Non-Markovian dynamics in a spin star system: The failure of thermalization

In most cases, a small system weakly interacting with a thermal bath will finally reach the thermal state with the temperature of the bath. We show that this intuitive picture is not always true by a spin star model where non-Markov effect predominates in the whole dynamical process. The spin star system consists a central spin homogeneously interacting with an ensemble of identical noninteracting spins. We find that the correlation time of the bath is infinite, which implies that the bath has a perfect memory, and that the dynamical evolution of the central spin must be non- Markovian. A direct consequence is that the final state of the central spin is not the thermal state equilibrium with the bath, but a steady state which depends on its initial state.Comment: 8 page

Exact Master Equation and Non-Markovian Decoherence for Quantum Dot Quantum Computing

In this article, we report the recent progress on decoherence dynamics of electrons in quantum dot quantum computing systems using the exact master equation we derived recently based on the Feynman-Vernon influence functional approach. The exact master equation is valid for general nanostructure systems coupled to multi-reservoirs with arbitrary spectral densities, temperatures and biases. We take the double quantum dot charge qubit system as a specific example, and discuss in details the decoherence dynamics of the charge qubit under coherence controls. The decoherence dynamics risen from the entanglement between the system and the environment is mainly non-Markovian. We further discuss the decoherence of the double-dot charge qubit induced by quantum point contact (QPC) measurement where the master equation is re-derived using the Keldysh non-equilibrium Green function technique due to the non-linear coupling between the charge qubit and the QPC. The non-Markovian decoherence dynamics in the measurement processes is extensively discussed as well.Comment: 15 pages, Invited article for the special issue "Quantum Decoherence and Entanglement" in Quantum Inf. Proces

Lepton Flavor Violation in the SUSY-GUT Models with Lopsided Mass Matrix

The tiny neutrino masses measured in the neutrino oscillation experiments can be naturally explained by the supersymmetric see-saw mechanism. If the supersymmetry breaking is mediated by gravity, the see-saw models may predict observable lepton flavor violating effects. In this work, we investigate the lepton flavor violating process $\mu\to e\gamma$ in the kind of neutrino mass models based on the idea of the ``lopsided'' form of the charged lepton mass matrix. The constraints set by the muon anomalous magnetic moment are taken into account. We find the present models generally predict a much larger branching ratio of $\mu\to e\gamma$ than the experimental limit. Conversely, this process may give strong constraint on the lepton flavor structure. Following this constraint we then find a new kind of the charged lepton mass matrix. The feature of the structure is that both the elements between the 2-3 and 1-3 generations are ``lopsided''. This structure produces a very small 1-3 mixing and a large 1-2 mixing in the charged lepton sector, which naturally leads to small $Br(\mu\to e\gamma)$ and the LMA solution for the solar neutrino problem.Comment: 24 pages, 8 figure

Magnetoluminescence

Pulsar Wind Nebulae, Blazars, Gamma Ray Bursts and Magnetars all contain regions where the electromagnetic energy density greatly exceeds the plasma energy density. These sources exhibit dramatic flaring activity where the electromagnetic energy distributed over large volumes, appears to be converted efficiently into high energy particles and gamma-rays. We call this general process magnetoluminescence. Global requirements on the underlying, extreme particle acceleration processes are described and the likely importance of relativistic beaming in enhancing the observed radiation from a flare is emphasized. Recent research on fluid descriptions of unstable electromagnetic configurations are summarized and progress on the associated kinetic simulations that are needed to account for the acceleration and radiation is discussed. Future observational, simulation and experimental opportunities are briefly summarized.Comment: To appear in "Jets and Winds in Pulsar Wind Nebulae, Gamma-ray Bursts and Blazars: Physics of Extreme Energy Release" of the Space Science Reviews serie

Slepton Flavor Nonuniversality, the Muon EDM and its Proposed sensitive Search at Brookhaven

We analyze the electric dipole moment of the electron ($d_e$), of the neutron ($d_n$) and of the muon ($d_{\mu}$) using the cancellation mechanism in the presence of nonuniversalities of the soft breaking parameters. It is shown that the nonuniversalities in the slepton sector produce a strong violation of the scaling relation $d_{\mu}/d_e\simeq m_{\mu}/m_e$ in the cancellation region. An analysis of $d_e, d_n$ and $d_{\mu}$ under the constraints of the current experimental limits on $d_e$ and $d_n$ and under the constraints of the recent Brookhaven result on $g_{\mu}-2$ shows that in the non-scaling region $d_{\mu}$ can be as large as ($10^{-24}-10^{-23}$)ecm and thus within reach of the recently proposed Brookhaven experiment for a sensitive search for $d_{\mu}$ at the level of $10^{-24}$ ecm.Comment: 24 pages, Latex, including 5 figures with additional reference

Over-expression of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 3b protein induces both apoptosis and necrosis in Vero E6 cells

The genome of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus encodes for eight accessory viral proteins with no known homologues in other coronaviruses. One of these is the 3b protein, which is encoded by the second open reading frame in subgenomic RNA 3 and contains 154 amino acids. Here, a detailed time-course study was performed to compare the apoptosis and necrosis profiles induced by full-length 3b, a 3b mutant that was deleted by 30 amino acids from the C terminus (3b 124-154) and the classical apoptosis inducer, Bax. Our results showed that Vero E6 cells transfected with a construct for expressing 3b underwent necrosis as early as 6 h after transfection and underwent simultaneous necrosis and apoptosis at later time-points. At all the time-points analysed, the apoptosis induced by the expression of 3b was less than the level induced by Bax but the level of necrosis was comparable. The 3b 124-154 mutant behaves in a similar manner indicating that the localization of the 3b protein does not seems to be important for the cell-death pathways since full-length 3b is localized predominantly to the nucleolus, while the mutant is found to be concentrated in the peri-nuclear regions. To our knowledge, this is the first report of the induction of necrosis by a SARS-CoV protein.IS

Search for the Rare Decays J/Psi --> Ds- e+ nu_e, J/Psi --> D- e+ nu_e, and J/Psi --> D0bar e+ e-

We report on a search for the decays J/Psi --> Ds- e+ nu_e + c.c., J/Psi --> D- e+ nu_e + c.c., and J/Psi --> D0bar e+ e- + c.c. in a sample of 5.8 * 10^7 J/Psi events collected with the BESII detector at the BEPC. No excess of signal above background is observed, and 90% confidence level upper limits on the branching fractions are set: B(J/Psi --> Ds- e+ nu_e + c.c.)<4.8*10^-5, B(J/Psi --> D- e+ nu_e + c.c.) D0bar e+ e- + c.c.)<1.1*10^-5Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure

Direct Measurements of the Branching Fractions for D0→K−e+νeD^0 \to K^-e^+\nu_e and D0→π−e+νeD^0 \to \pi^-e^+\nu_e and Determinations of the Form Factors f+K(0)f_{+}^{K}(0) and f+π(0)f^{\pi}_{+}(0)

The absolute branching fractions for the decays $D^0 \to K^-e ^+\nu_e$ and $D^0 \to \pi^-e^+\nu_e$ are determined using $7584\pm 198 \pm 341$ singly tagged $\bar D^0$ sample from the data collected around 3.773 GeV with the BES-II detector at the BEPC. In the system recoiling against the singly tagged $\bar D^0$ meson, $104.0\pm 10.9$ events for $D^0 \to K^-e ^+\nu_e$ and $9.0 \pm 3.6$ events for $D^0 \to \pi^-e^+\nu_e$ decays are observed. Those yield the absolute branching fractions to be $BF(D^0 \to K^-e^+\nu_e)=(3.82 \pm 0.40\pm 0.27)$ and $BF(D^0 \to \pi^-e^+\nu_e)=(0.33 \pm 0.13\pm 0.03)$. The vector form factors are determined to be $|f^K_+(0)| = 0.78 \pm 0.04 \pm 0.03$ and $|f^{\pi}_+(0)| = 0.73 \pm 0.14 \pm 0.06$. The ratio of the two form factors is measured to be $|f^{\pi}_+(0)/f^K_+(0)|= 0.93 \pm 0.19 \pm 0.07$.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Study of J/psi decays to Lambda Lambdabar and Sigma0 Sigma0bar

The branching ratios and Angular distributions for J/psi decays to Lambda Lambdabar and Sigma0 Sigma0bar are measured using BESII 58 million J/psi.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure

Measurements of J/psi Decays into 2(pi+pi-)eta and 3(pi+pi-)eta

Based on a sample of 5.8X 10^7 J/psi events taken with the BESII detector, the branching fractions of J/psi--> 2(pi+pi-)eta and J/psi-->3(pi+pi-)eta are measured for the first time to be (2.26+-0.08+-0.27)X10^{-3} and (7.24+-0.96+-1.11)X10^{-4}, respectively.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure