A New Definition of A Priori Knowledge: In Search of a Modal Basis

In this paper I will offer a novel understanding of a priori knowledge. My claim is that the sharp distinction that is usually made between a priori and a posteriori knowledge is groundless. It will be argued that a plausible understanding of a priori and a posteriori knowledge has to acknowledge that they are in a constant bootstrapping relationship. It is also crucial that we distinguish between a priori propositions that hold in the actual world and merely possible, non-actual a priori propositions, as we will see when considering cases like Euclidean geometry. Furthermore, contrary to what Kripke seems to suggest, a priori knowledge is intimately connected with metaphysical modality, indeed, grounded in it. The task of a priori reasoning, according to this account, is to delimit the space of metaphysically possible worlds in order for us to be able to determine what is actual.

Analytical modeling of quantum threshold voltage for triple gate MOSFET

In this work a physically based analytical quantum threshold voltage model for the triple gate long channel metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor is developed The proposed model is based on the analytical solution of two-dimensional Poisson and two-dimensional Schrodinger equation Proposed model is extended for short channel devices by including semi-empirical correction The impact of effective mass variation with film thicknesses is also discussed using the proposed model All models are fully validated against the professional numerical device simulator for a wide range of device geometries (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved

Energy efficient asymmetric binary search switching technique for SAR ADC

An asymmetric binary search switching technique for a successive approximation register (SAR) ADC is presented, and trade-off between switching energy and conversion cycles is discussed. Without using any additional switches, the proposed technique consumes 46% less switching energy, for a small input swing (0.5 V-ref (P-P)), as compared to the last reported efficient switching technique in literature for an 8-bit SAR ADC. For a full input swing (2 V-ref (P-P)), the proposed technique consumes 16.5% less switching energy.

Descriptions of operators in quantum mechanics

The problem of expressing a general dynamical variable in quantum mechanics as a function of a primitive set of operators is studied from several points of view. In the context of the Heisenberg commutation relation, the Weyl representation for operators and a new Fourier-Mellin representation are related to the Heisenberg group and the groupSL(2,R) respectively. The description of unitary transformations via generating functions is analysed in detail. The relation between functions and ordered functions of noncommuting operators is discussed, and results closely paralleling classical results are obtained.

Wigner distribution for angle coordinates in quantum mechanics

The method of Wigner distribution functions, and the Weyl correspondence between quantum and classical variables, are extended from the usual kind of canonically conjugate position and momentum operators to the case of an angle and angular momentum operator pair. The sense in which one has a description of quantum mechanics using classical phase‐space language is much clarified by this extension.

Search for the Higgs boson in the all-hadronic final state using the CDF II detector

We report on a search for the production of the Higgs boson decaying to two bottom quarks accompanied by two additional quarks. The data sample used corresponds to an integrated luminosity of approximately 4  fb-1 of pp̅ collisions at √s=1.96  TeV recorded by the CDF II experiment. This search includes twice the integrated luminosity of the previous published result, uses analysis techniques to distinguish jets originating from light flavor quarks and those from gluon radiation, and adds sensitivity to a Higgs boson produced by vector boson fusion. We find no evidence of the Higgs boson and place limits on the Higgs boson production cross section for Higgs boson masses between 100  GeV/c2 and 150  GeV/c2 at the 95% confidence level. For a Higgs boson mass of 120  GeV/c2, the observed (expected) limit is 10.5 (20.0) times the predicted standard model cross section.

Random-Restart Reactive Tabu Search Algorithm for Detection in Large-MIMO Systems

We present a low-complexity algorithm based on reactive tabu search (RTS) for near maximum likelihood (ML) detection in large-MIMO systems. The conventional RTS algorithm achieves near-ML performance for 4-QAM in large-MIMO systems. But its performance for higher-order QAM is far from ML performance. Here, we propose a random-restart RTS (R3TS) algorithm which achieves significantly better bit error rate (BER) performance compared to that of the conventional RTS algorithm in higher-order QAM. The key idea is to run multiple tabu searches, each search starting with a random initial vector and choosing the best among the resulting solution vectors. A criterion to limit the number of searches is also proposed. Computer simulations show that the R3TS algorithm achieves almost the ML performance in 16 x 16 V-BLAST MIMO system with 16-QAM and 64-QAM at significantly less complexities than the sphere decoder. Also, in a 32 x 32 V-BLAST MIMO system, the R3TS performs close to ML lower bound within 1.6 dB for 16-QAM (128 bps/Hz), and within 2.4 dB for 64-QAM (192 bps/Hz) at 10(-3) BER.

Paradoxical reflection in quantum mechanics

This article concerns a phenomenon of elementary quantum mechanics that is quite counter-intuitive, very non-classical, and apparently not widely known: a quantum particle can get reflected at a downward potential step. In contrast, classical particles get reflected only at upward steps. The conditions for this effect are that the wave length is much greater than the width of the potential step and the kinetic energy of the particle is much smaller than the depth of the potential step. This phenomenon is suggested by non-normalizable solutions to the time-independent Schroedinger equation, and we present evidence, numerical and mathematical, that it is also indeed predicted by the time-dependent Schroedinger equation. Furthermore, this paradoxical reflection effect suggests, and we confirm mathematically, that a quantum particle can be trapped for a long time (though not forever) in a region surrounded by downward potential steps, that is, on a plateau.

Patterning Nanoroads and Quantum Dots on Fluorinated Graphene

Using ab initio methods we have investigated the fluorination of graphene and find that different stoichiometric phases can be formed without a nucleation barrier, with the complete “2D-Teflon” CF phase being thermodynamically most stable. The fluorinated graphene is an insulator and turns out to be a perfect matrix-host for patterning nanoroads and quantum dots of pristine graphene. The electronic and magnetic properties of the nanoroads can be tuned by varying the edge orientation and width. The energy gaps between the highest occupied and lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals (HOMO-LUMO) of quantum dots are size-dependent and show a confinement typical of Dirac fermions. Furthermore, we study the effect of different basic coverage of F on graphene (with stoichiometries CF and C4F) on the band gaps, and show the suitability of these materials to host quantum dots of graphene with unique electronic properties.

Quantification of enantiomeric excess by H-1-detected heteronuclear refocusing and homonuclear multiple quantum NMR experiments

The omega(1)-heterodecoupled-C-13-filtered proton detected NMR experiments are reported for the accurate quantification of enantiomeric excess in chiral molecules embedded in chiral liquid crystal. The differential values of both H-1-H-1 and C-13-H-1 dipolar couplings in the direct dimension and only H-1-H-1 dipolar couplings in the indirect dimension enable unraveling of overlapped enantiomeric peaks. The creation of unequal C-13-bound proton signal for each enantiomer in the INEPT block and non-uniform excitation of coherences in homonuclear multiple quantum experiments do not yield accurate quantification of enantiomeric excess. In circumventing these difficulties, a coupling dependent intensity correction factor has been invoked. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Ion probing with Luminescent PbS Quantum dots in PVA

The PbS quantum dots synthesized in PVA are used to investigate their photoluminescence (PL) response to various ions such as Zn, Cd, Hg, Ag, Cu, Fe, Mn, Co, Cr and Ni ions. The enhancement in the photoluminescence intensity is observed with specific ions namely Zn, Cd, Hg and Ag. Among these four ions, the PL response to Hg and Ag even at sub-micro-molar concentrations is quite high, approximately an order of magnitude higher than Zn and Cd. It is interesting to observe that the change in Pb and S molar ratio has profound effect on the selectivity of these ions. The samples prepared under excess of S are quite effective compared to Pb. Indeed, the later one has hardly any effect on the photoluminescence response. These results also indicate that the sensitivity of these QDs could be fine-tuned by controlling the S concentration at the surface. Contrary to the above, Cu, Fe and Co quenches the photoluminescence. Another interesting property of PbS in PVA observed is photo-brightening mechanism due to the curing of the polymer with laser. However, the presence of excess ions at the surface changes its property to photo-darkening/brightening that depends on the direction of carrier transfer mechanism (from QDs to the surface adsorbed metal ions or vice-versa), which is an interesting feature for metal ion detectivity.

Quantum Properties in Transport Through Nanoscopic Rings:Charge-Spin Separation and Interference Effects

Many of the most intriguing quantum effects are observed or could be measured in transport experiments through nanoscopic systems such as quantum dots, wires and rings formed by large molecules or arrays of quantum dots. In particular, the separation of charge and spin degrees of freedom and interference effects have important consequences in the conductivity through these systems. Charge-spin separation was predicted theoretically in one-dimensional strongly inter-acting systems (Luttinger liquids) and, although observed indirectly in several materials formed by chains of correlated electrons, it still lacks direct observation. We present results on transport properties through Aharonov-Bohmrings (pierced by a magnetic flux) with one or more channels represented by paradigmatic strongly-correlated models. For a wide range of parameters we observe characteristic dips in the conductance as a function of magnetic flux which are a signature of spin and charge separation. Interference effects could also be controlled in certain molecules and interesting properties could be observed. We analyze transport properties of conjugated molecules, benzene in particular, and find that the conductance depends on the lead configuration. In molecules with translational symmetry, the conductance can be controlled by breaking or restoring this symmetry, e.g. by the application of a local external potential. These results open the possibility of observing these peculiar physical properties in anisotropic ladder systems and in real nanoscopic and molecular devices.

Quenching across quantum critical points: Role of topological patterns

We introduce a one-dimensional version of the Kitaev model consisting of spins on a two-legged ladder and characterized by Z(2) invariants on the plaquettes of the ladder. We map the model to a fermionic system and identify the topological sectors associated with different Z2 patterns in terms of fermion occupation numbers. Within these different sectors, we investigate the effect of a linear quench across a quantum critical point. We study the dominant behavior of the system by employing a Landau-Zener-type analysis of the effective Hamiltonian in the low-energy subspace for which the effective quenching can sometimes be non-linear. We show that the quenching leads to a residual energy which scales as a power of the quenching rate, and that the power depends on the topological sectors and their symmetry properties in a non-trivial way. This behavior is consistent with the general theory of quantum quenching, but with the correlation length exponent nu being different in different sectors. Copyright (C) EPLA, 2010

Experimental Test of the Quantum No-Hiding Theorem

The no-hiding theorem says that if any physical process leads to bleaching of quantum information from the original system, then it must reside in the rest of the Universe with no information being hidden in the correlation between these two subsystems. Here, we report an experimental test of the no-hiding theorem with the technique of nuclear magnetic resonance. We use the quantum state randomization of a qubit as one example of the bleaching process and show that the missing information can be fully recovered up to local unitary transformations in the ancilla qubits.

Two beam photoluminescence of PbS quantum dots in polyvinyl alcohol

We report the effect of dual beam excitation on the photoluminescence (PL) from PbS quantum dots in polyvinyl alcohol by using two excitation lasers, namely Ar+ (514.5 nm) and He-Ne laser (670 nm). Both sources of excitation gave similar PL spectra around 1.67 eV (related to shallow traps) and 1.1 eV (related to deep traps). When both lasers were used at the same time, we found that the PL induced by each of the lasers was partly quenched by the illumination of the other laser. The proposed mechanism of this quenching effect involves traps that are populated by one specific laser excitation, being photo-ionized by the presence of the other laser. Temperature, laser intensity and modulation frequency dependent quenching efficiencies are presented in this paper. This reversible modulation has potential for optical switching and memory device applications. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.