Quantum control and the Strocchi map

Identifying the real and imaginary parts of wave functions with coordinates and momenta, quantum evolution may be mapped onto a classical Hamiltonian system. In addition to the symplectic form, quantum mechanics also has a positive-definite real inner product which provides a geometrical interpretation of the measurement process. Together they endow the quantum Hilbert space with the structure of a K\"{a}ller manifold. Quantum control is discussed in this setting. Quantum time-evolution corresponds to smooth Hamiltonian dynamics and measurements to jumps in the phase space. This adds additional power to quantum control, non unitarily controllable systems becoming controllable by ``measurement plus evolution''. A picture of quantum evolution as Hamiltonian dynamics in a classical-like phase-space is the appropriate setting to carry over techniques from classical to quantum control. This is illustrated by a discussion of optimal control and sliding mode techniques.Comment: 16 pages Late

Orbitally Driven Spin Pairing in the 3D Non-Magnetic Mott Insulator BaVS3: Evidence from Single Crystal Studies

Static electrical and magnetic properties of single crystal BaVS_3 were measured over the structural (T_S=240K), metal-insulator (T_MI=69K), and suspected orbital ordering (T_X=30K) transitions. The resistivity is almost isotropic both in the metallic and insulating states. An anomaly in the magnetic anisotropy at T_X signals a phase transition to an ordered low-T state. The results are interpreted in terms of orbital ordering and spin pairing within the lowest crystal field quasi-doublet. The disordered insulator at T_X<T<T_MI is described as a classical liquid of non-magnetic pairs.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, revtex, epsf, and multicol style. Problem with figures fixed. To appear in Phys. Rev. B Rap. Com

pi-NN Coupling Constants from NN Elastic Data between 210 and 800 Mev

High partial waves for $pp$ and $np$ elastic scattering are examined critically from 210 to 800 MeV. Non-OPE contributions are compared with predictions from theory. There are some discrepancies, but sufficient agreement that values of the $\pi NN$ coupling constants $g_0^2$ for $\pi ^0$ exchange and $g^2_{c}$ for charged $\pi$ exchange can be derived. Results are $g^2_0 = 13.91 \pm 0.13 \pm 0.07$ and $g^2_c = 13.69 \pm 0.15 \pm 0.24$, where the first error is statistical and the second is an estimate of the likely systematic error, arising mostly from uncertainties in the normalisation of total cross sections and $d\sigma/d\Omega$.Comment: 21 pages of LaTeX, UI-NTH-940

Clinical and laboratory variability in a cohort of patients diagnosed with type 1 VWD in the United States

Von Willebrand disease (VWD) is the most common inherited bleeding disorder, and type 1 VWD is the most common VWD variant. Despite its frequency, diagnosis of type 1 VWD remains the subject of much debate. In order to study the spectrum of type 1 VWD in the United States, the Zimmerman Program enrolled 482 subjects with a previous diagnosis of type 1 VWD without stringent laboratory diagnostic criteria. VWF laboratory testing and full length VWF gene sequencing were performed for all index cases and healthy control subjects in a central laboratory. Bleeding phenotype was characterized using the ISTH Bleeding Assessment Tool. At study entry, 64% of subjects had VWF:Ag or VWF:RCo below the lower limit of normal, while 36% had normal VWF levels. VWF sequence variations were most frequent in subjects with VWF:Ag < 30 IU/dL (82%) while subjects with type 1 VWD and VWF:Ag ≥ 30 IU/dL had an intermediate frequency of variants (44%). Subjects whose VWF testing was normal at study entry had a similar rate of sequence variations as the healthy controls at 14% of subjects. All subjects with severe type 1 VWD and VWF:Ag ≤ 5 IU/dL had an abnormal bleeding score, but otherwise bleeding score did not correlate with VWF:Ag level. Subjects with a historical diagnosis of type 1 VWD had similar rates of abnormal bleeding scores compared to subjects with low VWF levels at study entry. Type 1 VWD in the United States is highly variable, and bleeding symptoms are frequent in this population

Generalized thermodynamics and Fokker-Planck equations. Applications to stellar dynamics, two-dimensional turbulence and Jupiter's great red spot

We introduce a new set of generalized Fokker-Planck equations that conserve energy and mass and increase a generalized entropy until a maximum entropy state is reached. The concept of generalized entropies is rigorously justified for continuous Hamiltonian systems undergoing violent relaxation. Tsallis entropies are just a special case of this generalized thermodynamics. Application of these results to stellar dynamics, vortex dynamics and Jupiter's great red spot are proposed. Our prime result is a novel relaxation equation that should offer an easily implementable parametrization of geophysical turbulence. This relaxation equation depends on a single key parameter related to the skewness of the fine-grained vorticity distribution. Usual parametrizations (including a single turbulent viscosity) correspond to the infinite temperature limit of our model. They forget a fundamental systematic drift that acts against diffusion as in Brownian theory. Our generalized Fokker-Planck equations may have applications in other fields of physics such as chemotaxis for bacterial populations. We propose the idea of a classification of generalized entropies in classes of equivalence and provide an aesthetic connexion between topics (vortices, stars, bacteries,...) which were previously disconnected.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev.

Genetics of skin color variation in Europeans: genome-wide association studies with functional follow-up

In the International Visible Trait Genetics (VisiGen) Consortium, we investigated the genetics of human skin color by combining a series of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in a total of 17,262 Europeans with functional follow-up of discovered loci. Our GWAS provide the first genome-wide significant evidence for chromosome 20q11.22 harboring the ASIP gene being explicitly associated with skin color in Europeans. In addition, genomic loci at 5p13.2 (SLC45A2), 6p25.3 (IRF4), 15q13.1 (HERC2/OCA2), and 16q24.3 (MC1R) were confirmed to be involved in skin coloration in Europeans. In follow-up gene expression and regulation studies of 22 genes in 20q11.22, we highlighted two novel genes EIF2S2 and GSS, serving as competing functional candidates in this region and providing future research lines. A genetically inferred skin color score obtained from the 9 top-associated SNPs from 9 genes in 940 worldwide samples (HGDP-CEPH) showed a clear gradual pattern in Western Eurasians similar to the distribution of physical skin color, suggesting the used 9 SNPs as suitable markers for DNA prediction of skin color in Europeans and neighboring populations, relevant in future forensic and anthropological investigations

Forest Biodiversity Assessment in Peruvian Andean Montane Cloud Forest

Cloud forests are unusual and fragile habitats, being one of the least studied and least understood ecosystems. The tropical Andean dominion is considered one of the most significant places in the world as rega rds biological diversity, with a very high level of endemism. The biodiversity was analysed in an isolated remnant area of a tropical montane cloud forest known as the ?Bosque de Neblina de Cuyas?, in the North of the Peruvian Andean range. Composition, structure and dead wood were measured or estimated. The values obtained were compared with other cloud forests. The study revealed a high level of forest biodiversity, although the level of biodiversity differs from one area to another: in the inner areas, where human pressure is almost inexistent, the biodiversity values increase. The high species richness and the low dominance among species bear testimony to this montane cloud forest as a real enclave of biodiversity

Photoproduction of K+K− meson pairs on the proton

The exclusive reaction γp→pK+K− was studied in the photon energy range 3.0–3.8  GeV and momentum transfer range 0.6&lt;−t&lt;1.3  GeV2. Data were collected with the CLAS detector at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. In this kinematic range the integrated luminosity was approximately 20  pb−1. The reaction was isolated by detecting the K+ and the proton in CLAS, and reconstructing the K− via the missing-mass technique. Moments of the dikaon decay angular distributions were extracted from the experimental data. Besides the dominant contribution of the ϕ meson in the P wave, evidence for S−P interference was found. The differential production cross sections dσ/dt for individual waves in the mass range of the ϕ resonance were extracted and compared to predictions of a Regge-inspired model. This is the first time the t-dependent cross section of the S-wave contribution to the elastic K+K− photoproduction has been measured

The Science of Sungrazers, Sunskirters, and Other Near-Sun Comets

This review addresses our current understanding of comets that venture close to the Sun, and are hence exposed to much more extreme conditions than comets that are typically studied from Earth. The extreme solar heating and plasma environments that these objects encounter change many aspects of their behaviour, thus yielding valuable information on both the comets themselves that complements other data we have on primitive solar system bodies, as well as on the near-solar environment which they traverse. We propose clear definitions for these comets: We use the term near-Sun comets to encompass all objects that pass sunward of the perihelion distance of planet Mercury (0.307 AU). Sunskirters are defined as objects that pass within 33 solar radii of the Sun’s centre, equal to half of Mercury’s perihelion distance, and the commonly-used phrase sungrazers to be objects that reach perihelion within 3.45 solar radii, i.e. the fluid Roche limit. Finally, comets with orbits that intersect the solar photosphere are termed sundivers. We summarize past studies of these objects, as well as the instruments and facilities used to study them, including space-based platforms that have led to a recent revolution in the quantity and quality of relevant observations. Relevant comet populations are described, including the Kreutz, Marsden, Kracht, and Meyer groups, near-Sun asteroids, and a brief discussion of their origins. The importance of light curves and the clues they provide on cometary composition are emphasized, together with what information has been gleaned about nucleus parameters, including the sizes and masses of objects and their families, and their tensile strengths. The physical processes occurring at these objects are considered in some detail, including the disruption of nuclei, sublimation, and ionisation, and we consider the mass, momentum, and energy loss of comets in the corona and those that venture to lower altitudes. The different components of comae and tails are described, including dust, neutral and ionised gases, their chemical reactions, and their contributions to the near-Sun environment. Comet-solar wind interactions are discussed, including the use of comets as probes of solar wind and coronal conditions in their vicinities. We address the relevance of work on comets near the Sun to similar objects orbiting other stars, and conclude with a discussion of future directions for the field and the planned ground- and space-based facilities that will allow us to address those science topics