Ettore Majorana’s Course on Theoretical Physics: A Recent Discovery

We analyze in some detail the course that Ettore Majorana gave on theoretical physics at the University of Naples between January and March 1938, just prior to his mysterious disappearance. We discuss, in particular, the recently discovered Moreno Lecture Notes, in which all of Majorana’s lectures are recorded, six of which are not present in those that are preserved in the Domus Galilaeana in Pisa, Italy. Antonino Drago is a retired professor of history of physics at the University of Naples “Federico II.” Salvatore Esposito is a researcher on theoretical physics and history of physics at the University of Naples “Federico II.”     

Holography and Non-Locality in a Closed Vacuum-Dominated Universe

A closed vacuum-dominated Friedmann universe is asymptotic to a de Sitter space with a cosmological event horizon for any observer. The holographic principle says the area of the horizon in Planck units determines the maximum number of bits of information about the universe that will ever be available to any observer. The wavefunction describing the probability distribution of mass quanta associated with bits of information on the horizon is the boundary condition for the wavefunction specifying the probability distribution of mass quanta throughout the universe. Local interactions between mass quanta in the universe cause quantum transitions in the wavefunction specifying the distribution of mass throughout the universe, with instantaneous non-local effects throughout the universe.     

Absorption spectrum of a resonantly driven degenerate V-type atom with a dc-field coupling between excited states

We study the absorption spectra of a degenerate V-type atom, where a resonant driving field and a probe field drive different branches of transitions and a dc field is applied to drive the transition between two excited states. The effects of vacuum induced coherence (VIC) on the absorption spectra are investigated. It is demonstrated that in some special cases the VIC can lead to the depression of absorption and narrow resonance. The origin of these features are discussed. When the pump field and the dc field have the same intensity, it is interesting to find that the whole absorption spectrum comes mainly from the absorptions induced by the interferences among different transitions between dressed states.     

Hahn echo and criticality in spin-chain systems

We present a theory to establish a relation between Hahn spin-echo of a spin-1/2 particle and quantum phase transitions in many-body systems. The Hahn echo is calculated and discussed at zero as well as at finite temperatures. On the example of XY model, we show that the critical points of the chain are marked by the extremal values in the Hahn echo, and can influence the Hahn echo in finite temperatures. An explanation for the relation between the echo and criticality is also presented.     

Weak Coupling and Continuous Limits for Repeated Quantum Interactions

We consider a quantum system in contact with a heat bath consisting in an infinite chain of identical sub-systems at thermal equilibrium at inverse temperature β. The time evolution is discrete and such that over each time step of duration τ, the reference system is coupled to one new element of the chain only, by means of an interaction of strength λ. We consider three asymptotic regimes of the parameters λ and τ for which the effective evolution of observables on the small system becomes continuous over suitable macroscopic time scales T and whose generator can be computed: the weak coupling limit regime λ → 0, τ = 1, the regime τ → 0, λ²τ → 0 and the critical case λ²τ = 1, τ → 0. The first two regimes are perturbative in nature and the effective generators they determine is such that a non-trivial invariant sub-algebra of observables naturally emerges. The third asymptotic regime goes beyond the perturbative regime and provides an effective dynamics governed by a general Lindblad generator naturally constructed from the interaction Hamiltonian. Conversely, this result shows that one can attach to any Lindblad generator a repeated quantum interactions model whose asymptotic effective evolution is generated by this Lindblad operator.     

Trap elimination and reduction of size dispersion due to aging in CdS<Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript>Se<Subscript>1−<Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript> quantum dots

Quantum Dots of CdS _x Se_1−x embedded in borosilicate glass matrix have been grown using Double-Step annealing method. Optical characterization of the quantum dots has been done through the combinative analysis of optical absorption and photoluminescence spectroscopy at room temperature. Decreasing trend of photoluminescence intensity with aging has been observed and is attributed to trap elimination. The changes in particle size, size distribution, number of quantum dots, volume fraction, trap related phenomenon and Gibbs free energy of quantum dots, has been explained on the basis of the diffusion-controlled growth process, which continues with passage of time. For a typical case, it was found that after 24 months of aging, the average radii increased from 3.05 to 3.12 nm with the increase in number of quantum dots by 190% and the size-dispersion decreased from 10.8% to 9.9%. For this sample, the initial size range of the quantum dots was 2.85 to 3.18 nm. After that no significant change was found in these parameters for the next 12 months. This shows that the system attains almost a stable nature after 24 months of aging. It was also observed that the size-dispersion in quantum dots reduces with the increase in annealing duration, but at the cost of quantum confinement effect. Therefore, a trade off optimization has to be done between the size-dispersion and the quantum confinement.     

Quantum dynamics of tight-binding networks coherently controlled by external fields

With some reviews on the investigations on the schemes for quantum state transfer based on spin systems, we discuss the quantum dynamics of magnetically-controlled networks for Bloch electrons. The networks are constructed by connecting several tight-binding chains with uniform nearest-neighbor hopping integrals. The external magnetic field and the connecting hopping integrals can be used to control the intrinsic properties of the networks. For several typical networks, rigorous results are shown for some specific values of external magnetic field and the connecting hopping integrals: a complicated network can be reduced into a virtual network, which is a direct sum of some independent chains with uniform nearest-neighbor hopping integrals. These reductions are due to the fermionic statistics and the Aharonov-Bohm effects. In application, we study the quantum dynamics of wave packet motion of Bloch electrons in such networks. For various geometrical configurations, these networks can function as some optical devices, such as beam splitters, switches and interferometers. When the Bloch electrons as Gaussian wave packets input these devices, various quantum coherence phenomena can be observed, e.g., the perfect quantum state transfer without reflection in a Y-shaped beam, the multi-mode entanglers of electron wave by star-shaped network, magnetically controlled switches, and Bloch electron interferometer with the lattice Aharonov-Bohm effects. With these quantum coherent features, the networks are expected to be used as quantum information processors for the fermion system based on the possible engineered solid state systems, such as the array of quantum dots that can be implemented experimentally.      

From Schwarzschild to Kerr due to Black Hole Quantum Tunnelling

Hawking radiation can be viewed as a process of quantum tunnelling near black hole horizon. When a particle with angular momentum tunnels across the event horizon of Schwarzschild black hole, the black hole will change into a Kerr black hole. The emission rate of the massless particles with angular momentum is calculated, and the result is consistent with an underlying unitary theory.     

Quantum secret sharing between multiparty and multiparty with four states

A protocol of quantum secret sharing between multiparty and multiparty with four states was presented. It was shown that this protocol can nullify the Trojan horse attack with a multi-photon signal, the fake-signal attack with Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen pairs, the attack with single photons, and the attack with invisible photons. In addition, the upper bounds of the average success probabilities were given for dishonest agent eavesdropping encryption using the fake-signal attack with any two-particle entangled states. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 10671054), the Key Project of Science and Technology Research of Education Ministry of China (Grant No. 207011) and the Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province, China (Grant Nos. A2005000140 and 07M006)     

The road towards the international linear collider: Higgs,top/quantum chromodynamics,loops

The international linear e ⁺ e ⁻ collider (ILC) could go into operation in the second half of the upcoming decade. Experimental analyses and theory calculations for the physics at the ILC are currently performed. We review recent progress, as presented at the LCWS06 in Bangalore, India, in the fields of Higgs boson physics and top/QCD. Also the area of loop calculations, necessary to achieve the required theory precision, is included.