Fenômenos que ocorrem a tempos curtos em sistemas quânticos abertos são caracterizados por possuírem um tempo característico de uma ordem muito menor que o tempo de relaxação do sistema. Como exemplos podemos citar o efeito de decoerência, que em resumo tenta explicar como a natureza quântica de um sistema é perdida ao longo da interação com o ambiente e o fenômeno de superradiância, onde estuda-se como alguns sistemas emitem um pulso energético muito rápido gerando um pico de intensidade fino localizado muito antes da relaxação do sistema. O objetivo desse trabalho é não só estudar esses fenômenos mas como apresentar uma técnica alternativa para a quantificação das medidas associadas e de seus tempos característicos. A técnica apresentada se baseia em fazer uma expansão perturbativa no tempo para o operador densidade a partir de uma equação mestra quântica e com seu uso calcular grandezas físicas relevantes a fenômenos que ocorrem a tempos curtos. A simplicidade da técnica e seu uso abrangente são os principais fatores motivadores deste trabalho. / Short-time phenomena in open quantum systems are characterized by having a characteristic time of a much lower order than the relaxation time of the system. As examples we can mention the effect of decoherence, which in summary tries to explain how the quantum nature of a system is lost along the interaction with the environment and the superradiance phenomenon, where is studied how some systems emit a very fast energy pulse generating a peak of fine intensity located long before the relaxation of the system. The aim of this work is not only study these phenomena but to present an alternative technique for quantifying the associated measures and their characteristic times. The presented technique is based on making a perturbative expansion in time for the density operator from a quantum master equation and use it to calculate physical quantities relevant to phenomena occurring at short times. The simplicity of the technique and its widespread use are the main motivating factors of this work.

Esta dissertação visa realizar um estudo acerca dos modelos de mundo brana no contexto proposto por Randall e Sundrum. O trabalho focaliza as perturbações de spin 0 no espaço-tempo de Kerr tomado como um mundo brana 4-dimensional. Para isso apresentamos os principais aspectos da Relatividade Geral de Einstein, bem como perturbações em métricas que descrevem buracos negros. Fizemos uma revisão dos modelos de Randall-Sundrum, suas motivações e tentativas de descrever buracos negros na brana. Por m a perturbação escalar da corda negra em rotação (Kerr-Randall-Sundrum) e o fenômeno de super-radiação são analisados. / This dissertation aims at studying the braneworld models in the context proposed by Randall and Sundrum. The focus is on the spin-0 perturbations in the Kerr space-time as a 4- dimensional braneworld. The work deals the main aspects of Einstein General Relativity as well as perturbations of black holes metrics. We also review the Randall-Sundrum models and their motivations and attempts to describe braneworld black holes. In the end the Kerr-Randall-Sundrum black string scalar perturbation and superradiance are obtained.

Esta dissertação visa realizar um estudo acerca dos modelos de mundo brana no contexto proposto por Randall e Sundrum. O trabalho focaliza as perturbações de spin 0 no espaço-tempo de Kerr tomado como um mundo brana 4-dimensional. Para isso apresentamos os principais aspectos da Relatividade Geral de Einstein, bem como perturbações em métricas que descrevem buracos negros. Fizemos uma revisão dos modelos de Randall-Sundrum, suas motivações e tentativas de descrever buracos negros na brana. Por m a perturbação escalar da corda negra em rotação (Kerr-Randall-Sundrum) e o fenômeno de super-radiação são analisados. / This dissertation aims at studying the braneworld models in the context proposed by Randall and Sundrum. The focus is on the spin-0 perturbations in the Kerr space-time as a 4- dimensional braneworld. The work deals the main aspects of Einstein General Relativity as well as perturbations of black holes metrics. We also review the Randall-Sundrum models and their motivations and attempts to describe braneworld black holes. In the end the Kerr-Randall-Sundrum black string scalar perturbation and superradiance are obtained.

Technological progress in commercializing ultrafast lasers and detectors has allowed realization of cooperative processes on an ultrashort time scale, which demand a re-evaluation of the conventional cooperative phenomena with a new insight. Ultrafast cooperative phenomena in coherently prepared media and various applications of superfluorescence and coherent Raman scattering are studied in this dissertation. In particular, a simple theoretical testimony on analogy between a cooperative emission and coherent Raman scattering is presented by offering an opportunity to perform parallel research on these two processes from a unified point of view. On one hand, the superfluorescent pulse with a time duration of a few tens of picoseconds (ps) from alkali metal vapor is observed for the first time, even though cooperative phenomena in atomic vapor have been extensively studied for more than five decades. A dense rubidium vapor pumped by ultrashort (100 femtosecond, fs) pulses allows a realization of the ultrafast superfluorescence while a time-resolved study of superfluorescence is accomplished by using a streak camera with 2 ps time resolution. Experimental research on quantum nature of cooperative emissions has been “frozen” over the years (three decades) possibly because of the technical difficulties. Quantum fluctuations of superfluorescence development are explored experimentally by taking advantage of the ultra fast streak camera. Presumable applications of the superfluorescent pulse in e.g., a remote sensing, and an ultraviolet upconversion of the input infrared laser pulse are presented. The quantum interference due to different excitation pathways is revealed by the temporal coherent control technique while observing interferometric signals from alkali metal vapors. On the other hand, a new spectroscopic technique based on ultrafast coherent Raman scattering is developed. The key advantage of the presented technique is to suppress the non-resonant background noise which usually obscures possible applications of the other conventional coherent Raman techniques in practice. A reduction of the background noise is achieved by shaping and delaying the third pulse which probes the coherence of the medium (i.e., an enhancement of specific vibrations of the target molecules in unison) firstly prepared by two broadband pulses. We demonstrate a robustness and superiority of signal-to-noise ratio of the developed technique by identifying as few as 10000 bacterial spores at a single laser shot level. Finally, several comparative studies between cooperative and uncooperative processes are presented. A picosecond cooperative phenomenon in a three-photon resonant medium induced by a single as well as two-color ultrashort pulses is investigated. A time-resolved study shows that a picosecond cooperative effect is crucial in the well-established fields of resonant-enhanced multiphoton ionizations and harmonic generations. We also present a quantitative analysis for spontaneous versus broadband coherent Raman scattering on pyridine molecules. The spontaneous Raman signal is enhanced by 5 orders as a result of cooperative phenomena.

Fenômenos que ocorrem a tempos curtos em sistemas quânticos abertos são caracterizados por possuírem um tempo característico de uma ordem muito menor que o tempo de relaxação do sistema. Como exemplos podemos citar o efeito de decoerência, que em resumo tenta explicar como a natureza quântica de um sistema é perdida ao longo da interação com o ambiente e o fenômeno de superradiância, onde estuda-se como alguns sistemas emitem um pulso energético muito rápido gerando um pico de intensidade fino localizado muito antes da relaxação do sistema. O objetivo desse trabalho é não só estudar esses fenômenos mas como apresentar uma técnica alternativa para a quantificação das medidas associadas e de seus tempos característicos. A técnica apresentada se baseia em fazer uma expansão perturbativa no tempo para o operador densidade a partir de uma equação mestra quântica e com seu uso calcular grandezas físicas relevantes a fenômenos que ocorrem a tempos curtos. A simplicidade da técnica e seu uso abrangente são os principais fatores motivadores deste trabalho. / Short-time phenomena in open quantum systems are characterized by having a characteristic time of a much lower order than the relaxation time of the system. As examples we can mention the effect of decoherence, which in summary tries to explain how the quantum nature of a system is lost along the interaction with the environment and the superradiance phenomenon, where is studied how some systems emit a very fast energy pulse generating a peak of fine intensity located long before the relaxation of the system. The aim of this work is not only study these phenomena but to present an alternative technique for quantifying the associated measures and their characteristic times. The presented technique is based on making a perturbative expansion in time for the density operator from a quantum master equation and use it to calculate physical quantities relevant to phenomena occurring at short times. The simplicity of the technique and its widespread use are the main motivating factors of this work.

Axions are one of the best-motivated particles beyond the standard model of particle physics and a promising candidate for dark matter. Through the superradiant instability, axions can extract a significant amount of rotational energy from spinning black holes resulting in dense axion clouds. These axion clouds can imprint themselves on the spin of the black hole and even emit detectable gravitational waves, making them very potent tools in the search for axions. The considerable number of axions present in these clouds can also compensate for the weak coupling between the axion and the standard model particles. However, the interaction between the cloud and the astrophysical plasma that the black hole accretes is often assumed to be negligible. In this thesis, we examine this assumption by studying the interaction between the astrophysical plasma and the axion cloud to determine if it can cause any significant effects.  We find no new gravitational signatures and can conclude that the interaction is not effective enough to halt the evolution of the cloud. Therefore, the main focus of this work is the emitted low-frequency photons that the axions convert into through the interaction. We find that the emission from systems with typical accretion rates can reach up to 10^14 W and is most efficient around fast-spinning stellar black holes that accrete spherically without an accretion disk. However, we conclude that most of this emission will quickly be reabsorbed into the plasma and not cause any detectable signals.  We also study resonant conversion of axions, which can occur when the plasma frequency is comparable to the axion mass. We find that the low accretion rates that enable this are reachable around isolated stellar-mass black holes that travel rapidly through low-density regions of space. In these systems, the luminosity can reach 10^25 W, and possibly even higher if we include stimulation effects. We can, therefore, conclude that a population of fast-traveling isolated black holes can pose a new tool in the search for axions. / Axioner är en av de bäst motiverade partiklarna bortom standardmodellen för partikelfysik och en lovande kandidat för mörk materia. Genom superstrålning kan axioner extrahera en signifikant mängd rotationsenergi från svarta hål vilket kan resultera i täta axionmoln. Dessa axionmoln kan ge avtryck genom deras påverkan på spinnet hos svarta hål och till och med avge detekterbara gravitationsvågor. Detta gör axionmoln till kraftfulla verktyg i sökandet efter axioner. Den stora mängd axioner som dessa moln består av kan också kompensera för den svaga växelverkan mellan axionerna och partiklarna från standardmodellen. Växelverkan mellan molnet och den astrofysikaliska plasmat som det svarta hålet ackumulerar från omgivningen antas ändå ofta vara försumbar. I denna rapport undersöker vi detta antagande genom att studera växelverkan mellan den astrofysikaliska plasmat och axionmolnet för att avgöra om den kan orsaka några observerbara effekter. Vi finner inga nya gravitationella effekter och kan dra slutsatsen att växelverkan inte är tillräckligt effektiv för att påverka utvecklingen av axionmolnet. Därför är huvudfokus i detta arbete utstrålningen av de fotoner som resulterar från växelverkan. Vi finner att emissionen från system med typiska ackretionshastigheter kan nå upp till 10^14 W och är mest effektiv kring svarta hål med låg massa och högt spinn som ackumulerar sfäriskt utan att bilda en ackretionsskiva. Vi drar dock slutsatsen att det mesta av denna emission snabbt kommer att återabsorberas i plasmat och inte orsaka några detekterbara signaler. Vi studerar även konvertering av axioner via resonans, vilket kan inträffa när plasmafrekvensen är jämförbar med massan hos axionerna. Vi finner att de låga ackretionshastigheterna som möjliggör detta kan nås runt isolerade svarta hål som färdas snabbt genom delar av rymden med låg omgivande densitet. I dessa system kan luminositieten nå 10^25 W, och möjligen ännu högre om vi inkluderar stimuleringseffekter. Vi kan därför dra slutsatsen att en population av isolerade svarta hål med hög hastighet kan potentiellt användas i sökandet efter axioner.

In this thesis, we investigate the quantum mechanical interaction of light with matter in the form of a gas of ultracold atoms: the atomic ensemble. We present a theoretical analysis of two problems, which involve the interaction of quantized electromagnetic fields (called signal and idler) with the atomic ensemble (i) cascade two-photon emission in an atomic ladder configuration, and (ii) photon frequency conversion in an atomic diamond configuration. The motivation of these studies comes from potential applications in long-distance quantum communication where it is desirable to generate quantum correlations between telecommunication wavelength light fields and ground level atomic coherences. In the two systems of interest, the light field produced in the upper arm of an atomic Rb level scheme is chosen to lie in the telecom window. The other field, resonant on a ground level transition, is in the near-infrared region of the spectrum. Telecom light is useful as it minimizes losses in the optical fiber transmission links of any two long-distance quantum communication device. We develop a theory of correlated signal-idler pair correlation. The analysis is complicated by the possible generation of multiple excitations in the atomic ensemble. An analytical treatment is given in the limit of a single excitation assuming adiabatic laser excitations. The analysis predicts superradiant timescales in the idler emission in agreement with experimental observation. To relax the restriction of a single excitation, we develop a different theory of cascade emission, which is solved by numerical simulation of classical stochastic differential equation using the theory of open quantum systems. The simulations are in good qualitative agreement with the analytical theory of superradiant timescales. We further analyze the feasibility of this two-photn source to realize the DLCZ protocol of the quantum repeater communication system. We provide a quantum theory of near-infrared to telecom wavelength conversion in the diamond configuration. The system provides a crucial part of a quantum-repeater memory element, which enables a "stored" near-infrared photon to be converted to a telecom wavelength for transmission without the destruction of light-atom quantum correlation. We calculate the theoretical conversion efficiency, analyzing the role of optical depth of the ensemble, pulse length, and quantum fluctuations on the process.

In this thesis we study the Dicke model outside the rotating wave approximation (RWA), by employing phase space techniques and the quantum trajectory theory. We present a review of the basic models of open systems in quantum optics and present an experimental proposition justifying the model to be studied. We use the phase space approach to study, among other subjects, entanglement, squeezing and fluctuations across a quantum phase transition. Three different phase space representations are used and their strengths and weaknesses compared. The quantum trajectory theory is applied to visualise the global quantum fluctuations and to learn how different measurement schemes will affect the creation of entanglement. / The University of Auckland, Department of Physics.

In this thesis we study the Dicke model outside the rotating wave approximation (RWA), by employing phase space techniques and the quantum trajectory theory. We present a review of the basic models of open systems in quantum optics and present an experimental proposition justifying the model to be studied. We use the phase space approach to study, among other subjects, entanglement, squeezing and fluctuations across a quantum phase transition. Three different phase space representations are used and their strengths and weaknesses compared. The quantum trajectory theory is applied to visualise the global quantum fluctuations and to learn how different measurement schemes will affect the creation of entanglement. / The University of Auckland, Department of Physics.

In this thesis we study the Dicke model outside the rotating wave approximation (RWA), by employing phase space techniques and the quantum trajectory theory. We present a review of the basic models of open systems in quantum optics and present an experimental proposition justifying the model to be studied. We use the phase space approach to study, among other subjects, entanglement, squeezing and fluctuations across a quantum phase transition. Three different phase space representations are used and their strengths and weaknesses compared. The quantum trajectory theory is applied to visualise the global quantum fluctuations and to learn how different measurement schemes will affect the creation of entanglement. / The University of Auckland, Department of Physics.