Search results for "Statistical physic"
showing 10 items of 1403 documents
Monte Carlo Simulations of Semi-Flexible Polymers
2005
We present Monte Carlo simulations on the phase behavior of semiflexible macromolecules. For a single chain this question is of biophysical interest given the fact that long and stiff DNA chains are typically folded up into very tight compartments. So one can ask the question how the state diagram of a semiflexible chain differs from the coilglobule behavior of a flexible macromolecule. Another effect connected with rigidity of the chains is their tendency to aggregate and form nematically ordered structures. As a consequence one has two competing phase transitions: a gas-liquid and an isotropic-nematic transition potentially giving rise to a complicated phase diagram.
Polymorphic and regular localized activity structures in a two-dimensional two-component reaction–diffusion lattice with complex threshold excitation
2010
Abstract Space–time dynamics of the system modeling collective behaviour of electrically coupled nonlinear units is investigated. The dynamics of a local cell is described by the FitzHugh–Nagumo system with complex threshold excitation. It is shown that such a system supports formation of two distinct kinds of stable two-dimensional spatially localized moving structures without any external stabilizing actions. These are regular and polymorphic structures. The regular structures preserve their shape and velocity under propagation while the shape and velocity as well as other integral characteristics of polymorphic structures show rather complex temporal behaviour. Both kinds of structures r…
Statistical and systematic errors in Monte Carlo sampling
1991
We have studied the statistical and systematic errors which arise in Monte Carlo simulations and how the magnitude of these errors depends on the size of the system being examined when a fixed amount of computer time is used. We find that, depending on the degree of self-averaging exhibited by the quantities measured, the statistical errors can increase, decrease, or stay the same as the system size is increased. The systematic underestimation of response functions due to the finite number of measurements made is also studied. We develop a scaling formalism to describe the size dependence of these errors, as well as their dependence on the “bin length” (size of the statistical sample), both…
Optimized analysis of the critical behavior in polymer mixtures from Monte Carlo simulations
1992
A complete outline is given for how to determine the critical properties of polymer mixtures with extrapolation methods similar to the Ferrenberg-Swendsen techniques recently devised for spin systems. By measuring not only averages but the whole distribution of the quantities of interest, it is possible to extrapolate the data obtained in only a few simulations nearT c over the entire critical region, thereby saving at least 90% of the computer time normally needed to locate susceptibility peaks or cumulant intersections and still getting more precise results. A complete picture of the critical properties of polymer mixtures in the thermodynamic limit is then obtained with finite-size scali…
Monte Carlo simulations of Ising models and polymer blends in double wedge geometry: Evidence for novel types of critical phenomena
2005
Abstract Two-phase coexistence in systems with free surfaces is enforced by boundary fields requiring the presence of an interface. Varying the temperature or the surface field, one can observe new types of phase transitions where the interface essentially disappears (it becomes bound to a wall or a wedge or a corner of the system). These transitions are simulated with Monte Carlo for Ising ferromagnets and polymer blends, applying finite size scaling analysis. Anisotropic critical fluctuations may occur, and in the limit where the system becomes macroscopically large in all three directions the order parameter vanishes discontinuously (either because its exponent β = 0 , or its critical am…
Monte Carlo study of the ising model phase transition in terms of the percolation transition of “physical clusters”
1990
Finite squareL×L Ising lattices with ferromagnetic nearest neighbor interaction are simulated using the Swendsen-Wang cluster algorithm. Both thermal properties (internal energyU, specific heatC, magnetization 〈|M|〉, susceptibilityχ) and percolation cluster properties relating to the “physical clusters,” namely the Fortuin-Kasteleyn clusters (percolation probability 〈P∞〉, percolation susceptibilityχp, cluster size distributionnl) are evaluated, paying particular attention to finite-size effects. It is shown that thermal properties can be expressed entirely in terms of cluster properties, 〈P∞〉 being identical to 〈|M|〉 in the thermodynamic limit, while finite-size corrections differ. In contr…
Efficient parallel tempering for first-order phase transitions
2007
We present a Monte Carlo algorithm that facilitates efficient parallel tempering simulations of the density of states g(E) . We show that the algorithm eliminates the supercritical slowing down in the case of the Q=20 and Q=256 Potts models in two dimensions, typical examples for systems with extreme first-order phase transitions. As recently predicted, and shown here, the microcanonical heat capacity along the calorimetric curve has negative values for finite systems.
Mechanisms for the Dynamics of Phase Transformations
1984
An introductory review of the dynamics of (first- order) phase transitions is given. Concepts describing the initial stages of the transition, such as nucleation, spinodal decomposition (in the case of unmixing) are introduced, and their validity is critically discussed. The theoretical results are compared to recent computer simulations and pertinent experiments. Then the scaling concepts describing the late stages of domain growth are discussed, and open problems are outlined.
The crossover from first to second-order finite-size scaling: a numerical study
1994
We consider a particular case of the two dimensional Blume-Emery-Griffiths model to study the finite-size scaling for a field driven first-order phase transition with two coexisting phases not related by a symmetry. For low temperatures we verify the asymptotic (large volume) predictions of the rigorous theory of Borgs and Kotecky. Near the critical temperature we show that all data fit onto a unique curve, even when the correlation length ξ becomes comparable to or larger than the size of the system, provided the linear dimension L of the system is rescaled by ξ
Monte Carlo simulations of phase transitions of systems in nanoscopic confinement
2007
Abstract When simple or complex fluids are confined to ultrathin films or channels or other cavities of nanoscopic linear dimensions, the interplay of finite size and surface controls the phase behavior, and may lead to phase transitions rather different from the corresponding phenomena in the bulk. Monte Carlo simulation is a very suitable tool to clarify the complex behavior of such systems, since the boundary conditions providing the confinement can be controlled and arbitrarily varied, and detailed structural information on the inhomogeneous states of the considered systems is available. Examples used to illustrate these concepts include simple Ising models in pores and double-pyramid-s…