Energy Landscape and Overlap Distribution of Binary Lennard-Jones Glasses

We study the distribution of overlaps of glassy minima, taking proper care of residual symmetries of the system. Ensembles of locally stable, low lying glassy states are efficiently generated by rapid cooling from the liquid phase which has been equilibrated at a temperature $T_{run}$. Varying $T_{run}$, we observe a transition from a regime where a broad range of states are sampled to a regime where the system is almost always trapped in a metastable glassy state. We do not observe any structure in the distribution of overlaps of glassy minima, but find only very weak correlations, comparable in size to those of two liquid configurations.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, uses europhys-style. Minor notational changes, typos correcte

Thermal Equilibrium with the Wiener Potential: Testing the Replica Variational Approximation

We consider the statistical mechanics of a classical particle in a one-dimensional box subjected to a random potential which constitutes a Wiener process on the coordinate axis. The distribution of the free energy and all correlation functions of the Gibbs states may be calculated exactly as a function of the box length and temperature. This allows for a detailed test of results obtained by the replica variational approximation scheme. We show that this scheme provides a reasonable estimate of the averaged free energy. Furthermore our results shed more light on the validity of the concept of approximate ultrametricity which is a central assumption of the replica variational method.Comment: 6 pages, 1 file LaTeX2e generating 2 eps-files for 2 figures automaticall

Comment on ``Critical behavior of a two-species reaction-diffusion problem''

In a recent paper, de Freitas et al. [Phys. Rev. E 61, 6330 (2000)] presented simulational results for the critical exponents of the two-species reaction-diffusion system A + B -> 2B and B -> A in dimension d = 1. In particular, the correlation length exponent was found as \nu = 2.21(5) in contradiction to the exact relation \nu = 2/d. In this Comment, the symmetry arguments leading to exact critical exponents for the universality class of this reaction-diffusion system are concisely reconsidered

Influence of Collision Cascade Statistics on Pattern Formation of Ion-Sputtered Surfaces

Theoretical continuum models that describe the formation of patterns on surfaces of targets undergoing ion-beam sputtering, are based on Sigmund's formula, which describes the spatial distribution of the energy deposited by the ion. For small angles of incidence and amorphous or polycrystalline materials, this description seems to be suitable, and leads to the classic BH morphological theory [R.M. Bradley and J.M.E. Harper, J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 6, 2390 (1988)]. Here we study the sputtering of Cu crystals by means of numerical simulations under the binary-collision approximation. We observe significant deviations from Sigmund's energy distribution. In particular, the distribution that best fits our simulations has a minimum near the position where the ion penetrates the surface, and the decay of energy deposition with distance to ion trajectory is exponential rather than Gaussian. We provide a modified continuum theory which takes these effects into account and explores the implications of the modified energy distribution for the surface morphology. In marked contrast with BH's theory, the dependence of the sputtering yield with the angle of incidence is non-monotonous, with a maximum for non-grazing incidence angles.Comment: 12 pages, 13 figures, RevTe

Phase Transitions in Operational Risk

In this paper we explore the functional correlation approach to operational risk. We consider networks with heterogeneous a-priori conditional and unconditional failure probability. In the limit of sparse connectivity, self-consistent expressions for the dynamical evolution of order parameters are obtained. Under equilibrium conditions, expressions for the stationary states are also obtained. The consequences of the analytical theory developed are analyzed using phase diagrams. We find co-existence of operational and non-operational phases, much as in liquid-gas systems. Such systems are susceptible to discontinuous phase transitions from the operational to non-operational phase via catastrophic breakdown. We find this feature to be robust against variation of the microscopic modelling assumptions.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures. Accepted in Physical Review

Low energy excitations in crystalline perovskite oxides: Evidence from noise experiments

In this paper we report measurements of 1/f noise in a crystalline metallic oxide with perovskite structure down to 4.2K. The results show existence of localized excitations with average activation energy $\approx$ 70-80 meV which produce peak in the noise at T $\approx$ 35-40K. In addition, it shows clear evidence of tunnelling type two-level-systems (as in glasses) which show up in noise measurements below 30K.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Phys Rev B, vol 58, 1st Dec issu

Field theory for a reaction-diffusion model of quasispecies dynamics

RNA viruses are known to replicate with extremely high mutation rates. These rates are actually close to the so-called error threshold. This threshold is in fact a critical point beyond which genetic information is lost through a second-order phase transition, which has been dubbed the ``error catastrophe.'' Here we explore this phenomenon using a field theory approximation to the spatially extended Swetina-Schuster quasispecies model [J. Swetina and P. Schuster, Biophys. Chem. {\bf 16}, 329 (1982)], a single-sharp-peak landscape. In analogy with standard absorbing-state phase transitions, we develop a reaction-diffusion model whose discrete rules mimic the Swetina-Schuster model. The field theory representation of the reaction-diffusion system is constructed. The proposed field theory belongs to the same universality class than a conserved reaction-diffusion model previously proposed [F. van Wijland {\em et al.}, Physica A {\bf 251}, 179 (1998)]. From the field theory, we obtain the full set of exponents that characterize the critical behavior at the error threshold. Our results present the error catastrophe from a new point of view and suggest that spatial degrees of freedom can modify several mean field predictions previously considered, leading to the definition of characteristic exponents that could be experimentally measurable.Comment: 13 page

The signal-to-noise analysis of the Little-Hopfield model revisited

Using the generating functional analysis an exact recursion relation is derived for the time evolution of the effective local field of the fully connected Little-Hopfield model. It is shown that, by leaving out the feedback correlations arising from earlier times in this effective dynamics, one precisely finds the recursion relations usually employed in the signal-to-noise approach. The consequences of this approximation as well as the physics behind it are discussed. In particular, it is pointed out why it is hard to notice the effects, especially for model parameters corresponding to retrieval. Numerical simulations confirm these findings. The signal-to-noise analysis is then extended to include all correlations, making it a full theory for dynamics at the level of the generating functional analysis. The results are applied to the frequently employed extremely diluted (a)symmetric architectures and to sequence processing networks.Comment: 26 pages, 3 figure

Bosonization method for second super quantization

A bosonic-fermionic correspondence allows an analytic definition of functional super derivative, in particular, and a bosonic functional calculus, in general, on Bargmann- Gelfand triples for the second super quantization. A Feynman integral for the super transformation matrix elements in terms of bosonic anti-normal Berezin symbols is rigorously constructed.Comment: In memoriam of F. A. Berezin, accepted in Journal of Nonlinear Mathematical Physics, 15 page

Statistical properties of phases and delay times of the one-dimensional Anderson model with one open channel

We study the distribution of phases and of Wigner delay times for a one-dimensional Anderson model with one open channel. Our approach, based on classical Hamiltonian maps, allows us an analytical treatment. We find that the distribution of phases depends drastically on the parameter $\sigma_A = \sigma/sin k$ where $\sigma^2$ is the variance of the disorder distribution and $k$ the wavevector. It undergoes a transition from uniformity to singular behaviour as $\sigma_A$ increases. The distribution of delay times shows universal power law tails $~ 1/\tau^2$, while the short time behaviour is $\sigma_A$- dependent.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, Submitted to PR