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Optical quantum memories are essential for quantum communications and photonic quantum technologies. Ensemble optical memories based on 3-level interactions are a popular basis for implementing these memories. All such memories, however, suffer from loss due to scattering. In off-resonant 3-level interactions, such as the Raman gradient echo memory (GEM), scattering loss can be reduced by a large detuning from the intermediate state. In this work, we show how electromagnetically induced transparency adjacent to the Raman absorption line plays a crucial role in reducing scattering loss, so that maximum efficiency is in fact achieved at a moderate detuning. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the transparency, and therefore the efficiency of GEM, depends on the order in which gradients are applied to store and recall the light. We provide a theoretical analysis and show experimentally how the efficiency depends on gradient order and detuning.

Agent-based models are widely used to predict infectious disease spread. For these predictions, one needs to understand how each input parameter affects the result. Here, some parameters may affect the sensitivities of others, requiring the analysis of higher order coefficients through e.g. Sobol sensitivity analysis. The geographical structures of real-world regions are distinct in that they are difficult to reduce to single parameter values, making a unified sensitivity analysis intractable. Yet analyzing the importance of geographical structure on the sensitivity of other input parameters is important because a strong effect would justify the use of models with real-world geographical representations, as opposed to stylized ones. Here we perform a grouped Sobol's sensitivity analysis on COVID-19 spread simulations across a set of three diverse real-world geographical representations. We study the differences in both results and the sensitivity of non-geographical parameters across these geographies. By comparing Sobol indices of parameters across geographies, we find evidence that infection rate could have more sensitivity in regions where the population is segregated, while parameters like recovery period of mild cases are more sensitive in regions with mixed populations. We also show how geographical structure affects parameter sensitivity changes over time.

R\'enyi holographic dark energy (RHDE) correspondence is discussed in higher dimensional cosmology, namely Kaluza-Klein (KK) cosmology. Both interacting and non-interacting cosmological scenario are considered here. It is found that the non-interacting model naturally leads to the late accelerated universe, unlike the standard Holographic Dark Energy models in 4$D$, which requires interaction to accommodate the late-time acceleration of the universe. The interacting model produces an accelerating universe at late time albeit failing to attain the estimated present value of the deceleration parameter. The evolution of different cosmologically relevant parameters have been estimated. We consider here two diagnostic tests namely, state-finder and $Om$ diagnostics to study the non-interacting model which is more favoured in the light of recent cosmological observations. Classical stability of the cosmological models are also discussed, Comment: 17 pages, 11 figures, Accepted for publication in Annals of Physics

Node counting on a graph is subject to some fundamental theoretical limitations, yet a solution to such problems is necessary in many applications of graph theory to real-world systems, such as collective robotics and distributed sensor networks. Thus several stochastic and na{\"i}ve deterministic algorithms for distributed graph size estimation or calculation have been provided. Here we present a deterministic and distributed algorithm that allows every node of a connected graph to determine the graph size in finite time, if an upper bound on the graph size is provided. The algorithm consists in the iterative aggregation of information in local hubs which then broadcast it throughout the whole graph. The proposed node-counting algorithm is on average more efficient in terms of node memory and communication cost than its previous deterministic counterpart for node counting, and appears comparable or more efficient in terms of average-case time complexity. As well as node counting, the algorithm is more broadly applicable to problems such as summation over graphs, quorum sensing, and spontaneous hierarchy creation., Comment: 20 Pages, 3 Figures

Quantum state transfer is crucial for quantum information processing and quantum computation. Here, we propose a hybrid optomechanical system capable of coupling a qubit, an optical mode and a mechanical oscillator. The displacement of the mechanical oscillator,due to radiation pressure, induces spatial variation in the cavity field, which in turn couples the qubit with phonon mode. This allows state transfer between the cavity mode and the qubit without an actual interaction between them. We present a scheme for the transitionless quantum state transfer based on the transitionless quantum driving algorithm allowing us to achieve perfect state transfer.

Autonomous Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs) gained tremendous attention in recent years. Autonomous flight in indoor requires a dense depth map for navigable space detection which is the fundamental component for autonomous navigation. In this paper, we address the problem of reconstructing dense depth while a drone is hovering (small camera motion) in indoor scenes using already estimated cameras and sparse point cloud obtained from a vSLAM. We start by segmenting the scene based on sudden depth variation using sparse 3D points and introduce a patch-based local plane fitting via energy minimization which combines photometric consistency and co-planarity with neighbouring patches. The method also combines a plane sweep technique for image segments having almost no sparse point for initialization. Experiments show, the proposed method produces better depth for indoor in artificial lighting condition, low-textured environment compared to earlier literature in small motion., Comment: Published on ICIP 2018

Visual SLAM shows significant progress in recent years due to high attention from vision community but still, challenges remain for low-textured environments. Feature based visual SLAMs do not produce reliable camera and structure estimates due to insufficient features in a low-textured environment. Moreover, existing visual SLAMs produce partial reconstruction when the number of 3D-2D correspondences is insufficient for incremental camera estimation using bundle adjustment. This paper presents Edge SLAM, a feature based monocular visual SLAM which mitigates the above mentioned problems. Our proposed Edge SLAM pipeline detects edge points from images and tracks those using optical flow for point correspondence. We further refine these point correspondences using geometrical relationship among three views. Owing to our edge-point tracking, we use a robust method for two-view initialization for bundle adjustment. Our proposed SLAM also identifies the potential situations where estimating a new camera into the existing reconstruction is becoming unreliable and we adopt a novel method to estimate the new camera reliably using a local optimization technique. We present an extensive evaluation of our proposed SLAM pipeline with most popular open datasets and compare with the state-of-the art. Experimental result indicates that our Edge SLAM is robust and works reliably well for both textured and less-textured environment in comparison to existing state-of-the-art SLAMs., Comment: ICCV Workshops 2017, Venice, Italy, October 22-29, 2017

We report the observation of a novel and non-trivial synchronization state in a system consisting of three oscillators coupled in a linear chain. For certain ranges of coupling strength the weakly coupled oscillator pair exhibits phase synchronization while the strongly coupled oscillator pair does not. This intriguing "weak-winner" synchronization phenomenon can be explained by the interplay between non-isochronicity and natural frequency of the oscillator, as coupling strength is varied. Further, we present sufficient conditions under which the weak-winner phase synchronization can occur for limit cycle as well as chaotic oscillators. Employing model system from ecology as well as a paradigmatic model from physics, we demonstrate that this phenomenon is a generic feature for a large class of coupled oscillator systems. The realization of this peculiar yet quite generic weak-winner dynamics can have far reaching consequences in a wide range of scientific disciplines that deal with the phenomenon of phase synchronization. Our results also highlight the role of non-isochronicity (shear) as a fundamental feature of an oscillator in shaping the emergent dynamics., Comment: 12 pages, 11 figures, improved version of the earlier version, added a new schematic summarizing the main results

We study numerically the dynamics of a network of all-to-all-coupled, identical sub-networks consisting of diffusively coupled, non-identical FitzHugh--Nagumo oscillators. For a large range of within- and between-network couplings, the network exhibits a variety of dynamical behaviors, previously described for single, uncoupled networks. We identify a region in parameter space in which the interplay of within- and between-network couplings allows for a richer dynamical behavior than can be observed for a single sub-network. Adjoining this atypical region, our network of networks exhibits transitions to multistability. We elucidate bifurcations governing the transitions between the various dynamics when crossing this region and discuss how varying the couplings affects the effective structure of our network of networks. Our findings indicate that reducing a network of networks to a single (but bigger) network might be not accurate enough to properly understand the complexity of its dynamics., Comment: 8 figures

We analyze a pair of delay-coupled FitzHugh-Nagumo oscillators exhibiting in-out intermittency as a part of the generating mechanism of extreme events. We study in detail the characteristics of in-out intermittency and identify the invariant subsets involved --- a saddle fixed point and a saddle periodic orbit --- neither of which are chaotic as in the previously reported cases of in-out intermittency. Based on the analysis of a periodic attractor possessing in-out dynamics, we can characterize the approach to the invariant synchronization manifold and the spiralling out to the saddle periodic orbit with subsequent ejection from the manifold. Due to the striking similarities, this analysis of in-out dynamics explains also in-out intermittency., Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures

Using a system of two FitzHugh-Nagumo units, we demonstrate the occurrence of riddled basins of attraction in delay-coupled systems as the coupling between the units is increased. We characterize the riddled basin using the uncertainty exponent which is a measure of the dimensions of the basin boundary. Additionally, we show that the phase space can be partitioned into pure and mixed regions, where initial conditions in the pure regions certainly avoid the generation of extreme events while initial conditions in the mixed region may or may not exhibit such events. This implies, that any tiny perturbation of initial conditions in the mixed region could yield the emergence of extreme events because the latter state possesses a riddled basin of attraction.

We study two identical FitzHugh-Nagumo oscillators which are coupled with one or two different time delays. If only a single delay coupling is used, the length of the delay determines whether the synchronization manifold is transversally stable or unstable, exhibiting mixed mode or chaotic oscillations in which the small amplitude oscillations are always in-phase but the large amplitude oscillations are in-phase or out-of-phase respectively. For two delays we find an intricate dynamics which comprises an irregular alteration of small amplitude oscillations, in-phase and out-of-phase large amplitude oscillations, also called events. This transient chaotic dynamics is sandwiched between a bubbling transition and a blowout bifurcation., Comment: 11 pages, 12 figures

Piecewise smooth maps are known to exhibit a wide range of dynamical features including numerous types of periodic orbits. Predicting regions in parameter space where such periodic orbits might occur and determining their stability is crucial to characterize the dynamics of the system. However, obtaining the conditions of existence and stability of these periodic orbits generally use brute force methods which require successive application of the iterative map on a starting point. In this article, we propose a faster and more elegant way of obtaining those conditions without iterating the complete map. The method revolves around direct computation of higher powers of matrices without computing the lower ones and is applicable on any dimension of the phase space. In the later part of the article, we compare the speed of the proposed method with the other popular algorithms which shows the effectiveness of the proposed method in higher dimensions. We also illustrate the use of this method in computing the regions of existence and stability of a particular class of periodic orbits in three dimensions., Comment: 7 pages of main article; 9 pages for appendix

Kuramoto oscillators have been proposed earlier as a model for interacting systems that exhibit synchronisation. In this article we study the difference between networks with symmetric and asymmetric distribution of natural frequencies. We first indicate that the synchronisation frequency of the oscillators is independent of the natural frequency distribution for a completely connected network. Further we analyse the case of oscillators in a directed ring-network where asymmetry in the natural frequency distribution is seen to shift the synchronisation frequency of the network. We also present an estimate of the shift in the frequencies for slightly asymmetric distributions., Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures

Fluorescent carbon nanoparticle (CNP) having 2-6 nm in size with quantum yield of about ~3% were synthesized via nitric acid oxidation of carbon soot and this approach can be used for milligram scale synthesis of these water soluble particles. These CNPs are nano-crystalline with predominantly graphitic structure and shows green fluorescence under UV exposure. While nitric acid oxidation induces nitrogen and oxygen incorporation into soot particle that afforded water solubility and light emitting property; the isolation of small particles from a mixture of different size particles improved the fluorescence quantum yield. These CNP shows encouraging cell imaging application. They enter into cell without any further functionalization and fluorescence property of these particles can be used for fluorescence based cell imaging application., Comment: To be publishe in J. Phys. Chem. C, 2009

The probability for quantum creation of an inflationary universe with a pair of black holes in higher derivative theories has been studied. Considering a gravitational action which includes quadratic ($\alpha R^{2}$) and/or cubic term ($\beta R^{3}$) in scalar curvature in addition to a cosmological constant ($\Lambda$) in semiclassical approximation with Hartle-Hawking boundary condition, the probability has been evaluated. The action of the instanton responsible for creating such a universe, with spatial section with $S^{1}XS^{2}$ topology, is found to be less than that with a spatial $S^{3}$ topology, unless $\alpha < - \frac{1}{8 \Lambda}$ in $R^{2}$-theory. In the $R^{3}$ theory, however, there exists a set of solutions without a cosmological constant when $\beta R^{2} = 1$ and $\alpha = - 3 \sqrt{\beta}$ which admit primordial black holes (PBH) pair in an inflationary universe scenario. We note further that when $\beta R^{2} \neq 1$, one gets PBH pairs in the two cases : (i) with $\alpha$ and $\Lambda$ both positive and (ii) with $\Lambda$ positive and $\alpha$ negative satisfying a constraint $6 | \alpha | \Lambda > 1$. However, the relative probability for creation of an inflationary universe with a pair of black holes in the $R^{3}$-theory suppresses when $\alpha > - 2 \sqrt{\beta} $ or $|\alpha| < 2 \sqrt{\beta} $. However, if the above constraints are relaxed one derives interesting results leading to a universe with PBH in $R^{3}$-theory without cosmological constant. PACS No(s). : 04.20.Jb, 04.60.+n, 98.80.Hw, Comment: 15 pages, No figures. accepted in Int. J. Mod. Phys. D (2001)