206 research outputs found
Religious Values, Practices and Pregnancy Outcomes: A Comparison of the Impact of Sect and Mainstream Christian Affiliation
In this report 6566 women enrolled in the Mater-University of Queensland Study of Pregnancy (MUSP) were separated into three groups; members of religious sects, Christians who attend church frequently and Christians who are infrequent attenders. These three groups, respectively labelled Christian sects, Christian attenders and lukewarm Christians were compared on a number of social background, lifestyle and pregnancy outcome variables. The sect members appeared to have the most favourable health, lifestyles and healthy babies at delivery, though this latter finding appears attributable to specific characteristics of the mother and her lifestyle. On most measures the children of lukewarm Christians appear to manifest the worst health while Christian attenders form a group whose children's health is between that of sect members and lukewarm Christians
Macroscopic resonant tunneling of magnetic flux
We have developed a quantitative theory of resonant tunneling of magnetic
flux between discrete macroscopically distinct quantum states in SQUID systems.
The theory is based on the standard density-matrix approach. Its new elements
include the discussion of the two different relaxation mechanisms that exist
for the double-well potential, and description of the ``photon-assisted''
tunneling driven by external rf radiation. It is shown that in the case of
coherent flux dynamics, rf radiation should lead to splitting of the peaks of
resonant flux tunneling, indicating that the resonant tunneling is a convenient
tool for studying macroscopic quantum coherence of flux.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figure
Decoherence in rf SQUID Qubits
We report measurements of coherence times of an rf SQUID qubit using pulsed
microwaves and rapid flux pulses. The modified rf SQUID, described by an
double-well potential, has independent, in situ, controls for the tilt and
barrier height of the potential. The decay of coherent oscillations is
dominated by the lifetime of the excited state and low frequency flux noise and
is consistent with independent measurement of these quantities obtained by
microwave spectroscopy, resonant tunneling between fluxoid wells and decay of
the excited state. The oscillation's waveform is compared to analytical results
obtained for finite decay rates and detuning and averaged over low frequency
flux noise.Comment: 24 pages, 13 figures, submitted to the journal Quantum Information
Processin
Adiabatic evolution of a coupled-qubit Hamiltonian
We present a general method for studying coupled qubits driven by
adiabatically changing external parameters. Extended calculations are provided
for a two-bit Hamiltonian whose eigenstates can be used as logical states for a
quantum CNOT gate. From a numerical analysis of the stationary Schroedinger
equation we find a set of parameters suitable for representing CNOT, while from
a time-dependent study the conditions for adiabatic evolution are determined.
Specializing to a concrete physical system involving SQUIDs, we determine
reasonable parameters for experimental purposes. The dissipation for SQUIDs is
discussed by fitting experimental data. The low dissipation obtained supports
the idea that adiabatic operations could be performed on a time scale shorter
than the decoherence time.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, to be pub.in Phys Rev
Quantum superpositions of clockwise and counterclockwise supercurrent states in the dynamics of a rf-SQUID exposed to a quantized electromagnetic field
The dynamical behavior of a superconducting quantum interference device (a
rf-SQUID) irradiated by a single mode quantized electromagnetic field is
theoretically investigated. Treating the SQUID as a flux qubit, we analyze the
dynamics of the combined system within the low lying energy Hilbert subspace
both in the asymmetric and in the symmetric SQUID potential configurations. We
show that the temporal evolution of the system is dominated by an oscillatory
behavior characterized by more than one, generally speaking, incommensurable
Rabi frequencies whose expressions are explicitly given. We find that the
external parameters may fixed in such a way to realize a control on the
dynamical replay of the total system which, for instance, may be forced to
exhibit a periodic evolution accompanied by the occurrence of an oscillatory
disappearance of entanglement between the two subsystems. We demonstrate the
possibility of generating quantum maximally entangled superpositions of the two
macroscopically distinguishable states describing clockwise and
counterclockwise supercurrents in the loop. The experimental feasibility of our
proposal is briefly discussed.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures, submitted to PR
A Quantum-mechanical Approach for Constrained Macromolecular Chains
Many approaches to three-dimensional constrained macromolecular chains at
thermal equilibrium, at about room temperatures, are based upon constrained
Classical Hamiltonian Dynamics (cCHDa). Quantum-mechanical approaches (QMa)
have also been treated by different researchers for decades. QMa address a
fundamental issue (constraints versus the uncertainty principle) and are
versatile: they also yield classical descriptions (which may not coincide with
those from cCHDa, although they may agree for certain relevant quantities).
Open issues include whether QMa have enough practical consequences which differ
from and/or improve those from cCHDa. We shall treat cCHDa briefly and deal
with QMa, by outlining old approaches and focusing on recent ones.Comment: Expands review published in The European Physical Journal (Special
Topics) Vol. 200, pp. 225-258 (2011
Low Q^2 Jet Production at HERA and Virtual Photon Structure
The transition between photoproduction and deep-inelastic scattering is
investigated in jet production at the HERA ep collider, using data collected by
the H1 experiment. Measurements of the differential inclusive jet
cross-sections dsigep/dEt* and dsigmep/deta*, where Et* and eta* are the
transverse energy and the pseudorapidity of the jets in the virtual
photon-proton centre of mass frame, are presented for 0 < Q2 < 49 GeV2 and 0.3
< y < 0.6. The interpretation of the results in terms of the structure of the
virtual photon is discussed. The data are best described by QCD calculations
which include a partonic structure of the virtual photon that evolves with Q2.Comment: 20 pages, 5 Figure
Hadron Production in Diffractive Deep-Inelastic Scattering
Characteristics of hadron production in diffractive deep-inelastic
positron-proton scattering are studied using data collected in 1994 by the H1
experiment at HERA. The following distributions are measured in the
centre-of-mass frame of the photon dissociation system: the hadronic energy
flow, the Feynman-x (x_F) variable for charged particles, the squared
transverse momentum of charged particles (p_T^{*2}), and the mean p_T^{*2} as a
function of x_F. These distributions are compared with results in the gamma^* p
centre-of-mass frame from inclusive deep-inelastic scattering in the
fixed-target experiment EMC, and also with the predictions of several Monte
Carlo calculations. The data are consistent with a picture in which the
partonic structure of the diffractive exchange is dominated at low Q^2 by hard
gluons.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Phys. Lett.
Energy Flow in the Hadronic Final State of Diffractive and Non-Diffractive Deep-Inelastic Scattering at HERA
An investigation of the hadronic final state in diffractive and
non--diffractive deep--inelastic electron--proton scattering at HERA is
presented, where diffractive data are selected experimentally by demanding a
large gap in pseudo --rapidity around the proton remnant direction. The
transverse energy flow in the hadronic final state is evaluated using a set of
estimators which quantify topological properties. Using available Monte Carlo
QCD calculations, it is demonstrated that the final state in diffractive DIS
exhibits the features expected if the interaction is interpreted as the
scattering of an electron off a current quark with associated effects of
perturbative QCD. A model in which deep--inelastic diffraction is taken to be
the exchange of a pomeron with partonic structure is found to reproduce the
measurements well. Models for deep--inelastic scattering, in which a
sizeable diffractive contribution is present because of non--perturbative
effects in the production of the hadronic final state, reproduce the general
tendencies of the data but in all give a worse description.Comment: 22 pages, latex, 6 Figures appended as uuencoded fil
A Search for Selectrons and Squarks at HERA
Data from electron-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 300 GeV
are used for a search for selectrons and squarks within the framework of the
minimal supersymmetric model. The decays of selectrons and squarks into the
lightest supersymmetric particle lead to final states with an electron and
hadrons accompanied by large missing energy and transverse momentum. No signal
is found and new bounds on the existence of these particles are derived. At 95%
confidence level the excluded region extends to 65 GeV for selectron and squark
masses, and to 40 GeV for the mass of the lightest supersymmetric particle.Comment: 13 pages, latex, 6 Figure
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