9,614 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
Temperature effect on (2+1) experimental Kardar-Parisi-Zhang growth
We report on the effect of substrate temperature (T) on both local structure
and long-wavelength fluctuations of polycrystalline CdTe thin films deposited
on Si(001). A strong T-dependent mound evolution is observed and explained in
terms of the energy barrier to inter-grain diffusion at grain boundaries, as
corroborated by Monte Carlo simulations. This leads to transitions from
uncorrelated growth to a crossover from random-to-correlated growth and
transient anomalous scaling as T increases. Due to these finite-time effects,
we were not able to determine the universality class of the system through the
critical exponents. Nevertheless, we demonstrate that this can be circumvented
by analyzing height, roughness and maximal height distributions, which allow us
to prove that CdTe grows asymptotically according to the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang
(KPZ) equation in a broad range of T. More important, one finds positive
(negative) velocity excess in the growth at low (high) T, indicating that it is
possible to control the KPZ non-linearity by adjusting the temperature.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure
Magnetic phases evolution in the LaMn1-xFexO3+y system
We have investigated the crystal structure and magnetic properties for
polycrystalline samples of LaMn1-xFexO3+y, in the whole range x=0.0 to x=1.0,
prepared by solid state reaction in air. All samples show the ORT-2
orthorhombic structure that suppresses the Jahn-Teller distortion, thus
favoring a ferromagnetic (FM) superexchange (SE) interaction between
Mn^{3+}-O-Mn^{3+}. For x=0.0 the oxygen excess (y ~ 0.09) produces vacancies in
the La and Mn sites and generates a fraction around 18% of Mn^{4+} ions and 82%
of the usual Mn^{3+} ions, with possible double exchange interaction between
them. The Fe doping in this system is known to produce only stable Fe^{3+}
ions. We find an evolution from a fairly strong FM phase with a Curie
temperature T_{C} ~ 160 K, for x=0.0, to an antiferromagnetic (AFM) phase with
T_{N} = 790 K, for x=1.0, accompanied by clear signatures of a cluster-glass
behavior. For intermediate Fe contents a mixed-phase state occurs, with a
gradual decrease (increase) of the FM (AFM) phase, accompanied by a systematic
transition broadening for 0.2 < x < 0.7. A model based on the expected exchange
interaction among the various magnetic-ion types, accounts very well for the
saturation-magnetization dependence on Fe doping.Comment: 27 pages, 9 figure
Spin-glass behaviour on random lattices
The ground-state phase diagram of an Ising spin-glass model on a random graph
with an arbitrary fraction of ferromagnetic interactions is analysed in the
presence of an external field. Using the replica method, and performing an
analysis of stability of the replica-symmetric solution, it is shown that
, correponding to an unbiased spin glass, is a singular point in the
phase diagram, separating a region with a spin-glass phase () from a
region with spin-glass, ferromagnetic, mixed, and paramagnetic phases
()
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
Estabilidade do ácido ascórbico em néctar de manga em função da temperatura e do tempo de armazenamento.
Comportamento cinético do ácido ascórbico em sucos de manga sob a influência dos parâmetros tempo, temperatura e teor de dulcificação.
Diluted antiferromagnet in a ferromagnetic enviroment
The question of robustness of a network under random ``attacks'' is treated
in the framework of critical phenomena. The persistence of spontaneous
magnetization of a ferromagnetic system to the random inclusion of
antiferromagnetic interactions is investigated. After examing the static
properties of the quenched version (in respect to the random antiferromagnetic
interactions) of the model, the persistence of the magnetization is analysed
also in the annealed approximation, and the difference in the results are
discussed
Influência da temperatura e do tempo de armazenamento na estabilidade do ácido ascórbico em néctar de manga.
Charge asymmetries of top quarks: a window to new physics at hadron colliders
With the next start of LHC, a huge production of top quarks is expected.
There are several models that predict the existence of heavy colored resonances
decaying to top quarks in the TeV energy range. A peak in the differential
cross section could reveal the existence of such a resonance, but this is
experimentally challenging, because it requires selecting data samples where
top and antitop quarks are highly boosted. Nonetheless, the production of such
resonances might generate a sizable charge asymmetry of top versus antitop
quarks. We consider a toy model with general flavour independent couplings of
the resonance to quarks, of both vector and axial-vector kind. The charge
asymmetry turns out to be a more powerful observable to detect new physics than
the differential cross section, because its highest statistical significance is
achieved with data samples of top-antitop quark pairs of low invariant masses
- …