Efficient Approximations for the Online Dispersion Problem

The dispersion problem has been widely studied in computational geometry and facility location, and is closely related to the packing problem. The goal is to locate n points (e.g., facilities or persons) in a k-dimensional polytope, so that they are far away from each other and from the boundary of the polytope. In many real-world scenarios however, the points arrive and depart at different times, and decisions must be made without knowing future events. Therefore we study, for the first time in the literature, the online dispersion problem in Euclidean space. There are two natural objectives when time is involved: the all-time worst-case (ATWC) problem tries to maximize the minimum distance that ever appears at any time; and the cumulative distance (CD) problem tries to maximize the integral of the minimum distance throughout the whole time interval. Interestingly, the online problems are highly non-trivial even on a segment. For cumulative distance, this remains the case even when the problem is time-dependent but offline, with all the arriving and departure times given in advance. For the online ATWC problem on a segment, we construct a deterministic polynomial-time algorithm which is (2ln2+epsilon)-competitive, where epsilon>0 can be arbitrarily small and the algorithm\u27s running time is polynomial in 1/epsilon. We show this algorithm is actually optimal. For the same problem in a square, we provide a 1.591-competitive algorithm and a 1.183 lower-bound. Furthermore, for arbitrary k-dimensional polytopes with k>=2, we provide a 2/(1-epsilon)-competitive algorithm and a 7/6 lower-bound. All our lower-bounds come from the structure of the online problems and hold even when computational complexity is not a concern. Interestingly, for the offline CD problem in arbitrary k-dimensional polytopes, we provide a polynomial-time black-box reduction to the online ATWC problem, and the resulting competitive ratio increases by a factor of at most 2. Our techniques also apply to online dispersion problems with different boundary conditions

Photon-mediated qubit interactions in one-dimensional discrete and continuous models

In this work we study numerically and analytically the interaction of two qubits in a one-dimensionalwaveguide, as mediated by the photons that propagate through the guide. We develop strategies to assert the Markovianity of the problem, the effective qubit-qubit interactions, and their individual and collective spontaneous emission. We prove the existence of collective Lamb shifts that affect the qubit-qubit interactions and the dependency of coherent and incoherent interactions on the qubit separation. We also develop the scattering theory associated with these models and prove single-photon spectroscopy does probe the renormalized resonances of the singleand multiqubit models, in sharp contrast to earlier toy models in which individual and collective Lamb shifts cancel

Momentum average approximation for models with boson-modulated hopping: Role of closed loops in the dynamical generation of a finite quasiparticle mass

We generalize the momentum average approximation to study the properties of single polarons in models with boson affected hopping, where the fermion-boson scattering depends explicitly on both the fermion's and the boson's momentum. As a specific example, we investigate the Edwards fermion-boson model in both one and two dimensions. In one dimension, this allows us to compare our results with exact diagonalization results, to validate the accuracy of our approximation. The generalization to two-dimensional lattices allows us to calculate the polaron's quasiparticle weight and dispersion throughout the Brillouin zone and to demonstrate the importance of Trugman loops in generating a finite effective mass even when the free fermion has an infinite mass.Comment: 15 pages, 14 figure

Dynamic modal analysis of monolithic mode-locked semiconductor lasers

We analyze the advantages and applicability limits of the mode-coupling approach to active, passive, hybrid, and harmonic mode-locking in diode lasers. A simple, computationally efficient numerical model is proposed and applied to several traditional and advanced laser constructions and regimes, including high-frequency pulse emission by symmetric and asymmetric colliding pulse mode-locking, and locking properties of hybrid modelocked Fabry–Perot and distributed Bragg reflector lasers