72 research outputs found
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
Blocking entry of hepatitis B and D viruses to hepatocytes as a novel immunotherapy for treating chronic infections
Background. Chronic hepatitis B and D virus (HBV/HDV) infections can cause cancer. Current HBV therapy using nucleoside analogues (NAs) is life-long and reduces but does not eliminate the risk of cancer. A hallmark of chronic hepatitis B is a dysfunctional HBV-specific T-cell response. We therefore designed an immunotherapy driven by naive healthy T cells specific for the HDV antigen (HDAg) to bypass the need for HBV-specific T cells in order to prime PreS1-specific T cells and PreS1 antibodies blocking HBV entry.
Methods. Ten combinations of PreS1 and/or HDAg sequences were evaluated for induction of PreS1 antibodies and HBV- and HDV-specific T cells in vitro and in vivo. Neutralization of HBV by PreS1-specific murine and rabbit antibodies was evaluated in cell culture, and rabbit anti-PreS1 were tested for neutralization of HBV in mice repopulated with human hepatocytes.
Results. The best vaccine candidate induced T cells to PreS1 and HDAg, and PreS1 antibodies blocking HBV entry in vitro. Importantly, adoptive transfer of PreS1 antibodies prevented, or modulated, HBV infection after a subsequent challenge in humanized mice.
Conclusions. We here describe a novel immunotherapy for chronic HBV/HDV that targets viral entry to complement NAs and coming therapies inhibiting viral maturation
Effects of different long-term soil management systems on some physical and chemical properties and crop production in soils in Berlin-Dahlem and Dedelow- Zalf Müncheberg (Germany)
Soil management systems influence the agricultural system as they have in short- and long term period different
effects on soil physical and chemical properties, therefore influencing the efficiency of production as well. A
well directed choice of tillage equipments leads to a better soil protection and enables a higher fertility which is
an important requirement for sustainable agriculture. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of
different soil management systems on some physical and chemical properties and the crop production of these
sandy soils. This study demonstrates the first results obtained from the year 2006, performed on the long-term
land use experiment with the effects of three different factors (deep and shallow tillage; 17 and 28 cm, lime
application; +Ca and –Ca and Farmyard manure; +FYM and –FYM) in Berlin-Dahlem (Germany), Humboldt
University of Berlin and the ZALF experimental station at Dedelow (Germany) in 5 different tillage systems
(no-tillage, mulch; 10 cm, cultivator; 15 cm, plough; 15 cm and plough; 25 cm).
The soil heterogeneity were determined and evaluated with the computer program “Surfer” depending on the
different depths of the sand and loam layers. The penetration resistances of both experimental fields showed that
the deep tillage systems caused a higher compacted zone in deeper soil layers. It was found that there are
significant differences in the soil aggregate stability and pH values between the shallow and deep tillage systems
in Berlin-Dahlem. The pH values were significantly higher in the deep tillage systems. The soil organic matter
contents were found higher in the deep tillage systems but there were no significant differences. There were also
no significant differences in grain yield between these two tillage systems in Berlin-Dahlem
Generic Bell correlation between arbitrary local algebras in quantum field theory
We prove that for any two commuting von Neumann algebras of infinite type,
the open set of Bell correlated states for the two algebras is norm dense. We
then apply this result to algebraic quantum field theory -- where all local
algebras are of infinite type -- in order to show that for any two spacelike
separated regions, there is an open dense set of field states that dictate Bell
correlations between the regions. We also show that any vector state cyclic for
one of a pair of commuting nonabelian von Neumann algebras is entangled (i.e.,
nonseparable) across the algebras -- from which it follows that every field
state with bounded energy is entangled across any two spacelike separated
regions.Comment: Third version; correction in the proof of Proposition
On the spin-statistics connection in curved spacetimes
The connection between spin and statistics is examined in the context of
locally covariant quantum field theory. A generalization is proposed in which
locally covariant theories are defined as functors from a category of framed
spacetimes to a category of -algebras. This allows for a more operational
description of theories with spin, and for the derivation of a more general
version of the spin-statistics connection in curved spacetimes than previously
available. The proof involves a "rigidity argument" that is also applied in the
standard setting of locally covariant quantum field theory to show how
properties such as Einstein causality can be transferred from Minkowski
spacetime to general curved spacetimes.Comment: 17pp. Contribution to the proceedings of the conference "Quantum
Mathematical Physics" (Regensburg, October 2014
Superselection Sectors and General Covariance.I
This paper is devoted to the analysis of charged superselection sectors in
the framework of the locally covariant quantum field theories. We shall analize
sharply localizable charges, and use net-cohomology of J.E. Roberts as a main
tool. We show that to any 4-dimensional globally hyperbolic spacetime it is
attached a unique, up to equivalence, symmetric tensor \Crm^*-category with
conjugates (in case of finite statistics); to any embedding between different
spacetimes, the corresponding categories can be embedded, contravariantly, in
such a way that all the charged quantum numbers of sectors are preserved. This
entails that to any spacetime is associated a unique gauge group, up to
isomorphisms, and that to any embedding between two spacetimes there
corresponds a group morphism between the related gauge groups. This form of
covariance between sectors also brings to light the issue whether local and
global sectors are the same. We conjecture this holds that at least on simply
connected spacetimes. It is argued that the possible failure might be related
to the presence of topological charges. Our analysis seems to describe theories
which have a well defined short-distance asymptotic behaviour.Comment: 66 page
The averaged null energy condition for general quantum field theories in two dimensions
It is shown that the averaged null energy condition is fulfilled for a dense,
translationally invariant set of vector states in any local quantum field
theory in two-dimensional Minkowski spacetime whenever the theory has a mass
gap and possesses an energy-momentum tensor. The latter is assumed to be a
Wightman field which is local relative to the observables, generates locally
the translations, is divergence-free, and energetically bounded. Thus the
averaged null energy condition can be deduced from completely generic, standard
assumptions for general quantum field theory in two-dimensional flat spacetime.Comment: LateX2e, 16 pages, 1 eps figur
Topological features of massive bosons on two dimensional Einstein space-time
In this paper we tackle the problem of constructing explicit examples of
topological cocycles of Roberts' net cohomology, as defined abstractly by
Brunetti and Ruzzi. We consider the simple case of massive bosonic quantum
field theory on the two dimensional Einstein cylinder. After deriving some
crucial results of the algebraic framework of quantization, we address the
problem of the construction of the topological cocycles. All constructed
cocycles lead to unitarily equivalent representations of the fundamental group
of the circle (seen as a diffeomorphic image of all possible Cauchy surfaces).
The construction is carried out using only Cauchy data and related net of local
algebras on the circle.Comment: 41 pages, title changed, minor changes, typos corrected, references
added. Accepted for publication in Ann. Henri Poincare
Local covariant quantum field theory over spectral geometries
A framework which combines ideas from Connes' noncommutative geometry, or
spectral geometry, with recent ideas on generally covariant quantum field
theory, is proposed in the present work. A certain type of spectral geometries
modelling (possibly noncommutative) globally hyperbolic spacetimes is
introduced in terms of so-called globally hyperbolic spectral triples. The
concept is further generalized to a category of globally hyperbolic spectral
geometries whose morphisms describe the generalization of isometric embeddings.
Then a local generally covariant quantum field theory is introduced as a
covariant functor between such a category of globally hyperbolic spectral
geometries and the category of involutive algebras (or *-algebras). Thus, a
local covariant quantum field theory over spectral geometries assigns quantum
fields not just to a single noncommutative geometry (or noncommutative
spacetime), but simultaneously to ``all'' spectral geometries, while respecting
the covariance principle demanding that quantum field theories over isomorphic
spectral geometries should also be isomorphic. It is suggested that in a
quantum theory of gravity a particular class of globally hyperbolic spectral
geometries is selected through a dynamical coupling of geometry and matter
compatible with the covariance principle.Comment: 21 pages, 2 figure
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