111 research outputs found
Critical features in electromagnetic anomalies detected prior to the L'Aquila earthquake
Electromagnetic (EM) emissions in a wide frequency spectrum ranging from kHz
to MHz are produced by opening cracks, which can be considered as the so-called
precursors of general fracture. We emphasize that the MHz radiation appears
earlier than the kHz in both laboratory and geophysical scale. An important
challenge in this field of research is to distinguish characteristic epochs in
the evolution of precursory EM activity and identify them with the equivalent
last stages in the earthquake (EQ) preparation process. Recently, we proposed
the following two epochs/stages model: (i) The second epoch, which includes the
finally emerged strong impulsive kHz EM emission is due to the fracture of the
high strength large asperities that are distributed along the activated fault
sustaining the system. (ii) The first epoch, which includes the initially
emerged MHz EM radiation is thought to be due to the fracture of a highly
heterogeneous system that surrounds the family of asperities. A catastrophic EQ
of magnitude Mw = 6.3 occurred on 06/04/2009 in central Italy. The majority of
the damage occurred in the city of L'Aquila. Clear kHz - MHz EM anomalies have
been detected prior to the L'Aquila EQ. Herein, we investigate the seismogenic
origin of the detected MHz anomaly. The analysis in terms of intermittent
dynamics of critical fluctuations reveals that the candidate EM precursor: (i)
can be described in analogy with a thermal continuous phase transition; (ii)
has anti-persistent behaviour. These features suggest that the emerged
candidate precursor could be triggered by microfractures in the highly
disordered system that surrounded the backbone of asperities of the activated
fault. We introduce a criterion for an underlying strong critical behavior.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure
Pion Fluctuations near the QCD Critical Point
A critical point of second order, belonging to the universality class of the
3d Ising model, has recently been advocated as a strong candidate for the
critical behaviour (at high temperatures) of QCD with non-zero quark masses.
The implications of this conjecture are investigated in the multiparticle
environment of high-energy collisions. A universal intermittency pattern of
pion-density fluctuations is found, at the critical point, and its association
to the critical exponents is discussed. A Monte Carlo simulation of critical
events, in heavy-ion collisions, reveals the detailed structure of these
fluctuations, suggesting a framework of (event-by-event) measurements in which
the critical theory of QCD may become falsifiable.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures (ps
Critical fluctuations, intermittent dynamics and Tsallis statistics
It is pointed out that the dynamics of the order parameter at a thermal
critical point obeys the precepts of the nonextensive Tsallis statistics. We
arrive at this conclusion by putting together two well-defined
statistical-mechanical developments. The first is that critical fluctuations
are correctly described by the dynamics of an intermittent nonlinear map. The
second is that intermittency in the neighborhood of a tangent bifurcation in
such map rigorously obeys nonextensive statistics. We comment on the
implications of this result. Key words: critical fluctuations, intermittency,
nonextensive statistics, anomalous stationary statesComment: Contribution to the proceedings of International Workshop on Trends
and Perspectives on Extensive and Non-Extensive Statistical Mechanics (q-60),
Angra dos Reis, Brazil, 17-21/11/2003. Submitted to Physica
The Earth as a living planet: human-type diseases in the earthquake preparation process
The new field of complex systems supports the view that a number of systems
arising from disciplines as diverse as physics, biology, engineering, and
economics may have certain quantitative features that are intriguingly similar.
The earth is a living planet where many complex systems run perfectly without
stopping at all. The earthquake generation is a fundamental sign that the earth
is a living planet. Recently, analyses have shown that human-brain-type disease
appears during the earthquake generation process. Herein, we show that
human-heart-type disease appears during the earthquake preparation of the
earthquake process. The investigation is mainly attempted by means of critical
phenomena, which have been proposed as the likely paradigm to explain the
origins of both heart electric fluctuations and fracture induced
electromagnetic fluctuations. We show that a time window of the damage
evolution within the heterogeneous Earth's crust and the healthy heart's
electrical action present the characteristic features of the critical point of
a thermal second order phase transition. A dramatic breakdown of critical
characteristics appears in the tail of the fracture process of heterogeneous
system and the injury heart's electrical action. Analyses by means of Hurst
exponent and wavelet decomposition further support the hypothesis that a
dynamical analogy exists between the geological and biological systems under
study
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