Experimental study of optimal measurements for quantum state tomography

Quantum tomography is a critically important tool to evaluate quantum hardware, making it essential to develop optimized measurement strategies that are both accurate and efficient. We compare a variety of strategies using nearly pure test states. Those that are informationally complete for all states are found to be accurate and reliable even in the presence of errors in the measurements themselves, while those designed to be complete only for pure states are far more efficient but highly sensitive to such errors. Our results highlight the unavoidable tradeoffs inherent to quantum tomography.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Introduction: Examined Live – An Epistemological Exchange Between Philosophy and Cultural Psychology on Reflection

Besides the general agreement about the human capability of reflection, there is a large area of disagreement and debate about the nature and value of “reflective scrutiny” and the role of “second-order states” in everyday life. This problem has been discussed in a vast and heterogeneous literature about topics such as epistemic injustice, epistemic norms, agency, understanding, meta-cognition etc. However, there is not yet any extensive and interdisciplinary work, specifically focused on the topic of the epistemic value of reflection. This volume is one of the first attempts aimed at providing an innovative contribution, an exchange between philosophy, epistemology and psychology about the place and value of reflection in everyday life. Our goal in the next sections is not to offer an exhaustive overview of recent work on epistemic reflection, nor to mimic all of the contributions made by the chapters in this volume. We will try to highlight some topics that have motivated a new resumption of this field and, with that, drawing on chapters from this volume where relevant. Two elements defined the scope and content of this volume, on the one hand, the crucial contribution of Ernest Sosa, whose works provide original and thought-provoking contributions to contemporary epistemology in setting a new direction for old dilemmas about the nature and value of knowledge, giving a central place to reflection. On the other hand, the recent developments of cultural psychology, in the version of the “Aalborg approach”, reconsider the object and scope of psychological sciences, stressing that “[h]uman conduct is purposeful”

Quantum state tomography by continuous measurement and compressed sensing

The need to perform quantum state tomography on ever larger systems has spurred a search for methods that yield good estimates from incomplete data. We study the performance of compressed sensing (CS) and least squares (LS) estimators in a fast protocol based on continuous measurement on an ensemble of cesium atomic spins. Both efficiently reconstruct nearly pure states in the 16-dimensional ground manifold, reaching average fidelities FCS = 0.92 and FLS = 0.88 using similar amounts of incomplete data. Surprisingly, the main advantage of CS in our protocol is an increased robustness to experimental imperfections

Life history of Megamelus scutellaris with description of immature stages (Hemiptera: Delphacidae)

The five immature stages of Megamelus scutellaris Berg (Hemiptera: Delphacidae) are described and illustrated. The main characters that distinguish the various stages are body size, number of tarsomeres and tibial spines, color, and number of teeth on the metatibial spur. New biological data based on laboratory rearing and field observations show that M. scutellaris can carry out its biological cycle successfully on water hyacinth, Eichhornia crassipes (Martius) Solms Laubach (Pontederiaceae). Mating occurs close to the water level and one to four eggs per scar are laid in apical portion of petiole and pseudolaminae. Ovipositional scars are recognized by three parallel marks. In addition, the efficient rearing in captivity, the high survivorship registered, and overwintering on only water hyacinth suggest M. scutellaris as a potential biocontrol agent of this invasive aquatic weed.Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Muse

Life history of Megamelus scutellaris with description of immature stages (Hemiptera: Delphacidae)

The five immature stages of Megamelus scutellaris Berg (Hemiptera: Delphacidae) are described and illustrated. The main characters that distinguish the various stages are body size, number of tarsomeres and tibial spines, color, and number of teeth on the metatibial spur. New biological data based on laboratory rearing and field observations show that M. scutellaris can carry out its biological cycle successfully on water hyacinth, Eichhornia crassipes (Martius) Solms Laubach (Pontederiaceae). Mating occurs close to the water level and one to four eggs per scar are laid in apical portion of petiole and pseudolaminae. Ovipositional scars are recognized by three parallel marks. In addition, the efficient rearing in captivity, the high survivorship registered, and overwintering on only water hyacinth suggest M. scutellaris as a potential biocontrol agent of this invasive aquatic weed.Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Muse

Molecular characterization of paecilomyces fumosoroseus (deuteromycotina: hyphomycetes) isolates.

ABSTRACT ITS and RAPD analyses were used to investigate molecular variations within samples of Paecilomyces isolates and to resolve five morphologically atypical isolates resembling P. fumosorosus, obtained from whitefly in Northern Paraná State. The ITS4-ITS5 amplicon was 700 base pairs (bp) long in all isolates. The five isolates of Paecilomyces not assigned to species produced restriction profiles identical to all the reference strains of P. fumosoroseus. The extent of fingerprint variability observed by RAPD was sufficient to discriminate all the isolates. The genetic similarity among unidentified isolates and strains of P. fumosoroseus was even higher than that observed among reference strains of this species, allowing us to conclude that isolates CNPso-P77, CNPso-P78, CNPso-P80, CNPso-P85 and CNPso-P91 are P. fumosoroseus. Key words: Paecilomyces fumosoroseus, Bemisia, RAPD, biological control, entomopathogenic fungu