595 research outputs found
Congested Traffic States in Empirical Observations and Microscopic Simulations
We present data from several German freeways showing different kinds of
congested traffic forming near road inhomogeneities, specifically lane
closings, intersections, or uphill gradients. The states are localized or
extended, homogeneous or oscillating. Combined states are observed as well,
like the coexistence of moving localized clusters and clusters pinned at road
inhomogeneities, or regions of oscillating congested traffic upstream of nearly
homogeneous congested traffic. The experimental findings are consistent with a
recently proposed theoretical phase diagram for traffic near on-ramps [D.
Helbing, A. Hennecke, and M. Treiber, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 82}, 4360 (1999)].
We simulate these situations with a novel continuous microscopic single-lane
model, the ``intelligent driver model'' (IDM), using the empirical boundary
conditions. All observations, including the coexistence of states, are
qualitatively reproduced by describing inhomogeneities with local variations of
one model parameter.
We show that the results of the microscopic model can be understood by
formulating the theoretical phase diagram for bottlenecks in a more general
way. In particular, a local drop of the road capacity induced by parameter
variations has practically the same effect as an on-ramp.Comment: Now published in Phys. Rev. E. Minor changes suggested by a referee
are incorporated; full bibliographic info added. For related work see
http://www.mtreiber.de/ and http://www.helbing.org
Bell's inequalities for states with positive partial transpose
We study violations of n particle Bell inequalities (as developed by Mermin
and Klyshko) under the assumption that suitable partial transposes of the
density operator are positive. If all transposes with respect to a partition of
the system into p subsystems are positive, the best upper bound on the
violation is 2^((n-p)/2). In particular, if the partial transposes with respect
to all subsystems are positive, the inequalities are satisfied. This is
supporting evidence for a recent conjecture by Peres that positivity of partial
transposes could be equivalent to existence of local classical models.Comment: 4 pages, REVTe
Half-BPS quotients in M-theory: ADE with a twist
We classify Freund-Rubin backgrounds of eleven-dimensional supergravity of
the form AdS_4 x X^7 which are at least half BPS; equivalently, smooth
quotients of the round 7-sphere by finite subgroups of SO(8) which admit an
(N>3)-dimensional subspace of Killing spinors. The classification is given in
terms of pairs consisting of an ADE subgroup of SU(2) and an automorphism
defining its embedding in SO(8). In particular we find novel half-BPS quotients
associated with the subgroups of type D_n (for n>5), E_7 and E_8 and their
outer automorphisms.Comment: 16 pages; V2: notational inconsistencies addressed, final version to
be published in JHE
Superselectors: Efficient Constructions and Applications
We introduce a new combinatorial structure: the superselector. We show that
superselectors subsume several important combinatorial structures used in the
past few years to solve problems in group testing, compressed sensing,
multi-channel conflict resolution and data security. We prove close upper and
lower bounds on the size of superselectors and we provide efficient algorithms
for their constructions. Albeit our bounds are very general, when they are
instantiated on the combinatorial structures that are particular cases of
superselectors (e.g., (p,k,n)-selectors, (d,\ell)-list-disjunct matrices,
MUT_k(r)-families, FUT(k, a)-families, etc.) they match the best known bounds
in terms of size of the structures (the relevant parameter in the
applications). For appropriate values of parameters, our results also provide
the first efficient deterministic algorithms for the construction of such
structures
Exponential distribution of long heart beat intervals during atrial fibrillation and their relevance for white noise behaviour in power spectrum
The statistical properties of heart beat intervals of 130 long-term surface
electrocardiogram recordings during atrial fibrillation (AF) are investigated.
We find that the distribution of interbeat intervals exhibits a characteristic
exponential tail, which is absent during sinus rhythm, as tested in a
corresponding control study with 72 healthy persons. The rate of the
exponential decay lies in the range 3-12 Hz and shows diurnal variations. It
equals, up to statistical uncertainties, the level of the previously uncovered
white noise part in the power spectrum, which is also characteristic for AF.
The overall statistical features can be described by decomposing the intervals
into two statistically independent times, where the first one is associated
with a correlated process with 1/f noise characteristics, while the second one
belongs to an uncorrelated process and is responsible for the exponential tail.
It is suggested to use the rate of the exponential decay as a further parameter
for a better classification of AF and for the medical diagnosis. The relevance
of the findings with respect to a general understanding of AF is pointed out
Universality in two-dimensional Kardar-Parisi-Zhang growth
We analyze simulations results of a model proposed for etching of a
crystalline solid and results of other discrete models in the 2+1-dimensional
Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) class. In the steady states, the moments W_n of
orders n=2,3,4 of the heights distribution are estimated. Results for the
etching model, the ballistic deposition (BD) model and the
temperature-dependent body-centered restricted solid-on-solid model (BCSOS)
suggest the universality of the absolute value of the skewness S = W_3 /
(W_2)^(3/2) and of the value of the kurtosis Q = W_4 / (W_2)^2 - 3. The sign of
the skewness is the same of the parameter \lambda of the KPZ equation which
represents the process in the continuum limit. The best numerical estimates,
obtained from the etching model, are |S| = 0.26 +- 0.01 and Q = 0.134 +- 0.015.
For this model, the roughness exponent \alpha = 0.383 +- 0.008 is obtained,
accounting for a constant correction term (intrinsic width) in the scaling of
the squared interface width. This value is slightly below previous estimates of
extensive simulations and rules out the proposal of the exact value \alpha=2/5.
The conclusion is supported by results for the ballistic deposition model.
Independent estimates of the dynamical exponent and of the growth exponent are
1.605 <= z <= 1.64 and \beta = 0.229 +- 0.005, respectively, which are
consistent with the relations \alpha + z = 2 and z = \alpha / \beta.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev.
Intersecting 6-branes from new 7-manifolds with G_2 holonomy
We discuss a new family of metrics of 7-manifolds with G_2 holonomy, which
are R^3 bundles over a quaternionic space. The metrics depend on five
parameters and have two Abelian isometries. Certain singularities of the G_2
manifolds are related to fixed points of these isometries; there are two
combinations of Killing vectors that possess co-dimension four fixed points
which yield upon compactification only intersecting D6-branes if one also
identifies two parameters. Two of the remaining parameters are quantized and we
argue that they are related to the number of D6-branes, which appear in three
stacks. We perform explicitly the reduction to the type IIA model.Comment: 25 pages, 1 figure, Latex, small changes and add refs, version
appeared in JHE
Answering a Basic Objection to Bang/Crunch Holography
The current cosmic acceleration does not imply that our Universe is basically
de Sitter-like: in the first part of this work we argue that, by introducing
matter into *anti-de Sitter* spacetime in a natural way, one may be able to
account for the acceleration just as well. However, this leads to a Big Crunch,
and the Euclidean versions of Bang/Crunch cosmologies have [apparently]
disconnected conformal boundaries. As Maldacena and Maoz have recently
stressed, this seems to contradict the holographic principle. In the second
part we argue that this "double boundary problem" is a matter not of geometry
but rather of how one chooses a conformal compactification: if one chooses to
compactify in an unorthodox way, then the appearance of disconnectedness can be
regarded as a *coordinate effect*. With the kind of matter we have introduced
here, namely a Euclidean axion, the underlying compact Euclidean manifold has
an unexpectedly non-trivial topology: it is in fact one of the 75 possible
underlying manifolds of flat compact four-dimensional Euclidean spaces.Comment: 29 pages, 3 figures, added references and comparison with "cyclic"
cosmology, JHEP versio
Cosmic Chronometers: Constraining the Equation of State of Dark Energy. I: H(z) Measurements
We present new determinations of the cosmic expansion history from
red-envelope galaxies. We have obtained for this purpose high-quality spectra
with the Keck-LRIS spectrograph of red-envelope galaxies in 24 galaxy clusters
in the redshift range 0.2 < z < 1.0. We complement these Keck spectra with
high-quality, publicly available archival spectra from the SPICES and VVDS
surveys. We improve over our previous expansion history measurements in Simon
et al. (2005) by providing two new determinations of the expansion history:
H(z) = 97 +- 62 km/sec/Mpc at z = 0.5 and H(z) = 90 +- 40 km/sec/Mpc at z =
0.8. We discuss the uncertainty in the expansion history determination that
arises from uncertainties in the synthetic stellar-population models. We then
use these new measurements in concert with cosmic-microwave-background (CMB)
measurements to constrain cosmological parameters, with a special emphasis on
dark-energy parameters and constraints to the curvature. In particular, we
demonstrate the usefulness of direct H(z) measurements by constraining the
dark- energy equation of state parameterized by w0 and wa and allowing for
arbitrary curvature. Further, we also constrain, using only CMB and H(z) data,
the number of relativistic degrees of freedom to be 4 +- 0.5 and their total
mass to be < 0.2 eV, both at 1-sigma.Comment: Submitted to JCA
Gravitational excitons from extra dimensions
Inhomogeneous multidimensional cosmological models with a higher dimensional
space-time manifold are investigated under dimensional reduction. In the
Einstein conformal frame, small excitations of the scale factors of the
internal spaces near minima of an effective potential have a form of massive
scalar fields in the external space-time. Parameters of models which ensure
minima of the effective potentials are obtained for particular cases and masses
of gravitational excitons are estimated.Comment: Revised version --- 12 references added, Introduction enlarged, 20
pages, LaTeX, to appear in Phys.Rev.D56 (15.11.97
- …