Continuous quantum error correction by cooling

We describe an implementation of quantum error correction that operates continuously in time and requires no active interventions such as measurements or gates. The mechanism for carrying away the entropy introduced by errors is a cooling procedure. We evaluate the effectiveness of the scheme by simulation, and remark on its connections to some recently proposed error prevention procedures.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures. Published version. Minor change in conten

Mesoscopic interference

We analyze a double-slit experiment when the interfering particle is "mesoscopic" and one endeavors to obtain Welcher Weg information by shining light on it. We derive a compact expression for the visibility of the interference pattern: coherence depends on both the spatial and temporal features of the wave function during its travel to the screen. We set a bound on the temperature of the mesoscopic particle in order that its quantum mechanical coherence be maintained.Comment: 16 pages, 14 figure

Decoherence vs entropy in neutron interferometry

We analyze the coherence properties of polarized neutrons, after they have interacted with a magnetic field or a phase shifter undergoing different kinds of statistical fluctuations. We endeavor to probe the degree of disorder of the distribution of the phase shifts by means of the loss of quantum mechanical coherence of the neutron. We find that the notion of entropy of the shifts and that of decoherence of the neutron do not necessarily agree. In some cases the neutron wave function is more coherent, even though it has interacted with a more disordered medium.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figure

Zeno Dynamics in Quantum Statistical Mechanics

We study the quantum Zeno effect in quantum statistical mechanics within the operator algebraic framework. We formulate a condition for the appearance of the effect in W*-dynamical systems, in terms of the short-time behaviour of the dynamics. Examples of quantum spin systems show that this condition can be effectively applied to quantum statistical mechanical models. Further, we derive an explicit form of the Zeno generator, and use it to construct Gibbs equilibrium states for the Zeno dynamics. As a concrete example, we consider the X-Y model, for which we show that a frequent measurement at a microscopic level, e.g. a single lattice site, can produce a macroscopic effect in changing the global equilibrium.Comment: 15 pages, AMSLaTeX; typos corrected, references updated and added, acknowledgements added, style polished; revised version contains corrections from published corrigend

Wigner function and coherence properties of cold and thermal neutrons

We analyze the coherence properties of a cold or a thermal neutron by utilizing the Wigner quasidistribution function. We look in particular at a recent experiment performed by Badurek {\em et al.}, in which a polarized neutron crosses a magnetic field that is orthogonal to its spin, producing highly non-classical states. The quantal coherence is extremely sensitive to the field fluctuation at high neutron momenta. A "decoherence parameter" is introduced in order to get quantitative estimates of the losses of coherence.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures. Contribution to the Sixth Central-European Workshop on Quantum Optics, Chudobin near Olomouc, Czech Republic, April-May 199

A perturbative approach for the dynamics of the quantum Zeno subspaces

In this paper we investigate the dynamics of the quantum Zeno subspaces which are the eigenspaces of the interaction Hamiltonian, belonging to different eigenvalues. Using the perturbation theory and the adiabatic approximation, we get a general expression of the jump probability between different Zeno subspaces. We applied this result in some examples. In these examples, as the coupling constant of the interactions increases, the measurement keeps the system remaining in its initial subspace and the quantum Zeno effect takes place.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figure

Quantum Zeno Effect in Trapped Ions

A "continuous measurement" Quantum Zeno Effect (QZE) in the context of trapped ions is predicted. We describe the physical system and study its exact time evolution showing the appearance of Zeno Phenomena. New indicators for the occurrence of QZE in oscillatory systems are proposed and carefully discussed.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure