A Shape Theorem for Riemannian First-Passage Percolation

Riemannian first-passage percolation (FPP) is a continuum model, with a distance function arising from a random Riemannian metric in $\R^d$. Our main result is a shape theorem for this model, which says that large balls under this metric converge to a deterministic shape under rescaling. As a consequence, we show that smooth random Riemannian metrics are geodesically complete with probability one

Primary gas thermometry by means of laser-absorption spectroscopy: Determination of the Boltzmann constant

We report on a new optical implementation of primary gas thermometry based on laser absorption spectrometry in the near infrared. The method consists in retrieving the Doppler broadening from highly accurate observations of the line shape of the R(12) $\nu_{1} + 2 \nu_{2}^{\phantom{1}0} + \nu_{3}$ transition in CO$_{2}$ gas at thermodynamic equilibrium. Doppler width measurements as a function of gas temperature, ranging between the triple point of water and the gallium melting point, allowed for a spectroscopic determination of the Boltzmann constant with a relative accuracy of $\sim1.6\times10^{-4}$.Comment: Submitted to Physical Review Letter

The long-solved problem of the best-fit straight line: application to isotopic mixing lines

It has been almost 50 years since York published an exact and general solution for the best-fit straight line to independent points with normally distributed errors in both x and y. York's solution is highly cited in the geophysical literature but almost unknown outside of it, so that there has been no ebb in the tide of books and papers wrestling with the problem. Much of the post-1969 literature on straight-line fitting has sown confusion not merely by its content but by its very existence. The optimal least-squares fit is already known; the problem is already solved. Here we introduce the non-specialist reader to York's solution and demonstrate its application in the interesting case of the isotopic mixing line, an analytical tool widely used to determine the isotopic signature of trace gas sources for the study of biogeochemical cycles. The most commonly known linear regression methods – ordinary least-squares regression (OLS), geometric mean regression (GMR), and orthogonal distance regression (ODR) – have each been recommended as the best method for fitting isotopic mixing lines. In fact, OLS, GMR, and ODR are all special cases of York's solution that are valid only under particular measurement conditions, and those conditions do not hold in general for isotopic mixing lines. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we quantify the biases in OLS, GMR, and ODR under various conditions and show that York's general – and convenient – solution is always the least biased

Thermal noise suppression: how much does it cost?

In order to stabilize the behavior of noisy systems, confining it around a desirable state, an effort is required to suppress the intrinsic noise. This noise suppression task entails a cost. For the important case of thermal noise in an overdamped system, we show that the minimum cost is achieved when the system control parameters are held constant: any additional deterministic or random modulation produces an increase of the cost. We discuss the implications of this phenomenon for those overdamped systems whose control parameters are intrinsically noisy, presenting a case study based on the example of a Brownian particle optically trapped in an oscillating potential.Comment: 6 page

Ground State Energy of the One-Dimensional Discrete Random Schr\"{o}dinger Operator with Bernoulli Potential

In this paper, we show the that the ground state energy of the one dimensional Discrete Random Schroedinger Operator with Bernoulli Potential is controlled asymptotically as the system size N goes to infinity by the random variable \ell_N, the length the longest consecutive sequence of sites on the lattice with potential equal to zero. Specifically, we will show that for almost every realization of the potential the ground state energy behaves asymptotically as $\frac{\pi^2}{\ell_N+1)^2}$ in the sense that the ratio of the quantities goes to one

Survey and Digital Documentation of Endangered Temple Wall Paintings in Shanxi Province, China

Shanxi Province is at the heart of China, and home to some of its richest architectural heritage. Covering an area of 156,000 square kilometres the Province is larger than England and Wales combined. Many earthen and timber buildings and temples contain wall paintings, witnessing Chinese folk religion, Buddhist and Daoist beliefs. Scattered over a large geographic area these remote village temples present a fairyland of Chinese traditional folklore. Many of these sites are endangered, and most are unrecorded. Funded by Arcadia, a charitable trust fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin, the Shanxi Digital Documentation of Endangered Temple Wall Painting Project (SDDP) is a four-year programme (2018–2021) aimed at recording these historic temples and wall paintings using high-resolution photographic and three-dimensional photogrammetric techniques, and also including selective capture of multi-spectral imagery. These records will form an open-access digital archive of temple paintings and associated architecture, structured by a Chinese-English bilingual database. The SDDP is a partnership between Zhejiang University, Shanxi Institute of Architecture Conservation and University College London (represented by two research centres within the Institute of Archaeology: the International Centre for Chinese Heritage and Archaeology and the Centre for Applied Archaeology). The programme of survey and research is guided by the Shanxi Provincial Bureau of Cultural Heritage (SBCH) and an international advisory board