Scheme for deterministic Bell-state-measurement-free quantum teleportation

A deterministic teleportation scheme for unknown atomic states is proposed in cavity QED. The Bell state measurement is not needed in the teleportation process, and the success probability can reach 1.0. In addition, the current scheme is insensitive to the cavity decay and thermal field.Comment: 3 pages, no figur

Thermoelectric Properties of Silicon Carbide Nanowires with Nitrogen Dopants and Vacancies

The thermoelectric properties of cubic zincblend silicon carbide nanowires (SiCNWs) with nitrogen impurities and vacancies along [111] direction are theoretically studied by means of atomistic simulations. It is found that the thermoelectric figure of merit ZT of SiCNWs can be significantly enhanced by doping N impurities together with making Si vacancies. Aiming at obtaining a large ZT, we study possible energetically stable configurations, and disclose that, when N dopants locate at the center, a small number of Si vacancies at corners are most favored for n-type nanowires, while a large number of Si vacancies spreading into the flat edge sites are most favored for p-type nanowires. For the SiCNW with a diameter of 1.1 nm and a length of 4.6 nm, the ZT value for the n-type is shown capable of reaching 1.78 at 900K. The conditions to get higher ZT values for longer SiCNWs are also addressed.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figure

GeV-TeV and X-ray flares from gamma-ray bursts

The recent detection of delayed X-ray flares during the afterglow phase of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) suggests an inner-engine origin, at radii inside the deceleration radius characterizing the beginning of the forward shock afterglow emission. Given the observed temporal overlapping between the flares and afterglows, there must be inverse Compton (IC) emission arising from such flare photons scattered by forward shock afterglow electrons. We find that this IC emission produces GeV-TeV flares, which may be detected by GLAST and ground-based TeV telescopes. We speculate that this kind of emission may already have been detected by EGRET from a very strong burst--GRB940217. The enhanced cooling of the forward shock electrons by the X-ray flare photons may suppress the synchrotron emission of the afterglows during the flare period. The detection of GeV-TeV flares combined with low energy observations may help to constrain the poorly known magnetic field in afterglow shocks. We also consider the self-IC emission in the context of internal-shock and external-shock models for X-ray flares. The emission above GeV from internal shocks is low, while the external shock model can also produce GeV-TeV flares, but with a different temporal behavior from that caused by IC scattering of flare photons by afterglow electrons. This suggests a useful approach for distinguishing whether X-ray flares originate from late central engine activity or from external shocks.Comment: slightly shortened version, accepted for publication in ApJ Letters, 4 emulateapj pages, no figure

Outdoor Thermal Environments and Activities in Open Space: An Experiment Study in Humid Subtropical Climates

The outdoor thermal environment correlates with occupant behaviors in open spaces. The appropriate range of thermal environment that is conducive to outdoor activities, however, remains inadequately defined. Existing studies fail to characterize the behavioral responses to thermal environments in important dimensions including activity types, age or gender. We conducted field studies on six open spaces in Wuhan, China, a city with humid subtropical climate and ideal for this research. Data based on field observations, questionnaires, and measurement were collected under a variety of weather conditions over 4 years. We renovated a playground by adding shading shelters and vegetation cover to reduce summertime heat stress. On-site thermal environment were assessed using the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI). Findings are as following: the outdoor thermal environment is a strong predictor of mean attendance over a period of time, but not spontaneous occupancy at a specific time or space; the Optimum Thermal Environment (OTE), defined as the range in which an open space is well-attended (attendance above 90% of peak value), is more consistent than the self-reported Thermal Acceptable Range (TAR) in this study. Behavioral responses to thermal environment differ by gender, age, and types of activities. The experiment confirmed the causality between outdoor thermal environment and activities: the renovated playground attracted 80% more occupants in summer; people stayed longer, reported less heat stress, and interacted with each other more often. Results remained significant after controlling for weather, air quality, daily and weekly routines. Findings had implications for the design of open spaces.postprin

Benchmark levels for the consumptive water footprint of crop production for different environmental conditions: a case study for winter wheat in China

Meeting growing food demands while simultaneously shrinking the water footprint (WF) of agricultural production is one of the greatest societal challenges. Benchmarks for the WF of crop production can serve as a reference and be helpful in setting WF reduction targets. The consumptive WF of crops, the consumption of rainwater stored in the soil (green WF), and the consumption of irrigation water (blue WF) over the crop growing period varies spatially and temporally depending on environmental factors like climate and soil. The study explores which environmental factors should be distinguished when determining benchmark levels for the consumptive WF of crops. Hereto we determine benchmark levels for the consumptive WF of winter wheat production in China for all separate years in the period 1961–2008, for rain-fed vs. irrigated croplands, for wet vs. dry years, for warm vs. cold years, for four different soil classes, and for two different climate zones. We simulate consumptive WFs of winter wheat production with the crop water productivity model AquaCrop at a 5 by 5 arcmin resolution, accounting for water stress only. The results show that (i) benchmark levels determined for individual years for the country as a whole remain within a range of 20% around long-term mean levels over 1961–2008, (ii) the WF benchmarks for irrigated winter wheat are 8–10%larger than those for rain-fed winter wheat, (iii) WF benchmarks for wet years are 1–3% smaller than for dry years, (iv) WF benchmarks for warm years are 7–8% smaller than for cold years, (v) WF benchmarks differ by about 10–12% across different soil texture classes, and (vi) WF benchmarks for the humid zone are 26–31% smaller than for the arid zone, which has relatively higher reference evapotranspiration in general and lower yields in rain-fed fields. We conclude that when determining benchmark levels for the consumptive WF of a crop, it is useful to primarily distinguish between different climate zones. If actual consumptive WFs of winter wheat throughout China were reduced to the benchmark levels set by the best 25% of Chinese winter wheat production (1224m3 t1 for arid areas and 841m3 t1 for humid areas), the water saving in an average year would be 53% of the current water consumption at winter wheat fields in China. The majority of the yield increase and associated improvement in water productivity can be achieved in southern China

Scheme for sharing classical information via tripartite entangled states

We investigate schemes for quantum secret sharing and quantum dense coding via tripartite entangled states. We present a scheme for sharing classical information via entanglement swapping using two tripartite entangled GHZ states. In order to throw light upon the security affairs of the quantum dense coding protocol, we also suggest a secure quantum dense coding scheme via W state in analogy with the theory of sharing information among involved users.Comment: 4 pages, no figure. A complete rewrritten vession, accepted for publication in Chinese Physic

Message passing for task redistribution on sparse graphs

The problem of resource allocation in sparse graphs with real variables is studied using methods of statistical physics. An efficient distributed algorithm is devised on the basis of insight gained from the analysis and is examined using numerical simulations, showing excellent performance and full agreement with the theoretical results

The effect of inter-annual variability of consumption, production, trade and climate on crop-related green and blue water footprints and inter-regional virtual water trade: A study for China (1978–2008)

AbstractPrevious studies into the relation between human consumption and indirect water resources use have unveiled the remote connections in virtual water (VW) trade networks, which show how communities externalize their water footprint (WF) to places far beyond their own region, but little has been done to understand variability in time. This study quantifies the effect of inter-annual variability of consumption, production, trade and climate on WF and VW trade, using China over the period 1978–2008 as a case study. Evapotranspiration, crop yields and green and blue WFs of crops are estimated at a 5 × 5 arc-minute resolution for 22 crops, for each year in the study period, thus accounting for climate variability. The results show that crop yield improvements during the study period helped to reduce the national average WF of crop consumption per capita by 23%, with a decreasing contribution to the total from cereals and increasing contribution from oil crops. The total consumptive WFs of national crop consumption and crop production, however, grew by 6% and 7%, respectively. By 2008, 28% of total water consumption in crop fields in China served the production of crops for export to other regions and, on average, 35% of the crop-related WF of a Chinese consumer was outside its own province. Historically, the net VW within China was from the water-rich South to the water-scarce North, but intensifying North-to-South crop trade reversed the net VW flow since 2000, which amounted 6% of North's WF of crop production in 2008. South China thus gradually became dependent on food supply from the water-scarce North. Besides, during the whole study period, China's domestic inter-regional VW flows went dominantly from areas with a relatively large to areas with a relatively small blue WF per unit of crop, which in 2008 resulted in a trade-related blue water loss of 7% of the national total blue WF of crop production. The case of China shows that domestic trade, as governed by economics and governmental policies rather than by regional differences in water endowments, determines inter-regional water dependencies and may worsen rather than relieve the water scarcity in a country

Resource allocation in sparse graphs

Resource allocation in sparsely connected networks, a representative problem of systems with real variables, is studied using the replica and Bethe approximation methods. An efficient distributed algorithm is devised on the basis of insights gained from the analysis and is examined using numerical simulations,showing excellent performance and full agreement with the theoretical results. The physical properties of the resource allocation model are discussed