544 research outputs found
Comparing methods for determining landslide early warning thresholds: potential use of non-triggering rainfall for locations with scarce landslide data availability
AbstractRainfall intensity-duration landslide-triggering thresholds have become widespread for the development of landslide early warning systems. Thresholds can be in principle determined using rainfall event datasets of three types: (a) rainfall events associated with landslides (triggering rainfall) only, (b) rainfall events not associated with landslides (non-triggering rainfall) only, (c) both triggering and non-triggering rainfall. In this paper, through Monte Carlo simulation, we compare these three possible approaches based on the following statistical properties: robustness, sampling variation, and performance. It is found that methods based only on triggering rainfall can be the worst with respect to those three investigated properties. Methods based on both triggering and non-triggering rainfall perform the best, as they could be built to provide the best trade-off between correct and wrong predictions; they are also robust, but still require a quite large sample to sufficiently limit the sampling variation of the threshold parameters. On the other side, methods based on non-triggering rainfall only, which are mostly overlooked in the literature, imply good robustness and low sampling variation, and performances that can often be acceptable and better than thresholds derived from only triggering events. To use solely triggering rainfall—which is the most common practice in the literature—yields to thresholds with the worse statistical properties, except when there is a clear separation between triggering and non-triggering events. Based on these results, it can be stated that methods based only on non-triggering rainfall deserve wider attention. Methods for threshold identification based on only non-triggering rainfall may have the practical advantage that can be in principle used where limited information on landslide occurrence is available (newly instrumented areas). The fact that relatively large samples (about 200 landslides events) are needed for a sufficiently precise estimation of threshold parameters when using triggering rainfall suggests that threshold determination in future applications may start from identifying thresholds from non-triggering events only, and then move to methods considering also the triggering events as landslide information starts to become more available
Entanglement and the Thermodynamic Arrow of Time
We discuss quantum entanglement in the context of the thermodynamic arrow of
time. We review the role of correlations in entropy-decreasing events and prove
that the occurrence of a transformation between two thermodynamic states
constitutes a new type of entanglement witness, one not defined as a separating
plane in state space between separable and entangled states, but as a physical
process dependent on the local initial properties of the states. Extending work
by Partovi, we consider a general entangled multipartite system that allows
large reversals of the thermodynamic arrow of time. We describe a hierarchy of
arrows that arises from the different correlations allowed in a quantum state
and examine these features in the context of Maxwell's Demon. We examine in
detail the case of three qubits, and also propose some simple experimental
demonstrations possible with small numbers of qubits.Comment: 10 pages with 9 figure
Influence of uncertain identification of triggering rainfall on the assessment of landslide early warning thresholds
Abstract. Uncertainty in rainfall datasets and landslide inventories is known to have negative impacts on the assessment of landslide-triggering thresholds. In this paper, we perform a quantitative analysis of the impacts of uncertain knowledge of landslide initiation instants on the assessment of rainfall intensity–duration landslide early warning thresholds. The analysis is based on a synthetic database of rainfall and landslide information, generated by coupling a stochastic rainfall generator and a physically based hydrological and slope stability model, and is therefore error-free in terms of knowledge of triggering instants. This dataset is then perturbed according to hypothetical reporting scenarios that allow simulation of possible errors in landslide-triggering instants as retrieved from historical archives. The impact of these errors is analysed jointly using different criteria to single out rainfall events from a continuous series and two typical temporal aggregations of rainfall (hourly and daily). The analysis shows that the impacts of the above uncertainty sources can be significant, especially when errors exceed 1 day or the actual instants follow the erroneous ones. Errors generally lead to underestimated thresholds, i.e. lower than those that would be obtained from an error-free dataset. Potentially, the amount of the underestimation can be enough to induce an excessive number of false positives, hence limiting possible landslide mitigation benefits. Moreover, the uncertain knowledge of triggering rainfall limits the possibility to set up links between thresholds and physio-geographical factors
Manifestations of quantum holonomy in interferometry
Abelian and non-Abelian geometric phases, known as quantum holonomies, have
attracted considerable attention in the past. Here, we show that it is possible
to associate nonequivalent holonomies to discrete sequences of subspaces in a
Hilbert space. We consider two such holonomies that arise naturally in
interferometer settings. For sequences approximating smooth paths in the base
(Grassmann) manifold, these holonomies both approach the standard holonomy. In
the one-dimensional case the two types of holonomies are Abelian and coincide
with Pancharatnam's geometric phase factor. The theory is illustrated with a
model example of projective measurements involving angular momentum coherent
states.Comment: Some changes, journal reference adde
Cosmic No Hair for Braneworlds with a Bulk Dilaton Field
Braneworld cosmology supported by a bulk scalar field with an exponential
potential is developed. A general class of separable backgrounds for both
single and two-brane systems is derived, where the bulk metric components are
given by products of world-volume and bulk coordinates and the world-volumes
represent any anisotropic and inhomogeneous solution to an effective
four-dimensional Brans-Dicke theory of gravity. We deduce a cosmic no hair
theorem for all ever expanding, spatially homogeneous Bianchi world-volumes and
find that the spatially flat and isotropic inflationary scaling solution
represents a late-time attractor when the bulk potential is sufficiently flat.
The dependence of this result on the separable nature of the bulk metric is
investigated by applying the techniques of Hamilton-Jacobi theory to
five-dimensional Einstein gravity. We employ the spatial gradient expansion
method to determine the asymptotic form of the bulk metric up to third-order in
spatial gradients. It is found that the condition for the separable form of the
metric to represent the attractor of the system is precisely the same as that
for the four-dimensional world-volume to isotropize. We also derive the
fourth-order contribution to the Hamilton-Jacobi generating functional.
Finally, we conclude by placing our results within the context of the
holographic approach to braneworld cosmology.Comment: 13 pages, uses RevTeX
Quantum codewords contradict local realism
Quantum codewords are highly entangled combinations of two-state systems. The
standard assumptions of local realism lead to logical contradictions similar to
those found by Bell, Kochen and Specker, Greenberger, Horne and Zeilinger, and
Mermin. The new contradictions have some noteworthy features that did not
appear in the older ones.Comment: 9 pages LaTeX, 1 figur
Hiding bits in Bell states
We present a scheme for hiding bits in Bell states that is secure even when
the sharers Alice and Bob are allowed to carry out local quantum operations and
classical communication. We prove that the information that Alice and Bob can
gain about a hidden bit is exponentially small in , the number of qubits in
each share, and can be made arbitrarily small for hiding multiple bits. We
indicate an alternative efficient low-entanglement method for preparing the
shared quantum states. We discuss how our scheme can be implemented using
present-day quantum optics.Comment: 4 pages RevTex, 1 figure, various small changes and additional
paragraph on optics implementatio
Experimental Implementation of the Quantum Baker's Map
This paper reports on the experimental implementation of the quantum baker's
map via a three bit nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) quantum information
processor. The experiments tested the sensitivity of the quantum chaotic map to
perturbations. In the first experiment, the map was iterated forward and then
backwards to provide benchmarks for intrinsic errors and decoherence. In the
second set of experiments, the least significant qubit was perturbed in between
the iterations to test the sensitivity of the quantum chaotic map to applied
perturbations. These experiments are used to investigate previous predicted
properties of quantum chaotic dynamics.Comment: submitted to PR
Simple computer model for the quantum Zeno effect
This paper presents a simple model for repeated measurement of a quantum
system: the evolution of a free particle, simulated by discretising the
particle's position. This model is easily simulated by computer and provides a
useful arena to investigate the effects of measurement upon dynamics, in
particular the slowing of evolution due to measurement (the `quantum Zeno
effect'). The results of this simulation are discussed for two rather different
sorts of measurement process, both of which are (simplified forms of)
measurements used in previous simulations of position measurement. A number of
interesting results due to measurement are found, and the investigation casts
some light on previous disagreements about the presence or absence of the Zeno
effect.Comment: REVTeX; 12 pages including 11 figures; figures reformatted to be more
readable; some small changes made to the description of the mode
Minimum detection efficiency for a loophole-free violation of the Braunstein-Caves chained Bell inequalities
The chained Bell inequalities of Braunstein and Caves involving N settings
per observer have some interesting applications. Here we obtain the minimum
detection efficiency required for a loophole-free violation of the
Braunstein-Caves inequalities for any N > 2. We discuss both the case in which
both particles are detected with the same efficiency and the case in which the
particles are detected with different efficiencies.Comment: REVTeX4, 8 page
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