Analogous Hawking radiation in butterfly effect

We propose that Hawking radiation-like phenomena may be observed in systems that show butterfly effects. Suppose that a classical dynamical system has a Lyapunov exponent \lambda_LλL, and is deterministic and non-thermal (T=0T=0). We argue that, if we quantize this system, the quantum fluctuations may imitate thermal fluctuations with temperature $T _L/2 $ in a semi-classical regime, and it may cause analogous Hawking radiation. We also discuss that our proposal may provide an intuitive explanation of the existence of the bound of chaos proposed by Maldacena, Shenker and Stanford.

A Dynamical Generative Model of Social Interactions

The ability to make accurate social inferences makes humans able to navigate and act in their social environment effortlessly. Converging evidence shows that motion is one of the most informative cues in shaping the perception of social interactions. However, the scarcity of parameterized generative models for the generation of highly-controlled stimuli has slowed down both the identification of the most critical motion features and the understanding of the computational mechanisms underlying their extraction and processing from rich visual inputs. In this work, we introduce a novel generative model for the automatic generation of an arbitrarily large number of videos of socially interacting agents for comprehensive studies of social perception. The proposed framework, validated with three psychophysical experiments, allows generating as many as 15 distinct interaction classes. The model builds on classical dynamical system models of biological navigation and is able to generate visual stimuli that are parametrically controlled and representative of a heterogeneous set of social interaction classes. The proposed method represents thus an important tool for experiments aimed at unveiling the computational mechanisms mediating the perception of social interactions. The ability to generate highly-controlled stimuli makes the model valuable not only to conduct behavioral and neuroimaging studies, but also to develop and validate neural models of social inference, and machine vision systems for the automatic recognition of social interactions. In fact, contrasting human and model responses to a heterogeneous set of highly-controlled stimuli can help to identify critical computational steps in the processing of social interaction stimuli.

Bifurcation and anomalous spectral accumulation in an oval billiard

The spectral statistics of a quantum oval billiard whose classical dynamical system shows bifurcations is numerically investigated in terms of the two-point correlation function (TPCF), which is defined as the probability density of finding two levels at a specific energy interval. The eigenenergy levels at the bifurcation point are found to show anomalous accumulation, which is observed as a periodic spike oscillation of the TPCF. We analyzed the eigenfunctions localizing onto the various classical trajectories in the phase space and found that the oscillation is supplied from a limited region in the phase space that contains the bifurcating orbit. We also show that the period of the oscillation is in good agreement with the period of a contribution from the bifurcating orbit to the semiclassical TPCF obtained by Gutzwiller’s trace formula [J. Math. Phys. 12, 343 (1971)].

Hamiltonian flow over saddles for exploring molecular phase space structures

Despite using potential energy surfaces, multivariable functions on molecular configuration space, to comprehend chemical dynamics for decades, the real happenings in molecules occur in phase space, in which the states of a classical dynamical system are completely determined by the coordinates and their conjugate momenta. Theoretical and numerical results are presented, employing alanine dipeptide as a model system, to support the view that geometrical structures in phase space dictate the dynamics of molecules, the fingerprints of which are traced by following the Hamiltonian flow above saddles. By properly selecting initial conditions in alanine dipeptide, we have found internally free rotor trajectories the existence of which can only be justified in a phase space perspective. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Modern theoretical chemistry’.

Entropy production and multiple equilibria: the case of the ice-albedo feedback

Nonlinear feedbacks in the Earth System provide mechanisms that can prove very useful in understanding complex dynamics with relatively simple concepts. For example, the temperature and the ice cover of the planet are linked in a positive feedback which gives birth to multiple equilibria for some values of the solar constant: fully ice-covered Earth, ice-free Earth and an intermediate unstable solution. In this study, we show an analogy between a classical dynamical system approach to this problem and a Maximum Entropy Production (MEP) principle view, and we suggest a glimpse on how to reconcile MEP with the time evolution of a variable. It enables us in particular to resolve the question of the stability of the entropy production maxima. We also compare the surface heat flux obtained with MEP and with the bulk-aerodynamic formula.

Entropy production and multiple equilibria: the case of the ice-albedo feedback

Nonlinear feedbacks in the Earth System provide mechanisms that can prove very useful in understanding complex dynamics with relatively simple concepts. For example, the temperature and the ice cover of the planet are linked in a positive feedback which gives birth to multiple equilibria for some values of the solar constant: fully ice-covered Earth, ice-free Earth and an intermediate unstable solution. In this study, we show an analogy between a classical dynamical system approach to this problem and a Maximum Entropy Production (MEP) principle view, and we suggest a glimpse on how to reconcile MEP with the time evolution of a variable. It enables us in particular to resolve the question of the stability of the entropy production maxima. We also compare the surface heat flux obtained with MEP and with the bulk-aerodynamic formula.

ON BARYON NUMBER NONCONSERVATION IN TWO-DIMENSIONAL O(2N+1) QCD

We construct a classical dynamical system whose phase space is a certain infinite-dimensional Grassmannian manifold, and propose that it is equivalent to the large N limit of two-dimensional QCD with an O (2N+1) gauge group. In this theory, we find that baryon number is a topological quantity that is conserved only modulo 2. We also relate this theory to the master field approach to matrix models.