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[2026-10-07] · src R.-H. Zheng et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 150201 (2026), arXiv:2510.15730 (abstract read, full paper not)
A microwave resonator holding a photonic cat state was coupled to a controllable set of nonlinear electronic oscillators acting as the reservoir. As the number of reservoir degrees of freedom was increased, the which-path information that the system-reservoir interaction could still spontaneously erase decreased progressively, so revivable coherence decayed. With enough oscillators, the information the reservoir had acquired could no longer be erased at later times, and the decoherence became irreversible, with no dissipative bath added by hand. The authors also characterised the non-Markovianity of the system. Quantitative values (oscillator number at the crossover, revival amplitudes) are in the paper and not reproduced here.
It tests experimentally that irreversibility in decoherence is emergent from unitary system-reservoir dynamics once the reservoir is large enough to hold the which-path record, which is the standard route from quantum to classical behaviour. It does not change that picture or rule anything out; the value is a controllable platform where the crossover can be tuned rather than argued. Read the paper for how the revival is quantified and how the finite reservoir size compares with recurrence times.
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[2026-10-07] · src —
Alto takes today: three days since it was last assigned, the longest gap of the three, and trumpet was assigned yesterday. With no method book chosen yet, this is a fundamentals session: a steady sound first, then the ascending mirror of the last alto day's descending thirds. Keep it short and the tone in front of everything else.
5 minutes of long tones on low B-flat, low C and middle G, 10 counts each at mp at quarter = 60, with no vibrato and a straight start to each note. Then overtones off low B-flat: fingered B-flat, sounding the second and third partials with the same fingering, 4 counts each, three rounds. Listen for the upper partial speaking without the tone pinching.
A-flat major scale in ascending diatonic thirds (A-flat to C, B-flat to D-flat, and so on), two octaves, tongued lightly, no slurs. Success criterion: three consecutive clean passes at quarter = 72, then 80, then 88, with even eighths and no fumbled key changes at the break between the registers.
Play the A-flat major scale once up and down as a melody, one breath, a single long swell to the top and back down. Match the loudness of the first note to the last, so the line sounds like one phrase rather than a drill.
Keep it to about 30 minutes. Stop when the embouchure feels tired or the low notes start to crack, even if the tempo goal is not reached. Stopping ten minutes early beats a ragged finish.
[2026-10-07] · src —
hearThe Dave Brubeck Quartet — Take Five · Tidal · Spotify
Paul Desmond's alto is dry, light and even from the bottom of the horn to the top, and the melody sits in just the range of today's long tones. Listen to how each note starts without a bump and how the tone stays the same colour as the line climbs. That steadiness at a low dynamic is what the warmup is reaching for.