Showing papers in "European Physical Journal B in 2011"

Klein tunneling in graphene: optics with massless electrons

Abstract: This article provides a pedagogical review on Klein tunneling in graphene, i.e. the peculiar tunneling properties of two-dimensional massless Dirac electrons. We consider two simple situations in detail: a massless Dirac electron incident either on a potential step or on a potential barrier and use elementary quantum wave mechanics to obtain the transmission probability. We emphasize the connection to related phenomena in optics, such as the Snell-Descartes law of refraction, total internal reflection, Fabry-Perot resonances, negative refraction index materials (the so called meta-materials), etc. We also stress that Klein tunneling is not a genuine quantum tunneling effect as it does not necessarily involve passing through a classically forbidden region via evanescent waves. A crucial role in Klein tunneling is played by the conservation of (sublattice) pseudo-spin, which is discussed in detail. A major consequence is the absence of backscattering at normal incidence, of which we give a new shorten proof. The current experimental status is also thoroughly reviewed. The Appendix contains the discussion of a one-dimensional toy model that clearly illustrates the difference in Klein tunneling between mono- and bi-layer graphene.

Robust network community detection using balanced propagation

Abstract: Label propagation has proven to be an extremely fast method for detecting communities in large complex networks. Furthermore, due to its simplicity, it is also currently one of the most commonly adopted algorithms in the literature. Despite various subsequent advances, an important issue of the algorithm has not yet been properly addressed. Random (node) update orders within the algorithm severely hamper its robustness, and consequently also the stability of the identified community structure. We note that an update order can be seen as increasing propagation preferences from certain nodes, and propose a balanced propagation that counteracts for the introduced randomness by utilizing node balancers. We have evaluated the proposed approach on synthetic networks with planted partition, and on several real-world networks with community structure. The results confirm that balanced propagation is significantly more robust than label propagation, when the performance of community detection is even improved. Thus, balanced propagation retains high scalability and algorithmic simplicity of label propagation, but improves on its stability and performance.

Investigating the topology of interacting networks - Theory and application to coupled climate subnetworks

Abstract: Network theory provides various tools for investigating the structural or functional topology of many complex systems found in nature, technology and society. Nevertheless, it has recently been realised that a considerable number of systems of interest should be treated, more appropriately, as interacting networks or networks of networks. Here we introduce a novel graph-theoretical framework for studying the interaction structure between subnetworks embedded within a complex network of networks. This framework allows us to quantify the structural role of single vertices or whole subnetworks with respect to the interaction of a pair of subnetworks on local, mesoscopic and global topological scales. Climate networks have recently been shown to be a powerful tool for the analysis of climatological data. Applying the general framework for studying interacting networks, we introduce coupled climate subnetworks to represent and investigate the topology of statistical relationships between the fields of distinct climatological variables. Using coupled climate subnetworks to investigate the terrestrial atmosphere’s three-dimensional geopotential height field uncovers known as well as interesting novel features of the atmosphere’s vertical stratification and general circulation. Specifically, the new measure “cross-betweenness” identifies regions which are particularly important for mediating vertical wind field interactions. The promising results obtained by following the coupled climate subnetwork approach present a first step towards an improved understanding of the Earth system and its complex interacting components from a network perspective.

The geometry of chaotic dynamics – a complex network perspective

Abstract: Recently, several complex network approaches to time series analysis have been developed and applied to study a wide range of model systems as well as real-world data, e.g., geophysical or financial time series. Among these techniques, recurrence-based concepts and prominently e-recurrence networks, most faithfully represent the geometrical fine structure of the attractors underlying chaotic (and less interestingly non-chaotic) time series. In this paper we demonstrate that the well known graph theoretical properties local clustering coefficient and global (network) transitivity can meaningfully be exploited to define two new local and two new global measures of dimension in phase space: local upper and lower clustering dimension as well as global upper and lower transitivity dimension. Rigorous analytical as well as numerical results for self-similar sets and simple chaotic model systems suggest that these measures are well-behaved in most non-pathological situations and that they can be estimated reasonably well using e-recurrence networks constructed from relatively short time series. Moreover, we study the relationship between clustering and transitivity dimensions on the one hand, and traditional measures like pointwise dimension or local Lyapunov dimension on the other hand. We also provide further evidence that the local clustering coefficients, or equivalently the local clustering dimensions, are useful for identifying unstable periodic orbits and other dynamically invariant objects from time series. Our results demonstrate that e-recurrence networks exhibit an important link between dynamical systems and graph theory.

An ab initio study on gas sensing properties of graphene and Si-doped graphene

Abstract: In order to exploit the potential applications of graphene as gas sensors, the adsorptions of a series of small gas molecules (such as CO, O2, NO2 and H2O) on pristine graphene (PG) and Si-doped graphene (SiG) have been investigated by ab initio calculations. Our results indicate that the electronic properties of PG are sensitive to O2 and NO2 molecules, but not changed much by the adsorption of CO and H2O molecules. Compared with PG, SiG is much more reactive in the adsorption of CO, O2, NO2 and H2O. The strong interactions between SiG and the adsorbed molecules induce dramatic changes to the electronic properties of SiG. Therefore, we suggest that SiG could be a good gas sensor for CO, O2, NO2 and H2O.

The insulating state of matter: a geometrical theory

Abstract: In 1964 Kohn published the milestone paper “Theory of the insulating state”, according to which insulators and metals differ in their ground state. Even before the system is excited by any probe, a different organization of the electrons is present in the ground state and this is the key feature discriminating between insulators and metals. However, the theory of the insulating state remained somewhat incomplete until the late 1990s; this review addresses the recent developments. The many-body ground wavefunction of any insulator is characterized by means of geometrical concepts (Berry phase, connection, curvature, Chern number, quantum metric). Among them, it is the quantum metric which sharply characterizes the insulating state of matter. The theory deals on a common ground with several kinds of insulators: band insulators, Mott insulators, Anderson insulators, quantum Hall insulators, Chern and topological insulators.

Linear and nonlinear optical absorption coefficients in inverse parabolic quantum wells under static external electric field

Abstract: In the present theoretical study, the linear and third-order nonlinear optical absorption coefficients have been calculated in GaAs/Ga1−xAlxAs inverse parabolic quantum wells (single and double) subjected to an external electric field. Our calculations are based on the potential morphing method in the effective mass approximation. The systematic theoretical investigation contains results with all possible combinations of the involved parameters, as quantum well width, quantum barrier width, Al concentration at each well center and magnitude of the external electric field. Our results indicate that in most cases investigated, the increase of the electric field blue-shifts the peak positions of the total absorption coefficient. In all cases studied it became apparent that the incident optical intensity considerably affects the total absorption coefficient.

Complexity in human transportation networks: a comparative analysis of worldwide air transportation and global cargo-ship movements

Abstract: We present a comparative network-theoretic analysis of the two largest global transportation networks: the worldwide air-transportation network (WAN) and the global cargo-ship network (GCSN). We show that both networks exhibit surprising statistical similarities despite significant differences in topology and connectivity. Both networks exhibit a discontinuity in node and link betweenness distributions which implies that these networks naturally segregate into two different classes of nodes and links. We introduce a technique based on effective distances, shortest paths and shortest path trees for strongly weighted symmetric networks and show that in a shortest path tree representation the most significant features of both networks can be readily seen. We show that effective shortest path distance, unlike conventional geographic distance measures, strongly correlates with node centrality measures. Using the new technique we show that network resilience can be investigated more precisely than with contemporary techniques that are based on percolation theory. We extract a functional relationship between node characteristics and resilience to network disruption. Finally we discuss the results, their implications and conclude that dynamic processes that evolve on both networks are expected to share universal dynamic characteristics.

Electrode polarization effects in broadband dielectric spectroscopy

Abstract: In the present work, we provide broadband dielectric spectra showing strong electrode polarization effects for various materials, belonging to very different material classes. This includes both ionic and electronic conductors as, e.g., salt solutions, ionic liquids, human blood, and colossal-dielectric-constant materials. These data are intended to provide a broad data base enabling a critical test of the validity of phenomenological and microscopic models for electrode polarization. In the present work, the results are analyzed using a simple phenomenological equivalent-circuit description, involving a distributed parallel RC circuit element for the modeling of the weakly conducting regions close to the electrodes. Excellent fits of the experimental data are achieved in this way, demonstrating the universal applicability of this approach. In the investigated ionically conducting materials, we find the universal appearance of a second dispersion region due to electrode polarization, which is only revealed if measuring down to sufficiently low frequencies. This indicates the presence of a second charge-transport process in ionic conductors with blocking electrodes.

Physical properties of FeSe0.5Te0.5 single crystals grown under different conditions

Abstract: We report on structural, magnetic, conductivity, and thermodynamic studies of FeSe0.5Te0.5 single crystals grown by self-flux and Bridgman methods. The lowest values of the susceptibility in the normal state, the highest transition temperature T c of 14.4 K, and the largest heat-capacity anomaly at T c were obtained for pure (oxygen-free) samples. The critical current density j c of 8.6 × 104 A/cm2 (at 2 K) achieved in pure samples is attributed to intrinsic inhomogeneity due to disorder at the anion sites. The samples containing an impurity phase of Fe3O4 show increased j c up to 2.3 × 105 A/cm2 due to additional pinning centers. The upper critical field $H_{c2}$ of ~500 kOe is estimated from the resistivity study in magnetic fields parallel to the c-axis using a criterion of a 50% drop of the normal state resistivity R n . The anisotropy of the upper critical field γ H c2 = H ab c2/H c2 c reaches a value ~6 at $T\longrightarrow T_c$ . Extremely low values of the residual Sommerfeld coefficient $\gamma_r$ of about 1 mJ/mol K2, compared to the normal state Sommerfeld coefficient γ n = 25 mJ/mol K2 for pure samples indicate a high volume fraction of the superconducting phase (up to 97%). The electronic contribution to the specific heat in the superconducting state is well described within a single-band BCS model with a temperature dependent gap Δ(0 K) = 27(1) K. A broad cusp-like anomaly in the electronic specific heat observed at low temperatures in samples with suppressed bulk superconductivity is ascribed to a splitting of the ground state of the Fe2+ ions at the 2c sites. This contribution is fully suppressed in the ordered state in samples with bulk superconductivity.

Urban road networks – spatial networks with universal geometric features? - A case study on Germany’s largest cities

Abstract: Urban road networks have distinct geometric properties that are partially determined by their (quasi-) two-dimensional structure. In this work, we study these properties for 20 of the largest German cities. We find that the small-scale geometry of all examined road networks is extremely similar. The object-size distributions of road segments and the resulting cellular structures are characterised by heavy tails. As a specific feature, a large degree of rectangularity is observed in all networks, with link angle distributions approximately described by stretched exponential functions. We present a rigorous statistical analysis of the main geometric characteristics and discuss their mutual interrelationships. Our results demonstrate the fundamental importance of cost-efficiency constraints for the time evolution of urban road networks.

Numerical study of metamaterial absorber and extending absorbance bandwidth based on multi-square patches

Abstract: A simple design of metamaterial absorber (MA) was proposed based on a periodic array of metal patch at microwave frequencies. Our design could exhibit absorption of 99.9% confirmed by numerical simulation. Such high narrowband absorption which mainly based on strong electric and magnetic resonances overlapping in a certain frequency range and perfect impedance-matched (z = 1) to the free space. Numerical simulations demonstrate that the MA could achieve very high absorptivity at wide angles of incidence for both transverse electric (TE) wave and transverse magnetic (TM) wave. The absorption band of our device is effectively extended by patterning multi-square patches of different dimension elements with appropriate geometrical parameters in a co-planar. Finally, the composite MA is only 0.4 mm thick, with a maximum absorption of 99.8% at 15.8 GHz, and a full width at half maximum (FWHM) bandwidth of 2 GHz by numerical simulation, which may have potential applications in the detection of explosives and stealth.

Peer-review in a world with rational scientists: Toward selection of the average

Abstract: It is widely believed that one of the virtues of peer review is that it provides a self-regulating selection mechanism for scientific work, papers and projects. Peer review as a selection mechanism is hard to evaluate in terms of its efficiency. Serious efforts to understand its strengths and weaknesses have not yet lead to conclusive answers. In theory peer review works if the involved parties (editors and referees) conform to a set of requirements, such as love for high quality science, objectiveness, and absence of biases, nepotism, friend and clique networks, selfishness, etc. If these requirements are violated, what is the effect on the selection of high quality work? We study this question with a simple agent based model. In particular we are interested in the effects of rationalreferees, who might not have any incentive to see high quality work other than their own published or promoted. We find that a small fraction of incorrect (selfish or rational) referees is sufficient to drastically lower the quality of the published (accepted) scientific standard. We determine the fraction for which peer review will no longer perform better than pure chance. Decline of quality of accepted scientific work is shown as a function of the fraction of rational and unqualified referees. We show how a simple quality-increasing policy of e.g. a journal can lead to additional loss in overall scientific quality, and how mutual support-networks of authors and referees deteriorate the system.

First-principle study of magnetism induced by vacancies in graphene

Abstract: Spin-polarized density functional theory has been used to study the effects of vacancy defects on the magnetic properties of graphene. Structural optimization shows that introducing a carbon vacancy cluster into a graphene sheet changes the spatial distribution of the neighbor atoms, particularly those located around the vacancy. From spin-polarized DOS and LPDOS calculations, we find that only vacancies containing unpaired electrons show magnetism. These results lead us to formulate a relation between the vacancy-induced magnetic moment and the size and shape of the vacancy clusters in graphene sheet.

Dispersion of solutes in porous media

Abstract: A recently introduced theory of solute transport in porous media is tested by comparison with experiment. The solute transport is predicted using an adaptation of the cluster statistics of percolation theory to critical path analysis together with knowledge of how the structure of such percolation clusters affects the time of transport across them. Only the effects of a single scale of medium heterogeneity are incorporated, and a minimal amount of information regarding the structure of the medium is required. This framework is used to find effectively the distributions of solute velocities and travel distances and thus generate arrival time distributions. The comparison with experiment focuses on the dispersivity (the ratio of the second to the first moment of the spatial solute distribution). The predictions of the theory in the absence of diffusion are verified by comparing with over 2200 experiments over length scales from a few microns to 100 km. At larger length scales (centimeters on up) about 95% of the data lie within our predicted bounds. At smaller length scales approximately 99.8% of the data lie where we predict. These comparisons are not trivial as the typical values of the dispersivity increase by ten orders of magnitude over ten orders of magnitude of length scale. Noteworthy is that the classical advection-dispersion (ADE) equation predicts that the dispersivity should be independent of length scale! This agreement with experiment requires rethinking of the relevance of diffusion and multi-scale heterogeneity and would also appear to signal the complete inappropriateness of using the classical ADE or any of its derivatives to model solute transport.

Exotic high pressure behavior of light alkali metals, lithium and sodium

Abstract: At ambient conditions, lithium and sodium behave as free-electron metals and adopt highly symmetric close-packed structures. Under high pressure, however, these simple metals undergo a series of complex phase transitions to structures of lower symmetry, along with significant changes of their physical properties. In this review we provide a comprehensive description of these light alkali metals, with a focus on the structural and electronic properties under pressure.

Effects of channel noise on firing coherence of small-world Hodgkin-Huxley neuronal networks

Abstract: We investigate the effects of channel noise on firing coherence of Watts-Strogatz small-world networks consisting of biophysically realistic HH neurons having a fraction of blocked voltage-gated sodium and potassium ion channels embedded in their neuronal membranes. The intensity of channel noise is determined by the number of non-blocked ion channels, which depends on the fraction of working ion channels and the membrane patch size with the assumption of homogeneous ion channel density. We find that firing coherence of the neuronal network can be either enhanced or reduced depending on the source of channel noise. As shown in this paper, sodium channel noise reduces firing coherence of neuronal networks; in contrast, potassium channel noise enhances it. Furthermore, compared with potassium channel noise, sodium channel noise plays a dominant role in affecting firing coherence of the neuronal network. Moreover, we declare that the observed phenomena are independent of the rewiring probability.

Coexistence in the two-dimensional May-Leonard model with random rates

Abstract: We employ Monte Carlo simulations to numerically study the temporal evolution and transient oscillations of the population densities, the associated frequency power spectra, and the spatial correlation functions in the (quasi-) steady state in two-dimensional stochastic May-Leonard models of mobile individuals, allowing for particle exchanges with nearest-neighbors and hopping onto empty sites. We therefore consider a class of four-state three-species cyclic predator-prey models whose total particle number is not conserved. We demonstrate that quenched disorder in either the reaction or in the mobility rates hardly impacts the dynamical evolution, the emergence and structure of spiral patterns, or the mean extinction time in this system. We also show that direct particle pair exchange processes promote the formation of regular spiral structures. Moreover, upon increasing the rates of mobility, we observe a remarkable change in the extinction properties in the May-Leonard system (for small system sizes): (1) as the mobility rate exceeds a threshold that separates a species coexistence (quasi-) steady state from an absorbing state, the mean extinction time as function of system size N crosses over from a functional form ∼ e cN /N (where c is a constant) to a linear dependence; (2) the measured histogram of extinction times displays a corresponding crossover from an (approximately) exponential to a Gaussian distribution. The latter results are found to hold true also when the mobility rates are randomly distributed.

Size effect in spin-crossover systems investigated by FORC measurements, for surfacted [Fe(NH2-trz)3](Br)2·3H2O nanoparticles: reversible contributions and critical size

Abstract: We investigated the thermal transition of coated nano-particles of the title compound, on a set of samples of average diameter ⟨d⟩ ~ 30, 50, 70, 110 nm, with rather broad size distributions. As expected, the width of the major hysteresis loop was an increasing function of ⟨d⟩. We recorded first-order reversal curves (FORC), the initial parts of which displayed a finite slope, revealing the presence of reversible contributions expected from particles smaller than the critical size d C associated with the collapse of the hysteresis loop. Kinetic effects were also evidenced thanks to isothermal stages. Reversibility of the FORC curves at the vicinity of the reversal temperature was controlled. Thanks to the reversibility property we could determine the reversible contributions to the total response of all samples and derive the corresponding d C values. Consistent results were obtained by accounting for an anhysteretic contribution from the large particles, leading to an accurate determination d C ~ 45−50 nm, much better than the width of the size distributions.

Goos-Hanchen-like shifts for Dirac fermions in monolayer graphene barrier

Abstract: The quantum Goos-Hanchen effect in graphene is found to be the lateral shift of Dirac fermions on the total reflection at a single p-n interface. In this paper, we investigate the lateral shifts of Dirac fermions in transmission through a monolayer graphene barrier. Compared to the smallness of the lateral shifts in total reflection, the lateral shifts can be enhanced by the transmission resonances when the incidence angle is less than the critical angle for total reflection. It is also found that the lateral shifts, as the function of the barrier's width and incidence angle, can be negative and positive in the cases of Klein tunneling and classical motion. The modulation of the lateral shifts can be realized by changing the electrostatic potential and induced gap, which gives rise to some applications in graphene-based devices.

Mean first-passage time for random walks on undirected networks

Abstract: In this paper, by using two different techniques we derive an explicit formula for the mean first-passage time (MFPT) between any pair of nodes on a general undirected network, which is expressed in terms of eigenvalues and eigenvectors of an associated matrix similar to the transition matrix. We then apply the formula to derive a lower bound for the MFPT to arrive at a given node with the starting point chosen from the stationary distribution over the set of nodes. We show that for a correlated scale-free network of size N with a degree distribution P(d) ∼ d −γ , the scaling of the lower bound is N 1−1/γ . Also, we provide a simple derivation for an eigentime identity. Our work leads to a comprehensive understanding of recent results about random walks on complex networks, especially on scale-free networks.

Amplitude death in systems of coupled oscillators with distributed-delay coupling

Abstract: This paper studies the effects of coupling with distributed delay on the suppression of oscillations in a system of coupled Stuart-Landau oscillators. Conditions for amplitude death are obtained in terms of strength and phase of the coupling, as well as the mean time delay and the width of the delay distribution for uniform and gamma distributions. Analytical results are confirmed by numerical computation of the eigenvalues of the corresponding characteristic equations. These results indicate that larger widths of delay distribution increase the regions of amplitude death in the parameter space. In the case of a uniformly distributed delay kernel, for sufficiently large width of the delay distribution it is possible to achieve amplitude death for an arbitrary value of the average time delay, provided that the coupling strength has a value in the appropriate range. For a gamma distribution of delay, amplitude death is also possible for an arbitrary value of the average time delay, provided that it exceeds a certain value as determined by the coupling phase and the power law of the distribution. The coupling phase has a destabilizing effect and reduces the regions of amplitude death.

Hydrostatic pressure, impurity position and electric and magnetic field effects on the binding energy and photo-ionization cross section of a hydrogenic donor impurity in an InAs Pöschl-Teller quantum ring

Abstract: Using the variational method and the effective mass and parabolic band approximations, the behaviour of the binding energy and photo-ionization cross section of a hydrogenic-like donor impurity in an InAs quantum ring, with Poschl-Teller confinement potential along the axial direction, has been studied. In the investigation, the combined effects of hydrostatic pressure and electric and magnetic fields applied in the direction of growth have been taken into account. Parallel polarization of the incident radiation and several values of the applied electric and magnetic fields, hydrostatic pressure, and parameters of the Poschl-Teller confinement potential were considered. The results obtained can be summarised as follows: (1) the influence of the applied electric and magnetic fields and the asymmetry degree of the Poschl-Teller confinement potential on the donor binding energy is strongly dependent on the impurity position along the growth and radial directions of the quantum ring, (2) the binding energy is an increasing function of hydrostatic pressure and (3) the decrease (increase) in the binding energy with the electric and magnetic fields and parameters of the confinement potential (hydrostatic pressure) leads to a red shift (blue shift) of the maximum of the photo-ionization cross section spectrum of the on-centre impurity.

Asymptotics of work distributions: the pre-exponential factor

Abstract: We determine the complete asymptotic behaviour of the work distribution in driven stochastic systems described by Langevin equations. Special emphasis is put on the calculation of the pre-exponential factor which makes the result free of adjustable parameters. The method is applied to various examples and excellent agreement with numerical simulations is demonstrated. For the special case of parabolic potentials with time-dependent frequencies, we derive a universal functional form for the asymptotic work distribution.

Simulation of the thermally induced austenitic phase transition in NiTi nanoparticles : Simulation of phase transitions in NiTi nanoparticles

Abstract: The reverse martensitic (“austenitic”) transformation upon heating of equiatomic nickel-titanium nanoparticles with diameters between 4 and 17 nm is analyzed by means of molecular-dynamics simulations with a semi-empirical model potential. After constructing an appropriate order parameter to distinguish locally between the monoclinic B19′ at low and the cubic B2 structure at high temperatures, the process of the phase transition is visualized. This shows a heterogeneous nucleation of austenite at the surface of the particles, which propagates to the interior by plane sliding, explaining a difference in austenite start and end temperatures. Their absolute values and dependence on particle diameter are obtained and related to calculations of the surface induced size dependence of the difference in free energy between austenite and martensite.

Time scale bridging in atomistic simulation of slow dynamics: viscous relaxation and defect activation

Abstract: Atomistic simulation methods are known for timescale limitations in resolving slow dynamical processes. Two well-known scenarios of slow dynamics are viscous relaxation in supercooled liquids and creep deformation in stressed solids. In both phenomena the challenge to theory and simulation is to sample the transition state pathways efficiently and follow the dynamical processes on long timescales. We present a perspective based on the biased molecular simulation methods such as metadynamics, autonomous basin climbing (ABC), strain-boost and adaptive boost simulations. Such algorithms can enable an atomic-level explanation of the temperature variation of the shear viscosity of glassy liquids, and the relaxation behavior in solids undergoing creep deformation. By discussing the dynamics of slow relaxation in two quite different areas of condensed matter science, we hope to draw attention to other complex problems where anthropological or geological-scale time behavior can be simulated at atomic resolution and understood in terms of micro-scale processes of molecular rearrangements and collective interactions. As examples of a class of phenomena that can be broadly classified as materials ageing, we point to stress corrosion cracking and cement setting as opportunities for atomistic modeling and simulations.

The hydrostatic pressure and temperature effects on a hydrogenic impurity in a spherical quantum dot

Abstract: The combined effects of the hydrostatic pressure and temperature on the binding energy, ΔE (transition energy), the oscillator strength and the third-order susceptibility of third harmonic generation (THG) of a hydrogenic impurity in a spherical QD, in the presence of the external electric field, have been investigated by means of the perturbation approach within the framework of effective-mass approximation. It is found that the binding energy, ΔE (transition energy), the oscillator strength and the third-order susceptibility of third harmonic generation (THG) of the hydrogenic impurity are affected by the confinement strength, the electric field, pressure and temperature.

Motifs in co-authorship networks and their relation to the impact of scientific publications

Abstract: Co-authorship networks, where the nodes are authors and a link indicates joint publications, are very helpful representations for studying the processes that shape the scientific community. At the same time, they are social networks with a large amount of data available and can thus serve as vehicles for analyzing social phenomena in general. Previous work on co-authorship networks concentrates on statistical properties on the scale of individual authors and individual publications within the network (e.g., citation distribution, degree distribution), on properties of the network as a whole (e.g., modularity, connectedness), or on the topological function of single authors (e.g., distance, betweenness). Here we show that the success of individual authors or publications depends unexpectedly strongly on an intermediate scale in co-authorship networks. For two large-scale data sets, CiteSeerX and DBLP, we analyze the correlation of (three- and four-node) network motifs with citation frequencies. We find that the average citation frequency of a group of authors depends on the motifs these authors form. In particular, a box motif (four authors forming a closed chain) has the highest average citation frequency per link. This result is robust across the two databases, across different ways of mapping the citation frequencies of publications onto the (uni-partite) co-authorship graph, and over time. We also relate this topological observation to the underlying social and socio-scientific processes that have been shaping the networks. We argue that the box motif may be an interesting category in a broad range of social and technical networks.

Soliton-like excitations and solectrons in two-dimensional nonlinear lattices

Abstract: We discuss here the thermal excitation of soliton-like supersonic, intrinsic localized modes in two-dimensional monolayers of atoms imbedded into a heat bath. These excitations induce local electrical polarization fields at the nano-scale in the lattice which influence electron dynamics, thus leading to a new form of trapping. We study the soliton-mediated electron dynamics in such systems at moderately high temperatures and calculate the density of embedded electrons in a suitable adiabatic approximation.

Stochastic resonance in a locally excited system of bistable oscillators

Abstract: Stochastic resonance is studied in a one-dimensional array of overdamped bistable oscillators in the presence of a local subthreshold periodic perturbation. The system can be treated as an ensemble of pseudospins tending to align parallel which are driven dynamically by an external periodic magnetic field. The oscillators are subjected to a dynamic white noise as well as to a static topological disorder. The latter is quantified by the fraction of randomly added long-range connections among ensemble elements. In the low connectivity regime the system displays an optimal global stochastic resonance response if a small-world network is formed. In the mean-field regime we explain strong changes in the dynamic disorder strength provoking a maximal stochastic resonance response via the variation of fraction of long-range connections by taking into account the ferromagnetic-paramagnetic phase transition of the pseudospins. The system size analysis shows only quantitative power-law type changes on increasing number of pseudospins.