arXiv subjects

Ezequiel V. Albano

Publications and source records attributed to Ezequiel V. Albano.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2018

Heterogeneous Nucleation of a Droplet Pinned at a Chemically Inhomogeneous Substrate: A Simulation Study of the Two-dimensional Ising Case

Heterogeneous nucleation is studied by Monte Carlo simulations and phenomenological theory, using the two-dimensional lattice gas model with suitable boundary fields. A chemical inhomogeneity of length b at one boundary favors the liquid phase, while elsewhere the vapor is favored. Switching on the bulk field favoring the liquid, nucleation and growth of the liquid phase starting from the region of the chemical inhomogeneity is analyzed. Three regimes occur: for small fields, the critical droplet radius is so large that a critical droplet having the contact angle required by Young's equation in the region of the chemical inhomogeneity does not yet fit there, since the baseline length of the circle-cut sphere droplet would exceed b. For an intermedium regime of bulk fields, such droplets fit inside the inhomogeneity, and are indeed found in simulations with large enough observation times, but these droplets remain pinned to the chemical inhomogeneity when their baseline has grown to the length b. On general grounds one can predict that the effective contact angle as well as the excess density of the droplets, scaled by b^2, are functions of the product b and the bulk field, but do not depend on both variables separately. For larger fields the droplets nucleated at the chemical inhomogeneity grow to the full system size.

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arXiv2014

Interfacial depinning transitions in disordered media: revisiting an old puzzle

Interfaces advancing through random media represent a number of different problems in physics, biology and other disciplines. Here, we study the pinning/depinning transition of the prototypical non-equilibrium interfacial model, i.e. the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation, advancing in a disordered medium. We analyze separately the cases of positive and negative non-linearity coefficients, which are believed to exhibit qualitatively different behavior: the positive case shows a continuous transition that can be related to directed-percolation-depinning while in the negative case there is a discontinuous transition and faceted interfaces appear. Some studies have argued from different perspectives that both cases share the same universal behavior. Here, by using a number of computational and scaling techniques we shed light on this puzzling situation and conclude that the two cases are intrinsically different.

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arXiv2013

Complex Network Structure of Flocks in the Standard Vicsek Model

In flocking models, the collective motion of self-driven individuals leads to the formation of complex spatiotemporal patterns. The Standard Vicsek Model (SVM) considers individuals that tend to adopt the direction of movement of their neighbors under the influence of noise. By performing an extensive complex network characterization of the structure of SVM flocks, we show that flocks are highly clustered, assortative, and non-hierarchical networks with short-tailed degree distributions. Moreover, we also find that the SVM dynamics leads to the formation of complex structures with an effective dimension higher than that of the space where the actual displacements take place. Furthermore, we show that these structures are capable of sustaining mean-field-like orientationally ordered states when the displacements are suppressed, thus suggesting a linkage between the onset of order and the enhanced dimensionality of SVM flocks.

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arXiv2013

Gregarious vs Individualistic Behavior in Vicsek Swarms and the Onset of First-Order Phase Transitions

The Standard Vicsek Model (SVM) is a minimal nonequilibrium model of self-propelled particles that appears to capture the essential ingredients of critical flocking phenomena. In the SVM, particles tend to align with each other and form ordered flocks of collective motion; however, perturbations controlled by a noise term lead to a noise-driven, continuous order-disorder phase transition. In this work, we extend the SVM by introducing a parameter $α$ that allows particles to be individualistic instead of gregarious, i.e. to choose a direction of motion independently of their neighbors. By focusing on the small-noise regime, we show that a relatively small probability of individualistic motion (around 10%) is sufficient to drive the system from a Vicsek-like ordered phase to a disordered phase. Despite the fact that the $α-$extended Model preserves the O(n) symmetry, the interaction range, as well as the dimensionality of the underlying SVM, this novel phase transition is found to be discontinuous (first-order), an intriguing manifestation of the richness of the nonequilibrium flocking/swarming phenomenon.

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arXiv2012

Damage Spreading in a Driven Lattice Gas Model

We studied damage spreading in a Driven Lattice Gas (DLG) model as a function of the temperature $T$, the magnitude of the external driving field $E$, and the lattice size. The DLG model undergoes an order-disorder second-order phase transition at the critical temperature $T_c(E)$, such that the ordered phase is characterized by high-density strips running along the direction of the applied field; while in the disordered phase one has a lattice-gas-like behaviour. It is found that the damage always spreads for all the investigated temperatures and reaches a saturation value $D_{sat}$ that depends only on $T$. $D_{sat}$ increases for $T T_c(E=\infty)$ and is free of finite-size effects. This behaviour can be explained as due to the existence of interfaces between the high-density strips and the lattice-gas-like phase whose roughness depends on $T$. Also, we investigated damage spreading for a range of finite fields as a function of $T$, finding a behaviour similar to that of the case with $E=\infty$.

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arXiv2012

Wetting Transition in the Two-Dimensional Blume-Capel Model: A Monte Carlo study

The wetting transition of the Blume-Capel model is studied by a finite-size scaling analysis of $L \times M$ lattices where competing boundary fields $\pm H_1$ act on the first row or last row of the $L$ rows in the strip, respectively. We show that using the appropriate anisotropic version of finite size scaling, critical wetting in $d=2$ is equivalent to a "bulk" critical phenomenon with exponents $α=-1$, $β=0$, and $γ=3$. These concepts are also verified for the Ising model. For the Blume-Capel model it is found that the field strength $H_{1c} (T)$ where critical wetting occurs goes to zero when the bulk second-order transition is approached, while $H_{1c}(T)$ stays nonzero in the region where in the bulk a first-order transition from the ordered phase, with nonzero spontaneous magnetization, to the disordered phase occurs. Interfaces between coexisting phases then show interfacial enrichment of a layer of the disordered phase which exhibits in the second order case a finite thickness only. A tentative discussion of the scaling behavior of the wetting phase diagram near the tricritical point also is given.

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arXiv2012

Dynamical and stationary critical behavior of the Ising ferromagnet in a thermal gradient

In this paper we present and discuss results of Monte Carlo numerical simulations of the two-dimensional Ising ferromagnet in contact with a heat bath that intrinsically has a thermal gradient. The extremes of the magnet are at temperatures $T_1 T_c$) by means of a single simulation. By starting the simulations with fully disordered initial configurations with magnetization $m\equiv 0$ corresponding to $T=\infty$, which are then suddenly annealed to a preset thermal gradient, we study the short-time critical dynamic behavior of the system. Also, by setting a small initial magnetization $m=m_0$, we study the critical initial increase of the order parameter. Furthermore, by starting the simulations from fully ordered configurations, which correspond to the ground state at T=0 and are subsequently quenched to a preset gradient, we study the critical relaxation dynamics of the system. Additionally, we perform stationary measurements ($t\rightarrow\infty$) that are discussed in terms of the standard finite-size scaling theory. We conclude that our numerical simulation results of the Ising magnet in a thermal gradient, which are rationalized in terms of both dynamic and standard scaling arguments, are fully consistent with well established results obtained under equilibrium conditions.

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arXiv2012

Far-from-equilibrium growth of thin films in a temperature gradient

The irreversible growth of thin films under far-from-equilibrium conditions is studied in $(2+1)-$dimensional strip geometries. Across one of the transverse directions, a temperature gradient is applied by thermal baths at fixed temperatures between $T_1$ and $T_2$, where $T_1<T_c^{hom}<T_2$ and $T_c^{hom}=0.69(1)$ is the critical temperature of the system in contact with an homogeneous thermal bath. By using standard finite-size scaling methods, we characterized a continuous order-disorder phase transition driven by the thermal bath gradient with critical temperature $T_c=0.84(2)$ and critical exponents $ν=1.53(6)$, $γ=2.54(11)$, and $β=0.26(8)$, which belong to a different universality class from that of films grown in an homogeneous bath. Furthermore, the effects of the temperature gradient are analyzed by means of a bond model that captures the growth dynamics. The interplay of geometry and thermal bath asymmetries leads to growth bond flux asymmetries and the onset of transverse ordering effects that explain qualitatively the shift in the critical temperature.

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arXiv2012

Nonequilibrium Critical Behavior of Magnetic Thin Films Grown in a Temperature Gradient

We investigate the irreversible growth of $(2+1)-$dimensional magnetic thin films under the influence of a transverse temperature gradient, which is maintained by thermal baths across a direction perpendicular to the direction of growth. Therefore, different longitudinal layers grow at different temperatures between $T_1$ and $T_2$, where $T_1<T_c^{hom}<T_2$ and $T_c^{hom}=0.69(1)$ is the critical temperature of films grown in homogeneous thermal baths. We find a far-from-equilibrium continuous order-disorder phase transition driven by the thermal bath gradient. We characterize this gradient-induced critical behavior by means of standard finite-size scaling procedures, which lead to the critical temperature $T_c=0.84(2)$ and a new universality class consistent with the set of critical exponents $ν=3/2$, $γ=5/2$, and $β=1/4$. In order to gain further insight into the effects of the temperature gradient, we also develop a bond model that captures the magnetic film's growth dynamics. Our findings show that the interplay of geometry and thermal bath asymmetries leads to growth bond flux asymmetries and the onset of transverse ordering effects that explain qualitatively the shift observed in the critical temperature. The relevance of these mechanisms is further confirmed by a finite-size scaling analysis of the interface width, which shows that the growing sites of the system define a self-affine interface.

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arXiv2012

Criticality and the Onset of Ordering in the Standard Vicsek Model

Experimental observations of animal collective behavior have shown stunning evidence for the emergence of large-scale cooperative phenomena resembling phase transitions in physical systems. Indeed, quantitative studies have found scale-free correlations and critical behavior consistent with the occurrence of continuous, second-order phase transitions. The Standard Vicsek Model (SVM), a minimal model of self-propelled particles in which their tendency to align with each other competes with perturbations controlled by a noise term, appears to capture the essential ingredients of critical flocking phenomena. In this paper, we review recent finite-size scaling and dynamical studies of the SVM, which present a full characterization of the continuous phase transition through dynamical and critical exponents. We also present a complex network analysis of SVM flocks and discuss the onset of ordering in connection with XY-like spin models.

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arXiv2010

Short-Time Critical Dynamics of Damage Spreading in the Two-Dimensional Ising Model

The short-time critical dynamics of propagation of damage in the Ising ferromagnet in two dimensions is studied by means of Monte Carlo simulations. Starting with equilibrium configurations at $T= \infty$ and magnetization $M=0$, an initial damage is created by flipping a small amount of spins in one of the two replicas studied. In this way, the initial damage is proportional to the initial magnetization $M_0$ in one of the configurations upon quenching the system at $T_C$, the Onsager critical temperature of the ferromagnetic-paramagnetic transition. It is found that, at short times, the damage increases with an exponent $θ_D=1.915(3)$, which is much larger than the exponent $θ=0.197$ characteristic of the initial increase of the magnetization $M(t)$. Also, an epidemic study was performed. It is found that the average distance from the origin of the epidemic ($\langle R^2(t)\rangle$) grows with an exponent $z^* \approx η\approx 1.9$, which is the same, within error bars, as the exponent $θ_D$. However, the survival probability of the epidemics reaches a plateau so that $δ=0$. On the other hand, by quenching the system to lower temperatures one observes the critical spreading of the damage at $T_{D}\simeq 0.51 T_C$, where all the measured observables exhibit power laws with exponents $θ_D = 1.026(3)$, $δ= 0.133(1)$, and $z^*=1.74(3)$.

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arXiv2009

Reply to the comment of Kolakowska and Novotny (arXiv:0909.0992)

In an early paper (Horowitz and Albano, Phys. Rev. E.,{\bf 73} 031111 (2006)) we studied growing models, generically called $X/RD$, such that a particle is attached to the aggregate with probability $p$ following the mechanisms of a generic model $X$, and at random [Random Deposition (RD)] with probability $(1 -p)$. We also formulated scaling relationships that are expected to hold in the limits $p \to 0$ and $L \to \infty $, where $L$ is the sample side. In a comment, Kolakowska and Novotny (KN) stated that our scaling hypotheses does not hold. Here, we show that the criticisms of KN are outlined by analyzing data out of the proper scaling regime and consequently they are groundless and can be disregarded.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2008

Ballistic deposition on deterministic fractals: On the observation of discrete scale invariance

The growth of ballistic aggregates on deterministic fractal substrates is studied by means of numerical simulations. First, we attempt the description of the evolving interface of the aggregates by applying the well-established Family-Vicsek dynamic scaling approach. Systematic deviations from that standard scaling law are observed, suggesting that significant scaling corrections have to be introduced in order to achieve a more accurate understanding of the behavior of the interface. Subsequently, we study the internal structure of the growing aggregates that can be rationalized in terms of the scaling behavior of frozen trees, i.e., structures inhibited for further growth, lying below the growing interface. It is shown that the rms height ($h_{s}$) and width ($w_{s}$) of the trees of size $s$ obey power laws of the form $h_{s} \propto s^{ν_{\parallel}}$ and $w_{s} \propto s^{ν_{\perp}}$, respectively. Also, the tree-size distribution ($n_{s}$) behaves according to $n_{s}\sim s^{-τ}$. Here, $ν_{\parallel}$ and $ν_{\perp}$ are the correlation length exponents in the directions parallel and perpendicular to the interface, respectively. Also, $τ$ is a critical exponent. However, due to the interplay between the discrete scale invariance of the underlying fractal substrates and the dynamics of the growing process, all these power laws are modulated by logarithmic periodic oscillations. The fundamental scaling ratios, characteristic of these oscillations, can be linked to the (spatial) fundamental scaling ratio of the underlying fractal by means of relationships involving critical exponents.

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arXiv2008

Dynamic behavior of the interface of strip-like structures in driven diffusive systems

The dynamic behavior of the interfaces in the standard and random driven lattice gas models (DLG and RDLG respectively) is investigated via numerical Monte Carlo simulations in two dimensions. For $T\lesssim T_c$, the average interface width of the strips ($W$) was measured as a function of the lattice size and the anisotropic shape factor. It was found that the saturation value $W^{2}_{sat}$ only depends on the lattice size parallel to the external field axis $L_y$ and exhibits two distinct regimes: $W^{2}_{sat}\propto \ln$ $L_y$ for low temperatures, that crosses over to $W^{2}_{sat}\propto L_y^{2α_I}$ near the critical zone, $α_I=1/2$ being the roughness exponent of the interface. By using the relationship $α_I=1/(1+Δ_I)$, the anisotropic exponent for the interface of the DLG model was estimated, giving $Δ_I\simeq 1$, in agreement with the computed value for anisotropic bulk exponent $Δ_B$ with a recently proposed theoretical approach. At the crossover region between both regimes, we observed indications of bulk criticality. The time evolution of $W$ at $T_c$ was also monitored and shows two growing stages: first one observes that $W \propto \ln$ $t$ for several decades, and in the following times one has $W\propto t^{β_I}$, where $β_{I}$ is the dynamic exponent of the interface width. By using this value we estimated the dynamic critical exponent of the correlation length in the perpendicular direction to the external field, giving $z_{\perp}^I\approx 4$, which is consistent with the dynamic exponent of the bulk critical transition $z_{\perp}^B$ in both theoretical approaches developed for the standard model. A similar scenario was also observed in the RDLG model, suggesting that both models may belong to the same universality class.

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arXiv2008

The Magnetic Eden Model

In the magnetic Eden model (MEM), particles have a spin and grow in contact with a thermal bath. Although Ising-like interactions affect the growth dynamics, deposited spins are frozen and not allowed to flip. This review article focuses on recent developments and future prospects, such as spontaneous switching phenomena, critical behavior associated with fractal, wetting, and order-disorder phase transitions, the equilibrium/nonequilibrium correspondence conjecture, as well as dynamical and critical features of the MEM defined on complex network substrates.

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arXiv2008

The Damage Spreading Method in Monte Carlo Simulations: A brief overview and applications to confined magnetic materials

In this paper we first give a brief overview of Monte Carlo simulation results obtained by applying the Damage Spreading method. We analyse the transition between a state where the damage becomes healed (the frozen phase) and a regime where the damage spreads arriving at a finite (stationary) value (the damaged phase), when a control parameter is finely tuned. These kinds of transitions are actually true irreversible phase transitions themselves, and the issue of their universality class is also discussed. Subsequently, the attention is focused on the propagation of damage in magnetic systems placed in confined geometries, such as the Abraham's Model, the standard Ising magnet (Glauber dynamics) and the corner geometry. The influence of interfaces between magnetic domains of different orientation on the spreading of the perturbation is also discussed, showing that the presence of interfaces enhances the propagation of the damage. Furthermore, the critical transition between propagation and nonpropagation of the damage is discussed. In all cases, the determined critical exponents suggest that the DS transition does not belong to the universality class of Directed Percolation, unlike many other systems exhibiting irreversible phase transitions. This result reflects the dramatic influence of interfaces on the propagation of perturbations in magnetic systems.

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arXiv2007

Critical Behaviour of Irreversible Reaction Systems

An introductory review on the critical behaviour of some irreversible reaction systems is given. The study of these systems has attracted great attention during the last decades due to, on the one hand, the rich and complex underlying physics, and on the other hand, their relevance for numerous technological applications in heterogeneous catalysis, corrosion and coating, development of microelectronic devices, etc. The review is focuses on recent advances in the understanding of irreversible phase transitions (IPT's) providing a survey of the theoretical development of the field during the last decade, as well as a detailed discussion of relevant numerical simulations. The Langevin formulation for the treatment of second-order IPT's is discussed. Different Monte Carlo approaches are also presented in detail and the finite-size scaling analysis of second-order IPT's is described. Special attention is devoted to the description of recent progress in the study of first-order IPT's observed upon catalytic oxidation of carbon monoxide and the reduction of nitrogen monoxide, using lattice gas reaction models. Only brief comments are given on other reactions such as the oxidation of hydrogen, ammonia synthesis, etc. Also, a discussion of relevant experiments is presented and measurement are compared with the numerical results. Furthermore, promising areas for further research and open questions are also addressed.

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arXiv2007

Interplay between thermal percolation and jamming upon dimer adsorption on binary alloys

Using Monte Carlo simulations we study jamming and percolation processes upon the random sequential adsorption of dimers on binary alloys with different degrees of structural order. We obtain the equimolar mixtures used as substrates by applying the isomorphism between an alloy and the Ising model (conserved order parameter). The annealing temperature $T$ of the mixture then is a continuous parameter that characterizes the different sets of substrates, shaping the deposition process. As the alloy undergoes an order-disorder phase transition at the Onsager critical temperature ($T_{c}$), the jamming and percolating properties of the dimers deposited over the substrate are subjected to non-trivial changes. These are reflected in a density-temperature phase diagram with three well-defined regions. We find that for $T < T^* = 1.22 T_{c}$ the occurrence of jamming prevents the onset of percolating clusters, while percolation is possible for $T > T^{*}$. Particular attention is focused close to $T^{*}$, where the interplay between jamming and percolation restricts fluctuations, forcing exponents seemingly different from the standard percolation universality class. By analogy with a thermal transition, we study the onset of percolation by using the {\it temperature} (in this case, the substrate annealing temperature) as a control parameter. By proposing thermal scaling Ansatzes we analyze the behavior of the percolation threshold and its thermally induced fluctuations. Also, the fractal dimension of the percolating cluster is determined. Based on these measurements and the excellent data collapsing, we conclude that the universality class of standard percolation is preserved for all temperatures.

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