103,335 research outputs found
Implementation of classical communication in a quantum world
Observations of quantum systems carried out by finite observers who
subsequently communicate their results using classical data structures can be
described as "local operations, classical communication" (LOCC) observations.
The implementation of LOCC observations by the Hamiltonian dynamics prescribed
by minimal quantum mechanics is investigated. It is shown that LOCC
observations cannot be described using decoherence considerations alone, but
rather require the \textit{a priori} stipulation of a positive operator-valued
measure (POVM) about which communicating observers agree. It is also shown that
the transfer of classical information from system to observer can be described
in terms of system-observer entanglement, raising the possibility that an
apparatus implementing an appropriate POVM can reveal the entangled
system-observer states that implement LOCC observations.Comment: 17 pages, 2 figures; final versio
Using Java for distributed computing in the Gaia satellite data processing
In recent years Java has matured to a stable easy-to-use language with the
flexibility of an interpreter (for reflection etc.) but the performance and
type checking of a compiled language. When we started using Java for
astronomical applications around 1999 they were the first of their kind in
astronomy. Now a great deal of astronomy software is written in Java as are
many business applications.
We discuss the current environment and trends concerning the language and
present an actual example of scientific use of Java for high-performance
distributed computing: ESA's mission Gaia. The Gaia scanning satellite will
perform a galactic census of about 1000 million objects in our galaxy. The Gaia
community has chosen to write its processing software in Java. We explore the
manifold reasons for choosing Java for this large science collaboration.
Gaia processing is numerically complex but highly distributable, some parts
being embarrassingly parallel. We describe the Gaia processing architecture and
its realisation in Java. We delve into the astrometric solution which is the
most advanced and most complex part of the processing. The Gaia simulator is
also written in Java and is the most mature code in the system. This has been
successfully running since about 2005 on the supercomputer "Marenostrum" in
Barcelona. We relate experiences of using Java on a large shared machine.
Finally we discuss Java, including some of its problems, for scientific
computing.Comment: Experimental Astronomy, August 201
If physics is an information science, what is an observer?
Interpretations of quantum theory have traditionally assumed a "Galilean"
observer, a bare "point of view" implemented physically by a quantum system.
This paper investigates the consequences of replacing such an
informationally-impoverished observer with an observer that satisfies the
requirements of classical automata theory, i.e. an observer that encodes
sufficient prior information to identify the system being observed and
recognize its acceptable states. It shows that with reasonable assumptions
about the physical dynamics of information channels, the observations recorded
by such an observer will display the typical characteristics predicted by
quantum theory, without requiring any specific assumptions about the observer's
physical implementation.Comment: 30 pages, comments welcome; v2 significant revisions - results
unchange
The H.E.S.S. central data acquisition system
The High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) is a system of Imaging
Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) located in the Khomas Highland in
Namibia. It measures cosmic gamma rays of very high energies (VHE; >100 GeV)
using the Earth's atmosphere as a calorimeter. The H.E.S.S. Array entered Phase
II in September 2012 with the inauguration of a fifth telescope that is larger
and more complex than the other four. This paper will give an overview of the
current H.E.S.S. central data acquisition (DAQ) system with particular emphasis
on the upgrades made to integrate the fifth telescope into the array. At first,
the various requirements for the central DAQ are discussed then the general
design principles employed to fulfil these requirements are described. Finally,
the performance, stability and reliability of the H.E.S.S. central DAQ are
presented. One of the major accomplishments is that less than 0.8% of
observation time has been lost due to central DAQ problems since 2009.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures, published in Astroparticle Physic
SLO-aware Colocation of Data Center Tasks Based on Instantaneous Processor Requirements
In a cloud data center, a single physical machine simultaneously executes
dozens of highly heterogeneous tasks. Such colocation results in more efficient
utilization of machines, but, when tasks' requirements exceed available
resources, some of the tasks might be throttled down or preempted. We analyze
version 2.1 of the Google cluster trace that shows short-term (1 second) task
CPU usage. Contrary to the assumptions taken by many theoretical studies, we
demonstrate that the empirical distributions do not follow any single
distribution. However, high percentiles of the total processor usage (summed
over at least 10 tasks) can be reasonably estimated by the Gaussian
distribution. We use this result for a probabilistic fit test, called the
Gaussian Percentile Approximation (GPA), for standard bin-packing algorithms.
To check whether a new task will fit into a machine, GPA checks whether the
resulting distribution's percentile corresponding to the requested service
level objective, SLO is still below the machine's capacity. In our simulation
experiments, GPA resulted in colocations exceeding the machines' capacity with
a frequency similar to the requested SLO.Comment: Author's version of a paper published in ACM SoCC'1
A model-theoretic interpretation of environmentally-induced superselection
Environmentally-induced superselection or "einselection" has been proposed as
an observer-independent mechanism by which apparently classical systems
"emerge" from physical interactions between degrees of freedom described
completely quantum-mechanically. It is shown that einselection can only
generate classical systems if the "environment" is assumed \textit{a priori} to
be classical; einselection therefore does not provide an observer-independent
mechanism by which classicality can emerge from quantum dynamics. Einselection
is then reformulated in terms of positive operator-valued measures (POVMs)
acting on a global quantum state. It is shown that this re-formulation enables
a natural interpretation of apparently-classical systems as virtual machines
that requires no assumptions beyond those of classical computer science.Comment: 15 pages, 1 figure; minor correction
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