From the Mendeleev periodic table to particle physics and back to the periodic table

We briefly describe in this paper the passage from Mendeleev's chemistry (1869) to atomic physics (in the 1900's), nuclear physics (in the 1932's) and particle physics (from 1953 to 2006). We show how the consideration of symmetries, largely used in physics since the end of the 1920's, gave rise to a new format of the periodic table in the 1970's. More specifically, this paper is concerned with the application of the group SO(4,2)xSU(2) to the periodic table of chemical elements. It is shown how the Madelung rule of the atomic shell model can be used for setting up a periodic table that can be further rationalized via the group SO(4,2)xSU(2) and some of its subgroups. Qualitative results are obtained from this nonstandard table.Comment: 15 pages; accepted for publication in Foundations of Chemistry (special issue to commemorate the one hundredth anniversary of the death of Mendeleev who died in 1907); version 2: 16 pages; some sentences added; acknowledgment and references added; misprints correcte

Miscellaneous Applications of Quons

This paper deals with quon algebras or deformed oscillator algebras, for which the deformation parameter is a root of unity. We motivate why such algebras are interesting for fractional supersymmetric quantum mechanics, angular momentum theory and quantum information. More precisely, quon algebras are used for (i) a realization of a generalized Weyl-Heisenberg algebra from which it is possible to associate a fractional supersymmetric dynamical system, (ii) a polar decomposition of SU2 and (iii) a construction of mutually unbiased bases in Hilbert spaces of prime dimension. We also briefly discuss (symmetric informationally complete) positive operator valued measures in the spirit of (iii)

Two-Photon Spectroscopy Between States of Opposite Parities

Magnetic- and electric-dipole two-photon absorption (MED-TPA), recently introduced as a new spectroscopic technique for studying transitions between states of opposite parities, is investigated from a theoretical point of view. A new approximation, referred to as {\it weak quasi-closure approximation}, is used together with symmetry adaptation techniques to calculate the transition amplitude between states having well-defined symmetry properties. Selection rules for MED-TPA are derived and compared to selection rules for parity-forbidden electric-dipole two-photon absorption (ED-TPA).Comment: 7 pages, Revtex File, to be published in Physical Review

Quantum Entanglement and Projective Ring Geometry

The paper explores the basic geometrical properties of the observables characterizing two-qubit systems by employing a novel projective ring geometric approach. After introducing the basic facts about quantum complementarity and maximal quantum entanglement in such systems, we demonstrate that the 15 × 15 multiplication table of the associated four-dimensional matrices exhibits a so-far-unnoticed geometrical structure that can be regarded as three pencils of lines in the projective plane of order two. In one of the pencils, which we call the kernel, the observables on two lines share a base of Bell states. In the complement of the kernel, the eight vertices/observables are joined by twelve lines which form the edges of a cube. A substantial part of the paper is devoted to showing that the nature of this geometry has much to do with the structure of the projective lines defined over the rings that are the direct product of n copies of the Galois field GF(2), with n = 2, 3 and 4

A Survey of Finite Algebraic Geometrical Structures Underlying Mutually Unbiased Quantum Measurements

The basic methods of constructing the sets of mutually unbiased bases in the Hilbert space of an arbitrary finite dimension are discussed and an emerging link between them is outlined. It is shown that these methods employ a wide range of important mathematical concepts like, e.g., Fourier transforms, Galois fields and rings, finite and related projective geometries, and entanglement, to mention a few. Some applications of the theory to quantum information tasks are also mentioned.Comment: 20 pages, 1 figure to appear in Foundations of Physics, Nov. 2006 two more references adde

Academic language socialisation in high school writing conferences

This study examines multilingual high school writers’ individual talk with their teachers in two advanced English language development classes to observe how such talk shapes linguistically diverse adolescents’ writing. Addressing adolescent writers’ language socialization through microethnographic discourse analysis, the author argues that teachers’ oral responses during writing conferences can either scaffold or deter students’ socialization into valued ways of using academic language for school writing. She suggests what forms of oral response provide scaffolding and what forms might limit multilingual adolescent learners’ academic literacy. Constructive interactions engaged students in dialogue about their writing, and students included content or phrasing from the interaction in their texts. Unhelpful interactions failed to foster students’ language development in observable ways. Although teachers attempted to scaffold ideas and language, they often did not guide students’ discovery of appropriate forms or points. These interactions represent restrictive academic language socialization: while some students did create academic texts, they learned little about academic language use

Novel Bound States Treatment of the Two Dimensional Schrodinger Equation with Pseudocentral Plus Multiparameter Noncentral Potential

By converting the rectangular basis potential V(x,y) into the form as V(r)+V(r, phi) described by the pseudo central plus noncentral potential, particular solutions of the two dimensional Schrodinger equation in plane-polar coordinates have been carried out through the analytic approaching technique of the Nikiforov and Uvarov (NUT). Both the exact bound state energy spectra and the corresponding bound state wavefunctions of the complete system are determined explicitly and in closed forms. Our presented results are identical to those of the previous works and they may also be useful for investigation and analysis of structural characteristics in a variety of quantum systemsComment: Published, 16 page

Galois Fields and Galois Rings Made Easy

International audienc

SU₂ Nonstandard Bases: Case of Mutually Unbiased Bases

This paper deals with bases in a finite-dimensional Hilbert space. Such a space can be realized as a subspace of the representation space of SU₂ corresponding to an irreducible representation of SU₂. The representation theory of SU₂ is reconsidered via the use of two truncated deformed oscillators. This leads to replacement of the familiar scheme {j²,jz} by a scheme {j²,vra}, where the two-parameter operator vra is defined in the universal enveloping algebra of the Lie algebra su₂. The eigenvectors of the commuting set of operators {j²,vra} are adapted to a tower of chains SO₃⊃C₂j₊₁ (2j∈N∗), where C₂j₊₁ is the cyclic group of order 2j+1. In the case where 2j+1 is prime, the corresponding eigenvectors generate a complete set of mutually unbiased bases. Some useful relations on generalized quadratic Gauss sums are exposed in three appendice