129 research outputs found
Testing surface area with arbitrary accuracy
Recently, Kothari et al.\ gave an algorithm for testing the surface area of
an arbitrary set . Specifically, they gave a randomized
algorithm such that if 's surface area is less than then the algorithm
will accept with high probability, and if the algorithm accepts with high
probability then there is some perturbation of with surface area at most
. Here, is a dimension-dependent constant which is
strictly larger than 1 if , and grows to as .
We give an improved analysis of Kothari et al.'s algorithm. In doing so, we
replace the constant with for arbitrary. We
also extend the algorithm to more general measures on Riemannian manifolds.Comment: 5 page
Geometry of sets of quantum maps: a generic positive map acting on a high-dimensional system is not completely positive
We investigate the set a) of positive, trace preserving maps acting on
density matrices of size N, and a sequence of its nested subsets: the sets of
maps which are b) decomposable, c) completely positive, d) extended by identity
impose positive partial transpose and e) are superpositive. Working with the
Hilbert-Schmidt (Euclidean) measure we derive tight explicit two-sided bounds
for the volumes of all five sets. A sample consequence is the fact that, as N
increases, a generic positive map becomes not decomposable and, a fortiori, not
completely positive.
Due to the Jamiolkowski isomorphism, the results obtained for quantum maps
are closely connected to similar relations between the volume of the set of
quantum states and the volumes of its subsets (such as states with positive
partial transpose or separable states) or supersets. Our approach depends on
systematic use of duality to derive quantitative estimates, and on various
tools of classical convexity, high-dimensional probability and geometry of
Banach spaces, some of which are not standard.Comment: 34 pages in Latex including 3 figures in eps, ver 2: minor revision
On stochasticity in nearly-elastic systems
Nearly-elastic model systems with one or two degrees of freedom are
considered: the system is undergoing a small loss of energy in each collision
with the "wall". We show that instabilities in this purely deterministic system
lead to stochasticity of its long-time behavior. Various ways to give a
rigorous meaning to the last statement are considered. All of them, if
applicable, lead to the same stochasticity which is described explicitly. So
that the stochasticity of the long-time behavior is an intrinsic property of
the deterministic systems.Comment: 35 pages, 12 figures, already online at Stochastics and Dynamic
Cauchy's formulas for random walks in bounded domains
Cauchy's formula was originally established for random straight paths
crossing a body and basically relates the average
chord length through to the ratio between the volume and the surface of the
body itself. The original statement was later extended in the context of
transport theory so as to cover the stochastic paths of Pearson random walks
with exponentially distributed flight lengths traversing a bounded domain. Some
heuristic arguments suggest that Cauchy's formula may also hold true for
Pearson random walks with arbitrarily distributed flight lengths. For such a
broad class of stochastic processes, we rigorously derive a generalized
Cauchy's formula for the average length travelled by the walkers in the body,
and show that this quantity depends indeed only on the ratio between the volume
and the surface, provided that some constraints are imposed on the entrance
step of the walker in . Similar results are obtained also for the average
number of collisions performed by the walker in , and an extension to
absorbing media is discussed.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figure
Invisibility in billiards
The question of invisibility for bodies with mirror surface is studied in the
framework of geometrical optics. We construct bodies that are invisible/have
zero resistance in two mutually orthogonal directions, and prove that there do
not exist bodies which are invisible/have zero resistance in all possible
directions of incidence
How often is a random quantum state k-entangled?
The set of trace preserving, positive maps acting on density matrices of size
d forms a convex body. We investigate its nested subsets consisting of
k-positive maps, where k=2,...,d. Working with the measure induced by the
Hilbert-Schmidt distance we derive asymptotically tight bounds for the volumes
of these sets. Our results strongly suggest that the inner set of
(k+1)-positive maps forms a small fraction of the outer set of k-positive maps.
These results are related to analogous bounds for the relative volume of the
sets of k-entangled states describing a bipartite d X d system.Comment: 19 pages in latex, 1 figure include
Local Anisotropy of Fluids using Minkowski Tensors
Statistics of the free volume available to individual particles have
previously been studied for simple and complex fluids, granular matter,
amorphous solids, and structural glasses. Minkowski tensors provide a set of
shape measures that are based on strong mathematical theorems and easily
computed for polygonal and polyhedral bodies such as free volume cells (Voronoi
cells). They characterize the local structure beyond the two-point correlation
function and are suitable to define indices of
local anisotropy. Here, we analyze the statistics of Minkowski tensors for
configurations of simple liquid models, including the ideal gas (Poisson point
process), the hard disks and hard spheres ensemble, and the Lennard-Jones
fluid. We show that Minkowski tensors provide a robust characterization of
local anisotropy, which ranges from for vapor
phases to for ordered solids. We find that for fluids,
local anisotropy decreases monotonously with increasing free volume and
randomness of particle positions. Furthermore, the local anisotropy indices
are sensitive to structural transitions in these simple
fluids, as has been previously shown in granular systems for the transition
from loose to jammed bead packs
Minkowski Tensors of Anisotropic Spatial Structure
This article describes the theoretical foundation of and explicit algorithms
for a novel approach to morphology and anisotropy analysis of complex spatial
structure using tensor-valued Minkowski functionals, the so-called Minkowski
tensors. Minkowski tensors are generalisations of the well-known scalar
Minkowski functionals and are explicitly sensitive to anisotropic aspects of
morphology, relevant for example for elastic moduli or permeability of
microstructured materials. Here we derive explicit linear-time algorithms to
compute these tensorial measures for three-dimensional shapes. These apply to
representations of any object that can be represented by a triangulation of its
bounding surface; their application is illustrated for the polyhedral Voronoi
cellular complexes of jammed sphere configurations, and for triangulations of a
biopolymer fibre network obtained by confocal microscopy. The article further
bridges the substantial notational and conceptual gap between the different but
equivalent approaches to scalar or tensorial Minkowski functionals in
mathematics and in physics, hence making the mathematical measure theoretic
method more readily accessible for future application in the physical sciences
The convex hull for a random acceleration process in two dimensions
We compute exactly the mean perimeter and the mean area of the
convex hull of a random acceleration process of duration T in two dimensions.
We use an exact mapping that relates, via Cauchy's formulae, the computation of
the perimeter and the area of the convex hull of an arbitrary two dimensional
stochastic process [x(t); y(t)] to the computation of the extreme value
statistics of the associated one dimensional component process x(t). The latter
can be computed exactly for the one dimensional random acceleration process
even though the process in non-Markovian. Physically, our results are relevant
in describing theaverage shape of a semi-flexible ideal polymer chain in two
dimensions.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figures, accepeted in Journal of Physics A: Mathematical
and Theoretica
Random Convex Hulls and Extreme Value Statistics
In this paper we study the statistical properties of convex hulls of
random points in a plane chosen according to a given distribution. The points
may be chosen independently or they may be correlated. After a non-exhaustive
survey of the somewhat sporadic literature and diverse methods used in the
random convex hull problem, we present a unifying approach, based on the notion
of support function of a closed curve and the associated Cauchy's formulae,
that allows us to compute exactly the mean perimeter and the mean area enclosed
by the convex polygon both in case of independent as well as correlated points.
Our method demonstrates a beautiful link between the random convex hull problem
and the subject of extreme value statistics. As an example of correlated
points, we study here in detail the case when the points represent the vertices
of independent random walks. In the continuum time limit this reduces to
independent planar Brownian trajectories for which we compute exactly, for
all , the mean perimeter and the mean area of their global convex hull. Our
results have relevant applications in ecology in estimating the home range of a
herd of animals. Some of these results were announced recently in a short
communication [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 103}, 140602 (2009)].Comment: 61 pages (pedagogical review); invited contribution to the special
issue of J. Stat. Phys. celebrating the 50 years of Yeshiba/Rutgers meeting
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