28 research outputs found
Finding passwords by random walks: How long does it take?
We compare an efficiency of a deterministic "lawnmower" and random search
strategies for finding a prescribed sequence of letters (a password) of length
M in which all letters are taken from the same Q-ary alphabet. We show that at
best a random search takes two times longer than a "lawnmower" search.Comment: To appear in J. Phys. A, special issue on "Random Search Problem:
Trends and Perspectives", eds.: MEG da Luz, E Raposo, GM Viswanathan and A
Grosber
Spherical codes, maximal local packing density, and the golden ratio
The densest local packing (DLP) problem in d-dimensional Euclidean space Rd
involves the placement of N nonoverlapping spheres of unit diameter near an
additional fixed unit-diameter sphere such that the greatest distance from the
center of the fixed sphere to the centers of any of the N surrounding spheres
is minimized. Solutions to the DLP problem are relevant to the realizability of
pair correlation functions for packings of nonoverlapping spheres and might
prove useful in improving upon the best known upper bounds on the maximum
packing fraction of sphere packings in dimensions greater than three. The
optimal spherical code problem in Rd involves the placement of the centers of N
nonoverlapping spheres of unit diameter onto the surface of a sphere of radius
R such that R is minimized. It is proved that in any dimension, all solutions
between unity and the golden ratio to the optimal spherical code problem for N
spheres are also solutions to the corresponding DLP problem. It follows that
for any packing of nonoverlapping spheres of unit diameter, a spherical region
of radius less than or equal to the golden ratio centered on an arbitrary
sphere center cannot enclose a number of sphere centers greater than one more
than the number that can be placed on the region's surface.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figure. Accepted for publication in the Journal of
Mathematical Physic
Estimates of the optimal density and kissing number of sphere packings in high dimensions
The problem of finding the asymptotic behavior of the maximal density of
sphere packings in high Euclidean dimensions is one of the most fascinating and
challenging problems in discrete geometry. One century ago, Minkowski obtained
a rigorous lower bound that is controlled asymptotically by , where
is the Euclidean space dimension. An indication of the difficulty of the
problem can be garnered from the fact that exponential improvement of
Minkowski's bound has proved to be elusive, even though existing upper bounds
suggest that such improvement should be possible. Using a
statistical-mechanical procedure to optimize the density associated with a
"test" pair correlation function and a conjecture concerning the existence of
disordered sphere packings [S. Torquato and F. H. Stillinger, Experimental
Math. {\bf 15}, 307 (2006)], the putative exponential improvement was found
with an asymptotic behavior controlled by . Using the same
methods, we investigate whether this exponential improvement can be further
improved by exploring other test pair correlation functions correponding to
disordered packings. We demonstrate that there are simpler test functions that
lead to the same asymptotic result. More importantly, we show that there is a
wide class of test functions that lead to precisely the same exponential
improvement and therefore the asymptotic form is much
more general than previously surmised.Comment: 23 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Application of Edwards' statistical mechanics to high dimensional jammed sphere packings
The isostatic jamming limit of frictionless spherical particles from Edwards'
statistical mechanics [Song \emph{et al.}, Nature (London) {\bf 453}, 629
(2008)] is generalized to arbitrary dimension using a liquid-state
description. The asymptotic high-dimensional behavior of the self-consistent
relation is obtained by saddle-point evaluation and checked numerically. The
resulting random close packing density scaling is
consistent with that of other approaches, such as replica theory and density
functional theory. The validity of various structural approximations is
assessed by comparing with three- to six-dimensional isostatic packings
obtained from simulations. These numerical results support a growing accuracy
of the theoretical approach with dimension. The approach could thus serve as a
starting point to obtain a geometrical understanding of the higher-order
correlations present in jammed packings.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figure
On the most compact regular lattice in large dimensions: A statistical mechanical approach
In this paper I will approach the computation of the maximum density of
regular lattices in large dimensions using a statistical mechanics approach.
The starting point will be some theorems of Roger, which are virtually unknown
in the community of physicists. Using his approach one can see that there are
many similarities (and differences) with the problem of computing the entropy
of a liquid of perfect spheres. The relation between the two problems is
investigated in details. Some conjectures are presented, that need further
investigation in order to check their consistency.Comment: 27 page
Mean field theory of hard sphere glasses and jamming
Hard spheres are ubiquitous in condensed matter: they have been used as
models for liquids, crystals, colloidal systems, granular systems, and powders.
Packings of hard spheres are of even wider interest, as they are related to
important problems in information theory, such as digitalization of signals,
error correcting codes, and optimization problems. In three dimensions the
densest packing of identical hard spheres has been proven to be the FCC
lattice, and it is conjectured that the closest packing is ordered (a regular
lattice, e.g, a crystal) in low enough dimension. Still, amorphous packings
have attracted a lot of interest, because for polydisperse colloids and
granular materials the crystalline state is not obtained in experiments for
kinetic reasons. We review here a theory of amorphous packings, and more
generally glassy states, of hard spheres that is based on the replica method:
this theory gives predictions on the structure and thermodynamics of these
states. In dimensions between two and six these predictions can be successfully
compared with numerical simulations. We will also discuss the limit of large
dimension where an exact solution is possible. Some of the results we present
here have been already published, but others are original: in particular we
improved the discussion of the large dimension limit and we obtained new
results on the correlation function and the contact force distribution in three
dimensions. We also try here to clarify the main assumptions that are beyond
our theory and in particular the relation between our static computation and
the dynamical procedures used to construct amorphous packings.Comment: 59 pages, 25 figures. Final version published on Rev.Mod.Phy
Random Sequential Addition of Hard Spheres in High Euclidean Dimensions
Employing numerical and theoretical methods, we investigate the structural
characteristics of random sequential addition (RSA) of congruent spheres in
-dimensional Euclidean space in the infinite-time or
saturation limit for the first six space dimensions ().
Specifically, we determine the saturation density, pair correlation function,
cumulative coordination number and the structure factor in each =of these
dimensions. We find that for , the saturation density
scales with dimension as , where and
. We also show analytically that the same density scaling
persists in the high-dimensional limit, albeit with different coefficients. A
byproduct of this high-dimensional analysis is a relatively sharp lower bound
on the saturation density for any given by , where is the structure factor at
(i.e., infinite-wavelength number variance) in the high-dimensional limit.
Consistent with the recent "decorrelation principle," we find that pair
correlations markedly diminish as the space dimension increases up to six. Our
work has implications for the possible existence of disordered classical ground
states for some continuous potentials in sufficiently high dimensions.Comment: 38 pages, 9 figures, 4 table
Contact numbers for congruent sphere packings in Euclidean 3-space
Continuing the investigations of Harborth (1974) and the author (2002) we
study the following two rather basic problems on sphere packings. Recall that
the contact graph of an arbitrary finite packing of unit balls (i.e., of an
arbitrary finite family of non-overlapping unit balls) in Euclidean 3-space is
the (simple) graph whose vertices correspond to the packing elements and whose
two vertices are connected by an edge if the corresponding two packing elements
touch each other. One of the most basic questions on contact graphs is to find
the maximum number of edges that a contact graph of a packing of n unit balls
can have in Euclidean 3-space. Our method for finding lower and upper estimates
for the largest contact numbers is a combination of analytic and combinatorial
ideas and it is also based on some recent results on sphere packings. Finally,
we are interested also in the following more special version of the above
problem. Namely, let us imagine that we are given a lattice unit sphere packing
with the center points forming the lattice L in Euclidean 3-space (and with
certain pairs of unit balls touching each other) and then let us generate
packings of n unit balls such that each and every center of the n unit balls is
chosen from L. Just as in the general case we are interested in finding good
estimates for the largest contact number of the packings of n unit balls
obtained in this way.Comment: 18 page
Solving the Shortest Vector Problem in Lattices Faster Using Quantum Search
By applying Grover's quantum search algorithm to the lattice algorithms of
Micciancio and Voulgaris, Nguyen and Vidick, Wang et al., and Pujol and
Stehl\'{e}, we obtain improved asymptotic quantum results for solving the
shortest vector problem. With quantum computers we can provably find a shortest
vector in time , improving upon the classical time
complexity of of Pujol and Stehl\'{e} and the of Micciancio and Voulgaris, while heuristically we expect to find a
shortest vector in time , improving upon the classical time
complexity of of Wang et al. These quantum complexities
will be an important guide for the selection of parameters for post-quantum
cryptosystems based on the hardness of the shortest vector problem.Comment: 19 page
Basic Understanding of Condensed Phases of Matter via Packing Models
Packing problems have been a source of fascination for millenia and their
study has produced a rich literature that spans numerous disciplines.
Investigations of hard-particle packing models have provided basic insights
into the structure and bulk properties of condensed phases of matter, including
low-temperature states (e.g., molecular and colloidal liquids, crystals and
glasses), multiphase heterogeneous media, granular media, and biological
systems. The densest packings are of great interest in pure mathematics,
including discrete geometry and number theory. This perspective reviews
pertinent theoretical and computational literature concerning the equilibrium,
metastable and nonequilibrium packings of hard-particle packings in various
Euclidean space dimensions. In the case of jammed packings, emphasis will be
placed on the "geometric-structure" approach, which provides a powerful and
unified means to quantitatively characterize individual packings via jamming
categories and "order" maps. It incorporates extremal jammed states, including
the densest packings, maximally random jammed states, and lowest-density jammed
structures. Packings of identical spheres, spheres with a size distribution,
and nonspherical particles are also surveyed. We close this review by
identifying challenges and open questions for future research.Comment: 33 pages, 20 figures, Invited "Perspective" submitted to the Journal
of Chemical Physics. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1008.298