The Three Faces of the Second Law: II. Fokker-Planck Formulation

The total entropy production is the sum of two contributions, the so-called adiabatic and nonadiabatic entropy production, each of which is non-negative. We derive their explicit expressions for continuous Markov processes, discuss their properties and illustrate their behavior on two exactly solvable models.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figur

Dissipative collapse of the adiabatic piston

An adiabatic piston, separating two granular gases prepared in the same macroscopic state, is found to eventually collapse to one of the sides. This new instability is explained by a simple macroscopic theory which is furthermore in qualitative agreement with hard disk molecular dynamics.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

Alternative derivation of Mie theory with electromagnetic potentials for diffuse particles

Mie's theory of light scattering on spherical particles is being increasingly used in nanophotonics, and these demanding applications have laid bare some shortcomings of Mie theory in its standard formulation. One problem that deserves special attention is the electron spill-out in small metallic nanoparticles, which invalidates the assumption of an abrupt interface. Here we present an alternative derivation of Mie theory without this assumption. To avoid the usual electromagnetic boundary conditions suitable for a hard-wall interface, we set up equations for the electromagnetic potentials instead of the electric and magnetic field. We show that in the limit of a hard-wall interface, the results of the standard Mie theory are recovered. Additionally, a numerical solution scheme is proposed for the equations for the vector potential and the scalar potential. Analysis of the optical cross sections of soft-interface nanospheres shows that the absorption increases and occurs at lower frequencies as compared to hard-walled nanospheres. This effect is rather dramatic in large spheres with large spill-out, due to the disappearance of high-frequency resonance peaks

Noise induced transition from an absorbing phase to a regime of stochastic spatiotemporal intermittency

We introduce a stochastic partial differential equation capable of reproducing the main features of spatiotemporal intermittency (STI). Additionally the model displays a noise induced transition from laminarity to the STI regime. We show by numerical simulations and a mean-field analysis that for high noise intensities the system globally evolves to a uniform absorbing phase, while for noise intensities below a critical value spatiotemporal intermittence dominates. A quantitative computation of the loci of this transition in the relevant parameter space is presented.Comment: 4 pages, 6 eps figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett. See for additional information http://imedea.uib.es

The universality of synchrony: critical behavior in a discrete model of stochastic phase coupled oscillators

We present the simplest discrete model to date that leads to synchronization of stochastic phase-coupled oscillators. In the mean field limit, the model exhibits a Hopf bifurcation and global oscillatory behavior as coupling crosses a critical value. When coupling between units is strictly local, the model undergoes a continuous phase transition which we characterize numerically using finite-size scaling analysis. In particular, the onset of global synchrony is marked by signatures of the XY universality class, including the appropriate classical exponents $\beta$ and $\nu$, a lower critical dimension $d_{lc} = 2$, and an upper critical dimension $d_{uc}=4$.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Dichotomous Markov noise: Exact results for out-of-equilibrium systems. A review

Nonequilibrium systems driven by additive or multiplicative dichotomous Markov noise appear in a wide variety of physical and mathematical models. We review here some prototypical examples, with an emphasis on {\em analytically-solvable} situations. In particular, it has escaped attention till recently that the standard results for the long-time properties of such systems cannot be applied when unstable fixed points are crossed in the asymptotic regime. We show how calculations have to be modified to deal with these cases and present a few relevant applications -- the hypersensitive transport, the rocking ratchet, and the stochastic Stokes' drift. These results reinforce the impression that dichotomous noise can be put on a par with Gaussian white noise as far as obtaining analytical results is concerned. They convincingly illustrate the interplay between noise and nonlinearity in generating nontrivial behaviors of nonequilibrium systems and point to various practical applications.Comment: Review article, 85 pages, 24 figures. Some references added. Published in the International Journal of Modern Physics B 20, pp. 2825-2888 (2006). Comments and suggestions from the readers are highly welcom

Gravitational-Wave Astronomy with Inspiral Signals of Spinning Compact-Object Binaries

Inspiral signals from binary compact objects (black holes and neutron stars) are primary targets of the ongoing searches by ground-based gravitational-wave interferometers (LIGO, Virgo, GEO-600 and TAMA-300). We present parameter-estimation simulations for inspirals of black-hole--neutron-star binaries using Markov-chain Monte-Carlo methods. For the first time, we have both estimated the parameters of a binary inspiral source with a spinning component and determined the accuracy of the parameter estimation, for simulated observations with ground-based gravitational-wave detectors. We demonstrate that we can obtain the distance, sky position, and binary orientation at a higher accuracy than previously suggested in the literature. For an observation of an inspiral with sufficient spin and two or three detectors we find an accuracy in the determination of the sky position of typically a few tens of square degrees.Comment: v2: major conceptual changes, 4 pages, 1 figure, 1 table, submitted to ApJ