201 research outputs found
Critical assessment of two-qubit post-Markovian master equations
A post-Markovian master equation has been recently proposed as a tool to
describe the evolution of a system coupled to a memory-keeping environment [A.
Shabani and D. A. Lidar, Phys. Rev. A 71, 020101 (R) (2005)]. For a single
qubit affected by appropriately chosen environmental conditions, the
corresponding dynamics is always legitimate and physical. Here we extend such
situation to the case of two qubits, only one of which experiences the
environmental effects. We show how, despite the innocence of such an extension,
the introduction of the second qubit should be done cum grano salis to avoid
consequences such as the breaking of the positivity of the associated dynamical
map. This hints at the necessity of using care when adopting phenomenologically
derived models for evolutions occurring outside the Markovian framework.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, RevTeX4. Close to published versio
Non-perturbative treatment of open-system multi-time expectation values in Gaussian bosonic environments
We determine the conditions for the equivalence between the multi-time
expectation values of a general finite-dimensional open quantum system when
interacting with, respectively, an environment undergoing a free unitary
evolution or a discrete environment under a free evolution fixed by a proper
Gorini-Kossakowski-Lindblad-Sudarshan generator. We prove that the equivalence
holds if both environments are bosonic and Gaussian and if the one- and
two-time correlation functions of the corresponding interaction operators are
the same at all times. This result leads to a non-perturbative evaluation of
the multi-time expectation values of operators and maps of open quantum systems
interacting with a continuous set of bosonic modes by means of a limited number
of damped modes, thus setting the ground for the investigation of open-system
multi-time quantities in fully general regimes.Comment: 16 pages, 1 figure. Submission to a special issue of 'Open Systems
and Information Dynamics' devoted to the memory of Prof. Andrzej Kossakowsk
Unusual presentation of fatal disseminated varicella zoster virus infection in a patient with lupus nephritis: A case report
Background: The risk of life-threatening complications, such as visceral disseminated varicella zoster virus (VZV) infection, is greater in immunosuppressed individuals, such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients. Case presentation: Here, a case is reported of a Caucasian woman diagnosed with lupus nephritis and anti-phospholipid syndrome, who was subjected to mycophenolate mofetil and high-dose steroid remission-induction therapy. Two months later she developed abdominal pain followed by a fatal rapid multi-organ failure. As no typical skin rashes were evident, death was initially attributed to catastrophic anti-phospholipid syndrome. However, autopsy and virological examinations on archival material revealed a disseminated VZV infection. Conclusions: Overall, this case highlights the importance of having a high clinical suspicion of fatal VZV infections in heavily immunosuppressed SLE patients even when typical signs and symptoms are lacking
Detrimental Impact of Interferon-Based Regimens for Chronic Hepatitis C on Vitamin D/Parathyroid Hormone Homeostasis
Background: Both the anti-infective and anti-inflammatory properties of vitamin D, an essential hormone of calcium homeostasis, have ample support in the literature. The high rates of vitamin D deficiency among patients with chronic hepatitis C are also well known. That supplementation with vitamin D may boost sustained viral response rates in vitamin D deficient, hepatitis C virus (HCV) infected patients undergoing Interferon-alpha (IFN) treatment, on the other hand, is controversial. Surprisingly, studies considering in this latter setting what are the effects of IFN treatment (with or without vitamin D supplementation) on the other major regulator of mineral metabolism, i.e. the Parathyroid hormone (PTH), are lacking.
Aim: Evaluate the impact of interferon-based treatment against HCV (±cholecalciferol supplementation) on vitamin D and PTH
homeostasis.
Methods: A series of 40 consecutive patients received pegylated IFN plus ribavirin to treat chronic hepatitis C. At the discretion of their physician, some of them (N. = 27) received vitamin D supplementation while others did not (N. = 13). All had measured plasma 25-hydroxycholecalciferol and PTH concentrations at baseline, at completion of the 4th (TW4) and 12th treatment week (TW12) and at 24 weeks after the end of therapy (SVR24).
Results: Plasma PTH concentration increased significantly from baseline during treatment, raising to 44.8 [30.7-57.2] pg/mL at TW4 (p=0.01), 47.0 [37.1-63.2] pg/mL at TW12 (p=0.006) to return to baseline levels in the follow-up (34.5 [27.6-43.0]; p=0.16). The proportion of patients who satisfied criteria for hyperparathyroidism was higher at TW12 (N=10, 25%) than at TW4 (N=6, 15%). There was no statistical correlation between vitamin D and PTH blood levels (Ï=-0.07; p=0.65).
Conclusion: An increase in plasma PTH occurs systematically during IFN treatment of HCV patients and cannot be prevented by vitamin D supplementation
Collisional relaxation of Feshbach molecules and three-body recombination in 87Rb Bose-Einstein condensates
We predict the resonance enhanced magnetic field dependence of atom-dimer
relaxation and three-body recombination rates in a Rb Bose-Einstein
condensate (BEC) close to 1007 G. Our exact treatments of three-particle
scattering explicitly include the dependence of the interactions on the atomic
Zeeman levels. The Feshbach resonance distorts the entire diatomic energy
spectrum causing interferences in both loss phenomena. Our two independent
experiments confirm the predicted recombination loss over a range of rate
constants that spans four orders of magnitude.Comment: 4 pages, 3 eps figures (updated references
Experimental investigation of initial system-environment correlations via trace-distance evolution
The trace distance between two states of an open quantum system quantifies their distinguishability and, for a fixed environmental state, can increase above its initial value only in the presence of initial system-environment correlations. We provide experimental evidence of such a behavior. In our all-optical apparatus, we exploit spontaneous parametric down conversion as a source of polarization entangled states and a spatial light modulator to introduce in a general fashion correlations between the polarization and the momentum degrees of freedom, which act as environment
Controlling a magnetic Feshbach resonance with laser light
The capability to tune the strength of the elastic interparticle interaction
is crucial for many experiments with ultracold gases. Magnetic Feshbach
resonances are a tool widely used for this purpose, but future experiments
would benefit from additional flexibility such as spatial modulation of the
interaction strength on short length scales. Optical Feshbach resonances offer
this possibility in principle, but suffer from fast particle loss due to
light-induced inelastic collisions. Here we show that light near-resonant with
a molecular bound-to-bound transition can be used to shift the magnetic field
at which a magnetic Feshbach resonance occurs. This makes it possible to tune
the interaction strength with laser light and at the same time induce
considerably less loss than an optical Feshbach resonance would do
Local Detection of Quantum Correlations with a Single Trapped Ion
As one of the most striking features of quantum mechanics, quantum
correlations are at the heart of quantum information science. Detection of
correlations usually requires access to all the correlated subsystems. However,
in many realistic scenarios this is not feasible since only some of the
subsystems can be controlled and measured. Such cases can be treated as open
quantum systems interacting with an inaccessible environment. Initial
system-environment correlations play a fundamental role for the dynamics of
open quantum systems. Following a recent proposal, we exploit the impact of the
correlations on the open-system dynamics to detect system-environment quantum
correlations without accessing the environment. We use two degrees of freedom
of a trapped ion to model an open system and its environment. The present
method does not require any assumptions about the environment, the interaction
or the initial state and therefore provides a versatile tool for the study of
quantum systems.Comment: 6 Pages, 5 Figures + 6 Pages, 1 Figure of Supplementary Materia
Non-monotonic population and coherence evolution in Markovian open-system dynamics
We consider a simple microscopic model where the open-system dynamics of a
qubit, despite being Markovian, shows features which are typically associated
to the presence of memory effects. Namely, a non monotonic behavior both in the
population and in the coherence evolution arises due to the presence of
non-secular contributions, which break the phase covariance of the Lindbladian
(semigroup) dynamics. We also show by an explicit construction how such a
non-monotonic behaviour can be reproduced by a phase covariant evolution, but
only at the price of inserting some state-dependent memory effects.Comment: Submitted to the proceedings of the 684. WE-Heraeus-Seminar "Advances
in open systems and fundamental tests of quantum mechanics
Sleep-Disordered Breathing in Alcoholics
Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/66229/1/j.1530-0277.1999.tb04034.x.pd
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