Reduction of quantum noise in optical interferometers using squeezed light

We study the photon counting noise in optical interferometers used for gravitational wave detection. In order to reduce quantum noise a squeezed vacuum state is injected into the usually unused input port. Here, we specifically investigate the so called `dark port case', when the beam splitter is oriented close to 90{\deg} to the incoming laser beam, such that nearly all photons go to one output port of the interferometer, and only a small fraction of photons is seen in the other port (`dark port'). For this case it had been suggested that signal amplification is possible without concurrent noise amplification [R.Barak and Y.Ben-Aryeh, J.Opt.Soc.Am.B25(361)2008]. We show that by injection of a squeezed vacuum state into the second input port, counting noise is reduced for large values of the squeezing factor, however the signal is not amplified. Signal strength only depends on the intensity of the laser beam.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figur

Higher Derivative Quantum Gravity with Gauss-Bonnet Term

Higher derivative theory is one of the important models of quantum gravity, renormalizable and asymptotically free within the standard perturbative approach. We consider the $4-\epsilon$ renormalization group for this theory, an approach which proved fruitful in $2-\epsilon$ models. A consistent formulation in dimension $n=4-\epsilon$ requires taking quantum effects of the topological term into account, hence we perform calculation which is more general than the ones done before. In the special $n=4$ case we confirm a known result by Fradkin-Tseytlin and Avramidi-Barvinsky, while contributions from topological term do cancel. In the more general case of $4-\epsilon$ renormalization group equations there is an extensive ambiguity related to gauge-fixing dependence. As a result, physical interpretation of these equations is not universal unlike we treat $\epsilon$ as a small parameter. In the sector of essential couplings one can find a number of new fixed points, some of them have no analogs in the $n=4$ case.Comment: LaTeX file, 30 pages, 5 figures. Several misprints in the intermediate expressions correcte

Kinetic-inductance-limited reset time of superconducting nanowire photon counters

We investigate the recovery of superconducting NbN-nanowire photon counters after detection of an optical pulse at a wavelength of 1550 nm, and present a model that quantitatively accounts for our observations. The reset time is found to be limited by the large kinetic inductance of these nanowires, which forces a tradeoff between counting rate and either detection efficiency or active area. Devices of usable size and high detection efficiency are found to have reset times orders of magnitude longer than their intrinsic photoresponse time.Comment: Submitted to Applied Physics Letter

Non-Commutative Batalin-Vilkovisky Algebras, Homotopy Lie Algebras and the Courant Bracket

We consider two different constructions of higher brackets. First, based on a Grassmann-odd, nilpotent \Delta operator, we define a non-commutative generalization of the higher Koszul brackets, which are used in a generalized Batalin-Vilkovisky algebra, and we show that they form a homotopy Lie algebra. Secondly, we investigate higher, so-called derived brackets built from symmetrized, nested Lie brackets with a fixed nilpotent Lie algebra element Q. We find the most general Jacobi-like identity that such a hierarchy satisfies. The numerical coefficients in front of each term in these generalized Jacobi identities are related to the Bernoulli numbers. We suggest that the definition of a homotopy Lie algebra should be enlarged to accommodate this important case. Finally, we consider the Courant bracket as an example of a derived bracket. We extend it to the "big bracket" of exterior forms and multi-vectors, and give closed formulas for the higher Courant brackets.Comment: 42 pages, LaTeX. v2: Added remarks in Section 5. v3: Added further explanation. v4: Minor adjustments. v5: Section 5 completely rewritten to include covariant construction. v6: Minor adjustments. v7: Added references and explanation to Section

Ground state correlations and structure of odd spherical nuclei

It is well known that the Pauli principle plays a substantial role at low energies because the phonon operators are not ideal boson operators. Calculating the exact commutators between the quasiparticle and phonon operators one can take into account the Pauli principle corrections. Besides the ground state correlations due to the quasiparticle interaction in the ground state influence the single particle fragmentation as well. In this paper, we generalize the basic QPM equations to account for both mentioned effects. As an illustration of our approach, calculations on the structure of the low-lying states in $^{131}$Ba have been performed.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figur

Stable topological textures in a classical 2D Heisenberg model

We show that stable localized topological soliton textures (skyrmions) with $\pi_2$ topological charge $\nu \geq 1$ exist in a classical 2D Heisenberg model of a ferromagnet with uniaxial anisotropy. For this model the soliton exist only if the number of bound magnons exceeds some threshold value $N_{\rm cr}$ depending on $\nu$ and the effective anisotropy constant $K_{\rm eff}$. We define soliton phase diagram as the dependence of threshold energies and bound magnons number on anisotropy constant. The phase boundary lines are monotonous for both $\nu=1$ and $\nu >2$, while the solitons with $\nu=2$ reveal peculiar nonmonotonous behavior, determining the transition regime from low to high topological charges. In particular, the soliton energy per topological charge (topological energy density) achieves a minimum neither for $\nu=1$ nor high charges, but rather for intermediate values $\nu=2$ or $\nu=3$.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure

Coherent states of non-relativistic electron in magnetic-solenoid field

We construct coherent states of a nonrelativistic electron in the magnetic-solenoid field, which is a superposition of the Aharonov-Bohm field and a collinear uniform magnetic field. In the problem under consideration there are two kind of coherent states, the first kind corresponds to classical trajectories which embrace the solenoid and the second one to trajectories which do not. Mean coordinates in the constructed coherent states are moving along classical trajectories, the coherent states maintain their form under the time evolution, and represent a complete set of functions, which can be useful in semi classical calculations. In the absence of the Aharonov-Bohm filed these states are reduced to the well-known in the case of uniform magnetic field Malkin-Man'ko coherent states.Comment: 11 pages, version accepted for publication in J. Phys. A, 3 figures adde

PdI2 as a simple and efficient catalyst for the hydroamination of arylacetylenes with anilines

The hydroamination reaction is a convenient alternative strategy for the formation of C– N bonds. Herein, we report a new versatile and convenient protocol for the hydroamination of arylacetylenes with anilines using palladium iodide in the absence of any added ligand as catalyst. Mild conditions, excellent regio-and stereoselectivity, and high functional group tolerance are the main features of this methodology. A subsequent reduction step gives access to a wide variety of secondary aromatic amines