6,021 research outputs found
Optimal fidelity of teleportation of coherent states and entanglement
We study the Braunstein-Kimble protocol for the continuous variable
teleportation of a coherent state. We determine lower and upper bounds for the
optimal fidelity of teleportation, maximized over all local Gaussian operations
for a given entanglement of the two-mode Gaussian state shared by the sender
(Alice) and the receiver (Bob). We also determine the optimal local
transformations at Alice and Bob sites and the corresponding maximum fidelity
when one restricts to local trace-preserving Gaussian completely positive maps.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure
Directly estimating non-classicality
We establish a method of directly measuring and estimating non-classicality -
operationally defined in terms of the distinguishability of a given state from
one with a positive Wigner function. It allows to certify non-classicality,
based on possibly much fewer measurement settings than necessary for obtaining
complete tomographic knowledge, and is at the same time equipped with a full
certificate. We find that even from measuring two conjugate variables alone,
one may infer the non-classicality of quantum mechanical modes. This method
also provides a practical tool to eventually certify such features in
mechanical degrees of freedom in opto-mechanics. The proof of the result is
based on Bochner's theorem characterizing classical and quantum characteristic
functions and on semi-definite programming. In this joint
theoretical-experimental work we present data from experimental optical Fock
state preparation, demonstrating the functioning of the approach.Comment: 4+1 pages, 2 figures, minor change
Aptamer Based Hybrid-Assay for Early Stage Disease Diagnosis
The objective of the project is to use aptamers, oligonucleotides designed to selectively bind target molecules, to develop a methodology for building an enzyme-linked aptasorbent assay (ELASA). This assay is designed to detect the presence of a target protein nucleolin that is overexpressed on the surface of cancer cells, and it would act as a novel diagnostic method for the disease. The success of our project would also confirm the feasibility of using an ELASA as a diagnostic tool to detect the presence of thrombospondin-1 (TSP-1), a protein known to experience glycosylation changes in human endometrioid ovarian cancer tissue. Our methodology will be based on that of existing ELASA “sandwich” type assays for analogous proteins, which incorporate the use of aptamers and antibodies. Aptamers offer inherent benefits over antibodies, which are the primary agents used in traditional enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA), while demonstrating comparable sensitivity. Our developed ELASA has the potential to be an innovative diagnostic tool that can improve disease prognosis due to its high sensitivity and low limits of detection as an analytical method
Normal form decomposition for Gaussian-to-Gaussian superoperators
In this paper we explore the set of linear maps sending the set of quantum
Gaussian states into itself. These maps are in general not positive, a feature
which can be exploited as a test to check whether a given quantum state belongs
to the convex hull of Gaussian states (if one of the considered maps sends it
into a non positive operator, the above state is certified not to belong to the
set). Generalizing a result known to be valid under the assumption of complete
positivity, we provide a characterization of these Gaussian-to-Gaussian (not
necessarily positive) superoperators in terms of their action on the
characteristic function of the inputs. For the special case of one-mode
mappings we also show that any Gaussian-to-Gaussian superoperator can be
expressed as a concatenation of a phase-space dilatation, followed by the
action of a completely positive Gaussian channel, possibly composed with a
transposition. While a similar decomposition is shown to fail in the multi-mode
scenario, we prove that it still holds at least under the further hypothesis of
homogeneous action on the covariance matrix
A generalization of the Entropy Power Inequality to Bosonic Quantum Systems
In most communication schemes information is transmitted via travelling modes
of electromagnetic radiation. These modes are unavoidably subject to
environmental noise along any physical transmission medium and the quality of
the communication channel strongly depends on the minimum noise achievable at
the output. For classical signals such noise can be rigorously quantified in
terms of the associated Shannon entropy and it is subject to a fundamental
lower bound called entropy power inequality. Electromagnetic fields are however
quantum mechanical systems and then, especially in low intensity signals, the
quantum nature of the information carrier cannot be neglected and many
important results derived within classical information theory require
non-trivial extensions to the quantum regime. Here we prove one possible
generalization of the Entropy Power Inequality to quantum bosonic systems. The
impact of this inequality in quantum information theory is potentially large
and some relevant implications are considered in this work
The social psychology of collective victimhood
Collective victimhood, which results from the experience of being targeted as members of a group, has powerful effects on individuals and groups. The focus of this Special Issue is on how people respond to collective victimhood and how these responses shape intergroup relations. We introduce the Special Issue with an overview of emerging social psychological research on collective victimhood. To date, this research has focused mostly on destructive versus positive consequences of collective victimhood for relations with an adversary group, and examined victim groups' needs, victim beliefs, and underlying social identity and categorization processes. We identify several neglected factors in this literature, some of which are addressed by the empirical contributions in the current issue. The Special Issue offers novel perspectives on collective victimhood, presenting findings based on a diverse range of methods with mostly community samples that have direct and vicarious experiences of collective harm in different countries
Robust entanglement of a micromechanical resonator with output optical fields
We perform an analysis of the optomechanical entanglement between the
experimentally detectable output field of an optical cavity and a vibrating
cavity end-mirror. We show that by a proper choice of the readout (mainly by a
proper choice of detection bandwidth) one can not only detect the already
predicted intracavity entanglement but also optimize and increase it. This
entanglement is explained as being generated by a scattering process owing to
which strong quantum correlations between the mirror and the optical Stokes
sideband are created. All-optical entanglement between scattered sidebands is
also predicted and it is shown that the mechanical resonator and the two
sideband modes form a fully tripartite-entangled system capable of providing
practicable and robust solutions for continuous variable quantum communication
protocols
Effects of dissipation in an adiabatic quantum search algorithm
We consider the effect of two different environments on the performance of
the quantum adiabatic search algorithm, a thermal bath at finite temperature,
and a structured environment similar to the one encountered in systems coupled
to the electromagnetic field that exists within a photonic crystal. While for
all the parameter regimes explored here, the algorithm performance is worsened
by the contact with a thermal environment, the picture appears to be different
when considering a structured environment. In this case we show that, by tuning
the environment parameters to certain regimes, the algorithm performance can
actually be improved with respect to the closed system case. Additionally, the
relevance of considering the dissipation rates as complex quantities is
discussed in both cases. More particularly, we find that the imaginary part of
the rates can not be neglected with the usual argument that it simply amounts
to an energy shift, and in fact influences crucially the system dynamics.Comment: 18 pages, 9 figure
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