title:
A Quantitative Model for Predicting Cross-application Interference in
  Virtual Environments

abstract:
  Cross-application interference can affect drastically performance of HPC
applications when running in clouds. This problem is caused by concurrent
access performed by co-located applications to shared and non-sliceable
resources such as cache and memory. In order to address this issue, some works
adopted a qualitative approach that does not take into account the amount of
access to shared resources. In addition, a few works, even considering the
amount of access, evaluated just the SLLC access contention as the root of this
problem. However, our experiments revealed that interference is intrinsically
related to the amount of simultaneous access to shared resources, besides
showing that another shared resources, apart from SLLC, can also influence the
interference suffered by co-located applications. In this paper, we present a
quantitative model for predicting cross-application interference in virtual
environments. Our proposed model takes into account the amount of simultaneous
access to SLLC, DRAM and virtual network, and the similarity of application's
access burden to predict the level of interference suffered by applications
when co-located in a same physical machine. Experiments considering a real
petroleum reservoir simulator and applications from HPCC benchmark showed that
our model reached an average and maximum prediction errors around 4\% and 12\%,
besides achieving an error less than 10\% in approximately 96\% of all tested
cases.


title:
New Discretization Schemes for Time-Harmonic Maxwell Equations by Weak
  Galerkin Finite Element Methods

abstract:
  This paper introduces new discretization schemes for time-harmonic Maxwell
equations in a connected domain by using the weak Galerkin (WG) finite element
method. The corresponding WG algorithms are analyzed for their stability and
convergence. Error estimates of optimal order in various discrete Sobolev norms
are established for the resulting finite element approximations.


title:
An effected process on finite statistical fluctuation analysis for
  decoy-state measurement device-independent quantum key distribution

abstract:
  In this paper, we consider the decoy-state Measurement-Device-Independent
Quantum key distribution (MDI-QKD) with four intensities. The average value of
successful events and bit errors among the pulse pair set be used to
investigate the successful events of different pulses under the statistical
fluctuation caused by the finite condition. We demonstrate that the lower bound
of successful events number n11estimated by our method can be more tight than
the result in [28]. Numerical simulations show that our estimation method can
achieve a higher key rate than existing methods with a relatively weak
constraints of experimental devices, such as high dark count rate and low
detection efficiency of detectors when data size is N = 109.


title: Computing Equilibria with Partial Commitment

abstract:
  In security games, the solution concept commonly used is that of a
Stackelberg equilibrium where the defender gets to commit to a mixed strategy.
The motivation for this is that the attacker can repeatedly observe the
defender's actions and learn her distribution over actions, before acting
himself. If the actions were not observable, Nash (or perhaps correlated)
equilibrium would arguably be a more natural solution concept. But what if
some, but not all, aspects of the defender's actions are observable? In this
paper, we introduce solution concepts corresponding to this case, both with and
without correlation. We study their basic properties, whether these solutions
can be efficiently computed, and the impact of additional observability on the
utility obtained.


title:
Systematic Study of Gamma-ray bright Blazars with Optical Polarization
  and Gamma-ray Variability

abstract:
  Blazars are highly variable active galactic nuclei which emit radiation at
all wavelengths from radio to gamma-rays. Polarized radiation from blazars is
one key piece of evidence for synchrotron radiation at low energies and it also
varies dramatically. The polarization of blazars is of interest for
understanding the origin, confinement, and propagation of jets. However, even
though numerous measurements have been performed, the mechanisms behind jet
creation, composition and variability are still debated. We performed
simultaneous gamma-ray and optical photopolarimetry observations of 45 blazars
between Jul. 2008 and Dec. 2014 to investigate the mechanisms of variability
and search for a basic relation between the several subclasses of blazars. We
identify a correlation between the maximum degree of optical linear
polarization and the gamma-ray luminosity or the ratio of gamma-ray to optical
fluxes. Since the maximum polarization degree depends on the condition of the
magnetic field (chaotic or ordered), this result implies a systematic
difference in the intrinsic alignment of magnetic fields in pc-scale
relativistic jets between different types blazars (FSRQs vs. BL Lacs), and
consequently between different types of radio galaxies (FR Is vs. FR IIs).


title:
Simplified P$_N$ Equations for Nonclassical Transport with Isotropic
  Scattering

abstract:
  An asymptotic analysis is used to derive a set of diffusion approximations to
the nonclassical transport equation with isotropic scattering. These
approximations are shown to reduce to the simplified P$_N$ equations under the
assumption of classical transport, and therefore are labeled nonclassical
SP$_N$ equations. In addition, the nonclassical SP$_N$ equations can be
manipulated into a classical form with modified parameters, which can be
implemented in existing SP$_N$ codes. Numerical results are presented for an
one-dimensional random periodic system, validating the theoretical predictions.


title: The multiset semantics of SPARQL patterns

abstract:
  The paper determines the algebraic and logic structure of the multiset
semantics of the core patterns of SPARQL. We prove that the fragment formed by
AND, UNION, OPTIONAL, FILTER, MINUS and SELECT corresponds precisely to both,
the intuitive multiset relational algebra (projection, selection, natural join,
arithmetic union and except), and the multiset non-recursive Datalog with safe
negation.


title:
Impulsively generated sausage waves in coronal tubes with transversally
  continuous structuring

abstract:
  The frequency dependence of the longitudinal group speeds of trapped sausage
waves plays an important role in determining impulsively generated wave trains,
which have often been invoked to account for quasi-periodic signals in coronal
loops. We examine how the group speeds ($v_{\rm gr}$) depend on angular
frequency ($\omega$) for sausage modes in pressureless coronal tubes with
continuous transverse density distributions by solving the dispersion relation
pertinent to the case where the density inhomogeneity of arbitrary form takes
place in a transition layer of arbitrary thickness. We find that in addition to
the transverse lengthscale $l$ and density contrast $\rho_{\rm i}/\rho_{\rm
e}$, the group speed behavior depends also on the detailed form of the density
inhomogeneity. For parabolic profiles, $v_{\rm gr}$ always decreases with
$\omega$ first before increasing again, as happens for the much studied top-hat
profiles. For linear profiles, however, the behavior of the $\omega-v_{\rm gr}$
curves is more complex. When $\rho_{\rm i}/\rho_{\rm e} \lesssim 6$, the curves
become monotonical for large values of $l$. On the other hand, for higher
density contrasts, a local maximum $v_{\rm gr}^{\rm max}$ exists in addition to
a local minimum $v_{\rm gr}^{\rm min}$ when coronal tubes are diffuse. With
time-dependent computations, we show that the different behavior of group speed
curves, the characteristic speeds $v_{\rm gr}^{\rm min}$ and $v_{\rm gr}^{\rm
max}$ in particular, is reflected in the temporal evolution and Morlet spectra
of impulsively generated wave trains. We conclude that the observed
quasi-periodic wave trains not only can be employed to probe such key
parameters as density contrasts and profile steepness, but also have the
potential to discriminate between the unknown forms of the transverse density
distribution.


title:
Approximate Counting, the Lovasz Local Lemma and Inference in Graphical
  Models

abstract:
  In this paper we introduce a new approach for approximately counting in
bounded degree systems with higher-order constraints. Our main result is an
algorithm to approximately count the number of solutions to a CNF formula
$\Phi$ when the width is logarithmic in the maximum degree. This closes an
exponential gap between the known upper and lower bounds.
  Moreover our algorithm extends straightforwardly to approximate sampling,
which shows that under Lov\'asz Local Lemma-like conditions it is not only
possible to find a satisfying assignment, it is also possible to generate one
approximately uniformly at random from the set of all satisfying assignments.
Our approach is a significant departure from earlier techniques in approximate
counting, and is based on a framework to bootstrap an oracle for computing
marginal probabilities on individual variables. Finally, we give an application
of our results to show that it is algorithmically possible to sample from the
posterior distribution in an interesting class of graphical models.


title:
Energy of low angle grain boundaries based on continuum dislocation
  structure

abstract:
  In this paper, we present a continuum model to compute the energy of low
angle grain boundaries for any given degrees of freedom (arbitrary rotation
axis, rotation angle and boundary plane orientation) based on a continuum
dislocation structure. In our continuum model, we minimize the grain boundary
energy associated with the dislocation structure subject to the constraint of
Frank's formula for dislocations with all possible Burgers vectors. This
constrained minimization problem is solved by the penalty method by which it is
turned into an unconstrained minimization problem. The grain boundary
dislocation structure is approximated by a network of straight dislocations
that predicts the energy and dislocation densities of the grain boundaries. The
grain boundary energy based on the calculated dislocation structure is able to
incorporate its anisotropic nature. We use our continuum model to
systematically study the energy of $<111>$ low angle grain boundaries in fcc Al
with any boundary plane orientation and all six possible Burgers vectors.
Comparisons with results of the atomistic simulations show that our continuum
model is able to give excellent predictions of the energy and dislocation
densities of low angle grain boundaries. We also study the energy of low angle
grain boundaries in fcc Al with varying rotation axis while the rest degrees of
freedom are fixed. With minor modifications, our model can also apply to
dislocation structures and energy of heterogeneous interfaces.


title: The HPS electromagnetic calorimeter

abstract:
  The Heavy Photon Search experiment (HPS) is searching for a new gauge boson,
the so-called "heavy photon." Through its kinetic mixing with the Standard
Model photon, this particle could decay into an electron-positron pair. It
would then be detectable as a narrow peak in the invariant mass spectrum of
such pairs, or, depending on its lifetime, by a decay downstream of the
production target. The HPS experiment is installed in Hall-B of Jefferson Lab.
This article presents the design and performance of one of the two detectors of
the experiment, the electromagnetic calorimeter, during the runs performed in
2015-2016. The calorimeter's main purpose is to provide a fast trigger and
reduce the copious background from electromagnetic processes through matching
with a tracking detector. The detector is a homogeneous calorimeter, made of
442 lead-tungstate (PbWO4) scintillating crystals, each read out by an
avalanche photodiode coupled to a custom trans-impedance amplifier.


title:
Turbulent transport by diffusive stratified shear flows: from local to
  global models. Part I: Numerical simulations of a stratified plane Couette
  flow

abstract:
  Shear-induced turbulence could play a significant role in mixing momentum and
chemical species in stellar radiation zones, as discussed by Zahn (1974). In
this paper we analyze the results of direct numerical simulations of stratified
plane Couette flows, in the limit of rapid thermal diffusion, to measure the
turbulent diffusivity and turbulent viscosity as a function of the local shear
and the local stratification. We find that the stability criterion proposed by
Zahn (1974), namely that the product of the gradient Richardson number and the
Prandtl number must be smaller than a critical values $(J\Pr)_c$ for
instability, adequately accounts for the transition to turbulence in the flow,
with $(J\Pr)_c \simeq 0.007$. This result recovers and confirms the prior
findings of Prat et al. (2016). Zahn's model for the turbulent diffusivity and
viscosity (Zahn 1992), namely that the mixing coefficient should be
proportional to the ratio of the thermal diffusivity to the gradient Richardson
number, does not satisfactorily match our numerical data when applied as is. It
fails (as expected) in the limit of large stratification where the Richardson
number exceeds the aforementioned threshold for instability, but it also fails
in the limit of low stratification where the turbulent eddy scale becomes
limited by the computational domain size. We propose a revised model for
turbulent mixing by diffusive stratified shear instabilities, that now properly
accounts for both limits, fits our data satisfactorily, and recovers Zahn's
1992 model in the limit of large Reynolds numbers.


title:
An Upper Bound on the Strongly Forbidden $6S_{1/2} \leftrightarrow
  5D_{3/2}$ Magnetic Dipole Transition Moment in {Ba}$^{+}$

abstract:
  We report the results from our first-generation experiment to measure the
magnetic-dipole transition moment (M1) between the $6S_{1/2}$ and $5D_{3/2}$
manifolds in Ba$^{+}$. Knowledge of M1 is crucial for the proposed
parity-nonconservation experiment in the ion \cite{Fortson93}, where M1 will be
a leading source of systematic error. To date, no measurement of M1 has been
made in Ba$^{+}$, and moreover, the sensitivity of the moment to
electron-electron correlations has confounded accurate theoretical predictions.
A precise measurement may help to resolve the theoretical discrepancies while
providing essential information for planning a future PNC measurement in
Ba$^{+}$. We demonstrate our technique for measuring M1 - including a method
for calibrating for stress-induced birefringence introduced by the scientific
apparatus - and place an upper bound of $\mathrm{M1} < 93 \pm 39 \times 10^{-5}
\mu_{B}$.


title:
Learning and Fusing Multimodal Features from and for Multi-task Facial
  Computing

abstract:
  We propose a deep learning-based feature fusion approach for facial computing
including face recognition as well as gender, race and age detection. Instead
of training a single classifier on face images to classify them based on the
features of the person whose face appears in the image, we first train four
different classifiers for classifying face images based on race, age, gender
and identification (ID). Multi-task features are then extracted from the
trained models and cross-task-feature training is conducted which shows the
value of fusing multimodal features extracted from multi-tasks. We have found
that features trained for one task can be used for other related tasks. More
interestingly, the features trained for a task with more classes (e.g. ID) and
then used in another task with fewer classes (e.g. race) outperforms the
features trained for the other task itself. The final feature fusion is
performed by combining the four types of features extracted from the images by
the four classifiers. The feature fusion approach improves the classifications
accuracy by a 7.2%, 20.1%, 22.2%, 21.8% margin, respectively, for ID, age, race
and gender recognition, over the results of single classifiers trained only on
their individual features. The proposed method can be applied to applications
in which different types of data or features can be extracted.


title: A Note on Jump Atlas Models

abstract:
  The market weight of a stock is its capitalization (cap) divided by the total
market cap. Rank these weights from top to bottom. The capital distribution
curve is a plot of weights versus ranks. For the US stock market, it is linear
on a double logarithmic scale, and stable with respect to time (Fernholz,
2002). This property has been captured by models with rank-dependent dynamics:
Each stock's cap logarithm is a Brownian motion with drift and diffusion
coefficients depending on its current rank (Chatterjee, Pal, 2010). However,
short-term stock movements have heavy tails. One can add jumps to Brownian
motions to capture this. Observed time stability follows from a long-term
stability result, stated and proved here. Via simulations, we find which
properties of continuous models are preserved after adding jumps.


title: High extinction amplitude modulation in ultrashort pulse shaping

abstract:
  We explored the issues related to the resolution and the modulation
extinction when filtering the spectrum of a UV femtosecond laser with a
standard ultrashort pulse shaper. We have learned that a higher pulse shaping
resolution often requires a larger working beam size or a higher density
grating for greater dispersion. However, these approaches also introduce more
optical errors and degrade the extinction. In this work, we examined specifics
of each component to determine the best configuration of our spectral filtering
setup. As a proof-of-concept demonstration, we utilized elements available as
standard products and achieved 100 GHz filtering resolution with high
extinction at the UV-A wavelength, which is superb in this wavelength range.
The high extinction spectral filtering is especially important while modifying
a broadband laser for the optical control of molecule's internal state.


title: Hadamard Product for Low-rank Bilinear Pooling

abstract:
  Bilinear models provide rich representations compared with linear models.
They have been applied in various visual tasks, such as object recognition,
segmentation, and visual question-answering, to get state-of-the-art
performances taking advantage of the expanded representations. However,
bilinear representations tend to be high-dimensional, limiting the
applicability to computationally complex tasks. We propose low-rank bilinear
pooling using Hadamard product for an efficient attention mechanism of
multimodal learning. We show that our model outperforms compact bilinear
pooling in visual question-answering tasks with the state-of-the-art results on
the VQA dataset, having a better parsimonious property.


title:
Spectral Measurement of the Electron Antineutrino Oscillation Amplitude
  and Frequency using 500 Live Days of RENO Data

abstract:
  The Reactor Experiment for Neutrino Oscillation (RENO) has been taking
electron antineutrino ($\overline{\nu}_{e}$) data from the reactors in
Yonggwang, Korea, using two identical detectors since August 2011. Using
roughly 500 live days of data through January 2013 we observe 290,775 (31,514)
reactor $\overline{\nu}_{e}$ candidate events with 2.8 (4.9)% background in the
near (far) detector. The observed visible positron spectra from the reactor
$\overline{\nu}_{e}$ events in both detectors show discrepancy around 5 MeV
with regard to the prediction from the current reactor $\overline{\nu}_{e}$
model. Based on a far-to-near ratio measurement using the spectral and rate
information we have obtained $\sin^2 2 \theta_{13} = 0.082 \pm 0.009({\rm
stat.}) \pm 0.006({\rm syst.})$ and $|\Delta m_{ee}^2|
=[2.62_{-0.23}^{+0.21}({\rm stat.})_{-0.13}^{+0.12}({\rm syst.})]\times
10^{-3}$eV$^2$.


title:
Propagation of chaos for a class of first order models with singular
  mean field interactions

abstract:
  Dynamical systems of N particles in \R^{D} interacting by a singular pair
potential of mean field type are considered. The systems are assumed to be of
gradient type and the existence of a macroscopic limit in the many particle
limit is established for a large class of singular interaction potentials in
the stochastic as well as the deterministic settings. The main assumption on
the potentials is an appropriate notion of quasi-convexity. When D=1 the
convergence result is sharp when applied to strongly singular repulsive
interactions and for a general dimension D the result applies to attractive
interactions with Lipschitz singular interaction potentials, leading to
stochastic particle solutions to the corresponding macroscopic aggregation
equations. The proof uses the theory of gradient flows in Wasserstein spaces of
Ambrosio-Gigli-Savaree.


title:
Temporal evolution and spatial distribution of white-light flare kernels
  in a solar flare

abstract:
  On 2011 September 6, we observed an X2.1-class flare in continuum and
H$\alpha$ with a frame rate of about 30~Hz. After processing images of the
event by using a speckle-masking image reconstruction, we identified
white-light (WL) flare ribbons on opposite sides of the magnetic neutral line.
We derive the lightcurve decay times of the WL flare kernels at each resolution
element by assuming that the kernels consist of one or two components that
decay exponentially, starting from the peak time. As a result, 42% of the
pixels have two decay-time components with average decay times of 15.6 and 587
s, whereas the average decay time is 254 s for WL kernels with only one
decay-time component. The peak intensities of the shorter decay-time component
exhibit good spatial correlation with the WL intensity, whereas the peak
intensities of the long decay-time components tend to be larger in the early
phase of the flare at the inner part of the flare ribbons, close to the
magnetic neutral line. The average intensity of the longer decay-time
components is 1.78 times higher than that of the shorter decay-time components.
If the shorter decay time is determined by either the chromospheric cooling
time or the nonthermal ionization timescale and the longer decay time is
attributed to the coronal cooling time, this result suggests that WL sources
from both regions appear in 42% of the WL kernels and that WL emission of the
coronal origin is sometimes stronger than that of chromospheric origin.


title: HONES: A Fast and Tuning-free Homotopy Method For Online Newton Step

abstract:
  In this article, we develop and analyze a homotopy continuation method,
referred to as HONES , for solving the sequential generalized projections in
Online Newton Step, as well as the generalized problem known as sequential
standard quadratic programming. HONES is fast, tuning-free, error-free (up to
machine error) and adaptive to the solution sparsity. This is confirmed by both
careful theoretical analysis and extensive experiments on both synthetic and
real data.


title: On Sets of Large Fourier Transform Under Changes in Domain

abstract:
  A function $f:\mathbb{Z}_n \to \mathbb{C}$ can be represented as a linear
combination $f(x)=\sum_{\alpha \in \mathbb{Z}_n}\widehat{f}(\alpha)
\chi_{\alpha,n}(x)$ where $\widehat{f}$ is the (discrete) Fourier transform of
$f$. Clearly, the basis $\{\chi_{\alpha,n}(x):=\exp(2\pi i \alpha x/n)\}$
depends on the value $n$.
  We show that if $f$ has "large" Fourier coefficients, then the function
$\widetilde{f}:\mathbb{Z}_m \to \mathbb{C}$, given by \[
  \widetilde{f}(x)
  = \begin{cases} f(x) & \text{when } 0\leq x < \min(n, m),
  0 & \text{otherwise},
  \end{cases} \] also has "large" coefficients. Moreover, they are all
contained in a "small" interval around $\lfloor \frac{m}{n}\alpha \rceil$ for
each $\alpha \in \mathbb{Z}_n$ such that $\widehat{f}(\alpha)$ is large. One
can use this result to recover the large Fourier coefficients of a function $f$
by redefining it on a convenient domain. One can also use this result to
reprove a result by Morillo and R{\`a}fols: \emph{single-bit} functions,
defined over any domain, have a small set of large coefficients.


title: Stability of shear shallow water flows with free surface

abstract:
  Stability of inviscid shear shallow water flows with free surface is studied
in the framework of the Benney equations. This is done by investigating the
generalized hyperbolicity of the integrodifferential Benney system of
equations. It is shown that all shear flows having monotonic convex velocity
profiles are stable. The hydrodynamic approximations of the model corresponding
to the classes of flows with piecewise linear continuous and discontinuous
velocity profiles are derived and studied. It is shown that these
approximations possess Hamiltonian structure and a complete system of Riemann
invariants, which are found in an explicit form. Sufficient conditions for
hyperbolicity of the governing equations for such multilayer flows are
formulated. The generalization of the above results to the case of stratified
fluid is less obvious, however, it is established that vorticity has a
stabilizing effect.


title: Anisotropy of a Cubic Ferromagnet at Criticality

abstract:
  Critical fluctuations change the effective anisotropy of cubic ferromagnet
near the Curie point. If the crystal undergoes phase transition into
orthorhombic phase and the initial anisotropy is not too strong, reduced
anisotropy of nonlinear susceptibility acquires at $T_c$ the universal value
$\delta_4^* = {{2v^*} \over {3(u^* + v^*)}}$ where $u^*$ and $v^*$ --
coordinates of the cubic fixed point on the flow diagram of renormalization
group equations. In the paper, the critical value of the reduced anisotropy is
estimated within the pseudo-$\epsilon$ expansion approach. The six-loop
pseudo-$\epsilon$ expansions for $u^*$, $v^*$, and $\delta_4^*$ are derived for
the arbitrary spin dimensionality $n$. For cubic crystals ($n = 3$)
higher-order coefficients of the pseudo-$\epsilon$ expansions obtained turn out
to be so small that use of simple Pad\'e approximants yields reliable numerical
results. Pad\'e resummation of the pseudo-$\epsilon$ series for $u^*$, $v^*$,
and $\delta_4^*$ leads to the estimate $\delta_4^* = 0.079 \pm 0.006$
indicating that detection of the anisotropic critical behavior of cubic
ferromagnets in physical and computer experiments is certainly possible.


title: Edge Magnon Excitation in Spin Dimer Systems

abstract:
  Magnetic excitation in a spin dimer system on a bilayer honeycomb lattice is
investigated in the presence of a zigzag edge, where disordered and ordered
phases can be controlled by a quantum phase transition. In analogy with the
case of graphene with a zigzag edge, a flat edge magnon mode appears in the
disordered phase. In an ordered phase, a finite magnetic moment generates a
mean-field potential to the magnon. Since the potential is nonuniform on the
edge and bulk sites, it affects the excitation, and the dispersion of the edge
mode deviates from the flat shape. We investigate how the edge magnon mode
evolves when the phase changes through the quantum phase transition and discuss
the similarities to ordered spin systems on a monolayer honeycomb lattice.


title: Time-Varying Comovement of Foreign Exchange Markets

abstract:
  A time-varying cointegration model for foreign exchange rates is presented.
Unlike previous studies, we allow the loading matrix in the vector error
correction (VEC) model to be varying over time. Because the loading matrix in
the VEC model is associated with the speed at which deviations from the
long-run relationship disappear, we propose a new degree of market comovement\
based on the time-varying loading matrix to measure the strength or robustness
of the long-run relationship over time. Since exchange rates are determined by
macrovariables, cointegration among exchange rates implies those macroeconomic
variables share common stochastic trends. Therefore, the proposed degree
measures the degree of market comovement. Our main finding is that the market
comovement has become stronger over the past quarter century, but the rate at
which market comovement strengthens is decreasing with two major turning
points: one in 1995 and the other one in 2008.


title:
Invisibility Dips of Near-Field Energy Transport in a Spoof Plasmonic
  Metadimer

abstract:
  Invisibility dips, minima in scattering spectrum associated with asymmetric
Fano-like line-shapes, have been predicted with transformation optics in
studying strong coupling between two plasmonic nanoparticles. This feature of
strongly coupled plasmonic nanoparticles holds promise for sensor cloaking. It
requires an extremely narrow gap between the two nanoparticles, though,
preventing its experimental observation at optical frequencies. Here, the
concept of spoof surface plasmons is utilized to facilitate the strong coupling
between two spoof-localized-surface-plasmon (SLSP) resonators. Instead of
observing in far field, the near-field energy transport is probed through the
two SLSP resonators. By virtue of enhanced coupling between the two resonators
stacked vertically, a spectral transmission dip with asymmetric Fano-like
line-shape, similar to the far-field invisibility dips predicted by
transformation optics, is observed. The underlying mode interference mechanism
is further demonstrated by directly imaging the field maps of interfered waves
that are tightly localized around the resonators. These near-field invisibility
dips may find use in near-field sensing, on-chip switching, filters and logical
operation elements.


title: MML is not consistent for Neyman-Scott

abstract:
  Strict Minimum Message Length (SMML) is an information-theoretic statistical
inference method widely cited (but only with informal arguments) as providing
estimations that are consistent for general estimation problems. It is,
however, almost invariably intractable to compute, for which reason only
approximations of it (known as MML algorithms) are ever used in practice. Using
novel techniques that allow for the first time direct, non-approximated
analysis of SMML solutions, we investigate the Neyman-Scott estimation problem,
an oft-cited showcase for the consistency of MML, and show that even with a
natural choice of prior neither SMML nor its popular approximations are
consistent for it, thereby providing a counterexample to the general claim.
This is the first known explicit construction of an SMML solution for a
natural, high-dimensional problem.


title: Spectral Inference Methods on Sparse Graphs: Theory and Applications

abstract:
  In an era of unprecedented deluge of (mostly unstructured) data, graphs are
proving more and more useful, across the sciences, as a flexible abstraction to
capture complex relationships between complex objects. One of the main
challenges arising in the study of such networks is the inference of
macroscopic, large-scale properties affecting a large number of objects, based
solely on the microscopic interactions between their elementary constituents.
Statistical physics, precisely created to recover the macroscopic laws of
thermodynamics from an idealized model of interacting particles, provides
significant insight to tackle such complex networks.
  In this dissertation, we use methods derived from the statistical physics of
disordered systems to design and study new algorithms for inference on graphs.
Our focus is on spectral methods, based on certain eigenvectors of carefully
chosen matrices, and sparse graphs, containing only a small amount of
information. We develop an original theory of spectral inference based on a
relaxation of various mean-field free energy optimizations. Our approach is
therefore fully probabilistic, and contrasts with more traditional motivations
based on the optimization of a cost function. We illustrate the efficiency of
our approach on various problems, including community detection, randomized
similarity-based clustering, and matrix completion.


title:
Membraneless flow battery leveraging flow-through heterogeneous porous
  media for improved power density and reduced crossover

abstract:
  A key factor preventing the market penetration of renewable, intermittent
energy sources, such as solar, wind and wave, is the lack of cost-effective
energy storage options to counteract intermittency. Here, we propose and
demonstrate a novel flow battery architecture that replaces traditional
ion-exchange membranes with less expensive heterogeneous flow-through porous
media. We present an experimentally-validated model which demonstrates that our
architecture promises reduced crossover of reactive species compared to typical
membraneless systems employing co-laminar flows in open channels. In addition,
our prototype battery exhibits significantly improved power density (0.925
W/cm2) and maximum current density (3 A/cm2) compared to previous membraneless
systems.


title:
Production Uncertainties of p-Nuclei in the $\gamma$-Process in Massive
  Stars Using a Monte Carlo Approach

abstract:
  Proton-rich nuclei, the so-called p-nuclei, are made in photodisintegration
processes in outer shells of massive stars in the course of the final supernova
explosion. Nuclear uncertainties in the production of these nuclei have been
quantified in a Monte Carlo procedure. Bespoke temperature-dependent
uncertainties were assigned to different types of reactions involving nuclei
from Fe to Bi and all rates were varied randomly within the uncertainties. The
resulting total production uncertainties of the p-nuclei are below a factor of
two, with few exceptions. Key reactions dominating the final uncertainties have
been identified in an automated procedure using correlations between rate and
abundance uncertainties. Our results are compared to those of a previous study
manually varying reaction rates.


title:
SNR Maximization as a Non-Linear Programming -Towards Optimal Spreading
  Sequence-

abstract:
  Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) is an important index for wireless
communications. There are many methods for increasing SNR. In CDMA systems,
spreading sequences are used. We consider the frequency-selective
wide-sense-stationary uncorrelated-scattering (WSSUS) channel and evaluate the
worst case of SNR. We construct the non-linear programing for maximizing the
lower bound of the average of SNR. This problem becomes the convex programming
if we did not take into account the norm constraint. We derive necessary
conditions for optimal spreading sequences for the problem.


title: Ogus realization of 1-motives

abstract:
  After introducing the Ogus realization of 1-motives we prove that it is a
fully faithful functor. More precisely, following a framework introduced by
Ogus, considering an enriched structure on the de Rham realization of 1-motives
over a number field, we show that it yields a full functor by making use of an
algebraicity theorem of Bost.


title: Fuzzy Attractors Appearing from GIFZS

abstract:
  Cabrelli, Forte, Molter and Vrscay in 1992 considered a {fuzzy} version of
the theory of iterated function systems (IFSs in short) and their fractals%The
idea was to extend the classical Hutchinson-Barnsley operator to selfmaps of a
metric space to appropriate selfmaps of space of fuzzy , which now is quite
rich and important part of the fractals theory.
  On the other hand, Miculescu and Mihail in 2008 introduced another
generalization of the IFSs' theory - instead of selfmaps of a metric space $X$,
they considered mappings defined on the finite Cartesian product $X^m$. %It
turns out that many parts of the classical Hutchinson-Barnsley fractals theory
have natural counterparts in this generalized setting. In particular, if $X$ is
complete, then appropriately contractive systems of such maps generate unique
fractal sets.
  In this paper we show that the \emph{fuzzyfication} ideas of Cabrelli et al.
can be naturally adjusted to the case of mappings defined on finite Cartesian
product. In particular, we define the notion of a generalized iterated fuzzy
function system (GIFZS in short) and prove that it generates a unique fuzzy
fractal set. We also study some basic properties of GIFZSs and their fractals,
and consider the question whether our setting gives us some new fuzzy fractal
sets.


title:
Probing new physics in $B \to D \ell^+ \ell^-$ decays by using angular
  asymmetries

abstract:
  We present the fully general, model independent study of a few rare
semileptonic $B$ decays that get dominant contributions from $W$-annihilation
and $W$-exchange diagrams, in particular $B^0 \to \bar{D}^0 \ell^+\ell^-$,
where $\ell = e,\mu$. We consider the most general Lagrangian for the decay,
and define three angular asymmetries in the Gottfried-Jackson frame, which are
sensitive to new physics. We show how these angular asymmetries can be easily
extracted from the distribution of events in the Dalitz plot for $B \to D
\ell^+ \ell^-$ decays. Especially a non-zero forward-backward asymmetry within
the frame would give the very first hint of possible new physics. These
observations are also true for related decay modes, such as $B^+ \to D^+ \ell^+
\ell^-$ and $B^0 \to D^0 \ell^+ \ell^-$. Moreover, these asymmetry signatures
are not affected by either $B^0$-$\bar{B}^0$ or $D^0$-$\bar{D}^0$ mixings.
Then, this implies that both $B^0 \to \bar{D}^0 \ell^+ \ell^-$ and $B^0 \to D^0
\ell^+ \ell^-$ as well as their CP conjugate modes can all be considered
together in our search for signature of new physics. Hence, it would be of
great importance to look for and study these decays in the laboratory, LHCb and
Belle II in particular.


title: Riemann's Zeta Function: The alternating Xi-Function Xia(s)

abstract:
  As well known, the study of Riemanns zeta function {\zeta}(s) involves the
related entire function {\xi}(s). A close relative of {\zeta}(s) is the
alternating zeta function {\eta}(s). Similar to {\zeta}(s), also {\eta}(s) has
a corresponding entire function {\xi}_a (s). After establishing its definition
and a related functional equation, formulas based on incomplete gamma functions
are worked out, allowing to numerically evaluate {\xi}_a (s). Examples
verifying the obtained formulas are included.


title:
A Language-independent and Compositional Model for Personality Trait
  Recognition from Short Texts

abstract:
  Many methods have been used to recognize author personality traits from text,
typically combining linguistic feature engineering with shallow learning
models, e.g. linear regression or Support Vector Machines. This work uses
deep-learning-based models and atomic features of text, the characters, to
build hierarchical, vectorial word and sentence representations for trait
inference. This method, applied to a corpus of tweets, shows state-of-the-art
performance across five traits and three languages (English, Spanish and
Italian) compared with prior work in author profiling. The results, supported
by preliminary visualisation work, are encouraging for the ability to detect
complex human traits.


title:
Steganography between Silence Intervals of Audio in Video Content Using
  Chaotic Maps

abstract:
  Steganography is the art of hiding data, in such a way that it is
undetectable under traffic-pattern analysis and the data hidden is only known
to the receiver and the sender. In this paper new method of text steganography
over the silence interval of audio in a video file, is presented. In the
proposed method first the audio signal is extracted from the video. After doing
audio enhancement, the data on the audio signal is steganographed using new
technique and then audio signal is rewritten in video file again.
http://www.learnrnd.com/All_latest_research_findings.php
  To enhance the security level we apply chaotic maps on arbitrary text.
Furthermore, the algorithm in this paper, gives a technique which states that
undetectable stegotext and cover-text has same probability distribution and no
statistical test can detect the presence of the hidden message.
http://www.learnrnd.com/detail.php?id=Biohack_Eyes_through_Chlorin_e6_eye_drop_:Stanford_University_Research
  Moreover, hidden message does not affect the transmission rate of video file
at all.


title: Tensor Calculus

abstract:
  These notes are the second part of the tensor calculus documents which
started with the previous set of introductory. In the present text, we continue
the discussion of selected topics of the subject at a higher level expanding,
when necessary, some topics and developing further concepts and techniques.
Unlike the previous notes which are largely based on a Cartesian approach, the
present notes are essentially based on assuming an underlying general
curvilinear coordinate system.


title:
Synthetic Weyl points in generalized parameter space and their
  topological properties

abstract:
  Weyl fermions1 do not appear in nature as elementary particles, but they are
now found to exist as nodal points in the band structure of electronic and
classical wave crystals. Novel phenomena such as Fermi arcs and chiral anomaly
have fueled the interest of these topological points which are frequently
perceived as monopoles in momentum space. Here, we demonstrate that generalized
Weyl points can exist in a parameter space and we report the first observation
of such nodal points in one-dimensional photonic crystals in the optical range.
The reflection phase inside the band gap of a truncated photonic crystal
exhibits vortexes in the parameter space where the Weyl points are defined and
they share the same topological charges as the Weyl points. These vortexes
guarantee the existence of interface states, the trajectory of which can be
understood as "Fermi arcs" emerging from the Weyl nodes.


title: Interferometric computation beyond quantum theory

abstract:
  There are quantum solutions for computational problems that make use of
interference at some stage in the algorithm. These stages can be mapped into
the physical setting of a single particle travelling through a many-armed
interferometer. There has been recent foundational interest in theories beyond
quantum theory. Here, we present a generalized formulation of computation in
the context of a many-armed interferometer, and explore how theories can differ
from quantum theory and still perform distributed calculations in this set-up.
We shall see that quaternionic quantum theory proves a suitable candidate,
whereas box-world does not. We also find that a classical hidden variable model
first presented by Spekkens [Phys. Rev. A, 75:3:32100, 2007] can also be used
for this type of computation due to the epistemic restriction placed on the
hidden variable.


title: Coherent backscattering in the Fock space of ultracold bosonic atoms

abstract:
  We present numerical evidence for the occurrence of coherent backscattering
in the Fock space of a small disordered Bose-Hubbard system consisting of four
sites and containing five particles. This many-body interference phenomenon can
most conveniently be seen in time evolution processes that start from a Fock
state of the Bose-Hubbard system. It manifests itself in an enhanced detection
probability of this initial state as compared to other Fock states with
comparable total energy. We argue that coherent backscattering in Fock space
can be experimentally measured with ultracold bosonic atoms in optical lattices
using state-of-the-art single-site detection techniques. A synthetic gauge
field can be induced in order to break time-reversal symmetry within the
lattice and thereby destroy coherent backscattering. While this many-body
interference effect is most prominently visible in the presence of eigenstate
thermalization, we briefly discuss its significance in the opposite regime of
many-body localization.


title: Semi-supervised Graph Embedding Approach to Dynamic Link Prediction

abstract:
  We propose a simple discrete time semi-supervised graph embedding approach to
link prediction in dynamic networks. The learned embedding reflects information
from both the temporal and cross-sectional network structures, which is
performed by defining the loss function as a weighted sum of the supervised
loss from past dynamics and the unsupervised loss of predicting the
neighborhood context in the current network. Our model is also capable of
learning different embeddings for both formation and dissolution dynamics.
These key aspects contributes to the predictive performance of our model and we
provide experiments with three real--world dynamic networks showing that our
method is comparable to state of the art methods in link formation prediction
and outperforms state of the art baseline methods in link dissolution
prediction.


title:
Activation cross sections of proton induced nuclear reactions on gold up
  to 65 MeV

abstract:
  Activation cross sections of proton induced reactions on gold for production
of $^{197m,197g,195m,195g, 193m,193g,192}$Hg,
$^{196m,196g(cum),195g(cum),194,191(cum)}$Au, $^{191(cum)}$Pt and $^{192}$Ir
were measured up to 65 MeV proton energy, some of them for the first time. The
new data are in acceptably good agreement with the recently published earlier
experimental data in the overlapping energy region. The experimental data are
compared with the predictions of the TALYS 1.6 (results in TENDL-2015 on-line
library) and EMPIRE 3.2 code.


title: Products of Ideals and Jet Schemes

abstract:
  In the present paper, we give a full description of the jet schemes of the
polynomial ideal $\left( x_1\ldots x_n \right) \in k[x_1, \ldots, x_n]$ over a
field of zero characteristic. We use this description to answer questions about
products and intersections of ideals emerged recently in algorithmic studies of
algebraic differential equations.


title: Levitons for electron quantum optics

abstract:
  Single electron sources enable electron quantum optics experiments where
single electrons emitted in a ballistic electronic interferometer plays the
role of a single photons emitted in an optical medium in Quantum Optics. A
qualitative step has been made with the recent generation of single charge
levitons obtained by applying Lorentzian voltage pulse on the contact of the
quantum conductor. Simple to realize and operate, the source emits electrons in
the form of striking minimal excitation states called levitons. We review the
striking properties of levitons and their possible applications in quantum
physics to electron interferometry and entanglement. W Schematic generation of
time resolved single charges called levitons using Lorentzian voltage pulses
applied on a contact. A Quantum Point Contact is used to partition the levitons
for further analysis. Injecting levitons on opposite contacts with a delay
$\\tau$ enables to probe electronic like Hong Ou Mandel correlations. Copyright
line will be provided by the publisher 1 Single electron sources In this
introduction, we will distinguish single charge sources from coherent single
electrons sources. The former have been developed for quantum metrology where
the goal is to transfer an integer charge at high frequency f through a
conductor with good accuracy to realize a quantized current source whose
current I = ef shows metrological accuracy. The latter, the coherent single
electrons source, aims at emitting (injecting) a single electron whose
wave-function is well defined and controlled to realize further single electron
coherent manipulation via quantum gates. The gates are provided by electronic
beam-splitters made with Quantum Point Contacts or provided by electronic
Mach-Zehnder and Fabry-Prot interferometers. Here it is important that the
injected single electron is the only excitation created in the conductor. The
frequency f of injection is not chosen to have a large current, as current
accuracy is not the goal, but only to get sufficient statistics on the electron
transfer events to extract physical information. 1.1 single charge sources for
current standards The first manipulation of single charges trace back to the
early 90's where physicists took advantage of charge quan-tization of a
submicronic metallic island nearly isolated from leads by tunnel barriers. The
finite energy E C = e 2 /2C to charge the small capacitor C with a single
charge being larger than temperature (typically one kelvin for


title:
Numerical study of the gravitational shock wave inside a spherical
  charged black hole

abstract:
  We numerically investigate the interior of a four-dimensional, asymptotically
flat, spherically symmetric charged black hole perturbed by a scalar field
$\Phi$. Previous study by Marolf and Ori indicated that late infalling
observers will encounter an effective shock wave as they approach the left
portion of the inner horizon. This shock manifests itself as a sudden change in
the values of various fields, within a tremendously short interval of proper
time $\tau$ of the infalling observers. We confirm this prediction numerically
for both test and self-gravitating scalar field perturbations. In both cases we
demonstrate the effective shock in the scalar field by exploring $\Phi(\tau)$
along a family of infalling timelike geodesics. In the self-gravitating case we
also demonstrate the shock in the area coordinate $r$ by exploring $r(\tau)$.
We confirm the theoretical prediction concerning the shock sharpening rate,
which is exponential in the time of infall into the black hole. In addition we
numerically probe the early stages of shock formation. We also employ a family
of null (rather than timelike) ingoing geodesics to probe the shock in $r$. We
use a finite-difference numerical code with double-null coordinates combined
with a recently developed adaptive gauge method in order to solve the (Einstein
+ scalar) field equations and to evolve the spacetime (and scalar field) $ - $
from the region outside the black hole down to the vicinity of the Cauchy
horizon and the spacelike $r=0$ singularity.


title:
Detailed optical spectroscopy of the hybridization gap and the hidden
  order transition in high quality URu$_{2}$Si$_{2}$ single crystals

abstract:
  We present a detailed temperature and frequency dependence of the optical
conductivity measured on clean high quality single crystals of
URu$_{2}$Si$_{2}$ of $ac$- and $ab$-plane surfaces. Our data demonstrate the
itinerant character of the narrow 5f bands, becoming progressively coherent as
temperature is lowered below a cross-over temperature $T^*{\sim}75~K$. $T^*$ is
higher than in previous reports as a result of a different sample preparation,
which minimizes residual strain. We furthermore present the density-response
(energy-loss) function of this compound, and determine the energies of the
heavy fermion plasmons with $a$-and $c$-axis polarization. Our observation of a
suppression of optical conductivity below 50~meV both along $a$ and $c$-axis,
along with a heavy fermion plasmon at 18~meV, points toward the emergence of a
band of coherent charge carriers crossing the Fermi energy and the emergence of
a hybridization gap on part of the Fermi surface. The evolution towards
coherent itinerant states is accelerated below the hidden order temperature
$T_{HO}=17.5$~K. In the hidden order phase the low frequency optical
conductivity shows a single gap at $\sim 6.5$meV, which closes at $T_{HO}$.


title: On sensitivity of mixing times and cutoff

abstract:
  A sequence of chains exhibits (total-variation) cutoff (resp., pre-cutoff) if
for all $0<\epsilon< 1/2$, the ratio
$t_{\mathrm{mix}}^{(n)}(\epsilon)/t_{\mathrm{mix}}^{(n)}(1-\epsilon)$ tends to
1 as $n \to \infty $ (resp., the $\limsup$ of this ratio is bounded uniformly
in $\epsilon$), where $t_{\mathrm{mix}}^{(n)}(\epsilon)$ is the
$\epsilon$-total-variation mixing-time of the $n$th chain in the sequence. We
construct a sequence of bounded degree graphs $G_n$, such that the lazy simple
random walks (LSRW) on $G_n$ satisfy the "product condition" $\mathrm{gap}(G_n)
t_{\mathrm{mix}}^{(n)}(\epsilon) \to \infty $ as $n \to \infty$, where
$\mathrm{gap}(G_n)$ is the spectral gap of the LSRW on $G_n$ (a known necessary
condition for pre-cutoff that is often sufficient for cutoff), yet this
sequence does not exhibit pre-cutoff.
  Recently, Chen and Saloff-Coste showed that total-variation cutoff is
equivalent for the sequences of continuous-time and lazy versions of some given
sequence of chains. Surprisingly, we show that this is false when considering
separation cutoff.
  We also construct a sequence of bounded degree graphs $G_n=(V_{n},E_{n})$
that does not exhibit cutoff, for which a certain bounded perturbation of the
edge weights leads to cutoff and increases the order of the mixing-time by an
optimal factor of $\Theta (\log |V_n|)$. Similarly, we also show that "lumping"
states together may increase the order of the mixing-time by an optimal factor
of $\Theta (\log |V_n|)$. This gives a negative answer to a question asked by
Aldous and Fill.


title:
Hydrodynamic limit of condensing two-species zero range processes with
  sub-critical initial profiles

abstract:
  Two-species condensing zero range processes (ZRPs) are interacting particle
systems with two species of particles and zero range interaction exhibiting
phase separation outside a domain of sub-critical densities. We prove the
hydrodynamic limit of nearest neighbour mean zero two-species condensing zero
range processes with bounded local jump rate for sub-critical initial profiles,
i.e., for initial profiles whose image is contained in the region of
sub-critical densities. The proof is based on H. T. Yau's relative entropy
method, which relies on the existence of sufficiently regular solutions to the
hydrodynamic equation. In the particular case of the species-blind ZRP, we
prove that the solutions of the hydrodynamic equation exist globally in time
and thus the hydrodynamic limit is valid for all times.


title:
Experimental demonstration of high-dimensional photonic spatial
  entanglement between multi-core optical fibers

abstract:
  Fiber transport of multi-dimensional photonic qudits promises high
information capacity per photon without space restriction. This work
experimentally demonstrates transmission of spatial qudits through multi-core
optical fibers and measurement of the entanglement between two fibers with
quantum state analyzers, each composed of a spatial light modulator and a
single-mode fiber. Quantum state tomography reconstructs the four-dimension
entangled state that verifies the non-locality through concurrences in
two-dimensional subspaces and a high-dimensional Bell-type CGLMP inequality.


title:
Reconstruction of the Scalar Field Potential in Inflationary Models with
  a Gauss-Bonnet term

abstract:
  We study inflationary models with a Gauss-Bonnet term to reconstruct the
scalar field potentials and the Gauss-Bonnet coupling functions from the
observable quantities. Using the observationally favored relations for both
$n_s$ and $r$, we derive the expressions for both the scalar field potentials
and the coupling functions. The implication of the blue-tilted spectrum,
$n_t>0$, of the primordial tensor fluctuations is discussed for the
reconstructed configurations of the scalar field potential and the Gauss-Bonnet
coupling.


title:
Three-dimensional electronic structures and the metal-insulator
  transition in Ruddlesden-Popper iridates

abstract:
  In this study, we systematically investigate 3D momentum($\hbar k$)-resolved
electronic structures of Ruddlesden-Popper-type iridium oxides
Sr$_{n+1}$Ir$_n$O$_{3n+1}$ using soft-x-ray (SX) angle-resolved photoemission
spectroscopy (ARPES). Our results provide direct evidence of an
insulator-to-metal transition that occurs upon increasing the dimensionality of
the IrO$_2$-plane structure. This transition occurs when the spin-orbit-coupled
$j_{\rm eff}$=1/2 band changes its behavior in the dispersion relation and
moves across the Fermi energy. In addition, an emerging band along the
$\Gamma$(0,0,0)-R($\pi$,$\pi$,$\pi$) direction is found to play a crucial role
in the metallic characteristics of SrIrO$_3$. By scanning the photon energy
over 350 eV, we reveal the 3D Fermi surface in SrIrO$_3$ and $k_z$-dependent
oscillations of photoelectron intensity in Sr$_3$Ir$_2$O$_7$. In contrast to
previously reported results obtained using low-energy photons, folded bands
derived from lattice distortions and/or magnetic ordering make significantly
weak (but finite) contributions to the $k$-resolved photoemission spectrum. At
the first glance, this leads to the ambiguous result that the observed
$k$-space topology is consistent with the unfolded Brillouin zone (BZ) picture
derived from a non-realistic simple square or cubic Ir lattice. Through careful
analysis, we determine that a superposition of the folded and unfolded band
structures has been observed in the ARPES spectra obtained using photons in
both ultraviolet and SX regions. To corroborate the physics deduced using
low-energy ARPES studies, we propose to utilize SX-ARPES as a powerful
complementary technique, as this method surveys more than one whole BZ and
provides a panoramic view of electronic structures.


title: Ultra-Low Latency for 5G - A Lab Trial

abstract:
  In this paper, we introduce a lab trial that is conducted to study the
feasibility of ultra-low latency for 5G. Using a novel frame structure and
signaling procedure, a stabilized 1.5 ms hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ)
round trip time (RTT) is observed in lab trial as predicted in theory. The
achieved round trip time is around 5 times shorter compared with what is
supported by LTE-Advanced standard.


title: A local Fock-exchange potential in Kohn-Sham equations

abstract:
  We derive and employ a local potential to represent the Fock exchange
operator in electronic single-particle equations. This local Fock-exchange
(LFX) potential is very similar to the exact exchange (EXX) potential in
density functional theory (DFT). The practical software implementation of the
two potentials (LFX and EXX) yields robust and accurate results for a variety
of systems (semiconductors, transition metal oxides) where Hartree Fock and
popular approximations of DFT typically fail. This includes examples
traditionally considered qualitatively inaccessible to calculations that omit
correlation.


title:
Delay Minimization in Real-time Communications with Joint Buffering and
  Coding

abstract:
  We present a closed-form expression for the minimal delay that is achievable
in a setting that combines a buffer and an erasure code, used to mitigate the
packet delay variance. The erasure code is modeled according to the recent
information-theoretic results on finite block length codes. Evaluations reveal
that accurate knowledge of the network parameters is essential for optimal
operation. Moreover, it is shown that, when the network packet delay variance
is large, the buffer delay becomes negligible. Therefore, in this case the
delay budget should be spent mainly on the erasure code.


title:
Accurate Polarization Calibration at 800 MHz with the Green Bank
  Telescope

abstract:
  Polarization leakage of foreground synchrotron emission is a critical issue
in HI intensity mapping experiments. While the sought-after HI emission is
unpolarized, polarized foregrounds such as Galactic and extragalactic
synchrotron radiation, if coupled with instrumental impurity, can mimic or
overwhelm the HI signals. In this paper we present the methodology for
polarization calibration at 700-900 MHz, applied on data obtained from the
Green Bank Telescope (GBT). We use astrophysical sources, both polarized and
unpolarized sources including quasars and pulsars, as calibrators to
characterize the polarization leakage and control systematic effects in our GBT
HI intensity mapping project. The resulting fractional errors on polarization
measurements on boresight are well controlled to within 0.6%-0.8% of their
total intensity. The polarized beam patterns are measured by performing spider
scans across both polarized quasars and pulsars. A dominant Stokes I to V
leakage feature and secondary features of Stokes I to Q and I to U leakages in
the 700-900 MHz frequency range are identified. These characterizations are
important for separating foreground polarization leakage from the HI 21 cm
signal.


title:
Electrical tunability due to coalescence of exceptional points in
  parity-time symmetric waveguides

abstract:
  We demonstrate theoretically the electric tunability due to coalescence of
exceptional points in PT-symmetric waveguides bounded by imperfect conductive
layers. Owing to the competition effect of multimode interaction, multiple
exceptional points and PT phase transitions could be attained in such a simple
system and their occurrences are strongly dependent on the boundary conductive
layers. When the conductive layers become very thin, it is found that the
oblique transmittance and reflectance of the same system can be tuned between
zero and one by a small change in carrier density. The results may provide an
effective method for fast tuning and modulation of optical signals through
electrical gating.


title: Noncommutative Topology and Prospects in Index Theory

abstract:
  This article is a tribute to the memory of Professor Enzo Martinelli, with
deep respect and reconesance. Nicolae Teleman. The index formula is a local
statement made on global and local data; for this reason we introduce local
Alexander - Spanier co-homology, local periodic cyclic homology, local Chern
character and local $T^{\ast}$-theory. Index theory should be done: Case 1: for
arbitrary rings, Case 2: for rings of functions over topo- logical manifolds.
Case 1 produces general index theorems, as for example, over pseudo-manifolds.
Case 2 gives a general treatment of classical and non- commutative index
theorems. All existing index theorems belong to the second category. The tools
of the theory would contain: local $T^{\ast}$ -theory, local peri- odic cyclic
homology, local Chern character. These tools are extended to non- commutative
topology. The index formula has three stages : Stage I is done in
$T^{loc}\_{i}$-theory, Stage II is done in the local periodic cyclic homology
and Stage III involves products of distributions, or restriction to the
diagonal. For each stage there corresponds a topological index and an
analytical index. The construction of $T^{\ast}$-theory involves the
T-completion. It involves also the need to work with half integers; this should
have important consequences.


title: Teleman's classification of 2D semisimple cohomological field theories

abstract:
  In his 2011 paper, Teleman proved that a cohomological field theory on the
moduli space $\overline{\mathcal{M}}_{g,n}$ of stable complex curves is
uniquely determined by its restriction to the smooth part $\mathcal{M}_{g,n}$,
provided that the underlying Frobenius algebra is semisimple. This leads to a
classification of all semisimple cohomological field theories. The present
paper, the outcome of the author's master's thesis, presents Teleman's proof
following his original paper. The author claims no originality: the main
motivation has been to keep the exposition as complete and self-contained as
possible.


title:
Limiting Absorption Principle for Schr\"odinger Operators with
  Oscillating Potential

abstract:
  Making use of the weighted Mourre theory developed in [GJ1], we show the
limiting absorption principle for Schr{\"o}dinger operators with perturbed
oscillating potential on appropriate energy intervals. We focus on a certain
class of oscillating potentials (larger than the one in [GJ2]) that was already
studied in [BD, MU, ReT1, ReT2]. We allow long-range and short-range components
and local singularities in the perturbation. We improve known results, the main
novelty being the presence of a long-range perturbation. A subclass of the
considered potentials actually cannot be treated by the usual Mourre commutator
method. Inspired by [FH], we also show, in some cases, the absence of positive
eigenvalues for our Schr{\"o}dinger operators.


title: Constraint-Preserving Scheme for Maxwell's Equations

abstract:
  We derive the discretized Maxwell's equations using the discrete variational
derivative method (DVDM), calculate the evolution equation of the constraint,
and confirm that the equation is satisfied at the discrete level. Numerical
simulations showed that the results obtained by the DVDM are superior to those
obtained by the Crank-Nicolson scheme. In addition, we study the two types of
the discretized Maxwell's equations by the DVDM and conclude that if the
evolution equation of the constraint is not conserved at the discrete level,
then the numerical results are also unstable.


title:
Aboveground biomass mapping in French Guiana by combining remote
  sensing, forest inventories and environmental data

abstract:
  Mapping forest aboveground biomass (AGB) has become an important task,
particularly for the reporting of carbon stocks and changes. AGB can be mapped
using synthetic aperture radar data (SAR) or passive optical data. However,
these data are insensitive to high AGB levels (\textgreater{}150 Mg/ha, and
\textgreater{}300 Mg/ha for P-band), which are commonly found in tropical
forests. Studies have mapped the rough variations in AGB by combining optical
and environmental data at regional and global scales. Nevertheless, these maps
cannot represent local variations in AGB in tropical forests. In this paper, we
hypothesize that the problem of misrepresenting local variations in AGB and AGB
estimation with good precision occurs because of both methodological limits
(signal saturation or dilution bias) and a lack of adequate calibration data in
this range of AGB values. We test this hypothesis by developing a calibrated
regression model to predict variations in high AGB values (mean
\textgreater{}300 Mg/ha) in French Guiana by a methodological approach for
spatial extrapolation with data from the optical geoscience laser altimeter
system (GLAS), forest inventories, radar, optics, and environmental variables
for spatial inter-and extrapolation. Given their higher point count, GLAS data
allow a wider coverage of AGB values. We find that the metrics from GLAS
footprints are correlated with field AGB estimations (R 2 =0.54, RMSE=48.3
Mg/ha) with no bias for high values. First, predictive models, including
remote-sensing, environmental variables and spatial correlation functions,
allow us to obtain "wall-to-wall" AGB maps over French Guiana with an RMSE for
the in situ AGB estimates of ~51 Mg/ha and R${}^2$=0.48 at a 1-km grid size. We
conclude that a calibrated regression model based on GLAS with dependent
environmental data can produce good AGB predictions even for high AGB values if
the calibration data fit the AGB range. We also demonstrate that small temporal
and spatial mismatches between field data and GLAS footprints are not a problem
for regional and global calibrated regression models because field data aim to
predict large and deep tendencies in AGB variations from environmental
gradients and do not aim to represent high but stochastic and temporally
limited variations from forest dynamics. Thus, we advocate including a greater
variety of data, even if less precise and shifted, to better represent high AGB
values in global models and to improve the fitting of these models for high
values.


title:
Simulating heavy fermion physics in optical lattice: Periodic Anderson
  model with harmonic trapping potential

abstract:
  Periodic Anderson model (PAM), where local electron orbitals interplay with
itinerant electronic carriers, plays an essential role in our understanding on
heavy fermion materials. Motivated by recent proposal of simulating Kondo
lattice model (KLM) in terms of alkaline-earth metal atoms, we make a further
step toward simulation of PAM, which includes crucial charge/valence
fluctuation of local f-electron beyond purely low-energy spin fluctuation in
KLM. To realize PAM, transition induced by suitable laser between electronic
excited and ground state of alkaline-earth metal atoms
($^{1}S_{0}$$\rightleftharpoons$$^{3}P_{0}$) is introduced, and it leads to
effective hybridization between local electron and conduction electron in PAM.
Generally, the $SU(N)$ version of PAM can be realized by our proposal, which
gives a unique opportunity to detect large-$N$ physics without complexity in
realistic materials. In the present work, high temperature physical feature of
standard ($SU(2)$) PAM with harmonic trapping potential is detailed analyzed by
quantum Monte Carlo and dynamic mean-field theory. Indications for near-future
experiments are provided. We expect our theoretical proposal and (hopefully)
forthcoming experiment will deepen our understanding on heavy fermion systems
and at the same time triggers further studies on related Mott physics, quantum
criticality and non-trivial topology in both inhomogeneous and nonequilibrium
realm.

categories: cond-mat.quant-gas cond-mat.str-el cond-mat.supr-con quant-ph


title:
Existence theorem for homogeneous incompressible Navier-Stokes equation
  with variable rheology

abstract:
  We look at a homogeneous incompressible fluid with a time and space variable
rheology of Bingham type, which is governed by a coupling equation. Such a
system is a simplified model for a gas-particle mixture that flows under the
influence of gravity. The main application of this kind of model is pyroclastic
flows in the context of volcanology. In order to prove long time existence of
weak solutions, classical Galerkin approximation method coupled with a priori
estimates allows us to partially solve the problem. A difficulty remains with
the stress tensor, which must satisfy an implicit constitutive relation. Some
numerical simulations of a flow of this type are given in the last section.
These numerical experiments highlight the influence of the fluidization
phenomenon in the flow.


title: Basic Kirwan Surjectivity for K-Contact Manifolds

abstract:
  We prove an analogue of Kirwan surjectivity in the setting of equivariant
basic cohomology of K-contact manifolds. If the Reeb vector field induces a
free $S^1$-action, the $S^1$-quotient is a symplectic manifold and our result
reproduces Kirwan's surjectivity for these symplectic manifolds. We further
prove a Tolman-Weitsman type description of the kernel of the basic Kirwan map
for $S^1$-actions and show that torus actions on a K-contact manifold that
preserve the contact form and admit 0 as a regular value of the contact moment
map are equivariantly formal in the basic setting.


title: Fractal Properties of Multiagent News Diffusion Model

abstract:
  The paper deals with fractal characteristics (Hurst exponent) and
wavelet-scaleograms of the information distribution model, suggested by the
authors. The authors have studied the effect of Hurst exponent change depending
upon the model parameters, which have semantic meaning. The paper also
considers fractal characteristics of real information streams. It is described,
how the Hurst exponent dynamics depends on these information streams state in
practice


title:
Comparative study of phonon spectrum and thermal expansion of graphene,
  silicene, germanene and blue phosphorene

abstract:
  Based on first-principles calculation using density functional theory, we
study the vibrational properties and thermal expansion of mono-atomic
two-dimensional honeycomb lattices: graphene, silicene, germanene and blue
phosphorene. We focus on the similarities and differences of their properties,
and try to understand them from their lattice structures. We illustrate that,
from graphene to blue phosphorene, phonon bandgap develops due to large
buckling-induced mixing of the in-plane and out-of-plane phonon modes. This
mixing also influences their thermal properties. Using quasi-harmonic
approximation, we find that all of them show negative thermal expansion at room
temperature.


title: Civique: Using Social Media to Detect Urban Emergencies

abstract:
  We present the Civique system for emergency detection in urban areas by
monitoring micro blogs like Tweets. The system detects emergency related
events, and classifies them into appropriate categories like "fire",
"accident", "earthquake", etc. We demonstrate our ideas by classifying Twitter
posts in real time, visualizing the ongoing event on a map interface and
alerting users with options to contact relevant authorities, both online and
offline. We evaluate our classifiers for both the steps, i.e., emergency
detection and categorization, and obtain F-scores exceeding 70% and 90%,
respectively. We demonstrate Civique using a web interface and on an Android
application, in realtime, and show its use for both tweet detection and
visualization.


title:
Joint Source, Channel and Space-time Coding of Progressive Sources in
  MIMO Systems

abstract:
  The optimization of joint source and channel coding for a sequence of
numerous progressive packets is a challenging problem. Further, the problem
becomes more complicated if the space-time coding is also involved with the
optimization in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system. This is because
the number of ways of jointly assigning channels codes and space-time codes to
progressive packets is much larger than that of solely assigning channel codes
to the packets. We are unaware of any feasible and complete solution for such
optimization of joint source, channel, and space-time coding of progressive
packets. This paper applies a parametric approach to address that complex joint
optimization problem in a MIMO system. We use the parametric methodology to
derive some useful theoretical results, and then exploit those results to
propose an optimization method where the joint assignment of channel codes and
space-time codes to the packets can be optimized in a packet-by-packet manner.
As a result, the computational complexity of the optimization is exponentially
reduced, compared to the conventional exhaustive search. The numerical results
show that the proposed method significantly improves the peak-signal-to-noise
ratio performance of the rate-based optimal solution in a MIMO system.


title:
Tungsten doping of Ta3N5-Nanotubes for Band Gap Narrowing and Enhanced
  Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting Efficiency

abstract:
  Ordered W-doped Ta2O5 nanotube arrays were grown by self-organizing
electrochemical anodization of TaW alloys with different tungsten
concentrations and by a suitable high temperature ammonia treatment, fully
converted to W:Ta3N5 tubular structures. A main effect found is that W doping
can decrease the band gap from 2 eV (bare Ta3N5) down to 1.75 eV. Ta3N5
nanotubes grown on 0.5 at% W alloy and modified with (CoOH)x as co-catalyst
show ~33% higher photocurrents in photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting
than pure Ta3N5.


title:
Bidirectional particle transport and size selective sorting of Brownian
  particles in a flashing spatially periodic energy landscape

abstract:
  We demonstrate a size sensitive experimental scheme which enables
bidirectional transport and fractionation of paramagnetic colloids in a fluid
medium. It is shown that two types of magnetic colloidal particles with
different sizes can be simultaneously transported in opposite directions, when
deposited above a stripe-patterned ferrite garnet film subjected to a
square-wave magnetic modulation. Due to their different sizes, the particles
are located at distinct elevations above the surface, and they experience two
different energy landscapes, generated by the modulated magnetic substrate. By
combining theoretical arguments and numerical simulations, we reveal such
energy landscapes, which fully explain the bidirectional transport mechanism.
The proposed technique does not require pre-imposed channel geometries such as
in conventional microfluidics or lab-on-a-chip systems, and permits remote
control over the particle motion, speed and trajectory, by using relatively low
intense magnetic fields.


title:
Generalized multi-polytropic Rankine-Hugoniot relations and the entropy
  condition

abstract:
  The study aims at a derivation of generalized \RH relations, especially that
for the entropy, for the case of different upstream/downstream polytropic
indices and their implications. We discuss the solar/stellar wind interaction
with the interstellar medium for different polytropic indices and concentrate
on the case when the polytropic index changes across hydrodynamical shocks. We
use first a numerical mono-fluid approach with constant polytropic index in the
entire integration region to show the influence of the polytropic index on the
thickness of the helio-/astrosheath and on the compression ratio. Second, the
Rankine-Hugonoit relations for a polytropic index changing across a shock are
derived analytically, particularly including a new form of the entropy
condition. In application to the/an helio-/astrosphere, we find that the size
of the helio-/astrosheath as function of the polytropic index decreases in a
mono-fluid model for indices less than $\gamma=5/3$ and increases for higher
ones and vice versa for the compression ratio. Furthermore, we demonstrate that
changing polytropic indices across a shock are physically allowed only for
sufficiently high Mach numbers and that in the hypersonic limit the compression
ratio depends only on the downstream polytropic index, while the ratios of the
temperature and pressure as well as the entropy difference depend on both, the
upstream and downstream polytropic indices.


title:
Origin of the inverse energy cascade in two-dimensional quantum
  turbulence

abstract:
  We establish a statistical relationship between the inverse energy cascade
and the spatial correlations of clustered vortices in two-dimensional quantum
turbulence. The Kolmogorov spectrum $k^{-5/3}$ on inertial scales $r$
corresponds to a pair correlation function between the vortices with different
signs that decays as a power law with the pair distance given as $r^{-4/3}$. To
test these scaling relations, we propose a novel forced and dissipative point
vortex model that captures the turbulent dynamics of quantized vortices by the
emergent clustering of same-sign vortices. The inverse energy cascade
developing in a statistically neutral system originates from this vortex
clustering that evolves with time.


title:
Semimetallic carbon allotrope with topological nodal line in mixed
  $sp^2$-$sp^3$ bonding networks

abstract:
  Graphene is known as a two-dimensional Dirac semimetal, in which electron
states are described by the Dirac equation of relativistic quantum mechanics.
Three-dimensional analogues of graphene are characterized by Dirac points or
lines in momentum space, which are protected by symmetry. Here, we report a
novel 3D carbon allotrope belonging to a class of topological nodal line
semimetals, discovered by using an evolutionary structure search method. The
new carbon phase in monoclinic $C$2$/m$ space group, termed $m$-$C_8$, consists
of five-membered rings with $sp^3$ bonding interconnected by $sp^2$-bonded
carbon networks. Enthalpy calculations reveal that $m$-$C_8$ is more favorable
over recently reported topological semimetallic carbon allotropes, and the
dynamical stability of $m$-$C_8$ is verified by phonon spectra and molecular
dynamics simulations. Simulated x-ray diffraction spectra propose that
$m$-$C_8$ would be one of the unidentified carbon phases observed in detonation
shoot. The analysis of electronic properties indicates that $m$-$C_8$ exhibits
the nodal line protected by both inversion and time-reversal symmetries in the
absence of spin-orbit coupling and the surface band connecting the projected
nodal points. Our results may help design new carbon allotropes with exotic
electronic properties.


title:
Numerical approximation of stochastic evolution equations: Convergence
  in scale of Hilbert spaces

abstract:
  The present paper is devoted to the numerical approximation of an abstract
stochastic nonlinear evolution equation in a separable Hilbert space
{$\mathrm{H}$}. Examples of equations which fall into our framework include the
GOY and Sabra shell models and { a class of nonlinear heat equations.} The
space-time numerical scheme is defined in terms of a Galerkin approximation in
space and a { semi-implicit Euler--Maruyama scheme in time}. {We prove the
convergence in probability of our scheme by means of an estimate of the error
on a localized set of arbitrary large probability.} Our error estimate is shown
to hold in a more regular space $\mathrm{V}_{\beta}\subset \mathrm{H}$ with
$\beta \in [0,\frac14)$ and { that the explicit rate of convergence of our
scheme depends on this parameter $\beta$. }


title: Bott Periodicity, Submanifolds, and Vector Bundles

abstract:
  We sketch a geometric proof of the classical theorem of Atiyah, Bott, and
Shapiro \cite{ABS} which relates Clifford modules to vector bundles over
spheres. Every module of the Clifford algebra $Cl_k$ defines a particular
vector bundle over $\S^{k+1}$, a generalized Hopf bundle, and the theorem
asserts that this correspondence between $Cl_k$-modules and stable vector
bundles over $\S^{k+1}$ is an isomorphism modulo $Cl_{k+1}$-modules. We prove
this theorem directly, based on explicit deformations as in Milnor's book on
Morse theory \cite{M}, and without referring to the Bott periodicity theorem as
in \cite{ABS}.


title: Random Feature Expansions for Deep Gaussian Processes

abstract:
  The composition of multiple Gaussian Processes as a Deep Gaussian Process
(DGP) enables a deep probabilistic nonparametric approach to flexibly tackle
complex machine learning problems with sound quantification of uncertainty.
Existing inference approaches for DGP models have limited scalability and are
notoriously cumbersome to construct. In this work, we introduce a novel
formulation of DGPs based on random feature expansions that we train using
stochastic variational inference. This yields a practical learning framework
which significantly advances the state-of-the-art in inference for DGPs, and
enables accurate quantification of uncertainty. We extensively showcase the
scalability and performance of our proposal on several datasets with up to 8
million observations, and various DGP architectures with up to 30 hidden
layers.


title: Semileptonic and leptonic $B$ decays, circa 2016

abstract:
  We summarize the status of semileptonic and leptonic $B$ decays, including
$|V_{cb}|$ and $|V_{ub}|$ exclusive and inclusive determinations, decays to
excited states of the charm meson spectrum and decays into $\tau$ leptons.


title: The First-Order Logic of Hyperproperties

abstract:
  We investigate the logical foundations of hyperproperties. Hyperproperties
generalize trace properties, which are sets of traces, to sets of sets of
traces. The most prominent application of hyperproperties is information flow
security: information flow policies characterize the secrecy and integrity of a
system by comparing two or more execution traces, for example by comparing the
observations made by an external observer on execution traces that result from
different values of a secret variable. In this paper, we establish the first
connection between temporal logics for hyperproperties and first-order logic.
Kamp's seminal theorem (in the formulation due to Gabbay et al.) states that
linear-time temporal logic (LTL) is expressively equivalent to first-order
logic over the natural numbers with order. We introduce first-order logic over
sets of traces and prove that HyperLTL, the extension of LTL to
hyperproperties, is strictly subsumed by this logic. We furthermore exhibit a
fragment that is expressively equivalent to HyperLTL, thereby establishing
Kamp's theorem for hyperproperties.


title: New Projects on Dark Photon Search

abstract:
  Despite the great success of the Standard Model of particle physics the
nature of Dark Matter still remains unclear. Recently, the idea of the
existence of a hidden sector coupling only weakly with the ordinary matter was
revitalized and gained popularity. A simple mediator between the hidden and the
visible sector could be a vector particle of a new gauge interaction, the so
called dark photon. Numerous of activities were initiated to probe its
parameter space. The present results and the foreseen experiments aimed to
search for dark photons in few directions are reviewed and discussed.


title:
Prototype VOEvent Network Systems based on VTP and XMPP for the SVOM
  Chinese Science Center

abstract:
  We present the current progress of design and build of two prototype VOEvent
network systems for the SVOM Chinese Science Center. One is based on VTP which
is compatible with the global VOEvent network, the other is based on XMPP which
enables cross-platform messaging and information sharing among human users. We
also present a demonstration of VOEvent controlled follow-up observation,
including triggering, observational data transferring, as well as other
procedures.


title:
A guiding vector field algorithm for path following control of
  nonholonomic mobile robots

abstract:
  In this paper we propose an algorithm for path following control of the
nonholonomic mobile robot based on the idea of the guiding vector field (GVF).
The desired path may be an arbitrary smooth curve in its implicit form, that
is, a level set of a predefined smooth function. Using this function and the
robot's kinematic model, we design a GVF, whose integral curves converge to the
trajectory. A nonlinear motion controller is then proposed which steers the
robot along such an integral curve, bringing it to the desired path. We
establish global convergence conditions for our algorithm and demonstrate its
applicability and performance by experiments with real wheeled robots.


title:
An Efficient Test Facility For The Cherenkov Telescope Array FlashCam
  Readout Electronics Production

abstract:
  The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is the planned next-generation instrument
for ground-based gamma-ray astronomy, currently under preparation by a
world-wide consortium. The FlashCam group is preparing a photomultiplier-based
camera for the Medium Size Telescopes of CTA, with a fully digital Readout
System (ROS). For the forthcoming mass production of a substantial number of
cameras, efficient test routines for all components are currently under
development. We report here on a test facility for the ROS components. A test
setup and routines have been developed and an early version of that setup has
successfully been used to test a significant fraction of the ROS for the
FlashCam camera prototype in January 2016. The test setup with its components
and interface, as well as first results, are presented here.


title: Updates of the MMHT2014 PDFs

abstract:
  We briefly discuss some of the developments since the publication of the
MMHT14 parton distributions. In particular we explore the impact of recent LHC
data for $W^\pm,Z$ and $t\bar{t}$ production, and perform a preliminary new
analysis including these data. In this re-fit (which we tentatively call
`MMHT16') there are few changes of significance in the central values of the
PDFs, but some data reduce the uncertainties, mainly in the strange and valence
quark distributions. We find that an extended $\bar{d}-\bar{u}$ parametrization
only leads to minor changes, with the difference going to zero as $x \to 0$. We
comment on the determination of the photon PDF.


title: Towards Critical Physics in 2+1d with U(2N)-Invariant Fermions

abstract:
  Interacting theories of N relativistic fermion flavors in reducible spinor
representations in 2+1 spacetime dimensions are formulated on a lattice using
domain wall fermions (DWF), for which a U(2N) global symmetry is recovered in
the limit that the wall separation $L_s$ is made large. The Gross-Neveu (GN)
model is studied in the large-N limit and an exponential acceleration of
convergence to the large-$L_s$ limit is demonstrated if the usual
parity-invariant mass $m\bar\psi\psi$ is replaced by the U(2N)-equivalent
$im_3\bar\psi\gamma_3\psi$. The GN model and two lattice variants of the
Thirring model are simulated for N = 2 using a hybrid Monte Carlo algorithm,
and studies made of the symmetry-breaking bilinear condensate and its
associated susceptibility, the axial Ward identity, and the mass spectrum of
both fermion and meson excitations. Comparisons are made with existing results
obtained using staggered fermions. For the GN model a symmetry-breaking phase
transition is observed, the Ward identity is recovered, and the spectrum found
to be consistent with large-N expectations. There appears to be no obstruction
to the study of critical UV fixed-point physics using DWF. For the Thirring
model the Ward identity is not recovered, the spectroscopy measurements are
inconclusive, and no symmetry breaking is observed all the way up to the
effective strong coupling limit. This is consistent with a critical Thirring
flavor number $N_c<2$, contradicting earlier staggered fermion results.


title: A Geometric PID Control Framework for Mechanical Systems

abstract:
  These lectures demonstrate the development of a PID control framework for
mechanical systems. Based on the observation that mechanical systems are
essentially double integrator systems, we generalize the linear PID controller
to mechanical systems that have a non-Euclidean configuration space.
Specifically we start by presenting the development of the geometric PID
controller for fully actuated mechanical systems and then extend it to a class
of under actuated interconnected mechanical systems of practical significance
by introducing the notion of feedback regularization. We show that feedback
regularization is the mechanical system equivalent to partial feedback
linearization. We apply these results for trajectory tracking for several
systems of interest in the field of robotics. First, we demonstrate the robust
almost-global stability properties of the geometric PID controller developed
for fully actuated mechanical systems using simulations and experiments on a
multi-rotor-aerial-vehicle. The extension to the class of under actuated
interconnected systems allow one to ensure the semi-almost-global locally
exponential tracking of the geometric center of a spherical robot on an
inclined plane of unknown angle of inclination. The results are demonstrated
using simulations for a hoop rolling on an inclined plane and then for a sphere
rolling on an inclined plane. The final extension that we present here is that
of geometric PID control for holonomically or non-holonomically constrained
mechanical systems on Lie groups. The results are demonstrated by ensuring the
robust almost global locally exponential tracking of a nontrivial spherical
pendulum.


title: Brane Bounce from logarithmic entropic corrections in the bulk

abstract:
  We calculate new corrections to the Brane-world dynamics, lying in a 5D
Schwarzschild-De Sitter black hole, generalizing the result of Nojiri, Odintsov
and Ogushi (NOO) in Ref.\cite{Nojiri:2002vu}, The NOO entropy effect is based
on the Logharitmic correction to the bulk entropy firstly calculated by
Mukherji and Pal in Ref.\cite{Mukherji:2002de}. We calculate higher order
contributions to the brane worldsheet. The extra terms obtained lead to
interesting implications in brane-cosmology. In particular, new entropic terms
rapidly disappear in the late Universe while exploding in the very Early
Universe. In particular, we show that they may trigger a cosmological bounce in
the very early Universe. On the other hand, they contribute to the cosmological
expansion in the Late Universe. We also discuss a scenario in which the BLK
anisotropies are washed-out, toward a new Ekpyrotic Brane Cosmology.


title:
Automatic numerical differentiation by maximum likelihood estimation of
  state-space model

abstract:
  A linear Gaussian state-space smoothing algorithm is presented for estimation
of derivatives from a sequence of noisy measurements. The algorithm uses
numerically stable square-root formulas, can handle simultaneous independent
measurements and non-equally spaced abscissas, and can compute state estimates
at points between the data abscissas. The state space model's parameters,
including driving noise intensity, measurement variance, and initial state, are
determined from the given data sequence using maximum likelihood estimation
computed using a expectation maximisation iteration. In tests with synthetic
biomechanics data, the algorithm has equivalent or better accuracy compared to
other automatic numerical differentiation algorithms.


title:
Computing the force distribution on the surface of complex, deforming
  geometries using vortex methods and Brinkman penalization

abstract:
  The distribution of forces on the surface of complex, deforming geometries is
an invaluable output of flow simulations. One particular example of such
geometries involves self-propelled swimmers. Surface forces can provide
significant information about the flow field sensed by the swimmers, and are
difficult to obtain experimentally. At the same time, simulations of flow
around complex, deforming shapes can be computationally prohibitive when
body-fitted grids are used. Alternatively, such simulations may employ
penalization techniques. Penalization methods rely on simple Cartesian grids to
discretize the governing equations, which are enhanced by a penalty term to
account for the boundary conditions. They have been shown to provide a robust
estimation of mean quantities, such as drag and propulsion velocity, but the
computation of surface force distribution remains a challenge. We present a
method for determining flow- induced forces on the surface of both rigid and
deforming bodies, in simulations using re-meshed vortex methods and Brinkman
penalization. The pressure field is recovered from the velocity by solving a
Poisson's equation using the Green's function approach, augmented with a fast
multipole expansion and a tree- code algorithm. The viscous forces are
determined by evaluating the strain-rate tensor on the surface of deforming
bodies, and on a 'lifted' surface in simulations involving rigid objects. We
present results for benchmark flows demonstrating that we can obtain an
accurate distribution of flow-induced surface-forces. The capabilities of our
method are demonstrated using simulations of self-propelled swimmers, where we
obtain the pressure and shear distribution on their deforming surfaces.


title:
Optimal stability estimates for a Magnetic Schr\"odinger operator with
  local data

abstract:
  In this paper we prove identifiability and stability estimates for a
local-data inverse boundary value problem for a magnetic Schr\"odinger operator
in dimension $n\geq 3$. We assume that the inaccessible part of the boundary is
part of a hyperplane. We improve the identifiability result obtained by
Krupchyck, Lassas and Uhlmann [14] and also derive the corresponding stability
estimates. We obtain $\log$-estimates for magnetic and electric potentials.


title: Pairwise intersecting homothets of a convex body

abstract:
  We show that the maximum number of pairwise intersecting positive homothets
of a $d$-dimensional centrally symmetric convex body, none of which contains
the center of another in its interior, is at most $3^{d+1}$. Also, we improve
upper bounds for cardinalities of $k$-distance sets in Minkowski spaces.


title: Results on the heavy-dense QCD phase diagram using complex Langevin

abstract:
  Complex Langevin simulations have been able to successfully reproduce results
from Monte Carlo methods in the region where the sign problem is mild and make
predictions when it is exponentially hard. We present here our study of the QCD
phase diagram and the boundary between the confined and deconfined phases in
the limit of heavy and dense quarks (HDQCD) for 3 different lattice volumes. We
also briefly discuss instabilities encountered in our simulations.


title:
The universal "heartbeat" oscillations in black hole systems accross the
  mass-scale

abstract:
  The hyperluminous X-ray source (HLX-1, the peak X-ray luminosity $\sim
10^{42}\rm erg\ s^{-1}$) near the spiral galaxy ESO 243-49 is possibly the best
candidate for intermediate mass black hole (IMBH), which underwent recurrent
outbursts with a period of $\sim 400$ days. The physical reason for this
quasi-periodic variability is still unclear. We explore the possibility of
radiation-pressure instability in accretion disk by modeling the light curve of
HLX-1, and find that it can roughly reproduce the duration, period and
amplitude of the recurrent outbursts HLX-1 with an IMBH of ~10^5Msun. Our
result provides a possible mechanism to explain the recurrent outbursts in
HLX-1. We further find a universal correlation between the outburst duration
and the bolometric luminosity for the BH sources with a very broad mass range
(e.g., X-ray binaries, XRBs, HLX-1 and active galactic nuclei, AGNs), which is
roughly consistent with the prediction of radiation-pressure instability of the
accretion disk. These results imply that "heartbeat" oscillations triggered by
radiation-pressure instability may appears in different-scale BH systems.


title: Large Size Telescope Report

abstract:
  The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) observatory will be deployed over two
sites in the two hemispheres. Both sites will be equipped with four Large Size
Telescopes (LSTs), which are crucial to achieve the science goals of CTA in the
20-200 GeV energy range. Each LST is equipped with a primary tessellated mirror
dish of 23 m diameter, supported by a structure made mainly of carbon fibre
reinforced plastic tubes and aluminum joints. This solution guarantees light
weight (around 100 tons), essential for fast repositioning to any position in
the sky in <20 seconds. The camera is composed of 1855 photomultiplier tubes
and embeds the control, readout and trigger electronics. The detailed design is
now complete and production of the first LST, which will serve as a prototype
for the remaining seven, is ongoing. The installation of the first LST at the
Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on the Canary island of La Palma (Spain)
started in July 2016. In this paper we will outline the technical solutions
adopted to fulfill the design requirements, present results of element
prototyping and describe the installation and operation plans.