Science is curiosity about the natural world translated into knowledge; it serves to identify laws and validate hypotheses. The quest for knowledge is influenced by the paradigm of the scientist. The primary object of this study is to examine Quantum Mechanics and Sacred/Native science for similarities and differences. This will be accomplished through an extensive use of authorities from both Western and Native sciences in an in depth examination of the paradigms upon which their foundations are based. This study will explore language and how language used leads the scientist down a particular pathway. This study will conclude in a summary fashion, an exploration of a few select key concepts from both Native and Western sciences from a comparative perspective. / ix, 135 leaves ; 29 cm.

Para comenzar quisiera dar una breve idea de cómo entiendo a Borges –al respecto me he manifestado en un buen número de publicaciones desde 1989, pero no sobre los motivos o puntos de arranque – y describir así cómo llegué a mi interpretación sobre Borges y a considerarlo como uno de los fundadores de la teoría de "muchos mundos" ("Many Worlds Theory"), de mundos virtuales y de medios virtuales/digitales y de los "New Media". Su escritura representa un acto de percepción, comprensión, implosión y expansión, ésta es una "encicopledia navegante", Borges es así el primer navegador o "user in the web".

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2003. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The advent of the computer age has seen many fundamental changes in the economics. The ease with which organisations can store and transmit information in unprecedented quantities and speeds has changed the face of the economy as well as the way in which organisations conduct their day to day operations. Information has become the primary resource for organisational competitiveness and this has seen an increasing drive for efficient information generation and management in an economy that is interconnected on a global scale. The demand for better information management practices is driven by the realisation that the global economy is susceptible to sudden and unpredictable changes that can potentially have global consequences. The more information organisations have at their disposal, the better their chances are of remaining competitive and relevant in the global economy. The informational economy confronts organisations with two very significant problems, the first is information overload due to the sheer volume of information that is available to them. The second problem is that despite the volume of available information organisations still are not privy to all the information that is required to lessen the impact of uncertainty that is so characteristic of the global economy. Organisations therefore always run the' risk of becoming irrelevant if they do not change constantly. This drive for continuous change and the dependence on information has led some organisational theorists and economists to compare the global economy and organisations to nonlinear systems found in nature. Examples of nonlinear systems are living organisms, ecologies and solar systems. All of these systems are characterised by high levels of interconnectedness and interdependence among individual units within a shared environment, which they co-create. Nonlinear systems are of particular interest to organisational theorists because these systems process information about the environment to adapt in an unpredictable way to unpredictable changes. Such systems are incredibly resilient because they are able to learn and adapt to different conditions. Another notable aspect of nonlinear systems is the clear structured and complex organisation that they exhibit in the absence of centralised control mechanisms. Every unit has the liberty to experiment with new designs and from the success of individual units an organised and stable system emerges with a strong link between the success of individuals and the whole system. The order that exists within nonlinear systems is known as self-organisation because it is not superimposed but emerges instead in a spontaneous manner. Nonlinear systems are therefore more than just the sum of their parts. The notion of nonlinear systems and self-organisation has seen authors such as Stacey, Wheatley and Senge develop new ideas about organisational development, leadership and organisational strategic thinking. Their ideas are based on what is popularly known as 'The New Science'. These ideas attempt to encourage organisations realise that the global economy functions as a nonlinear system and that organisations stand a better chance of success if they learn to understand the principles of nonlinear systems and to utilise the inherent creative and organising characteristics of such systems. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die aanvang van die rekenaar era het verskeie fundamentele veranderinge in ekonomie mee gebring. Die gemak en snelheid waarmee organisasies informasie kan stoor en versprei is ongekend en het terselfde tyd die voorkoms van die ekonomie verander asook die wyse waarop organisasies op 'n daaglikse basis funksioneer. Informasie het die belangrikste hulpbron geword vir organisasies in terme van kompetering en dit het 'n groter dryfkrag vir doeltreffende informasie ontginning en bestuur mee gebring in 'n ekonomie wat op 'n wereldwye skaal in mekaar gevleg is. Die aanvraag vir beter informasie bestuur praktyke word gedryf deur die wete dat die wereld ekonomie vatbaar is vir skielike en onvoorspelbare veranderinge wat potensieel 'n wereldwye impak kan he. Hoe meer informasie organisasies tot hul beskikking het hoe beter is hul kans om relevant en kompeterend te bly in die wereld ekonomie. Die informasie ekonomie konfronteer organisasies met twee fundamentele probleme. Die eerste gevaar is dat organisasies oorlaai kan word met informasie as gevolg van die absolute volume van beskikbare informasie. Die tweede probleem spruit voort uit die feit dat ten spyte van die beskikbare informasie, lei organisasies steeds aan 'n gebrek aan algehele informasie, organisasies kan dus nooit toegang he tot al die informasie wat benodig word om die impak te verminder van die onsekerheid wat so kenmerkend is van die wereld ekonomie. Organisasies loop dus altyd die gevaar om irrelevant te raak as hulle nie konstant aanpas by nuwe omstandighede nie. Hierdie soeke na konstante verandering en die afhanklikheid op informasie het verskeie organisasie teoretici en ekonome daartoe gelei om 'n vergelyking te tref tussen die wereld ekonomie en organisasies aan die een kant en nie-Iiniere sisteme wat in die natuur voorkom. Voorbeelde van sulke sisteme sluit lewende organismes, ekostelsels en sterre stelsels in. Die komponente van al hierdie sisteme is op 'n komplekse wyse inmekaar geweef en interafhanklik op mekaar binne die raamwerk van gemeenskaplike omgewing waarvoor hierdie komponente mede verantwoordelik is. Nie-liniere sisteme is van besondere belang vir organisasie teoretici omdat die betrokke sisteme informasie verwerk aangaande hul omgewing om op 'n onvoorspelbare wyse aan te pas by onvoorspelbare veranderinge in die omgewing. Sulke sisteme is uitsonderlik standvastig deurdat hulle kan leer en aanpas by verskillende omstandighede. Nog 'n merkbare aspek van sulke sisteme is die duidelik gestruktureerde en komplekse organisasie wat bestaan ten spyte van 'n algehele gebrek aan gesentraliseerde beheer meganismes. Elke komponent is vry om met 'n nuwe ontwerp te eksperimenteer en vanuit die sukses van die komponente spruit die sukses van die sisteem. Die organisasie wat sigbaar is in nie-liniere sisteme staan bekend as self-organisasie omdat dit nie voortspruit uit 'n sentrale beheer meganisme nie maar instede spontaan onstaan as 'n gevolg van die aksies van komponente. Nie-Iiniere sisteme het die potensiaal om meer te kan wees as die somtotaal van hul komponente. Die beginsel van nie-liniere sisteme en selforganisasie het skrywers soos Stacey, Wheatley en Senge daartoe gelei om nuwe idees te ontwikkel rakende organisasie ontwikkeling, leierskap en strategiese beplanning in organisasies. Hierdie idees is gegrond in wat algemeen bekend staan as 'The New Science'. Die idees van hierdie skrywers is gemik daarop om organisasies aan te moedig om raak te sien dat die wereld ekonomie soos 'n nie-liniere sisteem funksioneer en dat organisasies as sulks 'n beter kans staan om sukses te behaal as hulle sou leer om die beginsels van nie-liniere sisteme te begryp en die inherente kreatiewe en organiserings eienskappe van sulke sisteme uit te buit.

CAPES / Neste estudo, os espectros Raman ressonante das moléculas de H2 e O2 foram computados através da resolução numérica da equação de Schrödinger vibracional utilizando potenciais completamente anarmônicos, obtidos através de métodos ab initio multiconfiguracionais. O problema vibracional foi resolvido através da simulação de Monte Carlo Quântico Variacional Modificado (MCQVM) e do método de Interação de Configurações Vibracional (VCI). As intensidades RR foram calculadas através da teoria independente do tempo do efeito RR. Exceto pela PES do estado eletrônico excitado B3Σ− u da molécula de O2, a qual não pôde ser plenamente descrita devido a um cruzamento evitado entre estados eletrônicos, as demais PESs apresentaram uma boa concordância com os valores experimentais das constantes espectroscópicas (Re, Te, De, Be, We e WeXe). Constatou-se através do desvio teórico-experimental que as energias vibracionais geradas via simulação de MCQVM são, de maneira geral, bastante acuradas para os estados vibracionais de mais baixa energia. Entretanto, à medida que necessitou-se otimizar um número elevado de estados vibracionais de energia superior, necessários para o cálculo da polarizabilidade RR, houve um acréscimo significativo no tempo computacional dos cálculos MCQVM, motivando a adoção do método VCI, no intuito de tentar reduzir o tempo de processamento e também conseguir resultados mais acurados. No que tange ao cálculo da seção de choque RR das moléculas de H2 e O2, constatou-se que a convergência das seções de choque, com relação ao número de estados vibracionais intermediários, é mais rápida quando o potencial de interação é harmônico. A adição da correção vibrônica de Herzberg-Teller (HT) foi bastante pronunciada para as duas moléculas avaliadas, e tendem a atenuar as intensidades das transições RR com relação aos valores obtidos com a aproximação de Franck-Condon. Constatou-se que a meialargura à meia-altura (Γ) do estado vibrônico excitado tem pouca influência sobre a magnitude das seções de choque RR dos sistemas estudados, podendo ser variado em mais de uma ordem de grandeza sem que isso afete substancialmente as intensidades RR. Por fim, verificou-se que a obtenção das intensidades RR por meio de funções de onda vibracionais anarmônicas demanda um número elevado de estados vibracionais intermediários (algumas dezenas) para que haja uma boa convergência nas seções de choque. Esse número é bastante superior ao observado nos cálculos harmônicos. / In this study, the resonance Raman spectra of H2 and O2 molecules were computed by the numerical resolution of the vibrational Schrödinger equation employing fully anharmonic potentials, obtained by Multiconfigurational ab initio methods. The vibrational problem was solved through the Modified Variational Quantum Monte Carlo (MVQMC) simulation and the Vibrational Configurations Interaction (VCI) methods. The time independent framework of the RR effect was used to compute the RR intensities. The Potential Energy Surfaces (PESs) were in good agreement with the experimental values of the spectroscopic constants (Re, Te, De, Be, We e WeXe), except for the excited electronic state B3Σ− u PES of the O2 molecule, which could not be fully described due to an avoided crossing between electronic states. It was verified through the theoretical-experimental deviation values that the vibrational energies generated by MVQMC simulations are, in general, very accurate for the lowest energy vibrational states. However, as it was necessary to optimize higher energy states, required in the calculation of the RR polarizability, the computational time of MVQMC method was greatly increased, motivating the use of VCI method in order to try to reduce processing time and achieve results that are more accurate. Regarding to calculating the RR cross sections of the H2 and O2 molecules, results have showed that the convergence is faster when using the harmonic potential instead of the anharmonic potential. The addition of vibronic coupling effects was quite impactful for both molecular systems evaluated, and tended to attenuate the RR transition intensities relative to the values obtained with the Franck–Condon contribution. It was verified that the bandwidth variation of the excited electronic state (Γ parameter) pose little influence in the RR cross sections of the addressed molecular systems, therefore being able to vary Γ in more than an order of magnitude without substantially affecting the RR intensities. Ultimately, the target property is largely influenced by the number of vibrational wave functions, requiring considerable quantities of intermediate vibrational states (dozens) for a good convergence of the anharmonic RR cross sections, which is a much larger quantity compared to the harmonic calculations.

No description available.

Nesta tese de doutorado apresentamos os resultados de quatro tópicos referentes a estudos de propriedades elétricas que são interpretados com o auxílio da Teoria Quântica de Átomos em Moléculas (QTAIM). No primeiro deles, foram calculados momentos de dipolo e suas derivadas através de um novo formalismo de divisão de átomos em moléculas, baseado em campos de forças de Ehrenfest (CFE), sendo que estes dados são comparados com aqueles advindos da QTAIM. Desta forma, um modelo alternativo de partição em carga - fluxo de carga - fluxo de dipolo (CFCFD) é discutido para derivadas do momento dipolar. Os resultados gerais obtidos pelo formalismo CFE foram satisfatórios em termos quantitativos, embora QTAIM ainda fornece uma descrição mais apropriada destes fenômenos das polarizações atômicas e de suas variações durante vibrações. Na sequência, investigamos os Atratores Não Nucleares (NNAs), que são identificados através de uma análise QTAIM da densidade eletrônica. O nosso intuito foi descobrir novas moléculas que apresentam essa peculiaridade, bem como encontrar padrões entre os casos encontrados que permitam contribuir para o entendimento dos fatores que levam ao seu aparecimento. Para isso trabalhamos com moléculas diatômicas homonucleares de elementos representativos com números atômicos que variavam de Z=1 até Z=38 e moléculas heteronucleares formadas pela combinação dos mesmos. Os nossos dados mostram que NNAs podem ser encontrados em alguns pontos dentro da faixa de distâncias internucleares investigada para quase todos os sistemas diatômicos homonucleares, exceto para as moléculas de Hidrogênio, Hélio e Estrôncio. Por sua vez, encontramos trinta casos de NNAs em sistemas heteronucleares, muitos dos quais ainda inéditos na literatura. Descobrimos também que a polarizabilidade atômica aparentemente tem um papel importante na explicação dos casos encontrados. Tratamos também de moléculas contendo interações fracas como as de Van der Waals (moléculas tri-atômicas contendo um gás nobre ligado a um composto diatômico iônico) de modo a investigar os valores de dipolos atômicos QTAIM de uma maneira mais direta, ou seja, via comparação com um modelo simples para estes compostos. Por fim, estudamos moléculas em estados excitados, sendo que nossa análise focou em dois casos peculiares (CO e de CF2N2) que apresentam momento de dipolo nulo no estado fundamental, enquanto valores significativos desta propriedade são observados em seus primeiros estados excitados. Desta forma, QTAIM foi fundamental para compreender como o processo de excitação pode levar à mudanças tão significativas em tais propriedades elétricas. / In this PhD thesis we present the results of four different topics that refer to a study of electric properties interpreted with The Quantum Theory of Atoms and Molecules (QTAIM). First, dipole moments and their derivatives were calculated from a new formalism based on Ehrenfest Force Fields (EFF) and a comparison with data from QTAIM is carried out. Therefore, the Charge-Charge Flux-Dipole Flux (CCFDF) model was discussed for the dipole moment derivatives. The results from EFF were satisfactory in quantitative terms although QTAIM still seems to be better for the description of atomic polarization and its variations during vibrations. In the sequence, we investigated the Non-Nuclear Attractors (NNAs) that could be identified with the QTAIM formalism. Our intention was to discover new molecules that present this peculiarity, as well as to find trends among these cases that allow contributing for the understanding of the factors that lead to their appearance. For this purpose, we selected homonuclear diatomic molecules of elements presenting atomic numbers ranging from Z=1 to Z=38 and heteronuclear diatomic molecules containing these same elements. Our data shows that NNAs could be found in almost every homonuclear molecule expect by the systems formed by Hydrogen, Helium, and Strontium. On other hand, we have found 30 cases of NNAs in heteronuclear molecules, many of them seen for the first time. We also have noticed that the atomic polarizabilities play a main role in the understanding of these cases. We also treated molecules containing weak Van der Waals interactions (triatomic complexes presenting a noble gas bonded to a diatomic ionic molecule) in order to investigate the atomic dipole values obtained with QTAIM in a direct way, that is, by means of a comparison using a simple model for this kind of bonding. Finally, we studied molecules in excited states. Our focus was in two peculiar cases (CO and CF2N2), which present null dipole moments in their ground states but exhibit significant dipole moment values in their first excited states. Therefore, QTAIM was fundamental to understand how the excitation process can lead to important changes in electric properties.

The processing of information based on the generation of common quantum optical states (e.g. coherent states) and the measurement of the quadrature components of the light field (e.g. homodyne detection) is often referred to as continuous-variable quantum information processing. It is a very fertile field of investigation, at a crossroads between quantum optics and information theory, with notable successes such as unconditional continuous-variable quantum teleportation or Gaussian quantum key distribution. In quantum optics, the states of the light field are conveniently characterized using a phase-space representation (e.g. Wigner function), and the common optical components effect simple affine transformations in phase space (e.g. rotations). In quantum information theory, one often needs to determine entropic characteristics of quantum states and operations, since the von Neuman entropy is the quantity at the heart of entanglement measures or channel capacities. Computing entropies of quantum optical states requires instead turning to a state-space representation of the light field, which formally is the Fock space of a bosonic mode.<p>This interplay between phase-space and state-space representations does not represent a particular problem as long as Gaussian states (e.g. coherent, squeezed, or thermal states) and Gaussian operations (e.g. beam splitters or squeezers) are concerned. Indeed, Gaussian states are fully characterized by the first- and second-order moments of mode operators, while Gaussian operations are defined via their actions on these moments. The so-called symplectic formalism can be used to treat all Gaussian transformations on Gaussian states, including mixed states of an arbitrary number of modes, and the entropies of Gaussian states are directly linked to their symplectic eigenvalues.<p>This thesis is concerned with the Gaussian transformations applied onto arbitrary states of light, in which case the symplectic formalism is unapplicable and this phase-to-state space interplay becomes highly non trivial. A first motivation to consider arbitrary (non-Gaussian) states of light results from various Gaussian no-go theorems in continuous-variable quantum information theory. For instance, universal quantum computing, quantum entanglement concentration, or quantum error correction are known to be impossible when restricted to the Gaussian realm. A second motivation comes from the fact that several fundamental quantities, such as the entanglement of formation of a Gaussian state or the communication capacity of a Gaussian channel, rely on an optimization over all states, including non-Gaussian states even though the considered state or channel is Gaussian. This thesis is therefore devoted to developing new tools in order to compute state-space properties (e.g. entropies) of transformations defined in phase-space or conversely to computing phase-space properties (e.g. mean-field amplitudes) of transformations defined in state space. Remarkably, even some basic questions such as the entanglement generation of optical squeezers or beam splitters were unsolved, which gave us a nice work-bench to investigate this interplay. <p>In the first part of this thesis (Chapter 3), we considered a recently discovered Gaussian probabilistic transformation called the noiseless optical amplifier. More specifically, this is a process enabling the amplification of a quantum state without introducing noise. As it has long been known, when amplifing a quantum signal, the arising of noise is inevitable due to the unitary evolution that governs quantum mechanics. It was recently realized, however, that one can drop the unitarity of the amplification procedure and trade it for a noiseless, albeit probabilistic (heralded) transformation. The fact that the transformation is probabilistic is mathematically reflected in the fact that it is non trace-preserving. This quantum device has gained much interest during the last years because it can be used to compensate losses in a quantum channel, for entanglement distillation, probabilistic quantum cloning, or quantum error correction. Several experimental demonstrations of this device have already been carried out. Our contribution to this topic has been to derive the action of this device on squeezed states and to prove that it acts quite surprisingly as a universal (phase-insensitive) optical squeezer, conserving the signal-to-noise ratio just as a phase-sensitive optical amplifier but for all quadratures at the same time. This also brought into surface a paradoxical effect, namely that such a device could seemingly lead to instantaneous signaling by circumventing the quantum no-cloning theorem. This paradox was discussed and resolved in our work.<p>In a second step, the action of the noiseless optical amplifier and it dual operation (i.e. heralded noiseless attenuator) on non-Gaussian states has been examined. We have observed that the mean-field amplitude may decrease in the process of noiseless amplification (or may increase in the process of noiseless attenuation), a very counterintuitive effect that Gaussian states cannot exhibit. This work illustrates the above-mentioned phase-to-state space interplay since these devices are defined as simple filtering operations in state space but inferring their action on phase-space quantities such as the mean-field amplitude is not straightforward. It also illustrates the difficulty of dealing with non-Gaussian states in Gaussian transformations (these noiseless devices are probabilistic but Gaussian). Furthermore, we have exhibited an experimental proposal that could be used to test this counterintuitive feature. The proposed set-up is feasible with current technology and robust against usual inefficiencies that occur in optical experiment. <p>Noiseless amplification and attenuation represent new important tools, which may offer interesting perspectives in quantum optical communications. Therefore, further understanding of these transformations is both of fundamental interest and important for the development and analysis of protocols exploiting these tools. Our work provides a better understanding of these transformations and reveals that the intuition based on ordinary (deterministic phase-insensitive) amplifiers and losses is not always applicable to the noiseless amplifiers and attenuators.<p>In the last part of this thesis, we have considered the entropic characterization of some of the most fundamental Gaussian transformations in quantum optics, namely a beam splitter and two-mode squeezer. A beam splitter effects a simple rotation in phase space, while a two-mode squeezer produces a Bogoliubov transformation. Thus, there is a well-known phase-space characterization in terms of symplectic transformations, but the difficulty originates from that one must return to state space in order to access quantum entropies or entanglement. This is again a hard problem, linked to the above-mentioned interplay in the reverse direction this time. As soon as non-Gaussian states are concerned, there is no way of calculating the entropy produced by such Gaussian transformations. We have investigated two novel tools in order to treat non-Gaussian states under Gaussian transformations, namely majorization theory and the replica method.<p>In Chapter 4, we have started by analyzing the entanglement generated by a beam splitter that is fed with a photon-number state, and have shown that the entanglement monotones can be neatly combined with majorization theory in this context. Majorization theory provides a preorder relation between bipartite pure quantum states, and gives a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of a deterministic LOCC (local operations and classical communication) transformation from one state to another. We have shown that the state resulting from n photons impinging on a beam splitter majorizes the corresponding state with any larger photon number n’ > n, implying that the entanglement monotonically grows with n, as expected. In contrast, we have proven that such a seemingly simple optical component may have a rather surprising behavior when it comes to majorization theory: it does not necessarily lead to states that obey a majorization relation if one varies the transmittance (moving towards a balanced beam splitter). These results are significant for entanglement manipulation, giving rise in particular to a catalysis effect.<p>Moving forward, in Chapter 5, we took the step of introducing the replica method in quantum optics, with the goal of achieving an entropic characterization of general Gaussian operations on a bosonic quantum field. The replica method, a tool borrowed from statistical physics, can also be used to calculate the von Neumann entropy and is the last line of defense when the usual definition is not practical, which is often the case in quantum optics since the definition involves calculating the eigenvalues of some (infinite-dimensional) density matrix. With this method, the entropy produced by a two-mode squeezer (or parametric optical amplifier) with non-trivial input states has been studied. As an application, we have determined the entropy generated by amplifying a binary superposition of the vacuum and an arbitrary Fock state, which yields a surprisingly simple, yet unknown analytical expression. Finally, we have turned to the replica method in the context of field theory, and have examined the behavior of a bosonic field with finite temperature when the temperature decreases. To this end, information theoretical tools were used, such as the geometric entropy and the mutual information, and interesting connection between phase transitions and informational quantities were found. More specifically, dividing the field in two spatial regions and calculating the mutual information between these two regions, it turns out that the mutual information is non-differentiable exactly at the critical temperature for the formation of the Bose-Einstein condensate.<p>The replica method provides a new angle of attack to access quantum entropies in fundamental Gaussian bosonic transformations, that is quadratic interactions between bosonic mode operators such as Bogoliubov transformations. The difficulty of accessing entropies produced when transforming non-Gaussian states is also linked to several currently unproven entropic conjectures on Gaussian optimality in the context of bosonic channels. Notably, determining the capacity of a multiple-access or broadcast Gaussian bosonic channel is pending on being able to access entropies. We anticipate that the replica method may become an invaluable tool in order to reach a complete entropic characterization of Gaussian bosonic transformations, or perhaps even solve some of these pending conjectures on Gaussian bosonic channels.<p> / Doctorat en Sciences de l'ingénieur / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Quantum key distribution (QKD) protocols are intended to allow cryptographic keys to be generated and distributed in way that is provably secure based on inherent limitations, such as the no-cloning principle, imposed by quantum mechanics. This unique advantage compared with classical cryptography comes with an added difficulty: key bits in QKD protocols are encoded in analogue quantum states and their preparation is consequently subject to the usual imprecisions inevitable in any real world experiment. The negative impact of such imprecisions is illustrated for the BB84 QKD protocol. Following this, the main part of this thesis is concerned with the incorporation of such imprecisions in security proofs of the BB84 and two semi-device-independent protocols against the class of collective attacks. On a technical level, by contrast with the vast majority of security proofs developed since the turn of the century, in which recasting the protocol into an equivalent entanglement-based form features heavily in the analysis, the main results obtained here are approached directly from the prepare-and-measure perspective and in particular the connection with the no-cloning theorem and an early security proof by Fuchs et al. against the class of individual attacks is emphasised.<p><p>This thesis also summarises, as an appendix, a separate project which introduces and defines a hierarchy of polytopes intermediate between the local and no-signalling polytopes from the field of Bell nonlocality. / Doctorat en Sciences / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

L'objectif de ce travail de recherche est l'étude des posibilités offertes par une nouvelle approche de l'information quantique basée sur des variables quantiques continues. Lorsque ces variables continues sont portées par le champs éléctromagnétique, un grand nombre de protocoles d'information quantique peuvent être implémentés à l'aide de lasers et d'éléments d'optique linéaire standards. Cette simplicité expérimentale rend cette approche très intéressantes d'un point de vue pratique, en particulier pour le développement des futurs réseaux de communications quantiques.<p><p>Le travail peut se diviser en deux parties complémentaires. Dans la première partie, plus fondamentale, la relation complexe qui existe entre l'intrication et la nonlocalité de la mécanique quantique est étudiée sur base des variables optiques continues. Ces deux ressources étant essentielles pour l'information quantique, il est nécessaire de bien les comprendre et de bien les caractériser. Dans la seconde partie, orientée vers des applications concrètes, le problème de la correction d'erreur à variables continues est étudié. Pouvoir transmettre et manipuler l'information sans erreurs est nécessaire au bon développemnent de l'information quantique, mais, en pratique, les erreurs sont inévitables. Les codes correcteurs d'erreurs permettent de détecter et corriger ces erreures de manière efficace.<p> / Doctorat en Sciences de l'ingénieur / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

<p align="justify">Les fonctions de Lagrange sont des fonctions indéfiniment dérivables qui s'annulent en tous les points d'un réseau sauf un. Ces fonctions sont utilisées comme fonctions de base d'un calcul variationnel. Les éléments de matrice de ce calcul sont évalués à l'aide de la règle de quadrature de Gauss définie par le réseau de points. Les équations à résoudre prennent ainsi la forme d'équations sur réseau.</p><p><p align="justify">La méthode des réseaux de Lagrange allie simplicité et précision. La matrice représentant le potentiel est diagonale et ne dépend que des valeurs prises par le potentiel aux points du réseau. Contrairement à la méthode des différences finies, une expression analytique est obtenue pour la solution. Nous cherchons clans cette thèse à cerner les avantages et inconvénients de la méthode des réseaux de Lagrange, ainsi qu'à étendre son champ d'application en mécanique quantique. Nous montrons notamment que cette méthode peut être reliée à d'autres méthodes sur réseau, telles que les méthodes de la variable discrétisée (DVR) ou du réseau de Fourier, qui sont fort utilisées en physique atomique et moléculaire.</p><p><p align="justify">Dans les problèmes à deux corps, nous appliquons la méthode à l'étude des états liés et nous l'étendons au cas des collisions, c'est-à-dire aux états libres. Une nouvelle technique de calcul de la longueur de diffusion et de la portée effective est également considérée. Dans certains cas, la solution exacte du problème à deux corps existe sous forme analytique, ce qui permet une étude de la précision de la méthode en ce qui concerne les valeurs propres et les vecteurs propres de la matrice hamiltonienne. L'extension de la méthode aux problèmes à deux corps régis par une dynamique semi-relativiste est également examinée.</p><p><p align="justify">Dans le cas des problèmes à trois corps, nous effectuons une comparaison entre plusieurs systèmes de coordonnées auxquels sont couplés différents réseaux de Lagrange. Les résultats de cette comparaison dépendent de la présence de singularités dans les potentiels, celles-ci pouvant limiter fortement la précision de la méthode.</p><p><p align="justify">En physique nucléaire, nous comparons deux approches sur réseaux de Lagrange lors de l'étude de l'état fondamental du noyau 6He. Il s'agit d'un noyau à halo de neutrons, pour lequel il existe une forte probabilité de trouver deux des neutrons loin des autres nucléons. Le noyau 6He peut ainsi être traité comme un système à trois corps, constitué d'une particule alpha et de deux neutrons. Nous étendons également le modèle à trois corps pour ce noyau au cas d'interactions à deux corps plus générales, c'est-à-dire contenant différents opérateurs agissant sur les spins des nucléons.</p><p><p align="justify">En physique atomique et moléculaire, où les interactions sont, en première approximation, purement coulombiennes, nous nous sommes intéressé aux états S et P des principaux systèmes à trois corps que sont l'atome d'hélium He, les ions hydrogène H-et positronium Ps-, l'ion moléculaire d'hydrogène HZ et la molécule muonique dt"mu". Les fonctions d'onde approchées obtenues lors de la détermination des états liés sont utilisées pour évaluer des rayons quadratiques moyens et les rayons de masse de ces systèmes.</p><p> / Doctorat en sciences appliquées / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished