Q & A Experiment to Search for Vacuum Dichroism, Pseudoscalar-Photon Interaction and Millicharged Fermions

A number of experiments are underway to detect vacuum birefringence and dichroism -- PVLAS, Q & A, and BMV. Recently, PVLAS experiment has observed optical rotation in vacuum by a magnetic field (vacuum dichroism). Theoretical interpretations of this result include a possible pseudoscalar-photon interaction and the existence of millicharged fermions. Here, we report the progress and first results of Q & A (QED [quantum electrodynamics] and Axion) experiment proposed and started in 1994. A 3.5-m high-finesse (around 30,000) Fabry-Perot prototype detector extendable to 7-m has been built and tested. We use X-pendulums and automatic control schemes developed by the gravitational-wave detection community for mirror suspension and cavity control. To polarize the vacuum, we use a 2.3-T dipole permanent magnet, with 27-mm-diameter clear borehole and 0.6-m field length,. In the experiment, the magnet is rotated at 5-10 rev/s to generate time-dependent polarization signal with twice the rotation frequency. Our ellipsometer/polarization-rotation-detection-system is formed by a pair of Glan-Taylor type polarizing prisms with extinction ratio lower than 10-8 together with a polarization modulating Faraday Cell with/without a quarter wave plate. We made an independent calibration of our apparatus by performing a measurement of gaseous Cotton-Mouton effect of nitrogen. We present our first experimental results and give a brief discussion of our experimental limit on pseudo-scalar-photon interaction and millicharged fermions.Comment: 21 pages, 13 figures, submitted to Modern Physics Letter

Codebook Based Minimum Subspace Distortion Hybrid Precoding for Millimeter Wave Systems

© 2018 IEEE. Hybrid precoding is adopted for millimeter wave (mmWave) communications to offer a good trade-off between hardware complexity and system performance. In this paper, we investigate a codebook based hybrid precoder for single-user mmWave systems with large antenna arrays. We exploit the sparse nature of mmWave channels to transform the hybrid precoding design problem into a vector space distortion optimization problem which is only related to the radio frequency (RF) precoder. A near optimal solution for the RF optimization problem is derived with the assumption of the perfect channel state information (CSI) at the transmitter, which is practically very difficult to obtain. To reduce the requirement of the CSI at the transmitter, we propose the codebook based minimum subspace distortion (MSD) hybrid precoding algorithm, which obtains CSI at the combiner side and returns the index of optimal RF codewords and the baseband precoder through a limited feedback channel. Simulation results are provided and validate the effectiveness of our proposed hybrid precoding algorithm

A method for direct calculation of quadratic turning points

For a given one-parameter nonlinear system, the simplest bifurcation is the quadratic turning bifurcation where the Jacobian matrix becomes singular due to rank deficiency 1. To overcome the difficulty in solving the quadratic turning point caused by the singularity of the Jacobian matrix, the conventional Newton method can be applied to the so-called Moore-Spence determination system to solve for the quadratic turning point. However, the Moore-Spence system has much higher dimensions and causes much more complexity in factorisation of the extended Jacobian matrix. In the paper, by introducing an auxiliary variable and an auxiliary linear equation into Newton iterations in solving the Moore-Spence determination system, a matrix reduction technique can be worked out to solve the Moore-Spence extended equations much more efficiently. The high dimensions of the matrix can thus be reduced and the complexity involved in matrix factorisation can be reduced noticeably. The technique is proposed for general nonlinear systems. Formulation is derived for applying this technique to solving quadratic turning points, or say nose points, on load-flow solution curves of power systems. Computer tests on the IEEE 30-busbar system and a 2416-busbar East China power system are reported to show the effectiveness of the suggested technique.published_or_final_versio

Reversible Embedding to Covers Full of Boundaries

In reversible data embedding, to avoid overflow and underflow problem, before data embedding, boundary pixels are recorded as side information, which may be losslessly compressed. The existing algorithms often assume that a natural image has little boundary pixels so that the size of side information is small. Accordingly, a relatively high pure payload could be achieved. However, there actually may exist a lot of boundary pixels in a natural image, implying that, the size of side information could be very large. Therefore, when to directly use the existing algorithms, the pure embedding capacity may be not sufficient. In order to address this problem, in this paper, we present a new and efficient framework to reversible data embedding in images that have lots of boundary pixels. The core idea is to losslessly preprocess boundary pixels so that it can significantly reduce the side information. Experimental results have shown the superiority and applicability of our work

Two monotonic functions involving gamma function and volume of unit ball

In present paper, we prove the monotonicity of two functions involving the gamma function $\Gamma(x)$ and relating to the $n$-dimensional volume of the unit ball $\mathbb{B}^n$ in $\mathbb{R}^n$.Comment: 7 page

The concept and algorithm of 'conductor renting' and its application in transmission losses allocation

The cost of transmission losses represents an important part of transmission costs. In the context of competitive electricity marketplace, the costs caused by transmission losses should be reasonably allocated to various market participants, but the nonlinearity of the transmission losses function makes the allocation very difficult. In this paper, the concept of 'conductor renting' is proposed for the first time and is used to solve transmission losses allocation problem. The analysis indicates that the active power losses caused by different current components are in proportion to the conductor section acreage and the corresponding conductance used by the current components, and the reactive power losses caused by current components have similar characteristics. Based on the concept of conductor renting, it is easy to solve the losses allocation problem, and the interaction effect of the transactions is eliminated.published_or_final_versio

Review of Transmission Fixed Costs Allocation Methods

In the context of competitive electricity markets, transmission fixed costs should be fairly allocated to transmission users. A reasonable allocation method could lead to efficient utilizations of existing transmission facilities and, at the same time, provide economic signals for guiding future generation planning and load sitting. In this paper, a comprehensive literature survey is made on available methods of transmission fixed cost allocations. The review is conducted from several different aspects including: costs to be allocated, entities to pay the costs, system states to be based on, cost allocations of unused capacities, pricing of counter flow and that of reactive power, and allocation principles and methods. In addition, the characteristics of each method are analyzed and compared with those of the others.published_or_final_versio

A Practical Method For Determining Transmission Usage-based Tariff In Electricity Markets With Trading Modes

In this paper, a practical approach is presented for determining transmission usage-based tariff, based on the well-known generation shift distribution factor (GSDF) based method and the recently developed power flow tracing method. First, the GSDF based method is employed for allocating the transmission usage-based charges among various transactions, and then the power flow tracing technique used for further distributing the charge such obtained among the participants of each transaction concerned. The proposed method is easy to implement and is applicable to electricity markets with various trading modes such as bilateral, multilateral and pool trading modes, and to interconnected multiple-regional and hierarchical electricity markets as well.published_or_final_versio