Quantum physics started in the 1920's with wave mechanics and the wave-particle duality. However, the last 20 years have seen a second quantum revolution, centered around non-locality and quantum correlations between measurement outcomes. The associated key property, entanglement, is recognized today as the signature of quantumness. This second revolution opened the possibility of studying quantum correlations without any assumption on the internal functioning of the measurement apparata, the so-called Device-Independent Approach to Quantum Physics. This thesis explores this new approach...

The model investigated in this work, a particular cellular automaton with stochastic evolution, was introduced as the simplest case of self-organized-criticality, that is, a dynamical system which shows algebraic long-range correlations without any tuning of parameters. The author derives exact results which are potentially also interesting outside the area of critical phenomena. Exact means also site-by-site and not only ensemble average or coarse graining. Very complex and amazingly beautiful periodic patterns are often generated by the dynamics involved, especially in deterministic...

In this dissertation, Marie-Helene Larraufie develops original radical and pallado-catalyzed methodologies to enable the synthesis of several classes of bioactive nitrogen-containing heterocycles. New radical cascades employing the N-acylcyanamide moiety offer straightforward routes to quinazolinones and guanidines, as well as new insights into the mechanism of homolytic aromatic substitutions. In parallel, Larraufie expands the scope of visible light photoredox catalysis to the ring opening of epoxides and aziridines, thus providing new sustainable alternatives for the generation of...

With his Ph.D. thesis, presented here in the format of a 'Springer Theses', Paul Fulda won the 2012 GWIC thesis prize awarded by the Gravitational Wave International Committee. The impact of thermal noise on future gravitational wave detectors depends on the size and shape of the interrogating laser beam. It had been known since 2006 that, in theory, higher-order Laguerre-Gauss modes could reduce thermal noise. Paul Fulda's research brings Laguerre-Gauss modes an enormous step forward. His work includes analytical, numerical and experimental work on table-top setups as well as experiments at...

Extensions to the No-Core Shell Model presents three extensions to the No-Core Shell Model (NCSM) that allow for calculations of heavier nuclei, specifically for the p-shell nuclei. The Importance-Truncated NCSM (IT-NCSM) formulated on arguments of multi-configurational perturbation theory selects a small set of basis states from the initially large basis space in which the Hamiltonian is diagonalized. Previous IT-NCSM calculations have proven reliable, however, there has been no thorough investigation of the inherent error in the truncated IT-NCSM calculations. This thesis provides a...

This thesis explores the idea that the Higgs boson of the Standard Model and the cosmological inflation are just two manifestations of one and the same scalar field - the Higgs-inflation. By this unification two energy scales that are separated by many orders of magnitude are connected, thereby building a bridge between particle physics and cosmology. An essential ingredient for making this model consistent with observational data is a strong non-minimal coupling to gravity. Predictions for the value of the Higgs mass as well as for cosmological parameters are derived, and can be tested by...

This thesis demonstrates techniques that provide faster and more accurate solutions to a variety of problems in machine learning and signal processing. The author proposes a "greedy" algorithm, deriving sparse solutions with guarantees of optimality. The use of this algorithm removes many of the inaccuracies that occurred with the use of previous models.

Topological Insulators (TIs) are insulators in the bulk, but have exotic metallic states at their surfaces. The topology, associated with the electronic wavefunctions of these systems, changes when passing from the bulk to the surface. This work studies, by means of infrared spectroscopy, the low energy optical conductivity of Bismuth based TIs in order to identify the extrinsic charge contribution of the bulk and to separate it from the intrinsic contribution of the surface state carriers. The extensive results presented in this thesis definitely shows the 2D character of the carriers in...

This thesis constitutes a detailed study of functional nanostructures (ferromagnetic, superconducting, metallic and semiconducting) fabricated by focused electron/ion beam induced deposition techniques. The nanostructures were grown using different precursor materials such as Co2(CO)8, Fe2(CO)9, W(CO)6, (CH3)3Pt(CpCH3) and were characterized by a wide range of techniques. This work reports results obtained for the morphology, the microstructure, the composition, the electrical transport mechanism, magnetic and superconducting properties of nanostructures. The results offers exciting prospects...