Physical origins of ruled surfaces on the reduced density matrices geometry

© 2016, Science China Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. The reduced density matrices (RDMs) of many-body quantum states form a convex set. The boundary of low dimensional projections of this convex set may exhibit nontrivial geometry such as ruled surfaces. In this paper, we study the physical origins of these ruled surfaces for bosonic systems. The emergence of ruled surfaces was recently proposed as signatures of symmetry-breaking phase. We show that, apart from being signatures of symmetry-breaking, ruled surfaces can also be the consequence of gapless quantum systems by demonstrating an explicit example in terms of a two-mode Ising model. Our analysis was largely simplified by the quantum de Finetti’s theorem—in the limit of large system size, these RDMs are the convex set of all the symmetric separable states. To distinguish ruled surfaces originated from gapless systems from those caused by symmetry-breaking, we propose to use the finite size scaling method for the corresponding geometry. This method is then applied to the two-mode XY model, successfully identifying a ruled surface as the consequence of gapless systems

Real-time counting of single electron tunneling through a T-shaped double quantum dot system

Real-time detection of single electron tunneling through a T-shaped double quantum dot is simulated, based on a Monte Carlo scheme. The double dot is embedded in a dissipative environment and the presence of electrons on the double dot is detected with a nearby quantum point contact. We demonstrate directly the bunching behavior in electron transport, which leads eventually to a super-Poissonian noise. Particularly, in the context of full counting statistics, we investigate the essential difference between the dephasing mechanisms induced by the quantum point contact detection and the coupling to the external phonon bath. A number of intriguing noise features associated with various transport mechanisms are revealed.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure

A simple scheme for allocating capital in a foreign exchange proprietary trading firm

We present a model of capital allocation in a foreign exchange proprietary trading firm. The owner allocates capital to individual traders, who operate within strict risk limits. Traders specialize in individual currencies, but are given discretion over their choice of trading rule. The owner provides the simple formula that determines position sizes – a formula that does not require estimation of the firm-level covariance matrix. We provide supporting empirical evidence of excess risk-adjusted returns to the firm-level portfolio, and we discuss a modification of the model in which the owner dictates the choice of trading rule

Quantum measurement characteristics of double-dot single electron transistor

Owing to a few unique advantages, double-dot single electron transistor has been proposed as an alternative detector for charge states. In this work, we present a further study for its signal-to-noise property, based on a full analysis of the setup configuration symmetry. It is found that the effectiveness of the double-dot detector can approach that of an ideal detector, if the symmetric capacitive coupling is taken into account. The quantum measurement efficiency is also analyzed, by comparing the measurement time with the measurement-induced dephasing time.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

In-situ observation of graphene sublimation and edge reconstructions

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Oosorption in the Endoparasitoid, Pteromalus puparum

Oosorption is the resorption of oocytes in the ovaries, and is usually induced by environmental stress. It has been demonstrated in some insect species, but overall the mechanisms of oosorption are poorly understood. In this study, the oosorption in the endoparasitic wasp, Pteromalus puparum L. (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae), was observed in response to starvation. To explore the details of oosorption in P. puparum, both levels of hemolymph vitellogenin and ovarian vitellin were determined using sandwich ELISA. The results indicated that both levels of vitellin and total protein in the ovaries were significantly decreased 48 h after eclosion in starved P. puparum, while those of vitellogenin and total protein in the hemolymph were increased. In addition, observation of the ultrastructure of mature oocytes in the ovarioles revealed changes in yolk protein content. Those protein yolk spheres and lipid yolk spheres that had accumulated in the oocytes, were transferred out of the oocytes of starved females. It was assumed that once oosorption was induced in P. puparum, vitellin in the oocytes was transported outside and released into the hemolymph. This information helps to elucidate a mechanism of oosorption in insects

Quantification of the overall contribution of gene-environment interaction for obesity-related traits

The growing sample size of genome-wide association studies has facilitated the discovery of gene-environment interactions (GxE). Here we propose a maximum likelihood method to estimate the contribution of GxE to continuous traits taking into account all interacting environmental variables, without the need to measure any. Extensive simulations demonstrate that our method provides unbiased interaction estimates and excellent coverage. We also offer strategies to distinguish specific GxE from general scale effects. Applying our method to 32 traits in the UK Biobank reveals that while the genetic risk score (GRS) of 376 variants explains 5.2% of body mass index (BMI) variance, GRSxE explains an additional 1.9%. Nevertheless, this interaction holds for any variable with identical correlation to BMI as the GRS, hence may not be GRS-specific. Still, we observe that the global contribution of specific GRSxE to complex traits is substantial for nine obesity-related measures (including leg impedance and trunk fat-free mass).This article is freely available via Open Access. Click on the Publisher URL to access it via the publisher's site.published version, accepted version, submitted versio

The conserved C-terminus of the PcrA/UvrD helicase interacts directly with RNA polymerase

Copyright: © 2013 Gwynn et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Funding: This work was supported by a Wellcome Trust project grant to MD (Reference: 077368), an ERC starting grant to MD (Acronym: SM-DNA-REPAIR) and a BBSRC project grant to PM, NS and MD (Reference: BB/I003142/1). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Genetic inhibition of neurotransmission reveals role of glutamatergic input to dopamine neurons in high-effort behavior

Midbrain dopamine neurons are crucial for many behavioral and cognitive functions. As the major excitatory input, glutamatergic afferents are important for control of the activity and plasticity of dopamine neurons. However, the role of glutamatergic input as a whole onto dopamine neurons remains unclear. Here we developed a mouse line in which glutamatergic inputs onto dopamine neurons are specifically impaired, and utilized this genetic model to directly test the role of glutamatergic inputs in dopamine-related functions. We found that while motor coordination and reward learning were largely unchanged, these animals showed prominent deficits in effort-related behavioral tasks. These results provide genetic evidence that glutamatergic transmission onto dopaminergic neurons underlies incentive motivation, a willingness to exert high levels of effort to obtain reinforcers, and have important implications for understanding the normal function of the midbrain dopamine system.Fil: Hutchison, M. A.. National Institutes of Health; Estados UnidosFil: Gu, X.. National Institutes of Health; Estados UnidosFil: Adrover, Martín Federico. National Institutes of Health; Estados Unidos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular "Dr. Héctor N. Torres"; ArgentinaFil: Lee, M. R.. National Institutes of Health; Estados UnidosFil: Hnasko, T. S.. University of California at San Diego; Estados UnidosFil: Alvarez, V. A.. National Institutes of Health; Estados UnidosFil: Lu, W.. National Institutes of Health; Estados Unido