Transition from Icosahedral to Decahedral Structure in a Coexisting Solid-Liquid Nickel Cluster

We have used molecular dynamics simulations to construct a microcanonical caloric curve for a 1415-atom Ni icosahedron. Prior to melting the Ni cluster exhibits static solid-liquid phase coexistence. Initially a partial icosahedral structure coexists with a non-wetting melt. However at energies very close to the melting point the icosahedral structure is replaced by a truncated decahedral structure which is almost fully wet by the melt. This structure remains until the cluster fully melts. The transition appears to be driven by a preference for the melt to wet the decahedral structure.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure

Multipartite W states for chains of atoms conveyed through an optical cavity

We propose and work out a scheme to generate the entangled W states for a chain of N four-level atoms which are transported through an optical cavity by means of an optical lattice. This scheme is based on the combined laser-cavity mediated interaction between distant and equally separated atoms and works in a completely deterministic way for qubits encoded by two hyperfine levels of the atoms. Only two parameters, namely the distance between the atoms and the velocity of the chain, determine the effective interaction among the atoms and, therefore, the degree of entanglement that is obtained for the overall chain of N qubits. In particular, we work out the parameter regions for which the W states are generated most reliably for chains of N = 2,3,4 and 5 atoms. In addition, we analyze the sensitivity in the formation of entanglement for such chains of qubits due to uncertainties produced by the oscillations of atoms in optical lattices.Comment: 12 pages, revised version accepted in PR

Can the X(3872) be a 1^{++} four-quark state?

We use QCD spectral sum rules to test the nature of the meson X(3872), assumed to be an exotic four-quark (c\bar{c}q\bar{q}) state with J^{PC}=1^{++}. For definiteness, we work with the current proposed recently by Maiani et al [1], at leading order in \alpha_s, consider the contributions of higher dimension condensates and keep terms which are linear in the light quark mass m_q. We find M_X=(3925+- 127) MeV which is compatible, within the errors, with he experimental candidate X(3872), while the SU(3) breaking-terms lead to an unusual mass-splitting M_{X^{s}}-M_X=- (61+-30) MeV. The mass-difference between the neutral states due to isospin violation of about (2.6-3.9) MeV is much smaller than the value (8+-3) MeV proposed in [1]. For the b-quark, we predict M_{X_b}= (10144+-106) MeV for the X_b(b\bar{b}q \bar{q}), which is much below the {\bar B}B* threshold in contrast to the {\bar B}B* molecule prediction [2], and for the X_b^s(b\bar{b}s \bar{s}), a mass-splitting M_{X^s_{b}}-M_{X_b}=-(121+-182) MeV. Our analysis also indicates that the mass-splitting between the ground state and the radial excitation of about (225~250) MeV is much smaller than in the case of ordinary mesons and is (within the errors) flavour-independent. We also extract the decay constants, analogous to f_\pi, of such mesons, which are useful for further studies of their leptonic and hadronic decay widths. The uncertainties of our estimates are mainly due to the ones from the c and b quark masses.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures. Version to appear in Phys. Rev.

Monotonicity of quantum relative entropy revisited

Monotonicity under coarse-graining is a crucial property of the quantum relative entropy. The aim of this paper is to investigate the condition of equality in the monotonicity theorem and in its consequences such as the strong sub-additivity of the von Neumann entropy, the Golden-Thompson trace inequality and the monotonicity of the Holevo quantity.The relation to quantum Markovian states is briefly indicated.Comment: 13 pages, LATEX fil

Entanglement distribution by an arbitrarily inept delivery service

We consider the scenario where a company C manufactures in bulk pure entangled pairs of particles, each pair intended for a distinct pair of distant customers. Unfortunately, its delivery service is inept - the probability that any given customer pair receives its intended particles is S, and the customers cannot detect whether an error has occurred. Remarkably, no matter how small S is, it is still possible for C to distribute entanglement by starting with non-maximally entangled pairs. We determine the maximum entanglement distributable for a given S, and also determine the ability of the parties to perform nonlocal tasks with the qubits they receive.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures. v2 includes minor change

Spin chains and channels with memory

In most studies of the channel capacity of quantum channels, it is assumed that the errors in each use of the channel are independent. However, recent work has begun to investigate the effects of memory or correlations in the error. This work has led to speculation that interesting non-analytic behaviour may occur in the capacity. Motivated by these observations, we connect the study of channel capacities under correlated error to the study of critical behaviour in many-body physics. This connection enables us the techniques of many-body physics to either completely solve or understand qualitatively a number of interesting models of correlated error. The models can display analogous behaviour to associated many-body systems, including `phase transitions'.Comment: V2: changes in presentation, some additional comments on generalisation. V3: In accordance with published version, most (but not all) details of proofs now included. A separate paper will shortly be submitted separately with all details and more result

A pilot study of a text messaging intervention to modify illness and medication beliefs amongst patients diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease

Intentional and unintentional medication non-adherence is a particular challenge for patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Non-adherence can affect patients’ quality of life, which can result in unfavorable treatment outcomes, more hospitalizations, and higher healthcare-related costs. The purpose of this study was to assess whether a tailored text message intervention designed to modify illness and medication adherence beliefs in patients with IBD would increase treatment compliance and change patients’ illness perceptions and medication concerns. This pilot study utilized a pre-test-post-test non-randomized design. A sample of 32 IBD patients was recruited within the UK. Participants’ medication beliefs and illness perception scores determined the set of tailored daily text messages, which were sent to patients over duration of 12 weeks. Medication adherence increased post-intervention, as “forgetting to take medication” decreased while “never” forgetting to take medication increased over time. A significant increase in treatment control and coherence and a decreased level of concern surrounding their condition was evident. Participants’ level of concern towards their medications changed during the 12 weeks, with a baseline mean concern score of 3.08 (.57) in comparison to the 12 weeks mean concern score of 2.89 (.59), which is statistically different, t (31) = 2.16, p < .038, r = .36 (medium effect). Sixty-six percent of participants from the baseline were aware of the necessity of their medication: “without my medication I would become ill.” The results have direct implications for improving medication adherence and changing illness and medication beliefs. This study validated the benefits of text messages and highlighted the importance of addressing these beliefs in order to understand the reasons for non-adherence fully

Disentanglement and decoherence in two-spin and three-spin systems under dephasing

We compare disentanglement and decoherence rates within two-spin and three-spin entangled systems subjected to all possible combinations of local and collective pure dephasing noise combinations. In all cases, the bipartite entanglement decay rate is found to be greater than or equal to the dephasing-decoherence rates and often significantly greater. This sharpens previous results for two-spin systems [T. Yu and J. H. Eberly Phys. Rev. B 68, 165322 (2003)] and extends them to the three-spin context.Comment: 17 page

Controlled and combined remote implementations of partially unknown quantum operations of multiqubits using GHZ states

We propose and prove protocols of controlled and combined remote implementations of partially unknown quantum operations belonging to the restricted sets [An Min Wang: PRA, \textbf{74}, 032317(2006)] using GHZ states. We detailedly describe the protocols in the cases of one qubit, respectively, with one controller and with two senders. Then we extend the protocols to the cases of multiqubits with many controllers and two senders. Because our protocols have to demand the controller(s)'s startup and authorization or two senders together working and cooperations, the controlled and combined remote implementations of quantum operations definitely can enhance the security of remote quantum information processing and potentially have more applications. Moreover, our protocol with two senders is helpful to farthest arrive at the power of remote implementations of quantum operations in theory since the different senders perhaps have different operational resources and different operational rights in practice.Comment: 26 pages, the submitted versio