On the Role of Density Matrices in Bohmian Mechanics

It is well known that density matrices can be used in quantum mechanics to represent the information available to an observer about either a system with a random wave function (``statistical mixture'') or a system that is entangled with another system (``reduced density matrix''). We point out another role, previously unnoticed in the literature, that a density matrix can play: it can be the ``conditional density matrix,'' conditional on the configuration of the environment. A precise definition can be given in the context of Bohmian mechanics, whereas orthodox quantum mechanics is too vague to allow a sharp definition, except perhaps in special cases. In contrast to statistical and reduced density matrices, forming the conditional density matrix involves no averaging. In Bohmian mechanics with spin, the conditional density matrix replaces the notion of conditional wave function, as the object with the same dynamical significance as the wave function of a Bohmian system.Comment: 16 pages LaTeX, no figure

A microscopic derivation of the quantum mechanical formal scattering cross section

We prove that the empirical distribution of crossings of a "detector'' surface by scattered particles converges in appropriate limits to the scattering cross section computed by stationary scattering theory. Our result, which is based on Bohmian mechanics and the flux-across-surfaces theorem, is the first derivation of the cross section starting from first microscopic principles.Comment: 28 pages, v2: Typos corrected, layout improved, v3: Typos corrected. Accepted for publication in Comm. Math. Phy

Training Induced Positive Exchange Bias in NiFe/IrMn Bilayers

Positive exchange bias has been observed in the Ni$_{81}$Fe$_{19}$/Ir$_{20}$Mn$_{80}$ bilayer system via soft x-ray resonant magnetic scattering. After field cooling of the system through the blocking temperature of the antiferromagnet, an initial conventional negative exchange bias is removed after training i. e. successive magnetization reversals, resulting in a positive exchange bias for a temperature range down to 30 K below the blocking temperature (450 K). This new manifestation of magnetic training is discussed in terms of metastable magnetic disorder at the magnetically frustrated interface during magnetization reversal.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Time and Ensemble Averages in Bohmian Mechanics

We show that in the framework of one-dimensional Bohmian Quantum Mechanics[1], for a particle subject to a potential undergoing a weak adiabatic change, the time averages of the particle's positions typically differ markedly from the ensemble averages. We Apply this result to the case where the weak perturbing potential is the back-action of a measuring device (i.e. a protective measurement). It is shown that under these conditions, most trajectories never cross the position measured (as already shown for a particular example in [3]).Comment: 6 page

Hypersurface Bohm-Dirac models

We define a class of Lorentz invariant Bohmian quantum models for N entangled but noninteracting Dirac particles. Lorentz invariance is achieved for these models through the incorporation of an additional dynamical space-time structure provided by a foliation of space-time. These models can be regarded as the extension of Bohm's model for N Dirac particles, corresponding to the foliation into the equal-time hyperplanes for a distinguished Lorentz frame, to more general foliations. As with Bohm's model, there exists for these models an equivariant measure on the leaves of the foliation. This makes possible a simple statistical analysis of position correlations analogous to the equilibrium analysis for (the nonrelativistic) Bohmian mechanics.Comment: 17 pages, 3 figures, RevTex. Completely revised versio

On the exit statistics theorem of many particle quantum scattering

We review the foundations of the scattering formalism for one particle potential scattering and discuss the generalization to the simplest case of many non interacting particles. We point out that the "straight path motion" of the particles, which is achieved in the scattering regime, is at the heart of the crossing statistics of surfaces, which should be thought of as detector surfaces. We sketch a proof of the relevant version of the many particle flux across surfaces theorem and discuss what needs to be proven for the foundations of scattering theory in this context.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures; to appear in the proceedings of the conference "Multiscale methods in Quantum Mechanics", Accademia dei Lincei, Rome, December 16-20, 200

Dual Behavior of Antiferromagnetic Uncompensated Spins in NiFe/IrMn Exchange Biased Bilayers

We present a comprehensive study of the exchange bias effect in a model system. Through numerical analysis of the exchange bias and coercive fields as a function of the antiferromagnetic layer thickness we deduce the absolute value of the averaged anisotropy constant of the antiferromagnet. We show that the anisotropy of IrMn exhibits a finite size effect as a function of thickness. The interfacial spin disorder involved in the data analysis is further supported by the observation of the dual behavior of the interfacial uncompensated spins. Utilizing soft x-ray resonant magnetic reflectometry we have observed that the antiferromagnetic uncompensated spins are dominantly frozen with nearly no rotating spins due to the chemical intermixing, which correlates to the inferred mechanism for the exchange bias.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Seven Steps Towards the Classical World

Classical physics is about real objects, like apples falling from trees, whose motion is governed by Newtonian laws. In standard Quantum Mechanics only the wave function or the results of measurements exist, and to answer the question of how the classical world can be part of the quantum world is a rather formidable task. However, this is not the case for Bohmian mechanics, which, like classical mechanics, is a theory about real objects. In Bohmian terms, the problem of the classical limit becomes very simple: when do the Bohmian trajectories look Newtonian?Comment: 16 pages, LaTeX, uses latexsy

Predictions with Lattice QCD

In recent years, we used lattice QCD to calculate some quantities that were unknown or poorly known. They are the $q^2$ dependence of the form factor in semileptonic $D\to Kl\nu$ decay, the leptonic decay constants of the $D^+$ and $D_s$ mesons, and the mass of the $B_c$ meson. In this paper, we summarize these calculations, with emphasis on their (subsequent) confirmation by measurements in $e^+e^-$, $\gamma p$ and $\bar{p}p$ collisions.Comment: 5 pages; update of hep-lat/0509169, with experimental confirmation of form factors from Belle and fDs from BaBar; presented at SciDAC 2006 for the Fermilab Lattice, MILC, and HPQCD Collaboration

Electromagnetic corrections to light hadron masses

At the precision reached in current lattice QCD calculations, electromagnetic effects are becoming numerically relevant. We will present preliminary results for electromagnetic corrections to light hadron masses, based on simulations in which a $\mathrm{U}(1)$ degree of freedom is superimposed on $N_f=2+1$ QCD configurations from the BMW collaboration.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, The XXVIII International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, June 14-19,2010, Villasimius, Sardinia Ital