title: Nutrient Shielding in Clusters of Cells

abstract:
  Cellular nutrient consumption is influenced by both the nutrient uptake
kinetics of an individual cell and the cells' spatial arrangement. Large cell
clusters or colonies have inhibited growth at the cluster's center due to the
shielding of nutrients by the cells closer to the surface. We develop an
effective medium theory that predicts a thickness $\ell$ of the outer shell of
cells in the cluster that receives enough nutrient to grow. The cells are
treated as partially absorbing identical spherical nutrient sinks, and we
identify a dimensionless parameter $\nu$ that characterizes the absorption
strength of each cell. The parameter $\nu$ can vary over many orders of
magnitude between different cell types, ranging from bacteria and yeast to
human tissue. The thickness $\ell$ decreases with increasing $\nu$, increasing
cell volume fraction $\phi$, and decreasing ambient nutrient concentration
$\psi_{\infty}$. The theoretical results are compared with numerical
simulations and experiments. In the latter studies, colonies of budding yeast,
\textit{Saccharomyces cerevisiae}, are grown on glucose media and imaged under
a confocal microscope. We measure the growth inside the colonies via a
fluorescent protein reporter and compare the experimental and theoretical
results for the thickness $\ell$.


title:
An Evolutionary Algorithm Approach to Link Prediction in Dynamic Social
  Networks

abstract:
  Many real world, complex phenomena have underlying structures of evolving
networks where nodes and links are added and removed over time. A central
scientific challenge is the description and explanation of network dynamics,
with a key test being the prediction of short and long term changes. For the
problem of short-term link prediction, existing methods attempt to determine
neighborhood metrics that correlate with the appearance of a link in the next
observation period. Recent work has suggested that the incorporation of
topological features and node attributes can improve link prediction. We
provide an approach to predicting future links by applying the Covariance
Matrix Adaptation Evolution Strategy (CMA-ES) to optimize weights which are
used in a linear combination of sixteen neighborhood and node similarity
indices. We examine a large dynamic social network with over $10^6$ nodes
(Twitter reciprocal reply networks), both as a test of our general method and
as a problem of scientific interest in itself. Our method exhibits fast
convergence and high levels of precision for the top twenty predicted links.
Based on our findings, we suggest possible factors which may be driving the
evolution of Twitter reciprocal reply networks.


title: Variational Methods for the Fractional Sturm--Liouville Problem

abstract:
  This article is devoted to the regular fractional Sturm--Liouville eigenvalue
problem. Applying methods of fractional variational analysis we prove existence
of countable set of orthogonal solutions and corresponding eigenvalues.
Moreover, we formulate two results showing that the lowest eigenvalue is the
minimum value for a certain variational functional.


title:
A Global Fit Determination of Effective $\Delta m_{31}^2$ from Baseline
  Dependence of Reactor $\bar{\nu}_e$ Disappearance

abstract:
  Recently, three reactor neutrino experiments, Daya Bay, Double Chooz and RENO
have directly measured the neutrino mixing angle $\theta_{13}$. In this paper,
another important oscillation parameter, effective $\Delta m_{31}^2$ (= $\Delta
\tilde{m}_{31}^2$) is measured using baseline dependence of the reactor
neutrino disappearance. A global fit is applied to publicly available data and
$\Delta \tilde{m}_{31}^2 = 2.95^{+0.42}_{-0.61} \times 10^{-3}$ eV$^2$,
$\sin^22\theta_{13} = 0.099^{+0.016}_{-0.012}$ are obtained by setting both
parameters free. This result is complementary to $\Delta tilde{m}_{31}^2$ to be
measured by spectrum shape analysis. The measured $\Delta \tilde{m}_{31}^2$ is
consistent with $\Delta \tilde{m}_{32}^2$ measured by $\nu_{\mu}$ disappearance
in MINOS, T2K and atmospheric neutrino experiments within errors. The minimum
$\chi^2$ is small, which means the results from the three reactor neutrino
experiments are consistent with each other.


title: Polarization of cluster radio halos with upcoming radio interferometers

abstract:
  Synchrotron radio halos at the center of merging galaxy clusters provide the
most spectacular and direct evidence of the presence of relativistic particles
and magnetic fields associated with the intracluster medium. The study of
polarized emission from radio halos has been shown to be extremely important to
constrain the properties of intracluster magnetic fields. However, detecting
this polarized signal is a very hard task with the current radio facilities.We
investigate whether future radio observatories, such as the Square Kilometer
Array (SKA) and its precursors and pathfinders, will be able to detect the
polarized emission of radio halos in galaxy clusters.On the basis of
cosmological magnetohydrodynamical simulations with initial magnetic fields
injected by active galactic nuclei, we predict the expected radio halo
polarized signal at 1.4 GHz. We compare these expectations with the limits of
current radio facilities and explore the potential of the forthcoming radio
interferometers to investigate intracluster magnetic fields through the
detection of polarized emission from radio halos.The resolution and sensitivity
values that are expected to be obtained in future sky surveys performed at 1.4
GHz using the SKA precursors and pathfinders (like APERTIF and ASKAP) are very
promising for the detection of the polarized emission of the most powerful
(L1.4GHz>10e25 Watt/Hz) radio halos. Furthermore, the JVLA have the potential
to already detect polarized emission from strong radio halos, at a relatively
low resolution.However, the possibility of detecting the polarized signal in
fainter radio halos (L1.4GHz~10e24 Watt/Hz) at high resolution requires a
sensitivity reachable only with SKA.


title:
A sample of small size compact steep-spectrum radio sources. VLBI images
  and VLA polarization at 5 GHz

abstract:
  Global VLBI observations at 5 GHz have been performed to study the source
morphology in 10 compact steep-spectrum (CSS) sources selected from the Peacock
& Wall catalogue with the aim of finding asymmetric structures produced by the
interaction with the ambient medium. The combination of these data and earlier
1.7-GHz observations allows the study of the spectral index distribution across
the source structure and the unambiguous determination of the nature of each
component. In seven sources we detected the core component with a flat or
inverted spectrum. In six sources the radio emission has a two-sided morphology
and comes mainly from steep-spectrum extended structures, like lobes, jets, and
hotspots. Only one source, 0319+121, has a one-sided core-jet structure. In
three out of the six sources with a two-sided structure the flux density
arising from the lobes is asymmetric, and the brightest lobe is the one closest
to the core, suggesting that the jets are expanding in an inhomogeneous ambient
medium which may influence the source growth. The interaction between the jet
and the environment may slow down the source expansion and enhance the
luminosity due to severe radiative losses, likely producing an excess of CSS
radio sources in flux density limited samples. The lobes of the other three
asymmetric sources have a brighter-when-farther behaviour, in agreement with
what is expected by projection and relativistic effects. Simultaneous VLA
observations carried out to investigate the polarization properties of the
targets detected significant polarized emission (~5.5%) only from the quasar
0319+121.


title:
Nonconvexity of the relative entropy for Markov dynamics: A Fisher
  information approach

abstract:
  We show via counterexamples that relative entropy between the solution of a
Markovian master equation and the steady state is not a convex function of
time. We thus let down a curtain on a possible formulation of a principle of
thermodynamics regarding decrease of the nonadiabatic entropy production.
However, we argue that a large separation of typical decay times is necessary
for nonconvex solutions to occur, making concave transients extremely
short-lived with respect to the main relaxation modes. We describe a general
method based on the Fisher information matrix to discriminate between
generators that do and don't admit nonconvex solutions. While initial
conditions leading to concave transients are shown to be extremely fine-tuned,
by our method we are able to select nonconvex initial conditions that are
arbitrarily close to the steady state. Convexity does occur when the system is
close to satisfy detailed balance, or more generally when certain normality
conditions of the decay modes are satisfied. Our results circumscribe the range
of validity of a conjecture proposed by Maes et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 107,
010601 (2011)] regarding monotonicity of the large deviation rate functional
for the occupation probability (dynamical activity), showing that while the
conjecture might still hold in the long time limit, the dynamical activity is
not a Lyapunov function.


title: On total colorings of 1-planar graphs

abstract:
  A graph is 1-planar if it can be drawn on the plane so that each edge is
crossed by at most one other edge. In this paper, we confirm the total-coloring
conjecture for 1-planar graphs with maximum degree at least 13.


title: Minimal predictive see-saw model with normal neutrino mass hierarchy

abstract:
  We consider the type I see-saw model with two right-handed neutrinos and a
normal neutrino mass hierarchy and impose a zero coupling between the
right-handed neutrino mainly responsible for the atmospheric neutrino mass and
the electron neutrino. We derive a master formula which relates see-saw input
parameters in a one to one correspondence with physical neutrino observables.
Using the master formula we search for simple ratios of couplings consistent
with current data on neutrino mass and lepton mixing. We discover a minimal
predictive example in which the right-handed neutrino mainly responsible for
the atmospheric neutrino mass has couplings to (nu_e, nu_mu, nu_tau)
proportional to (0,1,1) and the right-handed neutrino mainly responsible for
the solar neutrino mass has couplings to (nu_e, nu_mu, nu_tau) proportional to
(1,1,3) or (1,3,1), with a relative phase eta = -/+ pi/3, providing the link
between leptogenesis and CP violation in neutrino oscillation experiments. We
show how these patterns of couplings could arise from an A_4 family symmetry
model of leptons which predicts all the PMNS parameters in terms of the
neutrino mass ratio m_2/m_3, corresponding to approximate Tri-bimaximal-Cabibbo
mixing, accurate to one degree, with the prediction delta = +/- pi/2.


title: Finite amplitude elastic waves propagating in compressible solids

abstract:
  The paper studies the interaction of a longitudinal wave with transverse
waves in general isotropic and unconstrained hyperelastic materials, including
the possibility of dissipation. The dissipative term chosen is similar to the
classical stress tensor describing a Stokesian fluid and is commonly used in
nonlinear acoustics. The aim of this research is to derive the corresponding
general equations of motion, valid for any possible form of the strain energy
function and to investigate the possibility of obtaining some general and exact
solutions to these equations by reducing them to a set of ordinary differential
equations. Then the reductions can lead to some exact closed-form solutions for
special classes of materials (here the examples of the Hadamard, Blatz-Ko, and
power-law strain energy densities are considered, as well as fourth-order
elasticity). The solutions derived are in a time/space separable form and may
be interpreted as generalized oscillatory shearing motions and generalized
sinusoidal standing waves. By means of standard methods of dynamical systems
theory, some peculiar properties of waves propagating in compressible materials
are uncovered, such as for example, the emergence of destabilizing effects.
These latter features exist for highly nonlinear strain energy functions such
as the relatively simple power-law strain energy, but they cannot exist in the
framework of fourth-order elasticity.


title: List total coloring of pseudo-outerplanar graphs

abstract:
  A graph is pseudo-outerplanar if each of its blocks has an embedding in the
plane so that the vertices lie on a fixed circle and the edges lie inside the
disk of this circle with each of them crossing at most one another. It is
proved that every pseudo-outerplanar graph with maximum degree \Delta\geq 5 is
totally (\Delta+1)-choosable.


title:
LBT/LUCIFER near-infrared spectroscopy of PV Cephei. An outbursting
  young stellar object with an asymmetric jet

abstract:
  We present a detailed spectroscopic investigation of the young eruptive star
PV Cep, to improve our understanding of its nature and characterise its
circumstellar environment after its last outburst in 2004. The analysis of our
medium-resolution spectroscopy in the near-IR (0.9-2.35 um), collected in 2012
at the Large Binocular Telescope with the IR spectrograph LUCIFER, allows us to
infer the main stellar parameters (visual extinction, accretion luminosity,
mass accretion and ejection rates), and model the inner disc, jet, and wind.
The NIR spectrum displays several strong emission lines associated with
accretion/ejection activity and circumstellar environment. Our analysis shows
that the brightness of PV Cep is fading, as well as the mass accretion rate
(2x10^-7 Msun/yr^-1 in 2012 vs ~5x10^-6 Msun/yr^-1 in 2004), which is more than
one order of magnitude lower than in the outburst phase. Among the several
emission lines, only the [FeII] intensity increased after the outburst. The
observed [FeII] emission delineates blue- and red-shifted lobes, both with
high- and low-velocity components, which trace an asymmetric jet and wind,
respectively. The observed emission in the jet has a dynamical age of ~8 years,
indicating that it was produced during the last outburst. The mass ejection
rate in both lobes is 1.5x10^-7 Msun/yr^-1, approximately matching the high
accretion rate observed during and immediately after the outburst . The
observed jet/outflow asymmetries are consistent with an inhomogeneous medium.
Our modelling of the CO emission hints at a small-scale gaseous disc ring,
extending from ~0.2-0.4 AU to ~3 AU from the source, with an inner temperature
of ~3000 K. Our HI lines modelling indicates that most of the observed emission
comes from an expanding disc wind at Te=10000 K. The line profiles are strongly
affected by scattering, disc screening, and outflow self-absorption.


title:
Explicit secular equations for piezoacoustic surface waves: Rayleigh
  modes

abstract:
  The existence of a two-partial Rayleigh wave coupled to an electrical field
in 2mm piezoelectric crystals is known but has rarely been investigated
analytically. It turns out that the Z-cut, X-propagation problem can be fully
solved, up to the derivation of the secular equation as a polynomial in the
squared wave speed. For the metallized (unmetallized) boundary condition, the
polynomial is of degree 10 (48). The relevant root is readily identified and
the full description of the mechanical and electrical fields follows. The
results are illustrated in the case of the superstrong piezoelectric crystal,
Potassium niobate, for which the effective piezoelectric coupling coefficient
is calculated to be about 0.1


title: Symanzik effective actions in the large N limit

abstract:
  Symanzik effective actions, conjectured to describe lattice artifacts, are
determined for a class of lattice regularizations of the non-linear O(N) sigma
model in two dimensions in the leading order of the 1/N-expansion. The class of
actions considered includes also ones which do not have the usual classical
limit and are not (so far) treatable in the framework of ordinary perturbation
theory. The effective actions obtained are shown to reproduce previously
computed lattice artifacts of the step scaling functions defined in finite
volume, giving further confidence in Symanzik's theory of lattice artifacts.


title:
The high-efficiency {\gamma}-ray spectroscopy setup {\gamma}3 at
  HI{\gamma}S

abstract:
  The existing Nuclear Resonance Fluorescence (NRF) setup at the HI{\gamma}S
facility at the Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory at Duke University has
been extended in order to perform {\gamma}-{\gamma} coincidence experiments.
The new setup combines large volume LaBr3:Ce detectors and high resolution HPGe
detectors in a very close geometry to offer high efficiency, high energy
resolution as well as high count rate capabilities at the same time. The
combination of a highly efficient {\gamma}-ray spectroscopy setup with the
mono-energetic high-intensity photon beam of HI{\gamma}S provides a worldwide
unique experimental facility to investigate the {\gamma}-decay pattern of
dipole excitations in atomic nuclei. The performance of the new setup has been
assessed by studying the nucleus \sulfur at 8.125 MeV beam energy. The
{\gamma}-decay branching ratio from the $1^+$ level at 8125.4 keV to the first
excited $2^+$ state was determined to 15.7(3)%.


title: Isotropic Markov semigroups on ultra-metric spaces

abstract:
  Let (X,d) be a locally compact separable ultra-metric space. Given a
reference measure \mu\ on X and a step length distribution on the non-negative
reals, we construct a symmetric Markov semigroup P^t acting in L^2(X,\mu). We
study the corresponding Markov process. We obtain upper and lower bounds of its
transition density and its Green function, give a transience criterion,
estimate its moments and describe the Markov generator and its spectrum, which
is pure point. In the particular case when X is the field of p-adic numbers,
our construction recovers fractional derivative and the Taibleson Laplacian
(spectral multiplier), and we can also apply our theory to the study of the
Vladimirov Laplacian which is closely related to the concept of p-adic Quantum
Mechanics. Even in this well established setting, several of our results are
new. We also elaborate the relation between our processes and Kigami's jump
processes on the boundary of a tree which are induced by a random walk. In
conclusion, we provide examples illustrating the interplay between the
fractional derivatives and random walks.


title:
Merging of Dirac points and Floquet topological transitions in AC driven
  graphene

abstract:
  We investigate the effect of an in-plane AC electric field coupled to
electrons in the honeycomb lattice and show that it can be used to manipulate
the Dirac points of the electronic structure. We find that the position of the
Dirac points can be controlled by the amplitude and the polarization of the
field for high frequency drivings, providing a new platform to achieve their
merging, a topological transition which has not been observed yet in electronic
systems. Importantly, for lower frequencies we find that the multi-photon
absorptions and emissions processes yield the creation of additional pairs of
Dirac points. This provides an additional method to achieve the merging
transition by just tuning the frequency of the driving. Our approach, based on
Floquet formalism, is neither restricted to specific choice of amplitude or
polarization of the field, nor to a low energy approximation for the
Hamiltonian.


title: Plasmoid solutions of the Hahm--Kulsrud--Taylor equilibrium model

abstract:
  The Hahm--Kulsrud (HK) [T. S. Hahm and R. M. Kulsrud, Phys. Fluids {\bf 28},
2412 (1985)] solutions for a magnetically sheared plasma slab driven by a
resonant periodic boundary perturbation illustrate fully shielded (current
sheet) and fully reconnected (magnetic island) responses. On the global scale,
reconnection involves solving a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equilibrium problem.
In systems with a continuous symmetry such MHD equilibria are typically found
by solving the Grad--Shafranov equation, and in slab geometry the elliptic
operator in this equation is the 2-D Laplacian. Thus, assuming appropriate
pressure and poloidal current profiles, a conformal mapping method can be used
to transform one solution into another with different boundary conditions,
giving a continuous sequence of solutions in the form of partially reconnected
magnetic islands (plasmoids) separated by Syrovatsky current sheets. The two HK
solutions appear as special cases.


title: Interprocedural Data Flow Analysis in Soot using Value Contexts

abstract:
  An interprocedural analysis is precise if it is flow sensitive and fully
context-sensitive even in the presence of recursion. Many methods of
interprocedural analysis sacrifice precision for scalability while some are
precise but limited to only a certain class of problems.
  Soot currently supports interprocedural analysis of Java programs using graph
reachability. However, this approach is restricted to IFDS/IDE problems, and is
not suitable for general data flow frameworks such as heap reference analysis
and points-to analysis which have non-distributive flow functions.
  We describe a general-purpose interprocedural analysis framework for Soot
using data flow values for context-sensitivity. This framework is not
restricted to problems with distributive flow functions, although the lattice
must be finite. It combines the key ideas of the tabulation method of the
functional approach and the technique of value-based termination of call string
construction.
  The efficiency and precision of interprocedural analyses is heavily affected
by the precision of the underlying call graph. This is especially important for
object-oriented languages like Java where virtual method invocations cause an
explosion of spurious call edges if the call graph is constructed naively. We
have instantiated our framework with a flow and context-sensitive points-to
analysis in Soot, which enables the construction of call graphs that are far
more precise than those constructed by Soot's SPARK engine.


title:
Relationship among locally maximally entanglable states, W states and
  hypergraph states under local unitary transformations

abstract:
  Kruszynska and Kraus [Phys. Rev. A 79, 052304 (2009)] have recently
introduced the so-called locally maximally entanglable (LME) states of n qubits
which can be maximally entangled to local auxiliary qubits using controlled
operations. We characterize the local entanglability of hypergraph states and W
states using an approach in [Phys. Rev. A 79, 052304 (2009)]. We show that (i)
all hypergraph states are LME; (ii) hypergraph states and LME states are not
equivalent under local unitaries; (iii) a W state of n qubits is not LME; and
(iv) no hypergraph state of n qubits can be converted into to the W state under
local unitary transformations. Moreover, we also present an approach for
encoding weighted hypergraphs into LME states.


title:
Epistemic Learning Programs A Calculus for Describing Epistemic Action
  Models

abstract:
  Dynamic Epistemic Logic makes it possible to model and reason about
information change in multi-agent systems. Information change is mathematically
modeled through epistemic action Kripke models introduced by Baltag et al.
Also, van Ditmarsch interprets the information change as a relation between
epistemic states and sets of epistemic states and to describe it formally, he
considers a special constructor LB called learning operator. Inspired by this,
it seems natural to us that the basic source of information change in a
multi-agent system should be learning an announcement by some agents together,
privately, concurrently or even wrongly. Hence moving along this path, we
introduce the notion of a learning program and prove that all finite K45 action
models can be described by our learning programs


title:
Localization properties of squeezed quantum states in nanoscale space
  domains

abstract:
  We construct families of squeezed quantum states on an interval (depending on
boundary conditions, we interpret the interval as a circle or as the infinite
square potential well) and obtain estimates of position and momentum
dispersions for these states. A particular attention is paid to the possibility
of proper localization of a particle in nanoscale space domains. One of the
constructed family of squeezed states is based on the theta function. It is a
generalization of the known coherent and squeezed states on the circle. Also we
construct a family of squeezed states based on truncated Gaussian functions and
a family of wave packets based on the discretization of an arbitrary continuous
momentum probability distribution.
  The problem of finiteness of the energy dispersion for the squeezed states in
the infinite well is discussed. Finally, we perform the limit of large interval
length and the semiclassical limit.
  As a supplementary general result, we show that an arbitrary physical
quantity has a finite dispersion if and only if the wave function of a quantum
system belongs to the domain of the corresponding self-adjoint operator. This
can be regarded as a physical meaning of the domain of a self-adjoint operator.

categories: quant-ph cond-mat.mes-hall math-ph math.MP


title:
Lifetimes of atoms trapped in an optical lattice in proximity of a
  surface

abstract:
  We study the lifetime of an atom trapped in an optical vertical lattice in
proximity of a massive surface using a complex scaling approach. We analyze how
the presence of the surface modifies the known lifetimes of Wannier-Stark
states associated to Landau-Zener tunnelling. We also investigate how the
existence of a hypothetical short-distance deviation from Newton's
gravitational law could affect these lifetimes. Our study is relevant in order
to discuss the feasibility of any atomic- interferometry experiment performed
near a surface. Finally, the difficulties encountered in applying the
complex-scaling approach to the atom-surface Casimir-Polder interaction are
addressed.


title: Sequent Calculi with procedure calls

abstract:
  In this paper, we introduce two focussed sequent calculi, LKp(T) and LK+(T),
that are based on Miller-Liang's LKF system for polarised classical logic. The
novelty is that those sequent calculi integrate the possibility to call a
decision procedure for some background theory T, and the possibility to
polarise literals "on the fly" during proof-search. These features are used in
our other works to simulate the DPLL(T) procedure as proof-search in the
extension of LKp(T) with a cut-rule. In this report we therefore prove
cut-elimination in LKp(T). Contrary to what happens in the empty theory, the
polarity of literals affects the provability of formulae in presence of a
theory T. On the other hand, changing the polarities of connectives does not
change the provability of formulae, only the shape of proofs. In order to prove
this, we introduce a second sequent calculus, LK+(T) that extends LKp(T) with a
relaxed focussing discipline, but we then show an encoding of LK+(T) back into
the more restrictive system LK(T). We then prove completeness of LKp(T) (and
therefore of LK+(T)) with respect to first-order reasoning modulo the ground
propositional lemmas of the background theory T .


title: On Quasiperiodic Morphisms

abstract:
  Weakly and strongly quasiperiodic morphisms are tools introduced to study
quasiperiodic words. Formally they map respectively at least one or any
non-quasiperiodic word to a quasiperiodic word. Considering them both on finite
and infinite words, we get four families of morphisms between which we study
relations. We provide algorithms to decide whether a morphism is strongly
quasiperiodic on finite words or on infinite words.


title: Subspace Recovery from Structured Union of Subspaces

abstract:
  Lower dimensional signal representation schemes frequently assume that the
signal of interest lies in a single vector space. In the context of the
recently developed theory of compressive sensing (CS), it is often assumed that
the signal of interest is sparse in an orthonormal basis. However, in many
practical applications, this requirement may be too restrictive. A
generalization of the standard sparsity assumption is that the signal lies in a
union of subspaces. Recovery of such signals from a small number of samples has
been studied recently in several works. Here, we consider the problem of
subspace recovery in which our goal is to identify the subspace (from the
union) in which the signal lies using a small number of samples, in the
presence of noise. More specifically, we derive performance bounds and
conditions under which reliable subspace recovery is guaranteed using maximum
likelihood (ML) estimation. We begin by treating general unions and then obtain
the results for the special case in which the subspaces have structure leading
to block sparsity. In our analysis, we treat both general sampling operators
and random sampling matrices. With general unions, we show that under certain
conditions, the number of measurements required for reliable subspace recovery
in the presence of noise via ML is less than that implied using the restricted
isometry property which guarantees signal recovery. In the special case of
block sparse signals, we quantify the gain achievable over standard sparsity in
subspace recovery. Our results also strengthen existing results on sparse
support recovery in the presence of noise under the standard sparsity model.


title: Crowd dynamics and conservation laws with non-local constraints

abstract:
  In this paper we model pedestrian flows evacuating a narrow corridor through
an exit by a one-dimensional hyperbolic conservation law with a non-local
constraint. Existence and stability results for the Cauchy problem with
Lipschitz constraint are achieved by a procedure that combines the wave-front
tracking algorithm with the operator splitting method. The Riemann problem with
piecewise constant constraint is discussed in details, stressing the possible
lack of uniqueness, self-similarity and $\Lloc1$-continuity. One explicit
example of application is provided.


title: Damage mechanisms in the dynamic fracture of nominally brittle polymers

abstract:
  Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics (LEFM) provides a consistent framework to
evaluate quantitatively the energy flux released to the tip of a growing crack.
Still, the way in which the crack selects its velocity in response to this
energy flux remains far from completely understood. To uncover the underlying
mechanisms, we experimentally studied damage and dissipation processes that
develop during the dynamic failure of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA),
classically considered as the archetype of brittle amorphous materials. We
evidenced a well-defined critical velocity along which failure switches from
nominally-brittle to quasi-brittle, where crack propagation goes hand in hand
with the nucleation and growth of microcracks. Via post-mortem analysis of the
fracture surfaces, we were able to reconstruct the complete spatiotemporal
microcracking dynamics with micrometer/nanosecond resolution. We demonstrated
that the true local propagation speed of individual crack fronts is limited to
a fairly low value, which can be much smaller than the apparent speed measured
at the continuum-level scale. By coalescing with the main front, microcracks
boost the macroscale velocity through an acceleration factor of geometrical
origin. We discuss the key role of damage-related internal variables in the
selection of macroscale fracture dynamics.


title: Expressibility in the Lambda Calculus with mu

abstract:
  We address a problem connected to the unfolding semantics of functional
programming languages: give a useful characterization of those infinite
lambda-terms that are lambda_{letrec}-expressible in the sense that they arise
as infinite unfoldings of terms in lambda_{letrec}, the lambda-calculus with
letrec. We provide two characterizations, using concepts we introduce for
infinite lambda-terms: regularity, strong regularity, and binding-capturing
chains. It turns out that lambda_{letrec}-expressible infinite lambda-terms
form a proper subclass of the regular infinite lambda-terms. In this paper we
establish these characterizations only for expressibility in lambda_{mu}, the
lambda-calculus with explicit mu-recursion. We show that for all infinite
lambda-terms T the following are equivalent: (i): T is lambda_{mu}-expressible;
(ii): T is strongly regular; (iii): T is regular, and it only has finite
binding-capturing chains.
  We define regularity and strong regularity for infinite lambda-terms as two
different generalizations of regularity for infinite first-order terms: as the
existence of only finitely many subterms that are defined as the reducts of two
rewrite relations for decomposing lambda-terms. These rewrite relations act on
infinite lambda-terms furnished with a marked prefix of abstractions for
collecting decomposed lambda-abstractions and keeping the terms closed under
decomposition. They differ in how vacuous abstractions in the prefix are
removed.
  This report accompanies the article with the same title for the proceedings
of the conference RTA 2013, and mainly differs from that by providing the proof
of the characterization of lambda_{mu}-expressibility with binding-capturing
chains.


title:
Comparison results for certain periods of cusp forms on GL(2n) over a
  totally real number field

abstract:
  This article grew out of my talk in "The Legacy of Srinivasa Ramanujan"
conference where I spoke about some techniques to prove algebraicity results
for the special values of symmetric cube L-functions attached to the Ramanujan
\Delta-function. If one wishes to compare these different techniques, then one
needs to compare various automorphic periods attached to the symmetric cube
transfer of \Delta. Motivated by this problem, in this article we provide
comparison results for Whittaker-Betti periods, Shalika-Betti periods and
certain relative periods attached to a given cohomological cuspidal automorphic
representation of GL(2n) over a totally real number field.


title: Work distribution under continuous quantum histories

abstract:
  We present a general scheme to obtain work distribution in closed systems
under continuous quantum histories of corresponding "power" operator. The
scheme is tested by analytically calculating the quantum work distribution for
a prototype model of a center-shifted one-dimensional quantum harmonic
oscillator. Furthermore, its relationship to the path integral formalism with
the Wick rotation is immediately noticed. We find that, based on the continuous
measurement, generally Jarzynski equality in quantum regime is not valid,
though it is recovered in high-temperature limit. Also we briefly explore the
extension to open systems, in which the work done and heat transfer can be
calculated in the same set of quantum histories. Our results for this model can
be directly verified by single-molecule force spectroscopy.


title: Time dependent black holes and scalar hair

abstract:
  We show how to correctly account for scalar accretion onto black holes in
scalar field models of dark energy by a consistent expansion in terms of a slow
roll parameter. We find an exact solution for the scalar field within our
Hubble volume which is regular on both black hole and cosmological event
horizons, and compute the back reaction of the scalar on the black hole,
calculating the resulting expansion of the black hole. Our results are
independent of the relative size of black hole and cosmological event horizons.
We comment on the implications for more general black hole accretion, and the
no hair theorems.


title:
Motivic strict ring spectra representing semi-topological cohomology
  theories

abstract:
  We show that Shipley's "detection functor" for symmetric spectra generalizes
to motivic symmetric spectra. As an application, we construct motivic strict
ring spectra representing morphic cohomology, semi-topological $K$-theory, and
semi-topological cobordism for complex varieties. As a further application to
semi-topological cobordism, we show that it is related to semi-topological
$K$-theory via a Conner-Floyd type isomorphism and that after inverting a lift
of the Friedlander-Mazur $s$-element in morphic cohomology, semi-topological
cobordism becomes isomorphic to periodic complex cobordism.


title: Characterization of bolometric Light Detectors for rare event searches

abstract:
  Bolometers have proven to be very good detectors to search for rare processes
thanks to their excellent energy resolution and their low intrinsic background.
Further active background rejection can be obtained by the simultaneous readout
of the heat and light signals produced by particles interacting in
scintillating bolometers, as proposed by the LUCIFER experiment. In this
framework, the choice of the light detector and the optimization of its working
conditions play a crucial role. In this paper, we report a study of the
performances of a Germanium bolometric light detector in terms of signal
amplitude, energy resolution and signal time development. The impact of various
operational parameters on the detector performances is discussed.


title: Fermion-antifermion mixing in gravitational fields

abstract:
  Mixing of fermion and antifermion states occurs in gravitational
interactions, leading to non-conservation of fermion number above temperatures
determined by the particle masses. We study the evolution of a $f\,,\bar{f}$
system and calculate the cross sections for the reactions
$f\rightleftharpoons\bar{f}$. Their values are identical in both directions.
However, if $\bar{f}$ changes quickly into a lighter antiparticle, then the
reaction symmetry is broken, \emph{resulting in an increased production of
matter over antimatter}.


title: Learning Visual Symbols for Parsing Human Poses in Images

abstract:
  Parsing human poses in images is fundamental in extracting critical visual
information for artificial intelligent agents. Our goal is to learn
self-contained body part representations from images, which we call visual
symbols, and their symbol-wise geometric contexts in this parsing process. Each
symbol is individually learned by categorizing visual features leveraged by
geometric information. In the categorization, we use Latent Support Vector
Machine followed by an efficient cross validation procedure to learn visual
symbols. Then, these symbols naturally define geometric contexts of body parts
in a fine granularity. When the structure of the compositional parts is a tree,
we derive an efficient approach to estimating human poses in images.
Experiments on two large datasets suggest our approach outperforms state of the
art methods.


title: L-infinity algebras of local observables from higher prequantum bundles

abstract:
  To any manifold equipped with a higher degree closed form, one can associate
an L-infinity algebra of local observables that generalizes the Poisson algebra
of a symplectic manifold. Here, by means of an explicit homotopy equivalence,
we interpret this L-infinity algebra in terms of infinitesimal autoequivalences
of higher prequantum bundles. By truncating the connection data on the
prequantum bundle, we produce analogues of the (higher) Lie algebras of
sections of the Atiyah Lie algebroid and of the Courant Lie 2-algebroid. We
also exhibit the L-infinity cocycle that realizes the L-infinity algebra of
local observables as a Kirillov-Kostant-Souriau-type L-infinity extension of
the Hamiltonian vector fields. When restricted along a Lie algebra action, this
yields Heisenberg-like L-infinity algebras such as the string Lie 2-algebra of
a semisimple Lie algebra.


title: The stable Bernstein center and test functions for Shimura varieties

abstract:
  We elaborate the theory of the stable Bernstein center of a $p$-adic group
$G$, and apply it to state a general conjecture on test functions for Shimura
varieties due to the author and R. Kottwitz. This conjecture provides a
framework by which one might pursue the Langlands-Kottwitz method in a very
general situation: not necessarily PEL Shimura varieties with arbitrary level
structure at $p$. We give a concrete reinterpretation of the test function
conjecture in the context of parahoric level structure. We also use the stable
Bernstein center to formulate some of the transfer conjectures (the
"fundamental lemmas") that would be needed if one attempts to use the test
function conjecture to express the local Hasse-Weil zeta function of a Shimura
variety in terms of automorphic $L$-functions.


title: Cellular buckling in I-section struts

abstract:
  An analytical model that describes the interactive buckling of a thin-walled
I-section strut under pure compression based on variational principles is
presented. A formulation combining the Rayleigh--Ritz method and continuous
displacement functions is used to derive a system of differential and integral
equilibrium equations for the structural component. Numerical continuation
reveals progressive cellular buckling (or snaking) arising from the nonlinear
interaction between the weakly stable global buckling mode and the strongly
stable local buckling mode. The resulting behaviour is highly unstable and when
the model is extended to include geometric imperfections it compares
excellently with some recently published experiments.


title: Emergent quantum mechanics as a thermal ensemble

abstract:
  It has been argued that gravity acts dissipatively on quantum-mechanical
systems, inducing thermal fluctuations that become indistinguishable from
quantum fluctuations. This has led some authors to demand that some form of
time irreversibility be incorporated into the formalism of quantum mechanics.
As a tool towards this goal we propose a thermodynamical approach to quantum
mechanics, based on Onsager's classical theory of irreversible processes and on
Prigogine's nonunitary transformation theory. An entropy operator replaces the
Hamiltonian as the generator of evolution. The canonically conjugate variable
corresponding to the entropy is a dimensionless evolution parameter. Contrary
to the Hamiltonian, the entropy operator is not a conserved Noether charge. Our
construction succeeds in implementing gravitationally-induced irreversibility
in the quantum theory.


title: Hilbert curves in 2 dimensions generated by L-systems

abstract:
  Generating Hilbert curves in Z^2 using L-systems appears to be efficient and
easy


title: Guarded Variable Automata over Infinite Alphabets

abstract:
  We define guarded variable automata (GVAs), a simple extension of finite
automata over infinite alphabets. In this model the transitions are labelled by
letters or variables ranging over an infinite alphabet and guarded by
conjunction of equalities and disequalities. GVAs are well-suited for modeling
component-based applications such as web services. They are closed under
intersection, union, concatenation and Kleene operator, and their nonemptiness
problem is PSPACE-complete. We show that the simulation preorder of GVAs is
decidable. Our proof relies on the characterization of the simulation by means
of games and strategies. This result can be applied to service composition
synthesis.


title:
QCD description of charmonium plus light meson production in
  antiproton-nucleon annihilation

abstract:
  The associated production of a $J/{\psi}$ and a $\pi$-meson in
antiproton-nucleon annihilation is studied in the framework of QCD collinear
factorization. In this approach, a hard subprocess responsible for the
production of the heavy quark-antiquark pair factorizes from soft hadronic
matrix elements, such as the antiproton (nucleon) distribution amplitude and
the nucleon-to-pion (antiproton-to-pion) transition distribution amplitude.
This reaction mechanism should dominate the forward and backward kinematical
regions, where the cross sections are expected to be measurable in the set-up
of the PANDA experiment at the GSI-Fair facility.


title:
Tunneling-Induced Restoration of the Degeneracy and the Time-Reversal
  Symmetry Breaking in Optical Lattices

abstract:
  We study the ground-state properties of bosons loaded into the $p$-band of a
one dimensional optical lattice. We show that the phase diagram of the system
is substantially affected by the anharmonicity of the lattice potential. In
particular, for a certain range of tunneling strength, the full many-body
ground state of the system becomes degenerate. In this region, an additional
symmetry of the system, namely the parity of the occupation number of the
chosen orbital, is spontaneously broken. The state with nonvanishing staggered
angular momentum, which breaks the time-reversal symmetry, becomes the true
ground state of the system.


title: Long-Distance Transfer and Routing of Static Magnetic Fields

abstract:
  We show how the static magnetic field of a finite source can be transferred
and routed to arbitrary long distances. This is achieved by using
transformation optics, which results in a device made of a material with a
highly anisotropic magnetic permeability. We show that a simplified version of
the device, made by a superconducting-ferromagnet hybrid, also leads to an
excellent transfer of the magnetic field. The latter is demonstrated with a
proof-of-principle experiment where a ferromagnet tube coated with a
superconductor improves the transfer of static magnetic fields with respect to
conventional methods by a 400\% factor over distances of 14cm.


title:
On the Complexity of Verifying Regular Properties on Flat Counter
  Systems

abstract:
  Among the approximation methods for the verification of counter systems, one
of them consists in model-checking their flat unfoldings. Unfortunately, the
complexity characterization of model-checking problems for such operational
models is not always well studied except for reachability queries or for Past
LTL. In this paper, we characterize the complexity of model-checking problems
on flat counter systems for the specification languages including first-order
logic, linear mu-calculus, infinite automata, and related formalisms. Our
results span different complexity classes (mainly from PTime to PSpace) and
they apply to languages in which arithmetical constraints on counter values are
systematically allowed. As far as the proof techniques are concerned, we
provide a uniform approach that focuses on the main issues.


title:
Exact, singularity-free recasting of the Newtonian potential in
  continuous media

abstract:
  The gravitational potential is a key function involved in many astrophysical
problems. Its evaluation inside continuous media from Newton's law is known to
be challenging because of the diverging kernel 1/|r-r'|. This difficulty is
generally treated with avoidance techniques (e.g. multipole expansions,
softening length) themselves not without drawbacks. In this article, we present
a new path that basically fixes the point-mass singularity problem in systems
with, at least, two dimensions. It consists of recasting the gravitational
potential in an equivalent integro-differential form, namely the
cross-derivative of a "hyperpotential" (i.e., an auxiliary scalar function). In
contrast with the potential, the hyperpotential is the convolution of the mass
density with a finite amplitude kernel. We show that closed-form expressions
for this new kernel can be directly deduced from the potential of homogeneous
sheets. We then give a few formulae appropriate to the Cartesian, cylindrical
and spherical coordinate systems, including axial symmetry. The method is
essentially not limited, either on the geometry of the source or on the
distribution, and its implementation is straightforward. Several tests based
upon simple quadrature/differentiation schemes are presented (the homogeneous
rectangular sheet, cuboid and disk, the Maclaurin disk and a truncated
Lane-Emden solution). Compared with a direct summation, the extra computational
cost is low and the gain is real: no truncated series, no free parameter, and a
relative accuracy better than 1% for typically 16 nodes per spatial direction
using the most basic numerical schemes.


title: Phase Equilibrium of Binary Mixtures in Mixed Dimensions

abstract:
  We study the stability of a Bose-Fermi system loaded into an array of coupled
one-dimensional (1D) "tubes", where bosons and fermions experience different
dimensions: Bosons are heavy and strongly localized in the 1D tubes, whereas
fermions are light and can hop between the tubes. Using the 174Yb-6Li system as
a reference, we obtain the equilibrium phase diagram. We find that, for both
attractive and repulsive interspecies interaction, the exact treatment of 1D
bosons via the Bethe ansatz implies that the transitions between pure fermion
and any phase with a finite density of bosons can only be first order and never
continuous, resulting in phase separation in density space. In contrast, the
order of the transition between the pure boson and the mixed phase can either
be second or first order depending on whether fermions are allowed to hop
between the tubes or they also are strictly confined in 1D. We discuss the
implications of our findings for current experiments on 174Yb-6Li mixtures as
well as Fermi-Fermi mixtures of light and heavy atoms in a mixed dimensional
optical lattice system.


title: Advancements in solar neutrino physics

abstract:
  We review the results of solar neutrino physics, with particular attention to
the data obtained and the analyses performed in the last decades, which were
determinant to solve the solar neutrino problem (SNP), proving that neutrinos
are massive and oscillating particles and contributing to refine the solar
models. We also discuss the perspectives of the presently running experiments
in this sector and of the ones planned for the near future and the impact they
can have on elementary particle physics and astrophysics.


title: Constraints on Rindler Hydrodynamics

abstract:
  We study uncharged Rindler hydrodynamics at second order in the derivative
expansion. The equation of state of the theory is given by a vanishing
equilibrium energy density. We derive relations among the transport
coefficients by employing two frameworks. First, by the requirement of having
an entropy current with a non-negative divergence, second by studying the
thermal partition function on stationary backgrounds. The relations derived by
these two methods are equivalent. We verify the results by studying explicit
examples in flat and curved space-time geometries.


title:
Nonlinear optics in Xe-filled hollow-core PCF in high pressure and
  supercritical regimes

abstract:
  Supercritical Xe at 293 K offers a Kerr nonlinearity that can exceed that of
fused silica while being free of Raman scattering. It also has a much higher
optical damage threshold and a transparency window that extends from the UV to
the infrared. We report the observation of nonlinear phenomena, such as
self-phase modulation, in hollow-core photonic crystal fiber filled with
supercritical Xe. In the subcritical regime, intermodal four-wave-mixing
resulted in the generation of UV light in the HE12 mode. The normal dispersion
of the fiber at high pressures means that spectral broadening can clearly
obtained without influence from soliton effects or material damage.


title:
Efficient tomography of quantum-optical Gaussian processes probed with a
  few coherent states

abstract:
  An arbitrary quantum-optical process (channel) can be completely
characterized by probing it with coherent states using the recently developed
coherent-state quantum process tomography (QPT) [Lobino et al., Science 322,
563 (2008)]. In general, precise QPT is possible if an infinite set of probes
is available. Thus, realistic QPT of infinite-dimensional systems is
approximate due to a finite experimentally-feasible set of coherent states and
its related energy-cut-off approximation. We show with explicit formulas that
one can completely identify a quantum-optical Gaussian process just with a few
different coherent states without approximations like the energy cut-off. For
tomography of multimode processes, our method exponentially reduces the number
of different test states, compared with existing methods.


title:
Convex bodies with pinched Mahler volume under the centro-affine normal
  flows

abstract:
  We study the asymptotic behavior of smooth, origin-symmetric, strictly convex
bodies under the centro-affine normal flows. By means of a stability version of
the Blaschke-Santal\'{o} inequality, we obtain regularity of the solutions
provided that initial convex bodies have almost maximum Mahler volume. We prove
that suitably rescaled solutions converge sequentially to the unit ball in the
$\mathcal{C}^{\infty}$ topology modulo $SL(n+1)$.


title:
Sequential Tests of Multiple Hypotheses Controlling Type I and II
  Familywise Error Rates

abstract:
  This paper addresses the following general scenario: A scientist wishes to
perform a battery of experiments, each generating a sequential stream of data,
to investigate some phenomenon. The scientist would like to control the overall
error rate in order to draw statistically-valid conclusions from each
experiment, while being as efficient as possible. The between-stream data may
differ in distribution and dimension but also may be highly correlated, even
duplicated exactly in some cases. Treating each experiment as a hypothesis test
and adopting the familywise error rate (FWER) metric, we give a procedure that
sequentially tests each hypothesis while controlling both the type I and II
FWERs regardless of the between-stream correlation, and only requires arbitrary
sequential test statistics that control the error rates for a given stream in
isolation. The proposed procedure, which we call the sequential Holm procedure
because of its inspiration from Holm's (1979) seminal fixed-sample procedure,
shows simultaneous savings in expected sample size and less conservative error
control relative to fixed sample, sequential Bonferroni, and other recently
proposed sequential procedures in a simulation study.


title:
Search for non-pointing photons in the diphoton and E_T^miss final state
  in sqrt(s) = 7 TeV proton-proton collisions using the ATLAS detector

abstract:
  A search has been performed for photons originating in the decay of a neutral
long-lived particle, exploiting the capabilities of the ATLAS electromagnetic
calorimeter to make precise measurements of the flight direction of photons, as
well as the calorimeter's excellent time resolution. The search has been made
in the diphoton plus missing transverse energy final state, using the full data
sample of 4.8/fb of 7 TeV proton-proton collisions collected in 2011 with the
ATLAS detector at the LHC. No excess is observed above the background expected
from Standard Model processes. The results are used to set exclusion limits in
the context of Gauge Mediated Supersymmetry Breaking models, with the lightest
neutralino being the next-to-lightest supersymmetric particle and decaying with
a lifetime in excess of 0.25 ns into a photon and a gravitino.


title: Non-stationary Dynamics in the Bouncing Ball: A Wavelet perspective

abstract:
  The non-stationary dynamics of a bouncing ball, comprising of both periodic
as well as chaotic behavior, is studied through wavelet transform. The
multi-scale characterization of the time series displays clear signature of
self-similarity, complex scaling behavior and periodicity. Self-similar
behavior is quantified by the generalized Hurst exponent, obtained through both
wavelet based multi-fractal detrended fluctuation analysis and Fourier methods.
The scale dependent variable window size of the wavelets aptly captures both
the transients and non-stationary periodic behavior, including the phase
synchronization of different modes. The optimal time-frequency localization of
the continuous Morlet wavelet is found to delineate the scales corresponding to
neutral turbulence, viscous dissipation regions and different time varying
periodic modulations.


title: Stable commutator length in free products of cyclic groups

abstract:
  We give an algorithm to compute stable commutator length in free products of
cyclic groups which is polynomial time in the length of the input, the number
of factors, and the orders of the finite factors. We also describe some
experimental and theoretical applications of this algorithm.


title:
Wetting regimes and interactions of parallel plane surfaces in a polar
  liquid

abstract:
  We apply a phenomenological theory of polar liquids to calculate the
interaction energy between two plane surfaces at nm-distances. We show that
depending on the properties of the surface-liquid interfaces, the interacting
surfaces induce polarization of the liquid in different ways. We find, in full
agreement with available experiments, that if the interfaces are mostly
hydrophobic, then the interaction is attractive and relatively long-ranged
(interaction decay length \lambda\sim1.2\, nm). The water molecules are net
polarized parallel to the surfaces in this case. If the surfaces are mostly
hydrophilic, then the molecules are polarized against the surfaces, and the
interaction becomes repulsive, but at a short-range (\lambda\sim0.2\, nm).
Finally, we predict there exists an intermediate regime, where the surfaces
fail to order the water molecules, the interaction becomes much weaker,
attractive and, at relatively small distances, decays with the inverse square
of the distance between the surfaces.


title: Correlations and phase structure of Ising models at complex temperature

abstract:
  We investigate the spin-spin correlation functions of Ising magnets at
complex values of the temperature, T. For one-dimensional chain and ladder
systems, we show the existence of a kind of helimagnetic order in the vicinity
of contours where the leading two eigenvalues of the transfer matrix become
equal in magnitude. We analyse the development of long-range order as the
two-dimensional limit is approached, and find that there is rich structure in
much of the complex-T plane. In particular, and contrary to the work of Fisher
on this problem, the development of long-range order is actually associated
with a proliferation of partition function zeros in a certain finite region of
that plane containing the real-temperature magnetically ordered phase. The
thermodynamic consequences of this are also discussed.


title: Converse Magnetoelectric Effects in Fe3O4/BaTiO3 Multiferroic Hybrids

abstract:
  The quantitative understanding of converse magnetoelectric effects, i.e., the
variation of the magnetization as a function of an applied electric field, in
extrinsic multiferroic hybrids is a key prerequisite for the development of
future spintronic devices. We present a detailed study of the strain-mediated
converse magnetoelectric effect in ferrimagnetic Fe3O4 thin films on
ferroelectric BaTiO3 substrates at room temperature. The experimental results
are in excellent agreement with numerical simulation based on a two-region
model. This demonstrates that the electric field induced changes of the
magnetic state in the Fe3O4 thin film can be well described by the presence of
two different ferroelastic domains in the BaTiO3 substrate, resulting in two
differently strained regions in the Fe3O4 film with different magnetic
properties. The two-region model allows to predict the converse magnetoelectric
effects in multiferroic hybrid structures consisting of ferromagnetic thin
films on ferroelastic substrates.


title: About Strongly Universal Cellular Automata

abstract:
  In this paper, we construct a strongly universal cellular automaton on the
line with 11 states and the standard neighbourhood. We embed this construction
into several tilings of the hyperbolic plane and of the hyperbolic 3D space
giving rise to strongly universal cellular automata with 10 states.


title:
Measurement of the branching fractions of the decays Bs -> D0bar K-
  {\pi}+ and B0 -> D0bar K+ {\pi}-

abstract:
  The first observation of the decay Bs -> D0bar K- {\pi}+ is reported. The
analysis is based on a data sample, corresponding to an integrated luminosity
of 1.0 fb-1 of pp collisions, collected with the LHCb detector. The branching
fraction relative to that of the topologically similar decay B0 -> D0bar {\pi}+
{\pi}- is measured to be BR(Bs -> D0bar K- {\pi}+)/BR(B0 -> D0bar {\pi}+
{\pi}-) = 1.18 +- 0.05 (stat.) +- 0.12 (syst.). In addition, the relative
branching fraction of the decay B0 -> D0bar K+ {\pi}- is measured to be BR(B0
-> D0bar K+ {\pi}-)/BR(B0 -> D0bar {\pi}+ {\pi}-) = 0.106 +- 0.007 (stat.) +-
0.008 (syst.).


title: Asymmetric scattering of Dirac electrons and holes in graphene

abstract:
  The relativistic nature of Dirac electrons and holes in graphene profoundly
affects the way they interact with impurities. Signatures of the relativistic
behavior have been observed recently in scanning tunneling measurements on
individual impurities, but the conductance measurements in this regime are
typically dominated by electron and hole puddles. Here we present measurements
of quantum interference noise and magnetoresistance in graphene pn junctions.
Unlike the conductance, the quantum interference noise can provide access to
the scattering at the Dirac point:it is sensitive to the motion of a single
impurity, it depends strongly on the fundamental symmetries that describe the
system and it is determined by the phase-coherent phenomena which are not
necessarily obscured by the puddles. The temperature and the carrier density
dependence of resistance fluctuations and magnetoresistance in graphene p-n
junctions at low temperatures suggest that the noise is dominated by the
quantum interference due to scattering on impurities and that the noise minimum
could be used to determine the point where the average carrier density is zero.
At larger carrier densities, the amplitude of the noise depends strongly on the
sign of the impurity charge, reflecting the fact that the electrons and the
holes are scattered by the impurity potential in an asymmetric manner.


title:
Larval dispersal of intertidal organisms and the influence of coastline
  geography

abstract:
  The dispersal stages of organisms with sessile adults must be able to select
habitats with suitable conditions for establishment and survival, and must also
be able to reach those locations. For marine planktonic larvae, movement due to
currents is often orders of magnitude greater than movement due to swimming
behaviour, so transport is largely passive.
  Current patterns are determined by the interaction of geography with tidal
forces, modified by meteorological conditions. These linkages impose an
area-specific focus to connectivity studies. Yet, how geographical features and
meteorological forcing combine to produce specific current patterns and
resultant connectivity among populations remains unclear.
  In this study, we followed tracks of generic particles driven by modelled
hydrodynamic currents to investigate how connectivity between evenly spaced
habitat sites varies in relation to coastal topography. Larvae released from
regions of high current velocity, open coastline and low local habitat
availability travelled furthest but were less likely to disperse successfully.
Extensive natal habitat in the vicinity of a site generally had a positive
impact on the number of larvae arriving, as did low current velocities.
However, relationships between numbers of arriving larvae and local
geographical indices were complex, particularly at longer larval durations.
  Local geography alone explained up to 50% of the variance in success of
larvae released and around 10% of the variation in the number of larvae
arriving at each site, but coastline properties fall short of predicting
dispersal measures for particular locations. The study shows that
meteorological variation and broad scale current patterns interact strongly
with local geography to determine connectivity in coastal areas.


title: Graphene Based Plasmonic Tunable Low Pass Filters in the THz Band

abstract:
  We propose the concept, synthesis, analysis, and design of graphene-based
plasmonic tunable low-pass filters operating in the THz band. The proposed
structure is composed of a graphene strip transferred onto a dielectric and a
set of polysilicon DC gating pads located beneath it. This structure implements
a stepped impedance low-pass filter for the propagating surface plasmons by
adequately controlling the guiding properties of each strip section through
graphene's field effect. A synthesis procedure is presented to design filters
with desired specifications in terms of cut-off frequency, in-band performance,
and rejection characteristics. The electromagnetic modeling of the structure is
efficiently performed by combining an electrostatic scaling law to compute the
guiding features of each strip section with a transmission line and
transfer-matrix framework, approach further validated via full wave
simulations. The performance of the proposed filters is evaluated in practical
scenarios, taking into account the presence of the gating bias and the
influence of graphene's losses. These results, together with the high
miniaturization associated with plasmonic propagation, are very promising for
the future use and integration of the proposed filters with other graphene and
silicon-based elements in innovative THz communication systems.


title: A O(c^k n) 5-Approximation Algorithm for Treewidth

abstract:
  We give an algorithm that for an input n-vertex graph G and integer k>0, in
time 2^[O(k)]n either outputs that the treewidth of G is larger than k, or
gives a tree decomposition of G of width at most 5k+4. This is the first
algorithm providing a constant factor approximation for treewidth which runs in
time single-exponential in k and linear in n. Treewidth based computations are
subroutines of numerous algorithms. Our algorithm can be used to speed up many
such algorithms to work in time which is single-exponential in the treewidth
and linear in the input size.


title: Transition Probabilities of Positive Linear Functionals on $*$-Algebras

abstract:
  Using unbounded Hilbert space representations basic results on the transition
probability of positive linear functionals $f$ and $g$ on a unital *-algebra
are obtained. The main assumption is the essential self-adjointness of GNS
representations $\pi_f$ and $\pi_g$. Applications to functionals given by
density matrices and by integrals and to vector functionals on the Weyl algebra
are given.


title: Spatially localized solutions of shear flows

abstract:
  We present several new spatially localized equilibrium and traveling-wave
solutions of plane Couette and channel flows. The solutions exhibit strikingly
concentrated regions of vorticity that are flanked on either side by high-speed
streaks. For several traveling-wave solutions of channel flow, the concentrated
vortex structures are confined to the near-wall region and form particularly
isolated and elemental coherent structures in the near-wall region of shear
flows. The solutions are constructed by a variety of methods: application of
windowing functions to previously known spatially periodic solutions,
continuation from plane Couette to channel flow conditions, and from initial
guesses obtained from turbulent simulation data. We show how the symmetries of
localized solutions derive from the symmetries of their periodic counterparts,
analyze the exponential decay of their tails, examine the scale separation and
scaling of their streamwise Fourier modes, and show that they develop critical
layers for large Reynolds numbers.


title:
Functionals of a L\'evy Process on Canonical and Generic Probability
  Spaces

abstract:
  We develop an approach to Malliavin calculus for L\'evy processes from the
perspective of expressing a random variable $Y$ by a functional $F$ mapping
from the Skorohod space of c\`adl\`ag functions to $\mathbb{R}$, such that
$Y=F(X)$ where $X$ denotes the L\'evy process. We also present a
chain-rule-type application for random variables of the form
$f(\omega,Y(\omega))$.
  An important tool for these results is a technique which allows us to
transfer identities proved on the canonical probability space (in the sense of
Sol\'e et al.) associated to a L\'evy process with triplet
$(\gamma,\sigma,\nu)$ to an arbitrary probability space
$(\Omega,\mathcal{F},\mathbb{P})$ which carries a L\'evy process with the same
triplet.


title:
Differential branching fraction and angular analysis of the decay $B^{0}
  \to K^{*0} \mu^{+}\mu^{-}$

abstract:
  The angular distribution and differential branching fraction of the decay
$B^{0} \to K^{*0} \mu^{+}\mu^{-}$ are studied using a data sample, collected by
the LHCb experiment in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7\,{\rm TeV}$,
corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $1.0\,{\rm fb}^{-1}$. Several
angular observables are measured in bins of the dimuon invariant mass squared,
$q^{2}$. A first measurement of the zero-crossing point of the forward-backward
asymmetry of the dimuon system is also presented. The zero-crossing point is
measured to be $q_{0}^{2} = 4.9 \pm 0.9 \,{\rm GeV}^{2}/c^{4}$, where the
uncertainty is the sum of statistical and systematic uncertainties. The results
are consistent with the Standard Model predictions.


title: Nonnormal small jump approximation of infinitely divisible distributions

abstract:
  We consider a type of nonnormal approximation of infinitely divisible
distributions that incorporates compound Poisson, Gamma, and normal
distributions. The approximation relies on achieving higher orders of cumulant
matching, to obtain higher rates of approximation error decay. The parameters
of the approximation are easy to fix. The computational complexity of random
sampling of the approximating distribution in many cases is of the same order
as normal approximation. Error bounds in terms of total variance distance are
derived. Both the univariate and the multivariate cases of the approximation
are considered.


title:
Evidence of a full gap in LaFeAsO$_{1-x}$F$_x$ thin films from infrared
  spectroscopy

abstract:
  We report conventional and time-resolved infrared spectroscopy on
LaFeAsO$_{1-x}$F$_x$ superconducting thin films. The far-infrared transmission
can be quantitatively explained by a two-component model including a
conventional s-wave superconducting term and a Drude term, suggesting at least
one carrier system has a full superconducting gap. Photo-induced studies of
excess quasiparticle dynamics reveal a nanosecond effective recombination time
and temperature dependence that agree with a recombination bottleneck in the
presence of a full gap. The two experiments provide consistent evidence of a
full, nodeless though not necessarily isotropic, gap for at least one carrier
system in LaFeAsO$_{1-x}$F$_x$.


title: Cellular coalgebras over the Barratt-Eccles operad I

abstract:
  This paper considers a class of coalgebras over the Barratt-Eccles operad and
shows that they classify Z-completions of pointed, reduced simplicial sets. As
a consequence, they encapsulate the homotopy types of nilpotent simplicial
sets. This result is a direct generalization of Quillen's result characterizing
rational homotopy types via cocommutative coalgebras.


title: On the Torus Degeneration of the Genus Two Partition Function

abstract:
  We consider the partition function of a general vertex operator algebra $V$
on a genus two Riemann surface formed by sewing together two tori. We consider
the non-trivial degeneration limit where one torus is pinched down to a Riemann
sphere and show that the genus one partition function on the degenerate torus
is recovered up to an explicit universal $V$-independent multiplicative factor
raised to the power of the central charge.


title:
Construction of spaces of kinematic quantum states for field theories
  via projective techniques

abstract:
  We present a method of constructing a space of quantum states for a field
theory: given phase space of a theory, we define a family of physical systems
each possessing a finite number of degrees of freedom, next we define a space
of quantum states for each finite system, finally using projective techniques
we organize all these spaces into a space of quantum states which corresponds
to the original phase space. This construction is kinematic in this sense that
it bases merely on the structure of the phase space and does not take into
account possible constraints on the space. The construction is a generalization
of a construction by Kijowski - the latter one is limited to theories of linear
phase spaces, while the former one is free of this limitation.


title: Optimal Taylor-Couette flow: Radius ratio dependence

abstract:
  Taylor-Couette flow with independently rotating inner (i) and outer (o)
cylinders is explored numerically and experimentally to determine the effects
of the radius ratio {\eta} on the system response. Numerical simulations reach
Reynolds numbers of up to Re_i=9.5 x 10^3 and Re_o=5x10^3, corresponding to
Taylor numbers of up to Ta=10^8 for four different radius ratios {\eta}=r_i/r_o
between 0.5 and 0.909. The experiments, performed in the Twente Turbulent
Taylor-Couette (T^3C) setup, reach Reynolds numbers of up to Re_i=2x10^6$ and
Re_o=1.5x10^6, corresponding to Ta=5x10^{12} for {\eta}=0.714-0.909. Effective
scaling laws for the torque J^{\omega}(Ta) are found, which for sufficiently
large driving Ta are independent of the radius ratio {\eta}. As previously
reported for {\eta}=0.714, optimum transport at a non-zero Rossby number
Ro=r_i|{\omega}_i-{\omega}_o|/[2(r_o-r_i){\omega}_o] is found in both
experiments and numerics. Ro_opt is found to depend on the radius ratio and the
driving of the system. At a driving in the range between {Ta\sim3\cdot10^8} and
{Ta\sim10^{10}}, Ro_opt saturates to an asymptotic {\eta}-dependent value.
Theoretical predictions for the asymptotic value of Ro_{opt} are compared to
the experimental results, and found to differ notably. Furthermore, the local
angular velocity profiles from experiments and numerics are compared, and a
link between a flat bulk profile and optimum transport for all radius ratios is
reported.


title:
The charm of hot matter - charmonium and open charm measurements in
  Pb--Pb collisions with ALICE at the LHC

abstract:
  We present selected results obtained by the ALICE Collaboration concerning
charmed hadron and quarkonium production in Pb--Pb collisions at the LHC.


title:
Unifying and generalizing known lower bounds via geometric complexity
  theory

abstract:
  We show that most arithmetic circuit lower bounds and relations between lower
bounds naturally fit into the representation-theoretic framework suggested by
geometric complexity theory (GCT), including: the partial derivatives technique
(Nisan-Wigderson), the results of Razborov and Smolensky on $AC^0[p]$,
multilinear formula and circuit size lower bounds (Raz et al.), the degree
bound (Strassen, Baur-Strassen), the connected components technique (Ben-Or),
depth 3 arithmetic circuit lower bounds over finite fields
(Grigoriev-Karpinski), lower bounds on permanent versus determinant
(Mignon-Ressayre, Landsberg-Manivel-Ressayre), lower bounds on matrix
multiplication (B\"{u}rgisser-Ikenmeyer) (these last two were already known to
fit into GCT), the chasms at depth 3 and 4 (Gupta-Kayal-Kamath-Saptharishi;
Agrawal-Vinay; Koiran), matrix rigidity (Valiant) and others. That is, the
original proofs, with what is often just a little extra work, already provide
representation-theoretic obstructions in the sense of GCT for their respective
lower bounds. This enables us to expose a new viewpoint on GCT, whereby it is a
natural unification and broad generalization of known results. It also shows
that the framework of GCT is at least as powerful as known methods, and gives
many new proofs-of-concept that GCT can indeed provide significant asymptotic
lower bounds. This new viewpoint also opens up the possibility of fruitful
two-way interactions between previous results and the new methods of GCT; we
provide several concrete suggestions of such interactions. For example, the
representation-theoretic viewpoint of GCT naturally provides new properties to
consider in the search for new lower bounds.


title:
Natural Emergence of Cosmological Constant and Dark Radiation from
  Stephenson-Kilmister-Yang-Camenzind Theory of Gravity

abstract:
  We show that the Stephenson-Kilmister-Yang (SKY) equation combined with
Camenzind's matter current term naturally provides the cosmological constant
and dark radiation as integration constants of the SKYC field equation. To
characterize the property of the dark radiation, we develop a method to
separate it from the ordinary radiation. We found a special property of
Camenzind's matter current, namely that the solution space for radiation in
fact belongs to that of the vacuum solution of SKY equation. We also found that
his matter current does not obey the conservation condition suggested by
Kilmister. Finally, we discuss the possible role of dark radiation emergent
from the SKYC theory in recent cosmic-microwave-background observations and its
implications to the inflation scenario.


title:
Measurement of Neutrino and Antineutrino Oscillations Using Beam and
  Atmospheric Data in MINOS

abstract:
  We report measurements of oscillation parameters from $\nu_{mu}$ and
$\bar{\nu}_{\mu}$ disappearance using beam and atmospheric data from MINOS. The
data comprise exposures of \unit[$10.71 \times 10^{20}$]{protons on target
(POT)} in the $\nu_{\mu}$-dominated beam, $\unit[3.36\times10^{20}]{POT}}$ in
the $\bar{\nu}_{\mu}$-enhanced beam, and 37.88 kton-years of atmospheric
neutrinos. Assuming identical $\nu$ and $\bar{\nu}$ oscillation parameters, we
measure \mbox{$|\Delta m^2}| = \unit[2.41^{+0.09}_{-0.10}) \times
10^{-3}]{eV^{2}}$} and $\sin^{2}/!/left(2\theta \right) =
0.950^{+0.035}_{-0.036}$. Allowing independent $\nu$ and $\bar{\nu}$
oscillations, we measure antineutrino parameters of $|\Delta \bar{m}^2| =
\unit[(2.50 ^{+0.23}_{-0.25}) \times 10^{-3}]{eV^{2}}$ and
$\sin^{2}/!/left(2\bar{\theta} \right) = 0.97^{+0.03}_{-0.08}$, with minimal
change to the neutrino parameters.


title:
Multiwavelength observations of the black hole transient XTE J1752-223
  during its 2010 outburst decay

abstract:
  Galactic black hole transients show many interesting phenomena during
outburst decays. We present simultaneous X-ray (RXTE, Swift, and INTEGRAL), and
optical/near-infrared (O/NIR) observations (SMARTS) of the X-ray transient XTE
J1752-223 during its outburst decay in 2010. The multiwavelength observations
over 150 days in 2010 cover the transition from soft to hard spectral state. We
discuss the evolution of radio emission is with respect to the O/NIR light
curve which shows several flares. One of those flares is bright and long,
starting about 60 days after the transition in X-ray timing properties. During
this flare, the radio spectral index becomes harder. Other smaller flares occur
along with the X-ray timing transition, and also right after the detection of
the radio core. We discuss the significances of these flares. Furthermore,
using the simultaneous broadband X-ray spectra including INTEGRAL, we find that
a high energy cut-off with a folding energy near 250 keV is necessary around
the time that the compact jet is forming. The broad band spectrum can be fitted
equally well with a Comptonization model. In addition, using photoelectric
absorption edges in the XMM-Newton RGS X-ray spectra and the extinction of red
clump giants in the direction of the source, we find a lower limit on the
distance of > 5 kpc.


title: A Resolvent Approach to the Real Quantum Plane

abstract:
  Let $q\neq \pm 1$ be a complex number of modulus one. This paper deals with
the operator relation $AB=qBA$ for self-adjoint operators $A$ and $B$ on a
Hilbert space. Two classes of well-behaved representations of this relation are
studied in detail and characterized by resolvent equations.


title: Higgs sectors with exotic scalar fields

abstract:
  The discovery of the Higgs boson like particle with the mass of around 126
GeV has given us a great clue to know what is the true Higgs sector. New
physics models at the TeV scale often introduce Higgs sectors extended from the
minimal form, so that the determination of the Higgs sector can be a probe of
new physics models. In this talk, we focus on the Higgs sector with exotic
representation fields whose isospin is larger than 1/2. We first discuss the
general features of exotic Higgs sectors, and then we consider several concrete
models to clarify them. The phenomenology of the Higgs triplet model is
discussed as the simple but important example.


title:
Continuum interpretation of the dynamical-triangulation formulation of
  quantum Einstein gravity

abstract:
  In the time-space symmetric version of dynamical triangulation, a
non-perturbative version of quantum Einstein gravity, numerical simulations
without matter have shown two phases, with spacetimes that are either crumpled
or elongated like branched polymers, with strong evidence of a first-order
transition between them. These properties have generally been considered
unphysical. Using previously unpublished numerical results, we give an
interpretation in terms of continuum spacetimes that have constant positive and
negative curvature, respectively in the 'elongated' and 'crumpled' phase. The
magnitude of the positive curvature leads naturally to average spacetimes
consisting solely of baby-universes in a branched-polymer structure, whereas
the negative curvature accommodates easily a large mother universe, albeit with
a crumpling singularity. Nevertheless, there is evidence for scaling in the
crumpled phase, which we compare with the well-known scaling in the elongated
phase. Using constraint effective-action models we analyze existing numerical
susceptibility-data of the phase transition and determine the behavior of the
average Regge-curvature. We propose a renormalization of the Regge curvature
and compare it to the curvature of the above continuum spacetimes, and also to
the curvature implied by the Gauss-Bonnet theorem in the continuum. The latter
involves a more benign multiplicative renormalization and suggests that
simulations at larger volumes are needed to settle the order of the phase
transition.


title:
Pinning the order: the nature of quantum criticality in the Hubbard
  model on honeycomb lattice

abstract:
  In numerical simulations, spontaneously broken symmetry is often detected by
computing two-point correlation functions of the appropriate local order
parameter. This approach, however, computes the square of the local order
parameter, and so when it is {\it small}, very large system sizes at high
precisions are required to obtain reliable results. Alternatively, one can pin
the order by introducing a local symmetry breaking field, and then measure the
induced local order parameter infinitely far from the pinning center. The
method is tested here at length for the Hubbard model on honeycomb lattice,
within the realm of the projective auxiliary field quantum Monte Carlo
algorithm. With our enhanced resolution we find a direct and continuous quantum
phase transition between the semi-metallic and the insulating antiferromagnetic
states with increase of the interaction. The single particle gap in units of
the Hubbard $U$ tracks the staggered magnetization. An excellent data collapse
is obtained by finite size scaling, with the values of the critical exponents
in accord with the Gross-Neveu universality class of the transition.


title: Baryons in/and Lattice QCD

abstract:
  Anchoring our understanding of low-energy nuclear and hadronic physics to the
fundamental theory of strong interactions, QCD, remains and outstanding
challenge for physicists. Lattice QCD and chiral perturbation theory are the
most powerful theoretical tools we have at our disposal to make this
connection. These tools share a symbiotic relationship as chiral perturbation
theory is used to understand the light quark mass dependence of observables,
while lattice QCD is used to determine the values of the unknown operator
coefficients appearing in the chiral Lagrangian. In this talk, I review our
present understanding of select single baryon properties from lattice QCD and
chiral perturbation theory, highlighting some of the challenges and discussing
some unresolved puzzles.


title: Quasi-2D Liquid He-3

abstract:
  Quantum Monte Carlo simulations at zero temperature of an ensemble of He-3
atoms adsorbed on Mg and Alkali substrates yield strong evidence of a
thermodynamically stable liquid He-3 monolayer on all Alkali substrates, with
the possible exception of Li. The effective 2D density is close to 0.02$
inverse square Angstroms on Na, making it the lowest density liquid in Nature.
Its existence is underlain by zero-point atomic motion perpendicular to the
substrate, whose effect is softening the short-range repulsion of the helium
interatomic potential. The monolayer films should turn superfluid at a
temperature of order 1 mK. No liquid film is predicted to form on Mg, or on
stronger substrates such as graphite.


title:
On Koszulity in homology of moduli spaces of stable n-pointed curves of
  genus zero

abstract:
  We prove Koszulity of the homology of the of moduli spaces of stable
n-pointed curves of genus zero
  $\overline{M}_{0,n}$ for $n=5$, using its presentation due to Keel and the
Priddy criterion of Koszulity. For $n=6 $ we establish that
$\overline{M}_{0,6}^!$ is potential, find the expression for the potential, and
based on that prove that it is Koszul.


title: Formation of stripes and slabs near the ferromagnetic transition

abstract:
  We consider Ising models in d=2 and d=3 dimensions with nearest neighbor
ferromagnetic and long-range antiferromagnetic interactions, the latter
decaying as (distance)^(-p), p>2d, at large distances. If the strength J of the
ferromagnetic interaction is larger than a critical value J_c, then the ground
state is homogeneous. It has been conjectured that when J is smaller than but
close to J_c the ground state is periodic and striped, with stripes of constant
width h=h(J), and h tends to infinity as J tends to J_c from below. (In d=3
stripes mean slabs, not columns.) Here we rigorously prove that, if we
normalize the energy in such a way that the energy of the homogeneous state is
zero, then the ratio e_0(J)/e_S(J) tends to 1 as J tends to J_c from below,
with e_S(J) being the energy per site of the optimal periodic striped/slabbed
state and e_0(J) the actual ground state energy per site of the system. Our
proof comes with explicit bounds on the difference e_0(J)-e_S(J) at small but
finite J_c-J, and also shows that in this parameter range the ground state is
striped/slabbed in a certain sense: namely, if one looks at a randomly chosen
window, of suitable size l (very large compared to the optimal stripe size
h(J)), one finds a striped/slabbed state with high probability.


title:
Additive invariants of finite dimensional algebras of finite global
  dimension

abstract:
  Let k be a perfect field and A a finite dimensional k-algebra of finite
global dimension (e.g. the path algebra of a finite quiver without oriented
cycles). Making use of the recent theory of noncommutative motives, we prove
that the value of every additive invariant at A only depends on the number of
simple modules. Examples of additive invariants include algebraic K-theory,
cyclic homology (and all its variants), topological Hochschild homology, etc.
Along the way we establish two results of general interest. The first one
concerns the compatibility between bilinear pairings and Galois actions on the
Grothendieck group of every proper dg category. The second one is a transfer
result in the setting of noncommutative motives.


title: Quantum field theory in four dimensions

abstract:
  I review the current status of FDR, the recently introduced Four-Dimensional
Regularization/Renormalization approach to ultraviolet divergences in Quantum
Field Theory. FDR also regulates infrared and collinear infinities in the
intermediate steps of the calculation.


title: Inside the degenerate horizons of regular black holes

abstract:
  The regularized stress-energy tensor of the quantized massive scalar, spinor
and vector fields inside the degenerate horizon of the regular charged black
hole in the (anti-)de Sitter universe is constructed and examined. It is shown
that although the components of the stress-energy tensor are small in the
vicinity of the black hole degenerate horizon and near the regular center, they
are quite big in the intermediate region. The oscillatory character of the
stress-energy tensor can be ascribed to various responses of the higher
curvature terms to the changes of the metric inside the (degenerate) event
horizon, especially in the region adjacent to the region described by the
nearly flat metric potentials. Special emphasis is put on the stress-energy
tensor in the geometries being the product of the constant curvature
two-dimensional subspaces.


title: Confining Backgrounds and Quantum Chaos in Holography

abstract:
  Classical world-sheet string theory has recently been shown to be
nonintegrable and chaotic in various confining string theory backgrounds -- the
AdS soliton background in particular. In this paper we study a minisuperspace
quantization of the theory and look at properties of the spectrum like the
distribution of level spacing, which are indicative of quantum order or chaos.
In the quantum spectrum we find a gradual transition from chaotic (Wigner GOE)
to integrable (Poisson) regime as we look at higher energies. This is expected
since our system is integrable asymptotically, and at higher energies, the
dynamics is entirely dominated by the kinetic terms.


title: Dissipative Nonlinear Dynamics in Holography

abstract:
  We look at the response of a nonlinearly coupled scalar field in an
asymptotically AdS black brane geometry and find a behavior very similar to
that of known dissipative nonlinear systems like the chaotic pendulum.
Transition to chaos proceeds through a series of period-doubling bifurcations.
The presence of dissipation, crucial to this behavior, arises naturally in a
black hole background from the ingoing conditions imposed at the horizon.
AdS/CFT translates our solution to a chaotic response of the operator dual to
the scalar field. Our setup can also be used to study quenchlike behavior in
strongly coupled nonlinear systems.


title: Nuclear chiral dynamics and thermodynamics

abstract:
  This presentation reviews an approach to nuclear many-body systems based on
the spontaneously broken chiral symmetry of low-energy QCD. In the low-energy
limit, for energies and momenta small compared to a characteristic symmetry
breaking scale of order 1 GeV, QCD is realized as an effective field theory of
Goldstone bosons (pions) coupled to heavy fermionic sources (nucleons). Nuclear
forces at long and intermediate distance scales result from a systematic
hierarchy of one- and two-pion exchange processes in combination with Pauli
blocking effects in the nuclear medium. Short distance dynamics, not resolved
at the wavelengths corresponding to typical nuclear Fermi momenta, are
introduced as contact interactions between nucleons. Apart from a set of
low-energy constants associated with these contact terms, the parameters of
this theory are entirely determined by pion properties and low-energy
pion-nucleon scattering observables. This framework (in-medium chiral
perturbation theory) can provide a realistic description of both
isospin-symmetric nuclear matter and neutron matter. The importance of
three-body forces is emphasized, and the role of explicit Delta(1232)-isobar
degrees of freedom is investigated in detail. Nuclear chiral thermodynamics is
developed and a calculation of the nuclear phase diagram is performed. This
includes a successful description of the first-order phase transition from a
nuclear Fermi liquid to an interacting Fermi gas and the coexistence of these
phases below a critical temperature T_c. Density functional methods for finite
nuclei based on this approach are also discussed. Effective interactions, their
density dependence and connections to Landau Fermi liquid theory are outlined.
Finally, the density and temperature dependence of the chiral (quark)
condensate is investigated.


title: Universal Uncertainty Relations

abstract:
  Uncertainty relations are a distinctive characteristic of quantum theory that
impose intrinsic limitations on the precision with which physical properties
can be simultaneously determined. The modern work on uncertainty relations
employs \emph{entropic measures} to quantify the lack of knowledge associated
with measuring non-commuting observables. However, there is no fundamental
reason for using entropies as quantifiers; any functional relation that
characterizes the uncertainty of the measurement outcomes defines an
uncertainty relation. Starting from a very reasonable assumption of invariance
under mere relabelling of the measurement outcomes, we show that Schur-concave
functions are the most general uncertainty quantifiers. We then discover a
fine-grained uncertainty relation that is given in terms of the majorization
order between two probability vectors, \textcolor{black}{significantly
extending a majorization-based uncertainty relation first introduced in [M. H.
Partovi, Phys. Rev. A \textbf{84}, 052117 (2011)].} Such a vector-type
uncertainty relation generates an infinite family of distinct scalar
uncertainty relations via the application of arbitrary uncertainty quantifiers.
Our relation is therefore universal and captures the essence of uncertainty in
quantum theory.


title: Projective normality of model varieties and related results

abstract:
  We prove that the multiplication of sections of globally generated line
bundles on a model wonderful variety M of simply connected type is always
surjective. This follows by a general argument which works for every wonderful
variety and reduces the study of the surjectivity for every couple of globally
generated line bundles to a finite number of cases. As a consequence, the cone
defined by a complete linear system over M or over a closed G-stable subvariety
of M is normal. We apply these results to the study of the normality of the
compactifications of model varieties in simple projective spaces and of the
closures of the spherical nilpotent orbits. Then we focus on a particular case
proving two specific conjectures of Adams, Huang and Vogan on an analogue of
the model orbit of the group of type E8.


title:
The Klein-Gordon Equation on ${\mathbb Z}^2$ and the Quantum Harmonic
  Lattice

abstract:
  The discrete Klein-Gordon equation on a two-dimensional square lattice
satisfies an $\ell^1 \mapsto \ell^\infty$ dispersive bound with polynomial
decay rate $|t|^{-3/4}$. We determine the shape of the light cone for any
choice of the mass parameter and relative propagation speeds along the two
coordinate axes. Fundamental solutions experience the least dispersion along
four caustic lines interior to the light cone rather than along its boundary,
and decay exponentially to arbitrary order outside the light cone. The overall
geometry of the propagation pattern and its associated dispersive bounds are
independent of the particular choice of parameters. In particular there is no
bifurcation of the number or type of caustics that are present.
  The discrete Klein-Gordon equation is a classical analogue of the quantum
harmonic lattice. In the quantum setting, commutators of time-shifted
observables experience the same decay rates as the corresponding Klein-Gordon
solutions, which depend in turn on the relative location of the observables'
support sets.


title:
Towards NNLL resummation: hard matching coefficients for squark and
  gluino hadroproduction

abstract:
  We present the hard matching coefficients for squark and gluino
hadroproduction. The hard matching coefficients follow from the next-to-leading
order cross section near threshold and are an important ingredient for
performing threshold resummation at next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic
accuracy. We discuss the calculation, list the analytical results and study the
numerical impact of these corrections. We find that the impact of the hard
matching coefficients can be considerable, with the largest effect observed for
final states involving gluinos.


title: Soft singularity crossing and transformation of matter properties

abstract:
  We investigate particular cosmological models, based either on tachyon fields
or on perfect fluids, for which soft future singularities arise in a natural
way. Our main result is the description of a smooth crossing of the soft
singularity in models with an anti-Chaplygin gas or with a particular tachyon
field in the presence of dust. Such a crossing is made possible by certain
transformations of matter properties. Some of these cosmological evolutions
involving tachyons are compatible with SNIa data. We compute numerically their
dynamics involving a first soft singularity crossing, a turning point and a
second soft singulatity crossing during recollapse, ending in a Big Crunch
singularity.


title: Rigidity of generic singularities of mean curvature flow

abstract:
  Shrinkers are special solutions of mean curvature flow (MCF) that evolve by
rescaling and model the singularities. While there are infinitely many in each
dimension, [CM1] showed that the only generic are round cylinders $\SS^k\times
\RR^{n-k}$. We prove here that round cylinders are rigid in a very strong
sense. Namely, any other shrinker that is sufficiently close to one of them on
a large, but compact, set must itself be a round cylinder.
  To our knowledge, this is the first general rigidity theorem for
singularities of a nonlinear geometric flow. We expect that the techniques and
ideas developed here have applications to other flows.
  Our results hold in all dimensions and do not require any a priori
smoothness.


title: Connectedness of Poisson cylinders in Euclidean space

abstract:
  We consider the Poisson cylinder model in ${\mathbb R}^d$, $d\ge 3$. We show
that given any two cylinders ${\mathfrak c}_1$ and ${\mathfrak c}_2$ in the
process, there is a sequence of at most $d-2$ other cylinders creating a
connection between ${\mathfrak c}_1$ and ${\mathfrak c}_2$. In particular, this
shows that the union of the cylinders is a connected set, answering a question
appearing in a previous paper. We also show that there are cylinders in the
process that are not connected by a sequence of at most $d-3$ other cylinders.
Thus, the diameter of the cluster of cylinders equals $d-2$.