Biomedical subjects

P Le Doussal

Publications and source records attributed to P Le Doussal.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2001

Nonequilibrium dynamics of random field Ising spin chains: exact results via real space renormalization group.

The nonequilibrium dynamics of classical random Ising spin chains with nonconserved magnetization are studied using an asymptotically exact real space renormalization group (RSRG). We focus on random field Ising model (RFIM) spin chains with and without a uniform applied field, as well as on Ising spin glass chains in an applied field. For the RFIM we consider a universal regime where the random field and the temperature are both much smaller than the exchange coupling. In this regime, the Imry-Ma length that sets the scale of the equilibrium correlations is large and the coarsening of domains from random initial conditions (e.g., a quench from high temperature) occurs over a wide range of length scales. The two types of domain walls that occur diffuse in opposite random potentials, of the form studied by Sinai, and domain walls annihilate when they meet. Using the RSRG we compute many universal asymptotic properties of both the nonequilibrium dynamics and the equilibrium limit. We find that the configurations of the domain walls converge rapidly toward a set of system-specific time-dependent positions that are independent of the initial conditions. Thus the behavior of this nonequilibrium system is pseudodeterministic at long times because of the broad distributions of barriers that occur on the long length scales involved. Specifically, we obtain the time dependence of the energy, the magnetization, and the distribution of domain sizes (found to be statistically independent). The equilibrium limits agree with known exact results. We obtain the exact scaling form of the two-point equal time correlation function and the two-time autocorrelations . We also compute the persistence properties of a single spin, of local magnetization, and of domains. The analogous quantities for the +/-J Ising spin glass in an applied field are obtained from the RFIM via a gauge transformation. In addition to these we compute the two-point two-time correlation function which can in principle be measured by experiments on spin-glass-like systems. The thermal fluctuations are studied and found to be dominated by rare events; in particular all moments of truncated equal time correlations are computed. Physical properties which are typically measured in aging experiments are also studied, focusing on the response to a small magnetic field which is applied after waiting for the system to equilibrate for a time t(w). The nonequilibrium fluctuation-dissipation ratio X(t,t(w)) is computed. We find that for (t-t(w)) approximately t(alpha)(w) with alpha;<1, the ratio equal to its equilibrium value X=1, although time translational invariance does not hold in this regime. For t-t(w) approximately t(w) the ratio exhibits an aging regime with a nontrivial X=X(t/t(w)) not equal to 1, but the behavior is markedly different from mean field theory. Finally the distribution of the total magnetization and of the number of domains is computed for large finite size systems. General issues about convergence toward equilibrium and the possibilities of weakly history-dependent evolution in other random systems are discussed.

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PubMed2001

Exact multilocal renormalization group and applications to disordered problems.

We develop a method, the exact multilocal renormalization group (EMRG) which applies to a broad set of theories. It is based on the systematic multilocal expansion of the Polchinski-Wilson exact renormalization group (ERG) equation together with a scheme to compute correlation functions. Integrating out explicitly the nonlocal interactions, we reduce the ERG equation obeyed by the full interaction functional to a flow equation for a function, its local part. This is done perturbatively around fixed points, but exactly to any given order in the local part. It is thus controlled, at variance with projection methods, e.g., derivative expansions or local potential approximations. Our EMRG method is well-suited to problems such as the pinning of disordered elastic systems, previously described via functional renormalization group (FRG) approach based on a hard cutoff scheme. Since it involves arbitrary cutoff functions, we explicitly verify universality to O(epsilon=4-D), both of the T=0 FRG equation and of correlations. Extension to finite temperature T yields the finite size (L) susceptibility fluctuations characterizing mesoscopic behavior (Deltachi)2 approximately L(straight theta)/T, where straight theta is the energy exponent. Finally, we obtain the universal scaling function to O(epsilon(1/3)) which describes the ground state of a domain wall in a random field confined by a field gradient, compare with exact results and variational method. Explicit two loop exact RG equations are derived and the application to the FRG problem is sketched.

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PubMed2001

A Bragg glass phase in the vortex lattice of a type II superconductor.

Although crystals are usually quite stable, they are sensitive to a disordered environment: even an infinitesimal amount of impurities can lead to the destruction of crystalline order. The resulting state of matter has been a long-standing puzzle. Until recently it was believed to be an amorphous state in which the crystal would break into 'crystallites'. But a different theory predicts the existence of a novel phase of matter: the so-called Bragg glass, which is a glass and yet nearly as ordered as a perfect crystal. The 'lattice' of vortices that contain magnetic flux in type II superconductors provide a good system to investigate these ideas. Here we show that neutron-diffraction data of the vortex lattice provides unambiguous evidence for a weak, power-law decay of the crystalline order characteristic of a Bragg glass. The theory also predicts accurately the electrical transport properties of superconductors; it naturally explains the observed phase transitions and the dramatic jumps in the critical current associated with the melting of the Bragg glass. Moreover, the model explains experiments as diverse as X-ray scattering in disordered liquid crystals and the conductivity of electronic crystals.

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PubMed2001

Freezing of dynamical exponents in low dimensional random media.

A particle in a random potential with logarithmic correlations in dimensions d = 1,2 is shown to undergo a dynamical transition at T(dyn)>0. In d = 1 exact results show T(dyn) = T(c), the static glass transition temperature, and that the dynamical exponent changes from z(T) = 2+2(T(c)/T)(2) at high T to z(T) = 4T(c)/T in the glass phase. The same formulas are argued to hold in d = 2. Dynamical freezing is also predicted in the 2D random gauge XY model and related systems. In d = 1 a mapping between dynamics and statics is unveiled and freezing involves barriers as well as valleys. Anomalous scaling occurs in the creep dynamics, relevant to dislocation motion experiments.

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PubMed2001

Renormalization of pinned elastic systems: how does it work beyond one loop?

We study the field theories for pinned elastic systems at equilibrium and at depinning. Their beta functions differ to two loops by novel "anomalous" terms. At equilibrium we find a roughness zeta = 0.208 298 04 epsilon + 0.006 858 epsilon(2) (random bond), zeta = epsilon/3 (random field). At depinning we prove two-loop renormalizability and that random field attracts shorter range disorder. We find zeta = epsilon/3(1 + 0.143 31 epsilon), epsilon = 4 - d, in violation of the conjecture zeta = epsilon/3, solving the discrepancy with simulations. For long range elasticity zeta = epsilon/3(1 + 0.397 35 epsilon), epsilon = 2 - d, much closer to the experimental value (approximately 0.5 both for liquid helium contact line depinning and slow crack fronts) than the standard prediction 1/3.

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PubMed2001

Glass transition of a particle in a random potential, front selection in nonlinear renormalization group, and entropic phenomena in Liouville and sinh-Gordon models.

We study via renormalization group (RG), numerics, exact bounds, and qualitative arguments the equilibrium Gibbs measure of a particle in a d-dimensional Gaussian random potential with translationally invariant logarithmic spatial correlations. We show that for any d>/=1 it exhibits a transition at T=T(c)>0. The low-temperature glass phase has a nontrivial structure, being dominated by a few distant states (with replica symmetry breaking phenomenology). In finite dimension this transition exists only in this "marginal glass" case (energy fluctuation exponent straight theta=0) and disappears if correlations grow faster (single ground-state dominance straight theta>0) or slower (high-temperature phase). The associated extremal statistics problem for correlated energy landscapes exhibits universal features which we describe using a nonlinear Kolmogorov (KPP) RG equation. These include the tails of the distribution of the minimal energy (or free energy) and the finite-size corrections, which are universal. The glass transition is closely related to Derrida's random energy models. In d=2, the connection between this problem and Liouville and sinh-Gordon models is discussed. The glass transition of the particle exhibits interesting similarities with the weak- to strong-coupling transition in Liouville (c=1 barrier) and with a transition that we conjecture for the sinh-Gordon model, with correspondence in some exact results and RG analysis. Glassy freezing of the particle is associated with the generation under RG of new local operators and of nonsmooth configurations in Liouville. Applications to Dirac fermions in random magnetic fields at criticality reveal a peculiar "quasilocalized" regime (corresponding to the glass phase for the particle), where eigenfunctions are concentrated over a finite number of distant regions, and allow us to recover the multifractal spectrum in the delocalized regime.

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PubMed1999

Random walkers in one-dimensional random environments: exact renormalization group analysis.

Sinai's model of diffusion in one dimension with random local bias is studied by a real space renormalization group, which yields exact results at long times. The effects of an additional small uniform bias force are also studied. We obtain analytically the scaling form of the distribution of the position x(t) of a particle, the probability of it not returning to the origin, and the distributions of first passage times, in an infinite sample as well as in the presence of a boundary and in a finite but large sample. We compute the distribution of the meeting time of two particles in the same environment. We also obtain a detailed analytic description of the thermally averaged trajectories by computing quantities such as the joint distribution of the number of returns and of the number of jumps forward. These quantities obey multifractal scaling, characterized by generalized persistence exponents theta(g) which we compute. In the presence of a small bias, the number of returns to the origin becomes finite, characterized by a universal scaling function which we obtain. The full statistics of the distribution of successive times of return of thermally averaged trajectories is obtained, as well as detailed analytical information about correlations between directions and times of successive jumps. The two-time distribution of the positions of a particle, x(t) and x(t') with t>t', is also computed exactly. It is found to exhibit "aging" with several time regimes characterized by different behaviors. In the unbiased case, for t-t' approximately t'alpha with alpha>1, it exhibits a ln t/ln t' scaling, with a singularity at coinciding rescaled positions x(t)=x(t'). This singularity is a novel feature, and corresponds to particles that remain in a renormalized valley. For closer times alpha<1, the two-time diffusion front exhibits a quasiequilibrium regime with a ln(t-t')/ln t' behavior which we compute. The crossover to a t/t' aging form in the presence of a small bias is also obtained analytically. Rare events corresponding to intermittent splitting of the thermal packet between separated wells which dominate some averaged observables are also characterized in detail. Connections with the Green function of a one-dimensional Schrödinger problem and quantum spin chains are discussed.

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