  The Breit-Wigner enhancement of the thermally averaged annihilation cross
section <\sigma v> is shown to provide a large boost factor when the dark
matter annihilation process nears a narrow resonance. We explicitly demonstrate
the evolution behavior of the Breit-Wigner enhanced <\sigma v> as the function
of universe temperature for both the physical and unphysical pole cases. It is
found that both of the cases can lead an enough large boost factor to explain
the recent PAMELA, ATIC and PPB-BETS anomalies. We also calculate the coupling
of annihilation process, which is useful for an appropriate model building to
give the desired dark matter relic density.


  Basic problems of complex systems are outlined with an emphasis on
irreducibility and dynamic many-to-many correspondences. We discuss the
importance of a constructive approach to artificial reality and the
significance of an internal observer.


  We discuss the challenges of modeling X-ray bursts in multi-dimensions,
review the different calculations done to date, and discuss our new set of
ongoing simulations. We also describe algorithmic improvements that may help in
the future to offset some of the expense of these simulations, and describe
what may be possible with exascale computing.


  There has been considerable progress in the design and construction of
quantum annealing devices. However, a conclusive detection of quantum speedup
over traditional silicon-based machines remains elusive, despite multiple
careful studies. In this work we outline strategies to design hard tunable
benchmark instances based on insights from the study of spin glasses - the
archetypal random benchmark problem for novel algorithms and optimization
devices. We propose to complement head-to-head scaling studies that compare
quantum annealing machines to state-of-the-art classical codes with an approach
that compares the performance of different algorithms and/or computing
architectures on different classes of computationally hard tunable spin-glass
instances. The advantage of such an approach lies in having to only compare the
performance hit felt by a given algorithm and/or architecture when the instance
complexity is increased. Furthermore, we propose a methodology that might not
directly translate into the detection of quantum speedup, but might elucidate
whether quantum annealing has a "`quantum advantage" over corresponding
classical algorithms like simulated annealing. Our results on a 496 qubit
D-Wave Two quantum annealing device are compared to recently-used
state-of-the-art thermal simulated annealing codes.


  Anisotropy, thermal and quantum fluctuations and their dependence on dopant
concentration appear to be present in all cuprate superconductors, interwoven
with the microscopic mechanisms responsible for superconductivity. Here we
review anisotropy, in-plane and c-axis penetration depths, isotope effect and
conductivity measurements to reassess the universal behavior of cuprates as
revealed by the doping dependence of these phenomena and of the transition
temperature.


  We use the arithmetic of the Kummer surface associated to the Jacobian of a
hyperelliptic curve to study the primality of integers of the form $4m^2
5^n-1$. We provide an algorithm capable of proving the primality or
compositeness of most of the integers in these families and discuss in detail
the necessary steps to implement this algorithm in a computer. Although an
indetermination is possible, in which case another choice of initial parameters
should be used, we prove that the probability of reaching this situation is
exceedingly low and decreases exponentially with $n$.


  We prove a family of Hardy-Rellich and Poincar\'e identities and inequalities
on the hyperbolic space having, as particular cases, improved Hardy-Rellich,
Rellich and second order Poincar\'e inequalities. All remainder terms provided
considerably improve those already known in literature, and all identities hold
with same constants for radial operators also. Furthermore, as applications of
the main results, second order versions of the uncertainty principle on the
hyperbolic space are derived.


  Let $\psi:\M \to \SH$ be an isometric immersion of codimension 1, then there
exist symmetric $(1,1)$-tensors $S$ and $f$, a tangent vector field $U$ and a
smooth function $\lambda$ on $\M$ that satisfy the compatibility equations of
$\SH$. In this paper, we will deal with the converse problem: "Given a
Riemannian manifold $\M$ with symmetric $(1,1)$-tensors $S$ and $f$, tangent
vector field $U$ and smooth function $\lambda$ satisfying the conditions
mentioned above, can $\M$ then be isometrically immersed in $\SH$ in such a way
that $(g,S,f,U,\lambda)$ is realized as the induced structure?".


  We study physical consequences of the Einstein equivalence principle (EEP)
for a Hubble observer in FLRW universe. We introduce the local inertial
coordinates with the help of a special conformal transformation. The local
inertial metric is Minkowski-flat and materialized by a congruence of time-like
geodesics of static observers. The static observers are equipped with the ideal
clocks measuring the proper time that is synchronized with the clocks of the
Hubble observer. The local inertial metric is used for physical measurements of
spacetime intervals with the ideal clocks and rulers. The special conformal
transformation preserves null geodesics but does not keep invariant time-like
geodesics. Moreover, it makes the rate of the local time coordinate dependent
on velocity of the particle which makes impossible to rich the uniform
parameterization of the world lines of static observers and light geodesics
with a single parameter - they differ by the conformal factor of FLRW metric.
It tells us that the metric on the light cone is not Minkowski-flat but depends
on the scale factor of FLRW universe and it can be interpreted as a weak
violation of EEP for photons. The importance of this violation for
gravitational physics is that some of local experiments conducted with
freely-propagating electromagnetic waves may be sensitive to the Hubble
expansion. We show that the Hubble constant H can be measured within the solar
system by means of high-precision spacecraft Doppler tracking as a blue shift
of frequency of radio waves circulating in the Earth-spacecraft radio link. We
also analyze the behavior of the standing wave in a microwave resonator and
show that the standing wave is insensitive to the Hubble expansion.


  Autonomous vehicles are predicted to dominate the transportation industry in
the foreseeable future. Safety is one of the major challenges to the early
deployment of self-driving systems. To ensure safety, self-driving vehicles
must sense and detect humans, other vehicles, and road infrastructure
accurately, robustly, and timely. However, existing sensing techniques used by
self-driving vehicles may not be absolutely reliable. In this paper, we design
REITS, a system to improve the reliability of RF-based sensing modules for
autonomous vehicles. We conduct theoretical analysis on possible failures of
existing RF-based sensing systems. Based on the analysis, REITS adopts a
multi-antenna design, which enables constructive blind beamforming to return an
enhanced radar signal in the incident direction. REITS can also let the
existing radar system sense identification information by switching between
constructive beamforming state and destructive beamforming state. Preliminary
results show that REITS improves the detection distance of a self-driving car
radar by a factor of 3.63.


  This paper generalizes results concerning strong convexity of two-stage
mean-risk models with linear recourse to distortion risk measures. Introducing
the concept of (restricted) partial strong convexity, we conduct an in-depth
analysis of the expected excess functional with respect to the decision
variable and the threshold parameter. These results allow to derive sufficient
conditions for strong convexity of models building on the conditional
value-at-risk due to its variational representation. Via Kusuoka representation
these carry over to comonotonic and distortion risk measures, where we obtain
verifiable conditions in terms of the distortion function. For stochastic
optimisation models, we point out implications for quantitative stability with
respect to perturbations of the underlying probability measure. Recent work in
\cite{Ba14} and \cite{WaXi17} also gives testimony to the importance of strong
convexity for the convergence rates of modern stochastic subgradient descent
algorithms and in the setting of machine learning.


  Intrinsic domain-wall resistance (DWR) in (Ga,Mn)As is studied theoretically
and compared to experimental results. The recently developed model of spin
transport in diluted ferromagnetic semiconductors [Van Dorpe et al., Phys. Rev.
B 72, 205322 (2005)] is employed. The model combines the disorder-free
Landauer-B\"uttiker formalism with the tight-binding description of the host
band structure. The obtained results show how much the spherical 4x4 kp model
[Nguyen, Shchelushkin, and Brataas, cond-mat/0601436] overestimates DWR in the
adiabatic limit, and reveal the dependence of DWR on the magnetization profile
and crystallographic orientation of the wall.


  A prescription is developed for matching general relativistic perturbations
across singularities of the type encountered in the ekpyrotic and cyclic
scenarios i.e. a collision between orbifold planes. We show that there exists a
gauge in which the evolution of perturbations is locally identical to that in a
model space-time (compactified Milne mod Z_2) where the matching of modes
across the singularity can be treated using a prescription previously
introduced by two of us. Using this approach, we show that long wavelength,
scale-invariant, growing-mode perturbations in the incoming state pass through
the collision and become scale-invariant growing-mode perturbations in the
expanding hot big bang phase.


  We propose A-Crab (Actor-Critic Regularized by Average Bellman error), a new
practical algorithm for offline reinforcement learning (RL) in complex
environments with insufficient data coverage. Our algorithm combines the
marginalized importance sampling framework with the actor-critic paradigm,
where the critic returns evaluations of the actor (policy) that are pessimistic
relative to the offline data and have a small average (importance-weighted)
Bellman error. Compared to existing methods, our algorithm simultaneously
offers a number of advantages: (1) It achieves the optimal statistical rate of
$1/\sqrt{N}$ -- where $N$ is the size of offline dataset -- in converging to
the best policy covered in the offline dataset, even when combined with general
function approximators. (2) It relies on a weaker average notion of policy
coverage (compared to the $\ell_\infty$ single-policy concentrability) that
exploits the structure of policy visitations. (3) It outperforms the
data-collection behavior policy over a wide range of specific hyperparameters.
We provide both theoretical analysis and experimental results to validate the
effectiveness of our proposed algorithm.


  In this work, we present a numerical scheme to study the quasinormal modes of
the time-dependent Vaidya black hole metric in asymptotically anti-de Sitter
spacetime. The proposed algorithm is primarily based on a generalized matrix
method for quasinormal modes. The main feature of the present approach is that
the quasinormal frequency, as a function of time, is obtained by a generalized
secular equation and therefore a satisfactory degree of precision is achieved.
The implications of the results are discussed.


  In Cultural Heritage (CH) imaging, data acquired within different spectral
regions are often used to inspect surface and sub-surface features. Due to the
experimental setup, these images may suffer from intensity inhomogeneities,
which may prevent conservators from distinguishing the physical properties of
the object under restoration. Furthermore, in multi-modal imaging, the transfer
of information between one modality to another is often used to integrate image
contents. In this paper, we apply the image osmosis model proposed in (Weickert
et al. 2013) to solve similar problems arising when using diagnostic CH imaging
techniques based on reflectance, emission and fluorescence mode in the optical
and thermal range. For an efficient computation, we use stable operator
splitting techniques. We test our methods on real artwork datasets: the thermal
measurements of the mural painting "Monocromo" by Leonardo Da Vinci, the
UV-VIS-IR imaging of an ancient Russian icon and the Archimedes Palimpsest
dataset.


  We report tests of the recently proposed multicanonical multigrid Monte Carlo
method for the two-dimensional $\Phi^4$ field theory. Defining an effective
autocorrelation time we obtain real time improvement factors of about one order
of magnitude compared with standard multicanonical simulations.


  We explore the Collatz conjecture and its variants through the lens of
termination of string rewriting. We construct a rewriting system that simulates
the iterated application of the Collatz function on strings corresponding to
mixed binary-ternary representations of positive integers. We prove that the
termination of this rewriting system is equivalent to the Collatz conjecture.
We also prove that a previously studied rewriting system that simulates the
Collatz function using unary representations does not admit termination proofs
via natural matrix interpretations, even when used in conjunction with
dependency pairs. To show the feasibility of our approach in proving
mathematically interesting statements, we implement a minimal termination
prover that uses natural/arctic matrix interpretations and we find automated
proofs of nontrivial weakenings of the Collatz conjecture. Although we do not
succeed in proving the Collatz conjecture, we believe that the ideas here
represent an interesting new approach.


  In this paper, we present experimental evidence of a newly discovered
third-order nonlinear optical process Self-Induced Spin-to-Orbital Conversion
(SISTOC) of the photon angular momentum. This effect is the physical mechanism
at the origin of the depolarization of very intense laser beams propagating in
isotropic materials. The SISTOC process, like self-focusing, is triggered by
laser heating leading to a radial temperature gradient in the medium. In this
work we tested the occurrence of SISTOC in a terbium gallium garnet (TGG) rod
for an impinging laser power of about 100~W. To study the SISTOC process we
used different techniques: polarization analysis, interferometry and tomography
of the photon orbital angular momentum. Our results confirm, in particular,
that the apparent depolarization of the beam is due to the occurrence of
maximal entanglement between the spin and orbital angular momentum of the
photons undergoing the SISTOC process. This explanation of the true nature of
the depolarization mechanism could be of some help in finding novel methods to
reduce or to compensate for this usually unwanted depolarization effect in all
cases where very high laser power and good beam quality are required.


  Transferring knowledge from one domain to another is of practical importance
for many tasks in natural language processing, especially when the amount of
available data in the target domain is limited. In this work, we propose a
novel few-shot approach to domain adaptation in the context of Named Entity
Recognition (NER). We propose a two-step approach consisting of a variable base
module and a template module that leverages the knowledge captured in
pre-trained language models with the help of simple descriptive patterns. Our
approach is simple yet versatile and can be applied in few-shot and zero-shot
settings. Evaluating our lightweight approach across a number of different
datasets shows that it can boost the performance of state-of-the-art baselines
by 2-5% F1-score.


  Measurements on entangled quantum systems necessarily yield outcomes that are
intrinsically unpredictable if they violate a Bell inequality. This property
can be used to generate certified randomness in a device-independent way, i.e.,
without making detailed assumptions about the internal working of the quantum
devices used to generate the random numbers. Furthermore these numbers are also
private, i.e., they appear random not only to the user, but also to any
adversary that might possess a perfect description of the devices. Since this
process requires a small initial random seed, one usually speaks of
device-independent randomness expansion.
  The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, we point out that in most real,
practical situations, where the concept of device-independence is used as a
protection against unintentional flaws or failures of the quantum apparatuses,
it is sufficient to show that the generated string is random with respect to an
adversary that holds only classical-side information, i.e., proving randomness
against quantum-side information is not necessary. Furthermore, the initial
random seed does not need to be private with respect to the adversary, provided
that it is generated in a way that is independent from the measured systems.
The devices, though, will generate cryptographically-secure randomness that
cannot be predicted by the adversary and thus one can, given access to free
public randomness, talk about private randomness generation.
  The theoretical tools to quantify the generated randomness according to these
criteria were already introduced in [S. Pironio et al, Nature 464, 1021
(2010)], but the final results were improperly formulated. The second aim of
this paper is to correct this inaccurate formulation and therefore lay out a
precise theoretical framework for practical device-independent randomness
expansion.


  The present work deals with the characterization of parity vectors of Collatz
sequences (of finite and infinite length). Such a characterization leads to the
determination of several numbers (integers or non-integers) that we call the
characteristic numbers of a given parity vector. Some characteristic numbers
are linked together by equations that can be called characteristic equations of
the considered parity vector. If a parity vector v of finite length n contains
the first n terms of a parity vector V of infinite length then all the
characteristic numbers of v are considered as characteristic numbers of order n
of the infinite vector V. The limits of nth order characteristic numbers when n
tends to infinity constitute the absolute characteristic numbers of the
infinite vector V and they allow determining its behavior and properties. In
this paper, we study the properties of parity vectors of infinite length based
on their characteristic numbers. Then, we establish the relations between the
first term of a Collatz sequence and its parity vector. Finally, still based on
the characteristic numbers, we determine some conditions of existence and
non-existence of divergent sequences.


  Solar energetic particles (SEPs) are an important product of solar activity.
They are connected to solar active regions and flares, coronal mass ejections
(CMEs), EUV waves, shocks, Type II and III radio emissions, and X-ray bursts.
These phenomena are major probes of the partition of energy in solar eruptions,
as well as for the organization, dynamics, and relaxation of coronal and
interplanetary magnetic fields. Many of these phenomena cause terrestrial space
weather, posing multiple hazards for humans and their technology from space to
the ground. Since particular flares, shocks, CMEs, and EUV waves produce SEP
events but others do not, since propagation effects from the low corona to 1 AU
appear important for some events but not others, and since Type II and III
radio emissions and X-ray bursts are sometimes produced by energetic particles
leaving these acceleration sites, it is necessary to study the whole system
with a multi-frequency and multi-instrument perspective that combines both
in-situ and remote observations with detailed modelling of phenomena. This
article demonstrates this comprehensive approach, and shows its necessity, by
analysing a trio of unusual and striking solar eruptions, radio and X-ray
bursts, and SEP events that occurred on 4 November 2015. These events show both
strong similarities and differences from standard events and each other,
despite having very similar interplanetary conditions and only two are sites
and CME genesis regions. They are therefore major targets for further in-depth
observational studies, and for testing both existing and new theories and
models. Based on the very limited modelling available we identify the aspects
that are and are not understood, and we discuss ideas that may lead to improved
understanding of the SEP, radio, and space-weather events.


  The recent mean field game (MFG) formalism facilitates otherwise intractable
computation of approximate Nash equilibria in many-agent settings. In this
paper, we consider discrete-time finite MFGs subject to finite-horizon
objectives. We show that all discrete-time finite MFGs with non-constant fixed
point operators fail to be contractive as typically assumed in existing MFG
literature, barring convergence via fixed point iteration. Instead, we
incorporate entropy-regularization and Boltzmann policies into the fixed point
iteration. As a result, we obtain provable convergence to approximate fixed
points where existing methods fail, and reach the original goal of approximate
Nash equilibria. All proposed methods are evaluated with respect to their
exploitability, on both instructive examples with tractable exact solutions and
high-dimensional problems where exact methods become intractable. In
high-dimensional scenarios, we apply established deep reinforcement learning
methods and empirically combine fictitious play with our approximations.


  We encode a certain class of stochastic fragmentation processes, namely
self-similar fragmentation processes with a negative index of self-similarity,
into a metric family tree which belongs to the family of Continuum Random Trees
of Aldous. When the splitting times of the fragmentation are dense near 0, the
tree can in turn be encoded into a continuous height function, just as the
Brownian Continuum Random Tree is encoded in a normalized Brownian excursion.
Under mild hypotheses, we then compute the Hausdorff dimensions of these trees,
and the maximal H\"older exponents of the height functions.


  The Douglas-Rachford method, a projection algorithm designed to solve
continuous optimization problems, forms the basis of a useful heuristic for
solving combinatorial optimization problems. In order to successfully use the
method, it is necessary to formulate the problem at hand as a feasibility
problem with constraint sets having efficiently computable nearest points. In
this self-contained tutorial, we develop the convergence theory of projection
algorithms within the framework of fixed point iterations, explain how to
devise useful feasibility problem formulations, and demonstrate the application
of the Douglas-Rachford method to said formulations. The paradigm is then
illustrated on two concrete problems: a generalization of the "eight queens
puzzle" known as the "(m,n)-queens problem", and the problem of constructing a
probability distribution with prescribed moments.


  Concept-oriented deep learning (CODL) is a general approach to meet the
future challenges for deep learning: (1) learning with little or no external
supervision, (2) coping with test examples that come from a different
distribution than the training examples, and (3) integrating deep learning with
symbolic AI. In CODL, as in human learning, concept representations are learned
based on concept exemplars. Contrastive self-supervised learning (CSSL)
provides a promising approach to do so, since it: (1) uses data-driven
associations, to get away from semantic labels, (2) supports incremental and
continual learning, to get away from (large) fixed datasets, and (3)
accommodates emergent objectives, to get away from fixed objectives (tasks). We
discuss major aspects of concept representation learning using CSSL. These
include dual-level concept representations, CSSL for feature representations,
exemplar similarity measures and self-supervised relational reasoning,
incremental and continual CSSL, and contrastive self-supervised concept (class)
incremental learning. The discussion leverages recent findings from cognitive
neural science and CSSL.


  The development of fast numerical methods for multilevel radiative transfer
(RT) applications often leads to important breakthroughs in astrophysics,
because they allow the investigation of problems that could not be properly
tackled using the methods previously available. Probably, the most familiar
example is the so-called Multilevel Accelerated $\Lambda$-Iteration (MALI)
technique of Rybicki & Hummer for the case of a local approximate operator,
which is based on Jacobi iteration. However, there are superior
operator-splitting methods, based on Gauss-Seidel (GS) and Successive
Overrelaxation (SOR) iteration, which provide a dramatic increase in the speed
with which non-LTE multilevel transfer problems can be solved in one, two and
three-dimensional geometries. Such RT methods, which were introduced by
Trujillo Bueno & Fabiani Bendicho ten years ago, are the main subject of the
first part of this paper. We show in some detail how they can be applied for
solving multilevel RT problems in spherical geometry, for both atomic and
molecular line transitions. The second part of the article addresses the issue
of the calculation of the molecular number densities when the approximation of
instantaneous chemical equilibrium turns out to be inadequate, which happens to
be the case whenever the dynamical time scales of the astrophysical plasma
under consideration are much shorter than the time needed by the molecules to
form.


  (abridged version) We report on ten type I X-ray bursts from GX 17+2 in data
obtained with the RXTE/PCA in 1996--2000. Three bursts were short in duration
(~10 s), whereas the others lasted for ~6-25 min. Five of the long bursts
showed evidence for radius expansion of the neutron star photosphere. No
correlations o f the burst properties with respect to the persistent X-ray
spectral properties are seen, suggesting no correlation with inferred
persistent mass accretion rate. The presence of short bursts in GX 17+2 (and
similar bright X-ray sources) is not accounted for in the current X-ray bursts
theories at the high mass accretion rates encountered in these sources. We find
that in contrast to previous suggestions the persistent black-body emission
does NOT arise from the same site as the burst emission. The black-body
component of the persistent emission is consistent with arising in an expanded
boundary layer, as indicated by recent theoretical work. The total persistent
flux just before and after the radius expansion bursts is inferred to be up to
a factor of 2 higher than the net peak flux of the burst. If both the burst and
persistent emission are radiated isotropically, this would imply that the
persistent emission is up to a factor of 2 higher than the Eddington
luminosity. This is unlikely and we suggest that the persistent luminosity is
close to the Eddington luminosity and that the burst emission is (highly)
anisotropic. Assuming that the net burst peak fluxes equal the Eddington limit,
applying standard burst parameters (1.4 M_sun neutron star, cosmic composition,
electron scattering opacity appropriate for high temperatures), and taking into
account gravitational redshift and spectral hardening, we derive a distance to
GX 17+2 of ~8 kpc, with an uncertainty of up to ~30%.


  Most of parameters used to describe states and dynamics of financial market
depend on proportions of the appropriate variables rather than on their actual
values. Therefore, projective geometry seems to be the correct language to
describe the theater of financial activities. We suppose that the object of
interest of agents, called here baskets, form a vector space over the reals. A
portfolio is defined as an equivalence class of baskets containing assets in
the same proportions. Therefore portfolios form a projective space. Cross
ratios, being invariants of projective maps, form key structures in the
proposed model. Quotation with respect to an asset X (i.e. in units of X) are
given by linear maps. Among various types of metrics that have financial
interpretation, the min-max metrics on the space of quotations can be
introduced. This metrics has an interesting interpretation in terms of rates of
return. It can be generalized so that to incorporate a new numerical parameter
(called temperature) that describes agent's lack of knowledge about the state
of the market. In a dual way, a metrics on the space of market quotation is
defined. In addition, one can define an interesting metric structure on the
space of portfolios/quotation that is invariant with respect to hyperbolic
(Lorentz) symmetries of the space of portfolios. The introduced formalism opens
new interesting and possibly fruitful fields of research.


  Head and neck tumor segmentation challenge (HECKTOR) 2022 offers a platform
for researchers to compare their solutions to segmentation of tumors and lymph
nodes from 3D CT and PET images. In this work, we describe our solution to
HECKTOR 2022 segmentation task. We re-sample all images to a common resolution,
crop around head and neck region, and train SegResNet semantic segmentation
network from MONAI. We use 5-fold cross validation to select best model
checkpoints. The final submission is an ensemble of 15 models from 3 runs. Our
solution (team name NVAUTO) achieves the 1st place on the HECKTOR22 challenge
leaderboard with an aggregated dice score of 0.78802.


  A model of the time delayed electromagnetic cascade "echo" is applied to the
bright gamma-ray burst GRB190114C - the first gamma-ray burst to be
contemporaneously detected in high and very high energy gamma-ray bands. It is
shown that the internal spread of the cascade in the absence of the intervening
magnetic fields dilutes the "echo" emission over $10^3-10^5$ seconds depending
on the energy. Accounting for the measured source flux in the $0.3-1$ TeV
gamma-ray band, the prediction of the "echo" model is shown to match the
detected lower-energy gamma-ray emission $10^4$ seconds after the burst.
However, the "echo" emission remains indistinguishable from the intrinsic
GRB190114C flux within the measurement uncertainties. Implications of this in
the context of the intergalactic magnetic field measurement are discussed.


  A single Nitrogen Vacancy (NV) center hosted in a diamond nanocrystal is
positioned at the extremity of a SiC nanowire. This novel hybrid system couples
the degrees of freedom of two radically different systems, i.e. a
nanomechanical oscillator and a single quantum object. The dynamics of the
nano-resonator is probed through time resolved nanocrystal fluorescence and
photon correlation measurements, conveying the influence of a mechanical degree
of freedom given to a non-classical photon emitter. Moreover, by immersing the
system in a strong magnetic field gradient, we induce a magnetic coupling
between the nanomechanical oscillator and the NV electronic spin, providing
nanomotion readout through a single electronic spin. Spin-dependent forces
inherent to this coupling scheme are essential in a variety of active cooling
and entanglement protocols used in atomic physics, and should now be within the
reach of nanomechanical hybrid systems.


  We calculate the differential cross section and single-polarization
observables for the reaction $\gamma p \to \Phi p$ within perturbative QCD,
treating the proton as a quark-diquark system. The phenomenological couplings
of gauge bosons to (spatially extended) diquarks and the quark-diquark
distribution amplitude of the proton are adopted from previous investigations
of baryon form factors and two-photon processes. Going beyond leading order, we
take into account hadron-mass effects by means of a systematic expansion in the
small parameter (hadron mass/ photon energy). With the $\Phi$-meson
distribution amplitude taken from the literature our predictions for the
differential cross section at $| t | \agt 4 \text{GeV}^2$ seem to provide a
reasonable extrapolation of the low-t data and are also comparable in magnitude
with the results of a two-gluon exchange model in which the gluons are
considered as a remnant of the pomeron. For momentum transfers of a few GeV
hadron-mass effects appear still to be sizeable.


  Spreadsheets are used extensively in industry, often for business critical
purposes. In previous work we have analyzed the information needs of
spreadsheet professionals and addressed their need for support with the
transition of a spreadsheet to a colleague with the generation of data flow
diagrams. In this paper we describe the application of these data flow diagrams
for the purpose of understanding a spreadsheet with three example cases. We
furthermore suggest an additional application of the data flow diagrams: the
assessment of the quality of the spreadsheet's design.


  The advection and mixing of a scalar quantity by fluid flow is an important
problem in engineering and natural sciences. If the fluid is turbulent, the
statistics of the passive scalar exhibit complex behavior. This paper is
concerned with two Lagrangian scalar turbulence models based on the recent
fluid deformation model that can be shown to reproduce the statistics of
passive scalar turbulence for a range of Reynolds numbers. For these models, we
demonstrate how events of extreme passive scalar gradients can be recovered by
computing the instanton, i.e., the saddle-point configuration of the associated
stochastic field theory. It allows us to both reproduce the heavy-tailed
statistics associated with passive scalar turbulence, and recover the most
likely mechanism leading to such extreme events. We further demonstrate that
events of large negative strain in these models undergo spontaneous symmetry
breaking.


  Let $C^{[M]}$ be a (local) Denjoy-Carleman class of Beurling or Roumieu type,
where the weight sequence $M=(M_k)$ is log-convex and has moderate growth. We
prove that the groups ${\operatorname{Diff}}\mathcal{B}^{[M]}(\mathbb{R}^n)$,
${\operatorname{Diff}}W^{[M],p}(\mathbb{R}^n)$,
${\operatorname{Diff}}{\mathcal{S}}{}_{[L]}^{[M]}(\mathbb{R}^n)$, and
${\operatorname{Diff}}\mathcal{D}^{[M]}(\mathbb{R}^n)$ of
$C^{[M]}$-diffeomorphisms on $\mathbb{R}^n$ which differ from the identity by a
mapping in $\mathcal{B}^{[M]}$ (global Denjoy--Carleman), $W^{[M],p}$
(Sobolev-Denjoy-Carleman), ${\mathcal{S}}{}_{[L]}^{[M]}$ (Gelfand--Shilov), or
$\mathcal{D}^{[M]}$ (Denjoy-Carleman with compact support) are
$C^{[M]}$-regular Lie groups. As an application we use the $R$-transform to
show that the Hunter-Saxton PDE on the real line is well-posed in any of the
classes $W^{[M],1}$, ${\mathcal{S}}{}_{[L]}^{[M]}$, and $\mathcal{D}^{[M]}$.
Here we find some surprising groups with continuous left translations and
$C^{[M]}$ right translations (called half-Lie groups), which, however, also
admit $R$-transforms.


  The aim of the thesis is to study models of the electroweak symmetry breaking
caused by dynamically generated masses of quarks and leptons. (1) We perform
the basic analysis whether the main underlying idea, that the masses of only
known fermions can provide the electroweak symmetry breaking, is actually
feasible. For that we elaborate a two-composite-Higgs-doublet model of the
top-quark and neutrino condensation. The model suggests rather large number,
$\mathcal{O}(100)$, of right-handed neutrinos. (2) We analyze the model of
strong Yukawa dynamics where the dynamical fermion mass generation is provided
by exchanges of new elementary massive complex doublet scalar fields. We focus
on solving the coupled Schwinger--Dyson equations for fermion and scalar
self-energies by means of approximative methods. We document that strongly
hierarchical mass spectra can be reproduced. (3) We elaborate the flavor gauge
model where the dynamical fermion mass generation is provided by asymptotically
free non-Abelian self-breaking flavor gauge dynamics. We show that the Majorana
type condensation of right-handed neutrinos in the flavor sextet representation
triggers the complete flavor symmetry breaking. It leads to huge right-handed
neutrino Majorana masses.


  Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) are highly energetic astrophysical sources
powered by accretion onto supermassive black holes in galaxies, which present
unique observational signatures covering the full electromagnetic spectrum (and
more) over about twenty orders of magnitude in frequency. We first review the
main AGN properties and diversities and show that they can be explained by a
small number of parameters. We then discuss the so-called Unification Models
for non-jetted AGN, according to which these sources are believed to have the
same nuclear engine and circumnuclear matter, with the same geometry for the
obscuring structure. This simplified scenario, however, cannot explain all the
observed complexities, such as the presence of multiple absorbers on different
physical scales, including recent X-ray observations of circumnuclear matter.
Finally, we touch upon AGN evolution in the X-ray and $\gamma$-ray bands.


  The variation of the coherent branching ratio $R_{\mu e}$ (ratio of the
$\mu^-\to e^-$ reaction rate divided by the total muon-capture rate) through
the periodic table is studied by using exact muon wave functions. It was found
that, by using very heavy nuclei (e.g. \nuc{197}Au, the SINDRUM II target) as
$\mu^-\to e^-$ conversion stopping-targets, the above ratio is favored by a
factor of about four to five than by using light ones (e.g. \nuc{48}Ti, chosen
as PRIME target).


  We give a new characterization of generalized K\"ahler structures in terms of
their corresponding complex Dirac structures. We then give an alternative proof
of Hitchin's partial unobstructedness for holomorphic Poisson structures. Our
main application is to show that there is a corresponding unobstructedness
result for arbitrary generalized K\"ahler structures. That is, we show that any
generalized K\"ahler structure may be deformed in such a way that one of its
underlying holomorphic Poisson structures remains fixed, while the other
deforms via Hitchin's deformation. Finally, we indicate a close relationship
between this deformation and the notion of a Hamiltonian family of Poisson
structures.


  Cosmic-rays are the primary initiators of interstellar chemistry, and getting
a better understanding of the varying impact they have on the chemistry of
interstellar clouds throughout the Milky Way will not only expand our
understanding of interstellar medium chemistry in our own galaxy, but also aid
in extra-galactic studies. This work uses the ALCHEMIC astrochemical modeling
code to perform numerical simulations of chemistry for a range of ionization
rates. We study the impact of variations in the cosmic ray ionization rate on
molecular abundances under idealized conditions, given by constant temperatures
and a fixed density of 1e4 cm-3. As part of this study we examine whether
observations of molecular abundances can be used to infer the cosmic ray
ionization rate in such a simplified case. We find that intense cosmic-ray
ionisation results in molecules, in particular the large and complex ones,
being largely dissociated, and the medium becoming increasingly atomic.
Individual species have limitations in their use as probes of the cosmic ray
ionization rate. At early time (<1 Myrs) ions such as N2H+ and HOC+ make the
best probes, while at later times, neutral species such as HNCO and SO stand
out, in particular due to their large abundance variations. It is however by
combining species into pairs that we find the best probes. Molecular ions such
as N2H+ combined with different neutral species can provide probe candidates
that outmatch individual species, in particular N2H+/C4H, N2H+/C2H, HOC+/O and
HOC+/HNCO. These still have limitations to their functional range, but are more
functional as probes than individual species previously used.


  Active microswimmers are known to affect the macroscopic viscosity of
suspensions in a more complex manner than passive particles. For puller-like
microswimmers an increase in the viscosity has been observed. It has been
suggested that the persistence of the orientation of the microswimmers hinders
the rotation that is normally caused by the vorticity. It was previously shown
that some sorts of algaes are bottom-heavy swimmers, i.e. their centre of mass
is not located in the centre of the body. In this way, the algae affects the
vorticity of the flow when it is perpendicular oriented to the axis of gravity.
This orientation of gravity to vorticity is given in a rheometer that is
equipped with a cone-plate geometry. Here we present measurements of the
viscosity both in a cone-plate and a Taylor-Couette cell. The two set-ups
yielded the same increase in viscosity although the axis of gravitation in the
Taylor-Couette cell is parallel to the direction of vorticity. In a
complementary experiment we tested the orientation of the direction of swimming
through microscopic observation of single \textit{Chlamydomonas reinhardtii}
and could not identify a preferred orientation, i. e. our specific strain of
\textit{Chlamydomonas reinhardtii} are not bottom-heavy swimmers. We thus
conclude that bottom heaviness is not a prerequisite for the increase of
viscosity and that the effect of gravity on the rheology of our strain of
\textit{Chlamydomonas reinhardtii} is negligible. This finding reopens the
question of whether origin of persistence in the orientation of cells is
actually responsible for the increased viscosity of the suspension.


  Recent developments in analog quantum simulators based on cold atoms and
trapped ions call for cross-validating the accuracy of quantum-simulation
experiments with use of quantitative numerical methods; however, it is
particularly challenging for dynamics of systems with more than one spatial
dimension. Here we demonstrate that a tensor-network method running on
classical computers is useful for this purpose. We specifically analyze
real-time dynamics of the two-dimensional Bose-Hubbard model after a sudden
quench starting from the Mott insulator by means of the tensor-network method
based on infinite projected entangled pair states. Calculated single-particle
correlation functions are found to be in good agreement with a recent
experiment. By estimating the phase and group velocities from the
single-particle and density-density correlation functions, we predict how these
velocities vary in the moderate interaction region, which serves as a
quantitative benchmark for future experiments and numerical simulations.


  We initiate the study of novel thermal dark matter (DM) scenarios where
present-day annihilation of DM in the galactic center produces boosted stable
particles in the dark sector. These stable particles are typically a
subdominant DM component, but because they are produced with a large Lorentz
boost in this process, they can be detected in large volume terrestrial
experiments via neutral-current-like interactions with electrons or nuclei.
This novel DM signal thus combines the production mechanism associated with
indirect detection experiments (i.e. galactic DM annihilation) with the
detection mechanism associated with direct detection experiments (i.e. DM
scattering off terrestrial targets). Such processes are generically present in
multi-component DM scenarios or those with non-minimal DM stabilization
symmetries. As a proof of concept, we present a model of two-component thermal
relic DM, where the dominant heavy DM species has no tree-level interactions
with the standard model and thus largely evades direct and indirect DM bounds.
Instead, its thermal relic abundance is set by annihilation into a subdominant
lighter DM species, and the latter can be detected in the boosted channel via
the same annihilation process occurring today. Especially for dark sector
masses in the 10 MeV-10 GeV range, the most promising signals are electron
scattering events pointing toward the galactic center. These can be detected in
experiments designed for neutrino physics or proton decay, in particular
Super-K and its upgrade Hyper-K, as well as the PINGU/MICA extensions of
IceCube. This boosted DM phenomenon highlights the distinctive signatures
possible from non-minimal dark sectors.


  This paper addresses the problem of finding an asymptotic solution for first
and second order integro-differential equations containing an arbitrary kernel,
by evaluating the corresponding inverse Laplace and Fourier transforms. The aim
of the paper is to go beyond the tauberian theorem in the case of
integral-differential equations which are widely used by the scientific
community. The results are applied to the convolute form of the Lindblad
equation setting generic conditions on the kernel in such a way as to generate
a positive definite density matrix, and show that the structure of the
eigenvalues of the correspondent liouvillian operator plays a crucial role in
determining the positivity of the density matrix.


  We show that both the linear and the non-linear chiral models give an
enhancement of the pi-pi cross section near the 2pi threshold in the
scalar-iso-scalar (I=J=0) channel in nuclear matter. The reduction of the
chiral condensate, i.e., the partial chiral restoration in nuclear matter, is
responsible for the enhancement in both cases. We extract an effective
4pi-nucleon vertex which is responsible for the enhancement but has not been
considered in the non-liear models for in-medium pi-pi interaction. Relation of
this vertex and a next-to-leading order terms in the heavy-baryon chiral
lagrangian, L_piN^(2), is also discussed.


  Modified Laplace transformation method is applied to N component $\phi^4$
theory and the finite temperature problem in the massless limit is re-examined
in the large N limit. We perform perturbation expansion of the dressed thermal
mass in the massive case to several orders and try the massless approximation
with the help of modified Laplace transformation. The contribution with
fractional power of the coupling constant is recovered from the truncated
massive series. The use of inverse Laplace transformation with respect to the
mass square is crucial in evaluating the coefficients of fractional power
terms.


  We present the results of interferometric spectral line observations of Arp
220 at 3.5mm and 1.2mm from the Plateau de Bure Interferometer (PdBI), imaging
the two nuclear disks in H$^{13}$CN$(1 - 0)$ and $(3 - 2)$, H$^{13}$CO$^+(1 -
0)$ and $(3 - 2)$, and HN$^{13}$C$(3 - 2)$ as well as SiO$(2 - 1)$ and $(6 -
5)$, HC$^{15}$N$(3 - 2)$, and SO$(6_6 - 5_5)$. The gas traced by SiO$(6 - 5)$
has a complex and extended kinematic signature including a prominent P Cygni
profile, almost identical to previous observations of HCO$^+(3 - 2)$. Spatial
offsets $0.1''$ north and south of the continuum centre in the emission and
absorption of the SiO$(6 - 5)$ P Cygni profile in the western nucleus (WN)
imply a bipolar outflow, delineating the northern and southern edges of its
disk and suggesting a disk radius of $\sim40$ pc, consistent with that found by
ALMA observations of Arp 220. We address the blending of SiO$(6 - 5)$ and
H$^{13}$CO$^+(3 - 2)$ by considering two limiting cases with regards to the
H$^{13}$CO$^+$ emission throughout our analysis. Large velocity gradient (LVG)
modelling is used to constrain the physical conditions of the gas and to infer
abundance ratios in the two nuclei. Our most conservative lower limit on the
[H$^{13}$CN]/[H$^{13}$CO$^+$] abundance ratio is 11 in the WN, cf. 0.10 in the
eastern nucleus (EN). Comparing these ratios to the literature we argue on
chemical grounds for an energetically significant AGN in the WN driving either
X-ray or shock chemistry, and a dominant starburst in the EN.


  We use the Brans-Dicke theory from the framework of General Relativity
(Einstein frame), but now the total energy momentum tensor fulfills the
following condition $\rm <[\{1}{\phi}T^{\mu \nu M}+T^{\mu
\nu}(\phi)>]_{;\nu}=0$. We take as a first model the flat FRW metric and with
the law of variation for Hubble's parameter proposal by Berman \cite{Berman},
we find solutions to the Einstein field equations by the cases: inflation
($\gamma=-1$), radiation ($\gamma=\{1}{3}$), stiff matter ($\gamma=1$). For the
Inflation case the scalar field grows fast and depends strongly of the constant
$\rm M_{\gamma=-1}$ that appears in the solution, for the Radiation case, the
scalar stop its expansion and then decrease perhaps due to the presence of the
first particles. In the Stiff Matter case, the scalar field is decreasing so
for a large time, $\phi\rightarrow0$. In the same line of classical solutions,
we find an exact solution to the Einstein field equations for the stiff matter
$(\gamma=1)$ and flat universe, using the Hamilton-Jacobi scheme.


  Using a sample of tagged D_s decays collected near the D^*_s D_s peak
production energy in e+e- collisions with the CLEO-c detector, we study the
leptonic decay D^+_s to tau^+ nu_tau via the decay channel tau^+ to e^+ nu_e
bar{nu}_tau. We measure B(D^+_s to tau^+ nu_tau) = (6.17 +- 0.71 +- 0.34) %,
where the first error is statistical and the second systematic. Combining this
result with our measurements of D^+_s to mu^+ nu_mu and D^+_s to tau^+ nu_tau
(via tau^+ to pi^+ bar{nu}_tau), we determine f_{D_s} = (274 +- 10 +- 5) MeV.


  We present Penning-trap mass measurements of neutron-rich 44,47-50K and
49,50Ca isotopes carried out at the TITAN facility at TRIUMF-ISAC. The 44K mass
measurement was performed with a charge-bred 4+ ion utilizing the TITAN EBIT,
and agrees with the literature. The mass excesses obtained for 47K and 49,50Ca
are more precise and agree with the values published in the 2003 Atomic Mass
Evaluation (AME'03). The 48,49,50K mass excesses are more precise than the
AME'03 values by more than one order of magnitude. For 48,49K, we find
deviations by 7 sigma and 10 sigma, respectively. The new 49K mass excess
lowers significantly the two-neutron separation energy at the neutron number
N=30 compared with the separation energy calculated from the AME'03 mass-excess
values, and thus, increases the N=28 neutron-shell gap energy at Z=19 by
approximately 1 MeV.


  Objective Although social and environmental factors are central to provider
patient interactions, the data that reflect these factors can be incomplete,
vague, and subjective. We sought to create a conceptual framework to describe
and classify data about presence, the domain of interpersonal connection in
medicine.
  Methods Our top down approach for ontology development based on the concept
of relationality included 1) broad survey of social sciences literature and
systematic literature review of more than 20,000 articles around interpersonal
connection in medicine, 3) relational ethnography of clinical encounters (5
pilot, 27 full) and 4) interviews about relational work with 40 medical and
nonmedical professionals. We formalized the model using the Web Ontology
Language in the Protege ontology editor. We iteratively evaluated and refined
the Presence Ontology through manual expert review and automated annotation of
literature.
  Results and Discussion The Presence Ontology facilitates the naming and
classification of concepts that would otherwise be vague. Our model categorizes
contributors to healthcare encounters and factors such as Communication,
Emotions, Tools, and Environment. Ontology evaluation indicated that Cognitive
Models (both patients explanatory models and providers caregiving approaches)
influenced encounters and were subsequently incorporated. We show how
ethnographic methods based in relationality can aid the representation of
experiential concepts (e.g., empathy, trust). Our ontology could support
informatics applications to improve healthcare such annotation of videotaped
encounters, clinical instruments to measure presence, or EHR based reminders
for providers.
  Conclusion The Presence Ontology provides a model for using ethnographic
approaches to classify interpersonal data.


  We report results of our calculation on the $\pi N\sigma$ term and quark spin
content of the nucleon on the quenched $16^3 \times 24$ lattice at $\beta =
6.0$. The disconnected insertions which involve contributions from the sea
quarks are calculated with the stochastic $Z_2$ noise algorithm. As a physical
test of the algorithm, we show that the forward matrix elements of the vector
and pseudoscalar currents for the disconnected insertions are indeed consistent
with the known results of zero. We tried the Wuppertal smeared source and found
it to be more noisy than the point source. With unrenormalized
$m_q=4.42(17)$MeV, we find the $\pi N\sigma$ term to be $39.2\pm 5.2$ MeV. The
strange quark condensate in the nucleon is large, i.e. $\langle
N|\bar{s}s|N\rangle = 1.16 \pm 0.54$. For the quark spin content, we find
$\Delta u =0.78\pm 0.07$, $\Delta d =-0.42\pm 0.07$, and $\Delta s = -0.13\pm
0.06$. The flavor-singlet axial charge $g_A^1 = \Delta \Sigma =0.22\pm 0.09 $.


  We establish upper bounds of bit complexity of computing solution operators
for symmetric hyperbolic systems of PDEs. Here we continue the research started
in in our revious publications where computability, in the rigorous sense of
computable analysis, has been established for solution operators of Cauchy and
dissipative boundary-value problems for such systems.


  We propose a continuous-variable (CV) SWAP test that requires no ancilla
register, thereby generalizing the ancilla-free SWAP test for qubits. In this
ancilla-free CV SWAP test, the computational basis measurement is replaced by
photon number-resolving measurement, and we calculate an upper bound on the
error of the overlap estimate obtained from a finite Fock cutoff in the
detector. As an example, we show that estimation of the overlap of pure,
centered, single-mode Gaussian states of energy $E$ and squeezed in opposite
quadratures can be obtained to error $\epsilon$ using photon statistics below a
Fock basis cutoff $O(E\ln \epsilon^{-1})$. This cutoff is greatly reduced to $E
+ O(\sqrt{E}\ln \epsilon^{-1})$ when the states have rapidly decaying Fock
tails, such as coherent states. We show how the ancilla-free CV SWAP test can
be extended to many modes and applied to quantum algorithms such as variational
compiling and entanglement spectroscopy in the CV setting. For the latter we
also provide a new algorithm which does not have an analog in qubit systems.
The ancilla-free CV SWAP test is implemented on Xanadu's 8-mode photonic
processor in order to estimate the vacuum probability of a two-mode squeezed
state.


  We use quotients of span categories to introduce the language of a topos. We
also study the logical relations and the quotients of span categories derived
from them. As an application we show that the category of Boolean toposes is a
reflective subcategory of the category of toposes, when the morphisms are
logical functors.


  A partial wave analysis of the $p \bar{p}$ mass-threshold enhancement in the
reaction $J/\psi\rightarrow\gamma p\bar{p}$ is used to determine: its $J^{PC}$
quantum numbers to be $0^{-+}$; its peak mass to be below threshold at
$M=1832^{+19}_{-5} {\rm(stat.)}^{+18}_{-17} {\rm (syst.)}\pm19 {\rm (model)}
{\rm MeV}/c^2$; and its total width to be $\Gamma<76 {\rm MeV}/c^2$ at the 90%
C.L. The product branching ratio is measured to be $B(J/\psi\rightarrow\gamma
X(p\bar{p}))B(X(p\bar{p})\rightarrow p\bar{p})=(9.0^{+0.4}_{-1.1} {\rm
(stat.)}^{+1.5}_{-5.0} {\rm (syst.)}\pm2.3 {\rm (model)})\times10^{-5}$. A
similar analysis performed on $\psi^\prime\rightarrow\gamma p\bar{p}$ decays
shows, for the first time, the presence of a corresponding enhancement with a
production rate relative to that for $J/\psi$ decays of
$R=(5.08^{+0.71}_{-0.45} {\rm (stat.)}^{+0.67}_{-3.58} {\rm (syst.)}\pm0.12
{\rm (model)})%$.


  The magnetic field dependence of the critical current is studied in single
crystal samples of the weak pinning type-II superconductor 2H-NbSe$_2$ in the
high temperature and the low field region of the (H,T) phase space, in the
vicinity of the reentrant peak effect. The experimental results demonstrate
various pinning regimes : a collective pinned quasi-ordered solid in the
intermediate field that is destabilized in favor of disordered vortex phases in
both high fields near H$_{c2}$ and at low fields near H$_{c1}$. The temperature
evolution of the pinning behavior demonstrates how the amorphous limit (where
the correlation volume is nearly field independent) is approached around the
so-called nose region of the reentrant peak effect boundary. Furthermore, the
data show that the rapid approach to the amorphous limit naturally yields a
peak effect, i.e., a peak in the critical current, in the high field regime,
but yields a ``plateau effect'' instead in the low field regime in an analogous
way. With increasing effective disorder the peak effect shifts away from
H$_{c2}$ and resembles a ``fishtail'' anomaly.


  Three-field Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) formulations for fluid and
solid are applied and compared to the standard two field-one field formulation
for fluid and solid, respectively. Both formulations are applied in a non
linear setting for a Newtonian fluid and a neo-Hookean solid in an updated
Lagrangian form, both approximated using finite elements and stabilized by
means of the Variational Multiscale (VMS) Method to permit the use of arbitrary
interpolations. It is shown that this type of coupling leads to a more stable
solution. Even though the new formulation poses the necessity of additional
degrees of freedom, it is possible to achieve the same degree of accuracy as
standard FSI by means of coarser meshes, thus making the method competitive. We
enhance the stability of the formulation by assuming that the sub-grid scales
of the model evolve through time. Benchmarking of the formulation is carried
out. Numerical results are presented for semi-stationary and a fully transient
cases for well known benchmarks for 2D and 3D scenarios.


  In these notes we fill a gap in a proof in Section 4 of Gamboa, Nagel,
Rouault [Sum rules via large deviations, J. Funct. Anal. 270 (2016), 509-559].
We prove a general theorem which combines a LDP with a convex rate function and
a LDP with a non-convex one. This result will be used to prove LDPs for
spectral matrix measures and for spectral measures on the unit circle.


  A front end ASIC (BiCMOS-SiGe 0.35 \mum) has been developed within the
framework of the MIMAC detector project, which aims at directional detection of
non-baryonic Dark Matter. This search strategy requires 3D reconstruction of
low energy (a few keV) tracks with a gaseous \muTPC. The development of this
front end ASIC is a key point of the project, allowing the 3D track
reconstruction. Each ASIC monitors 16 strips of pixels with charge
preamplifiers and their time over threshold is provided in real time by current
discriminators via two serializing LVDS links working at 320 MHz. The charge is
summed over the 16 strips and provided via a shaper. These specifications have
been chosen in order to build an auto triggered electronics. An acquisition
board and the related software were developed in order to validate this
methodology on a prototype chamber. The prototype detector presents an anode
where 2 x 96 strips of pixels are monitored.


  In this paper, a systematic study of Kenmotsu pseudo-metric manifolds are
introduced. After studying the properties of this manifolds, we provide
necessary and sufficient condition for Kenmotsu pseudo-metric manifold to have
constant $\varphi$-sectional curvature, and prove the structure theorem for
$\xi$-conformally flat and $\varphi$-conformally flat Kenmotsu pseudo-metric
manifolds. Next, we consider Ricci solitons on this manifolds. In particular,
we prove that an $\eta$-Einstein Kenmotsu pseudo-metric manifold of dimension
higher than 3 admitting a Ricci soliton is Einstein, and a Kenmotsu
pseudo-metric 3-manifold admitting a Ricci soliton is of constant curvature
$-\varepsilon$.


  The burgeoning field of camouflaged object detection (COD) seeks to identify
objects that blend into their surroundings. Despite the impressive performance
of recent models, we have identified a limitation in their robustness, where
existing methods may misclassify salient objects as camouflaged ones, despite
these two characteristics being contradictory. This limitation may stem from
lacking multi-pattern training images, leading to less saliency robustness. To
address this issue, we introduce CamDiff, a novel approach inspired by
AI-Generated Content (AIGC) that overcomes the scarcity of multi-pattern
training images. Specifically, we leverage the latent diffusion model to
synthesize salient objects in camouflaged scenes, while using the zero-shot
image classification ability of the Contrastive Language-Image Pre-training
(CLIP) model to prevent synthesis failures and ensure the synthesized object
aligns with the input prompt. Consequently, the synthesized image retains its
original camouflage label while incorporating salient objects, yielding
camouflage samples with richer characteristics. The results of user studies
show that the salient objects in the scenes synthesized by our framework
attract the user's attention more; thus, such samples pose a greater challenge
to the existing COD models. Our approach enables flexible editing and efficient
large-scale dataset generation at a low cost. It significantly enhances COD
baselines' training and testing phases, emphasizing robustness across diverse
domains. Our newly-generated datasets and source code are available at
https://github.com/drlxj/CamDiff.


  We introduce a definition of gamma-ray burst (GRB) duty cycle that describes
the GRB's efficiency as an emitter; it is the GRB's average flux relative to
the peak flux. This GRB duty cycle is easily described in terms of measured
BATSE parameters; it is essentially fluence divided by the quantity peak flux
times duration. Since fluence and duration are two of the three defining
characteristics of the GRB classes identified by statistical clustering
techniques (the other is spectral hardness), duty cycle is a potentially
valuable probe for studying properties of these classes.


  Nonlinear ionic screening theory for heterogeneously charged spheres is
developed in terms of a mode-decomposition of the surface charge. A far-field
analysis of the resulting electrostatic potential leads to a natural
generalization of charge renormalization from purely monopolar to dipolar,
quadropolar, etc., including mode-couplings. Our novel scheme is generally
applicable to large classes of surface heterogeneities, and is explicitly
applied here to Janus spheres with differently charged upper and lower
hemispheres, revealing strong renormalization effects for all multipoles.


  The polarization of the $\Lambda$ hyperon has become an important probe of
the Quark-Gluon Plasma produced in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. Recently,
it has been found that polarization receives a substantial contribution from a
local equilibrium term proportional to the symmetric derivative of the
four-temperature vector, the thermal shear tensor. We show that, at very high
energies, this term can restore the agreement between the experimental
measurements and the predictions of the hydrodynamic model, provided that the
hadronization hypersurface is isothermal. We review the theoretical derivation
of this new term, discuss numerical computations at RHIC and LHC energies, and
compare them with the experimental data. We also present the effect of
feed-down corrections.


  We present a quantum harmonic oscillator model of a collapsed star trapped in
the potential well of its gravitational field. The model incorporates quantum
matter (quantum fields) as a source to classical gravitational field. We
describe the gravitationally collapsed star as a quantum harmonic oscillator in
an analogy with an electron trapped in a potential well. The subtle point we
raise in this paper is whether a standard black hole scenario is a correct
description for a gravitational collapse in a semi-classical framework.


  The spatial distribution of metals reflects, and can be used to constrain,
the processes of chemical enrichment and mixing. Using PHANGS-MUSE optical
integral field spectroscopy, we measure the gas phase oxygen abundances
(metallicities) across 7,138 HII regions in a sample of eight nearby disc
galaxies. In Paper I (Kreckel et al. 2019) we measure and report linear radial
gradients in the metallicities of each galaxy, and qualitatively searched for
azimuthal abundance variations. Here, we examine the two-dimensional variation
in abundances once the radial gradient is subtracted, Delta(O/H), in order to
quantify the homogeneity of the metal distribution and to measure the mixing
scale over which HII region metallicities are correlated. We observe low
(0.03--0.05 dex) scatter in Delta(O/H) globally in all galaxies, with
significantly lower (0.02--0.03 dex) scatter on small (<600 pc) spatial scales.
This is consistent with the measurement uncertainties, and implies the
two-dimensional metallicity distribution is highly correlated on scales of <600
pc. We compute the two point correlation function for metals in the disc in
order to quantify the scale lengths associated with the observed homogeneity.
This mixing scale is observed to correlate better with the local gas velocity
dispersion (of both cold and ionized gas) than with the star formation rate.
Selecting only HII regions with enhanced abundances relative to a linear radial
gradient, we do not observe increased homogeneity on small scales. This
suggests that the observed homogeneity is driven by the mixing introducing
material from large scales rather than by pollution from recent and on-going
star formation.


  We analyze the phase diagram of hot quark matter in presence of an axial
chemical potential, $\mu_5$. The latter is introduced to mimic the chirality
transitions induced, in hot Quantum Chromodynamics, by the strong sphaleron
configurations. In particular, we study the curvature of the critical line at
small $\mu_5$, the effects of a finite quark mass and of a vector interaction.
Moreover, we build the mixed phase at the first order phase transition line,
and draw the phase diagram in the chiral density and temperature plane. We
finally compute the full topological susceptibility in presence of a background
of topological charge.


  We propose a simple and original approach for solving linear-quadratic
mean-field stochastic control problems. We study both finite-horizon and
infinite-horizon problems, and allow notably some coefficients to be
stochastic. Our method is based on a suitable extension of the martingale
formulation for verification theorems in control theory. The optimal control
involves the solution to a system of Riccati ordinary differential equations
and to a linear mean-field backward stochastic differential equation, existence
and uniqueness conditions are provided for such a system. Finally, we
illustrate our results through two applications with explicit solutions: the
first one deals with a portfolio liquidation problem with trade crowding, and
the second one considers an economic model of substitutable production goods.


  In recent years, assessing action quality from videos has attracted growing
attention in computer vision community and human computer interaction. Most
existing approaches usually tackle this problem by directly migrating the model
from action recognition tasks, which ignores the intrinsic differences within
the feature map such as foreground and background information. To address this
issue, we propose a Tube Self-Attention Network (TSA-Net) for action quality
assessment (AQA). Specifically, we introduce a single object tracker into AQA
and propose the Tube Self-Attention Module (TSA), which can efficiently
generate rich spatio-temporal contextual information by adopting sparse feature
interactions. The TSA module is embedded in existing video networks to form
TSA-Net. Overall, our TSA-Net is with the following merits: 1) High
computational efficiency, 2) High flexibility, and 3) The state-of-the art
performance. Extensive experiments are conducted on popular action quality
assessment datasets including AQA-7 and MTL-AQA. Besides, a dataset named Fall
Recognition in Figure Skating (FR-FS) is proposed to explore the basic action
assessment in the figure skating scene.


  Magnetic excitations in copper pyrimidine dinitrate, a spin-1/2
antiferromagnetic chain with alternating $g$-tensor and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya
interactions that exhibits a field-induced spin gap, are probed by means of
pulsed-field electron spin resonance spectroscopy. In particular, we report on
a minimum of the gap in the vicinity of the saturation field $H_{sat}=48.5$ T
associated with a transition from the sine-Gordon region (with soliton-breather
elementary excitations) to a spin-polarized state (with magnon excitations).
This interpretation is fully confirmed by the quantitative agreement over the
entire field range of the experimental data with the DMRG investigation of the
spin-1/2 Heisenberg chain with a staggered transverse field.


  In this paper, we first prove some propositions of Sobolev spaces defined on
a locally finite graph $G=(V,E)$, which are fundamental when dealing with
equations on graphs under the variational framework. Then we consider a
nonlinear biharmonic equation $$ \Delta^{2} u -\Delta u+(\lambda a+1)u=
|u|^{p-2}u $$ on $G=(V,E)$. Under some suitable assumptions, we prove that for
any $\lambda>1$ and $p>2$, the equation admits a ground state solution
$u_{\lambda}$. Moreover, we prove that as $\lambda\rightarrow +\infty$, the
solutions $u_{\lambda}$ converge to a solution of the equation \begin{align*}
\begin{cases} \Delta^{2}u -\Delta u+u = |u|^{p-2}u, &\text{in}\ \ \Omega, u=0,
&\text{on}\ \ \partial\Omega, \end{cases} \end{align*} where $\Omega=\{x\in V:
a(x)=0\}$ is the potential well and $\partial\Omega$ denotes the the boundary
of $\Omega$.


  We investigate through Monte Carlo simulations the non-equilibrium behaviour
of the three-dimensional XY-model quenched from a high temperature state to its
ferromagnetic and critical phases. The two-times autocorrelation and response
functions are determined in the asymptotic (scaling) regime, from which the
nonequilibrium exponents $\lambda$ and critical $\lambda^c$ are extracted. The
form of the scaling function is in agreement with the prediction of local
scale-invariance. The so-called limit fluctuation-dissipation ratio $X_\infty$
is shown to vanish in the ordered phase and to reach a constant value around
0.43 for the critical quench.


  The Fermi Large Area Telescope revealed that the extragalactic gamma-ray sky
is dominated by blazars, active galactic nuclei (AGN) whose jet is seen at very
small angle to the line of sight. To associate and then classify the gamma-ray
sources, data have been collected from lower frequency surveys and
observations. The gamma-ray source 3FGL J1323.0+2942 is associated with the
radio source 4C+29.48 and classified as a blazar of unknown type, lacking
optical spectrum and redshift. The higher-resolution radio data showed that
4C+29.48 comprises three bright radio-emitting features located within a
~1'-diameter area. We (re-)analyzed archival Very Large Array and unpublished
very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations conducted by the Very
Long Baseline Array and the European VLBI Network of 4C+29.48. We also
collected data form optical, infrared and X-ray surveys. The northernmost
complex of 4C+29.48 contains a blazar with a high brightness temperature
compact core and a steep-spectrum jet feature. The blazar is positionally
coincident with an optical source at a redshift of 1.142. Its mid-infrared
colors also support its association with a gamma-ray emitting blazar. The two
other radio complexes have steep radio spectra and do not have optical or
infrared counterparts in currently available surveys. Based on the radio
morphology, they are unlikely to be related to the blazar. We discuss the
possibilities whether the two radio features are lobes of a radio galaxy, or
gravitationally lensed images of a background source. We propose to associate
3FGL J1323.0+2942 in subsequent versions of the Fermi catalog with the blazar
residing in northernmost complex. We suggest naming this source J1323+2941A to
avoid misinterpretation arising from the fact that the coordinates of the
currently listed radio counterpart 4C+29.48 is closer to a most probably
unrelated radio source. (abridged)


  In this work, a Generalized Finite Difference (GFD) scheme is presented for
effectively computing the numerical solution of a parabolic-elliptic system
modelling a bacterial strain with density-suppressed motility. The GFD method
is a meshless method known for its simplicity for solving non-linear boundary
value problems over irregular geometries. The paper first introduces the basic
elements of the GFD method, and then an explicit-implicit scheme is derived.
The convergence of the method is proven under a bound for the time step, and an
algorithm is provided for its computational implementation. Finally, some
examples are considered comparing the results obtained with a regular mesh and
an irregular cloud of points.


  Neural networks have shown to be a powerful tool to represent ground state of
quantum many-body systems, including for fermionic systems. In this work, we
introduce a framework for embedding lattice symmetries in Neural
Slater-Backflow-Jastrow wavefunction ansatzes, and demonstrate how our model
allows us to target the ground state and low-lying excited states. To capture
the Hamiltonian symmetries, we introduce group-equivariant backflow
transformations. We study the low-energy excitation spectrum of the t-V model
on a square lattice away from half-filling, and find that our symmetry-aware
backflow significantly improves the ground-state energies, and yields accurate
low-lying excited states for up to 10x10 lattices. We additionally compute the
two-point density-correlation function and the structure factor to detect the
phase transition and determine the critical point. Finally, we quantify the
variational accuracy of our model using the V-score.


  According to the Hubble law, high redshift objects such as Quasar (QSOs),
X-ray Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) together with the Gamma Ray Burst (GRBs) are
the fastest and farthest objects. These characteristics provides strong
motivations for they to be used to constrain the cosmological parameters,
without the limitations found in the Ia supernovae study and which is
restricted to redshift of up to 1.7. However, the variability and behavior in
the QSOs and AGNs spectra tell us that they have very complex structures and
the standard candle framework can not be applied. So far the available data of
QSOs and AGNs have shown some anomalies observed in their brightness and
metallicities, difficult to understand, under an orthodox point of view. Here,
we show that their Hubble diagram flattens for $z\geq 3 $. The result need
further confirmation, because the statistics of high redshift extragalactic
objects is still poor. Details and some implications of these results are
reported in this work.


  We present sensitive 870$\mu$m continuum measurements from our ALMA
programmes of 114 X-ray selected AGN in the CDF-S and COSMOS fields. We use
these observations in combination with data from Spitzer and Herschel to
construct a sample of 86 X-ray selected AGN, 63 with ALMA constraints at
$z=1.5-3.2$ with stellar mass $>2\times10^{10}M_{\odot}$. We constructed
broad-band spectral energy distributions in the infrared band (8 - 1000$\mu$m)
and constrain star-formation rates (SFRs) uncontaminated by the AGN. Using a
hierarchical Bayesian method that takes into account the information from upper
limits, we fit SFR and specific SFR (sSFR) distributions. We explore these
distributions as a function of both X-ray luminosity and stellar mass. We
compare our measurements to two versions of the EAGLE hydrodynamical
simulations: the reference model with AGN feedback and the model without AGN.
We find good agreement between the observations and that predicted by the EAGLE
reference model for the modes and widths of the sSFR distributions as a
function of both X-ray luminosity and stellar mass; however, we found that the
EAGLE model without AGN feedback predicts a significantly narrower width when
compared to the data. Overall, from the combination of the observations with
the model predictions, we conclude that (1) even with AGN feedback, we expect
no strong relationship between the sSFR distribution parameters and
instantaneous AGN luminosity and (2) a signature of AGN feedback is a broad
distribution of sSFRs for all galaxies (not just those hosting an AGN) with
stellar masses above $\approx 10^{10}$M$_{\odot}$.


  The exclusive rare decay $B \ra K^\ast \gamma$ takes place in a region of
maximum recoil, $q^{2}=0$, posing a problem for nonrelativistic quark models
which are usually thought to be most reliable at zero recoil. The
Bauer--Stech--Wirbel (BSW) model, formulated in the infinite--momentum--frame
(IMF) formalism, is designed to work at $q^2=0$. We show in this model that the
ratio relating the decay $B \ra K^\ast \gamma$ and the $q^2$--spectrum of the
semileptonic decay $B\ra \rho e {\bar \nu}$, becomes independent of the wave
function in the SU(3) flavor symmetry limit. We show that this feature is also
true in relativistic quark models formulated in the IMF or light--cone
formalism, if the $b$ quark is infinitely heavy. In fact, these relativistic
models, which have a different spin structure from the BSW case, reduce to the
BSW model in the heavy $b$--quark limit. A direct measurement of the
$q^2$--spectrum of the semileptonic decay can therefore provide accurate
information for the exclusive rare decay.


  Gravity on noncommutative analogues of compact spaces can give a finite mode
truncation of ordinary commutative gravity. We obtain the actions for gravity
on the noncommutative two-sphere and on the noncommutative ${\bf CP}^2$ in
terms of finite dimensional $(N\times N)$-matrices. The commutative large $N$
limit is also discussed.


  In recent years, AI has demonstrated remarkable capabilities in simulating
human behaviors, particularly those implemented with large language models
(LLMs). However, due to the lack of systematic evaluation of LLMs' simulated
behaviors, the believability of LLMs among humans remains ambiguous, i.e., it
is unclear which behaviors of LLMs are convincingly human-like and which need
further improvements. In this work, we design SimulateBench to evaluate the
believability of LLMs when simulating human behaviors. In specific, we evaluate
the believability of LLMs based on two critical dimensions: 1) consistency: the
extent to which LLMs can behave consistently with the given information of a
human to simulate; and 2) robustness: the ability of LLMs' simulated behaviors
to remain robust when faced with perturbations. SimulateBench includes 65
character profiles and a total of 8,400 questions to examine LLMs' simulated
behaviors. Based on SimulateBench, we evaluate the performances of 10 widely
used LLMs when simulating characters. The experimental results reveal that
current LLMs struggle to align their behaviors with assigned characters and are
vulnerable to perturbations in certain factors.


  A proton spin-polarizability characterizing backward Compton scattering has
been extracted from a dispersion analysis of data between 33 and 309 MeV. This
backward spin-polarizability, "delta" = 27.1 +/-2.2(stat+sys) +2.8/-2.4(model)
in units of 10^-4 fm^4, differs significantly from theoretical estimates which
are dominated by pi0 t-channel exchange, and indicates a new contribution from
the non-perturbative spin-structure of the proton. This new value for "delta"
removes an apparent inconsistency in the difference of charge polarizabilities
extracted from data above pi-threshold. Our global result, alpha-beta = 10.11
+/-1.74(stat+sys) +1.22/-0.86 (model) in units of 10^-4 fm^3, is consistent
with the previous world average of data below 155 MeV. Our value for alpha+beta
= 13.23 +/-0.86(stat+sys) +0.20/-0.49(model) is consistent with a recent
re-evaluation of the Baldin sum rule.


  Boundary shape, particularly roughness, strongly controls the amount of wall
slip in dense granular flows. In this paper, we aim to quantify and understand
which aspects of a dense granular flow are controlled by the boundary
condition, and to incorporate these observations into a cooperative nonlocal
model characterizing slow granular flows. To examine the influence of boundary
properties, we perform experiments on a quasi-2D annular shear cell with a
rotating inner wall and a fixed outer wall; the later is selected from among 6
walls with various roughness, local concavity, and compliance. We find that we
can successfully capture the full flow profile using a single set of
empirically determined model parameters, with only the wall slip velocity set
by direct observation. Through the use of photoelastic particles, we observe
how the internal stresses fluctuate more for rougher boundaries, corresponding
to lower wall slip, and connect this observation to the propagation of nonlocal
effects originating at the wall.


  The continuous improvement in TQM is considered as the core value by which
organisation could maintain a competitive edge. Several techniques and tools
are known to support this core value but most of the time these techniques are
informal and without modelling the interdependence between the core value and
tools. Thus, technique formalisation is one of TQM challenges for increasing
efficiency of quality process implementation. In that way, the paper proposes
and experiments an advanced quality modelling approach based on meta-modelling
the "process approach" as advocated by the standard ISO9000:2000. This
meta-model allows formalising the interdependence between technique, tools and
core value


  Polar codes with memory (PCM) are proposed in this paper: a pair of
consecutive code blocks containing a controlled number of mutual information
bits. The shared mutual information bits of the succeeded block can help the
failed block to recover. The underlying polar codes can employ any decoding
scheme such as the successive cancellation (SC) decoding (PCM-SC), the belief
propagation (BP) decoding (PCM-BP), and the successive cancellation list (SCL)
decoding (PCM-SCL). The analysis shows that the packet error rate (PER) of PCM
decreases to the order of PER squared while maintaining the same complexity as
the underlying polar codes. Simulation results indicate that for PCM-SC, the
PER is comparable to (less than 0.3 dB) the stand-alone SCL decoding with two
lists for the block length $N=256$. The PER of PCM-SCL with $L$ lists can match
that of the stand-alone SCL decoding with $2L$ lists. Two hardware decoders for
PCM are also implemented: the in-serial (IS) decoder and the low-latency
interleaved (LLI) decoder. For $N=256$, synthesis results show that in the
worst case, the latency of the PCM LLI decoder is only $16.1\%$ of the adaptive
SCL decoder with $L=2$, while the throughput is improved by 13 times compared
to it.


  Ganymede's atmosphere is produced by charged particle sputtering and
sublimation of its icy surface. Previous far-ultraviolet observations of the
O{\small I\,}1356-{\AA} and O{\small I\,}1304-{\AA} oxygen emissions were used
to infer sputtered molecular oxygen (O$_2$) as an atmospheric constituent, but
an expected sublimated water (H$_2$O) component remained undetected. Here we
present an analysis of high-sensitivity spectra and spectral images acquired by
the Hubble Space Telescope revealing H$_2$O in Ganymede's atmosphere. The
relative intensity of the oxygen emissions requires contributions from
dissociative excitation of water vapor, indicating that H$_2$O is more abundant
than O$_2$ around the sub-solar point. Away from the sub-solar region, the
emissions are consistent with a pure O$_2$ atmosphere. Eclipse observations
constrain atomic oxygen to be at least two orders of magnitude less abundant
than these other species. The higher H$_2$O/O$_2$ ratio above the warmer
trailing hemisphere compared to the colder leading hemisphere, the spatial
concentration to the sub-solar region, and the estimated abundance of
$\sim$10$^{15}$ H$_2$O/cm$^{2}$ are consistent with sublimation of the icy
surface as source.


  With the recent discovery of a heavy top quark $(m_t \approx 175 - 200$ GeV),
the top quark opens an window to electroweak symmetry breaking. We propose the
study of four-top, $t\bar t t\bar t$, production at hadronic supercolliders as
a probe to electroweak symmetry breaking.


  The question of what conditions guarantee that a symplectic $S^1$ action is
Hamiltonian has been studied for many years. In a 1998 paper, Sue Tolman and
Jonathon Weitsman proved that if the action is semifree and has a non-empty set
of isolated fixed points then the action is Hamiltonian. Furthermore, in a 2010
paper Cho, Hwang, and Suh proved in the 6-dimensional case that if we have
$b_2^+=1$ at a reduced space at a regular level $\lambda$ of the circle valued
moment map, then the action is Hamiltonian. In this paper, we will use this to
prove that certain 6-dimensional symplectic actions which are not semifree and
have a non-empty set of isolated fixed points are Hamiltonian. In this case,
the reduced spaces are 4-dimensional symplectic orbifolds, and we will resolve
the orbifold singularities and use J-holomorphic curve techniques on the
resolutions.


  We calculate finite size effects on nucleon masses in chiral perturbation
theory. We confront the theoretical predictions with N_f=2 lattice results and
discuss chiral extrapolation formulae.


  This paper presents a series of stratified shearing-box simulations of
collisionless accretion disks in the recently developed framework of kinetic
magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), which can handle finite non-gyrotropy of a pressure
tensor. Although a fully kinetic simulation predicted a more efficient
angular-momentum transport in collisionless disks than in the standard MHD
regime, the enhanced transport has not been observed in past kinetic MHD
approaches to gyrotropic pressure anisotropy. For the purpose of investigating
this missing link between the fully kinetic and MHD treatments, this paper pays
attention to the role of non-gyrotropic pressure, and makes a first attempt to
incorporate certain collisionless effects into disk-scale, stratified disk
simulations. When the timescale of gyrotropization was longer than, or
comparable to, the disk rotation frequency of the orbit, we found that the
finite non-gyrotropy selectively remaining in the vicinity of current sheets
contributes to suppressing magnetic reconnection in the shearing-box system.
This leads to increases both in the saturated amplitude of the MHD turbulence
driven by magnetorotational instabilities and in the resultant efficiency of
angular-momentum transport. Our results seem favorable for fast advection of
magnetic fields toward the rotation axis of a central object, which is required
to launch an ultra-relativistic jet from a black-hole accretion system in, for
example, a magnetically arrested disk state.


  The stationary radial distribution, $P(\rho)$, of the random walk with the
diffusion coefficient $D$, which winds with the tangential velocity $V$ around
the impenetrable disc of radius $R$ for $R\gg 1$ converges to the distribution
involving the Airy function. Typical trajectories are localized in the circular
strip $[R, R+ \delta R^{1/3}]$, where $\delta$ is the constant which depends on
the parameters $D$ and $V$ and is independent on $R$.


  3D virtual try-on enjoys many potential applications and hence has attracted
wide attention. However, it remains a challenging task that has not been
adequately solved. Existing 2D virtual try-on methods cannot be directly
extended to 3D since they lack the ability to perceive the depth of each pixel.
Besides, 3D virtual try-on approaches are mostly built on the fixed topological
structure and with heavy computation. To deal with these problems, we propose a
Decomposed Implicit garment transfer network (DI-Net), which can effortlessly
reconstruct a 3D human mesh with the newly try-on result and preserve the
texture from an arbitrary perspective. Specifically, DI-Net consists of two
modules: 1) A complementary warping module that warps the reference image to
have the same pose as the source image through dense correspondence learning
and sparse flow learning; 2) A geometry-aware decomposed transfer module that
decomposes the garment transfer into image layout based transfer and texture
based transfer, achieving surface and texture reconstruction by constructing
pixel-aligned implicit functions. Experimental results show the effectiveness
and superiority of our method in the 3D virtual try-on task, which can yield
more high-quality results over other existing methods.


  This paper investigates probability density functions (PDFs) that are
continuous everywhere, nearly uniform around the mode of distribution, and
adaptable to a variety of distribution shapes ranging from bell-shaped to
rectangular. From the viewpoint of computational tractability, the PDF based on
the Fermi-Dirac or logistic function is advantageous in estimating its shape
parameters. The most appropriate PDF for $n$-variate distribution is of the
form:
$p\left(\mathbf{x}\right)\propto\left[\cosh\left(\left[\left(\mathbf{x}-\mathbf{m}\right)^{\mathsf{T}}\boldsymbol{\Sigma}^{-1}\left(\mathbf{x}-\mathbf{m}\right)\right]^{n/2}\right)+\cosh\left(r^{n}\right)\right]^{-1}$
where $\mathbf{x},\mathbf{m}\in\mathbb{R}^{n}$, $\boldsymbol{\Sigma}$ is an
$n\times n$ positive definite matrix, and $r>0$ is a shape parameter. The
flat-topped PDFs can be used as a component of mixture models in machine
learning to improve goodness of fit and make a model as simple as possible.


  In the present paper I want to tell of my impressions about the world of
research in astrophysics, which I know from close observation. I see with
certain pessimism the actual state of astrophysics, as well as of other
sciences with similar problems. There are many charms in the profession, as
many charms as in love, but not when they are in the service of mercantile
aims.


  CsPb2Br5 is a stable, water-resistant, material derived from CsPbBr3
perovskite and featuring two-dimensional Pb-Br framework separated by Cs
layers. Both compounds can coexist at nano- length scale, which often produces
conflicting optical spectroscopy results. We present a complete set of
polarized Raman spectra of nonluminescent CsPb2Br5 single crystals that reveals
the symmetry and frequency of nondegenerate Raman active phonons accessible
from the basal (001) plane. The experimental results are in good agreement with
density functional perturbation theory simulations, which suggests that the
calculated frequencies of yet unobserved double degenerate Raman and infrared
phonons are also reliable. Unlike CsPbBr3, the lattice dynamics of CsPb2Br5 is
stable as evidenced by the calculated phonon dispersion. The sharp Raman lines
and lack of a dynamic- disorder-induced central peak in the spectra at room
temperature indicate that the coupling of Cs anharmonic motion to Br atoms,
known to cause the dynamic disorder in CsPbBr3, is absent in CsPb2Br5.


  It is found that there is no period in the imaginary Beltrami-time of the de
Sitter spacetime with Beltrami metric and that the `surface-gravity' in view of
inertial observers in de Sitter spacetime is zero! They show that the horizon
might be at zero temperature in de Sitter spacetime and that the thermal
property of the horizon in the de Sitter spacetime with a static metric should
be analogous to that of the Rindler horizon in Minkowski spacetime.


  The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has recently approved passive
gamma emission tomography (PGET) as a method for inspecting spent nuclear fuel
assemblies (SFAs), an important aspect of international nuclear safeguards
which aim at preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons. The PGET
instrument is essentially a single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT)
system that allows the reconstruction of axial cross-sections of the emission
map of the SFA. The fuel material heavily self-attenuates its gamma-ray
emissions, so that correctly accounting for the attenuation is a critical
factor in producing accurate images. Due to the nature of the inspections, it
is desirable to use as little a priori information as possible about the fuel,
including the attenuation map, in the reconstruction process. Current
reconstruction methods either do not correct for attenuation, assume a uniform
attenuation throughout the fuel assembly, or assume an attenuation map based on
an initial filtered back projection (FBP) reconstruction. Here, we propose a
method to simultaneously reconstruct the emission and attenuation maps by
formulating the reconstruction as a constrained minimization problem with a
least squares data fidelity term and regularization terms. Using simulated
data, we compare the proposed method to FBP, showing that our approach produces
significantly better reconstructions by various numerical metrics and a much
better classification of spent, missing, and fresh fuel rods.


  In this paper, we propose a state-of-the-art video denoising algorithm based
on a convolutional neural network architecture. Until recently, video denoising
with neural networks had been a largely under explored domain, and existing
methods could not compete with the performance of the best patch-based methods.
The approach we introduce in this paper, called FastDVDnet, shows similar or
better performance than other state-of-the-art competitors with significantly
lower computing times. In contrast to other existing neural network denoisers,
our algorithm exhibits several desirable properties such as fast runtimes, and
the ability to handle a wide range of noise levels with a single network model.
The characteristics of its architecture make it possible to avoid using a
costly motion compensation stage while achieving excellent performance. The
combination between its denoising performance and lower computational load
makes this algorithm attractive for practical denoising applications. We
compare our method with different state-of-art algorithms, both visually and
with respect to objective quality metrics.


  We have obtained a new high-resolution K'-band image of the central region of
the rich X-ray cluster RX J0848.9+4452 at z=1.26. We found that the brightest
cluster galaxy (BCG) in the cluster is clearly separated into two distinct
objects. Whereas the optical to near-infrared colors of the objects are
consistent with the predictions of passive evolution models for galaxies formed
at high redshift, the luminosities of the two galaxies are both considerably
fainter than predicted by passive evolution of BCG's in low and intermediate
redshift clusters. We argue that this is evidence of an on-going merger of
normal cluster ellipticals to form the dominant galaxy in the core of RX
J0848.9+4452. The two galaxies appear to point towards the nearby cluster ClG
J0848+4453 and are aligned with the outer X-ray contour of their parent
cluster, supporting a model of BCG formation by collimated infall along the
surrounding large-scale structure.


  Based on the work done by an electromagnetic field on an atomic or molecular
electronic system, a general gauge invariant formulation of transient
absorption spectroscopy is presented within the semi-classical approximation.
Avoiding multipole expansions, a computationally viable expression for the
spectral response function is derived from the minimal-coupling Hamiltonian of
an electronic system interacting with one or more laser pulses described by a
source-free, enveloped electromagnetic vector potential. With a fixed-basis
expansion of the electronic wave function, the computational cost of
simulations of laser-driven electron dynamics beyond the dipole approximation
is the same as simulations adopting the dipole approximation. We illustrate the
theory by time-dependent configuration interaction and coupled-cluster
simulations of core-level absorption and circular dichroism spectra.


  We show that in any nontrivial Hahn field with truncation as a primitive
operation we can interpret the monadic second-order logic of the additive
monoid of natural numbers and are thus undecidable. We also specify a definable
binary relation on such a structure that has $\SOP$ and $\TP$.


  We propose a paradigm shift in the data-driven modeling of the instrumental
response field of telescopes. By adding a differentiable optical forward model
into the modeling framework, we change the data-driven modeling space from the
pixels to the wavefront. This allows to transfer a great deal of complexity
from the instrumental response into the forward model while being able to adapt
to the observations, remaining data-driven. Our framework allows a way forward
to building powerful models that are physically motivated, interpretable, and
that do not require special calibration data. We show that for a simplified
setting of a space telescope, this framework represents a real performance
breakthrough compared to existing data-driven approaches with reconstruction
errors decreasing 5 fold at observation resolution and more than 10 fold for a
3x super-resolution. We successfully model chromatic variations of the
instrument's response only using noisy broad-band in-focus observations.


  The criticality of the jamming transition responsible for amorphous
solidification has been theoretically linked to the marginal stability of a
thermodynamic Gardner phase. While the critical exponents of jamming appear
independent of the preparation history, the pertinence of Gardner physics far
from equilibrium is an open question. To fill this gap, we numerically study
the nonequilibrium dynamics of hard disks compressed towards the jamming
transition using a broad variety of protocols. We show that dynamic signatures
of Gardner physics can be disentangled from the aging relaxation dynamics. We
thus define a generic dynamic Gardner crossover regardless of the history. Our
results show that the jamming transition is always accessed by exploring
increasingly complex landscape, resulting in the anomalous microscopic
relaxation dynamics that remains to be understood theoretically.