We describe a minimal model of a quantum Maxwell demon obeying Hamiltonian dynamics. The model is solved exactly, and we analyze its steady-state behavior. We find that writing information to a quantum memory induces a probability current through the demon, which is the quantum analog of the classical Maxwell demon's action. Our model offers a simple and pedagogical paradigm for investigating the thermodynamics of quantum information processing.

Rectification and diffusion of noninteracting self-propelled particles is numerically investigated in a two-dimensional corrugated channel. From numerical simulations, we obtain the average velocity and the effective diffusion coefficient. It is found that the self-propelled particles can be rectified by the self-propelled velocity. There exist optimal values of the parameters (the self-propelled velocity, the translational diffusion constant, and the height of the potential) at which the average velocity takes its maximal value. There exists an optimal translational diffusion at which the effective diffusion constant is maximal. The self-propelled velocity can strongly increase the effective diffusion, while the large rotational diffusion rate can strongly suppress the effective diffusion.

We revisit the concept of minimal rigidity as applied to frictionless, repulsive soft sphere packings in two dimensions with the introduction of the jamming graph. Minimal rigidity is a purely combinatorial property encoded via Laman's theorem in two dimensions. It constrains the global, average coordination number of the graph, for example. However, minimal rigidity does not address the geometry of local mechanical stability. The jamming graph contains both properties of global mechanical stability at the onset of jamming and local mechanical stability. We demonstrate how jamming graphs can be constructed using local moves via the Henneberg construction such that these graphs fall under the jurisdiction of correlated percolation. We then probe how jamming graphs destabilize, or become unjammed, by deleting a bond and computing the resulting rigid cluster distribution. We also study how the system restabilizes with the addition of new contacts and how a jamming graph with extra (redundant) contacts destabilizes. The latter endeavor allows us to probe a disk packing in the rigid phase and uncover a potentially new diverging length scale associated with the random deletion of contacts as compared to the study of cut-out (or frozen-in) subsystems.

A general method to describe the stochastic dynamics of Markov processes is suggested. The method aims to solve three related problems: the determination of an optimal coordinate for the description of stochastic dynamics; the reconstruction of time from an ensemble of stochastic trajectories; and the decomposition of stationary stochastic dynamics into eigenmodes which do not decay exponentially with time. The problems are solved by introducing additive eigenvectors which are transformed by a stochastic matrix in a simple way – every component is translated by a constant distance. Such solutions have peculiar properties. For example, an optimal coordinate for stochastic dynamics with detailed balance is a multivalued function. An optimal coordinate for a random walk on a line corresponds to the conventional eigenvector of the one-dimensional Dirac equation. The equation for the optimal coordinate in a slowly varying potential reduces to the Hamilton-Jacobi equation for the action function.

We study translational and rotational diffusion of anisotropic gold nanoparticles (NPs) dispersed in the bulk of a nematic liquid crystal fluid host. Experimental data reveal strong anisotropy of translational diffusion with respect to the uniform far-field director, which is dependent on shape and surface functionalization of colloids as well as on their ground-state alignment. For example, elongated NPs aligned parallel to the far-field director translationally diffuse more rapidly along the director whereas diffusion of NPs oriented normal to the director is faster in the direction perpendicular to it while they are also undergoing elasticity-constrained rotational diffusion. To understand physical origins of these rich diffusion properties of anisotropic nanocolloids in uniaxially anisotropic nematic fluid media, we compare them to diffusion of prolate and oblate ellipsoidal particles in isotropic fluids as well as to diffusion of shape-isotropic particles in nematic fluids. We also show that surface functionalization of NPs with photosensitive azobenzene groups allows for in situ control of their diffusivity through trans-cis isomerization that changes surface anchoring.

Two-state models often provide a reasonable approximation of protein behaviors such as partner binding, folding, and conformational changes. Many different techniques have been developed to determine the population ratio between two states as a function of different experimental conditions. Data analysis is accomplished either by fitting individual measured spectra to a linear combination of known basis spectra or alternatively by decomposing the entire set of spectra into two components using a least-squares optimization of free parameters within an assumed population model. Here we demonstrate that it is possible to determine the population ratio in a two-state system directly from data without an a priori model for basis spectra or populations by applying physical constraints iteratively to a singular value decomposition of optical fluorescence, x-ray-scattering, and electron paramagnetic resonance data.

The dynamical evolution of complex systems is often intrinsically stochastic and subject to external random forces. In order to study the resulting variability in dynamics, it is essential to make measurements on replicate systems and to separate arbitrary variation of the average dynamics of these replicates from fluctuations around the average dynamics. Here we do so for population time-series data from replicate ecosystems sharing a common average dynamics or common trend. We explain how model parameters, including the effective interactions between species and dynamical noise, can be estimated from the data and how replication reduces errors in these estimates. For this, it is essential that the model can fit a variety of average dynamics. We then show how one can judge the quality of a model, compare alternate models, and determine which combinations of parameters are poorly determined by the data. In addition we show how replicate population dynamics experiments could be designed to optimize the acquired information of interest about the systems. Our approach is illustrated on a set of time series gathered from replicate microbial closed ecosystems.

Building on similarities between earthquakes and extreme financial events, we use a self-organized criticality-generating model to study herding and avalanche dynamics in financial markets. We consider a community of interacting investors, distributed in a small-world network, who bet on the bullish (increasing) or bearish (decreasing) behavior of the market which has been specified according to the S&P 500 historical time series. Remarkably, we find that the size of herding-related avalanches in the community can be strongly reduced by the presence of a relatively small percentage of traders, randomly distributed inside the network, who adopt a random investment strategy. Our findings suggest a promising strategy to limit the size of financial bubbles and crashes. We also obtain that the resulting wealth distribution of all traders corresponds to the well-known Pareto power law, while that of random traders is exponential. In other words, for technical traders, the risk of losses is much greater than the probability of gains compared to those of random traders.

We investigate cluster synchronization in networks of nonlinear systems with time-delayed coupling. Using a generic model for a system close to the Hopf bifurcation, we predict the order of appearance of different cluster states and their corresponding common frequencies depending upon coupling delay. We may tune the delay time in order to ensure the existence and stability of a specific cluster state. We qualitatively and quantitatively confirm these results in experiments with chemical oscillators. The experiments also exhibit strongly nonlinear relaxation oscillations as we increase the voltage, i.e., go further away from the Hopf bifurcation. In this regime, we find secondary cluster states with delay-dependent phase lags. These cluster states appear in addition to primary states with delay-independent phase lags observed near the Hopf bifurcation. Extending the theory on Hopf normal-form oscillators, we are able to account for realistic interaction functions, yielding good agreement with experimental findings.

We develop a polynomial basis to be used in numerical calculations of light-front Fock-space wave functions. Such wave functions typically depend on longitudinal momentum fractions that sum to unity. For three particles, this constraint limits the two remaining independent momentum fractions to a triangle, for which the three momentum fractions act as barycentric coordinates. For three identical bosons, the wave function must be symmetric with respect to all three momentum fractions. Therefore, as a basis, we construct polynomials in two variables on a triangle that are symmetric with respect to the interchange of any two barycentric coordinates. We find that, through the fifth order, the polynomial is unique at each order, and, in general, these polynomials can be constructed from products of powers of the second- and third-order polynomials. The use of such a basis is illustrated in a calculation of a light-front wave function in two-dimensional ${\varphi }^4$ theory; the polynomial basis performs much better than the plane-wave basis used in discrete light-cone quantization.

We study the transport properties of continuous-time quantum walks (CTQWs) over finite two-dimensional structures with a given number of randomly placed bonds and with different aspect ratios (ARs). Here, we focus on the transport from, say, the left side to the right side of the structure where absorbing sites are placed. We do so by analyzing the long-time average of the survival probability of CTQWs. We compare the results to the classical continuous-time random walk case (CTRW). For small ARs (landscape configurations) we observe only small differences between the quantum and the classical transport properties, i.e., roughly the same number of bonds is needed to facilitate the transport. However, with increasing ARs (portrait configurations) a much larger number of bonds is needed in the CTQW case than in the CTRW case. While for CTRWs the number of bonds needed decreases when going from small ARs to large ARs, for CTQWs this number is large for small ARs, has a minimum for the square configuration, and increases again for increasing ARs. We explain our findings by analyzing the average eigenstates of the corresponding structures: The participation ratios allow us to distinguish between localized and nonlocalized (average) eigenstates. In particular, for large ARs we find for CTQWs that the eigenstates are localized for bond numbers exceeding the bond numbers needed to facilitate transport in the CTRW case. Thus, a rather large number of bonds is needed in order for quantum transport to be efficient for large ARs.

The nonequilibrium statistical mechanics and kinetic theory for a model of a confined quasi-two-dimensional gas of inelastic hard spheres is presented. The dynamics of the particles includes an effective mechanism to transfer the energy injected in the vertical direction to the horizontal degrees of freedom. The Enskog approximation is formulated and used as the basis to investigate the temperature and the distribution function of the steady state eventually reached by the system. An exact scaling of the distribution function of the system having implications on the form of its moments is pointed out. The theoretical predictions are compared with numerical results obtained by a particle simulation method, and a good agreement is found.

We propose a simple microrheology technique to evaluate the viscoelastic properties of complex fluids. The method is based on the use of magnetic wires of a few microns in length submitted to a rotational magnetic field. In this work, the method is implemented on a surfactant wormlike micellar solution that behaves as an ideal Maxwell fluid. With increasing frequency, the wires undergo a transition between a steady and a hindered rotation regime. The study shows that the average rotational velocity and the amplitudes of the oscillations obey scaling laws with well-defined exponents. From a comparison between model predictions and experiments, the rheological parameters of the fluid are determined.

The time-dependent structure, interfacial tension, and evaporation of an oversaturated colloid-rich (liquid) phase in contact with an undersaturated colloid-poor (vapor) phase of a colloidal dispersion is investigated theoretically during the early-stage relaxation, where the interface is relaxing towards a local equilibrium state while the bulk phases are still out of equilibrium. Since systems of this type exhibit a clear separation of colloidal and solvent relaxation time scales with typical times of interfacial tension measurements in between, they can be expected to be suitable for analogous experimental studies, too. The major finding is that, irrespective of how much the bulk phases differ from two-phase coexistence, the interfacial structure and the interfacial tension approach those at two-phase coexistence during the early-stage relaxation process. This is a surprising observation since it implies that the relaxation towards global equilibrium of the interface is not following but preceding that of the bulk phases. Scaling forms for the local chemical potential, the flux, and the dissipation rate exhibit qualitatively different leading order contributions depending on whether an equilibrium or a nonequilibrium system is considered. The degree of nonquilibrium between the bulk phases is found to not influence the qualitative relaxation behavior (i.e., the values of power-law exponents), but to determine the quantitative deviation of the observed quantities from their values at two-phase coexistence. Whereas the underlying dynamics differs between colloidal and molecular fluids, the behavior of quantities such as the interfacial tension approaching the equilibrium values during the early-stage relaxation process, during which nonequilibrium conditions of the bulk phases are not changed, can be expected to occur for both types of systems.

While the random organization transition describes the change from reversible to irreversible dynamics in a nonequilibrium system, the athermal jamming transition at zero shear rate occurs when particles can no longer avoid overlaps. Despite the obvious differences between these two transitions, we show that they both occur within the same model packing problem. In this unifying model system the particles are first randomly distributed and then displaced in each step if they overlap. For random displacements we obtain a random organization transition, while jamming occurs in the case of deterministic shifts. We also analyze the critical behavior of random organization. Our results show that random organization and jamming are opposite limits of random sphere packings, and we expect that various equilibrium and nonequilibrium transitions can be formulated as related intermediate packing problems.

The high rate of ion flux and selectivity of potassium channels has been attributed to the conformation and dynamics of the ions in the filter which connects the channel cavity and the extracellular environment. The cavity serves as the reservoir for potassium ions diffusing from the intracellular medium. The cavity is believed to decrease the dielectric barrier for the ions to enter the filter. We study here the equilibrium and dynamic properties of potassium ions entering the water-filled cavity of a KcsA channel model. Atomistic molecular dynamics simulations that are supplemented by electrostatic calculations reveal the important role of water molecules and the partially charged protein helices at the bottom of the cavity in overcoming the energy barrier and stabilizing the potassium ion in the cavity. We further show that the average time for a potassium ion to enter the cavity is much shorter than the conduction rate of a potassium passing through the filter, and this time duration is insensitive over a wide range of the membrane potential. The conclusions drawn from the study of the channel model are applicable in generalized contexts, including the entry of ions in artificial ion channels and other confined geometries.

Elections constitute a paradigm of decision-making problems that have puzzled experts of different disciplines for decades. We study two decision-making problems, where groups make decisions that impact only themselves as a group. In both studied cases, participation in local elections and the number of democratic representatives at different scales (from local to national), we observe a universal scaling with the constituency size. These results may be interpreted as constituencies having a hierarchical structure, where each group of $N$ agents, at each level of the hierarchy, is divided in about $N^{\delta }$ subgroups with $\delta \approx 1/3$. Following this interpretation, we propose a phenomenological model of vote participation where abstention is related to the perceived link of an agent to the rest of the constituency and which reproduces quantitatively the observed data.

The instabilities of a free bilayer flowing on an inclined Darcy-Brinkman porous layer have been explored. The bilayer is composed of a pair of immiscible liquid films with a deformable liquid-liquid interface and a liquid-air free surface. An Orr-Sommerfeld analysis of the governing equations and boundary conditions uncovers that this configuration can be unstable by a pair of long-wave interfacial modes at the free surface and at the interface together with a couple of finite wave-number shear modes originating from the inertial influences at the liquid layers. In particular, one of the shear modes originates beyond a threshold flow rate owing to the slippage at the porous-liquid interface and is found to be the dominant one even when the porous medium is moderately thin, porous, and permeable. The strength of the porous media mediated mode (a) grows with increase in porosity, (b) grows and then remains invariant with increase in thickness, and (c) initially grows and then decays with increase in the permeability of the porous layer. Further, the presence of a lower layer with smaller viscosity and a thicker upper layer is found to facilitate the growth of this newly identified porous media mode. Importantly, beyond a threshold upper to lower thickness and viscosity ratios and the angle of inclination the porous media mode dominates over all the other interfacial or shear modes, highlighting its importance in the bilayer flows down an inclined porous medium. The study showcases the importance of a porous layer in destabilizing a free bilayer flow down an inclined plane, which can be of importance to improve mixing, emulsification, and heat and mass transfer characteristics in the microscale devices.

Interfacial flows close to a moving contact line are inherently multiscale. The shape of the interface and the flow at meso- and macroscopic scales inherit an apparent interface slope and a regularization length, both named after Voinov, from the microscopic inner region. Here, we solve the inner problem associated with the contact line motion for a volatile fluid at equilibrium with its vapor. The evaporation or condensation flux is then controlled by the dependence of the saturation temperature on interface curvature—the so-called Kelvin effect. We derive the dependencies of the Voinov angle and of the Voinov length as functions of the parameters of the problem. We then identify the conditions under which the Kelvin effect is indeed the mechanism regularizing the contact line motion.