Bounds on general entropy measures

We show how to determine the maximum and minimum possible values of one measure of entropy for a given value of another measure of entropy. These maximum and minimum values are obtained for two standard forms of probability distribution (or quantum state) independent of the entropy measures, provided the entropy measures satisfy a concavity/convexity relation. These results may be applied to entropies for classical probability distributions, entropies of mixed quantum states and measures of entanglement for pure states.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, published versio

Calculation of the Aharonov-Bohm wave function

A calculation of the Aharonov-Bohm wave function is presented. The result is a series of confluent hypergeometric functions which is finite at the forward direction.Comment: 12 pages in LaTeX, and 3 PostScript figure

Adaptive Optical Phase Estimation Using Time-Symmetric Quantum Smoothing

Quantum parameter estimation has many applications, from gravitational wave detection to quantum key distribution. We present the first experimental demonstration of the time-symmetric technique of quantum smoothing. We consider both adaptive and non-adaptive quantum smoothing, and show that both are better than their well-known time-asymmetric counterparts (quantum filtering). For the problem of estimating a stochastically varying phase shift on a coherent beam, our theory predicts that adaptive quantum smoothing (the best scheme) gives an estimate with a mean-square error up to $2\sqrt{2}$ times smaller than that from non-adaptive quantum filtering (the standard quantum limit). The experimentally measured improvement is $2.24 \pm 0.14$

Observation of a Chiral State in a Microwave Cavity

A microwave experiment has been realized to measure the phase difference of the oscillating electric field at two points inside the cavity. The technique has been applied to a dissipative resonator which exhibits a singularity -- called exceptional point -- in its eigenvalue and eigenvector spectrum. At the singularity, two modes coalesce with a phase difference of $\pi/2 .$ We conclude that the state excited at the singularity has a definitiv chirality.Comment: RevTex 4, 5 figure

Separating the regular and irregular energy levels and their statistics in Hamiltonian system with mixed classical dynamics

We look at the high-lying eigenstates (from the 10,001st to the 13,000th) in the Robnik billiard (defined as a quadratic conformal map of the unit disk) with the shape parameter $\lambda=0.15$. All the 3,000 eigenstates have been numerically calculated and examined in the configuration space and in the phase space which - in comparison with the classical phase space - enabled a clear cut classification of energy levels into regular and irregular. This is the first successful separation of energy levels based on purely dynamical rather than special geometrical symmetry properties. We calculate the fractional measure of regular levels as $\rho_1=0.365\pm 0.01$ which is in remarkable agreement with the classical estimate $\rho_1=0.360\pm 0.001$. This finding confirms the Percival's (1973) classification scheme, the assumption in Berry-Robnik (1984) theory and the rigorous result by Lazutkin (1981,1991). The regular levels obey the Poissonian statistics quite well whereas the irregular sequence exhibits the fractional power law level repulsion and globally Brody-like statistics with $\beta = 0.286\pm0.001$. This is due to the strong localization of irregular eigenstates in the classically chaotic regions. Therefore in the entire spectrum we see that the Berry-Robnik regime is not yet fully established so that the level spacing distribution is correctly captured by the Berry-Robnik-Brody distribution (Prosen and Robnik 1994).Comment: 20 pages, file in plain LaTeX, 7 figures upon request submitted to J. Phys. A. Math. Gen. in December 199

Berry's phase in the multimode Peierls states

It is shown that Berry's phase associated with the adiabatic change of local variables in the Hamiltonian can be used to characterize the multimode Peierls state, which has been proposed as a new type of the ground state of the two-dimensional(2D) systems with the electron-lattice interaction.Comment: 2 pages, 2 figure

Phase Space Tomography of Matter-Wave Diffraction in the Talbot Regime

We report on the theoretical investigation of Wigner distribution function (WDF) reconstruction of the motional quantum state of large molecules in de Broglie interference. De Broglie interference of fullerenes and as the like already proves the wavelike behaviour of these heavy particles, while we aim to extract more quantitative information about the superposition quantum state in motion. We simulate the reconstruction of the WDF numerically based on an analytic probability distribution and investigate its properties by variation of parameters, which are relevant for the experiment. Even though the WDF described in the near-field experiment cannot be reconstructed completely, we observe negativity even in the partially reconstructed WDF. We further consider incoherent factors to simulate the experimental situation such as a finite number of slits, collimation, and particle-slit van der Waals interaction. From this we find experimental conditions to reconstruct the WDF from Talbot interference fringes in molecule Talbot-Lau interferometry.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures, accepted at New Journal of Physic

Near-optimal two-mode spin squeezing via feedback

We propose a feedback scheme for the production of two-mode spin squeezing. We determine a general expression for the optimal feedback, which is also applicable to the case of single-mode spin squeezing. The two-mode spin squeezed states obtained via this feedback are optimal for j=1/2 and are very close to optimal for j>1/2. In addition, the master equation suggests a Hamiltonian that would produce two-mode spin squeezing without feedback, and is analogous to the two-axis countertwisting Hamiltonian in the single mode case.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, journal versio

On the Accuracy of the Semiclassical Trace Formula

The semiclassical trace formula provides the basic construction from which one derives the semiclassical approximation for the spectrum of quantum systems which are chaotic in the classical limit. When the dimensionality of the system increases, the mean level spacing decreases as $\hbar^d$, while the semiclassical approximation is commonly believed to provide an accuracy of order $\hbar^2$, independently of d. If this were true, the semiclassical trace formula would be limited to systems in d <= 2 only. In the present work we set about to define proper measures of the semiclassical spectral accuracy, and to propose theoretical and numerical evidence to the effect that the semiclassical accuracy, measured in units of the mean level spacing, depends only weakly (if at all) on the dimensionality. Detailed and thorough numerical tests were performed for the Sinai billiard in 2 and 3 dimensions, substantiating the theoretical arguments.Comment: LaTeX, 31 pages, 14 figures, final version (minor changes