Self-gravitating system made of axions

We show that the inclusion of an axion-like effective potential in the construction of a self-gravitating system made of scalar fields leads to a decrease on its compactness when the value of the self-interaction coupling constant is increased. By including the current values for the axion mass m and decay constant f_a, we have computed the mass and the radius for self-gravitating systems made of axion particles. It is found that such objects will have asteroid-size masses and radius of few meters, then, the self-gravitating system made of axions could play the role of scalar mini-machos that are mimicking a cold dark matter model for the galactic halo.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures. References added. Accepted for publication in Physical Review

H3++H_3^{++} molecular ions can exist in strong magnetic fields

Using the variational method it is shown that for magnetic fields $B\geq 10^{11}$ G there can exist a molecular ion $H_3^{++}$.Comment: LaTeX, 7 pp, 1 table, 4 figures. Title modified. Consideration of the longitudinal size of the system was adde

Agrobacterium tumefaciens Deploys a Superfamily of Type VI Secretion DNase Effectors as Weapons for Interbacterial Competition In Planta

The type VI secretion system (T6SS) is a widespread molecular weapon deployed by many Proteobacteria to target effectors/toxins into both eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells. We report that Agrobacterium tumefaciens, a soil bacterium that triggers tumorigenesis in plants, produces a family of type VI DNase effectors (Tde) that are distinct from previously known polymorphic toxins and nucleases. Tde exhibits an antibacterial DNase activity that relies on a conserved HxxD motif and can be counteracted by a cognate immunity protein, Tdi. In vitro, A. tumefaciens T6SS could kill Escherichia coli but triggered a lethal counterattack by Pseudomonas aeruginosa upon injection of the Tde toxins. However, in an in planta coinfection assay, A. tumefaciens used Tde effectors to attack both siblings cells and P. aeruginosa to ultimately gain a competitive advantage. Such acquired T6SS-dependent fitness in vivo and conservation of Tde-Tdi couples in bacteria highlights a widespread antibacterial weapon beneficial for niche colonization

Strange nonchaotic attractors in noise driven systems

Strange nonchaotic attractors (SNAs) in noise driven systems are investigated. Before the transition to chaos, due to the effect of noise, a typical trajectory will wander between the periodic attractor and its nearby chaotic saddle in an intermittent way, forms a strange attractor gradually. The existence of SNAs is confirmed by simulation results of various critera both in map and continuous systems. Dimension transition is found and intermittent behavior is studied by peoperties of local Lyapunov exponent. The universality and generalization of this kind of SNAs are discussed and common features are concluded

Exterior optical cloaking and illusions by using active sources: a boundary element perspective

Recently, it was demonstrated that active sources can be used to cloak any objects that lie outside the cloaking devices [Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{103}, 073901 (2009)]. Here, we propose that active sources can create illusion effects, so that an object outside the cloaking device can be made to look like another object. invisibility is a special case in which the concealed object is transformed to a volume of air. From a boundary element perspective, we show that active sources can create a nearly "silent" domain which can conceal any objects inside and at the same time make the whole system look like an illusion of our choice outside a virtual boundary. The boundary element method gives the fields and field gradients (which can be related to monopoles and dipoles) on continuous curves which define the boundary of the active devices. Both the cloaking and illusion effects are confirmed by numerical simulations

Entanglement-Assisted Quantum Error-Correcting Codes with Imperfect Ebits

The scheme of entanglement-assisted quantum error-correcting (EAQEC) codes assumes that the ebits of the receiver are error-free. In practical situations, errors on these ebits are unavoidable, which diminishes the error-correcting ability of these codes. We consider two different versions of this problem. We first show that any (nondegenerate) standard stabilizer code can be transformed into an EAQEC code that can correct errors on the qubits of both sender and receiver. These EAQEC codes are equivalent to standard stabilizer codes, and hence the decoding techniques of standard stabilizer codes can be applied. Several EAQEC codes of this type are found to be optimal. In a second scheme, the receiver uses a standard stabilizer code to protect the ebits, which we call a "combination code." The performances of different quantum codes are compared in terms of the channel fidelity over the depolarizing channel. We give a formula for the channel fidelity over the depolarizing channel (or any Pauli error channel), and show that it can be efficiently approximated by a Monte Carlo calculation. Finally, we discuss the tradeoff between performing extra entanglement distillation and applying an EAQEC code with imperfect ebits.Comment: 15 pages, 12 figure

Nonlinear robust controller design for multi-robot systems with unknown payloads

This work is concerned with the control problem of a multi-robot system handling a payload with unknown mass properties. Force constraints at the grasp points are considered. Robust control schemes are proposed that cope with the model uncertainty and achieve asymptotic path tracking. To deal with the force constraints, a strategy for optimally sharing the task is suggested. This strategy basically consists of two steps. The first detects the robots that need help and the second arranges that help. It is shown that the overall system is not only robust to uncertain payload parameters, but also satisfies the force constraints

Controlling complex networks: How much energy is needed?

The outstanding problem of controlling complex networks is relevant to many areas of science and engineering, and has the potential to generate technological breakthroughs as well. We address the physically important issue of the energy required for achieving control by deriving and validating scaling laws for the lower and upper energy bounds. These bounds represent a reasonable estimate of the energy cost associated with control, and provide a step forward from the current research on controllability toward ultimate control of complex networked dynamical systems.Comment: 4 pages paper + 5 pages supplement. accepted for publication in Physical Review Letters; http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.21870

Innermost Stable Circular Orbit of Inspiraling Neutron-Star Binaries: Tidal Effects, Post-Newtonian Effects and the Neutron-Star Equation of State

We study how the neutron-star equation of state affects the onset of the dynamical instability in the equations of motion for inspiraling neutron-star binaries near coalescence. A combination of relativistic effects and Newtonian tidal effects cause the stars to begin their final, rapid, and dynamically-unstable plunge to merger when the stars are still well separated and the orbital frequency is $\approx$ 500 cycles/sec (i.e. the gravitational wave frequency is approximately 1000 Hz). The orbital frequency at which the dynamical instability occurs (i.e. the orbital frequency at the innermost stable circular orbit) shows modest sensitivity to the neutron-star equation of state (particularly the mass-radius ratio, $M/R_o$, of the stars). This suggests that information about the equation of state of nuclear matter is encoded in the gravitational waves emitted just prior to the merger.Comment: RevTeX, to appear in PRD, 8 pages, 4 figures include

Thompson Sampling: An Asymptotically Optimal Finite Time Analysis

The question of the optimality of Thompson Sampling for solving the stochastic multi-armed bandit problem had been open since 1933. In this paper we answer it positively for the case of Bernoulli rewards by providing the first finite-time analysis that matches the asymptotic rate given in the Lai and Robbins lower bound for the cumulative regret. The proof is accompanied by a numerical comparison with other optimal policies, experiments that have been lacking in the literature until now for the Bernoulli case.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figures, submitted to ALT (Algorithmic Learning Theory