Tunneling behavior of Ising and Potts models in the low-temperature regime

We consider the ferromagnetic $q$-state Potts model with zero external field in a finite volume and assume that the stochastic evolution of this system is described by a Glauber-type dynamics parametrized by the inverse temperature $\beta$. Our analysis concerns the low-temperature regime $\beta \to \infty$, in which this multi-spin system has $q$ stable equilibria, corresponding to the configurations where all spins are equal. Focusing on grid graphs with various boundary conditions, we study the tunneling phenomena of the $q$-state Potts model. More specifically, we describe the asymptotic behavior of the first hitting times between stable equilibria as $\beta \to \infty$ in probability, in expectation, and in distribution and obtain tight bounds on the mixing time as side-result. In the special case $q=2$, our results characterize the tunneling behavior of the Ising model on grid graphs.Comment: 13 figure

Competitive nucleation in metastable systems

Metastability is observed when a physical system is close to a first order phase transition. In this paper the metastable behavior of a two state reversible probabilistic cellular automaton with self-interaction is discussed. Depending on the self-interaction, competing metastable states arise and a behavior very similar to that of the three state Blume-Capel spin model is found

Short paths for first passage percolation on the complete graph

We study the complete graph equipped with a topology induced by independent and identically distributed edge weights. The focus of our analysis is on the weight W_n and the number of edges H_n of the minimal weight path between two distinct vertices in the weak disorder regime. We establish novel and simple first and second moment methods using path counting to derive first order asymptotics for the considered quantities. Our results are stated in terms of a sequence of parameters (s_n) that quantifies the extreme-value behaviour of the edge weights, and that describes different universality classes for first passage percolation on the complete graph. These classes contain both n-independent and n-dependent edge weight distributions. The method is most effective for the universality class containing the edge weights E^{s_n}, where E is an exponential(1) random variable and s_n log n -> infty, s_n^2 log n -> 0. We discuss two types of examples from this class in detail. In addition, the class where s_n log n stays finite is studied. This article is a contribution to the program initiated in \cite{BhaHof12}.Comment: 31 pages, 4 figure

Yukawa hierarchies from spontaneous breaking of the \bma{SU(3)_L\times SU(3)_R} flavour symmetry?

The tree level potential for a scalar multiplet of `Yukawa fields' $Y$ for one type of quarks admits the promising vacuum configuration $\propto {\rm diag}(0,0,1)$ that breaks spontaneously $SU(3)_L\times SU(3)_R$ flavour symmetry. We investigate whether the vanishing entries could be lifted to nonvanishing values by slightly perturbing the potential, thus providing a mechanism to generate the Yukawa hierarchies. For theories where at the lowest order the only massless states are Nambu-Goldstone bosons we find, as a general result, that the structure of the tree-level vacuum is perturbatively stable against corrections from scalar loops or higher dimensional operators. We discuss the reasons for this stability, and give an explicit illustration in the case of loop corrections by direct computation of the one-loop effective potential of Yukawa fields. Nevertheless, a hierarchical configuration $\propto {\rm diag}(\epsilon',\epsilon,1)$ (with $\epsilon', \epsilon\ll 1$) can be generated by enlarging the scalar Yukawa sector. We present a simple model in which spontaneous breaking of the flavour symmetry can give rise to the fermion mass hierarchies.Comment: 25 pages, 1 figur

História da ciência x aprendizagem : algumas semalhanças detectadas a partir de um estudo psicogenético sobre las idéias que evoluem para a noção de campo de força

In this article, based upon a psychogenetic study on the ideas which evolve to the concept of field of force, we show some students' conceptions which seem to be similar to others found in the History of Science. We analyse aspects which could contribute to the construction of the teaching of this concept