Cortical spatio-temporal dimensionality reduction for visual grouping

The visual systems of many mammals, including humans, is able to integrate the geometric information of visual stimuli and to perform cognitive tasks already at the first stages of the cortical processing. This is thought to be the result of a combination of mechanisms, which include feature extraction at single cell level and geometric processing by means of cells connectivity. We present a geometric model of such connectivities in the space of detected features associated to spatio-temporal visual stimuli, and show how they can be used to obtain low-level object segmentation. The main idea is that of defining a spectral clustering procedure with anisotropic affinities over datasets consisting of embeddings of the visual stimuli into higher dimensional spaces. Neural plausibility of the proposed arguments will be discussed

Gluon fusion production of the Higgs boson in a Calculable Model with one Extra Dimension

In an extension of the Standard Model with one extra dimension and N=1 supersymmetry compactified on R^1/(Z_2 x Z'_2), we compute the Higgs boson decay width into two gluons, relevant to Higgs production in hadronic collisions. At one loop, the decay width is significantly suppressed with respect to the SM. For a compactification radius 1/R = 370 \pm 70 GeV and a Higgs mass m_H = 127 \pm 8 GeV, as expected in the case of a radiatively generated Fayet-Iliopoulos term, we find it to be less than 15% of the SM result.Comment: 9 pages, 3 eps figures, comments and references added, to appear on Phys.Lett.

Adaptive real time selection for quantum key distribution in lossy and turbulent free-space channels

The unconditional security in the creation of cryptographic keys obtained by quantum key distribution (QKD) protocols will induce a quantum leap in free-space communication privacy in the same way that we are beginning to realize secure optical fiber connections. However, free-space channels, in particular those with long links and the presence of atmospheric turbulence, are affected by losses, fluctuating transmissivity, and background light that impair the conditions for secure QKD. Here we introduce a method to contrast the atmospheric turbulence in QKD experiments. Our adaptive real time selection (ARTS) technique at the receiver is based on the selection of the intervals with higher channel transmissivity. We demonstrate, using data from the Canary Island 143-km free-space link, that conditions with unacceptable average quantum bit error rate which would prevent the generation of a secure key can be used once parsed according to the instantaneous scintillation using the ARTS technique

b -> s gamma in a calculable model of Electroweak Symmetry Breaking

In a recently proposed extension of the Standard Model with a compact extra dimension of size R we compute the leading corrections, of relative order (m_t R)^2, to the Branching Ratio B -> X_s gamma. For 1/R = 370 \pm 80 GeV, the branching ratio is increased in a significant way relative to the SM, although not al level of being inconsistent with present measurements.Comment: 14 pages, Latex, 2 eps figures, minor changes, to appear on Nucl.Phys.

Electronic structure of defected polyethylene for Schottky emission

Polyethylene is one of the most used solid state insulators in electrical power industry. It is particularly used to electrically insulate high-voltage cables. Under the stresses associated with AC power supplies, this material undergoes ageing, which is often associated with treeing. It is thought that this phenomenon starts from gaseous defects embedded in the insulator bulk, leading to the formation of a cluster of cavities. Treeing is able to dig the matrix until complete breakdown of the insulating components. Cavities are generated by a sequence of partial discharges. Each discharge is triggered by an electron emission from the surface at the interface with gas. The Schottky effect is believed to be the most likely mechanism able to cause this electron emission.Our DFT modelling has suggested that electron emission is highly unlikely to occur if the surface is neutral. DOS analysis has revealed that the Schottky effect is also related to chemical defects. The latter must exhibit electronic states slightly under the conduction band. Furthermore, these sites must be able to act as a trap for negative charge excess. A polyethylene system with an excess electron, combined with specific oxidative groups, has proved to be consistent with experimental data

Design of mechatronic systems through aspect and object-oriented modeling

Design of mechatronic systems involves the use of multiple disciplines, from mechanics to electronics and computer science. Different granularities of hybrid co-simulations with increasing details can be used during the design process. However, there is the need of modeling tools for effectively managing the necessary abstraction layers. This work proposes a combination of Aspect-Oriented and Object-Oriented modeling for reaching the goal. Moreover, it shows how the utilization of these tools can facilitate design-space exploration, segregation of domains of expertise and enhances co-design

Experimental nonlocality-based network diagnostics of mutipartite entangled states

Quantum networks of growing complexity play a key role as resources for quantum computation; the ability to identify the quality of their internal correlations will play a crucial role in addressing the buiding stage of such states. We introduce a novel diagnostic scheme for multipartite networks of entangled particles, aimed at assessing the quality of the gates used for the engineering of their state. Using the information gathered from a set of suitably chosen multiparticle Bell tests, we identify conditions bounding the quality of the entangled bonds among the elements of a register. We demonstrate the effectiveness, flexibility, and diagnostic power of the proposed methodology by characterizing a quantum resource engineered combining two-photon hyperentanglement and photonic-chip technology. Our approach is feasible for medium-sized networks due to the intrinsically modular nature of cluster states, and paves the way to section-by-section analysis of large photonics resources.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, RevTex4-