399 research outputs found
Negativity and quantum discord in Davies environments
We investigate the time evolution of negativity and quantum discord for a
pair of non-interacting qubits with one being weakly coupled to a decohering
Davies--type Markovian environment. At initial time of preparation, the qubits
are prepared in one of the maximally entangled pure Bell states. In the
limiting case of pure decoherence (i.e. pure dephasing), both, the quantum
discord and negativity decay to zero in the long time limit. In presence of a
manifest dissipative dynamics, the entanglement negativity undergoes a sudden
death at finite time while the quantum discord relaxes continuously to zero
with increasing time. We find that in dephasing environments the decay of the
negativity is more propitious with increasing time; in contrast, the evolving
decay of the quantum discord proceeds weaker for dissipative environments.
Particularly, the slowest decay of the quantum discord emerges when the energy
relaxation time matches the dephasing time.Comment: submitted for publicatio
Frozen and Invariant Quantum Discord under Local Dephasing Noise
In this chapter, we intend to explore and review some remarkable dynamical
properties of quantum discord under various different open quantum system
models. Specifically, our discussion will include several concepts connected to
the phenomena of time invariant and frozen quantum discord. Furthermore, we
will elaborate on the relation of these two phenomena to the non-Markovian
features of the open system dynamics and to the usage of dynamical decoupling
protocols.Comment: 29 pages, 8 figure
Geometric measure of quantum discord and the geometry of a class of two-qubit states
We investigate the geometric picture of the level surfaces of quantum
entanglement and geometric measure of quantum discord (GMQD) of a class of
X-states, respectively. This pictorial approach provides us a direct
understanding of the structure of entanglement and GMQD. The dynamic evolution
of GMQD under two typical kinds of quantum decoherence channels is also
investigated. It is shown that there exists a class of initial states for which
the GMQD is not destroyed by decoherence in a finite time interval.
Furthermore, we establish a factorization law between the initial and final
GMQD, which allows us to infer the evolution of entanglement under the
influences of the environment.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, comments are welcom
Quantum Discord and entropic measures of quantum correlations: Optimization and behavior in finite spin chains
We discuss a generalization of the conditional entropy and one-way
information deficit in quantum systems, based on general entropic forms. The
formalism allows to consider simple entropic forms for which a closed
evaluation of the associated optimization problem in qudit-qubit systems is
shown to become feasible, allowing to approximate that of the quantum discord.
As application, we examine quantum correlations of spin pairs in the exact
ground state of finite spin chains in a magnetic field through the quantum
discord and information deficit. While these quantities show a similar
behavior, their optimizing measurements exhibit significant differences, which
can be understood and predicted through the previous approximations. The
remarkable behavior of these quantities in the vicinity of transverse and
non-transverse factorizing fields is also discussed.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure
The sudden change phenomenon of quantum discord
Even if the parameters determining a system's state are varied smoothly, the
behavior of quantum correlations alike to quantum discord, and of its classical
counterparts, can be very peculiar, with the appearance of non-analyticities in
its rate of change. Here we review this sudden change phenomenon (SCP)
discussing some important points related to it: Its uncovering,
interpretations, and experimental verifications, its use in the context of the
emergence of the pointer basis in a quantum measurement process, its appearance
and universality under Markovian and non-Markovian dynamics, its theoretical
and experimental investigation in some other physical scenarios, and the
related phenomenon of double sudden change of trace distance discord. Several
open questions are identified, and we envisage that in answering them we will
gain significant further insight about the relation between the SCP and the
symmetry-geometric aspects of the quantum state space.Comment: Lectures on General Quantum Correlations and their Applications, F.
F. Fanchini, D. O. Soares Pinto, and G. Adesso (Eds.), Springer (2017), pp
309-33
Women’s agency in living apart together: constraint, strategy and vulnerability
Recent research suggests that women can use living apart together (LAT) for a
reflexive and strategic undoing of the gendered norms of cohabitation. In this article
we examine this assertion empirically, using a representative survey from Britain in
2011 and follow-up interviews. First, we find little gender differentiation in practices,
expectations, or attitudes about LAT, or reasons for LAT. This does not fit in with
ideas of undoing gender. Secondly, in examining how women talk about LAT in
relation to gender, we distinguish three groups of ‘constrained’, ‘strategic’ and
‘vulnerable’ female interviewees. All valued the extra space and time that LAT
could bring, many welcomed some release from traditional divisions of labour, and
some were glad to escape unpleasant situations created by partnership with men.
However, for the constrained and vulnerable groups LAT was second best, and any
relaxation of gendered norms was seen as incidental and inconsequential to their
major aim, or ideal, of the ‘proper family’ with cohabitation and marriage. Rather,
their agency in achieving this was limited by more powerful agents, or was a reaction
to perceived vulnerability. While the strategic group showed more purposeful
behaviour in avoiding male authority, agency remained relational and bonded.
Overall we find that women, at least in Britain, seldom use LAT to purposefully or
reflexively undo gender. Equally, LAT sometimes involves a reaffirmation of
gendered norms. LAT is a multi-faceted adaption to circumstances where new
autonomies can at the same time incorporate old subordinations, and new arrangements
can herald conventional family forms
Activating optomechanical entanglement
We propose an optomechanical setup where the activation of entanglement
through the pre-availability of non-classical correlations can be demonstrated
experimentally. We analyse the conditions under which the scheme is successful
and relate them to the current experimental state of the art. The successful
activation of entanglement embodies an interesting alternative to current
settings for the revelation of fully mechanical nonclassicality.Comment: Published versio
A replication study confirms the association of TNFSF4 (OX40L) polymorphisms with systemic sclerosis in a large European cohort
<p><b>Objectives</b> The aim of this study was to confirm the influence of TNFSF4 polymorphisms on systemic sclerosis (SSc) susceptibility and phenotypic features.</p>
<p><b>Methods</b> A total of 8 European populations of Caucasian ancestry were included, comprising 3014 patients with SSc and 3125 healthy controls. Four genetic variants of TNFSF4 gene promoter (rs1234314, rs844644, rs844648 and rs12039904) were selected as genetic markers.</p>
<p><b>Results</b> A pooled analysis revealed the association of rs1234314 and rs12039904 polymorphisms with SSc (OR 1.15, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.31; OR 1.18, 95% CI 1.08 to 1.29, respectively). Significant association of the four tested variants with patients with limited cutaneous SSc (lcSSc) was revealed (rs1234314 OR 1.22, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.38; rs844644 OR 0.91, 95% CI 0.83 to 0.99; rs844648 OR 1.10, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.20 and rs12039904 OR 1.20, 95% CI 1.09 to 1.33). Association of rs1234314, rs844648 and rs12039904 minor alleles with patients positive for anti-centromere antibodies (ACA) remained significant (OR 1.23, 95% CI 1.10 to 1.37; OR 1.12, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.25; OR 1.22, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.38, respectively). Haplotype analysis confirmed a protective haplotype associated with SSc, lcSSc and ACA positive subgroups (OR 0.88, 95% CI 0.82 to 0.96; OR 0.88, 95% CI 0.80 to 0.96; OR 0.86, 95% CI 0.77 to 0.97, respectively) and revealed a new risk haplotype associated with the same groups of patients (OR 1.14, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.26; OR 1.20, 95% CI 1.08 to 1.35; OR 1.23, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.42, respectively).</p>
<p><b>Conclusions</b> The data confirm the influence of TNFSF4 polymorphisms in SSc genetic susceptibility, especially in subsets of patients positive for lcSSc and ACA.</p>
Quantum Correlations in NMR systems
In conventional NMR experiments, the Zeeman energy gaps of the nuclear spin
ensembles are much lower than their thermal energies, and accordingly exhibit
tiny polarizations. Generally such low-purity quantum states are devoid of
quantum entanglement. However, there exist certain nonclassical correlations
which can be observed even in such systems. In this chapter, we discuss three
such quantum correlations, namely, quantum contextuality, Leggett-Garg temporal
correlations, and quantum discord. In each case, we provide a brief theoretical
background and then describe some results from NMR experiments.Comment: 21 pages, 7 figure
Chinese multinationals: host country factors and foreign direct investment location
The study of Chinese multinationals (MNEs) is becoming one of the most promising research topics in the international business literature. After outlining the distinctive characteristics of the internationalization process of Chinese MNEs, this chapter analyzes the influence of various host country factors on the location of Chinese outward foreign direct investment (FDI). From a sample of 189 outward FDI decisions made by 35 mainland Chinese firms in 63 countries, our results show that host market size and the existence of overseas Chinese in the host country are positively associated with the number of Chinese FDIs. However, greater difficulty in doing business and host country political risk have no effect
- …