A Relational Approach to Quantum Mechanics, Part I: Formulation

Non-relativistic quantum mechanics is reformulated here based on the idea that relational properties among quantum systems, instead of the independent properties of a quantum system, are the most fundamental elements to construct quantum mechanics. This idea, combining with the emphasis that measurement of a quantum system is a bidirectional interaction process, leads to a new framework to calculate the probability of an outcome when measuring a quantum system. In this framework, the most basic variable is the relational probability amplitude. Probability is calculated as summation of weights from the alternative measurement configurations. The properties of quantum systems, such as superposition and entanglement, are manifested through the rules of counting the alternatives. Wave function and reduced density matrix are derived from the relational probability amplitude matrix. They are found to be secondary mathematical tools that equivalently describe a quantum system without explicitly calling out the reference system. Schr\"{o}dinger Equation is obtained when there is no entanglement in the relational probability amplitude matrix. Feynman Path Integral is used to calculate the relational probability amplitude, and is further generalized to formulate the reduced density matrix. In essence, quantum mechanics is reformulated as a theory that describes physical systems in terms of relational properties.Comment: 19 pages, 2 figures, article split into 3 parts during refereeing, minor correction. Adding journal reference for part

Quantum Mechanics From Principle of Least Observability

We show that the formulations of non-relativistic quantum mechanics can be derived from the principle of least observability. Observability is a concept introduced here to measure the distinguishability (or traceability) that a physical object exhibits during its dynamics. To quantify observability, we assume that the Planck constant defines the discrete amount of action a physical object needs to exhibit in order to be observable. Then, observability is calculated by 1.) dividing the action variable along the classical path by the Planck constant, and 2.) adding information metrics on distinguishability due to vacuum fluctuations. The least observability principle not only recovers quantum formulations including the uncertainty relation and the Schr\"{o}dinger equation in both position and momentum representations, but also brings in new results on two fronts. At the conceptual level, we find that the information metrics for vacuum fluctuations are responsible for manifesting entanglement effects without underlying physical interactions, implying that entanglement effects are non-causal. At the mathematical level, defining the information metrics for vacuum fluctuations using more general definitions of relative entropy results in a generalized Schr\"{o}dinger equation that depends on the order of relative entropy. The least observability principle is a new mathematical tool, and we expect other advanced quantum formulations can be obtained from it.Comment: 17 pages, 1 figure. Revised Section I and II to clarify the concept of observability; Further improved the mathematical notation

Dense Feature Aggregation and Pruning for RGBT Tracking

How to perform effective information fusion of different modalities is a core factor in boosting the performance of RGBT tracking. This paper presents a novel deep fusion algorithm based on the representations from an end-to-end trained convolutional neural network. To deploy the complementarity of features of all layers, we propose a recursive strategy to densely aggregate these features that yield robust representations of target objects in each modality. In different modalities, we propose to prune the densely aggregated features of all modalities in a collaborative way. In a specific, we employ the operations of global average pooling and weighted random selection to perform channel scoring and selection, which could remove redundant and noisy features to achieve more robust feature representation. Experimental results on two RGBT tracking benchmark datasets suggest that our tracker achieves clear state-of-the-art against other RGB and RGBT tracking methods.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1811.0985

Insect-Specific microRNA Involved in the Development of the Silkworm Bombyx mori

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous non-coding genes that participate in post-transcription regulation by either degrading mRNA or blocking its translation. It is considered to be very important in regulating insect development and metamorphosis. We conducted a large-scale screening for miRNA genes in the silkworm Bombyx mori using sequence-by-synthesis (SBS) deep sequencing of mixed RNAs from egg, larval, pupal, and adult stages. Of 2,227,930 SBS tags, 1,144,485 ranged from 17 to 25 nt, corresponding to 256,604 unique tags. Among these non-redundant tags, 95,184 were matched to the silkworm genome. We identified 3,750 miRNA candidate genes using a computational pipeline combining RNAfold and TripletSVM algorithms. We confirmed 354 miRNA genes using miRNA microarrays and then performed expression profile analysis on these miRNAs for all developmental stages. While 106 miRNAs were expressed in all stages, 248 miRNAs were egg- and pupa-specific, suggesting that insect miRNAs play a significant role in embryogenesis and metamorphosis. We selected eight miRNAs for quantitative RT-PCR analysis; six of these were consistent with our microarray results. In addition, we searched for orthologous miRNA genes in mammals, a nematode, and other insects and found that most silkworm miRNAs are conserved in insects, whereas only a small number of silkworm miRNAs has orthologs in mammals and the nematode. These results suggest that there are many miRNAs unique to insects