Report of an exploratory study: Safety and liability considerations for photovoltaic modules/panels

An overview of legal issues as they apply to design, manufacture and use of photovoltaic module/array devices is provided and a methodology is suggested for use of the design stage of these products to minimize or eliminate perceived hazards. Questions are posed to stimulate consideration of this area

Charged Rotating Black Holes in Equilibrium

Axially symmetric, stationary solutions of the Einstein-Maxwell equations with disconnected event horizon are studied by developing a method of explicit integration of the corresponding boundary-value problem. This problem is reduced to non-leaner system of algebraic equations which gives relations between the masses, the angular momenta, the angular velocities, the charges, the distance parameters, the values of the electromagnetic field potential at the horizon and at the symmetry axis. A found solution of this system for the case of two charged non-rotating black holes shows that in general the total mass depends on the distance between black holes. Two-Killing reduction procedure of the Einstein-Maxwell equations is also discussed.Comment: LaTeX 2.09, no figures, 15 pages, v2, references added, introduction section slightly modified; v3, grammar errors correcte

Quantum Sensor Miniaturization

The classical bound on image resolution defined by the Rayleigh limit can be beaten by exploiting the properties of quantum mechanical entanglement. If entangled photons are used as signal states, the best possible resolution is instead given by the Heisenberg limit, an improvement proportional to the number of entangled photons in the signal. In this paper we present a novel application of entanglement by showing that the resolution obtained by an imaging system utilizing separable photons can be achieved by an imaging system making use of entangled photons, but with the advantage of a smaller aperture, thus resulting in a smaller and lighter system. This can be especially valuable in satellite imaging where weight and size play a vital role.Comment: 3 pages, 1 figure. Accepted for publication in Photonics Technology Letter

Emergence of Periodic Structure from Maximizing the Lifetime of a Bound State Coupled to Radiation

Consider a system governed by the time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation in its ground state. When subjected to weak (size $\epsilon$) parametric forcing by an "ionizing field" (time-varying), the state decays with advancing time due to coupling of the bound state to radiation modes. The decay-rate of this metastable state is governed by {\it Fermi's Golden Rule}, $\Gamma[V]$, which depends on the potential $V$ and the details of the forcing. We pose the potential design problem: find $V_{opt}$ which minimizes $\Gamma[V]$ (maximizes the lifetime of the state) over an admissible class of potentials with fixed spatial support. We formulate this problem as a constrained optimization problem and prove that an admissible optimal solution exists. Then, using quasi-Newton methods, we compute locally optimal potentials. These have the structure of a truncated periodic potential with a localized defect. In contrast to optimal structures for other spectral optimization problems, our optimizing potentials appear to be interior points of the constraint set and to be smooth. The multi-scale structures that emerge incorporate the physical mechanisms of energy confinement via material contrast and interference effects. An analysis of locally optimal potentials reveals local optimality is attained via two mechanisms: (i) decreasing the density of states near a resonant frequency in the continuum and (ii) tuning the oscillations of extended states to make $\Gamma[V]$, an oscillatory integral, small. Our approach achieves lifetimes, $\sim (\epsilon^2\Gamma[V])^{-1}$, for locally optimal potentials with $\Gamma^{-1}\sim\mathcal{O}(10^{9})$ as compared with $\Gamma^{-1}\sim \mathcal{O}(10^{2})$ for a typical potential. Finally, we explore the performance of optimal potentials via simulations of the time-evolution.Comment: 33 pages, 6 figure

Observation of B_s Production at the Y(5S) Resonance

Using the CLEO detector at the Cornell Electron Storage Ring, we have observed the B_s meson in e^+e^- annihilation at the Υ(5S) resonance. We find 14 candidates consistent with B_s decays into final states with a J/ψ or a D_s^((*)-). The probability that we have observed a background fluctuation is less than 8×10^(-10). We have established that at the energy of the Υ(5S) resonance B_s production proceeds predominantly through the creation of B_s^*B̅ _s^* pairs. We find σ(e^+e^-→B^s^*B̅ ^*)=[0.11_(-0.03)^(+0.04)(stat)±0.02(syst)]  nb, and set the following limits: σ(e^+e^-→B_sB̅ _s)/σ(e^+e^-→B_s^*B̅ _s^*)<0.16 and [σ(e^+e^-→B_sB̅ _s^*)+σ(e^+e^-→B_s*B̅ _s)]/σ(e^+e^-→B_s*B̅ _s^*)<0.16 (90% C.L.). The mass of the B_s^* meson is measured to be M_(B_s^*=[5.414±0.001(stat)±0.003(syst)]  GeV/c^2

Implementation of the Quantum Fourier Transform

The quantum Fourier transform (QFT) has been implemented on a three bit nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) quantum computer, providing a first step towards the realization of Shor's factoring and other quantum algorithms. Implementation of the QFT is presented with fidelity measures, and state tomography. Experimentally realizing the QFT is a clear demonstration of NMR's ability to control quantum systems.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figure

Fidelity Decay as an Efficient Indicator of Quantum Chaos

Recent work has connected the type of fidelity decay in perturbed quantum models to the presence of chaos in the associated classical models. We demonstrate that a system's rate of fidelity decay under repeated perturbations may be measured efficiently on a quantum information processor, and analyze the conditions under which this indicator is a reliable probe of quantum chaos and related statistical properties of the unperturbed system. The type and rate of the decay are not dependent on the eigenvalue statistics of the unperturbed system, but depend on the system's eigenvector statistics in the eigenbasis of the perturbation operator. For random eigenvector statistics the decay is exponential with a rate fixed precisely by the variance of the perturbation's energy spectrum. Hence, even classically regular models can exhibit an exponential fidelity decay under generic quantum perturbations. These results clarify which perturbations can distinguish classically regular and chaotic quantum systems.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, LaTeX; published version (revised introduction and discussion

Entanglement Generation of Nearly-Random Operators

We study the entanglement generation of operators whose statistical properties approach those of random matrices but are restricted in some way. These include interpolating ensemble matrices, where the interval of the independent random parameters are restricted, pseudo-random operators, where there are far fewer random parameters than required for random matrices, and quantum chaotic evolution. Restricting randomness in different ways allows us to probe connections between entanglement and randomness. We comment on which properties affect entanglement generation and discuss ways of efficiently producing random states on a quantum computer.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, partially supersedes quant-ph/040505

The Lattice Schwinger Model: Confinement, Anomalies, Chiral Fermions and All That

In order to better understand what to expect from numerical CORE computations for two-dimensional massless QED (the Schwinger model) we wish to obtain some analytic control over the approach to the continuum limit for various choices of fermion derivative. To this end we study the Hamiltonian formulation of the lattice Schwinger model (i.e., the theory defined on the spatial lattice with continuous time) in $A_0=0$ gauge. We begin with a discussion of the solution of the Hamilton equations of motion in the continuum, we then parallel the derivation of the continuum solution within the lattice framework for a range of fermion derivatives. The equations of motion for the Fourier transform of the lattice charge density operator show explicitly why it is a regulated version of this operator which corresponds to the point-split operator of the continuum theory and the sense in which the regulated lattice operator can be treated as a Bose field. The same formulas explicitly exhibit operators whose matrix elements measure the lack of approach to the continuum physics. We show that both chirality violating Wilson-type and chirality preserving SLAC-type derivatives correctly reproduce the continuum theory and show that there is a clear connection between the strong and weak coupling limits of a theory based upon a generalized SLAC-type derivative.Comment: 27 pages, 3 figures, revte

On Unitary Evolution of a Massless Scalar Field In A Schwarzschild Background: Hawking Radiation and the Information Paradox

We develop a Hamiltonian formalism which can be used to discuss the physics of a massless scalar field in a gravitational background of a Schwarzschild black hole. Using this formalism we show that the time evolution of the system is unitary and yet all known results such as the existence of Hawking radiation can be readily understood. We then point out that the Hamiltonian formalism leads to interesting observations about black hole entropy and the information paradox.Comment: 45 pages, revte