Supernarrow spectral peaks near a kinetic phase transition in a driven, nonlinear micromechanical oscillator

We measure the spectral densities of fluctuations of an underdamped nonlinear micromechanical oscillator. By applying a sufficiently large periodic excitation, two stable dynamical states are obtained within a particular range of driving frequency. White noise is injected into the excitation, allowing the system to overcome the activation barrier and switch between the two states. While the oscillator predominately resides in one of the two states for most excitation frequencies, a narrow range of frequencies exist where the occupations of the two states are approximately equal. At these frequencies, the oscillator undergoes a kinetic phase transition that resembles the phase transition of thermal equilibrium systems. We observe a supernarrow peak in the power spectral densities of fluctuations of the oscillator. This peak is centered at the excitation frequency and arises as a result of noise-induced transitions between the two dynamical states.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Giant Relaxation Oscillations in a Very Strongly Hysteretic SQUID ring-Tank Circuit System

In this paper we show that the radio frequency (rf) dynamical characteristics of a very strongly hysteretic SQUID ring, coupled to an rf tank circuit resonator, display relaxation oscillations. We demonstrate that the the overall form of these characteristics, together with the relaxation oscillations, can be modelled accurately by solving the quasi-classical non-linear equations of motion for the system. We suggest that in these very strongly hysteretic regimes SQUID ring-resonator systems may find application in novel logic and memory devices.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures. Uploaded as implementing a policy of arXiving old paper

Patient attitudes towards analgesia and their openness to non-pharmacological methods such as acupuncture in the emergency department

Aims: To investigate patient attitudes to analgesia, opioids and non-pharmacological analgesia including acupuncture, in the ED. Methods: ED patients with pain were surveyed regarding: pain scores, satisfaction, addiction concern, non-pharmacological methods of pain relief, and acupuncture. Data were analysed using logistic regression. Results: Of 196 adult patients, 52.8% were ‘very satisfied’ with analgesia. Most patients (84.7%) would accept non-pharmacological methods including acupuncture (68.9%) and 78.6% were not concerned about addiction. Satisfaction was associated with male gender, and ‘adequate analgesia’ but not with opioids. Conclusion: Most patients were generally satisfied with ED analgesia and were open to non-pharmacologic analgesia including acupuncture

Relation between Stochastic Resonance and Synchronization of Passages in a Double-Well System

We calculate, numerically, the residence times (and their distribution) of a Brownian particle in a two-well system under the action of a periodic, saw-tooth type, external field. We define hysteresis in the system. The hysteresis loop area is shown to be a good measure of synchronization of passages from one well to the other. We establish connection between this stochastic synchronization and stochastic resonance in the system.Comment: To appear in PRE May 1997, figures available on reques

Two-state theory of nonlinear Stochastic Resonance

An amenable, analytical two-state description of the nonlinear population dynamics of a noisy bistable system driven by a rectangular subthreshold signal is put forward. Explicit expressions for the driven population dynamics, the correlation function (its coherent and incoherent part), the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and the Stochastic Resonance (SR) gain are obtained. Within a suitably chosen range of parameter values this reduced description yields anomalous SR-gains exceeding unity and, simultaneously, gives rise to a non-monotonic behavior of the SNR vs. the noise strength. The analytical results agree well with those obtained from numerical solutions of the Langevin equation.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur

An Analytical Study of Coupled Two-State Stochastic Resonators

The two-state model of stochastic resonance is extended to a chain of coupled two-state elements governed by the dynamics of Glauber's stochastic Ising model. Appropriate assumptions on the model parameters turn the chain into a prototype system of coupled stochastic resonators. In a weak-signal limit analytical expressions are derived for the spectral power amplification and the signal-to-noise ratio of a two-state element embedded into the chain. The effect of the coupling between the elements on both quantities is analysed and array-enhanced stochastic resonance is established for pure as well as noisy periodic signals. The coupling-induced improvement of the SNR compared to an uncoupled element is shown to be limited by a factor four which is only reached for vanishing input noise.Comment: 29 pages, 5 figure

Pinch Resonances in a Radio Frequency Driven SQUID Ring-Resonator System

In this paper we present experimental data on the frequency domain response of a SQUID ring (a Josephson weak link enclosed by a thick superconducting ring) coupled to a radio frequency (rf) tank circuit resonator. We show that with the ring weakly hysteretic the resonance lineshape of this coupled system can display opposed fold bifurcations that appear to touch (pinch off). We demonstrate that for appropriate circuit parameters these pinch off lineshapes exist as solutions of the non-linear equations of motion for the system.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, Uploaded as implementing a policy of arXiving old paper

Noise and Periodic Modulations in Neural Excitable Media

We have analyzed the interplay between noise and periodic modulations in a mean field model of a neural excitable medium. To this purpose, we have considered two types of modulations; namely, variations of the resistance and oscillations of the threshold. In both cases, stochastic resonance is present, irrespective of if the system is monostable or bistable.Comment: 13 pages, RevTex, 5 PostScript figure

Signatures of chaotic and non-chaotic-like behaviour in a non-linear quantum oscillator through photon detection

The driven non-linear duffing osillator is a very good, and standard, example of a quantum mechanical system from which classical-like orbits can be recovered from unravellings of the master equation. In order to generated such trajectories in the phase space of this oscillator in this paper we use a the quantum jumps unravelling together with a suitable application of the correspondence principle. We analyse the measured readout by considering the power spectra of photon counts produced by the quantum jumps. Here we show that localisation of the wave packet from the measurement of the oscillator by the photon detector produces a concomitant structure in the power spectra of the measured output. Furthermore, we demonstrate that this spectral analysis can be used to distinguish between different modes of the underlying dynamics of the oscillator.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure