Geometric measure of quantum discord and the geometry of a class of two-qubit states

We investigate the geometric picture of the level surfaces of quantum entanglement and geometric measure of quantum discord (GMQD) of a class of X-states, respectively. This pictorial approach provides us a direct understanding of the structure of entanglement and GMQD. The dynamic evolution of GMQD under two typical kinds of quantum decoherence channels is also investigated. It is shown that there exists a class of initial states for which the GMQD is not destroyed by decoherence in a finite time interval. Furthermore, we establish a factorization law between the initial and final GMQD, which allows us to infer the evolution of entanglement under the influences of the environment.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, comments are welcom

Correlation between halo coronal mass ejections and solar surface activity

We survey all the coronal mass ejections (CMEs) observed by the Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph Experiment (LASCO) aboard the Solar & Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) in the interval from 1997 to 2001, and select 197 frontside halo CMEs whose associated near-surface activity could be clearly identified from SOHO EUV Imaging Telescope (EIT) and other space-borne and ground-based observations. A statistical analysis has been made with the emphasis on the correlation between CMEs and solar surface activity.
We have found in our sample that all the CMEs were accompanied by local brightening in the CME source regions in EIT and/or Hα images. However, if we only classify the events with a brightening increase more than 50% above the quiet background as flares, as measured from EIT data, approximately 88% of the earth-directed CMEs are associated with flares and more than 94% are associated with eruptive filaments. With regard to the locations of CME source regions, there are about 79% CMEs initiating from active regions, while only 21% originate outside active regions. We evaluate the symmetry between CMEs and associated solar surface activity in spatial distributions. We find that in about half the events the surface activity is asymmetric with respect to the CME. For the flares having GOES X-ray records in this study, allowing for the uncertainties specified by the data cadence, 59% of the CME initiations seem to precede the flare onset in the CME source regions, while 41% are preceded by flare onsets. The statistical correlation seems to suggest that CMEs are intrinsically related to surface activity

Generation of Long-Term Stable Squeezed Vacuum States Using Dither-Locking Technique

We report the generation of long-term stable squeezed vacuum states at 1064 nm using a degenerate optical parametric amplifier (DOPA) with a periodically poled KTiOPO4 crystal (PPKTP). The OPA is pumped by a 532 nm light produced by frequency doubling the fundamental light with a bow-tie enhancement second harmonic generator (SHG). When the DOPA and relative phases are locked using a dither-locking method, the squeezed vacuum states are stably measured over 2 h at 11 MHz. The highly compact and simple squeezed light source is suitable for applications in quantum optics experiments

Estimation of Soil Shear Strength Indicators Using Soil Physical Properties of Paddy Soils in the Plastic State

Saturated soil shear strength is a primary factor that reflects the driving resistance of agricultural machinery in paddy soils. The determination of soil shear strength indicators, such as cohesion and internal frictional angle, is crucial to improve the walking efficiency of agricultural machinery in paddy soils. However, the measurement of these indicators is often costly and time-consuming. Soil moisture content, density, and clay content are crucial factors that affect the cohesion and internal friction angle, while very limited studies have been performed to assess the interactive effects of the three factors on soil shear characteristics, especially on paddy soils. In this study, eight soil samples were taken from eight paddy fields in Southeastern China, and the central composition rotatable design was used to classify the soil samples into five levels based on different clay content (X1), moisture content (X2), and density (X3). The direct shear tests were carried out indoors on the remolded paddy soil using a self-made shear characteristic measuring device. Then, both individual and interactive effects of X1, X2, and X3 on soil cohesion and internal friction angles on paddy soils were systematically investigated and analyzed using the regression analysis method in the data processing software Design-Expert. Our results indicated that the effects of the three environmental factors on soil cohesion were in the order of X1 > X2 > X3, while the order was X2 > X3 > X1 for the impact on internal friction angle. The interactive effects were in the order of X1X2 > X1X3 > X2X3 for cohesion and X1X2 > X2X3 > X1X3 for internal friction angle. Two prediction models were successfully established to quantify the soil cohesion and internal friction angle as affected by soil physical properties, and the coefficient of determination (R2) was 0.91 and 0.89 for the two equations, respectively. The model validations using new soil samples suggested that the models were capable of predicting the shear characteristic parameters under different physical parameters effectively, with errors between predicted and measured soil shear strength indicators within 15% and relative root mean square error less than 11%

Superplasticity, flow and fracture mechanism in an Al-12.7SI-0.7Mg alloy

The superplastic behavior of an Al–12.7mass%Si–0.7mass%Mg alloy was investigated under different conditions. Reasonable superplastic elongations were achieved in the fine-grained (9.1 ?m) Al–Si–Mg alloy at temperatures ranging from 733 to 793 K at initial strain rates ranging from 1.67×10–4 to 1.67×10–3 s?1. A maximum elongation to failure of 379% was demonstrated with a strain rate sensitivity, m, of 0.52 and an activation energy for flow, Q, of 156.7 KJ/mol at 793 K at an initial strain rate of 1.67×10–4 s?1, which is close to the lattice diffusion activation energy of aluminum. The dislocation activity within Al grains indicated that intragranular slip is the accommodation mechanism of grain boundary sliding. EBSD (Electron Backscatter Diffraction) results revealed that most grain boundaries were high angle boundaries and therefore indicated that boundary sliding and grain rotation occurred during deformation. A deformation mechanism map was plotted for the Al–Si–Mg alloy at 793 K and it is shown that the experimental datum points are in excellent agreement with the predictions of the map. Most cavities were formed around silicon particles and the cavity formation mechanism was proposed. The observation on the fracture surface revealed the presence of filaments. The filament quantity or density increased with increasing testing temperature, which can be interpreted by the transition of dislocation viscous glide creep to grain boundary sliding mechanism at elevated temperatures. The formation of filaments was related to the deformation mechanisms and the lattice diffusion at elevated temperatures. The superplastic fracture in the Al–Si–Mg alloy exhibited a diffuse necking and was a pseudo-brittle fracture. The fracture mechanism was intergranular fracture