The rheology of 44–75-nm-thick polystyrene films were probed by destabilization in an electric field. The non-cross-linked films showed the hallmark of viscoelasiticy; they exhibited elastic behavior at high shear rates and viscous rheology at low shear rates for stationary applied fields. These results are interpreted in terms of surface adhesion of chain segments in contact with the substrate surface, which substantially reduces reptative molecular motion of nearly all chains within the film.

Despite the key role played by inhibitory-excitatory couplings in the functioning of brain networks, the impact of a balanced condition on the stability properties of underlying networks remains largely unknown. We investigate properties of the largest eigenvalues of networks having such couplings, and find that they follow completely different statistics when in the balanced situation. Based on numerical simulations, we demonstrate that the transition from Weibull to Fréchet via the Gumbel distribution can be controlled by the variance of the column sum of the adjacency matrix, which depends monotonically on the denseness of the underlying network. As a balanced condition is imposed, the largest real part of the eigenvalue emulates a transition to the generalized extreme-value statistics, independent of the inhibitory connection probability. Furthermore, the transition to the Weibull statistics and the small-world transition occur at the same rewiring probability, reflecting a more stable system.

Topological features of gene regulatory networks can be successfully reproduced by a model population evolving under selection for short dynamical attractors. The evolved population of networks exhibit motif statistics, summarized by significance profiles, which closely match those of E. coli, S. cerevsiae, and B. subtilis, in such features as the excess of linear motifs and feedforward loops, and deficiency of feedback loops. The slow relaxation to stasis is a hallmark of a rugged fitness landscape, with independently evolving populations exploring distinct valleys strongly differing in network properties.

This study extends the Susceptible-Infected-Susceptible (SIS) epidemic model for single-virus propagation over an arbitrary graph to an Susceptible-Infected by virus 1-Susceptible-Infected by virus 2-Susceptible (${\mathrm{SI}}_1{\mathrm{SI}}_2\mathrm{S}$) epidemic model of two exclusive, competitive viruses over a two-layer network with generic structure, where network layers represent the distinct transmission routes of the viruses. We find analytical expressions determining extinction, coexistence, and absolute dominance of the viruses after we introduce the concepts of survival threshold and absolute-dominance threshold. The main outcome of our analysis is the discovery and proof of a region for long-term coexistence of competitive viruses in nontrivial multilayer networks. We show coexistence is impossible if network layers are identical yet possible if network layers are distinct. Not only do we rigorously prove a region of coexistence, but we can quantitate it via interrelation of central nodes across the network layers. Little to no overlapping of the layers' central nodes is the key determinant of coexistence. For example, we show both analytically and numerically that positive correlation of network layers makes it difficult for a virus to survive, while in a network with negatively correlated layers, survival is easier, but total removal of the other virus is more difficult.

We introduce a coevolution voter model in a multilayer by coupling a fraction of nodes across two network layers (the degree of multiplexing) and allowing each layer to evolve according to its own topological temporal scale. When these time scales are the same, the time evolution equations can be mapped to a coevolution voter model in a single layer with an effective average degree. Thus the dynamics preserve the absorbing-fragmentation transition at a critical value that increases with the degree of multiplexing. When the two layers have different topological time scales, we find an anomalous transition, named shattered fragmentation, in which the network in one layer splits into two large components in opposite states and a multiplicity of isolated nodes. We identify the growth of the number of components as a signature of this anomalous transition. We also find the critical level of interlayer coupling needed to prevent the fragmentation in a layer connected to a layer that does not fragment.

We consider a system of phase oscillators that couple with both attractive and repulsive interaction under a pinning force and explore collective behavior of the system. The oscillators can be divided into two subpopulations of “conformist” oscillators with attractive interaction and “contrarian” ones with repulsive interaction. We find that the interplay between the pinning force and the opposite relationship of the conformist and contrarian oscillators induce peculiar dynamic states: periodic synchronization, breathing chimera, and fully pinned state depending on the fraction of the conformists. Using the Watanabe-Strogatz transformation, we reduce the dynamics into a low-dimensional one and find that the above dynamic states are generated from the reduced dynamics.

The weak turbulence theory has been applied to waves in thin elastic plates obeying the Föppl-Von Kármán dynamical equations. Subsequent experiments have shown a strong discrepancy between the theoretical predictions and the measurements. Both the dynamical equations and the weak turbulence theory treatment require some restrictive hypotheses. Here a direct numerical simulation of the Föppl-Von Kármán equations is performed and reproduces qualitatively and quantitatively the experimental results when the experimentally measured damping rate of waves ${\gamma }_{\mathbf{k}}=a+b{k}^2$ is used. This confirms that the Föppl-Von Kármán equations are a valid theoretical framework to describe our experiments. When we progressively tune the dissipation so that to localize it at the smallest scales, we observe a gradual transition between the experimental spectrum and the Kolmogorov-Zakharov prediction. Thus, it is shown that dissipation has a major influence on the scaling properties of stationary solutions of weakly nonlinear wave turbulence.

We demonstrate the existence of stable collective excitation in the form of “supersolitons” propagating through chains of solitons with alternating signs (i.e., Newton's cradles built of solitons) in nonlinear optical couplers, including the parity-time-symmetric $\left(\mathcal{PT}\mathrm{-symmetric}\right)$ version thereof. In the regular coupler, stable supersolitons are created in the cradles composed of both symmetric solitons and asymmetric ones with alternating polarities. Collisions between moving supersolitons are investigated too, by means of direct simulations in both the regular and $\mathcal{PT}\mathrm{-symmetric}$ couplers.

We study the one-dimensional Hamiltonian systems and their statistical behavior, assuming the initial microcanonical distribution and describing its change under a parametric kick, which by definition means a discontinuous jump of a control parameter of the system. Following a previous work by Papamikos and Robnik [J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 44, 315102 (2011)], we specifically analyze the change of the adiabatic invariant (the action) of the system under a parametric kick: A conjecture has been put forward that the change of the action at the mean energy always increases, which means, for the given statistical ensemble, that the Gibbs entropy in the mean increases. By means of a detailed analysis of a great number of case studies, we show that the conjecture largely is satisfied, except if either the potential is not smooth enough or if the energy is too close to a stationary point of the potential (separatrix in the phase space). Very fast changes in a time-dependent system quite generally can be well described by such a picture and by the approximation of a parametric kick, if the change of the parameter is sufficiently fast and takes place on the time scale of less than one oscillation period. We discuss our work in the context of the statistical mechanics in the sense of Gibbs.

Antitachycardia pacing (ATP) is widely used to terminate tachycardia before it proceeds to lethal fibrillation. The important prerequisite for successful ATP is unpinning of the spirals anchored to the obstacle by a series of stimuli. Here, to understand the mechanism of unpinning spirals by ATP, we propose a theoretical explanation based on a nonlinear eikonal relation and a kinematical model. The theoretical results are quantitatively consistent with the numerical simulations in both weak and high excitabilities.

A previously developed model for the Rayleigh-Taylor instability at an interface between an elastoplastic solid and a viscous fluid [Piriz, Sun, and Tahir, Phys. Rev. E 88, 023026 (2013)] has been used for calculating the time evolution of the perturbations in terms of the mechanical properties of the solid and the liquid, as well as of the initial amplitude ${\xi }_0$ and the wavelength $\lambda$ of the perturbation. Four kinds of possible evolution are found: two stable and two unstable, depending on their positions in the space of parameters $\left({\xi }_0,\lambda \right)$. All of them present some features that are independent of the solid properties and that are determined only by the liquid viscosity.

Hydrodynamic and magnetic behaviors in a modified experimental setup of the von Kármán sodium flow—where one disk has been replaced by a propeller—are investigated. When the rotation frequencies of the disk and the propeller are different, we show that the fully turbulent hydrodynamic flow undergoes a global bifurcation between two configurations. The bistability of these flow configurations is associated with the dynamics of the central shear layer. The bistable flows are shown to have different dynamo efficiencies; thus for a given rotation rate of the soft-iron disk, two distinct magnetic behaviors are observed depending on the flow configuration. The hydrodynamic transition controls the magnetic field behavior, and bifurcations between high and low magnetic field branches are investigated.

In classical hydrodynamics, the mass flux is universally chosen to be the momentum field. In extended hydrodynamics, the mass flux acquires different terms. The extended hydrodynamics introduced and investigated in this paper uses a one-particle distribution function as the extra state variable chosen to characterize the microstructure. We prove that the extended hydrodynamics is fully autonomous in the sense that it is compatible with thermodynamics (i.e., the entropy does not decrease during the time evolution) and with mechanics (i.e., the part of the time evolution that leaves the entropy unchanged is Hamiltonian). Subsequently, we investigate its possible reductions. In some situations the emerging reduced dynamical theory is the classical hydrodynamics that is fully autonomous (i.e., all the structure that makes the extended theory fully autonomous is kept in the reduced theory). In other situations (for example, when the fluids under investigation have large density gradients) the reduced theories are not fully autonomous. In such a case the reduced theories constitute a family of mutually related dynamical theories (each of them involving a different amount of detail) that we consider to be a mathematical formulation of multiscale (or multilevel) hydrodynamics. It is in the reduced theories belonging to the multiscale hydrodynamics where the terms that emerge in the mass flux take the form of self-diffusion.

We study wave turbulence in shallow water flows in numerical simulations using two different approximations: the shallow water model and the Boussinesq model with weak dispersion. The equations for both models were solved using periodic grids with up to ${2048}^2$ points. In all simulations, the Froude number varies between $0.015$ and $0.05$, while the Reynolds number and level of dispersion are varied in a broader range to span different regimes. In all cases, most of the energy in the system remains in the waves, even after integrating the system for very long times. For shallow flows, nonlinear waves are nondispersive and the spectrum of potential energy is compatible with $\sim k^{-2}$ scaling. For deeper (Boussinesq) flows, the nonlinear dispersion relation as directly measured from the wave and frequency spectrum (calculated independently) shows signatures of dispersion, and the spectrum of potential energy is compatible with predictions of weak turbulence theory, $\sim k^{-4/3}$. In this latter case, the nonlinear dispersion relation differs from the linear one and has two branches, which we explain with a simple qualitative argument. Finally, we study probability density functions of the surface height and find that in all cases the distributions are asymmetric. The probability density function can be approximated by a skewed normal distribution as well as by a Tayfun distribution.

Polystyrene (CH) is often chosen as the ablator material for inertial confinement fusion (ICF) targets. Its static, dynamical, and optical properties in warm, dense conditions (due to shock compression) are important for ICF designs. Using the first-principles quantum molecular dynamics (QMD) method, we have investigated the equation of state (EOS) and optical reflectivity of shock-compressed CH up to an unprecedentedly high pressure of 62 Mbar along the principal Hugoniot. The QMD results are compared with existing experimental measurements as well as the SESAME EOS model. Although the Hugoniot pressure and/or temperature from QMD calculations agrees with experiments and the SESAME EOS model at low pressures below 10 Mbar, we have identified for the first time a stiffer behavior of shocked CH at higher pressures (>10 Mbar). Such a stiffer behavior of warm, dense CH can affect the ablation pressure (shock strength), shock coalescence dynamics, and nonuniformity growth in ICF implosions. In addition, we corrected the mistake made in literature for calculating the reflectivity of shocked CH and obtained good agreements with experimental measurements, which should lend credence to future opacity calculations in a first-principles fashion.

The glass transition is investigated in three dimensions for single and double Yukawa potentials for the full range of control parameters. For vanishing screening parameter, the limit of the one-component plasma is obtained; for large screening parameters and high coupling strengths, the glass-transition properties cross over to the hard-sphere system. Between the two limits, the entire transition diagram can be described by analytical functions. Unlike other potentials, the glass-transition and melting lines for Yukawa potentials are found to follow shifted but otherwise identical curves in control-parameter space.

Catalytic reactions are of great interest in many applications related to power generation, fuel reforming and pollutant abatement, as well as in various biochemical processes. A recently proposed lattice Boltzmann model for thermal binary-mixture gas flows [J. Kang, N. I. Prasianakis, and J. Mantzaras, Phys. Rev. E. 87, 053304 (2013)] is revisited and extended for the simulation of multispecies flows with catalytic reactions. The resulting model can handle flows with large temperature and concentration gradients. The developed model is presented in detail and validated against a finite volume Navier-Stokes solver in the case of channel-flow methane catalytic combustion. The surface chemistry is treated with a one-step global reaction for the catalytic total oxidation of methane on platinum. In order to take into account thermal effects, the catalytic boundary condition of S. Arcidiacono, J. Mantzaras, and I. V. Karlin [Phys. Rev. E 78, 046711 (2008)] is adapted to account for temperature variations. Speed of sound simulations further demonstrate the physical integrity and unique features of the model.

In the present work the concept of a binding polynomial is revisited for the most widely used case of self-assembly of identical molecular units and results in the re-construction of a link to the grand partition function of such a system. It is found that if the self-assembly process is not pronounced (i.e., the product of the equilibrium constant and the monomer concentration is close to zero), the binding polynomial has the meaning of a molecular partition function that is given by the summation over energy levels of any molecule in the system. In other cases the concept of a binding polynomial may be misleading.

The minimum vertex-cover problems on random $\alpha$-uniform hypergraphs are studied using two different approaches, a replica method in statistical mechanics of random systems and a leaf removal algorithm. It is found that there exists a phase transition at the critical average degree $e/(\alpha -1)$, below which a replica symmetric ansatz in the replica method holds and the algorithm estimates exactly the same solution of the problem as that by the replica method. In contrast, above the critical degree, the replica symmetric solution becomes unstable and the leaf-removal algorithm fails to estimate the optimal solution because of the emergence of a large size core. These results strongly suggest a close relation between the replica symmetry and the performance of an approximation algorithm. Critical properties of the core percolation are also examined numerically by a finite-size scaling.

We examine elastic interaction between two defects on one side or two sides of an isotropic thin film. We show that the tangential and normal forces contribute to the interaction in a coupled manner. Our finding is that the attraction or repulsion between two defects exhibiting twofold symmetry is dependent on the film thickness. The result is of particular importance for probing elastic interaction between adherent cells which have been commonly treated as twofold surface defects.