Perturbations of critical values in nonsmooth critical point theory

* Supported by Ministero dell’Università e della Ricerca Scientifica e Tecnologica (40% – 1993). ** Supported by Ministero dell’Università e della Ricerca Scientifica e Tecnologica (40% – 1993).The perturbation of critical values for continuous functionals is studied. An application to eigenvalue problems for variational inequalities is provided

Dephasing due to nonstationary 1/f noise

Motivated by recent experiments with Josephson qubits we propose a new phenomenological model for 1/f noise due to collective excitations of interacting defects in the qubit's environment. At very low temperatures the effective dynamics of these collective modes are very slow leading to pronounced non-Gaussian features and nonstationarity of the noise. We analyze the influence of this noise on the dynamics of a qubit in various regimes and at different operation points. Remarkable predictions are absolute time dependences of a critical coupling and of dephasing in the strong coupling regime.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, to be published in the proceedings of the Vth Rencontres de Moriond in Mesoscopic Physic

Quantum Correlation Bounds for Quantum Information Experiments Optimization: the Wigner Inequality Case

Violation of modified Wigner inequality by means binary bipartite quantum system allows the discrimination between the quantum world and the classical local-realistic one, and also ensures the security of Ekert-like quantum key distribution protocol. In this paper we study both theoretically and experimentally the bounds of quantum correlation associated to the modified Wigner's inequality finding the optimal experimental configuration for its maximal violation. We also extend this analysis to the implementation of Ekert's protocol

Diffeomorphism-invariant properties for quasi-linear elliptic operators

For quasi-linear elliptic equations we detect relevant properties which remain invariant under the action of a suitable class of diffeomorphisms. This yields a connection between existence theories for equations with degenerate and non-degenerate coerciveness.Comment: 16 page

Toward third order ghost imaging with thermal light

Recently it has been suggested that an enhancement in the visibility of ghost images obtained with thermal light can be achieved exploiting higher order correlations [3]. This paper reports on the status of an higher order ghost imaging experiment carried on at INRIM labs exploiting a pseudo-thermal source and a CCD camera.Comment: To be published in Proceedings of Recent advances in Foundations of Quantum Mechanics and Quantum Informatio

Revealing interference by continuous variable discordant states

In general, a pair of uncorrelated Gaussian states mixed in a beam splitter produces a correlated state at the output. However, when the inputs are identical Gaussian states the output state is equal to the input, and no correlations appear, as the interference had not taken place. On the other hand, since physical phenomena do have observable effects, and the beam splitter is there, a question arises on how to reveal the interference between the two beams. We prove theoretically and demonstrate experimentally that this is possible if at least one of the two beams is prepared in a discordant, i.e. Gaussian correlated, state with a third beam. We also apply the same technique to reveal the erasure of polarization information. Our experiments involves thermal states and the results show that Gaussian discordant states, even when they show a positive Glauber P-function, may be useful to achieve specific tasks.Comment: published versio

Two-mode squeezed vacuum and squeezed light in correlated interferometry

We study in detail a system of two interferometers aimed to the detection of extremely faint phase-fluctuations. This system can represent a breakthrough for detecting a faint correlated signal that would remain otherwise undetectable even using the most sensitive individual interferometric devices, that are limited by the shot noise. If the two interferometers experience identical phase-fluctuations, like the ones introduced by the so called "holographic noise", this signal should emerge if their output signals are correlated, while the fluctuations due to shot noise and other independent contributions will vanish. We show how the injecting quantum light in the free ports of the interferometers can reduce the photon noise of the system beyond the shot-noise, enhancing the resolution in the phase-correlation estimation. We analyze both the use of two-mode squeezed vacuum or twin-beam state (TWB) and of two independent squeezing states. Our results basically confirms the benefit of using squeezed beams together with strong coherent beams in interferometry, even in this correlated case. However, mainly we concentrate on the possible use of TWB, discovering interesting and probably unexplored areas of application of bipartite entanglement and in particular the possibility of reaching in principle surprising uncertainty reduction