5,404 research outputs found
DNA unzipping and the unbinding of directed polymers in a random media
We consider the unbinding of a directed polymer in a random media from a wall
in dimensions and a simple one-dimensional model for DNA unzipping.
Using the replica trick we show that the restricted partition functions of
these problems are {\em identical} up to an overall normalization factor. Our
finding gives an example of a generalization of the stochastic matrix form
decomposition to disordered systems; a method which effectively allows to
reduce dimensionality of the problem. The equivalence between the two problems,
for example, allows us to derive the probability distribution for finding the
directed polymer a distance from the wall. We discuss implications of these
results for the related Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation and the asymmetric
exclusion process.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, minor modifications, added discussion on
stochastic matrix form decompositio
Boundary-induced phase transitions in traffic flow
Boundary-induced phase transitions are one of the surprising phenomena
appearing in nonequilibrium systems. These transitions have been found in
driven systems, especially the asymmetric simple exclusion process. However, so
far no direct observations of this phenomenon in real systems exists. Here we
present evidence for the appearance of such a nonequilibrium phase transition
in traffic flow occurring on highways in the vicinity of on- and off-ramps.
Measurements on a German motorway close to Cologne show a first-order
nonequilibrium phase transition between a free-flow phase and a congested
phase. It is induced by the interplay of density waves (caused by an on-ramp)
and a shock wave moving on the motorway. The full phase diagram, including the
effect of off-ramps, is explored using computer simulations and suggests means
to optimize the capacity of a traffic network.Comment: 5 figures, revte
Duality and exact correlations for a model of heat conduction
We study a model of heat conduction with stochastic diffusion of energy. We
obtain a dual particle process which describes the evolution of all the
correlation functions. An exact expression for the covariance of the energy
exhibits long-range correlations in the presence of a current. We discuss the
formal connection of this model with the simple symmetric exclusion process.Comment: 19 page
Transport on a Lattice with Dynamical Defects
Many transport processes in nature take place on substrates, often considered
as unidimensional lanes. These unidimensional substrates are typically
non-static: affected by a fluctuating environment, they can undergo
conformational changes. This is particularly true in biological cells, where
the state of the substrate is often coupled to the active motion of
macromolecular complexes, such as motor proteins on microtubules or ribosomes
on mRNAs, causing new interesting phenomena. Inspired by biological processes
such as protein synthesis by ribosomes and motor protein transport, we
introduce the concept of localized dynamical sites coupled to a driven lattice
gas dynamics. We investigate the phenomenology of transport in the presence of
dynamical defects and find a novel regime characterized by an intermittent
current and subject to severe finite-size effects. Our results demonstrate the
impact of the regulatory role of the dynamical defects in transport, not only
in biology but also in more general contexts
Removing non-stationary, non-harmonic external interference from gravitational wave interferometer data
We describe a procedure to identify and remove a class of non-stationary and
non-harmonic interference lines from gravitational wave interferometer data.
These lines appear to be associated with the external electricity main
supply, but their amplitudes are non-stationary and they do not appear at
harmonics of the fundamental supply frequency. We find an empirical model able
to represent coherently all the non-harmonic lines we have found in the power
spectrum, in terms of an assumed reference signal of the primary supply input
signal. If this signal is not available then it can be reconstructed from the
same data by making use of the coherent line removal algorithm that we have
described elsewhere. All these lines are broadened by frequency changes of the
supply signal, and they corrupt significant frequency ranges of the power
spectrum. The physical process that generates this interference is so far
unknown, but it is highly non-linear and non-stationary. Using our model, we
cancel the interference in the time domain by an adaptive procedure that should
work regardless of the source of the primary interference. We have applied the
method to laser interferometer data from the Glasgow prototype detector, where
all the features we describe in this paper were observed. The algorithm has
been tuned in such a way that the entire series of wide lines corresponding to
the electrical interference are removed, leaving the spectrum clean enough to
detect signals previously masked by them. Single-line signals buried in the
interference can be recovered with at least 75 % of their original signal
amplitude.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, Revtex, psfi
Topological Reverberations in Flat Space-times
We study the role played by multiply-connectedness in the time evolution of
the energy E(t) of a radiating system that lies in static flat space-time
manifolds M_4 whose t=const spacelike sections M_3 are compact in at least one
spatial direction. The radiation reaction equation of the radiating source is
derived for the case where M_3 has any non-trivial flat topology, and an exact
solution is obtained. We also show that when the spacelike sections are
multiply-connected flat 3-manifolds the energy E(t) exhibits a reverberation
pattern with discontinuities in the derivative of E(t) and a set of relative
minima and maxima, followed by a growth of E(t). It emerges from this result
that the compactness in at least one spatial direction of Minkowski space-time
is sufficient to induce this type of topological reverberation, making clear
that our radiating system is topologically fragile. An explicit solution of the
radiation reaction equation for the case where M_3 = R^2 x S^1 is discussed,
and graphs which reveal how the energy varies with the time are presented and
analyzed.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures, REVTEX; Added five references and inserted
clarifying details. Version to appear in Int. J. Mod. Phys. A (2000
Lagrangian perfect fluids and black hole mechanics
The first law of black hole mechanics (in the form derived by Wald), is
expressed in terms of integrals over surfaces, at the horizon and spatial
infinity, of a stationary, axisymmetric black hole, in a diffeomorphism
invariant Lagrangian theory of gravity. The original statement of the first law
given by Bardeen, Carter and Hawking for an Einstein-perfect fluid system
contained, in addition, volume integrals of the fluid fields, over a spacelike
slice stretching between these two surfaces. When applied to the
Einstein-perfect fluid system, however, Wald's methods yield restricted
results. The reason is that the fluid fields in the Lagrangian of a gravitating
perfect fluid are typically nonstationary. We therefore first derive a first
law-like relation for an arbitrary Lagrangian metric theory of gravity coupled
to arbitrary Lagrangian matter fields, requiring only that the metric field be
stationary. This relation includes a volume integral of matter fields over a
spacelike slice between the black hole horizon and spatial infinity, and
reduces to the first law originally derived by Bardeen, Carter and Hawking when
the theory is general relativity coupled to a perfect fluid. We also consider a
specific Lagrangian formulation for an isentropic perfect fluid given by
Carter, and directly apply Wald's analysis. The resulting first law contains
only surface integrals at the black hole horizon and spatial infinity, but this
relation is much more restrictive in its allowed fluid configurations and
perturbations than that given by Bardeen, Carter and Hawking. In the Appendix,
we use the symplectic structure of the Einstein-perfect fluid system to derive
a conserved current for perturbations of this system: this current reduces to
one derived ab initio for this system by Chandrasekhar and Ferrari.Comment: 26 pages LaTeX-2
Angular Resolution of the LISA Gravitational Wave Detector
We calculate the angular resolution of the planned LISA detector, a
space-based laser interferometer for measuring low-frequency gravitational
waves from galactic and extragalactic sources. LISA is not a pointed
instrument; it is an all-sky monitor with a quadrupolar beam pattern. LISA will
measure simultaneously both polarization components of incoming gravitational
waves, so the data will consist of two time series. All physical properties of
the source, including its position, must be extracted from these time series.
LISA's angular resolution is therefore not a fixed quantity, but rather depends
on the type of signal and on how much other information must be extracted.
Information about the source position will be encoded in the measured signal in
three ways: 1) through the relative amplitudes and phases of the two
polarization components, 2) through the periodic Doppler shift imposed on the
signal by the detector's motion around the Sun, and 3) through the further
modulation of the signal caused by the detector's time-varying orientation. We
derive the basic formulae required to calculate the LISA's angular resolution
for a given source. We then evaluate for
two sources of particular interest: monchromatic sources and mergers of
supermassive black holes. For these two types of sources, we calculate (in the
high signal-to-noise approximation) the full variance-covariance matrix, which
gives the accuracy to which all source parameters can be measured. Since our
results on LISA's angular resolution depend mainly on gross features of the
detector geometry, orbit, and noise curve, we expect these results to be fairly
insensitive to modest changes in detector design that may occur between now and
launch. We also expect that our calculations could be easily modified to apply
to a modified design.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, RevTex 3.0 fil
EQUIVALENCES BETWEEN STOCHASTIC SYSTEMS
Time-dependent correlation functions of (unstable) particles undergoing
biased or unbiased diffusion, coagulation and annihilation are calculated. This
is achieved by similarity transformations between different stochastic models
and between stochastic and soluble {\em non-stochastic} models. The results
agree with experiments on one-dimensional annihilation-coagulation processes.Comment: 15 pages, Latex. Some corrections made and an appendix adde
GravEn: Software for the simulation of gravitational wave detector network response
Physically motivated gravitational wave signals are needed in order to study
the behaviour and efficacy of different data analysis methods seeking their
detection. GravEn, short for Gravitational-wave Engine, is a MATLAB software
package that simulates the sampled response of a gravitational wave detector to
incident gravitational waves. Incident waves can be specified in a data file or
chosen from among a group of pre-programmed types commonly used for
establishing the detection efficiency of analysis methods used for LIGO data
analysis. Every aspect of a desired signal can be specified, such as start time
of the simulation (including inter-sample start times), wave amplitude, source
orientation to line of sight, location of the source in the sky, etc. Supported
interferometric detectors include LIGO, GEO, Virgo and TAMA.Comment: 10 Pages, 3 Figures, Presented at the 10th Gravitational Wave Data
Analysis Workshop (GWDAW-10), 14-17 December 2005 at the University of Texas,
Brownsvill
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