711 research outputs found
Strategy correlations and timing of adaptation in Minority Games
We study the role of strategy correlations and timing of adaptation for the
dynamics of Minority Games, both simulationally and analytically. Using the
exact generating functional approach a la De Dominicis we compute the phase
diagram and the behaviour of batch and on-line games with correlated
strategies, complementing exisiting replica studies of their statics. It is
shown that the timing of adaptation can be relevant; while conventional games
with uncorrelated strategies are nearly insensitive to the choice of on-line
versus batch learning, we find qualitative differences when anti-correlations
are present in the strategy assignments. The available standard approximations
for the volatility in terms of persistent order parameters in the stationary
ergodic states become unreliable in batch games under such circumstances. We
then comment on the role of oscillations and the relation to the breakdown of
ergodicity. Finally, it is discussed how the generating functional formalism
can be used to study mixed populations of so-called `producers' and
`speculators' in the context of the batch minority games.Comment: 15 pages, 13 figures, EPJ styl
Non-perturbative renormalization of the KPZ growth dynamics
We introduce a non-perturbative renormalization approach which identifies
stable fixed points in any dimension for the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang dynamics of
rough surfaces. The usual limitations of real space methods to deal with
anisotropic (self-affine) scaling are overcome with an indirect functional
renormalization. The roughness exponent is computed for dimensions
to 8 and it results to be in very good agreement with the available
simulations. No evidence is found for an upper critical dimension. We discuss
how the present approach can be extended to other self-affine problems.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. To appear in Phys. Rev. Let
Laplacian Fractal Growth in Media with Quenched Disorder
We analyze the combined effect of a Laplacian field and quenched disorder for
the generation of fractal structures with a study, both numerical and
theoretical, of the quenched dielectric breakdown model (QDBM). The growth
dynamics is shown to evolve from the avalanches of invasion percolation (IP) to
the smooth growth of Laplacian fractals, i. e. diffusion limited aggregation
(DLA) and the dielectric breakdown model (DBM). The fractal dimension is
strongly reduced with respect to both DBM and IP, due to the combined effect of
memory and field screening. This implies a specific relation between the
fractal dimension of the breakdown structures (dielectric or mechanical) and
the microscopic properties of disordered materials.Comment: 11 pages Latex (revtex), 3 postscript figures included. Submitted to
PR
High dimensional behavior of the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang growth dynamics
We investigate analytically the large dimensional behavior of the
Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) dynamics of surface growth using a recently proposed
non-perturbative renormalization for self-affine surface dynamics. Within this
framework, we show that the roughness exponent decays not faster than
for large . This implies the absence of a finite upper
critical dimension.Comment: RevTeX, 4 pages, 2 figures. To appear in Phys. Rev.
Generalized Dielectric Breakdown Model
We propose a generalized version of the Dielectric Breakdown Model (DBM) for
generic breakdown processes. It interpolates between the standard DBM and its
analog with quenched disorder, as a temperature like parameter is varied. The
physics of other well known fractal growth phenomena as Invasion Percolation
and the Eden model are also recovered for some particular parameter values. The
competition between different growing mechanisms leads to new non-trivial
effects and allows us to better describe real growth phenomena.
Detailed numerical and theoretical analysis are performed to study the
interplay between the elementary mechanisms. In particular, we observe a
continuously changing fractal dimension as temperature is varied, and report an
evidence of a novel phase transition at zero temperature in absence of an
external driving field; the temperature acts as a relevant parameter for the
``self-organized'' invasion percolation fixed point. This permits us to obtain
new insight into the connections between self-organization and standard phase
transitions.Comment: Submitted to PR
Nonequilibrium phase transition in a model for social influence
We present extensive numerical simulations of the Axelrod's model for social
influence, aimed at understanding the formation of cultural domains. This is a
nonequilibrium model with short range interactions and a remarkably rich
dynamical behavior. We study the phase diagram of the model and uncover a
nonequilibrium phase transition separating an ordered (culturally polarized)
phase from a disordered (culturally fragmented) one. The nature of the phase
transition can be continuous or discontinuous depending on the model
parameters. At the transition, the size of cultural regions is power-law
distributed.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Statistical physics of the Schelling model of segregation
We investigate the static and dynamic properties of a celebrated model of
social segregation, providing a complete explanation of the mechanisms leading
to segregation both in one- and two-dimensional systems. Standard statistical
physics methods shed light on the rich phenomenology of this simple model,
exhibiting static phase transitions typical of kinetic constrained models,
nontrivial coarsening like in driven-particle systems and percolation-related
phenomena.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Universality and Crossover of Directed Polymers and Growing Surfaces
We study KPZ surfaces on Euclidean lattices and directed polymers on
hierarchical lattices subject to different distributions of disorder, showing
that universality holds, at odds with recent results on Euclidean lattices.
Moreover, we find the presence of a slow (power-law) crossover toward the
universal values of the exponents and verify that the exponent governing such
crossover is universal too. In the limit of a 1+epsilon dimensional system we
obtain both numerically and analytically that the crossover exponent is 1/2.Comment: LateX file + 5 .eps figures; to appear on Phys. Rev. Let
Sunscreens’ uv filters risk for coastal marine environment biodiversity: A review
Considering the rapid growth of tourism in recent years and the acknowledgement that exposure to solar UV radiation may cause skin cancer, sunscreens have been widely used by beach-goers in recent decades. UV filters contained in sunscreens, however, were recently identified as emerging pollutants in coastal waters since they accumulate in the marine environment with different adverse effects. In fact, exposure to these components was proven to be toxic to most invertebrate and vertebrate marine species. Some UV filters are linked to the production of significant amounts of reactive oxygen species (ROS), such as hydrogen peroxide, and the release of inorganic micronutrients that may alter the status of coastal habitats. Bioaccumulation and biomagnification have not yet been fully addressed. This review highlights recent progress in research and provides a comprehensive overview of the toxicological and ecotoxicological effects of the most used UV filters both on the abiotic and biotic compartments in different types of coastal areas, to gain a better understanding of the impacts on coastal biodiversity
Comment on: Role of Intermittency in Urban Development: A Model of Large-Scale City Formation
Comment to D.H. Zanette and S.C. Manrubia, Phys. Rev. Lett. 79, 523 (1997).Comment: 1 page no figure
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