators to construct families of universal representations of braid groups. We consider semi-associators (i.e., we drop the pentagonal axiom and impose a normalization in degree one). We show that the process may be reversed, to obtain semi-associators from universal representations of 3-braids. We view braid groups as subgroups of braid-permutation groups. We construct a family of universal representations of braid-permutation groups, without using associators. All representations in the family are faithful, defined over \bbQ by simple explicit formulae. We show that they give universal Vassiliev-type invariants for braid-permutation groups.Comment: 19 pages, references adde

Bubble break-off in Hele-Shaw flows : Singularities and integrable structures

Bubbles of inviscid fluid surrounded by a viscous fluid in a Hele-Shaw cell can merge and break-off. During the process of break-off, a thinning neck pinches off to a universal self-similar singularity. We describe this process and reveal its integrable structure: it is a solution of the dispersionless limit of the AKNS hierarchy. The singular break-off patterns are universal, not sensitive to details of the process and can be seen experimentally. We briefly discuss the dispersive regularization of the Hele-Shaw problem and the emergence of the Painlev\'e II equation at the break-off.Comment: 27 pages, 9 figures; typo correcte

The universal Airy_1 and Airy_2 processes in the Totally Asymmetric Simple Exclusion Process

In the totally asymmetric simple exclusion process (TASEP) two processes arise in the large time limit: the Airy_1 and Airy_2 processes. The Airy_2 process is an universal limit process occurring also in other models: in a stochastic growth model on 1+1-dimensions, 2d last passage percolation, equilibrium crystals, and in random matrix diffusion. The Airy_1 and Airy_2 processes are defined and discussed in the context of the TASEP. We also explain a geometric representation of the TASEP from which the connection to growth models and directed last passage percolation is immediate.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, proceeding for the conference in honor of Percy Deift's 60th birthda