906 research outputs found
Open Quantum Dynamics: Complete Positivity and Entanglement
We review the standard treatment of open quantum systems in relation to
quantum entanglement, analyzing, in particular, the behaviour of bipartite
systems immersed in a same environment. We first focus upon the notion of
complete positivity, a physically motivated algebraic constraint on the quantum
dynamics, in relation to quantum entanglement, i.e. the existence of
statistical correlations which can not be accounted for by classical
probability. We then study the entanglement power of heat baths versus their
decohering properties, a topic of increasing importance in the framework of the
fast developing fields of quantum information, communication and computation.
The presentation is self contained and, through several examples, it offers a
detailed survey of the physics and of the most relevant and used techniques
relative to both quantum open system dynamics and quantum entanglement.Comment: LaTex, 77 page
Effective dissipative dynamics for polarized photons
In the framework of open quantum systems, the propagation of polarized
photons can be effectively described using quantum dynamical semigroups. These
extended time-evolutions induce irreversibility and dissipation. Planned, high
sensitive experiments, both in the laboratory and in space, will be able to put
stringent bounds on these non-standard effects.Comment: 15 pages, plain-TeX, no figure
Planck's scale dissipative effects in atom interferometry
Atom interferometers can be used to study phenomena leading to
irreversibility and dissipation, induced by the dynamics of fundamental objects
(strings and branes) at a large mass scale. Using an effective, but physically
consistent description in terms of a master equation of Lindblad form, the
modifications of the interferometric pattern induced by the new phenomena are
analyzed in detail. We find that present experimental devices can in principle
provide stringent bounds on the new effects.Comment: 12 pages, plain-Te
Dissipative neutrino oscillations in randomly fluctuating matter
The generalized dynamics describing the propagation of neutrinos in randomly
fluctuating media is analyzed: it takes into account matter-induced,
decoherence phenomena that go beyond the standard MSW effect. A widely adopted
density fluctuation pattern is found to be physically untenable: a more general
model needs to be instead considered, leading to flavor changing effective
neutrino-matter interactions. They induce new, dissipative effects that modify
the neutrino oscillation pattern in a way amenable to a direct experimental
analysis.Comment: 14 pages, plain-Te
Damped harmonic oscillators in the holomorphic representation
Quantum dynamical semigroups are applied to the study of the time evolution
of harmonic oscillators, both bosonic and fermionic. Explicit expressions for
the density matrices describing the states of these systems are derived using
the holomorphic representation. Bosonic and fermionic degrees of freedom are
then put together to form a supersymmetric oscillator; the conditions that
assure supersymmetry invariance of the corresponding dynamical equations are
explicitly derived.Comment: 19 pages, plain-TeX, no figure
Correlations in quantum thermodynamics: Heat, work, and entropy production
We provide a characterization of energy in the form of exchanged heat and
work between two interacting constituents of a closed, bipartite, correlated
quantum system. By defining a binding energy we derive a consistent quantum
formulation of the first law of thermodynamics, in which the role of
correlations becomes evident, and this formulation reduces to the standard
classical picture in relevant systems. We next discuss the emergence of the
second law of thermodynamics under certain---but fairly general---conditions
such as the Markovian assumption. We illustrate the role of correlations and
interactions in thermodynamics through two examples.Comment: 16 page
Dissipation and decoherence in photon interferometry
The propagation of polarized photons in optical media can be effectively
modeled by means of quantum dynamical semigroups. These generalized time
evolutions consistently describe phenomena leading to loss of phase coherence
and dissipation originating from the interaction with a large, external
environment. High sensitive experiments in the laboratory can provide stringent
bounds on the fundamental energy scale that characterizes these non-standard
effects.Comment: 14 pages, plain-Te
Exoplanet atmospheres with GIANO II. Detection of molecular absorption in the dayside spectrum of HD 102195b
The study of exoplanetary atmospheres is key to understand the differences
between their physical, chemical and dynamical processes. Up to now, the bulk
of atmospheric characterization analysis has been conducted on transiting
planets. On some sufficiently bright targets, high-resolution spectroscopy
(HRS) has also been successfully tested for non-transiting planets. We study
the dayside of the non-transiting planet HD 102195b using the GIANO
spectrograph mounted at TNG, demonstrating the feasibility of atmospheric
characterization measurements and molecular detection for non-transiting
planets with the HRS technique using 4-m class telescopes. The Doppler-shifted
planetary signal changes on the order of many km/s during the observations, in
contrast with the telluric absorption which is stationary in wavelength,
allowing us to remove the contamination from telluric lines while preserving
the features of the planetary spectrum. The emission signal from HD 102195b's
atmosphere is then extracted by cross-correlating the residual spectra with
atmospheric models. We detect molecular absorption from water vapor at
4.4 level. We also find convincing evidence for the presence of
methane, which is detected at the 4.1 level. The two molecules are
detected with a combined significance of 5.3, at a semi-amplitude of
the planet radial velocity km/s. We estimate a planet true mass
of and orbital inclination between 72.5 and
84.79 (1). Our analysis indicates a non-inverted atmosphere
for HD 102195b, as expected given the relatively low temperature of the planet,
inefficient to keep TiO/VO in gas phase. Moreover, a comparison with
theoretical expectations and chemical model predictions corroborates our
methane detection and suggests that the detected and signatures
could be consistent with a low C/O ratio.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in A&
Quantum Dissipative Effects and Neutrinos : current constraints and future perspectives
We establish the most stringent experimental constraints coming from recent
terrestrial neutrino experiments on quantum mechanical decoherence effects in
neutrino systems. Taking a completely phenomenological approach, we probe
vacuum oscillations plus quantum decoherence between two neutrino species in
the channels , and , admitting that the quantum decoherence parameter is related
to the neutrino energy as : ,
with and 2. Our bounds are valid for a neutrino mass squared
difference compatible with the atmospheric, the solar and, in many cases, the
LSND scale. We also qualitatively discuss the perspectives of the future long
baseline neutrino experiments to further probe quantum dissipation.Comment: 26 pages, 8 encapsulated postscript figure
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