Lie Algebroids in Classical Mechanics and Optimal Control

We review some recent results on the theory of Lagrangian systems on Lie algebroids. In particular we consider the symplectic and variational formalism and we study reduction. Finally we also consider optimal control systems on Lie algebroids and we show how to reduce Pontryagin maximum principle.Comment: This is a contribution to the Proc. of workshop on Geometric Aspects of Integrable Systems (July 17-19, 2006; Coimbra, Portugal), published in SIGMA (Symmetry, Integrability and Geometry: Methods and Applications) at http://www.emis.de/journals/SIGMA

Particle detectors and the zero mode of a quantum field

We study the impact of the zero-mode of a quantum field on the evolution of a particle detector. For a massless scalar field in a periodic cavity, we show that the impact of the zero mode on the Unruh-DeWitt detector and its derivative-coupling generalisation is necessarily nonvanishing but can be made negligible in some limits, including those commonly occurring in non-relativistic quantum optics. For the derivative-coupling detector this can be accomplished by just tuning the zero mode's initial state, but the standard Unruh-DeWitt detector requires a more subtle and careful tuning. Applications include an inertial detector with arbitrary velocity, where we demonstrate the regularity of the ultrarelativistic limit, and a detector with uniform acceleration.Comment: 14 pages, 3 Figures. RevTex 4.1. v2: Added journal reference and minor edits to match published versio