title:
On Novel Mechanism of a Pump Electromagnetic Wave Absolute Two-Plasmon
  Parametric Decay Instability Excitation in Tokamak ECRH Experiments

abstract:
  Novel mechanism leading to excitation of absolute two plasmon parametric
decay instability (TPDI) of a pump extraordinary (X) wave is discussed. It is
shown that the upper hybrid (UH) plasmon can be 3D trapped in the presence of
both a nonmonotonous density profile and a finite-size pump beam in a plane
perpendicular to the plasma inhomogeneity direction. This leads to excitation
of the absolute TPDI of the pump X wave, which manifests itself in temporal
exponential growth of the trapped daughter UH wave amplitude and is perhaps the
most dangerous instability for mm-waves, widely utilized nowadays in tokamak
and stellarators for local plasma heating and current drive and being
considered for application in ITER.


title:
Tunneling and Josephson effects in odd-frequency superconductor
  junctions: A study on multi-channel Kondo chain

abstract:
  Junction systems of odd-frequency (OF) superconductors are investigated based
on a mean-field Hamiltonian formalism. One-dimensional two-channel Kondo
lattice (TCKL) is taken as a concrete example of OF superconductors. Properties
of normal and Andreev reflections are examined in a normal metal/superconductor
junction. Unlike conventional superconductors, normal reflection is always
present due to the normal self energy that necessarily appears in the present
OF pairing state. The conductance reflects the difference between repulsive and
attractive potentials located at the interface, which is in contrast with the
preexisting superconducting junctions. Josephson junction is also constructed
by connecting TCKL with the other types of superconductors. The results can be
understood from symmetry of the induced Cooper pairs at the edge in the
presence of spin/orbital symmetry breaking. It has also been demonstrated that
the symmetry argument for Cooper pairs is useful in explaining Meissner
response in bulk.


title: Piezoresistive Foam Sensor Arrays for Marine Applications

abstract:
  Spatially-dense pressure measurements are needed on curved surfaces in marine
environments to provide marine vehicles with the detailed, real-time
measurements of the near-field flow necessary to improve performance through
flow control. To address this challenge, a waterproof and conformal pressure
sensor array comprising carbon black-doped-silicone closed-cell foam (CBPDMS
foam) was developed for use in marine applications. The response of the CBPDMS
foam sensor arrays was characterized using periodic hydrodynamic pressure
stimuli from vertical plunging, from which a piecewise polynomial calibration
was developed to describe the sensor response. Inspired by the distributed
pressure and velocity sensing capabilities of the fish lateral line, the CBPDMS
foam sensor arrays have significant advantages over existing commercial sensors
for distributed flow reconstruction and control. Experimental results have
shown the sensor arrays to have sensitivity on the order of 5 Pascal, dynamic
range of 50-500 Pascal; are contained in a waterproof and completely flexible
package, and have material cost less than $10 per sensor.


title: Bipartite depolarizing channels

abstract:
  We introduce a 3-parameter class of maps acting on a bipartite system that
are a natural generalisation of the depolarizing channel (and include it as a
special case). Then, we find the exact regions of the parameter space that
alternatively determine a positive, completely positive, entanglement-breaking
or entanglement-annihilating map. This model displays a much richer behaviour
than the one shown by a simple depolarizing channel, yet it stays exactly
solvable. As an example of this richness, PPT but not entanglement-breaking
maps are found. A simple example of a positive yet indecomposable map is
provided. Then, the study of the entanglement-annihilating property is fully
addressed. Finally, we apply our results to solve the problem of the
entanglement annihilation caused in a bipartite system by a tensor product of
local depolarizing channels. In this context, a conjecture recently posed in
the literature is proven, and many related open questions are answered. To
arrive at this result we furthermore show how the Hadamard product between
quantum states can be implemented via local operations.


title: Entanglement rules for holographic Fermi surfaces

abstract:
  In this paper, based on the notion of Gauge/Gravity duality, we explore the
laws of entanglement thermodynamics for most generic classes of Quantum Field
Theories with hyperscaling violation. In our analysis, we note that for Quantum
Field Theories with compressible \textit{quark} like excitation, the first law
of entanglement thermodynamics gets modified due to the presence of an
additional term that could be identified as the entanglement chemical potential
associated with \textit{hidden} Fermi surfaces of the boundary theory. Most
notably, we find that the so called entanglement chemical potential does not
depend on the size of the entangling region and is purely determined by the
quark d.o.f. encoded within the entangling region.


title: Bayesian Learning of Kernel Embeddings

abstract:
  Kernel methods are one of the mainstays of machine learning, but the problem
of kernel learning remains challenging, with only a few heuristics and very
little theory. This is of particular importance in methods based on estimation
of kernel mean embeddings of probability measures. For characteristic kernels,
which include most commonly used ones, the kernel mean embedding uniquely
determines its probability measure, so it can be used to design a powerful
statistical testing framework, which includes nonparametric two-sample and
independence tests. In practice, however, the performance of these tests can be
very sensitive to the choice of kernel and its lengthscale parameters. To
address this central issue, we propose a new probabilistic model for kernel
mean embeddings, the Bayesian Kernel Embedding model, combining a Gaussian
process prior over the Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Space containing the mean
embedding with a conjugate likelihood function, thus yielding a closed form
posterior over the mean embedding. The posterior mean of our model is closely
related to recently proposed shrinkage estimators for kernel mean embeddings,
while the posterior uncertainty is a new, interesting feature with various
possible applications. Critically for the purposes of kernel learning, our
model gives a simple, closed form marginal pseudolikelihood of the observed
data given the kernel hyperparameters. This marginal pseudolikelihood can
either be optimized to inform the hyperparameter choice or fully Bayesian
inference can be used.


title:
Gyroidal nanoporous carbons - Adsorption and separation properties
  explored using computer simulations

abstract:
  Adsorption and separation properties of gyroidal nanoporous carbons (GNCs) -
a new class of exotic nanocarbon materials are studied for the first time using
hyper parallel tempering Monte Carlo Simulation technique. Porous structure of
GNC models is evaluated by the method proposed by Bhattacharya and Gubbins. All
the studied structures are strictly microporous. Next, mechanisms of Ar
adsorption are described basing on the analysis of adsorption isotherms,
enthalpy plots, the values of Henry's constants, $\alpha_{s}$ and adsorption
potential distribution plots. It is concluded that below pore diameters ca. 0.8
nm, primary micropore filling process dominates. For structures possessing
larger micropores, primary and secondary micropore filling mechanism is
observed. Finally, the separation properties of GNC toward CO$_2$/CH$_4$,
CO$_2$/N$_2$, and CH$_4$/N$_2$ mixtures are discussed and compared with
separation properties of Virtual Porous Carbon models. GNCs may be considered
as potential adsorbents for gas mixture separation, having separation
efficiency similar or even higher than activated carbons with similar diameters
of pores.


title:
New low temperature phase in dense hydrogen: The phase diagram to 421
  GPa

abstract:
  In the quest to make metallic hydrogen at low temperatures a rich number of
new phases have been found and the highest pressure ones have somewhat flat
phase lines, around room temperature. We have studied hydrogen to static
pressures of GPa in a diamond anvil cell and down to liquid helium
temperatures, using infrared spectroscopy. We report a new phase at a pressure
of GPa and T=5 K. Although we observe strong darkening of the sample in the
visible, we have no evidence that this phase is metallic hydrogen.


title: Cavity-ligand binding in a simple two-dimensional water model

abstract:
  By means of Monte Carlo computer simulations in the isothermal-isobaric
ensemble, we investigated the interaction of a hydrophobic ligand with the
hydrophobic surfaces of various curvatures (planar, convex and concave). A
simple two-dimensional model of water, hydrophobic ligand and surface was used.
Hydration/dehidration phenomena concerning water molecules confined close to
the molecular surface were investigated. A notable dewetting of the hydrophobic
surfaces was observed together with the reorientation of the water molecules
close to the surface. The hydrogen bonding network was formed to accommodate
cavities next to the surfaces as well as beyond the first hydration shell. The
effects were most strongly pronounced in the case of concave surfaces having
large curvature. This simplified model can be further used to evaluate the
thermodynamic fingerprint of the docking of hydrophobic ligands.


title: A Comparison of Thawing and Freezing Dark Energy Parametrizations

abstract:
  Dark energy equation of state $w(z)$ parametrizations with two parameters and
given monotonicity are generically either convex or concave functions. This
makes them suitable for fitting either freezing or thawing quintessence models
but not both simultaneously. Fitting a dataset based on a freezing model with
an unsuitable (concave when increasing) $w(z)$ parametrization (like CPL) can
lead to significant misleading features like crossing of the phantom divide
line, incorrect $w(z=0)$, incorrect slope \etc that are not present in the
underlying cosmological model. To demonstrate this fact we generate scattered
cosmological data both at the level of $w(z)$ and the luminosity distance
$D_L(z)$ based on either thawing or freezing quintessence models and fit them
using parametrizations of convex and of concave type. We then compare
statistically significant features of the best fit $w(z)$ with actual features
of the underlying model. We thus verify that the use of unsuitable
parametrizations can lead to misleading conclusions. In order to avoid these
problems it is important to either use both convex and concave parametrizations
and select the one with the best $\chi^2$ or use principal component analysis
thus splitting the redshift range into independent bins. In the latter case
however, significant information about the slope of $w(z)$ at high redshifts is
lost. Finally, we propose a new family of parametrizations (nCPL) $w(z)=w_0+w_a
(\frac{z}{1+z})^n$ which generalizes the CPL and interpolates between thawing
and freezing parametrizations as the parameter $n$ increases to values larger
than 1.


title: New Quasidilaton theory in Partially Constrained Vielbein Formalism

abstract:
  In this work we study the partially constrained vielbein formulation of the
new quasidilaton theory of massive gravity which couples to both physical and
fiducial metrics simultaneously via a composite effective metric. This
formalism improves the new quasidilaton model since the Boulware-Deser ghost is
removed fully non-linearly at all scales. This also yields crucial implications
in the cosmological applications. We derive the governing cosmological
background evolution and study the stability of the attractor solution.


title: Adsorption from binary solutions on chemically bonded phases

abstract:
  We use density functional theory to investigate adsorption of liquid mixtures
on solid surfaces modified with end-grafted chains. The chains are modelled as
freely joined spheres. The fluid molecules are spherical. All spherical species
interact via the Lennard-Jones (12-6) potential. The Lennard-Jones (9-3)
potential describes interactions of solvent molecules with the substrate. We
study the relative excess adsorption isotherms, the structure of surface layer
and its composition. The impact of the following parameters on adsorption is
discussed: the grafting density, the grafted chain length, interactions of
solvent molecules with grafted chains and with the substrate, and the presence
of active groups in grafted chains. The theoretical results are consistent with
experimental observations.


title: Tensor Models: extending the matrix models structures and methods

abstract:
  In this text we review a few structural properties of matrix models that
should at least partly generalize to random tensor models. We review some
aspects of the loop equations for matrix models and their algebraic counterpart
for tensor models. Despite the generic title of this review, we, in particular,
invoke the Topological Recursion. We explain its appearance in matrix models.
Then we state that a family of tensor models provides a natural example which
satisfies a version of the most general form of the topological recursion,
named the blobbed topological recursion. We discuss the difficulties of
extending the technical solutions existing for matrix models to tensor models.
Some proofs are not published yet but will be given in a coming paper, the rest
of the results are well known in the literature.


title:
Computational studies on the behaviour of anionic and nonionic
  surfactants at the SiO$_{2}$ (silicon dioxide)/water interface

abstract:
  Molecular dynamics simulations to study the behaviour of anionic (Sodium
Dodecylsulfate, SDS) and nonionic (Monooleate of Sorbitan, SPAN80) surfactants
close to a SiO$_{2}$ (silicon dioxide) surface were carried out. Simulations
showed that a water layer was first adsorbed on the surface and then the
surfactants were attached on that layer. Moreover, it was observed that water
behaviour close to the surface influenced the surfactant adsorption since a
semi-spherical micelle was formed on the SiO$_{2}$ surface with SDS molecules
whereas a cylindrical micelle was formed with SPAN80 molecules. Adsorption of
the micelles was conducted in terms of structural properties (density profiles
and angular distributions) and dynamical behaviour (diffusion coefficients) of
the systems. Finally, it was also shown that some water molecules moved inside
the solid surface and located at specific sites of the solid surface.


title:
Long-term mutual phase locking of picosecond pulse pairs generated by a
  semiconductor nanowire laser

abstract:
  The ability to generate phase-stabilised trains of ultrafast laser pulses by
mode-locking underpins photonics research in fields such as precision metrology
and spectroscopy. However, the complexity of conventional mode-locked laser
systems, combined with the need for a mechanism to induce active or passive
phase locking between resonator modes, has hindered their realisation at the
nanoscale. Here, we demonstrate that GaAs-AlGaAs nanowire lasers are capable of
emitting pairs of phase-locked picosecond laser pulses when subject to
non-resonant pulsed optical excitation with a repetition frequency up to
~200GHz. By probing the two-pulse interference that emerges within the
homogeneously broadened laser emission, we show that the optical phase is
preserved over timescales extending beyond ~30ps, much longer than the emitted
laser pulse duration (~2ps). Simulations performed by solving the optical Bloch
equations produce good quantitative agreement with experiments, revealing how
the phase information is stored in the gain medium close to transparency. Our
results open the way to applications such as on-chip, ultra-sensitive Ramsey
comb spectroscopy.


title:
Radio disappearance of the magnetar XTE J1810-197 and continued X-ray
  timing

abstract:
  We report on timing, flux density, and polarimetric observations of the
transient magnetar and 5.54 s radio pulsar XTE J1810-197 using the GBT, Nancay,
and Parkes radio telescopes beginning in early 2006, until its sudden
disappearance as a radio source in late 2008. Repeated observations through
2016 have not detected radio pulsations again. The torque on the neutron star,
as inferred from its rotation frequency derivative f-dot, decreased in an
unsteady manner by a factor of 3 in the first year of radio monitoring. In
contrast, during its final year as a detectable radio source, the torque
decreased steadily by only 9%. The period-averaged flux density, after
decreasing by a factor of 20 during the first 10 months of radio monitoring,
remained steady in the next 22 months, at an average of 0.7+/-0.3 mJy at 1.4
GHz, while still showing day-to-day fluctuations by factors of a few. There is
evidence that during this last phase of radio activity the magnetar had a steep
radio spectrum, in contrast to earlier behavior. There was no secular decrease
that presaged its radio demise. During this time the pulse profile continued to
display large variations, and polarimetry indicates that the magnetic geometry
remained consistent with that of earlier times. We supplement these results
with X-ray timing of the pulsar from its outburst in 2003 up to 2014. For the
first 4 years, XTE J1810-197 experienced non-monotonic excursions in f-dot by
at least a factor of 8. But since 2007, its f-dot has remained relatively
stable near its minimum observed value. The only apparent event in the X-ray
record that is possibly contemporaneous with the radio shut-down is a decrease
of ~20% in the hot-spot flux in 2008-2009, to a stable, minimum value. However,
the permanence of the high-amplitude, thermal X-ray pulse, even after the radio
demise, implies continuing magnetar activity.


title: Quantum criticality with two length scales

abstract:
  The theory of deconfined quantum critical points describes phase transitions
at temperature T = 0 outside the standard paradigm, predicting continuous
transformations between certain ordered states where conventional theory
requires discontinuities. Numerous computer simulations have offered no proof
of such transitions, however, instead finding deviations from expected scaling
relations that were neither predicted by the DQC theory nor conform to standard
scenarios. Here we show that this enigma can be resolved by introducing a
critical scaling form with two divergent length scales. Simulations of a
quantum magnet with antiferromagnetic and dimerized ground states confirm the
form, proving a continuous transition with deconfined excitations and also
explaining anomalous scaling at T > 0. Our findings revise prevailing paradigms
for quantum criticality, with potentially far-reaching implications for many
strongly-correlated materials.


title: Double layer for hard spheres with an off-center charge

abstract:
  Simulations for the density and potential profiles of the ions in the planar
electrical double layer of a model electrolyte or an ionic liquid are reported.
The ions of a real electrolyte or an ionic liquid are usually not spheres; in
ionic liquids, the cations are molecular ions. In the past, this asymmetry has
been modelled by considering spheres that are asymmetric in size and/or valence
(viz., the primitive model) or by dimer cations that are formed by tangentially
touching spheres. In this paper we consider spherical ions that are asymmetric
in size and mimic the asymmetrical shape through an off-center charge that is
located away from the center of the cation spheres, while the anion charge is
at the center of anion spheres. The various singlet density and potential
profiles are compared to (i) the dimer situation, that is, the constituent
spheres of the dimer cation are tangentially tethered, and (ii) the standard
primitive model. The results reveal the double layer structure to be
substantially impacted especially when the cation is the counterion. As well as
being of intrinsic interest, this off-center charge model may be useful for
theories that consider spherical models and introduce the off-center charge as
a perturbation.


title: One-dimensional stable rings

abstract:
  A commutative ring $R$ is stable provided every ideal of $R$ containing a
nonzerodivisor is projective as a module over its ring of endomorphisms. The
class of stable rings includes the one-dimensional local Cohen-Macaulay rings
of multiplicity at most $2$, as well as certain rings of higher multiplicity,
necessarily analytically ramified. The former are important in the study of
modules over Gorenstein rings, while the latter arise in a natural way from
generic formal fibers and derivations.
  We characterize one-dimensional stable local rings in several ways. The
characterizations involve the integral closure ${\bar{R}}$ of $R$ and the
completion of $R$ in a relevant ideal-adic topology. For example, we show: If
$R$ is a reduced stable ring, then there are exactly two possibilities for $R$:
(1) $R$ is a {\it Bass ring}, that is, $R$ is a reduced Noetherian local ring
such that $\bar{R}$ is finitely generated over $R$ and every ideal of $R$ is
generated by two elements; or (2) $R$ is a {\it bad stable domain}, that is,
$R$ is a one-dimensional stable local domain such that $\bar{R}$ is not a
finitely generated $R$-module.


title:
Supercell convergence of charge-transfer energies in pentacene molecular
  crystals from constrained DFT

abstract:
  Singlet fission (SF) is a multi-exciton generation process that could be
harnessed to improve the efficiency of photovoltaic devices. Experimentally,
systems derived from the pentacene molecule have been shown to exhibit
ultrafast SF with high yields. Charge-transfer (CT) configurations are likely
to play an important role as intermediates in the SF process in these systems.
In molecular crystals, electrostatic screening effects and band formation can
be significant in lowering the energy of CT states, enhancing their potential
to effectively participate in SF. In order to simulate these, it desirable to
adopt a computational approach which is acceptably accurate, relatively
inexpensive, which and scales well to larger systems, thus enabling the study
of screening effects. We propose a novel, electrostatically-corrected
constrained Density Functional Theory (cDFT) approach as a low-cost solution to
the calculation of CT energies in molecular crystals such as pentacene. Here we
consider an implementation in the context of the ONETEP linear-scaling DFT
code, but our electrostatic correction method is in principle applicable in
combination with any constrained DFT implementation, also outside the
linear-scaling framework. Our newly developed method allows us to estimate CT
energies in the infinite crystal limit, and with these to validate the accuracy
of the cluster approximation.


title:
Who are Like-minded: Mining User Interest Similarity in Online Social
  Networks

abstract:
  In this paper, we mine and learn to predict how similar a pair of users'
interests towards videos are, based on demographic (age, gender and location)
and social (friendship, interaction and group membership) information of these
users. We use the video access patterns of active users as ground truth (a form
of benchmark). We adopt tag-based user profiling to establish this ground
truth, and justify why it is used instead of video-based methods, or many
latent topic models such as LDA and Collaborative Filtering approaches. We then
show the effectiveness of the different demographic and social features, and
their combinations and derivatives, in predicting user interest similarity,
based on different machine-learning methods for combining multiple features. We
propose a hybrid tree-encoded linear model for combining the features, and show
that it out-performs other linear and treebased models. Our methods can be used
to predict user interest similarity when the ground-truth is not available,
e.g. for new users, or inactive users whose interests may have changed from old
access data, and is useful for video recommendation. Our study is based on a
rich dataset from Tencent, a popular service provider of social networks, video
services, and various other services in China.


title:
Equilibrium clusters in suspensions of colloids interacting via
  potentials with a local minimum

abstract:
  In simple colloidal suspensions, clusters are various multimers that result
from colloid self-association and exist in equilibrium with monomers.There are
two types of potentials that are known to produce clusters: a) potentials that
result from the competition between short-range attraction and long-range
repulsion and are characterized by a global minimum and a repulsive tail and b)
purely repulsive potentials which have a soft shoulder. Using computer
simulations, we demonstrate in this work that potentials with a local minimum
and a repulsive tail, not belonging to either of the known types, are also
capable of generating clusters. A detailed comparative analysis shows that the
new type of cluster-forming potential serves as a bridge between the other two.
The new clusters are expanded in shape and their assembly is driven by entropy,
like in the purely repulsive systems but only at low density. At high density,
clusters are collapsed and stabilized by energy, in common with the systems
with competing attractive and repulsive interactions.


title: A Sufficient Condition for Nilpotency of the Commutator Subgroup

abstract:
  Let $G$ be a finite group with the property that if $a,b$ are commutators of
coprime orders, then $|ab|=|a||b|$. We show that $G'$ is nilpotent.


title: Modeling Information Diffusion in Social Networks

abstract:
  One major feature of social networks (e.g., massive online social networks)
is the dissemination of information, such as news, rumors and opinions.
Information can be propagated via natural connections in written, oral or
electronic forms. The physics of information diffusion has been changed with
the mainstream adoption of the Internet and Web. Until a few years ago, the
major barrier for someone who wanted a piece of information to spread through a
community was the cost of the technical infrastructure required to reach a
large number of people. Today, with widespread access to the Internet, this
bottleneck has largely been removed. Information diffusion has been one of the
focuses in social network research area, due to its importance in social
interactions and everyday life. More recently, during the last twenty to thirty
years, there has been interest and attention not just in observing information
and innovation flow, but also in influencing and creating them. Modeling
information diffusion in networks enables us to reason about its spread.


title: Profinite groups with NIP theory and $p$-adic analytic groups

abstract:
  We consider profinite groups as 2-sorted first order structures, with a group
sort, and a second sort which acts as an index set for a uniformly definable
basis of neighbourhoods of the identity. It is shown that if the basis consists
of {\em all} open subgroups, then the first order theory of such a structure is
NIP (that is, does not have the independence property) precisely if the group
has a normal subgroup of finite index which is a direct product of finitely
many compact $p$-adic analytic groups, for distinct primes $p$. In fact, the
condition NIP can here be weakened to NTP${}_2$. We also show that any NIP
profinite group, presented as a 2-sorted structure, has an open prosoluble
normal subgroup.


title: Self-sorting in two-dimensional assemblies of simple chiral molecules

abstract:
  Structural modification of adsorbed overlayers by means of external factors
is an important objective in the fabrication of stimuli-responsive materials
with adjustable physicochemical properties. In this contribution we present a
coarse-grained Monte Carlo model of the confinement-induced chiral self-sorting
of hockey stick-shaped enantiomers adsorbed on a triangular lattice. It is
assumed that the adsorbed overlayer consists of "normal" molecules that are
capable of adopting any of the six planar orientations imposed by the symmetry
of the lattice and molecular directors having only one permanent orientation,
that reflect the coupling of these species with an external directional field.
Our investigations focus on the influence of the amount fraction of the
molecular directors, temperature and surface coverage on the extent of the
chiral segregation. The simulated results demonstrate that the molecular
directors can have a significant effect on the ordering in enantiopure
overlayers, while for the corresponding racemates their role is largely
diminished. These findings can be helpful in designing strategies to improve
methods of fabrication of homochiral surfaces and enantioselective adsorbents.


title: On Spinors Transformations

abstract:
  We begin showing that for even dimensional vector spaces $V$ all
automorphisms of their Clifford algebras are inner. So all orthogonal
transformations of $V$ are restrictions to $V$ of inner automorphisms of the
algebra. Thus under orthogonal transformations $P$ and $T$ - space and time
reversal - all algebra elements, including vectors $v$ and spinors $\varphi$,
transform as $v \to x v x^{-1}$ and $\varphi \to x \varphi x^{-1}$ for some
algebra element $x$. We show that while under combined $PT$ spinor $\varphi \to
x \varphi x^{-1}$ remain in its spinor space, under $P$ or $T$ separately
$\varphi$ goes to a 'different' spinor space and may have opposite chirality.
We conclude with a preliminary characterization of inner automorphisms with
respect to their property to change, or not, spinor spaces.


title:
Wireless Information and Power Transfer in Full-Duplex Communication
  Systems

abstract:
  This paper considers the problem of maximizing the sum-rate for simultaneous
wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT) in a full-duplex bi-directional
communication system subject to energy harvesting and transmit power
constraints at both nodes. We investigate the optimum design of the receive
power splitters and transmit powers for SWIPT in full-duplex mode. Exploiting
rate-split method, an iterative algorithm is derived to solve the non-convex
problem. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is justified through
numerical simulations.


title:
Profiles of electrostatic potential across the water-vapor, ice-vapor
  and ice-water interfaces

abstract:
  Ice-water, water-vapor interfaces and ice surface are studied by molecular
dynamics simulations with the SPC/E model of water molecules having the purpose
to estimate the profiles of electrostatic potential across the interfaces. We
have proposed a methodology for calculating the profiles of electrostatic
potential based on a trial particle, which showed good agreement for the case
of electrostatic potential profile of the water-vapor interface of TIP4P model
calculated in another way. The measured profile of electrostatic potential for
the pure ice-water interface decreases towards the liquid bulk region, which is
in agreement with simulations of preferential direction of motion of Li$^{+}$
and F$^{-}$ solute ions at the liquid side of the ice-water interface. These
results are discussed in connection with the Workman-Reynolds effect.


title:
Implications of lepton flavour violation on long baseline neutrino
  oscillation experiments

abstract:
  Non-standard neutrino interactions (NSIs), the sub-leading effects in the
flavour transitions of neutrinos, play a crucial role in the determination of
the various unknowns in neutrino oscillations, such as neutrino mass hierarchy,
Dirac CP violating phase and the octant of atmospheric mixing angle. In this
work, we focus on the possible implications of lepton flavour violating (LFV)
NSIs, which generally affect the neutrino propagation, on the determination of
the these unknown oscillation parameters. We study the effect of these NSIs on
the physics potential of the currently running and upcoming long-baseline
experiments, i.e., T2K, NO$\nu$A and DUNE. We also check the allowed
oscillation parameter space in presence of LFV NSIs.


title: Distributed Multi-Task Learning with Shared Representation

abstract:
  We study the problem of distributed multi-task learning with shared
representation, where each machine aims to learn a separate, but related, task
in an unknown shared low-dimensional subspaces, i.e. when the predictor matrix
has low rank. We consider a setting where each task is handled by a different
machine, with samples for the task available locally on the machine, and study
communication-efficient methods for exploiting the shared structure.


title:
Maier-Saupe nematogenic fluid with isotropic Yukawa repulsion at a hard
  wall: Mean field approximation

abstract:
  The mean field approximation is formulated within the framework of the
density field theory to study the properties of a Maier-Saupe nematogenic fluid
near a hard wall. The density and the order parameter profiles are obtained
using the analytical expressions derived in the linearized mean field
approximation. The temperature dependencies of the contact values of the
density and order parameter profiles are analyzed in detail. To estimate a
validity of the applied approximations, the obtained theoretical results are
compared with the original computer simulation data.


title: Rigorous Analysis of Software Countermeasures against Cache Attacks

abstract:
  CPU caches introduce variations into the execution time of programs that can
be exploited by adversaries to recover private information about users or
cryptographic keys. Establishing the security of countermeasures against this
threat often requires intricate reasoning about the interactions of program
code, memory layout, and hardware architecture and has so far only been done
for restricted cases. In this paper we devise novel techniques that provide
support for bit-level and arithmetic reasoning about memory accesses in the
presence of dynamic memory allocation. These techniques enable us to perform
the first rigorous analysis of widely deployed software countermeasures against
cache attacks on modular exponentiation, based on executable code.


title: Self-stabilizing Balls & Bins in Batches

abstract:
  A fundamental problem in distributed computing is the distribution of
requests to a set of uniform servers without a centralized controller.
Classically, such problems are modeled as static balls into bins processes,
where $m$ balls (tasks) are to be distributed to $n$ bins (servers). In a
seminal work, Azar et al. proposed the sequential strategy \greedy{d} for
$n=m$. When thrown, a ball queries the load of $d$ random bins and is allocated
to a least loaded of these. Azar et al. showed that $d=2$ yields an exponential
improvement compared to $d=1$. Berenbrink et al. extended this to $m\gg n$,
showing that the maximal load difference is independent of $m$ for $d=2$ (in
contrast to $d=1$).
  We propose a new variant of an \emph{infinite} balls into bins process. Each
round an expected number of $\lambda n$ new balls arrive and are distributed
(in parallel) to the bins. Each non-empty bin deletes one of its balls. This
setting models a set of servers processing incoming requests, where clients can
query a server's current load but receive no information about parallel
requests. We study the \greedy{d} distribution scheme in this setting and show
a strong self-stabilizing property: For \emph{any} arrival rate
$\lambda=\lambda(n)<1$, the system load is time-invariant. Moreover, for
\emph{any} (even super-exponential) round $t$, the maximum system load is
(w.h.p.) $O(\frac{1}{1-\lambda}\cdot\log\frac{n}{1-\lambda})$ for $d=1$ and
$O(\log\frac{n}{1-\lambda})$ for $d=2$. In particular, \greedy{2} has an
exponentially smaller system load for high arrival rates.


title:
Geometric Quantization and Epistemically Restricted Theories: The
  Continuous Case

abstract:
  It is possible to reproduce the quantum features of quantum states, starting
from a classical statistical theory and then limiting the amount of knowledge
that an agent can have about an individual system [5, 18].These are so called
epistemic restrictions. Such restrictions have been recently formulated in
terms of the symplectic geometry of the corresponding classical theory [19].
The purpose of this note is to describe, using this symplectic framework, how
to obtain a C*-algebraic formulation for the epistemically restricted theories.
In the case of continuous variables, following the groupoid quantization recipe
of E. Hawkins, we obtain a twisted group C*-algebra which is the usual Moyal
quantization of a Poisson vector space [12].


title:
SeeSaw scale discrete dark matter and two-zero texture Majorana neutrino
  mass matrices

abstract:
  In this paper we present a scenario where the stability of dark matter and
the phenomenology of neutrinos are related by the spontaneous breaking of a
non-Abelian flavor symmetry. In this scenario the breaking is done at the
seesaw scale, in such a way that what remains of the flavor symmetry is a Z2
symmetry, which stabilizes the dark matter. We have proposed two models based
on this idea, for which we have calculated their neutrino mass matrices
achieving two-zero texture in both cases. Accordingly, we have updated this
two-zero texture phenomenology finding an interesting correlation between the
reactor mixing angle and the sum of the light neutrino masses. We also have a
correlation between the lightest neutrino mass and the neutrinoless double beta
decay effective mass, obtaining a lower bound for the effective mass within the
region of the nearly future experimental sensitivities.


title:
Binding Energy of Molecules on Water Ice: Laboratory Measurements and
  Modeling

abstract:
  We measured the binding energy of N$_2$, CO, O$_2$, CH$_4$, and CO$_2$ on
non-porous (compact) amorphous solid water (np-ASW), of N$_2$ and CO on porous
amorphous solid water (p-ASW), and of NH$_3$ on crystalline water ice. We were
able to measure binding energies down to a fraction of 1\% of a layer, thus
making these measurements more appropriate for astrochemistry than the existing
values. We found that CO$_2$ forms clusters on np-ASW surface even at very low
coverages. The binding energies of N$_2$, CO, O$_2$, and CH$_4$ decrease with
coverage in the submonolayer regime. Their values at the low coverage limit are
much higher than what is commonly used in gas-grain models. An empirical
formula was used to describe the coverage dependence of the binding energies.
We used the newly determined binding energy distributions in a simulation of
gas-grain chemistry for cold cloud and hot core models. We found that owing to
the higher value of desorption energy in the sub-monlayer regime a fraction of
all these ices stays much longer and up to higher temperature on the grain
surface compared to the single value energies currently used in the
astrochemical models.


title:
Replicas of the Kondo peak due to electron-vibration interaction in
  molecular transport properties

abstract:
  The low temperature properties of single level molecular quantum dots
including both, electron-electron and electron-vibration interactions, are
theoretically investigated. The calculated differential conductance in the
Kondo regime exhibits not only the zero bias anomaly but also side peaks
located at bias voltages which coincide with multiples of the energy of
vibronic mode $V \sim \hbar\Omega/e$. We obtain that the evolution with
temperature of the two main satellite conductance peaks follows the
corresponding one of the Kondo peak when $\hbar\Omega \gg k_B T_K$, being $
T_K$ the Kondo temperature, in agreement with recent transport measurements in
molecular junctions. However, we find that this is no longer valid when $
\hbar\Omega$ is of the order of a few times $k_B T_K$.


title: Super-Ricci Flows for Metric Measure Spaces

abstract:
  We introduce the notions of `super-Ricci flows' and `Ricci flows' for
time-dependent families of metric measure spaces $(X,d_t,m_t)_{t\in I}$. The
former property is proven to be stable under suitable space-time versions of
mGH-convergence. Uniformly bounded families of super-Ricci flows are compact.
In the spirit of the synthetic lower Ricci bounds of Lott-Sturm-Villani for
static metric measure spaces, the defining property for super-Ricci flows is
the `dynamic convexity' of the Boltzmann entropy ${\mathrm Ent}(.|m_t)$
regarded as a functions on the time-dependent geodesic space $({\mathcal
P}(X),W_t)_{t\in I}$. For Ricci flows, in addition a nearly dynamic concavity
of the Boltzmann entropy is requested.
  Alternatively, super-Ricci flows will be studied in the framework of the
$\Gamma$-calculus of Bakry-\'Emery-Ledoux and equivalence to gradient estimates
will be derived.
  For both notions of super-Ricci flows, also enforced versions involving an
`upper dimension bound' $N$ will be presented.


title: Gaussian Process Regression for Out-of-Sample Extension

abstract:
  Manifold learning methods are useful for high dimensional data analysis. Many
of the existing methods produce a low dimensional representation that attempts
to describe the intrinsic geometric structure of the original data. Typically,
this process is computationally expensive and the produced embedding is limited
to the training data. In many real life scenarios, the ability to produce
embedding of unseen samples is essential. In this paper we propose a Bayesian
non-parametric approach for out-of-sample extension. The method is based on
Gaussian Process Regression and independent of the manifold learning algorithm.
Additionally, the method naturally provides a measure for the degree of
abnormality for a newly arrived data point that did not participate in the
training process. We derive the mathematical connection between the proposed
method and the Nystrom extension and show that the latter is a special case of
the former. We present extensive experimental results that demonstrate the
performance of the proposed method and compare it to other existing
out-of-sample extension methods.


title: Self-guaranteed measurement-based quantum computation

abstract:
  In order to guarantee the output of a quantum computation, we usually assume
that the component devices are trusted. However, when the total computation
process is large, it is not easy to guarantee the whole system when we have
scaling effects, unexpected noise, or unaccounted correlations between several
subsystems. If we do not trust the measurement basis nor the prepared entangled
state, we do need to be worried about such uncertainties. To this end, we
proposes a "self-guaranteed" protocol for verification of quantum computation
under the scheme of measurement-based quantum computation where no
prior-trusted devices (measurement basis nor entangled state) are needed. The
approach we present enables the implementation of verifiable quantum
computation using the measurement-based model in the context of a particular
instance of delegated quantum computation where the server prepares the initial
computational resource and sends it to the client who drives the computation by
single-qubit measurements. Applying self-testing procedures we are able to
verify the initial resource as well as the operation of the quantum devices,
and hence the computation itself. The overhead of our protocol scales as the
size of the initial resource state to the power of 4 times the natural
logarithm of the initial state's size.


title: Corralling a distant planet with extreme resonant Kuiper belt objects

abstract:
  The four longest period Kuiper belt objects have orbital periods close to
integer ratios with each other. A hypothetical planet with orbital period
$\sim$17,117 years, semimajor axis $\sim$665 AU, would have N/1 and N/2 period
ratios with these four objects. The orbital geometries and dynamics of resonant
orbits constrain the orbital plane, the orbital eccentricity and the mass of
such a planet, as well as its current location in its orbital path.


title:
Inelastic collapse and near-wall localization of randomly accelerated
  particles

abstract:
  The inelastic collapse of stochastic trajectories of a randomly accelerated
particle moving in half-space $z > 0$ has been discovered by McKean and then
independently re-discovered by Cornell et. al. The essence of this phenomenon
is that particle arrives to a wall at $z = 0$ with zero velocity after an
infinite number of inelastic collisions if the restitution coefficient $\beta$
of particle velocity is smaller than the critical value
$\beta_c=\exp(-\pi/\sqrt{3})$. We demonstrate that inelastic collapse takes
place also in a wide class of models with spatially inhomogeneous random force
and, what is more, that the critical value $\beta_c$ is universal. That class
includes an important case of inertial particles in wall-bounded random flows.
To establish how the inelastic collapse influence the particle distribution, we
construct an exact equilibrium probability density function $\rho(z,v)$ for
particle position and velocity. The equilibrium distribution exists only at
$\beta<\beta_c$ and indicates that inelastic collapse does not necessarily mean
the near-wall localization.


title: Evidence for an Evolving Cyclotron Line Energy in 4U 1538-522

abstract:
  We have performed a full time- and luminosity-resolved spectral analysis of
the high-mass X-ray binary 4U 1538-522 using the available RXTE, INTEGRAL, and
Suzaku data, examining both phase-averaged and pulse-phase-constrained datasets
and focusing on the behavior of the cyclotron resonance scattering feature
(CRSF). No statistically significant trend between the energy of the CRSF and
luminosity is observed in the combined dataset. However, the CRSF energy
appears to have increased by ~1.5 keV in the ~8.5 years between the RXTE and
Suzaku measurements, with Monte Carlo simulations finding the Suzaku
measurement 4.6$\sigma$ above the RXTE points. Interestingly, the increased
Suzaku CRSF energy is much more significant and robust in the
pulse-phase-constrained spectra from the peak of the main pulse, suggesting a
change that is limited to a single magnetic pole. The 7 years of RXTE
measurements do not show any strongly-significant evolution with time on their
own. We discuss the significance of the CRSF's behavior with respect to
luminosity and time in the context of historical observations of this source as
well as recent observational and theoretical work concerning the neutron star
accretion column, and suggest some mechanisms by which the observed change over
time could occur.


title:
Learning Hand-Eye Coordination for Robotic Grasping with Deep Learning
  and Large-Scale Data Collection

abstract:
  We describe a learning-based approach to hand-eye coordination for robotic
grasping from monocular images. To learn hand-eye coordination for grasping, we
trained a large convolutional neural network to predict the probability that
task-space motion of the gripper will result in successful grasps, using only
monocular camera images and independently of camera calibration or the current
robot pose. This requires the network to observe the spatial relationship
between the gripper and objects in the scene, thus learning hand-eye
coordination. We then use this network to servo the gripper in real time to
achieve successful grasps. To train our network, we collected over 800,000
grasp attempts over the course of two months, using between 6 and 14 robotic
manipulators at any given time, with differences in camera placement and
hardware. Our experimental evaluation demonstrates that our method achieves
effective real-time control, can successfully grasp novel objects, and corrects
mistakes by continuous servoing.


title: Elastic Functional Coding of Riemannian Trajectories

abstract:
  Visual observations of dynamic phenomena, such as human actions, are often
represented as sequences of smoothly-varying features . In cases where the
feature spaces can be structured as Riemannian manifolds, the corresponding
representations become trajectories on manifolds. Analysis of these
trajectories is challenging due to non-linearity of underlying spaces and
high-dimensionality of trajectories. In vision problems, given the nature of
physical systems involved, these phenomena are better characterized on a
low-dimensional manifold compared to the space of Riemannian trajectories. For
instance, if one does not impose physical constraints of the human body, in
data involving human action analysis, the resulting representation space will
have highly redundant features. Learning an effective, low-dimensional
embedding for action representations will have a huge impact in the areas of
search and retrieval, visualization, learning, and recognition. The difficulty
lies in inherent non-linearity of the domain and temporal variability of
actions that can distort any traditional metric between trajectories. To
overcome these issues, we use the framework based on transported square-root
velocity fields (TSRVF); this framework has several desirable properties,
including a rate-invariant metric and vector space representations. We propose
to learn an embedding such that each action trajectory is mapped to a single
point in a low-dimensional Euclidean space, and the trajectories that differ
only in temporal rates map to the same point. We utilize the TSRVF
representation, and accompanying statistical summaries of Riemannian
trajectories, to extend existing coding methods such as PCA, KSVD and Label
Consistent KSVD to Riemannian trajectories or more generally to Riemannian
functions.


title: An integral formula and its applications on sub-static manifolds

abstract:
  In this article, we first establish the main tool - an integral formula for
Riemannian manifolds with multiple boundary components (or without boundary).
This formula generalizes Reilly's original formula from \cite{Re2} and the
recent result from \cite{QX}. It provides a robust tool for sub-static
manifolds regardless of the underlying topology.
  Using this formula and suitable elliptic PDEs, we prove Heintze-Karcher type
inequalities for bounded domains in general sub-static manifolds which recovers
some of the results from Brendle \cite{Br} as special cases.
  On the other hand, we prove a Minkowski inequality for static convex
hypersurfaces in a sub-static warped product manifold. Moreover, we obtain an
almost Schur lemma for horo-convex hypersurfaces in the hyperbolic space and
convex hypersurfaces in the hemi-sphere, which can be viewed as a special
Alexandrov-Fenchel inequality.


title:
The Hydra I cluster core. I. Stellar populations in the cD galaxy NGC
  3311

abstract:
  (Abridged for arXiv) The history of the mass assembly of brightest cluster
galaxies may be studied by the mapping the stellar populations at large radial
distances from the galaxy centre. We provide extended and robust measurements
of the stellar population parameters in NGC 3311, the cD galaxy at the centre
of the Hydra I cluster and out to three effective radii. Using seven
absorption-features defined in the Lick/IDS system and single stellar
populations models, we obtained luminosity-weighted ages, metallicities and
alpha element abundances. The trends in the Lick indices and the distribution
of the stellar population parameters indicate that the stars of NGC 3311 may be
divided into two radial regimes, one within and the another beyond one
effective radius, $R_e = 8.4$ kpc, similar to the distinction between inner
galaxy and external halo derived from the NGC 3311 velocity dispersion profile.
The inner galaxy ($R\leq R_e$) is old (age $\sim 14$ Gyr), have negative
metallicity gradients and positive alpha element gradients. The external halo
is also very old, but the metal and element abundances of the external halo
have both a large scatter, indicating that stars from a variety of satellites
with different masses have been accreted. The region in the extended halo
associated with the off-centred envelope at 0$^o$ < P.A.< 90$^o$ (Arnaboldi et
al. 2012) has higher metallicity with respect to the symmetric external halo.
The different stellar populations in the inner galaxy and extended halo reflect
the dominance of in situ stars in the former and the accreted origin for the
large majority of the stars in the latter. These results provide supporting
evidence to the recent theoretical models of formation of massive ellipticals
as a two-phase process.


title: Interpreting 750 GeV Diphoton Excess in Plain NMSSM

abstract:
  NMSSM has enough ingredients to explain the diphoton excess at 750 GeV:
singlet-like (pseudo) scalar ($a$) $s$ and higgsinos as heavy vector-like
fermions. We consider the production of the 750 GeV singlet-like pseudo scalar
a from a decay of the doublet-like pseudo scalar $A$, and the subsequent decay
of $a$ into two photons via higgsino loop. We demonstrate that this cascade
decay of the NMSSM Higgs bosons can explain the diphoton excess in the 13 TeV
data consistently with the absence of a significant excess in the 8 TeV data.


title: ELT Linear Algebra

abstract:
  Exploded layered tropical (ELT) algebra is an extension of tropical algebra
with a structure of layers. These layers allow us to use classical algebraic
results in order to easily prove analogous tropical results. Specifically we
study the connection between the ELT determinant and linear dependency, and use
a generalized version of Kapranov Theorem proved in [7] (called the Fundamental
Theorem).
  In this paper we prove that an ELT matrix is singular if and only if its rows
are linearly dependent and that the row rank and submatrix rank of an ELT
matrix are equal. We also define an ELT rank for a tropical matrix, and prove
that it is equal to its Kapranov rank. In addition, we formalize the concept of
ELT inner products, and prove ELT versions of some known theorems such as
Cauchy-Schwarz inequality.


title: Operator Approach to the Master Equation for the One-Step Process

abstract:
  Presentation of the probability as an intrinsic property of the nature leads
researchers to switch from deterministic to stochastic description of the
phenomena. The procedure of stochastization of one-step process was formulated.
It allows to write down the master equation based on the type of of the kinetic
equations and assumptions about the nature of the process. The kinetics of the
interaction has recently attracted attention because it often occurs in the
physical, chemical, technical, biological, environmental, economic, and
sociological systems. However, there are no general methods for the direct
study of this equation. Leaving in the expansion terms up to the second order
we can get the Fokker-Planck equation, and thus the Langevin equation. It
should be clearly understood that these equations are approximate recording of
the master equation. However, this does not eliminate the need for the study of
the master equation. Moreover, the power series produced during the master
equation decomposition may be divergent (for example, in spatial models). This
makes it impossible to apply the classical perturbation theory. It is proposed
to use quantum field perturbation theory for the statistical systems (the
so-called Doi method). This work is a methodological material that describes
the principles of master equation solution based on quantum field perturbation
theory methods. The characteristic property of the work is that it is
intelligible for non-specialists in quantum field theory. As an example the
Verhulst model is used because of its simplicity and clarity (the first order
equation is independent of the spatial variables, however, contains
non-linearity). We show the full equivalence of the operator and combinatorial
methods of obtaining and study of the one-step process master equation.


title:
A priori bounds and global bifurcation results for frequency combs
  modeled by the Lugiato-Lefever equation

abstract:
  In nonlinear optics $2\pi$-periodic solutions $a\in C^2([0,2\pi];\mathbb{C})$
of the stationary Lugiato-Lefever equation $-d a"= ({\rm i} -\zeta)a
+|a|^2a-{\rm i} f$ serve as a model for frequency combs, which are optical
signals consisting of a superposition of modes with equally spaced frequencies.
We prove that nontrivial frequency combs can only be observed for special
ranges of values of the forcing and detuning parameters $f$ and $\zeta$, as it
has been previously documented in experiments and numerical simulations. E.g.,
if the detuning parameter $\zeta$ is too large then nontrivial frequency combs
do not exist, cf. Theorem 2. Additionally, we show that for large ranges of
parameter values nontrivial frequency combs may be found on continua which
bifurcate from curves of trivial frequency combs. Our results rely on the proof
of a priori bounds for the stationary Lugiato-Lefever equation as well as a
detailed rigorous bifurcation analysis based on the bifurcation theorems of
Crandall-Rabinowitz and Rabinowitz. We use the software packages AUTO and
MATLAB to illustrate our results by numerical computations of bifurcation
diagrams and of selected solutions.


title: Pressure-resistant intermediate valence in Kondo insulator SmB6

abstract:
  Resonant x-ray emission spectroscopy (RXES) was used to determine the
pressure dependence of the f-electron occupancy in the Kondo insulator SmB6.
Applied pressure reduces the f-occupancy, but surprisingly, the material
maintains a significant divalent character up to a pressure of at least 35 GPa.
Thus, the closure of the resistive activation energy gap and onset of magnetic
order are not driven by stabilization of an integer valent state. Over the
entire pressure range, the material maintains a remarkably stable intermediate
valence that can in principle support a nontrivial band structure.


title:
An Online Mechanism for Ridesharing in Autonomous Mobility-on-Demand
  Systems

abstract:
  With proper management, Autonomous Mobility-on-Demand (AMoD) systems have
great potential to satisfy the transport demands of urban populations by
providing safe, convenient, and affordable ridesharing services. Meanwhile,
such systems can substantially decrease private car ownership and use, and thus
significantly reduce traffic congestion, energy consumption, and carbon
emissions. To achieve this objective, an AMoD system requires private
information about the demand from passengers. However, due to
self-interestedness, passengers are unlikely to cooperate with the service
providers in this regard. Therefore, an online mechanism is desirable if it
incentivizes passengers to truthfully report their actual demand. For the
purpose of promoting ridesharing, we hereby introduce a posted-price,
integrated online ridesharing mechanism (IORS) that satisfies desirable
properties such as ex-post incentive compatibility, individual rationality, and
budget-balance. Numerical results indicate the competitiveness of IORS compared
with two benchmarks, namely the optimal assignment and an offline,
auction-based mechanism.


title: Quantum Hashing for Finite Abelian Groups

abstract:
  We propose a generalization of the quantum hashing technique based on the
notion of the small-bias sets. These sets have proved useful in different areas
of computer science, and here their properties give an optimal construction for
succinct quantum presentation of elements of any finite abelian group, which
can be used in various computational and cryptographic scenarios. The known
quantum fingerprinting schemas turn out to be the special cases of the proposed
quantum hashing for the corresponding abelian group.


title: Staggered Quantum Walks on Graphs

abstract:
  The staggered quantum walk model allows to establish an unprecedented
connection between discrete-time quantum walks and graph theory. We call
attention to the fact that a large subclass of the coined model is included in
Szegedy's model, which in its turn is entirely included in the staggered model.
In order to compare those three quantum walk models, we put them in the
staggered formalism and we show that the Szegedy and coined models are defined
on a special subclass of graphs. This inclusion scheme is also true when the
searching framework is added. We use graph theory to characterize which
staggered quantum walks can be reduced to the Szegedy or coined quantum walk
model. We analyze a staggered-based search that cannot be included in Szegedy's
model and we show numerically that this search is more efficient than a
random-walk-based search.


title: Authenticating users through their arm movement patterns

abstract:
  In this paper, we propose four continuous authentication designs by using the
characteristics of arm movements while individuals walk. The first design uses
acceleration of arms captured by a smartwatch's accelerometer sensor, the
second design uses the rotation of arms captured by a smartwatch's gyroscope
sensor, third uses the fusion of both acceleration and rotation at the
feature-level and fourth uses the fusion at score-level. Each of these designs
is implemented by using four classifiers, namely, k nearest neighbors (k-NN)
with Euclidean distance, Logistic Regression, Multilayer Perceptrons, and
Random Forest resulting in a total of sixteen authentication mechanisms. These
authentication mechanisms are tested under three different environments, namely
an intra-session, inter-session on a dataset of 40 users and an inter-phase on
a dataset of 12 users. The sessions of data collection were separated by at
least ten minutes, whereas the phases of data collection were separated by at
least three months. Under the intra-session environment, all of the twelve
authentication mechanisms achieve a mean dynamic false accept rate (DFAR) of 0%
and dynamic false reject rate (DFRR) of 0%. For the inter-session environment,
feature level fusion-based design with classifier k-NN achieves the best error
rates that are a mean DFAR of 2.2% and DFRR of 4.2%. The DFAR and DFRR
increased from 5.68% and 4.23% to 15.03% and 14.62% respectively when feature
level fusion-based design with classifier k-NN was tested under the inter-phase
environment on a dataset of 12 users.


title:
Existence and uniqueness theorems for solutions of McKean--Vlasov
  stochastic equations

abstract:
  New weak and strong existence and weak and strong uniqueness results for
multi-dimensional stochastic McKean--Vlasov equations are established under
relaxed regularity conditions. Weak existence is a variation of Krylov's weak
existence for It\^o's SDEs under the nondegeneracy of diffusion and no more
than a linear growth in the state variable; this part is designed to fill in
the existing gap, as earlier such results for McKean-Vlasov equations were not
written. Weak and strong uniqueness is established under the restricted
assumption of diffusion depending only on time and the state variable, yet
without any regularity of the drift in the state variable and also under a
linear growth condition on the drift; this part is based on the analysis of the
total variation metric.


title: White Paper on Nuclear Astrophysics

abstract:
  This white paper informs the nuclear astrophysics community and funding
agencies about the scientific directions and priorities of the field and
provides input from this community for the 2015 Nuclear Science Long Range
Plan. It summarizes the outcome of the nuclear astrophysics town meeting that
was held on August 21-23, 2014 in College Station at the campus of Texas A&M
University in preparation of the NSAC Nuclear Science Long Range Plan. It also
reflects the outcome of an earlier town meeting of the nuclear astrophysics
community organized by the Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics (JINA) on
October 9- 10, 2012 Detroit, Michigan, with the purpose of developing a vision
for nuclear astrophysics in light of the recent NRC decadal surveys in nuclear
physics (NP2010) and astronomy (ASTRO2010). The white paper is furthermore
informed by the town meeting of the Association of Research at University
Nuclear Accelerators (ARUNA) that took place at the University of Notre Dame on
June 12-13, 2014. In summary we find that nuclear astrophysics is a modern and
vibrant field addressing fundamental science questions at the intersection of
nuclear physics and astrophysics. These questions relate to the origin of the
elements, the nuclear engines that drive life and death of stars, and the
properties of dense matter. A broad range of nuclear accelerator facilities,
astronomical observatories, theory efforts, and computational capabilities are
needed. With the developments outlined in this white paper, answers to long
standing key questions are well within reach in the coming decade.


title:
The COSINUS project - perspectives of a NaI scintillating calorimeter
  for dark matter search

abstract:
  The R&D project COSINUS (Cryogenic Observatory for SIgnatures seen in
Next-generation Underground Searches) aims to develop a cryogenic scintillating
calorimeter using NaI as target crystal for direct darkmatter search. Dark
matter particles interacting with the detector material generate both a phonon
signal and scintillation light. While the phonon signal provides a precise
determination of the deposited energy, the simultaneously measured
scintillation light allows for a particle identification on an event-by-event
basis, a powerful tool to study material-dependent interactions, and to
suppress backgrounds. Using the same target material as the DAMA/LIBRA
collaboration, the COSINUS technique may offer a unique possibility to
investigate and contribute information to the presently controversial situation
in the dark matter sector. We report on the dedicated design planned for the
NaI proof-of-principle detector and the objectives of using this detection
technique in the light of direct dark matter detection.


title:
A hidden variables model for non-relativistic quantum mechanics in terms
  of probabilities of particle paths

abstract:
  It is proved that in non-relativistic quantum mechanics (without spin) the
transition probability may be described in terms of particle paths, every path
having a (positive) probability. This leads to a stochastic hidden variables
theory providing an intuitive picture of particle motion. The change of
velocity at every time has a probability that depends on the potential over a
large region, at a difference with the local action of classical dynamics. Thus
the hidden variables theory is non-local like Bohm's, but not deterministic.


title:
Deformation of Einstein metrics and $L^2$ cohomology on strictly
  pseudoconvex domains

abstract:
  We construct new complete Einstein metrics on smoothly bounded strictly
pseudoconvex domains in Stein manifolds. This is done by deforming the
K\"ahler-Einstein metric of Cheng and Yau, the approach that generalizes the
works of Roth and Biquard on the deformations of the complex hyperbolic metric
on the unit ball. Recasting the problem into the question of vanishing of an
$L^2$ cohomology and taking advantage of the asymptotic complex hyperbolicity
of the Cheng-Yau metric, we establish the possibility of such a deformation
when the dimension of the domain is larger than or equal to three.


title: Limit Theorems for the Left Random Walk on GLd (R)

abstract:
  Motivated by a recent work of Benoist and Quint and extending results from
the PhD thesis of the third author, we obtain limit theorems for products of
independent and identically distributed elements of GLd (R), such as the
Marcinkiewicz-Zygmund strong law of large numbers, the CLT (with rates in
Wasserstein's distances) and almost sure invariance principles with rates.


title: Ripplon Laser

abstract:
  Energy exchange between light and sound was first suggested by Brillouin in
1922. After Townes established the phonon maser theory, coherent generation of
intense hypersonic waves was observed together with stimulated Brillouin
Scattering. Here we repeat these experiments, but with capillary-waves that are
unique to the liquid phase of matter and relates to attraction between intimate
fluid particles. We fabricate resonators that co-host capillary and
opticalmodes, control it to operates at its non resolved sideband, and observe
stimulated capillary scattering and coherent excitation of capillary resonances
at kHz rates (that one can hear in audio files recorded by us). By exchanging
energy between electromagnetic and capillary waves, we bridge interfacial
tension phenomena at the liquid phase boundary to optics, and might impact
optofluidics by allowing optical control, interrogation and cooling of water
waves.


title:
Coulomb potentials and Taylor expansions in Time-Dependent Density
  Functional Theory

abstract:
  We investigate when Taylor expansions can be used to prove the Runge-Gross
Theorem, which is at the foundation of Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory
(TDDFT). We start with a general analysis of the conditions for the Runge-Gross
argument, especially the time-differentiability of the density. The latter
should be questioned in the presence of singular (e.g. Coulomb) potentials.
Then, we show that a singular potential in a one-body operator considerably
decreases the class of time-dependent external potentials to which the original
argument can be applied. A two-body singularity has an even stronger impact and
an external potential is essentially incompatible with it. For the Coulomb
interaction and all reasonable initial many-body states, the Taylor expansion
only exists to a finite order, except for constant external potentials.
Therefore, high-order Taylor expansions are not the right tool to study atoms
and molecules in TDDFT.


title:
Crystal isomorphisms and wall-crossing maps for rational Cherednik
  algebras

abstract:
  We show that the wall crossing bijections between simples of the category O
of the rational Cherednik algebras reduce to particular crystal isomorphisms
which can be computed by a simple combinatorial procedure on multipartitions of
fixed rank.


title: Monotonicity and complete monotonicity for continuous-time Markov chains

abstract:
  We analyze the notions of monotonicity and complete monotonicity for Markov
Chains in continuous-time, taking values in a finite partially ordered set.
Similarly to what happens in discrete-time, the two notions are not equivalent.
However, we show that there are partially ordered sets for which monotonicity
and complete monotonicity coincide in continuous time but not in discrete-time.


title: Robust imaging with electromagnetic waves in noisy environments

abstract:
  We study imaging with an array of sensors that probes a medium with single
frequency electromagnetic waves and records the scattered electric field. The
medium is known and homogenous except for some small and penetrable inclusions.
The goal of inversion is to locate and characterize these inclusions from the
data collected by the array, which are corrupted by additive noise. We use
results from random matrix theory to obtain a robust inversion method. We
assess its performance with numerical simulations and quantify the benefit of
measuring more than one component of the scattered electric field.


title: Realizable monotonicity for continuous-time Markov processes

abstract:
  We formalize and analyze the notions of stochastic monotonicity and
realizable mono-tonicity for Markov Chains in continuous-time, taking values in
a finite partially ordered set. Similarly to what happens in discrete-time, the
two notions are not equivalent. However, we show that there are partially
ordered sets for which stochastic monotonicity and realizable monotonicity
coincide in continuous-time but not in discrete-time.


title:
Hubble Space Telescope: Snapshot Survey for Resolved Companions of
  Galactic Cepheids

abstract:
  We have conducted an imaging survey with the Hubble Space Telescope Wide
Field Camera~3 (WFC3) of 70 Galactic Cepheids, typically within 1~kpc, with the
aim of finding resolved physical companions. The WFC3 field typically covers
the 0.1 pc area where companions are expected. In this paper, we identify 39
Cepheids having candidate companions, based on their positions in
color--magnitude diagrams, and having separations $\geq$5$"$ from the Cepheids.
We use follow-up observations of 14 of these candidates with XMM-Newton, and of
one of them with ROSAT, to separate X-ray-active young stars (probable physical
companions) from field stars (chance alignments). Our preliminary estimate,
based on the optical and X-ray observations, is that only 3\% of the Cepheids
in the sample have wide companions. Our survey easily detects resolved
main-sequence companions as faint as spectral type K\null. Thus the fact that
the two most probable companions (those of FF~Aql and RV~Sco) are earlier than
type K is not simply a function of the detection limit. We find no physical
companions having separations larger than 4,000~AU in the X-ray survey. Two
Cepheids are exceptions in that they do have young companions at significantly
larger separations ($\delta$~Cep and S~Nor), but both belong to a cluster or a
loose association, so our working model is that they are not gravitationally
bound binary members, but rather cluster/association members. All of these
properties provide constraints on both star formation and subsequent dynamical
evolution. The low frequency of true physical companions at separations $>\!5"$
is confirmed by examination of the subset of the nearest Cepheids and also the
density of the fields.


title: Degeneracy of entire curves into higher dimensional complex manifolds

abstract:
  Pursuing McQuillan's philosophy in proving the Green-Griffiths conjecture for
certain surfaces of general type, we deal with the algebraic degeneracy of
entire curves tangent to holomorphic foliations by curves. Inspired by the
recent work of Paun and Sibony, we study the intersection of Ahlfors current
with the tangent bundle of the foliation, and derive some consequences. In
particular, we introduce the definition of weakly reduced singularities for
foliations by curves, which requires less work than the exact classification
for foliations. Finally we discuss the strategy to prove the Green-Griffiths
conjecture for complex surfaces.


title:
Leveraging MPI-3 Shared-Memory Extensions for Efficient PGAS Runtime
  Systems

abstract:
  The relaxed semantics and rich functionality of one-sided communication
primitives of MPI-3 makes MPI an attractive candidate for the implementation of
PGAS models. However, the performance of such implementation suffers from the
fact, that current MPI RMA implementations typically have a large overhead when
source and target of a communication request share a common, local physical
memory. In this paper, we present an optimized PGAS-like runtime system which
uses the new MPI-3 shared-memory extensions to serve intra-node communication
requests and MPI-3 one-sided communication primitives to serve inter-node
communication requests. The performance of our runtime system is evaluated on a
Cray XC40 system through low-level communication benchmarks, a random-access
benchmark and a stencil kernel. The results of the experiments demonstrate that
the performance of our hybrid runtime system matches the performance of
low-level RMA libraries for intra-node transfers, and that of MPI-3 for
inter-node transfers.


title:
Non-Degeneracy of Kobayashi Volume Measures for Singular Directed
  Varieties

abstract:
  In this note, we prove the generic Kobayashi volume measure hyperbolicity of
singular directed varieties $(X, V)$, as soon as the canonical sheaf
$\mathcal{K}\_V$ of $V$ is big in the sense of Demailly.


title:
Limits on Dark Matter Annihilation in the Sun using the ANTARES Neutrino
  Telescope

abstract:
  A search for muon neutrinos originating from dark matter annihilations in the
Sun is performed using the data recorded by the ANTARES neutrino telescope from
2007 to 2012. In order to obtain the best possible sensitivities to dark matter
signals, an optimisation of the event selection criteria is performed taking
into account the background of atmospheric muons, atmospheric neutrinos and the
energy spectra of the expected neutrino signals. No significant excess over the
background is observed and $90\%$ C.L. upper limits on the neutrino flux, the
spin--dependent and spin--independent WIMP-nucleon cross--sections are derived
for WIMP masses ranging from $ \rm 50$ GeV to $\rm 5$ TeV for the annihilation
channels $\rm WIMP + WIMP \to b \bar b, W^+ W^-$ and $\rm \tau^+ \tau^-$.


title: On Grothendieck's construction of Teichm\"uller space

abstract:
  In his 1944 paper Ver\"anderliche Riemannsche Fl\"achen , Teichm\"uller
defined a structure of complex manifold on the set of isomorphism classes of
marked closed Riemann surfaces of genus g. The complex manifold he obtained is
the space called today Teichm\"uller space. In the same paper, Teichm\"uller
introduced the so-called universal Teichm\"uller curve -- a space over
Teichm\"uller space where the fiber above each point is a Riemann surface
representing that point. In fact, Teichm\"uller proved the existence of the
Teichm\"uller curve as a space of Riemann surfaces parametrized by an analytic
space, with an existence and uniqueness theorem establishing this analytic
structure. This result was later reformulated and proved by Grothendieck in a
series of ten lectures he gave at Cartan's seminar in 1960-1961. In his
approach , Grothendieck replaced Teichm\"uller's explicit parameters by a
general construction of fiber bundles whose base is an arbitrary analytic
space. This work on Teichm\"uller space led him to recast the bases of analytic
geometry using the language of categories and functors. In Grothendieck's
words, the Teichm\"uller curve becomes a space representing a functor from the
category of analytic spaces into the category of sets. In this survey, we
comment on Grothendieck's series of lectures. The survey is primarily addressed
to low-dimensional topologists and geometers. In presenting Grothendieck's
results, we tried to explain or rephrase in more simple terms some notions that
are usually expressed in the language of algebraic geometry. However, it is not
possible to short-circuit the language of categories and functors. The survey
is also addressed to those algebraic geometers who wish to know how the notion
of moduli space evolved in connection with Teichm\"uller theory. Explaining the
origins of mathematical ideas contributes in dispensing justice to their
authors and it usually renders the theory that is surveyed more attractive. The
final version of this paper will appear as a chapter in Volume VI of the
Handbook of Teichm\"uller theory. This volume is dedicated to the memory of
Alexander Grothendieck.


title: Propose economical and stable lepton mass matrices with texture zeros

abstract:
  There are many viable combinations of texture zeros in lepton mass matrices.
We propose an economical and stable mass texture. Analytical and numerical
results on mixing parameters and the effective mass of neutrinos are obtained.
These results satisfy new constraints from neutrinos oscillation experiments
and cosmological observations. Our proposition reveals that in the complex
forest of neutrinos mixing models, a simple and robust one is still possible.


title: Spatial Distribution of City Tweets and Their Densities

abstract:
  Social media outlets such as Twitter constitute valuable data sources for
understanding human activities in the virtual world from a geographic
perspective. This paper examines spatial distribution of tweets and densities
within cities. The cities refer to natural cities that are automatically
aggregated from a country's small street blocks, so called city blocks. We
adopted street blocks (rather than census tracts) as the basic geographic units
and topological center (rather than geometric center) in order to assess how
tweets and densities vary from the center to the peripheral border. We found
that, within a city from the center to the periphery, the tweets first increase
and then decrease, while the densities decrease in general. These increases and
decreases fluctuate dramatically, and differ significantly from those if census
tracts are used as the basic geographic units. We also found that the decrease
of densities from the center to the periphery is less significant, and even
disappears, if an arbitrarily defined city border is adopted. These findings
prove that natural cities and their topological centers are better than their
counterparts (conventionally defined cities and city centers) for geographic
research. Based on this study, we believe that tweet densities can be a good
surrogate of population densities. If this belief is proved to be true, social
media data could help solve the dispute surrounding exponential or power
function of urban population density.
  Keywords: Big data, natural cities, street blocks, urban density, topological
distance


title:
Linear sets in the projective line over the endomorphism ring of a
  finite field

abstract:
  Let $\mathrm{PG}(1,E)$ be the projective line over the endomorphism ring
$E=End_q({\mathbb F}_{q^t})$ of the $\mathbb F_q$-vector space ${\mathbb
F}_{q^t}$. As is well known there is a bijection
$\Psi:\mathrm{PG}(1,E)\rightarrow{\cal G}_{2t,t,q}$ with the Grassmannian of
the $(t-1)$-subspaces in $\mathrm{PG}(2t-1,q)$. In this paper along with any
$\mathbb F_q$-linear set $L$ of rank $t$ in $\mathrm{PG}(1,q^t)$, determined by
a $(t-1)$-dimensional subspace $T^\Psi$ of $\mathrm{PG}(2t-1,q)$, a subset
$L_T$ of $\mathrm{PG}(1,E)$ is investigated. Some properties of linear sets are
expressed in terms of the projective line over the ring $E$. In particular the
attention is focused on the relationship between $L_T$ and the set $L'_T$,
corresponding via $\Psi$ to a collection of pairwise skew $(t-1)$-dimensional
subspaces, with $T\in L'_T$, each of which determine $L$. This leads among
other things to a characterization of the linear sets of pseudoregulus type. It
is proved that a scattered linear set $L$ related to $T\in\mathrm{PG}(1,E)$ is
of pseudoregulus type if and only if there exists a projectivity $\varphi$ of
$\mathrm{PG}(1,E)$ such that $L_T^\varphi=L'_T$.


title:
Confluent Heun functions and the physics of black holes: resonant
  frequencies, Hawking radiation and scattering of scalar waves

abstract:
  We apply the confluent Heun functions to study the resonant frequencies
(quasispectrum), the Hawking radiation and the scattering process of scalar
waves, in a class of spacetimes, namely, the ones generated by a
Kerr-Newman-Kasuya spacetime (dyon black hole) and a Reissner-Nordstr\"{o}m
black hole surrounded by a magnetic field (Ernst spacetime). In both
spacetimes, the solutions for the angular and radial parts of the corresponding
Klein-Gordon equations are obtained exactly, for massive and massless fields,
respectively. The special cases of Kerr and Schwarzschild black holes are
analyzed and the solutions obtained, as well as in the case of a Schwarzschild
black hole surrounded by a magnetic field. In all these special situations, the
resonant frequencies, Hawking radiation and scattering are studied.


title: Reynolds number effects on mixing due to topological chaos

abstract:
  Topological chaos has emerged as a powerful tool to investigate fluid mixing.
While this theory can guarantee a lower bound on the stretching rate of certain
material lines, it does not indicate what fraction of the fluid actually
participates in this minimally mandated mixing. Indeed, the area in which
effective mixing takes place depends on physical parameters such as the
Reynolds number. To help clarify this dependency, we numerically simulate the
effects of a batch stirring device on a 2D incompressible Newtonian fluid in
the laminar regime. In particular, we calculate the finite time Lyapunov
exponent (FTLE) field for three different stirring protocols, one topologically
complex (pseudo-Anosov) and two simple (finite-order), over a range of
viscosities. After extracting appropriate measures indicative of both the
amount of mixing and the area of effective mixing from the FTLE field, we see a
clearly defined Reynolds number range in which the relative efficacy of the
pseudo-Anosov protocol over the finite-order protocols justifies the
application of topological chaos. More unexpectedly, we see that while the
measures of effective mixing area increase with increasing Reynolds number for
the finite-order protocols, they actually exhibit non-monotonic behavior for
the pseudo-Anosov protocol.

categories: nlin.CD math-ph math.DS math.MP physics.comp-ph physics.flu-dyn


title: Deviation results for sparse tables in hashing with linear probing

abstract:
  We consider the model of hashing with linear probing and we establish the
moderate and large deviations for the total displacement in sparse tables. In
this context, Weibull-like-tailed random variables appear. Deviations for sums
of such heavy-tailed random variables are studied in
\cite{Nagaev69-1,Nagaev69-2}. Here we adapt the proofs therein to deal with
conditioned sums of such variables and solve the open question in \cite{TFC12}.
By the way, we establish the deviations of the total displacement in full
tables, which can be derived from the deviations of empirical processes of
i.i.d.\ random variables established in \cite{Wu94}..


title:
Class of solutions of the Wheeler-DeWitt equation in the
  Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universe

abstract:
  We show that the solutions of the Wheeler-DeWitt equation in a homogeneous
and isotropic universe are given by triconfluent Heun functions for the
spatially closed, flat, and open geometries of the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker
universe filled with different forms of energy. In a matter-dominated universe,
we find the polynomial solution and the energy density spectrum. In the cases
of radiation-dominated and vacuum universes, there are no polynomial solutions
as shown.


title: Artinian and noetherian partial skew groupoid rings

abstract:
  Let $\alpha = \{ \alpha_g : R_{g^{-1}} \rightarrow R_g \}_{g \in
\textrm{mor}(G)}$ be a partial action of a groupoid $G$ on a non-associative
ring $R$ and let $S = R \star_{\alpha} G$ be the associated partial skew
groupoid ring. We show that if $\alpha$ is global and unital, then $S$ is left
(right) artinian if and only if $R$ is left (right) artinian and $R_g = \{ 0
\},$ for all but finitely many $g \in \textrm{mor}(G)$. We use this result to
prove that if $\alpha$ is unital and $R$ is alternative, then $S$ is left
(right) artinian if and only if $R$ is left (right) artinian and $R_g = \{ 0
\},$ for all but finitely many $g \in \textrm{mor}(G)$. Both of these results
apply to partial skew group rings, and in particular they generalize a result
by J. K. Park for classical skew group rings, i.e. the case when $R$ is unital
and associative, and $G$ is a group which acts globally on $R$. Moreover, we
provide two applications of our main result. Firstly, we generalize I. G.
Connell's classical result for group rings by giving a characterization of
artinian (non-associative) groupoid rings. This result is in turn applied to
partial group algebras. Secondly, we give a characterization of artinian
Leavitt path algebras. At the end of the article, we use globalization to
analyse noetherianity and artinianity of partial skew groupoid rings as well as
establishing two Maschke-type results, thereby generalizing results by Ferrero
and Lazzarin from the group graded case to the groupoid situation.


title:
On higher order computations, rewiring the connectome, and non-von
  Neumann computer architecture

abstract:
  Structural plasticity in the brain (i.e. rewiring the connectome) may be
viewed as mechanisms for dynamic reconfiguration of neural circuits. First
order computations in the brain are done by static neural circuits, whereas
higher order computations are done by dynamic reconfigurations of the links
(synapses) between the neural circuits. Static neural circuits correspond to
first order computable functions. Synapse creation (activation) between them
correspond to the mathematical notion of function composition. Functionals are
higher order functions that take functions as their arguments. The construction
of functionals is based on dynamic reconfigurations of function compositions.
Perhaps the functionals correspond to rewiring mechanisms of the connectome.
The architecture of human mind is different than the von Neumann computer
architecture. Higher order computations in the human brain (based on
functionals) may suggest a non-von Neumann computer architecture, a challenge
posed by John Backus in 1977 \cite{Backus}. The presented work is a substantial
extension and revision of the paper published in Proc. ICANN2016.


title:
Distributed constrained optimization and consensus in uncertain networks
  via proximal minimization

abstract:
  We provide a unifying framework for distributed convex optimization over
time-varying networks, in the presence of constraints and uncertainty, features
that are typically treated separately in the literature. We adopt a proximal
minimization perspective and show that this set-up allows us to bypass the
difficulties of existing algorithms while simplifying the underlying
mathematical analysis. We develop an iterative algorithm and show convergence
of the resulting scheme to some optimizer of the centralized problem. To deal
with the case where the agents' constraint sets are affected by a possibly
common uncertainty vector, we follow a scenario-based methodology and offer
probabilistic guarantees regarding the feasibility properties of the resulting
solution. To this end, we provide a distributed implementation of the scenario
approach, allowing agents to use a different set of uncertainty scenarios in
their local optimization programs. The efficacy of our algorithm is
demonstrated by means of a numerical example related to a regression problem
subject to regularization.


title:
Quantum effects in Reissner-Nordstr\"{o}m black hole surrounded by
  magnetic field: the scalar wave case


title:
Structural Phase Transition and Carrier Density Tuning in SnSexTe1-x
  Nanoplates for Topological Crystalline Insulators

abstract:
  For topological insulators and topological crystalline insulators (TCIs),
their exotic surface states are promising for fundamental condensed matter
physics research as well as future electronics such as low-dissipation
electronics and spintronics. However, the high bulk carrier density that often
dominates the transport property is the major materials challenge, critically
hindering our ability to study and manipulate the surface states. In this
manuscript, we demonstrate an alloying strategy, SnSexTe1-x, to effectively
reduce the bulk carrier density. As long as SnSexTe1-x remains in the cubic
crystal structure, it is predicted to be a TCI. We show systematic decrease of
the bulk carrier density with the increasing Se concentration, demonstrating
that the alloying principle works. In addition, we map out the phase diagram of
the cubic to the orthorhombic structural transition as a function of the Se
concentration. This was made possible by studying alloy nanoplates which remain
single-crystalline and is either in the cubic or the orthorhombic phase, in
contrast to bulk alloys that would exhibit polycrystalline grains. Lastly, we
investigate systematically the ferroelectric transition associated with the
structural transition from the cubic to the rhombohedral phase for SnSexTe1-x.
This is the first ferroelectric transition study of the alloy system
SnSexTe1-x.


title: Single-Mode Displacement Sensor

abstract:
  We show that one can determine both parameters of a displacement acting on an
oscillator with an accuracy which scales inversely with the square root of the
number of photons in the oscillator. Our results are obtained by using a grid
state as a sensor state for detecting small translations in phase space
(displacements). Grid states were first proposed in (see
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.64.012310 ) for encoding a qubit into an
oscillator: an efficient preparation protocol of such states, using a coupling
to a qubit, was developed in (see https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.93.012315 ).
We compare the performance of the grid state with the quantum compass or cat
code state and place our results in the context of the two-parameter quantum
Cram\'er-Rao lower bound on the variances of the displacement parameters. We
show that the accessible information about the displacement for a grid state
increases with the number of photons in the state when we measure and prepare
the state using a phase estimation protocol. This is in contrast with the
accessible information in the quantum compass state which we show is always
upper bounded by a constant, independent of the number of photons. We present
numerical simulations of a phase estimation based preparation protocol of a
grid state in the presence of photon loss, nonlinearities and qubit
measurement, using no post-selection, showing how the two effective squeezing
parameters which characterize the grid state change during the preparation. The
idea behind the phase estimation protocol is a simple maximal-information gain
strategy.


title: On CMB B-Mode Non-Gaussianity

abstract:
  We study the degree to which the cosmic microwave background (CMB) can be
used to constrain primordial non-Gaussianity involving one tensor and two
scalar fluctuations, focusing on the correlation of one polarization $B$ mode
with two temperature modes. In the simplest models of inflation, the
tensor-scalar-scalar primordial bispectrum is non-vanishing and is of the same
order in slow-roll parameters as the scalar-scalar-scalar bispectrum. We
calculate the $\langle BTT\rangle$ correlation arising from a primordial
tensor-scalar-scalar bispectrum, and show that constraints from an experiment
like CMB-Stage IV using this observable are more than an order of magnitude
better than those on the same primordial coupling obtained from temperature
measurements alone. We argue that $B$-mode non-Gaussianity opens up an
as-yet-unexplored window into the early Universe, demonstrating that
significant information on primordial physics remains to be harvested from CMB
anisotropies.


title:
Local dimensions of measures of finite type II - Measures without full
  support and with non-regular probabilities

abstract:
  Consider a sequence of linear contractions $S_{j}(x)=\varrho x+d_{j}$ and
probabilities $p_{j}>0$ with $\sum p_{j}=1$. We are interested in the
self-similar measure $\mu =\sum p_{j}\mu \circ S_{j}^{-1}$, of finite type. In
this paper we study the multi-fractal analysis of such measures, extending the
theory to measures arising from non-regular probabilities and whose support is
not necessarily an interval.
  Under some mild technical assumptions, we prove that there exists a subset of
supp$\mu $ of full $\mu $ and Hausdorff measure, called the truly essential
class, for which the set of (upper or lower) local dimensions is a closed
interval. Within the truly essential class we show that there exists a point
with local dimension exactly equal to the dimension of the support. We give an
example where the set of local dimensions is a two element set, with all the
elements of the truly essential class giving the same local dimension. We give
general criteria for these measures to be absolutely continuous with respect to
the associated Hausdorff measure of their support and we show that the
dimension of the support can be computed using only information about the
essential class.
  To conclude, we present a detailed study of three examples. First, we show
that the set of local dimensions of the biased Bernoulli convolution with
contraction ratio the inverse of a simple Pisot number always admits an
isolated point. We give a precise description of the essential class of a
generalized Cantor set of finite type. Lastly, we study a maximal loop class
that is not truly essential.


title:
Efficiency of Exponentiality Tests Based on a Special Property of
  Exponential Distribution

abstract:
  New goodness-of-fit tests for exponentiality based on a particular property
of exponential law are constructed. Test statistics are functionals of
U-empirical processes. The first of these statistics is of integral type, the
second one is a Kolmogorov type statistic. We show that the kernels
corresponding to our statistics are nondegenerate. The limiting distributions
and large deviations of new statistics under the null hypothesis are described.
Their local Bahadur efficiency for various parametric alternatives is
calculated and is compared with simulated powers of new tests. Conditions of
local optimality of new statistics in Bahadur sense are discussed and examples
of "most favorable" alternatives are given. New tests are applied to reject the
hypothesis of exponentiality for the length of reigns of Roman emperors which
was intensively discussed in recent years.


title:
Completing the physical representation of quantum algorithms provides a
  retrocausal explanation of their speedup

abstract:
  In previous works, we showed that an optimal quantum algorithm can always be
seen as a sum over classical histories in each of which the problem solver
knows in advance one of the possible halves of the solution she will read in
the future and performs the computation steps (oracle queries) still needed to
reach it. Given an oracle problem, this retrocausal explanation of the speedup
yields the order of magnitude of the number of oracle queries needed to solve
it in an optimal quantum way. Presently, we provide a fundamental justification
for the explanation in question and show that it comes out by just completing
the physical representation of quantum algorithms. Since the use of
retrocausality in quantum mechanics is controversial, showing that it answers
the well accepted requirement of the completeness of the physical description
should be an important pass.