Information transfer in QT-RR dynamics: Application to QT-correction.

The relation between the electrical properties of the heart and the beating rate is essential for the heart functioning. This relation is central when calculating the "corrected QT interval" - an important measure of the risk of potentially lethal arrhythmias. We use the transfer entropy method from information theory to quantitatively study the mutual dynamics of the ventricular action potential duration (the QT interval) and the length of the beat-to-beat (RR) interval. We show that for healthy individuals there is a strong asymmetry in the information transfer: the information flow from RR to QT dominates over the opposite flow (from QT to RR), i.e. QT depends on RR to a larger extent than RR on QT. Moreover, the history of the intervals has a strong effect on the information transfer: at sufficiently long QT history length the information flow asymmetry inverts and the RR influence on QT dynamics weakens. Finally, we demonstrate that the widely used QT correction methods cannot properly capture the changes in the information flows between QT and RR. We conclude that our results obtained through a model-free informational perspective can be utilised to improve and test the QT correction schemes in clinics.

Polyatomic Trilobite Rydberg Molecules in a Dense Random Gas.

Trilobites are exotic giant dimers with enormous dipole moments. They consist of a Rydberg atom and a distant ground-state atom bound together by short-range electron-neutral attraction. We show that highly polar, polyatomic trilobite states unexpectedly persist and thrive in a dense ultracold gas of randomly positioned atoms. This is caused by perturbation-induced quantum scarring and the localization of electron density on randomly occurring atom clusters. At certain densities these states also mix with an s state, overcoming selection rules that hinder the photoassociation of ordinary trilobites.

Strong quantum scarring by local impurities.

We discover and characterise strong quantum scars, or quantum eigenstates resembling classical periodic orbits, in two-dimensional quantum wells perturbed by local impurities. These scars are not explained by ordinary scar theory, which would require the existence of short, moderately unstable periodic orbits in the perturbed system. Instead, they are supported by classical resonances in the unperturbed system and the resulting quantum near-degeneracy. Even in the case of a large number of randomly scattered impurities, the scars prefer distinct orientations that extremise the overlap with the impurities. We demonstrate that these preferred orientations can be used for highly efficient transport of quantum wave packets across the perturbed potential landscape. Assisted by the scars, wave-packet recurrences are significantly stronger than in the unperturbed system. Together with the controllability of the preferred orientations, this property may be very useful for quantum transport applications.