Limits on quantum measurement engines.

A quantum measurement involves energy exchanges between the system to be measured and the measuring apparatus. Some of them involve energy losses, for example because energy is dissipated into the environment or is spent in recording the measurement outcome. Moreover, these processes take time. For this reason, these exchanges must be taken into account in the analysis of a quantum measurement engine, and set limits to its efficiency and power. We propose a quantum engine based on a spin 1/2 particle in a magnetic field and study its limitations due to the quantum nature of the evolution. The coupling with the electromagnetic vacuum is taken into account and plays the role of a measurement apparatus. We fully study its dynamics, work, power, and efficiency.

Field Theory Approaches to Relativistic Hydrodynamics.

Just as non-relativistic fluids, oftentimes we find relativistic fluids in situations where random fluctuations cannot be ignored, with thermal and turbulent fluctuations being the most relevant examples. Because of the theory's inherent nonlinearity, fluctuations induce deep and complex changes in the dynamics of the system. The Martin-Siggia-Rose technique is a powerful tool that allows us to translate the original hydrodynamic problem into a quantum field theory one, thus taking advantage of the progress in the treatment of quantum fields out of equilibrium. To demonstrate this technique, we shall consider the thermal fluctuations of the spin two modes of a relativistic fluid, in a theory where hydrodynamics is derived by taking moments of the Boltzmann equation under the relaxation time approximation.

Extension of the momentum transfer model to time-dependent pipe turbulence.

We analyze a possible extension of Gioia and Chakraborty's momentum transfer model of friction in steady turbulent pipe flows [Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 044502 (2006)] to the case of time- and/or space-dependent turbulent flows. The end result is an expression for the stress at the wall as the sum of a steady and a dynamic component. The steady part is obtained by using the instantaneous velocity in the expression for the stress at the wall of a stationary flow. The unsteady part is a weighted average over the history of the flow acceleration, with a weighting function similar to that proposed by Vardy and Brown [J. Sound Vibr. 259, 1011 (2003); J. Sound Vibr. 270, 233 (2004)], but naturally including the effect of spatial derivatives of the mean flow, as in the Brunone model [Brunone et al., J. Water Res. Plan. Manage. 126, 236 (2000)].

Drag reduction by polymer additives from turbulent spectra.

We extend the analysis of the friction factor for turbulent pipe flow reported by G. Gioia and P. Chakraborty [Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 044502 (2006)] to the case where drag is reduced by polymer additives.

Friction factor for turbulent flow in rough pipes from Heisenberg's closure hypothesis.

We show that the main results of the analysis of the friction factor for turbulent pipe flow reported by Gioia and Chakraborty [Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 044502 (2006)] can be recovered by assuming the Heisenberg closure hypothesis for the turbulent spectrum. This highlights the structural features of the turbulent spectrum underlying the analysis of Gioia and Chakraborty.

Renormalization group and nonequilibrium action in stochastic field theory.

We investigate the renormalization group approach to nonequilibrium field theory. We show that it is possible to derive nontrivial renormalization group flow from iterative coarse graining of a closed-time-path action. This renormalization group is different from the usual in quantum field theory textbooks, in that it describes nontrivial noise and dissipation. We work out a specific example where the variation of the closed-time-path action leads to the so-called Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation, and show that the renormalization group obtained by coarse graining this action, agrees with the dynamical renormalization group derived by directly coarse graining the equations of motion.

Dissipation, noise, and vacuum decay in quantum field theory.

We study the process of vacuum decay in quantum field theory focusing on the stochastic aspects of the interaction between long- and short-wavelength modes. This interaction results in a diffusive behavior of the reduced Wigner function describing the state of long-wavelength modes, and thereby to a finite activation rate even at zero temperature. This effect can make a substantial contribution to the total decay rate.