147 research outputs found
Observing the Nonequilibrium Dynamics of the Quantum Transverse-Field Ising Chain in Circuit QED
We show how a quantum Ising spin chain in a time-dependent transverse
magnetic field can be simulated and experimentally probed in the framework of
circuit QED with current technology. The proposed setup provides a new platform
for observing the nonequilibrium dynamics of interacting many-body systems. We
calculate its spectrum to offer a guideline for its initial experimental
characterization. We demonstrate that quench dynamics and the propagation of
localized excitations can be observed with the proposed setup and discuss
further possible applications and modifications of this circuit QED quantum
simulator.Comment: v2: 5+11 pages, 4+10 figures, as to appear in Phys. Rev. Lett. (2013
Probing the diamagnetic term in lightâmatter interaction
We address the quantum estimation of the diamagnetic, or A 2, term in an effective model of lightâmatter interaction featuring two coupled oscillators. First, we calculate the quantum Fisher information of the diamagnetic parameter in the interacting ground state. Then, we find that typical measurements on the transverse radiation field, such as homodyne detection or photon counting, permit to estimate the diamagnetic coupling constant with near-optimal efficiency in a wide range of model parameters. Should the model admit a critical point, we also find that both measurements would become asymptotically optimal in its vicinity. Finally, we discuss binary discrimination strategies between the two most debated hypotheses involving the diamagnetic term in circuit QED. While we adopt a terminology appropriate to the Coulomb gauge, our results are also relevant for the electric dipole gauge. In that case, our calculations would describe the estimation of the so-called transverse P 2 term. The derived metrological benchmarks are general and relevant to any implementation of the model, cavity and circuit QED being two relevant examples
Rescaling multipartite entanglement measures for mixed states
A relevant problem regarding entanglement measures is the following: Given an
arbitrary mixed state, how does a measure for multipartite entanglement change
if general local operations are applied to the state? This question is
nontrivial as the normalization of the states has to be taken into account.
Here we answer it for pure-state entanglement measures which are invariant
under determinant 1 local operations and homogeneous in the state coefficients,
and their convex-roof extension which quantifies mixed-state entanglement. Our
analysis allows to enlarge the set of mixed states for which these important
measures can be calculated exactly. In particular, our results hint at a
distinguished role of entanglement measures which have homogeneous degree 2 in
the state coefficients.Comment: Published version plus one important reference (Ref. [39]
Quantum Simulation of Spin Chains Coupled to Bosonic Modes with Superconducting Circuits
We propose the implementation of a digital quantum simulation of spin chains
coupled to bosonic field modes in superconducting circuits. Gates with high
fidelities allows one to simulate a variety of Ising magnetic pairing
interactions with transverse field, Tavis-Cummings interaction between spins
and a bosonic mode, and a spin model with three-body terms. We analyze the
feasibility of the implementation in realistic circuit quantum electrodynamics
setups, where the interactions are either realized via capacitive couplings or
mediated by microwave resonators.Comment: Chapter in R. S. Anderssen et al. (eds.), Mathematics for Industry 11
(Springer Japan, 2015
Near-infrared proper motions and spectroscopy of infrared excess sources at the Galactic Center
There are a number of faint compact infrared excess sources in the central
stellar cluster of the Milky Way. Their nature and origin is unclear. In
addition to several isolated objects of this kind we find a small but dense
cluster of co-moving sources (IRS13N) about 3" west of SgrA* just 0.5" north of
the bright IRS13E cluster of WR and O-type stars. Based on their color and
brightness, there are two main possibilities: (1) they may be dust embedded
stars older than few Myr, or (2) extremely young, dusty stars with ages less
than 1Myr. We present fist H- and Ks-band identifications or proper motions of
the IRS13N members, the high velocity dusty S-cluster object (DSO), and other
infrared excess sources in the central field. We also present results of NIR H-
and Ks-band ESO-SINFONI integral field spectroscopy of ISR13N. We show that
within the uncertainties, the proper motions of the IRS13N sources in Ks- and
L'-band are identical. This indicates that the bright L'-band IRS13N sources
are indeed dust enshrouded stars rather than core-less dust clouds. The proper
motions show that the IRS13N sources are not strongly gravitationally bound to
each other implying that they have been formed recently. We also present a
first H- and Ks-band identification as well as proper motions and HKsL'-colors
of a fast moving DSO which was recently found in the cluster of high speed
S-stars that surround the super-massive black hole Sagittarius A* (SgrA*). Most
of the compact L'-band excess emission sources have a compact H- or Ks-band
counterpart and therefore are likely stars with dust shells or disks. Our new
results and orbital analysis from our previous work favor the hypothesis that
the infrared excess IRS13N members and other dusty sources close to SgrA* are
very young dusty stars and that star formation at the GC is a continuously
ongoing process.Comment: 20 pages, 18 figures, 4 tables plus appendix with 16 figures and 3
tables accepted by A&
Polymorphisms of methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) and susceptibility to pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia in a German study population
BACKGROUND: Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) has a major impact on the regulation of the folic acid pathway due to conversion of 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate (methylene-THF) to 5-methyl-THF. Two common polymorphisms (677C>T and 1298A>C) in the gene coding for MTHFR have been shown to reduce MTHFR enzyme activity and were associated with the susceptibility to different disorders, including vascular disease, neural tube defects and lymphoid malignancies. Studies on the role of these polymorphisms in the susceptibility to acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) led to discrepant results. METHODS: We retrospectively evaluated the association of the MTHFR 677C>T and 1298A>C polymorphisms with pediatric ALL by genotyping a study sample of 443 ALL patients consecutively enrolled onto the German multicenter trial ALL-BFM 2000 and 379 healthy controls. We calculated odds ratios of MTHFR genotypes based on the MTHFR 677C>T and 1298A>C polymorphisms to examine if one or both of these polymorphisms are associated with pediatric ALL. RESULTS: No significant associations between specific MTHFR variants or combinations of variants and risk of ALL were observed neither in the total patient group nor in analyses stratified by gender, age at diagnosis, DNA index, immunophenotype, or TEL/AML1 rearrangement. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that the MTHFR 677C>T and 1298A>C gene variants do not have a major influence on the susceptibility to pediatric ALL in the German population
GCIRS34W: An irregular variable in the Galactic Centre
We report the results of time-resolved photometric and spectroscopic
near-infrared observations of the Ofpe/WN9 star and LBV candidate GCIRS34W in
the Galactic Centre star cluster. Diffraction limited resolution photometric
observations obtained in H and K bands show a strong, non-periodic variability
on time scales from months to years in both bands accompanied by variations of
the stellar colour. Three K band spectra obtained in 1996, 2003 and 2004 with
integral field spectrometers are identical within their accuracies and exclude
significant spectroscopic variability. The most probable explanation of the
stellar photometric variability is obscuration by circumstellar material
ejected by the star. The approximated position of GCIRS34W in a HR diagram is
located between O supergiants and LBVs, suggesting that this star is a
transitional object between these two phases of stellar evolution.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, accepted by A&
The Flare Activity of SgrA*; New Coordinated mm to X-Ray Observations
We report new simultaneous near-infrared/sub-millimeter/X-ray observations of
the SgrA* counterpart associated with the massive 3-4x10**6 solar mass black
hole at the Galactic Center. The main aim is to investigate the physical
processes responsible for the variable emission from SgrA*. The observations
have been carried out using the NACO adaptive optics (AO) instrument at the
European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope and the ACIS-I instrument
aboard the Chandra X-ray Observatory as well as the Submillimeter Array SMA on
Mauna Kea, Hawaii, and the Very Large Array in New Mexico. We detected one
moderately bright flare event in the X-ray domain and 5 events at infrared
wavelengths.Comment: submitted to A&A 26/10/2005; accepted by A&A: 14/12/2005; 50 pages;
19 figure
Photoelectron circular dichroism of O 1-photoelectrons of uniaxially oriented trifluoromethyloxirane: Energy dependence and sensitivity to molecular configuration
The photoelectron circular dichroism (PECD) of the O 1s-photoelectrons of
trifluoromethyloxirane(TFMOx) is studied experimentally and theoretically for
different photoelectron kinetic energies. The experiments were performed
employing circularly polarized synchrotron radiation and coincidentelectron and
fragment ion detection using Cold Target Recoil Ion Momentum Spectroscopy. The
corresponding calculations were performed by means of the Single Center method
within the relaxed-core Hartree-Fock approximation. We concentrate on the
energy dependence of the differential PECD of uniaxially oriented TFMOx
molecules, which is accessible through the employed coincident detection. We
also compare results for differential PECD of TFMOx to those obtained for the
equivalent fragmentation channel and similar photoelectron kinetic energy of
methyloxirane (MOx), studied in our previous work. Thereby, we investigate the
influence of the substitution of the methyl-group by the trifluoromethyl-group
at the chiral center on the molecular chiral response. Finally, the presently
obtained angular distribution parameters are compared to those available in
literature.Comment: 6 fig
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