The Complexity of Vector Spin Glasses

We study the annealed complexity of the m-vector spin glasses in the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick limit. The eigenvalue spectrum of the Hessian matrix of the Thouless-Anderson-Palmer (TAP) free energy is found to consist of a continuous band of positive eigenvalues in addition to an isolated eigenvalue and (m-1) null eigenvalues due to rotational invariance. Rather surprisingly, the band does not extend to zero at any finite temperature. The isolated eigenvalue becomes zero in the thermodynamic limit, as in the Ising case (m=1), indicating that the same supersymmetry breaking recently found in Ising spin glasses occurs in vector spin glasses.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Electric tempest in a teacup: the tea leaf analogy to microfluidic blood plasma separation

In a similar fashion to Einstein's tea leaf paradox, the rotational liquid flow induced by ionic wind above a liquid surface can trap suspended microparticles by a helical motion, spinning them down towards a bottom stagnation point. The motion is similar to Batchelor [Q. J. Mech. Appl. Math. 4, 29 (1951)] flows occurring between stationary and rotating disks and arises due to a combination of the primary azimuthal and secondary bulk meridional recirculation that produces a centrifugal and enhanced inward radial force near the chamber bottom. The technology is thus useful for microfluidic particle trapping/concentration; the authors demonstrate its potential for rapid erythrocyte/blood plasma separation for miniaturized medical diagnostic kits

Ground state energy of qq-state Potts model: the minimum modularity

A wide range of interacting systems can be described by complex networks. A common feature of such networks is that they consist of several communities or modules, the degree of which may quantified as the \emph{modularity}. However, even a random uncorrelated network, which has no obvious modular structure, has a finite modularity due to the quenched disorder. For this reason, the modularity of a given network is meaningful only when it is compared with that of a randomized network with the same degree distribution. In this context, it is important to calculate the modularity of a random uncorrelated network with an arbitrary degree distribution. The modularity of a random network has been calculated [Phys. Rev. E \textbf{76}, 015102 (2007)]; however, this was limited to the case whereby the network was assumed to have only two communities, and it is evident that the modularity should be calculated in general with $q(\geq 2)$ communities. Here, we calculate the modularity for $q$ communities by evaluating the ground state energy of the $q$-state Potts Hamiltonian, based on replica symmetric solutions assuming that the mean degree is large. We found that the modularity is proportional to $\langle \sqrt{k} \rangle / \langle k \rangle$ regardless of $q$ and that only the coefficient depends on $q$. In particular, when the degree distribution follows a power law, the modularity is proportional to $\langle k \rangle^{-1/2}$. Our analytical results are confirmed by comparison with numerical simulations. Therefore, our results can be used as reference values for real-world networks.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figure

Chevalier Jackson, M.D. (1865-1958): Il ne se repose jamais.

In the final year of the American Civil War, 1865, Chevalier Jackson was born on the 4th of November just outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The eldest of three sons of a poor, livestock-raising family, Jackson was raised in a period of social and political unrest. He was perhaps an even more unrestful boy. The description of his childhood days from his father’s father—Il ne se repose jamais, ‘‘He never rests’’—would ultimately reflect the man, doctor, and evangelist Jackson would later become.1 Indeed, he never did rest, Jackson would tirelessly pave the way for modern bronchoscopy and endoscopy as a whole; bringing international renown not only to himself, but also to his specialty

Emil Zuckerkandl, M.D. (1849-1910): Bridging Anatomic Study and the Operating Room Table.

In the mid-19th century, the Vienna School of Anatomy was at the epicenter of the rapidly growing field of anatomy. One of the school’s most distinguished professors, Hungarian-born anatomist Emil Zuckerkandl was instrumental in transforming anatomy from a descriptive science to one of practical and clinical value. A prolific researcher interested in nearly all areas of morphology and most famously, the chromaffin system, Zuckerkandl’s discoveries from more than a century ago still provide a foundation for surgeons to this day

T-junction ion trap array for two-dimensional ion shuttling, storage and manipulation

We demonstrate a two-dimensional 11-zone ion trap array, where individual laser-cooled atomic ions are stored, separated, shuttled, and swapped. The trap geometry consists of two linear rf ion trap sections that are joined at a 90 degree angle to form a T-shaped structure. We shuttle a single ion around the corners of the T-junction and swap the positions of two crystallized ions using voltage sequences designed to accommodate the nontrivial electrical potential near the junction. Full two-dimensional control of multiple ions demonstrated in this system may be crucial for the realization of scalable ion trap quantum computation and the implementation of quantum networks.Comment: 3 pages, 5 figure

Through the looking-glass:Mirror feedback modulates temporal and spatial aspects of bimanual coordination

Mirror therapy has become an effective and recommended intervention for a range of conditions affecting the upper limb (e.g. hemiparesis following stroke). However, little is known about how mirror feedback affects the control of bimanual movements (as performed during mirror therapy). In this study, in preparation for future clinical investigations, we examined the kinematics of bimanual circle drawing in unimpaired participants both with (Experiment 1) and without (Experiment 2) a visual template to guide movement. In both experiments, 15 unimpaired right-handed participants performed self-paced continuous bimanual circle-drawing movements with a mirror/symmetrical coordination pattern. For the mirror condition, vision was directed towards the mirror in order to monitor the reflected limb. In the no mirror condition, the direction of vision was unchanged, but the mirror was replaced with an opaque screen. Movements of both hands were recorded using motion capture apparatus. In both experiments, the most striking feature of movements was that the hand behind the mirror drifted spatially during the course of individual trials. Participants appeared to be largely unaware of this marked positional change of their unseen hand, which was most pronounced when a template to guide movement was visible (Experiment 1). Temporal asynchrony between the limbs was also affected by mirror feedback in both experiments; in the mirror condition, illusory vision of the unseen hand led to a relative phase lead for that limb. Our data highlight the remarkable impact that the introduction of a simple mirror can have on bimanual coordination. Modulation of spatial and temporal features is consistent with the mirror inducing a rapid and powerful visual illusion, the latter appearing to override proprioceptive signals.</p

Non-commutative field theory approach to two-dimensional vortex liquid system

We investigate the non-commutative (NC) field theory approach to the vortex liquid system restricted to the lowest Landau level (LLL) approximation. NC field theory effectively takes care of the phase space reduction of the LLL physics in a $\star$-product form and introduces a new gauge invariant form of a quartic potential of the order parameter in the Ginzburg-Landau (GL) free energy. This new quartic interaction coupling term has a non-trivial equivalence relation with that obtained by Br\'ezin, Nelson and Thiaville in the usual GL framework. The consequence of the equivalence is discussed.Comment: Add vortex lattice formation, more references, and one autho

William Edwards Ladd, M.D. (1880-1967): the description of his bands.

In the early 20th century, an established surgical specialty catering to pediatric surgery did not exist, and pediatric surgical ailments were operated on by general surgeons. With his devotion to childhood diseases and his unique thinking in surgical development, William E. Ladd would become a leading figure in America by pioneering the field of pediatric surgery