title:
Modeling the interaction of thermonuclear supernova remnants with
  circumstellar structures: The case of Tycho's supernova remnant

abstract:
  The well-established Type Ia remnant of Tycho's supernova (SN 1572) reveals
discrepant ambient medium density estimates based on either the measured
dynamics or on the X-ray emission properties. This discrepancy can potentially
be solved by assuming that the supernova remnant (SNR) shock initially moved
through a stellar wind bubble, but is currently evolving in the uniform
interstellar medium with a relatively low density.
  We investigate this scenario by combining hydrodynamical simulations of the
wind-loss phase and the supernova remnant evolution with a coupled X-ray
emission model, which includes non-equilibrium ionization. For the explosion
models we use the well-known W7 deflagration model and the delayed detonation
model that was previously shown to provide good fits to the X-ray emission of
Tycho's SNR.
  Our simulations confirm that a uniform ambient density cannot simultaneously
reproduce the dynamical and X-ray emission properties of Tycho. In contrast,
models that considered that the remnant was evolving in a dense, but small,
wind bubble reproduce reasonably well both the measured X-ray emission spectrum
and the expansion parameter of Tycho's SNR. Finally, we discuss possible mass
loss scenarios in the context of single- and double-degenerate models which
possible could form such a small dense wind bubble.


title:
Towards a complete stellar mass function of the Hyades. I. Pan-STARRS1
  optical observations of the low-mass stellar content

abstract:
  The Hyades cluster is an ideal target to study the dynamical evolution of a
star cluster over the entire mass range due to its intermediate age and
proximity to the Sun. We wanted to extend the Hyades mass function towards
lower masses down to 0.1 Msol and to use the full three-dimensional spatial
information to characterize the dynamical evolution of the cluster. We
performed a kinematic and photometric selection using the PPMXL and Pan-STARRS1
sky surveys, to search for cluster members up to 30 pc from the cluster centre.
We determined our detection efficiency and field star contamination rate to
derive the cluster luminosity and mass functions down to masses of 0.1 Msol.
The thorough astrometric and photometric constraints minimized the
contamination. A minimum spanning tree algorithm was used to quantify the mass
segregation. We discovered 43 new Hyades member candidates with velocity
perpendicular to the Hyades motion up to 2 km/s. They have mass estimates
between 0.43 and 0.09 Msol, for a total mass of 10 Msol. This doubles the
number of Hyades candidates with masses smaller than 0.15 Msol. We provide an
additional list of 11 possible candidates with velocity perpendicular to the
Hyades motion up to 4 km/s. The cluster is significantly mass segregated. The
extension of the mass function towards lower masses provided an even clearer
signature than estimated in the past. We also identified as likely Hyades
member an L0 dwarf previously assumed to be a field dwarf. Finally we question
the membership of a number of previously published candidates, including a
L2.5-type dwarf.


title: The Effect of Vector Meson Decays on Dihadron Fragmentation Functions

abstract:
  Dihadron Fragmentation Functions (DFF) provide a vast amount of information
on the intricate details of the parton hadronization process. Moreover, they
provide a unique access to the "clean" extraction of nucleon transversity
parton distribution functions in semi inclusive deep inelastic two hadron
production process with a transversely polarised target. On the example of the
u \to \pi^+ \pi^-, we analyse the properties of unpolarised DFFs using their
probabilistic interpretation. We use both the NJL-jet hadronization model and
PYTHIA 8.1 event generator to explore the effect of the strong decays of the
vector mesons produced in the quark hadronization process on the pseudoscalar
DFFs. Our study shows that, even though it is less probable to produce vector
mesons in the hadronization process than pseudo scalar mesons of the same
charge, the products of their strong decays drastically affect the DFFs for
pions because of the large combinatorial factors. Thus, an accurate description
of both vector meson production and decays are crucial for theoretical
understanding of DFFs.


title: Phases and collective modes of Rydberg atoms in an optical lattice

abstract:
  We chart out the possible phases of laser driven Rydberg atoms in the
presence of a hypercubic optical lattice. We define a pseudospin degree of
freedom whose up(down) components correspond to the excited(ground) states of
the Rydberg atoms and use them to demonstrate the realization of a canted Ising
antiferromagnetic (CIAF) Mott phase of the atoms in these systems. We also show
that on lowering the lattice depth, the quantum melting of the CIAF and
density-wave (DW) Mott states (which are also realized in these systems) leads
to supersolid (SS) phases of the atoms. We provide analytical expressions for
the phase boundaries and collective excitations of these phases in the hardcore
limit within mean-field theory and discuss possible experiments to test our
theory.


title:
A Herschel-ATLAS study of dusty spheroids: probing the minor-merger
  process in the local Universe

abstract:
  We use multi-wavelength (0.12 - 500 micron) photometry from Herschel-ATLAS,
WISE, UKIDSS, SDSS and GALEX, to study 23 nearby spheroidal galaxies with
prominent dust lanes (DLSGs). DLSGs are considered to be remnants of recent
minor mergers, making them ideal laboratories for studying both the
interstellar medium (ISM) of spheroids and minor-merger-driven star formation
in the nearby Universe. The DLSGs exhibit star formation rates (SFRs) between
0.01 and 10 MSun yr^-1, with a median of 0.26 MSun yr^-1 (a factor of 3.5
greater than the average SG). The median dust mass, dust-to-stellar mass ratio
and dust temperature in these galaxies are around 10^7.6 MSun yr^-1, ~0.05% and
~19.5 K respectively. The dust masses are at least a factor of 50 greater than
that expected from stellar mass loss and, like the SFRs, show no correlation
with galaxy luminosity, suggesting that both the ISM and the star formation
have external drivers. Adopting literature gas-to-dust ratios and star
formation histories derived from fits to the panchromatic photometry, we
estimate that the median current and initial gas-to-stellar mass ratios in
these systems are ~4% and ~7% respectively. If, as indicated by recent work,
minor mergers that drive star formation in spheroids with (NUV-r)>3.8 (the
colour range of our DLSGs) have stellar mass ratios between 1:6 and 1:10, then
the satellite gas fractions are likely >50%.


title: Kepler-63b: A Giant Planet in a Polar Orbit around a Young Sun-like Star

abstract:
  We present the discovery and characterization of a giant planet orbiting the
young Sun-like star Kepler-63 (KOI-63, $m_{\rm Kp} = 11.6$, $T_{\rm eff} =
5576$ K, $M_\star = 0.98\, M_\odot$). The planet transits every 9.43 days, with
apparent depth variations and brightening anomalies caused by large starspots.
The planet's radius is $6.1 \pm 0.2 R_{\earth}$, based on the transit light
curve and the estimated stellar parameters. The planet's mass could not be
measured with the existing radial-velocity data, due to the high level of
stellar activity, but if we assume a circular orbit we can place a rough upper
bound of $120 M_{\earth}$ (3$\sigma$). The host star has a high obliquity
($\psi$ = $104^{\circ}$), based on the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect and an
analysis of starspot-crossing events. This result is valuable because almost
all previous obliquity measurements are for stars with more massive planets and
shorter-period orbits. In addition, the polar orbit of the planet combined with
an analysis of spot-crossing events reveals a large and persistent polar
starspot. Such spots have previously been inferred using Doppler tomography,
and predicted in simulations of magnetic activity of young Sun-like stars.


title:
Manipulating scattering of ultracold atoms with light-induced
  dissipation

abstract:
  Recently it has been shown that pairs of atoms can form metastable bonds due
to non-conservative forces induced by dissipation [Lemeshko&Weimer, Nature
Comm. 4, 2230 (2013)]. Here we study the dynamics of interaction-induced
coherent population trapping - the process responsible for the formation of
dissipatively bound molecules. We derive the effective dissipative potentials
induced between ultracold atoms by laser light, and study the time evolution of
the scattering states. We demonstrate that binding occurs on short timescales
of ~10 microseconds, even if the initial kinetic energy of the atoms
significantly exceeds the depth of the dissipative potential.
Dissipatively-bound molecules with preordained bond lengths and vibrational
wavefunctions can be created and detected in current experiments with ultracold
atoms.

categories: physics.atom-ph cond-mat.quant-gas physics.chem-ph physics.optics quant-ph


title:
The DiskMass Survey. VI. Gas and stellar kinematics in spiral galaxies
  from PPak integral-field spectroscopy

abstract:
  We present ionized-gas (OIII) and stellar kinematics (velocities and velocity
dispersions) for 30 nearly face-on spiral galaxies out to as much as three disk
scale lengths (h_R). These data have been derived from PPak IFU spectroscopy
(4980-5370A), observed at a mean resolution of R=7700 (sigma_inst=17km/s).
These data are a fundamental product of our survey and will be used in
companion papers to, e.g., derive the detailed (baryonic+dark) mass budget of
each galaxy in our sample. Our presentation provides a comprehensive
description of the observing strategy, data reduction, and analysis. Along with
a clear presentation of the data, we demonstrate: (1) The OIII and stellar
rotation curves exhibit a clear signature of asymmetric drift with a rotation
difference that is 11% of the maximum rotation speed of the galaxy disk,
comparable to measurements in the solar neighborhood in the Milky Way. (2) The
e-folding length of the stellar velocity dispersion is two times h_R on
average, as expected for a disk with a constant scale height and mass-to-light
ratio, with a scatter that is notably smaller for massive,
high-surface-brightness disks in the most luminous galaxies. (3) At radii
larger than 1.5 h_R, the stellar velocity dispersion tends to decline slower
than the best-fitting exponential function, which may be due to an increase in
the disk mass-to-light ratio, disk flaring, or disk heating by the dark-matter
halo. (4) A strong correlation exists between the central vertical stellar
velocity dispersion of the disks and their circular rotational speed at 2.2
h_R, with a zero point indicating that galaxy disks are submaximal. Moreover,
weak but consistent correlations exist such that disks with a fainter central
surface brightness in bluer and less luminous galaxies of later morphological
types are kinematically colder with respect to their rotational velocities.


title:
Three Dimensional Z2 Topological Phases enriched by Time-Reversal
  Symmetry

abstract:
  We discuss three dimensional $Z_2$ topological phases enriched by the $Z_2^T$
time-reversal symmetry with bosonic bulk excitations. Some of these phases can
be constructed by coupling the three dimensional symmetry protected topological
phases with $Z_2 \times Z_2^T$ symmetry to a deconfined dynamical $Z_2$ gauge
field. Besides these simple phases, we also construct a special root phase
(phase 3) which cannot be interpreted as gauged $Z_2 \times Z_2^T$ SPT phase.
The $2d$ boundary of these phases can have an extra $Z_2$ topological order in
addition to their bulk topological order. In one of the possible boundary
states of this special root phase (phase 3), $Z_2^T$ acts as the "self-dual"
transformation of the boundary topological order, in the sense that the
boundary $e$ and $m$ anyons are interchanged under $Z_2^T$.


title:
Lanczos transformation for quantum impurity problems in d-dimensional
  lattices: application to graphene nanoribbons

abstract:
  We present a completely unbiased and controlled numerical method to solve
quantum impurity problems in d-dimensional lattices. This approach is based on
a canonical transformation, of the Lanczos form, where the complete lattice
Hamiltonian is exactly mapped onto an equivalent one dimensional system, in the
same spirit as Wilson's numerical renormalization. The method is particularly
suited to study systems that are inhomogeneous, and/or have a boundary. As a
proof of concept, we use the density matrix renormalization group to solve the
equivalent one-dimensional problem. The resulting dimensional reduction
translates into a reduction of the scaling of the entanglement entropy by a
factor $L^{d-1}$, where L is the linear dimension of the original d-dimensional
lattice. This allows one to calculate the ground state of a magnetic impurity
attached to an LxL square lattice and an LxLxL cubic lattice with L up to 140
sites. We also study the localized edge states in graphene nanoribbons by
attaching a magnetic impurity to the edge or the center of the system. For
armchair metallic nanoribbons we find a slow decay of the spin correlations as
a consequence of the delocalized metallic states. In the case of zigzag
ribbons, the decay of the spin correlations depends on the position of the
impurity. If the impurity is situated in the bulk of the ribbon, the decay is
slow as in the metallic case. On the other hand, if the adatom is attached to
the edge, the decay is fast, within few sites of the impurity, as a consequence
of the localized edge states, and the short correlation length. The mapping can
be combined with ab-initio band structure calculations to model the system, and
to understand correlation effects in quantum impurity problems from first
principles.


title: Slow axial drift in three-dimensional granular tumbler flow

abstract:
  Models of monodisperse particle flow in partially filled three-dimensional
tumblers often assume that flow along the axis of rotation is negligible. We
test this assumption, for spherical and double cone tumblers, using experiments
and discrete element method simulations. Cross sections through the particle
bed of a spherical tumbler show that, after a few rotations, a colored band of
particles initially perpendicular to the axis of rotation deforms: particles
near the surface drift toward the pole, while particles deeper in the flowing
layer drift toward the equator. Tracking of mm-sized surface particles in
tumblers with diameters of 8-14 cm shows particle axial displacements of one to
two particle diameters, corresponding to axial drift that is 1-3% of the
tumbler diameter, per pass through the flowing layer. The surface axial drift
in both double cone and spherical tumblers is zero at the equator, increases
moving away from the equator, and then decreases near the poles. Comparing
results for the two tumbler geometries shows that wall slope causes axial
drift, while drift speed increases with equatorial diameter. The dependence of
axial drift on axial position for each tumbler geometry is similar when both
are normalized by their respective maximum values.


title: WIMP dark matter as radiative neutrino mass messenger

abstract:
  The minimal seesaw extension of the Standard SU(3) x SU(2) x U(1) Model
requires two electroweak singlet fermions in order to accommodate the neutrino
oscillation parameters at tree level. Here we consider a next to minimal
extension where light neutrino masses are generated radiatively by two
electroweak fermions: one singlet and one triplet under SU(2). These should be
odd under a parity symmetry and their mixing gives rise to a stable weakly
interactive massive particle (WIMP) dark matter candidate. For mass in the
GeV-TeV range, it reproduces the correct relic density, and provides an
observable signal in nuclear recoil direct detection experiments. The fermion
triplet component of the dark matter has gauge interactions, making it also
detectable at present and near future collider experiments.


title:
Irrational numbers associated to sequences without geometric
  progressions

abstract:
  Let s and k be integers with s \geq 2 and k \geq 2. Let g_k^{(s)}(n) denote
the cardinality of the largest subset of the set {1,2,..., n} that contains no
geometric progression of length k whose common ratio is a power of s. Let
r_k(\ell) denote the cardinality of the largest subset of the set
{0,1,2,\ldots, \ell -1\} that contains no arithmetric progression of length k.
The limit \[ \lim_{n\rightarrow \infty} \frac{g_k^{(s)}(n)}{n} = (s-1)
\sum_{m=1}^{\infty}
  \left(\frac{1}{s} \right)^{\min \left(r_k^{-1}(m)\right)} \] exists and
converges to an irrational number.


title: DeBaCl: A Python Package for Interactive DEnsity-BAsed CLustering

abstract:
  The level set tree approach of Hartigan (1975) provides a probabilistically
based and highly interpretable encoding of the clustering behavior of a
dataset. By representing the hierarchy of data modes as a dendrogram of the
level sets of a density estimator, this approach offers many advantages for
exploratory analysis and clustering, especially for complex and
high-dimensional data. Several R packages exist for level set tree estimation,
but their practical usefulness is limited by computational inefficiency,
absence of interactive graphical capabilities and, from a theoretical
perspective, reliance on asymptotic approximations. To make it easier for
practitioners to capture the advantages of level set trees, we have written the
Python package DeBaCl for DEnsity-BAsed CLustering. In this article we
illustrate how DeBaCl's level set tree estimates can be used for difficult
clustering tasks and interactive graphical data analysis. The package is
intended to promote the practical use of level set trees through improvements
in computational efficiency and a high degree of user customization. In
addition, the flexible algorithms implemented in DeBaCl enjoy finite sample
accuracy, as demonstrated in recent literature on density clustering. Finally,
we show the level set tree framework can be easily extended to deal with
functional data.


title:
$L_1$-Penalization in Functional Linear Regression with Subgaussian
  Design

abstract:
  We study functional regression with random subgaussian design and real-valued
response. The focus is on the problems in which the regression function can be
well approximated by a functional linear model with the slope function being
"sparse" in the sense that it can be represented as a sum of a small number of
well separated "spikes". This can be viewed as an extension of now classical
sparse estimation problems to the case of infinite dictionaries. We study an
estimator of the regression function based on penalized empirical risk
minimization with quadratic loss and the complexity penalty defined in terms of
$L_1$-norm (a continuous version of LASSO). The main goal is to introduce
several important parameters characterizing sparsity in this class of problems
and to prove sharp oracle inequalities showing how the $L_2$-error of the
continuous LASSO estimator depends on the underlying sparsity of the problem.


title: Rooted grid minors

abstract:
  Intuitively, a tangle of large order in a graph is a highly-connected part of
the graph, and it is known that if a graph has a tangle of large order then it
has a large grid minor. Here we show that for any k, if G has a tangle of large
order and Z is a set of vertices of cardinality k that cannot be separated from
the tangle by any separation of order less than k, then G has a large grid
minor containing Z, in which the members of Z all belong to the outside of the
grid. This is a lemma for use in a later paper.


title:
A Size-Sensitive Discrepancy Bound for Set Systems of Bounded Primal
  Shatter Dimension

abstract:
  Let $(X,\S)$ be a set system on an $n$-point set $X$. The \emph{discrepancy}
of $\S$ is defined as the minimum of the largest deviation from an even split,
over all subsets of $S \in \S$ and two-colorings $\chi$ on $X$. We consider the
scenario where, for any subset $X' \subseteq X$ of size $m \le n$ and for any
parameter $1 \le k \le m$, the number of restrictions of the sets of $\S$ to
$X'$ of size at most $k$ is only $O(m^{d_1} k^{d-d_1})$, for fixed integers $d
> 0$ and $1 \le d_1 \le d$ (this generalizes the standard notion of
\emph{bounded primal shatter dimension} when $d_1 = d$). In this case we show
that there exists a coloring $\chi$ with discrepancy bound $O^{*}(|S|^{1/2 -
d_1/(2d)} n^{(d_1 - 1)/(2d)})$, for each $S \in \S$, where $O^{*}(\cdot)$ hides
a polylogarithmic factor in $n$. This bound is tight up to a polylogarithmic
factor \cite{Mat-95, Mat-99} and the corresponding coloring $\chi$ can be
computed in expected polynomial time using the very recent machinery of Lovett
and Meka for constructive discrepancy minimization \cite{LM-12}. Our bound
improves and generalizes the bounds obtained from the machinery of Har-Peled
and Sharir \cite{HS-11} (and the follow-up work in \cite{SZ-12}) for points and
halfspaces in $d$-space for $d \ge 3$.


title: Minimal and Hamiltonian-minimal submanifolds in toric geometry

abstract:
  In this paper we investigate a family of Hamiltonian-minimal Lagrangian
submanifolds in ${\mathbb C}^m$, ${\mathbb C}P^m$ and other symplectic toric
manifolds constructed from intersections of real quadrics. In particular, we
explain the nature of this phenomenon by proving H-minimality in a more
conceptual way, and prove minimality of the same submanifolds in the
corresponding moment-angle manifolds.


title: Exact solution to neutrino-plasma two-flavor dynamics

abstract:
  It is shown that the two-flavor neutrino oscillation equations admit an exact
analytic solution for arbitrarily chosen normalized electron neutrino
population, provided the electron plasma density is adjusted in a certain way.
The associated formula for the electron plasma density is applied to the cases
of exponentially decaying or oscillating electron neutrino populations.


title:
Goals, Strategies and First Discoveries of AO327, the Arecibo All-Sky
  327 MHz Drift Pulsar Survey

abstract:
  We report initial results from AO327, a drift survey for pulsars with the
Arecibo telescope at 327 MHz. The first phase of AO327 will cover the sky at
declinations of -1 to 28 degrees, excluding the region within 5 degrees of the
Galactic plane, where high scattering and dispersion make low-frequency surveys
sub-optimal. We record data from a 57 MHz bandwidth with 1024 channels and 125
us sampling time. The 60 s transit time through the AO327 beam means that the
survey is sensitive to very tight relativistic binaries even with no
acceleration searches. To date we have detected 44 known pulsars with periods
ranging from 3 ms to 2.21 s and discovered 24 new pulsars. The new discoveries
include three millisecond pulsars, three objects with periods of a few tens of
milliseconds typical of young as well as mildly recycled pulsars, a nuller, and
a rotating radio transient. Five of the new discoveries are in binary systems.
The second phase of AO327 will cover the sky at declinations of 28 to 38
degrees. We compare the sensitivity and search volume of AO327 to the Green
Bank North Celestial Cap survey and the GBT350 drift survey, both of which
operate at 350 MHz.


title:
Constructing Lower-Bounds for CTL Escape Rates in Early HIV and SIV
  Infection

abstract:
  Intrahost simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) evolution is marked by repeated
viral escape from cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTLs) response. Typically, the first
such CTL escape occurs in a matter of days, starting around the time of peak
viral load. Many authors have developed methods to quantify the strength of CTL
response by measuring the rate at which CTL escape occurs, but such methods
usually depend on sampling at two or more timepoints, while many datasets
capture the dynamics of the first CTL escape at only a single timepoint. Here,
we develop inference methods for CTL escape rates applicable to single
timepoint datasets. Through a model of early infection dynamics, we construct
confidence intervals for escape rates, but since early infection dynamics are
not completely understood, we also develop a one-sided confidence interval
serving as a lower bound for escape rates over a collection of early infection
models. We apply our methods to two SIV datasets, using our lower bounds and
existing methods to show that escape rates are relatively high during the
initial days of the first CTL escape and then drop to lower levels as the
escape proceeds. We also compare escape in the lymph nodes and the rectal
mucosa, showing that escape in the lymph nodes is initially faster, but as the
first escape proceeds, the rate of escape in the lymph nodes drops below the
rate seen in the rectal mucosa.


title: A Rosetta Stone for Parameterized Tests of Gravity

abstract:
  Several model-independent parameterizations of deviations from General
Relativity have been developed to test Einstein's theory. Although these
different parameterizations were developed for different gravitational
observables, they ultimately all test the same underlying physics. In this
paper, we develop connections between the parameterized post-Newtonian,
parameterized post-Keplerian, and the parameterized post-Einsteinian
frameworks, developed to carry out tests of General Relativity with Solar
System, binary pulsar, and gravitational wave observations respectively. These
connections allow us to use knowledge gained from one framework to inform and
guide tests using the others. Relating these parameterizations and combining
the results from each approach strengthens our tests of General Relativity.


title: Neutrino oscillations in a turbulent plasma

abstract:
  A new model for the joint neutrino flavor and plasma oscillations is
introduced, in terms of the dynamics of the neutrino flavor polarization vector
in a plasma background. Fundamental solutions are found for both time-invariant
and time-dependent media, considering slow and fast variations of the electron
plasma density. The model is shown to be described by a generalized Hamiltonian
formalism. In the case of a broad spectrum of electron plasma waves, a
statistical approach indicate the shift of both equilibrium value and frequency
oscillation of flavor coherence, due to the existence of a turbulent plasma
background.


title:
A Subgrid-scale Model for Deflagration-to-Detonation Transitions in Type
  Ia Supernova Explosion Simulations - Numerical implementation

abstract:
  A promising model for normal Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) explosions are delayed
detonations of Chandrasekhar-mass white dwarfs, in which the burning starts out
as a subsonic deflagration and turns at a later phase of the explosion into a
supersonic detonation. The mechanism of the underlying
deflagration-to-detonation transition (DDT) is unknown in detail, but necessary
conditions have been determined recently. The region of detonation initiation
cannot be spatially resolved in multi-dimensional full-star simulations of the
explosion. We develop a subgrid-scale (SGS) model for DDTs in thermonuclear
supernova simulations that is consistent with the currently known constraints.
The probability for a DDT to occur is calculated from the distribution of
turbulent velocities measured on the grid scale in the vicinity of the flame
and the fractal flame surface area that satisfies further physical constraints,
such as fuel fraction and fuel density. The implementation of our DDT criterion
provides a solid basis for simulations of thermonuclear supernova explosions in
the delayed detonation scenario. It accounts for the currently known necessary
conditions for the transition and avoids the inclusion of resolution-dependent
quantities in the model. The functionality of our DDT criterion is demonstrated
on the example of one three-dimensional thermonuclear supernova explosion
simulation.


title: Wave dispersion derived from the square-root Klein-Gordon-Poisson system

abstract:
  Recently there has been great interest around quantum relativistic models for
plasmas. In particular striking advances have been obtained by means of the
Klein-Gordon-Maxwell system, which provides a first order approach to the
relativistic regimes of quantum plasmas. It is a reliable method as long as the
plasma spin dynamics is not a fundamental aspect, to be addressed using more
refined (and heavier) models involving the Pauli-Schr\"odinger or Dirac
equations. In this work a further simplification is considered, tracing back to
the early days of relativistic quantum theory. Namely, we revisit the
square-root Klein-Gordon-Poisson system, where the positive branch of the
relativistic energy-momentum relation is mapped to a quantum wave equation. The
associated linear wave propagation is analyzed and compared to the results in
the literature. We determine physical parameters where the simultaneous quantum
and relativistic effects can be noticeable in weakly coupled electrostatic
plasmas.


title: Rayleigh scattering: blue sky thinking for future CMB observations

abstract:
  Rayleigh scattering from neutral hydrogen during and shortly after
recombination causes the CMB anisotropies to be significantly frequency
dependent at high frequencies. This may be detectable with Planck, and would be
a strong signal in any future space-based CMB missions. The later peak of the
Rayleigh visibility compared to Thomson scattering gives an increased
large-scale CMB polarization signal that is a greater than 4% effect for
observed frequencies greater than 500GHz. There is a similar magnitude
suppression on small scales from additional damping. Due to strong correlation
between the Rayleigh and primary signal, measurement of the Rayleigh component
is limited by noise and foregrounds, not cosmic variance of the primary CMB,
and should observable over a wide range of angular scales at frequencies
between roughly 200GHz and 800GHz. I give new numerical calculations of the
temperature and polarization power spectra, and show that future CMB missions
could measure the temperature Rayleigh cross-spectrum at high precision, detect
the polarization from Rayleigh scattering, and also accurately determine the
cross-spectra between the Rayleigh temperature signal and primary polarization.
The Rayleigh scattering signal may provide a powerful consistency check on
recombination physics. In principle it can be used to measure additional
horizon-scale primordial perturbation modes at recombination, and distinguish a
significant tensor mode B-polarization signal from gravitational lensing at the
power spectrum level.


title: An Uneventful Horizon in Two Dimensions

abstract:
  We investigate the possibility of firewalls in the Einstein-dilaton gravity
model of CGHS. We use the results of the numerical simulation carried out by
Ashtekar et al. to demonstrate that firewalls are absent and the horizon is
drama free. We show that the lack of a firewall is consistent because the model
does not satisfy one of the postulates of black hole complementarity. In
particular, we show that the Hawking radiation is not pure, and is completely
entangled with a long-lived remnant beyond the last ray.


title: Einstein gravity of a diffusing fluid

abstract:
  We discuss Einstein gravity for a fluid consisting of particles interacting
with an unidentified environment of some other particles whose dissipative
effect is approximated by a diffusion. The environment is described by a time
dependent cosmological term which is compensating the lack of the conservation
law of the energy momentum of the diffusing fluid. We are interested in a
homogeneous flat expanding Universe described by a scale factor $a$. For a
fluid of massless particles at finite temperature we obtain explicit solutions
of the diffusion equation which are in the form of a modified Juttner
distribution with a time dependent temperature. At later time Universe
evolution is described as a diffusion at zero temperature with no
equilibration. We find solutions of the diffusion at zero temperature which can
be treated as a continuation to a later time of the finite temperature
solutions describing an early stage of the Universe. A conservation of the
total energy momentum determines the cosmological term up to a constant. The
resulting energy momentum inserted into Einstein equations gives a modified
Friedmann equation. Solutions of the Friedmann equation depend on the initial
value of the cosmological term. The large value of the cosmological constant
implies an exponential expansion. If the initial conditions allow a power-like
solution for a large time then it must be of the form $a\simeq \tau$ (no
deceleration, $\tau$ is the cosmic time). The final stage of the Universe
evolution is described by a non-relativistic diffusion of a cold dust.


title:
On Poisson operators and Dirichlet-Neumann maps in H^s for divergence
  form elliptic operators with Lipschitz coefficients

abstract:
  We consider second order uniformly elliptic operators of divergence form in
$\R^{d+1}$ whose coefficients are independent of one variable. Under the
Lipschitz condition on the coefficients we characterize the domain of the
Poisson operators and the Dirichlet-Neumann maps in the Sobolev space
$H^s(\R^d)$ for each $s\in [0,1]$. Moreover, we also show a factorization
formula for the elliptic operator in terms of the Poisson operator.


title: Measuring cosmic distances with galaxy clusters

abstract:
  In addition to cosmological tests based on the mass function and clustering
of galaxy clusters, which probe the growth of cosmic structure, nature offers
two independent ways of using clusters to measure cosmic distances. The first
uses measurements of the X-ray emitting gas mass fraction, which is an
approximately standard quantity, independent of mass and redshift, for the most
massive clusters. The second uses combined millimeter (mm) and X-ray
measurements of cluster pressure profiles. We review these methods, their
current status and the prospects for improvements over the next decade. For the
first technique, which currently provides comparable dark energy constraints to
type Ia supernova studies, improvements of a factor of 6 or more should be
readily achievable, together with tight constraints on the mean matter density
that are largely independent of the cosmological model assumed. Realizing this
potential will require a coordinated, multiwavelength approach, utilizing new
cluster surveys, X-ray, optical and mm facilities, and a continued emphasis on
improved hydrodynamical simulations.


title:
On the interplay between electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient
  in ultra-narrow silicon nanowires

abstract:
  We analyze the effect of low dimensionality on the electrical conductivity
({\sigma}) and Seebeck coefficient (S) in ultra-narrow Si nanowires (NWs) by
employing atomistic considerations for the electronic structures and linearized
Boltzmann transport theory. We show that changes in the geometrical features of
the NWs such as diameter and orientation, mostly affect {\sigma} and S in two
ways: i) the distance of the band edges from the Fermi level ({\eta}F) changes,
and ii) quantum confinement in some cases strongly affect the effective mass of
the subbands, which influences the conductivity of the NWs and {\eta}F. Changes
in eta_F cause exponential changes in {\sigma}, but linear changes in S. S
seems to be only weakly dependent on the curvature of the bands, the strength
of the scattering mechanisms, and the shape of the DOS(E) function, contrary to
current view. Our results indicate that low dimensionality has a stronger
influence on {\sigma} than on S due to the stronger sensitivity of {\sigma} on
{\eta}F. We identify cases where bandstructure engineering through confinement
can improve {\sigma} without significantly affecting S, which can result in
power factor improvements.


title:
Fundamental Performance Determining Factors of the Ultrahigh-Precision
  Space-Borne Optical Metrology System for the LISA Pathfinder mission

abstract:
  The LISA Pathfinder mission to space employs an optical metrology system
(OMS) at its core to measure the distance and attitude between two freely
floating test-masses to picometer and nanorad accuracy, respectively, within
the measurement band of [1 mHz, 30 mHz]. The OMS is based upon an ultra-stable
optical bench with 4 heterodyne interferometers from which interference signals
are read-out and processed by a digital phase-meter. Laser frequency noise,
power fluctuations and optical path-length variations are suppressed to
uncritical levels by dedicated control loops so that the measurement
performance approaches the sensor limit imposed by the phase-meter. The system
design is such that low frequency common mode noise which affects the read-out
phase of all four interferometers is generally well suppressed by subtraction
of a reference phase from the other interferometer signals. However, high
frequency noise directly affects measurement performance and its common mode
rejection depends strongly on the relative signal phases. We discuss how the
data from recent test campaigns point towards high frequency phase noise as a
likely performance limiting factor which explains some important performance
features.

categories: physics.ins-det astro-ph.IM gr-qc physics.optics physics.space-ph


title:
Improved methods for determining the kinematics of coronal mass
  ejections and coronal waves

abstract:
  The study of solar eruptive events and associated phenomena is of great
importance in the context of solar and heliophysics. Coronal mass ejections
(CMEs) and coronal waves are energetic manifestations of the restructuring of
the solar magnetic field and mass motion of the plasma. Characterising this
motion is vital for deriving the dynamics of these events and thus
understanding the physics driving their initiation and propagation. The
development and use of appropriate methods for measuring event kinematics is
therefore imperative. Traditional approaches to the study of CME and coronal
wave kinematics do not return wholly accurate nor robust estimates of the true
event kinematics and associated uncertainties. We highlight the drawbacks of
these approaches, and demonstrate improved methods for accurate and reliable
determination of the kinematics. The Savitzky-Golay filter is demonstrated as a
more appropriate fitting technique for CME and coronal wave studies, and a
residual resampling bootstrap technique is demonstrated as a statistically
rigorous method for the determination of kinematic error estimates and
goodness-of-fit tests. It is shown that the scatter on distance-time
measurements of small sample size can significantly limit the ability to derive
accurate and reliable kinematics. This may be overcome by (i) increasing
measurement precision and sampling cadence, and (ii) applying robust methods
for deriving the kinematics and reliably determining their associated
uncertainties. If a priori knowledge exists and a pre-determined model form for
the kinematics is available (or indeed any justified fitting-form to be tested
against the data), then its precision can be examined using a bootstrapping
technique to determine the confidence interval associated with the
model/fitting parameters.


title: Optimizing Thermoelectric Power Factor by Means of a Potential Barrier

abstract:
  Large efforts in improving thermoelectric energy conversion are devoted to
energy filtering by nanometer size potential barriers. In this work we perform
an analysis and optimization of such barriers for improved energy filtering. We
merge semiclassical with quantum mechanical simulations to capture tunneling
and reflections due to the barrier, and analyze the influence of the width W,
the height Vb, and the shape of the barrier, and the position of the Fermi
level (EF) above the band edge, {\eta}F. We show that for an optimized design,
approx. 40 per cent improvement in the thermoelectric power factor can be
achieved if the following conditions are met: {\eta}F is large; the different
of Vb from EF is somewhat higher but comparable to kBT; and W is large enough
to suppress tunneling. Finally, we show that a smooth energy barrier is
beneficial compared to a sharp (square) barrier for increasing the
thermoelectric power factor.


title:
The fading of two transient ULXs to below the stellar mass Eddington
  limit

abstract:
  We report new detections of the two transient ultraluminous X-ray sources
(ULXs) in NGC 5128 from an ongoing series of Chandra observations. Both sources
have previously been observed Lx (2-3)E39 erg/s, at the lower end of the ULX
luminosity range. The new observations allow us to study these sources in the
luminosity regime frequented by the Galactic black hole X-ray binaries (BH
XBs). We present the recent lightcurves of both ULXs. 1RXH J132519.8-430312
(ULX1) was observed at Lx ~ 1E38 erg/s, while CXOU J132518.2-430304 (ULX2)
declined to Lx ~ 2E37 erg/s and then lingered at this luminosity for hundreds
of days. We show that a reasonable upper limit for both duty cycles is 0.2,
with a lower limit of 0.12 for ULX2. This duty cycle is larger than anticipated
for transient ULXs in old stellar populations. By fitting simple spectral
models in an observation with ~50 counts we recover properties consistent with
Galactic BH XBs, but inconclusive as to the spectral state. We utilise quantile
analyses to demonstrate that the spectra are generally soft, and that in one
observation the spectrum of ULX2 is inconsistent with a canonical hard state at
>95% confidence. This is contrary to what would be expected of an accreting
IMBH primary, which we would expect to be in the hard state at these
luminosities. We discuss the paucity of transient ULXs discovered in early-type
galaxies and excogitate explanations. We suggest that the number of transient
ULXs scales with the giant and sub-giant populations, rather than the total
number of XBs.


title:
A different nature between the radio AXPs in comparison to the others
  SGRs/AXPs

abstract:
  SGRs/AXPs are considered a subclass of pulsars powered by magnetic energy and
not by rotation, as normal radio pulsars. They are understood as strongly
magnetized neutron star, with large periods of rotation $P\sim(2-12)$ s, and
large spin-down, with typical $\dot{P}\sim(10^{-13}-10^{-10})$ s/s in contrast
to $\dot{P}\sim10^{-15}$ s for ordinary pulsars. Their persistent X-ray
luminosity, as well as the bursts and flares typical of these sources, are
instead believed to be powered by the decay of their ultrastrong magnetic
field. SGRs/AXPs typically have a larger X-ray luminosity that can not be
explained by their spin-down luminosity ($L_X>\dot{E}_{\rm rot}$), unlike
rotation-powered pulsars. However, the recent discovery of radio-pulsed
emission in four of this class of sources, where the spin-down rotational
energy lost $\dot{E}_{\rm rot}$ is larger than the X-ray luminosity $L_X$
during the quiescent state - as in normal pulsars - opens the question of the
nature of these radio sources in comparison to the others of this class. In
this contribution, we show that the radio SGRs/AXPs obey a linear log-log
relation between $L_X$ and $\dot{E}_{\rm rot}$, very similar to the one
satisfied by X-ray and gamma-ray neutron star pulsars, suggesting their neutron
star nature. Furthermore, we show that almost all the high-B pulsars are also
near the line found for the radio AXPs. In contrast, for almost all the others
SGRs/AXPs, $\log L_X$ does not vary too much as function of $\log \dot{E}_{\rm
rot}$, a phenomenology not shared by X-ray neutron star pulsars, suggesting a
different nature for these sources.


title: Numerical Boson Stars with a Single Killing Vector I: the $D\ge5$ Case

abstract:
  We numerically construct asymptotically anti-de Sitter boson star solutions
using a minimally coupled $\frac{D-1}{2}$-tuplet complex scalar field in
$D=5,7,9,11$ dimensions. The metric admits multiple Killing vector fields in
general, however the scalar fields are only invariant under a particular
combination, leading to such boson star solutions possessing just a single
helical Killing symmetry. These boson stars form a one parameter family of
solutions, which can be parametrized by the energy density at their center. As
the central energy density tends to infinity, the angular velocity, mass, and
angular momentum of the boson star exhibit damped harmonic oscillations about
finite central values, while the Kretschmann invariant diverges, signaling the
formation of a black hole in this limit.


title: Three-cluster dynamics within an ab initio framework

abstract:
  We introduce a fully antisymmetrized treatment of three-cluster dynamics
within the ab initio framework of the no-core shell model/resonating-group
method (NCSM/RGM). Energy-independent non-local interactions among the three
nuclear fragments are obtained from realistic nucleon-nucleon interactions and
consistent ab initio many-body wave functions of the clusters. The
three-cluster Schr\"odinger equation is solved with bound-state boundary
conditions by means of the hyperspherical-harmonic method on a Lagrange mesh.
We discuss the formalism in detail and give algebraic expressions for systems
of two single nucleons plus a nucleus. Using a soft
similarity-renormalization-group evolved chiral nucleon-nucleon potential, we
apply the method to an $^4$He+$n+n$ description of $^6$He and compare the
results to experiment and to a six-body diagonalization of the Hamiltonian
performed within the harmonic-oscillator expansions of the NCSM. Differences
between the two calculations provide a measure of core ($^4$He) polarization
effects.


title: Mutually Unbiased Weighing Matrices

abstract:
  Inspired by the many applications of mutually unbiased Hadamard matrices, we
study mutually unbiased weighing matrices. These matrices are studied for small
orders and weights in both the real and complex setting. Our results make use
of and examine the sharpness of a very important existing upper bound for the
number of mutually unbiased weighing matrices.


title:
Stillman's Question for Exterior Algebras and Herzog's Conjecture on
  Betti Numbers of Syzygy Modules

abstract:
  Let K be a field of characteristic 0 and consider exterior algebras of finite
dimensional K-vector spaces. In this short paper we exhibit principal quadric
ideals in a family whose Castelnuovo-Mumford regularity is unbounded. This
negatively answers the analogue of Stillman's Question for exterior algebras
posed by I. Peeva. We show that these examples are dual to modules over
polynomial rings that yield counterexamples to a conjecture of J. Herzog on the
Betti numbers in the linear strand of syzygy modules.


title:
Transport spectroscopy of disordered graphene quantum dots etched into a
  single graphene flake

abstract:
  We present transport measurements on quantum dots of sizes 45, 60 and 80 nm
etched with an Ar/O2-plasma into a single graphene sheet, allowing a size
comparison avoiding effects from different graphene flakes. The transport gaps
and addition energies increase with decreasing dot size, as expected, and
display a strong correlation, suggesting the same physical origin for both,
i.e. disorder-induced localization in presence of a small confinement gap. Gate
capacitance measurements indicate that the dot charges are located in the
narrow device region as intended. A dominant role of disorder is further
substantiated by the gate dependence and the magnetic field behavior, allowing
only approximate identification of the electron-hole crossover and spin filling
sequences. Finally, we extract a g-factor consistent with g=2 within the error
bars.


title:
CP violation and CPT invariance in B+- decays with final state
  interactions

abstract:
  We show that, besides the usual short distance contribution for CP violation,
final state interactions together with CPT invariance can play an important
role in the recent observation of CP violation in three-body charmless $B^\pm$
decays. A significant part of the observed CP asymmetry distribution in the
Dalitz plot is located in a region where hadronic channels are strongly
coupled. We illustrate our discussion comparing the recent observation of CP
violation in the $B^\pm\to K^\pm K^+ K^-$ and $B^\pm\to K^\pm \pi^+ \pi^-$
phase space, with a calculation based on $\pi\pi\to KK$ scattering.


title: Spin-dependent shot noise enhancement in a quantum dot

abstract:
  The spin-dependent dynamical blockade was investigated in a lateral quantum
dot in a magnetic field. Spin-polarized edge channels in the two-dimensional
leads and the spatial distribution of Landau orbitals in the dot modulate the
tunnel coupling of the quantum dot level spectrum. In a measurement of the
electron shot noise we observe a pattern of super-Poissonian noise which is
correlated to the spin-dependent competition between different transport
channels.


title:
Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber Research and Development in the
  United States

abstract:
  A workshop was held at Fermilab on March 20-21, 2013 to discuss the
development of liquid argon time projection chambers (LArTPC) in the United
States. The workshop was organized under the auspices of the Coordinating Panel
for Advanced Detectors, a body that was initiated by the American Physical
Society Division of Particles and Fields. All presentations at the workshop
were made in plenary sessions organized into seven topical categories: $i)$
Argon Purity, $ii)$ Cryogenics, $iii)$ TPC and High Voltage, $iv)$ Electronics,
Data Acquisition and Triggering, $v)$ Scintillation Light Detection, $vi)$
Calibration and Test Beams, and $vii)$ Software. This document summarizes the
current efforts in each of these topical categories. It also highlights areas
in LArTPC research and development that are common between neutrino experiments
and dark matter experiments.


title: A computational methodology for two-dimensional fluid flows

abstract:
  A weighted residual collocation methodology for simulating two-dimensional
shear-driven and natural convection flows has been presented. Using a dyadic
mesh refinement, the methodology generates a basis and a multiresolution scheme
to approximate a fluid flow. To extend the benefits of the dyadic mesh
refinement approach to the field of computational fluid dynamics, this article
has studied an iterative interpolation scheme for the construction and
differentiation of a basis function in a two-dimensional mesh that is a finite
collection of rectangular elements. We have verified that, on a given mesh, the
discretization error is controlled by the order of the basis function. The
potential of this novel technique has been demonstrated with some
representative examples of the Poisson equation. We have also verified the
technique with a dynamical core of two-dimensional flow in primitive variables.
An excellent result has been observed-on resolving a shear layer and on the
conservation of the potential and the kinetic energies with respect to
previously reported benchmark simulations. In particular, the shear-driven
simulation at CFL = 2.5 (Courant-Friedrichs-Lewy) and $\mathcal Re = 1\,000$
(Reynolds number) exhibits a linear speedup of CPU time with an increase of the
time step, $Delta t$. For the natural convection flow, the conversion of the
potential energy to the kinetic energy and the conservation of total energy is
resolved by the proposed method. The computed streamlines and the velocity
fields have been demonstrated.


title:
Remark on the Helmholtz decomposition in domains with noncompact
  boundary

abstract:
  Let $\Omega$ be a domain with noncompact boundary. It is known that the
Helmholtz decomposition is not always valid in $L^p(\Omega)$ except for the
energy space $L^2 (\Omega)$. In this paper we consider a typical unbounded
domain whose boundary is given as a Lipschitz graph, and show that the
Helmholtz decomposition holds in certain anisotropic spaces which include some
infinite energy vector fields.


title:
Effects of the structure of charged impurities and dielectric
  environment on conductivity of graphene

abstract:
  We investigate the conductivity of doped graphene in the semiclassical
Boltzmann limit, as well as the conductivity minimum within the self-consistent
transport theory. Using the hard-disk model for a two-dimensional distribution
of impurities gives rise to both strong increase in the slope of conductivity
at low charge carrier densities in graphene and a strongly sub-linear behavior
of the conductivity at high charge carrier densities when the correlation
distance between the impurities is large. On the other hand, we find that a
super-linear dependence of the conductivity on charge carrier density in
heavily doped graphene may arise from increasing the distance of impurities
from graphene or allowing their clustering, whereas the existence of a electric
dipole impurities may give rise to an electron-hole asymmetry in the
conductivity. We show that finite thickness of a dielectric layer in the top
gating configuration, as well as the existence of non-zero air gap(s) between
graphene and the dielectric(s) exert strong influences on the conductivity and
its minimum. While a decrease in the dielectric thickness is shown to increase
the conductivity in doped graphene and even gives rise to finite conductivity
in neutral graphene for a 2D distribution of impurities. We find that an
increase in the dielectric thickness gives rise to a super-linear behavior of
the conductivity when impurities are homogeneously distributed throughout the
dielectric. Moreover, the dependence of graphene's mobility on its charge
carrier density is surprisingly strongly affected, quantitatively and
qualitatively, by the graphene-dielectric gap(s) when combined with the precise
position of a 2D distribution of charged impurities. Finally, we show the
changes in the conductivity minimum in neutral graphene as the correlation
distance between the impurities and the dielectric thickness is altered.


title:
Simplified Models for New Physics in Vector Boson Scattering - Input for
  Snowmass 2013

abstract:
  In this contribution to the Snowmass process 2013 (which is a preliminary
version of [1]) we give a brief review of how new physics could enter in the
electroweak (EW) sector of the Standard Model (SM). This new physics, if it is
directly accessible at low energies, can be parameterized by explicit
resonances having certain quantum numbers. The extreme case is the decoupling
limit where those resonances are very heavy and leave only traces in the form
of deviations in the SM couplings. Translations are given into
higher-dimensional operators leading to such deviations. As long as such
resonances are introduced without a UV-complete theory behind it, these models
suffer from unitarity violation of perturbative scattering amplitudes. We show
explicitly how theoretically sane descriptions could be achieved by using a
unitarization prescription that allows a correct description of such a
resonance without specifying a UV-complete model.


title:
A Digital Low Dispersion Spectral Library Covering the 3500-7500AA
  Region Using the SAAO Radcliffe 1.9m Telescope's Cassegrain Spectrograph

abstract:
  We have created a digital spectral library, using low resolution optical
spectra, of photometric and spectral standard stars. The data were acquired
using the Cassegrain Spectrograph installed on the 1.9m Radcliffe telescope at
the South African Astronomical Observatory. The library consists of optical
wavelength (~ 3500-7500AA) spectra for main sequence and giant stars
encompassing those most commonly observed in the Galaxy, namely the late-B, A-,
F-, G-, K-, and early- to mid-M stars. We intend that our standard star spectra
will be especially useful for spectral classification of stars in the field and
Galactic clusters alike, and will have high pedagogic value when included into
representative Introductory Astronomy or Stellar Astronomy curricula for
undergraduate astronomy major and minor programs.
  We exploit the spectral library in order to derive spectral types for
seventy-six optically and X-ray selected members of the young open cluster NGC
6475. Comparison of spectral-type, optical and infrared photometric data to
theoretical colors derived from spectral type show that the reddening of the
cluster is E(B-V) = 0.068 +/- 0.012 (1sigma=0.058), a vector consistent with
earlier surveys. Our analysis also highlights the utility of such spectra in
rejecting cluster non-members, thereby allowing the creation of a clean sample
of bona fide cluster members for follow-up science observations.


title: Improved Median Polish Kriging for Simulation Metamodeling

abstract:
  In simulation, Median Polish Kriging is a technique used to predict
unobserved data points in two-dimensional space. The linear behavior of the
traditional Median Polish Kriging in the estimation of the mean function in a
high grid makes the interpolation of O(1) which has a low order in the
prediction and that leads to a high prediction error. Therefore, an improvement
in the estimation of the mean function has been introduced using Biharmonic
spline interpolation and the new technique has been called Improved Median
Polish Kriging (IMPK). The IMPK has been applied to the standard coal-ash data
in two-dimension. The novel method gave much better results according to the
cross validation results that were obtained when compared with the traditional
Median Polish Kriging.


title:
Ginzburg-Landau phase diagram of QCD near chiral critical point - chiral
  defect lattice and solitonic pion condensate -

abstract:
  We investigate the influence of the isospin asymmetry on the phase structure
of quark matter near the chiral critical point systematically using a
generalized version of Ginzburg-Landau approach. The effect has proven to be so
profound that it brings about not only a shift of the critical point but also a
rich variety of phases in its neighborhood. In particular, there shows up a
phase with spatially varying charged pion condensate which we name the
"solitonic pion condensate" in addition to the "chiral defect lattice" where
the chiral condensate is partially destructed by periodic placements of
two-dimensional wall-like defects. Our results suggest that there may be an
island of solitonic pion condensate in the low temperature and high density
side of QCD phase diagram.


title: AGT relation in the light asymptotic limit

abstract:
  It is known that the path integral of correlators in Liouville theory reduces
to a finite dimensional integral in the limit of vanishing coupling b. We take
the example of four-point functions on sphere and investigate how the simple
integral expression is reproduced from the path integral of gauge theory on
extremely squashed ellipsoids. The simplified form for correlators suggests
there is a 2D gauge theory describing the limit.


title:
Blue-phase-polymer-templated nematic with sub-millisecond
  broad-temperature range electro-optic switching

abstract:
  We report on fast electro-optic switching (response time 0.1 ms) of a
blue-phase-polymer templated nematic with a broad-temperature range of
thermodynamic stability and hysteresis-free performance. The nematic fills a
polymer template that imposes a periodic structure with cubic symmetry and
submicron period. In the field-free state, the nematic in polymer template is
optically isotropic. An applied electric field causes non-zero optical
retardance. The approach thus combines beneficial structural and optical
features of the blue phase (cubic structure with submicron periodicity) and
superior thermodynamic stability and electro-optic switching ability of the
nematic filler.


title:
Impact of backscattered light in a squeezing-enhanced interferometric
  gravitational-wave detector

abstract:
  Squeezed states of light have been recently used to improve the sensitivity
of laser interferometric gravitational-wave detectors beyond the quantum limit.
To completely establish quantum engineering as a realistic option for the next
generation of detectors, it is crucial to study and quantify the noise coupling
mechanisms which injection of squeezed states could potentially introduce. We
present a direct measurement of the impact of backscattered light from a
squeezed-light source deployed on one of the 4 km long detectors of the Laser
Interferometric Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO). We also show how our
measurements inform the design of squeezed light sources compatible with the
even more sensitive advanced detectors currently under construction, such as
Advanced LIGO.


title:
The 2-Weierstrass points of genus 3 hyperelliptic curves with extra
  automorphisms

abstract:
  For each group $G$, $(|G| > 2)$ \, which acts as a full automorphism group on
a genus 3 hyperelliptic curve, we determine the family of curves which have
2-Weierstrass points. Such families of curves are explicitly determined in
terms of the absolute invariants of binary octavics. The 1-dimensional families
that we discover have the property that they contain only genus 0 components.


title:
Parity Violation in Photonuclear Reactions at HIGS -- Submission to
  Snowmass 2013: Intensity Frontier

abstract:
  We discuss the scientific motivation, possible experiments, and beam
requirements for measurements of parity violation in photonuclear reactions at
an intensity upgraded HIGS facility, HIGS2.


title:
Using SOA with Web Services for effective data integration of Enterprise
  Pharmaceutical Information Systems

abstract:
  Medicines exist for combating illnesses and drug stores provide an outlet for
consumers to gain access to these drugs. However, due to various factors such
as cost of production, accessibility and legal issues as well as distribution
factors, availability of these drugs at any location cannot be guaranteed at
all times. There is need for individuals and organizations such as hospitals to
be able to locate required drugs within given geographical vicinity. This is of
immense importance especially during emergencies, travel, and in cases where
the drugs are uncommon. This research work is aimed at solving this problem by
designing a system that integrates all drugstores. The integration of the drug
stores will be based on SOA concepts with web services via a central service
bus. The database systems of the drug stores will be integrated via a service
bus such that drugs can easily be searched for and the results will be
displayed based on its availability. Drugs can easily be searched for within
geographically distributed pharmaceutical databases as well as consumption of
drugs with relation to geographical locations can easily be monitored and
tracked. This will make it easy for health institutions to research on drug
consumption patterns across geographical areas and also control their usage.


title: Transmission eigenvalues in random media with surface reflection

abstract:
  The impact of surface reflection on the statistics of transmission
eigenvalues is a largely unexplored subject of fundamental and practical
importance in statistical optics. Here, we develop a first-principles theory
and confirm numerically that the distribution of transmission eigenvalues of
diffusive waves exhibits a nonanalytic `transition' as the strength of surface
reflection at one surface passes through a critical value while that at the
other is fixed. Above the critical value, the highest transmission eigenvalue
is strictly smaller than unity and decreases with increasing internal
reflection. When the input and output surfaces are equally reflective, the
highest transmission eigenvalue is unity and the transition disappears
irrespective of the strength of surface reflection.


title:
Diphoton and Z photon Decays of Higgs Boson in Gauge-Higgs Unification:
  A Snowmass white paper

abstract:
  In the context of gauge-Higgs unification scenario in a 5-dimensional flat
spacetime, we investigate Higgs boson production via gluon fusion and its
diphoton and Z gamma decay modes at the LHC. We show that the signal strength
of the Higgs diphoton decay mode observed at ATLAS (and CMS), which is
considerably larger than the Standard Model expectation, can be explained by a
simple gauge-Higgs unification model with color-singlet bulk fermions to which
a half-periodic boundary condition is assigned. The bulk fermions with mass at
the TeV scale also play a crucial role in reproducing the observed Higgs boson
mass of around 125 GeV. One naturally expects that the KK modes also contribute
to the effective H-Z-gamma coupling. However, we show a very specific and
general prediction of the gauge-Higgs unification scenario that KK-mode
contributions to the H-Z-gamma coupling do not exist at the 1-loop level. If
the excess of the Higgs to diphoton decay mode persists, its correlation with
the Higgs to Z photon decay mode can be a clue to distinguish scenarios beyond
the SM, providing a significant improvement of the sensitivity for the Higgs
boson signals in the future.


title:
POMDPs Make Better Hackers: Accounting for Uncertainty in Penetration
  Testing

abstract:
  Penetration Testing is a methodology for assessing network security, by
generating and executing possible hacking attacks. Doing so automatically
allows for regular and systematic testing. A key question is how to generate
the attacks. This is naturally formulated as planning under uncertainty, i.e.,
under incomplete knowledge about the network configuration. Previous work uses
classical planning, and requires costly pre-processes reducing this uncertainty
by extensive application of scanning methods. By contrast, we herein model the
attack planning problem in terms of partially observable Markov decision
processes (POMDP). This allows to reason about the knowledge available, and to
intelligently employ scanning actions as part of the attack. As one would
expect, this accurate solution does not scale. We devise a method that relies
on POMDPs to find good attacks on individual machines, which are then composed
into an attack on the network as a whole. This decomposition exploits network
structure to the extent possible, making targeted approximations (only) where
needed. Evaluating this method on a suitably adapted industrial test suite, we
demonstrate its effectiveness in both runtime and solution quality.


title: Goldstone modes in the neutron star core

abstract:
  We formulate a theory of Goldstone bosons and their interactions in the
superfluid and superconducting phase of dense nucleonic matter at densities of
relevance to the neutron star core. For typical neutron star temperatures in
the range T = 10^6 to 10^9 K, the Goldstone mode associated with rotational
symmetry, called angulons, couple weakly to each other and to electrons.
Consequently, these modes have anomalously large mean free paths and can
contribute to both diffusive and ballistic transport of heat and momentum. In
contrast, the two Goldstone bosons associated with density oscillations of the
neutron and electron + proton fluids, called superfluid phonons, mix and couple
strongly to electrons. They have shorter mean free paths, and their
contribution to transport is negligible. Long-wavelength superfluid phonons and
angulons can play a role in neutron star seismology, and lead to interesting
phenomenology as angulons couple to magnetic fields and have anisotropic
dispersion relations.


title:
Free algebras in varieties of Hilbert algebras with supremum generated
  by finite chains

abstract:
  Hilbert algebras with supremum, i.e., Hilbert algebras where the associated
order is a join-semilattice were first considered by A.V. Figallo, G. Ramon and
S. Saad in [11], and independently by S. Celani and D. Montangie in [7].
  On the other hand, L. Monteiro introduced the notion of n-valued Hilbert
algebras (see [12]). In this work, we investigate the class of n-valued Hilbert
algebras with supremum, denoted Hn, i.e., n-valued Hilbert algebras where the
associated order is a join-semilattice. The varieties Hn are generated by
finite chains. The free Hn-algebra Freen+1(r) with r generators is studied. In
particular, we determine an upper bound to the cardinal of the finitely
generated free algebra Freen+1(r).


title:
Maximal Covariance Group of Wigner Transforms and Pseudo-Differential
  Operators

abstract:
  We show that the linear symplectic and anti-symplectic transformations form
the maximal covariance group for both the Wigner transform and Weyl operators.
The proof is based on a new result from symplectic geometry which characterizes
symplectic and anti-symplectic matrices, and which allows us, in addition, to
refine a classical result on the preservation of symplectic capacities of
ellipsoids.

categories: math.SG math-ph math.FA math.MP quant-ph


title: An Oblivious Password Cracking Server

abstract:
  Building a password cracking server that preserves the privacy of the queries
made to the server is a problem that has not yet been solved. Such a server
could acquire practical relevance in the future: for instance, the tables used
to crack the passwords could be calculated, stored and hosted in
cloud-computing services, and could be queried from devices with limited
computing power.
  In this paper we present a method to preserve the confidentiality of a
password cracker---wherein the tables used to crack the passwords are stored by
a third party---by combining Hellman tables and Private Information Retrieval
(PIR) protocols. We provide the technical details of this method, analyze its
complexity, and show the experimental results obtained with our implementation.


title: Towards Minimax Online Learning with Unknown Time Horizon

abstract:
  We consider online learning when the time horizon is unknown. We apply a
minimax analysis, beginning with the fixed horizon case, and then moving on to
two unknown-horizon settings, one that assumes the horizon is chosen randomly
according to some known distribution, and the other which allows the adversary
full control over the horizon. For the random horizon setting with restricted
losses, we derive a fully optimal minimax algorithm. And for the adversarial
horizon setting, we prove a nontrivial lower bound which shows that the
adversary obtains strictly more power than when the horizon is fixed and known.
Based on the minimax solution of the random horizon setting, we then propose a
new adaptive algorithm which "pretends" that the horizon is drawn from a
distribution from a special family, but no matter how the actual horizon is
chosen, the worst-case regret is of the optimal rate. Furthermore, our
algorithm can be combined and applied in many ways, for instance, to online
convex optimization, follow the perturbed leader, exponential weights algorithm
and first order bounds. Experiments show that our algorithm outperforms many
other existing algorithms in an online linear optimization setting.


title: On Rational Connectedness of Globally F-Regular Threefolds

abstract:
  In this paper, we show that projective globally $F$-regular threefolds,
defined over an algebraically closed field of characteristic $p\geq 11$, are
rationally chain connected.


title: The Noncommutative Infinitesimal Equivariant Index Formula

abstract:
  In this paper, we establish an infinitesimal equivariant index formula in the
noncommutative geometry framework using Greiner's approach to heat kernel
asymptotics. An infinitesimal equivariant index formula for odd dimensional
manifolds is also given. We define infinitesimal equivariant eta cochains,
prove their regularity and give an explicit formula for them. We also establish
an infinitesimal equivariant family index formula and introduce the
infinitesimal equivariant eta forms as well as compare them with the
equivariant eta forms.


title: Error corrected quantum annealing with hundreds of qubits

abstract:
  Quantum information processing offers dramatic speedups, yet is famously
susceptible to decoherence, the process whereby quantum superpositions decay
into mutually exclusive classical alternatives, thus robbing quantum computers
of their power. This has made the development of quantum error correction an
essential and inescapable aspect of both theoretical and experimental quantum
computing. So far little is known about protection against decoherence in the
context of quantum annealing, a computational paradigm which aims to exploit
ground state quantum dynamics to solve optimization problems more rapidly than
is possible classically. Here we develop error correction for quantum annealing
and provide an experimental demonstration using up to 344 superconducting flux
qubits in processors which have recently been shown to physically implement
programmable quantum annealing. We demonstrate a substantial improvement over
the performance of the processors in the absence of error correction. These
results pave a path toward large scale noise-protected adiabatic quantum
optimization devices.


title:
Sistem Informasi Penjualan Dan Perbaikan Komputer (Studi Kasus: CV
  Computer Plus Palembang)

abstract:
  The purpose of this research is to develop an Information System of Selling
and Services using Microsoft Visual Basic and Microsoft Access for it database.
The benefits of this research is to help CV Computer Plus in selling and
services data processing everyday. To develop this IS is used 5 (five) steps:
1) Planning, 2) Analysis, 3) Design, 4) Implementation, and 5) Evaluation. The
Information System can record the selling and services data, it also prepared
usefull reports. By using this IS, CV Computer Plus can operate their selling
and services efficiency and effectively. In the future it can be upgraded for
network application.


title: Morpion Solitaire 5D: a new upper bound of 121 on the maximum score

abstract:
  Morpion Solitaire is a pencil-and-paper game for a single player. A move in
this game consists of putting a cross at a lattice point and then drawing a
line segment that passes through exactly five consecutive crosses. The
objective is to make as many moves as possible, starting from a standard
initial configuration of crosses. For one of the variants of this game, called
5D, we prove an upper bound of 121 on the number of moves. This is done by
introducing line-based analysis, and improves the known upper bound of 138
obtained by potential-based analysis.


title: Nanosecond electro-optic switching of a liquid crystal

abstract:
  Electrically induced reorientation of nematic liquid crystal (NLC) molecules
caused by dielectric anisotropy of the material is a fundamental phenomenon
widely used in modern technologies. Its Achilles heel is a slow (millisecond)
relaxation from the field-on to the field-off state. We present an
electro-optic effect in an NLC with a response time of about 30 ns to both the
field-on and field-off switching. This effect is caused by the electric field
induced modification of the order parameters (EMOP) and does not require
reorientation of the optic axis (director).

categories: cond-mat.soft cond-mat.mtrl-sci physics.chem-ph physics.optics


title: Transitions Between Chiral Spin Liquids and Z2 Spin Liquids

abstract:
  The Kalmeyer-Laughlin chiral spin liquids (CSL) and the Z2 spin liquids are
two of the simplest topologically ordered states. Here I develop a theory of a
direct quantum phase transition between them. Each CSL is characterized by an
integer n and is topologically equivalent to the 1/2n Laughlin fractional
quantum Hall (FQH) state. Depending on the parity of n, the transition from the
CSL is either to a "twisted" version of the Z2 spin liquid, the "doubled
semion" model, or the conventional Z_2 spin liquid ("toric code"). In the
presence of SU(2) spin symmetry, the triplet gap remains open through the
transition and only singlet operators acquire algebraic correlations. An
essential observation is that the CSL/Laughlin FQH states can be understood in
terms of bosonic integer quantum Hall (BIQH) states of Schwinger bosons or
vortices, respectively. I propose several novel many-body wave functions that
can interpolate through the transition.


title: Fortifying the characterization of binary mergers in LIGO data

abstract:
  The study of compact binary in-spirals and mergers with gravitational wave
observatories amounts to optimizing a theoretical description of the data to
best reproduce the true detector output. While most of the research effort in
gravitational wave data modeling focuses on the gravitational wave- forms
themselves, here we will begin to improve our model of the instrument noise by
introducing parameters which allow us to determine the background instrumental
power spectrum while simul- taneously characterizing the astrophysical signal.
We use data from the fifth LIGO science run and simulated gravitational wave
signals to demonstrate how the introduction of noise parameters results in
resilience of the signal characterization to variations in an initial
estimation of the noise power spectral density. We find substantial improvement
in the consistency of Bayes factor calculations when we are able to marginalize
over uncertainty in the instrument noise level.


title: Lagrangian Circle Actions

abstract:
  We consider paths of Hamiltonian diffeomorphism preserving a given compact
monotone Lagrangian in a symplectic manifold that extend to an
$S^1$--Hamiltonian action. We compute the leading term of the associated
Lagrangian Seidel element. We show that such paths minimize the Lagrangian
Hofer length. Finally we apply these computations to Lagrangian uniruledness
and to give a nice presentation of the Quantum cohomology of real lagrangians
in Fano symplectic toric manifolds.


title:
Least Squares Shadowing Sensitivity Analysis of a Modified
  Kuramoto-Sivashinsky Equation

abstract:
  Computational methods for sensitivity analysis are invaluable tools for
scientists and engineers investigating a wide range of physical phenomena.
However, many of these methods fail when applied to chaotic systems, such as
the Kuramoto-Sivashinsky (K-S) equation, which models a number of different
chaotic systems found in nature. The following paper discusses the application
of a new sensitivity analysis method developed by the authors to a modified K-S
equation. We find that least squares shadowing sensitivity analysis computes
accurate gradients for solutions corresponding to a wide range of system
parameters.


title:
Sensing as a Service Model for Smart Cities Supported by Internet of
  Things

abstract:
  The world population is growing at a rapid pace. Towns and cities are
accommodating half of the world's population thereby creating tremendous
pressure on every aspect of urban living. Cities are known to have large
concentration of resources and facilities. Such environments attract people
from rural areas. However, unprecedented attraction has now become an
overwhelming issue for city governance and politics. The enormous pressure
towards efficient city management has triggered various Smart City initiatives
by both government and private sector businesses to invest in ICT to find
sustainable solutions to the growing issues. The Internet of Things (IoT) has
also gained significant attention over the past decade. IoT envisions to
connect billions of sensors to the Internet and expects to use them for
efficient and effective resource management in Smart Cities. Today
infrastructure, platforms, and software applications are offered as services
using cloud technologies. In this paper, we explore the concept of sensing as a
service and how it fits with the Internet of Things. Our objective is to
investigate the concept of sensing as a service model in technological,
economical, and social perspectives and identify the major open challenges and
issues.


title:
Technical Report: An MGF-based Unified Framework to Determine the Joint
  Statistics of Partial Sums of Ordered i.n.d. Random Variables

abstract:
  The joint statistics of partial sums of ordered random variables (RVs) are
often needed for the accurate performance characterization of a wide variety of
wireless communication systems. A unified analytical framework to determine the
joint statistics of partial sums of ordered independent and identically
distributed (i.i.d.) random variables was recently presented. However, the
identical distribution assumption may not be valid in several real-world
applications. With this motivation in mind, we consider in this paper the more
general case in which the random variables are independent but not necessarily
identically distributed (i.n.d.). More specifically, we extend the previous
analysis and introduce a new more general unified analytical framework to
determine the joint statistics of partial sums of ordered i.n.d. RVs. Our
mathematical formalism is illustrated with an application on the exact
performance analysis of the capture probability of generalized selection
combining (GSC)-based RAKE receivers operating over frequency-selective fading
channels with a non-uniform power delay profile. We also discussed a couple of
other sample applications of the generic results presented in this work.


title:
Absence of Superconductivity in the "hole-doped" Fe pnictide
  Ba(Fe$_{1-x}$Mn$_{x}$)$_{2}$As$_{2}$: Photoemission and X-ray Absorption
  Spectroscopy Studies

abstract:
  We have studied the electronic structure of
Ba(Fe$_{1-x}$Mn$_{x}$)$_{2}$As$_{2}$ ($x$=0.08), which fails to become a
superconductor in spite of the formal hole doping like
Ba$_{1-x}$K$_{x}$Fe$_{2}$As$_{2}$, by photoemission spectroscopy and X-ray
absorption spectroscopy (XAS). With decreasing temperature, a transition from
the paramagnetic phase to the antiferromagnetic phase was clearly observed by
angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. XAS results indicated that the
substituted Mn atoms form a strongly hybridized ground state.
Resonance-photoemission spectra at the Mn $L_{3}$ edge revealed that the Mn 3d
partial density of states is distributed over a wide energy range of 2-13 eV
below the Fermi level ($E_F$), with little contribution around $E_F$. This
indicates that the dopant Mn 3$d$ states are localized in spite of the strong
Mn 3d-As $4p$ hybridization and split into the occupied and unoccupied parts
due to the on-site Coulomb and exchange interaction. The absence of
superconductivity in Ba(Fe$_{1-x}$Mn$_{x}$)$_{2}$As$_{2}$ can thus be ascribed
both to the absence of carrier doping in the FeAs plane, and to the strong
stabilizaiton of the antiferromagnetic order by the Mn impurities.


title: Non-homogeneous Two-Rack Model for Distributed Storage Systems

abstract:
  In the traditional two-rack distributed storage system (DSS) model, due to
the assumption that the storage capacity of each node is the same, the minimum
bandwidth regenerating (MBR) point becomes infeasible. In this paper, we design
a new non-homogeneous two-rack model by proposing a generalization of the
threshold function used to compute the tradeoff curve. We prove that by having
the nodes in the rack with higher regenerating bandwidth stores more
information, all the points on the tradeoff curve, including the MBR point,
become feasible. Finally, we show how the non-homogeneous two-rack model
outperforms the traditional model in the tradeoff curve between the storage per
node and the repair bandwidth.


title: Characterisation of Strongly Normalising lambda-mu-Terms

abstract:
  We provide a characterisation of strongly normalising terms of the
lambda-mu-calculus by means of a type system that uses intersection and product
types. The presence of the latter and a restricted use of the type omega enable
us to represent the particular notion of continuation used in the literature
for the definition of semantics for the lambda-mu-calculus. This makes it
possible to lift the well-known characterisation property for
strongly-normalising lambda-terms - that uses intersection types - to the
lambda-mu-calculus. From this result an alternative proof of strong
normalisation for terms typeable in Parigot's propositional logical system
follows, by means of an interpretation of that system into ours.


title:
Using Inhabitation in Bounded Combinatory Logic with Intersection Types
  for Composition Synthesis

abstract:
  We describe ongoing work on a framework for automatic composition synthesis
from a repository of software components. This work is based on combinatory
logic with intersection types. The idea is that components are modeled as typed
combinators, and an algorithm for inhabitation {\textemdash} is there a
combinatory term e with type tau relative to an environment Gamma?
{\textemdash} can be used to synthesize compositions. Here, Gamma represents
the repository in the form of typed combinators, tau specifies the synthesis
goal, and e is the synthesized program. We illustrate our approach by examples,
including an application to synthesis from GUI-components.


title: Annotations for Intersection Typechecking

abstract:
  In functional programming languages, the classic form of annotation is a
single type constraint on a term. Intersection types add complications: a
single term may have to be checked several times against different types, in
different contexts, requiring annotation with several types. Moreover, it is
useful (in some systems, necessary) to indicate the context in which each such
type is to be used.
  This paper explores the technical design space of annotations in systems with
intersection types. Earlier work (Dunfield and Pfenning 2004) introduced
contextual typing annotations, which we now tease apart into more elementary
mechanisms: a "right hand" annotation (the standard form), a "left hand"
annotation (the context in which a right-hand annotation is to be used), a
merge that allows for multiple annotations, and an existential binder for index
variables. The most novel element is the left-hand annotation, which guards
terms (and right-hand annotations) with a judgment that must follow from the
current context.


title: Bounding normalization time through intersection types

abstract:
  Non-idempotent intersection types are used in order to give a bound of the
length of the normalization beta-reduction sequence of a lambda term: namely,
the bound is expressed as a function of the size of the term.


title: Toward Isomorphism of Intersection and Union types

abstract:
  This paper investigates type isomorphism in a lambda-calculus with
intersection and union types. It is known that in lambda-calculus, the
isomorphism between two types is realised by a pair of terms inverse one each
other. Notably, invertible terms are linear terms of a particular shape, called
finite hereditary permutators. Typing properties of finite hereditary
permutators are then studied in a relevant type inference system with
intersection and union types for linear terms. In particular, an isomorphism
preserving reduction between types is defined. Type reduction is confluent and
terminating, and induces a notion of normal form of types. The properties of
normal types are a crucial step toward the complete characterisation of type
isomorphism. The main results of this paper are, on one hand, the fact that two
types with the same normal form are isomorphic, on the other hand, the
characterisation of the isomorphism between types in normal form, modulo
isomorphism of arrow types.


title: Reconciling positional and nominal binding

abstract:
  We define an extension of the simply-typed lambda calculus where two
different binding mechanisms, by position and by name, nicely coexist. In the
former, as in standard lambda calculus, the matching between parameter and
argument is done on a positional basis, hence alpha-equivalence holds, whereas
in the latter it is done on a nominal basis. The two mechanisms also
respectively correspond to static binding, where the existence and type
compatibility of the argument are checked at compile-time, and dynamic binding,
where they are checked at run-time.


title:
Formal Probabilistic Analysis of a Wireless Sensor Network for Forest
  Fire Detection

abstract:
  Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) have been widely explored for forest fire
detection, which is considered a fatal threat throughout the world. Energy
conservation of sensor nodes is one of the biggest challenges in this context
and random scheduling is frequently applied to overcome that. The performance
analysis of these random scheduling approaches is traditionally done by
paper-and-pencil proof methods or simulation. These traditional techniques
cannot ascertain 100% accuracy, and thus are not suitable for analyzing a
safety-critical application like forest fire detection using WSNs. In this
paper, we propose to overcome this limitation by applying formal probabilistic
analysis using theorem proving to verify scheduling performance of a real-world
WSN for forest fire detection using a k-set randomized algorithm as an energy
saving mechanism. In particular, we formally verify the expected values of
coverage intensity, the upper bound on the total number of disjoint subsets,
for a given coverage intensity, and the lower bound on the total number of
nodes.


title: A New PVSS Scheme with a Simple Encryption Function

abstract:
  A Publicly Verifiable Secret Sharing (PVSS) scheme allows anyone to verify
the validity of the shares computed and distributed by a dealer. The idea of
PVSS was introduced by Stadler in [18] where he presented a PVSS scheme based
on Discrete Logarithm. Later, several PVSS schemes were proposed. In [2],
Behnad and Eghlidos present an interesting PVSS scheme with explicit membership
and disputation processes. In this paper, we present a new PVSS having the
advantage of being simpler while offering the same features.


title: Compiling symbolic attacks to protocol implementation tests

abstract:
  Recently efficient model-checking tools have been developed to find flaws in
security protocols specifications. These flaws can be interpreted as potential
attacks scenarios but the feasability of these scenarios need to be confirmed
at the implementation level. However, bridging the gap between an abstract
attack scenario derived from a specification and a penetration test on real
implementations of a protocol is still an open issue. This work investigates an
architecture for automatically generating abstract attacks and converting them
to concrete tests on protocol implementations. In particular we aim to improve
previously proposed blackbox testing methods in order to discover automatically
new attacks and vulnerabilities. As a proof of concept we have experimented our
proposed architecture to detect a renegotiation vulnerability on some
implementations of SSL/TLS, a protocol widely used for securing electronic
transactions.


title: Formal verification of a proof procedure for the description logic ALC

abstract:
  Description Logics (DLs) are a family of languages used for the
representation and reasoning on the knowledge of an application domain, in a
structured and formal manner. In order to achieve this objective, several
provers, such as RACER and FaCT++, have been implemented, but these provers
themselves have not been yet certified. In order to ensure the soundness of
derivations in these DLs, it is necessary to formally verify the deductions
applied by these reasoners. Formal methods offer powerful tools for the
specification and verification of proof procedures, among them there are
methods for proving properties such as soundness, completeness and termination
of a proof procedure. In this paper, we present the definition of a proof
procedure for the Description Logic ALC, based on a semantic tableau method. We
ensure validity of our prover by proving its soundness, completeness and
termination properties using Isabelle proof assistant. The proof proceeds in
two phases, first by establishing these properties on an abstract level, and
then by instantiating them for an implementation based on lists.


title:
Towards a General Framework for Formal Reasoning about Java Bytecode
  Transformation

abstract:
  Program transformation has gained a wide interest since it is used for
several purposes: altering semantics of a program, adding features to a program
or performing optimizations. In this paper we focus on program transformations
at the bytecode level. Because these transformations may introduce errors, our
goal is to provide a formal way to verify the update and establish its
correctness. The formal framework presented includes a definition of a formal
semantics of updates which is the base of a static verification and a scheme
based on Hoare triples and weakest precondition calculus to reason about
behavioral aspects in bytecode transformation


title: Formal Analysis of Soft Errors using Theorem Proving

abstract:
  Modeling and analysis of soft errors in electronic circuits has traditionally
been done using computer simulations. Computer simulations cannot guarantee
correctness of analysis because they utilize approximate real number
representations and pseudo random numbers in the analysis and thus are not well
suited for analyzing safety-critical applications. In this paper, we present a
higher-order logic theorem proving based method for modeling and analysis of
soft errors in electronic circuits. Our developed infrastructure includes
formalized continuous random variable pairs, their Cumulative Distribution
Function (CDF) properties and independent standard uniform and Gaussian random
variables. We illustrate the usefulness of our approach by modeling and
analyzing soft errors in commonly used dynamic random access memory sense
amplifier circuits.


title:
Performing Implicit Induction Reasoning with Certifying Proof
  Environments

abstract:
  Largely adopted by proof assistants, the conventional induction methods based
on explicit induction schemas are non-reductive and local, at schema level. On
the other hand, the implicit induction methods used by automated theorem
provers allow for lazy and mutual induction reasoning. In this paper, we
present a new tactic for the Coq proof assistant able to perform automatically
implicit induction reasoning. By using an automatic black-box approach,
conjectures intended to be manually proved by the certifying proof environment
that integrates Coq are proved instead by the Spike implicit induction theorem
prover. The resulting proofs are translated afterwards into certified Coq
scripts.


title: The Mass Distribution and Rotation Curve in the Galaxy

abstract:
  The mass distribution in the Galaxy is determined by dynamical and
photometric methods. Rotation curves are the major tool for determining the
dynamical mass distribution in the Milky Way and spiral galaxies. The
photometric (statistical) method utilizes luminosity profiles from optical and
infrared observations, and assumes empirical values of the mass-to-luminosity
(M/L) ratio to convert the luminosity to mass. In this chapter the dynamical
method is described in detail, and rotation curves and mass distribution in the
Milky Way and nearby spiral galaxies are presented. The dynamical method is
categorized into two methods: the decomposition method and direct method. The
former fits the rotation curve by calculated curve assuming several mass
components such as a bulge, disk and halo, and adjust the dynamical parameters
of each component. Explanations are given of the mass profiles as the de
Vaucouleurs law, exponential disk, and dark halo profiles inferred from
numerical simulations. Another method is the direct method, with which the mass
distribution can be directly calculated from the data of rotation velocities
without employing any mass models. Some results from both methods are
presented, and the Galactic structure is discussed in terms of the mass.
Rotation curves and mass distributions in external galaxies are also discussed,
and the fundamental mass structures are shown to be universal.


title:
Classification of automorphic conjugacy classes in the free group on two
  generators

abstract:
  We associate a finite directed graph with each equivalence class of words in
$F_2$ under $\operatorname*{Aut} F_2$, and we completely classify these graphs,
giving a structural classification of the automorphic conjugacy classes of
$F_2$. This classification refines work of Khan and proves a conjecture of
Myasnikov and Shpilrain on the number of minimal words in an automorphic
conjugacy class whose minimal words have length $n$, which in turn implies a
sharp upper bound on the running time of Whitehead's algorithm for determining
whether two words in $F_2$ are automorphic conjugates.


title: Bootstrapping a Change-Point Cox Model for Survival Data

abstract:
  This paper investigates the (in)-consistency of various bootstrap methods for
making inference on a change-point in time in the Cox model with right censored
survival data. A criterion is established for the consistency of any bootstrap
method. It is shown that the usual nonparametric bootstrap is inconsistent for
the maximum partial likelihood estimation of the change-point. A new
model-based bootstrap approach is proposed and its consistency established.
Simulation studies are carried out to assess the performance of various
bootstrap schemes.


title: Ancient eclipses and long-term drifts in the Earth - Moon system

abstract:
  We investigate the anomalies in the Earth - Moon system using ancient eclipse
data. We identify nine groups of anomalous eclipses between 400 and 1800 AD
recorded in parts of India that should have completely missed the subcontinent
as per NASA simulations (Espenak and Meeus, 2011). We show that the typical
correction to the lunar location required to reconcile the anomalous eclipses
is relatively small and consistent with the fluctuations in the length of day
that are observed in recent periods. We then investigate the change in Earth's
moment of inertia due to differential acceleration of land and water that can
account for this discrepancy. We show that 80 percent of these discrepancies
occur when the Moon is at declinations greater than 10 deg and closer to its
major standstill of 28 deg while it spends 46 percent of the time in this
region. We simulate the differential interaction of the Moon's gravity with
landmass and water using finite element method to account for landmass and
water mass. We show that the results of eclipse error are consistent with the
estimate of a small differential acceleration when the Moon is over land at
high latitudes. However, we encounter some examples where the results from
simulations studies cannot explain the phenomena. Hence we propose that dT
corrections have to be coupled with some other mechanism possibly a small
vertical oscillation in the Moon's rotational plane with a period of the order
of a few hundred years to achieve the required adjustment in the Eclipse maps.