Detection-Loophole-Free Test of Quantum Nonlocality, and Applications

We present a source of entangled photons that violates a Bell inequality free of the "fair-sampling" assumption, by over 7 standard deviations. This violation is the first experiment with photons to close the detection loophole, and we demonstrate enough "efficiency" overhead to eventually perform a fully loophole-free test of local realism. The entanglement quality is verified by maximally violating additional Bell tests, testing the upper limit of quantum correlations. Finally, we use the source to generate secure private quantum random numbers at rates over 4 orders of magnitude beyond previous experiments.Comment: Main text: 5 pages, 2 figures, 1 table. Supplementary Information: 7 pages, 2 figure

Rigidity and defect actions in Landau-Ginzburg models

Studying two-dimensional field theories in the presence of defect lines naturally gives rise to monoidal categories: their objects are the different (topological) defect conditions, their morphisms are junction fields, and their tensor product describes the fusion of defects. These categories should be equipped with a duality operation corresponding to reversing the orientation of the defect line, providing a rigid and pivotal structure. We make this structure explicit in topological Landau-Ginzburg models with potential x^d, where defects are described by matrix factorisations of x^d-y^d. The duality allows to compute an action of defects on bulk fields, which we compare to the corresponding N=2 conformal field theories. We find that the two actions differ by phases.Comment: 53 pages; v2: clarified exposition of pivotal structures, corrected proof of theorem 2.13, added remark 3.9; version to appear in CM

Low-Background In-Trap Decay Spectroscopy with TITAN at TRIUMF

An in-trap decay spectroscopy setup has been developed and constructed for use with the TITAN facility at TRIUMF. The goal of this device is to observe weak electron-capture (EC) branching ratios for the odd-odd intermediate nuclei in the $\beta\beta$ decay process. This apparatus consists of an up-to 6 Tesla, open-access spectroscopy ion-trap, surrounded radially by up to 7 planar Si(Li) detectors which are separated from the trap by thin Be windows. This configuration provides a significant increase in sensitivity for the detection of low-energy photons by providing backing-free ion storage and eliminating charged-particle-induced backgrounds. An intense electron beam is also employed to increase the charge-states of the trapped ions, thus providing storage times on the order of minutes, allowing for decay-spectroscopy measurements. The technique of multiple ion-bunch stacking was also recently demonstrated, which further extends the measurement possibilities of this apparatus. The current status of the facility and initial results from a $^{116}$In measurement are presented.Comment: Proceedings for the 2nd International Conference on Advances in Radioactive Isotope Science (ARIS2014

The 1986?1989 ENSO cycle in a chemical climate model

International audienceA pronounced ENSO cycle occurred from 1986 to 1989, accompanied by distinct dynamical and chemical anomalies in the global troposphere and stratosphere. Reproducing these effects with current climate models not only provides a model test but also contributes to our still limited understanding of ENSO's effect on stratosphere-troposphere coupling. We performed several sets of ensemble simulations with a chemical climate model (SOCOL) forced with global sea surface temperatures. Results were compared with observations and with large-ensemble simulations performed with an atmospheric general circulation model (MRF9). We focus our analysis on the extratropical stratosphere and its coupling with the troposphere. In this context, the circulation over the North Atlantic sector is particularly important. Observed differences between the El Niño winter 1987 and the La Niña winter 1989 include a negative North Atlantic Oscillation index with corresponding changes in temperature and precipitation patterns, a weak polar vortex, a warm Arctic middle stratosphere, negative and positive total ozone anomalies in the tropics and at middle to high latitudes, respectively, as well as anomalous upward and poleward Eliassen-Palm (EP) flux in the midlatitude lower stratosphere. Most of the tropospheric features are well reproduced in the ensemble means in both models, though the amplitudes are underestimated. In the stratosphere, the SOCOL simulations compare well with observations with respect to zonal wind, temperature, EP flux, and ozone, but magnitudes are underestimated in the middle stratosphere. The polar vortex strength is well reproduced, but within-ensemble variability is too large for obtaining a significant signal in Arctic temperature and ozone. With respect to the mechanisms relating ENSO to stratospheric circulation, the results suggest that both, upward and poleward components of anomalous EP flux are important for obtaining the stratospheric signal and that an increase in strength of the Brewer-Dobson circulation is part of that signal

Simulated Extragalactic Observations with a Cryogenic Imaging Spectrophotometer

In this paper we explore the application of cryogenic imaging spectrophotometers. Prototypes of this new class of detector, such as superconducting tunnel junctions (STJs) and transition edge sensors (TESs), currently deliver low resolution imaging spectrophotometry with high quantum efficiency (70-100%) and no read noise over a wide bandpass in the visible to near-infrared. In order to demonstrate their utility and the differences in observing strategy needed to maximize their scientific return, we present simulated observations of a deep extragalactic field. Using a simple analytic technique, we can estimate both the galaxy redshift and spectral type more accurately than is possible with current broadband techniques. From our simulated observations and a subsequent discussion of the expected migration path for this new technology, we illustrate the power and promise of these devices.Comment: 30 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journa

Effective Quantum Observables

Thought experiments about the physical nature of set theoretical counterexamples to the axiom of choice motivate the investigation of peculiar constructions, e.g. an infinite dimensional Hilbert space with a modular quantum logic. Applying a concept due to BENIOFF, we identify the intrinsically effective Hamiltonians with those observables of quantum theory which may coexist with a failure of the axiom of choice. Here a self adjoint operator is intrinsically effective, iff the Schroedinger equation of its generated semigroup is soluble by means of eigenfunction series expansions.Comment: TeX-file, 32 page

N=2 Liouville Theory with Boundary

We study N=2 Liouville theory with arbitrary central charge in the presence of boundaries. After reviewing the theory on the sphere and deriving some important structure constants, we investigate the boundary states of the theory from two approaches, one using the modular transformation property of annulus amplitudes and the other using the bootstrap of disc two-point functions containing degenerate bulk operators. The boundary interactions describing the boundary states are also proposed, based on which the precise correspondence between boundary states and boundary interactions is obtained. The open string spectrum between D-branes is studied from the modular bootstrap approach and also from the reflection relation of boundary operators, providing a consistency check for the proposal.Comment: 1+48 pages, no figure. typos corrected and references added. the version to appear in JHE

Discovery of a Clustered Quasar Pair at z ~ 5: Biased Peaks in Early Structure Formation

We report a discovery of a quasar at z = 4.96 +- 0.03 within a few Mpc of the quasar SDSS 0338+0021 at z = 5.02 +- 0.02. The newly found quasar has the SDSS i and z magnitudes of ~ 21.2, and an estimated absolute magnitude M_B ~ -25.2. The projected separation on the sky is 196 arcsec, and the redshift difference Delta z = 0.063 +- 0.008. The probability of finding this quasar pair by chance in the absence of clustering in this particular volume is ~ 10^-4 to 10^-3. We conclude that the two objects probably mark a large-scale structure, possibly a protocluster, at z ~ 5. This is the most distant such structure currently known. Our search in the field of 13 other QSOs at z >~ 4.8 so far has not resulted in any detections of comparable luminous QSO pairs, and it is thus not yet clear how representative is this structure at z ~ 5. However, along with the other evidence for clustering of quasars and young galaxies at somewhat lower redshifts, the observations are at least qualitatively consistent with a strong biasing of the first luminous and massive objects, in agreement with general predictions of theoretical models. More extensive searches for clustered quasars and luminous galaxies at these redshifts will provide valuable empirical constraints for our understanding of early galaxy and structure formation.Comment: Latex file, 8 pages, 3 eps figures, sty files included. To appear in the Ap