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

Non-equilibrium relaxation and critical aging for driven Ising lattice gases

We employ Monte Carlo simulations to study the non-equilibrium relaxation of driven Ising lattice gases in two dimensions. Whereas the temporal scaling of the density auto-correlation function in the non-equilibrium steady state does not allow a precise measurement of the critical exponents, these can be accurately determined from the aging scaling of the two-time auto-correlations and the order parameter evolution following a quench to the critical point. We obtain excellent agreement with renormalization group predictions based on the standard Langevin representation of driven Ising lattice gases.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures included; to appear in Phys. Rev. Lett. (2012

Nonequilibrium critical dynamics of the relaxational models C and D

We investigate the critical dynamics of the $n$-component relaxational models C and D which incorporate the coupling of a nonconserved and conserved order parameter S, respectively, to the conserved energy density rho, under nonequilibrium conditions by means of the dynamical renormalization group. Detailed balance violations can be implemented isotropically by allowing for different effective temperatures for the heat baths coupling to the slow modes. In the case of model D with conserved order parameter, the energy density fluctuations can be integrated out. For model C with scalar order parameter, in equilibrium governed by strong dynamic scaling (z_S = z_rho), we find no genuine nonequilibrium fixed point. The nonequilibrium critical dynamics of model C with n = 1 thus follows the behavior of other systems with nonconserved order parameter wherein detailed balance becomes effectively restored at the phase transition. For n >= 4, the energy density decouples from the order parameter. However, for n = 2 and n = 3, in the weak dynamic scaling regime (z_S <= z_rho) entire lines of genuine nonequilibrium model C fixed points emerge to one-loop order, which are characterized by continuously varying critical exponents. Similarly, the nonequilibrium model C with spatially anisotropic noise and n < 4 allows for continuously varying exponents, yet with strong dynamic scaling. Subjecting model D to anisotropic nonequilibrium perturbations leads to genuinely different critical behavior with softening only in subsectors of momentum space and correspondingly anisotropic scaling exponents. Similar to the two-temperature model B the effective theory at criticality can be cast into an equilibrium model D dynamics, albeit incorporating long-range interactions of the uniaxial dipolar type.Comment: Revtex, 23 pages, 5 eps figures included (minor additions), to appear in Phys. Rev.

Slow relaxation and aging kinetics for the driven lattice gas

We numerically investigate the long-time behavior of the density-density auto-correlation function in driven lattice gases with particle exclusion and periodic boundary conditions in one, two, and three dimensions using precise Monte Carlo simulations. In the one-dimensional asymmetric exclusion process on a ring with half the lattice sites occupied, we find that correlations induce extremely slow relaxation to the asymptotic power law decay. We compare the crossover functions obtained from our simulations with various analytic results in the literature, and analyze the characteristic oscillations that occur in finite systems away from half-filling. As expected, in three dimensions correlations are weak and consequently the mean-field description is adequate. We also investigate the relaxation towards the nonequilibrium steady state in the two-time density-density auto-correlations, starting from strongly correlated initial conditions. We obtain simple aging scaling behavior in one, two, and three dimensions, with the expected power laws.Comment: 12 pages, 18 figures; to appear in Phys. Rev. E (2011

Critical behavior of the two dimensional 2A->3A, 4A->0 binary system

The phase transitions of the recently introduced 2A -> 3A, 4A -> 0 reaction-diffusion model (G.Odor, PRE 69 036112 (2004)) are explored in two dimensions. This model exhibits site occupation restriction and explicit diffusion of isolated particles. A reentrant phase diagram in the diffusion - creation rate space is confirmed in agreement with cluster mean-field and one-dimensional results. For strong diffusion a mean-field transition can be observed at zero branching rate characterized by $\alpha=1/3$ density decay exponent. In contrast with this for weak diffusion the effective 2A ->3A->4A->0 reaction becomes relevant and the mean-field transition of the 2A -> 3A, 2A -> 0 model characterized by $\alpha=1/2$ also appears for non-zero branching rates.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures included, small correction

Kinetics of phase-separation in the critical spherical model and local scale-invariance

The scaling forms of the space- and time-dependent two-time correlation and response functions are calculated for the kinetic spherical model with a conserved order-parameter and quenched to its critical point from a completely disordered initial state. The stochastic Langevin equation can be split into a noise part and into a deterministic part which has local scale-transformations with a dynamical exponent z=4 as a dynamical symmetry. An exact reduction formula allows to express any physical average in terms of averages calculable from the deterministic part alone. The exact spherical model results are shown to agree with these predictions of local scale-invariance. The results also include kinetic growth with mass conservation as described by the Mullins-Herring equation.Comment: Latex2e with IOP macros, 28 pp, 2 figures, final for

Localized Flux Lines and the Bose Glass

Columnar defects provide effective pinning centers for magnetic flux lines in high--$T_{\rm c}$ superconductors. Utilizing a mapping of the statistical mechanics of directed lines to the quantum mechanics of two--dimensional bosons, one expects an entangled flux liquid phase at high temperatures, separated by a second--order localization transition from a low--temperature ``Bose glass'' phase with infinite tilt modulus. Recent decoration experiments have demonstrated that below the matching field the repulsive forces between the vortices may be sufficiently large to produce strong spatial correlations in the Bose glass. This is confirmed by numerical simulations, and a remarkably wide soft ``Coulomb gap'' at the chemical potential is found in the distribution of pinning energies. At low currents, the dominant transport mechanism in the Bose glass phase proceeds via the formation of double kinks between not necessarily adjacent columnar pins, similar to variable--range hopping in disordered semiconductors. The strong correlation effects originating in the long--range vortex interactions drastically reduce variable--range hopping transport.Comment: 10 pages, latex ("lamuphys.sty" file included), 6 figures can be obtained from the author ([email protected]); to appear in Proc. XIV Sitges conference on "Complex Behaviour of Glassy Systems" (Springer--Verlag

Failure of Ceftriaxone in an Intravenous Drug User with Invasive Infection Due to Ralstonia pickettii

Abstract. : We report a case of septic arthritis due to Ralstonia pickettii in an intravenous drug user with unfavorable clinical course under antibiotic therapy with ceftriaxone despite in vitro susceptibility to the drug. The treatment failure may have been due to a discrepancy between in vitro and in vivo susceptibility of R. pickettii, or to resistance development mediated by a recently described inducible ß-lactamas

Stochastic population oscillations in spatial predator-prey models

It is well-established that including spatial structure and stochastic noise in models for predator-prey interactions invalidates the classical deterministic Lotka-Volterra picture of neutral population cycles. In contrast, stochastic models yield long-lived, but ultimately decaying erratic population oscillations, which can be understood through a resonant amplification mechanism for density fluctuations. In Monte Carlo simulations of spatial stochastic predator-prey systems, one observes striking complex spatio-temporal structures. These spreading activity fronts induce persistent correlations between predators and prey. In the presence of local particle density restrictions (finite prey carrying capacity), there exists an extinction threshold for the predator population. The accompanying continuous non-equilibrium phase transition is governed by the directed-percolation universality class. We employ field-theoretic methods based on the Doi-Peliti representation of the master equation for stochastic particle interaction models to (i) map the ensuing action in the vicinity of the absorbing state phase transition to Reggeon field theory, and (ii) to quantitatively address fluctuation-induced renormalizations of the population oscillation frequency, damping, and diffusion coefficients in the species coexistence phase.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, submitted to J. Phys C: Conf. Ser. (2011