Comment on `Detecting non-Abelian geometric phases with three-level Λ\Lambda systems'

In their recent paper, Yan-Xiong Du et al. [Phys. Rev. A 84, 034103 (2011)] claim to have found a non-Abelian adiabatic geometric phase associated with the energy eigenstates of a large-detuned $\Lambda$ three-level system. They further propose a test to detect the non-commutative feature of this geometric phase. On the contrary, we show that the non-Abelian geometric phase picked up by the energy eigenstates of a $\Lambda$ system is trivial in the adiabatic approximation, while, in the exact treatment of the time evolution, this phase is very small and cannot be separated from the non-Abelian dynamical phase acquired along the path in parameter space.Comment: Explicit proof that the non-Abelian geometric phase is trivial added, journal reference adde

Entanglement in Gaussian matrix-product states

Gaussian matrix product states are obtained as the outputs of projection operations from an ancillary space of M infinitely entangled bonds connecting neighboring sites, applied at each of N sites of an harmonic chain. Replacing the projections by associated Gaussian states, the 'building blocks', we show that the entanglement range in translationally-invariant Gaussian matrix product states depends on how entangled the building blocks are. In particular, infinite entanglement in the building blocks produces fully symmetric Gaussian states with maximum entanglement range. From their peculiar properties of entanglement sharing, a basic difference with spin chains is revealed: Gaussian matrix product states can possess unlimited, long-range entanglement even with minimum number of ancillary bonds (M=1). Finally we discuss how these states can be experimentally engineered from N copies of a three-mode building block and N two-mode finitely squeezed states.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. Final version to appear as a Rapid Comm. in PR

The Silenced Discourse: Students with Intellectual Disabilities at the Academy of Music in Sweden

In this article, based on a larger research project, the ambition is to critically discuss the first collaboration between students with intellectual disabilities and the Academy of Music in Sweden. The article presents an analysis of video observations of lessons in rhythmics, related to an encounter between the students with intellectual disabilities and a group of student teachers. The theoretical and methodological framework emanates from post-structuralist and social constructionist theories. The results show that the silenced discourse, the unspoken, is constructed from the fact that the students with disabilities both are insufficiently skilled for the task as leaders in rhythmics, and less skilled than the student teachers. Finally, the silenced discourse is discussed, where assumptions of normality and issues of inclusion are addressed as well as a hegemonic discourse in the Swedish politics of education

Global asymmetry of many-qubit correlations: A lattice gauge theory approach

We introduce a novel bridge between the familiar gauge field theory approaches used in many areas of modern physics such as quantum field theory and the SLOCC protocols familiar in quantum information. Although the mathematical methods are the same the meaning of the gauge group will be different. The measure we introduce, `twist', is constructed as a Wilson loop from a correlation induced holonomy. The measure can be understood as the global asymmetry of the bipartite correlations in a loop of three or more qubits; if the holonomy is trivial (the identity matrix), the bipartite correlations can be globally untwisted using general local qubit operations, the gauge group of our theory, which turns out to be the group of Lorentz transformations familiar from special relativity. If it is not possible to globally untwist the bipartite correlations in a state globally using local operations, the twistedness is given by a non-trivial element of the Lorentz group, the correlation induced holonomy. We provide several analytical examples of twisted and untwisted states for three qubits, the most elementary non-trivial loop one can imagine.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, title changed, results and content remain unchange

Measurement of geometric phase for mixed states using single photon interferometry

Geometric phase may enable inherently fault-tolerant quantum computation. However, due to potential decoherence effects, it is important to understand how such phases arise for {\it mixed} input states. We report the first experiment to measure mixed-state geometric phases in optics, using a Mach-Zehnder interferometer, and polarization mixed states that are produced in two different ways: decohering pure states with birefringent elements; and producing a nonmaximally entangled state of two photons and tracing over one of them, a form of remote state preparation.Comment: To appear in Phys. Rev. Lett. 4 pages, 3 figure