Onset of Entanglement and Noise Cross-Correlations in Two-Qubit System Interacting with Common Bosonic Bath

We summarize our recent results for the induced exchange interaction due to thermal bosonic environment (bath) which also generates quantum noise. Our focus here is on the onset of the interaction. We demonstrate that the induced interaction can be used to manipulate and create entanglement over time scales sufficiently large for controlling the two-qubit system for quantum computing applications, though ultimately the noise effects will dominate.Comment: 4 pages in LaTeX, with EPS figure

Single temperature for Monte Carlo optimization on complex landscapes

We propose a new strategy for Monte Carlo (MC) optimization on rugged multidimensional landscapes. The strategy is based on querying the statistical properties of the landscape in order to find the temperature at which the mean first passage time across the current region of the landscape is minimized. Thus, in contrast to other algorithms such as simulated annealing (SA), we explicitly match the temperature schedule to the statistics of landscape irregularities. In cases where this statistics is approximately the same over the entire landscape, or where non-local moves couple distant parts of the landscape, single-temperature MC will outperform any other MC algorithm with the same move set. We also find that in strongly anisotropic Coulomb spin glass and traveling salesman problems, the only relevant statistics (which we use to assign a single MC temperature) is that of irregularities in low-energy funnels. Our results may explain why protein folding in nature is efficient at room temperatures.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Localization by entanglement

We study the localization of bosonic atoms in an optical lattice, which interact in a spatially confined region. The classical theory predicts that there is no localization below a threshold value for the strength of interaction that is inversely proportional to the number of participating atoms. In a full quantum treatment, however, we find that localized states exist for arbitrarily weak attractive or repulsive interactions for any number ($>1$) of atoms. We further show, using an explicit solution of the two-particle bound state and an appropriate measure of entanglement, that the entanglement tends to a finite value in the limit of weak interactions. Coupled with the non-existence of localization in an optimized quantum product state, we conclude that the localization exists by virtue of entanglement.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures; final published version with small changes in response to reviewer comment

Quantum phase transition in the multi-mode Dicke model

An investigation of the quantum phase transition in both discrete and continuum field Dicke models is presented. A series of anticrossing features following the criticality is revealed in the band of the field modes. Critical exponents are calculated. We investigate the properties of a pairwise entanglement measured by a concurrence and obtain analytical results in the thermodynamic limit.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure

Coherent Interaction of Spins Induced by Thermal Bosonic Environment

We obtain and analyze the indirect exchange interaction between two two-state systems, e.g., spins, in a formulation that also incorporates the quantum noise that they experience, due to a bosonic environment, for instance, phonons. We utilize a perturbative approach to obtain a quantum evolution equation for the two-spin dynamics. A non-perturbative approach is used to study the onset of the induced interaction, which is calculated exactly. We predict that for low enough temperatures the interaction is coherent over time scales sufficient to create entanglement, dominated by the zero-point quantum fluctuations of the environment. We identify the time scales for which the spins develop entanglement for various spatial separations.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures; typos correcte

Second-Hand Stress: Neurobiological Evidence for a Human Alarm Pheromone

Alarm pheromones are airborne chemical signals, released by an individual into the environment, which transmit warning of danger to conspecifics via olfaction. Using fMRI, we provide the first neurobiological evidence for a human alarm pheromone. Individuals showed activation of the amygdala in response to sweat produced by others during emotional stress, with exercise sweat as a control; behavioral data suggest facilitated evaluation of ambiguous threat