Time-Continuous Bell Measurements

We combine the concept of Bell measurements, in which two systems are projected into a maximally entangled state, with the concept of continuous measurements, which concerns the evolution of a continuously monitored quantum system. For such time-continuous Bell measurements we derive the corresponding stochastic Schr\"odinger equations, as well as the unconditional feedback master equations. Our results apply to a wide range of physical systems, and are easily adapted to describe an arbitrary number of systems and measurements. Time-continuous Bell measurements therefore provide a versatile tool for the control of complex quantum systems and networks. As examples we show show that (i) two two-level systems can be deterministically entangled via homodyne detection, tolerating photon loss up to 50%, and (ii) a quantum state of light can be continuously teleported to a mechanical oscillator, which works under the same conditions as are required for optomechanical ground state cooling.Comment: 4+4 pages, 4 figure

Continuous Time Random Walks (CTRWs): Simulation of continuous trajectories

Continuous time random walks have been developed as a straightforward generalisation of classical random walk processes. Some 10 years ago, Fogedby introduced a continuous representation of these processes by means of a set of Langevin equations [H. C. Fogedby, Phys. Rev. E 50 (1994)]. The present work is devoted to a detailed discussion of Fogedby's model and presents its application for the robust numerical generation of sample paths of continuous time random walk processes.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figure

Heterogeneous continuous time random walks

We introduce a heterogeneous continuous time random walk (HCTRW) model as a versatile analytical formalism for studying and modeling diffusion processes in heterogeneous structures, such as porous or disordered media, multiscale or crowded environments, weighted graphs or networks. We derive the exact form of the propagator and investigate the effects of spatio-temporal heterogeneities onto the diffusive dynamics via the spectral properties of the generalized transition matrix. In particular, we show how the distribution of first passage times changes due to local and global heterogeneities of the medium. The HCTRW formalism offers a unified mathematical language to address various diffusion-reaction problems, with numerous applications in material sciences, physics, chemistry, biology, and social sciences.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure

Imprecise Continuous-Time Markov Chains

Continuous-time Markov chains are mathematical models that are used to describe the state-evolution of dynamical systems under stochastic uncertainty, and have found widespread applications in various fields. In order to make these models computationally tractable, they rely on a number of assumptions that may not be realistic for the domain of application; in particular, the ability to provide exact numerical parameter assessments, and the applicability of time-homogeneity and the eponymous Markov property. In this work, we extend these models to imprecise continuous-time Markov chains (ICTMC's), which are a robust generalisation that relaxes these assumptions while remaining computationally tractable. More technically, an ICTMC is a set of "precise" continuous-time finite-state stochastic processes, and rather than computing expected values of functions, we seek to compute lower expectations, which are tight lower bounds on the expectations that correspond to such a set of "precise" models. Note that, in contrast to e.g. Bayesian methods, all the elements of such a set are treated on equal grounds; we do not consider a distribution over this set. The first part of this paper develops a formalism for describing continuous-time finite-state stochastic processes that does not require the aforementioned simplifying assumptions. Next, this formalism is used to characterise ICTMC's and to investigate their properties. The concept of lower expectation is then given an alternative operator-theoretic characterisation, by means of a lower transition operator, and the properties of this operator are investigated as well. Finally, we use this lower transition operator to derive tractable algorithms (with polynomial runtime complexity w.r.t. the maximum numerical error) for computing the lower expectation of functions that depend on the state at any finite number of time points

Continuous Time Channels with Interference

Khanna and Sudan \cite{KS11} studied a natural model of continuous time channels where signals are corrupted by the effects of both noise and delay, and showed that, surprisingly, in some cases both are not enough to prevent such channels from achieving unbounded capacity. Inspired by their work, we consider channels that model continuous time communication with adversarial delay errors. The sender is allowed to subdivide time into an arbitrarily large number $M$ of micro-units in which binary symbols may be sent, but the symbols are subject to unpredictable delays and may interfere with each other. We model interference by having symbols that land in the same micro-unit of time be summed, and we study $k$-interference channels, which allow receivers to distinguish sums up to the value $k$. We consider both a channel adversary that has a limit on the maximum number of steps it can delay each symbol, and a more powerful adversary that only has a bound on the average delay. We give precise characterizations of the threshold between finite and infinite capacity depending on the interference behavior and on the type of channel adversary: for max-bounded delay, the threshold is at D_{\text{max}}=\ThetaM \log\min{k, M})), and for average bounded delay the threshold is at $D_{\text{avg}} = \Theta(\sqrt{M \cdot \min\{k, M\}})$.Comment: 7 pages. To appear in ISIT 201

Stopping games in continuous time

We study two-player zero-sum stopping games in continuous time and infinite horizon. We prove that the value in randomized stopping times exists as soon as the payoff processes are right-continuous. In particular, as opposed to existing literature, we do not assume any conditions on the relations between the payoff processes. We also show that both players have simple epsilon- optimal randomized stopping times; namely, randomized stopping times which are small perturbations of non-randomized stopping times.Comment: 21 page