287 research outputs found
Adiabatic elimination in quantum stochastic models
We consider a physical system with a coupling to bosonic reservoirs via a
quantum stochastic differential equation. We study the limit of this model as
the coupling strength tends to infinity. We show that in this limit the
solution to the quantum stochastic differential equation converges strongly to
the solution of a limit quantum stochastic differential equation. In the
limiting dynamics the excited states are removed and the ground states couple
directly to the reservoirs.Comment: 17 pages, no figures, corrected mistake
Spectrophotometric activity microassay for pure and recombinant cytochrome P450-type nitric oxide reductase
Nitric oxide reductase (NOR) of the P450 oxidoreductase family accepts electrons directly from its cofactor,
NADH, to reduce two nitric oxide (NO) molecules to one nitrous oxide molecule and water. The
enzyme plays a key role in the removal of radical NO produced during respiratory metabolism, and applications
in bioremediation and biocatalysis have been identified. However, a rapid, accurate, and sensitive
enzyme assay has not yet been developed for this enzyme family. In this study, we optimized reaction
conditions for the development of a spectrophotometric NOR activity microassay using NOC-5 for the
provision of NO in solution. We also demonstrate that the assay is suitable for the quantification and
characterization of P450-type NOR. The Km and kcat kinetic constants obtained by this assay were comparable
to the values determined by gas chromatography, but with improved convenience and cost efficiency,
effectively by miniaturization. To our knowledge, this is the first study to present the
quantification of NOR activity in a kinetic microassay format.A CSIR parliamentary grant (Pretoria, South Africa)http://www.elsevier.com/locate/yabiohb201
Feedback-control of quantum systems using continuous state-estimation
We present a formulation of feedback in quantum systems in which the best
estimates of the dynamical variables are obtained continuously from the
measurement record, and fed back to control the system. We apply this method to
the problem of cooling and confining a single quantum degree of freedom, and
compare it to current schemes in which the measurement signal is fed back
directly in the manner usually considered in existing treatments of quantum
feedback. Direct feedback may be combined with feedback by estimation, and the
resulting combination, performed on a linear system, is closely analogous to
classical LQG control theory with residual feedback.Comment: 12 pages, multicol revtex, revised and extende
Survival-Time Distribution for Inelastic Collapse
In a recent publication [PRL {\bf 81}, 1142 (1998)] it was argued that a
randomly forced particle which collides inelastically with a boundary can
undergo inelastic collapse and come to rest in a finite time. Here we discuss
the survival probability for the inelastic collapse transition. It is found
that the collapse-time distribution behaves asymptotically as a power-law in
time, and that the exponent governing this decay is non-universal. An
approximate calculation of the collapse-time exponent confirms this behaviour
and shows how inelastic collapse can be viewed as a generalised persistence
phenomenon.Comment: 4 pages, RevTe
Quantum measurement as driven phase transition: An exactly solvable model
A model of quantum measurement is proposed, which aims to describe
statistical mechanical aspects of this phenomenon, starting from a purely
Hamiltonian formulation. The macroscopic measurement apparatus is modeled as an
ideal Bose gas, the order parameter of which, that is, the amplitude of the
condensate, is the pointer variable. It is shown that properties of
irreversibility and ergodicity breaking, which are inherent in the model
apparatus, ensure the appearance of definite results of the measurement, and
provide a dynamical realization of wave-function reduction or collapse. The
measurement process takes place in two steps: First, the reduction of the state
of the tested system occurs over a time of order , where
is the temperature of the apparatus, and is the number of its degrees of
freedom. This decoherence process is governed by the apparatus-system
interaction. During the second step classical correlations are established
between the apparatus and the tested system over the much longer time-scale of
equilibration of the apparatus. The influence of the parameters of the model on
non-ideality of the measurement is discussed. Schr\"{o}dinger kittens, EPR
setups and information transfer are analyzed.Comment: 35 pages revte
Effects of χ(3) nonlinearities in second-harmonic generation
We investigate the effects of higher-order, chi ((3)), nonlinearities on the process of second-harmonic generation. In the traveling-wave case we find substantive differences in the macroscopic behavior of the fields when the chi ((3)) components are present. In the intracavity cage, which has been investigated before using a Linearized analysis, we investigate regions where these analyses may not be valid, comparing and contrasting the full quantum simulations with previous results
Trapping atoms in the vacuum field of a cavity
The aim of this work is to find ways to trap an atom in a cavity. In contrast
to other approaches we propose a method where the cavity is basically in the
vacuum state and the atom in the ground state. The idea is to induce a spatial
dependent AC Stark shift by irradiating the atom with a weak laser field, so
that the atom experiences a trapping force. The main feature of our setup is
that dissipation can be strongly suppressed. We estimate the lifetime of the
atom as well as the trapping potential parameters and compare our estimations
with numerical simulations.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure
Quantum-noise-induced macroscopic revivals in second-harmonic generation
We investigate the behavior of the fundamental and second-harmonic fields in phase-matched traveling plane-wave second-harmonic generation, using the full-operator equations of motion. We find that, after a certain interaction length, both the macroscopic and quantum-statistical properties of the harmonic and fundamental fields are qualitatively different from those found in previous analyses. The mean fields do not vary in a monotonic way, but oscillate with the propagation length, leading to an unexpected periodic revival of the fundamental field, triggered by the quantum fluctuations always present in the mode. Accordingly, the amplitude noise of the fundamental, previously predicted to be perfectly squeezed for long interaction lengths, actually reaches a very small minimum for a definite length, then increases again
The Influence of the Degree of Heterogeneity on the Elastic Properties of Random Sphere Packings
The macroscopic mechanical properties of colloidal particle gels strongly
depend on the local arrangement of the powder particles. Experiments have shown
that more heterogeneous microstructures exhibit up to one order of magnitude
higher elastic properties than their more homogeneous counterparts at equal
volume fraction. In this paper, packings of spherical particles are used as
model structures to computationally investigate the elastic properties of
coagulated particle gels as a function of their degree of heterogeneity. The
discrete element model comprises a linear elastic contact law, particle bonding
and damping. The simulation parameters were calibrated using a homogeneous and
a heterogeneous microstructure originating from earlier Brownian dynamics
simulations. A systematic study of the elastic properties as a function of the
degree of heterogeneity was performed using two sets of microstructures
obtained from Brownian dynamics simulation and from the void expansion method.
Both sets cover a broad and to a large extent overlapping range of degrees of
heterogeneity. The simulations have shown that the elastic properties as a
function of the degree of heterogeneity are independent of the structure
generation algorithm and that the relation between the shear modulus and the
degree of heterogeneity can be well described by a power law. This suggests the
presence of a critical degree of heterogeneity and, therefore, a phase
transition between a phase with finite and one with zero elastic properties.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures; Granular Matter (published online: 11. February
2012
Lifetime distributions in the methods of non-equilibrium statistical operator and superstatistics
A family of non-equilibrium statistical operators is introduced which differ
by the system age distribution over which the quasi-equilibrium (relevant)
distribution is averaged. To describe the nonequilibrium states of a system we
introduce a new thermodynamic parameter - the lifetime of a system.
Superstatistics, introduced in works of Beck and Cohen [Physica A \textbf{322},
(2003), 267] as fluctuating quantities of intensive thermodynamical parameters,
are obtained from the statistical distribution of lifetime (random time to the
system degeneracy) considered as a thermodynamical parameter. It is suggested
to set the mixing distribution of the fluctuating parameter in the
superstatistics theory in the form of the piecewise continuous functions. The
distribution of lifetime in such systems has different form on the different
stages of evolution of the system. The account of the past stages of the
evolution of a system can have a substantial impact on the non-equilibrium
behaviour of the system in a present time moment.Comment: 18 page
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