Information Definition and 999 Threads

Anybody have suggestions on any reading material that would be (sorta) accessible to an undergrad? Intro stuff, anything would be great. THANKS!

What I am interested in here specifically is - how are bits represented? Is it as "1" is represented with a sent photon [at those specific frequencies] and "0" with a .. silence (no photon sent) ? ... but this, in that case, would get really complicated, because other photons from other...

Gravity, information, and cosmology (was "Thoughts about the universe") There was a thread here a few minutes ago, posted by a new user, called "Thoughts about the universe". It contained reflections about gravity, information, and the universe, that were probably inspired by the holographic...

So the basic understanding I have of electron transitions for EDX, XES and other x-ray fluorescence techniques is that a transition from: L to K shell is named K\alpha M to K shell is K\beta N to K shell is K\gamma M to L shell is K\alpha etc. Grand, easy... google leads me to multiple diagrams...

I was wondering, well basically if photons carry information about themselves that is interpreted by our brain? I ask because I was thinking about things like color and distance. Correct me if I'm wrong but we see different colors because of the way the molecules or elements that make up an...

Hi I am wondering in which way a vector network analyzer obtains the phase information (in SFCW / FMCW mode). Can someone provide me further information about how an VNA works? Thanks!

I need some help finding out the energy density of different heavy water reactors. In IAEA research reactor database they only list the thermal output of some HWR - RR, but they lack information about the dimensions of the core, thereby making it difficult to figure out their energy density...

Homework Statement A 5324 cubic foot tank with square base and an open top is to be constructed of a sheet of steel of a given thickness. Find the length of a side of the square base of the tank with minimum weight.Homework Equations The Attempt at a Solution I'm usually fairly decent at...

Regarding the problem of the low entropy state at the big bang, people like Penrose, Page, Carroll etc. do not think that inflation solves the problem. I recently read and listen to Seth Lloyd and his explanations about the beginning of the universe from the point of view of entropy as...

I know the fact that, if the total strength of the nerve signal exceeds the threshold at axon hillock, it triggers an action potential. But if someone asks me a question about axon being the nerve impulse generator or the structure responsible for transfer of information, then I would say that...

I'm not sure if this is the appropriate forum, but I'm trying to find out if there is a specific symmetry (according to Noether's Theorem) that is reflected in the conservation of information?

I just bought a new car, nothing incredibly special. And being a nerd, I love creating theoretical calculations based on given data. So, I've been trying to predict the effects on my car under certain scenarios. I am doing my best to figure out the effects based of equations alone, and not...

Can anyone give me a rough idea of a timescale for first planets in the Universe? I understand that supernovae are required for heavy elements for rocky planets such as Mars or earth, but was wondering if this same requirements would hold for gas giants? Just trying to establish the most...

can a particle hold it's information at absolute zero?

Many scientists believe information is conserved, but it seems that in an isolated system entropy isn't. These two things seem incompatible to me. Would anyone care to enlighten me about this? Thank you.

Hello All, I have not yet entered undergrad EE. I am in a mid year break and need a intro level book. It should be formal and factual and where necessary technical, but at the same time it should outline: - historical development of electronics and electrical technologies - historical...

Hi all, I had a question about calculating mutual information, a topic to which I am very new. Consider the following hypothetical situation, in which I describe the entire process from what I understand: Suppose I had a normal die (sides numbered 1-6) that you roll on a leaning table. I...

Hello. I've made a lab experiment of interference and with a CCD camera photographed fringe pattern which one can understand as a periodic signal. My question is: When I apply an FFT to the image is there any limit to the amplitude information I may get from lower frequencies? I read in the...

First, let me point out that this is probably wrong. Anytime I hear faster than light travel I am automatically skeptical. I just haven’t figured out why it’s wrong yet. Any ideas? 1. Two devices situated in between Bob and Alice produce two streams of entangled pairs of qubits. Each pair...

Hello, This component has very little information on the internet. I learned the classic exploitation of it with 2 transistors(attached) and I get that. But i feel that is just an analogy. Does anybody here at PF EE know the details behind this component like, explanation with junctions...

Does quantum entanglement allow information to travel faster than light? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faster-than-light if you scroll down to quantum mechanics.

Hi everyone! This is my first post on these forums. I have successfully passed and secured an all India rank of 396 in IITJEE this year. I am going to study mechanical engineering in IIT Bombay. Hence i need some kind of an insight in this department. My actual interest was in both...

Hello PF members I am a very new member to your forum and very new to time-frequency transformation. Over the summer I will be doing some research on vibration signals and for now I want to start understanding some basic things upon the time and frequency domain and transformation...

Primary Issue CNN's Email Archive of Sarah Palin I am personally on the fence about this, and am very interested to hear opinions on the merits and disadvantages of this type of action (the media posting the entire email-log of a politician for public consumption). On one hand, I am all...

Homework Statement I haven't studied thermodynamics and we have just a very brief use of thermo in my power plants course. I have read that entropy always increases, universe tends to disorderly state from an orderly state. The teacher related this to probability that nature tends to go...

Hi, I'm an 11 year old kid and listened to an iPod podcast several months ago that repeatedly reference to a quantum computer. It was painstaking not knowing what it was, so I went in search of good articles on quantum information. I found a very good one that explained about quibits...

I know DNA gives instructions for proteins, but is it information as in the sense that it was created by a conscious mind? What about biologists who say that DNA is information?

Good day, I have been given the task to create an inventory database for the books at the library at my school using the RFID to monitor the books. However the books have specific codes based on their type and location in the library. I was wondering if someone could give me some information as...

Hi, although I've studied info theory briefly in the past, now revisiting it, I seem to be scratching my head trying to understand the counter-intuitive logic of it. For instance, I understand that the amount of uncertainty associated with a symbol is correlated with the amount of...

Hi! Can anyone (or everyone) explain to me some areas of information technology and what jobs exist there? It's one of my few options and I would like to know more about it. What kind of jobs there and your opinion about that career in future? Thanks in advance.

What is the consensus here about Information Theory beyond the Standard model? The three fundamental theories of the universe, relativity, quantum mechanics, and the second law of thermodynamics all involve limitations on the transfer, accessibility, quantity, or usefulness of information...

We break down the received light stectrum from a star into the individual wavelength components. From it we claim to know its composition, heat, distance and speed. Aren't there way more unknowns that knowns? For example, consider any arbitrary observed star with a certain color distribution...

Homework Statement In order to achieve a high result in this chemistry assignment, I need to have demonstrated a knowledge of challenging content not discussed in class. Every other part of this assignment I've covered (Intro, method, discussion etc), I am just stuck with the calculations...

Is light the only type of information we get from intergalactic bodies? Is there any other type of information? Thank you

Hey guys. I’m new here, so just a little about me so you guys can understand my situation. I was dead-set on studying Mechanical Engineering in order to study Automotive Engineering in the future… However, I’ve been having second thoughts. I’ve been toying around with the idea in my mind...

I have a simple question: can we assume that a photon is the basic unit of information? And the photon movement is the information flow? It seems strange, but wherever I try to find anything about information flow basics, there is no mention about photons. Shannon's or Mazur's information...

Hi, Not sure if this is the correct sub-forum or not. Perhaps, general math is better. Anyways.. In the following, a simple reference covering what I am after would be very helpful. Let's say you have a 4x4 grid of cells each cell contains either a 1 or 0. Let's say it is this...

1. This problem has been slowly eating me for the past 2 hours. I've done everything I can but I can't seem to answer it. The pH at the equivalence point in the titration of 100 mL of a 0.1M monoprotic acid solution with a 0.1M strong base solution is 8.12 at 25 degrees C. What is the Ka of the...

I'm doing a physics fair on gyroscopes but I absolutely can not find good organized information. I looked up almost every link from a google search but most sites are crappy. I even looked in 2 libraries but no books are found. How can this be? I thought gyroscopes have been out for a long...

Hey there, I was pointed to the article attached, where I am meant to find an answer as to why in the proposed quantum eraser experiment, only 50% of the time 'information' would be erased - if that was the option chosen. On page five of the PDF, there seems to be some form of explanation...

Some physicists say that the Universe at it's most fundamental level is an information wave. Is this true, false, or unknown?

Dude, what the ****. I apologize for the language, but this IS THE THIRD TIME I HAVE TRIED TO WRITE THIS. I HAVE SPENT TWO ****ING HOURS TRYING TO GET THIS QUESTION ACROSS. and of course its been ruined now. twice I have composed a question I really want some answers to and apparently you can't...

Homework Statement An insulated Piston-Cylinder device contains .6kg of H20 at 600kPa Initially the volume of the system is .6m3. Now an electric resistor is placed in the tank and turned on for 10 minutes until the volume doubles. Show this on a T-v diagram What is final temp? What is the...

Hi folks, it's been a long while since I've posted here, but, I need help. I'm trying to write an article for the "Space News" board on another forum I'm a member on; about inter-galactic voids and supervoids. The problem is that I keep finding measurements for their size in both megaparsecs...

What is the best place to do a PhD in quantum information? I want to do research on quantum entanglement and quantum teleportation.

Hi, I am using the hough transform to perform circle detection. I am able to perform a hough transform and plot the results, but how exactly do I now take my hough transform to actually get meaningful information. I know the size of the my circle (it's radius), but what information am I looking...

Hi everyone, neat forum you got here. This one's been bothering me for a while, I hope you can help me. I've often seen this question satirized, but I've not yet come across the answer. I've often heard it asserted that information of any kind cannot be transmitted from one place to another...

Summer workshops/summer symposiums/etc? Most of them are for graduate students. But do any allow people who are in between undergrad and grad school? And how competitive are they? I'm specifically interested about astronomy, but people can feel free to post details about any summer...

Hi everybody, I ve been thinking a lot lately about the thesis I am supposed to start next year. I will study the categoric formulation for quantum mechanics, polytope correlations and links with the complexity theory (post quantum models etc). But on the other hand, I find my courses on...

When (almost any) system emits gravitational waves, does information carried by these waves also 'counted' as an information about a system? In case of BH informational paradox, when BH dissapears, we get not only Hawking radiation, but also information encoded in the gravitational waves of...