Transport Properties of a Chain of Anharmonic Oscillators with random flip of velocities

We consider the stationary states of a chain of $n$ anharmonic coupled oscillators, whose deterministic hamiltonian dynamics is perturbed by random independent sign change of the velocities (a random mechanism that conserve energy). The extremities are coupled to thermostats at different temperature $T_\ell$ and $T_r$ and subject to constant forces $\tau_\ell$ and $\tau_r$. If the forces differ $\tau_\ell \neq \tau_r$ the center of mass of the system will move of a speed $V_s$ inducing a tension gradient inside the system. Our aim is to see the influence of the tension gradient on the thermal conductivity. We investigate the entropy production properties of the stationary states, and we prove the existence of the Onsager matrix defined by Green-kubo formulas (linear response). We also prove some explicit bounds on the thermal conductivity, depending on the temperature.Comment: Published version: J Stat Phys (2011) 145:1224-1255 DOI 10.1007/s10955-011-0385-

Center-stabilized Yang-Mills theory: confinement and large NN volume independence

We examine a double trace deformation of SU(N) Yang-Mills theory which, for large $N$ and large volume, is equivalent to unmodified Yang-Mills theory up to $O(1/N^2)$ corrections. In contrast to the unmodified theory, large $N$ volume independence is valid in the deformed theory down to arbitrarily small volumes. The double trace deformation prevents the spontaneous breaking of center symmetry which would otherwise disrupt large $N$ volume independence in small volumes. For small values of $N$, if the theory is formulated on $\R^3 \times S^1$ with a sufficiently small compactification size $L$, then an analytic treatment of the non-perturbative dynamics of the deformed theory is possible. In this regime, we show that the deformed Yang-Mills theory has a mass gap and exhibits linear confinement. Increasing the circumference $L$ or number of colors $N$ decreases the separation of scales on which the analytic treatment relies. However, there are no order parameters which distinguish the small and large radius regimes. Consequently, for small $N$ the deformed theory provides a novel example of a locally four-dimensional pure gauge theory in which one has analytic control over confinement, while for large $N$ it provides a simple fully reduced model for Yang-Mills theory. The construction is easily generalized to QCD and other QCD-like theories.Comment: 29 pages, expanded discussion of multiple compactified dimension

Relaxation dynamics and colossal magnetocapacitive effect in CdCr2S4

A thorough investigation of the relaxational dynamics in the recently discovered multiferroic CdCr2S4 showing a colossal magnetocapacitive effect has been performed. Broadband dielectric measurements without and with external magnetic fields up to 10 T provide clear evidence that the observed magnetocapacitive effect stems from enormous changes of the relaxation dynamics induced by the development of magnetic order.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Frustrated quantum-spin system on a triangle coupled with ege_g lattice vibrations - Correspondence to Longuet-Higgins et al.'s Jahn-Teller model -

We investigate the quantum three spin model $({\bf S_1},{\bf S_2},{\bf S_3})$ of spin$=1/2$ on a triangle, in which spins are coupled with lattice-vibrational modes through the exchange interaction depending on distances between spin sites. The present model corresponds to the dynamic Jahn-Teller system $E_g\otimes e_g$ proposed by Longuet-Higgins {\it et al.}, Proc.R.Soc.A.{\bf 244},1(1958). This correspondence is revealed by using the transformation to Nakamura-Bishop's bases proposed in Phys.Rev.Lett.{\bf 54},861(1985). Furthermore, we elucidate the relationship between the behavior of a chiral order parameter ${\hat \chi}={\bf S_1\cdot(S_2\times S_3)}$ and that of the electronic orbital angular momentum ${\hat \ell_z}$ in $E_g\otimes e_g$ vibronic model: The regular oscillatory behavior of the expectation value $$for vibronic structures with increasing energy can also be found in that of$$. The increase of the additional anharmonicity(chaoticity) is found to yield a rapidly decaying irregular oscillation of $$

Leaf area reduction by trimming, a growing technique to restore the anthocyanins : sugars ratio decoupled by the warming climate

The aim of this work is the evaluation of the leaf area reduction by trimming, as a growing technique to restore the anthocyanins : sugars ratio decoupled by the warming climate. A 3-year period (2010-2012) severe shoot trimming treatment was done after berryset (berry diameter 3-4 mm) and the veraison date was delayed around 20 days. The grapes were picked at the same level of soluble solids in all the treatments. However, for every year, the trim treatment significatively increased the total anthocyanin content between 8 % and 21 % compared to control. Therefore, delaying the berry ripening process trough the decrease of the leaf area to fruit ratio, could partially restore the anthocyanins : sugars ratio disrupted by elevated temperatures. Although it is necessary to study other trimmings intensities as well as other times of intervention, the shoot trimming treatment could be a very simple technique to delay berry ripening and compensate the effects of climate warming.

Thermophoresis of Brownian particles driven by coloured noise

The Brownian motion of microscopic particles is driven by the collisions with the molecules of the surrounding fluid. The noise associated with these collisions is not white, but coloured due, e.g., to the presence of hydrodynamic memory. The noise characteristic time scale is typically of the same order as the time over which the particle's kinetic energy is lost due to friction (inertial time scale). We demonstrate theoretically that, in the presence of a temperature gradient, the interplay between these two characteristic time scales can have measurable consequences on the particle long-time behaviour. Using homogenization theory, we analyse the infinitesimal generator of the stochastic differential equation describing the system in the limit where the two characteristic times are taken to zero; from this generator, we derive the thermophoretic transport coefficient, which, we find, can vary in both magnitude and sign, as observed in experiments. Furthermore, studying the long-term stationary particle distribution, we show that particles can accumulate towards the colder (positive thermophoresis) or the warmer (negative thermophoresis) regions depending on the dependence of their physical parameters and, in particular, their mobility on the temperature.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure

Evidence for moving breathers in a layered crystal insulator at 300K

We report the ejection of atoms at a crystal surface caused by energetic breathers which have travelled more than 10^7 unit cells in atomic chain directions. The breathers were created by bombardment of a crystal face with heavy ions. This effect was observed at 300K in the layered crystal muscovite, which has linear chains of atoms for which the surrounding lattice has C_2 symmetry. The experimental techniques described could be used to study breathers in other materials and configurations.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure

Configurational Entropy and its Crisis in Metastable States: Ideal Glass Transition in a Dimer Model as a Paragidm of a Molecular Glass

We discuss the need for discretization to evaluate the configurational entropy in a general model. We also discuss the prescription using restricted partition function formalism to study the stationary limit of metastable states. We introduce a lattice model of dimers as a paradigm of molecular fluid and study metastability in it to investigate the root cause of glassy behavior. We demonstrate the existence of the entropy crisis in metastable states, from which it follows that the entropy crisis is the root cause underlying the ideal glass transition in systems with particles of all sizes. The orientational interactions in the model control the nature of the liquid-liquid transition observed in recent years in molecular glasses.Comment: 36 pages, 9 figure

On a direct approach to quasideterminant solutions of a noncommutative KP equation

A noncommutative version of the KP equation and two families of its solutions expressed as quasideterminants are discussed. The origin of these solutions is explained by means of Darboux and binary Darboux transformations. Additionally, it is shown that these solutions may also be verified directly. This approach is reminiscent of the wronskian technique used for the Hirota bilinear form of the regular, commutative KP equation but, in the noncommutative case, no bilinearising transformation is available.Comment: 11 page

Energy transport through rare collisions

We study a one-dimensional hamiltonian chain of masses perturbed by an energy conserving noise. The dynamics is such that, according to its hamiltonian part, particles move freely in cells and interact with their neighbors through collisions, made possible by a small overlap of size $\epsilon > 0$ between near cells. The noise only randomly flips the velocity of the particles. If $\epsilon \rightarrow 0$, and if time is rescaled by a factor $1/{\epsilon}$, we show that energy evolves autonomously according to a stochastic equation, which hydrodynamic limit is known in some cases. In particular, if only two different energies are present, the limiting process coincides with the simple symmetric exclusion process.Comment: 24 pages, 2 figure