0000000000993673

AUTHOR

B. Spagnolo

Linear and nonlinear approximations for periodically driven bistable systems

We analyze periodically driven bistable systems by two different approaches. The first approach is a linearization of the stochastic Langevin equation of our system by the response on small external force. The second one is based on the Gaussian approximation of the kinetic equations for the cumulants. We obtain with the first approach the signal power amplification and output signal-to-noise ratio for a model piece-wise linear bistable potential and compare with the results of linear response approximation. By using the second approach to a bistable quartic potential, we obtain the set of nonlinear differential equations for the first and the second cumulants.

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Temperature dependence of spin depolarization of drifting electrons in n-type GaAs bulks

The influence of temperature and transport conditions on the electron spin relaxation in lightly doped n-type GaAs semiconductors is investigated. A Monte Carlo approach is used to simulate electron transport, including the evolution of spin polarization and relaxation, by taking into account intravalley and intervalley scattering phenomena of the hot electrons in the medium. Spin relaxation lengths and times are computed through the D'yakonov-Perel process, which is the more relevant spin relaxation mechanism in the regime of interest (10 < T < 300 K). The decay of the initial spin polarization of the conduction electrons is calculated as a function of the distance in the presence of…

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Detector's quantum backaction effects on a mesoscopic conductor and fluctuation-dissipation relation

International audience; When measuring quantum mechanical properties of charge transport in mesoscopic conductors, backaction effects occur. We consider a measurement setup with an elementary quantum circuit, composed of an inductance and a capacitor, as detector of the current flowing in a nearby quantum point contact. A quantum Langevin equation for the detector variable including backaction effects is derived. Differences with the quantum Langevin equation obtained in linear response are pointed out. In this last case, a relation between fluctuations and dissipation is obtained, provided that an effective temperature of the quantum point contact is defined.

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NONEQUILIBRIUM PHENOMENA AND METASTABILITY IN MESOSCOPIC AND QUANTUM SYSTEMS

Here we summarize some relevant results related to nonequilibrium phenomena in mesoscopic and quantum systems. A common phenomenon in the dynamics of out-of-equilibrium systems is the metastability, and the problem of the lifetime of metastable states involves fundamental aspects of nonequilibrium statistical mechanics. Metastability (see Fig. 1) is a signature of a first order phase transition, often characterized by a long-living metastable state. In particular, the stability of a metastable state can be enhanced by Gaussian and non-Gaussian noise sources. This counterintuitive effect has been found in different physical areas, ranging from spintronics, aggregation kinetics of Brownian pa…

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Pattern formation and spatial correlation induced by the noise in two competing species

We analyze the spatio-temporal patterns of two competing species in the presence of two white noise sources: an additive noise acting on the interaction parameter and a multiplicative noise which affects directly the dynamics of the species densities. We use a coupled map lattice (CML) with uniform initial conditions. We find a nonmonotonic behavior both of the pattern formation and the density correlation as a function of the multiplicative noise intensity.

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Environmental Noise and Nonlinear Relaxation in Biological Systems

We analyse the effects of environmental noise in three different biological systems: (i) mating behaviour of individuals of 'Nezara viridula' (L.) (Heteroptera Pentatomidae); (ii) polymer translocation in crowded solution; (iii) an ecosystem described by a Verhulst model with a multiplicative Lèvy noise. Specifically, we report on experiments on the behavioural response of 'N. viridula' individuals to sub-threshold deterministic signals in the presence of noise. We analyse the insect response by directionality tests performed on a group of male individuals at different noise intensities. The percentage of insects which react to the sub-threshold signal shows a non-monotonic behavior, charac…

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Noise influence on electron dynamics in semiconductors driven by a periodic electric field

Studies about the constructive aspects of noise and fluctuations in different non-linear systems have shown that the addition of external noise to systems with an intrinsic noise may result in a less noisy response. Recently, the possibility to reduce the diffusion noise in semiconductor bulk materials by adding a random fluctuating contribution to the driving static electric field has been tested. The present work extends the previous theories by considering the noise-induced effects on the electron transport dynamics in low-doped n-type GaAs samples driven by a high-frequency periodic electric field (cyclostationary conditions). By means of Monte Carlo simulations, we calculate the change…

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Stability under influence of noise with regulated periodicity

A very simple stochastic differential equation with quasi‐periodical multiplicative noise is investigated analytically. For fixed noise intensity the system can be stable at high noise periodicity and unstable at low noise periodicity.

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HR3DHG version 1: modeling the spatiotemporal dynamics of mercury in the Augusta Bay (southern Italy)

The biogeochemical dynamics of Hg, and specifically of its three species Hg0, HgII, and MeHg (elemental, inorganic, and organic, respectively), in the marine coastal area of Augusta Bay (southern Italy) have been explored by the high-resolution 3D Hg (HR3DHG) model, namely an advection–diffusion–reaction model for dissolved mercury in the seawater compartment coupled with a diffusion–reaction model for dissolved mercury in the pore water of sediments in which the desorption process for the sediment total mercury is taken into account. The spatiotemporal variability of the mercury concentration in both seawater ([HgD]) and the first layers of bottom sediments ([HgDsed] and [HgTsed]), as well…

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Memristors and nonequilibrium stochastic multistable systems

The main aim of this special issue is to report the recent advances and new trends in memristors and nonequilibrium stochastic multistable systems, both theoretically and experimentally, within an interdisci-plinary context. In particular, memristors are multistable systems whose switching dynamics is a stochastic process, which can be controlled by internal and external noise sources, unveiling the constructive role of random fluctuations. Furthermore, the use of memristors as memory elements in neuromorphic systems with noise-assisted persistence of memory states, chaotic dynamics, metastable chaos and chaos synchronization, new stochastic nonlinear models, noise-induced phenomena such as…

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Gaussian models for the distribution of Brownian particles in tilted periodic potentials

We present two Gaussian approximations for the time-dependent probability density function (PDF) of an overdamped Brownian particle moving in a tilted periodic potential. We assume high potential barriers in comparison with the noise intensity. The accuracy of the proposed approximated expressions for the time-dependent PDF is checked with numerical simulations of the Langevin dynamics. We found a quite good agreement between theoretical and numerical results at all times.

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Enhancement of stability in systems with metastable states

The investigation of noise‐induced phenomena in far from equilibrium systems is one of the approach used to understand the behaviour of physical and biological complex systems. Metastability is a generic feature of many nonlinear systems, and the problem of the lifetime of metastable states involves fundamental aspects of nonequilibrium statistical mechanics. The enhancement of the life‐time of metastable states through the noise enhanced stability effect and the role played by the resonant activation phenomenon will be discussed in models of interdisciplinary physics: (i) Ising model (ii) Josephson junction; (iii) stochastic FitzHugh‐Nagumo model; (iv) a population dynamics model, and (v) …

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Stochastic resonance in a tunnel diode in the presence of white or coloured noise

We study the signal-to-noise ratio, signal and noise output levels in a fast bistable electronic system: a tunnel diode. We observe stochastic resonance when the system is driven by a sum of a small periodic signal and noise. The phenomenon is investigated for values of the driving frequency as high as 10 kHz. This is the highest frequency value used in SR experiments until now. In the presence of «white noise», we observe a nonmonotonic behavior characterized by a sharp dip in the output noise level measured at 100Hz and 1 kHz. A similar behavior is predicated by recent theories. We also present preliminary experimental results of SR in the presence of an Ornstein-Uhlenbeck noise. For the …

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Lifetime of metastable states and suppression of noise in interdisciplinary physical models

Transient properties of different physical systems with metastable states perturbed by external white noise have been investigated. Two noise-induced phenomena, namely the noise enhanced stability and the resonant activation, are theoretically predicted in a piece-wise linear fluctuating potential with a metastable state. The enhancement of the lifetime of metastable states due to the noise, and the suppression of noise through resonant activation phenomenon will be reviewed in models of interdisciplinary physics: (i) dynamics of an overdamped Josephson junction; (ii) transient regime of the noisy FitzHugh-Nagumo model; (iii) population dynamics.

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Noise Enhanced Stability

The noise can stabilize a fluctuating or a periodically driven metastable state in such a way that the system remains in this state for a longer time than in the absence of white noise. This is the noise enhanced stability phenomenon, observed experimentally and numerically in different physical systems. After shortly reviewing all the physical systems where the phenomenon was observed, the theoretical approaches used to explain the effect are presented. Specifically the conditions to observe the effect: (a) in systems with periodical driving force, and (b) in random dichotomous driving force, are discussed. In case (b) we review the analytical results concerning the mean first passage time…

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Role of the colored noise in a FitzHugh-Nagumo system driven by a periodic signal

During these last years the interest in neuronal dynamics increased. The study of this kind of system has been carried out by using the FitzHugh-Nagumo (FHN) model that is a simplified modification of the Hodgkin-Huxley model. Many interesting phenomena can be observed in the presence of fluctuations: modification of detection threshold by manipulation of noisy parameters (FHN model), noise-induced activation and coeherence resonance for suitable noise amplitude (absence of periodic signal), resonant activation for high periodic signals and noise reduction, intrinsic stochastic resonance (ISR) in Hodgkin-Huxley neuron and the enhancement of a weak signal by tuning the subthreshold intrinsic…

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MEAN FIELD APPROACH AND ROLE OF THE COLOURED NOISE IN THE DYNAMICS OF THREE INTERACTING SPECIES

We study the effects of the coloured noise on the dynamics of three interacting species, namely two preys and one predator, in a two-dimensional lattice with N sites. The three species are affected by multiplicative time correlated noise, which accounts for the effects of environment on the species evolution. Moreover, the interaction parameter between the two preys is a dichotomous stochastic process, which determines two dynamical regimes corresponding to different biological conditions. Preliminarily, we study the noise effect on the three species dynamics in single site. Then, we use a mean field approach to obtain, in Gaussian approximation, the moment equations for the species densiti…

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Noise induced effects in overdamped Josephson junction in the presence of colored noise

We analyze the role of the correlated fluctuations, with a correlation time τc, in the dynamics of an overdamped Josephson junction in the presence of a periodic driving signal.

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Resistive state relaxation time in ZrO2(Y)-based memristive devices under the influence of external noise

The effects of external digitally synthesized Gaussian noise on the resistive state relaxation time of a ZrO2(Y)-based memristive device when switching from a low resistance state to a high resistance state have been experimentally investigated. A nonmonotonic dependence of the resistive state relaxation time on the external noise intensity is found. This behavior is interpreted as a manifestation of the noise-enhanced stability effect previously observed in various complex systems with metastable states. It is shown that the experimental results agree satisfactorily with the theoretical ones. The presented results indicate the constructive role of external noise and its possible use as a m…

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Cancer growth dynamics: stochastic models and noise induced effects

In the framework of the Michaelis‐Menten (MM) reaction kinetics, we analyze the cancer growth dynamics in the presence of the immune response. We found the coexistence of noise enhanced stability (NES) and resonant activation (RA) phenomena which act in an opposite way with respect to the extinction of the tumor. The role of the stochastic resonance (SR) in the case of weak cancer therapy has been analyzed. The evolutionary dynamics of a system of cancerous cells in a model of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is investigated by a Monte Carlo approach. We analyzed the effects of a targeted therapy on the evolutionary dynamics of normal, first‐mutant and cancerous cell populations. We show how …

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DOSE DEPENDENT SURVIVAL RESPONSE IN CHRONIC MYELOID LEUKEMIA UNDER CONTINUOUS AND PULSED TARGETED THERAPY

A simulative study of cancer growth dynamics in patients affected by Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML), under the effect of a targeted dosedependent continuous or pulsed therapy, is presented. We have developed a model for the dynamics of CML in which thestochastic evolution of white blood cell populations are simulated by adopting a Monte Carlo approach. Several scenarios in the evolutionary dynamics of white blood cells, as a consequence of the efficacy of the different modelled therapies, pulsed or continuous, are described. The best results, in terms of a permanent disappearance of the leukemic phenotype, are achieved with a continuous therapy and higher dosage. However, our findings demon…

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Noise influence on correlated activities in a modular neuronal network: From synapses to functional connectivity

In this work we propose taking noise into account when modeling the neuronal activity in a correlation-based type network. Volume transmission effects on connectivity are considered. As a result, an individual module can be set in an "activated" state via noise produced by the remaining modules. The stochastic approach could provide a new insight into the relation between functional and anatomical connectivity.

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PICOPHYTOPLANKTON DYNAMICS IN NOISY MARINE ENVIRONMENT

We present a stochastic reaction-diffusion-taxis model to describe the picophytoplankton dynamics along a water column. The model, which is valid for poorly mixed waters, typical of the Mediterranean Sea, considers intraspecific competition of picophytoplankton for light and nutrients. Random fluctuations of environmental variables are taken into account by adding a source of multiplicative noise to the diffusion equation for the picophytoplankton biomass concentration, whose distribution along the water column shows a maximum at a certain depth. After converting our results into chlorophyll a concentrations, we compare theoretical distributions, obtained for different noise intensities, wi…

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Design of a lambda configuration in artificial coherent nanostructures

The implementation of a three-level Lambda System in artificial atoms would allow to perform advanced control tasks typical of quantum optics in the solid state realm, with photons in the $\mathrm{\mu m}$/mm range. However hardware constraints put an obstacle since protection from decoherence is often conflicting with efficient coupling to external fields. We address the problem of performing conventional STImulated Raman Adiabatic Passage (STIRAP) in the presence of low-frequency noise. We propose two strategies to defeat decoherence, based on "optimal symmetry breaking" and dynamical decoupling. We suggest how to apply to the different implementations of superconducting artificial atoms, …

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