GHZGHZ state generation of three Josephson qubits in presence of bosonic baths

We analyze an entangling protocol to generate tripartite Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states in a system consisting of three superconducting qubits with pairwise coupling. The dynamics of the open quantum system is investigated by taking into account the interaction of each qubit with an independent bosonic bath with an ohmic spectral structure. To this end a microscopic master equation is constructed and exactly solved. We find that the protocol here discussed is stable against decoherence and dissipation due to the presence of the external baths.Comment: 16 pages and 4 figure

Dissipation and entanglement dynamics for two interacting qubits coupled to independent reservoirs

We derive the master equation of a system of two coupled qubits by taking into account their interaction with two independent bosonic baths. Important features of the dynamics are brought to light, such as the structure of the stationary state at general temperatures and the behaviour of the entanglement at zero temperature, showing the phenomena of sudden death and sudden birth as well as the presence of stationary entanglement for long times. The model here presented is quite versatile and can be of interest in the study of both Josephson junction architectures and cavity-QED.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretica

Population trapping due to cavity losses

In population trapping the occupation of a decaying quantum level keeps a constant non-zero value. We show that an atom-cavity system interacting with an environment characterized by a non-flat spectrum, in the non-Markovian limit, exhibits such a behavior, effectively realizing the preservation of nonclassical states against dissipation. Our results allow to understand the role of cavity losses in hybrid solid state systems and pave the way to the proper description of leakage in the recently developed cavity quantum electrodynamic systems.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, version accepted for publication on Phys. Rev.

Evaluation of configurational entropy of a model liquid from computer simulations

Computer simulations have been employed in recent years to evaluate the configurational entropy changes in model glass-forming liquids. We consider two methods, both of which involve the calculation of the `intra-basin' entropy as a means for obtaining the configurational entropy. The first method involves the evaluation of the intra-basin entropy from the vibrational frequencies of inherent structures, by making a harmonic approximation of the local potential energy topography. The second method employs simulations that confine the liquid within a localized region of configuration space by the imposition of constraints; apart from the choice of the constraints, no further assumptions are made. We compare the configurational entropies estimated for a model liquid (binary mixture of particles interacting {\it via} the Lennard-Jones potential) for a range of temperatures, at fixed density.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, Proceedings of "Unifying Concepts in Glass Physics" Trieste 1999 (to appear in J. Phys. Cond. Mat.

Surfaces in R4 with constant principal angles with respect to a plane

We study surfaces in R4 whose tangent spaces have constant principal angles with respect to a plane. Using a PDE we prove the existence of surfaces with arbitrary constant principal angles. The existence of such surfaces turns out to be equivalent to the existence of a special local symplectomorphism of $\R^2$. We classify all surfaces with one principal angle equal to $0$ and observe that they can be constructed as the union of normal holonomy tubes. We also classify the complete constant angles surfaces in R4 with respect to a plane. They turn out to be extrinsic products. We characterize which surfaces with constant principal angles are compositions in the sense of Dajczer-Do Carmo. Finally, we classify surfaces with constant principal angles contained in a sphere and those with parallel mean curvature vector fiel

Brownian Dynamics Simulation of Polydisperse Hard Spheres

Standard algorithms for the numerical integration of the Langevin equation require that interactions are slowly varying during to the integration timestep. This in not the case for hard-body systems, where there is no clearcut between the correlation time of the noise and the timescale of the interactions. Starting from a short time approximation of the Smoluchowsky equation, we introduce an algorithm for the simulation of the overdamped Brownian dynamics of polydisperse hard-spheres in absence of hydrodynamics interactions and briefly discuss the extension to the case of external drifts

Entanglement Dynamics of Two Independent Cavity-Embedded Quantum Dots

We investigate the dynamical behavior of entanglement in a system made by two solid-state emitters, as two quantum dots, embedded in two separated micro-cavities. In these solid-state systems, in addition to the coupling with the cavity mode, the emitter is coupled to a continuum of leaky modes providing additional losses and it is also subject to a phonon-induced pure dephasing mechanism. We model this physical configuration as a multipartite system composed by two independent parts each containing a qubit embedded in a single-mode cavity, exposed to cavity losses, spontaneous emission and pure dephasing. We study the time evolution of entanglement of this multipartite open system finally applying this theoretical framework to the case of currently available solid-state quantum dots in micro-cavities.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Topical Issue of Physica Scripta on proceedings of CEWQO 201

Efficiency of informational transfer in regular and complex networks

We analyze the process of informational exchange through complex networks by measuring network efficiencies. Aiming to study non-clustered systems, we propose a modification of this measure on the local level. We apply this method to an extension of the class of small-worlds that includes {\it declustered} networks, and show that they are locally quite efficient, although their clustering coefficient is practically zero. Unweighted systems with small-world and scale-free topologies are shown to be both globally and locally efficient. Our method is also applied to characterize weighted networks. In particular we examine the properties of underground transportation systems of Madrid and Barcelona and reinterpret the results obtained for the Boston subway network.Comment: 10 pages and 9 figure

Phylogenetic analysis of human rhinovirus isolates collected from otherwise healthy children with community-acquired pneumonia during five successive years

In order to evaluate the circulation of the different human rhinovirus (HRV) species and genotypes in Italian children with radiographically confirmed community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), a nasopharyngeal swab was obtained from 643 children admitted to hospital because of CAP during five consecutive winter and early spring seasons (2007-2012). Real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to identify HRV, and the HRV-positive samples were used for sequencing analysis and to reconstruct the phylogenetic tree. HRV was identified in 198 samples (42.2%), and the VP4/VP2 region was successfully amplified in 151 (76.3%). HRV-A was identified in 78 samples (51.6%), HRV-B in 14 (9.3%) and HRV-C in 59 (39.1%). Forty-seven (31.1%) of the children with HRV infection were aged <1 year, 71 (47.0%) were aged 1-3 years, and 33 (21.9%) were aged 654 years. Blast and phylogenetic analyses showed that the HRV strains were closely related to a total of 66 reference genotypes, corresponding to 29 HRV-A, 9 HRV-B and 28 HRV-C strains. Nucleotide variability was 37% between HRV-A and HRV-B, 37.3% between HRV-A and HRV-C, and 39.9% between HRV-B and HRV-C. A number of sequences clustered with known serotypes and, within these clusters, there were strains circulating during several seasons. The most frequently detected genotypes were HRV-A78 (n=17), HRV-A12 (n=9) and HRV-C2 (n=5). This study shows that, although it is mainly associated with HRV-A, pediatric CAP can also be diagnosed in subjects infected by HRV-C and, more rarely, by HRV-B. Moreover, a large number of genotypes may be involved in causing pediatric CAP and can be different from year to year. Although the prolonged circulation of the same genotypes can sometimes be associated with a number of CAP episodes in different years