Deconfinement transition dynamics and early thermalization in QGP

We perform SU(3) Lattice Gauge Theory simulations of the deconfinement transition attempting to mimic conditions encountered in heavy ion collisions. Specifically, we perform a sudden temperature quench across the deconfinement temperature, and follow the response of the system in successive simulation sweeps under spatial lattice expansion and temperature fall-off. In measurements of the Polyakov loop and structure functions a robust strong signal of global instability response is observed through the exponential growth of low momentum modes. Development of these long range modes isotropizes the system which reaches thermalization shortly afterwards, and enters a stage of quasi-equilibrium expansion and cooling till its return to the confinement phase. The time scale characterizing full growth of the long range modes is largely unaffected by the conditions of spatial expansion and temperature variation in the system, and is much shorter than the scale set by the interval to return to the confinement phase. The wide separation of these two scales is such that it naturally results in isotropization times well inside 1 fm/c.Comment: 11 pages, 8 eps figures, added references, typos correcte

Spiral defect chaos in a model of Rayleigh-Benard convection

A numerical solution of a generalized Swift-Hohenberg equation in two dimensions reveals the existence of a spatio-temporal chaotic state comprised of a large number of rotating spirals. This state is observed for a reduced Rayleigh number $\epsilon=0.25$. The power spectrum of the state is isotropic, and the spatial correlation function decays exponentially, with an estimated decay length $\xi \approx 2.5 \lambda_{c}$, where $\lambda_{c}$ is the critical wavelength near the onset of convection. Our study suggests that this spiral defect state occurs for low Prandtl numbers and large aspect ratios.Comment: LaTeX. 4 PostScript figures. Appende

Study of spiral pattern formation in Rayleigh-Benard convection

We present a numerical study of a generalized two-dimensional Swift-Hohenberg model of spiral pattern formation in Rayleigh-B\'enard convection in a non-Boussinesq fluid. We demonstrate for the first time that a model for convective motion is able to predict in considerable dynamical detail the spontaneous formation of a rotating spiral state from an ordered hexagon state. Our results are in good agreement with recent experimental studies of $CO_{2}$ gas. The mean flow and non-Boussinesq effects are shown to be crucial in forming rotating spirals.Comment: 9 pages, 6 Figures (Postscript, appended

A Finite-Size Scaling Study of a Model of Globular Proteins

Grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations are used to explore the metastable fluid-fluid coexistence curve of the modified Lennard-Jones model of globular proteins of ten Wolde and Frenkel (Science, v277, 1975 (1997)). Using both mixed-field finite-size scaling and histogram reweighting methods, the joint distribution of density and energy fluctuations is analyzed at coexistence to accurately determine the critical-point parameters. The subcritical coexistence region is explored using the recently developed hyper-parallel tempering Monte Carlo simulation method along with histogram reweighting to obtain the density distributions. The phase diagram for the metastable fluid-fluid coexistence curve is calculated in close proximity to the critical point, a region previously unattained by simulation.Comment: 17 pages, 10 figures, 2 Table