Literacy: A cultural influence on functional left-right differences in the inferior parietal cortex

The current understanding of hemispheric interaction is limited. Functional hemispheric specialization is likely to depend on both genetic and environmental factors. In the present study we investigated the importance of one factor, literacy, for the functional lateralization in the inferior parietal cortex in two independent samples of literate and illiterate subjects. The results show that the illiterate group are consistently more right-lateralized than their literate controls. In contrast, the two groups showed a similar degree of left-right differences in early speech-related regions of the superior temporal cortex. These results provide evidence suggesting that a cultural factor, literacy, influences the functional hemispheric balance in reading and verbal working memory-related regions. In a third sample, we investigated grey and white matter with voxel-based morphometry. The results showed differences between literacy groups in white matter intensities related to the mid-body region of the corpus callosum and the inferior parietal and parietotemporal regions (literate > illiterate). There were no corresponding differences in the grey matter. This suggests that the influence of literacy on brain structure related to reading and verbal working memory is affecting large-scale brain connectivity more than grey matter per se

Entanglement of two-qubit photon beam by magnetic field

We have studied the possibility of affecting the entanglement measure of 2-qubit system consisting of two photons with different fixed frequencies but with two arbitrary linear polarizations, moving in the same direction, by the help of an applied external magnetic field. The interaction between the magnetic field and the photons in our model is achieved through intermediate electrons that interact with both the photons and the magnetic field. The possibility of exact theoretical analysis of this scheme is based on known exact solutions that describe the interaction of an electron subjected to an external magnetic field (or a medium of electrons not interacting with each other) with a quantized field of two photons. We adapt these exact solutions to the case under consideration. Using explicit wave functions for the resulting electromagnetic field, we calculate the entanglement measure of the photon beam as a function of the applied magnetic field and parameters of the electron medium

Cabibbo-suppressed non-leptonic B- and D-decays involving tensor mesons

The Cabibbo-suppressed non-leptonic decays of B (and D) mesons to final states involving tensor mesons are computed using the non-relativistic quark model of Isgur-Scora-Grinstein-Wise with the factorization hypothesis. We find that some of these B decay modes, as B --> (K^*, D^*)D^*_2, can have branching ratios as large as 6 x 10^{-5} which seems to be at the reach of future B factories.Comment: Latex, 11 pages, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Pseudospectral versus finite-differences schemes in the numerical integration of stochastic models of surface growth

We present a comparison between finite differences schemes and a pseudospectral method applied to the numerical integration of stochastic partial differential equations that model surface growth. We have studied, in 1+1 dimensions, the Kardar, Parisi and Zhang model (KPZ) and the Lai, Das Sarma and Villain model (LDV). The pseudospectral method appears to be the most stable for a given time step for both models. This means that the time up to which we can follow the temporal evolution of a given system is larger for the pseudospectral method. Moreover, for the KPZ model, a pseudospectral scheme gives results closer to the predictions of the continuum model than those obtained through finite difference methods. On the other hand, some numerical instabilities appearing with finite difference methods for the LDV model are absent when a pseudospectral integration is performed. These numerical instabilities give rise to an approximate multiscaling observed in the numerical simulations. With the pseudospectral approach no multiscaling is seen in agreement with the continuum model.Comment: 13 single column pages, RevTeX, 6 eps fig

Higher particle form factors of branch point twist fields in integrable quantum field theories

In this paper we compute higher particle form factors of branch point twist fields. These fields were first described in the context of massive 1+1-dimensional integrable quantum field theories and their correlation functions are related to the bi-partite entanglement entropy. We find analytic expressions for some form factors and check those expressions for consistency, mainly by evaluating the conformal dimension of the corresponding twist field in the underlying conformal field theory. We find that solutions to the form factor equations are not unique so that various techniques need to be used to identify those corresponding to the branch point twist field we are interested in. The models for which we carry out our study are characterized by staircase patterns of various physical quantities as functions of the energy scale. As the latter is varied, the beta-function associated to these theories comes close to vanishing at several points between the deep infrared and deep ultraviolet regimes. In other words, renormalisation group flows approach the vicinity of various critical points before ultimately reaching the ultraviolet fixed point. This feature provides an optimal way of checking the consistency of higher particle form factor solutions, as the changes on the conformal dimension of the twist field at various energy scales can only be accounted for by considering higher particle form factor contributions to the expansion of certain correlation functions.Comment: 25 pages, 4 figures; v2 contains small correction

Graphene as an electronic membrane

Experiments are finally revealing intricate facts about graphene which go beyond the ideal picture of relativistic Dirac fermions in pristine two dimensional (2D) space, two years after its first isolation. While observations of rippling added another dimension to the richness of the physics of graphene, scanning single electron transistor images displayed prevalent charge inhomogeneity. The importance of understanding these non-ideal aspects cannot be overstated both from the fundamental research interest since graphene is a unique arena for their interplay, and from the device applications interest since the quality control is a key to applications. We investigate the membrane aspect of graphene and its impact on the electronic properties. We show that curvature generates spatially varying electrochemical potential. Further we show that the charge inhomogeneity in turn stabilizes ripple formation.Comment: 6 pages, 11 figures. Updated version with new results about the re-hybridization of the electronic orbitals due to rippling of the graphene sheet. The re-hybridization adds the next-to-nearest neighbor hopping effect discussed in the previous version. New reference to recent STM experiments that give support to our theor

Dynamics of quantum correlations and linear entropy in a multi-qubit-cavity system

We present a theoretical study of the relationship between entanglement and entropy in multi-qubit quantum optical systems. Specifically we investigate quantitative relations between the concurrence and linear entropy for a two-qubit mixed system, implemented as two two-level atoms interacting with a single-mode cavity field. The dynamical evolutions of the entanglement and entropy, are controlled via time-dependent cavity-atom couplings. Our theoretical findings lead us to propose an alternative measure of entanglement, which could be used to develop a much needed correlation measure for more general multi-partite quantum systems.Comment: New discussions on the generality of entanglement-entropy relationship, one new reference, and other minor changes. 10 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in J.Opt. B: "Special Issue on Fluctuations & Noise in Photonics & Quantum Optics.