Coherence of neutrino flavor mixing in quantum field theory

In the simplistic quantum mechanical picture of flavor mixing, conditions on the maximum size and minimum coherence time of the source and detector regions for the observation of interference---as well as the very viability of the approach---can only be argued in an ad hoc way from principles external to the formalism itself. To examine these conditions in a more fundamental way, the quantum field theoretical $S$-matrix approach is employed in this paper, without the unrealistic assumption of microscopic stationarity. The fully normalized, time-dependent neutrino flavor mixing event rates presented here automatically reveal the coherence conditions in a natural, self-contained, and physically unambiguous way, while quantitatively describing the transition to their failure.Comment: 12 pages, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Interference Phenomena in Electronic Transport Through Chaotic Cavities: An Information-Theoretic Approach

We develop a statistical theory describing quantum-mechanical scattering of a particle by a cavity when the geometry is such that the classical dynamics is chaotic. This picture is relevant to a variety of systems, ranging from atomic nuclei to microwave cavities; the main application here is to electronic transport through ballistic microstructures. The theory describes the regime in which there are two distinct time scales, associated with a prompt and an equilibrated response, and is cast in terms of the matrix of scattering amplitudes S. The prompt response is related to the energy average of S which, through ergodicity, is expressed as the average over an ensemble of systems. We use an information-theoretic approach: the ensemble of S-matrices is determined by (1) general physical features-- symmetry, causality, and ergodicity, (2) the specific energy average of S, and (3) the notion of minimum information in the ensemble. This ensemble, known as Poisson's kernel, is meant to describe those situations in which any other information is irrelevant. Thus, one constructs the one-energy statistical distribution of S using only information expressible in terms of S itself without ever invoking the underlying Hamiltonian. This formulation has a remarkable predictive power: from the distribution of S we derive properties of the quantum conductance of cavities, including its average, its fluctuations, and its full distribution in certain cases, both in the absence and presence prompt response. We obtain good agreement with the results of the numerical solution of the Schrodinger equation for cavities in which either prompt response is absent or there are two widely separated time scales. Good agreement with experimental data is obtained once temperature smearing and dephasing effects are taken into account.Comment: 38 pages, 11 ps files included, uses IOP style files and epsf.st

Nonperturbative Light-Front QCD

In this work the determination of low-energy bound states in Quantum Chromodynamics is recast so that it is linked to a weak-coupling problem. This allows one to approach the solution with the same techniques which solve Quantum Electrodynamics: namely, a combination of weak-coupling diagrams and many-body quantum mechanics. The key to eliminating necessarily nonperturbative effects is the use of a bare Hamiltonian in which quarks and gluons have nonzero constituent masses rather than the zero masses of the current picture. The use of constituent masses cuts off the growth of the running coupling constant and makes it possible that the running coupling never leaves the perturbative domain. For stabilization purposes an artificial potential is added to the Hamiltonian, but with a coefficient that vanishes at the physical value of the coupling constant. The weak-coupling approach potentially reconciles the simplicity of the Constituent Quark Model with the complexities of Quantum Chromodynamics. The penalty for achieving this perturbative picture is the necessity of formulating the dynamics of QCD in light-front coordinates and of dealing with the complexities of renormalization which such a formulation entails. We describe the renormalization process first using a qualitative phase space cell analysis, and we then set up a precise similarity renormalization scheme with cutoffs on constituent momenta and exhibit calculations to second order. We outline further computations that remain to be carried out. There is an initial nonperturbative but nonrelativistic calculation of the hadronic masses that determines the artificial potential, with binding energies required to be fourth order in the coupling as in QED. Next there is a calculation of the leading radiative corrections to these masses, which requires our renormalization program. Then the real struggle of finding the right extensions to perturbation theory to study the strong-coupling behavior of bound states can begin.Comment: 56 pages (REVTEX), Report OSU-NT-94-28. (figures not included, available via anaonymous ftp from pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu in subdirectory pub/infolight/qcd

A Quantum Electrodynamical Foundation for Molecular Photonics

In this review the authors describe some of the advances in the quantum electrodynamical formulation of theory for molecular photonics. Earlier work has been extended and reformulated for application to real dispersive media—as reflected in the new treatment of refractive, dissipative, and resonance properties. Applications of the new theory have revealed new quantum optical features in two quite different aspects of the familiar process of second harmonic generation, one operating through local coherence within small particles and the other, a coherence between the quantum amplitudes for fundamental and harmonic excitation. Where the salient experiments have been performed, they exactly match the theoretical predictions

Operational theories and Categorical quantum mechanics

A central theme in current work in quantum information and quantum foundations is to see quantum mechanics as occupying one point in a space of possible theories, and to use this perspective to understand the special features and properties which single it out, and the possibilities for alternative theories. Two formalisms which have been used in this context are operational theories, and categorical quantum mechanics. The aim of the present paper is to establish strong connections between these two formalisms. We show how models of categorical quantum mechanics have representations as operational theories. We then show how nonlocality can be formulated at this level of generality, and study a number of examples from this point of view, including Hilbert spaces, sets and relations, and stochastic maps. The local, quantum, and no-signalling models are characterized in these terms.Comment: 37 pages, updated bibliograph