Lattice Simulation of Nuclear Multifragmentation

Motivated by the decade-long debate over the issue of criticality supposedly observed in nuclear multifragmentation, we propose a dynamical lattice model to simulate the phenomenon. Its Ising Hamiltonian mimics a short range attractive interaction which competes with a thermal-like dissipative process. The results here presented, generated through an event-by-event analysis, are in agreement with both experiment and those produced by a percolative (non-dynamical) model.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure

Mapping the train model for earthquakes onto the stochastic sandpile model

We perform a computational study of a variant of the ``train'' model for earthquakes [PRA 46, 6288 (1992)], where we assume a static friction that is a stochastic function of position rather than being velocity dependent. The model consists of an array of blocks coupled by springs, with the forces between neighbouring blocks balanced by static friction. We calculate the probability, P(s), of the occurrence of avalanches with a size s or greater, finding that our results are consistent with the phenomenology and also with previous models which exhibit a power law over a wide range. We show that the train model may be mapped onto a stochastic sandpile model and study a variant of the latter for non-spherical grains. We show that, in this case, the model has critical behaviour only for grains with large aspect ratio, as was already shown in experiments with real ricepiles. We also demonstrate a way to introduce randomness in a physically motivated manner into the model.Comment: 14 pages and 6 figures. Accepted in European Physical Journal

Multipartite Entanglement Signature of Quantum Phase Transitions

We derive a general relation between the non-analyticities of the ground state energy and those of a subclass of the multipartite generalized global entanglement (GGE) measure defined by T. R. de Oliveira et al. [Phys. Rev. A 73, 010305(R) (2006)] for many-particle systems. We show that GGE signals both a critical point location and the order of a quantum phase transition (QPT). We also show that GGE allows us to study the relation between multipartite entanglement and QPTs, suggesting that multipartite but not bipartite entanglement is favored at the critical point. Finally, using GGE we were able, at a second order QPT, to define a diverging entanglement length (EL) in terms of the usual correlation length. We exemplify this with the XY spin-1/2 chain and show that the EL is half the correlation length.Comment: Published version. Incorporates correction made in erratu