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At least 847 records · Page 47

Gaussian approximation versus nearly exact performance analysis of optical communication systems with PPM signaling and APD receivers

A 25-Mb/s direct-detection optical communication system that used Q = 4 PPM (pulse-position modulation) signaling was constructed and its performance measured under laboratory conditions. The system used a single-mode AlGaAs laser diode (lambda = 834 nm) and low-noise silicon avalanche photodiode (APD). A procedure for numerically computing system performance is given that uses the nearly exact Webb approximation of the true Conradi distribution for the APD output and does not require excessive amounts of computer time. Comparison revealed that modeling the APD ouptut as a Gaussian process under conditions of negligible background radiation and low (less than 10 to the -12 A) APD bulk leakage currents leads to substantial underestimates of optimal APD gain and overestimates of system bit error probability. Examples illustrate the breakdown of the Gaussian approximation in assessing system performance. The measured performance was in excellent agreement with that predicted by the computational procedure. The system achieved a bit error probability of 10 to the -6 at a received signal energy, corresponding to an average of 60 absorbed photons/bit and optimal APD gain of 700.

Davidson, Frederic M.↗

Role of non-Gaussian quantum fluctuations in neutrino entanglement

The flavor evolution of neutrinos in environments with large neutrino number densities is an open problem at the nexus of astrophysics and neutrino flavor physics. Among the many unanswered questions pertaining to this problem, it remains to be determined whether neutrino-neutrino coherent scattering can give rise to nontrivial quantum entanglement among neutrinos, and whether this can affect the flavor evolution in a meaningful way. To gain further insight into this question, here we study a simple system of two interacting neutrino beams and obtain the exact phase space explored by this system using the Husimi quasiprobability distribution. We observe that the entanglement induced by the coupling leads to strong delocalization in phase-space with largely non-Gaussian quantum fluctuations. The link between the neutrino entanglement and quantum fluctuations is illustrated using the one- and two-neutrino entropy. In addition, we propose an approximate phase-space method to describe the interacting neutrinos problem, where the exact evolution is replaced by a set of independent mean-field evolutions with a statistical sampling of the initial conditions. The phase-space approach provides a simple and accurate method to describe the gross features of the neutrino entanglement problem. Applications are shown using time-independent and time-dependent Hamiltonians in the nonadiabatic regime.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Primordial non-Gaussianity from the completed SDSS-IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey II: measurements in Fourier space with optimal weights

ABSTRACT We present measurements of the local primordial non-Gaussianity parameter $f_{\mathrm{NL}}^\mathrm{local} $from the clustering of 343 708 quasars with redshifts 0.8 < z < 2.2 distributed over 4808 deg2 from the final data release (DR16) of the extended Baryon Acoustic Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS), the largest volume spectroscopic survey up to date. Our analysis is performed in Fourier space, using the power spectrum monopole at very large scales to constrain the scale-dependent halo bias. We demonstrate the robustness of our analysis pipeline with EZ-mock catalogues that simulate the eBOSS DR16 target selection. We carefully assess the impact of systematics on our measurement, exploiting a novel neural network scheme for cleaning the DR16 sample as well as test multiple contamination removal methods. We estimate the bias due to the overcorrection of the systematic removal to be sub-dominant compared to the statistical uncertainty. We find fNL = −12 ± 21 (68 per cent confidence) for the main clustering sample including quasars with redshifts between 0.8 and 2.2, after applying redshift weighting techniques, designed for non-Gaussianity measurement from large scales structure, to optimize our analysis, which improve our results by 37 per cent.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Particle classification by image analysis improves understanding of corn stover degradation mechanisms during deconstruction

Biomass feedstock heterogeneity is a principal roadblock to implementation of the biorefinery concept. Even within an identical cultivar of corn stover, different bales contain not only varying abundance moisture, ash, glucan, and other chemical compounds, but also varying abundance of tissue anatomies (e.g., leaf, husk, cob, or stalk). These different anatomical components not only differ in their response to pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis to glucose, but also vary in their mechanical and conveyance properties. Although this heterogeneous nature of corn stover feedstock has been identified as a challenge, a fundamental knowledge gap of how these tissues behave during biorefining processing remains. Here, we demonstrate the use of a commercial fiber image analyzer typically used for wood fiber characterization to monitor the particle size and shapes of non-woody feedstock during milling, pretreatment, and hydrolysis. Additionally, we present novel use of Gaussian process classification to distinguish bundle, parenchyma, and fiber particles to an accuracy of 96.4%. Quantitative probability distribution plots for characteristics such as length and roundness allow elucidation of particle morphology as pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis progress. In both stalk pith and stalk rind, particles peel into individual cells whose walls are subsequently fragmented during enzymatic hydrolysis.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗

Beam loss modeling and mitigation due to intra-beam stripping

Intra-Beam Stripping (IBS) is a critical beam loss mechanism in high-intensity H- linacs and presents a significant limitation to increasing beam power. This work presents a computational framework to evaluate and mitigate IBS-induced beam loss along the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) LINAC. Our calculation is based on an analytic theory and involves evaluation of a 9D integral using the Monte-Carlo technique. We first benchmarked our calculations against simplified, analytically solvable cases. We then applied our algorithm to Gaussian bunches with a known probability density function (PDF). We next expanded our algorithm to arbitrary bunch distributions using the Neural Spline Flow (NSF) models trained on PyORBIT tracking data. In the future, we plan to validate our algorithm experimentally and apply it to design IBS mitigation strategies.

Nln, Shivam [ORNL]↗

Complexity-theoretic foundations of BosonSampling with a linear number of modes

BosonSampling is the leading candidate for demonstrating quantum computational advantage in photonic systems. While we have recently seen many impressive experimental demonstrations, there is still a formidable distance between the complexity-theoretic hardness arguments and current experiments. One of the largest gaps involves the ratio of {particles} to modes -- all current hardness evidence assumes a dilute regime in which the number of linear optical modes scales at least quadratically in the number of particles. By contrast, current experiments operate in a saturated regime with a linear number of modes. In this paper we bridge this gap, bringing the hardness evidence for experiments in the saturated regime to the same level as had been previously established for the dilute regime. This involves proving a new worst-to-average-case reduction for computing the Permanent which is robust to both large numbers of row repetitions and also to distributions over matrices with correlated entries. We also apply similar arguments to give evidence for hardness of Gaussian BosonSampling in the saturated regime.

Computational Complexity (cs.CC)↗

The topology of large-scale structure. I - Topology and the random phase hypothesis

Many models for the formation of galaxies and large-scale structure assume a spectrum of random phase (Gaussian), small-amplitude density fluctuations as initial conditions. In such scenarios, the topology of the galaxy distribution on large scales relates directly to the topology of the initial density fluctuations. Here a quantitative measure of topology - the genus of contours in a smoothed density distribution - is described and applied to numerical simulations of galaxy clustering, to a variety of three-dimensional toy models, and to a volume-limited sample of the CfA redshift survey. For random phase distributions the genus of density contours exhibits a universal dependence on threshold density. The clustering simulations show that a smoothing length of 2-3 times the mass correlation length is sufficient to recover the topology of the initial fluctuations from the evolved galaxy distribution. Cold dark matter and white noise models retain a random phase topology at shorter smoothing lengths, but massive neutrino models develop a cellular topology.

Weinberg, David H.↗

An analysis of the temperature distribution in finite solid-state laser rods

An expression for the time-dependent temperature distribution in a finite solid-state laser rod, for an arbitrary distribution of pump energy, has been derived. The specific case of end pumping by circular (constant) or Gaussian beams is included. This formulation was used to predict the time evolution of temperature in Ti:sapphire laser rods and in Nd:YAG rods of specific dimensions.

Farrukh, Usamah O.↗

On linear structure and phase rotation invariant properties of block 2(sup l)-PSK modulation codes

Two important structural properties of block 2(l)-ary PSK (phase shift keying) modulation codes, linear structure and phase symmetry, are investigated. For an additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel, the error performance of a modulation code depends on its squared Euclidean distance distribution. Linear structure of a code makes the error performance analysis much easier. Phase symmetry of a code is important in resolving carrier phase ambiguity and ensuring rapid carrier phase resynchronization after temporary loss of synchronization. It is desirable for a code to have as many phase symmetries as possible. A 2(l)-ary modulation code is represented here as a code with symbols from the integer group. S sub 2(l) PSK = (0,1,2,...,2(l)-1), under the modulo-2(l) addition. The linear structure of block 2(l)-ary PSK modulation codes over S sub 2(l)-ary PSK with respect to the modulo-2(l) vector addition is defined, and conditions under which a block 2(l)-ary PSK modulation code is linear are derived. Once the linear structure is developed, phase symmetry of a block 2(l)-ary PSK modulation code is studied. It is a necessary and sufficient condition for a block 2(l)-PSK modulation code, which is linear as a binary code, to be invariant under 180 deg/2(l-h) phase rotation, for 1 is less than or equal to h is less than or equal to l. A list of short 8-PSK and 16-PSK modulation codes is given, together with their linear structure and the smallest phase rotation for which a code is invariant.

Lin, Shu↗

Finite difference solution for transient cooling of a radiating-conducting semitransparent layer

Transient solutions were obtained for cooling a semitransparent material by radiation and conduction. The layer is in a vacuum environment so the only means for heat dissipation is by radiation from within the medium leaving through the boundaries. Heat conduction serves only to partially equalize temperatures across the layer. As the optical thickness is increased, steep temperature gradients exist near the boundaries when conduction is relatively small. A solution procedure is required that will provide accurate temperature distributions adjacent to the boundaries, or radiative heat losses will be in error. The approach utilized numerical Gaussian integration to obtain the local radiative source term, and a finite difference procedure with variable space and time increments to solve the transient energy equation.

Siegel, Robert↗

Large-scale structure in the Southern Sky Redshift Survey

The power spectrum from the Southern Sky Redshift Survey and the CfA samples are measured in order to explore the amplitude of fluctuation in the galaxy density. At lambda of less than or equal to 30/h Mpc the observed power spectrum is quite consistent with the standard CDM model. At larger scales the data indicate an excess of power over the standard CDM model. The observed power spectrum from these optical galaxy samples is in good agreement with that drawn from the sparsely sampled IRAS galaxies. The shape of the power spectrum is also studied by examining the relation between the genus per unit volume and the smoothing length. It is found that, over Gaussian smoothing scales from 6 to 14/h Mpc, the power spectrum has a slope of about -1. The topology of the galaxy density field is studied by measuring the shift of the genus curve from the Gaussian case. Over all smoothing scales studied, the observed genus curves are consistent with a random phase distribution of the galaxy density field, as predicted by the inflationary scenarios.

Park, Changbom↗

Shape, Topography and Roughness of 433 Eros

A global topographic map of Eros shows that Himeros and Shoemaker Region are giant craters. The slope distributions as inferred from tracks and as inferred from surface elements are distinct, and the former is Gaussian at small slopes. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.

Cheng, A. F.↗

Role of non-gaussian quantum fluctuations in neutrino entanglement

The flavor evolution of neutrinos in environments with large neutrino number densities is an open problem at the nexus of astrophysics and neutrino flavor physics. Among the many unanswered questions pertaining to this problem, it remains to be determined whether neutrino-neutrino coherent scattering can give rise to nontrivial quantum entanglement among neutrinos, and whether this can affect the flavor evolution in a meaningful way. To gain further insight into this question, here we study a simple system of two interacting neutrino beams, and obtain the exact phase-space explored by this system using the Husimi quasi-probability distribution. We observe that the entanglement induced by the coupling leads to strong delocalization in phase-space with largely non-Gaussian quantum fluctuations. The link between the neutrino entanglement and quantum fluctuations is illustrated using the one- and two-neutrino entropy. In addition, we propose an approximate phase-space method to describe the interacting neutrinos problem, where the exact evolution is replaced by a set of independent mean-field evolutions with a statistical sampling of the initial conditions. The phase-space approach provides a simple and accurate method to describe the gross features of the neutrino entanglement problem. Applications are shown using time-independent and time-dependent Hamiltonians in the non-adiabatic regime.

Patwardhan, Amol↗

Thinking Bayesian for plasma physicists

Bayesian statistics offers a powerful technique for plasma physicists to infer knowledge from the heterogeneous data types encountered. To explain this power, a simple example, Gaussian Process Regression, and the application of Bayesian statistics to inverse problems are explained. The likelihood is the key distribution because it contains the data model, or theoretic predictions, of the desired quantities. By using prior knowledge, the distribution of the inferred quantities of interest based on the data given can be inferred. Because it is a distribution of inferred quantities given the data and not a single prediction, uncertainty quantification is a natural consequence of Bayesian statistics. The benefits of machine learning in developing surrogate models for solving inverse problems are discussed, as well as progress in quantitatively understanding the errors that such a model introduces.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Dynamics of heavy quarks in strongly coupled $\mathcal{N}$ = 4 SYM plasma

We calculate the probability distribution P(k) for a heavy quark with velocity v propagating through strongly coupled N = 4 SYM plasma in the ’t Hooft limit (N c → ∞, λ = g 2 N c → ∞) at a temperature T to acquire a momentum k due to interactions with the plasma. This distribution encodes the well-known drag coefficient η D and the transverse and longitudinal momentum diffusion coefficients κ T and κ L . The jet quenching parameter $\hat{q}$ can be extracted from P(k) for v = 1. Going beyond these known Gaussian characteristics of P(k), our calculation determines all of the higher order and mixed moments to leading order in 1/$\sqrt{λ}$ for the first time. These non-Gaussian features of P(k) include qualitatively novel correlations between longitudinal energy loss and transverse momentum broadening at nonzero v. We show that all higher moments scale characteristically with an effective temperature of the boosted plasma in the heavy quark rest frame, and we demonstrate that these non-Gaussian characteristics can be sizable in magnitude and even dominant in physically relevant situations. We use these results to derive a Kolmogorov equation for the evolution of the probability distribution for the total momentum of a heavy quark that propagates through strongly coupled plasma. This evolution equation accounts for all higher order correlations between transverse momentum broadening and longitudinal energy loss, which we have calculated from first principles. It reduces to a Fokker-Planck equation when truncated to only include the effects of η D , κ T and κ L . Remarkably, while heavy quarks do not reach kinetic equilibrium with the plasma if evolved with this Fokker-Planck equation, by showing that the Boltzmann distribution is a static solution of the all-order Kolmogorov equation that we have derived we demonstrate that heavy quarks do reach kinetic equilibrium if evolved with this equation. Our results thus provide a dynamically complete framework for understanding the thermalization of a heavy quark that may be initially far from equilibrium in the strongly coupled N = 4 SYM plasma — as well as new insight into heavy quark transport and equilibration in quark-gluon plasma.

Holography and Hydrodynamics↗

Particle Filtering for Model-Based Anomaly Detection in Sensor Networks

A novel technique has been developed for anomaly detection of rocket engine test stand (RETS) data. The objective was to develop a system that postprocesses a csv file containing the sensor readings and activities (time-series) from a rocket engine test, and detects any anomalies that might have occurred during the test. The output consists of the names of the sensors that show anomalous behavior, and the start and end time of each anomaly. In order to reduce the involvement of domain experts significantly, several data-driven approaches have been proposed where models are automatically acquired from the data, thus bypassing the cost and effort of building system models. Many supervised learning methods can efficiently learn operational and fault models, given large amounts of both nominal and fault data. However, for domains such as RETS data, the amount of anomalous data that is actually available is relatively small, making most supervised learning methods rather ineffective, and in general met with limited success in anomaly detection. The fundamental problem with existing approaches is that they assume that the data are iid, i.e., independent and identically distributed, which is violated in typical RETS data. None of these techniques naturally exploit the temporal information inherent in time series data from the sensor networks. There are correlations among the sensor readings, not only at the same time, but also across time. However, these approaches have not explicitly identified and exploited such correlations. Given these limitations of model-free methods, there has been renewed interest in model-based methods, specifically graphical methods that explicitly reason temporally. The Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) in a Linear Dynamic System approach assumes that the multi-dimensional test data is a mixture of multi-variate Gaussians, and fits a given number of Gaussian clusters with the help of the wellknown Expectation Maximization (EM) algorithm. The parameters thus learned are used for calculating the joint distribution of the observations. However, this GMM assumption is essentially an approximation and signals the potential viability of non-parametric density estimators. This is the key idea underlying the new approach.

Solano, Wanda↗

Stochastic Distribution Control Theory-Its Potential Application in Risk Management in Financial Systems

Stochastic Distribution Control (SDC) theory [1], originated by the author in 1996, aims at developing modeling and control strategies for dynamic and non-Gaussian stochastic systems by controlling the shape of the probability density functions of some concerned variables and parameters in stochastic systems. It generalizes the capability of standard stochastic differential equations and can therefore be applied to generic non-Gaussian systems. Since it was established in 1996, it has found a wide spectrum of applications in non-Gaussian stochastic system control, data mining, filtering and optimization for uncertain systems. In this short opinion article, discussions will be made on potential applications of SDC theory to financial systems in terms of risk analysis and management.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗