The Blind Watchmaker Network: Scale-freeness and Evolution

It is suggested that the degree distribution for networks of the cell-metabolism for simple organisms reflects an ubiquitous randomness. This implies that natural selection has exerted no or very little pressure on the network degree distribution during evolution. The corresponding random network, here termed the blind watchmaker network has a power-law degree distribution with an exponent gamma >= 2. It is random with respect to a complete set of network states characterized by a description of which links are attached to a node as well as a time-ordering of these links. No a priory assumption of any growth mechanism or evolution process is made. It is found that the degree distribution of the blind watchmaker network agrees very precisely with that of the metabolic networks. This implies that the evolutionary pathway of the cell-metabolism, when projected onto a metabolic network representation, has remained statistically random with respect to a complete set of network states. This suggests that even a biological system, which due to natural selection has developed an enormous specificity like the cellular metabolism, nevertheless can, at the same time, display well defined characteristics emanating from the ubiquitous inherent random element of Darwinian evolution. The fact that also completely random networks may have scale-free node distributions gives a new perspective on the origin of scale-free networks in general.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Evolutionary instability of Zero Determinant strategies demonstrates that winning isn't everything

Zero Determinant (ZD) strategies are a new class of probabilistic and conditional strategies that are able to unilaterally set the expected payoff of an opponent in iterated plays of the Prisoner's Dilemma irrespective of the opponent's strategy, or else to set the ratio between a ZD player's and their opponent's expected payoff. Here we show that while ZD strategies are weakly dominant, they are not evolutionarily stable and will instead evolve into less coercive strategies. We show that ZD strategies with an informational advantage over other players that allows them to recognize other ZD strategies can be evolutionarily stable (and able to exploit other players). However, such an advantage is bound to be short-lived as opposing strategies evolve to counteract the recognition.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures. Change in title (again!) to comply with Nature Communications requirements. To appear in Nature Communication

Long-distance frequency transfer over an urban fiber link using optical phase stabilization

We transferred the frequency of an ultra-stable laser over 86 km of urban fiber. The link is composed of two cascaded 43-km fibers connecting two laboratories, LNE-SYRTE and LPL in Paris area. In an effort to realistically demonstrate a link of 172 km without using spooled fiber extensions, we implemented a recirculation loop to double the length of the urban fiber link. The link is fed with a 1542-nm cavity stabilized fiber laser having a sub-Hz linewidth. The fiber-induced phase noise is measured and cancelled with an all fiber-based interferometer using commercial off the shelf pigtailed telecommunication components. The compensated link shows an Allan deviation of a few 10-16 at one second and a few 10-19 at 10,000 seconds

Long-distance remote comparison of ultrastable optical frequencies with 1e-15 instability in fractions of a second

We demonstrate a fully optical, long-distance remote comparison of independent ultrastable optical frequencies reaching a short term stability that is superior to any reported remote comparison of optical frequencies. We use two ultrastable lasers, which are separated by a geographical distance of more than 50 km, and compare them via a 73 km long phase-stabilized fiber in a commercial telecommunication network. The remote characterization spans more than one optical octave and reaches a fractional frequency instability between the independent ultrastable laser systems of 3e-15 in 0.1 s. The achieved performance at 100 ms represents an improvement by one order of magnitude to any previously reported remote comparison of optical frequencies and enables future remote dissemination of the stability of 100 mHz linewidth lasers within seconds.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

Information content based model for the topological properties of the gene regulatory network of Escherichia coli

Gene regulatory networks (GRN) are being studied with increasingly precise quantitative tools and can provide a testing ground for ideas regarding the emergence and evolution of complex biological networks. We analyze the global statistical properties of the transcriptional regulatory network of the prokaryote Escherichia coli, identifying each operon with a node of the network. We propose a null model for this network using the content-based approach applied earlier to the eukaryote Saccharomyces cerevisiae. (Balcan et al., 2007) Random sequences that represent promoter regions and binding sequences are associated with the nodes. The length distributions of these sequences are extracted from the relevant databases. The network is constructed by testing for the occurrence of binding sequences within the promoter regions. The ensemble of emergent networks yields an exponentially decaying in-degree distribution and a putative power law dependence for the out-degree distribution with a flat tail, in agreement with the data. The clustering coefficient, degree-degree correlation, rich club coefficient and k-core visualization all agree qualitatively with the empirical network to an extent not yet achieved by any other computational model, to our knowledge. The significant statistical differences can point the way to further research into non-adaptive and adaptive processes in the evolution of the E. coli GRN.Comment: 58 pages, 3 tables, 22 figures. In press, Journal of Theoretical Biology (2009)

Evolution of cooperation without reciprocity

A long-standing problem in biological and social sciences is to understand the conditions required for the emergence and maintenance of cooperation in evolving populations. For many situations, kin selection(1) is an adequate explanation, although kin-recognition may still be a problem. Explanations of cooperation between non-kin include continuing interactions that provide a shadow of the future (that is, the expectation of an ongoing relationship) that can sustain reciprocity(2-4), possibly supported by mechanisms to bias interactions such as embedding the agents in a two-dimensional space(4-6) or other context-preserving networks(7). Another explanation, indirect reciprocity(8), applies when benevolence to one agent increases the chance of receiving help from others. Here we use computer simulations to show that cooperation can arise when agents donate to others who are sufficiently similar to themselves in some arbitrary characteristic. Such a characteristic, or 'tag', can be a marking, display, or other observable trait. Tag-based donation can lead to the emergence of cooperation among agents who have only rudimentary ability to detect environmental signals and, unlike models of direct(3,4) or indirect reciprocity(9,10), no memory of past encounters is required.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/62686/1/414441a0.pd

Making optical atomic clocks more stable with 10−1610^{-16} level laser stabilization

The superb precision of an atomic clock is derived from its stability. Atomic clocks based on optical (rather than microwave) frequencies are attractive because of their potential for high stability, which scales with operational frequency. Nevertheless, optical clocks have not yet realized this vast potential, due in large part to limitations of the laser used to excite the atomic resonance. To address this problem, we demonstrate a cavity-stabilized laser system with a reduced thermal noise floor, exhibiting a fractional frequency instability of $2 \times 10^{-16}$. We use this laser as a stable optical source in a Yb optical lattice clock to resolve an ultranarrow 1 Hz transition linewidth. With the stable laser source and the signal to noise ratio (S/N) afforded by the Yb optical clock, we dramatically reduce key stability limitations of the clock, and make measurements consistent with a clock instability of $5 \times 10^{-16} / \sqrt{\tau}$

The Atmospheric Coupling and Dynamics Across the Mesopause (ACaDAMe) mission

The Atmospheric Coupling and Dynamics Across the Mesopause (ACaDAMe) is a mission designed to uniquely address critical questions involving multi-scale wave dynamics at key space weather (SWx) “gateway altitudes” of the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) at ∼70–150 km. ACaDAMe observes with a nadir-pointing resonant lidar that utilizes the fluorescence of atomic Na present in the MLT. By tuning a laser to the Na absorption wavelength (589 nm), ACaDAMe would perform very high resolution measurements of temperature and Na densities across the mesopause during both day and night. In this manner, Na is used as tracer for observing and characterizing MLT waves generated by tropospheric weather that represent the dominant terrestrial source of energy and momentum affecting space weather and transport of mesospheric species

Generation of Ultrastable Microwaves via Optical Frequency Division

There has been increased interest in the use and manipulation of optical fields to address challenging problems that have traditionally been approached with microwave electronics. Some examples that benefit from the low transmission loss, agile modulation and large bandwidths accessible with coherent optical systems include signal distribution, arbitrary waveform generation, and novel imaging. We extend these advantages to demonstrate a microwave generator based on a high-Q optical resonator and a frequency comb functioning as an optical-to-microwave divider. This provides a 10 GHz electrical signal with fractional frequency instability <8e-16 at 1 s, a value comparable to that produced by the best microwave oscillators, but without the need for cryogenic temperatures. Such a low-noise source can benefit radar systems, improve the bandwidth and resolution of communications and digital sampling systems, and be valuable for large baseline interferometry, precision spectroscopy and the realization of atomic time