5,113 research outputs found
Portable reflectance spectrometer
A portable reflectance spectrometer is disclosed. The spectrometer essentially includes an optical unit and an electronic recording unit. The optical unit includes a pair of thermoelectrically-cooled detectors, for detecting total radiance and selected radiance projected through a circular variable filter wheel, and is capable of operating to provide spectral data in the range 0.4 to 2.5 micrometers without requiring coventional substitution of filter elements. The electronic recording unit includes power supplies, amplifiers, and digital recording electronics designed to permit recordation of data on tape casettes. Both the optical unit and electronic recording unit are packaged to be manually portable
The modern tools of quantum mechanics (A tutorial on quantum states, measurements, and operations)
This tutorial is devoted to review the modern tools of quantum mechanics,
which are suitable to describe states, measurements, and operations of
realistic, not isolated, systems in interaction with their environment, and
with any kind of measuring and processing devices. We underline the central
role of the Born rule and and illustrate how the notion of density operator
naturally emerges, together the concept of purification of a mixed state. In
reexamining the postulates of standard quantum measurement theory, we
investigate how they may formally generalized, going beyond the description in
terms of selfadjoint operators and projective measurements, and how this leads
to the introduction of generalized measurements, probability operator-valued
measures (POVM) and detection operators. We then state and prove the Naimark
theorem, which elucidates the connections between generalized and standard
measurements and illustrates how a generalized measurement may be physically
implemented. The "impossibility" of a joint measurement of two non commuting
observables is revisited and its canonical implementations as a generalized
measurement is described in some details. Finally, we address the basic
properties, usually captured by the request of unitarity, that a map
transforming quantum states into quantum states should satisfy to be physically
admissible, and introduce the notion of complete positivity (CP). We then state
and prove the Stinespring/Kraus-Choi-Sudarshan dilation theorem and elucidate
the connections between the CP-maps description of quantum operations, together
with their operator-sum representation, and the customary unitary description
of quantum evolution. We also address transposition as an example of positive
map which is not completely positive, and provide some examples of generalized
measurements and quantum operations.Comment: Tutorial. 26 pages, 1 figure. Published in a special issue of EPJ -
ST devoted to the memory of Federico Casagrand
Spatial identification of the overionized plasma in W49B
Recent Suzaku X-ray observations of the ejecta-dominated supernova remnant
W49B have shown that in the global spectrum there is a clear indication for the
presence of overionized plasma whose physical origin is still under debate. In
order to ascertain the physical origin of such a rapidly cooling plasma, we
focus on the study of its spatial localization within the X-ray emitting
ejecta. We confirm the presence of a saw-edged excess (interpreted as a strong
radiative recombination continuum) in the global spectrum above 8 keV, emerging
above the ionization-equilibrium model. We produce a hardness ratio map to
determine where the plasma is overionized and we perform a spectral analysis of
the regions with and without strong overionization. We find that the
overionized plasma is localized in the center of the remnant and in its western
jet, while it is not detected in the bright eastern jet, where the expansion of
the ejecta is hampered by their interaction with a dense interstellar cloud.
The location of overionized plasma suggests that the inner ejecta are rapidly
cooling by expansion, unlike the outer ejecta, for which expansion is hampered
by interstellar clouds seen in H2Comment: Accepted for publication as a Letter in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Andreev reflections on Y1-xCaxBa2Cu3O7-delta evidence for an unusual proximity effect
We have measured Andreev reflections between an Au tip and
Y_{1-x}Ca_{x}Ba_{2}Cu_{3}O_{7 - \delta} thin films in the in-plane orientation.
The conductance spectra are best fitted with a pair potential having the
"d_{x^{2}-y^{2}+is" symmetry. We find that the amplitude of the "is" component
is enhanced as the contact transparency is increased. This is an indication for
an unusual proximity effect that modifies the pair potential in the
superconductor near the surface with the normal metal.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Information-Disturbance Tradeoff in Quantum State Discrimination
When discriminating between two pure quantum states, there exists a
quantitative tradeoff between the information retrieved by the measurement and
the disturbance caused on the unknown state. We derive the optimal tradeoff and
provide the corresponding quantum measurement. Such an optimal measurement
smoothly interpolates between the two limiting cases of maximal information
extraction and no measurement at all.Comment: 5 pages, 2 (low-quality) figures. Eq. (20) corrected. Final published
versio
Effects of Surface Soil Removal on Dynamics of Dissolved Inorganic Nitrogen in a Snow-Dominated Forest
To clarify the effect of vegetation and surface soil removal on dissolved inorganic nitrogen (N) dynamics in a snow-dominated forest soil in northern Japan, the seasonal fluctuation of N concentrations in soil solution and the annual flux of N in soil were investigated at a treated site (in which surface soil, including understory vegetation and organic and A horizons, was removed) and control sites from July 1998 to June 2000. Nitrate (NO3â) concentration in soil solution at the treated site was significantly higher than that of the control in the no-snow period, and it was decreased by dilution from melting snow. The annual net outputs of NO3â from soil at the treated site and control sites were 257 and â12 mmol mâ2 yearâ1, and about 57% of the net output at the treated site occurred during the snowmelt period. NO3â was transported from the upper level to the lower level of soil via water movement during late autumn and winter, and it was retained in soil and leached by melt water in early spring. Removing vegetation and surface soil resulted in an increase in NO3â concentration of soil solution, and snowmelt strongly affected the NO3â leaching from treated soil and the NO3â restoration process in a snow-dominated region
Olefin Insertion Versus Cross-Coupling in trans-[Pd(Ar)X(AsPh3)2] Complexes (X = I, F, CF3) Treated with a Phosphine-EWOlefin Ligand to Induce ArâX Coupling
ProducciĂłn CientĂficaAddition of the coupling promoter PEWO ligand 1-(Ph2P),2-(CHâCHâC(O)Ph)C6F4 (PhPEWO-F) to precursors with the displaceable AsPh3 ligand trans-[PdXAr(AsPh3)2] (X = I, F, CF3) fails to induce the pursued ArâF or ArâCF3 coupling and results in formation of products of olefin insertion into the PdâAr bond for X = I, CF3, and in ArâAr coupling for X = F. In the course of the processes, trans-[PdXAr(PhPEWO-F)(AsPh3)] intermediates are observed for X = I, F, CF3, with P-coordinated PhPEWO-F monodentate ligands and a dangling olefin group. For X = I, CF3, subsequent insertion of the double bond into the PdâAr bond and O-coordination gives rise to complexes with a P,C,O-pincer system. The observed insertion rates suggest that the limiting step toward insertion is the trans to cis isomerization, while insertion itself is very fast. This is supported by the fast insertion observed when PhPEWO-F is added to cis-[Pd(CF3)Ar(3-F-py)2]. The insertion mechanism in PhPEWO-F resembles the initial phase of the dearomative rearrangement mechanism reported for PdArBrL (L = dialkyl biaryl phosphine).Ministerio de EconomĂa, Industria y Competitividad (Projects CTQ2014-52796-P, CTQ2016-80913-P, and CTQ2014-52974-REDC)Junta de Castilla y LeĂłn (programa de apoyo a proyectos de investigaciĂłn â Ref. VA256U13
Physical realizations of quantum operations
Quantum operations (QO) describe any state change allowed in quantum
mechanics, such as the evolution of an open system or the state change due to a
measurement. We address the problem of which unitary transformations and which
observables can be used to achieve a QO with generally different input and
output Hilbert spaces. We classify all unitary extensions of a QO, and give
explicit realizations in terms of free-evolution direct-sum dilations and
interacting tensor-product dilations. In terms of Hilbert space dimensionality
the free-evolution dilations minimize the physical resources needed to realize
the QO, and for this case we provide bounds for the dimension of the ancilla
space versus the rank of the QO. The interacting dilations, on the other hand,
correspond to the customary ancilla-system interaction realization, and for
these we derive a majorization relation which selects the allowed unitary
interactions between system and ancilla.Comment: 8 pages, no figures. Accepted for publication on Phys. Rev.
Elastic and total reaction cross sections of oxygen isotopes in Glauber theory
We systematically calculate the total reaction cross sections of oxygen
isotopes, O, on a C target at high energies using the Glauber
theory. The oxygen isotopes are described with Slater determinants generated
from a phenomenological mean-field potential. The agreement between theory and
experiment is generally good, but a sharp increase of the reaction cross
sections from ^{21}O to ^{23}O remains unresolved. To examine the sensitivity
of the diffraction pattern of elastic scattering to the nuclear surface, we
study the differential elastic-scattering cross sections of proton-^{20,21,23}O
at the incident energy of 300 MeV by calculating the full Glauber amplitude.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure
Quantum noise in ideal operational amplifiers
We consider a model of quantum measurement built on an ideal operational
amplifier operating in the limit of infinite gain, infinite input impedance and
null output impedance and with a feddback loop. We evaluate the intensity and
voltage noises which have to be added to the classical amplification equations
in order to fulfill the requirements of quantum mechanics. We give a
description of this measurement device as a quantum network scattering quantum
fluctuations from input to output ports.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, RevTe
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