No Arabic abstract
We examine the dispersion of Brownian particles in a symmetric two dimensional channel, this classical problem has been widely studied in the literature using the so called Fick-Jacobs approximation and its various improvements. Most studies rely on the reduction to an effective one dimensional diffusion equation, here we drive an explicit formula for the diffusion constant which avoids this reduction. Using this formula the effective diffusion constant can be evaluated numerically without resorting to Brownian simulations. In addition a perturbation theory can be developed in $varepsilon = h_0/L$ where $h_0$ is the characteristic channel height and $L$ the period. This perturbation theory confirms the results of Kalinay and Percus (Phys. Rev. E 74, 041203 (2006)), based on the reduction, to one dimensional diffusion are exact at least to ${cal O}(varepsilon^6)$. Furthermore, we show how the Kalinay and Percus pseudo-linear approximation can be straightforwardly recovered. The approach proposed here can also be exploited to yield exact results an appropriate limit $varepsilon to infty$, we show that here the diffusion constant remains finite and show how the result can be obtained with a simple physical argument. Moreover we show that the correction to the effective diffusion constant is of order $1/varepsilon$ and remarkably has a some universal characteristics. Numerically we compare the analytical results obtained with exact numerical calculations for a number of interesting channel geometries.
Polymer translocation across a corrugated channel is a paradigmatic stochastic process encountered in diverse systems. The instance of time when a polymer first arrives to some prescribed location defines an important characteristic time scale for various phenomena, which are triggered or controlled by such an event. Here we discuss the translocation dynamics of a Gaussian polymer in a periodically-corrugated channel using an appropriately generalized Fick-Jacobs approach. Our main aim is to probe an effective broadness of the first passage time distribution (FPTD), by determining the so-called coefficient of variation $gamma$ of the FPTD, defined as the ratio of the standard deviation versus the mean first passage time (MFPT). We present a systematic analysis of $gamma$ as a function of a variety of systems parameters. We show that $gamma$ never significantly drops below 1 and, in fact, can attain very large values, implying that the MFPT alone cannot characterize the first-passage statistics of the translocation process exhaustively well.
We study pressurised self-avoiding ring polymers in two dimensions using Monte Carlo simulations, scaling arguments and Flory-type theories, through models which generalise the model of Leibler, Singh and Fisher [Phys. Rev. Lett. Vol. 59, 1989 (1987)]. We demonstrate the existence of a thermodynamic phase transition at a non-zero scaled pressure $tilde{p}$, where $tilde{p} = Np/4pi$, with the number of monomers $N rightarrow infty$ and the pressure $p rightarrow 0$, keeping $tilde{p}$ constant, in a class of such models. This transition is driven by bond energetics and can be either continuous or discontinuous. It can be interpreted as a shape transition in which the ring polymer takes the shape, above the critical pressure, of a regular N-gon whose sides scale smoothly with pressure, while staying unfaceted below this critical pressure. In the general case, we argue that the transition is replaced by a sharp crossover. The area, however, scales with $N^2$ for all positive $p$ in all such models, consistent with earlier scaling theories.
The classical Heisenberg model in two spatial dimensions constitutes one of the most paradigmatic spin models, taking an important role in statistical and condensed matter physics to understand magnetism. Still, despite its paradigmatic character and the widely accepted ban of a (continuous) spontaneous symmetry breaking, controversies remain whether the model exhibits a phase transition at finite temperature. Importantly, the model can be interpreted as a lattice discretization of the $O(3)$ non-linear sigma model in $1+1$ dimensions, one of the simplest quantum field theories encompassing crucial features of celebrated higher-dimensional ones (like quantum chromodynamics in $3+1$ dimensions), namely the phenomenon of asymptotic freedom. This should also exclude finite-temperature transitions, but lattice effects might play a significant role in correcting the mainstream picture. In this work, we make use of state-of-the-art tensor network approaches, representing the classical partition function in the thermodynamic limit over a large range of temperatures, to comprehensively explore the correlation structure for Gibbs states. By implementing an $SU(2)$ symmetry in our two-dimensional tensor network contraction scheme, we are able to handle very large effective bond dimensions of the environment up to $chi_E^text{eff} sim 1500$, a feature that is crucial in detecting phase transitions. With decreasing temperatures, we find a rapidly diverging correlation length, whose behaviour is apparently compatible with the two main contradictory hypotheses known in the literature, namely a finite-$T$ transition and asymptotic freedom, though with a slight preference for the second.
In this thesis we have used Quantum Monte Carlo techniques to study two systems that can be regarded as the archetype for neutral strongly interacting systems: 4He, and its fermionic counterpart 3He.More specifically, we have used the Path Integral Ground State and the Path Integral Monte Carlo methods to study a system of two dimensional 3He (2d-3He) and a system of 4He adsorbed on Graphene-Fluoride (GF) and Graphane (GH) at both zero and finite temperature. The purpose of the study of 4He on GF (GH) was the research of new physical phenomena, whereas in the case of 2d-3He it was the application of novel methodologies for the ab-initio study of static and dynamic properties of Fermi systems. In the case of 2d-3He we have computed the spin susceptibility as function of density which turned out to be in very good agreement with experimental data; we have also obtained the first ab-initio evaluation of the zero-sound mode and the dynamic structure factor of 2d-3He that is in remarkably good agreement with experiments. In the case of 4He adsorbed on GF (GH), we determined the zero temperature equilibrium density of the first monolayer of 4He showing also that the commensurate sqrt(3) x sqrt(3) R30 phase is unstable on both substrates; at equilibrium density we found that 4He on GF (GH) is a modulated superfluid with an anisotropic phono-rotonic spectrum; at high coverages we found an incommensurate triangular solid and, on both GF and GH, a commensurate phase at filling factor x= 2/7 that is locally stable or at least metastable. Remarkably, in this commensurate solid phase and for both GF and GH, our computations show preliminary evidence of the presence of a superfluid fraction.
We present a detailed investigation of the probability density function (PDF) of order parameter fluctuations in the finite two-dimensional XY (2dXY) model. In the low temperature critical phase of this model, the PDF approaches a universal non-Gaussian limit distribution in the limit T-->0. Our analysis resolves the question of temperature dependence of the PDF in this regime, for which conflicting results have been reported. We show analytically that a weak temperature dependence results from the inclusion of multiple loop graphs in a previously-derived graphical expansion. This is confirmed by numerical simulations on two controlled approximations to the 2dXY model: the Harmonic and ``Harmonic XY models. The Harmonic model has no Kosterlitz-Thouless-Berezinskii (KTB) transition and the PDF becomes progressively less skewed with increasing temperature until it closely approximates a Gaussian function above T ~ 4pi. Near to that temperature we find some evidence of a phase transition, although our observations appear to exclude a thermodynamic singularity.