Mutual Unbiasedness in Coarse-grained Continuous Variables

The notion of mutual unbiasedness for coarse-grained measurements of quantum continuous variable systems is considered. It is shown that while the procedure of "standard" coarse graining breaks the mutual unbiasedness between conjugate variables, this desired feature can be theoretically established and experimentally observed in periodic coarse graining. We illustrate our results in an optics experiment implementing Fraunhofer diffraction through a periodic diffraction grating, finding excellent agreement with the derived theory. Our results are an important step in developing a formal connection between discrete and continuous variable quantum mechanics.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures + Supplemental Material (1 page) v2: Introduction expanded, minor typos correcte

Bilirubin oxidase from myrothecium verrucaria physically absorbed on graphite electrodes. Insights into the alternative resting from and the sources of activity loss

The oxygen reduction reaction is one of the most important chemical processes in energy converting systems and living organisms. Mediator-less, direct electro-catalytic reduction of oxygen to water was achieved on spectrographite electrodes modified by physical adsorption of bilirubin oxidases from Myrothecium verrucaria. The existence of an alternative resting form of the enzyme is validated. The effect on the catalytic cycle of temperature, pH and the presence of halogens in the buffer was investigated. Previous results on the electrochemistry of bilirubin oxidase and on the impact of the presence of halogens are reviewed and reinterpreted

Reliable Entanglement Detection Under Coarse--Grained Measurements

We derive reliable entanglement witnesses for coarse--grained measurements on continuous variable systems. These witnesses never return a "false positive" for identification of entanglement, under any degree of coarse graining. We show that, even in the case of Gaussian states, entanglement witnesses based on the Shannon entropy can outperform those based on variances. We apply our results to experimental identification of spatial entanglement of photon pairs.Comment: Dedicated to Iwo Bialynicki-Birula on his 80th birthday, who inspired much of this wor

Archives judiciaires et archives de la folie

The essay analyses the events relating to the construction of the psychiatric unit of the new city public hospital of Cagliari, in Sardinia, through the cross-examination of sources. The application of Savoy laws in Sardinia appears to be ephemeral for what concerns mental health. If, on the one hand, the law makes it compulsory for criminals to undergo a psychiatric assessment as well as for furious maniacs to be admitted to hospital, the care centers available in the island are, on the other hand, in such a state that the persons hospitalized for psychiatric illnesses run the risk of seeing their condition worsen rather than improve, leaving aside the fact that admission is often denied to them tout court. In 1854, when a patient, already wellknown to the Public Prosecutor’s Office and to the courthouse, escapes twice from the care center, the Home Office and public opinion became aware for the first time of the conditions in which psychiatric patients live in Sardinia. The result of such new consciousness is a process of reforms aimed at modifying the project for the new hospital, which dates back to 1844, and the institution of a special unit destined to become a psychiatric ward and which will be inaugurated as late as in 1859.Fruit d’une réflexion menée sur la base d’une analyse croisée de plusieurs fonds d’archives, le présent essai fait état des événements qui durant la première moitié du XIXe siècle présidèrent à la création d’un service spécifiquement destiné aux aliénés au sein des structures du Archives judiciaires et archives de la folie. Ou comment un repris de justice, en s’enfuy (...) nouvel hôpital civil construit à Cagliari, dans l’île de Sardaigne, finalement inauguré en 1859 au terme d’un cheminement administratif particulièrement tortueux. Longuement attendue, cette innovation importante rend effective l’application sur le territoire insulaire des lois en vigueur dans le reste du royaume de Piémont, une mesure restée largement inopérante dans le domaine de la santé mentale, particulièrement délaissé par les autorités locales. Alors que les dispositions officielles prônent l’expertise psychiatrique des criminels et le suivi des maniaques furieux, la déliquescence des structures insulaires ne permet pas l’accueil de tous les aliénés, qui se voient par ailleurs réservés des traitements déjà considérés comme anachroniques. En 1854, la fuite d’un patient révèle à l’opinion publique les conditions lamentables dans lesquelles les malades psychiatriques sont pris en charge en Sardaigne. Ce fait divers très local va contraindre les autorités à réagir au plus haut niveau, déterminant ainsi non seulement la modification du projet de construction du nouvel hôpital, mais bien une remise en question profonde de la gestion des aliénés dans toute l’île

Ruptures and repairs of group therapy alliance. an untold story in psychotherapy research

Although previous studies investigated the characteristics of therapeutic alliance in group treatments, there is still a dearth of research on group alliance ruptures and repairs. The model by Safran and Muran was originally developed to address therapeutic alliance in individual therapies, and the usefulness of this approach to group intervention needs to be demonstrated. Alliance ruptures are possible at member to therapist, member to member, member to group levels. Moreover, repairs of ruptures in group are quite complex, i.e., because other group members have to process the rupture even if not directly involved. The aim of the current study is to review the empirical research on group alliance, and to examine whether the rupture repair model can be a suitable framework for clinical understanding and research of the complexity of therapeutic alliance in group treatments. We provide clinical vignettes and commentary to illustrate theoretical and research aspects of therapeutic alliance rupture and repair in groups. Our colleague Jeremy Safran made a substantial contribution to research on therapeutic alliance, and the current paper illustrates the enduring legacy of this work and its potential application to the group therapy context

Panchromatic properties of galaxies in wide-field optical spectroscopic and photometric surveys

The past 15 years have seen an explosion in the number of redshifts recovered via wide area spectroscopic surveys. At the current time there are approximately 2million spectroscopic galaxy redshifts known (and rising) which represents an extraordinary growth since the pioneering work of Marc Davis and John Huchra. Similarly there has been a parallel explosion in wavelength coverage with imaging surveys progressing from single band, to multi-band, to truly multiwavelength or pan-chromatic involving the coordination of multiple facilities. With these empirically motivated studies has come a wealth of new discoveries impacting almost all areas of astrophysics. Today individual surveys, as best demonstrated by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, now rank shoulder-to-shoulder alongside major facilities. In the coming years this trend is set to continue as we being the process of designing and conducting the next generation of spectroscopic surveys supported by multi-facility wavelength coverage.Comment: Invited review article to be published in Proceedings of IAU Symposium 284 on "The Spectral Energy Distribution of Galaxies", (Eds: R.J.Tuffs & C.C.Popescu

Protection du patrimoine audiovisuel (La)

Sénat - Rapport fait au nom de la commission des Affaires étrangères, de la Défense et des Forces armées sur le projet de loi, adopté par l\u27Assemblée nationale, autorisant l\u27approbation de la convention européenne relative à la protection du patrimoine audiovisuel et de son protocole sur la protection des productions télévisuelles

Testing for entanglement with periodic coarse-graining

Continuous variables systems find valuable applications in quantum information processing. To deal with an infinite-dimensional Hilbert space, one in general has to handle large numbers of discretized measurements in tasks such as entanglement detection. Here we employ the continuous transverse spatial variables of photon pairs to experimentally demonstrate novel entanglement criteria based on a periodic structure of coarse-grained measurements. The periodization of the measurements allows for an efficient evaluation of entanglement using spatial masks acting as mode analyzers over the entire transverse field distribution of the photons and without the need to reconstruct the probability densities of the conjugate continuous variables. Our experimental results demonstrate the utility of the derived criteria with a success rate in entanglement detection of $\sim60\%$ relative to $7344$ studied cases.Comment: V1: revtex4, 10 pages, 4 figures + supp. material (4 pages, 1 figure) V2: Substantial revisions implemented both in theory and experimental data analysi

The influence of non-imaging detector design on heralded ghost-imaging and ghost-diffraction examined using a triggered ICCD came

Ghost imaging and ghost diffraction can be realized by using the spatial correlations between signal and idler photons produced by spontaneous parametric down-conversion. If an object is placed in the signal (idler) path, the spatial correlations between the transmitted photons as measured by a single, non-imaging, “bucket” detector and a scanning detector placed in the idler (signal) path can reveal either the image or diffraction pattern of the object, whereas neither detector signal on its own can. The details of the bucket detector, such as its collection area and numerical aperture, set the number of transverse modes supported by the system. For ghost imaging these details are less important, affecting mostly the sampling time required to produce the image. For ghost diffraction, however, the bucket detector must be filtered to a single, spatially coherent mode. We examine this difference in behavour by using either a multi-mode or single-mode fibre to define the detection aperture. Furthermore, instead of a scanning detector we use a heralded camera so that the image or diffraction pattern produced can be measured across the full field of view. The importance of a single mode detection in the observation of ghost diffraction is equivalent to the need within a classical diffraction experiment to illuminate the aperture with a spatially coherent mode