Extremal states for photon number and quadratures as gauges for nonclassicality

Rotated quadratures carry the phase-dependent information of the electromagnetic field, so they are somehow conjugate to the photon number. We analyze this noncanonical pair, finding an exact uncertatinty relation, as well as a couple of weaker inequalities obtained by relaxing some restrictions of the problem. We also find the intelligent states saturating that relation and complete their characterization by considering extra constraints on the second-order moments of the variables involved. Using these moments, we construct performance measures tailored to diagnose photon-added and Schr\"odinger catlike states, among others.Comment: 6 pages, 4 color figures. Comments welcome

Unpolarized states and hidden polarization

We capitalize on a multipolar expansion of the polarisation density matrix, in which multipoles appear as successive moments of the Stokes variables. When all the multipoles up to a given order $K$ vanish, we can properly say that the state is $K$th-order unpolarized, as it lacks of polarization information to that order. First-order unpolarized states coincide with the corresponding classical ones, whereas unpolarized to any order tally with the quantum notion of fully invariant states. In between these two extreme cases, there is a rich variety of situations that are explored here. The existence of \textit{hidden} polarisation emerges in a natural way in this context.Comment: 7 pages, 3 eps-color figures. Submitted to PRA. Comments welcome

Orbital angular momentum from marginals of quadrature distributions

We set forth a method to analyze the orbital angular momentum of a light field. Instead of using the canonical formalism for the conjugate pair angle-angular momentum, we model this latter variable by the superposition of two independent harmonic oscillators along two orthogonal axes. By describing each oscillator by a standard Wigner function, we derive, via a consistent change of variables, a comprehensive picture of the orbital angular momentum. We compare with previous approaches and show how this method works in some relevant examples.Comment: 7 pages, 2 color figure

Lost and found: the radial quantum number of Laguerre-Gauss modes

We introduce an operator linked with the radial index in the Laguerre-Gauss modes of a two-dimensional harmonic oscillator in cylindrical coordinates. We discuss ladder operators for this variable, and confirm that they obey the commutation relations of the su(1,1) algebra. Using this fact, we examine how basic quantum optical concepts can be recast in terms of radial modes.Comment: Some minor typos fixed

On the Detection of CMB B-modes from Ground at Low Frequency

The primordial CMB $B$-mode search is on the spotlight of the scientific community due to the large amount of cosmological information that is encoded in the primeval signal. However, the detection of this signal is challenging from the data analysis point of view, due to the relative low amplitude compared to the foregrounds, the lensing contamination coming from the leakage of $E$-modes, and the instrumental noise. Here, we studied the viability of the detection of the primordial polarization $B$-mode with a ground-based telescope operating in the microwave low-frequency regime (i.e., from 10GHz-120GHz) in a handful of different scenarios: i. the instrument's channels distribution and noise, ii. the tensor-to-scalar ratio ($r$) detectability considering different possible $r$ values and degrees of delensing, iii. the effect of including a possible source of polarized anomalous microwave emission (AME), iv. the strengths and weaknesses of different observational strategies and, v. the atmospheric and systematic noise impact on the recovery. We focused mainly on the removal of galactic foregrounds as well as noise contamination by applying a full-parametric pixel-based maximum likelihood component separation technique. Moreover, we developed a numerical methodology to estimate the residuals power spectrum left after component separation, which allow us to mitigate possible biases introduced in the primordial $B$-mode power spectrum reconstruction. Among many other results, we found that this sort of experiment is capable of detecting Starobinsky's $r$ even when no delensing is performed or, a possible polarized AME contribution is taken into account. Besides, we showed that this experiment is a powerful complement to other on-ground or satellite missions, such as LiteBIRD, since it can help significantly with the low-frequency foregrounds characterization.Comment: 28 pages, 18 figures, submitted to JCA

Correction: Understanding MAOS through computational chemistry

Correction for 'Understanding MAOS through computational chemistry' by P. Prieto et al., Chem. Soc. Rev., 2017, 46, 431–451

Influence of Polarity and Activation Energy in Microwave-Assisted Organic Synthesis (MAOS)

The aim of this work was to determine the parameters that have decisive roles in microwave-assisted reactions and to develop a model, using computational chemistry, to predict a priori the type of reactions that can be improved under microwaves. For this purpose, a computational study was carried out on a variety of reactions, which have been reported to be improved under microwave irradiation. This comprises six types of reactions. The outcomes obtained in this study indicate that the most influential parameters are activation energy, enthalpy, and the polarity of all the species that participate. In addition to this, in most cases, slower reacting systems observe a much greater improvement under microwave irradiation. Furthermore, for these reactions, the presence of a polar component in the reaction (solvent, reagent, susceptor, etc.) is necessary for strong coupling with the electromagnetic radiation. We also quantified that an activation energy of 20-30 kcal mol-1 and a polarity (µ) between 7-20 D of the species involved in the process is required to obtain significant improvements under microwave irradiation

Prevalence of four statin benefit groups in a population of the Caribbean region of Colombia

Objectives: To estimate the prevalence of four Statin Benefit Groups (SBG) according to the 2018 ACC/AHA Multisociety Guideline on the Management of Blood Cholesterol, in a population of the Caribbean region of Colombia enrolled to DTC program Mutual SER-EPS in 2015 Methods: Data on a history of hyperlipidemia was collected by study investigators at including adults patients enrolled to DTC program Mutual SER-EPS in 2015 (N = 64,667) with ICD-10 diagnosis of hyperlipidemia (E78), or with a personal history of hyperlipidemia; or with abnormal lipid profile; or patients under treatment with lipid-lowering drugs. The four SBG were comprised adult patients $21 years of age with clinical atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) (SBG1); adults$21 years of age with LDL-C $190 mg/dL (not due to secondary modifiable causes) (SBG2); adults aged 40 to 75 years without ASCVD, but with diabetes and with LDL-C 70 to 189 mg/dL (SBG3); and adults ages 40 to 75 years without ASCVD or diabetes, with LDL-C 70 to 189 mg/dL, and an estimated 10-year risk for ASCVD of$ 20% as determined by the Framingham Risk Score (SBG4). The prevalence of statin use by SBG and factors associated with statin use were estimated. Results: The prevalence of SBG1, SBG2, SBG3 and SBG4 in patients enrolled to DTC program Mutual SER-EPS in 2015 were 4.6% (2,985), 0.5% (337), 2.5% (1,633) and 1.3% (891), respectively. The prevalence of statin use in SBG1, SBG2, SBG3 and SBG4 were 69.1% (2,064), 40.6% (137), 47% (768) and 59.1% (463), respectively. Arterial hypertension (OR: 2.70; 95% IC 1.70-4.28) and personal history of ASCVD (OR: 3.43; 95% IC 2.15-5.46) were very significantly associated with statin use. Conclusions: The prevalence of SBG and statin use in patients enrolled to DTC program Mutual SEREPS in 2015 were 9% (5,846) and 58.7% (3,432), respectively

Environmental & flight control system architecture optimization from a family concept design perspective

One method an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) can apply to reduce development and manufacturing costs is family concept design: each product family member is designed for a different design point, but a significant amount of components is shared among the family members. In this case, a trade-off exists between member performance and commonality. In the design of complex systems, often many different architectures are possible, and the design space is too large to explore exhaustively. In this work, we present an application of a new architecture optimization method to the design of a family of passenger transport jets, with a focus on the sizing of the Environmental Control System (ECS) and Flight Control System (FCS). The architecture design space is modeled using the Architecture Design Space Graph (ADSG), a novel method for constructing model-based system architecture optimization problems. Decisions are extracted and the multi-objective optimization problem is automatically formulated. Objectives used are commonality, representing acquisition costs, and fuel burn, representing a part of operation costs. These metrics are evaluated using a cross-organizational collaborative multidisciplinary analysis toolchain, and the resulting Multidisciplinary Design Optimization (MDO) problem is solved using a multi-objective evolutionary optimization algorithm. The results show that the trade-off between commonality and fuel burn is only present above a certain commonality level