556 research outputs found
Towards passive station holding of autonomous underwater vehicles inspired by fish behaviour in unsteady flows
Some species of fish are able to alter their mode of swimming to interact with naturally produced vortices; the use of these gaits reduces the energy expended by the fish. To analyse the feasibility of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV) replicating these gaits, a series of experiments are performed with unpowered rigid and flexible bodies positioned in the Kármán wake of a rigid cylinder. Simple motion capture techniques are used to capture the bodies’ lateral and upstream motion in the flow. The results demonstrate that manufactured bodies are capable of passively mimicking fish behaviours, to a limited extent. More importantly, it was concluded that while significant upstream movement was possible for a manufactured object, it was achievable irrespective of the stiffness of the material. For AUVs operating in unsteady flow regimes an ability to utilise energy saving gaits may improve the range or operational time
The role of density and relatedness in wild juvenile Atlantic salmon growth
Growth is a key life-history trait in fish that is influenced by both abiotic (such as temperature and water chemistry) and biotic factors (such as density and food availability). Investigating how growth performance is influenced by such factors in the wild is important for understanding how population processes influence animals in natural environments and for predicting the response to conservation and management strategies that manipulate these conditions. The theory of kin selection predicts that significant growth and survival benefits are conferred upon animals associating with close relatives. However, resource competition may be more intense among close relatives, and little is known about the trade-off between these two processes under different ecological conditions. Here, we examine the correlation between naturally occurring densities and kin-biased growth rate using a species where kin recognition has a strong impact on behaviour in laboratory studies, but where, paradoxically, field investigations have failed to document predicted kin-biased growth or survival. Intra- and inter-family differences in growth rate of juvenile Atlantic salmon Salmo salar were studied to examine how relatedness (groups of full-sibling fish and groups of mixed-sibling fish) and sibling group (family/genotype) affect salmon parr growth, and the correlation of growth rate under a range of naturally occurring densities. Parentage and relatedness of neighbouring fish were assigned using microsatellite and passive integrated transponder tags, which allowed the growth estimation of individual fish. The results show that growth rate was significantly influenced by both sibling group (family of origin) and also by an interaction between relatedness and density. The latter finding indicates that at higher densities, full-sibling groups achieved higher growth rates in comparison to mixed-sibling groups. Thus, the growth benefits of associating with relatives are not conferred under all ecological conditions, but it becomes most apparent at high density when resource competition is greatest
Effects of acceleration on the collision of particles in the rotating black hole spacetime
We study the collision of two geodesic particles in the accelerating and
rotating black hole spacetime and probe the effects of the acceleration of
black hole on the center-of-mass energy of the colliding particles and on the
high-velocity collision belts. We find that the dependence of the
center-of-mass energy on the acceleration in the near event-horizon collision
is different from that in the near acceleration-horizon case. Moreover, the
presence of the acceleration changes the shape and position of the
high-velocity collision belts. Our results show that the acceleration of black
holes brings richer physics for the collision of particles.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, The corrected version accepted for publication in
EPJ
The black hole final state
We propose that in quantum gravity one needs to impose a final state boundary
condition at black hole singularities. This resolves the apparent contradiction
between string theory and semiclassical arguments over whether black hole
evaporation is unitary.Comment: 17 pages, harvmac, 1 figure, v2: comment about interactions and
references adde
Spacetime Information
In usual quantum theory, the information available about a quantum system is
defined in terms of the density matrix describing it on a spacelike surface.
This definition must be generalized for extensions of quantum theory which do
not have a notion of state on a spacelike surface. It must be generalized for
the generalized quantum theories appropriate when spacetime geometry fluctuates
quantum mechanically or when geometry is fixed but not foliable by spacelike
surfaces. This paper introduces a four-dimensional notion of the information
available about a quantum system's boundary conditions in the various sets of
decohering histories it may display. The idea of spacetime information is
applied in several contexts: When spacetime geometry is fixed the information
available through alternatives restricted to a spacetime region is defined. The
information available through histories of alternatives of general operators is
compared to that obtained from the more limited coarse- grainings of
sum-over-histories quantum mechanics. The definition of information is
considered in generalized quantum theories. We consider as specific examples
time-neutral quantum mechanics with initial and final conditions, quantum
theories with non-unitary evolution, and the generalized quantum frameworks
appropriate for quantum spacetime. In such theories complete information about
a quantum system is not necessarily available on any spacelike surface but must
be searched for throughout spacetime. The information loss commonly associated
with the ``evolution of pure states into mixed states'' in black hole
evaporation is thus not in conflict with the principles of generalized quantum
mechanics.Comment: 47pages, 2 figures, UCSBTH 94-0
The Quantum Mechanical Arrows of Time
The familiar textbook quantum mechanics of laboratory measurements
incorporates a quantum mechanical arrow of time --- the direction in time in
which state vector reduction operates. This arrow is usually assumed to
coincide with the direction of the thermodynamic arrow of the quasiclassical
realm of everyday experience. But in the more general context of cosmology we
seek an explanation of all observed arrows, and the relations between them, in
terms of the conditions that specify our particular universe. This paper
investigates quantum mechanical and thermodynamic arrows in a time-neutral
formulation of quantum mechanics for a number of model cosmologies in fixed
background spacetimes. We find that a general universe may not have well
defined arrows of either kind. When arrows are emergent they need not point in
the same direction over the whole of spacetime. Rather they may be local,
pointing in different directions in different spacetime regions. Local arrows
can therefore be consistent with global time symmetry.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, revtex4, typos correcte
Arrow of time in a recollapsing quantum universe
We show that the Wheeler-DeWitt equation with a consistent boundary condition
is only compatible with an arrow of time that formally reverses in a
recollapsing universe. Consistency of these opposite arrows is facilitated by
quantum effects in the region of the classical turning point. Since
gravitational time dilation diverges at horizons, collapsing matter must then
start re-expanding ``anticausally" (controlled by the reversed arrow) before
horizons or singularities can form. We also discuss the meaning of the
time-asymmetric expression used in the definition of ``consistent histories".
We finally emphasize that there is no mass inflation nor any information loss
paradox in this scenario.Comment: Many conceptual clarifications include
Impulsive waves in the Nariai universe
A new class of exact solutions is presented which describes impulsive waves
propagating in the Nariai universe. It is constructed using a six-dimensional
embedding formalism adapted to the background. Due to the topology of the
latter, the wave front consists of two non-expanding spheres. Special
sub-classes representing pure gravitational waves (generated by null particles
with an arbitrary multipole structure) or shells of null dust are analyzed in
detail. Smooth isometries of the metrics are briefly discussed. Furthermore, it
is shown that the considered solutions are impulsive members of a more general
family of radiative Kundt spacetimes of type-II. A straightforward
generalization to impulsive waves in the anti-Nariai and Bertotti-Robinson
backgrounds is described. For a vanishing cosmological constant and
electromagnetic field, results for well known impulsive pp-waves are recovered.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, REVTeX 4. v3: added Appendix B, revised
references, minor changes in the text. To appear in Phys. Rev.
Quantum Gravitational Corrections to the Real Klein-Gordon Field in the Presence of a Minimal Length
The (D+1)-dimensional -two-parameter Lorentz-covariant
deformed algebra introduced by Quesne and Tkachuk [C. Quesne and V. M. Tkachuk,
J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. \textbf {39}, 10909 (2006).], leads to a nonzero minimal
uncertainty in position (minimal length). The Klein-Gordon equation in a
(3+1)-dimensional space-time described by Quesne-Tkachuk Lorentz-covariant
deformed algebra is studied in the case where up to first order
over deformation parameter . It is shown that the modified Klein-Gordon
equation which contains fourth-order derivative of the wave function describes
two massive particles with different masses. We have shown that physically
acceptable mass states can only exist for which
leads to an isotropic minimal length in the interval . Finally, we have shown that the above estimation of
minimal length is in good agreement with the results obtained in previous
investigations.Comment: 10 pages, no figur
Unitarity and Causality in Generalized Quantum Mechanics for Non-Chronal Spacetimes
Spacetime must be foliable by spacelike surfaces for the quantum mechanics of
matter fields to be formulated in terms of a unitarily evolving state vector
defined on spacelike surfaces. When a spacetime cannot be foliated by spacelike
surfaces, as in the case of spacetimes with closed timelike curves, a more
general formulation of quantum mechanics is required. In such generalizations
the transition matrix between alternatives in regions of spacetime where states
{\it can} be defined may be non-unitary. This paper describes a generalized
quantum mechanics whose probabilities consistently obey the rules of
probability theory even in the presence of such non-unitarity. The usual notion
of state on a spacelike surface is lost in this generalization and familiar
notions of causality are modified. There is no signaling outside the light
cone, no non-conservation of energy, no ``Everett phones'', and probabilities
of present events do not depend on particular alternatives of the future.
However, the generalization is acausal in the sense that the existence of
non-chronal regions of spacetime in the future can affect the probabilities of
alternatives today. The detectability of non-unitary evolution and violations
of causality in measurement situations are briefly considered. The evolution of
information in non-chronal spacetimes is described.Comment: 40pages, UCSBTH92-0
- …