Phase transitions of thermal systems and the laser threshold were first connected more than forty years ago. Despite nonequilibrium nature laser, Landau theory phase transitions, applied directly to Scully-Lamb model (SLLM), indicates that is a second-order transition, associated with $U(1)$ spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB). To capture genuine transition SLLM (i.e., single-mode without satur...

We study matter-wave bistability in a spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensate dispersively coupled to a unidirectional ring cavity. A unique feature is that the population exchange among different modes of matter fields is accomplished via spin-exchange collisions. We show that the interplay between the atomic spin mixing and the cavity light field can lead to a strong matter-wave nonlinearity, making ...

2014 Resonant scattering of sound by finite physical structures is considered as a possible means of producing bistability in diffusion of sound waves. Nonlinear dependence of the sound propagation velocity upon the sound intensity is needed in order to provide proper conditions for the insurgence of bistability. Multistability behaviour is considered as a possibility in the concurrence of prop...

A new type of optical bistability mediated by pho~ion and virtual exciton coupling is suggested for polymers. Numerical results with parameters pertaining to polydiacetylene-toluene-sulfonate are given as an illustration. The stability of the steady-state solution is examined, and the physical mechanism responsible for the bistability is discussed. 1988 PACS numbers. 42.65.-k, 42.65.pc, 36.20.-...

Vaccination of both newborns and susceptibles is included in a transmission model for a disease that confers immunity. The interplay of the vaccination strategy together with the vaccine efficacy and waning is studied. In particular, it is shown that a backward bifurcation leading to bistability can occur. Under mild parameter constraints, compound matrices are used to show that each orbit limi...

A method based on thermal bistability for ultralow-threshold microlaser optimization is demonstrated. When sweeping the pump laser frequency across a pump resonance, the dynamic thermal bistability slows down the power variation. The resulting line shape modification enables a real-time monitoring of the laser characteristic. We demonstrate this method for a functionalized microsphere exhibitin...

Bistability is considered wide-spread among bacteria and eukaryotic cells, useful, e.g., for enzyme induction, bet hedging, and epigenetic switching. However, this phenomenon has mostly been described with deterministic dynamic or well-mixed stochastic models. Here, we map known biological bistable systems onto the well-characterized biochemical Schlögl model, using analytical calculations and ...

We investigate the azimuthal dependence of the switching field strength for nematic liquid crystal bistability on patterned alignment layers to determine the validity of a switching theory proposed by Kim et al. [Appl. Phys. Lett. 78, 3055 (2001)] and to evaluate higher-order azimuthal anchoring coefficients. Director behavior during switching is described in detail for general azimuthal direct...

Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascades can operate as bistable switches residing in either of two different stable states. MAPK cascades are often embedded in positive feedback loops, which are considered to be a prerequisite for bistable behavior. Here we demonstrate that in the absence of any imposed feedback regulation, bistability and hysteresis can arise solely from a distributiv...

Transcriptional positive-feedback loops are widely associated with bistability, characterized by two stable expression states that allow cells to respond to analog signals in a digital manner. Using a synthetic system in budding yeast, we show that positive feedback involving a promoter with multiple transcription factor (TF) binding sites can induce a steady-state bimodal response without coop...