2,572 research outputs found
Cover Pebbling Hypercubes
Given a graph G and a configuration C of pebbles on the vertices of G, a
pebbling step removes two pebbles from one vertex and places one pebble on an
adjacent vertex. The cover pebbling number g=g(G) is the minimum number so that
every configuration of g pebbles has the property that, after some sequence of
pebbling steps, every vertex has a pebble on it. We prove that the cover
pebbling number of the d-dimensional hypercube Q^d equals 3^d.Comment: 11 page
Optimal evaluation of single-molecule force spectroscopy experiments
The forced rupture of single chemical bonds under external load is addressed.
A general framework is put forward to optimally utilize the experimentally
observed rupture force data for estimating the parameters of a theoretical
model. As an application we explore to what extent a distinction between
several recently proposed models is feasible on the basis of realistic
experimental data sets.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Eavesdropping without quantum memory
In quantum cryptography the optimal eavesdropping strategy requires that the
eavesdropper uses quantum memories in order to optimize her information. What
happens if the eavesdropper has no quantum memory? It is shown that the best
strategy is actually to adopt the simple intercept/resend strategy.Comment: 9 pages LaTeX, 3 figure
Measuring thermodynamic length
Thermodynamic length is a metric distance between equilibrium thermodynamic
states. Among other interesting properties, this metric asymptotically bounds
the dissipation induced by a finite time transformation of a thermodynamic
system. It is also connected to the Jensen-Shannon divergence, Fisher
information and Rao's entropy differential metric. Therefore, thermodynamic
length is of central interest in understanding matter out-of-equilibrium. In
this paper, we will consider how to define thermodynamic length for a small
system described by equilibrium statistical mechanics and how to measure
thermodynamic length within a computer simulation. Surprisingly, Bennett's
classic acceptance ratio method for measuring free energy differences also
measures thermodynamic length.Comment: 4 pages; Typos correcte
Generalized Jarzynski Equality under Nonequilibrium Feedback Control
The Jarzynski equality is generalized to situations in which nonequilibrium
systems are subject to a feedback control. The new terms that arise as a
consequence of the feedback describe the mutual information content obtained by
measurement and the efficacy of the feedback control. Our results lead to a
generalized fluctuation-dissipation theorem that reflects the readout
information, and can be experimentally tested using small thermodynamic
systems. We illustrate our general results by an introducing "information
ratchet," which can transport a Brownian particle in one direction and extract
a positive work from the particle
Lower Bounds on Mutual Information
We correct claims about lower bounds on mutual information (MI) between
real-valued random variables made in A. Kraskov {\it et al.}, Phys. Rev. E {\bf
69}, 066138 (2004). We show that non-trivial lower bounds on MI in terms of
linear correlations depend on the marginal (single variable) distributions.
This is so in spite of the invariance of MI under reparametrizations, because
linear correlations are not invariant under them. The simplest bounds are
obtained for Gaussians, but the most interesting ones for practical purposes
are obtained for uniform marginal distributions. The latter can be enforced in
general by using the ranks of the individual variables instead of their actual
values, in which case one obtains bounds on MI in terms of Spearman correlation
coefficients. We show with gene expression data that these bounds are in
general non-trivial, and the degree of their (non-)saturation yields valuable
insight.Comment: 4 page
The length of time's arrow
An unresolved problem in physics is how the thermodynamic arrow of time
arises from an underlying time reversible dynamics. We contribute to this issue
by developing a measure of time-symmetry breaking, and by using the work
fluctuation relations, we determine the time asymmetry of recent single
molecule RNA unfolding experiments. We define time asymmetry as the
Jensen-Shannon divergence between trajectory probability distributions of an
experiment and its time-reversed conjugate. Among other interesting properties,
the length of time's arrow bounds the average dissipation and determines the
difficulty of accurately estimating free energy differences in nonequilibrium
experiments
Satellite remote sensing for ice sheet research
Potential research applications of satellite data over the terrestrial ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica are assessed and actions required to ensure acquisition of relevant data and appropriate processing to a form suitable for research purposes are recommended. Relevant data include high-resolution visible and SAR imagery, infrared, passive-microwave and scatterometer measurements, and surface topography information from laser and radar altimeters
Telling time with an intrinsically noisy clock
Intracellular transmission of information via chemical and transcriptional
networks is thwarted by a physical limitation: the finite copy number of the
constituent chemical species introduces unavoidable intrinsic noise. Here we
provide a method for solving for the complete probabilistic description of
intrinsically noisy oscillatory driving. We derive and numerically verify a
number of simple scaling laws. Unlike in the case of measuring a static
quantity, response to an oscillatory driving can exhibit a resonant frequency
which maximizes information transmission. Further, we show that the optimal
regulatory design is dependent on the biophysical constraints (i.e., the
allowed copy number and response time). The resulting phase diagram illustrates
under what conditions threshold regulation outperforms linear regulation.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure
Perfect Quantum Privacy Implies Nonlocality
Private states are those quantum states from which a perfectly secure
cryptographic key can be extracted. They represent the basic unit of quantum
privacy. In this work we show that all states belonging to this class violate a
Bell inequality. This result establishes a connection between perfect privacy
and nonlocality in the quantum domain.Comment: 4 pages, published versio
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