119 research outputs found
Trapping atoms in the vacuum field of a cavity
The aim of this work is to find ways to trap an atom in a cavity. In contrast
to other approaches we propose a method where the cavity is basically in the
vacuum state and the atom in the ground state. The idea is to induce a spatial
dependent AC Stark shift by irradiating the atom with a weak laser field, so
that the atom experiences a trapping force. The main feature of our setup is
that dissipation can be strongly suppressed. We estimate the lifetime of the
atom as well as the trapping potential parameters and compare our estimations
with numerical simulations.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure
Dark-State Polaritons in Electromagnetically Induced Transparency
We identify form-stable coupled excitations of light and matter (``dark-state
polaritons'') associated with the propagation of quantum fields in
Electromagnetically Induced Transparency. The properties of the dark-state
polaritons such as the group velocity are determined by the mixing angle
between light and matter components and can be controlled by an external
coherent field as the pulse propagates. In particular, light pulses can be
decelerated and ``trapped'' in which case their shape and quantum state are
mapped onto metastable collective states of matter. Possible applications of
this reversible coherent-control technique are discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
Stochastic wave function method for non-Markovian quantum master equations
A generalization of the stochastic wave function method to quantum master
equations which are not in Lindblad form is developed. The proposed stochastic
unravelling is based on a description of the reduced system in a doubled
Hilbert space and it is shown, that this method is capable of simulating
quantum master equations with negative transition rates. Non-Markovian effects
in the reduced systems dynamics can be treated within this approach by
employing the time-convolutionless projection operator technique. This ansatz
yields a systematic perturbative expansion of the reduced systems dynamics in
the coupling strength. Several examples such as the damped Jaynes Cummings
model and the spontaneous decay of a two-level system into a photonic band gap
are discussed. The power as well as the limitations of the method are
demonstrated.Comment: RevTex, 14 pages, 9 figures, uses multico
New method to simulate quantum interference using deterministic processes and application to event-based simulation of quantum computation
We demonstrate that networks of locally connected processing units with a
primitive learning capability exhibit behavior that is usually only attributed
to quantum systems. We describe networks that simulate single-photon
beam-splitter and Mach-Zehnder interferometer experiments on a causal,
event-by-event basis and demonstrate that the simulation results are in
excellent agreement with quantum theory. We also show that this approach can be
generalized to simulate universal quantum computers.Comment: J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. (in press) http://www.compphys.net/dl
Quantum Kinetic Theory I: A Quantum Kinetic Master Equation for Condensation of a weakly interacting Bose gas without a trapping potential
A Quantum Kinetic Master Equation (QKME) for bosonic atoms is formulated. It
is a quantum stochastic equation for the kinetics of a dilute quantum Bose gas,
and describes the behavior and formation of Bose condensation. The key
assumption in deriving the QKME is a Markov approximation for the atomic
collision terms. In the present paper the basic structure of the theory is
developed, and approximations are stated and justified to delineate the region
of validity of the theory. Limiting cases of the QKME include the Quantum
Boltzmann master equation and the Uehling-Uhlenbeck equation, as well as an
equation analogous to the Gross-Pitaevskii equation.Comment: 37 pages, 4 figure
Quantum Kinetic Theory III: Quantum kinetic master equation for strongly condensed trapped systems
We extend quantum kinetic theory to deal with a strongly Bose-condensed
atomic vapor in a trap. The method assumes that the majority of the vapor is
not condensed, and acts as a bath of heat and atoms for the condensate. The
condensate is described by the particle number conserving Bogoliubov method
developed by one of the authors. We derive equations which describe the
fluctuations of particle number and phase, and the growth of the Bose-Einstein
condensate. The equilibrium state of the condensate is a mixture of states with
different numbers of particles and quasiparticles. It is not a quantum
superposition of states with different numbers of particles---nevertheless, the
stationary state exhibits the property of off-diagonal long range order, to the
extent that this concept makes sense in a tightly trapped condensate.Comment: 3 figures submitted to Physical Review
Optimal quantum codes for preventing collective amplitude damping
Collective decoherence is possible if the departure between quantum bits is
smaller than the effective wave length of the noise field. Collectivity in the
decoherence helps us to devise more efficient quantum codes. We present a class
of optimal quantum codes for preventing collective amplitude damping to a
reservoir at zero temperature. It is shown that two qubits are enough to
protect one bit quantum information, and approximately qubits are enough to protect qubit information when is large.
For preventing collective amplitude damping, these codes are much more
efficient than the previously-discovered quantum error correcting or avoiding
codes.Comment: 14 pages, Late
The effect of salient stimuli on neural oscillations, isometric force, and their coupling.
Survival in a suddenly-changing environment requires animals not only to detect salient stimuli, but also to promptly respond to them by initiating or revising ongoing motor processes. We recently discovered that the large vertex brain potentials elicited by sudden supramodal stimuli are strongly coupled with a multiphasic modulation of isometric force, a phenomenon that we named cortico-muscular resonance (CMR). Here, we extend our investigation of the CMR to the time-frequency domain. We show that (i) both somatosensory and auditory stimuli evoke a number of phase-locked and non-phase-locked modulations of EEG spectral power. Remarkably, (ii) some of these phase-locked and non-phase-locked modulations are also present in the Force spectral power. Finally, (iii) EEG and Force time-frequency responses are correlated in two distinct regions of the power spectrum. An early, low-frequency region (∼4 Hz) reflects the previously-described coupling between the phase-locked EEG vertex potential and force modulations. A late, higher-frequency region (beta-band, ∼20 Hz) reflects a second coupling between the non-phase-locked increase of power observed in both EEG and Force. In both time-frequency regions, coupling was maximal over the sensorimotor cortex contralateral to the hand exerting the force, suggesting an effect of the stimuli on the tonic corticospinal drive. Thus, stimulus-induced CMR occurs across at least two different types of cortical activities, whose functional significance in relation to the motor system should be investigated further. We propose that these different types of corticomuscular coupling are important to alter motor behaviour in response to salient environmental events
Impairment of Auditory-Motor Timing and Compensatory Reorganization after Ventral Premotor Cortex Stimulation
Integrating auditory and motor information often requires precise timing as in speech and music. In humans, the position of the ventral premotor cortex (PMv) in the dorsal auditory stream renders this area a node for auditory-motor integration. Yet, it remains unknown whether the PMv is critical for auditory-motor timing and which activity increases help to preserve task performance following its disruption. 16 healthy volunteers participated in two sessions with fMRI measured at baseline and following rTMS (rTMS) of either the left PMv or a control region. Subjects synchronized left or right finger tapping to sub-second beat rates of auditory rhythms in the experimental task, and produced self-paced tapping during spectrally matched auditory stimuli in the control task. Left PMv rTMS impaired auditory-motor synchronization accuracy in the first sub-block following stimulation (p<0.01, Bonferroni corrected), but spared motor timing and attention to task. Task-related activity increased in the homologue right PMv, but did not predict the behavioral effect of rTMS. In contrast, anterior midline cerebellum revealed most pronounced activity increase in less impaired subjects. The present findings suggest a critical role of the left PMv in feed-forward computations enabling accurate auditory-motor timing, which can be compensated by activity modulations in the cerebellum, but not in the homologue region contralateral to stimulation
Task-related enhancement in corticomotor excitability during haptic sensing with the contra- or ipsilateral hand in young and senior adults
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Haptic sensing with the fingers represents a unique class of manipulative actions, engaging motor, somatosensory and associative areas of the cortex while requiring only minimal forces and relatively simple movement patterns. Using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), we investigated task-related changes in motor evoked potential (MEP) amplitude associated with unimanual haptic sensing in two related experiments. In Experiment I, we contrasted changes in the excitability of the hemisphere controlling the task hand in young and old adults under two trial conditions, i.e. when participants either touched a fine grating (<it>smooth trials</it>) or touched a coarse grating to detect its groove orientation (<it>grating trials</it>). In Experiment II, the same contrast between tasks was performed but with TMS applied over the hemisphere controlling the resting hand, while also addressing hemispheric (right vs. left) and age differences.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In Experiment I, a main effect of <it>trial type </it>on MEP amplitude was detected (p = 0.001), MEPs in the task hand being ~50% larger during grating than smooth trials. No interaction with age was detected. Similar results were found for Experiment II, <it>trial type </it>having a large effect on MEP amplitude in the resting hand (p < 0.001) owing to selective increase in MEP size (~2.6 times greater) for grating trials. No interactions with age or side (right vs. left) were detected.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Collectively, these results indicate that adding a haptic component to a simple unilateral finger action can elicit robust corticomotor facilitation not only in the working hemisphere but also in the opposite hemisphere. The fact that this facilitation seems well preserved with age, when task difficulty is adjusted, has some potential clinical implications.</p
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