Mars: The Viking discoveries

An overview of the Viking Mars probe is presented. The Viking spacecraft is described and a brief history of the earlier observations and exploration of Mars is provided. A number of the Viking photographs of the Martian surface are presented and a discussion of the experiments Viking performed including a confirmation of the general theory of relativity are reported. Martian surface chemistry is discussed and experiments to study the weather on Mars are reported

Loschmidt echoes in two-body random matrix ensembles

Fidelity decay is studied for quantum many-body systems with a dominant independent particle Hamiltonian resulting e.g. from a mean field theory with a weak two-body interaction. The diagonal terms of the interaction are included in the unperturbed Hamiltonian, while the off-diagonal terms constitute the perturbation that distorts the echo. We give the linear response solution for this problem in a random matrix framework. While the ensemble average shows no surprising behavior, we find that the typical ensemble member as represented by the median displays a very slow fidelity decay known as ``freeze''. Numerical calculations confirm this result and show, that the ground state even on average displays the freeze. This may contribute to explanation of the ``unreasonable'' success of mean field theories.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures (6 eps files), RevTex; v2: slight modifications following referees' suggestion

A Raman spectroscopic study of carbon phases in impact melt rocks and breccias from the Gardnos impact structure, Norway

Raman spectroscopy suggests that the C was emplaced in at least two separate episodes into the impactites of the Gardnos impact structure

1/f noise in the Two-Body Random Ensemble

We show that the spectral fluctuations of the Two-Body Random Ensemble (TBRE) exhibit 1/f noise. This result supports a recent conjecture stating that chaotic quantum systems are characterized by 1/f noise in their energy level fluctuations. After suitable individual averaging, we also study the distribution of the exponent \alpha in the 1/f^{\alpha} noise for the individual members of the ensemble. Almost all the exponents lie inside a narrow interval around \alpha=1 suggesting that also individual members exhibit 1/f noise, provided they are individually unfoldedComment: 4 pages, 3 figures, Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Some geological implications of equilibrium between graphite and a C-H-O gas phase at high temperatures and pressures

Geological implications of equilibrium between graphite and C-H-O gas phase at high pressures and temperature

Progressive contact metamorphism of the Biwabik Iron Formation on the Mesabi Range, Minnesota

Progressive contact metamorphism of Biwabik iron formation on Mesabi Range, Minnesot

Statistical Theory of Parity Nonconservation in Compound Nuclei

We present the first application of statistical spectroscopy to study the root-mean-square value of the parity nonconserving (PNC) interaction matrix element M determined experimentally by scattering longitudinally polarized neutrons from compound nuclei. Our effective PNC interaction consists of a standard two-body meson-exchange piece and a doorway term to account for spin-flip excitations. Strength functions are calculated using realistic single-particle energies and a residual strong interaction adjusted to fit the experimental density of states for the targets, ^{238} U for A\sim 230 and ^{104,105,106,108} Pd for A\sim 100. Using the standard Desplanques, Donoghue, and Holstein estimates of the weak PNC meson-nucleon coupling constants, we find that M is about a factor of 3 smaller than the experimental value for ^{238} U and about a factor of 1.7 smaller for Pd. The significance of this result for refining the empirical determination of the weak coupling constants is discussed.Comment: Latex file, no Fig

Eigenlevel statistics of the quantum adiabatic algorithm

We study the eigenlevel spectrum of quantum adiabatic algorithm for 3-satisfiability problem, focusing on single-solution instances. The properties of the ground state and the associated gap, crucial for determining the running time of the algorithm, are found to be far from the predictions of random matrix theory. The distribution of gaps between the ground and the first excited state shows an abundance of small gaps. Eigenstates from the central part of the spectrum are, on the other hand, well described by random matrix theory.Comment: 8 pages, 10 ps figure

Regularities with random interactions in energy centroids defined by group symmetries

Regular structures generated by random interactions in energy centroids defined over irreducible representations (irreps) of some of the group symmetries of the interacting boson models $sd$IBM, $sdg$IBM, $sd$IBM-$T$ and $sd$IBM-$ST$ are studied by deriving trace propagations equations for the centroids. It is found that, with random interactions, the lowest and highest group irreps in general carry most of the probability for the corresponding centroids to be lowest in energy. This generalizes the result known earlier, via numerical diagonalization, for the more complicated fixed spin ($J$) centroids where simple trace propagation is not possible.Comment: 18 pages, 3 figure

On Vague Computers

Vagueness is something everyone is familiar with. In fact, most people think that vagueness is closely related to language and exists only there. However, vagueness is a property of the physical world. Quantum computers harness superposition and entanglement to perform their computational tasks. Both superposition and entanglement are vague processes. Thus quantum computers, which process exact data without "exploiting" vagueness, are actually vague computers