title: Product theorems via semidefinite programming

abstract:
  The tendency of semidefinite programs to compose perfectly under product has
been exploited many times in complexity theory: for example, by Lovasz to
determine the Shannon capacity of the pentagon; to show a direct sum theorem
for non-deterministic communication complexity and direct product theorems for
discrepancy; and in interactive proof systems to show parallel repetition
theorems for restricted classes of games.
  Despite all these examples of product theorems--some going back nearly thirty
years--it was only recently that Mittal and Szegedy began to develop a general
theory to explain when and why semidefinite programs behave perfectly under
product. This theory captured many examples in the literature, but there were
also some notable exceptions which it could not explain--namely, an early
parallel repetition result of Feige and Lovasz, and a direct product theorem
for the discrepancy method of communication complexity by Lee, Shraibman, and
Spalek.
  We extend the theory of Mittal and Szegedy to explain these cases as well.
Indeed, to the best of our knowledge, our theory captures all examples of
semidefinite product theorems in the literature.


title: Four Generations, the Electroweak Phase Transition, and Supersymmetry

abstract:
  We calculate the strength of the electroweak phase transition in a
supersymmetric model with four chiral generations. The additional chiral
fermions (and scalar partners) lower the critical temperature and thus
strengthen the first-order phase transition. The scalar partners stabilize the
potential, leading to an effective theory that is bounded from below. We
identify the ensemble of parameters where phi_c/T_c \gsim 1 simultaneous with
obtaining a large enough Higgs mass. Our calculations focus on a subset of the
full four generational supersymmetric parameter space: We take the pseudoscalar
heavy, tan(beta)=1, and neglect all subleading contributions to the effective
potential. We find that the region of parameter space with a strong first-order
phase transition requires m_tilde{q}'/m_q' \lsim 1.1 while the constraint on
the lightest Higgs mass requires m_tilde{q}'/m_q' /gsim 1 with m_q' \gsim 300
GeV. We are led to an intriguing prediction of quarks and squarks just beyond
the current Tevatron direct search limits that are poised to be discovered
quickly at the LHC.


title: Effective masses in a strongly anisotropic Fermi liquid

abstract:
  Motivated by the recent experimental observation of quantum oscillations in
the underdoped cuprates, we study the cyclotron and infrared Hall effective
masses in an anisotropic Fermi liquid characterized by an angle-dependent
quasiparticle residue Z_q, which models an arc-shaped Fermi surface. Our
primary motivation is to explain the relatively large value of the cyclotron
effective mass observed experimentally and its relation with the effective Hall
mass. In the framework of a phenomenological model of an anisotropic Fermi
liquid, we find that the cyclotron mass is enhanced by a factor <1/Z_q>, while
the effective Hall mass is proportional to <Z_q> / <Z_q^2>, where <...> implies
an averaging over the Fermi surface. We conclude that if the Z-factor becomes
small in some part of the Fermi surface (e.g., in the case of a Fermi arc), the
cyclotron mass is enhanced sharply while the infrared Hall mass may remain
small. Possible future experiments are discussed.


title: Morphisms between spaces of leaves viewed as fractions

abstract:
  Reprint of a 1989 paper including minor corrections of misprints. Added
comments (11 pages) about later related papers in the literature concerning
comparison of Gabriel-Zisman calculus of (right) fractions and the use of
generalized morphims in the sense of Haefliger-Skandalis-Hilsum for inverting
differentiable equivalences between Lie groupoids.


title: Toroidalization of Locally Toroidal Morphisms from N-folds to Surfaces

abstract:
  The toroidalization conjecture of D. Abramovich, K. Karu, K. Matsuki, and J.
Wlodarczyk asks whether any given morphism of nonsingular varieties over an
algebraically closed field of characteristic zero can be modified into a
toroidal morphism. Following a suggestion by Dale Cutkosky, we define the
notion of \emph{locally toroidal} morphisms and ask whether any locally
toroidal morphism can be modified into a toroidal morphism. In this paper, we
answer the question in the affirmative when the morphism is between any
arbitrary variety and a surface.


title: Tidal Effects and the Environment Dependence of Halo Assembly

abstract:
  We explore a possible origin for the puzzling anti-correlation between the
formation epoch of galactic dark-matter haloes and their environment density.
This correlation has been revealed from cosmological N-body simulations and is
in conflict with the Extended Press-Schechter model of halo clustering. Using
similar simulations, we first quantify the straightforward association of an
early formation epoch with a reduced mass growth rate at late times. We then
find that a primary driver of suppressed growth, by accretion and mergers, is
tidal effects dominated by a neighbouring massive halo. The tidal effects range
from a slowdown of the assembly of haloes due to the shear along the
large-scale filaments that feed the massive halo to actual mass loss in haloes
that pass through the massive halo. Using the restricted three-body problem, we
show that haloes are prone to tidal mass loss within 1.5 virial radii of a
larger halo. Our results suggest that the dependence of formation epoch on
environment density is a secondary effect induced by the enhanced density of
haloes in filaments near massive haloes where the tides are strong. Our
measures of assembly rate are particularly correlated with the tidal field at
high redshifts z~1.


title: Unitarity and the Hilbert space of quantum gravity

abstract:
  Under the premises that physics is unitary and black hole evaporation is
complete (no remnants, no topology change), there must exist a one-to-one
correspondence between states on future null and timelike infinity and on any
earlier spacelike Cauchy surface (e.g., slices preceding the formation of the
hole). We show that these requirements exclude a large set of semiclassical
spacetime configurations from the Hilbert space of quantum gravity. In
particular, the highest entropy configurations, which account for almost all of
the volume of semiclassical phase space, would not have quantum counterparts,
i.e. would not correspond to allowed states in a quantum theory of gravity.


title: Ultra-slow light pulses in a nonlinear metamaterial

abstract:
  We find the analytical expression for the threshold intensity necessary to
launch ultra-slow light pulses in a metamaterial with simultaneous cubic
electric and magnetic nonlinearity. The role played respectively by the
permittivity, the permeability, the electric cubic nonlinearity, the magnetic
cubic nonlinearity and the pulse duration is clearly identified and discussed.


title: Infrared Renormalization Group Flow for Heavy Quark Masses

abstract:
  A short-distance heavy quark mass depends on two parameters, the
renormalization scale mu controlling the absorption of ultraviolet fluctuations
into the mass, and a scale R controlling the absorption of infrared
fluctuations. 1/R can be thought of as the radius for perturbative corrections
that build up the mass beyond its point-like definition in the pole scheme.
Treating R as a variable gives a renormalization group equation. We argue that
the sign of this anomalous dimension is universal: increasing R to add IR modes
decreases m(R). The flow improves the stability of conversions between mass
schemes, allowing us to avoid large logs and the renormalon. The flow in R can
be used to study IR renormalons without using bubble chains, and we use it to
determine the coefficient of the LambdaQCD renormalon ambiguity of the pole
mass with a convergent sum-rule.


title: Feedback from galactic stellar bulges and hot gaseous haloes of galaxies

abstract:
  We demonstrate that the feedback from stellar bulges can play an essential
role in shaping the halo gas of galaxies with substantial bulge components by
conducting 1-D hydrodynamical simulations. The feedback model we consider
consists of two distinct phases: 1) an early starburst during the bulge
formation and 2) a subsequent long-lasting mass and energy injection from
stellar winds of low-mass stars and Type Ia SNe. An energetic outward blastwave
is initiated by the starburst and is maintained and enhanced by the
long-lasting stellar feedback. For a MW-like galactic bulge, this blastwave
sweeps up the halo gas in the proto-galaxy and heats up the surrounding medium
to a scale much beyond the virial radius of the halo, thus the accretion of the
halo hot gas can be completely stopped. In addition, the long-lasting feedback
in the later phase powers a galactic bulge wind that is reverse-shocked at a
large radius in the presence of surrounding intergalactic medium and hence
maintains a hot gaseous halo. As the mass and energy injection decreases with
time, the feedback evolves to a subsonic and quasi-stable outflow, which is
enough to prevent halo gas from cooling. The two phases of the feedback thus
re-enforce each-other's impact on the gas dynamics. The simulation results
demonstrate that the stellar bulge feedback may provide a plausible solution to
the long-standing problems in understanding the MW type galaxies, such as the
"missing stellar feedback" problem and the "over-cooling" problem. The
simulations also show that the properties of the hot gas in the subsonic
outflow state depend sensitively on the environment and the formation history
of the bulge. This dependence and variance may explain the large dispersion in
the X-ray to B-band luminosity ratio of the low $L_X/L_B$ Es.


title: Local moduli of holomorphic bundles

abstract:
  We study moduli of holomorphic vector bundles on non-compact varieties. We
discuss filtrability and algebraicity of bundles and calculate dimensions of
local moduli. As particularly interesting examples, we describe numerical
invariants of bundles on some local Calabi-Yau threefolds.


title: Kondo-lattice theory of anisotropic singlet superconductivity

abstract:
  Kondo-lattice theory for the t-J model and a phenomenological theory based on
it are developed to study superconductivity in the vicinity of the Mott
metal-insulator transition. Since the quenching of magnetic moments by
single-site quantum spin fluctuations or the Kondo effect is reduced by the
opening of a superconducting gap, spin density wave (SDW) can appear in a
superconducting state and the Knight shift can deviate from the Yosida function
to be small. The electron-phonon interaction, which arises from the modulation
of the superexchange interaction by phonons, is crucial in the coexistence of
superconductivity and SDW. It is proposed that the coexistence of
superconductivity, a double-Q SDW, a double-Q lattice distortion, and a
double-Q charge density wave induced by the SDW rather than the lattice
distortion, is responsible for the checkerboard structure and the
zero-temperature pseudo-gap observed in under-doped cuprate superconductors.


title: Stochastic `Beads on a String' in the Accretion Tail of Arp 285

abstract:
  We present Spitzer infrared, GALEX UV, and SDSS and SARA optical images of
the peculiar interacting galaxy pair Arp 285 (NGC 2856/4), and compare with a
new numerical model of the interaction. We estimate the ages of clumps of star
formation in these galaxies using population synthesis models, carefully
considering the uncertainties on these ages. This system contains a striking
example of `beads on a string': a series of star formation complexes ~1 kpc
apart. These `beads' are found in a tail-like feature that is perpendicular to
the disk of NGC 2856, which implies that it was formed from material accreted
from the companion NGC 2854. The extreme blueness of the optical/UV colors and
redness of the mid-infrared colors implies very young stellar ages (~4 - 20
Myrs) for these star forming regions. Spectral decomposition of these `beads'
shows excess emission above the modeled stellar continuum in the 3.6 micron and
4.5 micron bands, indicating either contributions from interstellar matter to
these fluxes or a second older stellar population. These clumps have -12.0 <
M(B) < -10.6, thus they are less luminous than most dwarf galaxies. Our model
suggests that bridge material falling into the potential of the companion
overshoots the companion. The gas then piles up at apo-galacticon before
falling back onto the companion, and star formation occurs in the pile-up. A
luminous (M(B) ~ -13.6) extended (FWHM ~ 1.3 kpc) `bright spot' is visible at
the northwestern edge of the NGC 2856 disk, with an intermediate stellar
population (400 - 1500 Myrs). Our model suggests that this feature is part of a
expanding ripple-like `arc' created by an off-center ring-galaxy-like collision
between the two disks.


title: A Large Sample of BL Lacs from SDSS and FIRST

abstract:
  We present a large sample of 501 radio-selected BL Lac candidates from the
combination of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 5 optical
spectroscopy and from the Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters
(FIRST) radio survey; this is one of the largest BL Lac samples yet assembled,
and each object emerges with homogeneous data coverage. Each candidate is
detected in the radio from FIRST and confirmed in SDSS optical spectroscopy to
have: (1) no emission feature with measured rest equivalent width larger than 5
Angstroms; and (2) no measured Ca II H/K depression larger than 40%. We
subdivide our sample into 426 higher confidence candidates and 75 lower
confidence candidates. We argue that contamination from other classes of
objects that formally pass our selection criteria is small, and we identify a
few very rare radio AGN with unusual spectra that are probably related to broad
absorption line quasars. About one-fifth of our sample were known BL Lacs prior
to the SDSS. A preliminary analysis of the sample generally supports the
standard beaming paradigm. While we recover sizable numbers of low-energy and
intermediate-energy cutoff BL Lacs (LBLs and IBLs, respectively), there are
indications of a potential bias toward recovering high-energy cutoff BL Lacs
(HBLs) from SDSS spectroscopy. Such a large sample may eventually provide new
constraints on BL Lac unification models and their potentially peculiar cosmic
evolution; in particular, our sample contains a significant number of higher
redshift objects, a sub-population for which the standard paradigm has yet to
be rigorously constrained.


title:
Inertial effects in B{\"u}ttiker-Landauer Motor and Refrigerator at the
  Overdamped Limit

abstract:
  We investigate the energetics of a Brownian motor driven by position
dependent temperature, commonly known as the B{\"u}ttiker-Landauer motor.
Overdamped models (M=0) predict that the motor can attain Carnot efficiency.
However, the overdamped limit ($M\to 0$), contradicts the previous prediction
due to the kinetic energy contribution to the heat transfer. Using molecular
dynamics simulation and numerical solution of the inertial Langevin equation,
we confirm that the motor can never achieve Carnot efficiency and verify that
the heat flow via kinetic energy diverges as $M^{-1/2}$ in the overdamped
limit. The reciprocal process of the motor, namely the B{\"u}ttiker-Landauer
refrigerator is also examined. In this case, the overdamped approach succeeds
in predicting the heat transfer only when there is no temperature gradient. Its
found that the Onsager symmetry between the motor and refrigerator does not
suffer from the singular behavior of the kinetic energy contribution.


title: Small mass- and trap-imbalanced two-component Fermi systems

abstract:
  Motivated by the prospect of optical lattice experiments with two-component
Fermi gases consisting of different atomic species such as Li and K, we
calculate the energies for N fermions under harmonic confinement as a function
of the mass- and trap-imbalance, i.e., as a function of the ratio between the
masses and frequencies of species one and two, using microscopic approaches.
Our energies for N=2 through 6 can be used to determine the energetically most
favorable configuration for a given number of atoms per species of a deep
lattice in which each lattice site is approximately harmonic and in which
tunneling between neighboring sites can be neglected. Furthermore, our energies
determine one of the input parameters, namely the onsite interaction strength,
of the corresponding lattice Hamiltonian. We also determine and interpret the
excitation gap for unequal-mass systems with up to N=13 atoms for equal
oscillator lengths.


title: Vibrating giant spikes and the large-winding sector

abstract:
  The single spike is a rigidly rotating classical string configuration closely
related to the giant magnon. We calculate bosonic and fermionic modes of this
solution, from which we see that it is not supersymmetric. It can be viewed as
an excitation above a hoop of string wound around the equator, in the same
sense that the magnon is an excitation above an orbiting point particle. We
find the operator which plays the role of the Hamiltonian for this sector,
which compared to the magnon's E-J has the angular momentum replaced by a
winding charge. The single spike solution is unstable, and we use the modes to
attempt a semi-classical computation of its lifetime.


title: Unified storage systems for distributed Tier-2 centres

abstract:
  The start of data taking at the Large Hadron Collider will herald a new era
in data volumes and distributed processing in particle physics. Data volumes of
hundreds of Terabytes will be shipped to Tier-2 centres for analysis by the LHC
experiments using the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid (WLCG).
  In many countries Tier-2 centres are distributed between a number of
institutes, e.g., the geographically spread Tier-2s of GridPP in the UK. This
presents a number of challenges for experiments to utilise these centres
efficaciously, as CPU and storage resources may be sub-divided and exposed in
smaller units than the experiment would ideally want to work with. In addition,
unhelpful mismatches between storage and CPU at the individual centres may be
seen, which make efficient exploitation of a Tier-2's resources difficult.
  One method of addressing this is to unify the storage across a distributed
Tier-2, presenting the centres' aggregated storage as a single system. This
greatly simplifies data management for the VO, which then can access a greater
amount of data across the Tier-2. However, such an approach will lead to
scenarios where analysis jobs on one site's batch system must access data
hosted on another site.
  We investigate this situation using the Glasgow and Edinburgh clusters, which
are part of the ScotGrid distributed Tier-2. In particular we look at how to
mitigate the problems associated with ``distant'' data access and discuss the
security implications of having LAN access protocols traverse the WAN between
centres.


title:
A New two-dimensional Second Order Non-oscillatory Central Scheme
  Applied to multiphase flows in heterogeneous porous media

abstract:
  We compare the Kurganov-Tadmor (KT) two-dimensional second order
semi-discrete central scheme in dimension by dimension formulation with a new
two-dimensional approach introduced here and applied in numerical simulations
for two-phase, two-dimensional flows in heterogeneous formations. This
semi-discrete central scheme is based on the ideas of Rusanov's method using a
more precise information about the local speeds of wave propagation computed at
each Riemann Problem in two-space dimensions. We find the KT dimension by
dimension has a much simpler mathematical description than the genuinely
two-dimensional one with a little more numerical diffusion, particularly in the
presence of viscous fingers. Unfortunately, as one can see, the KT with the
dimension by dimension approach might produce incorrect boundary behavior in a
typical geometry used in the study of porous media flows: the quarter of a five
spot. This problem has been corrected by the authors with the new semi-discrete
scheme proposed here. We conclude with numerical examples of two-dimensional,
two-phase flow associated with two distinct flooding problems: a
two-dimensional flow in a rectangular heterogeneous reservoir (called slab
geometry) and a two-dimensional flow in a 5-spot geometry homogeneous
reservoir.


title: H$\alpha$ long term monitoring of the Be star $\beta$ Cep Aa

abstract:
  Recent papers published in the last years contributed to resolve the enigma
on the hypothetical Be nature of the hot pulsating star $\beta$ Cep. This star
shows variable emission in the H$\alpha$ line, typical for Be stars, but its
projected rotational velocity is very much lower than the critical limit,
contrary to what is expected for a typical Be star. The emission has been
attributed to the secondary component of the $\beta$ Cep spectroscopic binary
system.
  In this paper, using both ours and archived spectra, we attempted to recover
the H$\alpha$ profile of the secondary component and to analyze its behavior
with time for a long period. To accomplish this task, we first derived the
atmospheric parameters of the primary: T$_{\rm eff}$ = 24000 $\pm$ 250 K and
$\log g$ = 3.91 $\pm$ 0.10, then we used these values to compute its synthetic
H$\alpha$ profile and finally we reconstructed the secondary's profile
disentangling the observed one.
  The secondary's H$\alpha$ profile shows the typical two peaks emission of a
Be star with a strong variability. We analyzed also the behavior versus time of
some line width parameters: equivalent width, V/R, FWHM, peaks separation and
radial velocity of the central depression.
  Projected rotational velocity ($v \sin i$) of the secondary and the dimension
of the equatorial surrounding disk have been estimated, too.


title: Security proof for QKD systems with threshold detectors

abstract:
  In this paper, we rigorously prove the intuition that in security proofs for
BB84 one may regard an incoming signal to Bob as a qubit state. From this
result, it follows that all security proofs for BB84 based on a virtual qubit
entanglement distillation protocol, which was originally proposed by Lo and
Chau [H.-K. Lo and H. F. Chau, Science 283, 2050 (1999)], and Shor and Preskill
[P. W. Shor and J. Preskill, Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 441 (2000)], are all valid
even if Bob's actual apparatus cannot distill a qubit state explicitly. As a
consequence, especially, the well-known result that a higher bit error rate of
20% can be tolerated for BB84 protocol by using two-way classical
communications is still valid even when Bob uses threshold detectors. Using the
same technique, we also prove the security of the Bennett-Brassard-Mermin 1992
(BBM92) protocol where Alice and Bob both use threshold detectors.


title: Analytic Subordination for Free Compression

abstract:
  We extend the free difference quotient coalgebra approach to analytic
subordination to the case of a free compression in free probability.


title:
Tunnel-barrier-enhanced dc voltage signals induced by magnetization
  dynamics in magnetic tunnel junctions

abstract:
  We theoretically study the recently observed tunnel-barrier-enhanced dc
voltage signals generated by magnetization precession in magnetic tunnel
junctions. While the spin pumping is suppressed by the high tunneling
impedance, two complimentary processes are predicted to result in a sizable
voltage generation in ferromagnet (F)|insulator (I)|normal-metal (N) and F|I|F
junctions, with one ferromagnet being resonantly excited. Magnetic dynamics in
F|I|F systems induces a robust charge pumping, translating into voltage in open
circuits. In addition, dynamics in a single ferromagnetic layer develops
longitudinal spin accumulation inside the ferromagnet. A tunnel barrier then
acts as a nonintrusive probe that converts the spin accumulation into a
measurable voltage. Neither of the proposed mechanisms suffers from spin
relaxation, which is typically fast on the scale of the exponentially slow
tunneling rates. The longitudinal spin-accumulation buildup, however, is very
sensitive to the phenomenological ingredients of the spin-relaxation picture.


title:
Kaon Electromagnetic Form Factor within the $k_T$ Factorization
  Formalism and It's Light-Cone Wave Function

abstract:
  We present a systematical study on the kaon electromagnetic form factors
$F_{K^{\pm},K^0,\bar{K}^0}(Q^2)$ within the $k_T$ factorization formalism,
where the transverse momentum effects, the contributions from the different
helicity components and different twist structures of the kaon light-cone (LC)
wave function are carefully analyzed for giving a well understanding of the
hard contributions at the energy region where pQCD is applicable. The right
power behavior of the hard contribution from the higher helicity components and
from the higher twist structures can be obtained by keeping the $k_T$
dependence in the hard amplitude. Our results show that the $k_T$ dependence in
LC wave function affects the hard and soft contributions substantially and the
power-suppressed terms (twist-3 and higher helicity components) make an
important contribution below $Q^2\sim several GeV^2$ although they drop fast as
$Q^2$ increasing. The parameters of the proposed model wave function can be
fixed by the first two moments of its distribution amplitude and other
conditions. By varying the first two moments $a^K_1(1GeV)$ and $a^K_2(1GeV)$
with the region of $0.05\pm0.02$ and $0.10\pm 0.05$ respectively, we find that
the uncertainty of the kaon electromagnetic form factor is rather small.


title: The Overdense Environment of a Large Lyman-alpha Nebula at z~2.7

abstract:
  Large nebulae (>50 kpc) emitting strongly in Lya (also known as Lya
``blobs'') are likely signposts of ongoing massive galaxy formation. The
relative rarity of these sources and their discovery in well-studied galaxy
overdensities suggest that they may be associated with regions of high galaxy
density. One of the largest Lya nebulae, discovered at a redshift of z~2.7 via
its strong mid-infrared emission, provides an unbiased test of this
association. We have carried out a deep intermediate-band imaging survey for
Lya-emitting galaxies (LAEs) within a 30'x26' field of view around this Lya
nebula. This is the first study of the environment of a Lya nebula found
without a priori knowledge of its surroundings. We find that the nebula is
located in an overdense region, at least 20x50 1/h_70 comoving Mpc in size,
showing a factor of ~3 LAE number density enhancement relative to the edge of
the field. Given the predicted number of such overdensities, we rule out the
possibility of a chance coincidence at the <1% level. This study, in
conjunction with previous work, provides strong confirmation of the association
between the largest Lya nebulae and overdense regions of the Universe.


title: Koszulity of algebras with non-pure resolutions

abstract:
  We discuss certain homological properties of graded algebras whose trivial
modules admit non-pure resolutions. Such algebras include both of
Artin-Schelter regular algebras of types (12221) and (13431). Under certain
conditions, a module with non-pure resolution is decomposed to form an
extension by two modules with pure resolutions.


title: Variational Principles on Triangulated Surfaces

abstract:
  We give a brief introduction to some of the recent works on finding geometric
structures on triangulated surfaces using variational principles.


title:
A Bijection Between Partially Directed Paths in the Symmetric Wedge and
  Matchings

abstract:
  We give a bijection between partially directed paths in the symmetric wedge
y= +/-x and matchings, which sends north steps to nestings. This gives a
bijective proof of a result of Prellberg et al. that was first discovered
through the corresponding generating functions: the number of partially
directed paths starting at the origin confined to the symmetric wedge y= +/-x
with k north steps is equal to the number of matchings on [2n] with k nestings.


title:
Superconductivity in iron-based F-doped layered quaternary compound
  Nd[O1-xFx]FeAs

abstract:
  The recently discovered quaternary arsenide oxide superconductor
La[O1-xFx]FeAs with the superconducting critical transition temperature (Tc) of
26 K [1], has been quickly expanded to another high-Tc superconducting system
beyond copper oxides by the replacement of La with other rare earth elements,
such as Sm, Ce, and Pr etc. [2-4], and the Pr[O1-xFx]FeAs has become to be the
first non-cuprate superconductor that holding a Tc above 50 K. All these
arsenide (including phosphide) superconductors formed in a same tetragonal
layered structure with the space group P4/nmm which has an alternant stacked
Fe-As layer and RO (R = rare earth metals) layer. Here we report the discovery
of another superconductor in this system, the neodymium-arsenide Nd[O1-xFx]FeAs
with an resistivity onset Tc of 51.9 K, which is the second non-cuprate
compound that superconducts above 50 K.


title: Exam fairness

abstract:
  It is widely agreed that exams must be fair; yet what this exactly means is
not made clear. One may mean fairness of treatment, but this merely propagates
the fairness or unfairness of pre-existing rules. Fairness of opportunity on
the other hand necessarily leads to identical grades for everyone, which
clearly makes it inapplicable. Neither view is helpful to make decisions on
competing claims: fairness of treatment ignores the problem and fairness of
opportunity holds all claims to be equally valid. To escape this deadlock one
needs an external criterion to replace fairness viewed as student-student
comparison.
  Keywords: assessment; bias; engineering education; examinations; grading;
justice; tests


title:
Comparative experimental study of local mixing of active and passive
  scalars in turbulent thermal convection

abstract:
  We investigate experimentally the statistical properties of active and
passive scalar fields in turbulent Rayleigh-B\'{e}nard convection in water, at
$Ra\sim10^{10}$. Both the local concentration of fluorescence dye and the local
temperature are measured near the sidewall of a rectangular cell. It is found
that, although they are advected by the same turbulent flow, the two scalars
distribute differently. This difference is twofold, i.e. both the quantities
themselves and their small-scale increments have different distributions. Our
results show that there is a certain buoyant scale based on time domain, i.e.
the Bolgiano time scale $t_B$, above which buoyancy effects are significant.
Above $t_B$, temperature is active and is found to be more intermittent than
concentration, which is passive. This suggests that the active scalar possesses
a higher level of intermittency in turbulent thermal convection. It is further
found that the mixing of both scalar fields are isotropic for scales larger
than $t_B$ even though buoyancy acts on the fluid in the vertical direction.
Below $t_B$, temperature is passive and is found to be more anisotropic than
concentration. But this higher degree of anisotropy is attributed to the higher
diffusivity of temperature over that of concentration. From the simultaneous
measurements of temperature and concentration, it is shown that two scalars
have similar autocorrelation functions and there is a strong and positive
correlation between them.


title:
A coarse grained model of polymer networks focusing on the intermediate
  length scales

abstract:
  We propose a coarse-grained model for polymer chains and polymer networks
based on the meso-scale dynamics. The model takes the internal degrees of
freedom of the constituent polymer chains into account using memory functions
and colored noises. We apply our model to dilute polymer solutions and polymer
networks. A numerical simulation on a dilute polymer solution demonstrates the
validity of the assumptions on the dynamics of our model. By applying this
model to polymer networks, we find a transition in the dynamical behavior from
an isolated chain state to a network state.


title: Small Deviations of Smooth Stationary Gaussian Processes

abstract:
  We investigate the small deviation probabilities of a class of very smooth
stationary Gaussian processes playing an important role in Bayesian statistical
inference. Our calculations are based on the appropriate modification of the
entropy method due to Kuelbs, Li, and Linde as well as on classical results
about the entropy of classes of analytic functions. They also involve
Tsirelson's upper bound for small deviations and shed some light on the limits
of sharpness for that estimate.


title:
A nonaspherical cell-like 2-dimensional simply connected continuum and
  related constructions

abstract:
  We prove the existence of a 2-dimensional nonaspherical simply connected
cell-like Peano continuum (the space itself was constructed in one of our
earlier papers). We also indicate some relations between this space and the
well-known Griffiths' space from the 1950's.


title: Neutral Fitness Landscape in the Cellular Automata Majority Problem

abstract:
  We study in detail the fitness landscape of a difficult cellular automata
computational task: the majority problem. Our results show why this problem
landscape is so hard to search, and we quantify the large degree of neutrality
found in various ways. We show that a particular subspace of the solution
space, called the "Olympus", is where good solutions concentrate, and give
measures to quantitatively characterize this subspace.


title:
Evolving Dynamic Change and Exchange of Genotype Encoding in Genetic
  Algorithms for Difficult Optimization Problems

abstract:
  The application of genetic algorithms (GAs) to many optimization problems in
organizations often results in good performance and high quality solutions. For
successful and efficient use of GAs, it is not enough to simply apply simple
GAs (SGAs). In addition, it is necessary to find a proper representation for
the problem and to develop appropriate search operators that fit well to the
properties of the genotype encoding. The representation must at least be able
to encode all possible solutions of an optimization problem, and genetic
operators such as crossover and mutation should be applicable to it. In this
paper, serial alternation strategies between two codings are formulated in the
framework of dynamic change of genotype encoding in GAs for function
optimization. Likewise, a new variant of GAs for difficult optimization
problems denoted {\it Split-and-Merge} GA (SM-GA) is developed using a parallel
implementation of an SGA and evolving a dynamic exchange of individual
representation in the context of Dual Coding concept. Numerical experiments
show that the evolved SM-GA significantly outperforms an SGA with static single
coding.


title: Some isoperimetric inequalities with application to the Stekloff problem

abstract:
  In this paper we establish isoperimetric inequalities for the product of some
moments of inertia. As an application, we obtain an isoperimetric inequality
for the product of the $N$ first nonzero eigenvalues of the Stekloff problem in
$\mathbb{R}^N$.


title:
Hyperspace of convex compacta of nonmetrizable compact convex subspaces
  of locally convex spaces

abstract:
  Our main result states that the hyperspace of convex compact subsets of a
compact convex subset $X$ in a locally convex space is an absolute retract if
and only if $X$ is an absolute retract of weight $\le\omega_1$. It is also
proved that the hyperspace of convex compact subsets of the Tychonov cube
$I^{\omega_1}$ is homeomorphic to $I^{\omega_1}$. An analogous result is also
proved for the cone over $I^{\omega_1}$. Our proofs are based on analysis of
maps of hyperspaces of compact convex subsets, in particular, selection
theorems for such maps are proved.


title:
Possible Dynamic States in Inductively Coupled Intrinsic Josephson
  Junctions of Layered High-$T_c$ Superconductors

abstract:
  Based on computer simulations and theoretical analysis, a new dynamic state
is found in inductively coupled intrinsic Josephson junctions in the absence of
an external magnetic field. In this state, the plasma oscillation is uniform
along the c axis and there are $(2m+1)\pi$ phase kinks, with $m$ being an
integer, periodic and thus non-uniform in the $c$ direction. In the IV
characteristics, the state manifests itself as current steps occurring at all
cavity modes. Inside the current steps, the plasma oscillation becomes strong,
which generates several harmonics in frequency spectra at a given voltage. The
recent experiments on terahertz radiations from the mesa of a BSCCO single
crystal can be explained in terms of this state.


title: Epistemological Distinctions Between Science and History

abstract:
  This article describes epistemological distinctions between science and
history. Science investigates models of natural law using repeatable
experiments as the ultimate arbiter. In contrast, history investigates past
events by considering physical evidence, documentary evidence, and eyewitness
testimony. Because questions of natural law are repeatably testable by any
audience that exercises due experimental care, models of natural law are
inherently more objective and testable with greater certainty than theories of
past events.


title:
Misfit Strain Induced Giant Magnetoelectric Coupling in Thin Ferroic
  Films

abstract:
  We show that misfit strain originated from the film-substrate lattice
mismatch strongly increases the value of the quadratic magnetoelectric
coupling. The giant magnetoelectric coupling, size effects and misfit strain
cause strong changes of ferroic films phase diagrams at zero external magnetic
and electric fields, in particular, the transformation of antiferromagnetic
phase into ferromagnetic or ferrimagnetic ones for compressive or tensile
misfit strains correspondingly as well as thickness induced paramagnetic or/and
paraelectric phases appearance. Ferromagnetism appearance and magnetoelectric
coupling increase in thin ferroelectric-antiferromagnetic films is in agreement
with available experimental data and opens the way for tailoring of ferroic
films magnetic and electric properties.


title:
Comment on "Possible resolution of the Casimir force finite temperature
  correction "controversies""

abstract:
  The recently suggested modification of the transverse electric contribution
to the Lifshitz formula (S. K. Lamoreaux, arXiv:0801.1283) is discussed. We
show that this modification is inconsistent with the data of two precise
experiments, and violates the Nernst heat theorem. The preprint's suggestion
concerning the resolution of the "apparent violation of the Third Law of
Thermodynamics" is shown to be incorrect.


title:
From Cells to Islands: An unified Model of Cellular Parallel Genetic
  Algorithms

abstract:
  This paper presents the Anisotropic selection scheme for cellular Genetic
Algorithms (cGA). This new scheme allows to enhance diversity and to control
the selective pressure which are two important issues in Genetic Algorithms,
especially when trying to solve difficult optimization problems. Varying the
anisotropic degree of selection allows swapping from a cellular to an island
model of parallel genetic algorithm. Measures of performances and diversity
have been performed on one well-known problem: the Quadratic Assignment Problem
which is known to be difficult to optimize. Experiences show that, tuning the
anisotropic degree, we can find the accurate trade-off between cGA and island
models to optimize performances of parallel evolutionary algorithms. This
trade-off can be interpreted as the suitable degree of migration among
subpopulations in a parallel Genetic Algorithm.


title:
First Principle Noncollinear Transport Calculation and Interfacial
  Spin-flipping of Cu/Co Multilayers

abstract:
  In this paper the first principle noncollinear transport calculation for
Cu/Co(111) including interfacial spin-flipping was performed. We modeled
spin-flipping at the interface by assuming a noncollinear magnetic structure
with random magnetization orientation which satisfied Gaussian distribution
along average magnetization direction. The relationship between spin-dependent
conductance including interfacial spin-flipping and random magnetization
orientation distribution width was obtained. For certain distribution width,
our defined spin-flipping ratio coincides with the range of experimental
spin-flipping probability $P=1-e^{-\delta}$, where $\delta=0.25\pm0.1$. The
magnetoresistance in Co/Cu/Co spin valve system including interfacial
spin-flipping has also been calculated.


title:
CP asymmetries of B to phi K_S and B to eta' K_S in SUSY GUT Model with
  Non-universal Sfermion Masses

abstract:
  We analyze CP asymmetries of B \to \phi K_S and B \to \eta' K_S in a
supersymmetric grand unified theory in which only the third generation
sfermions contained in 10(Q, U^c, E^c) of SU(5) can have a different mass from
the others. One of the advantages of this nonuniversal mass model is that the
first two generation sfermion masses can be large whereas both (left and right
handed) stops are light so as to stabilize the weak scale. Therefore, we
studied a minimal supersymmetric standard model parameter region in which a
fine tuning in Higgs sector is relaxed owing to light masses of stops, gluino
and higgsinos. In such a parameter region, the chargino contribution is as
important as the gluino one. We show that the CP asymmetries of B \to \phi K_S
and B \to \eta' K_S can deviate from their standard model predicted values by
O(0.1) because of constructive interference between gluino and chargino
contributions.


title:
Constructing near-embeddings of codimension one manifolds with countable
  dense singular sets

abstract:
  The purpose of this paper is to present, for all $n\ge 3$, very simple
examples of continuous maps $f:M^{n-1} \to M^{n}$ from closed $(n-1)$-manifolds
$M^{n-1}$ into closed $n$-manifold $M^n$ such that even though the singular set
$S(f)$ of $f$ is countable and dense, the map $f$ can nevertheless be
approximated by an embedding, i.e. $f$ is a {\sl near-embedding}.


title: Spaces of idempotent measures of compact metric spaces

abstract:
  We investigate certain geometric properties of the spaces of idempotent
measures. In particular, we prove that the space of idempotent measures on an
infinite compact metric space is homeomorphic to the Hilbert cube.


title: Combinatorial Explorations in Su-Doku

abstract:
  Su-Doku, a popular combinatorial puzzle, provides an excellent testbench for
heuristic explorations. Several interesting questions arise from its
deceptively simple set of rules. How many distinct Su-Doku grids are there? How
to find a solution to a Su-Doku puzzle? Is there a unique solution to a given
Su-Doku puzzle? What is a good estimation of a puzzle's difficulty? What is the
minimum puzzle size (the number of "givens")?
  This paper explores how these questions are related to the well-known
alldifferent constraint which emerges in a wide variety of Constraint
Satisfaction Problems (CSP) and compares various algorithmic approaches based
on different formulations of Su-Doku.


title:
Hereditary invertible linear surjections and splitting problems for
  selections

abstract:
  Let $A+B$ be the pointwise (Minkowski) sum of two convex subsets $A$ and $B$
of a Banach space. Is it true that every continuous mapping $h:X \to A+B$
splits into a sum $h=f+g$ of continuous mappings $f:X \to A$ and $g:X \to B$?
We study this question within a wider framework of splitting techniques of
continuous selections. Existence of splittings is guaranteed by hereditary
invertibility of linear surjections between Banach spaces. Some affirmative and
negative results on such invertibility with respect to an appropriate class of
convex compacta are presented. As a corollary, a positive answer to the above
question is obtained for strictly convex finite-dimensional precompact spaces.


title:
Alternative description of the 2D Blume-Capel model using Grassmann
  algebra

abstract:
  We use Grassmann algebra to study the phase transition in the two-dimensional
ferromagnetic Blume-Capel model from a fermionic point of view. This model
presents a phase diagram with a second order critical line which becomes first
order through a tricritical point, and was used to model the phase transition
in specific magnetic materials and liquid mixtures of He$^3$-He$^4$. In
particular, we are able to map the spin-1 system of the BC model onto an
effective fermionic action from which we obtain the exact mass of the theory,
the condition of vanishing mass defines the critical line. This effective
action is actually an extension of the free fermion Ising action with an
additional quartic interaction term. The effect of this term is merely to
render the excitation spectrum of the fermions unstable at the tricritical
point. The results are compared with recent numerical Monte-Carlo simulations.


title:
Melting and freezing of argon in a granular packing of linear mesopore
  arrays

abstract:
  Freezing and melting of Ar condensed in a granular packing of template-grown
arrays of linear mesopores (SBA-15, mean pore diameter 8 nanometer) has been
studied by specific heat measurements C as a function of fractional filling of
the pores. While interfacial melting leads to a single melting peak in C,
homogeneous and heterogeneous freezing along with a delayering transition for
partial fillings of the pores result in a complex freezing mechanism
explainable only by a consideration of regular adsorption sites (in the
cylindrical mesopores) and irregular adsorption sites (in niches of the rough
external surfaces of the grains, and at points of mutual contact of the powder
grains). The tensile pressure release upon reaching bulk liquid/vapor
coexistence quantitatively accounts for an upward shift of the
melting/freeezing temperature observed while overfilling the mesopores.

categories: physics.chem-ph cond-mat.soft cond-mat.stat-mech physics.atm-clus


title: SQCD: A Geometric Apercu

abstract:
  We take new algebraic and geometric perspectives on the old subject of SQCD.
We count chiral gauge invariant operators using generating functions, or
Hilbert series, derived from the plethystic programme and the Molien-Weyl
formula. Using the character expansion technique, we also see how the global
symmetries are encoded in the generating functions. Equipped with these methods
and techniques of algorithmic algebraic geometry, we obtain the character
expansions for theories with arbitrary numbers of colours and flavours.
Moreover, computational algebraic geometry allows us to systematically study
the classical vacuum moduli space of SQCD and investigate such structures as
its irreducible components, degree and syzygies. We find the vacuum manifolds
of SQCD to be affine Calabi-Yau cones over weighted projective varieties.


title:
Percolation Model Explaining Both Unipolar Memory and Threshold
  Resistance Switchings in NiO Film

abstract:
  We observed two types of unipolar resistance switching (RS) in NiO film:
memory RS at low temperature and threshold RS at high temperature. We explain
these phenomena using a bond percolation model that describes the forming and
rupturing of conducting filaments. Assuming Joule heating and thermal
dissipation processes in the bonds, we explain how both RS types could occur
and be controlled by temperature. We show that these unipolar RS are closely
related and can be explained by a simple unified percolation picture.


title: Non-crossing Knight's Tour in 3-Dimension

abstract:
  Non-crossing knight's tours in 3-dimension is a new field of research. The
author has shown its possibility in small cuboids and in cubes up to 8x8x8
size. It can also be extended to larger size cubes and cuboids. The author has
achieved jumps of length 15, 46, 88, 159, 258 and 395 in cubes of size 3x3x3,
4x4x4, 5x5x5, 6x6x6, 7x7x7 and 8x8x8 respectively. This amounts to covering
59%, 73%, 71%, 74%, 76% and 77% cells in these cubes.


title: On Two Dimensional Orthogonal Knapsack Problem

abstract:
  In this paper, we study the following knapsack problem: Given a list of
squares with profits, we are requested to pack a sublist of them into a
rectangular bin (not a unit square bin) to make profits in the bin as large as
possible. We first observe there is a Polynomial Time Approximation Scheme
(PTAS) for the problem of packing weighted squares into rectangular bins with
large resources, then apply the PTAS to the problem of packing squares with
profits into a rectangular bin and get a $\frac65+\epsilon$ approximation
algorithm.


title: Common Permutation Problem

abstract:
  In this paper we show that the following problem is NP-complete: Given an
alphabet $\Sigma$ and two strings over $\Sigma$, the question is whether there
exists a permutation of $\Sigma$ which is a subsequence of both of the given
strings.


title: The blue supergiant Sher 25 and its intriguing hourglass nebula

abstract:
  The blue supergiant Sher 25 is surrounded by an asymmetric, hourglass-shaped
circumstellar nebula. Its structure and dynamics have been studied previously
through high-resolution imaging and spectroscopy, and it appears dynamically
similar to the ring structure around SN 1987A. Here we present long-slit
spectroscopy of the circumstellar nebula around Sher 25, and of the background
nebula of the host cluster NGC 3603. We perform a detailed nebular abundance
analysis to measure the gas-phase abundances of oxygen, nitrogen, sulphur, neon
and argon. The oxygen abundance in the circumstellar nebula (12 + log[O/H] =
8.61 +/- 0.13 dex) is similar to that in the background nebula (8.56 +/- 0.07),
suggesting the composition of the host cluster is around solar. However, we
confirm that the circumstellar nebula is very rich in nitrogen, with an
abundance of 8.91 +/- 0.15, compared to the background value of 7.47 +/- 0.18.
A new analysis of the stellar spectrum with the FASTWIND model atmosphere code
suggests that the photospheric nitrogen and oxygen abundances in Sher 25 are
consistent with the nebular results. While the nitrogen abundances are high,
when compared to stellar evolutionary models they do not unambiguously confirm
that the star has undergone convective dredge-up during a previous red
supergiant phase. We suggest that the more likely scenario is that the nebula
was ejected from the star while it was in the blue supergiant phase. The star's
initial mass was around 50 M_sun, which is rather too high for it to have had a
convective envelope stage as a red supergiant. Rotating stellar models that
lead to mixing of core-processed material to the stellar surface during core
H-burning can quantitatively match the stellar results with the nebula
abundances.


title:
A new analysis of aftershock sequence statistics and fault geometry
  fingerprinting

abstract:
  We analyzed several aftershock sequences around the globe and calculated the
cumulative integral of magnitude over time. This quantity is found to have a
linear relationship with time, having a slope characteristic of the causative
fault zone.


title:
Search for Hadronic Decays of W and Z Bosons in Photon Events in ppbar
  Collisions at s**(1/2)=1.96 GeV

abstract:
  We report on a search for the process $p\bar{p}\to \gamma+W/Z$ with $W/Z\to
q\bar{q}$ in events containing two jets and a photon at the center-of-mass
energy $\sqrt{s}=1.96$ TeV, using 184 pb$^{-1}$ of data collected by the CDF II
detector. A neural network event selection has been developed to optimize the
rejection of the large QCD production background; it is shown that this method
gives a significant improvement in both signal-to-noise ratio and signal
sensitivity, as compared with an event selection based on conventional cuts. An
upper limit is presented for the $\gamma+W/Z$ production cross section with the
$W$ and $Z$ decaying hadronically.


title:
Some exact solutions for the rotational flow of a generalized second
  grade fluid between two circular cylinders

abstract:
  The velocity field and the associated tangential stress corresponding to flow
of a generalized second grade fluid between two infinite coaxial circular
cylinders, are determined by means of the Laplace and Hankel transforms. At
time $t=0$ the fluid is at rest and at $t=0^+$ cylinders suddenly begin to
rotate about their common axis with a constant angular acceleration. The
solutions that have been obtained satisfy the governing differential equations
and all imposed initial and boundary conditions. The similar solutions for a
second grade fluid and Newtonian fluid are recovered from our general
solutions. The influence of the fractional coefficient on the velocity of the
fluid is also analyzed by graphical illustrations.


title:
Pressure Effect on the superconducting properties of
  LaO_{1-x}F_{x}FeAs(x=0.11) superconductor

abstract:
  Diamagnetic susceptibility measurements under high hydrostatic pressure (up
to 1.03 GPa) were carried out on the newly discovered Fe-based superconductor
LaO_{1-x}F_{x}FeAs(x=0.11). The transition temperature T_c, defined as the
point at the maximum slope of superconducting transition, was enhanced almost
linearly by hydrostatic pressure, yielding a dT_c/dP of about 1.2 K/GPa.
Differential diamagnetic susceptibility curves indicate that the underlying
superconducting state is complicated. It is suggested that pressure plays an
important role on pushing low T_c superconducting phase toward the main
(optimal) superconducting phase.


title:
$SU_{L}(4)\times U(1)$ model for electroweak unification and sterile
  neutrinos

abstract:
  Some of basic problems in neutrino physics such as new energy scales, the
enormous gap between neutrino masses and the lightest charged fermion mass,
possible existance of sterile neutrinos in eV mass range are studied in the
local gauge group $SU_{L}(4)\times U(1)$ for electroweak unification, which
does not contain fermions with exotic electric charges. It is shown that
neutrino mass spectrum can be decoupled from that of the other fermions.
Further normal seesaw mechanism for neutrinos, with right handed neutrino
Majorana masses to be of order $M\gg M_{\text{weak}}$ as well a new eV-scale
can be accomodated. The eV-scale seesaw may manifest itself in experiments like
Liquid Scintilation Neutrino Detector (LSND) and MiniBooNE (MB) experimental
results and future neutrino experiments.


title: Distance Bounds on Quantum Dynamics

abstract:
  We derive rigorous upper bounds on the distance between quantum states in an
open system setting, in terms of the operator norm between the Hamiltonians
describing their evolution. We illustrate our results with an example taken
from protection against decoherence using dynamical decoupling.


title: Hyperviscosity, Galerkin truncation and bottlenecks in turbulence

abstract:
  It is shown that the use of a high power $\alpha$ of the Laplacian in the
dissipative term of hydrodynamical equations leads asymptotically to truncated
inviscid \textit{conservative} dynamics with a finite range of spatial Fourier
modes. Those at large wavenumbers thermalize, whereas modes at small
wavenumbers obey ordinary viscous dynamics [C. Cichowlas et al. Phys. Rev.
Lett. 95, 264502 (2005)]. The energy bottleneck observed for finite $\alpha$
may be interpreted as incomplete thermalization. Artifacts arising from models
with $\alpha > 1$ are discussed.


title: The two-body open charm decays of $Z^+(4430)$

abstract:
  The two-body open charm decays $Z^+(4430)\to D^{+}\bar{D}^{*0},
D^{*+}\bar{D}^{0}, D^{*+}\bar{D}^{*0}$ occur through the re-scattering
mechanism and their branching ratios are strongly suppressed if $Z^+(4430)$ is
a $D_1\bar D^*$ molecular state. In contrast, $Z^+(4430)$ falls apart into
these modes easily with large phase space and they become the main decay modes
if $Z^+(4430)$ is a tetraquark state. Experimental search of these two-body
open charm modes and the hidden charm mode $\chi_{cJ}\rho$ will help
distinguish different theoretical schemes.


title:
Quantized spin waves and perpendicular standing spin waves stimulated by
  current in a single-layered ferromagnetic wire

abstract:
  The rectifying effect of radio-frequency (RF) current is highly sensitive in
terms of the spatial spin distribution and dynamics. It emerged that an
additional spin wave mode was stimulated by the direct-current (DC) current and
that this spin wave was detectable via rectification of the RF current. A
phenomenological model to describe the time-dependent anisotropic
magnetoresistance or time-dependent planer Hall effect is proposed and found to
correlate well to the experimental results. The nonlinear spin dynamics
accompanying additional spin waves are studied as functions of the RF and DC
currents, the external magnetic field, and the applied field direction.


title: New dynamics in cerebellar Purkinje cells: torus canards

abstract:
  We describe a transition from bursting to rapid spiking in a reduced
mathematical model of a cerebellar Purkinje cell. We perform a slow-fast
analysis of the system and find that -- after a saddle node bifurcation of
limit cycles -- the full model dynamics follow temporarily a repelling branch
of limit cycles. We propose that the system exhibits a dynamical phenomenon new
to realistic, biophysical applications: torus canards.


title: Black hole thermodynamics from simulations of lattice Yang-Mills theory

abstract:
  We report on lattice simulations of 16 supercharge SU(N) Yang-Mills quantum
mechanics in the 't Hooft limit. Maldacena duality conjectures that in this
limit the theory is dual to IIA string theory, and in particular that the
behavior of the thermal theory at low temperature is equivalent to that of
certain black holes in IIA supergravity. Our simulations probe the low
temperature regime for N <= 5 and the intermediate and high temperature regimes
for N <= 12. We observe 't Hooft scaling and at low temperatures our results
are consistent with the dual black hole prediction. The intermediate
temperature range is dual to the Horowitz-Polchinski correspondence region, and
our results are consistent with smooth behavior there. We include the Pfaffian
phase arising from the fermions in our calculations where appropriate.


title: The GALEX Arecibo SDSS Survey (GASS)

abstract:
  The GALEX Arecibo SDSS Survey (GASS) is a large targeted survey that started
at Arecibo in March 2008. GASS is designed to measure the neutral hydrogen
content of ~1000 massive galaxies (with stellar mass Mstar > 10^10 Msun) at
redshift 0.025<z<0.05, uniformly selected from the SDSS spectroscopic and GALEX
imaging surveys. Our selected mass range straddles the recently identified
"transition mass" (Mstar ~3x10^10 Msun) above which galaxies show a marked
decrease in their present to past-averaged star formation rates. GASS will
produce the first statistically significant sample of massive "transition"
galaxies with homogeneously measured stellar masses, star formation rates and
gas properties. The analysis of this sample will allow us to investigate if and
how the cold gas responds to a variety of different physical conditions in the
galaxy, thus yielding insights on the physical processes responsible for the
transition between blue, star-forming and red, passively evolving galaxies.
GASS will be of considerably legacy value not only in isolation but also by
complementing ongoing HI-selected surveys.


title:
Extending the Model of KH 15D: Estimating the Effects of Forward
  Scattering and Curvature of the Occulting Ring Edge

abstract:
  The periodic eclipses of the pre-main-sequence binary, KH 15D, have been
explained by a circumbinary dust ring inclined to the orbital plane, which
causes occultations of the stars as they pass behind the ring edge. We compute
the extinction and forward scattering of light by the edge of the dust ring to
explain (1) the gradual slope directly preceding total eclipse, (2) the gradual
decline at the end of ingress, and (3) the slight rise in flux at mid-eclipse.
The size of the forward scattering halo indicates that the dust grains have a
radius of a ~ 6 (D/3 AU) microns, where D is the distance of the edge of the
ring from the system barycenter. This dust size estimate agrees well with
estimates of the dust grain size from polarimetry, adding to the evidence that
the ring lies at several AU. Finally, the ratio of the fluxes inside and
outside eclipse independently indicates that the ring lies at a few
astronomical units.


title: Gravito-magnetic trapping of 87Rb

abstract:
  Three-dimensional trapping of neutral atoms in a combined gravito-magnetic
potential is reported. Clouds of cold rubidium atoms in different hyperfine
states of the ground level were trapped with a lifetime of 4.5 s. Confinement
exclusively occurred as a combination of the static magnetic force and the
gravitational force.


title: Identifying short motifs by means of extreme value analysis

abstract:
  The problem of detecting a binding site -- a substring of DNA where
transcription factors attach -- on a long DNA sequence requires the recognition
of a small pattern in a large background. For short binding sites, the matching
probability can display large fluctuations from one putative binding site to
another. Here we use a self-consistent statistical procedure that accounts
correctly for the large deviations of the matching probability to predict the
location of short binding sites. We apply it in two distinct situations: (a)
the detection of the binding sites for three specific transcription factors on
a set of 134 estrogen-regulated genes; (b) the identification, in a set of 138
possible transcription factors, of the ones binding a specific set of nine
genes. In both instances, experimental findings are reproduced (when available)
and the number of false positives is significantly reduced with respect to the
other methods commonly employed.


title: Numerical evolution of radiative Robinson-Trautman spacetimes

abstract:
  The evolution of spheroids of matter emitting gravitational waves and null
radiation field is studied in the realm of radiative Robinson-Trautman
spacetimes. The null radiation field is expected in realistic gravitational
collapse, and can be either an incoherent superposition of waves of
electromagnetic, neutrino or massless scalar fields. We have constructed the
initial data identified as representing the exterior spacetime of uniform and
non-uniform spheroids of matter. By imposing that the radiation field is a
decreasing function of the retarded time, the Schwarzschild solution is the
asymptotic configuration after an intermediate Vaidya phase. The main
consequence of the joint emission of gravitational waves and the null radiation
field is the enhancement of the amplitude of the emitted gravitational waves.
Another important issue we have touched is the mass extraction of the bounded
configuration through the emission of both types of radiation.


title: Appell polynomials and their relatives III. Conditionally free theory

abstract:
  We extend to the multivariate non-commutative context the descriptions of a
"once-stripped" probability measure in terms of Jacobi parameters, orthogonal
polynomials, and the moment generating function. The corresponding map Phi on
states was introduced previously by Belinschi and Nica. We then relate these
constructions to the c-free probability theory, which is a version of free
probability for algebras with two states, introduced by Bozejko, Leinert, and
Speicher. This theory includes as two extreme cases the free and Boolean
probability theories. The main objects in the paper are the analogs of the
Appell polynomial families in the two state context. They arise as fixed points
of the transformation which takes a polynomial family to the associated
polynomial family (in several variables), and their orthogonality is also
related to the map Phi above. In addition, we prove recursions, generating
functions, and factorization and martingale properties for these polynomials,
and describe the c-free version of the Kailath-Segall polynomials, their
combinatorics, and Hilbert space representations.


title: Free evolution on algebras with two states

abstract:
  The key result in the paper concerns two transformations, Phi(rho, psi) and
B_t(psi) on states on the algebra of non-commutative polynomials, or
equivalently on joint distributions of d-tuples of non-commuting operators.
These transformations are related to free probability: Phi intertwines the
action of B_t and the free convolution with the semigroup {rho_t}. The maps
{B_t} were introduced by Belinschi and Nica as a semigroup of transformations
such that B_1 is the bijection between infinitely divisible distributions in
the Boolean and free probability theories. They proved the intertwining
property above for a single-variable version of the map Phi and the particular
case of the free heat semigroup. The more general two-variable map Phi comes,
not from free probability, but from the theory of two-state algebras, also
called the conditionally free probability theory, introduced by Bozejko,
Leinert, and Speicher. Orthogonality of the c-free versions of the Appell
polynomials, investigated in arXiv:0803.4279, is closely related to the
single-variable map Phi. On the other hand, more general free Meixner families
behave well under all the transformations above, and provide clues to their
general behavior. Besides the evolution equation, other results include the
positivity of the map Phi and descriptions of its fixed points and range.


title: C^1 actions of the mapping class group on the circle

abstract:
  Let S be a connected orientable surface with finitely many punctures,
finitely many boundary components, and genus at least 6. Then any C^1 action of
the mapping class group of S on the circle is trivial.
  The techniques used in the proof of this result permit us to show that
products of Kazhdan groups and certain lattices cannot have C^1 faithful
actions on the circle. We also prove that for n > 5, any C^1 action of Aut(F_n)
or Out(F_n) on the circle factors through an action of Z/2Z.


title:
The price of bond and European option on bond without credit risk.
  Classical look and its quantum extension

abstract:
  In this paper we compare two classical one-factor diffusion models which are
used to model the term structure of interest rates. One of them is based on the
Wiener-Bachelier process while the second one is based on the
Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process. We show essential differences between the prices of
European call options on a zero-coupon bond in these models.


title:
Superconductivity at 52 K in iron-based F-doped layered quaternary
  compound Pr[O1-xFx]FeAs

abstract:
  Since the discovery of copper oxide superconductor in 1986 [1], extensive
efforts have been devoted to the search of new high-Tc superconducting
materials, especially high-Tc systems other than cuprates. The recently
discovered quaternary superconductor La[O1-xFx]FeAs with the superconducting
critical transition Tc of 26 K [2], which has a much simple layered structure
compared with cuprates, has attracted quick enthusiasm and is going to become a
new high-Tc system [3-6]. Here we report the discovery of bulk
superconductivity in the praseodymium-arsenide oxides Pr[O1-xFx]FeAs with an
onset drop of resistivity as high as 52 K, and the unambiguous zero-resistivity
and Meissner transition at low temperature, which will place these quaternary
compounds to another high-Tc superconducting system explicitly.


title: Quantum Metrology Subject to Instrumentation Constraints

abstract:
  Maximizing the precision in estimating parameters in a quantum system subject
to instrumentation constraints is cast as a convex optimization problem. We
account for prior knowledge about the parameter range by developing a
worst-case and average case objective for optimizing the precision. Focusing on
the single parameter case, we show that the optimization problems are {\em
linear programs}. For the average case the solution to the linear program can
be expressed analytically and involves a simple search: finding the largest
element in a list. An example is presented which compares what is possible
under constraints against the ideal with no constraints, the Quantum Fisher
Information.


title:
Homotopy type of the complement of an immersion and classification of
  embeddings of tori

abstract:
  This paper is devoted to the classification of embeddings of higher
dimensional manifolds. We study the case of embeddings $S^p\times S^q\to S^m$,
which we call knotted tori. The set of knotted tori in the the space of
sufficiently high dimension, namely in the metastable range $m\ge p+3q/2+2$,
$p\le q$, which is a natural limit for the classical methods of embedding
theory, has been explicitely described earlier. The aim of this note is to
present an approach which allows for results in lower dimension.


title: Dual equilibrium in a finite aspect ratio tokamak

abstract:
  A new approach to high pressure magnetically-confined plasmas is necessary to
design efficient fusion devices. This paper presents an equilibrium combining
two solutions of the Grad-Shafranov equation, which describes the
magnetohydrodynamic equilibrium in toroidal geometry. The outer equilibrium is
paramagnetic and confines the inner equilibrium, whose strong diamagnetism
permits to balance large pressure gradients. The existence of both equilibria
in the same volume yields a dual equilibrium structure. Their combination also
improves free-boundary mode stability.


title: 1/f noise near the free surface of a semiconductor

abstract:
  This paper describes the so-called 1/f noise generated within the depleted
region below a free semiconducting surface. It was shown that there is a link
between the 1/f noise, which can be controlled by the band-bending, and the
very narrow energy states (E<<kT) located on the top surface and vanishing into
the bulk region. Also, it was shown that the noise can be lowered when the
band-bending is reduced. A quantitative description of this reduction was
provided. This study considered the n-type semiconductor.


title:
Hydro-Gravitational-Dynamics Interpretation of the Tadpole VV29 Merging
  Galaxy System: Dark-Matter-Halo-Planet Star-Cluster Wakes

abstract:
  Hubble Space telescope (HST) images of merging galaxy system VV29 reveal the
0.3 Mpc baryonic-dark-matter (BDM) halo composed of primordial
protoglobularstarcluster (PGC) clumps of planets. Star-cluster-wakes trace the
merger by formation of stars from the planets. Aligned young globular star
clusters (YGCs), star-wakes and dust-trails show the frictional, spiral passage
of galaxy fragments VV29cdef in a long tail-like galaxy (VV29b) as the
fragments merge on the accretion disk plane of the central spiral galaxy VV29a.
The observations confirm the hydro-gravitational-dynamics (HGD) prediction of
Gibson 1996 and quasar microlensing inference of Schild 1996 that the dark
matter of galaxies is dominated by planets (PFPs) in million-solar-mass clumps.
Globular star clusters (YGCs, OGCs, PGCs) preserve the density of the plasma
epoch 30,000 years after the big bang when viscous supercluster-fragmentation
began. Tadpole images show linear galaxy clusters reflecting turbulent vortex
lines of protogalaxy fragmentation at the 0.003 Mpc Kolmogorov-Nomura scale of
the plasma before transition to gas. The halo size indicates strong diffusion
of PGC primordial-planet-clumps from a cooling protogalaxy as its planets
freeze.


title:
What our world might be like (as alternative to Minkowski space-time
  with Poincare group of motion)

abstract:
  It is proposed four dimensional curved space-time with de-Sitter group of
motion. Theory contain free dimension constants of length, impulse and action.
Under infinite values of these parameters theory pass to usual Minkowski
space-time with Poincare group of motion. In modified space gauge invariant
field theory is constructed.


title:
A convergent hierarchy of semidefinite programs characterizing the set
  of quantum correlations

abstract:
  We are interested in the problem of characterizing the correlations that
arise when performing local measurements on separate quantum systems. In a
previous work [Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 010401 (2007)], we introduced an infinite
hierarchy of conditions necessarily satisfied by any set of quantum
correlations. Each of these conditions could be tested using semidefinite
programming. We present here new results concerning this hierarchy. We prove in
particular that it is complete, in the sense that any set of correlations
satisfying every condition in the hierarchy has a quantum representation in
terms of commuting measurements. Although our tests are conceived to rule out
non-quantum correlations, and can in principle certify that a set of
correlations is quantum only in the asymptotic limit where all tests are
satisfied, we show that in some cases it is possible to conclude that a given
set of correlations is quantum after performing only a finite number of tests.
We provide a criterion to detect when such a situation arises, and we explain
how to reconstruct the quantum states and measurement operators reproducing the
given correlations. Finally, we present several applications of our approach.
We use it in particular to bound the quantum violation of various Bell
inequalities.


title:
Chiral symmetry and the axial nucleon to Delta(1232) transition form
  factors

abstract:
  We study the momentum and the quark mass dependence of the axial nucleon to
Delta(1232) transition form factors in the framework of non-relativistic chiral
effective field theory to leading-one-loop order. The outcome of our analysis
provides a theoretical guidance for chiral extrapolations of lattice QCD
results with dynamical fermions.


title: Overview of some general results in combinatorial enumeration

abstract:
  This survey article is devoted to general results in combinatorial
enumeration. The first part surveys results on growth of hereditary properties
of combinatorial structures.
  These include permutations, ordered and unordered graphs and hypergraphs,
relational structures, and others. The second part advertises five topics in
general enumeration: 1. counting lattice points in lattice polytopes, 2. growth
of context-free languages, 3. holonomicity (i.e., P-recursiveness) of numbers
of labeled regular graphs, 4. frequent occurrence of the asymptotics
cn^{-3/2}r^n and 5. ultimate modular periodicity of numbers of MSOL-definable
structures.


title: Planets and Dark Energy

abstract:
  Self gravitational fluid mechanical methods termed
hydro-gravitational-dynamics (HGD) predict plasma fragmentation 0.03 Myr after
the turbulent big bang to form protosuperclustervoids, turbulent
protosuperclusters, and protogalaxies at the 0.3 Myr transition from plasma to
gas. Linear protogalaxyclusters fragment at 0.003 Mpc viscous-inertial scales
along turbulent vortex lines or in spirals, as observed. The plasma
protogalaxies fragment on transition into white-hot planet-mass gas clouds
(PFPs) in million-solar-mass clumps (PGCs) that become globular-star-clusters
(GCs) from tidal forces or dark matter (PGCs) by freezing and diffusion into
0.3 Mpc halos with 97% of the galaxy mass. The weakly collisional non-baryonic
dark matter diffuses to > Mpc scales and fragments to form galaxy cluster
halos. Stars and larger planets form by binary mergers of the trillion PFPs per
PGC, mostly on 0.03 Mpc galaxy accretion disks. Stars deaths depend on rates of
planet accretion and internal star mixing. Moderate accretion rates produce
white dwarfs that evaporate surrounding gas planets by spin-radiation to form
planetary nebulae before Supernova Ia events, dimming some events to give
systematic distance errors, the dark energy hypothesis, and the Sandage 2006
overestimates of the universe age.


title: Glauber Monte-Carlo predictions for LHC

abstract:
  In the framework of various Glauber-like models we compute several
correlation observables in nuclear collisions at the SPS, RHIC, and LHC
energies. We analyze fluctuations of the eccentricity of the fireball created
in the collision, in particular the {variable-axes} harmonic moments
$\epsilon^\ast$, as well as the fluctuations of multiplicity of charged
particles. We find moderate model dependence of the scaled standard deviation
$\sigma(\epsilon^\ast)/\epsilon^\ast$ on the choice of the particular Glauber
model. For all considered models the values of
$\sigma(\epsilon^\ast)/\epsilon^\ast$ range from $\sim$~0.5 for central
collisions to $\sim$~0.3-0.4 for peripheral collisions. The results are
confronted to the recent measurement of the elliptic-flow fluctuations at RHIC.
We also find that the dependence of multiplicity fluctuations on the centrality
of the collision is too weak to explain the measurements at the SPS energies.
The magnitude of the Glauber multiplicity fluctuations increases by about 20%
from the RHIC to LHC energies.


title:
Figure of Merit for Dark Energy Constraints from Current Observational
  Data

abstract:
  Choosing the appropriate figure of merit (FoM) for dark energy (DE)
constraints is key in comparing different DE experiments. Here we show that for
a set of DE parameters {f_i}, it is most intuitive to define FoM =
1/\sqrt{Cov(f1,f2,f3,...)}, where Cov(f1,f2,f3,...) is the covariance matrix of
{f_i}. The {f_i} should be minimally correlated. We demonstrate two useful
choices of {f_i} using 182 SNe Ia (compiled by Riess et al. 2007), [R(z_*),
l_a(z_*), \Omega_b h^2] from the five year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe
(WMAP) observations, and SDSS measurement of the baryon acoustic oscillation
(BAO) scale, assuming the HST prior of H_0=72+/-8 km/s Mpc^{-1} and without
assuming spatial flatness. We find that the correlation of (w_0,w_{0.5})
[w_0=w_X(z=0), w_{0.5}=w_X(z=0.5), w_X(a) = 3w_{0.5}-2w_0+3(w_0-w_{0.5})a] is
significantly smaller than that of (w_0,w_a) [w_X(a)=w_0+(1-a)w_a]. In order to
obtain model-independent constraints on DE, we parametrize the DE density
function X(z)=\rho_X(z)/\rho_X(0) as a free function with X_{0.5}, X_{1.0}, and
X_{1.5} [values of X(z) at z=0.5, 1.0, and 1.5] as free parameters estimated
from data. If one assumes a linear DE equation of state, current data are
consistent with a cosmological constant at 68% C.L. If one assumes X(z) to be a
free function parametrized by (X_{0.5}, X_{1.0}, X_{1.5}), current data deviate
from a cosmological constant at z=1 at 68% C.L., but are consistent with a
cosmological constant at 95% C.L.. Future DE experiments will allow us to
dramatically increase the FoM of constraints on (w_0,w_{0.5}) and of (X_{0.5},
X_{1.0}, X_{1.5}). This will significantly shrink the DE parameter space to
enable the discovery of DE evolution, or the conclusive evidence for a
cosmological constant.


title:
Measurement of the Branching Fractions of the Rare Decays B0->Ds(*)+pi-,
  B0->Ds(*)+rho-, and B0->Ds(*)-K(*)+

abstract:
  We report the measurement of the branching fractions of the rare decays
B0->Ds(*)+pi-, B0->Ds(*)+rho-, and B0->Ds(*)-K(*)+ in a sample of 381 million
Y(4S) decays into BBbar pairs collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II
asymmetric-energy e+e- storage ring. We present evidence for the decay
B0->Ds-K*+ and the vector-vector decays B0->Ds*+rho- and B0->Ds*-K*+, as well
as the first measurement of the vector meson polarization in these decays. We
also determine the ratios of the CKM-suppressed to CKM-favored amplitudes
r(D(*)pi) and r(D(*)rho) in decays B0->D(*)pi and B0->D(*)rho, and comment on
the prospects for measuring the CP observable sin(2beta+gamma).


title: Singularities of projected immersions revisited

abstract:
  Sz\H ucs proved in 2000 that the $r$-tuple-point manifold of a generic
immersion is cobordant to the $\Sigma^{1_{r-1}}$-point manifold of its generic
projection. Here we slightly extend this by showing that the natural mappings
of these manifolds are bordant to each other. The main novelty of our approach
is that we construct the bordism explicitly.


title:
A note on "Constraints on deep-seated zonal winds inside Jupiter and
  Saturn"

abstract:
  Liu et al. 2008 discuss an important consideration for models of zonal winds
deep within giant planets. However, the constraints they propose for the depth
of the winds are based on their prescriptions for the internal structures of
the magnetic field and zonal winds. The same kinematic analysis applied to
other plausible configurations would produce no constraint on the depth to
which the winds extend.


title: Nested Topological Order

abstract:
  We introduce the concept of nested topological order in a class of exact
quantum lattice Hamiltonian models with non-abelian discrete gauge symmetry.
The topological order present in the models can be partially destroyed by
introducing a gauge symmetry reduction mechanism. When symmetry is reduced in
several islands only, this imposes boundary conditions to the rest of the
system giving rise to topological ground state degeneracy. This degeneracy is
related to the existence of topological fluxes in between islands or,
alternatively, hidden charges at islands. Additionally, island deformations
give rise to an extension of topological quantum computation beyond
quasiparticles.


title:
Globalization of the partial isometries of metric spaces and local
  approximation of the group of isometries of the Urysohn space

abstract:
  We prove the equivalence of the two important facts about finite metric
spaces and universal Urysohn metric spaces $\Bbb U$, namely theorem A and
theorem B below: Theorem A (Approximation): The group of isometry $ISO(\Bbb U)$
contains everywhere dense locally finite subgroup; Theorem G(Globalization):
For each finite metric space $F$ there exists another finite metric space $\bar
F$ and isometric imbedding $j$ of $F$ to $\bar F$ such that isometry $j$
induces the imbedding of the group monomorphism of the group of isometries of
the space $F$ to the group of isometries of space $\bar F$ and each partial
isometry of $F$ can be extended up to global isometry in $\bar F$. The fact
that theorem $G$, is true was announced in 2005 by author without proof, and
was proved by S.Solecki in \cite{Sol} (see also \cite{P,P1}) based on the
previous complicate results of other authors. The theorem is generalization of
the Hrushevski's theorem about the globalization of the partial isomorphisms of
finite graphs. We intend to give a constructive proof in the same spirit for
metric spaces elsewhere. We also give the strengthening of homogeneity of
Urysohn space and in the last paragraph we gave a short survey of the various
constructions of Urysohn space including the new proof of the construction of
shift invariant universal distance matrix from \cite{CV}.


title: Sums of Hecke eigenvalues over quadratic polynomials

abstract:
  Let f(z) = sum_n a(n) n^{(k-1)/2} e(nz) be a cusp form for Gamma_0(N),
character chi and weight k geq 4. Let q(x) = x^2 + sx + t be a polynomial with
integral coefficients. It is shown that sum_{n \leq X} a(q(n)) = cX +
O(X^{6/7+eps}) for some constant c depending on f and q. The constant vanishes
in many cases, for example if k is even. On the way a Kuznetsov formula for
half-integral weight and entries having different sign is derived.


title: From the Dark Matter Universe to the Dark Energy Universe

abstract:
  Till the late nineties the accepted cosmological model was that of a Universe
that had originated in the Big Bang and was now decelerating under the
influence of as yet undetected dark matter, so that it would come to a halt and
eventually collapse. In 1997 however, the author had put forward a contra model
wherein the Universe was driven by dark energy, essentially the quantum zero
point field, and was accelerating with a small cosmological constant. There
were other deductions too, all in total agreement with observation. All this
got confirmation in 1998 and subsequent observations have reconfirmed the
findings.


title: Interacting electrons in the Aharonov-Bohm interferometer

abstract:
  We present a microscopic picture of quantum transport in the Aharonov-Bohm
(AB) interferometer taking into account electron interaction within the Hartree
and the spin density functional theory approximations. We discuss the structure
of the edge states for different number of the Landau levels in the leads,
their coupling to the states in the central island and the formation of
compressible/incompressible strips in the interferometer. Based on our results
we discuss the existing theories of the unexpected AB periodicity, which
essentially rely on specific phenomenological models of the states and their
coupling in the interferometer. Our work provides a basis for such the
theories, giving a detailed microscopic description of the propagating states
and the global electrostatics in the system at hand.


title:
Constraining the evolution of dark energy with type Ia supernovae and
  gamma-ray bursts

abstract:
  The behavior of the dark energy equation of state (EOS) is crucial in
distinguishing different cosmological models. With a model independent
approach, we constrain the possible evolution of the dark energy EOS. Gamma-ray
bursts (GRBs) of redshifts up to $z>6$ are used, in addition to type Ia
supernovae (SNe Ia). We separate the redshifts into 4 bins and assume a
constant EOS parameter for dark energy in each bin. The EOS parameters are
decorrelated by diagonalizing the covariance matrix. And the evolution of dark
energy is estimated out of the uncorrelated EOS parameters. By including GRB
luminosity data, we significantly reduce the confidence interval of the
uncorrelated EOS parameter whose contribution mostly comes from the redshift
bin of $0.5<z<1.8$. At high redshift where we only have GRBs, the constraints
on the dark energy EOS are still very weak. However, we can see an obvious cut
at about zero in the probability plot of the EOS parameter, from which we can
infer that the ratio of dark energy to matter most probably continues to
decrease beyond redshift 1.8. We carried out analyses with and without
including the latest BAO measurements, which themselves favor a dark energy EOS
of $w<-1$. If they are included, the results show some evidence of an evolving
dark energy EOS. If not included, however, the results are consistent with the
cosmological constant within $1 \sigma$ for redshift $0<z \lesssim 0.5$ and $2
\sigma$ for $0.5 \lesssim z<1.8$.


title: Two-loop QED corrections with closed fermion loops

abstract:
  We report a calculation of all two-loop QED corrections with closed fermion
loops for the n=1 and n=2 states of H-like ions and for a wide range of the
nuclear charge numbers Z=1-100. The calculation is performed to all orders in
the binding-strength parameter (Z \alpha), with the exception that in a few
cases the free-loop approximation is employed in the treatment of the fermion
loops. Detailed comparison is made with previous (Z \alpha)-expansion
calculations and the higher-order remainder term to order \alpha^2 (Z \alpha)^6
is identified.


title:
Comment on: "Introducing the Transmon: a new superconducting qubit from
  optimizing the Cooper Pair Box"

abstract:
  This Comment has been withdrawn according to a mutual agreement between the
authors of the original paper and the authors of this Comment.


title: Organized Current Patterns in Disordered Conductors

abstract:
  We present a general theory of current deviations in straight current
carrying wires with random imperfections, which quantitatively explains the
recent observations of organized patterns of magnetic field corrugations above
micron-scale evaporated wires. These patterns originate from the most efficient
electron scattering by Fourier components of the wire imperfections with
wavefronts along the $\pm 45^{\circ}$ direction. We show that long range
effects of surface or bulk corrugations are suppressed for narrow wires or
wires having an electrically anisotropic resistivity.


title: Discrete Frequency Selection of Frame-Based Stochastic Real-Time Tasks

abstract:
  Energy-efficient real-time task scheduling has been actively explored in the
past decade. Different from the past work, this paper considers schedulability
conditions for stochastic real-time tasks. A schedulability condition is first
presented for frame-based stochastic real-time tasks, and several algorithms
are also examined to check the schedulability of a given strategy. An approach
is then proposed based on the schedulability condition to adapt a
continuous-speed-based method to a discrete-speed system. The approach is able
to stay as close as possible to the continuous-speed-based method, but still
guaranteeing the schedulability. It is shown by simulations that the energy
saving can be more than 20% for some system configurations


title: Post-Newtonian parameters in the tensor-vector-scalar theory

abstract:
  We investigate post-Newtonian parameters in the tensor-vector-scalar (TeVeS)
theory in a general setting while previous researches have been restricted to
spherically symmetric cases. Based on the assumption that both the physical and
Einstein metrics have Minkowski metric at the zeroth order, we show $\gamma =1$
as in the previous researches. We find two remarkable things for other
parameters. The first is the value $\beta =1$ while it has been reported that
$\beta\neq 1$ for the case when the vector field is not purely timelike. This
discrepancy occurs from the above assumption which is natural as a starting
point. The second is the result that the Newtonian potential must be static to
be consistent with the vector equation. As a result, we cannot determine
$\alpha_{1}$ and $\alpha_{2}$. We consider that it is related to the
instability against linear perturbation and occurrence of caustic singularities
for various initial perturbations which have been reported recently.


title: Anomalous Rashba spin-orbit interaction in InAs/GaSb quantum wells

abstract:
  We investigate theoretically the Rashba spin-orbit interaction in InAs/GaSb
quantum wells(QWs). We find that the Rashba spin-splitting (RSS) depends
sensitively on the thickness of the InAs layer. The RSS exhibits nonlinear
behavior for narrow InAs/GaSb QWs and the oscillating feature for wide
InAs/GaSb QWs. The nonlinear and oscillating behaviors arise from the weakened
and enhanced interband coupling. The RSS also show asymmetric features respect
to the direction of the external electric field.


title: Locator/identifier split using the data link layer

abstract:
  The locator/identifier split approach assumes separating functions of a
locator (i.e. topology--dependent attachment point address) and identifier
(topology-independent unique identifier) currently both served by an IP
address. This work is an attempt to redefine semantics of MAC address to make
it a pure layer-2 locator instead of a pure globally-unique identifier. Such an
exercise might be interesting from the standpoint of Ethernet scaling and Metro
Ethernet technologies. From the global routing perspective, introduction of
multihoming, traffic engineering and failover at the 2nd layer may reduce
pressure on the 3rd layer.


title: Solar neutrino measurements in Super-Kamiokande-II

abstract:
  The results of the second phase of the Super-Kamiokande solar neutrino
measurement are presented and compared to the first phase. The solar neutrino
flux spectrum and time-variation as well as oscillation results are
statistically consistent with the first phase and do not show spectral
distortion. The time-dependent flux measurement of the combined first and
second phases coincides with the full period of solar cycle 23 and shows no
correlation with solar activity. The measured boron 8 total flux is 2.38
+/-0.05(stat.) +0.16-0.15(sys.) X 10^6 cm^-2 sec^-1 and the day-night
difference is found to be -6.3 +/-4.2(stat.) +/-3.7(sys.) %. There is no
evidence of systematic tendencies between the first and second phases.


title:
Production of mirror fermions via $e\gamma$ and $ep$ collisions in the
  littlest Higgs model with T-parity

abstract:
  One of the important features of the littlest Higgs model with T-parity,
called the $LHT$ model, is that it introduces the mirror fermions, which are
the T-parity partners of the standard model fermions. In this paper, we discuss
production of the mirror quark associated with mirror neutrino via $e\gamma$
and $ep$ collisions. We find that, in wide range of the parameter space, the
mirror quark can be copiously produced at the International $e^{+}e^{-}$ Linear
Collider $(ILC)$ and $ep$ collider $(THERA)$ experiments. The production rates
of certain signal events, which are related the main two-body decay modes of
the mirror quark, are also calculated.


title: Graph-like models for thin waveguides with Robin boundary conditions

abstract:
  We discuss the limit of small width for the Laplacian defined on a waveguide
with Robin boundary conditions. Under suitable hypothesis on the scaling of the
curvature, we prove the convergence of the Robin Laplacian to the Laplacian on
the corresponding graph. We show that the projections on each transverse mode
generically give rise to decoupling conditions between the edges of the graph
while exceptionally a coupling can occur. The non decoupling conditions are
related to the existence of resonances at the thresholds of the continuum
spectrum.


title:
Dust in Brown Dwarfs and Extra-solar Planets I. Chemical composition and
  spectral appearance of quasi-static cloud layers

abstract:
  We aim at understanding the formation of cloud layers in quasi-static
substellar atmospheres. The time-dependent description presented in (Helling &
Woitke 2006) is a kinetic model describing nucleation, growth and evaporation.
It is extended to treat gravitational settling and is applied to the
static-stationary case of substellar model atmospheres. From the solution for
the dust moments, we determine the grain size distribution function which,
together with the calculated material volume fractions, provides the basis to
calculate the opacities of the composite dust grains. The cloud particles in
brown dwarfs and hot giant-gas planets are found to be small in the high
atmospheric layers (0.01mum), and composed of a rich mixture of all considered
condensates, in particular the abundant MgSiO3[s], Mg2SiO4[s] and SiO2[s]. As
the particles settle downward, they increase in size and reach several 100mum
in the deepest layers. The more volatile parts of the grains evaporate and the
particles stepwise purify to form composite particles of high-temperature
condensates in the deeper layers, mainly Fe[s] and Al2O3[s]. The gas phase
abundances of the elements involved in the dust formation process vary by
orders of magnitudes throughout the atmosphere. The grain size distribution is
found to be relatively broad in the upper atmospheric layers but often strongly
peaked in the deeper layers. The spectral appearance of the cloud layers in the
mid IR (7-20mum) is close to a grey body with only weak broad features on a few
percent level, mainly caused by MgSiO3[s], and Mg2SiO4[s]. Our models predict
that the gas phase depletion is much weaker as compared to phase-equilibrium
calculations in the high atmospheric layers. [abridged]


title:
Two-mode excited entangled coherent states and their entanglement
  properties

abstract:
  We introduce two types of two-mode excited entangled coherent states
(TMEECSs) $|\Psi_{\pm}(\alpha,m,n)>$, study their entanglement characteristics,
and investigate the influence of photon excitations on quantum entanglement. It
is shown that for the state $|\Psi_{+}(\alpha,m,n)>$ the two-mode photon
excitations affect seriously entanglement character while the the state
$|\Psi_{-}(\alpha,m,n)>$ is always a maximally entangled state. We show how
such states can be produced by using cavity QED and quantum measurements. It is
found that the entanglement amount of the TMEECSs is larger than that of the
single-mode excited entangled coherent states with the same photon excitation
number.


title:
Quantum logic gates with controllable and selective interaction for
  superconducting charge qubits via a nanomechanical resonator

abstract:
  In this paper, we propose a scheme to implement two-qubit logic gates with a
controllable and selective interaction in a scalable superconducting circuit of
charge qubits. A nanomechanical resonator is used as a data bus to connect
qubits. It is indicated that a controllable interaction between qubits can be
obtained by making use of the data bus. It is shown that a selective
interaction between qubits can be realized when many qubits are involved in the
system under our consideration.


title:
Chiral extrapolation of the sigma and rho mesons from dispersion
  relations and Chiral Perturbation Theory

abstract:
  We review our recent study of the pion mass dependence of the rho and sigma
resonances, generated from one-loop SU(2) Chiral Perturbation Theory (ChPT)
with the Inverse Amplitude Method (IAM). In order to properly account for the
Adler zero region, we also review the recently obtained modified version of the
IAM; which is based on analyticity, elastic unitarity and ChPT at low energies,
thus yielding the correct pion mass dependence of the resonance pole positions
up to next-to-leading order in ChPT. As main results we find that the rho-pi-pi
coupling constant is almost pion mass independent and that the rho mass shows a
smooth pion mass dependence while that of the sigma shows a strong
non-analyticity. These findings are important for studies of the meson spectrum
on the lattice.


title: The multi-angle instability in dense neutrino systems

abstract:
  We calculate rates of flavor exchange within clouds of neutrinos interacting
with each other through the standard model coupling, assuming a conventional
mass matrix. For cases in which there is an angular dependence in the relation
among intensity, flavor and spectrum, we find instabilities in the evolution
equations and greatly speeded-up flavor exchange. The instabilities are
categorized by examining linear perturbations to simple solutions, and their
effects are exhibited in complete numerical solutions to the system. The
application is to the region just under the neutrino surfaces in the supernova
core.