Understanding transport processes in complex nanoscale systems, like ionic conductivities in nanofluidic devices or heat conduction in low dimensional solids, poses the problem of examining fluctuations of currents within nonequilibrium steady states
and relating those fluctuations to nonlinear or anomalous responses. We have developed a systematic framework for computing distributions of time integrated currents in molecular models and relating cumulants of those distributions to nonlinear transport coefficients. The approach elaborated upon in this perspective follows from the theory of dynamical large deviations, benefits from substantial previous formal development, and has been illustrated in several applications. The framework provides a microscopic basis for going beyond traditional hydrodynamics in instances where local equilibrium assumptions break down, which are ubiquitous at the nanoscale.
Employing recent advances in response theory and nonequilibrium ensemble reweighting, we study the dynamic and static correlations that give rise to an electric field-dependent ionic conductivity in electrolyte solutions. We consider solutions modele
d with both implicit and explicit solvents, with different dielectric properties, and at multiple concentrations. Implicit solvent models at low concentrations and small dielectric constants exhibit strongly field-dependent conductivities. We compared these results to the Onsager-Wilson theory of the Wien effect, which provides a qualitatively consistent prediction at low concentrations and high static dielectric constants, but is inconsistent away from these regimes. The origin of the discrepancy is found to be increased ion correlations under these conditions. Explicit solvent effects act to suppress nonlinear responses, yielding a weakly field-dependent conductivity over the range of physically realizable field strengths. By decomposing the relevant time correlation functions, we find that the insensitivity of the conductivity to the field results from the persistent frictional forces on the ions from the solvent. Our findings illustrate the utility of nonequilibrium response theory in rationalizing nonlinear transport behavior.
Sensitive radio continuum surveys of the Galactic plane are ideal for discovering new supernova remnants (SNRs). From the Sino-German {lambda}6 cm polarisation survey of the Galactic plane, an extended shell-like structure has been found at l = 21.8
degree, b = -3.0 degree, which has a size of about 1 degree. New observations were made with the Effelsberg 100-m radio telescope at {lambda}11 cm to estimate the source spectrum together with the Urumqi {lambda}6 cm and the Effelsberg {lambda}21 cm data. The spectral index of G21.8-3.0 was found to be {alpha} = -0.72 {pm} 0.16. Polarised emission was mostly detected in the eastern half of G21.8-3.0 at both {lambda}6 cm and {lambda}11 cm. These properties, together with the H{alpha} filament along its northern periphery and the lack of infrared emission, indicate that the emission is non-thermal as is usual in shell-type SNRs.
Long pulse operation of present and future magnetic fusion devices requires sophisticated methods for protection of plasma facing components from overheating. Typically, thermographic systems are being used to fulfill this task. Steady state operatio
n requires, however, autonomous operation of the system and fully automatic detection of abnormal events. At Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X), a large advanced stellarator, which aims at demonstrating the capabilities of the stellarator line as a future fusion power plant, significant efforts are being undertaken to develop a fully automatic system based on thermographic diagnostics. In October 2018, the first divertor-based experimental campaign has been finished. One of the goals of this operation phase (named OP1.2) was to study the capabilities of the island divertor concept using an uncooled test divertor made of fine-grain graphite tiles. Throughout this campaign, it was possible to test the infrared imaging diagnostic system, which will be used to protect the actively water-cooled plasma facing components (PFCs) during the steady-state operation in the next experimental campaign. An overview of the most relevant thermal events on the PFCs that were detected in OP1.2 using this system are presented. This includes events that limited operation during the campaign, like baffe hot spots and divertor overloads, events that are potentially critical in steady state operation like leading edges, events caused by the ECRH and NBI heating systems and other events which are a common source of false alarms like surface layers. The detected thermal events are now part of an important and extensive image database which will be used to further automate the system by means of computer vision and machine learning techniques in preparation for steady-state operation, when the system must be able to detect dangerous events and protect the machine in real-time.
The first fast ion experiments in Wendelstein 7-X were performed in 2018. They are one of the first steps in demonstrating the optimised fast ion confinement of the stellarator. The fast ions were produced with a neutral beam injection (NBI) system a
nd detected with infrared cameras (IR), a fast ion loss detector (FILD), fast ion charge exchange spectroscopy (FIDA), and post-mortem analysis of plasma facing components. The fast ion distribution function in the plasma and at the wall is being modelled with the ASCOT suite of codes. They calculate the ionisation of the injected neutrals and the consecutive slowing down process of the fast ions. The primary output of the code is the multidimensional fast ion distribution function within the plasma and the distribution of particle hit locations and velocities on the wall. Synthetic measurements based on ASCOT output are compared to experimental results to assess the validity of the modelling. This contribution presents an overview of the various fast ion measurements in 2018 and the current modelling status. The validation and data-analysis is on-going, but the wall load IR modelling already yield results that match with the experiments.
Large-scale radio continuum surveys provide data to get insights into the physical properties of radio sources. HII regions are prominent radio sources produced by thermal emission of ionised gas around young massive stars. We identify and analyse HI
I regions in the Sino-German 6cm polarisation survey of the Galactic plane. Objects with flat radio continuum spectra together with infrared and/or Halpha emission were identified as HII regions. For HII regions with small apparent sizes, we cross-matched the 6cm small-diameter source catalogue with the radio HII region catalogue compiled by Paladini and the infrared HII region catalogue based on the WISE data. Extended HII regions were identified by eye by overlaying the Paladini and the WISE HII regions onto the 6cm survey images for coincidences. The TT-plot method was employed for spectral index verification. A total of 401 HII regions were identified and their flux densities were determined with the Sino-German 6cm survey data. In the surveyed area, 76 pairs of sources are found to be duplicated in the Paladini HII region catalogue, mainly due to the non-distinction of previous observations with different angular resolutions, and 78 objects in their catalogue are misclassified as HII regions, being actually planetary nebulae, supernova remnants or extragalactic sources that have steep spectra. More than 30 HII regions and HII region candidates from our 6cm survey data, especially extended ones, do not have counterparts in the WISE HII region catalogue, of which 9 are identified for the first time. Based on the newly derived radio continuum spectra and the evidence of infrared emission, the previously identified SNRs G11.1-1.0, G20.4+0.1 and G16.4-0.5 are believed to be HII regions.
Photonic states of superconducting microwave cavities controlled by transmon ancillas provide a platform for encoding and manipulating quantum information. A key challenge in scaling up the platform is the requirement to communicate on demand the inf
ormation between the cavities. It has been recently demonstrated that a tunable bilinear interaction between two cavities can be realized by coupling them to a bichromatically-driven transmon ancilla, which allows swapping and interfering the multi-photon states of the cavities [Gao et al., Phys. Rev. X 8, 021073(2018)]. Here, we explore both theoretically and experimentally the regime of relatively strong drives on the ancilla needed to achieve fast SWAP gates but which can also lead to undesired non-perturbative effects that lower the SWAP fidelity. We develop a theoretical formalism based on linear response theory that allows one to calculate the rate of ancilla-induced interaction, decay and frequency shift of the cavities in terms of a susceptibility matrix. We treat the drives non-perturbatively using Floquet theory, and find that the interference of the two drives can strongly alter the system dynamics even in the regime where the rotating wave approximation applies. We identify two major sources of infidelity due to ancilla decoherence. i) Ancilla dissipation and dephasing leads to incoherent hopping among Floquet states which occurs even when the ancilla is at zero temperature, resulting in a sudden change of the SWAP rate. ii) The cavities inherit finite decay from the relatively lossy ancilla through the inverse Purcell effect; the effect can be enhanced when the drive-induced AC Stark shift pushes certain ancilla transition frequencies to the vicinity of the cavity frequencies. The theoretical predictions agree quantitatively with the experimental results, paving the way for using the theory to design future experiments.
The realization of robust universal quantum computation with any platform ultimately requires both the coherent storage of quantum information and (at least) one entangling operation between individual elements. The use of continuous-variable bosonic
modes as the quantum element is a promising route to preserve the coherence of quantum information against naturally-occurring errors. However, operations between bosonic modes can be challenging. In analogy to the exchange interaction between discrete-variable spin systems, the exponential-SWAP unitary [$mathbf{U}_{mathrm{E}}left(theta_cright)$] can coherently transfer the states between two bosonic modes, regardless of the chosen encoding, realizing a deterministic entangling operation for certain $theta_c$. Here, we develop an efficient circuit to implement $mathbf{U}_{mathrm{E}}left(theta_cright)$ and realize the operation in a three-dimensional circuit QED architecture. We demonstrate high-quality deterministic entanglement between two cavity modes with several different encodings. Our results provide a crucial primitive necessary for universal quantum computation using bosonic modes.
Interference experiments provide a simple yet powerful tool to unravel fundamental features of quantum physics. Here we engineer an RF-driven, time-dependent bilinear coupling that can be tuned to implement a robust 50:50 beamsplitter between station
ary states stored in two superconducting cavities in a three-dimensional architecture. With this, we realize high contrast Hong-Ou- Mandel (HOM) interference between two spectrally-detuned stationary modes. We demonstrate that this coupling provides an efficient method for measuring the quantum state overlap between arbitrary states of the two cavities. Finally, we showcase concatenated beamsplitters and differential phase shifters to implement cascaded Mach-Zehnder interferometers, which can control the signature of the two-photon interference on-demand. Our results pave the way toward implementation of scalable boson sampling, the application of linear optical quantum computing (LOQC) protocols in the microwave domain, and quantum algorithms between long-lived bosonic memories.
The vector charmoniumlike state $Y(4220)$ was reported recently in the cross sections of $e^+e^-to omega chi_{c0}$, $pi^+pi^-h_c$, $pi^+pi^- J/psi$, and $D^0 D^{*-}pi^+ + c.c.$ measured by the BESIII experiment. A combined fit is performed to the cro
ss sections of these four final states to extract the resonant parameters of the $Y(4220)$. We determine a mass $M=(4219.6pm 3.3pm 5.1)$~MeV/$c^2$ and a total width $Gamma=(56.0pm 3.6pm 6.9)$~MeV for the $Y(4220)$, where the first uncertainties are statistical and the second ones systematic. Assuming the $Y(4220)$ decays dominantly to the above four modes and their isospin symmetric modes, we also estimate its leptonic decay width and decay branching fractions. These information is essential for the understanding of the nature of this state.
