Strain topological metamaterials and revealing hidden topology in higher-order coordinates.

Topological physics has revolutionized materials science, introducing topological phases of matter in diverse settings ranging from quantum to photonic and phononic systems. Herein, we present a family of topological systems, which we term "strain topological metamaterials", whose topological properties are hidden and unveiled only under higher-order (strain) coordinate transformations. We firstly show that the canonical mass dimer, a model that can describe various settings such as electrical circuits and optics, among others, belongs to this family where strain coordinates reveal a topological nontriviality for the edge states at free boundaries. Subsequently, we introduce a mechanical analog of the Majorana-supporting Kitaev chain, which supports topological edge states for both fixed and free boundaries within the proposed framework. Thus, our findings not only extend the way topological edge states are identified, but also promote the fabrication of novel topological metamaterials in various fields, with more complex, tailored boundaries.

Traits of criticality in membrane potential fluctuations of pyramidal neurons in the CA1 region of rat hippocampus.

Evidence that neural circuits are operating near criticality has been provided at various levels of brain organisation with a presumed role in maximising information processing and multiscale activity association. Criticality has been linked to excitation at both the single-cell and network levels, as action potential generation marks an obvious phase transition from a resting to an excitable state. Using in vitro intracellular recordings, we examine irregular, small amplitude membrane potential fluctuations from CA1 pyramidal neurons of Wistar male rats. We show that these fluctuations, confounded with noise, carry information relevant to the neuronal state. The underlying dynamics exhibit intermittent characteristics shown to describe the temporal fluctuations of the order parameter of a macroscopic system at its critical point even in the absence of firing. An externally applied stimulus serves as the control parameter, driving the system in and out of its critical state. Based on our experimental observations we calculate the equivalent of the isothermal critical exponent δh finding a value which depends on the applied stimulus. For each neuron there is a stimulus amplitude for which the critical behaviour becomes most pronounced. The corresponding mean value of δh in the considered ensemble of neurons is δh  ≈ 1.89, close to theoretical predictions for critical networks. Finally, we show that the firing rate of a neuron decreases exponentially with δh .

Intermittency-induced criticality in a resistor-inductor-diode circuit.

The current fluctuations of a driven resistor-inductor-diode circuit are investigated here looking for signatures of critical behavior monitored by the driving frequency. The experimentally obtained time series of the voltage drop across the resistor (as directly proportional to the current flowing through the circuit) were analyzed by means of the method of critical fluctuations in analogy to thermal critical systems. Intermittent criticality was revealed for a critical frequency band signifying the transition between the normal rectifier phase in the low frequencies and a full-wave conducting, capacitorlike phase in the high frequencies. The transition possesses critical characteristics with a characteristic exponent p_{l}=1.65. A fractal analysis in terms of the rescale range (R/RSS) and detrended fluctuation analysis methods yielded results fully compatible with the critical dynamics analysis. Suggestions for the interpretation of the observed behavior in terms of p-n junction operation are discussed.

Dynamical trapping and chaotic scattering of the harmonically driven barrier.

A detailed analysis of the classical nonlinear dynamics of a single driven square potential barrier with harmonically oscillating position is performed. The system exhibits dynamical trapping which is associated with the existence of a stable island in phase space. Due to the unstable periodic orbits of the KAM structure, the driven barrier is a chaotic scatterer and shows stickiness of scattering trajectories in the vicinity of the stable island. The transmission function of a suitably prepared ensemble yields results which are very similar to tunneling resonances in the quantum mechanical regime. However, the origin of these resonances is different in the classical regime.