Hydro-Responsive Curling of the Resurrection Plant Selaginella lepidophylla

The spirally arranged stems of the spikemoss Selaginella lepidophylla, an ancient resurrection plant, compactly curl into a nest-ball shape upon dehydration. Due to its spiral phyllotaxy, older outer stems on the plant interlace and envelope the younger inner stems forming the plant centre. Stem curling is a morphological mechanism that limits photoinhibitory and thermal damages the plant might experience in arid environments. Here, we investigate the distinct conformational changes of outer and inner stems of S. lepidophylla triggered by dehydration. Outer stems bend into circular rings in a relatively short period of desiccation, whereas inner stems curl slowly into spirals due to hydro-actuated strain gradient along their length. This arrangement eases both the tight packing of the plant during desiccation and its fast opening upon rehydration. The insights gained from this work shed light on the hydro-responsive movements in plants and might contribute to the development of deployable structures with remarkable shape transformations in response to environmental stimuli

Exact Results on Dynamical Decoupling by π\pi-Pulses in Quantum Information Processes

The aim of dynamical decoupling consists in the suppression of decoherence by appropriate coherent control of a quantum register. Effectively, the interaction with the environment is reduced. In particular, a sequence of $\pi$ pulses is considered. Here we present exact results on the suppression of the coupling of a quantum bit to its environment by optimized sequences of $\pi$ pulses. The effect of various cutoffs of the spectral density of the environment is investigated. As a result we show that the harder the cutoff is the better an optimized pulse sequence can deal with it. For cutoffs which are neither completely hard nor very soft we advocate iterated optimized sequences.Comment: 12 pages and 3 figure

BUILDING PERFORMANCE SIMULATION PROGRAMS: BETWEEN “OPERABILITY” AND “ADEQUACY”

Energy efficiency in Buildings, combined with an efficient use of the energy provided by renewable sources, are essential objectives set by the revision of the European Energy Performance of Buildings Directive. To achieve these objectives, an accurate estimate of the behavior of the system to be built/improved must be available during all stages of the design process or energy audit (if existing). While designing or improving energy efficiency, other important and associated goals must be ad-dressed, such as environmental health (hygrothermal, acoustic and luminous), costs, environmental sustainability, etc. Having to choose a dynamic simulation program to inform the design process it is necessary to analyze the possibilities offered by different available software, in terms of accuracy and completeness, while taking into account ease of use and included facilities aimed at supporting the design process itself. Over the past years, numerous Building Performance Simulation tools (BPSts) have been developed with the ambition of removing some shortages of existing BPSts in addressing today’s users’ requirements, sometimes by underestimating the reasons for those lacks of functionality. A software improvement that is focused only on usability might oversimplifies the complexity of the model used by the tool, or its use, while a focus on rapid prototyping might respond poorly to the requirements of a certain typology of users. A critical review of today’s requirements and available tools is here presented, with the aim of informing a better awareness of possibilities offered or denied by current BPSts

Bell inequality violation by entangled single photon states generated from a laser, a LED or a Halogen lamp

In single-particle or intraparticle entanglement, two degrees of freedom of a single particle, e.g., momentum and polarization of a single photon, are entangled. Single-particle entanglement (SPE) provides a source of non classical correlations which can be exploited both in quantum communication protocols and in experimental tests of noncontextuality based on the Kochen-Specker theorem. Furthermore, SPE is robust under decoherence phenomena. Here, we show that single-particle entangled states of single photons can be produced from attenuated sources of light, even classical ones. To experimentally certify the entanglement, we perform a Bell test, observing a violation of the Clauser, Horne, Shimony and Holt (CHSH) inequality. On the one hand, we show that this entanglement can be achieved even in a classical light beam, provided that first-order coherence is maintained between the degrees of freedom involved in the entanglement. On the other hand, we prove that filtered and attenuated light sources provide a flux of independent SPE photons that, from a statistical point of view, are indistinguishable from those generated by a single photon source. This has important consequences, since it demonstrates that cheap, compact, and low power entangled photon sources can be used for a range of quantum technology applications

Efficient Coherent Control by Optimized Sequences of Pulses of Finite Duration

Reliable long-time storage of arbitrary quantum states is a key element for quantum information processing. In order to dynamically decouple a spin or quantum bit from a dephasing environment, we introduce an optimized sequence of $N$ control pulses of finite durations \tau\pp and finite amplitudes. The properties of this sequence of length $T$ stem from a mathematically rigorous derivation. Corrections occur only in order $T^{N+1}$ and \tau\pp^3 without mixed terms such as T^N\tau\pp or T^N\tau\pp^2. Based on existing experiments, a concrete setup for the verification of the properties of the advocated realistic sequence is proposed.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figur

Hidden order in bosonic gases confined in one dimensional optical lattices

We analyze the effective Hamiltonian arising from a suitable power series expansion of the overlap integrals of Wannier functions for confined bosonic atoms in a 1d optical lattice. For certain constraints between the coupling constants, we construct an explicit relation between such an effective bosonic Hamiltonian and the integrable spin-$S$ anisotropic Heisenberg model. Therefore the former results to be integrable by construction. The field theory is governed by an anisotropic non linear $\sigma$-model with singlet and triplet massive excitations; such a result holds also in the generic non-integrable cases. The criticality of the bosonic system is investigated. The schematic phase diagram is drawn. Our study is shedding light on the hidden symmetry of the Haldane type for one dimensional bosons.Comment: 5 pages; 1 eps figure. Revised version, to be published in New. J. Phy

Rotordynamic Forces on a Four Bladed Inducer

The present paper illustrates the results of an experimental campaign conducted in the CPRTF (Cavitating Pump Rotordynamic Test Facility) at ALTA S.p.A. aimed at characterizing the rotordynamic forces acting on a whirling four-bladed, tapered-hub, variable-pitch inducer, designated as DAPAMITO4. The forces acting on the impeller have been measured by means of a rotating dynamometer mounted just behind the inducer. The roles of the imposed whirl motion of the rotor, flow coefficient, cavitation number and liquid temperature have been investigated. The destabilizing role of cavitation has been confirmed. The experimental results are consistent with previous findings obtained by the authors, as well as with former data published by Caltech researchers. The observed dependence of the tangential and normal components of the rotordynamic force on the whirl-to-rotational speed ratio does not follow the quadratic functional behavior often assumed in the open literature. Rotordynam..

On the generation of some Lie-type geometries

Let Xn(K) be a building of Coxeter type Xn=An or Xn=Dn defined over a given division ring K (a field when Xn=Dn). For a non-connected set J of nodes of the diagram Xn, let Γ(K)=GrJ(Xn(K)) be the J-grassmannian of Xn(K). We prove that Γ(K) cannot be generated over any proper sub-division ring K0 of K. As a consequence, the generating rank of Γ(K) is infinite when K is not finitely generated. In particular, if K is the algebraic closure of a finite field of prime order then the generating rank of Gr1,n(An(K)) is infinite, although its embedding rank is either (n+1)2−1 or (n+1)2

On the generation of some Lie-type geometries

Let $X_n(K)$ be a building of Coxeter type $X_n=A_n$ or $X_n=D_n$ or defined over a given division ring $K$ (a field when $X_n=D_n$). For a non-connected set $J$ of nodes of the diagram $X_n$, let $\Gamma(K)=Gr_J(X_n(K))$ be the $J$-grassmannian of $X_n(K)$ . We prove that $\Gamma(K)$ cannot be generated over any proper sub-division ring $K_0$ of $K$ . As a consequence, the generating rank of $\Gamma(K)$ is infinite when $K$ is not finitely generated. In particular, if $K$ is the algebraic closure of a finite field of prime order then the generating rank of $Gr_{1,n}(A_n(K))$ is infinite, although its embedding rank is either $(n+1)^2-1$ or $(n+1)^2$