Generic entanglement can be generated efficiently.

We find that generic entanglement is physical, in the sense that it can be generated in polynomial time from two-qubit gates picked at random. We prove as the main result that such a process generates the average entanglement of the uniform (unitarily invariant) measure in at most O(N3) steps for N qubits. This is despite an exponentially growing number of such gates being necessary for generating that measure fully on the state space.

Destruction of long-range interactions by a single mutation in lysozyme.

We propose a mechanism, based on a > or =10-micros molecular dynamics simulation, for the surprising misfolding of hen egg-white lysozyme caused by a single mutation (W62G). Our simulations of the wild-type and mutant lysozymes in 8 M urea solution at biological temperature (with both pH 2 and 7) reveal that the mutant structure is much less stable than that of the wild type, with the mutant showing larger fluctuations and less native-like contacts. Analysis of local contacts reveals that the Trp-62 residue is the key to a cooperative long-range interaction within the wild type, where it acts like a bridge between two neighboring basic residues.

Thermal denaturing of mutant lysozyme with both the OPLSAA and the CHARMM force fields.

Biomolecular simulations enabled by massively parallel supercomputers such as BlueGene/L promise to bridge the gap between the currently accessible simulation time scale and the experimental time scale for many important protein folding processes. In this study, molecular dynamics simulations were carried out for both the wild-type and the mutant hen lysozyme (TRP62GLY) to study the single mutation effect on lysozyme stability and misfolding. Our thermal denaturing simulations at 400-500 K with both the OPLSAA and the CHARMM force fields show that the mutant structure is indeed much less stable than the wild-type, which is consistent with the recent urea denaturing experiment (Dobson et al.

Lieb-Robinson bounds and the generation of correlations and topological quantum order.

The Lieb-Robinson bound states that local Hamiltonian evolution in nonrelativistic quantum mechanical theories gives rise to the notion of an effective light cone with exponentially decaying tails. We discuss several consequences of this result in the context of quantum information theory. First, we show that the information that leaks out to spacelike separated regions is negligible and that there is a finite speed at which correlations and entanglement can be distributed.

Experimental demonstration of an oscillator stabilized Josephson flux qubit.

We experimentally demonstrate the use of a superconducting transmission line, shorted at both ends, to stabilize the operation of a tunable flux qubit. Using harmonic-oscillator stabilization and pulsed dc operation, we have observed Larmor oscillations with a single shot visibility of 90%. In another qubit, the visibility was 60% and there was no measurable visibility reduction after 35 ns.

Robust dx2-y2 pairing symmetry in hole-doped cuprate superconductors.

Although initially quite controversial, it is now widely accepted that the Cooper pairs in optimally doped cuprate superconductors have predominantly dx2-y2 wave function symmetry, and the controversy has now shifted to whether the pairing symmetry changes away from optimal doping. Here we present phase-sensitive tricrystal experiments on three cuprate systems: Y(0.7)Ca(0.

Locking classical correlations in quantum States.

We show that there exist bipartite quantum states which contain a large locked classical correlation that is unlocked by a disproportionately small amount of classical communication. In particular, there are (2n+1)-qubit states for which a one-bit message doubles the optimal classical mutual information between measurement results on the subsystems, from n/2 bits to n bits. This phenomenon is impossible classically.

Discrete dislocation dynamics study of strained-layer relaxation.

Numerical simulations are performed to follow the evolution of an initial density of dislocation loops in an infinite strained layer to the point where the dislocations have stopped moving. Several unexpected results are obtained. First, many of the threading arms are either annihilated or prematurely immobilized by hardening interactions such as jogging and junction formation.

Symmetric extensions of quantum States and local hidden variable theories.

While all bipartite pure entangled states violate some Bell inequality, the relationship between entanglement and nonlocality for mixed quantum states is not well understood. We introduce a simple and efficient algorithmic approach for the problem of constructing local hidden variable theories for quantum states. The method is based on constructing a so-called symmetric quasiextension of the quantum state that gives rise to a local hidden variable model with a certain number of settings for the observers Alice and Bob.

Hiding bits in bell states.

We present a scheme for hiding bits in Bell states that is secure even when the sharers, Alice and Bob, are allowed to carry out local quantum operations and classical communication. We prove that the information that Alice and Bob can gain about a hidden bit is exponentially small in n, the number of qubits in each share, and can be made arbitrarily small for hiding multiple bits. We indicate an alternative efficient low-entanglement method for preparing the shared quantum states.

Dislocated epitaxial islands.

Dislocation networks observed in CoSi (2) islands grown epitaxially on Si are compared with the results of dislocation-dynamics calculations. The calculations make use of the fact that image forces play a relatively minor role compared to line tension forces and dislocation-dislocation interactions. Remarkable agreement is achieved, demonstrating that this approach can be applied more generally to study dislocations in other mesostructures.

Entanglement of formation for isotropic states.

We give an explicit expression for the entanglement of formation for isotropic density matrices in arbitrary dimensions in terms of the convex hull of a simple function. For two qutrit isotropic states we determine the convex hull and we have strong evidence for its exact form for arbitrary dimension. Unlike for two qubits, the entanglement of formation for two qutrits or more is found to be a nonanalytic function of the maximally entangled fraction in the regime where the density matrix is entangled.

Colliding visible picosecond pulses in optical fibers.

The observation of the nonlinear interaction of two visible picosecond pulses, separated by a small time interval, while propagating in an optical fiber is reported. It is found that as propagation proceeds, a region of pulse collision develops in which intensity oscillations form that are similar to those recently observed in optical wave breaking. The frequency of these oscillations increases for an increasing time separation between the input pulses and is found to be as large as 5 THz.

The measurement of infrared dispersion in solids by a method based on small particle scattering.

A method of measuring the components of the complex index of refraction of solids near the reststrahlen region is described. The method is based on the scattering of electromagnetic radiation by small particles, and it is applied here to the cases MgO, LiNbO(3), CdF(2), and PbF(2).