title:
Universal Work Fluctuations during Shortcuts To Adiabaticity by
  Counterdiabatic Driving

abstract:
  Counterdiabatic driving (CD) exploits auxiliary control fields to tailor the
nonequilibrium dynamics of a quantum system, making possible the suppression of
dissipated work in finite-time thermodynamics and the engineering of optimal
thermal machines with no friction. We show that while the mean work done by the
auxiliary controls vanishes, CD leads to a broadening of the work distribution.
We derive a fundamental inequality that relates nonequilibrium work
fluctuations to the operation time and quantifies the thermodynamic cost of CD
in both critical and noncritical systems.


title: On concentration of $^{42}$Ar in the Earth's atmosphere

abstract:
  Data from the DBA liquid argon ionization chamber experiment have been used
to obtain an estimate on the concentration of $^{42}$Ar in the Earth's
atmosphere, $6.8^{+1.7}_{-3.2}\cdot10^{-21}$ atoms of $^{42}$Ar per atom of
$^{40}$Ar corresponding to the $^{42}$Ar activity of $1.2^{+0.3}_{-0.5}$
$\mu$Bq per cubic meter of air.


title: Rigidity of the L^p norm of the Poisson bracket on surfaces

abstract:
  For a symplectic manifold $M$ let $\{\cdot,\cdot\}$ be the corresponding
Poisson bracket. In this note we prove that the functional $(F,G) \mapsto
\|\{F,G\}\|_{L^p(M)}$ is lower-semicontinuous with respect to the $C^0$-norm on
$C^\infty_c(M)$ when $\dim M = 2$ and $p < \infty$, extending previous rigidity
results for $p = \infty$ in arbitrary dimension.


title:
A phase transition regarding the evolution of bootstrap processes in
  inhomogeneous random graphs

abstract:
  A bootstrap percolation process on a graph with infection threshold $r\ge 1$
is a dissemination process that evolves in time steps. The process begins with
a subset of infected vertices and in each subsequent step every uninfected
vertex that has at least $r$ infected neighbours becomes infected and remains
so forever.
  Critical phenomena in bootstrap percolation processes were originally
observed by Aizenman and Lebowitz in the late 1980s as finite-volume phase
transitions in $\mathbb{Z}^d$ that are caused by the accumulation of small
local islands of infected vertices. They were also observed in the case of
dense (homogeneous) random graphs by Janson, \L uczak, Turova and Valier
(2012). In this paper, we consider the class of inhomogeneous random graphs
known as the Chung-Lu model: each vertex is equipped with a positive weight and
each pair of vertices appears as an edge with probability proportional to the
product of the weights. In particular, we focus on the sparse regime, where the
number of edges is proportional to the number of vertices.
  The main results of this paper determine those weight sequences for which a
critical phenomenon occurs: there is a critical density of vertices that are
infected at the beginning of the process, above which a small (sublinear) set
of infected vertices creates an avalanche of infections that in turn leads to
an outbreak. We show that this occurs essentially only when the tail of the
weight distribution dominates a power law with exponent 3 and we determine the
critical density in this case.


title:
A generic framework for the development of geospatial processing
  pipelines on clusters

abstract:
  The amount of remote sensing data available to applications is constantly
growing due to the rise of very-high-resolution sensors and short repeat cycle
satellites. Consequently, tackling computational complexity in Earth
Observation information extraction is rising as a major challenge. Resorting to
High Performance Computing (HPC) is becoming a common practice, since it
provides environments and programming facilities able to speed-up processes. In
particular, clusters are flexible, cost-effective systems able to perform
data-intensive tasks ideally fulfilling any computational requirement. However,
their use typically implies a significant coding effort to build proper
implementations of specific processing pipelines. This paper presents a generic
framework for the development of RS images processing applications targeting
cluster computing. It is based on common open sources libraries, and leverages
the parallelization of a wide variety of image processing pipelines in a
transparent way. Performances on typical RS tasks implemented using the
proposed framework demonstrate a great potential for the effective and timely
processing of large amount of data.


title:
High energy-resolution x-ray spectroscopy at ultra-high dilution with
  spherically bent crystal analyzers of 0.5 m radius

abstract:
  We present the development, manufacturing and performance of spherically bent
crystal analyzers (SBCAs) of 100 mm diameter and 0.5 m bending radius. The
elastic strain in the crystal wafer is partially released by a "strip-bent"
method where the crystal wafer is cut in strips prior to the bending and the
anodic bonding process. Compared to standard 1 m SBCAs, a gain in intensity is
obtained without loss of energy resolution. The gain ranges between 2.5 and
4.5, depending on the experimental conditions and the width of the emission
line measured. This reduces the acquisition times required to perform high
energy-resolution x-ray absorption and emission spectroscopy on ultra-dilute
species, accessing concentrations of the element of interest down to, or below,
the ppm (ng/mg) level.


title: Leptoquark Flavor Patterns & B Decay Anomalies

abstract:
  Flavor symmetries that explain masses and mixings of the standard model
fermions dictate flavor patterns for the couplings of scalar and vector
leptoquarks to the standard model fermions. A generic feature is that couplings
to $SU(2)$-doublet leptons are suppressed at least by one spurion of the
discrete non-abelian symmetry breaking, responsible for neutrino mixing, while
couplings to charged lepton singlets can be order one. We obtain testable
patterns including those that predominantly couple to a single lepton flavor,
or two, or in a skewed way. They induce lepton non-universality, which we
contrast to current anomalies in $B$-decays. We find maximal effects in $R_{D}$
and $R_{D^*}$ at the level of $\sim$10 percent and few percent, respectively,
while leptoquark effects in $R_{K^{(*)}}$ can reach order few$\times 10$
percent. Predictions for charm and kaon decays and $\mu-e$ conversion are
worked out.


title:
A big-data spatial, temporal and network analysis of bovine tuberculosis
  between wildlife (badgers) and cattle

abstract:
  Bovine tuberculosis (TB) poses a serious threat for agricultural industry in
several countries, it involves potential interactions between wildlife and
cattle and creates societal problems in terms of human-wildlife conflict. This
study addresses connectedness network analysis, the spatial, and temporal
dynamics of TB between cattle in farms and the European badger (Meles meles)
using a large dataset generated by a calibrated agent based model. Results
showed that infected network connectedness was lower in badgers than in cattle.
The contribution of an infected individual to the mean distance of disease
spread over time was considerably lower for badger than cattle; badgers mainly
spread the disease locally while cattle infected both locally and across longer
distances. The majority of badger-induced infections occurred when individual
badgers leave their home sett, and this was positively correlated with badger
population growth rates. Point pattern analysis indicated aggregation in the
spatial pattern of TB prevalence in badger setts across all scales. The spatial
distribution of farms that were not TB free was aggregated at different scales
than the spatial distribution of infected badgers and became random at larger
scales. The spatial cross correlation between infected badger setts and
infected farms revealed that generally infected setts and farms do not coexist
except at few scales. Temporal autocorrelation detected a two year infection
cycle for badgers, while there was both within the year and longer cycles for
infected cattle. Temporal cross correlation indicated that infection cycles in
badgers and cattle are negatively correlated. The implications of these results
for understanding the dynamics of the disease are discussed.


title:
Boundness and Linearisation of a class of differential equations with
  piecewise constant argument

abstract:
  The differential equations with piecewise constant argument (DEPCAs, for
short) is a class of hybrid dynamical systems (combining continuous and
discrete). In this paper, under the assumption that the nonlinear term is
partially unbounded, we study the bounded solution and global topological
linearisation of a class of DEPCAs of general type. One of the purpose of this
paper is to obtain a new criterion for the existence of a unique bounded
solution, which improved the previous results. The other aim of this paper is
to establish a generalized Grobman-Hartman-type theorem for the topological
conjugacy between a nonlinear perturbation system and its linear system. The
method is based on the new obtained criterion for bounded solution. The
obtained results generalized and improved some previous papers. Some novel
techniques are employed.


title:
Mixed domain asymptotics for a stochastic process model with time trend
  and measurement error

abstract:
  We consider a stochastic process model with time trend and measurement error.
We establish consistency and derive the limiting distributions of the maximum
likelihood (ML) estimators of the covariance function parameters under a
general asymptotic framework, including both the fixed domain and the
increasing domain frameworks, even when the time trend model is misspecified or
its complexity increases with the sample size. In particular, the convergence
rates of the ML estimators are thoroughly characterized in terms of the growing
rate of the domain and the degree of model misspecification/complexity.


title: Gaussian approximation of nonlinear Hawkes processes

abstract:
  We give a general Gaussian bound for the first chaos (or innovation) of point
processes with stochastic intensity constructed by embedding in a bivariate
Poisson process. We apply the general result to nonlinear Hawkes processes,
providing quantitative central limit theorems.


title: Gradients of sequences of subgroups in a direct product

abstract:
  For a sequence $\{U_n\}_{n = 1}^\infty$ of finite index subgroups of a direct
product $G = A \times B$ of finitely generated groups, we show that $$\lim_{n
\to \infty} \frac{\min\{|X| : \langle X \rangle = U_n\}}{[G : U_n]} = 0$$ once
$[A : A \cap U_n], [B : B \cap U_n] \to \infty$ as $n \to \infty$. Our proof
relies on the classification of finite simple groups. For $A,B$ that are
finitely presented we show that $$ \lim_{n \to \infty} \frac{\log
|\mathrm{Torsion}(U_n^{\mathrm{ab}})|}{[G : U_n]} = 0. $$


title: Ferromagnetism and conductivity in atomically thin SrRuO3

abstract:
  Atomically thin ferromagnetic and conducting electron systems are highly
desired for spintronics, because they can be controlled with both magnetic and
electric fields. We present (SrRuO3)1-(SrTiO3)5 superlattices and
single-unit-cell-thick SrRuO3 samples that are capped with SrTiO3. We achieve
samples of exceptional quality. In these samples, the electron systems comprise
only a single RuO2 plane. We observe conductivity down to 50 mK, a
ferromagnetic state with a Curie temperature of 25 K, and signals of magnetism
persisting up to approximately 100 K.


title: Blind quantum computation with noise environment

abstract:
  Blind quantum computation (BQC) is a new type of quantum computation model.
BQC allows a client (Alice) who does not have enough sophisticated technology
and knowledge to perform universal quantum computation and resorts a remote
quantum computation server (Bob) to delegate universal quantum computation.
During the computation, Bob cannot know Alice's inputs, algorithm and outputs.
In single-server BQC protocol, it requires Alice to prepare and distribute
single-photon states to Bob. Unfortunately, the distributed single photons will
suffer from noise, which not only makes the single-photon state decoherence,
but also makes it loss. In this protocol, we describe an anti-noise BQC
protocol, which combined the ideas of faithful distribution of single-photon
state in collective noise, the feasible quantum nondemolition measurement and
Broadbent-Fitzsimons-Kashefi (BFK) protocol. This protocol has several
advantages. First, Alice does not require any auxiliary resources, which
reduces the client's economic cost. Second, this protocol not only can protect
the state from the collective noise, but also can distill the single photon
from photon loss. Third, the noise setup in Bob is based on the linear optics,
and it is also feasible in experiment. This anti-noise BQC may show that it is
possible to perform the BQC protocol in a noisy environment.


title:
A gluing approach for the fractional Yamabe problem with isolated
  singularities

abstract:
  We construct solutions for the fractional Yamabe problem that are singular at
a prescribed number of isolated points. This seems to be the first time that a
gluing method is successfully applied to a non-local problem. The main step is
an infinite-dimensional Lyapunov-Schmidt reduction method, that reduces the
problem to an (infinite dimensional) Toda type system.


title:
Optical analogies to quantum states and coherent detection of
  pseudorandom phase sequence

abstract:
  The key to optical analogy to a multi-particle quantum system is the scalable
property. Optical elds modulated with pseudorandom phase sequences is an
interesting solution. By utilizing the properties of pseudorandom sequences,
mixing multiple optical elds are distinguished by using coherent detection and
correlation analysis that are mature methods in optical communication. In this
paper, we utilize the methods to investigate optical analogies to
multi-particle quantum states. In order to demonstrate the feasibility,
numerical simulations are carried out in the paper, which is helpful to the
experimental verication in the future.


title:
Statistical comparison of classifiers through Bayesian hierarchical
  modelling

abstract:
  Usually one compares the accuracy of two competing classifiers via null
hypothesis significance tests (nhst). Yet the nhst tests suffer from important
shortcomings, which can be overcome by switching to Bayesian hypothesis
testing. We propose a Bayesian hierarchical model which jointly analyzes the
cross-validation results obtained by two classifiers on multiple data sets. It
returns the posterior probability of the accuracies of the two classifiers
being practically equivalent or significantly different. A further strength of
the hierarchical model is that, by jointly analyzing the results obtained on
all data sets, it reduces the estimation error compared to the usual approach
of averaging the cross-validation results obtained on a given data set.


title: Affine geometry of equal-volume polygons in 3-space

abstract:
  Equal-volume polygons are obtained from adequate discretizations of curves in
3-space, contained or not in surfaces. In this paper we explore the
similarities of these polygons with the affine arc-length parameterized smooth
curves to develop a theory of discrete affine invariants. Besides obtaining
discrete affine invariants, equal-volume polygons can also be used to estimate
projective invariants of a planar curve. This theory has many potential
applications, among them evaluation of the quality and computation of affine
invariants of silhouette curves.


title: Artificial gravitation effect on spin-polarized exciton-polaritons

abstract:
  The pseudospin dynamics of long-living exciton-polaritons in a wedged 2D
cavity has been studied theoretically accounting for the external magnetic
field effect. The cavity width variation plays the role of the artificial
gravitational force acting on a massive particle: exciton-polariton. A
semi-classical model of the spin-polarization dynamics of ballistically
propagating exciton-polaritons has been developed. It has been shown that for
the specific choise of the magnetic field magnitude and the initial polariton
wave vector the polariton polarization vector tends to an attractor on the
Poincare sphere. Based on this effect, the switching the polariton polarization
in the ballistic regime has been demonstrated. The self-interference of the
polariton field emitted by a point-like source has been shown to induce the
formation of interference patterns reminiscent of the interference patterns of
cylindrical and plane waves.


title: Cyclotomic quiver Hecke algebras and Hecke algebra of G(r,p,n)

abstract:
  Given a quiver automorphism with nice properties, we give a presentation of
the fixed subalgebra of the associated cyclotomic quiver Hecke algebra.
Generalising an isomorphism of Brundan and Kleshchev between the cyclotomic
Hecke algebra of type G(r,1,n) and the cyclotomic quiver Hecke algebra of type
A, we apply the previous result to find a presentation of the cyclotomic Hecke
algebra of type G(r,p,n) which looks very similar to the one of a cyclotomic
quiver Hecke algebra. In the meanwhile, we give an explicit isomorphism which
realises a well-known Morita equivalence between Ariki-Koike algebras.


title:
Log-majorization and Lie-Trotter formula for the Cartan barycenter on
  probability measure spaces

abstract:
  We extend Ando-Hiai's log-majorization for the weighted geometric mean of
positive definite matrices into that for the Cartan barycenter in the general
setting of probability measures on the Riemannian manifold of positive definite
matrices equipped with trace metric. The main key is the settlement of the
monotonicity problem of the Cartan barycenteric map on the space of probability
measures with finite first moment for the stochastic order induced by the cone.
We also derive a version of Lie-Trotter formula and related unitarily invariant
norm inequalities for the Cartan barycenter as the main application of
log-majorization.


title: Controlling charge quantization with quantum fluctuations

abstract:
  In 1909, Millikan showed that the charge of electrically isolated systems is
quantized in units of the elementary electron charge e. Today, the persistence
of charge quantization in small, weakly connected conductors allows for
circuits where single electrons are manipulated, with applications in e.g.
metrology, detectors and thermometry. However, quantum fluctuations
progressively reduce the discreteness of charge as the connection strength is
increased. Here we report on the full quantum control and characterization of
charge quantization. By using semiconductor-based tunable elemental conduction
channels to connect a micrometer-scale metallic island, the complete evolution
is explored while scanning the entire range of connection strengths, from
tunnel barrier to ballistic contact. We observe a robust scaling of charge
quantization as the square root of the residual electron reflection probability
across a quantum channel when approaching the ballistic critical point, which
also applies beyond the regimes yet accessible to theory. At increased
temperatures, the thermal fluctuations result in an exponential suppression of
charge quantization as well as in a universal square root scaling, for
arbitrary connection strengths, in agreement with expectations. Besides direct
applications to improve single-electron functionalities and for the
metal-semiconductor hybrids emerging in the quest toward topological quantum
computing, the knowledge of the quantum laws of electricity will be essential
for the quantum engineering of future nanoelectronic devices.


title:
Experimental search for one-dimensional edge states at surface steps of
  the topological insulator Bi$_2$Se$_3$: Distinguishing between effects and
  artifacts

abstract:
  The results of a detailed study of the topological insulator Bi$_2$Se$_3$
surface state energy structure in the vicinity of surface steps using scanning
tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy methods are presented. An increase in the
chemical potential level $\mu$ near the step edge is observed. The value of the
increase $\delta \mu\sim 0.1$~eV is found to correlate with the step height.
The effect is caused by redistribution of electron wave functions between the
outer and inner edges of surface steps, as known for normal metals. The smaller
value of the chemical potential shift and its larger characteristic length of
$\sim 10$~nm reflect specifics of the helical surface states. This increase is
accompanied by enlargement of the normalized differential tunneling conductance
in the helical surface states energy region and thereby produces the illusion
of the appearance of edge states. We show that the enlargement is reproduced in
the framework of the tunneling model taking into account the tunneling gap
transparency change when the chemical potential moves away from the Dirac
point.


title: Holographic thermal DC response in the hydrodynamic limit

abstract:
  We consider black hole solutions of Einstein gravity that describe
deformations of CFTs at finite temperature in which spatial translations have
been broken explicitly. We focus on deformations that are periodic in the
non-compact spatial directions, which effectively corresponds to considering
the CFT on a spatial torus with a non-trivial metric. We apply a DC thermal
gradient and show that in a hydrodynamic limit the linearised, local thermal
currents can be determined by solving linearised, forced Navier-Stokes
equations for an incompressible fluid on the torus. We also show how
sub-leading corrections to the thermal current can be calculated as well as
showing how the full stress tensor response that is generated by the DC source
can be obtained. We also compare our results with the fluid-gravity approach.


title: The Famine of Forte: Few Search Problems Greatly Favor Your Algorithm

abstract:
  Casting machine learning as a type of search, we demonstrate that the
proportion of problems that are favorable for a fixed algorithm is strictly
bounded, such that no single algorithm can perform well over a large fraction
of them. Our results explain why we must either continue to develop new
learning methods year after year or move towards highly parameterized models
that are both flexible and sensitive to their hyperparameters. We further give
an upper bound on the expected performance for a search algorithm as a function
of the mutual information between the target and the information resource
(e.g., training dataset), proving the importance of certain types of dependence
for machine learning. Lastly, we show that the expected per-query probability
of success for an algorithm is mathematically equivalent to a single-query
probability of success under a distribution (called a search strategy), and
prove that the proportion of favorable strategies is also strictly bounded.
Thus, whether one holds fixed the search algorithm and considers all possible
problems or one fixes the search problem and looks at all possible search
strategies, favorable matches are exceedingly rare. The forte (strength) of any
algorithm is quantifiably restricted.


title: Hurwitz-type matrices of doubly infinite series

abstract:
  This paper show that two doubly infinite series generate a totally
nonnegative Hurwitz-type matrix if and only if their ratio represents an
S-functions of a certain kind. The doubly infinite case needs a specific
approach, since the ratios have no correspondent Stieltjes continued fraction.
Another forthcoming publication (see Dyachenko, arXiv:1608.04440) offers a
shorter improved version of this result as well as its application to the
Hurwitz stability. Nevertheless, the proof presented here illustrates features
of totally nonnegative Hurwitz-type matrices better.


title: Structural and Vibrational Properties of the TiOPc monolayer on Ag(111)

abstract:
  The evolution of titanyl-phthalocyanine (TiOPc) thin films on Ag(111) has
been investigated using IRAS, SPA-LEED and STM. In the (sub)monolayer regime
various phases are observed that can be assigned to a 2D gas, a commensurate
and a point-on-line phase. In all three phases the non-planar TiOPc molecule is
adsorbed on Ag(111) in an oxygen-up configuration with the molecular
pi-conjugated backbone oriented parallel to the surface. The commensurate phase
reveals a high packing density, containing two molecules at inequivalent
adsorption sites within the unit cell. Both molecules assume different
azimuthal orientations which is ascribed to preferred sites and azimuthal
orientations with respect to the Ag(111) substrate and, to a lesser extent, to
a minimization of repulsive Pauli interactions between adjacent molecules at
short distances. At full saturation of the monolayer the latter interaction
becomes dominant and the commensurate long range order is lost. DFT
calculations have been used to study different adsorption geometries of TiOPc
on Ag(111). The most stable configurations among those with pointing up oxygen
atoms (bridge+, bridgex, topx) seem to correspond to those identified
experimentally. The calculated dependence of the electronic structure and
molecular dipole on the adsorption site and configuration is found to be rather
small.


title: Encoding Monomorphic and Polymorphic Types

abstract:
  Many automatic theorem provers are restricted to untyped logics, and existing
translations from typed logics are bulky or unsound. Recent research proposes
monotonicity as a means to remove some clutter when translating monomorphic to
untyped first-order logic. Here we pursue this approach systematically,
analysing formally a variety of encodings that further improve on efficiency
while retaining soundness and completeness. We extend the approach to rank-1
polymorphism and present alternative schemes that lighten the translation of
polymorphic symbols based on the novel notion of "cover". The new encodings are
implemented in Isabelle/HOL as part of the Sledgehammer tool. We include
informal proofs of soundness and correctness, and have formalised the
monomorphic part of this work in Isabelle/HOL. Our evaluation finds the new
encodings vastly superior to previous schemes.


title:
Inferring the three-dimensional distribution of dust in the Galaxy with
  a non-parametric method: Preparing for Gaia

abstract:
  We present a non-parametric model for inferring the three-dimensional (3D)
distribution of dust density in the Milky Way. Our approach uses the extinction
measured towards stars at different locations in the Galaxy at approximately
known distances. Each extinction measurement is proportional to the integrated
dust density along its line-of-sight. Making simple assumptions about the
spatial correlation of the dust density, we can infer the most probable 3D
distribution of dust across the entire observed region, including along sight
lines which were not observed. This is possible because our model employs a
Gaussian Process to connect all lines-of-sight. We demonstrate the capability
of our model to capture detailed dust density variations using mock data as
well as simulated data from the Gaia Universe Model Snapshot. We then apply our
method to a sample of giant stars observed by APOGEE and Kepler to construct a
3D dust map over a small region of the Galaxy. Due to our smoothness constraint
and its isotropy, we provide one of the first maps which does not show the
"fingers of god" effect.


title:
A pointwise characterization of the subdifferential of the total
  variation functional

abstract:
  We derive a new pointwise characterization of the subdifferential of the
total variation (TV) functional. It involves a full trace operator which maps
certain $ L^q $ - vectorfields to integrable functions with respect to the
total variation measure of the derivative of a bounded variation function. This
full trace operator extents a notion of normal trace, frequently used, for
example, to characterize the total variation flow.


title: Extremal Values of the Chromatic Number for a Given Degree Sequence

abstract:
  For a degree sequence $d:d_1\geq \cdots \geq d_n$, we consider the smallest
chromatic number $\chi_{\min}(d)$ and the largest chromatic number
$\chi_{\max}(d)$ among all graphs with degree sequence $d$. We show that if
$d_n\geq 1$, then $\chi_{\min}(d)\leq \max\left\{
3,d_1-\frac{n+1}{4d_1}+4\right\}$, and, if
$\sqrt{n+\frac{1}{4}}-\frac{1}{2}>d_1\geq d_n\geq 1$, then
$\chi_{\max}(d)=\max\limits_{i\in [n]}\min\left\{ i,d_i+1\right\}$. For a given
degree sequence $d$ with bounded entries, we show that $\chi_{\min}(d)$,
$\chi_{\max}(d)$, and also the smallest independence number $\alpha_{\min}(d)$
among all graphs with degree sequence $d$, can be determined in polynomial
time.


title:
Amenability of locally compact quantum groups and their unitary
  co-representations

abstract:
  We prove that amenability of a unitary co-representation $U$ of a locally
compact quantum group passes to unitary co-representations that weakly contain
$U$. This generalizes a result of Bekka, and answers affirmatively a question
of B\'edos, Conti and Tuset. As a corollary, we extend to locally compact
quantum groups a result of the first-named author, which characterizes
amenability of a locally compact group $G$ by nuclearity of the reduced group
$C^{*}$-algebra $C_{r}^{*}(G)$ and an additional condition.


title: Atmospheric Refraction

abstract:
  Calculations of atmospheric refraction are generally based on a simplified
model of atmospheric density in the troposphere which assumes that the
temperature decreases at a constant lapse rate from sea level up to a height
equal to eleven km, and that afterwards it remains constant. In this model, the
temperature divided by the lapse rate determines the length scale in the
calculations for altitudes less than this height. But daily balloon
measurements across the U.S.A. reveal that in some cases the air temperature
actually increases from sea level up to a height of about one km, and only
after reaching a plateau, it decreases at an approximately constant lapse rate.
Moreover, in three examples considered here, the temperature does not remain
constant at eleven km , but continues to decreases to a minimum at about
sixteen kilometers , and then increases at higher altitudes at a lower rate.
Calculations of atmospheric refraction based on this atmospheric data is
compared with the results of simplified models.


title: The CP-odd sector and $\theta$ dynamics in holographic QCD

abstract:
  The holographic model of V-QCD is used to analyze the physics of QCD in the
Veneziano large-N limit. An unprecedented analysis of the CP-odd physics is
performed going beyond the level of effective field theories. The structure of
holographic saddle-points at finite $\theta$ is determined, as well as its
interplay with chiral symmetry breaking. Many observables (vacuum energy and
higher-order susceptibilities, singlet and non-singlet masses and mixings) are
computed as functions of $\theta$ and the quark mass $m$. Wherever applicable
the results are compared to those of chiral Lagrangians, finding agreement. In
particular, we recover the Witten-Veneziano formula in the small $x\to 0$
limit, we compute the $\theta$-dependence of the pion mass and we derive the
hyperscaling relation for the topological susceptibility in the conformal
window in terms of the quark mass.


title: Models of Level-0 Behavior for Predicting Human Behavior in Games

abstract:
  Behavioral game theory seeks to describe the way actual people (as compared
to idealized, "rational" agents) act in strategic situations. Our own recent
work has identified iterative models (such as quantal cognitive hierarchy) as
the state of the art for predicting human play in unrepeated, simultaneous-move
games (Wright & Leyton-Brown 2012, 2016). Iterative models predict that agents
reason iteratively about their opponents, building up from a specification of
nonstrategic behavior called level-0. The modeler is in principle free to
choose any description of level-0 behavior that makes sense for the setting.
However, almost all existing work specifies this behavior as a uniform
distribution over actions. In most games it is not plausible that even
nonstrategic agents would choose an action uniformly at random, nor that other
agents would expect them to do so. A more accurate model for level-0 behavior
has the potential to dramatically improve predictions of human behavior, since
a substantial fraction of agents may play level-0 strategies directly, and
furthermore since iterative models ground all higher-level strategies in
responses to the level-0 strategy. Our work considers models of the way in
which level-0 agents construct a probability distribution over actions, given
an arbitrary game. Using a Bayesian optimization package called SMAC (Hutter,
Hoos, & Leyton-Brown, 2010, 2011, 2012), we systematically evaluated a large
space of such models, each of which makes its prediction based only on general
features that can be computed from any normal form game. In the end, we
recommend a model that achieved excellent performance across the board: a
linear weighting of features that requires the estimation of four weights. We
evaluated the effects of combining this new level-0 model with several
iterative models, and observed large improvements in the models' predictive
accuracies.


title: Estimates for probabilities of independent events and infinite series

abstract:
  This paper deals with (finite or infinite) sequences of arbitrary independent
events in some probability space. We find sharp lower bounds for the
probability of a union of such events when the sum of their probabilities is
given. The results have parallel meanings in terms of infinite series.


title: Global Constraint Catalog, Volume II, Time-Series Constraints

abstract:
  First this report presents a restricted set of finite transducers used to
synthesise structural time-series constraints described by means of a
multi-layered function composition scheme. Second it provides the corresponding
synthesised catalogue of structural time-series constraints where each
constraint is explicitly described in terms of automata with registers.


title:
Emergence of global scaling behaviour in the coupled Earth-atmosphere
  interaction

abstract:
  Scale invariance property in the global geometry of Earth may lead to a
coupled interactive behaviour between various components of the climate system.
One of the most interesting correlations exists between spatial statistics of
the global topography and the temperature on Earth. Here we show that the
power-law behaviour observed in the Earth topography via different approaches,
resembles a scaling law in the global spatial distribution of independent
atmospheric parameters. We report on observation of scaling behaviour of such
variables characterized by distinct universal exponents. More specifically, we
find that the spatial power-law behaviour in the fluctuations of the near
surface temperature over the lands on Earth, shares the same universal exponent
as of the global Earth topography, indicative of the global persistent role of
the static geometry of Earth to control the steady state of a dynamical
atmospheric field. Such a universal feature can pave the way to the theoretical
understanding of the chaotic nature of the atmosphere coupled to the Earth's
global topography.


title:
Gemini Near Infrared Field Spectrograph Observations of the Seyfert 2
  Galaxy Mrk 573: In Situ Acceleration of Ionized and Molecular Gas Off Fueling
  Flows

abstract:
  We present near-infrared and optical emission-line and stellar kinematics of
the Seyfert 2 galaxy Mrk 573 using the Near-Infrared Field Spectrograph (NIFS)
at Gemini North and Dual Imaging Spectrograph (DIS) at Apache Point
Observatory, respectively. By obtaining full kinematic maps of the infrared
ionized and molecular gas and stellar kinematics in a 700 x 2100 pc^2
circumnuclear region of Mrk 573, we find that kinematics within the Narrow-Line
Region (NLR) are largely due to a combination of both rotation and in situ
acceleration of material originating in the host disk. Combining these
observations with large-scale, optical long-slit spectroscopy that traces
ionized gas emission out to several kpcs, we find that rotation kinematics
dominate the majority of the gas. We find that outflowing gas extends to
distances less than 1 kpc, suggesting that outflows in Seyfert galaxies may not
be powerful enough to evacuate their entire bulges.


title: A review of the open charm and open bottom systems

abstract:
  Since the discovery of the first charmed meson in 1976, many open-charm and
open-bottom hadrons were observed. In 2003 two narrow charm-strange states
$D_{s0}^*(2317)$ and $D_{s1}(2460)$ were discovered by the BaBar and CLEO
Collaborations, respectively. After that, more excited heavy hadrons were
reported. In this work, we review the experimental and theoretical progress in
this field.


title: Nonlinear branching processes with immigration

abstract:
  The nonlinear branching process with immigration is constructed as the
pathwise unique solution of a stochastic integral equation driven by Poisson
ran- dom measures. Some criteria for the regularity, recurrence, ergodicity and
strong ergodicity of the process are then established.


title: Thermomicropolar Fluids

abstract:
  We consider a certain simplification of the two-dimensional thermomicropolar
fluids equations. We prove the existence of certain solutions to these
equations depending on the regularity of the intial data. We investigate the
uniqueness of the solutions and continuous dependence on intial data.


title:
Optical Measurement of In-plane Elastic Waves in Mechanical
  Metamaterials Through Digital Image Correlation

abstract:
  We report on a Digital Image Correlation-based technique for the detection of
in-plane elastic waves propagating in structural lattices. The experimental
characterization of wave motion in lattice structures is currently of great
interest due its relevance to the design of novel mechanical metamaterials with
unique/unusual properties such as strongly directional behavior, negative
refractive indexes and topologically protected wave motion. Assessment of these
functionalities often requires the detection of highly spatially resolved
in-plane wavefields, which for reticulated or porous structural assemblies is
an open challenge. A Digital Image Correlation approach is implemented that
tracks small displacements of the lattice nodes by centering image subsets
about the lattice intersections. A high speed camera records the motion of the
points by properly interleaving subsequent frames thus artificially enhancing
the available sampling rate. This, along with an imaging stitching procedure,
enables the capturing of a field of view that is sufficiently large for
subsequent processing. The transient response is recorded in the form of the
full wavefields, which are processed to unveil features of wave motion in a
hexagonal lattice. Time snapshots and frequency contours in the spatial Fourier
domain are compared with numerical predictions to illustrate the accuracy of
the recorded wavefields and demonstrate the suitability of this technique for
the experimental characterization of wave properties.


title:
Crystallographic orientation and induced potential effects in
  photoelectron emission from metal surfaces by ultrashort laser pulses

abstract:
  The influence of the crystallographic orientation of a typical metal surface,
like aluminum, on electron emission spectra produced by grazing incidence of
ultrashort laser pulses is investigated by using the
band-structure-based-Volkov (BSB-V) approximation. The present version of the
BSB-V approach includes not only a realistic description of the surface
interaction, accounting for band structure effects, but also effects due to the
induced potential that originates from the collective response of valence-band
electrons to the external electromagnetic field. The model is applied to
evaluate differential electron emission probabilities from the valence band of
Al(100) and Al(111). For both crystallographic orientations, the contribution
of partially occupied surface electronic states and the influence of the
induced potential are separately analyzed as a function of the laser carrier
frequency. We found that the induced potential strongly affects photoelectron
emission distributions, opening a window to scrutinize band structure effects.


title:
The Influence of Coronal Mass Ejections on the Gas Dynamics of the
  Atmosphere of a "Hot~Jupiter" Exoplanet

abstract:
  The results of three-dimensional numerical simulations of the gas dynamics of
the atmosphere of a "hot Jupiter" exoplanet during the passage of a coronal
mass ejection (CME) from the central star are presented. These computations
assumed the parameters for the stellar wind and the CME to be typical of the
solar values. The characteristic variations of the flow pattern are considered
for quasi-closed and closed (but appreciably distorted by the gravitational
influence of the star) gaseous envelopes of the exoplanet. It is shown that a
typical CME is sufficient to tear off the outer part of an asymmetric envelope
that is located beyond the Roche lobe and carry it away from the exoplanet.
This leads to a substantial increase in the mass-loss rate from the exoplanet
envelope during the passage of CMEs. The mass-loss rate grows by about a factor
of 11 for a closed envelope, and by about a factor of 14 for a quasi-closed
envelope. Possible evolutionary consequences of the loss of part of the
atmosphere during the passage of CMEs are discussed.


title: Multiplicative weights, equalizers, and P=PPAD

abstract:
  We show that, by using multiplicative weights in a game-theoretic thought
experiment (and an important convexity result on the composition of
multiplicative weights with the relative entropy function), a symmetric
bimatrix game (that is, a bimatrix matrix wherein the payoff matrix of each
player is the transpose of the payoff matrix of the other) either has an
interior symmetric equilibrium or there is a pure strategy that is weakly
dominated by some mixed strategy. Weakly dominated pure strategies can be
detected and eliminated in polynomial time by solving a linear program.
Furthermore, interior symmetric equilibria are a special case of a more general
notion, namely, that of an "equalizer," which can also be computed efficiently
in polynomial time by solving a linear program. An elegant "symmetrization
method" of bimatrix games [Jurg et al., 1992] and the well-known
PPAD-completeness results on equilibrium computation in bimatrix games
[Daskalakis et al., 2009, Chen et al., 2009] imply then the compelling P =
PPAD.


title: Binary Cyclic Codes that are Locally Repairable

abstract:
  Codes for storage systems aim to minimize the repair locality, which is the
number of disks (or nodes) that participate in the repair of a single failed
disk. Simultaneously, the code must sustain a high rate, operate on a small
finite field to be practically significant and be tolerant to a large number of
erasures. To this end, we construct new families of binary linear codes that
have an optimal dimension (rate) for a given minimum distance and locality.
Specifically, we construct cyclic codes that are locally repairable for
locality 2 and distances 2, 6 and 10. In doing so, we discover new upper bounds
on the code dimension, and prove the optimality of enabling local repair by
provisioning disjoint groups of disks. Finally, we extend our construction to
build codes that have multiple repair sets for each disk.


title: The power of a control qubit in weak measurements

abstract:
  In the late 80s, a curious effect suggested by Aharanov, Albert and Vaidman
opened up new vistas regarding quantum measurements on weakly coupled systems.
There, a combination of a "weak" finite interaction together with a "strong"
post-selection measurement leads to an anomalous effect, namely the mean value
of a spin-1/2 particle in the $z-$direction lies outside the conventional
spectrum of $\pm$1.
  In this paper, we investigate the quantum control of the weak value
amplification of a qubit system coupled to a meter, via a second
non-interacting qubit, initially quantum correlated with the first one. Our
results show that for weak measurements, the control can be remotely realized
via the post-selected state of the second qubit or the degree of squeezing of
the meter. Additionally, in a step towards the study of the quantum control of
the amplification, we can easily manipulate the degree of quantum correlations
between the initial correlated qubits. We find that the degree of Entanglement
has no effect on the quantum control of the amplification. However, we have
found a clear connection between the amplification and quantum discord like
measurements as well as classical correlations between the qubits. Moreover, we
generalize the analysis to two control qubits and we can conclude that the
single control qubit scheme is more efficient. Lastly, we suggest an original
application of the amplification control protocol on the enhancement of the
quantum measurement accuracy, e.g. measuring the relative phase of the
post-selected control qubit in a more precise way, as opposed to the
no-amplification case


title: An Appell series over finite fields

abstract:
  In this paper we present a finite field analogue for one of the Appell
series. We shall derive its transformations, reduction formulas as well as
generating functions.


title: A Discriminative Framework for Anomaly Detection in Large Videos

abstract:
  We address an anomaly detection setting in which training sequences are
unavailable and anomalies are scored independently of temporal ordering.
Current algorithms in anomaly detection are based on the classical density
estimation approach of learning high-dimensional models and finding
low-probability events. These algorithms are sensitive to the order in which
anomalies appear and require either training data or early context assumptions
that do not hold for longer, more complex videos. By defining anomalies as
examples that can be distinguished from other examples in the same video, our
definition inspires a shift in approaches from classical density estimation to
simple discriminative learning. Our contributions include a novel framework for
anomaly detection that is (1) independent of temporal ordering of anomalies,
and (2) unsupervised, requiring no separate training sequences. We show that
our algorithm can achieve state-of-the-art results even when we adjust the
setting by removing training sequences from standard datasets.


title: On the order of vanishing of newforms at cusps

abstract:
  Let $E$ be an elliptic curve over $\mathbb{Q}$ of conductor $N$. We obtain an
explicit formula, as a product of local terms, for the ramification index at
each cusp of a modular parametrization of $E$ by $X_0(N)$. Our formula shows
that the ramification index always divides 24, a fact that had been previously
conjectured by Brunault as a result of numerical computations. In fact, we
prove a more general result which gives the order of vanishing at each cusp of
a holomorphic newform of arbitary level, weight and character, provided its
field of rationality satisfies a certain condition.
  The above result relies on a purely $p$-adic computation of possibly
independent interest. Let $F$ be a non-archimedean local field and $\pi$ an
irreducible, admissible, generic representation of $\mathrm{GL}_2(F)$. We
introduce a new integral invariant, which we call the \emph{vanishing index}
and denote $e_\pi(l)$, that measures the degree of "extra vanishing" at
matrices of level $l$ of the Whittaker function associated to the newvector of
$\pi$. Our main local result writes down the value of $e_\pi(l)$ in every case.


title: Three-body system of $\pi \pi \Sigma_c$

abstract:
  The existence of near-threshold charmed baryon $\Lambda_c(2595)^+$ implies
that the pion and the lightest, isospin-$1$ charmed baryon $\Sigma_c$ interact
very strongly at extremely low energies. Using the two-flavor version of heavy
hadron chiral perturbation theory, I explore the direct consequences of this
strong force by investigating whether the $\Sigma_c$ can trap two very soft
pions to form any visible hadronic states. The answer is positive. It is found
without tuning any free parameters or ultraviolet cutoff that the state in
question, with quantum numbers $I(J^P) = 1({\frac{1}{2}}^+)$, presents itself
as a resonance pole only a few MeVs away from the $\pi \pi \Sigma_c$ threshold.
Subleading corrections are estimated with power-counting arguments, and the
smallness of pion momenta is found to facilitate the reliability of the
analysis. Because of its proximity in mass, this excited $\Sigma_c$ resonance
is speculated to be related to the broad resonance labeled as
$\Lambda_c^+(2765)$.


title: Discrete transparent boundary conditions for the mixed KDV-BBM equation

abstract:
  In this paper, we consider artificial boundary conditions for the linearized
mixed Korteweg-de Vries (KDV) Benjamin-Bona-Mahoney (BBM) equation which models
water waves in the small amplitude, large wavelength regime. Continuous
(respectively discrete) artificial boundary conditions involve non local
operators in time which in turn requires to compute time convolutions and
invert the Laplace transform of an analytic function (respectively the
Z-transform of an holomor-phic function). In this paper, we propose a new,
stable and fairly general strategy to carry out this crucial step in the design
of transparent boundary conditions. For large time simulations, we also
introduce a methodology based on the asymptotic expansion of coefficients
involved in exact direct transparent boundary conditions. We illustrate the
accuracy of our methods for Gaussian and wave packets initial data.


title:
Measurement of CIB power spectra over large sky areas from Planck HFI
  maps

abstract:
  We present new measurements of the power spectra of the cosmic infrared
background (CIB) anisotropies using the Planck 2015 full-mission HFI data at
353, 545, and 857 GHz over 20000 square degrees. We use techniques similar to
those applied for the cosmological analysis of Planck, subtracting dust
emission at the power spectrum level. Our analysis gives stable solutions for
the CIB power spectra with increasing sky coverage up to about 50% of the sky.
These spectra agree well with Hi cleaned spectra from Planck measured on much
smaller areas of sky with low Galactic dust emission. At 545 and 857 GHz our
CIB spectra agree well with those measured from Herschel data. We find that the
CIB spectra at l > 500 are well fitted by a power-law model for the clustered
CIB, with a shallow index {\gamma}^cib = 0.53\pm0.02. This is consistent with
the CIB results at 217 GHz from the cosmological parameter analysis of Planck.
We show that a linear combination of the 545 and 857 GHz Planck maps is
dominated by CIB fluctuations at multipoles l > 300.


title:
A Statistical Study of CME Properties and of the Correlation Between
  Flares and CMEs over Solar Cycles 23 and 24

abstract:
  We investigated some properties of coronal mass ejections (CMEs), such as
speed, acceleration, polar angle, angular width, and mass, using data acquired
by the Large Angle Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO) onboard the Solar and
Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) from 31 July 1997 to 31 March 2014, i.e. during
the Solar Cycles 23 and 24. We used two CME catalogs: one provided by the
Coordinated Data Analysis Workshops (CDAW) Data Center and one obtained by the
Computer Aided CME Tracking software (CACTus) detection algorithm. For each
dataset, we found that the number of CMEs observed during the peak of Cycle 24
was higher than or comparable to the number during Cycle 23, although the
photospheric activity during Cycle 24 was weaker than during Cycle 23. Using
the CMEs detected by CACTus, we noted that the number of events [N] is of the
same order of magnitude during the peaks of the two cycles, but the peak of the
CME distribution during Cycle 24 is more extended in time (N >1500 during 2012
and 2013). We ascribe the discrepancy between the CDAW and CACTus results to
the observer bias for CME definition in the CDAW catalog. We also used a
dataset containing 19,811 flares of C-, M-, and X-class observed by the
Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) during the same
period. Using both datasets, we studied the relationship between the mass
ejected by the CMEs and the flux emitted during the corresponding flares: we
found 11,441 flares that were temporally correlated with CMEs for CDAW and 9120
for CACTus. Moreover, we found a log-linear relationship between the flux of
the flares integrated from the start to end in the 0.1 - 0.8 nm range and the
CME mass.We also found some differences in the mean CMEs velocity and
acceleration between the events associated with flares and those that were not.


title:
Intercalation driven porosity effects in coupled continuum models for
  the electrical, chemical, thermal and mechanical response of battery
  electrode materials

abstract:
  We present a coupled continuum formulation for the electrostatic, chemical,
thermal and mechanical processes in battery materials. Our treatment applies on
the macroscopic scale, at which electrodes can be modelled as porous materials
made up of active particles held together by binders and perfused by the
electrolyte. Starting with the description common to the field, in terms of
reaction-transport partial differential equations for ions, variants of the
classical Poisson equation for electrostatics, and the heat equation, we add
mechanics to the problem. Our main contribution is to model the evolution of
porosity as a consequence of strains induced by intercalation, thermal
expansion and mechanical stresses. Recognizing the potential for large local
deformations, we have settled on the finite strain framework. We present a
detailed computational study of the influence of the dynamically evolving
porosity, upon ion distribution, electrostatic potential fields,
charge-discharge cycles and mechanical force generated in the cell.


title: Asteroseismic versus Gaia distances: a first comparison

abstract:
  Context. The Kepler space mission led to a large amount of high-precision
time series of solar-like oscillators. Using a Bayesian analysis that combines
asteroseismic techniques and additional ground-based observations, the mass,
radius, luminosity, and distance of those stars can be estimated with good
precision. This has given a new impetus to the research field of galactic
archeology. Aims. The first data release of the Gaia space mission contains the
TGAS catalog with parallax estimates for more than 2 million stars, including
many of the Kepler targets. Our goal is to make a first proper comparison of
asteroseismic and astrometric parallaxes of a selection of dwarfs, subgiants,
and red giants observed by Kepler for which asteroseismic distances were
published. Methods. We compare asteroseismic and astrometric distances of
solar-like pulsators using an appropriate statistical errors-in- variables
model on a linear as well as on a logarithmic scale. Results. For a sample of
22 dwarf and subgiant solar-like oscillators, the TGAS parallaxes considerably
improved the Hipparcos ones, yet the excellent agreement between asteroseismic
and astrometric distances still holds. For a sample of 938 Kepler pulsating red
giants, the TGAS parallaxes are much more uncertain than the asteroseismic
ones, making it worthwhile to validate the former with the latter. From
errors-in-variables modelling we find a significant discrepancy between the
TGAS parallaxes and the asteroseismic ones. Conclusions. For the sample of
dwarfs and subgiants, the comparison between astrometric and asteroseismic
parallaxes does not require a revision of the stellar models on the basis of
TGAS. For the sample of red giants, we identify possible causes of the
discrepancy, which we will likely be able to resolve with the more precise Gaia
parallaxes of the upcoming releases.


title:
Resonant Enhancement of Second Harmonic Generation by Edge States in
  Transition Metal Dichalcogenide Monolayers

abstract:
  We derive a low-energy theory for edge states in transition metal
dichalcogenide monolayers for a two-band $\bm{kp}$-Hamiltonian in case of
uncoupled valleys. In the absence of spin-orbit interaction at the edge, these
states possess a linear dispersion described by a single phenomenological
parameter characterizing the edge structure. Depending on the sign of the
parameter, the edge state spectrum can either cross the band gap or lie outside
of it. In the first case, the presence of edge states leads to resonant
enhancement of the second harmonic generation at frequencies about the half of
the band gap, in agreement with recent experiments. The value of the
phenomenological boundary parameter is extracted from the resonance frequency
position.


title:
Unusual Dirac fermions on the surface of noncentrosymmetric $\alpha$ -
  BiPd superconductor

abstract:
  Combining multiple emergent correlated properties such as superconductivity
and magnetism within the topological matrix can have exceptional consequences
in garnering new and exotic physics. Here, we study the topological surface
states from a noncentrosymmetric $\alpha$-BiPd superconductor by employing
angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) and first principle
calculations. We observe that the Dirac surface states of this system have
several interesting and unusual properties, compared to other topological
surface states. The surface state is strongly anisotropic and the in-plane
Fermi velocity varies rigorously on rotating the crystal about the $y$-axis.
Moreover, it acquires an unusual band gap as a function of $k_y$, possibly due
to hybridization with bulk bands, detected upon varying the excitation energy.
Coexistence of all the functional properties, in addition to the unusual
surface state characteristics make this an interesting material.


title:
Experiment design for controlled partially observed fractional diffusion
  process

abstract:
  We consider a controlled second order differential equation which is
partially observed with an additional fractional noise. we study the asymptotic
(for large observation time) design problem of the input and give an efficient
estimator of the unknown signal drift parameter. When the input depends on the
unknow parameter, we will try the one-step estimation procedure using the
Newton-Raphson method.


title:
The evolution of hyperboloidal data with the dual foliation formalism:
  Mathematical analysis and wave equation tests

abstract:
  A long-standing problem in numerical relativity is the satisfactory treatment
of future null-infinity. We propose an approach for the evolution of
hyperboloidal initial data in which the outer boundary of the computational
domain is placed at infinity. The main idea is to apply the `dual foliation'
formalism in combination with hyperboloidal coordinates and the generalized
harmonic gauge formulation. The strength of the present approach is that,
following the ideas of Zenginoglu, a hyperboloidal layer can be naturally
attached to a central region using standard coordinates of numerical relativity
applications. Employing a generalization of the standard hyperboloidal slices,
developed by Calabrese et. al., we find that all formally singular terms take a
trivial limit as we head to null-infinity. A byproduct is a numerical approach
for hyperboloidal evolution of nonlinear wave equations violating the
null-condition. The height-function method, used often for fixed background
spacetimes, is generalized in such a way that the slices can be dynamically
`waggled' to maintain the desired outgoing coordinate lightspeed precisely.
This is achieved by dynamically solving the eikonal equation. As a first
numerical test of the new approach we solve the 3D flat space scalar wave
equation. The simulations, performed with the pseudospectral bamps code, show
that outgoing waves are cleanly absorbed at null-infinity and that errors
converge away rapidly as resolution is increased.


title: A Few Finite Trigonometric Sums

abstract:
  Finite trigonometric sums occur in various branches of physics, mathematics,
and their applications. These sums may contain various powers of one or more
trigonometric functions. Sums with one trigonometric function are known,
however sums with products of trigonometric functions can get complicated and
may not have a simple expressions in a number of cases. Some of these sums have
interesting properties and can have amazingly simple value. However, only some
of them are available in literature. We obtain a number of such sums using
method of residues.


title: Bethe vectors and form factors for two-component Bose gas

abstract:
  This short note presents works done in collaboration with S. Pakuliak (JINR,
Dubna) and N. Slavnov (Steklov Math. Inst., Moscow). It is a summary of the
articles arXiv:1412.6037, arXiv:1501.07566, arXiv:1502.01966 and
arXiv:1503.00546. Here are mentioned only references used for our calculations.
A detailed list of references can be found in our articles mentionned here.


title:
Effect of Collisional Elasticity on the Bagnold Rheology of Sheared
  Frictionless Two Dimensional Disks

abstract:
  We carry out constant volume simulations of steady-state, shear driven flow
in a simple model of athermal, bidisperse, soft-core, frictionless disks in two
dimensions, using a dissipation law that gives rise to Bagnoldian rheology.
Focusing on the small strain rate limit, we map out the rheological behavior as
a function of particle packing fraction $\phi$ and a parameter $Q$ that
measures the elasticity of binary particle collisions. We find a $Q^*(\phi)$
that marks the clear crossover from a region characteristic of strongly
inelastic collisions, $Q<Q^*$, to a region characteristic of weakly inelastic
collisions, $Q>Q^*$, and give evidence that $Q^*(\phi)$ diverges as
$\phi\to\phi_J$, the shear driven jamming transition. We thus conclude that the
jamming transition at any value of $Q$ behaves the same as the strongly
inelastic case, provide one is sufficiently close to $\phi_J$. We further
characterize the differing nature of collisions in the strongly inelastic vs
weakly inelastic regions, and recast our results into the constituent equation
form commonly used in discussions of hard granular matter.


title: Independent Lazy Better-Response Dynamics on Network Games

abstract:
  We study an independent best-response dynamics on network games in which the
nodes (players) decide to revise their strategies independently with some
probability. We provide several bounds on the convergence time to an
equilibrium as a function of this probability, the degree of the network, and
the potential of the underlying games. These dynamics are somewhat more
suitable for distributed environments than the classical better- and
best-response dynamics where players revise their strategies "sequentially",
i.e., no two players revise their strategies simultaneously.


title: Equivariant structure constants for Hamiltonian-$T$-spaces

abstract:
  If there exists a set of canonical classes on a compact
Hamiltonian-$T$-spaces in the sense of Goldin and Tolman, we derive some
formulas for certain equivariant structure constants in terms of other
equivariant structure constants and the values of canonical classes restricted
to some fixed points. These formulas can be regarded as a generalization of
Tymoczko's results.


title:
From tunneling to contact in a magnetic atom: the non-equilibrium Kondo
  effect

abstract:
  A low-temperature scanning tunneling microscope was employed to study the
differential conductance in an atomic junction formed by an adsorbed Co atom on
a Cu(100) surface and a copper-covered tip. A zero-bias anomaly (ZBA) reveals
spin scattering off the Co atom, which is assigned to a Kondo effect. The ZBA
exhibits a characteristic asymmetric lineshape when electrons tunnel between
tip and sample, while upon the tip-Co contact it symmetrizes and broadens.
Through density functional theory calculations and the non-equilibrium
non-crossing approximation we show that the lineshape broadening is mainly a
consequence of the additional coupling to the tip, while non-equilibrium
effects only modify the large-bias tails of the ZBA.


title: Yates's and Other Sums of Squares

abstract:
  It is shown that the sum of squares by Yates's method of weighted squares of
means is equivalent to numerator sums of squares formulated by other methods.
These relations are established first for hypotheses about fixed effects in a
general linear model, in the process showing how Yates's method can be
extended. They are then illustrated in the unequal-subclass-numbers model for
main effects and interaction effects of two factors.


title:
Near-exponential surface densities as hydrostatic, nonequilibrium
  profiles in galaxy discs

abstract:
  Apparent exponential surface density profiles are nearly universal in galaxy
discs across Hubble types, over a wide mass range, and a diversity of
gravitational potential forms. Several processes have been found to produce
exponential profiles, including the actions of bars and spirals, and clump
scattering, with star scattering a common theme in these. Based on reasonable
physical constraints, such as minimal entropy gradients, we propose steady
state distribution functions for disc stars, applicable over a range of
gravitational potentials. The resulting surface density profiles are generally
a power-law term times a Sersic-type exponential. Over a modest range of Sersic
index values, these profiles are often indistinguishable from Type I
exponentials, except at the innermost radii. However, in certain parameter
ranges these steady states can appear as broken, Type II or III profiles. The
corresponding velocity dispersion profiles are low order power-laws. A chemical
potential associated with scattering can help understand the effects of long
range scattering. The steady profiles are found to persist through constant
velocity expansions or contractions in evolving discs. The proposed
distributions and profiles are simple and solve the stellar hydrodynamic
equations. They may be especially relevant to thick discs, which have settled
to a steady form via scattering.


title:
Decay Constants and Distribution Amplitudes of B Meson in the
  Relativistic Potential Model

abstract:
  In this work we study the decay constants of $B$ and $B_s$ mesons based on
the wave function obtained in the relativistic potential model. Our results are
in good agreement with experimental data which enables us to apply this method
to the investigation of $B$-meson distribution amplitudes. A very compact form
of the distribution amplitude is obtained. We also investigate the one-loop QCD
corrections to the pure leptonic decays of $B$ mesons. We find that, after
subtracting the infrared divergence in the one-loop corrections using the
factorization method, the QCD one-loop corrections to the hard amplitude of
leptonic decay will be zero.


title:
Planck Limits on Non-canonical Generalizations of Large-field Inflation
  Models

abstract:
  In this paper, we consider two case examples of Dirac-Born-Infeld (DBI)
generalizations of canonical large-field inflation models, characterized by a
reduced sound speed, $c_{S} < 1$. The reduced speed of sound lowers the
tensor-scalar ratio, improving the fit of the models to the data, but increases
the equilateral-mode non-Gaussianity, $f^\mathrm{equil.}_\mathrm{NL}$, which
the latest results from the Planck satellite constrain by a new upper bound. We
examine constraints on these models in light of the most recent Planck and
BICEP/Keck results, and find that they have a greatly decreased window of
viability. The upper bound on $f^\mathrm{equil.}_\mathrm{NL}$ corresponds to a
lower bound on the sound speed and a corresponding lower bound on the
tensor-scalar ratio of $r \sim 0.01$, so that near-future Cosmic Microwave
Background observations may be capable of ruling out entire classes of DBI
inflation models. The result is, however, not universal: infrared-type DBI
inflation models, where the speed of sound increases with time, are not subject
to the bound.


title:
Existence and space-time regularity for stochastic heat equations on
  p.c.f. fractals

abstract:
  We define linear stochastic heat equations (SHE) on p.c.f.s.s. sets equipped
with regular harmonic structures. We show that if the spectral dimension of the
set is less than two, then function-valued "random-field" solutions to these
SPDEs exist and are jointly H\"older continuous in space and time. We calculate
the respective H\"older exponents, which extend the well-known results on the
H\"older exponents of the solution to SHE on the unit interval. This shows that
the "curse of dimensionality" of the SHE on $\mathbb{R}^n$ depends not on the
geometric dimension of the ambient space but on the analytic properties of the
operator through the spectral dimension. To prove these results we establish
generic continuity theorems for stochastic processes indexed by these
p.c.f.s.s. sets that are analogous to Kolmogorov's continuity theorem. We also
investigate the long-time behaviour of the solutions to the fractal SHEs.


title: Modeling metabolic networks including gene expression and uncertainties

abstract:
  Constraint based methods, such as the Flux Balance Analysis, are widely used
to model cellular growth processes without relying on extensive information on
the regulatory features. The regulation is instead substituted by an
optimization problem usually aiming at maximal biomass accumulation. A recent
extension to these methods called the dynamic enzyme-cost Flux Balance Analysis
(deFBA) is a fully dynamic modeling method allowing for the prediction of
necessary enzyme levels under changing environmental conditions. However, this
method was designed for deterministic settings in which all dynamics,
parameters, etc. are exactly known. In this work, we present a theoretical
framework extending the deFBA to handle uncertainties and provide a robust
solution. We use the ideas from multi-stage nonlinear Model Predictive Control
(MPC) and its feature to represent the evolution of uncertainties by an
exponentially growing scenario tree. While this representation is able to
construct a deterministic optimization problem in the presence of
uncertainties, the computational cost also increases exponentially. We counter
this by using a receding prediction horizon and reshape the standard deFBA to
the short-time deFBA (sdeFBA). This leads us, along with further simplification
of the scenario tree, to the robust deFBA (rdeFBA). This framework is capable
of handling the uncertainties in the model itself as well as uncertainties
experienced by the modeled system. We applied these algorithms to two
case-studies: a minimal enzymatic nutrient uptake network, and the abstraction
of the core metabolic process in bacteria.


title:
Dynamic control of agents playing aggregative games with coupling
  constraints

abstract:
  We address the problem to control a population of noncooperative
heterogeneous agents, each with convex cost function depending on the average
population state, and all sharing a convex constraint, towards an aggregative
equilibrium. We assume an information structure through which a central
coordinator has access to the average population state and can broadcast
control signals for steering the decentralized optimal responses of the agents.
We design a dynamic control law that, based on operator theoretic arguments,
ensures global convergence to an equilibrium independently on the problem data,
that are the cost functions and the constraints, local and global, of the
agents. We illustrate the proposed method in two application domains: network
congestion control and demand side management.


title:
AGN-starburst evolutionary connection : a physical interpretation based
  on radiative feedback

abstract:
  Observations point towards a close connection between nuclear starbursts,
active galactic nuclei (AGN), and outflow phenomena. An evolutionary sequence,
starting from a dust-obscured ultra-luminous infrared galaxy and eventually
leading to an unobscured optical quasar, has been proposed and discussed in the
literature. AGN feedback is usually invoked to expel the obscuring gas and dust
in a blow-out event, but the underlying physical mechanism remains unclear. We
consider AGN feedback driven by radiation pressure on dust, which directly acts
on the obscuring dusty gas. We obtain that radiative feedback can potentially
disrupt dense gas in the infrared-optically thick regime, and that an increase
in the dust-to-gas fraction leads to an increase in the effective Eddington
ratio. Thus the more dusty gas is preferentially expelled by radiative
feedback, and the central AGN is prone to efficiently remove its own obscuring
dust cocoon. Large amounts of dust imply heavy obscuration but also powerful
feedback, suggesting a causal link between dust obscuration and blow-out. In
this picture, AGN feedback and starburst phenomena are intrinsically coupled
through the production of dust in supernova explosions, leading to a natural
interpretation of the observed evolutionary path.


title: Curvature estimate on the finite graph with large girth

abstract:
  The CD inequalities and CDE inequalities are useful in the estimate of
curvature on graphs. This article is based on the ufinite graph with large
girth, and finally concludes some curvature estimate in CD and CDE.


title: Graph Based Convolutional Neural Network

abstract:
  The benefit of localized features within the regular domain has given rise to
the use of Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) in machine learning, with great
proficiency in the image classification. The use of CNNs becomes problematic
within the irregular spatial domain due to design and convolution of a kernel
filter being non-trivial. One solution to this problem is to utilize graph
signal processing techniques and the convolution theorem to perform
convolutions on the graph of the irregular domain to obtain feature map
responses to learnt filters. We propose graph convolution and pooling operators
analogous to those in the regular domain. We also provide gradient calculations
on the input data and spectral filters, which allow for the deep learning of an
irregular spatial domain problem. Signal filters take the form of spectral
multipliers, applying convolution in the graph spectral domain. Applying smooth
multipliers results in localized convolutions in the spatial domain, with
smoother multipliers providing sharper feature maps. Algebraic Multigrid is
presented as a graph pooling method, reducing the resolution of the graph
through agglomeration of nodes between layers of the network. Evaluation of
performance on the MNIST digit classification problem in both the regular and
irregular domain is presented, with comparison drawn to standard CNN. The
proposed graph CNN provides a deep learning method for the irregular domains
present in the machine learning community, obtaining 94.23% on the regular
grid, and 94.96% on a spatially irregular subsampled MNIST.


title: Measuring stellar granulation during planet transits

abstract:
  Stellar activity and convection-related surface structures might cause bias
in planet detection and characterization that use these transits. Surface
convection simulations help to quantify the granulation signal. We used
realistic three-dimensional radiative hydrodynamical simulations from the
Stagger grid and synthetic images computed with the radiative transfer code
Optim3D to model the transits of three prototype planets: a hot Jupiter, a hot
Neptune, and a terrestrial planet. We computed intensity maps from RHD
simulations of the Sun and a K-dwarf star at different wavelength bands from
optical to far-infrared. We modeled the transit using synthetic stellar-disk
images and emulated the temporal variation of the granulation intensity. We
identified two types of granulation noise that act simultaneously during the
planet transit: (i) the intrinsic change in the granulation pattern with
timescales smaller than the usual planet transit, and (ii) the fact that the
transiting planet occults isolated regions of the photosphere that differ in
local surface brightness. Our modeling approach shows that the granulation
pattern has a non-negligible effect on the light curve depth during the
transit, and, consequentially on the determination of the radius of the planet
transiting. The granulation noise appears to be correlated among the different
wavelength ranges either in the visible or in the infrared regions. The
granulation has to be considered as an intrinsic uncertainty (as a result of
stellar variability) on the precise measurements of exoplanet transits of
planets. The full characterization of the granulation is essential for
determining the degree of uncertainty on the planet parameters. In this
context, the use of 3D RHD simulations is important to measure the
convection-related fluctuations.


title: WIMP capture and annihilation in the Earth in effective theories

abstract:
  I calculate the rate of WIMP capture and annihilation in the Earth in the
non-relativistic effective theory of dark matter-nucleon interactions.
Neglecting operator interference, I consider all Galilean invariant interaction
operators that can arise from the exchange of a heavy particle of spin less
than or equal to one when WIMPs have spin 0, 1/2 or 1. I compute position and
shape of the expected resonances in the mass - capture rate plane and show that
Iron is not the most important element in the capture process for many
currently ignored interaction operators. I compare these predictions with the
recent results of an Earth WIMP analysis of IceCube in the 86-string
configuration and set limits on all isoscalar and isovector coupling constants
of the effective theory of dark matter-nucleon interactions. For certain
interaction operators and for a dark matter particle mass of about 50 GeV, I
find that these limits are stronger than those I have previously derived in an
analysis of the solar WIMP search performed at IceCube in the 79-string
configuration.


title: Differential Neutrino Condensation onto Cosmic Structure

abstract:
  Astrophysical techniques have pioneered the discovery of neutrino mass
properties. Current cosmological observations give an upper bound on neutrino
masses by attempting to disentangle the small neutrino contribution from the
sum of all matter using precise theoretical models. We discover the
differential neutrino condensation effect in our TianNu N-body simulation.
Neutrino masses can be inferred using this effect by comparing galaxy
properties in regions of the universe with different neutrino relative
abundance (i.e. the local neutrino to cold dark matter density ratio). In
"neutrino-rich"' regions, more neutrinos can be captured by massive halos
compared to "neutrino-poor" regions. This effect differentially skews the halo
mass function and opens up the path to independent neutrino mass measurements
in current or future galaxy surveys.


title:
Integrable structures of dispersionless systems and differential
  geometry

abstract:
  We develop the theory of Whitham type hierarchies integrable by hydrodynamic
reductions as a theory of certain differential-geometric objects. As an
application we construct Gibbons-Tsarev systems associated to moduli space of
algebraic curves of arbitrary genus and prove that the universal Whitham
hierarchy is integrable by hydrodynamic reductions.


title:
Item-Focussed Trees for the Detection of Differential Item Functioning
  in Partial Credit Models

abstract:
  Various methods to detect differential item functioning (DIF) in item
response models are available. However, most of the methods assume that the
responses are binary, for ordered response categories available methods are
scarce. In the present paper DIF in the widely used partial credit model is
investigated. An item-focussed tree is proposed that allows to detect
DIF-items, which might affect the performance of the partial credit model. The
method uses tree methodology yielding a tree for each item that is detected as
DIF-item. The resulting trees show which variables induce DIF and in which way.
The visualization as trees makes the results easily accessible. The method is
compared to an alternative approach, simulations demonstrate the performance of
the method and an application illustrates how it works for real data.


title: On embeddings of finite subsets of $\ell_2$

abstract:
  We study finite subsets of $\ell_2$, and more generally any metric space, and
consider whether these isometrically embed into a Banach space. Our results
partially answer a question of Ostrovskii, on whether every
infinite-dimensional Banach space contains every finite subset of $\ell_2$
isometrically.
  The updated version contains acknowledgement that Theorem 3.1 has been proven
previously in a paper of Shkarin.


title:
Probing the Active Galactic Nuclei Unified Model Torus Properties in
  Seyfert Galaxies

abstract:
  We studied the physical parameters of a sample comprising of all Spitzer/IRS
public spectra of Seyfert galaxies in the mid-infrared (5.2-38$\mu$m range)
under the active galactic nuclei (AGN) unified model. We compare the observed
spectra with $\sim10^6$ CLUMPY model spectral energy distributions, which
consider a torus composed of dusty clouds. We find a slight difference in the
distribution of line-of-sight inclination angle, $i$, requiring larger angles
for Seyfert 2 (Sy2) and a broader distribution for Seyfert 1 (Sy1). We found
small differences in the torus angular width, $\sigma$, indicating that Sy1 may
host a slightly narrower torus than Sy2. The torus thickness, together with the
bolometric luminosities derived, suggest a very compact torus up to $\sim$6 pc
from the central AGN. The number of clouds along the equatorial plane, $N$, as
well the index of the radial profile, $q$, are nearly the same for both types.
These results imply that the torus cloud distribution is nearly the same for
type 1 and type 2 objects. The torus mass is almost the same for both types of
activity, with values in the range of $M_{tor}\sim$10$^{4}-$10$^{7}\rm
M_{\odot}$. The main difference appears to be related to the clouds' intrinsic
properties: type 2 sources present higher optical depths $\tau_V$. The results
presented here reinforce the suggestion that the classification of a galaxy may
depend also on the intrinsic properties of the torus clouds rather than simply
on their inclination. This is in contradiction with the simple geometric idea
of the unification model.


title: Two algorithms for solving systems of inclusion problems

abstract:
  The goal of this paper is to present two algorithms for solving systems of
inclusion problems, with all component of the systems being a sum of two
maximal monotone operators. The algorithms are variants of the forward-backward
splitting method and one being a hybrid with the alternating projection method.
They consist of approximating the solution sets involved in the problem by
separating halfspaces which are a well-studied strategy. The schemes contain
two part, the first one is an explicit Armijo-type search in the spirit of the
extragradient-like methods for variational inequalities. The second part is the
projection step, being this the main difference between the algorithms. While
the first algorithm computes the projection onto the intersection of the
separating halfspaces, the second choose one component of the system and
project onto the separating halfspace of this case. In the iterative process,
the forward-backward operator is computed once per inclusion problem,
representing a relevant computational saving if compared with similar
algorithms in the literature. The convergence analysis of the proposed methods
is given assuming monotonicity in all operators, without Lipschitz continuity
assumption. We also present some numerical experiments.


title:
Heat Engines running upon a Non-Ideal Fluid Model with Higher
  Efficiencies than upon the Ideal Gas Model

abstract:
  We consider both Otto and Diesel heat engine cycles running upon the working
substances modeled by the van der Waals fluid as a simple non-ideal gas model.
We extensively perform the efficiency study in these model engines. Then we
find that this "real" engine model can go beyond its ideal-gas counterpart in
efficiency, whereas as well-known, the maximum Carnot efficiency is the same
for both ideal and non-ideal gas engines. In fact, the higher the density of
non-ideality is, the higher efficiency tends to be found, especially in the
low-temperature regime, but with more shrinkage in the range of physically
allowed compression ratio, determined by the Carnot upper bound, namely, the
Second Law of thermodynamics. Our findings imply that in addition to the engine
architectures and bath temperatures, the properties of working substances
should also be taken into consideration in the performance study of heat
engines, the theoretical model aspects of which have not sufficiently been
discussed so far. It is straightforward that our methodology may also apply for
other non-ideal fluid models.


title:
From observables and states to Hilbert space and back: a 2-categorical
  adjunction

abstract:
  Given a representation of a C*-algebra, thought of as an abstract collection
of physical observables, together with a unit vector, one obtains a state on
the algebra via restriction. We show that the Gelfand-Naimark-Segal (GNS)
construction furnishes a left adjoint of this restriction. To properly
formulate this adjoint, it must be viewed as a weak natural transformation, a
1-morphism in a suitable 2-category, rather than as a functor between
categories. Weak naturality encodes the functoriality and the universal
property of adjunctions encodes the characterizing features of the GNS
construction. Mathematical definitions and results are accompanied by physical
interpretations.


title: Variational Autoencoder for Deep Learning of Images, Labels and Captions

abstract:
  A novel variational autoencoder is developed to model images, as well as
associated labels or captions. The Deep Generative Deconvolutional Network
(DGDN) is used as a decoder of the latent image features, and a deep
Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) is used as an image encoder; the CNN is used
to approximate a distribution for the latent DGDN features/code. The latent
code is also linked to generative models for labels (Bayesian support vector
machine) or captions (recurrent neural network). When predicting a
label/caption for a new image at test, averaging is performed across the
distribution of latent codes; this is computationally efficient as a
consequence of the learned CNN-based encoder. Since the framework is capable of
modeling the image in the presence/absence of associated labels/captions, a new
semi-supervised setting is manifested for CNN learning with images; the
framework even allows unsupervised CNN learning, based on images alone.


title:
Response to Comment on Non-representative Quantum Mechanical Weak Values
  by Ben-Israel and Vaidman

abstract:
  Ben-Israel and Vaidman (Found Phys (2017). doi:10.1007/s10701-017-0071-x)
have raised objections to my arguments that there are cases where a quantum
mechanical weak value can be said not to represent the system to which it
pertains. They are correct in pointing out that some of my conclusions were too
general. However, for weak values of projection operators my conclusions still
stand.


title: A stylized model for wealth distribution

abstract:
  The recent book by T. Piketty (Capital in the Twenty-First Century) promoted
the important issue of wealth inequality. In the last twenty years, physicists
and mathematicians developed models to derive the wealth distribution using
discrete and continuous stochastic processes (random exchange models) as well
as related Boltzmann-type kinetic equations. In this literature, the usual
concept of equilibrium in Economics is either replaced or completed by
statistical equilibrium.
  In order to illustrate this activity with a concrete example, we present a
stylised random exchange model for the distribution of wealth. We first discuss
a fully discrete version (a Markov chain with finite state space). We then
study its discrete-time continuous-state-space version and we prove the
existence of the equilibrium distribution. Finally, we discuss the connection
of these models with Boltzmann-like kinetic equations for the marginal
distribution of wealth. This paper shows in practice how it is possible to
start from a finitary description and connect it to continuous models following
Boltzmann's original research program.


title: Fibres non r\'eduites d'un sch\'ema arithm\'etique

abstract:
  For a reduced projective scheme over the ring of integers of a number field,
the set of places over which the fibres of the scheme are not reduced is a
finite set. We give an explicit upper bound for the product of the norms of
places in this set. For this purpose, we introduce a generalization of the
notion of height over the adelic ring. We reduce the general case of a scheme
of pure dimension to the case of a hypersurface by using the theory of Chow
varieties. The case of a hypersurface is then treated with the help of the
resultant of the equation of the hypersurface with some partial derivatives of
the equation.


title:
Assessment of corticospinal tract dysfunction and disease severity in
  amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

abstract:
  The upper motor neuron dysfunction in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis was
quantified using triple stimulation and more focal transcranial magnetic
stimulation techniques that were developed to reduce recording variability.
These measurements were combined with clinical and neurophysiological data to
develop a novel random forest based supervised machine learning prediction
model. This model was capable of predicting cross-sectional ALS disease
severity as measured by the ALSFRSr scale with 97% overall accuracy and 99%
precision. The machine learning model developed in this research provides a
new, unique and objective diagnostic method for quantifying disease severity
and identifying subtle changes in disease progression in ALS.


title: Symmetry breaking in MAST plasma turbulence due to toroidal flow shear

abstract:
  The flow shear associated with the differential toroidal rotation of tokamak
plasmas breaks an underlying symmetry of the turbulent fluctuations imposed by
the up-down symmetry of the magnetic equilibrium. Using experimental
Beam-Emission-Spectroscopy (BES) measurements and gyrokinetic simulations, this
symmetry breaking in ion-scale turbulence in MAST is shown to manifest itself
as a tilt of the spatial correlation function and a finite skew in the
distribution of the fluctuating density field. The tilt is a statistical
expression of the "shearing" of the turbulent structures by the mean flow. The
skewness of the distribution is related to the emergence of long-lived density
structures in sheared, near-marginal plasma turbulence. The extent to which
these effects are pronounced is argued (with the aid of the simulations) to
depend on the distance from the nonlinear stability threshold. Away from the
threshold, the symmetry is effectively restored.


title:
Light propagation in tunable exciton-polariton one-dimensional photonic
  crystals

abstract:
  Simulations of propagation of light beams in specially designed multilayer
semiconductor structures (one-dimensional photonic crystals) with embedded
quantum wells reveal characteristic optical properties of resonant hyperbolic
metamaterials. A strong dependence of the refraction angle and the optical beam
spread on the exciton radiative lifetime is revealed. We demonstrate the strong
negative refraction of light and the control of the group velocity of light by
an external bias through its effect upon the exciton radiative properties.


title: Turan numbers of extensions of some sparse hypergraphs via Lagrangians

abstract:
  Given a positive integer $n$ and an $r$-uniform hypergraph (or $r$-graph for
short) $F$, the Turan number $ex(n,F)$ of $F$ is the maximum number of edges in
an $r$-graph on $n$ vertices that does not contain $F$ as a subgraph. The
extension $H^F $ of $F$ is obtained as follows: For each pair of vertices
$v_i,v_j$ in $F$ not contained in an edge of $F$, we add a set $B_{ij}$ of
$r-2$ new vertices and the edge $\{v_i,v_j\} \cup B_{ij}$, where the $B_{ij}$
's are pairwise disjoint over all such pairs $\{i,j\}$. Let $K^r_p$ denote the
complete $r$-graph on $p$ vertices. For all sufficiently large $n$, we
determine the Turan numbers of the extensions of a $3$-uniform $t$-matching, a
$3$-uniform linear star of size $t$, and a $4$-uniform linear star of size $t$,
respectively. We also show that the unique extremal hypergraphs are balanced
blowups of $K^3_{3t-1}, K^3_{2t}$, and $K^4_{3t}$, respectively. Our results
generalize the recent result of Hefetz and Keevash [7].


title:
Dynamics of the ions in Liquid Argon Detectors and electron signal
  quenching

abstract:
  A study of the dynamics of the positive charges in liquid argon has been
carried out in the context of the future massive time projection chambers
proposed for dark matter and neutrino physics. Given their small mobility
coefficient in liquid argon, the ions spend a considerably longer time in the
active volume with respect to the electrons. The positive charge density can be
additionally increased by the injection, in the liquid volume, of the ions
produced by the electron multiplying devices located in gas argon. The impact
of the ion current on the uniformity of the field has been evaluated as well as
the probability of the charge signal quenching due to the electron-ion
recombination along the drift. The study results show some potential concerns
for massive detectors with drift of many meters operated on surface.


title: Characterization of optical systems for the ALPS II experiment

abstract:
  ALPS II is a light shining through a wall style experiment that will use the
principle of resonant enhancement to boost the conversion and reconversion
probabilities of photons to relativistic WISPs. This will require the use of
long baseline low-loss optical cavities. Very high power build up factors in
the cavities must be achieved in order to reach the design sensitivity of ALPS
II. This necessitates a number of different sophisticated optical and control
systems to maintain the resonance and ensure maximal coupling between the laser
and the cavity. In this paper we report on the results of the characterization
of these optical systems with a 20 m cavity and discuss the results in the
context of ALPS II.


title:
Probing inter- and intrachain Zhang-Rice excitons in Li$_2$CuO$_2$ and
  determining their binding energy

abstract:
  Cuprate materials, like those hosting high temperature superconductivity,
represent a famous class of materials where the correlations between the
strongly entangled charges and spins produce complex phase diagrams. Several
years ago the Zhang-Rice singlet was proposed as a natural quasiparticle in
hole-doped cuprates. The occurance and binding energy of this quasiparticle,
consisting of a pair of bound holes with antiparallel spins on the same CuO$_4$
plaquette, depends on the local electronic interactions, which are fundamental
quantities for understanding the physics of the cuprates. Here, we employ
state-of-the-art Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering (RIXS) to probe the
correlated physics of the CuO$_4$ plaquettes in the quasi-one dimensional chain
cuprate Li$_2$CuO$_2$. By tuning the incoming photon energy to the O $K$-edge,
we populate bound states related to the Zhang-Rice quasiparticles in the RIXS
process. Both intra- and interchain Zhang-Rice singlets are observed and their
occurrence is shown to depend on the nearest-neighbor spin-spin correlations,
which are readily probed in this experiment. We also extract the binding energy
of the Zhang-Rice singlet and identify the Zhang-Rice triplet excitation in the
RIXS spectra.


title:
Measuring the leading hadronic contribution to the muon g-2 via $\mu\,e$
  scattering

abstract:
  We propose a new experiment to measure the running of the fine-structure
constant in the space-like region by scattering high-energy muons on atomic
electrons of a low-Z target through the process $\mu e \to \mu e$. The
differential cross section of this process, measured as a function of the
squared momentum transfer $t=q^2<0$, provides direct sensitivity to the
leading-order hadronic contribution to the muon anomaly $a^{\rm{HLO}}_{\mu}$.
By using a muon beam of 150 GeV, with an average rate of $\sim1.3\times 10^7$
muon/s, currently available at the CERN North Area, a statistical uncertainty
of $\sim 0.3\%$ can be achieved on $a^{\rm{HLO}}_{\mu}$ after two years of data
taking. This direct measurement of $a^{\rm{HLO}}_{\mu}$ will provide an
independent determination, competitive with the time-like dispersive approach,
and consolidate the theoretical prediction for the muon $g$-2 in the Standard
Model. It will allow therefore a firmer interpretation of the measurements of
the future muon $g$-2 experiments at Fermilab and J-PARC.


title: Recent progress on the fractional Laplacian in conformal geometry

abstract:
  The aim of this paper is to report on recent development on the conformal
fractional Laplacian, both from the analytic and geometric points of view, but
especially towards the PDE community.


title: Origin of Stationary Domain Wall Enhanced Ferroelectric Susceptibility

abstract:
  Ferroelectrics usually adopt a multi-domain state with domain walls
separating domains with polarization axes oriented differently. It has long
been recognized that domain walls can dramatically impact the properties of
ferroelectric materials. The enhancement of low-field
susceptibility/permittivity under subswitching conditions is usually attributed
to the reversible domain wall vibration. Recent experiments highlight the
stationary domain wall contribution to the dielectric susceptibility
irrespective of any lateral displacements or deformations of the wall. We study
the effects of domain walls on low-field permittivity of PbTiO$_3$ with density
functional theory and molecular dynamics simulations. The static dielectric
constant is calculated as a function of increasing domain wall density and
temperature. We find an increase of dielectric permittivity with increasing
domain wall density, which is expected to occur at low driving field where the
lateral motion of domain walls is forbidden. Real-space decomposition of
dielectric response reveals that frustrated dipoles within the finite width of
the domain walls are responsible for the enhanced low-field permittivity.