Solving rank-constrained semidefinite programs in exact arithmetic

We consider the problem of minimizing a linear function over an affine section of the cone of positive semidefinite matrices, with the additional constraint that the feasible matrix has prescribed rank. When the rank constraint is active, this is a non-convex optimization problem, otherwise it is a semidefinite program. Both find numerous applications especially in systems control theory and combinatorial optimization, but even in more general contexts such as polynomial optimization or real algebra. While numerical algorithms exist for solving this problem, such as interior-point or Newton-like algorithms, in this paper we propose an approach based on symbolic computation. We design an exact algorithm for solving rank-constrained semidefinite programs, whose complexity is essentially quadratic on natural degree bounds associated to the given optimization problem: for subfamilies of the problem where the size of the feasible matrix is fixed, the complexity is polynomial in the number of variables. The algorithm works under assumptions on the input data: we prove that these assumptions are generically satisfied. We also implement it in Maple and discuss practical experiments.Comment: Published at ISSAC 2016. Extended version submitted to the Journal of Symbolic Computatio

More efficient Bell inequalities for Werner states

In this paper we study the nonlocal properties of two-qubit Werner states parameterized by the visibility parameter 0<p<1. New family of Bell inequalities are constructed which prove the two-qubit Werner states to be nonlocal for the parameter range 0.7056<p<1. This is slightly wider than the range 0.7071<p<1, corresponding to the violation of the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt (CHSH) inequality. This answers a question posed by Gisin in the positive, i.e., there exist Bell inequalities which are more efficient than the CHSH inequality in the sense that they are violated by a wider range of two-qubit Werner states.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figur

Teaching Social Justice Through Gothic Young Adult Literature

In this article, authors argue that teaching young adult Gothic novels helps secondary students reflect on social justice issues, such as racism and sexism. We selected four young adult novels (The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White, Dark Companion by Marta Acosta, Open Mic Night at Westminster Abbey by Mary Amato, and Black Spring by Alison Croggon) and paired them with Gothic texts (Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Edgar Allan Poe’s tales, Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, and Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre) to draw readers’ attention to issues of privilege and oppression . We offer in-class activities that help connect the paired texts and encourage students to engage with the books’ themes and content. We note how pairing a Gothic classic and a YA novel together provide students the opportunity to identify social justice issues (e.g., gendered and socioeconomic class oppression) in Gothic themes such as the fragmented self, questions of identity, and isolation. In this article, we share our research and pedagogical strategies with readers who might be interested in using them in their own classroom – especially those who teach Gothic literature

Energy as an Entanglement Witness for Quantum Many-Body Systems

We investigate quantum many-body systems where all low-energy states are entangled. As a tool for quantifying such systems, we introduce the concept of the entanglement gap, which is the difference in energy between the ground-state energy and the minimum energy that a separable (unentangled) state may attain. If the energy of the system lies within the entanglement gap, the state of the system is guaranteed to be entangled. We find Hamiltonians that have the largest possible entanglement gap; for a system consisting of two interacting spin-1/2 subsystems, the Heisenberg antiferromagnet is one such example. We also introduce a related concept, the entanglement-gap temperature: the temperature below which the thermal state is certainly entangled, as witnessed by its energy. We give an example of a bipartite Hamiltonian with an arbitrarily high entanglement-gap temperature for fixed total energy range. For bipartite spin lattices we prove a theorem demonstrating that the entanglement gap necessarily decreases as the coordination number is increased. We investigate frustrated lattices and quantum phase transitions as physical phenomena that affect the entanglement gap.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figures, published versio

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

Very high performance 50 nm T-gate III-V HEMTs enabled by robust nanofabrication technologies

In this paper, we review a range of nanofabrication techniques which enable the realization of uniform, high yield, high performance 50 nm T-gate III-V high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs). These technologies have been applied in the fabrication of a range of lattice matched and pseudomorphic InP HEMTs and GaAs metamorphic HEMTs with functional yields in excess of 95%, threshold voltage uniformity of 5 mV, DC transconductance of up to 1600 mS/mm and f/sub T/ of up to 480 GHz. These technologies and device demonstrators are key to enabling a wide range of millimeter-wave imaging and sensing applications beyond 100 GHz, particularly where array-based multi-channel solutions are required

Quantum memory for non-stationary light fields based on controlled reversible inhomogeneous broadening

We propose a new method for efficient storage and recall of non-stationary light fields, e.g. single photon time-bin qubits, in optically dense atomic ensembles. Our approach to quantum memory is based on controlled, reversible, inhomogeneous broadening. We briefly discuss experimental realizations of our proposal.Comment: 4 page

T>0 properties of the infinitely repulsive Hubbard model for arbitrary number of holes

Based on representations of the symmetric group $S_N$, explicit and exact Schr\"odinger equation is derived for $U=\infty$ Hubbard model in any dimensions with arbitrary number of holes, which clearly shows that during the movement of holes the spin background of electrons plays an important role. Starting from it, at T=0 we have analyzed the behaviour of the system depending on the dimensionality and number of holes. Based on the presented formalism thermodynamic quantities have also been expressed using a loop summation technique in which the partition function is given in terms of characters of $S_N$. In case of the studied finite systems, the loop summation have been taken into account exactly up to the 14-th order in reciprocal temperature and the results were corrected in higher order based on Monte Carlo simulations. The obtained results suggest that the presented formalism increase the efficiency of the Monte Carlo simulations as well, because the spin part contribution of the background is automatically taken into account by the characters of $S_N$.Comment: 26 pages, 1 embedded ps figure; Phil. Mag. B (in press

Distance measures to compare real and ideal quantum processes

With growing success in experimental implementations it is critical to identify a "gold standard" for quantum information processing, a single measure of distance that can be used to compare and contrast different experiments. We enumerate a set of criteria such a distance measure must satisfy to be both experimentally and theoretically meaningful. We then assess a wide range of possible measures against these criteria, before making a recommendation as to the best measures to use in characterizing quantum information processing.Comment: 15 pages; this version in line with published versio

Bounds on Heavy-to-Heavy Mesonic Form Factors

We provide upper and lower bounds on the form factors for B -> D, D^* by utilizing inclusive heavy quark effective theory sum rules. These bounds are calculated to leading order in Lambda_QCD/m_Q and alpha_s. The O(alpha_s^2 beta_0) corrections to the bounds at zero recoil are also presented. We compare our bounds with some of the form factor models used in the literature. All the models we investigated failed to fall within the bounds for the combination of form factors (omega^2 - 1)/(4 omega)|omega h_{A2}+h_{A3}|^2.Comment: 27 pages, 10 figure