Tight multipartite Bell's inequalities involving many measurement settings

We derive tight Bell's inequalities for N>2 observers involving more than two alternative measurement settings. We give a necessary and sufficient condition for a general quantum state to violate the new inequalities. The inequalities are violated by some classes of states, for which all standard Bell's inequalities with two measurement settings per observer are satisfied.     

Local realism of macroscopic correlations

We identify conditions under which correlations resulting from quantum measurements performed on macroscopic systems (systems composed of a number of particles of the order of the Avogadro number) can be described by local realism. We argue that the emergence of local realism at the macroscopic level is caused by an interplay between the monogamous nature of quantum correlations and the fact that macroscopic measurements do not reveal properties of individual particles.     

Pilot-scale bioremediation of PAH-contaminated soils

Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology - The Institute of Gas Technology (IGT) conducted a pilot-scale study at a former manufactured gas plant (MGP) site in New Jersey. The objective of the study...     

Linear optical scheme for producing polarization-entangled NOON states

We propose a linear optical scheme that can conditionally generate high NOON states using polarization modes. This scheme provides advantages over the previous proposals on path-entangled NOON states in view of success probability or required resources of optical elements. We also investigate two experimental schemes feasible within existing technology that can produce the NOON-like or the NOON state for N = 4.     

Experimentally friendly geometrical criteria for entanglement

A simple geometrical criterion gives experimentally friendly sufficient conditions for entanglement. Its generalization gives a necessary and sufficient condition. It is linked with a family of entanglement identifiers, which is strictly richer than the family of entanglement witnesses.     

A field-scale demonstration of a novel bioremediation process for MGP sites

The Institute of Gas Technology (IGT) has developed and demonstrated an integrated chemical/biological treatment (CBT) process to efficiently remediate soils and sludges contaminated with hazardous compounds such as polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), volatile hydrocarbons (e.g., BTEX), and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Bench-scale studies as well as the field-scale tests show that the CBT process is effective in significantly enhancing the rate as well as the extent of degradation of these contaminants.

In this paper, the results of bench-scale tests conducted with a variety of PAHs and a set of field-scale tests conducted with soils from a former manufactured gas plant (MGP) site (now a Superfund site) that contained coal-tar associated PAHs. The field tests results show that the chemically enhanced bioremediation using the CBT process results in up to 90% improvement over conventional bioremediation for total PAHs (2-6 ring compounds) degradation and over 100% improvement over conventional bioremediation for carcinogenic PAHs (4-6 ring compounds) degradation. In this paper, the preliminary results of the second field test being conducted using the contaminated soils from another MGP site are discussed.

     

Biological-chemical treatment of soils contaminated with exploration and production wastes

Oil-gas exploration and production (E&P) soils contaminated with total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs) have been tested for degradation by two different treatments: biological and chemical. Biological treatment includes the use of native microorganisms for transformation of the various hydrocarbons found in E&P soils. Degradation of TPH of 80 and 86%, was achieved for two different soils, respectively in control experiments. The effect of growth stimulants such as glucose, acetic acid, and valeric acid was examined on TPH degradation. Incorporation of inducer (valerate) enhanced the degradation up to 89 and 93%, for the two soils, respectively. A large portion (> 41%) of contaminant in one soil was comprised of compounds in the carbon range of C₁₀-C₁₆ and < 7% constituted carbon range of C₂₄-C_28. The degradation of C₁₀-C₁₆ compounds was higher (> 98%) as compared to C₂₄-C₂₈ compounds (< 75%). Likewise, the degradation rate was also higher (58 mg/kg/d) for lower compounds as compared to higher carbon range compounds (6.7 mg/kg/d). Experiments conducted on chemical treatment included the effect of chelators on stabilization of H₂O₂, comparative studies between buffer and water (used for soil preparation), and the effect of pH on TPH degradation. The rate of oxygen evolution from H₂O₂ was significantly reduced with use of either chelated iron or phosphate buffer using naphthelene as a model compound. Chemical treatment demonstrated a higher degradation of TPH from contaminated soils at pH 4.0 as compared to a pH of 7.0. More degradation was obtained with slurry prepared in phosphate buffer as compared to deionized water.     

Experimental test of nonlocal realistic theories without the rotational symmetry assumption

We analyze the class of nonlocal realistic theories that was originally considered by Leggett [Found. Phys. 33, 1469 (2003)10.1023/A:1026096313729] and tested by us in a recent experiment [Nature (London) 446, 871 (2007)10.1038/nature05677]. We derive an incompatibility theorem that works for finite numbers of polarizer settings and that does not require the previously assumed rotational symmetry of the two-particle correlation functions. The experimentally measured case involves seven different measurement settings. Using polarization-entangled photon pairs, we exclude this broader class of nonlocal realistic models by experimentally violating a new Leggett-type inequality by 80 standard deviations.     

Correlation complementarity yields bell monogamy relations

We present a method to derive Bell monogamy relations by connecting the complementarity principle with quantum nonlocality. The resulting monogamy relations are stronger than those obtained from the no-signaling principle alone. In many cases, they yield tight quantum bounds on the amount of violation of single and multiple qubit correlation Bell inequalities. In contrast with the two-qubit case, a rich structure of possible violation patterns is shown to exist in the multipartite scenario.