15,909 research outputs found
Retrodiction with two-level atoms: atomic previvals
In the Jaynes-Cummings model a two-level atom interacts with a single-mode
electromagnetic field. Quantum mechanics predicts collapses and revivals in the
probability that a measurement will show the atom to be excited at various
times after the initial preparation of the atom and field. In retrodictive
quantum mechanics we seek the probability that the atom was prepared in a
particular state given the initial state of the field and the outcome of a
later measurement on the atom. Although this is not simply the time reverse of
the usual predictive problem, we demonstrate in this paper that retrodictive
collapses and revivals also exist. We highlight the differences between
predictive and retrodictive evolutions and describe an interesting situation
where the prepared state is essentially unretrodictable.Comment: 15 pages, 3 (5) figure
Retrodiction as a tool for micromaser field measurements
We use retrodictive quantum theory to describe cavity field measurements by
successive atomic detections in the micromaser. We calculate the state of the
micromaser cavity field prior to detection of sequences of atoms in either the
excited or ground state, for atoms that are initially prepared in the excited
state. This provides the POM elements, which describe such sequences of
measurements.Comment: 20 pages, 4(8) figure
Origins of the midlatitude Pacific decadal variability
Analysis of multiple climate simulations shows much of the midlatitude Pacific decadal variability to be composed of two simultaneously occurring elements: One is a stochastically driven, passive ocean response to the atmosphere while the other is oscillatory and represents a coupled mode of the ocean‐atmosphere system. ENSO processes are not required to explain the origins of the decadal variability. The stochastic variability is driven by random variations in wind stress and heat flux associated with internal atmospheric variability but amplified by a factor of 2 by interactions with the ocean. We also found a coupled mode of the ocean‐atmosphere system, characterized by a significant power spectral peak near 1 cycle/20 years in the region of the midlatitude North Pacific and Kuroshio Extension. Ocean dynamics appear to play a critical role in this coupled air/sea mode
Joint measurements and Bell inequalities
Joint quantum measurements of non-commuting observables are possible, if one
accepts an increase in the measured variances. A necessary condition for a
joint measurement to be possible is that a joint probability distribution
exists for the measurement. This fact suggests that there may be a link with
Bell inequalities, as these will be satisfied if and only if a joint
probability distribution for all involved observables exists. We investigate
the connections between Bell inequalities and conditions for joint quantum
measurements to be possible. Mermin's inequality for the three-particle
Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger state turns out to be equivalent to the condition
for a joint measurement on two out of the three quantum systems to exist.
Gisin's Bell inequality for three co-planar measurement directions, meanwhile,
is shown to be less strict than the condition for the corresponding joint
measurement
Dydrogesterone and norethisterone regulate expression of lipoprotein lipase and hormones-sensitive lipase in human subcutaneous abdominal adipocytes
Aim: In premenopausal women, hyper-androgenicity is associated with central obesity and an increased cardiovascular risk. We investigated the effects of dydrogesterone (DYD)(a non-androgenic progestogen) and norethisterone (NET)(an androgenic progestogen) on lipoprotein lipase (LPL), hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL) and glycerol release in adipocytes isolated from subcutaneous abdominal adipose tissue. Methods: Adipose tissue was obtained from 12 non-diabetic women, mean age 51 years (range 37-78) and mean BMI 25.4kg/m2 (range 20.3-26.4). Adipocytes were treated with increasing doses of DYD and NET for 48 hours prior to protein extraction. Effects on lipogenesis and lipolysis were assessed using western blotting to determine the expression of key enzymes, LPL (56kDa) and HSL (84kDa) respectively. Measurement of glycerol release into the medium provided an assessment of lipolytic activity. Results: Expression of LPL was increased by DYD and NET (mean protein expression relative to control ± SEM); with greatest effect at 10-8M for DYD: 2.32±0.51(p0.05). Conclusions: DYD and NET significantly increased LPL expression relative to control whilst significantly reducing HSL expression. At the concentrations studied, similar effects were observed with the androgenic NET and the non-androgenic DYD despite differing effects on the lipid profile when taken
in combination with estrogen. Further work in this area may improve knowledge about the effects of different progestogens on body fat distribution and enable progestogen use to be tailored to the individual to achieve maximal benefits
Quasicondensation reexamined
We study in detail the effect of quasicondensation. We show that this effect
is strictly related to dimensionality of the system. It is present in one
dimensional systems independently of interactions - exists in repulsive,
attractive or in non-interacting Bose gas in some range of temperatures below
characteristic temperature of the quantum degeneracy. Based on this observation
we analyze the quasicondensation in terms of a ratio of the two largest
eigenvalues of the single particle density matrix for the ideal gas. We show
that in the thermodynamic limit in higher dimensions the second largest
eigenvalue vanishes (as compared to the first one) with total number of
particles as whereas goes to zero only logarithmically in
one dimension. We also study the effect of quasicondensation for various
geometries of the system: from quasi-1D elongated one, through spherically
symmetric 3D case to quasi-2D pancake-like geometry
Non-Markovian dynamics of a qubit
In this paper we investigate the non-Markovian dynamics of a qubit by
comparing two generalized master equations with memory. In the case of a
thermal bath, we derive the solution of the post-Markovian master equation
recently proposed in Ref. [A. Shabani and D.A. Lidar, Phys. Rev. A {\bf 71},
020101(R) (2005)] and we study the dynamics for an exponentially decaying
memory kernel. We compare the solution of the post-Markovian master equation
with the solution of the typical memory kernel master equation. Our results
lead to a new physical interpretation of the reservoir correlation function and
bring to light the limits of usability of master equations with memory for the
system under consideration.Comment: Replaced with published version (minor changes
On the Quantum Phase Operator for Coherent States
In papers by Lynch [Phys. Rev. A41, 2841 (1990)] and Gerry and Urbanski
[Phys. Rev. A42, 662 (1990)] it has been argued that the phase-fluctuation
laser experiments of Gerhardt, B\"uchler and Lifkin [Phys. Lett. 49A, 119
(1974)] are in good agreement with the variance of the Pegg-Barnett phase
operator for a coherent state, even for a small number of photons. We argue
that this is not conclusive. In fact, we show that the variance of the phase in
fact depends on the relative phase between the phase of the coherent state and
the off-set phase of the Pegg-Barnett phase operator. This off-set
phase is replaced with the phase of a reference beam in an actual experiment
and we show that several choices of such a relative phase can be fitted to the
experimental data. We also discuss the Noh, Foug\`{e}res and Mandel [Phys.Rev.
A46, 2840 (1992)] relative phase experiment in terms of the Pegg-Barnett phase
taking post-selection conditions into account.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures. Typographical errors and misprints have been
corrected. The outline of the paper has also been changed. Physica Scripta
(in press
Cardiovascular System Studies
Contains research objectives and reports on one research project.National Institutes of Health (Grant 5 TI HE 5550-03
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