Governance of Dual-Use Technologies: Theory and Practice

The term dual-use characterizes technologies that can have both military and civilian applications. What is the state of current efforts to control the spread of these powerful technologies—nuclear, biological, cyber—that can simultaneously advance social and economic well-being and also be harnessed for hostile purposes? What have previous efforts to govern, for example, nuclear and biological weapons taught us about the potential for the control of these dual-use technologies? What are the implications for governance when the range of actors who could cause harm with these technologies include not just national governments but also non-state actors like terrorists? These are some of the questions addressed by Governance of Dual-Use Technologies: Theory and Practice, the new publication released today by the Global Nuclear Future Initiative of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The publication's editor is Elisa D. Harris, Senior Research Scholar, Center for International Security Studies, University of Maryland School of Public Affairs. Governance of Dual-Use Technologies examines the similarities and differences between the strategies used for the control of nuclear technologies and those proposed for biotechnology and information technology. The publication makes clear the challenges concomitant with dual-use governance. For example, general agreement exists internationally on the need to restrict access to technologies enabling the development of nuclear weapons. However, no similar consensus exists in the bio and information technology domains. The publication also explores the limitations of military measures like deterrence, defense, and reprisal in preventing globally available biological and information technologies from being misused. Some of the other questions explored by the publication include: What types of governance measures for these dual-use technologies have already been adopted? What objectives have those measures sought to achieve? How have the technical characteristics of the technology affected governance prospects? What have been the primary obstacles to effective governance, and what gaps exist in the current governance regime? Are further governance measures feasible? In addition to a preface from Global Nuclear Future Initiative Co-Director Robert Rosner (University of Chicago) and an introduction and conclusion from Elisa Harris, Governance of Dual-Use Technologiesincludes:On the Regulation of Dual-Use Nuclear Technology by James M. Acton (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace)Dual-Use Threats: The Case of Biotechnology by Elisa D. Harris (University of Maryland)Governance of Information Technology and Cyber Weapons by Herbert Lin (Stanford University

Scalable simultaneous multi-qubit readout with 99.99% single-shot fidelity

We describe single-shot readout of a trapped-ion multi-qubit register using space and time-resolved camera detection. For a single qubit we measure 0.9(3)x10^{-4} readout error in 400us exposure time, limited by the qubit's decay lifetime. For a four-qubit register (a "qunybble") we measure an additional error of only 0.1(1)x10^{-4} per qubit, despite the presence of 4% optical cross-talk between neighbouring qubits. A study of the cross-talk indicates that the method would scale with negligible loss of fidelity to ~10000 qubits at a density <~1 qubit/um^2, with a readout time ~1us/qubit.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures; simulations added to fig.3, with some further text and figure revisions. Main results unchanged

Universality in the merging dynamics of parametric active contours: a study in MRI-based lung segmentation

Measurement of lung ventilation is one of the most reliable techniques of diagnosing pulmonary diseases. The time consuming and bias prone traditional methods using hyperpolarized H${}^{3}$He and ${}^{1}$H magnetic resonance imageries have recently been improved by an automated technique based on multiple active contour evolution. Mapping results from an equivalent thermodynamic model, here we analyse the fundamental dynamics orchestrating the active contour (AC) method. We show that the numerical method is inherently connected to the universal scaling behavior of a classical nucleation-like dynamics. The favorable comparison of the exponent values with the theoretical model render further credentials to our claim.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Gegenbauer-solvable quantum chain model

In an innovative inverse-problem construction the measured, experimental energies $E_1$, $E_2$, ...$E_N$ of a quantum bound-state system are assumed fitted by an N-plet of zeros of a classical orthogonal polynomial $f_N(E)$. We reconstruct the underlying Hamiltonian $H$ (in the most elementary nearest-neighbor-interaction form) and the underlying Hilbert space ${\cal H}$ of states (the rich menu of non-equivalent inner products is offered). The Gegenbauer's ultraspherical polynomials $f_n(x)=C_n^\alpha(x)$ are chosen for the detailed illustration of technicalities.Comment: 29 pp., 1 fi

Simple manipulation of a microwave dressed-state ion qubit

Many schemes for implementing quantum information processing require that the atomic states used have a non-zero magnetic moment, however such magnetically sensitive states of an atom are vulnerable to decoherence due to fluctuating magnetic fields. Dressing an atom with an external field is a powerful method of reducing such decoherence [N. Timoney et al., Nature 476, 185], even if the states being dressed are strongly coupled to the environment. We introduce an experimentally simpler method of manipulating such a dressed-state qubit, which allows the implementation of general rotations of the qubit, and demonstrate this method using a trapped ytterbium ion

Shared Responsibilities for Nuclear Disarmament: A Global Debate

Presents Sagan's 2009 paper calling for rethinking the balance of responsibilities and the relationship between articles in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty with seven response papers by international scholars about how to pursue nuclear disarmament

T-junction ion trap array for two-dimensional ion shuttling, storage and manipulation

We demonstrate a two-dimensional 11-zone ion trap array, where individual laser-cooled atomic ions are stored, separated, shuttled, and swapped. The trap geometry consists of two linear rf ion trap sections that are joined at a 90 degree angle to form a T-shaped structure. We shuttle a single ion around the corners of the T-junction and swap the positions of two crystallized ions using voltage sequences designed to accommodate the nontrivial electrical potential near the junction. Full two-dimensional control of multiple ions demonstrated in this system may be crucial for the realization of scalable ion trap quantum computation and the implementation of quantum networks.Comment: 3 pages, 5 figure