1,518 research outputs found
Three candidate election strategy
The probability of a given candidate winning a future election is worked out
in closed form as a function of (i) the current support rates for each
candidate, (ii) the relative positioning of the candidates within the political
spectrum, (iii) the time left to the election, and (iv) the rate at which noisy
information is revealed to the electorate from now to the election day, when
there are three or more candidates. It is shown, in particular, that the
optimal strategy for controlling information can be intricate and nontrivial,
in contrast to a two-candidate race. A surprising finding is that for a
candidate taking the centre ground in an electoral competition among a
polarised electorate, certain strategies are fatal in that the resulting
winning probability for that candidate vanishes identically.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figures, version to appear in the Royal Society Open
Scienc
Bias and angular dependence of spin-transfer torque in magnetic tunnel junctions
We use spin-transfer-driven ferromagnetic resonance (ST-FMR) to measure the
spin-transfer torque vector T in MgO-based magnetic tunnel junctions as a
function of the offset angle between the magnetic moments of the electrodes and
as a function of bias, V. We explain the conflicting conclusions of two
previous experiments by accounting for additional terms that contribute to the
ST-FMR signal at large |V|. Including the additional terms gives us improved
precision in the determination of T(V), allowing us to distinguish among
competing predictions. We determine that the in-plane component of has a weak
but non-zero dependence on bias, varying by 30-35% over the bias range where
the measurements are accurate, and that the perpendicular component can be
large enough to be technologically significant. We also make comparisons to
other experimental techniques that have been used to try to measure T(V).Comment: 30 pages, 8 figures. Expanded with additional data and discussion. In
press at PR
Entanglement-assisted tomography of a quantum target
We study the efficiency of quantum tomographic reconstruction where the
system under investigation (quantum target) is indirectly monitored by looking
at the state of a quantum probe that has been scattered off the target. In
particular we focus on the state tomography of a qubit through a
one-dimensional scattering of a probe qubit, with a Heisenberg-type
interaction. Via direct evaluation of the associated quantum Cram\'{e}r-Rao
bounds, we compare the accuracy efficiency that one can get by adopting
entanglement-assisted strategies with that achievable when entanglement
resources are not available. Even though sub-shot noise accuracy levels are not
attainable, we show that quantum correlations play a significant role in the
estimation. A comparison with the accuracy levels obtainable by direct
estimation (not through a probe) of the quantum target is also performed.Comment: 22 pages, 9 figure
Purification through Zeno-like Measurements
A series of frequent measurements on a quantum system (Zeno-like
measurements) is shown to result in the ``purification'' of another quantum
system in interaction with the former. Even though the measurements are
performed on the former system, their effect drives the latter into a pure
state, irrespectively of its initial (mixed) state, provided certain conditions
are satisfied.Comment: REVTeX4, 4 pages, 1 figure; to be published in Phys. Rev. Lett.
(2003
Parallel pumping of magnetic vortex gyrations in spin-torque nano-oscillators
We experimentally demonstrate that large magnetic vortex oscillations can be
parametrically excited in a magnetic tunnel junction by the injection of
radio-frequency (rf) currents at twice the natural frequency of the gyrotropic
vortex core motion. The mechanism of excitation is based on the parallel
pumping of vortex motion by the rf orthoradial field generated by the injected
current. Theoretical analysis shows that experimental results can be
interpreted as the manifestation of parametric amplification when rf current is
small, and of parametric instability when rf current is above a certain
threshold. By taking into account the energy nonlinearities, we succeed to
describe the amplitude saturation of vortex oscillations as well as the
coexistence of stable regimes.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Fermi-LAT and Suzaku Observations of the Radio Galaxy Centaurus B
Centaurus B is a nearby radio galaxy positioned in the Southern hemisphere
close to the Galactic plane. Here we present a detailed analysis of about 43
months of accumulated Fermi-LAT data of the gamma-ray counterpart of the source
initially reported in the 2nd Fermi-LAT catalog, and of newly acquired Suzaku
X-ray data. We confirm its detection at GeV photon energies, and analyze the
extension and variability of the gamma-ray source in the LAT dataset, in which
it appears as a steady gamma-ray emitter. The X-ray core of Centaurus B is
detected as a bright source of a continuum radiation. We do not detect however
any diffuse X-ray emission from the known radio lobes, with the provided upper
limit only marginally consistent with the previously claimed ASCA flux. Two
scenarios that connect the X-ray and gamma-ray properties are considered. In
the first one, we assume that the diffuse non-thermal X-ray emission component
is not significantly below the derived Suzaku upper limit. In this case,
modeling the inverse-Compton emission shows that the observed gamma-ray flux of
the source may in principle be produced within the lobes. This association
would imply that efficient in-situ acceleration of the radiating electrons is
occurring and that the lobes are dominated by the pressure from the
relativistic particles. In the second scenario, with the diffuse X-ray emission
well below the Suzaku upper limits, the lobes in the system are instead
dominated by the magnetic pressure. In this case, the observed gamma-ray flux
is not likely to be produced within the lobes, but instead within the nuclear
parts of the jet. By means of synchrotron self-Compton modeling we show that
this possibility could be consistent with the broad-band data collected for the
unresolved core of Centaurus B, including the newly derived Suzaku spectrum.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A. 11 page
Influence of dissipation on the extraction of quantum states via repeated measurements
A quantum system put in interaction with another one that is repeatedly
measured is subject to a non-unitary dynamics, through which it is possible to
extract subspaces. This key idea has been exploited to propose schemes aimed at
the generation of pure quantum states (purification). All such schemes have so
far been considered in the ideal situations of isolated systems. In this paper,
we analyze the influence of non-negligible interactions with environment during
the extraction process, with the scope of investigating the possibility of
purifying the state of a system in spite of the sources of dissipation. A
general framework is presented and a paradigmatic example consisting of two
interacting spins immersed in a bosonic bath is studied. The effectiveness of
the purification scheme is discussed in terms of purity for different values of
the relevant parameters and in connection with the bath temperature.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure
Vertical current induced domain wall motion in MgO-based magnetic tunnel junction with low current densities
Shifting electrically a magnetic domain wall (DW) by the spin transfer
mechanism is one of the future ways foreseen for the switching of spintronic
memories or registers. The classical geometries where the current is injected
in the plane of the magnetic layers suffer from a poor efficiency of the
intrinsic torques acting on the DWs. A way to circumvent this problem is to use
vertical current injection. In that case, theoretical calculations attribute
the microscopic origin of DW displacements to the out-of-plane (field-like)
spin transfer torque. Here we report experiments in which we controllably
displace a DW in the planar electrode of a magnetic tunnel junction by vertical
current injection. Our measurements confirm the major role of the out-of-plane
spin torque for DW motion, and allow to quantify this term precisely. The
involved current densities are about 100 times smaller than the one commonly
observed with in-plane currents. Step by step resistance switching of the
magnetic tunnel junction opens a new way for the realization of spintronic
memristive devices
Chandra detection of diffuse X-ray emission from the globular cluster Terzan 5
Terzan 5, a globular cluster (GC) prominent in mass and population of compact
objects, is searched for diffuse X-ray emission, as proposed by several models.
We analyzed the data of an archival Chandra observation of Terzan 5 to search
for extended diffuse X-ray emission outside the half-mass radius of the GC. We
removed detected point sources from the data to extract spectra from diffuse
regions around Terzan 5. The Galactic background emission was modeled by a
2-temperature thermal component, which is typical for Galactic diffuse
emission.
We detected significant diffuse excess emission above the particle background
level from the whole field-of-view. The surface brightness appears to be peaked
at the GC center and decreases smoothly outwards. After the subtraction of
particle and Galactic background, the excess spectrum of the diffuse emission
between the half-mass radius and 3' can be described by a power-law model with
photon index = 0.90.5 and a surface flux of F =
(1.170.16) 10 erg s cm sr in the 1--7 keV
band. We estimated the contribution from unresolved point sources to the
observed excess to be negligible. The observations suggest that a purely
thermal origin of the emission is less likely than a non-thermal scenario.
However, from simple modeling we cannot identify a clearly preferred scenario.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication by A&
Spin Diode Based on Fe/MgO Double Tunnel Junction
We demonstrate a spin diode consisting of a semiconductor free nano-scale
Fe/MgO-based double tunnel junction. The device exhibits a near perfect
spin-valve effect combined with a strong diode effect. The mechanism consistent
with our data is resonant tunneling through discrete states in the middle
ferromagnetic layer sandwiched by tunnel barriers of different spin-dependent
transparency. The observed magneto-resistance is record high, ~4000%,
essentially making the structure an on/off spin-switch. This, combined with the
strong diode effect, ~100, offers a new device that should be promising for
such technologies as magnetic random access memory and re-programmable logic.Comment: 14 page
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