Perturbative analysis of anharmonic chains of oscillators out of equilibrium

We compute the first-order correction to the correlation functions of the stationary state of a stochastically forced harmonic chain out of equilibrium when a small on-site anharmonic potential is added. This is achieved by deriving a suitable formula for the covariance matrix of the invariant state. We find that the first-order correction of the heat current does not depend on the size of the system. Second, the temperature profile is linear when the harmonic part of the on-site potential is zero. The sign of the gradient of the profile, however, is opposite to the sign of the temperature difference of the two heat baths.Comment: 26 pages, 2 figures, corrected typo

Transitions in sex determination mechanisms through parental antagonism

Parental antagonism (PA) occurs when the fitness effects of a gene depend on the parent from which it is inherited. Such genes may become enriched on sex chromosomes, due to their biased inheritance patterns. Although various sex determination (SD) genes exhibit parent-of-origin effects themselves, and between-parent conflict over offspring sex may affect SD, PA itself has not been considered as a driver of SD transitions. Here, I present a model to investigate the scope for transitions in SD mechanisms through PA. My model assumes an ancestral SD locus linked to a PA gene, as well as an autosomal PA gene in whose vicinity a novel SD gene arises. Transitions between functionally-homologous genes are found to depend on the fitness effects of both PA genes and their linkage to nearby SD genes. Transitions between male and female heterogamety by the invasion of a dominant SD gene are however nearly unconstrained. This also allows for back-and-forth dynamics where the ancestral SD and novel SD genes constantly evolve to be dominant over each other. These results further underline the malleability of SD mechanisms, and the need to consider parent-of-origin effects in driving transitions in SD, through proximate and/or ultimate means

Normal Heat Conductivity in a strongly pinned chain of anharmonic oscillators

We consider a chain of coupled and strongly pinned anharmonic oscillators subject to a non-equilibrium random forcing. Assuming that the stationary state is approximately Gaussian, we first derive a stationary Boltzmann equation. By localizing the involved resonances, we next invert the linearized collision operator and compute the heat conductivity. In particular, we show that the Gaussian approximation yields a finite conductivity $\kappa\sim\frac{1}{\lambda^2T^2}$, for $\lambda$ the anharmonic coupling strength.Comment: Introduction and conclusion modifie

Real-time Text Queries with Tunable Term Pair Indexes

Term proximity scoring is an established means in information retrieval for improving result quality of full-text queries. Integrating such proximity scores into efficient query processing, however, has not been equally well studied. Existing methods make use of precomputed lists of documents where tuples of terms, usually pairs, occur together, usually incurring a huge index size compared to term-only indexes. This paper introduces a joint framework for trading off index size and result quality, and provides optimization techniques for tuning precomputed indexes towards either maximal result quality or maximal query processing performance, given an upper bound for the index size. The framework allows to selectively materialize lists for pairs based on a query log to further reduce index size. Extensive experiments with two large text collections demonstrate runtime improvements of several orders of magnitude over existing text-based processing techniques with reasonable index sizes

Spin Coherence and 14^{14}N ESEEM Effects of Nitrogen-Vacancy Centers in Diamond with X-band Pulsed ESR

Pulsed ESR experiments are reported for ensembles of negatively-charged nitrogen-vacancy centers (NV$^-$) in diamonds at X-band magnetic fields (280-400 mT) and low temperatures (2-70 K). The NV$^-$ centers in synthetic type IIb diamonds (nitrogen impurity concentration $<1$~ppm) are prepared with bulk concentrations of $2\cdot 10^{13}$ cm$^{-3}$ to $4\cdot 10^{14}$ cm$^{-3}$ by high-energy electron irradiation and subsequent annealing. We find that a proper post-radiation anneal (1000$^\circ$C for 60 mins) is critically important to repair the radiation damage and to recover long electron spin coherence times for NV$^-$s. After the annealing, spin coherence times of T$_2 = 0.74$~ms at 5~K are achieved, being only limited by $^{13}$C nuclear spectral diffusion in natural abundance diamonds. At X-band magnetic fields, strong electron spin echo envelope modulation (ESEEM) is observed originating from the central $^{14}$N nucleus. The ESEEM spectral analysis allows for accurate determination of the $^{14}$N nuclear hypefine and quadrupole tensors. In addition, the ESEEM effects from two proximal $^{13}$C sites (second-nearest neighbor and fourth-nearest neighbor) are resolved and the respective $^{13}$C hyperfine coupling constants are extracted.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure

Surface code architecture for donors and dots in silicon with imprecise and nonuniform qubit couplings

A scaled quantum computer with donor spins in silicon would benefit from a viable semiconductor framework and a strong inherent decoupling of the qubits from the noisy environment. Coupling neighbouring spins via the natural exchange interaction according to current designs requires gate control structures with extremely small length scales. We present a silicon architecture where bismuth donors with long coherence times are coupled to electrons that can shuttle between adjacent quantum dots, thus relaxing the pitch requirements and allowing space between donors for classical control devices. An adiabatic SWAP operation within each donor/dot pair solves the scalability issues intrinsic to exchange-based two-qubit gates, as it does not rely on sub-nanometer precision in donor placement and is robust against noise in the control fields. We use this SWAP together with well established global microwave Rabi pulses and parallel electron shuttling to construct a surface code that needs minimal, feasible local control.Comment: Published version - more detailed discussions, robustness to dephasing pointed out additionall

Critical issues in the formation of quantum computer test structures by ion implantation

The formation of quantum computer test structures in silicon by ion implantation enables the characterization of spin readout mechanisms with ensembles of dopant atoms and the development of single atom devices. We briefly review recent results in the characterization of spin dependent transport and single ion doping and then discuss the diffusion and segregation behaviour of phosphorus, antimony and bismuth ions from low fluence, low energy implantations as characterized through depth profiling by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). Both phosphorus and bismuth are found to segregate to the SiO2/Si interface during activation anneals, while antimony diffusion is found to be minimal. An effect of the ion charge state on the range of antimony ions, 121Sb25+, in SiO2/Si is also discussed

Detection of low energy single ion impacts in micron scale transistors at room temperature

We report the detection of single ion impacts through monitoring of changes in the source-drain currents of field effect transistors (FET) at room temperature. Implant apertures are formed in the interlayer dielectrics and gate electrodes of planar, micro-scale FETs by electron beam assisted etching. FET currents increase due to the generation of positively charged defects in gate oxides when ions (121Sb12+, 14+, Xe6+; 50 to 70 keV) impinge into channel regions. Implant damage is repaired by rapid thermal annealing, enabling iterative cycles of device doping and electrical characterization for development of single atom devices and studies of dopant fluctuation effects