title: SemiRetro: Semi-template framework boosts deep retrosynthesis prediction

abstract:
  Recently, template-based (TB) and template-free (TF) molecule graph learning
methods have shown promising results to retrosynthesis. TB methods are more
accurate using pre-encoded reaction templates, and TF methods are more scalable
by decomposing retrosynthesis into subproblems, i.e., center identification and
synthon completion. To combine both advantages of TB and TF, we suggest
breaking a full-template into several semi-templates and embedding them into
the two-step TF framework. Since many semi-templates are reduplicative, the
template redundancy can be reduced while the essential chemical knowledge is
still preserved to facilitate synthon completion. We call our method SemiRetro,
introduce a new GNN layer (DRGAT) to enhance center identification, and propose
a novel self-correcting module to improve semi-template classification.
Experimental results show that SemiRetro significantly outperforms both
existing TB and TF methods. In scalability, SemiRetro covers 98.9\% data using
150 semi-templates, while previous template-based GLN requires 11,647 templates
to cover 93.3\% data. In top-1 accuracy, SemiRetro exceeds template-free G2G
4.8\% (class known) and 6.0\% (class unknown). Besides, SemiRetro has better
training efficiency than existing methods.


title:
Nuclear information entropy, gravitational form factor, and glueballs in
  AdS/QCD

abstract:
  The nuclear configurational entropy (NCE) is employed to derive two
parameters encoding the Pomeron Regge trajectory and the spectrum of closed
strings, which are also related to the glueball mass, precisely matching data
of the TOTEM collaboration at the LHC. In the Regge regime of holographic QCD,
the (Reggeized) glueball propagator and the gravitational form factor of the
proton occupy a relevant spot in AdS/QCD. They are used for deriving the
cross-sections for the TeV scale proton-proton scattering process, which are
the main ingredient for computing the NCE. The nuclear configurational
stability is also addressed.


title: Compatibility of Braiding and Fusion on Wire Networks

abstract:
  Exchanging particles on graphs, or more concretely on networks of quantum
wires, has been proposed as a means to perform fault tolerant quantum
computation. This was inspired by braiding of anyons in planar systems.
However, exchanges on a graph are not governed by the usual braid group but
instead by a graph braid group. By imposing compatibility of graph braiding
with fusion of topological charges, we obtain generalized hexagon equations. We
find the usual planar anyons solutions but also more general braid actions. We
illustrate this with Abelian, Fibonacci and Ising fusion rules.


title: Front Transport Reduction for Complex Moving Fronts

abstract:
  This work addresses model order reduction for complex moving fronts, which
are transported by advection or through a reaction-diffusion process. Such
systems are especially challenging for model order reduction since the
transport cannot be captured by linear reduction methods. Moreover, topological
changes, such as splitting or merging of fronts pose difficulties for many
nonlinear reduction methods and the small non-vanishing support of the
underlying partial differential equations dynamics makes most nonlinear
hyper-reduction methods infeasible. We propose a new decomposition method
together with a hyper-reduction scheme that addresses these shortcomings. The
decomposition uses a level-set function to parameterize the transport and a
nonlinear activation function that captures the structure of the front. This
approach is similar to autoencoder artificial neural networks, but additionally
provides insights into the system, which can be used for efficient reduced
order models. We make use of this property and are thus able to solve the
advection equation with the same complexity as the POD-Galerkin approach while
obtaining errors of less than one percent for representative examples.
Furthermore, we outline a special hyper-reduction method for more complicated
advection-reaction-diffusion systems. The capability of the approach is
illustrated by various numerical examples in one and two spatial dimensions,
including real-life applications to a two-dimensional Bunsen flame.


title: An Extension Of Combinatorial Contextuality For Cognitive Protocols

abstract:
  This article extends the combinatorial approach to support the determination
of contextuality amidst causal influences. Contextuality is an active field of
study in Quantum Cognition, in systems relating to mental phenomena, such as
concepts in human memory [Aerts et al., 2013]. In the cognitive field of study,
a contemporary challenge facing the determination of whether a phenomenon is
contextual has been the identification and management of disturbances
[Dzhafarov et al., 2016]. Whether or not said disturbances are identified
through the modelling approach, constitute causal influences, or are
disregardableas as noise is important, as contextuality cannot be adequately
determined in the presence of causal influences [Gleason, 1957]. To address
this challenge, we first provide a formalisation of necessary elements of the
combinatorial approach within the language of canonical9 causal models. Through
this formalisation, we extend the combinatorial approach to support a
measurement and treatment of disturbance, and offer techniques to separately
distinguish noise and causal influences. Thereafter, we develop a protocol
through which these elements may be represented within a cognitive experiment.
As human cognition seems rife with causal influences, cognitive modellers may
apply the extended combinatorial approach to practically determine the
contextuality of cognitive phenomena.


title:
Automatic Depression Detection: An Emotional Audio-Textual Corpus and a
  GRU/BiLSTM-based Model

abstract:
  Depression is a global mental health problem, the worst case of which can
lead to suicide. An automatic depression detection system provides great help
in facilitating depression self-assessment and improving diagnostic accuracy.
In this work, we propose a novel depression detection approach utilizing speech
characteristics and linguistic contents from participants' interviews. In
addition, we establish an Emotional Audio-Textual Depression Corpus
(EATD-Corpus) which contains audios and extracted transcripts of responses from
depressed and non-depressed volunteers. To the best of our knowledge,
EATD-Corpus is the first and only public depression dataset that contains audio
and text data in Chinese. Evaluated on two depression datasets, the proposed
method achieves the state-of-the-art performances. The outperforming results
demonstrate the effectiveness and generalization ability of the proposed
method. The source code and EATD-Corpus are available at
https://github.com/speechandlanguageprocessing/ICASSP2022-Depression.


title:
Incorporating galaxy cluster triaxiality in stacked cluster weak lensing
  analyses

abstract:
  Counts of galaxy clusters offer a high-precision probe of cosmology, but
control of systematic errors will determine the accuracy of this measurement.
Using Buzzard simulations, we quantify one such systematic, the triaxiality
distribution of clusters identified with the redMaPPer optical cluster finding
algorithm, which was used in the Dark Energy Survey Year-1 (DES Y1) cluster
cosmology analysis. We test whether redMaPPer selection biases the clusters'
shape and orientation and find that it only biases orientation, preferentially
selecting clusters with their major axes oriented along the line of sight.
Modeling the richness-mass relation as a log-linear relation, we find that the
log-richness amplitude $\ln(A)$ is boosted from the lowest to highest
orientation bin with a significance of $14\sigma$, while the orientation
dependence of the richness-mass slope and intrinsic scatter is minimal. We also
find that the weak lensing shear-profile ratios of cluster-associated dark
halos in different orientation bins resemble a "bottleneck" shape that can be
quantified with a Cauchy function. We test the correlation of orientation with
two other leading systematics in cluster cosmology -- miscentering and
projection -- and find a null correlation. Analytic templates for the
triaxiality bias of observed-richness and lensing profiles are mapped as
corrections to the observable of richness-binned lensing profiles for redMaPPer
clusters. The resulting mass bias confirms the DES Y1 finding that triaxiality
is a leading source of bias in cluster cosmology. However, the
richness-dependence of the bias confirms that triaxiality does not fully
resolve the tension at low-richness between DES Y1 cluster cosmology and other
probes. Our model can be used for quantifying the impact of triaxiality bias on
cosmological constraints for upcoming weak lensing surveys of galaxy clusters.


title: A (2,1)-model structure for conceptual completeness

abstract:
  We prove the (2,1)-categorical analogue of the small object argument and give
a (2,1)-model structure on the category of small coherent categories, coherent
functors and natural isomorphisms. It is induced by a higher dimensional
example of a reflective factorisation system, determined by the full
subcategory of pretoposes. We prove it to be right proper and the generating
trivial cofibrations are described. Whitehead's theorem gives conceptual
completeness.


title:
A study of anisotropic compact star with MIT bag EoS in f(R,T) modified
  theory

abstract:
  In the current study, we investigated a specific model of anisotropic strange
stars specially Her X-1, in the background of modified f(R,T) gravity by
choosing f(R,T) = R+2{\xi}T, where R is Ricci scalar, T is the trace of the
energy-momentum tensor and {\xi} is a coupling constant. To obtained the
solution for the modified field equations, we apply Buchdahl metric to our
equations. We consider the case, when the matter is governed by MIT bag model
equation of state as Pr =1/3({\rho} -4B), where B is bag constant. We calculate
the values of unknown parameters using Schwarzschild interior space-time
followed by choosing the appropriate values of parameter {\xi} , K, {\beta} and
also tabulated different values of bag constant for different {\xi} . We
examine the physical validity of our model by performing tests such as energy
conditions, equilibrium of the forces, the adiabatic index, redshift and some
more. The observational results showed that the proposed f(R,T) model satisfies
all these tests and are quite acceptable.


title:
Resolution with Counting: Lower Bounds for Proofs of Membership in the
  Complement of a Linear Map Image of the Boolean Cube

abstract:
  We propose a new approach to proving lower bounds for sizes of dag-like
proofs in the proof system Res(lin$_{\mathbb{F}_p}$), where $\mathbb{F}_p$ is a
finite field of prime order $p\geq 5$. An exponential lower bound on sizes of
arbitrary dag-like refutations in proof systems Res(lin$_{\mathbb{F}}$) has
previously been proven in (Part, Tzameret, ITCS'20) in case $\mathbb{F}$ is a
field of characteristic $0$ for an instance, which is not CNF: for the binary
value principle $x_1+2x_2+\dots+2^{n-1}x_n = -1$. The proof of this lower bound
substantially uses peculiarities of characteristic $0$ regime and does not give
a clue on how to prove lower bounds neither for finite fields nor for CNFs.
Aiming at constructing a bridge between lower bounds for the binary value
principle and CNF lower bounds we initiate the development of methods for
proving dag-like Res(lin$_{\mathbb{F}_p}$) lower bounds for tautologies of the
form $b\notin A(\{0,1\}^n)$, where $A$ is a linear map. The negation of such a
tautology can be represented in the language of Res(lin$_{\mathbb{F}_p}$) as a
system of linear equations $A\cdot x = b$ unsatisfiable over the boolean
assignments. Instances of this form are in some ways simpler than CNFs, this
makes analysis of their Res(lin$_{\mathbb{F}_p}$) refutations more approachable
and might be aided by tools from linear algebra and additive combinatorics.
  We identify hardness criterions for instances of the form $A\cdot x = b$
using notions of an error correcting code and what we call $(s, r)$-robustness,
a combinatorial, algebraic property of linear systems $A\cdot x = b$, which we
introduce. We prove two lower bounds for fragments of Res(lin$_{\mathbb{F}_p}$)
that capture two complementary aspects of Res(lin$_{\mathbb{F}_p}$) refutations
and constitute a combinatorial toolbox for approaching general dag-like
Res(lin$_{\mathbb{F}_p}$) refutations.


title:
Absence and recovery of cost-precision tradeoff relations in quantum
  transport

abstract:
  The operation of many classical and quantum systems in nonequilibrium steady
state is constrained by cost-precision (dissipation-fluctuation) tradeoff
relations, delineated by the thermodynamic uncertainty relation (TUR). However,
coherent quantum electronic nanojunctions can escape such a constraint, showing
finite charge current and nonzero entropic cost with vanishing current
fluctuations. Here, we analyze the absence, and restoration, of cost-precision
tradeoff relations in fermionic nanojunctions under different affinities:
voltage and temperature biases. With analytic work and simulations, we show
that both charge and energy currents can display the absence of cost-precision
tradeoff if we engineer the transmission probability as a boxcar function --
with a perfect transmission and hard energy cutoffs. Specifically for charge
current under voltage bias, the standard TUR may be immediately violated as we
depart from equilibrium, and it is exponentially suppressed with increased
voltage. However, beyond idealized, hard-cutoff energy-filtered transmission
functions, we show that realistic models with soft cutoffs or imperfect
transmission functions follow cost-precision tradeoffs, and eventually recover
the standard TUR sufficiently far from equilibrium. The existence of
cost-precision tradeoff relations is thus suggested as a generic feature of
realistic nonequilibrium quantum transport junctions.


title:
TalkTive: A Conversational Agent Using Backchannels to Engage Older
  Adults in Neurocognitive Disorders Screening

abstract:
  Conversational agents (CAs) have the great potential in mitigating the
clinicians' burden in screening for neurocognitive disorders among older
adults. It is important, therefore, to develop CAs that can be engaging, to
elicit conversational speech input from older adult participants for supporting
assessment of cognitive abilities. As an initial step, this paper presents
research in developing the backchanneling ability in CAs in the form of a
verbal response to engage the speaker. We analyzed 246 conversations of
cognitive assessments between older adults and human assessors, and derived the
categories of reactive backchannels (e.g. "hmm") and proactive backchannels
(e.g. "please keep going"). This is used in the development of TalkTive, a CA
which can predict both timing and form of backchanneling during cognitive
assessments. The study then invited 36 older adult participants to evaluate the
backchanneling feature. Results show that proactive backchanneling is more
appreciated by participants than reactive backchanneling.


title: Inverse Ingham type inequalities for the Burgers model

abstract:
  Viscoelastic materials have the properties both of elasticity and viscosity.
In a previous work we investigate glass relaxation in the framework of
viscoelasticity. Here we consider the Burgers model, a first but meaningful
step in the general analysis, showing a reachability theorem thanks the
analysis of the gap between eigenvalues and the representation of the solution
in Fourier series.


title:
Particle production from oscillating scalar backgrounds in an FLRW
  universe

abstract:
  We study particle production from oscillating scalar backgrounds in a
spatially flat Friedmann-Lema\^itre-Robertson-Walker universe using
non-equilibrium quantum field theory which fully captures the thermal effects
and backreaction effects. To be concrete, we consider a $Z_2$-symmetric
two-scalar model with quartic interactions. For quasi-harmonic oscillations, we
adopt the multi-scale analysis to obtain analytical approximate expressions for
the self-consistent evolution of the scalar background and the energy density
of the produced particles in terms of the retarded self-energy and retarded
proper four-vertex function, whose imaginary parts characterize different
condensate decay channels and lead to dissipation. We find that reheating in
this model can be complete if the imaginary part of the retarded self-energy is
not negligible, which causes dissipation only at finite temperature through
Landau damping. Our results can be generalized to more complicated models and
thus could provide a general framework for studying the perturbative reheating
process in the early Universe or perturbative production of Dark Matter from an
oscillating inflaton.


title: The Lax pair structure for the spin Benjamin--Ono equation

abstract:
  We prove that the recently introduced spin Benjamin--Ono equation admits a
Lax pair, and we deduce a family of conservation laws which allow to prove
global wellposedness in all Sobolev spaces $H^k$ for every integer $k\geq 2$.
We also infer an additional family of matrix valued conservation laws, of which
the previous family are just the traces.


title:
Enhanced magnetism and suppressed magnetoelastic coupling induced by
  electron doping in Ca$_{1-x}$Y$_{x}$MnReO$_6$

abstract:
  The Ca$_2$MnReO$_6$ double perovskite is a spin-orbit-assisted Mott insulator
with exotic magnetic properties, including a largely non-collinear Mn$^{2+}$
spin arrangement and nearly orthogonal coupling between such spins and the much
smaller Re $5d$ magnetic moments. Here, the electron-doped compound
Ca$_{1.7}$Y$_{0.3}$MnReO$_6$ is investigated. Neutron and X-ray powder
diffraction confirm that nearly full chemical order is maintained at the Mn and
Re sites under the Y substitution at the Ca site. X-ray absorption measurements
and an analysis of the Mn-O/Re-O bond distances show that the Mn oxidation
state remains stable at +2 whereas Re is reduced upon doping. The electron
doping increases the magnetic ordering temperature from $T_c = 121$ to $150$ K
and also enhances significantly the ferromagnetic component of the Mn spins at
the expense of the antiferromagnetic component at the base temperature ($T=3$
K). The lattice parameter anomalies at $T_c$ observed in the parent compound
are suppressed by the electron doping. The possible reasons for the enhanced
magnetism and the suppressed magnetoelastic coupling in
Ca$_{1.7}$Y$_{0.3}$MnReO$_6$ are discussed.


title: Evolutionary Construction of Perfectly Balanced Boolean Functions

abstract:
  Finding Boolean functions suitable for cryptographic primitives is a complex
combinatorial optimization problem, since they must satisfy several properties
to resist cryptanalytic attacks, and the space is very large, which grows super
exponentially with the number of input variables. Recent research has focused
on the study of Boolean functions that satisfy properties on restricted sets of
inputs due to their importance in the development of the FLIP stream cipher. In
this paper, we consider one such property, perfect balancedness, and
investigate the use of Genetic Programming (GP) and Genetic Algorithms (GA) to
construct Boolean functions that satisfy this property along with a good
nonlinearity profile. We formulate the related optimization problem and define
two encodings for the candidate solutions, namely the truth table and the
weightwise balanced representations. Somewhat surprisingly, the results show
that GA with the weightwise balanced representation outperforms GP with the
classical truth table phenotype in finding highly nonlinear WPB functions. This
finding is in stark contrast to previous findings on the evolution of globally
balanced Boolean functions, where GP always performs best.


title: Braid orbits and the Mathieu group $M_{23}$ as Galois group

abstract:
  At present, the inverse Galois problem over $\mathbb{Q}$ is unsolved for the
Mathieu group $M_{23}$. Here an overview of the current state in realizing
$M_{23}$ as Galois group using the rigidity method and the action of braids is
given. Computing braid orbits for $M_{23}$ revealed new invariants of the
action of braids in addition to Fried's lifting invariant. These invariants can
be used to construct generic braid orbits and more Galois realizations over
$\mathbb{Q}$ for the Mathieu group $M_{24}$, but until now did not lead to
success for realising $M_{23}$ as Galois group over $\mathbb{Q}$. Thus
$M_{23}/\mathbb{Q}$ remains open. Finally, heuristics for searching suitable
class vectors with regard to the realization of groups as Galois groups are
given.


title: Asymptotic safety guaranteed for strongly coupled gauge theories

abstract:
  We demonstrate that interacting ultraviolet fixed points in four dimensions
exist at strong coupling, and away from large-$N$ Veneziano limits. This is
established exemplarily for semi-simple supersymmetric gauge theories with
chiral matter and superpotential interactions by using the renormalisation
group and exact methods from supersymmetry. We determine the entire
superconformal window of ultraviolet fixed points as a function of field
multiplicities. Results are in accord with the $a$-theorem, bounds on conformal
charges, Seiberg duality, and unitary. We also find manifolds of
Leigh-Strassler models exhibiting lines of infrared fixed points. At weak
coupling, findings are confirmed using perturbation theory up to three loop.
Benchmark models with low field multiplicities are provided including examples
with Standard~Model-like gauge sectors. Implications for particle physics,
model building, and conformal field theory are indicated.


title: Dynamic Length Scale and Weakest Link Behavior in Crystal Plasticity

abstract:
  Plastic deformation of heterogeneous solid structures is often characterized
by random intermittent local plastic events. On the mesoscale this feature can
be represented by a spatially fluctuating local yield threshold. Here we study
the validity of such an approach and the ideal choice for the size of the
representative volume element for crystal plasticity in terms of a discrete
dislocation model. We find that the number of links representing possible
sources of plastic activity exhibits anomalous (super-extensive) scaling which
tends to extensive scaling (often assumed in weakest-link models) if quenched
short-range interactions are introduced. The reason is that the interplay
between long-range dislocation interactions and short-range quenched disorder
destroys scale-free dynamical correlations leading to event localization with a
characteristic length-scale. Several methods are presented to determine the
dynamic length-scale that can be generalized to other types of heterogeneous
materials.


title: Why pseudo-complex General Relativity? and Applications

abstract:
  A brief discussion on the pseudo-complex General Relativity is presented. It
is shown that this theory is a viable extension of GR, with deviations centered
near to the event horizon. The theory introduces a dark energy accumulation,
due to the coupling to the central mass. Predictions of this theory are
resumed, as for example the structure in an accretion disk, with a dark ring
followed by a bright ring further in. The current Event Horizon Telescope
observation of M87 is not able to discriminate between GR and pcGR, due to a
low resolution. Further predictions are also discussed, as the physics of
neutron stars, the redshift at the surface of the star and Quasi Periodic
Object.


title: Electron acceleration by laser plasma wedge interaction

abstract:
  A new electron acceleration mechanism is identified that develops when a
relativistically intense laser irradiates the wedge of an over-dense plasma.
This induces a diffracted electromagnetic wave with a significant longitudinal
electric field that accelerates electrons from the plasma over long distances
to relativistic energies. Well collimated, highly-charged (nC) electron bunches
with energies up to 100's MeV are obtained using a laser beam with $I
\lambda_0^2 =3.5\times 10^{19}\,{\rm W \mu m^2/cm^2}$. Multi-dimensional
particle-in-cell simulations, supported by a simple analytical model, confirm
the efficiency and robustness of the proposed acceleration scheme.


title: Ditto: Building Digital Twins of Articulated Objects from Interaction

abstract:
  Digitizing physical objects into the virtual world has the potential to
unlock new research and applications in embodied AI and mixed reality. This
work focuses on recreating interactive digital twins of real-world articulated
objects, which can be directly imported into virtual environments. We introduce
Ditto to learn articulation model estimation and 3D geometry reconstruction of
an articulated object through interactive perception. Given a pair of visual
observations of an articulated object before and after interaction, Ditto
reconstructs part-level geometry and estimates the articulation model of the
object. We employ implicit neural representations for joint geometry and
articulation modeling. Our experiments show that Ditto effectively builds
digital twins of articulated objects in a category-agnostic way. We also apply
Ditto to real-world objects and deploy the recreated digital twins in physical
simulation. Code and additional results are available at
https://ut-austin-rpl.github.io/Ditto


title: Performance of QUIC Implementations Over Geostationary Satellite Links

abstract:
  QUIC was recently standardized as RFC 9000, but the performance of QUIC over
geostationary satellite links is problematic due to the non-applicability of
Performance Enhancing Proxies. As of today, there are more than a dozen of
different QUIC implementations. So far performance evaluations of QUIC over
satellite links were limited to specific QUIC implementations. By deploying a
modified version of the IETF QUIC-Interop-Runner, this paper evaluates the
performance of multiple QUIC implementations over multiple geostationary
satellite links. This includes two emulated ones (with and without packet loss)
and two real ones. The results show that the goodput achieved with QUIC over
geostationary satellite links is very poor in general, and especially poor when
there is packet loss. Some implementations fail completely and the performance
of the other implementations varies greatly. The performance depends on both
client and server implementation.


title:
Beyond COVID-19 Pandemic: Topology-aware optimisation of vaccination
  strategy for minimising virus spreading

abstract:
  The mitigation of an infectious disease spreading has recently gained
considerable attention from the research community. It may be obtained by
adopting sanitary measurements social rules, together with an extensive
vaccination campaign. Vaccination is currently the primary way for mitigating
the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) outbreak without severe lockdown. Its
effectiveness also depends on the number and timeliness of administrations and
thus demands strict prioritization criteria. Almost all countries have
prioritized similar classes of exposed workers obtaining to maximize the
survival of patients and years of life saved. The mitigation of an infectious
disease spreading has recently gained considerable attention from the research
community. It may be obtained by adopting sanitary measurements, social rules,
together with an extensive vaccination campaign. Vaccination is currently the
primary way for mitigating the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) outbreak without
severe lockdown. Its effectiveness also depends on the number and timeliness of
administrations and thus demands strict prioritization criteria. Almost all
countries have prioritized similar classes of exposed workers: healthcare
professionals and the elderly, obtaining to maximize the survival of patients
and years of life saved. Nevertheless, the virus is currently spreading at high
rates, and any prioritization criterion so far adopted did not account for the
structural organization of the contact networks.


title:
The consequences of using a smooth cosmic distance in a lumpy universe:
  I

abstract:
  How do we appropriately fit a model based on an idealised
Friedmann-Lema{\i}tre Robertson-Walker (FLRW) spacetime to observations made
from a single location in a lumpy Universe? We address this question for
surveys that measure the imprints of the Baryon Acoustic Oscillation (BAO) in
galaxy distribution and the peak apparent magnitude of the type 1A supernova
(SN1A). These observables are related to the cosmological model through the
Alcock-Paczynski parameters and the distance-redshift relation. Using the
corresponding inhomogeneous spacetime expressions of these as observed data, we
perform a parameter inference assuming that the background FLRW model is the
correct model of the universe. This process allows us to estimate the best fit
Hubble rate and the deceleration parameter. We find that the inferred Hubble
rate from the monopole of the Alcock-Paczynski parameters is in tension with
the Hubble rate determined using the distance-redshift relation. The latter
gives the best fit Hubble rate for the cosmological expansion. The constraint
on the Hubble rate from the Alcock-Paczynski parameters is contaminated by the
environment. When the environmental contribution is restricted to modes in the
Hubble flow, we find about (9-12)\% discrepancy in the Hubble rate. Finally, we
comment on the insufficiency of the method of cosmography in constraining the
deceleration parameter.


title: The Interstellar Medium of Dwarf Galaxies

abstract:
  Dwarf galaxies are by far the most numerous galaxies in the Universe, showing
properties that are quite different from those of their larger and more
luminous cousins. This review focuses on the physical and chemical properties
of the interstellar medium of those dwarfs that are known to host significant
amounts of gas and dust. The neutral and ionized gas components and the impact
of the dust will be discussed, as well as first indications for the existence
of active nuclei in these sources. Cosmological implications are also
addressed, considering the primordial helium abundance and the similarity of
local Green Pea galaxies with young, sometimes proto-galactic sources in the
early Universe.


title: Quantum Lazy Training

abstract:
  In the training of over-parameterized model functions via gradient descent,
sometimes the parameters do not change significantly and remain close to their
initial values. This phenomenon is called lazy training, and motivates
consideration of the linear approximation of the model function around the
initial parameters. In the lazy regime, this linear approximation imitates the
behavior of the parameterized function whose associated kernel, called the
tangent kernel, specifies the training performance of the model. Lazy training
is known to occur in the case of (classical) neural networks with large widths.
In this paper, we show that the training of geometrically local parameterized
quantum circuits enters the lazy regime for large numbers of qubits. More
precisely, we prove bounds on the rate of changes of the parameters of such a
geometrically local parameterized quantum circuit in the training process, and
on the precision of the linear approximation of the associated quantum model
function; both of these bounds tend to zero as the number of qubits grows. We
support our analytic results with numerical simulations.


title:
Robust sampling for weak lensing and clustering analyses with the Dark
  Energy Survey

abstract:
  Recent cosmological analyses rely on the ability to accurately sample from
high-dimensional posterior distributions. A variety of algorithms have been
applied in the field, but justification of the particular sampler choice and
settings is often lacking. Here we investigate three such samplers to motivate
and validate the algorithm and settings used for the Dark Energy Survey (DES)
analyses of the first 3 years (Y3) of data from combined measurements of weak
lensing and galaxy clustering. We employ the full DES Year 1 likelihood
alongside a much faster approximate likelihood, which enables us to assess the
outcomes from each sampler choice and demonstrate the robustness of our full
results. We find that the ellipsoidal nested sampling algorithm
$\texttt{MultiNest}$ reports inconsistent estimates of the Bayesian evidence
and somewhat narrower parameter credible intervals than the sliced nested
sampling implemented in $\texttt{PolyChord}$. We compare the findings from
$\texttt{MultiNest}$ and $\texttt{PolyChord}$ with parameter inference from the
Metropolis-Hastings algorithm, finding good agreement. We determine that
$\texttt{PolyChord}$ provides a good balance of speed and robustness, and
recommend different settings for testing purposes and final chains for analyses
with DES Y3 data. Our methodology can readily be reproduced to obtain suitable
sampler settings for future surveys.


title:
Probing an MeV-Scale Scalar Boson in Association with a TeV-Scale
  Top-Quark Partner at the LHC

abstract:
  Searches for new low-mass matter and mediator particles have actively been
pursued at fixed target experiments and at $e^{+}e^{-}$ colliders. It is
challenging at the CERN LHC, but they have been searched for in Higgs boson
decays and in $B$ meson decays by the ATLAS and CMS Collaborations, as well as
in a low transverse momentum phenomena from forward scattering processes (e.g.,
FASER). We propose a search for a new scalar particle in association with a
heavy vector-like quark. The vector-like quark, for example, is predicted in a
framework of a new gauge symmetry, $U(1)_{T3R}$, with a see-saw mechanism. A
set of right-handed fermions in the Standard Model are charged under
$U(1)_{T3R}$, with the addition of new vector-like fermions and a new dark
scalar particle ($\phi'$) whose vacuum expectation value breaks the
$U(1)_{T3R}$ symmetry. In this model, the top quark ($t$) couples to a light
scalar $\phi^{\prime}$ and a heavy vector-like top quark $T$. We examine single
and pair production of $T$ in $pp$ collisions, resulting in a final state with
a top quark that decays purely hadronically, a $T$ which decays
semileptonically ($T$ $\rightarrow$ $W$ + $b$ $\rightarrow$ $\ell$ $\nu$ $b$),
and a $\phi^{\prime}$ that is very boosted and decays to a pair of collimated
photons which can be identified as a merged photon system. The proposed search
is expected to achieve a discovery reach with signal significance greater than
5$\sigma$ (3$\sigma$) for $m(T)$ as large as 1.8 (2) TeV and $m(\phi^{\prime})$
as small as 1 MeV, assuming an integrated luminosity of 3000 fb$^{-1}$. This
search can expand the reach of $T$, and demonstrates that the LHC can probe
low-mass, MeV-scale particles.


title: Data Augmentation for Deep Graph Learning: A Survey

abstract:
  Graph neural networks, as powerful deep learning tools to model
graph-structured data, have demonstrated remarkable performance on numerous
graph learning tasks. To counter the data noise and data scarcity issues in
deep graph learning (DGL), increasing graph data augmentation research has been
conducted lately. However, conventional data augmentation methods can hardly
handle graph-structured data which is defined on non-Euclidean space with
multi-modality. In this survey, we formally formulate the problem of graph data
augmentation and further review the representative techniques in this field.
Specifically, we first propose a taxonomy for graph data augmentation and then
provide a structured review by categorizing the related work based on the
augmented information modalities. Focusing on the two challenging problems in
DGL (i.e., optimal graph learning and low-resource graph learning), we also
discuss and review the existing learning paradigms which are based on graph
data augmentation. Finally, we point out a few directions and challenges on
promising future works.


title: Using the left Gram matrix to cluster high dimensional data

abstract:
  For high dimensional data, where P features for N objects (P >> N) are
represented in an NxP matrix X, we describe a clustering algorithm based on the
normalized left Gram matrix, G = XX'/P. Under certain regularity conditions,
the rows in G that correspond to objects in the same cluster converge to the
same mean vector. By clustering on the row means, the algorithm does not
require preprocessing by dimension reduction or feature selection techniques
and does not require specification of tuning or hyperparameter values. Because
it is based on the NxN matrix G, it has a lower computational cost than many
methods based on clustering the feature matrix X. When compared to 14 other
clustering algorithms applied to 32 benchmarked microarray datasets, the
proposed algorithm provided the most accurate estimate of the underlying
cluster configuration more than twice as often as its closest competitors.


title:
The consequences of using a smooth cosmic distance in a lumpy universe:
  II

abstract:
  How do we appropriately fit a model based on an idealised
Friedmann-Lema\^itre Robertson-Walker (FLRW) spacetime to observations made
from one location in a lumpy Universe? We address this question for the
apparent magnitude of Type 1A supernova (SN1A) and the acoustic peaks in the
density field. We show that distance in a perturbed universe is given by the
FLRW spacetime on average, except in the immediate neighbourhood of an
observer. We demonstrate how this distinction impacts the determination of the
Hubble rate and the SN1A absolute magnitude.


title:
A multi-reconstruction study of breast density estimation using Deep
  Learning

abstract:
  Breast density estimation is one of the key tasks in recognizing individuals
predisposed to breast cancer. It is often challenging because of low contrast
and fluctuations in mammograms' fatty tissue background. Most of the time, the
breast density is estimated manually where a radiologist assigns one of the
four density categories decided by the Breast Imaging and Reporting Data
Systems (BI-RADS). There have been efforts in the direction of automating a
breast density classification pipeline.
  Breast density estimation is one of the key tasks performed during a
screening exam. Dense breasts are more susceptible to breast cancer. The
density estimation is challenging because of low contrast and fluctuations in
mammograms' fatty tissue background. Traditional mammograms are being replaced
by tomosynthesis and its other low radiation dose variants (for example
Hologic' Intelligent 2D and C-View). Because of the low-dose requirement,
increasingly more screening centers are favoring the Intelligent 2D view and
C-View. Deep-learning studies for breast density estimation use only a single
modality for training a neural network. However, doing so restricts the number
of images in the dataset. In this paper, we show that a neural network trained
on all the modalities at once performs better than a neural network trained on
any single modality. We discuss these results using the area under the receiver
operator characteristics curves.


title: "Way back then": A Data-driven View of 25+ years of Web Evolution

abstract:
  Since the inception of the first web page three decades back, the Web has
evolved considerably, from static HTML pages in the beginning to the dynamic
web pages of today, from mainly the text-based pages of the 1990s to today's
multimedia rich pages, etc. Although much of this is known anecdotally, to our
knowledge, there is no quantitative documentation of the extent and timing of
these changes. This paper attempts to address this gap in the literature by
looking at the top 100 Alexa websites for over 25 years from the Internet
Archive or the "Wayback Machine", archive.org. We study the changes in
popularity, from Geocities and Yahoo! in the mid-to-late 1990s to the likes of
Google, Facebook, and Tiktok of today. We also look at different categories of
websites and their popularity over the years and find evidence for the decline
in popularity of news and education-related websites, which have been replaced
by streaming media and social networking sites. We explore the emergence and
relative prevalence of different MIME-types (text vs. image vs. video vs.
javascript and json) and study whether the use of text on the Internet is
declining.


title:
Spectral sirens: cosmology from the full mass distribution of compact
  binaries

abstract:
  We explore the use of the mass spectrum of neutron stars and black holes in
gravitational-wave compact binary sources as a cosmological probe. These
standard siren sources provide direct measurements of luminosity distance. In
addition, features in the mass distribution, such as mass gaps or peaks, will
redshift, and thus provide independent constraints on their redshift
distribution. We argue that the mass spectrum of LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA events
introduces at least five independent mass "features": the upper and lower edges
of the pair instability supernova (PISN) gap, the upper and lower edges of the
neutron star-black hole gap, and the minimum neutron star mass. We find that
the PISN gap dominates the cosmological inference with current detectors (2G),
as shown in previous work. We further argue that the lower mass gap will
provide the most powerful constraints in the era of Cosmic Explorer and
Einstein Telescope (3G). We demonstrate that degeneracies between redshift
evolution of the source masses and cosmology can be broken, unless an
astrophysical conspiracy shifts all features of the full mass distribution
simultaneously following the (non-trivial) Hubble diagram evolution. We find
that this "spectral siren" method has the potential to constrain both cosmology
and the evolution of the mass distribution, with 2G achieving better than
$10\%$ precision on $H(z)$ at $z\lesssim1$ within a year, and 3G reaching
$\lesssim1\%$ at $z\gtrsim2$ within one month.


title:
Nuclear Data to Reduce Uncertainties in Reactor Antineutrino
  Measurements: Summary Report of the Workshop on Nuclear Data for Reactor
  Antineutrino Measurements (WoNDRAM)

abstract:
  The large quantities of antineutrinos produced through the decay of fission
fragments in nuclear reactors provide an opportunity to study the properties of
these particles and investigate their use in reactor monitoring. The reactor
antineutrino spectra are measured using specialized, large area detectors that
detect antineutrinos through inverse beta decay, electron elastic scattering,
or coherent elastic neutrino nucleus scattering; although, inverse beta decay
is the only demonstrated method so far. Reactor monitoring takes advantage of
the differences in the antineutrino yield and spectra resulting from uranium
and plutonium fission providing an opportunity to estimate the fissile material
composition in the reactor. Recent experiments reveal a deviation between the
measured and calculated antineutrino flux and spectra indicating either the
existence of yet undiscovered neutrino physics, uncertainties in the reactor
source term calculation, incorrect nuclear data, or a combination of all three.
  To address the nuclear data that impact the antineutrino spectrum
calculations and measurements, an international group of over 180 experts in
antineutrino physics, reactor analysis, detector development, and nuclear data
came together during the Workshop on Nuclear Data for Reactor Antineutrino
Measurements (WoNDRAM) to discuss nuclear data needs and achieve concordance on
a set of recommended priorities for nuclear data improvements. Three topical
sessions provided a forum to gain consensus amongst the participants on the
most important data improvements to address two goals: 1) understand the
reactor anomaly and 2) improve the ability to monitor reactors using
antineutrinos. This report summarizes the outcomes of the workshop discussions
and the recommendations for nuclear data efforts that reduce reactor
antineutrino measurement uncertainties.


title: Singularities of Gaussian Random Maps into the Plane

abstract:
  We compute the expected value of various quantities related to the
biparametric singularities of a pair of smooth centered Gaussian random fields
on an n-dimensional compact manifold, such as the lengths of the critical
curves and contours of a fixed index and the number of cusps. We obtain certain
expressions under no particular assumptions other than smoothness of the two
fields, but more explicit formulae are derived under varying levels of
additional constraints such as the two random fields being i.i.d, stationary,
isotropic etc.


title:
Solution-processed van der Waals heterojunction as the damage-free gate
  contact for high performance GaN HEMTs

abstract:
  The junctions formed between gate contact and III-nitride are crucial
components of GaN-based electronics and optoelectronics. In this work,
solution-processed inorganic Ti3C2Tx MXene films were spray coated on the
AlGaN/GaN epitaxial wafer as the gate contact. The workfounction of MXene films
was effectively enhanced by partial oxidization process, and accordingly, the
gate leakage current and off-state drain current were significantly suppressed.
The van der Waals heterojunction between MXene films and III-nitride without
direct chemical bonding retained the pristine atomically flat native oxides of
III-nitride, record high Ion/Ioff current ratio of 1013, and near ideal
subthreshold swing of 61 mV/dec was achieved in the Schottky-Type gate GaN
HEMTs. In addition, the MXene gate GaN HEMTs display superior electron mobility
and transcoductance, high uniformity with 20 measured transistors. The
unprecedented performance can be correlated to the damage-free interface
between MXene and III-nitride, negligible atomic diffusion of MXene into the
semiconductor layer, and excellent adhesion between MXene and III-nitride. This
work provides an alternative method to create contact not only in GaN HEMTs but
also in other electronic and optoelectronic devices which uniquely features
cost-effective, non-vacuum, high deposition rate, and damage-free properties.


title: Industrially Microfabricated Ion Trap with 1 eV Trap Depth

abstract:
  Scaling trapped-ion quantum computing will require robust trapping of at
least hundreds of ions over long periods, while increasing the complexity and
functionality of the trap itself. Symmetric 3D structures enable high trap
depth, but microfabrication techniques are generally better suited to planar
structures that produce less ideal conditions for trapping. We present an ion
trap fabricated on stacked 8-inch wafers in a large-scale MEMS microfabrication
process that provides reproducible traps at a large volume. Electrodes are
patterned on the surfaces of two opposing wafers bonded to a spacer, forming a
3D structure with 2.5 micrometer standard deviation in alignment across the
stack. We implement a design achieving a trap depth of 1 eV for a calcium-40
ion held at 200 micrometers from either electrode plane. We characterize traps,
achieving measurement agreement with simulations to within +/-5% for mode
frequencies spanning 0.6--3.8 MHz, and evaluate stray electric field across
multiple trapping sites. We measure motional heating rates over an extensive
range of trap frequencies, and temperatures, observing 40 phonons/s at 1 MHz
and 185 K. This fabrication method provides a highly scalable approach for
producing a new generation of 3D ion traps.


title: A macro-scale description of quasi-periodically-developed flow

abstract:
  We present a macro-scale description of quasi-periodically developed flow in
channels, which relies on double volume-averaging. We show that quasi-developed
macro-scale flow is characterized by velocity modes which decay exponentially
in the main flow direction. We prove that the closure force can be represented
by an exact permeability tensor consisting of two parts. The first part, which
is due to the developed macro-scale flow, is uniform everywhere, except in the
side-wall region, where it is affected by the macro-scale velocity profile and
its slip length. The second part expresses the resistance against the velocity
mode, so it decays exponentially as the flow develops. It satisfies a specific
closure problem on a transversal row of the array. From these properties, we
assess the validity of the classical closure problem for the volume-averaged
flow equations. We show that all its underlying assumptions are partly violated
by an exponentially vanishing error during flow development. Furthermore, we
show that it modifies the eigenvalues, modes, and onset point of
quasi-developed flow, when it is applied to reconstruct the macro-scale flow.
The former theoretical aspects are illustrated for high-aspect-ratio channels
with high-porosity arrays of equidistant in-line square cylinders, by means of
direct numerical simulation and explicit filtering of the flow. In particular,
we present extensive solutions of the classical closure problem for Reynolds
numbers up to 600, porosities between 0.2 and 0.95, and flow directions between
0 and 45 degrees, though the channel height has been kept equal to the cylinder
spacing. These closure solutions are compared with the actual closure force in
channels with cylinder arrays of a porosity between 0.75 and 0.94, for Reynolds
numbers up to 300.


title: Galois connecting call-by-value and call-by-name

abstract:
  We establish a general framework for reasoning about the relationship between
call-by-value and call-by-name.
  In languages with side-effects, call-by-value and call-by-name executions of
programs often have different, but related, observable behaviours. For example,
if a program might diverge but otherwise has no side-effects, then whenever it
terminates under call-by-value, it terminates with the same result under
call-by-name. We propose a technique for stating and proving these properties.
The key ingredient is Levy's call-by-push-value calculus, which we use as a
framework for reasoning about evaluation orders. We construct maps between the
call-by-value and call-by-name interpretations of types. We then identify
properties of side-effects that imply these maps form a Galois connection.
These properties hold for some side-effects (such as divergence), but not
others (such as mutable state). This gives rise to a general reasoning
principle that relates call-by-value and call-by-name. We apply the reasoning
principle to example side-effects including divergence and nondeterminism.


title:
Physical factors governing the shape of the Miram curve knee in
  thermionic emission

abstract:
  In a current density versus temperature (J-T) (Miram) curve in thermionic
electron emission, experimental measurements demonstrate there is a smooth
transition between the exponential region and the saturated emission regions,
which is sometimes referred to as the "roll-off" or "Miram curve knee". The
shape of the Miram curve knee is an important figure of merit for thermionic
vacuum cathodes. Specifically, cathodes with a sharp Miram curve knee at low
temperature with a flat saturated emission current are typically preferred. Our
previous work on modeling nonuniform thermionic emission revealed that the
space charge effect and patch field effect are key pieces of physics which
impact the shape of the Miram curve knee. This work provides a more complete
understanding of the physical factors connecting these physical effects and
their relative impact on the shape of the knee, including the smoothness, the
temperature, and the flatness of the saturated emission current density. For
our analyses, we use a periodic, equal-width striped ("zebra crossing") work
function distribution as a model system and illustrate how the space charge and
patch field effects restrict the emission current density near the Miram curve
knee. The results indicate there are three main physical parameters which
significantly impact the shape of the Miram curve. Such physical knowledge
directly connects the patch size, work function values, anode-cathode voltage,
and anode-cathode gap distance to the shape of the Miram curve, providing new
understanding and a guide to the design of thermionic cathodes used as electron
sources in vacuum electronic devices (VEDs).


title:
Preconditioners for computing multiple solutions in three-dimensional
  fluid topology optimization

abstract:
  Topology optimization problems generally support multiple local minima, and
real-world applications are typically three-dimensional. In previous work [I.
P. A. Papadopoulos, P. E. Farrell, and T. M. Surowiec, Computing multiple
solutions of topology optimization problems, SIAM Journal on Scientific
Computing, (2021)], the authors developed the deflated barrier method, an
algorithm that can systematically compute multiple solutions of topology
optimization problems. In this work we develop preconditioners for the linear
systems arising in the application of this method to Stokes flow, making it
practical for use in three dimensions. In particular, we develop a nested block
preconditioning approach which reduces the linear systems to solving two
symmetric positive-definite matrices and an augmented momentum block. An
augmented Lagrangian term is used to control the innermost Schur complement and
we apply a geometric multigrid method with a kernel-capturing relaxation method
for the augmented momentum block. We present multiple solutions in
three-dimensional examples computed using the proposed iterative solver.


title: Spectral Walls at One Loop

abstract:
  A spectral wall is a surface in a moduli space of classically BPS solitons
where an internal excitation crosses the continuum mass threshold. It has
recently been shown that spectral walls in classical field theory repel
solitons whose corresponding internal excitations are excited. We investigate,
for the first time, the fate of spectral walls in a quantum theory, calculating
the instantaneous acceleration of a wave packet of classically BPS antikinks in
the presence of an impurity. We find that, in the quantum theory, the antikinks
are repelled even when the bound mode is not excited. Perhaps due to this
repulsive force, the dramatic classical effects of the spectral wall are not
seen in our quantum calculation.


title:
On Learning and Enforcing Latent Assessment Models using Binary Feedback
  from Human Auditors Regarding Black-Box Classifiers

abstract:
  Algorithmic fairness literature presents numerous mathematical notions and
metrics, and also points to a tradeoff between them while satisficing some or
all of them simultaneously. Furthermore, the contextual nature of fairness
notions makes it difficult to automate bias evaluation in diverse algorithmic
systems. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a novel model called latent
assessment model (LAM) to characterize binary feedback provided by human
auditors, by assuming that the auditor compares the classifier's output to his
or her own intrinsic judgment for each input. We prove that individual and
group fairness notions are guaranteed as long as the auditor's intrinsic
judgments inherently satisfy the fairness notion at hand, and are relatively
similar to the classifier's evaluations. We also demonstrate this relationship
between LAM and traditional fairness notions on three well-known datasets,
namely COMPAS, German credit and Adult Census Income datasets. Furthermore, we
also derive the minimum number of feedback samples needed to obtain PAC
learning guarantees to estimate LAM for black-box classifiers. These guarantees
are also validated via training standard machine learning algorithms on real
binary feedback elicited from 400 human auditors regarding COMPAS.


title:
Bi-dipole wave: optimum for attaining extreme regimes at matter-light
  colliders

abstract:
  The collision of accelerated electrons with high-intensity laser pulses
provides a way for triggering and studying the processes of strong-field
quantum electrodynamics by means of reaching high values of the $\chi$
parameter, the parameter that quantifies electron's acceleration in its rest
frame. For a given electrons' energy $\varepsilon$ and a given peak,
cycle-averaged power $P$ of the laser radiation the maximal value of $\chi$
depends on the way the radiation is focused to cause the acceleration. We
determine and describe the optimal focusing geometry for reaching the highest
possible value $\chi \approx 5.28 \left(\varepsilon / (\text{1~GeV})
\right)\left(P/(\text{1~PW})\right)^{1/2}\left(\lambda/(\text{1~}\mu\text{m})\right)^{-1}$,
where $\lambda$ is the laser wavelength. We propose an experimental setup that
exploits the bi-dipole wave and assess this setup for the parameters relevant
to current and upcoming experimental capabilities.


title: Observations of PAHs in the atmospheres of discs and exoplanets

abstract:
  Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) play a key role in the chemical and
hydrodynamical evolution of the atmospheres of exoplanets and planet-forming
discs. If they can survive the planet formation process, PAHs are likely to be
involved in pre-biotic chemical reactions eventually leading to more complex
molecules such as amino acids and nucleotides, which form the basis for life as
we know it. However, the abundance and specific role of PAHs in these
environments is largely unknown due to limitations in sensitivity and range of
wavelength of current and previous space-borne facilities. Upcoming infrared
space spectroscopy missions, such as Twinkle and Ariel, present a unique
opportunity to detect PAHs in the atmospheres of exoplanets and planet-forming
discs. In this work we present synthetic observations based on conservative
numerical modeling of typical planet-forming discs and a transiting hot
Saturnian planet around solar type star. Our models show that Twinkle and Ariel
might both be able to detect the 3.3 micron PAH feature within reasonable
observing time in discs and transiting planets, assuming that PAHs are present
with an abundance of at least one tenth of the interstellar medium value.


title: Protocols for Trainable and Differentiable Quantum Generative Modelling

abstract:
  We propose an approach for learning probability distributions as
differentiable quantum circuits (DQC) that enable efficient quantum generative
modelling (QGM) and synthetic data generation. Contrary to existing QGM
approaches, we perform training of a DQC-based model, where data is encoded in
a latent space with a phase feature map, followed by a variational quantum
circuit. We then map the trained model to the bit basis using a fixed unitary
transformation, coinciding with a quantum Fourier transform circuit in the
simplest case. This allows fast sampling from parametrized distributions using
a single-shot readout. Importantly, simplified latent space training provides
models that are automatically differentiable, and we show how samples from
distributions propagated by stochastic differential equations (SDEs) can be
accessed by solving stationary and time-dependent Fokker-Planck equations with
a quantum protocol. Finally, our approach opens a route to multidimensional
generative modelling with qubit registers explicitly correlated via a (fixed)
entangling layer. In this case quantum computers can offer advantage as
efficient samplers, which perform complex inverse transform sampling enabled by
the fundamental laws of quantum mechanics. On a technical side the advances are
multiple, as we introduce the phase feature map, analyze its properties, and
develop frequency-taming techniques that include qubit-wise training and
feature map sparsification.


title:
Homogenization for Space-Time-Dependent KPP Reaction-Diffusion Equations
  and G-Equations

abstract:
  We prove stochastic homogenization for reaction-advection-diffusion equations
with random space-time-dependent KPP reactions with temporal correlations that
are decaying in an appropriate sense. We show that the limiting homogenized
dynamic has the simple form of spreading with some deterministic
direction-dependent speeds from the support of the initial datum. We obtain
analogous results for G-equations with random flame speeds and incompressible
background advections. Important ingredients in our proofs are a non-autonomous
subadditive theorem and the principle of virtual linearity for KPP reactions
from the companion papers [30, 35].


title: Centralizers of Hamiltonian circle actions on rational ruled surfaces

abstract:
  In this paper, we compute the homotopy type of the group of equivariant
symplectomorphisms of $S^2 \times S^2$ and $\mathbb{C}P^2 \#
\overline{\mathbb{C}P^2}$ under the presence of Hamiltonian group actions of
the circle $S^1$. We prove that the group of equivariant symplectomorphisms are
homotopy equivalent to either a torus, or to the homotopy pushout of two tori
depending on whether the circle action extends to a single toric action or to
exactly two non-equivalent toric actions. This follows from the analysis of the
action of equivariant symplectomorphisms on the space of compatible and
invariant almost complex structures $\mathcal{J}^{S^1}_{\omega}$. In
particular, we show that this action preserves a decomposition of
$\mathcal{J}^{S^1}_{\omega}$ into strata which are in bijection with toric
extensions of the circle action. Our results rely on $J$-holomorphic
techniques, on Delzant's classification of toric actions and on Karshon's
classification of Hamiltonian circle actions on $4$-manifolds.


title:
Enhanced spin coherence at the sweet spot of a self-assembled quantum
  dot molecule

abstract:
  A pair of coupled dots with one electron in each dot can provide improvements
in spin coherence, particularly at an electrical bias called the sweet spot,
but few measurements have been performed on self-assembled dots in this regime.
Here, we directly measure the $T_2^*$ coherence time of the singlet-triplet
states in this system as a function of bias and magnetic field, obtaining a
maximum $T_2^*$ of 60 ns, more than an order of magnitude higher than an
electron spin in a single quantum dot. Our results uncover two main dephasing
mechanisms: electrical noise away from the sweet spot, and a magnetic field
dependent interaction with nuclear spins due to a difference in g-factors.


title:
Spinor-helicity formalism for massive and massless amplitudes in five
  dimensions

abstract:
  Five-dimensional gauge and gravity theories are known to exhibit striking
properties. D=5 is the lowest dimension where massive tensor states appear
naturally, providing a testing ground for perturbative insights into
six-dimensional tensor theories. Five-dimensional supergravities are highly
constrained and admit elegant geometric and algebraic formulations, with global
symmetries manifest at the Lagrangian level.
  In this paper, we take a step towards the systematic investigation of
amplitudes in five dimensions, and present a five-dimensional version of the
spinor-helicity formalism, applicable to massless, massive and supersymmetric
states. We give explicit representations for on-shell spinor and polarization
variables such that the little-group symmetry and gauge redundancy are
manifest. Massive self-dual tensor states are discussed in some detail, as well
as all the on-shell supermultiplets that can appear in matter-coupled gauge and
supergravity theories. As a byproduct of considering supersymmetry in the
presence of central charge, we obtain massless ten-dimensional Majorana-Weyl
spinors as products of five-dimensional massive spinors.
  We present compact expressions for superamplitudes at multiplicity three and
four, including several novel superamplitudes that either do not
straightforwardly uplift to six dimensions, or have not appeared in the
six-dimensional literature. We discuss several examples of five-dimensional
double-copy constructions in the context of gravitational theories with massive
vectors and tensors, illustrating that the formalism we construct can also be
used to considerably streamline the double-copy construction of N=2
Maxwell-Einstein supergravities.


title:
Mapping the brightness and color of urban to rural skyglow with all-sky
  photometry

abstract:
  Artificial skyglow is a form of light pollution with wide ranging
implications on the environment. The extent, intensity and color of skyglow
depends on the artificial light sources and weather conditions. Skyglow can be
best determined with ground based instruments. We mapped the skyglow of Berlin,
Germany, for clear sky and overcast sky conditions inside and outside of the
city limits. We conducted observations using a transect from the city center of
Berlin towards a rural place more than 58 km south of Berlin using all-sky
photometry with a calibrated commercial digital camera and a fisheye lens. From
the multispectral imaging data, we processed luminance and correlated color
temperature maps. We extracted the night sky brightness and correlated color
temperature at zenith, as well as horizontal and scalar illuminance
simultaneously. We calculated cloud amplification factors at each site and
investigated the changes of brightness and color with distance, particularly
showing differences inside and outside of the city limits. We found high values
for illuminance above full moon light levels and amplification factors as high
as 25 in the city center and a gradient towards the city limit and outside of
the city limit. We further observed that clouds decrease the correlated color
temperature in almost all cases. We discuss advantages and weaknesses of our
method, compare the results with modeled night sky brightness data and provide
recommendations for future work.


title: Catalyzation of supersolidity in binary dipolar condensates

abstract:
  Breakthrough experiments have newly explored the fascinating physics of
dipolar quantum droplets and supersolids. The recent realization of dipolar
mixtures opens further intriguing possibilities. We show that under rather
general conditions, the presence of a second component catalyzes droplet
nucleation and supersolidity in an otherwise unmodulated condensate. For
miscible mixtures, droplet catalyzation results from the effective modification
of the relative dipolar strength, and may occur even for a surprisingly small
impurity doping. We show that different ground-states may occur, including the
possibility of two coexisting interacting supersolids. The immiscible regime
provides a second scenario for double supersolidity in an array of immiscible
droplets.


title: Low-Rank Phase Retrieval with Structured Tensor Models

abstract:
  We study the low-rank phase retrieval problem, where the objective is to
recover a sequence of signals (typically images) given the magnitude of linear
measurements of those signals. Existing solutions involve recovering a matrix
constructed by vectorizing and stacking each image. These algorithms model this
matrix to be low-rank and leverage the low-rank property to decrease the sample
complexity required for accurate recovery. However, when the number of
available measurements is more limited, these low-rank matrix models can often
fail. We propose an algorithm called Tucker-Structured Phase Retrieval (TSPR)
that models the sequence of images as a tensor rather than a matrix that we
factorize using the Tucker decomposition. This factorization reduces the number
of parameters that need to be estimated, allowing for a more accurate
reconstruction in the under-sampled regime. Interestingly, we observe that this
structure also has improved performance in the over-determined setting when the
Tucker ranks are chosen appropriately. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our
approach on real video datasets under several different measurement models.


title:
Evaluation and Analysis of Different Aggregation and Hyperparameter
  Selection Methods for Federated Brain Tumor Segmentation

abstract:
  Availability of large, diverse, and multi-national datasets is crucial for
the development of effective and clinically applicable AI systems in the
medical imaging domain. However, forming a global model by bringing these
datasets together at a central location, comes along with various data privacy
and ownership problems. To alleviate these problems, several recent studies
focus on the federated learning paradigm, a distributed learning approach for
decentralized data. Federated learning leverages all the available data without
any need for sharing collaborators' data with each other or collecting them on
a central server. Studies show that federated learning can provide competitive
performance with conventional central training, while having a good
generalization capability. In this work, we have investigated several federated
learning approaches on the brain tumor segmentation problem. We explore
different strategies for faster convergence and better performance which can
also work on strong Non-IID cases.


title:
Phase Aberration Robust Beamformer for Planewave US Using
  Self-Supervised Learning

abstract:
  Ultrasound (US) is widely used for clinical imaging applications thanks to
its real-time and non-invasive nature. However, its lesion detectability is
often limited in many applications due to the phase aberration artefact caused
by variations in the speed of sound (SoS) within body parts. To address this,
here we propose a novel self-supervised 3D CNN that enables phase aberration
robust plane-wave imaging. Instead of aiming at estimating the SoS distribution
as in conventional methods, our approach is unique in that the network is
trained in a self-supervised manner to robustly generate a high-quality image
from various phase aberrated images by modeling the variation in the speed of
sound as stochastic. Experimental results using real measurements from
tissue-mimicking phantom and \textit{in vivo} scans confirmed that the proposed
method can significantly reduce the phase aberration artifacts and improve the
visual quality of deep scans.


title: Integer versions of Yang-Mills theory

abstract:
  In a recent paper, 't Hooft asks for an integer version of Yang-Mills theory,
in the belief that this is the way the universe really is at the Planck scale.
Specifically, he asks for an integer version of the gauge group of the standard
model. Such groups were completely classified more than 100 years ago, and here
I detail the group theory and representation theory (and some of the physics)
of the specific case that I believe answers 't Hooft's question.


title: The second post-Newtonian motion in Reissner-Nordstr\"om spacetime

abstract:
  We derived the second post-Newtonian solution for the quasi-Keplerian motion
of a charged test particle in the Reissner-Nordstr\"om spacetime under the
harmonic coordinates. The solution is formulated in terms of the test
particle's orbital energy and angular momentum, both of which are constants at
the second post-Newtonian order. The charge effects on the test particle's
motion including the orbital period and perihelion precession are displayed
explicitly. Our results can be applied to the cases in which the test particle
has small charge-to-mass ratio, or the test particle has arbitrary
charge-to-mass ratio but the multiplication of the test particle and the
gravitational source's charge-to-mass-ratios is much smaller than 1.


title: XAI in the context of Predictive Process Monitoring: Too much to Reveal

abstract:
  Predictive Process Monitoring (PPM) has been integrated into process mining
tools as a value-adding task. PPM provides useful predictions on the further
execution of the running business processes. To this end, machine
learning-based techniques are widely employed in the context of PPM. In order
to gain stakeholders trust and advocacy of PPM predictions, eXplainable
Artificial Intelligence (XAI) methods are employed in order to compensate for
the lack of transparency of most efficient predictive models. Even when
employed under the same settings regarding data, preprocessing techniques, and
ML models, explanations generated by multiple XAI methods differ profoundly. A
comparison is missing to distinguish XAI characteristics or underlying
conditions that are deterministic to an explanation. To address this gap, we
provide a framework to enable studying the effect of different PPM-related
settings and ML model-related choices on characteristics and expressiveness of
resulting explanations. In addition, we compare how different explainability
methods characteristics can shape resulting explanations and enable reflecting
underlying model reasoning process


title: Open-Ended Reinforcement Learning with Neural Reward Functions

abstract:
  Inspired by the great success of unsupervised learning in Computer Vision and
Natural Language Processing, the Reinforcement Learning community has recently
started to focus more on unsupervised discovery of skills. Most current
approaches, like DIAYN or DADS, optimize some form of mutual information
objective. We propose a different approach that uses reward functions encoded
by neural networks. These are trained iteratively to reward more complex
behavior. In high-dimensional robotic environments our approach learns a wide
range of interesting skills including front-flips for Half-Cheetah and
one-legged running for Humanoid. In the pixel-based Montezuma's Revenge
environment our method also works with minimal changes and it learns complex
skills that involve interacting with items and visiting diverse locations. A
web version of this paper which shows animations for the different skills is
available in https://as.inf.ethz.ch/research/open_ended_RL/main.html


title:
More to Less (M2L): Enhanced Health Recognition in the Wild with Reduced
  Modality of Wearable Sensors

abstract:
  Accurately recognizing health-related conditions from wearable data is
crucial for improved healthcare outcomes. To improve the recognition accuracy,
various approaches have focused on how to effectively fuse information from
multiple sensors. Fusing multiple sensors is a common scenario in many
applications, but may not always be feasible in real-world scenarios. For
example, although combining bio-signals from multiple sensors (i.e., a chest
pad sensor and a wrist wearable sensor) has been proved effective for improved
performance, wearing multiple devices might be impractical in the free-living
context. To solve the challenges, we propose an effective more to less (M2L)
learning framework to improve testing performance with reduced sensors through
leveraging the complementary information of multiple modalities during
training. More specifically, different sensors may carry different but
complementary information, and our model is designed to enforce collaborations
among different modalities, where positive knowledge transfer is encouraged and
negative knowledge transfer is suppressed, so that better representation is
learned for individual modalities. Our experimental results show that our
framework achieves comparable performance when compared with the full
modalities. Our code and results will be available at
https://github.com/compwell-org/More2Less.git.


title:
An elliptical accretion disk following the tidal disruption event AT
  2020zso

abstract:
  [Abridged] We classify AT 2020zso as a TDE based on the blackbody evolution
inferred from UV/optical photometric observations, and spectral line content
and evolution. We identify transient, double-peaked Bowen (N iii), He i, He ii
and Halpha emission lines. We model medium resolution optical spectroscopy of
the He ii (after careful deblending of the N iii contribution) and Halpha lines
during the rise, peak and early decline of the light curve using relativistic,
elliptical accretion disk models. We find that the spectral evolution before
peak can be explained by optical depth effects consistent with an outflowing,
optically thick Eddington envelope. Around peak the envelope reaches its
maximum extent (approximately 10^15 or 3000-6000 gravitational radii for an
inferred black hole mass of 5-10 10^5) and becomes optically thin. The Halpha
and He ii emission lines at and after peak can be reproduced with a highly
inclined (i=85+-5 degrees), highly elliptical (e=0.97+-0.01) and relatively
compact (Rin = several 100 Rg and Rout = several 1000 Rg ) accretion disk.
Overall, the line profiles suggest a highly elliptical geometry for the new
accretion flow, consistent with theoretical expectations of newly formed TDE
disks. We quantitatively confirm, for the first time, the high inclination
nature of a Bowen (and X-ray dim) TDE, consistent with the unification picture
of TDEs where the inclination largely determines the observational appearance.
Rapid line profile variations rule out the binary SMBH hypothesis as the origin
of the eccentricity; these results thus provide a direct link between a TDE in
an AGN and the eccentric accretion disk. We illustrate for the first time how
optical spectroscopy can be used to constrain the black hole spin, through (the
lack of) disk precession signatures (changes in inferred inclination) - and
rule out high black hole spin values (a < 0.8).


title: Hydrodynamics with triangular point group

abstract:
  When continuous rotational invariance of a two-dimensional fluid is broken to
the discrete, dihedral subgroup $D_6$ - the point group of an equilateral
triangle - the resulting anisotropic hydrodynamics breaks both
spatial-inversion and time-reversal symmetries, while preserving their
combination. In this work, we present the hydrodynamics of such $D_6$ fluids,
identifying new symmetry-allowed dissipative terms in the hydrodynamic
equations of motion. We propose two experiments - both involving high-purity
solid-state materials with $D_6$-invariant Fermi surfaces - that are sensitive
to these new coefficients in a $D_6$ fluid of electrons. In particular, we
propose a local current imaging experiment (which is present-day realizable
with nitrogen vacancy center magnetometry) in a hexagonal device, whose
$D_6$-exploiting boundary conditions enable the unambiguous detection of these
novel transport coefficients.


title:
Recompilation-enhanced simulation of electron-phonon dynamics on IBM
  Quantum computers

abstract:
  Simulating quantum systems is believed to be one of the first applications
for which quantum computers may demonstrate a useful advantage. For many
problems in physics, we are interested in studying the evolution of the
electron-phonon Hamiltonian, for which efficient digital quantum computing
schemes exist. Yet to date, no accurate simulation of this system has been
produced on real quantum hardware. In this work, we consider the absolute
resource cost for gate-based quantum simulation of small electron-phonon
systems as dictated by the number of Trotter steps and bosonic energy levels
necessary for the convergence of dynamics. We then apply these findings to
perform experiments on IBM quantum hardware for both weak and strong
electron-phonon coupling. Despite significant device noise, through the use of
approximate circuit recompilation we obtain electron-phonon dynamics on current
quantum computers comparable to exact diagonalisation. Our results represent a
significant step in utilising near term quantum computers for simulation of
quantum dynamics and highlight the novelty of approximate circuit recompilation
as an error mitigation tool.


title: Modular Products and Modules for Finite Groups

abstract:
  Motivated by the appearance of penumbral moonshine, and by evidence that
penumbral moonshine enjoys an extensive relationship to generalized monstrous
moonshine via infinite products, we establish a general construction in this
work which uses singular theta lifts and a concrete construction at the level
of modules for a finite group to translate between moonshine in weight one-half
and moonshine in weight zero. This construction serves as a foundation for a
companion paper in which we explore the connection between penumbral Thompson
moonshine and a special case of generalized monstrous moonshine in detail.


title:
X-ray variability of transitional millisecond pulsars: a faint, stable
  and fluctuating disk

abstract:
  Transitional millisecond pulsars (tMSPs) have emerged in the last decade as a
unique class of neutron stars at the crossroads between accretion- and
rotation-powered phenomena. In their (sub-luminous) accretion disk state, with
X-ray luminosities of order $10^{33}-10^{34}$ erg s$^{-1}$, they switch rapidly
between two distinct X-ray modes: the disk-high (DH) and disk-low (DL) states.
We present a systematic XMM-Newton and Chandra analysis of the aperiodic X-ray
variability of all three currently known tMSPs, with a main focus on their disk
state and separating DH and DL modes. We report the discovery of flat-topped
broadband noise in the DH state of two of them, with break frequencies of 2.8
mHz (PSR J1023+0038) and 0.86 mHz (M28-I). We argue that the lowest frequency
variability is similar to that seen in disk-accreting X-ray binaries in the
hard state, at typical luminosities at least 2 orders of magnitude higher than
tMSPs. We find strong variability in the DH state around 1 Hz, not typical of
hard state X-ray binaries, with fractional rms amplitudes close to 30%. We
discuss our results and use them to constrain the properties of the accretion
disk, assuming that the X-ray variability is produced by fluctuations in mass
accretion rate, and that the break frequency corresponds to the viscous
timescale at the inner edge of the disk. In this context, we find that the
newly found break frequencies are broadly consistent with a disk truncated
close to the light cylinder with $\dot{M}\simeq10^{13}-5\times10^{14}$ g
s$^{-1}$ and a viscosity parameter $\alpha\gtrsim$0.2.


title: Higgs boson decay to charmonia via $c$-quark fragmentation

abstract:
  We calculate the decay branching fractions of the Higgs boson to $J/\psi$ and
$\eta_c$ via the charm-quark fragmentation mechanism for the color-singlet and
color-octet states in the framework of non-relativistic QCD. The decay rates
are governed by the charm-quark Yukawa coupling, unlike the decay $H\to J/\psi
+ \gamma$, which is dominated by the $\gamma^*$-$J/\psi$ mixing. We find that
the decay branching fractions can be about $2 \times 10^{-5}$ for $H\to c{\bar
c}+J/\psi$, and $6 \times 10^{-5}$ for $H\to c{\bar c}+\eta_c$. We comment on
the perspective of searching for the Higgs boson to $J/\psi$ transition at the
High-Luminosity LHC for testing the charm-quark Yukawa coupling.


title:
Extraterrestrial Axion Search with the Breakthrough Listen Galactic
  Center Survey

abstract:
  Axion dark matter (DM) may efficiently convert to photons in the
magnetospheres of neutron stars (NSs), producing nearly monochromatic radio
emission. This process is resonantly triggered when the plasma frequency
induced by the underlying charge distribution approximately matches the axion
mass. We search for evidence of this process using archival Green Bank
Telescope data collected in a survey of the Galactic Center in the C-Band by
the Breakthrough Listen project. While Breakthrough Listen aims to find
signatures of extraterrestrial life in the radio band, we show that their
high-frequency resolution spectral data of the Galactic Center region is ideal
for searching for axion-photon transitions generated by the population of NSs
in the inner pc of the Galaxy. We use data-driven models to capture the
distributions and properties of NSs in the inner Galaxy and compute the
expected radio flux from each NS using state-of-the-art ray tracing
simulations. We find no evidence for axion DM and set leading constraints on
the axion-photon coupling, excluding values down to the level $g_{a \gamma
\gamma} \sim 10^{-11}$ GeV$^{-1}$ for DM axions for masses between 15 and 35
$\mu$eV.


title:
Were the Obliquities in DI Herculis Excited by an Unseen Tertiary
  Companion?

abstract:
  The eclipsing binary DI Herculis garnered interest for several decades
because of an apparent disagreement between the observed and calculated values
of the apsidal precession rate. The problem was resolved when both stars were
found to have high obliquities, but the reason for the high obliquities is
unknown. Here we investigate the possibility that the obliquities are (or were)
excited by an unseen tertiary star. Obliquity excitation in the current orbital
configuration can be ruled out with existing data; any tertiary star that is
sufficiently close or massive to overcome the strong spin-orbit coupling of the
binary would have been detected through various dynamical effects. It remains
possible that the orbit of DI Herculis was initially wider and the obliquity
was excited during high-eccentricity tidal migration driven by a tertiary
companion, but in this scenario it would be difficult to explain why the
observed spin rates are much faster than the pseudo-synchronous rate. In
addition, inward migration is most likely to arise when the mass of the
perturbing star is comparable to the binary mass, and such a bright tertiary
would have been detected in imaging or spectroscopic data. Alternative
explanations that do not invoke a tertiary star should be sought for the large
obliquities in DI Herculis.


title:
Quantifying the cool ISM in radio AGNs: evidence for late-time
  re-triggering by galaxy mergers and interactions

abstract:
  We use deep Herschel observations of the complete 2Jy sample of powerful
radio AGNs in the local universe (0.05 < z < 0.7) to probe their cool
interstellar medium (ISM) contents and star-forming properties, comparing them
against other samples of nearby luminous AGNs and quiescent galaxies. This
allows us to investigate triggering and feedback mechanisms. We find that the
dust masses of the strong-line radio galaxies (SLRGs) in our sample are similar
to those of radio-quiet quasars, and that their median dust mass (Mdust = 2 x
10^7 Msun) is enhanced by a factor ~200 compared to that of non-AGN
ellipticals, but lower by a factor ~16 relative to that of local ultra-luminous
infrared galaxies (UILRGs). Along with compelling evidence for merger
signatures in optical images, the SLRGs in our sample also show relatively high
star-formation efficiencies, despite the fact that many of them fall below the
main sequence for star forming galaxies. Together, these results suggest that
most of our SLRGs have been re-triggered by late-time mergers that are
relatively minor in terms of their gas contents. In comparison with the SLRGs,
the radio AGNs with weak optical emission lines (WLRGs) and edge-darkened radio
jets (FRIs) have both lower cool ISM masses and star-formation rates (by a
factor of >30), consistent with being fuelled by a different mechanism (e.g.
the direct accretion of hot gas).


title: Two New Avatars of Moonshine for the Thompson Group

abstract:
  The Thompson sporadic group admits special relationships to modular forms of
two kinds. On the one hand, last century's generalized moonshine for the
monster equipped the Thompson group with a module for which the associated
McKay-Thompson series are distinguished weight zero modular functions. On the
other hand, Griffin and Mertens verified the existence of a module for which
the McKay-Thompson series are distinguished modular forms of weight one-half,
that were assigned to the Thompson group in this century by the last two
authors of this work. In this paper we round out this picture by proving the
existence of two new avatars of Thompson moonshine: a new module giving rise to
weight zero modular functions, and a new module giving rise to forms of weight
one-half. We explain how the newer modules are related to the older ones by
Borcherds products and traces of singular moduli. In so doing we clarify the
relationship between the previously known modules, and expose a new arithmetic
aspect to moonshine for the Thompson group. We also present evidence that this
phenomenon extends to a correspondence between other cases of generalized
monstrous moonshine and penumbral moonshine, and thereby enriches these
phenomena with counterparts in weight one-half and weight zero, respectively.


title: Baryon Asymmetric Universe from Spontaneous CP Violation

abstract:
  Spontaneous CP violation, such as the Nelson-Barr (NB) mechanism, is an
attractive scenario for addressing the strong CP problem while realizing the
observed phase of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) quark-mixing matrix.
However, not only the CKM phase but also the baryon asymmetric Universe
requires sources of CP violation. In this study, we show that a supersymmetric
NB mechanism can naturally accommodate the Affleck-Dine (AD) baryogenesis
within a CP-invariant Lagrangian. The model provides flat directions associated
with new heavy quarks. Focusing on one of the directions, we find that the
correct baryon asymmetry is obtained with a sufficiently low reheating
temperature which does not cause the gravitino problem. Some parameter space is
consistent with the gravitino dark matter. We assess radiative corrections to
the strong CP phase induced by gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking and
CP-violating heavy fields and show that the strong CP problem is solved in a
viable parameter space where the visible sector supersymmetric particles must
be lighter than O(100) TeV. Even in the case that they are heavier than the TeV
scale, our model predicts the neutron electric dipole moment within the reach
of the near future experiments. Our model addresses the electroweak naturalness
problem, strong CP problem, baryon asymmetric Universe, and dark matter. Then,
the model may give a new compelling paradigm of physics beyond the Standard
Model.


title:
Reassessing the Evidence for Time Variability in the Atmosphere of the
  Exoplanet HAT-P-7 b

abstract:
  We reassess the claimed detection of variability in the atmosphere of the hot
Jupiter HAT-P-7 b, reported by Armstrong et al. (2016). Although astronomers
expect hot Jupiters to have changing atmospheres, variability is challenging to
detect. We looked for time variation in the phase curves of HAT-P-7 b in Kepler
data using similar methods to Armstrong et al. (2016), and identified
apparently significant variations similar to what they found. Numerous tests
show the variations to be mostly robust to different analysis strategies.
However, when we injected unchanging phase curve signals into the light curves
of other stars and searched for variability, we often saw similar levels of
variations as in the HAT-P-7 light curve. Fourier analysis of the HAT-P-7 light
curve revealed background red noise from stellar supergranulation on timescales
similar to the planet's orbital period. Tests of simulated light curves with
the same level of noise as HAT-P-7's supergranulation show that this effect
alone can cause the amplitude and phase offset variability we detect for
HAT-P-7 b. Therefore, the apparent variations in HAT-P-7 b's atmosphere could
instead be caused by non-planetary sources, most likely photometric variability
due to supergranulation on the host star.


title: Gravitational Regge bounds

abstract:
  We review the basic assumptions and spell out the detailed arguments that
lead to the bound on the Regge growth of gravitational scattering amplitudes.
The minimal extra ingredient compared to the gapped case - in addition to
unitarity, analyticity, subexponentiality, and crossing - is the assumption
that scattering at large impact parameters is controlled by known
semi-classical physics. We bound the Regge growth of amplitudes both with the
fixed transferred momentum and smeared over it. Our basic conclusion is that
gravitational scattering amplitudes admit dispersion relations with two
subtractions. For a sub-class of smeared amplitudes, black hole formation
reduces the number of subtractions to one. Finally, using dispersion relations
with two subtractions we derive bounds on the local growth of relativistic
scattering amplitudes. Schematically, the local bound states that the amplitude
cannot grow faster than $s^2$.


title:
Bridging Bondi and Event Horizon Scales: 3D GRMHD Simulations Reveal
  X-Shaped Radio Galaxy Morphology

abstract:
  X-shaped radio galaxies (XRGs) produce misaligned X-shaped jet pairs and make
up $\lesssim10\%$ of radio galaxies. XRGs are thought to emerge in galaxies
featuring a binary supermassive black hole ($\rm SMBH$), $\rm SMBH$ merger, or
large-scale ambient medium asymmetry. We demonstrate that XRG morphology can
naturally form without such special, preexisting conditions. Our 3D
general-relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulation for the first time
follows magnetized rotating gas from outside the $\rm SMBH$ sphere of influence
of radius $R_{\rm B}$ to the $\rm SMBH$ of gravitational radius $R_{\rm g}$, at
the largest scale separation $R_{\rm B}/R_{\rm g} = 10^3$ to date. Initially,
our axisymmetric system of constant-density hot gas contains weak vertical
magnetic field and rotates in an equatorial plane of a rapidly spinning $\rm
SMBH$. We seed the gas with small-scale $2\%$-level pressure perturbations.
Infalling gas forms an accretion disk, and the $\rm SMBH$ launches
relativistically-magnetized collimated jets reaching well outside $R_{\rm B}$.
Under the pressure of the infalling gas, the jets intermittently turn on and
off, erratically wobble, and inflate pairs of cavities in different directions,
resembling an X-shaped jet morphology. Synthetic X-ray images reveal multiple
pairs of jet-powered shocks and cavities. Large-scale magnetic flux accumulates
on the $\rm SMBH$, becomes dynamically important, and leads to a magnetically
arrested disk state. The $\rm SMBH$ accretes at $2\%$ of the Bondi rate
($\dot{M}\simeq2.4\times10^{-3}M_{\odot}\,{\rm yr}^{-1}$ for M87*), and
launches twin jets at $\eta=150\%$ efficiency. These jets are powerful enough
($P_{\rm jets}\simeq2\times10^{44}\,{\rm erg\,s}^{-1}$) to escape along the
spin axis and end the short-lived jets state whose transient nature can account
for the rarity of XRGs


title: Misaligned Spinning Binary Black Hole Mergers in Hot Magnetized Plasma

abstract:
  We present general relativistic magneto-hydrodynamical simulations of
equal-mass spinning black hole binary mergers embedded in a magnetized gas
cloud. We focus on the effect of the spin orientation relative to the orbital
angular momentum on the flow dynamics, mass accretion rate and Poynting
luminosity. We find that, across the inspiral, the gas accreting onto the
individual black holes concentrates into disk-like overdensities, whose angular
momenta are oriented towards the spin axes and which persist until merger. We
identify quasi-periodic modulations occurring in the mass accretion rate at the
level of 1-20%, evolving in parallel with the gravitational wave chirp. The
similarity between the accretion rate time-series and the gravitational strain
is a consequence of the interplay between strong, dynamical gravitational
fields and magnetic fields in the vicinity of the inspiralling black holes.
This result suggests that quasi-periodicity in the pre-merger accretion rate of
massive binaries is not exclusive of environments in which the black holes are
embedded in a circumbinary accretion disk, and could provide an additional
useful signature of electromagnetic emission concurrent to low-frequency
gravitational wave detection.


title:
Phase-coherent thermoelectricity in superconducting hybrids (Brief
  Review)

abstract:
  We review some recent advances in studies of phase-coherent thermoelectric
effects in superconducting hybrid structures such as, e.g., Andreev
interferometers. We elucidate a number of mechanisms of electron-hole symmetry
breaking in such systems causing dramatic enhancement of thermoelectric
effects. We demonstrate that the flux-dependent thermopower exhibits periodic
dependence on the applied magnetic flux $\Phi_x$ which in some limits may
reduce to either odd or even functions of $\Phi_x$ in accordance with
experimental observations. We also show that dc Josephson current in Andreev
interferometers can be controlled and enhanced by applying a temperature
gradient which may also cause a nontrivial current-phase relation and a
transition to a $\pi$-junction state.


title:
Quantum metric dipole and non-reciprocal bulk plasmons in
  parity-violating magnets

abstract:
  The optical response of metals is often dominated by plasmonic resonances -
the collective oscillations of an interacting electron liquid. Here we unveil a
new class of plasmons that arise in a wide range of parity violating magnetic
metals. In these materials, broken time reversal and parity symmetries work
together with electron-electron interactions to produce intrinsically
non-reciprocal bulk plasmons wherein the frequencies of forward and backward
moving modes are split. Strikingly, when interactions are strong we find
plasmonic non-reciprocity is dominated by the quantum metric dipole that
characterizes the real-space profile of Bloch electron wavepackets; in this
regime, the quantum metric dipole can give rise to strongly non-reciprocal
collective dynamics even when the electronic group velocity is only weakly
asymmetric. We anticipate these intrinsic non-reciprocal bulk plasmons can be
realized in a wide range of parity violating magnets including twisted bilayer
graphene heterostructures where quantum geometric quantities can achieve large
values.


title:
Gluonic evanescent operators: classification and one-loop
  renormalization

abstract:
  Evanescent operators are a special class of operators that vanish classically
in four-dimensional spacetime, while in general dimensions they are non-zero
and are expected to have non-trivial physical effects at quantum loop level in
dimensional regularization. In this paper we initiate the study of evanescent
operators in pure Yang-Mills theory. A systematic method for classifying and
constructing these operators is described. These operators are necessary
ingredients in the study of high dimensional operators in effective field
theories involving a Yang-Mills sector. For example, the gluonic evanescent
operators start to appear at mass dimension ten. We also compute one-loop form
factors for the dimension-ten operators via the d-dimensional unitarity method
and obtain their one-loop anomalous dimensions.