Photoassociation dynamics in a Bose-Einstein condensate

A dynamical many body theory of single color photoassociation in a Bose-Einstein condensate is presented. The theory describes the time evolution of a condensed atomic ensemble under the influence of an arbitrarily varying near resonant laser pulse, which strongly modifies the binary scattering properties. In particular, when considering situations with rapid variations and high light intensities the approach described in this article leads, in a consistent way, beyond standard mean field techniques. This allows to address the question of limits to the photoassociation rate due to many body effects which has caused extensive discussions in the recent past. Both, the possible loss rate of condensate atoms and the amount of stable ground state molecules achievable within a certain time are found to be stronger limited than according to mean field theory. By systematically treating the dynamics of the connected Green's function for pair correlations the resonantly driven population of the excited molecular state as well as scattering into the continuum of non-condensed atomic states are taken into account. A detailed analysis of the low energy stationary scattering properties of two atoms modified by the near resonant photoassociation laser, in particular of the dressed state spectrum of the relative motion prepares for the analysis of the many body dynamics. The consequences of the finite lifetime of the resonantly coupled bound state are discussed in the two body as well as in the many body context. Extending the two body description to scattering in a tight trap reveals the modifications to the near resonant adiabatic dressed levels caused by the decay of the excited molecular state.Comment: 27 pages revtex, 16 figure

Optimizing entangling quantum gates for physical systems

Optimal control theory is a versatile tool that presents a route to significantly improving figures of merit for quantum information tasks. We combine it here with the geometric theory for local equivalence classes of two-qubit operations to derive an optimization algorithm that determines the best entangling two-qubit gate for a given physical setting. We demonstrate the power of this approach for trapped polar molecules and neutral atoms.Comment: extended version; Phys. Rev. A (2011

Topological Degeneracy and Vortex Manipulation in Kitaev's Honeycomb Model

The classification of loop symmetries in Kitaev's honeycomb lattice model provides a natural framework to study the Abelian topological degeneracy. We derive a perturbative low-energy effective Hamiltonian that is valid to all orders of the expansion and for all possible toroidal configurations. Using this form we demonstrate at what order the system's topological degeneracy is lifted by finite size effects and note that in the thermodynamic limit it is robust to all orders. Further, we demonstrate that the loop symmetries themselves correspond to the creation, propagation, and annihilation of fermions. We note that these fermions, made from pairs of vortices, can be moved with no additional energy cost

Lombar Tranverse Process Osteosarcoma

Introduction Osteosarcoma (OSA) is the most common primary bone tumor in dogs. Between 20 and 25% of canine OSA arise from bones of the axial skeleton and are also the most common extradural spinal neoplasm (46%). Radiographic appearance is nonspecific and inconsistent. Pain without neurological signs is the predominant initial finding with vertebral OSA. Materials and Methods A 8 years cross-bred male dog was presented for consultation complaining of progressive weight loss, apathy and nonspecific pain. A paralumbar mass on the left side was diagnosed after clinical and radiographical examination. Cytology of the mass was performed and the animal was hospitalized for pain control and nutritional support until definitive diagnosis. During hospitalization, the clinical status of the animal deteriorated emerging neurological abnormalities. The cytology revealed the presence of cells characteristic of a neoplastic process of mesenchymal origin, apparently sarcoma. It was decided to perform a myelogram wich revealed spinal cord compression at L4, caused by the mass. Due to the deterioration of clinical status and the diagnosis owners decided for euthanasia. Results At necropsy was observedthe thickening of the transverse process of L4 vertebra by a mass with 6.3 x 7.0 x 4.5 cm. The histopathological diagnosis revealed an OSA with different histologic aspects. Discussion and Conclusion An unsucessful outcome OSA was diagnosed. Aadequately treatinglocal disease ofvertebral OSA is very difficult. Surgery is an attempt to decompress dogs with neurologic deficits or intractable pain. Present recommendations are to perform surgery for decompression and institute radiation and chemotherapy.This work was supported by Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, Center for Studies in Education, Technologies and by Health and by strategic project PEst-OE/CED/UI4016/201

Exact two-qubit universal quantum circuit

We provide an analytic way to implement any arbitrary two-qubit unitary operation, given an entangling two-qubit gate together with local gates. This is shown to provide explicit construction of a universal quantum circuit that exactly simulates arbitrary two-qubit operations in SU(4). Each block in this circuit is given in a closed form solution. We also provide a uniform upper bound of the applications of the given entangling gates, and find that exactly half of all the Controlled-Unitary gates satisfy the same upper bound as the CNOT gate. These results allow for the efficient implementation of operations in SU(4) required for both quantum computation and quantum simulation.Comment: 5 page

Qudit versions of the qubit "pi-over-eight" gate

When visualised as an operation on the Bloch sphere, the qubit "pi-over-eight" gate corresponds to one-eighth of a complete rotation about the vertical axis. This simple gate often plays an important role in quantum information theory, typically in situations for which Pauli and Clifford gates are insufficient. Most notably, when it supplements the set of Clifford gates then universal quantum computation can be achieved. The "pi-over-eight" gate is the simplest example of an operation from the third level of the Clifford hierarchy (i.e., it maps Pauli operations to Clifford operations under conjugation). Here we derive explicit expressions for all qudit (d-level, where d is prime) versions of this gate and analyze the resulting group structure that is generated by these diagonal gates. This group structure differs depending on whether the dimensionality of the qudit is two, three or greater than three. We then discuss the geometrical relationship of these gates (and associated states) with respect to Clifford gates and stabilizer states. We present evidence that these gates are maximally robust to depolarizing and phase damping noise, in complete analogy with the qubit case. Motivated by this and other similarities we conjecture that these gates could be useful for the task of qudit magic-state distillation and, by extension, fault-tolerant quantum computing. Very recent, independent work by Campbell, Anwar and Browne confirms the correctness of this intuition, and we build upon their work to characterize noise regimes for which noisy implementations of these gates can (or provably cannot) supplement Clifford gates to enable universal quantum computation.Comment: Version 2 changed to reflect improved distillation routines in arXiv:1205.3104v2. Minor typos fixed. 12 Pages,2 Figures,3 Table

Thymic Squamous Cell Carcinoma? Do you confirm this diagnosis?

Introduction In dogs thymic carcinoma is considered rare and distinguishes itself from thymoma by its cytologically malignant features, extensive local invasion, and a substantial potential for metastasis. Surgical excision is the treatment of choice for most thymic tumours, with the exception of lymphoma. Medical History A 9 years old cross-breed male dog was presented due to cough and respiratory distress with duration of 4 weeks. The animal presented with inspiratory dyspnea and cyanosis. A mass, dorsal to the pharynx, was diagnosed after clinical and radiographical examination, suspected of thyroid neoplasia. Cytology was performed and revealed cells consistent with malignancy, apparently carcinoma with high parameters of aggressiveness. As a form of treatment and to obtain a definitive diagnosis, was decided to surgical removed the mass which measured 7.8x3.7x3.5cm. Material and Methods The sample was fixed in 10 % buffered formalin solution for histological evaluation and sent to the Anatomic Pathology Laboratory of the Agrarian Superior School of Viseu, in Portugal, for histological evaluation. Results Microscopic examination revealed that we were in presence of a lymphoid organ, with peculiar features, namely a small to intermediate-sized lymphoid cells, "starry-sky" pattern and rounded eosinophilic perivascular arrangements resembling Hassall's corpuscles. Concomitantly, typical features of squamous cell carcinoma were evident. Discussion and Conclusion In conclusion, based on its histological features, the authors suggested the diagnosis of Thymic Squamous Cell Carcinoma with an unusual location. Thymic tumours in dogs are predominantly located in the anterior mediastinum but they may extend from the neck to the posterior mediastinum.This work was supported by Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, Center for Studies in Education, Technologies and by Health and by strategic project PEst-OE/CED/UI4016/201

Muscle function is associated with future patient-reported outcomes in young adults with ACL injury

BACKGROUND/AIM: Consequences of an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury include worse patient-reported outcomes (PROs) and a decrease in activity level. Muscle function can be improved by targeted exercise. Our aims were to investigate cross-sectional and longitudinal associations among lower extremity muscle function and PROs after ACL injury.METHODS: Fifty-four participants (15 women, mean 30 years) with ACL injury or reconstruction, from the Knee Anterior Cruciate Ligament, Nonsurgical versus Surgical Treatment (KANON) trial (ISRCTN84752559), were assessed with hop performance, muscle power and postural orientation 3 years (SD 0.85) after ACL injury. PROs at 3 and 5 years after injury included Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) subscales Function in sport and recreation (KOOS Sport/rec) and Knee-related Quality of life (KOOS QoL), KOOS item Q3 (KOOS Q3), Tegner Activity Scale and Activity Rating Scale (ARS). Partial Spearman's rank-order correlation was used to analyse correlations between muscle function and PROs, controlling for gender and treatment.RESULTS: Numerous cross-sectional correlations were observed between muscle function and PROs (rsp≈0.3-0.5, p≤0.045). Worse hop performance and worse postural orientation were associated with worse KOOS scores 2 years later (rsp≥0.280, p≤0.045). Worse muscle power was associated with lower future ARS scores (rsp=0.281, p=0.044).CONCLUSIONS: The moderate associations suggest that improving muscle function during rehabilitation could improve present and future PROs

Nonlocality as a Benchmark for Universal Quantum Computation in Ising Anyon Topological Quantum Computers

An obstacle affecting any proposal for a topological quantum computer based on Ising anyons is that quasiparticle braiding can only implement a finite (non-universal) set of quantum operations. The computational power of this restricted set of operations (often called stabilizer operations) has been studied in quantum information theory, and it is known that no quantum-computational advantage can be obtained without the help of an additional non-stabilizer operation. Similarly, a bipartite two-qubit system based on Ising anyons cannot exhibit non-locality (in the sense of violating a Bell inequality) when only topologically protected stabilizer operations are performed. To produce correlations that cannot be described by a local hidden variable model again requires the use of a non-stabilizer operation. Using geometric techniques, we relate the sets of operations that enable universal quantum computing (UQC) with those that enable violation of a Bell inequality. Motivated by the fact that non-stabilizer operations are expected to be highly imperfect, our aim is to provide a benchmark for identifying UQC-enabling operations that is both experimentally practical and conceptually simple. We show that any (noisy) single-qubit non-stabilizer operation that, together with perfect stabilizer operations, enables violation of the simplest two-qubit Bell inequality can also be used to enable UQC. This benchmarking requires finding the expectation values of two distinct Pauli measurements on each qubit of a bipartite system.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figure