998 research outputs found
Predation Rates on Real and Artificial Nests of Grassland Birds
We estimated nesting success at real and artificial nests of grassland birds to test the influence of nest type, nest position, and egg size on predation rates. We distributed wicker nests and realistic woven-grass nests baited with a clay egg and either a Northern Bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) egg or a House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) egg in four grasslands that were part of the Conservation Reserve Program in east-central Illinois. Nesting success averaged 86.5% for 12 days of exposure for artificial nests. For real nests, nesting success was markedly lower, averaging 39% over the entire nesting cycle and 59% during approximately 12 days of incubation. Wicker nests were depredated more often than wovengrass artificial nests (18% vs. 8%), and nests baited with House Sparrow eggs were depredated more often than nests baited with Northern Bobwhite eggs (22% vs. 9% ). Elevated and ground nests were depredated at the same rate. Patterns of nest predation on wicker nests were markedly different from depredation patterns on real nests over time and among fields. In contrast, patterns of nest predation on realistic woven-grass nests corresponded much more closely with predation rates of real nests over time and among fields. We suggest that future artificial nest studies use nests and eggs that mimic as closely as possible the real nests and eggs of target species. Use of unrealistic artificial nests and eggs, at least in grasslands, may result in patterns of predation that do not accurately reflect those of real nests. Artificial nests of any type appear to underestimate predation rates on nests of grassland birds, possibly because of a lack of snake predation on artificial nests
Onset of dissipation in ballistic atomic wires
Electronic transport at finite voltages in free-standing gold atomic chains
of up to 7 atoms in length is studied at low temperatures using a scanning
tunneling microscope (STM). The conductance vs voltage curves show that
transport in these single-mode ballistic atomic wires is non-dissipative up to
a finite voltage threshold of the order of several mV. The onset of dissipation
and resistance within the wire corresponds to the excitation of the atomic
vibrations by the electrons traversing the wire and is very sensitive to
strain.Comment: Revtex4, 4 pages, 3 fig
Scale-invariant magnetoresistance in a cuprate superconductor
The anomalous metallic state in high-temperature superconducting cuprates is
masked by the onset of superconductivity near a quantum critical point. Use of
high magnetic fields to suppress superconductivity has enabled a detailed study
of the ground state in these systems. Yet, the direct effect of strong magnetic
fields on the metallic behavior at low temperatures is poorly understood,
especially near critical doping, . Here we report a high-field
magnetoresistance study of thin films of \LSCO cuprates in close vicinity to
critical doping, . We find that the metallic state
exposed by suppressing superconductivity is characterized by a
magnetoresistance that is linear in magnetic field up to the highest measured
fields of T. The slope of the linear-in-field resistivity is
temperature-independent at very high fields. It mirrors the magnitude and
doping evolution of the linear-in-temperature resistivity that has been
ascribed to Planckian dissipation near a quantum critical point. This
establishes true scale-invariant conductivity as the signature of the strange
metal state in the high-temperature superconducting cuprates.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure
States for phase estimation in quantum interferometry
Ramsey interferometry allows the estimation of the phase of rotation
of the pseudospin vector of an ensemble of two-state quantum systems. For
small, the noise-to-signal ratio scales as the spin-squeezing parameter
, with possible for an entangled ensemble. However states with
minimum are not optimal for single-shot measurements of an arbitrary
phase. We define a phase-squeezing parameter, , which is an appropriate
figure-of-merit for this case. We show that (unlike the states that minimize
), the states that minimize can be created by evolving an
unentangled state (coherent spin state) by the well-known 2-axis
counter-twisting Hamiltonian. We analyse these and other states (for example
the maximally entangled state, analogous to the optical "NOON" state ) using several different properties, including ,
, the coefficients in the pseudo angular momentum basis (in the three
primary directions) and the angular Wigner function . Finally
we discuss the experimental options for creating phase squeezed states and
doing single-shot phase estimation.Comment: 8 pages and 5 figure
Nonlinear quantum mechanics implies polynomial-time solution for NP-complete and #P problems
If quantum states exhibit small nonlinearities during time evolution, then
quantum computers can be used to solve NP-complete problems in polynomial time.
We provide algorithms that solve NP-complete and #P oracle problems by
exploiting nonlinear quantum logic gates. It is argued that virtually any
deterministic nonlinear quantum theory will include such gates, and the method
is explicitly demonstrated using the Weinberg model of nonlinear quantum
mechanics.Comment: 10 pages, no figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Positioning and clock synchronization through entanglement
A method is proposed to employ entangled and squeezed light for determining
the position of a party and for synchronizing distant clocks. An accuracy gain
over analogous protocols that employ classical resources is demonstrated and a
quantum-cryptographic positioning application is given, which allows only
trusted parties to learn the position of whatever must be localized. The
presence of a lossy channel and imperfect photodetection is considered. The
advantages in using partially entangled states is discussed.Comment: Revised version. 9 pages, 6 figure
Temperature and Field Dependence of the Energy Gap of MgB2/Pb planar junction
We have constructed MgB2/Pb planar junctions for both temperature and field
dependence studies. Our results show that the small gap is a true bulk property
of MgB2 superconductor, not due to surface effects. The temperature dependence
of the energy gap manifests a nearly BCS-like behavior. Analysis of the effect
of magnetic field on junctions suggests that the energy gap of MgB2 depends
non-linearly on the magnetic field. Moreover, MgB2 has an upper critical field
of 15 T, in agreement with some reported Hc2 from transport measurements.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev.
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