Controlling quantum entanglement through photocounts

We present a protocol to generate and control quantum entanglement between the states of two subsystems (the system ${\cal S}$) by making measurements on a third subsystem (the monitor ${\cal M}$), interacting with ${\cal S}$. For the sake of comparison we consider first an ideal, or instantaneous projective measurement, as postulated by von Neumann. Then we compare it with the more realistic or generalized measurement procedure based on photocounting on ${\cal M}$. Further we consider that the interaction term (between ${\cal S}$ and ${\cal M}$) contains a quantum nondemolition variable of ${\cal S}$ and discuss the possibility and limitations for reconstructing the initial state of ${\cal S}$ from information acquired by photocounting on ${\cal M}$.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev

Cyanide and fluoride colorimetric sensing by novel imidazo-anthraquinones functionalized with indole and carbazole

Novel imidazo-anthraquinones functionalized with indole and carbazole have been synthesised and characterised and their evaluation as colorimetric chemosensors was carried out in acetonitrile as well as in acetonitrile/H2O (97:3) in the presence of several anions such as F-, Cl-, Br-, I-, CN-, NO3-, ClO4-, AcO-, BzO-, NO3-, ClO4-, HSO4- and H2PO4-. Additionally, their behaviour in the presence of H+ and OH- was also studied. Upon addition of CN- and F− to acetonitrile solutions of compounds 1-3, a marked colour change from yellow to orange was observed and the fluorescence emission of 1 and 2 was switched “on”. The recognition in organic aqueous solution lead to the selective and sensitive naked-eye detection (mM) of CN- for all receptors, with an easily detectable colour change from yellow to orange. The binding stoichiometry between the receptors and the anions was found to be 2:1. The binding process was also followed by 1H NMR titrations showing that two different binding modes occurred in the presence of fluoride or cyanide anions, which is in agreement with the spectrophotometric titrations.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

Semiclassical Approximation to Neutron Star Superfluidity Corrected for Proximity Effects

The inner crust of a neutron star is a superfluid and inhomogeneous system, consisting of a lattice of nuclei immersed in a sea of neutrons. We perform a quantum calculation of the associated pairing gap and compare it to the results one obtains in the Local Density Approximation (LDA). It is found that the LDA overestimates the spatial dependence of the gap, and leads to a specific heat of the system which is too large at low temperatures, as compared with the quantal result. This is caused by the neglect of proximity effects and the delocalized character of the single-particle wavefunctions close to the Fermi energy. It is possible to introduce an alternative, simple semiclassical approximation of the pairing gap which leads to a specific heat that is in good agreement with the quantum calculation.Comment: RevteX, 8 Postscript Figure

Green manure in coffee systems in the region of Zona da Mata, Minas Gerais: characteristics and kinetics of carbon and nitrogen mineralization.

The use of green manure may contribute to reduce soil erosion and increase the soil organic matter content and N availability in coffee plantations in the Zona da Mata, State of Minas Gerais, in Southeastern Brazil. The potential of four legumes (A. pintoi, C. mucunoides, S. aterrimum and S. guianensis)to produce above-ground biomass, accumulate nutrients and mineralize N was studied in two coffee plantations of subsistence farmers under different climate conditions. The biomass production of C. mucunoides was influenced by the shade of the coffee plantation.C. mucunoides tended to mineralize more N than the other legumes due to the low polyphenol content and polyphenol/N ratio. In the first year, the crop establishment of A. pintoi in the area took longer than of the other legumes, resulting in lower biomass production and N2 fixation. In the long term, cellulose was the main factor controlling N mineralization. The biochemical characteristics, nutrient accumulation and biomass production of the legumes were greatly influenced by the altitude and position of the area relative to the sun

New Upper Limit of Terrestrial Equivalence Principle Test for Rotating Extended Bodies

Improved terrestrial experiment to test the equivalence principle for rotating extended bodies is presented, and a new upper limit for the violation of the equivalence principle is obtained at the level of 1.6$10^{\text{-7}}$, which is limited by the friction of the rotating gyroscope. It means the spin-gravity interaction between the extended bodies has not been observed at this level.Comment: 4 page

Inducing the cosmological constant from five-dimensional Weyl space

We investigate the possibility of inducing the cosmological constant from extra dimensions by embedding our four-dimensional Riemannian space-time into a five-dimensional Weyl integrable space. Following approach of the induced matter theory we show that when we go down from five to four dimensions, the Weyl field may contribute both to the induced energy-tensor as well as to the cosmological constant, or more generally, it may generate a time-dependent cosmological parameter. As an application, we construct a simple cosmological model which has some interesting properties.Comment: 7 page

Dilatonic current-carrying cosmic strings

We investigate the nature of ordinary cosmic vortices in some scalar-tensor extensions of gravity. We find solutions for which the dilaton field condenses inside the vortex core. These solutions can be interpreted as raising the degeneracy between the eigenvalues of the effective stress-energy tensor, namely the energy per unit length U and the tension T, by picking a privileged spacelike or timelike coordinate direction; in the latter case, a phase frequency threshold occurs that is similar to what is found in ordinary neutral current-carrying cosmic strings. We find that the dilaton contribution for the equation of state, once averaged along the string worldsheet, vanishes, leading to an effective Nambu-Goto behavior of such a string network in cosmology, i.e. on very large scales. It is found also that on small scales, the energy per unit length and tension depend on the string internal coordinates in such a way as to permit the existence of centrifugally supported equilibrium configuration, also known as vortons, whose stability, depending on the very short distance (unknown) physics, can lead to catastrophic consequences on the evolution of the Universe.Comment: 10 pages, ReVTeX, 2 figures, minor typos corrected. This version to appear in Phys. Rev.

Gravitational field around a time-like current-carrying screwed cosmic string in scalar-tensor theories

In this paper we obtain the space-time generated by a time-like current-carrying superconducting screwed cosmic string(TCSCS). This gravitational field is obtained in a modified scalar-tensor theory in the sense that torsion is taken into account. We show that this solution is comptible with a torsion field generated by the scalar field $\phi$. The analysis of gravitational effects of a TCSCS shows up that the torsion effects that appear in the physical frame of Jordan-Fierz can be described in a geometric form given by contorsion term plus a symmetric part which contains the scalar gradient. As an important application of this solution, we consider the linear perturbation method developed by Zel'dovich, investigate the accretion of cold dark matter due to the formation of wakes when a TCSCS moves with speed $v$ and discuss the role played by torsion. Our results are compared with those obtained for cosmic strings in the framework of scalar-tensor theories without taking torsion into account.Comment: 21 pages, no figures, Revised Version, presented at the "XXIV- Encontro Nacional de Fisica de Particulas e Campos ", Caxambu, MG, Brazil, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Suppressing CMB Quadrupole with a Bounce from Contracting Phase to Inflation

Recent released WMAP data show a low value of quadrupole in the CMB temperature fluctuations, which confirms the early observations by COBE. In this paper, a scenario, in which a contracting phase is followed by an inflationary phase, is constructed. We calculate the perturbation spectrum and show that this scenario can provide a reasonable explanation for lower CMB anisotropies on large angular scales.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure