1,577 research outputs found
EPR, Bell, and Quantum Locality
Maudlin has claimed that no local theory can reproduce the predictions of
standard quantum mechanics that violate Bell's inequality for Bohm's version
(two spin-half particles in a singlet state) of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen
problem. It is argued that, on the contrary, standard quantum mechanics itself
is a counterexample to Maudlin's claim, because it is local in the appropriate
sense (measurements at one place do not influence what occurs elsewhere there)
when formulated using consistent principles in place of the inconsistent
appeals to "measurement" found in current textbooks. This argument sheds light
on the claim of Blaylock that counterfactual definiteness is an essential
ingredient in derivations of Bell's inequality.Comment: Minor revisions to previous versio
Eligibility Testing at Three Prehistoric Sites at Lynch Creek, Lampasas County, Texas
In August 2004, archeologists from the Cultural Resources Section of the Planning, Permitting and Licensing Practice of TRC Environmental Corporation’s Austin office conducted National Register eligibility testing and geoarcheological documentation at three previously unrecorded prehistoric sites, 41LM49, 41LM50, and 41LM51, at two separate bridge crossings over Lynch Creek (TxDOT Project CSJ: #0231-15-032; designated East and West) by Farm to Market Road 580W (FM 580W) in western Lampasas County, Texas. This archeological investigation was necessary under the requirements of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), the implementing regulations of 36CRF Part 800 and the Antiquities Code of Texas (Texas Natural Resource Code, Title 9, Chapter 191 as amended) to assess eligibility of all three cultural resource sites for listing on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) and for designation as a State Antiquities Landmark (SAL). This eligibility assessment was for the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), Environmental Affairs Division under a Scientific Services Contract No. 573XXSA006 (Work Authorization No. 57315SA006). The analysis and reporting were conducted under contracts 575XXSA008 (Work Authorization 57510SA008), 577XXSA003 (Work Authorization No. 57704SA003) and 571XXSA003 (Work Authorization 57113SA003). All work was performed under Texas Antiquities Committee Permit No. 3494, issued by the Texas Historical Commission (THC) prior to the planned replacement of the two bridges. The materials, artifacts, records, and photographs will be curated at Texas Archeological Research Laboratory (TARL) in Austin
Impact of the Volkswagen emissions control defeat device on US public health
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has alleged that Volkswagen Group of America (VW) violated the Clean Air Act (CAA) by developing and installing emissions control system 'defeat devices' (software) in model year 2009–2015 vehicles with 2.0 litre diesel engines. VW has admitted the inclusion of defeat devices. On-road emissions testing suggests that in-use NO[subscript x] emissions for these vehicles are a factor of 10 to 40 above the EPA standard. In this paper we quantify the human health impacts and associated costs of the excess emissions. We propagate uncertainties throughout the analysis. A distribution function for excess emissions is estimated based on available in-use NO[subscript x] emissions measurements. We then use vehicle sales data and the STEP vehicle fleet model to estimate vehicle distance traveled per year for the fleet. The excess NO[subscript x] emissions are allocated on a 50 km grid using an EPA estimate of the light duty diesel vehicle NO[subscript x] emissions distribution. We apply a GEOS-Chem adjoint-based rapid air pollution exposure model to produce estimates of particulate matter and ozone exposure due to the spatially resolved excess NO[subscript x] emissions. A set of concentration-response functions is applied to estimate mortality and morbidity outcomes. Integrated over the sales period (2008–2015) we estimate that the excess emissions will cause 59 (95% CI: 10 to 150) early deaths in the US. When monetizing premature mortality using EPA-recommended data, we find a social cost of ~840m in social costs compared to a counterfactual case without recall
Warming experiments elucidate the drivers of observed directional changes in tundra vegetation
Few studies have clearly linked long-term monitoring with insitu experiments to clarify potential drivers of observed change at a given site. This is especially necessary when findings from a site are applied to a much broader geographic area. Here, we document vegetation change at Barrow and Atqasuk, Alaska, occurring naturally and due to experimental warming over nearly two decades. An examination of plant cover, canopy height, and community indices showed more significant differences between years than due to experimental warming. However, changes with warming were more consistent than changes between years and were cumulative in many cases. Most cases of directional change observed in the control plots over time corresponded with a directional change in response to experimental warming. These included increases in canopy height and decreases in lichen cover. Experimental warming resulted in additional increases in evergreen shrub cover and decreases in diversity and bryophyte cover. This study suggests that the directional changes occurring at the sites are primarily due to warming and indicates that further changes are likely in the next two decades if the regional warming trend continues. These findings provide an example of the utility of coupling insitu experiments with long-term monitoring to accurately document vegetation change in response to global change and to identify the underlying mechanisms driving observed changes
Asymptotics of the Wigner 9j symbol
We present the asymptotic formula for the Wigner 9j-symbol, valid when all
quantum numbers are large, in the classically allowed region. As in the
Ponzano-Regge formula for the 6j-symbol, the action is expressed in terms of
lengths of edges and dihedral angles of a geometrical figure, but the angles
require care in definition. Rules are presented for converting spin networks
into the associated geometrical figures. The amplitude is expressed as the
determinant of a 2x2 matrix of Poisson brackets. The 9j-symbol possesses
caustics associated with the fold and elliptic and hyperbolic umbilic
catastrophes. The asymptotic formula obeys the exact symmetries of the
9j-symbol.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figure
In defense of the epistemic view of quantum states: a toy theory
We present a toy theory that is based on a simple principle: the number of
questions about the physical state of a system that are answered must always be
equal to the number that are unanswered in a state of maximal knowledge. A wide
variety of quantum phenomena are found to have analogues within this toy
theory. Such phenomena include: the noncommutativity of measurements,
interference, the multiplicity of convex decompositions of a mixed state, the
impossibility of discriminating nonorthogonal states, the impossibility of a
universal state inverter, the distinction between bi-partite and tri-partite
entanglement, the monogamy of pure entanglement, no cloning, no broadcasting,
remote steering, teleportation, dense coding, mutually unbiased bases, and many
others. The diversity and quality of these analogies is taken as evidence for
the view that quantum states are states of incomplete knowledge rather than
states of reality. A consideration of the phenomena that the toy theory fails
to reproduce, notably, violations of Bell inequalities and the existence of a
Kochen-Specker theorem, provides clues for how to proceed with this research
program.Comment: 32 pages, REVTEX, based on a talk given at the Rob Clifton Memorial
Conference, College Park, May 2003; v2: minor modifications throughout,
updated reference
Semiclassical Mechanics of the Wigner 6j-Symbol
The semiclassical mechanics of the Wigner 6j-symbol is examined from the
standpoint of WKB theory for multidimensional, integrable systems, to explore
the geometrical issues surrounding the Ponzano-Regge formula. The relations
among the methods of Roberts and others for deriving the Ponzano-Regge formula
are discussed, and a new approach, based on the recoupling of four angular
momenta, is presented. A generalization of the Yutsis-type of spin network is
developed for this purpose. Special attention is devoted to symplectic
reduction, the reduced phase space of the 6j-symbol (the 2-sphere of Kapovich
and Millson), and the reduction of Poisson bracket expressions for
semiclassical amplitudes. General principles for the semiclassical study of
arbitrary spin networks are laid down; some of these were used in our recent
derivation of the asymptotic formula for the Wigner 9j-symbol.Comment: 64 pages, 50 figure
Materials for stem cell factories of the future
The materials community is now identifying polymeric substrates that could permit translation of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) from lab-based research to industrial scale biomedicine. Well defined materials are required to allow cell banking and to provide the raw material for reproducible differentiation into lineages for large scale drug screening programs and clinical use, wherein >1 billion cells for each patient are needed to replace losses during heart attack, multiple sclerosis and diabetes. Producing this number of cells for one patient is challenging and a rethink is needed to scalable technology with the potential to meet the needs of millions of patients a year. Here we consider the role of materials discovery, an emerging area of materials chemistry that is in a large part driven by the challenges posed by biologists to materials scientists1-4
Photonic entanglement as a resource in quantum computation and quantum communication
Entanglement is an essential resource in current experimental implementations
for quantum information processing. We review a class of experiments exploiting
photonic entanglement, ranging from one-way quantum computing over quantum
communication complexity to long-distance quantum communication. We then
propose a set of feasible experiments that will underline the advantages of
photonic entanglement for quantum information processing.Comment: 33 pages, 4 figures, OSA styl
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