Statistical mechanics of granular systems

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Physics, 1997.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 68-71).by Welles A.M. Morgado.Ph.D

Non-Markovian Effects on Overdamped Systems

We study the consequences of adopting the memory dependent, non-Markovian, physics with the memory-less over-damped approximation usually employed to investigate Brownian particles. Due to the finite correlation time scale associated with the noise, the stationary behavior of the system is not described by the Boltzmann-Gibbs statistics. However, the presence of a very weak external white noise can be used to regularize the equilibrium properties. Surprisingly, the coupling to another bath effectively restores the dynamical aspects missed by the over-damped treatment.Comment: 10 page

The Heat Distribution of the Underdamped Langevin Equation

In the Stochastic Thermodynamics theory, heat is a random variable with a probability distribution associated. Studies in the distribution of heat are mostly in the overdamped regime. Here we solve the heat distribution in the underdamped regime for three different cases: the free particle, the linear potential, and the harmonic potential. The results are exact and generalize known results in the literature.Comment: 19 pages, 9 subfigure

The role of the nature of the noise in the thermal conductance of mechanical systems

Focussing on a paradigmatic small system consisting of two coupled damped oscillators, we survey the role of the L\'evy-It\^o nature of the noise in the thermal conductance. For white noises, we prove that the L\'evy-It\^o composition (Lebesgue measure) of the noise is irrelevant for the thermal conductance of a non-equilibrium linearly coupled chain, which signals the independence between mechanical and thermodynamical properties. On the other hand, for the non-linearly coupled case, the two types of properties mix and the explicit definition of the noise plays a central role.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures. To be published in Physical Review

The Ferromagnetic Potts model under an external magnetic field: an exact renormalization group approach

The q-state ferromagnetic Potts model under a non-zero magnetic field coupled with the 0^th Potts state was investigated by an exact real-space renormalization group approach. The model was defined on a family of diamond hierarchical lattices of several fractal dimensions d_F. On these lattices, the renormalization group transformations became exact for such a model when a correlation coupling that singles out the 0^th Potts state was included in the Hamiltonian. The rich criticality presented by the model with q=3 and d_F=2 was fully analyzed. Apart from the Potts criticality for the zero field, an Ising-like phase transition was found whenever the system was submitted to a strong reverse magnetic field. Unusual characteristics such as cusps and dimensional reduction were observed on the critical surface.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures. Accepted to be published in Phys. Rev B (2006

Three-dimensional Ginzburg-Landau simulation of a vortex line displaced by a zigzag of pinning spheres

A vortex line is shaped by a zigzag of pinning centers and we study here how far the stretched vortex line is able to follow this path. The pinning center is described by an insulating sphere of coherence length size such that in its surface the de Gennes boundary condition applies. We calculate the free energy density of this system in the framework of the Ginzburg-Landau theory and study the critical displacement beyond which the vortex line is detached from the pinning center.Comment: Submitted to special issue of Prammna-Journal of Physics devoted to the Vortex State Studie