title: Curve Networks for Surface Reconstruction

abstract:
  Man-made objects usually exhibit descriptive curved features (i.e., curve
networks). The curve network of an object conveys its high-level geometric and
topological structure. We present a framework for extracting feature curve
networks from unstructured point cloud data. Our framework first generates a
set of initial curved segments fitting highly curved regions. We then optimize
these curved segments to respect both data fitting and structural regularities.
Finally, the optimized curved segments are extended and connected into curve
networks using a clustering method. To facilitate effectiveness in case of
severe missing data and to resolve ambiguities, we develop a user interface for
completing the curve networks. Experiments on various imperfect point cloud
data validate the effectiveness of our curve network extraction framework. We
demonstrate the usefulness of the extracted curve networks for surface
reconstruction from incomplete point clouds.


title: Multi-Cue Zero-Shot Learning with Strong Supervision

abstract:
  Scaling up visual category recognition to large numbers of classes remains
challenging. A promising research direction is zero-shot learning, which does
not require any training data to recognize new classes, but rather relies on
some form of auxiliary information describing the new classes. Ultimately, this
may allow to use textbook knowledge that humans employ to learn about new
classes by transferring knowledge from classes they know well. The most
successful zero-shot learning approaches currently require a particular type of
auxiliary information -- namely attribute annotations performed by humans --
that is not readily available for most classes. Our goal is to circumvent this
bottleneck by substituting such annotations by extracting multiple pieces of
information from multiple unstructured text sources readily available on the
web. To compensate for the weaker form of auxiliary information, we incorporate
stronger supervision in the form of semantic part annotations on the classes
from which we transfer knowledge. We achieve our goal by a joint embedding
framework that maps multiple text parts as well as multiple semantic parts into
a common space. Our results consistently and significantly improve on the
state-of-the-art in zero-short recognition and retrieval.


title: Strong interaction studies with kaonic atoms

abstract:
  The strong interaction of antikaons with nucleons and nuclei in the
low-energy regime represents an active research field connected intrinsically
with few-body physics. There are important open questions like the question of
antikaon nuclear bound states. A unique and rather direct experimental access
to the antikaon-nucleon scattering lengths is provided by precision X-ray
spectroscopy of transitions in low-lying states of light kaonic atoms like
kaonic hydrogen isotopes. In the SIDDHARTA experiment at the electron-positron
collider DAFNE of LNF-INFN we measured the most precise values of the strong
interaction observables, i.e. the strong interaction on the 1s ground state of
the electromagnetically bound kaonic hydrogen atom leading to a hadronic shift
and a hadronic broadening of the 1s state. The SIDDHARTA result triggered new
theoretical work which achieved major progress in the understanding of the
low-energy strong interaction with strangeness. Antikaon-nucleon scattering
lengths have been calculated constrained by the SIDDHARTA data on kaonic
hydrogen. For the extraction of the isospin-dependent scattering lengths a
measurement of the hadronic shift and width of kaonic deuterium is necessary.
Therefore, new X-ray studies with the focus on kaonic deuterium are in
preparation (SIDDHARTA2). Many improvements in the experimental setup will
allow to measure kaonic deuterium which is challenging due to the anticipated
low X-ray yield. Especially important are the data on the X-ray yields of
kaonic deuterium extracted from a exploratory experiment within SIDDHARTA.


title: Weak error analysis via functional It\^o calculus

abstract:
  We consider autonomous stochastic ordinary differential equations (SDEs) and
weak approximations of their solutions for a general class of sufficiently
smooth path-dependent functionals f. Based on tools from functional It\^o
calculus, such as the functional It\^o formula and functional Kolmogorov
equation, we derive a general representation formula for the weak error
$E(f(X_T)-f(\tilde X_T))$, where $X_T$ and $\tilde X_T$ are the paths of the
solution process and its approximation up to time T. The functional
$f:C([0,T],R^d)\to R$ is assumed to be twice continuously Fr\'echet
differentiable with derivatives of polynomial growth. The usefulness of the
formula is demonstrated in the one dimensional setting by showing that if the
solution to the SDE is approximated via the linearly time-interpolated explicit
Euler method, then the rate of weak convergence for sufficiently regular f is
1.


title:
Timing of the accreting millisecond pulsar SAX J1748.9-2021 during its
  2015 outburst

abstract:
  We report on the timing analysis of the 2015 outburst of the intermittent
accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar SAX J1748.9-2021 observed on March 4 by the
X-ray satellite XMM-Newton. By phase-connecting the time of arrivals of the
observed pulses, we derived the best-fit orbital solution for the 2015
outburst. We investigated the energy pulse profile dependence finding that the
pulse fractional amplitude increases with energy while no significant time lags
are detected. Moreover, we investigated the previous outbursts from this
source, finding previously undetected pulsations in some intervals during the
2010 outburst of the source. Comparing the updated set of orbital parameters,
in particular the value of the time of passage from the ascending node, with
the orbital solutions reported from the previous outbursts, we estimated for
the first time the orbital period derivative corresponding with
$\dot{P}_{orb}=(1.1\pm0.3)\times 10^{-10}$ s/s. We note that this value is
significant at 3.5 sigma confidence level, because of significant fluctuations
with respect to the parabolic trend and more observations are needed in order
to confirm the finding. Assuming the reliability of the result, we suggest that
the large value of the orbital-period derivative can be explained as a result
of an highly non-conservative mass transfer driven by emission of gravitational
waves, which implies the ejection of matter from a region close to the inner
Lagrangian point. We also discuss possible alternative explanations.


title: Mixtures of classical and free independence

abstract:
  We revive the concept of Lambda-freeness of Mlotkowski, which describes a
mixture of classical and free independence between algebras of random
variables. In particular, we give a description of this in terms of cumulants;
this will be instrumental in the subsequent paper [SW] where the quantum
symmetries underlying these mixtures of classical and free independences will
be considered.


title: Ensemble nonequivalence in random graphs with modular structure

abstract:
  Breaking of equivalence between the microcanonical ensemble and the canonical
ensemble, describing a large system subject to hard and soft constraints,
respectively, was recently shown to occur in large random graphs. Hard
constraints must be met by every graph, soft constraints must be met only on
average, subject to maximal entropy. In Squartini et al. (2015) it was shown
that ensembles of random graphs are non-equivalent when the degrees of the
nodes are constrained, in the sense of a non-zero limiting specific relative
entropy as the number of nodes diverges. In that paper, the nodes were placed
either on a single layer (uni-partite graphs) or on two layers (bi-partite
graphs). In the present paper we consider an arbitrary number of
intra-connected and inter-connected layers, thus allowing for modular graphs
with a multi-partite, multiplex, block-model or community structure. We give a
full classification of ensemble equivalence, proving that breakdown occurs if
and only if the number of local constraints (i.e., the number of constrained
degrees) is extensive in the number of nodes, irrespective of the layer
structure. In addition, we derive a formula for the specific relative entropy
and provide an interpretation of this formula in terms of Poissonisation of the
degrees.

categories: math.PR cond-mat.dis-nn cond-mat.stat-mech math-ph math.MP physics.soc-ph


title:
Construction and Test of New Precision Drift-Tube Chambers for the ATLAS
  Muon Spectrometer

abstract:
  ATLAS muon detector upgrades aim for increased acceptance for muon triggering
and precision tracking and for improved rate capability of the muon chambers in
the high-background regions of the detector with increasing LHC luminosity. The
small-diameter Muon Drift Tube (sMDT) chambers have been developed for these
purposes. With half of the drift-tube diameter of the MDT chambers and
otherwise unchanged operating parameters, sMDT chambers share the advantages of
the MDTs, but have an order of magnitude higher rate capability and can be
installed in detector regions where MDT chambers do not fit in. The chamber
assembly methods have been optimized for mass production, minimizing
construction time and personnel. Sense wire positioning accuracies of 5 ?micons
have been achieved in serial production for large-size chambers comprising
several hundred drift tubes. The construction of new sMDT chambers for
installation in the 2016/17 winter shutdown of the LHC and the design of sMDT
chambers in combination with new RPC trigger chambers for replacement of the
inner layer of the barrel muon spectrometer are in progress.


title: Global Spiral Arms Formation by Non-linear Interaction of Wakelets

abstract:
  The formation and evolution of galactic spiral arms is not yet clearly
understood despite many analytic and numerical work. Recently, a new idea has
been proposed that local density enhancements (waklets) arising in the galactic
disk connect with each other and make global spiral arms. However, the
understanding of this mechanism is not yet sufficient. We analyze the
interaction of wakelets by using N-body simulations including perturbing point
masses, which are heavier than individual N-body particles and act as the seeds
for wakelets. Our simulation facilitates more straightforward interpretation of
numerical results than previous work by putting a certain number of perturbers
in a well-motivated configuration. We detected a clear sign of non-linear
interaction between wakelets, which make global spiral arms by connecting two
adjacent wakelets. We found that the wave number of the strongest non-linear
interaction depends on galactic disk mass and shear rate. This dependence is
consistent with the prediction of swing amplification mechanism and other
previous results. Our results provide unification of previous results which
seemed not consistent with each other.


title: Kadec-1/4 Theorem for Sinc Bases

abstract:
  In this paper we show two results. In the first result we consider
$\lambda_n-n=\frac{A}{n^\alpha}$ for $n\in\mathbb N$; if $\alpha>1/2$ and
$0<A<\frac{1}{\pi\sqrt{2 \sqrt{2}\zeta(2\alpha)}}$, the system
$\left\{\operatorname{sinc}( \lambda_n - t)\right\}_{n\in\mathbb N}$ is a Riesz
basis for $PW_{\pi}$. With the second result, we study the stability of
$\left\{\operatorname{sinc}( \lambda_n - t)\right\}_{n\in\mathbb Z}$ for
$\lambda_n\in\mathbb C$; if $|\lambda_n-n|\leqq L<\frac{1}{\pi}\,
\sqrt\frac{3\alpha}{8}$, for all $n\in\mathbb Z$, then
$\{\operatorname{sinc}(\lambda_n-t)\}_{n\in\mathbb Z}$ forms a Riesz basis for
$PW_{\pi}$. Here $\alpha$ is the Lamb-Oseen constant.


title: The space $B^{-1}_{\infty, \infty}$, volumetric sparseness, and 3D NSE

abstract:
  In the context of the $L^\infty$-theory of the 3D NSE, it is shown that
suitable smallness of a solution in Besov space $B^{-1}_{\infty, \infty}$
suffices to prevent a possible blow-up.


title:
Effect of delithiation on the dimer transition of the honeycomb-lattice
  ruthenate Li$_{2-x}$RuO$_3$

abstract:
  The honeycomb-lattice ruthenate Li$_2$RuO$_3$ is made heavily Li-deficient by
chemical oxidation by iodine. The delithiation triggers a different phase
Li$_{2-x}$RuO$_3$, the "D-phase", with superlattice. For the first time we
disclose the magnetic and structural properties of the D-phase in the
dimer-solid state. The low temperature magnetic susceptibility and the bond
lengths indicate a bonding configuration consisting of both Ru$^{4+}$-Ru$^{4+}$
and Ru$^{5+}$-Ru$^{5+}$ dimers.


title: Precision Muon Tracking Detectors for High-Energy Hadron Colliders

abstract:
  Small-diameter muon drift tube (sMDT) chambers with 15 mm tube diameter are a
cost-effective technology for high-precision muon tracking over large areas at
high background rates as expected at future high-energy hadron colliders
including HL-LHC. The chamber design and construction procedures have been
optimized for mass production and provide sense wire positioning accuracy of
better than 10 ?m. The rate capability of the sMDT chambers has been
extensively tested at the CERN Gamma Irradiation Facility. It exceeds the one
of the ATLAS muon drift tube (MDT) chambers, which are operated at
unprecedentedly high background rates of neutrons and gamma-rays, by an order
of magnitude, which is sufficient for almost the whole muon detector acceptance
at FCC-hh at maximum luminosity. sMDT operational and construction experience
exists from ATLAS muon spectrometer upgrades which are in progress or under
preparation for LHC Phase 1 and 2.


title: Optimal Boundary Control of 2x2 Linear Hyperbolic PDEs

abstract:
  The present paper develops an optimal linear quadratic boundary controller
for $2\times2$ linear hyperbolic partial differential equations (PDEs) with
actuation on only one end of the domain. First-order necessary conditions for
optimality is derived via weak variations and an optimal controller in
state-feedback form is presented. The linear quadratic regulator (LQR)
controller is calculated from differential algebraic Riccati equations.
Numerical examples are performed to show the use of the proposed method.


title:
Machine Learning and Cloud Computing: Survey of Distributed and SaaS
  Solutions

abstract:
  Applying popular machine learning algorithms to large amounts of data raised
new challenges for the ML practitioners. Traditional ML libraries does not
support well processing of huge datasets, so that new approaches were needed.
Parallelization using modern parallel computing frameworks, such as MapReduce,
CUDA, or Dryad gained in popularity and acceptance, resulting in new ML
libraries developed on top of these frameworks. We will briefly introduce the
most prominent industrial and academic outcomes, such as Apache Mahout,
GraphLab or Jubatus.
  We will investigate how cloud computing paradigm impacted the field of ML.
First direction is of popular statistics tools and libraries (R system, Python)
deployed in the cloud. A second line of products is augmenting existing tools
with plugins that allow users to create a Hadoop cluster in the cloud and run
jobs on it. Next on the list are libraries of distributed implementations for
ML algorithms, and on-premise deployments of complex systems for data analytics
and data mining. Last approach on the radar of this survey is ML as
Software-as-a-Service, several BigData start-ups (and large companies as well)
already opening their solutions to the market.


title: Crossed Simplicial Group Categorical Nerves

abstract:
  We extend the notion of the nerve of a category for a small class of crossed
simplicial groups, explicitly describing them using generators and relations.
We do this by first considering a generalised bar construction of a group
before looking at twisted versions of some of these nerves. As an application
we show how we can use the twisted nerves to give equivariant versions of
certain derived stacks.


title: Reasoning about Algebraic Data Types with Abstractions

abstract:
  Reasoning about functions that operate over algebraic data types is an
important problem for a large variety of applications. One application of
particular interest is network applications that manipulate or reason about
complex message structures, such as XML messages. This paper presents a
decision procedure for reasoning about algebraic data types using abstractions
that are provided by catamorphisms: fold functions that map instances of
algebraic data types to values in a decidable domain. We show that the
procedure is sound and complete for a class of catamorphisms that satisfy a
generalized sufficient surjectivity condition. Our work extends a previous
decision procedure that unrolls catamorphism functions until a solution is
found.
  We use the generalized sufficient surjectivity condition to address an
incompleteness in the previous unrolling algorithm (and associated proof). We
then propose the categories of monotonic and associative catamorphisms, which
we argue provide a more intuitive inclusion test than the generalized
sufficient surjectivity condition. We use these notions to address two open
problems from previous work: (1) we provide a bound, with respect to formula
size, on the number of unrollings necessary for completeness, showing that it
is linear for monotonic catamorphisms and exponentially small for associative
catamorphisms, and (2) we demonstrate that associative catamorphisms can be
combined within a formula while preserving completeness. Our combination
results extend the set of problems that can be reasoned about using the
catamorphism-based approach.
  We also describe an implementation of the approach, called RADA, which
accepts formulas in an extended version of the SMT-LIB 2.0 syntax. The
procedure is quite general and is central to the reasoning infrastructure for
Guardol, a domain-specific language for reasoning about network guards.


title:
Universality of anomalous conductivities in theories with
  higher-derivative holographic duals

abstract:
  Anomalous chiral conductivities in theories with global anomalies are
independent of whether they are computed in a weakly coupled quantum (or
thermal) field theory, hydrodynamics, or at infinite coupling from holography.
While the presence of dynamical gauge fields and mixed, gauge-global anomalies
can destroy this universality, in their absence, the non-renormalisation of
anomalous Ward identities is expected to be obeyed at all intermediate coupling
strengths. In holography, bulk theories with higher-derivative corrections
incorporate coupling constant corrections to the boundary theory observables in
an expansion around infinite coupling. In this work, we investigate the
coupling constant dependence and universality of anomalous conductivities (and
thus of the anomalous Ward identities) in general, four-dimensional systems
that possess asymptotically anti-de Sitter holographic duals with a
non-extremal black brane in five dimensions, and anomalous transport introduced
into the boundary theory via the bulk Chern-Simons action. We show that in bulk
theories with arbitrary gauge- and diffeomorphism-invariant higher-derivative
actions, anomalous conductivities, which can incorporate an infinite series of
(inverse) coupling constant corrections, remain universal. Owing to the
existence of the membrane paradigm, the proof reduces to a construction of bulk
effective theories at the horizon and the boundary. It only requires us to
impose the condition of horizon regularity and correct boundary conditions on
the fields. We also discuss ways to violate the universality by violating
conditions for the validity of the membrane paradigm, in particular, by adding
mass to the vector fields (a case with a mixed, gauge-global anomaly) and in
bulk geometries with a naked singularity.


title:
Kinematic dynamo in two-dimensional chaotic flow: the initial and final
  stages

abstract:
  The small-scale kinematic dynamo in a two-dimensional chaotic flow is
studied. The analytic approach is developed in framework of the
Kraichnan-Kazantsev model. It is shown that the growth of magnetic field
$\bm{B}$ fluctuations stops at large times in accordance with so-called
anti-dynamo theorems. The value of $\bm{B}^2$ increased therewith in square of
the magnetic Prandtl number times. The spatial structure of the correlation
tensor of the magnetic field is found.


title:
Role of Sn impurity on electronic topological transitions in 122
  Fe-based superconductors

abstract:
  We show that only a few percentage of Sn doping at the Ba site on
BaFe$_2$As$_2$, can cause electronic topological transition, namely, the
Lifshitz transition. A hole like d$_{xy}$ band of Fe undergoes electron like
transition due to 4\% Sn doping. Lifshitz transition is found in BaFe$_2$As$_2$
system around all the high symmetry points. Our detailed first principles
simulation predicts absence of any Lifshitz transition in other 122 family
compounds like SrFe$_2$As$_2$, CaFe$_2$As$_2$. This work bears practical
significance due to the facts that a few percentage of Sn impurity is in-built
in tin-flux grown single crystals method of synthesizing 122 materials and
inter-relationship among the Lifshitz transition, magnetism and
superconductivity.


title: Poincar\'e duality with cap products in intersection homology

abstract:
  For having a Poincar\'e duality via a cap product between the intersection
homology of a paracompact oriented pseudomanifold and the cohomology given by
the dual complex, G. Friedman and J. E. McClure need a coefficient field or an
additional hypothesis on the torsion. In this work, by using the classical
geometric process of blowing-up, adapted to a simplicial setting, we build a
cochain complex which gives a Poincar\'e duality via a cap product with
intersection homology, for any commutative ring of coefficients. We prove also
the topological invariance of the blown-up intersection cohomology with compact
supports in the case of a paracompact pseudomanifold with no codimension one
strata.
  This work is written with general perversities, defined on each stratum and
not only in function of the codimension of strata. It contains also a tame
intersection homology, suitable for large perversities.


title:
Hawking radiation screening and Penrose process shielding in the Kerr
  black hole

abstract:
  The radial motion of massive particles in the equatorial plane of the Kerr
black hole is considered. Screening of the Hawking radiation and shielding of
the Penrose process are examined (both insides and outside the ergosphere) and
their effects on the evaporation of the black hole is studied. In particular,
the locus and width of a classically forbidden region and their dependence on
the particle's angular momentum and energy is analysed. Tunneling of particles
between the boundaries of this region is considered and the transmission
coefficient is determined.


title:
Construction and enumeration of circuits capable of guiding a miniature
  vehicle

abstract:
  In contrast to traditional toy tracks, a patented system allows the creation
of a large number of tracks with a minimal number of pieces, and whose loops
always close properly. These circuits strongly resemble traditional
self-avoiding polygons (whose explicit enumeration has not yet been resolved
for an arbitrary number of squares) yet there are numerous differences, notably
the fact that the geometric constraints are different than those of
self-avoiding polygons. We present the methodology allowing the construction
and enumeration of all of the possible tracks containing a given number of
pieces. For small numbers of pieces, several variants are proposed which allow
the consideration or not of the fact that the obtained circuits are identical
up to a given isometry. For greater numbers of pieces, only an estimation will
be offered. In the latter case, a randomly construction of circuits is also
given. We will give some routes for generalizations for similar problems.


title: COCO: The Experimental Procedure

abstract:
  We present a budget-free experimental setup and procedure for benchmarking
numericaloptimization algorithms in a black-box scenario. This procedure can be
applied with the COCO benchmarking platform. We describe initialization of and
input to the algorithm and touch upon therelevance of termination and restarts.


title: Encoding Arguments

abstract:
  Many proofs in discrete mathematics and theoretical computer science are
based on the probabilistic method. To prove the existence of a good object, we
pick a random object and show that it is bad with low probability. This method
is effective, but the underlying probabilistic machinery can be daunting.
"Encoding arguments" provide an alternative presentation in which probabilistic
reasoning is encapsulated in a "uniform encoding lemma". This lemma provides an
upper bound on the probability of an event using the fact that a uniformly
random choice from a set of size $n$ cannot be encoded with fewer than $\log_2
n$ bits on average. With the lemma, the argument reduces to devising an
encoding where bad objects have short codewords.
  In this expository article, we describe the basic method and provide a simple
tutorial on how to use it. After that, we survey many applications to classic
problems from discrete mathematics and computer science. We also give a
generalization for the case of non-uniform distributions, as well as a rigorous
justification for the use of non-integer codeword lengths in encoding
arguments. These latter two results allow encoding arguments to be applied more
widely and to produce tighter results.


title:
Wave equation with Robin condition, quantitative estimates of strong
  unique continuation at the boundary

abstract:
  The main result of the present paper consists in a quantitative estimate of
unique continuation at the boundary for solutions to the wave equation. Such
estimate is the sharp quantitative counterpart of the following strong unique
continuation property: let $u$ be a solution to the wave equation that
satisfies an homogeneous Robin condition on a portion $S$ of the boundary and
the restriction of $u_{\mid S}$ on $S$ is flat on a segment $\{0\}\times J$
with $0\in S$ then $u_{\mid S}$ vanishes in a neighborhood of $\{0\}\times J$.


title: Coronas and domination subdivision number of a graph

abstract:
  In this paper, for a graph G and a family of partitions P of vertex
neighborhoods of G, we define the general corona G \circ P of G. Among several
properties of this new operation, we focus on application general coronas to a
new kind of characterization of trees with the domination subdivision number
equal to 3.


title:
Homogenization and transport equations: the case of desert and sand
  piles

abstract:
  In this paper we build models for short-term, mean-term and long-term
dynamics of dune in desert. They are models that are degenerated parabolic
equations which are, moreover, singularly perturbed. We, then give existence
and uniqueness results for the models, followed by homogenization ones and a
corrector result is given.


title:
Direct observation of individual charges and their dynamics on graphene
  by low-energy electron holography

abstract:
  Visualizing individual charges confined to molecules and observing their
dynamics with high spatial resolution is a challenge for advancing various
fields in science, ranging from mesoscopic physics to electron transfer events
in biological molecules. We show here, that the high sensitivity of low-energy
electrons to local electric fields can be employed to directly visualize
individual charged adsorbates and to study their behaviour in a quantitative
way. This makes electron holography a unique probing tool for directly
visualising charge distributions with a sensitivity of a fraction of an
elementary charge. Moreover, spatial resolution in the nanometer range and fast
data acquisition inherent to lens-less low-energy electron holography allows
for direct visual inspection of charge transfer processes.


title:
Long wave approximation for water waves under a Coriolis forcing and the
  Ostrovsky equation

abstract:
  This paper is devoted to the study of the long wave approximation for water
waves under the influence of the gravity and a Coriolis forcing. We start by
deriving a generalization of the Boussinesq equations in 1D (in space) and we
rigorously justify them as an asymptotic model of the water waves equations.
These new Boussinesq equations are not the classical Boussinesq equations. A
new term due to the vorticity and the Coriolis forcing appears that can not be
neglected. Then, we study the Boussinesq regime and we derive and fully justify
different asymptotic models when the bottom is flat : a linear equation linked
to the Klein-Gordon equation admitting the so-called Poincar{\'e} waves; the
Ostrovsky equation, which is a generalization of the KdV equation in presence
of a Coriolis forcing, when the rotation is weak; and finally the KdV equation
when the rotation is very weak. Therefore, this work provides the first
mathematical justification of the Ostrovsky equation. Finally, we derive a
generalization of the Green-Naghdi equations in 1D in space for small
topography variations and we show that this model is consistent with the water
waves equations.


title: Giant g factor tuning of long-lived electron spins in Ge

abstract:
  Control of electron spin coherence via external fields is fundamental in
spintronics. Its implementation demands a host material that accommodates the
highly desirable but contrasting requirements of spin robustness to relaxation
mechanisms and sizeable coupling between spin and orbital motion of charge
carriers. Here we focus on Ge, which, by matching those criteria, is rapidly
emerging as a prominent candidate for shuttling spin quantum bits in the mature
framework of Si electronics. So far, however, the intrinsic spin-dependent
phenomena of free electrons in conventional Ge/Si heterojunctions have proved
to be elusive because of epitaxy constraints and an unfavourable band
alignment. We overcome such fundamental limitations by investigating a two
dimensional electron gas (2DEG) confined in quantum wells of pure Ge grown on
SiGe-buffered Si substrates. These epitaxial systems demonstrate exceptionally
long spin relaxation and coherence times, eventually unveiling the potential of
Ge in bridging the gap between spintronic concepts and semiconductor device
physics. In particular, by tuning spin-orbit interaction via quantum
confinement we demonstrate that the electron Land\'e g factor and its
anisotropy can be engineered in our scalable and CMOS-compatible architectures
over a range previously inaccessible for Si spintronics.


title: Radar for tracer particles

abstract:
  We introduce a radar system capable of tracking a $5$mm spherical target
continuously in three dimensions. The $10$GHz (X-band) radar system has a
transmission power of $1$W and operates in the near field of the horn antennae.
By comparing the phase shift of the electromagnetic wave traveling through the
free space with an IQ-Mixer, we obtain the relative movement of the target with
respect to the antennae. From the azimuth and inclination angles of the
receiving antennae obtained in the calibration, we reconstruct the target
trajectory in a three-dimensional Cartesian system. Finally, we test the
tracking algorithm with target moving in circular as well as in pendulum
motions, and discuss the capability of the radar system.


title:
COCO: A Platform for Comparing Continuous Optimizers in a Black-Box
  Setting

abstract:
  We introduce COCO, an open source platform for Comparing Continuous
Optimizers in a black-box setting. COCO aims at automatizing the tedious and
repetitive task of benchmarking numerical optimization algorithms to the
greatest possible extent. The platform and the underlying methodology allow to
benchmark in the same framework deterministic and stochastic solvers for both
single and multiobjective optimization. We present the rationales behind the
(decade-long) development of the platform as a general proposition for
guidelines towards better benchmarking. We detail underlying fundamental
concepts of COCO such as the definition of a problem as a function instance,
the underlying idea of instances, the use of target values, and runtime defined
by the number of function calls as the central performance measure. Finally, we
give a quick overview of the basic code structure and the currently available
test suites.


title: Coherency in Neutrino-Nucleus Elastic Scattering

abstract:
  Neutrino-nucleus elastic scattering provides a unique laboratory to study the
quantum mechanical coherency effects in electroweak interactions, towards which
several experimental programs are being actively pursued. We report results of
our quantitative studies on the transitions towards decoherency. A parameter
($\alpha$) is identified to describe the degree of coherency, and its
variations with incoming neutrino energy, detector threshold and target nucleus
are studied. The ranges of $\alpha$ which can be probed with realistic neutrino
experiments are derived, indicating complementarity between projects with
different sources and targets. Uncertainties in nuclear physics and in $\alpha$
would constrain sensitivities in probing physics beyond the standard model. The
maximum neutrino energies corresponding to $\alpha$>0.95 are derived.


title:
$\mathcal {C}-$IBI: Targeting cumulative coordination within an
  iterative protocol to derive coarse-grained models of (multi-component)
  complex fluids

abstract:
  We present a coarse-graining strategy that we test for aqueous mixtures. The
method uses pair-wise cumulative coordination as a target function within an
iterative Boltzmann inversion (IBI) like protocol. We name this method
coordination iterative Boltzmann inversion ($\mathcal {C}-$IBI). While the
underlying coarse-grained model is still structure based and, thus, preserves
pair-wise solution structure, our method also reproduces solvation
thermodynamics of binary and/or ternary mixtures. Additionally, we observe much
faster convergence within $\mathcal {C}-$IBI compared to IBI. To validate the
robustness, we apply $\mathcal {C}-$IBI to study test cases of solvation
thermodynamics of aqueous urea and a triglycine solvation in aqueous urea.


title: An Optimal Design for Universal Multiport Interferometers

abstract:
  Universal multiport interferometers, which can be programmed to implement any
linear transformation between multiple channels, are emerging as a powerful
tool for both classical and quantum photonics. These interferometers are
typically composed of a regular mesh of beam splitters and phase shifters,
allowing for straightforward fabrication using integrated photonic
architectures and ready scalability. The current, standard design for universal
multiport interferometers is based on work by Reck et al (Phys. Rev. Lett. 73,
58, 1994). We demonstrate a new design for universal multiport interferometers
based on an alternative arrangement of beam splitters and phase shifters, which
outperforms that by Reck et al. Our design occupies half the physical footprint
of the Reck design and is significantly more robust to optical losses.


title:
Using Enthymemes to Fill the Gap between Logical Argumentation and
  Revision of Abstract Argumentation Frameworks

abstract:
  In this paper, we present a preliminary work on an approach to fill the gap
between logic-based argumentation and the numerous approaches to tackle the
dynamics of abstract argumentation frameworks. Our idea is that, even when
arguments and attacks are defined by means of a logical belief base, there may
be some uncertainty about how accurate is the content of an argument, and so
the presence (or absence) of attacks concerning it. We use enthymemes to
illustrate this notion of uncertainty of arguments and attacks. Indeed, as
argued in the literature, real arguments are often enthymemes instead of
completely specified deductive arguments. This means that some parts of the
pair (support, claim) may be missing because they are supposed to belong to
some "common knowledge", and then should be deduced by the agent which receives
the enthymeme. But the perception that agents have of the common knowledge may
be wrong, and then a first agent may state an enthymeme that her opponent is
not able to decode in an accurate way. It is likely that the decoding of the
enthymeme by the agent leads to mistaken attacks between this new argument and
the existing ones. In this case, the agent can receive some information about
attacks or arguments acceptance statuses which disagree with her argumentation
framework. We exemplify a way to incorporate this new piece of information by
means of existing works on the dynamics of abstract argumentation frameworks.


title: Non-Equilibrium Steady States in Kac's Model Coupled to a Thermostat

abstract:
  This paper studies the existence, uniqueness and convergence to
non-equilibrium steady states in Kac's model with an external coupling. We work
in both Fourier distances and Wasserstein distances. Our methods work in the
case where the external coupling is not a Maxwellian equilibrium. This provides
an example of a non-equilibrium steady state. We also study the behaviour as
the number of particles goes to infinity and show quantitative estimates on the
convergence rate of the first marginal.


title:
Search for resonances in the mass distribution of jet pairs with one or
  two jets identified as $b$-jets in proton--proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13$
  TeV with the ATLAS detector

abstract:
  Searches for high-mass resonances in the dijet invariant mass spectrum with
one or two jets identified as $b$-jets are performed using an integrated
luminosity of $3.2$ fb$^{-1}$ of proton--proton collisions with a
centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at
the Large Hadron Collider. No evidence of anomalous phenomena is observed in
the data, which are used to exclude, at 95% credibility level, excited $b^{*}$
quarks with masses from 1.1 TeV to 2.1 TeV and leptophobic $Z'$ bosons with
masses from 1.1 TeV to 1.5 TeV. Contributions of a Gaussian signal shape with
effective cross sections ranging from approximately 0.4 to 0.001 pb are also
excluded in the mass range 1.5-5.0 TeV.


title:
Sum of exit times in series of metastable states in Probabilistic
  Cellular Automata

abstract:
  Reversible Probabilistic Cellular Automata are a special class of automata
whose stationary behavior is described by Gibbs-like measures. For those models
the dynamics can be trapped for a very long time in states which are very
different from the ones typical of stationarity. This phenomenon can be
recasted in the framework of metastability theory which is typical of
Statistical Mechanics.
  In this paper we consider a model presenting two not degenerate in energy
metastable states which form a series, in the sense that, when the dynamics is
started at one of them, before reaching stationarity, the system must
necessarily visit the second one. We discuss a rule for combining the exit
times from each of the metastable states.


title: Spectral asymptotics induced by approaching and diverging planar circles

abstract:
  We consider two dimensional system governed by the Hamiltonian with delta
interaction supported by two concentric circles separated by distance $d$. We
analyze the asymptotics of the discrete eigenvalues for $d \to 0$ as well as
for $d\to \infty$.


title:
One-dimensional multicomponent Fermi gas in a trap: quantum Monte Carlo
  study

abstract:
  One-dimensional world is very unusual as there is an interplay between
quantum statistics and geometry, and a strong short-range repulsion between
atoms mimics Fermi exclusion principle, fermionizing the system. Instead, a
system with a large number of components with a single atom in each, on the
opposite acquires many bosonic properties. We study the ground-state properties
a multi-component Fermi gas trapped in a harmonic trap by fixed-node diffusion
Monte Carlo method. We investigate how the energetic properties (energy,
contact) and correlation functions (density profile and momentum distribution)
evolve as the number of components is changed. It is shown that the system
fermionizes in the limit of strong interactions. Analytical expression are
derived in the limit of weak interactions within the local density
approximation for arbitrary number of components and for one plus one particle
using an exact solution.


title: Atomically thin quantum light emitting diodes

abstract:
  Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are optically active layered
materials providing potential for fast optoelectronics and on-chip photonics.
We demonstrate electrically driven single-photon emission from localised sites
in tungsten diselenide (WSe2) and tungsten disulphide (WS2). To achieve this,
we fabricate a light emitting diode structure comprising single layer graphene,
thin hexagonal boron nitride and TMD mono- and bi-layers. Photon correlation
measurements are used to confirm the single-photon nature of the spectrally
sharp emission. These results present the TMD family as a platform for hybrid,
broadband, atomically precise quantum photonics devices.


title:
The origin of seed photons for Comptonization in the black hole binary
  Swift J1753.5-0127

abstract:
  Aims. The black hole binary SWIFT J1753.5-0127 is providing a unique data set
to study accretion flows. Various investigations of this system and of other
black holes have not, however, led to an agreement on the accretion flow
geometry or on the seed photon source for Comptonization during different
stages of X-ray outbursts. We place constraints on these accretion flow
properties by studying long-term spectral variations of this source. Methods.
We performed phenomenological and self-consistent broad band spectral modeling
of Swift J1753.5-0127 using quasi-simultaneous archived data from
INTEGRAL/ISGRI, Swift/UVOT/XRT/BAT, RXTE/PCA/HEXTE and MAXI/GSC instruments.
Results. We identify a critical flux limit, F \sim 1.5 \times 10^{-8}
erg/cm^2/s, and show that the spectral properties of SWIFT J1753.5-0127 are
markedly different above and below this value. Above the limit, during the
outburst peak, the hot medium seems to intercept roughly 50 percent of the disk
emission. Below it, in the outburst tail, the contribution of the disk photons
reduces significantly and the entire spectrum from the optical to X-rays can be
produced by a synchrotron-self-Compton mechanism. The long-term variations in
the hard X-ray spectra are caused by erratic changes of the electron
temperatures in the hot medium. Thermal Comptonization models indicate
unreasonably low hot medium optical depths during the short incursions into the
soft state after 2010, suggesting that non-thermal electrons produce the
Comptonized tail in this state. The soft X-ray excess, likely produced by the
accretion disk, shows peculiarly stable temperatures for over an order of
magnitude changes in flux. Conclusions. The long-term spectral trends of SWIFT
J1753.5-0127 are likely set by variations of the truncation radius and a
formation of a hot, quasi-spherical inner flow in the vicinity of the black
hole. (abridged)


title: A Second Adjoint Theorem for SL(2,R)

abstract:
  We formulate a second adjoint theorem in the context of tempered
representations of real reductive groups, and prove it in the case of SL(2,R).


title:
Dynamics of Modified Chaplygin Gas Inflation on the Brane with Bulk
  Viscous Pressure

abstract:
  We investigate the role of bulk viscous pressure on the warm inflationary
modified Chaplygin gas in brane-world framework in the presence of standard
scalar field. We assume the intermediate inflationary scenario in strong
dissipative regime and constructed the inflaton, potential, entropy density,
slow-roll parameters, scalar and tensor power spectra, scalar spectral index
and tensor-to-scalar ratio. We develop various trajectories such as $n_s - N$,
$n_s - r$ and $n_s - \alpha_s$ (where $n_s$ is the spectral index, $\alpha_s$
is the running of spectral index, $N$ is the number of e-folds and $r$ is
tensor-to-scalar ratio) for variable as well as constant dissipation and bulk
viscous coefficients at high dissipative regime. It is interesting to remark
here that our results of these parameters are compatible with recent
observational data such as WMAP $7+9$, BICEP$2$ and Planck data.


title:
Hard-sphere behavior in the dynamics of all monoatomic liquids at the de
  Gennes minimum

abstract:
  We show that the position of the de Gennes minimum in scattering spectra,
where the dynamics of liquids shows down, is given by a hard-sphere expression
for a range of mono-atomic liquids that crystallize in a close packed
structure. This expression relates the position of the minimum to the number
density of the liquid, without any adjustable or unknown parameters. We argue
that this implies that a liquid can be viewed as a close packed structure of
the cages that represent the confinement of atoms by their neighbors. We
further show that some metals deviate from this expression, namely those metals
that crystallize in a structure that is not close packed. Our expression should
prove very useful in identifying what liquids to study in inelastic scattering
experiments given that deviations from normal fluid behavior can already be
predicted based on the peak position of the static structure factor.


title:
Approach to a Parity Deformed Jaynes-Cummings Model and the Maximally
  Entangled States

abstract:
  A parity deformed Jaynes-Cummings model (JCM) is introduced, which describes
an interaction of a two-level atom with a $\lambda$-deformed quantized field.
In the rotating wave approximation (RWA), all eigen-values and eigen-functions
of this model are obtained exactly. Assuming that initially the field is
prepared in the Wigner cat state (WCS) and the two-level atom is in the excited
state, it has been shown that the atomic Rabi oscillations exhibit a
quasi-periodic behavior in the collapse and revival patterns. The influence of
the deformation parameter on the time evolution of non-classical features of
the radiation field such as the sub-Poissonian statistics and squeezing effect
are also analyzed. Interestingly, the main finding here is that we can realize
maximally entangled atom-field states. In this note it is shown that the high
fidelity is possible in the weak coupling regime, while the deformation
parameter becomes large values.

categories: quant-ph hep-th math-ph math.MP physics.optics


title: Cat-States in the Framework of Wigner-Heisenberg Algebra

abstract:
  A one-parameter generalized Wigner-Heisenberg algebra( WHA) is reviewed in
detail. It is shown that WHA verifies the deformed commutation rule $[\hat{x},
\hat{p}_{\lambda}] = i(1 + 2\lambda \hat{R})$ and also highlights the dynamical
symmetries of the pseudo-harmonic oscillator( PHO). \textbf{The present article
is devoted to the study of new cat-states} built from $\lambda$-deformed
Schr\"{o}dinger coherent states, which according to the Barut-Girardello scheme
are defined as the eigenstates of the generalized annihilation operator.
Particular attention is devoted to the limiting case where the Schr\"{o}dinger
cat states are obtained. Nonclassical features and quantum statistical
properties of these states are studied by evaluation of Mandel's parameter and
quadrature squeezing with respect to the $\lambda-$deformed canonical pairs $(
\hat{x}, \hat{p}_{\lambda})$. It is shown that these states minimize the
uncertainty relations of each pair of the $su(1,1)$ components.


title:
Probing a new strongly interacting sector via composite diboson
  resonances

abstract:
  Diphoton resonance was a crucial discovery mode for the 125 GeV SM Higgs
boson at the LHC. This mode or the more general diboson modes may also play an
important role in probing for new physics beyond the SM. In this paper, we
consider the possibility that a diphoton resonance is due to a composite
(pseudo)scalar boson, whose constituents are either new hyperquarks Q or scalar
hyperquarks tilde{Q} confined by a new hypercolor force at a confinement scale
Lambda_h. Assuming the mass m_Q (or m_{tilde Q}) >> Lambda_h, a diphoton
resonance could be interpreted as either a Q bar{Q} state eta_Q with J^{PC} =
0^{-+} or a tilde{Q} tilde{Q}^dagger state eta_{tilde Q} with J^{PC}=0^{++}.
For the Q bar{Q} scenario, there will be a spin-triplet partner psi_Q which is
slightly heavier than eta_Q due to the hyperfine interactions mediated by
hypercolor gluon exchange; while for the tilde{Q} tilde{Q}^dagger scenario, the
spin-triplet partner chi_{tilde Q} arises from higher radial excitation with
nonzero orbital angular momentum. We consider productions and decays of eta_Q,
eta_{tilde Q}, psi_Q, and chi_{tilde Q} at the LHC using the NRQCD
factorization approach. We discuss how to test these scenarios by using the DY
process and the forward dijet azimuthal angular distributions to determine the
J^{PC} quantum number of the diphoton resonance. Constraints on the parameter
space can be obtained by interpreting some of the small diphoton excesses
reported by the LHC as the composite scalar or pseudoscalar of the model.
Another important test of the model is the presence of a nearby
hypercolor-singlet but color-octet state like the eta^8_Q or eta^8_{tilde Q},
which can also be constrained by dijet or monojet+monophoton data. Both
possibilities of a large or small width of the resonance can be accommodated,
depending on whether the hyper-glueball states are kinematically allowed in the
final state or not.


title: Dynamics of a population of oscillatory and excitable elements

abstract:
  We analyze a variant of a model proposed by Kuramoto, Shinomoto, and
Sakaguchi for a large population of coupled oscillatory and excitable elements.
Using the Ott-Antonsen ansatz, we reduce the behavior of the population to a
two-dimensional dynamical system with three parameters. We present the
stability diagram and calculate several of its bifurcation curves analytically,
for both excitatory and inhibitory coupling. Our main result is that when the
coupling function is broad, the system can display bistability between steady
states of constant high and low activity, whereas when the coupling function is
narrow and inhibitory, one of the states in the bistable regime can show
persistent pulsations in activity.


title:
Critical adsorption and critical Casimir forces in the canonical
  ensemble

abstract:
  Critical properties of a liquid film between two planar walls are
investigated in the canonical ensemble, within which the total number of
particles, rather than their chemical potential, is kept constant. The effect
of this constraint is analyzed within mean field theory (MFT) based on a
Ginzburg-Landau free energy functional as well as via Monte Carlo simulations
of the 3D Ising model with fixed total magnetization. Within MFT and for finite
adsorption strengths at the walls, the thermodynamic properties of the film in
the canonical ensemble can be mapped exactly onto a grand canonical ensemble in
which the corresponding chemical potential plays the role of the Lagrange
multiplier associated with the constraint. However, due to a non-integrable
divergence of the mean field order parameter profile near a wall, the limit of
infinitely strong adsorption turns out to be not well-defined within MFT,
because it would necessarily violate the constraint. The critical Casimir force
(CCF) acting on the two planar walls of the film is generally found to behave
differently in the canonical and grand canonical ensembles. For instance, the
canonical CCF in the presence of equal preferential adsorption at the two walls
is found to have the opposite sign and a slower decay behavior as a function of
the film thickness compared to its grand canonical counterpart. We derive the
stress tensor in the canonical ensemble and find that it has the same
expression as in the grand canonical case, but with the chemical potential
playing the role of the Lagrange multiplier associated with the constraint. The
different behavior of the CCF in the two ensembles is rationalized within MFT
by showing that, for a prescribed value of the thermodynamic control parameter
of the film, i.e., density or chemical potential, the film pressures are
identical in the two ensembles, while the corresponding bulk pressures are not.

categories: cond-mat.stat-mech cond-mat.mtrl-sci cond-mat.soft physics.chem-ph


title:
On the extraction of paramagnon excitations from resonant inelastic
  X-ray scattering experiments

abstract:
  Resonant X-ray scattering experiments on high-temperature superconductors and
related cuprates have revealed the presence of intense paramagnon scattering at
high excitation energies, of the order of several hundred meV. The excitation
energies appear to show very similar behavior across all compounds, ranging
from magnetically ordered, via superconductors, to heavy fermion systems.
However, we argue that this apparent behavior has been inferred from the data
through model fitting which implicitly imposes such similarities. Using model
fitting that is free from such restrictions, we show that the paramagnons are
not nearly as well-defined as has been asserted previously, and that some
paramagnons might not represent propagating excitations at all. Our work
indicates that the data published previously in the literature will need to be
re-analyzed with proper models.


title: A Preferential Attachment Process Approaching the Rado Graph

abstract:
  We consider a simple Preferential Attachment graph process, which begins with
a finite graph, and in which a new $(t+1)$st vertex is added at each subsequent
time step $t$, and connected to each previous vertex $u \leq t$ with
probability $\frac{d_u(t)}{t}$ where $d_u(t)$ is the degree of $u$ at time $t$.
We analyse the graph obtained as the infinite limit of this process, and show
that so long as the initial finite graph is neither edgeless nor complete, with
probability 1 the outcome will be a copy of the Rado graph augmented with a
finite number of either isolated or universal vertices.


title:
The linear response function of an idealized atmosphere. Part 2:
  Implications for the practical use of the Fluctuation-Dissipation Theorem and
  the role of operator's non-normality

abstract:
  A linear response function (LRF) relates the mean-response of a nonlinear
system to weak external forcings and vice versa. Even for simple models of the
general circulation, such as the dry dynamical core, the LRF cannot be
calculated from first principles due to the lack of a complete theory for
eddy-mean flow feedbacks. According to the Fluctuation-Dissipation Theorem
(FDT), the LRF can be calculated using only the covariance and lag-covariance
matrices of the unforced system. However, efforts in calculating the LRFs for
GCMs using FDT have produced mixed results, and the reason(s) behind the poor
performance of the FDT remains unclear. In Part 1 of this study, the LRF of an
idealized GCM, the dry dynamical core with Held-Suarez physics, is accurately
calculated using Green's functions. In this paper (Part 2), the LRF of the same
model is computed using FDT, which is found to perform poorly for some of the
test cases. The accurate LRF of Part 1 is used with a linear stochastic
equation to show that dimension-reduction by projecting the data onto leading
EOFs, which is commonly used for FDT, can alone be a significant source of
error. Simplified equations and examples of 2 x 2 matrices are then used to
demonstrate that this error arises because of the non-normality of the
operator. These results suggest that errors caused by dimension-reduction are a
major, if not the main, contributor to the poor performance of the LRF
calculated using FDT, and that further investigations of dimension-reduction
strategies with a focus on non-normality are needed.

categories: physics.flu-dyn nlin.CD physics.ao-ph physics.data-an


title: Cubic approximation to Sturmian continued fractions

abstract:
  We determine the classical approximation constants
$w_{3}(\zeta),w_{3}^{\ast}(\zeta),\lambda_{3}(\zeta)$ such as the uniform
constants
$\widehat{w}_{3}(\zeta),\widehat{w}_{3}^{\ast}(\zeta),\widehat{\lambda}_{3}(\zeta)$
associated to real numbers $\zeta$ whose continued fraction expansions are
given by a Sturmian word. We more generally provide a description of the
combined graph of the parametric successive minima functions defined by Schmidt
and Summerer in dimension three for such Sturmian continued fractions. This
both complements similar results due to Bugeaud and Laurent concerning the
two-dimensional constants and generalizes a recent result of the author. As a
side result we obtain new information on the spectra of certain exponents of
approximation. Moreover, we provide some information on the exponents
$\lambda_{n}(\zeta)$ for a Sturmian continued fraction $\zeta$ and arbitrary
$n$.


title:
Mass effect on the lithium abundance evolution of open clusters: Hyades,
  NGC 752, and M67

abstract:
  Lithium abundances in open clusters provide an effective way of probing
mixing processes in the interior of solar-type stars and convection is not the
only mixing mechanism at work. To understand which mixing mechanisms are
occurring in low-mass stars, we test non-standard models, which were calibrated
using the Sun, with observations of three open clusters of different ages, the
Hyades, NGC 752, and M67. We collected all available data, and for the open
cluster NGC 752, we redetermine the equivalent widths and the lithium
abundances. Two sets of evolutionary models were computed, one grid of only
standard models with microscopic diffusion and one grid with rotation-induced
mixing, at metallicity [Fe/H] = 0.13, 0.0, and 0.01 dex, respectively, using
the Toulouse-Geneva evolution code. We compare observations with models in a
color-magnitude diagram for each cluster to infer a cluster age and a stellar
mass for each cluster member. Then, for each cluster we analyze the lithium
abundance of each star as a function of mass. The data for the open clusters
Hyades, NGC 752, and M67, are compatible with lithium abundance being a
function of both age and mass for stars in these clusters. Our models with
meridional circulation qualitatively reproduce the general trend of lithium
abundance evolution as a function of stellar mass in all three clusters. This
study points out the importance of mass dependence in the evolution of lithium
abundance as a function of age. Comparison between models with and without
rotation-induced mixing shows that the inclusion of meridional circulation is
essential to account for lithium depletion in low-mass stars. However, our
results suggest that other mechanisms should be included to explain the Li-dip
and the lithium dispersion in low-mass stars.


title: Scalable Solution for Approximate Nearest Subspace Search

abstract:
  Finding the nearest subspace is a fundamental problem and influential to many
applications. In particular, a scalable solution that is fast and accurate for
a large problem has a great impact. The existing methods for the problem are,
however, useless in a large-scale problem with a large number of subspaces and
high dimensionality of the feature space. A cause is that they are designed
based on the traditional idea to represent a subspace by a single point. In
this paper, we propose a scalable solution for the approximate nearest subspace
search (ANSS) problem. Intuitively, the proposed method represents a subspace
by multiple points unlike the existing methods. This makes a large-scale ANSS
problem tractable. In the experiment with 3036 subspaces in the
1024-dimensional space, we confirmed that the proposed method was 7.3 times
faster than the previous state-of-the-art without loss of accuracy.


title:
Electronic and transport properties of the Mn-doped topological
  insulator Bi$_{2}$Te$_{3}$: A first-principles study

abstract:
  We present a first-principles study of the electronic, magnetic, and
transport properties of the topological insulator Bi$_{2}$Te$_{3}$ doped with
Mn atoms in substitutional (Mn$_{\rm Bi}$) and interstitial van der Waals gap
positions (Mn$_{\rm i}$), which act as acceptors and donors, respectively. The
effect of native Bi$_{\rm Te}$- and Te$_{\rm Bi}$-antisite defects and their
influence on calculated electronic transport properties is also investigated.
We have studied four models representing typical cases, namely (i)
Bi$_{2}$Te$_{3}$ with and without native defects, (ii) Mn$_{\rm Bi}$ defects
with and without native defects, (iii) the same but for Mn$_{\rm i}$ defects,
and (iv) the combined presence of Mn$_{\rm Bi}$ and Mn$_{\rm i}$. It was found
that lattice relaxations around Mn$_{\rm Bi}$ defects play an important role
for both magnetic and transport properties. The resistivity is strongly
influenced by the amount of carriers, their type, and by the relative positions
of the Mn-impurity energy levels and the Fermi energy. Our results indicate
strategies to tune bulk resistivities, and also help to uncover the location of
Mn atoms in measured samples. Calculations indicate that at least two of the
considered defects have to be present simultaneously in order to explain the
experimental observations, and the role of interstitials may be more important
than expected.


title: Reconstruction of evolved dynamic networks from degree correlations

abstract:
  We study the importance of local structural properties in networks which have
been evolved for a power-law scaling in their Laplacian spectrum. To this end,
the degree distribution, two-point degree correlations, and degree-dependent
clustering are extracted from the evolved networks and used to construct random
networks with the prescribed distributions. In the analysis of these
reconstructed networks it turns out that the degree distribution alone is not
sufficient to generate the spectral scaling and the degree-dependent clustering
has only an indirect influence. The two-point correlations are found to be the
dominant characteristic for the power-law scaling over a broader eigenvalue
range.


title:
Locally Epistatic Models for Genome-wide Prediction and Association by
  Importance Sampling

abstract:
  In statistical genetics an important task involves building predictive models
for the genotype-phenotype relationships and thus attribute a proportion of the
total phenotypic variance to the variation in genotypes. Numerous models have
been proposed to incorporate additive genetic effects into models for
prediction or association. However, there is a scarcity of models that can
adequately account for gene by gene or other forms of genetical interactions.
In addition, there is an increased interest in using marker annotations in
genome-wide prediction and association. In this paper, we discuss an hybrid
modeling methodology which combines the parametric mixed modeling approach and
the non-parametric rule ensembles. This approach gives us a flexible class of
models that can be used to capture additive, locally epistatic genetic effects,
gene x background interactions and allows us to incorporate one or more
annotations into the genomic selection or association models. We use benchmark
data sets covering a range of organisms and traits in addition to simulated
data sets to illustrate the strengths of this approach. The improvement of
model accuracies and association results suggest that a part of the "missing
heritability" in complex traits can be captured by modeling local epistasis.


title:
Evidence of a pseudogap driven by competing orders of multi-band origin
  in the ferromagnetic superconductor Sr$_{0.5}$Ce$_{0.5}$FBiS$_2$

abstract:
  From temperature and magnetic field dependent point-contact spectroscopy on
the ferromagnetic superconductor Sr$_{0.5}$Ce$_{0.5}$FBiS$_2$ (bulk
superconducting $T_c$ = 2.5 K) we observe (a) a pseudogap in the normal state
that sustains to a remarkably high temperature of 40 K and (b) two-fold
enhancement of $T_c$ upto 5 K in the point-contact geometry. In addition,
Andreev reflection spectroscopy reveals a superconducting gap of 6 meV for
certain point-contacts suggesting that the mean field $T_c$ of this system
could be approximately 40 K, the onset temperature of pseudo-gap. Our results
suggest that quantum fluctuations originating from other competing orders in
Sr$_{0.5}$Ce$_{0.5}$FBiS$_2$ forbid a global phase coherence at high
temperatures thereby suppressing $T_c$. Apart from the known ordering to a
ferromagnetic state, our first-principles calculations reveal nesting of a
multi-band Fermi surface and a significant electron-phonon coupling that could
result in charge density wave-like instabilities.


title: Spectral M-estimation with Applications to Hidden Markov Models

abstract:
  Method of moment estimators exhibit appealing statistical properties, such as
asymptotic unbiasedness, for nonconvex problems. However, they typically
require a large number of samples and are extremely sensitive to model
misspecification. In this paper, we apply the framework of M-estimation to
develop both a generalized method of moments procedure and a principled method
for regularization. Our proposed M-estimator obtains optimal sample efficiency
rates (in the class of moment-based estimators) and the same well-known rates
on prediction accuracy as other spectral estimators. It also makes it
straightforward to incorporate regularization into the sample moment
conditions. We demonstrate empirically the gains in sample efficiency from our
approach on hidden Markov models.


title:
A complete description of the antipodal set of most symmetric spaces of
  compact type

abstract:
  It is known that the antipodal set of a Riemannian symmetric space of compact
type $G / K$ consists of a union of $K$-orbits. We determine the dimensions of
these $K$-orbits of most irreducible symmetric spaces of compact type. The
symmetric spaces we are not going to deal with are those with restricted root
system $\mathfrak{a}_r$ and a non-trivial fundamental group, which is not
isomorphic to $\mathbb{Z}_2$ or $\mathbb{Z}_{r+1}$. For example, we show that
the antipodal sets of the Lie groups $Spin(2r+1)\:\: r\geq 5$, $E_8$ and $G_2$
consist only of one orbit which is of dimension $2r$, 128 and 6, respectively;
$SO(2r+1)$ has also an antipodal set of dimension $2r$; and the Grassmannian
$Gr_{r,r+q}(\mathbb{R})$ has a $rq$-dimensional orbit as antipodal set if
$r\geq 5$ and $q>0$.


title: Compressive Sensing Based Design of Sparse Tripole Arrays

abstract:
  This paper considers the problem of designing sparse linear tripole arrays.
In such arrays at each antenna location there are three orthogonal dipoles,
allowing full measurement of both the horizontal and vertical components of the
received waveform. We formulate this problem from the viewpoint of Compressive
Sensing (CS). However, unlike for isotropic array elements (single antenna), we
now have three complex valued weight coefficients associated with each
potential location (due to the three dipoles), which have to be simultaneously
minimised. If this is not done, we may only set the weight coefficients of
individual dipoles to be zero valued, rather than complete tripoles, meaning
some dipoles may remain at each location. Therefore, the contributions of this
paper are to formulate the design of sparse tripole arrays as an optimisation
problem, and then we obtain a solution based on the minimisation of a modified
l1 norm or a series of iteratively solved reweighted minimisations, which
ensure a truly sparse solution. Design examples are provided to verify the
effectiveness of the proposed methods and show that a good approximation of a
reference pattern can be achieved using fewer tripoles than a Uniform Linear
Array (ULA) of equivalent length.


title:
Nonlinear Phenomena of Ultracold Atomic Gases in Optical Lattices:
  Emergence of Novel Features in Extended States

abstract:
  The system of a cold atomic gas in an optical lattice is governed by two
factors: nonlinearity originating from the interparticle interaction, and the
periodicity of the system set by the lattice. The high level of controllability
associated with such an arrangement allows for the study of the competition and
interplay between these two, and gives rise to a whole range of interesting and
rich nonlinear effects. This review covers the basic idea and overview of such
nonlinear phenomena, especially those corresponding to extended states. This
includes "swallowtail" loop structures of the energy band, Bloch states with
multiple periodicity, and those in "nonlinear lattices", i.e., systems with the
nonlinear interaction term itself being a periodic function in space.

categories: cond-mat.quant-gas cond-mat.supr-con nlin.PS nucl-th


title:
The SCJ small parsimony problem for weighted gene adjacencies (Extended
  version)

abstract:
  Reconstructing ancestral gene orders in a given phylogeny is a classical
problem in comparative genomics. Most existing methods compare conserved
features in extant genomes in the phylogeny to define potential ancestral gene
adjacencies, and either try to reconstruct all ancestral genomes under a global
evolutionary parsimony criterion, or, focusing on a single ancestral genome,
use a scaffolding approach to select a subset of ancestral gene adjacencies,
generally aiming at reducing the fragmentation of the reconstructed ancestral
genome. In this paper, we describe an exact algorithm for the Small Parsimony
Problem that combines both approaches. We consider that gene adjacencies at
internal nodes of the species phylogeny are weighted, and we introduce an
objective function defined as a convex combination of these weights and the
evolutionary cost under the Single-Cut-or-Join (SCJ) model. The weights of
ancestral gene adjacencies can e.g. be obtained through the recent availability
of ancient DNA sequencing data, which provide a direct hint at the genome
structure of the considered ancestor, or through probabilistic analysis of gene
adjacencies evolution. We show the NP-hardness of our problem variant and
propose a Fixed-Parameter Tractable algorithm based on the Sankoff-Rousseau
dynamic programming algorithm that also allows to sample co-optimal solutions.
We apply our approach to mammalian and bacterial data providing different
degrees of complexity. We show that including adjacency weights in the
objective has a significant impact in reducing the fragmentation of the
reconstructed ancestral gene orders.


title: Asymptotic-Preserving methods and multiscale models for plasma physics

abstract:
  The purpose of the present paper is to provide an overview of
Asymptotic-Preserving methods for multiscale plasma simulations by addressing
three singular perturbation problems. First, the quasi-neutral limit of fluid
and kinetic models is investigated in the framework of non magnetized as well
as magnetized plasmas. Second, the drift limit for fluid descriptions of
thermal plasmas under large magnetic fields is addressed. Finally efficient
numerical resolutions of anisotropic elliptic or diffusion equations arising in
magnetized plasma simulation are reviewed.


title:
The Advantage of Playing Home in NBA: Microscopic, Team-Specific and
  Evolving Features

abstract:
  The idea that the success rate of a team increases when playing home is
broadly accepted and documented for a wide variety of sports. Investigations on
the so-called home advantage phenomenon date back to the 70's and every since
has attracted the attention of scholars and sport enthusiasts. These studies
have been mainly focused on identifying the phenomenon and trying to correlate
it with external factors such as crowd noise and referee bias. Much less is
known about the effects of home advantage in the microscopic dynamics of the
game (within the game) or possible team-specific and evolving features of this
phenomenon. Here we present a detailed study of these previous features in the
National Basketball Association (NBA). By analyzing play-by-play events of more
than sixteen thousand games that span thirteen NBA seasons, we have found that
home advantage affects the microscopic dynamics of the game by increasing the
scoring rates and decreasing the time intervals between scores of teams playing
home. We verified that these two features are different among the NBA teams,
for instance, the scoring rate of the Cleveland Cavaliers team is increased
0.16 points per minute (on average the seasons 2004-05 to 2013-14) when playing
home, whereas for the New Jersey Nets (now the Brooklyn Nets) this rate
increases in only 0.04 points per minute. We further observed that these
microscopic features have evolved over time in a non-trivial manner when
analyzing the results team-by-team. However, after averaging over all teams
some regularities emerge; in particular, we noticed that the average
differences in the scoring rates and in the characteristic times (related to
the time intervals between scores) have slightly decreased over time,
suggesting a weakening of the phenomenon.


title: Anatomy of a periodically driven p-wave superconductor

abstract:
  The topological properties of periodically driven many-body systems often
have no static analogs and defy a simple description based on the effective
Hamiltonian. To explore the emergent edge modes in driven p-wave
superconductors in two dimensions, we analyze a toy model of Kitaev chains
(one-dimensional spinless p-wave superconductors with Majorana edge states)
coupled by time-periodic hopping. We show that with proper driving, the coupled
Kitaev chains can turn into a fully gapped superconductor which is analogous to
the $p_x+ip_y$ state but has two, rather than one, chiral edge modes. A
different driving protocol turns it into a gapless superconductor with isolated
point nodes and completely flat edge states at quasienergy $\omega=0$ or
$\pi/T$, with $T$ the driving period. The time evolution operator
$U(k_x,k_y,t)$ of the toy model is computed exactly to yield the phase bands.
And the "topological singularities" of the phase bands are exhausted and
compared to those of a periodically driven Hofstadter model which features
counter-propagating chiral edge modes. These examples demonstrate the unique
edge states in driven superconducting systems and suggest driving as a
potentially fruitful route to engineer new topological superconductors.


title: Gray transits of WD 1145+017 over the visible band

abstract:
  We have observed several relatively deep transits of the white dwarf WD
1145+017 with the GTC over the wavelength range 480 nm to 920 nm. The
observations covered approximately one hour on 2016 Jan 18 and two hours on
2016 Jan 20. There was variable extinction of the white dwarf during much of
that time, but punctuated by four sharp transits with depths ranging from 25%
to 40%. The spectrum was dispersed with a grism, and the flux data were
ultimately summed into four bands centered at 0.53, 0.62, 0.71, and 0.84
$\mu$m. After careful normalization, we find that the flux light curves in all
four bands are consistent with being the same, including through the deepest
dips. We use these results to compute \AA ngstr\"om exponents, $\alpha$, for
the particles responsible for the extinction and find |$\langle \alpha \rangle
$| $\lesssim 0.06$, assuming that the extinction is relatively optically thin.
We use the complex indices of refraction for common minerals to set constraints
on the median sizes of possible dust grains, and find that for most common
minerals, particle sizes $\lesssim 0.5 \, \mu$m can be excluded.


title:
Fission fragment charge and mass distributions in 239Pu(n,f) in the
  adiabatic nuclear energy density functional theory

abstract:
  Accurate knowledge of fission fragment yields is an essential ingredient of
numerous applications ranging from the formation of elements in the r-process
to fuel cycle optimization for nuclear energy. The need for a predictive theory
applicable where no data is available is an incentive to develop a fully
microscopic approach to fission dynamics. In this work, we calculate the
pre-neutron emission charge and mass distributions of the fission fragments
formed in the neutron-induced fission of 239Pu using a microscopic method based
on nuclear energy density functional (EDF) method, where large amplitude
collective motion is treated adiabatically using the time dependent generator
coordinate method (TDGCM) under the Gaussian overlap approximation (GOA).
Fission fragment distributions are extracted from the flux of the collective
wave packet through the scission line. We find that the main characteristics of
the fission charge and mass distributions can be well reproduced by existing
energy functionals even in two-dimensional collective spaces. Theory and
experiment agree typically within 2 mass units for the position of the
asymmetric peak. As expected, calculations are sensitive to the structure of
the initial state and the prescription for the collective inertia. We emphasize
that results are also sensitive to the continuity of the collective landscape
near scission. Our analysis confirms that the adiabatic approximation provides
an effective scheme to compute fission fragment yields. It also suggests that,
at least in the framework of nuclear DFT, three-dimensional collective spaces
may be a prerequisite to reach 10% accuracy in predicting pre-neutron emission
fission fragment yields.


title:
Multiplicity predictions for Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 5.02$ TeV
  based on the MC Modified Glauber model

abstract:
  We present predictions of the mean multiplicity yields for different
centrality classes of Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 5.02$ TeV at the LHC,
obtained using the Monte-Carlo Modified Glauber model (MGM) [1]. Contrary to
generally used standard Glauber calculations, the MGM takes into account the
energy conservation in the soft particles production. The only one efficient
model parameter was tuned and fixed previously (k=0.35) by fitting the
available data on multiplicity for all colliding systems up to RHIC energies.
The MGM has shown already a good predictive capability for the yields at
$\sqrt{s} = 2.76$ TeV, and it is used again within the same MC code for the
calculations at $\sqrt{s} = 5.02$ TeV


title:
Experimental realization of double Bragg diffraction: robust
  beamsplitters, mirrors, and interferometers for Bose-Einstein condensates

abstract:
  We present the experimental implementation of double Bragg diffraction of
Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) as proposed in [E. Giese, A. Roura, G.
Tackmann, E. M. Rasel, and W. P. Schleich, Phys. Rev. A \textbf{88}, 053608
(2013)]. We excite Rabi oscillations between the three coupled momentum states
$\left| 0 \hbar k \right\rangle$ and $\left| \pm 2 \hbar k \right\rangle$. By
selecting appropriate interaction times we generate highly efficient
beamsplitters and mirrors for Bose-Einstein condensates. In addition, we
demonstrate higher-order double Bragg diffraction and display beamsplitters
with up to $ \pm 6 \hbar k$ momentum transfer. We compare double Bragg
diffraction to several other experimental realizations of beamsplitters.
Finally, we show that double Bragg diffraction is well suited for matter wave
interferometry by realizing a Ramsey-type interferometer in a quasi
one-dimensional waveguide.


title: Generalized Gray codes with prescribed ends

abstract:
  An $n$-bit Gray code is a sequence of all $n$-bit strings such that
consecutive strings differ in a single bit. It is well-known that given
$\alpha,\beta\in\{0,1\}^n$, an $n$-bit Gray code between $\alpha$ and $\beta$
exists iff the Hamming distance $d(\alpha,\beta)$ of $\alpha$ and $\beta$ is
odd. We generalize this classical result to $k$ pairwise disjoint pairs
$\alpha_i, \beta_i\in\{0,1\}^n$: if $d(\alpha_i,\beta_i)$ is odd for all $i$
and $k<n$, then the set of all $n$-bit strings can be partitioned into $k$
sequences such that the $i$-th sequence leads from $\alpha_i$ to $\beta_i$ and
consecutive strings differ in a single bit. This holds for every $n>1$ with one
exception in the case when $n = k + 1 = 4$. Our result is optimal in the sense
that for every $n>2$ there are $n$ pairwise disjoint pairs
$\alpha_i,\beta_i\in\{0,1\}^n$ with $d(\alpha_i,\beta_i)$ odd for which such
sequences do not exist.


title: Financial equilibrium with asymmetric information and random horizon

abstract:
  We study in detail and explicitly solve the version of Kyle's model
introduced in a specific case in \cite{BB}, where the trading horizon is given
by an exponentially distributed random time. The first part of the paper is
devoted to the analysis of time-homogeneous equilibria using tools from the
theory of one-dimensional diffusions. It turns out that such an equilibrium is
only possible if the final payoff is Bernoulli distributed as in \cite{BB}. We
show in the second part that the signal of the market makers use in the general
case is a time-changed version of the one that they would have used had the
final payoff had a Bernoulli distribution. In both cases we characterise
explicitly the equilibrium price process and the optimal strategy of the
informed trader. Contrary to the original Kyle model it is found that the
reciprocal of market's depth, i.e. Kyle's lambda, is a uniformly integrable
supermartingale. While Kyle's lambda is a potential, i.e. converges to $0$, for
the Bernoulli distributed final payoff, its limit in general is different than
$0$.


title:
Relaxation dynamics of glasses along a wide stability and temperature
  range

abstract:
  While lot of measurements describe the relaxation dynamics of the liquid
state, experimental data of the glass dynamics at high temperatures are much
scarcer. We use ultrafast scanning calorimetry to expand the timescales of the
glass to much shorter values than previously achieved. Our data show that the
relaxation time of glasses follows a super-Arrhenius behaviour in the
high-temperature regime above the conventional devitrification temperature
heating at 10 K/min. The liquid and glass states can be described by a common
VFT-like expression that solely depends on temperature and limiting fictive
temperature. We apply this common description to nearly-isotropic glasses of
indomethacin, toluene and to recent data on metallic glasses. We also show that
the dynamics of indomethacin glasses obey density scaling laws originally
derived for the liquid. This work provides a strong connection between the
dynamics of the equilibrium supercooled liquid and non-equilibrium glassy
states.


title:
Reduced Perplexity: A simplified perspective on assessing probabilistic
  forecasts

abstract:
  A simple, intuitive approach to the assessment of probabilistic inferences is
introduced. The Shannon information metrics are translated to the probability
domain. The translation shows that the negative logarithmic score and the
geometric mean are equivalent measures of the accuracy of a probabilistic
inference. Thus there is both a quantitative reduction in perplexity, which is
the inverse of the geometric mean of the probabilities, as good inference
algorithms reduce the uncertainty and a qualitative reduction due to the
increased clarity between the original set of probabilistic forecasts and their
central tendency, the geometric mean. Further insight is provided by showing
that the R\'enyi and Tsallis entropy functions translated to the probability
domain are both the weighted generalized mean of the distribution. The
generalized mean of probabilistic forecasts forms a spectrum of performance
metrics referred to as a Risk Profile. The arithmetic mean is used to measure
the decisiveness, while the -2/3 mean is used to measure the robustness.


title: Towards Understanding Sparse Filtering: A Theoretical Perspective

abstract:
  In this paper we present a theoretical analysis to understand sparse
filtering, a recent and effective algorithm for unsupervised learning. The aim
of this research is not to show whether or how well sparse filtering works, but
to understand why and when sparse filtering does work. We provide a thorough
theoretical analysis of sparse filtering and its properties, and further offer
an experimental validation of the main outcomes of our theoretical analysis. We
show that sparse filtering works by explicitly maximizing the entropy of the
learned representation through the maximization of the proxy of sparsity, and
by implicitly preserving mutual information between original and learned
representations through the constraint of preserving a structure of the data,
specifically the structure defined by relations of neighborhoodness under the
cosine distance. Furthermore, we empirically validate our theoretical results
with artificial and real data sets, and we apply our theoretical understanding
to explain the success of sparse filtering on real-world problems. Our work
provides a strong theoretical basis for understanding sparse filtering: it
highlights assumptions and conditions for success behind this feature
distribution learning algorithm, and provides insights for developing new
feature distribution learning algorithms.


title:
Shirtless and Dangerous: Quantifying Linguistic Signals of Gender Bias
  in an Online Fiction Writing Community

abstract:
  Imagine a princess asleep in a castle, waiting for her prince to slay the
dragon and rescue her. Tales like the famous Sleeping Beauty clearly divide up
gender roles. But what about more modern stories, borne of a generation
increasingly aware of social constructs like sexism and racism? Do these
stories tend to reinforce gender stereotypes, or counter them? In this paper,
we present a technique that combines natural language processing with a
crowdsourced lexicon of stereotypes to capture gender biases in fiction. We
apply this technique across 1.8 billion words of fiction from the Wattpad
online writing community, investigating gender representation in stories, how
male and female characters behave and are described, and how authors' use of
gender stereotypes is associated with the community's ratings. We find that
male over-representation and traditional gender stereotypes (e.g., dominant men
and submissive women) are common throughout nearly every genre in our corpus.
However, only some of these stereotypes, like sexual or violent men, are
associated with highly rated stories. Finally, despite women often being the
target of negative stereotypes, female authors are equally likely to write such
stereotypes as men.


title: The reverse mathematics of non-decreasing subsequences

abstract:
  Every function over the natural numbers has an infinite subdomain on which
the function is non-decreasing. Motivated by a question of Dzhafarov and
Schweber, we study the reverse mathematics of variants of this statement. It
turns out that this statement restricted to computably bounded functions is
computationally weak and does not imply the existence of the halting set. On
the other hand, we prove that it is not a consequence of Ramsey's theorem for
pairs. This statement can therefore be seen as an arguably natural principle
between the arithmetic comprehension axiom and stable Ramsey's theorem for
pairs.


title: Signatures of sneutrino dark matter in an extension of the CMSSM

abstract:
  Current data (LHC direct searches, Higgs mass, dark matter-related bounds)
severely affect the constrained minimal SUSY standard model (CMSSM) with
neutralinos as dark matter candidates. But the evidence for neutrino masses
coming from oscillations requires extending the SM with at least right-handed
neutrinos with a Dirac mass term. In turn, this implies extending the CMSSM
with right-handed sneutrino superpartners, a scenario we dub $\tilde\nu$CMSSM.
These additional states constitute alternative dark matter candidates of the
superWIMP type, produced via the decay of the long-lived next-to-lightest SUSY
particle (NLSP). Here we consider the interesting and likely case where the
NLSP is a $\tilde{\tau}$: despite the modest extension with respect to the
CMSSM this scenario has the distinctive signatures of heavy, stable charged
particles. After taking into account the role played by neutrino mass bounds
and the specific cosmological bounds from the big bang nucleosynthesis in
selecting the viable parameter space, we discuss the excellent discovery
prospects for this model at the future runs of the LHC. We show that it is
possible to probe $\tilde{\tau}$ masses up to 600 GeV at the 14 TeV LHC with
$\mathcal{L} = 1100$ fb$^{-1}$ when one considers a pair production of staus
with two or more hard jets through all SUSY processes. We also show the
complementary discovery prospects from a direct $\tilde{\tau}$ pair production,
as well as at the new experiment MoEDAL.


title:
Influence of competition in minimal systems with discontinuous absorbing
  phase transitions

abstract:
  Contact processes (CP's) with particle creation requiring a minimal
neighborhood (restrictive or threshold CP's) present a novel sort of
discontinuous absorbing transitions, that revealed itself robust under the
inclusion of different ingredients, such as distinct lattice topologies,
particle annihilations and diffusion. Here, we tackle on the influence of
competition between restrictive and standard dynamics (that describes the usual
CP and a continuous DP transition is presented). Systems have been studied via
mean-field theory (MFT) and numerical simulations. Results show partial
contrast between MFT and numerical results. While the former predicts that
considerable competition rates are required to shift the phase transition, the
latter reveals the change occurs for rather limited (small) fractions. Thus,
unlike previous ingredients (such as diffusion and others), limited competitive
rates suppress the phase coexistence.


title:
Tests of constituent-quark generation methods which maintain both the
  nucleon center of mass and the desired radial distribution in Monte Carlo
  Glauber models

abstract:
  Several methods of generating three constituent-quarks in a nucleon are
evaluated which explicitly maintain the nucleon's center of mass and desired
radial distribution and can be used within Monte Carlo Glauber frameworks. The
geometric models provided by each method are used to generate distributions
over the number of constituent-quark participants ($N_{qp}$) in $p+p$, $d+$Au
and Au$+$Au collisions. The results are compared with each other and to a
previous result of $N_{qp}$ calculations, without this explicit constraint,
used in measurements of $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}$=200 GeV $p+p$, $d+$Au and Au$+$Au
collisions at RHIC.


title:
Unveiling the physics of low luminosity AGN through X-ray variability:
  LINER versus Seyfert 2

abstract:
  X-ray variability is very common in active galactic nuclei (AGN), but these
variations may not occur similarly in different families of AGN. We aim to
disentangle the structure of low ionization nuclear emission line regions
(LINERs) compared to Seyfert 2s by the study of their spectral properties and
X-ray variations. We assembled the X-ray spectral parameters and variability
patterns, which were obtained from simultaneous spectral fittings. Major
differences are observed in the X-ray luminosities, and the Eddington ratios,
which are higher in Seyfert 2s. Short-term X-ray variations were not detected,
while long-term changes are common in LINERs and Seyfert 2s. Compton-thick
sources generally do not show variations, most probably because the AGN is not
accesible in the 0.5--10 keV energy band. The changes are mostly related with
variations in the nuclear continuum, but other patterns of variability show
that variations in the absorbers and at soft energies can be present in a few
cases. We conclude that the X-ray variations may occur similarly in LINERs and
Seyfert 2s, i.e., they are related to the nuclear continuum, although they
might have different accretion mechanisms. Variations at UV frequencies are
detected in LINER nuclei but not in Seyfert 2s. This is suggestive of at least
some LINERs having an unobstructed view of the inner disc where the UV emission
might take place, being UV variations common in them. This result might be
compatible with the disappeareance of the torus and/or the broad line region in
at least some LINERs.


title:
On the Marked Length Spectrums of Generic Strictly Convex Billiard
  Tables

abstract:
  In this paper we show that for a generic strictly convex domain, one can
recover the eigendata corresponding to Aubry-Mather periodic orbits of the
induced billiard map, from the (maximal) marked length spectrum of the domain.


title:
Coherent Charge and Spin Density Waves in Underdoped
  HgBa$_{2}$CuO$_{4+\delta}$

abstract:
  Various forms of spin and charge ordering have been identified in a wide
range of cuprate superconducting materials, but whether these behaviors are
ubiquitous phenomena is not established. In this work we focus on one of the
simplest compounds, HgBa$_{2}$CuO$_{4+\delta}$ (Hg1201), a superconductor with
a high transition temperature, 97 K, having only a single layer and tetragonal
structure, in contrast to one of the most extensively studied materials,
YBa$_{2}$Cu$_{3}$O$_{6+y}$ (Y123). Using nuclear magnetic resonance we have
discovered a coherent spatial modulation of both spin and charge that is
temperature and magnetic field independent, in competition with
superconductivity similar to other cuprates. However, there is no evidence for
the magnetic field and temperature induced charge order observed in Y123.
Electronic instabilities are a common feature of cuprates as in the present
work on Hg1201, but their manifestations are not universal.


title:
Determination of reddening and age for ten Large Magellanic Cloud star
  clusters from integrated spectroscopy

abstract:
  We present flux-calibrated integrated spectra in the optical range (3700-6800
\AA) obtained at Complejo Astron\'omico El Leoncito (CASLEO, Argentina) for a
sample of 10 concentrated star clusters belonging to the Large Magellanic Cloud
(LMC). No previous data exist for two of these objects (SL 142 and SL 624),
while most of the remaining clusters have been only poorly studied. We derive
simultaneously foreground $E(B-V)$ reddening values and ages for the cluster
sample by comparing their integrated spectra with template LMC cluster spectra
and with two different sets of simple stellar population models. Cluster
reddening values and ages are also derived from both available interstellar
extinction maps and by using diagnostic diagrams involving the sum of
equivalent widths of some selected spectral features and their calibrations
with age, respectively. For the studied sample, we derive ages between 1 Myr
and 240 Myr. In an effort to create a spectral library at the LMC metallicity
level with several clusters per age range, the cluster sample here presented
stands out as a useful complement to previous ones.


title:
Optimisation of the Read-out Electronics of Muon Drift-Tube Chambers for
  Very High Background Rates at HL-LHC and Future Colliders

abstract:
  In the ATLAS Muon Spectrometer, Monitored Drift Tube (MDT) chambers and sMDT
chambers with half of the tube diameter of the MDTs are used for precision muon
track reconstruction. The sMDT chambers are designed for operation at high
counting rates due to neutron and gamma background irradiation expected for the
HL-LHC and future hadron colliders. The existing MDT read-out electronics uses
bipolar signal shaping which causes an undershoot of opposite polarity and same
charge after a signal pulse. At high counting rates and short electronics dead
time used for the sMDTs, signal pulses pile up on the undershoot of preceding
background pulses leading to a reduction of the signal amplitude and a jitter
in the drift time measurement and, therefore, to a degradation of drift tube
efficiency and spatial resolution. In order to further increase the rate
capability of sMDT tubes, baseline restoration can be used in the read-out
electronics to suppress the pile-up effects. A discrete bipolar shaping circuit
with baseline restoration has been developed and used for reading out sMDT
tubes under irradiation with a 24 MBq 90Sr source. The measurements results
show a substantial improvement of the performance of the sMDT tubes at high
counting rates.


title: A Riemann-Hilbert Approach for the Novikov Equation

abstract:
  We develop the inverse scattering transform method for the Novikov equation
$u_t-u_{txx}+4u^2u_x=3u u_xu_{xx}+u^2u_{xxx}$ considered on the line
$x\in(-\infty,\infty)$ in the case of non-zero constant background. The
approach is based on the analysis of an associated Riemann-Hilbert (RH)
problem, which in this case is a $3\times 3$ matrix problem. The structure of
this RH problem shares many common features with the case of the
Degasperis-Procesi (DP) equation having quadratic nonlinear terms (see [Boutet
de Monvel A., Shepelsky D., Nonlinearity 26 (2013), 2081-2107,
arXiv:1107.5995]) and thus the Novikov equation can be viewed as a "modified DP
equation", in analogy with the relationship between the Korteweg-de Vries (KdV)
equation and the modified Korteweg-de Vries (mKdV) equation. We present
parametric formulas giving the solution of the Cauchy problem for the Novikov
equation in terms of the solution of the RH problem and discuss the
possibilities to use the developed formalism for further studying of the
Novikov equation.


title:
Regularity of nonlinear generalized functions: a counterexample in the
  nonstandard setting

abstract:
  Regularity theory in generalized function algebras of Colombeau type is
largely based on the notion of ${\mathcal G}^\infty$-regularity, which reduces
to $C^\infty$-regularity when restricted to Schwartz distributions.
Surprisingly, in the nonstandard version of the Colombeau algebras, this basic
property of ${\mathcal G}^\infty$-regularity does not hold.


title:
Synchronization in Networks of Identical Systems via Pinning:
  Application to Distributed Secondary Control of Microgrids

abstract:
  Motivated by the need for fast synchronized operation of power microgrids, we
analyze the problem of single and multiple pinning in networked systems. We
derive lower and upper bounds on the algebraic connectivity of the network with
respect to the reference signal. These bounds are utilized to devise a
suboptimal algorithm with polynomial complexity to find a suitable set of nodes
to pin the network effectively and efficiently. The results are applied to
secondary voltage pinning control design for a microgrid in islanded operation
mode. Comparisons with existing single and multiple pinning strategies clearly
demonstrates the efficacy of the obtained results.