824 research outputs found
Brain neurons as quantum computers: {\it in vivo} support of background physics
The question: whether quantum coherent states can sustain decoherence,
heating and dissipation over time scales comparable to the dynamical timescales
of the brain neurons, is actively discussed in the last years. Positive answer
on this question is crucial, in particular, for consideration of brain neurons
as quantum computers. This discussion was mainly based on theoretical
arguments. In present paper nonlinear statistical properties of the Ventral
Tegmental Area (VTA) of genetically depressive limbic brain are studied {\it in
vivo} on the Flinders Sensitive Line of rats (FSL). VTA plays a key role in
generation of pleasure and in development of psychological drug addiction. We
found that the FSL VTA (dopaminergic) neuron signals exhibit multifractal
properties for interspike frequencies on the scales where healthy VTA
dopaminergic neurons exhibit bursting activity. For high moments the observed
multifractal (generalized dimensions) spectrum coincides with the generalized
dimensions spectrum calculated for a spectral measure of a {\it quantum} system
(so-called kicked Harper model, actively used as a model of quantum chaos).
This observation can be considered as a first experimental ({\it in vivo})
indication in the favour of the quantum (at least partially) nature of the
brain neurons activity
Mixing in a stratified shear flow: Energetics and sampling
Direct numerical simulations of the time evolution of homogeneous stably stratified shear flows have been performed for Richardson numbers from 0 to 1 and for Prandtl numbers between 0.1 and 2. The results indicate that mixing efficiency R(sub f) varies with turbulent Froude number in a manner consistent with laboratory experiments performed with Prandtl numbers of 0.7 and 700. However, unlike the laboratory results, for a particular Froude number, the simulations do not show a clear dependence on the magnitude of R(sub f) on Pr. The observed maximum value of R(sub f) is 0.25. When averaged over vertical length scales of an order of magnitude greater than either the overturning or Ozmidov scales of the flow, the simulations indicate that the dissipation rate epsilon is only weakly lognormally distributed with an intermittency of about 0.01 whereas estimated values in the ocean are 3 to 7
Non-ideality of quantum operations with the electron spin of a 31P donor in a Si crystal due to interaction with a nuclear spin system
We examine a 31P donor electron spin in a Si crystal to be used for the
purposes of quantum computation. The interaction with an uncontrolled system of
29Si nuclear spins influences the electron spin dynamics appreciably. The
hyperfine field at the 29Si nuclei positions is non-collinear with the external
magnetic field. Quantum operations with the electron wave function, i.e. using
magnetic field pulses or electrical gates, change the orientation of hyperfine
field and disturb the nuclear spin system. This disturbance produces a
deviation of the electron spin qubit from an ideal state, at a short time scale
in comparison with the nuclear spin diffusion time. For H_ext=9 T, the
estimated error rate is comparable to the threshold value required by the
quantum error correction algorithms. The rate is lower at higher external
magnetic fields.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figure
Longitudinal Body Composition Changes in NCAA Division I College Football Players
Many athletes seek to optimize body composition to fit the physical demands of their sport. American football requires a unique combination of size, speed, and power. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate longitudinal changes in body composition in Division I collegiate football players. For 57 players (Mean ± SD; Age=19.5 ± 0.9 yrs; Height=186.9 ± 5.7 cm; Weight=107.7 ± 19.1 kg), body composition was assessed via dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry in the off-season (March-Pre), end of off-season (May), mid-July (Pre-Season), and the following March (March-Post). Outcome variables included weight, body fat percentage (BF%), fat mass (FM), lean mass (LM), android (AND) and gynoid (GYN) fat, bone mineral content (BMC), and bone density (BMD). For a subset of athletes (n=13 out of 57), changes over a 4-year playing career were evaluated with measurements taken every March. Throughout a single year, favorable changes were observed for BF% (Δ=−1.3 ± 2.5%), LM (Δ=2.8 ± 2.8 kg), GYN (Δ=−1.5 ± 3.0%), BMC (Δ=0.06 ± 0.14 kg), and BMD (Δ=0.015 ± 0.027g·cm−2; all p<0.05). Across four years, weight increased significantly (Δ=6.6 ± 4.1kg), and favorable changes were observed for LM (Δ=4.3 ± 3.0 kg), BMC (Δ=0.18 ± 0.17 kg), and BMD (Δ=0.033 ± 0.039 g·cm−2; all p<0.05). Similar patterns in body composition changes were observed for linemen and non-linemen. Results indicate that well-trained collegiate football players at high levels of competition can achieve favorable changes in body composition, even late in the career, which may confer benefits for performance and injury prevention
Hydrodynamic Environment and Ecosystem Diversity at two Deep-Sea Marine Protected Areas in Southern Biscay
Conservation laws for vacuum tetrad gravity
Ten conservation laws in useful polynomial form are derived from a Cartan
form and Exterior Differential System (EDS) for the tetrad equations of vacuum
relativity. The Noether construction of conservation laws for well posed EDS is
introduced first, and an illustration given, deriving 15 conservation laws of
the free field Maxwell Equations from symmetries of its EDS. The Maxwell EDS
and tetrad gravity EDS have parallel structures, with their numbers of
dependent variables, numbers of generating 2-forms and generating 3-forms, and
Cartan character tables all in the ratio of 1 to 4. They have 10 corresponding
symmetries with the same Lorentz algebra, and 10 corresponding conservation
laws.Comment: Final version with additional reference
Ricci Solitons and Einstein-Scalar Field Theory
B List has recently studied a geometric flow whose fixed points correspond to
static Ricci flat spacetimes. It is now known that this flow is in fact Ricci
flow modulo pullback by a certain diffeomorphism. We use this observation to
associate to each static Ricci flat spacetime a local Ricci soliton in one
higher dimension. As well, solutions of Euclidean-signature Einstein gravity
coupled to a free massless scalar field with nonzero cosmological constant are
associated to shrinking or expanding Ricci solitons. We exhibit examples,
including an explicit family of complete expanding solitons which can be
thought of as a Ricci flow for a complete Lorentzian metric. The possible
generalization to Ricci-flat stationary metrics leads us to consider an
alternative to Ricci flow.Comment: 17 pages, 1 figure; Revised version (organizational changes, other
minor revisions and corrections, citations corrected and added), to appear in
CQ
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