Interface Unbinding in Structured Wedges

The unbinding properties of an interface near structured wedges are investigated by discrete models with short range interactions. The calculations demonstrate that interface unbinding take place in two stages: $i$) a continuous filling--like transition in the pure wedge--like parts of the structure; $ii$) a conclusive discontinuous unbinding. In 2$D$ an exact transfer matrix approach allows to extract the whole interface phase diagram and the precise mechanism at the basis of the phenomenon. The Metropolis Monte Carlo simulations performed in 3$D$ reveal an analogous behavior. The emerging scenario allows to shed new light onto the problem of wetting of geometrically rough walls.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Ground State Wave Function of the Schr\"odinger Equation in a Time-Periodic Potential

Using a generalized transfer matrix method we exactly solve the Schr\"odinger equation in a time periodic potential, with discretized Euclidean space-time. The ground state wave function propagates in space and time with an oscillating soliton-like wave packet and the wave front is wedge shaped. In a statistical mechanics framework our solution represents the partition sum of a directed polymer subjected to a potential layer with alternating (attractive and repulsive) pinning centers.Comment: 11 Pages in LaTeX. A set of 2 PostScript figures available upon request at [email protected] . Physical Review Letter

Finite Temperature Depinning of a Flux Line from a Nonuniform Columnar Defect

A flux line in a Type-II superconductor with a single nonuniform columnar defect is studied by a perturbative diagrammatic expansion around an annealed approximation. The system undergoes a finite temperature depinning transition for the (rather unphysical) on-the-average repulsive columnar defect, provided that the fluctuations along the axis are sufficiently large to cause some portions of the column to become attractive. The perturbative expansion is convergent throughout the weak pinning regime and becomes exact as the depinning transition is approached, providing an exact determination of the depinning temperature and the divergence of the localization length.Comment: RevTeX, 4 pages, 3 EPS figures embedded with epsf.st

Quantum interface unbinding transitions

We consider interfacial phenomena accompanying bulk quantum phase transitions in presence of surface fields. On general grounds we argue that the surface contribution to the system free energy involves a line of singularities characteristic of an interfacial phase transition, occurring below the bulk transition temperature T_c down to T=0. This implies the occurrence of an interfacial quantum critical regime extending into finite temperatures and located within the portion of the phase diagram where the bulk is ordered. Even in situations, where the bulk order sets in discontinuously at T=0, the system's behavior at the boundary may be controlled by a divergent length scale if the tricritical temperature is sufficiently low. Relying on an effective interfacial model we compute the surface phase diagram in bulk spatial dimensionality $d\geq 2$ and extract the values of the exponents describing the interfacial singularities in $d\geq 3$

Kinetic Monte Carlo and Cellular Particle Dynamics Simulations of Multicellular Systems

Computer modeling of multicellular systems has been a valuable tool for interpreting and guiding in vitro experiments relevant to embryonic morphogenesis, tumor growth, angiogenesis and, lately, structure formation following the printing of cell aggregates as bioink particles. Computer simulations based on Metropolis Monte Carlo (MMC) algorithms were successful in explaining and predicting the resulting stationary structures (corresponding to the lowest adhesion energy state). Here we present two alternatives to the MMC approach for modeling cellular motion and self-assembly: (1) a kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC), and (2) a cellular particle dynamics (CPD) method. Unlike MMC, both KMC and CPD methods are capable of simulating the dynamics of the cellular system in real time. In the KMC approach a transition rate is associated with possible rearrangements of the cellular system, and the corresponding time evolution is expressed in terms of these rates. In the CPD approach cells are modeled as interacting cellular particles (CPs) and the time evolution of the multicellular system is determined by integrating the equations of motion of all CPs. The KMC and CPD methods are tested and compared by simulating two experimentally well known phenomena: (1) cell-sorting within an aggregate formed by two types of cells with different adhesivities, and (2) fusion of two spherical aggregates of living cells.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures; submitted to Phys Rev

The dynamics of coset dimensional reduction

The evolution of multiple scalar fields in cosmology has been much studied, particularly when the potential is formed from a series of exponentials. For a certain subclass of such systems it is possible to get `assisted` behaviour, where the presence of multiple terms in the potential effectively makes it shallower than the individual terms indicate. It is also known that when compactifying on coset spaces one can achieve a consistent truncation to an effective theory which contains many exponential terms, however, if there are too many exponentials then exact scaling solutions do not exist. In this paper we study the potentials arising from such compactifications of eleven dimensional supergravity and analyse the regions of parameter space which could lead to scaling behaviour.Comment: 27 pages, 4 figures; added citation

Stability Analysis of Superconducting Electroweak Vortices

We carry out a detailed stability analysis of the superconducting vortex solutions in the Weinberg-Salam theory described in Nucl.Phys. B826 (2010) 174. These vortices are characterized by constant electric current $I$ and electric charge density $I_0$, for ${I}\to 0$ they reduce to Z strings. We consider the generic field fluctuations around the vortex and apply the functional Jacobi criterion to detect the negative modes in the fluctuation operator spectrum. We find such modes and determine their dispersion relation, they turn out to be of two different types, according to their spatial behavior. There are non-periodic in space negative modes, which can contribute to the instability of infinitely long vortices, but they can be eliminated by imposing the periodic boundary conditions along the vortex. There are also periodic negative modes, but their wavelength is always larger than a certain minimal value, so that they cannot be accommodated by the short vortex segments. However, even for the latter there remains one negative mode responsible for the homogeneous expansion instability. This mode may probably be eliminated when the vortex segment is bent into a loop. This suggests that small vortex loops balanced against contraction by the centrifugal force could perhaps be stable.Comment: 42 pages, 11 figure

Equilibrium of anchored interfaces with quenched disordered growth

The roughening behavior of a one-dimensional interface fluctuating under quenched disorder growth is examined while keeping an anchored boundary. The latter introduces detailed balance conditions which allows for a thorough analysis of equilibrium aspects at both macroscopic and microscopic scales. It is found that the interface roughens linearly with the substrate size only in the vicinity of special disorder realizations. Otherwise, it remains stiff and tilted.Comment: 6 pages, 3 postscript figure

Universal Asymptotic Statistics of Maximal Relative Height in One-dimensional Solid-on-solid Models

We study the probability density function $P(h_m,L)$ of the maximum relative height $h_m$ in a wide class of one-dimensional solid-on-solid models of finite size $L$. For all these lattice models, in the large $L$ limit, a central limit argument shows that, for periodic boundary conditions, $P(h_m,L)$ takes a universal scaling form $P(h_m,L) \sim (\sqrt{12}w_L)^{-1}f(h_m/(\sqrt{12} w_L))$, with $w_L$ the width of the fluctuating interface and $f(x)$ the Airy distribution function. For one instance of these models, corresponding to the extremely anisotropic Ising model in two dimensions, this result is obtained by an exact computation using transfer matrix technique, valid for any $L>0$. These arguments and exact analytical calculations are supported by numerical simulations, which show in addition that the subleading scaling function is also universal, up to a non universal amplitude, and simply given by the derivative of the Airy distribution function $f'(x)$.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure