Universal patterns in sound amplitudes of songs and music genres
We report a statistical analysis of more than eight thousand songs. Specifically, we investigated the probability
distribution of the normalized sound amplitudes. Our findings suggest a universal form of distribution that agrees
well with a one-parameter stretched Gaussian. We also argue that this parameter can give information on music
complexity, and consequently it helps classify songs as well as music genres. Additionally, we present statistical
evidence that correlation aspects of the songs are directly related to the non-Gaussian nature of their sound
amplitude distributions.
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LQ12585
Emergence and Decline of Scientific Paradigms
Scientific paradigms have a tendency to rise fast and decline slowly. This asymmetry reflects the difficulty in developing a truly original idea, compared to the ease at which a concept can be eroded by numerous modifications. Here we formulate a model for the emergence and spread of ideas which deals with this asymmetry by constraining the ability of agents to return to already abandoned concepts. The model exhibits a fairly regular pattern of global paradigm shifts, where older paradigms are eroded and subsequently replaced by new ones. The model sets the theme for a new class of pattern formation models, where local dynamics breaks the detailed balance in a way that prevents old states from defending themselves against new nucleating or invading states. The model allows for frozen events in terms of the coexistence of multiple metastable states.
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LW12017
MISSING INFORMATION LOCATED EXPERIMENTALLY
There are many physical processes in nature which lead to apparent loss of
information. In the present paper, for the first time, we have
experimentally located the missing information and demonstrated the
validity of quantum no-hiding theorem. To test this we have considered
randomization of a qubit as a prime example of the bleaching process and
reconstructed the missing information from the simplest possible
environment which in our case is a two-qubit system. In the quantum world
if a system interacts with the environment it looses the purity and even
it might end up being in a completely mixed (unpolarized) state that has
no information about the original. Then one may wonder where is the
missing information. The no-hiding theorem is a fundamental result in
quantum information theory which addresses this issue precisely. To put
it simply, the theorem tells us that if any physical process leads to loss
of quantum information, then it must be found in the rest of the
environment with no information being hidden in the correlations. The
result can be applied to many physical scenarios starting from quantum
state randomization, thermalization, decoherence, quantum teleportation,
black hole evaporation and many more. Furthermore, the no-hiding theorem
generalizes the Landauer erasure principle where an arbitrary quantum
state transforms to a fixed mixed state. Indeed, this will have wide
impact whenever one encounters the issue of information loss. The
no-hiding theorem also demonstrates the notion of conservation of quantum
information. Since this is universally valid in quantum world we believe
that its experimental test constitutes an important step.
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LZ12219
Rotate the multiferroic blues away
For decades, researchers have looked for multiferroic materials in which the
magnetization could be controlled with an electric field. But finding a
material with the right combination of properties for practical applications
- a large polarization and a strong polarization-magnetization coupling -
has proven a difficult challenge. In our Letter, we identify a class of
multiferroics in which combinations of certain atomic displacement patterns
- octahedral rotation distortions - give rise to both a large polarization
and ferromagnetism. This result is remarkable because octahedral rotations
usually cannot individually produce a polarization. Most importantly, the
rotations are coupled to the magnetization in such a way that when an
electric field is used to change the direction of the polarization, the
magnetization also changes direction. This is precisely the type of
electric-field controllable magnetic material that scientists have long
searched for. Our work opens a new direction for the discovery of these
technologically important materials.
