  This paper is example 5 in chapter 5. Let H be an n-cycle. A permutation s is
H-admissible if Hs = H' where H' is an n-cycle. Here we define a 19 X 19
matrix, M, in the following way: We obtain the remainders modulo 100 of each of
the smallest 342 odd primes. we obtain the remainders modulo 100 of each of the
primes. They are placed in M according to the original value of each prime.
Thus their placement depends on the the original ordinal values of the primes
according to size. We use this ordering to place the primes in M. Let H_0 be an
initial 19 cycles arbitrarily chosen. We apply a sequence of up to [ln(n)+1]
H_0 3-cycles to obtain a 19-cycle of smaller value than H_0, call the new
19-cycle H_1. We follow this procedure to obtain H_1. We call [ln(n)] + 1 a
chain. We add up the values of the 19-cycles in each chain. This procedure
continues until we cannot obtain a chain the sum of whose values is not
negative. COMMENT. I've renamed the document "Yhe General Traveling Salesman
Problem, Version 5". I preciously named it "The Traveling Salesman, Version 5".
Although the algorithms work on the GTSP, I thought that more people would
google it if it was named "The Traveling Salesman Problem." Rhar qas because my
work is only available through arxiv.org,


  Traditional, numerical discretization-based solvers of partial differential
equations (PDEs) are fundamentally agnostic to domains, boundary conditions and
coefficients. In contrast, machine learnt solvers have a limited
generalizability across these elements of boundary value problems. This is
strongly true in the case of surrogate models that are typically trained on
direct numerical simulations of PDEs applied to one specific boundary value
problem. In a departure from this direct approach, the label-free machine
learning of solvers is centered on a loss function that incorporates the PDE
and boundary conditions in residual form. However, their generalization across
boundary conditions is limited and they remain strongly domain-dependent. Here,
we present a framework that generalizes across domains, boundary conditions and
coefficients simultaneously with learning the PDE in weak form. Our work
explores the ability of simple, convolutional neural network (CNN)-based
encoder-decoder architectures to learn to solve a PDE in greater generality
than its restriction to a particular boundary value problem. In this first
communication, we consider the elliptic PDEs of Fickean diffusion, linear and
nonlinear elasticity. Importantly, the learning happens independently of any
labelled field data from either experiments or direct numerical solutions.
Extensive results for these problem classes demonstrate the framework's ability
to learn PDE solvers that generalize across hundreds of thousands of domains,
boundary conditions and coefficients, including extrapolation beyond the
learning regime. Once trained, the machine learning solvers are orders of
magnitude faster than discretization-based solvers. We place our work in the
context of recent continuous operator learning frameworks, and note extensions
to transfer learning, active learning and reinforcement learning.


  The spinor condensate with spin states degenerated in the ground spin-space
provides a unique platform for investigating the edge of quantum mechanics and
statistical physics. We study the evolution of the condensate under the
scattering of a coherent atom beam. The time-dependent magnetization,
entanglement entropy, thermal entropy and the entropy production rate are
calculated. A novel spontaneous symmetry breaking is found during the
evolution, It is shown that the stationary spin distribution can be controlled
by the incoming coherent spin state of the incident atom beam, therefore the
atom-condensate scattering provides a new way to probe the spin distribution of
the condensate


  Colleges and universities are increasingly turning to algorithms that predict
college-student success to inform various decisions, including those related to
admissions, budgeting, and student-success interventions. Because predictive
algorithms rely on historical data, they capture societal injustices, including
racism. In this study, we examine how the accuracy of college student success
predictions differs between racialized groups, signaling algorithmic bias. We
also evaluate the utility of leading bias-mitigating techniques in addressing
this bias. Using nationally representative data from the Education Longitudinal
Study of 2002 and various machine learning modeling approaches, we demonstrate
how models incorporating commonly used features to predict college-student
success are less accurate when predicting success for racially minoritized
students. Common approaches to mitigating algorithmic bias are generally
ineffective at eliminating disparities in prediction outcomes and accuracy
between racialized groups.


  We analyse the complementarity between Lepton Flavour Violation (LFV) and LHC
experiments in probing the Supersymmetric (SUSY) Grand Unified Theories (GUT)
when neutrinos got a mass via the see--saw mechanism. Our analysis is performed
in an SO(10) framework, where at least one neutrino Yukawa coupling is
necessarily as large as the top Yukawa coupling. Our study thoroughly takes
into account the whole RG running, including the GUT and the right handed
neutrino mass scales, as well as the running of the observable neutrino
spectrum. We find that the upcoming (MEG, SuperKEKB) and future (PRISM/PRIME,
Super Flavour factory) LFV experiments will be able to test such SUSY framework
for SUSY masses to be explored at the LHC and, in some cases, even beyond the
LHC sensitivity reach.


  Deep learning models undergo a significant increase in the number of
parameters they possess, leading to the execution of a larger number of
operations during inference. This expansion significantly contributes to higher
energy consumption and prediction latency. In this work, we propose EAT, a
gradient-based algorithm that aims to reduce energy consumption during model
training. To this end, we leverage a differentiable approximation of the
$\ell_0$ norm, and use it as a sparse penalty over the training loss. Through
our experimental analysis conducted on three datasets and two deep neural
networks, we demonstrate that our energy-aware training algorithm EAT is able
to train networks with a better trade-off between classification performance
and energy efficiency.


  We report a study of the noncentrosymmetric TaReSi superconductor by means of
muon-spin rotation and relaxation ($\mu$SR) technique, complemented by
electronic band-structure calculations. Its superconductivity, with $T_c$ = 5.5
K and upper critical field $\mu_0H_\mathrm{c2}(0)$ $\sim$ 3.4 T, was
characterized via electrical-resistivity- and magnetic-susceptibility
measurements. The temperature-dependent superfluid density, obtained from
transverse-field $\mu$SR, suggests a fully-gapped superconducting state in
TaReSi, with an energy gap $\Delta_0$ = 0.79 meV and a magnetic penetration
depth $\lambda_0$ = 562 nm. The absence of a spontaneous magnetization below
$T_c$, as confirmed by zero-field $\mu$SR, indicates a preserved time-reversal
symmetry in the superconducting state. The density of states near the Fermi
level is dominated by the Ta- and Re-5$d$ orbitals, which account for the
relatively large band splitting due to the antisymmetric spin-orbit coupling.
In its normal state, TaReSi behaves as a three-dimensional Kramers nodal-line
semimetal, characterized by an hourglass-shaped dispersion protected by glide
reflection. By combining non\-triv\-i\-al electronic bands with intrinsic
superconductivity, TaReSi is a promising material for investigating the
topological aspects of noncentrosymmetric superconductors.


  The Extended Generalized Pareto Distribution (EGPD) (Naveau et al. 2016) is a
family of distribution that has been introduced to model the full range of a
positive random variable but with the lower and the upper tails distributed
according to the peaks-over-threshold methodology. The aim of this article is
to augment the scope of application of EGPD allowing the analyst to incorporate
the effect of covariates on the model. In particular we introduce a
specification where the parameters of EGPD can be modeled as additive functions
of the covariates, e.g. space or time. As a related product we provide an
add-on code written in R that it is flexible enough to implement the EGPD in a
generic way, allowing to introduce new parametric forms. We show the potential
of our add-on on the modeling of hourly rainfalls over the North-West region of
France and discuss modeling strategies.


  It is difficult to choose detection thresholds for tests of non-stationarity
that assume {\em a priori} a noise model if the data is statistically
uncharacterized to begin with. This is a potentially serious problem when an
automated analysis is required, as would be the case for the huge data sets
that large interferometric gravitational wave detectors will produce. A
solution is proposed in the form of a {\em robust} time-frequency test for
detecting non-stationarity whose threshold for a specified false alarm rate is
almost independent of the statistical nature of the ambient stationary noise.
The efficiency of this test in detecting bursts is compared with that of an
ideal test that requires prior information about both the statistical
distribution of the noise and also the frequency band of the burst. When
supplemented with an approximate knowledge of the burst duration, this test can
detect, at the same false alarm rate and detection probability, bursts that are
about 3 times larger in amplitude than those that the ideal test can detect.
Apart from being robust, this test has properties which make it suitable as an
online monitor of stationarity.


  We consider different deductions of the mysterious Weinberg formula and show
that this leads us back to the model of fluctuational cosmology which correctly
predicted in advance, dark energy driven, accelerating universe with a small
cosmological constant. All this also provides us with an interpretation of
Gravitation as the distributional effect of the residual energy of the
universe.


  In this brief report, we propose a possible way, theoretically and
experimentally, to generate a NOON state of the two degenerate ferromagnetic
ground states of the Transverse Ising Model. In our scheme we employ the
macroscopic quantum tunneling (MQT) effect between the two degenerate
ferromagnetic ground states to realize the NOON state. Our calculation about
the MQT process is based on a higher-order degenerate perturbation method.
After doing a transformation, the MQT process could also be treated as the
hopping of individual virtual fermions in the spin chain, which will leads to
an analytical description of tunneling process. The experimental feasibility
for generating the NOON state is discussed in the setup of linear ion trap.


  Variational Bayes (VB) applied to latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) has
become the most popular algorithm for aspect modeling. While sufficiently
successful in text topic extraction from large corpora, VB is less successful
in identifying aspects in the presence of limited data. We present a novel
variational message passing algorithm as applied to Latent Dirichlet Allocation
(LDA) and compare it with the gold standard VB and collapsed Gibbs sampling. In
situations where marginalisation leads to non-conjugate messages, we use ideas
from sampling to derive approximate update equations. In cases where conjugacy
holds, Loopy Belief update (LBU) (also known as Lauritzen-Spiegelhalter) is
used. Our algorithm, ALBU (approximate LBU), has strong similarities with
Variational Message Passing (VMP) (which is the message passing variant of VB).
To compare the performance of the algorithms in the presence of limited data,
we use data sets consisting of tweets and news groups. Using coherence measures
we show that ALBU learns latent distributions more accurately than does VB,
especially for smaller data sets.


  We calculate the $m_\varrho / f_\pi$ ratio in the chiral and continuum limit
for $SU(3)$ gauge theory coupled to $N_f = 2,3,4,5,6$ fermions in the
fundamental representation. Keeping all systematic effects under full control
we find no statistically significant $N_f$-dependence; $m_\varrho / f_\pi =
7.95(15)$. Assuming the KSRF-relations we conclude that 3 other low energy
quantities related to the vector meson are also $N_f$-independent within errors
including the $\varrho\pi\pi$ coupling $g_{\varrho\pi\pi}$. If the model is
thought of as a strong dynamics inspired composite Higgs model our results
indicate that the experimentally most easily accessible new composite particle,
the vector meson, and its properties may be robust and independent of the
fermion content of the model as long as the gauge group is $SU(3)$, provided
$N_f$-independence extends all the way to the conformal window.


  In this paper we establish the existence of at least two weak solutions for
the following fractional Kirchhoff problem involving singular and exponential
nonlinearity \begin{equation*}
  \left\{\begin{split}
  M\left(\|u\|^{\frac{n}{s}}\right)(-\Delta)^s_{n/s}u & = \mu u^{-q}+
u^{r-1}\exp( u^{\beta})\;\text{in}\;\Om,
  u&>0,\;\text{in}\; \Om,
  u &= 0,\;\text{in}\; \mb R^n \setminus{\Om},
  \end{split}
  \right. \end{equation*} where $\Om$ is smooth bounded domain in $\mb R^n$,
{$n\geq 1$}, $s\in (0,1)$, $\mu>0$ is a real parameter, $\beta <\frac{n}{n-s}$
and $q\in (0,1)$. We have considered the degenerate Kirchhoff case here and
used the Nehari manifold techniques to obtain the results.


We recover Reidemeister's theorem using smooth functions and transversality.


  Redshift-space distortions in the clustering of galaxy clusters provide a
novel probe to test the gravity theory on cosmological scales. The aim of this
work is to derive new constraints on the linear growth rate of cosmic
structures from the redshift-space two-point correlation function of galaxy
clusters. We construct a large spectroscopic catalogue of optically-selected
clusters from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The selected sample consists of
$43,743$ clusters in the redshift range $0.1<z<0.42$, with masses estimated
from weak-lensing calibrated scaling relations. We measure the transverse and
radial wedges of the two-point correlation function of the selected clusters.
Modelling the redshift-space clustering anisotropies, we provide the first
constraints on the linear growth rate from cluster clustering. The cluster
masses are used to set a prior on the linear bias of the sample. This
represents the main advantage in using galaxy clusters as cosmic probes,
instead of galaxies. Assuming a standard cosmological model consistent with the
latest cosmic microwave background constraints, we do not find any evidence of
deviations from General Relativity. Specifically, we get the value of the
growth rate times the matter power spectrum normalisation parameter
$f\sigma_{8}=0.44\pm0.05$, at an effective redshift $z=0.275$.


  Conditional selective inference (SI) has been actively studied as a new
statistical inference framework for data-driven hypotheses. The basic idea of
conditional SI is to make inferences conditional on the selection event
characterized by a set of linear and/or quadratic inequalities. Conditional SI
has been mainly studied in the context of feature selection such as stepwise
feature selection (SFS). The main limitation of the existing conditional SI
methods is the loss of power due to over-conditioning, which is required for
computational tractability. In this study, we develop a more powerful and
general conditional SI method for SFS using the homotopy method which enables
us to overcome this limitation. The homotopy-based SI is especially effective
for more complicated feature selection algorithms. As an example, we develop a
conditional SI method for forward-backward SFS with AIC-based stopping criteria
and show that it is not adversely affected by the increased complexity of the
algorithm. We conduct several experiments to demonstrate the effectiveness and
efficiency of the proposed method.


  Space plasma studies frequently use in situ magnetic field measurements taken
from many spacecraft simultaneously. A useful data product of these
measurements is the reconstructed magnetic field in a volume near the
spacecraft observatory. We compare a standard method of computing the magnetic
field at arbitrary spatial points, the Curlometer, to two novel approaches: a
Radial Basis Function interpolation and a time-dependent 2D inverse distance
weighted interpolation scheme called Timesync. These three methods, which only
require in situ measurements of the magnetic fields and bulk plasma velocities
at a sparse set of spatial points, are implemented on synthetic data drawn from
a time-evolving numerical simulation of plasma turbulence. We compare both the
topology of the reconstructed field to the ground truth of the simulation and
the statistics of the fluctuations found in the reconstructed field to those
from the simulated turbulence. We conclude that the Radial Basis Function and
Timesync methods outperform the Curlometer in both the topological and
statistical comparisons.


  A \textit{diameter graph in $\mathbb R^d$} is a graph, whose set of vertices
is a finite subset of $\mathbb R^d$ and whose set of edges is formed by pairs
of vertices that are at diameter apart. This paper is devoted to the study of
different extremal properties of diameter graphs in $\mathbb R^4$ and on a
three-dimensional sphere. We prove an analogue of V\'azsonyi's and Borsuk's
conjecture for diameter graphs on a three-dimensional sphere with radius
greater than $1/\sqrt 2$. We prove Schur's conjecture for diameter graphs in
$\mathbb R^4.$ We also establish the maximum number of triangles a diameter
graph in $\mathbb R^4$ can have, showing that the extremum is attained only on
specific Lenz configurations.


  FeGa3 is a well known d-p hybridization induced intermetallic bandgap
semiconductor. In this work, we present the experimental and theoretical
results on the effect of Al substitution in FeGa3, obtained by x-ray
diffraction (XRD), temperature dependent resistance measurement, room
temperature Mossbauer measurements and density functional theory based
electronic structure calculations. It is observed that upto x = 0.178 in
Fe(AlxGa1-x)3, which is the maximum range studied in this work, Al substitution
reduces the lattice parameters 'a' and 'c' preserving the parent tetragonal
P42/mnm crystal structure of FeGa3. The bandgap of Fe(AlxGa1-x)3 for x = 0.178
is reduced by ~ 24% as compared to FeGa3. Rietveld refinement of the XRD data
shows that the Al atoms replace Ga atoms located at the 8j sites in FeGa3. A
comparison of the trends of the lattice parameters and energy bandgap observed
in the calculations and the experiments also confirms that Al primarily
replaces the Ga atoms in the 8j site.


  Current and future optical and near-infrared wide-field surveys have the
potential of finding kilonovae, the optical and infrared counterparts to
neutron star mergers, independently of gravitational-wave or high-energy
gamma-ray burst triggers. The ability to discover fast and faint transients
such as kilonovae largely depends on the area observed, the depth of those
observations, the number of re-visits per field in a given time frame, and the
filters adopted by the survey; it also depends on the ability to perform rapid
follow-up observations to confirm the nature of the transients. In this work,
we assess kilonova detectability in existing simulations of the LSST strategy
for the Vera C. Rubin Wide Fast Deep survey, with focus on comparing rolling to
baseline cadences. Although currently available cadences can enable the
detection of more than 300 kilonovae out to 1400 Mpc over the ten-year survey,
we can expect only 3-32 kilonovae similar to GW170817 to be recognizable as
fast-evolving transients. We also explore the detectability of kilonovae over
the plausible parameter space, focusing on viewing angle and ejecta masses. We
find that observations in redder izy bands are crucial for identification of
nearby (within 300 Mpc) kilonovae that could be spectroscopically classified
more easily than more distant sources. Rubin's potential for serendipitous
kilonova discovery could be increased by gain of efficiency with the employment
of individual 30s exposures (as opposed to 2x15s snap pairs), with the addition
of red-band observations coupled with same-night observations in g- or r-bands,
and possibly with further development of a new rolling-cadence strategy.


  Large pre-trained language models based on transformer architecture have
drastically changed the natural language processing (NLP) landscape. However,
deploying those models for on-device applications in constrained devices such
as smart watches is completely impractical due to their size and inference
cost. As an alternative to transformer-based architectures, recent work on
efficient NLP has shown that weight-efficient models can attain competitive
performance for simple tasks, such as slot filling and intent classification,
with model sizes in the order of the megabyte. This work introduces the
pNLP-Mixer architecture, an embedding-free MLP-Mixer model for on-device NLP
that achieves high weight-efficiency thanks to a novel projection layer. We
evaluate a pNLP-Mixer model of only one megabyte in size on two multi-lingual
semantic parsing datasets, MTOP and multiATIS. Our quantized model achieves
99.4% and 97.8% the performance of mBERT on MTOP and multi-ATIS, while using
170x fewer parameters. Our model consistently beats the state-of-the-art of
tiny models (pQRNN), which is twice as large, by a margin up to 7.8% on MTOP.


  Hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) is a wide bandgap van der Waals material that
is emerging as a powerful platform for quantum optics and nanophotonics. In
this work, we demonstrate whispering gallery mode silica microresonators
hybridized with thin layers of epitaxially grown hBN that exhibit high optical
quality factor $> 7 \times 10^5$. Measurements of the effect of hBN thickness
on optical $Q$ and comparison with a theoretical model allows the linear
optical absorption coefficient of the hBN films to be estimated. These high-$Q$
devices will be useful for applications in quantum and nonlinear optics, and
their hybridized geometry provides a sensitive platform for evaluating losses
in hBN and other 2D materials.


  This work is dedicated to the memory of Raymond Stora (1930-2015). $SU(2)_L$
is the simplest spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB) non-Abelian gauge theory: a
complex scalar doublet $\phi=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\begin{bmatrix}H+i\pi_3-\pi_2
+i\pi_1\end{bmatrix}\equiv\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\tilde{H}e^{2i\tilde{t}\cdot\tilde{\vec{\pi}}/<H>}\begin{bmatrix}10\end{bmatrix}$
and a vector $\vec{W}^\mu$. In Landau gauge, $\vec{W}^\mu$ is transverse,
$\vec{\tilde{\pi}}$ are massless derivatively coupled Nambu-Goldstone bosons
(NGB). A global shift symmetry enforces $m^{2}_{\tilde{\pi}}=0$. We observe
that on-shell T-matrix elements of physical states $\vec{W}^\mu$,$\phi$ are
independent of global $SU(2)_{L}$ transformations, and the associated global
current is exactly conserved for amplitudes of physical states. We identify two
towers of "1-soft-pion" global Ward-Takahashi Identities (WTI), which govern
the $\phi$-sector, and represent a new global symmetry, $SU(2)_L\otimes$BRST, a
symmetry not of the Lagrangian but of the physical states. The first gives
relations among 1-$\phi$-I (but one $W^{\mu},B^{\mu}$ reducible) off-shell
Green's functions, the second governs on-shell T-matrix elements, replacing the
Adler self-consistency conditions. These WTI constrain the all-loop-orders
scalar-sector effective Lagrangian and guarantee IR finiteness of the theory.
These on-shell WTI include a Lee-Stora-Symanzik (LSS) theorem, which enforces
the condition $m_{\pi}^2=0$ (far stronger than $m_{\tilde{\pi}}^2=0$) and
causes all relevant-operator contributions to the effective Lagrangian to
vanish exactly. The global $SU(2)_L$ and the BRST transformations commute in
$R_\xi$ gauges. With the on-shell T-matrix constraints, the physics therefore
has more symmetry than does its BRST invariant Lagrangian. We also show that
the statements made above hold for the electroweak sector of the Standard Model
bosons.


We prove Heyneman-Radford Theorem in the framework of Monoidal Categories.


  We analyze the spectral asymmetry of Stokes V (circularly polarized) profiles
of an individual network patch in the quiet Sun observed by Sunrise/IMaX. At a
spatial resolution of 0.15"-0.18", the network elements contain substructure
which is revealed by the spatial distribution of Stokes V asymmetries. The area
asymmetry between the red and blue lobes of Stokes V increases from nearly zero
at the core of the structure to values close to unity at its edges (one-lobed
profiles). Such a distribution of the area asymmetry is consistent with
magnetic fields expanding with height, i.e., an expanding magnetic canopy
(which is required to fulfill pressure balance and flux conservation in the
solar atmosphere). Inversion of the Stokes I and V profiles of the patch
confirms this picture, revealing a decreasing field strength and increasing
height of the canopy base from the core to the periphery of the network patch.
However, the non-roundish shape of the structure and the presence of negative
area and amplitude asymmetries reveal that the scenario is more complex than a
canonical flux tube expanding with height surrounded by downflows.


  We report a strain-induced direct-to-indirect band gap transition in
mechanically deformed WS2 monolayers (MLs). The necessary amount of strain is
attained by proton irradiation of bulk WS2 and the ensuing formation of
one-ML-thick, H2-filled domes. The electronic properties of the curved MLs are
mapped by spatially- and time-resolved micro-photoluminescence revealing the
mechanical stress conditions that trigger the variation of the band gap
character. This general phenomenon, also observed in MoS2 and WSe2, further
increases our understanding of the electronic structure of transition metal
dichalcogenide MLs and holds a great relevance for their optoelectronic
applications.


  The conventional supersymmetric grand unified theories suffer from two
serious problems, the large mass splitting between doublet and triplet Higgs
multiplets, and the too long lifetime of the proton. A unification model based
on a semi-simple group SU(5)_{GUT} \times U(3)_H has been proposed to solve
both of the problems simultaneously. Although the proposed model is perfectly
consistent with observations, there are various mysteries. In this paper, we
show that such mysterious features in the original model are naturally
explained by embedding the model into the brane world in a higher dimensional
space-time. In particular, the relatively small gauge coupling constant of the
SU(5)_{GUT} at the unification energy scale is a consequence of relatively
large volume of extra dimensions. Here, we put the SU(5)_{GUT} gauge multiplet
in a 6-dimensional bulk and assume all fields in the U(3)_H sector to reside on
a 3-dimensional brane located in the bulk. On the other hand, all chiral
multiplets of quarks, leptons and Higgs are assumed to reside on a 3-brane at a
T^2/Z_4 orbifold fixed point. The quasi-N=2 supersymmetry in the hypercolor
U(3)_H sector is understood as a low-energy remnant of the N=4 supersymmetry in
a 6-dimensional space-time. We further extend the 6-dimensional model to a
10-dimensional theory. Possible frameworks of string theories are also
investigated to accommodate the present brane-world model. We find that the
type IIB string theory with D3-D7 brane structure is an interesting candidate.


  In wall-bounded shear flow the primary coherent structure is the streamwise
roll and streak (R-S). Absent of an associated instability the R-S has been
ascribed to non-normality mediated interaction between the mean flow and
perturbations. This interaction may occur either directly due to excitation of
a transiently growing perturbation or indirectly due to destabilization of the
R-S by turbulent Reynolds stresses. A fundamental distinction between the
direct and the indirect mechanisms, which is central to understanding the
physics of turbulence, is that in the direct mechanism the R-S is itself the
growing structure while in the indirect mechanism the R-S emerges as a
self-organized structure. In the emergent R-S theory the fundamental mechanism
is organization by the streak of Reynolds stresses configured to support its
associated roll by the lift-up process. This requires that a streak organizes
turbulent perturbations such as to produce Reynolds stresses configured to
reinforce the streak. In this paper we provide detailed analysis explaining
physically why this positive feedback occurs and is a universal property of
turbulence in shear flow. DNS data from the same turbulent flow as that used in
the theoretical study (Poisseullle flow at R=1650) is also analyzed verifying
that this mechanism operates in DNS.


  We investigate detection prospects of the gravitational-wave background (GWB)
that originates from the merging of compact objects formed by the collapse of
population III stars. Younger population I/II stars lead to a GWB in the
LIGO/Virgo frequency band at the inspiral phase, while population III stars
would likely show up at the later merger and ringdown phases. We show that,
using a network of third-generation detectors, we may be able to separate a
population I/II signal from a population III one, provided we can subtract
individual coalescence events. A detection of a population III GWB could reveal
important information, such as the average redshifted total mass.


  The stability of a cantilevered elastic sheet in a uniform flow has been
studied extensively due to its importance in engineering and its prevalence in
natural structures. Varying the flow speed can give rise to a range of dynamics
including limit cycle behaviour and chaotic motion of the cantilevered sheet.
Recently, the "inverted flag" configuration - a cantilevered elastic sheet
aligned with the flow impinging on its free edge - has been observed to produce
large-amplitude flapping over a finite band of flow speeds. This flapping
phenomenon has been found to be a vortex-induced vibration, and only occurs at
sufficiently large Reynolds numbers. In all cases studied, the inverted flag
has been formed from a cantilevered sheet of rectangular morphology, i.e. the
planform of its elastic sheet is a rectangle. Here, we investigate the effect
of the inverted flag's morphology on its resulting stability and dynamics. We
choose a trapezoidal planform which is explored using experiment and an
analytical theory for the divergence instability of an inverted flag of
arbitrary morphology. Strikingly, for this planform we observe that the flow
speed range over which flapping occurs scales approximately with the flow speed
at which the divergence instability occurs. This provides a means by which to
predict and control flapping. In a biological setting, leaves in a wind can
also align themselves in an inverted flag configuration. Motivated by this
natural occurrence we also study the effect of adding an artificial "petiole"
(a thin elastic stalk that connects the sheet to the clamp) on the inverted
flag's dynamics. We find that the petiole serves to partially decouple fluid
forces from elastic forces and increases the freedom by which the flapping
dynamics can be tuned. These results highlight the intricacies of the flapping
instability and account for some of the varied dynamics of leaves in nature.


  We analyse the density profiles of the stellar halo populations in eight
Milky-Way mass galaxies, simulated within the $\Lambda$-Cold Dark Matter
scenario. We find that accreted stars can be well-fitted by an Einasto profile,
as well as any subsample defined according to metallicity. We detect a clear
correlation between the Einasto fitting parameters of the low-metallicity
stellar populations and those of the dark matter haloes. The correlations for
stars with [Fe/H]$<-3$ allow us to predict the shape of the dark matter
profiles within residuals of $\sim 10 $ per cent, in case the contribution from
in situ stars remains small. Using Einasto parameters estimated for the stellar
halo of the Milky Way and assuming the later formed with significant
contributions from accreted low-mass satellite, our simulations predict $\alpha
\sim 0.15 $ and $r_2 \sim 15$ kpc for its dark matter profile. These values,
combined with observed estimations of the local dark matter density, yield an
enclosed dark matter mass at $\sim 8$ kpc in the range $3.9 - 6.7 \times
10^{10}$ M$_{\odot}$, in agreement with recent observational results. These
findings suggest that low-metallicity stellar haloes could store relevant
information on the DM haloes. Forthcoming observations would help us to further
constrain our models and predictions.


  A polynomial knot is a smooth embedding $\kappa: \real \to \real^n$ whose
components are polynomials. The case $n = 3$ is of particular interest. It is
both an object of real algebraic geometry as well as being an open ended
topological knot. This paper contains basic results for these knots as well as
many examples.


  This paper presents novel bilevel leader-follower portfolio selection
problems in which the financial intermediary becomes a decision-maker. This
financial intermediary decides on the unit transaction costs for investing in
some securities, maximizing its benefits, and the investor chooses his optimal
portfolio, minimizing risk and ensuring a given expected return. Hence,
transaction costs become decision variables in the portfolio problem, and two
levels of decision-makers are incorporated: the financial intermediary and the
investor. These situations give rise to general Nonlinear Programming
formulations in both levels of the decision process. We present different
bilevel versions of the problem: financial intermediary-leader,
investor-leader, and social welfare; besides, their properties are analyzed.
Moreover, we develop Mixed Integer Linear Programming formulations for some of
the proposed problems and effective algorithms for some others. Finally, we
report on some computational experiments performed on data taken from the Dow
Jones Industrial Average, and analyze and compare the results obtained by the
different models.


  We propose and analyze a self-adaptive version of the $(1,\lambda)$
evolutionary algorithm in which the current mutation rate is part of the
individual and thus also subject to mutation. A rigorous runtime analysis on
the OneMax benchmark function reveals that a simple local mutation scheme for
the rate leads to an expected optimization time (number of fitness evaluations)
of $O(n\lambda/\log\lambda+n\log n)$ when $\lambda$ is at least $C \ln n$ for
some constant $C > 0$. For all values of $\lambda \ge C \ln n$, this
performance is asymptotically best possible among all $\lambda$-parallel
mutation-based unbiased black-box algorithms.
  Our result shows that self-adaptation in evolutionary computation can find
complex optimal parameter settings on the fly. At the same time, it proves that
a relatively complicated self-adjusting scheme for the mutation rate proposed
by Doerr, Gie{\ss}en, Witt, and Yang~(GECCO~2017) can be replaced by our simple
endogenous scheme.
  On the technical side, the paper contributes new tools for the analysis of
two-dimensional drift processes arising in the analysis of dynamic parameter
choices in EAs, including bounds on occupation probabilities in processes with
non-constant drift.


  The Whittaker period formula on metaplectic $SL(2)$ was previously
established only when the base field $F$ is totally real. We present a new
simple proof that works for all base number fields. Our local argument is
uniform at every local place of $F$, based on the isometry property of
quadratic Fourier transform and the estimates of matrix coefficients and
Whittaker functions imposed by the unitariness of the local representations.


  Recent advancements in infrared frequency combs will enable recording of
coherent two-dimensional infrared spectra of gas-phase molecules with
rotational resolution (RR2DIR). We describe how RR2DIR spectra can be
controlled with polarization to enhance or suppress certain features of the
spectrum, with new polarization conditions unique to freely rotating molecules
and absent in the condensed-phase. With the polarization control methods
described here, RR2DIR spectroscopy can be a powerful tool for studying complex
gas mixtures of polyatomic molecules.


  Background: The eikonal approximation is a high-energy reaction model which
is very computationally efficient and provides a simple interpretation of the
collision. Unfortunately, it is not valid at energies around 10 MeV/nucleon,
the range of energy of HIE-ISOLDE at CERN and the future ReA12 at MSU. Fukui
etal. [Phys. Rev. C 90, 034617 (2014)] have shown that a simple semiclassical
correction of the projectile-target deflection could improve the description of
breakup of halo nuclei on heavy targets down to 20 MeV/nucleon.
  Purpose: We study two similar corrections, which aim at improving the
projectile-target relative motion within the eikonal approximation, with the
goal to extend its range of validity down to 10 MeV/nucleon in
nuclear-dominated collisions, viz. on light targets. The semiclassical
correction substitutes the impact parameter by the distance of closest approach
of the corresponding classical trajectory. The exact continued $S$-matrix
correction replaces the eikonal phase by the exact phase shift. Both
corrections successfully describe the elastic scattering of one-neutron halo
nuclei.
  Method: We extend these corrections and study their efficiency in describing
the breakup channel. We evaluate them in the case of $^{11}\mathrm{Be}$
impinging on $^{12}\mathrm{C}$ at 20 and 10 MeV/nucleon.
  Results: Albeit efficient to reproduce the elastic channel, these corrections
do not improve the description of the breakup of halo nuclei within the eikonal
approximation down to 20 MeV/nucleon.
  Conclusions: Our analysis of these corrections shows that improving the
projectile-target relative motion is not the ultimate answer to extend the
eikonal approximation down to low energies. We suggest another avenue to reach
this goal.


  We build a Bayesian contextual classification model using an optimistic score
ratio for robust binary classification when there is limited information on the
class-conditional, or contextual, distribution. The optimistic score searches
for the distribution that is most plausible to explain the observed outcomes in
the testing sample among all distributions belonging to the contextual
ambiguity set which is prescribed using a limited structural constraint on the
mean vector and the covariance matrix of the underlying contextual
distribution. We show that the Bayesian classifier using the optimistic score
ratio is conceptually attractive, delivers solid statistical guarantees and is
computationally tractable. We showcase the power of the proposed optimistic
score ratio classifier on both synthetic and empirical data.


  We propose to search for the neutrino radiative decay by fitting a photon
energy spectrum of the cosmic infrared background to a sum of the photon energy
spectrum from the neutrino radiative decay and a continuum. By comparing the
present cosmic infrared background energy spectrum observed by AKARI and
Spitzer to the photon energy spectrum expected from neutrino radiative decay
with a maximum likelihood method, we obatined a lifetime lower limit of $3.1
\times 10^{12}$ to $3.8 \times 10^{12}$ years at 95% confidence level for the
third generation neutrino $\nu_3$ in the $\nu_3$ mass range between 50 \mmev
and 150 \mmev under the present constraints by the neutrino oscillation
measurements. In the left-right symmetric model, the minimum lifetime of
$\nu_3$ is predicted to be $1.5 \times 10^{17}$ years for $m_3$ of 50 \mmev. We
studied the feasibility of the observation of the neutrino radiative decay with
a lifetime of $1.5 \times 10^{17}$ years, by measuring a continuous energy
spectrum of the cosmic infrared background.


  The detection of the theoretically expected dark matter is central to
particle physics and cosmology. Current fashionable supersymmetric models
provide a natural dark matter candidate which is the lightest supersymmetric
particle (LSP). The allowed parameter space of such models combined with fairly
well understood physics (quark substructure of the nucleon and nuclear
structure) permit the evaluation of the event rate for LSP-nucleus elastic
scattering. The thus obtained event rates, which sensitively depend on the
allowed parameter space parameters, are usually very low or even undetectable.
  So, for background reduction, one would like to exploit two nice features of
the reaction, the directional rate, which depends on the sun's direction of
motion and the modulation effect, i.e. the dependence of the event rate on the
earth's annual motion. In the present paper we study these phenomena in a
specific class of non isothermal models, which take into account the late
in-fall of dark matter into our galaxy, producing flows of caustic rings. We
find that the modulation effect arising from such models is smaller than that
found previously with isothermal symmetric velocity distributions and much
smaller compared to that obtained using a realistic asymmetric distribution
with enhanced dispersion in the galactocentric direction.


  This work focuses on the numerical approximations of neutral stochastic delay
differential equations with their drift and diffusion coefficients growing
super-linearly with respect to both delay variables and state variables. Under
generalized monotonicity conditions, we prove that the backward Euler method
not only converges strongly in the mean square sense with order $1/2$, but also
inherit the mean square exponential stability of the original equations. As a
byproduct, we obtain the same results on convergence rate and exponential
stability of the backward Euler method for stochastic delay differential
equations with generalized monotonicity conditions. These theoretical results
are finally supported by several numerical experiments.


  The equidistribution of many crossing and nesting statistics exists in
several combinatorial objects like matchings, set partitions, permutations, and
embedded labelled graphs. The involutions switching nesting and crossing
numbers for set partitions given by Krattenthaler, also by Chen, Deng, Du,
Stanley, and Yan, and for permutations given by Burrill, Mishna, and Post
involved passing through tableau-like objects. Recently, Chen and Guo for
matchings, and Marberg for set partitions extended the result to coloured arc
annotated diagrams. We prove that symmetric joint distribution continues to
hold for arc-coloured permutations. As in Marberg's recent work, but through a
different interpretation, we also conclude that the ordinary generating
functions for all $j$-noncrossing, $k$-nonnesting, $r$-coloured permutations
according to size $n$ are rational functions. We use the interpretation to
automate the generation of these rational series for both noncrossing and
nonnesting coloured set partitions and permutations.


  The idea of the functional renormalization group and one-loop improved
renormalization group flows are reviewed. The associated flow equations and
nonperturbative approximations schemes for its solutions are discussed. These
techniques are then applied to the strong interaction in the framework of an
effective quark meson model which is introduced in great detail. The
renormalization group analysis of the two flavor quark meson model is extended
to finite temperature and quark chemical potential which allows for an analysis
of the chiral phase diagram beyond the mean field approximation.


  The stochastic heavy ball method (SHB), also known as stochastic gradient
descent (SGD) with Polyak's momentum, is widely used in training neural
networks. However, despite the remarkable success of such algorithm in
practice, its theoretical characterization remains limited. In this paper, we
focus on neural networks with two and three layers and provide a rigorous
understanding of the properties of the solutions found by SHB: \emph{(i)}
stability after dropping out part of the neurons, \emph{(ii)} connectivity
along a low-loss path, and \emph{(iii)} convergence to the global optimum. To
achieve this goal, we take a mean-field view and relate the SHB dynamics to a
certain partial differential equation in the limit of large network widths.
This mean-field perspective has inspired a recent line of work focusing on SGD
while, in contrast, our paper considers an algorithm with momentum. More
specifically, after proving existence and uniqueness of the limit differential
equations, we show convergence to the global optimum and give a quantitative
bound between the mean-field limit and the SHB dynamics of a finite-width
network. Armed with this last bound, we are able to establish the
dropout-stability and connectivity of SHB solutions.


  Satellites and terrestrial cellular networks can be integrated together for
extended broadband coverage in e.g., maritime communication scenarios. The
co-channel interference (CCI) is a challenging issue for spectrum sharing
between satellites and terrestrial networks. Different from previous studies
that adopt full channel state information (CSI) or CSI with Gaussian estimation
errors for CCI mitigation, we consider a more practical case with only
slowly-varying large-scale CSI to facilitate overhead reduction. A joint power
and channel allocation scheme is proposed for the terrestrial system, under the
constraint of leakage interference to satellite mobile terminals (MTs). The
proposed scheme provides near-optimal performance according to both theoretical
analysis and simulation results.


  In this paper we show that the small world and weak ties phenomena can
spontaneously emerge in a social network of interacting agents. This dynamics
is simulated in the framework of a simplified model of opinion diffusion in an
evolving social network where agents are made to interact, possibly update
their beliefs and modify the social relationships according to the opinion
exchange.


  We present a model inversion algorithm, CKLEMAP, for data assimilation and
parameter estimation in partial differential equation models of physical
systems with spatially heterogeneous parameter fields. These fields are
approximated using low-dimensional conditional Karhunen-Lo\'{e}ve expansions,
which are constructed using Gaussian process regression models of these fields
trained on the parameters' measurements. We then assimilate measurements of the
state of the system and compute the maximum a posteriori estimate of the CKLE
coefficients by solving a nonlinear least-squares problem. When solving this
optimization problem, we efficiently compute the Jacobian of the vector
objective by exploiting the sparsity structure of the linear system of
equations associated with the forward solution of the physics problem. The
CKLEMAP method provides better scalability compared to the standard MAP method.
In the MAP method, the number of unknowns to be estimated is equal to the
number of elements in the numerical forward model. On the other hand, in
CKLEMAP, the number of unknowns (CKLE coefficients) is controlled by the
smoothness of the parameter field and the number of measurements, and is in
general much smaller than the number of discretization nodes, which leads to a
significant reduction of computational cost with respect to the standard MAP
method. To show its advantage in scalability, we apply CKLEMAP to estimate the
transmissivity field in a two-dimensional steady-state subsurface flow model of
the Hanford Site by assimilating synthetic measurements of transmissivity and
hydraulic head. We find that the execution time of CKLEMAP scales nearly
linearly as $N^{1.33}$, where $N$ is the number of discretization nodes, while
the execution time of standard MAP scales as $N^{2.91}$. The CKLEMAP method
improved execution time without sacrificing accuracy when compared to the
standard MAP.


  In the context of the variational bi-complex, we re-explain that irreducible
gauge systems define a particular example of a Lie algebroid. This is used to
review some recent and not so recent results on gauge, global and asymptotic
symmetries.


  The temporal dynamics of large quantum systems perturbed weakly by a single
excitation can give rise to unique phenomena at the quantum phase boundaries.
Here, we develop a time-dependent model to study the temporal dynamics of a
single photon interacting with a defect within a large system of interacting
spin qubits (N$>$100). Our model predicts a new quantum resource, giant
susceptibility, when the system of qubits is engineered to simulate a
first-order quantum phase transition (QPT). We show that the absorption of a
single photon pulse by an engineered defect in the large qubit system can
nucleate a single shot quantum measurement through spin noise read-out. This
concept of a single-shot detection event ("click") is different from parameter
estimation which requires repeated measurements. The crucial step of amplifying
the weak quantum signal occurs by coupling the defect to a system of
interacting qubits biased close to a QPT point. The macroscopic change in
long-range order during the QPT generates amplified magnetic noise, which can
be read out by a classical device. Our work paves the way for studying the
temporal dynamics of large quantum systems interacting with a single-photon
pulse.


  Analytical expressions of some of the spin-spin correlation functions up to
eight lattice sites for the spin-1/2 anti-ferromagnetic Heisenberg chain at
zero temperature without magnetic field are obtained. The key object of our
method is the generating function of two-point spin-spin correlators, whose
functional relations are derived from those for general inhomogeneous
correlation functions previously obtained from the quantum
Knizhnik-Zamolodchikov equations. We show how the generating functions are
fully determined by their functional relations, which leads to the two-point
spin-spin correlators. The obtained analytical results are numerically
confirmed by the exact diagonalization for finite systems.


  A general approach to study the hierarchical quantum information splitting
(HQIS) is proposed and the same is used to systematically investigate the
possibility of realizing HQIS using different classes of 4-qubit entangled
states that are not connected by SLOCC. Explicit examples of HQIS using 4-qubit
cluster state and 4-qubit |\Omega> state are provided. Further, the proposed
HQIS scheme is generalized to introduce two new aspects of hierarchical quantum
communication. To be precise, schemes of probabilistic hierarchical quantum
information splitting and hierarchical quantum secret sharing are obtained by
modifying the proposed HQIS scheme. A number of practical situations where
hierarchical quantum communication would be of use are also presented.


  The expanding Cloud computing's services offers great opportunities for
consumers to find the best service and best cost. It offers a computing power
and a storage space adapted especially for Big Data processing. However, it
raises new challenges on how to select the best service out of the huge pool.
It is time-consuming for consumers to collect the necessary information and
analyze all service providers to make the right decision. Moreover, it'is a
highly demanding task from a computational perspective, because the same
computations may be conducted repeatedly by multiple consumers who have similar
requirements. Therefore, in this paper, we propose an approach based on
Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method, which manages the selection of the
Cloud Service adequate to Big Data based on its parameters and criteria. We
applied this approach on a case study in order to validate its efficity. The
studied case is about the selection of the adequate Cloud Service for Big Data
in the context of National Health Service (NHS) of United Kingdom (UK).


  We explore a thermodynamical effect of anharmonicity in quantum mechanical
oscillators. We show that small quartic perturbations to the oscillator
potential lead to an enhancement of performance of quantum refrigerators for
both the Otto and Stirling cycles. A similar nonlinearity driven enhancement of
performance is also observed for an analogous spin-qubit model of quantum
refrigerators. We further demonstrate the robustness of improvement of the
coefficient of performance versus the energy cost for creating anharmonicity.
It is shown that the anharmonicity driven improvement in performance is a
generic effect at the quantum level for the experimentally realizable Otto
refrigerator.


  We introduce a general algorithm for the computation of the scale functions
of a spectrally negative L\'evy process $X$, based on a natural weak
approximation of $X$ via upwards skip-free continuous-time Markov chains with
stationary independent increments. The algorithm consists of evaluating a
finite linear recursion with its (nonnegative) coefficients given explicitly in
terms of the L\'evy triplet of $X$. Thus it is easy to implement and
numerically stable. Our main result establishes sharp rates of convergence of
this algorithm providing an explicit link between the semimartingale
characteristics of $X$ and its scale functions, not unlike the one-dimensional
It\^o diffusion setting, where scale functions are expressed in terms of
certain integrals of the coefficients of the governing SDE.


  We build a bridge between geometric group theory and topological dynamical
systems by establishing a dictionary between coarse equivalence and continuous
orbit equivalence. As an application, we give conceptual explanations for
previous results of Shalom and Sauer on coarse invariance of homological and
cohomological dimensions and Shalom's property $H_{FD}$. As another
application, we show that group homology and cohomology in a class of
coefficients, including all induced and co-induced modules, are coarse
invariants. We deduce that being of type $FP_n$ (over arbitrary rings) is a
coarse invariant, and that being a (Poincar\'e) duality group over a ring is a
coarse invariant among all groups which have finite cohomological dimension
over that ring. Our results also imply that every self coarse embedding of a
Poincar\'e duality group over an arbitrary ring must be a coarse equivalence.


  Lines from HC3N and isotopic substituted species in ground and vibrationally
excited states produce crowded millimeter and submillimeter wave spectra in the
C-rich protoplanetary nebula CRL618. The complete sequence of HC3N rotational
lines from J=9-8 to J=30-29 has been observed with the IRAM 30m telescope
toward this object. Lines from a total of 15 different vibrational states
(including the fundamental), with energies up to 1100 cm^-1, have been detected
for the main HC3N isotopomer. In addition, the CSO telescope has been used to
complement this study in the range J=31-30 to J=39-38, with detections in five
of these states, all of them below 700 cm^-1. Vibrationally excited HC3N
rotational lines exhibit P-Cygni profiles at 3 mm, evolving to pure emission
lineshapes at shorter wavelengths. This evolution of the line profile shows
little dependence on the vibrational state from which they rotational lines
arise. The absorption features are formed against the continuum emission, which
has been successfully characterized in this work due to the large frequency
coverage. The HC3N column density in front of the the continuum source has been
determined by comparing the output of an array of models to the data. The best
fits are obtained for column densities in the range 2.0-3.5 10$^17 cm^-2,
consistent with previous estimates from ISO data, and TK in the range 250 to
275 K, in very good agreement with estimates made from the same ISO data.


  Let $\text{AGL}(1,\Bbb F_q)$ be the affine linear group of dimension $1$ over
a finite field $\Bbb F_q$. $\text{AGL}(1,\Bbb F_q)$ acts sharply 2-transitively
on $\Bbb F_q$. Given $S<\text{AGL}(1,\Bbb F_q)$ and an integer $k$ with $1\le
k\le q$, does there exist a subset $B\subset\Bbb F_q$ with $|B|=k$ such that
$S=\text{AGL}(1,\Bbb F_q)_B$? ($\text{AGL}(1,\Bbb
F_q)_B=\{\sigma\in\text{AGL}(1,\Bbb F_q):\sigma(B)=B\}$ is the stabilizer of
$B$ in $\text{AGL}(1,\Bbb F_q)$.) We derive a sum that holds the answer to this
question. This result determines all possible parameters of binary constant
weight codes that are constructed from the action of $\text{AGL}(1,\Bbb F_q)$
on $\Bbb F_q$ to meet the Johnson bound. Consequently, the values of the
function $A_2(n,d,w)$ are determined for many parameters, where $A_2(n,d,w)$ is
the maximum number of codewords in a binary constant weight code of length $n$,
weight $w$ and minimum distance $\ge d$.


  Relativistic hydrodynamics simulations of quark-gluon plasma play a pivotal
role in our understanding of heavy ion collisions at RHIC and LHC. They are
based on a phenomenological description due to Mueller, Israel, Stewart (MIS)
and others, which incorporates viscous effects and ensures a well-posed initial
value problem. Focusing on the case of conformal plasma we propose a
generalization which includes, in addition, the dynamics of the least damped
far-from-equilibrium degree of freedom found in strongly coupled plasmas
through the AdS/CFT correspondence. We formulate new evolution equations for
general flows and then test them in the case of N=4 super Yang-Mills plasma by
comparing their solutions alongside solutions of MIS theory with numerical
computations of isotropization and boost-invariant flow based on holography. In
these tests the new equations reproduce the results of MIS theory when
initialized close to the hydrodynamic stage of evolution, but give a more
accurate description of the dynamics when initial conditions are set in the
pre-equilibrium regime.


  The effect of mid-T heat treatment on flux trapping sensitivity was measured
on several 1.3 GHz single cell cavities subjected to vacuum annealing at
temperature of 150 - 400 $^\circ$C for a duration of 3 hours. The cavity was
cooldown with residual magnetic field $\sim$0 and $\sim$20 mG in the Dewar with
cooldown condition of full flux trapping. The quality factor as a function of
accelerating gradient was measured. The results show the correlation between
the treatment temperature, quality factor, and sensitivity to flux trapping.
Sensitivity increases with increasing heat treatment temperatures within the
range of (200 - 325 $^\circ$C/3h). Moreover, variations in the effective
penetration depth of the magnetic field and the density of quasi-particles can
occur, influencing alterations in the cavity's electromagnetic response and
resonance frequency.


  We study the thermodynamical properties of compressed baryonic matter with
strangeness within non-relativistic energy density functional models with a
particular emphasis on possible phase transitions found earlier for a simple
$n,p,e,\Lambda$-mixture. The aim of the paper is twofold: I) examining the
phase structure of the complete system, including the full baryonic octet and
II) testing the sensitivity of the results to the model parameters. We find
that, associated to the onset of the different hyperonic families, up to three
separate strangeness-driven phase transitions may occur. Consequently, a large
fraction of the baryonic density domain is covered by phase coexistence with
potential relevance for (proto)-neutron star evolution. It is shown that the
presence of a phase transition is compatible both with the observational
constraint on the maximal neutron star mass, and with the present experimental
information on hypernuclei. In particular we show that two solar mass neutron
stars are compatible with important hyperon content. Still, the parameter space
is too large to give a definitive conclusion of the possible occurrence of a
strangeness driven phase transition, and further constraints from
multiple-hyperon nuclei and/or hyperon diffusion data are needed.


  We present measurements of quasi-Keplerian flows in a Taylor-Couette device
that identify the boundary conditions required to generate near-ideal flows
that exhibit self-similarity under scaling of the Reynolds number. These
experiments are contrasted with alternate boundary configurations that result
in flows that progressively deviate from ideal Couette rotation as the Reynolds
number is increased. These behaviors are quantitatively explained in terms of
the tendency to generate global Ekman circulation and the balance of angular
momentum fluxes through the axial and radial boundary layers.


  Using lattice models we explore the factors that determine the tendencies of
polypeptide chains to aggregate by exhaustively sampling the sequence and
conformational space. The morphologies of the fibril-like structures and the
time scales ($\tau_{fib}$) for their formation depend on a subtle balance
between hydrophobic and coulomb interactions. The extent of population of a
fibril-prone structure in the spectrum of monomer conformations is the major
determinant of $\tau_{fib}$. This observation is used to determine the
aggregation-prone consensus sequences by exhaustively exploring the sequence
space. Our results provide a basis for genome wide search of fragments that are
aggregation prone.


  Molecular communication is an expanding body of research. Recent advances in
biology have encouraged using genetically engineered bacteria as the main
component in the molecular communication. This has stimulated a new line of
research that attempts to study molecular communication among bacteria from an
information-theoretic point of view. Due to high randomness in the individual
behavior of the bacterium, reliable communication between two bacteria is
almost impossible. Therefore, we recently proposed that a population of
bacteria in a cluster is considered as a node capable of molecular transmission
and reception. This proposition enables us to form a reliable node out of many
unreliable bacteria. The bacteria inside a node sense the environment and
respond accordingly. In this paper, we study the communication between two
nodes, one acting as the transmitter and the other as the receiver. We consider
the case in which the information is encoded in the concentration of molecules
by the transmitter. The molecules produced by the bacteria in the transmitter
node propagate in the environment via the diffusion process. Then, their
concentration sensed by the bacteria in the receiver node would decode the
information. The randomness in the communication is caused by both the error in
the molecular production at the transmitter and the reception of molecules at
the receiver. We study the theoretical limits of the information transfer rate
in such a setup versus the number of bacteria per node. Finally, we consider
M-ary modulation schemes and study the achievable rates and their error
probabilities.


  The semiclassical general formula for the probability of radiation of twisted
photons by ultrarelativistic scalar and Dirac particles moving in the
electromagnetic field of a general form is derived. This formula is the analog
of the Baier-Katkov formula for the probability of radiation of one plane wave
photon with the quantum recoil taken into account. The derived formula is used
to describe the radiation of twisted photons by charged particles in undulators
and laser waves. Thus, the general theory of undulator radiation of twisted
photons and radiation of twisted photons in the nonlinear Compton process is
developed with account for the quantum recoil. The explicit formulas for the
probability to record a twisted photon are obtained in these cases. In
particular, we found that the quantum recoil and spin degrees of freedom
increase the radiation probability of twisted photons in comparison with the
formula for scalar particles without recoil. In the range of applicability of
the semiclassical formula, the selection rules for undulator radiation
established in the purely classical framework are not violated. The
manifestation of the blossoming out rose effect in the nonlinear Compton
process in a strong laser wave with circular polarization and in the wiggler
radiation is revealed. Several examples are studied: the radiation of MeV
twisted photons by $180$ GeV electrons in the wiggler; the radiation of twisted
photons by $256$ MeV electrons in strong electromagnetic waves produced by the
CO$_2$ and Ti:Sa lasers; and the radiation of MeV twisted photons by $51.1$ MeV
electrons in the electromagnetic wave generated by the FEL with photon energy
$1$ keV.


  Since the discovery of high-$T_c$ cuprates the quest for new superconductors
has shifted toward more anisotropic, strongly correlated materials with lower
carrier densities and competing magnetic and charge density wave orders. While
these materials features enhance superconducting correlations, they also result
in serious problems for applications at liquid nitrogen (and higher)
temperatures and strong magnetic fields, so that such conventional
characteristics as the critical temperature $T_c$ and the upper critical field
$H_{c2}$ are no longer the main parameters of merit. This happens because of
strong fluctuations of the order parameter, thermally-activated hopping of
pinned vortices and electromagnetic granularity, as has been established after
extensive investigations of cuprates and Fe-based superconductors. In this
paper I give an overview of these mechanisms crucial for power and magnet
applications and discuss the materials restrictions which have to be satisfied
in order to make superconductors useful at high temperatures and magnetic
fields. These restrictions become more and more essential at higher
temperatures and magnetic fields, particularly for the yet-to-be-discovered
superconductors operating at room temperatures. In this case the performance of
superconductors will be limited by destructive fluctuations of the order
parameter so higher superfluid density and weaker electronic anisotropy which
reduce these fluctuations can become far more important than higher $T_c$.


  3D ultrasound imaging provides more spatial information compared to
conventional 2D frames by considering the volumes of data. One of the main
bottlenecks of 3D imaging is the long data acquisition time which reduces
practicality and can introduce artifacts from unwanted patient or sonographer
motion. This paper introduces the first shear wave absolute vibro-elastography
(S-WAVE) method with real-time volumetric acquisition using a matrix array
transducer. In SWAVE, an external vibration source generates mechanical
vibrations inside the tissue. The tissue motion is then estimated and used in
solving a wave equation inverse problem to provide the tissue elasticity. A
matrix array transducer is used with a Verasonics ultrasound machine and frame
rate of 2000 volumes/s to acquire 100 radio frequency (RF) volumes in 0.05 s.
Using plane wave (PW) and compounded diverging wave (CDW) imaging methods, we
estimate axial, lateral and elevational displacements over 3D volumes. The curl
of the displacements is used with local frequency estimation to estimate
elasticity in the acquired volumes. Ultrafast acquisition extends substantially
the possible S-WAVE excitation frequency range, now up to 800 Hz, enabling new
tissue modeling and characterization. The method was validated on three
homogeneous liver fibrosis phantoms and on four different inclusions within a
heterogeneous phantom. The homogeneous phantom results show less than 8% (PW)
and 5% (CDW) difference between the manufacturer values and the corresponding
estimated values over a frequency range of 80 Hz to 800 Hz. The estimated
elasticity values for the heterogeneous phantom at 400 Hz excitation frequency
show average errors of 9% (PW) and 6% (CDW) compared to the provided average
values by MRE. Furthermore, both imaging methods were able to detect the
inclusions within the elasticity volumes.


  We obtain a generalization of the Low theorem for non-Abelian boson emission
in collision of scalar and gauge vector particles and its extension to high
energy collisions for small transverse momenta of produced particles. We
demonstrate that in the case of particles with spin the direct extension the
Low formula to high energy is in contradiction with the correct amplitude
factorization behavior. Consideration of different kinematical regions and use
of methods of dual models allows us to separate contributions of intermediate
excited states and standard spin corrections in the Low formulae. We show that
the amplitude factorization occurs at high energy due to the contribution of
the intermediate states which is additional to the gluon production amplitude
for the scalar particle collision.


  We calculate the full density response function, and from it the
long-wavelength acoustic dispersion for a two-dimensional system of strongly
coupled point dipoles interacting through a 1/r^3 potential at arbitrary
degeneracy. Such a system has no RPA limit and the calculation has to include
correlations from the outset. We follow the Quasi-Localized Charge (QLC)
approach, accompanied by Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations. Similarly to what
has been recently reported for the closely spaced classical electron-hole
bilayer [G. J. Kalman et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 236801 (2007)] and in marked
contrast to the RPA, we report a long-wavelength acoustic phase velocity that
is wholly maintained by particle correlations and varies linearly with the
dipole moment p. The oscillation frequency, calculated both in an extended QLC
approximation and in the Singwi-Tosi-Land-Sjolander approximation, is invariant
in form over the entire classical to quantum domains all the way down to zero
temperature. Based on our classical MD-generated pair distribution function
data and on ground-state energy data generated by recent quantum Monte Carlo
simulations on a bosonic dipole system [Astrakharchik et al, Phys. Rev. Lett.
98, 060405 (2007)], there is a good agreement between the QLCA kinetic sound
speeds and the standard thermodynamic sound speeds in both the classical and
quantum domains.


  Ant Colony Optimization algorithm is a magnificent heuristics technique based
on the behavior of ants. Parallel computing is a means to achieve the desired
results in commensurable execution time. Parallelization of Ant Colony
Optimization is utilized to solve large and complex problems. This paper
discusses a review of different parallelization approaches for Ant Colony
Optimization and its various applications. Parallel Ant Colony Optimization has
proved to be a successful approach for highly constrained problems such as
routing, scheduling, timetabling, etc. Parallelization of Ant Colony
Optimization reduces the execution time, increases the size of the problem,
etc.


  Motivated by Brendle-Marques-Neves' counterexample to the Min-Oo's
conjecture, we prove a volume constrained scalar curvature rigidity theorem
which applies to the hemisphere.


  Given a Galois \'etale map of varieties $\pi:Y\to X$ and an $\ell$-adic sheaf
or derived category object $P\in D^b_c(Y,{\mathbb Q}_\ell)$, we study two
cohomological operations: the tensor direct image and (in the case of perverse
sheaves) the convolution direct image, which give objects of $D^b_c(X,{\mathbb
Q}_\ell)$, and can be used to improve the estimates on some partial exponential
sums and the number of rational points on certain varieties.


  Neural Machine Translation (NMT) systems are known to degrade when confronted
with noisy data, especially when the system is trained only on clean data. In
this paper, we show that augmenting training data with sentences containing
artificially-introduced grammatical errors can make the system more robust to
such errors. In combination with an automatic grammar error correction system,
we can recover 1.5 BLEU out of 2.4 BLEU lost due to grammatical errors. We also
present a set of Spanish translations of the JFLEG grammar error correction
corpus, which allows for testing NMT robustness to real grammatical errors.


  We present the first-ever global, spatially-resolved reconstruction of the
star formation history (SFH) of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), based on the
application of our StarFISH analysis software to the multiband photometry of
twenty million of its stars from the Magellanic Clouds Photometric Survey. The
general outlines of our results are consistent with previously published
results: following an initial burst of star formation, there was a quiescent
epoch from approximately 12 to 5 Gyr ago. Star formation then resumed and has
proceeded until the current time at an average rate of roughly 0.2 solar
masses/yr, with temporal variations at the factor-of-two level. The re-ignition
of star formation about 5 Gyr ago, in both the LMC and SMC, is suggestive of a
dramatic event at that time in the Magellanic system. Among the global
variations in the recent star formation rate are peaks at roughly 2 Gyr, 500
Myr, 100 Myr and 12 Myr. The peaks at 500 Myr and 2 Gyr are nearly coincident
with similar peaks in the SFH of the Small Magellanic Cloud, suggesting a joint
history for these galaxies extending back at least several Gyr. The chemical
enrichment history recovered from our StarFISH analysis is in broad agreement
with that inferred from the LMC's star cluster population, although our
constraints on the ancient chemical enrichment history are weak. We conclude
from the concordance between the star formation and chemical enrichment
histories of the field and cluster populations that the field and cluster star
formation modes are tightly coupled.


  Recently, corrections to the standard Einstein-Hilbert action are proposed to
explain the current cosmic acceleration in stead of introducing dark energy. In
the Palatini formulation of those modified gravity models, there is an
important observation due to Arkani-Hamed: matter loops will give rise to a
correction to the modified gravity action proportional to the Ricci scalar of
the metric. In the presence of such term, we show that the current forms of
modified gravity models in Palatini formulation, specifically, the 1/R gravity
and $\ln R$ gravity, will have phantoms. Then we study the possible
instabilities due to the presence of phantom fields. We show that the strong
instability in the metric formulation of 1/R gravity indicated by Dolgov and
Kawasaki will not appear and the decay timescales for the phantom fields may be
long enough for the theories to make sense as effective field theory . On the
other hand, if we change the sign of the modification terms to eliminate the
phantoms, some other inconsistencies will arise for the various versions of the
modified gravity models. Finally, we comment on the universal property of the
Palatini formulation of the matter loops corrected modified gravity models and
its implications.


  We probe the dynamical mass profiles of 10 galaxy clusters from the HIghest
X-ray FLUx Galaxy Cluster Sample (HIFLUGCS) using galaxy kinematics. We
numerically solve the spherical Jeans equation, and parameterize the dynamical
mass profile and the galaxy velocity anisotropy profile using two general
functions to ensure that our results are not biased towards any specific model.
The mass-velocity anisotropy degeneracy is ameliorated by using two "virial
shape parameters" that depend on the fourth moment of velocity distribution.
The resulting velocity anisotropy estimates consistently show a nearly
isotropic distribution in the inner regions, with an increasing radial
anisotropy towards large radii. We compare our derived dynamical masses with
those calculated from X-ray gas data assuming hydrostatic equilibrium, finding
that massive and rich relaxed clusters generally present consistent mass
measurements, while unrelaxed or low-richness clusters have systematically
larger total mass than hydrostatic mass by an average of 50\%. This might help
alleviate current tensions in the measurement of $\sigma_8$, but it also leads
to cluster baryon fractions below the cosmic value. Finally, our approach
probes accelerations as low as $10^{-11}$ m s$^{-2}$, comparable to the
outskirts of individual late-type galaxies. We confirm that galaxy clusters
deviate from the radial acceleration relation defined by galaxies.


  The possibility of variations of the values of fundamental constants is a
phenomenon predicted by a number of scenarios beyond General Relativity. This
can happen if ``our'' fundamental constants are not the actual constants of the
fundamental theory and their value is instead determined, for example, by the
background value of some new field or the size of extra dimensions. So far,
most studies have been devoted to constrain possible temporal variations of the
electromagnetic fine structure constant $\alpha$, the proton to electron mass
ratio $\mu = m_p/m_e$, and the gravitational constant $G_{\rm N}$. Apart some
claims of the detection of a temporal or spatial variation of $\alpha$ and
$\mu$, so far there is no clear observational evidence of any variation of our
fundamental constants.


  We introduce a valuation-theoretic approach to the problem of semistable
reduction (i.e., existence of logarithmic extensions on suitable covers) of
overconvergent isocrystals with Frobenius structure. The key tool is the
quasicompactness of the Riemann-Zariski space associated to the function field
of a variety.


  We present a multi-wavelength analysis of a $\sim$30$' \times$30$'$ area
around the Sh 2-53 region (hereafter S53 complex), which is associated with at
least three H II regions, two mid-infrared bubbles (N21 and N22), and infrared
dark clouds. The $^{13}$CO line data trace the molecular content of the S53
complex in a velocity range of 36--60 km s$^{-1}$, and show the presence of at
least three molecular components within the selected area along this direction.
Using the observed radio continuum flux of the H II regions, the derived
spectral types of the ionizing sources agree well with the previously reported
results. The S53 complex harbors clusters of young stellar objects (YSOs) that
are identified using the photometric 2--24 $\mu$m magnitudes. It also hosts
several massive condensations (3000-30000 $M_\odot$) which are traced in the
{\em Herschel} column density map. The complex is found at the junction of at
least five molecular filaments, and the flow of gas toward the junction is
evident in the velocity space of the $^{13}$CO data. Together, the S53 complex
is embedded in a very similar "hub-filament" system to those reported in Myers,
and the active star formation is evident towards the central "hub" inferred by
the presence of the clustering of YSOs.


  The Baillon-Haddad theorem establishes that the gradient of a convex and
continuously differentiable function defined in a Hilbert space is
$\beta$-Lipschitz if and only if it is $1/\beta$-cocoercive. In this paper, we
extend this theorem to G\^{a}teaux differentiable convex functions defined on
an open convex set of a Hilbert space. Finally, we give a characterization of
$C^{1,+}$ convex functions in terms of local cocoercitivity.


  We explore the possibility of embedding the Pati-Salam model in the context
of Type I brane models. We study a generic model with U(4)_C x U(2)_L x U(2)_R
gauge symmetry and matter fields compatible with a Type I brane configuration.
Examining the anomaly cancellation conditions of the surplus abelian symmetries
we find an alternative hypercharge embedding that is compatible with a low
string/brane scale of the order of 5-7 TeV, when the U(4)_C and U(2)_R brane
stack couplings are equal. Proton stability is assured as baryon number is
associated to a global symmetry remnant of the broken abelian factors. It is
also shown that this scenario can accommodate an extra low energy abelian
symmetry that can be associated to lepton number. The issue of fermion and
especially neutrino masses is also discussed.


  We present results from a 150 ksec Suzaku observation of the Seyfert 1.5 NGC
3516 in October 2005. The source was in a relatively highly absorbed state. Our
best-fit model is consistent with the presence of a low-ionization absorber
which has a column density near 5 * 10^{22} cm^{-2} and covers most of the
X-ray continuum source (covering fraction 96-100%). A high-ionization absorbing
component, which yields a narrow absorption feature consistent with Fe K XXVI,
is confirmed. A relativistically broadened Fe K alpha line is required in all
fits, even after the complex absorption is taken into account; an additional
partial-covering component is an inadequate substitute for the continuum
curvature associated with the broad Fe line. A narrow Fe K alpha emission line
has a velocity width consistent with the Broad Line Region. The low-ionization
absorber may be responsible for producing the narrow Fe K alpha line, though a
contribution from additional material out of the line of sight is possible. We
include in our model soft band emission lines from He- and H-like ions of N, O,
Ne and Mg, consistent with photo-ionization, though a small contribution from
collisionally-ionized emission is possible.


  Decentralized control in multi-robot systems is dependent on accurate and
reliable communication between agents. Important communication factors, such as
latency and packet delivery ratio, are strong functions of the number of agents
in the network. Findings from studies of mobile and high node-count
radio-frequency (RF) mesh networks have only been transferred to the domain of
multi-robot systems to a limited extent, and typical multi-agent robotic
simulators often depend on simple propagation models that do not reflect the
behavior of realistic RF networks. In this paper, we present a new open source
swarm robotics simulator, BotNet, with an embedded standards-compliant
time-synchronized channel hopping (6TiSCH) RF mesh network simulator. Using
this simulator we show how more accurate communications models can limit even
simple multi-robot control tasks such as flocking and formation control, with
agent counts ranging from 10 up to 2500 agents. The experimental results are
used to motivate changes to the inter-robot communication propagation models
and other networking components currently used in practice in order to bridge
the sim-to-real gap.


  The TeV energy region is currently being explored by both the ATLAS and CMS
experiments of the Large Hadron Collider and phenomena beyond the Standard
Model are extensively searched for. Large fractions of the parameter space of
many models have already been excluded, and the ranges covered by the searches
will certainly be increased by the upcoming energy and luminosity upgrades. If
new physics has to be discovered in the forthcoming years, the ultimate goal of
the high-energy physics program will consist of fully characterizing the
newly-discovered degrees of freedom in terms of properties such as their
masses, spins and couplings. The scope of this paper is to show how the
availability of polarized beams at high-energy proton-proton colliders could
yield a unique discriminating power between different beyond the Standard Model
scenarios. We first discuss in a model-independent way how this discriminating
power arises from the differences between polarized and unpolarized parton
distribution functions. We then demonstrate how polarized beams allow one not
only to disentangle different production mechanisms giving the same final-state
signature, but also to obtain information on the parameters of the hypothetical
new physics sector of the theory. This is illustrated in the case of a
particular class of scenarios leading to monotop production. We consider three
specific models that could produce a monotop signature in unpolarized proton
collisions, and show how they could be distinguished by means of single- and
double-spin asymmetries in polarized collisions. Our results are presented for
both the Large Hadron Collider operating at a center-of-mass energy of 14 TeV
and a recently proposed Future Circular Collider assumed to collide protons at
a center-of-mass energy of 100 TeV.


  Polarized and unpolarized observables in the process of the triplet
photoproduction on a free electron, $\gamma +e\to e+e+e$, have been calculated
in the laboratory system. These observables are calculated in the approximation
when the Borsellino and $\gamma -e$ diagrams are taken into account. Using the
method of the invariant integration over the produced electron-positron pair
variables, the different distributions were obtained in the analytical form. We
obtain the double distribution over the $q^2$ (the square of the four-momentum
transfer to the recoil electron) and $Q^2$ (the created $e^+e^-$-pair invariant
mass squared) variables, and single distributions over $q^2$ or $Q^2$
variables. We consider the following cases: unpolarized particles, the photon
beam is linearly polarized and circularly polarized photon beam interacts with
a polarized electron target. The influence of the $\gamma -e$ terms on the
calculated observables has been investigated. The possibility to use this
process for the measurement of the circular polarization of the high-energy
photon beam is also considered. The numerical estimations of various
polarization observables have been done.


  The three-year observations from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe
have been hailed as giving the first clear indication of a spectral index
n_s<1. We point out that the data are equally well explained by retaining the
assumption n_s=1 and allowing the tensor-to-scalar ratio r to be non-zero. The
combination n_s=1 and r>0 is given (within the slow-roll approximation) by a
version of the intermediate inflation model with expansion rate H(t) \propto
t^{-1/3}. We assess the status of this model in light of the WMAP3 data.


  Because gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) trace the high-z Universe, there is an
appreciable probability for a GRB to be gravitational lensed by galaxies in the
universe. Herein we consider the gravitational lensing effect of GRBs
contributed by the dark matter halos in galaxies. Assuming that all halos have
the singular isothermal sphere (SIS) mass profile in the mass range $10^{10}
h^{-1} M_\odot < M < 2\times 10^{13} h^{-1}M_\odot $ and all GRB samples follow
the intrinsic redshift distribution and luminosity function derived from the
Swift LGRBs sample, we calculated the gravitational lensing probability in
BATSE, Swift/BAT and Fermi/GBM GRBs, respectively. With an derived probability
result in BATSE GRBs, we searched for lensed GRB pairs in the BATSE 5B GRB
Spectral catalog. The search did not find any convincing gravitationally lensed
events. We discuss our result and future observations for GRB lensing
observation.


  The Detweiler-Barack-Sago redshift function for particles moving along
slightly eccentric equatorial orbits around a Kerr black hole is currently
known up to the second order in eccentricity, second order in spin parameter,
and the 8.5 post-Newtonian order. We improve the analytical computation of such
a gauge-invariant quantity by including terms up to the fourth order in
eccentricity at the same post-Newtonian approximation level. We also check that
our results agrees with the corresponding post-Newtonian expectation of the
same quantity, calculated by using the currently known Hamiltonian for spinning
binaries.


  We demonstrate how magnetic droplet soliton pairs, nucleated by two separated
nano-contact (NC) spin torque oscillators, can merge into a single droplet
soliton. A detailed description of the magnetization dynamics of this merger
process is obtained by micromagnetic simulations: A droplet pair with a
steady-state in-phase spin precession is generated through the spin-transfer
torque effect underneath two separate NCs, followed by a gradual expansion of
the droplets volume and the out phase of magnetization on the inner side of the
two droplets, resulting in the droplets merging into a larger droplet. This
merger occurs only when the NC separation is smaller than a critical value. A
transient breathing mode is observed before the merged droplet stabilizes into
a steady precession state. The precession frequency of the merged droplet is
lower than that of the droplet pair, consistent with its larger size. Merged
droplets can again break up into droplet pairs at high enough magnetic field
with a strong hysteretic response.


  A search is made for periodic modulation in the X-ray flux from the low mass
X-ray binary GX13+1 using Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer All Sky Monitor data
collected over a period of almost seven years. From a filtered data set, which
excludes measurements with exceptionally large error bars and so maximizes
signal to noise, modulation is found at a period of 24.065 +/- 0.018 days. The
modulation is most clearly detectable at high energies (5 - 12 keV). Spectral
changes are revealed as a modulation in hardness ratio on the 24 day period and
there is a phase shift between the modulation in the 5 - 12 keV energy band
compared to the 1.5 - 5 keV band. The high-energy spectrum of GX13+1 is unusual
in displaying both emission and absorption iron line features and it is
speculated that the peculiar spectral and timing properties may be connected.


  The $L_\infty$-algebra is an algebraic structure suitable for describing
deformation problems. In this paper we construct one $L_\infty$-algebra, which
turns out to be a differential graded Lie algebra, to control the deformations
of Lie algebroids and a second one to control the deformations of Lie
subalgebroids. We also combine these two $L_\infty$-algebras into one to
control the simultaneous deformations of a Lie algebroid and its Lie
subalgebroids. The results generalize the deformation theory of Lie algebra and
Lie subalgebras. Applications of our results include deformations of
foliations, deformations of complex structures and deformations of
homomorphisms of Lie algebroids.


  We investigate cosmological behavior in the quasi-Dilaton non-linear massive
gravity. We perform a detailed dynamical analysis and examine the stable
late-time solutions relevant to late time cosmic acceleration. We demonstrate
that a dark-energy dominated, cosmological-constant-like solution is a late
attractor of the dynamics. We also analyze the evolution of the universe at
intermediate times, showing that the observed epoch sequence can be easily
obtained in the model under consideration. Furthermore, we study the
non-singular bounce and the cosmological turnaround which can be realized for a
region of the parameter space. Last but not least, we use observational data
from Type Ia Supernovae (SNIa), Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO) and Cosmic
Microwave Background (CMB), in order to constrain the parameters of the theory.


  We study the k-median and k-center problems in probabilistic graphs. We
analyze the hardness of these problems, and propose several algorithms with
improved approximation ratios compared with the existing proposals.


  Quantum algorithms offer significant speedups over their classical
counterparts for a variety of problems. The strongest arguments for this
advantage are borne by algorithms for quantum search, quantum phase estimation,
and Hamiltonian simulation, which appear as subroutines for large families of
composite quantum algorithms. A number of these quantum algorithms were
recently tied together by a novel technique known as the quantum singular value
transformation (QSVT), which enables one to perform a polynomial transformation
of the singular values of a linear operator embedded in a unitary matrix. In
the seminal GSLW'19 paper on QSVT [Gily\'en, Su, Low, and Wiebe, ACM STOC
2019], many algorithms are encompassed, including amplitude amplification,
methods for the quantum linear systems problem, and quantum simulation. Here,
we provide a pedagogical tutorial through these developments, first
illustrating how quantum signal processing may be generalized to the quantum
eigenvalue transform, from which QSVT naturally emerges. Paralleling GSLW'19,
we then employ QSVT to construct intuitive quantum algorithms for search, phase
estimation, and Hamiltonian simulation, and also showcase algorithms for the
eigenvalue threshold problem and matrix inversion. This overview illustrates
how QSVT is a single framework comprising the three major quantum algorithms,
thus suggesting a grand unification of quantum algorithms.


  An overview of the current status of WIMP direct searches with conventional
detectors is presented, emphasizing strategies, achievements and prospects.


  In this note we present an evaluation of the couplings JD(*)D(*) and
JD(*)D(*)pi in the Constituent Quark Model. These couplings are a crucial
ingredient in the calculation of cross sections for the processes pi J/psi ->
D(*)Dbar(*), an important background for the J/psi suppression signal in
quark-gluon plasma.


  In a Universe where AGN feedback regulates star formation in massive
galaxies, a strong correlation between these two quantities is expected. If the
gas causing star formation is also responsible for feeding the central black
hole, then a positive correlation is expected. If powerful AGNs are responsible
for the star formation quenching, then a negative correlation is expected.
Observations so far have mainly found a mild correlation or no correlation at
all (i.e. a flat relation between star formation rate (SFR) and AGN
luminosity), raising questions about the whole paradigm of "AGN feedback". In
this paper, we report the predictions of the GALFORM semi-analytical model,
which has a very strong coupling between AGN activity and quenching of star
formation. The predicted SFR-AGN luminosity correlation appears negative in the
low AGN luminosity regime, where AGN feedback acts, but becomes strongly
positive in the regime of the brightest AGN. Our predictions reproduce
reasonably well recent observations by Rosario et al., yet there is some
discrepancy in the normalisation of the correlation at low luminosities and
high redshifts. Though this regime could be strongly influenced by
observational biases, we argue that the disagreement could be ascribed to the
fact that GALFORM neglects AGN variability effects. Interestingly, the galaxies
that dominate the regime where the observations imply a weak correlation are
massive early-type galaxies that are subject to AGN feedback. Nevertheless,
these galaxies retain high enough molecular hydrogen contents to maintain
relatively high star formation rates and strong infrared emission.


  We quantify the inside-out growth of the Milky Way's low-alpha stellar disk,
modelling the ages, metallicities and Galactocentric radii of APOGEE red clump
stars with 6 < R < 13 kpc. The current stellar distribution differs
significantly from that expected from the star formation history due to the
redistribution of stars through radial orbit mixing. We propose and fit a
global model for the Milky Way disk, specified by an inside-out star formation
history, radial orbit mixing, and an empirical, parametric model for its
chemical evolution. We account for the spatially complex survey selection
function, and find that the model fits all data well. We find distinct
inside-out growth of the Milky Way disk; the best fit model implies that the
half-mass radius of the Milky Way disk has grown by 43\% over the last 7 Gyr.
Yet, such inside-out growth still results in present-day age gradient weaker
than 0.1 Gyr/kpc. Our model predicts the half-mass and half-light sizes of the
Galactic disk at earlier epochs, which can be compared to the observed redshift
-size relations of disk galaxies. We show that radial orbit migration can
reconcile the distinct disk-size evolution with redshift, also expected from
cosmological simulations, with the modest present-day age gradients seen in the
Milky Way and other galaxies.


  We explore the implications of third family ($t-b-\tau$) quasi-Yukawa
unification (QYU) for collider and dark matter (DM) searches within the
framework of a supersymmetric $SU(4)_c \times SU(2)_L \times SU(2)_R$ model.
The deviation from exact Yukawa unification is quantified through the relation
$y_t : y_b : y_\tau = |1+C|:|1-C|:|1+3C|$, with $C$ being a real parameter
($|C| \leq 0.2$). We allow for the breaking of left-right symmetry both by the
soft scalar and gaugino mass parameters and obtain a variety of viable
solutions that predict the sparticle mass spectrum including LSP DM (whose
stability is guaranteed by a $Z_2$ gauge symmetry). We highlight solutions that
include an NLSP gluino with mass $\sim$ 1.3-2.5 TeV, which should be accessible
at LHC Run 3. There also exist NSLP stop solutions with masses heavier than
about 1.8 TeV, which are consistent with the LSP neutralino dark matter relic
density through stop-neutralino coannihilation. We identify A-resonance
solutions with DM mass $\sim$ 0.8 - 2 TeV, as well as bino-chargino,
bino-slepton and bino-stau co-annihilation scenarios. Finally, we also identify
Wino-like ($\sim99\%$) and Higgsino-like ($\sim99\%$) solutions whose masses
are heavier than about 1.5 TeV and 1 TeV, respectively. These solutions are
compatible with the desired dark matter relic density and testable in ongoing
and future direct detection experiments.


  Local pseudorandom generators are a class of fundamental cryptographic
primitives having very broad applications in theoretical cryptography.
Following Couteau et al.'s work in ASIACRYPT 2018, this paper further studies
the concrete security of one important class of local pseudorandom generators,
i.e., Goldreich's pseudorandom generators. Our first attack is of the
guess-and-determine type. Our result significantly improves the
state-of-the-art algorithm proposed by Couteau et al., in terms of both
asymptotic and concrete complexity, and breaks all the challenge parameters
they proposed. For instance, for a parameter set suggested for 128 bits of
security, we could solve the instance faster by a factor of about $2^{61}$,
thereby destroying the claimed security completely. Our second attack further
exploits the extremely sparse structure of the predicate $P_5$ and combines
ideas from iterative decoding. This novel attack, named guess-and-decode,
substantially improves the guess-and-determine approaches for
cryptographic-relevant parameters. All the challenge parameter sets proposed in
Couteau et al.'s work in ASIACRYPT 2018 aiming for 80-bit (128-bit) security
levels can be solved in about $2^{58}$ ($2^{78}$) operations. We suggest new
parameters for achieving 80-bit (128-bit) security with respect to our attacks.
We also extend the attack to other promising predicates and investigate their
resistance.