This thesis summarizes the original analysis work performed by the author on data from XENON1T, a search for dark matter with a ton-size noble liquid detector operated at Gran Sasso Underground Laboratory in Italy. The nature of dark matter is one of the most open and pressing questions of modern physics, and the unique data acquired with this detector allows the exploration and investigation of several potential scenarios. The analysis of Dr. Shockley searches for a class of elusive elementary particles that interact with the electrons of ordinary atoms, instead of the nucleus. Results of the analysis present, with high confidence, an excess with respect to the expected background. Beyond more mundane explanations, this additional rate of electron-mediated interactions might be a first hint of physics beyond the standard model. This accessible thesis provides details on the detector, the data, and the theory, delivering to the reader an in-depth and coherent picture of the search for physics beyond the standard model.

This thesis demonstrates the potential of two platforms to explore experimentally the emerging field of quantum thermodynamics that has remained mostly theoretical so far. It proposes methods to define and measure work in the quantum regime. The most important part of the thesis focuses on hybrid optomechanical devices, evidencing that they are proper candidates to measure directly the fluctuations of work and the corresponding fluctuation theorem. Such devices could also give rise to the observation of mechanical lasing and cooling, based on mechanisms similar to a heat engine. The final part of the thesis studies how quantum coherence can improve work extraction in superconducting circuits. All the proposals greatly clarify the concept of work since they are based on measurable quantities in state of the art devices.

In 1941, E.C.G. Stueckelberg wrote a paper, based on ideas of V. Fock, that established the foundations of a theory that could covariantly describe the classical and quantum relativistic mechanics of a single particle. Horwitz and Piron extended the applicability of this theory in 1973 (to be called the SHP theory) to the many-body problem. It is the purpose of this book to explain this development and provide examples of its applications. We first review the basic ideas of the SHP theory, both classical and quantum, and develop the appropriate form of electromagnetism on this dynamics. After studying the two body problem classically and quantum mechanically, we formulate the N-body problem. We then develop the general quantum scattering theory for the N-body problem and prove a quantum mechanical relativistically covariant form of the Gell-Mann-Low theorem. The quantum theory of relativistic spin is then developed, including spin-statistics, providing the necessary apparatus for Clebsch-Gordan additivity, and we then discuss the phenomenon of entanglement at unequal times. In the second part, we develop relativistic statistical mechanics, including a mechanism for stability of the off-shell mass, and a high temperature phase transition to the mass shell. Finally, some applications are given, such as the explanation of the Lindneret alexperiment, the proposed experiment of Palacios et al which should demonstrate relativistic entanglement (at unequal times), the space-time lattice, low energy nuclear reactions and applications to black hole physics.

The first of its kind to explore the Nobel Prize experience

"Dad, some guy is calling from Sweden." It was 2:30am on October 13th, 1998, the youngest son in the Laughlin house had answered the phone. His dad had just become a recipient of the Nobel Prize in physics.

Frantic and funny events of the next two months are chronicled as the Laughlin's academic household morphs into a madcap staging area for the family and thirty guests who will be in attendance during Nobel week. From tickets to Stockholm to clothing measurements, Nobel lecture preparations, attach assistance and a quick trip to the White House for a formal reception with President and Mrs. Clinton, readers will laugh out loud while gasping in awe.

The glorious Nobel ceremony and elaborate banquet is held each winter with a viewing audience of tens of millions. An intimate dinner with King Gustaf in his royal palace follows the Nobel evening in which Anita Laughlin finds herself the King's dinner partner for what becomes an evening of hilarious surprises, and yes, reindeer.

This book is laced with cartoons drawn by Bob Laughlin that evoke collective feelings of surprise and bewilderment as he and his wife ascend the steep learning curve of Swedish protocol together.

This book reports new findings in the fields of nonlinear optics, quantum optics and optical microscopy. It presents the first experimental device able to transform an input Gaussian beam into a non-diffracting Bessel-like beam. The modulation mechanism, i.e. electro-optic effect, allows the device to be fast, miniaturizable and integrable into solid state arrays. Also presented is an extensive study of the superposition of Bessel beams and their propagation in turbid media, with the aim of realizing field that is both localized and non-diffracting. These findings have been implemented in a light-sheet microscope to improve the optical sectioning. From a more theoretical point of view this work also tackles the problem of whether and how a single particle is able to entangle two distant systems. The results obtained introduce fundamental limitations on the use of linear optics for quantum technology. Other chapters are dedicated to a number of experiments carried out on disordered ferroelectrics including negative intrinsic mass dynamics, ferroelectric supercrystals, rogue wave dynamics driven by enhanced disorder and first evidence of spatial optical turbulence.

The 1995 observation of Bose-Einstein condensation in dilute atomic vapours spawned the field of ultracold, degenerate quantum gases. Unprecedented developments in experimental design and precision control have led to quantum gases becoming the preferred playground for designer quantum many-body systems.This self-contained volume provides a broad overview of the principal theoretical techniques applied to non-equilibrium and finite temperature quantum gases. Covering Bose-Einstein condensates, degenerate Fermi gases, and the more recently realised exciton-polariton condensates, it fills a gap by linking between different methods with origins in condensed matter physics, quantum field theory, quantum optics, atomic physics, and statistical mechanics. Thematically organised chapters on different methodologies, contributed by key researchers using a unified notation, provide the first integrated view of the relative merits of individual approaches, aided by pertinent introductory chapters and the guidance of editorial notes.Both graduate students and established researchers wishing to understand the state of the art will greatly benefit from this comprehensive and up-to-date review of non-equilibrium and finite temperature techniques in the exciting and expanding field of quantum gases and liquids.

This book introduces the reader to the field of jet substructure, starting from the basic considerations for capturing decays of boosted particles in individual jets, to explaining state-of-the-art techniques. Jet substructure methods have become ubiquitous in data analyses at the LHC, with diverse applications stemming from the abundance of jets in proton-proton collisions, the presence of pileup and multiple interactions, and the need to reconstruct and identify decays of highly-Lorentz boosted particles. The last decade has seen a vast increase in our knowledge of all aspects of the field, with a proliferation of new jet substructure algorithms, calculations and measurements which are presented in this book. Recent developments and algorithms are described and put into the larger experimental context. Their usefulness and application are shown in many demonstrative examples and the phenomenological and experimental effects influencing their performance are discussed. A comprehensive overview is given of measurements and searches for new phenomena performed by the ATLAS and CMS Collaborations. This book shows the impressive versatility of jet substructure methods at the LHC.

This book studies the fundamental aspects of many-body physics in quantum systems open to an external world. Recent remarkable developments in the observation and manipulation of quantum matter at the single-quantum level point to a new research area of open many-body systems, where interactions with an external observer and the environment play a major role. The first part of the book elucidates the influence of measurement backaction from an external observer, revealing new types of quantum critical phenomena and out-of-equilibrium dynamics beyond the conventional paradigm of closed systems. In turn, the second part develops a powerful theoretical approach to study the in- and out-of-equilibrium physics of an open quantum system strongly correlated with an external environment, where the entanglement between the system and the environment plays an essential role. The results obtained here offer essential theoretical results for understanding the many-body physics of quantum systems open to an external world, and can be applied to experimental systems in atomic, molecular and optical physics, quantum information science and condensed matter physics.

Advancing the experimental study of superfluids relies on increasingly sophisticated techniques. We develop and demonstrate the loading of Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) into nearly arbitrary trapping potentials, with a resolution improved by a factor of seven when compared to reported systems. These advanced control techniques have since been adopted by several cold atoms labs around the world. How this BEC system was used to study 2D superfluid dynamics is described. In particular, negative temperature vortex states in a two-dimensional quantum fluid were observed. These states were first predicted by Lars Onsager 70 years ago and have significance to 2D turbulence in quantum and classical fluids, long-range interacting systems, and defect dynamics in high-energy physics. These experiments have established dilute-gas BECs as the prototypical system for the experimental study of point vortices and their nonequilibrium dynamics. We also developed a new approach to superfluid circuitry based on classical acoustic circuits, demonstrating its conceptual and quantitative superiority over previous lumped-element models. This has established foundational principles of superfluid circuitry that will impact the design of future transport experiments and new generation quantum devices, such as atomtronics circuits and superfluid sensors.

This book investigates two possibilities for describing classical-mechanical physical systems along with their Hamiltonian dynamics in the framework of quantum mechanics.The first possibility consists in exploiting the geometrical properties of the set of quantum pure states of "microsystems" and of the Lie groups characterizing the specific classical system. The second approach is to consider quantal systems of a large number of interacting subsystems - i.e. macrosystems, so as to study the quantum mechanics of an infinite number of degrees of freedom and to look for the behaviour of their collective variables. The final chapter contains some solvable models of "quantum measurement" describing dynamical transitions from "microsystems" to "macrosystems".

This multi-volume handbook is the most up-to-date and comprehensive reference work in the field of fractional calculus and its numerous applications. This fifth volume collects authoritative chapters covering several applications of fractional calculus in physics, including electrodynamics, statistical physics and physical kinetics, and quantum theory.

This book focuses on unstable systems both from the classical and the quantum mechanical points of view and studies the relations between them. The first part deals with quantum systems. Here the main generally used methods today, such as the Gamow approach, and the Wigner-Weisskopf method, are critically discussed. The quantum mechanical Lax-Phillips theory developed by the authors, based on the dilation theory of Nagy and Foias and its more general extension to approximate semigroup evolution is explained. The second part provides a description of approaches to classical stability analysis and introduces geometrical methods recently developed by the authors, which are shown to be highly effective in diagnosing instability and, in many cases, chaotic behavior. It is then shown that, in the framework of the theory of symplectic manifolds, there is a systematic algorithm for the construction of a canonical transformation of any standard potential model Hamiltonian to geometric form, making accessible powerful geometric methods for stability analysis in a wide range of applications.

This thesis describes the structures of six-dimensional (6d) superconformal field theories and its torus compactifications. The first half summarizes various aspects of 6d field theories, while the latter half investigates torus compactifications of these theories, and relates them to four-dimensional superconformal field theories in the class, called class S. It is known that compactifications of 6d conformal field theories with maximal supersymmetries provide numerous insights into four-dimensional superconformal field theories. This thesis generalizes the story to the theories with smaller supersymmetry, constructing those six-dimensional theories as brane configurations in the M-theory, and highlighting the importance of fractionalization of M5-branes. This result establishes new dualities between the theories with eight supercharges.

Rising concerns about the security of our data have made quantum cryptography a very active research field in recent years. Quantum cryptographic protocols promise everlasting security by exploiting distinctive quantum properties of nature. The most extensively implemented protocol is quantum key distribution (QKD), which enables secure communication between two users. The aim of this book is to introduce the reader to state-of-the-art QKD and illustrate its recent multi-user generalization: quantum conference key agreement. With its pedagogical approach that doesn't disdain going into details, the book enables the reader to join in cutting-edge research on quantum cryptography.

Superfluid helium is a quantum liquid that exhibits a range of counter-intuitive phenomena such as frictionless flow. Quantized vortices are a particularly important feature of superfluid helium, and all superfluids, characterized by a circulation that can only take prescribed integer values. However, the strong interactions between atoms in superfluid helium prohibit quantitative theory of vortex behaviour. Experiments have similarly not been able to observe coherent vortex dynamics. This thesis resolves this challenge, bringing microphotonic techniques to bear on two-dimensional superfluid helium, observing coherent vortex dynamics for the first time, and achieving this on a silicon chip. This represents a major scientific contribution, as it opens the door not only to providing a better understanding of this esoteric quantum state of matter, but also to building new quantum technologies based upon it, and to understanding the dynamics of astrophysical superfluids such as those thought to exist in the core of neutron stars.

This book studies the dynamics of fundamental collective excitations in quantum materials, focusing on the use of state-of-the-art ultrafast broadband optical spectroscopy. Collective behaviour in solids lies at the origin of several cooperative phenomena that can lead to profound transformations, instabilities and phase transitions. Revealing the dynamics of collective excitations is a topic of pivotal importance in contemporary condensed matter physics, as it provides information on the strength and spatial distribution of interactions and correlation. The experimental framework explored in this book relies on setting a material out-of-equilibrium by an ultrashort laser pulse and monitoring the photo-induced changes in its optical properties over a broad spectral region in the visible or deep-ultraviolet. Collective excitations (e.g. plasmons, excitons, phonons...) emerge either in the frequency domain as spectral features across the probed range, or in the time domain as coherent modes triggered by the pump pulse. Mapping the temporal evolution of these collective excitations provides access to the hierarchy of low-energy phenomena occurring in the solid during its path towards thermodynamic equilibrium. This methodology is used to investigate a number of strongly interacting and correlated materials with an increasing degree of internal complexity beyond conventional band theory.

Fractional quantum mechanics is a recently emerged and rapidly developing field of quantum physics.This is the first monograph on fundamentals and physical applications of fractional quantum mechanics, written by its founder.The fractional Schroedinger equation and the fractional path integral are new fundamental physical concepts introduced and elaborated in the book. The fractional Schroedinger equation is a manifestation of fractional quantum mechanics. The fractional path integral is a new mathematical tool based on integration over Levy flights. The fractional path integral method enhances the well-known Feynman path integral framework.Related topics covered in the text include time fractional quantum mechanics, fractional statistical mechanics, fractional classical mechanics and the -stable Levy random process.The book is well-suited for theorists, pure and applied mathematicians, solid-state physicists, chemists, and others working with the Schroedinger equation, the path integral technique and applications of fractional calculus in various research areas. It is useful to skilled researchers as well as to graduate students looking for new ideas and advanced approaches.

This present edition of the book follows the generally pedagogic style of Quantum Mechanics. The scope ranges from relativistic quantum mechanics to an introduction to quantum field theory with quantum electrodynamics as the basic example and ends with an exposition of important issues related to the standard model. The book presents the subject in basic and easy-to-grasp notions which will enhance the purpose of this book as a useful textbook in the area of relativistic quantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics.