Measuring |V_{td} / V_{ub}| through B -> M \nu \bar\nu (M=\pi,K,\rho,K^*) decays

We propose a new method for precise determination of |V_{td} / V_{ub}| from the ratios of branching ratios BR(B -> \rho \nu \bar \nu ) / BR(B ->\rho l \nu ) and BR(B -> \pi \nu \bar \nu ) / BR(B -> \pi l \nu ). These ratios depend only on the ratio of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) elements |V_{td} / V_{ub}|$ with little theoretical uncertainty, when very small isospin breaking effects are neglected. As is well known, |V_{td} / V_{ub}| equals to (\sin \gamma) / (\sin \beta) for the CKM version of CP-violation within the Standard Model. We also give in detail analytical and numerical results on the differential decay width d\Gamma(B -> K^* \nu \bar \nu ) / dq^2 and the ratio of the differential rates dBR(B -> \rho \nu \bar \nu )/dq^2 / dBR(B -> K^* \nu \bar \nu )/dq^2 as well as BR(B -> \rho \nu \bar \nu ) / BR(B -> K^* \nu \bar \nu) and BR(B -> \pi \nu \bar \nu ) / BR(B -> K \nu \bar \nu).Comment: LaTeX with 2 figures, 12 page

Continuity and Discontinuity of the Boundary Layer Tail

We investigate the continuity properties of the homogenized boundary data $\overline{g}$ for oscillating Dirichlet boundary data problems. We show that, for a generic non-rotation-invariant operator and boundary data, $\overline{g}$ is discontinuous at every rational direction. In particular this implies that the continuity condition of Choi and Kim is essentially sharp. On the other hand, when this condition holds, we show a H\"{o}lder modulus of continuity for $\overline{g}$. When the operator is linear we show that $\overline{g}$ is H\"{o}lder-$\frac{1}{d}$ up to a logarithmic factor. The proofs are based on a new geometric observation on the limiting behavior of $\overline{g}$ at rational directions, reducing to a class of two dimensional problems for projections of the homogenized operator.Comment: 36 pages, 1 figure. Version to appear in Annales scientifiques de l'EN

Bypassing state initialization in Hamiltonian tomography on spin-chains

We provide an extensive discussion on a scheme for Hamiltonian tomography of a spin-chain model that does not require state initialization [Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 187203 (2009)]. The method has spurred the attention of the physics community interested in indirect acquisition of information on the dynamics of quantum many-body systems and represents a genuine instance of a control-limited quantum protocol.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, RevTeX

Vision-model-based Real-time Localization of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle for Autonomous Structure Inspection under GPS-denied Environment

UAVs have been widely used in visual inspections of buildings, bridges and other structures. In either outdoor autonomous or semi-autonomous flights missions strong GPS signal is vital for UAV to locate its own positions. However, strong GPS signal is not always available, and it can degrade or fully loss underneath large structures or close to power lines, which can cause serious control issues or even UAV crashes. Such limitations highly restricted the applications of UAV as a routine inspection tool in various domains. In this paper a vision-model-based real-time self-positioning method is proposed to support autonomous aerial inspection without the need of GPS support. Compared to other localization methods that requires additional onboard sensors, the proposed method uses a single camera to continuously estimate the inflight poses of UAV. Each step of the proposed method is discussed in detail, and its performance is tested through an indoor test case.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, submitted to i3ce 201

Nested entangled states for distributed quantum channels

We find a coupling-strength configuration for a linear chain of N spins which gives rise to simultaneous multiple Bell states. We suggest a way such an interesting entanglement pattern can be used in order to distribute maximally entangled channels to remote locations and generate multipartite entanglement with a minimum-control approach. Our proposal thus provides a way to achieve the core resources in distributed information processing. The schemes we describe can be efficiently tested in chains of coupled cavities interacting with three-level atoms.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, RevTeX

Instability, Intermittency and Multiscaling in Discrete Growth Models of Kinetic Roughening

We show by numerical simulations that discretized versions of commonly studied continuum nonlinear growth equations (such as the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation and the Lai-Das Sarma equation) and related atomistic models of epitaxial growth have a generic instability in which isolated pillars (or grooves) on an otherwise flat interface grow in time when their height (or depth) exceeds a critical value. Depending on the details of the model, the instability found in the discretized version may or may not be present in the truly continuum growth equation, indicating that the behavior of discretized nonlinear growth equations may be very different from that of their continuum counterparts. This instability can be controlled either by the introduction of higher-order nonlinear terms with appropriate coefficients or by restricting the growth of pillars (or grooves) by other means. A number of such ``controlled instability'' models are studied by simulation. For appropriate choice of the parameters used for controlling the instability, these models exhibit intermittent behavior, characterized by multiexponent scaling of height fluctuations, over the time interval during which the instability is active. The behavior found in this regime is very similar to the ``turbulent'' behavior observed in recent simulations of several one- and two-dimensional atomistic models of epitaxial growth. [pacs{61.50.Cj, 68.55.Bd, 05.70.Ln, 64.60.Ht}]Comment: 47 pages + 26 postscript figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.