A path integral approach to effective non-linear medium

Citation
M. Barthelemy et H. Orland, A path integral approach to effective non-linear medium, EUR PHY J B, 6(4), 1998, pp. 537-541
Citations number
21
Categorie Soggetti
Apllied Physucs/Condensed Matter/Materiales Science
Journal title
EUROPEAN PHYSICAL JOURNAL B
ISSN journal
14346028 → ACNP
Volume
6
Issue
4
Year of publication
1998
Pages
537 - 541
Database
ISI
SICI code
1434-6028(199812)6:4<537:APIATE>2.0.ZU;2-O
Abstract
In this article, we propose a new method to compute the effective propertie s of non-linear disordered media. We use the fact that the effective consta nts can be defined through the minimum of an energy functional. We express this minimum in terms of a path integral allowing us to use many-body techn iques. We obtain the perturbation expansion of the effective constants to s econd order in disorder, for any kind of non-linearity. We apply our method to the case of strong non-linearities (i.e. D = epsilon(E-2)E-kappa/2, whe re epsilon is fluctuating from point to point), and to the case of weak non -linearity (i.e. D = epsilon E + chi(E-2)E where epsilon and chi fluctuate from point to point). Our results are in agreement with previous ones: and could be easily extended to other types of non-linear problems in disordere d systems.