Empirical Determination of Bang-Bang Operations

Strong and fast "bang-bang" (BB) pulses have been recently proposed as a means for reducing decoherence in a quantum system. So far theoretical analysis of the BB technique relied on model Hamiltonians. Here we introduce a method for empirically determining the set of required BB pulses, that relies on quantum process tomography. In this manner an experimenter may tailor his or her BB pulses to the quantum system at hand, without having to assume a model Hamiltonian.Comment: 14 pages, 2 eps figures, ReVTeX4 two-colum

Glacial to Holocene terrigenous organic matter input to sediments from Orca Basin, Gulf of Mexico — A combined optical and biomarker approach

In this study we assessed changes in the contribution of terrigenous organic matter (OM) to the Gulf of Mexico over the course of the last deglaciation (the last 25 kyr). To this end, we combined optical kerogen analyses with bulk sedimentary, biomarker, and compound-specific carbon isotope analyses. Samples were obtained from core MD02-2550 from Orca Basin (2249 m water depth at 26°56.77N, 91°20.74W) with temporal resolution ranging from multi-decadal to millennial-scale, depending on the proxy. All proxies confirmed larger terrigenous input during glacial times compared to the Holocene. In addition, the kerogen analyses suggest that much of the glacial OM is reworked (at least 50% of spores and pollen grains and 40% of dinoflagellate cysts). The Holocene sediments, in contrast, contain mainly marine OM, which is exceptionally well preserved. During the deglaciation, terrigenous input was generally high due to large meltwater fluxes, whereby discrepancies between different proxies call for additional influences, such as the change in distance to the river mouth, local productivity changes, and hydrodynamic particle sorting. It is possible that kerogen particles and the terrigenous biomarkers studied here represent distinct pools of land-derived OM with inputs varying independently

A connectome and analysis of the adult Drosophila central brain

The neural circuits responsible for animal behavior remain largely unknown. We summarize new methods and present the circuitry of a large fraction of the brain of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Improved methods include new procedures to prepare, image, align, segment, find synapses in, and proofread such large data sets. We define cell types, refine computational compartments, and provide an exhaustive atlas of cell examples and types, many of them novel. We provide detailed circuits consisting of neurons and their chemical synapses for most of the central brain. We make the data public and simplify access, reducing the effort needed to answer circuit questions, and provide procedures linking the neurons defined by our analysis with genetic reagents. Biologically, we examine distributions of connection strengths, neural motifs on different scales, electrical consequences of compartmentalization, and evidence that maximizing packing density is an important criterion in the evolution of the fly’s brain

A connectome and analysis of the adult Drosophila central brain

The neural circuits responsible for animal behavior remain largely unknown. We summarize new methods and present the circuitry of a large fraction of the brain of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Improved methods include new procedures to prepare, image, align, segment, find synapses in, and proofread such large data sets. We define cell types, refine computational compartments, and provide an exhaustive atlas of cell examples and types, many of them novel. We provide detailed circuits consisting of neurons and their chemical synapses for most of the central brain. We make the data public and simplify access, reducing the effort needed to answer circuit questions, and provide procedures linking the neurons defined by our analysis with genetic reagents. Biologically, we examine distributions of connection strengths, neural motifs on different scales, electrical consequences of compartmentalization, and evidence that maximizing packing density is an important criterion in the evolution of the fly's brain

Evidence for late-glacial ice dammed lakes in the central Strait of Magellan and Bahia Inutil, southernmost South America

This paper critically appraises the evidence for a succession of ice-dammed lakes in the central Strait of Magellan (c. 53°S) c. 17 000-12 250 cal. yr BP. The topographic configuration of islands and channels in the southern Strait of Magellan means that the presence of lakes provides compelling constraints on the position of former ice margins. Lake shorelines and glacio-lacustrine sediments have been dated by their association with a key tephra layer from Volcan Reclús (c. 15 510-14 350 cal. years bp) and by 14C-dated peats. The timing of glacial lake formation and associated glacier readvances is at odds with the rapid and widespread glacier retreat of the Patagonian ice fields further north after c. 17 000 cal. yr bp, suggesting rather that the lakes were coeval with the Antarctic Cold Reversal and persisted to the Late-glacial/Holocene transition. This apparent asymmetrical latitudinal response in glacier behaviour may reflect overlapping spheres of northern hemisphere and Antarctic climatic influence in the Magellan region

The coastal archives of the last 15 ka in the Atlantic–Mediterranean Spanish linkage area: Sea level and climate changes

Sea level and climate changes archived in various coastal environments during the last part of the last glacial and present interglacial periods are investigated by interpolating available geomorphology, sedimentology, palaeontology and geochronology data. The coastal response to these changes depended on the environment and geographic location. Changes of sea level during the rising, transgressive phase are well recorded in the sedimentary filling of the estuaries, whereas during the phase of highstand they are best recorded in beach–barrier environments. The postglacial rise of sea level took place in two phases: a rapid rise until 6500 cal BP, and a second phase of near stability with minor oscillations of metric magnitude. Regarding climate changes, there is no record of changing temperatures in the coastal zones of southern Spain, although there is in precipitation and wind intensity/velocity. After 7–5 cal ka BP, the general climatic trend towards aridity was punctuated by several short-lived (centennial) episodes of increased aridity that occurred with a millennial cycle, often coincident with Bond cool events and, in some cases, with decreases of sea surface temperatures. The absence of human intervention in vegetation composition until 2000 BP suggests that most environmental coastal shifts were climatically driven