Variational preparation of finite-temperature states on a quantum computer

The preparation of thermal equilibrium states is important for the simulation of condensed matter and cosmology systems using a quantum computer. We present a method to prepare such mixed states with unitary operators and demonstrate this technique experimentally using a gate-based quantum processor. Our method targets the generation of thermofield double states using a hybrid quantum-classical variational approach motivated by quantum-approximate optimization algorithms, without prior calculation of optimal variational parameters by numerical simulation. The fidelity of generated states to the thermal-equilibrium state smoothly varies from 99 to 75% between infinite and near-zero simulated temperature, in quantitative agreement with numerical simulations of the noisy quantum processor with error parameters drawn from experiment.

Prediction of the Thermal Elongation of the Ball Screw Mechanism under Various Rotational Speeds

In numerical control machines, the thermal elongation of the ball screw influences the position accuracy. Different rotational speeds lead to different temperature changes at different positions in a ball screw system. In this paper, a new method is proposed to calculate the temperature rise of different positions when the ball screw is in the thermal equilibrium state. The thermal transmission of ball screws is analyzed, and the heat generation and transfer coefficient are calculated based on the laws of thermodynamics. The function between the temperature rise and position is built by solving the thermal equilibrium differential equations. The thermal elongation is obtained after the temperature rise is calculated. In order to prove the validity of this model, a series of detection tests are conducted to obtain the temperature rise of a ball screw and the thermal elongation under different rotational speeds. The experimental results show that the realistic temperature rise and the thermal elongation agree well with the theoretical values.

Local quantum uncertainty as a robust metric to characterize discord-like quantum correlations in subsets of the chromophores in photosynthetic light-harvesting complexes

Green sulfur bacteria is a photosynthetic organism whose light-harvesting complex accommodates a pigment-protein complex called Fenna-Matthews-Olson (FMO). The FMO complex sustains quantum coherence and quantum correlations between the electronic states of spatially separated pigment molecules as energy moves with nearly a 100% quantum efficiency to the reaction center. We present a method based on the quantum uncertainty associated to local measurements to quantify discord-like quantum correlations between two subsystems where one is a qubit and the other is a qudit. We implement the method by calculating local quantum uncertainty (LQU), concurrence, and coherence between subsystems of pure and mixed states represented by the eigenstates and by the thermal equilibrium state determined by the FMO Hamiltonian. Three partitions of the seven chromophores network define the subsystems: one chromophore with six chromophores, pairs of chromophores, and one chromophore with two chromophores. Implementation of the LQU approach allows us to characterize quantum correlations that had not been studied before, identify the most quantum correlated subsets of chromophores, and determine that, in the strongest associations of chromophores, the LQU is a monotonically increasing function of the coherence.

Entropy and Random Walk Trails Water Confinement and Non-Thermal Equilibrium in Photon-Induced Nanocavities

Molecules near surfaces are regularly trapped in small cavitations. Molecular confinement, especially water confinement, shows intriguing and unexpected behavior including surface entropy adjustment; nevertheless, observations of entropic variation during molecular confinement are scarce. An experimental assessment of the correlation between surface strain and entropy during molecular confinement in tiny crevices is difficult because strain variances fall in the nanometer scale. In this work, entropic variations during water confinement in 2D nano/micro cavitations were observed. Experimental results and random walk simulations of water molecules inside different size nanocavitations show that the mean escaping time of molecular water from nanocavities largely deviates from the mean collision time of water molecules near surfaces, crafted by 157 nm vacuum ultraviolet laser light on polyacrylamide matrixes. The mean escape time distribution of a few molecules indicates a non-thermal equilibrium state inside the cavity. The time differentiation inside and outside nanocavities reveals an additional state of ordered arrangements between nanocavities and molecular water ensembles of fixed molecular length near the surface. The configured number of microstates correctly counts for the experimental surface entropy deviation during molecular water confinement. The methodology has the potential to identify confined water molecules in nanocavities with life science importance.

Heat Transfer and Temperature Characteristics of a Working Digital Camera

Digital cameras represented by industrial cameras are widely used as image acquisition sensors in the field of image-based mechanics measurement, and their thermal effect inevitably induces thermal-induced errors of the mechanics measurement. To deeply understand the errors, the research for digital camera’s thermal effect is necessary. This study systematically investigated the heat transfer processes and temperature characteristics of a working digital camera. Concretely, based on the temperature distribution of a typical working digital camera, the heat transfer of the working digital camera was investigated, and a model describing the temperature variation and distribution was presented and verified experimentally. With this model, the thermal equilibrium time and thermal equilibrium temperature of the camera system were calculated. Then, the influences of thermal parameters of digital camera and environmental temperature on the temperature characteristics of working digital camera were simulated and experimentally investigated. The theory analysis and experimental results demonstrate that the presented model can accurately describe the temperature characteristics and further calculate the thermal equilibrium state of working digital camera, all of which contribute to guiding mechanics measurement and thermal design based on such camera sensors.

On the thermal equilibrium state of large-scale flows

In a forced three-dimensional turbulent flow the scales larger than the forcing scale have been conjectured to reach a thermal equilibrium state forming a $k^{2}$ energy spectrum, where $k$ is the wavenumber. In this work we examine the properties of these large scales in turbulent flows with the use of numerical simulations. We show that the choice of forcing can strongly affect the behaviour of the large scales. A spectrally dense forcing (a forcing that acts on all modes inside a finite-width spherical shell) with long correlation times may lead to strong deviations from the $k^{2}$ energy spectrum, while a spectrally sparse forcing (a forcing that acts only on a few modes) with short correlated time scale can reproduce the thermal spectrum. The origin of these deviations is analysed and the involved mechanisms is unravelled by examining: (i) the number of triadic interactions taking place, (ii) the spectrum of the nonlinear term, (iii) the amplitude of interactions and the fluxes due to different scales and (iv) the transfer function between different shells of wavenumbers. It is shown that the spectrally dense forcing allows for numerous triadic interactions that couple one large-scale mode with two forced modes and this leads to an excess of energy input at the large scales. This excess of energy is then moved back to the small scales by self-interactions of the large-scale modes and by interactions with the turbulent small scales. The overall picture that arises from the present analysis is that the large scales in a turbulent flow resemble a reservoir that is in (non-local) contact with a second out-of-equilibrium reservoir consisting of the smaller (forced, turbulent and dissipative) scales. If the injection of energy at the large scales from the forced modes is relative weak (as is the case for the spectrally sparse forcing) then the large-scale spectrum remains close to a thermal equilibrium and the role of long-range interactions is to set the global energy (temperature) of the equilibrium state. If, on the other hand, the long-range interactions are dominant (as is the case for the spectrally dense forcing), the large-scale self-interactions cannot respond fast enough to bring the system into equilibrium. Then the large scales deviate from the equilibrium state with energy spectrum that may display exponents different from the $k^{2}$ spectrum.

Generalizing Bogoliubov–Zubarev Theorem to Account for Pressure Fluctuations: Application to Relativistic Gas

The problem of pressure fluctuations in the thermal equilibrium state of some objects is discussed, its solution being suggested via generalizing the Bogoliubov–Zubarev theorem. This theorem relates the thermodynamic pressure with the Hamilton function and its derivatives describing the object in question. It is shown that unlike to other thermodynamic quantities (e.g., the energy or the volume) the pressure fluctuations are described not only by a purely thermodynamic quantity (namely, the corresponding thermodynamic susceptibility) but also by some non-thermodynamic quantities. The attempt is made to apply these results to the relativistic ideal gases, with some numerical results being valid for the limiting ultra-relativistic or high-temperature case.

Temperature Dependence of Fatigue Crack Growth in Low-Alloy Steel Under Gaseous Hydrogen

In order to elucidate the temperature dependence of hydrogen-enhanced fatigue crack growth (FCG), the FCG test was performed on low-alloy Cr-Mo steel JIS-SCM435 according to ASTM E647 using compact tension (CT) specimen under 0.1–95 MPa hydrogen-gas at temperature ranging from room temperature (298 K) to 423 K. The obtained results were interpreted according to trap site occupancy under thermal equilibrium state. The FCG was significantly accelerated at RT under hydrogen-gas, that its maximum acceleration rate of the FCG was 15 at the pressure of 95 MPa at the temperature of 298 K. The hydrogen-enhanced FCG was mitigated due to temperature elevation for all pressure conditions. The trap site with binding energy of 44 kJ/mol dominated the temperature dependence of hydrogen-enhanced FCG, corresponding approximately to binding energy of dislocation core. The trap site (dislocation) occupancy is decreased with the temperature elevation, resulting in the mitigation of the FCG acceleration. On the basis of the obtained results, when the occupancy becomes higher at lower temperature, e.g. 298 K, hydrogen-enhanced FCG becomes more pronounced. The lower occupancy at higher temperature does the opposite.

Two-Particle Thermal Density Matrices In One Dimension Using Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) Method

A quantum system in the thermal equilibrium state is a mixed state consisting of statistical ensembles of several different quantum systems can be represented by a thermal density matrix. In this research, the thermal density matrix is calculated for two-particle system case non-interaction in one-dimensional square well and one-dimensional harmonic oscillator using finite difference time domain (FDTD) method. In addition, thermal density matrix calculations are also performed for the case of two particle systems interacting in a one-dimensional harmonic oscillator. We present results of probability densities, partition functions, and internal energies for three cases: two distinguishable particles, two fermions and two bosons. Validation of numerical results of thermal density matrix and probability density is accurate with analytical solutions. Then, the result of partition function and internal energy the system is strongly effect by temperature. At low temperatures, internal energy the system will lead to the lowest energy or ground state.