5,121 research outputs found
Optimal, reliable estimation of quantum states
Accurately inferring the state of a quantum device from the results of
measurements is a crucial task in building quantum information processing
hardware. The predominant state estimation procedure, maximum likelihood
estimation (MLE), generally reports an estimate with zero eigenvalues. These
cannot be justified. Furthermore, the MLE estimate is incompatible with error
bars, so conclusions drawn from it are suspect. I propose an alternative
procedure, Bayesian mean estimation (BME). BME never yields zero eigenvalues,
its eigenvalues provide a bound on their own uncertainties, and it is the most
accurate procedure possible. I show how to implement BME numerically, and how
to obtain natural error bars that are compatible with the estimate. Finally, I
briefly discuss the differences between Bayesian and frequentist estimation
techniques.Comment: RevTeX; 14 pages, 2 embedded figures. Comments enthusiastically
welcomed
Valence-Bond Crystal, and Lattice Distortions in a Pyrochlore Antiferromagnet with Orbital Degeneracy
We discuss the ground state properties of a spin 1/2 magnetic ion with
threefold orbital degeneracy on a highly frustrated pyrochlore
lattice, like Ti ion in B-spinel MgTiO. We formulate an
effective spin-orbital Hamiltonian and study its low energy sector by
constructing several exact-eigenstates in the limit of vanishing Hund's
coupling. We find that orbital degrees of freedom modulate the spin-exchange
energies, release the infinite spin-degeneracy of pyrochlore structure, and
drive the system to a non-magnetic spin-singlet manifold. The latter is a
collection of spin-singlet dimers and is, however, highly degenerate with
respect of dimer orientations. This ``orientational'' degeneracy is then lifted
by a magneto-elastic interaction that optimizes the previous energy gain by
distorting the bonds in suitable directions and leading to a tetragonal phase.
In this way a valence bond crystal state is formed, through the condensation of
dimers along helical chains running around the tetragonal c-axis, as actually
observed in MgTiO. The orbitally ordered pattern in the dimerized phase
is predicted to be of ferro-type along the helices and of antiferro-type
between them. Finally, through analytical considerations as well as numerical
ab-initio simulations, we predict a possible experimental tool for the
observation of such an orbital ordering, through resonant x-ray scattering.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figure
Quantum communication using a bounded-size quantum reference frame
Typical quantum communication schemes are such that to achieve perfect
decoding the receiver must share a reference frame with the sender. Indeed, if
the receiver only possesses a bounded-size quantum token of the sender's
reference frame, then the decoding is imperfect, and we can describe this
effect as a noisy quantum channel. We seek here to characterize the performance
of such schemes, or equivalently, to determine the effective decoherence
induced by having a bounded-size reference frame. We assume that the token is
prepared in a special state that has particularly nice group-theoretic
properties and that is near-optimal for transmitting information about the
sender's frame. We present a decoding operation, which can be proven to be
near-optimal in this case, and we demonstrate that there are two distinct ways
of implementing it (corresponding to two distinct Kraus decompositions). In
one, the receiver measures the orientation of the reference frame token and
reorients the system appropriately. In the other, the receiver extracts the
encoded information from the virtual subsystems that describe the relational
degrees of freedom of the system and token. Finally, we provide explicit
characterizations of these decoding schemes when the system is a single qubit
and for three standard kinds of reference frame: a phase reference, a Cartesian
frame (representing an orthogonal triad of spatial directions), and a reference
direction (representing a single spatial direction).Comment: 17 pages, 1 figure, comments welcome; v2 published versio
Construction and first performance studies of a CBM TRD prototype with alternating wires developed in Frankfurt
Silica reinforced natural rubber: synergistic effects by addition of small amounts of secondary fillers to silica-reinforced natural rubber tire tread compounds
Exponential speed-up with a single bit of quantum information: Testing the quantum butterfly effect
We present an efficient quantum algorithm to measure the average fidelity
decay of a quantum map under perturbation using a single bit of quantum
information. Our algorithm scales only as the complexity of the map under
investigation, so for those maps admitting an efficient gate decomposition, it
provides an exponential speed up over known classical procedures. Fidelity
decay is important in the study of complex dynamical systems, where it is
conjectured to be a signature of quantum chaos. Our result also illustrates the
role of chaos in the process of decoherence.Comment: 4 pages, 2 eps figure
Mechanism of resonant x-ray magnetic scattering in NiO
We study the resonant x-ray magnetic scattering (RXMS) around the K edge of
Ni in the antiferromagnet NiO, by treating the 4p states of Ni as a band and
the 3d states as localized states. We propose a mechanism that the 4p states
are coupled to the magnetic order through the intra-atomic Coulomb interaction
between the 4p and the 3d states and through the p-d mixing to the 3d states of
neighboring Ni atoms. These couplings induce the orbital moment in the 4p band,
and thereby give rise to the RXMS intensity at the K edge in the dipolar
process. It is found that the spin-orbit interaction in the 4p band has
negligibly small contribution to the RXMS intensity. The present model
reproduces well the experimental spectra. We also discuss the azimuthal angle
dependence of the intensity.Comment: 10 pages (revtex) and 7 postscript figure
A thermodynamically self-consistent theory for the Blume-Capel model
We use a self-consistent Ornstein-Zernike approximation to study the
Blume-Capel ferromagnet on three-dimensional lattices. The correlation
functions and the thermodynamics are obtained from the solution of two coupled
partial differential equations. The theory provides a comprehensive and
accurate description of the phase diagram in all regions, including the wing
boundaries in non-zero magnetic field. In particular, the coordinates of the
tricritical point are in very good agreement with the best estimates from
simulation or series expansion. Numerical and analytical analysis strongly
suggest that the theory predicts a universal Ising-like critical behavior along
the -line and the wing critical lines, and a tricritical behavior
governed by mean-field exponents.Comment: 11 figures. to appear in Physical Review
Verifying multi-partite mode entanglement of W states
We construct a method for verifying mode entanglement of N-mode W states. The
ideal W state contains exactly one excitation symmetrically shared between N
modes, but our method takes the existence of higher numbers of excitations into
account, as well as the vacuum state and other deviations from the ideal state.
Moreover, our method distinguishes between full N-party entanglement and states
with M-party entanglement with M<N, including mixtures of the latter. We
specialize to the case N=4 for illustrative purposes. In the optical case,
where excitations are photons, our method can be implemented using linear
optics.Comment: 11 pages, 12 figure
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