Unitary equilibrations: probability distribution of the Loschmidt echo

Closed quantum systems evolve unitarily and therefore cannot converge in a strong sense to an equilibrium state starting out from a generic pure state. Nevertheless for large system size one observes temporal typicality. Namely, for the overwhelming majority of the time instants, the statistics of observables is practically indistinguishable from an effective equilibrium one. In this paper we consider the Loschmidt echo (LE) to study this sort of unitary equilibration after a quench. We draw several conclusions on general grounds and on the basis of an exactly-solvable example of a quasi-free system. In particular we focus on the whole probability distribution of observing a given value of the LE after waiting a long time. Depending on the interplay between the initial state and the quench Hamiltonian, we find different regimes reflecting different equilibration dynamics. When the perturbation is small and the system is away from criticality the probability distribution is Gaussian. However close to criticality the distribution function approaches a double peaked, "batman-hood" shaped, universal form.Comment: 15 pages, 16 figure

Symmetrization and Entanglement of Arbitrary States of Qubits

Given two arbitrary pure states $|\phi>$ and $|\psi>$ of qubits or higher level states, we provide arguments in favor of states of the form $\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}(|\psi> |\phi> + i |\phi> |\psi>)$ instead of symmetric or anti-symmetric states, as natural candidates for optimally entangled states constructed from these states. We show that such states firstly have on the average a high value of concurrence, secondly can be constructed by a universal unitary operator independent of the input states. We also show that these states are the only ones which can be produced with perfect fidelity by any quantum operation designed for intertwining two pure states with a relative phase. A probabilistic method is proposed for producing any pre-determined relative phase into the combination of any two arbitrary states.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figur

Holonomic quantum computation in decoherence-free subspaces

We show how to realize, by means of non-abelian quantum holonomies, a set of universal quantum gates acting on decoherence-free subspaces and subsystems. In this manner we bring together the quantum coherence stabilization virtues of decoherence-free subspaces and the fault-tolerance of all-geometric holonomic control. We discuss the implementation of this scheme in the context of quantum information processing using trapped ions and quantum dots.Comment: 4 pages, no figures. v2: minor changes. To appear in PR

Quantum Cloning in dd dimensions

The quantum state space $\cal S$ over a $d$-dimensional Hilbert space is represented as a convex subset of a $D-1$-dimensional sphere $S_{D-1}\subset {\bf{R}}^D$, where $D=d^2-1.$ Quantum tranformations (CP-maps) are then associated with the affine transformations of ${\bf{R}}^D,$ and $N\mapsto M$ {\it cloners} induce polynomial mappings. In this geometrical setting it is shown that an optimal cloner can be chosen covariant and induces a map between reduced density matrices given by a simple contraction of the associated $D$-dimensional Bloch vectors.Comment: 8 pages LaTeX, no figure

Ozone and Ozonated Oils in Skin Diseases: A Review

Although orthodox medicine has provided a variety of topical anti-infective agents, some of them have become scarcely effective owing to antibiotic- and chemotherapeutic-resistant pathogens. For more than a century, ozone has been known to be an excellent disinfectant that nevertheless had to be used with caution for its oxidizing properties. Only during the last decade it has been learned how to tame its great reactivity by precisely dosing its concentration and permanently incorporating the gas into triglycerides where gaseous ozone chemically reacts with unsaturated substrates leading to therapeutically active ozonated derivatives. Today the stability and efficacy of the ozonated oils have been already demonstrated, but owing to a plethora of commercial products, the present paper aims to analyze these derivatives suggesting the strategy to obtain products with the best characteristics

Quantum entangling power of adiabatically connected hamiltonians

The space of quantum Hamiltonians has a natural partition in classes of operators that can be adiabatically deformed into each other. We consider parametric families of Hamiltonians acting on a bi-partite quantum state-space. When the different Hamiltonians in the family fall in the same adiabatic class one can manipulate entanglement by moving through energy eigenstates corresponding to different value of the control parameters. We introduce an associated notion of adiabatic entangling power. This novel measure is analyzed for general $d\times d$ quantum systems and specific two-qubits examples are studiedComment: 5 pages, LaTeX, 2 eps figures included. Several non minor changes made (thanks referee) Version to appear in the PR

Transport of Entanglement Through a Heisenberg-XY Spin Chain

The entanglement dynamics of spin chains is investigated using Heisenberg-XY spin Hamiltonian dynamics. The various measures of two-qubit entanglement are calculated analytically in the time-evolved state starting from initial states with no entanglement and exactly one pair of maximally-entangled qubits. The localizable entanglement between a pair of qubits at the end of chain captures the essential features of entanglement transport across the chain, and it displays the difference between an initial state with no entanglement and an initial state with one pair of maximally-entangled qubits.Comment: 5 Pages. 3 Figure

Ground-state fidelity in one-dimensional gapless model

A general relation between quantum phase transitions and the second derivative of the fidelity (or the "fidelity susceptibility") is proposed. The validity and the limitation of the fidelity susceptibility in characterizing quantum phase transitions is thus established. Moreover, based on the bosonization method, general formulas of the fidelity and the fidelity susceptibility are obtained for a class of one-dimensional gapless systems known as the Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid. Applying these formulas to the one-dimensional spin-1/2 $XXZ$ model, we find that quantum phase transitions, even of the Beresinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless type, can be signaled by the fidelity susceptibility.Comment: 4+ pages, no figure, published versio

Entanglement susceptibility: Area laws and beyond

Generic quantum states in the Hilbert space of a many body system are nearly maximally entangled whereas low energy physical states are not; the so-called area laws for quantum entanglement are widespread. In this paper we introduce the novel concept of entanglement susceptibility by expanding the 2-Renyi entropy in the boundary couplings. We show how this concept leads to the emergence of area laws for bi-partite quantum entanglement in systems ruled by local gapped Hamiltonians. Entanglement susceptibility also captures quantitatively which violations one should expect when the system becomes gapless. We also discuss an exact series expansion of the 2-Renyi entanglement entropy in terms of connected correlation functions of a boundary term. This is obtained by identifying Renyi entropy with ground state fidelity in a doubled and twisted theory.Comment: minor corrections, references adde

String and Membrane condensation on 3D lattices

In this paper, we investigate the general properties of lattice spin models that have string and/or membrane condensed ground states. We discuss the properties needed to define a string or membrane operator. We study three 3D spin models which lead to Z_2 gauge theory at low energies. All the three models are exactly soluble and produce topologically ordered ground states. The first model contains both closed-string and closed-membrane condensations. The second model contains closed-string condensation only. The ends of open-strings behave like fermionic particles. The third model also has condensations of closed membranes and closed strings. The ends of open strings are bosonic while the edges of open membranes are fermionic. The third model contains a new type of topological order.Comment: 10 pages, RevTeX