title: Using 220Rn to calibrate liquid noble gas detectors

abstract:
  In this paper, we describe 220Rn calibration source that was developed for
liquid noble gas detectors. The key advantage of this source is that it can
provide 212Bi-212Po consecutive events, which enables us to evaluate the vertex
resolution of a detector at low energy by comparing low-energy events of 212Bi
and corresponding higher-energy alpha-rays from 212Po. Since 220Rn is a noble
gas, a hot metal getter can be used when introduced using xenon as the carrier
gas. In addition, no long-life radioactive isotopes are left behind in the
detector after the calibration is complete; this has clear advantage over the
use of 222Rn which leaves long- life radioactivity, i.e., 210Pb. Using a small
liquid xenon test chamber, we developed a system to introduce 220Rn via the
xenon carrier gas; we demonstrated the successful introduction of 6 times 10^2
220Rn atoms in our test environment.

categories: physics.ins-det astro-ph.CO hep-ex nucl-ex


title: Lexical bundles in computational linguistics academic literature

abstract:
  In this study we analyzed a corpus of 8 million words academic literature
from Computational lingustics' academic literature. the lexical bundles from
this corpus are categorized based on structures and functions.


title:
A Sparse Grid Discretization with Variable Coefficient in High
  Dimensions

abstract:
  We present a Ritz-Galerkin discretization on sparse grids using pre-wavelets,
which allows to solve elliptic differential equations with variable
coefficients for dimension $d=2,3$ and higher dimensions $d>3$. The method
applies multilinear finite elements. We introduce an efficient algorithm for
matrix vector multiplication using a Ritz-Galerkin discretization and
semi-orthogonality.
  This algorithm is based on standard 1-dimensional restrictions and
prolongations, a simple pre-wavelet stencil, and the classical operator
dependent stencil for multilinear finite elements. Numerical simulation results
are presented for a 3-dimensional problem on a curvilinear bounded domain and
for a 6-dimensional problem with variable coefficients.
  Simulation results show a convergence of the discretization according to the
approximation properties of the finite element space. The condition number of
the stiffness matrix can be bounded below $10$ using a standard diagonal
preconditioner.


title:
Heuristic arguments in favor of the view that the forces which form the
  bound systems of elementary particles propagate instantaneously

abstract:
  We make use of the well-known properties of spontaneous decays of stationary
states of bound systems of elementary particles to support the view that the
forces which form these systems propagate instantaneously at the moment of
their decay.


title:
On the technique for the recovery of the spectrum of turbulence in
  astrophysical disks

abstract:
  We present a method that can be used to recover the spectrum of turbulence
from observations of optically thin emission lines formed in astrophysical
disks. Within this method we analyze how line intensity fluctuations depend on
the angular resolution of the instrument, used for the observations. The method
allows us to restore the slope of the power spectrum of velocity turbulent
pulsations and estimate the upper boundary of the turbulence scale.


title:
Hyperfine coupling of hole and nuclear spins in symmetric GaAs quantum
  dots

abstract:
  In self assembled III-V semiconductor quantum dots, valence holes have longer
spin coherence times than the conduction electrons, due to their weaker
coupling to nuclear spin bath fluctuations. Prolonging hole spin stability
relies on a better understanding of the hole to nuclear spin hyperfine coupling
which we address both in experiment and theory in the symmetric (111)
GaAs/AlGaAs droplet dots. In magnetic fields applied along the growth axis, we
create a strong nuclear spin polarization detected through the positively
charged trion X$^+$ Zeeman and Overhauser splittings. The observation of four
clearly resolved photoluminescence lines - a unique property of the (111)
nanosystems - allows us to measure separately the electron and hole
contribution to the Overhauser shift. The hyperfine interaction for holes is
found to be about five times weaker than that for electrons. Our theory shows
that this ratio depends not only on intrinsic material properties but also on
the dot shape and carrier confinement through the heavy-hole mixing, an
opportunity for engineering the hole-nuclear spin interaction by tuning dot
size and shape.


title:
Systematic Derivation of Noether Point Symmetries in Special
  Relativistic Field Theories

abstract:
  A didactic and systematic derivation of Noether point symmetries and
conserved currents is put forward in special relativistic field theories,
without a priori assumptions about the transformation laws. Given the
Lagrangian density, the invariance condition develops as a set of partial
differential equations determining the symmetry transformation. The solution is
provided in the case of real scalar, complex scalar, free electromagnetic, and
charged electromagnetic fields. Besides the usual conservation laws, a less
popular symmetry is analyzed: the symmetry associated with the linear
superposition of solutions, whenever applicable. The role of gauge invariance
is emphasized. The case of the charged scalar particle under external
electromagnetic fields is considered, and the accompanying Noether point
symmetries determined.


title: Local Extrema of the $\Xi(t)$ Function and The Riemann Hypothesis

abstract:
  In the present paper we obtain a necessary and sufficient condition to prove
the Riemann hypothesis in terms of certain properties of local extrema of the
function $\Xi(t)=\xi(\tfrac{1}{2}+it)$. First, we prove that positivity of all
local maxima and negativity of all local minima of $\Xi(t)$ form a necessary
condition for the Riemann hypothesis to be true. After showing that any
extremum point of $\Xi(t)$ is a saddle point of the function $\Re\{\xi(s)\}$,
we prove that the above properties of local extrema of $\Xi(t)$ are also a
sufficient condition for the Riemann hypothesis to hold at $t\gg 1$.
  We present a numerical example to illustrate our approach towards a possible
proof of the Riemann hypothesis. Thus, the task of proving the Riemann
hypothesis is reduced to the one of showing the above properties of local
extrema of $\Xi(t)$.


title: Complete Lorentz transformation of a charge-current density

abstract:
  It is generally assumed in the literature that a Lorentz transformation on a
neutral current loop results in a moving current loop with a nonvanishing
charge distribution and an electric dipole moment. We show in this paper that
this is not, in fact, correct. The derivation that leads to the charge
distribution was based on an incomplete Lorentz transformation, which
transforms the charge-current four-vector $j^\mu=[\rho({\bf r},t),{\bf
j(r},t)]$, but not the space-time four-vector $x^\mu=(t,{\bf r})$.
  We show that completing the Lorentz transformation by using the variable $t'$
in the moving frame, rather than keeping the rest frame time variable $t$,
results in there being no induced charge density and no resulting electric
dipole moment.


title:
Y(nS) polarizations versus particle multiplicity in pp collisions at
  sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

abstract:
  The polarizations of the Y(1S), Y(2S), and Y(3S) mesons are measured as a
function of the charged particle multiplicity in proton-proton collisions at
sqrt(s) = 7 TeV. The measurements are performed with a dimuon data sample
collected in 2011 by the CMS experiment, corresponding to an integrated
luminosity of 4.9 inverse femtobarns. The results are extracted from the dimuon
decay angular distributions, in two ranges of Y(nS) transverse momentum (10-15
and 15-35 GeV), and in the rapidity interval abs(y) < 1.2. The results do not
show significant changes from low- to high-multiplicity pp collisions, although
large uncertainties preclude definite statements in the Y(2S) and Y(3S) cases.


title: The prime counting function

abstract:
  The theorem below gives another way of computing the distribution prime
counting function without using recursion and the values of Prime numbers


title:
Flavor $SU(3)$ properties of beauty tetraquark states with three
  different light quarks

abstract:
  Beauty tetraquark states $X(\bar b q'q'' \bar q )$ composed of $ \bar b s u
\bar d$, $\bar b d s \bar u$, and $\bar b u d \bar s$, are unique that all the
four valence quarks are different. Although the claim of existence of the first
two states by D0 was not confirmed by data from LHCb, the possibility of such
states still generated a lot of interests and should be pursued further.
Non-observation of $X(\bar b q'q'' \bar q )$ states by LHCb may be just due to
a still lower production rate than the limit of LHCb or at some different mass
ranges. In this work we use light quark $SU(3)$ flavor symmetry as guideline to
classify symmetry properties of beauty tetraquark states. The multiplets which
contain states with three different light quarks must be one of ${\bf \bar 6}$
or ${\bf 15}$ of $SU(3)$ representations. We study possible decays of such a
tetraquark state into a $B$ meson and a light pesudoscalar octet meson by
constructing a leading order chiral Lagrangian, and also provide search
strategies to determine whether a given tetraquark state of this type belongs
to ${\bf \bar 6}$ or ${\bf 15}$. If $X(\bar b q'q''\bar q )$ belongs to ${\bf
15}$, there are new doubly charged tetraquark states $\bar b u u \bar d$ and
$\bar b u u \bar s$.


title: Analysis of neuronal sequences using pairwise biases

abstract:
  Sequences of neuronal activation have long been implicated in a variety of
brain functions. In particular, these sequences have been tied to memory
formation and spatial navigation in the hippocampus, a region of mammalian
brains. Traditionally, neuronal sequences have been interpreted as noisy
manifestations of neuronal templates (i.e., orderings), ignoring much richer
structure contained in the sequences. This paper introduces a new tool for
understanding neuronal sequences: the bias matrix. The bias matrix captures the
probabilistic tendency of each neuron to fire before or after each other
neuron. Despite considering only pairs of neurons, the bias matrix captures the
best total ordering of neurons for a sequence (Proposition 3.3) and, thus,
generalizes the concept of a neuronal template.
  We establish basic mathematical properties of bias matrices, in particular
describing the fundamental polytope in which all biases reside (Theorem 3.25).
We show how the underlying simple digraph of a bias matrix, which we term the
bias network, serves as a combinatorial generalization of neuronal templates.
Surprisingly, every simple digraph is realizable as the bias network of some
sequence (Theorem 3.34). The bias-matrix representation leads us to a natural
method for sequence correlation, which then leads to a probabilistic framework
for determining the similarity of one set of sequences to another. Using data
from rat hippocampus, we describe events of interest and also
sequence-detection techniques. Finally, the bias matrix and the similarity
measure are applied to this real-world data using code developed by us.


title:
Parametric Feedback Cooling of Levitated Optomechanics in a Parabolic
  Mirror Trap

abstract:
  We demonstrate a simple and robust geometry for optical trapping in vacuum of
a single nanoparticle based on a parabolic mirror and the optical gradient
force, and we demonstrate rapid parametric feedback cooling of all three
motional degrees of freedom from room temperature to a few mK. A single laser
at 1550nm, and a single photodiode, are used for trapping, position detection,
and cooling for all three dimensions. Particles with diameters from 26nm to
160nm are trapped without feedback to 10$^{-5}$mbar and with feedback engaged
the pressure is reduced to 10$^{-6}$mbar. Modifications to the harmonic motion
in the presence of noise and feedback are studied, and an experimental
mechanical quality factor $>4\times 10^7$ is estimated.


title:
Extent of hydrogen coverage of Si(001) under chemical vapor deposition
  conditions from ab initio approaches

abstract:
  The extent of hydrogen coverage of the Si(001)c(4x2) surface in the presence
of hydrogen gas has been studied with dispersion corrected density functional
theory. Electronic energy contributions are well described using a hybrid
functional. The temperature dependence of the coverage in thermodynamic
equilibrium was studied computing the phonon spectrum in a supercell approach.
As an approximation to these demanding computations, an interpolated phonon
approach was found to give comparable accuracy. The simpler ab initio
thermodynamic approach is not accurate enough for the system studied, even if
corrections by the Einstein model for surface vibrations are considered. The
on-set of H2 desorption from the fully hydrogenated surface is predicted to
occur at temperatures around 750 K. Strong changes in hydrogen coverage are
found between 1000 and 1200 K in good agreement with previous reflectance
anisotropy spectroscopy experiments. These findings allow a rational choice for
the surface state in the computational treatment of chemical reactions under
typical metal organic vapor phase epitaxy conditions on Si(001).


title: Vortex rings and vortex ring solitons in shaken Bose-Einstein condensate

abstract:
  In a shaken Bose-Einstein condensate, confined in a vibrating trap, there can
appear different nonlinear coherent modes. Here we concentrate on two types of
such coherent modes, vortex ring solitons and vortex rings. In a cylindrical
trap, vortex ring solitons can be characterized as nonlinear Hermite-Laguerre
modes, whose description can be done by means of optimized perturbation theory.
The energy, required for creating vortex ring solitons, is larger than that
needed for forming vortex rings. This is why, at a moderate excitation energy,
vortex rings appear before vortex ring solitons. The generation of vortex rings
is illustrated by numerical simulations for trapped $^{87}$Rb atoms.


title: Few-Photon Scattering in Dispersive Waveguides with Multiple Qubits

abstract:
  We extend the Krylov-subspace based time-dependent numerical simulation
technique for a qubit interacting with photons in a waveguide to the multiple
qubit case. We analyze photon scattering from two qubits analytically and
derive expressions for the bound states in the continuum (BIC). We show how the
BIC can be excited. We use the BIC in a recent Pauli-Z gate proposal involving
decoherence free subspaces and obtain the gate fidelity as a function of the
gate parameters. The techniques presented in the paper are useful for
investigating the time evolution of quantum gates and other many-body systems
with multiple quenches in the Hamiltonian.


title: Implementations for Device-Independent Quantum Key Distribution

abstract:
  Device-independent quantum key distribution (DIQKD) generates a secret key
among two parties in a provably secure way without making assumptions about the
internal working of the devices used in the protocol. The main challenge for a
DIQKD physical implementation is that the data observed among the two parties
must violate a Bell inequality without fair-sampling, since otherwise the
observed correlations can be faked with classical resources and security can no
longer be guaranteed. In spite of the advances recently made to achieve higher
detection efficiencies in Bell experiments, DIQKD remains experimentally
difficult at long distances due to the exponential increase of loss in the
channel separating the two parties. Here we describe and analyze plausible
solutions to overcome the crucial problem of channel loss in the frame of DIQKD
physical implementations.


title: Reasoning about Recursive Probabilistic Programs

abstract:
  This paper presents a wp-style calculus for obtaining expectations on the
outcomes of (mutually) recursive probabilistic programs. We provide several
proof rules to derive one-- and two--sided bounds for such expectations, and
show the soundness of our wp-calculus with respect to a probabilistic pushdown
automaton semantics. We also give a wp-style calculus for obtaining bounds on
the expected runtime of recursive programs that can be used to determine the
(possibly infinite) time until termination of such programs.


title:
Analyticity and criticality results for the eigenvalues of the
  biharmonic operator

abstract:
  We consider the eigenvalues of the biharmonic operator subject to several
homogeneous boundary conditions (Dirichlet, Neumann, Navier, Steklov). We show
that simple eigenvalues and elementary symmetric functions of multiple
eigenvalues are real analytic, and provide Hadamard-type formulas for the
corresponding shape derivatives. After recalling the known results in shape
optimization, we prove that balls are always critical domains under volume
constraint.


title:
Linear scaling approach for atomistic calculation of excitonic
  properties of 10-million-atom nanostructures

abstract:
  Numerical calculations of excitonic properties of novel nanostructures, such
as nanowire and crystal phase quantum dots, must combine atomistic accuracy
with an approachable computational complexity. The key difficulty comes from
the fact that excitonic spectra details arise from atomicscale contributions
that must be integrated over a large spatial domain containing a million and
more of atoms. In this work we present a step-by-step solution to this problem:
combined empirical tight-binding and configuration interaction scheme that
unites linearly scaling computational time with the essentials of the atomistic
modeling. We benchmark our method on the example of wellstudied self-assembled
InAs/GaAs quantum dot. Next, we apply our atomistic approach to crystal phase
quantum dots containing more than 10 million atoms.


title: Dynamical Landau Theory of the Glass Crossover

abstract:
  I introduce a dynamical field theory to describe the glassy behavior in
supercooled liquids. The mean-field approximation of the theory predicts a
dynamical arrest transition, as in ideal Mode-Coupling-Theory and mean-field
discontinuous Spin-Glass Models. Instead {\it beyond} the mean-field
approximation the theory predicts that the transition is avoided and
transformed into a crossover, as observed in experiments and simulations. To go
beyond mean-field a standard perturbative loop expansion is performed at first.
Approaching the ideal critical point this expansion is divergent at all orders
and I show that the leading divergent term at any given order is the same of a
dynamical stochastic equation, called Stochastic-Beta-Relaxation (SBR) in {\it
EPL 106, 56003 (2014)}. At variance with the original theory SBR can be studied
beyond mean-field directly, without the need to resort to a perturbative
expansion. Thus it provides a qualitative and quantitative description of the
dynamical crossover. For consistency reasons it is important to establish the
connection between the dynamical field theory and SBR beyond perturbation
theory. This can be done with the help of a stronger result: the dynamical
field theory is {\it exactly} equivalent to a theory with quenched disorder.
Qualitatively the non-perturbative mechanism leading to the crossover is
therefore the same of SBR. Quantitatively SBR corresponds to make the
mean-field approximation once the quenched disorder has been generated.


title: Experimental investigation on the uniqueness of a center of a body

abstract:
  The object of our investigation is a point that gives the maximum value of a
potential with a strictly decreasing radially symmetric kernel. It defines a
center of a body in Rm. When we choose the Riesz kernel or the Poisson kernel
as the kernel, such centers are called a radial center or an illuminating
center, respectively. The existence of a center is easily shown but the
uniqueness does not always hold. Sufficient conditions of the uniqueness of a
center have been studied by some researchers. The main results in this paper
are some new sufficient conditions for the uniqueness of a center of a body.


title: The Effects of Mobility on the Hit Performance of Cached D2D Networks

abstract:
  A device-to-device (D2D) wireless network is considered, where user devices
also have the ability to cache content. In such networks, users are mobile and
communication links can be spontaneously activated and dropped depending on the
users' relative position. Receivers request files from transmitters, these
files having a certain popularity and file-size distribution. In this work a
new performance metric is introduced, namely the Service Success Probability,
which captures the specificities of D2D networks. For the Poisson Point Process
case for node distribution and the SNR coverage model, explicit expressions are
derived. Simulations support the analytical results and explain the influence
of mobility and file-size distribution on the system performance, while
providing intuition on how to appropriately cache content on mobile storage
space. Of particular interest is the investigation on how different file-size
distributions (Exponential, Uniform, or Heavy-Tailed) influence the
performance.


title: Weight Computation of Regular Tree Languages

abstract:
  We present a general framework to define an application-dependent weight
measure on terms that subsumes e.g. total simplification orderings, and an O(n
log n) algorithm for the simultaneous computation of the minimal weight of a
term in the language of each nonterminal of a regular tree grammar, based on
Barzdins' liquid-flow technique.


title:
Oscillatory dynamics in Smoluchowski's coagulation equation with
  diagonal kernel

abstract:
  We characterize the long-time behaviour of solutions to Smoluchowski's
coagulation equation with a diagonal kernel of homogeneity $\gamma < 1$. Due to
the property of the diagonal kernel, the value of a solution depends only on a
discrete set of points. As a consequence, the long-time behaviour of solutions
is in general periodic, oscillating between different rescaled versions of a
self-similar solution. Immediate consequences of our result are a
characterization of the set of data for which the solution converges to
self-similar form and a uniqueness result for self-similar profiles.


title:
Amplification and generation of ultra-intense twisted laser pulses via
  stimulated Raman scattering

abstract:
  Twisted Laguerre-Gaussian lasers, with orbital angular momentum and
characterised by doughnut shaped intensity profiles, provide a transformative
set of tools and research directions in a growing range of fields and
applications, from super-resolution microcopy and ultra-fast optical
communications to quantum computing and astrophysics. The impact of twisted
light is widening as recent numerical calculations provided solutions to
long-standing challenges in plasma-based acceleration by allowing for high
gradient positron acceleration. The production of ultrahigh intensity twisted
laser pulses could then also have a broad influence on relativistic
laser-matter interactions. Here we show theoretically and with ab-initio
three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, that stimulated Raman
backscattering can generate and amplify twisted lasers to Petawatt intensities
in plasmas. This work may open new research directions in non-linear optics and
high energy density science, compact plasma based accelerators and light
sources.


title:
Deformations of spectral triples and their quantum isometry groups via
  monoidal equivalences

abstract:
  In this paper, we propose a new procedure to deform spectral triples and
their quantum isometry groups. The deformation data are a spectral triple
$(\mathcal A,\mathcal H, D)$, a compact quantum group $\mathbb G$ acting
algebraically and by orientation-preserving isometries on $(\mathcal A,\mathcal
H,D)$ and a unitary fiber functor $\psi$ on $\mathbb G$. The deformation
procedure is a genuine generalization of the cocycle deformation of Goswami and
Joardar.


title: Critical Metrics of the Volume Functional on Manifolds with Boundary

abstract:
  The goal of this article is to study the space of smooth Riemannian
structures on compact manifolds with boundary that satisfies a critical point
equation associated with a boundary value problem. We provide an integral
formula which enables us to show that if a critical metric of the volume
functional on a connected $n$-dimensional manifold $M^n$ with boundary
$\partial M$ has parallel Ricci tensor, then $M^n$ is isometric to a geodesic
ball in a simply connected space form $\mathbb{R}^{n}$, $\mathbb{H}^{n}$ or
$\mathbb{S}^{n}$.


title: Dominating sets in projective planes

abstract:
  We describe small dominating sets of the incidence graphs of finite
projective planes by establishing a stability result which shows that
dominating sets are strongly related to blocking and covering sets. Our main
result states that if a dominating set in a projective plane of order $q>81$ is
smaller than $2q+2[\sqrt{q}]+2$ (i.e., twice the size of a Baer subplane), then
it contains either all but possibly one points of a line or all but possibly
one lines through a point. Furthermore, we completely characterize dominating
sets of size at most $2q+\sqrt{q}+1$. In Desarguesian planes, we could rely on
strong stability results on blocking sets to show that if a dominating set is
sufficiently smaller than 3q, then it consists of the union of a blocking set
and a covering set apart from a few points and lines.


title:
Topological cell clustering in the ATLAS calorimeters and its
  performance in LHC Run 1

abstract:
  The reconstruction of the signal from hadrons and jets emerging from the
proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and entering the
ATLAS calorimeters is based on a three-dimensional topological clustering of
individual calorimeter cell signals. The cluster formation follows cell
signal-significance patterns generated by electromagnetic and hadronic showers.
In this, the clustering algorithm implicitly performs a topological noise
suppression by removing cells with insignificant signals which are not in close
proximity to cells with significant signals. The resulting topological cell
clusters have shape and location information, which is exploited to apply a
local energy calibration and corrections depending on the nature of the
cluster. Topological cell clustering is established as a well-performing
calorimeter signal definition for jet and missing transverse momentum
reconstruction in ATLAS.


title:
Divergence of the isospin-asymmetry expansion of the nuclear equation of
  state in many-body perturbation theory

abstract:
  The isospin-asymmetry dependence of the nuclear matter equation of state
obtained from microscopic chiral two- and three-body interactions in
second-order many-body perturbation theory is examined in detail. The
quadratic, quartic and sextic coefficients in the Maclaurin expansion of the
free energy per particle of infinite homogeneous nuclear matter with respect to
the isospin asymmetry are extracted numerically using finite differences, and
the resulting polynomial isospin-asymmetry parametrizations are compared to the
full isospin-asymmetry dependence of the free energy. It is found that in the
low-temperature and high-density regime where the radius of convergence of the
expansion is generically zero, the inclusion of higher-order terms beyond the
leading quadratic approximation leads overall to a significantly poorer
description of the isospin-asymmetry dependence. In contrast, at high
temperatures and densities well below nuclear saturation density, the
interaction contributions to the higher-order coefficients are negligible and
the deviations from the quadratic approximation are predominantly from the
noninteracting term in the many-body perturbation series. Furthermore, we
extract the leading logarithmic term in the isospin-asymmetry expansion of the
equation of state at zero temperature from the analysis of linear combinations
of finite differences. It is shown that the logarithmic term leads to a
considerably improved description of the isospin-asymmetry dependence at zero
temperature.


title: Dynamically controllable graphene three-port circulator

abstract:
  A new type of the graphene-based three-port circulator is suggested and
analysed. The cross-section of the component presents a three-layer structure
consisting of a layer of silicon, of silica and of graphene. In-plane figure
resembles a common microwave nanostrip circulator with a circular graphene
resonator and three waveguides symmetrically connected to it. The graphene is
magnetized normally to its plane by a DC magnetic field. The numerical
simulation demonstrates the isolation of -15 dB and insertion losses of -2 dB
in 6.98 \% frequency band with the central frequency 8.23THz.


title: Geometric estimation of a potential and cone conditions of a body

abstract:
  We investigate a potential obtained as the convolution of a radially
symmetric function and the characteristic function of a body (the closure of a
bonded open set) with exterior cones. In order to restrict the location of a
maximizer of the potential into a smaller closed region contained in the
interior of the body, we give an estimate of the potential using the exterior
cones of the body. Moreover, we apply the result to the Poisson integral for
the upper half space.


title: Affine transformations of the plane and their geometrical properties

abstract:
  In this work, oriented for students with knowledge of basics of linear
algebra, we demonstrate, how the use of polar decomposition allows one to
understand metric properties of non-degenerate linear operators in $R^2$.


title: Wilson punctured network defects in 2D q-deformed Yang-Mills theory

abstract:
  In the context of class S theories and 4D/2D duality relations there, we
discuss the skein relations of general topological defects on the 2D side which
are expected to be counterparts of composite surface-line operators in 4D class
S theory. Such defects are geometrically interpreted as networks in a three
dimensional space. We also propose a conjectural computational procedure for
such defects in two dimensional SU(N) topological q-deformed Yang-Mills theory
by interpreting it as a statistical mechanical system associated with ideal
triangulations.


title: Quantum algorithms for Gibbs sampling and hitting-time estimation

abstract:
  We present quantum algorithms for solving two problems regarding stochastic
processes. The first algorithm prepares the thermal Gibbs state of a quantum
system and runs in time almost linear in $\sqrt{N \beta/{\cal Z}}$ and
polynomial in $\log(1/\epsilon)$, where $N$ is the Hilbert space dimension,
$\beta$ is the inverse temperature, ${\cal Z}$ is the partition function, and
$\epsilon$ is the desired precision of the output state. Our quantum algorithm
exponentially improves the dependence on $1/\epsilon$ and quadratically
improves the dependence on $\beta$ of known quantum algorithms for this
problem. The second algorithm estimates the hitting time of a Markov chain. For
a sparse stochastic matrix $P$, it runs in time almost linear in $1/(\epsilon
\Delta^{3/2})$, where $\epsilon$ is the absolute precision in the estimation
and $\Delta$ is a parameter determined by $P$, and whose inverse is an upper
bound of the hitting time. Our quantum algorithm quadratically improves the
dependence on $1/\epsilon$ and $1/\Delta$ of the analog classical algorithm for
hitting-time estimation. Both algorithms use tools recently developed in the
context of Hamiltonian simulation, spectral gap amplification, and solving
linear systems of equations.


title:
Electron-Hole Asymmetry in the Electron-phonon Coupling in Top-gated
  Phosphorene Transistor

abstract:
  Using in-situ Raman scattering from phosphorene channel in an
electrochemically top-gated field effect transistor, we show that its phonons
with A$_g$ symmetry depend much more strongly on concentration of electrons
than that of holes, while the phonons with B$_g$ symmetry are insensitive to
doping. With first-principles theoretical analysis, we show that the observed
electon-hole asymmetry arises from the radically different constitution of its
conduction and valence bands involving $\pi$ and $\sigma$ bonding states
respectively, whose symmetry permits coupling with only the phonons that
preserve the lattice symmetry. Thus, Raman spectroscopy is a non-invasive tool
for measuring electron concentration in phosphorene-based nanoelectronic
devices.


title: Definable maximal cofinitary groups

abstract:
  Using countable support iteration of $S$-proper posets, for some appropriate
stationary set $S$, we obtain a generic extension of the constructible
universe, in which $\mathfrak{b}=\mathfrak{c}=\aleph_2$ and there is a maximal
cofinitary group with a $\Pi^1_2$-definable set of generators.


title: Holographic quark matter and neutron stars

abstract:
  We use a top-down holographic model for strongly interacting quark matter to
study the properties of neutron stars. When the corresponding Equation of State
(EoS) is matched with state-of-the-art results for dense nuclear matter, we
consistently observe a first order phase transition at densities between two
and seven times the nuclear saturation density. Solving the
Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkov equations with the resulting hybrid EoSs, we find
maximal stellar masses in the excess of two solar masses, albeit somewhat
smaller than those obtained with simple extrapolations of the nuclear matter
EoSs. Our calculation predicts that no quark matter exists inside neutron
stars.


title:
Using Reflection with Peers to Help Students Learn Effective Problem
  Solving Strategies

abstract:
  We describe a study in which introductory physics students engage in
reflection with peers about problem solving. The recitations for an
introductory physics course with 200 students were broken into the "Peer
Reflection" (PR) group and the traditional group. Each week in recitation,
students in the PR group reflected in small teams on selected problems from the
homework. The graduate and undergraduate teaching assistants (TAs) in the PR
group recitations provided guidance and coaching to help students learn
effective problem solving heuristics. In the recitations for the traditional
group, students had the opportunity to ask the graduate TA questions about the
homework before they took a weekly quiz. On the final exam with only
multiple-choice questions, the PR group drew diagrams on more problems than the
traditional group, even when there was no external reward for doing so. Since
there was no partial credit for drawing the diagrams on the scratch books,
students did not draw diagrams simply to get credit for the effort shown and
must value the use of diagrams for solving problems if they drew them. We also
find that, regardless of whether the students belonged to the traditional or PR
groups, those who drew more diagrams for the multiple-choice questions
outperformed those who did not draw them.


title:
Coupling Conceptual and Quantitative Problems to Develop Expertise in
  Introductory Physics Students

abstract:
  We discuss the effect of administering conceptual and quantitative isomorphic
problem pairs (CQIPP) back to back vs. asking students to solve only one of the
problems in the CQIPP in introductory physics courses. Students who answered
both questions in a CQIPP often performed better on the conceptual questions
than those who answered the corresponding conceptual questions only. Although
students often took advantage of the quantitative counterpart to answer a
conceptual question of a CQIPP correctly, when only given the conceptual
question, students seldom tried to convert it into a quantitative question,
solve it and then reason about the solution conceptually. Even in individual
interviews, when students who were only given conceptual questions had
difficulty and the interviewer explicitly encouraged them to convert the
conceptual question into the corresponding quantitative problem by choosing
appropriate variables, a majority of students were reluctant and preferred to
guess the answer to the conceptual question based upon their gut feeling.


title: Rethinking Tools for Training Teaching Assistants

abstract:
  The ability to categorize problems is a measure of expertise in a domain. In
order to help students learn effectively, instructors and teaching assistants
(TAs) should have pedagogical content knowledge. They must be aware of the
prior knowledge of students they are teaching, consider the difficulty of the
problems from students' perspective and design instruction that builds on what
students already know. Here, we discuss the response of graduate students
enrolled in a TA training course to categorization tasks in which they were
asked to group problems based upon similarity of solution first from their own
perspective, and later from the perspective of introductory physics students.
Many graduate students performed an expert-like categorization of introductory
physics problems. However, when asked to categorize the same problems from the
perspective of introductory students, many graduate students expressed dismay,
claiming that the task was impossible, pointless and had no relevance to their
TA duties. We will discuss how categorization can be a useful tool for
scaffolding and improving pedagogical content knowledge of teaching assistants
and instructors.


title: Categorization of Quantum Mechanics Problems by Professors and Students

abstract:
  We discuss the categorization of 20 quantum mechanics problems by physics
professors and undergraduate students from two honors-level quantum mechanics
courses. Professors and students were asked to categorize the problems based
upon similarity of solution. We also had individual discussions with professors
who categorized the problems. Faculty members' categorizations were overall
rated higher than those of students by three faculty members who evaluated all
of the categorizations. The categories created by faculty members were more
diverse compared to the categories they created for a set of introductory
mechanics problems. Some faculty members noted that the categorization of
introductory physics problems often involves identifying fundamental principles
relevant for the problem, whereas in upper-level undergraduate quantum
mechanics problems, it mainly involves identifying concepts and procedures
required to solve the problem. Moreover, physics faculty members who evaluated
others' categorizations expressed that the task was very challenging and they
sometimes found another person's categorization to be better than their own.
They also rated some concrete categories such as "hydrogen atom" or "simple
harmonic oscillator" higher than other concrete categories such as "infinite
square well" or "free particle".


title: Assessing Expertise in Quantum Mechanics using Categorization Task

abstract:
  We discuss the categorization of 20 quantum mechanics problems by 6 physics
professors and 22 undergraduate students from two honors-level quantum
mechanics courses. Professors and students were asked to categorize the
problems based upon similarity of solution. We also had individual discussions
with professors who categorized the problems. Faculty members' categorizations
were overall rated better than those of students by three faculty members who
evaluated all of the categorizations. But the categories created by faculty
members were more diverse compared to the uniformity of the categories they
created when asked to categorize introductory mechanics problems.


title:
Increasing interest and awareness about teaching in science
  undergraduates

abstract:
  We discuss the development, implementation, and assessment of a course for
science undergraduates designed to help them develop an awareness and a deeper
appreciation of the intellectual demands of physics teaching. The course
focused on increasing student enthusiasm and confidence in teaching by
providing well supported teaching opportunities and exposure to physics
education research. The course assessment methods include 1) pre/post-tests
measures of attitude and expectations about science teaching, 2) self and peer
evaluation of student teaching, 3) content-based pre/post-tests given to
students who received instruction from the student teachers, and 4) audio-taped
focus group discussions in the absence of the instructor and TA to evaluate
student perspective on different aspects of the course and its impact.


title:
Introduction to physics teaching for science and engineering
  undergraduates

abstract:
  Recruiting and retaining highly qualified physics and physical science
teachers is critical for maintaining America's global competitiveness.
Unfortunately, only one third of the high school teachers in physics have a
degree in physics and an even smaller number of physical science teachers in
middle school have a good grasp of the scientific content they teach. Moreover,
teachers often lack adequate pedagogical content knowledge to teach science
effectively. Here, we discuss the development, implementation, and assessment
of a course for science and engineering undergraduates designed to increase
awareness and help them develop an interest and a deeper appreciation of the
intellectual demands of physics teaching. The course focused on increasing
student enthusiasm and confidence in teaching by providing well supported
teaching opportunities and exposure to physics education research. The course
assessment methods include 1) pre/post-test measures of attitude and
expectations about science teaching, 2) self and peer evaluation of student
teaching, 3) content-based pre/post-tests given to students who received
instruction from the student teachers, and 4) audio-taped focus group
discussions in the absence of the instructor and TA to evaluate student
perspective on different aspects of the course and its impact.


title:
Quantum canonical ensemble and correlation femtoscopy at fixed
  multiplicities

abstract:
  Identical particle correlations at fixed multiplicity are considered by means
of quantum canonical ensemble of finite systems. We calculate one-particle
momentum spectra and two-particle Bose-Einstein correlation functions in the
ideal gas by using a recurrence relation for the partition function. Within
such a model we investigate the validity of the thermal Wick's theorem and its
applicability for decomposition of the two-particle distribution function. The
dependence of the Bose-Einstein correlation parameters on the average momentum
of the particle pair is also investigated. Specifically, we present the
analytical formulas that allow one to estimate the effect of suppressing the
correlation functions in a finite canonical system. The results can be used for
the femtoscopy analysis of the A+A and p+p collisions with selected (fixed)
multiplicity.


title:
The Selberg integral and a new pair-correlation function for the zeros
  of the Riemann zeta-function

abstract:
  The present paper is a report on joint work with Alessandro Languasco and
Alberto Perelli on our recent investigations on the Selberg integral and its
connections to Montgomery's pair-correlation function. We introduce a more
general form of the Selberg integral and connect it to a new pair-correlation
function, emphasising its relations to the distribution of prime numbers in
short intervals.


title:
A closure for Lagrangian velocity gradient evolution in turbulence using
  recent deformation mapping of initially Gaussian fields

abstract:
  The statistics of the velocity gradient tensor in turbulent flows are of both
theoretical and practical importance. The Lagrangian view provides a privileged
perspective for studying the dynamics of turbulence in general, and of the
velocity gradient tensor in particular. Stochastic models for the Lagrangian
evolution of velocity gradients in isotropic turbulence, with closure models
for the pressure Hesssian and viscous Laplacian, have been shown to reproduce
important features such as non-Gaussian probability distributions, skewness and
vorticity strain-rate alignments. The Recent Fluid Deformation (RFD) closure
introduced the idea of mapping an isotropic Lagrangian pressure Hessian as
upstream initial condition using the fluid deformation tensor. Recent work on a
Gaussian fields closure, however, has shown that even Gaussian isotropic
velocity fields contain significant anisotropy for the conditional pressure
Hessian tensor due to the inherent velocity-pressure couplings, and that
assuming an isotropic pressure Hessian as upstream condition may not be
realistic. In this paper, Gaussian isotropic field statistics are used to
generate more physical upstream conditions for the recent fluid deformation
mapping. In this new framework, known isotropy relations can be satisfied {\it
a priori} and no DNS-tuned coefficients are necessary. A detailed comparison of
results from the new model, referred to as the recent deformation of Gaussian
fields (RDGF) closure, with existing models and DNS shows the improvements
gained, especially in various single-time statistics of the velocity gradient
tensor at moderate Reynolds numbers. Application to arbitrarily high Reynolds
numbers remains an open challenge for this type of model, however.


title:
Some results on the $\xi(s)$ and $\Xi(t)$ functions associated with
  Riemann's $\zeta(s)$ function

abstract:
  We report on some properties of the $\xi(s)$ function and its value on the
critical line, $\Xi(t)=\xi\left(\tfrac{1}{2}+it\right)$. First, we present some
identities that hold for the log derivatives of a holomorphic function. We then
re-examine Hadamard's product-form representation of the $\xi(s)$ function, and
present a simple proof of the horizontal monotonicity of the modulus of
$\xi(s)$. We then show that the $\Xi(t)$ function can be interpreted as the
autocorrelation function of a weakly stationary random process, whose power
spectral function $S(\omega)$ and $\Xi(t)$ form a Fourier transform pair. We
then show that $\xi(s)$ can be formally written as the Fourier transform of
$S(\omega)$ into the complex domain $\tau=t-i\lambda$, where
$s=\sigma+it=\tfrac{1}{2}+\lambda+it$. We then show that the function
$S_1(\omega)$ studied by P\'{o}lya has $g(s)$ as its Fourier transform, where
$\xi(s)=g(s)\zeta(s)$. Finally we discuss the properties of the function
$g(s)$, including its relationships to Riemann-Siegel's $\vartheta(t)$
function, Hardy's Z-function, Gram's law and the Riemann-Siegel asymptotic
formula.


title:
A Performance Evaluation of Container Technologies on Internet of Things
  Devices

abstract:
  The use of virtualization technologies in different contexts - such as Cloud
Environments, Internet of Things (IoT), Software Defined Networking (SDN) - has
rapidly increased during the last years. Among these technologies,
container-based solutions own characteristics for deploying distributed and
lightweight applications. This paper presents a performance evaluation of
container technologies on constrained devices, in this case, on Raspberry Pi.
The study shows that, overall, the overhead added by containers is negligible.


title: Massive and modified gravity as self-gravitating media

abstract:
  We study the effective field theory that describes the low-energy physics of
self-gravitating media. The field content consists of four derivatively coupled
scalar fields that can be identified with the internal comoving coordinates of
the medium. Imposing SO(3) internal spatial invariance, the theory describes
supersolids. Stronger symmetry requirements lead to superfluids, solids and
perfect fluids, at lowest order in derivatives. In the unitary gauge, massive
gravity emerges, being thus the result of a continuous medium propagating in
spacetime. Our results can be used to explore systematically the effects and
signatures of modifying gravity consistently at large distances. The dark
sector is then described as a self-gravitating medium with dynamical and
thermodynamic properties dictated by internal symmetries. These results
indicate that the divide between dark energy and modified gravity, at large
distance scales, is simply a gauge choice.


title:
Lower bounds on violation of monogamy inequality for quantum correlation
  measures

abstract:
  In multiparty quantum systems, the monogamy inequality proposes an upper
bound on the distribution of bipartite quantum correlation between a single
party and each of the remaining parties in the system, in terms of the amount
of quantum correlation shared by that party with the rest of the system taken
as a whole. However, it is well-known that not all quantum correlation measures
universally satisfy the monogamy inequality. In this work, we aim at
determining the non-trivial value by which the monogamy inequality can be
violated by a quantum correlation measure. Using an information-theoretic
complementarity relation between the normalized purity and quantum correlation
in any given multiparty state, we obtain a non-trivial lower bound on the
negative monogamy score for the quantum correlation measure. In particular, for
the three-qubit states the lower bound is equal to the negative von Neumann
entropy of the single qubit reduced density matrix. We analytically examine the
tightness of the derived lower bound for certain $n$-qubit quantum states.
Further, we report numerical results of the same for monogamy violating
correlation measures using Haar uniformly generated three-qubit states.


title:
FeAs$_2$ formation and electronic nematic ordering: Analysis in terms of
  structural transformations

abstract:
  By combining DFT-based computational analysis and symmetry constraints in
terms of group-subgroup relations, we analysed the formation of the native
crystalline structure of loellingite FeAs$_2$. We showed that the ground state
of the material exhibits the ordered patterns of the electronic localization
which are mainly associated with iron $3d_{x^2 - y^2}$ orbitals and can be
characterized in terms of nematic-like ordering. The ordering is the result of
the close interplay of the lattice and the electron degrees of freedom. In a
structural aspect, it pursues an energy quest to select the orthorhombic
crystal lattice attributed to the Pnnm space group. In a charge aspect, the
ordering is connected with the valence charge density redistribution that not
only provides a high electronic polarizability but also gives rise to an
extra-large magnitude of the negative component of the dynamical p-d charge
transfer.


title: Improved adaptive Multilevel Monte Carlo and applications to finance

abstract:
  This paper focuses on the study of an original combination of the Multilevel
Monte Carlo method introduced by Giles [10] and the popular importance sampling
technique. To compute the optimal choice of the parameter involved in the
importance sampling method, we rely on Robbins-Monro type stochastic
algorithms. On the one hand, we extend our previous work [2] to the Multilevel
Monte Carlo setting. On the other hand, we improve [2] by providing a new
adaptive algorithm avoiding the discretization of any additional process.
Furthermore, from a technical point of view, the use of the same stochastic
algorithms as in [2] appears to be problematic. To overcome this issue, we
employ an alternative version of stochastic algorithms with projection (see
e.g. Laruelle, Lehalle and Pag\`es [20]). In this setting, we show innovative
limit theorems for a doubly indexed stochastic algorithm which appear to be
crucial to study the asymptotic behavior of the new adaptive Multilevel Monte
Carlo estimator. Finally, we illustrate the efficiency of our method through
applications from quantitative finance.


title: Maximising the number of induced cycles in a graph

abstract:
  We determine the maximum number of induced cycles that can be contained in a
graph on $n\ge n_0$ vertices, and show that there is a unique graph that
achieves this maximum. This answers a question of Tuza. We also determine the
maximum number of odd or even cycles that can be contained in a graph on $n\ge
n_0$ vertices and characterise the extremal graphs. This resolves a conjecture
of Chv\'atal and Tuza from 1988.


title:
Orbital stability of periodic waves in the class of reduced Ostrovsky
  equations

abstract:
  Periodic travelling waves are considered in the class of reduced Ostrovsky
equations that describe low-frequency internal waves in the presence of
rotation. The reduced Ostrovsky equations with either quadratic or cubic
nonlinearities can be transformed to integrable equations of the Klein--Gordon
type by means of a change of coordinates. By using the conserved momentum and
energy as well as an additional conserved quantity due to integrability, we
prove that small-amplitude periodic waves are orbitally stable with respect to
subharmonic perturbations, with period equal to an integer multiple of the
period of the wave. The proof is based on construction of a Lyapunov
functional, which is convex at the periodic wave and is conserved in the time
evolution. We also show numerically that convexity of the Lyapunov functional
holds for periodic waves of arbitrary amplitudes.


title:
Which $E_{\rm peak}$? - The Characteristic Energy of Gamma-Ray Burst
  Spectra

abstract:
  A characteristic energy of individual gamma-ray burst (GRB) spectra can in
most cases be determined from the peak energy of the energy density spectra
($\nu{\cal F}_{\nu}$), called '$E_{\rm peak}$'. Distributions of $E_{\rm peak}$
have been compiled for time-resolved spectra from bright GRBs, and also
time-averaged spectra and peak flux spectra for nearly every burst observed by
CGRO-BATSE and Fermi-GBM. Even when determined by an instrument with a broad
energy band, such as GBM (8 keV to 40 MeV), the distributions themselves peak
at around 240 keV in the observer's frame, with a spread of roughly a decade in
energy. $E_{\rm peak}$ can have considerable evolution (sometimes greater than
one decade) within any given burst, as amply demonstrated by single pulses in
GRB110721A and GRB130427A. Meanwhile, several luminosity or energy relations
have been proposed to correlate with either the time-integrated or peak flux
$E_{\rm peak}$. Thus, when discussing correlations with $E_{\rm peak}$, the
question arises, "Which $E_{\rm peak}$?". A single burst may be characterized
by any one of a number of values for $E_{\rm peak}$ that are associated with
it. Using a single pulse simulation model with spectral evolution as a proxy
for the type of spectral evolution observed in many bursts, we investigate how
the time-averaged $E_{\rm peak}$ emerges from the spectral evolution within a
single pulse, how this average naturally correlates with the peak flux derived
$E_{\rm peak}$ in a burst and how the distribution in $E_{\rm peak}$ values
from many bursts derives its surprisingly narrow width.


title:
Optical Demonstration of THz, Dual-Polarization Sensitive Microwave
  Kinetic Inductance Detectors

abstract:
  The next generation BLAST experiment (BLAST-TNG) is a suborbital balloon
payload that seeks to map polarized dust emission in the 250 $\mu$m, 350 $\mu$m
and 500 $\mu$m wavebands. The instrument utilizes a stepped half-wave plate to
reduce systematics. The general requirement of the detectors is that they are
photon-noise-limited and dual-polarization sensitive. To achieve this goal, we
are developing three monolithic arrays of cryogenic sensors, one for each
waveband. Each array is feedhorn-coupled and each spatial pixel consists of two
orthogonally spaced polarization-sensitive microwave kinetic inductance
detectors (MKIDs) fabricated from a Ti/TiN multilayer film. In previous work,
we demonstrated photon-noise-limited sensitivity in 250 $\mu$m waveband single
polarization devices. In this work, we present the first results of
dual-polarization sensitive MKIDs at 250 $\mu$m.


title:
A Framework for Extracting and Modeling HIPAA Privacy Rules for
  Healthcare Applications

abstract:
  Some organizations use software applications to manage their customers'
personal, medical, or financial information. In the United States, those
software applications are obligated to preserve users' privacy and to comply
with the United States federal privacy laws and regulations. To formally
guarantee compliance with those regulations, it is essential to extract and
model the privacy rules from the text of the law using a formal framework. In
this work we propose a goal-oriented framework for modeling and extracting the
privacy requirements from regulatory text using natural language processing
techniques.


title:
The optimal trilinear restriction estimate for a class of hypersurfaces
  with curvature

abstract:
  Bennett, Carbery and Tao established nearly optimal $L^1$ trilinear
restriction estimates in $\mathbb{R}^{n+1}$ under transversality assumptions
only. In this paper we show that the curvature improves the range of exponents,
by establishing $L^p$ estimates, for any $p > \frac{2(n+4)}{3(n+2)}$ in the
case of double-conic surfaces. The exponent $\frac{2(n+4)}{3(n+2)}$ is shown to
be the universal threshold for the trilinear estimate.


title: Solutions of Word Equations over Partially Commutative Structures

abstract:
  We give NSPACE(n log n) algorithms solving the following decision problems.
Satisfiability: Is the given equation over a free partially commutative monoid
with involution (resp. a free partially commutative group) solvable?
Finiteness: Are there only finitely many solutions of such an equation? PSPACE
algorithms with worse complexities for the first problem are known, but so far,
a PSPACE algorithm for the second problem was out of reach. Our results are
much stronger: Given such an equation, its solutions form an EDT0L language
effectively representable in NSPACE(n log n). In particular, we give an
effective description of the set of all solutions for equations with
constraints in free partially commutative monoids and groups.


title: The LMMP for log canonical 3-folds in char $p$

abstract:
  We prove that one can run the log minimal model program for log canonical
$3$-fold pairs in characteristic $p>5$. In particular we prove the Cone
Theorem, Contraction Theorem, the existence of flips and the existence of log
minimal models for pairs with log divisor numerically equivalent to an
effective divisor. These follow from our main results, which are that certain
log minimal models are good.


title:
Control of light trapping in a large atomic system by a static magnetic
  field

abstract:
  We propose to control light trapping in a large ensemble of cold atoms by an
external, static magnetic field. For an appropriate choice of frequency and
polarization of the exciting pulse, the field is expected to speed up the
fluorescence of a dilute atomic system. In a dense ensemble, the field does not
affect the early-time superradiant signal but amplifies intensity fluctuations
at intermediate times and induces a very slow, nonexponential long-time decay.
The slowing down of fluorescence is due to the excitation of spatially
localized collective atomic states that appear only under a strong magnetic
field and have exponentially long lifetimes. Our results therefore pave a way
towards experimental observation of the disorder-induced localization of light
in cold atomic systems.


title: Low-energy theory of transport in Majorana wire junctions

abstract:
  We formulate and apply a low-energy transport theory for hybrid quantum
devices containing junctions of topological superconductor (TS) wires and
conventional normal (N) or superconducting (S) leads. We model TS wires as
spinless $p$-wave superconductors and derive their boundary Keldysh Green's
function, capturing both the Majorana end state and continuum quasiparticle
excitations in a unified manner. We also specify this Green's function for a
finite-length TS wire. Junctions connecting different parts of the device are
described by the standard tunneling Hamiltonian. Using this Hamiltonian
approach, one also has the option to include many-body interactions in a
systematic manner. For N-TS junctions, we provide the current-voltage ($I$-$V$)
characteristics at arbitrary junction transparency and give exact results for
the shot noise power and the excess current. For TS-TS junctions, analytical
results for the thermal noise spectrum and for the $I$-$V$ curve in the
high-transparency low-bias regime are presented. For S-TS junctions, we compute
the entire $I$-$V$ curve and clarify the conditions for having a finite
Josephson current.


title:
H-ATLAS: The Far-Infrared properties of galaxies in and around the Coma
  Cluster

abstract:
  We describe a far infrared survey of the Coma cluster and the galaxy filament
it resides within. Our survey covers an area of $\sim$150 deg$^2$ observed by
$Herschel$ H-ATLAS in five bands at 100, 160, 250, 350 and 500$\mu$m. The SDSS
spectroscopic survey ($m_{r} \le 17.8)$ is used to define an area (within the
Virial radius) and redshift selected ($4268 < v < 9700$ km s$^{-1}$) sample of
744 Coma cluster galaxies - the Coma Cluster Catalogue (CCC). For comparison we
also define a sample of 951 galaxies in the connecting filament - the Coma
Filament Catalogue (CFC). The optical positions and parameters are used to
define appropriate apertures to measure each galaxy's far infrared emission. We
have detected 99 of 744 (13\%) and 422 of 951 (44\%) of the cluster and
filament galaxies in the SPIRE 250$\mu$m band. We consider the relative
detection rates of galaxies of different morphological types finding that it is
only the S0/Sa population that shows clear differences between the cluster and
filament. We find no differences between the dust masses and temperatures of
cluster and filament galaxies with the exception of early type galaxy dust
temperatures, which are significantly hotter in the cluster than in the
filament (X-ray heating?). From a chemical evolution model we find no evidence
for different evolutionary processes (gas loss or infall) between galaxies in
the cluster and filament.


title:
Discrete Preference Games in Heterogeneous Social Networks: Subverted
  Majorities and the Swing Player

abstract:
  We study discrete preference games in heterogeneous social networks. These
games model the interplay between a player's private belief and his/her
publicly stated opinion (which could be different from the player's belief) as
a strategic game in which the players' strategies are the opinions and the cost
of an opinion in a state is a convex combination through a parameter
$\alpha\in[0,1]$ of two factors: the disagreement between the player's opinion
and his/her internal belief and the number of neighbors whose opinions differ
from the one of the player. The parameter $\alpha$ models how stubborn a player
is: players with large $\alpha$ change their opinion only if many neighbors
disagree with his/her belief. We consider social networks that are
heterogeneous in the sense that the parameter $\alpha$ can vary from player to
player.
  We ask if it is possible that the belief shared by the majority of the
players does not coincide with the opinion that is publicly announced by the
majority of the players in an equilibrium state. Our main result is a
characterization of the social networks that admit an initial belief assignment
for which there exists a sequence of best response moves that reach an
equilibrium in which the initial majority is subverted. Our characterization is
effective in the sense that can be tested efficiently and the initial belief
assignment that can be subverted can be computed in time polynomial in the
number of players. Our result is actually stronger as we show that in each
initial belief assignment that can be subverted, subversion is actually
obtained in a very strong way: it only takes one move of a single player, the
swing player, to lead the social network to a point of no return in which any
rational move from any player leads to a subverted majority.


title: Spatial beam self-cleaning in multimode fiber

abstract:
  Multimode optical fibres are enjoying a renewed attention, boosted by the
urgent need to overcome the current capacity crunch of single-mode fibre
systems and by recent advances in multimode complex nonlinear optics [1-13]. In
this work, we demonstrate that standard multimode fibres can be used as
ultrafast all-optical tool for transverse beam manipulation of high power laser
pulses. Our experimental data show that the Kerr effect in a graded-index
multimode fibre is the driving mechanism for overcoming speckle distortions,
leading to a somewhat counter-intuitive effect resulting in a spatially clean
output beam robust against fibre bending. Our observations demonstrate that
nonlinear beam reshaping into the fundamental mode of a multimode fibre can be
achieved even in the absence of a dissipative process such as stimulated
scattering (Raman or Brillouin) [14,15].


title: Magnetized galactic halos and velocity lags

abstract:
  We present an analytic model of a magnetized galactic halo surrounding a
Mestel gravitating disc. The magnetic field is taken to be in energy
equipartition with the pressure dominant rotating halo gas ({\it not} with the
cosmic rays), and the whole system is in a steady state. A more flexible
`anisotropic equipartition' model is also explored. A definite pressure law is
required to maintain the equilibrium, but the halo density is constant. The
velocity/magnetic system is scale-free. The objective is to find the rotational
velocity lag in such a halo. The magnetic field is not force-free so that
angular momentum may be transported from the halo to the intergalactic medium.
We find that the `X'-shaped structure observed for halo magnetic fields can be
obtained together with a simple analytic formula for the rate of decline of the
velocity with height $z$. The formula also predicts the change in lag with
radius, $r$.


title:
Using $\Lambda_b\to \Lambda\mu^+\mu^-$ data within a Bayesian analysis
  of $|\Delta B| = |\Delta S| = 1$ decays

abstract:
  We study the impact of including the baryonic decay $\Lambda_b\to \Lambda(\to
p \pi^-)\mu^+\mu^-$ in a Bayesian analysis of $|\Delta B | = |\Delta S| = 1$
transitions. We perform fits of the Wilson coefficients $C_{9}$, $C_{9'}$,
$C_{10}$ and $C_{10'}$, in addition to the relevant nuisance parameters. Our
analysis combines data for the differential branching fraction and three
angular observables of $\Lambda_b\to \Lambda(\to p \pi^-)\mu^+\mu^-$ with data
for the branching ratios of $B_s \to \mu^+\mu^-$ and inclusive $b \to
s\ell^+\ell^-$ decays. Newly available precise lattice QCD results for the full
set of $\Lambda_b \to \Lambda$ form factors are used to evaluate the
observables of the baryonic decay. Our fits prefer shifts to $C_{9}$ that are
opposite in sign compared to those found in global fits of only mesonic decays,
and the posterior odds show no evidence of physics beyond the Standard Model.
We investigate a possible hadronic origin of the observed tensions between
theory and experiment.


title: Quasi-local energy with respect to de Sitter/anti-de Sitter reference

abstract:
  This article considers the quasi-local conserved quantities with respect to a
reference spacetime with a cosmological constant. We follow the approach
developed by the authors in [25,26,7] and define the quasi-local energy as
differences of surface Hamiltonians. The ground state for the gravitational
energy is taken to be a reference configuration in the de Sitter (dS) or
Anti-de Sitter (AdS) spacetime. This defines the quasi-local energy with
respect to the reference spacetime and generalizes our previous definition with
respect to the Minkowski spacetime. Through an optimal isometric embedding into
the reference spacetime, the Killing fields of the reference spacetime are
transplanted back to the surface in the physical spacetime to complete the
definitions of quasi-local conserved quantities. We also compute how the
corresponding total conserved quantities evolve under the Einstein equation
with a cosmological constant.


title:
Relativistic Lagrangian and Hamiltonian Description of a Beam with
  Space-Charge

abstract:
  Application of the symplectic particle-in-cell algorithm proposed by H.~Qin
{\it et al.} to space-charge in cyclotrons.


title:
Frequency estimation in three-phase power systems with harmonic
  contamination: A multistage quaternion Kalman filtering approach

abstract:
  Motivated by the need for accurate frequency information, a novel algorithm
for estimating the fundamental frequency and its rate of change in three-phase
power systems is developed. This is achieved through two stages of Kalman
filtering. In the first stage a quaternion extended Kalman filter, which
provides a unified framework for joint modeling of voltage measurements from
all the phases, is used to estimate the instantaneous phase increment of the
three-phase voltages. The phase increment estimates are then used as
observations of the extended Kalman filter in the second stage that accounts
for the dynamic behavior of the system frequency and simultaneously estimates
the fundamental frequency and its rate of change. The framework is then
extended to account for the presence of harmonics. Finally, the concept is
validated through simulation on both synthetic and real-world data.


title:
Localization of the valence electron of endohedrally confined hydrogen,
  lithium and sodium in fullerene cages

abstract:
  The localization of the valence electron of $H$, $Li$ and $Na$ atoms enclosed
by three different fullerene molecules is studied. The structure of the
fullerene molecules is used to calculate the equilibrium position of the
endohedrally atom as the minimum of the classical $(N+1)$-body Lennard-Jones
potential. Once the position of the guest atom is determined, the fullerene
cavity is modeled by a short range attractive shell according to molecule
symmetry, and the enclosed atom is modeled by an effective one-electron
potential. In order to examine whether the endohedral compound is formed by a
neutral atom inside a neutral fullerene molecule $X@C_{N}$ or if the valence
electron of the encapsulated atom localizes in the fullerene giving rise to a
state with the form $X^{+}@C_{N}^{-}$, we analyze the electronic density, the
projections onto free atomic states, and the weights of partial angular waves.


title:
Observation of Quantum Phase Transitions with Parity-Symmetry Breaking
  and Hysteresis

abstract:
  Symmetry-breaking quantum phase transitions play a key role in several
condensed matter, cosmology and nuclear physics theoretical models. Its
observation in real systems is often hampered by finite temperatures and
limited control of the system parameters. In this work we report for the first
time the experimental observation of the full quantum phase diagram across a
transition where the spatial parity symmetry is broken. Our system is made of
an ultra-cold gas with tunable attractive interactions trapped in a spatially
symmetric double-well potential. At a critical value of the interaction
strength, we observe a continuous quantum phase transition where the gas
spontaneously localizes in one well or the other, thus breaking the underlying
symmetry of the system. Furthermore, we show the robustness of the asymmetric
state against controlled energy mismatch between the two wells. This is the
result of hysteresis associated with an additional discontinuous quantum phase
transition that we fully characterize. Our results pave the way to the study of
quantum critical phenomena at finite temperature, the investigation of
macroscopic quantum tunneling of the order parameter in the hysteretic regime
and the production of strongly quantum entangled states at critical points.


title: Impact Analysis of Baseband Quantizer on Coding Efficiency for HDR Video

abstract:
  Digitally acquired high dynamic range (HDR) video baseband signal can take 10
to 12 bits per color channel. It is economically important to be able to reuse
the legacy 8 or 10-bit video codecs to efficiently compress the HDR video.
Linear or nonlinear mapping on the intensity can be applied to the baseband
signal to reduce the dynamic range before the signal is sent to the codec, and
we refer to this range reduction step as a baseband quantization. We show
analytically and verify using test sequences that the use of the baseband
quantizer lowers the coding efficiency. Experiments show that as the baseband
quantizer is strengthened by 1.6 bits, the drop of PSNR at a high bitrate is up
to 1.60dB. Our result suggests that in order to achieve high coding efficiency,
information reduction of videos in terms of quantization error should be
introduced in the video codec instead of on the baseband signal.


title: Ant-Inspired Density Estimation via Random Walks

abstract:
  Many ant species employ distributed population density estimation in
applications ranging from quorum sensing [Pra05], to task allocation [Gor99],
to appraisal of enemy colony strength [Ada90]. It has been shown that ants
estimate density by tracking encounter rates -- the higher the population
density, the more often the ants bump into each other [Pra05,GPT93].
  We study distributed density estimation from a theoretical perspective. We
prove that a group of anonymous agents randomly walking on a grid are able to
estimate their density within a small multiplicative error in few steps by
measuring their rates of encounter with other agents. Despite dependencies
inherent in the fact that nearby agents may collide repeatedly (and, worse,
cannot recognize when this happens), our bound nearly matches what would be
required to estimate density by independently sampling grid locations.
  From a biological perspective, our work helps shed light on how ants and
other social insects can obtain relatively accurate density estimates via
encounter rates. From a technical perspective, our analysis provides new tools
for understanding complex dependencies in the collision probabilities of
multiple random walks. We bound the strength of these dependencies using
$local\ mixing\ properties$ of the underlying graph. Our results extend beyond
the grid to more general graphs and we discuss applications to size estimation
for social networks and density estimation for robot swarms.


title: Functional Autoregression for Sparsely Sampled Data

abstract:
  We develop a hierarchical Gaussian process model for forecasting and
inference of functional time series data. Unlike existing methods, our approach
is especially suited for sparsely or irregularly sampled curves and for curves
sampled with non-negligible measurement error. The latent process is
dynamically modeled as a functional autoregression (FAR) with Gaussian process
innovations. We propose a fully nonparametric dynamic functional factor model
for the dynamic innovation process, with broader applicability and improved
computational efficiency over standard Gaussian process models. We prove
finite-sample forecasting and interpolation optimality properties of the
proposed model, which remain valid with the Gaussian assumption relaxed. An
efficient Gibbs sampling algorithm is developed for estimation, inference, and
forecasting, with extensions for FAR(p) models with model averaging over the
lag p. Extensive simulations demonstrate substantial improvements in
forecasting performance and recovery of the autoregressive surface over
competing methods, especially under sparse designs. We apply the proposed
methods to forecast nominal and real yield curves using daily U.S. data. Real
yields are observed more sparsely than nominal yields, yet the proposed methods
are highly competitive in both settings.


title:
Direct acceleration of electrons by a CO$_{2}$ laser in a curved plasma
  waveguide

abstract:
  Laser plasma interaction with micro-engineered targets at relativistic
intensities has been greatly promoted by recent progress in the high contrast
lasers and the manufacture of advanced micro- and nano-structures. This opens
new possibilities for the physics of laser-matter interaction. Here we propose
a novel approach that leverages the advantages of high-pressure CO$_{2}$ laser,
laser-waveguide interaction, as well as micro-engineered plasma structure to
accelerate electrons to peak energy greater than 1 GeV with narrow slice energy
spread ($\sim1\%$) and high overall efficiency. The acceleration gradient is 26
GV/m for a 1.3 TW CO$_{2}$ laser system. The micro-bunching of a long electron
beam leads to the generation of a chain of ultrashort electron bunches with the
duration roughly equal to half-laser-cycle. These results open a way for
developing a compact and economic electron source for diverse applications.


title:
Resonance fluorescence spectra from semiconductor quantum dots coupled
  to slow-light photonic crystal waveguides

abstract:
  Using a polaron master equation approach we investigate the resonance
fluorescence spectra from coherently driven quantum dots (QDs) coupled to an
acoustic phonon bath and a photonic crystal waveguide with a rich local density
of photon states (LDOS). Resonance fluorescence spectra from QDs in
semiconductor crystals are known to show strong signatures of electron-phonon
interactions, but when coupled to a structured photonic reservoir, the QD
emission properties are also determined by the frequency dependence of the LDOS
of the photon reservoir. Here, we investigate the simultaneous role of coupled
photon and phonon baths on the characteristic Mollow triplet spectra from a
strongly driven QD. As an example structured photonic reservoir, we first study
a photonic crystal coupled cavity waveguide, and find that photons and phonons
have counter-interacting effects near the upper mode-edge of the coupled-cavity
waveguide, thus establishing the importance of their separate roles in
determining the emission spectra. The general theory is developed for arbitrary
photonic reservoirs and is further applied to determine resonance the
fluorescence spectra from a realistic, disordered W1 photonic crystal waveguide
showing important photon-phonon interaction effects that are directly relevant
to emerging experiments and theoretical proposals.


title:
The Interfacial Energy of a Phase Boundary via a Lattice-Cell Average
  Approach

abstract:
  The calculation of the discrete atomistic energy of a crystal near the
continuum limit encounters difficulties caused by the geometric discrepancy
between the continuum region occupied by the body, and the discrete collection
of lattice points contained in it. This results in ambiguities in the
asymptotic expansion of the energy for small values of the lattice parameter,
that are traced back to the lattice point problem of number theory. The
lattice-cell average of the discrete energy is introduced and is shown to
eliminate this ambiguity in various circumstances. It is used to find explicit
continuum expressions for surface energies and interfacial energies of coherent
phase boundaries in deformed crystals in terms of the interatomic potential.


title:
Development of a portable and fast wire tension measurement system for
  MWPC's construction

abstract:
  In a multi-wire proportional chamber detector(MWPC), the anode and signal
wires must maintain suitable tensions, which is very important for the
detector's stable and perfect performance. As a result, wire tension control
and measurement is essential in MWPC's construction. The thermal neutron
detector of multi-functional reflectometer at China Spallation Neutron Source
is designed using a high pressure $^{3}$He MWPC detector, and in the
construction of the detector, we developed a wire tension measurement system.
This system is accurate, portable and time-saving. With it, the wires' tension
on a anode wire plane has been tested, the measurement results show that the
wire tension control techniques used in detector manufacture is reliable.


title: Atmospheric changes from solar eclipses

abstract:
  This article reviews atmospheric changes associated with 44 solar eclipses,
beginning with the first quantitative results available, from 1834 (earlier
qualitative, accounts also exist). Eclipse meteorology attracted relatively few
publications until the total solar eclipse of 16 February 1980, with the 11
August 1999 eclipse producing the most papers. Eclipses passing over populated
areas such as Europe, China and India now regularly attract scientific
attention, whereas atmospheric measurements of eclipses at remote locations
remain rare. Many measurements and models have been used to exploit the
uniquely predictable solar forcing provided by an eclipse. In this paper we
compile the available publications and review a sub-set of them chosen on the
basis of importance and novelty. Beyond the obvious reduction in incoming solar
radiation, atmospheric cooling from eclipses can induce dynamical changes.
Observations and meteorological modelling provide evidence for the generation
of a local eclipse circulation which may be the origin of the "eclipse wind".
Gravity waves set up by the eclipse can, in principle, be detected as
atmospheric pressure fluctuations, though theoretical predictions are limited,
and many of the data are inconclusive. Eclipse events providing important early
insights into the ionisation of the upper atmosphere are also briefly reviewed.


title:
Estimates of the Green function and the initial-Dirichlet problem for
  the heat equation in sub-Riemannian spaces

abstract:
  In a cylinder $D_T = \Omega \times (0,T)$, where $\Omega\subset
\mathbb{R}^n$, we examine the relation between the $L$-caloric measure,
$d\omega^{(x,t)}$, where $L$ is the heat operator associated with a system of
vector fields of H\"ormander type, and the measure $d\sigma_X\times dt$, where
$d\sigma_X$ is the intrinsic $X$-perimeter measure. The latter constitutes the
appropriate replacement for the standard surface measure on the boundary and
plays a central role in sub-Riemannian geometric measure theory. Under suitable
assumptions on the domain $\Omega$ we establish the mutual absolute continuity
of $d\omega^{(x,t)}$ and $d\sigma_X\times dt$. We also derive the solvability
of the initial-Dirichlet problem for $L$ with boundary data in appropriate $
L^p$ spaces, for every $p>1$.


title: A weighted renormalized curvature for manifolds with density

abstract:
  We introduce a scalar invariant on manifolds with density which is analogous
to the renormalized volume coefficient $v_3$ in conformal geometry. We show
that this invariant is variational and that shrinking gradient Ricci solitons
are stable with respect to the associated $\mathcal{W}$-functional.


title: Mapping trilobite state signatures in atomic hydrogen

abstract:
  A few-body approach relying on static line broadening theory is developed to
treat the spectroscopy of a single Rydberg excitation to a trilobite-like state
immersed in a high density ultracold medium. The present theoretical framework
implements the compact treatment of polyatomic Rydberg molecules by Eiles et
al. [arXiv:1601.06881], allowing for an accurate treatment of a large number of
perturbers within the Rydberg orbit. This system exhibits two unique spectral
signatures: its lineshape depends on the Rydberg quantum number $n$ but,
strikingly, is independent of the density of the medium, and it is
characterized by sharply peaked features reflecting the oscillatory structure
of the potential energy landscape.


title:
Search for neutral resonances decaying into a Z boson and a pair of b
  jets or tau leptons

abstract:
  A search is performed for a new resonance decaying into a lighter resonance
and a Z boson. Two channels are studied, targeting the decay of the lighter
resonance into either a pair of oppositely charged tau leptons or a b b-bar
pair. The Z boson is identified via its decays to electrons or muons. The
search exploits data collected by the CMS experiment at a centre-of-mass energy
of 8 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.8 inverse femtobarns.
No significant deviations are observed from the standard model expectation and
limits are set on production cross sections and parameters of two-Higgs-doublet
models.


title: One-Dimensional Quasi-Exactly Solvable Schr\"odinger Equations

abstract:
  Quasi-Exactly Solvable Schr\"odinger Equations occupy an intermediate place
between exactly-solvable (e.g. the harmonic oscillator and Coulomb problems
etc) and non-solvable ones. Their major property is an explicit knowledge of
several eigenstates while the remaining ones are unknown. Many of these
problems are of the anharmonic oscillator type with a special type of
anharmonicity. The Hamiltonians of quasi-exactly-solvable problems are
characterized by the existence of a hidden algebraic structure but do not have
any hidden symmetry properties. In particular, all known one-dimensional
(quasi)-exactly-solvable problems possess a hidden $\mathfrak{sl}(2,\bf{R})-$
Lie algebra. They are equivalent to the $\mathfrak{sl}(2,\bf{R})$ Euler-Arnold
quantum top in a constant magnetic field. Quasi-Exactly Solvable problems are
highly non-trivial, they shed light on delicate analytic properties of the
Schr\"odinger Equations in coupling constant. The Lie-algebraic formalism
allows us to make a link between the Schr\"odinger Equations and
finite-difference equations on uniform and/or exponential lattices, it implies
that the spectra is preserved. This link takes the form of quantum canonical
transformation. The corresponding isospectral spectral problems for
finite-difference operators are described. The underlying Fock space formalism
giving rise to this correspondence is uncovered. For a quite general class of
perturbations of unperturbed problems with the hidden Lie algebra property we
can construct an algebraic perturbation theory, where the wavefunction
corrections are of polynomial nature, thus, can be found by algebraic means.


title:
Synthesis of multi-wavelength temporal phase-shifting algorithms
  optimized for high signal-to-noise ratio and high detuning robustness using
  the frequency transfer function

abstract:
  Synthesis of single-wavelength temporal phase-shifting algorithms (PSA) for
interferometry is well-known and firmly based on the frequency transfer
function (FTF) paradigm. Here we extend the single-wavelength FTF-theory to
dual and multi-wavelength PSA-synthesis when several simultaneous laser-colors
are present. The FTF-based synthesis for dual-wavelength PSA (DW-PSA) is
optimized for high signal-to-noise ratio and minimum number of temporal
phase-shifted interferograms. The DW-PSA synthesis herein presented may be used
for interferometric contouring of discontinuous industrial objects. Also DW-PSA
may be useful for DW shop-testing of deep free-form aspheres. As shown here,
using the FTF-based synthesis one may easily find explicit DW-PSA formulae
optimized for high signal-to-noise and high detuning robustness. To this date,
no general synthesis and analysis for temporal DW-PSAs has been given; only
had-hoc DW-PSAs formulas have been reported. Consequently, no explicit formulae
for their spectra, their signal-to-noise, their detuning and harmonic
robustness has been given. Here for the first time a fully general procedure
for designing DW-PSAs (or triple-wavelengths PSAs) with desire spectrum,
signal-to-noise ratio and detuning robustness is given. We finally generalize
DW-PSA to higher number of wavelength temporal PSAs.


title: Symplectic, Poisson, and contact geometry on scattering manifolds

abstract:
  We introduce scattering-symplectic manifolds, manifolds with a type of
minimally degenerate Poisson structure that is not too restrictive so as to
have a large class of examples, yet restrictive enough for standard Poisson
invariants to be computable. This paper will demonstrate the potential of the
scattering symplectic setting. In particular, we construct
scattering-symplectic spheres and scattering symplectic gluings between strong
convex symplectic fillings of a contact manifold. By giving an explicit
computation of the Poisson cohomology of a scattering symplectic manifold, we
also introduce a new method of computing Poisson cohomology.


title:
Transient superdiffusion and long-range correlations in the motility
  patterns of trypanosomatid flagellate protozoa

abstract:
  We report on a diffusive analysis of the motion of flagellate protozoa
species. These parasites are the etiological agents of neglected tropical
diseases: leishmaniasis caused by Leishmania amazonensis and Leishmania
braziliensis, African sleeping sickness caused by Trypanosoma brucei, and
Chagas disease caused by Trypanosoma cruzi. By tracking the positions of these
parasites and evaluating the variance related to the radial positions, we find
that their motions are characterized by a short-time transient superdiffusive
behavior. Also, the probability distributions of the radial positions are
self-similar and can be approximated by a stretched Gaussian distribution. We
further investigate the probability distributions of the radial velocities of
individual trajectories. Among several candidates, we find that the generalized
gamma distribution shows a good agreement with these distributions. The
velocity time series have long-range correlations, displaying a strong
persistent behavior (Hurst exponents close to one). The prevalence of
"universal" patterns across all analyzed species indicates that similar
mechanisms may be ruling the motion of these parasites, despite their
differences in morphological traits. In addition, further analysis of these
patterns could become a useful tool for investigating the activity of new
candidate drugs against these and others neglected tropical diseases.


title: CMB all-scale blackbody distortions induced by linearizing temperature

abstract:
  Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) experiments, such as WMAP and Planck,
measure intensity anisotropies and build maps using a \emph{linearized} formula
for relating them to the temperature blackbody fluctuations. However such a
procedure also generates a signal in the maps in the form of y-type
distortions, and thus degenerate with the thermal SZ (tSZ) effect. These are
small effects that arise at second-order in the temperature fluctuations not
from primordial physics but from such a limitation of the map-making procedure.
They constitute a contaminant for measurements of: our peculiar velocity, the
tSZ and of primordial y-distortions, but they can nevertheless be well-modelled
and accounted for. We show that the largest distortions arises at high ell from
a leakage of the CMB dipole into the y-channel which couples to all multipoles,
but mostly affects the range ell <~ 400. This should be visible in Planck's
y-maps with an estimated signal-to-noise ratio of about 9. We note however that
such frequency-dependent terms carry no new information on the nature of the
CMB dipole. This implies that the real significance of Planck's Doppler
coupling measurements is actually lower than quoted. Finally, we quantify the
relevance of the removal of such effects in order improve future measurements
of tSZ and of primordial y-type distortions.


title:
To the Spectral Theory of the Bessel Operator on Finite Interval and
  Half-Line

abstract:
  The minimal and maximal operators generated by the Bessel differential
expression on the finite interval and a half-line are studied. All non-negative
self-adjoint extensions of the minimal operator are described. Also we obtain a
description of the domain of the Friedrichs extension of the minimal operator
in the framework of extension theory of symmetric operators by applying the
technique of boundary triplets and the corresponding Weyl functions, and by
using the quadratic form method.


title: Quantum electrodynamics near a photonic band-gap

abstract:
  Photonic crystals provide an extremely powerful toolset for manipulation of
optical dispersion and density of states, and have thus been employed for
applications from photon generation to quantum sensing with NVs and atoms. The
unique control afforded by these media make them a beautiful, if unexplored,
playground for strong coupling quantum electrodynamics, where a single, highly
nonlinear emitter hybridizes with the band structure of the crystal. In this
work we demonstrate that such hybridization can create localized cavity modes
that live within the photonic band-gap, whose localization and spectral
properties we explore in detail. We then demonstrate that the coloured vacuum
of the photonic crystal can be employed for efficient dissipative state
preparation. This work opens exciting prospects for engineering long-range spin
models in the circuit QED architecture, as well as new opportunities for
dissipative quantum state engineering.


title: Kinematics, Dynamics, and the Structure of Physical Theory

abstract:
  Every physical theory has (at least) two different forms of mathematical
equations to represent its target systems: the dynamical (equations of motion)
and the kinematical (kinematical constraints). Kinematical constraints are
differentiated from equations of motion by the fact that their particular form
is fixed once and for all, irrespective of the interactions the system enters
into. By contrast, the particular form of a system's equations of motion
depends essentially on the particular interaction the system enters into. All
contemporary accounts of the structure and semantics of physical theory treat
dynamics, i.e., the equations of motion, as the most important feature of a
theory for the purposes of its philosophical analysis. I argue to the contrary
that it is the kinematical constraints that determine the structure and
empirical content of a physical theory in the most important ways: they
function as necessary preconditions for the appropriate application of the
theory; they differentiate types of physical systems; they are necessary for
the equations of motion to be well posed or even just cogent; and they guide
the experimentalist in the design of tools for measurement and observation. It
is thus satisfaction of the kinematical constraints that renders meaning to
those terms representing a system's physical quantities in the first place,
even before one can ask whether or not the system satisfies the theory's
equations of motion.


title: On a generalized Kirchhoff equation with sublinear nonlinearities

abstract:
  In this paper we consider a generalized Kirchhoff? equation in a bounded
domain under the effect of a sublinear nonlinearity. Under suitable assumptions
on the data of the problem we show that, with a simple change of variable, the
equation can be reduced to a classical semilinear equation and then studied
with standard tools.


title: An Extension of the Generalized Linear Failure Rate Distribution

abstract:
  In this paper, we introduce a new extension of the generalized linear failure
rate distributions. It includes some well-known lifetime distributions such as
extension of generalized exponential and generalized linear failure rate
distributions as special sub-models. In addition, it can have a constant,
decreasing, increasing, upside-down bathtub (unimodal), and bathtub-shaped
hazard rate function depending on its parameters. We provide some of its
statistical properties such as moments, quantiles, skewness, kurtosis, hazard
rate function, and reversible hazard rate function. The maximum likelihood
estimation of the parameters is also discussed. At the end, a real data set is
given to illustrate the usefulness of this new distribution in analyzing
lifetime data.


title: Measuring cones and other thick subsets in free groups

abstract:
  In this paper we investigate the special automata over finite rank free
groups and estimate asymptotic characteristics of sets they accept. We show how
one can decompose an arbitrary regular subset of a finite rank free group into
disjoint union of sets accepted by special automata or special monoids. These
automata allow us to compute explicitly generating functions,
$\lambda-$measures and Cesaro measure of thick monoids. Also we improve the
asymptotic classification of regular subsets in free groups.


title: Survey on some aspects of Lefschetz theorems in algebraic geometry

abstract:
  We survey classical material around Lefschetz theorems for fundamental
groups, and show the relation to parts of Deligne's program in Weil II.
  The notes are based on some aspects of the material for the Santal\'o
lectures at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (October 2015) and the
Rademacher lectures at the University of Pennsylvania (February 2016).
  They appear in Revista Matem\'atica Complutense.


title:
Continuous Vernier filtering of an optical frequency comb for broadband
  cavity-enhanced molecular spectroscopy

abstract:
  We have recently introduced the Vernier-based Direct Frequency Comb
Cavity-Enhanced Spectroscopy technique and we present the corresponding
formalism for quantitative broadband spectroscopy. We achieve high sensitivity
and broadband performance by acquiring spectra covering more than 2000
cm$^{-1}$ around 12600 cm$^{-1}$ (800 nm), resolving the 3$\nu$+$\delta$ band
of water vapor and the entire A-band of oxygen in ambient air. 31 300
independent spectral elements are acquired at the second time scale with an
absorption baseline noise of 2$\times$10$^{-8}$ cm$^{-1}$ providing a merit
figure of 1,1.10$^{-10}$ cm$^{-1}$/$\sqrt{Hz}$ with a cavity finesse of 3000
and a cavity round-trip length around 3,3 m. This state-of-the-art performance
is reached through a continuous Vernier filtering of a Titanium:Saphire
frequency comb with the cavity grid of resonances, obtained when the cavity
free spectral range and the laser repetition rate are slightly mismatched.
Here, we discuss the effect of the Vernier filtering on the measured absorbtion
lineshape and we derive the formalism needed to fit molecular spectra.


title: Fundamental Parameters of Kepler Eclipsing Binaries. I. KIC 5738698

abstract:
  Eclipsing binaries serve as a valuable source of stellar masses and radii
that inform stellar evolutionary models and provide insight into additional
astrophysical processes. The exquisite light curves generated by space-based
missions such as Kepler offer the most stringent tests to date. We use the
Kepler light curve of the 4.8-day eclipsing binary KIC 5739896 with ground
based optical spectra to derive fundamental parameters for the system. We
reconstruct the component spectra to determine the individual atmospheric
parameters, and model the Kepler photometry with the binary synthesis code ELC
to obtain accurate masses and radii. The two components of KIC 5738698 are
F-type stars with M1 = 1.39+/-0.04M, M2 = 1.34+/-0.06M, and R1 = 1.84+/-0.03R,
R2 = 1.72+/-0.03R. We also report a small eccentricity (e < 0.0017) and unusual
albedo values that are required to match the detailed shape of the Kepler light
curve. Comparisons with evolutionary models indicate an approximate age of 2.3
Gyr for the system.