In this Rapid Communication we demonstrate effects of a new mechanism of adiabaticity destruction in Hamiltonian systems with a separatrix in the phase space. In contrast to the slow diffusive-like destruction typical for many systems, this new mechanism is responsible for very fast chaotization in a large phase volume. To investigate this mechanism we consider a Hamiltonian system with two degrees of freedom and with a separatrix in the phase plane of fast variables. The fast chaotization is due to an asymmetry of the separatrix and corresponding geometrical jumps of an adiabatic invariant. This system describes the motion of charged particles in a inhomogeneous electromagnetic field with a specific configuration. We show that geometrical jumps of the adiabatic invariant result in a very fast chaotization of particle motion.

Pole balancing is a key task for probing the prospective control that organisms must engage in for purposeful action. The temporal structure of pole-balancing behaviors will reflect the on-line operation of control mechanisms needed to maintain an upright posture. In this study, signatures of multifractality are sought and found in time series of the vertical angle of a pole balanced on the fingertip. Comparisons to surrogate time series reveal multiplicative-cascade dynamics and interactivity across scales. In addition, simulations of a pole-balancing model generating on-off intermittency [J. L. Cabrera and J. G. Milton, Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 158702 (2002)] were analyzed. Evidence of multifractality is also evident in simulations, though comparing simulated and participant series reveals a significantly greater contribution of cross-scale interactivity for the latter. These findings suggest that multiplicative-cascade dynamics are an extension of on-off intermittency and play a role in prospective coordination.

Miniature vortex generators (MVGs) are able to delay the transition to turbulence in a flat plate boundary layer if properly designed. Unfortunately, the natural recovery of the modulated laminar base flow in the streamwise direction is of exponential space scale and hence the passive laminar control fades away fairly rapidly. Here we show that by placing a second array of MVGs downstream of the first one it is possible to nourish the counter-rotating streamwise vortices responsible for the modulation, which results in a prolonged streamwise extent of the control. With this control strategy it is possible to delay the transition to turbulence, consecutively, by reinforcing the control effect and with the ultimate implication of obtaining a net skin-friction drag reduction of at least 65%.

We introduce multikangaroo Markov processes and provide a general procedure for evaluating a certain type of stochastic functional. We calculate analytically the large deviation properties. We apply our results to zero-crossing statistics and to stochastic thermodynamics, including the derivation of the fluctuation theorem and the large deviation properties for the stochastic entropy production in a typical solid state device.

We present direct experimental signatures of a nonequilibrium phase transition associated with the yield point of a prototypical soft solid—a binary colloidal glass. By simultaneously quantifying single-particle dynamics and bulk mechanical response, we identified the threshold for the onset of irreversibility with the yield strain. We extracted the relaxation time from the transient behavior of the loss modulus and found that it diverges in the vicinity of the yield strain. This critical slowing down is accompanied by a growing correlation length associated with the size of regions of high Debye-Waller factor, which are precursors to yield events in glasses. Our results affirm that the paradigm of nonequilibrium critical phenomena is instrumental in achieving a holistic understanding of yielding in soft solids.

We consider models of growing multilevel systems wherein the growth process is driven by rules of tournament selection. A system can be conceived as an evolving tree with a new node being attached to a contestant node at the best hierarchy level (a level nearest to the tree root). The proposed evolution reflects limited information on system properties available to new nodes. It can also be expressed in terms of population dynamics. Two models are considered: a constant tournament (CT) model wherein the number of tournament participants is constant throughout system evolution, and a proportional tournament (PT) model where this number increases proportionally to the growing size of the system itself. The results of analytical calculations based on a rate equation fit well to numerical simulations for both models. In the CT model all hierarchy levels emerge, but the birth time of a consecutive hierarchy level increases exponentially or faster for each new level. The number of nodes at the first hierarchy level grows logarithmically in time, while the size of the last, “worst” hierarchy level oscillates quasi-log-periodically. In the PT model, the occupations of the first two hierarchy levels increase linearly, but worse hierarchy levels either do not emerge at all or appear only by chance in the early stage of system evolution to further stop growing at all. The results allow us to conclude that information available to each new node in tournament dynamics restrains the emergence of new hierarchy levels and that it is the absolute amount of information, not relative, which governs such behavior.

The FitzHugh-Nagumo neuron model subject to a biharmonical external force with two different frequencies is used to investigate the underlying mechanism of vibrational resonance in an excitable system in which the time scales between the fast and slow variables are separated clearly. The theoretical analysis is given based on the approximation approach and the concept of the phase-locking ratio instead of the amplification ratio widely used in the investigation of vibrational resonance in bistable oscillators. The result shows that the high-frequency subthreshold force with the frequency close to the natural frequency of the neuron model in the resting state can induce the change of potential shape of the model near the bifurcation point. This gives rise to the different phase-locking modes of the neuron responses to the same low-frequency subthreshold input. It is also shown that besides the parameters of the high-frequency force such as amplitude and frequency, the bifurcation parameter of the model can affect the vibrational resonance notably. Finally, the numerical results have verified the theoretical analysis.

We investigate the dynamics of a tagged particle embedded in a strongly interacting confined liquid enclosed between two opposing flat walls. Using the Zwanzig-Mori projection operator formalism we obtain an equation of motion for the incoherent scattering function suitably generalized to account for the lack of translational symmetry. We close the equations of motion by a self-consistent mode-coupling ansatz. The interaction of the tracer with the surrounding liquid is encoded in generalized direct correlation functions. We extract the in-plane dynamics and provide a microscopic expression for the diffusion coefficient parallel to the walls. The solute particle may differ in size or interaction from the surrounding host-liquid constituents offering the possibility of a systematic analysis of dynamic effects on the tagged-particle motion in confinement.

Vibrated granular materials have been intensively used to investigate particle segregation, convection, and heaping. We report on the behavior of a column of heavy grains bouncing on an oscillating solid surface. Measurements indicate that, for weak effects of the interstitial gas, the temporal variations of the pressure at the base of the column are satisfactorily described by considering that the column, despite the observed dilation, behaves like a porous solid. In addition, direct observation of the column dynamics shows that the grains of the upper and lower surfaces are in free fall in the gravitational field and that the dilation is due to a small delay between their takeoff times.

The rotational diffusion of electrically polarized metal nanowires suspended in an electrolyte is studied. The alignment of a Brownian nanowire in an ac field with a given direction is not complete due to thermal (fluctuating) torques. The orientation distribution allows us to examine the electrokinetic torques acting on the nanowire for smaller voltages than in previous deterministic experiments. In addition, the torques are obtained without recurring to the rotational friction coefficient as in dynamic deterministic experiments. The present results are in accordance with previous deterministic results of electro-orientation of metal nanowires. Nanowire rotation is originated by both the electrical torque on the induced dipole and by induced-charge electro-osmotic flow around the particle. At low frequencies of the applied ac field, induced-charge electro-osmotic orientation dominates while induced dipole torque orientation dominates at high frequencies. The angular standard deviation and the rotational rate are calculated from the measured fluctuating angle as a function of time, and good agreement with theoretical predictions is found. The experiments at high frequency indicate that the electrical torque on a nanowire near an insulating wall is reduced with respect to the bulk.

Variable-amplitude oscillatory shear tests are emerging as powerful tools to investigate and quantify the nonlinear rheology of amorphous solids, complex fluids, and biological materials. Quite a few recent experimental and atomistic simulation studies demonstrated that at low shear amplitudes, an amorphous solid settles into an amplitude- and initial-conditions-dependent dissipative limit cycle, in which back-and-forth localized particle rearrangements periodically bring the system to the same state. At sufficiently large shear amplitudes, the amorphous system loses memory of the initial conditions, exhibits chaotic particle motions accompanied by diffusive behavior, and settles into a stochastic steady state. The two regimes are separated by a transition amplitude, possibly characterized by some critical-like features. Here we argue that these observations support some of the physical assumptions embodied in the nonequilibrium thermodynamic, internal-variables based, shear-transformation-zone model of amorphous viscoplasticity; most notably that “flow defects” in amorphous solids are characterized by internal states between which they can make transitions, and that structural evolution is driven by dissipation associated with plastic deformation. We present a rather extensive theoretical analysis of the thermodynamic shear-transformation-zone model for a variable-amplitude oscillatory shear protocol, highlighting its success in accounting for various experimental and simulational observations, as well as its limitations. Our results offer a continuum-level theoretical framework for interpreting the variable-amplitude oscillatory shear response of amorphous solids and may promote additional developments.

We study theoretically and by numerical simulations the motion of particles driven by molecular motors in a viscoelastic medium representing the cell cytoplasm. For this, we consider a generalized Langevin equation coupled to a stochastic stepping dynamics for the motors that takes into account the action of each motor separately. In the absence of motors, the model produces subdiffusive motion of particles characterized by a power-law scaling of the mean square displacement versus the lag time as $t^{\alpha }$, with $0<\alpha <1$, similar to that observed in cells. Our results show how the action of the motors can induce a transition to a superdiffusive regime at large lag times with the characteristics of those found in experiments reported in the literature. We also show that at small lag times, the motors can act as static crosslinkers that slow down the natural subdiffusive transport. An analysis of previously reported experimental data in the relevant time scales provides evidence of this phenomenon. Finally, we study the effect of a harmonic potential representing an optical trap, and we show a way to approach to a macroscopic description of the active transport in cells. This last point stresses the relevance of the molecular motors for generating not only directed motion to specific targets, but also fast diffusivelike random motion.

We describe a simple adaptive network of coupled chaotic maps. The network reaches a stationary state (frozen topology) for all values of the coupling parameter, although the dynamics of the maps at the nodes of the network can be nontrivial. The structure of the network shows interesting hierarchical properties and in certain parameter regions the dynamics is polysynchronous: Nodes can be divided in differently synchronized classes but, contrary to cluster synchronization, nodes in the same class need not be connected to each other. These complicated synchrony patterns have been conjectured to play roles in systems biology and circuits. The adaptive system we study describes ways whereby this behavior can evolve from undifferentiated nodes.

In this paper, we investigate both analytically and numerically the localized multivalued waveguide channels—the loop solitons—dynamics within a ferrite slab. In the starting point of the work, we solve in detail the initial value problem of the system while unveiling the existence of multivalued waveguide channels solutions. Paying particular interest to the nonlinear scattering among these excitations, we study extensively the different kinds of interacting features between these localized waves alongside the depiction of their energy densities. As a result, we find that the interactions can be attractive or repulsive depending strongly on the ratio of the amplitudes of the interacting structures. In the wake of these results, we address some physical implications, accordingly.

This work concerns the modeling of radiative transfer in anisotropic turbid media using diffusion theory. A theory for the relationship between microscopic scattering properties (i.e., an arbitrary differential scattering cross-section) and the macroscopic diffusion tensor, in the limit of independent scatterers, is presented. The theory is accompanied by a numerical method capable of performing the calculations. In addition, a boundary condition appropriate for modeling systems with anisotropic radiance is derived. It is shown that anisotropic diffusion theory, when based on these developments, indeed can describe radiative transfer in anisotropic turbid media. More specifically, it is reported that solutions to the anisotropic diffusion equation are in excellent agreement with Monte Carlo simulations, both in steady-state and time-domain. This stands in contrast to previous work on the topic, where inadequate boundary conditions and/or incorrect relations between microscopic scattering properties and the diffusion tensor have caused disagreement between simulations and diffusion theory. The present work thus falsify previous claims that anisotropic diffusion theory cannot describe anisotropic radiative transfer, and instead open for accurate quantitative diffusion-based modeling of anisotropic turbid materials.

Knowledge of the Hessian matrix at the landscape optimum of a controlled physical observable offers valuable information about the system robustness to control noise. The Hessian can also assist in physical landscape characterization, which is of particular interest in quantum system control experiments. The recently developed landscape theoretical analysis motivated the compilation of an automated method to learn the Hessian matrix about the global optimum without derivative measurements from noisy data. The current study introduces the forced optimal covariance adaptive learning (FOCAL) technique for this purpose. FOCAL relies on the covariance matrix adaptation evolution strategy (CMA-ES) that exploits covariance information amongst the control variables by means of principal component analysis. The FOCAL technique is designed to operate with experimental optimization, generally involving continuous high-dimensional search landscapes ($\gtrsim$30) with large Hessian condition numbers ($\gtrsim$${10}^4$). This paper introduces the theoretical foundations of the inverse relationship between the covariance learned by the evolution strategy and the actual Hessian matrix of the landscape. FOCAL is presented and demonstrated to retrieve the Hessian matrix with high fidelity on both model landscapes and quantum control experiments, which are observed to possess nonseparable, nonquadratic search landscapes. The recovered Hessian forms were corroborated by physical knowledge of the systems. The implications of FOCAL extend beyond the investigated studies to potentially cover other physically motivated multivariate landscapes.

We present a symplectic integrator, based on the implicit midpoint method, for classical spin systems where each spin is a unit vector in ${\mathbb{R}}^3$. Unlike splitting methods, it is defined for all Hamiltonians and is $O\left(3\right)$-equivariant, i.e., coordinate-independent. It is a rare example of a generating function for symplectic maps of a noncanonical phase space. It yields a new integrable discretization of the spinning top.

We propose a versatile model specifically designed for the quantitative interpretation of NMR velocimetry data. We use the concept of mobile or immobile tracer particles applied in dispersion theory in its Lagrangian form, adding two mechanisms: (i) independent random arrests of finite average representing intermittent periods of very low velocity zones in the mean flow direction and (ii) the possibility of unexpectedly long (but rare) displacements simulating the occurrence of very high velocities in the porous medium. Based on mathematical properties related to subordinated Lévy processes, we give analytical expressions of the signals recorded in pulsed-field-gradient NMR experiments. We illustrate how to use the model for quantifying dispersion from NMR data recorded for water flowing through a homogeneous grain pack column in single- and two-phase flow conditions.