364 research outputs found
The role of infrared divergence for decoherence
Continuous and discrete superselection rules induced by the interaction with
the environment are investigated for a class of exactly soluble Hamiltonian
models. The environment is given by a Boson field. Stable superselection
sectors emerge if and only if the low frequences dominate and the ground state
of the Boson field disappears due to infrared divergence. The models allow
uniform estimates of all transition matrix elements between different
superselection sectors.Comment: 11 pages, extended and simplified proo
Optimal space of linear classical observables for Maxwell k-forms via spacelike and timelike compact de Rham cohomologies
Being motivated by open questions in gauge field theories, we consider non-standard de Rham cohomology groups for timelike compact and spacelike compact support systems. These cohomology groups are shown to be isomorphic respectively to the usual de Rham cohomology of a spacelike Cauchy surface and its counterpart with compact support. Furthermore, an analog of the usual Poincar\ue9 duality for de Rham cohomology is shown to hold for the case with non-standard supports as well. We apply these results to find optimal spaces of linear observables for analogs of arbitrary degree k of both the vector potential and the Faraday tensor. The term optimal has to be intended in the following sense: The spaces of linear observables we consider distinguish between different configurations; in addition to that, there are no redundant observables. This last point in particular heavily relies on the analog of Poincar\ue9 duality for the new cohomology groups
Family of solvable generalized random-matrix ensembles with unitary symmetry
We construct a very general family of characteristic functions describing
Random Matrix Ensembles (RME) having a global unitary invariance, and
containing an arbitrary, one-variable probability measure which we characterize
by a `spread function'. Various choices of the spread function lead to a
variety of possible generalized RMEs, which show deviations from the well-known
Gaussian RME originally proposed by Wigner. We obtain the correlation functions
of such generalized ensembles exactly, and show examples of how particular
choices of the spread function can describe ensembles with arbitrary eigenvalue
densities as well as critical ensembles with multifractality.Comment: 4 pages, to be published in Phys. Rev. E, Rapid Com
Distillability and positivity of partial transposes in general quantum field systems
Criteria for distillability, and the property of having a positive partial
transpose, are introduced for states of general bipartite quantum systems. The
framework is sufficiently general to include systems with an infinite number of
degrees of freedom, including quantum fields. We show that a large number of
states in relativistic quantum field theory, including the vacuum state and
thermal equilibrium states, are distillable over subsystems separated by
arbitrary spacelike distances. These results apply to any quantum field model.
It will also be shown that these results can be generalized to quantum fields
in curved spacetime, leading to the conclusion that there is a large number of
quantum field states which are distillable over subsystems separated by an
event horizon.Comment: 25 pages, 2 figures. v2: Typos removed, references and comments
added. v3: Expanded introduction and reference list. To appear in Rev. Math.
Phy
The Possibility of Reconciling Quantum Mechanics with Classical Probability Theory
We describe a scheme for constructing quantum mechanics in which a quantum
system is considered as a collection of open classical subsystems. This allows
using the formal classical logic and classical probability theory in quantum
mechanics. Our approach nevertheless allows completely reproducing the standard
mathematical formalism of quantum mechanics and identifying its applicability
limits. We especially attend to the quantum state reduction problem.Comment: Latex, 14 pages, 1 figur
Reduction of Lie-Jordan Banach algebras and quantum states
A theory of reduction of Lie-Jordan Banach algebras with respect to either a
Jordan ideal or a Lie-Jordan subalgebra is presented. This theory is compared
with the standard reduction of C*-algebras of observables of a quantum system
in the presence of quantum constraints. It is shown that the later corresponds
to the particular instance of the reduction of Lie-Jordan Banach algebras with
respect to a Lie-Jordan subalgebra as described in this paper. The space of
states of the reduced Lie-Jordan Banach algebras is described in terms of
equivalence classes of extensions to the full algebra and their GNS
representations are characterized in the same way. A few simple examples are
discussed that illustrates some of the main results
Enhancing spatial detection accuracy for syndromic surveillance with street level incidence data
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The Department of Defense Military Health System operates a syndromic surveillance system that monitors medical records at more than 450 non-combat Military Treatment Facilities (MTF) worldwide. The Electronic Surveillance System for Early Notification of Community-based Epidemics (ESSENCE) uses both temporal and spatial algorithms to detect disease outbreaks. This study focuses on spatial detection and attempts to improve the effectiveness of the ESSENCE implementation of the spatial scan statistic by increasing the spatial resolution of incidence data from zip codes to street address level.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Influenza-Like Illness (ILI) was used as a test syndrome to develop methods to improve the spatial accuracy of detected alerts. Simulated incident clusters of various sizes were superimposed on real ILI incidents from the 2008/2009 influenza season. Clusters were detected using the spatial scan statistic and their displacement from simulated loci was measured. Detected cluster size distributions were also evaluated for compliance with simulated cluster sizes.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Relative to the ESSENCE zip code based method, clusters detected using street level incidents were displaced on average 65% less for 2 and 5 mile radius clusters and 31% less for 10 mile radius clusters. Detected cluster size distributions for the street address method were quasi normal and sizes tended to slightly exceed simulated radii. ESSENCE methods yielded fragmented distributions and had high rates of zero radius and oversized clusters.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Spatial detection accuracy improved notably with regard to both location and size when incidents were geocoded to street addresses rather than zip code centroids. Since street address geocoding success rates were only 73.5%, zip codes were still used for more than one quarter of ILI cases. Thus, further advances in spatial detection accuracy are dependant on systematic improvements in the collection of individual address information.</p
Noncommutative Thermofield Dynamics
The real-time operator formalism for thermal quantum field theories,
thermofield dynamics, is formulated in terms of a path-integral approach in
non-commutative spaces. As an application, the two-point function for a thermal
non-commutative theory is derived at the one-loop level. The
effect of temperature and the non-commutative parameter, competing with one
another, is analyzed.Comment: 13 pages; to be published in IJMP-A
Towards a definition of quantum integrability
We briefly review the most relevant aspects of complete integrability for
classical systems and identify those aspects which should be present in a
definition of quantum integrability.
We show that a naive extension of classical concepts to the quantum framework
would not work because all infinite dimensional Hilbert spaces are unitarily
isomorphic and, as a consequence, it would not be easy to define degrees of
freedom. We argue that a geometrical formulation of quantum mechanics might
provide a way out.Comment: 37 pages, AmsLatex, 1 figur
The Role of Socioeconomic Status in Longitudinal Trends of Cholera in Matlab, Bangladesh, 1993-2007
There has been little evidence of a decline in the global burden of cholera in recent years as the number of cholera cases reported to WHO continues to rise. Cholera remains a global threat to public health and a key indicator of lack of socioeconomic development. Overall socioeconomic development is the ultimate solution for control of cholera as evidenced in developed countries. However, most research has focused on cross-county comparisons so that the role of individual- or small area-level socioeconomic status (SES) in cholera dynamics has not been carefully studied. Reported cases of cholera in Matlab, Bangladesh have fluctuated greatly over time and epidemic outbreaks of cholera continue, most recently with the introduction of a new serotype into the region. The wealth of longitudinal data on the population of Matlab provides a unique opportunity to explore the impact of socioeconomic status and other demographic characteristics on the long-term temporal dynamics of cholera in the region. In this population-based study we examine which factors impact the initial number of cholera cases in a bari at the beginning of the 0139 epidemic and the factors impacting the number of cases over time. Cholera data were derived from the ICDDR,B health records and linked to socioeconomic and geographic data collected as part of the Matlab Health and Demographic Surveillance System. Longitudinal zero-inflated Poisson (ZIP) multilevel regression models are used to examine the impact of environmental and socio-demographic factors on cholera counts across baris. Results indicate that baris with a high socioeconomic status had lower initial rates of cholera at the beginning of the 0139 epidemic (γ01 = -0.147, p = 0.041) and a higher probability of reporting no cholera cases (α01 = 0.156, p = 0.061). Populations in baris characterized by low SES are more likely to experience higher cholera morbidity at the beginning of an epidemic than populations in high SES baris
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