The measurement problem resolved and local realism preserved via a collapse-free photon detection model

A new realislic local model of light propagation and detection is described. The authors propose a novel stochastic model of low-intensity photon detection in which background noise is added to a part of the photon prior to absorption. In this model, in agreement with Planck, there is no quantization of the propagating field. The model has some similarities to theories advanced by E. Santos and T. Marshall in the last decade, but also has substantial deviations from these. A mechanism, conserving energy and momentum, is proposed by which a sudden collapse of the wave-packet is avoided. The experimental Bell inequality violation of Aspect. Grangier and Roger [Phys. Rev. Lett.47, 460 (1981)]is discussed. The authors have carried out a computer simulation of a radio frequency (RF) analogue of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen thought experiment to illustrate how the manipulation of certain factors, especially signal to noise ratio, detector threshold and characteristics of the noise, enables the same Bell inequality to be either satisfied or violated by a realistic local model. Building on arguments by Santos. [Phys. Rev. A46. 3646 (1992)],the appropriateness of this Bell lest is discussed. Neither the authors' stochastic-optical model, nor their RF analogue, involves an enhancement assumption of the type defined by Clauser and Horne [Phys. Rev. D10, 526 (1974)].     

Monte Carlo Simulation of Hard Hyperspheres in Six,Seven and Eight Dimensions for Low to Moderate Densities

The pair correlation function of hard hyperspheres in six, seven and eight dimensions is obtained from Monte Carlo simulations. The value of the pair correlation function at contact is compared with the results from molecular dynamics calculations and a variety of theoretical approaches. Remarkably good agreement is found with the simple, closed-form equations of Y. Song, E. A. Mason and R. M. Stratt, J. Phys. Chem., 93:6916–6919 (1989). The Monte Carlo results for the equation of state are compared with the theoretical expressions of M. Baus and J. L. Colot, Phys. Rev. A, 36:3912 (1987), M. Luban and J. P. J. Michels, Phys. Rev A, 41:6796 (1990), and high order virial expansions. In addition, in seven dimensions, comparisons are made with the exact PY solution provided by M. Robles, M. L. de Haro and A. Santos, J. Chem. Phys., 120:9113 (2004). Very good agreement was observed between theory and computer simulation in all dimensions.     

Single-oscillator model and determination of optical constants of spray pyrolyzed amorphous SnO<Subscript>2</Subscript> thin films

It has recently been shown that growth of a multilayer structure with one or more delta-layers at high temperature leads to spreading and asymmetrization of the dopant distribution [see, for example, E.F.J. Schubert, Vac. Sci. Technol. A. 8, 2980 (1990), A.M. Nazmul, S. Sugahara, M. Tanaka, J. Crystal Growth 251, 303 (2003); R.C. Newman, M.J. Ashwin, M.R. Fahy, L. Hart, S.N. Holmes, C. Roberts, X. Zhang, Phys. Rev. B 54, 8769 (1996); E.F. Schubert, J.M. Kuo, R.F. Kopf, H.S. Luftman, L.C. Hopkins, N.J. Sauer, J. Appl. Phys. 67, 1969 (1990); P.M. Zagwijn, J.F. van der Veen, E. Vlieg, A.H. Reader, D.J. Gravesteijn, J. Appl. Phys. 78, 4933 (1995); W.S. Hobson, S.J. Pearton, E.F. Schubert, G. Cabaniss, Appl. Phys. Lett. 55, 1546 (1989); Delta Doping of Semiconductors, edited by E.F. Schubert (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1996); Yu.N. Drozdov, N.B. Baidus', B.N. Zvonkov, M.N. Drozdov, O.I. Khrykin, V.I. Shashkin, Semiconductors 37, 194 (2003); E. Skuras, A.R. Long, B. Vogele, M.C. Holland, C.R. Stanley, E.A. Johnson, M. van der Burgt, H. Yaguchi, J. Singleton, Phys. Rev. B 59, 10712 (1999); G. Li, C. Jagadish, Solid-State Electronics 41, 1207 (1997)]. In this work analytical and numerical analysis of dopant dynamics in a delta-doped area of a multilayer structure has been accomplished using Fick's second law. Some reasons for asymmetrization of a delta-dopant distribution are illustrated. The spreading of a delta-layer has been estimated using example materials of a multilayer structure, a delta-layer and an overlayer.     

”Illusion of control” in Time-Horizon Minority and Parrondo Games

Human beings like to believe they are in control of their destiny. This ubiquitous trait seems to increase motivation and persistence, and is probably evolutionarily adaptive [J.D. Taylor, S.E. Brown, Psych. Bull. 103, 193 (1988); A. Bandura, Self-efficacy: the exercise of control (WH Freeman, New York, 1997)]. But how good really is our ability to control? How successful is our track record in these areas? There is little understanding of when and under what circumstances we may over-estimate [E. Langer, J. Pers. Soc. Psych. 7, 185 (1975)] or even lose our ability to control and optimize outcomes, especially when they are the result of aggregations of individual optimization processes. Here, we demonstrate analytically using the theory of Markov Chains and by numerical simulations in two classes of games, the Time-Horizon Minority Game [M.L. Hart, P. Jefferies, N.F. Johnson, Phys. A 311, 275 (2002)] and the Parrondo Game [J.M.R. Parrondo, G.P. Harmer, D. Abbott, Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 5226 (2000); J.M.R. Parrondo, How to cheat a bad mathematician (ISI, Italy, 1996)], that agents who optimize their strategy based on past information may actually perform worse than non-optimizing agents. In other words, low-entropy (more informative) strategies under-perform high-entropy (or random) strategies. This provides a precise definition of the “illusion of control” in certain set-ups a priori defined to emphasize the importance of optimization. An erratum to this article is available at .     

Spectrum of the parametric down converted radiation calculated in the Wigner function formalism

We continue the study of parametric down conversion within the framework of the Wigner representation, by using a Maxwellian approach developed in a recent paper [A. Casado et al., Eur. Phys. J. D 11, 465 (2000)]. This gives a mechanism, inside the crystal, for the production of the down-converted radiation. We obtain the electric field to second order in the coupling constant by using the Green's function method, and compare our treatment with the standard Hamiltonian approach. The spectrum of the down-converted radiation is calculated as a function of the parameters of the nonlinear crystal (in particular the length) and the radius of the pumping beam. Received 15 May 2000     

Thermoelastic behaviour of polyvinylacetate monolayers at the air-water interface: Evidences for liquid-solid phase transition

The thermoelastic behaviour of polyvinylacetate monolayers spread on an aqueous subphase has been studied using rheological data previously published (Monroy et al., Phys. Rev. E 58, 7629 (1998)). The results show fluid-like viscoelastic behaviour well above a transition temperature , while at lower temperatures a soft solid-like behaviour emerges. The correlation between thermodynamic and elastic properties below can be described in terms of scaling laws. Received 12 January 1999 and Received in final form 11 June 1999     

Comment on “A local realist model for correlations of the singlet state” by K. De Raedt,K. Keimpema,H. De Raedt,K. Michielsen and S. Miyashita

De Raedt et al. [Eur. Phys. J. B 53, 139 (2006)] have claimed to provide a local realist model for correlations of the singlet state in the familiar Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen-Bohm (EPRB) experiment when time-coincidence is used to decide which detection events should count in the analysis, and furthermore that this suggests that it is possible to construct local realistic models that can reproduce the quantum mechanical expectation values. In this letter we show that these conclusions cannot be upheld since their model exploits the so-called coincidence-time loophole. When this is properly taken into account no startling conclusions can be drawn about local realist modelling of quantum mechanics.     

Effects of quantum interference on the spontaneous emission in a coherently driven three-level atom

A new scheme of the influence of quantum interference on the spontaneous emission in a coherently driven three-level medium is presented in this paper. The results are the same with that discussed by [S.-Y. Zhu, L.M. Narducci, M.O. Scully, Phys. Rev. A 52, 4791 (1995)] under resonance conditions, but they are different when the driven field is detuned. Received 8 September 1999 and Received in final form 13 January 2000     

Coupled aggregation and sedimentation processes: Three-dimensional off-lattice simulations

Coupled aggregation and sedimentation processes were studied by means of three-dimensional computer simulations. For this purpose, a large prism with no periodic boundary conditions for the sedimentation direction was considered. Furthermore, three equally sized and mutually excluded regions were defined inside the prism, a top, a middle and a bottom region. This allows to study the time evolution of the cluster size distribution and the cluster structure separately for each region. The mass distribution profile and the center-of-mass position were also accessed as a function of time. For the bottom region, the effects of the sediment formation on the kinetics of growth and on the cluster structure were clearly observed. The obtained results not only agree with the experimental data obtained by Allain et al. (C. Allain, M. Cloitre, M. Wafra, Phys. Rev. Lett. 74, 1478 (1995)) and with the simulations made by Gonzalez (A.E. Gonzalez, Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 1243 (2001)), but also allow to gain further insight into the details. Received 7 November 2001     

Scaling of global momentum transport in Taylor-Couette and pipe flow

We interpret measurements of the Reynolds number dependence of the torque in Taylor-Couette flow by Lewis and Swinney [Phys. Rev. E 59, 5457 (1999)] and of the pressure drop in pipe flow by Smits and Zagarola [Phys. Fluids 10, 1045 (1998)] within the scaling theory of Grossmann and Lohse [J. Fluid Mech. 407, 27 (2000)], developed in the context of thermal convection. The main idea is to split the energy dissipation into contributions from a boundary layer and the turbulent bulk. This ansatz can account for the observed scaling in both cases if it is assumed that the internal wind velocity introduced through the rotational or pressure forcing is related to the external (imposed) velocity U, by with and for the Taylor-Couette (U inner cylinder velocity) and pipe flow (U mean flow velocity) case, respectively. In contrast to the Rayleigh-Bénard case the scaling exponents cannot (yet) be derived from the dynamical equations. Received 9 September 2000     

Is it possible to infer the equation of state of a mixture of hard discs from that of the one-component system?

Based on exact asymptotic properties of the composition-independent virial coefficients of a binary mixture of hard discs in the limits α = σ₂/σ₁ → 0, α → 1 and α → ∞, R. J. Wheatley (1998, Molec. Phys., 93, 965) has recently proposed an approximate interpolation equation for these coefficients. In this note, the equation of state equivalent to this interpolation is obtained, expressing the compressibility factor of the mixture in terms of that of the pure system. An extension to an arbitrary number of components is also given. The equation of state derived here is compared with another one recently proposed by following a different route (Santos, A., Yuste, S. B., and López de Haro, M., 1999, Molec. Phys., 96, 1) and with Monte Carlo simulation results. It is shown that the latter equation is more accurate than the former one, at least for not too disparate mixtures (0.7 < α < 1).     

Statistical equilibrium in simple exchange games I

This erratum corrects a mistake in reference [E. Scalas, U. Garibaldi, S. Donadio, Eur. Phys. J. B 53, 267 (2006)]. In that paper, we needed an aperiodic version of the BDY game, but, in formula (1), we incorrectly presented a periodic transition matrix of period 2 in the special case of g = 2 agents. Here, we present the right aperiodic version.     

Two-Particle Irreducible Effective Action in Gauge Theories

The goal of this paper is to develop the formalism of the two-particle irreducible (2PI) (G. Baym (1962). Physical Review 127, 1391; H. D. Dahmen and G. Jona Lasino (1962). Nuovo Cimento A 52, 807; C. de Dominicis and P. Martin (1964). Journal of Mathematical Physics 5, 14; J. Luttinger and J. Ward (1960). Physical Review 118, 1417; B. Vanderheyden and G. Baym (1998). Journal of Statistical Physics 98, 843; B. Vanderheyden and G. Baym (2000). In Progress in Nonequilibrium Green's Functions, World Scientific, Singapore). (or Cornwall–Jackiw–Tomboulis (CJT) (J. Cornwall, R. Jackiw, and E. Tomboulis (1974). Physical Review D 10, 2428; U. Kraemmer and A. Rebhan (2004). Reports on Progress in Physics 67, 351; R. Norton and J. Cornwall (1975). Annals of Physics 91, 106) effective action (EA) in a way appropiate to its application to nonequilibrium gauge theories. We hope this review article will stimulate new work into this field.     

The topological non-connectivity threshold in quantum long-range interacting spin systems

Quantum characteristics of the Topological Non-connectivity Threshold (TNT), introduced in [F. Borgonovi, G.L. Celardo, M. Maianti, E. Pedersoli, J. Stat. Phys. 116, 516 (2004)], have been analyzed in the hard quantum regime. New interesting perspectives in term of the possibility to study the intriguing quantum-classical transition through Macroscopic Quantum Tunneling have been addressed.     

Economical phase-covariant cloning with multiclones

This paper presents a very simple method to derive the explicit transformations of the optimal economical 1 to M phase-covariant cloning. The fidelity of clones reaches the theoretic bound [D'Ariano G M and Macchiavello C 2003 Phys. Rev. A 67 042306]. The derived transformations cover the previous contributions [Delgado Y, Lamata L et al, 2007 Phys. Rev. Lett.98 150502] in which M must be odd.     

Kinesin and the Crooks fluctuation theorem

The thermal efficiency of the kinesin cycle at stalling is presently a matter of some debate, with published predictions ranging from 0 [Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 158102 (2007); Phys. Rev. E 78, 011915 (2008)] to 100% [in Molecular Motors, edited by M. Schliwa (Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH, Weinheim (2003), p. 207]. In this note we attemp to clarify the issues involved. We also find an upper bound on the kinesin efficiency by constructing an ideal kinesin cycle to which the real cycle may be compared. The ideal cycle has a thermal efficiency of less than one, and the real one is less efficient than the ideal one always, in compliance with Carnot’s theorem.     

On the optimality of individual entangling-probe attacks against BB84 quantum key distribution

Some MIT researchers [Phys. Rev. A 75, 042327 (2007)] have recently claimed that their implementation of the Slutsky-Brandt attack [Phys. Rev. A 57, 2383 (1998); Phys. Rev. A 71, 042312 (2005)] to the BB84 quantum-key-distribution (QKD) protocol puts the security of this protocol “to the test” by simulating “the most powerful individual-photon attack” [Phys. Rev. A 73, 012315 (2006)]. A related unfortunate news feature by a scientific journal [G. Brumfiel, Quantum cryptography is hacked, News @ Nature (april 2007); Nature 447, 372 (2007)] has spurred some concern in the QKD community and among the general public by misinterpreting the implications of this work. The present article proves the existence of a stronger individual attack on QKD protocols with encrypted error correction, for which tight bounds are shown, and clarifies why the claims of the news feature incorrectly suggest a contradiction with the established “old-style” theory of BB84 individual attacks. The full implementation of a quantum cryptographic protocol includes a reconciliation and a privacy-amplification stage, whose choice alters in general both the maximum extractable secret and the optimal eavesdropping attack. The authors of [Phys. Rev. A 75, 042327 (2007)] are concerned only with the error-free part of the so-called sifted string, and do not consider faulty bits, which, in the version of their protocol, are discarded. When using the provably superior reconciliation approach of encrypted error correction (instead of error discard), the Slutsky-Brandt attack is no more optimal and does not “threaten” the security bound derived by Lütkenhaus [Phys. Rev. A 59, 3301 (1999)]. It is shown that the method of Slutsky and collaborators [Phys. Rev. A 57, 2383 (1998)] can be adapted to reconciliation with error correction, and that the optimal entangling probe can be explicitly found. Moreover, this attack fills Lütkenhaus bound, proving that it is tight (a fact which was not previously known).     

Perturbation expansion, Bogoliubov inequality and integral representations in nonextensive Tsallis statistics

By using integral representations the perturbation expansion and the Bogoliubov inequality in nonextensive Tsallis statistics are investigated in a unified way. This procedure extends the analysis performed recently by Lenzi et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 80, 218 (1998)] to the quantum (discrete spectra) case, for q<1. An example is presented in order to illustrate the method. Received 19 November 1998     

Twin-correlations in atoms

We discuss the possibility of preparing an atomic sample of atoms with minimum fluctuations in the difference between populations of two levels. A first scheme involves absorption of twin beams of light, and it presents a variant of a recent proposal for atomic spin squeezing within an excited state manifold [Kuzmich et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 79, 4782 (1997)]. A second scheme involves atoms with two stable states, and we suggest that by use of quantum non-demolition detection and feed-back optical pumping, we may ensure a perfect agreement between the number of atoms in these two states. Received: 14 May 1998 / Revised: 10 August 1998 / Accepted: 8 October 1998