Berry phase in open quantum systems: a quantum Langevin equation approach

The evolution of a two level system with a slowly varying Hamiltonian, modeled as s spin 1/2 in a slowly varying magnetic field, and interacting with a quantum environment, modeled as a bath of harmonic oscillators is analyzed using a quantum Langevin approach. This allows to easily obtain the dissipation time and the correction to the Berry phase in the case of an adiabatic cyclic evolution.Comment: 6 pages, no figures. Published versio

Quantum Iterated Function Systems

Iterated functions system (IFS) is defined by specifying a set of functions in a classical phase space, which act randomly on an initial point. In an analogous way, we define a quantum iterated functions system (QIFS), where functions act randomly with prescribed probabilities in the Hilbert space. In a more general setting a QIFS consists of completely positive maps acting in the space of density operators. We present exemplary classical IFSs, the invariant measure of which exhibits fractal structure, and study properties of the corresponding QIFSs and their invariant states.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figure include

Monitoring of sessile oak (Quercus petraea Liebl.) autumn phenology using orthomosaics made on a basis of aerial images acquired with drone

Changes to beginning and the length of the growing season and the phenological stages can be of great importance for the individual trees, their populations and the populations of other species. The aim of the research described in this paper is to assess the ability to recognize the autumn phenological phases in single trees of the sessile oak, using UAV images. In our study we have examined if we can on this basis rank the trees according to their preparation for winter dormancy. There were 20 observers involved in the research whose objective was to pass each of 114 trees to one of five classes, based on the dominant color of assimilation apparatus observed on an orthomosaic. Distinguished color classes of oaks were: 1 - green, 2 - greenish-yellow, 3 - yellow, 4 - yellowbrown and 5 - brown. The analysis revealed that only 6 of all trees (5 green and one greenish-yellow) were classified by all observers to the same group. Other trees were classified to different colors, and in the case of 25 trees (22%), the number of the same color indicated was less than or at most equal to 12. The applied color scale did not correspond fully to colors perceived by the participants. After completion of the study, all said they ran out of green-brown color, and the crowns of trees that could be assigned to that color, were therefore classified as greenish-yellow, yellow or yellow-brown. In further research it is necessary to explain the causes of green-brown color observed in some trees, as well as its natural meaning and place in a chain of crown colors changes taking place during autumn, using methods of digital image analysis

Neogene terrestrial sedimentary environments of the Orava-Nowy Targ basin : case study of the Oravica section near Čimhová, Slovakia

The Orava-Nowy Targ Basin is an intramontane depression located at the border of the Inner and Outer Carpathians. It is filled mostly with fine-grained terrestrial and fresh-water deposits of Neogene and Quaternary age, which record the structural evolution and denudation processes of the surrounding regions: Orava, Podhale, and the Tatra Mts. The Orava-Nowy Targ Basin fill was studied in the Oravica River section, which reveals 90 m thick Neogene deposits and allows observation of their lateral diversity. Fifteen lithofacies and seven facies associations distinguished here document the depositional evolution of the basin fill, starting from hill-slope debris flow through silt turbidite-bearing lake, to flood-dominated fluvial plain, swamp and alluvial fan deposits, as well as a pyroclastic event. The palaeorelief was low during deposition and the Orava-Nowy Targ Basin could have spread significantly more to the south

Lithofacies and terrestrial sedimentary environments in AMS measurements: case study from Neogene of Oravica River section, Čimhová, Slovakia.

The anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) of sedimentary rocks has been used for interpreting wide range of processes: early rock deformations, palaeotransport directions, as well as the evolution of mineral content. Various sedimentary factors which may determine magnetic susceptibility within lacustrine, river, floodplain and swamp deposits have been examined in the Oravica section of the Orava-Nowy Targ Basin. Multiple components of mineral content: illite, chlorite, smectite, kaolinite, quartz and unidentified high susceptibility phase make an AMS interpretation of this content ambiguous. However, this method may be useful for tracing early diagenetic geochemical/microbial processes where iron element is involved. Some sedimentary processes may be recognized from AMS when an assemblage of parameters is studied together: bulk susceptibility, the degree and the shape of anisotropy, principal directions, and the distribution of all these parameters within a set of specimens. Debris-flow processes, as well as lacustrine and floodplain sedimentation are especially well-defined in AMS results. Palaeotransport directions are ambiguous because studied rocks have undergone weak deformation what overprints this sedimentary feature. Most specimens represent an oblate shape of anisotropy and show a good correlation of minimum susceptibility axis and normal to bedding plane

Determination of local polarization properties of PLZT ceramics by PS-OCT

An Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) is an intensively evolving optical measurement technique, which is based on white light interferomentry. The advantages of the OCT make possible to applied it in non-contact and non-destructive examination of highly scattering materials structure. Our research has been concentrated on ceramics materials examination using OCT with polarization sensitive analysis PS-OCT. In this paper we present a designed PS-OCT system setup and the experimental results of investigation the PLZT ceramics using PS-OCT system and brief discussion on PS-OCT measurement capabilities for ceramic materials investigation and local birefringence determination

New data on the age of the sedimentary infill of the Orava-Nowy Targ Basin : a case study of the Bystry Stream succession (Middle/Upper Miocene, Western Carpathians)

The Neogene sedimentary succession of the Orava-Nowy Targ Basin directly overlies the Central Carpathian Paleogene Basin deposits, the Magura Unit, and the Pieniny Klippen Belt. It provides an excellent geological record that postdates the main Mesoalpine structural and geomorphological processes in the Western Carpathians. Sedimentological, petrographical and geochronological investigations have allowed forthe re-examination of pyroclastic material, zircon dating, and a discussion on the relation of the Orava-Nowy Targ Basin to the exhumation of the Tatra Massif. The Bystry Stream succession is composed of NNW-inclined freshwater siltstones, sandstones and conglomerates. A few small, sometimes discontinuous, light grey intercalations of pyroclastic deposits and a single 1-2 m thick tuffite layer occur in the upper part of the succession. The tuffite contains an admixture of organic matter and siliciclastic grains (e.g., mica), suggesting that the volcanic ash fall was accompanied by normal deposition from weak currents. Sedimentation of deposits of the Bystry Stream succession took place in terrestrial settings, predominantly on floodplains and in rivers, in the vicinity of a hilly area supplying the basin with eroded material. The age of the tuffite layer from the Bystry Stream succession was determined at 11.87 +0.12/-0.24 Ma. The source of volcanogenic material in the tuffite was probably volcanic activity in the Inner Carpathians-Pannonian region, where effusive and volcanoclastic sillca-rich rocks were being produced by extrusive and explosive activity ~12 Ma. Obtained result connects the development of the Orava-Nowy Targ Basin at ~12 Ma with the late stage of the main episode of the Tatra Massif exhumation between ~22-10 Ma

New data on the age of the sedimentary infill of the Orava-Nowy Targ Basin – a case study of the Bystry Stream succession (Middle/Upper Miocene, Western Carpathians)

The Neogene sedimentary succession of the Orava-Nowy Targ Basin directly overlies the Central Carpathian Paleogene Basin deposits, the Magura Unit, and the Pieniny Klippen Belt. It provides an excellent geological record that postdates the main Mesoalpine structural and geomorphological processes in the Western Carpathians. Sedimentological, petrographical and geochronological investigations have allowed forthe re-examination of pyroclastic material, zircon dating, and a discussion on the relation of the Orava-Nowy Targ Basin to the exhumation of the Tatra Massif. The Bystry Stream succession is composed of NNW-inclined freshwater siltstones, sandstones and conglomerates. A few small, sometimes discontinuous, light grey intercalations of pyroclastic deposits and a single 1-2 m thick tuffite layer occur in the upper part of the succession. The tuffite contains an admixture of organic matter and siliciclastic grains (e.g., mica), suggesting that the volcanic ash fall was accompanied by normal deposition from weak currents. Sedimentation of deposits of the Bystry Stream succession took place in terrestrial settings, predominantly on floodplains and in rivers, in the vicinity of a hilly area supplying the basin with eroded material. The age of the tuffite layer from the Bystry Stream succession was determined at 11.87 +0.12/-0.24 Ma. The source of volcanogenic material in the tuffite was probably volcanic activity in the Inner Carpathians-Pannonian region, where effusive and volcanoclastic sillca-rich rocks were being produced by extrusive and explosive activity ~12 Ma. Obtained result connects the development of the Orava-Nowy Targ Basin at ~12 Ma with the late stage of the main episode of the Tatra Massif exhumation between ~22-10 Ma