7,459 research outputs found
Double wells, scalar fields and quantum phase transitions in ions traps
Since Hund's work on the ammonia molecule, the double well potential has
formed a key paradigm in physics. Its importance is further underlined by the
central role it plays in the Landau theory of phase transitions. Recently, the
study of entanglement properties of many-body systems has added a new angle to
the study of quantum phase transitions of discrete and continuous degrees of
freedom, i.e., spin and harmonic chains. Here we show that control of the
radial degree of freedom of trapped ion chains allows for the simulation of
linear and non-linear Klein-Gordon fields on a lattice, in which the parameters
of the lattice, the non-linearity and mass can be controlled at will. The
system may be driven through a phase transition creating a double well
potential between different configurations of the ion crystal. The dynamics of
the system are controllable, local properties are measurable and tunnelling in
the double well potential would be observable.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure
Nonlinear thermal control in an N-terminal junction
We demonstrate control over heat flow in an N-terminal molecular junction.
Using simple model Hamiltonians we show that the heat current through two
terminals can be tuned, switched, and amplified, by the temperature and
coupling parameters of external gating reservoirs. We discuss two models: A
fully harmonic system, and a model incorporating anharmonic interactions. For
both models the control reservoirs induce thermal fluctuations of the
transition elements between molecular vibrational states. We find that a fully
harmonic model does not show any controllability, while for an anharmonic
system the conduction properties of the junction strongly depend on the
parameters of the gates. Realizations of the model system within nanodevices
and macromolecules are discussed
Novel designs for Penning ion traps
We present a number of alternative designs for Penning ion traps suitable for
quantum information processing (QIP) applications with atomic ions. The first
trap design is a simple array of long straight wires which allows easy optical
access. A prototype of this trap has been built to trap Ca+ and a simple
electronic detection scheme has been employed to demonstrate the operation of
the trap. Another trap design consists of a conducting plate with a hole in it
situated above a continuous conducting plane. The final trap design is based on
an array of pad electrodes. Although this trap design lacks the open geometry
of the traps described above, the pad design may prove useful in a hybrid
scheme in which information processing and qubit storage take place in
different types of trap. The behaviour of the pad traps is simulated
numerically and techniques for moving ions rapidly between traps are discussed.
Future experiments with these various designs are discussed. All of the designs
lend themselves to the construction of multiple trap arrays, as required for
scalable ion trap QIP.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figure
Laser cooling in the Penning trap: an analytical model for cooling rates in the presence of an axializing field
Ions stored in Penning traps may have useful applications in the field of
quantum information processing. There are, however, difficulties associated
with the laser cooling of one of the radial motions of ions in these traps,
namely the magnetron motion. The application of a small radio-frequency
quadrupolar electric potential resonant with the sum of the two radial motional
frequencies has been shown to couple these motions and to lead to more
efficient laser cooling. We present an analytical model that enables us to
determine laser cooling rates in the presence of such an 'axializing' field. It
is found that this field leads to an averaging of the laser cooling rates for
the two motions and hence improves the overall laser cooling efficiency. The
model also predicts shifts in the motional frequencies due to the axializing
field that are in qualitative agreement with those measured in recent
experiments. It is possible to determine laser cooling rates experimentally by
studying the phase response of the cooled ions to a near resonant excitation
field. Using the model developed in this paper, we study the expected phase
response when an axializing field is present.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figure
Location Is Everything: Evaluating the Effects of Terrestrial and Marine Resource Subsidies on an Estuarine Bivalve
Estuaries are amongst the world’s most productive ecosystems, lying at the intersection between terrestrial and marine environments. They receive substantial inputs from adjacent landscapes but the importance of resource subsidies is not well understood. Here, we test hypotheses for the effects of both terrestrial- and salmon-derived resource subsidies on the diet (inferred from stable isotopes of muscle tissue), size and percent nitrogen of the soft-shell clam (Mya arenaria), a sedentary estuarine consumer. We examine how these relationships shift across natural gradients among 14 estuaries that vary in upstream watershed size and salmon density on the central coast of British Columbia, Canada. We also test how assimilation and response to subsidies vary at smaller spatial scales within estuaries. The depletion and enrichment of stable isotope ratios in soft-shell clam muscle tissue correlated with increasing upstream watershed size and salmon density, respectively. The effects of terrestrial- and salmon-derived subsidies were also strongest at locations near stream outlets. When we controlled for age of individual clams, there were larger individuals with higher percent nitrogen content in estuaries below larger watersheds, though this effect was limited to the depositional zones below river mouths. Pink salmon exhibited a stronger effect on isotope ratios of clams than chum salmon, which could reflect increased habitat overlap as spawning pink salmon concentrate in lower stream reaches, closer to intertidal clam beds. However, there were smaller clams in estuaries that had higher upstream pink salmon densities, possibly due to differences in habitat requirements. Our study highlights the importance of upstream resource subsidies to this bivalve species, but that individual responses to subsidies can vary at smaller scales within estuaries
Doppler-free laser spectroscopy of buffer gas cooled molecular radicals
We demonstrate Doppler-free saturated absorption spectroscopy of cold
molecular radicals formed by laser ablation inside a cryogenic buffer gas cell.
By lowering the temperature, congested regions of the spectrum can be
simplified, and by using different temperatures for different regions of the
spectrum a wide range of rotational states can be studied optimally. We use the
technique to study the optical spectrum of YbF radicals with a resolution of 30
MHz, measuring the magnetic hyperfine parameters of the electronic ground
state. The method is suitable for high resolution spectroscopy of a great
variety of molecules at controlled temperature and pressure, and is
particularly well-suited to those that are difficult to produce in the gas
phase.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure
Operations on integral lifts of K(n)
This very rough sketch is a sequel to arXiv:1808.08587; it presents evidence
that operations on lifts of the functors K(n) to cohomology theories with
values in modules over valuation rings of local number fields, indexed by
Lubin-Tate groups of such fields, are extensions of the groups of automorphisms
of the indexing group laws, by the exterior algebras on the normal bundle to
the orbits of the group laws in the space of lifts.Comment: \S 2.0 hopefully less cryptic. To appear in the proceedings of the
2015 Nagoya conference honoring T Ohkawa. Comments very welcome
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