Diffusive transport has implications for the long-term status of underground storage of hydrogen $\left({\mathrm{H}}_2\right)$ fuel and carbon dioxide $\left({\mathrm{CO}}_2\right)$, technologies which are being pursued to mitigate climate change and advance the energy transition. Once injected underground, ${\mathrm{CO}}_2$ and ${\mathrm{H}}_2$ will exist in multiphase fluid-water-rock systems. The partially soluble injected fluids can flow through the porous rock in a connected plume, become disconnected and trapped as ganglia surrounded by groundwater within the storage rock pore space, and also dissolve and migrate through the aqueous phase once dissolved. Recent analyses have focused on the concentration gradients induced by differing capillary pressure between fluid ganglia which can drive diffusive transport (“Ostwald ripening”). However, studies have neglected or excessively simplified important factors, namely the nonideality of gases under geologic conditions, the opposing equilibrium state of dissolved ${\mathrm{CO}}_2$ and ${\mathrm{H}}_2$ driven by the partial molar density of dissolved solutes, and entropic and thermodiffusive effects resulting from geothermal gradients. We conduct an analysis from thermodynamic first principles and use this to provide numerical estimates for ${\mathrm{CO}}_2$ and ${\mathrm{H}}_2$ at conditions relevant to underground storage reservoirs. We show that while diffusive transport in isothermal systems is upwards for both gases, as indicated by previous analysis, entropic contributions to the free energy are so significant as to cause a reversal in the direction of diffusive transport in systems with geothermal gradients. For ${\mathrm{CO}}_2$, even geothermal gradients less than $10{}^{\circ }\mathrm{C}/\mathrm{km}$ (far less than typical gradients of $25{}^{\circ }\mathrm{C}/\mathrm{km}$) are sufficient to induce downwards diffusion at depths relevant to storage. Diffusive transport of ${\mathrm{H}}_2$ is less affected but still reverses direction under typical gradients, e.g., $30{}^{\circ }\mathrm{C}/\mathrm{km}$, at a depth of 1000 m. This reversal occurs independent of the solute's thermophobicity or thermophilicity in aqueous solutions. The entropic contribution also modifies the magnitude of flux where geothermal gradients are present, with the largest diffusive fluxes estimated for ${\mathrm{CO}}_2$ with a $30{}^{\circ }\mathrm{C}/\mathrm{km}$ gradient, despite the higher diffusion coefficient of ${\mathrm{H}}_2$. We find a maximum flux on the order of ${10}^{-13}$ $\mathrm{mol}/\left({\mathrm{cm}}^2\mathrm{s}\right)$ for ${\mathrm{CO}}_2$ in the $30{}^{\circ }\mathrm{C}/\mathrm{km}$ scenario; significantly lower than literature estimates for maximum convective fluxes in moderate to high permeability formations. Contrary to previous studies, we find that in diffusion and convection will likely work in concert—both driving ${\mathrm{CO}}_2$ downwards, and both driving ${\mathrm{H}}_2$ upwards—for conditions representative of their respective storage reservoirs.

Delayed feedback control is a commonly used control method for stabilizing unstable periodic orbits and unstable steady states. The present paper proposes an adaptive tuning delay time rule for delayed feedback control focused on stabilizing unstable steady states. The rule is designed to slowly vary the delay time, increasing the difference between the past and current states of dynamical systems, which induces the delay time to automatically fall into the stability region. We numerically confirm that the tuning rule works well for the Stuart–Landau oscillator, FitzHugh–Nagumo model, and Lorenz system.

We elaborate a fractional discrete nonlinear Schrödinger (FDNLS) equation based on an appropriately modified definition of the Riesz fractional derivative, which is characterized by its Lévy index (LI). This FDNLS equation represents a novel discrete system, in which the nearest-neighbor coupling is combined with long-range interactions, that decay as the inverse square of the separation between lattice sites. The system may be realized as an array of parallel quasi-one-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensates composed of atoms or small molecules carrying, respectively, a permanent magnetic or electric dipole moment. The dispersion relation (DR) for lattice waves and the corresponding propagation band in the system's linear spectrum are found in an exact form for all values of LI. The DR is consistent with the continuum limit, differing in the range of wave numbers. Formation of single-site and two-site discrete solitons is explored, starting from the anticontinuum limit and continuing the analysis in the numerical form up to the existence boundary of the discrete solitons. Stability of the solitons is identified in terms of eigenvalues for small perturbations, and verified in direct simulations. Mobility of the discrete solitons is considered too, by means of an estimate of the system's Peierls-Nabarro potential barrier, and with the help of direct simulations. Collisions between persistently moving discrete solitons are also studied.

We are interested in rationalizing the phenomenon of like-charge attraction between charged bodies, such as a pair of colloids, in the strong coupling regime. The two colloids are modelled as uniformly charged parallel plates, neutralized by mobile counterions. In an earlier work [Palaia et al., J. Phys. Chem. B 126, 3143 (2022)], we developed an effective-field theory for symmetric plates, stemming from the ground-state description that holds at infinite couplings. Here, we generalize the approach to the asymmetric case, where the plates bear charges of the same sign, but of different values. In the symmetric situation, the mobile ions, which are localized in the vicinity of the two plates, share equally between both of them. Here, the sharing is nontrivial, depending both on the coupling parameter and the distance between the plates. We thus introduce a counterion occupation parameter that is determined variationally to ensure minimum of the free energy. The analytical results for the pressure as a function of the plate-plate distance $d$ agree well with our Monte Carlo data, in a large interval of strong and intermediate coupling constants $\mathrm{\Xi }$. We show in particular that within this description there exists a range of large distances at which the attractive pressure features a $1/d^2$ behavior.

The properties of an active fluid, for example, a bacterial bath or a collection of microtubules and molecular motors, can be accessed through the dynamics of passive particle probes. Here, in the perspective of analyzing experimental situations of confinement in droplets, we consider the kinematics of a negatively buoyant probe particle in an active fluid, both confined within a spherical domain. The active bath generates a fluctuating flow that pushes the particle with a velocity that is modeled as a colored stochastic noise, characterized by two parameters, the intensity and memory time of the active flow. When the particle departs a little from the bottom of the spherical domain, the configuration is well approximated by a particle in a two-dimensional harmonic trap subjected to the colored noise, in which case an analytical solution exists, which is the base for quantitative analysis. We numerically simulate the dynamics of the particle and use the planar, two-dimensional mean square displacement to recover the activity parameters of the bath. This approach yields satisfactory results as long as the particle remains relatively confined; that is, as long as the intensity of the colored noise remains low.

With magnetic resonance imaging experiments, we study packings of granular spherocylinders with merely 2% asphericity. Evident structural anisotropies across all length scales are identified. Most interestingly, the global nematic order decreases with increasing packing fraction, while the local contact anisotropy shows an opposing trend. We attribute this counterintuitive phenomenon to a competition between gravity-driven ordering aided by frictional contacts and a geometric frustration effect at the marginally jammed state. It is also surprising to notice that such slight particle asphericity can trigger non-negligible correlations between contact-level and mesoscale structures, manifested in drastically different nonaffine structural rearrangements upon compaction from that of granular spheres. These observations can help improve statistical mechanical models for the orientational order transformation of nonspherical granular particle packings, which involves complex interplays between particle shape, frictional contacts, and external force field.

We report on an experimental study of the normal impact on a solid surface of a table tennis ball that rotates around its linear velocity vector. We observe that the ratio of the reflected velocity to the incident velocity does not depend on the initial spin. In contrast, the reflected spin depends not only on the incident spin but also on the incident velocity. The experimental results, which reveal the tricky role played by the friction in the region of contact, are accounted for by simple theoretical arguments.

To avoid damage in high-power laser systems, a chirped plasma-based grating is proposed for compressing laser pulses that have been previously stretched and amplified. This chirped grating is generated through the interaction of chirped pump laser pulses in a plasma slab. Particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations demonstrate that the grating exists for a duration sufficient to be utilized in the final chirped pulse amplification (CPA) stage. The generation of the grating is quite flexible, as several parameters can be adjusted, such as plasma density, chirp, length, and intensity of the pump laser. To begin, the structure of the grating is analyzed in terms of ponderomotive effects of the pump laser pulses. The primary application of the chirped plasma-based grating lies in compressing laser pulses to large amplitudes and short durations after they have been stretched and amplified beforehand. The compression factor is explored in connection with potential grating parameters. Reflectivity and effective bandwidth of chirped plasma gratings are parameters to be optimized. However, the grating spectral bandwidth can only be increased at the expense of reflectivity. The PIC results are made understandable through model calculations based on coupled mode equations.

Functional differential equations (FDEs) play a fundamental role in many areas of mathematical physics, including fluid dynamics (Hopf characteristic functional equation), quantum field theory (Schwinger-Dyson equations), and statistical physics. Despite their significance, computing solutions to FDEs remains a longstanding challenge in mathematical physics. In this paper we address this challenge by introducing approximation theory and high-performance computational algorithms designed for solving FDEs on tensor manifolds. Our approach involves approximating FDEs using high-dimensional partial differential equations (PDEs), and then solving such high-dimensional PDEs on a low-rank tensor manifold leveraging high-performance (parallel) tensor algorithms. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is demonstrated through its application to the Burgers-Hopf FDE, which governs the characteristic functional of the stochastic solution to the Burgers equation evolving from a random initial state.

In this paper, we extend the improved discrete unified gas-kinetic scheme (DUGKS) from solving the hydrodynamic equations to addressing the phase field equations, building upon our prior work [Wang et al., Phys. Fluids 35, 017106 (2023)]. The conservative Allen-Cahn equation and its modified form are presented first, followed by the construction of two improved DUGKS methods for interface capturing, based on the corresponding kinetic equations. The improved DUGKS for interface capturing utilizes the node distribution function instead of the interface center distribution function for evaluating the interface flux. The improved DUGKS enhances the numerical stability of the original DUGKS, and the good stability allows the calculations to be performed using large time steps, reducing the cumulative error from which more accurate predictions can be obtained. To verify the validity of the scheme, a series of numerical experiments were further carried out, including the diagonal translation, Zalesak's disk rotation, reversed single vortex, and deformation field. The comparison with the benchmark data shows that the improved DUGKS can simply and effectively capture the sharp interface and complex deformation interface of the two-phase flow interface.

The Jarzynski equality allows the calculation of free-energy differences using values of work measured from nonequilibrium trajectories. The number of trajectories required to accurately estimate free-energy differences in this way grows sharply with the size of work fluctuations, motivating the search for protocols that perform desired transformations with minimum work. However, protocols of this nature can involve varying temperature, to which the Jarzynski equality does not apply. We derive a variant of the Jarzynski equality that applies to varying-temperature protocols, and show that it can have better convergence properties than the standard version of the equality. We derive this modified equality and the associated fluctuation relation within the framework of Markovian stochastic dynamics, complementing related derivations done within the framework of Hamiltonian dynamics.

The conventional Langevin equation offers a mathematically convenient framework for investigating open stochastic systems interacting with their environment or a bath. However, it is not suitable for a wide variety of systems whose dynamics rely on the nature of the environmental interaction, as the equation does not incorporate any specific information regarding that interaction. Here, we present a stochastic differential equation (SDE) for an open system coupled to a thermostatic bath via an arbitrary interaction Hamiltonian. This SDE encodes the interaction information to a fictitious potential (mean force) and a position-dependent damping coefficient. Surprisingly, we find that the conventional Langevin equation can be recovered in the presence of arbitrary strong interactions given two conditions: translational invariance of the potential and mutual independence of baths. Our results provide a comprehensive framework for studying open stochastic systems with an arbitrary interaction Hamiltonian and yield deeper insight into why various experiments fit the conventional Langevin description regardless of the strength or type of interaction.

If a quantum system interacts with the environment, then the Hamiltonian acquires a correction known as the Lamb-shift term. There are two other corrections to the Hamiltonian, related to the stationary state. Namely, the stationary state is to first approximation a Gibbs state with respect to original Hamiltonian. However, if we have finite coupling, then the true stationary state will be different, and regarding it as a Gibbs state to some effective Hamiltonian, one can extract a correction, which is called “steady-state” correction. Alternatively, one can take a static point of view, and consider the reduced state of total equilibrium state, i.e., system plus bath Gibbs state. The extracted Hamiltonian correction is called the “mean-force” correction. This paper presents several analytical results on second-order corrections (in coupling strength) of the three types mentioned above. Instead of the steady state, we focus on a state annihilated by the Liouvillian of the master equation, labeling it as the “quasi-steady state.” Specifically, we derive a general formula for the mean-force correction as well as the quasi-steady state and Lamb-shift correction for a general class of master equations. Furthermore, specific formulas for corrections are obtained for the Davies, Bloch-Redfield, and cumulant equation (refined weak coupling). In particular, the cumulant equation serves as a case study of the Liouvillian, featuring a nontrivial fourth-order generator. This generator forms the basis for calculating the diagonal quasi-steady-state correction. We consider spin-boson model as an example, and in addition to using our formulas for corrections, we consider mean-force correction from reaction-coordinate approach.

The organization of disordered sounds into the ordered structures of music can be understood through an analogy to the emergent ordering of physical systems undergoing phase transitions. This work builds off a prior mean-field model for pitch in music [J. Berezovsky, Sci. Adv. 5, eaav8490 (2019)] by using renormalization-group techniques to study the effects of dimensionality and local correlations. We corroborate the results of the mean-field model by showing convergence of the phase diagram as lattice dimension is increased, while also uncovering new phases which the mean-field model does not reveal. We also compute the nearest-neighbor correlations and provide comparisons to the mean-field model, as well as historical tuning systems used by different groups of musicians. The new phases and resulting correlations revealed in this work suggest a number of possible avenues for further exploration, including generating new music using the pitch distributions suggested by the model.

The Maslov index of a periodic orbit is an important piece in the semiclassical quantization of nonintegrable systems, while almost all existing techniques that lead to a rigorous calculation of this index are elaborate and mathematically demanding. In this paper, we describe a straightforward technique, for systems with two degrees of freedom, based on the Lagrangian descriptors. Our method is illustrated by applying it to the two-dimensional coupled quartic oscillator.

The emergence of collective cooperation in competitive environments is a well-known phenomenon in biology, economics, and social systems. While most evolutionary game models focus on the evolution of strategies for a fixed game, how strategic decisions coevolve with the environment has so far mostly been overlooked. Here, we consider a game selection model where not only the strategies but also the game can change over time following evolutionary principles. Our results show that coevolutionary dynamics of games and strategies can induce novel collective phenomena, fostering the emergence of cooperative environments. When the model is taken on structured populations the architecture of the interaction network can significantly amplify pro-social behavior, with a critical role played by network heterogeneity and the presence of clustered groups of similar players, distinctive features observed in real-world populations. By unveiling the link between the evolution of strategies and games for different structured populations, our model sheds new light on the origin of social dilemmas ubiquitously observed in real-world social systems.

We present the microscopic formulation of inclusion statistics, a counterpoint to exclusion statistics in which particles tend to coalesce more than ordinary bosons. We derive the microscopic occupation multiplicities of one-body quantum states and show that they factorize into a product of clusters of neighboring occupied states with enhanced statistical weights. Applying this statistics to a one-dimensional gas of particles in a harmonic well leads to a Calogero-like $n$-body inclusion spectrum with interesting physical properties.

We determine the arrangement of spins in the ground state of the $\mathit{XY}$ model with quenched, random fields, on a fully connected graph. Two types of disordered fields are considered, namely, randomly oriented magnetic fields and randomly oriented crystal fields. Orientations are chosen from a uniformly isotropic distribution, but disorder fluctuations in each realization of a finite system lead to a breaking of rotational symmetry. The result is an interesting pattern of spin orientations found by solving a system of coupled, nonlinear equations within perturbation theory and also by exact numerical continuation. All spins lie within a cone for small enough ratio of field to coupling strength, with an interesting distribution of spin orientations, with peaks at the cone edges. The orientation of the cone depends strongly on the realization of disorder, but the opening angle does not. In the case of random magnetic fields, the cone angle widens as the ratio increases till a critical value at which there is a first-order phase transition and the cone disappears. With random crystal fields, there is no phase transition and the cone angle approaches ${180}^{\circ }$ for large values of the ratio. At finite low temperatures, Monte Carlo simulations show that the formation of a cone and its subsequent alignment along the equilibrium direction occur on two different timescales.