How Much Does Money Matter in a Direct Democracy?

The fine-structure splitting of quantum confined InxGa1-x Nexcitons is investigated using polarization-sensitive photoluminescence spectroscopy. The majority of the studied emission lines exhibits mutually orthogonal fine-structure components split by 100-340 mu eV, as measured from the cleaved edge of the sample. The exciton and the biexciton reveal identical magnitudes but reversed sign of the energy splitting.Original Publication:Supaluck Amloy, Y T Chen, K F Karlsson, K H Chen, H C Hsu, C L Hsiao, L C Chen and Per-Olof Holtz, Polarization-resolved fine-structure splitting of zero-dimensional InxGa1-xN excitons, 2011, PHYSICAL REVIEW B, (83), 20, 201307.http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.83.201307Copyright: American Physical Societyhttp://www.aps.org

Polymers grafted to porous membranes

We study a single flexible chain molecule grafted to a membrane which has pores of size slightly larger than the monomer size. On both sides of the membrane there is the same solvent. When this solvent is good, i.e. when the polymer is described by a self avoiding walk, it can fairly easily penetrate the membrane, so that the average number of membrane crossings tends, for chain length $N\to\infty$, to a positive constant. The average numbers of monomers on either side of the membrane diverges in this limit, although their ratio becomes infinite. For a poor solvent, in contrast, the entire polymer is located, for large $N$, on one side of the membrane. For good and for theta solvents (ideal polymers) we find scaling laws, whose exponents can in the latter case be easily understood from the behaviour of random walks.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figure

Charmful Three-body Baryonic B decays

We study the charmful three-body baryonic B decays with $D^{(*)}$ or $J/\Psi$ in the final state. We explain the measured rates of $\bar B^0\to n\bar p D^{*+}$, $\bar B^0\to p\bar p D^{(*)0}$, and $B^-\to \Lambda \bar p J/\Psi$ and predict the branching fractions of $\bar B^0\to \Lambda\bar p D^{*+}$, $\bar B^0\to \Sigma^0\bar p D^{*+}$, $B^-\to\Lambda \bar p D^{0}$, and $B^-\to\Lambda \bar p D^{*0}$ to be of order $(1.2, 1.1, 1.1, 3.9)\times 10^{-5}$, respectively. They are readily accessible to the $B$ factories.Comment: 21 pages, 5 figures, version to appear in PR

Stretched Polymers in a Poor Solvent

Stretched polymers with attractive interaction are studied in two and three dimensions. They are described by biased self-avoiding random walks with nearest neighbour attraction. The bias corresponds to opposite forces applied to the first and last monomers. We show that both in $d=2$ and $d=3$ a phase transition occurs as this force is increased beyond a critical value, where the polymer changes from a collapsed globule to a stretched configuration. This transition is second order in $d=2$ and first order in $d=3$. For $d=2$ we predict the transition point quantitatively from properties of the unstretched polymer. This is not possible in $d=3$, but even there we can estimate the transition point precisely, and we can study the scaling at temperatures slightly below the collapse temperature of the unstretched polymer. We find very large finite size corrections which would make very difficult the estimate of the transition point from straightforward simulations.Comment: 10 pages, 16 figure

Experimental Studies of Low-field Landau Quantization in Two-dimensional Electron Systems in GaAs/AlGaAs Heterostructures

By applying a magnetic field perpendicular to GaAs/AlGaAs two-dimensional electron systems, we study the low-field Landau quantization when the thermal damping is reduced with decreasing the temperature. Magneto-oscillations following Shubnikov-de Haas (SdH) formula are observed even when their amplitudes are so large that the deviation to such a formula is expected. Our experimental results show the importance of the positive magneto-resistance to the extension of SdH formula under the damping induced by the disorder.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure

Quantum-Logic Gate between Two Optical Photons with an Average Efficiency above 40%

Optical qubits uniquely combine information transfer in optical fibers with a good processing capability and are therefore attractive tools for quantum technologies. A large challenge, however, is to overcome the low efficiency of two-qubit logic gates. The experimentally achieved efficiency in an optical controlled NOT (CNOT) gate reached approximately 11% in 2003 and has seen no increase since. Here we report on a new platform that was designed to surpass this long-standing record. The new scheme avoids inherently probabilistic protocols and, instead, combines aspects of two established quantum nonlinear systems: atom-cavity systems and Rydberg electromagnetically induced transparency. We demonstrate a CNOT gate between two optical photons with an average efficiency of 41.7(5)% at a postselected process fidelity of 81(2)%. Moreover, we extend the scheme to a CNOT gate with multiple target qubits and produce entangled states of presently up to five photons. All these achievements are promising and have the potential to advance optical quantum information processing in which almost all advanced protocols would profit from high-efficiency logic gates.Comment: In this revision, we extend the discussion of the efficiency in Sec. IV.C and we add models in appendices B, E, and L-

The key parameters controlling the photodesorption yield in interstellar CO ice analogs: Influence of ice deposition temperature and thickness

The overabundance of gas molecules in the coldest regions of space point to a non-thermal desorption process. Laboratory simulations show an efficient desorption of CO ice exposed to ultraviolet radiation, known as photodesorption, which decreases for increasing ice deposition temperature. However, the understanding of this abnormal phenomenon has remained elusive. In this work we show the same phenomenon, and in particular, a dramatic drop in the photodesorption yield is observed when the deposition temperature is 19 K and higher. Also the minimum ice thickness that accounts for a constant photodesorption yield of CO ice is deposition temperature dependent, an observation reported here for the first time. We propose that the key parameters that dominate the absorbed photon energy transfer in CO ice, and contribute to the measured photodesorption yields are the energy transfer length, single ice layer contributed desorption yield, and relative effective surface area. This set of parameters should be incorporated in astrophysical models that simulate photodesorption of the top CO-rich ice layer on icy dust populations with the size distribution which is ice thickness related.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure

Asymptotic Stability of the Relativistic Boltzmann Equation for the Soft Potentials

In this paper it is shown that unique solutions to the relativistic Boltzmann equation exist for all time and decay with any polynomial rate towards their steady state relativistic Maxwellian provided that the initial data starts out sufficiently close in $L^\infty_\ell$. If the initial data are continuous then so is the corresponding solution. We work in the case of a spatially periodic box. Conditions on the collision kernel are generic in the sense of (Dudy{\'n}ski and Ekiel-Je{\.z}ewska, Comm. Math. Phys., 1988); this resolves the open question of global existence for the soft potentials.Comment: 64 page