arXiv subjects

David Chandler

Publications and source records attributed to David Chandler.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2024

What is glacier sliding

Glacier and ice-sheet motion is fundamental to glaciology. However, we still lack a consensus for the optimal way to relate basal velocity to basal traction for large-scale glacier and ice-sheet models (the 'sliding relationship'). Typically, a single tunable coefficient loosely connected to one or a limited number of physical processes is varied spatially to reconcile model output with observations. Yet, process-agnostic studies indicate that the suitability of a given sliding relationship depends on the setting. Here, we suggest that this arises from myriad overlapping setting- and scale-dependent sliding sub-processes, including complicated near-basal stress states not captured by large-scale models, reviewed here as comprising a basal 'sliding layer'. A corresponding 'bulk layer' then accounts for ice deformation only minimally influenced by bed properties. We provide a framework for incorporating arbitrarily many sub-processes within a given region -- separated into normal ('form drag') and tangential ('slip') resistance at the ice-bed interface, stressing that the maximum scale of cavitation is an important contributor to the division between the two. Under reasonable assumptions, our framework implies that sliding relationships should fall within a sum of regularised-Coulomb and power-law components, with a rough-smooth distinction proving more consequential in dictating sliding behaviour than a traditional hard-soft transition.

physics.geo-ph↗

arXiv2022

Emu: A Case Study for TDI-like Imaging for Infrared Observation from Space

A wide-field zenith-looking telescope operating in a mode similar to Time-Delay-Integration (TDI) or drift scan imaging can perform an infrared sky survey without active pointing control but it requires a high-speed, low-noise infrared detector. Operating from a hosted payload platform on the International Space Station (ISS), the Emu space telescope employs the paradigm-changing properties of the Leonardo SAPHIRA electron avalanche photodiode array to provide powerful new observations of cool stars at the critical water absorption wavelength (1.4 $μ$m) largely inaccessible to ground-based telescopes due to the Earth's own atmosphere. Cool stars, especially those of spectral-type M, are important probes across contemporary astrophysics, from the formation history of the Galaxy to the formation of rocky exoplanets. Main sequence M-dwarf stars are the most abundant stars in the Galaxy and evolved M-giant stars are some of the most distant stars that can be individually observed. The Emu sky survey will deliver critical stellar properties of these cool stars by inferring oxygen abundances via measurement of the water absorption band strength at 1.4 $μ$m. Here we present the TDI-like imaging capability of Emu mission, its science objectives, instrument details and simulation results.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2020

Very High Resolution Land Cover Mapping of Urban Areas at Global Scale with Convolutional Neural Networks

This paper describes a methodology to produce a 7-classes land cover map of urban areas from very high resolution images and limited noisy labeled data. The objective is to make a segmentation map of a large area (a french department) with the following classes: asphalt, bare soil, building, grassland, mineral material (permeable artificialized areas), forest and water from 20cm aerial images and Digital Height Model. We created a training dataset on a few areas of interest aggregating databases, semi-automatic classification, and manual annotation to get a complete ground truth in each class. A comparative study of different encoder-decoder architectures (U-Net, U-Net with Resnet encoders, Deeplab v3+) is presented with different loss functions. The final product is a highly valuable land cover map computed from model predictions stitched together, binarized, and refined before vectorization.

eess.IV↗

arXiv2017

Study of the upper-critical dimension of the East model through the breakdown of the Stokes-Einstein relation

We investigate the dimensional dependence of dynamical fluctuations related to dynamic heterogeneity in supercooled liquid systems using kinetically constrained models. The $d$-dimensional spin-facilitated East model with embedded probe particles is used as a representative super-Arrhenius glass forming system. We investigate the existence of an upper critical dimension in this model by considering decoupling of transport rates through an effective fractional Stokes-Einstein relation, $D\simτ^{-1+ω}$, with $D$ and $τ$ the diffusion constant of the probe particle and the relaxation time of the model liquid, respectively, and where $ω> 0$ encodes the breakdown of the standard Stokes-Einstein relation. To the extent that decoupling indicates non mean-field behavior, our simulations suggest that the East model has an upper critical dimension which is at least above $d=10$, and argue that it may be actually be infinite. This result is due to the existence of hierarchical dynamics in the East model in any finite dimension. We discuss the relevance of these results for studies of decoupling in high dimensional atomistic models.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2016

Intra-chain organisation of hydrophobic residues controls inter-chain aggregation rates of amphiphilic polymers

Aggregation of amphiphiles through the action of hydrophobic interactions is a common feature in soft condensed matter systems and is of particular importance in the context of biophysics as it underlies both the generation of functional biological machinery as well as the formation of pathological misassembled states of proteins. Here we explore the aggregation behaviour of amphiphilic polymers using lattice Monte-Carlo calculations and show that the distribution of hydrophobic residues within the polymer sequence determines the facility with which dry/wet interfaces can be created and that such interfaces drive the aggregation process.

physics.bio-ph↗

arXiv2016

From fifty years ago, the birth of modern liquid-state science

The story told in this autobiographical perspective begins fifty years ago at the 1967 Gordon Research Conference on the Physics and Chemistry of Liquids. It traces developments in liquid-state science from that time, including contributions from the author, and especially in the study of liquid water. It emphasizes the importance of fluctuations, and the challenges of far-from-equilibrium phenomena.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2016

Applicability of dynamic facilitation theory to binary hard disk systems

We investigate numerically the applicability of dynamic facilitation (DF) theory for glass-forming binary hard disk systems where supercompression is controlled by pressure. By using novel efficient algorithms for hard disks, we are able to generate equilibrium supercompressed states in an additive non-equimolar binary mixture, where micro-crystallization and size segregation do not emerge at high average packing fractions. Above an onset pressure where collective heterogeneous relaxation sets in, we find that relaxation times are well described by a "parabolic law" with pressure. We identify excitations, or soft-spots, that give rise to structural relaxation, and find that they are spatially localized, their average concentration decays exponentially with pressure, and their associated energy scale is logarithmic in the excitation size. These observations are consistent with the predictions of DF generalized to systems controlled by pressure rather than temperature.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2015

Pre-transition effects mediate forces of assembly between transmembrane proteins

We present a mechanism for a generic and powerful force of assembly and mobility for transmembrane proteins in lipid bilayers. This force is a pre-transition (or pre-melting) effect for the first-order transition between ordered and disordered phases in the host membrane. Using large scale molecular simulation, we show that a protein with hydrophobic thickness equal to that of the disordered phase embedded in an ordered bilayer stabilizes a microscopic order-disorder interface, and the stiffness of that interface is finite. When two such proteins approach each other, they assemble because assembly reduces the net interfacial free energy. In analogy with the hydrophobic effect, we refer to this phenomenon as the "orderphobic effect". The effect is mediated by proximity to the order-disorder phase transition and the size and hydrophobic mismatch of the protein. The strength and range of forces arising from the orderphobic effect are significantly larger than those that could arise from membrane elasticity for the membranes we examine.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2015

The Smith group of the hypercube

The $n$-cube graph is the graph on the vertex set of $n$-tuples of $0$s and $1$s, with two vertices joined by an edge if and only if the $n$-tuples differ in exactly one component. We compute the Smith group of this graph, or, equivalently, the elementary divisors of an adjacency matrix of the graph.

math.CO↗

arXiv2015

Water exchange at a hydrated platinum electrode is rare and collective

We use molecular dynamics simulations to study the exchange kinetics of water molecules at a model metal electrode surface -- exchange between water molecules in the bulk liquid and water molecules bound to the metal. This process is a rare event, with a mean residence time of a bound water of about 40 ns for the model we consider. With analysis borrowed from the techniques of rare-event sampling, we show how this exchange or desorption is controlled by (1) reorganization of the hydrogen bond network within the adlayer of bound water molecules, and by (2) interfacial density fluctuations of the bulk liquid adjacent to the adlayer. We define collective coordinates that describe the desorption mechanism. Spatial and temporal correlations associated with a single event extend over nanometers and tens of picoseconds.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2015

The order-disorder transition in model lipid bilayers is a first-order hexatic to liquid phase transition

We characterize the order-disorder transition in a model lipid bilayer using molecular dynamics simulations. We find that the ordered phase is hexatic. In particular, in-plane structures possess a finite concentration of 5-7 disclination pairs that diffuse throughout the plane of the bilayer, and further, in-plane structures exhibit long-range orientational order and short-range translational order. In contrast, the disordered phase is liquid. The transition between the two phases is first order. Specifically, it exhibits hysteresis, and coexistence exhibits an interface with capillary scaling. The location of the interface and its spatial fluctuations are analyzed with a spatial field constructed from a rotational-invariant for local 6-fold orientational order. As a result of finite interfacial tension, there necessarily exist associated forces of assembly between membrane-bound solutes that pre-melt the ordered phase.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2015

Time scales of supercooled water and implications for reversible polyamorphism

Deeply supercooled water exhibits complex dynamics with large density fluctuations, ice coarsening and characteristic time scales extending from picoseconds to milliseconds. Here, we discuss implications of these time scales as they pertain to two-phase coexistence and to molecular simulations of supercooled water. Specifically, we argue that it is possible to discount liquid-liquid criticality because the time scales imply that correlation lengths for such behavior would be bounded by no more than a few nanometers. Similarly, it is possible to discount two-liquid coexistence because the time scales imply a bounded interfacial free energy that cannot grow in proportion to a macroscopic surface area. From time scales alone, therefore, we see that coexisting domains of differing density in supercooled water can be no more than nano-scale transient fluctuations.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2015

Corresponding states for mesostructure and dynamics of supercooled water

Water famously expands upon freezing, foreshadowed by a negative coefficient of expansion of the liquid at temperatures close to its freezing temperature. These behaviors, and many others, reflect the energetic preference for local tetrahedral arrangements of water molecules and entropic effects that oppose it. Here, we provide theoretical analysis of mesoscopic implications of this competition, both equilibrium and non-equilibrium, including mediation by interfaces. With general scaling arguments bolstered by simulation results, and with reduced units that elucidate corresponding states, we derive a phase diagram for bulk and confined water and water-like materials. For water itself, the corresponding states cover the temperature range of 150 K to 300 K and the pressure range of 1 bar to 2 kbar. In this regime, there are two reversible condensed phases - ice and liquid. Out of equilibrium, there is irreversible polyamorphism, i.e., more than one glass phase, reflecting dynamical arrest of coarsening ice. Temperature-time plots are derived to characterize time scales of the different phases and explain contrasting dynamical behaviors of different water-like systems.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2014

Premelting, fluctuations and coarse-graining of water-ice interfaces

Using statistical field theory supplemented with molecular dynamics simulations, we consider premelting on the surface of ice as a generic consequence of broken hydrogen bonds at the boundary between the condensed and gaseous phases. A procedure for coarse-graining molecular configurations onto a continuous scalar order parameter field is discussed, which provides a convenient representation of the interface between locally crystal-like and locally liquid-like regions. A number of interfacial properties are straightforwardly evaluated using this procedure such as the average premelting thickness and surface tension. The temperature and system size dependence of the premelting layer thickness calculated in this way confirms the characteristic logarithmic growth expected for the scalar field theory that the system is mapped onto through coarse-graining, though remains finite due to long-ranged interactions. Finally, from explicit simulations the existence of a premelting layer is shown to be insensitive to bulk lattice geometry, exposed crystal face and curvature.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2014

The Smith and critical groups of Paley graphs

There is a Paley graph for each prime power $q$ such that $q\equiv 1\pmod 4$. The vertex set is the field $\mathbb Fq$ and two vertices $x$ and $y$ are joined by an edge if and only if $x-y$ is a nonzero square of $\mathbb Fq$. We compute the Smith normal forms of the adjacency matrix and Laplacian matrix of a Paley graph.

math.CO↗

arXiv2014

Illusions of phase coexistence: Comments on "Metastable liquid-liquid transition ..." by J. C. Palmer et al., Nature 510, 385 (2014)

The recent paper cited above claims that a molecular simulation of one specific model of supercooled water establishes a stable interface separating two metastable liquid phases, which would imply the existence of metastable two-liquid criticality for that model. Here, we note that this claim conflicts with fundamental principles and with earlier work published in the \textit{Journal of Chemical Physics}, and we show that the claim is unjustified by the data put forward to support the conclusion. Other technical problems are also noted.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2014

The electric double layer has a life of its own

Using molecular dynamics simulations with recently developed importance sampling methods, we show that the differential capacitance of a model ionic liquid based double-layer capacitor exhibits an anomalous dependence on the applied electrical potential. Such behavior is qualitatively incompatible with standard mean-field theories of the electrical double layer, but is consistent with observations made in experiment. The anomalous response results from structural changes induced in the interfacial region of the ionic liquid as it develops a charge density to screen the charge induced on the electrode surface. These structural changes are strongly influenced by the out-of-plane layering of the electrolyte and are multifaceted, including an abrupt local ordering of the ions adsorbed in the plane of the electrode surface, reorientation of molecular ions, and the spontaneous exchange of ions between different layers of the electrolyte close to the electrode surface. The local ordering exhibits signatures of a first-order phase transition, which would indicate a singular charge-density transition in a macroscopic limit.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2014

Comment on "Spontaneous liquid-liquid phase separation of water" by T. Yagasaki, M. Matsumoto and H. Tanaka, Phys. Rev. E 89, 020301 (2014)

Yagasaki et al. present results from a molecular dynamics trajectory illustrating coarsening of ice, which they interpret as evidence of transient coexistence between two distinct supercooled phases of liquid water. We point out that neither two distinct liquids nor criticality are demonstrated in this simulation study. Instead, the illustrated trajectory is consistent with coarsening behaviors analyzed and predicted in earlier works by others.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗