14,828 research outputs found
Aquila X--1: a low inclination soft X-ray transient
We have obtained I-band photometry of the neutron star X-ray transient Aql
X--1 during quiescence. We find a periodicity at 2.487 cd-1, which we interpret
as twice the orbital frequency (19.30+/-0.05 h). Folding the data on the
orbital period, we model the light curve variations as the ellipsoidal
modulation of the secondary star. We determine the binary inclination to be
20--31 degrees (90 per cent confidence) and also 95 per cent upper limits to
the radial velocity semi-amplitude and rotational broadening of the secondary
star to be 117 kms-1 and 50 kms-1 respectively.Comment: 4 pages text, 3 figures, to appear in MNRA
Experimental recovery of a qubit from partial collapse
We describe and implement a method to restore the state of a single qubit, in
principle perfectly, after it has partially collapsed. The method resembles the
classical Hahn spin-echo, but works on a wider class of relaxation processes,
in which the quantum state partially leaves the computational Hilbert space. It
is not guaranteed to work every time, but successful outcomes are heralded. We
demonstrate using a single trapped ion better performance from this recovery
method than can be obtained employing projection and post-selection alone. The
demonstration features a novel qubit implementation that permits both partial
collapse and coherent manipulations with high fidelity.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Reversible strain effect on the magnetization of LaCoO3 films
The magnetization of ferromagnetic LaCoO3 films grown epitaxially on
piezoelectric substrates has been found to systematically decrease with the
reduction of tensile strain. The magnetization change induced by the reversible
strain variation reveals an increase of the Co magnetic moment with tensile
strain. The biaxial strain dependence of the Curie temperature is estimated to
be below 4K/% in the as-grown tensile strain state of our films. This is in
agreement with results from statically strained films on various substrates
High-fidelity readout of trapped-ion qubits
We demonstrate single-shot qubit readout with fidelity sufficient for
fault-tolerant quantum computation, for two types of qubit stored in single
trapped calcium ions. For an optical qubit stored in the (4S_1/2, 3D_5/2)
levels of 40Ca+ we achieve 99.991(1)% average readout fidelity in one million
trials, using time-resolved photon counting. An adaptive measurement technique
allows 99.99% fidelity to be reached in 145us average detection time. For a
hyperfine qubit stored in the long-lived 4S_1/2 (F=3, F=4) sub-levels of 43Ca+
we propose and implement a simple and robust optical pumping scheme to transfer
the hyperfine qubit to the optical qubit, capable of a theoretical fidelity
99.95% in 10us. Experimentally we achieve 99.77(3)% net readout fidelity,
inferring at least 99.87(4)% fidelity for the transfer operation.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures; improved readout fidelity (numerical results
changed
Investigation and study of a multi-aperture antenna system final report, 1 jan. - 1 apr. 1964
Multiple aperture adaptive antenna system for telemetry reception from remote space vehicle
Impact of Flower Harvesting on the Salt Marsh Plant \u3cem\u3eLimonium carolinianum\u3c/em\u3e
Because of the potentially detrimental effects of seed production on adult survivorship and growth, moderate flower harvesting may have little negative impact on population growth of long-lived perennial plants such as Limonium carolinianum (Walter) Britton. We examined this by collecting data on survivorship, growth, and fecundity of an unharvested population over a period of 5 years and conducted a controlled experiment to examine the effect of harvesting on adult survivorship and growth over a 3-year period. Data were summarized in the form of a stage structured matrix population model with a stochastic element that incorporated year-to-year variation in transition probabilities. Contrary to our original hypothesis, we found that preventing seed set through removal of flowers did not increase adult survivorship or growth. By determining the harvest level that reduced population growth rate to 1.0, we estimated the maximum sustainable harvest level to be 16%, a value that is approximately half that of reported harvest levels on accessible marshes in the study area. In spite of this, the reported harvest levels are unlikely to drive local populations to extinction in the foreseeable future. Providing the adult population size is \u3e100 and harvest levels are \u3c90%, time to local extinction will exceed 100 years. This is a function of the very high survivorship of adults in this species and the fact that harvesting has no negative impact on adult survivorship or growth. However, because of the long preadult phase in this species (8–9 years) and the fact that fecundity of young adults is low, recovery from overharvesting is extremely slow. Adult population size can be reduced to 25% of its original value in 7 years at high harvest levels, but it will take 34 years on average to recover once harvesting is terminated
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