Off-equilibrium relaxational dynamics with improved Ising Hamiltonian

We study the off-equilibrium relaxational dynamics at criticality in the three-dimensional Blume-Capel model whose static critical behaviour belongs to the 3d-Ising universality class. Using "improved" Hamiltonian (the leading corrections to scaling have vanishing amplitude) we perform Monte Carlo simulations of the relaxational dynamics after a quench from $T=\infty$ to $T_c$. Analysing the off-equilibrium dynamics at $T_c$ we obtain an estimate of the dynamical critical exponent $z=2.020(8)$ that is perfectly consistent with the Field Theory predictions.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures, references added, to appear in J. Stat. Mec

DUE UNICA TRA LE \uabALTRE SESTINE PROVENZALI\ubb: QUAN PES QUI SUY, FUY SO QUE\ub7M FRANH (BDT 376.2) ED ERAS, PUS VEY MON BENASTRUC (BDT 227.3)

The article focus on the occitan success of Arnaut Daniel\u2019s sestina in the wake of the other poems in langue d\u2019oc that make Lo ferm voler qu\u2019el cor m\u2019intra (BdT 29,14) their own model. In particular, the study concerns Quan pes qui suy, fuy so que\ub7m franh (BdT 376,2) by Pons Fabre d\u2019Uz\ue8s and Eras, pus vey mon benastruc (BdT 227,3) by Guillem Peire de Cazals. Therefore, the two cansos are translated and then analyzed using a comparative perspective by trying to integrate study of content and stylistic and rethorical analysis, and by retracing the key moments of criticism

'Sens e razos d'una escriptura'. Per una nuova edizione critica della traduzione occitana dell'Evangelium Nicodemi

L'intervento intende presentare i risultati filologici e critici della riflessione condotta in margine all'allestimento di una nuova edizione critica della traduzione provenzale in versi dell'Evangelium Nicodemi. Il cosiddetto Vangelo apocrifo di Nicodemo, già stratificato fin dalle sue origini, è il frutto dell'unione di una storia sul Processo e sulla Passione di Cristo e della sua meravigliosa Discesa agli inferi, che riscuoterà un grandissimo successo nel Medioevo romanzo (e non). La traduzione in antico-occitano rimodella la sua fonte principale associandola con altri modelli latini di sapore apocalittico, tanto che l'ultima porzione del testo relaziona un racconto sull’Anticristo e sui Quindici Segni prima del Giudizio Universale. Il lavoro cerca di inquadrare il poema occitano nel contesto dei nuovi studi approfonditi sulla fonte latina, dalla complessa tradizione manoscritta

Living the life of the great Buster Keaton

Poem"On this episode of The Missouri Review podcast, we'll be hearing 'Living the life of the great Buster Keaton,' by Douglas Collura, the winner of the Voice-only poetry category in our 2008 Audio/Video competition."--Publisher's Web site

Guillem Peire de Cazals, Be·m plagr’ueymais qu’ab vos dona·m valgues (BdT 227.6)

This paper proposes a new edition with commentary of the poem “Be·m plagr’ueymais qu’ab vos, dona, ·m valgues” by Guillem Peire de Cazals and represents a first critical and hermeneutical reassessment of the poetry of the troubadour from Cahors, that has long been neglected. The text presents the classical structure of a love-story (springtime exordium, singing brought on by love, the theme of improvement, courting with no hope of a reward, a request for mercé) and invites the fin aman to be patient. The song is examined from the viewpoint of its metrical and stylistic relations to other troubadour poems (Bernart de Ventadorn, “Can par la flors josta·l vert folh” [BdT 70.41] and “La dousa votz ai auzida” [BdT 70.23] and Lanfranc Cigala, “Ioios d’amor farai de ioi senblan” [BdT 282.12]), and represents an early example of the mannerisms and experimental tendencies that characterize Guillem Peire’s poems. The article also attempts to date the composition to the twenties or thirties of the 13th century

Critical quench dynamics in confined systems

We analyze the coherent quantum evolution of a many-particle system after slowly sweeping a power-law confining potential. The amplitude of the confining potential is varied in time along a power-law ramp such that the many-particle system finally reaches or crosses a critical point. Under this protocol we derive general scaling laws for the density of excitations created during the non-adiabatic sweep of the confining potential. It is found that the mean excitation density follows an algebraic law as a function of the sweeping rate with an exponent that depends on the space-time properties of the potential. We confirm our scaling laws by first order adiabatic calculation and exact results on the Ising quantum chain with a varying transverse field.Comment: To appear in Phys. Rev. Let

«Il sunt si biaus que c'en est une mervoie a voir». Zoologie e teratologie nel Devisement dou monde

The present article investigates animal and teratological descriptions of theDevisement dou monde. Particularly, Marco Polo’s fauna and its monstrous and marvelous extremes are explored both in the Franco-Italian text (occasionally also with the help of the Tuscan and Latin versions), as well as in the iconography of the illuminations included in four manuscripts of the Devisement/Milione (mss. Royal 19 D I, Bodley 264, BNF fr. 2810, Arsenal 5219)

Relaxation of the order-parameter statistics in the Ising quantum chain

We study the out-of-equilibrium probability distribution function of the local order parameter in the transverse field Ising quantum chain. Starting from a fully polarised state, the relaxation of the ferromagnetic order is analysed: we obtain a full analytical description of the late-time stationary distribution by means of a remarkable relation to the partition function of a 3-states classical model. Accordingly, depending on the phase whereto the post-quench Hamiltonian belongs, the probability distribution may locally retain memories of the initial long-range order. When quenching deep in the broken-symmetry phase, we show that the stationary order-parameter statistics is indeed related to that of the ground state. We highlight this connection by inspecting the ground-state equilibrium properties, where we propose an effective description based on the block-diagonal approximation of the n-point spin correlation functions