13,574 research outputs found
Quantum Nonlocality in Two-Photon Experiments at Berkeley
We review some of our experiments performed over the past few years on
two-photon interference. These include a test of Bell's inequalities, a study
of the complementarity principle, an application of EPR correlations for
dispersion-free time-measurements, and an experiment to demonstrate the
superluminal nature of the tunneling process. The nonlocal character of the
quantum world is brought out clearly by these experiments. As we explain,
however, quantum nonlocality is not inconsistent with Einstein causality.Comment: 16 pages including 24 figure
Flow induced ultrasound scattering: experimental studies
Sound scattering by a finite width beam on a single rigid body rotation
vortex flow is detected by a linear array of transducers (both smaller than a
flow cell), and analyzed using a revised scattering theory. Both the phase and
amplitude of the scattered signal are obtained on 64 elements of the detector
array and used for the analysis of velocity and vorticity fields. Due to
averaging on many pulses the signal-to-noise ratio of the phases difference in
the scattered sound signal can be amplified drastically, and the resolution of
the method in the detection of circulation, vortex radius, vorticity, and
vortex location becomes comparable with that obtained earlier by time-reversal
mirror (TRM) method (P. Roux, J. de Rosny, M. Tanter, and M. Fink, {\sl Phys.
Rev. Lett.} {\bf 79}, 3170 (1997)). The revised scattering theory includes two
crucial steps, which allow overcoming limitations of the existing theories.
First, the Huygens construction of a far field scattering signal is carried out
from a signal obtained at any intermediate plane. Second, a beam function that
describes a finite width beam is introduced, which allows using a theory
developed for an infinite width beam for the relation between a scattering
amplitude and the vorticity structure function. Structure functions of the
velocity and vorticity fields deduced from the sound scattering signal are
compared with those obtained from simultaneous particle image velocimetry (PIV)
measurements. Good quantitative agreement is found.Comment: 14 pages, 23 figures. accepted for publication in Phys. Fluids(June
issue
Quantum nonlocality obtained from local states by entanglement purification
We have applied an entanglement purification protocol to produce a single
entangled pair of photons capable of violating a CHSH Bell inequality from two
pairs that individually could not. The initial poorly-entangled photons were
created by a controllable decoherence that introduced complex errors. All of
the states were reconstructed using quantum state tomography which allowed for
a quantitative description of the improvement of the state after purification.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Phase Space Tomography of Classical and Nonclassical Vibrational States of Atoms in an Optical Lattice
Atoms trapped in optical lattice have long been a system of interest in the
AMO community, and in recent years much study has been devoted to both short-
and long-range coherence in this system, as well as to its possible
applications to quantum information processing. Here we demonstrate for the
first time complete determination of the quantum phase space distributions for
an ensemble of atoms in such a lattice, including a negative Wigner
function for atoms in an inverted state.Comment: Submitted to Journal of Optics B: Quantum and Semiclassical Optics.
Special issue in connection with the 9th International Conference on Squeezed
States and Uncertainty Relations, to be held in Besancon, France, on 2-6 May
200
Quasi-Particle Degrees of Freedom versus the Perfect Fluid as Descriptors of the Quark-Gluon Plasma
The hot nuclear matter created at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC)
has been characterized by near-perfect fluid behavior. We demonstrate that this
stands in contradiction to the identification of QCD quasi-particles with the
thermodynamic degrees of freedom in the early (fluid) stage of heavy ion
collisions. The empirical observation of constituent quark ``'' scaling of
elliptic flow is juxtaposed with the lack of such scaling behavior in
hydrodynamic fluid calculations followed by Cooper-Frye freeze-out to hadrons.
A ``quasi-particle transport'' time stage after viscous effects break down the
hydrodynamic fluid stage, but prior to hadronization, is proposed to reconcile
these apparent contradictions. However, without a detailed understanding of the
transitions between these stages, the ``'' scaling is not a necessary
consequence of this prescription. Also, if the duration of this stage is too
short, it may not support well defined quasi-particles. By comparing and
contrasting the coalescence of quarks into hadrons with the similar process of
producing light nuclei from nucleons, it is shown that the observation of
``'' scaling in the final state does not necessarily imply that the
constituent degrees of freedom were the relevant ones in the initial state.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, Updated text and figure
Correlation energy of an electron gas in strong magnetic fields at high densities
The high-density electron gas in a strong magnetic field B and at zero
temperature is investigated. The quantum strong-field limit is considered in
which only the lowest Landau level is occupied. It is shown that the
perturbation series of the ground-state energy can be represented in analogy to
the Gell-Mann Brueckner expression of the ground-state energy of the field-free
electron gas. The role of the expansion parameter is taken by r_B= (2/3 \pi^2)
(B/m^2) (\hbar r_s /e)^3 instead of the field-free Gell-Mann Brueckner
parameter r_s. The perturbation series is given exactly up to o(r_B) for the
case of a small filling factor for the lowest Landau level.Comment: 10 pages, Accepted for publication in Phys.Rev.
Conditional probabilities in quantum theory, and the tunneling time controversy
It is argued that there is a sensible way to define conditional probabilities
in quantum mechanics, assuming only Bayes's theorem and standard quantum
theory. These probabilities are equivalent to the ``weak measurement''
predictions due to Aharonov {\it et al.}, and hence describe the outcomes of
real measurements made on subensembles. In particular, this approach is used to
address the question of the history of a particle which has tunnelled across a
barrier. A {\it gedankenexperiment} is presented to demonstrate the physically
testable implications of the results of these calculations, along with graphs
of the time-evolution of the conditional probability distribution for a
tunneling particle and for one undergoing allowed transmission. Numerical
results are also presented for the effects of loss in a bandgap medium on
transmission and on reflection, as a function of the position of the lossy
region; such loss should provide a feasible, though indirect, test of the
present conclusions. It is argued that the effects of loss on the pulse {\it
delay time} are related to the imaginary value of the momentum of a tunneling
particle, and it is suggested that this might help explain a small discrepancy
in an earlier experiment.Comment: 11 pages, latex, 4 postscript figures separate (one w/ 3 parts
Hotter, Denser, Faster, Smaller...and Nearly-Perfect: What's the matter at RHIC?
The experimental and theoretical status of the ``near perfect fluid'' at RHIC
is discussed. While the hydrodynamic paradigm for understanding collisions at
RHIC is well-established, there remain many important open questions to address
in order to understand its relevance and scope. It is also a crucial issue to
understand how the early equilibration is achieved, requiring insight into the
active degrees of freedom at early times.Comment: 10 Pages, 13 Figures, submitted to the proceedings of the Second
Meeting of the APS Topical Group on Hadronic Physics, Nashville, TN, October
22-24, 200
Detecting Hidden Differences via Permutation Symmetries
We present a method for describing and characterizing the state of N
particles that may be distinguishable in principle but not in practice due to
experimental limitations. The technique relies upon a careful treatment of the
exchange symmetry of the state among experimentally accessible and
experimentally inaccessible degrees of freedom. The approach we present allows
a new formalisation of the notion of indistinguishability and can be
implemented easily using currently available experimental techniques. Our work
is of direct relevance to current experiments in quantum optics, for which we
provide a specific implementation.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figur
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