title:
Landau-Zener population control and dipole measurement of a two level
  system bath

abstract:
  Tunneling two level systems (TLS), present in dielectrics at low
temperatures, have been recently studied for fundamental understanding and
superconducting device development. According to a recent theory by Burin
\textit{et al.}, the TLS bath of any amorphous dielectric experiences a
distribution of Landau-Zener transitions if exposed to simultaneous fields. In
this experiment we measure amorphous insulating films at millikelvin
temperatures with a microwave field and a swept electric field bias using a
superconducting resonator. We find that the maximum dielectric loss per
microwave photon with the simultaneous fields is approximately the same as that
in the equilibrium state, in agreement with the generic material theory. In
addition, we find that the loss depends on the fields in a way which allows for
the separate extraction of the TLS bath dipole moment and density of states.
This method allows for the study of the TLS dipole moment in a diverse set of
disordered films, and provides a technique for continuously inverting their
population.


title:
Lamb shift in radical-ion pairs produces a singlet-triplet energy
  splitting in photosynthetic reaction centers

abstract:
  Radical-ion pairs, fundamental for understanding photosynthesis and the avian
magnetic compass, were recently shown to be biological open quantum systems. We
here show that the coupling of the radical-pair's spin degrees of freedom to
its decohering vibrational reservoir leads to a shift of the radical-pair's
magnetic energy levels. The Lamb shift Hamiltonian is diagonal in the
singlet-triplet basis, and results in a singlet-triplet energy splitting
physically indistinguishable from an exchange interaction. This could have
significant implications for understanding the energy level structure and the
dynamics of photosynthetic reaction centers.


title:
Detection of weak stochastic force in a parametrically stabilized micro
  opto-mechanical system

abstract:
  Measuring a weak force is an important task for micro-mechanical systems,
both when using devices as sensitive detectors and, particularly, in
experiments of quantum mechanics. The optimal strategy for resolving a weak
stochastic signal force on a huge background (typically given by thermal noise)
is a crucial and debated topic, and the stability of the mechanical resonance
is a further, related critical issue. We introduce and analyze the parametric
control of the optical spring, that allows to stabilize the resonance and
provides a phase reference for the oscillator motion, yet conserving a free
evolution in one quadrature of the phase space. We also study quantitatively
the characteristics of our micro opto-mechanical system as detector of
stochastic force for short measurement times (for quick, high resolution
monitoring) as well as for the longer term observations that optimize the
sensitivity. We compare a simple, naive strategy based on the evaluation of the
variance of the displacement (that is a widely used technique) with an optimal
Wiener-Kolmogorov data analysis. We show that, thanks to the parametric
stabilization of the effective susceptibility, we can more efficiently
implement Wiener filtering, and we investigate how this strategy improves the
performance of our system. We finally demonstrate the possibility to resolve
stochastic force variations well below 1% of the thermal noise.


title:
Structure of cylindrical electric double layers: Comparison of density
  functional and modified Poisson-Boltzmann theories with Monte Carlo
  simulations

abstract:
  The structure of cylindrical double layers is studied using a modified
Poisson Boltzmann theory and the density functional approach. In the model
double layer, the electrode is a cylindrical polyion that is infinitely long,
impenetrable, and uniformly charged. The polyion is immersed in a sea of
equi-sized rigid ions embedded in a dielectric continuum. An in-depth
comparison of the theoretically predicted zeta potentials, the mean
electrostatic potentials, and the electrode-ion singlet density distributions
is made with the corresponding Monte Carlo simulation data. The theories are
seen to be consistent in their predictions that include variations in ionic
diameters, electrolyte concentrations, and electrode surface charge densities,
and are also capable of well reproducing some new and existing Monte Carlo
results.


title:
Ekedahl-Oort strata for good reductions of Shimura varieties of Hodge
  type

abstract:
  For a Shimura variety of Hodge type with hyperspecial level structure at a
prime $p$, Vasiu and Kisin constructed a smooth integral model (namely the
integral canonical model) uniquely determined by a certain extension property.
We define and study the Ekedahl-Oort stratifications on the special fibers of
those integral canonical models when $p>2$. This generalizes Ekedahl-Oort
stratifications defined and studied by Oort on moduli spaces of principally
polarized abelian varieties and those defined and studied by Moonen, Wedhorn
and Viehmann on good reductions of Shimura varieties of PEL type. We show that
the Ekedahl-Oort strata are parameterized by certain elements $w$ in the Weyl
group of the reductive group in the Shimura datum. We prove that the stratum
corresponding to $w$ is smooth of dimension $l(w)$ (i.e. the length of $w$) if
it is non-empty. We also determine the closure of each stratum.


title:
On the origin of power-law distributions in systems with constrained
  phase space

abstract:
  Behavior of condensed matter systems deviating from the standard equilibrium
conditions is discussed. Statistical properties of coupled dynamic-stochastic
systems are studied within a combination of the maximum information principle
and the superstatistical approach. The conditions at which the Shannon entropy
functional leads to a power-law statistics are investigated. It is demonstrated
that, from a quite general point of view, the power-law dependencies may appear
as a consequence of "global" constraints restricting both the dynamic phase
space and the stochastic fluctuations. As a result, at sufficiently long
observation times, the dynamic counterpart is driven into a non-equilibrium
steady state whose deviation from the usual exponential statistics is given by
the distance from the conventional equilibrium.


title: Two-state thermodynamics of the ST2 model for supercooled water

abstract:
  Thermodynamic properties of the ST2 model for supercooled liquid water
exhibit anomalies similar to those observed in real water. A possible
explanation of these anomalies is the existence of a metastable, liquid-liquid
transition terminated by a critical point. This phenomenon, whose possible
existence in real water is the subject of much current experimental work, has
been unambiguously demonstrated for this particular model by most recent
simulations. In this work, we reproduce the anomalies of two versions of the
ST2 model with an equation of state describing water as a non-ideal "mixture"
of two different types of local molecular order. We show that the liquid-liquid
transition in the ST2 water is energy-driven. This is in contrast to another
popular model, mW, in which non-ideality in mixing of two alternative local
molecular orders is entropy-driven, and is not sufficiently strong to induce a
liquid-liquid transition.


title:
Structure and thermodynamics of the primitive model electrolyte in a
  charged matrix: The evaluation of the Madden-Glandt approximation

abstract:
  We compared the results of the Madden-Glandt (MG) integral equation
approximation for partly-quenched systems with the commonly accepted formalism
of Given and Stell (GS). The system studied was a +1:-1 restricted primitive
model (RPM) electrolyte confined in a quenched +1:-1 RPM matrix. A
renormalization scheme was proposed for a set of MG replica Ornstein-Zernike
equations. Long-ranged direct and total correlation functions, describing the
interactions between the annealed electrolyte species within the same replicas
and between the annealed and matrix particles, appeared to be the same for MG
and GS approach. Both versions of the theory give very similar results for the
structure and thermodynamics of an annealed subsystem. Differences between
excess internal energy, excess chemical potential, and isothermal
compressibility become pronounced only at high concentrations of matrix
particles.


title: Two- and three-point functions in Landau gauge Yang-Mills-Higgs theory

abstract:
  Yang-Mills-Higgs theory offers a rich set of physics. In particular, in some
region of its parameter space it has QCD-like behavior, while in some other
range it is Higgs-like. Furthermore, for the choice of the gauge group SU(2)
and an SU(2) Higgs flavor symmetry it is the Higgs sector of the standard
model. Therefore, it is possible to study a plethora of phenomena within a
single theory. Here the standard-model version is studied using lattice gauge
theory. Choosing non-aligned minimal Landau gauge, its propagators and
three-point vertices will be determined in both the QCD-like and Higgs-like
domains. This permits to test various proposals for how confinement works, as
well as how confinement and the Higgs effect differ. The correlations functions
are found to exhibit a different behavior, depending on whether the lowest mass
scalar flavor singlet is lighter than the vector triplet, heavier and stable,
or unstable against decay into two vector triplets.


title: Predictive Monitoring of Business Processes

abstract:
  Modern information systems that support complex business processes generally
maintain significant amounts of process execution data, particularly records of
events corresponding to the execution of activities (event logs). In this
paper, we present an approach to analyze such event logs in order to
predictively monitor business goals during business process execution. At any
point during an execution of a process, the user can define business goals in
the form of linear temporal logic rules. When an activity is being executed,
the framework identifies input data values that are more (or less) likely to
lead to the achievement of each business goal. Unlike reactive compliance
monitoring approaches that detect violations only after they have occurred, our
predictive monitoring approach provides early advice so that users can steer
ongoing process executions towards the achievement of business goals. In other
words, violations are predicted (and potentially prevented) rather than merely
detected. The approach has been implemented in the ProM process mining toolset
and validated on a real-life log pertaining to the treatment of cancer patients
in a large hospital.


title: MIGRAINE: MRI Graph Reliability Analysis and Inference for Connectomics

abstract:
  Currently, connectomes (e.g., functional or structural brain graphs) can be
estimated in humans at $\approx 1~mm^3$ scale using a combination of diffusion
weighted magnetic resonance imaging, functional magnetic resonance imaging and
structural magnetic resonance imaging scans. This manuscript summarizes a
novel, scalable implementation of open-source algorithms to rapidly estimate
magnetic resonance connectomes, using both anatomical regions of interest
(ROIs) and voxel-size vertices. To assess the reliability of our pipeline, we
develop a novel nonparametric non-Euclidean reliability metric. Here we provide
an overview of the methods used, demonstrate our implementation, and discuss
available user extensions. We conclude with results showing the efficacy and
reliability of the pipeline over previous state-of-the-art.


title: Quantum Wells and the Generalized Uncertainty Principle

abstract:
  The finite and infinite square wells are potentials typically discussed in
undergraduate quantum mechanics courses. In this paper, we discuss these
potentials in the light of the recent studies of the modification of the
Heisenberg uncertainty principle into a generalized uncertainty principle as a
consequence of attempts to formulate a quantum theory of gravity. The
fundamental concepts of the minimal length scale and the generalized
uncertainty principle are discussed and the modified energy eigenvalues and
transmission coefficient are derived.


title:
The clustering of galaxies in the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation
  Spectroscopic Survey: Baryon Acoustic Oscillations in the Data Release 10 and
  11 galaxy samples

abstract:
  We present a one per cent measurement of the cosmic distance scale from the
detections of the baryon acoustic oscillations in the clustering of galaxies
from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS), which is part of the
Sloan Digital Sky Survey III (SDSS-III). Our results come from the Data Release
11 (DR11) sample, containing nearly one million galaxies and covering
approximately $8\,500$ square degrees and the redshift range $0.2<z<0.7$. We
also compare these results with those from the publicly released DR9 and DR10
samples. Assuming a concordance $\Lambda$CDM cosmological model, the DR11
sample covers a volume of 13\,Gpc${}^3$ and is the largest region of the
Universe ever surveyed at this density. We measure the correlation function and
power spectrum, including density-field reconstruction of the baryon acoustic
oscillation (BAO) feature. The acoustic features are detected at a significance
of over $7\,\sigma$ in both the correlation function and power spectrum.
Fitting for the position of the acoustic features measures the distance
relative to the sound horizon at the drag epoch, $r_d$, which has a value of
$r_{d,{\rm fid}}=149.28\,$Mpc in our fiducial cosmology. We find
$D_V=(1264\pm25\,{\rm Mpc})(r_d/r_{d,{\rm fid}})$ at $z=0.32$ and
$D_V=(2056\pm20\,{\rm Mpc})(r_d/r_{d,{\rm fid}})$ at $z=0.57$. At 1.0 per cent,
this latter measure is the most precise distance constraint ever obtained from
a galaxy survey. Separating the clustering along and transverse to the
line-of-sight yields measurements at $z=0.57$ of $D_A=(1421\pm20\,{\rm
Mpc})(r_d/r_{d,{\rm fid}})$ and $H=(96.8\pm3.4\,{\rm km/s/Mpc})(r_{d,{\rm
fid}}/r_d)$. Our measurements of the distance scale are in good agreement with
previous BAO measurements and with the predictions from cosmic microwave
background data for a spatially flat cold dark matter model with a cosmological
constant.


title:
The solar interface from the photosphere to the chromosphere and corona
  : contribution of eclipses and EUV filtergrams

abstract:
  Eclipses are very favourable for the photosphere- chromosphere and corona
interface observation as the occultation takes place in space, free of
parasitic light coming from the occulting disk (the Moon). Independently, EUV
filtergrams of the limb region obtained in space were analyzed using one
dimensional hydrostatic VAL models but this method ignores the ubiquitous
magnetic field emergence phenomenon associated with the chromospheric network.
A jump of temperature from 0.01 to 1 MK is observed near the 2 Mm heights and
higher, further producing a permanent solar wind flow. The heating processes
responsible for this temperature jump and for the flow are not yet fully
understood. In this thesis, we reconsider these problems with new high cadence
CCD flash spectra, white light (W-L) eclipse images and new EUV images obtained
with space-borne instruments. We illustrate the mechanisms of low First
Ionisation Potential (FIP) emission lines present in the low layers of the
solar atmosphere, and nearby prominences. We characterize in detail the He
shells and the solar interface region.
  Main results: i) The solar edge and the temperature bifurcation:
structuration and discussion of the analysed low FIP lines and the true
continuum in the 400 to 600 km heights above the limb, emission mechanisms; ii)
Visible mesospheric and chromospheric emission lines in the interface regions
including the Paschen alpha HeII line starting at 800 km above the limb,
produced by photo-ionisation showing shells around the Sun and probing the
prominence-corona interface; iii) The contribution of small scale dynamical
spicules and macro-spicules starting at 1 Mm above the limb showing that the 1D
hydrostatic stratified models are not adapted to the upper layers.


title:
Dirac operators on the Taub-NUT space, monopoles and SU(2)
  representations

abstract:
  We analyse the normalisable zero-modes of the Dirac operator on the Taub-NUT
manifold coupled to an abelian gauge field with self-dual curvature, and
interpret them in terms of the zero modes of the Dirac operator on the 2-sphere
coupled to a Dirac monopole. We show that the space of zero modes decomposes
into a direct sum of irreducible SU(2) representations of all dimensions up to
a bound determined by the spinor charge with respect to the abelian gauge
group. Our decomposition provides an interpretation of an index formula due to
Pope and provides a possible model for spin in recently proposed geometric
models of matter.


title:
Turbulence-Level Variations and Magnetic Field Orientations in the Fast
  Solar Wind

abstract:
  The turbulent magnetic fields of a large set of fast solar wind streams
measured onboard ACE and STEREO A and B are analyzed in an effort to identify
the effects of the turbulence-level broad variations on the orientations of the
local, time-averaged magnetic fields. The power level of turbulence, roughly
defined as the power in the transverse field fluctuations normalized to the
medium-scale average background field, tightly orders the location of the peaks
in the probability distribution functions (PDFs) of the angles between local
fields and Parker spiral. As a result, the broad variations in the power level
of turbulence cause a steep dependence of the average power level of turbulence
on the angle of the local field to the Parker spiral, with the highest
turbulence levels found near the normal to the Parker spiral and the lowest
levels near the Parker spiral direction. Generalized quasilinear estimates of
the mean cross-field displacements adapted to intermittent time-varying
turbulence lead to accurate fits of the observed angle PDFs at all stable
levels of turbulence, supporting the idea that isotropic turbulence could
account for the observed angle PDFs. Modeling of the angles alpha_r between
local fields and radial direction, from the PDFs of the angles alpha between
local and background fields under an assumption of axisymmetry of the turbulent
fields around a background field in or near the direction of the Parker spiral,
also produces fairly good fits of the observed PDFs of alpha_r, thereby
validating the assumption. Finally, local field reversals are found to be quite
common even within very broad streams of "unipolar" fast solar wind.


title: Measurement of the magnetic interaction between two electrons

abstract:
  Electrons have an intrinsic, indivisible, magnetic dipole aligned with their
internal angular momentum (spin). The magnetic interaction between two
electrons can therefore impose a change in their spin orientation. This
process, however, was never observed in experiment. The challenge is two-fold.
At the atomic scale, where the coupling is relatively large, the magnetic
interaction is often overshadowed by the much larger coulomb exchange
counterpart. In typical situations where exchange is negligible, magnetic
interactions are also very weak and well below ambient magnetic noise. Here we
report on the first measurement of the magnetic interaction between two
electronic spins. To this end, we used the ground state valence electrons of
two $^{88}$Sr$^+$ ions, co-trapped in an electric Paul trap and separated by
more than two micrometers. We measured the weak, millihertz scale
(alternatively $10^{-18}$ eV or $10^{-14}$ K), magnetic interaction between
their electronic spins. This, in the presence of magnetic noise that was six
orders of magnitude larger than the respective magnetic fields the electrons
apply on each other. Cooperative spin dynamics was kept coherent for 15 s
during which spin-entanglement was generated. The sensitivity necessary for
this measurement was provided by restricting the spin evolution to a
Decoherence-Free Subspace (DFS) which is immune to collective magnetic field
noise. Finally, by varying the separation between the two ions, we were able to
recover the inverse cubic distance dependence of the interaction. The reported
method suggests an alternative route to the search of long-range anomalous
spin-spin forces and can be generalized to include Quantum Error Correction
codes for other cases of extremely weak signal detection.


title: Sigma-Algebras for Quasirandom Hypergraphs

abstract:
  We examine the correspondence between the various notions of quasirandomness
for k-uniform hypergraphs and sigma-algebras related to measurable hypergraphs.
This gives a uniform formulation of most of the notions of quasirandomness for
dense hypergraphs which have been studied, with each notion of quasirandomness
corresponding to a sigma-algebra defined by a collection of subsets of [1,k].
  We associate each notion of quasirandomness I with a collection of
hypergraphs, the I-adapted hypergraphs, so that G is quasirandom exactly when
it contains roughly the correct number of copies of each I-adapted hypergraph.
We then identify, for each I, a particular I-adapted hypergraph M_k[I] with the
property that if G contains roughly the correct number of copies of M_k[I] then
G is quasirandom in the sense of I. This generalizes recent results of
Kohayakawa, Nagle, R\"odl, and Schacht; Conlon, H\`an, Person, and Schacht; and
Lenz and Mubayi giving this result for some notions of quasirandomness.


title: A Riemannian approach to low-rank algebraic Riccati equations

abstract:
  We propose a Riemannian optimization approach for computing low-rank
solutions of the algebraic Riccati equation. The scheme alternates between
fixed-rank optimization and rank-one updates. The fixed-rank optimization is on
the set of fixed-rank symmetric positive definite matrices which is endowed
with a particular Riemannian metric (and geometry) that is tuned to the
structure of the objective function. We specifically discuss the implementation
of a Riemannian trust-region algorithm that is potentially scalable to
large-scale problems. The rank-one update is based on a descent direction that
ensures a monotonic decrease of the cost function. Preliminary numerical
results on standard small-scale benchmarks show that we obtain solutions to the
Riccati equation at lower ranks than the standard approaches.


title: Benefits to the U.S. from Physicists Working at Accelerators Overseas

abstract:
  We illustrate benefits to the U.S. economy and technological infrastructure
of U.S. participation in accelerators overseas. We discuss contributions to
experimental hardware and analysis and to accelerator technology and
components, and benefits stemming from the involvement of U.S. students and
postdoctoral fellows in global scientific collaborations. Contributed to the
proceedings of the Snowmass 2013 Community Summer Study.

categories: physics.soc-ph hep-ex hep-ph physics.acc-ph


title: Rolling Manifolds of Different Dimensions

abstract:
  If $(M,g)$ and $(\hM,\hg)$ are two smooth connected complete oriented
Riemannian manifolds of dimensions $n$ and $\hn$ respectively, we model the
rolling of $(M,g)$ onto $(\hM,\hg)$ as a driftless control affine systems
describing two possible constraints of motion: the first rolling motion
$\Sigma_{NS}$ captures the no-spinning condition only and the second rolling
motion $\Sigma_{R}$ corresponds to rolling without spinning nor slipping. Two
distributions of dimensions $(n + \hn)$ and $n$, respectively, are then
associated to the rolling motions $\Sigma_{NS}$ and $\Sigma_{R}$ respectively.
This generalizes the rolling problems considered in \cite{ChitourKokkonen1}
where both manifolds had the same dimension. The controllability issue is then
addressed for both $\Sigma_{NS}$ and $\Sigma_{R}$ and completely solved for
$\Sigma_{NS}$. As regards to $\Sigma_{R}$, basic properties for the reachable
sets are provided as well as the complete study of the case $(n,\hn)=(3,2)$ and
some sufficient conditions for non-controllability.


title: Nonlocal dispersive optical model ingredients for ${}^{40}$Ca

abstract:
  A comprehensive description of all single-particle properties associated with
the nucleus ${}^{40}$Ca has been generated by employing a nonlocal dispersive
optical potential capable of simultaneously reproducing all relevant data above
and below the Fermi energy. We gather all relevant functional forms and the
numerical values of the parameters in this contribution.


title: On stationary Markov processes with polynomial conditional moments

abstract:
  We study a class of stationary Markov processes with marginal distributions
identifiable by moments such that every conditional moment of degree say $m$ is
a polynomial of degree at most $m\;\text{.}\;$ We show that then under some
additional, natural technical assumption there exists a family of orthogonal
polynomial martingales. More precisely we show that such a family of processes
is completely characterized by the sequence $\{(\alpha_{n} ,p_{n})\}_{n \geq
0}$ where $\alpha_{n}^{ \prime } s$ are some positive reals while $p_{n}^{
\prime } s$ are some monic orthogonal polynomials. Paper of Bakry\&Mazet(2003)
assures that under some additional mild technical conditions each such sequence
generates some stationary Markov process with polynomial regression.
  We single out two important subclasses of the considered class of Markov
processes. The class of harnesses that we characterize completely. The second
one constitutes of the processes that have independent regression property and
are stationary. Processes with independent regression property so to say
generalize ordinary Ornstein-Uhlenbeck (OU) processes or can also be understood
as time scale transformations of L{\'e}vy processes. We list several properties
of these processes. In particular we show that if these process are time scale
transforms of L{\'e}vy processes then they are not stationary unless we deal
with classical OU- process. Conversely, time scale transformations of
stationary processes with independent regression property are not L{\'e}vy
unless we deal with classical OU process.


title:
The flavour of supersymmetry: Phenomenological implications of sfermion
  mixing

abstract:
  We study the phenomenological implications of sfermion flavour mixing in
supersymmetry in the context of Non-Minimal Flavour Violation (NMFV). We study
the general flavour mixing hypothesis, parametrizing the squark and slepton
mass matrices by a complete set of delta^XY_ij (X,Y=L,R; i,j= t,c,u or b,s,d
for squarks/1,2,3 for sleptons). With respect to the squark sector, we study
the behaviour of the B-physics observables BR(B -> Xs gamma), BR(Bs -> mu+ mu-)
and delta M_B_s and update the constraints to the delta parameters coming from
them. We present one-loop corrections to the Higgs boson masses in the MSSM
with NMFV in the squark sector, and taking into account the previous
constraints we evaluate them, finding sizable corrections, exceeding sometimes
tens of GeV for the light Higgs boson. These corrections might be used to set
further constraints on the delta parameters from the Higgs boson mass
measurement. With respect to the slepton sector, we explore the implications on
charged lepton flavour violating (LFV) processes. The present upper bounds on
the most relevant LFV processes and the recent LHC and (g-2)_mu data lead to
updated constraints on all slepton flavour mixing parameters. We also study the
LFV Higgs decays h,H, A -> tau mu considering the relevant types of slepton
mixing (LL23, LR23, RL23, RR23) in the context of a heavy SUSY with a scale
into the multi-TeV range. These observables present a non-decoupling behaviour
with mSUSY, and are shown here to remain constant as mSUSY grows, for large
mSUSY> 2 TeV values and for all the mixings considered. We show that all the
three channels could be measurable at the LHC even in these heavy SUSY
scenarios, being h -> tau mu the most promising one, with up to about hundred
of events expected with the current LHC centre-of-mass energy and luminosity.
The most promising predictions for the future LHC stage are also included.


title:
The clustering of galaxies in the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation
  Spectroscopic Survey: single-probe measurements from CMASS anisotropic galaxy
  clustering

abstract:
  With the largest spectroscopic galaxy survey volume drawn from the SDSS-III
Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS), we can extract cosmological
constraints from the measurements of redshift and geometric distortions at
quasi-linear scales (e.g. above 50 $h^{-1}$Mpc). We analyze the broad-range
shape of the monopole and quadrupole correlation functions of the BOSS Data
Release 12 (DR12) CMASS galaxy sample, at the effective redshift $z=0.59$, to
obtain constraints on the Hubble expansion rate $H(z)$, the angular-diameter
distance $D_A(z)$, the normalized growth rate $f(z)\sigma_8(z)$, and the
physical matter density $\Omega_mh^2$. We obtain robust measurements by
including a polynomial as the model for the systematic errors, and find it
works very well against the systematic effects, e.g., ones induced by stars and
seeing. We provide accurate measurements $\{D_A(0.59)r_{s,fid}/r_s$ $\rm Mpc$,
$H(0.59)r_s/r_{s,fid}$ $km s^{-1} Mpc^{-1}$, $f(0.59)\sigma_8(0.59)$, $\Omega_m
h^2\}$ = $\{1427\pm26$, $97.3\pm3.3$, $0.488 \pm 0.060$, $0.135\pm0.016\}$,
where $r_s$ is the comoving sound horizon at the drag epoch and
$r_{s,fid}=147.66$ Mpc is the sound scale of the fiducial cosmology used in
this study. The parameters which are not well constrained by our galaxy
clustering analysis are marginalized over with wide flat priors. Since no
priors from other data sets, e.g., cosmic microwave background (CMB), are
adopted and no dark energy models are assumed, our results from BOSS CMASS
galaxy clustering alone may be combined with other data sets, i.e., CMB, SNe,
lensing or other galaxy clustering data to constrain the parameters of a given
cosmological model. The uncertainty on the dark energy equation of state
parameter, $w$, from CMB+CMASS is about 8 per cent. The uncertainty on the
curvature fraction, $\Omega_k$, is 0.3 per cent. We do not find deviation from
flat $\Lambda$CDM.


title: Multi-Symplectic Magnetohydrodynamics

abstract:
  A multi-symplectic formulation of ideal magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) is
developed based on a Clebsch variable variational principle in which the
Lagrangian consists of the kinetic minus the potential energy of the MHD fluid
modified by constraints using Lagrange multipliers, that ensure mass
conservation, entropy advection with the flow, the Lin constraint and Faraday's
equation (i.e the magnetic flux is Lie dragged with the flow). The analysis is
also carried out using the magnetic vector potential $\tilde{\bf A}$ where
$\alpha=\tilde{\bf A}{\bf\cdot}d{\bf x}$ is Lie dragged with the flow, where
${\bf B}=\nabla\times\tilde{\bf A}$. The symplecticity conservation laws are
shown to give rise to the Eulerian momentum and energy conservation laws in
MHD. Noether's theorem for the multi-symplectic MHD system is derived,
including the case of non-Cartesian space coordinates, where the metric plays a
role in the equations.


title: Dilaton gravity, (quasi-) black holes, and scalar charge

abstract:
  We consider static electrically charged dust configurations in the framework
of Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton gravity with the interaction term P(\chi) F_{mn}
F^{mn} in the Lagrangian, where P(\chi) is an arbitrary function of the dilaton
field \chi, and the latter is allowed to be normal or phantom. It is shown
that, for any regular P(\chi), static configurations are possible with
arbitrary functions g_{00} = e^{2\gamma(x^i)} (i=1,2,3) and \chi =
\chi(\gamma), without any assumption of spatial symmetry. The corresponding
matter, electric charge and scalar charge densities are found from the field
equations. Meanwhile, configurations with nontrivial \chi(x^i) generically
require a nonzero scalar charge density distribution. The classical
Majumdar-Papapetrou (MP) system is obtained as a special case where \chi =
const; there is its scalar analogue in the case F_{mn} = 0, but only with a
phantom \chi field. Among possible solutions are black-hole (BH) and
quasi-black-hole (QBH) ones. Some general results on QBH properties obtained
previously for the MP system are here extended to systems with the dilaton.
Particular examples of asymptotically flat spherically symmetric BH and QBH
solutions are found, some of them being phantom-free, that is, exist with
positive energy densities of matter and both scalar and electromagnetic fields.


title: A Fast Algorithm for Sparse Controller Design

abstract:
  We consider the task of designing sparse control laws for large-scale systems
by directly minimizing an infinite horizon quadratic cost with an $\ell_1$
penalty on the feedback controller gains. Our focus is on an improved algorithm
that allows us to scale to large systems (i.e. those where sparsity is most
useful) with convergence times that are several orders of magnitude faster than
existing algorithms. In particular, we develop an efficient proximal Newton
method which minimizes per-iteration cost with a coordinate descent active set
approach and fast numerical solutions to the Lyapunov equations. Experimentally
we demonstrate the appeal of this approach on synthetic examples and real power
networks significantly larger than those previously considered in the
literature.


title:
Galaxy clusters and structure formation in quintessence versus phantom
  dark energy universe

abstract:
  The self-gravitating gas in the Newtonian limit is studied in the presence of
dark energy with a linear and constant equation of state. Entropy extremization
associates to the isothermal Boltzmann distribution an effective density that
includes `dark energy particles', which either strengthen or weaken mutual
gravitational attraction, in case of quintessence or phantom dark energy,
respectively, that satisfy a linear equation of state. Stability is studied for
microcanonical (fixed energy) and canonical (fixed temperature) ensembles.
Compared to the previously studied cosmological constant case, in the present
work it is found that quintessence increases, while phantom dark energy
decreases the instability domain under gravitational collapse. Thus, structures
are more easily formed in a quintessence rather than in a phantom dominated
Universe. Assuming that galaxy clusters are spherical, nearly isothermal and in
hydrostatic equilibrium we find that dark energy with a linear and constant
equation of state, for fixed radius, mass and temperature, steepens their total
density profile. In case of a cosmological constant, this effect accounts for a
1.5% increase in the density contrast, that is the center to edge density ratio
of the cluster. We also propose a method to constrain phantom dark energy.


title: Deep Convolutional Ranking for Multilabel Image Annotation

abstract:
  Multilabel image annotation is one of the most important challenges in
computer vision with many real-world applications. While existing work usually
use conventional visual features for multilabel annotation, features based on
Deep Neural Networks have shown potential to significantly boost performance.
In this work, we propose to leverage the advantage of such features and analyze
key components that lead to better performances. Specifically, we show that a
significant performance gain could be obtained by combining convolutional
architectures with approximate top-$k$ ranking objectives, as thye naturally
fit the multilabel tagging problem. Our experiments on the NUS-WIDE dataset
outperforms the conventional visual features by about 10%, obtaining the best
reported performance in the literature.


title: Recursive Compressed Sensing

abstract:
  We introduce a recursive algorithm for performing compressed sensing on
streaming data. The approach consists of a) recursive encoding, where we sample
the input stream via overlapping windowing and make use of the previous
measurement in obtaining the next one, and b) recursive decoding, where the
signal estimate from the previous window is utilized in order to achieve faster
convergence in an iterative optimization scheme applied to decode the new one.
To remove estimation bias, a two-step estimation procedure is proposed
comprising support set detection and signal amplitude estimation. Estimation
accuracy is enhanced by a non-linear voting method and averaging estimates over
multiple windows. We analyze the computational complexity and estimation error,
and show that the normalized error variance asymptotically goes to zero for
sublinear sparsity. Our simulation results show speed up of an order of
magnitude over traditional CS, while obtaining significantly lower
reconstruction error under mild conditions on the signal magnitudes and the
noise level.


title: Optically Measuring Force near the Standard Quantum Limit

abstract:
  The Heisenberg uncertainty principle sets a lower bound on the sensitivity of
continuous optical measurements of force. This bound, the standard quantum
limit, can only be reached when a mechanical oscillator subjected to the force
is unperturbed by its environment, and when measurement imprecision from photon
shot-noise is balanced against disturbance from measurement backaction. We
apply an external force to the center-of-mass motion of an ultracold atom cloud
in a high-finesse optical cavity. The optomechanically transduced response
clearly demonstrates the trade-off between measurement imprecision and
back-action noise. We achieve a sensitivity that is consistent with theoretical
predictions for the quantum limit given the atoms' slight residual thermal
disturbance and the photodetection quantum efficiency, and is a factor of 4
above the absolute standard quantum limit.


title: Topology of the Random Fibonacci Tiling Space

abstract:
  We look at the topology of the tiling space of locally random Fibonacci
substitution, which is defined as a-->ba with probability p, a-->ab with
probability 1-p and b-->a for 0<p<1. We show that its Cech cohomology group is
not finitely generated, in contrast to the case where random substitutions are
applied globally.


title:
On the Rigidity of Weyl Chamber Flows and Schur Multipliers as
  Topological Groups

abstract:
  We effectively conclude the local rigidity program for generic restrictions
of partially hyperbolic Weyl chamber flows. Our methods replace and extend
previous ones by circumventing computations made in Schur multipliers. Instead,
we construct a natural topology on $H_2(G,\mathbb{Z})$, and rely on classical
Lie structure theory for central extensions.


title:
The Clustering of Galaxies in the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation
  Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS): measuring growth rate and geometry with
  anisotropic clustering

abstract:
  We use the observed anisotropic clustering of galaxies in the Baryon
Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) Data Release 11 CMASS sample to measure
the linear growth rate of structure, the Hubble expansion rate and the comoving
distance scale. Our sample covers 8498 ${\rm deg}^2$ and encloses an effective
volume of 6.0 ${\rm Gpc}^3$ at an effective redshift of $\bar{z} = 0.57$. We
find $f\sigma_8 = 0.441 \pm 0.044$, $H = 93.1 \pm 3.0\ {\mathrm{km}\
\mathrm{s}^{-1} \mathrm{Mpc}^{-1}}$ and $D_{\rm A} = 1380 \pm 23\ {\rm Mpc}$
when fitting the growth and expansion rate simultaneously. When we fix the
background expansion to the one predicted by spatially-flat $\Lambda$CDM model
in agreement with recent Planck results, we find $f\sigma_8 = 0.447 \pm 0.028$
(6 per cent accuracy). While our measurements are generally consistent with the
predictions of $\Lambda$CDM and General Relativity, they mildly favor models in
which the strength of gravitational interactions is weaker than what is
predicted by General Relativity. Combining our measurements with recent cosmic
microwave background data results in tight constraints on basic cosmological
parameters and deviations from the standard cosmological model. Separately
varying these parameters, we find $w = -0.983 \pm 0.075$ (8 per cent accuracy)
and $\gamma = 0.69 \pm 0.11$ (16 per cent accuracy) for the effective equation
of state of dark energy and the growth rate index, respectively. Both
constraints are in good agreement with the standard model values of $w=-1$ and
$\gamma = 0.554$.


title: Meromorphic Functions and the Topology of Giant Gravitons

abstract:
  Using Mikhailov's map from holomorphic functions to supersymmetric D3-brane
solutions, we show how to construct giant gravitons in AdS5 x S5 with toroidal
topologies. In the 1/4-BPS sector we show that these are always of the form #^K
(S2 x S1), and in the limit in which this becomes a set of m+n perpendicular
spherical giants re-connected near to their intersections, we find K in terms
of m,n. In the 1/8-BPS sector we find a similar class of solutions.


title:
Inverse problems for the fourth order Schr\"odinger equation on a finite
  domain

abstract:
  In this paper we establish a global Carleman estimate for the fourth order
Schr\"odinger equation posed on a $1-d$ finite domain. The Carleman estimate is
used to prove the Lipschitz stability for an inverse problem consisting in
retrieving a stationary potential in the Schr\"odinger equation from boundary
measurements.


title: Dynamic DNA Processing: A Microcode Model of Cell Differentiation

abstract:
  A general theoretical framework is put forth to organize and understand
various observed phenomena and mathematical relationships in the field of
molecular biology. By modeling each cell in eukaryotic organisms as a processor
having a unique set of allowed states, represented by a specific DNA sequence,
we demonstrate a method by which gene expression can be regulated. As the
theory is developed, we suggest reasons for the complementary, quaternary
(4-base) coding scheme used in most eukaryotes. A role for transposable
elements is suggested, as is a role for the abundance of noncoding DNA, along
with a clearly-defined method by which single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP's)
may alter gene expression. The effect of various errors is considered. Finally,
a mechanism for inter-processor communication is proposed to explain cell-cell
recognition processes, which leads to an elucidation of a possible pathway by
which nonmutagenic carcinogenic agents may act.


title:
The Generalized Langevin Equation: An efficient approach to
  non-equilibrium molecular dynamics of open systems

abstract:
  The Generalized Langevin Equation (GLE) has been recently suggested to
simulate the time evolution of classical solid and molecular systems when
considering general non-equilibrium processes. In this approach, a part of the
whole system (an open system), which interacts and exchanges energy with its
dissipative environment, is studied. Because the GLE is derived by projecting
out exactly the harmonic environment, the coupling to it is realistic, while
the equations of motion are non-Markovian. Although the GLE formalism has
already found promising applications, e.g., in nanotribology and as a powerful
thermostat for equilibration in classical molecular dynamics simulations,
efficient algorithms to solve the GLE for realistic memory kernels are highly
non-trivial, especially if the memory kernels decay non-exponentially. This is
due to the fact that one has to generate a colored noise and take account of
the memory effects in a consistent manner. In this contribution, we present a
simple, yet efficient, algorithm for solving the GLE for practical memory
kernels and we demonstrate its capability for the exactly solvable case of a
harmonic oscillator coupled to a Debye bath.


title:
Reversal time of the magnetization of magnetic nanoparticles at very low
  damping

abstract:
  The magnetization reversal time of ferromagnetic nanoparticles is
investigated in the very low damping regime. The energy-controlled diffusion
equation rooted in a generalization of the Kramers escape rate theory for point
Brownian particles in a potential to the magnetic relaxation of a macrospin,
yields the reversal time in closed integral form. The latter is calculated for
a nanomagnet with uniaxial anisotropy with a uniform field applied at an angle
to the easy axis and for a nanomagnet with biaxial anisotropy with the field
along the easy axis. The results completely agree with those yielded by
independent numerical and asymptotic methods.


title:
Directed transport of polymer drops on vibrating superhydrophobic
  substrates: A Molecular Dynamics study

abstract:
  Using Molecular Dynamics simulations of a coarse-grained polymer liquid we
investigate the transport of droplets on asymmetrically structured (saw-tooth
shaped), vibrating substrates. Due to a continuous supply of power by substrate
vibrations and the asymmetry of its topography, the droplets are driven in a
preferred direction. We study this directed motion as a function of the size of
the droplets, the linear dimensions of the substrate corrugation, and the
period of vibrations.
  Two mechanisms of driven transport are identified: (i) one that relies on the
droplet's contact lines and (ii), in a range of vibration periods, the entire
contact area contributes to the driving. In this latter regime, the set-up may
be used in experiments for sorting droplets according to their size.
Additionally, we show that the linear dimension of the substrate corrugation
affects the flux inside the droplet. While on a substrate with a fine
corrugation droplets mostly slide, on a more coarsely corrugated substrate the
flux may exhibit an additional rotation pattern.


title: Holograghic Brownian motion in $2+1$ dimensional hairy black holes

abstract:
  In this paper, we investigate the dynamics of a heavy quark under the plasmas
correspond to three dimensional hairy black holes. We utilize the AdS/CFT
correspondence to study the holographic Brownian motion of this particle in
different kinds of hairy black holes. For uncharged black hole at low frequency
limit we derive analytic expressions for correlation functions and response
functions and verify that the fluctuation-dissipation theorem holds in the
presence of a scalar field in the metric background. In the case of charged
black hole, we think that the results are similar to what derived for uncharged
black hole.


title:
Measurement of acoustic glitches in solar-type stars from oscillation
  frequencies observed by Kepler

abstract:
  For the very best and brightest asteroseismic solar-type targets observed by
Kepler, the frequency precision is sufficient to determine the acoustic depths
of the surface convective layer and the helium ionization zone. Such sharp
features inside the acoustic cavity of the star, which we call acoustic
glitches, create small oscillatory deviations from the uniform spacing of
frequencies in a sequence of oscillation modes with the same spherical harmonic
degree. We use these oscillatory signals to determine the acoustic locations of
such features in 19 solar-type stars observed by the Kepler mission. Four
independent groups of researchers utilized the oscillation frequencies
themselves, the second differences of the frequencies and the ratio of the
small and large separation to locate the base of the convection zone and the
second helium ionization zone. Despite the significantly different methods of
analysis, good agreement was found between the results of these four groups,
barring a few cases. These results also agree reasonably well with the
locations of these layers in representative models of the stars. These results
firmly establish the presence of the oscillatory signals in the asteroseismic
data and the viability of several techniques to determine the location of
acoustic glitches inside stars.


title: Chiral Ward identities, automatic O(a) improvement and the gradient flow

abstract:
  Non-singlet chiral Ward identities for fermionic operators at positive
flow-time are derived using standard techniques based on local chiral
variations of the action and of local operators. The gradient flow formalism is
applied to twisted mass fermions and it is shown that automatic O(a)
improvement for Wilson twisted mass fermions at maximal twist is a property
valid also at positive flow-time. A definition of the chiral condensate that is
multiplicatively renormalizable and automatically O(a) improved is then
derived.


title:
Generic Schemes for Single Molecule Kinetics 2: Information Content of
  the Poisson Indicator

abstract:
  Recently, we described a pathway analysis technique (paper 1) for analyzing
generic schemes for single-molecule kinetics based upon the first-passage time
distribution. Here, we employ this method to derive expressions for the Poisson
indicator, a measure of stochastic variation (essentially equivalent to the
Fano factor and Mandel's Q parameter), for various renewal (memoryless)
enzymatic reactions. We examine its dependence on substrate concentration,
without assuming all steps follow Poissonian kinetics. Based upon fitting to
the functional forms of the first two waiting time moments, we show that, to
second order, the non-Poissonian kinetics are generally underdetermined but can
be specified in certain scenarios. For an enzymatic reaction with an arbitrary
intermediate topology, we identify a generic minimum of the Poisson indicator
as a function of substrate concentration, which can be used to tune substrate
concentration to the stochastic fluctuations and estimate the largest number of
underlying consecutive links in a turnover cycle. We identify a local maximum
of the Poisson indicator (with respect to substrate concentration) for a
renewal process as a signature of competitive binding, either between a
substrate and an inhibitor or between multiple substrates. Our analysis
explores the rich connections between Poisson indicator measurements and
microscopic kinetic mechanisms.


title:
Dynamical Scaling Implications of Ferrari, Pr\"{a}hofer, and Spohn's
  Remarkable Spatial Scaling Results for Facet-Edge Fluctuations

abstract:
  Spurred by theoretical predictions from Spohn and coworkers [Phys. Rev. E
{\bf 69}, 035102(R) (2004)], we rederived and extended their result
heuristically as well as investigated the scaling properties of the associated
Langevin equation in curved geometry with an asymmetric potential. With
experimental colleagues we used STM line scans to corroborate their prediction
that the fluctuations of the step bounding a facet exhibit scaling properties
distinct from those of isolated steps or steps on vicinal surfaces. The
correlation functions was shown to go as $t^{0.15(3)}$ decidedly different from
the $t^{0.26(2)}$ behavior for fluctuations of isolated steps. From the
exponents, we were able to categorize the universality, confirming the
prediction that the non-linear term of the KPZ equation, long known to play a
central role in non-equilibrium phenomena, can also arise from the curvature or
potential-asymmetry contribution to the step free energy. We also considered,
with modest Monte Carlo simulations, a toy model to show that confinement of a
step by another nearby step can modify as predicted the scaling exponents of
the step's fluctuations. This paper is an expansion of a celebratory talk at
the 95$^{\rm th}$ Rutgers Statistical Mechanics Conference, May 2006.


title: Killing Horizons and Spinors

abstract:
  We study the near horizon geometry of generic Killing horizons constructing
suitable coordinates and taking the appropriate scaling limit. We are able to
show that the geometry will always show an enhancement of symmetries, and, in
the extremal case, will develop a causally disconnected "throat" as expected.
We analyze the implications of this to the Kerr/CFT conjecture and the
attractor mechanism. We are also able to construct a set of special (pure)
spinors associated with the horizon structure using their interpretation as
maximally isotropic planes. The structure generalizes the usual reduced
holonomy manifold in an interesting way and may be fruitful to the search of
new types of compactification backgrounds.


title: Limit on the neutron-antineutron transitions in the alternative models

abstract:
  We summarize our study of the neutron-antineutron transition in medium and
nuclei in the framework of the field-theoretical approach. The models based on
the diagram technique for direct reactions, potential description of
antineutron-medium interaction are considered as well. The lower limit on the
free-space neutron-antineutron oscillation time $\tau $ is in the range:
$10^{16}\; {\rm yr}>\tau >1.2\cdot 10^{9}\; {\rm s}$.


title: Finite time blow up for a 1D model of 2D Boussinesq system

abstract:
  The 2D conservative Boussinesq system describes inviscid, incompressible,
buoyant fluid flow in gravity field. The possibility of finite time blow up for
solutions of this system is a classical problem of mathematical hydrodynamics.
We consider a 1D model of 2D Boussinesq system motivated by a particular finite
time blow up scenario. We prove that finite time blow up is possible for the
solutions to the model system.


title:
Azimuthal Asymmetry and Transverse Momentum in Deep Inelastic Muon
  Scattering

abstract:
  The azimuthal asymmetry and the transverse momentum of forward produced
charged hadrons in deep inelastic muon scattering have been studied as a
function of the event kinematics and of the hadron variables. Primordial $k_T$
of the struck parton and O($\alpha_s$) corrections to the cross-section are
expected to contribute to the transverse momentum and the azimuthal asymmetry
of hadrons. The data show some unexpected dependences not present in a Monte
Carlo simulation which includes the theoretical parton-level azimuthal
asymmetry.


title:
Meron-cluster simulation of the quantum antiferromagnetic Heisenberg
  model in a magnetic field in one- and two-dimensions

abstract:
  Motivated by the numerical simulation of systems which display quantum phase
transitions, we present a novel application of the meron-cluster algorithm to
simulate the quantum antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model coupled to an external
uniform magnetic field both in one and in two dimensions. In the infinite
volume limit and at zero temperature we found numerical evidence that supports
a quantum phase transition very close to the critical values $B_{c}=2$ and
$B_{c}=4$ for the system in one and two dimensions, respectively. For the one
dimensional system, we have compared the numerical data obtained with
analytical predictions for the magnetization density as a function of the
external field obtained by scaling-behaviour analysis and Bethe Ansatz
techniques. Since there is no analytical solution for the two dimensional case,
we have compared our results with the magnetization density obtained by scaling
relations for small lattice sizes and with the approximated thermodynamical
limit at zero temperature guessed by scaling relations. Moreover, we have
compared the numerical data with other numerical simulations performed by using
different algorithms in one and two dimensions, like the directed loop method.
The numerical data obtained are in perfect agreement with all these previous
results, which confirms that the meron-algorithm is reliable for quantum Monte
Carlo simulations and applicable both in one and two dimensions. Finally, we
have computed the integrated autocorrelation time to measure the efficiency of
the meron algorithm in one dimension.


title:
Quantum field theoretic properties of Lorentz-violating operators of
  nonrenormalizable dimension in the photon sector

abstract:
  In the context of the nonminimal Standard-Model Extension a special subset of
the CPT-even higher-dimensional operators in the photon sector is discussed
from a quantum-field theoretical point of view. The modified dispersion laws,
photon polarization vectors plus the gauge field propagator are obtained and
their properties are analyzed. It is demonstrated that for certain sectors of
the modified theory a puzzle arises for the optical theorem at tree-level. This
is followed by a discussion of how it can be interpreted and resolved at first
order Lorentz violation. Furthermore the commutator of two gauge fields that
are evaluated at different spacetime points is obtained and discussed. The
structure of the theory is shown to resemble the structure of the modification
based on the corresponding dimension-4 operator. However some properties are
altered due to the nonrenormalizable nature of the theory considered. The
results provide more insight into the characteristics of Lorentz-violating
quantum field theories that rest upon contributions of nonrenormalizable
dimension.


title: An exercise on streams: convergence acceleration

abstract:
  This paper presents convergence acceleration, a method for computing
efficiently the limit of numerical sequences as a typical application of
streams and higher-order functions.


title:
Manipulating domain wall chirality by current pulses in Permalloy/Ir
  nanostrips

abstract:
  Using magnetic force microscopy and micromagnetic simulations, we studied the
effect of Oersted magnetic fields on the chirality of transverse magnetic
domain walls in Fe$_{20}$Ni$_{80}$/Ir bilayer nanostrips. Applying nanosecond
current pulses with a current density of around $2\times10^{12}$ A/m$^2$, the
chirality of a transverse domain wall could be switched reversibly and
reproducibly. These current densities are similar to the ones used for
current-induced domain wall motion, indicating that the Oersted field may
stabilize the transverse wall chirality during current pulses and prevent
domain wall transformations.


title: Penalization for non-linear hyperbolic system

abstract:
  This paper proposes a volumetric penalty method to simulate the boundary
conditions for a non-linear hyperbolic problem. The boundary conditions are
assumed to be maximally strictly dissipative on a non-characteristic boundary.
This penalization appears to be quite natural since, after a natural change of
variable, the penalty matrix is an orthogonal projector. We prove the
convergence towards the solution of the wished hyperbolic problem and that this
convergence is sharp in the sense that it does not generate any boundary layer,
at any order. The proof involves an approximation by asymptotic expansion and
energy estimates in anisotropic Sobolev spaces.


title: Integer-ambiguity resolution in astronomy and geodesy

abstract:
  Recent theoretical developments in astronomical aperture synthesis have
revealed the existence of integer-ambiguity problems. Those problems, which
appear in the self-calibration procedures of radio imaging, have been shown to
be similar to the nearest-lattice point (NLP) problems encountered in
high-precision geodetic positioning, and in global navigation satellite
systems. In this paper, we analyse the theoretical aspects of the matter and
propose new methods for solving those NLP problems. The related optimization
aspects concern both the preconditioning stage, and the discrete-search stage
in which the integer ambiguities are finally fixed. Our algorithms, which are
described in an explicit manner, can easily be implemented. They lead to
substantial gains in the processing time of both stages. Their efficiency was
shown via intensive numerical tests.


title: Millimeter Wave Channel Modeling and Cellular Capacity Evaluation

abstract:
  With the severe spectrum shortage in conventional cellular bands, millimeter
wave (mmW) frequencies between 30 and 300 GHz have been attracting growing
attention as a possible candidate for next-generation micro- and picocellular
wireless networks. The mmW bands offer orders of magnitude greater spectrum
than current cellular allocations and enable very high-dimensional antenna
arrays for further gains via beamforming and spatial multiplexing. This paper
uses recent real-world measurements at 28 and 73 GHz in New York City to derive
detailed spatial statistical models of the channels and uses these models to
provide a realistic assessment of mmW micro- and picocellular networks in a
dense urban deployment. Statistical models are derived for key channel
parameters including the path loss, number of spatial clusters, angular
dispersion and outage. It is found that, even in highly non-line-of-sight
environments, strong signals can be detected 100 m to 200 m from potential cell
sites, potentially with multiple clusters to support spatial multiplexing.
Moreover, a system simulation based on the models predicts that mmW systems can
offer an order of magnitude increase in capacity over current state-of-the-art
4G cellular networks with no increase in cell density from current urban
deployments.


title: Evolution of Broad-line Emission from Active Galactic Nuclei

abstract:
  Apart from viewing-dependent obscuration, intrinsic broad-line emission from
active galactic nuclei (AGNs) follows an evolutionary sequence: Type $1 \to
1.2/1.5 \to 1.8/1.9 \to 2$ as the accretion rate onto the central black hole is
decreasing. This spectral evolution is controlled, at least in part, by the
parameter $L_{\rm bol}/M^{2/3}$, where $L_{\rm bol}$ is the AGN bolometric
luminosity and $M$ is the black hole mass. Both this dependence and the
double-peaked profiles that emerge along the sequence arise naturally in the
disk-wind scenario for the AGN broad-line region.


title: Magnetic Fields in an Expanding Universe

abstract:
  We find a solution to $4D$ Einstein-Maxwell theory coupled to a massless
dilaton field describing a Melvin magnetic field in an expanding universe with
'stiff matter' equation of state parameter $w=+1$. As the universe expands,
magnetic flux becomes more concentrated around the symmetry axis for dilaton
coupling $a<1/\sqrt{3}$ and more dispersed for $a>1/\sqrt{3}$. An electric
field circulates around the symmetry axis in the direction determined by Lenz's
law. For $a=0$ the magnetic flux through a disk of fixed comoving radius is
proportional to the proper area of the disk. This result disagrees with the
usual expectation based on a test magnetic field that this flux should be
constant, and we show why this difference arises. We also find a Melvin
solution in an accelerating universe with $w=-7/9$ for a dilaton field with a
certain exponential potential. Our main tools are simple manipulations in $5D$
Kaluza-Klein theory and related solution generating techniques. We also discuss
a number of directions for possible extensions of this work.


title: A framework for dynamical generation of flavor mixing

abstract:
  We present a dynamical mechanism \`a la Nambu--Jona-Lasinio for the
generation of masses and mixing for two interacting fermion fields. The
analysis is carried out in the framework introduced long ago by Umezawa et al.,
in which mass generation is achieved via inequivalent representations, and that
we generalize to the case of two generations. The method allows a clear
identification of the vacuum structure for each physical phase, confirming
previous results about the distinct physical nature of the vacuum for fields
with definite mass and fields with definite flavor. Implications for the
leptonic sector of the Standard Model are briefly discussed.


title: Congruences between modular forms modulo prime powers

abstract:
  Given a prime $p \ge 5$ and an abstract odd representation $\rho_n$ with
coefficients modulo $p^n$ (for some $n \ge 1$) and big image, we prove the
existence of a lift of $\rho_n$ to characteristic $0$ whenever local lifts
exist (under some technical conditions). Moreover, we can chose the inertial
type of our lift at all primes but finitely many (where the lift is of
Steinberg type). We apply this result to the realm of modular forms, proving a
level lowering theorem modulo prime powers and providing examples of level
raising. In particular, our method shows that given a modular eigenform $f$
without Complex Multiplication or inner twists, for all primes $p$ but finitely
many, and for all positive integers $n$, there exists another eigenform $g\neq
f$, which is congruent to $f$ modulo $p^n$.


title:
Colour-Magnitude Diagrams of Transiting Exoplanets. I - Systems with
  parallaxes

abstract:
  Broadband flux measurements centred around [3.6 $\mu$m] and [4.5 $\mu$m]
obtained with Spitzer during the occultation of seven extrasolar planets by
their host stars have been combined with parallax measurements to compute the
absolute magnitudes of these planets. Those measurements are arranged in two
colour-magnitude diagrams. Because most of the targets have sizes and
temperatures similar to brown dwarfs, they can be compared to one another. In
principle, this should permit inferences about exo-atmospheres based on
knowledge acquired by decades of observations of field brown dwarfs and
ultra-cool stars' atmospheres. Such diagrams can assemble all measurements
gathered so far and will provide help in the preparation of new observational
programs. In most cases, planets and brown dwarfs follow similar sequences.
HD\,2094589b and GJ 436b are found to be outliers, so is the nightside of HD
189733b. The photometric variability associated with the orbital phase of HD
189733b is particularly revealing. The planet exhibits what appears like a
spectral type and chemical transition between its day and night sides: HD
189733b straddles the L-T spectral class transition, which would imply
different cloud coverage on each hemisphere. Methane absorption could be absent
at its hot spot but present over the rest of the planet.


title:
Correlation of multiple sclerosis incidence in the UK 1990-2010 with
  geomagnetic disturbances

abstract:
  Recently, Mackenzie et al. reported incidence and prevalence of multiple
sclerosis (MS) in the UK from 1990-2010. Authors of this report indicated that
they could not explain the cause of decreasing MS incidence trend in the UK
during this time period. Such inability mainly resulted from the fact that
often-cited hypotheses of MS, such as vitamin D deficiency hypothesis, cannot
provide any answer for MS incidence trends. However, the newly proposed
hypothesis of MS that is based on the biological effects of geomagnetic
disturbances (GMD) has the ability to provide explanations for this observed
trend. In this commentary, we showed that there is a significant correlation
among alterations in GMD with changes in MS incidence and explained how
researchers can use GMD hypothesis to evaluate such relations. Moreover, we
clarified why we need a revision in the method of reporting MS incidence data
to find actual environmental factor of MS.


title: Zeta-like Multizeta Values for $\mathbb{F}_q[t]$

abstract:
  We prove and conjecture several relations between multizeta values for
$\mathbb{F}_q[t]$, focusing on zeta-like values, namely those whose ratio with
the zeta value of the same weight is rational (or equivalently algebraic). In
particular, we describe them conjecturally fully for $q=2$, or more generally
for any $q$ for `even' weight (`eulerian' tuples). We provide some data in
support of the guesses.


title:
Longitudinal Excitations in Bipartite and Hexagonal Antiferromagnetic
  Spin Lattices

abstract:
  Based on our recently proposed magnon-density-waves using the microscopic
many-body approach, we investigate the longitudinal excitations in quantum
antiferromagnets by including the second order corrections in the large-$s$
expansion. The longitudinal excitation spectra for a general spin quantum
number using the antiferromagnetic Heisenberg Hamiltonian are obtained for
various spin lattice models. For bipartite lattice models, we find that the
numerical results for the energy gaps for the longitudinal modes at $q\to0$ and
the magnetic ordering wavevector $\bf Q$ are reduced by about $40-50\%$ after
including the second order corrections. Thus, our estimate of the energy gaps
for the quasi-one-dimensional (quasi-1D) antiferromagnetic compound KCuF$_3$ is
in better agreement with the experimental result. For the quasi-1D
antiferromagnets on hexagonal lattices, the full excitation spectra of both the
transverse modes (i.e., magnons) and the longitudinal modes are obtained as
functions of the nearest-neighbor coupling and the anisotropy constants. We
find two longitudinal modes due to the non-collinear nature of the triangular
antiferromagnetic order, similar to that of the phenomenological field theory
approach by Affleck. We compare our results for the longitudinal energy gaps at
the magnetic wavevectors with the experimental results for several
antiferromagnetic compounds with both integer and non-integer spin quantum
numbers, and also find good agreement after the higher-order contributions are
included in our calculations.


title: Thermodynamic aspects of rock friction

abstract:
  Rate- and state-dependent friction law for velocity-step tests is analyzed
from a thermodynamic point of view. A simple macroscopic non-equilibrium
thermodynamic model with a single internal variable reproduces instantaneous
jump and relaxation. Velocity weakening appears as a consequence of a
plasticity related nonlinear coefficient. Permanent part of displacement
corresponds to plastic strain, and relaxation effects are analogous to creep in
thermodynamic rheology.


title: Rio: A System Solution for Sharing I/O between Mobile Systems

abstract:
  Mobile systems are equipped with a diverse collection of I/O devices,
including cameras, microphones, sensors, and modems. There exist many novel use
cases for allowing an application on one mobile system to utilize I/O devices
from another. This paper presents Rio, an I/O sharing solution that supports
unmodified applications and exposes all the functionality of an I/O device for
sharing. Rio's design is common to many classes of I/O devices, thus
significantly reducing the engineering effort to support new I/O devices. Our
implementation of Rio on Android consists of 6700 total lines of code and
supports four I/O classes with fewer than 450 class-specific lines of code. Rio
also supports I/O sharing between mobile systems of different form factors,
including smartphones and tablets. We show that Rio achieves performance close
to that of local I/O for audio, sensors, and modems, but suffers noticeable
performance degradation for camera due to network throughput limitations
between the two systems, which is likely to be alleviated by emerging wireless
standards.


title:
Application of Remote Sensing, GIS and GPS for efficient Urban
  Management Plan, A case study of part of Hyderabad city

abstract:
  Role of urban planning and management in Hyderabad is becoming more and more
crucial due to the dramatic increase in urban population and allied urban
problems. Hyderabad is experiencing a rapid urbanization rate. Urbanization
contributes many advantages in terms of economics, but if uncontrolled, would
produce negative consequences to the physical, social and natural environment.
With the advancement of GIS, which considerably influenced the dynamic nature
of urban and regional planning, incorporation of GIS becomes imperative for
better and improved decision-making in urban planning and management. It offers
a solution to the urban problems and decision-making, which is more reliant to
the real-time spatial modelling. The integration of Geographical Information
System (GIS) and Remote Sensing has provided a tool, which can contribute to
much clearer understanding of real planning problems as well as prescriptive
planning scenarios to enhance the quality of urban planning and management.


title:
Predator-prey dynamics on infinite trees: a branching random walk
  approach

abstract:
  We are interested in predator-prey dynamics on infinite trees, which can
informally be seen as particular two-type branching processes where individuals
may die (or be infected) only after their parent dies (or is infected). We
study two types of such dynamics: the chase-escape process, introduced by
Kordzakhia with a variant by Bordenave, and the birth-and-assassination
process, introduced by Aldous & Krebs. We exhibit a coupling between these
processes and branching random walks starting from a random point and killed at
the barrier 0. This sheds new light on the chase-escape and
birth-and-assassination processes, which allows us to recover by probabilistic
means previously known results and also to obtain new results. For instance, we
find the asymptotic behavior of tail of the number of infected individuals in
both the subcritical and critical regimes for the chase-escape process, and
show that the birth-and-assassination process ends almost surely at
criticality.


title: Mean Lipschitz conditions on Bergman space

abstract:
  For $f$ analytic on the unit disc let $r_t(f)(z)=f(e^{it}z)$ and
$f_r(z)=f(rz)$, rotations and dilations respectively. We show that for $f$ in
the Bergman space $A^p$ and $0<\alpha\leq 1$ the following are equivalent.
\begin{itemize} \item[(i)] $\n{r_t(f)-f}_{A^p}=\og(|t|^{\alpha}), \quad t\to
0$, \item[(ii)] $\n{(f')_r}_{A^p} =\og\left (1-r)^{\alpha-1}\right ), \quad
r\to 1^{-}$, \item[(iii)] $\n{f_r-f}_{A^p}=\og((1-r)^{\alpha}),\quad r\to
1^{-}$. \end{itemize}
  The Hardy space analogues of these conditions are known to be equivalent by
results of Hardy and Littlewood and of E. Storozhenko, and in that setting they
describe the mean Lipschitz spaces $\Lambda (p, \alpha)$.
  On the way, we provide an elementary proof of the equivalence of $(ii)$ and
$(iii)$ in Hardy spaces, and show that similar assertions are valid for certain
weighted mean Lipschitz spaces.


title: Interval-Valued Rank in Finite Ordered Sets

abstract:
  We consider the concept of rank as a measure of the vertical levels and
positions of elements of partially ordered sets (posets). We are motivated by
the need for algorithmic measures on large, real-world
hierarchically-structured data objects like the semantic hierarchies of
ontological databases. These rarely satisfy the strong property of gradedness,
which is required for traditional rank functions to exist. Representing such
semantic hierarchies as finite, bounded posets, we recognize the duality of
ordered structures to motivate rank functions which respect verticality both
from the bottom and from the top. Our rank functions are thus interval-valued,
and always exist, even for non-graded posets, providing order homomorphisms to
an interval order on the interval-valued ranks. The concept of rank width
arises naturally, allowing us to identify the poset region with point-valued
width as its longest graded portion (which we call the "spindle"). A standard
interval rank function is naturally motivated both in terms of its extremality
and on pragmatic grounds. Its properties are examined, including the
relationship to traditional grading and rank functions, and methods to assess
comparisons of standard interval-valued ranks.


title: A Functional Hodrick Prescott Filter

abstract:
  We propose a functional version of the Hodrick-Prescott filter for functional
data which take values in an infinite dimensional separable Hilbert space. We
further characterize the associated optimal smoothing parameter when the
associated linear operator is compact and the underlying distribution of the
data is Gaussian.


title:
High-precision predictions for the light CP-even Higgs Boson Mass of the
  MSSM

abstract:
  For the interpretation of the signal discovered in the Higgs searches at the
LHC it will be crucial in particular to discriminate between the minimal Higgs
sector realised in the Standard Model (SM) and its most commonly studied
extension, the Minimal Supersymmetric SM (MSSM). The measured mass value,
having already reached the level of a precision observable with an experimental
accuracy of about 500 MeV, plays an important role in this context. In the MSSM
the mass of the light CP-even Higgs boson, M_h, can directly be predicted from
the other parameters of the model. The accuracy of this prediction should at
least match the one of the experimental result. The relatively high mass value
of about 126 GeV has led to many investigations where the scalar top quarks are
in the multi-TeV range. We improve the prediction for M_h in the MSSM by
combining the existing fixed-order result, comprising the full one-loop and
leading and subleading two-loop corrections, with a resummation of the leading
and subleading logarithmic contributions from the scalar top sector to all
orders. In this way for the first time a high-precision prediction for the mass
of the light CP-even Higgs boson in the MSSM is possible all the way up to the
multi-TeV region of the relevant supersymmetric particles. The results are
included in the code FeynHiggs.


title:
What asteroseismology can do for exoplanets: Kepler-410A b is a Small
  Neptune around a bright star, in an eccentric orbit consistent with low
  obliquity

abstract:
  We confirm the Kepler planet candidate Kepler-410b (KOI-42b) as a Neptune
sized exoplanet on a 17.8 day, eccentric orbit around the bright (Kp = 9.4)
star Kepler-410A. This is the third brightest confirmed planet host star in the
Kepler field and one of the brightest hosts of all currently known transiting
exoplanets. Kepler-410 consists of a blend between the fast rotating planet
host star (Kepler-410A) and a fainter star (Kepler-410B), which has complicated
the confirmation of the planetary candidate. Employing asteroseismology, using
constraints from the transit light curve, adaptive optics and speckle images,
and Spitzer transit observations, we demonstrate that the candidate can only be
an exoplanet orbiting Kepler-410A. Via asteroseismology we determine the
following stellar and planetary parameters with high precision; M$_\star =
1.214 \pm 0.033$ M$_\odot$, R$_\star = 1.352 \pm 0.010$ R$_\odot$, Age = $2.76
\pm 0.54$ Gyr, planetary radius ($2.838 \pm 0.054$ R$_\oplus$), and orbital
eccentricity ($0.17^{+0.07}_{-0.06}$). In addition, rotational splitting of the
pulsation modes allows for a measurement of Kepler-410A's inclination and
rotation rate. Our measurement of an inclination of $82.5^{+7.5}_{-2.5}$
[$^\circ$] indicates a low obliquity in this system. Transit timing variations
indicate the presence of at least one additional (non-transiting) planet in the
system.


title:
Not-So-Simple Stellar Populations in the Intermediate-age Large
  Magellanic Cloud Star Clusters NGC 1831 and NGC 1868

abstract:
  Using a combination of high-resolution Hubble Space Telescope/WFPC2
observations, we explore the physical properties of the stellar populations in
two intermediate-age star clusters in the Large Magellanic Cloud, NGC 1831 and
NGC 1868, based on their color-magnitude diagrams. We show that both clusters
exhibit extended main-sequence turn-offs. To explain the observations, we
consider variations in helium abundance, binarity, age dispersions, and fast
rotation of the clusters' member stars. The observed narrow main sequence
excludes significant variations in helium abundance in both clusters. We first
establish the clusters' main-sequence binary fractions using the bulk of the
clusters' main-sequence stellar populations >1 mag below their turn-offs. The
extent of the turn-off regions in color--magnitude space, corrected for the
effects of binarity, implies that age spreads of order 300 Myr may be inferred
for both clusters if the stellar distributions in color--magnitude space were
entirely due to the presence of multiple populations characterized by an age
range. Invoking rapid rotation of the population of cluster members
characterized by a single age also allows us to match the observed data in
detail. However, when taking into account the extent of the red clump in
color--magnitude space, we encounter an apparent conflict for NGC 1831 between
the age dispersion derived from that based on the extent of the main-sequence
turn-off and that implied by the compact red clump. We therefore conclude that,
for this cluster, variations in stellar rotation rate are preferred over an age
dispersion. For NGC 1868, both models perform equally well.


title: Supernovae in paired host galaxies

abstract:
  We investigate the influence of close neighbor galaxies on the properties of
supernovae (SNe) and their host galaxies using 56 SNe located in pairs of
galaxies with different levels of star formation (SF) and nuclear activity. The
mean distance of type II SNe from nuclei of hosts is greater by about a factor
of 2 than that of type Ibc SNe. For the first time it is shown that SNe Ibc are
located in pairs with significantly smaller difference of radial velocities
between components than pairs containing SNe Ia and II. We consider this as a
result of higher star formation rate (SFR) of these closer systems of galaxies.
SN types are not correlated with the luminosity ratio of host and neighbor
galaxies in pairs. The orientation of SNe with respect to the preferred
direction toward neighbor galaxy is found to be isotropic and independent of
kinematical properties of the galaxy pair.


title:
Geometrical statistics of the vorticity vector and the strain rate
  tensor in rotating turbulence

abstract:
  We report results on the geometrical statistics of the vorticity vector
obtained from experiments in electromagnetically forced rotating turbulence. A
range of rotation rates $\Omega$ is considered, from non-rotating to rapidly
rotating turbulence with a maximum background rotation rate of $\Omega=5$ rad/s
(with Rossby number much smaller than unity). Typically, in our experiments
${\rm{Re}}_{\lambda}\approx 100$. The measurement volume is located in the
centre of the fluid container above the bottom boundary layer, where the
turbulent flow can be considered locally statistically isotropic and
horizontally homogeneous for the non-rotating case, see van Bokhoven et al.,
Phys. Fluids 21, 096601 (2009). Based on the full set of velocity derivatives,
measured in a Lagrangian way by 3D Particle Tracking Velocimetry, we have been
able to quantify statistically the effect of system rotation on several flow
properties. The experimental results show how the turbulence evolves from
almost isotropic 3D turbulence ($\Omega\lesssim 0.2$ rad/s) to quasi-2D
turbulence ($\Omega\approx 5.0$ rad/s) and how this is reflected by several
statistical quantities. In particular, we have studied the orientation of the
vorticity vector with respect to the three eigenvectors of the local strain
rate tensor and with respect to the vortex stretching vector. Additionally, we
have quantified the role of system rotation on the self-amplification terms of
the enstrophy and strain rate equations and the direct contribution of the
background rotation on these evolution equations. The main effect is the strong
reduction of extreme events and related (strong) reduction of the skewness of
PDFs of several quantities such as, for example, the intermediate eigenvalue of
the strain rate tensor and the enstrophy self-amplification term.


title: Nonuniform phases in a three-flavor Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model

abstract:
  It is shown that flavor mixing of the strange and light quarks allows for
existence of a much larger baryonic chemical potential window for the formation
of a stable dual chiral-wave state as compared to the well known two flavor
case. In addition, strangeness catalyzes the occurrence of a new branch of
non-homogeneous solutions at moderate densities. This case study is addressed
at zero temperature within the SU(3) flavor Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model with the
't Hooft determinantal flavor mixing interaction. The modulation of the chiral
condensates in the light quark sector is taken to be one-dimensional, while
strangeness is embedded as a homogeneous condensate in the spontaneously broken
phase of chiral symmetry. A finite current quark mass for the strange quark is
incorporated, while the up and down current masses are set to zero. In that
case the modulation considered provides an exact analytic solution for the
system. Despite the simplicity of the \textit{ansatz}, the emerging phase
diagram displays a very rich structure.


title: On the functional Hodrick-Prescott Filter with non-compact operators

abstract:
  We study a version of the functional Hodrick-Prescott filter where the
associated operator is not necessarily compact, but merely closed and densely
defined with closed range. We show that the associated optimal smoothing
operator preserves the structure obtained in the compact case, when the
underlying distribution of the data is Gaussian.


title:
Radiation Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations of Protostellar Collapse:
  Low-Metallicity Environments

abstract:
  Among many physical processes involved in star formation, radiation transfer
is one of the key processes since it dominantly controls the thermodynamics.
Because metallicities control opacities, they are one of the important
environmental parameters which affect star formation processes. In this work, I
investigate protostellar collapse in solar-metallicity and low-metallicity ($Z
= 0.1 Z_\odot$) environments using 3D radiation hydrodynamic and
magnetohydrodynamic simulations. Because radiation cooling is more effective in
the low-metallicity environments, first cores are colder and have lower
entropies. As a result, first cores are smaller, less massive and have shorter
lifetimes in the low-metallicity clouds. Therefore, first cores would be less
likely to be found in low-metallicity star forming clouds. This also implies
that first cores tend to be more gravitationally unstable and susceptible to
fragmentation. The evolution and structure of protostellar cores formed after
the second collapse weakly depend on metallicities in the spherical and
magnetized models despite the large difference in the metallicities. Because
this is due to the change of the heat capacity by dissociation and ionization
of hydrogen, it is a general consequence of the second collapse as long as the
effects of radiation cooling are not very large during the second collapse. On
the other hand, the effects of different metallicities are more significant in
the rotating models without magnetic fields, because they evolve slower than
other models and therefore more affected by radiation cooling.


title:
Dualising the Baryonic Branch: Dynamic SU(2) and confining backgrounds
  in IIA

abstract:
  In this paper we construct and examine new supersymmetric solutions of
massive IIA supergravity that are obtained using non-Abelian T-duality applied
to the Baryonic Branch of the Klebanov-Strassler background. The geometries
display SU(2) structure which we show flows from static in the UV to dynamical
in the IR. Confinement and symmetry breaking are given a geometrical
interpretation by this change of structure. Various field theory observables
are studied, suggesting possible ways to break conformality and flow in $N=1$
$T_N$ and related field theories.


title: Constraints on Gauge Field Production during Inflation

abstract:
  In order to gain new insights into the gauge field couplings in the early
universe, we consider the constraints on gauge field production during
inflation imposed by requiring that their effect on the CMB anisotropies are
subdominant. In particular, we calculate systematically the bispectrum of the
primordial curvature perturbation induced by the presence of vector gauge
fields during inflation. Using a model independent parametrization in terms of
magnetic non-linearity parameters, we calculate for the first time the
contribution to the bispectrum from the cross correlation between the inflaton
and the magnetic field defined by the gauge field. We then demonstrate that in
a very general class of models, the bispectrum induced by the cross correlation
between the inflaton and the magnetic field can be dominating compared with the
non-Gaussianity induced by magnetic fields when the cross correlation between
the magnetic field and the inflaton is ignored.


title: Tight bonds between sterile neutrinos and dark matter

abstract:
  Despite the astonishing success of standard $\Lambda$CDM cosmology, there is
mounting evidence for a tension with observations at small and intermediate
scales. We introduce a simple model where both cold dark matter (DM) and
sterile neutrinos are charged under a new $U(1)_X$ gauge interaction. The
resulting DM self-interactions resolve the tension with the observed abundances
and internal density structures of dwarf galaxies. At the ame time, the sterile
neutrinos can account for both the small hot DM component favored by
cosmological observations and the neutrino anomalies found in short-baseline
experiments.


title: A new light on 21 cm intensity fluctuations from the dark ages

abstract:
  Fluctuations of the 21 cm brightness temperature before the formation of the
first stars hold the promise of becoming a high-precision cosmological probe in
the future. The growth of over densities is very well described by perturbation
theory at that epoch and the signal can in principle be predicted to arbitrary
accuracy for given cosmological parameters. Recently, Tseliakhovich and Hirata
pointed out a previously neglected and important physical effect, due to the
fact that baryons and cold dark matter (CDM) have supersonic relative
velocities after recombination. This relative velocity suppresses the growth of
matter fluctuations on scales $k \sim 10-10^3$ Mpc$^{-1}$. In addition, the
amplitude of the small-scale power spectrum is modulated on the large scales
over which the relative velocity varies, corresponding to $k \sim 0.005-1$
Mpc$^{-1}$. In this paper, the effect of the relative velocity on 21 cm
brightness temperature fluctuations from redshifts $z \geq 30$ is computed. We
show that the 21 cm power spectrum is affected on ${\it most}$ scales. On small
scales, the signal is typically suppressed several tens of percent, except for
extremely small scales ($k \gtrsim 2000$ Mpc$^{-1}$) for which the fluctuations
are boosted by resonant excitation of acoustic waves. On large scales, 21 cm
fluctuations are enhanced due to the non-linear dependence of the brightness
temperature on the underlying gas density and temperature. The enhancement of
the 21 cm power spectrum is of a few percent at $k \sim 0.1$ Mpc$^{-1}$ and up
to tens of percent at $k \lesssim 0.005$ Mpc$^{-1}$, for standard $\Lambda$CDM
cosmology. In principle this effect allows to probe the small-scale matter
power spectrum not only through a measurement of small angular scales but also
through its effect on large angular scales.


title:
M2M modelling of the Galactic disc via PRIMAL: Fitting to Gaia Error
  Added Data

abstract:
  We have adapted our made-to-measure (M2M) algorithm PRIMAL to use mock Milky
Way like data constructed from an N-body barred galaxy with a boxy bulge in a
known dark matter potential. We use M0 giant stars as tracers, with the
expected error of the ESA space astrometry mission Gaia. We demonstrate the
process of constructing mock Gaia data from an N-body model, including the
conversion of a galactocentric Cartesian coordinate N-body model into
equatorial coordinates and how to add error to it for a single stellar type. We
then describe the modifications made to PRIMAL to work with observational
error. This paper demonstrates that PRIMAL can recover the radial profiles of
the surface density, radial velocity dispersion, vertical velocity dispersion
and mean rotational velocity of the target disc, along with the pattern speed
of the bar, to a reasonable degree of accuracy despite the lack of accurate
target data. We also construct mock data which take into account dust
extinction and show that PRIMAL recovers the structure and kinematics of the
disc reasonably well. In other words, the expected accuracy of the Gaia data is
good enough for PRIMAL to recover these global properties of the disc, at least
in a simplified condition, as used in this paper.


title: 1D-1D Coulomb Drag Signature of a Luttinger Liquid

abstract:
  We report Coulomb drag measurements between vertically-integrated quantum
wires separated by a barrier only 15 nm wide. The temperature dependence of the
drag resistance is measured in the true one-dimensional (1D) regime where both
wires have less than one 1D subband occupied. As a function of temperature, an
upturn in the drag resistance is observed in three distinct devices at a
temperature $T^* \sim 1.6$ K. This crossover in Coulomb drag behaviour is
consistent with Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid models for the 1D-1D drag between
quantum wires.


title:
Accurate evaluation of hadronic uncertainties in spin-independent
  WIMP-nucleon scattering: Disentangling two- and three-flavor effects

abstract:
  We show how to avoid unnecessary and uncontrolled assumptions usually made in
the literature about soft SU(3) flavor symmetry breaking in determining the
two-flavor nucleon matrix elements relevant for direct detection of WIMPs.
Based on SU(2) Chiral Perturbation Theory, we provide expressions for the
proton and neutron scalar couplings $f_u^{p,n}$ and $f_d^{p,n}$ with the
pion-nucleon sigma-term as the only free parameter, which should be used in the
analysis of direct detection experiments. This approach for the first time
allows for an accurate assessment of hadronic uncertainties in spin-independent
WIMP-nucleon scattering and for a reliable calculation of isospin-violating
effects. We find that the traditional determinations of $f_u^p-f_u^n$ and
$f_d^p-f_d^n$ are off by a factor of 2.


title:
A substantial population of massive quiescent galaxies at z~4 from
  ZFOURGE

abstract:
  We report the likely identification of a substantial population of massive
M~10^11M_Sun galaxies at z~4 with suppressed star formation rates (SFRs),
selected on rest-frame optical to near-IR colors from the FourStar Galaxy
Evolution Survey. The observed spectral energy distributions show pronounced
breaks, sampled by a set of near-IR medium-bandwidth filters, resulting in
tightly constrained photometric redshifts. Fitting stellar population models
suggests large Balmer/4000AA breaks, relatively old stellar populations, large
stellar masses and low SFRs, with a median specific SFR of 2.9+/-1.8 x
10^-11/yr. Ultradeep Herschel/PACS 100micron, 160micron and Spitzer/MIPS
24micron data reveal no dust-obscured SFR activity for 15/19 (79%) galaxies.
Two far-IR detected galaxies are obscured QSOs. Stacking the far-IR undetected
galaxies yields no detection, consistent with the SED fit, indicating
independently that the average specific SFR is at least 10x smaller than of
typical star-forming galaxies at z~4. Assuming all far-IR undetected galaxies
are indeed quiescent, the volume density is 1.8+/-0.7 x 10^-5Mpc^-3 to a limit
of log10M/M_Sun>10.6, which is 10x and 80x lower than at z = 2 and z = 0.1.
They comprise a remarkably high fraction (~35%) of z~4 massive galaxies,
suggesting that suppression of star formation was efficient even at very high
redshift. Given the average stellar age of 0.8Gyr and stellar mass of
0.8x10^11M_Sun, the galaxies likely started forming stars before z =5, with
SFRs well in excess of 100M_Sun/yr, far exceeding that of similarly abundant
UV-bright galaxies at z>4. This suggests that most of the star-formation in the
progenitors of quiescent z~4 galaxies was obscured by dust.


title: Losing Forward Momentum Holographically

abstract:
  We present a numerical scheme for solving Einstein's Equations in the
presence of a negative cosmological constant and an event horizon with planar
topology. Our scheme allows for the introduction of a particular metric source
at the conformal boundary. Such a spacetime has a dual holographic description
in terms of a strongly interacting quantum field theory at nonzero temperature.
By introducing a sinusoidal static metric source that breaks translation
invariance, we study momentum relaxation in the field theory. In the long
wavelength limit, our results are consistent with the fluid-gravity
correspondence and relativistic hydrodynamics. In the small amplitude limit,
our results are consistent with the memory function prediction for the momentum
relaxation rate. Our numerical scheme allows us to study momentum relaxation
outside these two limits as well.


title: Energy dynamics in the Heisenberg-Kitaev chain

abstract:
  We study the Heisenberg-Kitaev chain in order to uncover the interplay
between two qualitatively different integrable points in the physics of heat
transport in one dimension. Focusing on high temperatures and using analytical
as well as numerical approaches within linear response theory, we explore
several directions in parameter space including exchange-coupling ratios,
anisotropies, and external magnetic fields. We show the emergence of purely
ballistic energy transport at all integrable points, manifest in pronounced
Drude weights and low-frequency suppression of regular-conductivity
contributions. Moreover, off integrability, we find extended quantum chaotic
regions with vanishing Drude weights and well-defined DC conductivities. In the
vicinity of the Kitaev point, we observe clear signatures of the topological
gap in the response function. This gap coexists with a nonzero Drude weight in
the Kitaev chain.


title:
The 100-month Swift catalogue of supergiant fast X-ray transients I. BAT
  on-board and transient monitor flares

abstract:
  We investigate the characteristics of bright flares for a sample of
supergiant fast X-ray transients and their relation to the orbital phase. We
have retrieved all Swift/BAT Transient Monitor light curves, and collected all
detections in excess of $5\sigma$ from both daily- and orbital-averaged light
curves in the time range of 2005-Feb-12 to 2013-May-31. We also considered all
on-board detections as recorded in the same time span and selected those within
4 arcmin of each source in our sample and in excess of $5\sigma$. We present a
catalogue of over a thousand BAT flares from 11 SFXTs, down to 15-150keV fluxes
of $\sim6\times10^{-10}$ erg cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ (daily timescale) and
$\sim1.5\times10^{-9}$ erg cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ (orbital timescale, averaging
$\sim800$s) and spanning 100 months. The great majority of these flares are
unpublished. This population is characterized by short (a few hundred seconds)
and relatively bright (in excess of 100mCrab, 15-50keV) events. In the hard
X-ray, these flares last in general much less than a day. Clustering of hard
X-ray flares can be used to indirectly measure the length of an outburst, even
when the low-level emission is not detected. We construct the distributions of
flares, of their significance (in terms of sigma) and their flux as a function
of orbital phase, to infer the properties of these binary systems. In
particular, we observe a trend of clustering of flares at some phases as
$P_{\rm orb}$ increases, as consistent with a progression from tight, circular
or mildly eccentric orbits at short periods, to wider and more eccentric orbits
at longer orbital periods. Finally, we estimate the expected number of flares
for a given source for our limiting flux and provide the recipe for calculating
them for the limiting flux of future hard X-ray observatories. (Abridged).