Observation of Replica Symmetry Breaking in Standard Mode-Locked Fiber Laser.

We report the first experimental demonstration of the replica symmetry breaking (RSB) phenomenon in a fiber laser system supporting standard mode-locking (SML) regime. Though theoretically predicted, this photonic glassy phase remained experimentally undisclosed so far. We employ an ytterbium-based mode-locked fiber laser with a very rich phase diagram. Two phase transitions are observed separating three different regimes: cw, quasi-mode-locking (QML), and SML. The regimes are intrinsically related to the distinct dynamics of intensity fluctuations in the laser spectra. We set the connection between the RSB glassy phase with frustrated modes and onset of L-shaped intensity distributions in the QML regime, which impact directly the replica overlap measure.

Plasmodium sporozoite search strategy to locate hotspots of blood vessel invasion.

Plasmodium sporozoites actively migrate in the dermis and enter blood vessels to infect the liver. Despite their importance for malaria infection, little is known about these cutaneous processes. We combine intravital imaging in a rodent malaria model and statistical methods to unveil the parasite strategy to reach the bloodstream. We determine that sporozoites display a high-motility mode with a superdiffusive Lévy-like pattern known to optimize the location of scarce targets. When encountering blood vessels, sporozoites frequently switch to a subdiffusive low-motility behavior associated with probing for intravasation hotspots, marked by the presence of pericytes. Hence, sporozoites present anomalous diffusive motility, alternating between superdiffusive tissue exploration and subdiffusive local vessel exploitation, thus optimizing the sequential tasks of seeking blood vessels and pericyte-associated sites of privileged intravasation.

What Does It Take to Solve the 3D Ising Model? Minimal Necessary Conditions for a Valid Solution.

An exact solution of the Ising model on the simple cubic lattice is one of the long-standing open problems in rigorous statistical mechanics. Indeed, it is generally believed that settling it would constitute a methodological breakthrough, fomenting great prospects for further application, similarly to what happened when Lars Onsager solved the two-dimensional model eighty years ago. Hence, there have been many attempts to find analytic expressions for the exact partition function Z, but all such attempts have failed due to unavoidable conceptual or mathematical obstructions. Given the importance of this simple yet paradigmatic model, here we set out clear-cut criteria for any claimed exact expression for Z to be minimally plausible. Specifically, we present six necessary-but not sufficient-conditions that Z must satisfy. These criteria will allow very quick plausibility checks of future claims. As illustrative examples, we discuss previous mistaken "solutions", unveiling their shortcomings.

Fock-space approach to stochastic susceptible-infected-recovered models.

We investigate the stochastic susceptible-infected-recovered (SIR) model of infectious disease dynamics in the Fock-space approach. In contrast to conventional SIR models based on ordinary differential equations for the subpopulation sizes of S, I, and R individuals, the stochastic SIR model is driven by a master equation governing the transition probabilities among the system's states defined by SIR occupation numbers. In the Fock-space approach the master equation is recast in the form of a real-valued Schrödinger-type equation with a second quantization Hamiltonian-like operator describing the infection and recovery processes. We find exact analytic expressions for the Hamiltonian eigenvalues for any population size N. We present small- and large-N results for the average numbers of SIR individuals and basic reproduction number. For small N we also obtain the probability distributions of SIR states, epidemic sizes and durations, which cannot be found from deterministic SIR models. Our Fock-space approach to stochastic SIR models introduces a powerful set of tools to calculate central quantities of epidemic processes, especially for relatively small populations where statistical fluctuations not captured by conventional deterministic SIR models play a crucial role.

Simultaneous evaluation of intermittency effects, replica symmetry breaking and modes dynamics correlations in a Nd:YAG random laser.

Random lasers (RLs) are remarkable experimental platforms to advance the understanding of complex systems phenomena, such as the replica-symmetry-breaking (RSB) spin glass phase, dynamics modes correlations, and turbulence. Here we study these three phenomena jointly in a Nd:YAG based RL synthesized for the first time using a spray pyrolysis method. We propose a couple of modified Pearson correlation coefficients that are simultaneously sensitive to the emergence and fading out of photonic intermittency turbulent-like effects, dynamics evolution of modes correlations, and onset of RSB behavior. Our results show how intertwined these phenomena are in RLs, and suggest that they might share some common underlying mechanisms, possibly approached in future theoretical models under a unified treatment.

Evaluation of Pearson correlation coefficient and Parisi parameter of replica symmetry breaking in a hybrid electronically addressable random fiber laser.

The hybrid electronically addressable random (HEAR) laser is a novel type of random fiber laser that presents the remarkable property of selection of the fiber section with lasing emission. Here we present a joint analysis of the correlations between intensity fluctuations at distinct wavelengths and replica symmetry breaking (RSB) behavior of the HEAR laser. We introduce a modified Pearson coefficient that simultaneously comprises both the Parisi overlap parameter and standard Pearson correlation coefficient. Our results highlight the contrast between the correlations and presence or not of RSB phenomenon in the spontaneous emission behavior well below threshold, replica-symmetric ASE regime slightly below threshold, and RSB phase with random lasing emission above threshold. In particular, in the latter we find that the onset of RSB behavior is accompanied by a stochastic dynamics of the lasing modes, leading to competition for gain intertwined with correlation and anti-correlation between modes in this complex photonic phase.

Ultrafast convergent power-balance model for Raman random fiber laser with half-open cavity.

The power-relevant features of Raman random fiber laser (RRFL), such as lasing threshold, slope efficiency, and power distribution, are among the most critical parameters to characterize its operation status. In this work, focusing on the power features of the half-open cavity RRFL, an ultrafast convergent power-balance model is proposed, which highlights the physical essence of the most common RRFL type and sharply reduces the computation workload. By transforming the time-consuming serial calculation to a parallel one, the calculation efficiency can be improved by more than 100 times. Particularly, for different point-mirror reflectivities and different fiber lengths, the input-output power curves and power distribution curves calculated by the present model match nicely with those of the conventional model, as well as with the experimental data. Moreover, through the present model the relationship between point-mirror reflectivity and laser threshold is analytically derived, and the way for improving RRFL's slope efficiency is also provided with a lucid theoretical explanation.

Nonlinear effects and photonic phase transitions in Nd3+-doped nanocrystal-based random lasers.

The interplay between gain and scattering of light propagating in disordered media allows operation of random lasers (RLs)-lasers without conventional optical cavities. In the present paper, we review our recent contributions in this area, which include the demonstration of self-second-harmonic and self-sum-frequency generation, the characterization of Lévy's statistics of the output intensity fluctuations, and replica symmetry breaking (analogue to the spin-glass phase transition) by RLs based on nanocrystals containing trivalent neodymium ions.

Topological phase transitions in functional brain networks.

Functional brain networks are often constructed by quantifying correlations between time series of activity of brain regions. Their topological structure includes nodes, edges, triangles, and even higher-dimensional objects. Topological data analysis (TDA) is the emerging framework to process data sets under this perspective. In parallel, topology has proven essential for understanding fundamental questions in physics. Here we report the discovery of topological phase transitions in functional brain networks by merging concepts from TDA, topology, geometry, physics, and network theory. We show that topological phase transitions occur when the Euler entropy has a singularity, which remarkably coincides with the emergence of multidimensional topological holes in the brain network. The geometric nature of the transitions can be interpreted, under certain hypotheses, as an extension of percolation to high-dimensional objects. Due to the universal character of phase transitions and noise robustness of TDA, our findings open perspectives toward establishing reliable topological and geometrical markers for group and possibly individual differences in functional brain network organization.

Bumblebees learn foraging routes through exploitation-exploration cycles.

How animals explore and acquire knowledge from the environment is a key question in movement ecology. For pollinators that feed on multiple small replenishing nectar resources, the challenge is to learn efficient foraging routes while dynamically acquiring spatial information about new resource locations. Here, we use the behavioural mapping t-Stochastic Neighbouring Embedding algorithm and Shannon entropy to statistically analyse previously published sampling patterns of bumblebees feeding on artificial flowers in the field. We show that bumblebees modulate foraging excursions into distinctive behavioural strategies, characterizing the trade-off dynamics between (i) visiting and exploiting flowers close to the nest, (ii) searching for new routes and resources, and (iii) exploiting learned flower visitation sequences. Experienced bees combine these behavioural strategies even after they find an optimal route minimizing travel distances between flowers. This behavioural variability may help balancing energy costs-benefits and facilitate rapid adaptation to changing environments and the integration of more profitable resources in their routes.

Evidence of a Floquet Phase in a Photonic System.

The ground breaking extension of the key concept of phase structure to nonequilibrium regimes was only recently achieved in Floquet systems, characterized by a time-dependent quantum Hamiltonian with a periodic driving source. However, despite the theoretical advances, only very few systems are known to display experimental Floquet phases, not one of them employing a laser emission-based mechanism. Here we report the first experimental observation of a Floquet phase in a photonic system, a disordered fiber laser with spatial eigenmode localization. We apply a periodically oscillating cw pumping source that drives the random couplings of the Floquet Hamiltonian. A photonic Floquet spin-glass phase is demonstrated in the random-lasing regime by extensive measurements of the Parisi overlap parameter and asymmetry properties of its distribution. In contrast, in the fluorescent regime below threshold, the absence of mode localization prevents the stabilization of a Floquet phase. Our results are nicely described by theoretical arguments.

Coexistence of turbulence-like and glassy behaviours in a photonic system.

Coexistence of physical phenomena can occur in quite unexpected ways. Here we demonstrate the first evidence in any physical system of the coexistence in the same set of measurements of two of the most challenging phenomena in complex systems: turbulence and spin glasses. We employ a quasi-one-dimensional random fibre laser, which displays all essential ingredients underlying both behaviours, namely disorder, frustration and nonlinearity, as well as turbulent energy cascades and intermittent energy flux between fluctuation scales. Our extensive experimental results are theoretically supported by a newly defined photonic Pearson correlation coefficient that unveils the role of the intermittency and describes remarkably well both the spin-glass Parisi overlap parameter and the distribution of turbulent-like intensity increments. Our findings open the way to unravel subtle connections with other complex phenomena, such as disordered nonlinear wave propagation, Lévy statistics of intensity fluctuations, and rogue waves.

Replica Symmetry Breaking in the Photonic Ferromagneticlike Spontaneous Mode-Locking Phase of a Multimode Nd:YAG Laser.

We demonstrate the replica symmetry breaking (RSB) phenomenon in the spontaneous mode-locking regime of a multimode Q-switched Nd:YAG laser. The underlying mechanism is quite distinct from that of the RSB recently observed in random lasers. Here, there is no random medium and the phase is not glassy with incoherently oscillating modes as in random lasers. Instead, in each pulse a specific subset of longitudinal modes are activated in a nondeterministic way, whose coherent oscillation dominates and frustrates the others. The emergence of RSB coincides with the onset of ultrashort pulse generation typical of the spontaneous mode-locking regime, both occurring at the laser threshold. On the other hand, when high losses are introduced, RSB is inhibited and only the amplified stimulated emission with replica symmetry is observed. Our results disclose the only theoretically predicted photonic phase with RSB that remained unobserved so far.

The evolutionary origins of Lévy walk foraging.

We study through a reaction-diffusion algorithm the influence of landscape diversity on the efficiency of search dynamics. Remarkably, the identical optimal search strategy arises in a wide variety of environments, provided the target density is sparse and the searcher's information is restricted to its close vicinity. Our results strongly impact the current debate on the emergentist vs. evolutionary origins of animal foraging. The inherent character of the optimal solution (i.e., independent on the landscape for the broad scenarios assumed here) suggests an interpretation favoring the evolutionary view, as originally implied by the Lévy flight foraging hypothesis. The latter states that, under conditions of scarcity of information and sparse resources, some organisms must have evolved to exploit optimal strategies characterized by heavy-tailed truncated power-law distributions of move lengths. These results strongly suggest that Lévy strategies-and hence the selection pressure for the relevant adaptations-are robust with respect to large changes in habitat. In contrast, the usual emergentist explanation seems not able to explain how very similar Lévy walks can emerge from all the distinct non-Lévy foraging strategies that are needed for the observed large variety of specific environments. We also report that deviations from Lévy can take place in plentiful ecosystems, where locomotion truncation is very frequent due to high encounter rates. So, in this case normal diffusion strategies-performing as effectively as the optimal one-can naturally emerge from Lévy. Our results constitute the strongest theoretical evidence to date supporting the evolutionary origins of experimentally observed Lévy walks.

Turbulence hierarchy in a random fibre laser.

Turbulence is a challenging feature common to a wide range of complex phenomena. Random fibre lasers are a special class of lasers in which the feedback arises from multiple scattering in a one-dimensional disordered cavity-less medium. Here we report on statistical signatures of turbulence in the distribution of intensity fluctuations in a continuous-wave-pumped erbium-based random fibre laser, with random Bragg grating scatterers. The distribution of intensity fluctuations in an extensive data set exhibits three qualitatively distinct behaviours: a Gaussian regime below threshold, a mixture of two distributions with exponentially decaying tails near the threshold and a mixture of distributions with stretched-exponential tails above threshold. All distributions are well described by a hierarchical stochastic model that incorporates Kolmogorov's theory of turbulence, which includes energy cascade and the intermittence phenomenon. Our findings have implications for explaining the remarkably challenging turbulent behaviour in photonics, using a random fibre laser as the experimental platform.

Lévy flights between absorbing boundaries: Revisiting the survival probability and the shift from the exponential to the Sparre-Andersen limit behavior.

We revisit the problem of calculating the survival probability of Lévy flights in a finite interval with absorbing boundaries. Our approach is based on the master equation for discrete Lévy fliers, previously considered to treat the semi-infinite domain. We argue that, although the semi-infinite case can be treated exactly due to Wiener-Hopf factorization, the approximation involved in the problem with the finite interval is actually fairly good. We evidence the shift in the universal behavior of the long-term survival probability from the exponential decay in the presence of two absorbing barriers to the Sparre-Andersen power-law dependence in the single-barrier limit. In some cases, we also calculate the short- and intermediate-term behavior and present the explicit dependence of the survival probability on the Lévy flier's starting position. Our analytical results are confirmed by numerical simulations.

Observation of photonic paramagnetic to spin-glass transition in a specially designed TiO2 particle-based dye-colloidal random laser.

Colloidal-based random lasers (RLs) are highly efficient and have been exploited in a wide range of geometries. However, in the particular case of ethanol solutions of rhodamines and TiO2 particles, the RL behavior is quite unstable due to the fast precipitation of the particles. In this Letter, specially designed amorphous TiO2 particles were synthesized by a sol-gel method, preventing the degradation of the RL for long operating lifetimes of over 105 shots. As a consequence, this modified colloidal RL allowed the observation of a clear replica-symmetry-breaking phase transition from the paramagnetic fluorescent to spin-glass RL behavior, which has not been observed in the system with nonfunctionalized TiO2 particles.

Observation of Lévy distribution and replica symmetry breaking in random lasers from a single set of measurements.

Random lasers have been recently exploited as a photonic platform for studies of complex systems. This cross-disciplinary approach opened up new important avenues for the understanding of random-laser behavior, including Lévy-type distributions of strong intensity fluctuations and phase transitions to a photonic spin-glass phase. In this work, we employ the Nd:YBO random laser system to unveil, from a single set of measurements, the physical origin of the complex correspondence between the Lévy fluctuation regime and the replica-symmetry-breaking transition to the spin-glass phase. A novel unexpected finding is also reported: the trend to suppress the spin-glass behavior for high excitation pulse energies. The present description from first principles of this correspondence unfolds new possibilities to characterize other random lasers, such as random fiber lasers, nanolasers and small lasers, which include plasmonic-based, photonic-crystal and bio-derived nanodevices. The statistical nature of the emission provided by random lasers can also impact on their prominent use as sources for speckle-free laser imaging, which nowadays represents one of the most promising applications of random lasers, with expected progress even in cancer research.

Survival in patchy landscapes: the interplay between dispersal, habitat loss and fragmentation.

Habitat loss and fragmentation are important factors determining animal population dynamics and spatial distribution. Such landscape changes can lead to the deleterious impact of a significant drop in the number of species, caused by critically reduced survival rates for organisms. In order to obtain a deeper understanding of the threeway interplay between habitat loss, fragmentation and survival rates, we propose here a spatially explicit multi-scaled movement model of individuals that search for habitat. By considering basic ecological processes, such as predation, starvation (outside the habitat area), and competition, together with dispersal movement as a link among habitat areas, we show that a higher survival rate is achieved in instances with a lower number of patches of larger areas. Our results demonstrate how movement may counterbalance the effects of habitat loss and fragmentation in altered landscapes. In particular, they have important implications for conservation planning and ecosystem management, including the design of specific features of conservation areas in order to enhance landscape connectivity and population viability.