Efficient algorithm for simulating particles in true quasiperiodic environments

Abstract

Abstract We introduce an algorithm based on generalized dual method (GDM) to efficiently study the dynamics of a particle in quasiperiodic environments without the need to use periodic approximations or to save the information of the vertices that make up the quasiperiodic lattice. We show that the computation time and the memory required to find the tile in which a particle is located as a function of the distance R to the center of symmetry remains constant in our algorithm, while using the GDM directly both quantities go like R 2. This allows us to perform realistic simulations with low consumption of computational resources. The algorithm can be used to study any quasiperiodic lattice that can be produced by the cut-and-project method. Using this algorithm, we have calculated the free path length distribution in quasiperiodic Lorentz gases reproducing previous results and for systems with high symmetries at the Boltzmann–Grad limit. We have found for the Boltzmann–Grad limit, that the distribution of free paths depends on the rank r of the quasiperiodic system and not on its symmetry. The distribution as a function of the free path length l appears to be a combination of exponential decay and a power-law behavior. The latter seems to become important only for probabilities less than ( 2 r − 2 r ( r + 1 ) ) − 1 , showing an exponential decaying free-path length distribution for r → ∞, similar to what is observed in disordered systems.