Interface States in Carbon Nanotube Junctions: Rolling up graphene

We study the origin of interface states in carbon nanotube intramolecular junctions between achiral tubes. By applying the Born-von Karman boundary condition to an interface between armchair- and zigzag-terminated graphene layers, we are able to explain their number and energies. We show that these interface states, costumarily attributed to the presence of topological defects, are actually related to zigzag edge states, as those of graphene zigzag nanoribbons. Spatial localization of interface states is seen to vary greatly, and may extend appreciably into either side of the junction. Our results give an alternative explanation to the unusual decay length measured for interface states of semiconductor nanotube junctions, and could be further tested by local probe spectroscopies

Unconventional charge order in a co-doped high-Tc superconductor

Charge-stripe order has recently been established as an important aspect of cuprate high-Tc superconductors. However, owing to the complex interplay between competing phases and the influence of disorder, it is unclear how it emerges from the parent high-temperature state. Here we report on the discovery of an unconventional ordered phase between charge-stripe order and (pseudogapped) metal in the cuprate La1.8xEu0.2SrxCuO4. We use three complementary experiments—nuclear quadrupole resonance, nonlinear conductivity and specific heat—to demonstrate that the order appears through a sharp phase transition and exists in a dome-shaped region of the phase diagram. Our results imply that the new phase is a state, which preserves translational symmetry: a charge nematic. We thus resolve the process of charge-stripe development in cuprates, show that this nematic phase is distinct from high-temperature pseudogap and establish a link with other strongly correlated electronic materials with prominent nematic order

Resonant hopping of a robot controlled by an artificial neural oscillator

"The bouncing gaits of terrestrial animals (hopping, running, trotting) can be modeled as a hybrid dynamic system, with spring-mass dynamics during stance and ballistic motion during the aerial phase. We used a simple hopping robot controlled by an artificial neural oscillator to test the ability of the neural oscillator to adaptively drive this hybrid dynamic system. The robot had a single joint, actuated by an artificial pneumatic muscle in series with a tendon spring. We examined how the oscillator-robot system responded to variation in two neural control parameters: descending neural drive and neuromuscular gain. We also tested the ability of the oscillator-robot system to adapt to variations in mechanical properties by changing the series and parallel spring stiffnesses. Across a 100-fold variation in both supraspinal gain and muscle gain, hopping frequency changed by less than 10%. The neural oscillator consistently drove the system at the resonant half-period for the stance phase, and adapted to a new resonant half-period when the muscle series and parallel stiffnesses were altered. Passive cycling of elastic energy in the tendon accounted for 70-79% of the mechanical work done during each hop cycle. Our results demonstrate that hopping dynamics were largely determined by the intrinsic properties of the mechanical system, not the specific choice of neural oscillator parameters. The findings provide the first evidence that an artificial neural oscillator will drive a hybrid dynamic system at partial resonance."http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/64204/1/bb8_2_026001.pd

Nonlinear interaction between two heralded single photons

Harnessing nonlinearities strong enough to allow two single photons to interact with one another is not only a fascinating challenge but is central to numerous advanced applications in quantum information science. Currently, all known approaches are extremely challenging although a few have led to experimental realisations with attenuated classical laser light. This has included cross-phase modulation with weak classical light in atomic ensembles and optical fibres, converting incident laser light into a non-classical stream of photon or Rydberg blockades as well as all-optical switches with attenuated classical light in various atomic systems. Here we report the observation of a nonlinear parametric interaction between two true single photons. Single photons are initially generated by heralding one photon from each of two independent spontaneous parametric downconversion sources. The two heralded single photons are subsequently combined in a nonlinear waveguide where they are converted into a single photon with a higher energy. Our approach highlights the potential for quantum nonlinear optics with integrated devices, and as the photons are at telecom wavelengths, it is well adapted to applications in quantum communication.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

On Byzantine Broadcast in Loosely Connected Networks

We consider the problem of reliably broadcasting information in a multihop asynchronous network that is subject to Byzantine failures. Most existing approaches give conditions for perfect reliable broadcast (all correct nodes deliver the authentic message and nothing else), but they require a highly connected network. An approach giving only probabilistic guarantees (correct nodes deliver the authentic message with high probability) was recently proposed for loosely connected networks, such as grids and tori. Yet, the proposed solution requires a specific initialization (that includes global knowledge) of each node, which may be difficult or impossible to guarantee in self-organizing networks - for instance, a wireless sensor network, especially if they are prone to Byzantine failures. In this paper, we propose a new protocol offering guarantees for loosely connected networks that does not require such global knowledge dependent initialization. In more details, we give a methodology to determine whether a set of nodes will always deliver the authentic message, in any execution. Then, we give conditions for perfect reliable broadcast in a torus network. Finally, we provide experimental evaluation for our solution, and determine the number of randomly distributed Byzantine failures than can be tolerated, for a given correct broadcast probability.Comment: 1

A Scalable Byzantine Grid

Modern networks assemble an ever growing number of nodes. However, it remains difficult to increase the number of channels per node, thus the maximal degree of the network may be bounded. This is typically the case in grid topology networks, where each node has at most four neighbors. In this paper, we address the following issue: if each node is likely to fail in an unpredictable manner, how can we preserve some global reliability guarantees when the number of nodes keeps increasing unboundedly ? To be more specific, we consider the problem or reliably broadcasting information on an asynchronous grid in the presence of Byzantine failures -- that is, some nodes may have an arbitrary and potentially malicious behavior. Our requirement is that a constant fraction of correct nodes remain able to achieve reliable communication. Existing solutions can only tolerate a fixed number of Byzantine failures if they adopt a worst-case placement scheme. Besides, if we assume a constant Byzantine ratio (each node has the same probability to be Byzantine), the probability to have a fatal placement approaches 1 when the number of nodes increases, and reliability guarantees collapse. In this paper, we propose the first broadcast protocol that overcomes these difficulties. First, the number of Byzantine failures that can be tolerated (if they adopt the worst-case placement) now increases with the number of nodes. Second, we are able to tolerate a constant Byzantine ratio, however large the grid may be. In other words, the grid becomes scalable. This result has important security applications in ultra-large networks, where each node has a given probability to misbehave.Comment: 17 page

Proper acceleration, geometric tachyon and dynamics of a fundamental string near Dpp branes

We present a detailed analysis of our recent observation that the origin of the geometric tachyon, which arises when a D$p$-brane propagates in the vicinity of a stack of coincident NS5-branes, is due to the proper acceleration generated by the background dilaton field. We show that when a fundamental string (F-string), described by the Nambu-Goto action, is moving in the background of a stack of coincident D$p$-branes, the geometric tachyon mode can also appear since the overall conformal mode of the induced metric for the string can act as a source for proper acceleration. We also studied the detailed dynamics of the F-string as well as the instability by mapping the Nambu-Goto action of the F-string to the tachyon effective action of the non-BPS D-string. We qualitatively argue that the condensation of the geometric tachyon is responsible for the (F,D$p$) bound state formation.Comment: 26 pages, v2: added references, v3: one ref. updated, to appear in Class. and Quant. Gravit