Affine Maps of the Polarization Vector for Quantum Systems of Arbitrary Dimension

The operator-sum decomposition (OS) of a mapping from one density matrix to another has many applications in quantum information science. To this mapping there corresponds an affine map which provides a geometric description of the density matrix in terms of the polarization vector representation. This has been thoroughly explored for qubits since the components of the polarization vector are measurable quantities (corresponding to expectation values of Hermitian operators) and also because it enables the description of map domains geometrically. Here we extend the OS-affine map correspondence to qudits, briefly discuss general properties of the map, the form for particular important cases, and provide several explicit results for qutrit maps. We use the affine map and a singular-value-like decomposition, to find positivity constraints that provide a symmetry for small polarization vector magnitudes (states which are closer to the maximally mixed state) which is broken as the polarization vector increases in magnitude (a state becomes more pure). The dependence of this symmetry on the magnitude of the polarization vector implies the polar decomposition of the map can not be used as it can for the qubit case. However, it still leads us to a connection between positivity and purity for general d-state systems.Comment: 19 pages, LaTeX2e, TOC include

High Fidelity State Transfer Over an Unmodulated Linear XY Spin Chain

We provide a class of initial encodings that can be sent with a high fidelity over an unmodulated, linear, XY spin chain. As an example, an average fidelity of ninety-six percent can be obtained using an eleven-spin encoding to transmit a state over a chain containing ten-thousand spins. An analysis of the magnetic field dependence is given, and conditions for field optimization are provided.Comment: Replaced with published version. 8 pages, 5 figure

Evaporation of Lennard-Jones Fluids

Evaporation and condensation at a liquid/vapor interface are ubiquitous interphase mass and energy transfer phenomena that are still not well understood. We have carried out large scale molecular dynamics simulations of Lennard-Jones (LJ) fluids composed of monomers, dimers, or trimers to investigate these processes with molecular detail. For LJ monomers in contact with a vacuum, the evaporation rate is found to be very high with significant evaporative cooling and an accompanying density gradient in the liquid domain near the liquid/vapor interface. Increasing the chain length to just dimers significantly reduces the evaporation rate. We confirm that mechanical equilibrium plays a key role in determining the evaporation rate and the density and temperature profiles across the liquid/vapor interface. The velocity distributions of evaporated molecules and the evaporation and condensation coefficients are measured and compared to the predictions of an existing model based on kinetic theory of gases. Our results indicate that for both monatomic and polyatomic molecules, the evaporation and condensation coefficients are equal when systems are not far from equilibrium and smaller than one, and decrease with increasing temperature. For the same reduced temperature $T/T_c$, where $T_c$ is the critical temperature, these two coefficients are higher for LJ dimers and trimers than for monomers, in contrast to the traditional viewpoint that they are close to unity for monatomic molecules and decrease for polyatomic molecules. Furthermore, data for the two coefficients collapse onto a master curve when plotted against a translational length ratio between the liquid and vapor phase.Comment: revised version, 15 pages, 15 figures, to appear in J. Chem. Phy

Spectral properties and magneto-optical excitations in semiconductor double-rings under Rashba spin-orbit interaction

We have numerically solved the Hamiltonian of an electron in a semiconductor double ring subjected to the magnetic flux and Rashba spin-orbit interaction. It is found that the Aharonov-Bohm energy spectrum reveals multi-zigzag periodic structures. The investigations of spin-dependent electron dynamics via Rabi oscillations in two-level and three-level systems demonstrate the possibility of manipulating quantum states. Our results show that the optimal control of photon-assisted inter-ring transitions can be achieved by employing cascade-type and $\Lambda$-type transition mechanisms. Under chirped pulse impulsions, a robust and complete transfer of an electron to the final state is shown to coincide with the estimation of the Landau-Zener formula.Comment: RevTex, 9 pages, 5 figure