208 research outputs found
Entanglement of identical particles and reference phase uncertainty
We have recently introduced a measure of the bipartite entanglement of
identical particles, E_P, based on the principle that entanglement should be
accessible for use as a resource in quantum information processing. We show
here that particle entanglement is limited by the lack of a reference phase
shared by the two parties, and that the entanglement is constrained to
reference-phase invariant subspaces. The super-additivity of E_P results from
the fact that this constraint is weaker for combined systems. A shared
reference phase can only be established by transferring particles between the
parties, that is, with additional nonlocal resources. We show how this nonlocal
operation can increase the particle entanglement.Comment: 8 pages, no figures. Invited talk given at EQIS'03, Kyoto, September,
2003. Minor typos corrected, 1 reference adde
Ferreting out the Fluffy Bunnies: Entanglement constrained by Generalized superselection rules
Entanglement is a resource central to quantum information (QI). In
particular, entanglement shared between two distant parties allows them to do
certain tasks that would otherwise be impossible. In this context, we study the
effect on the available entanglement of physical restrictions on the local
operations that can be performed by the two parties. We enforce these physical
restrictions by generalized superselection rules (SSRs), which we define to be
associated with a given group of physical transformations. Specifically the
generalized SSR is that the local operations must be covariant with respect to
that group. Then we operationally define the entanglement constrained by a SSR,
and show that it may be far below that expected on the basis of a naive (or
``fluffy bunny'') calculation. We consider two examples. The first is a
particle number SSR. Using this we show that for a two-mode BEC (with Alice
owning mode and Bob mode ), the useful entanglement shared by Alice and
Bob is identically zero. The second, a SSR associated with the symmetric group,
is applicable to ensemble QI processing such as in liquid-NMR. We prove that
even for an ensemble comprising many pairs of qubits, with each pair described
by a pure Bell state, the entanglement per pair constrained by this SSR goes to
zero for a large ensemble.Comment: 8 pages, proceedings paper for an invited talk at 16th International
Conference on Laser Spectroscopy (2003
Experimental demonstration of quantum source coding
We report an experimental demonstration of Schumacher's quantum noiseless
coding theorem. Our experiment employs a sequence of single photons each of
which represents three qubits. We initially prepare each photon in one of a set
of 8 non-orthogonal codeword states corresponding to the value of a block of
three binary letters. We use quantum coding to compress this quantum data into
a two-qubit quantum channel and then uncompress the two-qubit channel to
restore the original data with a fidelity approaching the theoretical limit.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Posterior longitudinal ligament status in cervical spine bilateral facet dislocations
Objective: It is generally accepted that cervical spine bilateral facet dislocation results in complete disruption of the posterior longitudinal ligament. The goal of this study was to evaluate the integrity of numerous spine-stabilizing structures by MRI, and to determine if any associations between injury patterns exist with respect to the posterior longitudinal ligament status.
Design: Retrospective case series.
Patients: A retrospective review was performed of 30 cervical spine injury subjects with bilateral facet dislocation. Assessment of 1.5T MRI images was carried out for: intervertebral disc disruption, facet fracture, and ligamentous disruption. Statistical analyses were performed to evaluate for associations between various injury patterns and posterior longitudinal ligament status.
Results: The frequency of MRI abnormalities was: anterior longitudinal ligament disruption (26.7%), disc herniation or disruption (90%), posterior longitudinal ligament disruption (40%), facet fracture (63.3%) and disruption of the posterior column ligament complex (97%). There were no significant associations between injury to the posterior longitudinal ligament and other structures. Compared to surgical reports, MRI was accurate for determining the status for 24 of 26 ligaments (three of three anterior longitudinal ligament, seven of nine posterior longitudinal ligament, and 14 of 14 posterior column ligament complex) but generated false negatives in two instances (in both MRI showed an intact posterior longitudinal ligament that was torn at surgery).
Conclusions: In contradis¬tinction to the existing concept, the posterior longitudinal ligament can remain intact in a substantial propor¬tion of hyperflexion injuries that produce bilateral cervical facet dislocation. Posterior longitudinal ligament integrity is not associated with any other injury pattern related to the anterior longitudinal ligament, intervertebral disc or facet fracture
Inequivalence of pure state ensembles for open quantum systems: the preferred ensembles are those that are physically realizable
An open quantum system in steady state can be represented by
a weighted ensemble of pure states in infinitely many ways. A physically realizable (PR) ensemble is
one for which some continuous measurement of the environment will collapse the
system into a pure state , stochastically evolving such that the
proportion of time for which equals .
Some, but not all, ensembles are PR. This constitutes the preferred ensemble
fact, with the PR ensembles being the preferred ensembles. We present the
necessary and sufficient conditions for a given ensemble to be PR, and
illustrate the method by showing that the coherent state ensemble is not PR for
an atom laser.Comment: 5 pages, no figure
Prospects for photon blockade in four level systems in the N configuration with more than one atom
We show that for appropriate choices of parameters it is possible to achieve
photon blockade in idealised one, two and three atom systems. We also include
realistic parameter ranges for rubidium as the atomic species. Our results
circumvent the doubts cast by recent discussion in the literature (Grangier et
al Phys. Rev Lett. 81, 2833 (1998), Imamoglu et al Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 2836
(1998)) on the possibility of photon blockade in multi-atom systems.Comment: 8 page, revtex, 7 figures, gif. Submitted to Journal of Optics B:
Quantum and Semiclassical Optic
Anatomical relationships of the anterior blood vessels to the lower lumbar intervertebral discs: analysis based on magnetic resonance imaging of patients in the prone position.
BACKGROUND: Intra-abdominal vascular injuries are rare during posterior lumbar spinal surgery, but they can result in major morbidity or mortality when they do occur. We are aware of no prior studies that have used prone patient positioning during magnetic resonance imaging for the purpose of characterizing the retroperitoneal iliac vasculature with respect to the intervertebral disc. The purpose of this study was to define the vascular anatomy adjacent to the lower lumbar spine with use of supine and prone magnetic resonance imaging.
METHODS: A prospective observational study included thirty patients without spinal abnormality who underwent supine and prone magnetic resonance imaging without abdominal compression. The spinal levels of the aortic bifurcation and confluence of the common iliac veins were identified. The proximity of the anterior iliac vessels to the anterior and posterior aspects of the anulus fibrosus in sagittal and coronal planes was measured by two observers, and interobserver reliability was calculated.
RESULTS: The aortic bifurcation and confluence of the common iliac veins were most commonly at the level of the L4 vertebral body and migrated cranially with prone positioning. The common iliac vessels were closer to the anterior aspect of the intervertebral disc and to the midline at L4-L5 as compared with L5-S1, consistent with the bifurcation at the L4 vertebral body. Prone positioning resulted in greater distances between the disc and iliac vessels at L4-L5 and L5-S1 by an average of 3 mm. The position of the anterior aspect of the anulus with respect to each iliac vessel demonstrated substantial variation between subjects. The intraclass correlation coefficient for measurement of vessel position exceeded 0.9, demonstrating excellent interobserver reliability.
CONCLUSIONS: This study confirmed the L4 level of the aortic bifurcation and iliac vein coalescence but also demonstrated substantial mobility of the great vessels with positioning. Supine magnetic resonance imaging will underestimate the proximity of the vessels to the intervertebral disc. Large interindividual variation in the location of vasculature was noted, emphasizing the importance of careful study of the location of the retroperitoneal vessels on a case-by-case basis.
CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Anatomic relationships between vessels and intervertebral discs on supine magnetic resonance imaging may differ from relationships during surgery with the patient in a prone position
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