1,086 research outputs found
Raman cooling and heating of two trapped Ba+ ions
We study cooling of the collective vibrational motion of two 138Ba+ ions
confined in an electrodynamic trap and irradiated with laser light close to the
resonances S_1/2-P_1/2 (493 nm) and P_1/2-D_3/2 (650 nm). The motional state of
the ions is monitored by a spatially resolving photo multiplier. Depending on
detuning and intensity of the cooling lasers, macroscopically different
motional states corresponding to different ion temperatures are observed. We
also derive the ions' temperature from detailed analytical calculations of
laser cooling taking into account the Zeeman structure of the energy levels
involved. The observed motional states perfectly match the calculated
temperatures. Significant heating is observed in the vicinity of the dark
resonances of the Zeeman-split S_1/2-D_3/2 Raman transitions. Here two-photon
processes dominate the interaction between lasers and ions. Parameter regimes
of laser light are identified that imply most efficient laser cooling.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure
Star formation environments and the distribution of binary separations
We have carried out K-band speckle observations of a sample of 114 X-ray
selected weak-line T Tauri stars in the nearby Scorpius-Centaurus OB
association. We find that for binary T Tauri stars closely associated to the
early type stars in Upper Scorpius, the youngest subgroup of the OB
association, the peak in the distribution of binary separations is at 90 A.U.
For binary T Tauri stars located in the direction of an older subgroup, but not
closely associated to early type stars, the peak in the distribution is at 215
A.U. A Kolmogorov-Smirnov test indicates that the two binary populations do not
result from the same distibution at a significance level of 98%. Apparently,
the same physical conditions which facilitate the formation of massive stars
also facilitate the formation of closer binaries among low-mass stars, whereas
physical conditions unfavorable for the formation of massive stars lead to the
formation of wider binaries among low-mass stars. The outcome of the binary
formation process might be related to the internal turbulence and the angular
momentum of molecular cloud cores, magnetic field, the initial temperature
within a cloud, or - most likely - a combination of all of these. We conclude
that the distribution of binary separations is not a universal quantity, and
that the broad distribution of binary separations observed among main-sequence
stars can be explained by a superposition of more peaked binary distributions
resulting from various star forming environments. The overall binary frequency
among pre-main-sequence stars in individual star forming regions is not
necessarily higher than among main-sequence stars.Comment: 7 pages, Latex, 4 Postscript figures; also available at
http://spider.ipac.caltech.edu/staff/brandner/pubs/pubs.html ; accepted for
publication in ApJ Letter
A Simplified Approach to Optimally Controlled Quantum Dynamics
A new formalism for the optimal control of quantum mechanical physical
observables is presented. This approach is based on an analogous classical
control technique reported previously[J. Botina, H. Rabitz and N. Rahman, J.
chem. Phys. Vol. 102, pag. 226 (1995)]. Quantum Lagrange multiplier functions
are used to preserve a chosen subset of the observable dynamics of interest. As
a result, a corresponding small set of Lagrange multipliers needs to be
calculated and they are only a function of time. This is a considerable
simplification over traditional quantum optimal control theory[S. shi and H.
Rabitz, comp. Phys. Comm. Vol. 63, pag. 71 (1991)]. The success of the new
approach is based on taking advantage of the multiplicity of solutions to
virtually any problem of quantum control to meet a physical objective. A family
of such simplified formulations is introduced and numerically tested. Results
are presented for these algorithms and compared with previous reported work on
a model problem for selective unimolecular reaction induced by an external
optical electric field.Comment: Revtex, 29 pages (incl. figures
Error-resistant Single Qubit Gates with Trapped Ions
Coherent operations constitutive for the implementation of single and
multi-qubit quantum gates with trapped ions are demonstrated that are robust
against variations in experimental parameters and intrinsically indeterministic
system parameters. In particular, pulses developed using optimal control theory
are demonstrated for the first time with trapped ions. Their performance as a
function of error parameters is systematically investigated and compared to
composite pulses.Comment: 5 pages 5 figure
Hudson's Theorem for finite-dimensional quantum systems
We show that, on a Hilbert space of odd dimension, the only pure states to
possess a non-negative Wigner function are stabilizer states. The Clifford
group is identified as the set of unitary operations which preserve positivity.
The result can be seen as a discrete version of Hudson's Theorem. Hudson
established that for continuous variable systems, the Wigner function of a pure
state has no negative values if and only if the state is Gaussian. Turning to
mixed states, it might be surmised that only convex combinations of stabilizer
states give rise to non-negative Wigner distributions. We refute this
conjecture by means of a counter-example. Further, we give an axiomatic
characterization which completely fixes the definition of the Wigner function
and compare two approaches to stabilizer states for Hilbert spaces of
prime-power dimensions. In the course of the discussion, we derive explicit
formulas for the number of stabilizer codes defined on such systems.Comment: 17 pages, 3 figures; References updated. Title changed to match
published version. See also quant-ph/070200
ROSAT X-ray Spectral Properties of Nearby Young Associations: TW Hydrae, Tucana-Horologium, and the beta Pic Moving Group
We present archival ROSAT data for three recently identified, nearby (D<70
pc), young (~10-40 Myr) stellar associations: the TW Hydrae Association, the
Tucana-Horologium Association, and the beta Pic Moving Group. The distributions
of ROSAT X-ray hardness ratios (HR1, HR2) for these three groups, whose
membership is dominated by low-mass, weak-lined T Tauri stars, are tightly
clustered and very similar to one another. The value of HR1 for TW Hya itself
-- the only bona fide classical T Tauri star in any of the nearby groups -- is
clearly anomalous among these nearby young stars. We compare the hardness ratio
distributions of stars in the three nearby groups with those of T Tauri stars,
the Hyades, and main sequence dwarfs in the field. This comparison demonstrates
that the X-ray spectra of F through M stars soften with age, and that F and G
stars evolve more rapidly in X-ray spectral hardness than do K and M stars. It
is as yet unclear whether this trend can be attributed to age-dependent changes
in the intrinsic X-ray spectra of stars of type F and later, to a decrease in
the column density of circumstellar gas (e.g., in residual protoplanetary
disks), or to the diminishing contributions of star-disk interactions to X-ray
emission. Regardless, these results demonstrate that analysis of archival ROSAT
X-ray spectral data can help both to identify nearby, young associations and to
ascertain the X-ray emission properties of members of known associations.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures; accepted by the Astrophysical Journa
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