6,081 research outputs found
Quantum Mechanics as a Framework for Dealing with Uncertainty
Quantum uncertainty is described here in two guises: indeterminacy with its
concomitant indeterminism of measurement outcomes, and fuzziness, or
unsharpness. Both features were long seen as obstructions of experimental
possibilities that were available in the realm of classical physics. The birth
of quantum information science was due to the realization that such
obstructions can be turned into powerful resources. Here we review how the
utilization of quantum fuzziness makes room for a notion of approximate joint
measurement of noncommuting observables. We also show how from a classical
perspective quantum uncertainty is due to a limitation of measurability
reflected in a fuzzy event structure -- all quantum events are fundamentally
unsharp.Comment: Plenary Lecture, Central European Workshop on Quantum Optics, Turku
2009
Thermodynamics of Cu47Ti34Zr11Ni8, Zr52.5Cu17.9Ni14.6Al10Ti5 and Zr57Cu15.4Ni12.6Al10Nb5 bulk metallic glass forming alloys
The differences in the thermodynamic functions between the liquid and the crystalline states of three bulk metallic glass forming alloys, Cu47Ti34Zr11Ni8, Zr52.5Cu17.9Ni14.6Al10Ti5, and Zr57Cu15.4Ni12.6Al10Nb5, were calculated. The heat capacity was measured in the crystalline solid, the amorphous solid, the supercooled liquid, and the equilibrium liquid. Using these heat capacity data and the heats of fusion of the alloys, the differences in the thermodynamic functions between the liquid and the crystalline states were determined. The Gibbs free energy difference between the liquid and the crystalline states gives a qualitative measure of the glass forming ability of these alloys. Using the derived entropy difference, the Kauzmann temperatures for these alloys were determined
On the complementarity of the quadrature observables
In this paper we investigate the coupling properties of pairs of quadrature
observables, showing that, apart from the Weyl relation, they share the same
coupling properties as the position-momentum pair. In particular, they are
complementary. We determine the marginal observables of a covariant phase space
observable with respect to an arbitrary rotated reference frame, and observe
that these marginal observables are unsharp quadrature observables. The related
distributions constitute the Radon tranform of a phase space distribution of
the covariant phase space observable. Since the quadrature distributions are
the Radon transform of the Wigner function of a state, we also exhibit the
relation between the quadrature observables and the tomography observable, and
show how to construct the phase space observable from the quadrature
observables. Finally, we give a method to measure together with a single
measurement scheme any complementary pair of quadrature observables.Comment: Dedicated to Peter Mittelstaedt in honour of his eightieth birthda
Low-density, one-dimensional quantum gases in a split trap
We investigate degenerate quantum gases in one dimension trapped in a
harmonic potential that is split in the centre by a pointlike potential. Since
the single particle eigenfunctions of such a system are known for all strengths
of the central potential, the dynamics for non-interacting fermionic gases and
low-density, strongly interacting bosonic gases can be investigated exactly
using the Fermi-Bose mapping theorem. We calculate the exact many-particle
ground-state wave-functions for both particle species, investigate soliton-like
solutions, and compare the bosonic system to the well-known physics of Bose
gases described by the Gross-Pitaevskii equation. We also address the
experimentally important questions of creation and detection of such states.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure
Excitation spectrum and instability of a two-species Bose-Einstein condensate
We numerically calculate the density profile and excitation spectrum of a
two-species Bose-Einstein condensate for the parameters of recent experiments.
We find that the ground state density profile of this system becomes unstable
in certain parameter regimes, which leads to a phase transition to a new stable
state. This state displays spontaneously broken cylindrical symmetry. This
behavior is reflected in the excitation spectrum: as we approach the phase
transition point, the lowest excitation frequency goes to zero, indicating the
onset of instability in the density profile. Following the phase transition,
this frequency rises again.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, uses REVTe
Fitting in a complex chi^2 landscape using an optimized hypersurface sampling
Fitting a data set with a parametrized model can be seen geometrically as
finding the global minimum of the chi^2 hypersurface, depending on a set of
parameters {P_i}. This is usually done using the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm.
The main drawback of this algorithm is that despite of its fast convergence, it
can get stuck if the parameters are not initialized close to the final
solution. We propose a modification of the Metropolis algorithm introducing a
parameter step tuning that optimizes the sampling of parameter space. The
ability of the parameter tuning algorithm together with simulated annealing to
find the global chi^2 hypersurface minimum, jumping across chi^2{P_i} barriers
when necessary, is demonstrated with synthetic functions and with real data
Electromagnetism in terms of quantum measurements
We consider the question whether electromagnetism can be derived from quantum
physics of measurements. It turns out that this is possible, both for quantum
and classical electromagnetism, if we use more recent innovations such as
smearing of observables and simultaneous measurability. In this way we justify
the use of von Neumann-type measurement models for physical processes.
We apply operational quantum measurement theory to gain insight in
fundamental aspects of quantum physics. Interactions of von Neumann type make
the Heisenberg evolution of observables describable using explicit operator
deformations. In this way one can obtain quantized electromagnetism as a
measurement of a system by another. The relevant deformations (Rieffel
deformations) have a mathematically well-defined "classical" limit which is
indeed classical electromagnetism for our choice of interaction
Born-Oppenheimer Approximation near Level Crossing
We consider the Born-Oppenheimer problem near conical intersection in two
dimensions. For energies close to the crossing energy we describe the wave
function near an isotropic crossing and show that it is related to generalized
hypergeometric functions 0F3. This function is to a conical intersection what
the Airy function is to a classical turning point. As an application we
calculate the anomalous Zeeman shift of vibrational levels near a crossing.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure, Lette
Observation of p-wave Threshold Law Using Evaporatively Cooled Fermionic Atoms
We have measured independently both s-wave and p-wave cross-dimensional
thermalization rates for ultracold potassium-40 atoms held in a magnetic trap.
These measurements reveal that this fermionic isotope has a large positive
s-wave triplet scattering length in addition to a low temperature p-wave shape
resonance. We have observed directly the p-wave threshold law which, combined
with the Fermi statistics, dramatically suppresses elastic collision rates at
low temperatures. In addition, we present initial evaporative cooling results
that make possible these collision measurements and are a precursor to
achieving quantum degeneracy in this neutral, low-density Fermi system.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl
Creating massive entanglement of Bose condensed atoms
We propose a direct, coherent coupling scheme that can create massively
entangled states of Bose-Einstein condensed atoms. Our idea is based on an
effective interaction between two atoms from coherent Raman processes through a
(two atom) molecular intermediate state. We compare our scheme with other
recent proposals for generation of massive entanglement of Bose condensed
atoms.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures; Updated figure 3(a), original was "noisy
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