title:
The Effect of Lunar-like Satellites on the Orbital Infrared Light Curves
  of Earth-analog Planets

abstract:
  We investigate the influence of lunar-like satellites on the infrared orbital
light curves of Earth-analog extra-solar planets. Such light curves will be
obtained by NASA's Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF) and ESA's Darwin missions as
a consequence of repeat observations to confirm the companion status of a
putative planet. We use an energy balance model to calculate disk-averaged
infrared (bolometric) fluxes from planet-satellite systems over a full orbital
period (one year). The satellites are assumed to lack an atmosphere, have a low
thermal inertia like that of the Moon and span a range of plausible radii. The
planets are assumed to have thermal and orbital properties that mimic those of
the Earth while their obliquities and orbital longitudes of inferior
conjunction remain free parameters. Even if the gross thermal properties of the
planet can be independently constrained (e.g. via spectroscopy or
visible-wavelength detection of specular glint from a surface ocean) only the
largest (approximately Mars-size) lunar-like satellites can be detected by
light curve data from a TPF-like instrument (i.e. one that achieves a
photometric signal-to-noise of 10-20 at infrared wavelengths). Non-detection of
a lunar-like satellite can obfuscate the interpretation of a given system's
infrared light curve so that it may resemble a single planet with high
obliquity, different orbital longitude of vernal equinox relative to inferior
conjunction and in some cases drastically different thermal characteristics. If
the thermal properties of the planet are not independently established then the
presence of a lunar-like satellite cannot be inferred from infrared data, thus
demonstrating that photometric light curves alone can only be used for
preliminary study of extra-solar Earth-like planets.


title: Applied Categories and Functors for Undergraduates

abstract:
  These are lecture notes for a 1-semester undergraduate course (in computer
science, mathematics, physics, engineering, chemistry or biology) in applied
categorical meta-language. The only necessary background for comprehensive
reading of these notes are first-year calculus and linear algebra.


title:
Atomic Clocks and Coherent Population Trapping: Experiments for
  Undergraduate Laboratories

abstract:
  We demonstrate how to construct and operate a simple and affordable
experimental apparatus, appropriate for an undergraduate setting, in order to
produce and study coherent effects in atomic vapor and to investigate their
applications for metrology. The apparatus consists of a vertical cavity surface
emitting diode laser (VCSEL) directly current-modulated using a tunable
microwave oscillator to produce multiple optical fields needed for the
observation of the coherent population trapping (CPT). This effect allows very
accurate measurement of the transition frequency between two ground state
hyperfine sublevels (a "clock transition"), that can be used to construct a
CPT-based atomic clock.


title: Absolutely continuous and singular spectral shift functions

abstract:
  Given a self-adjoint operator H, a self-adjoint trace class operator V and a
fixed Hilbert-Schmidt operator F with trivial kernel and co-kernel, using
limiting absorption principle an explicit set of full Lebesgue measure is
defined such that for all points of this set the wave and the scattering
matrices can be defined and constructed unambiguously. Many well-known
properties of the wave and scattering matrices and operators are proved,
including the stationary formula for the scattering matrix. This new abstract
scattering theory allows to prove that for any trace class perturbations of
arbitrary self-adjoint operators the singular part of the spectral shift
function is an almost everywhere integer-valued function.


title: Size-dependent melting: Numerical calculations of the phonon spectrum

abstract:
  In order to clarify the relationship between the phonon spectra of
nanoparticles and their melting temperature, we studied in detail the
size-dependent low energy vibration modes. A minimum model with atoms on a
lattice and harmonic potentials for neighboring atoms is used to reveal a
general behavior. By calculating the phonon spectra for a series of
nanoparticles of two lattice types in different sizes, we found that density of
low energy modes increases as the size of nanoparticles decreases, and this
density increasing causes decreasing of melting temperature. Size-dependent
behavior of the phonon spectra accounts for typical properties of
surface-premelting and irregular melting temperature on fine scales. These
results show that our minimum model captures main physics of nanoparticles.
Therefore, more physical characteristics for nanoparticles of certain types can
be given by phonons and microscopic potential models.


title: Results on Top Quark Physics at D0

abstract:
  In 1995, the top quark was discovered at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider by
the CDF and D0 collaborations in the ppbar collisions at sqrt(s)=1.8 TeV using
about 50pb^-1 of data per experiment. We present the studies of the top quark
properties based on 1fb^-1 of data collected by the D0 experiment at a center
of mass energy of 1.96TeV. The increased statistics and higher collision energy
allow to perform precision measurements of the top quark production and decay
characteristics and open the possibility to probe physics beyond the Standard
Model in the top quark sector. The presentation mainly focuses on the
measurement of the top pair production cross section and branching fraction of
the top quark decays, a search for ttbar resonances, and the measurement of the
top quark pair production cross section ratio and its interpretation in terms
of new physics.


title: Relativistic Harmonic Oscillator Revisited

abstract:
  The familiar Fock space commonly used to describe the relativistic harmonic
oscillator, for example as part of string theory, is insufficient to describe
all the states of the relativistic oscillator. We find that there are three
different vacua leading to three disconnected Fock sectors, all constructed
with the same creation-annihilation operators. These have different spacetime
geometric properties as well as different algebraic symmetry properties or
different quantum numbers. Two of these Fock spaces include negative norm
ghosts (as in string theory) while the third one is completely free of ghosts.
We discuss a gauge symmetry in a worldline theory approach that supplies
appropriate constraints to remove all the ghosts from all Fock sectors of the
single oscillator. The resulting ghost free quantum spectrum in d+1 dimensions
is then classified in unitary representations of the Lorentz group SO(d,1).
Moreover all states of the single oscillator put together make up a single
infinite dimensional unitary representation of a hidden global symmetry
SU(d,1), whose Casimir eigenvalues are computed. Possible applications of these
new results in string theory and other areas of physics and mathematics are
briefly mentioned.


title: Arithmetic harmonic analysis on character and quiver varieties

abstract:
  We present a conjecture generalizing the Cauchy formula for Macdonald
polynomials. This conjecture encodes the mixed Hodge polynomials of the
character varieties of representations of the fundamental group of a Riemann
surface of genus g to GL_n(C) with fixed generic semi-simple conjugacy classes
at k punctures. Using the character table of GL_n(F_q) we calculate the
E-polynomial of these character varieties and confirm that it is as predicted
by our main conjecture. Then, using the character table of gl_n(F_q), we
calculate the E-polynomial of certain associated comet-shaped quiver varieties,
the additive analogues of our character variety, and find that it is the pure
part of our conjectured mixed Hodge polynomial. Finally, we observe that the
pure part of our conjectured mixed Hodge polynomial also equals certain
multiplicities in the tensor product of irreducible representations of
GL_n(F_q). This implies a curious connection between the representation theory
of GL_n(F_q) and Kac-Moody algebras associated with comet-shaped, typically
wild, quivers.


title:
Direct Observation of a Cross-Field Current-Carrying Plasma Rotating
  Around an Unstable Magnetized Plasma Column

abstract:
  The low-frequency instability of a magnetized plasma column and the anomalous
radial plasma convection are shown to be linked with the existence of a radial
cross-field current along a plasma channel rotating around the central
magnetized plasma. The direct observation of the rotating plasma is obtained
using an ultra-fast intensified camera. The ionizing electrons injected along
the axis of the plasma column contribute to the accumulation of negative
charges when the axial collector is at floating potential. The required
neutrality leads to the continuous radial expulsion of energetic electrons and
to the formation of a rotating plasma channel (m=1 unstable wave). This
situation has previously been interpreted erroneously as a diamagnetic drift
wave.


title: Search for charged Higgs Bosons at D0

abstract:
  In both Supersymmetry and in generic Two Higgs Doublet models (2HDM), the
charged Higgs boson $H^+- exhibits a unique phenomenological signature. We
report on a search for charged Higgs bosons, performed using 0.9 fb^-1 of data
collected with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron ppbar collider with a
center-of-mass energy of \sqrt{s}=1.96 TeV. No evidence for a charged Higgs
boson is found and we set limits on its production cross section or the
branching fraction.


title:
Finite-size Effect of the Dyonic Giant Magnons in N=6 super Chern-Simons
  Theory

abstract:
  We consider finite-size effects for the dyonic giant magnon of the type IIA
string theory on AdS_4 x CP^3 by applying Luscher mu-term formula which is
derived from a recently proposed S-matrix for the N=6 super Chern-Simons
theory. We compute explicitly the effect for the case of a symmetric
configuration where the two external bound states, each of A and B particles,
have the same momentum p and spin J_2. We compare this with the classical
string theory result which we computed by reducing it to the
Neumann-Rosochatius system. The two results match perfectly.


title:
Characterization of a Single Crystal Diamond Pixel Detector in a High
  Energy Particle Beam

abstract:
  Diamond has been developed as a material for the detection of charged
particles by ionization. Its radiation hardness makes it an attractive material
for detectors operated in a harsh radiation environment e.g. close to a
particle beam as is the case for beam monitoring and for pixel vertex
detectors. Poly-crystalline chemical vapor deposition (CVD) diamond has been
studied as strip and pixel detectors so far. We report on a first-time
characterization of a single-crystal diamond pixel detector in a 100 GeV
particle beam at CERN. The detectors are made from irregularly shaped single
crystal sensors, 395mm thick, mated by bump bonding to a front-end readout IC
as used in the ATLAS pixel detector with pixel sizes of 50 x 400 mm2. The
diamond sensors show excellent charge collection properties: full collection
over the entire detector volume, clean and narrow signal charge distributions
with a S/N value of >100 and a hit detection efficiency of (99.9 +- 0.1)%. The
measured spatial resolution for particles under normal incidence in the shorter
pixel direction is (8.9 +- 0.1) um.


title:
Capabilities of the CMS detector for studies of hard probes in heavy ion
  collisions at the LHC

abstract:
  The capabilities of the CMS experiment to study properties of hot and dense
QCD-matter created in heavy ion collisions at the CERN Large Hadron Collider
with the perturbative processes (so-called "hard probes") are presented.
Detailed studies from complete simulations of the CMS detectors in Pb+Pb
collisions at $\sqrt{s}=5.5$ TeV per nucleon pair are presented in view of two
hard probes: quarkonium and $\gamma$-jet production.


title:
Recent developments on HYDJET/PYQUEN event generators and novel jet
  quenching observables at LHC

abstract:
  The recent developments on PYQUEN, HYDJET and HYDJET++ event generators are
presented. The partonic energy loss model PYQUEN is implemented as the
modification of the "standard" jet event obtained with the generator of
hadron-hadron interactions PYTHIA. HYDJET and HYDJET++ are the Monte-Carlo
event generators for the simulation of relativistic heavy ion AA collisions
considered as a superposition of the soft, hydro-type state and the hard,
multi-parton fragmentation. HYDJET++ model is the development and continuation
of HYDJET generator, and it includes more detailed treatment of the "thermal"
hadronic state generated on the chemical and thermal freeze-out hypersurfaces
(represented by the parameterization of relativistic hydrodynamics with preset
freeze-out conditions), collective flow effects and decays of hadronic
resonances. Some applications of above models to novel jet quenching
observables are discussed.


title: Lorentz Covariance and the Dimensional Crossover of 2d-Antiferromagnets

abstract:
  We derive a lattice $\beta$-function for the 2d-Antiferromagnetic Heisenberg
model, which allows the lattice interaction couplings of the nonperturbative
Quantum Monte Carlo vacuum to be related directly to the zero-temperature fixed
points of the nonlinear sigma model in the presence of strong interplanar and
spin anisotropies. In addition to the usual renormalization of the gapful
disordered state in the vicinity of the quantum critical point, we show that
this leads to a chiral doubling of the spectra of excited states.


title:
On Ruelle's construction of the thermodynamic limit for the classical
  microcanonical entropy

abstract:
  In this note we make a very elementary technical observation to the effect
that Ruelle's construction of the thermodynamic limit of the classical entropy
density defined with a regularized microcanonical measure actually establishes
the thermodynamic limit for the entropy density defined with the proper
microcanonical measure. At this stage a key formula is still derived from the
regularized measures. We also show that with only minor changes in the proof
the regularization of the microcanonical measure is actually not needed at all.


title: The Partition Function Zeroes of Quantum Critical Points

abstract:
  The Lee-Yang theorem for the zeroes of the partition function is not strictly
applicable to quantum systems because the zeroes are defined in units of the
fugacity $e^{h\Delta\tau}$, and the Euclidean-time lattice spacing $\Delta\tau$
can be divergent in the infrared (IR). We recently presented analytic arguments
describing how a new space-Euclidean time zeroes expansion can be defined,
which reproduces Lee and Yang's scaling but avoids the unresolved branch points
associated with the breaking of nonlocal symmetries such as parity. We now
present a first numerical analysis for this new zeros approach for a quantum
spin chain system. We use our scheme to quantify the renormalization group flow
of the physical lattice couplings to the IR fixed point of this system. We
argue that the generic Finite-Size Scaling (FSS) function of our scheme is
identically the entanglement entropy of the lattice partition function and,
therefore, that we are able to directly extract the central charge, $c$, of the
quantum spin chain system using conformal predictions for the scaling of the
entanglement entropy.


title:
Nonperturbative Renormalization of the Heisenberg Spin-1/2
  Antiferromagnet on the Square Lattice

abstract:
  We investigate the critical scaling of the spin-1/2 antiferromagnet on the
square lattice in the easy-plane (XXZ) regime, via numerical measurements of
the entanglement entropy constructed from the zeroes of a polynomial ring. We
relate these results to conformal field theory predictions for the area law
scaling of entanglement entropyin the vicinity of quantum critical points in
gapless conformally invariant 2d quantum systems, and in gapless systems with
finite Fermi surfaces. Our measurements are focused in three low-temperature
regions at fixed XXZ anisotropies of $\Delta=1.01$, $\Delta=1.78$ and
$\Delta=2.0$ which probe the quantum regime between the N\'eel point and Ising
phase.


title: The Quantum Noise of Ferromagnetic $\pi$-Bloch Domain Walls

abstract:
  We quantify the probability per unit Euclidean-time of reversing the
magnetization of a $\pi$-Bloch vector, which describes the Ferromagnetic Domain
Walls of a Ferromagnetic Nanowire at finite-temperatures, by evaluating the
saddlepoint solution of the grand canonical partition function for the
Ferromagnetic Nanowire consisting of $N$ such soliton and anti-soliton states.
Our approach, based on Langer's Theory, treats the double Sine-Gordon model
that defines the $\pi$-Bloch vectors via a procedure of nonperturbative
renormalization, and uses importance sampling methods to minimise the free
energy of the system, and identify the saddlepoint solution corresponding to
the reversal probability. We identify that whilst the general solution for the
free energy minima cannot be expressed in closed form, we can obtain a closed
expression for the saddlepoint by maximizing the entanglement entropy of the
system. We use this approach to quantify the geometric and non-geometric
contributions to the entanglement entropy of the Ferromagnetic Nanowire,
defined between entangled Ferromagnetic Domain Walls, and evaluate the
Euclidean-time dependence of the domain wall width and angular momentum
transfer at the domain walls, which has been recently proposed as a mechanism
for Quantum Memory Storage.


title: On the spectral characterization of manifolds

abstract:
  We show that the first five of the axioms we had formulated on spectral
triples suffice (in a slightly stronger form) to characterize the spectral
triples associated to smooth compact manifolds. The algebra, which is assumed
to be commutative, is shown to be isomorphic to the algebra of all smooth
functions on a unique smooth oriented compact manifold, while the operator is
shown to be of Dirac type and the metric to be Riemannian.


title:
Can stochastic quantization evade the sign problem? -- the relativistic
  Bose gas at finite chemical potential

abstract:
  A nonperturbative study of field theories with a complex action, such as QCD
at finite baryon density, is difficult due to the sign problem. We show that
the relativistic Bose gas at finite chemical potential has a sign and `Silver
Blaze' problem, similar to QCD. We then apply stochastic quantization and
complex Langevin dynamics to study this theory with nonperturbative lattice
simulations. Independence of chemical potential at small and a transition to a
condensed phase at large chemical potential are found. Lattices of size N^4,
with N=4,6,8,10, are used. We show that the sign problem is severe, however, we
find that it has no negative effect using this approach. This improves the
prospects of applying stochastic quantization to QCD at nonzero density.


title: XTE J1901+014 - the First Low-Mass Fast X-ray Transient?

abstract:
  We continue to study the fast X-ray transient XTE J1901+014 discovered in
2002 by the RXTE observatory, whose nature has not yet been established. Based
on the XMM-Newton observations of the source in 2006, we have obtained its
energy spectrum, light curves, and power spectrum in the energy range 0.5-12
keV, which are in good agreement with our results obtained previously from the
data of other observatories. In turn, this suggests that the source's emission
is stable in the quiescent state. The XMM-Newton observations also allowed the
source's localization accuracy to be improved to <2", which subsequently
enabled us to search for its optical companion with the RTT-150 and 6-m BTA
(Special Astrophysical Observatory) telescopes. Combining optical, X-ray, and
infrared observations, we have concluded that the optical companion in the
system under study can be either a later-type star at a distance of several kpc
or a very distant red giant or an A or F star. Thus, XTE J1901+014 may be the
first low-mass fast X-ray transient.


title: A unitary invariant in Riemannian geometry

abstract:
  We introduce an invariant of Riemannian geometry which measures the relative
position of two von Neumann algebras in Hilbert space, and which, when combined
with the spectrum of the Dirac operator, gives a complete invariant of
Riemannian geometry. We show that the new invariant plays the same role with
respect to the spectral invariant as the Cabibbo--Kobayashi--Maskawa mixing
matrix in the Standard Model plays with respect to the list of masses of the
quarks.


title: The sub-solar Initial Mass Function in the Large Magellanic Cloud

abstract:
  The Magellanic Clouds offer a unique variety of star forming regions seen as
bright nebulae of ionized gas, related to bright young stellar associations.
Nowadays, observations with the high resolving efficiency of the Hubble Space
Telescope allow the detection of the faintest infant stars, and a more complete
picture of clustered star formation in our dwarf neighbors has emerged. I
present results from our studies of the Magellanic Clouds, with emphasis in the
young low-mass pre-main sequence populations. Our data include imaging with the
Advanced Camera for Surveys of the association LH~95 in the Large Magellanic
Cloud, the deepest observations ever taken with HST of this galaxy. I discuss
our findings in terms of the Initial Mass Function, which we constructed with
an unprecedented completeness down to the sub-solar regime, as the outcome of
star formation in the low-metallicity environment of the LMC.


title: Non-equilibrium magnetism in dual spin valves

abstract:
  The field of spin electronics (spintronics) was initiated by the discovery of
giant magnetoresistance (GMR) for which Fert[1] and Grunberg[2] were awarded
the 2007 Nobel Prize for Physics. GMR arises from differential scattering of
the majority and minority spin electrons by a ferromagnet (FM) so that the
resistance when the FM layers separated by non-magnetic (NM) spacers are
aligned by an applied field is different to when they are antiparallel. In 1996
Slonczewski[3] and Berger[4] predicted that a large spin-polarised current
could transfer spin-angular momentum and so exert a spin transfer torque (STT)
sufficient to switch thin FM layers between stable magnetisation states[5] and,
for even higher current densities, drive continuous precession which emits
microwaves[6]. Thus, while GMR is a purely passive phenomenon which ultimately
depends on the intrinsic band structure of the FM, STT adds an active element
to spintronics by which the direction of the magnetisation may be manipulated.
Here we show that highly non-equilibrium spin injection can modify the
scattering asymmetry and, by extension, the intrinsic magnetism of a FM. This
phenomenon is completely different to STT and provides a third ingredient which
should further expand the range of opportunities for the application of
spintronics.


title:
Improvement in Estimating Population Mean using Two Auxiliary Variables
  in Two-Phase Sampling

abstract:
  This study proposes improved chain-ratio type estimator for estimating
population mean using some known values of population parameter(s) of the
second auxiliary character. The proposed estimators have been compared with
two-phase ratio estimator and some other chain type estimators. The
performances of the proposed estimators have been supposed with a numerical
illustration.


title:
Twisted Noncommutative Field Theory with the Wick-Voros and Moyal
  Products

abstract:
  We present a comparison of the noncommutative field theories built using two
different star products: Moyal and Wick-Voros (or normally ordered). For the
latter we discuss both the classical and the quantum field theory in the
quartic potential case, and calculate the Green's functions up to one loop, for
the two and four points cases. We compare the two theories in the context of
the noncommutative geometry determined by a Drinfeld twist, and the comparison
is made at the level of Green's functions and S-matrix. We find that while the
Green's functions are different for the two theories, the S-matrix is the same
in both cases, and is different from the commutative case.


title: Inhomogeneous magnetic phases: a LOFF-like phase in Sr3Ru2O7

abstract:
  The phase diagram of Sr3Ru2O7 contains a metamagnetic transition that
bifurcates to enclose an anomalous phase with intriguing properties - a large
resistivity with anisotropy that breaks the crystal-lattice symmetry. We
propose that this is a magnetic analogue of the spatially inhomogeneous
superconducting Fulde-Ferrel-Larkin-Ovchinnikov state. We show - through a
Ginzburg-Landau expansion where the magnetisation transverse to the applied
field can become spatially inhomogeneous - that a Stoner model with electronic
band dispersion can reproduce this phase diagram and transport behaviour.


title: Renormalization Group Equations for the CKM matrix

abstract:
  We derive the one loop renormalization group equations for the
Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix for the Standard Model, its two Higgs
extension and the minimal supersymmetric extension in a novel way. The derived
equations depend only on a subset of the model parameters of the
renormalization group equations for the quark Yukawa couplings so the CKM
matrix evolution cannot fully test the renormalization group evolution of the
quark Yukawa couplings. From the derived equations we obtain the invariant of
the renormalization group evolution for three models which is the angle
$\alpha$ of the unitarity triangle. For the special case of the Standard Model
and its extensions with $v_{1}\approx v_{2}$ we demonstrate that also the shape
of the unitarity triangle and the Buras-Wolfenstein parameters
$\bar{\rho}=(1-{1/2}\lambda^{2})\rho$ and $\bar{\eta}=(1-{1/2}\lambda^{2})\eta$
are conserved. The invariance of the angles of the unitarity triangle means
that it is not possible to find a model in which the CKM matrix might have a
simple, special form at asymptotic energies.


title: Chaotic monopole interactions and vacuum disorder

abstract:
  We study chaotic regions in the phase space of classical non-Abelian gauge
theory, focusing particularly on those which determine the low-energy
interactions between BPS monopoles, and comment on the relevance of the
obtained results for long-standing speculations which relate classical
Yang-Mills chaos to the disordered quantum vacuum and quark confinement.


title: The fundamental isomorphism conjecture via non-commutative motives

abstract:
  Given a group, we construct a fundamental additive functor on its orbit
category. We prove that any isomorphism conjecture valid for this fundamental
isomorphism functor holds for all additive functors, like K-theory, cyclic
homology, topological Hochschild homology, etc. Finally, we reduce this
fundamental isomorphism conjecture for K-theoretic ones.


title: High-Resolution Rotation Curves and Galaxy Mass Models from THINGS

abstract:
  We present rotation curves of 19 galaxies from THINGS, The HI Nearby Galaxy
Survey. The high spatial and velocity resolution of THINGS make these the
highest quality HI rotation curves available to date for a large sample of
nearby galaxies, spanning a wide range of HI masses and luminosities. The high
quality of the data allows us to derive the geometrical and dynamical
parameters using HI data alone. We do not find any declining rotation curves
unambiguously associated with a cut-off in the mass distribution out to the
last measured point. The rotation curves are combined with 3.6 um data from
SINGS (Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey) to construct mass models. Our
best-fit, dynamical disk masses, derived from the rotation curves, are in good
agreement with photometric disk masses derived from the 3.6 um images in
combination with stellar population synthesis arguments and two different
assumptions for the stellar Initial Mass Function (IMF). We test the Cold Dark
Matter-motivated cusp model, and the observationally motivated central density
core model and find that (independent of IMF) for massive, disk-dominated
galaxies, all halo models fit apparently equally well; for low-mass galaxies,
however, a core-dominated halo is clearly preferred over a cuspy halo. The
empirically derived densities of the dark matter halos of the late-type
galaxies in our sample are half of what is predicted by CDM simulations, again
independent of the assumed IMF.


title: Edge states in Graphene: from gapped flat band to gapless chiral modes

abstract:
  We study edge-states in graphene systems where a bulk energy gap is opened by
inversion symmetry breaking. We find that the edge-bands dispersion can be
controlled by potentials applied on the boundary with unit cell length scale.
Under certain boundary potentials, gapless edge-states with valley-dependent
velocity are found, exactly analogous to the spin-dependent gapless chiral
edge-states in quantum spin Hall systems. The connection of the edge-states to
bulk topological properties is revealed.


title:
Proof of the the Riemann hypothesis from the density and Lindelof
  hypotheses via a power sum method

abstract:
  The Riemann hypothesis is equivalent to the $\varpi$-form of the prime number
theorem as $\varpi(x) =O(x\sp{1/2} \log\sp{2} x)$, where $\varpi(x)
=\sum\sb{n\le x}\ \bigl(\Lambda(n) -1\big)$ with the sum running through the
set of all natural integers. Let ${\mathsf Z}(s) =
-\tfrac{\zeta\sp{\prime}(s)}{\zeta(s)} -\zeta(s)$. We use the classical
integral formula for the Heaviside function in the form of ${\mathsf H}(x)
=\int\sb{m -i\infty} \sp{m +i\infty} \tfrac{x\sp{s}}{s} \dd s$ where $m >0$,
and ${\mathsf H}(x)$ is 0 when $\tfrac{1}{2} <x <1$, $\tfrac{1}{2}$ when $x=1$,
and 1 when $x >1$. However, we diverge from the literature by applying Cauchy's
residue theorem to the function ${\mathsf Z}(s) \cdot \tfrac{x\sp{s}} {s}$,
rather than $-\tfrac{\zeta\sp{\prime}(s)} {\zeta(s)} \cdot \tfrac{x\sp{s}}{s}$,
so that we may utilize the formula for $\tfrac{1}{2}< m <1$, under certain
conditions. Starting with the estimate on $\varpi(x)$ from the trivial
zero-free region $\sigma >1$ of ${\mathsf Z}(s)$, we use induction to reduce
the size of the exponent $\theta$ in $\varpi(x) =O(x\sp{\theta} \log\sp{2} x)$,
while we also use induction on $x$ when $\theta$ is fixed. We prove that the
Riemann hypothesis is valid under the assumptions of the explicit strong
density hypothesis and the Lindel\"of hypothesis recently proven, via a result
of the implication on the zero free regions from the remainder terms of the
prime number theorem by the power sum method of Tur\'an.


title: Proof of the strong Density Hypothesis

abstract:
  The Riemann hypothesis, conjectured by Bernhard Riemann in 1859, claims that
the non-trivial zeros of $\zeta(s)$ lie on the line $\Re(s) =1/2$. The density
hypothesis is a conjectured estimate $N(\lambda, T) =O\bigl(T\sp{2(1-\lambda)
+\epsilon} \bigr)$ for any $\epsilon >0$, where $N(\lambda, T)$ is the number
of zeros of $\zeta(s)$ when $\Re(s) \ge\lambda$ and $0 <\Im(s) \le T$, with
$1/2 \le \lambda \le 1$ and $T >0$. The Riemann-von Mangoldt Theorem confirms
this estimate when $\lambda =1/2$, with $T\sp{\epsilon}$ being replaced by
$\log T$. In an attempt to transform Backlund's proof of the Riemann-von
Mangoldt Theorem to a proof of the density hypothesis by convexity, we
discovered a different approach utilizing an auxiliary function. The crucial
point is that this function should be devised to be symmetric with respect to
$\Re(s) =1/2$ and about the size of the Euler Gamma function on the right hand
side of the line $\Re(s) =1/2$. Moreover, it should be analytic and without any
zeros in the concerned region. We indeed found such a function, which we call
pseudo-Gamma function. With its help, we are able to establish a proof of the
density hypothesis. Actually, we give the result explicitly and our result is
even stronger than the original density hypothesis, namely it yields
$N(\lambda, T) \le 8.734 \log T$ for any $1/2 < \lambda < 1$ and $T\ge
2445999554999$.


title:
Constraints on dark energy models from radial baryon acoustic scale
  measurements

abstract:
  We use the radial baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) measurements of Gaztanaga
et al. (2008) to constrain parameters of dark energy models. These constraints
are comparable with constraints from other "non-radial" BAO data. The radial
BAO data are consistent with the time-independent cosmological constant model
but do not rule out time-varying dark energy. When we combine radial BAO and
the Kowalski et al. (2008) Union type Ia supernova data we get very tight
constraints on dark energy.


title: Constant Rate Distributions on Partially Ordered Sets

abstract:
  We consider probability distributions with constant rate on partially ordered
sets, generalizing distributions in the usual reliability setting that have
constant failure rate. In spite of the minimal algebraic structure, there is a
surprisingly rich theory, including moment results and results concerning
ladder variables and point processes. We concentrate mostly on discrete posets,
particularly posets whose graphs are rooted trees. We pose some questions on
the existence of constant rate distributions for general discrete posets.


title:
On Serre's conjecture for mod l Galois representations over totally real
  fields

abstract:
  In 1987 Serre conjectured that any mod l ("ell", not "1") two-dimensional
irreducible odd representation of the absolute Galois group of the rationals
came from a modular form in a precise way. We present a generalisation of this
conjecture to 2-dimensional representations of the absolute Galois group of a
totally real field where l is unramified. The hard work is in formulating an
analogue of the "weight" part of Serre's conjecture. Serre furthermore asked
whether his conjecture could be rephrased in terms of a "mod l Langlands
philosophy". Using ideas of Emerton and Vigneras, we formulate a mod l
local-global principle for the group D^*, where D is a quaternion algebra over
a totally real field, split above l and at 0 or 1 infinite places, and show how
it implies the conjecture.


title:
Detection of the high z GRB 080913 and its implications on progenitors
  and energy extraction mechanisms

abstract:
  Aims: We present multiwavelength observations of one of the most distant
gamma-ray bursts detected so far, GRB 080913. Based on these observations, we
consider whether it could be classified as a short-duration GRB and discuss the
implications for the progenitor nature and energy extraction mechanisms.
  Methods: Multiwavelength X-ray, near IR and millimetre observations were made
between 20.7 hours and 16.8 days after the event.
  Results: Whereas a very faint afterglow was seen at the 3.5m CAHA telescope
in the nIR, the X-ray afterglow was clearly detected in both Swift and
XMM-Newton observations. An upper limit is reported in the mm range. We have
modeled the data assuming a collimated $\theta_0$ $\gtrsim$ 3$^\circ$ blast
wave with an energy injection at 0.5 days carrying $5\sim 10^{52}$ erg or
approximately 12 times the initial energy of the blast wave. We find that GRB
080913 shares many of the gamma-ray diagnostics with the more recent burst GRB
090423 for being classified as short had they ocurred at low redshift. If the
progenitor were a compact binary merger, it is likely composed by a NS and BH.
The Blandford-Znajek (BZ) mechanism is the preferred one to extract energy from
the central, maximally-rotating BH. Both the magnetic field close to the event
horizon (B) and the BH mass ($M_{bh}$) are restricted within a relatively
narrow range, such that $(B / 3\times 10^{16} \rm{G}) (M_{bh} / 7 M_\odot) \sim
1$. Similar constraints on the central BH hold for collapsar-like progenitor
systems if the BZ-mechanism works for the system at hand.


title: The Lagrangian Conley Conjecture

abstract:
  We prove a Lagrangian analogue of the Conley conjecture: given a 1-periodic
Tonelli Lagrangian with global flow on a closed configuration space, the
associated Euler-Lagrange system has infinitely many periodic solutions. More
precisely, we show that there exist infinitely many contractible integer
periodic solutions with a priori bounded mean action and either infinitely many
of them are 1-periodic or they have unbounded period.


title: Relativistic images of Schwarzschild black hole lensing

abstract:
  We model massive dark objects at centers of many galaxies as Schwarzschild
black hole lenses and study gravitational lensing by them in detail. We show
that the ratio of mass of a Schwarzschild lens to the differential time delay
between outermost two relativistic images (both of them either on the primary
or on the secondary image side) is extremely insensitive to changes in the
angular source position as well as the lens-source and lens-observer distances.
Therefore, this ratio can be used to obtain very accurate values for masses of
black holes at centers of galaxies. Similarly, angular separations between any
two relativistic images are also extremely insensitive to changes in the
angular source position and the lens-source distance. Therefore, with the known
value of mass of a black hole, angular separation between two relativistic
images would give a very accurate result for the distance of the black hole.
Accuracies in determination of masses and distances of black holes would
however depend on accuracies in measurements of differential time delays and
angular separations between images. Deflection angles of primary and secondary
images as well as effective deflection angles of relativistic images on the
secondary image side are always positive. However, the effective deflection
angles of relativistic images on the primary image side may be positive, zero,
or negative depending on the value of angular source position and the ratio of
mass of the lens to its distance. We show that effective deflection angles of
relativistic images play significant role in analyzing and understanding strong
gravitational field lensing.


title: Quantum control on entangled bipartite qubits

abstract:
  Ising interaction between qubits could produce distortion in entangled pairs
generated for engineering purposes (as in quantum computation) in presence of
parasite magnetic fields, destroying or altering the expected behavior of
process in which is projected to be used. Quantum control could be used to
correct that situation in several ways. Sometimes the user should be make some
measurement upon the system to decide which is the best control scheme; other
posibility is try to reconstruct the system using similar procedures without
perturbate it. In the complete pictures both schemes are present. We will work
first with pure systems studying advantages of different procedures. After, we
will extend these operations when time of distortion is uncertain, generating a
mixed state, which needs to be corrected by suposing the most probably time of
distortion.


title: On the stability of compact supermassive objects

abstract:
  Proceeded from the gravitation equations proposed by one of authors it was
argued in a previous paper that there can exist supermassive compact
configurations of degenerated Fermi-gas without events horizon. In the present
paper we consider the stability of these objects by method like the one used in
the theory of stellar structure. It is shown that the configurations with an
adiabatic equation of state with the power 4/3 are stable.


title: Linear Relations Among Poincare Series via Harmonic Weak Maass Forms

abstract:
  We discuss the problem of the vanishing of Poincar\'e series. This problem is
known to be related to the existence of weakly holomorphic forms with
prescribed principal part. The obstruction to the existence is related to the
pseudomodularity of Ramanujan's mock theta functions. We embed the space of
weakly holomorphic modular forms into the larger space of harmonic weak Maass
forms. From this perspective we discuss the linear relations between Poincar\'e
series and the connection to Ramanujan's mock theta functions.


title: Explicit Estimate on Primes between Consecutive Cubes

abstract:
  We give an explicit form of Ingham's Theorem on primes in the short
intervals, and show that there is at least one prime between every two
consecutive cubes $x\sp{3}$ and $(x+1)\sp{3}$ if $\log\log x\ge 15$.


title: Constructions of commutative automorphic loops

abstract:
  A loop whose inner mappings are automorphisms is an \emph{automorphic loop}
(or \emph{A-loop}). We characterize commutative (A-)loops with middle nucleus
of index 2 and solve the isomorphism problem. Using this characterization and
certain central extensions based on trilinear forms, we construct several
classes of commutative A-loops of order a power of 2. We initiate the
classification of commutative A-loops of small orders and also of order $p^3$,
where $p$ is a prime.


title: Topology of non-linear structure in the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey

abstract:
  We study the evolution of non-linear structure as a function of scale in
samples from the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey, constituting over 221 000 galaxies
at a median redshift of z=0.11. The two flux-limited galaxy samples, located
near the southern galactic pole and the galactic equator, are smoothed with
Gaussian filters of width ranging from 5 to 8 Mpc/h to produce a continuous
galaxy density field. The topological genus statistic is used to measure the
relative abundance of overdense clusters to void regions at each scale; these
results are compared to the predictions of analytic theory, in the form of the
genus statistic for i) the linear regime case of a Gaussian random field; and
ii) a first-order perturbative expansion of the weakly non-linear evolved
field. The measurements demonstrate a statistically significant detection of an
asymmetry in the genus statistic between regions corresponding to low- and
high-density volumes of the universe. We attribute the asymmetry to the
non-linear effects of gravitational evolution and biased galaxy formation, and
demonstrate that these effects evolve as a function of scale. We find that
neither analytic prescription satisfactorily reproduces the measurements,
though the weakly non-linear theory yields substantially better results in some
cases, and we discuss the potential explanations for this result.


title:
Dynamical Centers and Non-Circular Motions in THINGS Galaxies:
  Implications for Dark Matter Halos

abstract:
  We present harmonic decompositions of the velocity fields of 19 galaxies from
THINGS (The \HI Nearby Galaxy Survey) which quantify the magnitude of the
non-circular motions in these galaxies and yield observational estimates of the
elongations of the dark matter halo potentials. Additionally, we present
accurate dynamical center positions for these galaxies. We show that the
positions of the kinematic and photometric centers of the large majority of the
galaxies in our sample are in good agreement. The median absolute amplitude of
the non-circular motions, averaged over our sample, is $6.7 \kms$, with $\sim
90$ percent of the galaxies having median non-circular motions of less than
$\sim 9\kms$. As a fraction of the total rotation velocity this translates into
4.5 percent on average. The mean elongation of the gravitational potential,
after a statistical correction for an unknown viewing angle, is $0.017\pm
0.020$, i.e., consistent with a round potential. Our derived non-circular
motions and elongations are smaller than what is needed to bring Cold Dark
Matter (CDM) simulations in agreement with the observations. In particular, the
amplitudes of the non-circular motions are not high enough to hide the steep
central mass-density profiles predicted by CDM simulations. We show that the
amplitudes of the non-circular motions decrease towards lower luminosities and
later Hubble types.


title: Linear systems in P^3 with low degrees and low multiplicities

abstract:
  We prove that the linear system of hypersurfaces in P^3 of degree d, 14 <= d
<= 40, with double, triple and quadruple points in general position are
non-special. This solves the cases that have not been completed in a paper by
E. Ballico and M.C. Brambilla.


title:
Macromolecular crowding modulates folding mechanism of alpha/beta
  protein apoflavodoxin

abstract:
  Protein dynamics in cells may be different from that in dilute solutions in
vitro since the environment in cells is highly concentrated with other
macromolecules. This volume exclusion due to macromolecular crowding is
predicted to affect both equilibrium and kinetic processes involving protein
conformational changes. To quantify macromolecular crowding effects on protein
folding mechanisms, here we have investigated the folding energy landscape of
an alpha/beta protein, apoflavodoxin, in the presence of inert macromolecular
crowding agents using in silico and in vitro approaches. By coarse-grained
molecular simulations and topology-based potential interactions, we probed the
effects of increased volume fraction of crowding agents (phi_c) as well as of
crowding agent geometry (sphere or spherocylinder) at high phi_c. Parallel
kinetic folding experiments with purified Desulfovibro desulfuricans
apoflavodoxin in vitro were performed in the presence of Ficoll (sphere) and
Dextran (spherocylinder) synthetic crowding agents. In conclusion, we have
identified in silico crowding conditions that best enhance protein stability
and discovered that upon manipulation of the crowding conditions, folding
routes experiencing topological frustrations can be either enhanced or
relieved. The test-tube experiments confirmed that apoflavodoxin's
time-resolved folding path is modulated by crowding agent geometry. We propose
that macromolecular crowding effects may be a tool for manipulation of protein
folding and function in living cells.


title:
High-resolution dark matter density profiles of THINGS dwarf galaxies:
  Correcting for non-circular motions

abstract:
  We present a new method to remove the impact of random and small-scale
non-circular motions from HI velocity fields in galaxies in order to better
constrain the dark matter properties for these objects. This method extracts
the circularly rotating velocity components from the HI data cube and condenses
them into a so-called bulk velocity field. We derive high-resolution rotation
curves of IC 2574 and NGC 2366 based on bulk velocity fields derived from The
HI Nearby Galaxy Survey (THINGS) obtained at the VLA. The bulk velocity field
rotation curves are significantly less affected by non-circular motions and
constrain the dark matter distribution in our galaxies, allowing us to address
the discrepancy between the inferred and predicted dark matter distribution in
galaxies (the "cusp/core" problem). Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey
(SINGS) 3.6 micron data as well as ancillary optical information, are used to
separate the baryons from the total matter content. Using stellar population
synthesis models, assuming various sets of metallicity and star formation
histories, we compute stellar mass-to-light ratios for the 3.6 and 4.5 micron
bands. Using our predicted value for the 3.6 micron stellar mass-to-light
ratio, we find that the observed dark matter distributions of IC 2574 and NGC
2366 are inconsistent with the cuspy dark matter halo predicted by LCDM models,
even after corrections for non-circular motions. This result also holds for
other assumptions about the stellar mass-to-light ratio. The distribution of
dark matter within our sample galaxies is best described by models with a
kpc-sized constant-density core.


title:
Synthesis, crystal structure and spin-density-wave anomaly of the iron
  arsenide-fluoride SrFeAsF

abstract:
  The new quaternary iron arsenide-fluoride SrFeAsF with the tetragonal
ZrCuSiAs-type structure was synthesized and the crystal structure was
determined by X-ray powder diffraction (P4/nmm, a = 399.30(1), c = 895.46(1)
pm). SrFeAsF undergoes a structural and magnetic phase transition at 175 K,
accompanied by strong anomalies in the specific heat, electrical resistance and
magnetic susceptibility. In the course of this transition, the space group
symmetry changes from tetragonal (P4/nmm) to orthorhombic (Cmme). 57Fe
Moessbauer spectroscopy experiments show a single signal at room temperature at
an isomer shift of 0.30(1) mm/s and magnetic hyperfine-field splitting below
the phase transition temperature. Our results clearly show that SrFeAsF
exhibits a spin density wave (SDW) anomaly at 175 K very similar to LaFeAsO,
the parent compound of the iron arsenide-oxide superconductors and thus SrFeAsF
may serve as a further parent compound for oxygen-free iron arsenide
superconductors.


title: Symmetries of the relativistic two-boson system in external field

abstract:
  We investigate the survival of symmetries in a relativistic system of two
mutually interacting bosons coupled with an external field, when this field is
"strongly" translation invariant in some directions and additionally remains
unchanged by other isometries of spacetime. Since the relativistic interactions
cannot be composed additively, it is not a priori garanteed that the two-body
system inherits all the symmetries of the external potential. However, using an
ansatz which permits to preserve the compatibility of the mass-shell
constraints in the presence of the field, we show how "surviving isometries"
can actually be implemented in the two-body wave equations.


title: On the stabilization of persistently excited linear systems

abstract:
  We consider control systems of the type $\dot x = A x +\alpha(t)bu$, where
$u\in\R$, $(A,b)$ is a controllable pair and $\alpha$ is an unknown
time-varying signal with values in $[0,1]$ satisfying a persistent excitation
condition i.e., $\int_t^{t+T}\al(s)ds\geq \mu$ for every $t\geq 0$, with
$0<\mu\leq T$ independent on $t$. We prove that such a system is stabilizable
with a linear feedback depending only on the pair $(T,\mu)$ if the eigenvalues
of $A$ have non-positive real part. We also show that stabilizability does not
hold for arbitrary matrices $A$. Moreover, the question of whether the system
can be stabilized or not with an arbitrarily large rate of convergence gives
rise to a bifurcation phenomenon in dependence of the parameter $\mu/T$.


title:
Forgetting of the initial distribution for non-ergodic Hidden Markov
  Chains

abstract:
  In this paper, the forgetting of the initial distribution for a non-ergodic
Hidden Markov Models (HMM) is studied. A new set of conditions is proposed to
establish the forgetting property of the filter, which significantly extends
all the existing results. Both a pathwise-type convergence of the total
variation distance of the filter started from two different initial
distributions, and a convergence in expectation are considered. The results are
illustrated using generic models of non-ergodic HMM and extend all the results
known so far.


title: On two-sided p-values for non-symmetric distributions

abstract:
  Two-sided statistical tests and p-values are well defined only when the test
statistic in question has a symmetric distribution. A new two-sided p-value
called conditional p-value $P_C$ is introduced here. It is closely related to
the doubled p-value and has an intuitive appeal. Its use is advocated for both
continuous and discrete distributions. An important advantage of this p-value
is that equivalent 1-sided tests are transformed into $P_C$-equivalent 2-sided
tests. It is compared to the widely used doubled and minimum likelihood
p-values. Examples include the variance test, the binomial and the Fisher's
exact test.


title: THINGS: The HI Nearby Galaxy Survey

abstract:
  We present "The HI Nearby Galaxy Survey (THINGS)", a high spectral (<=5.2
km/s) and spatial (~6") resolution survey of HI emission in 34 nearby galaxies
obtained using the NRAO Very Large Array (VLA). The overarching scientific goal
of THINGS is to investigate fundamental characteristics of the interstellar
medium (ISM) related to galaxy morphology, star formation and mass distribution
across the Hubble sequence. Unique characteristics of the THINGS database are
the homogeneous sensitivity as well as spatial and velocity resolution of the
HI data which is at the limit of what can be achieved with the VLA for a
significant number of galaxies. A sample of 34 objects at distances 2<D<15Mpc
(resulting in linear resolutions of ~100 to 500pc) are targeted in THINGS,
covering a wide range of star formation rates (10^-3 to 6 M_sun/yr), total HI
masses M_HI (0.01 to 14x10^9 M_sun), absolute luminosities M_B (-11.5 to -21.7
mag) and metallicities (7.5 to 9.2 in units of 12+log[O/H]). We describe the
setup of the VLA observations, the data reduction procedures and the creation
of the final THINGS data products. We present an atlas of the integrated HI
maps, the velocity fields, the second moment (velocity dispersion) maps and
individual channel maps of each THINGS galaxy. The THINGS data products are
made publicly available through a dedicated webpage. Accompanying THINGS papers
address issues such as the small-scale structure of the ISM, the (dark) matter
distribution in THINGS galaxies, and the processes leading to star formation.


title:
Electronic and Magnetic Structure of the
  (LaMnO$_3$)$_{2n}$/(SrMnO$_3$)$_n$ Superlattices

abstract:
  We study the magnetic structure of the (LaMnO$_3$)$_{2n}$/(SrMnO$_3$)$_n$
superlattices from density-functional calculations. In agreement with the
experiments, we find that the magnetism changes with the layer thickness `n'.
The reason for the different magnetic structures is shown to be the varying
potential barrier across the interface, which controls the leakage of the
Mn-e$_g$ electrons from the LMO side to the SMO side. This in turn affects the
interfacial magnetism via the carrier-mediated Zener double exchange. For n=1
superlattice, the Mn-e$_g$ electrons are more or less spread over the entire
lattice, so that the magnetic behavior is similar to the equivalent alloy
compound La$_{2/3}$Sr$_{1/3}$MnO$_3$. For larger n, the e$_g$ electron transfer
occurs mostly between the two layers adjacent to the interface, thus leaving
the magnetism unchanged and bulk-like away from the interface region.


title: Counting Quiver Representations over Finite Fields Via Graph Enumeration

abstract:
  Let $\Gamma$ be a quiver on n vertices $v_1, v_2, ..., v_n$ with $g_{ij}$
edges between $v_i$ and $v_j$, and let $\alpha \in \N^n$. Hua gave a formula
for $A_{\Gamma}(\alpha, q)$, the number of isomorphism classes of absolutely
indecomposable representations of $\Gamma$ over the finite field $\F_q$ with
dimension vector $\alpha$. Kac showed that $A_{\Gamma}(\bm{\alpha}, q)$ is a
polynomial in q with integer coefficients. Using Hua's formula, we show that
for each non-negative integer s, the s-th derivative of $A_{\Gamma}(\alpha,q)$
with respect to q, when evaluated at q = 1, is a polynomial in the variables
$g_{ij}$, and we compute the highest degree terms in this polynomial. Our
formulas for these coefficients depend on the enumeration of certain families
of connected graphs.


title: Transversity via Exclusive pi0 Electroproduction

abstract:
  Exclusive pi0 electroproduction from nucleons can be related to transversity,
the tensor charge, and other quantities related to transversity. This process
isolates C-parity odd and chiral odd combinations of t-channel exchange quantum
numbers. In a hadronic picture the meson production amplitudes for intermediate
energy and Q are determined by C-odd Regge exchanges with final state
interactions. The helicity structure for this C-odd process relates to the
quark helicity flip, or chiral odd generalized parton distributions
(GPDs).Various cross sections and asymmetries will be sensitive to the
transversity.


title:
Maria Goeppert Mayer's Theoretical Work on Rare-Earth and Transuranic
  Elements

abstract:
  After the discovery of element 93 neptunium by Edwin McMillan and Philip H.
Abelson in 1941, Maria Goeppert Mayer applied the Thomas-Fermi model to
calculate the electronic configuration of heavy elements and predicted the
occurrence of a second rare-earth series in the vicinity of elements 91 or 92
extending to the transuranic elements. Mayer was motivated by Enrico Fermi, who
was at the time contemplating military uses of nuclear energy. Historical
development of nuclear science research leading to Mayer's publication is
outlined. Mayer's method is introduced with the aid of a computer, which
enables students to visualize her description of eigenfunctions, particularly
the sudden change of spatial distribution and eigenenergy at the beginning of
the rare-earth series. The impact of Mayer's work on the periodic table is
discussed.


title: Equivariant Quantizations of Symmetric Algebras

abstract:
  Let g be a Lie bialgebra and let V be a finite-dimensional g-module. We study
deformations of the symmetric algebra of V which are equivariant with respect
to an action of the quantized enveloping algebra of g. In particular we
investigate such quantizations obtained from the quantization of certain Lie
bialgebra structures on the semidirect product of g and V. We classify these
structure in the important special case, when g is complex, simple, with
quasitriangular Lie bialgebra structure and V is a simple g-module. We then
introduce more a general notion, co-Poisson module algebras and their
quantizations, to further address the problem and show that many known examples
of quantized symmetric algebras can be described in this language.


title: Homological obstructions to string orientations

abstract:
  We observe that the Poincare duality isomorphism for a string manifold is an
isomorphism of modules over the subalgebra A(2) of the modulo 2 Steenrod
algebra. In particular, the pattern of the operations Sq^1, Sq^2, and Sq^4 on
the cohomology of a string manifold has a symmetry around the middle dimension.
We characterize this kind of cohomology operation duality in term of the
annihilator of the Thom class of the negative tangent bundle, and in terms of
the vanishing of top-degree cohomology operations. We also indicate how the
existence of such an operation-preserving duality implies the integrality of
certain polynomials in the Pontryagin classes of the manifold.


title: Summability of multilinear mappings: Littlewood, Orlicz and beyond

abstract:
  In this paper we prove a plenty of new results concerning summabililty
properties of multilinear mappings between Banach spaces, such as an extension
of Littlewood's 4/3 Theorem. Among other features, it is shown that every
continuous n-linear form on the disc algebra or the Hardy space is
(1;2,...,2)-summing, the role of the Littlewood-Orlicz property in the theory
is established and the interplay with almost summing multilinear mappings is
explored.


title: Diversity-Multiplexing Tradeoff of the Half-Duplex Relay Channel

abstract:
  We show that the diversity-multiplexing tradeoff of a half-duplex
single-relay channel with identically distributed Rayleigh fading channel gains
meets the 2 by 1 MISO bound. We generalize the result to the case when there
are N non-interfering relays and show that the diversity-multiplexing tradeoff
is equal to the N + 1 by 1 MISO bound.


title: Fetching Strategy in the Startup Stage of p2p Live Streaming

abstract:
  A protocol named Threshold Bipolar (TB) is proposed as a fetching strategy at
the startup stage of p2p live streaming systems. In this protocol, chunks are
fetched consecutively from buffer head at the beginning. After the buffer is
filled into a threshold, chunks at the buffer tail will be fetched first while
keeping the contiguously filled part in the buffer above the threshold even
when the buffer is drained at a playback rate. High download rate, small
startup latency and natural strategy handover can be reached at the same time
by this protocol. Important parameters in this protocol are identified. The
buffer progress under this protocol is then expressed as piecewise lines
specified by those parameters. Startup traces of peers measured from PPLive are
studied to show the real performance of TB protocol in a real system. A simple
design model of TB protocol is proposed to reveal important considerations in a
practical design.


title: Germanium atoll-islands on surface modified Si(111)-(7x7)

abstract: This paper has been withdrawn by first author KM Seemann.


title: Geometrodynamics of Spinning Light

abstract:
  The semiclassical evolution of spinning particles has recently been
re-examined in condensed matter physics, high energy physics, and optics,
resulting in the prediction of the intrinsic spin Hall effect associated with
the Berry phase. A fundamental nature of this effect is related to the
spin-orbit interaction and topological monopoles. Here we report a unified
theory and a direct observation of two mutual phenomena: a spin-dependent
deflection (the spin Hall effect) of photons and the precession of the Stokes
vector along the coiled ray trajectory of classical geometrical optics. Our
measurements are in perfect agreement with theoretical predictions, thereby
verifying the dynamical action of the topological Berry-phase monopole in the
evolution of light. These results may have promising applications in
nano-optics and can be immediately extrapolated to the evolution of massless
particles in a variety of physical systems.


title: Counterexamples to the sonic criterion

abstract:
  We consider self-similar (pseudo-steady) shock reflection at an oblique wall.
There are three parameters: wall corner angle, Mach number, angle of incident
shock. Ever since Ernst Mach discovered the irregular reflection named after
him, it has been an open problem to predict precisely for what parameters the
reflection is regular. Three conflicting proposals, the detachment, sonic and
von Neumann criteria, have been studied extensively without a clear result. We
demonstrate that the sonic criterion is not correct. We consider polytropic
potential flow and prove that there is an open nonempty set of parameters that
admit a global regular reflection with a reflected shock that is
\emph{transonic}. We also provide a clear physical reason: the flow type (sub-
or supersonic) is not decisive; instead the reflected shock type (weak or
strong) determines whether structural perturbations decay towards the
reflection point.


title: Special Riemannian geometries and the Magic Square of Lie algebras

abstract:
  We investigate nonintegrable Riemannian geometries modelled after certain
symmetric spaces related to the Freudenthal-Tits Magic Square. The collection
of four such structures found by Nurowski is extended by further eight. A focus
is given to those admitting a compatible connection with completely skew
torsion.


title:
The universal Whitham hierarchy and the geometry of the moduli space of
  pointed Riemann surfaces

abstract:
  We show that certain structures and constructions of the Whitham theory, an
essential part of the perturbation theory of soliton equations, can be
instrumental in understanding the geometry of the moduli spaces of Riemann
surfaces with marked points. We use the ideas of the Whitham theory to define
local coordinates and construct foliations on the moduli spaces. We use these
constructions to give a new proof of the Diaz' bound on the dimension of
complete subvarieties of the moduli spaces. Geometrically, we study the
properties of meromorphic differentials with real periods, and their
degenerations.


title: Two New Variable Hot DQ Stars

abstract:
  We have discovered periodic variations in the light curves of two hot DQ
stars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, SDSS J220029.08-074121.5 and SDSS
J234843.30-094245.3. These are the second and third variables detected among
the hot DQs and confirm the existence of a new class of variable white dwarf
stars. The amplitudes of the variations are one half as large as those detected
in the first discovered variable, SDSS J142625.71+575218.3, and required high
signal-to-noise photometry to detect. The pulse shapes of the stars are not
like those of known white dwarf pulsators but are similar to the first hot DQ
variable, SDSS J142625.71+575218.3.


title: Short-baseline Neutrinos: Recent Results and Future Prospects

abstract:
  This note summarizes a presentation of the same title given at XXVIII Physics
in Collision 2008. We review recent results from short-baseline neutrino
experiments, including MiniBooNE, CHORUS, and K2K, and we look ahead to
expected upcoming results from several collaborations.


title: Enhancement of valley susceptibility upon complete spin-polarization

abstract:
  Measurements on a two-dimensional electron system confined to an AlAs quantum
well reveal that for a given electron density the valley susceptibility,
defined as the change in valley population difference per unit strain, is
enhanced as the system makes a transition from partial to full spin
polarization. This observation is reminiscent of earlier studies in which the
spin susceptibility of AlAs electrons was observed to be higher in a
single-valley system than its two-valley counterpart.


title:
The approximate fixed point property in Hausdorff topological vector
  spaces and applications

abstract:
  We establish an approximate fixed point result for self-maps on compact
convex subsets of Hausdorff topological vector spaces where continuity is not a
necessary condition.


title: Asymptotics of Entropy Rate in Special Families of Hidden Markov Chains

abstract:
  We derive an asymptotic formula for entropy rate of a hidden Markov chain
around a "weak Black Hole". We also discuss applications of the asymptotic
formula to the asymptotic behaviors of certain channels.


title: The Generation of Promoter-Mediated Transcriptional Noise in Bacteria

abstract:
  Noise in the expression of a gene produces fluctuations in the concentration
of the gene product. These fluctuations can interfere with optimal function or
can be exploited to generate beneficial diversity between cells; gene
expression noise is therefore expected to be subject to evolutionary pressure.
Shifts between modes of high and low rates of transcription initiation at a
promoter appear to contribute to this noise both in eukaryotes and prokaryotes.
However, models invoked for eukaryotic promoter noise such as stable activation
scaffolds or persistent nucleosome alterations seem unlikely to apply to
prokaryotic promoters. We consider the relative importance of the steps
required for transcription initiation. The 3-step transcription initiation
model of McClure is extended into a mathematical model that can be used to
predict consequences of additional promoter properties. We show in principle
that the transcriptional bursting observed at an E. coli promoter by Golding et
al. (2005) can be explained by stimulation of initiation by the negative
supercoiling behind a transcribing RNA polymerase (RNAP) or by the formation of
moribund or dead-end RNAP-promoter complexes. Both mechanisms are tunable by
the alteration of promoter kinetics and therefore allow the optimization of
promoter mediated noise.


title: Towards a Global Springer Theory I: The affine Weyl group action

abstract:
  We propose a generalization of Springer representations to the context of
groups over a global function field. The global counterpart of the Grothendieck
simultaneous resolution is the parabolic Hitchin fibration. We construct an
action of the affine Weyl group on the direct image complex of the parabolic
Hitchin fibration. In particular, we get representations of the affine Weyl
group on the cohomology of parabolic Hitchin fibers, providing the first step
towards a global Springer theory.


title:
Barrierless procedure for substitutionally doping graphene sheets with
  boron atoms: ab initio calculations

abstract:
  Using ab initio methods, we propose a simple and effective way to
substitutionally dope graphene sheets with Boron. The method consists of
selectively exposing each side of the graphene sheet to different elements. We
first expose one side of the membrane to Boron, while the other side is exposed
to Nitrogen. Proceeding this way, the B atoms will be spontaneously
incorporated into the graphene membrane, without any activation barrier. In a
second step, the system should be exposed to a H-rich environment, that will
remove the CN radical from the layer and form HCN, leading to a perfect
substitutional doping.


title: Lorentz Boosted Nucleon-Nucleon T-matrix and the Triton Binding Energy

abstract:
  The phase equivalent relativistic NN potential, which is related by a
nonlinear equation to the original nonrelativistic potential, is used to
construct the mass operator (rest Hamiltonian) of the 3-nucleon system.
Employing the CD Bonn NN potential, the solution of the relativistic 3N Faddeev
equation for $^3$H shows slightly less binding energy than the corresponding
nonrelativistic result. The effect of the Wigner spin rotation on the binding
is very small.


title: On collisions of Brownian particles

abstract:
  We examine the behavior of $n$ Brownian particles diffusing on the real line
with bounded, measurable drift and bounded, piecewise continuous diffusion
coefficients that depend on the current configuration of particles. Sufficient
conditions are established for the absence and for the presence of triple
collisions among the particles. As an application to the Atlas model for equity
markets, we study a special construction of such systems of diffusing particles
using Brownian motions with reflection on polyhedral domains.


title: A Model for Communication in Clusters of Multi-core Machines

abstract:
  A common paradigm for scientific computing is distributed message-passing
systems, and a common approach to these systems is to implement them across
clusters of high-performance workstations. As multi-core architectures become
increasingly mainstream, these clusters are very likely to include multi-core
machines. However, the theoretical models which are currently used to develop
communication algorithms across these systems do not take into account the
unique properties of processes running on shared-memory architectures,
including shared external network connections and communication via shared
memory locations. Because of this, existing algorithms are far from optimal for
modern clusters. Additionally, recent attempts to adapt these algorithms to
multicore systems have proceeded without the introduction of a more accurate
formal model and have generally neglected to capitalize on the full power these
systems offer. We propose a new model which simply and effectively captures the
strengths of multi-core machines in collective communications patterns and
suggest how it could be used to properly optimize these patterns.


title:
The implications from CANGAROO-III observations of TeV blazar PKS
  2155-304

abstract:
  We have observed the high-frequency-peaked BL Lacertae object PKS2155-304 in
2004, 2005 and 2006 with the CANGAROO-III imaging atmospheric Cherenkov
telescope, and have detected a signal above 660 GeV at the 4.8/sigma level
during the 2006 outburst period. Intranight flux variability on time scale of
half an hour is observed. From this variability time scale, the size of the TeV
gamma-ray emission region is restricted to 5x10^13\delta cm, and the super
massive black hole mass is estimated to be less than 1.9x10^8\delta M_{Solar},
where \delta is the beaming factor. The differential energy spectrum is
obtained, and an upper limit of the extragalactic infrared background light
(EBL) flux is derived under some assumption. We also fit a synchrotron self
Compton (SSC) model to the spectral energy distribution (SED) and derive the
beaming factor and magnetic field strength.


title: Stimulus-dependent correlations and population codes

abstract:
  The magnitude of correlations between stimulus-driven responses of pairs of
neurons can itself be stimulus-dependent. We examine how this dependence
impacts the information carried by neural populations about the stimuli that
drive them. Stimulus-dependent changes in correlations can both carry
information directly and modulate the information separately carried by the
firing rates and variances. We use Fisher information to quantify these effects
and show that, although stimulus dependent correlations often carry little
information directly, their modulatory effects on the overall information can
be large. In particular, if the stimulus-dependence is such that correlations
increase with stimulus-induced firing rates, this can significantly enhance the
information of the population when the structure of correlations is determined
solely by the stimulus. However, in the presence of additional strong spatial
decay of correlations, such stimulus-dependence may have a negative impact.
Opposite relationships hold when correlations decrease with firing rates.


title: The precession of vortex-beams in a rotating uniaxial crystal

abstract:
  We consider theoretically and experimentally the precession of the optical
vortex in a singular beam propagating nearly perpendicular to the crystal
optical axis, the beam and the crystal axis rotating with different angular
velocities. The precession is a result of different scales along the major axes
in a uniaxial crystal. Also we analyze the properties of the optical reducer
consisting of two rotating crystals and a wave retarder between them permitting
us to control the form of the vortex trajectory.


title:
Iterative building of Barabanov norms and computation of the joint
  spectral radius for matrix sets

abstract:
  The problem of construction of Barabanov norms for analysis of properties of
the joint (generalized) spectral radius of matrix sets has been discussed in a
number of publications. The method of Barabanov norms was the key instrument in
disproving the Lagarias-Wang Finiteness Conjecture. The related constructions
were essentially based on the study of the geometrical properties of the unit
balls of some specific Barabanov norms. In this context the situation when one
fails to find among current publications any detailed analysis of the
geometrical properties of the unit balls of Barabanov norms looks a bit
paradoxical. Partially this is explained by the fact that Barabanov norms are
defined nonconstructively, by an implicit procedure. So, even in simplest cases
it is very difficult to visualize the shape of their unit balls. The present
work may be treated as the first step to make up this deficiency. In the paper
two iteration procedure are considered that allow to build numerically
Barabanov norms for the irreducible matrix sets and simultaneously to compute
the joint spectral radius of these sets.


title: Invisible Higgs boson, continuous mass fields and unHiggs mechanism

abstract:
  We explore the consequences of an electroweak symmetry breaking sector which
exhibits approximately scale invariant dynamics -- i.e., nontrivial fixed point
behavior, as in unparticle models. One can think of an unHiggs as a composite
Higgs boson with a continuous mass distribution. We find it convenient to
represent the unHiggs in terms of a Kallen-Lehmann spectral function, from
which it is simple to verify the generation of gauge boson and fermion masses,
and unitarization of WW scattering. We show that a spectral function with broad
support, which corresponds to approximate fixed point behavior over an extended
range of energy, can lead to an effectively invisible Higgs particle, whose
decays at LEP or LHC could be obscured by background.


title: Quantizations of modules of differential operators

abstract:
  Fix a manifold M, and let V be an infinite dimensional Lie algebra of vector
fields on M. Assume that V contains a finite dimensional semisimple maximal
subalgebra A, the projective or conformal subalgebra. A projective or conformal
quantization of a V-module of differential operators on M is a decomposition
into irreducible A-modules. We survey recent results on projective
quantizations and their applications to cohomology, geometric equivalences and
symmetries of differential operator modules, and indecomposable modules.


title:
On explicit a priori estimates of the joint spectral radius by the
  generalized Gelfand formula

abstract:
  In various problems of control theory, non-autonomous and multivalued
dynamical systems, wavelet theory and other fields of mathematics information
about the rate of growth of matrix products with factors taken from some matrix
set plays a key role. One of the most prominent quantities characterizing the
exponential rate of growth of matrix products is the so-called joint or
generalized spectral radius. In the work some explicit a priori estimates for
the joint spectral radius with the help of the generalized Gelfand formula are
obtained. These estimates are based on the notion of the measure of
irreducibility (quasi-controllability) of matrix sets proposed previously by A.
Pokrovskii and the author.


title: Quasi-K\"ahler groups, 3-manifold groups, and formality

abstract:
  In this note, we address the following question: Which 1-formal groups occur
as fundamental groups of both quasi-K\"ahler manifolds and closed, connected,
orientable 3-manifolds. We classify all such groups, at the level of Malcev
completions, and compute their coranks. Dropping the assumption on
realizability by 3-manifolds, we show that the corank equals the isotropy index
of the cup-product map in degree one. Finally, we examine the formality
properties of smooth affine surfaces and quasi-homogeneous isolated surface
singularities. In the latter case, we describe explicitly the
positive-dimensional components of the first characteristic variety for the
associated singularity link.


title:
Computation of the string tension in three dimensions using large N
  reduction

abstract:
  We numerically compute the string tension in the large N limit of three
dimensional Yang-Mills theory using Wilson loops. Space-time Wilson loops are
formed using smeared space-like links and unsmeared time-like links. We use
partial reduction and both unfolded and folded Wilson loops in the analysis.


title: Duality Theorem for Motives

abstract:
  Using Dold--Puppe category approach to the duality in topology, we prove
general duality theorem for the category of motives. As one of the applications
of this general result we obtain, in particular, a generalization of
Friedlander--Voevodsky's duality to the case of arbitrary base field
characteristic.


title: Generalized Painlev\'e-Gullstrand metrics

abstract:
  An obstruction to the implementation of spatially flat
Painleve-Gullstrand(PG) slicings is demonstrated, and explicitly discussed for
Reissner-Nordstrom and Schwarzschild-anti-deSitter spacetimes. Generalizations
of PG slicings which are not spatially flat but which remain regular at the
horizons are introduced. These metrics can be obtained from standard
spherically symmetric metrics by physical Lorentz boosts. With these
generalized PG metrics, problematic contributions to the imaginary part of the
action in the Parikh-Wilczek derivation of Hawking radiation due to the
obstruction can be avoided.


title:
Modelling Starburst in HII galaxies: From chemical to
  spectro-photometric evolutionary self-consistent models

abstract:
  We have computed a series of realistic and self-consistent models that
reproduce the properties of HII galaxies.
  The emitted spectrum of HII galaxies is reproduced by means of the
photoionization code CLOUDY, using as ionizing spectrum the spectral energy
distribution of the modelled HII galaxy, calculated using new and updated
stellar population synthesis model (PopStar, Molla et al. 08) This, in turn, is
calculated according to a star formation history and a metallicity evolution
given by a chemical evolution code. Our technique reproduces observed
abundances, diagnostic diagrams, colours and equivalent width vs. colour
relations for local HII galaxies


title: Elementary processes in gas discharges

abstract:
  This chapter presents, from a quantum-mechanical point of view, a tutorial
discussion of elementary collision processes in the bulk of a gas discharge.
Instead of merely listing kitchen-made cross section formulae and unrelated
cross section data, emphasis has been given on an unified description of
elementary processes based on general principles of quantum-mechanical
multi-channel scattering theory. By necessity, the presentation is rather
dense. Technical details left out, as well as cross section data, can be found,
respectively, in the quoted original papers and the review articles,
monographs, and web-sites mentioned in the introductory remarks to this
chapter.


title:
Joint source-channel coding via statistical mechanics: thermal
  equilibrium between the source and the channel

abstract:
  We examine the classical joint source--channel coding problem from the
viewpoint of statistical physics and demonstrate that in the random coding
regime, the posterior probability distribution of the source given the channel
output is dominated by source sequences, which exhibit a behavior that is
highly parallel to that of thermal equilibrium between two systems of particles
that exchange energy, where one system corresponds to the source and the other
corresponds to the channel. The thermodynamical entopies of the dual physical
problem are analogous to conditional and unconditional Shannon entropies of the
source, and so, their balance in thermal equilibrium yields a simple formula
for the mutual information between the source and the channel output, that is
induced by the typical code in an ensemble of joint source--channel codes under
certain conditions. We also demonstrate how our results can be used in
applications, like the wiretap channel, and how can it be extended to multiuser
scenarios, like that of the multiple access channel.


title: Frustration effects in antiferromagnetic molecules: the cuboctahedron

abstract:
  Frustration of magnetic systems which is caused by competing interactions is
the driving force of several unusual phenomena such as plateaus and jumps of
the magnetization curve as well as of unusual energy spectra with for instance
many singlet levels below the first triplet state. The antiferromagnetic
cuboctahedron can serve as a paradigmatic example of certain frustrated
antiferromagnets. In addition it has the advantage that its complete energy
spectrum can be obtained up to individual spin quantum numbers of s=3/2
(16,777,216 states).


title: Large-scale lognormal fluctuations in turbulence velocity fields

abstract:
  For several flows of laboratory turbulence, we obtain long records of
velocity data. These records are divided into numerous segments. In each
segment, we calculate the mean rate of energy dissipation, the mean energy at
each scale, and the mean total energy. Their values fluctuate significantly
among the segments. The fluctuations are lognormal, if the segment length lies
within the range of large scales where the velocity correlations are weak but
not yet absent. Since the lognormality is observed regardless of the Reynolds
number and the configuration for turbulence production, it is expected to be
universal. The likely origin is some multiplicative stochastic process related
to interactions among scales through the energy transfer.


title:
First-Forbidden Continuum- and Bound-State beta^- -Decay Rates of Bare
  205Hg80+ and 207Tl81+ Ions

abstract:
  We calculate the decay rates lambda_(beta^-_c) and lambda_(beta^-_b) of the
continuum- and bound-state beta^- decays for bare 205Hg80+ and 207Tl81+ ions.
For the ratio of the decay rates R_(b/c) = lambda_(beta^-_b)/lambda_(beta^-_c)
we obtain the values R_(b/c) = 0.161 and R_(b/c) = 0.190 for bare 205Hg80+ and
207Tl81+ ions, respectively. The theoretical value of the ratio R_(b/c) = 0.190
for the decays of 207Tl81+ agrees within 1% of accuracy with the experimental
data R^exp_(b/c) = 0.188(18), obtained at GSI. The theoretical ratio R_(b/c) =
0.161 for 205Hg80+ is about 20% smaller than the experimental value R^exp_(b/c)
= 0.20(2), measured recently at GSI.


title:
An Abelian Ward identity and the vertex corrections to the color
  superconducting gap

abstract:
  We derive an Abelian-like Ward identity in color superconducting phase and
calculate vertex corrections to the color superconducting gap. Making use of
the Ward identity, we show that subleading order contributions to the gap from
vertices are absent for gapped excitations.


title:
Localized Distributions of Quasi Two-Dimensional Electronic States near
  Defects Artificially Created at Graphite Surfaces in Magnetic Fields

abstract:
  We measured the local density of states of a quasi two-dimensional electron
system (2DES) near defects, artificially created by Ar-ion sputtering, on
surfaces of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) with scanning tunneling
spectroscopy (STS) in high magnetic fields. At valley energies of the Landau
level spectrum, we found two typical localized distributions of the 2DES
depending on the defects. These are new types of distributions which are not
observed in the previous STS work at the HOPG surface near a point defect [Y.
Niimi \textit{et al}., Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 97}, 236804 (2006).]. With
increasing energy, we observed gradual transformation from the localized
distributions to the extended ones as expected for the integer quantum Hall
state. We show that the defect potential depth is responsible for the two
localized distributions from comparison with theoretical calculations.


title: Recoilless Resonant Emission and Detection of Electron Antineutrinos

abstract:
  Recoilless resonant capture of monoenergetic electron antineutrinos
(Moessbauer antineutrinos) emitted in bound-state beta-decay in the system 3H -
3He is discussed. The recoilfree fraction including a possible phonon
excitation due to local lattice expansion and contraction at the time of the
nuclear transition, homogeneous and inhomogeneous line broadening, and the
relativistic second-order Doppler effect are considered. It is demonstrated
that homogeneous line broadening is essential due to stochastic magnetic
relaxation processes in a metallic lattice. Inhomogeneous line broadening plays
an equally important role. An essential issue which has been overlooked up to
now, is an energy shift of the resonance line due to the direct influence of
the binding energies of the 3H and 3He atoms in the lattice on the energy of
the electron antineutrinos. This energy shift as well as the second-order
Doppler shift exhibit variations in a non-perfect (inhomogeneous) lattice and
may seriously jeopardize the observation of Moessbauer antineutrinos. If
successful in spite of these enormous difficulties, Moessbauer antineutrino
experiments could be used to gain new and deep insights into the nature of
neutrino oscillations, determine the neutrino mass hierarchy as well as up to
now unknown oscillation parameters, search for sterile neutrinos, and measure
the gravitational redshift of electron antineutrinos in the field of the Earth.


title: M2-brane Perspective on N=6 Super Chern-Simons Theory at Level k

abstract:
  Recently, O. Aharony, O. Bergman, D. L. Jafferis and J. Maldacena (ABJM)
proposed three-dimensional super Chern-Simons-matter theory, which at level k
is supposed to describe the low energy limit of N M2-branes. For large N and k,
but fixed 't Hooft coupling \lambda=N/k, it is dual to type IIA string theory
on AdS_4 x CP^3. For large N but finite k, it is dual to M theory on AdS_4 x
S^7/Z_k. In this paper, relying on the second duality, we find exact giant
magnon and single spike solutions of membrane configurations on AdS_4 x S^7/Z_k
by reducing the system to the Neumann-Rosochatius integrable model. We derive
the dispersion relations and their finite-size corrections with explicit
dependence on the level k.


title:
Eddington ratios of faint AGN at intermediate redshift: Evidence for a
  population of half-starved black holes

abstract:
  We use one of the deepest spectroscopic samples of broad line active galactic
nuclei (AGN) currently available, extracted from the VIMOS VLT Deep Survey
(VVDS), to compute MgII and CIV virial masses estimate of 120 super-massive
black holes in the redshift range 1.0<z<1.9 and 2.6<z<4.3. We find that the
mass-luminosity relation shows considerably enhanced dispersion towards low AGN
luminosities (log L_bol ~ 45). At these luminosities, there is a substantial
fraction of black holes accreting far below their Eddington limit (L_bol/L_Edd
< 0.1), in marked contrast to what is generally found for AGN of higher
luminosities. We speculate that these may be AGN on the decaying branch of
their light-curves, well past their peak activity. This would agree with recent
theoretical predictions of AGN evolution.
  In the electronic Appendix of this paper we publish an update of the VVDS
type-1 AGN sample, including the first and most of the second epoch
observations. This sample contains 298 objects of which 168 are new.


title: Finite field theories and causality

abstract:
  A condensed introduction to the basic concepts of causal perturbation theory
is given. Causal perturbation theory is a mathematically rigorous approach to
renormalization theory, which makes it possible to put the theoretical setup of
perturbative quantum field theory on a sound mathematical basis by avoiding
infinities from the outset. It goes back to a seminal work by Henri Epstein and
Vladimir Jurko Glaser published in 1973, where a specific causality condition
was imposed at every order of perturbation theory in the case of scalar quantum
field theory such that divergent integrals could be avoided in actual
calculations of loop diagrams. In the meantime, the causal approach has been
applied also to a wide range of gauge theories.


title:
Modal abundances of CAIs: Implications for bulk chondrite element
  abundances and fractionations

abstract:
  Modal abundances of Ca,Al-rich inclusions (CAIs) are poorly known and
reported data scatter across large ranges. We combine reported CAI modal
abundances and our own set, and present a complete list of CAI modal abundances
in carbonaceous chondrites. This includes (in area%): CV: 2.98, CM: 1.21, Acfer
094: 1.12, CO: 0.99, CK/CV (Ningqiang & DaG 055): 0.77, CK: 0.2, CR: 0.12 and
CB: 0.1. CAIs are Poisson distributed and if only small areas (<1000 mm2) are
studied, the data are probably not representative of the true CAI modal
abundances, explaining their reported large scatter in a single chondrite
group. Carbonaceous chondrites have excess bulk Al concentrations when compared
to the CI-chondritic value. We find a correlation between this excess and CAI
modal abundances and conclude that the excess Al was delivered by CAIs. The
excess Al is only a minor fraction (usually ~10 rel%, but 25 rel% in case of
CVs) of the bulk chondrite Al and cannot have contributed much 26Al to heat the
chondrite parent body. Ordinary, enstatite, R- and K-chondrites have an Al
deficit relative to CI chondrites and only very low CAI modal abundances, if
any are present at all. Carbonaceous chondrites also had an initial Al deficit
if the contribution of Al delivered by CAIs is subtracted. Therefore all
chondrites probably lost a refractory rich high-T component. Only minor amounts
of CAIs are present in the matrix or have been present in the chondrule
precursor aggregates. Most CAI size distributions contain more than one size
population, indicating that CAIs from within a single meteorite group had
different origins.


title: A simple local 3-approximation algorithm for vertex cover

abstract:
  We present a local algorithm (constant-time distributed algorithm) for
finding a 3-approximate vertex cover in bounded-degree graphs. The algorithm is
deterministic, and no auxiliary information besides port numbering is required.


title: The optical phonon spectrum of SmFeAsO

abstract:
  We measured the Raman and the Infrared phonon spectrum of SmFeAsO
polycrystalline samples. We also performed Density Functional Theory
calculations within the pseudopotential approximation to obtain the structural
and dynamical lattice properties of both the SmFeAsO and the prototype LaFeAsO
compounds. The measured Raman and Infrared phonon frequencies are well
predicted by the optical phonon frequencies computed at the Gamma point,
showing the capability of the employed ab-initio methods to describe the
dynamical properties of these materials. A comparison among the phonon
frequencies of different oxypnictides suggests a possible role of the high
frequency phonons in the pairing mechanism leading to superconductivity in
these materials.


title: The Fate of Substructures in Cold Dark Matter Haloes

abstract:
  We use the Millennium Simulation, a large, high resolution N-body simulation
of the evolution of structure in a LambdaCDM cosmology, to study the properties
and fate of substructures within a large sample of dark matter haloes. We find
that the subhalo mass function departs significantly from a power law at the
high mass end. We also find that the radial and angular distributions of
substructures depend on subhalo mass. In particular, high mass subhaloes tend
to be less radially concentrated and to have angular distributions closer to
the direction perpendicular to the spin of the host halo than their less
massive counterparts. We find that mergers between subhaloes occur. These tend
to be between substructures that were already dynamically associated before
accretion into the main halo. For subhaloes larger than 0.001 times the mass of
the host halo, it is more likely that the subhalo will merge with the central
or main subhalo than with another subhalo larger than itself. For lower masses,
subhalo-subhalo mergers become equally likely to mergers with the main subhalo.
Our results have implications for the variation of galaxy properties with
environment and for the treatment of mergers in galaxy formation models.


title:
Simplified approach to generate controlled-NOT gates with single trapped
  ions for arbitrary Lamb-Dicke parameters

abstract:
  For certain {\it specific} (or {\it"magic"}) Lamb-Dicke (LD) parameters,
Monroe {\it et al} showed [Phys. Rev. {\bf A 55}, R2489 (1997)] that a
two-qubit quantum operation, between the external and internal degrees of
freedom of a single trapped ion, could be implemented by applying a single
carrier laser pulse. Here, we further show that, such a two-qubit operation
(which is equivalent to the standard CNOT gate, only apart from certain phase
factors) could also be significantly-well realized for {\it arbitrarily}
selected LD parameters. Instead of the so-called "$\pi$-pulses" used in the
previous demonstrations, the durations of the pulses applied in the present
proposal are required to be accurately set within the decoherence times of the
ion. % We also propose a simple approach by using only one off-resonant (e.g.,
blue-sideband) laser pulse to eliminate the unwanted phase factors existed in
the above two-qubit operations for generating the standard CNOT gates.


title: Structural abstract interpretation, A formal study using Coq

abstract:
  interpreters are tools to compute approximations for behaviors of a program.
These approximations can then be used for optimisation or for error detection.
In this paper, we show how to describe an abstract interpreter using the
type-theory based theorem prover Coq, using inductive types for syntax and
structural recursive programming for the abstract interpreter's kernel. The
abstract interpreter can then be proved correct with respect to a Hoare logic
for the programming language.


title: Examples of hyperlinear groups without factorization property

abstract:
  In this note we give an example of a group which is locally embeddable into
finite groups (in particular it is initially subamenable, sofic and hence
hyperlinear) but does not have Kirchberg's factorization property. This group
provides also an example of a sofic Kazhdan group which is not residually
finite, answering a question of Elek and Szabo. We also give an example of a
group which is not initially subamenable but hyperlinear. Finally, we point out
a mistake in an assertion of Kirchberg and provide an example of a group which
does not have the factorization property and is still a subgroup of a connected
finite-dimensional Lie group.


title:
Quantum transport in honeycomb lattice ribbons with armchair and zigzag
  edges coupled to semi-infinite linear chain leads

abstract:
  We study quantum transport in honeycomb lattice ribbons with either armchair
or zigzag edges. The ribbons are coupled to semi-infinite linear chains serving
as the input and output leads and we use a tight-binding Hamiltonian with
nearest-neighbor hops. For narrow ribbons we find transmission gaps for both
types of edges. The center of the gap is at the middle of the band in ribbons
with armchair edges. This symmetry is due to a property satisfied by the
matrices in the resulting linear problem. In ribbons with zigzag edges the gap
center is displaced to the right of the middle of the band. We also find
transmission oscillations and resonances within the transmitting region of the
band for both types of edges. Extending the length of a ribbon does not affect
the width of the transmission gap, as long as the ribbon's length is longer
than a critical value when the gap can form. Increasing the width of the
ribbon, however, changes the width of the gap. In armchair edges the gap is not
well-defined because of the appearance of transmission resonances while in
zigzag edges the gap width systematically shrinks as the width of the ribbon is
increased. We also find only evanescent waves within the gap and both
evanescent and propagating waves in the transmitting regions.


title:
Phase transition for the Ising model on the Critical Lorentzian
  triangulation

abstract:
  Ising model without external field on an infinite Lorentzian triangulation
sampled from the uniform distribution is considered. We prove uniqueness of the
Gibbs measure in the high temperature region and coexistence of at least two
Gibbs measures at low temperature. The proofs are based on the disagreement
percolation method and on a variant of Peierls method. The critical temperature
is shown to be constant a.s.


title: Topics in Cusped/Lightcone Wilson Loops

abstract:
  I review several old/new approaches to the string/gauge correspondence for
the cusped/lightcone Wilson loops. The main attention is payed to SYM
perturbation theory calculations at two loops and beyond and to the cusped loop
equation.
  These three introductory lectures were given at the 48 Cracow School of
Theoretical Physics: "Aspects of Duality", June 13-22, 2008, Zakopane, Poland.