Non-reciprocal few-photon devices based on chiral waveguide-emitter couplings

We demonstrate the possibility of designing efficient, non reciprocal few-photon devices by exploiting the chiral coupling between two waveguide modes and a single quantum emitter. We show how this system can induce non-reciprocal photon transport at the single-photon level and act as an optical diode. Afterwards, we also show how the same system shows a transistor-like behaviour for a two-photon input. The efficiency in both cases is shown to be large for feasible experimental implementations. Our results illustrate the potential of chiral waveguide-emitter couplings for applications in quantum circuitry.Comment: Mathematica notebook attached for calculation of detection probabilitie

XMM-Newton and Deep Optical Observations of the OTELO fields: the Groth-Westphal Strip

OTELO (OSIRIS Tunable Emission Line Object Survey) will be carried out with the OSIRIS instrument at the 10 m GTC telescope at La Palma, and is aimed to be the deepest and richest survey of emission line objects to date. The deep narrow-band optical data from OSIRIS will be complemented by means of additional observations that include: (i) an exploratory broad-band survey that is already being carried out in the optical domain, (ii) FIR and sub-mm observations to be carried with the Herschel space telescope and the GTM, and (iii) deep X-Ray observations from XMM-Newton and Chandra.Here we present a preliminary analysis of public EPIC data of one of the OTELO targets,the Groth-Westphal strip, gathered from the XMM-Newton Science Archive (XSA). EPIC images are combined with optical BVRI data from our broadband survey carried out with the 4.2m WHT at La Palma. Distance-independent diagnostics (involving X/O ratio, hardness ratios, B/T ratio) are tested.Comment: 2 pages, 2 figures, uses graphicx package. To appear in proceedings of "The X-Ray Universe 2005", San Lorenzo del Escorial, Spain, September 26-30, 200

Hawking-like emission in kink-soliton escape from a potential well.

The escape of solitons over a potential barrier is analysed within the framework of a nonlinear Klein–Gordon equation. It is shown that the creation of a kink–antikink pair near the barrier through an internal mode instability can be followed by escape of the kink in a process analogous to Hawking radiation. These results have important implications in a wider context, including stochastic resonance and ratchet systems, which are also discussed

Signals for New Spin-1 Resonances in Electroweak Gauge Boson Pair Production at the LHC

The mechanism of electroweak symmetry breaking (EWSB) will be directly scrutinized soon at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC). We analyze the LHC potential to look for new vector bosons associated with the EWSB sector. We present a possible model independent approach to search for these new spin--1 resonances. We show that the analyses of the processes pp --> l^+ l^- Emiss_T, l^\pm j j Emiss_T, l^\pm l^+ l^- Emiss_T, and l^+ l^- j j (with l=e or \mu and j=jet) have a large reach at the LHC and can lead to the discovery or exclusion of many EWSB scenarios such as Higgsless models.Comment: 10 pages, 11 figure

A minor-merger origin for inner disks and rings in early-type galaxies

Nuclear disks and rings are frequent galaxy substructures, for a wide range of morphological types (from S0 to Sc). We have investigated the possible minor-merger origin of inner disks and rings in spiral galaxies through collisionless N-body simulations. The models confirm that minor mergers can drive the formation of thin, kinematically-cold structures in the center of galaxies out of satellite material, without requiring the previous formation of a bar. Satellite core particles tend to be deposited in circular orbits in the central potential, due to the strong circularization experienced by the satellite orbit through dynamical friction. The material of the satellite core reaches the remnant center if satellites are dense or massive, building up a thin inner disk; whereas it is fully disrupted before reaching the center in the case of low-mass satellites, creating an inner ring instead.Comment: 2 pages, 2 figures, Proceedings of the conference "Hunting for the Dark: The Hidden Side of Galaxy Formation", held in Malta, 19-23 Oct. 2009, ed. V. Debattista and C. C. Popescu, AIP Conf. Ser., in pres

Global Analysis of Neutrino Data

In this talk I review the present status of neutrino masses and mixing and some of their implications for particle physics phenomenology. I first discuss the minimum extension of the Standard Model of particle physics required to accommodate neutrino masses and introduce the new parameters present in the model and in particular the possibility of leptonic mixing. I then describe the phenomenology of neutrino masses and mixing leading to flavour oscillations and present the existing evidence from solar, reactor, atmospheric and long-baseline neutrinos as well as the results from laboratory searches at short distances. I derive the allowed ranges for the mass and mixing parameters when the bulk of data is consistently analyzed in the framework of mixing between the three active neutrinos and obtain as a result the most up-to-date determination of the leptonic mixing matrix. Then I briefly summarize the status of some proposed phenomenological explanations to accommodate the LSND results: the role of sterile neutrinos and the violation of CPT. Finally I comment how within the present experimental precision it is possible to use the observation of oscillation patterns to impose severe constraints on the possible violation of fundamental symmetries in particle physics such as Lorentz invariance or the weak equivalence principle.Comment: Talk given at the Nobel Symposium on Neutrino Physics, Haga Slott, Enkoping, Swede

Active galactic nuclei synapses: X-ray versus optical classifications using artificial neural networks

(Abridged) Many classes of active galactic nuclei (AGN) have been defined entirely throughout optical wavelengths while the X-ray spectra have been very useful to investigate their inner regions. However, optical and X-ray results show many discrepancies that have not been fully understood yet. The aim of this paper is to study the "synapses" between the X-ray and optical classifications. For the first time, the new EFLUXER task allowed us to analyse broad band X-ray spectra of emission line nuclei (ELN) without any prior spectral fitting using artificial neural networks (ANNs). Our sample comprises 162 XMM-Newton/pn spectra of 90 local ELN in the Palomar sample. It includes starbursts (SB), transition objects (T2), LINERs (L1.8 and L2), and Seyferts (S1, S1.8, and S2). The ANNs are 90% efficient at classifying the trained classes S1, S1.8, and SB. The S1 and S1.8 classes show a wide range of S1- and S1.8-like components. We suggest that this is related to a large degree of obscuration at X-rays. The S1, S1.8, S2, L1.8, L2/T2/SB-AGN (SB with indications of AGN), and SB classes have similar average X-ray spectra within each class, but these average spectra can be distinguished from class to class. The S2 (L1.8) class is linked to the S1.8 (S1) class with larger SB-like component than the S1.8 (S1) class. The L2, T2, and SB-AGN classes conform a class in the X-rays similar to the S2 class albeit with larger fractions of SB-like component. This SB-like component is the contribution of the star-formation in the host galaxy, which is large when the AGN is weak. An AGN-like component seems to be present in the vast majority of the ELN, attending to the non-negligible fraction of S1-like or S1.8-like component. This trained ANN could be used to infer optical properties from X-ray spectra in surveys like eRosita.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in A&A. Appendix B only in the full version of the paper here: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3484086/AGNSynapsis_OGM_online.pd