Ground-States of Two Directed Polymers

Joint ground states of two directed polymers in a random medium are investigated. Using exact min-cost flow optimization the true two-line ground-state is compared with the single line ground state plus its first excited state. It is found that these two-line configurations are (for almost all disorder configurations) distinct implying that the true two-line ground-state is non-separable, even with 'worst-possible' initial conditions. The effective interaction energy between the two lines scales with the system size with the scaling exponents 0.39 and 0.21 in 2D and 3D, respectively.Comment: 19 pages RevTeX, figures include

Crossovers in the Two Dimensional Ising Spin Glass with ferromagnetic next-nearest-neighbor interactions

By means of extensive computer simulations we analyze in detail the two dimensional $\pm J$ Ising spin glass with ferromagnetic next-nearest-neighbor interactions. We found a crossover from ferromagnetic to ``spin glass'' like order both from numerical simulations and analytical arguments. We also present evidences of a second crossover from the ``spin glass'' behavior to a paramagnetic phase for the largest volume studied.Comment: 19 pages with 9 postscript figures also available at http://chimera.roma1.infn.it/index_papers_complex.html. Some changes in captions of figures 1 and

Dislocations in the ground state of the solid-on-solid model on a disordered substrate

We investigate the effects of topological defects (dislocations) to the ground state of the solid-on-solid (SOS) model on a simple cubic disordered substrate utilizing the min-cost-flow algorithm from combinatorial optimization. The dislocations are found to destabilize and destroy the elastic phase, particularly when the defects are placed only in partially optimized positions. For multi defect pairs their density decreases exponentially with the vortex core energy. Their mean distance has a maximum depending on the vortex core energy and system size, which gives a fractal dimension of $1.27 \pm 0.02$. The maximal mean distances correspond to special vortex core energies for which the scaling behavior of the density of dislocations change from a pure exponential decay to a stretched one. Furthermore, an extra introduced vortex pair is screened due to the disorder-induced defects and its energy is linear in the vortex core energy.Comment: 6 pages RevTeX, eps figures include

Critical Exponents of the Three Dimensional Random Field Ising Model

The phase transition of the three--dimensional random field Ising model with a discrete ($\pm h$) field distribution is investigated by extensive Monte Carlo simulations. Values of the critical exponents for the correlation length, specific heat, susceptibility, disconnected susceptibility and magnetization are determined simultaneously via finite size scaling. While the exponents for the magnetization and disconnected susceptibility are consistent with a first order transition, the specific heat appears to saturate indicating no latent heat. Sample to sample fluctuations of the susceptibilty are consistent with the droplet picture for the transition.Comment: Revtex, 10 pages + 4 figures included as Latex files and 1 in Postscrip

Ground states versus low-temperature equilibria in random field Ising chains

We discuss with the aid of random walk arguments and exact numerical computations the magnetization properties of one-dimensional random field chains. The ground state structure is explained in terms of absorbing and non-absorbing random walk excursions. At low temperatures, the magnetization profiles follow those of the ground states except at regions where a local random field fluctuation makes thermal excitations feasible. This follows also from the non-absorbing random walks, and implies that the magnetization length scale is a product of these two scales. It is not simply given by the Imry-Ma-like ground state domain size nor by the scale of the thermal excitations.Comment: 7 pages LaTeX, 8 eps-figures include

Ground state properties of solid-on-solid models with disordered substrates

We study the glassy super-rough phase of a class of solid-on-solid models with a disordered substrate in the limit of vanishing temperature by means of exact ground states, which we determine with a newly developed minimum cost flow algorithm. Results for the height-height correlation function are compared with analytical and numerical predictions. The domain wall energy of a boundary induced step grows logarithmically with system size, indicating the marginal stability of the ground state, and the fractal dimension of the step is estimated. The sensibility of the ground state with respect to infinitesimal variations of the quenched disorder is analyzed.Comment: 4 pages RevTeX, 3 eps-figures include

Audiovisual temporal correspondence modulates human multisensory superior temporal sulcus plus primary sensory cortices

The brain should integrate related but not unrelated information from different senses. Temporal patterning of inputs to different modalities may provide critical information about whether those inputs are related or not. We studied effects of temporal correspondence between auditory and visual streams on human brain activity with functional magnetic resonance imaging ( fMRI). Streams of visual flashes with irregularly jittered, arrhythmic timing could appear on right or left, with or without a stream of auditory tones that coincided perfectly when present ( highly unlikely by chance), were noncoincident with vision ( different erratic, arrhythmic pattern with same temporal statistics), or an auditory stream appeared alone. fMRI revealed blood oxygenation level-dependent ( BOLD) increases in multisensory superior temporal sulcus (mSTS), contralateral to a visual stream when coincident with an auditory stream, and BOLD decreases for noncoincidence relative to unisensory baselines. Contralateral primary visual cortex and auditory cortex were also affected by audiovisual temporal correspondence or noncorrespondence, as confirmed in individuals. Connectivity analyses indicated enhanced influence from mSTS on primary sensory areas, rather than vice versa, during audiovisual correspondence. Temporal correspondence between auditory and visual streams affects a network of both multisensory ( mSTS) and sensory-specific areas in humans, including even primary visual and auditory cortex, with stronger responses for corresponding and thus related audiovisual inputs

Chaos in the Random Field Ising Model

The sensitivity of the random field Ising model to small random perturbations of the quenched disorder is studied via exact ground states obtained with a maximum-flow algorithm. In one and two space dimensions we find a mild form of chaos, meaning that the overlap of the old, unperturbed ground state and the new one is smaller than one, but extensive. In three dimensions the rearrangements are marginal (concentrated in the well defined domain walls). Implications for finite temperature variations and experiments are discussed.Comment: 4 pages RevTeX, 6 eps-figures include