Approaching the Ground State of a Quantum Spin Glass using a Zero-Temperature Quantum Monte Carlo

Here we discuss the annealing behavior of an infinite-range $\pm J$ Ising spin glass in presence of a transverse field using a zero-temperature quantum Monte Carlo. Within the simulation scheme, we demonstrate that quantum annealing not only helps finding the ground state of a classical spin glass, but can also help simulating the ground state of a quantum spin glass, in particularly, when the transverse field is low, much more efficiently.Comment: 8 pages, 6 fig

Quantum Annealing in a Kinetically Constrained System

Classical and quantum annealing is discussed for a kinetically constrained chain of $N$ non-interacting asymmetric double wells, represented by Ising spins in a longitudinal field $h$. It is shown that in certain cases, where the kinetic constraints may arise from infinitely high but vanishingly narrow barriers appearing in the relaxation path of the system, quantum annealing exploiting the quantum-mechanical penetration of sufficiently narrow barriers may be far more efficient than its thermal counterpart. We have used a semiclassical picture of scattering dynamics to do our simulation for the quantum system.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

How should you evaluate elevated calcium in an asymptomatic patient?

Patients with unexplained asymptomatic true hypercalcemia should be screened for primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) and malignancy using an intact parathyroid hormone (PTH) level by immunoradioassay (SOR: C, expert opinion). Other recommended tests that can distinguish PHPT from malignancy and familial hypocalciuric hypercalcemia, as well as help manage patients with PHPT include urinary 24-hour calcium and creatinine levels, parathyroid hormone related peptide (PTHrP), alkaline phosphatase, calcitriol, and bone densitometry (SOR: C, expert opinion)

A scaling theory of quantum breakdown in solids

We propose a new scaling theory for general quantum breakdown phenomena. We show, taking Landau-Zener type breakdown as a particular example, that the breakdown phenomena can be viewed as a quantum phase transition for which the scaling theory is developed. The application of this new scaling theory to Zener type breakdown in Anderson insulators, and quantum quenching has been discussed.Comment: 3 page

Continuous transition of social efficiencies in the stochastic strategy Minority Game

We show that in a variant of the Minority Game problem, the agents can reach a state of maximum social efficiency, where the fluctuation between the two choices is minimum, by following a simple stochastic strategy. By imagining a social scenario where the agents can only guess about the number of excess people in the majority, we show that as long as the guess value is sufficiently close to the reality, the system can reach a state of full efficiency or minimum fluctuation. A continuous transition to less efficient condition is observed when the guess value becomes worse. Hence, people can optimize their guess value for excess population to optimize the period of being in the majority state. We also consider the situation where a finite fraction of agents always decide completely randomly (random trader) as opposed to the rest of the population that follow a certain strategy (chartist). For a single random trader the system becomes fully efficient with majority-minority crossover occurring every two-days interval on average. For just two random traders, all the agents have equal gain with arbitrarily small fluctuations.Comment: 8 pages, 6 fig

Infinite-range Ising ferromagnet in a time-dependent transverse field: quench and ac dynamics near the quantum critical point

We study an infinite range ferromagnetic Ising model in the presence of a transverse magnetic field which exhibits a quantum paramagnetic-ferromagnetic phase transition at a critical value of the transverse field. In the thermodynamic limit, the low-temperature properties of this model are dominated by the behavior of a single large classical spin governed by an anisotropic Hamiltonian. Using this property, we study the quench and AC dynamics of the model both numerically and analytically, and develop a correspondence between the classical phase space dynamics of a single spin and the quantum dynamics of the infinite-range ferromagnetic Ising model. In particular, we compare the behavior of the equal-time order parameter correlation function both near to and away from the quantum critical point in the presence of a quench or AC transverse field. We explicitly demonstrate that a clear signature of the quantum critical point can be obtained by studying the AC dynamics of the system even in the classical limit. We discuss possible realizations of our model in experimental systems.Comment: Revtex4, 10 pages including 10 figures; corrected a sign error in Eq. 32; this is the final published versio

Quantum Annealing and Analog Quantum Computation

We review here the recent success in quantum annealing, i.e., optimization of the cost or energy functions of complex systems utilizing quantum fluctuations. The concept is introduced in successive steps through the studies of mapping of such computationally hard problems to the classical spin glass problems. The quantum spin glass problems arise with the introduction of quantum fluctuations, and the annealing behavior of the systems as these fluctuations are reduced slowly to zero. This provides a general framework for realizing analog quantum computation.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figs (color online); new References Added. Reviews of Modern Physics (in press

Failure Processes in Elastic Fiber Bundles

The fiber bundle model describes a collection of elastic fibers under load. the fibers fail successively and for each failure, the load distribution among the surviving fibers change. Even though very simple, the model captures the essentials of failure processes in a large number of materials and settings. We present here a review of fiber bundle model with different load redistribution mechanism from the point of view of statistics and statistical physics rather than materials science, with a focus on concepts such as criticality, universality and fluctuations. We discuss the fiber bundle model as a tool for understanding phenomena such as creep, and fatigue, how it is used to describe the behavior of fiber reinforced composites as well as modelling e.g. network failure, traffic jams and earthquake dynamics.Comment: This article has been Editorially approved for publication in Reviews of Modern Physic