Non-universal size dependence of the free energy of confined systems near criticality

The singular part of the finite-size free energy density $f_s$ of the O(n) symmetric $\phi^4$ field theory in the large-n limit is calculated at finite cutoff for confined geometries of linear size L with periodic boundary conditions in 2 < d < 4 dimensions. We find that a sharp cutoff $\Lambda$ causes a non-universal leading size dependence $f_s \sim \Lambda^{d-2} L^{-2}$ near $T_c$ which dominates the universal scaling term $\sim L^{-d}$. This implies a non-universal critical Casimir effect at $T_c$ and a leading non-scaling term $\sim L^{-2}$ of the finite-size specific heat above $T_c$.Comment: RevTex, 4 page

Suppressing decoherence and improving entanglement by quantum-jump-based feedback control in two-level systems

We study the quantum-jump-based feedback control on the entanglement shared between two qubits with one of them subject to decoherence, while the other qubit is under the control. This situation is very relevant to a quantum system consisting of nuclear and electron spins in solid states. The possibility to prolong the coherence time of the dissipative qubit is also explored. Numerical simulations show that the quantum-jump-based feedback control can improve the entanglement between the qubits and prolong the coherence time for the qubit subject directly to decoherence

Empirical pricing kernels obtained from the UK index options market

Empirical pricing kernels for the UK equity market are derived as the ratio between risk-neutral densities, inferred from FTSE 100 index options, and historical real-world densities, estimated from time series of the index. The kernels thus obtained are almost compatible with a risk averse representative agent, unlike similar estimates for the US market

Non-adiabatic Fast Control of Mixed States based on Lewis-Riesenfeld Invariant

We apply the inversely-engineered control method based on Lewis-Riesenfeld invariants to control mixed states of a two-level quantum system. We show that the inversely-engineered control passages of mixed states - and pure states as special cases - can be made significantly faster than the conventional adiabatic control passages, which renders the method applicable to quantum computation. We devise a new type of inversely-engineered control passages, to be coined the antedated control passages, which further speed up the control significantly. We also demonstrate that by carefully tuning the control parameters, the inversely-engineered control passages can be optimized in terms of speed and energy cost.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures, version to appear in J. Phys. Soc. Jp

A Bi-Hamiltonian Formulation for Triangular Systems by Perturbations

A bi-Hamiltonian formulation is proposed for triangular systems resulted by perturbations around solutions, from which infinitely many symmetries and conserved functionals of triangular systems can be explicitly constructed, provided that one operator of the Hamiltonian pair is invertible. Through our formulation, four examples of triangular systems are exhibited, which also show that bi-Hamiltonian systems in both lower dimensions and higher dimensions are many and varied. Two of four examples give local 2+1 dimensional bi-Hamiltonian systems and illustrate that multi-scale perturbations can lead to higher-dimensional bi-Hamiltonian systems.Comment: 16 pages, to appear in J. Math. Phy

Constrained structure of ancient Chinese poetry facilitates speech content grouping

Ancient Chinese poetry is constituted by structured language that deviates from ordinary language usage [1, 2]; its poetic genres impose unique combinatory constraints on linguistic elements [3]. How does the constrained poetic structure facilitate speech segmentation when common linguistic [4, 5, 6, 7, 8] and statistical cues [5, 9] are unreliable to listeners in poems? We generated artificial Jueju, which arguably has the most constrained structure in ancient Chinese poetry, and presented each poem twice as an isochronous sequence of syllables to native Mandarin speakers while conducting magnetoencephalography (MEG) recording. We found that listeners deployed their prior knowledge of Jueju to build the line structure and to establish the conceptual flow of Jueju. Unprecedentedly, we found a phase precession phenomenon indicating predictive processes of speech segmentation—the neural phase advanced faster after listeners acquired knowledge of incoming speech. The statistical co-occurrence of monosyllabic words in Jueju negatively correlated with speech segmentation, which provides an alternative perspective on how statistical cues facilitate speech segmentation. Our findings suggest that constrained poetic structures serve as a temporal map for listeners to group speech contents and to predict incoming speech signals. Listeners can parse speech streams by using not only grammatical and statistical cues but also their prior knowledge of the form of language

Subnanosecond magnetization reversal of magnetic nanoparticle driven by chirp microwave field pulse

We investigate the magnetization reversal of single-domain magnetic nanoparticle driven by linear down-chirp microwave magnetic field pulse. Numerical simulations based on the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation reveal that solely down-chirp pulse is capable of inducing subnanosecond magnetization reversal. With a certain range of initial frequency and chirp rate, the required field amplitude is much smaller than that of constant-frequency microwave field. The fast reversal is because the down-chirp microwave field acts as an energy source and sink for the magnetic particle before and after crossing over the energy barrier, respectively. Applying a spin-polarized current additively to the system further reduces the microwave field amplitude. Our findings provide a new way to realize low-cost and fast magnetization reversal