arXiv subjects

Alex Rigby

Publications and source records attributed to Alex Rigby.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2023

Speed of sound in methane under conditions of planetary interiors

We present direct observations of acoustic waves in warm dense matter. We analyze wave-number- and energy-resolved x-ray spectra taken from warm dense methane created by laser heating a cryogenic liquid jet. X-ray diffraction and inelastic free-electron scattering yield sample conditions of 0.3$\pm$0.1 eV and 0.8$\pm$0.1 g/cm$^3$, corresponding to a pressure of $\sim$13 GPa. Inelastic x-ray scattering was used to observe the collective oscillations of the ions. With a highly improved energy resolution of $\sim$50 meV, we could clearly distinguish the Brillouin peaks from the quasielastic Rayleigh feature. Data at different wave numbers were utilized to derive a sound speed of 5.9$\pm$0.5 km/s, marking a high-temperature data point for methane and demonstrating consistency with Birch's law in this parameter regime.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2023

Physically motivated moment-tensor decomposition for mining-induced seismicity

Abstract Compared to existing schemes, the decomposition of moment tensors for mining-induced seismic events into closing-crack and double-couple components has the advantage that each can be interpreted in terms of a physical source process (excavation convergence and slip/shear, respectively). Obviously, not every moment tensor permits such a decomposition, and we translate existing bounds on those that do to the Hudson source-type plot. For moment tensors falling within these bounds, it has previously been noted that there will be a infinite set of possible decompositions in general. We derive an implicit equation defining this set and suggest physically motivated criteria that can be used to select a single decomposition from it. Furthermore, for moment tensors falling outside the source-type bounds, we present a simple geometric scheme for determining the closest moment tensor within them (which can then be decomposed). To demonstrate the methods developed in this paper, we apply them to two catalogues of mining-induced seismicity.

physics.geo-ph↗

arXiv2022

Description of seismic sources in underground mines: Dynamic stress fracturing around tunnels and strainbursting

This paper considers dynamic fracturing of the rockmass surrounding a tunnel statically loaded by compressional stress as a possible source of seismic events in underground mines. This begins with two-dimensional dynamic modelling of failure for six plausible scenarios. In each case, the seismic source derived from these models has significant negative isotropic and negative compensated linear vector dipole components as well as a P-axis approximately aligned with the direction of maximum compressional principal stress. These features indicate that at wavelengths larger than the diameter of the tunnel and the extent of damage along it, seismic radiation is controlled by the elastic convergence of the surrounding rockmass rather than by rock fracturing. An analytical approximation of the source mechanism is suggested that is based solely on mechanical and geometric properties: the magnitudes $\sigma_{\mathrm{max}}$ and $\sigma_{\mathrm{min}}$ of the maximum and minimum principal stresses orthogonal to the tunnel's axis, the Poisson's ratio $\nu$ of the rockmass, the length $L_{3}$ of dynamic fracturing along the tunnel, the effective tunnel dimension $\bar{L_{A}}$, and the increase in depth of failure $\triangle d_{f}^{A}$ in the direction of $\sigma_{\mathrm{min}}$. Furthermore, it is shown that the scalar seismic moment can be approximated as $|\mathbf{M}|\approx2[(1-\nu)/(1-2\nu)]|\sigma_{max}|L_{3}\bar{L_{A}}\triangle d_{f}^{A}$. The suggested approximations are considered in the context of seismic data from a real underground mine. It is shown that many mechanisms inverted from observed waveforms are consistent with the suggested model and that the proposed source mechanism approximation can be used for the forensic analysis of damaging seismic events and quantitative monitoring of the evolution of fractured zones around tunnels.

physics.geo-ph↗

arXiv2020

Optimizing short stabilizer codes for asymmetric channels

For a number of quantum channels of interest, phase-flip errors occur far more frequently than bit-flip errors. When transmitting across these asymmetric channels, the decoding error rate can be reduced by tailoring the code used to the channel. However, analyzing the performance of stabilizer codes on these channels is made difficult by the #P-completeness of optimal decoding. To address this, at least for short codes, we demonstrate that the decoding error rate can be approximated by considering only a fraction of the possible errors caused by the channel. Using this approximate error rate calculation, we extend a recent result to show that there are a number of $[[5\leq n\leq12,1\leq k\leq3]]$ cyclic stabilizer codes that perform well on two different asymmetric channels. We also demonstrate that an indication of a stabilizer code's error rate is given by considering the error rate of a classical binary code related to the stabilizer. This classical error rate is far less complex to calculate, and we use it as the basis for a hill climbing algorithm, which we show to be effective at optimizing codes for asymmetric channels. Furthermore, we demonstrate that simple modifications can be made to our hill climbing algorithm to search for codes with desired structure requirements.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Heuristic construction of codeword stabilized codes

The family of codeword stabilized codes encompasses the stabilizer codes as well as many of the best known nonadditive codes. However, constructing optimal $n$-qubit codeword stabilized codes is made difficult by two main factors. The first of these is the exponential growth with $n$ of the number of graphs on which a code can be based. The second is the NP-hardness of the maximum clique search required to construct a code from a given graph. We address the second of these issues through the use of a heuristic clique finding algorithm. This approach has allowed us to find $((9,97\leq K\leq100,2))$ and $((11,387\leq K\leq416,2))$ codes, which are larger than any previously known codes. To address the exponential growth of the search space, we demonstrate that graphs that give large codes typically yield clique graphs with a large number of nodes. The number of such nodes can be determined relatively efficiently, and we demonstrate that $n$-node graphs yielding large clique graphs can be found using a genetic algorithm. This algorithm uses a novel spectral bisection based crossover operation that we demonstrate to be superior to more standard crossover operations. Using this genetic algorithm approach, we have found $((13,18,4))$ and $((13,20,4))$ codes that are larger than any previously known code. We also consider codes for the amplitude damping channel. We demonstrate that for $n\leq9$, optimal codeword stabilized codes correcting a single amplitude damping error can be found by considering standard form codes that detect one of only three of the $3^{n}$ possible equivalent error sets. By combining this error set selection with the genetic algorithm approach, we have found $((11,68))$ and $((11,80))$ codes capable of correcting a single amplitude damping error and $((11,4))$, $((12,4))$, $((13,8))$, and $((14,16))$ codes capable of correcting two amplitude damping

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Modified belief propagation decoders for quantum low-density parity-check codes

Quantum low-density parity-check codes can be decoded using a syndrome based $\mathrm{GF}(4)$ belief propagation decoder. However, the performance of this decoder is limited both by unavoidable $4$-cycles in the code's factor graph and the degenerate nature of quantum errors. For the subclass of CSS codes, the number of $4$-cycles can be reduced by breaking an error into an $X$ and $Z$ component and decoding each with an individual $\mathrm{GF}(2)$ based decoder. However, this comes at the expense of ignoring potential correlations between these two error components. We present a number of modified belief propagation decoders that address these issues. We propose a $\mathrm{GF}(2)$ based decoder for CSS codes that reintroduces error correlations by reattempting decoding with adjusted error probabilities. We also propose the use of an augmented decoder, which has previously been suggested for classical binary low-density parity-check codes. This decoder iteratively reattempts decoding on factor graphs that have a subset of their check nodes duplicated. The augmented decoder can be based on a $\mathrm{GF}(4)$ decoder for any code, a $\mathrm{GF}(2)$ decoder for CSS code, or even a supernode decoder for a dual-containing CSS code. For CSS codes, we further propose a $\mathrm{GF}(2)$ based decoder that combines the augmented decoder with error probability adjustment. We demonstrate the performance of these new decoders on a range of different codes, showing that they perform favorably compared to other decoders presented in literature.

quant-ph↗