Orbital entanglement and violation of Bell inequalities in mesoscopic conductors

We propose a spin-independent scheme to generate and detect two-particle entanglement in a mesoscopic normal-superconductor system. A superconductor, weakly coupled to the normal conductor, generates an orbitally entangled state by injecting pairs of electrons into different leads of the normal conductor. The entanglement is detected via violation of a Bell inequality, formulated in terms of zero-frequency current cross-correlators. It is shown that the Bell inequality can be violated for arbitrary strong dephasing in the normal conductor.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

High multiplicity W+jets predictions at NLO

In these proceedings we present results from a recent calculation for the production of a W boson in conjunction with five jets at next-to-leading order in perturbative QCD. We also use results at lower multiplicities to extrapolate the cross section to the same process with six jets.Comment: 5 pages, Proceedings for the DIS2013 conferenc

Application of the Principle of Maximum Conformality to Top-Pair Production

A major contribution to the uncertainty of finite-order perturbative QCD predictions is the perceived ambiguity in setting the renormalization scale $\mu_r$. For example, by using the conventional way of setting $\mu_r \in [m_t/2,2m_t]$, one obtains the total $t \bar{t}$ production cross-section $\sigma_{t \bar{t}}$ with the uncertainty \Delta \sigma_{t \bar{t}}/\sigma_{t \bar{t}}\sim ({}^{+3%}_{-4%}) at the Tevatron and LHC even for the present NNLO level. The Principle of Maximum Conformality (PMC) eliminates the renormalization scale ambiguity in precision tests of Abelian QED and non-Abelian QCD theories. In this paper we apply PMC scale-setting to predict the $t \bar t$ cross-section $\sigma_{t\bar{t}}$ at the Tevatron and LHC colliders. It is found that $\sigma_{t\bar{t}}$ remains almost unchanged by varying $\mu^{\rm init}_r$ within the region of $[m_t/4,4m_t]$. The convergence of the expansion series is greatly improved. For the $(q\bar{q})$-channel, which is dominant at the Tevatron, its NLO PMC scale is much smaller than the top-quark mass in the small $x$-region, and thus its NLO cross-section is increased by about a factor of two. In the case of the $(gg)$-channel, which is dominant at the LHC, its NLO PMC scale slightly increases with the subprocess collision energy $\sqrt{s}$, but it is still smaller than $m_t$ for $\sqrt{s}\lesssim 1$ TeV, and the resulting NLO cross-section is increased by $\sim 20$. As a result, a larger $\sigma_{t\bar{t}}$ is obtained in comparison to the conventional scale-setting method, which agrees well with the present Tevatron and LHC data. More explicitly, by setting $m_t=172.9\pm 1.1$ GeV, we predict $\sigma_{\rm Tevatron,\;1.96\,TeV} = 7.626^{+0.265}_{-0.257}$ pb, $\sigma_{\rm LHC,\;7\,TeV} = 171.8^{+5.8}_{-5.6}$ pb and $\sigma_{\rm LHC,\;14\,TeV} = 941.3^{+28.4}_{-26.5}$ pb. [full abstract can be found in the paper.]Comment: 15 pages, 11 figures, 5 tables. Fig.(9) is correcte

Antenna subtraction with hadronic initial states

The antenna subtraction method for the computation of higher order corrections to jet observables and exclusive cross sections at collider experiments is extended to include hadronic initial states. In addition to the already known antenna subtraction with both radiators in the final state (final-final antennae), we introduce antenna subtractions with one or two radiators in the initial state (initial-final or initial-initial antennae). For those, we derive the phase space factorization and discuss the allowed phase space mappings at NLO and NNLO. We present integrated forms for all antenna functions relevant to NLO calculations, and describe the construction of the full antenna subtraction terms at NLO on two examples. The extension of the formalism to NNLO is outlined.Comment: 33 pages, 3 figure

Conditional preparation of a quantum state in the continuous variable regime: generation of a sub-Poissonian state from twin beams

We report the first experimental demonstration of conditional preparation of a non classical state of light in the continuous variable regime. Starting from a non degenerate OPO which generates above threshold quantum intensity correlated signal and idler "twin beams", we keep the recorded values of the signal intensity only when the idler falls inside a band of values narrower than its standard deviation. By this very simple technique, we generate a sub-Poissonian state 4.4dB below shot noise from twin beams exhibiting 7.5dB of noise reduction in the intensity difference.Comment: 4 pages, Accepted in Phys. Rev. Let

Cyclical Quantum Memory for Photonic Qubits

We have performed a proof-of-principle experiment in which qubits encoded in the polarization states of single-photons from a parametric down-conversion source were coherently stored and read-out from a quantum memory device. The memory device utilized a simple free-space storage loop, providing a cyclical read-out that could be synchronized with the cycle time of a quantum computer. The coherence of the photonic qubits was maintained during switching operations by using a high-speed polarizing Sagnac interferometer switch.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Ultra-low threshold CW Triply Resonant OPO in the near infrared using Periodically Poled Lithium Niobate

We have operated a CW triply resonant OPO using a PPLN crystal pumped by a Nd:YAG laser at 1.06 micron and generating signal and idler modes in the 2-2.3 micron range. The OPO was operated stably in single mode operation over large periods of time with a pump threshold as low as 500 microwatts.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, submitted to JEOS

NNLO phase space master integrals for two-to-one inclusive cross sections in dimensional regularization

We evaluate all phase space master integrals which are required for the total cross section of generic 2 -> 1 processes at NNLO as a series expansion in the dimensional regulator epsilon. Away from the limit of threshold production, our expansion includes one order higher than what has been available in the literature. At threshold, we provide expressions which are valid to all orders in terms of Gamma functions and hypergeometric functions. These results are a necessary ingredient for the renormalization and mass factorization of singularities in 2 -> 1 inclusive cross sections at NNNLO in QCD.Comment: 37 pages, plus 3 ancillary files containing analytic expressions in Maple forma