7,529 research outputs found
Marvin: A Heuristic Search Planner with Online Macro-Action Learning
This paper describes Marvin, a planner that competed in the Fourth
International Planning Competition (IPC 4). Marvin uses
action-sequence-memoisation techniques to generate macro-actions, which are
then used during search for a solution plan. We provide an overview of its
architecture and search behaviour, detailing the algorithms used. We also
empirically demonstrate the effectiveness of its features in various planning
domains; in particular, the effects on performance due to the use of
macro-actions, the novel features of its search behaviour, and the native
support of ADL and Derived Predicates
Solar cycle evolution of the solar wind in three dimensions
Measurements of the solar wind speed both in and out of the ecliptic are presented for 1971-82. The speed estimates, which were made with the interplanetary scintillation system at UC San Diego, have been compared to in situ for large, slowly evolving structures, and thus such structures can be studied up to 60 degrees north and south heliographic latitude. Annual average wind speeds are presented versus latitude for an entire solar cycle. Fast wind streams from the poles persisted through declining and low solar activity, but were closed off during four years of high activity. This evolution follows that of the polar coronal holes, as displayed by comparing averaged speed and coronal density over latitude and longitude. The most recent data (1982) show the reestablishment of large tilted polar holes and associated fast streams. Coronal magnetic field data show that the neutral sheet is confined to low latitudes at solar minimum and extends to high latitudes at solar maximum; thus the slow solar wind comes from the same latitude range as that of the neutral sheet
IPS observations of the solar wind speed out of the ecliptic
Interplanetary scintillation observations from 1971-1975 show that the average solar wind speed increases away from the solar equator, with a mean gradient of 2.1 km/s per degree. These results are compared with spacecraft observations over the + or - 7 deg attainable in the ecliptic and with those deduced from comet tails. The role of temporal variations, especially those caused by latitude dependent solar wind streams, is emphasized, and this points to the need for extensive ecliptic and ground-based observations during an out-of-the-ecliptic spacecraft mission
Topology of Neutral Hydrogen Within the Small Magellanic Cloud
In this paper, genus statistics have been applied to an HI column density map
of the Small Magellanic Cloud in order to study its topology. To learn how
topology changes with the scale of the system, we provide the study of topology
for column density maps at varying resolution. To evaluate the statistical
error of the genus we randomly reassign the phases of the Fourier modes while
keeping the amplitudes. We find, that at the smallest scales studied () the genus shift is in all regions negative,
implying a clump topology. At the larger scales () the topology shift is detected to be negative in 4 cases and positive
(``swiss cheese'' topology) in 2 cases. In 4 regions there is no statistically
significant topology shift at large scales
Collapse of the quantum correlation hierarchy links entropic uncertainty to entanglement creation
Quantum correlations have fundamental and technological interest, and hence
many measures have been introduced to quantify them. Some hierarchical
orderings of these measures have been established, e.g., discord is bigger than
entanglement, and we present a class of bipartite states, called premeasurement
states, for which several of these hierarchies collapse to a single value.
Because premeasurement states are the kind of states produced when a system
interacts with a measurement device, the hierarchy collapse implies that the
uncertainty of an observable is quantitatively connected to the quantum
correlations (entanglement, discord, etc.) produced when that observable is
measured. This fascinating connection between uncertainty and quantum
correlations leads to a reinterpretation of entropic formulations of the
uncertainty principle, so-called entropic uncertainty relations, including ones
that allow for quantum memory. These relations can be thought of as
lower-bounds on the entanglement created when incompatible observables are
measured. Hence, we find that entanglement creation exhibits complementarity, a
concept that should encourage exploration into "entanglement complementarity
relations".Comment: 19 pages, 2 figures. Added Figure 1 and various remarks to improve
clarity of presentatio
A New Estimate of the Hubble Time with Improved Modeling of Gravitational Lenses
This paper examines free-form modeling of gravitational lenses using Bayesian
ensembles of pixelated mass maps. The priors and algorithms from previous work
are clarified and significant technical improvements are made. Lens
reconstruction and Hubble Time recovery are tested using mock data from simple
analytic models and recent galaxy-formation simulations. Finally, using
published data, the Hubble Time is inferred through the simultaneous
reconstruction of eleven time-delay lenses. The result is
H_0^{-1}=13.7^{+1.8}_{-1.0} Gyr.Comment: 24 pages, 9 figures. Accepted to Ap
Getting the Measure of the Flatness Problem
The problem of estimating cosmological parameters such as from noisy
or incomplete data is an example of an inverse problem and, as such, generally
requires a probablistic approach. We adopt the Bayesian interpretation of
probability for such problems and stress the connection between probability and
information which this approach makes explicit.
This connection is important even when information is ``minimal'' or, in
other words, when we need to argue from a state of maximum ignorance. We use
the transformation group method of Jaynes to assign minimally--informative
prior probability measure for cosmological parameters in the simple example of
a dust Friedman model, showing that the usual statements of the cosmological
flatness problem are based on an inappropriate choice of prior. We further
demonstrate that, in the framework of a classical cosmological model, there is
no flatness problem.Comment: 11 pages, submitted to Classical and Quantum Gravity, Tex source
file, no figur
New approaches to probing Minkowski functionals
We generalize the concept of the ordinary skew-spectrum to probe the effect of non-Gaussianity
on the morphology of cosmic microwave background (CMB) maps in several domains: in
real space (where they are commonly known as cumulant-correlators), and in harmonic and
needlet bases. The essential aim is to retain more information than normally contained in these
statistics, in order to assist in determining the source of any measured non-Gaussianity, in the
same spirit as Munshi & Heavens skew-spectra were used to identify foreground contaminants
to the CMB bispectrum in Planck data. Using a perturbative series to construct the Minkowski
functionals (MFs), we provide a pseudo-C based approach in both harmonic and needlet
representations to estimate these spectra in the presence of a mask and inhomogeneous noise.
Assuming homogeneous noise, we present approximate expressions for error covariance for
the purpose of joint estimation of these spectra. We present specific results for four different
models of primordial non-Gaussianity local, equilateral, orthogonal and enfolded models, as
well as non-Gaussianity caused by unsubtracted point sources. Closed form results of nextorder
corrections to MFs too are obtained in terms of a quadruplet of kurt-spectra. We also
use the method of modal decomposition of the bispectrum and trispectrum to reconstruct the
MFs as an alternative method of reconstruction of morphological properties of CMB maps.
Finally, we introduce the odd-parity skew-spectra to probe the odd-parity bispectrum and its
impact on the morphology of the CMB sky. Although developed for the CMB, the generic
results obtained here can be useful in other areas of cosmology
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