An overdamped three-layer model consisting of two harmonic chains of interacting particles, representing the upper and the middle layers, which move over the substrate potential, is studied in the present paper. A $\mathrm{dc}+\mathrm{ac}$ force is applied only on the upper harmonic chain, and dynamics of both layers are investigated. The results show that the dynamical mode locking and Shapiro steps appear not only in the upper layer but also in the middle one. It is noted that the motion of particles in the upper layer corresponds to the standard Frenkel-Kontorova model. The dependence of the Shapiro steps of the middle layer on the system parameters are determined. It is shown that the height of the first Shapiro step of the upper layer is unrelated to the interaction parameters of the particles of both the upper and the middle layers, while the height of the first Shapiro step of the middle layer depend only on the interaction parameters of the particles of the middle layers. Two critical forces which transfer from locked state to the sliding one of both the upper and the middle layers are also studied. They depend on the amplitude and the frequency of the external ac driving force.

In this paper we develop a dynamical model of the propagating nonlinear localized excitations, supersonic kinks, in the cation layer in a silicate mica crystal. We start from purely electrostatic Coulomb interaction and add the Ziegler-Biersack-Littmark short-range repulsive potential and the periodic potential produced by other atoms of the lattice. The proposed approach allows the construction of supersonic kinks which can propagate in the lattice within a large range of energies and velocities. Due to the presence of the short-range repulsive component in the potential, the interparticle distances in the lattice kinks with high energy are limited by physically reasonable values. The introduction of the periodic lattice potential results in the important feature that the kinks propagate with the single velocity and single energy, which are independent on the excitation conditions. The unique average velocity of the supersonic kinks on the periodic substrate potential we relate with the kink amplitude of the relative particle displacements, which is determined by the interatomic distance corresponding to the minimum of the total, interparticle plus substrate, lattice potential. The found kinks are ultradiscrete and can be described with the “magic wave number” $q=2\pi /3a$, which was previously revealed in the nonlinear sinusoidal waves and supersonic kinks in the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam lattice. The extreme discreteness of the observed supersonic kinks, with basically two particles moving at the same time, allows the detailed interpretation of their double-kink structure, which is not possible for the multikinks without an account for the lattice discreteness. Analytical calculations of the displacement patterns and energies of the supersonic kinks are confirmed by numerical simulations. The computed energy of the found supersonic kinks in the considered realistic lattice potential is in a good agreement with the experimental evidence for the transport of localized energetic excitations in silicate mica crystals between the points of ${}^{40}\mathrm{K}$ recoil and subsequent sputtering.

The effect of shear flow on mode selection and the length scale of patterns formed in a nonlinear autocatalytic reaction-diffusion model is investigated. We predict analytically the existence of transverse and longitudinal modes. The type of the selected mode strongly depends on the difference in the flow rates of the participating species, quantified by the differential flow parameter. Spatial structures are obtained by varying the length scale of individual modes and superposing them via the differential flow parameter. Our predictions are in line with numerical results obtained from lattice Boltzmann simulations.

In this paper, we numerically investigate the statistical properties of the nonflowing areas of Bingham fluid in two-dimensional porous media. First, we demonstrate that the size probability distribution of the unyielded clusters follows a power-law decay with a large size cutoff. This cutoff is shown to diverge following a power law as the imposed pressure drop tends to a critical value. In addition, we observe that the exponents are almost identical for two different types of porous media. Finally, those scaling properties allow us to account for the quadratic relationship between the pressure gradient and velocity.

In this paper we address the question of the optimal design for the Purcell three-link swimmer. More precisely, we investigate the best link length ratio which maximizes its displacement. The dynamics of the swimmer is expressed as an ordinary differential equation, using the resistive force theory. Among a set of optimal strategies of deformation (strokes), we provide an asymptotic estimate of the displacement for small deformations, from which we derive the optimal link ratio. Numerical simulations are in good agreement with this theoretical estimate and also cover larger amplitudes of deformation. Compared with the classical design of the Purcell swimmer, we observe a gain in displacement of roughly 60%.

We report experimental results and study theoretically soliton formation and propagation in an air-filled acoustic waveguide side loaded with Helmholtz resonators. We propose a theoretical modeling of the system, which relies on a transmission-line approach, leading to a nonlinear dynamical lattice model. The latter allows for an analytical description of the various soliton solutions for the pressure, which are found by means of dynamical systems and multiscale expansion techniques. These solutions include Boussinesq-like and Korteweg-de Vries pulse-shaped solitons that are observed in the experiment, as well as nonlinear Schrödinger envelope solitons, that are predicted theoretically. The analytical predictions are in excellent agreement with direct numerical simulations and in qualitative agreement with the experimental observations.

Optical rogue waves of the coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equations with negative coherent coupling, which describe the propagation of orthogonally polarized optical waves in an isotropic medium, are reported. We construct and discuss a family of the vector rogue-wave solutions, including the bright rogue waves, four-petaled rogue waves, and dark rogue waves. A bright rogue wave without a valley can split up, giving birth to two bright rogue waves, and an eye-shaped rogue wave can split up, giving birth to two dark rogue waves.

In this work we consider information-theoretic observables to analyze short symbolic sequences, comprising time series that represent the orientation of a single spin in a two-dimensional (2D) Ising ferromagnet on a square lattice of size $L^2={128}^2$ for different system temperatures $T$. The latter were chosen from an interval enclosing the critical point $T_{\mathrm{c}}$ of the model. At small temperatures the sequences are thus very regular; at high temperatures they are maximally random. In the vicinity of the critical point, nontrivial, long-range correlations appear. Here we implement estimators for the entropy rate, excess entropy (i.e., “complexity”), and multi-information. First, we implement a Lempel-Ziv string-parsing scheme, providing seemingly elaborate entropy rate and multi-information estimates and an approximate estimator for the excess entropy. Furthermore, we apply easy-to-use black-box data-compression utilities, providing approximate estimators only. For comparison and to yield results for benchmarking purposes, we implement the information-theoretic observables also based on the well-established $M$-block Shannon entropy, which is more tedious to apply compared to the first two “algorithmic” entropy estimation procedures. To test how well one can exploit the potential of such data-compression techniques, we aim at detecting the critical point of the 2D Ising ferromagnet. Among the above observables, the multi-information, which is known to exhibit an isolated peak at the critical point, is very easy to replicate by means of both efficient algorithmic entropy estimation procedures. Finally, we assess how good the various algorithmic entropy estimates compare to the more conventional block entropy estimates and illustrate a simple modification that yields enhanced results.

This work focuses on the numerical solution of the Stokes-Brinkman equation for a voxel-type porous-media grid, resolved by one to eight spacings per permeability contrast of 1 to 10 orders in magnitude. It is first analytically demonstrated that the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) and the linear-finite-element method (FEM) both suffer from the viscosity correction induced by the linear variation of the resistance with the velocity. This numerical artefact may lead to an apparent negative viscosity in low-permeable blocks, inducing spurious velocity oscillations. The two-relaxation-times (TRT) LBM may control this effect thanks to free-tunable two-rates combination $\Lambda$. Moreover, the Brinkman-force-based BF-TRT schemes may maintain the nondimensional Darcy group and produce viscosity-independent permeability provided that the spatial distribution of $\Lambda$ is fixed independently of the kinematic viscosity. Such a property is lost not only in the BF-BGK scheme but also by “partial bounce-back” TRT gray models, as shown in this work. Further, we propose a consistent and improved IBF-TRT model which vanishes viscosity correction via simple specific adjusting of the viscous-mode relaxation rate to local permeability value. This prevents the model from velocity fluctuations and, in parallel, improves for effective permeability measurements, from porous channel to multidimensions. The framework of our exact analysis employs a symbolic approach developed for both LBM and FEM in single and stratified, unconfined, and bounded channels. It shows that even with similar bulk discretization, BF, IBF, and FEM may manifest quite different velocity profiles on the coarse grids due to their intrinsic contrasts in the setting of interface continuity and no-slip conditions. While FEM enforces them on the grid vertexes, the LBM prescribes them implicitly. We derive effective LBM continuity conditions and show that the heterogeneous viscosity correction impacts them, a property also shared by FEM for shear stress. But, in contrast with FEM, effective velocity conditions in LBM give rise to slip velocity jumps which depend on (i) neighbor permeability values, (ii) resolution, and (iii) control parameter $\Lambda$, ranging its reliable values from Poiseuille bounce-back solution in open flow to zero in Darcy's limit. We suggest an “upscaling” algorithm for $\Lambda$, from multilayers to multidimensions in random extremely dispersive samples. Finally, on the positive side for LBM besides its overall versatility, the implicit boundary layers allow for smooth accommodation of the flat discontinuous Darcy profiles, quite deficient in FEM.

A simple and fast way to apply correlations in percolation simulations is to apply a uniform gradient to the occupancy probabilities. For small networks, exact results are presented here for the spanning thresholds in site percolation with a gradient for networks up to $4\times 4$ in two dimensions and $2\times 2\times 2$ in three dimensions. Numerical results are provided for larger networks that extrapolate to a linear modification of the threshold proportional to the gradient for moderate values of the gradient.

Coarse-grained simulations are often employed to study the translocation of DNA through a nanopore. The majority of these studies investigate the translocation process in a relatively generic sense and do not endeavor to match any particular set of experimental conditions. In this manuscript, we use the concept of a Péclet number for translocation, $P_t$, to compare the drift-diffusion balance in a typical experiment vs a typical simulation. We find that the standard coarse-grained approach overestimates diffusion effects by anywhere from a factor of 5 to 50 compared to experimental conditions using double stranded DNA (dsDNA). By defining a Péclet control parameter, $\lambda$, we are able to correct this and tune the simulations to replicate the experimental $P_t$ (for dsDNA and other scenarios). To show the effect that a particular $P_t$ can have on the dynamics of translocation, we perform simulations across a wide range of $P_t$ values for two different types of driving forces: a force applied in the pore and a pulling force applied to the end of the polymer. As $P_t$ brings the system from a diffusion dominated to a drift dominated regime, a variety of effects are observed including a non-monotonic dependence of the translocation time $\tau$ on $P_t$ and a steep rise in the probability of translocating. Comparing the two force cases illustrates the impact of the crowding effects that occur on the trans side: a non-monotonic dependence of the width of the $\tau$ distributions is obtained for the in-pore force but not for the pulling force.

The coalescence of two initially stationary droplets of shear-thinning fluids in a gaseous environment is investigated numerically using the lattice Boltzmann method, with particular interest in non-Newtonian flow effects on the internal mixing subsequent to coalescence. Coalescence of equal-sized droplets, with one being Newtonian while the other is non-Newtonian, leads to the non-Newtonian droplet wrapping around the Newtonian one and hence minimal fine-scale mixing. For unequal-sized droplets, mixing is greatly promoted if both droplets are shear-thinning. When only one of the droplets is shear-thinning, the non-Newtonian effect from the smaller droplet is found to be significantly more effective than that from the larger droplet in facilitating internal jetlike mixing. Parametric study with the Carreau-Yasuda model indicates that the phenomena are universal to a wide range of shear-thinning fluids, given that the extent of shear thinning reaches a certain level, and the internal jet tends to be thicker and develops more rapidly with increasing extent of the shear-thinning effect.

We propose a numerical and an experimental study of an invisibility carpet for linear water waves. In the first part, we introduce the concept of an invisibility carpet in the case of linear water waves and apply this concept for a bounded problem: a wavetank. In the second part, we study a simpler case where we attempt to render invisible a vertical dihedral at the end of a wavetank. This is done by placing a structure consisting of 18 vertical poles with trapezoidal cross-sections in front of the dihedral. For these two configurations, with and without the carpet, we focus on the far-field reflected wave consisting of an inline mode and the first sloshing (plus progressive) mode. We show that our design achieves invisibility.

The finite-size scaling behavior for the Ising model in five dimensions, with either free or cyclic boundary, has been the subject of a long-running debate. The older papers have been based on ideas from, e.g., field theory or renormalization. In this paper we propose a detailed and exact scaling picture for critical region of the model with cyclic boundary. Unlike the previous papers our approach is based on a comparison with the existing exact and rigorous results for the FK-random-cluster model on a complete graph. Based on those results we predict several distinct scaling regions in an $L$-dependent window around the critical point. We test these predictions by comparing with data from Monte Carlo simulations and find a good agreement. The main feature which differs between the complete graph and the five-dimensional model with free boundary is the existence of a bimodal energy distribution near the critical point in the latter. This feature was found by the same authors in an earlier paper in the form of a quasi-first-order phase transition for the same Ising model.

In this work we study the translocation process of a polymer through a nanochannel where a time dependent force is acting. Two conceptually different types of driving are used: a deterministic sinusoidal one and a random telegraph noise force. The mean translocation time presents interesting resonant minima as a function of the frequency of the external driving. For the computed sizes, the translocation time scales with the polymer length according to a power law with the same exponent for almost all the frequencies of the two driving forces. The dependence of the translocation time with the polymer rigidity, which accounts for the persistence length of the molecule, shows a different low frequency dependence for the two drivings.

We study the stochastic thermodynamics of an overdamped harmonic chain, which can be viewed equivalently as a one-dimensional Rouse chain or as an approximate model of single file diffusion. We discuss mainly two levels of description of this system: the Markovian level for which the trajectories of all the particles of the chain are known and the non-Markovian level in which only the motion of a tagged particle is available. For each case, we analyze the energy dissipation and its dependence on initial conditions. Surprisingly, we find that the average coarse-grained entropy production rate can become transiently negative when an oscillating force is applied to the tagged particle. This occurs due to memory effects as shown in a framework based on path integrals or on a generalized Langevin equation.

A stochastic system where bistability is caused by noise has been recently investigated by Biancalani et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 038101 (2014)]. They have computed the mean switching time for such a system using a continuous Fokker-Planck equation derived from the Taylor expansion of the master equation to estimate the parameter of such a system from experiment. In this article, we provide the exact solution for the full discrete system without resorting to continuous approximation and obtain the expression for the mean switching time. We further extend this investigation by solving exactly the master equation and obtaining the expression of other quantities of interests such as the dynamics of the moments and the equilibrium time.

This paper focuses on the multiscale mechanism of collapse of hemicylindrical annular surface macrocavities in steel caused by high-strain, high-strain rate plastic flow of copper. Experiments and simulations revealed that a two-stage process is responsible for the observed microjetting phenomena: the formation of lateral copper microjets from the localized shear flow in copper at the interface during the filling of the cavity, and their subsequent collision at the apex of the macrocavity generating two additional horizontal microjets. The lengths of these microjets were an order of magnitude smaller than the cavity size but linearly scaled with the cavity radius. This process of microjet development is sensitive to the cavity geometry and is unlike the previously observed jetting phenomena in cavitation, impact crater collapse, or shock-induced cavity collapse.

Interacting particles confined in a quasi-one-dimensional channel are physical systems which display various equilibrium patterns according to the interparticle interaction and the transverse confinement potential. Depending on the confinement, the particles may be distributed along a straight line, in a staggered row (zigzag), or in a configuration in which the linear and zigzag phases coexist (distorted zigzag). In order to clarify the conditions of existence of each configuration, we have studied the linear stability of the zigzag pattern. We find an acoustic transverse mode that destabilizes the zigzag configuration for short-range interaction potentials, and we calculate the interaction range above which this instability disappears. In particular, we recover the unconditional stability of zigzag patterns for Coulomb interactions. We show that the domain of existence for the distorted zigzag patterns is accurately described by our linear stability analysis. We also emphasize the complexity of finite size effects. Last, we provide a criterion for the onset of instability in the thermodynamic limit and propose a biphasic model that explains some characteristics of the distorted zigzag patterns.

A chimera state is a spatiotemporal pattern in which a network of identical coupled oscillators exhibits coexisting regions of asynchronous and synchronous oscillation. Two distinct classes of chimera states have been shown to exist: “spots” and “spirals.” Here we study coupled oscillators on the surface of a sphere, a single system in which both spot and spiral chimera states appear. We present an analysis of the birth and death of spiral chimera states and show that although they coexist with spot chimeras, they are stable in disjoint regions of parameter space.