Momentum-Space Quantum Walk of Ultra-Cold Atoms
We report on a discrete-time quantum walk that uses the momentum of ultra-cold rubidium-87 atoms as the walk space and two internal atomic states as the coin degree of freedom. Each step of the walk consists of a coin toss (a microwave pulse) followed by a unitary shift operator (a resonant ratchet pulse). We review the signatures of our quantum walk and carry out a comprehensive study on the effects of various parameters, including the strength of the shift operation, coin parameters, noise, and the initialization of the system on the behavior of the walk. The walk dynamics can be well controlled in our experiment with potential applications in atom interferometry and engineering asymmetric walks.
The dependence of the differential cross section ${\mathrm{d}\sigma}/{\mathrm{d}p_{\perp}}$ of inclusive heavy quark production in pp and $\bar{\mathrm{p}}$p collisions on the renormalization and factorization scales is investigated. The implications of our results for experiments at TEVATRON and LHC are discussed. In particular, it is shown that the NLO QCD predictions for $\bar{t}t$ production at the LHC based on the Principle of Minimal Sensitivity are by 30-50% higher than the standard ones.