Nonequilibrium Energy Transfer at Nanoscale: A Unified Theory from Weak to Strong Coupling

We investigate the microscopic mechanism of quantum energy transfer in the nonequilibrium spin-boson model. By developing a nonequilibrium polaron-transformed Redfield equation based on fluctuation decoupling, we dissect the energy transfer into multi-boson associated processes with even or odd parity. Based on this, we analytically evaluate the energy flux, which smoothly bridges the transfer dynamics from the weak spin-boson coupling regime to the strong-coupling one. Our analysis explains previous limiting predictions and provides a unified interpretation of several observations, including coherence-enhanced heat flux and absence of negative differential thermal conductance in the nonequilibrium spin-boson model. The results may find wide applications for the energy and information control in nanodevices.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure

Direct observation of ultrafast thermal and non-thermal lattice deformation of polycrystalline Aluminum film

The dynamics of thermal and non-thermal lattice deformation of nanometer thick polycrystalline aluminum film has been studied by means of femtosecond (fs) time-resolved electron diffraction. We utilized two different pump wavelengths: 800 nm, the fundamental of Ti: sapphire laser and 1250 nm generated by a home-made optical parametric amplifier(OPA). Our data show that, although coherent phonons were generated under both conditions, the diffraction intensity decayed with the characteristic time of 0.9+/-0.3 ps and 1.7+/-0.3 ps under 800 nm and 1250 nm excitation, respectively. Because the 800 nm laser excitation corresponds to the strong interband transition of aluminum due to the 1.55 eV parallel band structure, our experimental data indicate the presence of non-thermal lattice deformation under 800 nm excitation, which occurs on a time-scale that is shorter than the thermal processes dominated by electron-phonon coupling under 1250 nm excitation

Unifying quantum heat transfer in a nonequilibrium spin-boson model with full counting statistics

To study the full counting statistics of quantum heat transfer in a driven nonequilibrium spin-boson model, we develop a generalized nonequilibrium polaron-transformed Redfield equation with an auxiliary counting field. This enables us to study the impact of qubit-bath coupling ranging from weak to strong regimes. Without external modulations, we observe maximal values of both steady-state heat flux and noise power in moderate coupling regimes, below which we find that these two transport quantities are enhanced by the finite-qubit-energy bias. With external modulations, the geometric-phase-induced heat flux shows a monotonic decrease upon increasing the qubit-bath coupling at zero qubit energy bias (without bias). While under the finite-qubit-energy bias (with bias), the geometric-phase-induced heat flux exhibits an interesting reversal behavior in the strong coupling regime. Our results unify the seemingly contradictory results in weak and strong qubit-bath coupling regimes and provide detailed dissections for the quantum fluctuation of nonequilibrium heat transfer

Optimal tunneling enhances the quantum photovoltaic effect in double quantum dots

We investigate the quantum photovoltaic effect in double quantum dots by applying the nonequilibrium quantum master equation. A drastic suppression of the photovoltaic current is observed near the open circuit voltage, which leads to a large filling factor. We find that there always exists an optimal inter-dot tunneling that significantly enhances the photovoltaic current. Maximal output power will also be obtained around the optimal inter-dot tunneling. Moreover, the open circuit voltage behaves approximately as the product of the eigen-level gap and the Carnot efficiency. These results suggest a great potential for double quantum dots as efficient photovoltaic devices

Evaluación del stock de la cohorte occidental de invierno-primavera de Ommastrephes bartramii en el océano Pacífico noroeste utilizando el modelo de DeLury jerárquico bayesiano basado en la mortalidad natural diaria durante los años 2005-2015

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of the intensive commercial jigging fishery on the western winter-spring cohort of neon flying squid (Ommastrephes bartramii) in the Northwest Pacific Ocean and to estimate the exploitation status of this stock during the period 2005-2015. We applied a Bayesian hierarchical DeLury depletion model to the Chinese jigging fisheries data to estimate the stock abundance and catchability for each year, and sensitivity analysis on daily natural mortality (M) was conducted. The results indicated that M values had great impacts on the overall estimates of stock size. Initial annual population sizes varied from 66 to 662 million individuals with the M value of 0.003-0.01 per day during the study period. O. bartramii suffered from a certain degree of overexploitation in 2008. The proportional escapement values (M=0.003-0.01) were 8.94% to 19.82% in 2008, with an average of 13.74%, which may have led to a low abundance of O. bartramii and annual catch since 2009. As short-lived ecological opportunists, O. bartramii are extremely sensitive to changes in multi-scale environmental conditions, especially when anomalous environmental conditions occur, and significant between-year variations in the initial abundance resulted in O. bartramii suffering from a certain degree of overexploitation in 2010. Although the proportional escapement met the management target of 40% from 2011 to 2015, the stock size and annual catch still fluctuated at relatively low levels. Improved knowledge of the influences of environmental conditions on abundance of the western winter-spring cohort of neon flying squid can contribute to the sustainable management of this stock.El propósito de este estudio es evaluar el efecto de la pesca comercial con potera automática sobre la cohorte occidental de invierno-primavera de la pota saltadora (Ommastrephes bartramii) en el océano Pacífico noroeste y estimar el estado de explotación de esta población durante los años 2005-2015. Se utilizó un modelo de DeLury jerárquico bayesiano para estudiar la pesca con potera automática de la flota china. Para estimar la abundancia y capturabilidad del stock para cada año se analizó la mortalidad natural diaria (M). Los resultados indicaron que los valores de M tuvieron un gran impacto en las estimaciones generales del tamaño del stock. El tamaño inicial de la población anual varió entre 66 y 662 millones de ejemplares con el valor M de 0.003-0.01 por día durante 2005-2015. O. bartramii mostró un cierto grado de sobreexplotación en 2008. La proporción de la población preservada de la pesca (M=0.003-0.01) fue de 8.94-19.82% en 2008, siendo en promedio de 13.74%, lo que pudo conducir a una reducida abundancia y captura anual de O. bartramii desde 2009. Como especie oportunista de vida breve, O. bartramii es extremadamente sensible a los cambios en las condiciones ambientales, especialmente cuando aparecen condiciones ambientales anómalas. Variaciones interanuales significativas en su abundancia mostraron que O. bartramii sufrió un cierto grado de sobreexplotación durante algunos años, como por ejemplo durante 2010. Aunque la proporción de la población preservada de la pesca cumplió con el objetivo de su gestión pesquera del 40% durante los años 2011-2015, el tamaño del stock y la captura anual oscilaron entre niveles relativamente bajos. La mejora en el conocimiento de cómo las condiciones ambientales influyen en la abundancia de la cohorte occidental de invierno-primavera de la pota saltadora puede contribuir al manejo sostenible de este stock

Investigation of Boundary Effects on the Natural Cavitating Flow around a 2D Wedge in Shallow Water

When a cavitated body moves in shallow water, both flexible free surface and rigid bottom wall will produce great influence on the cavity pattern and hydrodynamics to change the motion attitude and stability of the body. In this paper, a single-fluid multiphase flow method coupled with a natural cavitation model was employed to study the effects of two kinds of boundaries on the natural cavitating flow around a two-dimensional symmetry wedge in shallow water. Within the range of the cavitation number for computation (0.05 ~ 2.04), the cavity pattern would be divided into three types, namely, stable type, transition type and wake-vortex type. The shape of the free surface is fairly similar to that of the cavity's upper surface with well right-and-left symmetry. However, when the immersion depth and the cavitation number are decreasing, the symmetry of the cavity shape is destroyed due to the influence of bottom wall effects. When the cavitation number is less than about 0.1, with the immersion depth going down, free surface effects exerts a stronger influence on the drag coefficient of this 2D wedge, whereas wall effects bring a stronger influence on the lift coefficient

Influencia de factores ambientales sobre potas oceánicas (Cephalopoda: Ommastrephidae) explotadas comercialmente: un enfoque para la gestión de stocks

Ommastrephid squids are short-lived ecological opportunists and their recruitment is largely driven by the surrounding environment. While recent studies suggest that recruitment variability in several squid species can be partially explained by environmental variability derived from synoptic oceanographic data, assessment of ommastrephid stocks using environmental variability is rare. In thisstudy, we modified asurplus production model to incorporate environmental variability into the assessment of threeommastrephid squids (Ommastrephes bartramii in the northwest Pacific, Illex argentinus in the southwest Atlantic and Dosidicus gigas in the southwest Pacific). We assumed that the key environmental variables—suitable sea surface temperature on spawning grounds during the spawning seasons and feeding grounds during the feeding seasons—have effects on the carrying capacity and the instantaneous population growth rate, respectively, in the surplus production model. For each squid stock, the assessment model with environmental variability had the highest fitting accuracy and the lowest mean squared error and coefficient of variation, and the management reference points based on the optimal model were more precautionary. This study advances our understanding of the interactions between the environment and ommastrephid squid population dynamics and can therefore improve the management of these commercially valuable stocks with a short life cycle.Los miembros de la familia Ommastrephidae (potas) son cefalópodos de vida breve y oportunistas ecológicos, estando sus reclutamientos profundamente influidos por el ambiente circundante. Aunque algunos estudios recientes sugirieron que la variabilidad del reclutamiento en varias especies de esta familia podría explicarse parcialmente por la variabilidad ambiental derivada de datos oceanográficos sinópticos, la gestión de los stocks de omastréfidos empleando factores medioambientales es muy poco frecuente. En el presente trabajo, se ha modificado un modelo de producción generalizada incorporando en él factores ambientales con objeto de ofrecer una herramienta para la gestión y manejo de tres pesquerías: la de Ommastrephes bartramii en el Pacífico Noroeste, la Illex argentinus en el Atlántico sudoeste y la de Dosidicus gigas en el Pacífico sudoeste. Se asumió que los factores ambientales clave: una apropiada temperatura superficial en las áreas de puesta durante las épocas de freza y en las áreas de alimentación durante las estaciones de nutrición, tenían efectos sobre la capacidad de carga y el crecimiento instantáneo de la tasa de crecimiento de la población, respectivamente, en el modelo de producción generalizada. Para el stock de cada especie, el modelo de gestión con las variables ambientales mostró el mayor y más preciso ajuste y el menor error cuadrático y coeficiente de variación; además, los puntos de referencia de manejo basados en el modelo optimizado fueron los más precautorios. El presente estudio significa un avance en nuestro conocimiento sobre las interacciones entre el ambiente y la dinámica de las poblaciones de especies de esta familia de cefalópodos, lo que puede mejorar la gestión de estos stocks de especies de vida breve, cuya importancia comercial es muy grande