3,026 research outputs found
On the Stabilizing Effect of Predators and Competitors on Ecological Communities
Ecological communities can lose their permanence if a predator or a competitor is removed: the remaining species no linger coexist. This well known phenomenon is analyzed for some low dimensional examples of Lotka-Volterra type, with special attention paid to the occurrence of heteroclinic cycles
Correlation of Positive and Negative Reciprocity Fails to Confer an Evolutionary Advantage: Phase Transitions to Elementary Strategies
Economic experiments reveal that humans value cooperation and fairness. Punishing unfair behavior is therefore common, and according to the theory of strong reciprocity, it is also directly related to rewarding cooperative behavior. However, empirical data fail to confirm that positive and negative reciprocity are correlated. Inspired by this disagreement, we determine whether the combined application of reward and punishment is evolutionarily advantageous. We study a spatial public goods game, where in addition to the three elementary strategies of defection, rewarding, and punishment, a fourth strategy that combines the latter two competes for space. We find rich dynamical behavior that gives rise to intricate phase diagrams where continuous and discontinuous phase transitions occur in succession. Indirect territorial competition, spontaneous emergence of cyclic dominance, as well as divergent fluctuations of oscillations that terminate in an absorbing phase are observed. Yet, despite the high complexity of solutions, the combined strategy can survive only in very narrow and unrealistic parameter regions. Elementary strategies, either in pure or mixed phases, are much more common and likely to prevail. Our results highlight the importance of patterns and structure in human cooperation, which should be considered in future experiments
Dynamically generated cyclic dominance in spatial prisoner's dilemma games
We have studied the impact of time-dependent learning capacities of players
in the framework of spatial prisoner's dilemma game. In our model, this
capacity of players may decrease or increase in time after strategy adoption
according to a step-like function. We investigated both possibilities
separately and observed significantly different mechanisms that form the
stationary pattern of the system. The time decreasing learning activity helps
cooperator domains to recover the possible intrude of defectors hence supports
cooperation. In the other case the temporary restrained learning activity
generates a cyclic dominance between defector and cooperator strategies, which
helps to maintain the diversity of strategies via propagating waves. The
results are robust and remain valid by changing payoff values, interaction
graphs or functions characterizing time-dependence of learning activity. Our
observations suggest that dynamically generated mechanisms may offer
alternative ways to keep cooperators alive even at very larger temptation to
defect.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review
Nonadiabatic electron heat pump
We investigate a mechanism for extracting heat from metallic conductors based
on the energy-selective transmission of electrons through a spatially
asymmetric resonant structure subject to ac driving. This quantum refrigerator
can operate at zero net electronic current as it replaces hot by cold electrons
through two energetically symmetric inelastic channels. We present numerical
results for a specific heterostructure and discuss general trends. We also
explore the conditions under which the cooling rate may approach the ultimate
limit given by the quantum of cooling power.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures; published version, typos correcte
Conditional strategies and the evolution of cooperation in spatial public goods games
The fact that individuals will most likely behave differently in different
situations begets the introduction of conditional strategies. Inspired by this,
we study the evolution of cooperation in the spatial public goods game, where
besides unconditional cooperators and defectors, also different types of
conditional cooperators compete for space. Conditional cooperators will
contribute to the public good only if other players within the group are likely
to cooperate as well, but will withhold their contribution otherwise. Depending
on the number of other cooperators that are required to elicit cooperation of a
conditional cooperator, the latter can be classified in as many types as there
are players within each group. We find that the most cautious cooperators, such
that require all other players within a group to be conditional cooperators,
are the undisputed victors of the evolutionary process, even at very low
synergy factors. We show that the remarkable promotion of cooperation is due
primarily to the spontaneous emergence of quarantining of defectors, which
become surrounded by conditional cooperators and are forced into isolated
convex "bubbles" from where they are unable to exploit the public good. This
phenomenon can be observed only in structured populations, thus adding to the
relevance of pattern formation for the successful evolution of cooperation.Comment: 7 two-column pages, 7 figures; accepted for publication in Physical
Review
Dynamical charge and spin density wave scattering in cuprate superconductor
We show that a variety of spectral features in high-T_c cuprates can be
understood from the coupling of charge carriers to some kind of dynamical order
which we exemplify in terms of fluctuating charge and spin density waves. Two
theoretical models are investigated which capture different aspects of such
dynamical scattering. The first approach leaves the ground state in the
disordered phase but couples the electrons to bosonic degrees of freedom,
corresponding to the quasi singular scattering associated with the closeness to
an ordered phase. The second, more phenomological approach starts from the
construction of a frequency dependent order parameter which vanishes for small
energies. Both theories capture scanning tunneling microscopy and angle-resoved
photoemission experiments which suggest the protection of quasiparticles close
to the Fermi energy but the manifestation of long-range order at higher
frequencies.Comment: 27 pages, 13 figures, to appear in New J. Phy
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