Eight microprocessor-based instrument data systems in the Galileo Orbiter spacecraft

Instrument data systems consist of a microprocessor, 3K bytes of Read Only Memory and 3K bytes of Random Access Memory. It interfaces with the spacecraft data bus through an isolated user interface with a direct memory access bus adaptor, and/or parallel data from instrument devices such as registers, buffers, analog to digital converters, multiplexers, and solid state sensors. These data systems support the spacecraft hardware and software communication protocol, decode and process instrument commands, generate continuous instrument operating modes, control the instrument mechanisms, acquire, process, format, and output instrument science data

Neutrino Physics: an Update

We update our recent didactic survey of neutrino physics, including new results from the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory and KamLAND experiments, and recent constraints from WMAP and other cosmological probes.Comment: latex; 19 pages; five figure

Nearest-neighbor coupling asymmetry in the generation of cluster states

We demonstrate that charge-qubit cluster state generation by capacitive coupling is anisotropic. Specifically, horizontal vs vertical nearest-neighbor inter-qubit coupling differs in a rectangular lattice. We show how to ameliorate this anisotropy by applying potential biases to the array of double dots.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figure

Neutrino Physics

The basic concepts of neutrino physics are presented at a level appropriate for integration into elementary courses on quantum mechanics and/or modern physics.Comment: Prepared for the American Journal of Physics; 50 pages; 11 figures (10 included); late

Bounding quantum gate error rate based on reported average fidelity

Remarkable experimental advances in quantum computing are exemplified by recent announcements of impressive average gate fidelities exceeding 99.9% for single-qubit gates and 99% for two-qubit gates. Although these high numbers engender optimism that fault-tolerant quantum computing is within reach, the connection of average gate fidelity with fault-tolerance requirements is not direct. Here we use reported average gate fidelity to determine an upper bound on the quantum-gate error rate, which is the appropriate metric for assessing progress towards fault-tolerant quantum computation, and we demonstrate that this bound is asymptotically tight for general noise. Although this bound is unlikely to be saturated by experimental noise, we demonstrate using explicit examples that the bound indicates a realistic deviation between the true error rate and the reported average fidelity. We introduce the Pauli distance as a measure of this deviation, and we show that knowledge of the Pauli distance enables tighter estimates of the error rate of quantum gates.Comment: New Journal of Physics Fast Track Communication. Gold open access journa

Rediscovery and status of Cylindera (s. str.) lunalonga (Schaupp, 1884) (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Cicindelinae) in the San Joaquin Valley of California with a comparison to a Sierra Nevada population

Surveys for adult Cylindera (s. str.) lunalonga (Schaupp) (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Cicindelinae) were conducted between 2001 and 2011 at over 80 sites throughout the species’ historic range in the San Joaquin Valley and Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. Previously considered extirpated from the Valley, these surveys resulted in finding adults at 18 sites, several with large populations (>50 individuals). As suggested by historic records, our studies confirmed that the Valley populations of Cy. lunalonga occur in what were historically wetland sites, but are now lowland agricultural croplands. Adults were always associated with wet, muddy soil within and along the edges of irrigation ditches. A comparison of morphology, behavior, habitat, and conservation is made with the only known extant Sierra Nevada population

Materials and structures for hypersonic vehicles

Hypersonic vehicles are envisioned to require, in addition to carbon-carbon and ceramic-matrix composities for leading edges heated to above 2000 F, such 600 to 1800 F operating temperature materials as advanced Ti alloys, nickel aluminides, and metal-matrix composited; These possess the necessary low density and high strength and stiffness. The primary design drivers are maximum vehicle heating rate, total heat load, flight envelope, propulsion system type, mission life requirements and liquid hydrogen containment systems. Attention is presently given to aspects of these materials and structures requiring more intensive development

A Conceptual Framework for Interpreting Recorded Human History

Neither economics nor political science can explain the process of modern social development. The fact that developed societies always have developed economies and developed polities suggests that the connection between economics and politics must be a fundamental part of the development process. This paper develops an integrated theory of economics and politics. We show how, beginning 10,000 years ago, limited access social orders developed that were able to control violence, provide order, and allow greater production through specialization and exchange. Limited access orders provide order by using the political system to limit economic entry to create rents, and then using the rents to stabilize the political system and limit violence. We call this type of political economy arrangement a natural state. It appears to be the natural way that human societies are organized, even in most of the contemporary world. In contrast, a handful of developed societies have developed open access social orders. In these societies, open access and entry into economic and political organizations sustains economic and political competition. Social order is sustained by competition rather than rent-creation. The key to understanding modern social development is understanding the transition from limited to open access social orders, which only a handful of countries have managed since WWII.