476 research outputs found
Interacting Turing-Hopf Instabilities Drive Symmetry-Breaking Transitions in a Mean-Field Model of the Cortex: A Mechanism for the Slow Oscillation
Electrical recordings of brain activity during the transition from wake to anesthetic coma show temporal and spectral alterations that are correlated with gross changes in the underlying brain state. Entry into anesthetic unconsciousness is signposted by the emergence of large, slow oscillations of electrical activity (âČ1ââHz) similar to the slow waves observed in natural sleep. Here we present a two-dimensional mean-field model of the cortex in which slow spatiotemporal oscillations arise spontaneously through a Turing (spatial) symmetry-breaking bifurcation that is modulated by a Hopf (temporal) instability. In our model, populations of neurons are densely interlinked by chemical synapses, and by interneuronal gap junctions represented as an inhibitory diffusive coupling. To demonstrate cortical behavior over a wide range of distinct brain states, we explore model dynamics in the vicinity of a general-anesthetic-induced transition from âwakeâ to âcoma.â In this region, the system is poised at a codimension-2 point where competing Turing and Hopf instabilities coexist. We model anesthesia as a moderate reduction in inhibitory diffusion, paired with an increase in inhibitory postsynaptic response, producing a coma state that is characterized by emergent low-frequency oscillations whose dynamics is chaotic in time and space. The effect of long-range axonal white-matter connectivity is probed with the inclusion of a single idealized point-to-point connection. We find that the additional excitation from the long-range connection can provoke seizurelike bursts of cortical activity when inhibitory diffusion is weak, but has little impact on an active cortex. Our proposed dynamic mechanism for the origin of anesthetic slow waves complementsâand contrasts withâconventional explanations that require cyclic modulation of ion-channel conductances. We postulate that a similar bifurcation mechanism might underpin the slow waves of natural sleep and comment on the possible consequences of chaotic dynamics for memory processing and learning
Fractal Spin Glass Properties of Low Energy Configurations in the Frenkel-Kontorova chain
We study numerically and analytically the classical one-dimensional
Frenkel-Kontorova chain in the regime of pinned phase characterized by phonon
gap. Our results show the existence of exponentially many static equilibrium
configurations which are exponentially close to the energy of the ground state.
The energies of these configurations form a fractal quasi-degenerate band
structure which is described on the basis of elementary excitations. Contrary
to the ground state, the configurations inside these bands are disordered.Comment: revtex, 9 pages, 9 figure
State estimation in quantum homodyne tomography with noisy data
In the framework of noisy quantum homodyne tomography with efficiency
parameter , we propose two estimators of a quantum state whose
density matrix elements decrease like , for
fixed known and . The first procedure estimates the matrix
coefficients by a projection method on the pattern functions (that we introduce
here for ), the second procedure is a kernel estimator of the
associated Wigner function. We compute the convergence rates of these
estimators, in risk
The quasi-periodic Bose-Hubbard model and localization in one-dimensional cold atomic gases
We compute the phase diagram of the one-dimensional Bose-Hubbard model with a
quasi-periodic potential by means of the density-matrix renormalization group
technique. This model describes the physics of cold atoms loaded in an optical
lattice in the presence of a superlattice potential whose wave length is
incommensurate with the main lattice wave length. After discussing the
conditions under which the model can be realized experimentally, the study of
the density vs. the chemical potential curves for a non-trapped system unveils
the existence of gapped phases at incommensurate densities interpreted as
incommensurate charge-density wave phases. Furthermore, a localization
transition is known to occur above a critical value of the potential depth V_2
in the case of free and hard-core bosons. We extend these results to soft-core
bosons for which the phase diagrams at fixed densities display new features
compared with the phase diagrams known for random box distribution disorder. In
particular, a direct transition from the superfluid phase to the Mott
insulating phase is found at finite V_2. Evidence for reentrances of the
superfluid phase upon increasing interactions is presented. We finally comment
on different ways to probe the emergent quantum phases and most importantly,
the existence of a critical value for the localization transition. The later
feature can be investigated by looking at the expansion of the cloud after
releasing the trap.Comment: 19 pages, 20 figure
Acoustic and thermal simulations of tcMRgFUS in patient specific models: validation with experiments
On the driven Frenkel-Kontorova model: I. Uniform sliding states and dynamical domains of different particle densities
The dynamical behavior of a harmonic chain in a spatially periodic potential
(Frenkel-Kontorova model, discrete sine-Gordon equation) under the influence of
an external force and a velocity proportional damping is investigated. We do
this at zero temperature for long chains in a regime where inertia and damping
as well as the nearest-neighbor interaction and the potential are of the same
order. There are two types of regular sliding states: Uniform sliding states,
which are periodic solutions where all particles perform the same motion
shifted in time, and nonuniform sliding states, which are quasi-periodic
solutions where the system forms patterns of domains of different uniform
sliding states. We discuss the properties of this kind of pattern formation and
derive equations of motion for the slowly varying average particle density and
velocity. To observe these dynamical domains we suggest experiments with a
discrete ring of at least fifty Josephson junctions.Comment: Written in RevTeX, 9 figures in PostScrip
Semiclassical theory for small displacements
Characteristic functions contain complete information about all the moments
of a classical distribution and the same holds for the Fourier transform of the
Wigner function: a quantum characteristic function, or the chord function.
However, knowledge of a finite number of moments does not allow for accurate
determination of the chord function. For pure states this provides the overlap
of the state with all its possible rigid translations (or displacements). We
here present a semiclassical approximation of the chord function for large
Bohr-quantized states, which is accurate right up to a caustic, beyond which
the chord function becomes evanescent. It is verified to pick out blind spots,
which are displacements for zero overlaps. These occur even for translations
within a Planck area of the origin. We derive a simple approximation for the
closest blind spots, depending on the Schroedinger covariance matrix, which is
verified for Bohr-quantized states.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures
Observation of breathers in Josephson ladders
We report on the observation of spatially-localized excitations in a ladder
of small Josephson junctions. The excitations are whirling states which persist
under a spatially-homogeneous force due to the bias current. These states of
the ladder are visualized using a low temperature scanning laser microscopy. We
also compute breather solutions with high accuracy in corresponding model
equations. The stability analysis of these solutions is used to interpret the
measured patterns in the I-V characteristics
Discrete breathers in nonlinear lattices: Experimental detection in a Josephson array
We present an experimental study of discrete breathers in an underdamped
Josephson-junction array. Breathers exist under a range of dc current biases
and temperatures, and are detected by measuring dc voltages. We find the
maximum allowable bias current for the breather is proportional to the array
depinning current while the minimum current seems to be related to a junction
retrapping mechanism. We have observed that this latter instability leads to
the formation of multi-site breather states in the array. We have also studied
the domain of existence of the breather at different values of the array
parameters by varying the temperature.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Physical Revie
Defect-induced perturbations of atomic monolayers on solid surfaces
We study long-range morphological changes in atomic monolayers on solid
substrates induced by different types of defects; e.g., by monoatomic steps in
the surface, or by the tip of an atomic force microscope (AFM), placed at some
distance above the substrate. Representing the monolayer in terms of a suitably
extended Frenkel-Kontorova-type model, we calculate the defect-induced density
profiles for several possible geometries. In case of an AFM tip, we also
determine the extra force exerted on the tip due to the tip-induced
de-homogenization of the monolayer.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
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