Statistical properties of single-file diffusion front

Statistical properties of the front of a semi-infinite system of single-file diffusion (one dimensional system where particles cannot pass each other, but in-between collisions each one independently follow diffusive motion) are investigated. Exact as well as asymptotic results are provided for the probability density function of (a) the front-position, (b) the maximum of the front-positions, and (c) the first-passage time to a given position. The asymptotic laws for the front-position and the maximum front-position are found to be governed by the Fisher-Tippett-Gumbel extreme value statistics. The asymptotic properties of the first-passage time is dominated by a stretched-exponential tail in the distribution. The farness of the front with the rest of the system is investigated by considering (i) the gap from the front to the closest particle, and (ii) the density profile with respect to the front-position, and analytical results are provided for late time behaviors.Comment: 4 revtex page

Work fluctuations for a harmonic oscillator driven by an external random force

The fluctuations of the work done by an external Gaussian random force on a harmonic oscillator that is also in contact with a thermal bath is studied. We have obtained the exact large deviation function as well as the complete asymptotic forms of the probability density function. The distribution of the work done are found to be non-Gaussian. The steady state fluctuation theorem holds only if the ratio of the variances, of the external random forcing and the thermal noise respectively, is less than 1/3. On the other hand, the transient fluctuation theorem holds (asymptotically) for all the values of that ratio. The theoretical asymptotic forms of the probability density function are in very good agreement with the numerics as well as with an experiment.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Record Statistics of Continuous Time Random Walk

The statistics of records for a time series generated by a continuous time random walk is studied, and found to be independent of the details of the jump length distribution, as long as the latter is continuous and symmetric. However, the statistics depend crucially on the nature of the waiting time distribution. The probability of finding M records within a given time duration t, for large t, has a scaling form, and the exact scaling function is obtained in terms of the one-sided Levy stable law. The mean of the ages of the records, defined as , differs from t/. The asymptotic behaviour of the shortest and the longest ages of the records are also studied.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures; EPL published versio

Fluctuation theorem for entropy production of a partial system in the weak coupling limit

Small systems in contact with a heat bath evolve by stochastic dynamics. Here we show that, when one such small system is weakly coupled to another one, it is possible to infer the presence of such weak coupling by observing the violation of the steady state fluctuation theorem for the partial entropy production of the observed system. We give a general mechanism due to which the violation of the fluctuation theorem can be significant, even for weak coupling. We analytically demonstrate on a realistic model system that this mechanism can be realized by applying an external random force to the system. In other words, we find a new fluctuation theorem for the entropy production of a partial system, in the limit of weak coupling.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure

Hysteresis and Avalanches in the Random Field Ising Model

In this thesis, we discuss nonequilibrium ferromagnetic random field Ising model (RFIM) with zero temperature Glauber single spin flip dynamics. We briefly review the hysteresis in ferromagnets and Barkhausen effect. We discuss some earlier results on the zero temperature RFIM. We also discuss some of the equilibrium properties of RFIM. We setup the generating function for the avalanche distribution for arbitrary distribution of the quenched random field on a Bethe lattice. We explicitly calculate the probability distribution of avalanches, for the for Bethe lattices with coordination numbers $z=2$ and 3, for the special case of a rectangular distribution of the random field. We analyse the self-consistent equations to determine the form of the avalanche distribution for some general unimodal continuous distributions of the random field. We derive the self-consistent equations for the magnetization on minor hysteresis loops on a Bethe lattice, when the external field is varying cyclically with decreasing magnitudes. We also discuss some properties of stable configurations, when the external field is varying. We study the model with an asymmetric distribution of quenched fields, in the limit of low disorder in two and three dimensions. We relate the spin flip process to bootstrap percolation, and find nontrivial dependence of the coercive field on the coordination number of the lattice.Comment: PhD Thesis, 74 page