title: Level truncation analysis of exact solutions in open string field theory

abstract:
  We evaluate vacuum energy density of Schnabl's solution using the level
truncation calculation and the total action including interaction terms. The
level truncated solution provides vacuum energy density expected both for
tachyon vacuum and trivial pure gauge. We discuss the role of the phantom term
to reproduce correct vacuum energy.


title: Ultra-Cool and Extra-Vigorous: Rotation and Activity in M and L dwarfs

abstract:
  The study of rotation and activity in low-mass stars or brown dwarfs of
spectral classes M and L has seen enormous progress during the last years. I
summarize the results from different works that measured activity, rotation,
and sometimes magnetic fields. The generation of magnetic activity seems to be
unchanged at the threshold to completely convective stars, i.e. no change in
the efficiency of the magnetic dynamos is observed. On the other hand, a sudden
change in the strength of rotational braking appears at the threshold mass to
full convection, and strong evidence exists for rotational braking weakening
with lower mass. A probable explanation is that the field topology changes from
dipolar to small scale structure as the objects become fully convective.


title: Elementary evaluations of some Euler sums

abstract: This short note contains elementary evaluations of some Euler sums.


title:
On the bounded cohomology of semi-simple groups, S-arithmetic groups and
  products

abstract:
  We prove vanishing results for Lie groups and algebraic groups (over any
local field) in bounded cohomology. The main result is a vanishing below twice
the rank for semi-simple groups. Related rigidity results are established for
S-arithmetic groups and groups over global fields. We also establish vanishing
and cohomological rigidity results for products of general locally compact
groups and their lattices.


title: Factorised solutions of Temperley-Lieb $q$KZ equations on a segment

abstract:
  We study the q-deformed Knizhnik-Zamolodchikov equation in path
representations of the Temperley-Lieb algebras. We consider two types of open
boundary conditions, and in both cases we derive factorised expressions for the
solutions of the qKZ equation in terms of Baxterised Demazurre-Lusztig
operators. These expressions are alternative to known integral solutions for
tensor product representations. The factorised expressions reveal the algebraic
structure within the qKZ equation, and effectively reduce it to a set of
truncation conditions on a single scalar function. The factorised expressions
allow for an efficient computation of the full solution once this single scalar
function is known. We further study particular polynomial solutions for which
certain additional factorised expressions give weighted sums over components of
the solution. In the homogeneous limit, we formulate positivity conjectures in
the spirit of Di Francesco and Zinn-Justin. We further conjecture relations
between weighted sums and individual components of the solutions for larger
system sizes.


title:
Algebraic differential characters of flat connections with nilpotent
  residues

abstract:
  We construct unramified algebraic differential characters for flat
connections with nilpotent residues along a strict normal crossings divisor.


title: Measured Quantum Groupoids in action

abstract:
  Franck Lesieur had introduced in his thesis (now published in an expended and
revised version in the {\it M\'emoires de la SMF} (2007)) a notion of measured
quantum groupoid, in the setting of von Neumann algebras and a simplification
of Lesieur's axioms is presented in an appendix of this article. We here
develop the notions of actions, crossed-product, and obtain a biduality
theorem, following what had been done by Stefaan Vaes for locally compact
quantum groups. Moreover, we prove that the inclusion of the initial algebra
into its crossed-product is depth 2, which gives a converse of a result proved
by Jean-Michel Vallin and the author. More precisely, to any action of a
measured quantum groupoid, we associate another measured quantum groupoid. In
particular, starting from an action of a locally compact quantum group, we
obtain a measured quantum groupoid canonically associated to this action; when
the action is outer, this measured quantum groupoid is the initial locally
compact quantum group


title: Meson Resonances in the Open and Hidden Charm Sectors

abstract:
  We briefly expose our model for generating open and hidden charm resonances
and present the most interesting results.


title:
Logarithm of the scale factor as a generalised coordinate in a
  lagrangian for dark matter and dark energy

abstract:
  A lagrangian for the $k-$ essence field is set up with canonical kinetic
terms and incorporating the scaling relation of [1]. There are two degrees of
freedom, {\it viz.},$q(t)= ln\enskip a(t)$ ($a(t)$ is the scale factor) and the
scalar field $\phi$, and an interaction term involving $\phi$ and $q(t)$.The
Euler-Lagrange equations are solved for $q$ and $\phi$. Using these solutions
quantities of cosmological interest are determined. The energy density $\rho$
has a constant component which we identify as dark energy and a component
behaving as $a^{-3}$ which we call dark matter. The pressure $p$ is {\it
negative} for time $t\to \infty$ and the sound velocity $c_{s}^{2}={\partial
p\over\partial\rho} << 1$. When dark energy dominates, the deceleration
parameter $Q\to -1$ while in the matter dominated era $Q\sim {1\over 2}$. The
equation of state parameter $w={p\over \rho}$ is shown to be consistent with
$w={p\over\rho}\sim -1$ for dark energy domination and during the matter
dominated era we have $w\sim 0$. Bounds for the parameters of the theory are
estimated from observational data.
  Keywords: k-essence models, dark matter, dark energy
  PACS No: 98.80.-k


title:
Exact dynamics of dissipative electronic systems and quantum transport:
  Hierarchical equations of motion approach

abstract:
  A quantum dissipation theory is formulated in terms of hierarchically coupled
equations of motion for an arbitrary electronic system coupled with grand
canonical Fermion bath ensembles. The theoretical construction starts with the
second--quantization influence functional in path integral formalism, in which
the Fermion creation and annihilation operators are represented by Grassmann
variables. Time--derivatives on influence functionals are then performed in a
hierarchical manner, on the basis of calculus--on--path--integral algorithm.
Both the multiple--frequency--dispersion and the non-Markovian reservoir
parametrization schemes are considered for the desired hierarchy construction.
The resulting formalism is in principle exact, applicable to interacting
systems, with arbitrary time-dependent external fields. It renders an exact
tool to evaluate various transient and stationary quantum transport properties
of many-electron systems. At the second--tier truncation level the present
theory recovers the real--time diagrammatic formalism developed by Sch\"{o}n
and coworkers. For a single-particle system, the hierarchical formalism
terminates at the second tier exactly, and the Landuer--B\"{u}ttiker's
transport current expression is readily recovered.


title: Ternary algebras and groups

abstract:
  We construct explicitly groups associated to specific ternary algebras which
extend the Lie (super)algebras (called Lie algebras of order three). It turns
out that the natural variables which appear in this construction are variables
which generate the three-exterior algebra. An explicit matrix representation of
a group associated to a peculiar Lie algebra of order three is constructed
considering matrices with entry which belong to the three exterior algebra.


title: Study of J\psi decaying into \omega p \bar p

abstract:
  The decay $J/\psi \to \omega p \bar p$ is studied using a $5.8 \times 10^7$
$J/\psi$ event sample accumulated with the BES II detector at the Beijing
electron-positron collider. The decay branching fraction is measured to be
$B(J/\psi \to \omega p \bar p)=(9.8\pm 0.3\pm 1.4)\times 10^{-4}$. No
significant enhancement near the $p\bar p$ mass threshold is observed, and an
upper limit of $B(J/\psi \to \omega X(1860))B(X(1860)\to p\bar p)$$ $$< 1.5
\times 10^{-5}$ is determined at the 95% confidence level, where X(1860)
designates the near-threshold enhancement seen in the $p\bar p$ mass spectrum
in $J/\psi \to \gamma p \bar p$ decays.


title: Statistics of conductance and shot-noise power for chaotic cavities

abstract:
  We report on an analytical study of the statistics of conductance, $g$, and
shot-noise power, $p$, for a chaotic cavity with arbitrary numbers $N_{1,2}$ of
channels in two leads and symmetry parameter $\beta = 1,2,4$. With the theory
of Selberg's integral the first four cumulants of $g$ and first two cumulants
of $p$ are calculated explicitly. We give analytical expressions for the
conductance and shot-noise distributions and determine their exact asymptotics
near the edges up to linear order in distances from the edges. For $0<g<1$ a
power law for the conductance distribution is exact. All results are also
consistent with numerical simulations.


title: Remarks on left-handed lattice fermions

abstract:
  We study whether applying lattice projectors on a vector-like Ginsparg-Wilson
Dirac operator is the only way to construct left-handed lattice fermions. Using
RG transformations we derive an equation for the generating functional on the
lattice, obtained by blocking from the continuum. We analyze how symmetries of
the continuum theory manifest themselves in this lattice generating functional
and how anomalies emerge. The formalism is applied to left-handed continuum
fermions and we derive two equations that characterize the corresponding
lattice symmetries. To analyze possible solutions, we directly block a
parameterized action for free continuum fermions to obtain the corresponding
lattice action. Subsequently we study parameter values where the continuum
action corresponds to left-handed fermions.


title: Giant Gravitons - with Strings Attached (III)

abstract:
  We develop techniques to compute the one-loop anomalous dimensions of
operators in the ${\cal N}=4$ super Yang-Mills theory that are dual to open
strings ending on boundstates of sphere giant gravitons. Our results, which are
applicable to excitations involving an arbitrary number of open strings,
generalize the single string results of hep-th/0701067. The open strings we
consider carry angular momentum on an S$^3$ embedded in the S$^5$ of the
AdS$_5\times$S$^5$ background. The problem of computing the one loop anomalous
dimensions is replaced with the problem of diagonalizing an interacting Cuntz
oscillator Hamiltonian. Our Cuntz oscillator dynamics illustrates how the
Chan-Paton factors for open strings propagating on multiple branes can arise
dynamically.


title: The Unruh effect and its applications

abstract:
  It has been thirty years since the discovery of the Unruh effect. It has
played a crucial role in our understanding that the particle content of a field
theory is observer dependent. This effect is important in its own right and as
a way to understand the phenomenon of particle emission from black holes and
cosmological horizons. Here, we review the Unruh effect with particular
emphasis to its applications. We also comment on a number of recent
developments and discuss some controversies. Effort is also made to clarify
what seems to be common misconceptions.


title: The HST contribution to neutron star astronomy

abstract:
  While isolated neutron stars (INSs) are among the brightest gamma-ray
sources, they are among the faintest ones in the optical, and their study is a
challenging task which require the most powerful telescopes. HST has lead
neutron star optical astronomy yielding nearly all the identifications achieved
since the early 1990s. Here, the major HST contributions in the optical studies
of INSs and their relevance for neutron stars' astronomy are reviewed.


title: Superbosonization

abstract:
  We give a constructive proof for the superbosonization formula for invariant
random matrix ensembles, which is the supersymmetry analog of the theory of
Wishart matrices. Formulas are given for unitary, orthogonal and symplectic
symmetry, but worked out explicitly only for the orthogonal case. The method
promises to become a powerful tool for investigating the universality of
spectral correlation functions for a broad class of random matrix ensembles of
non-Gaussian type.


title: Broadcasting Correlated Gaussians

abstract:
  We consider the transmission of a memoryless bivariate Gaussian source over
an average-power-constrained one-to-two Gaussian broadcast channel. The
transmitter observes the source and describes it to the two receivers by means
of an average-power-constrained signal. Each receiver observes the transmitted
signal corrupted by a different additive white Gaussian noise and wishes to
estimate the source component intended for it. That is, Receiver~1 wishes to
estimate the first source component and Receiver~2 wishes to estimate the
second source component. Our interest is in the pairs of expected squared-error
distortions that are simultaneously achievable at the two receivers.
  We prove that an uncoded transmission scheme that sends a linear combination
of the source components achieves the optimal power-versus-distortion trade-off
whenever the signal-to-noise ratio is below a certain threshold. The threshold
is a function of the source correlation and the distortion at the receiver with
the weaker noise.


title: Large tan(beta) effects in flavour physics

abstract:
  After a short introduction to the SUSY flavour problem, we focus the
attention on the MSSM with MFV and large $\tan\beta$. The theoretical
motivations and the general features of this scenario are briefly reviewed. The
possible signatures in low-energy flavour-violating observables are discussed,
with particular attention to the role played by $\BR(P\to\ell\nu)$,
$\BR(B_{s,d}\to \ell^+\ell^-)$ and $\BR(\mu\to e \gamma)$


title: Geometric Lagrangians for massive higher-spin fields

abstract:
  Lagrangians for massive, unconstrained, higher-spin bosons and fermions are
proposed. The idea is to modify the geometric, gauge invariant Lagrangians
describing the corresponding massless theories by the addition of suitable
quadratic polynomials. These polynomials provide generalisations of the
Fierz-Pauli mass term containing all possible traces of the basic field. No
auxiliary fields are needed.


title: Creating diamond color centers for quantum optical applications

abstract:
  Nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers in diamond have distinct promise as solid-state
qubits. This is because of their large dipole moment, convenient level
structure and very long room-temperature coherence times. In general, a
combination of ion irradiation and subsequent annealing is used to create the
centers, however for the rigorous demands of quantum computing all processes
need to be optimized, and decoherence due to the residual damage caused by the
implantation process itself must be mitigated. To that end we have studied
photoluminescence (PL) from NV$^-$, NV$^0$ and GR1 centers formed by ion
implantation of 2MeV He ions over a wide range of fluences. The sample was
annealed at $600^{\circ}$C to minimize residual vacancy diffusion, allowing for
the concurrent analysis of PL from NV centers and irradiation induced vacancies
(GR1). We find non-monotic PL intensities with increasing ion fluence,
monotonic increasing PL in NV$^0$/NV$^-$ and GR1/(NV$^0$ + NV$^1$) ratios, and
increasing inhomogeneous broadening of the zero-phonon lines with increasing
ion fluence. All these results shed important light on the optimal formation
conditions for NV qubits. We apply our findings to an off-resonant photonic
quantum memory scheme using vibronic sidebands.


title:
Coexistence in locally regulated competing populations and survival of
  branching annihilating random walk

abstract:
  We propose two models of the evolution of a pair of competing populations.
Both are lattice based. The first is a compromise between fully spatial models,
which do not appear amenable to analytic results, and interacting particle
system models, which do not, at present, incorporate all of the competitive
strategies that a population might adopt. The second is a simplification of the
first, in which competition is only supposed to act within lattice sites and
the total population size within each lattice point is a constant. In a special
case, this second model is dual to a branching annihilating random walk. For
each model, using a comparison with oriented percolation, we show that for
certain parameter values, both populations will coexist for all time with
positive probability. As a corollary, we deduce survival for all time of
branching annihilating random walk for sufficiently large branching rates. We
also present a number of conjectures relating to the r\^{o}le of space in the
survival probabilities for the two populations.


title: q-Deformed quaternions and su(2) instantons

abstract:
  We have recently introduced the notion of a q-quaternion bialgebra and shown
its strict link with the SO_q(4)-covariant quantum Euclidean space R_q^4.
Adopting the available differential geometric tools on the latter and the
quaternion language we have formulated and found solutions of the
(anti)selfduality equation [instantons and multi-instantons] of a would-be
deformed su(2) Yang-Mills theory on this quantum space. The solutions depend on
some noncommuting parameters, indicating that the moduli space of a complete
theory should be a noncommutative manifold. We summarize these results and add
an explicit comparison between the two SO_q(4)-covariant differential calculi
on R_q^4 and the two 4-dimensional bicovariant differential calculi on the bi-
(resp. Hopf) algebras M_q(2),GL_q(2),SU_q(2), showing that they essentially
coincide.


title:
Some Reflections on the Task of Content Determination in the Context of
  Multi-Document Summarization of Evolving Events

abstract:
  Despite its importance, the task of summarizing evolving events has received
small attention by researchers in the field of multi-document summariztion. In
a previous paper (Afantenos et al. 2007) we have presented a methodology for
the automatic summarization of documents, emitted by multiple sources, which
describe the evolution of an event. At the heart of this methodology lies the
identification of similarities and differences between the various documents,
in two axes: the synchronic and the diachronic. This is achieved by the
introduction of the notion of Synchronic and Diachronic Relations. Those
relations connect the messages that are found in the documents, resulting thus
in a graph which we call grid. Although the creation of the grid completes the
Document Planning phase of a typical NLG architecture, it can be the case that
the number of messages contained in a grid is very large, exceeding thus the
required compression rate. In this paper we provide some initial thoughts on a
probabilistic model which can be applied at the Content Determination stage,
and which tries to alleviate this problem.


title:
Silicate dust in the environment of RS Ophiuchi following the 2006
  eruption

abstract:
  We present further Spitzer Space Telescope observations of the recurrent nova
RS Ophiuchi, obtained over the period 208-430 days after the 2006 eruption. The
later Spitzer IRS data show that the line emission and free-free continuum
emission reported earlier is declining, revealing incontrovertible evidence for
the presence of silicate emission features at 9.7 and 18microns. We conclude
that the silicate dust survives the hard radiation impulse and shock blast wave
from the eruption. The existence of the extant dust may have significant
implications for understanding the propagation of shocks through the red giant
wind and likely wind geometry.


title:
Structure of hybrid protoneutron stars within the Nambu--Jona-Lasinio
  model

abstract:
  We investigate the structure of protoneutron stars (PNS) formed by hadronic
and quark matter in $\beta$-equilibrium described by appropriate equations of
state (EOS). For the hadronic matter, we use a finite temperature EOS based on
the Brueckner-Bethe-Goldstone many-body theory, with realistic two- and
three-body forces. For the quark sector, we employ the Nambu--Jona-Lasinio
model. We find that the maximum allowed masses are comprised in a narrow range
around 1.8 solar masses, with a slight dependence on the temperature.
Metastable hybrid protoneutron stars are not found.


title:
Analysis of quantum semigroups with GKS-Lindblad generators I. Simple
  generators

abstract:
  Semigroups describing the time evolution of open quantum systems in finite
dimensional spaces have generators of a special form, known as Lindblad
generators. The simple generators, characterized by only one operator, are
analyzed. The complete set of all the stationary states is presented in detail,
including a formula to calculate a stationary state from the generating
operator. Also the opposite task can be fulfilled, to construct an evolution
leading to a prescribed stationary state.


title:
Acquisition of Information is Achieved by the Measurement Process in
  Classical and Quantum Physics

abstract:
  No consensus seems to exist as to what constitutes a measurement which is
still considered somewhat mysterious in many respects in quantum mechanics. At
successive stages mathematical theory of measure, metrology and measurement
theory tried to systematize this field but significant questions remain open
about the nature of measurement, about the characterization of the observer,
about the reliability of measurement processes etc. The present paper attempts
to talk about these questions through the information science. We start from
the idea, rather common and intuitive, that the measurement process basically
acquires information. Next we expand this idea through four formal definitions
and infer some corollaries regarding the measurement process from those
definitions. Relativity emerges as the basic property of measurement from the
present logical framework and this rather surprising result collides with the
feeling of physicists who take measurement as a myth. In the closing this paper
shows how the measurement relativity wholly consists with some effects
calculated in QM and in Einstein's theory.


title: Expansion and hidden dimensions in a new cosmological model

abstract:
  In this paper, we present a new cosmological model using fractal manifold. We
prove that a space defined by this kind of manifold is an expanding space. This
model provides us with consistent arguments pertaining to the relationship
between variation of geometry and movement of matter. This study leads to the
existence of new fundamental principles. A clear picture is then portrayed
about the expansion of the universe represented by fractal manifold.


title: Hybrid neutron stars within the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model and confinement

abstract:
  Recently, it has been shown that the standard Nambu-Jona-Lasinio (NJL) model
is not able to reproduce the correct QCD behavior of the gap equation at large
density, and therefore a different cutoff procedure at large momenta has ben
proposed. We found that, even with this density dependent cutoff procedure, the
pure quark phase in neutron stars (NS) interiors is unstable, and we argue that
this could be related to the lack of confinement in the original NJL model.


title:
Optically probing the fine structure of a single Mn atom in an InAs
  quantum dot

abstract:
  We report on the optical spectroscopy of a single InAs/GaAs quantum dot (QD)
doped with a single Mn atom in a longitudinal magnetic field of a few Tesla.
Our findings show that the Mn impurity is a neutral acceptor state A^0 whose
effective spin J=1 is significantly perturbed by the QD potential and its
associated strain field. The spin interaction with photo-carriers injected in
the quantum dot is shown to be ferromagnetic for holes, with an effective
coupling constant of a few hundreds of micro-eV, but vanishingly small for
electrons.


title: A pulsed Sagnac source of narrowband polarization-entangled photons

abstract:
  We demonstrate pulsed operation of a bidirectionally pumped polarization
Sagnac interferometric down-conversion source and its generation of narrowband,
high-visibility polarization-entangled photons. Driven by a narrowband,
mode-locked pump at 390.35 nm, the phase-stable Sagnac source with a type-II
phase-matched periodically poled KTiOPO$_4$ crystal is capable of producing
0.01 entangled pair per pulse in a 0.15-nm bandwidth centered at 780.7 nm with
1 mW of average pump power at a repetition rate of 31.1 MHz. We have achieved a
mean photon-pair generation rate of as high as 0.7 pair per pulse, at which
multi-pair events dominate and significantly reduce the two-photon
quantum-interference visibility. For low generation probability $\alpha$, the
reduced visibility $V=1-\alpha$ is independent of the throughput efficiency and
of the polarization analysis basis, which can be utilized to yield an accurate
estimate of the generation rate $\alpha$. At low $\alpha$ we have characterized
the source entanglement quality in three different ways: average
quantum-interference visibility of 99%, the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt $S$
parameter of $2.739 \pm 0.119$, and quantum state tomography with 98.85%
singlet-state fidelity. The narrowband pulsed Sagnac source of entangled
photons is suitable for use in quantum information processing applications such
as free-space quantum key distribution.


title: The soft and the hard pomerons: elastic scattering and unitarisation

abstract:
  The hard pomeron component needed to reproduce small-x data seems to be
present in elastic scattering at moderate energy. If this is the case, it is
likely that the total cross section at the LHC will be appreciably larger than
previously expected.


title: On attributes of a Rotating Neutron star with a Hyperon core

abstract:
  We study the effect of rotation on global properties of neutron star with a
hyperon core in an effective chiral model with varying nucleon effective mass
within a mean field approach. The resulting gross properties of the rotating
compact star sequences are then compared and analyzed with other theoretical
predictions and observations from neutron stars. The maximum mass of the
compact star predicted by the model lies in the range $(1.4-2.4) ~M_{\odot}$ at
Kepler frequency $\Omega_K$, which is consistant with recent observation of
high mass stars thereby reflecting the sensitivity of the underlying nucleon
effective mass in the dense matter EoS. We also discuss the implications of the
experimental constraints from the flow data from heavy-ion collisions on the
global properties of the rotating neutron stars.


title:
Quiet Sun Magnetic Field Measurements Based on Lines with Hyperfine
  Structure

abstract:
  The Zeeman pattern of MnI lines is sensitive to hyperfine structure (HFS)
and, they respond to hG magnetic field strengths differently from the lines
used in solar magnetometry. This peculiarity has been employed to measure
magnetic field strengths in quiet Sun regions. However, the methods applied so
far assume the magnetic field to be constant in the resolution element. The
assumption is clearly insufficient to describe the complex quiet Sun magnetic
fields, biasing the results of the measurements. We present the first syntheses
of MnI lines in realistic quiet Sun model atmospheres. The syntheses show how
the MnI lines weaken with increasing field strength. In particular, kG magnetic
concentrations produce NnI 5538 circular polarization signals (Stokes V) which
can be up to two orders of magnitude smaller than the weak magnetic field
approximation prediction. Consequently, (1) the polarization emerging from an
atmosphere having weak and strong fields is biased towards the weak fields, and
(2) HFS features characteristic of weak fields show up even when the magnetic
flux and energy are dominated by kG fields. For the HFS feature of MnI 5538 to
disappear the filling factor of kG fields has to be larger than the filling
factor of sub-kG fields. Stokes V depends on magnetic field inclination
according to the simple consine law. Atmospheres with unresolved velocities
produce asymmetric line profiles, which cannot be reproduced by simple
one-component model atmospheres. The uncertainty of the HFS constants do not
limit the use of MnI lines for magnetometry.


title:
Cosmological equations and Thermodynamics on Apparent Horizon in Thick
  Braneworld

abstract:
  We derive the generalized Friedmann equation governing the cosmological
evolution inside the thick brane model in the presence of two curvature
correction terms: a four-dimensional scalar curvature from induced gravity on
the brane, and a five-dimensional Gauss-Bonnet curvature term. We find two
effective four-dimensional reductions of the Friedmann equation in some limits
and demonstrate that they can be rewritten as the first law of thermodynamics
on the apparent horizon of thick braneworld.


title:
Cyclotron motion and magnetic focusing in semiconductor quantum wells
  with spin-orbit coupling

abstract:
  We investigate the ballistic motion of electrons in III-V semiconductor
quantum wells with Rashba spin-orbit coupling in a perpendicular magnetic
field. Taking into account the full quantum dynamics of the problem, we explore
the modifications of classical cyclotron orbits due to spin-orbit interaction.
As a result, for electron energies comparable with the cyclotron energy the
dynamics are particularly rich and not adequately described by semiclassical
approximations. Our study is complementary to previous semiclassical approaches
concentrating on the regime of weaker fields.


title: Gruenhage compacta and strictly convex dual norms

abstract:
  We prove that if K is a Gruenhage compact space then C(K)* admits an
equivalent, strictly convex dual norm. As a corollary, we show that if X is a
Banach space and X* is the |.|-closed linear span of K, where K is a Gruenhage
compact in the w*-topology and |.| is equivalent to a coarser, w*-lower
semicontinuous norm on X*, then X* admits an equivalent, strictly convex dual
norm. We give a partial converse to the first result by showing that if T is a
tree, then C(T)* admits an equivalent, strictly convex dual norm if and only if
T is a Gruenhage space. Finally, we present some stability properties satisfied
by Gruenhage spaces; in particular, Gruenhage spaces are stable under perfect
images.


title:
Ground-State Properties for Coupled Bose-Einstein Condensates inside a
  Cavity Quantum Electrodynamics

abstract:
  We analytically investigate the ground-state properties of two-component
Bose-Einstein condensates with few ⁸⁷Rb atoms inside a high-quality
cavity quantum electrodynamics. In the SU(2) representation for atom, this
quantum system can be realized a generalized Dicke model with a quadratic term
arising from the interatomic interactions, which can be controlled
experimentally by Feshbach resonance technique. Moreover, this weak
interspecies interaction can give rise to an important zero-temperature quantum
phase transition from the normal to the superradiant phases, where the atomic
ensemble in the normal phase is collectively unexcited while is macroscopically
excited with coherent radiations in the superradiant phase. Finally, we propose
to observe this predicted quantum phase transition by measuring the direct and
striking signatures of the photon field in terms of a heterodyne detector out
of the cavity.


title: Characteristic varieties of nilpotent groups and applications

abstract:
  We compute the characteristic varieties and the Alexander polynomial of a
finitely generated nilpotent group. We show that the first characteristic
variety may be used to detect nilpotence. We use the Alexander polynomial to
deduce that the only torsion-free, finitely generated nilpotent groups with
positive deficiency are $\Z$ and $\Z^2$, extending a classical result on
nilpotent link groups.


title: Following red blood cells in a pulmonary capillary

abstract:
  The red blood cells or erythrocytes are biconcave shaped cells and consist
mostly in a membrane delimiting a cytosol with a high concentration in
hemoglobin. This membrane is highly deformable and allows the cells to go
through narrow passages like the capillaries which diameters can be much
smaller than red blood cells one. They carry oxygen thanks to hemoglobin, a
complex molecule that have very high affinity for oxygen. The capacity of
erythrocytes to load and unload oxygen is thus a determinant factor in their
efficacy. In this paper, we will focus on the pulmonary capillary where red
blood cells capture oxygen. We propose a camera method in order to numerically
study the behavior of the red blood cell along a whole capillary. Our goal is
to understand how erythrocytes geometrical changes along the capillary can
affect its capacity to capture oxygen. The first part of this document presents
the model chosen for the red blood cells along with the numerical method used
to determine and follow their shapes along the capillary. The membrane of the
red blood cell is complex and has been modelled by an hyper-elastic approach
coming from Mills et al (2004). This camera method is then validated and
confronted with a standard ALE method. Some geometrical properties of the red
blood cells observed in our simulations are then studied and discussed. The
second part of this paper deals with the modeling of oxygen and hemoglobin
chemistry in the geometries obtained in the first part. We have implemented a
full complex hemoglobin behavior with allosteric states inspired from
Czerlinski et al (1999).


title: Universal Effective Quantum Number for Centrally Symmetric Problems

abstract:
  An effective quantum number determining with high accuracy the levels
ordering in arbitrary centrally symmetric potentials for any space
dimensionality is introduced and calculated by means of certain universal
methods based on the known estimates for the total number of the bound states
in the same potential for various dimensionality. Coincidence with some known
exact results is demonstrated. The effective number is used for constructing
the periodical system of the atomic electron shells.


title: Shannon Entropy as Characterization Tool in Acoustics

abstract:
  We introduce Shannon's information entropy to characterize the avoided
crossing appearing in the resonant Zener-like phenomenon in ultrasonic
superlattices made of two different fluidlike meta- materials. We show that
Shannon's entropy gives a correct physical insight of the localization effects
taking place and manifest the informational exchange of the involved acoustic
states in the narrow region of parameters where the avoided crossing occurs.
Results for ultrasonic structures consisting of alternating layers of
methyl-metacrylate and water cavities, in which the acoustic Zener effect were
recently demonstrated, are also reported.


title:
Spontaneous breaking of conformal invariance, solitons and gravitational
  waves in theories of conformally invariant gravitation

abstract:
  We study conformal gravity as an alternative theory of gravitation. For
conformal gravity to be phenomenologically viable requires that the conformal
symmetry is not manifest at the energy scales of the other known physical
forces. Hence we require a mechanism for the spontaneous breaking of conformal
invariance. In this paper we study the possibility that conformal invariance is
spontaneously broken due to interactions with conformally coupled matter
fields. The vacuum of the theory admits conformally non-invariant solutions
corresponding to maximally symmetric space-times and variants thereof. These
are either de Sitter space-time or anti-de Sitter space-time in the full four
space-time dimensions or in a lower dimensional sub-space. We consider in
particular normalizable, linearized gravitational perturbations around the
anti-de Sitter background. Exploiting the conformal flatness of this
space-time, we show to second order, that these gravitational fluctuations,
that are taken to be fourier decomposable, carry zero energy-momentum. This
squares well with the theorem that asymptotically flat space-times conformal
gravity contain zero energy and momentum \cite{bhs}. We also show the
possibility of domain wall solitons interpolating between the ground states of
spontaneously broken conformal symmetry that we have found. These solitons
necessarily require the vanishing of the scalar field, repudiating the recent
suggestion \cite{f} that the conformal symmetry could be quarantined to a
sterile sector of the theory by choosing an appropriate field redefinition.


title: The energy landscape networks of spin-glasses

abstract:
  We have studied the topology of the energy landscape of a spin-glass model
and the effect of frustration on it by looking at the connectivity and
disconnectivity graphs of the inherent structure. The connectivity network
shows the adjacency of energy minima whereas the disconnectivity network tells
us about the heights of the energy barriers. Both graphs are constructed by the
exact enumeration of a two-dimensional square lattice of a frustrated spin
glass with nearest-neighbor interactions up to the size of 27 spins. The
enumeration of the energy-landscape minima as well as the analytical mean-field
approximation show that these minima have a Gaussian distribution, and the
connectivity graph has a log-Weibull degree distribution of shape $\kappa=8.22$
and scale $\lambda=4.84$. To study the effect of frustration on these results,
we introduce an unfrustrated spin-glass model and demonstrate that the degree
distribution of its connectivity graph shows a power-law behavior with the
-3.46 exponent, which is similar to the behavior of proteins and Lennard-Jones
clusters in its power-law form.


title:
Stationary distribution for dioecious branching particle systems with
  rapid stirring

abstract:
  We study dioecious (i.e., two-sex) branching particle system models, where
there are two types of particles, modeling the male and female populations, and
where birth of new particles requires the presence of both male and female
particles. We show that stationary distributions of various dioecious branching
particle models are nontrivial under certain conditions, for example, when
there is sufficiently fast stirring.


title:
Electron-electron and spin-orbit interactions in armchair graphene
  ribbons

abstract:
  The effects of intrinsic spin-orbit and Coulomb interactions on low-energy
properties of finite width graphene armchair ribbons are studied by means of a
Dirac Hamiltonian. It is shown that metallic states subsist in the presence of
intrinsic spin-orbit interactions as spin-filtered edge states, in contrast
with the insulating behavior predicted for graphene planes. A charge-gap opens
due to Coulomb interactions in neutral ribbons, that vanishes as $\Delta\sim
1/W $, with a gapless spin sector. Weak intrinsic spin-orbit interactions do
not change the insulating behavior. Explicit expressions for the
width-dependent gap and various correlation functions are presented.


title:
Programs in Mathematica relevant to Phase Integral Approximation for
  coupled ODEs of the Schr\"odinger type

abstract:
  Three programs in Mathematica are presented, which produce expressions for
the lowest order and the higher order corrections of the Phase Integral
Approximation. First program is pertinent to one ordinary differential equation
of the Schr\"odinger type. The remaining two refer to a set of two such
equations.


title: Ray optics in the field of non-minimal Dirac monopole

abstract:
  Based on the analogy with non-minimal SU(2) symmetric Wu-Yang monopole with
regular metric, the solution describing a non-minimal U(1) symmetric Dirac
monopole is obtained. In order to take into account the curvature coupling of
gravitational and electromagnetic fields, we reconstruct the effective metrics
of two types: the so-called associated and optical metrics. The optical metrics
display explicitly that the effect of birefringence induced by curvature takes
place in the vicinity of the non-minimal Dirac monopole; these optical metrics
are studied analytically and numerically.


title:
Large, global solutions to the Navier-Stokes equations, slowly varying
  in one direction

abstract:
  In to previous papers by the authors, classes of initial data to the three
dimensional, incompressible Navier-Stokes equations were presented, generating
a global smooth solution although the norm of the initial data may be chosen
arbitrarily large. The aim of this article is to provide new examples of
arbitrarily large initial data giving rise to global solutions, in the whole
space. Contrary to the previous examples, the initial data has no particular
oscillatory properties, but varies slowly in one direction. The proof uses the
special structure of the nonlinear term of the equation.


title:
Effects of isospin and momentum dependent interactions on thermal
  properties of asymmetric nuclear matter

abstract:
  Thermal properties of asymmetric nuclear matter are studied within a
self-consistent thermal model using an isospin and momentum dependent
interaction (MDI) constrained by the isospin diffusion data in heavy-ion
collisions, a momentum-independent interaction (MID), and an isoscalar
momentum-dependent interaction (eMDYI). In particular, we study the temperature
dependence of the isospin-dependent bulk and single-particle properties, the
mechanical and chemical instabilities, and liquid-gas phase transition in hot
asymmetric nuclear matter. Our results indicate that the temperature dependence
of the equation of state and the symmetry energy are not so sensitive to the
momentum dependence of the interaction. The symmetry energy at fixed density is
found to generally decrease with temperature and for the MDI interaction the
decrement is essentially due to the potential part. It is further shown that
only the low momentum part of the single-particle potential and the nucleon
effective mass increases significantly with temperature for the
momentum-dependent interactions. For the MDI interaction, the low momentum part
of the symmetry potential is significantly reduced with increasing temperature.
For the mechanical and chemical instabilities as well as the liquid-gas phase
transition in hot asymmetric nuclear matter, our results indicate that the
boundary of these instabilities and the phase-coexistence region generally
shrink with increasing temperature and is sensitive to the density dependence
of the symmetry energy and the isospin and momentum dependence of the nuclear
interaction, especially at higher temperatures.


title: PeV scale Left-Right symmetry and baryon asymmetry of the Universe

abstract:
  We study the cosmology of two versions of supersymmetric Left-Right symmetric
model. The scale of the $B-L$ symmetry breaking in these models is naturally
low, $10^4 - 10^6$ GeV. Spontaneous breakdown of parity is accompanied by a
first order phase transition. We simulate the domain walls of the phase
transition and show that they provide requisite conditions, specifically, $CP$
violating phase needed for leptogenesis. Additionally soft resonant
leptogenesis is conditionally viable in the two models considered. Some of the
parameters in the soft supersymmetry breaking terms are shown to be constrained
from these considerations. It is argued that the models may be testable in
upcoming collider and cosmology experiments.


title:
A new multi-component two dimensional Toda lattice hierarchy and two
  dimensional Toda lattice with self-consistent sources

abstract:
  We propose a new multi-component two-dimensional Toda lattice hierarchy
(mc2dTLH) which includes two-dimensional Toda lattice equation with
self-consistent sources (2dTLSCS) as the first non-trivial equation. The Lax
representations for this mc2dTLH are presented. We construct a
non-auto-B\"acklund Darboux transformation (DT) for 2dTLSCS by applying the
method of variation of constant (MVC) to ordinary DT of 2dTLSCS. This
non-auto-B\"acklund DT enables us to obtain various solutions such as solitons,
rational solutions etc., to 2dTLSCS.


title:
Electric field effect on BiFeO$_3$ single crystal investigated by Raman
  spectroscopy

abstract:
  Micro-Raman spectroscopy has been used to study lattice dynamics associated
with the ferroelectric domains of a BiFeO$_3$ single crystal at low
temperature. The phonon assignment shows a large frequency splitting between
the transverse and longitudinal components of the A$_1$ phonon mode related to
the Bi-O bonds in contrast with thin films where the splitting is negligible.
Applying an external electric field induces frequency shifts of the low energy
modes related to the Bi-O bonds. These softenings are due to a tensile stress
via the piezoelectric effect. We give estimates of the phonon deformation
potentials.


title:
Interplay of structure and spin-orbit strength in magnetism of
  metal-benzene sandwiches: from single molecules to infinite wires

abstract:
  Based on first-principles density functional theory calculations we explore
electronic and magnetic properties of experimentally producible sandwiches and
infinite wires made of repeating benzene molecules and transition-metal atoms
of V, Nb, and Ta. We describe the bonding mechanism in the molecules and in
particular concentrate on the origin of magnetism in these structures. We find
that all the considered systems have sizable magnetic moments and ferromagnetic
spin-ordering, with the single exception of the V3-Bz4 molecule. By including
the spin-orbit coupling into our calculations we determine the easy and hard
axes of the magnetic moment, the strength of the uniaxial magnetic anisotropy
energy (MAE), relevant for the thermal stability of magnetic orientation, and
the change of the electronic structure with respect to the direction of the
magnetic moment, important for spin-transport properties. While for the V-based
compounds the values of the MAE are only of the order of 0.05-0.5 meV per metal
atom, increasing the spin-orbit strength by substituting V with heavier Nb and
Ta allows to achieve an increase in anisotropy values by one to two orders of
magnitude. The rigid stability of magnetism in these compounds together with
the strong ferromagnetic ordering makes them attractive candidates for
spin-polarized transport applications. For a Nb-benzene infinite wire the
occurrence of ballistic anisotropic magnetoresistance is demonstrated.


title: On the Hodge decomposition in R^n

abstract:
  We prove a version of the $L^p$ hodge decomposition for differential forms in
Euclidean space and a generalization to the class of Lizorkin currents. We also
compute the $L_{qp}-$cohomology of $\mathbb{R}^n$.


title: Generating functions for borders

abstract:
  We give the generating function for the index of integer lattice points,
relative to a finite order ideal. The index is an important concept in the
theory of border bases, an alternative to Gr\"obner bases.


title:
Disorder and temperature dependence of the Anomalous Hall Effect in thin
  ferromagnetic films: Microscopic model

abstract:
  We consider the Anomalous Hall Effect (AHE) in thin disordered ferromagnetic
films. Using a microscopic model of electrons in a random potential of
identical impurities including spin-orbit coupling, we develop a general
formulation for strong, finite range impurity scattering. Explicit calculations
are done within a short range but strong impurity scattering to obtain AH
conductivities for both the skew scattering and side jump mechanisms. We also
evaluate quantum corrections due to interactions and weak localization effects.
We show that for arbitrary strength of the impurity scattering, the
electron-electron interaction correction to the AH conductivity vanishes
exactly due to general symmetry reasons. On the other hand, we find that our
explicit evaluation of the weak localization corrections within the strong,
short range impurity scattering model can explain the experimentally observed
logarithmic temperature dependences in disordered ferromagnetic Fe films.


title: Deflation acceleration of lattice QCD simulations

abstract:
  Close to the chiral limit, many calculations in numerical lattice QCD can
potentially be accelerated using low-mode deflation techniques. In this paper
it is shown that the recently introduced domain-decomposed deflation subspaces
can be propagated along the field trajectories generated by the Hybrid Monte
Carlo (HMC) algorithm with a modest effort. The quark forces that drive the
simulation may then be computed using a deflation-accelerated solver for the
lattice Dirac equation. As a consequence, the computer time required for the
simulations is significantly reduced and an improved scaling behaviour of the
simulation algorithm with respect to the quark mass is achieved.


title: Nonlinear damping of slab modes and cosmic ray transport

abstract:
  By applying recent results for the slab correlation time scale onto cosmic
ray scattering theory, we compute cosmic ray parallel mean free paths within
the quasilinear limit. By employing these results onto charged particle
transport in the solar system, we demonstrate that much larger parallel mean
free paths can be obtained in comparison to previous results. A comparison with
solar wind observations is also presented to show that the new theoretical
results are much closer to the observations than the previous results.


title: Another Look at AR(1)

abstract:
  Given a stationary first-order autoregressive process X_t (with lag-one
correlation rho satisfying |rho|<1), we examine the Central Limit Theorem for
(1/n)*ln |X_1...X_n| and compute variances to high precision. Given a
nonstationary process X_t (with |rho|>1), we examine instead (1/n)*ln|X_n| and
study the distribution of ln|X_n|-n*ln|rho|.


title: Testing MeV dark matter with neutrino detectors

abstract:
  MeV particles have been advocated as Dark Matter (DM) candidates in different
contexts. This hypothesis can be tested indirectly by searching for the
Standard Model (SM) products of DM self-annihilations. As the signal from DM
self-annihilations depends on the square of the DM density, we might expect a
sizable flux of annihilation products from our galaxy. Neutrinos are the least
detectable particles in the SM and a null signal in this channel would allow to
set the most conservative bound on the total annihilation cross section. Here,
we show that neutrino detectors with good energy resolution and low energy
thresholds can not only set bounds on the annihilation cross section but
actually test the hypothesis of the possible existence of MeV DM, i.e. test the
values of the cross section required to explain the observed DM density. At
present, the data in the (positron) energy interval [18-82] MeV of the
Super-Kamiokande experiment is already able to put a very stringent bound on
the annihilation cross section for masses between ~15-130 MeV. Future large
experiments, like megaton water-Cherenkov or large scintillator detectors, will
improve the present limits and, if MeV DM exists, would be able to detect it.


title: Towards the Modelling of the Second Solar Spectrum

abstract:
  This paper addresses the modelling issue of the linearly-polarized solar limb
spectrum, which is due to scattering processes and it offers a rich diagnostic
potential for exploring solar magnetic fields via the Hanle effect. However,
this so-called second solar spectrum is full of mysterious spectral features,
which cannot be understood with simplified polarization transfer theories, thus
suggesting that the underlying scattering physics is more complex than
previously thought. In this paper we argue that the physical understanding of
the second solar spectrum requires the consideration of scattering processes in
multilevel atomic models, taking fully into account the transfer of atomic
polarization among all the levels involved. The consideration of lower-level
atomic polarization leads to non-linear and non-local coupled sets of
equations, even for the two-level model atom case considered in this paper. The
unknowns of the problem are the irreducible tensor components of the atomic
density matrix whose self-consistent values have first to be obtained to be
able to calculate the emergent Stokes profiles. To solve numerically this
non-LTE problem of the second kind we present some iterative methods that are
very suitable for developing a general multilevel scattering polarization code.
We demonstrate that there exists metastable-level atomic polarization in the
solar chromosphere, which suggests that the solution to some
recently-formulated "paradoxes" is to be found by carefully revising our
current ideas about the chromospheric magnetic field.


title:
Exact analytical solution of the problem of current-carrying states of
  the Josephson junction in external magnetic fields

abstract:
  The classical problem of the Josephson junction of arbitrary length W in the
presence of externally applied magnetic fields (H) and transport currents (J)
is reconsidered from the point of view of stability theory. In particular, we
derive the complete infinite set of exact analytical solutions for the phase
difference that describe the current-carrying states of the junction with
arbitrary W and an arbitrary mode of the injection of J. These solutions are
parameterized by two natural parameters: the constants of integration. The
boundaries of their stability regions in the parametric plane are determined by
a corresponding infinite set of exact functional equations. Being mapped to the
physical plane (H,J), these boundaries yield the dependence of the critical
transport current Jc on H. Contrary to a wide-spread belief, the exact
analytical dependence Jc=Jc(H) proves to be multivalued even for arbitrarily
small W. What is more, the exact solution reveals the existence of unquantized
Josephson vortices carrying fractional flux and located near one of the
junction edges, provided that J is sufficiently close to Jc for certain finite
values of H. This conclusion (as well as other exact analytical results) is
illustrated by a graphical analysis of typical cases.


title: The immune system: look who's talking

abstract:
  Human language and its governing rules present a number of analogies with the
organization and structure of communication and information management in
living organisms. This chapter will provide a short general introduction about
grammar, as well as a brief explanation on how linguistic approaches
effectively contaminate scientific practice, and, finally, how they can also
provide systems biology with further tools and paradigms to analyse emergent
behaviours and interactions among the components of a biological system.


title: Search for TeV Scale Physics in Heavy Flavour Decays

abstract:
  The subject of heavy flavour decays as probes for physics beyond the TeV
scale is covered from the experimental perspective. Emphasis is placed on the
more traditional Beyond the Standard Model topics that have potential for
impact in the short term, with the physics explained. We do unabashedly promote
our own phemonenology work.


title: Fuzzy Private Matching (Extended Abstract)

abstract:
  In the private matching problem, a client and a server each hold a set of $n$
input elements. The client wants to privately compute the intersection of these
two sets: he learns which elements he has in common with the server (and
nothing more), while the server gains no information at all. In certain
applications it would be useful to have a private matching protocol that
reports a match even if two elements are only similar instead of equal. Such a
private matching protocol is called \emph{fuzzy}, and is useful, for instance,
when elements may be inaccurate or corrupted by errors.
  We consider the fuzzy private matching problem, in a semi-honest environment.
Elements are similar if they match on $t$ out of $T$ attributes. First we show
that the original solution proposed by Freedman et al. is incorrect.
Subsequently we present two fuzzy private matching protocols. The first,
simple, protocol has bit message complexity $O(n \binom{T}{t} (T
\log{|D|}+k))$. The second, improved, protocol has a much better bit message
complexity of $O(n T (\log{|D|}+k))$, but here the client incurs a O(n) factor
time complexity. Additionally, we present protocols based on the computation of
the Hamming distance and on oblivious transfer, that have different, sometimes
more efficient, performance characteristics.


title: On the existence of a v_2^32-self map on M(1,4) at the prime 2

abstract:
  Let M(1) be the mod 2 Moore spectrum. J.F. Adams proved that M(1) admits a
minimal v_1-self map v_1^4: Sigma^8 M(1) -> M(1). Let M(1,4) be the cofiber of
this self-map. The purpose of this paper is to prove that M(1,4) admits a
minimal v_2-self map of the form v_2^32: Sigma^192 M(1,4) -> M(1,4). The
existence of this map implies the existence of many 192-periodic families of
elements in the stable homotopy groups of spheres.


title: Three-dimensional Radiative Transfer with Multilevel Atoms

abstract:
  The efficient numerical solution of Non-LTE multilevel transfer problems
requires the combination of highly convergent iterative schemes with fast and
accurate formal solution methods of the radiative transfer (RT) equation. This
contribution begins presenting a method for the formal solution of the RT
equation in three-dimensional (3D) media with horizontal periodic boundary
conditions. This formal solver is suitable for both, unpolarized and polarized
3D radiative transfer and it can be easily combined with the iterative schemes
for solving non-LTE multilevel transfer problems that we have developed over
the last few years. We demonstrate this by showing some schematic 3D multilevel
calculations that illustrate the physical effects of horizontal radiative
transfer. These Non-LTE calculations have been carried out with our code MUGA
3D, a 3D multilevel Non-LTE code based on the Gauss-Seidel iterative scheme
that Trujillo Bueno and Fabiani Bendicho (1995) developed for RT applications.


title: Discretized Volumes in Numerical Methods

abstract:
  We present two techniques novel in numerical methods. The first technique
compiles the domain of the numerical methods as a discretized volume. Congruent
elements are glued together to compile the domain over which the solution of a
boundary value problem is sought. We associate a group and a graph to that
volume. When the group is symmetry of the boundary value problem under
investigation, one can specify the structure of the solution, and find out if
there are equispectral volumes of a given type. The second technique uses a
complex mapping to transplant the solution from volume to volume and a
correction function. Equation for the correction function is given. A simple
example demonstrates the feasibility of the suggested method.


title: Stellar contents and star formation in the young star cluster Be 59

abstract:
  We present $UBVI_C$ CCD photometry of the young open cluster Be 59 with the
aim to study the star formation scenario in the cluster. The radial extent of
the cluster is found to be $\sim$ 10 arcmin (2.9 pc). The interstellar
extinction in the cluster region varies between $E(B-V) \simeq$ 1.4 to 1.8 mag.
The ratio of total-to-selective extinction in the cluster region is estimated
as $3.7\pm0.3$. The distance of the cluster is found to be $1.00\pm0.05$ kpc.
Using near-infrared colours and slitless spectroscopy, we have identified young
stellar objects (YSOs) in the open cluster Be 59 region. The ages of these YSOs
range between $<1$ Myr to $\sim$ 2 Myr, whereas the mean age of the massive
stars in the cluster region is found to be $\sim$ 2 Myr. There is evidence for
second generation star formation outside the boundary of the cluster, which may
be triggered by massive stars in the cluster. The slope of the initial mass
function, $\Gamma$, in the mass range $2.5 < M/M_\odot \le 28$ is found to be
$-1.01\pm0.11$ which is shallower than the Salpeter value (-1.35), whereas in
the mass range $1.5 < M/M_\odot \le 2.5$ the slope is almost flat. The slope of
the K-band luminosity function is estimated as $0.27\pm0.02$, which is smaller
than the average value ($\sim$0.4) reported for young embedded clusters.
Approximately 32% of H$\alpha$ emission stars of Be 59 exhibit NIR excess
indicating that inner disks of the T-Tauri star (TTS) population have not
dissipated. The MSX and IRAS-HIRES images around the cluster region are also
used to study the emission from unidentified infrared bands and to estimate the
spatial distribution of optical depth of warm and cold interstellar dust.


title: The Hanle Effect in 1D, 2D and 3D

abstract:
  This paper addresses the problem of scattering line polarization and the
Hanle effect in one-dimensional (1D), two-dimensional (2D) and
three-dimensional (3D) media for the case of a two-level model atom without
lower-level polarization and assuming complete frequency redistribution. The
theoretical framework chosen for its formulation is the QED theory of Landi
Degl'Innocenti (1983), which specifies the excitation state of the atoms in
terms of the irreducible tensor components of the atomic density matrix. The
self-consistent values of these density-matrix elements is to be determined by
solving jointly the kinetic and radiative transfer equations for the Stokes
parameters. We show how to achieve this by generalizing to Non-LTE polarization
transfer the Jacobi-based ALI method of Olson et al. (1986) and the iterative
schemes based on Gauss-Seidel iteration of Trujillo Bueno and Fabiani Bendicho
(1995). These methods essentially maintain the simplicity of the
Lambda-iteration method, but their convergence rate is extremely high. Finally,
some 1D and 2D model calculations are presented that illustrate the effect of
horizontal atmospheric inhomogeneities on magnetic and non-magnetic resonance
line polarization signals.


title: Sterile neutrinos and structure formation

abstract:
  Warm dark matter is consistent with the observations of the large-scale
structure, and it can also explain the cored density profiles on smaller
scales. However, it has been argued that warm dark matter could delay the star
formation. This does not happen if warm dark matter is made up of keV sterile
neutrinos, which can decay into X-ray photons and active neutrinos. The X-ray
photons have a catalytic effect on the formation of molecular hydrogen, the
essential cooling ingredient in the primordial gas. In all the cases we have
examined, the overall effect of sterile dark matter is to facilitate the
cooling of the gas and to reduce the minimal mass of the halo prone to
collapse. We find that the X-rays from the decay of keV sterile neutrinos
facilitate the collapse of the gas clouds and the subsequent star formation at
high redshift.


title: Electromagnetic low-energy constants in ChPT

abstract:
  We investigate three-flavour chiral perturbation theory including virtual
photons in a limit where the strange quark mass is much larger than the
external momenta and the up and down quark masses, and where the external
fields are those of two-flavour chiral perturbation theory. In particular we
work out the strange quark mass dependence of the electromagnetic two-flavour
low-energy constants C and k_i. We expect that these relations will be useful
for a more precise determination of the electromagnetic low-energy constants.


title: Lepton-pair production in nuclear collisions - past, present, future

abstract:
  The key results on lepton-pair production in ultra-relativistic nuclear
collisions are shortly reviewed, starting at the roots of pp collisions in the
seventies, and ending at the perspectives of the colliders RHIC and LHC. The
presence is dominated by the recent precision results from NA60 at the CERN
SPS, culminating in the first measurement of the in-medium rho spectral
function and the transverse flow of the associated thermal radiation. The
seeming cut-off of the flow above the rho may well be the first direct hint for
thermal radiation of partonic origin in nuclear collisions. The major
milestones in the theoretical developments are also covered.


title:
Limit theorems for bifurcating Markov chains. Application to the
  detection of cellular aging

abstract:
  We propose a general method to study dependent data in a binary tree, where
an individual in one generation gives rise to two different offspring, one of
type 0 and one of type 1, in the next generation. For any specific
characteristic of these individuals, we assume that the characteristic is
stochastic and depends on its ancestors' only through the mother's
characteristic. The dependency structure may be described by a transition
probability $P(x,dy dz)$ which gives the probability that the pair of
daughters' characteristics is around $(y,z)$, given that the mother's
characteristic is $x$. Note that $y$, the characteristic of the daughter of
type 0, and $z$, that of the daughter of type 1, may be conditionally dependent
given $x$, and their respective conditional distributions may differ. We then
speak of bifurcating Markov chains. We derive laws of large numbers and central
limit theorems for such stochastic processes. We then apply these results to
detect cellular aging in Escherichia Coli, using the data of Stewart et al. and
a bifurcating autoregressive model.


title:
Superluminal non-ballistic jet swing in the quasar NRAO 150 revealed by
  mm-VLBI

abstract:
  NRAO 150 -a compact and bright radio to mm source showing core/jet structure-
has been recently identified as a quasar at redshift z=1.52 through a near-IR
spectral observation. To study the jet kinematics on the smallest accessible
scales and to compute the first estimates of its basic physical properties, we
have analysed the ultra-high-resolution images from a new monitoring program at
86 GHz and 43 GHz with the GMVA and the VLBA, respectively. An additional
archival and calibration VLBA data set, covering from 1997 to 2007, has been
used. Our data shows an extreme projected counter-clock-wise jet position angle
swing at an angular rate of up to ~11 deg./yr within the inner ~31 pc of the
jet, which is associated with a non-ballistic superluminal motion of the jet
within this region. The results suggest that the magnetic field could play an
important role in the dynamics of the jet in NRAO 150, which is supported by
the large values of the magnetic field strength obtained from our first
estimates. The extreme characteristics of the jet swing make NRAO 150 a prime
source to study the jet wobbling phenomenon.


title: Dynamic Phase Transitions in Superconductivity

abstract:
  In this Letter, the dynamic phase transitions of the time-dependent
Ginzburg-Landau equations are analyzed using a newly developed dynamic
transition theory and a new classification scheme of dynamics phase
transitions. First, we demonstrate that there are two type of dynamic
transitions, jump and continuous, dictated by the sign of a nondimensional
parameter R. This parameter is computable, and depends on the material
property, the applied field, and the geometry of domain that the sample
occupies. Second, using the parameter R, precise analytical formulas for
critical domain size, and for critical magnetic fields are derived.


title: Three-Dimensional Simulations of a Starburst-Driven Galactic Wind

abstract:
  We have performed a series of three-dimensional simulations of a
starburst-driven wind in an inhomogeneous interstellar medium. The introduction
of an inhomogeneous disk leads to differences in the formation of a wind, most
noticeably the absence of the ``blow-out'' effect seen in homogeneous models. A
wind forms from a series of small bubbles that propagate into the tenuous gas
between dense clouds in the disk. These bubbles merge and follow the path of
least resistance out of the disk, before flowing freely into the halo.
Filaments are formed from disk gas that is broken up and accelerated into the
outflow. These filaments are distributed throughout a biconical structure
within a more spherically distributed hot wind. The distribution of the
inhomogeneous interstellar medium in the disk is important in determining the
morphology of this wind, as well as the distribution of the filaments. While
higher resolution simulations are required in order to ascertain the importance
of mixing processes, we find that soft X-ray emission arises from gas that has
been mass-loaded from clouds in the disk, as well as from bow shocks upstream
of clouds, driven into the flow by the ram pressure of the wind, and the
interaction between these shocks.


title:
Kinematical Reduction of Spatial Degrees of Freedom and Holographic
  Relation in Yang's Quantized Space-Time Algebra

abstract:
  We try to find a possible origin of the holographic principle in the
Lorentz-covariant Yang's quantized space-time algebra (YSTA). YSTA, which is
intrinsically equipped with short- and long-scale parameters, $\lambda$ and
$R$, gives a finite number of spatial degrees of freedom for any bounded
spatial region, providing a basis for divergence-free quantum field theory.
Furthermore, it gives a definite kinematical reduction of spatial degrees of
freedom, compared with the ordinary lattice space. On account of the latter
fact, we find a certain kind of kinematical holographic relation in YSTA, which
may be regarded as a primordial form of the holographic principle suggested so
far in the framework of the present quantum theory that appears now in the
contraction limit of YSTA, $\lambda \to 0$ and $R \to \infty.$


title: Nonequilibrium steady states in fluids of platelike colloidal particles

abstract:
  Nonequilibrium steady states in an open system connecting two reservoirs of
platelike colloidal particles are investigated by means of a recently proposed
phenomenological dynamic density functional theory [M. Bier and R. van Roij,
Phys. Rev. E 76, 021405 (2007)]. The platelike colloidal particles are
approximated within the Zwanzig model of restricted orientations, which
exhibits an isotropic-nematic bulk phase transition. Inhomogeneities of the
local chemical potential generate a diffusion current which relaxes to a
nonvanishing value if the two reservoirs coupled to the system sustain
different chemical potentials. The relaxation process of initial states towards
the steady state turns out to comprise two regimes: a smoothening of initial
steplike structures followed by an ultimate relaxation of the slowest diffusive
mode. The position of a nonequilibrium interface and the particle current of
steady states depend nontrivially on the structure of the reservoirs due to the
coupling between translational and orientational degrees of freedom of the
fluid.


title:
The long-term stability of extrasolar system HD 37124. Numerical study
  of resonance effects

abstract:
  We describe numerical tools for the stability analysis of extrasolar
planetary systems. In particular, we consider the relative Poincare variables
and symplectic integration of the equations of motion. We apply the tangent map
to derive a numerically efficient algorithm of the fast indicator MEGNO (a
measure of the maximal Lyapunov exponent) that helps to distinguish chaotic and
regular configurations. The results concerning the three-planet extrasolar
system HD 37124 are presented and discussed. The best fit solutions found in
earlier works are studied more closely. The system involves Jovian planets with
similar masses. The orbits have moderate eccentricities, nevertheless the best
fit solutions are found in dynamically active region of the phase space. The
long term stability of the system is determined by a net of low-order two-body
and three-body mean motion resonances. In particular, the three-body resonances
may induce strong chaos that leads to self-destruction of the system after Myrs
of apparently stable and bounded evolution. In such a case, numerically
efficient dynamical maps are useful to resolve the fine structure of the phase
space and to identify the sources of unstable behavior.


title: Community Detecting By Signaling on Complex Networks

abstract:
  Based on signaling process on complex networks, a method for identification
community structure is proposed. For a network with $n$ nodes, every node is
assumed to be a system which can send, receive, and record signals. Each node
is taken as the initial signal source once to inspire the whole network by
exciting its neighbors and then the source node is endowed a $n$d vector which
recording the effects of signaling process. So by this process, the topological
relationship of nodes on networks could be transferred into the geometrical
structure of vectors in $n$d Euclidian space. Then the best partition of groups
is determined by $F$-statistic and the final community structure is given by
Fuzzy $C$-means clustering method (FCM). This method can detect community
structure both in unweighted and weighted networks without any extra
parameters. It has been applied to ad hoc networks and some real networks
including Zachary Karate Club network and football team network. The results
are compared with that of other approaches and the evidence indicates that the
algorithm based on signaling process is effective.


title: Parameter Estimation for Partially Observed Hypoelliptic Diffusions

abstract:
  Hypoelliptic diffusion processes can be used to model a variety of phenomena
in applications ranging from molecular dynamics to audio signal analysis. We
study parameter estimation for such processes in situations where we observe
some components of the solution at discrete times. Since exact likelihoods for
the transition densities are typically not known, approximations are used that
are expected to work well in the limit of small inter-sample times $\Delta t$
and large total observation times $N\Delta t$. Hypoellipticity together with
partial observation leads to ill-conditioning requiring a judicious combination
of approximate likelihoods for the various parameters to be estimated. We
combine these in a deterministic scan Gibbs sampler alternating between missing
data in the unobserved solution components, and parameters. Numerical
experiments illustrate asymptotic consistency of the method when applied to
simulated data. The paper concludes with application of the Gibbs sampler to
molecular dynamics data.


title:
B(d,s)-anti-B(d,s) mixing and Lepton Flavour Violation in SUSY GUTs:
  impact of the first measurements of phi(s)

abstract:
  In this work we re-examine the correlation between B(d,s)-anti-B(d,s) mixing
and Lepton Flavour Violation in the light of recent experimental measurements
in the $B_s$ system. We perform a generic SUSY analysis of the allowed down
squark mass insertion parameter space. In the SUSY GUT scenario this parameter
space is then used to make predictions for LFV branching ratios. We find that
the recent measurement for the CP phase $\phi_s$ excludes the lowest rates for
tau --> mu + gamma and provides a lower bound of ~ 3E-9 for tan beta = 10.
Future experimental improvements in the bound on tau --> mu + gamma and the
measurement of phi(s) will constitute a strong test of the SUSY GUT scenario.


title: Light propagation in atomic Mott Insulators

abstract:
  We study radiation-matter interaction in a system of ultracold atoms trapped
in an optical lattice in a Mott insulator phase. We develop a fully general
quantum model, and we perform calculations for a one-dimensional geometry at
normal incidence. Both two- and three-level $\Lambda$ atomic configurations are
studied. The polariton dispersion and the reflectivity spectra are
characterized in the different regimes, for both semi-infinite and finite-size
geometries. We apply this model to propose a photon energy lifter experiment: a
device which is able to shift the carrier frequency of a slowly travelling
wavepacket without affecting the pulse shape nor its coherence.


title: Tests of the lattice index theorem

abstract:
  We investigate the lattice index theorem and the localization of the
zero-modes for thick classical center vortices. For non-orientable spherical
vortices, the index of the overlap Dirac operator differs from the topological
charge although the traces of the plaquettes deviate only by a maximum of 1.5%
from trivial plaquettes. This may be related to the fact that even in Landau
gauge some links of these configuration are close to the non-trivial center
elements.


title:
The State of the Art in Hydrodynamic Turbulence: Past Successes and
  Future Challenges

abstract:
  We present a personal view of the state of the art in turbulence research. We
summarize first the main achievements in the recent past, and then point ahead
to the main challenges that remain for experimental and theoretical efforts.


title:
Clusters in weighted macroeconomic networks : the EU case. Introducing
  the overlapping index of GDP/capita fluctuation correlations

abstract:
  GDP/capita correlations are investigated in various time windows (TW), for
the time interval 1990-2005. The target group of countries is the set of 25 EU
members, 15 till 2004 plus the 10 countries which joined EU later on. The
TW-means of the statistical correlation coefficients are taken as the weights
(links) of a fully connected network having the countries as nodes. Thereafter
we define and introduce the overlapping index of weighted network nodes. A
cluster structure of EU countries is derived from the statistically relevant
eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the adjacency matrix. This may be considered to
yield some information about the structure, stability and evolution of the EU
country clusters in a macroeconomic sense.


title:
Exciton-Polariton scattering for defect detection in cold atom Optical
  Lattices

abstract:
  We study the effect of defects in the Mott insulator phase of ultracold atoms
in an optical lattice on the dynamics of resonant excitations. Defects, which
can either be empty sites in a Mott insulator state with one atom per site or a
singly occupied site for a filling factor two, change the dynamics of Frenkel
excitons and cavity polaritons. While the vacancies in first case behave like
hard sphere scatters for excitons, singly occupied sites in the latter case can
lead to attractive or repulsive scattering potentials. We suggest cavity
polaritons as observation tool of such defects, and show how the scattering can
be controlled in changing the exciton-photon detuning. In the case of
asymmetric optical lattice sites we present how the scattering effective
potential can be detuned by the cavity photon polarization direction, with the
possibility of a crossover from a repulsive into an attractive potential.


title:
Interpretation of the Stephan Quintet Galaxy Cluster using
  Hydro-Gravitational-Dynamics: Viscosity and Fragmentation

abstract:
  Stephan's Quintet (SQ) is a compact group of galaxies that has been well
studied since its discovery in 1877 but is mysterious using cold dark matter
hierarchical clustering cosmology (CDMHCC). Anomalous red shifts $z =
(0.0027,0.019, 0.022, 0.022, 0.022)$ among galaxies in SQ either reduce it to a
Trio with two highly improbable intruders from CDMHCC or support the Arp (1973)
hypothesis that its red shifts are intrinsic. An alternative is provided by the
Gibson 1996-2006 hydro-gravitational-dynamics (HGD) theory where superclusters,
clusters and galaxies all originate by gravitational fragmentation in the
super-viscous plasma epoch and at planetary and star cluster mass scales in the
primordial gas of the expanding universe. By this fluid-mechanical cosmology,
the SQ galaxies gently separate and remain precisely along a line of sight
because of perspective and the small transverse velocities permitted by their
sticky viscous-gravitational beginnings. Star and gas bridges and
young-globular-star-cluster (YGC) trails observed by the Hubble Space Telescope
are triggered as SQ galaxies separate through viscous baryonic-dark-matter
halos of dark proto-globular-cluster (PGC) clumps of frozen Earth-mass
primordial-fog-particles (PFPs).


title: Weak order for the discretization of the stochastic heat equation

abstract:
  In this paper we study the approximation of the distribution of $X_t$
Hilbert--valued stochastic process solution of a linear parabolic stochastic
partial differential equation written in an abstract form as $$ dX_t+AX_t dt =
Q^{1/2} d W_t, \quad X_0=x \in H, \quad t\in[0,T], $$ driven by a Gaussian
space time noise whose covariance operator $Q$ is given. We assume that
$A^{-\alpha}$ is a finite trace operator for some $\alpha>0$ and that $Q$ is
bounded from $H$ into $D(A^\beta)$ for some $\beta\geq 0$. It is not required
to be nuclear or to commute with $A$. The discretization is achieved thanks to
finite element methods in space (parameter $h>0$) and implicit Euler schemes in
time (parameter $\Delta t=T/N$). We define a discrete solution $X^n_h$ and for
suitable functions $\phi$ defined on $H$, we show that $$ |\E \phi(X^N_h) - \E
\phi(X_T) | = O(h^{2\gamma} + \Delta t^\gamma) $$ \noindent where $\gamma<1-
\alpha + \beta$. Let us note that as in the finite dimensional case the rate of
convergence is twice the one for pathwise approximations.


title: Casimir energy and geometry : beyond the Proximity Force Approximation

abstract:
  We review the relation between Casimir effect and geometry, emphasizing
deviations from the commonly used Proximity Force Approximation (PFA). We use
to this aim the scattering formalism which is nowadays the best tool available
for accurate and reliable theory-experiment comparisons. We first recall the
main lines of this formalism when the mirrors can be considered to obey
specular reflection. We then discuss the more general case where non planar
mirrors give rise to non-specular reflection with wavevectors and field
polarisations mixed. The general formalism has already been fruitfully used for
evaluating the effect of roughness on the Casimir force as well as the lateral
Casimir force or Casimir torque appearing between corrugated surfaces. In this
short review, we focus our attention on the case of the lateral force which
should make possible in the future an experimental demonstration of the
nontrivial (i.e. beyond PFA) interplay of geometry and Casimir effect.


title:
Light Propagation in Inhomogeneous Universes. V. Gravitational Lensing
  of Distant Supernovae

abstract:
  We use a series of ray-tracing experiments to determine the magnification
distribution of high-redshift sources by gravitational lensing. We determine
empirically the relation between magnification and redshift, for various
cosmological models. We then use this relation to estimate the effect of
lensing on the determination of the cosmological parameters from observations
of high-z supernovae. We found that, for supernovae at redshifts z<1.8 the
effect of lensing is negligible compared to the intrinsic uncertainty in the
measurements. Using mock data in the range 1.8<z<8, we show that the effect of
lensing can become significant. Hence, if a population of very-high-z
supernovae was ever discovered, it would be crucial to fully understand the
effect of lensing, before these SNe could be used to constrain cosmological
models. We show that the distance moduli m-M for an open CDM universe and a
LCDM universe are comparable at z>2. Therefore if supernovae up to these
redshifts were ever discovered, it is still the ones in the range 0.3<z<1 that
would distinguish these two models.


title: Integral elements of K-theory and products of modular curves II

abstract:
  We discuss the relationship between different notions of "integrality" in
motivic cohomology/K-theory which arise in the Beilinson and Bloch-Kato
conjectures, and prove their equivalence in some cases for products of curves
(used in the authors' previous paper in this series), as well as obtaining a
general result, first proved by Jannsen (unpublished), which reduces their
equivalence to standard conjectures in arithmetic algebraic geometry.


title:
Non-displaceable Lagrangian submanifolds and Floer cohomology with
  non-unitary line bundle

abstract:
  We show that in many examples the non-displaceability of Lagrangian
submanifolds by Hamiltonian isotopy can be proved via Lagrangian Floer
cohomology with non-unitary line bundle. The examples include all monotone
Lagrangian torus fibers in toric Fano manifold (which was also proven by Entov
and Polterovich via the theory of symplectic quasi-states), some non-monotone
Lagrangian torus fibers.
  We also extend the results by Oh and the author about the computations of
Floer cohomology of Lagrangian torus fibers to the case of all toric Fano
manifolds, removing the convexity assumption in the previous work.


title:
Analog Chaos-based Secure Communications and Cryptanalysis: A Brief
  Survey

abstract:
  A large number of analog chaos-based secure communication systems have been
proposed since the early 1990s exploiting the technique of chaos
synchronization. A brief survey of these chaos-based cryptosystems and of
related cryptanalytic results is given. Some recently proposed countermeasures
against known attacks are also introduced.


title:
Poisson groups and differential Galois theory of Schroedinger equation
  on the circle

abstract:
  We combine the projective geometry approach to Schroedinger equations on the
circle and differential Galois theory with the theory of Poisson Lie groups to
construct a natural Poisson structure on the space of wave functions (at the
zero energy level). Applications to KdV-like nonlinear equations are discussed.
The same approach is applied to second order difference operators on a
one-dimensional lattice, yielding an extension of the lattice Poisson Virasoro
algebra.


title: Cubist Algebras

abstract:
  We construct algebras from rhombohedral tilings of Euclidean space obtained
as projections of certain cubical complexes. We show that these `Cubist
algebras' satisfy strong homological properties, such as Koszulity and
quasi-heredity, reflecting the combinatorics of the tilings. We construct
derived equivalences between Cubist algebras associated to local mutations in
tilings. We recover as a special case the Rhombal algebras of Michael Peach and
make a precise connection to weight 2 blocks of symmetric groups.


title:
Disordered loops in the two-dimensional antiferromagnetic spin-fermion
  model

abstract:
  The spin-fermion model has long been used to describe the quantum-critical
behavior of 2d electron systems near an antiferromagnetic (AFM) instability.
Recently, the standard procedure to integrate out the fermions to obtain an
effective action for spin waves has been questioned in the clean case. We show
that in the presence of disorder, the single fermion loops display two
crossover scales: upon lowering the energy, the singularities of the clean
fermionic loops are first cut off, but below a second scale new singularities
arise that lead again to marginal scaling. In addition, impurity lines between
different fermion loops generate new relevant couplings which dominate at low
energies. We outline a non-linear sigma model formulation of the single-loop
problem, which allows to control the higher singularities and provides an
effective model in terms of low-energy diffusive as well as spin modes.


title:
High-bandwidth viscoelastic properties of aging colloidal glasses and
  gels

abstract:
  We report measurements of the frequency-dependent shear moduli of aging
colloidal systems that evolve from a purely low-viscosity liquid to a
predominantly elastic glass or gel. Using microrheology, we measure the local
complex shear modulus $G^{*}(\omega)$ over a very wide range of frequencies (1
Hz- 100 kHz). The combined use of one- and two-particle microrheology allows us
to differentiate between colloidal glasses and gels - the glass is homogenous,
whereas the colloidal gel shows a considerable degree of heterogeneity on
length scales larger than 0.5 micrometer. Despite this characteristic
difference, both systems exhibit similar rheological behavior which evolve in
time with aging, showing a crossover from a single power-law frequency
dependence of the viscoelastic modulus to a sum of two power laws. The
crossover occurs at a time $t_{0}$, which defines a mechanical transition
point. We found that the data acquired during the aging of different samples
can be collapsed onto a single master curve by scaling the aging time with
$t_{0}$. This raises questions about the prior interpretation of two power laws
in terms of a superposition of an elastic network embedded in a viscoelastic
background.
  Keywords: Aging, colloidal glass, passive microrheology


title: Pioneer Effect: An Interesting Numerical Coincidence

abstract:
  We note that if we construct from the observed anomalous acceleration
$a_P=(8.74\pm1.33)\times 10^{-10}m/s^2$ of the spacecrafts Pioneer 10 and 11
towards the Sun, the proton mass $m_p$ and Newton's gravitational constant $G$
a quantity $\ell_P:=(Gm_p/a_P)^{1/2}$, which has the same dimension as length,
then $\ell_P$ is roughly of the same order of magnitude as is the Compton wave
length of a proton. We formulate a simple quantum mechanical hypothesis, which
aims to provide an explanation to this interesting numerical coincidence.


title:
Pion form factor at spacelike momentum transfers from local-duality QCD
  sum rule

abstract:
  We study the pion form factor in a broad range of spacelike momentum
transfers within the local-duality version of QCD sum rules. We make use of the
recently calculated two-loop double spectral density of the $<AVA>$ correlator
including O(1) and $O(\alpha_s)$ terms, which allows us to give predictions for
the pion form factor and to study the interplay between the nonperturbative and
perturbative contributions to the pion form factor without any reference to the
pion distribution amplitude. Our results demonstrate the dominance of the
nonperturbative contribution to the form factor up to relatively large values
of the momentum transfer: namely, the nonperturbative O(1) term, which provides
the $1/Q^4$ power correction, gives more than half of the pion form factor in
the region $Q^2 \le 20$ GeV$^2$.


title: Rock blocks

abstract:
  Consider representation theory associated to symmetric groups, or to Hecke
algebras in type A, or to q-Schur algebras, or to finite general linear groups
in non-describing characteristic. Rock blocks are certain combinatorially
defined blocks appearing in such a representation theory, first observed by R.
Rouquier. Rock blocks are much more symmetric than general blocks, and every
block is derived equivalent to a Rock block. Motivated by a theorem of J.
Chuang and R. Kessar in the case of symmetric group blocks of abelian defect,
we pursue a structure theorem for these blocks.


title:
First results of systematic studies done with different types of Silicon
  Photomultipliers

abstract:
  The presented results are obtained during the first steps taken in order to
develop a setup and measurement procedures which allow to compare properties of
diverse kinds of silicon photomultipliers. The response to low-intensity light
was studied for silicon photomultipliers produced by CPTA (Russia), Hamamatsu
(Japan), ITC-irst (Italy) and SensL (Ireland).


title: Local invariants attached to Weierstrass points

abstract:
  Let X/S be a hyperelliptic curve of genus g over the spectrum of a discrete
valuation ring. Two fundamental numerical invariants are attached to X/S: the
valuation of the hyperelliptic discriminant of X/S, and the valuation of the
Mumford discriminant of X/S (equivalently, the Artin conductor). For a residue
field of characteristic 0 as well as for X/S semistable these invariants are
known to satisfy certain inequalities. We prove an exact formula relating the
two invariants with intersection theoretic data determined by the distribution
of Weierstrass points over the special fiber, in the semistable case. We also
prove an exact formula for the stable Faltings height of an arbitrary curve
over a number field, involving local contributions associated to its
Weierstrass points.


title:
Cryptanalysis of an image encryption scheme based on a new total
  shuffling algorithm

abstract:
  Chaotic systems have been broadly exploited through the last two decades to
build encryption methods. Recently, two new image encryption schemes have been
proposed, where the encryption process involves a permutation operation and an
XOR-like transformation of the shuffled pixels, which are controlled by three
chaotic systems. This paper discusses some defects of the schemes and how to
break them with a chosen-plaintext attack.


title:
Structural properties of disk galaxies I. The intrinsic ellipticity of
  bulges

abstract:
  (Abridged) A variety of formation scenarios was proposed to explain the
diversity of properties observed in bulges. Studying their intrinsic shape can
help in constraining the dominant mechanism at the epochs of their assembly.
The structural parameters of a magnitude-limited sample of 148 unbarred S0--Sb
galaxies were derived in order to study the correlations between bulges and
disks as well as the probability distribution function (PDF) of the intrinsic
equatorial ellipticity of bulges. It is presented a new fitting algorithm
(GASP2D) to perform the two-dimensional photometric decomposition of galaxy
surface-brightness distribution. This was assumed to be the sum of the
contribution of a bulge and disk component characterized by elliptical and
concentric isophotes with constant (but possibly different) ellipticity and
position angles. Bulge and disk parameters of the sample galaxies were derived
from the J-band images which were available in the Two Micron All Sky Survey.
The PDF of the equatorial ellipticity of the bulges was derived from the
distribution of the observed ellipticities of bulges and misalignments between
bulges and disks. Strong correlations between the bulge and disk parameters
were found. About 80% of bulges in unbarred lenticular and
early-to-intermediate spiral galaxies are not oblate but triaxial ellipsoids.
Their mean axial ratio in the equatorial plane is <B/A> = 0.85. There is not
significant dependence of their PDF on morphology, light concentration, and
luminosity. The interplay between bulge and disk parameters favors scenarios in
which bulges assembled from mergers and/or grew over long times through disk
secular evolution. But all these mechanisms have to be tested against the
derived distribution of bulge intrinsic ellipticities.


title: Gerbes and Lie Groups

abstract:
  We present a review of bundle gerbes, emphasizing their relations to Lie
groups. Indeed, compact Lie groups do not only carry the structure of a
Riemannian manifold, but also canonical families of bundle gerbes. We recall
the construction of these bundle gerbes and their relation to loop groups. We
discuss several algebraic structures for bundle gerbes with connection such as
Jandl structures, gerbe modules and gerbe bimodules, and indicate their
applications to Wess-Zumino terms in two-dimensional field theories.


title: Projective bases of division algebras and groups of central type II

abstract:
  Let G be a finite group and let k be a field. We say that G is a projective
basis of a k-algebra A if it is isomorphic to a twisted group algebra k^\alpha
G for some class \alpha in H^2(G,k^\times), where the action of G on k^\times
is trivial. In a preceding paper by Aljadeff, Haile and the author (Projective
bases of division algebras and groups of central type, Israel J. Math. 146
(2005) 317-335) it was shown that if a group G is a projective basis in a
k-central division algebra then G is nilpotent and every Sylow-p subgroup of G
is on the short list of families of p-groups, denoted by \Lambda. In this paper
we complete the classification of projective bases of division algebras by
showing that every group on that list is a projective basis for a suitable
division algebra. We also consider the question of uniqueness of a projective
basis of a k-central division algebra. We show that basically all groups on the
list \Lambda but one satisfy certain rigidity property.


title: On the effective action of D-brane-anti-D-brane system

abstract:
  We examine the proposal for constructing the effective action of a
D-brane-anti-D-brane system from the non-abelian extension of tachyon DBI
action. We consider two prescriptions for the trace in the non-abelian tachyon
DBI action. The usual trace and the symmetric trace prescription. The former
gives an action for the D\bar{D} system which reduces to the action proposed by
A.Sen for coincident branes. The latter gives a different action which is
consistent with the S-matrix element calculations.


title:
Eliminating spurious velocities in the free energy lattice Boltzmann
  method

abstract:
  Spurious velocities are unphysical currents that appear close to curved
interfaces in diffuse interface methods. We analyse the causes of these
spurious velocities in the free energy lattice Boltzmann algorithm. By making a
suitable choice of the equilibrium distribution, and by finding the best way to
numerically calculate derivatives, we show that these velocities may be
decreased by an order of magnitude compared to previous models. Furthermore, we
propose a momentum conserving forcing method that reduces spurious velocities
by another factor of ~5. In three dimensions we find that 19 velocity vectors
is the minimum number necessary.


title: Cryptanalysis of a computer cryptography scheme based on a filter bank

abstract:
  This paper analyzes the security of a recently-proposed signal encryption
scheme based on a filter bank. A very critical weakness of this new signal
encryption procedure is exploited in order to successfully recover the
associated secret key.


title: Centres of skewfields and completely faithful Iwasawa modules

abstract:
  Let H be a torsionfree compact p-adic analytic group whose Lie algebra is
split semisimple. We show that the quotient skewfield of fractions of the
Iwasawa algebra \Lambda_H of H has trivial centre and use this result to
classify the prime c-ideals in the Iwasawa algebra \Lambda_G of G := H \times
\Zp. We also show that a finitely generated torsion \Lambda_G-module having no
non-zero pseudo-null submodule is completely faithful if and only if it is has
no central torsion. This has an application to the study of Selmer groups of
elliptic curves.