Dileptons from transport and hydrodynamical models

Transport and hydrodynamical models used to describe the expansion stage of a heavy-ion collision at the CERN SPS give different dilepton spectrum even if they are tuned to reproduce the observed hadron spectra. To understand the origin of this difference we compare the dilepton emission from transport and hydrodynamical models using similar initial states in both models. We find that the requirement of pion number conservation in a hydrodynamical model does not change the dilepton emission. Also the mass distribution from the transport model indicates faster cooling and longer lifetime of the fireball.Comment: 5 pages, 2 Postscript figures, contribution to the `International Workshop XXVIII on Gross Properties of Nuclei and Nuclear Excitations', Hirschegg, Austria, January 16-22 200

Quantum control of molecular rotation

The angular momentum of molecules, or, equivalently, their rotation in three-dimensional space, is ideally suited for quantum control. Molecular angular momentum is naturally quantized, time evolution is governed by a well-known Hamiltonian with only a few accurately known parameters, and transitions between rotational levels can be driven by external fields from various parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. Control over the rotational motion can be exerted in one-, two- and many-body scenarios, thereby allowing to probe Anderson localization, target stereoselectivity of bimolecular reactions, or encode quantum information, to name just a few examples. The corresponding approaches to quantum control are pursued within separate, and typically disjoint, subfields of physics, including ultrafast science, cold collisions, ultracold gases, quantum information science, and condensed matter physics. It is the purpose of this review to present the various control phenomena, which all rely on the same underlying physics, within a unified framework. To this end, we recall the Hamiltonian for free rotations, assuming the rigid rotor approximation to be valid, and summarize the different ways for a rotor to interact with external electromagnetic fields. These interactions can be exploited for control --- from achieving alignment, orientation, or laser cooling in a one-body framework, steering bimolecular collisions, or realizing a quantum computer or quantum simulator in the many-body setting.Comment: 52 pages, 11 figures, 607 reference

Dissipative Quantum Dynamics and Optimal Control using Iterative Time Ordering: An Application to Superconducting Qubits

We combine a quantum dynamical propagator that explicitly accounts for quantum mechanical time ordering with optimal control theory. After analyzing its performance with a simple model, we apply it to a superconducting circuit under so-called Pythagorean control. Breakdown of the rotating-wave approximation is the main source of the very strong time-dependence in this example. While the propagator that accounts for the time ordering in an iterative fashion proves its numerical efficiency for the dynamics of the superconducting circuit, its performance when combined with optimal control turns out to be rather sensitive to the strength of the time-dependence. We discuss the kind of quantum gate operations that the superconducting circuit can implement including their performance bounds in terms of fidelity and speed.Comment: 16 pages, 11 figure