Quantum pumping and dissipation in closed systems

Current can be pumped through a closed system by changing parameters (or fields) in time. Linear response theory (the Kubo formula) allows to analyze both the charge transport and the associated dissipation effect. We make a distinction between adiabatic and non-adiabatic regimes, and explain the subtle limit of an infinite system. As an example we discuss the following question: What is the amount of charge which is pushed by a moving scatterer? In the low frequency (DC) limit we can write dQ=-GdX, where dX is the displacement of the scatterer. Thus the issue is to calculate the generalized conductance $G$.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, Lecture notes for the proceedings of the conference "Frontiers of Quantum and Mesoscopic Thermodynamics" [Prague, July 2004

Trends in Special Library Buildings

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Excited Baryons in Large NcN_c QCD

This talk reviews recent developments in the use of large $N_c$ QCD in the description of baryonic resonances. The emphasis is on the model-independent nature of the approach. Key issues discussed include the spin-flavor symmetry which emerges at large $N_c$ and the direct use of scattering observables. The connection to quark model approaches is stressed.Comment: Talk at "Baryons 04", Palaiseau, October 200

Recursive n-gram hashing is pairwise independent, at best

Many applications use sequences of n consecutive symbols (n-grams). Hashing these n-grams can be a performance bottleneck. For more speed, recursive hash families compute hash values by updating previous values. We prove that recursive hash families cannot be more than pairwise independent. While hashing by irreducible polynomials is pairwise independent, our implementations either run in time O(n) or use an exponential amount of memory. As a more scalable alternative, we make hashing by cyclic polynomials pairwise independent by ignoring n-1 bits. Experimentally, we show that hashing by cyclic polynomials is is twice as fast as hashing by irreducible polynomials. We also show that randomized Karp-Rabin hash families are not pairwise independent.Comment: See software at https://github.com/lemire/rollinghashcp

Chaos and energy spreading for time-Dependent Hamiltonians, and the various Regimes in the theory of Quantum Dissipation

We make the first steps towards a generic theory for energy spreading and quantum dissipation. The Wall formula for the calculation of friction in nuclear physics and the Drude formula for the calculation of conductivity in mesoscopic physics can be regarded as two special results of the general formulation. We assume a time-dependent Hamiltonian $H(Q,P;x(t))$ with $x(t)=Vt$, where $V$ is slow in a classical sense. The rate-of-change $V$ is not necessarily slow in the quantum-mechanical sense. Dissipation means an irreversible systematic growth of the (average) energy. It is associated with the stochastic spreading of energy across levels. The latter can be characterized by a transition probability kernel $P_t(n|m)$ where $n$ and $m$ are level indices. This kernel is the main object of the present study. In the classical limit, due to the (assumed) chaotic nature of the dynamics, the second moment of $P_t(n|m)$ exhibits a crossover from ballistic to diffusive behavior. We define the $V$ regimes where either perturbation theory or semiclassical considerations are applicable in order to establish this crossover in the quantal case. In the limit $\hbar\to 0$ perturbation theory does not apply but semiclassical considerations can be used in order to argue that there is detailed correspondence, during the crossover time. In the perturbative regime there is a lack of such correspondence. Namely, $P_t(n|m)$ is characterized by a perturbative core-tail structure that persists during the crossover time. In spite of this lack of (detailed) correspondence there may be still a restricted correspondence as far as the second-moment is concerned. Such restricted correspondence is essential in order to establish the universal fluctuation-dissipation relation.Comment: 46 pages, 6 figures, 4 Tables. To be published in Annals of Physics. Appendix F improve

Cohomology rings of almost-direct products of free groups

An almost-direct product of free groups is an iterated semidirect product of finitely generated free groups in which the action of the constituent free groups on the homology of one another is trivial. We determine the structure of the cohomology ring of such a group. This is used to analyze the topological complexity of the associated Eilenberg-Mac Lane space.Comment: 16 page

Hester Prynne, Lydia Bennet, and Section 306 Stock: The Concept of Tainting in the American Novel, the British Novel, and the Internal Revenue Code

Did Nathaniel Hawthorne\u27s novel, The Scarlet Letter, inspire Section 306 of the Internal Revenue Code? This code provision adopts a peculiarly Hawthorne-like solution to a tax avoidance scheme known as the preferred stock bailout. Section 306 taints the stock used in the scheme as Section 306 stock. Special rules then govern all subsequent dispositions of the tainted stock. With its concept of a taint that can dog a stock from acquisition to disposition, Section 306 might have been designed by a novelist rather than a tax technician

Rational maps and string topology

We apply a version of the Chas-Sullivan-Cohen-Jones product on the higher loop homology of a manifold in order to compute the homology of the spaces of continuous and holomorphic maps of the Riemann sphere into a complex projective space. This product makes sense on the homology of maps from a co-H space to a manifold, and comes from a ring spectrum. We also build a holomorphic version of the product for maps of the Riemann sphere into homogeneous spaces. In the continuous case we define a related module structure on the homology of maps from a mapping cone into a manifold, and then describe a spectral sequence that can compute it. As a consequence we deduce a periodicity and dichotomy theorem when the source is a compact Riemann surface and the target is a complex projective space.Comment: This is the version published by Geometry & Topology on 28 October 200