Power-law scalings are ubiquitous to physical phenomena undergoing a continuous phase transition. The classic susceptible-infectious-recovered (SIR) model of epidemics is one such example where the scaling behavior near a critical point has been studied extensively. In this system the distribution of outbreak sizes scales as $P\left(n\right)\sim n^{-3/2}$ at the critical point as the system size $N$ becomes infinite. The finite-size scaling laws for the outbreak size and duration are also well understood and characterized. In this work, we report scaling laws for a model with SIR structure coupled with a constant force of infection per susceptible, akin to a “reservoir forcing”. We find that the statistics of outbreaks in this system fundamentally differ from those in a simple SIR model. Instead of fixed exponents, all scaling laws exhibit tunable exponents parameterized by the dimensionless rate of external forcing. As the external driving rate approaches a critical value, the scale of the average outbreak size converges to that of the maximal size, and above the critical point, the scaling laws bifurcate into two regimes. Whereas a simple SIR process can only exhibit outbreaks of size $O\left(N^{1/3}\right)$ and $O\left(N\right)$ depending on whether the system is at or above the epidemic threshold, a driven SIR process can exhibit a richer spectrum of outbreak sizes that scale as $O\left(N^{\xi }\right)$, where $\xi \in (0,1]\setminus \{2/3\}$ and $O\left({(N/lnN)}^{2/3}\right)$ at the multicritical point.

We study the transient drag force $F_D$ on a localized intruder in a granular medium composed of spherical glass particles. A flat plate is translated horizontally from rest through the granular medium to observe how $F_D$ varies as a function of the medium's initial volume fraction, $\varphi$. The force response of the granular material differs above and below the granular critical state, ${\varphi }_c$, the volume fraction which corresponds to the onset of grain dilatancy. For $\varphi <{\varphi }_c$ $F_D$ increases monotonically with displacement and is independent of drag velocity for the range of velocities examined ($<$10 cm/s). For $\varphi >{\varphi }_c$, $F_D$ rapidly rises to a maximum and then decreases over further displacement. The maximum force for $\varphi >{\varphi }_c$ increases with increasing drag velocity. In quasi-two-dimensional drag experiments, we use granular particle image velocimetry (PIV) to measure time resolved strain fields associated with the horizontal motion of a plate started from rest. PIV experiments show that the maxima in $F_D$ for $\varphi >{\varphi }_c$ are associated with maxima in the spatially averaged shear strain field. For $\varphi >{\varphi }_c$ the shear strain occurs in a narrow region in front of the plate, a shear band. For $\varphi <{\varphi }_c$ the shear strain is not localized, the shear band fluctuates in space and time, and the average shear increases monotonically with displacement. Laser speckle measurements made at the granular surface ahead of the plate reveal that for $\varphi <{\varphi }_c$ particles are in motion far from the intruder and shearing region. For $\varphi >{\varphi }_c$, surface particles move only during the formation of the shear band, coincident with the maxima in $F_D$, after which the particles remain immobile until the sheared region reaches the measurement region.

We carry out Brownian dynamics simulations and study the ordering of particles under a uniform external force in a narrow system. In our previous studies [M. Sato et al., Phys. Rev. E 87, 032403 (2013); J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 82, 084804 (2013)], we showed that the ordering of particles depends on the direction of the external force. In the studies, however, the system size and the number of particles are small, so the behaviors we observed corresponds to the motions in the initial stage of crystallization. In this paper, using a longer container and more particles, we investigate how solidification in a narrow system proceeds. We also study the effect of the shape of simulation box on the ordering of particles. When we use a rhomboid as a simulation box, the ratio of the particles with the face-centered cubic structure to those with the hexagonal close-packed structure is larger than that in a cuboid system.

Bootstrap percolation is a simple but nontrivial model. It has applications in many areas of science and has been explored on random networks for several decades. In single-layer (simplex) networks, it has been recently observed that bootstrap percolation, which is defined as an incremental process, can be seen as the opposite of pruning percolation, where nodes are removed according to a connectivity rule. Here we propose models of both bootstrap and pruning percolation for multiplex networks. We collectively refer to these two models with the concept of “weak” percolation, to distinguish them from the somewhat classical concept of ordinary (“strong”) percolation. While the two models coincide in simplex networks, we show that they decouple when considering multiplexes, giving rise to a wealth of critical phenomena. Our bootstrap model constitutes the simplest example of a contagion process on a multiplex network and has potential applications in critical infrastructure recovery and information security. Moreover, we show that our pruning percolation model may provide a way to diagnose missing layers in a multiplex network. Finally, our analytical approach allows us to calculate critical behavior and characterize critical clusters.

The presence of even a small amount of surfactant at the particle-laden fluid interface subjected to shear makes surface flow incompressible if the shear rate is small enough [T. M. Fischer et al., J. Fluid Mech. 558, 451 (2006)]. In the present paper the effective surface shear viscosity of a flat, low-concentration, particle-laden incompressible interface separating two immiscible fluids is calculated. The resulting value is found to be 7.6% larger than the value obtained without account for surface incompressibility.

Recent numerical simulations have shown the strong impact of helicity on homogeneous rotating hydrodynamic turbulence. The main effect can be summarized through the law $n+\tilde{n}=-4$, where $n$ and $\tilde{n}$ are the power law indices of the one-dimensional energy and helicity spectra, respectively. We investigate this rotating turbulence problem in the small Rossby number limit by using the asymptotic weak turbulence theory derived previously. We show that the empirical law is an exact solution of the helicity equation where the power law indices correspond to perpendicular (to the rotation axis) wave number spectra. It is proposed that when the cascade towards small scales tends to be dominated by the helicity flux the solution tends to $\tilde{n}=-2$, whereas it is $\tilde{n}=-3/2$ when the energy flux dominates. The latter is compatible with the solution previously observed numerically and derived theoretically in the weak turbulence regime when only the energy equation is used, whereas the former solution is constrained by a locality condition.

Bursty dynamics of agents is shown to appear at criticality or in extended Griffiths phases, even in case of Poisson processes. I provide numerical evidence for a power-law type of intercommunication time distributions by simulating the contact process and the susceptible-infected-susceptible model. This observation suggests that in the case of nonstationary bursty systems, the observed non-Poissonian behavior can emerge as a consequence of an underlying hidden Poissonian network process, which is either critical or exhibits strong rare-region effects. On the contrary, in time-varying networks, rare-region effects do not cause deviation from the mean-field behavior, and heterogeneity-induced burstyness is absent.

We investigate the dependence of the critical Binder cumulant of the magnetization and the largest Fortuin-Kasteleyn cluster on the boundary conditions and aspect ratio of the underlying square Ising lattices. By means of the Swendsen-Wang algorithm, we generate numerical data for large system sizes and we perform a detailed finite-size scaling analysis for several values of the aspect ratio $r$, for both periodic and free boundary conditions. We estimate the universal probability density functions of the largest Fortuin-Kasteleyn cluster and we compare it to those of the magnetization at criticality. It is shown that these probability density functions follow similar scaling laws, and it is found that the values of the critical Binder cumulant of the largest Fortuin-Kasteleyn cluster are upper bounds to the values of the respective order-parameter's cumulant, with a splitting behavior for large values of the aspect ratio. We also investigate the dependence of the amplitudes of the magnetization and the largest Fortuin-Kasteleyn cluster on the aspect ratio and boundary conditions. We find that the associated exponents, describing the aspect-ratio dependencies, are different for the magnetization and the largest Fortuin-Kasteleyn cluster, but in each case are independent of boundary conditions.

Fixed points of the renormalization group operator $R_{p,r}X\left(t\right)\equiv X\left(rt\right)/r^p$ are said to be $p$-self-similar. Here $X\left(t\right)$ is an arbitrary stochastic process. The concept of a $p$-self-similar process is generalized via the renormalization group operator ${\mathcal{R}}_{F,G}X\left(t\right)=F\left[X\left(G\left(t\right)\right)\right]$, where $F$ and $G$ are bijections on $(-\infty ,\infty )$ and $[0,\infty )$, respectively. If $X\left(t\right)$ is a fixed point of ${\mathcal{R}}_{F,G}$, then $X\left(t\right)$ is said to be $(F,G)$-self-similar. We say $Y\left(t\right)$ is $(F,G)$-$X\left(t\right)$-similar if ${\mathcal{R}}_{F,G}X\left(t\right)=Y\left(t\right)$ in distribution. Exit time distributions and finite-size Lyapunov exponents were obtained for these latter processes. A power law multiscaling process is defined with a multipower-law clock. This process is employed to statistically represent diffusion in a nanopore, a monolayer fluid confined between atomically structured surfaces. The tools presented provide a straightforward method to statistically represent any multiscaling process in time.

We study the behavior of a moving wall in contact with a particle gas and subjected to an external force. We compare the fluctuations of the system observed in the microcanonical and canonical ensembles, by varying the number of particles. Static and dynamic correlations signal significant differences between the two ensembles. Furthermore, velocity-velocity correlations of the moving wall present a complex two-time relaxation that cannot be reproduced by a standard Langevin-like description. Quite remarkably, increasing the number of gas particles in an elongated geometry, we find a typical time scale, related to the interaction between the partitioning wall and the particles, which grows macroscopically.

We review the question of the extreme values attained by a random process. We relate it to level crossings to one boundary (first-passage problems) as well as to two boundaries (escape problems). The extremes studied are the maximum, the minimum, the maximum absolute value, and the range or span. We specialize in diffusion processes and present detailed results for the Wiener and Feller processes.

In this paper we reconsider the notion of an optimal effective Hamiltonian for the semiclassical propagation of the Wigner distribution in phase space. An explicit expression for the optimal effective Hamiltonian is obtained in the short-time limit by minimizing the Hilbert-Schmidt distance between the semiclassical approximation and the real state of the system. The method is illustrated for the quartic oscillator.

Using high-speed photography, we investigate two distinct regimes of the impact dynamics of granular jets with noncircular cross sections. In the steady-state regime, we observe the formation of thin granular sheets with anisotropic shapes and show that the degree of anisotropy increases with the aspect ratio of the jet's cross section. Our results illustrate the liquidlike behavior of granular materials during impact and demonstrate that a collective hydrodynamic flow emerges from strongly interacting discrete particles. We discuss the analogy between our experiments and those from the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, where similar anisotropic ejecta from a quark-gluon plasma have been observed in heavy-ion impact.

We study $1/f$ and narrow-bandwidth noise in precision oscillators based on high-quality factor resonators and feedback. The dynamics of such an oscillator are well described by two variables, an amplitude and a phase. In this description we show that low-frequency feedback noise is represented by a single noise vector in phase space. The implication of this is that 1/$f$ and narrow-bandwidth noise can be eliminated by tuning controllable parameters, such as the feedback phase. We present parameter values for which the noise is eliminated and provide specific examples of noise sources for further illustration.

There is a clear distinction between simple laminar and complex turbulent fluids; however, in some cases, as for the nocturnal planetary boundary layer, a stable and well-ordered flow can develop intense and sporadic bursts of turbulent activity that disappear slowly in time. This phenomenon is ill understood and poorly modeled and yet it is central to our understanding of weather and climate dynamics. We present here data from direct numerical simulations of stratified turbulence on grids of ${2048}^3$ points that display the somewhat paradoxical result of measurably stronger events for more stable flows, not only in the temperature and vertical velocity derivatives as commonplace in turbulence, but also in the amplitude of the fields themselves, contrary to what happens for homogenous isotropic turbulent flows. A flow visualization suggests that the extreme values take place in Kelvin-Helmoltz overturning events and fronts that develop in the field variables. These results are confirmed by the analysis of a simple model that we present. The model takes into consideration only the vertical velocity and temperature fluctuations and their vertical derivatives. It indicates that in stably stratified turbulence, the stronger bursts can occur when the flow is expected to be more stable. The bursts are generated by a rapid nonlinear amplification of energy stored in waves and are associated with energetic interchanges between vertical velocity and temperature (or density) fluctuations in a range of parameters corresponding to the well-known saturation regime of stratified turbulence.

We find and investigate via numerical simulations self-sustained two-dimensional turbulence in a magnetohydrodynamic flow with a maximally simple configuration: plane, noninflectional (with a constant shear of velocity), and threaded by a parallel uniform background magnetic field. This flow is spectrally stable, so the turbulence is subcritical by nature and hence it can be energetically supported just by a transient growth mechanism due to shear flow non-normality. This mechanism appears to be essentially anisotropic in the spectral (wave-number) plane and operates mainly for spatial Fourier harmonics with streamwise wave numbers less than the ratio of flow shear to Alfvén speed, $k_y<S/u_A$ (i.e., the Alfvén frequency is lower than the shear rate). We focus on analysis of the character of nonlinear processes and the underlying self-sustaining scheme of the turbulence, i.e., on the interplay between linear transient growth and nonlinear processes, in the spectral plane. Our study, being concerned with a new type of energy-injecting process for turbulence—the transient growth—represents an alternative to the main trends of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence research. We find similarity of the nonlinear dynamics to the related dynamics in hydrodynamic flows: to the bypass concept of subcritical turbulence. The essence of the analyzed nonlinear MHD processes appears to be a transverse redistribution of kinetic and magnetic spectral energies in the wave-number plane [as occurs in the related hydrodynamic flow; see Horton et al., Phys. Rev. E 81, 066304 (2010)] and differs fundamentally from the existing concepts of (anisotropic direct and inverse) cascade processes in MHD shear flows.

In this work we propose a criterion to finish the simulations of the Wang-Landau sampling. Instead of determining a final modification factor for all simulations and every sample size, we investigate the behavior of the temperature of the peak of the specific heat during the simulations and finish them when this value varies below a given limit. As a result, different runs stop at different final modification factors. We show that in place of the temperature of the peak of the specific heat one can adopt alternatively the integrated heat transfer as a reference quantity. We apply this technique to the two-dimensional Ising model and a homopolymer. We verify that for the Ising model the mean order of the final modification factors is roughly the same for all lattice sizes, but for the homopolymer the order of the final modification factors increases with increasing polymer sizes. The results show that the simulations can be halted much earlier than is conventional in Wang-Landau sampling, but manifold finite-size simulations are required in order to obtain accurate results. A brief application to the three-dimensional Ising model is also available.

The Boltzmann equation with the Bhatnagar-Gross-Krook collision operator is considered for the Bose-Einstein and Fermi-Dirac equilibrium distribution functions. We show that the expansion of the microscopic velocity in terms of Hermite polynomials must be carried to the fourth order to correctly describe the energy equation. The viscosity and thermal coefficients, previously obtained by Yang et al. [Shi and Yang, J. Comput. Phys. 227, 9389 (2008); Yang and Hung, Phys. Rev. E 79, 056708 (2009)] through the Uehling-Uhlenbeck approach, are also derived here. Thus the construction of a lattice Boltzmann method for the quantum fluid is possible provided that the Bose-Einstein and Fermi-Dirac equilibrium distribution functions are expanded to fourth order in the Hermite polynomials.