Searcharxiv⌕ Search

arXiv subjects

Christian Beck

Publications and source records attributed to Christian Beck.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources
arXiv2007

Electromagnetic dark energy

We introduce a new model for dark energy in the universe in which a small cosmological constant is generated by ordinary electromagnetic vacuum energy. The corresponding virtual photons exist at all frequencies but switch from a gravitationally active phase at low frequencies to a gravitationally inactive phase at higher frequencies via a Ginzburg-Landau type of phase transition. Only virtual photons in the gravitationally active state contribute to the cosmological constant. A small vacuum energy density, consistent with astronomical observations, is naturally generated in this model. We propose possible laboratory tests for such a scenario based on phase synchronisation in superconductors.

astro-ph↗
arXiv2007

Superstatistics, thermodynamics, and fluctuations

A thermodynamic-like formalism is developed for superstatistical systems based on conditional entropies. This theory takes into account large-scale variations of intensive variables of systems in nonequilibrium stationary states. Ordinary thermodynamics is recovered as a special case of the present theory, and corrections to it can be systematically evaluated. A generalization of Einstein's relation for fluctuations is presented using a maximum entropy condition.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗
arXiv2007

Possible Measurable Effects of Dark Energy in Rotating Superconductors

We discuss recent laboratory experiments with rotating superconductors and show that three so far unexplained experimentally observed effects (anomalous acceleration signals, anomalous gyroscope signals, Cooper pair mass excess) can be physically explained in terms of a possible interaction of dark energy with Cooper pairs. Our approach is based on a Ginzburg-Landau-like model of electromagnetic dark energy, where gravitationally active photons obtain mass in the superconductor. We show that this model can account simultaneously for the anomalous acceleration and anomalous gravitomagnetic fields around rotating superconductors measured by Tajmar et al. and for the anomalous Cooper pair mass in superconductive Niobium, measured by Cabrera and Tate. It is argued that these three different physical effects are ultimately different experimental manifestations of the simultaneous spontaneous breaking of gauge invariance, and of the principle of general covariance in superconductive materials.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2007

Central limit behavior of deterministic dynamical systems

We investigate the probability density of rescaled sums of iterates of deterministic dynamical systems, a problem relevant for many complex physical systems consisting of dependent random variables. A Central Limit Theorem (CLT) is only valid if the dynamical system under consideration is sufficiently mixing. For the fully developed logistic map and a cubic map we analytically calculate the leading-order corrections to the CLT if only a finite number of iterates is added and rescaled, and find excellent agreement with numerical experiments. At the critical point of period doubling accumulation, a CLT is not valid anymore due to strong temporal correlations between the iterates. Nevertheless, we provide numerical evidence that in this case the probability density converges to a $q$-Gaussian, thus leading to a power-law generalization of the CLT. The above behavior is universal and independent of the order of the maximum of the map considered, i.e. relevant for large classes of critical dynamical systems.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗
arXiv2007

Complexity of chaotic fields and standard model parameters

In order to understand the parameters of the standard model of electroweak and strong interactions (coupling constants, masses, mixing angles) one needs to embed the standard model into some larger theory that accounts for the observed values. This means some additional sector is needed that fixes and stabilizes the values of the fundamental constants of nature. In these lecture notes we describe in nontechnical terms how such a sector can be constructed. Our additional sector is based on rapidly fluctuating scalar fields that, although completely deterministic, evolve in the strongest possible chaotic way and exhibit complex behaviour. These chaotic fields generate potentials for moduli fields, which ultimately fix the fundamental parameters. The chaotic dynamics can be physically interpreted in terms of vacuum fluctuations. These vacuum fluctuations are different from those of QED or QCD but coupled with the same moduli fields as QED and QCD are. The vacuum energy generated by the chaotic fields underlies the currently observed dark energy of the universe. Our theory correctly predicts the numerical values of the electroweak and strong coupling constants using a simple principle, the minimization of vacuum energy. Implementing some additional discrete symmetry assumptions one also obtains predictions for fermion masses, as well as a Higgs mass prediction of 154 GeV.

hep-th↗
arXiv2007

Statistics of 3-dimensional Lagrangian turbulence

We consider a superstatistical dynamical model for the 3-d movement of a Lagrangian tracer particle embedded in a high-Reynolds number turbulent flow. The analytical model predictions are in excellent agreement with recent experimental data for flow between counter-rotating disks. In particular, we calculate the Lagrangian scaling exponents zeta_j for our system, and show that they agree well with the measured exponents reported in [X. Hu et al., PRL 96, 114503 (2006)]. Moreover, the model correctly predicts the shape of velocity difference and acceleration probability densities, the fast decay of component correlation functions and the slow decay of the modulus, as well as the statistical dependence between acceleration components. Finally, the model explains the numerically [P.K. Yeung and S.B. Pope, J. Fluid Mech. 207, 531 (1989)] and experimentally observed fact [B.W. Zeff et al., Nature 421, 146 (2003)] that enstrophy lags behind dissipation.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗
arXiv2006

Rebuttal to: Has dark energy really been discovered in the Lab?

We argue that a recent discussion of Jetzer and Straumann [Phys. Lett. B 606, 77 (2005)] relating the measured noise spectrum in Josephson junctions to van der Waals forces is incorrect. The measured noise spectrum in Josephson junctions is a consequence of the fluctuation dissipation theorem and the Josephson effect and has nothing to do with van der Waals forces. Consequently, the argument of Jetzer and Straumann does not shed any light on whether dark energy can or cannot be measured using superconducting Josephson devices. We also point out that a more recent paper of Jetzer and Straumann [Phys. Lett. B 639, 57 (2006)] claiming that `zeropoint energies do not show up in any application of the fluctuation dissipation theorem' violates the standard view on the subject.

astro-ph↗
arXiv2006

Measurability of vacuum fluctuations and dark energy

Vacuum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field induce current fluctuations in resistively shunted Josephson junctions that are measurable in terms of a physical power spectrum. In this paper we investigate under which conditions vacuum fluctuations can be gravitationally active, thus contributing to the dark energy density of the universe. Our central hypothesis is that vacuum fluctuations are gravitationally active if and only if they are measurable in terms of a physical power spectrum in a suitable macroscopic or mesoscopic detector. This hypothesis is consistent with the observed dark energy density in the universe and offers a resolution of the cosmological constant problem. Using this hypothesis we show that the observable vacuum energy density rho_vac in the universe is related to the largest possible critical temperature T_c of superconductors through rho_vac = sigma (kT_c)^4/(hbar^3 c^3), where sigma is a small constant of the order 10^-3. This relation can be regarded as an analog of the Stefan-Boltzmann law for dark energy. Our hypothesis is testable in Josephson junctions where we predict there should be a cutoff in the measured spectrum at 1.7 THz if the hypothesis is true.

astro-ph↗
arXiv2006

Nonconcave entropies in multifractals and the thermodynamic formalism

We discuss a subtlety involved in the calculation of multifractal spectra when these are expressed as Legendre-Fenchel transforms of functions analogous to free energy functions. We show that the Legendre-Fenchel transform of a free energy function yields the correct multifractal spectrum only when the latter is wholly concave. If the spectrum has no definite concavity, then the transform yields the concave envelope of the spectrum rather than the spectrum itself. Some mathematical and physical examples are given to illustrate this result, which lies at the root of the nonequivalence of the microcanonical and canonical ensembles. On a more positive note, we also show that the impossibility of expressing nonconcave multifractal spectra through Legendre-Fenchel transforms of free energies can be circumvented with the help of a generalized free energy function, which relates to a recently introduced generalized canonical ensemble. Analogies with the calculation of rate functions in large deviation theory are finally discussed.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗
arXiv2006

Modelling train delays with q-exponential functions

We demonstrate that the distribution of train delays on the British railway network is accurately described by q-exponential functions. We explain this by constructing an underlying superstatistical model.

physics.soc-ph↗
arXiv2006

Scaling behaviour of non-hyperbolic coupled map lattices

Coupled map lattices of non-hyperbolic local maps arise naturally in many physical situations described by discretised reaction diffusion equations or discretised scalar field theories. As a prototype for these types of lattice dynamical systems we study diffusively coupled Tchebyscheff maps of N-th order which exhibit strongest possible chaotic behaviour for small coupling constants a. We prove that the expectations of arbitrary observables scale with \sqrt{a} in the low-coupling limit, contrasting the hyperbolic case which is known to scale with a. Moreover we prove that there are log-periodic oscillations of period \log N^2 modulating the \sqrt{a}-dependence of a given expectation value. We develop a general 1st order perturbation theory to analytically calculate the invariant 1-point density, show that the density exhibits log-periodic oscillations in phase space, and obtain excellent agreement with numerical results.

nlin.CD↗
arXiv2006

Laboratory tests on dark energy

The physical nature of the currently observed dark energy in the universe is completely unclear, and many different theoretical models co-exist. Nevertheless, if dark energy is produced by vacuum fluctuations then there is a chance to probe some of its properties by simple laboratory tests based on Josephson junctions. These electronic devices can be used to perform `vacuum fluctuation spectroscopy', by directly measuring a noise spectrum induced by vacuum fluctuations. One would expect to see a cutoff near 1.7 THz in the measured power spectrum, provided the new physics underlying dark energy couples to electric charge. The effect exploited by the Josephson junction is a subtile nonlinear mixing effect and has nothing to do with the Casimir effect or other effects based on van der Waals forces. A Josephson experiment of the suggested type will now be built, and we should know the result within the next 3 years.

astro-ph↗
arXiv2005

Stretched exponentials from superstatistics

Distributions exhibiting fat tails occur frequently in many different areas of science. A dynamical reason for fat tails can be a so-called superstatistics, where one has a superposition of local Gaussians whose variance fluctuates on a rather large spatio-temporal scale. After briefly reviewing this concept, we explore in more detail a class of superstatistics that hasn't been subject of many investigations so far, namely superstatistics for which a suitable power beta^eta of the local inverse temperature beta is chi^2-distributed. We show that eta >0 leads to power law distributions, while eta <0 leads to stretched exponentials. The special case eta=1 corresponds to Tsallis statistics and the special case eta=-1 to exponential statistics of the square root of energy. Possible applications for granular media and hydrodynamic turbulence are discussed.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗
arXiv2005

Superstatistical Brownian motion

As a main example for the superstatistics approach, we study a Brownian particle moving in a d-dimensional inhomogeneous environment with macroscopic temperature fluctuations. We discuss the average occupation time of the particle in spatial cells with a given temperature. The Fokker-Planck equation for this problem becomes a stochastic partial differential equation. We illustrate our results using experimentally measured time series from hydrodynamic turbulence.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗
arXiv2005

From time series to superstatistics

Complex nonequilibrium systems are often effectively described by a `statistics of a statistics', in short, a `superstatistics'. We describe how to proceed from a given experimental time series to a superstatistical description. We argue that many experimental data fall into three different universality classes: chi^2-superstatistics (Tsallis statistics), inverse chi^2-superstatistics, and log-normal superstatistics. We discuss how to extract the two relevant well separated superstatistical time scales tau and T, the probability density of the superstatistical parameter beta, and the correlation function for beta from the experimental data. We illustrate our approach by applying it to velocity time series measured in turbulent Taylor-Couette flow, which is well described by log-normal superstatistics and exhibits clear time scale separation.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗
arXiv2005

Superstatistical turbulence models

Recently there has been some progress in modeling the statistical properties of turbulent flows using simple superstatistical models. Here we briefly review the concept of superstatistics in turbulence. In particular, we discuss a superstatistical extension of the Sawford model and compare with experimental data.

physics.flu-dyn↗
arXiv2005

Superstatistics: Recent developments and applications

We review some recent developments which make use of the concept of `superstatistics', an effective description for nonequilibrium systems with a varying intensive parameter such as the inverse temperature. We describe how the asymptotic decay of stationary probability densities can be determined using a variational principle, and present some new results on the typical behaviour of correlation functions in dynamical superstatistical models. We briefly describe some recent applications of the superstatistics concept in hydrodynamics, astrophysics, and finance.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗