Spin-orbit resonances and rotation of coorbital bodies in quasi-circular orbits

The rotation of asymmetric bodies in eccentric Keplerian orbits can be chaotic when there is some overlap of spin-orbit resonances. Here we show that the rotation of two coorbital bodies (two planets orbiting a star or two satellites of a planet) can also be chaotic even for quasi-circular orbits around the central body. When dissipation is present, the rotation period of a body on a nearly circular orbit is believed to always end synchronous with the orbital period. Here we demonstrate that for coorbital bodies in quasi-circular orbits, stable non-synchronous rotation is possible for a wide range of mass ratios and body shapes. We further show that the rotation becomes chaotic when the natural rotational libration frequency, due to the axial asymmetry, is of the same order of magnitude as the orbital libration frequency

Compaction dynamics of a granular media under vertical tapping

We report new experimental results on granular compaction under consecutive vertical taps. The evolution of the mean volume fraction and of the mean potential energy of a granular packing presents a slow densification until a final steady-state, and is reminiscent to usual relaxation in glasses via a stretched exponential law. The intensity of the taps seems to rule the characteristic time of the relaxation according to an Arrhenius's type relation >. Finally, the analysis of the vertical volume fraction profile reveals an almost homogeneous densification in the packing.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Europhysics Letter

The Nature of the H2-Emitting Gas in the Crab Nebula

Understanding how molecules and dust might have formed within a rapidly expanding young supernova remnant is important because of the obvious application to vigorous supernova activity at very high redshift. In previous papers, we found that the H2 emission is often quite strong, correlates with optical low-ionization emission lines, and has a surprisingly high excitation temperature. Here we study Knot 51, a representative, bright example, for which we have available long slit optical and NIR spectra covering emission lines from ionized, neutral, and molecular gas, as well as HST visible and SOAR Telescope NIR narrow-band images. We present a series of CLOUDY simulations to probe the excitation mechanisms, formation processes and dust content in environments that can produce the observed H2 emission. We do not try for an exact match between model and observations given Knot 51's ambiguous geometry. Rather, we aim to explain how the bright H2 emission lines can be formed from within the volume of Knot 51 that also produces the observed optical emission from ionized and neutral gas. Our models that are powered only by the Crab's synchrotron radiation are ruled out because they cannot reproduce the strong, thermal H2 emission. The simulations that come closest to fitting the observations have the core of Knot 51 almost entirely atomic with the H2 emission coming from just a trace molecular component, and in which there is extra heating. In this unusual environment, H2 forms primarily by associative detachment rather than grain catalysis. In this picture, the 55 H2-emitting cores that we have previously catalogued in the Crab have a total mass of about 0.1 M_sun, which is about 5% of the total mass of the system of filaments. We also explore the effect of varying the dust abundance. We discuss possible future observations that could further elucidate the nature of these H2 knots.Comment: 51 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS, revised Figure 12 results unchange

Single photon quantum cryptography

We report the full implementation of a quantum cryptography protocol using a stream of single photon pulses generated by a stable and efficient source operating at room temperature. The single photon pulses are emitted on demand by a single nitrogen-vacancy (NV) color center in a diamond nanocrystal. The quantum bit error rate is less that 4.6% and the secure bit rate is 9500 bits/s. The overall performances of our system reaches a domain where single photons have a measurable advantage over an equivalent system based on attenuated light pulses.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Preheating after Small-Field Inflation

Whereas preheating after chaotic and hybrid inflation models has been abundantly studied in the literature, preheating in small field inflation models, where the curvature of the inflaton potential is negative during inflation, remains less explored. In these models, a tachyonic instability at the end of inflation leads to a succession of exponentially large increases and \emph{decreases} of the inflaton fluctuations as the inflaton condensate oscillates around the minimum of its potential. The net effect is a competition between low-momentum modes which grow and decrease significantly, and modes with higher momenta which grow less but also decrease less. We develop an analytical description of this process, which is analogous to the quantum mechanical problem of tunneling through a volcano-shaped potential. Depending on the parameters, preheating may be so efficient that it completes in less than one oscillation of the inflaton condensate. Preheating after small field inflation may also be followed by a long matter-dominated stage before the universe thermalizes, depending on the energy scale of inflation and the details of the inflaton interactions. Finally, another feature of these models is that the spectrum of the inflaton fluctuations at the end of preheating may be peaked around the Hubble scale. In fact, because preheating starts when the second slow-roll parameter $|\eta|$ becomes of order unity while the first slow-roll parameter $\epsilon$ is still much smaller than one, the universe is still inflating during preheating and the modes amplified by the initial tachyonic instability leave the Hubble radius. This may lead to an abundant production of primordial black holes and gravitational waves with frequencies today which are naturally small enough to fall into the range accessible by high-sensitivity interferometric experiments.Comment: 34 pages, 16 figures. v2: 1 ref. added, accepted for publication in Phys.Rev.

Unconditional security proof of long-distance continuous-variable quantum key distribution with discrete modulation

We present a continuous-variable quantum key distribution protocol combining a discrete modulation and reverse reconciliation. This protocol is proven unconditionally secure and allows the distribution of secret keys over long distances, thanks to a reverse reconciliation scheme efficient at very low signal-to-noise ratio.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

First-principles study of the ferroelectric Aurivillius phase Bi2WO6

In order to better understand the reconstructive ferroelectric-paraelectric transition of Bi2WO6, which is unusual within the Aurivillius family of compounds, we performed first principles calculations of the dielectric and dynamical properties on two possible high-temperature paraelectic structures: the monoclinic phase of A2/m symmetry observed experimentally and the tetragonal phase of I4/mmm symmetry, common to most Aurivillius phase components. Both paraelectric structures exhibits various unstable modes, which after their condensation bring the system toward more stable structures of lower symmetry. The calculations confirms that, starting from the paraelectric A2/m phase at high temperature, the system must undergo a reconstructive transition to reach the P2_1ab ferroelectric ground state.Comment: added Appendix and two table