Resonances, Unstable Systems and Irreversibility: Matter Meets Mind

The fundamental time-reversal invariance of dynamical systems can be broken in various ways. One way is based on the presence of resonances and their interactions giving rise to unstable dynamical systems, leading to well-defined time arrows. Associated with these time arrows are semigroups bearing time orientations. Usually, when time symmetry is broken, two time-oriented semigroups result, one directed toward the future and one directed toward the past. If time-reversed states and evolutions are excluded due to resonances, then the status of these states and their associated backwards-in-time oriented semigroups is open to question. One possible role for these latter states and semigroups is as an abstract representation of mental systems as opposed to material systems. The beginnings of this interpretation will be sketched.Comment: 9 pages. Presented at the CFIF Workshop on TimeAsymmetric Quantum Theory: The Theory of Resonances, 23-26 July 2003, Instituto Superior Tecnico, Lisbon, Portugal; and at the Quantum Structures Association Meeting, 7-22 July 2004, University of Denver. Accepted for publication in the Internation Journal of Theoretical Physic

On Black Hole Stability in Critical Gravities

We consider extended cosmological gravities with Ricci tensor and scalar squared terms in diverse dimensions. These theories admit solutions of Einstein metrics, including the Schwarzschild-Tangherlini AdS black holes, whose mass and entropy vanish at the critical point. We perform linearized analysis around the black holes and show that in general the spectrum consists of the usual spin-2 massless and ghost massive modes. We demonstrate that there is no exponentially-growing tachyon mode in the black holes. At the critical point, the massless spin-2 modes have zero energy whilst the massive spin-2 modes are replaced by the log modes. There always exist certain linear combination of massless and log modes that has negative energy. Thus the stability of the black holes requires that the log modes to be truncated out by the boundary condition.Comment: 16 pages, minor corrections, further comments and references adde

TCP over High Speed Variable Capacity Links: A Simulation Study for Bandwidth Allocation

New optical network technologies provide opportunities for fast, controllable bandwidth management. These technologies can now explicitly provide resources to data paths, creating demand driven bandwidth reservation across networks where an applications bandwidth needs can be meet almost exactly. Dynamic synchronous Transfer Mode (DTM) is a gigabit network technology that provides channels with dynamically adjustable capacity. TCP is a reliable end-to-end transport protocol that adapts its rate to the available capacity. Both TCP and the DTM bandwidth can react to changes in the network load, creating a complex system with inter-dependent feedback mechanisms. The contribution of this work is an assessment of a bandwidth allocation scheme for TCP flows on variable capacity technologies. We have created a simulation environment using ns-2 and our results indicate that the allocation of bandwidth maximises TCP throughput for most flows, thus saving valuable capacity when compared to a scheme such as link over-provisioning. We highlight one situation where the allocation scheme might have some deficiencies against the static reservation of resources, and describe its causes. This type of situation warrants further investigation to understand how the algorithm can be modified to achieve performance similar to that of the fixed bandwidth case

Chern number spins of Mn acceptor magnets in GaAs

We determine the effective total spin $J$ of local moments formed from acceptor states bound to Mn ions in GaAs by evaluating their magnetic Chern numbers. We find that when individual Mn atoms are close to the sample surface, the total spin changes from $J = 1$ to $J = 2$, due to quenching of the acceptor orbital moment. For Mn pairs in bulk, the total $J$ depends on the pair orientation in the GaAs lattice and on the separation between the Mn atoms. We point out that Berry curvature variation as a function of local moment orientation can profoundly influence the quantum spin dynamics of these magnetic entities.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Entanglement and State Preparation

When a subset of particles in an entangled state is measured, the state of the subset of unmeasured particles is determined by the outcome of the measurement. This first measurement may be thought of as a state preparation for the remaining particles. In this paper, we examine how the duration of the first measurement effects the state of the unmeasured subsystem. The state of the unmeasured subsytem will be a pure or mixed state depending on the nature of the measurement. In the case of quantum teleportation we show that there is an eigenvalue equation which must be satisfied for accurate teleportation. This equation provides a limitation to the states that can be accurately teleported.Comment: 24 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Solving the measurement problem: de Broglie-Bohm loses out to Everett

The quantum theory of de Broglie and Bohm solves the measurement problem, but the hypothetical corpuscles play no role in the argument. The solution finds a more natural home in the Everett interpretation.Comment: 20 pages; submitted to special issue of Foundations of Physics, in honour of James T. Cushin

Irreversible Quantum Mechanics in the Neutral K-System

The neutral Kaon system is used to test the quantum theory of resonance scattering and decay phenomena. The two dimensional Lee-Oehme-Yang theory with complex Hamiltonian is obtained by truncating the complex basis vector expansion of the exact theory in Rigged Hilbert space. This can be done for K_1 and K_2 as well as for K_S and K_L, depending upon whether one chooses the (self-adjoint, semi-bounded) Hamiltonian as commuting or non-commuting with CP. As an unexpected curiosity one can show that the exact theory (without truncation) predicts long-time 2 pion decays of the neutral Kaon system even if the Hamiltonian conserves CP.Comment: 36 pages, 1 PostScript figure include

The Mid-Infrared Emitting Dust Around AB Aur

Using the Keck I telescope, we have obtained 11.7 micron and 18.7 micron images of the circumstellar dust emission from AB Aur, a Herbig Ae star. We find that AB Aur is probably resolved at 18.7 micron with an angular diameter of 1.2" at a surface brightness of 3.5 Jy/arcsec^2. Most of the dust mass detected at millimeter wavelengths does not contribute to the 18.7 micron emission, which is plausibly explained if the system possesses a relatively cold, massive disk. We find that models with an optically thick, geometrically thin disk, surrounded by an optically thin spherical envelope fit the data somewhat better than flared disk models.Comment: ApJ in press, 4 color figure

Gauge-Invariant Formulation of Spin-Current-Density Functional Theory

Spin-currents and non-abelian gauge potentials in electronic systems can be treated by spin-current-density functional theory, whose main input is the exchange-correlation (xc) energy expressed as a functional of spin-currents. Constructing a functional of spin currents that is invariant under U(1)$\times$SU(2) transformations is a long-standing challenge. We solve the problem by expressing the energy as a functional of a new variable we call "invariant vorticity". As an illustration we construct the xc energy functional for a two-dimensional electron gas with linear spin-orbit coupling and show that it is proportional to the fourth power of the spin current.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, submitte

Quantum capacitor with discrete charge-anticharge: spectrum and forces

The quantum capacitor with discrete charge is modeled by a Hamiltonian containing an inductive intrinsic term (tunnel effect between plates). The spectrum is obtained using a double Hilbert space. Fluctuations in the charge-anticharge pairs (zero total charge) give rise to an elementary attraction which is compared to the Casimir force. In this case, the field-fluctuations force could be also interpreted as charge-fluctuations force