Quantum Entanglement and Entropy

Entanglement is the fundamental quantum property behind the now popular field of quantum transport of information. This quantum property is incompatible with the separation of a single system into two uncorrelated subsystems. Consequently, it does not require the use of an additive form of entropy. We discuss the problem of the choice of the most convenient entropy indicator, focusing our attention on a system of 2 qubits, and on a special set, denoted by $\Im$. This set contains both the maximally and the partially entangled states that are described by density matrices diagonal in the Bell basis set. We select this set for the main purpose of making more straightforward our work of analysis. As a matter of fact, we find that in general the conventional von Neumann entropy is not a monotonic function of the entanglement strength. This means that the von Neumann entropy is not a reliable indicator of the departure from the condition of maximum entanglement. We study the behavior of a form of non-additive entropy, made popular by the 1988 work by Tsallis. We show that in the set $\Im$, implying the key condition of non-vanishing entanglement, this non-additive entropy indicator turns out to be a strictly monotonic function of the strength of the entanglement, if entropy indexes $q$ larger than a critical value $Q$ are adopted. We argue that this might be a consequence of the non-additive nature of the Tsallis entropy, implying that the world is quantum and that uncorrelated subsystems do not exist.Comment: 27 pages, 0 figure

Collective behavior and evolutionary games - An introduction

This is an introduction to the special issue titled "Collective behavior and evolutionary games" that is in the making at Chaos, Solitons & Fractals. The term collective behavior covers many different phenomena in nature and society. From bird flocks and fish swarms to social movements and herding effects, it is the lack of a central planner that makes the spontaneous emergence of sometimes beautifully ordered and seemingly meticulously designed behavior all the more sensational and intriguing. The goal of the special issue is to attract submissions that identify unifying principles that describe the essential aspects of collective behavior, and which thus allow for a better interpretation and foster the understanding of the complexity arising in such systems. As the title of the special issue suggests, the later may come from the realm of evolutionary games, but this is certainly not a necessity, neither for this special issue, and certainly not in general. Interdisciplinary work on all aspects of collective behavior, regardless of background and motivation, and including synchronization and human cognition, is very welcome.Comment: 6 two-column pages, 1 figure; accepted for publication in Chaos, Solitons & Fractals [the special issue is available at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/09600779/56

Towards the timely detection of toxicants

We address the problem of enhancing the sensitivity of biosensors to the influence of toxicants, with an entropy method of analysis, denoted as CASSANDRA, recently invented for the specific purpose of studying non-stationary time series. We study the specific case where the toxicant is tetrodotoxin. This is a very poisonous substance that yields an abrupt drop of the rate of spike production at t approximatively 170 minutes when the concentration of toxicant is 4 nanomoles. The CASSANDRA algorithm reveals the influence of toxicants thirty minutes prior to the drop in rate at a concentration of toxicant equal to 2 nanomoles. We argue that the success of this method of analysis rests on the adoption of a new perspective of complexity, interpreted as a condition intermediate between the dynamic and the thermodynamic state.Comment: 6 pages and 3 figures. Accepted for publication in the special issue of Chaos Solitons and Fractal dedicated to the conference "Non-stationary Time Series: A Theoretical, Computational and Practical Challenge", Center for Nonlinear Science at University of North Texas, from October 13 to October 19, 2002, Denton, TX (USA