Power-law Interactions Research Articles

Interaction induced directed transport in ac-driven periodic potentials

We demonstrate that repulsive power law interactions can induce deterministic directed transport of particles in dissipative ac-driven periodic potentials, in regimes where the underlying noninteracting system exhibits localized oscillations. Contrasting the well-established single particle ratchet mechanism, this interaction induced transport is based on the collective behaviour of the interacting particles yielding a spatiotemporal nonequilibrium pattern comprising persistent travelling excitations.

Relaxation rates in the Maxwellian collision model and its variable hard sphere surrogate

The variable hard sphere and related models have proven to be accurate and computationally convenient replacements for the inverse power law model of classical kinetic theory in direct simulation Monte Carlo calculations. We attempt to provide theoretical support for this remarkable success by comparing the relaxation rates in the linearized Boltzmann equation for the Maxwellian collision model with those of its variable hard sphere surrogate. The comparison demonstrates that the linearized collision operator with variable hard sphere interactions can accurately approximate the linearized collision operator with Maxwellian inverse power law interactions under well-defined and broadly applicable conditions. Extensions of the analysis to the general inverse power law model and to more realistic intermolecular potentials are briefly discussed.

L 2-stability of the Landau equation near global Maxwellians

We present an L2-stability of the kinetic Landau equation for a single species charged plasma with an inverse power-law interaction force in the perturbative regime of global Maxwellians. Our result demonstrates that the L2-distance between two classical solutions to the Landau equation can be controlled by that between corresponding initial data in a Lipschitz manner. The Coulomb interaction is known to be the singular and marginal case of the theory of the Boltzmann equation where the grazing collisions are the dominant. For some class of classical solutions, we show that our L2-stability result can provide a uniform L2-stability.

Interplay of soundcone and supersonic propagation in lattice models with power law interactions

We study the spreading of correlations and other physical quantities in quantum lattice models with interactions or hopping decaying like with the distance r. Our focus is on exponents α between 0 and 6, where the interplay of long- and short-range features gives rise to a complex phenomenology and interesting physical effects, and which is also the relevant range for experimental realizations with cold atoms, ions, or molecules. We present analytical and numerical results, providing a comprehensive picture of spatio-temporal propagation. Lieb–Robinson-type bounds are extended to strongly long-range interactions where α is smaller than the lattice dimension, and we report particularly sharp bounds that are capable of reproducing regimes with soundcone as well as supersonic dynamics. Complementary lower bounds prove that faster-than-soundcone propagation occurs for in any spatial dimension, although cone-like features are shown to also occur in that regime. Our results provide guidance for optimizing experimental efforts to harness long-range interactions in a variety of quantum information and signaling tasks.

Energy transport in the three coupled α-polypeptide chains of collagen molecule with long-range interactions effect.

The dynamics of three coupled α-polypeptide chains of a collagen molecule is investigated with the influence of power-law long-range exciton-exciton interactions. The continuum limit of the discrete equations reveal that the collagen dynamics is governed by a set of three coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equations, whose dispersive coefficient depends on the LRI parameter r. We construct the analytic symmetric and asymmetric (antisymmetric) soliton solutions, which match with the structural features of collagen related with the acupuncture channels. These solutions are used as initial conditions for the numerical simulations of the discrete equations, which reveal a coherent transport of energy in the molecule for r > 3. The results also indicate that the width of the solitons is a decreasing function of r, which help to stabilize the solitons propagating in the molecule. To confirm further the efficiency of energy transport in the molecule, the modulational instability of the system is performed and the numerical simulations show that the energy can flow from one polypeptide chain to another in the form of nonlinear waves.

Nearly linear light cones in long-range interacting quantum systems.

In nonrelativistic quantum theories with short-range Hamiltonians, a velocity v can be chosen such that the influence of any local perturbation is approximately confined to within a distance r until a time t∼r/v, thereby defining a linear light cone and giving rise to an emergent notion of locality. In systems with power-law (1/r^{α}) interactions, when α exceeds the dimension D, an analogous bound confines influences to within a distance r only until a time t∼(α/v)logr, suggesting that the velocity, as calculated from the slope of the light cone, may grow exponentially in time. We rule out this possibility; light cones of power-law interacting systems are bounded by a polynomial for α>2D and become linear as α→∞. Our results impose strong new constraints on the growth of correlations and the production of entangled states in a variety of rapidly emerging, long-range interacting atomic, molecular, and optical systems.

Two-dimensional melting: from liquid-hexatic coexistence to continuous transitions.

The phase diagram of two-dimensional continuous particle systems is studied using the event-chain Monte Carlo algorithm. For soft disks with repulsive power-law interactions ∝r^{-n} with n≳6, the recently established hard-disk melting scenario (n→∞) holds: a first-order liquid-hexatic and a continuous hexatic-solid transition are identified. Close to n=6, the coexisting liquid exhibits very long orientational correlations, and positional correlations in the hexatic are extremely short. For n≲6, the liquid-hexatic transition is continuous, with correlations consistent with the Kosterlitz-Thouless-Halperin-Nelson-Young (KTHNY) scenario. To illustrate the generality of these results, we demonstrate that Yukawa particles likewise may follow either the KTHNY or the hard-disk melting scenario, depending on the Debye-Hückel screening length as well as on the temperature.

Many-Body Localization in Dipolar Systems

Systems of strongly interacting dipoles offer an attractive platform to study many-body localized phases, owing to their long coherence times and strong interactions. We explore conditions under which such localized phases persist in the presence of power-law interactions and supplement our analytic treatment with numerical evidence of localized states in one dimension. We propose and analyze several experimental systems that can be used to observe and probe such states, including ultracold polar molecules and solid-state magnetic spin impurities.

The von Neumann entanglement entropy for Wigner-crystal states in one dimensional N-particle systems

Abstract We study one-dimensional systems of N particles in a one-dimensional harmonic trap with an inverse power law interaction ∼ | x | − d . Within the framework of the harmonic approximation we derive, in the strong interaction limit, the Schmidt decomposition of the one-particle reduced density matrix and investigate the nature of the degeneracy appearing in its spectrum. Furthermore, the ground-state asymptotic occupancies and their natural orbitals are derived in closed analytic form, which enables their easy determination for a wide range of values of N . A closed form asymptotic expression for the von Neumann entanglement entropy is also provided and its dependence on N is discussed for the systems with d = 1 (charged particles) and with d = 3 (dipolar particles).

Universal power law governing pedestrian interactions.

Human crowds often bear a striking resemblance to interacting particle systems, and this has prompted many researchers to describe pedestrian dynamics in terms of interaction forces and potential energies. The correct quantitative form of this interaction, however, has remained an open question. Here, we introduce a novel statistical-mechanical approach to directly measure the interaction energy between pedestrians. This analysis, when applied to a large collection of human motion data, reveals a simple power-law interaction that is based not on the physical separation between pedestrians but on their projected time to a potential future collision, and is therefore fundamentally anticipatory in nature. Remarkably, this simple law is able to describe human interactions across a wide variety of situations, speeds, and densities. We further show, through simulations, that the interaction law we identify is sufficient to reproduce many known crowd phenomena.

On global minimizers of repulsive-attractive power-law interaction energies.

We consider the minimization of the repulsive–attractive power-law interaction energies that occur in many biological and physical situations. We show the existence of global minimizers in the discrete setting and obtain bounds for their supports independently of the number of Dirac deltas in a certain range of exponents. These global discrete minimizers correspond to the stable spatial profiles of flock patterns in swarming models. Global minimizers of the continuum problem are obtained by compactness. We also illustrate our results through numerical simulations.

Structural transitions of nearly second order in classical dipolar gases

Particles with repulsive power-law interactions undergo a transition from a single to a double chain (zigzag) by decreasing the confinement in the transverse direction. We theoretically characterize this transition when the particles are classical dipoles, polarized perpendicularly to the plane in which the motion occurs, and argue that this transition is of first order, even though weakly. The nature of the transition is determined by the coupling between transverse and axial modes of the chain and contrasts with the behavior found in Coulomb systems, where the linear-zigzag transition is continuous and belongs to the universality class of the ferromagnetic transition. Our results hold for classical systems with power-law interactions $1/{r}^{\ensuremath{\alpha}}$ when $\ensuremath{\alpha}>2$ and show that structural transitions in dipolar systems and Rydberg atoms can offer a test bed for simulating the critical behavior of magnets with lattice coupling.

Low-temperature behavior of the statistics of the overlap distribution in Ising spin-glass models

Using Monte Carlo simulations, we study in detail the overlap distribution for individual samples for several spin-glass models including the infinite-range Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model, short-range Edwards-Anderson models in three and four space dimensions, and one-dimensional long-range models with diluted power-law interactions. We study three long-range models with different powers as follows: the first is approximately equivalent to a short-range model in three dimensions, the second to a short-range model in four dimensions, and the third to a short-range model in the mean-field regime. We study an observable proposed earlier by some of us which aims to distinguish the "replica symmetry breaking" picture of the spin-glass phase from the "droplet picture," finding that larger system sizes would be needed to unambiguously determine which of these pictures describes the low-temperature state of spin glasses best, except for the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model which is unambiguously described by replica symmetry breaking. Finally, we also study the median integrated overlap probability distribution and a typical overlap distribution, finding that these observables are not particularly helpful in distinguishing the replica symmetry breaking and the droplet pictures.

Negative-Usuperconductivity on the surface of topological insulators

We study the effects of a finite density of negative-$U$ centers (NUCs) on the surface of a three-dimensional topological insulator. The surface Dirac fermions mediate a power-law interaction among the local Cooper pairs at the NUCs, and the interaction remains long-ranged for weak disorder. Superconductivity can be generated in the presence of a random distribution of NUCs. The NUCs play dual roles as both pair creator and pair breaker, and the competition of the two effects results in non-monotonic dependence of the mean field superconducting transition temperature on the density of NUCs. Global phase coherence is established through coupling the locally superconducting puddles via Josephson coupling. Rare fluctuations play important roles, and a globally superconducting phase can only be achieved at large enough concentration of NUCs. The p-wave component of the superconducting order parameter gives rise to frustration among the superconducting grains, which is captured by a Potts-XY type model. New phases with chiral order, glass order, and possibly topological order can then emerge in the system of superconducting grains.

Antiferromagnetic long-range order in dissipative Rydberg lattices

We study the dynamics of dissipative spin lattices with power-law interactions, realized via few-level atoms driven by coherent laser-coupling and decoherence processes. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we determine the phase diagram in the steady state and analyze its generation dynamics. As opposed to mean-field predictions and nearest-neighbor models, there is no transition to long-range-ordered phases for realistic interactions and resonant driving. However, for finite laser detunings, we demonstrate the emergence of crystalline order. Although the static and dynamical critical exponents of the revealed dissipative phase transition fall into the two-dimensional Ising universality class, the found steady states differ considerably from those of an equilibrium Ising magnet. Two complementary schemes for an experimental implementation with cold Rydberg atoms are discussed.

Persistence of locality in systems with power-law interactions.

Motivated by recent experiments with ultracold matter, we derive a new bound on the propagation of information in D-dimensional lattice models exhibiting 1/r^{α} interactions with α>D. The bound contains two terms: One accounts for the short-ranged part of the interactions, giving rise to a bounded velocity and reflecting the persistence of locality out to intermediate distances, whereas the other contributes a power-law decay at longer distances. We demonstrate that these two contributions not only bound but, except at long times, qualitatively reproduce the short- and long-distance dynamical behavior following a local quench in an XY chain and a transverse-field Ising chain. In addition to describing dynamics in numerous intractable long-range interacting lattice models, our results can be experimentally verified in a variety of ultracold-atomic and solid-state systems.

One-dimensional Ising spin-glass with power-law interaction: real-space renormalization at zero temperature

.For the one-dimensional long-ranged Ising spin-glass with random couplings decaying with the distance r as J(r) ∼ r−σ and distributed with the Lévy symmetric stable distribution of index 1 < μ ≤ 2 (including the usual Gaussian case μ = 2), we consider the region σ > 1/μ where the energy is extensive. We study two real space renormalization procedures at zero temperature, namely a simple box decimation that leads to explicit calculations, and a strong disorder decimation that can be studied numerically on large sizes. The droplet exponent governing the scaling of the renormalized couplings JL∝ Lθμ(σ) is found to be whenever the long-ranged couplings are relevant θμ(σ) ≥ −1. For the statistics of the ground state energy over disordered samples, we obtain that the droplet exponent θμ(σ) governs the leading correction to extensivity of the averaged value . The characteristic scale of the fluctuations around this average is of order , and the rescaled variable is Gaussian distributed for μ = 2, or displays the negative power-law tail in 1/(−u)1+μ for u → −∞ in the Lévy case 1 < μ < 2. Finally we apply the zero-temperature renormalization procedure to the related Dyson hierarchical spin-glass model where the same droplet exponent appears.

Density-temperature scaling of the fragility in a model glass-former

Dynamical quantities e.g. diffusivity and relaxation time for some glass-formers may depend on density and temperature through a specific combination, rather than independently, allowing the representation of data over ranges of density and temperature as a function of a single scaling variable. Such a scaling, referred to as density-temperature (DT) scaling, is exact for liquids with inverse power law (IPL) interactions but has also been found to be approximately valid in many non-IPL liquids. We have analyzed the consequences of DT scaling on the density dependence of the fragility in a model glass-former. We find the density dependence of kinetic fragility to be weak, and show that it can be understood in terms of DT scaling and deviations of DT scaling at low densities. We also show that the Adam-Gibbs relation exhibits DT scaling and the scaling exponent computed from the density dependence of the activation free energy in the Adam-Gibbs relation, is consistent with the exponent values obtained by other means.

Solitons and thermal fluctuations in strongly nonlinear solids

We study a chain of anharmonic springs with tunable power law interactions as a minimal model to explore the propagation of strongly nonlinear solitary wave excitations in a background of thermal fluctuations. By treating the solitary waves as quasiparticles, we derive an effective Langevin equation and obtain their damping rate and thermal diffusion. These analytical findings compare favorably against numerical results from a Langevin dynamic simulation. In our chains composed of two-sided nonlinear springs, we report the existence of an expansion solitary wave (antisoliton) in addition to the compressive solitary waves observed for noncohesive macroscopic particles.

Nonlinear nonequilibrium kinetic model of the Boltzmann equation for a gas with power-law interaction

A model kinetic equation approximating the Boltzmann equation on a wide range of the intensities of nonequilibrium states of gases is derived to describe rarefied gas flows. The kinetic model is based on a distribution function dependent on the absolute velocity of gas particles. Themodel kinetic equation possesses a high computational efficiency and the problem of shock wave structure is solved on its basis. The calculated and experimental data for argon are compared.