arXiv subjects

Stefano Lepri

Publications and source records attributed to Stefano Lepri.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Dephasing-induced relaxation in tight-binding chains with linear and nonlinear defects

We investigate thermalization in a tight-binding chain with an on-site defect subject to local dephasing noise implemented as random phase kicks. For a single linear defect of strength $\epsilon$, we obtain an exact analytical description of the system spectrum and formulate the dephasing-induced dynamics in the eigenstate basis. We derive an approximate kinetic equation for mode populations that describes a continuous-time random walk in action space. The walk transition rates are defined by the overlap matrix encoding the spatial structure of eigenstates that can be computed exactly. Analyzing the spectral properties of the equation, we show that defect-induced localized modes act as bottlenecks that strongly slow down relaxation, with rates scaling as $\epsilon^{-2}$ for strong defects. Using large-deviation theory, we characterize rare dynamical trajectories and identify distinct relaxation pathways associated with low- and high-activity regimes in action space. We provide numerical evidence that the large-deviation function exhibits a dynamical phase transition in the limit $\epsilon \to \infty$. We then extend our analysis to the nonlinear case, considering a single nonlinear defect embedded in either a linear or a fully nonlinear discrete Schr\"odinger equation. Numerical simulations reveal a qualitatively faster approach to equilibrium than in the corresponding linear-defect model, driven by the amplitude-dependent weakening of the defect. Our results provide a unified framework for understanding thermalization, rare fluctuations, and relaxation pathways in stochastic tight-binding systems.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2026

Computing Nonequilibrium Transport from Short-Time Transients: From Lorentz Gas to Heat Conduction in One Dimensional Chains

We test the Transient Time Correlation Function (TTCF) method to compute nonequilibrium transport coefficients, highlighting its conceptual and practical difference from the standard time-average approach. While time averages extract transport properties from long stationary trajectories and discard transient dynamics, TTCF adopts the complementary strategy: it exploits the information contained in short-time transients following the onset of an external perturbation, while discarding the long-time evolution once stationarity is reached. We revisit the theoretical framework of TTCF and assess its numerical performance through representative case studies, the Lorentz gas and a many-body system, namely a chain of oscillators with anharmonic pinning potential. By direct comparison with time averages, we show that for the Lorentz gas TTCF yields consistent transport coefficients in both linear and nonlinear regimes at a reduced computational cost. Moreover, the TTCF displays superior precision in the linear-response regime, and remains reliable in non-ergodic situations, revealing the presence of regions of phase space corresponding to different behaviors, as well as the possibility of phase transitions. For the anharmonic chain, we show that TTCF is a scalable and efficient alternative for the numerical study of nonequilibrium transport.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2026

Anomalous transport in the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam-Tsingou model: a review and open problems

This review provides an up-to-date account of energy transport in Fermi-Pasta-Ulam-Tsingou (FPUT) chains, a key testbed for nonequilibrium statistical physics. We discuss the transition from the historical puzzle of thermalization to the discovery of anomalous heat transport, where the effective thermal conductivity $\kappa$ diverges with system size $L$ as $\kappa \propto L^\delta$. The article clarifies the distinction between two universality classes: the FPUT-$\alpha \beta$ model, characterized by $\delta = 1/3$ and linked to Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) physics, and the symmetric FPUT-$\beta$ model, where numerical and theoretical evidence support $\delta = 2/5$. We investigate how finite-size effects - unavoidably induced by the thermostatting protocols - can disguise the asymptotic scaling. Additionally, we analyze the role of conservative noise in preserving hydrodynamic properties and examine how proximity to integrable limits leads to long-lived quasi-particles and, thereby, to diffusive regimes over intermediate spatial scales.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2025

Lax dynamics

A novel approach is proposed to characterize the dynamics of perturbed many-body integrable systems. Focusing on the paradigmatic case of the Toda chain under non-integrable Hamiltonian perturbations, this study introduces a method based the time evolution of the Lax eigenvalues $\lambda_\alpha$ as a proxy of the quasi-particles velocities and of the perturbed Toda actions. A set of exact equations of motion for the $\lambda_\alpha$ is derived that closely resemble those for eigenenergies of a quantum problem (also known as the Pechukas-Yukawa gas). Numerical simulations suggest that the invariant measure of such dynamics is basically the thermal density of states of the Toda lattice, regardless of the form of the perturbation.

nlin.SI↗

arXiv2025

Multi-particle-collision simulation of heat transfer in low-dimensional fluids

Simulation of transport properties of confined, low-dimensional fluids can be performed efficiently by means of Multi-Particle Collision (MPC) dynamics with suitable thermal-wall boundary conditions. We illustrate the effectiveness of the method by studying dimensionality effects and size-dependence of thermal conduction, properties of crucial importance for understanding heat transfer at the micro-nanoscale. We provide a sound numerical evidence that the simple MPC fluid displays the features previously predicted from hydrodynamics of lattice systems: (1) in 1D, the thermal conductivity $\kappa$ diverges with the system size $L$ as $\kappa\sim L^{1/3}$ and its total heat current autocorrelation function $C(t)$ decays with the time $t$ as $C(t)\sim t^{-2/3}$; (2) in 2D, $\kappa$ diverges with $L$ as $\kappa\sim \mathrm{ln} (L)$ and its $C(t)$ decays with $t$ as $C(t)\sim t^{-1}$; (3) in 3D, its $\kappa$ is independent with $L$ and its $C(t)$ decays with $t$ as $C(t)\sim t^{-3/2}$. For weak interaction (the nearly integrable case) in 1D and 2D, there exists an intermediate regime of sizes where kinetic effects dominate and transport is diffusive before crossing over to expected anomalous regime. The crossover can be studied by decomposing the heat current in two contributions, which allows for a very accurate test of the predictions. In addition, we also show that upon increasing the aspect ratio of the system, there exists a dimensional crossover from 2D or 3D dimensional behavior to the 1D one. Finally, we show that an applied magnetic field renders the transport normal, indicating that pseudomomentum conservation is not sufficient for the anomalous heat conduction behavior to occur.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2024

Thermal transport in long-range interacting harmonic chains perturbed by long-range conservative noise

We study non-equilibrium properties of a chain of $N$ oscillators with both long-ranged harmonic interactions and long-range conservative noise that exchange momenta of particle pairs. We derive exact expressions for the (deterministic) energy-current auto-correlation at equilibrium, based on the kinetic approximation of the normal mode dynamics. In all cases the decay is algebraic in the thermodynamic limit. We distinguish four distinct regimes of correlation decay depending on the exponents controlling the range of deterministic and stochastic interactions. Surprisingly, we find that long-range noise breaks down the long-range correlations characteristic of low dimensional models, suggesting a normal regime in which heat transport becomes diffusive. For finite systems, we do also derive exact expressions for the finite-size corrections to the algebraic decay of the correlation. In certain regimes, these corrections are considerably large, rendering hard the estimation of transport properties from numerical data for the finite chains. Our results are tested against numerical simulations, performed with an efficient algorithm.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2024

Heat conduction in low-dimensional electron gases without and with a magnetic field

We investigate the behavior of heat conduction in two-dimensional (2D) electron gases without and with a magnetic field. We perform simulations with the Multi-Particle-Collision approach, suitably adapted to account for the Lorenz force acting on the particles. For zero magnetic field, we find that the heat conductivity $\kappa$ diverges with the system size $L$ following the logarithmic relation $\kappa\thicksim \ln L$ (as predicted for two-dimensional (2D) systems) for small $L$ values; however, in the thermodynamic limit the heat conductivity tends to follow the relation $\kappa\thicksim L^{1/3}$, as predicted for one-dimensional (1D) fluids. This suggests the presence of a dimensional-crossover effect in heat conduction in electronic systems that adhere to standard momentum conservation. Under the magnetic field, time-reversal symmetry is broken and the standard momentum conservation in the system is no longer satisfied but the \emph{pseudomomentum} of the system is still conserved. In contrast with the zero-field case, both equilibrium and non-equilibrium simulations indicate a finite heat conductivity independent on the system size $L$ as $L$ increases. This indicates that pseudomomentum conservation can exhibit normal diffusive heat transport, which differs from the abnormal behavior observed in low-dimensional coupled charged harmonic oscillators with pseudomomentum conservation in a magnetic field. These findings support the validity of the hydrodynamic theory in electron gases and clarify that pseudomomentum conservation is not enough to ensure the anomalous behavior of heat conduction.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2024

Large-deviations approach to thermalization: the case of harmonic chains with conservative noise

We investigate the possibility of characterizing the different thermalization pathways through a large-deviation approach. Specifically, we consider clean, disordered and quasi-periodic harmonic chains under energy and momentum-conserving noise. For their associated master equations, describing the dynamics of normal modes energies, we compute the fluctuations of activity and dynamical entropy in the corresponding biased ensembles. First-order dynamical phase transition are found that originates from different activity regions in action space. At the transitions, the steady-state in the biased ensembles changes from extended to localized, yielding a kind of condensation in normal-modes space. For the disordered and quasi-periodic models, we argue that the phase-diagram has a critical point at a finite value of the disorder or potential strength.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2023

1953: Fermi's "little discovery" and the birth of the numerical experiment

The year 1953 is pivotal for computational physics: the first application of the Monte-Carlo method is published and calculations of the so-called Fermi-Pasta-Ulam-Tsingou experiment are started. It is the beginning of the massive use in the physical sciences of numerical methods implemented on electronic computers and a decisive step in the development of modern nonlinear dynamics. This will lead to an unpredictable development during the following 70 years. We briefly review the unfolding of these events and present some recent results that show how the issues raised are still relevant today

physics.hist-ph↗

arXiv2023

Lattice models of random advection and diffusion and their statistics

We study in detail a one-dimensional lattice model of a continuum, conserved field (mass) that is transferred deterministically between neighbouring random sites. The model falls in a wider class of lattice models capturing the joint effect of random advection and diffusion and encompassing as specific cases, some models studied in the literature, like the Kang-Redner, Kipnis-Marchioro-Presutti, Takayasu-Taguchi, etc. The motivation for our setup comes from a straightforward interpretation as advection of particles in one-dimensional turbulence, but it is also related to a problem of synchronization of dynamical systems driven by common noise. For finite lattices, we study both the coalescence of an initially spread field (interpreted as roughening), and the statistical steady-state properties. We distinguish two main size-dependent regimes, depending on the strength of the diffusion term and on the lattice size. Using numerical simulations and mean-field approach, we study the statistics of the field. For weak diffusion, we unveil a characteristic hierarchical structure of the field. We also connect the model and the iterated function systems concept.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2023

Non-equilibrium steady states of long-range coupled harmonic chains

We perform a numerical study of transport properties of a one-dimensional chain with couplings decaying as an inverse power $r^{-(1+σ)}$ of the intersite distance $r$ and open boundary conditions, interacting with two heat reservoirs. Despite its simplicity, the model displays highly nontrivial features in the strong long-range regime, $-1<σ<0$. At weak coupling with the reservoirs, the energy flux departs from the predictions of perturbative theory and displays anomalous superdiffusive scaling of the heat current with the chain size. We trace back this behavior to the transmission spectrum of the chain, which displays a self-similar structure with a characteristic sigma-dependent fractal dimension.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2023

Non-Fourier heat transport in nanosystems

Energy transfer in small nanosized systems can be very different from that in their macroscopic counterparts due to reduced dimensionality, interaction with surfaces, disorder, and large fluctuations. Those ingredients may induce non-diffusive heat transfer that requires to be taken into account on small scales. We provide an overview of the recent advances in this field from the points of view of nonequilibrium statistical mechanics and atomistic simulations. We summarize the underlying basic properties leading to violations of the standard diffusive picture of heat transport and its universal features, with some historical perspective. We complete this scenario by illustrating also the effects of long-range interaction and integrability on non-diffusive transport. Then we discuss how all of these features can be exploited for thermal management, rectification and to improve the efficiency of energy conversion. We conclude with a review on recent achievements in atomistic simulations of anomalous heat transport in single polymers, nanotubes and two-dimensional materials. A short account of the existing experimental literature is also given.}

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2023

Large Fluctuations in Amplifying Graphs

We consider a model for chaotic diffusion with amplification on graphs associated with piecewise-linear maps of the interval [S. Lepri, Chaos Solitons & Fractals, 139,110003 (2020)]. We determine the conditions for having fat-tailed invariant measures by considering approximate solution of the Perron-Frobenius equation for generic graphs. An analogy with the statistical mechanics of a directed polymer is presented that allows for a physically appealing interpretation of the statistical regimes. The connection between non-Gaussian statistics and the generalized Lyapunov exponents $L(q)$ is illustrated. Finally, some results concerning large graphs are reported.

nlin.CD↗

arXiv2022

Thermalization of isolated harmonic networks under conservative noise

We study a scalar harmonic network with pair interactions and a binary collision rule, exchanging the momenta of a randomly-chosen couple of sites. We consider the case of the isolated network where the total energy is conserved. In the first part, we recast the dynamics as a stochastic map in normal modes (or action-angle) coordinates and provide a geometric interpretation of it. We formulate the problem for generic networks but, for completeness, also reconsider the translation-invariant lattices. In the second part, we examine the kinetic limit and its range of validity. A general form of the linear collision operator in terms of eigenstates of the network is given. This defines an \textit{action network}, whose connectivity gives information on the out-of-equilibrium dynamics. We present a few examples (ordered and disordered chains and elastic networks) where the topology of connections in action spaces can be determined in a neat way. As an application, we consider the classic problem of relaxation to equipartition from the point of view of the dynamics of linear actions. We compare the results based on the spectrum of the collision operator with numerical simulation, performed with a novel scheme based on direct solution of the equation of motion in normal modes coordinates.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2022

Classical and quantum harmonic mean-field models coupled intensively and extensively with external baths

We study the nonequilibrium steady-state of a fully-coupled network of $N$ quantum harmonic oscillators, interacting with two thermal reservoirs. Given the long-range nature of the couplings, we consider two setups: one in which the number of particles coupled to the baths is fixed (intensive coupling) and one in which it is proportional to the size $N$ (extensive coupling). In both cases, we compute analytically the heat fluxes and the kinetic temperature distributions using the nonequilibrium Green's function approach, both in the classical and quantum regimes. In the large $N$ limit, we derive the asymptotic expressions of both quantities as a function of $N$ and the temperature difference between the baths. We discuss a peculiar feature of the model, namely that the bulk temperature vanishes in the thermodynamic limit, due to a decoupling of the dynamics of the inner part of the system from the baths. At variance with usual cases, this implies that the steady state depends on the initial state of the particles in the bulk. We also show that quantum effects are relevant only below a characteristic temperature that vanishes as $1/N$. In the quantum low-temperature regime the energy flux is proportional to the universal quantum of thermal conductance.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2022

Hydrodynamics and transport in the long-range-interacting $φ^4$ chain

We present a simulation study of the one-dimensional $φ^4$ lattice theory with long-range interactions decaying as an inverse power $r^{-(1+σ)}$ of the intersite distance $r$, $σ>0$. We consider the cases of single and double-well local potentials with both attractive and repulsive couplings. The double-well, attractive case displays a phase transition for $0<σ\le 1$ analogous to the Ising model with long-range ferromagnetic interactions. A dynamical scaling analysis of both energy structure factors and excess energy correlations shows that the effective hydrodynamics is diffusive for $σ>1$ and anomalous for $0<σ<1$ where fluctuations propagate superdiffusively. We argue that this is accounted for by a fractional diffusion process and we compare the results with an effective model of energy transport based on Lévy flights. Remarkably, this result is fairly insensitive on the phase transition. Nonequilibrium simulations with an applied thermal gradient are in quantitative agreement with the above scenario.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2021

Phase-locking dynamics of heterogeneous oscillator arrays

We consider an array of nearest-neighbor coupled nonlinear autonomous oscillators with quenched random frequencies and purely conservative coupling. We show that global phase-locked states emerge in finite lattices and study numerically their destruction. Upon change of model parameters, such states are found to become unstable with the generation of localized periodic and chaotic oscillations. For weak nonlinear frequency dispersion, metastability occur akin to the case of almost-conservative systems. We also compare the results with the phase-approximation in which the amplitude dynamics is adiabatically eliminated.

nlin.CD↗

arXiv2021

Mechanisms for transient localization in a diatomic nonlinear chain

We investigate transient nonlinear localization, namely the self-excitation of energy bursts in an atomic lattice at finite temperature. As a basic model we consider the diatomic Lennard-Jones chain. Numerical simulations suggest that the effect originates from two different mechanisms. One is the thermal excitation of genuine discrete breathers with frequency in the phonon gap. The second is an effect of nonlinear coupling of fast, lighter particles with slow vibrations of the heavier ones. The quadratic term of the force generate an effective potential that can lead to transient grow of local energy on time scales the can be relatively long for small mass ratios. This heuristics is supported by a multiple-scale approximation based on the natural time-scale separation. For illustration, we consider a simplified single-particle model that allows for some insight of the localization dynamics.

nlin.PS↗