From vertex detectors to inner trackers with CMOS pixel sensors

The use of CMOS Pixel Sensors (CPS) for high resolution and low material vertex detectors has been validated with the 2014 and 2015 physics runs of the STAR-PXL detector at RHIC/BNL. This opens the door to the use of CPS for inner tracking devices, with 10-100 times larger sensitive area, which require therefore a sensor design privileging power saving, response uniformity and robustness. The 350 nm CMOS technology used for the STAR-PXL sensors was considered as too poorly suited to upcoming applications like the upgraded ALICE Inner Tracking System (ITS), which requires sensors with one order of magnitude improvement on readout speed and improved radiation tolerance. This triggered the exploration of a deeper sub-micron CMOS technology, Tower-Jazz 180 nm, for the design of a CPS well adapted for the new ALICE-ITS running conditions. This paper reports the R&D results for the conception of a CPS well adapted for the ALICE-ITS.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, VCI 2016 conference proceeding

Integration of statistics and food process engineering: Assessing the uncertainty of thermal processing and shelf-life estimations

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Angular Inflation from Supergravity

We study supergravity inflationary models where inflation is produced along the angular direction. For this we express the scalar component of a chiral superfield in terms of the radial and the angular components. We then express the supergravity potential in a form particularly simple for calculations involving polynomial expressions for the superpotential and Kahler potential. We show for a simple Polonyi model the angular direction may give rise to a stage of inflation when the radial field is fixed to its minimum. We obtain analytical expressions for all the relevant inflationary quantities and discuss the possibility of supersymmetry breaking in the radial direction while inflating by the angular component.Comment: 7 pages, one figure. Final version. Title changed, two figures droppe

The uncoupling limit of identical Hopf bifurcations with an application to perceptual bistability

We study the dynamics arising when two identical oscillators are coupled near a Hopf bifurcation where we assume a parameter $\epsilon$ uncouples the system at $\epsilon=0$. Using a normal form for $N=2$ identical systems undergoing Hopf bifurcation, we explore the dynamical properties. Matching the normal form coefficients to a coupled Wilson-Cowan oscillator network gives an understanding of different types of behaviour that arise in a model of perceptual bistability. Notably, we find bistability between in-phase and anti-phase solutions that demonstrates the feasibility for synchronisation to act as the mechanism by which periodic inputs can be segregated (rather than via strong inhibitory coupling, as in existing models). Using numerical continuation we confirm our theoretical analysis for small coupling strength and explore the bifurcation diagrams for large coupling strength, where the normal form approximation breaks down

Local Unitary Quantum Cellular Automata

In this paper we present a quantization of Cellular Automata. Our formalism is based on a lattice of qudits, and an update rule consisting of local unitary operators that commute with their own lattice translations. One purpose of this model is to act as a theoretical model of quantum computation, similar to the quantum circuit model. It is also shown to be an appropriate abstraction for space-homogeneous quantum phenomena, such as quantum lattice gases, spin chains and others. Some results that show the benefits of basing the model on local unitary operators are shown: universality, strong connections to the circuit model, simple implementation on quantum hardware, and a wealth of applications.Comment: To appear in Physical Review

When is Containment Decidable for Probabilistic Automata?

The containment problem for quantitative automata is the natural quantitative generalisation of the classical language inclusion problem for Boolean automata. We study it for probabilistic automata, where it is known to be undecidable in general. We restrict our study to the class of probabilistic automata with bounded ambiguity. There, we show decidability (subject to Schanuel's conjecture) when one of the automata is assumed to be unambiguous while the other one is allowed to be finitely ambiguous. Furthermore, we show that this is close to the most general decidable fragment of this problem by proving that it is already undecidable if one of the automata is allowed to be linearly ambiguous

Vector magnetic hysteresis of hard superconductors

Critical state problems which incorporate more than one component for the magnetization vector of hard superconductors are investigated. The theory is based on the minimization of a cost functional ${\cal C}[\vec{H}(\vec{x})]$ which weighs the changes of the magnetic field vector within the sample. We show that Bean's simplest prescription of choosing the correct sign for the critical current density $J_c$ in one dimensional problems is just a particular case of finding the components of the vector $\vec{J}_c$. $\vec{J}_c$ is determined by minimizing ${\cal C}$ under the constraint $\vec{J}\in\Delta (\vec{H},\vec{x})$, with $\Delta$ a bounded set. Upon the selection of different sets $\Delta$ we discuss existing crossed field measurements and predict new observable features. It is shown that a complex behavior in the magnetization curves may be controlled by a single external parameter, i.e.: the maximum value of the applied magnetic field $H_m$.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, accepted in Phys. Rev.

Transition to Chaotic Phase Synchronization through Random Phase Jumps

Phase synchronization is shown to occur between opposite cells of a ring consisting of chaotic Lorenz oscillators coupled unidirectionally through driving. As the coupling strength is diminished, full phase synchronization cannot be achieved due to random generation of phase jumps. The brownian dynamics underlying this process is studied in terms of a stochastic diffusion model of a particle in a one-dimensional medium.Comment: Accepted for publication in IJBC, 10 pages, 5 jpg figure