1,187 research outputs found
Rack-and-pinion effects in molecular rolling friction
Rolling lubrication with spherical molecules working as 'nanobearings' has
failed experimentally so far, without a full understanding of the physics
involved and of the reasons why. Past model simulations and common sense have
shown that molecules can only roll when they are not too closely packed to jam.
The same type of model simulations now shows in addition that molecular rolling
friction can develop deep minima once the molecule's peripheral 'pitch' can
match the substrate periodicity, much as ordinary cogwheels do in a
rack-and-pinion system. When the pinion-rack matching is bad, the driven
molecular rolling becomes discontinuous and noisy, whence energy is dissipated
and friction is large. This suggests experiments to be conducted by varying the
rack-and-pinion matching. That could be pursued not only by changing molecules
and substrates, but also by applying different sliding directions within the
same system, or by applying pressure, to change the effective matching.Comment: 5 figure
Beyond complex Langevin equations II: a positive representation of Feynman path integrals directly in the Minkowski time
Recently found positive representation for an arbitrary complex, gaussian
weight is used to construct a statistical formulation of gaussian path
integrals directly in the Minkowski time. The positivity of Minkowski weights
is achieved by doubling the number of real variables. The continuum limit of
the new representation exists only if some of the additional couplings tend to
infinity and are tuned in a specific way. The construction is then successfully
applied to three quantum mechanical examples including a particle in a constant
magnetic field -- a simplest prototype of a Wilson line. Further
generalizations are shortly discussed and an intriguing interpretation of new
variables is alluded to.Comment: 16 pages, 2 figures, references adde
Precision tests of General Relativity with Matter Waves
We review the physics of atoms and clocks in weakly curved spacetime, and how
each may be used to test the Einstein Equivalence Principle (EEP) in the
context of the minimal Standard Model Extension (mSME). We find that
conventional clocks and matter-wave interferometers are sensitive to the same
kinds of EEP-violating physics. We show that the analogy between matter-waves
and clocks remains true for systems beyond the semiclassical limit. We
quantitatively compare the experimentally observable signals for EEP violation
in matter-wave experiments. We find that comparisons of Li and Li
are particularly sensitive to such anomalies. Tests involving unstable
isotopes, for which matter-wave interferometers are well suited, may further
improve the sensitivity of EEP tests.Comment: Conference Proceedings for talk given in January, 2011 at the Winter
Colloquium on the Physics of Quantum Electronics. Submitted to the Journal of
Modern Optic
Generation of Entanglement Outside of the Light Cone
The Feynman propagator has nonzero values outside of the forward light cone.
That does not allow messages to be transmitted faster than the speed of light,
but it is shown here that it does allow entanglement and mutual information to
be generated at space-like separated points. These effects can be interpreted
as being due to the propagation of virtual photons outside of the light cone or
as a transfer of pre-existing entanglement from the quantum vacuum. The
differences between these two interpretations are discussed.Comment: 25 pages, 7 figures. Additional references and figur
Implementation of a Quantum Search Algorithm on a Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Quantum Computer
We demonstrate an implementation of a quantum search algorithm on a two qubit
NMR quantum computer based on cytosine.Comment: Six pages, three figure
Generating reversible circuits from higher-order functional programs
Boolean reversible circuits are boolean circuits made of reversible
elementary gates. Despite their constrained form, they can simulate any boolean
function. The synthesis and validation of a reversible circuit simulating a
given function is a difficult problem. In 1973, Bennett proposed to generate
reversible circuits from traces of execution of Turing machines. In this paper,
we propose a novel presentation of this approach, adapted to higher-order
programs. Starting with a PCF-like language, we use a monadic representation of
the trace of execution to turn a regular boolean program into a
circuit-generating code. We show that a circuit traced out of a program
computes the same boolean function as the original program. This technique has
been successfully applied to generate large oracles with the quantum
programming language Quipper.Comment: 21 pages. A shorter preprint has been accepted for publication in the
Proceedings of Reversible Computation 2016. The final publication is
available at http://link.springer.co
Violation of the London Law and Onsager-Feynman quantization in multicomponent superconductors
Non-classical response to rotation is a hallmark of quantum ordered states
such as superconductors and superfluids. The rotational responses of all
currently known single-component "super" states of matter (superconductors,
superfluids and supersolids) are largely described by two fundamental
principles and fall into two categories according to whether the systems are
composed of charged or neutral particles: the London law relating the angular
velocity to a subsequently established magnetic field and the Onsager-Feynman
quantization of superfluid velocity. These laws are theoretically shown to be
violated in a two-component superconductor such as the projected liquid
metallic states of hydrogen and deuterium at high pressures. The rotational
responses of liquid metallic hydrogen or deuterium identify them as a new class
of dissipationless states; they also directly point to a particular
experimental route for verification of their existence.Comment: Nature Physics in print. This is an early version of the paper. The
final version will be posted 6 months after its publication Nature Physics,
according to the journal polic
Pricing Exotic Options in a Path Integral Approach
In the framework of Black-Scholes-Merton model of financial derivatives, a
path integral approach to option pricing is presented. A general formula to
price European path dependent options on multidimensional assets is obtained
and implemented by means of various flexible and efficient algorithms. As an
example, we detail the cases of Asian, barrier knock out, reverse cliquet and
basket call options, evaluating prices and Greeks. The numerical results are
compared with those obtained with other procedures used in quantitative finance
and found to be in good agreement. In particular, when pricing at-the-money and
out-of-the-money options, the path integral approach exhibits competitive
performances.Comment: 21 pages, LaTeX, 3 figures, 6 table
- …