We discuss the desynchronization transition in networks of globally coupled identical oscillators with attractive and repulsive interactions. We show that, if attractive and repulsive groups act in antiphase or close to that, a solitary state emerges with a single repulsive oscillator split up from the others fully synchronized. With further increase of the repulsing strength, the synchronized cluster becomes fuzzy and the dynamics is given by a variety of stationary states with zero common forcing. Intriguingly, solitary states represent the natural link between coherence and incoherence. The phenomenon is described analytically for phase oscillators with sine coupling and demonstrated numerically for more general amplitude models.

We study one-dimensional lattices of interacting spins-$\frac{1}{2}$ and show that the effects of quenching the amplitude of a local magnetic field applied to a single site of the lattice can be comparable to the effects of a global perturbation applied instantaneously to the entire system. Both quenches take the system to the chaotic domain, the energy distribution of the initial states approaches a Breit-Wigner shape, the fidelity (Loschmidt echo) decays exponentially, and thermalization becomes viable.

We investigate experimentally the steady state motion of a millimeter-sized granular polyhedral object on vertically vibrating platforms of flat, conical, and parabolic surfaces. We find that the position distribution of the granular object is related to the shape of the platform, just like that of a Brownian particle trapped in a potential at equilibrium, even though the granular object is intrinsically not at equilibrium due to inelastic collisions with the platform. From the collision dynamics, we derive the Langevin equation which describes the motion of the object under an effective potential that equals the gravitational potential along the platform surface. The potential energy is found to agree with the equilibrium equipartition theorem while the kinetic energy does not. Furthermore, the granular temperature is found to be higher than the effective temperature associated with the average potential energy, suggesting the presence of heat transfer from the kinetic part to the potential part of the granular object.

The presence of multiplicative noise can alter measurements of forces acting on nanoscopic objects. Taking into account of multiplicative noise, we derive a series of nonequilibrium thermodynamical equalities as generalization of the Jarzynski equality, the detailed fluctuation theorem and the Hatano-Sasa relation. Our result demonstrates that the Jarzynski equality and the detailed fluctuation theorem remains valid only for systems with the Boltzmann-Gibbs distribution at the equilibrium state, but the Hatano-Sasa relation is robust with respect to different stochastic interpretations of multiplicative noise.

Random events can present what appears to be a pattern in the length of peak-to-peak sequences in time series and other point processes. Previously, we showed that this was the case in both individual and independently distributed processes as well as for Brownian walks. In addition, we introduced the use of the discrete form of the Langevin equation of statistical mechanics as a device for connecting the two limiting sets of behaviors, which we then compared with a variety of observations from the physical and social sciences. Here, we establish a probabilistic framework via the Smoluchowski equation for exploring the Langevin equation and its expected peak-to-peak sequence lengths, and we introduce a concept we call “stochastic structure in random events,” or SSRE. We extend the Brownian model to include antipersistent processes via autoregressive (AR) models. We relate the latter to describe the behavior of Old Faithful Geyser in Yellowstone National Park, and we devise a further test for the validity of the Langevin and AR models. Given our analytic results, we show how the Langevin equation can be adapted to describe population cycles of three to four years observed among many mammalian species in biology.

The orientational or angular correlation between the directions of the translational and rotational motions is analyzed theoretically for the homogeneous cooling state of a rough granular gas. The dynamical equations are derived using an approximate form of the single-particle distribution function that incorporates angular correlations. The goal is to assess the effects of higher-order angular corrections for which both quadratic- and quartic-order terms (in translational and rotational velocities of particles) are retained in the perturbation expansion of the distribution function. We show that higher-order corrections can markedly affect the steady-state orientational correlation when the normal restitution coefficient is moderate or small, and this effect is more prominent for nearly smooth particles. The transient evolution of orientational correlation is found to be significantly affected by higher-order terms. In particular the higher-order orientational correlations can dominate over the leading-order contribution during short times even in the quasi-elastic limit, although the steady correlation remains unaffected by such corrections in the same limit. The buildup of correlations during the transient stage seems to be closely tied to the evolution of the ratio between the rotational and translational temperatures. It is demonstrated that the transient dynamics of the temperature ratio and its steady state remain insensitive to higher-order angular correlation.

A zero-temperature critical point has been invoked to control the anomalous behavior of granular matter as it approaches jamming or mechanical arrest. Criticality manifests itself in an anomalous spectrum of low-frequency normal modes and scaling behavior near the jamming transition. The critical point may explain the peculiar mechanical properties of dissimilar systems such as glasses and granular materials. Here we study the critical scenario via an experimental measurement of the normal modes frequencies of granular matter under stress from a pole decomposition analysis of the effective mass. We extract a complex-valued characteristic frequency which displays scaling $|{\omega }^{*}\left(\sigma \right)|\sim {\sigma }^{{\Omega }^{\prime }}$ with vanishing stress $\sigma$ for a variety of granular systems. The critical exponent is smaller than that predicted by mean-field theory opening new challenges to explain the exponent for frictional and dissipative granular matter. Our results shed light on the anomalous behavior of stress-dependent acoustics and attenuation in granular materials near the jamming transition.

We introduce a kinetic Monte Carlo model for self-propelled hard disks to capture with minimal ingredients the interplay between thermal fluctuations, excluded volume, and self-propulsion in large assemblies of active particles. We analyze in detail the resulting (density, self-propulsion) nonequilibrium phase diagram over a broad range of parameters. We find that purely repulsive hard disks spontaneously aggregate into fractal clusters as self-propulsion is increased and rationalize the evolution of the average cluster size by developing a kinetic model of reversible aggregation. As density is increased, the nonequilibrium clusters percolate to form a ramified structure reminiscent of a physical gel. We show that the addition of a finite amount of noise is needed to trigger a nonequilibrium phase separation, showing that demixing in active Brownian particles results from a delicate balance between noise, interparticle interactions, and self-propulsion. We show that self-propulsion has a profound influence on the dynamics of the active fluid. We find that the diffusion constant has a nonmonotonic behavior as self-propulsion is increased at finite density and that activity produces strong deviations from Fickian diffusion that persist over large time scales and length scales, suggesting that systems of active particles generically behave as dynamically heterogeneous systems.

Molecular dynamics simulations are used to study the capillary adhesion from a nonvolatile liquid meniscus between a spherical tip and a flat substrate. The atomic structure of the tip, the tip radius, the contact angles of the liquid on the two surfaces, and the volume of the liquid bridge are varied. The capillary force between the tip and substrate is calculated as a function of their separation $h$. The force agrees with continuum predictions based on macroscopic theory for $h$ down to $\sim 5$ to 10 nm. At smaller $h$, the force tends to be less attractive than predicted and has strong oscillations. This oscillatory component of the capillary force is completely missed in the macroscopic theory, which only includes contributions from the surface tension around the circumference of the meniscus and the pressure difference over the cross section of the meniscus. The oscillation is found to be due to molecular layering of the liquid confined in the narrow gap between the tip and substrate. This effect is most pronounced for large tip radii and/or smooth surfaces. The other two components considered by the macroscopic theory are also identified. The surface tension term, as well as the meniscus shape, is accurately described by the macroscopic theory for $h$ down to $\sim 1$ nm, but the capillary pressure term is always more positive than the corresponding continuum result. This shift in the capillary pressure reduces the average adhesion by a factor as large as 2 from its continuum value and is found to be due to an anisotropy in the pressure tensor. The component in the plane of the substrate is consistent with the capillary pressure predicted by the macroscopic theory (i.e., the Young-Laplace equation), but the normal pressure that determines the capillary force is always more positive than the continuum counterpart.

We explore the optical birefringence of the nematic binary mixtures $6{\mathrm{CB}}_{1-x}7{\mathrm{CB}}_x$ ($0\le x\le 1$) embedded into parallel-aligned nanochannels of mesoporous alumina and silica membranes for channel radii of $3.4\le R\le 21.0$ nm. The results are compared with the bulk behavior and analyzed with a Landau–de Gennes model. Depending on the channel radius the nematic ordering in the cylindrical nanochannels evolves either discontinuously (subcritical regime, nematic ordering field $\sigma <1/2$) or continuously (overcritical regime, $\sigma >1/2$), but in both cases with a characteristic paranematic precursor behavior. The strength of the ordering field, imposed by the channel walls, and the magnitude of quenched disorder varies linearly with the mole fraction $x$ and scales inversely proportionally with $R$ for channel radii larger than 4 nm. The critical pore radius, $R_c$, separating a continuous from a discontinuous paranematic-to-nematic evolution varies linearly with $x$ and differs negligibly between the silica and alumina membranes. We find no hints of preferred adsorption of one species at the channels walls. By contrast, a linear variation of the nematic-to-paranematic transition point $T_{\mathrm{PN}}$ and of the nematic ordering field $\sigma$ versus $x$ suggests that the binary mixtures of cyanobiphenyls 6CB and 7CB keep their homogeneous bulk stoichiometry also in nanoconfinement, at least for channel diameters larger than $\sim$7 nm.

We demonstrate that high anisotropy of elastic constants of chromonic liquid crystals leads to a number of spontaneously twisted nematic director fields around colloidal particles in these non-chiral fluids. For spherical colloidal particles with surface inducing degenerate planar nematic ordering we observe that boojum defects at the particles' poles acquire twisted internal structure, extending up to three particle diameters along the rubbing direction of the cell. The twist handedness of the two boojum defects at the poles of the particle can be either the same or opposite, and we can switch the defects handedness by localized thermal microquenching. Numerical simulations confirm that the transitions into the distorted states are induced by lowering of the twist elastic constant, which results in two (meta)stable chiral configurations of the boojums, separated by an energy barrier much higher than the thermal energy. We show that boojum handedness can change the pairwise elastic interaction between the two particles positioned along the rubbing direction from repulsive to attractive.

DNA looping has been observed to enhance and suppress transcriptional noise but it is uncertain which of these two opposite effects is to be expected for given conditions. Here, we derive analytical expressions for the main quantifiers of transcriptional noise in terms of the molecular parameters and elucidate the role of DNA looping. Our results rationalize paradoxical experimental observations and provide the first quantitative explanation of landmark individual-cell measurements at the single molecule level on the classical lac operon genetic system [Choi, L. Cai, K. Frieda, and X. S. Xie, Science 322, 442 (2008)].

The quantitative understanding of membranes is still rooted in work performed in the 1970s by Helfrich and others, concerning amphiphilic bilayers. However, most biological membranes contain a wide variety of nonamphiphilic molecules too. Drawing analogy with the physics of nematic–non-nematic mixtures, we present a dynamical (out-of-equilibrium) description of such multicomponent membranes. The approach combines nematohydrodynamics in the linear regime and a proper use of (differential-) geometry. The main result is to demonstrate that one can obtain equations describing a cross-diffusion effect (similar to the Soret and Dufour effects) between curvature and the (in-membrane) flow of amphiphilic molecules relative to nonamphiphilic ones. Surprisingly, the shape of a membrane relaxes according to a simple heat equation in the mean curvature, a process that is accompanied by a simultaneous boost to the diffusion of amphiphiles away from regions of high curvature. The model also predicts the inverse process, by which the forced bending of a membrane induces a flow of amphiphilic molecules towards areas of high curvature. In principle, numerical values for the relevant diffusion coefficients should be verifiable by experiment.

We study the ratchet drift of large polarons (solitons) in molecular diatomic chains induced by unbiased time periodic electric fields at nonzero temperature below its critical value. We show that, at a nonzero temperature, the critical value of the intensity of the electric field above which the ratchet phenomenon takes place is lower than at zero temperature for the same frequency of the field. We show that there is a range of temperatures for which the polaron drift is larger than that at zero temperature. We also show that temperature decreases the value of the lowest critical period of the field. And, finally, we demonstrate that there is a stochastic resonance in a polaron ratchet, namely that there is an optimal temperature at which the polaron drift is a maximum. The values of the stochastic resonance temperature, the lowest critical values of the field intensity, and its period depend on various parameters of the system and, in particular, on the anisotropy of the chain parameters. This temperature induced decrease of the critical value of the field intensity and its period, as well as the stochastic resonance itself, may be important for practical applications of the ratchet phenomenon in systems involving conducting polymers and other low-dimensional materials. They may also be important in some biological macromolecules where the ratchet phenomenon could take place in biomotors and energy and/or charge transport.

We explore the evolution of a splash when a liquid drop impacts a smooth dry surface. There are two splashing regimes that occur when the liquid viscosity is varied as is evidenced by its dependence on ambient gas pressure. A high-viscosity drop splashes by emitting a thin sheet of liquid from a spreading liquid lamella long after the drop has first contacted the solid. Likewise, we find that there is also a delay in the ejection of a thin sheet when a low-viscosity drop splashes. We show how the ejection time of the thin sheet depends on liquid viscosity and ambient gas pressure.

In this paper the phase behavior and pattern formation in a sheared nonideal fluid under a periodic potential is studied. An isothermal two-dimensional formulation of a lattice Boltzmann scheme for a liquid-vapor system with the van der Waals equation of state is presented and validated. Shear is applied by moving walls and the periodic potential varies along the flow direction. A region of the parameter space, where in the absence of flow a striped phase with oscillating density is stable, will be considered. At low shear rates the periodic patterns are preserved and slightly distorted by the flow. At high shear rates the striped phase loses its stability and traveling waves on the interface between the liquid and vapor regions are observed. These waves spread over the whole system with wavelength only depending on the length of the system. Velocity field patterns, characterized by a single vortex, will also be shown.

Bandi et al. [Phys. Rev. E 79, 016309 (2009)] reported a closed form expression for the probability density function of the product of two correlated normal random variables and proposed an approximation for the distribution of its mean. Here, we question the closed form expression and derive exact expressions for the distribution of the mean. The proposed approximation is shown to be poor.