p-Wave Optical Feshbach Resonances in Yb-171

We study the use of an optical Feshbach resonance to modify the p-wave interaction between ultracold polarized Yb-171 spin-1/2 fermions. A laser exciting two colliding atoms to the 1S_0 + 3P_1 channel can be detuned near a purely-long-range excited molecular bound state. Such an exotic molecule has an inner turning point far from the chemical binding region and thus three-body-recombination in the Feshbach resonance will be highly suppressed in contrast to that typically seen in a ground state p-wave magnetic Feshbach resonance. We calculate the excited molecular bound-state spectrum using a multichannel integration of the Schr\"{o}dinger equation, including an external perturbation by a magnetic field. From the multichannel wave functions, we calculate the Feshbach resonance properties, including the modification of the elastic p-wave scattering volume and inelastic spontaneous scattering rate. The use of magnetic fields and selection rules for polarized light yields a highly controllable system. We apply this control to propose a toy model for three-color superfluidity in an optical lattice for spin-polarized Yb-171, where the three colors correspond to the three spatial orbitals of the first excited p-band. We calculate the conditions under which tunneling and on-site interactions are comparable, at which point quantum critical behavior is possible.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure

Sideband cooling while preserving coherences in the nuclear spin state in group-II-like atoms

We propose a method for laser cooling group-II-like atoms without changing the quantum state of their nuclear spins, thus preserving coherences that are usually destroyed by optical pumping. As group-II-like atoms have a $^1S_0$ closed-shell ground state, nuclear spin and electronic degrees of freedom are decoupled, allowing for independent manipulation. The hyperfine interaction that couples these degrees of freedom in excited states can be suppressed through the application of external magnetic fields. Our protocol employs resolved-sideband cooling on the forbidden clock transition, $^1S_0 \to {}^3P_0$, with quenching via coupling to the rapidly decaying $^1P_1$ state, deep in the Paschen-Back regime. This makes it possible to laser cool neutral atomic qubits without destroying the quantum information stored in their nuclear spins, as shown in two examples, $^{171}$Yb and $^{87}$Sr.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures v4: minor changes in text, changes in the references, published versio

Noise and Correlations in a Spatial Population Model with Cyclic Competition

Noise and spatial degrees of freedom characterize most ecosystems. Some aspects of their influence on the coevolution of populations with cyclic interspecies competition have been demonstrated in recent experiments [e.g. B. Kerr et al., Nature {\bf 418}, 171 (2002)]. To reach a better theoretical understanding of these phenomena, we consider a paradigmatic spatial model where three species exhibit cyclic dominance. Using an individual-based description, as well as stochastic partial differential and deterministic reaction-diffusion equations, we account for stochastic fluctuations and spatial diffusion at different levels, and show how fascinating patterns of entangled spirals emerge. We rationalize our analysis by computing the spatio-temporal correlation functions and provide analytical expressions for the front velocity and the wavelength of the propagating spiral waves.Comment: 4 pages of main text, 3 color figures + 2 pages of supplementary material (EPAPS Document). Final version for Physical Review Letter

Effects and Propositions

The quantum logical and quantum information-theoretic traditions have exerted an especially powerful influence on Bub's thinking about the conceptual foundations of quantum mechanics. This paper discusses both the quantum logical and information-theoretic traditions from the point of view of their representational frameworks. I argue that it is at this level, at the level of its framework, that the quantum logical tradition has retained its centrality to Bub's thought. It is further argued that there is implicit in the quantum information-theoretic tradition a set of ideas that mark a genuinely new alternative to the framework of quantum logic. These ideas are of considerable interest for the philosophy of quantum mechanics, a claim which I defend with an extended discussion of their application to our understanding of the philosophical significance of the no hidden variable theorem of Kochen and Specker.Comment: Presented to the 2007 conference, New Directions in the Foundations of Physic

A model for bidirectional traffic of cytoskeletal motors

We introduce a stochastic lattice gas model including two particle species and two parallel lanes. One lane with exclusion interaction and directed motion and the other lane without exclusion and unbiased diffusion, mimicking a micotubule filament and the surrounding solution. For a high binding affinity to the filament, jam-like situations dominate the system's behaviour. The fundamental process of position exchange of two particles is approximated. In the case of a many-particle system, we were able to identify a regime in which the system is rather homogenous presenting only small accumulations of particles and a regime in which an important fraction of all particles accumulates in the same cluster. Numerical data proposes that this cluster formation will occur at all densities for large system sizes. Coupling of several filaments leads to an enhanced cluster formation compared to the uncoupled system, suggesting that efficient bidirectional transport on one-dimensional filaments relies on long-ranged interactions and track formation.Comment: 20 pages, 9 figure

On the entropy production of time series with unidirectional linearity

There are non-Gaussian time series that admit a causal linear autoregressive moving average (ARMA) model when regressing the future on the past, but not when regressing the past on the future. The reason is that, in the latter case, the regression residuals are only uncorrelated but not statistically independent of the future. In previous work, we have experimentally verified that many empirical time series indeed show such a time inversion asymmetry. For various physical systems, it is known that time-inversion asymmetries are linked to the thermodynamic entropy production in non-equilibrium states. Here we show that such a link also exists for the above unidirectional linearity. We study the dynamical evolution of a physical toy system with linear coupling to an infinite environment and show that the linearity of the dynamics is inherited to the forward-time conditional probabilities, but not to the backward-time conditionals. The reason for this asymmetry between past and future is that the environment permanently provides particles that are in a product state before they interact with the system, but show statistical dependencies afterwards. From a coarse-grained perspective, the interaction thus generates entropy. We quantitatively relate the strength of the non-linearity of the backward conditionals to the minimal amount of entropy generation.Comment: 16 page

Dynamics at barriers in bidirectional two-lane exclusion processes

A two-lane exclusion process is studied where particles move in the two lanes in opposite directions and are able to change lanes. The focus is on the steady state behavior in situations where a positive current is constrained to an extended subsystem (either by appropriate boundary conditions or by the embedding environment) where, in the absence of the constraint, the current would be negative. We have found two qualitatively different types of steady states and formulated the conditions of them in terms of the transition rates. In the first type of steady state, a localized cluster of particles forms with an anti-shock located in the subsystem and the current vanishes exponentially with the extension of the subsystem. This behavior is analogous to that of the one-lane partially asymmetric simple exclusion process, and can be realized e.g. when the local drive is induced by making the jump rates in two lanes unequal. In the second type of steady state, which is realized e.g. if the local drive is induced purely by the bias in the lane change rates, and which has thus no counterpart in the one-lane model, a delocalized cluster of particles forms which performs a diffusive motion as a whole and, as a consequence, the current vanishes inversely proportionally to the extension of the subsystem. The model is also studied in the presence of quenched disordered, where, in case of delocalization, phenomenological considerations predict anomalously slow, logarithmic decay of the current with the system size in contrast with the usual power-law.Comment: 24 pages, 13 figure

Parallel Coupling of Symmetric and Asymmetric Exclusion Processes

A system consisting of two parallel coupled channels where particles in one of them follow the rules of totally asymmetric exclusion processes (TASEP) and in another one move as in symmetric simple exclusion processes (SSEP) is investigated theoretically. Particles interact with each other via hard-core exclusion potential, and in the asymmetric channel they can only hop in one direction, while on the symmetric lattice particles jump in both directions with equal probabilities. Inter-channel transitions are also allowed at every site of both lattices. Stationary state properties of the system are solved exactly in the limit of strong couplings between the channels. It is shown that strong symmetric couplings between totally asymmetric and symmetric channels lead to an effective partially asymmetric simple exclusion process (PASEP) and properties of both channels become almost identical. However, strong asymmetric couplings between symmetric and asymmetric channels yield an effective TASEP with nonzero particle flux in the asymmetric channel and zero flux on the symmetric lattice. For intermediate strength of couplings between the lattices a vertical cluster mean-field method is developed. This approximate approach treats exactly particle dynamics during the vertical transitions between the channels and it neglects the correlations along the channels. Our calculations show that in all cases there are three stationary phases defined by particle dynamics at entrances, at exits or in the bulk of the system, while phase boundaries depend on the strength and symmetry of couplings between the channels. Extensive Monte Carlo computer simulations strongly support our theoretical predictions.Comment: 16 page

Influence of local carrying capacity restrictions on stochastic predator-prey models

We study a stochastic lattice predator-prey system by means of Monte Carlo simulations that do not impose any restrictions on the number of particles per site, and discuss the similarities and differences of our results with those obtained for site-restricted model variants. In accord with the classic Lotka-Volterra mean-field description, both species always coexist in two dimensions. Yet competing activity fronts generate complex, correlated spatio-temporal structures. As a consequence, finite systems display transient erratic population oscillations with characteristic frequencies that are renormalized by fluctuations. For large reaction rates, when the processes are rendered more local, these oscillations are suppressed. In contrast with site-restricted predator-prey model, we observe species coexistence also in one dimension. In addition, we report results on the steady-state prey age distribution.Comment: Latex, IOP style, 17 pages, 9 figures included, related movies available at http://www.phys.vt.edu/~tauber/PredatorPrey/movies

Spontaneous symmetry breaking in a two-lane model for bidirectional overtaking traffic

First we consider a unidirectional flux \omega_bar of vehicles each of which is characterized by its `natural' velocity v drawn from a distribution P(v). The traffic flow is modeled as a collection of straight `world lines' in the time-space plane, with overtaking events represented by a fixed queuing time tau imposed on the overtaking vehicle. This geometrical model exhibits platoon formation and allows, among many other things, for the calculation of the effective average velocity w=\phi(v) of a vehicle of natural velocity v. Secondly, we extend the model to two opposite lanes, A and B. We argue that the queuing time \tau in one lane is determined by the traffic density in the opposite lane. On the basis of reasonable additional assumptions we establish a set of equations that couple the two lanes and can be solved numerically. It appears that above a critical value \omega_bar_c of the control parameter \omega_bar the symmetry between the lanes is spontaneously broken: there is a slow lane where long platoons form behind the slowest vehicles, and a fast lane where overtaking is easy due to the wide spacing between the platoons in the opposite direction. A variant of the model is studied in which the spatial vehicle density \rho_bar rather than the flux \omega_bar is the control parameter. Unequal fluxes \omega_bar_A and \omega_bar_B in the two lanes are also considered. The symmetry breaking phenomenon exhibited by this model, even though no doubt hard to observe in pure form in real-life traffic, nevertheless indicates a tendency of such traffic.Comment: 50 pages, 16 figures; extra references adde