Decoherence in a classically chaotic quantum system: entropy production and quantum--classical correspondence

We study the decoherence process for an open quantum system which is classically chaotic (a quartic double well with harmonic driving coupled to a sea of harmonic oscillators). We analyze the time dependence of the rate of entropy production showing that it has two relevant regimes: For short times it is proportional to the diffusion coefficient (fixed by the system--environment coupling strength). For longer times (but before equilibration) it is fixed by dynamical properties of the system (and is related to the Lyapunov exponent). The nature of the transition time between both regimes is investigated and the issue of quantum to classical correspondence is addressed. Finally, the impact of the interaction with the environment on coherent tunneling is analyzed

Densidad básica de la madera de Acacia melanoxylon R. Br en relación con la altura de muestreo, el árbol y el sitio

The aim of the work was to assess basic wood density variations of Acacia melanoxylon R.Br according to sample tree height, tree, and site. Twenty trees were selected from four sites in Buenos Aires Province, Argentine. Wood density was determined over two disc samples at four tree height (base, breast height, 30% and 50% of total tree height). According to determined ages, some trees were divided into two groups according to age (26-32 years and 9-12 years) and data were analyzed with an analysis of variance according to mixed model where tree was the random effecTrees represent 74 % of total random variance. Within tree, axial tendency of wood density was to decrease from the base toward breast height and then its value was stable to the top. This was consistent across all sites and age groups. Forest resource growing at Los Tuelches site presented the highest basic wood density.El objetivo del presente trabajo fue analizar las variaciones en la densidad básica de la madera de Acacia melanoxylon R.Br, según las alturas de muestreo en el fuste, los árboles y el sitio. Se seleccionaron 20 árboles en cuatro sitios de muestreo en la Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina. Se determinó la densidad de la madera sobre dos rodajas en cada una de cuatro alturas en el fuste (base, altura de pecho, 30% y 50% de la altura total). De acuerdo a la edad determinada, parte del material se reunió en dos grupos (26-32 años y 9-12 años) para los análisis de la varianza bajo modelos mixtos donde el árbol fue considerado como aleatorio. Asimismo, el árbol fue responsable del 74 % de la variación aleatoria total. Dentro del fuste se describió un descenso significativo de la densidad entre la base y la altura del pecho, región a partir de la cual la densidad mantuvo su valor hacia el extremo superior del fuste. Esta tendencia se manifestó en todos los sitios y agrupamientos por edades. El recurso implantado en la estación serrana Los Tuelches presentó las mayores densidades de la madera

Magic Numbers and Mixing Degree in Many-Fermion Systems

We consider an N fermion system at low temperature T in which we encounter special particle number values (Formula presented.) exhibiting special traits. These values arise when focusing attention upon the degree of mixture (DM) of the pertinent quantum states. Given the coupling constant of the Hamiltonian, the DMs stay constant for all N-values but experience sudden jumps at the (Formula presented.). For a quantum state described by the matrix (Formula presented.), its purity is expressed by (Formula presented.) and then the degree of mixture is given by (Formula presented.), a quantity that coincides with the entropy (Formula presented.) for (Formula presented.). Thus, Tsallis entropy of index two faithfully represents the degree of mixing of a state, that is, it measures the extent to which the state departs from maximal purity. Macroscopic manifestations of the degree of mixing can be observed through various physical quantities. Our present study is closely related to properties of many-fermion systems that are usually manipulated at zero temperature. Here, we wish to study the subject at finite temperature. The Gibbs ensemble is appealed to. Some interesting insights are thereby gained.Fil: Monteoliva, D.. Universidad Nacional de La Plata; Argentina. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas; ArgentinaFil: Plastino, Ángel Luis. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Física La Plata. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Instituto de Física La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Plastino, Ángel Ricardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Noroeste de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Centro de Bioinvestigaciones (Sede Junín); Argentin

Promoters Architecture-Based Mechanism for Noise-Induced Oscillations in a Single-Gene Circuit

It is well known that single-gene circuits with negative feedback loop can lead to oscillatory gene expression when they operate with time delay. In order to generate these oscillations many processes can contribute to properly timing such delay. Here we show that the time delay coming from the transitions between internal states of the cis-regulatory system (CRS) can drive sustained oscillations in an auto-repressive single-gene circuit operating in a small volume like a cell. We found that the cooperative binding of repressor molecules is not mandatory for a oscillatory behavior if there are enough binding sites in the CRS. These oscillations depend on an adequate balance between the CRS kinetic, and the synthesis/degradation rates of repressor molecules. This finding suggest that the multi-site CRS architecture can play a key role for oscillatory behavior of gene expression. Finally, our results can also help to synthetic biologists on the design of the promoters architecture for new genetic oscillatory circuits.Fil: Guisoni, Nara Cristina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Física de Líquidos y Sistemas Biológicos. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Instituto de Física de Líquidos y Sistemas Biológicos; ArgentinaFil: Monteoliva, D.. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Departamento de Física; ArgentinaFil: Diambra, Luis Anibal. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Centro Regional de Estudios Genómicos; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Brownian motion in en external field revisited

In many interesting physical examples, the partition function is divergent, as first pointed out in 1924 by Fermi (for the hydrogen-atom case). Thus, the usualtoolbox of statistical mechanics becomes unavailable, notwithstanding the well known fact that the pertinent system may appear to be in a thermal steady state.We tackle and overcome these difficulties here by appeal to firmly established but not too well known mathematical recipes and obtain finite values for a typical divergent partitionfunction, that of a Brownian particle in an external field. This allows not only for calculating thermodynamic observables of interest, but for also instantiating other kind of statistical mechanics´ novelties.Fil: Plastino, Angelo. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Departamento de Física; ArgentinaFil: Rocca, Mario Carlos. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Departamento de Física; ArgentinaFil: Monteoliva, D.. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Departamento de Física; ArgentinaFil: Hernando, A.. Kido Dynamics S. A.; Suiz

Decoherence, tunneling and noise-activation in a double-potential well at high and zero temperature

We study the effects of the environment on tunneling in an open system described by a static double-well potential. We describe the evolution of a quantum state localized in one of the minima of the potential at $t=0$, both in the limits of high and zero environment temperature. We show that the evolution of the system can be summarized in terms of three main physical phenomena, namely decoherence, quantum tunneling and noise-induced activation, and we obtain analytical estimates for the corresponding time-scales. These analytical predictions are confirmed by large-scale numerical simulations, providing a detailed picture of the main stages of the evolution and of the relevant dynamical processes.Comment: Version to appear in Phys. Rev. E. 15 pages, 12 figures (low quality due to upload size limitations). Good quality figures in a pdf file can be downloaded from http://www.df.uba.ar/users/lombardo/tunne

Quantum effects after decoherence in a quenched phase transition

We study a quantum mechanical toy model that mimics some features of a quenched phase transition. Both by virtue of a time-dependent Hamiltonian or by changing the temperature of the bath we are able to show that even after classicalization has been reached, the system may display quantum behaviour again. We explain this behaviour in terms of simple non-linear analysis and estimate relevant time scales that match the results of numerical simulations of the master-equation. This opens new possibilities both in the study of quantum effects in non-equilibrium phase transitions and in general time-dependent problems where quantum effects may be relevant even after decoherence has been completed.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, revtex, important revisions made. To be published in Phys. Rev.

Decoherence from a Chaotic Environment: An Upside Down "Oscillator" as a Model

Chaotic evolutions exhibit exponential sensitivity to initial conditions. This suggests that even very small perturbations resulting from weak coupling of a quantum chaotic environment to the position of a system whose state is a non-local superposition will lead to rapid decoherence. However, it is also known that quantum counterparts of classically chaotic systems lose exponential sensitivity to initial conditions, so this expectation of enhanced decoherence is by no means obvious. We analyze decoherence due to a "toy" quantum environment that is analytically solvable, yet displays the crucial phenomenon of exponential sensitivity to perturbations. We show that such an environment, with a single degree of freedom, can be far more effective at destroying quantum coherence than a heat bath with infinitely many degrees of freedom. This also means that the standard "quantum Brownian motion" model for a decohering environment may not be as universally applicable as it once was conjectured to be.Comment: RevTeX, 29 pages, 5 EPS figures. Substantially rewritten analysis, improved figures, additional references, and errors fixed. Final version (to appear in PRA