Using a combined experimental-numerical approach, we study the first-passage time distributions (FPTD) of small particles in two-dimensional porous materials. The distributions in low-porosity structures show persistent long-time tails, which are independent of the Péclet number and therefore cannot be explained by the advection-diffusion equation. Instead, our results suggest that these tails are caused by stagnant, i.e., quiescent areas where particles are trapped for some time. Comparison of measured FPTD with an analytical expression for the residence time of particles, which diffuse in confined regions and are able to escape through a small pore, yields good agreement with our data.

Stochastic transport of a two-dimensional (2D) dusty plasma liquid with a perpendicular magnetic field is studied. Superdiffusion is found to occur especially at higher magnetic fields with $\beta$ of order unity. Here, $\beta ={\omega }_c/{\omega }_{pd}$ is the ratio of the cyclotron and plasma frequencies for dust particles. The mean-square displacement $\mathrm{MSD}=4D_{\alpha }{t}^{\alpha }$ is found to have an exponent $\alpha >1$, indicating superdiffusion, with $\alpha$ increasing monotonically to $1.1$ as $\beta$ increases to unity. The 2D Langevin molecular dynamics simulation used here also reveals that another indicator of random particle motion, the velocity autocorrelation function, has a dominant peak frequency ${\omega }_{\text{peak}}$ that empirically obeys ${\omega }_{\text{peak}}^2={\omega }_c^2+{\omega }_{pd}^2/4$.

Using the self-excited dust acoustic wave as a platform, we demonstrate experimental observation of self-excited fluctuating acoustic vortex pairs with $\pm 1$ topological charges through spontaneous waveform undulation in defect-mediated turbulence for three-dimensional traveling nonlinear longitudinal waves. The acoustic vortex pair has helical waveforms with opposite chirality around the low-density hole filament pair in $xyt$ space (the $xy$ plane is the plane normal to the wave propagation direction). It is generated through ruptures of sequential crest surfaces and reconnections with their trailing ruptured crest surfaces. The initial rupture is originated from the amplitude reduction induced by the formation of the kinked wave crest strip with strong stretching through the undulation instability. Increasing rupture causes the separation of the acoustic vortex pair after generation. A similar reverse process is followed for the acoustic vortex annihilating with the opposite-charged acoustic vortex from the same or another pair generation.

In this paper, two modified lattice Boltzmann Bhatnagar-Gross-Krook (LBGK) models for incompressible Navier-Stokes equations and convection-diffusion equations are proposed via the addition of correction terms in the evolution equations. Utilizing this modification, the value of the dimensionless relaxation time in the LBGK model can be kept in a proper range, and thus the stability of the LBGK model can be improved. Although some gradient operators are included in the correction terms, they can be computed efficiently using local computational schemes such that the present LBGK models still retain the intrinsic parallelism characteristic of the lattice Boltzmann method. Numerical studies of the steady Poiseuille flow and unsteady Womersley flow show that the modified LBGK model has a second-order convergence rate in space, and the compressibility effect in the common LBGK model can be eliminated. In addition, to test the stability of the present models, we also performed some simulations of the natural convection in a square cavity, and we found that the results agree well with those reported in the previous work, even at a very high Rayleigh number (Ra = ${10}^{12})$.

Recently, a maximum pseudolikelihood (MPL) inference method has been successfully applied to statistical physics models with intractable likelihoods. We use information theory to derive a relation between the pseudolikelihood and likelihood functions. Furthermore, we show the consistency of the pseudolikelihood method for a general model.

We present a method which uses Feynman-like diagrams to calculate the statistical quantities of embedded many-body random matrix problems. The method provides a promising alternative to existing techniques and offers many important simplifications. We use it here to find the fourth, sixth, and eighth moments of the level density of an $m$-body system with $k$ fermions or bosons interacting through a random Hermitian potential $\left(k\le m\right)$ in the limit where the number of possible single-particle states is taken to infinity. All share the same transition, starting immediately after $2k=m$, from moments arising from a semicircular level density to Gaussian moments. The results also reveal a striking feature; the domain of the $2n$th moment is naturally divided into $n$ subdomains specified by the points $2k=m,3k=m,...,nk=m$.

Hydrodynamic instabilities are a major obstacle in the quest to achieve ignition as they cause preexisting capsule defects to grow and ultimately quench the fusion burn in experiments at the National Ignition Facility. Unstable growth at the ablation front has been dramatically reduced in implosions with “high-foot” drives as measured using x-ray radiography of modulations at the most dangerous wavelengths (Legendre mode numbers of 30–90). These growth reductions have helped to improve the performance of layered DT implosions reported by O. A. Hurricane et al. [Nature (London) 506, 343 (2014)], when compared to previous “low-foot” experiments, demonstrating the value of stabilizing ablation-front growth and providing directions for future ignition designs.

Passive states of quantum systems are states from which no system energy can be extracted by any cyclic (unitary) process. Gibbs states of all temperatures are passive. Strong local (SL) passive states are defined to allow any general quantum operation, but the operation is required to be local, being applied only to a specific subsystem. Any mixture of eigenstates in a system-dependent neighborhood of a nondegenerate entangled ground state is found to be SL passive. In particular, Gibbs states are SL passive with respect to a subsystem only at or below a critical system-dependent temperature. SL passivity is associated in many-body systems with the presence of ground state entanglement in a way suggestive of collective quantum phenomena such as quantum phase transitions, superconductivity, and the quantum Hall effect. The presence of SL passivity is detailed for some simple spin systems where it is found that SL passivity is neither confined to systems of only a few particles nor limited to the near vicinity of the ground state.

We propose an integral equation theory for a mixture of macroions, counterions, and co-ions in a waterlike fluid in which all the components are accounted for explicitly. The macroions can carry positive and negative surface charges simultaneously, mimicking in this way the situation occurring in protein solutions. To solve this complex model numerically, we utilize the associative mean spherical approximation, developed earlier for low-molecular-mass charge-symmetric electrolyte solutions. To illustrate the potential of this approach, we present numerical results for various experimental conditions. Among the measurable properties we choose to calculate the osmotic coefficient, a quantity that reflects the stability of the solution. We show that the osmotic coefficient depends not only on the magnitude of the net charge on the macroion but also on its sign, as well as on the nature of the low-molecular-mass electrolyte present. These specific ion effects are the consequence of differences in hydration between the ions in solution and charged groups on the macroion.

Self-healing of polymer films often takes place as the molecules diffuse across a damaged region, above their melting temperature. Using molecular dynamics simulations we probe the healing of polymer films and compare the results with those obtained for thermal welding of homopolymer slabs. These two processes differ from each other in their interfacial structure since damage leads to increased polydispersity and more short chains. A polymer sample was cut into two separate films that were then held together in the melt state. The recovery of the damaged film was followed as time elapsed and polymer molecules diffused across the interface. The mass uptake and formation of entanglements, as obtained from primitive path analysis, are extracted and correlated with the interfacial strength obtained from shear simulations. We find that the diffusion across the interface is significantly faster in the damaged film compared to welding because of the presence of short chains. Though interfacial entanglements increase more rapidly for the damaged films, a large fraction of these entanglements are near chain ends. As a result, the interfacial strength of the healing film increases more slowly than for welding. For both healing and welding, the interfacial strength saturates as the bulk entanglement density is recovered across the interface. However, the saturation strength of the damaged film is below the bulk strength for the polymer sample. At saturation, cut chains remain near the healing interface. They are less entangled and as a result they mechanically weaken the interface. Chain stiffness increases the density of entanglements, which increases the strength of the interface. Our results show that a few entanglements across the interface are sufficient to resist interfacial chain pullout and enhance the mechanical strength.

A persistent alternation in the cardiac action potential duration has been linked to the onset of ventricular arrhythmia, which may lead to sudden cardiac death. A coupling between these cardiac alternans and the intracellular calcium dynamics has also been identified in previous studies. In this paper, the system of PDEs describing the small amplitude of alternans and the alternation of peak intracellular ${\text{Ca}}^{2+}$ are stabilized by optimal boundary and spatially distributed actuation. A simulation study demonstrating the successful annihilation of both alternans on a one-dimensional cable of cardiac cells by utilizing the full-state feedback controller is presented. Complimentary to these studies, a three variable Nash-Panfilov model is used to investigate alternans annihilation via mechanical (or stretch) perturbations. The coupled model includes the active stress which defines the mechanical properties of the tissue and is utilized in the feedback algorithm as an independent input from the pacing based controller realization in alternans annihilation. Simulation studies of both control methods demonstrate that the proposed methods can successfully annihilate alternans in cables that are significantly longer than 1 cm, thus overcoming the limitations of earlier control efforts.

We introduce a quantum Monte Carlo algorithm to measure the Rényi entanglement entropies in systems of interacting bosons in the continuum. This approach is based on a path-integral ground state method that can be applied to interacting itinerant bosons in any spatial dimension with direct relevance to experimental systems of quantum fluids. We demonstrate how it may be used to compute spatial mode entanglement, particle partitioned entanglement, and the entanglement of particles, providing insights into quantum correlations generated by fluctuations, indistinguishability, and interactions. We present proof-of-principle calculations and benchmark against an exactly soluble model of interacting bosons in one spatial dimension. As this algorithm retains the fundamental polynomial scaling of quantum Monte Carlo when applied to sign-problem-free models, future applications should allow for the study of entanglement entropy in large-scale many-body systems of interacting bosons.

We construct a structural order parameter from the energy equipartition of normal modes of vibration to quantify the structural heterogeneity in disordered solids. The order parameter exhibits strong spatial correlations with low-temperature dynamics and local structural entropy. To characterize the role of particles with the most defective local structures identified by the order parameter, we pin them and measure the system response. It turns out that particles with the largest value of the order parameter are responsible for the quasilocalized low-frequency vibration, instability, softening, and nonaffinity of disordered solids. The order parameter thus crucially links the heterogeneous structure to low-temperature dynamics and mechanical properties of disordered solids.

We examine the average-case performance of a code-division multiple-access (CDMA) multiuser demodulator in which quantum fluctuations are utilized to demodulate the original message within the context of Bayesian inference. The quantum fluctuations are built into the system as a transverse field in the infinite-range Ising spin glass model. We evaluate the performance measurements by using statistical mechanics. We confirm that the CDMA multiuser modulator using quantum fluctuations achieve roughly the same performance as the conventional CDMA multiuser modulator through thermal fluctuations on average. We also find that the relationship between the quality of the original information retrieval and the amplitude of the transverse field is somehow a “universal feature” in typical probabilistic information processing, viz., in image restoration, error-correcting codes, and CDMA multiuser demodulation.

We report numerical results which show the achievement of net transport of self-propelled particles (SPPs) in the presence of a two-dimensional regular array of convex, either symmetric or asymmetric, rigid obstacles. The repulsive interparticle (soft disks) and particle-obstacle interactions present no alignment rule. We find that SPPs present a vortex-type motion around convex symmetric obstacles even in the absence of hydrodynamic effects. Such a motion is not observed for a single SPP, but is a consequence of the collective motion of SPPs around the obstacles. A steady particle current is spontaneously established in an array of nonsymmetric convex obstacles (which presents no cavity in which particles may be trapped), and in the absence of an external field. Our results are mainly a consequence of the tendency of the self-propelled particles to attach to solid surfaces.

We demonstrate distinct entanglement of single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) and multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) clusters in nematic liquid crystal medium using scanning electron microscopy technique and the entanglement influence on electric field-induced stretching phenomena of the said clusters in the same medium under optical microscopy investigation. The observed stretching threshold field for MWCNT clusters is found to be higher than the SWCNT counterpart caused by the interplay between attractive field-induced dipolar interaction of intercarbon nanotube (CNT) bundles and the distinct degree of entanglement of neighboring CNT bundles. Subsequently observed different tensile elasticity modulus results for different CNT kinds also confirm different CNT bundle entanglement and attractive dipolar interaction between adjacent CNT bundles in CNT clusters are responsible for distinct stretching threshold field behavior.

In this paper, we study the dynamics of freely falling plates based on the Kirchhoff equation and the quasisteady aerodynamic model. Motion transitions among fluttering, tumbling along a cusp-like trajectory, irregular, and tumbling along a straight trajectory are obtained by solving the dynamical equations. Phase diagrams spanning between the nondimensional moment of inertia and aerodynamic coefficients or aspect ratio are built to identify regimes for these falling styles. We also investigate the stability of fixed points and bifurcation scenarios. It is found that the transitions are all heteroclinic bifurcations and the influence of the fixed-point stability is local.

Recent work has developed a nonlinear hydrodynamic fluctuation theory for a chain of coupled anharmonic oscillators governing the conserved fields, namely, stretch, momentum, and energy. The linear theory yields two propagating sound modes and one diffusing heat mode, all three with diffusive broadening. In contrast, the nonlinear theory predicts that, at long times, the sound mode correlations satisfy Kardar-Parisi-Zhang scaling, while the heat mode correlations have Lévy-walk scaling. In the present contribution we report on molecular dynamics simulations of Fermi-Pasta-Ulam chains to compute various spatiotemporal correlation functions and compare them with the predictions of the theory. We obtain very good agreement in many cases, but also some deviations.

We have applied both the master equation method and harmonic transition state theory to interpret the velocity-dependent friction behavior observed in atomic friction experiments. To understand the discrepancy between attempt frequencies measured in atomic force microscopy experiments and those estimated by theoretical models, both thermal noise and instrumental noise are introduced into the model. It is found that the experimentally observed low attempt frequency and the transition point at low velocity regimes can be interpreted in terms of the instrumental noise inherent in atomic force microscopy. In contrast to previous models, this model also predicts (1) the existence of a two-slope curve of velocity dependence and (2) the decrease of critical velocity with temperature, which provides clues for further experimental verification of the influence of instrumental noise in friction measurements.