General criterion for oblivious remote state preparation

A necessary and sufficient condition is given for general exact remote state preparation (RSP) protocols to be oblivious, that is, no information about the target state can be retrieved from the classical message. A novel criterion in terms of commutation relations is also derived for the existence of deterministic exact protocols in which Alice's measurement eigenstates are related to each other by fixed linear operators similar to Bob's unitaries. For non-maximally entangled resources, it provides an easy way to search for RSP protocols. As an example, we show how to reduce the case of partially entangled resources to that of maximally entangled ones, and we construct RSP protocols exploiting the structure of the irreducible representations of Abelian groups.Comment: 5 pages, RevTe

Modelling the incomplete Paschen-Back effect in the spectra of magnetic Ap stars

We present first results of a systematic investigation of the incomplete Paschen-Back effect in magnetic Ap stars. A short overview of the theory is followed by a demonstration of how level splittings and component strengths change with magnetic field strength for some lines of special astrophysical interest. Requirements are set out for a code which allows the calculation of full Stokes spectra in the Paschen-Back regime and the behaviour of Stokes I and V profiles of transitions in the multiplet 74 of FeII is discussed in some detail. It is shown that the incomplete Paschen-Back effect can lead to noticeable line shifts which strongly depend on total multiplet strength, magnetic field strength and field direction. Ghost components (which violate the normal selection rule on J) show up in strong magnetic fields but are probably unobservable. Finally it is shown that measurements of the integrated magnetic field modulus $H_s$ are not adversely affected by the Paschen-Back effect, and that there is a potential problem in (magnetic) Doppler mapping if lines in the Paschen-Back regime are treated in the Zeeman approximation.Comment: 8 pages, 10 figures, to appear in MNRA

Quantized recurrence time in iterated open quantum dynamics

The expected return time to the original state is a key concept characterizing systems obeying both classical or quantum dynamics. We consider iterated open quantum dynamical systems in finite dimensional Hilbert spaces, a broad class of systems that includes classical Markov chains and unitary discrete time quantum walks on networks. Starting from a pure state, the time evolution is induced by repeated applications of a general quantum channel, in each timestep followed by a measurement to detect whether the system has returned to the original state. We prove that if the superoperator is unital in the relevant Hilbert space (the part of the Hilbert space explored by the system), then the expectation value of the return time is an integer, equal to the dimension of this relevant Hilbert space. We illustrate our results on partially coherent quantum walks on finite graphs. Our work connects the previously known quantization of the expected return time for bistochastic Markov chains and for unitary quantum walks, and shows that these are special cases of a more general statement. The expected return time is thus a quantitative measure of the size of the part of the Hilbert space available to the system when the dynamics is started from a certain state

Parametric amplification of the mechanical vibrations of a suspended nanowire by magnetic coupling to a Bose-Einstein condensate

We consider the possibility of parametric amplification of a mechanical vibration mode of a nanowire due to its interaction with a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) of ultracold atoms. The magneto-mechanical coupling is mediated by the vibrationally modulated magnetic field around the current-carrying nanowire, which can induce atomic transitions between different hyperfine sublevels. We theoretically analyze the limitations arising from the fact that the spin inverted atomic medium which feeds the mechanical oscillation has a finite bandwidth in the range of the chemical potential of the condensate

Continuous variable remote state preparation

We extend exact deterministic remote state preparation (RSP) with minimal classical communication to quantum systems of continuous variables. We show that, in principle, it is possible to remotely prepare states of an ensemble that is parameterized by infinitely many real numbers, i.e., by a real function, while the classical communication cost is one real number only. We demonstrate continuous variable RSP in three examples using (i) quadrature measurement and phase space displacement operations, (ii) measurement of the optical phase and unitaries shifting the same, and (iii) photon counting and photon number shift.Comment: 7 pages, RevTeX

Search for the companions of Galactic SNe Ia

The central regions of the remnants of Galactic SNe Ia have been examined for the presence of companion stars of the exploded supernovae. We present the results of this survey for the historical SN 1572 and SN 1006. The spectra of the stars are modeled to obtain Teff, log g and the metallicity. Radial velocities are obtained with an accuracy of 5--10 km s$^{-1}$. Implications for the nature of the companion star in SNeIa follow.Comment: 8 pages, 2 Postscript figures. Appeared in "From Twilight to Highlight: the Physics of Supernovae", ed. W. Hillebrandt & B. Leibundgut (Springer), pp. 140-14

The Chemical Composition of Cernis 52 (BD+31 640)

We present an abundance analysis of the star Cernis 52 in whose spectrum we recently reported the napthalene cation in absorption at 6707.4 {\AA}. This star is on a line of sight to the Perseus molecular complex. The analysis of high-resolution spectra using a chi^2-minimization procedure and a grid of synthetic spectra provides the stellar parameters and the abundances of O, Mg, Si, S, Ca, and Fe. The stellar parameters of this star are found to be T_{eff} = 8350 +- 200 K, logg= 4.2 +- 0.4 dex. We derived a metallicity of [Fe/H] = -0.01 +- 0.15. These stellar parameters are consistent with a star of $\sim 2$ \Msun in a pre-main-sequence evolutionary stage. The stellar spectrum is significantly veiled in the spectral range 5150-6730 {\AA} up to almost 55 per cent of the total flux at 5150 {\AA} and decreasing towards longer wavelengths. Using Johnson-Cousins and 2MASS photometric data, we determine a distance to Cernis 52 of 231$^{+135}_{-85}$ pc considering the error bars of the stellar parameters. This determination places the star at a similar distance to the young cluster IC 348. This together with its radial velocity, v_r=13.7+-1 km/s, its proper motion and probable young age support Cernis 52 as a likely member of IC 348. We determine a rotational velocity of v\sin i=65 +- 5 km/s for this star. We confirm that the stellar resonance line of \ion{Li}{1} at 6707.8 {\AA} is unable to fit the broad feature at 6707.4 {\AA}. This feature should have a interstellar origin and could possibly form in the dark cloud L1470 surrounding all the cluster IC 348 at about the same distance.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa