title: Effect of intermediate Minkowskian evolution on CMB bispectrum

abstract:
  We consider a non-inflationary early Universe scenario in which relevant
scalar perturbations get frozen out at some point, but then are defrosted and
follow a long nearly Minkowskian evolution before the hot era. This
intermediate stage leaves specific imprint on the CMB 3-point function, largely
independent of details of microscopic physics. In particular, the CMB
bispectrum undergoes oscillations in the multipole l space with roughly
constant amplitude. The latter is in contrast to the oscillatory bispectrum
enhanced in the flattened triangle limit, as predicted by inflation with
non-Bunch--Davies vacuum. Given this and other peculiar features of the
bispectrum, stringent constraints imposed by the Planck data may not apply. The
CMB 3-point function is suppressed by the inverse duration squared of the
Minkowskian evolution, but can be of observable size for relatively short
intermediate Minkowskian stage.


title:
Coulomb Corrections to the Parameters of the Moliere Multiple Scattering
  Theory

abstract:
  High-energy Coulomb corrections to the parameters of the Moliere multiple
scattering theory are obtained. Numerical calculations are presented in the
range of the nuclear charge number of the target atom 4<Z<95. It is shown that
these corrections have a large value for sufficiently heavy elements of the
target material and should be taken into account in describing high-energy
experiments with nuclear targets.


title: Thermal Transport and Wiedemann-Franz Law in the Disordered Fermi Liquid

abstract:
  We study thermal transport in the disordered Fermi liquid at low
temperatures. Gravitational potentials are used as sources for finding the heat
density and its correlation function. For a comprehensive study, we extend the
renormalization group (RG) analysis developed for electric transport by
including the gravitational potentials into the RG scheme. Our analysis reveals
that the Wiedemann-Franz law remains valid even in the presence of quantum
corrections caused by the interplay of diffusion modes and the electron
electron interaction. In the present scheme this fundamental relation is
closely connected with a fixed point in the multi-parametric RG-flow of the
gravitational potentials.


title:
Acoustic radiation from vortex-barrier interaction in atomic
  Bose-Einstein condensate

abstract:
  We examine the dynamics of a vortex dipole in the Bose-Einstein condensates
(BECs) of trapped dilute atomic gases at zero temperature in the presence of a
Gaussian barrier potential. The density-anisotropy induced by the barrier
enhances the acoustic radiation from the vortex dipole. This is due to the
deviation of the condensate density from the equipotential curves and variation
in the curvature of the vortex dipole trajectory. Due to the acoustic
radiation, the vortex dipole dissipates energy and spirals towards the edge of
the condensate. As a result, we observe an increase in the vortex-antivortex
annihilation events. To examine the effect of the Gaussian barrier, we estimate
the correction to the Thomas-Fermi condensate density using perturbation
expansion method and the results are in very good agreement with the numerical
results.


title:
Producing acoustic 'Frozen Waves': Simulated experiments with
  diffraction/attenuation resistant beams, in lossy media

abstract:
  The so-called Localized Waves (LW), and the "Frozen Waves" (FW), have arisen
significant attention in the areas of Optics and Ultrasound, because of their
surprising energy localization properties. The LWs resist the effects of
diffraction for large distances, and possess an interesting self-reconstruction
(self-healing) property, after obstacles with size smaller than the antenna's;
while the FWs, a sub-class of theirs, offer the possibility of arbitrarily
modeling the field longitudinal intensity pattern inside a prefixed interval,
for instance 0 < z < L, of the wave propagation axis. More specifically, the
FWs are localized fields "at rest", that is, with a static envelope (within
which only the carrier wave propagates), and can be endowed moreover with a
high transverse localization. In this paper we investigate by simulated
experiments, various cases of generation of ultrasonic FW fields, with
frequency f_o = 1 MHz in a water-like medium, taking account of the effects of
attenuation. We present results of FWs for distances up to L=80 mm, in
attenuating media with absorption coefficients alpha in the range 70 < alpha <
170 dB/m. Such simulated FW fields are constructed by using a procedure
developed by us, via appropriate finite superpositions of monochromatic
ultrasonic Bessel beams. We pay due attention to the selection of the FW
parameters, constrained by the tight restrictions imposed by experimental
Acoustics, and to some practical implications of the transducer design. The
energy localization properties of the Frozen Waves can find application even in
many medical apparatus, such as bistouries or acoustic tweezers, and for
treatment of diseased tissues (in particular, for the destruction of tumor
cells, without affecting the surrounding tissues; besides for a safe kidney
stone shuttering, etcetera).


title: Generalizations of Poisson structures related to rational Gaudin model

abstract:
  The Poisson structure arising in the Hamiltonian approach to the rational
Gaudin model looks very similar to the so-called modified Reflection Equation
Algebra. Motivated by this analogy, we realize a braiding of the mentioned
Poisson structure, i.e. we introduce a "braided Poisson" algebra associated
with an involutive solution to the quantum Yang-Baxter equation. Also, we
exhibit another generalization of the Gaudin type Poisson structure by
replacing the first derivative in the current parameter, entering the so-called
local form of this structure, by a higher order derivative. Finally, we
introduce a structure, which combines both generalizations. Some commutative
families in the corresponding braided Poisson algebra are found.


title: Neutrino masses from CMB B-mode polarization and cosmic growth rate

abstract:
  Constraints on neutrino masses are estimated based on future observations of
the cosmic microwave background (CMB), which includes the B-mode polarization
produced by CMB lensing from the Planck satellite, and the growth rate of
cosmic structure from the Euclid redshift survey by using the Markov-Chain
Monte-Carlo (MCMC) method. The error in the bound on the total neutrino mass is
estimated to be $\Delta\sum m_{\nu} = 0.075$ eV with a 68\% confidence level.
By using the growth rate rather than the galaxy power spectrum, accurate
constraints are obtained, since the growth rate is less influenced by the
uncertainty regarding galaxy bias than by the galaxy power spectrum.


title:
Optimal polygonal L1 linearization and fast interpolation of nonlinear
  systems

abstract:
  The analysis of complex nonlinear systems is often carried out using simpler
piecewise linear representations of them. A principled and practical technique
is proposed to linearize and evaluate arbitrary continuous nonlinear functions
using polygonal (continuous piecewise linear) models under the L1 norm. A
thorough error analysis is developed to guide an optimal design of two kinds of
polygonal approximations in the asymptotic case of a large budget of evaluation
subintervals N. The method allows the user to obtain the level of linearization
(N) for a target approximation error and vice versa. It is suitable for, but
not limited to, an efficient implementation in modern Graphics Processing Units
(GPUs), allowing real-time performance of computationally demanding
applications. The quality and efficiency of the technique has been measured in
detail on two nonlinear functions that are widely used in many areas of
scientific computing and are expensive to evaluate


title: The covariogram and Fourier-Laplace transform in $\mathbb{C}^n$

abstract:
  The covariogram $g_{K}$ of a convex body $K$ in $\mathbb{R}^n$ is the
function which associates to each $x\in\mathbb{R}^n$ the volume of the
intersection of $K$ with $K+x$. Determining $K$ from the knowledge of $g_K$ is
known as the Covariogram Problem. It is equivalent to determining the
characteristic function $1_K$ of $K$ from the modulus of its Fourier transform
$\hat{1_K}$ in $\mathbb{R}^n$, a particular instance of the Phase Retrieval
Problem.
  We connect the Covariogram Problem to two aspects of the Fourier transform
$\hat{1_K}$ seen as a function in $\mathbb{C}^n$. The first connection is with
the problem of determining $K$ from the knowledge of the zero set of
$\hat{1_K}$ in $\mathbb{C}^n$. To attack this problem T. Kobayashi studied the
asymptotic behavior at infinity of this zero set. We obtain this asymptotic
behavior assuming less regularity on $K$ and we use this result as an essential
ingredient for proving that when $K$ is sufficiently smooth and in any
dimension $n$, $K$ is determined by $g_K$ in the class of sufficiently smooth
bodies.
  The second connection is with the irreducibility of the entire function
$\hat{1_K}$. This connection also shows a link between the Covariogram Problem
and the Pompeiu Problem in integral geometry.


title:
The gravitational redshift of photons traversing a collapsing dust cloud
  and observable consequences

abstract:
  We analyze the frequency shift of photons propagating on an asymptotically
flat spacetime describing a collapsing, spherical dust cloud. We focus on the
case where the interaction of the photons with the matter can be neglected.
Under fairly general assumptions on the initial data characterizing the
collapse, we show that photons with zero angular momentum which travel from
past to future null infinity, crossing the collapsing cloud through its center,
are always redshifted with respect to stationary observers. We compute this
redshift as a function of proper time of a distant stationary observer and
discuss its dependency on the mass distribution of the cloud. Possible
implications of this redshift effect for weak cosmic censorship and light
propagation in cosmological spacetimes are also briefly discussed.


title:
Strongly localized moving discrete dissipative breather-solitons in Kerr
  nonlinear media supported by intrinsic gain

abstract:
  We investigate the mobility of nonlinear localized modes in a generalized
discrete Ginzburg-Landau type model, describing a one-dimensional waveguide
array in an active Kerr medium with intrinsic, saturable gain and damping. It
is shown that exponentially localized, traveling discrete dissipative
breather-solitons may exist as stable attractors supported only by intrinsic
properties of the medium, i.e., in absence of any external field or
symmetry-breaking perturbations. Through an interplay by the gain and damping
effects, the moving soliton may overcome the Peierls-Nabarro barrier, present
in the corresponding conservative system, by self-induced time-periodic
oscillations of its power (norm) and energy (Hamiltonian), yielding exponential
decays to zero with different rates in the forward and backward directions. In
certain parameter windows, bistability appears between fast modes with small
oscillations, and slower, large-oscillation modes. The velocities and the
oscillation periods are typically related by lattice commensurability, and
exhibit period-doubling bifurcations to chaotically "walking" modes under
parameter variations. If the model is augmented by inter-site Kerr
nonlinearity, thereby reducing the Peierls-Nabarro barrier of the conservative
system, the existence regime for moving solitons increases considerably, and a
richer scenario appears including Hopf-bifurcations to incommensurately moving
solutions and phase-locking intervals. Stable moving breathers also survive in
presence of weak disorder.


title: New solutions of initial conditions in general relativity

abstract:
  We find new classes of exact solutions of the initial momentum constraint for
vacuum Einstein's equations. Considered data are either invariant under a
continuous symmetry or they are assumed to have the exterior curvature tensor
of a simple form. In general the mean curvature $H$ is non-constant and $g$ is
not conformally flat. In the generic case with the symmetry we obtain general
solution in an explicit form. In other cases solutions are given up to
quadrature. We also find a class of explicit solutions without symmetries which
generalizes data induced by the Kerr metric or other metrics related to the
Ernst equation. The conformal method of Lichnerowicz, Choquet-Bruhat and York
is used to prove solvability of the Hamiltonian constraint if $H$ vanishes.
Existence of marginally outer trapped surfaces in initial manifold is
discussed.


title: Critical connectedness of thin arithmetical discrete planes

abstract:
  An arithmetical discrete plane is said to have critical connecting thickness
if its thickness is equal to the infimum of the set of values that preserve its
$2$-connectedness. This infimum thickness can be computed thanks to the fully
subtractive algorithm. This multidimensional continued fraction algorithm
consists, in its linear form, in subtracting the smallest entry to the other
ones. We provide a characterization of the discrete planes with critical
thickness that have zero intercept and that are $2$-connected. Our tools rely
on the notion of dual substitution which is a geometric version of the usual
notion of substitution acting on words. We associate with the fully subtractive
algorithm a set of substitutions whose incidence matrix is provided by the
matrices of the algorithm, and prove that their geometric counterparts generate
arithmetic discrete planes.


title:
Spectral flow of trimer states of two heavy impurities and one light
  condensed boson

abstract:
  The spectral flow of three-body (trimer) states consisting of two heavy
(impurity) particles sitting in a condensate of light bosons is considered.
Assuming that the condensate is weakly interaction and that an impurity and a
boson have a zero-range two-body interaction, we use the Born-Oppenheimer
approximation to determine the effective three-body potential. We solve the
resulting Schr\"odinger equation numerically and determine the trimer binding
energies as a function of the coherence length of the light bosonic condensate
particles. The binding energy is found to be suppressed by the presence of the
condensate when the energy scale corresponding to the coherence length becomes
of order the trimer binding energy in the absence of the condensate. We find
that the Efimov scaling property is reflected in the critical values of the
condensate coherence length at which the trimers are pushed into the continuum.


title:
Cosmic-ray diffusion in collisionless plasmas including pressure
  anisotropy

abstract:
  Using a hybrid kinetic magnetohydrodynamic formalism incorporating the
effects of pressure anisotropy, we simulate the evolution of a turbulent
collisionless plasma in six different models covering the sub/super-sonic and
sub/super-Alfv\'enic regimes. Based on the power spectrum of the simulated
magnetic field, we compute the particle diffusion coefficients for protons with
kinetic energy in the $50-500$ MeV range, and compare them to those obtained
within standard magnetohydrodynamics. Our results show that the differences in
the statistical properties of the magnetic field, generated by pressure
anisotropy and its associated kinetic instabilities, have an appreciable impact
on the diffusion coefficients of energetic protons. Moreover, the values of the
diffusion coefficients that we obtain within each of the six models considered
vary significantly.


title:
Effective lattice Polyakov loop theory vs. full SU(3) Yang-Mills at
  finite temperature

abstract:
  A three-dimensional effective theory of Polyakov loops has recently been
derived from Wilson's Yang-Mills lattice action by means of a strong coupling
expansion. It is valid in the confined phase up to the deconfinement phase
transition, for which it predicts the correct order and gives quantitative
estimates for the critical coupling. In this work we study its predictive power
for further observables like correlation functions and the equation of state.
We find that the effective theory correctly reproduces qualitative features and
symmetries of the full theory as the continuum is approached. Regarding
quantitative predictions, we identify two classes of observables by numerical
comparison as well as analytic calculations: correlation functions and their
associated mass scales cannot be described accurately from a truncated
effective theory, due to its inherently non-local nature involving long-range
couplings. On the other hand, phase transitions and bulk thermodynamic
quantities are accurately reproduced by the leading local part of the effective
theory. In particular, the effective theory description is numerically superior
when computing the equation of state at low temperatures or the properties of
the phase transition.


title:
On the entropy of equilibrium measures and game-theoretic equilibrium
  feedback operators in multi-channel dynamical systems

abstract:
  We investigate the connection between the entropy of equilibrium measures and
game-theoretic equilibrium feedback operators in a multi-channel dynamical
system. Specifically, we show that the existence of an equilibrium measure,
which maximizes the free energy (i.e., the sum of the entropy and the integral
over a potential), is related to an equilibrium or "maximum entropy" state for
the multi-channel dynamical system that is composed with a set of feedback
operators. Further, we observe that such a connection makes sense when this set
of feedback operators strategically interacts over an infinite-horizon, in a
game-theoretic sense, using the current state-information of the system.
Finally, we briefly comment on the implication of our result to the resilient
behavior of the equilibrium feedback operators, when there is a random
perturbation in the system.


title: QBism as CBism: Solving the Problem of "the Now"

abstract:
  The QBist view of science, first put forth to dispel the fog from quantum
foundations, also clears up a longstanding puzzle in classical physics.


title: Measurement of the Branching Fraction Br(Lambda_c+ -> p K- pi+)

abstract:
  We present the first model-independent measurement of the absolute branching
fraction of the Lambda_c+ -> p K- pi+ decay using a data sample of 978 fb^-1
collected with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy e+e- collider.
The number of Lambda_c+ baryons is determined by reconstructing the recoiling
D(*)- anti-p pi+ system in events of the type e+e- -> D(*)- anti-p pi+
Lambda_c+. The branching fraction is measured to be Br(Lambda_c+ -> p K- pi+) =
(6.84 +- 0.24^{+0.21}_{-0.27})%, where the first and second uncertainties are
statistical and systematic, respectively.


title:
Surface response analysis and determination of confidence regions for
  atmospheric CO2: a global warming study for U.S.A. data

abstract:
  Starting from the atmospheric CO2 measurements taken in Hawaii between 1959
and 2008, a quadratic model with interactions was fitted, using 5 attributable
variables. Surface response analysis returned the eigenvalues and eigenvectors
at the critical point, which turns out to be of mixed type, with two positive
eigenvalues, one null, and the rest negative. From these data, it is derived
that the confidence regions in two variables are of various types (elliptic,
hyperbolic, and degenerate). Based on these results we indicate how to
determine two-dimensional confidence regions for statistically-significant
variables which are relevant contributors to the atmospheric CO2 emissions.


title: Hamiltonian and Noether charges in first order gravity

abstract:
  We consider gravity in four dimensions in the vielbein formulation, where the
fundamental variables are a tetrad $e$ and a SO(3,1) connection $\omega$. We
start with the most general action principle compatible with diffeomorphism
invariance which includes, besides the standard Palatini term, other terms that
either do not change the equations of motion, or are topological in nature. For
our analysis we employ the covariant Hamiltonian formalism where the phase
space $\Gamma$ is given by solutions to the equations of motion. We consider
spacetimes that include a boundary at infinity, satisfying asymptotically flat
boundary conditions and/or an internal boundary satisfying isolated horizons
boundary conditions. For this extended action we study the effect of the
topological terms on the Hamiltonian formulation. We prove two results. The
first one is rather generic, applicable to any field theory with boundaries:
The addition of topological terms (and any other boundary term) does not modify
the symplectic structure of the theory. The second result pertains to the
conserved Hamiltonian and Noether charges, whose properties we analyze in
detail, including their relationship. While the Hamiltonian charges are
unaffected by the addition of topological and boundary terms, we show in detail
that the Noether charges {\em do} change. Thus, a non-trivial relation between
these two sets of charges arises when the boundary and topological terms needed
for a consistent formulation are included.


title: Rauzy fractals with countable fundamental group

abstract:
  We prove that every free group of finite rank can be realized as the
fundamental group of a planar Rauzy fractal associated with a 4-letter
unimodular cubic Pisot substitution. This characterizes all countable
fundamental groups for planar Rauzy fractals. We give an explicit construction
relying on two operations on substitutions: symbolic splittings and
conjugations by free group automorphisms.


title: Stop-mass prediction in naturalness scenarios within MSSM-25

abstract:
  The "top-down" approach to minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM)
phenomenology provides model-dependent indications for a natural stop mass. The
approach is based on specific assumptions about the supersymmetry-breaking
energy scale and parameters degeneracies. In order to determine robust
predictions we update the stop-mass prediction within the MSSM with 25
parameters (MSSM-25) by including electroweak fine-tuning as "naturalness data"
during the Bayesian fits of the parameters to experimental data. The
approximately prior-independent results show that imposing naturalness, taken
here to mean a 25% to 100% fine-tuning, predicts a 1-2 TeV stop mass. The
posterior distributions for the neutralino-proton cross sections indicate
better prospects for probing the associated neutralino cold dark matter (CDM)
with future upgrades of the detection facilities.


title: Zipf's law and phase transition

abstract:
  We describe the link between the Zipf law and statistical distributions for
the Fortuin-Kasteleyn clusters in Ising as well as Potts models. From these
results it is seen that Zipf's law can be a criterion of a phase transition,
but it does not determine its order. We present the corresponding histograms
for fixed domain configurations.


title: Defining implication relation for classical logic

abstract:
  Classical logic has a problematic definition of implication -- the "material
implication". This work presents a definition of implication relation to
replace the material implication for classical logic. The "paradoxes" of
material implication are avoided while strength and simplicity of the system
are reserved with this definition of implication.


title: Pursuing Lax Diagrams and Enrichment

abstract:
  This paper is part of a project that aims to give a homotopy cousin of
Kelly's treatment of enriched category theory. After introducing unital
co-Segal M-categories, we establish the unital version of a previous theorem
that was proven for the nonunital ones; but this was done under strong
hypothesis. We've removed here these assumptions and try to keep the hypothesis
on M as minimal as possible. Our main result provides a sort of Bousfield
localization of a model category that is not known to be left proper. In this
model structure, every co-Segal M-category is `canonically' equivalent to a
strict M-category with the same set of objects. We revisit some constructions
of classical enriched category theory to set up the necessary material for our
future applications.


title: Cold Dust in Hot Regions

abstract:
  We mapped five massive star forming regions with the SCUBA-2 camera on the
James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT). Temperature and column density maps are
obtained from the SCUBA-2 450 and 850 $\mu$m images. Most of the dense clumps
we find have central temperatures below 20 K with some as cold as 8 K,
suggesting that they have no internal heating due to the presence of embedded
protostars. This is surprising, because at the high densities inferred from
these images and at these low temperatures such clumps should be unstable,
collapsing to form stars and generating internal heating. The column densities
at the clump centres exceed 10$^{23}$ cm$^{-2}$, and the derived peak visual
extinction values are from 25-500 mag for $\beta$ = 1.5-2.5, indicating highly
opaque centres. The observed cloud gas masses range from $\sim$ 10 to 10$^{3}$
M$_{\odot}$. The outer regions of the clumps follow an $r^{-2.36\pm0.35}$
density distribution and this power-law structure is observed outside of
typically 10$^{4}$ AU. All these findings suggest that these clumps are
high-mass starless clumps and most likely contain high-mass starless cores.


title:
Can we advance macroscopic quantum systems outside the framework of
  complex decoherence theory?

abstract:
  Macroscopic quantum systems (MQS) are macroscopic systems driven by quantum
rather than classical mechanics, a long studied area with minimal success till
recently. Harnessing the benefits of quantum mechanics on a macroscopic level
would revolutionize fields ranging from telecommunication to biology, the
latter focused on here for reasons discussed. Contrary to misconceptions, there
are no known physical laws that prevent the development of MQS. Instead, they
are generally believed universally lost in complex systems from environmental
entanglements (decoherence). But we argue success is achievable MQS with
decoherence compensation developed, naturally or artificially, from top-down
rather current reductionist approaches. This paper advances the MQS field by a
complex systems approach to decoherence. First, why complex system decoherence
approaches (top-down) are needed is discussed. Specifically, complex adaptive
systems (CAS) are not amenable to reductionist models (and their master
equations) because of emergent behavior, approximation failures, not accounting
for quantum compensator mechanisms, ignoring path integrals, and the subentity
problem. In addition, since MQS must exist within the context of the classical
world, rapid decoherence and prolonged coherence are both needed. Nature has
already demonstrated this for quantum subsystems such as photosynthesis and
magnetoreception. Second, we perform a preliminary study that illustrates a
top-down approach to potential MQS. In summary, reductionist arguments against
MQS are not justifiable. It is more likely they are not easily detectable in
large intact classical systems or has been destroyed by reductionist
experimental set-ups. This complex systems decoherence approach, using top down
investigations, is critical to paradigm shifts in MQS research both in
biological and non-biological systems.


title: Equimultiplicity, algebraic elimination, and blowing-up

abstract:
  Given a variety $X$ over a perfect field, we study the partition defined on
$X$ by the multiplicity (into equimultiple points), and the effect of blowing
up at smooth equimultiple centers. Over fields of characteristic zero we prove
resolution of singularities by using the multiplicity as an invariant, instead
of the Hilbert Samuel function.


title: Some New Symmetric Identities for the q-Zeta Type Functions

abstract:
  The main object of this paper is to obtain several symmetric properties of
the q-Zeta type functions. As applications of these properties, we give some
new interesting identities for the modified q-Genocchi polynomials. Finally,
our applications are shown to lead to a number of interesting results which we
state in the present paper.


title:
The Legendre polynomials associated with Bernoulli, Euler, Hermite and
  Bernstein polynomials

abstract:
  In the present paper, we deal mainly with arithmetic properties of Legendre
polynomials by using their orthogonality property. We show that Legendre
polynomials are proportional with Bernoulli, Euler, Hermite and Bernstein
polynomials.


title: Effect of Carouseling on Angular Rate Sensor Error Processes

abstract:
  Carouseling is an efficient method to mitigate the measurement errors of
inertial sensors, particularly MEMS gyroscopes. In this article, the effect of
carouseling on the most significant stochastic error processes of a MEMS
gyroscope, i.e., additive bias, white noise, 1/f noise, and rate random walk,
is investigated. Variance propagation equations for these processes under
averaging and carouseling are defined. Furthermore, a novel approach to
generating 1/f noise is presented. The experimental results show that
carouseling reduces the contributions of additive bias, 1/f noise, and rate
random walk significantly in comparison with plain averaging, which can be
utilized to improve the accuracy of dead reckoning systems.


title: Adaptive Threshold Estimation by FDR

abstract:
  This paper addresses the following simple question about sparsity. For the
estimation of an $n$-dimensional mean vector $\boldsymbol{\theta}$ in the
Gaussian sequence model, is it possible to find an adaptive optimal threshold
estimator in a full range of sparsity levels where nonadaptive optimality can
be achieved by threshold estimators? We provide an explicit affirmative answer
as follows. Under the squared loss, adaptive minimaxity in strong and weak
$\ell_p$ balls with $0\le p<2$ is achieved by a class of smooth threshold
estimators with the threshold level of the Benjamini-Hochberg FDR rule or its a
certain approximation, provided that the minimax risk is between
$n^{-\delta_n}$ and $\delta_n n$ for some $\delta_n\to 0$. For $p=0$, this
means adaptive minimaxity in $\ell_0$ balls when $1\le
\|\boldsymbol{\theta}\|_0\ll n$. The class of smooth threshold estimators
includes the soft and firm threshold estimators but not the hard threshold
estimator. The adaptive minimaxity in such a wide range is a delicate problem
since the same is not true for the FDR hard threshold estimator at certain
threshold and nominal FDR levels. The above adaptive minimaxity of the FDR
smooth-threshold estimator is established by proving a stronger notion of
adaptive ratio optimality for the soft threshold estimator in the sense that
the risk for the FDR threshold level is uniformly within an infinitesimal
fraction of the risk for the optimal threshold level for each unknown vector,
when the minimum risk of nonadaptive soft threshold estimator is between
$n^{-\delta_n}$ and $\delta_n n$. It is an interesting consequence of this
adaptive ratio optimality that the FDR smooth-threshold estimator outperforms
the sample mean in the common mean model $\theta_i=\mu$ when $|\mu|<n^{-1/2}$.


title: The Price of a Dark Matter Annihilation Interpretation of AMS-02 Data

abstract:
  We discuss challenges to a dark matter annihilation interpretation of the
excess positron fraction in the cosmic rays observed by the PAMELA, Fermi-LAT
and AMS-02 collaborations. The spectra of positrons from annihilations into the
leptonic two-body final states like $\tau^+ \tau^-$ or $\mu^+ \mu^-$, fit well
the AMS-02 data for the positron ratio and the electron flux. Furthermore, we
discuss the hadronic annihilation channels $b \bar{b}$ and $W^+ W^-$. However,
this interpretation requires a very large annihilation cross section especially
for the hadronic channels, conflicting with the unitarity upper limit, unless
the positron flux due to annihilations is boosted by a large factor due to
inhomogeneities in the galactic halo. In addition, we present predictions
within this interpretation for the positron fraction at higher energies for the
antiproton flux, and discuss constraints from $\gamma$-ray measurements.


title: Twistors and antipodes in de Sitter space

abstract:
  We develop the basics of twistor theory in de Sitter space, up to the Penrose
transform for free massless fields. We treat de Sitter space as fundamental, as
one does for Minkowski space in conventional introductions to twistor theory.
This involves viewing twistors as spinors of the de Sitter group SO(4,1). When
attached to a spacetime point, such a twistor can be reinterpreted as a local
SO(3,1) Dirac spinor. Our approach highlights the antipodal map in de Sitter
space, which gives rise to doublings in the standard relations between twistors
and spacetime. In particular, one can generate a field with both handedness
signs from a single twistor function. Such fields naturally live on
antipodally-identified de Sitter space dS_4/Z_2, which has been put forward as
the ideal laboratory for quantum gravity with positive cosmological constant.


title: Highly Dispersed Networks Generated by Enhanced Redirection

abstract:
  We analyze growing networks that are built by enhanced redirection. Nodes are
sequentially added and each incoming node attaches to a randomly chosen
'target' node with probability 1-r, or to the parent of the target node with
probability r. When the redirection probability r is an increasing function of
the degree of the parent node, with r-->1 as the parent degree diverges,
networks grown via this enhanced redirection mechanism exhibit unusual
properties, including: (i) multiple macrohubs---nodes with degrees proportional
to the number of network nodes N; (ii) non-extensivity of the degree
distribution in which the number of nodes of degree k, N_k, scales as
N^{nu-1}/k^{nu}, with 1<nu<2; (iii) lack of self-averaging, with large
fluctuations between individual network realizations. These features are robust
and continue to hold when the incoming node has out-degree greater than 1 so
that networks contain closed loops. The latter networks are strongly clustered;
for the specific case of the double attachment, the average local clustering
coefficient is <C_i>=4(ln2)-2=0.77258...


title:
Mind Your Own Bandwidth: An Edge Solution to Peak-hour Broadband
  Congestion

abstract:
  Motivated by recent increases in network traffic, we propose a decentralized
network edge-based solution to peak-hour broadband congestion that incentivizes
users to moderate their bandwidth demands to their actual needs. Our solution
is centered on smart home gateways that allocate bandwidth in a two-level
hierarchy: first, a gateway purchases guaranteed bandwidth from the Internet
Service Provider (ISP) with virtual credits. It then self-limits its bandwidth
usage and distributes the bandwidth among its apps and devices according to
their relative priorities. To this end, we design a credit allocation and
redistribution mechanism for the first level, and implement our gateways on
commodity wireless routers for the second level. We demonstrate our system's
effectiveness and practicality with theoretical analysis, simulations and
experiments on real traffic. Compared to a baseline equal sharing algorithm,
our solution significantly improves users' overall satisfaction and yields a
fair allocation of bandwidth across users.


title:
Analytic regularity and collocation approximation for elliptic PDEs with
  random domain deformations

abstract:
  In this work we consider the problem of approximating the statistics of a
given Quantity of Interest (QoI) that depends on the solution of a linear
elliptic PDE defined over a random domain parameterized by $N$ random
variables. The elliptic problem is remapped on to a corresponding PDE with a
fixed deterministic domain. We show that the solution can be analytically
extended to a well defined region in $\C^{N}$ with respect to the random
variables. A sparse grid stochastic collocation method is then used to compute
the mean and standard deviation of the QoI. Finally, convergence rates for the
mean and variance of the QoI are derived and compared to those obtained in
numerical experiments.


title: G-actions with close orbit spaces

abstract:
  The classification of G-spaces by Palais is refined for the case where the
orbit space satisfies certain mild topological hypotheses.
  It is shown that when a sequence of such orbit spaces is "close" to a limit
orbit space, in some suitable sense, within a larger ambient orbit space, the
G-spaces in the tail of the sequence are strongly equivalent to the limit
G-space.


title: On Decentralized Estimation with Active Queries

abstract:
  We consider the problem of decentralized 20 questions with noise for multiple
players/agents under the minimum entropy criterion in the setting of stochastic
search over a parameter space, with application to target localization. We
propose decentralized extensions of the active query-based stochastic search
strategy that combines elements from the 20 questions approach and social
learning. We prove convergence to correct consensus on the value of the
parameter. This framework provides a flexible and tractable mathematical model
for decentralized parameter estimation systems based on active querying. We
illustrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed decentralized
collaborative 20 questions algorithm for random network topologies with
information sharing.


title:
On How the Scalar Propagator Transforms Covariantly in Spinless Quantum
  Electrodynamics

abstract:
  Gauge covariance properties of the scalar propagator in spinless/scalar
quantum electrodynamics (SQED) are explored in the light of the corresponding
Landau-Khalatnikov-Fradkin transformation (LKFT). These transformations are non
perturbative in nature and describe how each Green function of the gauge theory
changes under a variation of the gauge parameter. With a simple strategy,
considering the scalar propagator at the tree level in Landau gauge, we derive
a non perturbative expression for this propagator in an arbitrary covariant
gauge and three as well as four space-time dimensions. Some relevant
kinematical limits are discussed. Particularly, we compare our findings in the
weak coupling regime with the direct one-loop calculation of the said
propagator and observe perfect agreement up to an expected gauge independent
term. We further notice that some of the coefficients of the all-order
expansion for the propagator are fixed directly from the LKFT, a fact that
makes this set of transformations appealing over ordinary perturbative
calculations in gauge theories.


title:
Multiscale Phonon Conduction in Nanostructured Materials Predicted by
  Bulk Thermal Conductivity Accumulation Function

abstract:
  We develop a computational framework, based on the Boltzmann transport
equation, with the ability to compute the thermal transport in nanostructured
materials of any geometry using as the only input the bulk thermal conductivity
accumulation function. The main advantage of our method is twofold. First,
while the scattering times and dispersion curves are unknown for most
materials, the phonon mean free path distribution can be directly obtained by
experiments. As a consequence, a wider range of materials can be simulated than
with a frequency-dependent approach. Second, when phonon dispersions are
available from first principles calculations, our approach allows one to
include easily the whole Brillouen zone in the calculations without
discretizing the phonon frequencies for all polarizations, reducing
considerably the computational effort. Furthermore, after deriving the
ballistic and diffusive limits of our model, we develop a multi-scale scheme
that couples phonon transport across different scales, enabling efficient
simulations of materials with wide phonon mean free path distributions. After
we validate our model against the frequency-dependent approach, we apply the
method to porous silicon membranes and find good agreement with experiments on
mesoscale pores. By enabling the investigation of thermal transport in
unexplored nanostructured materials, our method has potential to advance
high-efficiency thermoelectric devices.


title: Vortex Transport and Pinning Effectiveness in Conformal Pinning Arrays

abstract:
  We examine the current driven dynamics for vortices interacting with
conformal crystal pinning arrays and compare to the dynamics of vortices driven
over random pinning arrays. We find that the pinning is enhanced in the
conformal arrays over a wide range of fields, consistent with previous results
from flux gradient-driven simulations. At fields above this range, the
effectiveness of the pinning in the moving vortex state can be enhanced in the
random arrays compared to the conformal arrays, leading to crossing of the
velocity-force curves.


title: Effective Degrees of Freedom: A Flawed Metaphor

abstract:
  To most applied statisticians, a fitting procedure's degrees of freedom is
synonymous with its model complexity, or its capacity for overfitting to data.
In particular, it is often used to parameterize the bias-variance tradeoff in
model selection. We argue that, contrary to folk intuition, model complexity
and degrees of freedom are not synonymous and may correspond very poorly. We
exhibit and theoretically explore various examples of fitting procedures for
which degrees of freedom is not monotonic in the model complexity parameter,
and can exceed the total dimension of the response space. Even in very simple
settings, the degrees of freedom can exceed the dimension of the ambient space
by an arbitrarily large amount. We show the degrees of freedom for any
non-convex projection method can be unbounded.


title:
Evolutionary Design of Numerical Methods: Generating Finite Difference
  and Integration Schemes by Differential Evolution

abstract:
  Classical and new numerical schemes are generated using evolutionary
computing. Differential Evolution is used to find the coefficients of finite
difference approximations of function derivatives, and of single and multi-step
integration methods. The coefficients are reverse engineered based on samples
from a target function and its derivative used for training. The Runge-Kutta
schemes are trained using the order condition equations. An appealing feature
of the evolutionary method is the low number of model parameters. The
population size, termination criterion and number of training points are
determined in a sensitivity analysis. Computational results show good agreement
between evolved and analytical coefficients. In particular, a new fifth-order
Runge-Kutta scheme is computed which adheres to the order conditions with a sum
of absolute errors of order 10^-14. Execution of the evolved schemes proved the
intended orders of accuracy. The outcome of this study is valuable for future
developments in the design of complex numerical methods that are out of reach
by conventional means.


title:
Communication Efficient Distributed Optimization using an Approximate
  Newton-type Method

abstract:
  We present a novel Newton-type method for distributed optimization, which is
particularly well suited for stochastic optimization and learning problems. For
quadratic objectives, the method enjoys a linear rate of convergence which
provably \emph{improves} with the data size, requiring an essentially constant
number of iterations under reasonable assumptions. We provide theoretical and
empirical evidence of the advantages of our method compared to other
approaches, such as one-shot parameter averaging and ADMM.


title: Sfermion Flavor and Proton Decay in High-Scale Supersymmetry

abstract:
  The discovery of the Higgs boson with a mass of around 125 GeV gives a strong
motivation for further study of a high-scale supersymmetry (SUSY) breaking
model. In this framework, the minimal SUSY SU(5) grand unification model may be
viable since heavy sfermions suppress the proton decay via color-triplet Higgs
exchanges. At the same time, sizable flavor violation in sfermion masses is
still allowed by low-energy precision experiments when the mass scale is as
high as O(100) TeV, which naturally explains the 125 GeV Higgs mass. In the
presence of the sfermon flavor violation, however, the rates and branching
fractions of proton decay can be drastically changed. In this paper, we study
the effects of sfermion flavor structure on proton decay and discuss the
experimental constraints on sfermion flavor violation. We find that
proton-decay experiments may give us a valuable knowledge on sfermon flavor
violation, and by combining it with the results from other low-energy precision
experiments, we can extract insights to the structure of sfermion sector as
well as the underlying grand unification model.


title: Sideband generation of transient lasing without population inversion

abstract:
  We suggest a method to generate coherent short pulses by generating a
frequency comb using lasing without inversion in the transient regime. We use a
universal method to study the propagation of a pulse in various spectral
regions through an active medium that is strongly driven on a low-frequency
transition on a time scale shorter than the decoherence time. The results show
gain on the sidebands at different modes can be produced even if there is no
initial population inversion prepared. Besides the production of ultra-short
pulse this frequency comb may have applications towards making short-wavelength
or Tera-hertz lasers.


title: Gravitation from Entanglement in Holographic CFTs

abstract:
  Entanglement entropy obeys a 'first law', an exact quantum generalization of
the ordinary first law of thermodynamics. In any CFT with a semiclassical
holographic dual, this first law has an interpretation in the dual
gravitational theory as a constraint on the spacetimes dual to CFT states. For
small perturbations around the CFT vacuum state, we show that the set of such
constraints for all ball-shaped spatial regions in the CFT is exactly
equivalent to the requirement that the dual geometry satisfy the gravitational
equations of motion, linearized about pure AdS. For theories with entanglement
entropy computed by the Ryu-Takayanagi formula $S=A/(4G_N)$, we obtain the
linearized Einstein equations. For theories in which the vacuum entanglement
entropy for a ball is computed by more general Wald functionals, we obtain the
linearized equations for the associated higher-curvature theories. Using the
first law, we also derive the holographic dictionary for the stress tensor,
given the holographic formula for entanglement entropy. This method provides a
simple alternative to holographic renormalization for computing the stress
tensor expectation value in arbitrary higher derivative gravitational theories.


title:
Bayesian Models of Graphs, Arrays and Other Exchangeable Random
  Structures

abstract:
  The natural habitat of most Bayesian methods is data represented by
exchangeable sequences of observations, for which de Finetti's theorem provides
the theoretical foundation. Dirichlet process clustering, Gaussian process
regression, and many other parametric and nonparametric Bayesian models fall
within the remit of this framework; many problems arising in modern data
analysis do not. This article provides an introduction to Bayesian models of
graphs, matrices, and other data that can be modeled by random structures. We
describe results in probability theory that generalize de Finetti's theorem to
such data and discuss their relevance to nonparametric Bayesian modeling. With
the basic ideas in place, we survey example models available in the literature;
applications of such models include collaborative filtering, link prediction,
and graph and network analysis. We also highlight connections to recent
developments in graph theory and probability, and sketch the more general
mathematical foundation of Bayesian methods for other types of data beyond
sequences and arrays.


title: Topologies of nodal sets of random band limited functions

abstract:
  It is shown that the topologies and nestings of the zero and nodal sets of
random (Gaussian) band limited functions have universal laws of distribution.
Qualitative features of the supports of these distributions are determined. In
particular the results apply to random monochromatic waves and to random real
algebraic hyper-surfaces in projective space.


title:
The average size of the 5-Selmer group of elliptic curves is 6, and the
  average rank is less than 1

abstract:
  In this article, we prove that the average rank of elliptic curves over
$\mathbb{Q}$, when ordered by height, is less than $1$ (in fact, less than
$.885$). As a consequence of our methods, we also prove that at least four
fifths of all elliptic curves over $\mathbb{Q}$ have rank either 0 or 1;
furthermore, at least one fifth of all elliptic curves in fact have rank 0. The
primary ingredient in the proofs of these theorems is a determination of the
average size of the $5$-Selmer group of elliptic curves over $\mathbb{Q}$; we
prove that this average size is $6$. Another key ingredient is a new lower
bound on the equidistribution of root numbers of elliptic curves; we prove that
there is a family of elliptic curves over $\mathbb{Q}$ having density at least
$55\%$ for which the root number is equidistributed.


title: A Global Game with Heterogenous Priors

abstract:
  This paper relaxes the common prior assumption in the public and private
information game of Morris and Shin (2000, 2004). For the generalized game,
where the agent's prior expectations are heterogenous, it derives a sharp
condition for the emergence of unique/multiple equilibria. This condition
indicates that unique equilibria are played if player's public disagreement is
substantial. If disagreement is small, equilibrium multiplicity depends on the
relative precisions of private signals and subjective priors. Extensions to
environments with public signals of exogenous and endogenous quality show that
prior heterogeneity, unlike heterogeneity in private information, provides a
robust anchor for unique equilibria. Finally, irrespective of whether priors
are common or not, we show that public signals can ensure equilibrium
uniqueness, rather than multiplicity, if they are sufficiently precise.


title: Sleep, Neuroengineering and Dynamics

abstract:
  Modeling of consciousness-related phenomena and neuroengineering are fields
that are rapidly growing together. We review recent approaches and developments
and point out some promising directions of future research: Understanding the
dynamics of consciousness states and associated oscillations, pathological
oscillations as well as their treatment by stimulation, neuroprosthetics and
brain-computer-interface approaches, and stimulation approaches that probe,
influence and strengthen memory consolidation. In all these fields,
computational models connect theory, neurophysiology and neuroengineering
research and pave a way towards medical applications.


title: Phase transition for finite-speed detection among moving particles

abstract:
  Consider the model where particles are initially distributed on
$\mathbb{Z}^d, \, d\geq 2$, according to a Poisson point process of intensity
$\lambda>0$, and are moving in continuous time as independent simple symmetric
random walks. We study the escape versus detection problem, in which the
target, initially placed at the origin of $\mathbb{Z}^d, \, d\geq 2$, and
changing its location on the lattice in time according to some rule, is said to
be detected if at some finite time its position coincides with the position of
a particle. We consider the case where the target can move with speed at most
1, according to any continuous function and can adapt its motion based on the
location of the particles. We show that there exists sufficiently small
$\lambda_* > 0$, so that if the initial density of particles $\lambda <
\lambda_*$, then the target can avoid detection forever.


title: Cutoff for the East process

abstract:
  The East process is a 1D kinetically constrained interacting particle system,
introduced in the physics literature in the early 90's to model liquid-glass
transitions. Spectral gap estimates of Aldous and Diaconis in 2002 imply that
its mixing time on $L$ sites has order $L$. We complement that result and show
cutoff with an $O(\sqrt{L})$-window.
  The main ingredient is an analysis of the front of the process (its rightmost
zero in the setup where zeros facilitate updates to their right). One expects
the front to advance as a biased random walk, whose normal fluctuations would
imply cutoff with an $O(\sqrt{L})$-window. The law of the process behind the
front plays a crucial role: Blondel showed that it converges to an invariant
measure $\nu$, on which very little is known. Here we obtain quantitative
bounds on the speed of convergence to $\nu$, finding that it is exponentially
fast. We then derive that the increments of the front behave as a stationary
mixing sequence of random variables, and a Stein-method based argument of
Bolthausen ('82) implies a CLT for the location of the front, yielding the
cutoff result.
  Finally, we supplement these results by a study of analogous kinetically
constrained models on trees, again establishing cutoff, yet this time with an
$O(1)$-window.


title:
An Affine Invariant Linear Convergence Analysis for Frank-Wolfe
  Algorithms

abstract:
  We study the linear convergence of variants of the Frank-Wolfe algorithms for
some classes of strongly convex problems, using only affine-invariant
quantities. As in Guelat & Marcotte (1986), we show the linear convergence of
the standard Frank-Wolfe algorithm when the solution is in the interior of the
domain, but with affine invariant constants. We also show the linear
convergence of the away-steps variant of the Frank-Wolfe algorithm, but with
constants which only depend on the geometry of the domain, and not any property
of the location of the optimal solution. Running these algorithms does not
require knowing any problem specific parameters.


title: Fine Structure of the Rydberg Blockade Zone

abstract:
  A spatial structure of the zone blocked by the dipolar electric field of a
Rydberg atom is calculated taking into account a possibility of excitation to
the states with neighboring values of the principal quantum number. As a
result, it was found that the blocked zone represents a number of co-centric
spherical shells rather than a solid ball, and the respective pair correlation
function should have additional maxima at small interparticle distances.


title: Non-linear damping of visco-resistive Alfven waves in solar spicules

abstract:
  Interaction of Alfven waves with plasma inhomogeneities generates phase
mixing which can lead to dissipate Alfven waves and to heat the solar plasma.
Here we study the dissipation of Alfven waves by phase mixing due to viscosity
and resistivity variations with height. We also consider nonlinear
magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations in our theoretical model. Non-linear terms
of MHD equations include perturbed velocity, magnetic field, and density. To
investigate the damping of Alfven waves in a stratified atmosphere of solar
spicules, we solve the non-linear MHD equations in the x-z plane. Our
simulations show that the damping is enhanced due to viscosity and resistivity
gradients. Moreover, energy variations is influenced due to nonlinear terms in
MHD equations.


title: Contributors of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in Europe

abstract:
  Carbon dioxide, along with atmospheric temperature are interacting to cause
what we have defined as global warming. In the present study we develop a
statistical model using real data to identify the attributable variables (risk
factors) that cause the CO2 emissions in the atmosphere in Europe. Some
scientists believe that there are more than nineteen attributable variables
that cause the CO2 in our atmosphere. However, our study has identified only
three individual risk factors and five interactions among the attributable
variables that cause almost all the CO2 emissions in the atmosphere in Europe.
We rank the risk factors and interactions according to the amount of CO2 they
generate. In addition, we compare the present findings of the European data
with a similar study for the Continental United States [1, 2]. For example, in
the US, liquid fuels ranks number one, while in Europe is gas fuels. In fact,
liquid fuels in Europe is the least contributable variable of CO2 in the
atmosphere, and gas fuels ranks seventh.


title:
Reducing cross-flow vibrations of underflow gates: experiments and
  numerical studies

abstract:
  An experimental study is combined with numerical modelling to investigate new
ways to reduce cross-flow vibrations of hydraulic gates with underflow. A
rectangular gate section placed in a flume was given freedom to vibrate in the
vertical direction. Holes in the gate bottom enabled leakage flow through the
gate to enter the area directly under the gate which is known to play a key
role in most excitation mechanisms. For submerged discharge conditions with
small gate openings the vertical dynamic support force was measured in the
reduced velocity range 1.5 < Vr < 10.5 for a gate with and without holes. The
leakage flow through the holes significantly reduced vibrations. This
attenuation was most profound in the high stiffness region at 2 < Vr < 3.5.
Two-dimensional numerical simulations were performed with the Finite Element
Method to assess local velocities and pressures for both gate types. A moving
mesh covering both solid and fluid domain allowed free gate movement and
two-way fluid-structure interactions. Modelling assumptions and observed
numerical effects are discussed and quantified. The simulated added mass in
still water is shown to be close to experimental values. The spring stiffness
and mass factor were varied to achieve similar response frequencies at the same
dry natural frequencies as in the experiment. Although it was not possible to
reproduce the vibrations dominated by impinging leading edge vortices (ILEV) at
relatively low Vr, the simulations at high Vr showed strong vibrations with
movement-induced excitation (MIE). For the latter case, the simulated response
reduction of the ventilated gate agrees with the experimental results. The
numerical modelling results suggest that the leakage flow diminishes the
whipping effect of fluctuations at the trailing edge associated with the
streamwise pressure drop across the gate and the body's vertical oscillatory
motion.


title: Consistent Bounded-Asynchronous Parameter Servers for Distributed ML

abstract:
  In distributed ML applications, shared parameters are usually replicated
among computing nodes to minimize network overhead. Therefore, proper
consistency model must be carefully chosen to ensure algorithm's correctness
and provide high throughput. Existing consistency models used in
general-purpose databases and modern distributed ML systems are either too
loose to guarantee correctness of the ML algorithms or too strict and thus fail
to fully exploit the computing power of the underlying distributed system.
  Many ML algorithms fall into the category of \emph{iterative convergent
algorithms} which start from a randomly chosen initial point and converge to
optima by repeating iteratively a set of procedures. We've found that many such
algorithms are to a bounded amount of inconsistency and still converge
correctly. This property allows distributed ML to relax strict consistency
models to improve system performance while theoretically guarantees algorithmic
correctness. In this paper, we present several relaxed consistency models for
asynchronous parallel computation and theoretically prove their algorithmic
correctness. The proposed consistency models are implemented in a distributed
parameter server and evaluated in the context of a popular ML application:
topic modeling.


title: Deligne Pairings and Discriminants of Algebraic Varieties

abstract:
  Let V be a finite dimensional complex vector space and V^* its dual and let X
in P(V) be a smooth projective variety of dimension n and degree d at least
two. For a generic n-tuple of hyperplanes H_1,...,H_n in P(V^*)^n, the
intersection of X with H_1,...,H_n consists of d distinct points. We define the
"discriminant of X", to be the the set D(X) of n-tuples for which the
set-theoretic intersection is not equal to d points. Then D(X) is a hyper
surface in P(V^*)^n and the set of defining polynomials, which is a
one-dimensional vector space, is called the "discriminant line". We show that
this line is canonically isomorphic to the Deligne pairing <KL^n,L,...,L> where
K is the canonical line bundle of X and L is the restriction of the hyperplane
bundle to X. As a corollary, we obtain a generalization of Paul"s formula which
relates the Mabuchi K-energy on the space of Bergman metrics to \Delta(X), the
"hyperdiscriminant of X".


title: Gauge-reversing maps on cones, and Hilbert and Thompson isometries

abstract:
  We show that a cone admits a gauge-reversing map if and only if it is a
symmetric cone. We use this to prove that every isometry of a Hilbert geometry
is a collineation unless the Hilbert geometry is the projective space of a
non-Lorentzian symmetric cone, in which case the collineation group is of index
two in the isometry group. We also determine the isometry group of the Thompson
geometry on a cone.


title: Coupled-cluster computations of atomic nuclei

abstract:
  In the past decade, coupled-cluster theory has seen a renaissance in nuclear
physics, with computations of neutron-rich and medium-mass nuclei. The method
is efficient for nuclei with product-state references, and it describes many
aspects of weakly bound and unbound nuclei. This report reviews the technical
and conceptual developments of this method in nuclear physics, and the results
of coupled-cluster calculations for nucleonic matter, and for exotic isotopes
of helium, oxygen, calcium, and some of their neighbors.


title:
Validity of the spin-wave approximation for the free energy of the
  Heisenberg ferromagnet

abstract:
  We consider the quantum ferromagnetic Heisenberg model in three dimensions,
for all spins $S\geq 1/2$. We rigorously prove the validity of the spin-wave
approximation for the excitation spectrum, at the level of the first
non-trivial contribution to the free energy at low temperatures. Our proof
comes with explicit, constructive upper and lower bounds on the error term. It
uses in an essential way the bosonic formulation of the model in terms of the
Holstein-Primakoff representation. In this language, the model describes
interacting bosons with a hard-core on-site repulsion and a nearest-neighbor
attraction. This attractive interaction makes the lower bound on the free
energy particularly tricky: the key idea there is to prove a differential
inequality for the two-particle density, which is thereby shown to be smaller
than the probability density of a suitably weighted two-particle random process
on the lattice.


title: AdS/Ricci-flat correspondence

abstract:
  We present a comprehensive analysis of the AdS/Ricci-flat correspondence, a
map between a class of asymptotically locally AdS spacetimes and a class of
Ricci-flat spacetimes. We provide a detailed derivation of the map, discuss a
number of extensions and apply it to a number of important examples, such as
AdS on a torus, AdS black branes and fluids/gravity metrics. In particular, the
correspondence links the hydrodynamic regime of asymptotically flat black
$p$-branes or the Rindler fluid with that of AdS. It implies that this class of
Ricci-flat spacetimes inherits from AdS a generalized conformal symmetry and
has a holographic structure. We initiate the discussion of holography by
analyzing how the map acts on boundary conditions and holographic 2-point
functions.


title: Transverse momentum dependent gluon density from DIS precision data

abstract:
  The combined measurements of proton's structure functions in deeply inelastic
scattering at the HERA collider provide high-precision data capable of
constraining parton density functions over a wide range of the kinematic
variables. We perform fits to these data using transverse momentum dependent
QCD factorization and CCFM evolution. The results of the fits to precision
measurements are used to make a determination of the nonperturbative transverse
momentum dependent gluon density function, including experimental and
theoretical uncertainties. We present an application of this density function
to vector boson + jet production processes at the LHC.


title: Riccati equations for holographic 2-point functions

abstract:
  Any second order homogeneous linear ordinary differential equation can be
transformed into a first order non-linear Riccati equation. We argue that the
Riccati form of the linearized fluctuation equations that determine the
holographic 2-point functions simplifies considerably the numerical computation
of such 2-point functions and of the corresponding transport coefficients by
computing directly the response functions, eliminating the arbitrary source
from the start. Moreover, it provides a neat criterion for the infrared
regularity of the fluctuations. In particular, it is shown that the infrared
regularity conditions for scalar and tensor fluctuations coincide, and hence
they are either both regular or both singular. We demonstrate our numerical
recipe based on the Riccati equations by computing the holographic 2-point
functions for the stress tensor and a scalar operator in a number of
asymptotically anti de Sitter backgrounds of bottom up scalar-gravity models.
Analytical results are obtained for the 2-point function of the transverse
traceless part of the stress tensor in two confining geometries, including a
geometry that belongs to the class of IHQCD. We find that in this background
the spin-2 spectrum is linear and, as expected, the position space 2-point
function decays exponentially at large distances at a rate proportional to the
confinement scale.


title:
Self-Calibration of BICEP1 Three-Year Data and Constraints on
  Astrophysical Polarization Rotation

abstract:
  Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) polarimeters aspire to measure the faint
$B$-mode signature predicted to arise from inflationary gravitational waves.
They also have the potential to constrain cosmic birefringence which would
produce non-zero expectation values for the CMB's $TB$ and $EB$ spectra.
However, instrumental systematic effects can also cause these $TB$ and $EB$
correlations to be non-zero. In particular, an overall miscalibration of the
polarization orientation of the detectors produces $TB$ and $EB$ spectra which
are degenerate with isotropic cosmological birefringence, while also
introducing a small but predictable bias on the $BB$ spectrum. The \bicep
three-year spectra, which use our standard calibration of detector polarization
angles from a dielectric sheet, are consistent with a polarization rotation of
$\alpha = -2.77^\circ \pm 0.86^\circ \text{(statistical)} \pm 1.3^\circ
\text{(systematic)}$. We revise the estimate of systematic error on the
polarization rotation angle from the two-year analysis by comparing multiple
calibration methods. We investigate the polarization rotation for the \bicep
100 GHz and 150 GHz bands separately to investigate theoretical models that
produce frequency-dependent cosmic birefringence. We find no evidence in the
data supporting either these models or Faraday rotation of the CMB polarization
by the Milky Way galaxy's magnetic field. If we assume that there is no cosmic
birefringence, we can use the $TB$ and $EB$ spectra to calibrate detector
polarization orientations, thus reducing bias of the cosmological $B$-mode
spectrum from leaked $E$-modes due to possible polarization orientation
miscalibration. After applying this "self-calibration" process, we find that
the upper limit on the tensor-to-scalar ratio decreases slightly, from $r<0.70$
to $r<0.65$ at $95\%$ confidence.


title: Into the Amplituhedron

abstract:
  We initiate an exploration of the physics and geometry of the amplituhedron,
starting with the simplest case of the integrand for four-particle scattering
in planar N=4 SYM. We show how the textbook structure of the unitarity
double-cut follows from the positive geometry. We also use the geometry to
expose the behavior of the multicollinear limit, providing a direct motivation
for studying the logarithm of the amplitude. In addition to computing the two
and three-loop integrands, we explore various lower-dimensional faces of the
amplituhedron, thereby computing non-trivial cuts of the integrand to all loop
orders.


title: Value of information in noncooperative games

abstract:
  In some games, additional information hurts a player, e.g., in games with
first-mover advantage, the second-mover is hurt by seeing the first-mover's
move. What properties of a game determine whether it has such negative "value
of information" for a particular player? Can a game have negative value of
information for all players? To answer such questions, we generalize the
definition of marginal utility of a good to define the marginal utility of a
parameter vector specifying a game. So rather than analyze the global structure
of the relationship between a game's parameter vector and player behavior, as
in previous work, we focus on the local structure of that relationship. This
allows us to prove that generically, every game can have negative marginal
value of information, unless one imposes a priori constraints on allowed
changes to the game's parameter vector. We demonstrate these and related
results numerically, and discuss their implications.


title:
Phenotypic class ratios as marker signs of different types of
  agamospermy

abstract:
  This article focuses on the development of the method for the genetic
classification of agamospermous reproduction types in plants using sugar beet
as an example. The classification feasibility is ensured by the use of isozymes
as genetic markers allowing the identification of all three phenotypic classes
in the progeny of individual heterozygous diploid plant and is based on
different phenotypic class ratios in the progenies obtained by meiotic and
mitotic agamospermy. The data indicate that for sugar beet meiotic agamospermy
is the more typical since 13 of 15 explored progenies were classified as those
produced by meiotic agamospermy and only 2 as produced by mitotic agamospermy.


title:
Serendipitous ALMA detection of a distant CO-emitting galaxy with a
  buried active galactic nucleus beyond the nearby merging galaxies VV114

abstract:
  We report the detection of a distant star-forming galaxy, ALMA
J010748.3-173028, which is identified by a 13-sigma emission line at 99.75 GHz
(SdV = 3.1 Jy km/s), behind the nearby merging galaxies VV114 using the Atacama
Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) Band 3. We also find an 880-um
counterpart with ALMA Band 7 (S_880um = 11.2 mJy). A careful comparison of the
intensities of the line and the continuum suggests that the line is a
redshifted 12CO transition. A photometric redshift analysis using the infrared
to radio data favors a CO redshift of z = 2.467, although z = 3.622 is
acceptable. We also find a hard X-ray counterpart, suggesting the presence of a
luminous (L_X ~ 10^44 erg/s) active galactic nucleus obscured by a large
hydrogen column (N_H ~ 2 x 10^23 cm^-2 if z = 2.47). A cosmological simulation
shows that the chance detection rate of a CO-emitting galaxy at z > 1 with \ge
1 Jy km/s is ~ 10^-3 per single ALMA field of view and 7.5-GHz bandwidth at
99.75 GHz. This demonstrates that ALMA has sufficient sensitivity to find an
emission-line galaxy such as ALMA J010748.3-173028 even by chance, although the
likelihood of stumbling across such a source is not high.


title: Non-perturbative procedure for stable $K$-brane

abstract:
  We propose a novel first-order formalism for a type of $K$-brane systems. An
example solution is presented and studied. We illustrate how the noncanonical
kinetic term can affect the properties of the model, such as the stability of
the solutions, the localization of fermion and graviton. We argue that our
solution is stable against linear perturbations. The tensor zero mode of
graviton can be localized while the scalar zero mode cannot. The localization
condition for fermion is also discussed.


title: Impurity entanglement through electron scattering in a magnetic field

abstract:
  We study the entanglement of magnetic impurities in an environment of
electrons through successive scattering while an external magnetic field is
applied. We show that the dynamics of the problem can be approximately
described by a reduced model of three interacting spins, which reveals an
intuitive view on how spins can be entangled by controlled electron scattering.
The role of the magnetic field is rather crucial. Depending on the initial
state configuration, the magnetic field can either increase or decrease the
resulting entanglement but more importantly it can allow the impurities to be
maximally entangled.


title:
General conditions ensuring relativistic causality in an effective field
  theory based on the derivative expansion

abstract:
  We discuss the general conditions ensuring relativistic causality in an
effective theory based on the derivative expansion. Relativistic causality
implies that the Green function vanishes in the space-like region. It is known
that a naive derivative expansion violates causality in some cases such as the
first-order relativistic dissipative hydrodynamics. We note that the Lorentz
covariance, and the equal order of time and space derivatives do not ensure
causality. We derive the general conditions for causality that should be
satisfied by any effective theories respecting special relativity. The
conditions are the followings: (i) the imaginary part of poles of the Green
function is bounded at the large momentum limit, (ii) the front velocity is
smaller than the speed of light, and (iii) the coefficient of the highest-order
time derivative does not include space derivatives.


title: Higgs Boson pair production merged to one jet

abstract:
  We develop a Monte Carlo event generator for Higgs Boson pair production
merged to exact one-jet matrix elements. The matrix elements are generated with
OpenLoops and event generation is performed with the HERWIG++ general-purpose
event generator. This allows us to simulate fully-exclusive hadronic final
states with accurate description of the kinematics of the leading jet in
conjunction with a parton shower. We use the implementation to examine in
detail the systematic uncertainties which result from the merging procedure. We
assess the magnitude of the impact of the merging on experimental searches of
Standard Model di-Higgs production that aim to constrain the Higgs boson
self-coupling. We find that the use of a merged sample can reduce theoretical
systematic uncertainties in the efficiencies of cuts on certain observables.
This constitutes the most accurate simulation of the process available to date.
The Monte Carlo event generator developed for this project is available as an
add-on to the HERWIG++ event generator at http://www.itp.uzh.ch/~andreasp/hh


title: Small Treatise on Spin-3/2 Fields and their Dual Spectral Functions

abstract:
  In this work we systematically study various aspects of spin-3/2 fields in a
curved background. We mostly focus on a minimally coupled massive spin-3/2
field in arbitrary dimensions, and solve the equation of motion either
explicitly or numerically in AdS, Schwarzschild-AdS and
Reissner-Nordstr\"om-AdS backgrounds. Although not the main focus of this work,
we also make a connection with the gravitino equation of motion in gauged
supergravity. Motivated by the AdS/CFT correspondence, we emphasize
calculational improvements and technical details of the dual spectral
functions. We attempt to provide a coherent and comprehensive picture of the
existing literature.


title:
Correlation effects in (111) bilayers of perovskite transition-metal
  oxides

abstract:
  We investigate the correlation-induced Mott, magnetic, and topological phase
transitions in artificial (111) bilayers of perovskite transition-metal oxides
LaAuO$_3$ and SrIrO$_3$ for which the previous density-functional theory
calculations predicted topological insulating states. Using the
dynamical-mean-field theory with realistic band structures and Coulomb
interactions, LaAuO$_3$ bilayer is shown to be far away from a Mott insulating
regime, and a topological-insulating state is robust. On the other hand,
SrIrO$_3$ bilayer is on the verge of an orbital-selective topological Mott
transition and turns to a trivial insulator by an antiferromagnetic ordering.
Oxide bilayers thus provide a novel class of topological materials for which
the interplay between the spin-orbit coupling and electron-electron
interactions is a fundamental ingredient.


title: Scalar Charges in Asymptotic AdS Geometries

abstract:
  We show that for n-dimensional Einstein gravity coupled to a scalar field
with mass-squared m_0^2=-n(n-2)/(4\ell^2), the first law of thermodynamics of
(charged) AdS black holes will be modified by the boundary conditions of the
scalar field at asymptotic infinity. Such scalars can arise in gauged
supergravities in four and six dimensions, but not in five or seven. The result
provides a guiding principle for constructing designer black holes and solitons
in general dimensions, where the properties of the dual field theories depend
on the boundary conditions.


title:
Lensing dispersion of supernova flux: a probe of nonlinear structure
  growth

abstract:
  The scatter in the apparent magnitude of type Ia supernovae induced by
stochastic gravitational lensing is highly dependent on the nonlinear growth of
cosmological structure. In this paper, we show that such a dependence can
potentially be employed to gain significant information about the mass
clustering at small scales. While the mass clustering ultimately hinges on
cosmology, here we demonstrate that, upon obtaining more precise observational
measurements through future cosmological surveys, the lensing dispersion can
very effectively be used to gain information on the poorly understood
astrophysical aspects of structure formation, such as the clumpiness of dark
matter halos and the importance of gas physics and star formation into shaping
the large-scale structure. In order to illustrate this point we verify that
even the tentative current measurements of the lensing dispersion performed on
the Supernova Legacy Survey sample favor a scenario where virialized structures
are somewhat less compact than predicted by $n-$body cosmological simulations.
Moreover, we are also able to put lower limits on the slope of the
concentration-mass relation. By artificially reducing the statistical
observational error we argue that with forthcoming data the stochastic lensing
dispersion will allow one to importantly improve constraints on the baryonic
physics at work during the assembly of cosmological structure.


title: A forest of linear fractional transformations

abstract:
  The Calkin-Wilf tree is an infinite binary tree whose vertices are the
positive rational numbers. Each number occurs in the tree exactly once and in
the form $a/b$, where are $a$ and $b$ are relatively prime positive integers.
For every $2\times 2$ matrix with nonnegative integral coordinates and nonzero
determinant, it is possible to construct an analogous tree with this root. If
the root is the identity matrix, then the tree consists all matrices with
determinant 1, and this tree possesses the basic properties of the Calkin-Wilf
tree of positive rational numbers. The set of all matrices with nonzero
determinant decomposes into a forest of rooted infinite binary trees.


title: A meta-analysis of parton distribution functions

abstract:
  A "meta-analysis" is a method for comparison and combination of
nonperturbative parton distribution functions (PDFs) in a nucleon obtained with
heterogeneous procedures and assumptions. Each input parton distribution set is
converted into a "meta-parametrization" based on a common functional form. By
analyzing parameters of the meta-parametrizations from all input PDF ensembles,
a combined PDF ensemble can be produced that has a smaller total number of PDF
member sets than the original ensembles. The meta-parametrizations simplify the
computation of the PDF uncertainty in theoretical predictions and provide an
alternative to the 2010 PDF4LHC convention for combination of PDF
uncertainties. As a practical example, we construct a META ensemble for
computation of QCD observables at the Large Hadron Collider using the
next-to-next-to-leading order PDF sets from CTEQ, MSTW, and NNPDF groups as the
input. The META ensemble includes a central set that reproduces the average of
LHC predictions based on the three input PDF ensembles and Hessian eigenvector
sets for computing the combined PDF+$\alpha_s$ uncertainty at a common QCD
coupling strength of 0.118.


title:
Deriving Metallicities from Calcium Triplet Spectroscopy in combination
  with Near Infrared Photometry

abstract:
  Context. [...] One of the most efficient methods is the measurement of the
equivalent width (EW) of the Calcium II Triplet (CaT), corrected for the
luminosity and temperature effects via magnitude differences from the
horizontal branch (HB). Methods. We use the Ks magnitude difference between the
star and the reddest part of the HB (RHB) to generate reduced equivalent widths
(rEW) from the datasets presented in Saviane et al. (2012) and Rutledge et al.
(1997). Subsequently we calibrated these rEW against three different
metellicity (met) scales: the one presented in Carretta et al. (2009), the met
values given in Harris (2010) and a version of the former corrected via
high-resolution spectroscopic met. Results. We calculated the calibration
relations for the two datasets and the three met scales and found that they are
approximately equivalent, with differences almost negligible. We compared our
nIR calibrations with the corresponding optical ones, and found them to be
equivalent, establishing that the luminosity-corrected rEW using the Ks
magnitude is compatible with the one obtained from the V magnitude. We then
used the met obtained from the calibration to investigate the internal met
distributions of the GCs. Conclusions. We have established that the
([Fe/H]:rEW) relation is independent from the mag used for the luminosity
correction and find that the calibration relations only change slightly for
different met scales. The CaT technique using NIR photometry is thus a powerful
tool to derive met. In particular, it can be used to study the internal met
spread of a GC. We confirm the presence of at least two met populations in NGC
6656 and find that several other GCs present peculiar met distributions.


title:
Exploring Ultra Low-Power on-Chip Clocking Using Functionality Enhanced
  Spin-Torque Switches

abstract:
  Emerging spin-torque (ST) phenomena may lead to ultra-low-voltage, high-speed
nano-magnetic switches. Such current-based-switches can be attractive for
designing low swing global-interconnects, like, clocking-networks and
databuses. In this work we present the basic idea of using such ST-switches for
low-power on-chip clocking. For clockingnetworks, Spin-Hall-Effect (SHE) can be
used to produce an assist-field for fast ST-switching using global-mesh-clock
with less than 100mV swing. The ST-switch acts as a compact-latch, written by
ultra-low-voltage input-pulses. The data is read using a high-resistance
tunnel-junction. The clock-driven SHE write-assist can be shared among large
number of ST-latches, thereby reducing the load-capacitance for
clock-distribution. The SHE assist can be activated by a low-swing clock
(~150mV) and hence can facilitate ultra-low voltage clock-distribution. Owing
to reduced clock-load and low-voltage operation, the proposed scheme can
achieve 97% low-power for on-chip clocking as compared to the state of the art
CMOS design. Rigorous device-circuit simulations and system-level modelling for
the proposed scheme will be addressed in future.


title: Pairing symmetry and dominant band in Sr2RuO4

abstract:
  We study the superconductivity pairing mechanism in Sr2RuO4 in the limit of
small interaction by extending a renormalization group calculation developed by
Raghu et al. [Phys. Rev. B 81, 224505 (2010)] to include spin-orbit coupling
and multiband effects. We show these effects to be crucial to discriminate
between the possible order parameters. In contrast to previous results and
without the necessity of fine-tuning, we obtain pseudospin-triplet gaps of the
same order of magnitude on the two-dimensional gamma band and the
quasi-one-dimensional alpha and beta bands. The ratio of the gap amplitude on
the different bands varies continuously with the interaction parameter. The
favored pairing symmetry is shown to be chiral when gamma is slightly dominant
and helical when alpha and beta are slightly dominant.


title: Black holes as bubble nucleation sites

abstract:
  We consider the effect of inhomogeneities on the rate of false vacuum decay.
Modelling the inhomogeneity by a black hole, we construct explicit Euclidean
instantons which describe the nucleation of a bubble of true vacuum centred on
the inhomogeneity. We find that inhomogeneity significantly enhances the
nucleation rate over that of the Coleman-de Luccia instanton -- the black hole
acts as a nucleation site for the bubble. The effect is larger than previously
believed due to the contributions to the action from conical singularities. For
a sufficiently low initial mass, the original black hole is replaced by flat
space during this process, as viewed by a single causal patch observer.
Increasing the initial mass, we find a critical value above which a black hole
remnant survives the process. This resulting black hole can have a higher mass
than the original black hole, but always has a lower entropy. We compare the
process to bubble-to-bubble transitions, where there is a semi-classical
Lorentzian description in the WKB approximation.


title: LHC Accessible Second Higgs Boson in the Left-Right Model

abstract:
  A second Higgs doublet arises naturally as a parity partner of the standard
model (SM) Higgs, once SM is extended to its left-right symmetric version
(LRSM) to understand the origin of parity violation in weak interactions as
well as to accommodate small neutrino masses via the seesaw mechanism. The
flavor changing neutral Higgs (FCNH) effects in the minimal version of this
model (LRSM), however, push the second Higgs mass to more than 15 TeV making it
inaccessible at the LHC. Furthermore since the second Higgs mass is directly
linked to the $W_R$ mass, discovery of a "low" mass $W_R$ ($M_{W_R}\leq 5-6$
TeV) at the LHC would require values for some Higgs self couplings larger than
one. In this paper we present an extension of LRSM by adding a vector-like
$SU(2)_R$ quark doublet which weakens the FCNH constraints allowing the second
Higgs mass to be near or below TeV and a third neutral Higgs below 3 TeV for a
$W_R$ mass below 5 TeV. It is then possible to search for these heavier Higgs
bosons at the LHC, without conflicting with FCNH constraints. A right handed
$W_R$ mass in the few TeV range is quite natural in this class of models
without having to resort to large scalar coupling parameters. The CKM mixings
are intimately linked to the vector-like quark mixings with the known quarks,
which is the main reason why the constraints on the second Higgs mass is
relaxed. We present a detailed theoretical and phenomenological analysis of
this extended LR model and point out some tests as well as its potential for
discovery of a second Higgs at the LHC. Two additional features of the model
are: (i) a 5/3 charged quark and (ii) a fermionic top partner with masses in
the TeV range.


title: Support set of random wave-functions on the Bethe lattice

abstract:
  We introduce a new measure of ergodicity, the support set $S_\varepsilon$,
for random wave functions on disordered lattices. It is more sensitive than the
traditional inverse participation ratios and their moments in the cases where
the extended state is very sparse. We express the typical support set
$S_{\varepsilon}$ in terms of the distribution function of the wave function
amplitudes and illustrate the scaling of $S_{\varepsilon}\propto N^{\alpha}$
with $N$ (the lattice size) for the most general case of the multi-fractal
distribution. A number of relationships between the new exponent $\alpha$ and
the conventional spectrum of multi-fractal dimensions is established. These
relationships are tested by numerical study of statistics of wave functions on
disordered Bethe lattices. We also obtain numerically the finite-size spectrum
of fractal dimensions on the Bethe lattice which shows two apparent fixed
points as $N$ increases. The results allow us to conjecture that extended
states on the Bethe lattice at all strengths of disorder below the localization
transition are non-ergodic with a clear multifractal structure that evolves
towards almost ergodic behavior in the clean limit.


title:
Global Adaptive Dynamic Programming for Continuous-Time Nonlinear
  Systems

abstract:
  This paper presents a novel method of global adaptive dynamic programming
(ADP) for the adaptive optimal control of nonlinear polynomial systems. The
strategy consists of relaxing the problem of solving the
Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equation to an optimization problem, which is
solved via a new policy iteration method. The proposed method distinguishes
from previously known nonlinear ADP methods in that the neural network
approximation is avoided, giving rise to significant computational improvement.
Instead of semiglobally or locally stabilizing, the resultant control policy is
globally stabilizing for a general class of nonlinear polynomial systems.
Furthermore, in the absence of the a priori knowledge of the system dynamics,
an online learning method is devised to implement the proposed policy iteration
technique by generalizing the current ADP theory. Finally, three numerical
examples are provided to validate the effectiveness of the proposed method.


title: Attosecond VUV Coherent Control of Molecular Dynamics

abstract:
  High harmonic light sources make it possible to access attosecond
time-scales, thus opening up the prospect of manipulating electronic wave
packets for steering molecular dynamics. However, two decades after the birth
of attosecond physics, the concept of attosecond chemistry has not yet been
realized. This is because excitation and manipulation of molecular orbitals
requires precisely controlled attosecond waveforms in the deep ultraviolet,
which have not yet been synthesized. Here, we present a novel approach using
attosecond vacuum ultraviolet pulse-trains to coherently excite and control the
outcome of a simple chemical reaction in a deuterium molecule in a non-Born
Oppenheimer regime. By controlling the interfering pathways of electron wave
packets in the excited neutral and singly-ionized molecule, we unambiguously
show that we can switch the excited electronic state on attosecond timescales,
coherently guide the nuclear wave packets to dictate the way a neutral molecule
vibrates, and steer and manipulate the ionization and dissociation channels.
Furthermore, through advanced theory, we succeed in rigorously modeling
multi-scale electron and nuclear quantum control in a molecule for the first
time. The observed richness and complexity of the dynamics, even in this very
simplest of molecules, is both remarkable and daunting, and presents intriguing
new possibilities for bridging the gap between attosecond physics and
attochemistry.


title: Clouds in the atmosphere of the super-Earth exoplanet GJ 1214b

abstract:
  Recent surveys have revealed that planets intermediate in size between Earth
and Neptune ("super-Earths") are among the most common planets in the Galaxy.
Atmospheric studies are the next step toward developing a comprehensive
understanding of this new class of object. Much effort has been focused on
using transmission spectroscopy to characterize the atmosphere of the
super-Earth archetype GJ 1214b, but previous observations did not have
sufficient precision to distinguish between two interpretations for the
atmosphere. The planet's atmosphere could be dominated by relatively heavy
molecules, such as water (e.g., a 100% water vapor composition), or it could
contain high-altitude clouds that obscure its lower layers. Here we report a
measurement of the transmission spectrum of GJ 1214b at near-infrared
wavelengths that definitively resolves this ambiguity. These data, obtained
with the Hubble Space Telescope, are sufficiently precise to detect absorption
features from a high mean molecular mass atmosphere. The observed spectrum,
however, is featureless. We rule out cloud-free atmospheric models with water-,
methane-, carbon monoxide-, nitrogen-, or carbon dioxide-dominated compositions
at greater than 5$\sigma$ confidence. The planet's atmosphere must contain
clouds to be consistent with the data.


title:
HST Imaging of Decoupled Dust Clouds in the Ram Pressure Stripped Virgo
  Spirals NGC 4402 and NGC 4522

abstract:
  We present the highest-resolution study to date of the ISM in galaxies
undergoing ram pressure stripping, using HST BVI imaging of NGC 4522 and NGC
4402, Virgo Cluster spirals that are well-known to be experiencing ICM ram
pressure. We find that throughout most of both galaxies, the main dust lane has
a fairly well-defined edge, with a population of GMC-sized (tens- to
hundreds-of-pc scale), isolated, highly extincting dust clouds located up to
~1.5 kpc radially beyond it. Outside of these dense clouds, the area has little
or no diffuse dust extinction, indicating that the clouds have decoupled from
the lower-density ISM material that has already been stripped. Several of the
dust clouds have elongated morphologies that indicate active ram pressure,
including two large (kpc-scale) filaments in NGC 4402 that are elongated in the
projected ICM wind direction. We calculate a lower limit on the HI + H_2 masses
of these clouds based on their dust extinctions and find that a correction
factor of ~10 gives cloud masses consistent with those measured in CO for
clouds of similar diameters, probably due to the complicating factors of
foreground light, cloud substructure, and resolution limitations. Assuming that
the clouds' actual masses are consistent with those of GMCs of similar
diameters (~10^4-10^5 M_sun), we estimate that only a small fraction (~1-10%)
of the original HI + H_2 remains in the parts of the disks with decoupled
clouds. Based on H-alpha images, a similar fraction of star formation persists
in these regions, 2-3% of the estimated pre-stripping star formation rate. We
find that the decoupled cloud lifetimes may be up to 150-200 Myr.


title: Design and Analysis of High Frequency InN Tunnel Transistors

abstract:
  This work reports the design and analysis of an n-type tunneling field effect
transistor based on InN. The tunneling current is evaluated from the
fundamental principles of quantum mechanical tunneling and semiclassical
carrier transport. We investigate the RF performance of the device. High
transconductance of 2 mS/um and current gain cut-off frequency of around 460
GHz makes the device suitable for THz applications. A significant reduction in
gate to drain capacitance is observed under relatively higher drain bias. In
this regard, the avalanche breakdown phenomenon in highly doped InN junctions
is analyzed quantitatively for the first time and is compared to that of Si and
InAs.


title: Twistor Theory of the Airy Equation

abstract:
  We demonstrate how the complex integral formula for the Airy functions arises
from Penrose's twistor contour integral formula. We then use the Lax
formulation of the isomonodromy problem with one irregular singularity of order
four to show that the Airy equation arises from the anti-self-duality equations
for conformal structures of neutral signature invariant under the isometric
action of the Bianchi II group. This conformal structure admits a null-K\"ahler
metric in its conformal class which we construct explicitly.


title:
Simpler proof of the theorem by Pusey, Barrett, and Rudolph on the
  reality of the quantum state

abstract:
  The theorem of Pusey, Barrett, and Rudolph proves that different quantum
states describe different physical realities. Their proof is based on the
construction of entanglement measurement bases of two, and more than two qbits.
In this note, I show that a two-qubit entanglement base is sufficient for a
general proof.


title:
An Analytical Approach to Scattering Between Two Thin Magnetic Flux
  Tubes in a Stratified Atmosphere

abstract:
  We expand on recent studies to analytically model the behavior of two thin
flux tubes interacting through the near- and acoustic far-field. The multiple
scattering that occurs between the pair alters the absorption and phase of the
outgoing wave, when compared to non-interacting tubes. We have included both
the sausage and kink scatter produced by the pair. It is shown that the sausage
mode's contribution to the scattered wave field is significant, and plays an
equally important role in the multiple scattering regime. A disparity between
recent numerical results and analytical studies, in particular the lack of
symmetry between the two kink modes, is addressed. This symmetry break is found
to be caused by an incorrect solution for the near-field modes.


title:
Emergence of stationary many-body entanglement in driven-dissipative
  Rydberg lattice gases

abstract:
  Non-equilibrium quantum dynamics represents an emerging paradigm for
condensed matter physics, quantum information science, and statistical
mechanics. Strongly interacting Rydberg atoms offer an attractive platform to
study driven-dissipative dynamics of quantum spin models with long-range order.
Here, we explore the conditions under which stationary many-body entanglement
persists with near-unit fidelity and high scalability. In our approach,
coherent many-body dynamics is driven by Rydberg-mediated laser transitions,
while atoms at the lattice boundary reduce the entropy of the many-body state.
Surprisingly, the many-body entanglement is established by continuously
evolving a locally dissipative Rydberg system towards the steady-state, as with
optical pumping. We characterize the dynamics of multipartite entanglement in a
1D lattice by way of quantum uncertainty relations, and demonstrate the
long-range behavior of the stationary entanglement with finite-size scaling,
reaching "hectapartite" entanglement under experimental conditions. Our work
opens a route towards dissipative preparation of many-body entanglement with
unprecedented scaling behavior.