Instrument calibrates low gas-rate flowmeters

Electronically measuring the transit time of a soap bubble carried by the gas stream between two fixed points in a burette calibrates flowmeters used for measuring low gas-flow rates

Schur Q-functions and degeneracy locus formulas for morphisms with symmetries

We give closed-form formulas for the fundamental classes of degeneracy loci associated with vector bundle maps given locally by (not necessary square) matrices which are symmetric (resp. skew-symmetric) w.r.t. the main diagonal. Our description uses essentially Schur Q-polynomials of a bundle, and is based on a certain push-forward formula for these polynomials in a Grassmann bundle.Comment: 22 pages, AMSTEX, misprints corrected, exposition improved. to appear in the Proceedings of Intersection Theory Conference in Bologna, "Progress in Mathematics", Birkhause

Monomial transformations of the projective space

We prove that, over any field, the dimension of the indeterminacy locus of a rational transformation $f$ of $P^n$ which is defined by monomials of the same degree $d$ with no common factors is at least $(n-2)/2$, provided that the degree of $f$ as a map is not divisible by $d$. This implies upper bounds on the multidegree of $f$

Integral Grothendieck-Riemann-Roch theorem

We show that, in characteristic zero, the obvious integral version of the Grothendieck-Riemann-Roch formula obtained by clearing the denominators of the Todd and Chern characters is true (without having to divide the Chow groups by their torsion subgroups). The proof introduces an alternative to Grothendieck's strategy: we use resolution of singularities and the weak factorization theorem for birational maps.Comment: 24 page

Particle-wave duality: a dichotomy between symmetry and asymmetry

Symmetry plays a central role in many areas of modern physics. Here we show that it also underpins the dual particle and wave nature of quantum systems. We begin by noting that a classical point particle breaks translational symmetry whereas a wave with uniform amplitude does not. This provides a basis for associating particle nature with asymmetry and wave nature with symmetry. We derive expressions for the maximum amount of classical information we can have about the symmetry and asymmetry of a quantum system with respect to an arbitrary group. We find that the sum of the information about the symmetry (wave nature) and the asymmetry (particle nature) is bounded by log(D) where D is the dimension of the Hilbert space. The combination of multiple systems is shown to exhibit greater symmetry and thus more wavelike character. In particular, a class of entangled systems is shown to be capable of exhibiting wave-like symmetry as a whole while exhibiting particle-like asymmetry internally. We also show that superdense coding can be viewed as being essentially an interference phenomenon involving wave-like symmetry with respect to the group of Pauli operators.Comment: 20 pages, 3 figure

Useful entanglement can be extracted from all nonseparable states

We consider entanglement distillation from a single-copy of a multipartite state, and instead of rates we analyze the "quality" of the distilled entanglement. This "quality" is quantified by the fidelity with the GHZ-state. We show that each not fully-separable state $\sigma$ can increase the "quality" of the entanglement distilled from other states, no matter how weakly entangled is $\sigma$. We also generalize this to the case where the goal is distilling states different than the GHZ. These results provide new insights on the geometry of the set of separable states and its dual (the set of entanglement witnesses).Comment: 7 page

Simultaneous Arithmetic Progressions on Algebraic Curves

A simultaneous arithmetic progression (s.a.p.) of length k consists of k points (x_i, y_\sigma(i)), where x_i and y_i are arithmetic progressions and \sigma is a permutation. Garcia-Selfa and Tornero asked whether there is a bound on the length of an s.a.p. on an elliptic curve in Weierstrass form over Q. We show that 4319 is such a bound for curves over R. This is done by considering translates of the curve in a grid as a graph. A simple upper bound is found for the number of crossings and the 'crossing inequality' gives a lower bound. Together these bound the length of an s.a.p. on the curve. We then use a similar method to extend the result to arbitrary real algebraic curves. Instead of considering s.a.p.'s we consider k^2/3 points in a grid. The number of crossings is bounded by Bezout's Theorem. We then give another proof using a result of Jarnik bounding the number of grid points on a convex curve. This result applies as any real algebraic curve can be broken up into convex and concave parts, the number of which depend on the degree. Lastly, these results are extended to complex algebraic curves.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, order of email addresses corrected 12 pages, closing remarks, a reference and an acknowledgment adde

Free-field Representations and Geometry of some Gepner models

The geometry of $k^{K}$ Gepner model, where $k+2=2K$ is investigated by free-field representation known as "bc\bet\gm"-system. Using this representation it is shown directly that internal sector of the model is given by Landau-Ginzburg $\mathbb{C}^{K}/\mathbb{Z}_{2K}$-orbifold. Then we consider the deformation of the orbifold by marginal anti-chiral-chiral operator. Analyzing the holomorphic sector of the deformed space of states we show that it has chiral de Rham complex structure of some toric manifold, where toric dates are given by certain fermionic screening currents. It allows to relate the Gepner model deformed by the marginal operator to the $\sigma$-model on CY manifold realized as double cover of $\mathbb{P}^{K-1}$ with ramification along certain submanifold.Comment: LaTex, 14 pages, some acknowledgments adde

Character Formulae and Partition Functions in Higher Dimensional Conformal Field Theory

A discussion of character formulae for positive energy unitary irreducible representations of the the conformal group is given, employing Verma modules and Weyl group reflections. Product formulae for various conformal group representations are found. These include generalisations of those found by Flato and Fronsdal for SO(3,2). In even dimensions the products for free representations split into two types depending on whether the dimension is divisible by four or not.Comment: 43 pages, uses harvmac,version 2 2 references added, minor typos correcte

Moduli Spaces of Lumps on Real Projective Space

Harmonic maps that minimize the Dirichlet energy in their homotopy classes are known as lumps. Lump solutions on real projective space are explicitly given by rational maps subject to a certain symmetry requirement. This has consequences for the behaviour of lumps and their symmetries. An interesting feature is that the moduli space of charge three lumps is a D2-symmetric 7-dimensional manifold of cohomogeneity one. In this paper, we discuss the charge three moduli spaces of lumps from two perspectives: discrete symmetries of lumps and the Riemann-Hurwitz formula. We then calculate the metric and find explicit formula for various geometric quantities. We also discuss the implications for lump decay