536 research outputs found

    Volcano collapse along the Aleutian Ridge (western Aleutian Arc)

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    Abstract. The Aleutian Ridge, in the western part of the Aleutian Arc, consists of a chain of volcanic islands perched atop the crest of a submarine ridge with most of the active Quaternary stratocones or caldera-like volcanoes being located on the northern margins of the Aleutian Islands. Integrated analysis of marine and terrestrial data resulted in the identification and characterization of 17 extensive submarine debris avalanche deposits from 11 volcanoes. Two morphological types of deposits are recognizable, elongate and lobate, with primary controls on the size and distribution of the volcanic debris being the volume and nature of material involved, proportion of fine grained material, depth of emplacement and the paleo-bathymetry. Volume calculations show the amount of material deposited in debris avalanches is as much as three times larger than the amount of material initially involved in the collapse, suggesting the incorporation of large amounts of submarine material during transport. The orientation of the collapse events is influenced by regional fault systems underling the volcanoes. The western Aleutian Arc has a significant tsunamigenic potential and communities within the Aleutian Islands and surrounding areas of the North Pacific as well as shipping and fishing fleets that cross the North Pacific may be at risk during future eruptions in this area

    On the dimension of subspaces with bounded Schmidt rank

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    We consider the question of how large a subspace of a given bipartite quantum system can be when the subspace contains only highly entangled states. This is motivated in part by results of Hayden et al., which show that in large d x d--dimensional systems there exist random subspaces of dimension almost d^2, all of whose states have entropy of entanglement at least log d - O(1). It is also related to results due to Parthasarathy on the dimension of completely entangled subspaces, which have connections with the construction of unextendible product bases. Here we take as entanglement measure the Schmidt rank, and determine, for every pair of local dimensions dA and dB, and every r, the largest dimension of a subspace consisting only of entangled states of Schmidt rank r or larger. This exact answer is a significant improvement on the best bounds that can be obtained using random subspace techniques. We also determine the converse: the largest dimension of a subspace with an upper bound on the Schmidt rank. Finally, we discuss the question of subspaces containing only states with Schmidt equal to r.Comment: 4 pages, REVTeX4 forma

    Digital light processing stereolithography of zirconia ceramics: Slurry elaboration and orientation-reliant mechanical properties

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    Digital Light Processing (DLP) is a promising technique for the preparation of ceramic parts with complex shapes and high accuracy. In this study, 3 mol% yttria-stabilized tetragonal zirconia polycrystal (Y-TZP) UV-curable slurries were prepared and printed via DLP. Two different solid loadings (40.5 and 43.6 vol%, respectively) and printing directions were investigated to assess the influence of these parameters on physical and mechanical properties of the sintered parts. Zirconia samples were sintered at 1550 °C for 1 h, achieving a very high relative density (99.2%TD), regardless of solid loading and printing direction. FE-SEM micrographs shown a homogeneous and defect-free cross section with an average grains size of 0.56 ± 0.19 µm. Finally, mechanical properties were influenced by printing direction and zirconia vol%. Indeed, the composition with the higher solid loading (i.e. 43.6 vol%) had the highest three-point flexural strength (751 ± 83 MPa) when tested perpendicular to the printing plane

    Quantum walks on quotient graphs

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    A discrete-time quantum walk on a graph is the repeated application of a unitary evolution operator to a Hilbert space corresponding to the graph. If this unitary evolution operator has an associated group of symmetries, then for certain initial states the walk will be confined to a subspace of the original Hilbert space. Symmetries of the original graph, given by its automorphism group, can be inherited by the evolution operator. We show that a quantum walk confined to the subspace corresponding to this symmetry group can be seen as a different quantum walk on a smaller quotient graph. We give an explicit construction of the quotient graph for any subgroup of the automorphism group and illustrate it with examples. The automorphisms of the quotient graph which are inherited from the original graph are the original automorphism group modulo the subgroup used to construct it. We then analyze the behavior of hitting times on quotient graphs. Hitting time is the average time it takes a walk to reach a given final vertex from a given initial vertex. It has been shown in earlier work [Phys. Rev. A {\bf 74}, 042334 (2006)] that the hitting time can be infinite. We give a condition which determines whether the quotient graph has infinite hitting times given that they exist in the original graph. We apply this condition for the examples discussed and determine which quotient graphs have infinite hitting times. All known examples of quantum walks with fast hitting times correspond to systems with quotient graphs much smaller than the original graph; we conjecture that the existence of a small quotient graph with finite hitting times is necessary for a walk to exhibit a quantum speed-up.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures in EPS forma

    Two-sided estimates of minimum-error distinguishability of mixed quantum states via generalized Holevo-Curlander bounds

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    We prove a concise factor-of-2 estimate for the failure rate of optimally distinguishing an arbitrary ensemble of mixed quantum states, generalizing work of Holevo [Theor. Probab. Appl. 23, 411 (1978)] and Curlander [Ph.D. Thesis, MIT, 1979]. A modification to the minimal principle of Cocha and Poor [Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Quantum Communication, Measurement, and Computing (Rinton, Princeton, NJ, 2003)] is used to derive a suboptimal measurement which has an error rate within a factor of 2 of the optimal by construction. This measurement is quadratically weighted and has appeared as the first iterate of a sequence of measurements proposed by Jezek et al. [Phys. Rev. A 65, 060301 (2002)]. Unlike the so-called pretty good measurement, it coincides with Holevo's asymptotically optimal measurement in the case of nonequiprobable pure states. A quadratically weighted version of the measurement bound by Barnum and Knill [J. Math. Phys. 43, 2097 (2002)] is proven. Bounds on the distinguishability of syndromes in the sense of Schumacher and Westmoreland [Phys. Rev. A 56, 131 (1997)] appear as a corollary. An appendix relates our bounds to the trace-Jensen inequality.Comment: It was not realized at the time of publication that the lower bound of Theorem 10 has a simple generalization using matrix monotonicity (See [J. Math. Phys. 50, 062102]). Furthermore, this generalization is a trivial variation of a previously-obtained bound of Ogawa and Nagaoka [IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory 45, 2486-2489 (1999)], which had been overlooked by the autho

    Hitting time for the continuous quantum walk

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    We define the hitting (or absorbing) time for the case of continuous quantum walks by measuring the walk at random times, according to a Poisson process with measurement rate λ\lambda. From this definition we derive an explicit formula for the hitting time, and explore its dependence on the measurement rate. As the measurement rate goes to either 0 or infinity the hitting time diverges; the first divergence reflects the weakness of the measurement, while the second limit results from the Quantum Zeno effect. Continuous-time quantum walks, like discrete-time quantum walks but unlike classical random walks, can have infinite hitting times. We present several conditions for existence of infinite hitting times, and discuss the connection between infinite hitting times and graph symmetry.Comment: 12 pages, 1figur

    A comparison of gantry-mounted x-ray-based real-time target tracking methods.

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    PURPOSE: Most modern radiotherapy machines are built with a 2D kV imaging system. Combining this imaging system with a 2D-3D inference method would allow for a ready-made option for real-time 3D tumor tracking. This work investigates and compares the accuracy of four existing 2D-3D inference methods using both motion traces inferred from external surrogates and measured internally from implanted beacons. METHOD: Tumor motion data from 160 fractions (46 thoracic/abdominal patients) of Synchrony traces (inferred traces), and 28 fractions (7 lung patients) of Calypso traces (internal traces) from the LIGHT SABR trial (NCT02514512) were used in this study. The motion traces were used as the ground truth. The ground truth trajectories were used in silico to generate 2D positions projected on the kV detector. These 2D traces were then passed to the 2D-3D inference methods: interdimensional correlation, Gaussian probability density function (PDF), arbitrary-shape PDF, and the Kalman filter. The inferred 3D positions were compared with the ground truth to determine tracking errors. The relationships between tracking error and motion magnitude, interdimensional correlation, and breathing periodicity index (BPI) were also investigated. RESULTS: Larger tracking errors were observed from the Calypso traces, with RMS and 95th percentile 3D errors of 0.84-1.25 mm and 1.72-2.64 mm, compared to 0.45-0.68 mm and 0.74-1.13 mm from the Synchrony traces. The Gaussian PDF method was found to be the most accurate, followed by the Kalman filter, the interdimensional correlation method, and the arbitrary-shape PDF method. Tracking error was found to strongly and positively correlate with motion magnitude for both the Synchrony and Calypso traces and for all four methods. Interdimensional correlation and BPI were found to negatively correlate with tracking error only for the Synchrony traces. The Synchrony traces exhibited higher interdimensional correlation than the Calypso traces especially in the anterior-posterior direction. CONCLUSION: Inferred traces often exhibit higher interdimensional correlation, which are not true representation of thoracic/abdominal motion and may underestimate kV-based tracking errors. The use of internal traces acquired from systems such as Calypso is advised for future kV-based tracking studies. The Gaussian PDF method is the most accurate 2D-3D inference method for tracking thoracic/abdominal targets. Motion magnitude has significant impact on 2D-3D inference error, and should be considered when estimating kV-based tracking error

    Minimum-error multiple state discrimination constrained by the no-signaling principle

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    We provide a bound on the minimum error when discriminating among quantum states, using the no-signaling principle. The bound is general in that it depends on neither dimensions nor specific structures of given quantum states to be discriminated among. We show that the bound is tight for the minimum-error state discrimination between symmetric (both pure and mixed) qubit states. Moreover, the bound can be applied to a set of quantum states for which the minimum-error state discrimination is not known yet. Finally, our results strengthen the quantitative connection between two no-go theorems, the no-signaling principle and the no perfect state estimation.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figur

    The Mesothelioma epidemic in Western Europe: an update

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    The number of male deaths from pleural cancer in France, Germany and Italy increased from about 8750 in 1990-1994 to 9550 in 1995-1999, suggesting that mesothelioma deaths in males may be levelling off in most of Western Europe

    Current practice in bicistronic ires reporter use: A systematic review

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    Bicistronic reporter assays have been instrumental for transgene expression, understanding of internal ribosomal entry site (IRES) translation, and identification of novel cap-independent translational elements (CITE). We observed a large methodological variability in the use of bicistronic reporter assays and data presentation or normalization procedures. Therefore, we systematically searched the literature for bicistronic IRES reporter studies and analyzed methodological details, data visualization, and normalization procedures. Two hundred fifty-seven publications were identified using our search strategy (published 1994–2020). Experimental studies on eukaryotic adherent cell systems and the cell-free translation assay were included for further analysis. We evaluated the following methodological details for 176 full text articles: the bicistronic reporter design, the cell line or type, transfection methods, and time point of analyses post-transfection. For the cell-free translation assay, we focused on methods of in vitro transcription, type of translation lysate, and incubation times and assay temperature. Data can be presented in multiple ways: raw data from individual cistrons, a ratio of the two, or fold changes thereof. In addition, many different control experiments have been suggested when studying IRES-mediated translation. In addition, many different normalization and control experiments have been suggested when studying IRES-mediated translation. Therefore, we also categorized and summarized their use. Our unbiased analyses provide a representative overview of bicistronic IRES reporter use. We identified parameters that were reported inconsistently or incompletely, which could hamper data reproduction and interpretation. On the basis of our analyses, we encourage adhering to a number of practices that should improve transparency of bicistronic reporter data presentation and improve methodological descriptions to facilitate data replication
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