title:
The ACS Fornax Cluster Survey. XII. Diffuse Star Clusters in Early-type
  Galaxies

abstract:
  Diffuse star clusters (DSCs) are old and dynamically hot stellar systems that
have lower surface brightness and more extended morphology than globular
clusters (GCs). Using the images from HST/ACS Fornax Cluster Survey, we find
that 12 out of 43 early-type galaxies (ETGs) in the Fornax cluster host
significant numbers of DSCs. Together with literature data from the HST/ACS
Virgo Cluster Survey, where 18 out of 100 ETGs were found to host DSCs, we
systematically study the relationship of DSCs with GCs, and their host galaxy
environment. Two DSC hosts are post-merger galaxies, with most of the other
hosts either having low mass or showing clear disk components. We find that
while the number ratio of DSCs to GCs is nearly constant in massive galaxies,
the DSC-to-GC ratio becomes systematically higher in lower mass hosts. This
suggests that DSCs may be more efficient at forming (or surviving) in low
density environments. DSC hosts are not special either in their position in the
cluster, or in the galactic color-magnitude diagram. Why some disk and low-mass
galaxies host DSCs while others do not is still a puzzle, however. The mean
ages of DSC hosts and non-hosts are similar at similar masses, implying that
formation efficiency, rather than survival, is the reason behind different DSC
number fractions in early-type galaxies.


title:
Very high frequency gravitational waves from magnetars and gamma-ray
  burst

abstract:
  Extremely powerful astrophysical electromagnetic (EM) system could be
possible source of high-frequency gravitational waves (HFGWs). Here based on
properties of magnetars and gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), we address "Gamma-HFGWs"
(with very high-frequency around 10^{20}Hz) caused by ultra-strong EM
radiations (in the radiation-dominated phase of GRBs fireball) interacting with
super-high magnetar surface magnetic fields (around 10^{11}Tesla). By certain
parameters of distance and power, the Gamma-HFGWs would have far field energy
density around 10^{-6}, and they would cause perturbed signal EM waves of
around 10^{-20}Watt/m^2 in planned HFGW detection system based on EM response
to GWs. Specially, Gamma-HFGWs would possess distinctive envelopes with
characteristic shapes depending on the particular structures of surface
magnetic fields of magnetars, which could be exclusive features helpful to
distinguish them from background noise. Results obtained suggest that magnetars
could involve in possible astrophysical EM sources of GWs in very
high-frequency band, and Gamma-HFGWs would be potential targets for
observations in the future.


title:
Anomalous Inner-Gap Structure in Transport Characteristics of
  Superconducting Junctions with Degraded Interfaces

abstract:
  Quantitative description of charge transport across tunneling and
break-junction devices with novel superconductors encounters some problems not
present, or not as severe for traditional superconducting materials. In this
work, we explain unexpected features in related transport characteristics as an
effect of a degraded nano-scaled sheath at the superconductor surface. Model
capturing main aspects of the ballistic charge transport across hybrid
superconducting structures with normally-conducting nm-thick interlayers is
proposed. The calculations are based on a scattering formalism taking into
account Andreev electron-into-hole (and inverse) reflections at normal
metal-superconductor interfaces as well as transmission and backscattering
events in insulating barriers between the electrodes. Current-voltage
characteristics of such devices exhibit a rich diversity of anomalous (from the
viewpoint of the standard theory) features, in particular, shift of
differential-conductance maximums at gap voltages to lower positions and
appearance of well-defined dips instead expected coherence peaks. We compare
our results with related experimental data.


title: Flavour singlets in gauge theory as Permutations

abstract:
  Gauge-invariant operators can be specified by equivalence classes of
permutations. We develop this idea concretely for the singlets of the flavour
group $SO(N_f)$ in $U(N_c)$ gauge theory by using Gelfand pairs and Schur-Weyl
duality. The singlet operators, when specialised at $N_f =6$, belong to the
scalar sector of ${\cal N}=4$ SYM. A simple formula is given for the two-point
functions in the free field limit of $g_{YM}^2 =0$. The free two-point
functions are shown to be equal to the partition function on a 2-complex with
boundaries and a defect, in a topological field theory of permutations. The
permutation equivalence classes are Fourier transformed to a representation
basis which is orthogonal for the two-point functions at finite $N_c , N_f$.
Counting formulae for the gauge-invariant operators are described. The one-loop
mixing matrix is derived as a linear operator on the permutation equivalence
classes.


title: A generalisation of Sylvester's problem to higher dimensions

abstract:
  In this article we consider $S$ to be a set of points in $d$-space with the
property that any $d$ points of $S$ span a hyperplane and not all the points of
$S$ are contained in a hyperplane. The aim of this article is to introduce the
function $e_d(n)$, which denotes the minimal number of hyperplanes meeting $S$
in precisely $d$ points, minimising over all such sets of points $S$ with
$|S|=n$.


title: Recent Experimental Results on Nuclear Cluster Physics

abstract:
  Knowledge on nuclear cluster physics has increased considerably since the
pioneering discovery of 12C+12C resonances half a century ago and nuclear
clustering remains one of the most fruitful domains of nuclear physics, facing
some of the greatest challenges and opportunities in the years ahead. The
occurrence of "exotic" shapes and/or Bose-Einstein alpha condensates in light
N-Z alpha-conjugate nuclei is investigated. Evolution of clustering from
stability to the drip-lines examined with clustering aspects persisting in
light neutron-rich nuclei is consistent with the extension of the
"Ikeda-diagram" to non alpha-conjugate nuclei.


title:
Efficient model-based clustering with coalescents: Application to
  multiple outcomes using medical records data

abstract:
  We present a sequential Monte Carlo sampler for coalescent based Bayesian
hierarchical clustering. The model is appropriate for multivariate non-\iid
data and our approach offers a substantial reduction in computational cost when
compared to the original sampler. We also propose a quadratic complexity
approximation that in practice shows almost no loss in performance compared to
its counterpart. Our formulation leads to a greedy algorithm that exhibits
performance improvement over other greedy algorithms, particularly in small
data sets. We incorporate the Coalescent into a hierarchical regression model
that allows joint modeling of multiple correlated outcomes. The approach does
not require {\em a priori} knowledge of either the degree or structure of the
correlation and, as a byproduct, generates additional models for a subset of
the composite outcomes. We demonstrate the utility of the approach by
predicting multiple different types of outcomes using medical records data from
a cohort of diabetic patients.


title: Growing Graphs with Hyperedge Replacement Graph Grammars

abstract:
  Discovering the underlying structures present in large real world graphs is a
fundamental scientific problem. In this paper we show that a graph's clique
tree can be used to extract a hyperedge replacement grammar. If we store an
ordering from the extraction process, the extracted graph grammar is guaranteed
to generate an isomorphic copy of the original graph. Or, a stochastic
application of the graph grammar rules can be used to quickly create random
graphs. In experiments on large real world networks, we show that random
graphs, generated from extracted graph grammars, exhibit a wide range of
properties that are very similar to the original graphs. In addition to graph
properties like degree or eigenvector centrality, what a graph "looks like"
ultimately depends on small details in local graph substructures that are
difficult to define at a global level. We show that our generative graph model
is able to preserve these local substructures when generating new graphs and
performs well on new and difficult tests of model robustness.


title:
Influence of an amorphous wall on the distribution of localized
  excitations in a colloidal glass-forming liquid

abstract:
  Elucidating the nature of the glass transition has been the holy grail of
condensed matter physics and statistical mechanics for several decades. A
phenomenological aspect that makes glass formation a conceptually formidable
problem is that structural and dynamic correlations in glass-forming liquids
are too subtle to be captured at the level of conventional two-point functions.
As a consequence, a host of theoretical techniques, such as quenched amorphous
configurations of particles, have been devised and employed in simulations and
colloid experiments to gain insights into the mechanisms responsible for these
elusive correlations. Very often, though, the analysis of spatio-temporal
correlations is performed in the context of a single theoretical framework, and
critical comparisons of microscopic predictions of competing theories are
thereby lacking. Here, we address this issue by analysing the distribution of
localized excitations, which are building blocks of relaxation as per the
Dynamical Facilitation (DF) theory, in the presence of an amorphous wall, a
construct motivated by the Random First-Order Transition theory (RFOT). We
observe that spatial profiles of the concentration of excitations exhibit
complex features such as non-monotonicity and oscillations. Moreover, the
smoothly varying part of the concentration profile yields a length scale
$\xi_c$, which we compare with a previously computed length scale $\xi_{dyn}$.
Our results suggest a method to assess the role of dynamical facilitation in
governing structural relaxation in glass-forming liquids.


title:
Dynamic Optimization of Trajectory for Ramp-up Current Profile in
  Tokamak Plasmas

abstract:
  In this paper, we consider an open-loop, finite-time, optimal control problem
of attaining a specific desired current profile during the ramp-up phase by
finding the best open-loop actuator input trajectories. Average density, total
power, and plasma current are used as control actuators to manipulate the
profile shape in tokamak plasmas. Based on the control parameterization method,
we propose a numerical solution procedure directly to solve the original
PDE-constrained optimization problem using gradient-based optimization
techniques such as sequential quadratic programming (SQP). This paper is aimed
at proposing an effective framework for the solution of PDE-constrained
optimization problem in tokamak plasmas. A more user-friendly and efficient
graphical user interface (GUI) is designed in MATLAB and the numerical
simulation results are verified to demonstrate its applicability. In addition,
the proposed framework of combining existing PDE and numerical optimization
solvers to solve PDE-constrained optimization problem has the prospective to
target challenge advanced control problems arising in more general chemical
engineering processes.


title:
Observability and diagnosability of finite state systems: a unifying
  framework

abstract:
  In this paper, a general framework is proposed for the analysis and
characterization of observability and diagnosability of finite state systems.
Observability corresponds to the reconstruction of the system's discrete state,
while diagnosability corresponds to the possibility of determining the past
occurrence of some particular states, for example faulty states. A unifying
framework is proposed where observability and diagnosability properties are
defined with respect to a critical set, i.e. a set of discrete states
representing a set of faults, or more generally a set of interest. These
properties are characterized and the involved conditions provide an estimation
of the delay required for the detection of a critical state, of the precision
of the delay estimation and of the duration of a possible initial transient
where the diagnosis is not possible or not required. Our framework makes it
possible to precisely compare some of the observability and diagnosability
notions existing in the literature with the ones introduced in our paper, and
this comparison is presented.


title: Starobinsky cosmological model in Palatini formalism

abstract:
  We classify singularities in FRW cosmologies, which dynamics can be reduced
to the dynamical system of the Newtonian type. This classification is performed
in terms of geometry of a potential function if it has poles. At the sewn
singularity, which is of a finite scale factor type, the singularity in the
past meets the singularity in the future. We show, that such singularities
appear in the Starobinsky model in $f(\hat{R})=\hat{R}+\gamma \hat{R}^2$ in the
Palatini formalism, when dynamics is determined by the corresponding piece-wise
smooth dynamical system. As an effect we obtain a degenerated singularity.
Analytical calculations are given for the cosmological model with matter and
the cosmological constant. The dynamics of model is also studied using
dynamical system methods. From the phase portraits we find generic evolutionary
scenarios of the evolution of the Universe. For this model, the best fit value
of $\Omega_\gamma=3\gamma H_0^2$ is equal $9.70\times 10^{-11}$. We consider
model in both Jordan and Einstein frames. We show that after transition to the
Einstein frame we obtain both form of the potential of the scalar field and the
decaying Lambda term.


title:
Inverse Variational Problem and Symmetry in Action: The Relativistic
  Third Order Dynamics

abstract:
  Tools of the intrinsic analysis on manifolds, helpful in solving the
invariant inverse problem of the calculus of variations are being presented
comprising a combined approach which consists in the simultaneous imposition of
symmetry principles and the inverse variational problem considerations in terms
of vector-valued differential forms. In three-dimensional space-time we obtain
a unique (covector) third-order Poincar\'e-invariant variational equation,
which then is identified with the motion of a free relativistic top in flat
three-dimensional space-time.


title:
Associated production of a quarkonium and a Z boson at one loop in a
  quark-hadron-duality approach

abstract:
  In view of the large discrepancy about the associated production of a prompt
$J/\psi$ and a $Z$ boson between the ATLAS data at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV and
theoretical predictions for Single Parton Scattering (SPS) contributions, we
perform an evaluation of the corresponding cross section at one loop accuracy
(Next-to-Leading Order, NLO) in a quark-hadron-duality approach, also known as
the Colour-Evaporation Model (CEM). This work is motivated by (i) the extremely
disparate predictions based on the existing NRQCD fits conjugated with the
absence of a full NLO NRQCD computation and (ii) the fact that we believe that
such an evaluation provides a likely upper limit of the SPS cross section. In
addition to these theory improvements, we argue that the ATLAS estimation of
the Double Parton Scattering (DPS) yield may be underestimated by a factor as
large as 3 which then reduces the size of the SPS yield extracted from the
ATLAS data. Our NLO SPS evaluation also allows us to set an upper limit on
$\sigma_{\rm eff}$ driving the size of the DPS yield. Overall, the discrepancy
between theory and experiment may be smaller than expected, which calls for
further analyses by ATLAS and CMS, for which we provide predictions, and for
full NLO computations in other models. As an interesting side product of our
analysis, we have performed the first NLO computation of $d\sigma / dP_T$ for
prompt single-$J/\psi$ production in the CEM from which we have fit the CEM
non-pertubative parameter at NLO using the most recent ATLAS data.


title: The rightness of the Riemann Hypothesis

abstract:
  The finite covering theorem and symmetry properties of several functions are
utilized to show that if $0<a<1$, all zeros of the zeta function are on the
line $Re(z)=\frac{1}{2}$.


title: Lateral-drag Casimir forces induced by anisotropy

abstract:
  We predict the existence of lateral drag forces near the flat surface of an
absorbing slab of an anisotropic material. The forces originate from the
fluctuations of the electromagnetic field, when the anisotropy axis of the
material forms a certain angle with the surface. In this situation, the spatial
spectra of the fluctuating electromagnetic fields becomes asymmetric, different
for positive and negative transverse wave vectors components. Differently from
the case of van der Waals interactions in which the forward-backward symmetry
is broken due to the particle movement or in quantum noncontact friction where
it is caused by the mutual motion of the bodies, in our case the lateral motion
results merely from the anisotropy of the slab. This new effect, of particular
significance in hyperbolic materials, could be used for the manipulation of
nanoparticles.


title: Practical Statistics for Particle Physicists

abstract:
  These lectures introduce the basic ideas and practices of statistical
analysis for particle physicists, using a real-world example to illustrate how
the abstractions on which statistics is based are translated into practical
application.


title:
Collective polaritonic modes in an array of two-level quantum emitters
  coupled to optical nanofiber

abstract:
  In this paper we develop a microscopic analysis of the light scattering on a
periodic two-level atomic array coupled to an optical nanofiber. We extend the
scattering matrix approach for two-level system interaction with nanofiber
fundamental waveguiding mode HE_{11}, that allows us modeling the scattering
spectra. We support these results considering the dispersion of the polaritonic
states formed by the superposition of the fundamental mode of light HE_{11} and
the atomic chain states. To illustrate our approach we start with considering a
simple model of light scattering over atomic array in the free space. We
discuss the Bragg diffraction at the atomic array and show that the scattering
spectrum is defined by the non-symmetric coupling of two-level system with
nanofiber and vacuum modes. The proposed method allows considering two-level
systems interaction with full account for dipole-dipole interaction both via
near fields and long-range interaction owing to nanofiber mode coupling.


title: Polytopes of Stochastic Tensors

abstract:
  Considering $n\times n\times n$ stochastic tensors $(a_{ijk})$ (i.e.,
nonnegative hypermatrices in which every sum over one index $i$, $j$, or $k$,
is 1), we study the polytope ($\Omega_{n}$) of all these tensors, the convex
set ($L_n$) of all tensors in $\Omega_{n}$ with some positive diagonals, and
the polytope ($\Delta_n$) generated by the permutation tensors. We show that
$L_n$ is almost the same as $\Omega_{n}$ except for some boundary points. We
also present an upper bound for the number of vertices of $\Omega_{n}$.


title: Generalized Normal Product Adjacency in Digital Topology

abstract:
  We study properties of Cartesian products of digital images for which
adjacencies based on the normal product adjacency are used. We show that the
use of such adjacencies lets us obtain many "product properties" for which the
analogous statement is either unknown or invalid if, instead, we were to use
$c_u$-adjacencies.


title:
Event-shape-engineering study of charge separation in heavy-ion
  collisions

abstract:
  Recent measurements of charge-dependent azimuthal correlations in high-energy
heavy-ion collisions have indicated charge-separation signals perpendicular to
the reaction plane, and have been related to the chiral magnetic effect (CME).
However, the correlation signal is contaminated with the background caused by
the collective motion (flow) of the collision system, and an effective approach
is needed to remove the flow background from the correlation. We present a
method study with simplified Monte Carlo simulations and a multi-phase
transport model, and develop a scheme to reveal the true CME signal via the
event-shape engineering with the flow vector of the particles of interest.


title:
Approximate Riemann Solvers for the Cosmic Ray Magnetohydrodynamical
  Equations

abstract:
  We analyze the cosmic-ray magnetohydrodynamic (CR MHD) equations to improve
the numerical simulations. We propose to solve them in the fully conservation
form, which is equivalent to the conventional CR MHD equations. In the fully
conservation form, the CR energy equation is replaced with the CR "number"
conservation, where the CR number density is defined as the three fourths power
of the CR energy density. The former contains an extra source term, while
latter does not. An approximate Riemann solver is derived from the CR MHD
equations in the fully conservation form. Based on the analysis, we propose a
numerical scheme of which solutions satisfy the Rankine-Hugoniot relation at
any shock. We demonstrate that it reproduces the Riemann solution derived by
Pfrommer et al. (2006) for a 1D CR hydrodynamic shock tube problem. We compare
the solution with those obtained by solving the CR energy equation. The latter
solutions deviate from the Riemann solution seriously, when the CR pressure
dominates over the gas pressure in the post-shocked gas. The former solutions
converge to the Riemann solution and are of the second order accuracy in space
and time. Our numerical examples include an expansion of high pressure sphere
in an magnetized medium. Fast and slow shocks are sharply resolved in the
example. We also discuss possible extension of the CR MHD equations to evaluate
the average CR energy.


title:
Generalization of the Matrix Determinant Lemma and its application to
  the controllability of single input control systems

abstract:
  Linear control theory provides a rich source of inspiration and motivation
for development in the matrix theory. Accordingly, in this paper, a
generalization of Matrix Determinant Lemma to the finite sum of outer products
of column vectors is derived and an alternative proof of one of the fundamental
results in modern control theory of the linear time--invariant systems $\dot
x=Ax+Bu,$ $y=Cx$ is given, namely that the state controllability is unaffected
by state feedback, and even more specifically, that for the controllability
matrices $\mathcal{C}$ of the single input open and closed loops the equality
$\det\left(\mathcal{C}_{(A,B,C)}\right)$
$=\det\left(\mathcal{C}_{(A-BK,B,C)}\right)$ holds.


title: Drops bouncing off macro-textured superhydrophobic surfaces

abstract:
  Recent experiments with droplets impacting a macro-textured superhydrophobic
surfaces revealed new regimes of bouncing with a remarkable reduction of the
contact time. We present here a comprehensive numerical study that reveals the
physics behind these new bouncing regimes and quantify the role played by
various external and internal forces that effect the dynamics of a drop
impacting a complex surface. For the first time, three-dimensional simulations
involving macro-textured surfaces are performed. Aside from demonstrating that
simulations reproduce experiments in a quantitative manner, the study is
focused on analyzing the flow situations beyond current experiments. We show
that the experimentally observed reduction of contact time extends to higher
Weber numbers, and analyze the role played by the texture density. Moreover, we
report a non-linear behavior of the contact time with the increase of the Weber
number for application relevant imperfectly coated textures, and also study the
impact on tilted surfaces in a wide range of Weber numbers. Finally, we present
novel energy analysis techniques that elaborate and quantify the interplay
between the kinetic and surface energy, and the role played by the dissipation
for various Weber numbers.


title:
When almost all sets are difference dominated in
  $\mathbb{Z}/n\mathbb{Z}$

abstract:
  We investigate the behavior of the sum and difference sets of $A \subseteq
\mathbb{Z}/n\mathbb{Z}$ chosen independently and randomly according to a
binomial parameter $p(n) = o(1)$. We show that for rapidly decaying $p(n)$, $A$
is almost surely difference-dominated as $n \to \infty$, but for slowly
decaying $p(n)$, $A$ is almost surely balanced as $n \to \infty$, with a
continuous phase transition as $p(n)$ crosses a critical threshold.
Specifically, we show that if $p(n) = o(n^{-1/2})$, then $|A-A|/|A+A|$
converges to $2$ almost surely as $n \to \infty$ and if $p(n) = c \cdot
n^{-1/2}$, then $|A-A|/|A+A|$ converges to $1+\exp(-c^2/2)$ almost surely as $n
\to \infty$. In these cases, we modify the arguments of Hegarty and Miller on
subsets of $\mathbb{Z}$ to prove our results. When $\sqrt{\log n} \cdot
n^{-1/2} = o(p(n))$, we prove that $|A-A| = |A+A| = n$ almost surely as $n \to
\infty$ if some additional restrictions are placed on $n$. In this case, the
behavior is drastically different from that of subsets of $\mathbb{Z}$ and new
technical issues arise, so a novel approach is needed. When $n^{-1/2} =
o(p(n))$ and $p(n) = o(\sqrt{ \log n} \cdot n^{-1/2})$, the behavior of $|A+A|$
and $|A-A|$ is markedly different and suggests an avenue for further study.
These results establish a "correspondence principle" with the existing results
of Hegarty, Miller, and Vissuet. As $p(n)$ decays more rapidly, the behavior of
subsets of $\mathbb{Z}/n\mathbb{Z}$ approaches the behavior of subsets of
$\mathbb{Z}$ shown by Hegarty and Miller. Moreover, as $p(n)$ decays more
slowly, the behavior of subsets of $\mathbb{Z}/n\mathbb{Z}$ approaches the
behavior shown by Miller and Vissuet in the case where $p(n) = 1/2$.


title: Self-charging of identical grains in the absence of an external field

abstract:
  We investigate the electrostatic charging of an agitated bed of identical
grains using simulations, mathematical modeling, and experiments. We simulate
charging with a discrete-element model including electrical multipoles and find
that infinitesimally small initial charges can grow exponentially rapidly. We
propose a mathematical Turing model that defines conditions for exponential
charging to occur and provides insights into the mechanisms involved. Finally,
we confirm the predicted exponential growth in experiments using vibrated
grains under microgravity, and we describe novel predicted spatiotemporal
states that merit further study.


title:
Subdiffraction incoherent optical imaging via spatial-mode
  demultiplexing

abstract:
  I propose a spatial-mode demultiplexing (SPADE) measurement scheme for the
far-field imaging of spatially incoherent optical sources. For any object too
small to be resolved by direct imaging under the diffraction limit, I show that
SPADE can estimate its second or higher moments much more precisely than direct
imaging can fundamentally do in the presence of photon shot noise. I also prove
that SPADE can approach the optimal precision allowed by quantum mechanics in
estimating the location and scale parameters of a subdiffraction object.
Realizable with far-field linear optics and photon counting, SPADE is expected
to find applications in both fluorescence microscopy and astronomy.


title: Lagrange Multipliers and Third Order Scalar-Tensor Field Theories

abstract:
  In a space of 4-dimensions, I will examine constrained variational problems
in which the Lagrangian, and constraint scalar density, are concomitants of a
(pseudo-Riemannian) metric tensor and its first two derivatives. The Lagrange
multiplier for these constrained extremal problems will be a scalar field. For
suitable choices of the Lagrangian, and constraint, we can obtain
Euler-Lagrange equations which are second order in the scalar field and third
order in the metric tensor. The effect of disformal transformations on the
constraint Lagrangians, and their generalizations, is examined. This will yield
other second order scalar-tensor Lagrangians which yield field equations which
are at most of third order. No attempt is made to construct all possible third
order scalar-tensor Euler-Lagrange equations in a 4-space, although nine
classes of such field equations are presented. Two of these classes admit
subclasses which yield conformally invariant field equations. A few remarks on
scalar-tensor-connection theories are also presented.


title: Universal Continuous Variable Quantum Computation Without Cooling

abstract:
  One of the limitations to the quantum computing capability of a
continuous-variable system is determined by our ability to cool it to the
ground state, because pure logical states, in which we accurately encode
quantum information, are conventionally pure physical states that are
constructed from the ground state. In this work, we present an alternative
quantum computing formalism that encodes logical quantum information in mixed
physical states. We introduce a class of mixed-state protocols that are based
on a parity encoding, and propose an implementation of the universal logic
gates by using realistic hybrid interactions. When comparing with the
conventional pure-state protocols, our formalism could relax the necessity of,
and hence the systemic requirements of cooling. Additionally, the mixed-state
protocols are inherently resilient to a wider class of noise processes, and
reduce the fundamental energy consumption in initialisation. Our work broadens
the candidates of continuous-variable quantum computers.


title: Rohklin dimension for C*-correspondences

abstract:
  We extend the notion of Rokhlin dimension from topological dynamical systems
to $C^*$-correspondences. We show that in the presence of finite Rokhlin
dimension and a mild quasidiagonal-like condition (which, for example, is
automatic for finitely generated projective correspondences), finite nuclear
dimension passes from the scalar algebra to the associated Toeplitz--Pimsner
and (hence) Cuntz--Pimsner algebras. As a consequence we provide new examples
of classifiable $C^*$-algebras: if $A$ is simple, unital, has finite nuclear
dimension and satisfies the UCT, then for every finitely generated projective
$\mathcal{H}$ with finite Rokhlin dimension, the associated Cuntz--Pimsner
algebra $\mathcal{O} (\mathcal{H})$ is classifiable in the sense of Elliott's
Program.


title: On quasi-cyclic subspace codes

abstract:
  Construction of subspace codes with good parameters is one of the most
important problems in random network coding. In this paper we present first a
generalization of the concept of cyclic subspaces codes and further we show
that the usual methods for constructing cyclic subspace codes over finite
fields works for m-quasi cyclic codes, namely the subspaces polynomials and
Frobenius mappings.


title: Convection in Condensible-rich Atmospheres

abstract:
  Condensible substances are nearly ubiquitous in planetary atmospheres. For
the most familiar case-water vapor in Earth's present climate-the condensible
gas is dilute, in the sense that its concentration is everywhere small relative
to the noncondensible background gases. A wide variety of important planetary
climate problems involve nondilute condensible substances. These include
planets near or undergoing a water vapor runaway and planets near the outer
edge of the conventional habitable zone, for which CO2 is the condensible.
Standard representations of convection in climate models rely on several
approximations appropriate only to the dilute limit, while nondilute convection
differs in fundamental ways from dilute convection. In this paper, a simple
parameterization of convection valid in the nondilute as well as dilute limits
is derived and used to discuss the basic character of nondilute convection. The
energy conservation properties of the scheme are discussed in detail and are
verified in radiative-convective simulations. As a further illustration of the
behavior of the scheme, results for a runaway greenhouse atmosphere for both
steady instellation and seasonally varying instellation corresponding to a
highly eccentric orbit are presented. The latter case illustrates that the high
thermal inertia associated with latent heat in nondilute atmospheres can damp
out the effects of even extreme seasonal forcing.


title: DeepCAMP: Deep Convolutional Action & Attribute Mid-Level Patterns

abstract:
  The recognition of human actions and the determination of human attributes
are two tasks that call for fine-grained classification. Indeed, often rather
small and inconspicuous objects and features have to be detected to tell their
classes apart. In order to deal with this challenge, we propose a novel
convolutional neural network that mines mid-level image patches that are
sufficiently dedicated to resolve the corresponding subtleties. In particular,
we train a newly de- signed CNN (DeepPattern) that learns discriminative patch
groups. There are two innovative aspects to this. On the one hand we pay
attention to contextual information in an origi- nal fashion. On the other
hand, we let an iteration of feature learning and patch clustering purify the
set of dedicated patches that we use. We validate our method for action clas-
sification on two challenging datasets: PASCAL VOC 2012 Action and Stanford 40
Actions, and for attribute recogni- tion we use the Berkeley Attributes of
People dataset. Our discriminative mid-level mining CNN obtains state-of-the-
art results on these datasets, without a need for annotations about parts and
poses.


title:
Casimir effect between ponderable media as modeled by the standard model
  extension

abstract:
  The CPT-even sector of the standard model extension amounts to extending
Maxwell electrodynamics by a gauge invariant term of the form $- \frac{1}{4} (k
_{F}) _{\alpha \beta \mu \nu} F ^{\alpha \beta} F ^{\mu \nu}$, where the
Lorentz-violating (LV) background tensor $(k _{F}) _{\alpha \beta \mu \nu}$
possesses the symmetries of the Riemann tensor. The electrodynamics in
ponderable media is still described by Maxwell equations in matter with
modified constitutive relations which depend on the coefficients for Lorentz
violation. We study the effects of this theory on the Casimir force between two
semi-infinite ponderable media. The Fresnel coefficients characterizing the
vacuum-medium interface are derived, and with the help of these, we compute the
Casimir energy density. At leading-order in the LV coefficients, the Casimir
energy density is numerically evaluated and successfully compared with the
standard result. We also found a variety of intriguing effects, such as a
non-trivial Kerr effect and the Casimir effect between two phases of the
electromagnetic vacuum. We consider a bubble of Lorentz-symmetric (Maxwell)
vacuum embedded in the infinite Lorentz-violating vacuum, and we calculate the
Casimir energy at leading order, which in this case is quadratic in the LV
coefficients. The Casimir force can be positive, zero, or negative, depending
on the relative strengths between the LV coefficients.


title: The Heisenberg group acts on a strictly convex domain

abstract:
  This paper gives the first example of a unipotent group that is not virtually
abelian and preserves a strictly convex domain.


title: Distributed Degree Splitting, Edge Coloring, and Orientations

abstract:
  We study a family of closely-related distributed graph problems, which we
call degree splitting, where roughly speaking the objective is to partition (or
orient) the edges such that each node's degree is split almost uniformly. Our
findings lead to answers for a number of problems, a sampling of which
includes:
  -- We present a $poly(\log n)$ round deterministic algorithm for
$(2\Delta-1)\cdot (1+o(1))$-edge-coloring, where $\Delta$ denotes the maximum
degree. Modulo the $1+o(1)$ factor, this settles one of the long-standing open
problems of the area from the 1990's (see e.g. Panconesi and Srinivasan
[PODC'92]). Indeed, a weaker requirement of $(2\Delta-1)\cdot poly(\log
\Delta)$-edge-coloring in $poly(\log n)$ rounds was asked for in the 4th open
question in the Distributed Graph Coloring book by Barenboim and Elkin.
  -- We show that sinkless orientation---i.e., orienting edges such that each
node has at least one outgoing edge---on $\Delta$-regular graphs can be solved
in $O(\log_{\Delta} \log n)$ rounds randomized and in $O(\log_{\Delta} n)$
rounds deterministically. These prove the corresponding lower bounds by Brandt
et al. [STOC'16] and Chang, Kopelowitz, and Pettie [FOCS'16] to be tight.
Moreover, these show that sinkless orientation exhibits an exponential
separation between its randomized and deterministic complexities, akin to the
results of Chang et al. for $\Delta$-coloring $\Delta$-regular trees.
  -- We present a randomized $O(\log^4 n)$ round algorithm for orienting
$a$-arboricity graphs with maximum out-degree $a(1+\epsilon)$. This can be also
turned into a decomposition into $a (1+\epsilon)$ forests when $a=\Omega(\log
n)$ and into $a (1+\epsilon)$ pseduo-forests when $a=o(\log n)$. Obtaining an
efficient distributed decomposition into less than $2a$ forests was stated as
the 10th open problem in the book by Barenboim and Elkin.


title:
Compact setup for the production of $^{87}$Rb $|F = 2, m_F = +2\rangle$
  Bose-Einstein condensates in a hybrid trap

abstract:
  We present a compact experimental apparatus for Bose-Einstein condensation of
$^{87}$Rb in the $|F = 2, m_F = +2\rangle$ state. A pre-cooled atomic beam of
$^{87}$Rb is obtained by using an unbalanced magneto-optical trap, allowing
controlled transfer of trapped atoms from the first vacuum chamber to the
science chamber. Here, atoms are transferred to a hybrid trap, as produced by
overlapping a magnetic quadrupole trap with a far-detuned optical trap with
crossed beam configuration, where forced radiofrequency evaporation is
realized. The final evaporation leading to Bose-Einstein condensation is then
performed by exponentially lowering the optical trap depth. Control and
stabilization systems of the optical trap beams are discussed in detail. The
setup reliably produces a pure condensate in the $|F = 2, m_F = +2\rangle$
state in 50 s, which include 33 s loading of the science magneto-optical trap
and 17 s forced evaporation.


title: Noetherian symmetries of noncentral forces with drag term

abstract:
  We consider the Noetherian symmetries of second-order ODEs subjected to
forces with nonzero curl. Both position and velocity dependent forces are
considered. In the former case the first integrals are shown to follow from the
symmetries of the celebrated Emden-Fowler equation.

categories: math-ph math.CA math.MP physics.class-ph


title:
Exchange bias in a mixed metal oxide based magnetocaloric compound
  YFe0.5Cr0.5O3

abstract:
  We report a detailed investigation of magnetization, magnetocaloric effect
and exchange bias studies on a mixed metal oxide YFe0.5Cr0.5O3 belonging to
perovskite family. Our results reveal that the compound is in canted magnetic
state (CMS) where ferromagnetic correlations are present in an
antiferromagnetic state. Magnetic entropy change of this compound follows a
power law (deltaS_M ~ H^m) dependence of magnetic field. In this compound,
inverse magnetocaloric effect (IMCE) is observed below 260 K while conventional
magnetocaloric effect (CMCE) above it. The exponent m is found to be
independent of temperature and field only in the IMCE region. Investigation of
temperature and magnetic field dependence studies of exchange bias, reveal a
competition between effective Zeeman energy of the ferromagnetic regions and
anisotropic exchange energy at the interface between ferromagnetic and
antiferromagnetic regions. Variation of exchange bias due to temperature and
field cycling is also investigated.


title: On weakly $sigma$-permutable subgroups of finite groups

abstract:
  Let G be a finite group and {\sigma} = {{\sigma}_i, i \in I} be a partition
of the set of all primes \mathbb{P}. A set \mathcal{H} of subgroups of G with 1
\in \mathcal{H} is said to be a complete Hall {\sigma}-set of G if every
non-identity member of \mathcal{H} is a Hall {\sigma}_i-subgroup of G. A
subgroup H of G is said to be {\sigma}-permutable if G possesses a complete
Hall {\sigma}-set \mathcal{H} such that HA^x = A^xH for all A \in \mathcal{H}
and all x \in G. We say that a subgroup H of G is weakly {\sigma}-permutable in
G if there exists a {\sigma}-subnormal subgroup T of G such that G = HT and H
\cap T \leq H_{\sigma}G. where H_{\sigma}G is the subgroup of H generated by
all those subgroups of H which are {\sigma}-permutable in G. By using this new
notion, we establish some new criterias for a group G to be a {\sigma}-soluble
and supersoluble, and also we give the conditions under which a normal subgroup
of G is hypercyclically embedded.


title:
Badly approximable points on self-affine sponges and the lower Assouad
  dimension

abstract:
  We highlight a connection between Diophantine approximation and the lower
Assouad dimension by using information about the latter to show that the
Hausdorff dimension of the set of badly approximable points that lie in certain
non-conformal fractals, known as self-affine sponges, is bounded below by the
dynamical dimension of these fractals. In particular, for self-affine sponges
with equal Hausdorff and dynamical dimensions, the set of badly approximable
points has full Hausdorff dimension in the sponge. Our results, which are the
first to advance beyond the conformal setting, encompass both the case of
Sierpi\'nski sponges/carpets (also known as Bedford-McMullen sponges/carpets)
and the case of Bara\'nski carpets. We use the fact that the lower Assouad
dimension of a hyperplane diffuse set constitutes a lower bound for the
Hausdorff dimension of the set of badly approximable points in that set.


title: Drift Analysis and Evolutionary Algorithms Revisited

abstract:
  One of the easiest randomized greedy optimization algorithms is the following
evolutionary algorithm which aims at maximizing a boolean function $f:\{0,1\}^n
\to {\mathbb R}$. The algorithm starts with a random search point $\xi \in
\{0,1\}^n$, and in each round it flips each bit of $\xi$ with probability $c/n$
independently at random, where $c>0$ is a fixed constant. The thus created
offspring $\xi'$ replaces $\xi$ if and only if $f(\xi') \ge f(\xi)$. The
analysis of the runtime of this simple algorithm on monotone and on linear
functions turned out to be highly non-trivial. In this paper we review known
results and provide new and self-contained proofs of partly stronger results.


title: Knot Homology and sheaves on the Hilbert scheme of points on the plane

abstract:
  For each braid $\beta\in Br_n$ we construct a $2$-periodic complex
$\mathbb{S}_\beta$ of quasi-coherent $\mathbb{C}^*\times
\mathbb{C}^*$-equivariant sheaves on the non-commutative nested Hilbert scheme
$Hilb_{1,n}^{free}$. We show that the triply graded vector space of the
hypecohomology $ \mathbb{H}( \mathbb{S}_{\beta}\otimes \wedge^\bullet
(\mathcal{B}))$ with $\mathcal{B}$ being tautological vector bundle, is an
isotopy invariant of the knot obtained by the closure of $\beta$. We also show
that the support of cohomology of the complex $\mathbb{S}_\beta$ is supported
on the ordinary nested Hilbert scheme $Hilb_{1,n}\subset Hilb_{1,n}^{free}$,
that allows us to relate the triply graded knot homology to the sheaves on
$Hilb_{1,n}$.


title:
Effect of rare-earth (Er and Gd) substitution on the magnetic and
  multiferroic properties of DyFe0.5Cr0.5O3

abstract:
  We report the results of our investigations on the influence of partial
substitution of Er and Gd for Dy on the magnetic and magnetoelectric properties
of DyFe0.5Cr0.5O3, which is known to be a multiferroic system. Magnetic
susceptibility and heat capacity data, apart from confirming the occurrence of
magnetic transitions at ~ 121 and 13 K in DyFe0.5Cr0.5O3, bring out that the
lower transition temperature only is suppressed by rare-earth substitution.
Multiferroic behavior is found to persist in Dy0.4Ln0.6Fe0.5Cr0.5O3 (Ln= Er and
Gd). There is an evidence for magnetoelectric coupling in all these materials
with qualitative differences in its behavior as the temperature is changed
across these two transitions. Remnant electric polarization is observed for all
the compounds. The most notable observation is that electric polarization is
seen to get enhanced as a result of rare-earth substitution with respect to
that in DyFe0.5Cr0.5O3. Interestingly, similar trend is seen in magnetocaloric
effect, consistent with the existence of magnetoelectric coupling. The results
thus provide evidence for the tuning of magnetoelectric coupling by rare-earth
substitution in this family of oxides.


title: A Non-Commutative Unitary Analogue of Kirchberg's Conjecture

abstract:
  The $C^{\ast}$-algebra $\mathcal{U}_{nc}(n)$ is the universal
$C^{\ast}$-algebra generated by $n^2$ generators $u_{ij}$ that make up a
unitary matrix. We prove that Kirchberg's formulation of Connes' embedding
problem has a positive answer if and only if $\mathcal{U}_{nc}(2)
\otimes_{\min} \mathcal{U}_{nc}(2)=\mathcal{U}_{nc}(2) \otimes_{\max}
\mathcal{U}_{nc}(2)$. Our results follow from properties of the
finite-dimensional operator system $\mathcal{V}_n$ spanned by $1$ and the
generators of $\mathcal{U}_{nc}(n)$. We show that $\mathcal{V}_n$ is an
operator system quotient of $M_{2n}$ and has the OSLLP. We obtain necessary and
sufficient conditions on $\mathcal{V}_n$ for there to be a positive answer to
Kirchberg's problem. Finally, in analogy with recent results of Ozawa, we show
that a form of Tsirelson's problem related to $\mathcal{V}_n$ is equivalent to
Connes' Embedding problem.


title:
AOLI: Near-diffraction limited imaging in the visible on large
  ground-based telescopes

abstract:
  The combination of Lucky Imaging with a low order adaptive optics system was
demonstrated very successfully on the Palomar 5m telescope nearly 10 years ago.
It is still the only system to give such high-resolution images in the visible
or near infrared on ground-based telescope of faint astronomical targets. The
development of AOLI for deployment initially on the WHT 4.2 m telescope in La
Palma, Canary Islands, will be described in this paper. In particular, we will
look at the design and status of our low order curvature wavefront sensor which
has been somewhat simplified to make it more efficient, ensuring coverage over
much of the sky with natural guide stars as reference object. AOLI uses
optically butted electron multiplying CCDs to give an imaging array of 2000 x
2000 pixels.


title:
A Class of LQC--inspired Models for Homogeneous, Anisotropic Cosmology
  in Higher Dimensional Early Universe

abstract:
  The dynamics of a (3 + 1) dimensional homogeneous anisotropic universe is
modified by Loop Quantum Cosmology and, consequently, it has generically a big
bounce in the past instead of a big-bang singularity. This modified dynamics
can be well described by effective equations of motion. We generalise these
effective equations of motion empirically to (d + 1) dimensions. The
generalised equations involve two functions and may be considered as a class of
LQC -- inspired models for (d + 1) dimensional early universe cosmology. As a
special case, one can now obtain a universe which has neither a big bang
singularity nor a big bounce but approaches asymptotically a `Hagedorn like'
phase in the past where its density and volume remain constant. In a few
special cases, we also obtain explicit solutions.


title:
Inner jet kinematics and the viewing angle towards the {\gamma}-ray
  narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy 1H 0323+342

abstract:
  Near-Eddington accretion rates onto low-mass black holes are thought to be a
prime driver of the multi-wavelength properties of the narrow-line Seyfert 1
(NLS1) population of active galactic nuclei (AGN). Orientation effects have
repeatedly been considered as another important factor involved, but detailed
studies have been hampered by the lack of measured viewing angles towards this
type of AGN. Here we present multi-epoch, 15 GHz VLBA images (MOJAVE program)
of the radio-loud and Fermi/LAT-detected NLS1 galaxy 1H 323+342. These are
combined with single-dish, multi-frequency radio monitoring of the source's
variability, obtained with the Effelsberg 100-m and IRAM 30-m telescopes, in
the course of the F-GAMMA program. The VLBA images reveal 6 components with
apparent peeds of ~1 to ~7 c, and one quasi-stationary feature. Combining the
obtained apparent jet speed ($\beta_{app}$) and variability Doppler factor
($D_{var}$) estimates together with other methods, we constrain the viewing
angle towards 1H 0323+342 to $\theta \leq 4 - 13$ deg. Using literature values
of $\beta_{app}$ and $D_{var}$, we also deduce a viewing angle of $\leq$ 8-9
deg towards another radio- and {\gamma}-ray-loud NLS1, namely SBS 0846+513.


title: Extremely High Q-factor metamaterials due to Anapole Excitation

abstract:
  We demonstrate that ideal anapole metamaterials have infinite Q-factor. We
have designed and fabricated a metamaterial consisting of planar metamolecules
which exhibit anapole behavior in the sense that the electric dipole radiation
is almost cancelled by the toroidal dipole one, producing thus an extremely
high Q-factor at the resonance frequency. The size of the system, at the mm
range, and the parasitic magnetic quadrupole radiation are the factors limiting
the size of the Q-factor. In spite of the very low radiation losses the local
fields at the metamolecules are extremely high, of the order of higher than the
external incoming field.


title:
Imperfect Energy Conservation of the Free-Electron Laser over the
  Timestep of Simulations

abstract:
  Along the development of free-electron laser operating at the wavelength of
X-ray, the importance of investigation on the radiation has increased. A
theoretical simulation is an essential tool for studying existing and proposed
experiments. The available simulations preserve net energy conservation over
the timestep, upholding causality between the electrons' power and the radiated
energy flux. However, according to Wheeler-Feynman time-symmetric theory, the
timestep is too short to ensure this. Therefore, the time evolution of
electrons and radiation field predicted by the simulations should contradict
the correct physics, regardless of whether the stimulated emission dominates
over the spontaneous emission or not.


title:
Gaze2Segment: A Pilot Study for Integrating Eye-Tracking Technology into
  Medical Image Segmentation

abstract:
  This study introduced a novel system, called Gaze2Segment, integrating
biological and computer vision techniques to support radiologists' reading
experience with an automatic image segmentation task. During diagnostic
assessment of lung CT scans, the radiologists' gaze information were used to
create a visual attention map. This map was then combined with a
computer-derived saliency map, extracted from the gray-scale CT images. The
visual attention map was used as an input for indicating roughly the location
of a object of interest. With computer-derived saliency information, on the
other hand, we aimed at finding foreground and background cues for the object
of interest. At the final step, these cues were used to initiate a seed-based
delineation process. Segmentation accuracy of the proposed Gaze2Segment was
found to be 86% with dice similarity coefficient and 1.45 mm with Hausdorff
distance. To the best of our knowledge, Gaze2Segment is the first true
integration of eye-tracking technology into a medical image segmentation task
without the need for any further user-interaction.


title:
Uniform spatial distribution of collagen fibril radii within tendon
  implies local activation of pC-collagen at individual fibrils

abstract:
  Collagen fibril cross-sectional radii show no systematic variation between
the interior and the periphery of fibril bundles, indicating an effectively
constant rate of collagen incorporation into fibrils throughout the bundle.
Such spatially homogeneous incorporation constrains the extracellular diffusion
of collagen precursors from sources at the bundle boundary to sinks at the
growing fibrils. With a coarse-grained diffusion equation we determine
stringent bounds, using parameters extracted from published experimental
measurements of tendon development. From the lack of new fibril formation after
birth, we further require that the concentration of diffusing precursors stays
below the critical concentration for fibril nucleation. We find that the
combination of the diffusive bound, which requires larger concentrations to
ensure homogeneous fibril radii, and lack of nucleation, which requires lower
concentrations, is only marginally consistent with fully-processed collagen
using conservative bounds. More realistic bounds may leave no consistent
concentrations. Therefore, we propose that unprocessed pC-collagen diffuses
from the bundle periphery followed by local C-proteinase activity and
subsequent collagen incorporation at each fibril. We suggest that C-proteinase
is localized within bundles, at fibril surfaces, during radial fibrillar
growth. The much greater critical concentration of pC-collagen, as compared to
fully-processed collagen, then provides broad consistency between homogeneous
fibril radii and the lack of fibril nucleation during fibril growth.


title: Managing counterparty credit risk via BSDEs

abstract:
  We discuss a general dynamic replication approach to counterparty credit risk
modeling. This leads to a fundamental jump-process backward stochastic
differential equation (BSDE) for the credit risk adjusted portfolio value. We
then reduce the fundamental BSDE to a continuous BSDE. Depending on the close
out value convention, the reduced fundamental BSDE's solution can be
represented explicitly or through an accurate approximate expression.
Furthermore, we discuss practical aspects of the approach, important for the
its industry applications: (i) efficient numerical methodology for solving a
BSDE driven by a moderate number of Brownian motions, and (ii) factor reduction
methodology that allows one to approximately replace a portfolio driven by a
large number of risk factors with a portfolio driven by a moderate number of
risk factors.


title: Antiferromagnetic multi-level memory cell

abstract:
  Antiferromagnets (AFs) are remarkable magnetically ordered materials that due
to the absence of a net magnetic moment do not generate dipolar fields and are
insensitive to external magnetic field perturbations. However, it has been
notoriously difficult to control antiferromagnetic moments by any practical
means suitable for device applications. This has left AFs over their hundred
years history virtually unexploited and only poorly explored, in striking
contrast to the thousands of years of fascination and utility of
ferromagnetism. Very recently it has been predicted and experimentally
confirmed that relativistic spin-orbit torques can provide the means for
efficient electrical control of an AF. Here we place the emerging field of
antiferromagnetic spintronics on the map of non-volatile solid state memory
technologies. We demonstrate the complete write/store/read functionality in an
antiferromagnetic CuMnAs bit cell embedded in a standard printed circuit board
communicating with a computer via a USB interface. We show that the
elementary-shape bit cells fabricated from a single-layer AF are electrically
written on timescales ranging from milliseconds to nanoseconds and we
demonstrate their deterministic multi-level switching. The multi-level cell
characteristics, reflecting series of reproducible, electrically controlled
domain reconfigurations, allow us to integrate memory and signal counter
functionalities within the bit cell.


title: Effects of inclined star-disk encounter on protoplanetary disk size

abstract:
  Most, if not all, young stars are initially surrounded by protoplanetary
disks. Owing to the preferential formation of stars in stellar clusters, the
protoplanetary disks around these stars may potentially be affected by the
cluster environment. Various works have investigated the influence of stellar
fly-bys on disks, although many of them consider only the effects due to
parabolic, coplanar encounters often for equal-mass stars, which is only a very
special case. We perform numerical simulations to study the fate of
protoplanetary disks after the impact of parabolic star-disk encounter for the
less investigated case of inclined up to coplanar, retrograde encounters, which
is a much more common case. Here, we concentrate on the disk size after such
encounters because this limits the size of the potentially forming planetary
systems. In addition, with the possibilities that ALMA offers, now a direct
comparison to observations is possible. Covering a wide range of periastron
distances and mass ratios between the mass of the perturber and central star,
we find that despite the prograde, coplanar encounters having the strongest
effect on the disk size, inclined and even the least destructive retrograde
encounters mostly also have a considerable effect, especially for close
periastron passages. Interestingly, we find a nearly linear dependence of the
disk size on the orbital inclination for the prograde encounters, but not for
the retrograde case. We also determine the final orbital parameters of the
particles in the disk such as eccentricities, inclinations, and semi-major
axes. Using this information the presented study can be used to describe the
fate of disks and also that of planetary systems after inclined encounters.


title: Fractional Calculus In Image Processing: A Review

abstract:
  Over the last decade, it has been demonstrated that many systems in science
and engineering can be modeled more accurately by fractional-order than
integer-order derivatives, and many methods are developed to solve the problem
of fractional systems. Due to the extra free parameter order, fractional-order
based methods provide additional degree of freedom in optimization performance.
Not surprisingly, many fractional-order based methods have been used in image
processing field. Herein recent studies are reviewed in ten sub-fields, which
include image enhancement, image denoising, image edge detection, image
segmentation, image registration, image recognition, image fusion, image
encryption, image compression and image restoration. In sum, it is well proved
that as a fundamental mathematic tool, fractional-order derivative shows great
success in image processing.


title: An Erd\H{o}s-Gallai type theorem for uniform hypergraphs

abstract:
  A well-known theorem of Erd\H{o}s and Gallai asserts that a graph with no
path of length $k$ contains at most $\frac{1}{2}(k-1)n$ edges. Recently
Gy\H{o}ri, Katona and Lemons gave an extension of this result to hypergraphs by
determining the maximum number of hyperedges in an $r$-uniform hypergraph
containing no Berge path of length $k$ for all values of $r$ and $k$ except for
$k=r+1$. We settle the remaining case by proving that an $r$-uniform hypergraph
with more than $n$ hyperedges must contain a Berge path of length $r+1$.


title:
Major Merger Galaxy Pairs at z=0: Dust Properties and Companion
  Morphology

abstract:
  We present an analysis of dust properties of a sample of close major-merger
galaxy pairs selected by K_s magnitude and redshift. The pairs represent the
two populations of spiral-spiral (S+S) and mixed morphology spiral-elliptical
(S+E). The CIGALE (Code Investigating GALaxy Emission) is used to fit dust
models to the 2MASS, WISE and Herschel flux density measurements and derive the
parameters describing the PAH contribution, interstellar radiation field (ISRF)
and photo-dissociation regions (PDRs). Model fits verify our previous Spitzer
Space Telescope analysis that S+S and S+E pairs do not have the same level of
enhancement of star formation and differ in dust composition. The spirals of
mixed morphology galaxy pairs do not exhibit the enhancements in interstellar
radiation field and therefore dust temperature for spirals in S+S pairs in
contrast to what would be expected according to standard models of gas
redistribution due to encounter torques. This suggests the importance of the
companion environment/morphology in determining the dust properties of a spiral
galaxy in a close major-merger pair.


title: Universality of local statistics for noncolliding random walks

abstract:
  We consider the $N$-particle noncolliding Bernoulli random walk --- a
discrete time Markov process in $\mathbb{Z}^{N}$ obtained from a collection of
$N$ independent simple random walks with steps $\in\{0,1\}$ by conditioning
that they never collide. We study the asymptotic behavior of local statistics
of this process started from an arbitrary initial configuration on short times
$T\ll N$ as $N\to+\infty$. We show that if the particle density of the initial
configuration is bounded away from $0$ and $1$ down to scales $\mathsf{D}\ll T$
in a neighborhood of size $\mathsf{Q}\gg T$ of some location $x$ (i.e., $x$ is
in the "bulk"), and the initial configuration is balanced in a certain sense,
then the space-time local statistics at $x$ are asymptotically governed by the
extended discrete sine process (which can be identified with a translation
invariant ergodic Gibbs measure on lozenge tilings of the plane). We also
establish similar results for certain types of random initial data. Our proofs
are based on a detailed analysis of the determinantal correlation kernel for
the noncolliding Bernoulli random walk.
  The noncolliding Bernoulli random walk is a discrete analogue of the
$\beta=2$ Dyson Brownian Motion whose local statistics are universality
governed by the continuous sine process. Our results parallel the ones in the
continuous case. In addition, we naturally include situations with
inhomogeneous local particle density on scale $T$, which nontrivially affects
parameters of the limiting extended sine process, and in a particular case
leads to a new behavior.


title:
Star cluster formation in cosmological simulations. I. Properties of
  young clusters

abstract:
  We present a new implementation of star formation in cosmological
simulations, by considering star clusters as a unit of star formation. Cluster
particles grow in mass over several million years at the rate determined by
local gas properties, with high time resolution. The particle growth is
terminated by its own energy and momentum feedback on the interstellar medium.
We test this implementation for Milky Way-sized galaxies at high redshift, by
comparing the properties of model clusters with observations of young star
clusters. We find that the cluster initial mass function is best described by a
Schechter function rather than a single power law. In agreement with
observations, at low masses the logarithmic slope is $\alpha\approx 1.8-2$,
while the cutoff at high mass scales with the star formation rate. A related
trend is a positive correlation between the surface density of star formation
rate and fraction of stars contained in massive clusters. Both trends indicate
that the formation of massive star clusters is preferred during bursts of star
formation. These bursts are often associated with major merger events. We also
find that the median timescale for cluster formation ranges from 0.5 to 4 Myr
and decreases systematically with increasing star formation efficiency. Local
variations in the gas density and cluster accretion rate naturally lead to the
scatter of the overall formation efficiency by an order of magnitude, even when
the instantaneous efficiency is kept constant. Comparison of the formation
timescale with the observed age spread of young star clusters provides an
additional important constraint on the modeling of star formation and feedback
schemes.


title: On the Complexity of Closest Pair via Polar-Pair of Point-Sets

abstract:
  Every graph $G$ can be represented by a collection of equi-radii spheres in a
$d$-dimensional metric $\Delta$ such that there is an edge $uv$ in $G$ if and
only if the spheres corresponding to $u$ and $v$ intersect. The smallest
integer $d$ such that $G$ can be represented by a collection of spheres (all of
the same radius) in $\Delta$ is called the sphericity of $G$, and if the
collection of spheres are non-overlapping, then the value $d$ is called the
contact-dimension of $G$. In this paper, we study the sphericity and contact
dimension of the complete bipartite graph $K_{n,n}$ in various $L^p$-metrics
and consequently connect the complexity of the monochromatic closest pair and
bichromatic closest pair problems.


title: From semigroups to $\Gamma$-semigroups and to hypersemigroups

abstract:
  This paper serves as an example to show the way we pass from semigroups to
$\Gamma$-semigroups and to hypersemigroups.


title: Hyperscaling Violating Solutions in Generalised EMD Theory

abstract:
  This short note is devoted to deriving scaling but hyperscaling violating
solutions in a generalised Einstein-Maxwell-Dilaton theory with an arbitrary
number of scalars and vectors. We obtain analytic solutions in some special
case and discuss the physical constraints on the allowed parameter range in
order to have a well-defined holographic ground-state solution.


title: Combination of LMS Adaptive Filters with Coefficients Feedback

abstract:
  Parallel combinations of adaptive filters have been effectively used to
improve the performance of adaptive algorithms and address well-known
trade-offs, such as convergence rate vs. steady-state error. Nevertheless,
typical combinations suffer from a convergence stagnation issue due to the fact
that the component filters run independently. Solutions to this issue usually
involve conditional transfers of coefficients between filters, which although
effective, are hard to generalize to combinations with more filters or when
there is no clearly faster adaptive filter. In this work, a more natural
solution is proposed by cyclically feeding back the combined coefficient vector
to all component filters. Besides coping with convergence stagnation, this new
topology improves tracking and supervisor stability, and bridges an important
conceptual gap between combinations of adaptive filters and variable step size
schemes. We analyze the steady-state, tracking, and transient performance of
this topology for LMS component filters and supervisors with generic activation
functions. Numerical examples are used to illustrate how coefficients feedback
can improve the performance of parallel combinations at a small computational
overhead.


title: On Periodic Points of Symplectomorphisms on Surfaces

abstract:
  We construct a symplectic flow on a surface of genus g greater than one with
exactly 2g-2 hyperbolic fixed points and no other periodic orbits. Moreover, we
prove that a (strongly non-degenerate) symplectomorphism of a surface (with
genus g greater than one) isotopic to the identity has infinitely many periodic
points if there exists a fixed point with non-zero mean index. From this
result, we obtain two corollaries, namely that such a symplectomorphism with an
elliptic fixed point or with strictly more than 2g-2 fixed points has
infinitely many periodic points provided that the flux of the isotopy is
"irrational".


title: Strings in Singular Space-Times and their Universal Gauge Theory

abstract:
  We study the propagation of bosonic strings in singular target space-times.
For describing this, we assume this target space to be the quotient of a smooth
manifold $M$ by a singular foliation ${\cal F}$ on it. Using the technical tool
of a gauge theory, we propose a smooth functional for this scenario, such that
the propagation is assured to lie in the singular target on-shell, i.e. only
after taking into account the gauge invariant content of the theory. One of the
main new aspects of our approach is that we do not limit ${\cal F}$ to be
generated by a group action. We will show that, whenever it exists, the above
gauging is effectuated by a single geometrical and universal gauge theory,
whose target space is the generalized tangent bundle $TM\oplus T^*M$.


title:
Choosing Collaboration Partners. How Scientific Success in Physics
  Depends on Network Positions

abstract:
  Physics is one of the most successful endeavors in science. Being a
prototypic big science it also reflects the growing tendency for scientific
collaborations. Utilizing 250,000 papers from ArXiv.org a prepublishing
platform prevalent in Physics we construct large coauthorship networks to
investigate how individual network positions influence scientific success. In
this context, success is seen as getting a paper published in high impact
journals of physical subdisciplines as compared to not getting it published at
all or in rather peripheral journals only. To control the nested levels of
authors and papers, and to consider the time elapsing between working paper and
prominent journal publication we employ multilevel eventhistory models with
various network measures as covariates. Our results show that the maintenance
of even a moderate number of persistent ties is crucial for scientific success.
Also, even with low volumes of social capital Physicists who occupy brokerage
positions enhance their chances of articles in high impact journals
significantly. Surprisingly, inter(sub)disciplinary collaborations decrease the
probability of getting a paper published in specialized journals for almost all
positions.


title: On special submanifolds of the Page space

abstract:
  In this paper, we study some classes of submanifolds of codimension one and
two in the Page space. These submanifolds are totally geodesic. We also compute
their curvature and show that some of them are constant curvature spaces.
Finally we give information on how the Page space is related to some other
metrics on the same underlying smooth manifold.


title:
Relativistic coupling of internal and center of mass dynamics in
  classical and simple bound quantum mechanical systems

abstract:
  Einstein's famous equation $E_{\rm rest}=mc^2$ for the rest energy of a
system with mass $m$ requires that the internal energy of the system be
included in $m$. Pursuing this idea using Lagrangian and Hamiltonian dynamics
yields a relativistic coupling between the center of mass motion and the
internal dynamics of the system. Here we explore the consequences of this
coupling, first classically, where we find that the dynamics of the system is
time dilated when moving relative to another inertial frame. We then apply the
dynamics to a quantum 2-level atom bound in a 1-dimensional infinite potential
well, and show that the coupling produces collapses and revivals in quantum
interference.


title: Flavor Cosmology: Dynamical Yukawas in the Froggatt-Nielsen Mechanism

abstract:
  Can the cosmological dynamics responsible for settling down the present
values of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix be related to electroweak
symmetry breaking? If the Standard Model Yukawa couplings varied in the early
universe and started with order one values before electroweak symmetry
breaking, the CP violation associated with the CKM matrix could be the origin
of the matter-antimatter asymmetry. The large effective Yukawa couplings which
lead to the enhanced CP violation can also help in achieving a strong
first-order electroweak phase transition. We study in detail the feasibility of
this idea by implementing dynamical Yukawa couplings in the context of the
Froggatt--Nielsen mechanism. We discuss two main realizations of such a
mechanism, related phenomenology, cosmological and collider bounds, and provide
an estimate of the baryonic yield. A generic prediction is that this scenario
always features a new scalar field below the electroweak scale. We point out
ways to get around this conclusion.


title: Dynamical Structure of the Fields in the Light Cone Coordinates

abstract:
  It is well-known that additional constraints emerge in light cone
coordinates. We enumerate the number of physical modes in light cone
coordinates and compare it with conventional coordinates. We show that the
number of Schrodinger modes is divided by two in light cone coordinates. We
study the effect of this reduction in the number ladder operators acting on
physical states of a system. We analyse the scaler, spinor and vector field
theories carefully to see the effect of changes in the dynamical structure of
these theories from the view point of the reduction of Schrodinger modes in
light-cone coordinates.


title: When Sets Can and Cannot Have MSTD Subsets

abstract:
  A finite set of integers $A$ is a sum-dominant (also called an More Sums Than
Differences or MSTD) set if $|A+A| > |A-A|$. While almost all subsets of $\{0,
\dots, n\}$ are not sum-dominant, interestingly a small positive percentage
are. We explore sufficient conditions on infinite sets of positive integers
such that there are either no sum-dominant subsets, at most finitely many
sum-dominant subsets, or infinitely many sum-dominant subsets. In particular,
we prove no subset of the Fibonacci numbers is a sum-dominant set, establish
conditions such that solutions to a recurrence relation have only finitely many
sum-dominant subsets, and show there are infinitely many sum-dominant subsets
of the primes.


title: Detecting Markov Chain Instability: A Monte Carlo Approach

abstract:
  We devise a Monte Carlo based method for detecting whether a non-negative
Markov chain is stable for a given set of parameter values. More precisely, for
a given subset of the parameter space, we develop an algorithm that is capable
of deciding whether the set has a subset of positive Lebesgue measure for which
the Markov chain is unstable. The approach is based on a variant of simulated
annealing, and consequently only mild assumptions are needed to obtain
performance guarantees.
  The theoretical underpinnings of our algorithm are based on a result stating
that the stability of a set of parameters can be phrased in terms of the
stability of a single Markov chain that searches the set for unstable
parameters. Our framework leads to a procedure that is capable of performing
statistically rigorous tests for instability, which has been extensively tested
using several examples of standard and non-standard queueing networks.


title: Master Equation approach to Reversible and Conservative Discrete Systems

abstract:
  A master equation approach is applied to a reversible and conservative
cellular automata model (Q2R). The Q2R model is a dynamical variation of the
Ising model for ferromagnetism that possesses quite a rich and complex
dynamics. The configurational space is composed by a huge number of cycles with
exponentially long periods. Following Nicolis and Nicolis [Phys. Rev. A 38,
427-433 (1988)], a coarse-graining approach is applied to the time series of
the total magnetization leading to a master equation that governs the
macroscopic irreversible dynamics of the Q2R automata. The methodology is
replicated for various lattice sizes. In the case of small systems, it is shown
that the master equation leads to a tractable probability transfer matrix of
moderate size which provides a master equation for a coarse-grained probability
distribution. The method is validated and some explicit examples are discussed.


title: Dipaths of length at least double the minimum outdegree

abstract:
  A special case of a conjecture by Thomass\'e is that any oriented graph with
minimum outdegree k contains a dipath of length 2k. For the sake of proving
whether or not a counterexample exists, we present reductions and establish
bounds on both connectivity and the number of vertices in a counterexample. We
further conjecture that in any oriented graph with minimum outdegree k, every
vertex belongs to a dipath of length 2k.


title: Duality Approach to Bilevel Programs with a Convex Lower Level

abstract:
  Bilevel programs are optimization problems where some variables are solutions
to optimization problems themselves, and they arise in a variety of control
applications, including: control of vehicle traffic networks, inverse
reinforcement learning and inverse optimization, and robust control for
human-automation systems. This paper develops a duality-based approach to
solving bilevel programs where the lower level problem is convex. Our approach
is to use partial dualization to construct a new dual function that is
differentiable, unlike the Lagrangian dual that is only directionally
differentiable. We use our dual to define a duality-based reformulation of
bilevel programs, prove equivalence of our reformulation with the original
bilevel program, and then introduce regularization to ensure constraint
qualification holds. These technical results about our new dual and regularized
duality-based reformulation are used to provide theoretical justification for
an algorithm we construct for solving bilevel programs with a convex lower
level, and we conclude by demonstrating the efficacy of our algorithm by
solving two practical instances of bilevel programs.


title: Graphene through the looking glass of QFT

abstract:
  This paper is aimed to review and promote the main applications of the
methods of Quantum Field Theory to description of quantum effects in graphene.
We formulate the effective electromagnetic action following from the Dirac
model for the quasiparticles in graphene and apply it for derivation of
different observable effects like the induced mean charge, quantized
conductivity, Faraday effect, and Casimir interaction involving graphene
samples.


title: A family of integrable evolution equations of third order

abstract:
  We construct a family of integrable equations of the form
$v_t=f(v,v_x,v_{xx},v_{xxx})$ such that $f$ is a transcendental function in
$v,v_x,v_{xx}$. This family is related to the Krichever-Novikov equation by a
differential substitution. Our construction of integrable equations and the
corresponding differential substitutions involves geometry of a family of genus
two curves and their Jacobians.


title: Identifying the nature of high energy Astroparticles

abstract:
  High energy Astroparticles include Cosmic Ray, gamma ray and neutrinos, all
of them coming from the universe. The origin and production, acceleration and
propagation mechanisms of ultrahigh-energy CR (up to $10^{20}$ eV) are still
unknown. Knowledge on particle interactions taking place at those energies,
useful for studying current theories on particle physics, can be obtained only
from measurements of high energy astroparticles. In the present document some
techniques on data analysis of mass composition of UHECR with the Pierre Auger
Observatory are described. The relevance of the muon component of air showers
produced by the primary CR, as well as some low energy simulations of that
component, are explained.


title: Conditioned random walks and interaction-driven condensation

abstract:
  We consider a discrete-time continuous-space random walk under the
constraints that the number of returns to the origin (local time) and the total
area under the walk are fixed. We first compute the joint probability of an
excursion having area $a$ and returning to the origin for the first time after
time $\tau$. We then show how condensation occurs when the total area
constraint is increased: an excursion containing a finite fraction of the area
emerges. Finally we show how the phenomena generalises previously studied cases
of condensation induced by several constraints and how it is related to
interaction-driven condensation which allows us to explain the phenomenon in
the framework of large deviation theory.


title: Pinning of a renewal on a quenched renewal

abstract:
  We introduce the pinning model on a quenched renewal, which is an instance of
a (strongly correlated) disordered pinning model. The potential takes value 1
at the renewal times of a quenched realization of a renewal process $\sigma$,
and $0$ elsewhere, so nonzero potential values become sparse if the gaps in
$\sigma$ have infinite mean. The "polymer" -- of length $\sigma_N$ -- is given
by another renewal $\tau$, whose law is modified by the Boltzmann weight
$\exp(\beta\sum_{n=1}^N \mathbf{1}_{\{\sigma_n\in\tau\}})$. Our assumption is
that $\tau$ and $\sigma$ have gap distributions with power-law-decay exponents
$1+\alpha$ and $1+\tilde \alpha$ respectively, with $\alpha\geq 0,\tilde
\alpha>0$. There is a localization phase transition: above a critical value
$\beta_c$ the free energy is positive, meaning that $\tau$ is \emph{pinned} on
the quenched renewal $\sigma$. We consider the question of relevance of the
disorder, that is to know when $\beta_c$ differs from its annealed counterpart
$\beta_c^{\rm ann}$. We show that $\beta_c=\beta_c^{\rm ann}$ whenever $
\alpha+\tilde \alpha \geq 1$, and $\beta_c=0$ if and only if the renewal
$\tau\cap\sigma$ is recurrent. On the other hand, we show $\beta_c>\beta_c^{\rm
ann}$ when $ \alpha+\frac32\, \tilde \alpha <1$. We give evidence that this
should in fact be true whenever $ \alpha+\tilde \alpha<1$, providing examples
for all such $ \alpha,\tilde \alpha$ of distributions of $\tau,\sigma$ for
which $\beta_c>\beta_c^{\rm ann}$. We additionally consider two natural
variants of the model: one in which the polymer and disorder are constrained to
have equal numbers of renewals ($\sigma_N=\tau_N$), and one in which the
polymer length is $\tau_N$ rather than $\sigma_N$. In both cases we show the
critical point is the same as in the original model, at least when $ \alpha>0$.


title: Multiplicity results for critical $p$-Laplacian problems

abstract:
  We prove the existence of $N$ distinct pairs of nontrivial solutions for
critical $p$-Laplacian problems in ${\mathbb R}^N$, as well as in bounded
domains. To overcome the difficulties arising from the lack of compactness, we
use a recent global compactness result of Mercuri and Willem.


title:
Exact scaling solution of the mode coupling equations for non-linear
  fluctuating hydrodynamics in one dimension

abstract:
  We obtain the exact solution of the one-loop mode-coupling equations for the
dynamical structure function in the framework of non-linear fluctuating
hydrodynamics in one space dimension for the strictly hyperbolic case where all
characteristic velocities are different. All solutions are characterized by
dynamical exponents which are Kepler ratios of consecutive Fibonacci numbers,
which includes the golden mean as a limiting case. The scaling form of all
higher Fibonacci modes are asymmetric L\'evy-distributions. Thus a hierarchy of
new dynamical universality classes is established. We also compute the precise
numerical value of the Pr\"ahofer-Spohn scaling constant to which scaling
functions obtained from mode coupling theory are sensitive.


title:
Structure, Properties, and Disorder in the New Distorted-Hollandite
  PbIr4Se8

abstract:
  The synthesis and physical properties of the new distorted-Hollandite
PbIr4Se8 are reported. Powder X-ray diffraction and transmission electron
microscopy show that the structure consists of edge- and corner-sharing IrSe6
octahedra, with one-dimensional channels occupied by Pb. The structure contains
Se-Se anion-anion bonding, leading to an electron count of
Pb2+(Ir3+)4(Se2)2-(Se2-)6, confirmed by bond-valence sums and diamagnetic
behavior. Structural and heat capacity measurements demonstrate disorder on the
Pb site, due to the combination of lone-pair effects and the large size of the
one-dimensional channels. Comparisons are made to known Hollandite and
pseudo-Hollandite structures, which demonstrates that the anion-anion bonding
in PbIr4Se8 distorts its structure, to accommodate the Ir3+ state. An
electronic structure calculation indicates semiconductor character with a band
gap of 0.76(11) eV.


title: Borel-piecewise continuous reducibility for uniformization problems

abstract:
  We study a fine hierarchy of Borel-piecewise continuous functions,
especially, between closed-piecewise continuity and $G_\delta$-piecewise
continuity. Our aim is to understand how a priority argument in computability
theory is connected to the notion of $G_\delta$-piecewise continuity, and then
we utilize this connection to obtain separation results on subclasses of
$G_\delta$-piecewise continuous reductions for uniformization problems on
set-valued functions with compact graphs. This method is also applicable for
separating various non-constructive principles in the Weihrauch lattice.


title:
Faster Algorithms for Computing the Stationary Distribution, Simulating
  Random Walks, and More

abstract:
  In this paper, we provide faster algorithms for computing various fundamental
quantities associated with random walks on a directed graph, including the
stationary distribution, personalized PageRank vectors, hitting times, and
escape probabilities. In particular, on a directed graph with $n$ vertices and
$m$ edges, we show how to compute each quantity in time
$\tilde{O}(m^{3/4}n+mn^{2/3})$, where the $\tilde{O}$ notation suppresses
polylogarithmic factors in $n$, the desired accuracy, and the appropriate
condition number (i.e. the mixing time or restart probability).
  Our result improves upon the previous fastest running times for these
problems; previous results either invoke a general purpose linear system solver
on a $n\times n$ matrix with $m$ non-zero entries, or depend polynomially on
the desired error or natural condition number associated with the problem (i.e.
the mixing time or restart probability). For sparse graphs, we obtain a running
time of $\tilde{O}(n^{7/4})$, breaking the $O(n^{2})$ barrier of the best
running time one could hope to achieve using fast matrix multiplication.
  We achieve our result by providing a similar running time improvement for
solving directed Laplacian systems, a natural directed or asymmetric analog of
the well studied symmetric or undirected Laplacian systems. We show how to
solve such systems in time $\tilde{O}(m^{3/4}n+mn^{2/3})$, and efficiently
reduce a broad range of problems to solving $\tilde{O}(1)$ directed Laplacian
systems on Eulerian graphs. We hope these results and our analysis open the
door for further study into directed spectral graph theory.


title:
ALMA observations of the vibrationally-excited rotational CO transition
  $v=1, J=3-2$ towards five AGB stars

abstract:
  We report the serendipitous detection with ALMA of the vibrationally-excited
pure-rotational CO transition $v=1, J=3-2$ towards five asymptotic giant branch
(AGB) stars, $o$ Cet, R Aqr, R Scl, W Aql, and $\pi^1$ Gru. The observed lines
are formed in the poorly-understood region located between the stellar surface
and the region where the wind starts, the so-called warm molecular layer. We
successfully reproduce the observed lines profiles using a simple model. We
constrain the extents, densities, and kinematics of the region where the lines
are produced. R Aqr and R Scl show inverse P-Cygni line profiles which indicate
infall of material onto the stars. The line profiles of $o$ Cet and R Scl show
variability. The serendipitous detection towards these five sources shows that
vibrationally-excited rotational lines can be observed towards a large number
of nearby AGB stars using ALMA. This opens a new possibility for the study of
the innermost regions of AGB circumstellar envelopes.


title:
Reconstructions of $f(T)$ Gravity from Entropy Corrected Holographic and
  New Agegraphic Dark Energy Models in Power-law and Logarithmic Versions

abstract:
  Here, we peruse cosmological usage of the most promising candidates of dark
energy in the framework of $f(T)$ gravity theory. We reconstruct the different
$f(T)$ modifed gravity models in the spatially flat FRW universe according to
entropy-corrected versions of the holographic and new agegraphic dark energy
models in power-law and logarithmic corrections, which describe accelerated
expansion history of the universe. We conclude that the equation of state
parameter of the entropy-corrected models can transit from quintessence state
to phantom regime as indicated by recent observations or can lie entirely in
the phantom region. Also, using these models, we investigate the different
erase of the stability with the help of the squared speed of sound.


title: Exploring stable models in $f(R; T; R_{\mu\nu} T^{\mu\nu})$ gravity

abstract:
  We examine in this paper the stability analysis in $f(R; T;
R_{\mu\nu}T^{\mu\nu})$ modified gravity, where $R$ and $T$ are the Ricci scalar
and the trace of the energy-momentum tensor, respectively. By considering the
flat Friedmann universe, we obtain the corresponding generalized Friedmann
equations and we evaluate the geometrical and matter perturbation functions.
The stability is developed using the de Sitter and power-law solutions. We
search for application the stability of two particular cases of $f(R; T;
R_{\mu\nu}T^{\mu\nu})$ model by solving numerically the perturbation functions
obtained.


title: The Status of Multi-Dimensional Core-Collapse Supernova Models

abstract:
  Models of core-collapse supernova explosions powered by the neutrino-driven
mechanism have matured considerable in recent years. Explosions at the low-mass
end of the progenitor spectrum can routinely be simulated in 1D, 2D, and 3D and
allow us to study supernova nucleosynthesis based on first-principle models.
Results of nucleosynthesis calculations indicate that supernovae of the lowest
masses could be important contributors of some lighter n-rich elements beyond
iron. The explosion mechanism of more massive stars is still under
investigation, although first 3D models of neutrino-driven explosions employing
multi-group neutrino transport have recently become available. Together with
earlier 2D models and more simplified 3D simulations, these have elucidated the
interplay between neutrino heating and hydrodynamic instabilities in the
post-shock region that is essential for shock revival. However, some physical
ingredients may still need to be added or improved before simulations can
robustly explain supernova explosions over a wide mass range. We explore
possible issues that may affect the accuracy of supernova simulations, and
review some of the ideas that have recently been explored as avenues to robust
explosions, including uncertainties in the neutrino rates, rapid rotation, and
an external forcing of non-radial fluid motions by strong seed perturbations
from convective shell burning. The perturbation-aided neutrino-driven mechanism
and the implications of recent 3D simulations of shell burning in supernova
progenitors are discussed in detail. The efficacy of the perturbation-aided
mechanism is illustrated by the first successful multi-group neutrino
hydrodynamics simulation of an 18 solar mass progenitor with 3D initial
conditions. We conclude with speculations about the potential impact of 3D
effects on the structure of massive stars through convective boundary mixing.
(abridged)


title:
Description of quasiparticle and satellite properties via cumulant
  expansions of the retarded one-particle Green's function

abstract:
  A new cumulant-based $GW$ approximation for the retarded one-particle Green's
function is proposed, motivated by an exact relation between the improper Dyson
self-energy and the cumulant generating function. Qualitative aspects of this
method are explored within a simple one-electron independent phonon model,
where it is seen that the method preserves the energy moment of the spectral
weight while also reproducing the exact Green's function in the weak coupling
limit. For the three-dimensional electron gas, this method predicts multiple
satellites at the bottom of the band, albeit with inaccurate peak spacing.
However, its quasiparticle properties and correlation energies are more
accurate than both previous cumulant methods and standard $G_0W_0$. Our results
point to new features that may be exploited within the framework of
cumulant-based methods and suggest promising directions for future exploration
and improvement of cumulant-based $GW$ approaches.


title:
A proposal of the gauge theory description of the small Schwarzschild
  black hole in AdS$_5\times$S$^5$

abstract:
  Based on 4d ${\cal N}=4$ SYM on $\mathbb{R}^{1}\times$S$^3$, a gauge theory
description of a small black hole in AdS$_5\times$S$^5$ is proposed. The change
of the number of dynamical degrees of freedom associated with the emission of
the scalar fields' eigenvalues plays a crucial role in this description. By
analyzing the microcanonical ensemble, the Hagedorn behavior of long strings at
low energy is obtained. Modulo an assumption based on the AdS/CFT duality for a
large black hole, the energy of the small ten-dimensional Schwarzschild black
hole $E\sim 1/(G_{\rm 10,N}T^7)$ is derived. A heuristic gauge theory argument
supporting this assumption is also given. The same argument applied to the ABJM
theory correctly reproduces the relation for the eleven-dimensional
Schwarzschild black hole. One of the consequences of our proposal is that the
small and large black holes are very similar when seen from the gauge theory
point of view.


title: The connected prescription for form factors in twistor space

abstract:
  We propose a connected prescription formula in twistor space for all
tree-level form factors of the stress tensor multiplet operator in
$\mathcal{N}=4$ super Yang-Mills, which is a generalisation of the expression
of Roiban, Spradlin and Volovich for superamplitudes. By introducing link
variables, we show that our formula is identical to the recently proposed
four-dimensional scattering equations for form factors. Similarly to the case
of amplitudes, the link representation of form factors is shown to be directly
related to BCFW recursion relations, and is considerably more tractable than
the scattering equations. We also discuss how our results are related to a
recent Grassmannian formulation of form factors, and comment on a possible
derivation of our formula from ambitwistor strings.


title:
Magnetic noise spectroscopy as a probe of local electronic correlations
  in two-dimensional systems

abstract:
  We develop the theoretical framework for calculating magnetic noise from
conducting two-dimensional (2D) materials. We describe how local measurements
of this noise can directly probe the wave-vector dependent transport properties
of the material over a broad range of length scales, thus providing new insight
into a range of correlated phenomena in 2D electronic systems. As an example,
we demonstrate how transport in the hydrodynamic regime in an electronic system
exhibits a unique signature in the magnetic noise profile that distinguishes it
from diffusive and ballistic transport and how this can be used to measure the
viscosity of the electronic fluid. We employ a Boltzmann approach in a two-time
relaxation-time approximation to compute the conductivity of graphene and
quantitatively illustrate these transport regimes and the experimental
feasibility of observing them. Next, we discuss signatures of isolated
impurities lodged inside the conducting 2D material. The noise near an impurity
is found to be suppressed compared to the background by an amount that is
directly proportional to the cross-section of electrons/holes scattering off of
the impurity. We use these results to outline an experimental proposal to
measure the temperature dependent level-shift and line-width of the resonance
associated with an Anderson impurity.


title:
The Pan-STARRS1 distant z>5.6 quasar survey: more than 100 quasars
  within the first Gyr of the universe

abstract:
  Luminous quasars at z>5.6 can be studied in detail with the current
generation of telescopes and provide us with unique information on the first
gigayear of the universe. Thus far these studies have been statistically
limited by the number of quasars known at these redshifts. Such quasars are
rare and therefore wide-field surveys are required to identify them and
multiwavelength data are needed to separate them efficiently from their main
contaminants, the far more numerous cool dwarfs. In this paper, we update and
extend the selection for z~6 quasars presented in Banados et al. (2014) using
the Pan-STARRS1 (PS1) survey. We present the PS1 distant quasar sample, which
currently consists of 124 quasars in the redshift range 5.6<z<6.7 that satisfy
our selection criteria. Seventy-seven of these quasars have been discovered
with PS1, and 63 of them are newly identified in this paper. We present
composite spectra of the PS1 distant quasar sample. This sample spans a factor
of ~20 in luminosity and shows a variety of emission line properties. The
number of quasars at z>5.6 presented in this work almost double the quasars
previously known at these redshifts, marking a transition phase from studies of
individual sources to statistical studies of the high-redshift quasar
population, which was impossible with earlier, smaller samples.


title: Slow scrambling in disordered quantum systems

abstract:
  Recent work has studied the growth of commutators as a probe of chaos and
information scrambling in quantum many-body systems. In this work we study the
effect of static disorder on the growth of commutators in a variety of
contexts. We find generically that disorder slows the onset of scrambling, and,
in the case of a many-body localized state, partially halts it. We access the
many-body localized state using a standard fixed point Hamiltonian, and we show
that operators exhibit slow logarithmic growth under time evolution. We compare
the result with the expected growth of commutators in both localized and
delocalized non-interacting disordered models. Finally, based on a scaling
argument, we state a conjecture about the effect of weak interactions on the
growth of commutators in an interacting diffusive metal.


title: Explaining quantum correlations through evolution of causal models

abstract:
  We propose a framework for the systematic and quantitative generalization of
Bell's theorem using causal networks. We first consider the multi-objective
optimization problem of matching observed data while minimizing the causal
effect of nonlocal variables and prove an inequality for the optimal region
that both strengthens and generalizes Bell's theorem. To solve the optimization
problem (rather than simply bound it), we develop a novel genetic algorithm
treating as individuals causal networks. By applying our algorithm to a
photonic Bell experiment, we demonstrate the trade-off between the quantitative
relaxation of one or more local causality assumptions and the ability of data
to match quantum correlations.