Quantum Interpretations

Difficulties and discomfort with the interpretation of quantum mechanics are due to differences in language between it and classical physics. Analogies to The Special Theory of Relativity, which also required changes in the basic worldview and language of non-relativistic classical mechanics, may help in absorbing the changes called for by quantum physics. There is no need to invoke extravagances such as the many worlds interpretation or specify a central role for consciousness or neural microstructures. The simple, but basic, acceptance that what is meant by the state of a physical system is different in quantum physics from what it is in classical physics goes a long way in explaining its seeming peculiarities.Comment: 13 page

Enabling conditions for professional development of te reo Māori teachers

The paper outlines a professional development programme for secondary school teachers of te reo Māori (under the auspices of Te Hiringa i te Mahara) conducted by a language teacher educator and an expert in Māori bilingualism and biliteracy. While the principles underpinning the programme reflect a strong task-based orientation, the programme approached development needs for the teachers from the point of view of understanding “enabling conditions” (Franken, Rau, Ngata & Parata, n.d.) for effective language learning and teaching (see also Ellis, 2005), rather than understanding task based learning and teaching per se. The programme drew on the current practices of the teachers and made use of epistemology of Māori language and Māori language learning. The paper presents observations from monitoring data collected during the programme supporting the claim that such an approach to the professional development of language teachers promotes a strong knowledge base and pedagogical reasoning skills (Richards, 1998), and in particular for te reo Māori teachers, fosters a sense of their own professional identity

1, 2, and 6 qubits, and the Ramanujan-Nagell theorem

A conjecture of Ramanujan that was later proved by Nagell is used to show on the basis of matching dimensions that only three $n$-qubit systems, for $n=1, 2, 6$, can share an isomorphism of their symmetry groups with the rotation group of corresponding dimensions $3, 6, 91$. Topological analysis, however, rules out the last possibility

Ngā Whanaketanga: Minimising contradictions and maximising opportunities for teacher learning.

In 2010 the assessment of student progress and achievement against National Standards became mandatory in English medium schooling in Aotearoa New Zealand. In that same year information gathering and revision work was carried out on the then draft Whanaketanga, developed in 2009. The Whanaketanga are deemed to be the equivalent to National Standards for classrooms implementing Te Marautanga o Aotearoa, the curriculum for immersion Māori medium settings. The information gathering and revision work was carried out in readiness for mandatory implementation of the Whanaketanga in 2011. The work also provided important opportunities for Māori medium teacher professional learning and development. The introduction of National Standards has been controversial. The development of Whanaketanga has also been controversial and challenging in nature. The first half of this paper provides an overview of Whanaketanga development and the challenges its developers worked hard to address. The second part discusses implications for Māori medium teacher professional learning and development, drawn from findings from research case studies of the information gathering and revision work

Complete time-dependent treatment of a three-level system

Both unitary evolution and the effects of dissipation and decoherence for a general three-level system are of widespread interest in quantum optics, molecular physics, and elsewhere. A previous paper presented a technique for solving the time-dependent operator equations involved but under certain restrictive conditions. We now extend our results to a general three-level system with arbitrary time-dependent Hamiltonians and Lindblad operators. Analytical handling of the SU(3) algebra of the eight operators involved leaves behind a set of coupled first-order differential equations for classical functions. Solution of this set gives a complete solution of the quantum problem, without having to invoke rotating-wave or other approximations. Numerical illustrations are given.Comment: 1 tar.gz file containing a Tex and four eps figure files; unzip with command gunzip RZPRA05.tar.g

Sudden change in dynamics of genuine multipartite entanglement of cavity-reservoir qubits

We study the dynamics of genuine multipartite entanglement for a system of four qubits. Using a computable entanglement monotone for multipartite systems, we investigate the as yet unexplored aspects of a cavity-reservoir system of qubits. For one specific initial state, we observe a sudden transition in the dynamics of genuine entanglement for the four qubits. This sudden change occurs only during a time window where neither cavity-cavity qubits nor reservoir-reservoir qubits are entangled. We show that this sudden change in dynamics of this specific state is extremely sensitive to white noise.Comment: 18 pages, 11 figure