Improved algorithm for simulations of divergent-light halos

Divergent-light halos are produced when light from nearby light sources is scattered by ice crystals in the atmosphere. We present a theory of divergent-light halos leading to an improved algorithm for the simulation of such halos. Contrary to the algorithm that we presented earlier for simulating such halos, the new algorithm includes a mathematically rigorous weighting of the events. The computer implementation is very compact, and the whole procedure is elegant and conceptually easy to understand. We also present a new simulation atlas showing halos produced by crystals of different shapes and orientations for a set of elevations of the light source.     

An efficient algorithm for granular dynamics simulations with complex-shaped objects

One of the most difficult aspect of the realistic modeling of granular materials is how to capture the real shape of the particles. Here we present a method to simulate two-dimensional granular materials with complex-shaped particles. The particle shape is represented by the classical concept of a Minkowski sum, which permits the representation of complex shapes without the need to define the object as a composite of spherical or convex particles. A well defined interaction force between these bodies is derived. The algorithm for identification of neighbor particles reduces force calculations to O(N), where N is the number of particles. The method is much more efficient, accurate and easier to implement than other models. We prove that the algorithm is consistent with energy conservation, which is numerically verified using non-dissipative granular dynamics simulations. Biaxial test simulations on dissipative granular systems demonstrate the relevance of shape in the strength and stress fluctuations at the critical state.     

Frequency-domain fluorescent diffusion tomography: a finite-element-based algorithm and simulations

We present a finite-element-based algorithm for reconstruction of fluorescence lifetime and yield in turbid media, using frequency-domain data. The algorithm is based on a set of coupled diffusion equations that describe the propagation of both excitation and fluorescent emission light in multiply scattering media. Centered on Newton's iterative method, we implemented our algorithm by using a synthesized scheme of Marquardt and Tikhonov regularizations. A low-pass spatial filter is also incorporated into the algorithm for enhancing image reconstruction. Simulation studies using both noise-free and noisy data have been performed with the nonzero photon density boundary conditions. Our results suggest that quantitative images can be produced in terms of fluorescent lifetime and yield values and location, size, and shape of heterogeneities within a circular background region.     

Conformational analysis of peptides using Monte Carlo simulations combined with the genetic algorithm

In this paper, genetic algorithm (GA) was used to both sample the conformational spaces and thoroughly search the global conformations of peptides. δ-conotoxin PVIA, a peptide of 29 amino acids, was used to test our procedure. The results indicated that this procedure could not only successfully explore a set of the conformational spaces using a hybrid Monte Carlo simulations/GA minimization but also find the global conformations for most of peptides using pure GA minimization.     

Cellular automaton algorithm for surface mass transport due to curvature gradients simulations of sintering

A cellular automaton algorithm is developed that simulates the evolution of a surface due to surface mass transport. The driving force is the reduction of chemical potential differences on the surface. This process is important in the development of microstructure during the sintering of powders. The algorithm is implemented in 2D in a digital image mode, using discrete pixels to represent continuum objects. The heart of the algorithm is a pixel-counting-based method for computing the potential at a pixel located in a digital surface. This method gives an approximate measure of the curvature at the given surface pixel. The sontinuum version of this method is analytically shown to give the true curvature at a point on a continuum surface. The digital version of the curvature computation method is shown to obey the scaling laws derived for the continuum version. Several examples, both quantitative and qualitative, are computed of surfaces evolving under curvature differences, and are shown to agree with the known physics of sintering.     

An algorithm to generate random dense arrangements for discrete element simulations of granular assemblies

A discrete element simulation of a mechanical problem involving granular materials begins with the definition of the geometry of the sample to be analyzed. Since the dynamic sample preparation methods typically used in the practice are very time-consuming, constructive algorithms are becoming increasingly popular. This paper introduces a novel constructive method for the preparation of random, isotropic assemblies of contacting circular discs with a user-defined grain size distribution. The proposed approach is compared with other currently applied sample preparation methods.     

A parallel contact detection algorithm for transient solid dynamics simulations using PRONTO3D

An efficient, scalable, parallel algorithm for treating material surface contacts in solid mechanics finite element programs has been implemented in a modular way for multiple-instruction, multiple-data (MIMD) parallel computers. The serial contact detection algorithm that was developed previously for the transient dynamics finite element code PRONTO3D has been extended for use in parallel computation by utilizing a dynamic (adaptive) load balancing algorithm. This approach is scalable to thousands of computational nodes¹     

Entanglement swapping with non-Gaussian resources

We investigate the entanglement swapping of non-Gaussian states, including squeezed number states, two-mode photon-added states, and two-mode photon-subtracted squeezed states and analyze the entanglement of the swapped states by adopting logarithmic negativity as the measure of entanglement. Furthermore, we examine the fidelity of teleportation protocols for different input states where the swapped states serve as the quantum channel. All these results are compared with that obtained in the case of Gaussian two-mode squeezed vacuum.     

Cooperativity and Entanglement of Atom-field States

Abstract

The Jaynes-Cummings model of a single two-level atom interacting with a quantized single-mode coherent field generates at the half-revival time a dynamically disentangled atom-field state. At such times, the field is in asymptotically pure Schrödinger cat state, a macroscopic superposition of distinct field eigenmodes. In this paper we address the problem of field purity when a second atom is allowed to interact with the cavity mode and becomes entangled with the first atom via their mutual cavity field with which they interact. We employ the collective Dicke states to describe the cooperative effects on the entanglement and show that the second atom spoils the purity of the field state except for special cases of the atom-field coupling or of initial conditions.     

Entanglement preservation in quantum cloning

Abstract

Recently Galvão and Hardy have shown that quantum cloning can improve the performance of some quantum computation tasks. However such performance enhancement is possible only if quantum correlations survive the cloning process. We investigate preservation of the quantum correlations in the process of non-local cloning of entangled pairs of two-level systems. We consider different kinds of quantum cloning machines and compare their effectiveness in the cloning of non-maximally entangled pure states. A mean entanglement is introduced in order to obtain a quantitative evaluation of an average efficiency for the different cloning machines. We show that a reduction of the quantum correlations is significant and it strongly depends upon the kind of cloning machine used. Losses of the entanglement are largest in the case of the universal quantum cloning machine. Generally, in all cases considered the losses of the entanglement are so drastic that the method of enhancement for the performance of the quantum computation using quantum cloning seems to be questionable.     

单模压缩信道的纠缠辅助容量

用量子特性函数方法得到了纠缠辅助单模压缩信道在限定输入功率下的经典信息容量的表达式,并进行了数值分析.计算结果表明,信道压缩参数越大,其容量也越大.与没有纠缠辅助下的单模压缩信道的信道容量不同,在纠缠辅助下信道容量一般在信源为压缩态时达到,且此时信源与信道的压缩复参数的相角关系相差π.     

Detection of Entanglement in Ultracold Lattice Gases

Probing non trivial magnetic ordering in quantum magnets realized with ultracold lattice gases demands detection methods with some spatial resolution built on it. Here we demonstrate that the Faraday matter-light interface provides an experimentally feasible tool to distinguish indubitably different quantum phases of a given many-body system in a non-demolishing way. We illustrate our approach by focussing on the Heisenberg chain for spin-1 bosons in the presence of a SU(2) symmetry breaking field. We explain how using the light signal obtained via homodyne detection one can reconstruct the phase diagram of the model. Further we show that the very same technique that provides a direct experimentally measurable signal of different order parameters can be extended to detect also the presence of multipartite entanglement in such systems.     

Entanglement transfer from light to atoms

Abstract

We describe an approach to mapping of a quantum polarization state of free propagating light on a collective spin of an atomic ensemble. Recent experimental results on generation of a macroscopic spin squeezed ensemble of cold atoms via interaction with squeezed light are analysed in detail.     

Extended overstress model and its implicit stress integration algorithm: Formulations,experiments, and simulations

The extended overstress model is formulated based on the subloading surface model with the smooth elastic-inelastic transition, which is called the subloading-overstress model. Therein, the rigorous translation rules of the elastic-core and the similarity-center, the limitation in the expansion of the subloading surface, and so forth are incorporated. The model possesses the basic structure capable of describing the monotonic/cyclic loading behaviors at the general rate of deformations from the quasi-static to the impact loading. The experiments were conducted using the spheroidal graphite cast iron under the various loading conditions. It was verified that the experimental results can be simulated accurately by the subloading-overstress model. Further, the complete implicit stress integration algorithm based on the return-mapping projection is formulated for the present subloading-overstress model and implemented into Abaqus through UMAT. Then, the deformation analyses of the R-notched cylinder were performed by the present algorithm. Consequently, the performability of the present algorithm is verified by the analyses of the boundary-value problem under the cyclic loadings.     

Entanglement energetics in the ground state

Abstract

We show how many-body ground state entanglement information may be extracted from sub-system energy measurements at zero temperature. A precise relation between entanglement and energy fluctuations is demonstrated in the weak coupling limit. Examples are given with the two-state system and the harmonic oscillator, and energy probability distributions are calculated. Comparisons made with recent qubit experiments show this type of measurement provides another method to quantify entanglement with the environment.     

Probing Entanglement via Rashba-Induced Shot Noise Oscillations

We have recently calculated shot noise for entangled and spin-polarized electrons in novel beam-splitter geometries with a local Rashba orbit–spin (s-o) interaction in the incoming leads. This interaction allows for a gate-controlled rotation of the incoming electron spins. Here we present an alternate simpler route to the shot noise calculation in the above work and focus on only electron pairs. Shot noise for these shows continuous bunching and antibunching behaviors. In addition, entangled and unentangled triplets yield distinctive shot noise oscillations. Besides allowing for a direct way to identify triplet and singlet states, these oscillations can be used to extract s-o coupling constants through noise measurements. Incoming leads with spin–orbit interband mixing give rise to an additional modulation of the current noise. This extra rotation allows the design of a spin transistor with enhanced spin control.     

Entanglement and quantum teleportation with multi-atom ensembles

Atomic ensembles containing a large number of atoms have been proved to be an effective medium for quantum-state (quantum information) engineering and processing via their coupling with multi-photon light pulses. The general mechanism of this coupling, which involves continuous quantum variables for light and atoms, is described. The efficient quantum interface between light and atoms has led to the recent demonstration of an entangled state of two macroscopic atomic objects, more precisely two caesium gas samples. Based on this result, a proposal for teleportation of an entangled state of two atomic samples (entanglement swapping) is presented.     

Entanglement generated in a nanomechanical oscillator system

We consider a Fabry–Perot cavity with one fixed mirror and a movable perfectly reflecting mirror. Applying a linearised fluctuation analysis, we derive the quantum fluctuations and correlation matrix between the cavity and nanomechanical oscillator. We investigate the continuous-variable (CV) entanglement and squeezing between the cavity and nanomechanical oscillator. It is found that high intensity of entanglement and squeezing between the cavity and nanomechanical oscillator can be achieved.     

A new algorithm for contact detection between spherical particle and triangulated mesh boundary in discrete element method simulations

In discrete element method (DEM) simulations of real scale, the spherical particles are commonly employed for increasing the computation speed, and the complex boundary models are represented by triangle meshes with controllable accuracy. A new contact detection algorithm has been developed to resolve the contacts between the spheres and the triangle mesh boundaries. The application of the barycentric coordinates makes this algorithm more efficient to identify contacts in the intersection test. As a particle probably collides with several triangles at the same time, the multiple contacts would be reported as face contacts, edge contacts, or vertex contacts. Moreover, the particle embedding in a triangle can be also contact with the edges or vertices of the next triangles. These contacts should be considered as invalid for updating contact forces in the DEM. To exclude invalid records from the multiple contacts, the algorithm gives attention to the mesh structure nearby contacts and analyzes all possible collision situations. Numerical experiments have been conducted to verify this algorithm by using the algorithm in the DEM simulation framework. The numerical results suggest that the algorithm can resolve all contacts precisely and stably when the spherical particles collide on the complex boundary circumstances. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Entanglement dynamics and quasi-periodicity in discrete quantum walks

We study the entanglement dynamics of discrete time quantum walks acting on bounded finite sized graphs. We demonstrate that, depending on system parameters, the dynamics may be monotonic, oscillatory but highly regular, or quasi-periodic. While the dynamics of the system are not chaotic since the system comprises linear evolution, the dynamics often exhibit some features similar to chaos such as high sensitivity to the system's parameters, irregularity and infinite periodicity. Our observations are of interest for entanglement generation, which is one primary use for the quantum walk formalism. Furthermore, we show that the systems we model can easily be mapped to optical beamsplitter networks, rendering experimental observation of quasi-periodic dynamics within reach.