The linear stability of two exact stationary solutions of the parametrically driven, damped nonlinear Dirac equation is investigated. Stability is ascertained through the resolution of the eigenvalue problem, which stems from the linearization of this equation around the exact solutions. On the one hand, it is proven that one of these solutions is always unstable, which confirms previous analysis based on a variational method. On the other hand, it is shown that sufficiently large dissipation guarantees the stability of the second solution. Specifically, we determine the stability curve that separates stable and unstable regions in the parameter space. The dependence of the stability diagram on the driven frequency is also studied, and it is shown that low-frequency solitons are stable across the entire parameter space. These results have been corroborated with extensive simulations of the parametrically driven and damped nonlinear Dirac equation by employing a novel and recently proposed numerical algorithm that minimizes discretization errors.

We study the dynamical behaviour of mesoscopic systems in contact with a thermal bath, described either via a non-linear Langevin equation at the trajectory level -- or the corresponding Fokker-Planck equation for the probability distribution function at the ensemble level. Our focus is put on one-dimensional -- or $d$-dimensional isotropic -- systems in confining potentials, with detailed balance -- fluctuation-dissipation thus holds, and the stationary probability distribution has the canonical form at the bath temperature. When quenching the bath temperature to low enough values, a far-from-equilibrium state emerges that rules the dynamics over a characteristic intermediate timescale. Such a long-lived state has a Dirac-delta probability distribution function and attracts all solutions over this intermediate timescale, in which the initial conditions are immaterial while the influence of the bath is still negligible. Numerical evidence and qualitative physical arguments suggest that the above picture extends to higher-dimensional systems, with anisotropy and interactions.

In this paper, we investigate, both analytically and numerically, the emergence of a kinetic glass transition in two different model systems: a uniformly heated granular gas and a molecular fluid with nonlinear drag. Despite the profound differences between these two physical systems, their behavior in thermal cycles share strong similarities, which stem from the relaxation time diverging algebraically at low temperatures for both systems. When the driving intensity--for the granular gas-or the bath temperature-for the molecular fluid-is decreased to sufficiently low values, the kinetic temperature of both systems becomes "frozen" at a value that depends on the cooling rate through a power law with the same exponent. Interestingly, this frozen glassy state is universal in the following sense: for a suitable rescaling of the relevant variables, its velocity distribution function becomes independent of the cooling rate. Upon reheating, i.e., when either the driving intensity or the bath temperature is increased from this frozen state, hysteresis cycles arise and the apparent heat capacity displays a maximum. The numerical results obtained from the simulations are well described by a perturbative approach.

We investigate the effects on solitons dynamics of introducing a PT -symmetric complex potential in a specific family of the cubic Dirac equation in (1+1)-dimensions, called the Alexeeva-Barashenkov-Saxena model. The potential is introduced taking advantage of the fact that the nonlinear Dirac equation admits a Lagrangian formalism. As a consequence, the imaginary part of the potential, associated with gains and losses, behaves as a spatially periodic damping (changing from positive to negative, and back) that acts at the same time on the two spinor components. A collective coordinates (CCs) theory is developed by making an ansatz for a moving soliton where the position, rapidity, momentum, frequency, and phase are all functions of time. We consider the complex potential as a perturbation and verify that numerical solutions of the equation of motions for the CCs are in agreement with simulations of the nonlinear Dirac equation. The main effect of the imaginary part of the potential is to induce oscillations in the charge and energy (they are conserved for real potentials) with the same frequency and phase as the momentum. We find long-lived solitons even with very large charge and energy oscillations. Additionally, we extend to the nonlinear Dirac equation an empirical stability criterion, previously employed successfully in the nonlinear Schr & ouml;dinger equation.

In this perspective paper, we look into memory effects in out-of-equilibrium systems. To be concrete, we exemplify memory effects with the paradigmatic case of granular fluids, although extensions to other contexts such as molecular fluids with non-linear drag are also considered. The focus is put on two archetypal memory effects: the Kovacs and Mpemba effects. In brief, the first is related to imperfectly reaching a steady state —either equilibrium or non-equilibrium—, whereas the second is related to reaching a steady state faster despite starting further. Connections to optimal control theory thus naturally emerge and are briefly discussed.

We consider the novel nonlinear model in (1 + 1)-dimensions for Dirac spinors recently introduced by Alexeeva et al (Ann. Phys., NY 403 198) (ABS model), which admits an exact explicit solitary-wave (soliton for short) solution. The charge, the momentum, and the energy of this solution are conserved. We investigate the dynamics of the soliton subjected to several potentials: a ramp, a harmonic, and a periodic potential. We develop a collective coordinates (CCs) theory by making an ansatz for a moving soliton where the position, rapidity, and momentum, are functions of time. We insert the ansatz into the Lagrangian density of the model, integrate over space and obtain a Lagrangian as a function of the CCs. This Lagrangian differs only in the charge and mass with the Lagrangian of a CCs theory for the Gross–Neveu equation. Thus the soliton dynamics in the Alexeeva–Barashenkov–Saxena (ABS) spinor model is qualitatively the same as in the Gross–Neveu equation, but quantitatively it differs. These results of the CCs theory are confirmed by simulations, i.e. by numerical solutions for solitons of the ABS spinor model, subjected to the above potentials.

We analyze the linear response properties of the uniformly heated granular gas. The intensity of the stochastic driving fixes the value of the granular temperature in the nonequilibrium steady state reached by the system. Here, we investigate two specific situations. First, we look into the "direct" relaxation of the system after a single (small) jump of the driving intensity. This study is carried out by two different methods. Not only do we linearize the evolution equations around the steady state, but we also derive generalized out-of-equilibrium fluctuation-dissipation relations for the relevant response functions. Second, we investigate the behavior of the system in a more complex experiment, specifically a Kovacs-like protocol with two jumps in the driving. The emergence of an anomalous Kovacs response is explained in terms of the properties of the direct relaxation function: it is the second mode changing sign at the critical value of the inelasticity that demarcates anomalous from normal behavior. The analytical results are compared with numerical simulations of the kinetic equation, and a good agreement is found.

We analyze the dynamical evolution of a fluid with nonlinear drag, for which binary collisions are elastic, described at the kinetic level by the Enskog-Fokker-Planck equation. This model system, rooted in the theory of nonlinear Brownian motion, displays a really complex behavior when quenched to low temperatures. Its glassy response is controlled by a long-lived nonequilibrium state, independent of the degree of nonlinearity and also of the Brownian-Brownian collisions rate. The latter property entails that this behavior persists in the collisionless case, where the fluid is described by the nonlinear Fokker-Planck equation. The observed response, which includes nonexponential, algebraic, relaxation, and strong memory effects, presents scaling properties: the time evolution of the temperature-for both relaxation and memory effects-falls onto a master curve, regardless of the details of the experiment. To account for the observed behavior in simulations, it is necessary to develop an extended Sonine approximation for the kinetic equation-which considers not only the fourth cumulant but also the sixth one.

The damped and parametrically driven nonlinear Dirac equation with arbitrary nonlinearity parameter is analyzed, when the external force is periodic in space and given by , both numerically and in a variational approximation using five collective coordinates (time dependent shape parameters of the wave function). Our variational approximation satisfies exactly the low-order moment equations. Because of competition between the spatial period of the external force , and the soliton width ls, which is a function of the nonlinearity as well as the initial frequency of the solitary wave, there is a transition (at fixed ) from trapped to unbound behavior of the soliton, which depends on the parameters r and K of the external force and the nonlinearity parameter . We previously studied this phenomena when (Quintero et al 2019 J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 52 285201) where we showed that for the soliton oscillates in an effective potential, while for it moves uniformly as a free particle. In this paper we focus on the dependence of the transition from oscillatory to particle behavior and explicitly compare the curves of the transition regime found in the collective coordinate approximation as a function of r and K when at fixed value of the frequency . Since the solitary wave gets narrower for fixed as a function of , we expect and indeed find that the regime where the solitary wave is trapped is extended as we increase .

Soliton dynamics in the damped and parametrically driven nonlinear Dirac equation, in 1 + 1 dimension with scalar-scalar self-interaction is analysed. The considered parametric force has the spatial period lambda. A variational approach using collective coordinates for studying the time dependent response of the solitary waves to this parametric force is developed. The dynamical equations for the collective coordinates are also obtained by an alternative method, namely the method of moments. The soliton dynamics depends crucially on the competition between two length scales: the spatial period lambda and the width of the soliton l(s). For lambda >> l(s) the soliton oscillates in an effective potential, while for lambda << l(s) it moves uniformly as a free particle. The transition between these two regimes occurs when lambda is comparable to the soliton width. This match enhances the soliton instabilities so that even small values of the perturbation are enough to modify drastically the soliton shape and destroy it for long times.

Two exact stationary soliton solutions are found in the parametrically driven and damped nonlinear Dirac equation. The parametric force considered is a complex ac force. The solutions appear when their frequencies are locked to half the frequency of the parametric force, and their phases satisfy certain conditions depending on the force amplitude and on the damping coefficient. Explicit expressions for the charge, the energy, and the momentum of these solutions are provided. Their stability is studied via a variational method using an ansatz with only two collective coordinates. Numerical simulations confirm that one of the solutions is stable, while the other is an unstable saddle point. Consequently, the stabilization of damped Dirac solitons can be achieved via time-periodic parametric excitations.

The generation of net soliton motion induced by random transitions among N symmetric phase-shifted sine-Gordon potentials is investigated, in the absence of any external force and without any thermal noise. The phase shifts of the potentials and the damping coefficients depend on a stationary Markov process. Necessary conditions for the existence of transport are obtained by an exhaustive study of the symmetries of the stochastic system and of the soliton velocity. It is shown that transport is generated by unequal transfer rates among the phase-shifted potentials or by unequal friction coefficients or by a properly devised combination of potentials (N>2). Net motion and inversions of the currents, predicted by the symmetry analysis, are observed in simulations as well as in the solutions of a collective coordinate theory. A model with high efficient soliton motion is designed by using multistate phase-shifted potentials and by breaking the symmetries with unequal transfer rates.

The ratchet effect of a sine-Gordon kink is investigated in the absence of any external force while the symmetry of the field potential at every time instant is maintained. The directed motion appears by a time shift of the sine-Gordon potential through a time-dependent additional phase. A symmetry analysis provides the necessary conditions for the existence of net motion. It is also shown analytically, by using a collective coordinate theory, that the novel physical mechanism responsible for the appearance of the ratchet effect is the coupled dynamics of the kink width with the background field. Biharmonic and dichotomic periodic variations of the additional phase of the sine-Gordon potential are considered. The predictions established by the symmetry analysis and the collective coordinate theory are verified by means of numerical simulations. Inversion and maximization of the resulting current as a function of the system parameters are investigated.

A collective coordinate theory is developed for soliton ratchets in the damped discrete sine-Gordon model driven by a biharmonic force. An ansatz with two collective coordinates, namely the center and the width of the soliton, is assumed as an approximated solution of the discrete nonlinear equation. The dynamical equations of these two collective coordinates, obtained by means of the generalized travelling wave method, explain the mechanism underlying the soliton ratchet and capture qualitatively all the main features of this phenomenon. The numerical simulation of these equations accounts for the existence of a nonzero depinning threshold, the nonsinusoidal behavior of the average velocity as a function of the relative phase between the harmonics of the driver, the nonmonotonic dependence of the average velocity on the damping, and the existence of nontransporting regimes beyond the depinning threshold. In particular, it provides a good description of the intriguing and complex pattern of subspaces corresponding to different dynamical regimes in parameter space.

We report fully relativistic molecular-dynamics simulations that verify the appearance of thermal equilibrium of a classical gas inside a uniformly accelerated container. The numerical experiments confirm that the local momentum distribution in this system is very well approximated by the Jüttner function-originally derived for a flat spacetime-via the Tolman-Ehrenfest effect. Moreover, it is shown that when the acceleration or the container size is large enough, the global momentum distribution can be described by the so-called modified Jüttner function, which was initially proposed as an alternative to the Jüttner function.

We study deterministic escape dynamics in the framework of the discrete Klein-Gordon modelwith a repulsive quartic on-site potential. Using a combination of analytical techniques, based on differential and algebraic inequalities and selected numerical illustrations, we first derive conditions for collapse of an initially excited single-site unit, for both the Hamiltonian and the linearly damped versions of the system and showcase different potential fates of the single-site excitation, such as the possibility to be "pulled back" from outside the well or to "drive over" the barrier some of its neighbors. Next, we study the evolution of a uniform (small) segment of the chain and, in turn, consider the conditions that support its escape and collapse of the chain. Finally, our path from one to the few and finally to the many excited sites is completed by a modulational stability analysis and the exploration of its connection to the escape process for plane wave initial data. This reveals the existence of three distinct regimes, namely modulational stability, modulational instability without escape and, finally, modulational instability accompanied by escape. These are corroborated by direct numerical simulations. In each of the above cases, the variations of the relevant model parameters enable a consideration of the interplay of discreteness and nonlinearity within the observed phenomenology.

We discuss the existence of breathers and lower bounds on their power, in nonlinear Schrödinger lattices with nonlinear hopping. Our methods extend from a simple variational approach to fixed-point arguments, deriving lower bounds for the power which can serve as a threshold for the existence of breather solutions. Qualitatively, the theoretical results justify non-existence of breathers below the prescribed lower bounds of the power which depend on the dimension, the parameters of the lattice as well as of the frequency of breathers. In the case of supercritical power nonlinearities we investigate the interplay of these estimates with the optimal constant of the discrete interpolation inequality. Improvements of the general estimates, taking into account the localization of the true breather solutions are derived. Numerical studies in the one-dimensional lattice corroborate the theoretical bounds and illustrate that in certain parameter regimes of physical significance, the estimates can serve as accurate predictors of the breather power and its dependence on the various system parameters.

V. Achilleos, A. Álvarez, J. Cuevas, D. J. Frantzeskakis, N. I. Karachalios, P. G. Kevrekidis, B. Sánchez-Rey Department of Physics, University of Athens, Panepistimiopolis, Zografos, Athens 15784, Greece Grupo de F́ısica No Lineal. Universidad de Sevilla. Área de F́ısica Teórica. Facultad de F́ısica, Avda. Reina Mercedes, s/n, 41012 Sevilla, Spain Grupo de F́ısica No Lineal. Universidad de Sevilla, Departamento de F́ısica Aplicada I, Escuela Politénica Superior, C/ Virgen de Africa, 7, 41011 Sevilla, Spain Department of Mathematics, University of the Aegean, Karlovassi, 83200 Samos, Greece Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst MA 01003-4515, USA (Dated: October 23, 2012)