High Resolution Flicker-Noise-Free Frequency Measurements of Weak Microwave Signals

Amplification is usually necessary when measuring the frequency instability of microwave signals. In this work, we develop a flicker noise free frequency measurement system based on a common or shared amplifier. First, we show that correlated flicker phase noise can be cancelled in such a system. Then we compare the new system with the conventional by simultaneously measuring the beat frequency from two cryogenic sapphire oscillators with parts in 10^15 fractional frequency instability. We determine for low power, below -80 dBm, the measurements were not limited by correlated noise processes but by thermal noise of the readout amplifier. In this regime, we show that the new readout system performs as expected and at the same level as the standard system but with only half the number of amplifiers. We also show that, using a standard readout system, the next generation of cryogenic sapphire oscillators could be flicker phase noise limited when instability reaches parts in 10^16 or betterComment: Accepted for publication in IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory & Technique

Collective learning and optimal consensus decisions in social animal groups.

Published onlineJournal ArticleResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov'tResearch Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.Learning has been studied extensively in the context of isolated individuals. However, many organisms are social and consequently make decisions both individually and as part of a collective. Reaching consensus necessarily means that a single option is chosen by the group, even when there are dissenting opinions. This decision-making process decouples the otherwise direct relationship between animals' preferences and their experiences (the outcomes of decisions). Instead, because an individual's learned preferences influence what others experience, and therefore learn about, collective decisions couple the learning processes between social organisms. This introduces a new, and previously unexplored, dynamical relationship between preference, action, experience and learning. Here we model collective learning within animal groups that make consensus decisions. We reveal how learning as part of a collective results in behavior that is fundamentally different from that learned in isolation, allowing grouping organisms to spontaneously (and indirectly) detect correlations between group members' observations of environmental cues, adjust strategy as a function of changing group size (even if that group size is not known to the individual), and achieve a decision accuracy that is very close to that which is provably optimal, regardless of environmental contingencies. Because these properties make minimal cognitive demands on individuals, collective learning, and the capabilities it affords, may be widespread among group-living organisms. Our work emphasizes the importance and need for theoretical and experimental work that considers the mechanism and consequences of learning in a social context.This research was supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant 1210029 to ABK, a National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Fellowship to NM, and National Science Foundation Award PHY-0848755 and EAGER Grant IOS-1251585, Office of Naval Research Award N00014-09-1-1074, Army Research Office Grant W911NG-11-1-0385, and Human Frontiers Science Program Award RGP0065/2012 to IDC

Large-scale periodicity in the distribution of QSO absorption-line systems

The spatial-temporal distribution of absorption-line systems (ALSs) observed in QSO spectra within the cosmological redshift interval z = 0.0--4.3 is investigated on the base of our updated catalog of absorption systems. We consider so called metallic systems including basically lines of heavy elements. The sample of the data displays regular variations (with amplitudes ~ 15 -- 20%) in the z-distribution of ALSs as well as in the eta-distribution, where eta is a dimensionless line-of-sight comoving distance, relatively to smoother dependences. The eta-distribution reveals the periodicity with period Delta eta = 0.036 +/- 0.002, which corresponds to a spatial characteristic scale (108 +/- 6) h(-1) Mpc or (alternatively) a temporal interval (350 +/- 20) h(-1) Myr for the LambdaCDM cosmological model. We discuss a possibility of a spatial interpretation of the results treating the pattern obtained as a trace of an order imprinted on the galaxy clustering in the early Universe.Comment: AASTeX, 13 pages, with 9 figures, Accepted for publication in Astrophysics & Space Scienc

Colloquium: Comparison of Astrophysical and Terrestrial Frequency Standards

We have re-analyzed the stability of pulse arrival times from pulsars and white dwarfs using several analysis tools for measuring the noise characteristics of sampled time and frequency data. We show that the best terrestrial artificial clocks substantially exceed the performance of astronomical sources as time-keepers in terms of accuracy (as defined by cesium primary frequency standards) and stability. This superiority in stability can be directly demonstrated over time periods up to two years, where there is high quality data for both. Beyond 2 years there is a deficiency of data for clock/clock comparisons and both terrestrial and astronomical clocks show equal performance being equally limited by the quality of the reference timescales used to make the comparisons. Nonetheless, we show that detailed accuracy evaluations of modern terrestrial clocks imply that these new clocks are likely to have a stability better than any astronomical source up to comparison times of at least hundreds of years. This article is intended to provide a correct appreciation of the relative merits of natural and artificial clocks. The use of natural clocks as tests of physics under the most extreme conditions is entirely appropriate; however, the contention that these natural clocks, particularly white dwarfs, can compete as timekeepers against devices constructed by mankind is shown to be doubtful.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures; presented at the International Frequency Control Symposium, Newport Beach, Calif., June, 2010; presented at Pulsar Conference 2010, October 12th, Sardinia; accepted 13th September 2010 for publication in Reviews of Modern Physic

Test of Lorentz Invariance in Electrodynamics Using Rotating Cryogenic Sapphire Microwave Oscillators

We present the first results from a rotating Michelson-Morley experiment that uses two orthogonally orientated cryogenic sapphire resonator-oscillators operating in whispering gallery modes near 10 GHz. The experiment is used to test for violations of Lorentz Invariance in the frame-work of the photon sector of the Standard Model Extension (SME), as well as the isotropy term of the Robertson-Mansouri-Sexl (RMS) framework. In the SME we set a new bound on the previously unmeasured $\tilde{\kappa}_{e-}^{ZZ}$ component of $2.1(5.7)\times10^{-14}$, and set more stringent bounds by up to a factor of 7 on seven other components. In the RMS a more stringent bound of $-0.9(2.0)\times 10^{-10}$ on the isotropy parameter, $P_{MM}=\delta - \beta + {1/2}$ is set, which is more than a factor of 7 improvement. More detailed description of the experiment and calculations can be found in: hep-ph/0506200Comment: Final published version, 4 pages, references adde

Ultra-Low Noise Microwave Extraction from Fiber-Based Optical Frequency Comb

In this letter, we report on all-optical fiber approach to the generation of ultra-low noise microwave signals. We make use of two erbium fiber mode-locked lasers phase locked to a common ultra-stable laser source to generate an 11.55 GHz signal with an unprecedented relative phase noise of -111 dBc/Hz at 1 Hz from the carrier.The residual frequency instability of the microwave signals derived from the two optical frequency combs is below 2.3 10^(-16) at 1s and about 4 10^(-19) at 6.5 10^(4)s (in 5 Hz bandwidth, three days continuous operation).Comment: 12 pages, 3 figure