title: Newtonian Hydrodynamics with General Relativistic Pressure

abstract:
  We present the general relativistic pressure correction terms in Newtonian
hydrodynamic equations to the nonlinear order: these are equations
(\ref{mass-conservation-Mink})-(\ref{Poisson-eq-Mink}). The derivation is made
in the zero-shear gauge based on the fully nonlinear formulation of
cosmological perturbation in Einstein's gravity. The correction terms {\it
differ} from many of the previously suggested forms in the literature based on
hand-waving manners. We confirm our results by comparing with (i) the nonlinear
perturbation theory, (ii) the first order post-Newtonian approximation, and
(iii) the special relativistic limit, and by checking (iv) the consistency with
full Einstein's equation.


title:
Kinematic Numerators and a Double-Copy Formula for N = 4
  Super-Yang-Mills Residues

abstract:
  Recent work by Cachazo, He, and Yuan shows that connected prescription
residues obey the global identities of $\mathcal{N} = 4$ super-Yang-Mills
amplitudes. In particular, they obey the Bern-Carrasco-Johansson (BCJ)
amplitude identities. Here we offer a new way of interpreting this result via
objects that we call residue numerators. These objects behave like the
kinematic numerators introduced by BCJ except that they are associated with
individual residues. In particular, these new objects satisfy a double-copy
formula relating them to the residues appearing in recently-discovered analogs
of the connected prescription integrals for $\mathcal{N} = 8$ supergravity.
Along the way, we show that the BCJ amplitude identities are equivalent to the
consistency condition that allows kinematic numerators to be expressed as
amplitudes using a generalized inverse.


title: Zeeman Field-Tuned Transitions for Surface Chern Insulators

abstract:
  Mirror symmetric surfaces of a topological crystalline insulator host even
number of Dirac surface states. A surface Zeeman field generically gaps these
states leading to a quantized anomalous Hall effect. Varying the direction of
Zeeman field induces transitions between different surface insulating states
with any two Chern numbers between -4 and 4. In the crystal frame the phase
boundaries occur for field orientations which are great circles with (111)-like
normals on a sphere.


title: Circumference and Pathwidth of Highly Connected Graphs

abstract:
  Birmele [J. Graph Theory, 2003] proved that every graph with circumference t
has treewidth at most t-1. Under the additional assumption of 2-connectivity,
such graphs have bounded pathwidth, which is a qualitatively stronger result.
Birmele's theorem was extended by Birmele, Bondy and Reed [Combinatorica, 2007]
who showed that every graph without k disjoint cycles of length at least t has
bounded treewidth (as a function of k and t). Our main result states that,
under the additional assumption of (k + 1)- connectivity, such graphs have
bounded pathwidth. In fact, they have pathwidth O(t^3 + tk^2). Moreover,
examples show that (k + 1)-connectivity is required for bounded pathwidth to
hold. These results suggest the following general question: for which values of
k and graphs H does every k-connected H-minor-free graph have bounded
pathwidth? We discuss this question and provide a few observations.


title:
Discovery potential for heavy t-tbar resonances in dilepton+jets final
  states

abstract:
  We examine the prospects for probing heavy top quark-antiquark (t-tbar)
resonances at the upgraded LHC in pp collisions at $\root_s = 14 TeV. Heavy
t-tbar resonances (Z' bosons) are predicted by several theories that go beyond
the standard model. We consider scenarios in which each top quark decays
leptonically, either to an electron or a muon, and the data sets correspond to
integrated luminosities of \int L dt = 300 /fb and \int L dt = 3000 /fb. We
present the expected 5-sigma discovery potential for a Z' resonance as well as
the expected upper limits at 95% C.L. on the Z' production cross section and
mass in the absence of a discovery.


title: Retargeting GCC: Do We Reinvent the Wheel Every Time?

abstract:
  Porting GCC to new architecture requires writing a Machine Description (MD)
file that contains mapping from GCC's intermediate form to the target assembly
code. Constructing an MD file is a difficult task because it requires the user
to understand both (a) the internals of GCC, and (b) the intricacies of the
target architecture. Instruction sets of different architectures exhibit
significant amount of semantic similarities across a large class (for example,
the instruction sets for RISC architectures) and differ only in syntax.
Therefore, it is expected that MD files of machines with similar architectures
should also have similarities. To confirm our hypothesis, we created
"mdcompare", a tool to (a) extract RTL patterns (machine independent
abstraction of RTL templates) from MD files of well known architectures and (b)
compare the similarity of patterns across architectures. The results are
encouraging; we found that 28% -- 70% RTL expressions are similar across pairs
of MD files, the similarity percentage being on the higher side for pairs of
similar architectures.


title: Recent developments in research on catalytic reaction networks

abstract:
  Over the last years, analyses performed on a stochastic model of catalytic
reaction networks have provided some indications about the reasons why wet-lab
experiments hardly ever comply with the phase transition typically predicted by
theoretical models with regard to the emergence of collectively
self-replicating sets of molecule (also defined as autocatalytic sets, ACSs), a
phenomenon that is often observed in nature and that is supposed to have played
a major role in the emergence of the primitive forms of life. The model at
issue has allowed to reveal that the emerging ACSs are characterized by a
general dynamical fragility, which might explain the difficulty to observe them
in lab experiments. In this work, the main results of the various analyses are
reviewed, with particular regard to the factors able to affect the generic
properties of catalytic reactions network, for what concerns, not only the
probability of ACSs to be observed, but also the overall activity of the
system, in terms of production of new species, reactions and matter.


title:
Chemical communication between synthetic and natural cells: a possible
  experimental design

abstract:
  The bottom-up construction of synthetic cells is one of the most intriguing
and interesting research arenas in synthetic biology. Synthetic cells are built
by encapsulating biomolecules inside lipid vesicles (liposomes), allowing the
synthesis of one or more functional proteins. Thanks to the in situ synthesized
proteins, synthetic cells become able to perform several biomolecular
functions, which can be exploited for a large variety of applications. This
paves the way to several advanced uses of synthetic cells in basic science and
biotechnology, thanks to their versatility, modularity, biocompatibility, and
programmability. In the previous WIVACE (2012) we presented the
state-of-the-art of semi-synthetic minimal cell (SSMC) technology and
introduced, for the first time, the idea of chemical communication between
synthetic cells and natural cells. The development of a proper synthetic
communication protocol should be seen as a tool for the nascent field of
bio/chemical-based Information and Communication Technologies (bio-chem-ICTs)
and ultimately aimed at building soft-wet-micro-robots. In this contribution
(WIVACE, 2013) we present a blueprint for realizing this project, and show some
preliminary experimental results. We firstly discuss how our research goal
(based on the natural capabilities of biological systems to manipulate chemical
signals) finds a proper place in the current scientific and technological
contexts. Then, we shortly comment on the experimental approaches from the
viewpoints of (i) synthetic cell construction, and (ii) bioengineering of
microorganisms, providing up-to-date results from our laboratory. Finally, we
shortly discuss how autopoiesis can be used as a theoretical framework for
defining synthetic minimal life, minimal cognition, and as bridge between
synthetic biology and artificial intelligence.


title:
Evolution and development of complex computational systems using the
  paradigm of metabolic computing in Epigenetic Tracking

abstract:
  Epigenetic Tracking (ET) is an Artificial Embryology system which allows for
the evolution and development of large complex structures built from artificial
cells. In terms of the number of cells, the complexity of the bodies generated
with ET is comparable with the complexity of biological organisms. We have
previously used ET to simulate the growth of multicellular bodies with
arbitrary 3-dimensional shapes which perform computation using the paradigm of
"metabolic computing". In this paper we investigate the memory capacity of such
computational structures and analyse the trade-off between shape and
computation. We now plan to build on these foundations to create a
biologically-inspired model in which the encoding of the phenotype is efficient
(in terms of the compactness of the genome) and evolvable in tasks involving
non-trivial computation, robust to damage and capable of self-maintenance and
self-repair.


title:
Application of a Semi-automatic Algorithm for Identification of
  Molecular Components in SBML Models

abstract:
  Reactions forming a pathway can be rewritten by making explicit the different
molecular components involved in them. A molecular component represents a
biological entity (e.g. a protein) in all its states (free, bound, degraded,
etc.). In this paper we show the application of a component identification
algorithm to a number of real-world models to experimentally validate the
approach. Components identification allows subpathways to be computed to better
understand the pathway functioning.


title:
A Hybrid Monte Carlo Ant Colony Optimization Approach for Protein
  Structure Prediction in the HP Model

abstract:
  The hydrophobic-polar (HP) model has been widely studied in the field of
protein structure prediction (PSP) both for theoretical purposes and as a
benchmark for new optimization strategies. In this work we introduce a new
heuristics based on Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) and Markov Chain Monte Carlo
(MCMC) that we called Hybrid Monte Carlo Ant Colony Optimization (HMCACO). We
describe this method and compare results obtained on well known HP instances in
the 3 dimensional cubic lattice to those obtained with standard ACO and
Simulated Annealing (SA). All methods were implemented using an unconstrained
neighborhood and a modified objective function to prevent the creation of
overlapping walks. Results show that our methods perform better than the other
heuristics in all benchmark instances.


title:
A model of protocell based on the introduction of a semi-permeable
  membrane in a stochastic model of catalytic reaction networks

abstract:
  In this work we introduce some preliminary analyses on the role of a
semi-permeable membrane in the dynamics of a stochastic model of catalytic
reaction sets (CRSs) of molecules. The results of the simulations performed on
ensembles of randomly generated reaction schemes highlight remarkable
differences between this very simple protocell description model and the
classical case of the continuous stirred-tank reactor (CSTR). In particular, in
the CSTR case, distinct simulations with the same reaction scheme reach the
same dynamical equilibrium, whereas, in the protocell case, simulations with
identical reaction schemes can reach very different dynamical states, despite
starting from the same initial conditions.


title: A Model of Colonic Crypts using SBML Spatial

abstract:
  The Spatial Processes package enables an explicit definition of a spatial
environment on top of the normal dynamic modeling SBML capabilities. The
possibility of an explicit representation of spatial dynamics increases the
representation power of SBML. In this work we used those new SBML features to
define an extensive model of colonic crypts composed of the main cellular types
(from stem cells to fully differentiated cells), alongside their spatial
dynamics.


title:
Analysis of the spatial and dynamical properties of a multiscale model
  of intestinal crypts

abstract:
  The preliminary analyses on a multiscale model of intestinal crypt dynamics
are here presented. The model combines a morphological model, based on the
Cellular Potts Model (CPM), and a gene regulatory network model, based on Noisy
Random Boolean Networks (NRBNs). Simulations suggest that the stochastic
differentiation process is itself sufficient to ensure the general homeostasis
in the asymptotic states, as proven by several measures.


title:
Self Organizing Maps to efficiently cluster and functionally interpret
  protein conformational ensembles

abstract:
  An approach that combines Self-Organizing maps, hierarchical clustering and
network components is presented, aimed at comparing protein conformational
ensembles obtained from multiple Molecular Dynamic simulations. As a first
result the original ensembles can be summarized by using only the
representative conformations of the clusters obtained. In addition the network
components analysis allows to discover and interpret the dynamic behavior of
the conformations won by each neuron. The results showed the ability of this
approach to efficiently derive a functional interpretation of the protein
dynamics described by the original conformational ensemble, highlighting its
potential as a support for protein engineering.


title: GPU-powered Simulation Methodologies for Biological Systems

abstract:
  The study of biological systems witnessed a pervasive cross-fertilization
between experimental investigation and computational methods. This gave rise to
the development of new methodologies, able to tackle the complexity of
biological systems in a quantitative manner. Computer algorithms allow to
faithfully reproduce the dynamics of the corresponding biological system, and,
at the price of a large number of simulations, it is possible to extensively
investigate the system functioning across a wide spectrum of natural
conditions. To enable multiple analysis in parallel, using cheap, diffused and
highly efficient multi-core devices we developed GPU-powered simulation
algorithms for stochastic, deterministic and hybrid modeling approaches, so
that also users with no knowledge of GPUs hardware and programming can easily
access the computing power of graphics engines.


title:
An ensemble approach to the study of the emergence of metabolic and
  proliferative disorders via Flux Balance Analysis

abstract:
  An extensive rewiring of cell metabolism supports enhanced proliferation in
cancer cells. We propose a systems level approach to describe this phenomenon
based on Flux Balance Analysis (FBA). The approach does not explicit a cell
biomass formation reaction to be maximized, but takes into account an ensemble
of alternative flux distributions that match the cancer metabolic rewiring
(CMR) phenotype description. The underlying concept is that the analysis the
common/distinguishing properties of the ensemble can provide indications on how
CMR is achieved and sustained and thus on how it can be controlled.


title: Semi-structured data extraction and modelling: the WIA Project

abstract:
  Over the last decades, the amount of data of all kinds available
electronically has increased dramatically. Data are accessible through a range
of interfaces including Web browsers, database query languages,
application-specific interfaces, built on top of a number of different data
exchange formats. All these data span from un-structured to highly structured
data. Very often, some of them have structure even if the structure is
implicit, and not as rigid or regular as that found in standard database
systems. Spreadsheet documents are prototypical in this respect. Spreadsheets
are the lightweight technology able to supply companies with easy to build
business management and business intelligence applications, and business people
largely adopt spreadsheets as smart vehicles for data files generation and
sharing. Actually, the more spreadsheets grow in complexity (e.g., their use in
product development plans and quoting), the more their arrangement,
maintenance, and analysis appear as a knowledge-driven activity. The
algorithmic approach to the problem of automatic data structure extraction from
spreadsheet documents (i.e., grid-structured and free topological-related data)
emerges from the WIA project: Worksheets Intelligent Analyser. The
WIA-algorithm shows how to provide a description of spreadsheet contents in
terms of higher level of abstractions or conceptualisations. In particular, the
WIA-algorithm target is about the extraction of i) the calculus work-flow
implemented in the spreadsheets formulas and ii) the logical role played by the
data which take part into the calculus. The aim of the resulting
conceptualisations is to provide spreadsheets with abstract representations
useful for further model refinements and optimizations through evolutionary
algorithms computations.


title: Signed Networks, Triadic Interactions and the Evolution of Cooperation

abstract:
  We outline a model to study the evolution of cooperation in a population of
agents playing the prisoner's dilemma in signed networks. We highlight that if
only dyadic interactions are taken into account, cooperation never evolves.
However, when triadic considerations are introduced, a window of opportunity
for emergence of cooperation as a stable behaviour emerges.


title: Evanescent continuous time random walks

abstract:
  We study how an evanescence process affects the number of distinct sites
visited by a continuous time random walker in one dimension. We distinguish two
very different cases, namely, when evanescence can only occur concurrently with
a jump, and when evanescence can occur at any time. The first is characteristic
of trapping processes on a lattice, whereas the second is associated with
spontaneous death processes such as radioactive decay. In both of these
situations we consider three different forms of the waiting time distribution
between jumps, namely, exponential, long-tailed, and ultra-slow.


title: Roles of Dry Friction in Fluctuating Motion of Adiabatic Piston

abstract:
  The motion of an adiabatic piston under dry friction is investigated to
clarify the roles of dry friction in non-equilibrium steady states. We clarify
that dry friction can reverse the direction of the piston motion and causes a
discontinuity or a cusp-like singularity for velocity distribution functions of
the piston. We also show that the heat fluctuation relation is modified under
dry friction.


title: Non-commutative perspectives

abstract:
  We prove that the non-commutative perspective of an operator convex function
is the unique extension of the corresponding commutative perspective that
preserves homogeneity and convexity.


title: Impact of local information in growing networks

abstract:
  We present a new model of the evolutionary dynamics and the growth of on-line
social networks. The model emulates people's strategies for acquiring
information in social networks, emphasising the local subjective view of an
individual and what kind of information the individual can acquire when
arriving in a new social context. The model proceeds through two phases: (a) a
discovery phase, in which the individual becomes aware of the surrounding world
and (b) an elaboration phase, in which the individual elaborates locally the
information trough a cognitive-inspired algorithm. Model generated networks
reproduce main features of both theoretical and real-world networks, such as
high clustering coefficient, low characteristic path length, strong division in
communities, and variability of degree distributions.


title: On factors of Gibbs measures for almost additive potentials

abstract:
  Let $(X, \sigma_X), (Y, \sigma_Y)$ be one-sided subshifts with the
specification property and $\pi:X\rightarrow Y$ a factor map. Let $\mu$ be a
unique invariant Gibbs measure for a sequence of continuous functions
$\F=\{\log f_n\}_{n=1}^{\infty}$ on $X$, which is an almost additive potential
with bounded variation. We show that $\pi\mu$ is also a unique invariant Gibbs
measure for a sequence of continuous functions $\G=\{\log g_n\}_{n=1}^{\infty}$
on $Y$. When $(X, \sigma_X)$ is a full shift, we characterize $\G$ and $\mu$ by
using relative pressure. This almost additive potential $\G$ is a
generalization of a continuous function found by Pollicott and Kempton in their
work on the images of Gibbs measures for continuous functions under factor
maps. We also consider the following question: Given a unique invariant Gibbs
measure $\nu$ for a sequence of continuous functions $\F_2$ on $Y$, can we find
an invariant Gibbs measure $\mu$ for a sequence of continuous functions $\F_1$
on $X$ such that $\pi\mu=\nu$? We show that such a measure exists under a
certain condition. If $(X, \sigma_X)$ is a full shift and $\nu$ is a unique
invariant Gibbs measure for a function in the Bowen class, then we can find a
preimage $\mu$ of $\nu$ which is a unique invariant Gibbs measure for a
function in the Bowen class.


title: C*-algebras associated with Hilbert C*-quad modules of finite type

abstract:
  A Hilbert $C^*$-quad module of finite type has a multi structure of Hilbert
$C^*$-bimodules with two finite bases. We will construct a $C^*$-algebra from a
Hilbert $C^*$-quad module of finite type and prove its universality subject to
certain relations among generators. Some examples of the $C^*$-algebras from
Hilbert $C^*$-quad modules of finite type will be presented.


title: A note on list-coloring powers of graphs

abstract:
  Recently, Kim and Park have found an infinite family of graphs whose squares
are not chromatic-choosable. Xuding Zhu asked whether there is some $k$ such
that all $k$th power graphs are chromatic-choosable. We answer this question in
the negative: we show that there is a positive constant $c$ such that for any
$k$ there is a family of graphs $G$ with $\chi(G^k)$ unbounded and
$\chi_{\ell}(G^k)\geq c \chi(G^k) \log \chi(G^k)$. We also provide an upper
bound, $\chi_{\ell}(G^k)<\chi(G^k)^3$ for $k>1$.


title: Trapping light by mimicking gravitational lensing

abstract:
  One of the most fascinating predictions of the theory of general relativity
is the effect of gravitational lensing, the bending of light in close proximity
to massive stellar objects. Recently, artificial optical materials have been
proposed to study the various aspects of curved spacetimes, including light
trapping and Hawking's radiation. However, the development of experimental toy
models that simulate gravitational lensing in curved spacetimes remains a
challenge, especially for visible light. Here, by utilizing a microstructured
optical waveguide around a microsphere, we propose to mimic curved spacetimes
caused by gravity, with high precision. We experimentally demonstrate both
far-field gravitational lensing effects and the critical phenomenon in close
proximity to the photon sphere of astrophysical objects under hydrostatic
equilibrium. The proposed microstructured waveguide can be used as an
omnidirectional absorber, with potential light harvesting and microcavity
applications.


title: RPV SUSY with Same-Sign Dileptons at LHC-14

abstract:
  We estimate the sensitivity of the 14 TeV LHC run to an R-parity violating
supersymmetric model, via the same-sign dilepton (SSDL) signature. We consider
the simplified model with light gluinos and stops, motivated by naturalness. We
find that gluinos up to 1.4 TeV can be discovered with an integrated luminosity
of 300 fb-1. If a high-luminosity option is implemented and a 3000 fb-1 dataset
becomes available, the gluino mass reach can be increased to 1.6-1.75 TeV.


title: Berge's Maximum Theorem for Noncompact Image Sets

abstract:
  This note generalizes Berge's maximum theorem to noncompact image sets. It is
also clarifies the results from E.A. Feinberg, P.O. Kasyanov, N.V. Zadoianchuk,
"Berge's theorem for noncompact image sets," J. Math. Anal. Appl. 397(1)(2013),
pp. 255-259 on the extension to noncompact image sets of another Berge's
theorem, that states semi-continuity of value functions. Here we explain that
the notion of a $\K$-inf-compact function introduced there is applicable to
metrizable topological spaces and to more general compactly generated
topological spaces. For Hausdorff topological spaces we introduce the notion of
a $\K\N$-inf-compact function ($\N$ stands for "nets" in $\K$-inf-compactness),
which coincides with $\K$-inf-compactness for compactly generated and, in
particular, for metrizable topological spaces.


title:
Efficient Estimation of Highly Structured Posteriors of
  Gravitational-Wave Signals with Markov-Chain Monte Carlo

abstract:
  We introduce a new Markov-Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) approach designed for
efficient sampling of highly correlated and multimodal posteriors. Parallel
tempering, though effective, is a costly technique for sampling such
posteriors. Our approach minimizes the use of parallel tempering, only using it
for a short time to tune a new jump proposal. For complex posteriors we find
efficiency improvements up to a factor of ~13. The estimation of parameters of
gravitational-wave signals measured by ground-based detectors is currently done
through Bayesian inference with MCMC one of the leading sampling methods.
Posteriors for these signals are typically multimodal with strong non-linear
correlations, making sampling difficult. As we enter the advanced-detector era,
improved sensitivities and wider bandwidths will drastically increase the
computational cost of analyses, demanding more efficient search algorithms to
meet these challenges.


title: Generalized Ricci flow II: existence for noncompact complete manifolds

abstract:
  In this paper, we continue to study the generalized Ricci flow. We give a
criterion on steady gradient Ricci soliton on complete and noncompact
Riemannian manifolds that is Ricci-flat, and then introduce a natural flow
whose stable points are Ricci-flat metrics. Modifying the argument used by Shi
and List, we prove the short time existence and higher order derivatives
estimates.


title:
Valley-dependent gauge fields for ultracold atoms in square optical
  superlattices

abstract:
  We propose an experimental scheme to realize the valley-dependent gauge
fields for ultracold fermionic atoms trapped in a state-dependent square
optical lattice. Our scheme relies on two sets of Raman laser beams to engineer
the hopping between adjacent sites populated by two-component fermionic atoms.
One set of Raman beams are used to realize a staggered \pi-flux lattice, where
low energy atoms near two inequivalent Dirac points should be described by the
Dirac equation for spin-1/2 particles. Another set of laser beams with proper
Rabi frequencies are added to further modulate the atomic hopping parameters.
The hopping modulation will give rise to effective gauge potentials with
opposite signs near the two valleys, mimicking the interesting strain-induced
pseudo-gauge fields in graphene. The proposed valley-dependent gauge fields are
tunable and provide a new route to realize quantum valley Hall effects and
atomic valleytronics.


title:
Downlink Training Techniques for FDD Massive MIMO Systems: Open-Loop and
  Closed-Loop Training with Memory

abstract:
  The concept of deploying a large number of antennas at the base station,
often called massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), has drawn
considerable interest because of its potential ability to revolutionize current
wireless communication systems. Most literature on massive MIMO systems assumes
time division duplexing (TDD), although frequency division duplexing (FDD)
dominates current cellular systems. Due to the large number of transmit
antennas at the base station, currently standardized approaches would require a
large percentage of the precious downlink and uplink resources in FDD massive
MIMO be used for training signal transmissions and channel state information
(CSI) feedback. To reduce the overhead of the downlink training phase, we
propose practical open-loop and closed-loop training frameworks in this paper.
We assume the base station and the user share a common set of training signals
in advance. In open-loop training, the base station transmits training signals
in a round-robin manner, and the user successively estimates the current
channel using long-term channel statistics such as temporal and spatial
correlations and previous channel estimates. In closed-loop training, the user
feeds back the best training signal to be sent in the future based on channel
prediction and the previously received training signals. With a small amount of
feedback from the user to the base station, closed-loop training offers better
performance in the data communication phase, especially when the
signal-to-noise ratio is low, the number of transmit antennas is large, or
prior channel estimates are not accurate at the beginning of the communication
setup, all of which would be mostly beneficial for massive MIMO systems.


title: Span-program-based quantum algorithm for tree detection

abstract:
  Span program is a linear-algebraic model of computation originally proposed
for studying the complexity theory. Recently, it has become a useful tool for
designing quantum algorithms. In this paper, we present a time-efficient
span-program-based quantum algorithm for the following problem. Let $T$ be an
arbitrary tree. Given query access to the adjacency matrix of a graph $G$ with
$n$ vertices, we need to determine whether $G$ contains $T$ as a subgraph, or
$G$ does not contain $T$ as a minor, under the promise that one of these cases
holds. We call this problem the subgraph/not-a-minor problem for $T$. We show
that this problem can be solved by a bounded-error quantum algorithm with
$O(n)$ query complexity and $\tilde{O}(n)$ time complexity. The query
complexity is optimal, and the time complexity is tight up to polylog factors.


title: MOA-2010-BLG-328Lb: a sub-Neptune orbiting very late M dwarf ?

abstract:
  We analyze the planetary microlensing event MOA-2010-BLG-328. The best fit
yields host and planetary masses of Mh = 0.11+/-0.01 M_{sun} and Mp =
9.2+/-2.2M_Earth, corresponding to a very late M dwarf and sub-Neptune-mass
planet, respectively. The system lies at DL = 0.81 +/- 0.10 kpc with projected
separation r = 0.92 +/- 0.16 AU. Because of the host's a-priori-unlikely close
distance, as well as the unusual nature of the system, we consider the
possibility that the microlens parallax signal, which determines the host mass
and distance, is actually due to xallarap (source orbital motion) that is being
misinterpreted as parallax. We show a result that favors the parallax solution,
even given its close host distance. We show that future high-resolution
astrometric measurements could decisively resolve the remaining ambiguity of
these solutions.


title:
The entanglement of two qubits coupled ultrastrongly with a quantum
  oscillator

abstract:
  We explore the possibility of the controlled manipulation of the entanglement
of two qubits with an external apparatus, the Rabi Hamiltonian. The novel
results show that the initially entangled two qubits could have very high
probability to stay unchanged by the coherent state of the photon with chosen
parameters. If the inter-qubit coupling strength is negative, their
entanglement could be kept for a much longer time by a relatively strong
external quantum control with the suitable and novel choice of some parameters.
Furthermore, their entanglement will not show any sudden death and revival. All
these results are different from the previous studies and they are given with
reasonable explanations. The maintaining of the entanglement of the two qubits
with very high fidelity will be very helpful for the quantum information
process.


title: Semi-terminal modifications of demi-normal pairs

abstract:
  For a quasi-projective demi-normal pair (X, \Delta), we prove that there
exists a semi-canonical modification and semi-terminal modification of (X,
\Delta).


title:
Influence of neutron-skin thickness on $\pi^{-}/\pi^{+}$ ratio in Pb+Pb
  collisions

abstract:
  Within an isospin- and momentum-dependent transport model IBUU11 using as an
input nucleon density profiles from Hartree-Fock calculations based on a
modified Skyrme-like (MSL) model, we study the influence of the uncertainty of
the neutron skin thickness on the $\pi^{-}/\pi^{+}$ ratio in both central and
peripheral Pb+Pb collisions at beam energies of 400 MeV/nucleon and 1000
MeV/nucleon. Within the current experimental uncertainty range of neutron skin
in $^{208}$Pb, while the neutron skin effect on the \rpi ratio is negligible in
central reactions at both energies, it increases gradually with increasing
impact parameter and becomes comparable with or even larger than the symmetry
energy effect in peripheral collisions especially at 400 MeV/nucleon. Moreover,
we found that while the \rpi ratio is larger with a softer \esym in central
collisions, above certain impact parameters depending on the size of the
neutron skin, a stiffer \esym can lead to a larger \rpi ratio as most of the
pions are produced at densities below the saturation density in these
peripheral reactions. Thus, a clear impact parameter selection is important to
extract reliable information about the \esym at suprasaturation densities (size
of neutron skin) from the $\pi^-/\pi^+$ ratio in central (peripheral) heavy-ion
collisions.


title: Quasiparticle Localisation via Frequent Measurements

abstract:
  Topological quantum memories in two dimensions are not thermally stable,
since once a quasiparticle excitation is created, it will delocalise at no
energy cost. This places an upper bound on the lifetime of quantum information
stored in them. We address this issue for a topological subsystem code
introduced in [Bravyi S. et al., Quant.Inf.Comp.13(11):0963]. By frequently
measuring the gauge operators of the code, a technique known as Operator
Quantum Zeno Effect [Li Y. et al, preprint arXiv:1305.2464], the dynamics
responsible for quasiparticle motion is suppressed, and can eventually be
"frozen" in the large frequency limit. A feature of this method is that the
density operator of the code does not commute with the measurement operators,
so the density matrix will be randomised after a few measurements. However the
logical operators commute with the measurement operators and are thus
protected.


title: Weak Orientability of Matroids and Polynomial Equations

abstract:
  This paper studies systems of polynomial equations that provide information
about orientability of matroids. First, we study systems of linear equations
over GF(2), originally alluded to by Bland and Jensen in their seminal paper on
weak orientability. The Bland-Jensen linear equations for a matroid M have a
solution if and only if M is weakly orientable. We use the Bland-Jensen system
to determine weak orientability for all matroids on at most nine elements and
all matroids between ten and twelve elements having rank three. Our experiments
indicate that for small rank, about half the time, when a simple matroid is not
orientable, it is already non-weakly orientable. Thus, about half of the small
simple non-orientable matroids of rank three are not representable over fields
having order congruent to three modulo four. For binary matroids, the
Bland-Jensen linear systems provide a practical way to check orientability.
Second, we present two extensions of the Bland-Jensen equations to slightly
larger systems of non-linear polynomial equations. Our systems of polynomial
equations have a solution if and only if the associated matroid M is
orientable. The systems come in two versions, one directly extending the
Bland-Jensen system for GF(2), and a different system working over other
fields. We study some basic algebraic properties of these systems. Finally, we
present an infinite family of non-weakly-orientable matroids, with growing rank
and co-rank. We conjecture that these matroids are minor-minimal
non-weakly-orientable matroids.


title:
ASURA: Scalable and Uniform Data Distribution Algorithm for Storage
  Clusters

abstract:
  Large-scale storage cluster systems need to manage a vast amount of data
locations. A naive data locations management maintains pairs of data ID and
nodes storing the data in tables. However, it is not practical when the number
of pairs is too large. To solve this problem, management using data
distribution algorithms, rather than management using tables, has been proposed
in recent research. It can distribute data by determining the node for storing
the data based on the datum ID. Such data distribution algorithms require the
ability to handle the addition or removal of nodes, short calculation time and
uniform data distribution in the capacity of each node. This paper proposes a
data distribution algorithm called ASURA (Advanced Scalable and Uniform storage
by Random number Algorithm) that satisfies these requirements. It achieves
following four characteristics: 1) minimum data movement to maintain data
distribution according to node capacity when nodes are added or removed, even
if data are replicated, 2) roughly sub-micro-seconds calculation time, 3) much
lower than 1% maximum variability between nodes in data distribution, and 4)
data distribution according to the capacity of each node. The evaluation
results show that ASURA is qualitatively and quantitatively competitive against
major data distribution algorithms such as Consistent Hashing, Weighted
Rendezvous Hashing and Random Slicing. The comparison results show benefits of
each algorithm; they show that ASURA has advantage in large scale-out storage
clusters.


title: Spatio-Temporal Disease Surveillance: Forward Selection Scan Statistic

abstract:
  The scan statistic sets the benchmark for spatio-temporal surveillance
methods with its popularity. In its simplest form it scans the target area and
time to find regions with disease count higher than expected. If the shape and
size of the disease outbreaks are known, then to detect it sufficiently early
the scan statistic can design its search area to be efficient for this shape
and size. A plan that is efficient at detecting a range of disease outbreak
shapes and sizes is important because these vary from one outbreak to the next
and are generally never known in advance. This paper offers a forward selection
scan statistic that reduces the computational effort on the usual single window
scan plan, while still offering greater flexibility in signalling outbreaks of
varying shapes. The approach starts by dividing the target geographical regions
into a lattice. Secondly it smooths the time series of lattice cell counts
using multivariate exponential weighted moving averages. Thirdly, these EWMA
cell counts are spatially smoothed to reduce spatial noise and leave the
spatial signal. The fourth step uses forward selection approach to scanning
mutually exclusive and exhaustive rectangular regions of dynamic dimensions. In
the fifth step, it prunes away all insignificant scanned regions where counts
are not significantly higher than expected. An outbreak is signaled if at least
one region remains after pruning. If all regions are pruned away - including
the scan of the target region, then no outbreak is signaled.


title: Evaluation of the 1077keV gamma-ray emission probability from 68Ga decay

abstract:
  68Ga decays to the excited states of 68Zn through the electron capture decay
mode. New recommended values for the emission probability of 1077keV gamma-ray
given by the ENSDF and DDEP databases all use data from absolute measurements.
In 2011 Jiang Liyang deduced a new value for 1077keV gamma-ray emission
probability by measuring the 69Ga(n,2n)68Ga reaction cross section. The new
value is about 20% lower than values obtained from previous absolute
measurements and evaluations. In this paper, the discrepancies among the
measurements and evaluations are analyzed carefully and the new values are
re-recommended. Our recommended value for the emission probability of 1077keV
gamma-ray is 2.72+-0.16 %.


title: On the Effect of Data Contamination on Track Purity

abstract:
  This paper is concerned with performance analysis for data association, in a
target tracking environment. Effects of misassociation are considered in a
simple (linear) multiscan framework so as to provide closed-form expressions of
the probability of correct association. In this paper, we focus on the
development of explicit approximations of this probability. Via rigorous
calculations the effect of dimensioning parameters (number of scans, false
measurement positions or densities) is analyzed, for various modelings of the
false measurements. Remarkably, it is possible to derive very simple
expressions of the probability of correct association which are independent of
the scenario kinematic parameters.


title: The Dynamic Longest Increasing Subsequence Problem

abstract:
  In this paper, we construct a data structure to efficiently compute the
longest increasing subsequence of a sequence subject to dynamic updates. Our
data structure supports a query for the longest increasing subsequence in
$O(r+\log n)$ worst-case time and supports inserts anywhere in the sequence in
$O \left(r\log{n/r}\right)$ worst-case time (where $r$ is the length of the
longest increasing subsequence). The same data structure with a minor
modification supports $O(\log n)$ worst-case time insertions if the insertions
are performed at the end of the sequence. The data structure presented can also
be augmented to support delete operations in the same worst-case time as
insertions.


title: A remark on the Omori-Yau maximum principle for semi-elliptic operators

abstract:
  We generalize A. Borb\'ely's condition for the conclusion of the Omori-Yau
maximum principle for the Laplace operator on a complete Riemannian manifold to
a second-order linear semi-elliptic operator $L$ with bounded coefficients and
no zeroth order term. Also, we consider a new sufficient condition for the
existence of a tamed exhaustion function. As a corollary, we show that the
existence of a tamed exhaustion function is more general than the hypotheses in
the version of the Omori-Yau maximum principle that was given by A. Ratto, M.
Rigoli and A.G. Setti.


title:
Feasibility study on optical vortex generation at Shanghai deep
  ultraviolet free-electron laser

abstract:
  Coherent light with orbital angular momentum (OAM) is of great interest, and
more recently, OAM light generation by coupling a relativistic electron beam
with a Gaussian mode laser pulse at the high harmonics of a helical undulator
has been demonstrated experimentally. In this paper, the possibility of
delivering coherent OAM light at the 3rd harmonic of the Gaussian mode seed
laser was discussed for the Shanghai deep ultraviolet free-electron laser
(SDUV-FEL). The considerations on the experiment setup, the expected
performance and the possible measurement method are given.


title: Can Oil Float Completely Submerged in Water?

abstract:
  Droplet formation in a system of two or more immiscible fluids is a
celebrated topic of research in the fluid mechanics community. In this work, we
propose an innovative phenomenon where oil when injected drop-wise into a pool
of water moves towards the air-water interface where it floats in a fully
submerged condition. The configuration, however, is not stable and a slight
perturbation to the system causes the droplet to burst and float in partially
submerged condition. The droplet contour is analyzed using edge detection.
Temporal variation of a characteristic length of the droplet is analyzed using
MATLAB image processing. The constraint of small Bond Number established the
assumption of lubrication regime in the thin gap. A brief theoretical
formulation also showed the temporal variation of the gap thickness


title: Molecular Graphene under the Eye of Scattering Theory

abstract:
  The recent experimental observations of designer Dirac Fermions and
topological phases in molecular graphene are addressed theoretically. Using
scattering theory we calculate the electronic structure of finite lattices of
scattering centers dual to the honeycomb lattice. In good agreement with
experimental observations, we obtain a V-shaped electron density of states
around the Fermi energy. By varying the lattice parameter we simulate electron
and hole doping of the structure and by adding and removing scattering centers
we simulate respectively vacancy and impurity defects. Specifically for the
vacancy defect we verify the emergence of a sharp resonance near the Fermi
energy for increasing strength of the scattering potential.


title: On the Congruences in Right Loops

abstract:
  In case the stability relation is a congruence, a necessary and also a
sufficient condition for its equality with the center congruence is given.


title: The elliptic trilogarithm and Mahler measures of $K3$ surfaces

abstract:
  The aim of this paper is to derive explicitly a connection between the Zagier
elliptic trilogarithm and Mahler measures of a certain family of three-variable
polynomials defining K3 surfaces. In addition, we prove some linear relations
satisfied by the elliptic trilogarithm evaluated at torsion points on elliptic
curves. This result can be viewed as a higher dimensional analogue of exotic
relations of the elliptic dilogarithm.


title: Convex Structured Controller Design

abstract:
  We consider the problem of synthesizing optimal linear feedback policies
subject to arbitrary convex constraints on the feedback matrix. This is known
to be a hard problem in the usual formulations ($\Htwo,\Hinf,\LQR$) and
previous works have focused on characterizing classes of structural constraints
that allow efficient solution through convex optimization or dynamic
programming techniques. In this paper, we propose a new control objective and
show that this formulation makes the problem of computing optimal linear
feedback matrices convex under arbitrary convex constraints on the feedback
matrix. This allows us to solve problems in decentralized control (sparsity in
the feedback matrices), control with delays and variable impedance control.
Although the control objective is nonstandard, we present theoretical and
empirical evidence that it agrees well with standard notions of control. We
also present an extension to nonlinear control affine systems. We present
numerical experiments validating our approach.


title: Magnetostatics and the electric impact model

abstract:
  The action of certain static magnetic fields on charged test particles is
interpreted as a consequence of the interaction of the particles with electric
dipole distributions emitted by other charged particles in relative motion. The
dipole model of electric forces was initially conceived to emulate Coulomb's
law, but is applied here to a wide class of phenomena, such as forces between
parallel conductors, a relativistic correction of Biot--Savart's law, and the
magnetic moment of a current loop.


title: Regression Trees for Longitudinal Data

abstract:
  While studying response trajectory, often the population of interest may be
diverse enough to exist distinct subgroups within it and the longitudinal
change in response may not be uniform in these subgroups. That is, the
timeslope and/or influence of covariates in longitudinal profile may vary among
these different subgroups. For example, Raudenbush (2001) used depression as an
example to argue that it is incorrect to assume that all the people in a given
population would be experiencing either increasing or decreasing levels of
depression. In such cases, traditional linear mixed effects model (assuming
common parametric form for covariates and time) is not directly applicable for
the entire population as a group-averaged trajectory can mask important
subgroup differences. Our aim is to identify and characterize longitudinally
homogeneous subgroups based on the combination of baseline covariates in the
most parsimonious way. This goal can be achieved via constructing regression
tree for longitudinal data using baseline covariates as partitioning variables.
We have proposed LongCART algorithm to construct regression tree for the
longitudinal data. In each node, the proposed LongCART algorithm determines the
need for further splitting (i.e. whether parameter(s) of longitudinal profile
is influenced by any baseline attributes) via parameter instability tests and
thus the decision of further splitting is type-I error controlled. We have
obtained the asymptotic results for the proposed instability test and examined
finite sample behavior of the whole algorithm through simulation studies.
Finally, we have applied the LongCART algorithm to study the longitudinal
changes in choline level among HIV patients.


title: Some New Results on the Cross Correlation of $m$-sequences

abstract:
  The determination of the cross correlation between an $m$-sequence and its
decimated sequence has been a long-standing research problem. Considering a
ternary $m$-sequence of period $3^{3r}-1$, we determine the cross correlation
distribution for decimations $d=3^{r}+2$ and $d=3^{2r}+2$, where $\gcd(r,3)=1$.
Meanwhile, for a binary $m$-sequence of period $2^{2lm}-1$, we make an initial
investigation for the decimation $d=\frac{2^{2lm}-1}{2^{m}+1}+2^{s}$, where $l
\ge 2$ is even and $0 \le s \le 2m-1$. It is shown that the cross correlation
takes at least four values. Furthermore, we confirm the validity of two famous
conjectures due to Sarwate et al. and Helleseth in this case.


title:
Long-Term Profit-Maximizing Incentive for Crowd Sensing in Mobile Social
  Networks

abstract:
  Crowd sensing is a new paradigm that leverages pervasive sensor-equipped
mobile devices to provide sensing services like forensic analysis, documenting
public spaces, and collaboratively constructing statistical models. Extensive
user participation is indispensable for achieving good service quality.
Nowadays, most of existing mechanisms focus on guaranteeing good service
quality based on instantaneous extensive user participation for crowd sensing
applications. Little attention has been dedicated to maximizing long-term
service quality for crowd sensing applications due to their asymmetric
interests, preferences, selfish behaviors, etc. To fill these gaps, in this
paper, we derive the closed expression of the marginal sensing data quality
based on the monopoly aggregation in economics. Furthermore, we design
marginalquality based incentive mechanisms for long-term crowd sensing
applications, not only to enhance extensive user participation by maximizing
the expected total profits of mobile users, but also to stimulate mobile users
to produce high-quality contents by applying the marginal quality. Finally,
simulation results show that our mechanisms outperform the existing solutions.


title:
Probability of all eigenvalues real for products of standard Gaussian
  matrices

abstract:
  With $\{X_i\}$ independent $N \times N$ standard Gaussian random matrices,
the probability $p_{N,N}^{P_m}$ that all eigenvalues are real for the matrix
product $P_m = X_m X_{m-1} \cdots X_1$ is expressed in terms of an $N/2 \times
N/2$ ($N$ even) and $(N+1)/2 \times (N+1)/2$ ($N$ odd) determinant. The entries
of the determinant are certain Meijer $G$-functions. In the case $m=2$ high
precision computation indicates that the entries are rational multiples of
$\pi^2$, with the denominator a power of 2, and that to leading order in $N$
$p_{N,N}^{P_m}$ decays as $(\pi/4)^{N^2/2}$. We are able to show that for
general $m$ and large $N$, $p_{N,N}^{P_m} \sim b_m^{N^2}$ with an explicit
$b_m$. An analytic demonstration that $p_{N,N}^{P_m} \to 1$ as $m \to \infty$
is given.


title: Quantum Phase Transitions in Quantum Dots

abstract:
  This review article describes theoretical and experimental advances in using
quantum dots as a system for studying impurity quantum phase transitions and
the non-Fermi liquid behavior at the quantum critical point.


title: Earthquake and Geothermal Energy

abstract:
  The origin of earthquake has long been recognized as resulting from
strike-slip instability of plate tectonics along the fault lines. Several
events of earthquake around the globe have happened which cannot be explained
by this theory. In this work we investigated the earthquake data along with
other observed facts like heat flow profiles etc... of the Indian subcontinent.
In our studies we found a high-quality correlation between the earthquake
events, seismic prone zones, heat flow regions and the geothermal hot springs.
As a consequence, we proposed a hypothesis which can adequately explain all the
earthquake events around the globe as well as the overall geo-dynamics. It is
basically the geothermal power, which makes the plates to stand still, strike
and slip over. The plates are merely a working solid while the driving force is
the geothermal energy. The violent flow and enormous pressure of this power
shake the earth along the plate boundaries and also triggers the intra-plate
seismicity. In the light of the results reported by the California Energy
Commission from the ongoing geothermal power project at the Big Geysers in
California, we further propounded that by harnessing the surplus geothermal
energy the intensity and risk of the impending earthquakes can be substantially
reduced.


title:
Communication complexity of promise problems and their applications to
  finite automata

abstract:
  Equality and disjointness are two of the most studied problems in
communication complexity. They have been studied for both classical and also
quantum communication and for various models and modes of communication.
Buhrman et al. [Buh98] proved that the exact quantum communication complexity
for a promise version of the equality problem is ${\bf O}(\log {n})$ while the
classical deterministic communication complexity is $n+1$ for two-way
communication, which was the first impressively large (exponential) gap between
quantum and classical (deterministic and probabilistic) communication
complexity. If an error is tolerated, both quantum and probabilistic
communication complexities for equality are ${\bf O}(\log {n})$. However, even
if an error is tolerated, the gaps between quantum (probabilistic) and
deterministic complexity are not larger than quadratic for the disjointness
problem. It is therefore interesting to ask whether there are some promise
versions of the disjointness problem for which bigger gaps can be shown. We
give a positive answer to such a question. Namely, we prove that there exists
an exponential gap between quantum (even probabilistic) communication
complexity and classical deterministic communication complexity of some
specific versions of the disjointness problem.
  Klauck [Kla00] proved, for any language, that the state complexity of exact
quantum/classical finite automata, which is a general model of one-way quantum
finite automata, is not less than the state complexity of an equivalent one-way
deterministic finite automata (1DFA). In this paper we show, using a
communication complexity result, that situation may be different for some
promise problems. Namely, we show for certain promise problem that the gap
between the state complexity of exact one-way quantum finite automata and 1DFA
can be exponential.


title:
The quantum approach to human reasoning does explain the belief-bias
  effect

abstract:
  Based on the ideas of quantum physics and dual-process theory of human
reasoning that takes into account two primary mechanisms of reasoning : 1)
deductive rational thinking and 2) intuitive heuristic judgment, we proposed
the "quantum" approach to practical human logic that allows one to specify the
most distinctive peculiarities in activity of two reasoning systems mentioned
above and in addition to describe phenomenologically well-established
experimentally belief-bias effect.


title: Why the length of a quantum string cannot be Lorentz contracted

abstract:
  We propose a quantum gravity-extended form of the classical length
contraction law obtained in Special Relativity. More specifically, the
framework of our discussion is the UV self-complete theory of quantum gravity.
Against this background, we show how our results are consistent with, i) the
generalised form of the Uncertainty Principle (GUP), ii) the so called
hoop-conjecture which we interpret, presently, as the saturation of a Lorentz
boost by the formation of a black hole in a two-body scattering, and iii) the
intriguing notion of "classicalization" of trans-Planckian physics. Pushing
these ideas to their logical conclusion, we argue that there is a physical
limit to the Lorentz contraction rule in the form of some minimal universal
length determined by quantum gravity, say the Planck Length, or any of its
current embodiments such as the string length, or the TeV quantum gravity
length scale. In the latter case, we determine the \emph{critical boost} that
separates the ordinary "particle phase," characterized by the Compton
wavelength, from the "black hole phase", characterized by the effective
Schwarzschild radius of the colliding system. Finally, with the
"classicalization" of quantum gravity in mind, we comment on the remarkable
identity, to our knowledge never noticed before, between three seemingly
independent universal quantities, namely, a) the "string tension", b) the
"linear energy density," or \emph{tension} that exists at the core of all
Schwarzschild black holes, and c) the "superforce" i.e., the Planckian limit of
the static electro-gravitational force and, presumably, the unification point
of all fundamental forces.


title:
Emergent of Majorana Fermion mode and Dirac Equation in Cavity Quantum
  Electrodynamics

abstract:
  We present the results of low lying excitation of coupled optical cavity
arrays. We derive the Dirac equation for this system and explain the existence
of Majorana fermion mode in the system. We present quite a few analytical
relations between the Rabi frequency oscillation and the atom-photon coupling
strength to achieve the different physical situation of our study and also the
condition for massless excitation in the system. We present several analytical
relations between the Dirac spinor field, order and disorder operators for our
systems. We also show that the Luttinger liquid physics is one of the intrinsic
concept in our system.


title: Quark-hadron phase transition in a three flavor PNJL model

abstract:
  We study the quark-hadron phase transition by using a three flavor
Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model with the Polyakov loop at zero chemical potential,
extending our previous work with two flavor model. We show that the equation of
state at low temperatures is dominated by pions and kaons as collective modes
of quarks and anti-quarks. As temperature increases, mesonic collective modes
melt into the continuum of quark and anti-quark so that hadronic phase changes
continuously to the quark phase where quark excitations dominate pressure.


title: On the origin of higher braces and higher-order derivations

abstract:
  In Part I we show that the classical Koszul braces, as well as their
non-commutative counterparts constructed recently by Borjeson, are the
twistings of the trivial L-infinity- (resp. A-infinity-) algebra by a specific
automorphism. This gives an astonishingly simple proof of their properties.
Using the twisting, we construct other surprising examples of braces. We finish
Part 1 by discussing C-infinity-braces related to Lie algebras.
  In Part 2 we prove that in fact all natural braces are the twistings by
unique automorphisms. We also show that there is precisely one hierarchy of
braces that leads to a sensible notion of higher-order derivations. Thus, the
notion of higher-order derivations is independent of human choices. The results
of the second part follow from the acyclicity of a certain space of natural
operations.


title: On the range of $\sum_{n=1}^\infty\pm c_n$

abstract:
  Let $\{c_n\}_{n=1}^\infty$ be a sequence of complex numbers. In this paper we
answer when the range of $\sum_{n=1}^\infty\pm c_n$ is dense or equal to the
complex plane. Some examples are given to explain our results. As its
application, we calculate the Hausdorff dimension of the level sets of a
Rademacher series with complex coefficients.


title: Algebraic vs physical N=6 3-algebras

abstract:
  In our previous paper we classified linearly compact algebraic simple N=6
3-algebras. In the present paper we classify their "physical" counterparts,
which actually appear in the N=6 supersymmetric 3-dimensional Chern-Simons
theories.


title: Research misconduct: definitions, manifestations and extent

abstract:
  In recent years, the international scientific community has been rocked by a
number of serious cases of research misconduct. In one of these, Woo Suk Hwang,
a Korean stem cell researcher published two articles on research with
ground-breaking results in Science in 2004 and 2005. Both articles were later
revealed to be fakes. This paper provides an overview of what research
misconduct is generally understood to be, its manifestations and the extent to
which they are thought to exist.


title:
Generalized event-chain Monte Carlo: Constructing rejection-free
  global-balance algorithms from infinitesimal steps

abstract:
  In this article, we present an event-driven algorithm that generalizes the
recent hard-sphere event-chain Monte Carlo method without introducing
discretizations in time or in space. A factorization of the Metropolis filter
and the concept of infinitesimal Monte Carlo moves are used to design a
rejection-free Markov-chain Monte Carlo algorithm for particle systems with
arbitrary pairwise interactions. The algorithm breaks detailed balance, but
satisfies maximal global balance and performs better than the classic, local
Metropolis algorithm in large systems. The new algorithm generates a continuum
of samples of the stationary probability density. This allows us to compute the
pressure and stress tensor as a byproduct of the simulation without any
additional computations.


title: X-Ray Emission from the Galactic Supernova Remnant G12.0-0.1

abstract:
  We present results of the Suzaku/XIS observation around the radio supernova
remnant (SNR) G12.0-0.1. No significant diffuse emission extending in or along
the radio shell was observed. Instead two compact X-ray sources, Suzaku
J181205-1835 and Suzaku J181210-1842, were found in or near G12.0-0.1. Suzaku
J181205-1835 is located at the northwest of the radio shell of G12.0-0.1. The
X-ray profile is slightly extended over the point spread function of the Suzaku
telescope. The X-ray spectrum has no line-like structure and is well
represented by a power-law model with a photon index of 2.2 and an absorption
column of N_{H}=4.9x10^{22} cm^{-2}. The distances of Suzaku J181205-1835 and
G12.0-0.1 are estimated from the absorption column and the Sigma-D relation,
respectively, and are nearly the same with each other. These results suggest
that Suzaku J181205-1835 is a candidate of a pulsar wind nebula associated with
G12.0-0.1. From its location, Suzaku J181210-1842 would be unrelated object to
G12.0-0.1. The X-ray profile is point-like and the spectrum is thin thermal
emission with Fe K-lines at 6.4, 6.7, and 6.97 keV, similar to those of
cataclysmic variables.


title:
An Extensive Experimental Study on the Cluster-based Reference Set
  Reduction for speeding-up the k-NN Classifier

abstract:
  The k-Nearest Neighbor (k-NN) classification algorithm is one of the most
widely-used lazy classifiers because of its simplicity and ease of
implementation. It is considered to be an effective classifier and has many
applications. However, its major drawback is that when sequential search is
used to find the neighbors, it involves high computational cost. Speeding-up
k-NN search is still an active research field. Hwang and Cho have recently
proposed an adaptive cluster-based method for fast Nearest Neighbor searching.
The effectiveness of this method is based on the adjustment of three
parameters. However, the authors evaluated their method by setting specific
parameter values and using only one dataset. In this paper, an extensive
experimental study of this method is presented. The results, which are based on
five real life datasets, illustrate that if the parameters of the method are
carefully defined, one can achieve even better classification performance.


title: A Theorem involving the denominators of Bernoulli numbers

abstract:
  Consider the average of the first n k-th powers. We pose and answer the
following natural question: For which values of n and k is this average an
integer? If k is odd the answer is easy; it is an integer as long as n is
incongruent to 2 modulo 4. If k is even then the criterion involves the
denominator of the k-th Bernoulli number. The average is an integer iff $n$ is
not divisible by any prime which divides the denominator of the k-th Bernoulli
number.


title:
Normal approximation and smoothness for sums of means of lattice-valued
  random variables

abstract:
  Motivated by a problem arising when analysing data from quarantine searches,
we explore properties of distributions of sums of independent means of
independent lattice-valued random variables. The aim is to determine the extent
to which approximations to those sums require continuity corrections. We show
that, in cases where there are only two different means, the main effects of
distribution smoothness can be understood in terms of the ratio
$\rho_{12}=(e_2n_1)/(e_1n_2)$, where $e_1$ and $e_2$ are the respective maximal
lattice edge widths of the two populations, and $n_1$ and $n_2$ are the
respective sample sizes used to compute the means. If $\rho_{12}$ converges to
an irrational number, or converges sufficiently slowly to a rational number;
and in a number of other cases too, for example those where $\rho_{12}$ does
not converge; the effects of the discontinuity of lattice distributions are of
smaller order than the effects of skewness. However, in other instances, for
example where $\rho_{12}$ converges relatively quickly to a rational number,
the effects of discontinuity and skewness are of the same size. We also treat
higher-order properties, arguing that cases where $\rho_{12}$ converges to an
algebraic irrational number can be less prone to suffer the effects of
discontinuity than cases where the limiting irrational is transcendental. These
results are extended to the case of three or more different means, and also to
problems where distributions are estimated using the bootstrap. The results
have practical interpretation in terms of the accuracy of inference for, among
other quantities, the sum or difference of binomial proportions.


title:
Approximate solutions by truncated Taylor series expansions of nonlinear
  differential equations and the related shadowing property

abstract:
  This paper investigates the errors of the solutions as well as the shadowing
property of a class of nonlinear differential equations which possess unique
solutions on a certain interval for any admissible initial conditions. The
class of differential equations are assumed to be approximated by well-posed
truncated Taylor series expansions up to a certain order obtained about
certain, in general non-periodic, sampling points of the solution.


title: Some things we've learned (about Markov chain Monte Carlo)

abstract:
  This paper offers a personal review of some things we've learned about rates
of convergence of Markov chains to their stationary distributions. The main
topic is ways of speeding up diffusive behavior. It also points to open
problems and how much more there is to do.


title:
Impurity in a bosonic Josephson junction: swallowtail loops, chaos,
  self-trapping and the poor man's Dicke model

abstract:
  We study a model describing $N$ identical bosonic atoms trapped in a
double-well potential together with a single impurity atom, comparing and
contrasting it throughout with the Dicke model. As the boson-impurity coupling
strength is varied, there is a symmetry-breaking pitchfork bifurcation which is
analogous to the quantum phase transition occurring in the Dicke model. Through
stability analysis around the bifurcation point, we show that the critical
value of the coupling strength has the same dependence on the parameters as the
critical coupling value in the Dicke model. We also show that, like the Dicke
model, the mean-field dynamics go from being regular to chaotic above the
bifurcation and macroscopic excitations of the bosons are observed. Overall,
the boson-impurity system behaves like a poor man's version of the Dicke model.


title:
Dynamics near explicit stationary solutions in similarity variables for
  solutions of a semilinear wave equation in higher dimensions

abstract:
  This is the first of two papers devoted to the study of the properties of the
blow-up surface for the $N$ dimensional semilinear wave equation with
subconformal power nonlinearity. In a series of papers, we have clarified the
situation in one space dimension. Our goal here is to extend some of the
properties to higher dimension. In dimension one, an essential tool was to
study the dynamics of the solution in similarity variables, near the set of
non-zero equilibria, which are obtained by a Lorentz transform of the
space-independent solution. As a matter of fact, the main part of this paper is
to study similar objects in higher dimensions. More precisely, near that set of
equilibria, we show that solutions are either non-global, or go to zero, or
converge to some explicit equilibrium. We also show that the first case cannot
occur in the characteristic case, and that only the third possibility occurs in
the non-characteristic case, thanks to the non-degeneracy of the blow-up limit,
another new result in our paper. As a by-product of our techniques, we obtain
the stability of the zero solution.


title: A stochastic maximum principle with dissipativity conditions

abstract:
  In this paper we prove a version of the maximum principle, in the sense of
Pontryagin, for the optimal control of a finite dimensional stochastic
differential equation, driven by a multidimensional Wiener process. We drop the
usual Lipschitz assumption on the drift term and substitute it with
dissipativity conditions, allowing polynomial growth. The control enter both
the drift and the diffusion term and takes values in a general metric space.


title: Fundamental Cosmology in the E-ELT Era

abstract:
  The recent observational evidence for the acceleration of the universe
demonstrates that canonical theories of cosmology and particle physics are
incomplete - if not incorrect - and that new physics is out there, waiting to
be discovered. The most exciting task for the next generation of astrophysical
facilities is therefore to search for, identify and ultimately characterise
this new physics. Here we summarise ongoing work by CAUP's Dark Side Team
aiming to identify optimal observational strategies for forthcoming facilities.
The discussion is centred around the E-ELT (which will play a key role in this
endeavour), but synergies with other ground and space-based facilities are also
briefly considered. With the expected major improvements in the sensitivity of
standard probes and entirely new ones such as the redshift drift (which the
E-ELT, the SKA and possibly other facilities will measure) a new generation of
precision consistency tests of the standard paradigm will become possible.


title: Probabilistic aspects of finance

abstract:
  In the past decades, advanced probabilistic methods have had significant
impact on the field of finance, both in academia and in the financial industry.
Conversely, financial questions have stimulated new research directions in
probability. In this survey paper, we review some of these developments and
point to some areas that might deserve further investigation. We start by
reviewing the basics of arbitrage pricing theory, with special emphasis on
incomplete markets and on the different roles played by the "real-world"
probability measure and its equivalent martingale measures. We then focus on
the issue of model ambiguity, also called Knightian uncertainty. We present two
case studies in which it is possible to deal with Knightian uncertainty in
mathematical terms. The first case study concerns the hedging of derivatives,
such as variance swaps, in a strictly pathwise sense. The second one deals with
capital requirements and preferences specified by convex and coherent risk
measures. In the final two sections we discuss mathematical issues arising from
the dramatic increase of algorithmic trading in modern financial markets.


title:
On the stability of the notion of non-characteristic point and blow-up
  profile for semilinear wave equations

abstract:
  We consider a blow-up solution for the semilinear wave equation in $N$
dimensions, with subconformal power nonlinearity. Introducing $\RR_0$ the set
of non-characteristic points with the Lorentz transform of the
space-independent solution as asymptotic profile, we show that $\RR_0$ is open
and that the blow-up surface is of class $C^1$ on $\RR_0$. Then, we show the
stability of $\RR_0$ with respect to initial data.


title:
Conditional limit theorems for critical continuous-state branching
  processes

abstract:
  In this paper we study the conditional limit theorems for critical
continuous-state branching processes with branching mechanism
$\psi(\lambda)=\lambda^{1+\alpha}L(1/\lambda)$ where $\alpha\in [0,1]$ and $L$
is slowly varying at $\infty$. We prove that if $\alpha\in (0,1]$, there are
norming constants $Q_{t}\to 0$ (as $t\uparrow +\infty$) such that for every
$x>0$, $P_{x}\left(Q_{t}X_{t}\in\cdot|X_{t}>0\right)$ converges weakly to a
non-degenerate limit. The converse assertion is also true provided the
regularity of $\psi$ at 0. We give a conditional limit theorem for the case
$\alpha=0$. The limit theorems we obtain in this paper allow infinite variance
of the branching process.


title: The Herschel View of Star Formation

abstract:
  Recent studies of the nearest star-forming clouds of the Galaxy at
submillimeter wavelengths with the Herschel Space Observatory have provided us
with unprecedented images of the initial conditions and early phases of the
star formation process. The Herschel images reveal an intricate network of
filamentary structure in every interstellar cloud. These filaments all exhibit
remarkably similar widths - about a tenth of a parsec - but only the densest
ones contain prestellar cores, the seeds of future stars. The Herschel results
favor a scenario in which interstellar filaments and prestellar cores represent
two key steps in the star formation process: first turbulence stirs up the gas,
giving rise to a universal web-like structure in the interstellar medium, then
gravity takes over and controls the further fragmentation of filaments into
prestellar cores and ultimately protostars. This scenario provides new insight
into the inefficiency of star formation, the origin of stellar masses, and the
global rate of star formation in galaxies. Despite an apparent complexity,
global star formation may be governed by relatively simple universal laws from
filament to galactic scales.


title: Probing Unification Scenarios with Atomic Clocks

abstract:
  We make use of the comparison between measurements of various pairs of atomic
clocks to impose constraints on coupled variations of fundamental constants in
severs unification scenarios. We obtain null results for the proton-to-electron
mass ratio ${\dot\mu}/{\mu}=(0.68\pm5.79)\times10^{-16}\, {\rm yr}{}^{-1}$ and
for the gyromagnetic factor ${\dot g_p}/{g_p}=(-0.72\pm0.89)\times10^{-16}\,
{\rm yr}{}^{-1}$ (both of these being at the 95% confidence level). These
results are compatible with theoretical expectations on unification scenarios
(which we briefly describe), but much freedom exists due to the presence of a
degeneracy direction in the relevant parameter space.


title: On the frequencies of patterns of rises and falls

abstract:
  We investigate the probability of observing a given pattern of $n$ rises and
falls in a random stationary data series. The data are modelled as a sequence
of $n+1$ independent and identically distributed random numbers. This
probabilistic approach has a combinatorial equivalent, where the data are
modelled by a random permutation on $n+1$ objects. The probability of observing
a long pattern of rises and falls decays exponentially with its length $n$ in
general. The associated decay rate $\alpha$ is interpreted as the embedding
entropy of the pattern. This rate is evaluated exactly for all periodic
patterns. In the most general case, it is expressed in terms of a determinant
of generalized hyperbolic or trigonometric functions. Alternating patterns have
the smallest rate $\alpha_{{\rm min}}=\ln(\pi/2)=0.451582\dots$, while other
examples lead to arbitrarily large rates. The probabilities of observing
uniformly chosen random patterns are demonstrated to obey multifractal
statistics. The typical value $\alpha_0=0.806361\dots$ of the rate plays the
role of a Lyapunov exponent. A wide range of examples of patterns, either
deterministic or random, is also investigated.


title:
Constraining fundamental physics with combined variations of fundamental
  constants

abstract:
  We discuss how existing astrophysical measurements of various combinations of
the fine-structure constant $\alpha$, the proton-to-electron mass ratio $\mu$
and the proton gyromagnetic ratio g$_{p}$ towards the radio source PKS1413+135
can be used to individually constrain each of these fundamental couplings.
While the accuracy of the available measurements is not yet sufficient to test
the spatial dipole scenario discussed in this workshop (and elsewhere in this
volume), our analysis serves as a proof of concept as new observational
facilities will soon allow significantly more robust tests. Importantly, these
measurements can also be used to obtain constraints on certain classes of
unification scenarios, and we compare the constraints obtained for PKS1413+135
with those previously obtained from local atomic clock measurements (and
discussed in the previous contribution).


title: Termination criteria for inexact fixed point methods

abstract:
  We analyze inexact fixed point iterations where the generating function
contains an inexact solve of an equation system to answer the question of how
tolerances for the inner solves influence the iteration error of the outer
fixed point iteration. Important applications are the Picard iteration and
partitioned fluid structure interaction. We prove that the iteration converges
irrespective of how accurate the inner systems are solved, provided that a
specific relative termination criterion is employed, whereas standard relative
and absolute criteria do not have this property. For the analysis, the
iteration is modelled as a perturbed fixed point iteration and existing
analysis is extended to the nested case x=F(S(x)).


title: Experimental Quantification of Entanglement Through Heat Capacity

abstract:
  A new experimental realization of heat capacity as an entanglement witness
(EW) is reported. Entanglement properties of a low dimensional quantum spin
system are investigated by heat capacity measurements performed down to very
low temperatures (400mK), for various applied magnetic field values. The
experimentally extracted results for the value of heat capacity at zero field
matches perfectly with the theoretical estimates of entanglement from model
Hamiltonians. The studied sample is a spin $\frac{1}{2}$ antiferromagnetic
system which shows clear signature of quantum phase transition (QPT) at very
low temperatures when the heat capacity is varied as a function of fields at a
fixed temperature. The variation of entanglement as a function of field is then
explored in the vicinity of the quantum phase transition to capture the sudden
loss of entanglement.


title: Strangeness of the nucleon from Lattice Quantum Chromodynamics

abstract:
  We present a non-perturbative calculation of the strangeness of the nucleon
$y_N$ within the framework of lattice QCD. This observable is known to be an
important cornerstone to interpret results from direct dark matter detection
experiments. We perform a lattice computation for $y_N$ with an analysis of
systematic effects originating from discretization, finite size, chiral
extrapolation and excited state effects leading to the value of $y_N=
0.173(50)$. The rather large uncertainty of this value of $y_N$ is dominated by
systematic uncertainties which we were able to quantify in this work.


title: Causality detection and turbulence in fusion plasmas

abstract:
  This work explores the potential of an information-theoretical causality
detection method for unraveling the relation between fluctuating variables in
complex nonlinear systems. The method is tested on some simple though nonlinear
models, and guidelines for the choice of analysis parameters are established.
Then, measurements from magnetically confined fusion plasmas are analyzed. The
selected data bear relevance to the all-important spontaneous confinement
transitions often observed in fusion plasmas, fundamental for the design of an
economically attractive fusion reactor. It is shown how the present method is
capable of clarifying the interaction between fluctuating quantities such as
the turbulence amplitude, turbulent flux, and Zonal Flow amplitude, and
uncovers several interactions that were missed by traditional methods.


title:
Observational strategies for varying constants with ESPRESSO and
  ELT-HIRES

abstract:
  The observational evidence for the acceleration of the universe demonstrates
that canonical theories of cosmology and particle physics are incomplete, if
not incorrect. Several few-sigma hints of new physics, discussed in this
workshop, are arguably smoke without a smoking gun. Forthcoming high-resolution
ultra-stable spectrographs will play a crucial role in this quest for new
physics, by enabling a new generation of precision consistency tests. Here we
focus on astrophysical tests of the stability of nature's fundamental
couplings, discussing the improvements that can be expected with ESPRESSO and
ELT-HIRES and their impact on fundamental cosmology. We find that the current
E-ELT configuration has the potential to constrain dark energy more strongly
than standard surveys with thousands of low-redshift ($z<2$) supernovas.


title: Varying constants and dark energy with the E-ELT

abstract:
  The observational possibilities enabled by an ultra-stable CODEX-like
spectrograph at the E-ELT will open new doors in the characterisation of the
nature of Dark Energy. Indeed, it will provide measurements of a so far
unexplored redshift-range ($2<z<5$) and will carry out simultaneously
cosmological tests such as the Sandage-Loeb test and precision tests of the
standard model. Here we will illustrate how, with these abilities, such
spectrographs - alone or in synergy with other facilities - will manage to
constrain cosmological scenarios and test classes of models that would
otherwise be difficult to distinguish from the standard $\Lambda{\rm CDM}$
paradigm.


title: Exclusive MSSM Higgs production at the LHC after Run I

abstract:
  We investigate the prospects for Central Exclusive Production (CEP) of MSSM
Higgs bosons at the LHC using forward proton detectors proposed to be installed
at 220 m and 420 m distance around ATLAS and / or CMS. We summarize the
situation after the first and very successful data taking period of the LHC.
The discovery of a Higgs boson and results from searches for additional MSSM
Higgs bosons from both the ATLAS and CMS experiments, based on data samples
each corresponding to about 25 fb-1, have recently led to a proposal of new
low-energy MSSM benchmark scenarios. The CEP signal cross section for the
process H/h -> bb and its backgrounds are estimated in these new scenarios. We
also make some comments about the experimental procedure if the proposed
forward proton detectors are to be used to measure the CEP signal.


title: Decoupled Quantum Walks, models of the Klein-Gordon and wave equations

abstract:
  Decoupling a vectorial PDE consists in solving the system for each component,
thereby obtaining scalar PDEs that prescribe the evolution of each component
independently. We present a general approach to decoupling of Quantum Walks,
again defined as a procedure to obtain an evolution law for each scalar
component of the QW, in such a way that it does not depend on the other
components. In particular, the method is applied to show the relation between
the Dirac (or Weyl) Quantum Walk in three space dimensions with (or without)
mass term, and the Klein-Gordon (or wave) equation.


title:
On the space of light rays of a space-time and a reconstruction theorem
  by Low

abstract:
  A reconstruction theorem in terms of the topology and geometrical structures
on the spaces of light rays and skies of a given space-time is discussed. This
result can be seen as part of Penrose and Low's programme intending to describe
the causal structure of a space-time $M$ in terms of the topological and
geometrical properties of the space of light rays, i.e., unparametrized
time-oriented null geodesics, $\mathcal{N}$. In the analysis of the
reconstruction problem it becomes instrumental the structure of the space of
skies, i.e., of congruences of light rays. It will be shown that the space of
skies $\Sigma$ of a strongly causal skies distinguishing space-time $M$ carries
a canonical differentiable structure diffeomorphic to the original manifold
$M$. Celestial curves, this is, curves in $\mathcal{N}$ which are everywhere
tangent to skies, play a fundamental role in the analysis of the geometry of
the space of light rays. It will be shown that a celestial curve is induced by
a past causal curve of events iff the legendrian isotopy defined by it is
non-negative. This result extends in a nontrivial way some recent results by
Chernov \emph{et al} on Low's Legendrian conjecture. Finally, it will be shown
that a celestial causal map between the space of light rays of two strongly
causal spaces (provided that the target space is null non-conjugate) is
necessarily induced from a conformal immersion and conversely. These results
make explicit the fundamental role played by the collection of skies, a
collection of legendrian spheres with respect to the canonical contact
structure on $\mathcal{N}$, in characterizing the causal structure of
space-times.


title:
Many-body dynamics of a Bose--Einstein condensate collapsing by quantum
  tunneling

abstract:
  The dynamics of a Bose-Einstein condensate of atoms having attractive
interactions is studied using quantum many-body simulations. The collapse of
the condensate by quantum tunneling is numerically demonstrated and the
tunneling rate is calculated. The correlation properties of the quantum
many-body state are investigated.


title: A new large class of functions not APN infinitely often

abstract:
  In this paper, we show that there is no vectorial Boolean function of degree
4e, with e satisfaying certain conditions, which is APN over infinitely many
extensions of its field of definition. It is a new step in the proof of the
conjecture of Aubry, McGuire and Rodier


title:
Quantum phase transition of light in coupled optical cavity arrays: A
  renormalization group study

abstract:
  We study the quantum phase transition of light of a system when atom trapped
in microcavities and interacting through the exchange of virtual photons. We
predict the quantum phase transition between the photonic Coulomb blocked
induce insulating phase and anisotropic exchange induced photonic superfluid
phase in the system due to the existence of two Rabi frequency oscillations.
The renormalization group equation shows explicitly that for this system there
is no self-duality. The system also shows two Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless
(BKT) transitions for the different physical situation of the system. The
presence of single Rabi frequency oscillation in the system leads to the BKT
transition where system shows the quantum phase transition from photonic
metallic state to the Coulomb blocked induced insulating phase. For the other
BKT transition when the z-component of exchange interaction is absent, the
system shows the transition from the photonic metallic state to the photonic
superfluid phase. We also predict the commensurate to incommensurate transition
under the laser field detuning.


title:
Boundary trace of positive solutions of supercritical semilinear
  elliptic equations in dihedral domains

abstract:
  We study the generalized boundary value problem for (E)\; $-\Delta
u+|u|^{q-1}u=0$ in a dihedral domain $\Gw$, when $q>1$ is supercritical. The
value of the critical exponent can take only a finite number of values
depending on the geometry of $\Gw$. When $\gm$ is a bounded Borel measure in a
k-wedge, we give necessary and sufficient conditions in order it be the
boundary value of a solution of (E). We also give conditions which ensure that
a boundary compact subset is removable. These conditions are expressed in terms
of Bessel capacities $B_{s,q'}$ in $\BBR^{N-k}$ where $s$ depends on the
characteristics of the wedge. This allows us to describe the boundary trace of
a positive solution of (E)


title: Coulomb chronometry to probe the decay mechanism of hot nuclei

abstract:
  In 129 Xe+ nat Sn central collisions from 8 to 25 MeV/A, the three-fragment
exit channel occurs with a significant cross section. We show that these
fragments arise from two successive binary splittings of a heavy composite
system. The sequence of fragment production is determined. Strong Coulomb
proximity effects are observed in the three-fragment final state. A comparison
with Coulomb trajec-tory calculations shows that the time scale between the
consecutive break-ups decreases with increasing bombarding energy, becoming
quasi-simultaneous above excitation energy E * = 4.0$\pm$0.5 MeV/A. This
transition from sequential to simultaneous break-up was interpreted as the
signature of the onset of multifragmentation for the three-fragment exit
channel in this system.


title:
Soliton-induced nonlocal resonances observed through high-intensity
  tunable spectrally compressed second-harmonic peaks

abstract:
  Experimental data of femtosecond thick-crystal second-harmonic generation
shows that when tuning away from phase matching, a dominating narrow spectral
peak appears in the second harmonic that can be tuned over 100's of nm by
changing the phase-mismatch parameter. Traditional theory explains this as
phase matching between a sideband in the broadband pump to its second-harmonic.
However, our experiment is conducted under high input intensities and instead
shows excellent quantitative agreement with a nonlocal theory describing
cascaded quadratic nonlinearities. This theory explains the detuned peak as a
nonlocal resonance that arises due to phase-matching between the pump and a
detuned second-harmonic frequency, but where in contrast to the traditional
theory the pump is assumed dispersion-free. As a soliton is inherently
dispersion-free, the agreement between our experiment and the nonlocal theory
indirectly proves that we have observed a soliton-induced nonlocal resonance.
The soliton exists in the self-defocusing regime of the cascaded nonlinear
interaction and in the normal dispersion regime of the crystal, and needs high
input intensities to become excited.


title:
A comparison of efficient permutation tests for unbalanced ANOVA in two
  by two designs--and their behavior under heteroscedasticity

abstract:
  We compare different permutation tests and some parametric counterparts that
are applicable to unbalanced designs in two by two designs. First the different
approaches are shortly summarized. Then we investigate the behavior of the
tests in a simulation study. A special focus is on the behavior of the tests
under heteroscedastic variances.


title: Hydrodynamic models of particle production

abstract:
  Viscous hydrodynamics gives a satisfactory description of the transverse
momentum spectra, of the elliptic and triangular flow, and of the femtoscopic
correlations for particles produced in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. On
general grounds, a similar collective behavior has been predicted for
proton-lead (p-Pb) collisions at the LHC. We present results of the
hydrodynamics calculation of the elliptic and triangular flow in p-Pb. We
discuss the mass dependence of flow coefficients and of the average transverse
momentum for identified particles.


title: Known Unknowns of Dark Matter Annihilation over Cosmic Time

abstract:
  Dark matter self-annihilation holds promise as one of the most robust
mechanisms for the identification of the particle responsible for the
Universe's missing mass. In this work, I examine the evolution of the dark
matter annihilation power produced by smooth and collapsed structures over
cosmic time, taking into account uncertainties in the structure of dark matter
halos. As we search for observational signatures of annihilation, an
understanding of this time evolution will help us to best direct our
observational efforts, either with local measurements or investigation of the
effects of annihilation on the intergalactic medium at high redshift. As I show
in this work, there are several key sources of uncertainty in our ability to
estimate the dark matter annihilation from collapsed structures, including: the
density profile of dark matter halos; the small-scale cut-off in the dark
matter halo mass function; the redshift-dependent mass-concentration relation
for small halos; and the particle-velocity dependence of the dark matter
annihilation process. Varying assumptions about these quantities can result in
annihilation power predictions that differ by several orders of magnitude.
These uncertainties must be resolved, through a combination of observation and
modeling, before robust estimations of the cosmological annihilation signal can
be made.


title:
Probing the QCD phase diagram with the measurements of $\phi$-meson
  production and elliptic flow in the heavy-ion collision at STAR

abstract:
  We present the measurements of the $\phi$-meson production and elliptic flow
($v_{2}$) at mid-rapidity in Au + Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 7.7 - 200
GeV. The data are collected using the STAR detector in the years 2010 and 2011.
The energy dependence of nuclear modification factor ($R_{\rm{CP}}$) of $\phi$
meson is presented. The $\phi$-meson $R_{\rm{CP}}$ has a value $\geq$ 1.0 for
$\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ $\leq$ 39 GeV. The $\Omega/\phi$ ratios are also presented and
show a different trend at the intermediate transverse momentum ($p_{T}$) for
$\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 11.5 GeV compared to higher beam energies. The
number-of-constituent quark (NCQ) scaling of $v_{2}$ has been studied at
various beam energies. The NCQ scaling holds for particles and anti-particles
separately including the $\phi$ meson for $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ $\geq$ 19.6 GeV,
which can be considered as an evidence of partonic collectivity. We observe at
$\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 7.7 and 11.5 GeV, the $\phi$-meson $v_{2}$ falls off the
trend from the other hadrons at highest measured $p_{T}$ values by 1.8$\sigma$
and 2.3$\sigma$, respectively.


title:
Correlation functions of the half-infinite XXZ spin chain with a
  triangular boundary

abstract:
  The half-infinite XXZ spin chain with a triangular boundary is considered in
the massive regime. Two integral representations of correlation functions are
proposed using bosonization. Sufficient conditions such that the expressions
for triangular boundary conditions coincide with those for diagonal boundary
conditions are identified. As an application, summation formulae of the
boundary expectation values $\langle \sigma_1^a\rangle $ with $a=z,\pm$ are
obtained. Exploiting the spin-reversal property, relations between $n$-fold
integrals of elliptic theta functions are extracted.


title: Galaxy structures - Groups, clusters and superclusters

abstract:
  We provide a brief summary of the history of galaxy structure studies. We
also introduce several large-scale redshift surveys and summarize the most
commonly used methods to identify the groups and clusters of galaxies. We
present several catalogues of galaxy groups.These catalogues can be used to
study the galaxy groups in different environments. We also consider the
properties of superclusters of galaxies in the nearby Universe and describe the
largest system of galaxies observed - the Sloan Great Wall.


title: Parameterized post-Newtonian formalism for multimetric gravity

abstract:
  We discuss the post-Newtonian limit of multimetric gravity theories with $N
\geq 2$ metric tensors and a corresponding number of standard model copies, and
construct an extension of the parameterized post-Newtonian (PPN) formalism.
This extended formalism allows a characterization of multimetric gravity
theories by a set of constant parameters. The multimetric PPN parameters we
derive are a superset of the standard PPN parameters, which have been measured
using high-precision experiments in the solar system. We apply our formalism to
a class of theories which we previously discussed in the context of cosmology
and gravitational waves, and which feature an accelerating expansion of the
universe. A comparison between our results and the measured PPN parameters
shows that multimetric gravity is fully compatible with solar system
observations.


title:
A Minimal Supersymmetric Model of Particle Physics and the Early
  Universe

abstract:
  We consider a minimal supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model, with
right-handed neutrinos and local B-L, the difference between baryon and lepton
number, a symmetry which is spontaneously broken at the scale of grand
unification. To a large extent, the parameters of the model are determined by
gauge and Yukawa couplings of quarks and leptons. We show that this minimal
model can successfully account for the earliest phases of the cosmological
evolution: Inflation is driven by the energy density of a false vacuum of
unbroken B-L symmetry, which ends in tachyonic preheating, i.e. the decay of
the false vacuum, followed by a matter dominated phase with heavy B-L Higgs
bosons. Nonthermal and thermal processes produce an abundance of heavy
neutrinos whose decays generate primordial entropy, baryon asymmetry via
leptogenesis and dark matter consisting of gravitinos or nonthermal WIMPs. The
model predicts relations between neutrino and superparticle masses and a
characteristic spectrum of gravitational waves.