Absolute continuity of the spectrum in a twisted Dirichlet-Neumann waveguide

International audienceQuantum waveguide with the shape of planar infinite straight strip and combined Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions on the opposite half-lines of the boundary is considered. The absence of the point as well as of the singular continuous spectrum is proved

Spectral flow and level spacing of edge states for quantum Hall hamiltonians

We consider a non relativistic particle on the surface of a semi-infinite cylinder of circumference $L$ submitted to a perpendicular magnetic field of strength $B$ and to the potential of impurities of maximal amplitude $w$. This model is of importance in the context of the integer quantum Hall effect. In the regime of strong magnetic field or weak disorder $B>>w$ it is known that there are chiral edge states, which are localised within a few magnetic lengths close to, and extended along the boundary of the cylinder, and whose energy levels lie in the gaps of the bulk system. These energy levels have a spectral flow, uniform in $L$, as a function of a magnetic flux which threads the cylinder along its axis. Through a detailed study of this spectral flow we prove that the spacing between two consecutive levels of edge states is bounded below by $2\pi\alpha L^{-1}$ with $\alpha>0$, independent of $L$, and of the configuration of impurities. This implies that the level repulsion of the chiral edge states is much stronger than that of extended states in the usual Anderson model and their statistics cannot obey one of the Gaussian ensembles. Our analysis uses the notion of relative index between two projections and indicates that the level repulsion is connected to topological aspects of quantum Hall systems.Comment: 22 pages, no figure

Endotoxemia related to cardiopulmonary bypass is associated with increased risk of infection after cardiac surgery: a prospective observational study

Abstract Introduction Previous studies have documented a high frequency of endotoxemia associated with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). Endotoxemia may be responsible for some of the complications associated with cardiac surgery. The purpose of the study was to examine the prevalence of endotoxemia during cardiopulmonary bypass supported aortocoronary bypass grafting surgery (ACB) using a new assay, the Endotoxin Activity Assay (EAA), and explore the association between endotoxemia and post-operative infection. Methods The study was a single center prospective observational study measuring EAA during the perioperative period for elective ACB. Blood samples were drawn at induction of anesthesia (T1), immediately prior to release of the aortic cross-clamp (T2), and on the first post-operative morning (T3). The primary outcome was the prevalence of endotoxemia. Secondary outcomes assessed included infection rates, intensive care unit (ICU) and hospital length of stay. An EAA of < 0.40 units was interpreted as "low", 0.41 to 0.59 units as "intermediate", and ≥0.60 units as "high". Results A total of 57 patients were enrolled and 54 patients were analyzable. The mean EAA at T1 was 0.38 +/- 0.14, at T2 0.39 +/- 0.18, and at T3 0.33 +/- 0.18. At T2 only 13.5% (7/52) of patients had an EAA in the high range. There was a positive correlation between EAA and duration of surgery (P = 0.02). In patients with EAA ≥0.40 at T2, 26.1% (6/23) of patients developed post-operative infections compared to 3.5% (1/29) of those that had a normal EAA (P = 0.0354). Maximum EAA over the first 24 hours was also strongly correlated with risk of post-operative infection (P = 0.0276). Conclusions High levels of endotoxin occur less frequently during ACB than previously documented. However, endotoxemia is associated with a significantly increased risk of the development of post-operative infection. Measuring endotoxin levels during ACB may provide a mechanism to identify and target a high risk patient population

'Nature or nurture': survival rate oviposition interval, and possible gonotrophic discordance among South East Asian anophelines

Background: Mosquito survival, oviposition interval and gonotrophic concordance are important determinants of vectorial capacity. These may vary between species or within a single species depending on the environment. They may be estimated by examination of the ovaries of host-seeking mosquitoes. Methods: Landing collections, Furvela tent-trap and CDC light-trap collections were undertaken sequentially in four locations in Cambodia between February 2012 and December 2013 and samples from the collected mosquitoes were dissected to determine parity, sac stage (indicative of time spent prior to returning to feed) and egg stage. Results: A total of 27,876 Anopheles from 15 species or species groups were collected in the four locations and 2883 specimens were dissected. Both the density and predominant species collected varied according to location and trapping method. Five species were dissected in sufficient numbers to allow comparisons between locations. Estimated oviposition interval differed markedly between species but less within species among different locations. Anopheles aconitus had the shortest cycle, which was 3.17 days (95 % CI 3–3.64), and Anopheles barbirostris had the longest cycle, which took four days (95 % CI 3.29–4). Anopheles minimus had a higher sac rate in weeks leading up to a full moon but there was apparently little effect of moon phase on Anopheles dirus. Despite the fact that many of the species occurred at very low densities, there was no evidence of gonotrophic dissociation in any of them, even during sustained hot, dry periods. The principal Cambodian malaria vector, An. dirus, was only common in one location where it was collected in miniature light-traps inside houses. It did not appear to have an exceptional survival rate (as judged by the low average parous rate) or oviposition cycle. Conclusions: Differences in the oviposition interval were more pronounced among species within locations than within species among ecologically diverse locations. A nationwide survey using CDC light-traps for the collection of An. dirus inside houses may help in determining patterns of malaria transmission in Cambodia

On the regularity of the Hausdorff distance between spectra of perturbed magnetic Hamiltonians

We study the regularity properties of the Hausdorff distance between spectra of continuous Harper-like operators. As a special case we obtain H\"{o}lder continuity of this Hausdorff distance with respect to the intensity of the magnetic field for a large class of magnetic elliptic (pseudo)differential operators with long range magnetic fields.Comment: to appear in the Proceedings of the 'Spectral Days' conference, Santiago de Chile 201

Statistical Mechanics for Unstable States in Gel'fand Triplets and Investigations of Parabolic Potential Barriers

Free energies and other thermodynamical quantities are investigated in canonical and grand canonical ensembles of statistical mechanics involving unstable states which are described by the generalized eigenstates with complex energy eigenvalues in the conjugate space of Gel'fand triplet. The theory is applied to the systems containing parabolic potential barriers (PPB's). The entropy and energy productions from PPB systems are studied. An equilibrium for a chemical process described by reactions $A+CB\rightleftarrows AC+B$ is also discussed.Comment: 14 pages, AmS-LaTeX, no figur

On the Lipschitz continuity of spectral bands of Harper-like and magnetic Schroedinger operators

We show for a large class of discrete Harper-like and continuous magnetic Schrodinger operators that their band edges are Lipschitz continuous with respect to the intensity of the external constant magnetic field. We generalize a result obtained by J. Bellissard in 1994, and give examples in favor of a recent conjecture of G. Nenciu.Comment: 15 pages, accepted for publication in Annales Henri Poincar

Device-independent quantum key distribution secure against collective attacks

Device-independent quantum key distribution (DIQKD) represents a relaxation of the security assumptions made in usual quantum key distribution (QKD). As in usual QKD, the security of DIQKD follows from the laws of quantum physics, but contrary to usual QKD, it does not rely on any assumptions about the internal working of the quantum devices used in the protocol. We present here in detail the security proof for a DIQKD protocol introduced in [Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 230501 (2008)]. This proof exploits the full structure of quantum theory (as opposed to other proofs that exploit the no-signalling principle only), but only holds again collective attacks, where the eavesdropper is assumed to act on the quantum systems of the honest parties independently and identically at each round of the protocol (although she can act coherently on her systems at any time). The security of any DIQKD protocol necessarily relies on the violation of a Bell inequality. We discuss the issue of loopholes in Bell experiments in this context.Comment: 25 pages, 3 figure