Recent analyses [S. Nesseris et al., Phys. Rev. D 96, 023543 (2017)PRVDAQ2470-001010.1103/PhysRevD.96.023543; L. Kazantzidis and L. Pervolaropoulos, Phys. Rev. D 97, 103503 (2018)PRVDAQ2470-001010.1103/PhysRevD.97.103503] have indicated that an effective Newton’s constant Geff(z) decreasing with redshift may relieve the observed tension between the Planck15 best fit ΛCDM cosmological background (i.e., Planck15/ΛCDM) and the corresponding ΛCDM background favored by growth fσ8 and weak lensing data. We investigate the consistency of such a decreasing Geff(z) with some viable scalar-tensor models and f(R) theories. We stress that f(R) theories generically cannot lead to a decreasing Geff(z) for any cosmological background. For scalar-tensor models we deduce that in the context of a ΛCDM cosmological background, a decreasing Geff(z) is not consistent with a large Brans-Dicke parameter ωBD,0 today. This inconsistency remains and amplifies in the presence of a phantom dark energy equation of state parameter (w<-1). However, it can be avoided for w>-1. We also find that any modified gravity model with the required decreasing Geff(z) and Geff,0=G would have a characteristic signature in its growth index γ with 0.61≲γ0≲0.69 and large slopes γ0′, 0.16≲γ0′≲0.4, which is a characteristic signature of a decreasing (with z) Geff(z)

Photonic topological insulator plates violate Lorentz reciprocity, which leads to a directionality of surfaceguided modes. This in-plane directionality can be imprinted via an applied magnetic field. On the basis of macroscopic quantum electrodynamics in nonreciprocal media, we show that two photonic topological insulator surfaces are subject to a tunable, magnetic-field-dependent Casimir torque. Due to the directionality, this torque exhibits a unique 2π periodicity, in contradistinction to the Casimir torques encountered for reciprocal uniaxial birefringent media or corrugated surfaces which are π periodic. Remarkably, the torque direction and strength can be externally driven in situ by simply applying a magnetic field on the system, and we show that this can be exploited to induce a control of the rotation of small objects. Our predictions are relevant for nanooptomechanical experiments and devices.

Mechanical resonators based on a singlecarbon nanotube are exceptional sensors of mass and force.The force sensitivity in these ultralight resonators is oftenlimited by the noise in the detection of the vibrations. Here,we report on an ultrasensitive scheme based on a RLCresonator and a low-temperature amplifier to detect nanotubevibrations. We also show a new fabrication process ofelectromechanical nanotube resonators to reduce the separation between the suspended nanotube and the gate electrodedown to ∼150 nm. These advances in detection and fabrication allow us to reach 0.5pm/ Hz displacement sensitivity.Thermal vibrations cooled cryogenically at 300 mK are detected with a signal-to-noise ratio as high as 17 dB. We demonstrate4.3zN/ Hz force sensitivity, which is the best force sensitivity achieved thus far with a mechanical resonator. Our work is animportant step toward imaging individual nuclear spins and studying the coupling between mechanical vibrations and electronsin different quantum electron transport regimes.

We investigate the quantum optical torque on an atom interacting with an inhomogeneous electromagnetic environment described by the most general linear constitutive relations. The atom is modeled as a two-level system prepared in an arbitrary initial energy state. Using the Heisenberg equation of motion (HEM) and under the Markov approximation, we show that the optical torque has a resonant and nonresonant part, associated, respectively, with a spontaneous-emission process and Casimir-type interactions with the quantum vacuum, which can both be written explicitly in terms of the system Green function. Our formulation is valid for any three-dimensional inhomogeneous, dissipative, dispersive, nonreciprocal, and bianisotropic structure. We apply this general theory to a scenario in which the atom interacts with a material characterized by strong nonreciprocity and modal unidirectionality. In this case, the main decay channel of the atom energy is represented by the unidirectional surface waves launched at the nonreciprocal material-vacuum interface. To provide relevant physical insight into the role of these unidirectional surface waves in the emergence of nontrivial optical torque, we derive closed-form expressions for the induced torque under the quasistatic approximation. Finally, we investigate the equilibrium states of the atom polarization, along which the atom spontaneously tends to align due to the action of the torque. Our theoretical predictions may be experimentally tested with cold Rydberg atoms and superconducting qubits near a nonreciprocal material. We believe that our general theory may find broad application in the context of nanomechanical and biomechanical systems.

Despite an abundant literature on epoxy-amine systems, a complete description of the curing kinetics in epoxy-phenol composites was still lacking. In this study, the curing kinetics of an epoxy-phenol composite relevant to microelectronics industry is probed by isothermal and non-isothermal differential scanning calorimetry. An isoconversional analysis of the data reveals a significant contribution of the diffusion of molecular species to the activation energy, at low temperature and high degrees of curing. A model-fitting of the kinetics is performed in two successive steps: high-temperatures data are fitted with Arrhenius law and nth order autocatalytic model (where the diffusion contribution is neglected), whereas low-temperature data are fitted using Rabinowitch and modified-Williams-Landel-Ferry models (considering a diffusion contribution related to the glass transition). The chemical and diffusion contributions to the rate constants are calculated at various temperatures, clarifying the kinetics regimes with precision. Finally, the kinetics regimes are summarized in an improved time-temperature-transformation diagram.

Efficient bacterial chromosome segregation typically requires the coordinated action of a three-component, fueled by adenosine triphosphate machinery called the partition complex. We present a phenomenological model accounting for the dynamic activity of this system that is also relevant for the physics of catalytic particles in active environments. The model is obtained by coupling simple linear reaction-diffusion equations with a proteophoresis, or “volumetric” chemophoresis, force field that arises from protein-protein interactions and provides a physically viable mechanism for complex translocation. This minimal description captures most known experimental observations: dynamic oscillations of complex components, complex separation and subsequent symmetrical positioning. The predictions of our model are in phenomenological agreement with and provide substantial insight into recent experiments. From a non-linear physics view point, this system explores the active separation of matter at micrometric scales with a dynamical instability between static positioning and travelling wave regimes triggered by the dynamical spontaneous breaking of rotational symmetry.