581 research outputs found
Dual approaches for defects condensation
We review two methods used to approach the condensation of defects
phenomenon. Analyzing in details their structure, we show that in the limit
where the defects proliferate until occupy the whole space these two methods
are dual equivalent prescriptions to obtain an effective theory for the phase
where the defects (like monopoles or vortices) are completely condensed,
starting from the fundamental theory defined in the normal phase where the
defects are diluted.Comment: 7 pages, major modifications. Version accepted for publication in
Physics Letters
Massive photons and Dirac monopoles: electric condensate and magnetic confinement
We use the generalized Julia-Toulouse approach (GJTA) for condensation of
topological currents (charges or defects) to argue that massive photons can
coexist consistently with Dirac monopoles. The Proca theory is obtained here
via GJTA as a low energy effective theory describing an electric condensate and
the mass of the vector boson is responsible for generating a Meissner effect
which confines the magnetic defects in monopole-antimonopole pairs connected by
physical open magnetic vortices described by Dirac brane invariants, instead of
Dirac strings.Comment: 6 pages, version accepted for publication in Physics Letters
Collective synchronization in populations of globally coupled phase oscillators with drifting frequencies
We generalize the Kuramoto model for coupled phase oscillators by allowing
the frequencies to drift in time according to Ornstein-Uhlenbeck dynamics. Such
drifting frequencies were recently measured in cellular populations of
circadian oscillator and inspired our work. Linear stability analysis of the
Fokker-Planck equation for an infinite population is amenable to exact solution
and we show that the incoherent state is unstable passed a critical coupling
strength K_c(\ga, \sigf), where \ga is the inverse characteristic drifting
time and \sigf the asymptotic frequency dispersion. Expectedly agrees
with the noisy Kuramoto model in the large \ga (Schmolukowski) limit but
increases slower as \ga decreases. Asymptotic expansion of the solution for
\ga\to 0 shows that the noiseless Kuramoto model with Gaussian frequency
distribution is recovered in that limit. Thus varying a single parameter allows
to interpolate smoothly between two regimes: one dominated by the frequency
dispersion and the other by phase diffusion.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, accepted in Phys. Rev.
The divergence history of the perennial plant Linaria cavanillesii confirms a recent loss of self-incompatibility.
Many angiosperms prevent inbreeding through a self-incompatibility (SI) system, but the loss of SI has been frequent in their evolutionary history. The loss of SI may often lead to an increase in the selfing rate, with the purging of inbreeding depression and the ultimate evolution of a selfing syndrome, where plants have smaller flowers with reduced pollen and nectar production. In this study, we used approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) to estimate the timing of divergence between populations of the plant Linaria cavanillesii that differ in SI status and in which SI is associated with low inbreeding depression but not with a transition to full selfing or a selfing syndrome. Our analysis suggests that the mixed-mating self-compatible (SC) population may have begun to diverge from the SI populations around 2810 generation ago, a period perhaps too short for the evolution of a selfing syndrome. We conjecture that the SC population of L. cavanillesii is at an intermediate stage of transition between outcrossing and selfing
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