arXiv subjects

L. L. Bonilla

Publications and source records attributed to L. L. Bonilla.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

arXiv2002

Pulse propagation in discrete systems of coupled excitable cells

Propagation of pulses in myelinated fibers may be described by appropriate solutions of spatially discrete FitzHugh-Nagumo systems. In these systems, propagation failure may occur if either the coupling between nodes is not strong enough or the recovery is too fast. We give an asymptotic construction of pulses for spatially discrete FitzHugh-Nagumo systems which agrees well with numerical simulations and discuss evolution of initial data into pulses and pulse generation at a boundary. Formulas for the speed and length of pulses are also obtained.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2002

Nonlinear stochastic discrete drift-diffusion theory of charge fluctuations and domain relocation times in semiconductor superlattices

A stochastic discrete drift-diffusion model is proposed to account for the effects of shot noise in weakly coupled, highly doped semiconductor superlattices. Their current-voltage characteristics consist of a number stable multistable branches corresponding to electric field profiles displaying two domains separated by a domain wall. If the initial state corresponds to a voltage on the middle of a stable branch and a sudden voltage is switched so that the final voltage corresponds to the next branch, the domains relocate after a certain delay time. Shot noise causes the distribution of delay times to change from a Gaussian to a first passage time distribution as the final voltage approaches that of the end of the first current branch. These results agree qualitatively with experiments by Rogozia {\it et al} (Phys. Rev. B {\bf 64}, 041308(R) (2001)).

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2002

Motion of Wavefronts in Semiconductor Superlattices

An analysis of wavefront motion in weakly coupled doped semiconductor superlattices is presented. If a dimensionless doping is sufficiently large, the superlattice behaves as a discrete system presenting front propagation failure and the wavefronts can be described near the threshold currents $J_i$ ($i=1,2$) at which they depin and move. The wavefront velocity scales with current as $|J-J_i|^{1\over 2}$. If the dimensionless doping is low enough, the superlattice behaves as a continuum system and wavefronts are essentially shock waves whose velocity obeys an equal area rule.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2002

Axisymmetric pulse recycling and motion in bulk semiconductors

The Kroemer model for the Gunn effect in a circular geometry (Corbino disks) has been numerically solved. The results have been interpreted by means of asymptotic calculations. Above a certain onset dc voltage bias, axisymmetric pulses of the electric field are periodically shed by an inner circular cathode. These pulses decay as they move towards the outer anode, which they may not reach. As a pulse advances, the external current increases continuously until a new pulse is generated. Then the current abruptly decreases, in agreement with existing experimental results. Depending on the bias, more complex patterns with multiple pulse shedding are possible.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2002

Effects of disorder on the wave front depinning transition in spatially discrete systems

Pinning and depinning of wave fronts are ubiquitous features of spatially discrete systems describing a host of phenomena in physics, biology, etc. A large class of discrete systems is described by overdamped chains of nonlinear oscillators with nearest-neighbor coupling and subject to random external forces. The presence of weak randomness shrinks the pinning interval and it changes the critical exponent of the wave front depinning transition from 1/2 to 3/2. This effect is derived by means of a recent asymptotic theory of the depinning transition, extended to discrete drift-diffusion models of transport in semiconductor superlattices and confirmed by numerical calculations.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2002

Wavefront depinning transition in discrete one-dimensional reaction-diffusion systems

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2001

Temperature dependence of current self-oscillations and electric field domains in sequential tunneling doped superlattices

We examine how the current--voltage characteristics of a doped weakly coupled superlattice depends on temperature. The drift velocity of a discrete drift model of sequential tunneling in a doped GaAs/AlAs superlattice is calculated as a function of temperature. Numerical simulations and theoretical arguments show that increasing temperature favors the appearance of current self-oscillations at the expense of static electric field domain formation. Our findings agree with available experimental evidence.

cond-mat↗

arXiv2000

Chaotic motion of space charge wavefronts in semiconductors under time-independent voltage bias

A standard drift-diffusion model of space charge wave propagation in semiconductors has been studied numerically and analytically under dc voltage bias. For sufficiently long samples, appropriate contact resistivity and applied voltage - such that the sample is biased in a regime of negative differential resistance - we find chaos in the propagation of nonlinear fronts (charge monopoles of alternating sign) of electric field. The chaos is always low-dimensional, but has a complex spatial structure; this behavior can be interpreted using a finite dimensional asymptotic model in which the front (charge monopole) positions and the electrical current are the only dynamical variables.

cond-mat↗

arXiv2000

High-field limit of the Vlasov-Poisson-Fokker-Planck system: A comparison of different perturbation methods

A reduced drift-diffusion (Smoluchowski-Poisson) equation is found for the electric charge in the high-field limit of the Vlasov-Poisson-Fokker-Planck system, both in one and three dimensions. The corresponding electric field satisfies a Burgers equation. Three methods are compared in the one-dimensional case: Hilbert expansion, Chapman-Enskog procedure and closure of the hierarchy of equations for the moments of the probability density. Of these methods, only the Chapman-Enskog method is able to systematically yield reduced equations containing terms of different order.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2000

Chapman-Enskog method and synchronization of globally coupled oscillators

The Chapman-Enskog method of kinetic theory is applied to two problems of synchronization of globally coupled phase oscillators. First, a modified Kuramoto model is obtained in the limit of small inertia from a more general model which includes ``inertial'' effects. Second, a modified Chapman-Enskog method is used to derive the amplitude equation for an O(2) Takens-Bogdanov bifurcation corresponding to the tricritical point of the Kuramoto model with a bimodal distribution of oscillator natural frequencies. This latter calculation shows that the Chapman-Enskog method is a convenient alternative to normal form calculations.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2000

Exact solutions and dynamics of globally coupled phase oscillators

We analyze mean-field models of synchronization of phase oscillators with singular couplings and subject to external random forces. They are related to the Kuramoto-Sakaguchi model. Their probability densities satisfy local partial differential equations similar to the Porous Medium, Burgers and extended Burgers equations depending on the degree of singularity of the coupling. We show that Porous Medium oscillators (the most singularly coupled) do not synchronize and that (transient) synchronization is possible only at zero temperature for Burgers oscillators. The extended Burgers oscillators have a nonlocal coupling first introduced by Daido and they may synchronize at any temperature. Exact expressions for their synchronized phases and for Daido's order function are given in terms of elliptic functions.

nlin.AO↗

arXiv2000

Wavefronts may move upstream in doped semiconductor superlattices

In weakly coupled, current biased, doped semiconductor superlattices, domain walls may move upstream against the flow of electrons. For appropriate doping values, a domain wall separating two electric field domains moves downstream below a first critical current, it remains stationary between this value and a second critical current, and it moves upstream above. These conclusions are reached by using a comparison principle to analyze a discrete drift-diffusion model, and validated by numerical simulations. Possible experimental realizations are suggested.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2000

Synchronization in populations of globally coupled oscillators with inertial effects

A model for synchronization of globally coupled phase oscillators including ``inertial'' effects is analyzed. In such a model, both oscillator frequencies and phases evolve in time. Stationary solutions include incoherent (unsynchronized) and synchronized states of the oscillator population. Assuming a Lorentzian distribution of oscillator natural frequencies, $g(Ω)$, both larger inertia or larger frequency spread stabilize the incoherent solution, thereby making harder to synchronize the population. In the limiting case $g(Ω)=δ(Ω)$, the critical coupling becomes independent of inertia. A richer phenomenology is found for bimodal distributions. For instance, inertial effects may destabilize incoherence, giving rise to bifurcating synchronized standing wave states. Inertia tends to harden the bifurcation from incoherence to synchronized states: at zero inertia, this bifurcation is supercritical (soft), but it tends to become subcritical (hard) as inertia increases. Nonlinear stability is investigated in the limit of high natural frequencies.

cond-mat↗

arXiv2000

Microscopic derivation of transport coefficients and boundary conditions in discrete drift-diffusion models of weakly coupled superlattices

A discrete drift-diffusion model is derived from a microscopic sequential tunneling model of charge transport in weakly coupled superlattices provided temperatures are low or high enough. Realistic transport coefficients and novel contact current--field characteristic curves are calculated from microscopic expressions, knowing the design parameters of the superlattice. Boundary conditions clarify when possible self-sustained oscillations of the current are due to monopole or dipole recycling.

cond-mat↗

arXiv1998

Exactly solvable phase oscillator models with synchronization dynamics

Populations of phase oscillators interacting globally through a general coupling function $f(x)$ have been considered. In the absence of precessing frequencies and for odd-coupling functions there exists a Lyapunov functional and the probability density evolves toward stable stationary states described by an equilibrium measure. We have then proposed a family of exactly solvable models with singular couplings which synchronize more easily as the coupling becomes less singular. The stationary solutions of the least singular coupling considered, $f(x)=$ sign$(x)$, have been found analytically in terms of elliptic functions. This last case is one of the few non trivial models for synchronization dynamics which can be analytically solved.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv1998

On the Photorefractive Gunn Effect

We present and numerically solve a model of the photorefractive Gunn effect. We find that high field domains can be triggered by phase-locked interference fringes, as it has been recently predicted on the basis of linear stability considerations. Since the Gunn effect is intrinsically nonlinear, we find that such considerations give at best order-of-magnitude estimations of the parameters critical to the photorefractive Gunn effect. The response of the system is much more complex including multiple wave shedding from the injecting contact, wave suppression and chaos with spatial structure.

cond-mat↗

arXiv1997

Aging in the Linear Harmonic Oscillator

The low temperature Monte Carlo dynamics of an ensemble of linear harmonic oscillators shows some entropic barriers related to the difficulty of finding the directions in configurational space which decrease the energy. This mechanism is enough to observe some typical non-equilibrium features of glassy systems like activated-type behavior and aging in the correlation function and in the response function. Due to the absence of interactions the model only displays a one-step relaxation process.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv1997

Current-voltage characteristic and stability in resonant-tunneling n-doped semiconductor superlattices

We review the occurrence of electric-field domains in doped superlattices within a discrete drift model. A complete analysis of the construction and stability of stationary field profiles having two domains is carried out. As a consequence, we can provide a simple analytical estimation for the doping density above which stable stable domains occur. This bound may be useful for the design of superlattices exhibiting self-sustained current oscillations. Furthermore we explain why stable domains occur in superlattices in contrast to the usual Gunn diode.

cond-mat↗