  The point vortex system is usually considered as an idealized model where the
vorticity of an ideal incompressible two-dimensional fluid is concentrated in a
finite number of moving points. In the case of a single vortex in an otherwise
irrotational ideal fluid occupying a bounded and simply-connected
two-dimensional domain the motion is given by the so-called Kirchhoff-Routh
velocity which depends only on the domain. The main result of this paper
establishes that this dynamics can also be obtained as the limit of the motion
of a rigid body immersed in such a fluid when the body shrinks to a massless
point particle with fixed circulation. The rigid body is assumed to be only
accelerated by the force exerted by the fluid pressure on its boundary, the
fluid velocity and pressure being given by the incompressible Euler equations,
with zero vorticity. The circulation of the fluid velocity around the particle
is conserved as time proceeds according to Kelvin's theorem and gives the
strength of the limit point vortex. We also prove that in the different regime
where the body shrinks with a fixed mass the limit dynamics is governed by a
second-order differential equation involving a Kutta-Joukowski-type lift force.


  The dynamical vortex response of a two-dimensional array of the resistively
shunted Josephson junctions in a perpendicular magnetic field is inferred from
simulations. It is found that, as the magnetic field is increased at a fixed
temperature, the response crosses over from normal to anomalous, and that this
crossover can be characterized by a single dimensionless parameter. It is
described how this crossover should be reflected in measurements of the complex
impedance for Josephson junction arrays and superconducting films.


  This PhD thesis investigates several aspects of nonabelian higher gauge
theories, which appear in many areas of physics, notably string theory and
gauged supergravity. We show that nonabelian higher gauge theory admits a
consistent classical nonperturbative formulation insofar as a higher nonabelian
parallel transport exists consistently, without requiring certain curvature
components (fake curvature) to vanish. Next, we explore examples of nonabelian
higher gauge theories that naturally appear in high-energy physics. Using a
generalisation of $L_\infty$-algebras called $E_2L_\infty$-algebras, we show
that tensor hierarchies of gauged supergravity naturally admit a formulation in
terms of higher nonabelian gauge theories. Furthermore, toroidal
compactifications of string theory exhibiting T-duality also naturally contain
higher gauge symmetry, which explain several features of nongeometric
compactifications (Q- and R-fluxes). Based on the papers arXiv:1911.06390,
arXiv:2106.00108, and arXiv:2204.01783 coauthored with Christian Saemann and
Leron Borsten.


  Graph Neural Networks achieve remarkable results on problems with structured
data but come as black-box predictors. Transferring existing explanation
techniques, such as occlusion, fails as even removing a single node or edge can
lead to drastic changes in the graph. The resulting graphs can differ from all
training examples, causing model confusion and wrong explanations. Thus, we
argue that explicability must use graphs compliant with the distribution
underlying the training data. We coin this property Distribution Compliant
Explanation (DCE) and present a novel Contrastive GNN Explanation (CoGE)
technique following this paradigm. An experimental study supports the efficacy
of CoGE.


  Observation of Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) in the Very High Energy (VHE) domain
will provide important information on the physical conditions in GRB outflows.
The MAGIC telescope is the best suited Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescope
(IACT) for these observations. Thanks to its fast repositioning time and low
energy threshold, MAGIC is able to start quickly the follow-up observation,
triggered by an alert from the GRB Coordinates Network (GCN), and observe the
prompt emission and early afterglow phase from GRBs. In the last two years of
operation several GRB follow-up observations were performed by MAGIC, however,
until now without successful detection of VHE gamma rays above threshold
energies >100 GeV. In this paper we revise the expectations for the GRB
observations with MAGIC, based on the experience from the last years of
operation.


  The GREM-like trap model is a continuous time Markov jump process on the
leaves of a finite volume $L$-level tree whose transition rates depend on a
trapping landscape built on the vertices of the whole tree. We prove that the
natural two-time correlation function of the dynamics ages in the infinite
volume limit and identify the limiting function. Moreover, we take the limit
$L\to\infty$ of the two-time correlation function of the infinite volume
$L$-level tree. The aging behavior of the dynamics is characterized by a
collection of clock processes, one for each level of the tree. We show that for
any $L$, the joint law of the clock processes converges. Furthermore, any such
limit can be expressed through Neveu's continuous state branching process.
Hence, the latter contains all the information needed to describe aging in the
GREM-like trap model both for finite and infinite levels.


  Imaging flow cytometry shows significant potential for increasing our
understanding of heterogeneous and complex life systems and is useful for
biomedical applications. Ghost cytometry is a recently proposed approach for
directly analyzing compressively measured signals, thereby relieving the
computational bottleneck observed in high-throughput cytometry based on
morphological information. While this image-free approach could distinguish
different cell types using the same fluorescence staining method, further
strict controls are sometimes required to clearly demonstrate that the
classification is based on detailed morphologic analysis. In this study, we
show that ghost cytometry can be used to classify cell populations of the same
type but with different fluorescence distributions in space, supporting the
strength of our image-free approach for morphologic cell analysis.


  We discuss the possibility of solving the inverse problem of the cosmic-ray
electron/positron from decaying/annihilating dark matter, and show simple
analytic formulae to reconstruct the source spectrum of the electron/positron
from the observed flux. We also illustrate our approach by applying the
obtained formula to the just released Fermi data as well as the new HESS data.


  One of the popular models for the low/hard state of Black Hole Binaries is
that the standard accretion disk is truncated and the hot inner region produces
via Comptonization, the hard X-ray flux. This is supported by the value of the
high energy photon index, which is often found to be small $\sim$ 1.7 ($<$ 2)
implying that the hot medium is seed photons starved. On the other hand, the
suggestive presence of a broad relativistic Fe line during the hard state would
suggest that the accretion disk is not truncated but extends all the way to the
inner most stable circle orbit. In such a case, it is a puzzle why the hot
medium would remain photon starved. The broad Fe line should be accompanied by
a broad smeared reflection hump at $\sim$ 30 keV and it may be that this
additional component makes the spectrum hard and the intrinsic photon index is
larger, i.e. $>$ 2. This would mean that the medium is not photon deficient,
reconciling the presence of a broad Fe line in the observed hard state. To test
this hypothesis, we have analyzed the RXTE observations of GX 339-4 from the
four outbursts during 2002-2011 and identify the observations when the system
was in the hard state and showed a broad Fe line. We have then attempted to fit
these observations with models, which include smeared reflection to understand
whether the intrinsic photon index can indeed be large. We find that, while for
some observations the inclusion of reflection does increase the photon index,
there are hard state observations with broad Fe line that have photon indices
less than 2.


  White dwarfs (WDs) that accrete helium at rates $\sim 10^{-8} \, M_\odot \,
\rm yr^{-1}$, such as those in close binaries with sdB stars, can accumulate
large ($\gtrsim 0.1 \, M_\odot$) helium envelopes which are likely to detonate.
We perform binary stellar evolution calculations of sdB+WD binary systems with
MESA, incorporating the important reaction chain $^{14}{\rm N}(e^-, \nu)
{^{14}{\rm C}} ( \alpha, \gamma) {^{18}{\rm
  O}}$ (NCO), including a recent measurement for the ${^{14}{\rm C}} ( \alpha,
\gamma) {^{18}{\rm O}}$ rate. In large accreted helium shells, the NCO reaction
chain leads to ignitions at the dense base of the freshly accreted envelope, in
contrast to $3\alpha$ ignitions which occur away from the base of the shell. In
addition, at these accretion rates, the shells accumulate on a timescale
comparable to their thermal time, leading to an enhanced sensitivity of the
outcome on the accretion rate history. Hence, time dependent accretion rates
from binary stellar evolution are necessary to determine the helium layer mass
at ignition. We model the observed sdB+WD system ${\rm CD}\,-30^\circ 11223$
and find that the inclusion of these effects predicts ignition of a $0.153 \,
M_\odot$ helium shell, nearly a factor of two larger than previous predictions.
A shell with this mass will ignite dynamically, a necessary condition for a
helium shell detonation.


  It is well known that Gibbs' statistical mechanics is not justified for
systems presenting long-range interactions, such as plasmas or galaxies. In a
previous work we considered a realistic FPU-like model of an ionic crystal (and
thus with long-range interactions), and showed that it reproduces the
experimental infrared spectra from 1000 K down to 7 K, provided one abandons
the Gibbs identification of temperature in terms of specific kinetic energy, at
low temperatures. Here we investigate such a model in connection with its
ergodicity properties. The conclusion we reach is that at low temperatures
ergodicity does not occur, and thus the Gibbs prescriptions are not dynamically
justified, up to geological time scales. We finally give a preliminary result
indicating how the so-called `nonclassical' q-statistics show up in the
realistic ionic-crystal model. How to formulate a consistent statistical
mechanics, with the corresponding suitable identification of temperature in
such nonergodicity conditions, remains an open problem, which apparently
constitutes the modern form of the FPU problem.


  Supersymmetric (SUSY) grand unified theories based on exceptional gauge
groups such as E6 have recently triggered a lot of interest. Aside from
top-down motivations, they contain phenomenologically interesting states with
leptoquark quantum numbers. Their SUSY partners, leptoquarkinos, will appear
similar to all R-odd particles in decay cascades, but mass edges in kinematic
distributions- originating from the same semiexclusive final states-will
however have major differences to the corresponding edges of ordinary squarks.
This distortion of standard observables bears the opportunity to detect them at
the LHC, but may also pose significant confusion of underlying model
assumptions, which should be handled with care and, if interpreted falsely,
might even prevent a possible discovery.


  We provide an alternative approach to relativistic dynamics based on the
Feshbach projection technique. Instead of directly studying the Dirac equation,
we derive a two-component equation for the upper spinor. This approach allows
one to investigate the underlying physics in a different perspective. For
particles with small mass such as the neutrino, the leading order equation has
a Hermitian effective Hamiltonian, implying there is no leakage between the
upper and lower spinors. In the weak relativistic regime, the leading order
corresponds to a non-Hermitian correction to the Pauli equation, which takes
into account the non-zero possibility of finding the lower-spinor state and
offers a more precise description.


  In this paper, we study the inverse electromagnetic medium scattering problem
of estimating the support and shape of medium scatterers from scattered
electric or magnetic near-field data. We shall develop a novel direct sampling
method based on an analysis of electromagnetic scattering and the behavior of
the fundamental solution. The method is applicable even with one incident field
and needs only to compute inner products of the measured scattered field with
the fundamental solutions located at sampling points. Hence it is strictly
direct, computationally very efficient, and highly tolerant to the presence of
noise in the data. Two- and three-dimensional numerical experiments indicate
that it can provide reliable support estimates of one single and multiple
scatterers in case of both exact and highly noisy data.


  A method of solving the Schr\"{o}dinger equation based on the use of constant
particle-particle interaction potential surfaces (IPS) is proposed. The
many-body wave function is presented in a configuration interaction form, with
coefficients depending on the total interaction potential. The corresponding
set of linear ordinary differential equations for the coefficients was
developed. To reduce the computational work, a hierarchy of approximations
based on interaction potential surfaces of a part of the particle system was
worked out. The solution of a simple exactly solvable model and He-like ions
proves that this method is more accurate than the conventional configuration
interaction method and demonstrates a better convergence with a basis set
increase.


  One way to study the physical plausibility of closed timelike curves (CTCs)
is to examine their computational power. This has been done for Deutschian CTCs
(D-CTCs) and post-selection CTCs (P-CTCs), with the result that they allow for
the efficient solution of problems in PSPACE and PP, respectively. Since these
are extremely powerful complexity classes, which are not expected to be
solvable in reality, this can be taken as evidence that these models for CTCs
are pathological. This problem is closely related to the nonlinearity of this
models, which also allows for example cloning quantum states, in the case of
D-CTCs, or distinguishing non-orthogonal quantum states, in the case of P-CTCs.
In contrast, the process matrix formalism allows one to model indefinite causal
structures in a linear way, getting rid of these effects, and raising the
possibility that its computational power is rather tame. In this paper we show
that process matrices correspond to a linear particular case of P-CTCs, and
therefore that its computational power is upperbounded by that of PP. We show,
furthermore, a family of processes that can violate causal inequalities but
nevertheless can be simulated by a causally ordered quantum circuit with only a
constant overhead, showing that indefinite causality is not necessarily hard to
simulate.


  Supermassive black hole (SMBH) masses can be measured by observing the
impacts of the SMBHs on dynamical tracers around them. We present high angular
resolution ($0.19$ arcsec or $\approx24$ pc) Atacama Large
Millimeter/submillimeter Array observations of the $^{12}$CO(3-2) line emission
of the early-type galaxy NGC 4751, which reveal a highly-inclined
regularly-rotating molecular gas disc with clear central Keplerian motions.
Using a Hubble Space Telescope image to constrain the stellar mass
distribution, we forward model the molecular gas kinematics and data cube in a
Bayesian framework using the Kinematic Molecular Simulation code. Assuming a
constant mass-to-light ratio ($M/L$), we infer a SMBH mass
$M_\text{BH}=3.43^{+0.45}_{-0.44}\times10^9$ $\text{M}_\odot$ and a F160W
filter stellar $M/L$ $M/L_\text{F160W}=(2.68\pm0.11)$
$\text{M}_\odot/\text{L}_{\odot,\text{F160W}}$ (all quoted uncertainties are at
$3\sigma$ confidence). Assuming a linearly spatially-varying $M/L$, we infer
$M_\text{BH}=2.79_{-0.57}^{+0.75}\times10^9$ $\text{M}_\odot$ and
$\left(M/L_\text{F160W}\right)/\left(\text{M}_\odot/\text{L}_{\odot,\text{F160W}}\right)=3.07^{+0.27}_{-0.35}-0.09^{+0.08}_{-0.06}\,\left(R/\text{arcsec}\right)$,
where $R$ is the galactocentric radius. We also present alternative SMBH mass
estimates using the Jeans Anisotropic Modelling (JAM) method and SINFONI
stellar kinematics. Assuming a cylindrically-aligned velocity ellipsoid
(JAM$_\text{cyl}$) we infer $M_\text{BH}=(2.52\pm 0.36)\times10^9$
$\text{M}_\odot$, while assuming a spherically-aligned velocity ellipsoid
(JAM$_\text{sph}$) we infer $M_\text{BH}=(3.24\pm0.87)\times10^9$
$\text{M}_\odot$. Our derived masses are all consistent with one another, but
they are larger than (and inconsistent with) one previous stellar dynamical
measurement using Schwarzschil's method and the same SINFONI kinematics.


  The generalized definition of symmetry is formulated. Application of this
definition for symmetric analysis of theoretical physics equations is
considered. The version of electrodynamics is constructed permitting the
faster-than-light motions of particles with real masses. Some elements of
physical interpretation of the proposed theory are presented.


  Parton energy loss in the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) is studied with a
measurement of photon-tagged jet production in 1.7 nb$^{-1}$ of Pb+Pb data and
260 pb$^{-1}$ of $pp$ data, both at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}} = 5.02$ TeV, with the
ATLAS detector. The process $pp \to \gamma$+jet+$X$ and its analogue in Pb+Pb
collisions is measured in events containing an isolated photon with transverse
momentum ($p_\mathrm{T}$) above $50$ GeV and reported as a function of jet
$p_\mathrm{T}$. This selection results in a sample of jets with a steeply
falling $p_\mathrm{T}$ distribution that are mostly initiated by the showering
of quarks. The $pp$ and Pb+Pb measurements are used to report the nuclear
modification factor, $R_\mathrm{AA}$, and the fractional energy loss,
$S_\mathrm{loss}$, for photon-tagged jets. In addition, the results are
compared with the analogous ones for inclusive jets, which have a significantly
smaller quark-initiated fraction. The $R_\mathrm{AA}$ and $S_\mathrm{loss}$
values are found to be significantly different between those for photon-tagged
jets and inclusive jets, demonstrating that energy loss in the QGP is sensitive
to the colour-charge of the initiating parton. The results are also compared
with a variety of theoretical models of colour-charge-dependent energy loss.


  An integral quantity is presented that relates the wake of a body in
nominally two-dimensional flow to its drag, for Reynolds numbers ranging from
9,000 to 144,000. It is defined as the ratio of the kinetic energy to the
vorticity in the fluid boundary and, for the special case of laminar flow, is
proportional to the angular momentum in the wake bubble. The new quantity is
useful for correlating drag data for circular and rectangular cylinders,
wedges, v-gutters, and normal flat plates with and without splitter plates. The
correlation indicates that the drag force is proportional to the flow speed and
the mass flow rate stored in the boundary of the fluid, where the fluid
boundary is defined so as to include the wake bubble. Order-of-magnitude
arguments indicate that, absent any quantization of vortex size, this mass flow
rate, and hence the drag force, can become unbounded as the vortices contained
in the wake becomes finer.


  We investigate the photon-trapping effects in the super-critical black hole
accretion flows by solving radiation transfer as well as the energy equations
of radiation and gas. It is found that the slim-disk model generally
overestimates the luminosity of the disk at around the Eddington luminosity
(L_E) and is not accurate in describing the effective temperature profile,
since it neglects time delay between energy generation at deeper inside the
disk and energy release at the surface. Especially, the photon-trapping effects
are appreciable even below L ~ L_E, while they appear above ~ 3L_E according to
the slim disk. Through the photon-trapping effects, the luminosity is reduced
and the effective temperature profile becomes flatter than r^{-3/4} as in the
standard disk. In the case that the viscous heating is effective only around
the equatorial plane, the luminosity is kept around the Eddington luminosity
even at very large mass accretion rate, Mdot>>L_E/c^2. The effective
temperature profile is almost flat, and the maximum temperature decreases in
accordance with rise in the mass accretion rate. Thus, the most luminous radius
shifts to the outer region when Mdot/(L_E/c^2) >> 10^2. In the case that the
energy is dissipated equally at any heights, the resultant luminosity is
somewhat larger than in the former case, but the energy-conversion efficiency
still decreases with increase of the mass accretion rate, as well. The most
luminous radius stays around the inner edge of the disk in the latter case.
Hence, the effective temperature profile is sensitive to the vertical
distribution of energy production rates, so is the spectral shape. Future
observations of high L/L_E objects will be able to test our model.


  Given a set of $n$ points (sites) inside a rectangle $R$ and $n$ points
(label locations or ports) on its boundary, a boundary labeling problem seeks
ways of connecting every site to a distinct port while achieving different
labeling aesthetics. We examine the scenario when the connecting lines
(leaders) are drawn as axis-aligned polylines with few bends, every leader lies
strictly inside $R$, no two leaders cross, and the sum of the lengths of all
the leaders is minimized. In a $k$-sided boundary labeling problem, where $1\le
k\le 4$, the label locations are located on the $k$ consecutive sides of $R$.
  In this paper, we develop an $O(n^3\log n)$-time algorithm for 2-sided
boundary labeling, where the leaders are restricted to have one bend. This
improves the previously best known $O(n^8\log n)$-time algorithm of Kindermann
et al. (Algorithmica, 76(1):225-258, 2016). We show the problem is
polynomial-time solvable in more general settings such as when the ports are
located on more than two sides of $R$, in the presence of obstacles, and even
when the objective is to minimize the total number of bends. Our results
improve the previous algorithms on boundary labeling with obstacles, as well as
provide the first polynomial-time algorithms for minimizing the total leader
length and number of bends for 3- and 4-sided boundary labeling. These results
settle a number of open questions on the boundary labeling problems (Wolff,
Handbook of Graph Drawing, Chapter 23, Table 23.1, 2014).


  The stellar yields for galactic modeling applications (SYGMA) code is an
open-source module that models the chemical ejecta and feedback of simple
stellar populations (SSPs). It is intended for use in hydrodynamical
simulations and semi-analytic models of galactic chemical evolution. The module
includes the enrichment from asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars, massive
stars, SNIa and neutron-star mergers. An extensive and extendable stellar
yields library includes the NuGrid yields with all elements and many isotopes
up to Bi. Stellar feedback from mechanic and frequency-dependent radiative
luminosities are computed based on NuGrid stellar models and their synthetic
spectra. The module further allows for customizable initial-mass functions and
supernova Ia (SNIa) delay-time distributions to calculate time-dependent ejecta
based on stellar yield input. A variety of r-process sites can be included. A
comparison of SSP ejecta based on NuGrid yields with those from Portinari et
al. (1998) and Marigo (2001) reveals up to a factor of 3.5 and 4.8 less C and N
enrichment from AGB stars at low metallicity, a result we attribute to NuGrid's
modeling of hot-bottom burning. Different core-collapse supernova explosion and
fallback prescriptions may lead to substantial variations for the accumulated
ejecta of C, O and Si in the first $10^7\, \mathrm{yr}$ at $Z=0.001$. An online
interface of the open-source SYGMA module enables interactive simulations,
analysis and data extraction of the evolution of all species formed by the
evolution of simple stellar populations.


  We present an assistance system that reasons about a human's intended actions
during robot teleoperation in order to provide appropriate corrections for
unintended behavior. We model the human's physical interaction with a control
interface during robot teleoperation and distinguish between intended and
measured physical actions explicitly. By reasoning over the unobserved
intentions using model-based inference techniques, our assistive system
provides customized corrections on a user's issued commands. We validate our
algorithm with a 10-person human subject study in which we evaluate the
performance of the proposed assistance paradigms. Our results show that the
assistance paradigms helped to significantly reduce task completion time,
number of mode switches, cognitive workload, and user frustration and improve
overall user satisfaction.


  The growing volumes of XML data sources on the Web or produced by
enterprises, organizations etc. raise many performance challenges for data
management applications. In this work, we are concerned with the distributed,
peer-to-peer management of large corpora of XML documents, based on distributed
hash table (or DHT, in short) overlay networks. We present ViP2P (standing for
Views in Peer-to-Peer), a distributed platform for sharing XML documents based
on a structured P2P network infrastructure (DHT). At the core of ViP2P stand
distributed materialized XML views, defined by arbitrary XML queries, filled in
with data published anywhere in the network, and exploited to efficiently
answer queries issued by any network peer. ViP2P allows user queries to be
evaluated over XML documents published by peers in two modes. First, a
long-running subscription mode, when a query can be registered in the system
and receive answers incrementally when and if published data matches the query.
Second, queries can also be asked in an ad-hoc, snapshot mode, where results
are required immediately and must be computed based on the results of other
long-running, subscription queries. ViP2P innovates over other similar
DHT-based XML sharing platforms by using a very expressive structured XML query
language. This expressivity leads to a very flexible distribution of XML
content in the ViP2P network, and to efficient snapshot query execution. ViP2P
has been tested in real deployments of hundreds of computers. We present the
platform architecture, its internal algorithms, and demonstrate its efficiency
and scalability through a set of experiments. Our experimental results outgrow
by orders of magnitude similar competitor systems in terms of data volumes,
network size and data dissemination throughput.


  Smooth linear statistics of random permutation matrices, sampled under a
general Ewens distribution, exhibit an interesting non-universality phenomenon.
Though they have bounded variance, their fluctuations are asymptotically
non-Gaussian but infinitely divisible. The fluctuations are asymptotically
Gaussian for less smooth linear statistics for which the variance diverges. The
degree of smoothness is measured in terms of the quality of the trapezoidal
approximations of the integral of the observable.


  Pseudo-rehearsal allows neural networks to learn a sequence of tasks without
forgetting how to perform in earlier tasks. Preventing forgetting is achieved
by introducing a generative network which can produce data from previously seen
tasks so that it can be rehearsed along side learning the new task. This has
been found to be effective in both supervised and reinforcement learning. Our
current work aims to further prevent forgetting by encouraging the generator to
accurately generate features important for task retention. More specifically,
the generator is improved by introducing a second discriminator into the
Generative Adversarial Network which learns to classify between real and fake
items from the intermediate activation patterns that they produce when fed
through a continual learning agent. Using Atari 2600 games, we experimentally
find that improving the generator can considerably reduce catastrophic
forgetting compared to the standard pseudo-rehearsal methods used in deep
reinforcement learning. Furthermore, we propose normalising the Q-values taught
to the long-term system as we observe this substantially reduces catastrophic
forgetting by minimising the interference between tasks' reward functions.


  In this paper we study non-interactive correlation distillation (NICD), a
generalization of the study of noise sensitivity of boolean functions. We
extend the model to NICD on trees. In this model there is a fixed undirected
tree with players at some of the nodes. One node is given a uniformly random
string and this string is distributed throughout the network, with the edges of
the tree acting as independent binary symmetric channels. The goal of the
players is to agree on a shared random bit without communicating. Our new
contributions include the following: 1. In the case of a k-leaf star graph, we
resolve the open question of whether the success probability must go to zero as
k goes to infinity. We show that this is indeed the case and provide matching
upper and lower bounds on the asymptotically optimal rate (a slowly-decaying
polynomial). 2. In the case of the k-vertex path graph, we show that it is
always optimal for all players to use the same 1-bit function. 3. In the
general case we show that all players should use monotone functions. 4. For
certain trees it is better if not all players use the same function. Our
techniques include the use of the reverse Bonami-Beckner inequality.


  Multi-robot planning and coordination in uncertain environments is a
fundamental computational challenge, since the belief space increases
exponentially with the number of robots. In this paper, we address the problem
of planning in uncertain environments with a heterogeneous robot team comprised
of fast scout vehicles for information gathering and more risk-averse carrier
robots from which the scout vehicles are deployed. To overcome the
computational challenges associated with multi-robot motion planning in the
presence of environmental uncertainty, we represent the environment and
operational scenario using a topological graph, where the edge weight
distributions vary with the state of the robot team on the graph. While this
belief space representation still scales exponentially with the number of
robots, we formulate a computationally efficient mixed-integer program which is
capable of generating optimal multi-robot plans in seconds. We evaluate our
approach in a representative scenario where the robot team must move through an
environment while minimizing detection by observers in positions that are
uncertain to the robot team. We demonstrate that our approach is sufficiently
computationally tractable for real-time re-planning in changing environments,
can improve performance in the presence of imperfect information, and can be
adjusted to accommodate different risk profiles.


  The recently observed X(3872) resonance, which is difficult to be assigned a
conventional $c\bar{c}$ charmonium state in the quark model, may be interpreted
as a molecular state. Such a molecular state is a hidden flavor four quark
state because of its charmonium-like quantum numbers. The s-channel one gluon
exchange is an interaction which only acts in the hidden flavor multi-quark
system. In this paper, we will study the X(3872) and other similiar hidden
flavor molecular states in a quark model by taking into account of the
s-channel one gluon exchange interaction.


  Federated learning (FL), introduced in 2017, facilitates collaborative
learning between non-trusting parties with no need for the parties to
explicitly share their data among themselves. This allows training models on
user data while respecting privacy regulations such as GDPR and CPRA. However,
emerging privacy requirements may mandate model owners to be able to
\emph{forget} some learned data, e.g., when requested by data owners or law
enforcement. This has given birth to an active field of research called
\emph{machine unlearning}. In the context of FL, many techniques developed for
unlearning in centralized settings are not trivially applicable! This is due to
the unique differences between centralized and distributed learning, in
particular, interactivity, stochasticity, heterogeneity, and limited
accessibility in FL. In response, a recent line of work has focused on
developing unlearning mechanisms tailored to FL.
  This SoK paper aims to take a deep look at the \emph{federated unlearning}
literature, with the goal of identifying research trends and challenges in this
emerging field. By carefully categorizing papers published on FL unlearning
(since 2020), we aim to pinpoint the unique complexities of federated
unlearning, highlighting limitations on directly applying centralized
unlearning methods. We compare existing federated unlearning methods regarding
influence removal and performance recovery, compare their threat models and
assumptions, and discuss their implications and limitations. For instance, we
analyze the experimental setup of FL unlearning studies from various
perspectives, including data heterogeneity and its simulation, the datasets
used for demonstration, and evaluation metrics. Our work aims to offer insights
and suggestions for future research on federated unlearning.


  This paper investigates a novel behavioral feature exhibited by recursive
preferences: aversion to risks that are persistent through time. I introduce a
formal notion of correlation aversion to capture this phenomenon and provide a
characterization based on risk attitudes. Furthermore, correlation averse
preferences admit a specific variational representation, which connects
correlation aversion to fear of model misspecification. These findings imply
that correlation aversion is the main driver in many applications of recursive
preferences such as asset pricing, climate policy, and optimal fiscal policy.


  We give a survey on the fundamental group of surfaces isogenous to a higher
product. If the surfaces are regular, e.g. if they are Beauville surfaces, the
first homology group is a finite group. We present a MAGMA script which
calculates the first homology groups of regular surfaces isogenous to a
product.


  We show how a Hall viscosity induced by a magnetic field can be generated in
strongly coupled theories with a holographic dual. This is achieved by
considering parity-breaking higher derivative terms in the gravity dual. These
terms couple the Riemann curvature tensor to the field strength of a gauge
field dual to the charge current, and have an analog in the field theory side
as a coupling between the "Euler current" and the electromagnetic field. As a
concrete example, we study the effect of the new terms in the thermodynamic and
transport properties of a strongly coupled magnetized plasma dual to a dyonic
black hole in $AdS_4$. As a new property of the holographic model, we find that
for a state that is initially neutral at zero magnetic field, a charge density
and non-dissipative Hall transport are present when the magnetic field is
turned on. Remarkably, we also observe that the results from the holographic
model are consistent with hydrodynamics even at magnetic fields much larger
than temperature.


  In this paper we continue our study of annihilating-ideal graph of
commutative rings, that was introduced in Part I (see [5]). Let $R$ be a
commutative ring with ${\Bbb{A}}(R)$ its set of ideals with nonzero annihilator
and $Z(R)$ its set of zero divisors. The annihilating-ideal graph of $R$ is
defined as the (undirected) graph ${\Bbb{AG}}(R)$ that its vertices are
$\Bbb{A}(R)^* =\Bbb{A}(R)\hspace{-1mm}\setminus\{(0)\}$ in which for every
distinct vertices $I$ and $J$,
$I\hspace{-0.6mm}-\hspace{-1.7mm}-\hspace{-1.7mm}-\hspace{-0.5mm}J$ is an edge
if and only if $IJ=(0)$. First, we study the diameter of ${\Bbb{AG}}(R)$. A
complete characterization for the possible diameter is given exclusively in
terms of the ideals of $R$ when either $R$ is a Noetherian ring or $Z(R)$ is
not an ideal of $R$. Next, we study coloring of annihilating-ideal graphs.
Among other results, we characterize when either $\chi({\Bbb{AG}}(R))\leq 2$ or
$R$ is reduced and $\chi({\Bbb{AG}}(R))\leq \infty$. Also it is shown that for
each reduced ring $R$, $\chi(\Bbb{AG}(R))= cl(\Bbb{AG}(R))$. Moreover, if
  $\chi(\Bbb{AG}(R))$ is finite, then $R$ has a finite number of minimal
primes, and if $n$ is this number, then $\chi(\Bbb{AG}(R))= cl(\Bbb{AG}(R))=
n$. Finally, we show that for a Noetherian ring $R$, $cl(\Bbb{AG}(R))$ is
finite if and only if for every ideal $I$ of $R$ with $I^2=(0)$, $I$ has finite
number of $R$-submodules.


  The Lifting Idempotent Property ($LIP$) of ideals in commutative rings
inspired the study of Boolean lifting properties in the context of other
concrete algebraic structures ($MV$-algebras, commutative l-groups,
$BL$-algebras, bounded distributive lattices, residuated lattices,etc.), as
well as for some types of universal algebras (C. Muresan and the author defined
and studied the Congruence Boolean Lifting Property ($CBLP$) for congruence
modular algebras).
  A lifting ideal of a ring $R$ is an ideal of $R$ fulfilling $LIP$. In a
recent paper, Tarizadeh and Sharma obtained new results on lifting ideals in
commutative rings. The aim of this paper is to extend an important part of
their results to congruences with $CBLP$ in semidegenerate congruence modular
algebras. The reticulation of such algebra will play an important role in our
investigations (recall that the reticulation of a congruence modular algebra
$A$ is a bounded distributive lattice $L(A)$ whose prime spectrum is
homeomorphic with Agliano's prime spectrum of $A$).
  Almost all results regarding $CBLP$ are obtained in the setting of
semidegenerate congruence modular algebras having the property that the
reticulations preserve the Boolean center.
  The paper contains several properties of congruences with $CBLP$. Among the
results we mention a characterization theorem of congruences with $CBLP$. We
achieve various conditions that ensure $CBLP$. Our results can be applied to a
lot of types of concrete structures: commutative rings, $l$-groups,
distributive lattices, $MV$-algebras, $BL$-algebras, residuated lattices, etc.


  Ranking is a core task in recommender systems, which aims at providing an
ordered list of items to users. Typically, a ranking function is learned from
the labeled dataset to optimize the global performance, which produces a
ranking score for each individual item. However, it may be sub-optimal because
the scoring function applies to each item individually and does not explicitly
consider the mutual influence between items, as well as the differences of
users' preferences or intents. Therefore, we propose a personalized re-ranking
model for recommender systems. The proposed re-ranking model can be easily
deployed as a follow-up modular after any ranking algorithm, by directly using
the existing ranking feature vectors. It directly optimizes the whole
recommendation list by employing a transformer structure to efficiently encode
the information of all items in the list. Specifically, the Transformer applies
a self-attention mechanism that directly models the global relationships
between any pair of items in the whole list. We confirm that the performance
can be further improved by introducing pre-trained embedding to learn
personalized encoding functions for different users. Experimental results on
both offline benchmarks and real-world online e-commerce systems demonstrate
the significant improvements of the proposed re-ranking model.


  Recently, data heterogeneity among the training datasets on the local clients
(a.k.a., Non-IID data) has attracted intense interest in Federated Learning
(FL), and many personalized federated learning methods have been proposed to
handle it. However, the distribution shift between the training dataset and
testing dataset on each client is never considered in FL, despite it being
general in real-world scenarios. We notice that the distribution shift (a.k.a.,
out-of-distribution generalization) problem under Non-IID federated setting
becomes rather challenging due to the entanglement between personalized and
spurious information. To tackle the above problem, we elaborate a general
dual-regularized learning framework to explore the personalized invariance,
compared with the exsiting personalized federated learning methods which are
regularized by a single baseline (usually the global model). Utilizing the
personalized invariant features, the developed personalized models can
efficiently exploit the most relevant information and meanwhile eliminate
spurious information so as to enhance the out-of-distribution generalization
performance for each client. Both the theoretical analysis on convergence and
OOD generalization performance and the results of extensive experiments
demonstrate the superiority of our method over the existing federated learning
and invariant learning methods, in diverse out-of-distribution and Non-IID data
cases.


  Following a line of reasoning suggested by Eliashberg, we prove Cerf's
theorem that any diffeomorphism of the 3-sphere extends over the 4-ball. To
this end we develop a moduli-theoretic version of Eliashberg's
filling-with-holomorphic-discs method.


  We report on the fabrication and characterization of single-photon-sensitive
WSi superconducting detectors with wire widths from 1 {\mu}m to 3 {\mu}m. The
devices achieve saturated internal detection efficiency at 1.55 {\mu}m
wavelength and exhibit maximum count rates in excess of 10^5 s^-1. We also
investigate the material properties of the silicon-rich WSi films used for
these devices. We find that many devices with active lengths of several hundred
microns exhibit critical currents in excess of 50% of the depairing current. A
meandered detector with 2.0 {\mu}m wire width is demonstrated over a surface
area of 362x362 {\mu}m^2, showcasing the material and device quality achieved.


  To each multiquiver $\Gamma$ we attach a solution to the consistency
equations associated to twisted generalized Weyl (TGW) algebras. This
generalizes several previously obtained solutions in the literature. We show
that the corresponding algebras $\mathcal{A}(\Gamma)$ carry a canonical
representation by differential operators and that $\mathcal{A}(\Gamma)$ is
universal among all TGW algebras with such a representation. We also find
explicit conditions in terms of $\Gamma$ for when this representation is
faithful or locally surjective.
  By forgetting some of the structure of $\Gamma$ one obtains a Dynkin diagram,
$D(\Gamma)$. We show that the generalized Cartan matrix of
$\mathcal{A}(\Gamma)$ coincides with the one corresponding to $D(\Gamma)$ and
that $\mathcal{A}(\Gamma)$ contains graded homomorphic images of the enveloping
algebra of the positive and negative part of the corresponding Kac-Moody
algebra.
  Finally, we show that a primitive quotient $U/J$ of the enveloping algebra of
a finite-dimensional simple Lie algebra over an algebraically closed field of
characteristic zero is graded isomorphic to a TGW algebra if and only if $J$ is
the annihilator of a completely pointed (multiplicity-free) simple weight
module. The infinite-dimensional primitive quotients in types $A$ and $C$ are
closely related to $\mathcal{A}(\Gamma)$ for specific $\Gamma$. We also prove
one result in the affine case.


  We present data from a between-student study on student response to questions
on Newton's Third Law given throughout the academic year. The study, conducted
at Rochester Institute of Technology, involved students from the first and
third of a three-quarter sequence. Construction of a response curve reveals
subtle dynamics in student learning not captured by simple pre/post testing. We
find a a significant positive effect from direct instruction, peaking at the
end of instruction on forces, that diminishes by the end of the quarter. Two
quarters later, in physics III, a significant dip in correct response occurs
when instruction changes from the vector quantities of electric forces and
fields to the scalar quantity of electric potential. Student response rebounds
to its initial values, however, once instruction returns to the vector-based
topics involving magnetic fields.


  A field theoretical renormalization group approach at two loop level is
applied to the homogeneous spin-1 Bose gas in order to investigate the order of
the phase transition. The beta function of the system with $d=4-\epsilon$
dimensions is determined up to the third power of the coupling constants and
the system's free energy on the border of the classical stability is given in
next to leading order. It is found that the phase transition of the interacting
spin-1 Bose gases with weak spin-dependent coupling constant values is of first
order.


  We consider Einstein gravity on a patch of AdS$_3$ spacetime between two
radii $r_1, r_2$. We compute surface charges and their algebra at an arbitrary
radius $r$ such that it reduces to a given set of surface charges at $r_1,
r_2$. The $r$-dependent charges become integrable upon addition of an
appropriate boundary $Y$-term. We observe that soft excitations at each
boundary are independent of those at the other boundary. We explicitly
construct solution geometries which interpolate between these radii with
specified surface charges. The interpolation is smooth provided that the mass
and angular momentum measured at the two boundaries are equal.


  Inspired by the recent Altas and CMS experiments on the invariant mass
spectrum of $J/\psi J/\psi$, we systematically study the $c\bar{c}c\bar{c}$
system of $J^{P}=0^{+}$. In the framework of chiral quark model, we have
carried out bound-state calculation and resonance-state calculation
respectively by using Real-scaling method. The results of bound-state
calculation show that there are no bound states in the $c\bar{c}c\bar{c}$ with
$0^{+}$ system. The resonance-state calculation shows that there are four
possible stable resonances: $R(6920)$, $R(7000)$, $R(7080)$ and $R(7160)$.
$R(6920)$ and $R(7160)$ are experimental candidates for $X(6900)$ and
$X(7200)$, whose main decay channel is $J/\psi J/\psi$. It is important to note
that the another major decay channel of $R(7160)$ is $\chi_{c0} \chi_{c0} $,
and the $\chi_{c0} \chi_{c0} $ is also the main decay channel of $R(7000)$,
$R(7080)$. Therefore, we propose to search experimentally for these two
predicted resonances in the $\chi_{c0} \chi_{c0}$ invariant mass spectrum.


  A canonical formulation of the N=1 supergravity theory containing the
topological Nieh-Yan term in its Lagrangian density is developed. The
constraints are analysed without choosing any gauge. In the time gauge, the
theory is shown to be described in terms of real SU(2) variables.


  We study the nature of the new charm and charmonium like states observed in
the last few years, using a constituent quark model with an screened
confinement potential. In the open charm sector we discuss different options
for the $D_{sJ}(2860)$ including tetraquark configurations. In the hidden charm
sector the new Y(4360) and Y(4660) are interpreted as $1^{--}$ states. The
influence in the puzzling 3940 MeV region of multiquark configuration is
discussed.


  Solar wind charge-changing reactions are of paramount importance to the
physico-chemistry of the atmosphere of a comet. The ESA/Rosetta mission to
comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (67P) provides a unique opportunity to study
charge-changing processes in situ. To understand the role of these reactions in
the evolution of the solar wind plasma, and interpret the complex in-situ
measurements made by Rosetta, numerical or analytical models are necessary. We
use an extended analytical formalism describing solar wind charge-changing
processes at comets along solar wind streamlines. The model is driven by solar
wind ion measurements from the Rosetta Plasma Consortium-Ion Composition
Analyzer (RPC-ICA) and neutral density observations from the Rosetta
Spectrometer for Ion and Neutral Analysis-Comet Pressure Sensor (ROSINA-COPS),
as well as charge-changing cross sections of hydrogen and helium particles in a
water gas. A mission-wide overview of charge-changing efficiencies at comet 67P
is presented. Electron capture cross sections dominate and favor the production
of He and H energetic neutral atoms, with fluxes expected to rival those of H+
and He2+ ions. Neutral outgassing rates are retrieved from local RPC-ICA flux
measurements, and match ROSINA's estimates very well. From the model, we find
that solar wind charge exchange is unable to fully explain the magnitude of the
sharp drop of solar wind ion fluxes observed by Rosetta for heliocentric
distances below 2.5 AU. This is likely because the model does not take into
account the relative ion dynamics and, to a lesser extent, ignore the formation
of bow shock-like structures upstream of the nucleus. This work also shows that
the ionization by solar EUV radiation and energetic electrons dominates the
source of cometary ions, although solar wind contributions may be significant
during isolated events.


  The increasing size of solar datasets demands highly efficient and robust
analysis methods. This paper presents an approach that can increase the
computational efficiency of differential emission measure (DEM) inversions by
an order of magnitude or higher, with the efficiency factor increasing with the
size of the input dataset. The method, named the Gridded Solar Iterative
Temperature Emission Solver (Grid-SITES) is based on grouping pixels according
to the similarity of their intensities in multiple channels, and solving for
one DEM per group. This is shown to be a valid approach, given a sufficiently
high number of grid bins for each channel. The increase in uncertainty arising
from the quantisation of the input data is small compared to the general
measurement and calibration uncertainties. In this paper, we use the Solar
Iterative Temperature Emission Solver (SITES) as the core method for the DEM
inversion, although Grid-SITES provides a general framework which may be used
with any DEM inversion method, or indeed any large multi-dimensional data
inversion problem. The method is particularly efficient for processing larger
images, offering a factor of 30 increase in speed for a 10 megapixel image. For
a time series of observations, the gridded results can be passed sequentially
to each new image, with new populated bins added as required. This process
leads to increasing efficiency with each new image, with potential for a
$\approx$100 increase in efficiency dependent on the size of the images.


  The gravitational self-force (GSF) and post-Newtonian (PN) schemes are
complementary approximation methods for modelling the dynamics of compact
binary systems. Comparison of their results in an overlapping domain of
validity provides a crucial test for both methods, and can be used to enhance
their accuracy, e.g. via the determination of previously unknown PN parameters.
Here, for the first time, we extend such comparisons to noncircular
orbits---specifically, to a system of two nonspinning objects in a bound
(eccentric) orbit. To enable the comparison we use a certain orbital-averaged
quantity $\langle U \rangle$ that generalizes Detweiler's redshift invariant.
The functional relationship $\langle U \rangle(\Omega_r,\Omega_\phi)$, where
$\Omega_r$ and $\Omega_\phi$ are the frequencies of the radial and azimuthal
motions, is an invariant characteristic of the conservative dynamics. We
compute $\langle U \rangle(\Omega_r,\Omega_\phi)$ numerically through linear
order in the mass ratio $q$, using a GSF code which is based on a
frequency-domain treatment of the linearized Einstein equations in the Lorenz
gauge. We also derive $\langle U \rangle(\Omega_r,\Omega_\phi)$ analytically
through 3PN order, for an arbitrary $q$, using the known near-zone 3PN metric
and the generalized quasi-Keplerian representation of the motion. We
demonstrate that the $\mathcal{O}(q)$ piece of the analytical PN prediction is
perfectly consistent with the numerical GSF results, and we use the latter to
estimate yet unknown pieces of the 4PN expression at $\mathcal{O}(q)$.


  We give a detailed description of the algebraic group Aut(g) of automorphisms
of a simple finite dimensional Lie superalgebra g over an algebraically closed
field k of characteristic 0. We also give a description of the group of
automorphisms of the k-Lie superalgebra $g \otimes_k R$ whenever R is a
Noetherian domain with trivial Picard group.


  People from different social and demographic groups express diverse
perspectives and conflicting opinions on a broad set of topics such as product
reviews, healthcare, law, and politics. A fair summary should provide a
comprehensive coverage of diverse perspectives without underrepresenting
certain groups. However, current work in summarization metrics and Large
Language Models (LLMs) evaluation has not explored fair abstractive
summarization. In this paper, we systematically investigate fair abstractive
summarization for user-generated data. We first formally define fairness in
abstractive summarization as not underrepresenting perspectives of any groups
of people, and we propose four reference-free automatic metrics by measuring
the differences between target and source perspectives. We evaluate nine LLMs,
including three GPT models, four LLaMA models, PaLM 2, and Claude, on six
datasets collected from social media, online reviews, and recorded transcripts.
Experiments show that both the model-generated and the human-written reference
summaries suffer from low fairness. We conduct a comprehensive analysis of the
common factors influencing fairness and propose three simple but effective
methods to alleviate unfair summarization. Our dataset and code are available
at https://github.com/psunlpgroup/FairSumm.


  RADICAL-Cybertools (RCT) are a set of software systems that serve as
middleware to develop efficient and effective tools for scientific computing.
Specifically, RCT enable executing many-task applications at extreme scale and
on a variety of computing infrastructures. RCT are building blocks, designed to
work as stand-alone systems, integrated among themselves or integrated with
third-party systems. RCT enables innovative science in multiple domains,
including but not limited to biophysics, climate science and particle physics,
consuming hundreds of millions of core hours. This paper provides an overview
of RCT systems, their impact, and the architectural principles and software
engineering underlying RCT


  In this article, we generalize our previous results joint with Pedro Gaspar
to higher dimensions, prove the existence of (infinitely many) eternal weak
mean curvature flows in $S^{n+1}$ (for all $n \geq 2$) connecting a Clifford
hypersurface $S^1(\sqrt{\frac{1}{n}}) \times S^{n-1} (\sqrt{\frac{n-1}{n}})$ to
the equatorial spheres $S^n$.


  This is a survey article of the recent progresses on the metric behaviour of
Ricci-flat K\"{a}hler-Einstein metrics along degenerations of Calabi-Yau
manifolds.


  We describe a mechanism for biological learning and adaptation based on two
simple principles: (I) Neuronal activity propagates only through the network's
strongest synaptic connections (extremal dynamics), and (II) The strengths of
active synapses are reduced if mistakes are made, otherwise no changes occur
(negative feedback). The balancing of those two tendencies typically shapes a
synaptic landscape with configurations which are barely stable, and therefore
highly flexible. This allows for swift adaptation to new situations.
Recollection of past successes is achieved by punishing synapses which have
once participated in activity associated with successful outputs much less than
neurons that have never been successful. Despite its simplicity, the model can
readily learn to solve complicated nonlinear tasks, even in the presence of
noise. In particular, the learning time for the benchmark parity problem scales
algebraically with the problem size N, with an exponent $k\sim 1.4$.


  In this paper we prove convergence and compactness results for Ricci flows
with bounded scalar curvature and entropy. More specifically, we show that
Ricci flows with bounded scalar curvature converge smoothly away from a
singular set of codimension $\geq 4$. We also establish a general form of the
Hamilton-Tian Conjecture, which is even true in the Riemannian case.
  These results are based on a compactness theorem for Ricci flows with bounded
scalar curvature, which states that any sequence of such Ricci flows converges,
after passing to a subsequence, to a metric space that is smooth away from a
set of codimension $\geq 4$. In the course of the proof, we will also establish
$L^{p < 2}$-curvature bounds on time-slices of such flows.


  We introduce the pseudovariety of finite groups $\mathbf{U} =
\displaystyle\bigvee_{p \in \mathbb{P}} {\bf Ab}(p) \ast {\bf Ab}(p-1)$, where
$\mathbb{P}$ is the set of all primes. We show that $\mathbf{U}$ consists of
all finite supersolvable groups with elementary abelian derived subgroup and
abelian Sylow subgroups, being therefore decidable. We prove that it is
decidable whether or not a finitely generated subgroup of a free group is
closed or dense for the pro-${\bf U}$ topology. We consider also the
pseudovariety of finite groups ${\bf Ab}(p) \ast {\bf Ab}(d)$ (where $p$ is a
prime and $d$ divides $p-1$). We study the pro-$({\bf Ab}(p) \ast {\bf Ab}(d))$
topology on a free group and construct the unique generator of minimum size of
the pseudovariety ${\bf Ab}(p) \ast {\bf Ab}(d)$. Finally, we prove that the
variety of groups generated by ${\bf U}$ is the variety of all metabelian
groups, obtaining also results on the varieties generated by a Baumslag-Solitar
group of the form $BS(1,q)$ for $q$ prime.


  Solving phenomenological macroscopic equations instead of microscopic
Ginzburg-Landau equations for superconductors is much easier and can be
advantageous in a variety of applications. However, till now, only Bean's
critical state model is available for the description of irreversible
properties. Here we propose a plausible overall macroscopic model for both
reversible and irreversible properties, combining London theory and Bean's
model together based on superposition principle. First, a simple case where
there is no pinning is discussed, from which a microscopic basis for Bean's
model is explored. It is shown that a new concept of 'flux share' is needed
when the field is increased above the lower critical field. A portion of
magnetic flux is completely shielded, named as 'Meissner share' and the rest
penetrates through vortices, named as 'vortices share'. We argue that the flux
shares are irreversible if there is pinning. It is shown that the irreversible
flux shares can be the reason for observed peculiar reversible magnetization
behavior near zero field. The overall macroscopic model seems to be valuable
for the analysis of fundamental physical properties as well. As an example, it
is shown the origin of paramagnetic Meissner effect can be explained by the
phenomenological macroscopic model.


  We study the hadron production in $p+p$, $p+n$ and $n+n$ reactions within the
microscopic Parton-Hadron-Dynamics (PHSD) transport approach in comparison to
PYTHIA 8.2. We discuss the details of the "PHSD tune" of the Lund string model
(realized by event generators FRITIOF and PYTHIA) in the vacuum (as in $N+N$
collisions) as well as its in-medium modifications relevant for heavy-ion
collisions where a hot and dense matter is produced. We compare the results of
PHSD and PYTHIA 8.2 (default version) for the excitation function of hadron
multiplicities as well as differential rapidity $y$, transverse momentum $p_T$
and $x_F$ distributions in $p+p$, $p+n$ and $n+n$ reactions with the existing
experimental data in the energy range $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 2.7 - 7000$ GeV. We
discuss the production mechanisms of hadrons and the role of final state
interactions (FSI) due to the hadronic rescattering. We also show the influence
of the possible quark-gluon plasma (QGP) formation on hadronic observables in
$p+p$ collisions at LHC energies. We stress the importance of developing a
reliable event generator for elementary reactions from low to
ultra-relativistic energies in view of actual and upcoming heavy-ion
experiments.


  Understanding the structure and properties of refractory oxides are critical
for high temperature applications. In this work, a combined experimental and
simulation approach uses an automated closed loop via an active-learner, which
is initialized by X-ray and neutron diffraction measurements, and sequentially
improves a machine-learning model until the experimentally predetermined phase
space is covered. A multi-phase potential is generated for a canonical example
of the archetypal refractory oxide, HfO2, by drawing a minimum number of
training configurations from room temperature to the liquid state at ~2900oC.
The method significantly reduces model development time and human effort.


  A classical nonrelativistic effective field theory for a real Lorentz-scalar
field $\phi$ is most conveniently formulated in terms of a complex scalar field
$\psi$. There have been two derivations of effective Lagrangians for the
complex field $\psi$ in which terms in the effective potential were determined
to order $(\psi^* \psi)^4$. We point out an error in each of the effective
Lagrangians. After correcting the errors, we demonstrate the equivalence of the
two effective Lagrangians by verifying that they both reproduce $T$-matrix
elements of the relativistic real scalar field theory and by also constructing
a redefinition of the complex field $\psi$ that transforms terms in one
effective Lagrangian into the corresponding terms of the other.


  For many algorithmic problems, traditional algorithms that optimise on the
number of instructions executed prove expensive on I/Os. Novel and very
different design techniques, when applied to these problems, can produce
algorithms that are I/O efficient. This thesis adds to the growing chorus of
such results. The computational models we use are the external memory model and
the W-Stream model.
  On the external memory model, we obtain the following results. (1) An I/O
efficient algorithm for computing minimum spanning trees of graphs that
improves on the performance of the best known algorithm. (2) The first external
memory version of soft heap, an approximate meldable priority queue. (3) Hard
heap, the first meldable external memory priority queue that matches the
amortised I/O performance of the known external memory priority queues, while
allowing a meld operation at the same amortised cost. (4) I/O efficient exact,
approximate and randomised algorithms for the minimum cut problem, which has
not been explored before on the external memory model. (5) Some lower and upper
bounds on I/Os for interval graphs.
  On the W-Stream model, we obtain the following results. (1) Algorithms for
various tree problems and list ranking that match the performance of the best
known algorithms and are easier to implement than them. (2) Pass efficient
algorithms for sorting, and the maximal independent set problems, that improve
on the best known algorithms. (3) Pass efficient algorithms for the graphs
problems of finding vertex-colouring, approximate single source shortest paths,
maximal matching, and approximate weighted vertex cover. (4) Lower bounds on
passes for list ranking and maximal matching.
  We propose two variants of the W-Stream model, and design algorithms for the
maximal independent set, vertex-colouring, and planar graph single source
shortest paths problems on those models.


  Inspired by the observation of mass less Dirac particles associated with low
energy excitations of 2-dimensional (2D) honeycomb (HC) lattices of group IV
atoms (C, Si, Ge, Sn) near the Dirac points (DPs) and spin-orbit interaction
(SOI) induced gaps at the DPs, we have investigated the electronic structure of
2D HC lattices of group V atoms (As, Sb, Bi). Here also one sees DPs at the K
points in the Brillouin zone for both planar (flat) and puckered sheets. Unlike
the group IV systems the Fermi energy in group V systems lies above the DPs.
The flat sheets are metallic but undergo structural distortions to form
puckered sheets that are semiconducting. SOI profoundly alters the band
structure, opens up gaps at the DPs, and in binary systems BiSb and SbAs gives
large Rashba-type spin splitting. Nano-slabs of group V atoms show excellent
thermoelectric properties, particularly in the hole-doped regime.


  We have performed the first systematic search of the full GALEX data archive
for astrophysical variability on timescales of seconds to minutes by rebinning
data across the whole mission to 30-second time resolution. The result is the
GALEX Flare Catalog (GFCAT) which describes 1426 ultraviolet variable sources,
including stellar flares, eclipsing binaries, $\delta$ Scuti and RR Lyrae
variables, and Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). Many of these sources have never
previously been identified as variable. We have also assembled a table of
observations of ultraviolet flares and accompanying statistics and
measurements, including energies, and of candidate eclipsing stars. This effort
was enabled by a significantly-enhanced version of the gPhoton software for
analyzing time-domain GALEX data; this gPhoton2 package is available to support
follow-on efforts.


  We analyze egocentric views of attended objects from infants. This paper
shows 1) empirical evidence that children's egocentric views have more diverse
distributions compared to adults' views, 2) we can computationally simulate the
infants' distribution, and 3) the distribution is beneficial for training more
generalized image classifiers not only for infant egocentric vision but for
third-person computer vision.


  Based on the external perturbation that disturbs the system only slightly
from its equilibrium position we make the Taylor expansion of the pressure of a
quark gas. It turns out that the first term was used in the literature to
construct a Hard Thermal Loop perturbation theory (HTLpt) within the variation
principle of the lowest order of the thermal mass parameter. Various
thermodynamic quantities within the 1-loop HTLpt encountered overcounting of
the leading order (LO) contribution and also required a separation scale for
soft and hard momenta. Using same variational principle we reconstruct the
HTLpt at the first derivative level of the pressure that takes into account the
effect of the variation of the external source through the conserved density
fluctuation. This modification markedly improves those quantities in 1-loop
HTLpt in a simple way instead of pushing the calculation to a considerably more
complicated 2-loop HTLpt. Moreover, the results also agree with those obtained
in the 2-loop approximately self-consistent \Phi-derivable Hard Thermal Loop
resummation. We also discuss how this formalism can be extended for the higher
order contributions


  In engineering education, the combination with theoretical education and
practical education is an essential problem.


  Malaria infection is a major public health worldwide, with millions of new
cases and creating huge direct (an indirect) economic losses annually. Thus,
the availability of preventive methods and diagnostic solutions for malaria is
critical to save many lives, especially in poor countries. The emergence of
graphene materials provided researchers with a promising path for a variety of
fields including the medical field to fight epidemics and pandemics. In this
contribution, we discuss the key-enabling graphene-based technologies in the
fight against malaria, and how they are driving the innovation especially in
the preventive and diagnostic phases of this endemic.


  This paper is focused on the performance analysis of binary linear block
codes (or ensembles) whose transmission takes place over independent and
memoryless parallel channels. New upper bounds on the maximum-likelihood (ML)
decoding error probability are derived. These bounds are applied to various
ensembles of turbo-like codes, focusing especially on repeat-accumulate codes
and their recent variations which possess low encoding and decoding complexity
and exhibit remarkable performance under iterative decoding. The framework of
the second version of the Duman and Salehi (DS2) bounds is generalized to the
case of parallel channels, along with the derivation of their optimized tilting
measures. The connection between the generalized DS2 and the 1961 Gallager
bounds, addressed by Divsalar and by Sason and Shamai for a single channel, is
explored in the case of an arbitrary number of independent parallel channels.
The generalization of the DS2 bound for parallel channels enables to re-derive
specific bounds which were originally derived by Liu et al. as special cases of
the Gallager bound. In the asymptotic case where we let the block length tend
to infinity, the new bounds are used to obtain improved inner bounds on the
attainable channel regions under ML decoding. The tightness of the new bounds
for independent parallel channels is exemplified for structured ensembles of
turbo-like codes. The improved bounds with their optimized tilting measures
show, irrespectively of the block length of the codes, an improvement over the
union bound and other previously reported bounds for independent parallel
channels; this improvement is especially pronounced for moderate to large block
lengths.


  Belief space planning is a viable alternative to formalise partially
observable control problems and, in the recent years, its application to robot
manipulation problems has grown. However, this planning approach was tried
successfully only on simplified control problems. In this paper, we apply
belief space planning to the problem of planning dexterous reach-to-grasp
trajectories under object pose uncertainty. In our framework, the robot
perceives the object to be grasped on-the-fly as a point cloud and compute a
full 6D, non-Gaussian distribution over the object's pose (our belief space).
The system has no limitations on the geometry of the object, i.e., non-convex
objects can be represented, nor assumes that the point cloud is a complete
representation of the object. A plan in the belief space is then created to
reach and grasp the object, such that the information value of expected
contacts along the trajectory is maximised to compensate for the pose
uncertainty. If an unexpected contact occurs when performing the action, such
information is used to refine the pose distribution and triggers a re-planning.
Experimental results show that our planner (IR3ne) improves grasp reliability
and compensates for the pose uncertainty such that it doubles the proportion of
grasps that succeed on a first attempt.


  Topic models, such as latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA), can be useful tools
for the statistical analysis of document collections and other discrete data.
The LDA model assumes that the words of each document arise from a mixture of
topics, each of which is a distribution over the vocabulary. A limitation of
LDA is the inability to model topic correlation even though, for example, a
document about genetics is more likely to also be about disease than X-ray
astronomy. This limitation stems from the use of the Dirichlet distribution to
model the variability among the topic proportions. In this paper we develop the
correlated topic model (CTM), where the topic proportions exhibit correlation
via the logistic normal distribution [J. Roy. Statist. Soc. Ser. B 44 (1982)
139--177]. We derive a fast variational inference algorithm for approximate
posterior inference in this model, which is complicated by the fact that the
logistic normal is not conjugate to the multinomial. We apply the CTM to the
articles from Science published from 1990--1999, a data set that comprises 57M
words. The CTM gives a better fit of the data than LDA, and we demonstrate its
use as an exploratory tool of large document collections.


  Let G be a split adjoint semisimple group over Q and K a maximal compact
subgroup of the real points G(R). We shall give a uniform, short and
essentially elementary proof of the Weyl law for cusp forms on congruence
quotients of G(R)/K. This proves a conjecture of Sarnak for Q-split groups,
previously known only for the case of PGL(n). The key idea amounts to a new
type of simple trace formula.


  We propose a scheme for parameter estimation with the steady states of
non-Hermitian spin chains. The parameters to be estimated are encoded in the
system via the external magnetic field that imposed on the first site of the
chain. We obtain the analytical spectrum for the spin chain of two sites. We
find that the quantum Fisher information (QFI) about the amplitude of the
imposing field diverges while the QFI about the azimuthal angle reaches to the
maximum at exceptional points. Moreover, the QFI is enhanced as the system size
increasing and saturates for sufficiently long spin chain because only
short-range correlations are induced by the imposing field.


  A constrained Markov decision process (CMDP) approach is developed for
response-adaptive procedures in clinical trials with binary outcomes. The
resulting CMDP class of Bayesian response -- adaptive procedures can be used to
target a certain objective, e.g., patient benefit or power while using
constraints to keep other operating characteristics under control. In the CMDP
approach, the constraints can be formulated under different priors, which can
induce a certain behaviour of the policy under a given statistical hypothesis,
or given that the parameters lie in a specific part of the parameter space. A
solution method is developed to find the optimal policy, as well as a more
efficient method, based on backward recursion, which often yields a
near-optimal solution with an available optimality gap. Three applications are
considered, involving type I error and power constraints, constraints on the
mean squared error, and a constraint on prior robustness. While the CMDP
approach slightly outperforms the constrained randomized dynamic programming
(CRDP) procedure known from literature when focussing on type I and II error
and mean squared error, showing the general quality of CRDP, CMDP significantly
outperforms CRDP when the focus is on type I and II error only.


  Maxwells classic equations with fields, potentials, positive and negative
charges in 3+1 spacetime are derived solely from the symmetry that is required
by the Geometric Algebra of a 3+3 spacetime. The observed direction of time is
augmented by two additional orthogonal temporal dimensions forming a complex
plane where i is the bi-vector determining this plane. Variations in the
transverse time determine a zero rest mass. Real fields and sources arise from
averaging over a contour in transverse time. Positive and negative charges are
linked with poles and zeros generating traditional plane waves with
right-handed E, B, with a direction of propagation k. Conjugation and
space-reversal give left-handed plane waves without any net change in the
chirality of 3+3 spacetime. Resonant wave-packets of left- and right- handed
waves can be formed with eigen frequencies equal to the characteristic
frequencies (N+1/2)fO that are observed for photons.


  The material presented in this document is intended as a comprehensive,
implementation-oriented supplement to the experimental optimization framework
presented in a companion document. The issues of physical degradation, unknown
Lipschitz constants, measurement/estimation noise, gradient estimation,
sufficient excitation, and the handling of soft constraints and/or a numerical
cost function are all addressed, and a robust, implementable version of the
sufficient conditions for feasible-side global convergence is proposed.


  We review the accomplishments of nuclear theory during the past five years
and identify the future challenges and research opportunities. [Final,
substantially revised version of the nuclear theory white paper]


  The celebration of the Centennial of the International Commission on
Mathematical Instruction offered the occasion to look back at the history of
ICMI and outline the evolution of mathematics education until it achieved its
present status as an academic discipline. The years after WWII up to the late
1960s were crucial in this evolution for both the settlement of some
institutional aspects, mainly concerning the relationship with mathematicians,
and the establishment of new trends of the activities. In this paper we
outline, on the basis of unpublished documents, the role of two important
figures in those years: Heinrich Behnke and Hans Freudenthal.


  Singular limits of a class of evolutionary systems of partial differential
equations having two small parameters and hence three time scales are
considered. Under appropriate conditions solutions are shown to exist and
remain uniformly bounded for a fixed time as the two parameters tend to zero at
different rates. A simple example shows the necessity of those conditions in
order for uniform bounds to hold. Under further conditions the solutions of the
original system tend to solutions of a limit equation as the parameters tend to
zero.


  A search for massive resonances decaying to a Z boson and a photon is
performed in events with a hadronically decaying Z boson candidate, separately
in light-quark and b quark decay modes, identified using jet substructure and
advanced b tagging techniques. Results are based on samples of proton-proton
collisions collected with the CMS detector at the LHC at center-of-mass
energies of 8 and 13 TeV, corresponding to integrated luminosities of 19.7 and
2.7 inverse femtobarns, respectively. The results of the search are combined
with those of a similar search in the leptonic decay modes of the Z boson,
based on the same data sets. Spin-0 resonances with various widths and with
masses in a range between 0.2 and 3.0 TeV are considered. No significant excess
is observed either in the individual analyses or the combination. The results
are presented in terms of upper limits on the production cross section of such
resonances and constitute the most stringent limits to date for a wide range of
masses.


  The latest developments in neural semantic role labeling (SRL) have shown
great performance improvements with both the dependency and span
formalisms/styles. Although the two styles share many similarities in
linguistic meaning and computation, most previous studies focus on a single
style. In this paper, we define a new cross-style semantic role label
convention and propose a new cross-style joint optimization model designed
around the most basic linguistic meaning of a semantic role, providing a
solution to make the results of the two styles more comparable and allowing
both formalisms of SRL to benefit from their natural connections in both
linguistics and computation. Our model learns a general semantic argument
structure and is capable of outputting in either style. Additionally, we
propose a syntax-aided method to uniformly enhance the learning of both
dependency and span representations. Experiments show that the proposed methods
are effective on both span and dependency SRL benchmarks.


  Well-determined physical parameters of 130 W UMa systems have been collected
from the literature. Based on these data, the evolutionary status and dynamical
evolution of W UMa systems are investigated. It is found that there is no
evolutionary difference between W- and A-type systems in $M-J$ diagram which is
consistent with the results derived from the analysis of observed spectral
type, $M-R$ and $M-L$ diagrams of W UMa systems. $M-R$ and $M-L$ diagrams of W-
and A-type systems indicate that a large amount of energy should be transferred
from the more massive to the less massive component so that they are not in
thermal equilibrium and undergo thermal relaxation oscillation (TRO).
Meanwhile, the distribution of angular momentum, together with the distribution
of mass ratio, suggests that the mass ratio of the observed W UMa systems is
decreased with the decrease of their total mass. This could be the result of
the dynamical evolution of W UMa systems which suffer angular momentum loss
(AML) and mass loss due to magnetic stellar wind (MSW). Consequently, the tidal
instability forces these systems towards the lower q values and finally to fast
rotating single stars.


  We analyze the entanglement degradation provoked by the Hawking effect in a
bipartite system Alice-Rob when Rob is in the proximities of a Schwarzschild
black hole while Alice is free falling into it. We will obtain the limit in
which the tools imported from the Unruh entanglement degradation phenomenon can
be used properly, keeping control on the approximation. As a result, we will be
able to determine the degree of entanglement as a function of the distance of
Rob to the event horizon, the mass of the black hole, and the frequency of
Rob's entangled modes. By means of this analysis we will show that all the
interesting phenomena occur in the vicinity of the event horizon and that the
presence of event horizons do not effectively degrade the entanglement when Rob
is far off the black hole. The universality of the phenomenon is presented:
There are not fundamental differences for different masses when working in the
natural unit system adapted to each black hole. We also discuss some aspects of
the localization of Alice and Rob states. All this study is done without using
the single mode approximation.


  Integrating deep learning with the search for new electron-phonon
superconductors represents a burgeoning field of research, where the primary
challenge lies in the computational intensity of calculating the
electron-phonon spectral function, $\alpha^2F(\omega)$, the essential
ingredient of Midgal-Eliashberg theory of superconductivity. To overcome this
challenge, we adopt a two-step approach. First, we compute $\alpha^2F(\omega)$
for 818 dynamically stable materials. We then train a deep-learning model to
predict $\alpha^2F(\omega)$, using an unconventional training strategy to
temper the model's overfitting, enhancing predictions. Specifically, we train a
Bootstrapped Ensemble of Tempered Equivariant graph neural NETworks (BETE-NET),
obtaining an MAE of 0.21, 45 K, and 43 K for the Eliashberg moments derived
from $\alpha^2F(\omega)$: $\lambda$, $\omega_{\log}$, and $\omega_{2}$,
respectively, yielding an MAE of 2.5 K for the critical temperature, $T_c$.
Further, we incorporate domain knowledge of the site-projected phonon density
of states to impose inductive bias into the model's node attributes and enhance
predictions. This methodological innovation decreases the MAE to 0.18, 29 K,
and 28 K, respectively, yielding an MAE of 2.1 K for $T_c$. We illustrate the
practical application of our model in high-throughput screening for high-$T_c$
materials. The model demonstrates an average precision nearly five times higher
than random screening, highlighting the potential of ML in accelerating
superconductor discovery. BETE-NET accelerates the search for high-$T_c$
superconductors while setting a precedent for applying ML in materials
discovery, particularly when data is limited.


  We consider various generalisations of the string class of a loop group
bundle. The string class is the obstruction to lifting a bundle whose structure
group is the loop group $LG$ to one whose structure group is the Kac-Moody
central extension of the loop group.
  We develop a notion of higher string classes for bundles whose structure
group is the group of based loops, $\Omega G$. In particular, we give a formula
for characteristic classes in odd dimensions for such bundles which are
associated to characteristic classes for $G$-bundles in the same way that the
string class is related to the first Pontrjagyn class of a certain $G$-bundle
associated to the loop group bundle in question. This provides us with a theory
of characteristic classes for $\Omega G$-bundles analogous to Chern-Weil theory
in finite dimensions. This also gives us a geometric interpretation of the
well-known transgression map $H^{2k}(BG) \to H^{2k-1}(G).$
  We also consider the obstruction to lifting a bundle whose structure group is
not the loop group but the semi-direct product of the loop group with the
circle, $LG \rtimes S^1$. We review the theory of bundle gerbes and their
application to central extensions and lifting problems and use these methods to
obtain an explicit expression for the de Rham representative of the obstruction
to lifting such a bundle. We also relate this to a generalisation of the
so-called `caloron correspondence' (which relates $LG$-bundles over $M$ to
$G$-bundles over $M \times S^1$) to a correspondence which relates $LG \rtimes
S^1$-bundles over $M$ to $G$-bundles over $S^1$-bundles over $M$.


  We study the mathematical properties of probabilistic processes in which the
independent actions of $n$ players (`causes') can influence the outcome of each
player (`effects'). In such a setting, each pair of outcomes will generally be
statistically correlated, even if the actions of all the players provide a
complete causal description of the players' outcomes, and even if we condition
on the outcome of any one player's action. This correlation always holds when
$n=2$, but when $n=3$ there exists a highly symmetric process, recently
studied, in which each cause can influence each effect, and yet each pair of
effects is probabilistically independent (even upon conditioning on any one
cause). We study such symmetric processes in more detail, obtaining a complete
classification for all $n \geq 3$. Using a variety of mathematical techniques,
we describe the geometry and topology of the underlying probability space that
allows independence and influence to coexist.


  The spin Hall effect of a Dirac Hamiltonian system is studied using
semiclassical analyses and the Kubo formula. In this system, the spin Hall
conductivity is dependent on the definition of spin current. All components of
the spin Hall conductivity vanish when spin current is defined as the flow of
spin angular momentum. In contrast, the off-diagonal components of the spin
Hall conductivity are non-zero and scale with the carrier velocity (and the
effective $g$-factor) when spin current consists of the flow of spin magnetic
moment. We derive analytical formula of the conductivity, carrier mobility and
the spin Hall conductivity to compare with experiments. In experiments, we use
Bi as a model system that can be characterized by the Dirac Hamiltonian. Te and
Sn are doped into Bi to vary the electron and hole concentration, respectively.
We find the spin Hall conductivity ($\sigma_\mathrm{SH}$) takes a maximum near
the Dirac point and decreases with increasing carrier density ($n$). The sign
of $\sigma_\mathrm{SH}$ is the same regardless of the majority carrier type.
The spin Hall mobility, proportional to $\sigma_\mathrm{SH}/n$, increases with
increasing carrier mobility with a scaling coefficient of $\sim$1.4. These
features can be accounted for quantitatively using the derived analytical
formula. The results demonstrate that the giant spin magnetic moment, with an
effective $g$-factor that approaches 100, is responsible for the spin Hall
effect in Bi.


  Coins are frequently used in everyday life at various places like in banks,
grocery stores, supermarkets, automated weighing machines, vending machines
etc. So, there is a basic need to automate the counting and sorting of coins.
For this machines need to recognize the coins very fast and accurately, as
further transaction processing depends on this recognition. Three types of
systems are available in the market: Mechanical method based systems,
Electromagnetic method based systems and Image processing based systems. This
paper presents an overview of available systems and techniques based on image
processing to recognize ancient and modern coins.


  We examine some novel physical consequences of the general structure of
moduli spaces of string vacua. These include (1) finiteness of the volume of
the moduli space and (2) chaotic motion of the moduli in the early universe. To
fix ideas we examine in detail the example of the (conjectural) dilaton-axion
``$S$-duality'' of four-dimensional string compactifications. The facts (1) and
(2) together might help to solve some problems with the standard scenarios for
supersymmetry breaking and vacuum selection in string theory.


  We propose a method to generate nonclassical states of light in multimode
microwave cavities. Our approach considers two-photon processes that take place
in a system composed of two extended cavities and an ultrastrongly coupled
light-matter system. Under specific resonance conditions, our method generates,
in a deterministic manner, product states of uncorrelated photon pairs, Bell
states, and W states. We demonstrate improved generation times when increasing
the number of multimode cavities, and prove the generation of genuine
multipartite entangled states when coupling an ancillary system to each cavity.
Finally, we discuss the feasibility of our proposal in circuit quantum
electrodynamics.


  We study the effect of conformal anomalies on the hydrodynamic description of
conformal field theories in even spacetime dimensions. We consider equilibrium
curved backgrounds characterized by a time-like Killing vector and construct a
local low energy effective action that captures the conformal anomalies. Using
as a special background the Rindler spacetime we derive a formula for the
anomaly effect on the hydrodynamic pressure. We find that this anomalous effect
is only due to the Euler central charge.


  In this manuscript the fixed-lag smoothing problem for conditionally linear
Gaussian state-space models is investigated from a factor graph perspective.
More specifically, after formulating Bayesian smoothing for an arbitrary
state-space model as forward-backward message passing over a factor graph, we
focus on the above mentioned class of models and derive a novel
Rao-Blackwellized particle smoother for it. Then, we show how our technique can
be modified to estimate a point mass approximation of the so called joint
smoothing distribution. Finally, the estimation accuracy and the computational
requirements of our smoothing algorithms are analysed for a specific
state-space model.


  We consider supersymmetric gauge theories coupled to hyper multiplets on five
and six dimensional orbifolds and determine the bulk and local fixed point
renormalizations of the gauge couplings. We infer from a component analysis
that the hyper multiplet does not induce renormalization of the brane gauge
couplings on the five dimensional orbifold S^1/Z_2. This is not due to
supersymmetry, since the bosonic and fermionic contributions cancel separately.
We extend this investigation to T^2/Z_N orbifolds using supergraph techniques
in six dimensions. On general Z_N orbifolds the gauge couplings do renormalize
at the fixed points, except for the Z_2 fixed points of an even ordered
orbifold. To cancel the bulk one-loop divergences a dimension six higher
derivative operator is needed, in addition to the standard bulk gauge kinetic
term.


  A semiclassical Monte Carlo approach is adopted to study the multivalley spin
depolarization of drifting electrons in a doped n-type GaAs bulk semiconductor,
in a wide range of lattice temperature ($40<T_L<300$ K) and doping density
($10^{13}<n<10^{16}$cm$^{-3}$). The decay of the initial non-equilibrium spin
polarization of the conduction electrons is investigated as a function of the
amplitude of the driving static electric field, ranging between 0.1 and 6
kV/cm, by considering the spin dynamics of electrons in both the $\Gamma$ and
the upper valleys of the semiconductor. Doping density considerably affects
spin relaxation at low temperature and weak intensity of the driving electric
field. At high values of the electric field, the strong spin-orbit coupling of
electrons in the $L$-valleys significantly reduces the average spin
polarization lifetime, but, unexpectedly, for field amplitudes greater than 2.5
kV/cm, the spin lifetime increases with the lattice temperature. Our numerical
findings are validated by a good agreement with the available experimental
results and with calculations recently obtained by a different theoretical
approach.


  With the exponentially increasing demand for wireless communications the
capacity of current cellular systems will soon become incapable of handling the
growing traffic. Since radio frequencies are diminishing natural resources,
there seems to be a fundamental barrier to further capacity increase. The
solution can be found by using smart antenna systems. Smart or adaptive antenna
arrays consist of an array of antenna elements with signal processing
capability that optimizes the radiation and reception of a desired signal,
dynamically. Smart antenna can place nulls in the direction of interferers via
adapting adaptive updating of weights linked to each antenna element. They thus
cancel out most of the cochannel interference resulting in better quality of
reception and lower dropped calls. Smart antenna can also track the user within
a cell via direction of arrival algorithms. This paper focuses on about the
smart antenna in hierarchical cell clustering (overlay-underlay) with demand
based frequency allocation techniques in cellular mobile radio networks in
INDIA.


  Supersymmetric black holes in AdS spacetime are inherently interesting for
the AdS/CFT correspondence. Within a four dimensional gauged supergravity
theory coupled to vector multiplets, the only analytic solutions for regular,
supersymmetric, static black holes in AdS4 are those in the STU-model due to
Cacciatori and Klemm. We study a class of U(1)-gauged supergravity theories
coupled to vector multiplets which have a cubic prepotential, the scalar
manifold is then a very special Kahler manifold. When the resulting very
special Kahler manifold is a homogeneous space, we find analytic solutions for
static, supersymmetric AdS4 black holes with vanishing axions. The horizon
geometries of our solutions are constant curvature Riemann surfaces of
arbitrary genus.


  A graph is said to be $K_{1,r}$-free if it does not contain an induced
subgraph isomorphic to $K_{1,r}$. An $\mathcal{F}$-factor is a spanning
subgraph $H$ such that each connected component of $H$ is isomorphic to some
graph in $\mathcal{F}$. In particular, $H$ is called an $\{P_2,P_3\}$-factor of
$G$ if $\mathcal{F}=\{P_2,P_3\}$; $H$ is called an $\mathcal{S}_n$-factor of
$G$ if $\mathcal{F}=\{K_{1,1},K_{1,2},K_{1,3},...,K_{1,n}\}$, where $n\geq2$. A
spanning subgraph of a graph $G$ is called a $\mathcal{P}_{\geq k}$-factor of
$G$ if its each component is isomorphic to a path of order at least $k$, where
$k\geq2$. A graph $G$ is called a $\mathcal{F}$-factor covered graph if there
is a $\mathcal{F}$-factor of $G$ including $e$ for any $e\in E(G)$. In this
paper, we give a minimum degree condition for a $K_{1,r}$-free graph to have an
$\mathcal{S}_n$-factor and a $\mathcal{P}_{\geq 3}$-factor, respectively.
Further, we obtain sufficient conditions for $K_{1,r}$-free graphs to be
$\mathcal{P}_{\geq 2}$-factor, $\mathcal{P}_{\geq 3}$-factor or
$\{P_2,P_3\}$-factor covered graphs. In addition, examples show that our
results are sharp.


  We demonstrate a polarization-encoded BB84 transmitter sourced by a SiGe
light source and show that such a potentially "all-silicon" QKD scheme can
operate well below the QBER threshold at which secret keys can be established.


  Magnetic fields play important roles in many astrophysical processes.
However, there is no universal diagnostic for the magnetic fields in the
interstellar medium (ISM) and each magnetic tracer has its limitation. Any new
detection method is thus valuable. Theoretical studies have shown that
submillimetre fine-structure lines are polarised due to atomic alignment by
Ultraviolet (UV) photon-excitation, which opens up a new avenue to probe
interstellar magnetic fields. We will, for the first time, perform synthetic
observations on the simulated three-dimensional ISM to demonstrate the
measurability of the polarisation of submillimetre atomic lines. The maximum
polarisation for different absorption and emission lines expected from various
sources, including Star-Forming Regions (SFRs) are provided. Our results
demonstrate that the polarisation of submillimetre atomic lines is a powerful
magnetic tracer and add great value to the observational studies of the
submilimetre astronomy.


  Voice based Intelligent Virtual Assistants (IVAs) promise to improve
healthcare management and Quality of Life (QOL) by introducing the paradigm of
hands free and eye free interactions. However, there has been little
understanding regarding the challenges for designing such systems for older
adults, especially when it comes to healthcare related tasks. To tackle this,
we consider the processes of care delivery and QOL enhancements for older
adults as a collaborative task between patients and providers. By interviewing
16 older adults living independently or semi independently and 5 providers, we
identified 12 barriers that older adults might encounter during daily routine
and while managing health. We ultimately highlighted key design challenges and
opportunities that might be introduced when integrating voice based IVAs into
the life of older adults. Our work will benefit practitioners who study and
attempt to create full fledged IVA powered smart devices to deliver better care
and support an increased QOL for aging populations.


  Scattering of excitons by free carriers is a phenomena which is especially
important when considering moderately to heavily doped semiconductors in low
temperature experiments, where the interaction of excitons with acoustic and
optical phonons is reduced. In this paper, we consider the scattering of
excitons by free carriers in monolayer hexagonal Boron Nitride encapsulated by
a dielectric medium. We describe the excitonic states by variational wave
functions, modeling the electrostatic interaction via the Rytova--Keldysh
potential. Making the distinction between elastic and inelastic scattering, the
relevance of each transition between excitonic states is also considered.
Finally, we discuss the contribution of free carrier scattering to the
excitonic linewidth, analyzing both its temperature and carrier density
dependence.