4,711 research outputs found
Observations Outside the Light-Cone: Algorithms for Non-Equilibrium and Thermal States
We apply algorithms based on Lieb-Robinson bounds to simulate time-dependent
and thermal quantities in quantum systems. For time-dependent systems, we
modify a previous mapping to quantum circuits to significantly reduce the
computer resources required. This modification is based on a principle of
"observing" the system outside the light-cone. We apply this method to study
spin relaxation in systems started out of equilibrium with initial conditions
that give rise to very rapid entanglement growth. We also show that it is
possible to approximate time evolution under a local Hamiltonian by a quantum
circuit whose light-cone naturally matches the Lieb-Robinson velocity.
Asymptotically, these modified methods allow a doubling of the system size that
one can obtain compared to direct simulation. We then consider a different
problem of thermal properties of disordered spin chains and use quantum belief
propagation to average over different configurations. We test this algorithm on
one dimensional systems with mixed ferromagnetic and anti-ferromagnetic bonds,
where we can compare to quantum Monte Carlo, and then we apply it to the study
of disordered, frustrated spin systems.Comment: 19 pages, 12 figure
Ion collection by oblique surfaces of an object in a transversely-flowing strongly-magnetized plasma
The equations governing a collisionless obliquely-flowing plasma around an
ion-absorbing object in a strong magnetic field are shown to have an exact
analytic solution even for arbitrary (two-dimensional) object-shape, when
temperature is uniform, and diffusive transport can be ignored. The solution
has an extremely simple geometric embodiment. It shows that the ion collection
flux density to a convex body's surface depends only upon the orientation of
the surface, and provides the theoretical justification and calibration of
oblique `Mach-probes'. The exponential form of this exact solution helps
explain the approximate fit of this function to previous numerical solutions.Comment: Four pages, 2 figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev. Letter
Olfaction Contributes to Pelagic Navigation in a Coastal Shark.
How animals navigate the constantly moving and visually uniform pelagic realm, often along straight paths between distant sites, is an enduring mystery. The mechanisms enabling pelagic navigation in cartilaginous fishes are particularly understudied. We used shoreward navigation by leopard sharks (Triakis semifasciata) as a model system to test whether olfaction contributes to pelagic navigation. Leopard sharks were captured alongshore, transported 9 km offshore, released, and acoustically tracked for approximately 4 h each until the transmitter released. Eleven sharks were rendered anosmic (nares occluded with cotton wool soaked in petroleum jelly); fifteen were sham controls. Mean swimming depth was 28.7 m. On average, tracks of control sharks ended 62.6% closer to shore, following relatively straight paths that were significantly directed over spatial scales exceeding 1600 m. In contrast, tracks of anosmic sharks ended 37.2% closer to shore, following significantly more tortuous paths that approximated correlated random walks. These results held after swimming paths were adjusted for current drift. This is the first study to demonstrate experimentally that olfaction contributes to pelagic navigation in sharks, likely mediated by chemical gradients as has been hypothesized for birds. Given the similarities between the fluid three-dimensional chemical atmosphere and ocean, further research comparing swimming and flying animals may lead to a unifying paradigm explaining their extraordinary navigational abilities
Entropy and Entanglement in Quantum Ground States
We consider the relationship between correlations and entanglement in gapped
quantum systems, with application to matrix product state representations. We
prove that there exist gapped one-dimensional local Hamiltonians such that the
entropy is exponentially large in the correlation length, and we present strong
evidence supporting a conjecture that there exist such systems with arbitrarily
large entropy. However, we then show that, under an assumption on the density
of states which is believed to be satisfied by many physical systems such as
the fractional quantum Hall effect, that an efficient matrix product state
representation of the ground state exists in any dimension. Finally, we comment
on the implications for numerical simulation.Comment: 7 pages, no figure
Critical review of the impacts of grazing intensity on soil organic carbon storage and other soil quality indicators in extensively managed grasslands
Acknowledgements This work contributes to the N-Circle project (grant number BB/N013484/1), and CINAg (BB/N013468/1) Virtual Joint Centres on Agricultural Nitrogen (funded by the Newton Fund via UK BBSRC/NERC), U-GRASS (grant number NE/M016900/1), the Belmont Forum/FACCE-JPI DEVIL project (grant number NE/M021327/1), Soils-R-GGREAT (grant number NE/P019455/1), ADVENT (grant number NE/M019713/1), Sêr Cymru LCEE-NRN project, Climate-Smart Grass and the Scottish Government’s Strategic Research Programme.Peer reviewedPublisher PD
Types and correlates of school non-attendance in students with autism spectrum disorders
School non-attendance in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) has received very little attention to date. The study aimed to provide a comprehensive description of school non-attendance in students with ASD. Through an online survey, parents of 486 children (mean age 11 years) reported on school attendance over one month, and reasons for instances of non-attendance. On average, students missed five days of school of a possible 23 days. Persistent non-attendance (absent on 10%+ of available sessions) occurred among 43% of students. School non-attendance was associated with child older age, not living in a two-parent household, parental unemployment and, especially, attending a mainstream school. School refusal accounted for 43% of non-attendance. School exclusion and school withdrawal each accounted for 9% of absences. Truancy was almost non-existent. Non-problematic absenteeism (mostly related to medical appointments and illness) accounted for 32% of absences. Non-problematic absenteeism was more likely among those with intellectual disability, school refusal was more likely among older students, and school exclusion was more likely among students from single-parent, unemployed, and well educated households. Findings suggest school non-attendance in ASD is a significant issue, and that it is important to capture detail about attendance patterns and reasons for school non-attendance
Entanglement vs. gap for one-dimensional spin systems
We study the relationship between entanglement and spectral gap for local
Hamiltonians in one dimension. The area law for a one-dimensional system states
that for the ground state, the entanglement of any interval is upper-bounded by
a constant independent of the size of the interval. However, the possible
dependence of the upper bound on the spectral gap Delta is not known, as the
best known general upper bound is asymptotically much larger than the largest
possible entropy of any model system previously constructed for small Delta. To
help resolve this asymptotic behavior, we construct a family of one-dimensional
local systems for which some intervals have entanglement entropy which is
polynomial in 1/Delta, whereas previously studied systems, such as free fermion
systems or systems described by conformal field theory, had the entropy of all
intervals bounded by a constant times log(1/Delta).Comment: 16 pages. v2 is final published version with slight clarification
Topology and Phases in Fermionic Systems
There can exist topological obstructions to continuously deforming a gapped
Hamiltonian for free fermions into a trivial form without closing the gap.
These topological obstructions are closely related to obstructions to the
existence of exponentially localized Wannier functions. We show that by taking
two copies of a gapped, free fermionic system with complex conjugate
Hamiltonians, it is always possible to overcome these obstructions. This allows
us to write the ground state in matrix product form using Grassman-valued bond
variables, and show insensitivity of the ground state density matrix to
boundary conditions.Comment: 4 pages, see also arxiv:0710.329
Simulating adiabatic evolution of gapped spin systems
We show that adiabatic evolution of a low-dimensional lattice of quantum
spins with a spectral gap can be simulated efficiently. In particular, we show
that as long as the spectral gap \Delta E between the ground state and the
first excited state is any constant independent of n, the total number of
spins, then the ground-state expectation values of local operators, such as
correlation functions, can be computed using polynomial space and time
resources. Our results also imply that the local ground-state properties of any
two spin models in the same quantum phase can be efficiently obtained from each
other. A consequence of these results is that adiabatic quantum algorithms can
be simulated efficiently if the spectral gap doesn't scale with n. The
simulation method we describe takes place in the Heisenberg picture and does
not make use of the finitely correlated state/matrix product state formalism.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures, minor change
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