992 research outputs found
Wigner crystals of ions as quantum hard drives
Atomic systems in regular lattices are intriguing systems for implementing
ideas in quantum simulation and information processing. Focusing on laser
cooled ions forming Wigner crystals in Penning traps, we find a robust and
simple approach to engineering non-trivial 2-body interactions sufficient for
universal quantum computation. We then consider extensions of our approach to
the fast generation of large cluster states, and a non-local architecture using
an asymmetric entanglement generation procedure between a Penning trap system
and well-established linear Paul trap designs.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Ion induced density bubble in a strongly correlated one dimensional gas
We consider a harmonically trapped Tonks-Girardeau gas of impenetrable bosons
in the presence of a single embedded ion, which is assumed to be tightly
confined in a RF trap. In an ultracold ion-atom collision the ion's charge
induces an electric dipole moment in the atoms which leads to an attractive
potential asymptotically. We treat the ion as a static deformation of
the harmonic trap potential and model its short range interaction with the gas
in the framework of quantum defect theory. The molecular bound states of the
ionic potential are not populated due to the lack of any possible relaxation
process in the Tonks-Girardeau regime. Armed with this knowledge we calculate
the density profile of the gas in the presence of a central ionic impurity and
show that a density \textit{bubble} of the order of a micron occurs around the
ion for typical experimental parameters. From these exact results we show that
an ionic impurity in a Tonks gas can be described using a pseudopotential,
allowing for significantly easier treatment.Comment: Accepted for publication in Physical Review A (Rapid Communications)
Contribution of introns to the species diversity associated with the apicomplexan parasite, Neospora caninum.
Neospora caninum is an intracellular parasite considered a leading cause of bovine reproduction failure worldwide, and a serious neurological disease of canines. Transplacental transmission in intermediate hosts is considered the most efficient means of transmission, which strictly involves asexual reproduction. Nonetheless, extensive genetic diversity has been reported within the species. What is yet to be elucidated are the major drivers of such diversity, and their impact on important parasite phenotypes such as virulence. Instead of protein-encoding sequences, genome and transcriptome data were used to investigate SNPs in introns between two distinct N. caninum isolates, with reported differences in pathogenicity. Variant analysis identified 840 and 501 SNPs within intergenic regions and introns, respectively, distinctly concentrated on chromosomes VI and XI, whereas the rest of the genome was monomorphic in comparison. Gene ontologies for SNP-dense intron-containing genes included ATP binding, transmembrane transport, protein kinase activity, and transcription and translation processes. This study shows that variation in non-coding DNA is contributing to N. caninum intraspecies genetic diversity, and potentially influencing and contributing to important parasite mechanisms. Finally, we present an assembled and annotated N. caninum apicoplast genome and show that this essential organelle is highly conserved between the two isolates, and related Coccidia
A simple quantum gate with atom chips
We present a simple scheme for implementing an atomic phase gate using two
degrees of freedom for each atom and discuss its realization with cold rubidium
atoms on atom chips. We investigate the performance of this collisional phase
gate and show that gate operations with high fidelity can be realized in
magnetic traps that are currently available on atom chips.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures. One missing reference added in v2. To appear in
European Physical Journal
Staying adiabatic with unknown energy gap
We introduce an algorithm to perform an optimal adiabatic evolution that
operates without an apriori knowledge of the system spectrum. By probing the
system gap locally, the algorithm maximizes the evolution speed, thus
minimizing the total evolution time. We test the algorithm on the Landau-Zener
transition and then apply it on the quantum adiabatic computation of 3-SAT: The
result is compatible with an exponential speed-up for up to twenty qubits with
respect to classical algorithms. We finally study a possible algorithm
improvement by combining it with the quantum Zeno effect.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Genome wide identification of mutational hotspots in the apicomplexan parasite neospora caninum and the implications for virulence
© The Author(s) 2018. Neospora caninum is an apicomplexan parasite responsible for neosporosis, a disease causing hind limb paralysis in dogs and abortion in cattle, resulting in substantial economic losses to beef and dairy industries. Marked differences in pathogenicity exist between N. caninum strains suggesting that intrinsic genetic differences exist between them. These differences likely exist in genes expressed during the tachyzoite lifecycle stage which is responsible for the pathogenesis of neosporosis. An improved understanding of these genetic differences is essential to understanding N. caninum virulence, though such knowledge is scarce. Using a variant detection workflow we compared the tachyzoite transcriptomes of two N. caninum strains with different virulence properties: NC-Liverpool (virulent) and NC-Nowra (avirulent). This workflow identified 3130 SNPs and 6123 indels between the strains, and nine markers capturing 30 variants were Sanger sequenced for both strains. Sequencing of these loci was extended to an additional eight strains and subsequent phylogenetic analysis supported a genetic population structure comprised of two major clades with no geographical segregation. Sequence polymorphisms within coding regions of tachyzoiteassociated genes were concentrated on chromosomes XI and XII, with 19 distinct tachyzoite-associated SNP hotspot regions identified within coding regions of the N. caninum nuclear genome. The variants were predominantly located in loci associated with protein binding, protein-protein interactions, transcription, and translation. Furthermore, 468 nonsynonymous SNPs identified within protein-coding genes were associated with protein kinase activity, protein binding, protein phosphorylation, and proteolysis. This work may implicate these processes and the specific proteins involved as novel effectors of N. caninum tachyzoite virulence
Controlled collisions of a single atom and ion guided by movable trapping potentials
We consider a system composed of a trapped atom and a trapped ion. The ion
charge induces in the atom an electric dipole moment, which attracts it with an
r^{-4} dependence at large distances. In the regime considered here, the
characteristic range of the atom-ion interaction is comparable or larger than
the characteristic size of the trapping potential, which excludes the
application of the contact pseudopotential. The short-range part of the
interaction is described in the framework of quantum-defect theory, by
introducing some short-range parameters, which can be related to the s-wave
scattering length. When the separation between traps is changed we observe
trap-induced shape resonances between molecular bound states and vibrational
states of the external trapping potential. Our analysis is extended to
quasi-one-dimensional geometries, when the scattering exhibit
confinement-induced resonances, similar to the ones studied before for
short-range interactions. For quasi-one-dimensional systems we investigate the
effects of coupling between the center of mass and relative motion, which
occurs for different trapping frequencies of atom and ion traps. Finally, we
show how the two types of resonances can be employed for quantum state control
and spectroscopy of atom-ion molecules.Comment: 17 pages, 16 figure
Impulsive quantum measurements: restricted path integral versus von Neumann collapse
The relation between the restricted path integral approach to quantum
measurement theory and the commonly accepted von Neumann wavefunction collapse
postulate is presented. It is argued that in the limit of impulsive
measurements the two approaches lead to the same predictions. The example of
repeated impulsive quantum measurements of position performed on a harmonic
oscillator is discussed in detail and the quantum nondemolition strategies are
recovered in both the approaches.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figure
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