Progressor: Personalized visual access to programming problems

This paper presents Progressor, a visualization of open student models intended to increase the student's motivation to progress on educational content. The system visualizes not only the user's own model, but also the peers' models. It allows sorting the peers' models using a number of criteria, including the overall progress and the progress on a specific topic. Also, in this paper we present results of a classroom study confirming our hypothesis that by showing a student the peers' models and ranking them by progress it is possible to increase the student's motivation to compete and progress in e-learning systems. © 2011 IEEE

Optical production and detection of dark matter candidates

The PVLAS collaboration is at present running, at the Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro of I.N.F.N., Padova, Italy, a very sensitive optical ellipsometer capable of measuring the small rotations or ellipticities which can be acquired by a linearly polarized laser beam propagating in vacuum through a transverse magnetic feld (vacuum magnetic birefringence). The apparatus will also be able to set new limits on mass and coupling constant of light scalar/pseudoscalar particles coupling to two photons by both producing and detecting the hypothetical particles. The axion, introduced to explain parity conservation in strong interactions, is an example of this class of particles, all of which are considered possible dark matter candidates. The PVLAS apparatus consists of a very high finesse (> 140000), 6.4 m long, Fabry-Perot cavity immersed in an intense dipolar magnetic field (~6.5 T). A linearly polarized laser beam is frequency locked to the cavity and analysed, using a heterodyne technique, for rotation and/or ellipticity acquired within the magnetic field.Comment: presented at "Frontier Detectors for Frontier Physics - 8th Pisa Meeting on Advanced Detectors - May 21-27, 2000" to appear in: Nucl.Instr. and Meth.

Open social student modeling: Visualizing student models with parallel introspectiveviews

This paper explores a social extension of open student modeling that we call open social student modeling. We present a specific implementation of this approach that uses parallel IntrospectiveViews to visualize models representing student progress with QuizJET parameterized self-assessment questions for Java programming. The interface allows visualizing not only the student's own model, but also displaying parallel views on the models of their peers and the cumulative model of the entire class or group. The system was evaluated in a semester-long classroom study. While the use of the system was non-mandatory, the parallel IntrospectiveViews interface caused an increase in all of the usage parameters in comparison to a regular portal-based access, which allowed the student to achieve a higher success rate in answering the questions. The collected data offer some evidence that a combination of traditional personalized guidance with social guidance was more effective than personalized guidance alone. © 2011 Springer-Verlag

Classification of dynamical Lie algebras for translation-invariant 2-local spin systems in one dimension

Much is understood about 1-dimensional spin chains in terms of entanglement properties, physical phases, and integrability. However, the Lie algebraic properties of the Hamiltonians describing these systems remain largely unexplored. In this work, we provide a classification of all Lie algebras generated by translation-invariant 2-local spin chain Hamiltonians, or so-called dynamical Lie algebras. We consider chains with open and periodic boundary conditions and find 17 unique dynamical Lie algebras. Our classification covers some well-known models such as the transverse-field Ising model and the Heisenberg chain, and we also find more exotic classes of Hamiltonians that cannot be identified easily. In addition to the closed and open spin chains, we consider systems with a fully connected topology, which may be relevant for quantum machine learning approaches. We discuss the practical implications of our work in the context of quantum control, variational quantum computing, and the spin chain literature

Four-wave interaction in gas and vacuum. Definition of a third order nonlinear effective susceptibility in vacuum

Semiclassical methods are used to study the nonlinear interaction of light in vacuum in the context of four wave mixing. This study is motivated by a desire to investigate the possibility of using recently developed powerful ultrashort (femtosecond) laser pulses to demonstrate the existence of nonlinear effects in vacuum, predicted by quantum electrodynamics (QED). An approach, similar to classical nonlinear optics in a medium, is developed in this article. A third order nonlinear effective susceptibility of vacuum is then introduced .Comment: 14 pages, 3 figure

Muon Capture on the Proton and Deuteron

By measuring the lifetime of the negative muon in pure protium (hydrogen-1), the MuCap experiment determines the rate of muon capture on the proton, from which the proton's pseudoscalar coupling g_p may be inferred. A precision of 15% for g_p has been published; this is a step along the way to a goal of 7%. This coupling can be calculated precisely from heavy baryon chiral perturbation theory and therefore permits a test of QCD's chiral symmetry. Meanwhile, the MuSun experiment is in its final design stage; it will measure the rate of muon capture on the deuteron using a similar technique. This process can be related through pionless effective field theory and chiral perturbation theory to other two-nucleon reactions of astrophysical interest, including proton-proton fusion and deuteron breakup.Comment: Submitted to the proceedings of the 2007 Advanced Studies Institute on Symmetries and Spin (SPIN-Praha-2007

Spectral Difference Equations Satisfied by KP Soliton Wavefunctions

The Baker-Akhiezer (wave) functions corresponding to soliton solutions of the KP hierarchy are shown to satisfy eigenvalue equations for a commutative ring of translational operators in the spectral parameter. In the rational limit, these translational operators converge to the differential operators in the spectral parameter previously discussed as part of the theory of "bispectrality". Consequently, these translational operators can be seen as demonstrating a form of bispectrality for the non-rational solitons as well.Comment: to appear in "Inverse Problems

Modules-at-infinity for quantum vertex algebras

This is a sequel to \cite{li-qva1} and \cite{li-qva2} in a series to study vertex algebra-like structures arising from various algebras such as quantum affine algebras and Yangians. In this paper, we study two versions of the double Yangian $DY_{\hbar}(sl_{2})$, denoted by $DY_{q}(sl_{2})$ and $DY_{q}^{\infty}(sl_{2})$ with $q$ a nonzero complex number. For each nonzero complex number $q$, we construct a quantum vertex algebra $V_{q}$ and prove that every $DY_{q}(sl_{2})$-module is naturally a $V_{q}$-module. We also show that $DY_{q}^{\infty}(sl_{2})$-modules are what we call $V_{q}$-modules-at-infinity. To achieve this goal, we study what we call $\S$-local subsets and quasi-local subsets of \Hom (W,W((x^{-1}))) for any vector space $W$, and we prove that any $\S$-local subset generates a (weak) quantum vertex algebra and that any quasi-local subset generates a vertex algebra with $W$ as a (left) quasi module-at-infinity. Using this result we associate the Lie algebra of pseudo-differential operators on the circle with vertex algebras in terms of quasi modules-at-infinity.Comment: Latex, 48 page

Non-Abelian adiabatic statistics and Hall viscosity in quantum Hall states and p_x+ip_y paired superfluids

Many trial wavefunctions for fractional quantum Hall states in a single Landau level are given by functions called conformal blocks, taken from some conformal field theory. Also, wavefunctions for certain paired states of fermions in two dimensions, such as p_x+ip_y states, reduce to such a form at long distances. Here we investigate the adiabatic transport of such many-particle trial wavefunctions using methods from two-dimensional field theory. One context for this is to calculate the statistics of widely-separated quasiholes, which has been predicted to be non-Abelian in a variety of cases. The Berry phase or matrix (holonomy) resulting from adiabatic transport around a closed loop in parameter space is the same as the effect of analytic continuation around the same loop with the particle coordinates held fixed (monodromy), provided the trial functions are orthonormal and holomorphic in the parameters so that the Berry vector potential (or connection) vanishes. We show that this is the case (up to a simple area term) for paired states (including the Moore-Read quantum Hall state), and present general conditions for it to hold for other trial states (such as the Read-Rezayi series). We argue that trial states based on a non-unitary conformal field theory do not describe a gapped topological phase, at least in many cases. By considering adiabatic variation of the aspect ratio of the torus, we calculate the Hall viscosity, a non-dissipative viscosity coefficient analogous to Hall conductivity, for paired states, Laughlin states, and more general quantum Hall states. Hall viscosity is an invariant within a topological phase, and is generally proportional to the "conformal spin density" in the ground state.Comment: 44 pages, RevTeX; v2 minor changes; v3 typos corrected, three small addition

Probing For New Physics and Detecting non linear vacuum QED effects using gravitational wave interferometer antennas

Low energy non linear QED effects in vacuum have been predicted since 1936 and have been subject of research for many decades. Two main schemes have been proposed for such a 'first' detection: measurements of ellipticity acquired by a linearly polarized beam of light passing through a magnetic field and direct light-light scattering. The study of the propagation of light through an external field can also be used to probe for new physics such as the existence of axion-like particles and millicharged particles. Their existence in nature would cause the index of refraction of vacuum to be different from unity in the presence of an external field and dependent of the polarization direction of the light propagating. The major achievement of reaching the project sensitivities in gravitational wave interferometers such as LIGO an VIRGO has opened the possibility of using such instruments for the detection of QED corrections in electrodynamics and for probing new physics at very low energies. In this paper we discuss the difference between direct birefringence measurements and index of refraction measurements. We propose an almost parasitic implementation of an external magnetic field along the arms of the VIRGO interferometer and discuss the advantage of this choice in comparison to a previously proposed configuration based on shorter prototype interferometers which we believe is inadequate. Considering the design sensitivity in the strain, for the near future VIRGO+ interferometer, of $h<2\cdot10^{-23} \frac{1}{\sqrt{\rm Hz}}$ in the range 40 Hz $- 400$ Hz leads to a variable dipole magnet configuration at a frequency above 20 Hz such that $B^{2}D \ge 13000$ T$^{2}$m/$\sqrt{\rm Hz}$ for a `first' vacuum non linear QED detection