http://hdl.handle.net/1957/13831 2013-05-25T07:30:06Z 2013-05-25T07:30:06Z Riedel, C. Jess Zurek, Wojciech H. Zwolak, Michael http://hdl.handle.net/1957/33601 2013-05-23T22:24:54Z 2012-08-10T00:00:00Z

The rise and fall of redundancy in decoherence and quantum Darwinism Riedel, C. Jess; Zurek, Wojciech H.; Zwolak, Michael A state selected at random from the Hilbert space of a many-body system is overwhelmingly likely to exhibit highly non-classical correlations. For these typical states, half of the environment must be measured by an observer to determine the state of a given subsystem. The objectivity of classical reality—the fact that multiple observers can agree on the state of a subsystem after measuring just a small fraction of its environment—implies that the correlations found in nature between macroscopic systems and their environments are exceptional. Building on previous studies of quantum Darwinism showing that highly redundant branching states are produced ubiquitously during pure decoherence, we examine the conditions needed for the creation of branching states and study their demise through many-body interactions. We show that even constrained dynamics can suppress redundancy to the values typical of random states on relaxation timescales, and prove that these results hold exactly in the thermodynamic limit. This is the publisher’s final pdf. The published article is copyrighted by IOP Publishing Ltd and Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft and can be found at: http://iopscience.iop.org/1367-2630. To the best of our knowledge, one or more authors of this paper were federal employees when contributing to this work.

2012-08-10T00:00:00Z Chien, Chih-Chun Velizhanin, Kirill A Dubi, Yonatan Zwolak, Michael http://hdl.handle.net/1957/37535 2013-04-12T20:30:09Z 2013-02-08T00:00:00Z

Tunable thermal switching via DNA-based nano-devices Chien, Chih-Chun; Velizhanin, Kirill A; Dubi, Yonatan; Zwolak, Michael DNA has a well-defined structural transition-the denaturation of its double-stranded form into two single strands-that strongly affects its thermal transport properties. We show that, according to a widely implemented model for DNA denaturation, one can engineer DNA 'heattronic' devices that have a rapidly increasing thermal conductance over a narrow temperature range across the denaturation transition (similar to 350 K). The origin of this rapid increase of conductance, or 'switching', is the softening of the lattice and suppression of nonlinear effects as the temperature crosses the transition temperature and DNA denatures. Most importantly, we demonstrate that DNA nano-junctions have a broad range of thermal tunability by varying the sequence and length, and exploiting the underlying nonlinear behavior. We discuss the role of disorder in the base sequence, as well as the relation to genomic DNA. These results set the basis for developing thermal devices out of materials with nonlinear structural dynamics, as well as understanding the underlying mechanisms of DNA denaturation. This is an author's peer-reviewed final manuscript, as accepted by the publisher. The published article is copyrighted by IOP Publishing and can be found at: http://iopscience.iop.org/0957-4484/.

2013-02-08T00:00:00Z Kustusch, Mary Bridget Roundy, David Dray, Tevian Manogue, Corinne http://hdl.handle.net/1957/37502 2013-03-15T18:24:50Z 2013-01-01T00:00:00Z

An Expert Path Through a Thermo Maze Kustusch, Mary Bridget; Roundy, David; Dray, Tevian; Manogue, Corinne Several studies in recent years have demonstrated that upper-division students struggle with partial derivatives and the complicated chain rules ubiquitous in thermodynamics. We asked several experts (primarily faculty who teach thermodynamics) to solve a challenging and novel thermodynamics problem in order to understand how they navigate through this maze. What we found was a tremendous variety in solution strategies and sense-making tools, both within and between individuals. This case study focuses on one particular expert: his solution paths, use of sense-making tools, and comparison of different approaches. This is the author's peer-reviewed final manuscript, as accepted by the publisher. The published article is copyrighted by the American Institute of Physics and can be found at: http://proceedings.aip.org/.

2013-01-01T00:00:00Z Roundy, David Rogers, Michael http://hdl.handle.net/1957/37358 2013-03-07T00:16:00Z 2013-01-01T00:00:00Z

Exploring the thermodynamics of a rubber band Roundy, David; Rogers, Michael We describe an upper-division experiment in thermal physics where students measure the tension of a rubber band as a function of temperature and length, and use a Maxwell relation to find the change in internal energy and entropy for an isothermal stretch. This allows students to experimentally check the predictions of the entropic spring model for elastomers and observe that the entropy does indeed decrease as a rubber band is stretched. This is the author's peer-reviewed final manuscript, as accepted by the publisher. The published article is copyrighted by the American Association of Physics Teachers and can be found at: http://ajp.aapt.org/.

2013-01-01T00:00:00Z