A model with simultaneous first and second order phase transitions

We introduce a two dimensional nonlinear XY model with a second order phase transition driven by spin waves, together with a first order phase transition in the bond variables between two bond ordered phases, one with local ferromagnetic order and another with local antiferromagnetic order. We also prove that at the transition temperature the bond-ordered phases coexist with a disordered phase as predicted by Domany, Schick and Swendsen. This last result generalizes the result of Shlosman and van Enter (cond-mat/0205455). We argue that these phenomena are quite general and should occur for a large class of potentials.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures using pstricks and pst-coi

Is there still a need for prophylactic intra-abdominal drainage in elective major gastro-intestinal surgery?

SummaryProphylactic drainage of the abdominal cavity after gastro-intestinal surgery is widely used. The rationale is that intra-abdominal drainage enhances early detection of complications (gastro-intestinal leakage, hemorrhage, bile leak), prevents collection of fluid or pus, reduces morbidity and mortality, and decreases the duration of hospital stay. However, dogmatic attitudes favoring systematic drain placement should be questioned. The aim of this review was to evaluate the evidence supporting systematic use of prophylactic abdominal drainage following gastrectomy, pancreatectomy, liver resection, and rectal resection. Based on this review of the literature: (i) there was no evidence in favor of intra-peritoneal drainage following total or sub-total gastrectomy with respect to morbidity-mortality, nor was it helpful in the diagnosis or management of leakage, however the level of evidence is low, (ii) following pancreatic resection, data are conflicting but, overall, suggest that the absence of drainage is prejudicial, and support the notion that short-term drainage is better than long-term drainage, (iii) after liver resection without hepatico-intestinal anastomosis, high level evidence supports that there is no need for abdominal drainage, and (iv) following rectal resection, data are insufficient to establish recommendations. However, results from the French multicenter randomized controlled trial GRECCAR5 (NCT01269567) should provide new evidence this coming year. Accumulating data support that systematic drainage of the abdominal cavity in digestive surgery is a non-beneficial and obsolete practice, except following pancreatectomy where the consensus appears to indicate the usefulness of short-term drainage. While the level of evidence is high for liver resections, new randomized controlled trials are awaited regarding gastric, pancreatic and rectal surgery

Ground states and flux configurations of the two dimensional Falicov-Kimball model

The Falicov-Kimball model is a lattice model of itinerant spinless fermions ("electrons") interacting by an on-site potential with classical particles ("ions"). We continue the investigations of the crystalline ground states that appear for various filling of electrons and ions for large coupling. We investigate the model for square as well as triangular lattices. New ground states are found and the effects of a magnetic flux on the structure of the phase diagram are studied. The flux phase problem where one has to find the optimal flux configurations and the nuclei configurations is also solved in some cases. Finally we consider a model where the fermions are replaced by hard-core bosons. This model also has crystalline ground states. Therefore their existence does not require the Pauli principle, but only the on-site hard-core constraint for the itinerant particles

Mott transition in lattice boson models

We use mathematically rigorous perturbation theory to study the transition between the Mott insulator and the conjectured Bose-Einstein condensate in a hard-core Bose-Hubbard model. The critical line is established to lowest order in the tunneling amplitude.Comment: 20 page

A Finite-Volume Version of Aizenman-Higuchi Theorem for the 2d Ising Model

In the late 1970s, in two celebrated papers, Aizenman and Higuchi independently established that all infinite-volume Gibbs measures of the two-dimensional ferromagnetic nearest-neighbor Ising model are convex combinations of the two pure phases. We present here a new approach to this result, with a number of advantages: (i) We obtain an optimal finite-volume, quantitative analogue (implying the classical claim); (ii) the scheme of our proof seems more natural and provides a better picture of the underlying phenomenon; (iii) this new approach might be applicable to systems for which the classical method fails.Comment: A couple of typos corrected. To appear in Probab. Theory Relat. Field

Correlation inequalities for classical and quantum XY models

We review correlation inequalities of truncated functions for the classical and quantum XY models. A consequence is that the critical temperature of the XY model is necessarily smaller than that of the Ising model, in both the classical and quantum cases. We also discuss an explicit lower bound on the critical temperature of the quantum XY model.Comment: 13 pages. Submitted to the volume "Advances in Quantum Mechanics: contemporary trends and open problems" of the INdAM-Springer series, proceedings of the INdAM meeting "Contemporary Trends in the Mathematics of Quantum Mechanics" (4-8 July 2016) organised by G. Dell'Antonio and A. Michelangel

Self-Assembly of Amphiphilic Block Copolypeptoids - Micelles, Worms and Polymersomes (vol 6, 33491, 2016)

The Acknowledgements section in this Article is incomplete

Recurrent Variational Approach to the Two-Leg Hubbard Ladder

We applied the Recurrent Variational Approach to the two-leg Hubbard ladder. At half-filling, our variational Ansatz was a generalization of the resonating valence bond state. At finite doping, hole pairs were allowed to move in the resonating valence bond background. The results obtained by the Recurrent Variational Approach were compared with results from Density Matrix Renormalization Group.Comment: 10 pages, 14 Postscript figure

Surface tension in the dilute Ising model. The Wulff construction

We study the surface tension and the phenomenon of phase coexistence for the Ising model on \mathbbm{Z}^d ($d \geqslant 2$) with ferromagnetic but random couplings. We prove the convergence in probability (with respect to random couplings) of surface tension and analyze its large deviations : upper deviations occur at volume order while lower deviations occur at surface order. We study the asymptotics of surface tension at low temperatures and relate the quenched value $\tau^q$ of surface tension to maximal flows (first passage times if $d = 2$). For a broad class of distributions of the couplings we show that the inequality $\tau^a \leqslant \tau^q$ -- where $\tau^a$ is the surface tension under the averaged Gibbs measure -- is strict at low temperatures. We also describe the phenomenon of phase coexistence in the dilute Ising model and discuss some of the consequences of the media randomness. All of our results hold as well for the dilute Potts and random cluster models