Frequency-dependent (ac) Conduction in Disordered Composites: a Percolative Study

In a recent paper [Phys. Rev. B{\bf57}, 3375 (1998)], we examined in detail the nonlinear (electrical) dc response of a random resistor cum tunneling bond network ($RRTN$, introduced by us elsewhere to explain nonlinear response of metal-insulator type mixtures). In this work which is a sequel to that paper, we consider the ac response of the $RRTN$-based correlated $RC$ ($CRC$) model. Numerical solutions of the Kirchoff's laws for the $CRC$ model give a power-law exponent (= 0.7 near $p = p_c$) of the modulus of the complex ac conductance at moderately low frequencies, in conformity with experiments on various types of disordered systems. But, at very low frequencies, it gives a simple quadratic or linear dependence on the frequency depending upon whether the system is percolating or not. We do also discuss the effective medium approximation ($EMA$) of our $CRC$ and the traditional random $RC$ network model, and discuss their comparative successes and shortcomings.Comment: Revised and reduced version with 17 LaTeX pages plus 8 JPEG figure

Nonlinear DC-response in Composites: a Percolative Study

The DC-response, namely the $I$-$V$ and $G$-$V$ charateristics, of a variety of composite materials are in general found to be nonlinear. We attempt to understand the generic nature of the response charactersistics and study the peculiarities associated with them. Our approach is based on a simple and minimal model bond percolative network. We do simulate the resistor network with appropritate linear and nonlinear bonds and obtain macroscopic nonlinear response characteristics. We discuss the associated physics. An effective medium approximation (EMA) of the corresponding resistor network is also given.Comment: Text written in RevTEX, 15 pages (20 postscript figures included), submitted to Phys. Rev. E. Some minor corrections made in the text, corrected one reference, the format changed (from 32 pages preprint to 15 pages

Cosmology with decaying tachyon matter

We investigate the case of a homogeneous tachyon field coupled to gravity in a spatially flat Friedman-Robertson-Walker spacetime. Assuming the field evolution to be exponentially decaying with time we solve the field equations and show that, under certain conditions, the scale factor represents an accelerating universe, following a phase of decelerated expansion. We make use of a model of dark energy (with p=-\rho) and dark matter (p=0) where a single scalar field (tachyon) governs the dynamics of both the dark components. We show that this model fits the current supernova data as well as the canonical \LambdaCDM model. We give the bounds on the parameters allowed by the current data.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, v2, Discussions and references addede

Wigner delay time from a random passive and active medium

We consider the scattering of electron by a one-dimensional random potential (both passive and active medium) and numerically obtain the probability distribution of Wigner delay time ($\tau$). We show that in a passive medium our probability distribution agrees with the earlier analytical results based on random phase approximation. We have extended our study to the strong disorder limit, where random phase approximation breaks down. The delay time distribution exhibits the long time tail ($1/\tau^2$) due to resonant states, which is independent of the nature of disorder indicating the universality of the tail of the delay time distribution. In the presence of coherent absorption (active medium) we show that the long time tail is suppressed exponentially due to the fact that the particles whose trajectories traverse long distances in the medium are absorbed and are unlikely to be reflected.Comment: 13 pages RevTex, 5 EPS figures included, communicated to PR

Amplification or Reduction of Backscattering in a Coherently Amplifying or Absorbing Disordered Chain

We study localization properties of a one-dimensional disordered system characterized by a random non-hermitean hamiltonian where both the randomness and the non-hermiticity arises in the local site-potential; its real part being random, and a constant imaginary part implying the presence of either a coherent absorption or amplification at each site. While the two-probe transport properties behave seemingly very differently for the amplifying and the absorbing chains, the logarithmic resistance $u$ = ln$(1+R_4)$ where $R_4$ is the 4-probe resistance gives a unified description of both the cases. It is found that the ensemble-averaged $$ increases linearly with length indicating exponential growth of resistance. While in contrast to the case of Anderson localization (random hermitean matrix), the variance of $u$ could be orders of magnitude smaller in the non-hermitean case, the distribution of $u$ still remains non-Gaussian even in the large length limit.Comment: 11 LaTeX pages plus 14 EPS figure