Mean-field approach to Random Apollonian Packing

We propose a simple algorithm which produces a new category of networks, high dimensional random Apollonian networks, with small-world and scale-free characteristics. We derive analytical expressions for their degree distributions and clustering coefficients which are determined by the dimension of the network. The values obtained for these parameters are in good agreement with simulation results and comparable to those coming from real networks. We prove also analitically th...

We investigate the process of random sequential adsorption of polydisperse particles whose size distribution exhibits a power-law dependence in the small size limit, $P(R)\sim R^{\alpha-1}$. We reveal a relation between pattern formation kinetics and structural properties of arising patterns. We propose a mean-field theory which provides a fair description for sufficiently small $\alpha$. When $\alpha \to \infty$, highly ordered structures locally identical to the Apollonian ...

Sequentially-built random sphere-packings have been numerically studied in the packing fraction interval $0.329 < \gamma < 0.586$. For that purpose fast running geometrical algorithms have been designed in order to build about 300 aggregates, containing $10^6$ spheres each one, which allowed a careful study of the local fluctuations and an improved accuracy in the calculations of the pair distribution $P(r)$ and structure factors $S(Q)$ of the aggregates. Among various para...

We generate non-lattice packings of spheres in up to 22 dimensions using the geometrical constraint satisfaction algorithm RRR. Our aggregated data suggest that it is easy to double the density of Ball's lower bound, and more tentatively, that the exponential decay rate of the density can be improved relative to Minkowski's longstanding 1/2.

In a recent paper (cond-mat/0506445) we derived an expression for the replicated free energy of a liquid of hard spheres based on the HNC free energy functional. An approximate equation of state for the glass and an estimate of the random close packing density were obtained in d=3. Here we show that the HNC approximation is not needed: the same expression can be obtained from the full diagrammatic expansion of the replicated free energy. Then, we consider the asymptotics of t...

A set of $N$ points is chosen randomly in a $D$-dimensional volume $V=a^D$, with periodic boundary conditions. For each point $i$, its distance $d_i$ is found to its nearest neighbour. Then, the maximal value is found, $d_{max}=max(d_i, i=1,...,N)$. Our numerical calculations indicate, that when the density $N/V$=const, $d_{max}$ scales with the linear system size as $d^2_{max}\propto a^\phi$, with $\phi=0.24\pm0.04$ for $D=1,2,3,4$.

Random sequential addition (RSA) time-dependent packing process, in which congruent hard hyperspheres are randomly and sequentially placed into a system without interparticle overlap, is a useful packing model to study disorder in high dimensions. Of particular interest is the infinite-time {\it saturation} limit in which the available space for another sphere tends to zero. However, the associated saturation density has been determined in all previous investigations by extra...

Consider sequential packing of unit balls in a large cube, as in the Renyi car-parking model, but in any dimension and with Poisson input. We show after suitable rescaling that the spatial distribution of packed balls tends to that of a Gaussian field in the thermodynamic limit. We prove analogous results for related applied models, including ballistic deposition and spatial birth-growth models.

We prove a lower bound on the entropy of sphere packings of $\mathbb R^d$ of density $\Theta(d \cdot 2^{-d})$. The entropy measures how plentiful such packings are, and our result is significantly stronger than the trivial lower bound that can be obtained from the mere existence of a dense packing. Our method also provides a new, statistical-physics-based proof of the $\Omega(d \cdot 2^{-d})$ lower bound on the maximum sphere packing density by showing that the expected packi...

We first review the derivation of the exact expression for the average distance $<r_n>$ of the n-th neighbour of a reference point among a set of N random points distributed uniformly in a unit volume of a D-dimensional geometric space. Next we propose a `mean-field\rq theory of $<r_n>$ and compare it with the exact result. The result of the `mean-field\rq theory is found to agree with the exact expression only in the limit $D \to \infty$ and $n \to \infty$. Thus the `mean-fi...