Large-Scale Schr\"odinger-Cat States and Majorana Bound States in Coupled Circuit-QED Systems

We have studied the low-lying excitations of a chain of coupled circuit-QED systems, and report several intriguing properties of its two nearly degenerate ground states. The ground states are Schr\"odinger cat states at a truly large scale, involving maximal entanglement between the resonator and the qubit, and are mathematically equivalent to Majorana bound states. With a suitable design of physical qubits, they are protected against local fluctuations and constitute a non-local qubit. Further, they can be probed and manipulated coherently by attaching an empty resonator to one end of the circuit-QED chain.Comment: 5 pages; 2 figures; incorrect references corrected; typos correcte

Non-Relativistic Superstring Theories

We construct a supersymmetric version of the ``critical'' non-relativistic bosonic string theory\cite{Kim:2007hb} with its manifest global symmetry. We introduce the anticommuting $bc$ CFT which is the super partner of the $\beta\gamma$ CFT. The conformal weights of the $b$ and $c$ fields are both 1/2. The action of the fermionic sector can be transformed into that of the relativistic superstring theory. We explicitly quantize the theory with manifest SO(8) symmetry and find that the spectrum is similar to that of Type IIB superstring theory. There is one notable difference: the fermions are non-chiral. We further consider ``noncritical'' generalizations of the supersymmetric theory using the superspace formulation. There is an infinite range of possible string theories similar to the supercritical string theories. We comment on the connection between the critical non-relativistic string theory and the lightlike Linear Dilaton theory.Comment: Typos corrected, references added. A version to appear in Phys. Rev.

QED corrections to isospin-related decay rates of charged and neutral B mesons

We estimate the isospin-violating QED radiative corrections to the charged-to-neutral ratios of the decay rates for B^+ and B^0 in non-leptonic B meson decays. In particular, these corrections are potentially important for precision measurement of the charged-to-neutral production ratio of B meson in e^+e^- annihilation. We calculate explicitly the QED corrections to the ratios of two different types of decay rates \Gamma(B^+ \to J/\psi K^+)/\Gamma(B^0 \to J/\psi K^0) and \Gamma(B^+ \to D^+_S \bar{D^0})/\Gamma(B^0 \to D^+_S D^-) taking into account the form factors of the mesons based on the vector meson dominance model, and compare them with the results obtained for the point-like mesons.Comment: 7 pages, 9 eps figure

Shot Noise and Full Counting Statistics from Non-equilibrium Plasmons in Luttinger-Liquid Junctions

We consider a quantum wire double junction system with each wire segment described by a spinless Luttinger model, and study theoretically shot noise in this system in the sequential tunneling regime. We find that the non-equilibrium plasmonic excitations in the central wire segment give rise to qualitatively different behavior compared to the case with equilibrium plasmons. In particular, shot noise is greatly enhanced by them, and exceeds the Poisson limit. We show that the enhancement can be explained by the emergence of several current-carrying processes, and that the effect disappears if the channels effectively collapse to one due to, {\em e.g.}, fast plasmon relaxation processes.Comment: 9 pages; IOP Journal style; several changes in the tex

Decoherence Driven Quantum Transport

We propose a new mechanism to generate a dc current of particles at zero bias based on a noble interplay between coherence and decoherence. We show that a dc current arises if the transport process in one direction is maintained coherent while the process in the opposite direction is incoherent. We provide possible implementations of the idea using an atomic Michelson and an atomic Aharonov-Bohm interferometer.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Cosmic holographic bounds with UV and IR cutoffs

We introduce the cosmic holographic bounds with two UV and IR cutoff scales, to deal with both the inflationary universe in the past and dark energy in the future. To describe quantum fluctuations of inflation on sub-horizon scales, we use the Bekenstein-Hawking energy bound. However, it is not justified that the D-bound is satisfied with the coarse-grained entropy. The Hubble bounds are introduced for classical fluctuations of inflation on super-horizon scales. It turns out that the Hubble entropy bound is satisfied with the entanglement entropy and the Hubble temperature bound leads to a condition for the slow-roll inflation. In order to describe the dark energy, we introduce the holographic energy density which is the one saturating the Bekenstein-Hawking energy bound for a weakly gravitating system. Here the UV (IR) cutoff is given by the Planck scale (future event horizon), respectively. As a result, we find the close connection between quantum and classical fluctuations of inflation, and dark energy.Comment: 15page

The Globular Cluster System of M60 (NGC 4649). I. CFHT MOS Spectroscopy and Database

We present the measurement of radial velocities for globular clusters in M60, giant elliptical galaxy in the Virgo cluster. Target globular cluster candidates were selected using the Washington photometry based on the deep 16\arcmin \times 16\arcmin images taken at the KPNO 4m and using the $VI$ photometry derived from the HST/WFPC2 archive images. The spectra of the target objects were obtained using the Multi-Object Spectrograph (MOS) at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT). We have measured the radial velocity for 111 objects in the field of M60: 93 globular clusters (72 blue globular clusters with $1.0\le(C-T_1)<1.7$ and 21 red globular clusters with $1.7\le(C-T_1)<2.4$), 11 foreground stars, 6 small galaxies, and the nucleus of M60. The measured velocities of the 93 globular clusters range from $\sim 500$ km s$^{-1}$ to $\sim 1600$ km s$^{-1}$, with a mean value of $1070_{-25}^{+27}$ km s$^{-1}$, which is in good agreement with the velocity of the nucleus of M60 ($v_{\rm gal}=1056$ km s$^{-1}$). Combining our results with data in the literature, we present a master catalog of radial velocities for 121 globular clusters in M60. The velocity dispersion of the globular clusters in the master catalog is found to be $234_{-14}^{+13}$ km s$^{-1}$ for the entire sample, $223_{-16}^{+13}$ km s$^{-1}$ for 83 blue globular clusters, and $258_{-31}^{+21}$ km s$^{-1}$ for 38 red globular clusters.Comment: 29 pages, 8 figures. To appear in Ap

A New Microsensor System for Plant Root Zone Monitoring

The objective of this work is to develop a new microsensor system that can monitor dissolved oxygen and hydration environment at the plant root zone. A miniaturized plant growth system is prepared including the root zone layer, either a porous ceramic tube or porous ceramic wafer on which the plant is grown, and an underlying fluidic channel to deliver nutrients and water to the root zone. We demonstrate the feasibility of using a flexible microsensor array for dissolved oxygen detection, and a four-electrode impedance microelectrode for wetness detection on the surface of a porous tube nutrient delivery system. The unique features of the microsensor array and microelectrodes include small size, simple structure, mechanical flexibility and multipoint sensing. The new plant root microsystem technology is anticipated being a novel tool for plant root physiology

Basis States for Relativistic, Dynamically-Entangled Particles

In several recent papers on entanglement in relativistic quantum systems and relativistic Bell's inequalities, relativistic Bell-type two-particle states have been constructed in analogy to non-relativistic states. These constructions do not have the form suggested by relativistic invariance of the dynamics. Two relativistic formulations of Bell-type states are shown for massive particles, one using the standard Wigner spin basis and one using the helicity basis. The construction hinges on the use of Clebsch-Gordan coefficients of the Poincar\'e group to reduce the direct product of two unitary irreducible representations (UIRs) into a direct sum of UIRs.Comment: 19 pages, three tables, revte