On quantum non-signalling boxes

A classical non-signalling (or causal) box is an operation on classical bipartite input with classical bipartite output such that no signal can be sent from a party to the other through the use of the box. The quantum counterpart of such boxes, i.e. completely positive trace-preserving maps on bipartite states, though studied in literature, have been investigated less intensively than classical boxes. We present here some results and remarks about such maps. In particular, we analyze: the relations among properties as causality, non-locality and entanglement; the connection between causal and entanglement breaking maps; the characterization of causal maps in terms of the classification of states with fixed reductions. We also provide new proofs of the fact that every non-product unitary transformation is not causal, as well as for the equivalence of the so-called semicausality and semilocalizability properties.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures, revtex

Aspects regarding the use of the industrial wastes as raw materials for the manufacture of building materials

In this article are present the results of physical and chemical characterisation activities, of industrial wastes: ash and slag, drilling sludge, metallurgical slag. Also, were established the conditions in which these industrial waste types could be used as raw materials for manufacture some building materials. The ash can be assimilated with a lightweight aggregate similar to the natural sands, the oil-well drilling sludge presents an advanced similarity with the suspensions of fine particles of sand clays, the steel melting slag in electric furnace has the characteristics of a dense granular aggregate and the secondary treatment steel slag is characterized by the high content of calcium oxide

The Local Lyman-Alpha Forest: Absorbers in Galaxy Voids

We have conducted pointed redshift surveys for galaxies in the direction of bright AGN whose HST far-UV spectra contain nearby (cz <~ 30,000 kms), low column density (12.5 <= log N_{HI} (cm s^{-2}) <= 14.5) Ly-alpha forest absorption systems. Here we present results for four lines-of-sight which contain nearby (cz <~ 3000 kms) Ly-alpha absorbers in galaxy voids. Although our data go quite deep (-13 <= M_{B}(limit) <= -14) out to impact parameters of 100-250 h_{70}^{-1} kpc, these absorbers remain isolated and thus appear to be truly intergalactic, rather than part of galaxies or their halos. Since we and others have discovered no galaxies in voids, the only baryons detected in the voids are in the Ly-alpha ``clouds''. Using a photoionization model for these clouds, the total baryonic content of the voids is 4.5% +/- 1.5% of the mean baryon density.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal Letter

Can apparent superluminal neutrino speeds be explained as a quantum weak measurement?

Probably not.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figur

Giant Spin Seebeck Effect through an Interface Organic Semiconductor

Interfacing an organic semiconductor C60 with a non-magnetic metallic thin film (Cu or Pt) has created a novel heterostructure that is ferromagnetic at ambient temperature, while its interface with a magnetic metal (Fe or Co) can tune the anisotropic magnetic surface property of the material. Here, we demonstrate that sandwiching C60 in between a magnetic insulator (Y3Fe5O12: YIG) and a non-magnetic, strong spin-orbit metal (Pt) promotes highly efficient spin current transport via the thermally driven spin Seebeck effect (SSE). Experiments and first principles calculations consistently show that the presence of C60 reduces significantly the conductivity mismatch between YIG and Pt and the surface perpendicular magnetic anisotropy of YIG, giving rise to enhanced spin mixing conductance across YIG/C60/Pt interfaces. As a result, a 600% increase in the SSE voltage (VLSSE) has been realized in YIG/C60/Pt relative to YIG/Pt. Temperature-dependent SSE voltage measurements on YIG/C60/Pt with varying C60 layer thicknesses also show an exponential increase in VLSSE at low temperatures below 200 K, resembling the temperature evolution of spin diffusion length of C60. Our study emphasizes the important roles of the magnetic anisotropy and the spin diffusion length of the intermediate layer in the SSE in YIG/C60/Pt structures, providing a new pathway for developing novel spin-caloric materials

The use of the bottom ashes and of the steelmaking slags in the manufacturing technologies of the building materials

The energetic and metallurgy industries of Romania represent the main waste sources significant from the point of quantitative view: the bottom ashes and the blast furnace and secondary metallurgical slags. Starting from the knowledge of the main chemical-physical properties of these two types of industrial wastes, there were inquired the exploitation possibilities in the technological practice, by using in the manufacturing of some building materials, for which these wastes represent the exclusive raw material source. The experiments considered the granular aggregate properties of the bottom ash and of the blast furnace slag, completed by the hydraulic binder of the secondary metallurgical slag, after the fine crushing

The use of the bottom ashes and of the steelmaking slags in the manufacturing technologies of the building materials

The energetic and metallurgy industries of Romania represent the main waste sources significant from the point of quantitative view: the bottom ashes and the blast furnace and secondary metallurgical slags. Starting from the knowledge of the main chemical-physical properties of these two types of industrial wastes, there were inquired the exploitation possibilities in the technological practice, by using in the manufacturing of some building materials, for which these wastes represent the exclusive raw material source. The experiments considered the granular aggregate properties of the bottom ash and of the blast furnace slag, completed by the hydraulic binder of the secondary metallurgical slag, after the fine crushing

PSIKO2: a fast and versatile tool to infer population stratification on various levels in GWAS

Genome-Wide Association Studies are an invaluable tool for identifying genotypic loci linked with agriculturally important traits or certain diseases. The signal on which such studies rely upon can however be obscured by population stratification making it necessary to account for it in some way. Population stratification is dependent on when admixture happend and thus can occur at various levels. To aid in its inference at the genome-level, we recently introduced PSIKO and comparison with leading methods indicate that it has attractive properties. However uptil now it could not be used for local ancestry inference (LAI) which is preferable in cases of recent admixture as the genome level tends to be too coarse to properly account for processes acting on small segments of a genome.To also bring the powerful ideas underpinning PSIKO to bear in such studies, we extended it to PSIKO2 which we introduce here. Availability: Source code, binaries, and user manual are freely available at \url{https://www.uea.ac.uk/computing/psiko}. Contact: [email protected], [email protected]

Counterfactual entanglement and nonlocal correlations in separable states

It is shown that the outcomes of measurements on systems in separable mixed states can be partitioned, via subsequent measurements on a disentangled extraneous system, into subensembles that display the statistics of entangled states. This motivates the introduction of the concept of "counterfactual" entanglement, which can be associated with all separable mixed states including those that are factorable. This type of entanglement gives rise to a new kind of postselection-induced Bell inequality violation. The significance of counterfactual entanglement, and its physical implications, are assessed

Extended Standard Map with Spatio-Temporal Asymmetry

We analyze the transport properties of a set of symmetry-breaking extensions %, both spatial and temporal, of the Chirikov--Taylor Map. The spatial and temporal asymmetries result in the loss of periodicity in momentum direction in the phase space dynamics, enabling the asymmetric diffusion which is the origin of the unidirectional motion. The simplicity of the model makes the calculation of the global dynamical properties of the system feasible both in phase space and in controlling-parameter space. We present the results of numerical experiments which show the intricate dependence of the asymmetric diffusion to the controlling parameters.Comment: 6 pages latex 2e with 12 epsf fig