500 research outputs found
On the Finite Size Scaling in Disordered Systems
The critical behavior of a quenched random hypercubic sample of linear size
is considered, within the ``random-'' field-theoretical mode, by
using the renormalization group method. A finite-size scaling behavior is
established and analyzed near the upper critical dimension and
some universal results are obtained. The problem of self-averaging is clarified
for different critical regimes.Comment: 21 pages, 2 figures, submitted to the Physcal Review
Two-Dimensional Quantum XY Model with Ring Exchange and External Field
We present the zero-temperature phase diagram of a square lattice quantum
spin 1/2 XY model with four-site ring exchange in a uniform external magnetic
field. Using quantum Monte Carlo techniques, we identify various quantum phase
transitions between the XY-order, striped or valence bond solid, staggered Neel
antiferromagnet and fully polarized ground states of the model. We find no
evidence for a quantum spin liquid phase.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Qubits as Parafermions
Qubits are neither fermions nor bosons. A Fock space description of qubits
leads to a mapping from qubits to parafermions: particles with a hybrid
boson-fermion quantum statistics. We study this mapping in detail, and use it
to provide a classification of the algebras of operators acting on qubits.
These algebras in turn classify the universality of different classes of
physically relevant qubit-qubit interaction Hamiltonians. The mapping is
further used to elucidate the connections between qubits, bosons, and fermions.
These connections allow us to share universality results between the different
particle types. Finally, we use the mapping to study the quantum computational
power of certain anisotropic exchange Hamiltonians. In particular, we prove
that the XY model with nearest-neighbor interactions only is not
computationally universal. We also generalize previous results about universal
quantum computation with encoded qubits to codes with higher rates.Comment: 17 pages, no figures. v3: This version to appear in J. Math. Phys.,
special issue on quantum computatio
Analytical and numerical study of hardcore bosons in two dimensions
We study various properties of bosons in two dimensions interacting only via
onsite hardcore repulsion. In particular, we use the lattice spin-wave
approximation to calculate the ground state energy, the density, the condensate
density and the superfluid density in terms of the chemical potential. We also
calculate the excitation spectrum, . In addition, we performed
high precision numerical simulations using the stochastic series expansion
algorithm. We find that the spin-wave results describe extremely well the
numerical results over the {\it whole} density range . We
also compare the lattice spin-wave results with continuum results obtained by
summing the ladder diagrams at low density. We find that for
there is good agreement, and that the difference between the two methods
vanishes as for . This offers the possibility of obtaining
precise continuum results by taking the continuum limit of the spin-wave
results for all densities. Finaly, we studied numerically the finite
temperature phase transition for the entire density range and compared with low
density predictions.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures include
Programmed health surveillance and detection of emerging diseases in occupational health: contribution of the French national occupational disease surveillance and prevention network (RNV3P)
Objective The French national occupational disease surveillance and prevention network (RNV3P) includes the 30 occupational disease consultation centres in university hospitals to which patients are referred for potentially work-related diseases, and an occupational health service. The aim of this work is to demonstrate the contribution of RNV3P to national health surveillance.Methods Data from consultations are recorded in standardised occupational health reports and coded using international or national classifications. Programmed health surveillance is carried out through annual follow-up of annual referrals to experts for pre-selected disease–exposure associations, as well as incidence estimations for the well characterised working population followed by the occupational health service. Hypotheses on new emerging diseases are generated using statistical methods employed in pharmacosurveillance and by modelling as an exposome to analyse multiple exposures. Results 58 777 occupational health reports were collected and analysed from 2001 to 2007. Referrals to the 30 university hospital centres increased significantly for asbestos-related diseases, mood disorders and adjustment disorders related to psychological and organisational demands, and for elbow and shoulder disorders related to manual handling. Referrals significantly decreased for asthma and for rhinitis related to exposure to organic dusts (vegetable or animal) or chemicals, except for cosmetics and cleaning products. Estimation of incidences by the occupational health services showed different patterns in different sectors of activity. The methods for detecting emerging diseases are presented and illustrated using the example of systemic sclerosis, identifying new exposures and new sectors of activity to be investigated. Conclusion The RNV3P collects data from two complementary samples: 30 university hospital centres (workers or former workers) and an occupational health service (current workers). This dual approach is useful for surveillance and for hypothesis generation on new emerging disease–exposure associations
Transcriptional Responses of Resistant and Susceptible Fish Clones to the Bacterial Pathogen Flavobacterium psychrophilum
Flavobacterium psychrophilum is a bacterial species that represents one of the most important pathogens for aquaculture worldwide, especially for salmonids. To gain insights into the genetic basis of the natural resistance to F. psychrophilum, we selected homozygous clones of rainbow trout with contrasted susceptibility to the infection. We compared the transcriptional response to the bacteria in the pronephros of a susceptible and a resistant line by micro-array analysis five days after infection. While the basal transcriptome of healthy fish was significantly different in the resistant and susceptible lines, the transcriptome modifications induced by the bacteria involved essentially the same genes and pathways. The response to F. psychrophilum involved antimicrobial peptides, complement, and a number of enzymes and chemokines. The matrix metalloproteases mmp9 and mmp13 were among the most highly induced genes in both genetic backgrounds. Key genes of both pro- and anti-inflammatory response such as IL1 and IL10, were up-regulated with a greater magnitude in susceptible animals where the bacterial load was also much higher. While higher resistance to F. psychrophilum does not seem to be based on extensive differences in the orientation of the immune response, several genes including complement C3 showed stronger induction in the resistant fish. They may be important for the variation of susceptibility to the infection
Random walks and polymers in the presence of quenched disorder
After a general introduction to the field, we describe some recent results
concerning disorder effects on both `random walk models', where the random walk
is a dynamical process generated by local transition rules, and on `polymer
models', where each random walk trajectory representing the configuration of a
polymer chain is associated to a global Boltzmann weight. For random walk
models, we explain, on the specific examples of the Sinai model and of the trap
model, how disorder induces anomalous diffusion, aging behaviours and Golosov
localization, and how these properties can be understood via a strong disorder
renormalization approach. For polymer models, we discuss the critical
properties of various delocalization transitions involving random polymers. We
first summarize some recent progresses in the general theory of random critical
points : thermodynamic observables are not self-averaging at criticality
whenever disorder is relevant, and this lack of self-averaging is directly
related to the probability distribution of pseudo-critical temperatures
over the ensemble of samples of size . We describe the
results of this analysis for the bidimensional wetting and for the
Poland-Scheraga model of DNA denaturation.Comment: 17 pages, Conference Proceedings "Mathematics and Physics", I.H.E.S.,
France, November 200
Wang-Landau study of the 3D Ising model with bond disorder
We implement a two-stage approach of the Wang-Landau algorithm to investigate
the critical properties of the 3D Ising model with quenched bond randomness. In
particular, we consider the case where disorder couples to the nearest-neighbor
ferromagnetic interaction, in terms of a bimodal distribution of strong versus
weak bonds. Our simulations are carried out for large ensembles of disorder
realizations and lattices with linear sizes in the range . We apply
well-established finite-size scaling techniques and concepts from the scaling
theory of disordered systems to describe the nature of the phase transition of
the disordered model, departing gradually from the fixed point of the pure
system. Our analysis (based on the determination of the critical exponents)
shows that the 3D random-bond Ising model belongs to the same universality
class with the site- and bond-dilution models, providing a single universality
class for the 3D Ising model with these three types of quenched uncorrelated
disorder.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, to be published in Eur. Phys. J.
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