title:
Rapid yet accurate first principle based predictions of alkali halide
  crystal phases using alchemical perturbation

abstract:
  We assess the predictive power of alchemical perturbations for estimating
fundamental properties in ionic crystals. Using density functional theory we
have calculated formation energies, lattice constants, and bulk moduli for all
sixteen iso-valence-electronic combinations of pure pristine alkali halides
involving elements $A \in \{$Na, K, Rb, Cs$\}$ and $X \in \{$F, Cl, Br, I$\}$.
For rock salt, zincblende and cesium chloride symmetry, alchemical
Hellmann-Feynman derivatives, evaluated along lattice scans of sixteen
reference crystals, have been obtained for all respective 16$\times$15
combinations of reference and predicted target crystals. Mean absolute errors
(MAE) are on par with density functional theory level of accuracy for energies
and bulk modulus. Predicted lattice constants are less accurate. NaCl is the
best reference salt for alchemical estimates of relative energies (MAE $<$ 40
meV/atom) while alkali fluorides are the worst. By contrast, lattice constants
are predicted best using NaF as a reference salt (MAE $<$ 0.5{\AA}), yielding
only semi-quantitative accuracy. The best reference salt for the prediction of
bulk moduli is CsCl (MAE $<$ 0.4$\times$10$^{11}$ dynes/cm$^2$). Alchemical
derivatives can also be used to predict competing rock salt and cesium chloride
phases in binary and ternary solid mixtures with CsCl. Alchemical predictions
based on dispersion corrected density functional theory with pure RbI as a
reference salt reproduce reasonably well the reversal of the rock salt/cesium
chloride stability trend for binary $(AX)_{1-x}$CsCl$_x$ as well as for ternary
$(AX)_{0.5-0.5x}(BY)_{0.5-0.5x}$CsCl$_x$ mixtures.


title: Bell's Universe: A Personal Recollection

abstract:
  My collaboration and friendship with John Bell is recollected. I will explain
his outstanding contributions in particle physics, in accelerator physics, and
his joint work with Mary Bell. Mary's work in accelerator physics is also
summarized. I recall our quantum debates, mention some personal reminiscences,
and give my personal view on Bell's fundamental work on quantum theory, in
particular, on the concept of contextuality and nonlocality of quantum physics.
Finally, I describe the huge influence Bell had on my own work, in particular
on entanglement and Bell inequalities in particle physics and their
experimental verification, and on mathematical physics, where some geometric
aspects of the quantum states are illustrated.


title: Khovanov-Seidel quiver algebras and Ozsv\'ath-Szab\'o's bordered theory

abstract:
  We investigate a relationship between Ozsv\'ath and Szab\'o's bordered theory
and the algebras and bimodules constructed by Khovanov-Seidel. Specifically, we
show that (a variant of) a special case of Ozsv\'ath-Szab\'o's algebras has a
quotient which is isomorphic to the Khovanov-Seidel quiver algebra with
coefficients in $\mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z}$. Furthermore, we show that after
induction and restriction of scalars, the dg bimodule over quiver algebras
associated to a crossing by Khovanov-Seidel is homotopy equivalent to
Ozsv\'ath-Szab\'o's DA bimodule for the crossing in this special case.


title:
Nonlinear stability of expanding star solutions in the
  radially-symmetric mass-critical Euler-Poisson system

abstract:
  We prove nonlinear stability of compactly supported expanding star-solutions
of the mass-critical gravitational Euler-Poisson system. These special
solutions were discovered by Goldreich and Weber in 1980. The expanding rate of
such solutions can be either self-similar or non-self-similar (linear), and we
treat both types. An important outcome of our stability results is the
existence of a new class of global-in-time radially symmetric solutions, which
are not homogeneous and therefore not encompassed by the existing works. Using
Lagrangian coordinates we reformulate the associated free-boundary problem as a
degenerate quasilinear wave equation on a compact spatial domain. The problem
is mass-critical with respect to an invariant rescaling and the analysis is
carried out in similarity variables.


title:
Well-posedness and persistence properties for two-component higher order
  Camassa-Holm systems with fractional inertia operator

abstract:
  In this paper, we study the Cauchy problem for a two-component higher order
Camassa-Holm systems with fractional inertia operator
$A=(1-\partial_x^2)^r,r\geq1$, which was proposed by Escher and Lyons. By the
transport equation theory and Littlewood-Paley decomposition, we obtain that
the local well-posedness of solutions for the system in nonhomogeneous Besov
spaces $B^s_{p,q}\times B^{s-2r+1}_{p,q}$ with $1\leq p,q \leq +\infty$ and the
Besov index $s>\max\left\{2r +\frac{1}{p},2r+1-\frac{1}{p}\right\}$. Moreover,
we construct the local well-posedness in the critical Besov space
$B^{2r+\frac{1}{2}}_{2,1}\times B^{\frac{3}{2}}_{2,1}$. On the other hand, the
propagation behaviour of compactly supported solutions is examined, namely
whether solutions which are initially compactly supported will retain this
property throughout their time of evolution. Moreover, we also establish the
persistence properties of the solutions to the two-component Camassa-Holm
equation with $r=1$ in weighted $L_{\phi}^p:=L^p(\mathbb{R},\phi^p(x)dx)$
spaces for a large class of moderate weights.


title: Impact of galactic and intergalactic dust on the stellar EBL

abstract:
  Current theories assume that the low intensity of the stellar extragalactic
background light (stellar EBL) is caused primarily by finite age of the
Universe because the finite age limits the number of photons pumped into the
space by galaxies and thus the sky is dark in the night. We oppose this opinion
and show that two main factors are responsible for the extremely low intensity
of the observed stellar EBL: (1) a low mean surface brightness of galaxies,
which causes a low luminosity density in the local Universe, and (2) light
extinction due to absorption by galactic and intergalactic dust. Dust produces
a partial opacity of galaxies and of the Universe. The galactic opacity reduces
the intensity of light from more distant background galaxies obscured by
foreground galaxies. The effective extinction AV for light passing through a
galaxy is 0.2 mag. This causes that distant background galaxies do not
contribute to the EBL significantly. In addition, light of distant galaxies is
dimmed due to absorption by intergalactic dust. Even a minute intergalactic
opacity of 1x10^(-2) mag per Gpc is high enough to produce significant effects
on the EBL. The absorbed starlight heats up the galactic and intergalactic dust
and is further re-radiated at the IR, FIR and micro-wave spectrum. Assuming
static infinite universe with no galactic and intergalactic dust, the stellar
EBL should be as high as the surface brightness of stars. However, if dust is
considered, the predicted stellar EBL is about 290 nWm^(-2)sr^(-1), which is
only 5 times higher than the observed value. Hence, the presence of dust has
higher impact on the EBL than currently assumed. In the expanding universe, the
calculated value of the EBL is further decreased, because the obscuration
effect and intergalactic absorption become more pronounced at high redshifts
when the matter was concentrated at smaller volume than at present.


title:
Convergence of a particle method for diffusive gradient flows in one
  dimension

abstract:
  We prove the convergence of a particle method for the approximation of
diffusive gradient flows in one dimension. This method relies on the
discretisation of the energy via non-overlapping balls centred at the particles
and preserves the gradient flow structure at the particle level. The strategy
of the proof is based on an abstract result for the convergence of curves of
maximal slope in metric spaces.


title: Extremal bootstrapping: go with the flow

abstract:
  The extremal functional method determines approximate solutions to the
constraints of crossing symmetry, which saturate bounds on the space of unitary
CFTs. We show that such solutions are characterized by extremality conditions,
which may be used to flow continuously along the boundaries of parameter space.
Along the flow there is generically no further need for optimization, which
dramatically reduces computational requirements, bringing calculations from the
realm of computing clusters to laptops. Conceptually, extremality sheds light
on possible ways to bootstrap without positivity, extending the method to
non-unitary theories, and implies that theories saturating bounds, and
especially those sitting at kinks, have unusually sparse spectra. We discuss
several applications, including the first high-precision bootstrap of a
non-unitary CFT.


title: Hodge ideals

abstract:
  We use methods from birational geometry to study M. Saito's Hodge filtration
on the localization along a hypersurface. This filtration leads to a sequence
of ideal sheaves, called Hodge ideals, the first of which is a multiplier
ideal. We analyze their local and global properties, and use them for
applications related to the singularities and Hodge theory of hypersurfaces and
their complements.


title: Fourier transforms of powers of well-behaved 2D real analytic functions

abstract:
  This paper is a companion paper to [G4], where sharp estimates are proven for
Fourier transforms of compactly supported functions built out of
two-dimensional real-analytic functions. The theorems of [G4] are stated in a
rather general form. In this paper, we expand on the results of [G4] and show
that there is a class of "well-behaved" functions that contains a number of
relevant examples for which such estimates can be explicitly described in terms
of the Newton polygon of the function. We will further see that for a subclass
of these functions, one can prove noticeably more precise estimates, again in
an explicitly describable way.


title:
Evolved stars in the Local Group galaxies. I. AGB evolution and dust
  production in IC 1613

abstract:
  We used models of thermally-pulsing asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars, that
also describe the dust-formation process in the wind, to interpret the
combination of near- and mid-infrared photometric data of the dwarf galaxy IC
1613. This is the first time that this approach is extended to an environment
different from the Milky Way and the Magellanic Clouds (MCs). Our analysis,
based on synthetic population techniques, shows a nice agreement between the
observations and the expected distribution of stars in the colour-magnitude
diagrams obtained with JHK and Spitzer bands. This allows a characterization of
the individual stars in the AGB sample in terms of mass, chemical composition,
and formation epoch of the progenitors. We identify the stars exhibiting the
largest degree of obscuration as carbon stars evolving through the final AGB
phases, descending from 1-1.25Msun objects of metallicity Z=0.001 and from
1.5-2.5Msun stars with Z=0.002. Oxygen-rich stars constitute the majority of
the sample (65%), mainly low mass stars (<2Msun) that produce a negligible
amount of dust (<10^{-7}Msun/yr). We predict the overall dust-production rate
from IC 1613, mostly determined by carbon stars, to be 6x10^{-7}Msun/yr with an
uncertainty of 30%. The capability of the current generation of models to
interpret the AGB population in an environment different from the MCs opens the
possibility to extend this kind of analysis to other Local Group galaxies.


title:
New approach to the Dirac spectral density in lattice gauge theory
  applications

abstract:
  We report tests and results from a new approach to the spectral density and
the mode number distribution of the Dirac operator in lattice gauge theories.
The algorithm generates the spectral density of the lattice Dirac operator as a
continuous function over all scales of the complete eigenvalue spectrum. This
is distinct from an earlier method where the integrated spectral density (mode
number) was calculated efficiently for some preselected fixed range of the
integration. The new algorithm allows global studies like the chiral condensate
from the Dirac spectrum at any scale including the cutoff-dependent IR and UV
range of the spectrum. Physics applications include the scale-dependent mass
anomalous dimension, spectral representation of composite fermion operators,
and the crossover transition from the $\epsilon$-regime of Random Matrix Theory
to the p-regime in chiral perturbation theory. We present thorough tests of the
algorithm in the 2-flavor sextet SU(3) gauge theory that we continue to pursue
for its potential as a minimal realization of the composite Higgs scenario.


title: On the 3-form formulation of axion potentials from D-brane instantons

abstract:
  The study of axion models and quantum corrections to their potential has
experienced great progress by phrasing the axion potential in terms of a 3-form
field eating up the 2-form field dual to the axion. Such reformulation of the
axion potential has been described for axion monodromy models, and for axion
potentials from non-perturbative gauge dynamics. In this paper we propose a
3-form description of the axion potentials from non-gauge D-brane instantons.
Interestingly, the required 3-form field does not arise in the underlying
geometry, but rather shows up in the KK compactification in the generalized
geometry obtained when the backreaction of the D-brane instanton is taken into
account.


title: Positivity for Hodge modules and geometric applications

abstract:
  This is a survey of vanishing and positivity theorems for Hodge modules, and
their recent applications to birational and complex geometry, expanding on my
lecture at the 2015 AMS Summer Institute.


title: $\mathcal{N}=2$ Super-Teichm\"uller Theory

abstract:
  Based on earlier work of the latter two named authors on the higher
super-Teichmueller space with $\mathcal{N}=1$, a component of the flat
$OSp(1|2)$ connections on a punctured surface, here we extend to the case
$\mathcal{N}=2$ of flat $OSp(2|2)$ connections. Indeed, we construct here
coordinates on the higher super-Teichmueller space of a surface $F$ with at
least one puncture associated to the supergroup $OSp(2|2)$, which in particular
specializes to give another treatment for $\mathcal{N}=1$ simpler than the
earlier work. The Minkowski space in the current case, where the corresponding
super Fuchsian groups act, is replaced by the superspace $\mathbb{R}^{2,2|4}$,
and the familiar lambda lengths are extended by odd invariants of triples of
special isotropic vectors in $\mathbb{R}^{2,2|4}$ as well as extra bosonic
parameters, which we call ratios, defining a flat $\mathbb{R}_{+}$-connection
on $F$. As in the pure bosonic or $\mathcal{N}=1$ cases, we derive the analogue
of Ptolemy transformations for all these new variables.


title: Model-Based Reconstruction for Magnetic Particle Imaging in 2D and 3D

abstract:
  We contribute to the mathematical modeling and analysis of magnetic particle
imaging which is a promising new in-vivo imaging modality. Concerning modeling,
we develop a structured decomposition of the imaging process and extract its
core part which we reveal to be common to all previous contributions in this
context. The central contribution of this paper is the development of
reconstruction formulae for MPI in 2D and 3D. Until now, in the multivariate
setup, only time consuming measurement approaches are available, whereas
reconstruction formulae are only available in 1D. The 2D and the 3D (describing
the real world) reconstruction formulae which we derive here are significantly
different from the 1D situation -- in particular there is no Dirac property in
dimensions greater than one when the particle sizes approach zero. As a further
result of our analysis, we conclude that the reconstruction problem in MPI is
severely ill-posed. Finally, we obtain a model-based reconstruction algorithm.


title:
Proceedings First Workshop on Pre- and Post-Deployment Verification
  Techniques

abstract:
  The PrePost (Pre- and Post-Deployment Verification Techniques) workshop aimed
at bringing together researchers working in the field of computer-aided
validation and verification to discuss the connections and interplay between
pre- and post-deployment verification techniques. Examples of the topics
covered by the workshop are the relationships between classic model checking
and testing on the one hand and runtime verification and statistical model
checking on the other, and between type systems that may be checked either
statically or dynamically through techniques such as runtime monitoring.


title:
Axiomatic Local Metric Derivatives for Low-Level Fractionality with
  Mittag-Leffler Eigenfunctions

abstract:
  In this contribution, we build up an axiomatic local metric derivative that
exhibits the Mittag-Leffler as an eigenfunction and is valid for low-level
fractionality, whenever the order parameter is close to $1$. This version of
deformed or metric derivative may be a possible alternative to the versions by
Jumarie and the inappropriately so-called local fractional derivative also
based on the Jumarie's approach. With rules similar to the classical ones, but
with a solid axiomatic basis in the limit pointed out here, we present our
results and some comments on the limits of validity for the controversial
formalism found in the literature of the area.

categories: math-ph cond-mat.stat-mech hep-th math.MP


title: Templates for Binary Matroids

abstract:
  A binary frame template is a device for creating binary matroids from graphic
or cographic matroids. Such matroids are said to conform or coconform to the
template. We introduce a preorder on these templates and determine the
nontrivial templates that are minimal with respect to this order. As an
application of our main result, we determine the eventual growth rates of
certain minor-closed classes of binary matroids, including the class of binary
matroids with no minor isomorphic to PG(3,2). Our main result applies to all
highly-connected matroids in a class, not just those of maximum size. As a
second application, we characterize the highly-connected 1-flowing matroids.


title: Contracting theory with competitive interacting agents

abstract:
  In a framework close to the one developed by Holmstr\"om and Milgrom [44], we
study the optimal contracting scheme between a Principal and several Agents.
Each hired Agent is in charge of one project, and can make efforts towards
managing his own project, as well as impact (positively or negatively) the
projects of the other Agents. Considering economic Agents in competition with
relative performance concerns, we derive the optimal contracts in both first
best and moral hazard settings. The enhanced resolution methodology relies
heavily on the connection between Nash equilibria and multidimensional
quadratic BSDEs. The optimal contracts are linear and each agent is paid a
fixed proportion of the terminal value of all the projects of the firm.
Besides, each Agent receives his reservation utility, and those with high
competitive appetence are assigned less volatile projects, and shall even
receive help from the other Agents. From the principal point of view, it is in
the firm interest in our model to strongly diversify the competitive appetence
of the Agents.


title: A bicategory of decorated cospans

abstract:
  If $\mathbf{C}$ is a category with pullbacks then there is a bicategory with
the same objects as $\mathbf{C}$, spans as morphisms, and maps of spans as
2-morphisms, as shown by Benabou. Fong has developed a theory of "decorated"
cospans, which are cospans in $\mathbf{C}$ equipped with extra structure. This
extra structure arises from a lax symmetric monoidal functor $F \colon
\mathbf{C} \to \mathbf{D}$; we use this functor to "decorate" each cospan with
apex $N \in \mathbf{C}$ with an element of $F(N)$. Using a result of Shulman,
we show that when $\mathbf{C}$ has finite colimits, decorated cospans are
morphisms in a symmetric monoidal bicategory. We illustrate our construction
with examples from electrical engineering and the theory of chemical reaction
networks.


title: Global rates of convergence for nonconvex optimization on manifolds

abstract:
  We consider the minimization of a cost function $f$ on a manifold $M$ using
Riemannian gradient descent and Riemannian trust regions (RTR). We focus on
satisfying necessary optimality conditions within a tolerance $\varepsilon$.
Specifically, we show that, under Lipschitz-type assumptions on the pullbacks
of $f$ to the tangent spaces of $M$, both of these algorithms produce points
with Riemannian gradient smaller than $\varepsilon$ in $O(1/\varepsilon^2)$
iterations. Furthermore, RTR returns a point where also the Riemannian
Hessian's least eigenvalue is larger than $-\varepsilon$ in
$O(1/\varepsilon^3)$ iterations. There are no assumptions on initialization.
The rates match their (sharp) unconstrained counterparts as a function of the
accuracy $\varepsilon$ (up to constants) and hence are sharp in that sense.
  These are the first deterministic results for global rates of convergence to
approximate first- and second-order Karush-Kuhn-Tucker points on manifolds.
They apply in particular for optimization constrained to compact submanifolds
of $\mathbb{R}^n$, under simpler assumptions.


title:
Finding Synchronization Codes to Boost Compression by Substring
  Enumeration

abstract:
  Synchronization codes are frequently used in numerical data transmission and
storage. Compression by Substring Enumeration (CSE) is a new lossless
compression scheme that has turned into a new and unusual application for
synchronization codes. CSE is an inherently bit-oriented technique. However,
since the usual benchmark files are all byte-oriented, CSE incurred a penalty
due to a problem called phase unawareness. Subsequent work showed that
inserting a synchronization code inside the data before compressing it improves
the compression performance. In this paper, we present two constraint models
that compute the shortest synchronization codes, i.e. those that add the fewest
synchronization bits to the original data. We find synchronization codes for
blocks of up to 64 bits.


title: Hadron Physics from Lattice QCD

abstract:
  We sketch the basic ideas of the lattice regularization in Quantum Field
Theory, the corresponding Monte Carlo simulations, and applications to Quantum
Chromodynamics (QCD). This approach enables the numerical measurement of
observables at the non-perturbative level. We comment on selected results, with
a focus on hadron masses and the link to Chiral Perturbation Theory. At last we
address two outstanding issues: topological freezing and the sign problem.


title:
Deep Predictive Coding Networks for Video Prediction and Unsupervised
  Learning

abstract:
  While great strides have been made in using deep learning algorithms to solve
supervised learning tasks, the problem of unsupervised learning - leveraging
unlabeled examples to learn about the structure of a domain - remains a
difficult unsolved challenge. Here, we explore prediction of future frames in a
video sequence as an unsupervised learning rule for learning about the
structure of the visual world. We describe a predictive neural network
("PredNet") architecture that is inspired by the concept of "predictive coding"
from the neuroscience literature. These networks learn to predict future frames
in a video sequence, with each layer in the network making local predictions
and only forwarding deviations from those predictions to subsequent network
layers. We show that these networks are able to robustly learn to predict the
movement of synthetic (rendered) objects, and that in doing so, the networks
learn internal representations that are useful for decoding latent object
parameters (e.g. pose) that support object recognition with fewer training
views. We also show that these networks can scale to complex natural image
streams (car-mounted camera videos), capturing key aspects of both egocentric
movement and the movement of objects in the visual scene, and the
representation learned in this setting is useful for estimating the steering
angle. Altogether, these results suggest that prediction represents a powerful
framework for unsupervised learning, allowing for implicit learning of object
and scene structure.


title: iPad Screencasts as Evidence of Accountable Disciplinary Knowledge

abstract:
  We define knowledge as facts, information, and skills acquired by a person
through experience or education. In turn, Disciplinary Knowledge is the
knowledge related to a specific field or discipline, such as physics.
Accountable Disciplinary Knowledge (ADK) is "what counts" as important to a
community or discipline: the kinds of activities that participants engage in,
the problems they value and solve, and methods for solving those problems.
Because ADK is determined on a community basis, the details of "what counts"
will vary with the norms and expectations of the community. In this paper, we
use the ADK framework to investigate "what counts" as solving problems well in
a high school physics classroom from the perspective of the students.


title:
The Many Worlds of Modal {\lambda}-calculi: I. Curry-Howard for
  Necessity, Possibility and Time

abstract:
  This is a survey of {\lambda}-calculi that, through the Curry-Howard
isomorphism, correspond to constructive modal logics. We cover the prehistory
of the subject and then concentrate on the developments that took place in the
1990s and early 2000s. We discuss logical aspects, modal {\lambda}-calculi, and
their categorical semantics. The logics underlying the calculi surveyed are
constructive versions of K, K4, S4, and LTL.


title: Dominance Product and High-Dimensional Closest Pair under $L_\infty$

abstract:
  Given a set $S$ of $n$ points in $\mathbb{R}^d$, the Closest Pair problem is
to find a pair of distinct points in $S$ at minimum distance. When $d$ is
constant, there are efficient algorithms that solve this problem, and fast
approximate solutions for general $d$. However, obtaining an exact solution in
very high dimensions seems to be much less understood. We consider the
high-dimensional $L_\infty$ Closest Pair problem, where $d=n^r$ for some $r >
0$, and the underlying metric is $L_\infty$.
  We improve and simplify previous results for $L_\infty$ Closest Pair, showing
that it can be solved by a deterministic strongly-polynomial algorithm that
runs in $O(DP(n,d)\log n)$ time, and by a randomized algorithm that runs in
$O(DP(n,d))$ expected time, where $DP(n,d)$ is the time bound for computing the
{\em dominance product} for $n$ points in $\mathbb{R}^d$. That is a matrix $D$,
such that $D[i,j] = \bigl| \{k \mid p_i[k] \leq p_j[k]\} \bigr|$; this is the
number of coordinates at which $p_j$ dominates $p_i$. For integer coordinates
from some interval $[-M, M]$, we obtain an algorithm that runs in
$\tilde{O}\left(\min\{Mn^{\omega(1,r,1)},\, DP(n,d)\}\right)$ time, where
$\omega(1,r,1)$ is the exponent of multiplying an $n \times n^r$ matrix by an
$n^r \times n$ matrix.
  We also give slightly better bounds for $DP(n,d)$, by using more recent
rectangular matrix multiplication bounds. Computing the dominance product
itself is an important task, since it is applied in many algorithms as a major
black-box ingredient, such as algorithms for APBP (all pairs bottleneck paths),
and variants of APSP (all pairs shortest paths).


title: FLAG n' FLARE: Fast Linearly-Coupled Adaptive Gradient Methods

abstract:
  We consider first order gradient methods for effectively optimizing a
composite objective in the form of a sum of smooth and, potentially, non-smooth
functions. We present accelerated and adaptive gradient methods, called FLAG
and FLARE, which can offer the best of both worlds. They can achieve the
optimal convergence rate by attaining the optimal first-order oracle complexity
for smooth convex optimization. Additionally, they can adaptively and
non-uniformly re-scale the gradient direction to adapt to the limited curvature
available and conform to the geometry of the domain. We show theoretically and
empirically that, through the compounding effects of acceleration and
adaptivity, FLAG and FLARE can be highly effective for many data fitting and
machine learning applications.


title: Nilpotence dans les alg\`ebres de Malcev

abstract:
  The main result is to prove that if a Malcev algebra $A$ is \textit{right
nilpotent} of degree $n$, then $A$ is \textit{strongly nilpotent} of degree
less or equals to $4n^2-2n+1$.


title: Video Summarization with Long Short-term Memory

abstract:
  We propose a novel supervised learning technique for summarizing videos by
automatically selecting keyframes or key subshots. Casting the problem as a
structured prediction problem on sequential data, our main idea is to use Long
Short-Term Memory (LSTM), a special type of recurrent neural networks to model
the variable-range dependencies entailed in the task of video summarization.
Our learning models attain the state-of-the-art results on two benchmark video
datasets. Detailed analysis justifies the design of the models. In particular,
we show that it is crucial to take into consideration the sequential structures
in videos and model them. Besides advances in modeling techniques, we introduce
techniques to address the need of a large number of annotated data for training
complex learning models. There, our main idea is to exploit the existence of
auxiliary annotated video datasets, albeit heterogeneous in visual styles and
contents. Specifically, we show domain adaptation techniques can improve
summarization by reducing the discrepancies in statistical properties across
those datasets.


title:
Particle-hole configuration interaction and many-body perturbation
  theory: application to Hg+

abstract:
  The combination of configuration interaction and many-body perturbation
theory methods (CI+MBPT) is extended to non-perturbatively include
configurations with electron holes below the designated Fermi level, allowing
us to treat systems where holes play an important role. For example, the method
can treat valence-hole systems like Ir$^{17+}$, particle-hole excitations in
noble gases, and difficult transitions such as the $6s \rightarrow 5d^{-1}6s^2$
optical clock transition in Hg$^+$. We take the latter system as our test case
for the method and obtain very good accuracy (~1%) for the low-lying transition
energies. The $\alpha$-dependence of these transitions is calculated and used
to reinterpret the existing best laboratory limits on the time-dependence of
the fine-structure constant.


title:
To the Memory of Alexander Grothendieck: a Great and Mysterious Genius
  of Mathematics

abstract:
  In November 2014 Alexander Grothendieck passed away at the age of 86. There
is no doubt that he was one of the greatest and most innovative mathematicians
of the 20th century. After a bitter childhood, his meteoric ascent started in
the Cartan Seminar in Paris, it led to a breakthrough while he worked in Sao
Paulo, and to the Fields Medal. He introduced numerous new concepts and
techniques, which were involved in the groundbreaking solutions to
long-standing problems. However, dramatic changes were still ahead of him. In
recent years hardly anybody knew where he was living, and even if he was still
alive; he had withdrawn to a modest life in isolation. Also beyond his
achievements in mathematics, Grothendieck was an extraordinary person. This is
a tribute of his fascinating life.


title: The shape of the extragalactic cosmic ray spectrum from Galaxy Clusters

abstract:
  We study the diffusive escape of cosmic rays from a central source inside a
galaxy cluster to obtain the suppression in the outgoing flux appearing when
the confinement times get comparable or larger than the age of the sources. We
also discuss the attenuation of the flux due to the interactions of the cosmic
rays with the cluster medium, which can be sizeable for heavy nuclei. The
overall suppression in the total cosmic ray flux expected on Earth is important
to understand the shape of the extragalactic contribution to the cosmic ray
spectrum for $E/Z<1$ EeV. This suppression can also be relevant to interpret
the results of fits to composition-sensitive observables measured at ultra-high
energies.


title:
Ladders of recollements, categories of monomorphisms and singularity
  categories

abstract:
  In this paper we show that the (un)bounded derived categories$\colon$(i) of
the monomorphism category, (ii) of the morphism category and (iii) of the
double morphism category, admit a periodic infinite ladder of recollements.
These results are based on a characterization that we provide for a recollement
of (compactly generated) triangulated categories to admit a ladder of some
height going either upwards or downwards. Moreover, we introduce and study the
singularity category of the monomorphism category over an Artin algebra
$\Lambda$ and show that there is a periodic infinite ladder that connects this
triangulated category with the standard singularity category of $\Lambda$. We
also provide sufficient conditions for the monomorphism categories of two
algebras to be singularly equivalent. The last aim of this paper is to study
monomorphisms where the domain has finite projective dimension. We show that
the latter category is a Gorenstein subcategory of the monomorphism category
when $\Lambda$ is a Gorenstein Artin algebra. Finally, we consider the category
of coherent functors over the stable category of this Gorenstein subcategory,
and show that it carries a structure of a Gorenstein abelian category.


title: On nilpotency in Leibniz algebras

abstract:
  The main result of this paper is to prove that if a (right) Leibniz algebra
$L$ is \textit{right nilpotent} of degree $n$, then $L$ is \textit{strongly
nilpotent} of degree less or equal to $4n^2-2n+1$.


title: Elastic instability of black rings at large D

abstract:
  Using the inverse dimensional expansion method we study the elastic
instability of black rings found recently in numerical analysis of fully
nonlinear dynamical evolutions. In our analysis we should perform 1/D^1/2
expansions, not usual 1/D expansions, of the Einstein equations to capture this
elastic instability of D dimensional black rings. By solving the Einstein
equations at large D we obtain the effective equations for black rings, and the
perturbation analysis of the large D effective equations with 1/D^1/2
expansions yields the formula for quasinormal mode frequencies. From this
formula, we find that black rings actually suffer from both elastic and
Gregory-Laflamme like instabilities. These instabilities are coupled and appear
at the same time as observed in numerical analysis. The elastic instability
does disappear at the infinite limit of a ring radius, which implies that the
(boosted) black string is stable to elastic perturbations. Furthermore we
observe that the Gregory-Laflamme like instability becomes more efficient than
the elastic instability even for certain thin black rings in enough higher
dimensions.


title: Visual BFI: an Exploratory Study for Image-based Personality Test

abstract:
  This paper positions and explores the topic of image-based personality test.
Instead of responding to text-based questions, the subjects will be provided a
set of "choose-your-favorite-image" visual questions. With the image options of
each question belonging to the same concept, the subjects' personality traits
are estimated by observing their preferences of images under several unique
concepts. The solution to design such an image-based personality test consists
of concept-question identification and image-option selection. We have
presented a preliminary framework to regularize these two steps in this
exploratory study. A demo version of the designed image-based personality test
is available at http://www.visualbfi.org/. Subjective as well as objective
evaluations have demonstrated the feasibility of image-based personality test
in limited questions.


title:
Holographic equilibration in confining gauge theories under external
  magnetic fields

abstract:
  We investigate the effect of external magnetic fields on equilibration in the
improved holographic QCD theory in the deconfined phase using the AdS/CFT
correspondence. In particular we calculate the quasinormal mode spectra in the
corresponding black brane solutions and study their dependence on temperature,
momentum and magnetic field, both in the scalar and the shear channels. We find
complex patterns in the motion of quasinormal modes on the complex plane,
including certain cross overs between the lowest lying modes under varying
magnetic field, momentum and temperature. We also discover a critical value of
the magnetic field $B_c$ above which the hydrodynamic approximation breaks
down, as the imaginary part of the first excited quasi-normal mode in the shear
channel becomes smaller than that of the hydro mode.


title:
Higher-order Time-Symmetry-Breaking Phase Transition due to meeting of
  an Exceptional Point and Fano Resonance

abstract:
  We have theoretically investigated the time-symmetry breaking phase
transition process for two discrete states coupled with a one-dimensional
continuum by solving the nonlinear eigenvalue prob- lem for the effective
Hamiltonian associated with the discrete spectrum. We obtain the effective
Hamiltonian with use of the Feshbach-Brillouin-Wigner projection method. Strong
energy depen- dence of the self-energy appearing in the effective Hamiltonian
plays a key role in the time-symmetry breaking phase transition: as a result of
competition in the decay process between the Van Hove singularity and the Fano
resonance, the phase transition becomes a higher-order transition when both the
two discrete states are located near the continuum threshold.


title: Synthesis of optical spring potentials in optomechanical systems

abstract:
  We propose a method to tailor the potential experienced by a moveable end
mirror in a cavity optomechanical system by specifying the spectral properties
of the input field. We show that by engineering the power spectral density of
the cavity input field a desired force function can be approximated, with the
accuracy of the approximation limited only by the linewidth of the cavity. The
very general technique presented here could have applications in many kinds of
optomechanical systems, particularly those used for sensing and metrology. We
demonstrate the method by applying it to improve the sensitivity of a
particular gravity measurement.


title:
Topological defect formation in 1D and 2D spin chains realized by
  network of optical parametric oscillators

abstract:
  A network of optical parametric oscillators is used to simulate classical
Ising and XY spin chains. The collective nonlinear dynamics of this network,
driven by quantum noise rather than thermal fluctuations, seeks out the Ising /
XY ground state as the system transitions from below to above the lasing
threshold. We study the behavior of this "Ising machine" for three canonical
problems: a 1D ferromagnetic spin chain, a 2D square lattice, and problems
where next-nearest-neighbor couplings give rise to frustration. If the pump
turn-on time is finite, topological defects form (domain walls for the Ising
model, winding number and vortices for XY) and their density can be predicted
from a numerical model involving a linear "growth stage" and a nonlinear
"saturation stage". These predictions are compared against recent data for a
10,000-spin 1D Ising machine.


title:
On the Mixing Time of Kac's Walk and Other High-Dimensional Gibbs
  Samplers with Constraints

abstract:
  Determining the total variation mixing time of Kac's random walk on the
special orthogonal group $\mathrm{SO}(n)$ has been a long-standing open
problem. In this paper, we construct a novel non-Markovian coupling for
bounding this mixing time. The analysis of our coupling entails controlling the
smallest singular value of a certain random matrix with highly dependent
entries. The dependence of the entries in our matrix makes it not-amenable to
existing techniques in random matrix theory. To circumvent this difficulty, we
extend some recent bounds on the smallest singular values of matrices with
independent entries to our setting. These bounds imply that the mixing time of
Kac's walk on the group $\mathrm{SO}(n)$ is between $C_{1} n^{2}$ and $C_{2}
n^{4} \log(n)$ for some explicit constants $0 < C_{1}, C_{2} < \infty$,
substantially improving on the bound of $O(n^{5} \log(n)^{2})$ by Jiang. Our
methods may also be applied to other high dimensional Gibbs samplers with
constraints and thus are of independent interest. In addition to giving
analytical bounds on the mixing time, our approach allows us to compute
rigorous estimates of the mixing time by simulating the eigenvalues of a random
matrix.


title: Half-arc-transitive graphs of prime-cube order of small valencies

abstract:
  A graph is called {\em half-arc-transitive} if its full automorphism group
acts transitively on vertices and edges, but not on arcs. It is well known that
for any prime $p$ there is no tetravalent half-arc-transitive graph of order
$p$ or $p^2$. Xu~[Half-transitive graphs of prime-cube order, J. Algebraic
Combin. 1 (1992) 275-282] classified half-arc-transitive graphs of order $p^3$
and valency $4$. In this paper we classify half-arc-transitive graphs of order
$p^3$ and valency $6$ or $8$. In particular, the first known infinite family of
half-arc-transitive Cayley graphs on non-metacyclic $p$-groups is constructed.


title: Chaos in chiral condensates in gauge theories

abstract:
  Assigning a chaos index for dynamics of generic quantum field theories is a
challenging problem, because the notion of Lyapunov exponent, which is useful
for singling out chaotic behaviors, works only in classical systems. We address
the issue by using the AdS/CFT correspondence, as the large $N_c$ limit
provides a classicalization (other than the standard $\hbar \to 0$) while
keeping nontrivial quantum condensation. We demonstrate the chaos in the
dynamics of quantum gauge theories: Time evolution of homogeneous quark
condensates $\langle \bar{q}q\rangle$ and $\langle \bar{q} \gamma_5 q\rangle$
in an ${\cal N}=2$ supersymmetric QCD with the $SU(N_c)$ gauge group at large
$N_c$ and at large 't Hooft coupling $\lambda \equiv N_c g_{\rm YM}^2$ exhibits
a positive Lyapunov exponent. The chaos dominates the phase space for energy
density $E \gtrsim (6\times 10^2)\times m_q^4(N_c/\lambda^2) $ where $m_q$ is
the quark mass. We evaluate the largest Lyapunov exponent as a function of
$(N_c,\lambda,E)$ and find that the ${\cal N}=2$ supersymmetric QCD is more
chaotic for smaller $N_c$.


title: Automatic Action Annotation in Weakly Labeled Videos

abstract:
  Manual spatio-temporal annotation of human action in videos is laborious,
requires several annotators and contains human biases. In this paper, we
present a weakly supervised approach to automatically obtain spatio-temporal
annotations of an actor in action videos. We first obtain a large number of
action proposals in each video. To capture a few most representative action
proposals in each video and evade processing thousands of them, we rank them
using optical flow and saliency in a 3D-MRF based framework and select a few
proposals using MAP based proposal subset selection method. We demonstrate that
this ranking preserves the high quality action proposals. Several such
proposals are generated for each video of the same action. Our next challenge
is to iteratively select one proposal from each video so that all proposals are
globally consistent. We formulate this as Generalized Maximum Clique Graph
problem using shape, global and fine grained similarity of proposals across the
videos. The output of our method is the most action representative proposals
from each video. Our method can also annotate multiple instances of the same
action in a video. We have validated our approach on three challenging action
datasets: UCF Sport, sub-JHMDB and THUMOS'13 and have obtained promising
results compared to several baseline methods. Moreover, on UCF Sports, we
demonstrate that action classifiers trained on these automatically obtained
spatio-temporal annotations have comparable performance to the classifiers
trained on ground truth annotation.


title:
Bound states in weakly deformed waveguides: numerical vs analytical
  results

abstract:
  We have studied the emergence of bound states in weakly deformed and/or
heterogeneous waveguides, comparing the analytical predictions obtained using a
recently developed perturbative method, with precise numerical results, for
different configurations (a homogeneous asymmetric waveguide, a heterogenous
asymmetric waveguide and a homogeneous broken-strip). In all the examples
considered in this paper we have found excellent agreement between analytical
and numerical results, thus providing a numerical verification of the
analytical approach.


title: Minimal coloring number for Z-colorable links

abstract:
  For a link with zero determinants, a Z-coloring is defined as a
generalization of Fox coloring. We call a link having a diagram which admits a
non-trivial Z-coloring a Z-colorable link. The minimal coloring number of a
Z-colorable link is the minimal number of colors for non-trivial Z-colorings on
diagrams of the link. We give sufficient conditions for non-splittable
Z-colorable links to have the least minimal coloring number.


title:
The LAMOST spectroscopic survey of star clusters in M31. II.
  Metallicities, ages and masses

abstract:
  We select from Paper I a sample of 306 massive star clusters observed with
the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fibre Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) in the
vicinity fields of M31 and M33 and determine their metallicities, ages and
masses. Metallicities and ages are estimated by fitting the observed integrated
spectra with stellar synthesis population (SSP) models with a pixel-to-pixel
spectral fitting technique. Ages for most young clusters are also derived by
fitting the multi-band photometric measurements with model spectral energy
distributions (SEDs). The estimated cluster ages span a wide range, from
several million years to the age of the universe. The numbers of clusters
younger and older than 1 Gyr are respectively 46 and 260. With ages and
metallicities determined, cluster masses are then estimated by comparing the
multi-band photometric measurements with SSP model SEDs. The derived masses
range from $\sim 10^{3}$ to $\sim 10^7$ $M_{\odot}$, peaking at $\sim 10^{4.3}$
and $\sim 10^{5.7}$ $M_{\odot}$ for young ($< 1$ Gyr) and old ($>1$ Gyr)
clusters, respectively. Our estimated metallicities, ages and masses are in
good agreement with available literature values. Old clusters richer than
[Fe/H] $\sim -0.7$ dex have a wide range of ages. Those poorer than [Fe/H]
$\sim -0.7$ dex seem to be composed of two groups, as previously found for
Galactic GCs -- one of the oldest ages with all values of metallicity down to
$\sim -2$ dex and another with metallicity increasing with decreasing age. The
old clusters in the inner disk of M\,31 (0 -- 30 kpc) show a clear metallicity
gradient measured at $-0.038\pm0.023$ dex/kpc.


title: Gravitationally Coupled Electroweak Monopole

abstract:
  We present a family of gravitationally coupled electroweak monopole solutions
in Einstein-Weinberg-Salam theory. Our result confirms the existence of
globally regular gravitating electroweak monopole which changes to the
magnetically charged black hole as the Higgs vacuum value approaches to the
Planck scale. Moreover, our solutions could provide a more accurate description
of the monopole stars and magnetically charged black holes.


title:
Superposed epoch study of ICME sub-structures near Earth and their
  effects on galactic cosmic rays

abstract:
  Interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) are the interplanetary
manifestations of solar eruptions. The overtaken solar wind forms a sheath of
compressed plasma at the front of ICMEs. Magnetic clouds (MCs) are a subset of
ICMEs with specific properties (e.g. the presence of a flux rope). When ICMEs
pass near Earth, ground observations indicate that the flux of galactic cosmic
rays (GCRs) decreases. The main aims of this paper are to find: common plasma
and magnetic properties of different ICME sub-structures, and which ICME
properties affect the flux of GCRs near Earth. We use a superposed epoch method
applied to a large set of ICMEs observed \insitu\ by the spacecraft ACE,
between 1998 and 2006. We also apply a superposed epoch analysis on GCRs time
series observed with the McMurdo neutron monitors. We find that slow MCs at 1
AU have on average more massive sheaths. We conclude that it is because they
are more effectively slowed down by drag during their travel from the Sun. Slow
MCs also have a more symmetric magnetic field and sheaths expanding similarly
as their following MC, while in contrast, fast MCs have an asymmetric magnetic
profile and a compressing sheath in compression. In all types of MCs, we find
that the proton density and the temperature, as well as the magnetic
fluctuations can diffuse within the front of the MC due to 3D reconnection.
Finally, we derive a quantitative model which describes the decrease of cosmic
rays as a function of the amount of magnetic fluctuations and field strength.
The obtained typical profiles of sheath/MC/GCR properties corresponding to
slow, mid, and fast ICMEs, can be used for forecasting/modelling these events,
and to better understand the transport of energetic particles in ICMEs. They
are also useful for improving future operative space weather activities.


title: A Random Bockstein Operator

abstract:
  As more of topology's tools become popular in analyzing high dimensional data
sets, the goal of understanding the underlying probabilistic properties of
these tools becomes even more important. While much attention has been given to
understanding the probabilistic properties of methods that use homological
groups in topological data analysis, the probabilistic properties of methods
that employ cohomology operations remain unstudied. In this paper, we
investigate the Bockstein operator with randomness in a strictly algebraic
setting.


title:
Angular momentum loss in the envelope-disk transition region of HH 111
  protostellar system: evidence for magnetic braking?

abstract:
  HH 111 is a Class I protostellar system at a distance of ~ 400 pc, with the
central source VLA 1 associated with a rotating disk deeply embedded in a
flattened envelope. Here we present the observations of this system at ~ 0.6"
(240 AU) resolution in C18O (J=2-1) and 230 GHz continuum obtained with Atacama
Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array, and in SO obtained with Submillimeter
Array. The observations show for the first time how a Keplerian rotating disk
can be formed inside a flattened envelope. The flattened envelope is detected
in C18O, extending out to >~ 2400 AU from the VLA 1 source. It has a
differential rotation, with the outer part (>~ 2000 AU) better described by a
rotation that has constant specific angular momentum and the innermost part (<~
160 AU) by a Keplerian rotation. The rotationally supported disk is therefore
relatively compact in this system, which is consistent with the dust continuum
observations. Most interestingly, if the flow is in steady state, there is a
substantial drop in specific angular momentum in the envelope-disk transition
region from 2000 AU to 160 AU, by a factor of ~ 3. Such a decrease is not
expected outside a disk formed from simple hydrodynamic core collapse, but can
happen naturally if the core is significantly magnetized, because magnetic
fields can be trapped in the transition region outside the disk by the ram
pressure of the protostellar accretion flow, which can lead to efficient
magnetic braking. In addition, SO shock emission is detected around the outer
radius of the disk and could trace an accretion shock around the disk.


title: Broadband Transverse Electric Surface Wave in Silicene

abstract:
  Transverse electric (TE) surface wave in silicine is theoretically
investigated. The TE surface wave in silicene is found to exhibit better
characteristics compared with that in graphene, in terms of a broader frequency
range and more confinement to the surface which originate from the buckled
structure of silicene. We found that even undoped silicene can support the TE
surface wave. We expect to obtain the similar characteristics of the TE surface
wave in other two-dimensional materials that have slightly buckled honeycomb
lattice.


title:
A Rank Revealing Randomized Singular Value Decomposition (R3SVD)
  Algorithm for Low-rank Matrix Approximations

abstract:
  In this paper, we present a Rank Revealing Randomized Singular Value
Decomposition (R3SVD) algorithm to incrementally construct a low-rank
approximation of a potentially large matrix while adaptively estimating the
appropriate rank that can capture most of the actions of the matrix. Starting
from a low-rank approximation with an initial guessed rank, R3SVD adopts an
orthogonal Gaussian sampling approach to obtain the dominant subspace within
the leftover space, which is used to add up to the existing low-rank
approximation. Orthogonal Gaussian sampling is repeated until an appropriate
low-rank approximation with satisfactory accuracy, measured by the overall
energy percentage of the original matrix, is obtained. While being a fast
algorithm, R3SVD is also a memory-aware algorithm where the computational
process can be decomposed into a series of sampling tasks that use constant
amount of memory. Numerical examples in image compression and matrix completion
are used to demonstrate the effectiveness of R3SVD in low-rank approximation.


title:
Limitations of the background field method applied to Rayleigh-B\'enard
  convection

abstract:
  We consider Rayleigh-B\'enard convection as modeled by the Boussinesq
equations, in case of infinite Prandtl number. There is a broad interest in
bounds of the upwards heat flux, as given by the Nusselt number ${\rm Nu}$, in
terms of the forcing via the imposed temperature difference, as given by the
Rayleigh number in the turbulent regime ${\rm Ra}\gg 1$. In several works, the
background field method applied to the temperature field has been used to
provide upper bounds on ${\rm Nu}$ in terms of ${\rm Ra}$. In these
applications, the background field method comes in form of a variational
problem where one optimizes a stratified temperature profile subject to a
certain stability condition; the method is believed to capture marginal
stability of the boundary layer. The best available upper bound via this method
is ${\rm Nu}$ $\lesssim {\rm Ra}^\frac{1}{3}(\ln {\rm Ra})^\frac{1}{15}$; it
proceeds via the construction of a stable temperature background profile that
increases logarithmically in the bulk. In this paper, we show that the
background temperature field method cannot provide a tighter upper bound in
terms of the power of the logarithm. However, by another method one does obtain
the tighter upper bound ${\rm Nu}\lesssim {\rm Ra}^\frac{1}{3}(\ln\ln {\rm
Ra})^\frac{1}{3}$, so that the result of this paper implies that the background
temperature field method is unphysical in the sense that it cannot provide the
optimal bound.


title:
Convolution kernels of 2D Fourier multipliers based on real analytic
  functions

abstract:
  In this paper, estimates are proven for convolution kernels associated to
multipliers from a reasonably general class of compactly supported
two-dimensional functions constructed out of real-analytic functions. These
estimates are both for overall decay rate and decay rate in specific
directions. The estimates are sharp for a certain range of exponents appearing
in the theorems.


title:
Direct measurement of proximity-induced magnetism at the interface
  between a topological insulator and a ferromagnet

abstract:
  When a topological insulator (TI) is in contact with a ferromagnet, both time
reversal and inversion symmetries are broken at the interface. An energy gap is
formed at the TI surface, and its electrons gain a net magnetic moment through
short-range exchange interactions. Magnetic TIs can host various exotic quantum
phenomena, such as massive Dirac fermions, Majorana fermions, the quantum
anomalous Hall effect and chiral edge currents along the domain boundaries.
However, selective measurement of induced magnetism at the buried interface has
remained a challenge. Using magnetic second harmonic generation, we directly
probe both the in-plane and out-of-plane magnetizations induced at the
interface between the ferromagnetic insulator (FMI) EuS and the
three-dimensional TI Bi2Se3. Our findings not only allow characterizing
magnetism at the TI-FMI interface but also lay the groundwork for imaging
magnetic domains and domain boundaries at the magnetic TI surfaces.


title:
On the morphology of $\gamma-$ray emission induced by $e^{\pm}$ from
  annihilating self-interacting dark matter

abstract:
  With the Fermi-LAT data quite a few research groups have reported a spatially
extended GeV $\gamma$-ray excess surrounding the Galactic Center (GC). The
physical origin of such a GeV excess is still unclear and one interesting
possibility is the inverse Compton scattering of the electrons/positrons from
annihilation of self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) particles with the
interstellar optical photons. In this work we calculate the morphology of such
a kind of $\gamma$-ray emission. For the annihilation channel of
$\bar{\chi}\chi\rightarrow \phi\phi\rightarrow e^{+}e^{-}e^{+}e^{-}$, the
inverse Compton scattering (ICS) dominates over the bremsstrahlung on producing
the GeV $\gamma$-ray emission. For the SIDM particles with a rest mass $m_\chi
\sim $ tens GeV that may be favored by the modeling of the Galactic GeV excess,
the ICS radiation at GeV energies concentrates along the Galactic plane. The
degrees of asymmetry high up to $\geq 0.3$ are found in some regions of
interest, which in turn proposes a plausible test on the SIDM interpretation of
the GeV excess.


title:
Heat Transfer Simulation for Optimization and Treatment Planning of
  Magnetic Hyperthermia Using Magnetic Particle Imaging

abstract:
  This study was undertaken to develop a system for heat transfer simulation
for optimization and treatment planning of magnetic hyperthermia treatment
(MHT) using magnetic particle imaging (MPI). First, we performed phantom
experiments to obtain the regression equation between the MPI pixel value and
the specific absorption rate (SAR) of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs), from which
the MPI pixel value was converted to the SAR value in the simulation. Second,
we generated the geometries for use in the simulation by processing X-ray
computed tomography (CT) and MPI images of tumor-bearing mice injected
intratumorally with MNPs (Resovist). The geometries and MPI images were then
imported into software based on a finite element method (COMSOL Multiphysics)
to compute the time-dependent temperature distribution for 20 min after the
start of MHT. There was an excellent correlation between the MPI pixel value
and the SAR value (r = 0.956). There was good agreement between the time course
of the temperature rise in the tumors obtained by simulation and that obtained
experimentally. The time-dependent temperature distributions under various
blood perfusion rates in the tumors and at various locations could be
simulated, which cannot be easily obtained experimentally. These results
suggest that our system for heat transfer simulation using MPI will be useful
for the optimization and treatment planning of MHT.


title:
Learning Latent Sub-events in Activity Videos Using Temporal Attention
  Filters

abstract:
  In this paper, we newly introduce the concept of temporal attention filters,
and describe how they can be used for human activity recognition from videos.
Many high-level activities are often composed of multiple temporal parts (e.g.,
sub-events) with different duration/speed, and our objective is to make the
model explicitly learn such temporal structure using multiple attention filters
and benefit from them. Our temporal filters are designed to be fully
differentiable, allowing end-of-end training of the temporal filters together
with the underlying frame-based or segment-based convolutional neural network
architectures. This paper presents an approach of learning a set of optimal
static temporal attention filters to be shared across different videos, and
extends this approach to dynamically adjust attention filters per testing video
using recurrent long short-term memory networks (LSTMs). This allows our
temporal attention filters to learn latent sub-events specific to each
activity. We experimentally confirm that the proposed concept of temporal
attention filters benefits the activity recognition, and we visualize the
learned latent sub-events.


title:
Multi-scale Full-orbit Analysis on Phase-space Behavior of Runaway
  Electrons in Tokamak Fields with Synchrotron Radiation

abstract:
  In this paper, the secular full-orbit simulations of runaway electrons with
synchrotron radiation in tokamak fields are carried out using a relativistic
volume-preserving algorithm. Detailed phase-space behaviors of runaway
electrons are investigated in different dynamical timescales spanning 11
orders. When looking into the small timescale, i.e., the characteristic
timescale imposed by Lorentz force, the severely deformed helical trajectory of
energetic runaway electron is witnessed. A qualitative analysis of the
neoclassical scattering, a kind of collisionless pitch-angle scattering
phenomena, is provided when considering the coupling between the rotation of
momentum vector and the background magnetic field. In large timescale up to one
second, it is found that the initial condition of runaway electrons in phase
space globally influences the pitch-angle scattering, the momentum evolution,
and the loss-gain ratio of runaway energy evidently. However, the initial value
has little impact on the synchrotron energy limit. It is also discovered that
the parameters of tokamak device, such as the toroidal magnetic field, the loop
voltage, the safety factor profile, and the major radius, can modify the
synchrotron energy limit as well as the strength of neoclassical scattering.
The maximum runaway energy is also proved to be lower than the synchrotron
limit when the magnetic field ripple is considered.


title:
On critical exponents curve for nonlinear elliptic equations in zero
  mass case

abstract:
  Semilinear elliptic equations of the form $-\Delta u =\lambda|u|^{p-2}u-
|u|^{q-2}u$ in bounded and unbounded domains are considered. In the plane of
exponents $p\times q$, the so-called critical exponents curve is introduced
which separates domains with qualitatively distinctive properties of the
considered equations and the associated parabolic problems. Necessary
conditions for solvability to equations, stable and unstable stationary
solutions, an existence of global solutions for parabolic problems in the whole
space are obtained.


title:
Towards large-scale deliberative decision-making: small groups and the
  importance of triads

abstract:
  Though deliberation is a critical component of democratic decision-making,
existing deliberative processes do not scale to large groups of people.
Motivated by this, we propose a model in which large-scale decision-making
takes place through a sequence of small group interactions. Our model considers
a group of participants, each having an opinion which together form a graph. We
show that for median graphs, a class of graphs including grids and trees, it is
possible to use a small number of three-person interactions to tightly
approximate the wisdom of the crowd, defined here to be the generalized median
of participant opinions, even when agents are strategic. Interestingly, we also
show that this sharply contrasts with small groups of size two, for which we
prove an impossibility result. Specifically, we show that it is impossible to
use sequences of two-person interactions satisfying natural axioms to find a
tight approximation of the generalized median, even when agents are
non-strategic. Our results demonstrate the potential of small group
interactions for reaching global decision-making properties.


title: An analytical study of mismatched complementary media

abstract:
  Complementary media (CM) interacting with arbitrarily situated obstacles are
usually less discussed. In this paper, an analytical framework based on
multiple scattering theory is established for analyzing such a mismatched case.
As examples, CM-based devices, i.e., a superlens and superscatterer, are
discussed. From an analysis, the cancellation mechanism of the mismatched CM is
studied. In addition, numerical results are provided for illustration.
Moreover, further study shows that such cancellation effects might rely on
specific conditions. Actually, the conclusions are not restricted to any
specific frequencies; they could be extended to many other areas including
applications to active cloaking, antennas, and wireless power transfer.


title:
Can We Remove Secular Terms for Analytical Solution of Groundwater
  Response under Tidal Influence?

abstract:
  This paper presents a secular term removal methodology based on the homotopy
perturbation method for analytical solutions of nonlinear problems with
periodic boundary condition. The analytical solution for groundwater response
to tidal fluctuation in a coastal unconfined aquifer system with the vertical
beach is provided as an example. The non-linear one-dimensional Boussinesq's
equation is considered as the governing equation for the groundwater flow. An
analytical solution is provided for non-dimensional Boussinesq's equation with
cosine harmonic boundary condition representing tidal boundary condition. The
analytical solution is obtained by using homotopy perturbation method with a
virtual embedding parameter. The present approach does not require
pre-specified perturbation parameter and also facilitates secular terms
elimination in the perturbation solution. The solutions starting from
zeroth-order up to third-order are obtained. The non-dimensional expression,
$A/D_{\infty}$ emerges as an implicit parameter from the homotopy perturbation
solution. The non-dimensional solution is valid for all ranges of $A/D$ values.
Higher order solution reveals the characteristics of the tidal groundwater
table fluctuations.


title: On Pollaczek-Khinchine Formula for Peer-to-Peer Networks

abstract:
  The performance analysis of peer-to-peer (P2P) networks calls for a new kind
of queueing model, in which jobs and service stations arrive randomly. Except
in some simple special cases, in general, the queueing model with varying
service rate is mathematically intractable. Motivated by the P-K formula for
M/G/1 queue, we developed a limiting analysis approach based on the connection
between the fluctuation of service rate and the mean queue length. Considering
the two extreme service rates, we proved the conjecture on the lower bound and
upper bound of mean queue length previously postulated. Furthermore, an
approximate P-K formula to estimate the mean queue length is derived from the
convex combination of these two bounds and the conditional mean queue length
under the overload condition. We confirmed the accuracy of our approximation by
extensive simulation studies with different system parameters. We also verified
that all limiting cases of the system behavior are consistent with the
predictions of our formula.


title: Restricted Priestley dualities and discriminator varieties

abstract:
  Anyone who has ever worked with a variety~$\boldsymbol{\mathscr{A}}$ of
algebras with a reduct in the variety of bounded distributive lattices will
know a restricted Priestley duality when they meet one---but until now there
has been no abstract definition. Here we provide one. After deriving some basic
properties of a restricted Priestley dual category $\boldsymbol{\mathscr{X}}$
of such a variety, we give a characterisation, in terms of
$\boldsymbol{\mathscr{X}}$, of finitely generated discriminator subvarieties
of~$\boldsymbol{\mathscr{A}}$.
  As a first application of our characterisation, we give a new proof of
Sankappanavar's characterisation of finitely generated discriminator varieties
of distributive double p-algebras.
  A substantial portion of the paper is devoted to the application of our
results to Cornish algebras. A Cornish algebra is a bounded distributive
lattice equipped with a family of unary operations each of which is either an
endomorphism or a dual endomorphism of the bounded lattice. They are a natural
generalisation of Ockham algebras, which have been extensively studied. We give
an external necessary-and-sufficient condition and an easily applied,
completely internal, sufficient condition for a finite set of finite Cornish
algebras to share a common ternary discriminator term and so generate a
discriminator variety. Our results give a characterisation of discriminator
varieties of Ockham algebras as a special case, thereby yielding Davey, Nguyen
and Pitkethly's characterisation of quasi-primal Ockham algebras.


title:
Quantum nondemolition measurement of mechanical squeezed state beyond
  the 3 dB limit

abstract:
  We use a reservoir engineering technique based on two-tone driving to
generate and stabilize a quantum squeezed state of a micron-scale mechanical
oscillator in a microwave optomechanical system. Using an independent
backaction evading measurement to directly quantify the squeezing, we observe
$4.7\pm0.9$ dB of squeezing below the zero-point level, surpassing the 3 dB
limit of standard parametric squeezing techniques. Our measurements also reveal
evidence for an additional mechanical parametric effect. The interplay between
this effect and the optomechanical interaction enhances the amount of squeezing
obtained in the experiment.


title:
Proceedings of the 2nd International Workshop on Overlay Architectures
  for FPGAs (OLAF 2016)

abstract:
  The 2nd International Workshop on Overlay Architectures for FPGAs (OLAF 2016)
was held on 21 Mar, 2016 as a co-located workshop at the 24th ACM/SIGDA
International Symposium on Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA 2016). This
year, the program committee selected 6 papers and 3 extended abstracts to be
presented at the workshop, which are subsequently collected in this online
volume.


title: Cognitive Dynamic Systems: A Technical Review of Cognitive Radar

abstract:
  We start with the history of cognitive radar, where origins of the PAC,
Fuster research on cognition and principals of cognition are provided. Fuster
describes five cognitive functions: perception, memory, attention, language,
and intelligence. We describe the Perception-Action Cyclec as it applies to
cognitive radar, and then discuss long-term memory, memory storage, memory
retrieval and working memory. A comparison between memory in human cognition
and cognitive radar is given as well. Attention is another function described
by Fuster, and we have given the comparison of attention in human cognition and
cognitive radar. We talk about the four functional blocks from the PAC:
Bayesian filter, feedback information, dynamic programming and state-space
model for the radar environment. Then, to show that the PAC improves the
tracking accuracy of Cognitive Radar over Traditional Active Radar, we have
provided simulation results. In the simulation, three nonlinear filters:
Cubature Kalman Filter, Unscented Kalman Filter and Extended Kalman Filter are
compared. Based on the results, radars implemented with CKF perform better than
the radars implemented with UKF or radars implemented with EKF. Further, radar
with EKF has the worst accuracy and has the biggest computation load because of
derivation and evaluation of Jacobian matrices. We suggest using the concept of
risk management to better control parameters and improve performance in
cognitive radar. We believe, spectrum sensing can be seen as a potential
interest to be used in cognitive radar and we propose a new approach
Probabilistic ICA which will presumably reduce noise based on estimation error
in cognitive radar. Parallel computing is a concept based on divide and
conquers mechanism, and we suggest using the parallel computing approach in
cognitive radar by doing complicated calculations or tasks to reduce processing
time.


title: Predicting Visual Exemplars of Unseen Classes for Zero-Shot Learning

abstract:
  Leveraging class semantic descriptions and examples of known objects,
zero-shot learning makes it possible to train a recognition model for an object
class whose examples are not available. In this paper, we propose a novel
zero-shot learning model that takes advantage of clustering structures in the
semantic embedding space. The key idea is to impose the structural constraint
that semantic representations must be predictive of the locations of their
corresponding visual exemplars. To this end, this reduces to training multiple
kernel-based regressors from semantic representation-exemplar pairs from
labeled data of the seen object categories. Despite its simplicity, our
approach significantly outperforms existing zero-shot learning methods on
standard benchmark datasets, including the ImageNet dataset with more than
20,000 unseen categories.


title: The Exponential Flexible Weibull Extension Distribution

abstract:
  This paper is devoted to study a new three- parameters model called the
Exponential Flexible Weibull extension (EFWE) distribution which exhibits
bathtub-shaped hazard rate. Some of it's statistical properties are obtained
including ordinary and incomplete moments, quantile and generating functions,
reliability and order statistics. The method of maximum likelihood is used for
estimating the model parameters and the observed Fisher's information matrix is
derived. We illustrate the usefulness of the proposed model by applications to
real data.


title: DeepMovie: Using Optical Flow and Deep Neural Networks to Stylize Movies

abstract:
  A recent paper by Gatys et al. describes a method for rendering an image in
the style of another image. First, they use convolutional neural network
features to build a statistical model for the style of an image. Then they
create a new image with the content of one image but the style statistics of
another image. Here, we extend this method to render a movie in a given
artistic style. The naive solution that independently renders each frame
produces poor results because the features of the style move substantially from
one frame to the next. The other naive method that initializes the optimization
for the next frame using the rendered version of the previous frame also
produces poor results because the features of the texture stay fixed relative
to the frame of the movie instead of moving with objects in the scene. The main
contribution of this paper is to use optical flow to initialize the style
transfer optimization so that the texture features move with the objects in the
video. Finally, we suggest a method to incorporate optical flow explicitly into
the cost function.


title: A single scale retinex based method for palm vein extraction

abstract:
  Palm vein recognition is a novel biometric identification technology. But how
to gain a better vein extraction result from the raw palm image is still a
challenging problem, especially when the raw data collection has the problem of
asymmetric illumination. This paper proposes a method based on single scale
Retinex algorithm to extract palm vein image when strong shadow presents due to
asymmetric illumination and uneven geometry of the palm. We test our method on
a multispectral palm image. The experimental result shows that the proposed
method is robust to the influence of illumination angle and shadow. Compared to
the traditional extraction methods, the proposed method can obtain palm vein
lines with better visualization performance (the contrast ratio increases by
18.4%, entropy increases by 1.07%, and definition increases by 18.8%).


title: Pattern, Growth and Aging in a Colony of Clustering Active Swimmers

abstract:
  Via molecular dynamics simulations, we study the kinetics in a phase
separating active matter model. Quantitative results for the isotropic
bicontinuous pattern formation, its growth and aging, studied, respectively,
via the two-point equal-time density-density correlation function, the average
domain length and the two-time density autocorrelation function, are presented.
Both the correlation functions exhibit basic scaling properties, implying
self-similarity in the pattern dynamics, for which the average domain size
exhibits a power-law growth in time. The equal-time correlation has a short
distance behavior that provides reasonable agreement of the corresponding
structure factor tail with the Porod law. The autocorrelation decay is a
power-law in the average domain size. Apart from these basic similarities, the
quantitative behavior of the above mentioned observables are found to be vastly
different from those of the corresponding passive limit of the model which also
undergoes phase separation. The functional forms of these have been quantified.
An exceptionally rapid growth in the active system occurs due to fast coherent
motion of the particles, mean-squared-displacements of which exhibit multiple
scaling regimes, including a long time ballistic one.


title: Simple, near-optimal quantum protocols for die-rolling

abstract:
  Die-rolling is the cryptographic task where two mistrustful, remote parties
wish to generate a random $D$-sided die-roll over a communication channel.
Optimal quantum protocols for this task have been given by Aharon and Silman
(New Journal of Physics, 2010) but are based on optimal weak coin-flipping
protocols which are currently very complicated and not very well understood. In
this paper, we first present very simple classical protocols for die-rolling
which have decent (and sometimes optimal) security which is in stark contrast
to coin-flipping, bit-commitment, oblivious transfer, and many other two-party
cryptographic primitives. We also present quantum protocols based on
integer-commitment, a generalization of bit-commitment, where one wishes to
commit to an integer. We analyze these protocols using semidefinite programming
and finally give protocols which are very close to Kitaev's lower bound for any
$D \geq 3$. Lastly, we briefly discuss an application of this work to the
quantum state discrimination problem.


title:
Insights into ultrafast Ge-Te bond dynamics in a phase-change
  superlattice

abstract:
  A long-standing question for avant-grade data storage technology concerns the
nature of the ultrafast photoinduced phase transformations in the wide class of
chalcogenide phase-change materials (PCMs). Overall, a comprehensive
understanding of the microstructural evolution and the relevant kinetics
mechanisms accompanying the out-of-equilibrium phases is still missing. Here,
after overheating a phase-change chalcogenide superlattice by an ultrafast
laser pulse, we indirectly track the lattice relaxation by time resolved X-ray
absorption spectroscopy (tr-XAS) with a sub-ns time resolution. The novel
approach to the tr-XAS experimental results reported in this work provides an
atomistic insight of the mechanism that takes place during the cooling process,
meanwhile a first-principles model mimicking the microscopic distortions
accounts for a straightforward representation of the observed dynamics.
Finally, we envisage that our approach can be applied in future studies
addressing the role of dynamical structural strain in phase-change materials.


title: Thermoelectric properties of $n$-type SrTiO3

abstract:
  We present an investigation of the thermoelectric properties of cubic
perovskite SrTiO3. The results are derived from a combination of calculated
transport functions obtained from Boltzmann transport theory in the constant
scattering time approximation based on the electronic structure and existing
experimental data for La-doped SrTiO3. The figure of merit ZT is modeled with
respect to carrier concentration and temperature. The model predicts a
relatively high $ZT$ at optimized doping, and suggests that the $ZT$ value can
reach 0.7 at T = 1400 K. Thus $ZT$ can be improved from the current
experimental values by carrier concentration optimization.


title: Analyzing the Gadgets Towards a Metric to Measure Gadget Quality

abstract:
  Current low-level exploits often rely on code-reuse, whereby short sections
of code (gadgets) are chained together into a coherent exploit that can be
executed without the need to inject any code. Several protection mechanisms
attempt to eliminate this attack vector by applying code transformations to
reduce the number of available gadgets. Nevertheless, it has emerged that the
residual gadgets can still be sufficient to conduct a successful attack.
Crucially, the lack of a common metric for "gadget quality" hinders the
effective comparison of current mitigations. This work proposes four metrics
that assign scores to a set of gadgets, measuring quality, usefulness, and
practicality. We apply these metrics to binaries produced when compiling
programs for architectures implementing Intel's recent MPX CPU extensions. Our
results demonstrate a 17% increase in useful gadgets in MPX binaries, and a
decrease in side-effects and preconditions, making them better suited for ROP
attacks.


title: Finitely generated ideals in the Nevanlinna class

abstract:
  In this paper we investigate finitely generated ideals in the Nevanlinna
class. We prove analogues to some known results for the algebra of bounded
analytic functions $H^{\infty}$. We also show that, in contrast to the
$H^{\infty}$-case, the stable rank of the Nevanlinna class is strictly bigger
than 1.


title:
Bounds and extremal domains for Robin eigenvalues with negative boundary
  parameter

abstract:
  We present some new bounds for the first Robin eigenvalue with a negative
boundary parameter. These include the constant volume problem, where the bounds
are based on the shrinking coordinate method, and a proof that in the fixed
perimeter case the disk maximises the first eigenvalue for all values of the
parameter. This is in contrast with what happens in the constant area problem,
where the disk is the maximiser only for small values of the boundary
parameter. We also present sharp upper and lower bounds for the first
eigenvalue of the ball and spherical shells.
  These results are complemented by the numerical optimisation of the first
four and two eigenvalues in 2 and 3 dimensions, respectively, and an evaluation
of the quality of the upper bounds obtained. We also study the bifurcations
from the ball as the boundary parameter becomes large (negative).


title:
Reduction of magnetic interlayer coupling in barlowite through
  isoelectronic substitution

abstract:
  Materials with a perfect kagome lattice structure of magnetic ions are
intensively sought for, because they may exhibit exotic ground states like the
a quantum spin liquid phase. Barlowite is a natural mineral that features
perfect kagome layers of copper ions. However, in barlowite there are also
copper ions between the kagome layers, which mediate strong interkagome
couplings and lead to an ordered ground state. Using {\it ab initio} density
functional theory calculations we investigate whether selective isoelectronic
substitution of the interlayer copper ions is feasible. After identifying
several promising candidates for substitution we calculate the magnetic
exchange couplings based on crystal structures predicted from first-principles
calculations. We find that isoelectronic substitution with nonmagnetic ions
significantly reduces the interkagome exchange coupling. As a consequence,
interlayer-substituted barlowite can be described by a simple two-parameter
Heisenberg Hamiltonian, for which a quantum spin liquid ground state has been
predicted.


title: Multiple target tracking based on sets of trajectories

abstract:
  We propose a solution of the multiple target tracking (MTT) problem based on
sets of trajectories and the random finite set framework. A full Bayesian
approach to MTT should characterise the distribution of the trajectories given
the measurements, as it contains all information about the trajectories. We
attain this by considering multi-object density functions in which objects are
trajectories. For the standard tracking models, we also describe a conjugate
family of multitrajectory density functions.


title:
Nuclear magnetic relaxation rates of unconventional superconductivity in
  doped topological insulators

abstract:
  We study the temperature dependence of nuclear magnetic relaxation (NMR)
rates to detect a sign of topological superconductivity in doped topological
insulators, such as $M$($=$Cu,Nb,Sr)$_{x}$Bi$_{2}$Se$_{3}$ and
Sn$_{1-x}$In$_{x}$Te. The Hebel-Slichter coherence effect below a critical
temperature Tc depends on the superconducting states predicted by a minimal
model of doped topological insulators. In a nodal anisotropic topological state
similar to the ABM-phase in $^{3}$He, the NMR rate has a conventional $s$-wave
like coherence peak below Tc. In contrast, in a fully-gapped isotropic
topological superconducting state, this rate below Tc exhibits an anti-peak
profile. Moreover, in a two-fold in-plane anisotropic topological
superconducting state, there is no coherence effect, which is similar to that
in a chiral $p$-wave state. Thus, we reveal that the NMR rates shed light on
unconventional superconductivity in doped topological insulators.


title: Highly-Smooth Zero-th Order Online Optimization Vianney Perchet

abstract:
  The minimization of convex functions which are only available through partial
and noisy information is a key methodological problem in many disciplines. In
this paper we consider convex optimization with noisy zero-th order
information, that is noisy function evaluations at any desired point. We focus
on problems with high degrees of smoothness, such as logistic regression. We
show that as opposed to gradient-based algorithms, high-order smoothness may be
used to improve estimation rates, with a precise dependence of our upper-bounds
on the degree of smoothness. In particular, we show that for infinitely
differentiable functions, we recover the same dependence on sample size as
gradient-based algorithms, with an extra dimension-dependent factor. This is
done for both convex and strongly-convex functions, with finite horizon and
anytime algorithms. Finally, we also recover similar results in the online
optimization setting.


title:
A constraint-based framework to study rationality, competition and
  cooperation in fisheries

abstract:
  In this paper, we present a simplified framework to represent competition,
coordination and bargaining in fisheries when they operate under financial and
technological constraints. Competition within constraints leads to a particular
type of mathematical game in which the strategy choice by one player changes
strategy set of the other. By studying the equilibria and bargaining space of
this game when players maximize either profit or fishing capacity, we highlight
that differences in financial constraints among players leads to a tougher
play, with a reduced bargaining space as the least constrained player can
readily exclude another from the competition. The exacerbating effects of
constraints on competition are even stronger when players maximize capacity. We
discuss the significance of our results for global ocean governance in a
current context characterized by financialization and technological
development. We suggest that in order to maximize the chances of fruitful
negociations and aim towards a fair sharing of sea resources, it would be
helpful to focus on leveling current differences in the constraints faced
between competing fishing systems by supporting local financial systems and
technological control, before implementing sophisticated economic tools.


title: Long time dynamics and coherent states in nonlinear wave equations

abstract:
  We discuss recent progress in finding all coherent states supported by
nonlinear wave equations, their stability and the long time behavior of nearby
solutions.


title:
Controlling chaos in some laser systems via variable coupling and
  feedback time delay

abstract:
  We study numerically a system of two lasers cross-coupled optoelectronically
with a time delay where the output intensity of each laser modulates the pump
current of the other laser. We demonstrate control of chaos via variable
coupling time delay by converting the laser intensity chaos to the steady
state. We also show that wavelength chaos in an electrically tunable
distributed Bragg reflector laser diode with a feedback loop can be controlled
via variable feedback time delay.


title: On the Gross-Stark Conjecture

abstract:
  In 1980, Gross conjectured a formula for the expected leading term at $s=0$
of the Deligne--Ribet $p$-adic $L$-function associated to a totally even
character $\psi$ of a totally real field $F$. The conjecture states that after
scaling by $L(\psi \omega^{-1}, 0)$, this value is equal to a $p$-adic
regulator of units in the abelian extension of $F$ cut out by $\psi
\omega^{-1}$. In this paper, we prove Gross's conjecture.


title:
Magnetic-flux-driven topological quantum phase transition and
  manipulation of perfect edge states in graphene tube

abstract:
  We study the tight-binding model for a graphene tube with perimeter N
threaded by a magnetic field. We show exactly that this model has different
nontrivial topological phases as the flux changes. The winding number, as an
indicator of topological quantum phase transition (QPT) fixes at N/3 if N/3
equals to its integer part [N/3], otherwise it jumps between [N/3] and [N/3]+1
periodically as the flux varies a flux quantum. For an open tube with zigzag
boundary condition, exact edge states are obtained. There exist two perfect
midgap edge states, in which the particle is completely located at the
boundary, even for a tube with finite length. The threading flux can be
employed to control the quantum states: transferring the perfect edge state
from one end to the other, or generating maximal entanglement between them.


title:
Effects of level inversion on the Coulomb displacement energies of the
  Ar-K isobaric analog state pairs

abstract:
  The Coulomb displacement energies of the neutron-rich Ar-K isobaric analog
state pairs with mass number $A=35-47$ are calculated within the relativistic
mean field model and the effects of level inversion on the Coulomb displacement
energies of the Ar-K isobaric analog state pairs are studied. The calculations
are carried out in two cases, with and without consideration of the possible
$2s_{1/2}$ and $1d_{3/2}$ proton level inversion of the neutron-rich Ar
isotopes. Results show that the $2s_{1/2}$ and $1d_{3/2}$ level inversion of
the neutron-rich Ar isotopes may reduce the Coulomb displacement energy by
0.06$\sim$0.17 MeV for the Ar-K isobaric analog state pairs. The results may
provide a reference for experimental investigations of nuclear level inversion
and a new test of the relativistic mean field model.


title:
Preliminary results of Resistive Plate Chambers operated with
  eco-friendly gas mixtures for application in the CMS experiment

abstract:
  The operations of Resistive Plate Chambers in LHC experiments require
Fluorine based (F-based) gases for optimal performance. Recent European
regulations demand the use of environmentally unfriendly F-based gases to be
limited or banned. In view of the CMS experiment upgrade, several tests are
ongoing to measure the performance of the detector with these new ecological
gas mixtures, in terms of efficiency, streamer probability, induced charge and
time resolution. Prototype chambers with readout pads and with the standard CMS
electronic setup are under test. In this paper preliminary results on
performance of RPCs operated with a potential eco-friendly gas candidate
1,3,3,3-Tetrafluoropropene, commercially known as HFO-1234ze, with CO2 and CF3I
based gas mixtures are presented and discussed for the possible application in
the CMS experiment.


title: Dynamics of thin liquid films on a porous substrate in zero gravity

abstract:
  The long-wave dynamics of liquid films on isothermal substrates show a
dynamic competition between various physical mechanisms. If the destabilizing
effect of thermocapillarity overcomes the stabilizing effect of surface tension
and gravity, the liquid film ruptures in finite time, through the formation of
primary and secondary thermocapillary finger structures.
  The long-wave evolution dynamics are compared for two different substrate
types: isothermal non-porous and isothermal porous for small Biot number in a
zero gravity environment. The multi-time-scale dynamics is revealed through
time scales obtained from a method of similarity solutions. It is observed that
with an isothermal porous substrate, in zero gravity, secondary thermocapillary
structures are damped through imbibition and that primary thermocapillary
structures persist for long times without rupture.


title: Adiabatic Persistent Contrastive Divergence Learning

abstract:
  This paper studies the problem of parameter learning in probabilistic
graphical models having latent variables, where the standard approach is the
expectation maximization algorithm alternating expectation (E) and maximization
(M) steps. However, both E and M steps are computationally intractable for high
dimensional data, while the substitution of one step to a faster surrogate for
combating against intractability can often cause failure in convergence. We
propose a new learning algorithm which is computationally efficient and
provably ensures convergence to a correct optimum. Its key idea is to run only
a few cycles of Markov Chains (MC) in both E and M steps. Such an idea of
running incomplete MC has been well studied only for M step in the literature,
called Contrastive Divergence (CD) learning. While such known CD-based schemes
find approximated gradients of the log-likelihood via the mean-field approach
in E step, our proposed algorithm does exact ones via MC algorithms in both
steps due to the multi-time-scale stochastic approximation theory. Despite its
theoretical guarantee in convergence, the proposed scheme might suffer from the
slow mixing of MC in E step. To tackle it, we also propose a hybrid approach
applying both mean-field and MC approximation in E step, where the hybrid
approach outperforms the bare mean-field CD scheme in our experiments on
real-world datasets.


title: Generalized metric properties of spheres and renorming of normed spaces

abstract:
  We study some generalized metric properties of weak topologies when
restricted to the unit sphere of some equivalent norm on a Banach space, and
their relationships with other geometrical properties of norms. In case of dual
Banach space $X^*$, we prove that there exists a dual norm such that its unit
sphere is a Moore space for the weak$^*$-topology (has a G$_\delta$-diagonal
for the weak$^*$-topology, respectively) if, and only if, $X^*$ admits an
equivalent weak$^*$-LUR dual norm (rotund dual norm, respectively).


title: Diamond nanothread as a new reinforcement for nanocomposites

abstract:
  This work explores the application of a new one-dimensional carbon
nanomaterial, the diamond nanothread (DNT), as a reinforcement for
nanocomposites. Owing to the existence of Stone-Wales transformation defects,
the DNT intrinsically possesses irregular surfaces, which is expected to
enhance the non-covalent interfacial load transfer. Through a series of in
silico pull-out studies of the DNT in polyethylene (PE) matrix, we found that
the load transfer between DNT and PE matrix is dominated by the non-covalent
interactions, in particular the van der Waals interactions. Although the
hydrogenated surface of the DNT reduces the strength of the van der Waals
interactions at the interface, the irregular surface of the DNT can compensate
for the weak bonds. These factors lead to an interfacial shear strength of the
DNT/PE interface comparable with that of the carbon nanotube (CNT)/PE
interface. Our results show that the DNT/PE interfacial shear strength remains
high even as the number of Stone-Wales transformation defects decreases. It can
be enhanced further by increasing the PE density or introduction of functional
groups to the DNT, both of which greatly increase the non-covalent
interactions.


title:
Quantum mechanics: The Bayesian theory generalised to the space of
  Hermitian matrices

abstract:
  We consider the problem of gambling on a quantum experiment and enforce
rational behaviour by a few rules. These rules yield, in the classical case,
the Bayesian theory of probability via duality theorems. In our quantum
setting, they yield the Bayesian theory generalised to the space of Hermitian
matrices. This very theory is quantum mechanics: in fact, we derive all its
four postulates from the generalised Bayesian theory. This implies that quantum
mechanics is self-consistent. It also leads us to reinterpret the main
operations in quantum mechanics as probability rules: Bayes' rule
(measurement), marginalisation (partial tracing), independence (tensor
product). To say it with a slogan, we obtain that quantum mechanics is the
Bayesian theory in the complex numbers.