1,729 research outputs found
Non-exponential decay via tunneling in tight-binding lattices and the optical Zeno effect
An exactly-solvable model for the decay of a metastable state coupled to a
semi-infinite tight-binding lattice, showing large deviations from exponential
decay in the strong coupling regime, is presented. An optical realization of
the lattice model, based on discrete diffraction in a semi-infinite array of
tunneling-coupled optical waveguides, is proposed to test non-exponential decay
and for the observation of an optical analog of the quantum Zeno effect
Spontaneous and Stimulated Raman Scattering near Metal Nanostructures in the Ultrafast, High-Intensity regime
The inclusion of atomic inversion in Raman scattering can significantly alter
field dynamics in plasmonic settings. Our calculations show that large local
fields and femtosecond pulses combine to yield: (i) population inversion within
hot spots; (ii) gain saturation; and (iii) conversion efficiencies
characterized by a switch-like transition to the stimulated regime that spans
twelve orders of magnitude. While in Raman scattering atomic inversion is
usually neglected, we demonstrate that in some circumstances full accounting of
the dynamics of the Bloch vector is required
Solvable glassy system: static versus dynamical transition
A directed polymer is considered on a flat substrate with randomly located
parallel ridges. It prefers to lie inside wide regions between the ridges. When
the transversel width is exponential in the
longitudinal length , there can be a large number of
available wide states. This ``complexity'' causes a phase transition from a
high temperature phase where the polymer lies in the widest lane, to a glassy
low temperature phase where it lies in one of many narrower lanes. Starting
from a uniform initial distribution of independent polymers, equilibration up
to some exponential time scale induces a sharp dynamical transition. When the
temperature is slowly increased with time, this occurs at a tunable
temperature. There is an asymmetry between cooling and heating. The structure
of phase space in the low temperature non-equilibrium glassy phase is of a
one-level tree.Comment: 4 pages revte
A Dynamical Model of Harmonic Generation in Centrosymmetric Semiconductors
We study second and third harmonic generation in centrosymmetric
semiconductors at visible and UV wavelengths in bulk and cavity environments.
Second harmonic generation is due to a combination of symmetry breaking, the
magnetic portion of the Lorentz force, and quadrupolar contributions that
impart peculiar features to the angular dependence of the generated signals, in
analogy to what occurs in metals. The material is assumed to have a non-zero,
third order nonlinearity that gives rise to most of the third harmonic signal.
Using the parameters of bulk Silicon we predict that cavity environments can
significantly modify second harmonic generation (390nm) with dramatic
improvements for third harmonic generation (266nm). This occurs despite the
fact that the harmonics may be tuned to a wavelength range where the dielectric
function of the material is negative: a phase locking mechanism binds the pump
to the generated signals and inhibits their absorption. These results point the
way to novel uses and flexibility of materials like Silicon as nonlinear media
in the visible and UV ranges
Minimal Conflicting Sets for the Consecutive Ones Property in ancestral genome reconstruction
A binary matrix has the Consecutive Ones Property (C1P) if its columns can be
ordered in such a way that all 1's on each row are consecutive. A Minimal
Conflicting Set is a set of rows that does not have the C1P, but every proper
subset has the C1P. Such submatrices have been considered in comparative
genomics applications, but very little is known about their combinatorial
structure and efficient algorithms to compute them. We first describe an
algorithm that detects rows that belong to Minimal Conflicting Sets. This
algorithm has a polynomial time complexity when the number of 1's in each row
of the considered matrix is bounded by a constant. Next, we show that the
problem of computing all Minimal Conflicting Sets can be reduced to the joint
generation of all minimal true clauses and maximal false clauses for some
monotone boolean function. We use these methods on simulated data related to
ancestral genome reconstruction to show that computing Minimal Conflicting Set
is useful in discriminating between true positive and false positive ancestral
syntenies. We also study a dataset of yeast genomes and address the reliability
of an ancestral genome proposal of the Saccahromycetaceae yeasts.Comment: 20 pages, 3 figure
Generation and manipulation of squeezed states of light in optical networks for quantum communication and computation
We analyze a fiber-optic component which could find multiple uses in novel
information-processing systems utilizing squeezed states of light. Our approach
is based on the phenomenon of photon-number squeezing of soliton noise after
the soliton has propagated through a nonlinear optical fiber. Applications of
this component in optical networks for quantum computation and quantum
cryptography are discussed.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures; submitted to Journal of Optics
Consistently Simulating a Wide Range of Atmospheric Scenarios for K2-18b with a Flexible Radiative Transfer Module
The atmospheres of small, potentially rocky exoplanets are expected to cover
a diverse range in composition and mass. Studying such objects therefore
requires flexible and wide-ranging modeling capabilities. We present in this
work the essential development steps that lead to our flexible radiative
transfer module, REDFOX, and validate REDFOX for the Solar system planets
Earth, Venus and Mars, as well as for steam atmospheres. REDFOX is a
k-distribution model using the correlated-k approach with random overlap method
for the calculation of opacities used in the -two-stream approximation
for radiative transfer. Opacity contributions from Rayleigh scattering, UV /
visible cross sections and continua can be added selectively. With the improved
capabilities of our new model, we calculate various atmospheric scenarios for
K2-18b, a super-Earth / sub-Neptune with 8 M orbiting in the
temperate zone around an M-star, with recently observed HO spectral
features in the infrared. We model Earth-like, Venus-like, as well as H-He
primary atmospheres of different Solar metallicity and show resulting climates
and spectral characteristics, compared to observed data. Our results suggest
that K2-18b has an H-He atmosphere with limited amounts of HO and
CH. Results do not support the possibility of K2-18b having a water
reservoir directly exposed to the atmosphere, which would reduce atmospheric
scale heights, hence too the amplitudes of spectral features inconsistent with
the observations. We also performed tests for H-He atmospheres up to 50
times Solar metallicity, all compatible with the observations.Comment: 28 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
Decoherence of Quantum-Enhanced Timing Accuracy
Quantum enhancement of optical pulse timing accuracy is investigated in the
Heisenberg picture. Effects of optical loss, group-velocity dispersion, and
Kerr nonlinearity on the position and momentum of an optical pulse are studied
via Heisenberg equations of motion. Using the developed formalism, the impact
of decoherence by optical loss on the use of adiabatic soliton control for
beating the timing standard quantum limit [Tsang, Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 023902
(2006)] is analyzed theoretically and numerically. The analysis shows that an
appreciable enhancement can be achieved using current technology, despite an
increase in timing jitter mainly due to the Gordon-Haus effect. The decoherence
effect of optical loss on the transmission of quantum-enhanced timing
information is also studied, in order to identify situations in which the
enhancement is able to survive.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, submitte
Revisiting the Training of Logic Models of Protein Signaling Networks with a Formal Approach based on Answer Set Programming
A fundamental question in systems biology is the construction and training to
data of mathematical models. Logic formalisms have become very popular to model
signaling networks because their simplicity allows us to model large systems
encompassing hundreds of proteins. An approach to train (Boolean) logic models
to high-throughput phospho-proteomics data was recently introduced and solved
using optimization heuristics based on stochastic methods. Here we demonstrate
how this problem can be solved using Answer Set Programming (ASP), a
declarative problem solving paradigm, in which a problem is encoded as a
logical program such that its answer sets represent solutions to the problem.
ASP has significant improvements over heuristic methods in terms of efficiency
and scalability, it guarantees global optimality of solutions as well as
provides a complete set of solutions. We illustrate the application of ASP with
in silico cases based on realistic networks and data
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