Entanglement enhancement and postselection for two atoms interacting with thermal light

The evolution of entanglement for two identical two-level atoms coupled to a resonant thermal field is studied for two different families of input states. Entanglement enhancement is predicted for a well defined region of the parameter space of one of these families. The most intriguing result is the possibility of probabilistic production of maximally entangled atomic states even if the input atomic state is factorized and the corresponding output state is separable.Comment: accepted for publication in J. Phys.

Topology and Phases in Fermionic Systems

There can exist topological obstructions to continuously deforming a gapped Hamiltonian for free fermions into a trivial form without closing the gap. These topological obstructions are closely related to obstructions to the existence of exponentially localized Wannier functions. We show that by taking two copies of a gapped, free fermionic system with complex conjugate Hamiltonians, it is always possible to overcome these obstructions. This allows us to write the ground state in matrix product form using Grassman-valued bond variables, and show insensitivity of the ground state density matrix to boundary conditions.Comment: 4 pages, see also arxiv:0710.329

Operator monotones, the reduction criterion and the relative entropy

We introduce the theory of operator monotone functions and employ it to derive a new inequality relating the quantum relative entropy and the quantum conditional entropy. We present applications of this new inequality and in particular we prove a new lower bound on the relative entropy of entanglement and other properties of entanglement measures.Comment: Final version accepted for publication, added references in reference [1] and [13

Covariant Counterterms and Conserved Charges in Asymptotically Flat Spacetimes

Recent work has shown that the addition of an appropriate covariant boundary term to the gravitational action yields a well-defined variational principle for asymptotically flat spacetimes and thus leads to a natural definition of conserved quantities at spatial infinity. Here we connect such results to other formalisms by showing explicitly i) that for spacetime dimension $d \ge 4$ the canonical form of the above-mentioned covariant action is precisely the ADM action, with the familiar ADM boundary terms and ii) that for $d=4$ the conserved quantities defined by counter-term methods agree precisely with the Ashtekar-Hansen conserved charges at spatial infinity.Comment: 27 pages; Dedicated to Rafael Sorkin on the occasion of his 60th birthday; v2 minor change

A relational quantum computer using only two-qubit total spin measurement and an initial supply of highly mixed single qubit states

We prove that universal quantum computation is possible using only (i) the physically natural measurement on two qubits which distinguishes the singlet from the triplet subspace, and (ii) qubits prepared in almost any three different (potentially highly mixed) states. In some sense this measurement is a `more universal' dynamical element than a universal 2-qubit unitary gate, since the latter must be supplemented by measurement. Because of the rotational invariance of the measurement used, our scheme is robust to collective decoherence in a manner very different to previous proposals - in effect it is only ever sensitive to the relational properties of the qubits.Comment: TR apologises for yet again finding a coauthor with a ridiculous middle name [12

Minimum-error discrimination between three mirror-symmetric states

We present the optimal measurement strategy for distinguishing between three quantum states exhibiting a mirror symmetry. The three states live in a two-dimensional Hilbert space, and are thus overcomplete. By mirror symmetry we understand that the transformation {|+> -> |+>, |-> -> -|->} leaves the set of states invariant. The obtained measurement strategy minimizes the error probability. An experimental realization for polarized photons, realizable with current technology, is suggested.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Manipulating quantum information by propagation

We study creation of bi- and multipartite continuous variable entanglement in structures of coupled quantum harmonic oscillators. By adjusting the interaction strengths between nearest neighbors we show how to maximize the entanglement production between the arms in a Y-shaped structure where an initial single mode squeezed state is created in the first oscillator of the input arm. We also consider the action of the same structure as an approximate quantum cloner. For a specific time in the system dynamics the last oscillators in the output arms can be considered as imperfect copies of the initial state. By increasing the number of arms in the structure, multipartite entanglement is obtained, as well as 1 to M cloning. Finally, we are considering configurations that implement the symmetric splitting of an initial entangled state. All calculations are carried out within the framework of the rotating wave approximation in quantum optics, and our predictions could be tested with current available experimental techniques.Comment: 9 pages, APS forma

Schmidt balls around the identity

Robustness measures as introduced by Vidal and Tarrach [PRA, 59, 141-155] quantify the extent to which entangled states remain entangled under mixing. Analogously, we introduce here the Schmidt robustness and the random Schmidt robustness. The latter notion is closely related to the construction of Schmidt balls around the identity. We analyse the situation for pure states and provide non-trivial upper and lower bounds. Upper bounds to the random Schmidt-2 robustness allow us to construct a particularly simple distillability criterion. We present two conjectures, the first one is related to the radius of inner balls around the identity in the convex set of Schmidt number n-states. We also conjecture a class of optimal Schmidt witnesses for pure states.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figur

Inverse Scattering Construction of a Dipole Black Ring

Using the inverse scattering method in six dimensions we construct the dipole black ring of five dimensional Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton theory with dilaton coupling a = 2(2/3)^(1/2).The 5d theory can be thought of as the NS sector of low energy string theory in Einstein frame. It can also be obtained by dimensionally reducing six-dimensional vacuum gravity on a circle. Our new approach uses GL(4, R) integrability structure of the theory inherited from six-dimensional vacuum gravity. Our approach is also general enough to potentially generate dipole black objects carrying multiple rotations as well as more exotic multi-horizon configurations

G2 Dualities in D=5 Supergravity and Black Strings

Five dimensional minimal supergravity dimensionally reduced on two commuting Killing directions gives rise to a G2 coset model. The symmetry group of the coset model can be used to generate new solutions by applying group transformations on a seed solution. We show that on a general solution the generators belonging to the Cartan and nilpotent subalgebras of G2 act as scaling and gauge transformations, respectively. The remaining generators of G2 form a sl(2,R)+sl(2,R) subalgebra that can be used to generate non-trivial charges. We use these generators to generalize the five dimensional Kerr string in a number of ways. In particular, we construct the spinning electric and spinning magnetic black strings of five dimensional minimal supergravity. We analyze physical properties of these black strings and study their thermodynamics. We also explore their relation to black rings.Comment: typos corrected (26 pages + appendices, 2 figures