Natural maps between CAT(0) boundaries

It is shown that certain natural maps between the ideal, Gromov, and end boundaries of a complete CAT(0) space can fail to be either injective or surjective. Additionally the natural map from the Gromov boundary to the end boundary of a complete CAT(-1) space can fail to be either injective or surjective.Comment: 8 page

Optimal Switching for Hybrid Semilinear Evolutions

We consider the optimization of a dynamical system by switching at discrete time points between abstract evolution equations composed by nonlinearly perturbed strongly continuous semigroups, nonlinear state reset maps at mode transition times and Lagrange-type cost functions including switching costs. In particular, for a fixed sequence of modes, we derive necessary optimality conditions using an adjoint equation based representation for the gradient of the costs with respect to the switching times. For optimization with respect to the mode sequence, we discuss a mode-insertion gradient. The theory unifies and generalizes similar approaches for evolutions governed by ordinary and delay differential equations. More importantly, it also applies to systems governed by semilinear partial differential equations including switching the principle part. Examples from each of these system classes are discussed

Instanton constituents in the O(3) model at finite temperature

It is shown that instantons in the O(3) model at finite temperature consist of fractional charge constituents and the (topological) properties of the latter are discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 12 plots in 3 figure

Rough CAT(0) spaces

We investigate various notions of rough CAT(0). These conditions define classes of spaces that strictly include the union of all Gromov hyperbolic length spaces and all CAT(0) spaces.Comment: Corrected typos and updated Corollaries 3.22 and 3.2

Strain localization in a shear transformation zone model for amorphous solids

We model a sheared disordered solid using the theory of Shear Transformation Zones (STZs). In this mean-field continuum model the density of zones is governed by an effective temperature that approaches a steady state value as energy is dissipated. We compare the STZ model to simulations by Shi, et al.(Phys. Rev. Lett. 98 185505 2007), finding that the model generates solutions that fit the data,exhibit strain localization, and capture important features of the localization process. We show that perturbations to the effective temperature grow due to an instability in the transient dynamics, but unstable systems do not always develop shear bands. Nonlinear energy dissipation processes interact with perturbation growth to determine whether a material exhibits strain localization. By estimating the effects of these interactions, we derive a criterion that determines which materials exhibit shear bands based on the initial conditions alone. We also show that the shear band width is not set by an inherent diffusion length scale but instead by a dynamical scale that depends on the imposed strain rate.Comment: 8 figures, references added, typos correcte