The Stern-Gerlach Experiment Revisited

The Stern-Gerlach-Experiment (SGE) of 1922 is a seminal benchmark experiment of quantum physics providing evidence for several fundamental properties of quantum systems. Based on today's knowledge we illustrate the different benchmark results of the SGE for the development of modern quantum physics and chemistry. The SGE provided the first direct experimental evidence for angular momentum quantization in the quantum world and thus also for the existence of directional quantization of all angular momenta in the process of measurement. It measured for the first time a ground state property of an atom, it produced for the first time a `spin-polarized' atomic beam, it almost revealed the electron spin. The SGE was the first fully successful molecular beam experiment with high momentum-resolution by beam measurements in vacuum. This technique provided a new kinematic microscope with which inner atomic or nuclear properties could be investigated. The original SGE is described together with early attempts by Einstein, Ehrenfest, Heisenberg, and others to understand directional quantization in the SGE. Heisenberg's and Einstein's proposals of an improved multi-stage SGE are presented. The first realization of these proposals by Stern, Phipps, Frisch and Segr\`e is described. The set-up suggested by Einstein can be considered an anticipation of a Rabi-apparatus. Recent theoretical work is mentioned in which the directional quantization process and possible interference effects of the two different spin states are investigated. In full agreement with the results of the new quantum theory directional quantization appears as a general and universal feature of quantum measurements. One experimental example for such directional quantization in scattering processes is shown. Last not least, the early history of the `almost' discovery of the electron spin in the SGE is revisited.Comment: 50pp, 17 fig

Geographic population structure analysis of worldwide human populations infers their biogeographical origins

The search for a method that utilizes biological information to predict humans’ place of origin has occupied scientists for millennia. Over the past four decades, scientists have employed genetic data in an effort to achieve this goal but with limited success. While biogeographical algorithms using next-generation sequencing data have achieved an accuracy of 700 km in Europe, they were inaccurate elsewhere. Here we describe the Geographic Population Structure (GPS) algorithm and demonstrate its accuracy with three data sets using 40,000–130,000 SNPs. GPS placed 83% of worldwide individuals in their country of origin. Applied to over 200 Sardinians villagers, GPS placed a quarter of them in their villages and most of the rest within 50 km of their villages. GPS’s accuracy and power to infer the biogeography of worldwide individuals down to their country or, in some cases, village, of origin, underscores the promise of admixture-based methods for biogeography and has ramifications for genetic ancestry testing

Discriminative vs. generative classifiers for cost sensitive learning

This paper experimentally compares the performance of discriminative and generative classifiers for cost sensitive learning. There is some evidence that learning a discriminative classifier is more effective for a traditional classification task. This paper explores the advantages, and disadvantages, of using a generative classifier when the misclassification costs, and class frequencies, are not fixed. The paper details experiments built around commonly used algorithms modified to be cost sensitive. This allows a clear comparison to the same algorithm used to produce a discriminative classifier. The paper compares the performance of these different variants over multiple data sets and for the full range of misclassification costs and class frequencies. It concludes that although some of these variants are better than a single discriminative classifier, the right choice of training set distribution plus careful calibration are needed to make them competitive with multiple discriminative classifiers.

Halogens and their role in polar boundary-layer ozone depletion

During springtime in the polar regions, unique photochemistry converts inert halide salt ions (e.g. Br-) into reactive halogen species (e.g. Br atoms and BrO) that deplete ozone in the boundary layer to near zero levels. Since their discovery in the late 1980s, research on ozone depletion events (ODEs) has made great advances; however many key processes remain poorly understood. In this article we review the history, chemistry, dependence on environmental conditions, and impacts of ODEs. This research has shown the central role of bromine photochemistry, but how salts are transported from the ocean and are oxidized to become reactive halogen species in the air is still not fully understood. Halogens other than bromine (chlorine and iodine) are also activated through incompletely understood mechanisms that are probably coupled to bromine chemistry. The main consequence of halogen activation is chemical destruction of ozone, which removes the primary precursor of atmospheric oxidation, and generation of reactive halogen atoms/oxides that become the primary oxidizing species. The different reactivity of halogens as compared to OH and ozone has broad impacts on atmospheric chemistry, including near complete removal and deposition of mercury, alteration of oxidation fates for organic gases, and export of bromine into the free troposphere. Recent changes in the climate of the Arctic and state of the Arctic sea ice cover are likely to have strong effects on halogen activation and ODEs; however, more research is needed to make meaningful predictions of these changes