Members:
Keywords:
- Non-equilibrium statistical mechanics
- Long range interactions
- Active matter
- Seismic and natural hazard
- Neuronal Avalanches
- Granular media
Research Profile:
The group proposes a statistical mechanics approach to the study of interdisciplinary problems ranging from slow relaxation and transport properties in glassy, colloidal or ferromagnetic systems, to statistical properties of seismic occurrence and neuronal activity.
These systems, quite different from the point of view of elementary interactions, exhibit similar collective behaviours.
This is the typical feature of complex systems where the many-body interactions lead to emergent properties sometimes characterized by power laws with well-defined exponents. Basic ideas and methods of statistical mechanics, as scaling laws, universality, fractal dimension, renormalization group, are therefore very efficient to characterize the physics of these systems.
The purpose is to obtain a better understanding of the mechanisms responsible of the collective behaviour in these systems. In the following we outline the main research topics.
- PHASE ORDERING DYNAMICS
The theory of phase ordering kinetics is concerned with the dynamical evolution of systems quenched from a disordered phase into an ordered phase. The length scale of ordered regions grows with time as the different broken symmetry phases compete to select the equilibrium state in the thermodynamic limit, final equilibrium is never achieved. These systems are therefore usually considered the paradigm of non-equilibrium systems and they represent an ideal context where the fundamentals of non-equilibrium dynamics can be explored and better understood. Research activity, in particular, has mostly focused on the role of long-range interaction and quenched disorder on the growth law of ordered regions, on the aging dynamics of the two time quantities and on the generalization of the fluctuation dissipation relations during phase ordering dynamics.
- STATISTICAL SEISMOLOGY
Statistical seismology is an emerging field of research at the interface of statistical and physical modeling of earthquake occurrence. It is concerned with quantifying and understanding the distribution of earthquakes in time, magnitude, and location. Indeed, collective behavior in stress transfer and relaxation within the Earth crust leads to emergent properties described by stable phenomenological laws for a population of many earthquakes in size, time and space domains. This observation has stimulated a statistical mechanics approach to earthquake occurrence, applying ideas and methods as scaling laws, universality, fractal dimension, renormalization group, to characterize the physics of earthquakes. The research activity includes empirical analysis of earthquake catalogues, stochastic modeling of earthquake occurrence, estimation of the probability of earthquake occurrence, and testing the forecasting power of physical and statistical models of seismicity. It provides input to the management of seismic hazard and risk.
- VIBROFLUIDIZED GRANULAR MEDIUM
Granular materials represent a highly multidisciplinary scientific challenge: in fact, understanding their puzzling behaviour may improve industrial processes, prevent geophysical hazards and shed light on fundamental problems in the science of materials, the physics of glassy and disordered systems, soft matter and statistical physics. Granular materials can be found in solid-like states able to resist applied stresses, and in flowing fluid-like states. The transition between these two states is driven by changes in the density and in the applied stresses, as well as by changes in the applied forcing. The group of complex systems at the Department of Mathematics and Physics of University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli” has mostly focused on the role of mechanical vibrations in driving the unjamming transition. This topic is particularly relevant as related to a number of phenomena, from avalanche dynamics and earthquake triggering in the geophysical context, to the manufacturing process in the material, food and pharmaceutical industries.
- STATISTICAL APPROACH TO NEURONAL ACTIVITY
Spontaneous brain activity is the fundamental activity that an alive brain has even in absence of any specific task. It represents the 50% of the total activity of the brain. Recently it has been evidenced that this is characterized by avalanches of neuronal activations showing absence of characteristic size, result successfully interpreted in the context of criticality. Moreover, the temporal organization of neuronal avalanches is characterized by complex features, leading to the characteristic brain oscillations and a dynamic balance between excitation and inhibition. The study of the statistical properties of spontaneous activity and the relation between spontaneous and stimulated activity has been addressed by the group of complex systems at the Department of Mathematics and Physics of University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli” by means of statistical models inspired by non-equilibrium statistical physics. This approach provides insights on the relevant features of neuron interactions responsible for non trivial features of brain activity.
- STOCHASTIC THERMODYNAMICS
Stochastic thermodynamics is a theory aiming at extending thermodynamic concepts such heat, work and entropy to small systems, composed of a few number of elements, whose dynamics is characterized by random fluctuations. These systems include biological macromolecules, active matter and micro- and nano-devices. Within this framework, the research activity of the group of complex systems at the Department of Mathematics and Physics of University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli” is mainly focused on the study of the thermodynamic and dynamical properties of molecular motors, active particles and energy harvester systems.
Current research projects:
- MIUR PRIN 2017 project 201798CZLJ
- MIUR PRIN 2017 project2017WZFTZP
- PNRR “MNESYS - A MULTISCALE INTEGRATED APPROACH TO THE STUDY OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM IN HEALT AND DISEASE"
Recent publications:
1 Scaling of avalanche shape and activity power spectrum in neuronal networks
Nandi, M.K., Sarracino, A., Herrmann, H.J., De Arcangelis, L.
Physical Review E, 2022, 106(2), 024304
2 Power spectrum and critical exponents in the 2D stochastic Wilson–Cowan model
Apicella, I., Scarpetta, S., de Arcangelis, L., Sarracino, A., de Candia, A.
Scientific Reports, 2022, 12(1), 21870
3 Critical behaviour of the stochastic Wilson- Cowan model
De Candia, A., Sarracino, A., Apicella, I., De Arcangelis, L.
PLoS Computational Biology, 2021, 17(8), e1008884
4 Role of inhibitory neurons in temporal correlations of critical and supercritical spontaneous activity
Raimo, D., Sarracino, A., de Arcangelis, L.
Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 2021, 565, 125555
5 Getting hotter by heating less: How driven granular materials dissipate energy in excess
Plati, A., De Arcangelis, L., Gnoli, A., ...Puglisi, A., Sarracino, A.
Physical Review Research, 2021, 3(1), 013011
6 Fluctuation–dissipation relations in active matter systems
Caprini, L., Puglisi, A., Sarracino, A.
Symmetry, 2021, 13(1), pp. 1–19, 81
7 Estimating the generation interval from the incidence rate, the optimal quarantine duration and the efficiency of fast switching periodic protocols for COVID-19
Lippiello, E., Petrillo, G., de Arcangelis, L.
Scientific Reports, 2022, 12(1), 4623
8 Long-range temporal correlations in the broadband resting state activity of the human brain revealed by neuronal avalanches
Lombardi, F., Shriki, O., Herrmann, H.J., de Arcangelis, L.
Neurocomputing, 2021, 461, pp. 657–666
9 Predicting brain evoked response to external stimuli from temporal correlations of spontaneous activity
Sarracino, A., Arviv, O., Shriki, O., De Arcangelis, L.
Physical Review Research, 2020, 2(3), 033355
10 The Dependence on the Moho Depth of the b-Value of the Gutenberg–Richter Law
Godano, C., Tramelli, A., Petrillo, G., Sessa, E.B., Lippiello, E.
Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 2022, 112(4), pp. 1921–1934
11 Testing of the Seismic Gap Hypothesis in a Model With Realistic Earthquake Statistics
Petrillo, G., Rosso, A., Lippiello, E.
Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earththis link is disabled, 2022, 127(6), e2021JB023542
12 Coexistence of coarsening and mean field relaxation in the long-range Ising chain
Corberi, F., Iannone, A., Kumar, M., Lippiello, E., Politi, P.
SciPost Physics, 2021, 10(5), 109
13 Testing of the foreshock hypothesis within an epidemic like description of seismicity
Geophysical Journal International, 2021, 225(2), pp. 1236–1257
14 Kinetics of the two-dimensional long-range Ising model at low temperatures
Agrawal, R., Corberi, F., Lippiello, E., Politi, P., Puri, S.
Physical Review E, 2021, 103(1), 012108
15 The influence of the brittle-ductile transition zone on aftershock and foreshock occurrence
Petrillo, G., Lippiello, E., Lndeas, F.P., Rosso, A.
Nature Communications, 2020, 11(1), 3010
16 Stochastic Thermodynamics of an Electromagnetic Energy Harvester
Costanzo, L., Lo Schiavo, A. Sarracino, A. Vitelli M.
Entropy24 (9), 1222
17 Microscopic theory for the diffusion of an active particle in a crowded environment
Rizkallah, P., Sarracino, A., Bénichou, O., Illien P.
Physical Review Letters128 (3), 038001
18 Stochastic thermodynamics of a piezoelectric energy harvester model
Costanzo, L., Lo Schiavo, A. Sarracino, A. Vitelli M.
Entropy 23 (6), 677
