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Information-Preserving Structures: A General Framework For Quantum Zero-Error Information, Robin Blume-Kohout, Hui Khoon Ng, David Poulin, Lorenza Viola Dec 2010

Information-Preserving Structures: A General Framework For Quantum Zero-Error Information, Robin Blume-Kohout, Hui Khoon Ng, David Poulin, Lorenza Viola

Dartmouth Scholarship

Quantum systems carry information. Quantum theory supports at least two distinct kinds of information (classical and quantum), and a variety of different ways to encode and preserve information in physical systems. A system’s ability to carry information is constrained and defined by the noise in its dynamics. This paper introduces an operational framework, using information-preserving structures, to classify all the kinds of information that can be perfectly (i.e., with zero error) preserved by quantum dynamics. We prove that every perfectly preserved code has the same structure as a matrix algebra, and that preserved information can always be corrected. We …


Perpendicular Ion Heating By Low-Frequency Alfvén-Wave Turbulence In The Solar Wind, Benjamin D. G. Chandran, Bo Li, Barrett N. Rogers, Eliot Quataert, Kai Germaschewski Aug 2010

Perpendicular Ion Heating By Low-Frequency Alfvén-Wave Turbulence In The Solar Wind, Benjamin D. G. Chandran, Bo Li, Barrett N. Rogers, Eliot Quataert, Kai Germaschewski

Dartmouth Scholarship

We consider ion heating by turbulent Alfvén waves (AWs) and kinetic Alfvén waves (KAWs) with wavelengths (measured perpendicular to the magnetic field) that are comparable to the ion gyroradius and frequencies ω smaller than the ion cyclotron frequency Ω. We focus on plasmas in which β < 1, where β is the ratio of plasma pressure to magnetic pressure. As in previous studies, we find that when the turbulence amplitude exceeds a certain threshold, an ion's orbit becomes chaotic. The ion then interacts stochastically with the time-varying electrostatic potential, and the ion's energy undergoes a random walk. Using phenomenological arguments, we derive an analytic expression for the rates at which different ion species are heated, which we test by simulating test particles interacting with a spectrum of randomly phased AWs and KAWs. We find that the stochastic heating rate depends sensitively on the quantity ε = δv ρ/v , where v (v ) is the component of the ion velocity perpendicular (parallel) to the background magnetic field B 0, and δv ρB ρ) is the rms amplitude of the velocity (magnetic-field) fluctuations at the gyroradius scale. In the case …


Noncommutative Topology And The World’S Simplest Index Theorem, Erik Van Erp May 2010

Noncommutative Topology And The World’S Simplest Index Theorem, Erik Van Erp

Dartmouth Scholarship

In this article we outline an approach to index theory on the basis of methods of noncommutative topology. We start with an explicit index theorem for second-order differential operators on 3-manifolds that are Fredholm but not elliptic. This low-brow index formula is expressed in terms of winding numbers. We then proceed to show how it is derived as a special case of an index theorem for hypoelliptic operators on contact manifolds. Finally, we discuss the noncommutative topology that is employed in the proof of this theorem. The article is intended to illustrate that noncommutative topology can be a powerful tool …