This week’s Image of the Week appears – in my head anyway – to take us to the beach (where I’m sure the JPhys+ team would like to be now that summer has started here).

In fact these pictures are ‘fingerprints’ of quantum phase transitions.  In their recent paper in JPhysB, T M Carrijo et al study the Local Quantum Uncertainty (LQU) in the critical behaviour of two spin-1/2 chains.  The LQU is the minimal quantum uncertainty that could be attainable in measuring an observable – even in a flawless experiment, there is still uncertainty due to quantum effects.

Fingerprints of quantum phase transition on quantum correlations, from Thiago M Carrijo et al 2015 J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 48 125501

The images to left show the LQU varying, and to the right its first derivative.  The line along the middle is the critical point of the phase transition.

Read more: Quantum uncertainty in critical systems with three spins interaction

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License

Front Image and article image: Fingerprints of quantum phase transition on quantum correlations, adapted from Thiago M Carrijo et al 2015 J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 48 125501

Categories: Journal of Physics B: Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics

Tags: Image of the week, Quantum mechanics