Technology based on memristors, resistors with memory whose resistance depends on the history of the crossing charges, has lately enhanced the classical paradigm of computation with neuromorphic architectures. However, in contrast to the known quantized models of passive circuit elements, such as inductors, capacitors or resistors, the design and realization of a quantum memristor is still missing. Here, we introduce the concept of a quantum memristor as a quantum dissipative device, whose decoherence mechanism is controlled by a continuous-measurement feedback scheme, which accounts for the memory. Indeed, we provide numerical simulations showing that memory effects actually persist in the quantum regime. Our quantization method, specifically designed for superconducting circuits, may be extended to other quantum platforms, allowing for memristor-type constructions in different quantum technologies. The proposed quantum memristor is then a building block for neuromorphic quantum computation and quantum simulations of non-Markovian systems.
Across biological systems, cooperativity between proteins enables fast actions, supra-linear responses, and long-lasting molecular switches. In the nervous system, however, the function of cooperative interactions between voltage-dependent ionic channels remains largely unknown. Based on mathematical modeling, we here demonstrate that clusters of strongly cooperative ion channels can plausibly form bistable conductances. Consequently, clusters are permanently switched on by neuronal spiking, switched off by strong hyperpolarization, and remain in their state for seconds after stimulation. The resulting short-term memory of the membrane potential allows to generate persistent firing when clusters of cooperative channels are present together with non-cooperative spike-generating conductances. Dynamic clamp experiments in rodent cortical neurons confirm that channel cooperativity can robustly induce graded persistent activity – a single-cell based, multistable mnemonic firing mode experimentally observed in several brain regions. We therefore propose that ion channel cooperativity constitutes an efficient cell-intrinsic implementation for short-term memories at the voltage level.
We introduce a 3D model, and we study its stability, consisting of two distinct pairs of identical fermions coupled with a two-body interaction between fermions of different species, whose effective range is essentially zero (a so called (2+2)-fermionic system with zero-range interaction). The interaction is modelled by implementing the celebrated (and ubiquitous in the literature of this field) Bethe-Peierls contact condition with given two-body scattering length within the Krein-Višik-Birman theory of extensions of semi-bounded symmetric operators, in order to make the Hamiltonian a well-defined (selfadjoint) physical observable. After deriving the expression for the associated energy quadratic form, we show analytically and numerically that the energy of the model is bounded below, thus describing a stable system.
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