2,634 research outputs found
Entropy Encoding, Hilbert Space and Karhunen-Loeve Transforms
By introducing Hilbert space and operators, we show how probabilities,
approximations and entropy encoding from signal and image processing allow
precise formulas and quantitative estimates. Our main results yield orthogonal
bases which optimize distinct measures of data encoding.Comment: 25 pages, 1 figur
The mass of the neutron star in Vela X-1 and tidally induced non-radial oscillations in GP Vel
We report new radial velocity observations of GP Vel/HD77581, the optical
companion to the eclipsing X-ray pulsar Vela X-1. Using data spanning more than
two complete orbits of the system, we detect evidence for tidally induced
non-radial oscillations on the surface of GP Vel, apparent as peaks in the
power spectrum of the residuals to the radial velocity curve fit. By removing
the effect of these oscillations (to first order) and binning the radial
velocities, we have determined the semi-amplitude of the radial velocity curve
of GP Vel to be K_o=22.6+/-1.5 km/s. Given the accurately measured
semi-amplitude of the pulsar's orbit, the mass ratio of the system is
0.081+/-0.005. We are able to set upper and lower limits on the masses of the
component stars as follows. Assuming GP Vel fills its Roche lobe then the
inclination angle of the system, i=70.1+/-2.6 deg. In this case we obtain the
masses of the two stars as M_x=2.27 +/-0.17 M_sun for the neutron star and
M_o=27.9+/-1.3 M_sun for GP Vel. Conversely, assuming the inclination angle is
i=90 deg, the ratio of the radius of GP Vel to the radius of its Roche lobe is
beta=0.89+/-0.03 and the masses of the two stars are M_x=1.88+/-0.13 M_sun and
M_o=23.1+/-0.2 M_sun. A range of solutions between these two sets of limits is
also possible, corresponding to other combinations of i and beta. In addition,
we note that if the zero phase of the radial velocity curve is allowed as a
free parameter, rather than constrained by the X-ray ephemeris, a significantly
improved fit is obtained with an amplitude of 21.2+/-0.7 km/s and a phase shift
of 0.033+/-0.007 in true anomaly. The apparent shift in the zero phase of the
radial velocity curve may indicate the presence of an additional radial
velocity component at the orbital period.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic
Thermodynamic efficiency of information and heat flow
A basic task of information processing is information transfer (flow). Here
we study a pair of Brownian particles each coupled to a thermal bath at
temperature and , respectively. The information flow in such a
system is defined via the time-shifted mutual information. The information flow
nullifies at equilibrium, and its efficiency is defined as the ratio of flow
over the total entropy production in the system. For a stationary state the
information flows from higher to lower temperatures, and its the efficiency is
bound from above by . This upper bound is
imposed by the second law and it quantifies the thermodynamic cost for
information flow in the present class of systems. It can be reached in the
adiabatic situation, where the particles have widely different characteristic
times. The efficiency of heat flow|defined as the heat flow over the total
amount of dissipated heat|is limited from above by the same factor. There is a
complementarity between heat- and information-flow: the setup which is most
efficient for the former is the least efficient for the latter and {\it vice
versa}. The above bound for the efficiency can be [transiently] overcome in
certain non-stationary situations, but the efficiency is still limited from
above. We study yet another measure of information-processing [transfer
entropy] proposed in literature. Though this measure does not require any
thermodynamic cost, the information flow and transfer entropy are shown to be
intimately related for stationary states.Comment: 19 pages, 1 figur
Entropic bounds on coding for noisy quantum channels
In analogy with its classical counterpart, a noisy quantum channel is
characterized by a loss, a quantity that depends on the channel input and the
quantum operation performed by the channel. The loss reflects the transmission
quality: if the loss is zero, quantum information can be perfectly transmitted
at a rate measured by the quantum source entropy. By using block coding based
on sequences of n entangled symbols, the average loss (defined as the overall
loss of the joint n-symbol channel divided by n, when n tends to infinity) can
be made lower than the loss for a single use of the channel. In this context,
we examine several upper bounds on the rate at which quantum information can be
transmitted reliably via a noisy channel, that is, with an asymptotically
vanishing average loss while the one-symbol loss of the channel is non-zero.
These bounds on the channel capacity rely on the entropic Singleton bound on
quantum error-correcting codes [Phys. Rev. A 56, 1721 (1997)]. Finally, we
analyze the Singleton bounds when the noisy quantum channel is supplemented
with a classical auxiliary channel.Comment: 20 pages RevTeX, 10 Postscript figures. Expanded Section II, added 1
figure, changed title. To appear in Phys. Rev. A (May 98
The photometric properties of a vast stellar substructure in the outskirts of M33
We have surveyed sq.degrees surrounding M33 with CFHT MegaCam in the
g and i filters, as part of the Pan-Andromeda Archaeological Survey. Our
observations are deep enough to resolve the top 4mags of the red giant branch
population in this galaxy. We have previously shown that the disk of M33 is
surrounded by a large, irregular, low-surface brightness substructure. Here, we
quantify the stellar populations and structure of this feature using the PAndAS
data. We show that the stellar populations of this feature are consistent with
an old population with dex and an interquartile range in
metallicity of dex. We construct a surface brightness map of M33 that
traces this feature to mags\,arcsec. At these low surface
brightness levels, the structure extends to projected radii of kpc from
the center of M33 in both the north-west and south-east quadrants of the
galaxy. Overall, the structure has an "S-shaped" appearance that broadly aligns
with the orientation of the HI disk warp. We calculate a lower limit to the
integrated luminosity of the structure of mags, comparable to a
bright dwarf galaxy such as Fornax or AndII and slightly less than $1\$ of the
total luminosity of M33. Further, we show that there is tentative evidence for
a distortion in the distribution of young stars near the edge of the HI disk
that occurs at similar azimuth to the warp in HI. The data also hint at a
low-level, extended stellar component at larger radius that may be a M33 halo
component. We revisit studies of M33 and its stellar populations in light of
these new results, and we discuss possible formation scenarios for the vast
stellar structure. Our favored model is that of the tidal disruption of M33 in
its orbit around M31.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. 17 figures. ApJ preprint forma
A Comprehensive Study of Leptoquark Bounds
We make a comprehensive study of indirect bounds on scalar leptoquarks that
couple chirally and diagonally to the first generation by examining available
data from low energy experiments as well as from high energy e+ e- and p pbar
accelerators. The strongest bounds turn out to arise from low energy data: For
leptoquarks that couple to right--handed quarks, the most stringent bound comes
from atomic parity violation. For leptoquarks that couple to left--handed
quarks, there are two mass regions: At low masses the bounds arise from atomic
parity violation or from universality in leptonic pi decays. At masses above a
few hundred GeV's, the dominant bounds come from the FCNC processes that are
unavoidable in these leptoquarks: The FCNC bound of the up sector, that arises
from D-Dbar mixing, combines with the FCNC bounds from the down sector, that
arise from rare K decays and K-Kbar mixing, to a bound on the flavour
CONSERVING coupling to the first generation.
The bounds restrict leptoquarks that couple with electromagnetic strength to
lie above 600 GeV or 630 GeV for leptoquarks that couple to RH quarks, and
above 1040 GeV, 440 GeV, and 750 GeV for the SU(2)_W scalar, doublet and
triplet leptoquarks that couple to LH quarks. These bounds are considerably
stronger than the first results from the direct searches at HERA. Our bounds
also already exclude large regions in the parameter space that could be
examined by various methods proposed for indirect leptoquark searches.Comment: 23 Pages (LaTeX), including 3 uufiled postscript figures.
WIS--93/90/Sept--PH. To appear in PRD. Changes: updated numbers ---> stronger
bound
Information Tradeoff Relations for Finite-Strength Quantum Measurements
In this paper we give a new way to quantify the folklore notion that quantum
measurements bring a disturbance to the system being measured. We consider two
observers who initially assign identical mixed-state density operators to a
two-state quantum system. The question we address is to what extent one
observer can, by measurement, increase the purity of his density operator
without affecting the purity of the other observer's. If there were no
restrictions on the first observer's measurements, then he could carry this out
trivially by measuring the initial density operator's eigenbasis. If, however,
the allowed measurements are those of finite strength---i.e., those
measurements strictly within the interior of the convex set of all
measurements---then the issue becomes significantly more complex. We find that
for a large class of such measurements the first observer's purity increases
the most precisely when there is some loss of purity for the second observer.
More generally the tradeoff between the two purities, when it exists, forms a
monotonic relation. This tradeoff has potential application to quantum state
control and feedback.Comment: 15 pages, revtex3, 3 eps figure
Modular symbols in Iwasawa theory
This survey paper is focused on a connection between the geometry of
and the arithmetic of over global fields,
for integers . For over , there is an explicit
conjecture of the third author relating the geometry of modular curves and the
arithmetic of cyclotomic fields, and it is proven in many instances by the work
of the first two authors. The paper is divided into three parts: in the first,
we explain the conjecture of the third author and the main result of the first
two authors on it. In the second, we explain an analogous conjecture and result
for over . In the third, we pose questions for general
over the rationals, imaginary quadratic fields, and global function fields.Comment: 43 page
Bounds on Vector Leptoquarks
We derive bounds on vector leptoquarks coupling to the first generation,
using data from low energy experiments as well as from high energy
accelerators. Similarly to the case of scalar leptoquarks, we find that the
strongest indirect bounds arise from atomic parity violation and universality
in leptonic pi decays. These bounds are considerably stronger than the first
direct bounds of HERA, restricting vector leptoquarks that couple with
electromagnetic strength to right-handed quarks to lie above 430 GeV or 460
GeV, and leptoquarks that couple with electromagnetic strength to left-handed
quarks to lie above 1.3 TeV, 1.2 TeV and 1.5 TeV for the SU(2)_W singlet,
doublet and triplet respectively.Comment: 14 Pages (LaTeX), including 1 uufiled postscript figure.
WIS-93/119/Dec-P
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