Phonon-roton modes of liquid 4He beyond the roton in MCM-41

We present neutron scattering measurements of the phonon-roton (P-R) mode of superfluid 4He confined in 47 AA MCM-41 at T = 0.5 K at wave vectors, Q, beyond the roton wave vector (Q_R =1.92 AA$^{-1}$). Measurements beyond the roton require access to high wave vectors (up to Q = 4 AA$^{-1}$) with excellent energy resolution and high statistical precision. The present results show for the first time that at T = 0.5 K the P-R mode in MCM-41 extends out to wave-vector Q$simeq$3.6 AA$^-1$ with the same energy and zero width (within precision) as observed in bulk superfluid 4He. Layer modes in the roton region are also observed. Specifically, the P-R mode energy, $omega_Q$, increases with Q for Q > QR and reaches a plateau at a maximum energy Q = 2{Delta} where {Delta} is the roton energy, {Delta} = 0.74 $pm$ 0.01 meV in MCM-41. This upper limit means the P-R mode decays to two rotons when its energy exceeds 2{Delta}. It also means that the P-R mode does not decay to two layers modes. If the P-R could decay to two layer modes, $omega_Q$ would plateau at a lower energy, $omega_Q$ = 2{Delta}L where {Delta}L = 0.60 meV is the energy of the roton like minimum of the layer mode. The observation of the P-R mode with energy up to 2{Delta} shows that the P-R mode and the layer modes are independent modes with apparently little interaction between them.

Computation of nucleation of a non-equilibrium first-order phase transition using a rare-event algorithm

We introduce a new Forward-Flux Sampling in Time (FFST) algorithm to efficiently measure transition times in rare-event processes in non-equilibrium systems, and apply it to study the first-order (discontinuous) kinetic transition in the Ziff-Gulari-Barshad model of catalytic surface reaction. The average time for the transition to take place, as well as both the spinodal and transition points, are clearly found by this method.

The Barrier Method: A Technique for Calculating Very Long Transition Times

In many dynamical systems there is a large separation of time scales between typical events and rare events which can be the cases of interest. Rare-event rates are quite difficult to compute numerically, but they are of considerable practical importance in many fields: for example transition times in chemical physics and extinction times in epidemiology can be very long, but are quite important. We present a very fast numerical technique that can be used to find long transition times (very small rates) in low-dimensional systems, even if they lack detailed balance. We illustrate the method for a bistable non-equilibrium system introduced by Maier and Stein and a two-dimensional (in parameter space) epidemiology model.

Fractal dimensions of the Q-state Potts model for the complete and external hulls

Fortuin-Kastelyn clusters in the critical $Q$-state Potts model are conformally invariant fractals. We obtain simulation results for the fractal dimension of the complete and external (accessible) hulls for Q=1, 2, 3, and 4, on clusters that wrap around a cylindrical system. We find excellent agreement between these results and theoretical predictions. We also obtain the probability distributions of the hull lengths and maximal heights of the clusters in this geometry and provide a conjecture for their form.

The Harmonic Measure for critical Potts clusters

We present a technique, which we call etching, which we use to study the harmonic measure of Fortuin-Kasteleyn clusters in the Q-state Potts model for Q=1-4. The harmonic measure is the probability distribution of random walkers diffusing onto the perimeter of a cluster. We use etching to study regions of clusters which are extremely unlikely to be hit by random walkers, having hitting probabilities down to 10^(-4600). We find good agreement between the theoretical predictions of Duplantier and our numerical results for the generalized dimension D(q), including regions of small and negative q.

The Harmonic Measure of Diffusion-Limited Aggregates including Rare Events

We obtain the harmonic measure of diffusion-limited aggregate (DLA) clusters using a biased random-walk sampling technique which allows us to measure probabilities of random walkers hitting sections of clusters with unprecedented accuracy; our results include probabilities as small as 10^(-80). We find the multifractal D(q) spectrum including regions of small and negative q. Our algorithm allows us to obtain the harmonic measure for clusters more than an order of magnitude larger than those achieved using the method of iterative conformal maps, which is the previous best method. We find a phase transition in the singularity spectrum f(alpha) at alpha approximately equal to 14 and also find a minimum q of D(q), q_{min} = 0.9 plus or minus 0.05.

Harmonic Measure for Percolation and Ising Clusters Including Rare Events

We obtain the harmonic measure of the hulls of critical percolation clusters and Ising-model Fortuin-Kastelyn clusters using a biased random-walk sampling technique which allows us to measure probabilities as small as 10^{-300}. We find the multifractal D(q) spectrum including regions of small and negative q. Our results for external hulls agree with Duplantiers theoretical predictions for D(q) and his exponent -23/24 for the harmonic measure probability distribution. For the complete hull, we find the probability decays with an exponent of -1 for both systems.