Microscopic intervention yields abrupt transition in interdependent magnetic networks

The study of interdependent networks has recently experienced a boost with the development of experimentally testable materials that physically realize their critical behaviors, calling for systematic studies that go beyond the percolation paradigm. Here we study the critical phase transition of interdependent spatial magnetic networks model where dependency couplings between networks are realized by a thermal interaction having a tunable spatial range. We show how the critical phenomena and the phase diagram of this realistic model are highly affected by the range of thermal dissipation and how the latter changes the transition from continuous to abrupt. Furthermore, we show that microscopic interventions of localized heating and localized magnetic field yield a macroscopic phase transition and novel phase diagrams. Our results provide novel and realistic insights about controlling the macroscopic phases of interdependent materials by means of localized microscopic interventions

Liquid-gas phase transition in finite nuclei

In a finite temperature Thomas-Fermi framework, we calculate density distributions of hot nuclei enclosed in a freeze-out volume of few times the normal nuclear volume and then construct the caloric curve, with and without inclusion of radial collective flow. In both cases, the calculated specific heats $C_v$ show a peaked structure signalling a liquid-gas phase transition. Without flow, the caloric curve indicates a continuous phase transition whereas with inclusion of flow, the transition is very sharp. In the latter case, the nucleus undergoes a shape change to a bubble from a diffuse sphere at the transition temperature.Comment: Proc. of 6th Int. Conf. on N-N Collisions (Gatlinburg); Nuclear Physics A (in press

Flow effects on multifragmentation in the canonical model

A prescription to incorporate the effects of nuclear flow on the process of multifragmentation of hot nuclei is proposed in an analytically solvable canonical model. Flow is simulated by the action of an effective negative external pressure. It favors sharpening the signatures of liquid-gas phase transition in finite nuclei with increased multiplicity and a lowered phase transition temperature.Comment: 13 pages, 5 Post Script figures (accepted for publication in PRC

Nucleation phenomena and extreme vulnerability of spatial k-core systems

K-core percolation is a fundamental dynamical process in complex networks with applications that span numerous real-world systems. Earlier studies focus primarily on random networks without spatial constraints and reveal intriguing mixed-order transitions. However, real-world systems, ranging from transportation and communication networks to complex brain networks, are not random but are spatially embedded. Here, we study k-core percolation on two-dimensional spatially embedded networks and show that, in contrast to regular percolation, the length of connections can control the transition type, leading to four different types of phase transitions associated with novel phenomena and a rich phase diagram. A key finding is the existence of a metastable phase in which microscopic localized damage, independent of system size, can cause a macroscopic phase transition, a result which cannot be achieved in traditional percolation. In this case, local failures can spontaneously propagate the damage radially until the system entirely collapses, a phenomenon analogous to the nucleation process. These findings suggest novel features and extreme vulnerabilities of spatially embedded k-core network systems, and highlight the necessity to take into account the characteristic length of links when designing robust spatial networks. Furthermore, our insight about the microscopic processes and their origin during the mixed order and first order abrupt transitions in k-core networks could shed light on the mechanisms of many systems where such transitions occur.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figure