Search

We present a renormalization group (RG) approach to explain universal features of extreme statistics, applied here to independent, identically distributed variables. The outlines of the theory have been described in a previous Letter, the main result being that finite-size shape corrections to the limit distribution can be obtained from a linearization of the RG transformation near a fixed point, leading to the computation of stable perturbations as eigenfunctions. Here we show details of the RG theory which exhibit remarkable similarities to the RG known in statistical physics. Besides the fixed points explaining universality, and the least stable eigendirections accounting for convergence rates and shape corrections, the similarities include marginally stable perturbations which turn out to be generic for the Fisher-Tippett-Gumbel class. Distribution functions containing unstable perturbations are also considered. We find that, after a transitory divergence, they return to the universal fixed line at the same or at a different point depending on the type of perturbation., Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. E

We investigate in detail the model of a trophic web proposed by Amaral and Meyer [Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 652 (1999)]. We focused on small-size systems that are relevant for real biological food webs and for which the fluctuations are playing an important role. We show, using Monte Carlo simulations, that such webs can be non-viable, leading to extinction of all species in small and/or weakly coupled systems. Estimations of the extinction times and survival chances are also given. We show that before the extinction the fraction of highly-connected species ("omnivores") is increasing. Viable food webs exhibit a pyramidal structure, where the density of occupied niches is higher at lower trophic levels, and moreover the occupations of adjacent levels are closely correlated. We also demonstrate that the distribution of the lengths of food chains has an exponential character and changes weakly with the parameters of the model. On the contrary, the distribution of avalanche sizes of the extinct species depends strongly on the connectedness of the web. For rather loosely connected systems we recover the power-law type of behavior with the same exponent as found in earlier studies, while for densely-connected webs the distribution is not of a power-law type., Comment: 9 pages, 15 figures

The effects of an external electric field on the formation of Liesegang patterns are investigated. The patterns are assumed to emerge from a phase separation process in the wake of a diffusive reaction front. The dynamics is described by a Cahn-Hilliard equation with a moving source term representing the reaction zone, and the electric field enters through its effects on the properties of the reaction zone. We employ our previous results [I. Bena, F. Coppex, M. Droz, and Z. R\'acz, J. Chem. Phys. {\bf 122}, 024512 (2005)] on how the electric field changes both the motion of the front, as well as the amount of reaction product left behind the front, and our main conclusion is that the number of precipitation bands becomes finite in a finite electric field. The reason for the finiteness in case when the electric field drives the reagents towards the reaction zone is that the width of consecutive bands increases so that, beyond a distance $\ell_+$, the precipitation is continuous (plug is formed). In case of an electric field of opposite polarity, the bands emerge in a finite interval $\ell_-$, since the reaction product decreases with time and the conditions for phase separation cease to exist. We give estimates of $\ell_{\pm}$ in terms of measurable quantities and thus present an experimentally verifiable prediction of the "Cahn-Hilliard equation with a moving source" description of Liesegang phenomena., Comment: 11 pages, 10 figures, submitted to J. Chem. Phys

We study the effects of an external electric field on both the motion of the reaction zone and the spatial distribution of the reaction product, $C$, in an irreversible $A^- +B^+ \to C$ reaction-diffusion process. The electrolytes $A\equiv (A^+,A^-)$ and $B\equiv (B^+,B^-)$ are initially separated in space and the ion-dynamics is described by reaction-diffusion equations obeying local electroneutrality. Without an electric field, the reaction zone moves diffusively leaving behind a constant concentration of $C$-s. In the presence of an electric field which drives the reagents towards the reaction zone, we find that the reaction zone still moves diffusively but with a diffusion coefficient which slightly decreases with increasing field. The important electric field effect is that the concentration of $C$-s is no longer constant but increases linearly in the direction of the motion of the front. The case of an electric field of reversed polarity is also discussed and it is found that the motion of the front has a diffusive, as well as a drift component. The concentration of $C$-s decreases in the direction of the motion of the front, up to the complete extinction of the reaction. Possible applications of the above results to the understanding of the formation of Liesegang patterns in an electric field is briefly outlined., Comment: 13 pages, 13 figures, submitted to J. Chem. Phys

Finite-size scaling functions are investigated both for the mean-square magnetization fluctuations and for the probability distribution of the magnetization in the one-dimensional Ising model. The scaling functions are evaluated in the limit of the temperature going to zero (T -> 0), the size of the system going to infinity (N -> oo) while N[1-tanh(J/k_BT)] is kept finite (J being the nearest neighbor coupling). Exact calculations using various boundary conditions (periodic, antiperiodic, free, block) demonstrate explicitly how the scaling functions depend on the boundary conditions. We also show that the block (small part of a large system) magnetization distribution results are identical to those obtained for free boundary conditions., Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures

Solving numerically master equation for a recently introduced urn model, we show that the fourth- and sixth-order cumulants remain constant along an exactly located line of critical points. Obtained values are in very good agreement with values predicted by Brezin and Zinn-Justin for the Ising model above the critical dimension. At the tricritical point cumulants acquire values which also agree with a suitably extended Brezin and Zinn-Justin approach., Comment: 5 pages, eps figures included

The probability density function (PDF) of the roughness, i.e., of the temporal variance, of 1/f^alpha noise signals is studied. Our starting point is the generalization of the model of Gaussian, time-periodic, 1/f noise, discussed in our recent Letter [T. Antal et al., PRL, vol. 87, 240601 (2001)], to arbitrary power law. We investigate three main scaling regions, distinguished by the scaling of the cumulants in terms of the microscopic scale and the total length of the period. Various analytical representations of the PDF allow for a precise numerical evaluation of the scaling function of the PDF for any alpha. A simulation of the periodic process makes it possible to study also non-periodic signals on short intervals embedded in the full period. We find that for alpha=<1/2 the scaled PDF-s in both the periodic and the non-periodic cases are Gaussian, but for alpha>1/2 they differ from the Gaussian and from each other. Both deviations increase with growing alpha. That conclusion, based on numerics, is reinforced by analytic results for alpha=2 and alpha->infinity. We suggest that our theoretical and numerical results open a new perspective on the data analysis of 1/f^alpha processes., Comment: 12 pages incl. 6 figures, with RevTex4, for A4 paper, in v2 some references were corrected

A nonequilibrium Potts-like model with $q$ absorbing states is studied using Monte Carlo simulations. In two dimensions and $q=3$ the model exhibits a discontinuous transition. For the three-dimensional case and $q=2$ the model exhibits a continuous, transition with $\beta=1$ (mean-field). Simulations are inconclusive, however, in the two-dimensional case for $q=2$. We suggest that in this case the model is close to or at the crossing point of lines separating three different types of phase transitions. The proposed phase diagram in the $(q,d)$ plane is very similar to that of the equilibrium Potts model. In addition, our simulations confirm field-theory prediction that in two dimensions a branching-annihilating random walk model without parity conservation belongs to the directed percolation universality class., Comment: 8 pages, figures included, accepted in Phys.Rev.E

We study a one-dimensional, nonequilibrium Potts-like model which has $q$ symmetric absorbing states. For $q=2$, as expected, the model belongs to the parity conserving universality class. For $q=3$ the critical behaviour depends on the dynamics of the model. Under a certain dynamics it remains generically in the active phase, which is also the feature of some other models with three absorbing states. However, a modified dynamics induces a parity conserving phase transition. Relations with branching-annihilating random walk models are discussed in order to explain such a behaviour., Comment: 5 pages, 5 eps figures included, Phys.Rev.E (accepted)

We study the finite-size scaling of the roughness of signals in systems displaying Gaussian 1/f power spectra. It is found that one of the extreme value distributions (Gumbel distribution) emerges as the scaling function when the boundary conditions are periodic. We provide a realistic example of periodic 1/f noise, and demonstrate by simulations that the Gumbel distribution is a good approximation for the case of nonperiodic boundary conditions as well. Experiments on voltage fluctuations in GaAs films are analyzed and excellent agreement is found with the theory., Comment: 4 pages, 4 postscript figures, RevTex

We study a recently introduced ladder model which undergoes a transition between an active and an infinitely degenerate absorbing phase. In some cases the critical behaviour of the model is the same as that of the branching annihilating random walk with $N\geq 2$ species both with and without hard-core interaction. We show that certain static characteristics of the so-called natural absorbing states develop power law singularities which signal the approach of the critical point. These results are also explained using random walk arguments. In addition to that we show that when dynamics of our model is considered as a minimum finding procedure, it has the best efficiency very close to the critical point., Comment: 6 pages

A kinetic Ising model description of Liesegang phenomena is studied using Monte Carlo simulations. The model takes into account thermal fluctuations, contains noise in the chemical reactions, and its control parameters are experimentally accessible. We find that noisy, irregular precipitation takes place in dimension d=2 while, depending on the values of the control parameters, either irregular patterns or precipitation bands satisfying the regular spacing law emerge in d=3., Comment: 7 pages, 8 ps figures, RevTex

Spinodal decomposition in the presence of a moving particle source is proposed as a mechanism for the formation of Liesegang bands. This mechanism yields a sequence of band positions x_n that obeys the spacing law x_n~Q(1+p)^n. The dependence of the parameters p and Q on the initial concentration of the reagents is determined and we find that the functional form of p is in agreement with the experimentally observed Matalon-Packter law., Comment: RevTex, 4 pages, 4 eps figures

The so-called "width law" for Liesegang patterns, which states that the positions x_n and widths w_n of bands verify the relation x_n \sim w_n^{\alpha} for some \alpha>0, is investigated both experimentally and theoretically. We provide experimental data exhibiting good evidence for values of \alpha close to 1. The value \alpha=1 is supported by theoretical arguments based on a generic model of reaction-diffusion., Comment: 7 pages, RevTeX, two columns, 5 figures

The effect of dissociation of the invading electrolyte on the formation of Liesegang bands is investigated. We find, using organic compounds with known dissociation constants, that the spacing coefficient, 1+p, that characterizes the position of the n-th band as x_n ~ (1+p)^n, decreases with increasing dissociation constant, K_d. Theoretical arguments are developed to explain these experimental findings and to calculate explicitly the K_d dependence of 1+p., Comment: RevTex, 8 pages, 3 eps figures

Theoretical models of the Liesegang phenomena are studied and simple expressions for the spacing coefficients characterizing the patterns are derived. The emphasis is on displaying the explicit dependences on the concentrations of the inner- and the outer-electrolytes. Competing theories (ion-product supersaturation, nucleation and droplet growth, induced sol- coagulation) are treated with the aim of finding the distinguishing features of the theories. The predictions are compared with experiments and the results suggest that the induced sol-coagulation theory is the best candidate for describing the experimental observations embodied in the Matalon-Packter law., Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, RevTex

The A+B --> C reaction-diffusion process is studied in a system where the reagents are separated by a semipermeable wall. We use reaction-diffusion equations to describe the process and to derive a scaling description for the long-time behavior of the reaction front. Furthermore, we show that a critical localization-delocalization transition takes place as a control parameter which depends on the initial densities and on the diffusion constants is varied. The transition is between a reaction front of finite width that is localized at the wall and a front which is detached and moves away from the wall. At the critical point, the reaction front remains at the wall but its width diverges with time [as t^(1/6) in mean-field approximation]., Comment: 7 pages, PS file