Lattice Animals Research Articles

Saturation number of lattice animals

A matching M in a graph G is maximal if no other matching of G has M as a proper subset. The saturation number of G is the cardinality of any smallest maximal matching in G . In this paper we investigate saturation number for several classes of square and hexagonal lattice animals.

Ferromagnetic Potts models with multisite interaction.

We study the q-state Potts model with four-site interaction on a square lattice. Based on the asymptotic behavior of lattice animals, it is argued that when q≤4 the system exhibits a second-order phase transition and when q>4 the transition is first order. The q=4 model is borderline. We find 1/lnq to be an upper bound on T_{c}, the exact critical temperature. Using a low-temperature expansion, we show that 1/(θlnq), where θ>1 is a q-dependent geometrical term, is an improved upper bound on T_{c}. In fact, our findings support T_{c}=1/(θlnq). This expression is used to estimate the finite correlation length in first-order transition systems. These results can be extended to other lattices. Our theoretical predictions are confirmed numerically by an extensive study of the four-site interaction model using the Wang-Landau entropic sampling method for q=3,4,5. In particular, the q=4 model shows an ambiguous finite-size pseudocritical behavior.

Lattice animals in diffusion limited binary colloidal system.

In a soft matter system, controlling the structure of the amorphous materials has been a key challenge. In this work, we have modeled irreversible diffusion limited cluster aggregation of binary colloids, which serves as a model for chemical gels. Irreversible aggregation of binary colloidal particles leads to the formation of a percolating cluster of one species or both species which are also called bigels. Before the formation of the percolating cluster, the system forms a self-similar structure defined by a fractal dimension. For a one component system when the volume fraction is very small, the clusters are far apart from each other and the system has a fractal dimension of 1.8. Contrary to this, we will show that for the binary system, we observe the presence of lattice animals which has a fractal dimension of 2 irrespective of the volume fraction. When the clusters start inter-penetrating, we observe a fractal dimension of 2.5, which is the same as in the case of the one component system. We were also able to predict the formation of bigels using a simple inequality relation. We have also shown that the growth of clusters follows the kinetic equations introduced by Smoluchowski for diffusion limited cluster aggregation. We will also show that the chemical distance of a cluster in the flocculation regime will follow the same scaling law as predicted for the lattice animals. Further, we will also show that irreversible binary aggregation comes under the universality class of the percolation theory.

Location of the adsorption transition for lattice polymers

We consider various lattice models of polymers: lattice trees, lattice animals, and self-avoiding walks. The polymer interacts with a surface (hyperplane), receiving an energy reward of β for each site in the surface. It is known that there is an adsorption transition at a critical value of β. We present a new proof of the result of Hammersley et al (1982 J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 15 539–71) that the transition occurs at a strictly positive value of β when the surface is impenetrable, i.e. when the polymer is restricted to a half-space. In contrast, for a penetrable surface, it is an open problem to prove that the transition occurs at . We reduce this problem to proving that the fraction of N-site polymers whose span is less than is not too small.

Generalized approach to the non-backtracking lace expansion

The lace expansion is a powerful perturbative technique to analyze the critical behavior of random spatial processes such as the self-avoiding walk, percolation and lattice trees and animals. The non-backtracking lace expansion (NoBLE) is a modification that allows us to improve its applicability in the nearest-neighbor setting on the mathbb {Z}^d-lattice for percolation, lattice trees and lattice animals. The NoBLE gives rise to a recursive formula that we study in this paper at a general level. We state assumptions that guarantee that the solution of this recursive formula satisfies the infrared bound. In two related papers, we show that these conditions are satisfied for percolation in dge 11, for lattice trees in dge 16 and for lattice animals in dge 18.

Power Law Condition for Stability of Poisson Hail

The Poisson hail model is a space-time stochastic system introduced by Baccelli and Foss (J Appl Prob 48A:343–366, 2011) whose stability condition is nonobvious owing to the fact that it is spatially infinite. Hailstones arrive at random points of time and are placed in random positions of space. Upon arrival, if not prevented by previously accumulated stones, a stone starts melting at unit rate. When the stone sizes have exponential tails, then stability conditions exist. In this paper, we look at heavy tailed stone sizes and prove that the system can be stabilized when the rate of arrivals is sufficiently small. We also show that the stability condition is, in a weak sense, optimal. We use techniques and ideas from greedy lattice animals.

Coupling of isotropic and directional interactions and its effect on phase separation and self-assembly.

The interactions of molecules and particles in solution often involve an interplay between isotropic and highly directional interactions that lead to a mutual coupling of phase separation and self-assembly. This situation arises, for example, in proteins interacting through hydrophobic and charged patch regions on their surface and in nanoparticles with grafted polymer chains, such as DNA. As a minimal model of complex fluids exhibiting this interaction coupling, we investigate spherical particles having an isotropic interaction and a constellation of five attractive patches on the particle's surface. Monte Carlo simulations and mean-field calculations of the phase boundaries of this model depend strongly on the relative strength of the isotropic and patch potentials, where we surprisingly find that analytic mean-field predictions become increasingly accurate as the directional interactions become increasingly predominant. We quantitatively account for this effect by noting that the effective interaction range increases with increasing relative directional to isotropic interaction strength. We also identify thermodynamic transition lines associated with self-assembly, extract the entropy and energy of association, and characterize the resulting cluster properties obtained from simulations using percolation scaling theory and Flory-Stockmayer mean-field theory. We find that the fractal dimension and cluster size distribution are consistent with those of lattice animals, i.e., randomly branched polymers swollen by excluded volume interactions. We also identify a universal functional form for the average molecular weight and a nearly universal functional form for a scaling parameter characterizing the cluster size distribution. Since the formation of branched clusters at equilibrium is a common phenomenon in nature, we detail how our analysis can be used in experimental characterization of such associating fluids.

A transfer-matrix study of directed lattice animals and directed percolation on a square lattice

We studied the large-scale properties of directed lattice animals and directed percolation on a square lattice. Using a transfer-matrix approach on strips of finite widths, we generated relatively long sequences of estimates for effective values of critical fugacity, percolation threshold and correlation length critical exponents. We applied two different extrapolation methods to obtain estimates for infinite systems. The precision of our final estimates is comparable to (or better than) the precision of the best currently available results.

On the tree-like structure of rings in dense solutions.

One of the most challenging problems in polymer physics is providing a theoretical description for the behaviour of rings in dense solutions and melts. Although it is nowadays well established that the overall size of a ring in these conditions scales like that of a collapsed globule, there is compelling evidence that rings may exhibit ramified and tree-like conformations. In this work I show how to characterise these local tree-like structures by measuring the local writhing of the rings' segments and by identifying the patterns of intra-chain contacts. These quantities reveal two major topological structures: loops and terminal branches which strongly suggest that the strictly double-folded "lattice animal" picture for rings in the melt may be replaced by a more relaxed tree-like structure accommodating loops. In particular, I show that one can identify hierarchically looped structures whose degree increases linearly with the size of a ring, and that terminal branches are found to store about 30% of the whole ring mass, irrespectively of its length. Finally, I draw an analogy between rings in the melt and slip-linked chains, where contact points are enforced by mobile slip-links and for which a field-theoretic treatment can be employed to get some insight into their typical conformations. These findings are ultimately discussed in the light of recent works on the static structure of rings and on the existence of inter-ring threadings.

The expected perimeter in Eden and related growth processes

Following Richardson and using results of Kesten on first-passage percolation, we obtain an upper bound on the expected perimeter in an Eden growth process. Using results of the author from a problem in statistical mechanics, we show that the average perimeter of the lattice animals resulting from a very natural family of “growth histories” does not obey a similar bound.

Kerr Black Hole Geometry Leading to Dark Matter and Dark Energy via E-Infinity Theory and the Possibility of a Nano Spacetime Singularities Reactor

The present paper is basically a synthesis resulting from incorporating Kerr spinning black hole geometry into E-infinity topology, then letting the result bares on the vacuum zero point Casimir effect as well as the cosmic dark energy and dark matter density. In E-infinity theory a quantum particle is represented by a Hausdorff dimension Φ where Φ =2/(√5+1) . The quantum wave on the other hand is represented by Φ2 . To be wave and a particle simultaneously intersection theory leads us to (Φ) (Φ)2= Φ3 which will be shown here to be twice the value of the famous Casimir force of the vacuum for a massless scalar field. Thus in the present work a basically topological interpretation of the Casimir effect is given as a natural intrinsic property of the geometrical topological structure of the quantum-Cantorian micro spacetime. This new interpretation compliments the earlier conventional interpretation as vacuum fluctuation or as a Schwinger source and links the Casimir energy to the so called missing dark energy density of the cosmos. From the view point of the present work Casimir pressure is a local effect acting on the Casimir plates constituting the local boundary condition while dark energy is nothing but the global combined effect of infinitely many quantum waves acting on the M&#246bius-like boundary of the holographic boundary of the entire universe. Since this higher dimensional M&#246bius-like boundary is one sided, there is no outside to balance the internal collective Casimir pressure which then manifests itself as the force behind cosmic expansion, that is to say, dark energy. Thus analogous to the exact irrational value of ordinary energy density of spacetime E(O)=(Φ5/2) mc2 we now have P (Casimir) = (Φ3/2)(ch/d2) where c is the speed of light, m is the mass, h is the Planck constant and d is the plate separation. In addition the new emerging geometry combined with the topology of E-infinity theory leads directly to identifying dark matter with the quasi matter of the ergosphere. As a direct consequence of this new insight E=mc2 which can be written as E = E (O) + E (D) where the exact rational approximation is E (O)=mc2/22 is the ordinary energy density of the cosmos and the exact rational approximation E (D)=mc2/(21/22) is the corresponding dark energy which could be subdivided once more albeit truly approximately into E(D)=mc2/(5/22) +mc2/(16/22) where 5 is the Kaluza Klein spacetime dimension, 16 are the bosonic extra dimensions of Heterotic superstrings and 5/22 □ 22% is approximately the density of the dark matter-like energy of the ergosphere of the Kerr geometry. As for the actual design of our nano reactor, this is closely related to branching clusters of polymer, frequently called lattice animals. In other words we will have Casimir spheres instead of Casimir plates and these spheres will be basically nano particles modelling lattice animals. Here D= 4 will be regarded as spacetime dimensionality while D=6 of percolations are the compactified super string dimensions and D=8 is the dimension of a corresponding super space.

Phase Diagram of Inhomogeneous Percolation with a Defect Plane

Let $${\mathbb {L}}$$ be the $$d$$ -dimensional hypercubic lattice and let $${\mathbb {L}}_0$$ be an $$s$$ -dimensional sublattice, with $$2 \le s < d$$ . We consider a model of inhomogeneous bond percolation on $${\mathbb {L}}$$ at densities $$p$$ and $$\sigma $$ , in which edges in $${\mathbb {L}}\setminus {\mathbb {L}}_0$$ are open with probability $$p$$ , and edges in $${\mathbb {L}}_0$$ open with probability $$\sigma $$ . We generalize several classical results of (homogeneous) bond percolation to this inhomogeneous model. The phase diagram of the model is presented, and it is shown that there is a subcritical regime for $$\sigma < \sigma ^*(p)$$ and $$p<p_c(d)$$ (where $$p_c(d)$$ is the critical probability for homogeneous percolation in $${\mathbb {L}}$$ ), a bulk supercritical regime for $$p>p_c(d)$$ , and a surface supercritical regime for $$p<p_c(d)$$ and $$\sigma >\sigma ^*(p)$$ . We show that $$\sigma ^*(p)$$ is a strictly decreasing function for $$p\in [0,p_c(d)]$$ , with a jump discontinuity at $$p_c(d)$$ . We extend the Aizenman–Barsky differential inequalities for homogeneous percolation to the inhomogeneous model and use them to prove that the susceptibility is finite inside the subcritical phase. We prove that the cluster size distribution decays exponentially in the subcritical phase, and sub-exponentially in the supercritical phases. For a model of lattice animals with a defect plane, the free energy is related to functions of the inhomogeneous percolation model, and we show how the percolation transition implies a non-analyticity in the free energy of the animal model. Finally, we present simulation estimates of the critical curve $$\sigma ^*(p)$$ .

From generalized directed animals to the asymmetric simple exclusion process

Using the generalized normally ordered form of words in a locally-free group of n generators, we show that in the limit n → ∞, the partition function of weighted directed lattice animals on a semi-infinite strip coincides with the partition function of stationary configurations of the asymmetric simple exclusion process (ASEP) with arbitrary entry/escape rates through open boundaries. We relate the features of the ASEP in the different regimes of the phase diagram to the geometric features of the associated generalized directed animals by showing the results of numerical simulations. In particular, we show how the presence of shocks at the first order transition line translates into the directed animal picture. Using the evolution equation for generalized, weighted Lukasiewicz paths, we also provide a straightforward calculation of the known ASEP generating function.

Compact structure and non-Gaussian dynamics of ring polymer melts

We present a neutron scattering analysis of the structure and dynamics of PEO polymer rings with a molecular weight 2.5 times higher than the entanglement mass. The melt structure was found to be more compact than a Gaussian model would suggest. With increasing time the center of mass (c.o.m.) diffusion undergoes a transition from sub-diffusive to diffusive behavior. The transition time agrees well with the decorrelation time predicted by a mode coupling approach. As a novel feature well pronounced non-Gaussian behavior of the c.o.m. diffusion was found that shows surprising analogies to the cage effect known from glassy systems. Finally, the longest wavelength Rouse modes are suppressed possibly as a consequence of an onset of lattice animal features as hypothesized in theoretical approaches.

Annealed lattice animal model and Flory theory for the melt of non-concatenated rings: towards the physics of crumpling

A Flory theory is constructed for a long polymer ring in a melt of unknotted and non-concatenated rings. The theory assumes that the ring forms an effective annealed branched object and computes its primitive path. It is shown that the primitive path follows self-avoiding statistics and is characterized by the corresponding Flory exponent of a polymer with excluded volume. Based on that, it is shown that rings in the melt are compact objects with overall size proportional to their length raised to the 1/3 power. Furthermore, the contact probability exponent γcontact is estimated, albeit by a poorly controlled approximation, with the result close to 1.1 consistent with both numerical and experimental data.

On the time constant in a dependent first passage percolation model

We pursue the study of a random coloring first passage percolation model introduced by Fontes and Newman. We prove that the asymptotic shape of this first passage percolation model continuously depends on the law of the coloring. The proof uses several couplings, particularly with greedy lattice animals.

Large scale behavior of a two-dimensional model of anisotropic branched polymers

We study critical properties of anisotropic branched polymers modeled by semi-directed lattice animals on a triangular lattice. Using the exact transfer-matrix approach on strips of quite large widths and phenomenological renormalization group analysis, we obtained pretty good estimates of various critical exponents in the whole high-temperature region, including the point of collapse transition. Our numerical results suggest that this collapse transition belongs to the universality class of directed percolation.

Shape characteristics of equilibrium and non-equilibrium fractal clusters

It is often difficult in practice to discriminate between equilibrium and non-equilibrium nanoparticle or colloidal-particle clusters that form through aggregation in gas or solution phases. Scattering studies often permit the determination of an apparent fractal dimension, but both equilibrium and non-equilibrium clusters in three dimensions frequently have fractal dimensions near 2, so that it is often not possible to discriminate on the basis of this geometrical property. A survey of the anisotropy of a wide variety of polymeric structures (linear and ring random and self-avoiding random walks, percolation clusters, lattice animals, diffusion-limited aggregates, and Eden clusters) based on the principal components of both the radius of gyration and electric polarizability tensor indicates, perhaps counter-intuitively, that self-similar equilibrium clusters tend to be intrinsically anisotropic at all sizes, while non-equilibrium processes such as diffusion-limited aggregation or Eden growth tend to be isotropic in the large-mass limit, providing a potential means of discriminating these clusters experimentally if anisotropy could be determined along with the fractal dimension. Equilibrium polymer structures, such as flexible polymer chains, are normally self-similar due to the existence of only a single relevant length scale, and are thus anisotropic at all length scales, while non-equilibrium polymer structures that grow irreversibly in time eventually become isotropic if there is no difference in the average growth rates in different directions. There is apparently no proof of these general trends and little theoretical insight into what controls the universal anisotropy in equilibrium polymer structures of various kinds. This is an obvious topic of theoretical investigation, as well as a matter of practical interest. To address this general problem, we consider two experimentally accessible ratios, one between the hydrodynamic and gyration radii, the other between the viscosity and hydrodynamic radii, as potential measures of shape anisotropy. We also find a strong correlation between anisotropy and effective fractal dimension. These observations should provide new practical methods for quantifying the nature of particle clustering in diverse contexts.

Expansion in High Dimension for the Growth Constants of Lattice Trees and Lattice Animals

We compute the first three terms of the 1/dexpansions for the growth constants and one-point functions of nearest-neighbour lattice trees and lattice (bond) animals on the integer lattice$\mathbb{Z}^d$, with rigorous error estimates. The proof uses the lace expansion, together with a new expansion for the one-point functions based on inclusion–exclusion.

Lattice animal model of chromosome organization

Polymer models tied together by constraints of looping and confinement have been used to explain many of the observed organizational characteristics of interphase chromosomes. Here we introduce a simple lattice animal representation of interphase chromosomes that combines the features of looping and confinement constraints into a single framework. We show through Monte Carlo simulations that this model qualitatively captures both the leveling off in the spatial distance between genomic markers observed in fluorescent in situ hybridization experiments and the inverse decay in the looping probability as a function of genomic separation observed in chromosome conformation capture experiments. The model also suggests that the collapsed state of chromosomes and their segregation into territories with distinct looping activities might be a natural consequence of confinement.