Dynamics-dependent criticality in models with q absorbing states

We study a one-dimensional, nonequilibrium Potts-like model which has $q$ symmetric absorbing states. For $q=2$, as expected, the model belongs to the parity conserving universality class. For $q=3$ the critical behaviour depends on the dynamics of the model. Under a certain dynamics it remains generically in the active phase, which is also the feature of some other models with three absorbing states. However, a modified dynamics induces a parity conserving phase transition. Relations with branching-annihilating random walk models are discussed in order to explain such a behaviour.Comment: 5 pages, 5 eps figures included, Phys.Rev.E (accepted

Genetic diversity of Legionella pneumophila inferred from rpoB and dotA sequences

ABSTRACTThis study characterised the population structure of Legionella pneumophila by comparing the rpoB (300-bp) and dotA (360-bp) sequences of 267 isolates (18 reference strains, 149 Korean isolates and 100 Japanese isolates). In addition to the six clonal subgroups established previously, four subgroups, P-V to P-VIII, were identified. Subgroupings based on rpoB and dotA sequences were found to correlate with the source of the isolates, and this data may be useful for future epidemiological studies. Fourteen (five Korean and nine Japanese) isolates showed incongruent subgroupings in the rpoB and dotA trees, suggesting that genetic exchange among subgroups, and even among subspecies, may occur frequently in nature

Multifractal current distribution in random diode networks

Recently it has been shown analytically that electric currents in a random diode network are distributed in a multifractal manner [O. Stenull and H. K. Janssen, Europhys. Lett. 55, 691 (2001)]. In the present work we investigate the multifractal properties of a random diode network at the critical point by numerical simulations. We analyze the currents running on a directed percolation cluster and confirm the field-theoretic predictions for the scaling behavior of moments of the current distribution. It is pointed out that a random diode network is a particularly good candidate for a possible experimental realization of directed percolation.Comment: RevTeX, 4 pages, 5 eps figure

Non-detection of a statistically anisotropic power spectrum in large-scale structure

We search a sample of photometric luminous red galaxies (LRGs) measured by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) for a quadrupolar anisotropy in the primordial power spectrum, in which P(\vec{k}) is an isotropic power spectrum P(k) multiplied by a quadrupolar modulation pattern. We first place limits on the 5 coefficients of a general quadrupole anisotropy. We also consider axisymmetric quadrupoles of the form P(\vec{k}) = P(k){1 + g_*[(\hat{k}\cdot\hat{n})^2-1/3]} where \hat{n} is the axis of the anisotropy. When we force the symmetry axis \hat{n} to be in the direction (l,b)=(94 degrees,26 degrees) identified in the recent Groeneboom et al. analysis of the cosmic microwave background, we find g_*=0.006+/-0.036 (1 sigma). With uniform priors on \hat{n} and g_* we find that -0.41<g_*<+0.38 with 95% probability, with the wide range due mainly to the large uncertainty of asymmetries aligned with the Galactic Plane. In none of these three analyses do we detect evidence for quadrupolar power anisotropy in large scale structure.Comment: 23 pages; 10 figures; 3 tables; replaced with version published in JCAP (added discussion of scale-varying quadrupolar anisotropy

Searching for planar signatures in WMAP

We search for planar deviations of statistical isotropy in the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) data by applying a recently introduced angular-planar statistics both to full-sky and to masked temperature maps, including in our analysis the effect of the residual foreground contamination and systematics in the foreground removing process as sources of error. We confirm earlier findings that full-sky maps exhibit anomalies at the planar ($l$) and angular ($\ell$) scales $(l,\ell)=(2,5),(4,7),$ and $(6,8)$, which seem to be due to unremoved foregrounds since this features are present in the full-sky map but not in the masked maps. On the other hand, our test detects slightly anomalous results at the scales $(l,\ell)=(10,8)$ and $(2,9)$ in the masked maps but not in the full-sky one, indicating that the foreground cleaning procedure (used to generate the full-sky map) could not only be creating false anomalies but also hiding existing ones. We also find a significant trace of an anomaly in the full-sky map at the scale $(l,\ell)=(10,5)$, which is still present when we consider galactic cuts of 18.3% and 28.4%. As regards the quadrupole ($\ell=2$), we find a coherent over-modulation over the whole celestial sphere, for all full-sky and cut-sky maps. Overall, our results seem to indicate that current CMB maps derived from WMAP data do not show significant signs of anisotropies, as measured by our angular-planar estimator. However, we have detected a curious coherence of planar modulations at angular scales of the order of the galaxy's plane, which may be an indication of residual contaminations in the full- and cut-sky maps.Comment: 15 pages with pdf figure

Novel universality class of absorbing transitions with continuously varying critical exponents

The well-established universality classes of absorbing critical phenomena are directed percolation (DP) and directed Ising (DI) classes. Recently, the pair contact process with diffusion (PCPD) has been investigated extensively and claimed to exhibit a new type of critical phenomena distinct from both DP and DI classes. Noticing that the PCPD possesses a long-term memory effect, we introduce a generalized version of the PCPD (GPCPD) with a parameter controlling the memory effect. The GPCPD connects the DP fixed point to the PCPD point continuously. Monte Carlo simulations show that the GPCPD displays novel type critical phenomena which are characterized by continuously varying critical exponents. The same critical behaviors are also observed in models where two species of particles are coupled cyclically. We suggest that the long-term memory may serve as a marginal perturbation to the ordinary DP fixed point.Comment: 13 pages + 10 figures (Full paper version

Phase transition classes in triplet and quadruplet reaction diffusion models

Phase transitions of reaction-diffusion systems with site occupation restriction and with particle creation that requires n=3,4 parents, whereas explicit diffusion of single particles (A) is present are investigated in low dimensions by mean-field approximation and simulations. The mean-field approximation of general nA -> (n+k)A, mA -> (m-l)A type of lattice models is solved and novel kind of critical behavior is pointed out. In d=2 dimensions the 3A -> 4A, 3A -> 2A model exhibits a continuous mean-field type of phase transition, that implies d_c<2 upper critical dimension. For this model in d=1 extensive simulations support a mean-field type of phase transition with logarithmic corrections unlike the Park et al.'s recent study (Phys. Rev E {\bf 66}, 025101 (2002)). On the other hand the 4A -> 5A, 4A -> 3A quadruplet model exhibits a mean-field type of phase transition with logarithmic corrections in d=2, while quadruplet models in 1d show robust, non-trivial transitions suggesting d_c=2. Furthermore I show that a parity conserving model 3A -> 5A, 2A->0 in d=1 has a continuous phase transition with novel kind of exponents. These results are in contradiction with the recently suggested implications of a phenomenological, multiplicative noise Langevin equation approach and with the simulations on suppressed bosonic systems by Kockelkoren and Chat\'e (cond-mat/0208497).Comment: 8 pages, 10 figures included, Updated with new data, figures, table, to be published in PR

Branching and annihilating Levy flights

We consider a system of particles undergoing the branching and annihilating reactions A -> (m+1)A and A + A -> 0, with m even. The particles move via long-range Levy flights, where the probability of moving a distance r decays as r^{-d-sigma}. We analyze this system of branching and annihilating Levy flights (BALF) using field theoretic renormalization group techniques close to the upper critical dimension d_c=sigma, with sigma<2. These results are then compared with Monte-Carlo simulations in d=1. For sigma close to unity in d=1, the critical point for the transition from an absorbing to an active phase occurs at zero branching. However, for sigma bigger than about 3/2 in d=1, the critical branching rate moves smoothly away from zero with increasing sigma, and the transition lies in a different universality class, inaccessible to controlled perturbative expansions. We measure the exponents in both universality classes and examine their behavior as a function of sigma.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure