Fractal Measures of Sea, Lake, Strait, and Dam-Reserve Shores: Calculation, Differentiation, and Interpretation

The fractal dimensions d_f of the shore lines of the Mediterranean, the Aegean, the Black Sea, the Bosphorus Straits (on both the Asian and European sides), the Van Lake, and the lake formed by the Ataturk Dam have been calculated. Important distinctions have been found and explained.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures, 1 tabl

An Analytic Equation of State for Ising-like Models

Using an Environmentally Friendly Renormalization we derive, from an underlying field theory representation, a formal expression for the equation of state, $y=f(x)$, that exhibits all desired asymptotic and analyticity properties in the three limits $x\to 0$, $x\to \infty$ and $x\to -1$. The only necessary inputs are the Wilson functions $\gamma_\lambda$, $\gamma_\phi$ and $\gamma_{\phi^2}$, associated with a renormalization of the transverse vertex functions. These Wilson functions exhibit a crossover between the Wilson-Fisher fixed point and the fixed point that controls the coexistence curve. Restricting to the case N=1, we derive a one-loop equation of state for $2< d<4$ naturally parameterized by a ratio of non-linear scaling fields. For $d=3$ we show that a non-parameterized analytic form can be deduced. Various asymptotic amplitudes are calculated directly from the equation of state in all three asymptotic limits of interest and comparison made with known results. By positing a scaling form for the equation of state inspired by the one-loop result, but adjusted to fit the known values of the critical exponents, we obtain better agreement with known asymptotic amplitudes.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure

The landscape of psoriasis provision in the UK.

Psoriasis remains one of the commonest conditions seen in dermatological practice, and its treatment is one of the greatest cost burdens for the UK National Health Service. Treatment of psoriasis is complex, with numerous overlapping lines and therapies used in combination. This complexity reflects the underlying pathophysiology of the disease as well as the heterogeneous population that it affects. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance for the treatment of psoriasis has been available since 2013, and has been the subject of three national audits conducted by the British Association of Dermatologists. This report synthesizes the results of the most recent of those exercises and places it in the context of the NICE guidance and previous audits. It clearly shows the significant burden of disease, issues with provision of services and long waiting times and the marked shift in therapies towards targeted biologic therapies

Excitation Spectrum Gap and Spin-Wave Stiffness of XXZ Heisenberg Chains: Global Renormalization-Group Calculation

The anisotropic XXZ spin-1/2 Heisenberg chain is studied using renormalization-group theory. The specific heats and nearest-neighbor spin-spin correlations are calculated thoughout the entire temperature and anisotropy ranges in both ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic regions, obtaining a global description and quantitative results. We obtain, for all anisotropies, the antiferromagnetic spin-liquid spin-wave velocity and the Isinglike ferromagnetic excitation spectrum gap, exhibiting the spin-wave to spinon crossover. A number of characteristics of purely quantum nature are found: The in-plane interaction s_i^x s_j^x + s_i^y s_j^y induces an antiferromagnetic correlation in the out-of-plane s_i^z component, at higher temperatures in the antiferromagnetic XXZ chain, dominantly at low temperatures in the ferromagnetic XXZ chain, and, in-between, at all temperatures in the XY chain. We find that the converse effect also occurs in the antiferromagnetic XXZ chain: an antiferromagnetic s_i^z s_j^z interaction induces a correlation in the s_i^xy component. As another purely quantum effect, (i) in the antiferromagnet, the value of the specific heat peak is insensitive to anisotropy and the temperature of the specific heat peak decreases from the isotropic (Heisenberg) with introduction of either type (Ising or XY) anisotropy; (ii) in complete contrast, in the ferromagnet, the value and temperature of the specific heat peak increase with either type of anisotropy.Comment: New results added to text and figures. 12 pages, 18 figures, 3 tables. Published versio

Fractal and Transfractal Recursive Scale-Free Nets

We explore the concepts of self-similarity, dimensionality, and (multi)scaling in a new family of recursive scale-free nets that yield themselves to exact analysis through renormalization techniques. All nets in this family are self-similar and some are fractals - possessing a finite fractal dimension - while others are small world (their diameter grows logarithmically with their size) and are infinite-dimensional. We show how a useful measure of "transfinite" dimension may be defined and applied to the small world nets. Concerning multiscaling, we show how first-passage time for diffusion and resistance between hub (the most connected nodes) scale differently than for other nodes. Despite the different scalings, the Einstein relation between diffusion and conductivity holds separately for hubs and nodes. The transfinite exponents of small world nets obey Einstein relations analogous to those in fractal nets.Comment: Includes small revisions and references added as result of readers' feedbac

The Critical Properties of Two-dimensional Oscillator Arrays

We present a renormalization group study of two dimensional arrays of oscillators, with dissipative, short range interactions. We consider the case of non-identical oscillators, with distributed intrinsic frequencies within the array and study the steady-state properties of the system. In two dimensions no macroscopic mutual entrainment is found but, for identical oscillators, critical behavior of the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless type is shown to be present. We then discuss the stability of (BKT) order in the physical case of distributed quenched random frequencies. In order to do that, we show how the steady-state dynamical properties of the two dimensional array of non-identical oscillators are related to the equilibrium properties of the XY model with quenched randomness, that has been already studied in the past. We propose a novel set of recursion relations to study this system within the Migdal Kadanoff renormalization group scheme, by mean of the discrete clock-state formulation. We compute the phase diagram in the presence of random dissipative coupling, at finite values of the clock state parameter. Possible experimental applications in two dimensional arrays of microelectromechanical oscillators are briefly suggested.Comment: Contribution to the conference "Viewing the World through Spin Glasses" in honour of Professor David Sherrington on the occasion of his 65th birthda

Chaotic Behaviour of Renormalisation Flow in a Complex Magnetic Field

It is demonstrated that decimation of the one dimensional Ising model, with periodic boundary conditions, results in a non-linear renormalisation transformation for the couplings which can lead to chaotic behaviour when the couplings are complex. The recursion relation for the couplings under decimation is equivalent to the logistic map, or more generally the Mandelbrot map. In particular an imaginary external magnetic field can give chaotic trajectories in the space of couplings. The magnitude of the field must be greater than a minimum value which tends to zero as the critical point T=0 is approached, leading to a gap equation and associated critical exponent which are identical to those of the Lee-Yang edge singularity in one dimension.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, PlainTeX, corrected some typo

Novel glassy behavior in a ferromagnetic p-spin model

Recent work has suggested the existence of glassy behavior in a ferromagnetic model with a four-spin interaction. Motivated by these findings, we have studied the dynamics of this model using Monte Carlo simulations with particular attention being paid to two-time quantities. We find that the system shares many features in common with glass forming liquids. In particular, the model exhibits: (i) a very long-lived metastable state, (ii) autocorrelation functions that show stretched exponential relaxation, (iii) a non-equilibrium timescale that appears to diverge at a well defined temperature, and (iv) low temperature aging behaviour characteristic of glasses.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Real-space renormalization group for the random-field Ising model

We present real--space renormalization group (RG) calculations of the critical properties of the random--field Ising model on a cubic lattice in three dimensions. We calculate the RG flows in a two--parameter truncation of the Hamiltonian space. As predicted, the transition at finite randomness is controlled by a zero temperature, disordered critical fixed point, and we exhibit the universal crossover trajectory from the pure Ising critical point. We extract scaling fields and critical exponents, and study the distribution of barrier heights between states as a function of length scale.Comment: 12 pages, CU-MSC-757

Critical Fluctuations and Disorder at the Vortex Liquid to Crystal Transition in Type-II Superconductors

We present a functional renormalization group (FRG) analysis of a Landau-Ginzburg model of type-II superconductors (generalized to $n/2$ complex fields) in a magnetic field, both for a pure system, and in the presence of quenched random impurities. Our analysis is based on a previous FRG treatment of the pure case [E.Br\'ezin et. al., Phys. Rev. B, {\bf 31}, 7124 (1985)] which is an expansion in $\epsilon = 6-d$. If the coupling functions are restricted to the space of functions with non-zero support only at reciprocal lattice vectors corresponding to the Abrikosov lattice, we find a stable FRG fixed point in the presence of disorder for $1<n<4$, identical to that of the disordered $O(n)$ model in $d-2$ dimensions. The pure system has a stable fixed point only for $n>4$ and so the physical case ($n = 2$) is likely to have a first order transition. We speculate that the recent experimental findings that disorder removes the apparent first order transition are consistent with these calculations.Comment: 4 pages, no figures, typeset using revtex (v3.0