Caloric effects around phase transitions in magnetic materials described by ab initio theory : the electronic glue and fluctuating local moments

We describe magneto-, baro-, and elastocaloric effects (MCEs, BCEs, and eCEs) in materials, which possess both discontinuous (first-order) and continuous (second-order) magnetic phase transitions. Our ab initio theory of the interacting electrons of materials in terms of disordered local moments has produced explicit mechanisms for the drivers of these transitions, and here, we study associated caloric effects in three case studies where both types of transition are evident. Our earlier work had described FeRh’s magnetic phase diagram and large MCE. Here, we present calculations of its substantial BCE and eCE. We describe the MCE of dysprosium and find very good agreement with experimental values for isothermal entropy ((ΔSiso) and adiabatic temperature (ΔTad) changes over a large temperature span and different applied magnetic field values. We examine the conditions for optimal values of both ΔSiso and ΔTad that comply with a Clausius–Clapeyron analysis, which we use to propose a promising elastocaloric cooling cycle arising from the unusual dependence of the entropy on temperature and biaxial strain found in our third case study—the Mn3GaN antiperovskite. We explain how both ΔSiso and ΔTad can be kept large by exploiting the complex tensile strain–temperature magnetic phase diagram, which we had earlier predicted for this material and also propose that hysteresis effects will be absent from half of the caloric cycle. This rich and complex behavior stems from the frustrated nature of the interactions among the Mn local moments

Probabilistic metrology or how some measurement outcomes render ultra-precise estimates

We show on theoretical grounds that, even in the presence of noise, probabilistic measurement strategies (which have a certain probability of failure or abstention) can provide, upon a heralded successful outcome, estimates with a precision that exceeds the deterministic bounds for the average precision. This establishes a new ultimate bound on the phase estimation precision of particular measurement outcomes (or sequence of outcomes). For probe systems subject to local dephasing, we quantify such precision limit as a function of the probability of failure that can be tolerated. Our results show that the possibility of abstaining can set back the detrimental effects of noise.Comment: Improved version of arXiv:1407.6910 with an extended introduction where we clarify our approach to metrology, and probabilistic metrology in particular. Changed titl

First-order ferromagnetic transitions of lanthanide local moments in divalent compounds: An itinerant electron positive feedback mechanism and Fermi surface topological change

Around discontinuous (first-order) magnetic phase transitions the strong caloric response of materials to the application of small fields is widely studied for the development of solid-state refrigeration. Typically strong magnetostructural coupling drives such transitions and the attendant substantial hysteresis dramatically reduces the cooling performance. In this context we describe a purely electronic mechanism which pilots a first-order paramagnetic-ferromagnetic transition in divalent lanthanide compounds and which explains the giant non-hysteretic magnetocaloric effect recently discovered in a Eu$_2$In compound. There is positive feedback between the magnetism of itinerant valence electrons and the ferromagnetic ordering of local $f$-electron moments, which appears as a topological change to the Fermi surface. The origin of this electronic mechanism stems directly from Eu's divalency, which explains the absence of a similar discontinuous transition in Gd$_2$In.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure

Investor protection and corporate control

We argue that investor protection changes the relative importance of productivity and scale as drivers of corporate control transfers. Using a large sample of European firms we find that control transfers are more correlated with increasing profitability and less correlated with increasing size when investor protection is strong. This suggests that improving productivity is more important as a driver of acquisitions when investor protection is strong, and alleviating financial constraints or empire building are more important when investor protection is weak. Our evidence is consistent with the idea that good investor protection promotes a more productive use of corporate assets

Beating noise with abstention in state estimation

We address the problem of estimating pure qubit states with non-ideal (noisy) measurements in the multiple-copy scenario, where the data consists of a number N of identically prepared qubits. We show that the average fidelity of the estimates can increase significantly if the estimation protocol allows for inconclusive answers, or abstentions. We present the optimal such protocol and compute its fidelity for a given probability of abstention. The improvement over standard estimation, without abstention, can be viewed as an effective noise reduction. These and other results are exemplified for small values of N. For asymptotically large N, we derive analytical expressions of the fidelity and the probability of abstention, and show that for a fixed fidelity gain the latter decreases with N at an exponential rate given by a Kulback-Leibler (relative) entropy. As a byproduct, we obtain an asymptotic expression in terms of this very entropy of the probability that a system of N qubits, all prepared in the same state, has a given total angular momentum. We also discuss an extreme situation where noise increases with N and where estimation with abstention provides a most significant improvement as compared to the standard approach