13,018 research outputs found
Recording from two neurons: second order stimulus reconstruction from spike trains and population coding
We study the reconstruction of visual stimuli from spike trains, recording
simultaneously from the two H1 neurons located in the lobula plate of the fly
Chrysomya megacephala. The fly views two types of stimuli, corresponding to
rotational and translational displacements. If the reconstructed stimulus is to
be represented by a Volterra series and correlations between spikes are to be
taken into account, first order expansions are insufficient and we have to go
to second order, at least. In this case higher order correlation functions have
to be manipulated, whose size may become prohibitively large. We therefore
develop a Gaussian-like representation for fourth order correlation functions,
which works exceedingly well in the case of the fly. The reconstructions using
this Gaussian-like representation are very similar to the reconstructions using
the experimental correlation functions. The overall contribution to rotational
stimulus reconstruction of the second order kernels - measured by a chi-squared
averaged over the whole experiment - is only about 8% of the first order
contribution. Yet if we introduce an instant-dependent chi-square to measure
the contribution of second order kernels at special events, we observe an up to
100% improvement. As may be expected, for translational stimuli the
reconstructions are rather poor. The Gaussian-like representation could be a
valuable aid in population coding with large number of neurons
On the magnetic structure of the solar transition region
We examine the hypothesis that ``cool loops'' dominate emission from solar
transition region plasma below temperatures of K. We compare
published VAULT images of H L, a lower transition region line, with
near-contemporaneous magnetograms from Kitt Peak, obtained during the second
flight (VAULT-2) on 14 June 2002. The measured surface fields and potential
extrapolations suggest that there are too few short loops, and that L
emission is associated with the base regions of longer, coronal loops. VAULT-2
data of network boundaries have an asymmetry on scales larger than
supergranules, also indicating an association with long loops. We complement
the Kitt Peak data with very sensitive vector polarimetric data from the
Spectro-Polarimeter on board Hinode, to determine the influence of very small
magnetic concentrations on our analysis. From these data two classes of
behavior are found: within the cores of strong magnetic flux concentrations ( Mx) associated with active network and plage, small-scale mixed
fields are absent and any short loops can connect just the peripheries of the
flux to cell interiors. Core fields return to the surface via longer, most
likely coronal, loops. In weaker concentrations, short loops can connect
between concentrations and produce mixed fields within network boundaries as
suggested by Dowdy and colleagues. The VAULT-2 data which we examined are
associated with strong concentrations. We conclude that the cool loop model
applies only to a small fraction of the VAULT-2 emission, but we cannot
discount a significant role for cool loops in quieter regions. We suggest a
physical picture for how network L emission may occur through the
cross-field diffusion of neutral atoms from chromospheric into coronal plasma.Comment: Accepted by ApJ, 9 May 200
Experimental quantum computing without entanglement
Entanglement is widely believed to lie at the heart of the advantages offered
by a quantum computer. This belief is supported by the discovery that a
noiseless (pure) state quantum computer must generate a large amount of
entanglement in order to offer any speed up over a classical computer. However,
deterministic quantum computation with one pure qubit (DQC1), which employs
noisy (mixed) states, is an efficient model that generates at most a marginal
amount of entanglement. Although this model cannot implement any arbitrary
algorithm it can efficiently solve a range of problems of significant
importance to the scientific community. Here we experimentally implement a
first-order case of a key DQC1 algorithm and explicitly characterise the
non-classical correlations generated. Our results show that while there is no
entanglement the algorithm does give rise to other non-classical correlations,
which we quantify using the quantum discord - a stronger measure of
non-classical correlations that includes entanglement as a subset. Our results
suggest that discord could replace entanglement as a necessary resource for a
quantum computational speed-up. Furthermore, DQC1 is far less resource
intensive than universal quantum computing and our implementation in a scalable
architecture highlights the model as a practical short-term goal.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Neutral heavy lepton production at next high energy linear colliders
The discovery potential for detecting new heavy Majorana and Dirac neutrinos
at some recently proposed high energy colliders is discussed. These
new particles are suggested by grand unified theories and superstring-inspired
models. For these models the production of a single heavy neutrino is shown to
be more relevant than pair production when comparing cross sections and
neutrino mass ranges.
The process is calculated
including on-shell and off-shell heavy neutrino effects.
We present a detailed study of cross sections and distributions that shows a
clear separation between the signal and standard model contributions, even
after including hadronization effects.Comment: 4 pages including 15 figures, 1 table. RevTex. Accepted in Physical
Review
Accuracy of a teleported trapped field state inside a single bimodal cavity
We propose a simplified scheme to teleport a superposition of coherent states
from one mode to another of the same bimodal lossy cavity. Based on current
experimental capabilities, we present a calculation of the fidelity that can be
achieved, demonstrating accurate teleportation if the mean photon number of
each mode is at most 1.5. Our scheme applies as well for teleportation of
coherent states from one mode of a cavity to another mode of a second cavity,
both cavities embedded in a common reservoir.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, in appreciation for publication in Physical
Review
Decoherence of Semiclassical Wigner Functions
The Lindblad equation governs general markovian evolution of the density
operator in an open quantum system. An expression for the rate of change of the
Wigner function as a sum of integrals is one of the forms of the Weyl
representation for this equation. The semiclassical description of the Wigner
function in terms of chords, each with its classically defined amplitude and
phase, is thus inserted in the integrals, which leads to an explicit
differential equation for the Wigner function. All the Lindblad operators are
assumed to be represented by smooth phase space functions corresponding to
classical variables. In the case that these are real, representing hermitian
operators, the semiclassical Lindblad equation can be integrated. There results
a simple extension of the unitary evolution of the semiclassical Wigner
function, which does not affect the phase of each chord contribution, while
dampening its amplitude. This decreases exponentially, as governed by the time
integral of the square difference of the Lindblad functions along the classical
trajectories of both tips of each chord. The decay of the amplitudes is shown
to imply diffusion in energy for initial states that are nearly pure.
Projecting the Wigner function onto an orthogonal position or momentum basis,
the dampening of long chords emerges as the exponential decay of off-diagonal
elements of the density matrix.Comment: 23 pg, 2 fi
Influência da incidência de luz na germinação e vigor de sementes de nó-de-cachorro.
bitstream/item/55714/1/CT99.pd
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