title: Probing of quantum dissipative chaos by purity

abstract:
  In this paper, the purity of quantum states is applied to probe chaotic
dissipative dynamics. To achieve this goal, a comparative analysis of regular
and chaotic regimes of nonlinear dissipative oscillator (NDO) are performed on
the base of excitation number and the purity of oscillatory states. While the
chaotic regime is identified in our semiclassical approach by means of strange
attractors in Poincar\'e section and with the Lyapunov exponent, the state in
the quantum regime is treated via the Wigner function. Specifically,
interesting quantum purity effects that accompany the chaotic dynamics are
elucidated in this paper for NDO system driven by either: (i) a time-modulated
field, or (ii) a sequence of pulses with Gaussian time-dependent envelopes.


title: Principal Component Analysis of Spectral Line Data: Analytic Formulation

abstract:
  Principal component analysis is a powerful statistical system to investigate
the structure and dynamics of the molecular interstellar medium, with
particular emphasis on the study of turbulence, as revealed by spectroscopic
imaging of molecular line emission. To-date, the method to retrieve the power
law index of the velocity structure function or power spectrum has relied on an
empirical calibration and testing with model turbulent velocity fields, while
lacking a firm theoretical basis. In this paper, we present an analytic
formulation that reveals the detailed mechanics of the method and confirms
previous empirical calibrations of its recovery of the scale dependence of
turbulent velocity fluctuations.


title: Entropic Solution of the Innovation Conjecture of T. Kailath

abstract:
  On a general filtered probability space, for a given signal
$U_t=B_t+\int_0^t\dot{u}_sds$, we prove that the filtration of $U$ is equal to
the filtration of its innovation process $Z$ if and only if $$
H(Z(\nu)|\mu)=\half E_\nu[\int_0^1|E_P[\dot{u}_s|\calU_s]|^2ds] $$ where
$d\nu=\exp(-\int_0^1 E_P[\dot{u}_s|\calU_s]dZ_s-\half
\int_0^1|E_P[\dot{u}_s|\calU_s]|^2 ds)dP$ in case the density has expectation
one, otherwies we give a localized version of the same strength with a sequence
of stopping times of the filtration of $U$.


title:
Finite Theories Before and After the Discovery of a Higgs Boson at the
  LHC

abstract:
  Finite Unified Theories (FUTs) are N = 1 supersymmetric Grand Unified
Theories (GUTs) which can be made finite to all-loop orders, based on the
principle of reduction of couplings, and therefore are provided with a large
predictive power. Confronting the predictions of SU(5) FUTs with the top and
bottom quark masses and other low-energy experimental constraints a light
Higgs-boson mass in the range M_h \sim 121-126 GeV was predicted, in striking
agreement with the recent discovery of a Higgs-like state around \sim 125.5 GeV
at ATLAS and CMS. Furthermore the favoured model, a finiteness constrained
version of the MSSM, naturally predicts a relatively heavy spectrum with
coloured supersymmetric particles above \sim 1.5 TeV, consistent with the
non-observation of those particles at the LHC. Restricting further the best
FUT's parameter space according to the discovery of a Higgs-like state and
B-physics observables we find predictions for the rest of the Higgs masses and
the supersymmetric particle spectrum.


title: Confined Brownian ratchets

abstract:
  We analyze the dynamics of Brownian ratchets in a confined environment. The
motion of the particles is described by a Fick-Jakobs kinetic equation in which
the presence of boundaries is modeled by means of an entropic potential. The
cases of a flashing ratchet, a two-state model and a ratchet under the
influence of a temperature gradient are analyzed in detail. We show the
emergence of a strong cooperativity between the inherent rectification of the
ratchet mechanism and the entropic bias of the fluctuations caused by spatial
confinement. Net particle transport may take place in situations where none of
those mechanisms leads to rectification when acting individually. The combined
rectification mechanisms may lead to bidirectional transport and to new routes
to segregation phenomena. Confined Brownian ratchets (CBR) could be used to
control transport in mesostructures and to engineer new and more efficient
devices for transport at the nanoscale.


title: CI Aql: a Type Ia supernova progenitor?

abstract:
  If recurrent novae are progenitors of Type Ia supernovae, their white dwarfs
must have masses close to the Chandrasekhar limit. The most reliable means of
determining white dwarf masses in recurrent novae is dynamically, via
radial-velocity and rotational-broadening measurements of the companion star.
Such measurements require the system to be both eclipsing and to show
absorption features from the secondary star. Prior to the work reported here,
the only dynamical mass estimate of a recurrent nova was for U Sco, which has a
white dwarf mass of 1.55 +/- 0.24 Msolar (Thoroughgood et al. 2001).
  We present new time-resolved, intermediate-resolution spectroscopy of the
eclipsing recurrent nova CI Aquilae (CI Aql) during quiescence. We find the
mass of the white dwarf to be 1.00 +/- 0.14 Msolar and the mass of the
secondary star to be 2.32 +/- 0.19 Msolar. We estimate the radius of the
secondary to be 2.07 +/- 0.06 Rsolar, implying that it is a slightly-evolved
early A-type star. The high mass ratio of q = 2.35 +/- 0.24 and the high
secondary-star mass implies that the mass transfer occurs on a thermal
timescale. We suggest that CI Aql is rapidly evolving into a supersoft X-ray
source, and ultimately may explode as a Type Ia supernova within 10 Myr.


title: Pion photoproduction on nucleus with two-nucleon emission

abstract:
  A model for the pion photoproduction on nuclei in the $A\left({\gamma ,\, \pi
NN} \right)B$ reaction is presented. This is an extension of our recent model
for the $A\left({\gamma ,\, \pi N} \right)B$ reaction. In this approach we have
moved beyond the standard shell-model considering $\Delta$\textit{N}
correlations in the nuclear wave functions, which are caused by the virtual
transitions $NN \to \Delta N \to NN$ in the ground state of the nucleus. The
main ingredients of the model are the two- and three-particle density matrices
and the transition operators $\gamma \Delta \to N\pi $ and $\gamma N \to N\pi
$. The direct and exchange reaction mechanisms, which follow from the structure
of the density matrices, are examined. The model is used to investigate the
$^{12}$C$\left({\gamma ,\, \pi ^{+} p} \right)$ and $^{12}$C$\left({\gamma ,\,
\pi ^{-} p} \right)$ reactions in the kinematic region of the large momentum
transfers to the residual nuclear system, where the pion production occurs with
the emission of two nucleons.


title:
Nonequilibrium Fluctuation-Dissipation Theorems for Interacting Quantum
  Transport

abstract:
  We study non-equilibrium (NE) fluctuation-dissipation (FD) relations in the
context of quantum thermoelectric transport through a two-terminal nanodevice,
in the steady-state and with interaction. The FD relations for the one- and
two-particle correlation functions are derived. Numerical applications, using
self-consistent NE Green's functions calculations, are given for
electron-phonon interaction in the central region. We find that the FD
relations for the one-particle correlation function are strongly dependent on
both the NE conditions and the interactions, while they are much less dependent
on the interactions for the two-particle correlation. This suggests interesting
applications for single-molecule and other nanoscale transport experiments: the
two-particle correlation functions, obtained from noise and transport
measurement, provide information about the gradients of chemical potential and
temperature, and other properties of the system.


title:
A Comparison of Random Forests and Ferns on Recognition of Instruments
  in Jazz Recordings

abstract:
  In this paper, we first apply random ferns for classification of real music
recordings of a jazz band. No initial segmentation of audio data is assumed,
i.e., no onset, offset, nor pitch data are needed. The notion of random ferns
is described in the paper, to familiarize the reader with this classification
algorithm, which was introduced quite recently and applied so far in image
recognition tasks. The performance of random ferns is compared with random
forests for the same data. The results of experiments are presented in the
paper, and conclusions are drawn.


title: Conditions for Quantum Interference in Cognitive Sciences

abstract:
  We present a general classification of the conditions under which cognitive
science, concerned e.g. with decision making, requires the use of quantum
theoretical notions. The analysis is done in the frame of the mathematical
approach based on the theory of quantum measurements. We stress that quantum
effects in cognition can arise only when decisions are made under uncertainty.
Conditions for the appearance of quantum interference in cognitive sciences and
the conditions when interference cannot arise are formulated.


title:
Long-memory effects in linear-response models of Earth's temperature and
  implications for future global warming

abstract:
  A linearized energy-balance model for global temperature is formulated,
featuring a scale-free long-range memory (LRM) response and stochastic forcing
representing the influence on the ocean heat reservoir from atmospheric weather
systems. The model is parametrized by an effective response strength, the
stochastic forcing strength, and the memory exponent. The instrumental global
surface temperature record and the deterministic component of the forcing are
used to estimate these parameters by means of the maximum-likelihood method.
The residual obtained by subtracting the deterministic solution from the
observed record is analyzed as a noise process and shown to be consistent with
a long-memory time-series model and inconsistent with a short-memory model. By
decomposing the forcing record in contributions from solar, volcanic, and
anthropogenic activity one can estimate the contribution of each to 20'th
century global warming. The LRM model is applied with a reconstruction of the
forcing for the last millennium to predict the large-scale features of northern
hemisphere temperature reconstructions, and the analysis of the residual also
clearly favors the LRM model on millennium time scale. The decomposition of the
forcing shows that volcanic aerosols give a considerably greater contribution
to the cooling during the Little Ice Age than the reduction in solar irradiance
associated with the Maunder minimum in solar activity. The LRM model implies a
transient climate response in agreement with IPCC AR4 projections, but the
stronger response on longer time scales suggests to replace the notion of
equilibrium climate sensitivity by a time-scale dependent sensitivity.


title: The quest for absolute zero in presence of external noise

abstract:
  A reciprocating quantum refrigerator is analyzed with the intention to study
the limitations imposed by external noise. In particular we focus on the
behavior of the refrigerator when it approaches the absolute zero. The cooling
cycle is based on the Otto cycle with a working medium constituted by an
ensemble of non interacting harmonic oscillators. The compression and expansion
segments are generated by changing an external parameter in the Hamiltonian. In
this case the force constant of the harmonic oscillators $m \omega^2$ is
modified from an initial to a final value. As a result, the kinetic and
potential energy of the system do not commute causing frictional losses. By
proper choice of scheduling function $\omega(t)$ frictionless solutions can be
obtained in the noiseless case. We examine the performance of a refrigerator
subject to noise. By expanding from the adiabatic limit we find that the
external noise, gaussian phase and amplitude noises, reduce the amount of heat
that can be extracted but nevertheless the zero temperature can be approached.


title:
Performance of Joint Channel and Physical Network Coding Based on
  Alamouti STBC

abstract:
  This work considers the protograph-coded physical network coding (PNC) based
on Alamouti space-time block coding (STBC) over Nakagami-fading two-way relay
channels, in which both the two sources and relay possess two antennas. We
first propose a novel precoding scheme at the two sources so as to implement
the iterative decoder efficiently at the relay. We further address a simplified
updating rule of the log-likelihood-ratio (LLR) in such a decoder. Based on the
simplified LLR-updating rule and Gaussian approximation, we analyze the
theoretical bit-error-rate (BER) of the system, which is shown to be consistent
with the decoding thresholds and simulated results. Moreover, the theoretical
analysis has lower computational complexity than the protograph extrinsic
information transfer (PEXIT) algorithm. Consequently, the analysis not only
provides a simple way to evaluate the error performance but also facilitates
the design of the joint channel-and-PNC (JCNC) in wireless communication
scenarios.


title:
Stochastic Perron's method and elementary strategies for zero-sum
  differential games

abstract:
  We develop here the Stochastic Perron Method in the framework of two-player
zero-sum differential games. We consider the formulation of the game where both
players play, symmetrically, feed-back strategies (as in [CR09] or [PZ12]) as
opposed to the Elliott-Kalton formulation prevalent in the literature. The
class of feed-back strategies we use is carefully chosen so that the state
equation admits strong solutions and the technicalities involved in the
Stochastic Perron Method carry through in a rather simple way. More precisely,
we define the game over elementary strategies, which are well motivated by
intuition. Within this framework, the Stochastic Perron Method produces a
viscosity sub-solution of the upper Isaacs equation dominating the upper value
of the game, and a viscosity super-solution of the upper Isaacs equation lying
below the upper value of the game. Using a viscosity comparison result we
obtain that the upper value is the unique and continuous viscosity solution of
the upper Isaacs equation. An identical statement holds for the lower value and
lower Isaacs equation. A version of the Dynamic Programming Principle is
obtained as a by-product. If the Isaacs condition holds, the game has a value
over elementary (pure) strategies.


title:
Effects of breaking vibrational energy equipartition on measurements of
  temperature in macroscopic oscillators subject to heat flux

abstract:
  When the energy content of a resonant mode of a crystalline solid in
thermodynamic equilibrium is directly measured, assuming that quantum effects
can be neglected it coincides with temperature except for a proportionality
factor. This is due to the principle of energy equipartition and the
equilibrium hypothesis. However, most natural systems found in nature are not
in thermodynamic equilibrium and thus the principle cannot be granted. We
measured the extent to which the low-frequency modes of vibration of a solid
can defy energy equipartition, in presence of a steady state heat flux, even
close to equilibrium. We found, experimentally and numerically, that the energy
separately associated with low frequency normal modes strongly depends on the
heat flux, and decouples sensibly from temperature. A 4% in the relative
temperature difference across the object around room temperature suffices to
excite two modes of a macroscopic oscillator, as if they were at equilibrium,
respectively, at temperatures about 20% and a factor 3.5 higher. We interpret
the result in terms of new flux-mediated correlations between modes in the
nonequilibrium state, which are absent at equilibrium.


title: Characterization of hereditarily reversible posets

abstract:
  A poset P is called reversible if every order preserving bijective self map
of P is an order automorphism. P is called hereditarily reversible if every
subposet of P is reversible. We give a complete characterization of
hereditarily reversible posets in terms of forbidden subsets. A similar result
is stated also for preordered sets. As a corollary we extend the list of known
examples of hereditarily reversible topological spaces.


title:
Towards a Thomason model structure on the category of strict
  n-categories

abstract:
  The purpose of this article is to present ideas towards obtaining a model
category structure on the category of small strict n-categories, generalizing
the one obtained by Thomason on ordinary categories. Following ideas of
Grothendieck and Cisinski, we obtain an "abstract Thomason theorem", which
easily implies the classical Thomason theorem. We deduce a 2-categorical
Thomason theorem, an incorrect proof of which has been published by K.
Worytkiewicz, K. Hess, P. Parent and A. Tonks. For n > 2, we isolate sufficient
conditions to obtain an n-categorical Thomason theorem. These conditions will
be investigated in further work.


title: Self-consistent calculation of spin transport and magnetization dynamics

abstract:
  A spin-polarized current transfers its spin-angular momentum to a local
magnetization, exciting current-induced magnetization dynamics. So far, most
studies in this field have focused on the direct effect of spin transport on
magnetization dynamics, but ignored the feedback from the magnetization
dynamics to the spin transport and back to the magnetization dynamics. Although
the feedback is usually weak, there are situations when it can play an
important role in the dynamics. In such situations, self-consistent
calculations of the magnetization dynamics and the spin transport can
accurately describe the feedback. This review describes in detail the feedback
mechanisms, and presents recent progress in self-consistent calculations of the
coupled dynamics. We pay special attention to three representative examples,
where the feedback generates non-local effective interactions for the
magnetization. Possibly the most dramatic feedback example is the dynamic
instability in magnetic nanopillars with a single magnetic layer. This
instability does not occur without non-local feedback. We demonstrate that full
self-consistent calculations generate simulation results in much better
agreement with experiments than previous calculations that addressed the
feedback effect approximately. The next example is for more typical spin valve
nanopillars. Although the effect of feedback is less dramatic because even
without feedback the current can induce magnetization oscillation, the feedback
can still have important consequences. For instance, we show that the feedback
can reduce the linewidth of oscillations, in agreement with experimental
observations. Finally, we consider nonadiabatic electron transport in narrow
domain walls. The non-local feedback in these systems leads to a significant
renormalization of the effective nonadiabatic spin transfer torque.


title:
Occurrence Probability of Large Solar Energetic Particle Events:
  Assessment from Data on Cosmogenic Radionuclides in Lunar Rocks

abstract:
  We revisited assessments of the occurrence probability distribution of large
events in solar energetic particles (SEP), based on measurements of cosmogenic
radionuclides in lunar rocks. We present a combined cumulative occurrence
probability distribution of SEP events based on three time scales: directly
measured SEP fluences for the last 60 years; estimates based on terrestrial
cosmogenic radionuclides 10Be and 14C for the multi-millennial (Holocene) time
scale; and cosmogenic radionuclides measured in lunar rocks on the time scale
of up to 1 Myr. All the three time scales yield a consistent distribution. The
data suggest a strong rollover of the occurrence probability so that SEP events
with the fluence of protons with energy >30 MeV greater than 10^{11} (protons
/cm2/yr) are not expected at the Myr time scale.


title: Classification of three dimensional complex omega-Lie algebras

abstract:
  A complex $\omega$-Lie algebra is a vector space $L$ over the complex field,
equipped with a skew symmetric bracket $[-,-]$ and a bilinear form $\omega$
such that $$[[x,y],z]+[[y,z],x]+
[[z,x],y]=\omega(x,y)z+\omega(y,z)x+\omega(z,x)y$$ for all $x,y,z\in L$. The
notion of $\omega$-Lie algebras, as a generalization of Lie algebras, was
introduced in Nurowski \cite{Nur2007}. Fundamental results about
finite-dimensional $\omega$-Lie algebras were developed by Zusmanovich
\cite{Zus2010}. In \cite{Nur2007}, all three dimensional non-Lie real
$\omega$-Lie algebras were classified. The purpose of this note is to provide
an approach to classify all three dimensional non-Lie complex $\omega$-Lie
algebras. Our method also gives a new proof of the classification in Nurowski
\cite{Nur2007}.


title: Self-Referential Order

abstract:
  We introduce the concept of {\it self-referential order} which provides a way
to quantify structural organization in non crystalline materials. The key idea
consists in the observation that, in a disordered system, where there is no
ideal, reference, template structure, each sub-portion of the whole structure
can be taken as reference for the rest and the system can be described in terms
of its parts in a self-referential way. Some of the parts carry larger
information about the rest of the structure and they are identified as {\it
motifs}. We discuss how this method can efficiently reduce the amount of
information required to describe a complex disordered structure by encoding it
in a set of motifs and {\it matching rules}. We propose an
information-theoretic approach to define a {\it
self-referential-order-parameter} and we show that, by means of entropic
measures, such a parameter can be quantified explicitly. A proof of concept
application to equal disk packing is presented and discussed.


title:
Interaction of chlorine with Stone-Wales de- fects in graphene and
  carbon nanotubes, and thermodynamical prospects of chlorine-induced nanotube
  unzipping

abstract:
  We study the binding of chlorine atoms to carbon nanotubes and graphene at a
Stone-Wales defect and to the sidewalls of pristine nanotubes. We show using ab
initio thermodynamics that if the environment is chlorine-rich enough, the
unzipping of carbon nanotubes into graphene nanoribbons with chlorinated edges
may be thermodynamically feasible. By controlling the Cl chemical potential
through temperature and pressure, opening selectively tubes below a threshold
diameter might be possible. Additionally, we find increased binding energies
for chlorine atoms bound to Stone-Wales defects as compared to defect-free
graphene and nanotubes, indicating that defects might act as nucleation sites
for tube unzipping. On graphene, no more than a single Cl atom may be bound to
the defect in ambient conditions, limiting possible Cl-induced changes in the
resulting nanoribbons.


title:
Pencil type line arrangements of low degree: classification and
  monodromy

abstract:
  The complete classification of (3,3)-nets and of (3,4)-nets with only double
and triple points is given. Up to lattice isomorphism, there are exactly 3
effective possibilities in each case, and some of these provide new examples of
pencil-type line arrangements. For arrangements consisting of at most 14 lines
and having points of multiplicity at most 5, we show that the non-triviality of
the monodromy on the first cohomology H^1(F) of the associated Milnor fiber F
implies the arrangement is of reduced pencil-type. In particular, the monodromy
is determined by the combinatorics in such cases.


title:
Electric control of the magnetization in BiFeO$_3$/LaFeO$_3$
  superlattices

abstract:
  First-principles techniques are used to investigate the behavior of
BiFeO$_{3}$/LaFeO$_{3}$ perovskite oxide superlattices epitaxially grown on a
(001)-SrTiO$_3$ substrate. The calculations show that 1/1 superlattices exhibit
a $Pmc2_1$ ground state combining a trilinear coupling of one polar and two
oxygen rotational lattice modes, and weak ferromagnetism. The microscopic
mechanism allowing one to manipulate the magnetization with an electric field
in such systems is presented and its dependence on strain and chemical
substitution is discussed. BiFeO$_{3}$/LaFeO$_{3}$ artificial superlattices
appear to be good candidates to achieve electric switching of magnetization at
room temperature.


title: Muscle as a meta-material operating near a critical point

abstract:
  Passive mechanical response of skeletal muscles at fast time scales is
dominated by long range interactions inducing cooperative behavior without
breaking the detailed balance. This leads to such unusual "material properties"
as negative equilibrium stiffness and different behavior in force and
displacement controlled loading conditions. Our fitting of experimental data
suggests that "muscle material" is finely tuned to perform close to a critical
point which explains large fluctuations observed in muscles close to the stall
force.


title:
Devil's crevasse and macroscopic entanglement in two-component
  Bose-Einstein condensates

abstract:
  Spin coherent states are the matter equivalent of optical coherent states,
where a large number of two component particles form a macroscopic state
displaying quantum coherence. Here we give a detailed study of entanglement
generated between two spin-1/2 BECs due to an Sz1 Sz2 interaction. The states
that are generated show a remarkably rich structure showing fractal
characteristics. In the limit of large particle number N, the entanglement
shows a strong dependence upon whether the entangling gate times are a rational
or irrational multiple of pi/4. We discuss the robustness of various states
under decoherence and show that despite the large number of particles in a
typical BEC, entanglement on a macroscopic scale should be observable as long
as the gate times are less than hbar/J sqrt[N], where J is the effective
BEC-BEC coupling energy. Such states are anticipated to be useful for various
quantum information applications such as quantum teleportation and quantum
algorithms.


title:
'carlomat', version 2 of the program for automatic computation of lowest
  order cross sections

abstract:
  Version 2 of 'carlomat', a program for automatic computation of the lowest
order cross sections of multiparticle reactions, is described. The substantial
modifications with respect to version 1 of the program include: generation of a
single phase space parametrization for the Feynman diagrams of the same
topology, an interface to parton density functions, improvement of the color
matrix computation, the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa mixing in the quark sector,
the effective models including scalar electrodynamics, the Wtb interaction with
operators of dimension up to 5 and a general top-higgs coupling. Moreover, some
minor modifications have been made and several bugs in the program have been
corrected.


title:
Condensation of quasiparticles and density modulation beyond the
  superfluid critical velocity

abstract:
  We investigate the effect of a constant external velocity field on the ground
state of a bosonic quasiparticle Hamiltonian. Below a critical velocity the
ground state is a quasiparticle vacuum, corresponding to a pure superfluid
phase at zero temperature. Beyond the critical velocity energy minimization
leads to a macroscopic condensation of quasiparticles at a nonzero wave vector
k_v parallel to the velocity v. Simultaneously, physical particles also undergo
a condensation at k_v and, to a smaller extent, at -k_v. Together with the BEC
at k=0, the three entangled condensates give rise to density modulations of
wave vectors k_v and 2k_v. For larger |v| our model predicts a bifurcation of
k_v with corresponding two pure condensates and no density modulation.


title:
Perturbations of local maxima and comparison principles for
  boundary-degenerate linear differential equations

abstract:
  We develop strong and weak maximum principles for boundary-degenerate
elliptic and parabolic linear second-order partial differential operators, $Au
:= -\mathrm{tr}(aD^2u)-<b, Du> + cu$, with partial Dirichlet boundary
conditions. The coefficient, $a(x)$, is assumed to vanish along a non-empty
open subset, $\partial_0\mathscr{O}$, called the \emph{degenerate boundary
portion}, of the boundary, $\partial\mathscr{O}$, of the domain
$\mathscr{O}\subset\mathbb{R}^d$, while $a(x)$ is non-zero at any point of the
\emph{non-degenerate boundary portion}, $\partial_1\mathscr{O} :=
\partial\mathscr{O}\setminus\overline{\partial_0\mathscr{O}}$. If an
$A$-subharmonic function, $u$ in $C^2(\mathscr{O})$ or
$W^{2,d}_{\mathrm{loc}}(\mathscr{O})$, is $C^1$ up to $\partial_0\mathscr{O}$
and has a strict local maximum at a point in $\partial_0\mathscr{O}$, we show
that $u$ can be perturbed, by the addition of a suitable function $w\in
C^2(\mathscr{O})\cap C^1(\mathbb{R}^d)$, to a strictly $A$-subharmonic function
$v=u+w$ having a local maximum in the interior of $\mathscr{O}$. Consequently,
we obtain strong and weak maximum principles for $A$-subharmonic functions in
$C^2(\mathscr{O})$ and $W^{2,d}_{\mathrm{loc}}(\mathscr{O})$ which are $C^1$ up
to $\partial_0\mathscr{O}$. Only the non-degenerate boundary portion,
$\partial_1\mathscr{O}$, is required for boundary comparisons. Our results
extend those in Daskalopoulos and Hamilton (1998), Epstein and Mazzeo
[arXiv:1110.0032], and the author [arXiv:1204.6613, 1306.5197], where
$\mathrm{tr}(aD^2u)$ is in addition assumed to be continuous up to and vanish
along $\partial_0\mathscr{O}$ in order to yield comparable maximum principles
for $A$-subharmonic functions in $C^2(\mathscr{O})$, while the results
developed here for $A$-subharmonic functions in
$W^{2,d}_{\mathrm{loc}}(\mathscr{O})$ are entirely new.


title: Polynomial Chaotic Inflation in Supergravity

abstract:
  We present a general polynomial chaotic inflation model in supergravity, for
which the predicted spectral index and tensor-to-scalar ratio can lie within
the 1 sigma region allowed by the Planck results. Most importantly, the
predicted tensor-to-scalar ratio is large enough to be probed in the on-going
and future B-mode experiments. We study the inflaton dynamics and the
subsequent reheating process in a couple of specific examples. The non-thermal
gravitino production from the inflaton decay can be suppressed in a case with a
discrete Z_2 symmetry. We find that the reheating temperature can be naturally
as high as O(10^{9-10}) GeV, sufficient for baryon asymmetry generation through
(non-)thermal leptogenesis.


title:
Imprimitivity theorems for weakly proper actions of locally compact
  groups

abstract:
  In a recent paper the authors introduced universal and exotic generalized
fixed-point algebras for weakly proper group actions on C*-algebras. Here we
extend the notion of weakly proper actions to actions on Hilbert modules. As a
result we obtain several imprimitivity theorems establishing important Morita
equivalences between universal, reduced, or exotic crossed products and
appropriate universal, reduced, or exotic fixed-point algebras, respectively.
In particular, we obtain an exotic version of Green's imprimitivity theorem and
a very general version of the symmetric imprimitivity theorem by weakly proper
actions of product groups GxH. In addition, we study functorial properties of
generalized fixed-point algebras for equivariant categories of C*-algebras
based on correspondences.


title: NNLO QCD results for diphoton production at the LHC and the Tevatron

abstract:
  We consider direct diphoton production in hadron collisions. We compute the
next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) QCD radiative corrections at the
fully-differential level. Our calculation is based on the q_T subtraction
formalism and it is implemented in a parton level Monte Carlo program, which
allows the user to apply arbitrary kinematical cuts on the final-state photons
and the associated jet activity, and to compute the corresponding distributions
in the form of bin histograms. We present selected numerical results related to
Higgs boson searches and diphoton studies performed at the LHC and the
Tevatron, and we show how the NNLO corrections to diphoton production are
relevant to understand the main background of the decay channel (H -> gamma
gamma) of the Higgs boson H.


title: A bound for the Milnor number of plane curve singularities

abstract:
  Let $f=0$ be a plane algebraic curve of degree $d>1$ with an isolated
singular point at the origin of the complex plane. We show that the Milnor
number $\mu_0(f)$ is less than or equal to $(d-1)^2-\left[\frac{d}{2}\right]$,
unless $f=0$ is a set of $d$ concurrent lines passing through 0. Then we
characterize the curves $f=0$ for which
$\mu_0(f)=(d-1)^2-\left[\frac{d}{2}\right]$.


title: Harmonic mean as a determinant of the genetic code

abstract:
  It is shown that there is a sense in splitting Genetic Code Table (GCT) into
three parts using the harmonic mean, calculated by the formula H (a, b) = 2ab /
(a + b), where a = 63 and b = 31.5. Within these three parts, the amino acids
(AAs) are positioned on the basis of the validity of the evident regularities
of key parameters, such as polarity, hydrophobicity and enzyme-mediated amino
acid classification. In addition, there are obvious balances of the number of
atoms in the nucleotide triplets and corresponding amino acid groups and/or
classes.


title:
A two weight theorem for fractional singular integrals in higher
  dimension

abstract:
  We prove a two weight theorem for alpha-fractional singular integrals in
higher dimensions, assuming energy side conditions. We also show that reversal
of the Energy Lemma fails for the vector Riesz transforms in the plane, as well
as other collections of convolution Calderon-Zygmund operators in the plane,
and when alpha = 1, even for the infinite vector of all classical 1-fractional
Calderon-Zygmund operators.


title: X-ray properties of the young open clusters HM1 and IC2944/2948

abstract:
  Using XMM data, we study for the first time the X-ray emission of HM1 and
IC2944/2948. Low-mass, pre-main-sequence objects with an age of a few Myr are
detected, as well as a few background or foreground objects. Most massive stars
in both clusters display the usual high-energy properties of that type of
objects, though with log(Lx/Lbol) apparently lower in HM1 than in IC2944/2948.
Compared with studies of other clusters, it seems that a low signal-to-noise
ratio at soft energies, due to the high extinction, may be the main cause of
this difference. In HM1, the two Wolf-Rayet stars show contrasting behaviors:
WR89 is extremely bright, but much softer than WR87. It remains to be seen
whether wind-wind collisions or magnetically confined winds can explain these
emissions. In IC2944/2948, the X-ray sources concentrate around HD101205; a
group of massive stars to the north of this object is isolated, suggesting that
there exist two subclusters in the field-of-view.


title:
Pseudo-rapidity Distributions of Charged Hadrons in pp and pA Collisions
  at the LHC

abstract:
  In the framework of Color Glass Condensate, the pseudo-rapidity distributions
of charged hadrons in pp and pA collisions at the LHC are studied with the UGD
function from the GBW model. With a $\chi^{2}$ analysis of the CMS data in pp
collisions at $\sqrt{s}=0.9,~2.36,~7$ TeV, the normalization factor is obtained
and the theoretical results are in good agreement with the perimental data.
Then, considering the influence of nucleon hard partons distribution on the
number of participants in pA collisions by a Glauber Monte Carlo method, we
give the predictive results for the multiplicity distributions in p+Pb
collisions at $\sqrt{s}=4.4$ TeV.


title:
Precise radial velocities of giant stars V. A brown dwarf and a planet
  orbiting the K giant stars tau Gem and 91 Aqr

abstract:
  We aim to detect and characterize substellar companions to K giant stars, to
further our knowledge of planet formation and stellar evolution of
intermediate-mass stars. For more than a decade we have used Doppler
spectroscopy to acquire high precision radial velocity measurements of K giant
stars. All data for this survey have been taken at Lick Observatory. Our survey
includes 373 G and K giants. Radial velocity data showing periodic variations
are fitted with Keplerian orbits using a chi^2 minimization technique. We
report the presence of two substellar companions to the K giant stars tau Gem
and 91 Aqr. The brown dwarf orbiting tau Gem has an orbital period of 305.5 +/-
0.1 days, a minimum mass of 20.6 M_Jup, and an eccentricity of 0.031 +/- 0.009.
The planet orbiting 91 Aqr has an orbital period of 181.4 +/- 0.1 days, a
minimum mass of 3.2 M_Jup, and an eccentricity of 0.027 +/- 0.026. Both
companions have exceptionally circular orbits for their orbital distance, as
compared to all previously discovered planetary companions.


title:
Principles of equilibrium statistical mechanics revisited: The idea of
  vortex energy

abstract:
  We show that the law of energy conservation with the fact of matter stability
imply the existence of energy complementary to that given by the function of
states of interacting systems and treated, with the environment, the function
of states of interacting extended systems. The complementary energy, we called
it vortex, is integral, not quantized, and causes trends contrary to that
prescribed by equilibrium statistical mechanics. We formulate its principles
and theorems, and question traditional insights in thermodynamics, entropy law,
phase transitions, persistent currents, Brownian motion.


title: Excellent daytime seeing at Dome Fuji on the Antarctic plateau

abstract:
  Context. Dome Fuji, the second highest region on the Antarctic plateau, is
expected to have some of the best astronomical seeing on Earth. However, site
testing at Dome Fuji is still in its very early stages.
  Aims. To investigate the astronomical seeing in the free atmosphere above
Dome Fuji, and to determine the height of the surface boundary layer.
  Methods. A Differential Image Motion Monitor was used to measure the seeing
in the visible (472 nm) at a height of 11 m above the snow surface at Dome Fuji
during the austral summer of 2012/2013.
  Results. Seeing below 0.2'' has been observed. The seeing often has a local
minimum of ~0.3'' near 18 h local time. Some periods of excellent seeing, 0.3''
or smaller, were also observed, sometimes extending for several hours at local
midnight. The median seeing is higher, at 0.52''---this large value is believed
to be caused by periods when the telescope was within the turbulent boundary
layer.
  Conclusions. The diurnal variation of the daytime seeing at Dome Fuji is
similar to that reported for Dome C, and the height of the surface boundary
layer is consistent with previous simulations for Dome Fuji. The free
atmosphere seeing is ~0.2'', and the height of the surface boundary layer can
be as low as ~11 m.


title: Philosophical perspectives on ad hoc hypotheses and the Higgs mechanism

abstract:
  We examine physicists' charge of ad hocness against the Higgs mechanism in
the standard model of elementary particle physics. We argue that even though
this charge never rested on a clear-cut and well-entrenched definition of "ad
hoc", it is based on conceptual and methodological assumptions and principles
that are well-founded elements of the scientific practice of high-energy
particle physics. We further evaluate the implications of the recent discovery
of a Higgs-like particle at the CERN's Large Hadron Collider for the charge of
ad hocness against the Higgs mechanism.


title:
Non-Fermi liquid behaviour from dynamical effects of impurity scattering
  in correlated Fermi liquids

abstract:
  The interplay of disorder and interactions is a subject of perennial
interest. In this work, we have investigated the effect of disorder due to
chemical substitution on the dynamics and transport properties of correlated
Fermi liquids. A low frequency analysis in the concentrated and dilute limits
shows that the dynamical local potentials arising through disorder averaging
generate a linear (in frequency) term in the scattering rate. Such non-Fermi
liquid behaviour (nFL) is investigated in detail for Kondo hole substitution in
heavy fermions within dynamical mean field theory. We find closed form
expressions for the dependence of the static and linear terms in the scattering
rate on substitutional disorder and model parameters. We argue that the low
temperature resistivity will acquire a linear in temperature term, and show
that the Drude peak structure in the optical conductivity will disappear beyond
a certain disorder $p_c$, that marks the crossover from lattice coherent to
single-impurity behaviour. A full numerical solution of the DMFT equations
reveals that the nFL term will show up significantly only in certain regimes,
although it is present for any non-zero disorder concentration in principle. We
highlight the dramatic changes that occur in the quasiparticle scattering rate
in the proximity of $p_c$. Remarkably, we find that the nFL behaviour due to
dynamical effects of impurity scattering has features that are distinct from
those arising through Griffiths singularities or distribution of Kondo scales.
Relevance of our findings to experiments on alloyed correlated systems is
pointed out.


title: A family of random walks with generalized Dirichlet steps

abstract:
  We analyze a class of continuous time random walks in $\mathbb R^d,d\geq 2,$
with uniformly distributed directions. The steps performed by these processes
are distributed according to a generalized Dirichlet law. Given the number of
changes of orientation, we provide the analytic form of the probability density
function of the position $\{\underline{\bf X}_d(t),t>0\}$ reached, at time
$t>0$, by the random motion. In particular, we analyze the case of random walks
with two steps.
  In general, it is an hard task to obtain the explicit probability
distributions for the process $\{\underline{\bf X}_d(t),t>0\}$ . Nevertheless,
for suitable values for the basic parameters of the generalized Dirichlet
probability distribution, we are able to derive the explicit conditional
density functions of $\{\underline{\bf X}_d(t),t>0\}$. Furthermore, in some
cases, by exploiting the fractional Poisson process, the unconditional
probability distributions are obtained. This paper extends in a more general
setting, the random walks with Dirichlet displacements introduced in some
previous papers.


title: Schr\"oder e la Teoria dei Gruppi

abstract:
  This short paper focuses on Schr\"oder's contribute towards a structural view
of group theory.


title: Uniform spanning trees on Sierpinski graphs

abstract:
  We study spanning trees on Sierpinski graphs (i.e., finite approximations to
the Sierpinski gasket) that are chosen uniformly at random. We construct a
joint probability space for uniform spanning trees on every finite Sierpinski
graph and show that this construction gives rise to a multi-type Galton-Watson
tree. We derive a number of structural results, for instance on the degree
distribution. The connection between uniform spanning trees and loop-erased
random walk is then exploited to prove convergence of the latter to a
continuous stochastic process. Some geometric properties of this limit process,
such as the Hausdorff dimension, are investigated as well. The method is also
applicable to other self-similar graphs with a sufficient degree of symmetry.


title:
First experimental demonstration of an isotropic electromagnetic cloak
  with strict conformal mapping

abstract:
  In the past years quasi-conformal mapping has been typically used to design
broadband electromagnetic cloaks. However, this technique has some inherit
practical limitations such as the lateral beam shift, rendering the device
visible or difficult to hide a large object. In this work we circumvent these
issues by using strict conformal mapping to build the first isotropic cloak.
Microwave near-field measurement shows that our device (with dielectric
constant larger than unity everywhere) has a very good cloaking performance and
a broad frequency response. The present dielectric approach could be
technically extended to the fabrication of other conformal devices at higher
frequencies.


title:
Simulation of Electromagnetic Scattering with Stationary or Accelerating
  Targets

abstract:
  The scattering of electromagnetic waves by an obstacle is analyzed through a
set of partial differential equations combining the Maxwell's model with the
mechanics of fluids. Solitary type EM waves, having compact support, may easily
be modeled in this context since they turn out to be explicit solutions. From
the numerical viewpoint, the interaction of these waves with a material body is
examined. Computations are carried out via a parallel high-order
finite-differences code. Due to the presence of a gradient of pressure in the
model equations, waves hitting the obstacle may impart acceleration to it. Some
explicative 2D dynamical configurations are then studied, enabling the study of
photon-particle iterations through classical arguments.


title: Star-Jet Interactions and Gamma-Ray Outbursts from 3C454.3

abstract:
  We propose a model to explain the ultra-bright GeV gamma-ray flares observed
from the blazar 3C454.3. The model is based on the concept of a relativistic
jet interacting with compact gas condensations produced when a star (red giant)
crosses the jet close to the central black hole. The study includes an
analytical treatment of the evolution of the envelop lost by the star within
the jet, and calculations of the related high-energy radiation. The model
readily explains the day-long, variable on timescales of hours, GeV gamma-ray
flare from 3C454.3, observed during November 2010 on top of a weeks-long
plateau. In the proposed scenario, the plateau state is caused by a strong wind
generated by the heating of the star atmosphere by nonthermal particles
accelerated at the jet-star interaction region. The flare itself could be
produced by a few clouds of matter lost by the red giant after the initial
impact of the jet. In the framework of the proposed scenario, the observations
constrain the key model parameters of the source, including the mass of the
central black hole: $M_{\rm BH}\simeq 10^9 M_{\odot}$, the total jet power:
$L_{\rm j}\simeq 10^{48}\,\rm erg\,s^{-1}$, and the Doppler factor of the
gamma-ray emitting clouds, $\delta\simeq 20$. Whereas we do not specify the
particle acceleration mechanisms, the potential gamma-ray production processes
are discussed and compared in the context of the proposed model. We argue that
synchrotron radiation of protons has certain advantages compared to other
radiation channels of directly accelerated electrons.


title: Centrifugal-Barrier Effects and Determination of the Interaction Radius

abstract:
  The interaction radius of a resonance is an important physical quantity to
describe the structure of a resonance. But, for a long time, physicists do not
find a reliable way to measure the magnitude of the interaction radius of a
resonance. In this paper, a method is proposed to measure the interaction
radius in physics analysis.
  It is found that the centrifugal barrier effects have great influence to
physical results obtained in the PWA fit, and the interaction radius of some
resonances can be well measured in the fit.


title: Picturing wavepacket reduction

abstract:
  A coherent picture of the wavepacket-reduction process is proposed which is
formulated in the framework of a deterministic and realist interpretation where
the concepts of knowledge or information and of point particles do not appear.
It is shown how the picture accounts for the experiments on interaction-free
and delayed-choice measurements and those on interference with partial
absorption.


title:
A Parallel and Scalable Iterative Solver for Sequences of Dense
  Eigenproblems Arising in FLAPW

abstract:
  In one of the most important methods in Density Functional Theory - the
Full-Potential Linearized Augmented Plane Wave (FLAPW) method - dense
generalized eigenproblems are organized in long sequences. Moreover each
eigenproblem is strongly correlated to the next one in the sequence. We propose
a novel approach which exploits such correlation through the use of an
eigensolver based on subspace iteration and accelerated with Chebyshev
polynomials. The resulting solver, parallelized using the Elemental library
framework, achieves excellent scalability and is competitive with current dense
parallel eigensolvers.


title: Automorphism Groups of some Finite Semifields

abstract:
  We determine the automorphism group for some well known constructions of
finite semifields. In particular, we compute the automorphism group of
Sandler's semifields and in certain cases the automorphism groups of the
Hughes-Kleinfeld and Knuth semifields. We also determine how many nonisomorphic
Sandler semifields can be constructed given a finite field F and a finite
extension L/F.


title: Mock Modular Forms and Class Number Relations

abstract:
  In this paper, we prove an almost 40 year old conjecture by H. Cohen
concerning the generating function of the Hurwitz class number of quadratic
forms using the theory of mock modular forms. This conjecture yields an
infinite number of so far unproven class number relations.


title: Three Dimensional Subwavelength focus by a near-field plate lens

abstract:
  We implemented the inverse design method to build a thin near-field lens that
could produce a desired subwavelength focus by manipulating the near fields of
a magnetic dipole source. The flat near-field lens represented by an artificial
impedance surface was fabricated by lumped reactive elements (capacitor and
inductor) with spatially varying values. In the experiment a desired annular
focusing spot with a characteristic size nearly three times smaller than that
allowed by the diffraction limit was obtained. Besides high-resolution imaging,
the proposed near-field plate could be extended for other interesting
applications, such as wireless power transfer or complex wavefront/beam shaper.


title: Transport in topologically disordered one-particle, tight-binding models

abstract:
  We aim at quantitatively determining transport parameters like conductivity,
mean free path, etc., for simple models of spatially completely disordered
quantum systems, comparable to the systems which are sometimes referred to as
Lifshitz models. While some low-energy eigenstates in such models always show
Anderson localization, we focus on models for which most states of the full
spectrum are delocalized, i.e., on the metallic regime. For the latter we
determine transport parameters in the limit of high temperatures and low
fillings using linear response theory. The Einstein relation (proportionality
of conductivity and diffusion coefficient) is addressed numerically and
analytically and found to hold. Furthermore, we find the transport behavior for
some models to be in accord with a Boltzmann equation, i.e., rather long mean
free paths, exponentially decaying currents, while this does not apply to other
models even though they are also almost completely delocalized.


title:
Hybridisation at the organic-metal interface: a surface-scientific
  analogue of H\"uckel's rule?

abstract:
  We demonstrate that cyclooctatetraene (COT) can be stabilised in different
conformations when adsorbed on different noble-metal surfaces due to varying
molecule-substrate interaction. While at first glance the behaviour seems to be
in accordance with H\"uckel's rule, a theoretical analysis reveals no
significant charge transfer. The driving mechanism for the conformational
change is hybridisation at the organic-metal interface and does not necessitate
any charge transfer.


title:
Magnetoelectric coupling in the paramagnetic state of a metal-organic
  framework

abstract:
  Although the magnetoelectric effects - the mutual control of electric
polarization by magnetic fields and magnetism by electric fields, have been
intensively studied in a large number of inorganic compounds and
heterostructures, they have been rarely observed in organic materials. Here we
demonstrate magnetoelectric coupling in a metal-organic framework
[(CH3)2NH2]Mn(HCOO)3 which exhibits an order-disorder type of ferroelectricity
below 185 K. The magnetic susceptibility starts to deviate from the Curie-Weiss
law at the paraelectric-ferroelectric transition temperature, suggesting an
enhancement of short-range magnetic correlation in the ferroelectric state.
Electron spin resonance study further confirms that the magnetic state indeed
changes following the ferroelectric phase transition. Inversely, the
ferroelectric polarization can be improved by applying high magnetic fields. We
interpret the magnetoelectric coupling in the paramagnetic state in the
metal-organic framework as a consequence of the magnetoelastic effect that
modifies both the superexchange interaction and the hydrogen bonding.


title: Asymptotic localization of energy in non-disordered oscillator chains

abstract:
  We study two popular one-dimensional chains of classical anharmonic
oscillators: the rotor chain and a version of the discrete non-linear
Schr\"odinger chain. We assume that the interaction between neighboring
oscillators, controlled by the parameter $\epsilon >0$, is small. We rigorously
establish that the thermal conductivity of the chains has a non-perturbative
origin, with respect to the coupling constant $\epsilon$, and we provide strong
evidence that it decays faster than any power law in $\epsilon$ as $\epsilon
\rightarrow 0$. The weak coupling regime also translates into a high
temperature regime, suggesting that the conductivity vanishes faster than any
power of the inverse temperature.


title: A relation on 132-avoiding permutation patterns

abstract:
  Rudolph conjectures that for permutations $p$ and $q$ of the same length,
$A_n(p) \le A_n(q)$ for all $n$ if and only if the spine structure of $T(p)$ is
less than or equal to the spine structure of $T(q)$ in refinement order. We
prove one direction of this conjecture, by showing that if the spine structure
of $T(p)$ is less than or equal to the spine structure of $T(q)$, then $A_n(p)
\le A_n(q)$ for all $n$. We disprove the opposite direction by giving a
counterexample, and hence disprove the conjecture.


title: Quenching and generation of random states in a kicked Ising model

abstract:
  The kicked Ising model with both a pulsed transverse and a continuous
longitudinal field is studied numerically. Starting from a large transverse
field and a state that is nearly an eigenstate, the pulsed transverse field is
quenched with a simultaneous enhancement of the longitudinal field. The
generation of multipartite entanglement is observed along with a phenomenon
akin to quantum resonance when the entanglement does not evolve for certain
values of the pulse duration. Away from the resonance, the longitudinal field
can drive the entanglement to near maximum values that is shown to agree well
with those of random states. Further evidence is presented that the time
evolved states obtained do have some statistical properties of such random
states. For contrast the case when the fields have a steady value is also
discussed.


title: Pauli-Limited Multiband Superconductivity in KFe2As2

abstract:
  The upper critical field Hc2(T) of the multiband superconductor KFe2As2 has
been studied via low-temperature thermal expansion and magnetostriction
measurements. We present compelling evidence for Pauli-limiting effects
dominating Hc2(T) for H || a, as revealed by a crossover from second- to
first-order phase transitions to the superconducting state in the
magnetostriction measurements down to 50 mK. Corresponding features were absent
for H || c. To our knowledge, this crossover constitutes the first confirmation
of Pauli limiting of the Hc2(T) of a multiband superconductor. The results are
supported by modeling Pauli limits for single-band and multiband cases.


title: Effects of symmetry breaking in finite quantum systems

abstract:
  The review considers the peculiarities of symmetry breaking and symmetry
transformations and the related physical effects in finite quantum systems.
Some types of symmetry in finite systems can be broken only asymptotically.
However, with a sufficiently large number of particles, crossover transitions
become sharp, so that symmetry breaking happens similarly to that in
macroscopic systems. This concerns, in particular, global gauge symmetry
breaking, related to Bose-Einstein condensation and superconductivity, or
isotropy breaking, related to the generation of quantum vortices, and the
stratification in multicomponent mixtures. A special type of symmetry
transformation, characteristic only for finite systems, is the change of shape
symmetry. These phenomena are illustrated by the examples of several typical
mesoscopic systems, such as trapped atoms, quantum dots, atomic nuclei, and
metallic grains. The specific features of the review are: (i) the emphasis on
the peculiarities of the symmetry breaking in finite mesoscopic systems; (ii)
the analysis of common properties of physically different finite quantum
systems; (iii) the manifestations of symmetry breaking in the spectra of
collective excitations in finite quantum systems. The analysis of these
features allows for the better understanding of the intimate relation between
the type of symmetry and other physical properties of quantum systems. This
also makes it possible to predict new effects by employing the analogies
between finite quantum systems of different physical nature.


title:
Distributed Power Control Network and Green Building Test-bed for Demand
  Response in Smart Grid

abstract:
  It is known that demand and supply power balancing is an essential method to
operate power delivery system and prevent blackouts caused by power shortage.
In this paper, we focus on the implementation of demand response strategy to
save power during peak hours by using Smart Grid. It is obviously impractical
with centralized power control network to realize the real-time control
performance, where a single central controller measures the huge metering data
and sends control command back to all customers. For that purpose, we propose a
new architecture of hierarchical distributed power control network which is
scalable regardless of the network size. The sub-controllers are introduced to
partition the large system into smaller distributed clusters where low-latency
local feedback power control loops are conducted to guarantee control
stability. Furthermore, sub-controllers are stacked up in an hierarchical
manner such that data are fed back layer-by-layer in the inbound while in the
outbound control responses are decentralized in each local sub-controller for
realizing the global objectives. Numerical simulations in a realistic scenario
of up to 5000 consumers show the effectiveness of the proposed scheme to
achieve a desired 10% peak power saving by using off-the-shelf wireless devices
with IEEE802.15.4g standard. In addition, a small scale power control system
for green building test-bed is implemented to demonstrate the potential use of
the proposed scheme for power saving in real life.


title: The glass transition diagram in model metallic glasses

abstract:
  We report a strain rate (equivalent to experimental observation time) induced
glass transition in model SrCaYbMg(Li)Zn(Cu) metallic glasses at room
temperature. A critical strain rate, equivalent to glass transition
temperature, is found for the strain rate induced a glassy state to liquid-like
viscoplastic state translation. The results show that the observation time,
equivalent to temperature and stress, is a key parameter for the glass
transition. A three-dimension glass transition phase diagram involved in time,
temperature and stress in metallic glasses is established for understanding the
nature of the metallic glasses.


title:
The Peculiar Photometric Properties of 2010 WG9: A Slowly-Rotating
  Trans-Neptunian Object from the Oort Cloud

abstract:
  We present long-term BVRI observations of 2010 WG9, an ~100-km diameter
trans-Neptunian object (TNO) with an extremely high inclination of 70 deg
discovered by the La Silla - QUEST southern sky survey. Most of the
observations were obtained with ANDICAM on the SMARTS 1.3m at Cerro Tololo,
Chile from Dec 2010 to Nov 2012. Additional observations were made with EFOSC2
on the 3.5-m NTT telescope of the European Southern Observatory at La Silla,
Chile in Feb 2011. The observations reveal a sinusoidal light curve with
amplitude 0.14 mag and period 5.4955 +/- 0.0025d, which is likely half the true
rotation period. Such long rotation periods have previously been observed only
for tidally-evolved binary TNOs, suggesting that 2010 WG9 may be such a system.
We predict a nominal separation of at least 790 km, resolvable with HST and
ground-based systems. We measure B-R = 1.318 +/- 0.029 and V-R = 0.520 +/-
0.018, consistent with the colors of modestly red Centaurs and Damocloids. At
I-band wavelengths, we observe an unusually large variation of color with
rotational phase, with R-I ranging from 0.394 +/- 0.025 to 0.571 +/- 0.044. We
also measure an absolute R-band absolute magnitude of 7.93 +/- 0.05 and solar
phase coefficient 0.049 +/- 0.019 mag/deg.


title:
Translation-invariant quasi-free states for fermionic systems and the
  BCS approximation

abstract:
  We study translation-invariant quasi-free states for a system of fermions
with two-particle interactions. The associated energy functional is similar to
the BCS functional but includes also direct and exchange energies. We show that
for suitable short-range interactions, these latter terms only lead to a
renormalization of the chemical potential, with the usual properties of the BCS
functional left unchanged. Our analysis thus represents a rigorous
justification of part of the BCS approximation. We give bounds on the critical
temperature below which the system displays superfluidity.

categories: math-ph cond-mat.quant-gas cond-mat.supr-con math.MP


title:
Group detection in complex networks: An algorithm and comparison of the
  state of the art

abstract:
  Complex real-world networks commonly reveal characteristic groups of nodes
like communities and modules. These are of value in various applications,
especially in the case of large social and information networks. However, while
numerous community detection techniques have been presented in the literature,
approaches for other groups of nodes are relatively rare and often limited in
some way. We present a simple propagation-based algorithm for general group
detection that requires no a priori knowledge and has near ideal complexity.
The main novelty here is that different types of groups are revealed through an
adequate hierarchical group refinement procedure. The proposed algorithm is
validated on various synthetic and real-world networks, and rigorously compared
against twelve other state-of-the-art approaches on group detection, hierarchy
discovery and link prediction tasks. The algorithm is comparable to the state
of the art in community detection, while superior in general group detection
and link prediction. Based on the comparison, we also dis- cuss some prominent
directions for future work on group detection in complex networks.


title:
Edge states of zigzag graphene nanoribbons with B and N doping at edge
  atoms

abstract:
  Using a tight binding model, we theoretically study the electronic properties
of zigzag boron-carbon-nitride (BCN) nanoribbons where the outermost C atoms of
zigzag graphene nanoribbons are replaced with B and N atoms. We show that the
flat bands and edge states appear at the Fermi level when the number of B and N
atoms are equal except the case of six times supercell. To investigate the
origin of the edge states in BCN nanoribbons, we consider the semi-infinite
graphene sheet with zigzag edge where outermost C atoms are replaced with B and
N atoms. We analytically demonstrate the presence of edge states at the zigzag
edges and flat bands using a transfer matrix method.


title:
Measurement of XeI and XeII velocity in the near exit plane of a
  low-power Hall effect thruster by light induced fluorescence spectroscopy

abstract:
  Near exit plane non-resonant light induced fluorescence spectroscopy is
performed in a Hall effect low-power Xenon thruster at discharge voltage of
250V and anode flow rate of 0.7mg/sec. Measurement of the axial and radial
velocity components are performed, exciting the 6s[3/2]_2-->6p[3/2]_2
transition at 823.16nm in XeI and the 5d[4]_(7/2)-->6p[3]_(5/2) transition at
834.724nm in XeII. No significant deviation from the thermal velocity is
observed for XeI. Two most probable ion velocities are registered at a given
position with respect to the thruster axis, which are mainly attributed to
different areas of creation of ions inside the acceleration channel. The
spatial resolution of the set-up is limited by the laser beam size (radius of
the order of 0.5mm) and the fluorescence collection optics, which have a view
spot diameter of 8mm.


title: Rings That Are Morita Equivalent to Their Opposites

abstract:
  We consider the following problem: Under what assumptions do one or more of
the following are equivalent for a ring $R$: (A) $R$ is Morita equivalent to a
ring with involution, (B) $R$ is Morita equivalent to a ring with an
anti-automorphism, (C) $R$ is Morita equivalent to its opposite ring. The
problem is motivated by a theorem of Saltman which roughly states that all
conditions are equivalent for Azumaya algebras. Basing on the recent "general
bilinear forms", we present a general machinery to attack the problem, and use
it to show that (C)$\iff$(B) when $R$ is semilocal or $\mathbb{Q}$-finite.
Further results of similar flavor are also obtained, for example: If $R$ is a
semilocal ring such that $\mathrm{M}_{n}(R)$ has an involution, then
$\mathrm{M}_{2}(R)$ has an involution, and under further mild assumptions, $R$
itself has an involution. In contrast to that, we demonstrate that (B) does not
imply (A). Our methods also give a new perspective on the
Knus-Parimala-Srinivas proof of Saltman's Theorem. Finally, we give a method to
test Azumaya algebras of exponent $2$ for the existence of involutions, and use
it to construct explicit examples of such algebras.


title:
McMillan-Rowell Oscillations in a Low Spin-Orbit SNS Semiconducting
  Junction

abstract:
  The electronic transport properties of an SNS junction formed by an InN
nanowire (N) and Al contacts (S) with a superconducting transition temperature
T_c ~ 0.92 K were investigated. As a function of dc bias, superconducting
quasiparticle transport resonance peaks at E=2\Delta were observed, in
agreement with BCS theory with 2\Delta(T=0) \equiv \Delta_0=275\mueV. Several
additional transport resonances scaling linearly in energy were observed at
high-bias above 2\Delta, up to E\simeq 15\Delta_0, consistent with
McMillan-Rowell oscillations. The persistence of McMillan-Rowell oscillations
at high-bias and under applied magnetic field were investigated.


title: Quantum chaos in SU_3 models with trapped ions

abstract:
  A scheme to generate long-range spin-spin interactions between three-level
ions in a chain is presented, providing a feasible experimental route to the
rich physics of well-known $SU_3$ models. In particular, we demonstrate
different signatures of quantum chaos which can be controlled and observed in
experiments with trapped ions.


title:
Apodization in high-contrast long-slit spectroscopy. Closer, deeper,
  fainter, cooler

abstract:
  The spectroscopy of faint planetary-mass companions to nearby stars is one of
the main challenges that new-generation high-contrast spectro-imagers are going
to face. In a previous work we presented a long slit coronagraph (LSC), for
which the presence of a slit in the coronagraphic focal plane induces a complex
distribution of energy in the Lyot pupil-plane that cannot be easily masked
with a binary Lyot stop. To alleviate this concern, we propose to use a pupil
apodization to suppress diffraction, creating an apodized long slit coronagraph
(ALSC). After describing how the apodization is optimized, we demonstrate its
advantages with respect to the CLC in the context of SPHERE/IRDIS long slit
spectroscopy (LSS) mode at low-resolution with a 0.12" slit and 0.18"
coronagraphic mask. We perform different sets of simulations with and without
aberrations, and with and without a slit to demonstrate that the apodization is
a more appropriate concept for LSS, at the expense of a significantly reduced
throughput (37%) compared to the LSC. Then we perform detailed end-to-end
simulations of the LSC and the ALSC that include realistic levels of
aberrations to obtain datasets representing 1h of integration time on stars of
spectral types A0 to M0 located at 10 pc. We insert spectra of planetary
companions at different effective temperatures (Teff) and surface gravities
(log g) into the data at angular separations of 0.3" to 1.5" and with contrast
ratios from 6 to 18 mag. Using the SD method to subtract the speckles, we show
that the ALSC brings a gain in sensitivity of up to 3 mag at 0.3" with respect
to the LSC, which leads to a much better spectral extraction below 0.5". In
terms of Teff, we demonstrate that at small angular separations the limit with
the ALSC is always lower by at least 100K, inducing an increase of sensitivity
of a factor up to 1.8 in objects' masses at young ages. [Abridged]


title:
Calibration of quasi-static aberrations in exoplanet direct-imaging
  instruments with a Zernike phase-mask sensor

abstract:
  Context. Several exoplanet direct imaging instruments will soon be in
operation. They use an extreme adaptive optics (XAO) system to correct the
atmospheric turbulence and provide a highly-corrected beam to a near-infrared
(NIR) coronagraph for starlight suppression. The performance of the coronagraph
is however limited by the non-common path aberrations (NCPA) due to the
differential wavefront errors existing between the visible XAO sensing path and
the NIR science path, leading to residual speckles in the coronagraphic image.
Aims. Several approaches have been developed in the past few years to
accurately calibrate the NCPA, correct the quasi-static speckles and allow the
observation of exoplanets at least 1e6 fainter than their host star. We propose
an approach based on the Zernike phase-contrast method for the measurements of
the NCPA between the optical path seen by the visible XAO wavefront sensor and
that seen by the near-IR coronagraph. Methods. This approach uses a focal plane
phase mask of size {\lambda}/D, where {\lambda} and D denote the wavelength and
the telescope aperture diameter, respectively, to measure the quasi-static
aberrations in the upstream pupil plane by encoding them into intensity
variations in the downstream pupil image. We develop a rigorous formalism,
leading to highly accurate measurement of the NCPA, in a quasi-linear way
during the observation. Results. For a static phase map of standard deviation
44 nm rms at {\lambda} = 1.625 {\mu}m (0.026 {\lambda}), we estimate a possible
reduction of the chromatic NCPA by a factor ranging from 3 to 10 in the
presence of AO residuals compared with the expected performance of a typical
current-generation system. This would allow a reduction of the level of
quasi-static speckles in the detected images by a factor 10 to 100 hence,
correspondingly improving the capacity to observe exoplanets.


title:
Attractive Electromagnetic Casimir Stress on a Spherical Dielectric
  Shell

abstract:
  Based on calculations involving an idealized boundary condition, it has long
been assumed that the stress on a spherical conducting shell is repulsive. We
use the more realistic case of a Drude dielectric to show that the stress is
attractive, matching the generic behavior of Casimir forces in
electromagnetism. We trace the discrepancy between these two cases to
interactions between the electromagnetic quantum fluctuations and the
dielectric material.


title: Mirror bipartite graphs

abstract:
  Intuitively speaking, a bipartite graph is mirror if it can be drawn in the
Cartesian plane in such a way that, the vertices of one stable are points in
x=0, the vertices of the other stable set are points in x=1, the edges are
straight line segments joining adjacent vertices and the resulting
configuration is symmetric with respect to the line x=1/2. The concept of
mirror bipartite graph appears naturally when studying certain types of
products of graphs as for instance the Kronecker product. Motivated by this
fact, we study mirror bipartite graphs from the point of view of their degree
sequences and of their degree sets. We characterize the sequences of degrees of
mirror bipartite graphs. We also show that from a given set P of positive
integers, we can construct a bipartite graph of order 2max P, which is mirror.
Furthermore, very little is known for the degree sequences of graphs with loops
attached, when the number of loops attached is limited. We show in this paper
that mirror bipartite graphs constitute a powerful tool to study the degree
sequences of these graphs when the number of loops attached at each vertex is
at most $1$.


title:
Second quantisation for skew convolution products of measures in Banach
  spaces

abstract:
  We study measures in Banach space which arise as the skew convolution product
of two other measures where the convolution is deformed by a skew map. This is
the structure that underlies both the theory of Mehler semigroups and operator
self-decomposable measures. We show how that given such a set-up the skew map
can be lifted to an operator that acts at the level of function spaces and
demonstrate that this is an example of the well known functorial procedure of
second quantisation. We give particular emphasis to the case where the product
measure is infinitely divisible and study the second quantisation process in
some detail using chaos expansions when this is either Gaussian or is generated
by a Poisson random measure.


title:
Rapid and multi-band variability of the TeV-bright active nucleus of the
  galaxy IC 310

abstract:
  Context. The radio galaxy IC 310 has recently been identified as a gamma-ray
emitter based on observations at GeV energies with Fermi-LAT and at very high
energies (VHE, E>100GeV) with the MAGIC telescopes. Originally classified as a
head-tail radio galaxy, the nature of this object is subject of controversy
since its nucleus shows blazar-like behavior. Aims. In order to understand the
nature of IC 310 and the origin of the VHE emission we studied the spectral and
flux variability of IC 310 from the X-ray band to the VHE gamma-ray regime.
Methods. The light curve of IC 310 above 300GeV has been measured with the
MAGIC telescopes from Oct. 2009 to Feb. 2010. Fermi-LAT data (2008-2011) in the
10-500GeV energy range were also analyzed. In X-ray, archival observations from
2003 to 2007 with XMM, Chandra, and Swift-XRT in the 0.5-10keV band were
studied. Results. The VHE light curve reveals several high-amplitude and
short-duration flares. Day-to-day flux variability is clearly present. The
photon index between 120GeV and 8TeV remains at the value $\Gamma\sim2.0$
during both low and high flux states. The VHE spectral shape does not show
significant variability, whereas the flux at 1TeV changes by a factor of
$\sim7$. Fermi-LAT detected only eight gamma-ray events in the energy range
10GeV-500GeV in three years of observation. The measured photon index of
$\Gamma=1.3\pm0.5$ in the Fermi-LAT range is very hard. The X-ray measurements
show strong variability in flux and photon index. The latter varied from
$1.76\pm0.07$ to $2.55\pm0.07$. Conclusion. The rapid variability measured
confirms the blazar-like behavior of IC 310. The TeV emission seems to
originate from scales of less than 80 Schwarzschild radii within the compact
core of its FRI radio jet with orientation angle 10deg-38deg. The SED resembles
that of an extreme blazar, albeit the luminosity is more than two orders of
magnitude lower.


title: Identifying codes of Cartesian product of two cliques

abstract:
  An identifying code in a graph $G$ is a dominating set $C$ such that the
closed neighborhood of each vertex in $G$ has a distinct intersection with $C$.
In 2008, Gravier et al. determined the minimum cardinality of an identifying
code of the Cartesian product of two cliques with the same size. In this note,
we generalize this result to the Cartesian product of any two nontrivial
cliques.


title:
Time delay between the optical and X-ray outbursts in the high mass
  X-ray transient A0535+26/HDE245770

abstract:
  The optical behaviour of the Be star in the high mass X-ray transient
A0535+26/HDE245770 shows that at the periastron typically there is an
enhancement in the luminosity of order 0.02 to few tenths mag, and the X-ray
outburst happens about 8 days after the periastron. We construct a quantitative
model of this event, basing on the a nonstationary accretion disk behavior,
connected with a high ellipticity of the orbital motion. The ephemeris used in
this paper -- JD$_{\rm opt-outb}$ = JD$_0$(2,444,944) $\pm$ n(111.0 $\pm$ 0.4)
days are derived from the orbital period of the system P$_{\rm orb} = 111.0 \pm
0.4$ days, determined by Priedhorsky & Terrell (1983), and from the optical
flare of December 5, 1981 (Giovannelli et al., 1985) (here after 811205-E; E
stands for the Event occurred at that date) that triggered the subsequent X-ray
outburst of December 13, 1981 (Nagase et al., 1982) (here after 811213-E). We
explain the observed time delay between the peaks of the optical and X-ray
outbursts in this system by the time of radial motion of the matter in the
accretion disk, after an increase of the mass flux in the vicinity of a
periastral point in the binary. This time is determined by the turbulent
viscosity, with the parameter $\alpha=0.1-0.3$. The increase of the mass flux
is a sort of flush that reaches the external part of the accretion disk around
the neutron star, producing an enhancement in the optical luminosity. The
consequent X-ray flare happens when the matter reaches the hot central parts of
the accretion disk, and the neutron star surface.


title: Sensitivity to the Neutrino Mass Hierarchy

abstract:
  In the next decade, a number of experiments will attempt to determine the
neutrino mass hierarchy. Feasibility studies for such experiments generally
determine the expected value of Delta chi^2. As the hierarchy is a discrete
choice, Delta chi^2 does not obey a one degree of freedom chi^2 distribution
and so the number of sigmas of confidence of the hierarchy determination is not
the square root of the expected Delta chi^2. We present a simple formula for
the sensitivity to the hierarchy that can be expected from the median
experiment as a function of the expected Delta chi^2.


title: On neat atom structures for cylindric like algebras

abstract:
  (1) Let 1\leq k\leq \omega. Call an atom structure \alpha weakly k neat
representable, the term algebra is in \RCA_n\cap \Nr_n\CA_{n+k}, but the
complex algebra is not representable. Call an atom structure neat if there is
an atomic algebra \A, such that \At\A=\alpha, \A\in \Nr_n\CA_{\omega} and for
every algebra $\B$ based on this atom structure there exists k\in \omega$,
k\geq 1, such that \B\in \Nr_n\CA_{n+k}.
  (2) Let k\leq \omega. Call an atom structure \alpha k complete, if there
exists \A such that \At\A=\alpha and \A\in S_c\Nr_n\CA_{n+k}.
  (3) Let k\leq \omega. Call an atom structure $\alpha$ k neat if there exists
\A such that \At\A=\alpha, and \A\in \Nr_n\CA_{n+k}.
  (4) Let K\subseteq \CA_n, and \L be an extension of first order logic. We say
that \K is well behaved w.r.t to \L, if for any \A\in \K, A atomic, and for any
any atom structure \beta such that \At\A is elementary equivalent to \beta, for
any \B, \At\B=\beta, then B\in K.
  We investigate the existence of such structures, and the interconnections. We
also present several K's and L's as in the second definition. All our results
extend to Pinter's algebras and polyadic algebras with and without equality.


title:
Threshold resummation for the production of a color sextet (antitriplet)
  scalar at the LHC

abstract:
  We investigate threshold resummation effects in the production of a color
sextet (antitriplet) scalar at next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic (NNLL) order
at the LHC in the frame of soft-collinear effective theory. We show the total
cross section and the rapidity distribution with NLO+NNLL accuracy, and we
compare them with the NLO results. Besides, we use recent dijet data at the LHC
to give the constraints on the couplings between the colored scalars and
quarks.


title:
Pair quenched mean-field theory for the susceptible-infected-susceptible
  model on complex networks

abstract:
  We present a quenched mean-field (QMF) theory for the dynamics of the
susceptible-infected-susceptible (SIS) epidemic model on complex networks where
dynamical correlations between connected vertices are taken into account by
means of a pair approximation. We present analytical expressions of the
epidemic thresholds in the star and wheel graphs and in random regular
networks. For random networks with a power law degree distribution, the
thresholds are numerically determined via an eigenvalue problem. The pair and
one-vertex QMF theories yield the same scaling for the thresholds as functions
of the network size. However, comparisons with quasi-stationary simulations of
the SIS dynamics on large networks show that the former is quantitatively much
more accurate than the latter. Our results demonstrate the central role played
by dynamical correlations on the epidemic spreading and introduce an efficient
way to theoretically access the thresholds of very large networks that can be
extended to dynamical processes in general.


title:
Crystal Shape-Dependent Magnetic Susceptibility and Curie Law Crossover
  in the Spin Ices Dy2Ti2O7 and Ho2Ti2O7

abstract:
  We present an experimental determination of the isothermal magnetic
susceptibility of the spin ice materials Dy2Ti2O7 and Ho2Ti2O7 in the
temperature range 1.8-300 K. The use of spherical crystals has allowed the
accurate correction for demagnetizing fields and allowed the true bulk
isothermal susceptibility X_T(T) to be estimated. This has been compared to a
theoretical expression based on a Husimi tree approximation to the spin ice
model. Agreement between experiment and theory is excellent at T > 10 K, but
systematic deviations occur below that temperature. Our results largely resolve
an apparent disagreement between neutron scattering and bulk measurements that
has been previously noted. They also show that the use of non-spherical
crystals in magnetization studies of spin ice may introduce very significant
systematic errors, although we note some interesting - and possibly new -
systematics concerning the demagnetizing factor in cuboidal samples. Finally,
our results show how experimental susceptibility measurements on spin ices may
be used to extract the characteristic energy scale of the system and the
corresponding chemical potential for emergent magnetic monopoles.


title:
Interacting Steps With Finite-Range Interactions: Analytical
  Approximation and Numerical Results

abstract:
  We calculate an analytical expression for the terrace-width distribution
$P(s)$ for an interacting step system with nearest and next nearest neighbor
interactions. Our model is derived by mapping the step system onto a
statistically equivalent 1D system of classical particles. The validity of the
model is tested with several numerical simulations and experimental results. We
explore the effect of the range of interactions $q$ on the functional form of
the terrace-width distribution and pair correlation functions. For physically
plausible interactions, we find modest changes when next-nearest neighbor
interactions are included and generally negligible changes when more distant
interactions are allowed. We discuss methods for extracting from simulated
experimental data the characteristic scale-setting terms in assumed potential
forms.


title:
A Generalization of Classical Symmetric Orthogonal Functions Using a
  Symmetric Generalization of Sturm-Liouville Problems

abstract:
  In this paper, usual Sturm-Liouville problems are extended for symmetric
functions so that the corresponding solutions preserve the orthogonality
property. Two basic examples, which are special cases of a generalized
Sturm-Liouville problem, are then introduced. First example generalizes the
associated Legendre functions having extensive applications in physics and the
second example introduces a generic differential equation with various
sub-cases that have orthogonal solutions. For instance, this generic equation
possesses a symmetric differential equation containing a basic solution of
symmetric orthogonal polynomials.


title:
Concentration of Vacancies at Metal Oxide Surfaces: Case Study of MgO
  (100)

abstract:
  We investigate effects of doping on formation energy and concentration of
oxygen vacancies at a metal oxide surface, using MgO (100) as an example. Our
approach employs density-functional theory, where the performance of the
exchange-correlation functional is carefully analyzed, and the functional is
chosen according to a fundamental condition on DFT ionization energies. The
approach is further validated by CCSD(T) calculations for embedded clusters. We
demonstrate that the concentration of oxygen vacancies at a doped oxide surface
is largely determined by formation of a macroscopically extended space charge
region.


title:
A Novel Approach to Constrain the Mass Ratio of Minor Mergers in
  Elliptical Galaxies: Application to NGC 4889, the Brightest Cluster Galaxy in
  Coma

abstract:
  Minor mergers are thought to be important for the build-up and structural
evolution of massive elliptical galaxies. In this work, we report the discovery
of a system of four shell features in NGC 4889, one of the brightest members of
the Coma cluster, using optical images taken with the Hubble Space Telescope
and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The shells are well aligned with the major
axis of the host and are likely to have been formed by the accretion of a small
satellite galaxy. We have performed a detailed two-dimensional photometric
decomposition of NGC 4889 and of the many overlapping nearby galaxies in its
vicinity. This comprehensive model allows us not only to firmly detect the
low-surface brightness shells, but, crucially, also to accurately measure their
luminosities and colors. The shells are bluer than the underlying stars at the
same radius in the main galaxy. We make use of the colors of the shells and the
color-magnitude relation of the Coma cluster to infer the luminosity (or mass)
of the progenitor galaxy. The shells in NGC 4889 appear to have been produced
by the minor merger of a moderate-luminosity (M_I ~ -18.7 mag) disk (S0 or
spiral) galaxy with a luminosity (mass) ratio of ~ 90:1 with respect to the
primary galaxy. The novel methodology presented in this work can be exploited
to decode the fossil record imprinted in the photometric substructure of other
nearby early-type galaxies.


title:
Extended holographic Ricci dark energy in chameleon Brans-Dicke
  cosmology

abstract:
  In the present work we have studied some features of the generalized
Brans-Dicke (BD) model in which the scalar field is allowed to couple
non-minimally with matter sector. Extended holographic Ricci dark energy
(EHRDE) has been considered in the above framework of BD cosmology. Some
restrictions have been derived for the BD parameter $\omega$ and a stronger
matter-chameleon coupling has been observed with expansion of the universe. In
this framework, the equation of state parameter of EHRDE has behaved like
quintom. Also, we have reconstructed the potential and coupling function for BD
model for the EHRDE. It has been observed that potential function is increasing
as the matter-chameleon coupling is getting stronger.


title:
A novel automatic thresholding segmentation method with local adaptive
  thresholds

abstract:
  A novel method for segmenting bright objects from dark background for
grayscale image is proposed. The concept of this method can be stated simply
as: to pick out the local-thinnest bands on the grayscale grade-map. It turns
out to be a threshold-based method with local adaptive thresholds, where each
local threshold is determined by requiring the average normal-direction
gradient on the object boundary to be local minimal. The method is highly
automatic and the segmentation mimics a man's natural expectation even the
object boundaries are fuzzy.


title: Freeze-out parameters: lattice meets experiment

abstract:
  We present our results for ratios of higher order fluctuations of electric
charge as functions of the temperature. These results are obtained in a system
of 2+1 quark flavors at physical quark masses and continuum extrapolated. We
compare them to preliminary data on higher order moments of the net electric
charge distribution from the STAR collaboration. This allows us to determine
the freeze-out temperature and chemical potential from first principles. We
also show continuum-extrapolated results for ratios of higher order
fluctuations of baryon number. These will allow to test the consistency of the
approach, by comparing them to the corresponding experimental data (once they
become available) and thus extracting the freeze-out parameters in an
independent way.


title: A model of Yukawa couplings with matter-messenger unification

abstract:
  We propose a GUT model in which visible matter and messengers are treated in
unified way what unavoidably leads to messenger-matter mixed Yukawa
interactions. Influence of this mixing on the fermion masses and the weak
mixing angles is discussed.


title: Analytical Holographic Superconductor with Backreaction Using AdS3/CFT2

abstract:
  The holographic model for a two-dimensional superconductor has been
investigated by considering the three-dimensional gravity in the bulk. To find
the critical temperature, we used the Sturm-Liouville variational method. Where
as the same method is applied for calculating the condensation of the dual
operators on the boundary. We included the back reactions on the metric by a
combination of the perturbation method of the fields with respect to the small
parameter and then applying the variational integrals on the resulting
equations of the motion. The critical temperature has been successfully
obtained on the backreaction effects, and we showed that it dropped with a rise
in the backreaction of the fields, and it makes the condensation harder. We can
use our analytical results to support the numerical data which was reported
previously.


title: Critical parameters for non-hermitian Hamiltonians

abstract:
  We calculate accurate critical parameters for a class of non-hermitian
Hamiltonians by means of the diagonalization method. We study three
one-dimensional models and two perturbed rigid rotors with PT symmetry. One of
the latter models illustrates the necessity of a more general condition for the
appearance of real eigenvalues that we also discuss here.


title:
Is the metallicity of the progenitor of long gamma-ray bursts really
  low?

abstract:
  Observations of long gamma-ray bursts (LGRBs) offer a unique opportunity for
probing the cosmic star formation history, although whether or not LGRB rates
are biased tracers of star formation rate history is highly debated. Based on
an extensive sample of LGRBs compiled by Robertson & Ellis (2012), we analyze
various models of star formation rate and the possible effect of the evolution
of cosmic metallicity under the assumption that LGRBs tend to occur in
low-metallicity galaxies. The models of star formation rate tested in this work
include empirical fits from observational data as well as a self-consistent
model calculated in the framework of the hierarchical structure formation.
Comparing with the observational data, we find a relatively higher metallicity
cut of $Z\gtrsim0.6Z_{\odot}$ for the empirical fits and no metallicity cut for
the self-consistent model. These results imply that there is no strong
metallicity preference for the host galaxy of LGRBs, in contrast to previous
work which suggest a cut of $Z\sim0.1-0.3Z_{\odot}$, and that the inferred
dependencies of LGRBs on their host galaxy properties are strongly related to
the specific models of star formation rate. Furthermore, a significant fraction
of LGRBs occur in small dark matter halos down to
$3\times10^{8}\,\mathrm{M_{\odot}}$ can provide an alternative explanation for
the discrepancy between the star formation rate history and LGRB rate history.


title:
New uniform and asymptotic upper bounds on the tensor rank of
  multiplication in extensions of finite fields

abstract:
  We obtain new uniform upper bounds for the (non necessarily symmetric) tensor
rank of the multiplication in the extensions of the finite fields $\F_q$ for
any prime or prime power $q\geq2$; moreover these uniform bounds lead to new
asymptotic bounds as well. In addition, we also give purely asymptotic bounds
which are substantially better by using a family of Shimura curves defined over
$\F_q$, with an optimal ratio of $\F_{q^t}$-rational places to their genus
where $q^t$ is a square.


title: Solitary vortices supported by localized parametric gain

abstract:
  We demonstrate the existence and stability of bright vortex solitons
sustained by a ring-shaped parametric gain, for both focusing and defocusing
Kerr nonlinearities in lossy optical media. With the defocusing nonlinearity,
the vortices are stable at all values of the detuning parameter, while under
the focusing nonlinearity their stability region is limited to some positive
values of the detuning. Unstable vortices in the focusing medium transform into
stable rotating azimuthons.


title: Long-term temporal variations in the areas of sunspot groups

abstract:
  Recently, we analyzed the combined Greenwich and Solar Optical Observing
Network (SOON) sunspot group data during the period 1874-2011 and studied
variations in the annual numbers of small, large and big sunspot groups. Here
that analysis is extended and studied variations in the mean maximum sizes (the
mean values of maximum areas) of the aforementioned three classes of sunspot
groups and also their combination. It is found that there is no significant
correlation between the mean maximum size of any class of sunspot groups and
the International Sunspot Number (Rz), probably due to in a given time interval
small sunspot groups/sunspots outnumber the large ones. A pattern of an
approximate 9-year period cycle is seen in the variations of the mean maximum
sizes of the large and the big sunspot groups during a solar cycle. On
long-time scales it is found that there exists a strong 130 or more years cycle
in the variation of the mean size of the small sunspot groups, whereas there is
a hint on the existence of approximate 44-year cycles in the variations of the
mean maximum sizes of the large and the big sunspot groups. During the decline
phase of cycle 23, there was a scarcity in the very small sunspot groups
(maximum area AM < or = 37 msh), which may be related to the slow growth of
sunspot groups during this period. During the minimum between cycles 23 and 24
may be due to the presence of a number of small sunspot groups whose AM > 37
msh was larger than that of whose AM < or = 37 msh, the relatively large size
coronal holes were present at low-latitudes and the total solar irradiance was
very low.


title:
Measuring the Magnetic Field Strength of the Quiet Solar Corona Using
  "EIT Waves"

abstract:
  Variations in the propagation of globally-propagating disturbances (commonly
called "EIT waves") through the low solar corona offer a unique opportunity to
probe the plasma parameters of the solar atmosphere. Here, high-cadence
observations of two "EIT wave" events taken using the Atmospheric Imaging
Assembly (AIA) instrument onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) are
combined with spectroscopic measurements from the Extreme ultraviolet Imaging
Spectrometer (EIS) onboard the Hinode spacecraft and used to examine the
variability of the quiet coronal magnetic-field strength. The combination of
pulse kinematics from SDO/AIA and plasma density from Hinode/EIS is used to
show that the magnetic-field strength is in the range ~2-6 G in the quiet
corona. The magnetic-field estimates are then used to determine the height of
the pulse, allowing a direct comparison with theoretical values obtained from
magnetic-field measurements from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI)
onboard SDO using PFSS and local-domain extrapolations. While local-scale
extrapolations predict heights inconsistent with prior measurements, the
agreement between observations and the PFSS model indicates that "EIT waves"
are a global phenomenon influenced by global-scale magnetic field.


title: A Truth Serum for Sharing Rewards

abstract:
  We study a problem where a group of agents has to decide how a joint reward
should be shared among them. We focus on settings where the share that each
agent receives depends on the subjective opinions of its peers concerning that
agent's contribution to the group. To this end, we introduce a mechanism to
elicit and aggregate subjective opinions as well as for determining agents'
shares. The intuition behind the proposed mechanism is that each agent who
believes that the others are telling the truth has its expected share maximized
to the extent that it is well-evaluated by its peers and that it is truthfully
reporting its opinions. Under the assumptions that agents are Bayesian
decision-makers and that the underlying population is sufficiently large, we
show that our mechanism is incentive-compatible, budget-balanced, and
tractable. We also present strategies to make this mechanism individually
rational and fair.