Adiabatic noise-induced escape rate for nonequilibrium open systems

We consider the motion of an overdamped particle in a force field in presence of an external, adiabatic noise, without the restriction that the noise process is Gaussian or the stochastic process is Markovian. We examine the condition for attainment of steady state for this nonequilibrium open system and calculate the adiabatic noise-induced rate of escape of the particle over a barrier.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

Modified Bloch equations in presence of a nonstationary bath

Based on the system-reservoir description we propose a simple solvable microscopic model for a nonequilibrium bath. This captures the essential features of a nonstationary quantum Markov process. We establish an appropriate generalization of the fluctuation-dissipation relation pertaining to this process and explore the essential modifications of the Bloch equations to reveal the nonexponential decay of the Bloch vector components and transient spectral broadening in resonance fluorescence. We discuss a simple experimental scheme to verify the theoretical results.Comment: Revtex, 27 pages, 2 ps figures. To appear in European Physical Journal

ATLAS IBL Pixel Upgrade

The upgrade for ATLAS detector will undergo different phase towards super-LHC. The first upgrade for the Pixel detector will consist of the construction of a new pixel layer which will be installed during the first shutdown of the LHC machine (LHC phase-I upgrade). The new detector, called Insertable B-Layer (IBL), will be inserted between the existing pixel detector and a new (smaller radius) beam-pipe at a radius of 3.3 cm. The IBL will require the development of several new technologies to cope with increase of radiation or pixel occupancy and also to improve the physics performance which will be achieved by reducing the pixel size and of the material budget. Three different promising sensor technologies (planar-Si, 3D-Si and diamond) are currently under investigation for the pixel detector. An overview of the project with particular emphasis on pixel module is presented in this paper.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figures, presented at the 12th Topical Seminar on Innovative Particle and Radiation Detectors (IPRD10) 7 - 10 June 2010, Siena (IT). Accepted by Nuclear Physics B (Proceedings Supplements) (2011

Quantum Kramers' equation for energy diffusion and barrier crossing dynamics in the low friction regime

Based on a true phase space probability distribution function and an ensemble averaging procedure we have recently developed [Phys. Rev. E 65, 021109 (2002)] a non-Markovian quantum Kramers' equation to derive the quantum rate coefficient for barrier crossing due to thermal activation and tunneling in the intermediate to strong friction regime. We complement and extend this approach to weak friction regime to derive quantum Kramers' equation in energy space and the rate of decay from a metastable well. The theory is valid for arbitrary temperature and noise correlation. We show that depending on the nature of the potential there may be a net reduction of the total quantum rate below its corresponding classical value which is in conformity with earlier observation. The method is independent of path integral approaches and takes care of quantum effects to all orders.Comment: 26 pages, RevTe