603 research outputs found
Nonequilibrium Precursor Model for the Onset of Percolation in a Two-Phase System
Using a Boltzmann equation, we investigate the nonequilibrium dynamics of
nonperturbative fluctuations within the context of Ginzburg-Landau models. As
an illustration, we examine how a two-phase system initially prepared in a
homogeneous, low-temperature phase becomes populated by precursors of the
opposite phase as the temperature is increased. We compute the critical value
of the order parameter for the onset of percolation, which signals the
breakdown of the conventional dilute gas approximation.Comment: 4 pages, 4 eps figures (uses epsf), Revtex. Replaced with version in
press Physical Review
Synchronization and structure in an adaptive oscillator network
We analyze the interplay of synchronization and structure evolution in an
evolving network of phase oscillators. An initially random network is
adaptively rewired according to the dynamical coherence of the oscillators, in
order to enhance their mutual synchronization. We show that the evolving
network reaches a small-world structure. Its clustering coefficient attains a
maximum for an intermediate intensity of the coupling between oscillators,
where a rich diversity of synchronized oscillator groups is observed. In the
stationary state, these synchronized groups are directly associated with
network clusters.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figure
Nonequilibrium dynamics of the three-dimensional Edwards-Anderson spin-glass model with Gaussian couplings: Strong heterogeneities and the backbone picture
We numerically study the three-dimensional Edwards-Anderson model with
Gaussian couplings, focusing on the heterogeneities arising in its
nonequilibrium dynamics. Results are analyzed in terms of the backbone picture,
which links strong dynamical heterogeneities to spatial heterogeneities
emerging from the correlation of local rigidity of the bond network. Different
two-times quantities as the flipping time distribution and the correlation and
response functions, are evaluated over the full system and over high- and
low-rigidity regions. We find that the nonequilibrium dynamics of the model is
highly correlated to spatial heterogeneities. Also, we observe a similar
physical behavior to that previously found in the Edwards-Anderson model with a
bimodal (discrete) bond distribution. Namely, the backbone behaves as the main
structure that supports the spin-glass phase, within which a sort of
domain-growth process develops, while the complement remains in a paramagnetic
phase, even below the critical temperature
The initial value problem for linearized gravitational perturbations of the Schwarzschild naked singularity
The coupled equations for the scalar modes of the linearized Einstein
equations around Schwarzschild's spacetime were reduced by Zerilli to a 1+1
wave equation with a potential , on a field . For smooth metric
perturbations is singular at , the
mode harmonic number, and has a second order pole at . This is
irrelevant to the black hole exterior stability problem, where , and
, but it introduces a non trivial problem in the naked singular case
where , and the singularity appears in the relevant range of
. We solve this problem by developing a new approach to the evolution of the
even mode, based on a {\em new gauge invariant function}, -related
to by an intertwiner operator- that is a regular function of the
metric perturbation {\em for any value of }. This allows to address the
issue of evolution of gravitational perturbations in this non globally
hyperbolic background, and to complete the proof of the linear instability of
the Schwarzschild naked singularity, by showing that a previously found
unstable mode is excitable by generic initial data. This is further illustrated
by numerically solving the linearized equations for suitably chosen initial
data.Comment: typos corrected, references adde
Drake Equation for the Multiverse: From the String Landscape to Complex Life
It is argued that selection criteria usually referred to as "anthropic
conditions" for the existence of intelligent (typical) observers widely adopted
in cosmology amount only to preconditions for primitive life. The existence of
life does not imply in the existence of intelligent life. On the contrary, the
transition from single-celled to complex, multi-cellular organisms is far from
trivial, requiring stringent additional conditions on planetary platforms. An
attempt is made to disentangle the necessary steps leading from a selection of
universes out of a hypothetical multiverse to the existence of life and of
complex life. It is suggested that what is currently called the "anthropic
principle" should instead be named the "prebiotic principle."Comment: 6 pages, RevTeX, in press, Int. J. Mod. Phys.
Phase Transition in U(1) Configuration Space: Oscillons as Remnants of Vortex-Antivortex Annihilation
We show that the annihilation of vortex-antivortex pairs can lead to very long-lived oscillon states in 2d Abelian Higgs models. The emergence of oscillons is controlled by the ratio of scalar and vector field masses, β=(ms/mv)2 and can be described as a phase transition in field configuration space with critical value βc≃0.13(6)±2: only models with βO(β)∼|β−βc|o, where O is an order parameter indicating the presence of oscillons and o=0.2(2)±2 is the critical exponent
Information-Entropic Measure of Energy-Degenerate Kinks in Two-Field Models
We investigate the existence and properties of kink-like solitons in a class
of models with two interacting scalar fields. In particular, we focus on models
that display both double and single-kink solutions, treatable analytically
using the Bogomol'nyi--Prasad--Sommerfield bound (BPS). Such models are of
interest in applications that include Skyrmions and various
superstring-motivated theories. Exploring a region of parameter space where the
energy for very different spatially-bound configurations is degenerate, we show
that a newly-proposed momentum-space entropic measure called Configurational
Entropy (CE) can distinguish between such energy-degenerate spatial profiles.
This information-theoretic measure of spatial complexity provides a
complementary perspective to situations where strictly energy-based arguments
are inconclusive
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