Qualitative study in Loop Quantum Cosmology

This work contains a detailed qualitative analysis, in General Relativity and in Loop Quantum Cosmology, of the dynamics in the associated phase space of a scalar field minimally coupled with gravity, whose potential mimics the dynamics of a perfect fluid with a linear Equation of State (EoS). Dealing with the orbits (solutions) of the system, we will see that there are analytic ones, which lead to the same dynamics as the perfect fluid, and our goal is to check their stability, depending on the value of the EoS parameter, i.e., to show whether the other orbits converge or diverge to these analytic solutions at early and late times.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures. Version accepted for publication in CQ

Nagel scaling and relaxation in the kinetic Ising model on a n-isotopic chain

The kinetic Ising model on a n-isotopic chain is considered in the framework of Glauber dynamics. The chain is composed of N segments with n sites, each one occupied by a different isotope. Due to the isotopic mass difference, the n spins in each segment have different relaxation times in the absence of the interactions, and consequently the dynamics of the system is governed by multiple relaxation mechanisms. The solution is obtained in closed form for arbitrary n, by reducing the problem to a set of n coupled equations, and it is shown rigorously that the critical exponent z is equal to 2. Explicit results are obtained numerically for any temperature and it is also shown that the dynamic susceptibility satisfies the new scaling (Nagel scaling) proposed for glass-forming liquids. This is in agreement with our recent results (L. L. Goncalves, M. Lopez de Haro, J. Taguena-Martinez and R. B. Stinchcombe, Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 1507 (2000)), which relate this new scaling function to multiple relaxation processes.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, presented at Ising Centennial Colloquium, to be published in the Proceedings (Brazilian Journal of Physics.

The off-shell M5-brane and non-perturbative gauge theory

M5-branes wrapping a holomorphic curve in a Calabi-Yau manifold can be used to construct four-dimensional N=1 gauge theories. In this paper we will consider M5-brane configurations corresponding to N=2 theories broken to N=1 by a superpotential for the adjoint scalar field. These M5-brane configurations can be obtained by lifting suitable intersecting brane configurations in type IIA, or equivalently by T-dualizing IIB configurations with branes and/or fluxes. We will show that turning on non-trivial expectation values for the glueball superfields corresponds to non-holomorphic deformations of the M5-brane. We compute the superpotential and show it agrees with that computed by Dijkgraaf and Vafa. Several aspects of the gauge theory, such as the appearance of non-holomorphic one-forms with integer periods on the Seiberg-Witten curve, have a natural interpretation from the M5-brane point of view. We also explain the interpretation of the superpotential in terms of the twisted (2,0) theory living on the fivebrane

Contact values of the radial distribution functions of additive hard-sphere mixtures in d dimensions: A new proposal

The contact values $g_{ij}(\sigma_{ij})$ of the radial distribution functions of a $d$-dimensional mixture of (additive) hard spheres are considered. A `universality' assumption is put forward, according to which $g_{ij}(\sigma_{ij})=G(\eta, z_{ij})$, where $G$ is a common function for all the mixtures of the same dimensionality, regardless of the number of components, $\eta$ is the packing fraction of the mixture, and $z_{ij}$ is a dimensionless parameter that depends on the size distribution and the diameters of spheres $i$ and $j$. For $d=3$, this universality assumption holds for the contact values of the Percus--Yevick approximation, the Scaled Particle Theory, and, consequently, the Boublik--Grundke--Henderson--Lee--Levesque approximation. Known exact consistency conditions are used to express $G(\eta,0)$, $G(\eta,1)$, and $G(\eta,2)$ in terms of the radial distribution at contact of the one-component system. Two specific proposals consistent with the above conditions (a quadratic form and a rational form) are made for the $z$-dependence of $G(\eta,z)$. For one-dimensional systems, the proposals for the contact values reduce to the exact result. Good agreement between the predictions of the proposals and available numerical results is found for $d=2$, 3, 4, and 5.Comment: 10 pages, 11 figures; Figure 1 changed; Figure 5 is new; New references added; accepted for publication in J. Chem. Phy

Demixing can occur in binary hard-sphere mixtures with negative non-additivity

A binary fluid mixture of non-additive hard spheres characterized by a size ratio $\gamma=\sigma_2/\sigma_1<1$ and a non-additivity parameter $\Delta=2\sigma_{12}/(\sigma_1+\sigma_2)-1$ is considered in infinitely many dimensions. From the equation of state in the second virial approximation (which is exact in the limit $d\to\infty$) a demixing transition with a critical consolute point at a packing fraction scaling as $\eta\sim d 2^{-d}$ is found, even for slightly negative non-additivity, if $\Delta>-{1/8}(\ln\gamma)^2$. Arguments concerning the stability of the demixing with respect to freezing are provided.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures; title changed; final paragraph added; to be published in PRE as a Rapid Communicatio

On the liquid-glass transition line in monatomic Lennard-Jones fluids

A thermodynamic approach to derive the liquid-glass transition line in the reduced temperature vs reduced density plane for a monatomic Lennard-Jones fluid is presented. The approach makes use of a recent reformulation of the classical perturbation theory of liquids [M. Robles and M. L\'opez de Haro, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. {\bf 3}, 5528 (2001)] which is at grips with a rational function approximation for the Laplace transform of the radial distribution function of the hard-sphere fluid. The only input required is an equation of state for the hard-sphere system. Within the Mansoori-Canfield/Rasaiah-Stell variational perturbation theory, two choices for such an equation of state, leading to a glass transition for the hard-sphere fluid, are considered. Good agreement with the liquid-glass transition line derived from recent molecular dynamic simulations [Di Leonardo et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 84}, 6054(2000)] is obtained.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure