An Introduction to Breakdown Phenomena in Disordered Systems

The rupture of a medium under stress typifies breakdown phenomena. More generally, the latter encompass the dynamics of systems of many interacting elements governed by the interplay of a driving force with a pinning disorder, resulting in a macroscopic transition. A simple mean-field formalism incorporating these features is presented and applied to systems representative of fracture phenomena, social dilemmas, and magnets out of equilibrium. The similarities and differences in the corresponding mathematical structures are emphasized. The solutions are best obtained from a graphical method, from which very general conclusions may be drawn. In particular, the various classes of disorder distribution are treated without reference to a particular analytical or numerical form, and are found to lead to qualitatively different transitions. Finally, the notion of effective (or phenomenological) theory is introduced and illustrated for non-equilibrium disordered magnets.Comment: Pedagogical article published as part of a special issue on thermodynamics and statistical physics; 20 page

The effect of polydispersity on the ordering transition of adsorbed self-assembled rigid rods

Extensive Monte Carlo simulations were carried out to investigate the nature of the ordering transition of a model of adsorbed self-assembled rigid rods on the bonds of a square lattice [Tavares et. al., Phys. Rev E 79, 021505 (2009)]. The polydisperse rods undergo a continuous ordering transition that is found to be in the two-dimensional Ising universality class, as in models where the rods are monodisperse. This finding is in sharp contrast with the recent claim that equilibrium polydispersity changes the nature of the phase transition in this class of models [L`opez et. al., Phys. Rev E 80, 040105(R)(2009)].Comment: 19 pages, 5 figure

The influence of strong magnetic field on photon-neutrino reactions

The two-photon two-neutrino interaction induced by magnetic field is investigated. In particular the processes $\gamma \gamma \to \nu \bar \nu$ and $\gamma \to \gamma \nu \bar \nu$ are studied in the presence of strong magnetic field. An effective Lagrangian and partial amplitudes of the processes are presented. Neutrino emissivities due to the reactions $\gamma \gamma \to \nu \bar \nu$ and $\gamma \to \gamma \nu \bar \nu$ are calculated taking into account of the photon dispersion and large radiative corrections. A comparison of the results obtained with previous estimations and another inducing mechanisms of the processes under consideration is made.Comment: 16 pages, LATEX, 3 EPS figures, based on the talk presented at XXXI ITEP Winter School of Physics, Moscow, Russia, February 18 - 26, 200

Electron--phonon coupling and anharmonic effects in metal clusters

The periods of the harmonic oscillations of the ion core of charged sodium clusters around the equilibrium shapes are considered. It is found that these periods are of the order of magnitude of the experimentally measured relaxation times of the plasmons, which suggests the importance of the electron-ion coupling and stresses the role played by the electron-phonon interaction in the dissipation of the plasmon energy. The relation of the process to fission is briefly discussed.Comment: 6 pages, no figures, to appear in EPLetter

Pathways to folding, nucleation events and native geometry

We perform extensive Monte Carlo simulations of a lattice model and the Go potential to investigate the existence of folding pathways at the level of contact cluster formation for two native structures with markedly different geometries. Our analysis of folding pathways revealed a common underlying folding mechanism, based on nucleation phenomena, for both protein models. However, folding to the more complex geometry (i.e. that with more non-local contacts) is driven by a folding nucleus whose geometric traits more closely resemble those of the native fold. For this geometry folding is clearly a more cooperative process.Comment: Accepted in J. Chem. Phy

Application of the zero-range potential model to positron annihilation on molecules

In this paper we use a zero-range potential (ZRP) method to model positron interaction with molecules. This allows us to investigate the effect of molecular vibrations on positron-molecule annihilation using the van der Waals dimer Kr2 as an example. We also use the ZRP to explore positron binding to polyatomics and examine the dependence of the binding energy on the size of the molecule for alkanes. We find that a second bound state appears for a molecule with ten carbons, similar to recent experimental evidence for such a state emerging in alkanes with twelve carbons.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, to be published in Nuclear Instruments and Methods

Native geometry and the dynamics of protein folding

In this paper we investigate the role of native geometry on the kinetics of protein folding based on simple lattice models and Monte Carlo simulations. Results obtained within the scope of the Miyazawa-Jernigan indicate the existence of two dynamical folding regimes depending on the protein chain length. For chains larger than 80 amino acids the folding performance is sensitive to the native state's conformation. Smaller chains, with less than 80 amino acids, fold via two-state kinetics and exhibit a significant correlation between the contact order parameter and the logarithmic folding times. In particular, chains with N=48 amino acids were found to belong to two broad classes of folding, characterized by different cooperativity, depending on the contact order parameter. Preliminary results based on the G\={o} model show that the effect of long range contact interaction strength in the folding kinetics is largely dependent on the native state's geometry.Comment: Proceedings of the BIFI 2004 - I International Conference, Zaragoza (Spain) Biology after the genome: a physical view. To appear in Biophysical Chemistr

Adiabatic Condition and Quantum Geometric Potential

In this paper, we present a U(1)-invariant expansion theory of the adiabatic process. As its application, we propose and discuss new sufficient adiabatic approximation conditions. In the new conditions, we find a new invariant quantity referred as quantum geometric potential (QGP) contained in all time-dependent processes. Furthermore, we also give detailed discussion and analysis on the properties and effects of QGP.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figur