Geometro-stochastic quantization of gravity. II

A second-quantized bundleE, called the quantum gravitational bundle, is constructed from graviton bundles in accordance with outlined general principles for geometro-stochastic second quantization, and quantum gravitational frame fields are introduced in it. The gravitational bundleE is the carrier of a semiclassical connection that can be used as a stepping stone in the construction of a second-quantized gravitational connection. The geometro-stochastic quantum propagations governed by such connections can be expressed in terms of path integrals over causal stochastic paths which embody stochastic parallel transport under free-fall conditions. Their epistemic implications for the quantum theory of measurement are discussed.1. Supported in part by the NSERC Research Grant No. A5206.     

Gravity-induced geometric spin Hall effect of freely falling quantum particle

We discuss a new gravitational effect that the wave packet of a free-fall quantum particle undergoes a spin-dependent transverse shift in Earth's gravitational field. This effect is similar to the geometric spin Hall effect (GSHE) (Aiello 2009 et al Phys. Rev. Lett. 103 100401 ), and can be called gravity-induced GSHE. This effect suggests that the free-fall wave packets of opposite spin-polarized quantum particles can be split in the direction perpendicular to spin and gravity.     

Alternative non-Gaussianity measures for quantum states based on quantum fidelity

We propose three alternative measures for non-Gaussianity of quantum states: sine distance, Bures angle, and Bures distance, which are based on quantum fidelity introduced by Wang [Phys. Lett. A 373 58 (2008)]. Using them, we evaluate the non-Gaussianity of some relevant single-mode and two-mode non-Gaussian states and find a good consistency of the three examined measures. In addition, we show that such metrics can exactly quantify the degree of Gaussianity of even Schrödinger-cat-like states of small amplitudes that can not be measured by other known non-Gaussianity measures such as the Hilbert—Schmidt metric and the relative entropy metric. We make a comparative study between all existing non-Gaussianity measures according to the metric axioms and point out that the sine distance is the best candidate among them.     

Note on Generalized Quantum Gates and Quantum Operations

Recently, Gudder proved that the set of all generalized quantum gates coincides the set of all contractions in a finite-dimensional Hilbert space (S. Gudder, Int. J. Theor. Phys. 47:268–279, 2008). In this note, we proved that the set of all generalized quantum gates is a proper subset of the set of all contractions on an infinite dimensional separable Hilbert space ℋ. Meanwhile, we proved that the quantum operation deduced by an isometry is an extreme point of the set of all quantum operations on ℋ. This subject is supported by NSF of China (10571113).     

Bringing quantum mechanics to life: from Schrödinger’s cat to Schrödinger’s microbe

The question whether quantum mechanics is complete and the nature of the transition between quantum mechanics and classical mechanics have intrigued physicists for decades. There have been many experimental breakthroughs in creating larger and larger quantum superposition and entangled states since Erwin Schrödinger proposed his famous thought experiment of putting a cat in a superposition of both alive and dead states in 1935. Remarkably, recent developments in quantum optomechanics and electromechanics may lead to the realisation of quantum superposition of living microbes soon. Recent evidence also suggests that quantum coherence may play an important role in several biological processes. In this review, we first give a brief introduction to basic concepts in quantum mechanics and the Schrödinger’s cat thought experiment. We then review developments in creating quantum superposition and entangled states and the realisation of quantum teleportation. Non-trivial quantum effects in photosynthetic light harvesting and avian magnetoreception are also discussed. At last, we review recent proposals to realise quantum superposition, entanglement and state teleportation of micro-organisms, such as viruses and bacteria.     

Weakly Regular Quantum Grammars and Asynchronous Quantum Automata

In this paper, we define weakly regular quantum grammars (WRQG), regular quantum grammars (RQG), asynchronous quantum automata (AQA) and synchronous quantum automata (SQA). Moreover, we investigate the relationships between quantum languages generated by weakly quantum regular grammars and by asynchronous quantum automata. At the mean time, we discuss the relationships between regular quantum grammars and synchronous quantum automata. This work is supported by National Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 10571112) and 973 Program of China (No. 2002CB312200).     

Foundational aspects of geometro-stochastic quantization of Dirac fields in curved spacetime

The application of the recently developed method of geometro-stochastic quantization to spin-1/2 fields in curved spacetime does not give rise to any of the conceptual and technical difficulties encountered by more conventional methods of quantization. Field propagation is based on the concept of stochastic parallel transport governed by quantum connections that incorporate Poincaré gauge invariance and obey the equivalence principle. Consequently, under free-fall conditions, such geometro-stochastic Dirac field propagation does not give rise to Bogolubov transformations resulting in spontaneous fermion creation.1. Supported in part by the NSERC Research Grant No. A5206.2. Supported by an NSERC postgraduate fellowship.     

Transportation of pinned charge density waves

We investigated the transport of pinned charge density waves (CDWs) that is observed in low dimensional materials. We treated pinned CDWs as moving CDWs that were confined within a typical quantum well amongst the many different types where pinning occurs at the barrier. We calculated the current flowing out of the quantum well by confined CDWs. The calculated conductivity is in good correspondence with experimental data in TTF–TCNQ, where the measured Fröhlich–Peierls temperature is 60 K much higher than the theoretical value of 20 K. The voltage dependence of the conductivity was calculated, where this is easily transformed into the dependence of electric field. The magnetic susceptibility was also calculated with a similar trend of experimental data. The susceptibility is a diamagnetic contribution by CDWs in addition to the constant background Pauli paramagnetic part.     

Investigation of Mn incorporation in fifteen-period InGaAs/GaAs quantum well system

A ferromagnetic ordering with a Curie temperature of 50 K of fifteen layer of InGaMnAs/GaAs multi quantum wells (MQWs) structure grown on high resistivity (100) p-type GaAs substrates by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) was found. It is likely that the ferromagnetic exchange coupling of sample with Curie temperature of 50 K is hole-mediated resulting in Mn substituting In or Ga sites. Temperature and excitation power dependent PL emission spectra of InGaMnAs MQWs sample grown at temperature of 170 °C show that an activation energy of Mn ion on the first quantum confinement level in InGaAs quantum well is 36 meV and impurity Mn is partly ionized. It is found that the activation energy of 36 meV of Mn ion in the QW is lower than the activation energy of 110 meV for a substitutional Mn impurity in GaAs. These measurements provide strong evidence that an impurity band existing in the bandgap due to substitutional Mn ions and it is the location of the Fermi level within the impurity band that determines Curie temperature.     

Quantum phase for an electric quadrupole moment in noncommutative quantum mechanics

We study the noncoInmutative nonrelativistic quantum dynamics of a neutral particle, which possesses an electric qaudrupole moment, in the presence of an external magnetic field. First, by intro ducing a shift for the magnetic field, we give the Schrodinger equations in the presence of an external magnetic field both on a noncommutative space and a noncomlnutative phase space, respectively. Then by solving the SchrSdinger equations both on a noneommutative space and a noncommutative phase space, we obtain quantum phases of the electric quadrupole moment, respectively. Wc demonstrate that these phases are geometric and dispersive.     

The Effects of an Impurity in an Ising‐XXZ Diamond Chain on Thermal Entanglement,on Quantum Coherence,and on Quantum Teleportation

The effects of an impurity plaquette on the thermal quantum correlations measurement by the concurrence, on quantum coherence quantified by the recently proposed l₁‐norm of coherence and on quantum teleportation in a Ising‐ $XXZ$ diamond chain are discussed. Such an impurity is formed by the $XXZ$ interaction between the interstitial Heisenberg dimers and the nearest‐neighbor Ising coupling between the nodal and interstitial spins. All the interaction parameters are different from those of the rest of the chain. By tailoring them, quantum entanglement and quantum coherence can be controlled and tuned. Therefore, the quantum resources—thermal entanglement and quantum coherence—of the model exhibit a clear performance improvement in comparison to the original model without impurities. It is demonstrated that quantum teleportation can be tuned by its inclusion. Thermal teleportation is modified in a significant way as well, and a strong increase in the average fidelity is observed. The exact solution is furnished by the use of the transfer‐matrix method.     

Mass Parameter Quantization in the FRW Cosmological Model

Using the canonical quantum theory apply to spherically symmetric pure gravitational systems, we present the study of the closed Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) cosmological model filled with pressureless matter (dust) content as a toy model. The Wheeler-DeWitt equation is view as the Schrödinger equation for the linear harmonic oscillator with energy E. We show that such type of universe has a quantized masses of the order of the Planck mass and harmonic oscillator wave functions, where a dual symmetry emerge among the quantum parameters.     

A Relativistic Version of the Ghirardi–Rimini–Weber Model

Carrying out a research program outlined by John S. Bell in 1987, we arrive at a relativistic version of the Ghirardi-Rimini-Weber (GRW) model of spontaneous wavefunction collapse. The GRW model was proposed as a solution of the measurement problem of quantum mechanics and involves a stochastic and nonlinear modification of the Schrödinger equation. It deviates very little from the Schrödinger equation for microscopic systems but efficiently suppresses, for macroscopic systems, superpositions of macroscopically different states. As suggested by Bell, we take the primitive ontology, or local beables, of our model to be a discrete set of space-time points, at which the collapses are centered. This set is random with distribution determined by the initial wavefunction. Our model is nonlocal and violates Bell’s inequality though it does not make use of a preferred slicing of space-time or any other sort of synchronization of spacelike separated points. Like the GRW model, it reproduces the quantum probabilities in all cases presently testable, though it entails deviations from the quantum formalism that are in principle testable. Our model works in Minkowski space-time as well as in (well-behaved) curved background space-times.     

Defects related emission and nanosecond optical power limiting in CuS quantum dots

We report optical and nonlinear optical properties of CuS quantum dots and nanoparticles prepared through a nontoxic, green, one-pot synthesis method. The presence of surface states and defects in the quantum dots are evident from the luminescent behavior and enhanced nonlinear optical properties measured using the open aperture Z-scan, employing 5 ns laser pulses at 532 nm. The quantum dots exhibit large effective third order nonlinear optical coefficients with a relatively lower optical limiting threshold of 2.3 J cm⁻², and the optical nonlinearity arises largely from absorption saturation and excited state absorption. Results suggest that these materials are potential candidates for designing efficient optical limiters with applications in laser safety devices.     

Galileo's experiment on free-falling bodies using modern optical techniques

We propose a method, based on well-known optical techniques, by which possible differences in the free-fall accelaration of bodies of different nuclear composition can be measured. The sensitivity of the method is almost a factor of 10 higher than in the experiment of Eötvös et al.