Vertex elimination orderings for hereditary graph classes

We provide a general method to prove the existence and compute efficiently elimination orderings in graphs. Our method relies on several tools that were known before, but that were not put together so far: the algorithm LexBFS due to Rose, Tarjan and Lueker, one of its properties discovered by Berry and Bordat, and a local decomposition property of graphs discovered by Maffray, Trotignon and Vu\vskovi\'c. We use this method to prove the existence of elimination orderings in several classes of graphs, and to compute them in linear time. Some of the classes have already been studied, namely even-hole-free graphs, square-theta-free Berge graphs, universally signable graphs and wheel-free graphs. Some other classes are new. It turns out that all the classes that we study in this paper can be defined by excluding some of the so-called Truemper configurations. For several classes of graphs, we obtain directly bounds on the chromatic number, or fast algorithms for the maximum clique problem or the coloring problem

Low rank perturbations and the spectral statistics of pseudointegrable billiards

We present an efficient method to solve Schr\"odinger's equation for perturbations of low rank. In particular, the method allows to calculate the level counting function with very little numerical effort. To illustrate the power of the method, we calculate the number variance for two pseudointegrable quantum billiards: the barrier billiard and the right triangle billiard (smallest angle $\pi/5$). In this way, we obtain precise estimates for the level compressibility in the semiclassical (high energy) limit. In both cases, our results confirm recent theoretical predictions, based on periodic orbit summation.Comment: 4 page

Hall Conductance of a Two-Dimensional Electron Gas in Periodic Lattice with Triangular Antidots

The topic of this contribution is the investigation of quantum states and quantum Hall effect in electron gas subjected to a periodic potential of the lateral lattice. The potential is formed by triangular quantum antidos located on the sites of the square lattice. In a such system the inversion center and the four-fold rotation symmetry are absent. The topological invariants which characterize different magnetic subbands and their Hall conductances are calculated. It is shown that the details of the antidot geometry are crucial for the Hall conductance quantization rule. The critical values of lattice parameters defining the shape of triangular antidots at which the Hall conductance is changed drastically are determined. We demonstrate that the quantum states and Hall conductance quantization law for the triangular antidot lattice differ from the case of the square lattice with cylindrical antidots. As an example, the Hall conductances of magnetic subbands for different antidot geometries are calculated for the case when the number of magnetic flux quanta per unit cell is equal to three.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Geometric Phase, Curvature, and Extrapotentials in Constrained Quantum Systems

We derive an effective Hamiltonian for a quantum system constrained to a submanifold (the constraint manifold) of configuration space (the ambient space) by an infinite restoring force. We pay special attention to how this Hamiltonian depends on quantities which are external to the constraint manifold, such as the external curvature of the constraint manifold, the (Riemannian) curvature of the ambient space, and the constraining potential. In particular, we find the remarkable fact that the twisting of the constraining potential appears as a gauge potential in the constrained Hamiltonian. This gauge potential is an example of geometric phase, closely related to that originally discussed by Berry. The constrained Hamiltonian also contains an effective potential depending on the external curvature of the constraint manifold, the curvature of the ambient space, and the twisting of the constraining potential. The general nature of our analysis allows applications to a wide variety of problems, such as rigid molecules, the evolution of molecular systems along reaction paths, and quantum strip waveguides.Comment: 27 pages with 1 figure, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Identifying and prioritising services in European terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems

Ecosystems are multifunctional and provide humanity with a broad array of vital services. Effective management of services requires an improved evidence base, identifying the role of ecosystems in delivering multiple services, which can assist policy-makers in maintaining them. Here, information from the literature and scientific experts was used to systematically document the importance of services and identify trends in their use and status over time for the main terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems in Europe. The results from this review show that intensively managed ecosystems contribute mostly to vital provisioning services (e.g. agro-ecosystems provide food via crops and livestock, and forests provide wood), while semi-natural ecosystems (e.g. grasslands and mountains) are key contributors of genetic resources and cultural services (e.g. aesthetic values and sense of place). The most recent European trends in human use of services show increases in demand for crops from agro-ecosystems, timber from forests, water flow regulation from rivers, wetlands and mountains, and recreation and ecotourism in most ecosystems, but decreases in livestock production, freshwater capture fisheries, wild foods and virtually all services associated with ecosystems which have considerably decreased in area (e.g. semi-natural grasslands). The condition of the majority of services show either a degraded or mixed status across Europe with the exception of recent enhancements in timber production in forests and mountains, freshwater provision, water/erosion/natural hazard regulation and recreation/ecotourism in mountains, and climate regulation in forests. Key gaps in knowledge were evident for certain services across all ecosystems, including the provision of biochemicals and natural medicines, genetic resources and the regulating services of seed dispersal, pest/disease regulation and invasion resistance

Classical limit in terms of symbolic dynamics for the quantum baker's map

We derive a simple closed form for the matrix elements of the quantum baker's map that shows that the map is an approximate shift in a symbolic representation based on discrete phase space. We use this result to give a formal proof that the quantum baker's map approaches a classical Bernoulli shift in the limit of a small effective Plank's constant.Comment: 12 pages, LaTex, typos correcte

How do you say ‘hello’? Personality impressions from brief novel voices

On hearing a novel voice, listeners readily form personality impressions of that speaker. Accurate or not, these impressions are known to affect subsequent interactions; yet the underlying psychological and acoustical bases remain poorly understood. Furthermore, hitherto studies have focussed on extended speech as opposed to analysing the instantaneous impressions we obtain from first experience. In this paper, through a mass online rating experiment, 320 participants rated 64 sub-second vocal utterances of the word ‘hello’ on one of 10 personality traits. We show that: (1) personality judgements of brief utterances from unfamiliar speakers are consistent across listeners; (2) a two-dimensional ‘social voice space’ with axes mapping Valence (Trust, Likeability) and Dominance, each driven by differing combinations of vocal acoustics, adequately summarises ratings in both male and female voices; and (3) a positive combination of Valence and Dominance results in increased perceived male vocal Attractiveness, whereas perceived female vocal Attractiveness is largely controlled by increasing Valence. Results are discussed in relation to the rapid evaluation of personality and, in turn, the intent of others, as being driven by survival mechanisms via approach or avoidance behaviours. These findings provide empirical bases for predicting personality impressions from acoustical analyses of short utterances and for generating desired personality impressions in artificial voices

Recurrence of particles in static and time varying oval billiards

Dynamical properties are studied for escaping particles, injected through a hole in an oval billiard. The dynamics is considered for both static and periodically moving boundaries. For the static boundary, two different decays for the recurrence time distribution were observed after exponential decay for short times: A changeover to: (i) power law or; (ii) stretched exponential. Both slower decays are due to sticky orbits trapped near KAM islands, with the stretched exponential apparently associated with a single group of large islands. For time dependent case, survival probability leads to the conclusion that sticky orbits are less evident compared with the static case.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, to appear in Phys Lett

Development of a custom on-line ultrasonic vapour analyzer/flowmeter for the ATLAS inner detector, with application to gaseous tracking and Cherenkov detectors

Precision sound velocity measurements can simultaneously determine binary gas composition and flow. We have developed an analyzer with custom electronics, currently in use in the ATLAS inner detector, with numerous potential applications. The instrument has demonstrated ~0.3% mixture precision for C3F8/C2F6 mixtures and < 10-4 resolution for N2/C3F8 mixtures. Moderate and high flow versions of the instrument have demonstrated flow resolutions of +/- 2% F.S. for flows up to 250 l.min-1, and +/- 1.9% F.S. for linear flow velocities up to 15 ms-1; the latter flow approaching that expected in the vapour return of the thermosiphon fluorocarbon coolant recirculator being built for the ATLAS silicon tracker.Comment: Paper submitted to TWEPP2012; Topical Workshop on Electronics for Particle Physics, Oxford, UK, September 17-21, 2012. KEYWORDS: Sonar; Saturated fluorocarbons; Flowmetry; Sound velocity, Gas mixture analysis. 8 pages, 7 figure