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Full-Text Articles in Physics

Nonlinear Dynamics In Combinatorial Games: Renormalizing Chomp, Eric J. Friedman, Adam S. Landsberg Jun 2007

Nonlinear Dynamics In Combinatorial Games: Renormalizing Chomp, Eric J. Friedman, Adam S. Landsberg

WM Keck Science Faculty Papers

We develop a new approach to combinatorial games that reveals connections between such games and some of the central ideas of nonlinear dynamics: scaling behaviors, complex dynamics and chaos, universality, and aggregation processes. We take as our model system the combinatorial game Chomp, which is one of the simplest in a class of "unsolved" combinatorial games that includes Chess, Checkers, and Go. We discover that the game possesses an underlying geometric structure that "grows" (reminiscent of crystal growth), and show how this growth can be analyzed using a renormalization procedure adapted from physics. In effect, this methodology allows one to …


Local Effective Potential Theory: Nonuniqueness Of Potential And Wave Function, Viraht Sahni, Marlina Slamet, Xiao-Yin Pan May 2007

Local Effective Potential Theory: Nonuniqueness Of Potential And Wave Function, Viraht Sahni, Marlina Slamet, Xiao-Yin Pan

Physics Faculty Publications

In local effective potential energy theories such as the Hohenberg-Kohn-Sham density functional theory (HKS-DFT) and quantal density functional theory (Q-DFT) electronic systems in their ground or excited states are mapped to model systems of noninteracting fermions with equivalent density. From these models, the equivalent total energy and ionization potential are also obtained. This paper concerns the nonuniqueness of the local effective potential energy function of the model system in the mapping from a nondegenerate ground state, the nonuniqueness of the local effective potential energy function in the mapping from a nondegenerate excited state, and in the mapping to a model …


Ua66 2007 Student Awards Ceremony, Wku Ogden College Of Science & Engineering Apr 2007

Ua66 2007 Student Awards Ceremony, Wku Ogden College Of Science & Engineering

WKU Archives Records

Program recognizing Ogden College students with brief list of activities for each student.


Strokes Of Existence: The Connection Of All Things, Mari Gorman Jan 2007

Strokes Of Existence: The Connection Of All Things, Mari Gorman

Graduate Student Publications and Research

Acted or real—and all life is real whether one is acting or not—the common denominator and consistent, ubiquitous reality of life and all behavior is that it manifests in the form of relationships on all scales. But what is a relationship? Until now, the answer to this question has not been sufficiently known. As a result of many years of empirical research that began with the aim of discovering what is going on in a gifted actor when s/he is playing a character that can be observed and experienced as a living, intuitive being, and based on the knowledge that …


Application Of Ansys In Seismic Response Analysis Of Constructing Of High Buildings, Yang Xiaojun Jan 2007

Application Of Ansys In Seismic Response Analysis Of Constructing Of High Buildings, Yang Xiaojun

Xiao-Jun Yang

The dynamic feature of high buildings is discussed in the present study with the application of ANSYS,the large finite element analysis software,aimed at the analysis of dynamic response of high buildings.Based on the case of a 15一story-building,a model of beam and shell 3-D finite element structure is built and the frequency of structure and the mode of vibration are computed in the study;furthermore,the structural dynamic response is discussed under different seismic waves with the use of the history analysis method.The results show that the more intense the seismic wave is,the bigger is the dynamic response of the buildings.The information can …


Domain Relaxation In Langmuir Films, James C. Alexander, Andrew J. Bernoff, Elizabeth K. Mann, J. Adin Mann Jr., Jacob R. Wintersmith '06, Lu Zou Jan 2007

Domain Relaxation In Langmuir Films, James C. Alexander, Andrew J. Bernoff, Elizabeth K. Mann, J. Adin Mann Jr., Jacob R. Wintersmith '06, Lu Zou

All HMC Faculty Publications and Research

We report on theoretical studies of molecularly thin Langmuir films on the surface of a quiescent subfluid and qualitatively compare the results to both new and previous experiments. The film covers the entire fluid surface, but domains of different phases are observed. In the absence of external forcing, the compact domains tend to relax to circles, driven by a line tension at the phase boundaries. When stretched (by a transient applied stagnation-point flow or by stirring), a compact domain elongates, creating a bola consisting of two roughly circular reservoirs connected by a thin tether. This shape will then relax slowly …


Microscopic-Macroscopic Simulations Of Rigid-Rod Polymer Hydrodynamics: Heterogeneity And Rheochaos, M. Gregory Forest, Ruhai Zhou, Qi Wang Jan 2007

Microscopic-Macroscopic Simulations Of Rigid-Rod Polymer Hydrodynamics: Heterogeneity And Rheochaos, M. Gregory Forest, Ruhai Zhou, Qi Wang

Mathematics & Statistics Faculty Publications

Rheochaos is a remarkable phenomenon of nematic (rigid-rod) polymers in steady shear, with sustained chaotic fluctuations of the orientational distribution of the rod ensemble. For monodomain dynamics, imposing spatial homogeneity and linear shear, rheochaos is a hallmark prediction of the Doi-Hess theory [M. Doi, J. Polym. Sci. Polym. Phys. Ed., 19 (1981), pp. 229-243; M. Doi and S. F. Edwards, The Theory of Polymer Dynamics, Oxford University Press, London, New York, 1986; S. Hess, Z. Naturforsch., 31 (1976), pp. 1034-1037. The model behavior is robust, captured by second-moment tensor approximations G. Rienäcker, M. Kröger, and S. Hess, Phys. Rev. …


Exotic Statistics For Strings In 4d Bf Theory, John C. Baez, Derek K. Wise, Alissa S. Crans Jan 2007

Exotic Statistics For Strings In 4d Bf Theory, John C. Baez, Derek K. Wise, Alissa S. Crans

Mathematics Faculty Works

After a review of exotic statistics for point particles in 3d BF theory, and especially 3d quantum gravity, we show that string-like defects in 4d BF theory obey exotic statistics governed by the 'loop braid group'. This group has a set of generators that switch two strings just as one would normally switch point particles, but also a set of generators that switch two strings by passing one through the other. The first set generates a copy of the symmetric group, while the second generates a copy of the braid group. Thanks to recent work of Xiao-Song Lin, we can …


Vortices And Chaos In The Quantum Fluid, D. A. Wisniacki, E. R. Pujals, F. Borondo Jan 2007

Vortices And Chaos In The Quantum Fluid, D. A. Wisniacki, E. R. Pujals, F. Borondo

Publications and Research

The motion of a single vortex originates chaos in the quantum fluid defined in Bohm's interpretation of quantum mechanics. Here we analize this situation in a very simple case: one single vortex in a rectangular billiard.


Slow Flow Between Concentric Cones, O. Hall, C. P. Hills, A. D. Gilbert Jan 2007

Slow Flow Between Concentric Cones, O. Hall, C. P. Hills, A. D. Gilbert

Articles

This paper considers the low-Reynolds-number flow of an incompressible fluid contained in the gap between two coaxial cones with coincident apices and bounded by a spherical lid. The two cones and the lid are allowed to rotate independently about their common axis, generating a swirling motion. The swirl induces a secondary, meridional circulation through inertial effects. For specific configurations complex eigenmodes representing an infinite sequence of eddies, analogous to those found in two-dimensional corner flows and some three-dimensional geometries, form a component of this secondary circulation. When the cones rotate these eigenmodes, arising from the geometry, compete with the forced …