Comment on "Probabilistic Quantum Memories"

This is a comment on two wrong Phys. Rev. Letters papers by C.A. Trugenberger. Trugenberger claimed that quantum registers could be used as exponentially large "associative" memories. We show that his scheme is no better than one where the quantum register is replaced with a classical one of equal size. We also point out that the Holevo bound and more recent bounds on "quantum random access codes" pretty much rule out powerful memories (for classical information) based on quantum states.Comment: REVTeX4, 1 page, published versio

Majorana Zero Modes in 1D Quantum Wires Without Long-Ranged Superconducting Order

We show that long-ranged superconducting order is not necessary to guarantee the existence of Majorana fermion zero modes at the ends of a quantum wire. We formulate a concrete model which applies, for instance, to a semiconducting quantum wire with strong spin-orbit coupling and Zeeman splitting coupled to a wire with algebraically-decaying superconducting fluctuations. We solve this model by bosonization and show that it supports Majorana fermion zero modes. We argue that a large class of models will also show the same phenomenon. We discuss the implications for experiments on spin-orbit coupled nanowires coated with superconducting film and for LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interfaces.Comment: 14 pages. Figures added and a discussion of the effects of quantum phase slips. References Added. Fourth author adde

A note on the capture of 'Giant Isopod', Bathynomus giganteus A. Milne Edwards, 1879 off Mangalore coast, India

Isopods are a large, diverse order with ten named suborders and approximately 10,000species.They are found in all seas and at all depths, in fresh and brackish waters, and on land. The Giant isopod Bathynomus giganteus A. Milne Edwards, 1879(Richardson1905)is the largest marine isopod species recorded in the world. It is reported to occur in a wide depth range from 170 to 2,140 m and grows up to 400 mm in length. Bathynomus giganteus was found for the fIrst time in 1878 off the coast of Dry Tortugas in the Gulf of Mexico and is reported to have distribution off Gulf of Mexico; Atlantic Ocean; Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea (Brusca et at. 1995)

Assessing the impacts of climate change on marine fisheries of Karnataka and identifying regime shifts

Climate related regime shifts, namely the rapid reorganization of marine ecosystems from one relatively stable state to another, have been reported from several parts of the world, and found responsible for the fluctuations of major fisheries. Time series on ocean-atmosphere parameters together with time series on plankton and/or fish abundance has been extensively used for identifying regime shifts in the oceans from several parts of the globe

Quasiparticle scattering and local density of states in the d-density wave phase

We study the effects of single-impurity scattering on the local density of states in the high-$T_c$ cuprates. We compare the quasiparticle interference patterns in three different ordered states: d-wave superconductor (DSC), d-density wave (DDW), and coexisting DSC and DDW (DSC-DDW). In the coexisting state, at energies below the DSC gap, the patterns are almost identical to those in the pure DSC state with the same DSC gap. However, they are significantly different for energies greater than or equal to the DSC gap. This transition at an energy around the DSC gap can be used to test the nature of the superconducting state of the underdoped cuprates by scanning tunneling microscopy. Furthermore, we note that in the DDW state the effect of the coherence factors is stronger than in the DSC state. The new features arising due to DDW ordering are discussed.Comment: 6 page, 5 figures (Higher resolution figures are available by request

Perfectly Oblivious (Parallel) RAM Revisited, and Improved Constructions

Oblivious RAM (ORAM) is a technique for compiling any RAM program to an oblivious counterpart, i.e., one whose access patterns do not leak information about the secret inputs. Similarly, Oblivious Parallel RAM (OPRAM) compiles a {\it parallel} RAM program to an oblivious counterpart. In this paper, we care about ORAM/OPRAM with {\it perfect security}, i.e., the access patterns must be {\it identically distributed} no matter what the program\u27s memory request sequence is. In the past, two types of perfect ORAMs/OPRAMs have been considered: constructions whose performance bounds hold {\it in expectation} (but may occasionally run more slowly); and constructions whose performance bounds hold {\it deterministically} (even though the algorithms themselves are randomized). In this paper, we revisit the performance metrics for perfect ORAM/OPRAM, and show novel constructions that achieve asymptotical improvements for all performance metrics. Our first result is a new perfectly secure OPRAM scheme with $O(\log^3 N/\log \log N)$ {\it expected} overhead. In comparison, prior literature has been stuck at $O(\log^3 N)$ for more than a decade. Next, we show how to construct a perfect ORAM with $O(\log^3 N/\log \log N)$ {\it deterministic} simulation overhead. We further show how to make the scheme parallel, resulting in an perfect OPRAM with $O(\log^4 N/\log \log N)$ {\it deterministic} simulation overhead. For perfect ORAMs/OPRAMs with deterministic performance bounds, our results achieve {\it subexponential} improvement over the state-of-the-art. Specifically, the best known prior scheme incurs more than $\sqrt{N}$ deterministic simulation overhead (Raskin and Simkin, Asiacrypt\u2719); moreover, their scheme works only for the sequential setting and is {\it not} amenable to parallelization. Finally, we additionally consider perfect ORAMs/OPRAMs whose performance bounds hold with high probability. For this new performance metric, we show new constructions whose simulation overhead is upper bounded by $O(\log^3 /\log\log N)$ except with negligible in $N$ probability, i.e., we prove high-probability performance bounds that match the expected bounds mentioned earlier

Quantum Numbers of Textured Hall Effect Quasiparticles

We propose a class of variational wave functions with slow variation in spin and charge density and simple vortex structure at infinity, which properly generalize both the Laughlin quasiparticles and baby Skyrmions. We argue that the spin of the corresponding quasiparticle has a fractional part related in a universal fashion to the properties of the bulk state, and propose a direct experimental test of this claim. We show that certain spin-singlet quantum Hall states can be understood as arising from primary polarized states by Skyrmion condensation.Comment: 13 pages, no figures, Phyzz

Decoherence on a two-dimensional quantum walk using four- and two-state particle

We study the decoherence effects originating from state flipping and depolarization for two-dimensional discrete-time quantum walks using four-state and two-state particles. By quantifying the quantum correlations between the particle and position degree of freedom and between the two spatial ($x-y$) degrees of freedom using measurement induced disturbance (MID), we show that the two schemes using a two-state particle are more robust against decoherence than the Grover walk, which uses a four-state particle. We also show that the symmetries which hold for two-state quantum walks breakdown for the Grover walk, adding to the various other advantages of using two-state particles over four-state particles.Comment: 12 pages, 16 figures, In Press, J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. (2013