The Height of a Giraffe

A minor modification of the arguments of Press and Lightman leads to an estimate of the height of the tallest running, breathing organism on a habitable planet as the Bohr radius multiplied by the three-tenths power of the ratio of the electrical to gravitational forces between two protons (rather than the one-quarter power that Press got for the largest animal that would not break in falling over, after making an assumption of unreasonable brittleness). My new estimate gives a height of about 3.6 meters rather than Press's original estimate of about 2.6 cm. It also implies that the number of atoms in the tallest runner is very roughly of the order of the nine-tenths power of the ratio of the electrical to gravitational forces between two protons, which is about 3 x 10^32.Comment: 12 pages, LaTe

Vortex Fractionalization in a Josephson Ladder

We show numerically that, in a Josephson ladder with periodic boundary conditions and subject to a suitable transverse magnetic field, a vortex excitation can spontaneously break up into two or more fractional excitations. If the ladder has N plaquettes, and N is divisible by an integer q, then in an applied transverse field of 1/q flux quanta per plaquette the ground state is a regular pattern of one fluxon every q plaquettes. When one additional fluxon is added to the ladder, it breaks up into q fractional fluxons, each carrying 1/q units of vorticity. The fractional fluxons are basically walls between different domains of the ground state of the underlying 1/q lattice. The fractional fluxons are all depinned at the same applied current and move as a unit. For certain applied fields and ladder lengths, we show that there are isolated fractional fluxons. It is shown that the fractional fluxons would produce a time-averaged voltage related in a characteristic way to the ac voltage frequency.Comment: 13 Figures. 10 page

Destruction of Anderson localization by a weak nonlinearity

We study numerically a spreading of an initially localized wave packet in a one-dimensional discrete nonlinear Schr\"odinger lattice with disorder. We demonstrate that above a certain critical strength of nonlinearity the Anderson localization is destroyed and an unlimited subdiffusive spreading of the field along the lattice occurs. The second moment grows with time $\propto t^\alpha$, with the exponent $\alpha$ being in the range $0.3 - 0.4$. For small nonlinearities the distribution remains localized in a way similar to the linear case.Comment: 4 pages, 5 fig

Estimating statistical distributions using an integral identity

We present an identity for an unbiased estimate of a general statistical distribution. The identity computes the distribution density from dividing a histogram sum over a local window by a correction factor from a mean-force integral, and the mean force can be evaluated as a configuration average. We show that the optimal window size is roughly the inverse of the local mean-force fluctuation. The new identity offers a more robust and precise estimate than a previous one by Adib and Jarzynski [J. Chem. Phys. 122, 014114, (2005)]. It also allows a straightforward generalization to an arbitrary ensemble and a joint distribution of multiple variables. Particularly we derive a mean-force enhanced version of the weighted histogram analysis method (WHAM). The method can be used to improve distributions computed from molecular simulations. We illustrate the use in computing a potential energy distribution, a volume distribution in a constant-pressure ensemble, a radial distribution function and a joint distribution of amino acid backbone dihedral angles.Comment: 45 pages, 7 figures, simplified derivation, a more general mean-force formula, add discussions to the window size, add extensions to WHAM, and 2d distribution

Black Hole-Neutron Star Mergers: Disk Mass Predictions

Determining the final result of black hole-neutron star mergers, and in particular the amount of matter remaining outside the black hole at late times and its properties, has been one of the main motivations behind the numerical simulation of these systems. Black hole-neutron star binaries are amongst the most likely progenitors of short gamma-ray bursts --- as long as massive (probably a few percents of a solar mass), hot accretion disks are formed around the black hole. Whether this actually happens strongly depends on the physical characteristics of the system, and in particular on the mass ratio, the spin of the black hole, and the radius of the neutron star. We present here a simple two-parameter model, fitted to existing numerical results, for the determination of the mass remaining outside the black hole a few milliseconds after a black hole-neutron star merger (i.e. the combined mass of the accretion disk, the tidal tail, and the potential ejecta). This model predicts the remnant mass within a few percents of the mass of the neutron star, at least for remnant masses up to 20% of the neutron star mass. Results across the range of parameters deemed to be the most likely astrophysically are presented here. We find that, for 10 solar mass black holes, massive disks are only possible for large neutron stars (R>12km), or quasi-extremal black hole spins (a/M>0.9). We also use our model to discuss how the equation of state of the neutron star affects the final remnant, and the strong influence that this can have on the rate of short gamma-ray bursts produced by black hole-neutron star mergers.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figure

Stable resonances and signal propagation in a chaotic network of coupled units

We apply the linear response theory developed in \cite{Ruelle} to analyze how a periodic signal of weak amplitude, superimposed upon a chaotic background, is transmitted in a network of non linearly interacting units. We numerically compute the complex susceptibility and show the existence of specific poles (stable resonances) corresponding to the response to perturbations transverse to the attractor. Contrary to the poles of correlation functions they depend on the pair emitting/receiving units. This dynamic differentiation, induced by non linearities, exhibits the different ability that units have to transmit a signal in this network.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, to appear in Phys. rev.

Quantum interference effects in particle transport through square lattices

We study the transport of a quantum particle through square lattices of various sizes by employing the tight-binding Hamiltonian from quantum percolation. Input and output semi-infinite chains are attached to the lattice either by diagonal point to point contacts or by a busbar connection. We find resonant transmission and reflection occuring whenever the incident particle's energy is near an eigenvalue of the lattice alone (i.e., the lattice without the chains attached). We also find the transmission to be strongly dependent on the way the chains are attached to the lattice.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

A statistical mechanics model for free-for-all airplane passenger boarding

I present and discuss a model for the free-for-all passenger boarding which is employed by some discount air carriers. The model is based on the principles of statistical mechanics where each seat in the aircraft has an associated energy which reflects the preferences of the population of air travelers. As each passenger enters the airplane they select their seats using Boltzmann statistics, proceed to that location, load their luggage, sit down, and the partition function seen by remaining passengers is modified to reflect this fact. I discuss the various model parameters and make qualitative comparisons of this passenger boarding model with models which involve assigned seats. This model can also be used to predict the probability that certain seats will be occupied at different times during the boarding process. These results may be of value to industry professionals as a useful description of this boarding method. However, it also has significant value as a pedagogical tool since it is a relatively unusual application of undergraduate level physics and it describes a situation with which many students and faculty may be familiar.Comment: version 1: 4 pages 2 figures version 2: 7 pages with 5 figure

Phase separation of binary condensates in harmonic and lattice potentials

We propose a modified Gaussian ansatz to study binary condensates, trapped in harmonic and optical lattice potentials, both in miscible and immiscible domains. The ansatz is an apt one as it leads to the smooth transition from miscible to immiscible domains without any {\em a priori} assumptions. In optical lattice potentials, we analyze the squeezing of the density profiles due to the increase in the depth of the optical lattice potential. For this we develop a model with three potential wells, and define the relationship between the lattice depth and profile of the condensate.Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures, additional references adde