368 research outputs found
The - divergence and Mixing times of quantum Markov processes
We introduce quantum versions of the -divergence, provide a detailed
analysis of their properties, and apply them in the investigation of mixing
times of quantum Markov processes. An approach similar to the one presented in
[1-3] for classical Markov chains is taken to bound the trace-distance from the
steady state of a quantum processes. A strict spectral bound to the convergence
rate can be given for time-discrete as well as for time-continuous quantum
Markov processes. Furthermore the contractive behavior of the
-divergence under the action of a completely positive map is
investigated and contrasted to the contraction of the trace norm. In this
context we analyse different versions of quantum detailed balance and, finally,
give a geometric conductance bound to the convergence rate for unital quantum
Markov processes
Evanescence in Coined Quantum Walks
In this paper we complete the analysis begun by two of the authors in a
previous work on the discrete quantum walk on the line [J. Phys. A 36:8775-8795
(2003) quant-ph/0303105 ]. We obtain uniformly convergent asymptotics for the
"exponential decay'' regions at the leading edges of the main peaks in the
Schr{\"o}dinger (or wave-mechanics) picture. This calculation required us to
generalise the method of stationary phase and we describe this extension in
some detail, including self-contained proofs of all the technical lemmas
required. We also rigorously establish the exact Feynman equivalence between
the path-integral and wave-mechanics representations for this system using some
techniques from the theory of special functions. Taken together with the
previous work, we can now prove every theorem by both routes.Comment: 32 pages AMS LaTeX, 5 figures in .eps format. Rewritten in response
to referee comments, including some additional references. v3: typos fixed in
equations (131), (133) and (134). v5: published versio
Evaluation of Modern 3He(alpha,gamma)7Be Data
In both the Sun and the early universe, the 3He(alpha,gamma)7Be reaction
plays a key role. The rate of this reaction is the least certain nuclear input
needed to calculate both the primordial 7Li abundance in big bang
nucleosynthesis (BBN) and the solar neutrino flux. Taking advantage of several
recent highly precise experiments, we analyse modern 3He(alpha,gamma)7Be data
using a robust and minimally model dependent approach capable of handling
discrepant data sets dominated by systematic rather than statistical errors. We
find S34(0)=0.580 pm 0.043(0.054) keV b at the 68.3(95.4)% confidence level.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figure
Quantum kinetic Ising models
We introduce a quantum generalization of classical kinetic Ising models,
described by a certain class of quantum many body master equations. Similarly
to kinetic Ising models with detailed balance that are equivalent to certain
Hamiltonian systems, our models reduce to a set of Hamiltonian systems
determining the dynamics of the elements of the many body density matrix. The
ground states of these Hamiltonians are well described by matrix product, or
pair entangled projected states. We discuss critical properties of such
Hamiltonians, as well as entanglement properties of their low energy states.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figures, minor improvements, accepted in New Journal of
Physic
Identification of SOX2 as a novel glioma-associated antigen and potential target for T cell-based immunotherapy
Prognosis for patients suffering from malignant glioma has not substantially improved. Specific immunotherapy as a novel treatment concept critically depends on target antigens, which are highly overexpressed in the majority of gliomas, but the number of such antigens is still very limited. SOX2 was identified by screening an expression database for transcripts that are overexpressed in malignant glioma, but display minimal expression in normal tissues. Expression of SOX2 mRNA was further investigated in tumour and normal tissues by real-time PCR. Compared to cDNA from pooled normal brain, SOX2 was overexpressed in almost all (9 out of 10) malignant glioma samples, whereas expression in other, non-malignant tissues was almost negligible. SOX2 protein expression in glioma cell lines and tumour tissues was verified by Western blot and immunofluorescence. Immunohistochemistry demonstrated SOX2 protein expression in all malignant glioma tissues investigated ranging from 6 to 66% stained tumour cells. Human leucocyte antigen-A*0201-restricted SOX2-derived peptides were tested for the activation of glioma-reactive CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs). Specific CTLs were raised against the peptide TLMKKDKYTL and were capable of lysing glioma cells. The abundant and glioma-restricted overexpression of SOX2 and the generation of SOX2-specific and tumour-reactive CTLs may recommend this antigen as target for T-cell-based immunotherapy of glioma
Digital Quantum Simulation of the Statistical Mechanics of a Frustrated Magnet
Many interesting problems in physics, chemistry, and computer science are
equivalent to problems of interacting spins. However, most of these problems
require computational resources that are out of reach by classical computers. A
promising solution to overcome this challenge is to exploit the laws of quantum
mechanics to perform simulation. Several "analog" quantum simulations of
interacting spin systems have been realized experimentally. However, relying on
adiabatic techniques, these simulations are limited to preparing ground states
only. Here we report the first experimental results on a "digital" quantum
simulation on thermal states; we simulated a three-spin frustrated magnet, a
building block of spin ice, with an NMR quantum information processor, and we
are able to explore the phase diagram of the system at any simulated
temperature and external field. These results serve as a guide for identifying
the challenges for performing quantum simulation on physical systems at finite
temperatures, and pave the way towards large scale experimental simulations of
open quantum systems in condensed matter physics and chemistry.Comment: 7 pages for the main text plus 6 pages for the supplementary
material
FACT -- The G-APD revolution in Cherenkov astronomy
Since two years, the FACT telescope is operating on the Canary Island of La
Palma. Apart from its purpose to serve as a monitoring facility for the
brightest TeV blazars, it was built as a major step to establish solid state
photon counters as detectors in Cherenkov astronomy. The camera of the First
G-APD Cherenkov Telesope comprises 1440 Geiger-mode avalanche photo diodes
(G-APD), equipped with solid light guides to increase the effective light
collection area of each sensor. Since no sense-line is available, a special
challenge is to keep the applied voltage stable although the current drawn by
the G-APD depends on the flux of night-sky background photons significantly
varying with ambient light conditions. Methods have been developed to keep the
temperature and voltage dependent response of the G-APDs stable during
operation. As a cross-check, dark count spectra with high statistics have been
taken under different environmental conditions. In this presentation, the
project, the developed methods and the experience from two years of operation
of the first G-APD based camera in Cherenkov astronomy under changing
environmental conditions will be presented.Comment: Proceedings of the Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging
Conference (IEEE-NSS/MIC), 201
Perturbative Approach to the Quasinormal Modes of Dirty Black Holes
Using a recently developed perturbation theory for uasinormal modes (QNM's),
we evaluate the shifts in the real and imaginary parts of the QNM frequencies
due to a quasi-static perturbation of the black hole spacetime. We show the
perturbed QNM spectrum of a black hole can have interesting features using a
simple model based on the scalar wave equation.Comment: Published in PR
- …