Simulation experiments for gamma-ray mapping of planetary surfaces: Scattering of high-energy neutrons

The concentration and distribution of certain elements in surface layers of planetary objects specify constraints on models of their origin and evolution. This information can be obtained by means of remote sensing gamma-ray spectroscopy, as planned for a number of future space missions, i.e., Mars, Moon, asteroids, and comets. To investigate the gamma-rays made by interactions of neutrons with matter, thin targets of different composition were placed between a neutron-source and a high-resolution germanium spectrometer. Gamma-rays in the range of 0.1 to 8 MeV were accumulated. In one set of experiments a 14-MeV neutron generator using the T(d,n) reaction as neutron-source was placed in a small room. Scattering in surrounding walls produced a spectrum of neutron energies from 14 MeV down to thermal. This complex neutron-source induced mainly neutron-capture lines and only a few scattering lines. As a result of the set-up, there was a considerable background of discrete lines from surrounding materials. A similar situation exists under planetary exploration conditions: gamma-rays are induced in the planetary surface as well as in the spacecraft. To investigate the contribution of neutrons with higher energies, an experiment for the measurement of prompt gamma radiation was set up at the end of a beam-line of an isochronous cyclotron

Iterative procedure for computing accessible information in quantum communication

We present an iterative algorithm that finds the optimal measurement for extracting the accessible information in any quantum communication scenario. The maximization is achieved by a steepest-ascent approach toward the extremal point, following the gradient uphill in sufficiently small steps. We apply it to a simple ad-hoc example, as well as to a problem with a bearing on the security of a tomographic protocol for quantum key distribution.Comment: REVTeX, 4 pages, 1 figure, 1 tabl

Abrupt and gradual changes of information through the Kane solid state computer

The susceptibility of the transformed information to the filed and system parameters is investigated for the Kane solid state computer. It has been shown, that the field polarization and the initial state of the system play the central roles on the abrupt and gradual quench of the purity and the fidelity. If the field and the initial state are in different polarizations, then the purity and the fidelity decrease abruptly, while for the common polarization the decay is gradual and smooth. For some class of initial states one can send the information without any loss. Therefore, by controlling on the devices one can increase the time of safe communication, reduce the amount of exchange information between the state and its environment and minimize the purity decrease rate

G+++ Invariant Formulation of Gravity and M-Theories: Exact BPS Solutions

We present a tentative formulation of theories of gravity with suitable matter content, including in particular pure gravity in D dimensions, the bosonic effective actions of M-theory and of the bosonic string, in terms of actions invariant under very-extended Kac-Moody algebras G+++. We conjecture that they host additional degrees of freedom not contained in the conventional theories. The actions are constructed in a recursive way from a level expansion for all very-extended algebras G+++. They constitute non-linear realisations on cosets, a priori unrelated to space-time, obtained from a modified Chevalley involution. Exact solutions are found for all G+++. They describe the algebraic properties of BPS extremal branes, Kaluza-Klein waves and Kaluza-Klein monopoles. They illustrate the generalisation to all G+++ invariant theories of the well-known duality properties of string theories by expressing duality as Weyl invariance in G+++. Space-time is expected to be generated dynamically. In the level decomposition of E8+++ = E11, one may indeed select an A10 representation of generators Pa which appears to engender space-time translations by inducing infinite towers of fields interpretable as field derivatives in space and time.Comment: Latex 45 pages, 1 figure. Discussion on pages 19 and 20 altered. Appendix B amplified. 4 footnotes added. 2 references added. Acknowledgments updated. Additional minor correction

Mechanical effects of optical resonators on driven trapped atoms: Ground state cooling in a high finesse cavity

We investigate theoretically the mechanical effects of light on atoms trapped by an external potential, whose dipole transition couples to the mode of an optical resonator and is driven by a laser. We derive an analytical expression for the quantum center-of-mass dynamics, which is valid in presence of a tight external potential. This equation has broad validity and allows for a transparent interpretation of the individual scattering processes leading to cooling. We show that the dynamics are a competition of the mechanical effects of the cavity and of the laser photons, which may mutually interfere. We focus onto the good-cavity limit and identify novel cooling schemes, which are based on quantum interference effects and lead to efficient ground state cooling in experimentally accessible parameter regimes.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figure

Minimal qubit tomography

We present, and analyze thoroughly, a highly symmetric and efficient scheme for the determination of a single-qubit state, such as the polarization properties of photons emitted by a single-photon source. In our scheme there are only four measured probabilities, just enough for the determination of the three parameters that specify the qubit state, whereas the standard procedure would measure six probabilities.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures; final versio

Numerical calculations of the phase diagram of cubic blue phases in cholesteric liquid crystals

We study the static properties of cubic blue phases by numerically minimising the three-dimensional, Landau-de Gennes free energy for a cholesteric liquid crystal close to the isotropic-cholesteric phase transition. Thus we are able to refine the powerful but approximate, semi-analytic frameworks that have been used previously. We obtain the equilibrium phase diagram and discuss it in relation to previous results. We find that the value of the chirality above which blue phases appear is shifted by 20% (towards experimentally more accessible regions) with respect to previous estimates. We also find that the region of stability of the O5 structure -- which has not been observed experimentally -- shrinks, while that of BP I (O8-) increases thus giving the correct order of appearance of blue phases at small chirality. We also study the approach to equilibrium starting from the infinite chirality solutions and we find that in some cases the disclination network has to assemble during the equilibration. In these situations disclinations are formed via the merging of isolated aligned defects.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Secure communication with a publicly known key

We present a scheme for direct and confidential communication between Alice and Bob, where there is no need for establishing a shared secret key first, and where the key used by Alice even will become known publicly. The communication is based on the exchange of single photons and each and every photon transmits one bit of Alice's message without revealing any information to a potential eavesdropper

Strong-driving-assisted multipartite entanglement in cavity QED

We propose a method of generating multipartite entanglement by considering the interaction of a system of N two-level atoms in a cavity of high quality factor with a strong classical driving field. It is shown that, with a judicious choice of the cavity detuning and the applied coherent field detuning, vacuum Rabi coupling produces a large number of important multipartite entangled states. It is even possible to produce entangled states involving different cavity modes. Tuning of parameters also permits us to switch from Jaynes-Cummings to anti-Jaynes-Cummings like interaction.Comment: Last version with minor changes and added references. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Letter

Interplanar binding in graphite studied with the Englert-Schwinger equation

A model of a graphite crystal is used which consists of a set of parallel slabs of positive charge immersed in an electron sea. The density of electrons in the region between slabs is calculated from the Englert-Schwinger equation. That equation improves Thomas-Fermi theory by including exchange and inhomogeneity corrections to the kinetic energy. The results are in semiquantitative agreement with empirical data and are slightly better than previous calculations of the interplanar binding of graphite