4,140 research outputs found
The field inside a random distribution of parallel dipoles
We determine the probability distribution for the field inside a random
uniform distribution of electric or magnetic dipoles.
For parallel dipoles, simulations and an analytical derivation show that
although the average contribution from any spherical shell around the probe
position vanishes, the Levy stable distribution of the field is symmetric
around a non-vanishing field amplitude.
In addition we show how omission of contributions from a small volume around
the probe leads to a field distribution with a vanishing mean, which, in the
limit of vanishing excluded volume, converges to the shifted distribution.Comment: RevTeX, 4 pages, 3 figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Analytical Solution to Transport in Brownian Ratchets via Gambler's Ruin Model
We present an analogy between the classic Gambler's Ruin problem and the
thermally-activated dynamics in periodic Brownian ratchets. By considering each
periodic unit of the ratchet as a site chain, we calculated the transition
probabilities and mean first passage time for transitions between energy minima
of adjacent units. We consider the specific case of Brownian ratchets driven by
Markov dichotomous noise. The explicit solution for the current is derived for
any arbitrary temperature, and is verified numerically by Langevin simulations.
The conditions for vanishing current and current reversal in the ratchet are
obtained and discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Model for Folding and Aggregation in RNA Secondary Structures
We study the statistical mechanics of RNA secondary structures designed to
have an attraction between two different types of structures as a model system
for heteropolymer aggregation. The competition between the branching entropy of
the secondary structure and the energy gained by pairing drives the RNA to
undergo a `temperature independent' second order phase transition from a molten
to an aggregated phase'. The aggregated phase thus obtained has a
macroscopically large number of contacts between different RNAs. The partition
function scaling exponent for this phase is \theta ~ 1/2 and the crossover
exponent of the phase transition is \nu ~ 5/3. The relevance of these
calculations to the aggregation of biological molecules is discussed.Comment: Revtex, 4 pages; 3 Figures; Final published versio
Comparison of prediction methods and studies of relaxation in hypersonic turbulent nozzle-wall boundary layers
Turbulent boundary layer measurements on axisymmetric hypersonic nozzle wall
Distance traveled by random walkers before absorption in a random medium
We consider the penetration length of random walkers diffusing in a
medium of perfect or imperfect absorbers of number density . We solve
this problem on a lattice and in the continuum in all dimensions , by means
of a mean-field renormalization group. For a homogeneous system in , we
find that , where is the absorber density
correlation length. The cases of D=1 and D=2 are also treated. In the presence
of long-range correlations, we estimate the temporal decay of the density of
random walkers not yet absorbed. These results are illustrated by exactly
solvable toy models, and extensive numerical simulations on directed
percolation, where the absorbers are the active sites. Finally, we discuss the
implications of our results for diffusion limited aggregation (DLA), and we
propose a more effective method to measure in DLA clusters.Comment: Final version: also considers the case of imperfect absorber
Transport in a Levy ratchet: Group velocity and distribution spread
We consider the motion of an overdamped particle in a periodic potential
lacking spatial symmetry under the influence of symmetric L\'evy noise, being a
minimal setup for a ``L\'evy ratchet.'' Due to the non-thermal character of the
L\'evy noise, the particle exhibits a motion with a preferred direction even in
the absence of whatever additional time-dependent forces. The examination of
the L\'evy ratchet has to be based on the characteristics of directionality
which are different from typically used measures like mean current and the
dispersion of particles' positions, since these get inappropriate when the
moments of the noise diverge. To overcome this problem, we discuss robust
measures of directionality of transport like the position of the median of the
particles displacements' distribution characterizing the group velocity, and
the interquantile distance giving the measure of the distributions' width.
Moreover, we analyze the behavior of splitting probabilities for leaving an
interval of a given length unveiling qualitative differences between the noises
with L\'evy indices below and above unity. Finally, we inspect the problem of
the first escape from an interval of given length revealing independence of
exit times on the structure of the potential.Comment: 9 pages, 12 figure
Fluctuations of noise and the low frequency cutoff paradox
Recent experiments on blinking quantum dots and weak turbulence in liquid
crystals reveal the fundamental connection between noise and power law
intermittency. The non-stationarity of the process implies that the power
spectrum is random -- a manifestation of weak ergodicity breaking. Here we
obtain the universal distribution of the power spectrum, which can be used to
identify intermittency as the source of the noise. We solve an outstanding
paradox on the non integrability of noise and the violation of Parseval's
theorem. We explain why there is no physical low frequency cutoff and therefore
cannot be found in experiments.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, supplementary material (4 pages
Anomalous biased diffusion in a randomly layered medium
We present analytical results for the biased diffusion of particles moving
under a constant force in a randomly layered medium. The influence of this
medium on the particle dynamics is modeled by a piecewise constant random
force. The long-time behavior of the particle position is studied in the frame
of a continuous-time random walk on a semi-infinite one-dimensional lattice. We
formulate the conditions for anomalous diffusion, derive the diffusion laws and
analyze their dependence on the particle mass and the distribution of the
random force.Comment: 19 pages, 1 figur
Spatiotemporally Complete Condensation in a Non-Poissonian Exclusion Process
We investigate a non-Poissonian version of the asymmetric simple exclusion
process, motivated by the observation that coarse-graining the interactions
between particles in complex systems generically leads to a stochastic process
with a non-Markovian (history-dependent) character. We characterize a large
family of one-dimensional hopping processes using a waiting-time distribution
for individual particle hops. We find that when its variance is infinite, a
real-space condensate forms that is complete in space (involves all particles)
and time (exists at almost any given instant) in the thermodynamic limit. The
mechanism for the onset and stability of the condensate are both rather subtle,
and depends on the microscopic dynamics subsequent to a failed particle hop
attempts.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures. Version 2 to appear in PR
Power-law random walks
We present some new results about the distribution of a random walk whose
independent steps follow a Gaussian distribution with exponent
. In the case we show that a stochastic
representation of the point reached after steps of the walk can be
expressed explicitly for all . In the case we show that the random
walk can be interpreted as a projection of an isotropic random walk, i.e. a
random walk with fixed length steps and uniformly distributed directions.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
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