It has been argued that charged Anti-de Sitter (AdS) black holes have similar thermodynamic behavior as the Van der Waals fluid system, provided one treats the cosmological constant as a thermodynamic variable (pressure) in an extended phase space. In this paper, we disclose the deep connection between charged AdS black holes and Van der Waals fluid system without extending the phase space. We keep the cosmological constant as a fixed parameter and instead, treat the square of the charge of black hole, Q 2 , as a thermodynamic variable. Therefore, we write the equation of state as Q 2 = Q 2 (T, Ψ) where Ψ (conjugate of Q 2 ) is the inverse of the specific volume, Ψ = 1/v. This allows us to complete the analogy of charged AdS black holes with Van der Waals fluid system and derive the phase transition as well as critical exponents of the system. We identify a thermodynamic instability in this new picture with real analogy to Van der Waals fluid with physically relevant Maxwell construction. We therefore study the critical behavior of isotherms in Q 2 − Ψ diagram and deduce all the critical exponents of the system and determine that the system exhibits a small-large black hole phase transition at the critical point (Tc, Q 2 c , Ψc). This alternative view is important as one can imagine such a change for a given single black hole i. e. acquiring charge which induces the phase transition. Finally, we disclose the microscopic properties of charged AdS black holes by using thermodynamic geometry. Interestingly, we find that scalar curvature has a gap between small and large black holes, and this gap becomes exceedingly large as one moves away from the critical point along the transition line. Therefore, we are able to attribute the sudden enlargement of the black hole to the strong repulsive nature of the internal constituents at the phase transition.

In this article we study a fully relativistic model of a two dimensional hard-disk gas. This model avoids the general problems associated with relativistic particle collisions and is therefore an ideal system to study relativistic effects in statistical thermodynamics. We study this model using molecular-dynamics simulation, concentrating on the velocity distribution functions. We obtain results for x and y components of velocity in the rest frame (Γ) as well as the moving frame (Γ ′ ). Our results confirm that Jüttner distribution is the correct generalization of Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution. We obtain the same "temperature" parameter β for both frames consistent with a recent study of a limited one-dimensional model. We also address the controversial topic of temperature transformation. We show that while local thermal equilibrium holds in the moving frame, relying on statistical methods such as distribution functions or equipartition theorem are ultimately inconclusive in deciding on a correct temperature transformation law (if any).

We disclose a novel phase transition in black hole physics by investigating thermodynamics of charged dilaton black holes in an extended phase space where the charge of the black hole is regarded as a fixed quantity. Along with the usual critical (second-order) as well as the first-order phase transitions in charged black holes, we find that a finite jump in Gibbs free energy is generated by dilaton-electromagnetic coupling constant, α, for a certain range of pressure. This novel behavior indicates a small/large black hole zeroth-order phase transition in which the response functions of black holes thermodynamics diverge e.g. isothermal compressibility. Such zeroth-order transition separates the usual critical point and the standard first-order transition curve. We show that increasing the dilaton parameter(α) increases the zeroth-order portion of the transition curve. Additionally, we find that the second-order (critical) phase transition exponents are unaffected by the dilaton parameter, however, the condition of positive critical temperature puts an upper bound on the dilaton parameter (α < 1).

Despite their significant functional roles, beta-band oscillations are least understood. Synchronization in neuronal networks have attracted much attention in recent years with the main focus on transition type. Whether one obtains explosive transition or a continuous transition is an important feature of the neuronal network which can depend on network structure as well as synaptic types. In this study we consider the effect of synaptic interaction (electrical and chemical) as well as structural connectivity on synchronization transition in network models of Izhikevich neurons which spike regularly with beta rhythms. We find a wide range of behavior including continuous transition, explosive transition, as well as lack of global order. The stronger electrical synapses are more conducive to synchronization and can even lead to explosive synchronization. The key network element which determines the order of transition is found to be the clustering coefficient and not the small world effect, or the existence of hubs in a network. These results are in contrast to previous results which use phase oscillator models such as the Kuramoto model. Furthermore, we show that the patterns of synchronization changes when one goes to the gamma band. We attribute such a change to the change in the refractory period of Izhikevich neurons which changes significantly with frequency.

Networks of excitable nodes have recently attracted much attention particularly in regards to neuronal dynamics, where criticality has been argued to be a fundamental property. Refractory behavior, which limits the excitability of neurons is thought to be an important dynamical property. We therefore consider a simple model of excitable nodes which is known to exhibit a transition to instability at a critical point (λ = 1), and introduce refractory period into its dynamics. We use mean-field analytical calculations as well as numerical simulations to calculate the activity dependent branching ratio that is useful to characterize the behavior of critical systems. We also define avalanches and calculate probability distribution of their size and duration. We find that in the presence of refractory period the dynamics stabilizes while various parameter regimes become accessible. A sub-critical regime with λ < 1.0, a standard critical behavior with exponents close to critical branching process for λ = 1, a regime with 1 < λ < 2 that exhibits an interesting scaling behavior, and an oscillating regime with λ > 2.0. We have therefore shown that refractory behavior leads to a wide range of scaling as well as periodic behavior which are relevant to real neuronal dynamics.

Critical brain hypothesis has been intensively studied both in experimental and theoretical neuroscience over the past two decades. However, some important questions still remain: (i) What is the critical point the brain operates at? (ii) What is the regulatory mechanism that brings about and maintains such a critical state? (iii) The critical state is characterized by scale-invariant behavior which is seemingly at odds with definitive brain oscillations? In this work we consider a biologically motivated model of Izhikevich neuronal network with chemical synapses interacting via spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) as well as axonal time delay. Under generic and physiologically relevant conditions we show that the system is organized and maintained around a synchronization transition point as opposed to an activity transition point associated with an absorbing state phase transition. However, such a state exhibits experimentally relevant signs of critical dynamics including scale-free avalanches with finite-size scaling as well as critical branching ratios. While the system displays stochastic oscillations with highly correlated fluctuations, it also displays dominant frequency modes seen as sharp peaks in the power spectrum. The role of STDP as well as time delay is crucial in achieving and maintaining such critical dynamics, while the role of inhibition is not as crucial. In this way we provide possible answers to all three questions posed above. We also show that one can achieve supercritical or subcritical dynamics if one changes the average time delay associated with axonal conduction.

The periodic and step-like solutions of the double-Sine-Gordon equation are investigated, with different initial conditions and for various values of the potential parameter ǫ. We plot energy and force diagrams, as functions of the inter-soliton distance for such solutions. This allows us to consider our system as an interacting many-body system in 1 + 1 dimension.We therefore plot state diagrams (pressure vs. average density) for step-like as well as periodic solutions.Step-like solutions are shown to behave similarly to their counterparts in the Sine-Gordon system. However, periodic solutions show a fundamentally different behavior as the parameter ǫ is increased. We show that two distinct phases of periodic solutions exist which exhibit manifestly different behavior. Response functions for these phases are shown to behave differently, joining at an apparent phase transition point.

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