Full abstraction for fair testing in CCS

In previous work with Pous, we defined a semantics for CCS which may both be viewed as an innocent presheaf semantics and as a concurrent game semantics. It is here proved that a behavioural equivalence induced by this semantics on CCS processes is fully abstract for fair testing equivalence. The proof relies on a new algebraic notion called playground, which represents the 'rule of the game'. From any playground, two languages, equipped with labelled transition systems, are derived, as well as a strong, functional bisimulation between them.Comment: 15 pages, to appear in CALCO '13. To appear Lecture notes in computer science (2013

Exact ground states of generalized Hubbard models

We present a simple method for the construction of exact ground states of generalized Hubbard models in arbitrary dimensions. This method is used to derive rigorous criteria for the stability of various ground state types, like the $\eta$-pairing state, or N\'eel and ferromagnetic states. Although the approach presented here is much simpler than the ones commonly used, it yields better bounds for the region of stability.Comment: Revtex, 8 page

Black Hole Thermodynamics and Lorentz Symmetry

Recent developments point to a breakdown in the generalized second law of thermodynamics for theories with Lorentz symmetry violation. It appears possible to construct a perpetual motion machine of the second kind in such theories, using a black hole to catalyze the conversion of heat to work. Here we describe and extend the arguments leading to that conclusion. We suggest the inference that local Lorentz symmetry may be an emergent property of the macroscopic world with origins in a microscopic second law of causal horizon thermodynamics.Comment: 4 pages; v2: Version to appear in Foundations of Physics. Potential counterexamples addressed, argument given applying to LV theories where all speeds (or horizons) coincide, and editing for clarit

Temperature and filling dependence of the superconducting π\pi-phase in the Penson-Kolb-Hubbard model

We investigate in the Hartree Fock approximation the temperature and filling dependence of the superconducting $\pi$-phase for the Penson-Kolb-Hubbard model. Due to the presence of the pair-hopping term, the phase survives for repulsive values of the on-site Coulomb interaction, exhibiting an interesting filling and temperature dependence. The structure of the self-consistent equations peculiar to the $\pi$-phase of the model allows to explicitly solve them for the chemical potential. The phase diagrams are shown and discussed in dimension 2 and 3. We also show that, when a next-nearest neighbours hopping term is included, the critical temperature of the superconducting region increases, and the corresponding range of filling values is shifted away from half-filling. Comparison with known exact results is also discussed.Comment: 20 pages, REVTEX, 8 eps figure

Physics and the measurement of continuous variables

Wigner had expressed the opinion that the impossibility of exact measurements of single operators like position operators rendered the notion of geometrical points somewhat dubious in physics. Using Sewell's recent resolution of the measurement problem (collapse of the wave packet) in quantum mechanics and extending it to the measurement of operators with continuous spectra, we are able to compare the situation in quantum mechanics with that in quantum mechanics. Our conclusion is that the notion of a geometrical point is as meaningful in quantum mechanics as it is in classical mechanics.Comment: 20 page

Quantum models of classical mechanics: maximum entropy packets

In a previous paper, a project of constructing quantum models of classical properties has been started. The present paper concludes the project by turning to classical mechanics. The quantum states that maximize entropy for given averages and variances of coordinates and momenta are called ME packets. They generalize the Gaussian wave packets. A non-trivial extension of the partition-function method of probability calculus to quantum mechanics is given. Non-commutativity of quantum variables limits its usefulness. Still, the general form of the state operators of ME packets is obtained with its help. The diagonal representation of the operators is found. A general way of calculating averages that can replace the partition function method is described. Classical mechanics is reinterpreted as a statistical theory. Classical trajectories are replaced by classical ME packets. Quantum states approximate classical ones if the product of the coordinate and momentum variances is much larger than Planck constant. Thus, ME packets with large variances follow their classical counterparts better than Gaussian wave packets.Comment: 26 pages, no figure. Introduction and the section on classical limit are extended, new references added. Definitive version accepted by Found. Phy

Towards a nonequilibrium thermodynamics: a self-contained macroscopic description of driven diffusive systems

In this paper we present a self-contained macroscopic description of diffusive systems interacting with boundary reservoirs and under the action of external fields. The approach is based on simple postulates which are suggested by a wide class of microscopic stochastic models where they are satisfied. The description however does not refer in any way to an underlying microscopic dynamics: the only input required are transport coefficients as functions of thermodynamic variables, which are experimentally accessible. The basic postulates are local equilibrium which allows a hydrodynamic description of the evolution, the Einstein relation among the transport coefficients, and a variational principle defining the out of equilibrium free energy. Associated to the variational principle there is a Hamilton-Jacobi equation satisfied by the free energy, very useful for concrete calculations. Correlations over a macroscopic scale are, in our scheme, a generic property of nonequilibrium states. Correlation functions of any order can be calculated from the free energy functional which is generically a non local functional of thermodynamic variables. Special attention is given to the notion of equilibrium state from the standpoint of nonequilibrium.Comment: 21 page

Bondi-Metzner-Sachs symmetry, holography on null-surfaces and area proportionality of "light-slice" entropy

It is shown that certain kinds of behavior, which hitherto were expected to be characteristic for classical gravity and quantum field theory in curved spacetime, as the infinite dimensional Bondi-Metzner-Sachs symmetry, holography on event horizons and an area proportionality of entropy, have in fact an unnoticed presence in Minkowski QFT. This casts new light on the fundamental question whether the volume propotionality of heat bath entropy and the (logarithmically corrected) dimensionless area law obeyed by localization-induced thermal behavior are different geometric parametrizations which share a common primordeal algebraic origin. Strong arguments are presented that these two different thermal manifestations can be directly related, this is in fact the main aim of this paper. It will be demonstrated that QFT beyond the Lagrangian quantization setting receives crucial new impulses from holography onto horizons. The present paper is part of a project aimed at elucidating the enormous physical range of "modular localization". The latter does not only extend from standard Hamitonian heat bath thermal states to thermal aspects of causal- or event- horizons addressed in this paper. It also includes the recent understanding of the crossing property of formfactors whose intriguing similarity with thermal properties was, although sometimes noticed, only sufficiently understood in the modular llocalization setting.Comment: 42 pages, changes, addition of new results and new references, in this form the paper will appear in Foundations of Physic

An Algebraic Spin and Statistics Theorem

A spin-statistics theorem and a PCT theorem are obtained in the context of the superselection sectors in Quantum Field Theory on a 4-dimensional space-time. Our main assumption is the requirement that the modular groups of the von Neumann algebras of local observables associated with wedge regions act geometrically as pure Lorentz transformations. Such a property, satisfied by the local algebras generated by Wightman fields because of the Bisognano-Wichmann theorem, is regarded as a natural primitive assumption.Comment: 15 pages, plain TeX, an error in the statement of a theorem has been corrected, to appear in Commun. Math. Phy