Cover Pebbling Hypercubes

Given a graph G and a configuration C of pebbles on the vertices of G, a pebbling step removes two pebbles from one vertex and places one pebble on an adjacent vertex. The cover pebbling number g=g(G) is the minimum number so that every configuration of g pebbles has the property that, after some sequence of pebbling steps, every vertex has a pebble on it. We prove that the cover pebbling number of the d-dimensional hypercube Q^d equals 3^d.Comment: 11 page

Optimal evaluation of single-molecule force spectroscopy experiments

The forced rupture of single chemical bonds under external load is addressed. A general framework is put forward to optimally utilize the experimentally observed rupture force data for estimating the parameters of a theoretical model. As an application we explore to what extent a distinction between several recently proposed models is feasible on the basis of realistic experimental data sets.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Eavesdropping without quantum memory

In quantum cryptography the optimal eavesdropping strategy requires that the eavesdropper uses quantum memories in order to optimize her information. What happens if the eavesdropper has no quantum memory? It is shown that the best strategy is actually to adopt the simple intercept/resend strategy.Comment: 9 pages LaTeX, 3 figure

Measuring thermodynamic length

Thermodynamic length is a metric distance between equilibrium thermodynamic states. Among other interesting properties, this metric asymptotically bounds the dissipation induced by a finite time transformation of a thermodynamic system. It is also connected to the Jensen-Shannon divergence, Fisher information and Rao's entropy differential metric. Therefore, thermodynamic length is of central interest in understanding matter out-of-equilibrium. In this paper, we will consider how to define thermodynamic length for a small system described by equilibrium statistical mechanics and how to measure thermodynamic length within a computer simulation. Surprisingly, Bennett's classic acceptance ratio method for measuring free energy differences also measures thermodynamic length.Comment: 4 pages; Typos correcte

Generalized Jarzynski Equality under Nonequilibrium Feedback Control

The Jarzynski equality is generalized to situations in which nonequilibrium systems are subject to a feedback control. The new terms that arise as a consequence of the feedback describe the mutual information content obtained by measurement and the efficacy of the feedback control. Our results lead to a generalized fluctuation-dissipation theorem that reflects the readout information, and can be experimentally tested using small thermodynamic systems. We illustrate our general results by an introducing "information ratchet," which can transport a Brownian particle in one direction and extract a positive work from the particle

Lower Bounds on Mutual Information

We correct claims about lower bounds on mutual information (MI) between real-valued random variables made in A. Kraskov {\it et al.}, Phys. Rev. E {\bf 69}, 066138 (2004). We show that non-trivial lower bounds on MI in terms of linear correlations depend on the marginal (single variable) distributions. This is so in spite of the invariance of MI under reparametrizations, because linear correlations are not invariant under them. The simplest bounds are obtained for Gaussians, but the most interesting ones for practical purposes are obtained for uniform marginal distributions. The latter can be enforced in general by using the ranks of the individual variables instead of their actual values, in which case one obtains bounds on MI in terms of Spearman correlation coefficients. We show with gene expression data that these bounds are in general non-trivial, and the degree of their (non-)saturation yields valuable insight.Comment: 4 page

The length of time's arrow

An unresolved problem in physics is how the thermodynamic arrow of time arises from an underlying time reversible dynamics. We contribute to this issue by developing a measure of time-symmetry breaking, and by using the work fluctuation relations, we determine the time asymmetry of recent single molecule RNA unfolding experiments. We define time asymmetry as the Jensen-Shannon divergence between trajectory probability distributions of an experiment and its time-reversed conjugate. Among other interesting properties, the length of time's arrow bounds the average dissipation and determines the difficulty of accurately estimating free energy differences in nonequilibrium experiments

Satellite remote sensing for ice sheet research

Potential research applications of satellite data over the terrestrial ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica are assessed and actions required to ensure acquisition of relevant data and appropriate processing to a form suitable for research purposes are recommended. Relevant data include high-resolution visible and SAR imagery, infrared, passive-microwave and scatterometer measurements, and surface topography information from laser and radar altimeters

Telling time with an intrinsically noisy clock

Intracellular transmission of information via chemical and transcriptional networks is thwarted by a physical limitation: the finite copy number of the constituent chemical species introduces unavoidable intrinsic noise. Here we provide a method for solving for the complete probabilistic description of intrinsically noisy oscillatory driving. We derive and numerically verify a number of simple scaling laws. Unlike in the case of measuring a static quantity, response to an oscillatory driving can exhibit a resonant frequency which maximizes information transmission. Further, we show that the optimal regulatory design is dependent on the biophysical constraints (i.e., the allowed copy number and response time). The resulting phase diagram illustrates under what conditions threshold regulation outperforms linear regulation.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure

Perfect Quantum Privacy Implies Nonlocality

Private states are those quantum states from which a perfectly secure cryptographic key can be extracted. They represent the basic unit of quantum privacy. In this work we show that all states belonging to this class violate a Bell inequality. This result establishes a connection between perfect privacy and nonlocality in the quantum domain.Comment: 4 pages, published versio