The asymmetric structure of the Galactic halo

Using the stellar photometry catalogue based on the latest data release (DR4) of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), a study of the Galactic structure using star counts is carried out for selected areas of the sky. The sample areas are selected along a circle at a Galactic latitude of +60$^\circ$, and 10 strips of high Galactic latitude along different longitudes. Direct statistics of the data show that the surface densities of $\ell$ from $180^{\circ}$ to $360^{\circ}$ are systematically higher than those of $\ell$ from $0^{\circ}$ to $180^{\circ}$, defining a region of overdensity (in the direction of Virgo) and another one of underdensity (in the direction of Ursa Major) with respect to an axisymmetric model. It is shown by comparing the results from star counts in the $(g-r)$ colour that the density deviations are due to an asymmetry of the stellar density in the halo. Theoretical models for the surface density profile are built and star counts are performed using a triaxial halo of which the parameters are constrained by observational data. Two possible reasons for the asymmetric structure are discussed.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figures, 5 tables, MNRAS accepte

Simple scheme for two-qubit Grover search in cavity QED

Following the proposal by F. Yamaguchi et al.[Phys. Rev. A 66, 010302 (R) (2002)], we present an alternative way to implement the two-qubit Grover search algorithm in cavity QED. Compared with F. Yamaguchi et al.'s proposal, with a strong resonant classical field added, our method is insensitive to both the cavity decay and thermal field, and doesn't require that the cavity remain in the vacuum state throughout the procedure. Moreover, the qubit definitions are the same for both atoms, which makes the experiment easier. The strictly numerical simulation shows that our proposal is good enough to demonstrate a two-qubit Grover's search with high fidelity.Comment: manuscript 10 pages, 2 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.

New Consequences of Induced Transparency in a Double-Lambda scheme: Destructive Interference In Four-wave Mixing

We investigate a four-state system interacting with long and short laser pulses in a weak probe beam approximation. We show that when all lasers are tuned to the exact unperturbed resonances, part of the four-wave mixing (FWM) field is strongly absorbed. The part which is not absorbed has the exact intensity required to destructively interfere with the excitation pathway involved in producing the FWM state. We show that with this three-photon destructive interference, the conversion efficiency can still be as high as 25%. Contrary to common belief,our calculation shows that this process, where an ideal one-photon electromagnetically induced transparency is established, is not most suitable for high efficiency conversion. With appropriate phase-matching and propagation distance, and when the three-photon destructive interference does not occur, we show that the photon flux conversion efficiency is independent of probe intensity and can be close to 100%. In addition, we show clearly that the conversion efficiency is not determined by the maximum atomic coherence between two lower excited states, as commonly believed. It is the combination of phase-matching and constructive interference involving the two terms arising in producing the mixing wave that is the key element for the optimized FWM generation. Indeed, in this scheme no appreciable excited state is produced, so that the atomic coherence between states |0> and |2> is always very small.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev. A, 7 pages, 4 figure

Period halving of Persistent Currents in Mesoscopic Mobius ladders

We investigate the period halving of persistent currents(PCs) of non-interacting electrons in isolated mesoscopic M\"{o}bius ladders without disorder, pierced by Aharonov-Bhom flux. The mechanisms of the period halving effect depend on the parity of the number of electrons as well as on the interchain hopping. Although the data of PCs in mesoscopic systems are sample-specific, some simple rules are found in the canonical ensemble average, such as all the odd harmonics of the PCs disappear, and the signals of even harmonics are non-negative. {PACS number(s): 73.23.Ra, 73.23.-b, 68.65.-k}Comment: 6 Pages with 3 EPS figure

Quantum phases of interacting phonons in ion traps

The vibrations of a chain of trapped ions can be considered, under suitable experimental conditions, as an ensemble of interacting phonons, whose quantum dynamics is governed by a Bose--Hubbard Hamiltonian. In this work we study the quantum phases which appear in this system, and show that thermodynamical properties, such as critical parameters and critical exponents, can be measured in experiments with a limited number of ions. Besides that, interacting phonons in trapped ions offer us the possibility to access regimes which are difficult to study with ultracold bosons in optical lattices, like models with attractive or site--dependent phonon-phonon interactions.Comment: 10 page

Superluminal propagation of an optical pulse in a Doppler broadened three-state, single channel active Raman gain medium

Using a single channel active Raman gain medium we show a $(220\pm 20)$ns advance time for an optical pulse of $\tau_{FWHM}=15.4 \mu$s propagating through a 10 cm medium, a lead time that is comparable to what was reported previously. In addition, we have verified experimentally all the features associated with this single channel Raman gain system. Our results show that the reported gain-assisted superluminal propagation should not be attributed to the interference between the two frequencies of the pump field.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Alternative scheme for two-qubit conditional phase gate by adiabatic passage under dissipation

We check a recent proposal [H. Goto and K. Ichimura Phys. Rev. A 70, 012305 (2004)] for controlled phase gate through adiabatic passage under the influence of spontaneous emission and the cavity decay. We show a modification of above proposal could be used to generate the necessary conditional phase gates in the two-qubit Grover search. Conditioned on no photon leakage either from the atomic excited state or from the cavity mode during the gating period, we numerically analyze the success probability and the fidelity of the two-qubit conditional phase gate by adiabatic passage. The comparison made between our proposed gating scheme and a previous one shows that Goto and Ichimura's scheme is an alternative and feasible way in the optical cavity regime for two-qubit gates and could be generalised in principle to multi-qubit gates.Comment: to appear in J. Phys.

Generation of N-qubit W state with rf-SQUID qubits by adiabatic passage

A simple scheme is presented to generate n-qubit W state with rf-superconducting quantum interference devices (rf-SQUIDs) in cavity QED through adiabatic passage. Because of the achievable strong coupling for rf-SQUID qubits embedded in cavity QED, we can get the desired state with high success probability. Furthermore, the scheme is insensitive to position inaccuracy of the rf-SQUIDs. The numerical simulation shows that, by using present experimental techniques, we can achieve our scheme with very high success probability, and the fidelity could be eventually unity with the help of dissipation.Comment: to appear in Phys. Rev.