title: 3D Shape Segmentation with Projective Convolutional Networks

abstract:
  This paper introduces a deep architecture for segmenting 3D objects into
their labeled semantic parts. Our architecture combines image-based Fully
Convolutional Networks (FCNs) and surface-based Conditional Random Fields
(CRFs) to yield coherent segmentations of 3D shapes. The image-based FCNs are
used for efficient view-based reasoning about 3D object parts. Through a
special projection layer, FCN outputs are effectively aggregated across
multiple views and scales, then are projected onto the 3D object surfaces.
Finally, a surface-based CRF combines the projected outputs with geometric
consistency cues to yield coherent segmentations. The whole architecture
(multi-view FCNs and CRF) is trained end-to-end. Our approach significantly
outperforms the existing state-of-the-art methods in the currently largest
segmentation benchmark (ShapeNet). Finally, we demonstrate promising
segmentation results on noisy 3D shapes acquired from consumer-grade depth
cameras.


title:
Uniform Atmospheric Retrieval Analysis of Ultracool Dwarfs II:
  Properties of 11 T-dwarfs

abstract:
  Brown dwarf spectra are rich in information revealing of the chemical and
physical processes operating in their atmospheres. We apply a recently
developed atmospheric retrieval tool to an ensemble of late T-dwarf (600-800K)
near infrared spectra. With these spectra we are able to place direct
constraints the molecular abundances of H$_2$O, CH$_4$, CO, CO$_2$, NH$_3$,
H$_2$S, and Na+K, gravity, thermal structure (and effective temperature),
photometric radius, and cloud optical depths. We find that ammonia, water,
methane, and the alkali metals are present and well constrained in all 11
objects. From the abundance constraints we find no significant trend in the
water, methane, or ammonia abundances with temperature, but find a very strong
($>$25$\sigma$) increasing trend in the alkali metal abundances with effective
temperature, indicative of alkali rainout. We also find little evidence for
optically thick clouds. With the methane and water abundances, we derive the
intrinsic atmospheric metallicity and carbon-to-oxygen ratios. We find in our
sample, that metallicities are typically sub solar and carbon-to-oxygen ratios
are somewhat super solar, different than expectations from the local stellar
population. We also find that the retrieved vertical thermal profiles are
consistent with radiative equilibrium over the photospheric regions. Finally,
we find that our retrieved effective temperatures are lower than previous
inferences for some objects and that our radii are larger than expectations
from evolutionary models, possibly indicative of un-resolved binaries. This
investigation and methodology represents a paradigm in linking spectra to the
determination of the fundamental chemical and physical processes governing cool
brown dwarf atmospheres.


title:
The BRAVE Program - I: Improved Bulge Stellar Velocity Dispersion
  Estimates for a Sample of Active Galaxies

abstract:
  We present new bulge stellar velocity dispersion measurements for 10 active
galaxies with secure $M_{BH}$ determinations from reverberation-mapping. These
new velocity dispersion measurements are based on spatially resolved kinematics
from integral-field (IFU) spectroscopy. In all but one case, the field of view
of the IFU extends beyond the effective radius of the galaxy, and in the case
of Mrk 79 the field of view extends to almost one half the effective radius.
This combination of spatial resolution and field of view allows for secure
determinations of stellar velocity dispersion within the effective radius for
all 10 target galaxies. Spatially resolved maps of the first (V) and second
($\sigma_{\star}$) moments of the line-of-sight velocity distribution (LOSVD)
indicate the presence of kinematic substructure in most cases. In future
projects we plan to explore methods of correcting for the effects of kinematic
substructure in the derived bulge stellar velocity dispersion measurements.


title: Analysis of Multi-Index Monte Carlo Estimators for a Zakai SPDE

abstract:
  In this article, we propose a space-time Multi-Index Monte Carlo (MIMC)
estimator for a one-dimensional parabolic stochastic partial differential
equation (SPDE) of Zakai type. We compare the complexity with the Multilevel
Monte Carlo (MLMC) method of Giles and Reisinger (2012), and find, by means of
Fourier analysis, that the MIMC method: (i) has suboptimal complexity of
$O(\varepsilon^{-2}|\log\varepsilon|^3)$ for a root mean square error (RMSE)
$\varepsilon$ if the same spatial discretisation as in the MLMC method is used;
(ii) has a better complexity of $O(\varepsilon^{-2}|\log\varepsilon|)$ if a
carefully adapted discretisation is used; (iii) has to be adapted for
non-smooth functionals. Numerical tests confirm these findings empirically.


title: Advances in using Internet searches to track dengue

abstract:
  Dengue is a mosquito-borne disease that threatens more than half of the
world's population. Despite being endemic to over 100 countries, government-led
efforts and mechanisms to timely identify and track the emergence of new
infections are still lacking in many affected areas. Multiple methodologies
that leverage the use of Internet-based data sources have been proposed as a
way to complement dengue surveillance efforts. Among these, the trends in
dengue-related Google searches have been shown to correlate with dengue
activity. We extend a methodological framework, initially proposed and
validated for flu surveillance, to produce near real-time estimates of dengue
cases in five countries/regions: Mexico, Brazil, Thailand, Singapore and
Taiwan. Our result shows that our modeling framework can be used to improve the
tracking of dengue activity in multiple locations around the world.


title:
Prospects of models with light sgoldstino in electron beam dump
  experiment at CERN SPS

abstract:
  We discuss phenomenology of light scalar sgoldstino in context of CERN
electron beam dump experiment NA64. We calculate sgoldstino production rate for
this experiment taking into account sgoldstino mixing with the Higgs boson and
find a region in the model parameter space which can be tested in NA64.


title:
Task-Guided and Path-Augmented Heterogeneous Network Embedding for
  Author Identification

abstract:
  In this paper, we study the problem of author identification under
double-blind review setting, which is to identify potential authors given
information of an anonymized paper. Different from existing approaches that
rely heavily on feature engineering, we propose to use network embedding
approach to address the problem, which can automatically represent nodes into
lower dimensional feature vectors. However, there are two major limitations in
recent studies on network embedding: (1) they are usually general-purpose
embedding methods, which are independent of the specific tasks; and (2) most of
these approaches can only deal with homogeneous networks, where the
heterogeneity of the network is ignored. Hence, challenges faced here are two
folds: (1) how to embed the network under the guidance of the author
identification task, and (2) how to select the best type of information due to
the heterogeneity of the network.
  To address the challenges, we propose a task-guided and path-augmented
heterogeneous network embedding model. In our model, nodes are first embedded
as vectors in latent feature space. Embeddings are then shared and jointly
trained according to task-specific and network-general objectives. We extend
the existing unsupervised network embedding to incorporate meta paths in
heterogeneous networks, and select paths according to the specific task. The
guidance from author identification task for network embedding is provided both
explicitly in joint training and implicitly during meta path selection. Our
experiments demonstrate that by using path-augmented network embedding with
task guidance, our model can obtain significantly better accuracy at
identifying the true authors comparing to existing methods.


title: Recalibration of the $M_{BH}-\sigma_{\star}$ Relation for AGN

abstract:
  We present a re-calibration of the $M_{BH}-\sigma_{\star}$ relation, based on
a sample of 16 reverberation-mapped galaxies with newly determined bulge
stellar velocity dispersions ($\sigma_{\star}$) from integral-field
spectroscopy (IFS), and a sample of 32 quiescent galaxies with publicly
available IFS. For both samples, $\sigma_{\star}$ is determined via two
different methods that are popular in the literature, and we provide fits for
each sample based on both sets of $\sigma_{\star}$. We find the fit to the AGN
sample is shallower than the fit to the quiescent galaxy sample, and that the
slopes for each sample are in agreement with previous investigations. However,
the intercepts to the quiescent galaxy relations are notably higher than those
found in previous studies, due to the systematically lower $\sigma_{\star}$
measurements that we obtain from IFS. We find that this may be driven, in part,
by poorly constrained measurements of bulge effective radius ($r_{e}$) for the
quiescent galaxy sample, which may bias the $\sigma_{\star}$ measurements low.
We use these quiescent galaxy parameterizations, as well as one from the
literature, to recalculate the virial scaling factor $f$. We assess the
potential biases in each measurement, and suggest $f=4.82\pm1.67$ as the best
currently available estimate. However, we caution that the details of how
$\sigma_{\star}$ is measured can significantly affect $f$, and there is still
much room for improvement.


title: A Generalization of the Curry-Howard Correspondence

abstract:
  We present a variant of the calculus of deductive systems developed in
(Lambek 1972, 1974), and give a generalization of the Curry-Howard-Lambek
theorem giving an equivalence between the category of typed lambda-calculi and
the category of cartesian closed categories and exponential-preserving
morphisms that leverages the theory of generalized categories (Schoenbaum
2016). We discuss potential applications and extensions.


title:
Constraints On The Dynamical Environments Of Supermassive Black-hole
  Binaries Using Pulsar-timing Arrays

abstract:
  We introduce a technique for gravitational-wave analysis, where Gaussian
process regression is used to emulate the strain spectrum of a stochastic
background using population-synthesis simulations. This leads to direct
Bayesian inference on astrophysical parameters. For PTAs specifically, we
interpolate over the parameter space of supermassive black-hole binary
environments, including 3-body stellar scattering, and evolving orbital
eccentricity. We illustrate our approach on mock data, and assess the prospects
for inference with data similar to the NANOGrav 9-yr data release.


title: Mapping the Extinction Curve in 3D: Structure on Kiloparsec Scales

abstract:
  Near-infrared spectroscopy from APOGEE and wide-field optical photometry from
Pan-STARRS1 have recently made possible precise measurements of the shape of
the extinction curve for tens of thousands of stars, parameterized by R(V).
These measurements revealed structures in R(V) with large angular scales, which
are challenging to explain in existing dust paradigms. In this work, we combine
three-dimensional maps of dust column density with R(V) measurements to
constrain the three-dimensional distribution of R(V) in the Milky Way. We find
that variations in R(V) are correlated on kiloparsec scales. In particular,
most of the dust within one kiloparsec in the outer Galaxy, including many
local molecular clouds (Orion, Taurus, Perseus, California, Cepheus), has a
significantly lower R(V) than more distant dust in the Milky Way. These results
provide new input to models of dust evolution and processing, and complicate
application of locally derived extinction curves to more distant regions of the
Milky Way and to other galaxies.


title:
The spinning Kerr-black-hole-mirror bomb: A lower bound on the radius of
  the reflecting mirror

abstract:
  The intriguing superradiant amplification phenomenon allows an orbiting
scalar field to extract rotational energy from a spinning Kerr black hole.
Interestingly, the energy extraction rate can grow exponentially in time if the
black-hole-field system is placed inside a reflecting mirror which prevents the
field from radiating its energy to infinity. This composed
Kerr-black-hole-scalar-field-mirror system, first designed by Press and
Teukolsky, has attracted the attention of physicists over the last four
decades. Previous numerical studies of this spinning {\it black-hole bomb} have
revealed the interesting fact that the superradiant instability shuts down if
the reflecting mirror is placed too close to the black-hole horizon. In the
present study we use analytical techniques to explore the superradiant
instability regime of this composed
Kerr-black-hole-linearized-scalar-field-mirror system. In particular, it is
proved that the lower bound ${{r_{\text{m}}}\over{r_+}}>{1\over
2}\Big(\sqrt{1+{{8M}\over{r_-}}}-1\Big)$ provides a necessary condition for the
development of the exponentially growing superradiant instabilities in this
composed physical system, where $r_{\text{m}}$ is the radius of the confining
mirror and $r_{\pm}$ are the horizon radii of the spinning Kerr black hole. We
further show that, in the linearized regime, this {\it analytically} derived
lower bound on the radius of the confining mirror agrees with direct {\it
numerical} computations of the superradiant instability spectrum which
characterizes the spinning black-hole-mirror bomb.


title: Anomalous screening of quantum impurities by a neutral environment

abstract:
  It is a common knowledge that an effective interaction of a quantum impurity
with an electromagnetic field can be screened by surrounding charge carriers,
whether mobile or static. Here we demonstrate that very strong, `anomalous'
screening can take place in the presence of a neutral, weakly-polarizable
environment, due to an exchange of orbital angular momentum between the
impurity and the bath. Furthermore, we show that it is possible to generalize
all phenomena related to isolated impurities in an external field to the case
when a many-body environment is present, by casting the problem in terms of the
angulon quasiparticle. As a result, the relevant observables such as the
effective Rabi frequency, geometric phase, and impurity spatial alignment are
straightforward to evaluate in terms of a single parameter: the
angular-momentum-dependent screening factor.

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


title:
Evolution of the real-space correlation function from next generation
  cluster surveys

abstract:
  We investigate to which accuracy it is possible to recover the real-space
two-point correlation function of galaxy clusters from cluster catalogues based
on photometric redshifts, and test our ability to measure the redshift and mass
evolution of the correlation length and the bias parameter as a function of the
redshift uncertainty.
  We calculate the correlation function for cluster sub-samples covering
various mass and redshift bins selected from a light-cone catalogue. To
simulate the distribution of clusters in photometric redshift space, we assign
to each cluster a redshift randomly extracted from a Gaussian distribution. The
dispersion is varied in the range $\sigma_{(z=0)} = 0.001$ to $0.050$. The
correlation function in real-space is computed through estimation and
deprojection of $w_{p}(r_{p})$. Four mass ranges (from $M_{halo}> 2 \times
10^{13}$ to $M_{halo}> 2 \times 10^{14}$) and six redshift slices covering the
redshift range [0,2] are investigated, using cosmological redshifts and photo-z
configurations.
  We find a clear increase of the correlation amplitude as a function of
redshift and mass for the $z_{c}$ samples. The evolution of the derived bias
parameter is in agreement with theoretical expectations. From our pilot sample
limited to $M_{halo}> 5 \times 10^{13} (0.4 < z < 0.7)$, we find that the
real-space correlation function can be recovered by deprojection of
$w_{p}(r_{p})$ within an accuracy of 5% for $\sigma_{z} = 0.001 \times (1 +
z_{c})$ and within 10% for $\sigma_{z} = 0.03 \times (1 + z_{c})$. The
evolution of the correlation in redshift and mass is clearly detected for all
$\sigma_{z}$ tested. The best-fit parameters $(r_{0}$ and ${\gamma})$ as well
as the bias obtained from the deprojection method for all $\sigma_{z}$ are
within the $1 \sigma$ uncertainty of the $z_{c}$ sample.


title: The 5 Gyr evolution of sub-M* galaxies

abstract:
  We gathered two complete samples of $M_{AB}(r)<-18$ ($M_{star} > 10^{9}
M_{\odot}$) galaxies, which are representative of the present-day galaxies and
their counterparts at 5 Gyr ago. We analysed their 2D luminosity profiles and
carefully decomposed them into bulges, bars and discs. This was done in a very
consistent way at the two epochs, by using the same image quality and same
(red) filters at rest. We classified them into elliptical, lenticular, spiral,
and peculiar galaxies on the basis of a morphological decision tree. We found
that at $z=0$, sub-M* ($10^{9} M_{\odot} < M_{star} < 1.5 \times 10^{10}
M_{\odot}$) galaxies follow a similar Hubble Sequence compared to their massive
counterparts, though with a considerable larger number of (1) peculiar galaxies
and (2) low surface brightness galaxies. These trends persist in the $z\sim0.5$
sample, suggesting that sub-M* galaxies have not reached yet a virialised
state, conversely to their more massive counterparts. The fraction of peculiar
galaxies is always high, consistent with a hierarchical scenario in which minor
mergers could have played a more important role for sub-M* galaxies than for
more massive galaxies. Interestingly, we also discovered that more than 10\% of
the sub-M* galaxies at z=0.5 are low surface brightness galaxies with clumpy
and perturbed features that suggest merging. Even more enigmatic is the fact
that their disc scale-lengths are comparable to that of M31, while their
stellar masses are similar to that of the LMC.


title: Relic galaxies: where are they?

abstract:
  The finding that massive galaxies grow with cosmic time fired the starting
gun for the search of objects which could have survived up to the present day
without suffering substantial changes (neither in their structures, neither in
their stellar populations).
  Nevertheless, and despite the community efforts, up to now only one firm
candidate to be considered one of these relics is known: NGC 1277. Curiously,
this galaxy is located at the centre of one of the most rich near galaxy
clusters: Perseus. Is its location a matter of chance? Should relic hunters
focus their search on galaxy clusters?
  In order to reply this question, we have performed a simultaneous and
analogous analysis using simulations (Millennium I-WMAP7) and observations (New
York University Value-Added Galaxy Catalogue). Our results in both frameworks
agree: it is more probable to find relics in high density environments.


title:
A Search for L/T Transition Dwarfs With Pan-STARRS1 and WISE. II. L/T
  Transition Atmospheres and Young Discoveries

abstract:
  The evolution of brown dwarfs from L to T spectral types is one of the least
understood aspects of the ultracool population, partly for lack of a large,
well-defined, and well-characterized sample in the L/T transition. To improve
the existing census, we have searched $\approx$28,000 deg$^2$ using the
Pan-STARRS1 and WISE surveys for L/T transition dwarfs within 25 pc. We present
130 ultracool dwarf discoveries with estimated distances $\approx9-130$ pc,
including 21 that were independently discovered by other authors and 3 that
were previously identified as photometric candidates. Seventy-nine of our
objects have near-IR spectral types of L6-T4.5, the most L/T transition dwarfs
from any search to date, and we have increased the census of L9-T1.5 objects
within 25 pc by over 50%. The color distribution of our discoveries provides
further evidence for the "L/T gap," a deficit of objects with $(J-K)_{\rm
MKO}\approx0.0-0.5$ mag in the L/T transition, and thus reinforces the idea
that the transition from cloudy to clear photospheres occurs rapidly. Among our
discoveries are 31 candidate binaries based on their low-resolution spectral
features. Two of these candidates are common proper motion companions to nearby
main sequence stars; if confirmed as binaries, these would be rare benchmark
systems with the potential to stringently test ultracool evolutionary models.
Our search also serendipitously identified 23 late-M and L dwarfs with
spectroscopic signs of low gravity implying youth. Finally, we identify 10
candidate members of nearby young moving groups (YMG) with spectral types
L7-T4.5, including three showing spectroscopic signs of low gravity. If
confirmed, any of these would be among the coolest known YMG members and would
help to determine the effective temperature at which young brown dwarfs cross
the L/T transition. (Abridged)


title: A Sommerfeld Toolbox for Colored Dark Sectors

abstract:
  We present analytical formulae for the Sommerfeld corrections to the
annihilation of massive colored particles into quarks and gluons through the
strong interaction. These corrections are essential to accurately compute the
dark matter relic density for coannihilation with colored partners. Our
formulae allow to compute the Sommerfeld effect, not only for the lowest term
in the angular momentum expansion of the amplitude, but for all orders in the
partial wave expansion. In particular, we carefully account for the effects of
the spin of the annihilating particle on the symmetry of the two-particle wave
function. This work focuses on strongly interacting particles of arbitrary spin
in the triplet, sextet and octet color representations. For typical velocities
during freeze-out, we find that including Sommerfeld corrections on the
next-to-leading order partial wave leads to modifications of up to ten to
twenty percent on the total annihilation cross section. Complementary to QCD,
we generalize our results to particles charged under an arbitrary unbroken
SU(N) gauge group, as encountered in dark glueball models. In connection with
this paper a Mathematica notebook is provided to compute the Sommerfeld
corrections for colored particles up to arbitrary order in the angular momentum
expansion.


title:
Probing the assembly history and dynamical evolution of massive black
  hole binaries with pulsar timing arrays

abstract:
  We consider the inverse problem in pulsar timing array (PTA) analysis,
investigating what astrophysical information about the underlying massive black
hole binary (MBHB) population can be recovered from the detection of a
stochastic gravitational wave background (GWB). We employ a physically
motivated model that connects the GWB spectrum to a series of parameters
describing the underlying redshift evolution of the MBHB mass function and to
the typical eccentricity they acquire while interacting with the dense
environment of post merger galactic nuclei. This allows the folding in of
information about the spectral shape of the GWB into the analysis. The priors
on the model parameters are assumed to be uninformative and consistent with the
current lack of secure observations of sub-parsec MBHBs. We explore the
implications of current upper limits as well as of future detections with a
variety of PTA configurations. We confirm our previous finding that current
upper limits can only place an upper bound on the overall MBHB merger rate.
Depending on the properties of the array, future detections can also constrain
several MBHB population models at different degrees of fidelity. In particular,
a simultaneous detection of a steepening of the spectrum at high frequency and
a bending at low frequency will place strong constraints on both the MBHB mass
function and on the typical eccentricity of inspiralling MBHBs, providing
insights on MBHB astrophysics unlikely to be achievable by any other means.


title:
Velocity Segregation and Systematic Biases In Velocity Dispersion
  Estimates With the SPT-GMOS Spectroscopic Survey

abstract:
  The velocity distribution of galaxies in clusters is not universal; rather,
galaxies are segregated according to their spectral type and relative
luminosity. We examine the velocity distributions of different populations of
galaxies within 89 Sunyaev Zel'dovich (SZ) selected galaxy clusters spanning $
0.28 < z < 1.08$. Our sample is primarily draw from the SPT-GMOS spectroscopic
survey, supplemented by additional published spectroscopy, resulting in a final
spectroscopic sample of 4148 galaxy spectra---2868 cluster members. The
velocity dispersion of star-forming cluster galaxies is $17\pm4$% greater than
that of passive cluster galaxies, and the velocity dispersion of bright ($m <
m^{*}-0.5$) cluster galaxies is $11\pm4$% lower than the velocity dispersion of
our total member population. We find good agreement with simulations regarding
the shape of the relationship between the measured velocity dispersion and the
fraction of passive vs. star-forming galaxies used to measure it, but we find a
small offset between this relationship as measured in data and simulations in
which suggests that our dispersions are systematically low by as much as 3\%
relative to simulations. We argue that this offset could be interpreted as a
measurement of the effective velocity bias that describes the ratio of our
observed velocity dispersions and the intrinsic velocity dispersion of dark
matter particles in a published simulation result. Measuring velocity bias in
this way suggests that large spectroscopic surveys can improve dispersion-based
mass-observable scaling relations for cosmology even in the face of velocity
biases, by quantifying and ultimately calibrating them out.


title: Ray-tracing and polarized radiative transfer in General Relativity

abstract:
  We discuss the problem of polarized radiative transfer in general relativity.
We present a set of equations suitable for solving the problem numerically for
the case of an arbitrary space-time metric, and show numerical solutions to
example problems. The solutions are computed with a new ray-tracing code,
Arcmancer, developed by the authors.


title:
Mg II Absorption at 2<z<7 with Magellan/FIRE, III. Full Statistics of
  Absorption Towards 100 High-Redshift QSOs

abstract:
  We present final statistics from a survey for intervening MgII absorption
towards 100 quasars with emission redshifts between $z=3.55$ and $z=7.08$.
Using infrared spectra from Magellan/FIRE, we detect 279 cosmological MgII
absorbers, and confirm that the incidence rate of $W_r>0.3 \AA$ MgII absorption
per comoving path length does not evolve measurably between $z=0.25$ and $z=7$.
This is consistent with our detection of seven new MgII systems at $z>6$, a
redshift range that was not covered in prior searches. Restricting to
relatively strong MgII systems ($W_r>1$\AA), there is significant evidence for
redshift evolution. These systems roughly double in number density between
$z=0$ and $z=2$-$3$, but decline by an order of magnitude from this peak by
$z\sim 6$. This evolution mirrors that of the global star formation rate
density, which could reflect a connection between star formation feedback and
strong MgII absorbers. We compared our results to the Illustris cosmological
simulation at $z=2$-$4$ by assigning absorption to catalogued dark-matter halos
and by direct extraction of spectra from the simulation volume. To reproduce
our results using the halo catalogs, we require circumgalactic (CGM) MgII
envelopes within halos of progressively smaller mass at earlier times. This
occurs naturally if we define the lower integration cutoff using SFR rather
than mass. MgII profiles calculated directly from the Illustris volume yield
far too few strong absorbers. We argue that this arises from unresolved phase
space structure of CGM gas, particularly from turbulent velocities on sub-mesh
scales. The presence of CGM MgII at $z>6$-- just $\sim 250$ Myr after the
reionization redshift implied by Planck--suggests that enrichment of intra-halo
gas may have begun before the presumed host galaxies' stellar populations were
mature and dynamically relaxed. [abridged]


title:
Hard decoding algorithm for optimizing thresholds under general
  Markovian noise

abstract:
  Quantum error correction is instrumental in protecting quantum systems from
noise in quantum computing and communication settings. Pauli channels can be
efficiently simulated and threshold values for Pauli error rates under a
variety of error-correcting codes have been obtained. However, realistic
quantum systems can undergo noise processes that differ significantly from
Pauli noise. In this paper, we present an efficient hard decoding algorithm for
optimizing thresholds and lowering failure rates of an error-correcting code
under general completely positive and trace-preserving (i.e., Markovian) noise.
We use our hard decoding algorithm to study the performance of several
error-correcting codes under various non-Pauli noise models by computing
threshold values and failure rates for these codes. We compare the performance
of our hard decoding algorithm to decoders optimized for depolarizing noise and
show improvements in thresholds and reductions in failure rates by several
orders of magnitude. Our hard decoding algorithm can also be adapted to take
advantage of a code's non-Pauli transversal gates to further suppress noise.
For example, we show that using the transversal gates of the 5-qubit code
allows arbitrary rotations around certain axes to be perfectly corrected.
Furthermore, we show that Pauli twirling can increase or decrease the threshold
depending upon the code properties. Lastly, we show that even if the physical
noise model differs slightly from the hypothesized noise model used to
determine an optimized decoder, failure rates can still be reduced by applying
our hard decoding algorithm.


title:
Edge--Entanglement correspondence for gapped topological phases with
  symmetry

abstract:
  The correspondence between the edge theory and the entanglement spectrum is
firmly established for the chiral topological phases. We study gapped,
topologically ordered, non-chiral states with a conserved $U(1)$ charge and
show that the entanglement Hamiltonian contains not only the information about
topologically distinct edges such phases may admit, but also which of them will
be realized in the presence of symmetry breaking/conserving perturbations. We
introduce an exactly solvable, charge conserving lattice model of a
$\mathbb{Z}_2$ spin liquid and derive its edge theory and the entanglement
Hamiltonian, also in the presence of perturbations. We construct a field theory
of the edge and study its RG flow. We show the precise extent of the
correspondence between the information contained in the entanglement
Hamiltonian and the edge theory.


title:
Chemical enrichment of stars due to accretion from ISM during the
  Galaxy's assembly

abstract:
  Using the Eris zoom-in cosmological simulation of assembly of a Milky Way
analog, we study chemical enrichment of stars due to accretion of
metal-enriched gas from the interstellar medium during the Galaxy's
development. We consider metal-poor and old stars in both Galactic halo and
bulge and make use of stellar orbits, gas density and metallicity distributions
in Eris. Assuming spherically symmetric Bondi-Hoyle accretion, we find that
halo and bulge stars accrete metals at the rate of about 10^-24 solar mass per
year and 10^-22 solar mass per year, respectively, at redshifts z < 3, but this
accretion rate increases hundred-fold to about 10^-20 solar mass per year at
higher redshifts due to increased gas density. Bulge and halo stars accrete
similar amounts of metals at high redshifts as kinematically distinct bulge and
halo are not yet developed at these redshifts and both sets of stars encounter
similar metal distribution in the ISM on average. Accretion alone can enrich
main-sequence stars up to [Fe/H] -2 in extreme cases.Median enrichment level
due to accretion in these stars is about [Fe/H]~-6 to -5.Because accretion
mostly takes place at high redshifts, it is alpha-enriched to [alpha/Fe]~0.5.
We find that accretive metal enrichment is significant enough to affect the
predicted metallicity distribution function of halo stars at [Fe/H] < -5.This
suggests that attempts to infer the natal chemical environment of the most
metal-poor stars from their observed enrichment today can be hindered due to
metal accretion. Peculiar enrichment patterns such as those predicted to arise
from pair-instability supernovae could help in disentangling natal and accreted
metal content of stars.


title: Halo assembly bias from Separate Universe simulations

abstract:
  We present a calibration of halo assembly bias using the Separate Universe
technique. Specifically, we measure the response of halo abundances at fixed
mass and concentration to the presence of an infinite-wavelength initial
perturbation. We develop an analytical framework for describing the
concentration dependence of this peak-background split halo bias -- a measure
of assembly bias -- relying on the near-Lognormal distribution of halo
concentration at fixed halo mass. The combination of this analytical framework
and the Separate Universe technique allows us to achieve very high precision in
the calibration of the linear assembly bias $b_1$, and qualitatively reproduces
known trends such as the monotonic decrease (increase) of $b_1$ with halo
concentration at large (small) masses. The same framework extends to the
concentration dependence of higher order bias parameters $b_n$, and we present
the first calibration of assembly bias in $b_2$. Our calibrations are directly
applicable in analytical Halo Model calculations that seek to robustly detect
galaxy assembly bias in observational samples. We detect a non-universality in
the $b_1 - b_2$ relation arising from assembly bias, and suggest that
simultaneous measurements of these bias parameters could be used to both detect
the signature of assembly bias as well as mitigate its effects in cosmological
analyses.


title:
Boosted Dark Matter and its implications for the features in IceCube
  HESE data

abstract:
  We study the implications of the premise that any new, relativistic, highly
energetic neutral particle that interacts with quarks and gluons would create
cascade-like events in the IceCube (IC) detector. Such events would be
observationally indistinguishable from neutral current deep-inelastic
scattering events due to neutrinos. Consequently, one reason for deviations,
breaks or excesses in the expected astrophysical power-law neutrino spectrum
could be the flux of such a particle. Motivated by features in the recent
1347-day IceCube high energy starting event data (HESE), we focus on particular
boosted dark matter ($\chi$) related realizations of this premise. Here, $\chi$
is assumed to be much lighter than, and the result of, the slow decay of a
massive scalar ($\phi$) which constitutes a major fraction of the Universe's
dark matter. We show that this hypothesis, coupled with a standard power-law
astrophysical neutrino flux is capable of providing very good fits to the
present data, along with a possible explanation of other features in the HESE
sample. These features include a) the paucity of events beyond $\sim 2$ PeV b)
a spectral feature resembling a dip or a spectral change in the 400 TeV--1 PeV
region and c) an excess in the $50-100$ TeV region. We consider two different
boosted DM scenarios, and determine the allowed mass ranges and couplings for
four different types of mediators (scalar, pseudoscalar, vector and
axial-vector) which could connect the standard and dark sectors. We consider
constraints from gamma-ray observations and collider searches. We find that the
gamma-ray observations provide the most restrictive constraints, disfavouring
the $1\sigma$ allowed parameter space from IC fits, while still being
consistent with the $3\sigma$ allowed region. We also test our proposal and its
implications against IC's recent six-year through-going muon track data.


title: A rotationally-powered magnetar nebula around Swift J1834.9-0846

abstract:
  A wind nebula, generating extended X-ray emission, was recently detected
surrounding Swift J1834.9-0846. This is the first magnetar for which such a
wind nebula was found. Here, we investigate whether there is a plausible
scenario where the pulsar wind nebula (PWN) can be sustained without the need
of advocating for additional sources of energy other than rotational. We do
this by using a detailed radiative and dynamical code that studies the
evolution of the nebula and its particle population in time. We find that such
a scenario indeed exists: Swift J1834.9-0846's nebula can be explained as being
rotationally-powered, as all other known PWNe are, if it is currently being
compressed by the environment. The latter introduces several effects, the most
important of which is the appearance of adiabatic heating, being increasingly
dominant over the escape of particles as reverberation goes by. The need of
reverberation naturally explains why this is the only magnetar nebula detected,
and provides estimates for Swift 1834.9-0846's age.


title: Non-linear coupling in the dark sector as a running vacuum model

abstract:
  In this work we study a phenomenological non-gravitational interaction
between dark matter and dark energy. The scenario studied in this work extends
the usual interaction model proportional to the derivative of the dark
component density adding to the coupling a non-linear term of the form $Q =
\rho'/3(\alpha + \beta \rho)$. This dark sector interaction model could be
interpreted as a particular case of a running vacuum model of the type
$\Lambda(H) = n_0 + n_1 H^2 + n_2 H^4$ in which the vacuum decays into dark
matter. For a flat FRW Universe filled with dark energy, dark matter and
decoupled baryonic matter and radiation we calculate the energy density
evolution equations of the dark sector and solve them. The different sign
combinations of the two parameters of the model show clear qualitative
different cosmological scenarios, from basic cosmological insights we discard
some of them. The linear scalar perturbation equations of the dark matter were
calculated. Using the CAMB code we calculate the CMB and matter power spectra
for some values of the parameters $\alpha$ and $\beta$ and compare it with
$\Lambda$CDM. The model modify mainly the lower multipoles of the CMB power
spectrum remaining almost the same the high ones. The matter power spectrum for
low wave numbers is not modified by the interaction but after the maximum it is
clearly different. Using observational data from Planck, and various galaxy
surveys we obtain the constraints of the parameters, the best fit values
obtained are the combinations $\alpha = (3.7 \pm 7 )\times 10^{-4} $,
$-(1.5\times10^{-5} {\rm eV}^{-1})^{4} \ll \beta < (0.07 {\rm eV}^{-1})^4$.


title: Full counting statistics of time of flight images

abstract:
  Inspired by recent advances in cold atomic systems and non-equilibrium
physics, we introduce a novel characterization scheme, the time of flight full
counting statistics. We benchmark this method on an interacting one dimensional
Bose gas, and show that there the time of flight image displays several
universal regimes. Finite momentum fluctuations are observed at larger
distances, where a crossover from exponential to Gamma distribution occurs upon
decreasing momentum resolution. Zero momentum particles, on the other hand,
obey a Gumbel distribution in the weakly interacting limit, characterizing the
quantum fluctuations of the former quasi-condensate. Time of flight full
counting statistics is demonstrated to capture thermalization processes after a
quantum quench, and can be useful for characterizing exotic quantum states such
as many-body localized systems or models of holography.


title: Cosmology with AGN: can we use quasars as standard candles?

abstract:
  The non-linear relation between X-ray and UV luminosity in quasars can be
used to estimate their distance. Recently, we have shown that despite the large
dispersion of the relation, a Hubble Diagram made of large samples of quasars
can provide unique constraints on cosmology at high redshift. Furthermore, the
dispersion of the relation is heavily affected by measurement errors: until now
we have used serendipitous X-ray observations, but dedicated observations would
significantly increase the precision of the distance estimates. We discuss the
future role of XMM in this new field, showing (1) the fundamental contribution
of the Serendipitous Source Catalogue and of large surveys, and (2) the
breakthrough advancements we may achieve with the observation of a large number
of SDSS quasars at high redshift: every ~10 quasars observed at z$\sim$3 would
be equivalent to discovering a supernova at that redshift.


title:
Improving quantum-transition temperatures in BaFe2As2-based crystals by
  removing local-lattice strain & electronic-structure disorder

abstract:
  Quantum materials such as antiferromagnets or superconductors are complex in
that chemical, electronic, and spin phenomena at atomic scales can manifest in
their collective properties. Although there are some clues for designing such
materials, they remain mainly unpredictable. In this work, we find that
enhancement of transition temperatures in BaFe2As2-based crystals are caused by
removing local-lattice strain and electronic-structure disorder by thermal
annealing. While annealing improves Neel-ordering temperature in BaFe2As2
crystal (TN=132 K to 136 K) by removing in-plane electronic defects and overall
reduction of a-lattice parameter, it increases superconducting-ordering
temperature in optimally cobalt-doped BaFe2As2 crystal (Tc=23 to 25 K) by
precipitating-out the cobalt dopants and giving larger overall a-lattice
parameter. Although annealing promotes local chemical and electronic uniformity
resulting in higher TN in the parent, it results in nanoscale phase separation
in the superconductor resulting in lower disparity and strong superconducting
band gaps in the dominant crystalline regions, which lead to both higher
overall Tc and critical-current-density, Jc.


title:
Design of NbN superconducting nanowire single photon detectors with
  enhanced infrared photon detection efficiency

abstract:
  We propose an optimized design for nanowire superconducting single photon
detectors, using the recently discovered position dependent detection
efficiency in these devices. This knowledge allows an optimized the design of
meandering wire NbN detectors by altering the field distribution across the
wire. In order to calculate the response of the detectors with different
geometries, we use a monotonic local detection efficiency from a nanowire and
optical absorption distribution via finite-different-time-domain simulations.
The calculations predict a trade-off between average absorption and the edge
effect leading to a predicted optimal wire width close to 100 nm for 1550 nm
wavelength, which drops to 50 nm wire width for 600 nm wavelength. The
absorption at the edges can be enhanced by depositing a silicon nanowire on top
of the superconducting nanowire, which improves both the total absorption
efficiency as well as the internal detection efficiency of meandering wire
structures.

categories: physics.ins-det cond-mat.supr-con physics.optics quant-ph


title:
Precision Measurement of the W-Boson Mass: Theoretical Contributions and
  Uncertainties

abstract:
  We perform a comprehensive analysis of electroweak, QED and mixed
QCD-electroweak corrections underlying the precise measurement of the W-boson
mass M_W at hadron colliders. By applying a template fitting technique, we
detail the impact on M_W of next-to-leading order electroweak and QCD
corrections, multiple photon emission, lepton pair radiation and factorizable
QCD-electroweak contributions. As a by-product, we provide an up-to-date
estimate of the main theoretical uncertainties of perturbative nature. Our
results can serve as a guideline for the assessment of the theoretical
systematics at the Tevatron and LHC and allow a more robust precision
measurement of the W-boson mass at hadron colliders.


title: Tensor-Dictionary Learning with Deep Kruskal-Factor Analysis

abstract:
  A multi-way factor analysis model is introduced for tensor-variate data of
any order. Each data item is represented as a (sparse) sum of Kruskal
decompositions, a Kruskal-factor analysis (KFA). KFA is nonparametric and can
infer both the tensor-rank of each dictionary atom and the number of dictionary
atoms. The model is adapted for online learning, which allows dictionary
learning on large data sets. After KFA is introduced, the model is extended to
a deep convolutional tensor-factor analysis, supervised by a Bayesian SVM. The
experiments section demonstrates the improvement of KFA over vectorized
approaches (e.g., BPFA), tensor decompositions, and convolutional neural
networks (CNN) in multi-way denoising, blind inpainting, and image
classification. The improvement in PSNR for the inpainting results over other
methods exceeds 1dB in several cases and we achieve state of the art results on
Caltech101 image classification.


title:
Strong resolving graphs: the realization and the characterization
  problems

abstract:
  The strong resolving graph $G_{SR}$ of a connected graph $G$ was introduced
in [Discrete Applied Mathematics 155 (1) (2007) 356--364] as a tool to study
the strong metric dimension of $G$. Basically, it was shown that the problem of
finding the strong metric dimension of $G$ can be transformed to the problem of
finding the vertex cover number of $G_{SR}$. Since then, several articles
dealing with this subject have been published. In this paper, we survey the
state of knowledge on the strong resolving graph and also derive some new
results.


title: Deep TEN: Texture Encoding Network

abstract:
  We propose a Deep Texture Encoding Network (Deep-TEN) with a novel Encoding
Layer integrated on top of convolutional layers, which ports the entire
dictionary learning and encoding pipeline into a single model. Current methods
build from distinct components, using standard encoders with separate
off-the-shelf features such as SIFT descriptors or pre-trained CNN features for
material recognition. Our new approach provides an end-to-end learning
framework, where the inherent visual vocabularies are learned directly from the
loss function. The features, dictionaries and the encoding representation for
the classifier are all learned simultaneously. The representation is orderless
and therefore is particularly useful for material and texture recognition. The
Encoding Layer generalizes robust residual encoders such as VLAD and Fisher
Vectors, and has the property of discarding domain specific information which
makes the learned convolutional features easier to transfer. Additionally,
joint training using multiple datasets of varied sizes and class labels is
supported resulting in increased recognition performance. The experimental
results show superior performance as compared to state-of-the-art methods using
gold-standard databases such as MINC-2500, Flickr Material Database,
KTH-TIPS-2b, and two recent databases 4D-Light-Field-Material and GTOS. The
source code for the complete system are publicly available.


title: The 1-eigenspace for matrices in $\operatorname{GL}_2(\mathbb{Z}_\ell)$

abstract:
  Fix some prime number $\ell$ and consider an open subgroup $G$ either of
$\operatorname{GL}_2(\mathbb{Z}_\ell)$ or of the normalizer of a Cartan
subgroup of $\operatorname{GL}_2(\mathbb{Z}_\ell)$. The elements of $G$ act on
$(\mathbb{Z}/\ell^n \mathbb{Z})^2$ for every $n\geqslant 1$ and hence also on
the direct limit, and we call 1-eigenspace the group of fixed points. We
partition $G$ by considering the possible group structures for the 1-eigenspace
and show how to evaluate with a finite procedure the Haar measure of all sets
in the partition. The results apply to all elliptic curves defined over a
number field, where we consider the image of the $\ell$-adic representation and
the Galois action on the torsion points of order a power of $\ell$.


title:
Interplay Between $d$-wave Superconductivity and a Bond Density Wave in
  the one-band Hubbard model

abstract:
  It is now well established that superconducting cuprates support a charge
density wave state in the so-called underdoped region of their phase diagram.
We investigate the possibility of charge order in the square-lattice Hubbard
model, both alone and in coexistence with $d$-wave superconductivity. The
charge order has a period four in one direction, is centered on bonds and has a
$d$ form factor. We use the variational cluster approximation, an approach
based on a rigorous variational principle that treats short-range correlations
exactly, with two clusters of size $2\times6$ that together tile the infinite
lattice and provide a non-biased unit for a period-four bond density wave
(BDW). We find that the BDW exists in a finite range of hole doping and
increases in strength from $U=5$ to $U=8$. Its location and intensity depends
strongly on the band dispersion. When probed simultaneously with $d$-wave
superconductivity, the energy is sometimes lowered by the presence of both
phases, depending on the interaction strength. Whenever they coexist, a
pair-density wave (a modulation of superconducting pairing with the same period
and form factor as the BDW) also exists.


title: Reductions of points on algebraic groups

abstract:
  Let $A$ be the product of an abelian variety and a torus defined over a
number field $K$. Fix some prime number $\ell$. If $\alpha \in A(K)$ is a point
of infinite order, we consider the set of primes $\mathfrak p$ of $K$ such that
the reduction $(\alpha \bmod \mathfrak p)$ is well-defined and has order
coprime to $\ell$. This set admits a natural density. By refining the method of
R.~Jones and J.~Rouse (2010), we can express the density as an $\ell$-adic
integral without requiring any assumption. We also prove that the density is
always a rational number whose denominator (up to powers of $\ell$) is
uniformly bounded in a very strong sense. For elliptic curves, we describe a
strategy for computing the density which covers every possible case.


title: Extending one-factor copulas

abstract:
  So far, one-factor copulas induce conditional independence with respect to a
latent factor. In this paper, we extend one-factor copulas to conditionally
dependent models. This is achieved through new representations which allow to
build new parametric factor copulas with a varying conditional dependence
structure. We discuss estimation and properties of these representations. In
order to distinguish between conditionally independent and conditionally
dependent factor copulas, we provide a novel statistical test which does not
assume any parametric form for the conditional dependence structure.
Illustrations of our framework are provided through examples, numerical
experiments, as well as a real data analysis.


title: Retracing Cantor's first steps in Brouwer's company

abstract:
  We prove intuitionistic versions of the classical theorems saying that all
countable closed subsets of $[-\pi,\pi]$ and even all countable subsets of
$[-\pi,\pi]$ are sets of uniqueness.


title: Examining the origin of dark matter mass at colliders

abstract:
  As conventional dark matter scenarios have been probed extensively so far,
the physics of a light dark matter charged under a new gauge group (dark gauge
group) becomes one of new research avenues in many theoretical and experimental
studies. We examine properties of a dark photon showering, the radiation
process of light gauge bosons from energetic dark matter particles produced at
the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). This showering process provides different
signatures at the LHC depending on the property of dark matter under the dark
gauge group. We show that the LHC experiment can identify the chirality of a
dark matter, which leads to understanding the mass origin of particles in the
dark sector.


title: Positive Systems of Kostant Roots

abstract:
  Let $\mathfrak{g}$ be a simple complex Lie algebra and let $\mathfrak{t}
\subset \mathfrak{g}$ be a toral subalgebra of $\mathfrak{g}$. As a
$\mathfrak{t}$-module $\mathfrak{g}$ decomposes as \[\mathfrak{g} =
\mathfrak{s} \oplus \big(\oplus_{\nu \in \mathcal{R}} \mathfrak{g}^\nu\big)\]
where $\mathfrak{s} \subset \mathfrak{g}$ is the reductive part of a parabolic
subalgebra of $\mathfrak{g}$ and $\mathcal{R}$ is the Kostant root system
associated to $\mathfrak{t}$. When $\mathfrak{t}$ is a Cartan subalgebra of
$\mathfrak{g}$ the decomposition above is nothing but the root decomposition of
$\mathfrak{g}$ with respect to $\mathfrak{t}$; in general the properties of
$\mathcal{R}$ resemble the properties of usual root systems. In this note we
study the following problem: "Given a subset $\mathcal{S} \subset \mathcal{R}$,
is there a parabolic subalgebra $\mathfrak{p}$ of $\mathfrak{g}$ containing
$\mathcal{M} = \oplus_{\nu \in \mathcal{S}} \mathfrak{g}^\nu$ and whose
reductive part equals $\mathfrak{s}$?". Our main results is that, for a
classical simple Lie algebra $\mathfrak{g}$ and a saturated $\mathcal{S}
\subset \mathcal{R}$, the condition
$(\operatorname{Sym}^\cdot(\mathcal{M}))^{\mathfrak{s}} = \mathbf{C}$ is
necessary and sufficient for the existence of such a $\mathfrak{p}$. In
contrast, we show that this statement is no longer true for the exceptional Lie
algebras $\mathrm{F}_4, \mathrm{E}_6, \mathrm{E}_7$, and $\mathrm{E}_8$.
Finally, we discuss the problem in the case when $\mathcal{S}$ is not
saturated.


title: Radial solutions of a fourth order Hamiltonian stationary equation

abstract:
  We consider smooth radial solutions to the Hamiltonian stationary equation
which are defined away from the origin. We show that in dimension two all
radial solutions on unbounded domains must be special Lagrangian. In contrast,
for all higher dimensions there exist non-special Lagrangian radial solutions
over unbounded domains; moreover, near the origin, the gradient graph of such a
solution is continuous if and only if the graph is special Lagrangian.


title: The Cosmology of an Infinite Dimensional Universe

abstract:
  We consider a universe with an arbitrary number of extra dimensions, $N$. We
present a new method for constructing the cosmological equations of motion and
find analytic solutions with an explicit dependence on $N$. When we take the
$N\rightarrow\infty$ limit we find novel, emergent behaviour which
distinguishes it from normal Kaluza-Klein universes.


title: Gaps in Protoplanetary Disks as Signatures of Planets: III. Polarization

abstract:
  Polarimetric observations of T Tauri and Herbig Ae/Be stars are a powerful
way to image protoplanetary disks. However, interpretation of these images is
difficult because the degree of polarization is highly sensitive to the angle
of scattering of stellar light off the disk surface. We examine how disks with
and without gaps created by planets appear in scattered polarized light as a
function of inclination angle. Isophotes of inclined disks without gaps are
distorted in polarized light, giving the appearance that the disks are more
eccentric or more highly inclined than they truly are. Apparent gap locations
are unaffected by polarization, but the gap contrast changes. In face-on disks
with gaps, we find that the brightened far edge of the gap scatters less
polarized light than the rest of the disk, resulting in slightly decreased
contrast between the gap trough and the brightened far edge. In inclined disks,
gaps can take on the appearance of being localized "holes" in brightness rather
than full axisymmetric structures. Photocenter offsets along the minor axis of
the disk in both total intensity and polarized intensity images can be readily
explained by the finite thickness of the disk. Alone, polarized scattered light
images of disks do not necessarily reveal intrinsic disk structure. However,
when combined with total intensity images, the orientation of the disk can be
deduced and much can be learned about disk structure and dust properties.


title:
The 1-loop correction of the QCD energy momentum tensor with the overlap
  fermion and HYP smeared Iwasaki gluon

abstract:
  We present the 1-loop renormalization of the energy momentum tensor using the
overlap fermion and a HYP-smeared Iwasaki gauge action. We also calculate the
1-loop matching coefficient that convert the lattice simulation results
renormalized in the RI/MOM scheme to the $\overline{\textrm{MS}}$ scheme. The
dependence of the renormalization on the gauge action and the number of HYP
smearing steps are also investigated.


title:
Hard X-Ray Emission from Partially Occulted Solar Flares: RHESSI
  Observations in Two Solar Cycles

abstract:
  Flares close to the solar limb, where the footpoints are occulted, can reveal
the spectrum and structure of the coronal loop-top source in X-rays. We aim at
studying the properties of the corresponding energetic electrons near their
acceleration site, without footpoint contamination. To this end, a statistical
study of partially occulted flares observed with RHESSI is presented here,
covering a large part of solar cycles 23 and 24. We perform a detailed spectra,
imaging and light curve analysis for 116 flares and include contextual
observations from SDO and STEREO when available, providing further insights
into flare emission that was previously not accessible. We find that most
spectra are fitted well with a thermal component plus a broken power-law,
non-thermal component. A thin-target kappa distribution model gives
satisfactory fits after the addition of a thermal component. X-rays imaging
reveals small spatial separation between the thermal and non-thermal
components, except for a few flares with a richer coronal source structure. A
comprehensive light curve analysis shows a very good correlation between the
derivative of the soft X-ray flux (from GOES) and the hard X-rays for a
substantial number of flares, indicative of the Neupert effect. The results
confirm that non-thermal particles are accelerated in the corona and estimated
timescales support the validity of a thin-target scenario with similar
magnitudes of thermal and non-thermal energy fluxes.


title:
Novel GLHUA Electromagnetic Invisible Double Layer Cloak With Relative
  Parameters Not Less Than 1 and GL No Scattering Inversion,radial R in the
  sphere coordinate can be negative in a negative space world

abstract:
  Using GILD and GL no scattering modeling and inversion, we find a class of
the nonzero solution of the zero scattering nonlinear inversion equation and
use it to create our GLHUA cloak with relative EM parameter not less than 1 for
each layer with any thickness. major new ingredients are: (1) In the outer
layer, R1 < r < R2, the relative radial electric permittivity and radial
magnetic permeability equal to 1; the relative angular electric permittivity
and magnetic permeability are equal to
0.5((H/C)^(Alpha)+(C/H)^(Alpha)),C=R2-R1, H= r-R1; (2) In the inner layer cloak
R0 < r < R1 , the relative radial electric permittivity and radial magnetic
permeability equal to 1; the relative angular electric permittivity and
magnetic permeability are equal to
0.5((H/C)(R0/r))^(Alpha)+((C/H)(r/R0))^(Alpha)),C=R1-R0, H= R1-r; (3) The phase
velocity of wave in GLHUA cloak is less than light speed and tends to zero at
r=R1;(4) We proved that GLHUA cloak is complete invisible cloak with
concealment; in GLHUA cloak, the EM wave field is going to zero at r=R1. The
incident wave excited in outside of GLHUA cloak can not be disturbed by cloak,
and the wave can not propagation penetrate into the concealment; (5) The
incident wave excited in concealment can not propagation to go to outside of
the cloak, the incident wave can not be disturbed in the concealment.(6) The
idea and no scattering modeling and inversion and practicable GLHUA cloak are
new invisible natural science attract more researcher's effort. In my [33].we
discover negative space, in which sphere radial R is negative. We found an
exact full EM wave propagation solution of the EM equation in the GLHUA double
layer invisible cloak, which is breakthrough progress. Analytical EM wave
propagation in GLHUA cloak is published in this version. We create a novel
sphere radial transformation from negative infinite to R_1 sphere radial
transformation.


title:
Some results of test beam studies of Transition Radiation Detector
  prototypes at CERN

abstract:
  Operating conditions and challenging demands of present and future
accelerator experiments result in new requirements on detector systems. There
are many ongoing activities aimed to develop new technologies and to improve
the properties of detectors based on existing technologies. Our work is
dedicated to development of Transition Radiation Detectors (TRD) suitable for
different applications. In this paper results obtained in beam tests at SPS
accelerator at CERN with the TRD prototype based on straw technology are
presented. TRD performance was studied as a function of thickness of the
transition radiation radiator and working gas mixture pressure.


title: Exploiting 2D Floorplan for Building-scale Panorama RGBD Alignment

abstract:
  This paper presents a novel algorithm that utilizes a 2D floorplan to align
panorama RGBD scans. While effective panorama RGBD alignment techniques exist,
such a system requires extremely dense RGBD image sampling. Our approach can
significantly reduce the number of necessary scans with the aid of a floorplan
image. We formulate a novel Markov Random Field inference problem as a scan
placement over the floorplan, as opposed to the conventional scan-to-scan
alignment. The technical contributions lie in multi-modal image correspondence
cues (between scans and schematic floorplan) as well as a novel coverage
potential avoiding an inherent stacking bias. The proposed approach has been
evaluated on five challenging large indoor spaces. To the best of our
knowledge, we present the first effective system that utilizes a 2D floorplan
image for building-scale 3D pointcloud alignment. The source code and the data
will be shared with the community to further enhance indoor mapping research.


title: The Pontrjagin Dual of 3-Dimensional Spin Bordism

abstract:
  For each space X we define an explicit group, G(X), functorially in X. This
group is constructed from the groups of cochains on X. Furthermore, we
construct an explicit functorial pairing with values in R/Z between the cochain
representatives for elements of G(X) and maps of closed 3-dimensional spin
manifolds to X. This pairing induces a pairing between G(X) and the
3-dimensional spin bordism group of X and identifies each with the Pontrjagin
dual of the other.


title:
Multiscale Projective Coordinates via Persistent Cohomology of Sparse
  Filtrations

abstract:
  We present in this paper a framework which leverages the underlying topology
of a data set, in order to produce appropriate coordinate representations. In
particular, we show how to construct maps to real and complex projective
spaces, given appropriate persistent cohomology classes. An initial map is
obtained in two steps: First, the persistent cohomology of a sparse filtration
is used to compute systems of transition functions for (real and complex) line
bundles over neighborhoods of the data. Next, the transition functions are used
to produce explicit classifying maps for the induced bundles. A framework for
dimensionality reduction in projective space (Principal Projective Components)
is also developed, aimed at decreasing the target dimension of the original
map. Several examples are provided as well as theorems addressing choices in
the construction.


title: Dynamic Network Probes: A Stepping Stone to Omni Network Visibility

abstract:
  Effective SDN control relies on the network data collecting capability as
well as the quality and timeliness of the data. As open programmable data plane
is becoming a reality, we further enhance it with the support of runtime
interactive programming in order to cope with application dynamics, optimize
data plane resource allocation, and reduce control-plane processing pressure.
Based on the latest technologies, we propose the Dynamic Network Probes (DNP)
as a means to support real-time and on-demand network visibility. DNPs serve as
an important building block of an integrated networking data analytics platform
which involves the network data plane as an active component for in-network
computing. In this paper, we show the types of DNPs and their role in the big
picture. We have implemented an NP-based hardware prototype to demonstrate the
feasibility and efficiency of DNPs. We lay out the research challenges and our
future work to realize the omni network visibility based on DNPs.


title: Vertical Beam Polarization at MAMI

abstract:
  For the first time a vertically polarized electron beam has been used for
physics experiments at MAMI in the energy range between 180 and 855 MeV. The
beam-normal single-spin asymmetry $A_{\mathrm{n}}$, which is a direct probe of
higher-order photon exchange beyond the first Born approximation, has been
measured in the reaction $^{12}\mathrm C(\vec e,e')^{12}\mathrm C$. Vertical
polarization orientation was necessary to measure this asymmetry with the
existing experimental setup. In this paper we describe the procedure to orient
the electron polarization vector vertically, and the concept of determining
both its magnitude and orientation with the available setup. A sophisticated
method has been developed to overcome the lack of a polarimeter setup sensitive
to the vertical polarization component.


title: Some $q$-exponential formulas for finite-dimensional $\square_q$-modules

abstract:
  We consider the algebra $\square_q$ which is a mild generalization of the
quantum algebra $U_q(\frak{sl}_2)$. The algebra $\square_q$ is defined by
generators and relations. The generators are $\{x_i\}_{i\in \mathbb{Z}_4}$,
where $\mathbb{Z}_4$ is the cyclic group of order $4$. For $i\in \mathbb{Z}_4$
the generators $x_i$,$x_{i+1}$ satisfy a $q$-Weyl relation, and $x_i$,$x_{i+2}$
satisfy a cubic $q$-Serre relation. For $i\in \mathbb{Z}_4$ we show that the
action of $x_i$ is invertible on each nonzero finite-dimensional
$\square_q$-module. We view $x_i^{-1}$ as an operator that acts on nonzero
finite-dimensional $\square_q$-modules. For $i\in \mathbb{Z}_4$, define
$\mathfrak{n}_{i,i+1}=q(1-x_ix_{i+1})/(q-q^{-1})$. We show that the action of
$\mathfrak{n}_{i,i+1}$ is nilpotent on each nonzero finite-dimensional
$\square_q$-module. We view the $q$-exponential ${\rm
{exp}}_q(\mathfrak{n}_{i,i+1})$ as an operator that acts on nonzero
finite-dimensional $\square_q$-modules. In our main results, for $i,j\in
\mathbb{Z}_4$ we express each of of ${\rm {exp}}_q(\mathfrak{n}_{i,i+1})x_j{\rm
{exp}}_q(\mathfrak{n}_{i,i+1})^{-1}$ and ${\rm
{exp}}_q(\mathfrak{n}_{i,i+1})^{-1}x_j{\rm {exp}}_q(\mathfrak{n}_{i,i+1})$ as a
polynomial in $\{x_k^{\pm 1}\}_{k\in \mathbb{Z}_4}$.


title:
Modeling pN2 through Geological Time: Implications for Planetary
  Climates and Atmospheric Biosignatures

abstract:
  Nitrogen is a major nutrient for all life on Earth and could plausibly play a
similar role in extraterrestrial biospheres. The major reservoir of nitrogen at
Earth's surface is atmospheric N2, but recent studies have proposed that the
size of this reservoir may have fluctuated significantly over the course of
Earth's history with particularly low levels in the Neoarchean - presumably as
a result of biological activity. We used a biogeochemical box model to test
which conditions are necessary to cause large swings in atmospheric N2
pressure. Parameters for our model are constrained by observations of modern
Earth and reconstructions of biomass burial and oxidative weathering in deep
time. A 1-D climate model was used to model potential effects on atmospheric
climate. In a second set of tests, we perturbed our box model to investigate
which parameters have the greatest impact on the evolution of atmospheric pN2
and consider possible implications for nitrogen cycling on other planets. Our
results suggest that (a) a high rate of biomass burial would have been needed
in the Archean to draw down atmospheric pN2 to less than half modern levels,
(b) the resulting effect on temperature could probably have been compensated by
increasing solar luminosity and a mild increase in pCO2, and (c) atmospheric
oxygenation could have initiated a stepwise pN2 rebound through oxidative
weathering. In general, life appears to be necessary for significant
atmospheric pN2 swings on Earth-like planets. Our results further support the
idea that an exoplanetary atmosphere rich in both N2 and O2 is a signature of
an oxygen-producing biosphere.


title: Thermal modelling of Advanced LIGO test masses

abstract:
  High-reflectivity fused silica mirrors are at the epicentre of current
advanced gravitational wave detectors. In these detectors, the mirrors interact
with high power laser beams. As a result of finite absorption in the high
reflectivity coatings the mirrors suffer from a variety of thermal effects that
impact on the detectors performance. We propose a model of the Advanced LIGO
mirrors that introduces an empirical term to account for the radiative heat
transfer between the mirror and its surroundings. The mechanical mode frequency
is used as a probe for the overall temperature of the mirror. The thermal
transient after power build-up in the optical cavities is used to refine and
test the model. The model provides a coating absorption estimate of 1.5 to 2.0
ppm and estimates that 0.3 to 1.3 ppm of the circulating light is scattered on
to the ring heater.


title:
Brightening of dark excitons in monolayers of semiconducting transition
  metal dichalcogenides

abstract:
  We present low temperature magneto-photoluminescence experiments which
demonstrate the brightening of dark excitons by an in-plane magnetic field $B$
applied to monolayers of different semiconducting transition metal
dichalcogenides. For both WSe$_2$ and WS$_2$ monolayers, the dark exciton
emission is observed at $\sim$50 meV below the bright exciton peak and displays
a characteristic doublet structure which intensity is growing with $B^2$, while
no magnetic field induced emission peaks appear for MoSe$_2$ monolayer. Our
experiments also show that the MoS$_2$ monolayer has a dark exciton ground
state with a dark-bright exciton splitting energy of $\sim$100 meV.


title:
Post-Outburst Radio Observations of the High Magnetic Field Pulsar PSR
  J1119-6127

abstract:
  We have carried out high frequency radio observations of the high magnetic
field pulsar PSR J1119-6127 following its recent X-ray outburst. While initial
observations showed no evidence of significant radio emission, subsequent
observations detected pulsed emission across a large frequency band. In this
letter, we report on the initial disappearance of the pulsed emission and its
prompt reactivation and dramatic evolution over several months of observation.
The periodic pulse profile at S-band (2.3 GHz) after reactivation exhibits a
multi-component emission structure, while the simultaneous X-band (8.4 GHz)
profile shows a single emission peak. Single pulses were also detected at
S-band near the main emission peaks. We present measurements of the spectral
index across a wide frequency bandwidth, which captures the underlying changes
in the radio emission profile of the neutron star. The high frequency radio
detection, unusual emission profile, and observed variability suggest
similarities with magnetars, which may independently link the high energy
outbursts to magnetar-like behavior.


title: Finite Temperature Scaling in Density Functional Theory

abstract:
  A previous analysis of scaling, bounds, and inequalities for the
non-interacting functionals of thermal density functional theory is extended to
the full interacting functionals. The results are obtained from analysis of the
related functionals from the equilibrium statistical mechanics of
thermodynamics for an inhomogeneous system. Their extension to the functionals
of density functional theory is described.


title: Physical conditions for Jupiter-like dynamo models

abstract:
  The Juno mission will measure Jupiter's magnetic field with unprecedented
precision and provide a wealth of additional data that will allow to constrain
the planet's interior structure and dynamics. Here we analyse 66 numerical
simulations in order to explore the sensitivity of the dynamo-generated
magnetic field to the planets interior properties. The degree l=4 field model
VIP4 and up-to-date interior models based on ab initio simulations serve as
benchmarks. Our results suggest that VIP4-like magnetic fields can be found for
a number of different models. We find that whether we assume an ideal gas or
use the more realistic interior model based on ab initio simulations makes no
difference. However, two other factors are important. Low Rayleigh number leads
to strong axial dipole contribution while the axial dipole dominance is lost
when the convective driving is too strong. The required intermediate range that
yields Jupiter-like magnetic fields depends on the other system properties. The
second factor is the convective magnetic Reynolds number profile Rmc(r), a
product of the non-axisymmetric flow velocity and electrical conductivity. We
find that the depth where Rmc exceeds about 50 is a good proxy for the top of
the dynamo region. When the dynamo region sits too deep, the axial dipole is
once more too dominant due to geometric reasons. We extrapolated our results to
Jupiter and the result suggests that the Jovian dynamo extends to 95% of the
planetary radius.
  The zonal flows in our simulations are dominated by an equatorial jet largely
confined to the molecular layer. Where the jet reaches down to higher
electrical conductivities, it is gives rise to a secondary alpha-Omega dynamo
that modifies the dipole-dominated field produced deeper in the planet. This
secondary dynamo can lead to strong magnetic field patches at low latitudes
that seem compatible with the VIP4 model.


title: Topological Phonon Modes in A Two-Dimensional Wigner Crystal

abstract:
  We investigate the spin-orbit coupling effect in a two-dimensional Wigner
crystal. We show that sufficiently strong spin-orbit coupling and an
appropriate sign of g-factor could transform the Wigner crystal to a
topological phonon system. We demonstrate the existence of chiral phonon edge
modes in finite size samples, as well as the robustness of the modes in the
topological phase. We explore the possibility of realizing the topological
phonon system in two-dimensional Wigner crystals confined in semiconductor
quantum wells/heterostructure. We find that the spin-orbit coupling is too weak
for driving a topological phase transition in these systems. We argue that one
may look for the topological phonon system in correlated Wigner crystals with
emergent effective spin-orbit coupling.


title: On the Orbital Inclination of Proxima Centauri b

abstract:
  The field of exoplanetary science has seen discovery rates increase
dramatically over recent years, due largely to the data from the Kepler
mission. Even so, individual discoveries of planets orbiting nearby stars are
very important for studies of characterization and near-term follow-up
prospects. The recent discovery of a terrestrial planet candidate orbiting
Proxima Centauri presents numerous opportunities for studying a Super-Earth
within our own stellar backyard. One of the remaining ambiguities of the
discovery is the true mass of the planet since the discovery signature was
obtained via radial velocities. Here we describe the effect of orbital
inclination on the Proxima Centauri planet, in terms of mass, radius,
atmosphere, and albedo. We calculate the astrometric, angular separation, and
reflected light properties of the planet including the effects of orbital
eccentricity. We further provide dynamical simulations that show how the
presence of additional terrestrial planets within the Habitable Zone varies as
a function of inclination. Finally, we discuss these effects in the context of
future space-based photometry and imaging missions that could potentially
detect the planetary signature and resolve the inclination and mass ambiguity
of the planet.


title:
Almost sure convergence of the multiple ergodic average for certain
  weakly mixing systems

abstract:
  The family of pairwise independently determined (PID) systems, i.e. those for
which the independent joining is the only self joining with independent
2-marginals, is a class of systems for which the long standing open question by
Rokhlin, of whether mixing implies mixing of all orders, has a positive answer.
We show that in the class of weakly mixing PID one finds a positive answer for
another long-standing open problem, whether the multiple ergodic averages
\begin{equation*}
  \frac 1 N\sum_{n=0}^{N-1}f_1(T^nx)\cdots f_d(T^{dn}x), \quad N\to \infty,
\end{equation*} almost surely converge.


title: Scalable Quantum Photonics with Single Color Centers in Silicon Carbide

abstract:
  Silicon carbide is a promising platform for single photon sources, quantum
bits (qubits) and nanoscale sensors based on individual color centers. Towards
this goal, we develop a scalable array of nanopillars incorporating single
silicon vacancy centers in 4H-SiC, readily available for efficient interfacing
with free-space objective and lensed-fibers. A commercially obtained substrate
is irradiated with 2 MeV electron beams to create vacancies. Subsequent
lithographic process forms 800 nm tall nanopillars with 400-1,400 nm diameters.
We obtain high collection efficiency, up to 22 kcounts/s optical saturation
rates from a single silicon vacancy center, while preserving the single photon
emission and the optically induced electron-spin polarization properties. Our
study demonstrates silicon carbide as a readily available platform for scalable
quantum photonics architecture relying on single photon sources and qubits.


title:
A Divide and Conquer Strategy for High Dimensional Bayesian Factor
  Models

abstract:
  We propose a distributed computing framework, based on a divide and conquer
strategy and hierarchical modeling, to accelerate posterior inference for
high-dimensional Bayesian factor models. Our approach distributes the task of
high-dimensional covariance matrix estimation to multiple cores, solves each
subproblem separately via a latent factor model, and then combines these
estimates to produce a global estimate of the covariance matrix. Existing
divide and conquer methods focus exclusively on dividing the total number of
observations $n$ into subsamples while keeping the dimension $p$ fixed. Our
approach is novel in this regard: it includes all of the $n$ samples in each
subproblem and, instead, splits the dimension $p$ into smaller subsets for each
subproblem. The subproblems themselves can be challenging to solve when $p$ is
large due to the dependencies across dimensions. To circumvent this issue, we
specify a novel hierarchical structure on the latent factors that allows for
flexible dependencies across dimensions, while still maintaining computational
efficiency. Our approach is readily parallelizable and is shown to have
computational efficiency of several orders of magnitude in comparison to
fitting a full factor model. We report the performance of our method in
synthetic examples and a genomics application.


title: Lah numbers and Laguerre polynomials of order negative one

abstract:
  In this article we point out interesting connections among Lah numbers,
Laguerre polynomials of order negative one, and exponential polynomials. We
also discuss several different expressions for the higher order derivatives of
exp (1/x). A new representation of these derivatives is given in terms of
exponential polynomials


title: A generalized Trudinger-Moser inequality on a compact Riemannian surface

abstract:
  Let $(\Sigma, g)$ be a compact Riemannian surface. Let $\psi$, $h$ be two
smooth functions on $\Sigma$ with $\int_\Sigma \psi dv_g \neq 0$ and $h\geq0$,
$h\not\equiv0$. In this paper, using a method of blowup analysis, we prove that
the functional \begin{align}\label{functional_J}
  J^{\psi,h}(u)=\frac{1}{2}\int _{\Sigma}|\nabla_g u|^2dv_g +
8\pi\frac{1}{\int_\Sigma \psi dv_g}\int_\Sigma \psi udv_g-8\pi\log\int
_{\Sigma}he^{u}dv_g \end{align} is bounded from below in $W^{1,2}(\Sigma,g)$.
Moreover, we obtain a sufficient condition under which $J^{\psi, h}$ attains
its infimum in $W^{1,2}(\Sigma,g)$. These results generalize the main results
in \cite{DJLW97} and \cite{YZ2016}.


title: Deformations and generalized derivations of Lie conformal superalgebras

abstract:
  The purpose of this paper is to extend the cohomology and conformal
derivation theories of the classical Lie conformal algebras to Lie conformal
superalgebras. Firstly, we construct the semidirect product of a Lie conformal
superalgebra and its conformal module, and study derivations of this semidirect
product. Secondly, we develop cohomology theory of Lie conformal superalgebras
and discuss some applications to the study of deformations of Lie conformal
superalgebras. Finally, we introduce generalized derivations of Lie conformal
superalgebras and study their properties.


title:
Learning Representations by Stochastic Meta-Gradient Descent in Neural
  Networks

abstract:
  Representations are fundamental to artificial intelligence. The performance
of a learning system depends on the type of representation used for
representing the data. Typically, these representations are hand-engineered
using domain knowledge. More recently, the trend is to learn these
representations through stochastic gradient descent in multi-layer neural
networks, which is called backprop. Learning the representations directly from
the incoming data stream reduces the human labour involved in designing a
learning system. More importantly, this allows in scaling of a learning system
for difficult tasks. In this paper, we introduce a new incremental learning
algorithm called crossprop, which learns incoming weights of hidden units based
on the meta-gradient descent approach, that was previously introduced by Sutton
(1992) and Schraudolph (1999) for learning step-sizes. The final update
equation introduces an additional memory parameter for each of these weights
and generalizes the backprop update equation. From our experiments, we show
that crossprop learns and reuses its feature representation while tackling new
and unseen tasks whereas backprop relearns a new feature representation.


title: Fast Fourier single-pixel imaging using binary illumination

abstract:
  Fourier single-pixel imaging (FSI) has proven capable of reconstructing
high-quality two-dimensional and three-dimensional images. The utilization of
the sparsity of natural images in Fourier domain allows high-resolution images
to be reconstructed from far fewer measurements than effective image pixels.
However, applying original FSI in digital micro-mirror device (DMD) based
high-speed imaging system turns out to be challenging, because the original FSI
uses grayscale Fourier basis patterns for illumination while DMDs generate
grayscale patterns at a relatively low rate. DMDs are a binary device which can
only generate a black-and-white pattern at each instance. In this paper, we
adopt binary Fourier patterns for illumination to achieve DMD-based high-speed
single-pixel imaging. Binary Fourier patterns are generated by upsampling and
then applying error diffusion based dithering to the grayscale patterns.
Experiments demonstrate the proposed technique able to achieve static imaging
with high quality and dynamic imaging in real time. The proposed technique
potentially allows high-quality and high-speed imaging over broad wavebands.


title:
BANYAN. IX. The Initial Mass Function and Planetary-Mass Object Space
  Density of the TW Hya Association

abstract:
  A determination of the initial mass function (IMF) of the current, incomplete
census of the 10 Myr-old TW Hya association (TWA) is presented. This census is
built from a literature compilation supplemented with new spectra and 17 new
radial velocities, as well as a re-analysis of Hipparcos data that confirmed HR
4334 (A2Vn) as a member. Though the dominant uncertainty in the IMF remains
census incompleteness, a detailed statistical treatment is carried out to make
the IMF determination independent of binning, while accounting for small number
statistics. The currently known high-likelihood members are fitted by a
log-normal distribution with a central mass of $0.21^{+0.11}_{-0.06}$
$M_{\odot}$ and a characteristic width of $0.8^{+0.2}_{-0.1}$ dex in the 12
$M_{\rm Jup}$-2 $M_{\odot}$ range, whereas a Salpeter power law with $\alpha =
2.2^{+1.1}_{-0.5}$ best describes the IMF slope in the $0.1-2$ $M_{\odot}$
range. This characteristic width is higher than other young associations, which
may be due to incompleteness in the current census of low-mass TWA stars. A
tentative overpopulation of isolated planetary-mass members similar to 2MASS
J11472421-2040204 and 2MASS J11193254-1137466 is identified: this indicates
that there might be as many as $10^{+13}_{-5}$ similar members of TWA with
hot-start model-dependent masses estimated at $\sim$ 5-7 $M_{\rm Jup}$, most of
which would be too faint to be detected in 2MASS. Our new radial velocity
measurements corroborate the membership of 2MASS J11472421-2040204, and secure
TWA 28 (M8.5$\gamma$), TWA 29 (M9.5$\gamma$) and TWA 33 (M4.5e) as members. The
discovery of 2MASS J09553336-0208403, a young L7-type interloper unrelated to
TWA, is also presented.


title:
Light-curve and spectral properties of ultra-stripped core-collapse
  supernovae leading to binary neutron stars

abstract:
  We investigate light-curve and spectral properties of ultra-stripped
core-collapse supernovae. Ultra-stripped supernovae are the explosions of
heavily stripped massive stars which lost their envelopes via binary
interactions with a compact companion star. They eject only ~ 0.1 Msun and may
be the main way to form double neutron-star systems which eventually merge
emitting strong gravitational waves. We follow the evolution of an
ultra-stripped supernova progenitor until iron core collapse and perform
explosive nucleosynthesis calculations. We then synthesize light curves and
spectra of ultra-stripped supernovae using the nucleosynthesis results and
present their expected properties. Ultra-stripped supernovae synthesize ~ 0.01
Msun of radioactive 56Ni, and their typical peak luminosity is around 1e42
erg/s or -16 mag. Their typical rise time is 5 - 10 days. Comparing synthesized
and observed spectra, we find that SN 2005ek, some of the so-called
calcium-rich gap transients, and SN 2010X may be related to ultra-stripped
supernovae. If these supernovae are actually ultra-stripped supernovae, their
event rate is expected to be about 1 per cent of core-collapse supernovae.
Comparing the double neutron-star merger rate obtained by future
gravitational-wave observations and the ultra-stripped supernova rate obtained
by optical transient surveys identified with our synthesized light-curve and
spectral models, we will be able to judge whether ultra-stripped supernovae are
actually a major contributor to the binary neutron star population and provide
constraints on binary stellar evolution.


title:
Molecule-Induced Conformational Change in Boron Nitride Nanosheets with
  Enhanced Surface Adsorption

abstract:
  Surface interaction is extremely important to both fundamental research and
practical application. Physisorption can induce shape and structural distortion
(i.e. conformational changes) in macromolecular and biomolecular adsorbates,
but such phenomenon has rarely been observed on adsorbents. Here, we
demonstrate theoretically and experimentally that atomically thin boron nitride
(BN) nanosheets as an adsorbent experience conformational changes upon surface
adsorption of molecules, increasing adsorption energy and efficiency. The study
not only provides new perspectives on the strong adsorption capability of BN
nanosheets and many other two-dimensional nanomaterials but also opens up
possibilities for many novel applications. For example, we demonstrate that BN
nanosheets with the same surface area as bulk hBN particles are more effective
in purification and sensing.


title: W-Operator and Differential Equation for 3-Hurwitz Number

abstract:
  We consider a new type of Hurwitz number, the number of ordered transitive
factorizations of an arbitrary permutation into d-cycles. In this paper, we
focus on the special case d = 3. The minimal number of transitive
factorizations of any permutation into 3-cycles has been worked out by David,
Goulden and Jackson. Also, such factorizations for transpositions, the case d =
2, have been considered by Crescimanno and Taylor. Goulden and Jackson have
proved the differential equation for the generating series of simple Hurwitz
numbers. Based on their results, we use W-operator to prove a differential
equation for the generating function of the new type Hurwitz number.


title: Foundations of a Recent Extension of Category Theory and Topos Theory

abstract:
  This article is an introduction to the basic generalized category theory used
in recent work on an extension of the theory of categories and categorical
logic, including parts of topos theory. We discuss functors, equivalences,
natural transformations, adjoints, and limits in a generalized setting, giving
a concise outline of these frequently arising constructions.


title:
Homomorphic Encryption Experiments on IBM's Cloud Quantum Computing
  Platform

abstract:
  Quantum computing has undergone rapid development in recent years. Owing to
limitations on scalability, personal quantum computers still seem slightly
unrealistic in the near future. The first practical quantum computer for
ordinary users is likely to be on the cloud. However, the adoption of cloud
computing is possible only if security is ensured. Homomorphic encryption is a
cryptographic protocol that allows computation to be performed on encrypted
data without decrypting them, so it is well suited to cloud computing. Here, we
first applied homomorphic encryption on IBM's cloud quantum computer platform.
In our experiments, we successfully implemented a quantum algorithm for linear
equations while protecting our privacy. This demonstration opens a feasible
path to the next stage of development of cloud quantum information technology.


title:
Full-counting statistics of energy transport of molecular junctions in
  the polaronic regime

abstract:
  We investigate the full-counting statistics (FCS) of energy transport carried
by electrons in molecular junctions for the Anderson-Holstein model in the
polaronic regime. Using two-time quantum measurement scheme, generating
function (GF) for the energy transport is derived and expressed as a Fredholm
determinant in terms of Keldysh nonequilibrium Green's function in the time
domain. Dressed tunneling approximation is used in decoupling the phonon cloud
operator in the polaronic regime. This formalism enables us to analyze the time
evolution of energy transport dynamics after a sudden switch-on of the coupling
between the dot and the leads towards the stationary state. The steady state
energy current cumulant GF in the long time limit is obtained in the energy
domain as well. Universal relations for steady state energy current FCS are
derived under finite temperature gradient with zero bias and this enables us to
express the equilibrium energy current cumulant by a linear combination of
lower order cumulants. Behaviors of energy current cumulants in steady state
under temperature gradient and external bias are numerically studied and
explained. Transient dynamics of energy current cumulants is numerically
calculated and analyzed. The universal scaling of normalized transient energy
cumulants is found under both temperature gradient and external bias.


title:
Variations on a proof of a borderline Bourgain-Brezis Sobolev embedding
  theorem

abstract:
  We offer a variant of a proof of a borderline Bourgain-Brezis Sobolev
embedding theorem on $\mathbb{R}^n$. We use this idea to extend the result to
real hyperbolic spaces $\mathbb{H}^n$.


title: Gesture-based Bootstrapping for Egocentric Hand Segmentation

abstract:
  Accurately identifying hands in images is a key sub-task for human activity
understanding with wearable first-person point-of-view cameras. Traditional
hand segmentation approaches rely on a large corpus of manually labeled data to
generate robust hand detectors. However, these approaches still face challenges
as the appearance of the hand varies greatly across users, tasks, environments
or illumination conditions. A key observation in the case of many wearable
applications and interfaces is that, it is only necessary to accurately detect
the user's hands in a specific situational context. Based on this observation,
we introduce an interactive approach to learn a person-specific hand
segmentation model that does not require any manually labeled training data.
Our approach proceeds in two steps, an interactive bootstrapping step for
identifying moving hand regions, followed by learning a personalized user
specific hand appearance model. Concretely, our approach uses two convolutional
neural networks: (1) a gesture network that uses pre-defined motion information
to detect the hand region; and (2) an appearance network that learns a person
specific model of the hand region based on the output of the gesture network.
During training, to make the appearance network robust to errors in the gesture
network, the loss function of the former network incorporates the confidence of
the gesture network while learning. Experiments demonstrate the robustness of
our approach with an F1 score over 0.8 on all challenging datasets across a
wide range of illumination and hand appearance variations, improving over a
baseline approach by over 10%.


title: Adsorption of Benzene on the RuO2(110) Surface

abstract:
  Hydrocarbon tribopolymer, a type of polymer formed due to friction between
surfaces, is a major impediment to the development of micro- and
nanoelectromechanical systems (MEMS/NEMS) devices for industrial application.
Tribopolymer buildup can prevent MEMS and NEMS from making or breaking
electrical contact. We describe the adsorption of benzene (C6H6) on the
RuO2(110) surface using density functional theory. This adsorption is an
important initial step in the mechanism of hydrocarbon tribopolymer layer
formation on MEMS and NEMS devices. The adsorption interaction is studied by
considering three oxygen coverages of RuO2(110) and all the possible adsorption
sites for benzene. We find that adsorption of benzene on O-poor RuO2(110) via
C-Ru bonds is stronger than adsorption on the O-rich RuO2(110) via H-O bonds.
For an in-depth study of the adsorption behavior, we include the van der Waals
interaction for a holistic investigation. By incorporating the thermodynamic
chemical potentials into the adsorption simulations, we describe a model that
can provide guidance for realistic situations.


title:
Theoretical Origin of CP violation in the FCNC-free 2HDM and Its
  Extensions to the Standard Model and 3HDM

abstract:
  In this manuscript, a general FCNC-free and CP-violating pattern of
quark-mass matrices in the 2HDM derived in our previous investigations is
revised. This revised pattern is to be diagonalized analytically with no
symmetries imposed. The unitary transformation matrices thus derived depend on
only two parameters in each quark type and subsequently lead to a CKM matrix
which depends on at most four parameters. The fitting of theoretically derived
CKM elements and their corresponding empirical values are as good as ${\bf
O}(10^{-2})$ at tree-level. In a phenomenological way which imposes several
fine-tuning parameters into the CKM matrix suitably, the fitting is further
improved to ${\bf O}(10^{-4})$. After the derivation, we find this hypothesis
also applies to the Standard Model and even a model with three Higgs doublets.
This will be a big progress in the derivation of a theoretical origin of CP
violation.


title: A Compressive Method for Centralized PSD Map Construction

abstract:
  Spectrum resources are facing huge demands and cognitive radio (CR) can
improve the spectrum utilization. Recently, power spectral density (PSD) map is
defined to enable the CR to reuse the frequency resources regarding to the
area. For this reason, the sensed PSDs are fused by a Fusion Center (FC) which
the sensed PSDs are collected by the distributed sensors in the area. But, for
a given zone, the sensed PSD by neighbor CR sensors may contain a shared common
component for a while. This component can be exploited in the theory of the
distributed source coding (DSC) to compress sensing data more. In this paper
based on the distributed compressive sensing (DCS) a method is proposed to
compress and reconstruct the PSDs of the sensors when the data transmission is
slightly imperfect. Simulation results show the advantages of using proposed
method in compressing, reducing overhead and also recovering PSDs. % Proposed
method can be used to develop a framework when the holding times of the users
are large in comparison with the rate of the spectrum sensing.