1,260 research outputs found
Feedback-control of quantum systems using continuous state-estimation
We present a formulation of feedback in quantum systems in which the best
estimates of the dynamical variables are obtained continuously from the
measurement record, and fed back to control the system. We apply this method to
the problem of cooling and confining a single quantum degree of freedom, and
compare it to current schemes in which the measurement signal is fed back
directly in the manner usually considered in existing treatments of quantum
feedback. Direct feedback may be combined with feedback by estimation, and the
resulting combination, performed on a linear system, is closely analogous to
classical LQG control theory with residual feedback.Comment: 12 pages, multicol revtex, revised and extende
Intention to imitate: Top-down effects on 4-year-olds’ neural processing of others’ actions
Education and Child Studie
Effect of GaN surface treatment on Al2O3/n-GaN MOS capacitors
Citation: Hossain, T., Wei, D., Edgar, J. H., Garces, N. Y., Nepal, N., Hite, J. K., . . . Meyer H.M, III. (2015). Effect of GaN surface treatment on Al2O3/n-GaN MOS capacitors. Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology B: Nanotechnology and Microelectronics, 33(6). doi:10.1116/1.4931793The surface preparation for depositing Al2O3 for fabricating Au/Ni/Al2O3/n-GaN (0001) metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) capacitors was optimized as a step toward realization of high performance GaN MOSFETs. The GaN surface treatments studied included cleaning with piranha (H2O2:H2SO4 = 1:5), (NH4)2S, and 30% HF etches. By several metrics, the MOS capacitor with the piranha-etched GaN had the best characteristics. It had the lowest capacitance–voltage hysteresis, the smoothest Al2O3 surface as determined by atomic force microscopy (0.2 nm surface roughness), the lowest carbon concentration (∼0.78%) at the Al2O3/n-GaN interface (from x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy), and the lowest oxide-trap charge (QT = 1.6 × 1011 cm−2eV−1). Its interface trap density (Dit = 3.7 × 1012 cm−2eV−1), as measured with photon-assisted capacitance– voltage method, was the lowest from conduction band-edge to midgap
Self-projection in early childhood: no evidence for a common underpinning of episodic memory, episodic future thinking, theory of mind, and spatial navigation
Buckner and Carroll [Trends in Cognitive Sciences (2007), Vol. 11, pp. 49–57] argued that episodic memory (EM), episodic future think- ing (EFT), theory of mind (ToM), and spatial navigation all build on the same mental mechanism—self-projection, that is, the ability to disengage from the immediate present and shift perspective to alternative temporal, mental, or spatial situations. Developmental studies indeed show that all four abilities undergo profound developmental changes around 4 years of age, and there are first indications of developmental interrelations between some of the abilities. However, strong evidence for the self-projection account, namely that all four abilities are interrelated in their emergence during early childhood, is still lacking. To thoroughly investigate the self-projection hypothesis, we tested 151 4-year-old children on 12 different tasks assessing their EM, EFT, ToM, and spatial navigation skills (3 tasks per ability). Structural equation modeling under maximum likelihood estimation was conducted on a final sample of 144 children to evaluate a model with the 12 tasks as indicators and self-projection as the latent factor. The model showed a very good fit to the data. However, the factor loadings, indicating the strength of association between the latent factor and the indicators, were very low—which speaks against the validity of the measurement model. In summary, the results do not support the assumption of a common latent factor underlying the various abilities EM, EFT, ToM, and spatial navigation. Implications of our results for the self-projection account and possible related theoretical and methodological challenges are discussed.Education and Child Studie
New Features of the Open Source Monte Carlo Software Brick-CFCMC:Thermodynamic Integration and Hybrid Trial Moves
Resonant nonstationary amplification of polychromatic laser pulses and conical emission in an optically dense ensemble of neon metastable atoms
Experimental and numerical investigation of single-beam and pump-probe
interaction with a resonantly absorbing dense extended medium under strong and
weak field-matter coupling is presented. Significant probe beam amplification
and conical emission were observed. Under relatively weak pumping and high
medium density, when the condition of strong coupling between field and
resonant matter is fulfilled, the probe amplification spectrum has a form of
spectral doublet. Stronger pumping leads to the appearance of a single peak of
the probe beam amplification at the transition frequency. The greater probe
intensity results in an asymmetrical transmission spectrum with amplification
at the blue wing of the absorption line and attenuation at the red one. Under
high medium density, a broad band of amplification appears. Theoretical model
is based on the solution of the Maxwell-Bloch equations for a two-level system.
Different types of probe transmission spectra obtained are attributed to
complex dynamics of a coherent medium response to broadband polychromatic
radiation of a multimode dye laser.Comment: 9 pages, 13 figures, corrected, Fig.8 was changed, to be published in
Phys. Rev.
A Comparison of Solar Cycle Variations in the Equatorial Rotation Rates of the Sun's Subsurface, Surface, Corona, and Sunspot Groups
Using the Solar Optical Observing Network (SOON) sunspot-group data for the
period 1985-2010, the variations in the annual mean equatorial-rotation rates
of the sunspot groups are determined and compared with the known variations in
the solar equatorial-rotation rates determined from the following data: i) the
plasma rotation rates at 0.94Rsun, 0.95Rsun,...,1.0Rsun measured by Global
Oscillation Network Group (GONG) during the period 1995-2010, ii) the data on
the soft X-ray corona determined from Yohkoh/SXT full disk images for the years
1992-2001, iii) the data on small bright coronal structures (SBCS) which were
traced in Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO)/EIT images during the
period 1998-2006, and iv) the Mount Wilson Doppler-velocity measurements during
the period 1986-2007. A large portion (up to approximate 30 deg latitude) of
the mean differential-rotation profile of the sunspot groups lies between those
of the internal differential-rotation rates at 0.94Rsun and 0.98Rsun.The
variation in the yearly mean equatorial-rotation rate of the sunspot groups
seems to be lagging that of the equatorial-rotation rate determined from the
GONG measurements by one to two years.The amplitude of the latter is very
small.The solar-cycle variation in the equatorial-rotation rate of the solar
corona closely matches that determined from the sunspot-group data.The
variation in the equatorial-rotation rate determined from the Mount Wilson
Doppler-velocity data closely resembles the corresponding variation in the
equatorial-rotation rate determined from the sunspot-group data that included
the values of the abnormal angular motions (> 3 deg per day) of the sunspot
groups. Implications of these results are pointed out.Comment: 22 pages, 10 figures, accepted by Solar Physic
The Pomeron and Gauge/String Duality
The traditional description of high-energy small-angle scattering in QCD has
two components -- a soft Pomeron Regge pole for the tensor glueball, and a hard
BFKL Pomeron in leading order at weak coupling. On the basis of gauge/string
duality, we present a coherent treatment of the Pomeron. In large-N QCD-like
theories, we use curved-space string-theory to describe simultaneously both the
BFKL regime and the classic Regge regime. The problem reduces to finding the
spectrum of a single j-plane Schrodinger operator. For ultraviolet-conformal
theories, the spectrum exhibits a set of Regge trajectories at positive t, and
a leading j-plane cut for negative t, the cross-over point being
model-dependent. For theories with logarithmically-running couplings, one
instead finds a discrete spectrum of poles at all t, where the Regge
trajectories at positive t continuously become a set of slowly-varying and
closely-spaced poles at negative t. Our results agree with expectations for the
BFKL Pomeron at negative t, and with the expected glueball spectrum at positive
t, but provide a framework in which they are unified. Effects beyond the single
Pomeron exchange are briefly discussed.Comment: 68 pages, uses JHEP3.cls, utphys.bst; references added, typos
corrected, and clarifying remarks adde
Evolution of protoplanetary disks from their taxonomy in scattered light: Group I vs. Group II
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