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D. Foster

Publications and source records attributed to D. Foster.

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Crossover between liquid-like and gas-like behaviour in CH4 at 400 K

We report experimental evidence for a crossover between a liquid-like state and a gas-like state in fluid methane (CH4). This crossover is observed in all of our experiments, up to 397 K temperature; 2.1 times the critical temperature of methane. The crossover has been characterized with both Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction in a number of separate experiments, and confirmed to be reversible. We associate this crossover with the Frenkel line - a recently hypothesized crossover in dynamic properties of fluids extending to arbitrarily high pressure and temperature, dividing the phase diagram into separate regions where the fluid possesses liquid-like and gas-like properties. On the liquid-like side the Raman-active vibration increases in frequency linearly as pressure is increased, as expected due to the repulsive interaction between adjacent molecules. On the gas-like side this competes with the attractive Van der Waals potential leading the vibration frequency to decrease as pressure is increased.

cond-mat.stat-mech

The BPS sectors of the Skyrme model and their non-BPS extensions

Two recently found coupled BPS submodels of the Skyrme model are further analyzed. Firstly, we provide a geometrical formulation of the submodels in terms of the eigenvalues of the strain tensor. Secondly, we study their thermodynamical properties and show that the mean-field equations of state coincide at high pressure and read $p=\bar{\rho}/3$. We also provide evidence that matter described by the first BPS submodel has some similarity with a Bose-Einstein condensate. Moreover, we show that extending the second submodel to a non-BPS model by including certain additional terms of the full Skyrme model does not spoil the respective ansatz, leading to an ordinary differential equation for the profile of the Skymion, for any value of the topological charge. This allows for an almost analytical description of the properties of Skyrmions in this model. In particular, we analytically study the breaking and restoration of the BPS property. Finally, we provide an explanation of the success of the rational map ansatz.

hep-th

Maximal Information Transfer and Behavior Diversity in Random Threshold Networks

Random Threshold Networks (RTNs) are an idealized model of diluted, non symmetric spin glasses, neural networks or gene regulatory networks. RTNs also serve as an interesting general example of any coordinated causal system. Here we study the conditions for maximal information transfer and behavior diversity in RTNs. These conditions are likely to play a major role in physical and biological systems, perhaps serving as important selective traits in biological systems. We show that the pairwise mutual information is maximized in dynamically critical networks. Also, we show that the correlated behavior diversity is maximized for slightly chaotic networks, close to the critical region. Importantly, critical networks maximize coordinated, diverse dynamical behavior across the network and across time: the information transmission between source and receiver nodes and the diversity of dynamical behaviors, when measured with a time delay between the source and receiver, are maximized for critical networks.

q-bio.QM

The CHilean Automatic Supernova sEarch (CHASE)

The CHASE project started in 2007 with the aim of providing young southern supernovae (SNe) to the Carnegie Supernova Project (CSP) and Millennium Center for Supernova Studies (MCSS) follow-up programs. So far CHASE has discovered 33 SNe with an average of more than 2.5 SNe per month in 2008. In addition to the search we are carrying out a follow-up program targeting bright SNe. Our fully automated data reduction allows us to follow the evolution on the light curve in real time, triggering further observations if something potentially interesting is detected

astro-ph

Gas of self-avoiding loops on the brickwork lattice

An exact calculation of the phase diagram for a loop gas model on the brickwork lattice is presented. The model includes a bending energy. In the dense limit, where all the lattice sites are occupied, a phase transition occuring at an asymmetric Lifshitz tricritical point is observed as the temperature associated with the bending energy is varied. Various critical exponents are calculated. At lower densities, two lines of transitions (in the Ising universality class) are observed, terminated by a tricritical point, where there is a change in the modulation of the correlation function. To each tricritical point an associated disorder line is found.

cond-mat.stat-mech