13,074 research outputs found
The compositional construction of Markov processes II
In an earlier paper we introduced a notion of Markov automaton, together with
parallel operations which permit the compositional description of Markov
processes. We illustrated by showing how to describe a system of n dining
philosophers, and we observed that Perron-Frobenius theory yields a proof that
the probability of reaching deadlock tends to one as the number of steps goes
to infinity. In this paper we add sequential operations to the algebra (and the
necessary structure to support them). The extra operations permit the
description of hierarchical systems, and ones with evolving geometry
Low-temperature anomalies of a vapor deposited glass
We investigate the low temperature properties of two-dimensional
Lennard-Jones glass films, prepared in silico both by liquid cooling and by
physical vapor deposition. We identify deep in the solid phase a crossover
temperature , at which slow dynamics and enhanced heterogeneity emerge.
Around , localized defects become visible, leading to vibrational
anomalies as compared to standard solids. We find that on average,
decreases in samples with lower inherent structure energy, suggesting that such
anomalies will be suppressed in ultra-stable glass films, prepared both by very
slow liquid cooling and vapor deposition.Comment: 10 pages including appendices, 8 figures. Version accepted for
Physical Review Material
Implementation of optimal phase-covariant cloning machines
The optimal phase covariant cloning machine (PQCM) broadcasts the information
associated to an input qubit into a multi-qubit systems, exploiting a partial
a-priori knowledge of the input state. This additional a priori information
leads to a higher fidelity than for the universal cloning. The present article
first analyzes different experimental schemes to implement the 1->3 PQCM. The
method is then generalized to any 1->M machine for odd value of M by a
theoretical approach based on the general angular momentum formalism. Finally
different experimental schemes based either on linear or non-linear methods and
valid for single photon polarization encoded qubits are discussed.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure
High concordance between trained nurses and gastroenterologists in evaluating recordings of small bowel video capsule endoscopy (VCE)
Background & Aims: The video capsule endoscopy (VCE) is an accurate and validated tool to investigate the entire small bowel mucosa, but VCE recordings interpretation by the gastroenterologist is time-consuming. A pre-reading of VCE recordings by an expert nurse could be accurate and cost saving. We assessed the concordance between nurses and gastroenterologists in detecting lesions on VCE examinations. Methods: This was a prospective study enrolling consecutive patients who had undergone VCE in clinical practice. Two trained nurses and two expert gastroenterologists participated in the study. At VCE pre-reading the nurses selected any abnormalities, saved them as âthumbnailsâ and classified the detected lesions as a vascular abnormality, ulcerative lesion, polyp, tumor mass, and unclassified lesion. Then, the gastroenterologist evaluated and interpreted the selected lesions and, successively, reviewed the entire video for potential missed lesions. The time for VCE evaluation was recorded. Results: A total of 95 VCE procedures performed on consecutive patients (M/F: 47/48; mean age: 63 ± 12 years, range: 27â86 years) were evaluated. Overall, the nurses detected at least one lesion in 54 (56.8%) patients. There was total agreement between nurses and gastroenterologists, no missing lesions being discovered at a second look of the entire VCE recording by the physician. The pre-reading procedure by nurse allowed a time reduction of medical evaluation from 49 (33-69) to 10 (8-16) minutes (difference:-79.6%). Conclusions: Our data suggest that trained nurses can accurately identify and select relevant lesions in thumbnails that subsequently were faster reviewed by the gastroenterologist for a final diagnosis. This could significantly reduce the cost of VCE procedure
Multi-path entanglement of two photons
We present a novel optical device based on an integrated system of
micro-lenses and single mode optical fibers. It allows to collect and direct
into many modes two photons generated by spontaneous parametric down
conversion. By this device multiqubit entangled states and/or multilevel
qu-it states of two photons, encoded in the longitudinal momentum degree of
freedom, are created. The multi-path photon entanglement realized by this
device is expected to find important applications in modern quantum information
technology.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, revtex, revised versio
Coherent coupling between localised and propagating phonon polaritons
Following the recent observation of localised phonon polaritons in
user-defined silicon carbide nano-resonators, here we demonstrate coherent
coupling between those localised modes and propagating phonon polaritons bound
to the surface of the nano-resonator's substrate. In order to obtain
phase-matching, the nano-resonators have been fabricated to serve the double
function of hosting the localised modes, while also acting as grating for the
propagating ones. The coherent coupling between long lived, optically
accessible localised modes, and low-loss propagative ones, opens the way to the
design and realisation of phonon-polariton based quantum circuits
Very Large Telescope Observations of the peculiar globular cluster NGC6712. Discovery of a UV, H-alpha excess star in the core
We present results from multi-band observations in the central region of the
cluster NGC6712 with the ESO-Very Large Telescope. Using high resolution images
we have identified three UV-excess stars. In particular two of them are within
the cluster core, a few arcsec apart: the first object is star "S" which
previous studies identified as the best candidate to the optical counterpart to
the luminous X-ray source detected in this cluster. The other UV object shows
clearcut H-alpha emission and, for this reason, is an additional promising
interacting binary candidate (a quiescent LMXB or a CV). The presence of two
unrelated interacting binary systems a few arcsec apart in the core of this
low-density cluster is somewhat surprising and supports the hypothesis that the
(internal) dynamical history of the cluster and/or the (external) interaction
with the Galaxy might play a fundamental role in the formation of these
peculiar objects.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures. ApJL in pres
Future weak lensing constraints in a dark coupled universe
Coupled cosmologies can predict values for the cosmological parameters at low
redshifts which may differ substantially from the parameters values within
non-interacting cosmologies. Therefore, low redshift probes, as the growth of
structure and the dark matter distribution via galaxy and weak lensing surveys
constitute a unique tool to constrain interacting dark sector models. We focus
here on weak lensing forecasts from future Euclid and LSST-like surveys
combined with the ongoing Planck cosmic microwave background experiment. We
find that these future data could constrain the dimensionless coupling to be
smaller than a few . The coupling parameter is strongly
degenerate with the cold dark matter energy density and the
Hubble constant .These degeneracies may cause important biases in the
cosmological parameter values if in the universe there exists an interaction
among the dark matter and dark energy sectors.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure
Determining the Neutrino Mass Hierarchy with Cosmology
The combination of current large scale structure and cosmic microwave
background (CMB) anisotropies data can place strong constraints on the sum of
the neutrino masses. Here we show that future cosmic shear experiments, in
combination with CMB constraints, can provide the statistical accuracy required
to answer questions about differences in the mass of individual neutrino
species. Allowing for the possibility that masses are non-degenerate we combine
Fisher matrix forecasts for a weak lensing survey like Euclid with those for
the forthcoming Planck experiment. Under the assumption that neutrino mass
splitting is described by a normal hierarchy we find that the combination
Planck and Euclid will possibly reach enough sensitivity to put a constraint on
the mass of a single species. Using a Bayesian evidence calculation we find
that such future experiments could provide strong evidence for either a normal
or an inverted neutrino hierachy. Finally we show that if a particular neutrino
hierachy is assumed then this could bias cosmological parameter constraints,
for example the dark energy equation of state parameter, by > 1\sigma, and the
sum of masses by 2.3\sigma.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, 3 table
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