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This paper reviews the research on the reversed field pinch (RFP) in the last three decades. Substantial experimental and theoretical progress and transformational changes have been achieved since the last review (Bodin 1990 Nucl. Fusion 30 1717–37). The experiments have been performed in devices with different sizes and capabilities. The largest are RFX-mod in Padova (Italy) and MST in Madison (USA). The experimental community includes also EXTRAP-T2R in Sweden, RELAX in Japan and KTX in China. Impressive improvements in the performance are the result of exploration of two lines: the high current operation (up to 2 MA) with the spontaneous occurrence of helical equilibria with good magnetic flux surfaces and the active control of the current profile. A crucial ingredient for the advancements obtained in the experiments has been the development of state-of-art active feedback control systems allowing the control of MHD instabilities in presence of a thin shell. The balance between achievements and still open issues leads us to the conclusion that the RFP can be a valuable and diverse contributor in the quest for fusion electricity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. Four-dimensional (4D) digital subtraction angiography (DSA) offers a method for evaluating hemodynamics. It is, however, unclear how the delivered contrast medium interacts with the physiological blood flow, and how hemodynamic information may be inferred from the mixture of the contrast medium and blood. In this study, we present a theoretical explanation of contrast dynamics, and an accompanying algorithm for estimating blood flow velocity. Approach. We retrospectively recruited 23 patients who underwent both 4D DSA and magnetic resonance (MR) phase-contrast imaging. The 4D DSA-reconstructed contrast dynamics were first studied for the internal carotid arteries. Using physical laws governing fluid motion within a curved tube, we showed that the reconstructed contrast dynamics obeyed a simple advection equation. We then proposed an algorithm for estimating the contrast dynamics using angiographic data, and subsequently estimated the axial blood flow velocity using an advection equation. Main results. The estimated velocities were compared using three techniques: the Fourier technique, Lin's method, and MR phase contrast. Testing with noise-corrupted artificial data showed that the proposed algorithm was noise resistant. The velocities of 23 patients computed by 4D DSA using the proposed algorithm showed a moderate correlation with the MR phase contrast (r = 0.61), and good correlations with the other two techniques (r = 0.75 and r = 0.72). Significance. The proposed algorithm and has been applied to blood vessel segments with poor signal-to-noise ratios and axial lengths of less than 3 cm, and has a physical basis for computing axial flow velocities using an advection equation. The results of the proposed algorithm are consistent with existing methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past few years, stochastic resetting has become a subject of immense interest. Most of the theoretical studies so far focused on instantaneous resetting which is, however, a major impediment to practical realisation or experimental verification in the field. This is because in the real world, taking a particle from one place to another requires finite time and thus a generalization of the existing theory to incorporate non-instantaneous resetting is very much in need. In this paper, we propose a method of resetting which involves non-instantaneous returns facilitated by an external confining trap potential U(x) centered at the resetting location. We consider a Brownian particle that starts its random motion from the origin. Upon resetting, the trap is switched on and the particle starts experiencing a force towards the center of the trap which drives it to return to the origin. The return phase ends when the particle makes a first passage to this center. We develop a general framework to study such a set up. Importantly, we observe that the system reaches a non-equilibrium steady state which we analyze in full details for two choices of U(x), namely, (i) linear and (ii) harmonic. Finally, we perform numerical simulations and find an excellent agreement with the theory. The general formalism developed here can be applied to more realistic return protocols opening up a panorama of possibilities for further theoretical and experimental applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Semi-classical path integral expression for a quantum system coupled to a harmonic bath is derived based on the stationary phase condition. It is discovered that the system path is non-Markovian. Most strikingly, the system path not only couples to its past, but also to its future, i.e. the equation of motion for the system is an integro-differential equation that involves all times. Numerical examples are given at the end. Because of the future-non-Markovian nature of the equation, the numerical solution cannot be obtained by iterative methods. Instead, root search algorithms must be employed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A theoretical study of delayed feedback in a spin-torque nano-oscillator model is presented. The feedback acts as a modulation of the supercriticality, which results in changes in the oscillator frequency through a strong non-linearity, amplitude modulations, and a rich modulation sideband structure in the power spectrum at long delays. Modulation sidebands persist at finite temperatures but some of the complex structure is lost through the finite coherence time of the oscillations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fishbone-induced transport of alpha particles is computed for the ITER 15 MA baseline scenario (ITER Physics Expert Group on Energy Drive 1999 Nucl. Fusion 39 2471) using the non-linear hybrid Kinetic-MHD code XTOR-K. Two limit cases have been studied, in order to analyse the characteristic regimes of the fishbone instability: the weak kinetic drive limit (Berk et al 1999 Phys. Plasmas 6 3102) and the strong kinetic drive limit (Zonca et al 2015 New J. Phys. 17 013052). In both those regimes, characteristic features of the n = m = 1 fishbone instability are recovered, such as a strong up/down-chirping of the mode frequency, associated with a resonant transport of trapped and passing alpha particles. The effects of the n = m = 0 sheared poloidal and toroidal plasma rotation are taken into account in the simulations. The shear is not negligible, which implies that the fishbone mode frequency has a radial dependency, impacting the wave-particle resonance condition. Phase space hole and clump structures are observed in both non-linear regimes, centered around the precessional and passing resonances. These structures remains attached to the resonances as the different mode frequencies chirp up and down. In the non-linear phase, the transport of individual resonant trapped particles is identified to be linked to mode-particle synchronization. On this basis, a partial mechanism for the non-linear coupling between particle transport and mode dominant down-chirping is proposed. The overall transport of alpha particles through the q = 1 surface is of order 2–5\% of the initial population between the simulations. The loss of alpha power is found to be directly equal to the loss of alpha particles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A triggering mechanism responsible for the explosive onset of edge localised modes (ELMs) in fusion plasmas is identified by performing, for the first time, non-linear magnetohydrodynamic simulations of repetitive type-I ELMs. Briefly prior to the ELM crash, destabilising and stabilising terms are affected at different timescales by an increasingly ergodic magnetic field caused by non-linear interactions between the axisymmetric background plasma and growing non-axisymmetric perturbations. The separation of timescales prompts the explosive, i.e. faster than exponential, growth of an ELM crash which lasts. The duration and size of the simulated ELM crashes compare qualitatively well with type-I ELMs in ASDEX Upgrade. As expected for type-I ELMs, a direct proportionality between the heating power in the simulations and the ELM repetition frequency is obtained. The simulations presented here are a major step forward towards predictive modelling of ELMs and of the assessment of mitigation techniques in ITER and other future tokamaks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study how a liquid-based inferior mirage, obtained by layering distilled water and ethanol, transforms the phase structure of a light beam possessing a helical wave front. An inferior mirage amounts for one total internal reflection, which effectively reverses the handedness of the wave front. We show that this transformation is accompanied by smooth unidirectional astigmatic changes and variations of the non-canonical strength of the phase singularity nested in the beam. A skew in the beam intensity distribution is observed where the phase singularity is inverted and allows the direct measurement of the topological charge of the beam. Freely propagating, partially inverted beams possessing spatially varying orbital fluxes can be obtained at the exit plane of the solution by adjusting the incidence conditions of the beam. This work lays the foundations for phase engineering of light beams in liquid-based optical mirages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the thermodynamic properties induced by non-reciprocal interactions between stochastic degrees of freedom in time- and space-continuous systems. We show that, under fairly general conditions, non-reciprocal coupling alone implies a steady energy flow through the system, i.e., non-equilibrium. Projecting out the non-reciprocally coupled degrees of freedom renders non-Markovian, one-variable Langevin descriptions with complex types of memory, for which we find a generalized second law involving information flow. We demonstrate that non-reciprocal linear interactions can be used to engineer non-monotonic memory, which is typical for, e.g., time-delayed feedback control, and is automatically accompanied with a nonzero information flow through the system. Furthermore, already a single non-reciprocally coupled degree of freedom can extract energy from a single heat bath (at isothermal conditions), and can thus be viewed as a minimal version of a time-continuous, autonomous 'Maxwell demon'. We also show that for appropriate parameter settings, the non-reciprocal system has characteristic features of active matter, such as a positive energy input on the level of the fluctuating trajectories without global particle transport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate non-autonomous solitons in a general coherently coupled nonlinear Schrödinger (CCNLS) system with temporally modulated nonlinearities and with an external harmonic oscillator potential. This general CCNLS system encompasses three distinct types of CCNLS equations that describe the dynamics of beam propagation in an inhomogeneous Kerr-like nonlinear optical medium for different choices of nonlinear polarizations owing to the anisotropy of the medium. We identify a generalized similarity transformation to relate the considered model into the standard integrable homogeneous coupled nonlinear evolution equations with constant nonlinearities, accompanied by a constraint relation expressed in the form of the Riccati equation. With the help of a non-standard Hirota's bilinearization method and exact soliton solutions, we explore the impact of varying nonlinearities and refractive index in the propagation and collisions analytically by reverse engineering. Interestingly, we show the emergence of several modulated solitonic phenomena such as periodic oscillation, amplification, compression, tunneling/cross-over, excitons, as well as their combined effect in the single-soliton propagation and two-soliton collisions with appropriate forms of nonlinearity. Notably, we identify a tool to transform the nature of soliton collisions with certain type of inhomogeneous nonlinearities. The results could be of significant interest to the studies on management of nonlinear waves in the contexts like nonlinear optics and can also be extended to Bose–Einstein condensates and super-fluids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We theoretically investigate Bloch oscillations in a one-dimensional Bose–Hubbard chain, with single-particle losses from the odd lattice sites described by a Lindblad equation. For a single particle the time evolution of the state is completely determined by a non-Hermitian effective Hamiltonian. We analyse the spectral properties of this Hamiltonian for an infinite lattice and link features of the spectrum to observable dynamical effects, such as frequency doubling in breathing modes. We further consider the case of many particles in the mean-field limit leading to complex nonlinear Schrödinger dynamics. Analytic expressions are derived for the generalised nonlinear stationary states and the nonlinear Bloch bands. The interplay of nonlinearity and particle losses leads to peculiar features in the nonlinear Bloch bands, such as the vanishing of solutions and the formation of additional exceptional points. The stability of the stationary states is determined via the Bogoliubov–de Gennes equation and is shown to strongly influence the mean-field dynamics. Remarkably, even far from the mean-field limit, the stability of the nonlinear Bloch bands appears to affect the quantum dynamics. This is demonstrated numerically for a two-particle system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of a strict quarantine has been widely debated during the COVID-19 epidemic even from the purely epidemiological point of view. One argument against strict lockdown measures is that once the strict quarantine is lifted, the epidemic comes back, and so the cumulative number of infected individuals during the entire epidemic will stay the same. We consider an SIR model on a network and follow the disease dynamics, modeling the phases of quarantine by changing the node degree distribution. We show that the system reaches different steady states based on the history: the outcome of the epidemic is path-dependent despite the same final node degree distribution. The results indicate that the two-phase route to the final node degree distribution (a strict phase followed by a soft phase) is always better than one phase (the same soft one) unless all the individuals have the same number of connections at the end (the same degree); in the latter case, the overall number of infected is indeed history-independent. The modeling also suggests that the optimal procedure of lifting the quarantine consists of releasing nodes in the order of their degree - highest first. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper extends the Madelung–Bohm formulation of quantum mechanics to describe the time-reversible interaction of classical and quantum systems. The symplectic geometry of the Madelung transform leads to identifying hybrid quantum–classical Lagrangian paths extending the Bohmian trajectories from standard quantum theory. As the classical symplectic form is no longer preserved, the nontrivial evolution of the Poincaré integral is presented explicitly. Nevertheless, the classical phase-space components of the hybrid Bohmian trajectory identify a Hamiltonian flow parameterized by the quantum coordinate and this flow is associated to the motion of the classical subsystem. In addition, the continuity equation of the joint quantum–classical density is presented explicitly. While the von Neumann density operator of the quantum subsystem is always positive-definite by construction, the hybrid density is generally allowed to be unsigned. However, the paper concludes by presenting an infinite family of hybrid Hamiltonians whose corresponding evolution preserves the sign of the probability density for the classical subsystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 3p43PJ–3p34p3PJ transition in the sulphur atom is investigated in a precision two-photon excitation scheme under Doppler-free and collision-free circumstances yielding an absolute accuracy of 0.0009 cm−1, using a narrowband pulsed laser. This verifies and improves the level separations between amply studied odd parity levels with even parity levels in S I. An improved value for the 3P2–3P1 ground state fine structure splitting is determined at 396.0564 (7) cm−1. A 34S–32S atomic isotope shift was measured from combining time-of-flight mass spectrometry with laser spectroscopy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The low-to-high confinement mode transition (L–H transition) is one of the key elements in achieving a self-sustained burning fusion reaction. Although there is no doubt that the mean and/or oscillating radial electric field plays a role in triggering and sustaining the edge transport barrier, the detailed underlying physics are yet to be unveiled. In this special topic paper, the remarkable progress achieved in recent years is reviewed for two different aspects: (i) the radial electric field driving procedure and (ii) the turbulent transport suppression mechanism. Experimental observations in different devices show possible conflicting natures for these phenomena, which cannot be resolved solely by conventional paradigms. New insights obtained by combining different model concepts successfully reconcile these conflicts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Cerebral autoregulation (CA) is critical to maintenance of cerebral perfusion but its relevance to the risk of stroke and dementia has been under-studied due to small study sizes and a lack of consensus as to the optimal method of measurement. We determined the reliability and reproducibility of multiple CA indices and the effect of intensive data-processing in a large population with transient ischaemic attack or minor stroke. Approach: Consecutive, consenting patients in the population-based Oxford Vascular Study (OXVASC) Phenotyped cohort underwent up to 10-min supine continuous blood pressure monitoring (Finometer) with bilateral middle cerebral artery (MCA) transcranial ultrasound (DWL-Dopplerbox). Un-processed waveforms (Un-A) were median-filtered, systematically reviewed, artefacts corrected and their quality blindly graded (optimal (A) to worst (E)). CA metrics were derived in time-domain (autoregulatory index (ARI), Pearson's Mx, Sx, Dx) and in very-low (VLF) and low-frequency (LF) domains (WPS-SI: wavelet phase synchronisation, transfer function analysis), stratified by recording quality. Reliability and reproducibility (Cronbach's alpha) were determined comparing MCA sides and the first vs. second 5-min of monitoring. Main results: In 453 patients, following manual data-cleaning, there was good reliability of indices when comparing MCA sides (Mx: 0.77; WPS-SI-VLF: 0.85; WPS-SI-LF 0.84), or repeated five minute epochs (Mx: 0.57; WPS-SI-VLF: 0.69; WPS-SI-LF 0.90), with persistently good reliability between sides even in lower quality Groups (Group D: Mx: 0.79; WPS-SI-VLF: 0.92; WPS-SI-LF: 0.91). Reliability was greatest for Pearson's Mx and wavelet synchronisation index, with reasonable reliability of transfer function analyses, but ARI was prone to occasional, potentially defective, extreme estimates (left vs right MCA: 0.68). Significance: Resting-state measures of CA were valid, reproducible and robust to moderate noise, but require careful data-processing. Mx and wavelet synchronisation index were the most reliable indices for determining the prognostic value of CA in large epidemiological cohorts and its potential as a treatment target. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider the Cahn–Hilliard (CH) equation with a Burgers-type convective term that is used as a model of coarsening dynamics in laterally driven phase-separating systems. In the absence of driving, it is known that solutions to the standard CH equation are characterized by an initial stage of phase separation into regions of one phase surrounded by the other phase (i.e. clusters or drops/holes or islands are obtained) followed by the coarsening process, where the average size of the structures grows in time and their number decreases. Moreover, two main coarsening modes have been identified in the literature, namely, coarsening due to volume transfer and due to translation. In the opposite limit of strong driving, the well-known Kuramoto–Sivashinsky equation is recovered, which may produce complicated chaotic spatio-temporal oscillations. The primary aim of the present work is to perform a detailed and systematic investigation of the transitions in the solutions of the convective CH equation for a wide range of parameter values, and, in particular, to understand in detail how the coarsening dynamics is affected by an increase of the strength of the lateral driving force. Considering symmetric two-drop states, we find that one of the coarsening modes is stabilized at relatively weak driving, and the type of the remaining mode may change as driving increases. Furthermore, there exist intervals in the driving strength where coarsening is completely stabilized. In the intervals where the symmetric two-drop states are unstable they can evolve, for example, into one-drop states, two-drop states of broken symmetry or even time-periodic two-drop states that consist of two traveling drops that periodically exchange mass. We present detailed stability diagrams for symmetric two-drop states in various parameter planes and corroborate our findings by selected time simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the quantum tunneling of two one-dimensional quasi-condensates made of alkali-metal atoms, considering two different tunneling configurations: side-by-side and head-to-tail. After deriving the quasiparticle excitation spectrum, we discuss the dynamics of the relative phase following a sudden coupling of the independent subsystems. In particular, we calculate the coherence factor of the system, which, due to the nonzero tunneling amplitude, it exhibits dephasing–rephasing oscillations instead of pure dephasing. These oscillations are enhanced by a higher tunneling energy, and by higher system densities. Our predictions provide a benchmark for future experiments at temperatures below T ≲ 5 nK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Early experience of pain and stress in the neonatal intensive care unit is known to have an effect on the neurodevelopment of the infant. However, an automated method to quantify the procedural pain or perinatal stress in premature patients does not exist. Approach: In the current study, EEG and ECG data were collected for more than 3 hours from 136 patients in order to quantify stress exposure. Specifically, features extracted from the EEG and heart-rate variability in both quiet and non-quiet sleep segments were used to develop a subspace linear-discriminant analysis stress classifier. Main results: The main novelty of the study lies in the absence of intrusive methods or pain elicitation protocols to develop the stress classifier. Three main findings can be reported. First, we developed different stress classifiers for the different age groups and stress intensities, obtaining an area under the curve in the range [0.78-0.93] for non-quiet sleep and [0.77-0.96] for quiet sleep. Second, a dysmature EEG was found in patients under stress. Third, an enhanced cortical connectivity and increased brain–heart communication was correlated with a higher stress load, while the autonomic activity did not seem to be associated to stress exposure. Significance: The results shed a light on the pain and stress processing in preterm neonates, suggesting that software tools to investigate dysmature EEG might be helpful to assess stress load in premature patients. These results could be the foundation to assess the impact of stress on infants' development and to tune preventive care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A form of reflective half-wave plate based on all-dielectric 3D-printed metasurface is proposed in this paper. The element of the proposed reflective half-wave plate consists of a novel hexagonal prism dielectric resonator (HPDR), a square substrate and a ground plane. The designed HPDR element can effectively convert the incident linearly polarized (LP) waves into the reflected circularly polarized (CP) waves. Meanwhile, an approximately linear reflection phase ranging over 360° of HPDR element is realized by varying the height of HPDR, which can significantly simplify the design procedure. In addition, based on the proposed HPDR element, a CP dielectric reflectarray antenna is designed. In order to verify the feasibility of the proposed design method, the dielectric reflectarray antenna with LP feeding is fabricated and measured, which can achieve a 1 dB gain bandwidth of 17.9% and a 3 dB axial-ratio bandwidth of 15%. A good agreement between the simulation and measurement is also observed. To the best of authors' knowledge, the broadband CP dielectric reflectarray antenna based on all-dielectric 3D-printed metasurface may be the first ever reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the driving forces behind the development of cold plasma sources at atmospheric pressure is their application in the biomedical field. In this respect, radio-frequency (RF) plasma jets are of particular importance due to their possible safe operation on humans and the generation of the high amount of reactive species. For this reason, we designed an RF plasma jet in co-axial geometry with the possibility of aerosol introduction, where its characteristics were evaluated by electrical diagnostics, optical emission and laser scattering spectroscopy. The RF plasma jet operation and stability of diffuse mode were analysed based on energy balance. It was observed that α-mode diffuse discharge characterised by an effluent length up to 5 mm was sustained at a power density below 30 W cm−3. The gas and rotational temperature were determined by means of spectroscopy methods and compared with the results of direct laser scattering. It was established that the gas temperature obtained from N2 emission of transition C3Пu → B3Пg (0, 2) is highly overestimated whereas the gas temperature estimated from OH transition A2Σ+ → X2Пi (0, 0) gave a reasonable agreement with both Rayleigh and Raman spectroscopy. Based on the Rayleigh scattering method, uniform gas temperature distribution in the discharge effluent was found at a power below 15 W with the average temperature below 340 ± 15 K. The low gas temperature of argon plasma jets would allow use of this source in temperature-sensitive material applications including skin treatments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The phase sensitivity curve or phase response curve (PRC) quantifies the oscillator’s reaction to stimulation at a specific phase and is a primary characteristic of a self-sustained oscillatory unit. Knowledge of this curve yields a phase dynamics description of the oscillator for arbitrary weak forcing. Similar, though much less studied characteristic, is the amplitude response that can be defined either using an ad hoc approach to amplitude estimation or via the isostable variables. Here, we discuss the problem of the phase and amplitude response inference from observations using test stimulation. Although PRC determination for noise-free neuronal-like oscillators perturbed by narrow pulses is a well-known task, the general case remains a challenging problem. Even more challenging is the inference of the amplitude response. This characteristic is crucial, e.g. for controlling the amplitude of the collective mode in a network of interacting units—a task relevant to neuroscience. Here, we compare the performance of different techniques suitable for inferring the phase and amplitude response, particularly with application to macroscopic oscillators. We suggest improvements to these techniques, e.g. demonstrating how to obtain the PRC in case of stimuli of arbitrary shape. Our main result is a novel technique denoted by IPID-1, based on the direct reconstruction of the Winfree equation and the analogous first-order equation for isostable dynamics. The technique works for signals with or without well-pronounced marker events and pulses of arbitrary shape; in particular, we consider charge-balanced pulses typical in neuroscience applications. Moreover, this technique is superior for noisy and high-dimensional systems. Additionally, we describe an error measure that can be computed solely from data and complements any inference technique.

We investigate the charge density wave transport in a quasi–one-dimensional conductor, orthorhombic tantalum trisulfide (o-TaS3), by applying a radio-frequency ac voltage. We find a new ac-dc interference spectrum in the differential conductance, which appears on both sides of the zero-bias peak. The frequency and amplitude dependences of the new spectrum do not correspond to those of any usual ac-dc interference spectrum (Shapiro steps). The results suggest that CDW phase dynamics has a hidden degree of freedom. We propose a model in which phase solitons behave as liquid. The origin of the new spectrum is that the solitons are depinned from impurity potentials assisted by an ac field when a small dc field is applied. Our results provide a new insight as regards our understanding of an elementary process in CDW dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Synchronization has been reported for a wide range of self-oscillating systems. However, even though it has been predicted theoretically for several decades, the experimental realization of phase self-oscillation, sometimes called phase trapping, in the high driving regime has been studied only recently. We explored in detail the phase dynamics in a synchronized field emission SiC nanoelectromechanical system with intrinsic feedback. A richer variety of phase behavior has been unambiguously identified, implying phase modulation and inertia. This synchronization regime is expected to have implications for the comprehension of the dynamics of interacting self-oscillating networks and for the generation of frequency modulated signals at the nanoscale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dynamics of topological defects in a system of coupled phase oscillators, arranged in one and two-dimensional arrays, was numerically investigated using the Kuramoto model. After a rapid decay of the number of topological defects, a long-time quasi steady state with few topological defects was detected. Two competing time scales governed the dynamics corresponding to the dissipation rate and the coupling quench rate. The density of topological defects scales as a power law function of the coupling quench rate ρ ∼ Cν with ν = 0.25. Reducing the number of topological defects improves the long time coherence and order parameter of the system, enhancing the probability to reach a global minimal loss state that can be mapped to the ground state of a classical XY spin Hamiltonian. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A unified model of thin film deposition by means of sputter deposition requires a description which bridges the intrinsic time and length scales of both the solid and the gas-phase. As a proof of concept, in this work such a description is established based on machine learning techniques using artificial neural networks. Initially, sputtered particle distributions are obtained from transport of ions in matter based simulations for Ar projectiles bombarding a Ti–Al composite for a number of representative incident particle energy distribution functions. Subsequently, a multilayer perceptron network is trained and verified with this set of incident/outgoing distributions. An error analysis is carried out for the obtained training results and their quality is compared and discussed for two sets of hyperparameters. Therewith, it is demonstrated that the trained network is able to predict the sputtered particle distributions for unknown, arbitrarily shaped incident ion energy distributions. It is consequently argued that the trained network may be readily used as a machine learning based model interface, which is sufficiently accurate also in scenarios which have not been previously trained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Weconsider competition between layers in adaptive multiplex networks of phase oscillators, where adaptation principles (which cause intra-layer topology evolution) are inspired by real world homophily and homeostasis phenomena. Our model yields the emergence of both scale-free topologies and meso-scale structures in the layers, for an appropriate choice of the control parameters. Wefurther report that the growth of the number of interacting layers leads to a decrease of the global order, due to inter-layer structural competition. However, the increase of the system's scale can effect local synchronization between neighboring (or strongly coupled) nodes. Such unforeseen phenomena is connected with the nature of the competitive mechanism, which implies the rivalry for optimal structure within the whole system, a situation occurring in a variety of natural systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wedescribe an experiment where spin squeezing occurs spontaneously within a standard Ramsey sequence driving a two-component Bose--Einstein condensate (BEC) of87Rb atoms trapped in an elongated magnetic trap. The squeezing is generated by state-dependent collisional interactions, despite the near-identical scattering lengths of the spin states in 87Rb. In our proof-of-principle experiment, we observe a metrological spin squeezing that reaches 1.3 ± 0.4 dB for 5000 atoms, with a contrast of 90 ± 1%. The method may be applied to realize spin-squeezed BEC sources for atom interferometry without the need for cavities, state-dependent potentials or Feshbach resonances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We discuss polariton graphs as a new platform for simulating the classical XY and Kuramoto models. Polariton condensates can be imprinted into any two-dimensional graph by spatial modulation of the pumping laser. Polariton simulators have the potential to reach the global minimum of the XY Hamiltonian in a bottom-up approach by gradually increasing excitation density to threshold or to study large scale synchronization phenomena and dynamical phase transitions when operating above the threshold.Weconsider the modelling of polariton graphs using the complex Ginzburg–Landau model and derive analytical solutions for a single condensate, the XY model, two-mode model and the Kuramoto model establishing the relationships between them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wetlands are thought to be the major contributor to interannual variability in the growth rate of atmospheric methane (CH _4 ) with anomalies driven by the influence of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Yet it remains unclear whether (i) the increase in total global CH _4 emissions during El Niño versus La Niña events is from wetlands and (ii) how large the contribution of wetland CH _4 emissions is to the interannual variability of atmospheric CH _4 . We used a terrestrial ecosystem model that includes permafrost and wetland dynamics to estimate CH _4 emissions, forced by three separate meteorological reanalyses and one gridded observational climate dataset, to simulate the spatio-temporal dynamics of wetland CH _4 emissions from 1980–2016. The simulations show that while wetland CH _4 responds with negative annual anomalies during the El Niño events, the instantaneous growth rate of wetland CH _4 emissions exhibits complex phase dynamics. We find that wetland CH _4 instantaneous growth rates were declined at the onset of the 2015–2016 El Niño event but then increased to a record-high at later stages of the El Niño event (January through May 2016). We also find evidence for a step increase of CH _4 emissions by 7.8±1.6 Tg CH _4 yr ^−1 during 2007–2014 compared to the average of 2000–2006 from simulations using meteorological reanalyses, which is equivalent to a ~3.5 ppb yr ^−1 rise in CH _4 concentrations. The step increase is mainly caused by the expansion of wetland area in the tropics (30°S–30°N) due to an enhancement of tropical precipitation as indicated by the suite of the meteorological reanalyses. Our study highlights the role of wetlands, and the complex temporal phasing with ENSO, in driving the variability and trends of atmospheric CH _4 concentrations. In addition, the need to account for uncertainty in meteorological forcings is highlighted in addressing the interannual variability and decadal-scale trends of wetland CH _4 fluxes.

The nanomechanical single-electron shuttle is a resonant system in which a suspended metallic island oscillates between and impacts at two electrodes. This setup holds promise for one-by-one electron transport and the establishment of an absolute current standard. While the charge transported per oscillation by the nanoscale island will be quantized in the Coulomb blockade regime, the frequency of such a shuttle depends sensitively on many parameters, leading to drift and noise. Instead of considering the nonlinearities introduced by the impact events as a nuisance, here we propose to exploit the resulting nonlinear dynamics to realize a highly precise oscillation frequency via synchronization of the shuttle self-oscillations to an external signal. We link the established phenomenological description of synchronization based on the Adler equation to the microscopic nonlinear dynamics of the electron shuttle by calculating the effective Adler constant analytically in terms of the microscopic parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]