Physics, Vol. 6, Pages 742-759: Complex Transitions of the Bounded Confidence Model from an Odd Number of Clusters to the Next Physics doi: 10.3390/physics6020046 Authors: Guillaume Deffuant The bounded confidence model assumes simple continuous opinion dynamics in which agents ignore opinions which are too far from their own. The two initial variants—Hegselmann–Krause (HK) and Deffuant–Weisbuch (DW)—of the model have attracted significant attention since the early 2000s. This paper revisits the version of the HK model applied to a probab ..read more

Physics, Vol. 6, Pages 690-741: Force Metrology with Plane Parallel Plates: Final Design Review and Outlook Physics doi: 10.3390/physics6020045 Authors: Hamid Haghmoradi Hauke Fischer Alessandro Bertolini Ivica Galić Francesco Intravaia Mario Pitschmann Raphael A. Schimpl René I. P. Sedmik During the past few decades, abundant evidence for physics beyond the two standard models of particle physics and cosmology was found. Yet, we are tapping in the dark regarding our understanding of the dark sector. For more than a century, open problems related to the nature of the vacuum remained unresolved ..read more

Physics, Vol. 6, Pages 674-689: Probing Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collisions via Photon Anisotropic Flow Ratios. A Brief Review Physics doi: 10.3390/physics6020044 Authors: Rupa Chatterjee Pingal Dasgupta The anisotropic flow of photons produced in relativistic nuclear collisions is known as a promising observable for studying the initial state and the subsequent evolution of the hot and dense medium formed in such collisions. The investigation of photon anisotropic flow coefficients, vn, has attracted high interest over the last decade, involving both theory and experiment. The ther ..read more

Physics, Vol. 6, Pages 659-673: The Influence of Lobbies: Analyzing Group Consensus from a Physics Approach Physics doi: 10.3390/physics6020043 Authors: Ugo Merlone Arianna Dal Forno In this paper, we study the influence of a small group of agents (i.e., a lobby) that is trying to spread a rumor in a population by using the known model proposed by Serge Galam. In particular, lobbies are modeled as subgroups of individuals who strategically choose their seating in the social space in order to protect their opinions and influence others. We consider different social gatherings and simulate, usin ..read more

Physics, Vol. 6, Pages 645-658: Hierarchically Coupled Ornstein–Uhlenbeck Processes for Transient Anomalous Diffusion Physics doi: 10.3390/physics6020042 Authors: Jingyang Wang Nikolaos K. Voulgarakis The nonlinear dependence of the mean-squared displacement (MSD) on time is a common characteristic of particle transport in complex environments. Frequently, this anomalous behavior only occurs transiently before the particle reaches a terminal Fickian diffusion. This study shows that a system of hierarchically coupled Ornstein–Uhlenbeck equations is able to describe both ..read more

Physics, Vol. 6, Pages 629-644: Statistical Mechanics of Social Hierarchies: A Mathematical Model for the Evolution of Human Societal Structures Physics doi: 10.3390/physics6020041 Authors: Nestor Caticha Rafael S. Calsaverini Renato Vicente Social structure may have changed from hierarchical to egalitarian and back along the evolutionary line of humans. Within the tradition of sociophysics, we construct a mathematical model of a society of agents subject to competing cognitive and social navigation constraints and predict, using statistical mechanics methods, that its degree of hierarchy decr ..read more

Physics, Vol. 6, Pages 613-628: Casimir Energy in (2 + 1)-Dimensional Field Theories Physics doi: 10.3390/physics6020040 Authors: Manuel Asorey Claudio Iuliano Fernando Ezquerro We explore the dependence of vacuum energy on the boundary conditions for massive scalar fields in (2 + 1)-dimensional spacetimes. We consider the simplest geometrical setup given by a two-dimensional space bounded by two homogeneous parallel wires in order to compare it with the non-perturbative behaviour of the Casimir energy for non-Abelian gauge theories in (2 + 1) dimensions. Our results show the existence of two ..read more

Physics, Vol. 6, Pages 599-612: Critical Temperature and Critical Current Enhancement in Arrays of Josephson Junctions: A Ginzburg–Landau Perspective Physics doi: 10.3390/physics6020039 Authors: Elena Tomei Riccardo Bizzi Vittorio Merlo Francesco Romeo Gaetano Salina Matteo Cirillo The present investigation explores the spatial distribution of Cooper pair density in graph-shaped arrays of Josephson junctions using a Ginzburg–Landau approach. We specifically investigate double-comb structures and compare their properties with linear arrays as reference systems. Our findi ..read more

Physics, Vol. 6, Pages 579-598: Ultrafast Resonant Photon Emission from a Molecule Driven by a Strong Coherent Field in Terms of Complex Spectral Analysis Physics doi: 10.3390/physics6020038 Authors: Maito Katayama Satoshi Tanaka Kazuki Kanki In this study, we investigate the time–frequency-resolved resonant photon emission from a molecular vibrational oscillator driven by a monochromatic coherent external field. Using the complex spectral analysis of the Liouvillian, which integrates irreversible dissipative phenomena into quantum theory, we elucidate the fundamental processes o ..read more

Physics, Vol. 6, Pages 529-543: Nanosecond-Laser-Induced Breakdown of Aqueous Colloidal Solutions of Dysprosium Nanoparticles: The Influence of Nanoparticle Concentration on the Breakdown Plasma and the Intensity of Physical and Chemical Processes Physics doi: 10.3390/physics6020035 Authors: Ilya V. Baimler Alexey S. Baryshev Anastasiya O. Dikovskaya Viktor K. Chevokin Oleg V. Uvarov Maxim E. Astashev Sergey V. Gudkov Aleksander V. Simakin This paper studies the dynamics of the development of laser breakdown plasma in aqueous colloids of dysprosium nanoparticles by analyzing the time patterns ..read more