TRANSIENT DYNAMICS AND ASYMPTOTIC POPULATIONS IN A DRIVEN METASTABLE QUANTUM SYSTEM

The transient dynamics of a periodically driven metastable quantum system, interacting with a heat bath, is investigated. The time evolution of the populations, within the framework of the Feynman–Vernon influ- ence functional and in the discrete variable representation, is analyzed by varying the parameters of the external driving. The results display strong non-monotonic behaviour of the populations with respect to the driving frequency

A point-of-care test for facing the burden of undiagnosed celiac disease in the Mediterranean area: a pragmatic design study

BACKGROUND: We aimed at assessing the factors that can influence results of the dissemination of an already validated, new generation commercial Point-of-Care Test (POCT) for detecting celiac disease (CD), in the Mediterranean area, when used in settings where it was designed to be administered, especially in countries with poor resources. METHODS: Pragmatic study design. Family pediatricians at their offices in Italy, nurses and pediatricians in Slovenia and Turkey at pediatricians', schools and university primary care centers looked for CD in 3,559 (1-14 yrs), 1,480 (14-23 yrs) and 771 (1-18 yrs) asymptomatic subjects, respectively. A new generation POCT detecting IgA-tissue antitransglutaminase antibodies and IgA deficiency in a finger-tip blood drop was used. Subjects who tested positive and those suspected of having CD were referred to a Celiac Centre to undergo further investigations in order to confirm CD diagnosis. POCT Positive Predictive Value (PPV) at tertiary care (with Negative Predictive Value) and in primary care settings, and POCT and CD rates per thousand in primary care were estimated. RESULTS: At tertiary care setting, PPV of the POCT and 95% CI were 89.5 (81.3-94.3) and 90 (56-98.5) with Negative Predictive Value 98.5 (94.2-99.6) and 98.7% (92-99.8) in children and adults, respectively. In primary care settings of different countries where POCT was performed by a different number of personnel, PPV ranged from 16 to 33% and the CD and POCT rates per thousand ranged from 4.77 to 1.3 and from 31.18 to 2.59, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Interpretation of POCT results by different personnel may influence the performance of POC but dissemination of POCT is an urgent priority to be implemented among people of countries with limited resources, such as rural populations and school children

Results from CHIPIX-FE0, a Small Scale Prototype of a New Generation Pixel Readout ASIC in 65nm CMOS for HL-LHC

CHIPIX65-FE0 is a readout ASIC in CMOS 65nm designed by the CHIPIX65 project for a pixel detector at the HL-LHC, consisting of a matrix of 64x64 pixels of dimension 50x50 μm2. It is fully functional, can work at low thresholds down to 250e− and satisfies all the specifications. Results confirm low-noise, fast performance of both the synchronous and asynchronous front-end in a complex digital chip. CHIPIX65-FE0 has been irradiated up to 600 Mrad and is only marginally affected on analog performance. Further irradiation to 1 Grad will be performed. Bump bonding to silicon sensors is now on going and detailed measurements will be presented. The HL-LHC accelerator will constitute a new frontier for particle physics after year 2024. One major experimental challenge resides in the inner tracking detectors, measuring particle position: here the dimension of the sensitive area (pixel) has to be scaled down with respect to LHC detectors. This paper describes the results obtained by CHIPIX65-FE0, a readout ASIC in CMOS 65nm designed by the CHIPIX65 project as small-scale demonstrator for a pixel detector at the HL-LHC. It consists of a matrix of 64x64 pixels of dimension 50x50 um2 pixels and contains several pieces that are included in RD53A, a large scale ASIC designed by the RD53 Collaboration: two out of three front-ends (a synchronous and an asynchronous architecture); several building blocks; a (4x4) pixel region digital architecture with central local buffer storage, complying with a 3 GHz/cm2 hit rate and a 1 MHz trigger rate maintaining a very high efficiency (above 99%). The chip is 100% functional, either running in triggered or trigger-less mode. All building-blocks (DAC, ADC, Band Gap, SER, sLVS-TX/RX) and very front ends are working as expected. Analog performance shows a remarkably low ENC of 90e-, a fast-rise time below 25ns and low-power consumption (about 4μA/pixel) in both synchronous and asynchronous front-ends; a very linear behavior of CSA and discriminator. No significant cross talk from digital electronics has been measured, achieving a low threshold of 250e-. Signal digitization is obtained with a 5b-Time over Threshold technique and is shown to be fairly linear, working well either at 80 MHz or with higher frequencies of 300 MHz obtained with a tunable local oscillator. Irradiation results up to 600 Mrad at low temperature (-20°C) show that the chip is still fully functional and analog performance is only marginally degraded. Further irradiation will be performed up to 1 Grad either at low or room temperature, to further understand the level of radiation hardness of CHIPIX65-FE0. We are now in the process of bump bonding CHIPIX65-FE0 to 3D and possibly planar silicon sensors during spring. Detailed results will be presented in the conference paper

DISSIPATIVE DYNAMICS OF MULTI-STATE QUANTUM SYSTEMS IN THE WEAK TO STRONG COUPLING REGIME

In this thesis the dissipative dynamics of bistable quantum systems is studied within the path integral approach. The path integral representation of the propagator for quantum states and density matrices of discrete variable systems is described along with the Feynman-Vernon influence functional. The main approximations to the FV influence for the spin-boson model are introduced and applied to a bistable system beyond the two-level system approximation, the so-called double-doublet system. By the combined use of the Bloch-Redfield perturbative approach and of the path integral techniques, a phase diagram showing the various dynamical and dissipative regimes of the double-doublet system is established. Finally, the dynamics of general multi-level driven systems in the strong coupling regime and the escape problem from a quantum metastable state, starting form a nonequilibrium condition, are investigated

Dynamics of a Driven Dissipative Quantum System

We investigate the dynamics of a driven multilevel system, consisting of a particle in an asymmetric bistable potential, strongly interacting with a thermal bath according to the Caldeira-Leggett model. The populations in the discrete (position) variable representation (DVR), are obtained as solution of a Markovian approximated master equation, which is derived from a discretized path integral approach based on the Feynman-Vernon influence functional. By varying the environmental parameters (temperature and coupling strength) as well as the driving frequency and amplitude, we study the transient dynamics and stationary configuration of the system. In particular, we analyze the population of the metastable well. The asymptotic population of the metastable well displays a strong non-monotonicity, characterized by a maximum, as a function of the driving frequency. We find also that an increase of the coupling strength inhibits this effect of induced stability and slows down the dynamics, forcing the system towards the relaxation

Transient Dynamics of a Driven Quantum Bistable System

We study the transient dynamics and the asymptotic behaviour of a multilevel system in the strong dissipation regime. The system is modeled as a periodically driven quantum particle in an asymmetric double well potential, interacting with the bosonic heat bath of the Caldeira-Leggett model. The analytical approach used is non- perturbative in the particle-bath coupling and is based on a space-discretized path integral expression for the particle’s reduced density matrix. By a suitable approximation on the Feynman-Vernon influence functional a Markov-approximated master equation is obtained for the populations in the Discrete Variable Representation (DVR)

Dynamics of a quantum particle interacting with a thermal bath and subject to an oscillating asymmetric bistable potential

Exploiting the approach of the Feynman-Vernon influence functional [1] within the framework of the discrete variable representation (DVR) [2], we consider a quantum particle described by the Caldeira-Leggett model [3]. The particle, “moving” in an asymmetric bistable potential and subject to a periodical driving, interacts with a thermal bath of harmonic oscillators. In this conditions we study the dynamics of the particle by analyzing the time evolution of the populations in the DVR. Specifically we focalize on the position eigenstate located in the shallower well, i.e. metastable state, finding a non-monotonic behaviour of the corresponding population as a function of the frequency. Moreover, for different values of the coupling strength with the thermal bath, we obtain the equilibrium energy of the particle as a function both of the amplitude and frequency of the driving force