981 research outputs found
Einstein-Cartan theory as a theory of defects in space-time
The Einstein-Cartan theory of gravitation and the classical theory of defects
in an elastic medium are presented and compared. The former is an extension of
general relativity and refers to four-dimensional space-time, while we
introduce the latter as a description of the equilibrium state of a
three-dimensional continuum. Despite these important differences, an analogy is
built on their common geometrical foundations, and it is shown that a
space-time with curvature and torsion can be considered as a state of a
four-dimensional continuum containing defects. This formal analogy is useful
for illustrating the geometrical concept of torsion by applying it to concrete
physical problems. Moreover, the presentation of these theories using a common
geometrical basis allows a deeper understanding of their foundations.Comment: 18 pages, 7 EPS figures, RevTeX4, to appear in the American Journal
of Physics, revised version with typos correcte
Generalized Tomonaga-Schwinger equation from the Hadamard formula
A generalized Tomonaga--Schwinger equation, holding on the entire boundary of
a {\em finite} spacetime region, has recently been considered as a tool for
studying particle scattering amplitudes in background-independent quantum field
theory. The equation has been derived using lattice techniques under
assumptions on the existence of the continuum limit. Here I show that in the
context of continuous euclidean field theory the equation can be directly
derived from the functional integral formalism, using a technique based on
Hadamard's formula for the variation of the propagator.Comment: 11 pages, no figure
Scaling in a continuous time model for biological aging
In this paper we consider a generalization to the asexual version of the
Penna model for biological aging, where we take a continuous time limit. The
genotype associated to each individual is an interval of real numbers over
which Dirac --functions are defined, representing genetically
programmed diseases to be switched on at defined ages of the individual life.
We discuss two different continuous limits for the evolution equation and two
different mutation protocols, to be implemented during reproduction. Exact
stationary solutions are obtained and scaling properties are discussed.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure
Emergence of diversity in a model ecosystem
The biological requirements for an ecosystem to develop and maintain species
diversity are in general unknown. Here we consider a model ecosystem of sessile
and mutually excluding organisms competing for space [Mathiesen et al. Phys.
Rev. Lett. 107, 188101 (2011)]. The competition is controlled by an interaction
network with fixed links chosen by a Bernoulli process. New species are
introduced in the system at a predefined rate. In the limit of small
introduction rates, the system becomes bistable and can undergo a phase
transition from a state of low diversity to high diversity. We suggest that
patches of isolated meta-populations formed by the collapse of cyclic relations
are essential for the transition to the state of high diversity.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures. Accepted for publication in PRE. Typos corrected,
Fig.3A and Fig.6 update
Self-organized patterns of coexistence out of a predator-prey cellular automaton
We present a stochastic approach to modeling the dynamics of coexistence of
prey and predator populations. It is assumed that the space of coexistence is
explicitly subdivided in a grid of cells. Each cell can be occupied by only one
individual of each species or can be empty. The system evolves in time
according to a probabilistic cellular automaton composed by a set of local
rules which describe interactions between species individuals and mimic the
process of birth, death and predation. By performing computational simulations,
we found that, depending on the values of the parameters of the model, the
following states can be reached: a prey absorbing state and active states of
two types. In one of them both species coexist in a stationary regime with
population densities constant in time. The other kind of active state is
characterized by local coupled time oscillations of prey and predator
populations. We focus on the self-organized structures arising from
spatio-temporal dynamics of the coexistence. We identify distinct spatial
patterns of prey and predators and verify that they are intimally connected to
the time coexistence behavior of the species. The occurrence of a prey
percolating cluster on the spatial patterns of the active states is also
examined.Comment: 19 pages, 11 figure
Influence of local carrying capacity restrictions on stochastic predator-prey models
We study a stochastic lattice predator-prey system by means of Monte Carlo
simulations that do not impose any restrictions on the number of particles per
site, and discuss the similarities and differences of our results with those
obtained for site-restricted model variants. In accord with the classic
Lotka-Volterra mean-field description, both species always coexist in two
dimensions. Yet competing activity fronts generate complex, correlated
spatio-temporal structures. As a consequence, finite systems display transient
erratic population oscillations with characteristic frequencies that are
renormalized by fluctuations. For large reaction rates, when the processes are
rendered more local, these oscillations are suppressed. In contrast with
site-restricted predator-prey model, we observe species coexistence also in one
dimension. In addition, we report results on the steady-state prey age
distribution.Comment: Latex, IOP style, 17 pages, 9 figures included, related movies
available at http://www.phys.vt.edu/~tauber/PredatorPrey/movies
Fluctuations and Correlations in Lattice Models for Predator-Prey Interaction
Including spatial structure and stochastic noise invalidates the classical
Lotka-Volterra picture of stable regular population cycles emerging in models
for predator-prey interactions. Growth-limiting terms for the prey induce a
continuous extinction threshold for the predator population whose critical
properties are in the directed percolation universality class. Here, we discuss
the robustness of this scenario by considering an ecologically inspired
stochastic lattice predator-prey model variant where the predation process
includes next-nearest-neighbor interactions. We find that the corresponding
stochastic model reproduces the above scenario in dimensions 1< d \leq 4, in
contrast with mean-field theory which predicts a first-order phase transition.
However, the mean-field features are recovered upon allowing for
nearest-neighbor particle exchange processes, provided these are sufficiently
fast.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, 2-column revtex4 format. Emphasis on the lattice
predator-prey model with next-nearest-neighbor interaction (Rapid
Communication in PRE
On the compatibility of causality and symmetry (Comments on "Analysis of causality in time-dependent density functional theory")
It is argued that there exists the only one inverse of the linear response
function , i.e. , which depends symmetrically of its
spatial-times variables, see M.K. Harbola, and A. Banerjee, Phys. Rev. A {\bf
60}, 5101 (1999). Some brief comments on this consideration are presented. We
show instead, that it is possible to construct the causal inverse also. At the
same time we confirm the main statement of M.K. Harbola and A. Banerjee that in
fact there is no contradiction between the symmetry and causality.Comment: 4 pages, LaTe
Gliotransmitters travel in time and space.
The identification of the presence of active signaling between astrocytes and neurons in a process termed gliotransmission has caused a paradigm shift in our thinking about brain function. However, we are still in the early days of the conceptualization of how astrocytes influence synapses, neurons, networks, and ultimately behavior. In this Perspective, our goal is to identify emerging principles governing gliotransmission and consider the specific properties of this process that endow the astrocyte with unique functions in brain signal integration. We develop and present hypotheses aimed at reconciling confounding reports and define open questions to provide a conceptual framework for future studies. We propose that astrocytes mainly signal through high-affinity slowly desensitizing receptors to modulate neurons and perform integration in spatiotemporal domains complementary to those of neurons
Synchronization and Stability in Noisy Population Dynamics
We study the stability and synchronization of predator-prey populations
subjected to noise. The system is described by patches of local populations
coupled by migration and predation over a neighborhood. When a single patch is
considered, random perturbations tend to destabilize the populations, leading
to extinction. If the number of patches is small, stabilization in the presence
of noise is maintained at the expense of synchronization. As the number of
patches increases, both the stability and the synchrony among patches increase.
However, a residual asynchrony, large compared with the noise amplitude, seems
to persist even in the limit of infinite number of patches. Therefore, the
mechanism of stabilization by asynchrony recently proposed by R. Abta et. al.,
combining noise, diffusion and nonlinearities, seems to be more general than
first proposed.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figures. To appear in Phys. Rev.
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