title:
Area/latency optimized early output asynchronous full adders and
  relative-timed ripple carry adders

abstract:
  This article presents two area/latency optimized gate level asynchronous full
adder designs which correspond to early output logic. The proposed full adders
are constructed using the delay-insensitive dual-rail code and adhere to the
four-phase return-to-zero handshaking. For an asynchronous ripple carry adder
(RCA) constructed using the proposed early output full adders, the
relative-timing assumption becomes necessary and the inherent advantages of the
relative-timed RCA are: (1) computation with valid inputs, i.e., forward
latency is data-dependent, and (2) computation with spacer inputs involves a
bare minimum constant reverse latency of just one full adder delay, thus
resulting in the optimal cycle time. With respect to different 32-bit RCA
implementations, and in comparison with the optimized strong-indication,
weak-indication, and early output full adder designs, one of the proposed early
output full adders achieves respective reductions in latency by 67.8, 12.3 and
6.1 %, while the other proposed early output full adder achieves corresponding
reductions in area by 32.6, 24.6 and 6.9 %, with practically no power penalty.
Further, the proposed early output full adders based asynchronous RCAs enable
minimum reductions in cycle time by 83.4, 15, and 8.8 % when considering
carry-propagation over the entire RCA width of 32-bits, and maximum reductions
in cycle time by 97.5, 27.4, and 22.4 % for the consideration of a typical
carry chain length of 4 full adder stages, when compared to the least of the
cycle time estimates of various strong-indication, weak-indication, and early
output asynchronous RCAs of similar size. All the asynchronous full adders and
RCAs were realized using standard cells in a semi-custom design fashion based
on a 32/28 nm CMOS process technology.


title:
Balancing Between Over-Weighting and Under-Weighting in Supervised Term
  Weighting

abstract:
  Supervised term weighting could improve the performance of text
categorization. A way proven to be effective is to give more weight to terms
with more imbalanced distributions across categories. This paper shows that
supervised term weighting should not just assign large weights to imbalanced
terms, but should also control the trade-off between over-weighting and
under-weighting. Over-weighting, a new concept proposed in this paper, is
caused by the improper handling of singular terms and too large ratios between
term weights. To prevent over-weighting, we present three regularization
techniques: add-one smoothing, sublinear scaling and bias term. Add-one
smoothing is used to handle singular terms. Sublinear scaling and bias term
shrink the ratios between term weights. However, if sublinear functions scale
down term weights too much, or the bias term is too large, under-weighting
would occur and harm the performance. It is therefore critical to balance
between over-weighting and under-weighting. Inspired by this insight, we also
propose a new supervised term weighting scheme, regularized entropy (re). Our
re employs entropy to measure term distribution, and introduces the bias term
to control over-weighting and under-weighting. Empirical evaluations on topical
and sentiment classification datasets indicate that sublinear scaling and bias
term greatly influence the performance of supervised term weighting, and our re
enjoys the best results in comparison with existing schemes.


title:
Prevention and control of Zika fever as a mosquito-borne and sexually
  transmitted disease

abstract:
  The ongoing Zika virus (ZIKV) epidemic poses a major global public health
emergency. It is known that ZIKV is spread by \textit{Aedes} mosquitoes, recent
studies show that ZIKV can also be transmitted via sexual contact and cases of
sexually transmitted ZIKV have been confirmed in the U.S., France, and Italy.
How sexual transmission affects the spread and control of ZIKV infection is not
well-understood. We presented a mathematical model to investigate the impact of
mosquito-borne and sexual transmission on spread and control of ZIKV and used
the model to fit the ZIKV data in Brazil, Colombia, and El Salvador. Based on
the estimated parameter values, we calculated the median and confidence
interval of the basic reproduction number R0=2.055 (95% CI: 0.523-6.300), in
which the distribution of the percentage of contribution by sexual transmission
is 3.044 (95% CI: 0.123-45.73). Our study indicates that R0 is most sensitive
to the biting rate and mortality rate of mosquitoes while sexual transmission
increases the risk of infection and epidemic size and prolongs the outbreak. In
order to prevent and control the transmission of ZIKV, it must be treated as
not only a mosquito-borne disease but also a sexually transmitted disease.


title: System Design of Internet-of-Things for Residential Smart Grid

abstract:
  Internet-of-Things (IoTs) envisions to integrate, coordinate, communicate,
and collaborate real-world objects in order to perform daily tasks in a more
intelligent and efficient manner. To comprehend this vision, this paper studies
the design of a large scale IoT system for smart grid application, which
constitutes a large number of home users and has the requirement of fast
response time. In particular, we focus on the messaging protocol of a universal
IoT home gateway, where our cloud enabled system consists of a backend server,
unified home gateway (UHG) at the end users, and user interface for mobile
devices. We discuss the features of such IoT system to support a large scale
deployment with a UHG and real-time residential smart grid applications. Based
on the requirements, we design an IoT system using the XMPP protocol, and
implemented in a testbed for energy management applications. To show the
effectiveness of the designed testbed, we present some results using the
proposed IoT architecture.


title:
Quantum Nucleation of Skyrmions in Magnetic Films by Inhomogeneous
  Fields

abstract:
  Recent experiments have reported on controlled nucleation of individual
skyrmions in chiral magnets. Here we show that in magnetic ultra-thin films
with interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, single skyrmions of
different radii can be nucleated by creating a local distortion in the magnetic
field. In our study, we have considered zero temperature quantum nucleation of
a single skyrmion from a ferromagnetic phase. The physical scenario we model is
one where a uniform field stabilizes the ferromagnet, and an opposing local
magnetic field over a circular spot, generated by the tip of a local probe,
drives the skyrmion nucleation. Using spin path integrals and a collective
coordinate approximation, the tunneling rate from the ferromagnetic to the
single skyrmion state is computed as a function of the tip's magnetic field and
the circular spot radius. Suitable parameters for the observation of the
quantum nucleation of single skyrmions are identified.


title:
Quantum walks accompanied by spin flipping in one-dimensional optical
  lattices

abstract:
  We investigate continuous-time quantum walks of two fermionic atoms loaded in
one-dimensional optical lattices with on-site interaction and subjected to a
Zeeman field. The quantum walks are accompanied by spin-flipping processes. We
calculate the time-dependent density distributions of the two fermions with
opposite spins which are initially positioned on the center site by means of
exact numerical method. Besides the usual fast linear expansion behavior, we
find an interesting spin-flipping induced localization in the time-evolution of
density distributions. We show that the fast linear expansion behavior could be
restored by simply ramping on the Zeeman field or further increasing the
spin-flipping strength. The intrinsic origin of this exotic phenomenon is
attributed to the emergence of a flat band in the single particle spectrum of
the system. Furthermore, we investigate the effect of on-site interaction on
the dynamics of the quantum walkers. The two-particle correlations are
calculated and signal of localization is also shown therein. A simple potential
experimental application of this interesting phenomenon is proposed.


title: Cross-cavity quantum Rabi model

abstract:
  We introduce the cross-cavity quantum Rabi model describing the interaction
of a single two-level system with two orthogonal boson fields and propose its
quantum simulation by two-dimensional, bichromatic, first-sideband driving of a
single trapped ion. We provide an introductory survey of the model, including
its diagonalization in the two-level system basis, numerical spectra and its
characteristics in the weak, ultra strong and deep strong coupling regimes. We
also show that the particular case of degenerate field frequencies and balanced
couplings allows us to cast the model as two parity deformed oscillators in any
given coupling regime.


title: Ergodic Theory for Controlled Markov Chains with Stationary Inputs

abstract:
  Consider a stochastic process $\{X(t)\}$ on a finite state space $ {\sf
X}=\{1,\dots, d\}$. It is conditionally Markov, given a real-valued `input
process' $\{\zeta(t)\}$. This is assumed to be small, which is modeled through
the scaling, \[ \zeta_t = \varepsilon \zeta^1_t, \qquad 0\le \varepsilon \le
1\,, \] where $\{\zeta^1(t)\}$ is a bounded stationary process. The following
conclusions are obtained, subject to smoothness assumptions on the controlled
transition matrix and a mixing condition on $\{\zeta(t)\}$:
  (i) A stationary version of the process is constructed, that is coupled with
a stationary version of the Markov chain $\{X^\bullet$(t)\}obtained with
$\{\zeta(t)\}\equiv 0$. The triple $(\{X(t)\}, \{X^\bullet(t)\},\{\zeta(t)\})$
is a jointly stationary process satisfying \[ {\sf P}\{X(t) \neq X^\bullet(t)\}
= O(\varepsilon) \] Moreover, a second-order Taylor-series approximation is
obtained: \[ {\sf P}\{X(t) =i \} ={\sf P}\{X^\bullet(t) =i \} + \varepsilon^2
\varrho(i) + o(\varepsilon^2),\quad 1\le i\le d, \] with an explicit formula
for the vector $\varrho\in\mathbb{R}^d$.
  (ii) For any $m\ge 1$ and any function $f\colon \{1,\dots,d\}\times
\mathbb{R}\to\mathbb{R}^m$, the stationary stochastic process $Y(t) =
f(X(t),\zeta(t))$ has a power spectral density $\text{S}_f$ that admits a
second order Taylor series expansion: A function $\text{S}^{(2)}_f\colon
[-\pi,\pi] \to \mathbb{C}^{ m\times m}$ is constructed such that \[
\text{S}_f(\theta) = \text{S}^\bullet_f(\theta) + \varepsilon^2
\text{S}_f^{(2)}(\theta) + o(\varepsilon^2),\quad \theta\in [-\pi,\pi] . \] An
explicit formula for the function $\text{S}_f^{(2)}$ is obtained, based in part
on the bounds in (i).
  The results are illustrated using a version of the timing channel of
Anantharam and Verdu.


title: Spectroscopy of 46Ar by the (t,p) two-neutron transfer reaction

abstract:
  States in the $N=28$ nucleus $^{46}$Ar have been studied by a two-neutron
transfer reaction at REX-ISOLDE (CERN). A beam of radioactive $^{44}$ at an
energy of 2.16~AMeV and a tritium loaded titanium target were used to populate
$^{46}$ by the t($^{44}$,p) two-neutron transfer reaction. Protons emitted from
the target were identified in the T-REX silicon detector array. The excitation
energies of states in $^{46}$ have been reconstructed from the measured angles
and energies of recoil protons. Angular distributions for three final states
were measured and based on the shape of the differential cross section an
excited state at 3695~keV has been identified as $J^\pi = 0^+$. The angular
differential cross section for the population of different states are compared
to calculations using a reaction model employing both sequential and direct
transfer of two neutrons. Results are compared to shell model calculations
using state-of-the-art effective interactions.


title: Massive to gauge field reduction and gravitational wave zone information

abstract:
  We show explicitly that massive, Abelian, vector, just like (properly
defined) massive tensor, fields limit smoothly to their massless, gauge,
versions: they emit only maximal helicity radiation and mediate Coulomb and
(special relativistic) Newtonian, forces between their (conserved) sources. Our
main motivation, though, is to show that the recent gravitational wave
detection probably cannot directly rule out very long-range gravity: Even
though the waves were emitted in a strong field regime, their being detected in
the weak field wave zone means the above equivalences apply. There remains the,
not unlikely, possibility that no strong field generation of radiation in
massive models can reproduce the observed ring-down patterns. Separately, the
smooth linear limiting behaviors show that the discontinuity lies not in the
mass alone, but rather in Abelian versus non-Abelian, Yang-Mills and General
Relativity, regimes, whose respective massive versions are known to be
non-physical.


title: Optical, transport and magnetic properties of new compound CeCd3P3

abstract:
  We have found that CeCd$_{3}$P$_{3}$ crystallizes into a hexagonal
ScAl$_{3}$C$_{3}$-type structure. The optical, transport and magnetic
properties of CeCd$_{3}$P$_{3}$ were investigated by measuring the diffuse
reflectance, electrical resistivity and magnetization. CeCd$_{3}$P$_{3}$ is a
semiconductor with the fundamental band gap of approximately 0.75 eV. The 4$f$
electrons of Ce$^{3+}$ ions are well localized but do not show long range order
down to 0.48 K, presumably due to the geometrical frustration of Ce atoms. The
magnetic ordering temperature is possibly lower than that of isostructural
CeZn$_{3}$P$_{3}$ (0.75 K). Because several $f$-electron compounds with the
ScAl$_{3}$C$_{3}$-type structure are quantum spin systems, CeCd$_{3}$P$_{3}$
may be a candidate of quantum spin liquid. On the other hand, the relatively
large band gap compared to approximately 0.4 eV in CeZn$_{3}$P$_{3}$, would not
be intimate with the observation of photoinduced Kondo effect, providing a
potentially new range of applications of devices based on the Kondo effect.


title:
Capillary Action in a Crack on the Surface of Asteroids with an
  Application to 433 Eros

abstract:
  Some asteroids contain water ice, and a space mission landing on an asteroid
may take liquid to the surface of the asteroid. Gas pressure is very weak on
the surface of asteroids. Here we consider the capillary action in a crack on
the surface of irregular asteroids. The crack is modelled as a capillary which
has a fixed radius. An asteroid s irregular gravitational potential influences
the height of the liquid in the capillary. The height of the liquid in the
capillary on the surface of such asteroids is derived from the asteroid s
irregular gravitational potential. Capillary mechanisms are expected to produce
an inhomogeneaous distribution of emergent liquid on the surface. This result
is applied to asteroid 433 Eros, which has an irregular, elongated, and concave
shape. Two cases are considered 1) we calculate the height of the liquid in the
capillary when the direction of the capillary is perpendicular to the local
surface of the asteroid; 2) we calculate the height of the liquid in the
capillary when the direction of the capillary is parallel to the vector from
the center of mass to the surface position. The projected height in the
capillary on the local surface of the asteroid seems to depend on the assumed
direction of the capillary.


title: Multi-Oriented Text Detection with Fully Convolutional Networks

abstract:
  In this paper, we propose a novel approach for text detec- tion in natural
images. Both local and global cues are taken into account for localizing text
lines in a coarse-to-fine pro- cedure. First, a Fully Convolutional Network
(FCN) model is trained to predict the salient map of text regions in a holistic
manner. Then, text line hypotheses are estimated by combining the salient map
and character components. Fi- nally, another FCN classifier is used to predict
the centroid of each character, in order to remove the false hypotheses. The
framework is general for handling text in multiple ori- entations, languages
and fonts. The proposed method con- sistently achieves the state-of-the-art
performance on three text detection benchmarks: MSRA-TD500, ICDAR2015 and
ICDAR2013.


title:
Robust singlet dimers with fragile ordering in two-dimensional honeycomb
  lattice of Li$_2$RuO$_3$

abstract:
  When an electronic system has strong correlations and a large spin-orbit
interaction, it often exhibits a plethora of mutually competing quantum phases.
How a particular quantum ground state is selected out of several possibilities
is a very interesting question. However, equally fascinating is how such a
quantum entangled state breaks up due to perturbation. This important question
has relevance in very diverse fields of science from strongly correlated
electron physics to quantum information. Here we report that a quantum
entangled dimerized state or valence bond crystal (VBC) phase of Li2RuO3 shows
nontrivial doping dependence as we perturb the Ru honeycomb lattice by
replacing Ru with Li. Through extensive experimental studies, we demonstrate
that the VBC phase melts into a valence bond liquid phase of the RVB
(resonating valence bond) type. This system offers an interesting playground
where one can test and refine our current understanding of the quantum
competing phases in a single compound.


title:
Resonant tunneling spectroscopy of valley eigenstates on a hybrid double
  quantum dot

abstract:
  We report electronic transport measurements through a silicon hybrid double
quantum dot consisting of a donor and a quantum dot. Transport spectra show
resonant tunneling peaks involving different valley states, which illustrate
the valley splitting in a quantum dot on a Si/SiO2 interface. The detailed gate
bias dependence of double dot transport allows a first direct observation of
the valley splitting in the quantum dot, which is controllable between 160-240
ueV with an electric field dependence 1.2 +- 0.2 meV/(MV/m). A large valley
splitting is an essential requirement to implement a physical electron spin
qubit in a silicon quantum dot.


title:
Beamforming for Simultaneous Wireless Information and Power Transfer in
  Two-Way Relay Channels

abstract:
  This paper studies simultaneous wireless information and power transfer
(SWIPT) systems in two-way relaying (TWR) channels. Here, two source nodes
receive information and energy simultaneously via power splitting (PS) from the
signals sent by a multi-antenna relay node. Our objective is to maximize the
weighted sum of the harvested energy at two source nodes subject to quality of
service (QoS) constraints and the relay power constraints. Three well-known and
practical two-way relay strategies are considered, i.e., amplify-and-forward
(AF), bit level XOR based decode-and-forward (DF-XOR) and symbol level
superposition coding based DF (DF-SUP). For each relaying strategy, we
formulate the joint energy transmit beamforming and PS ratios optimization as a
nonconvex quadratically constrained problem. To find a closed-form solution of
the formulated problem, we decouple the primal problem into two subproblems. In
the first problem, we intend to optimize beamforming vector for a given PS
ratio. In the second subproblem, we optimize the PS ratio with a given
beamforming vector. It is worth noting that although the corresponding
subproblem are nonconvex, the optimal solution of each subproblem can still be
found by using certain techniques. We provide numerical results that
demonstrate the advantage of adapting the different relaying strategies and
weighted factors to harvest energy in two-way relaying channel.


title:
A Catalog of Low-Mass Star-Forming Cores Observed with SHARC-II at 350
  microns

abstract:
  We present a catalog of low-mass dense cores observed with the SHARC-II
instrument at 350 microns. Our observations have an effective angular
resolution of 10", approximately 2.5 times higher than observations at the same
wavelength obtained with the Herschel Space Observatory, albeit with lower
sensitivity, especially to extended emission. The catalog includes 81 maps
covering a total of 164 detected sources. For each detected source, we tabulate
basic source properties including position, peak intensity, flux density in
fixed apertures, and radius. We examine the uncertainties in the pointing model
applied to all SHARC-II data and conservatively find that the model corrections
are good to within ~3", approximately 1/3 of the SHARC-II beam. We examine the
differences between two array scan modes and find that the instrument
calibration, beam size, and beam shape are similar between the two modes. We
also show that the same flux densities are measured when sources are observed
in the two different modes, indicating that there are no systematic effects
introduced into our catalog by utilizing two different scan patterns during the
course of taking observations. We find a detection rate of 95% for protostellar
cores but only 45% for starless cores, and demonstrate the existence of a
SHARC-II detection bias against all but the most massive and compact starless
cores. Finally, we discuss the improvements in protostellar classification
enabled by these 350 micron observations.


title: A new proof of the Hansen-Mullen irreducibility conjecture

abstract:
  We give a new proof of the Hansen-Mullen irreducibility conjecture. The proof
relies on an application of a (seemingly new) sufficient condition for the
existence of elements of degree $n$ in the support of functions on finite
fields. This connection to irreducible polynomials is made via the least period
of the discrete Fourier transform (DFT) of functions with values in finite
fields. We exploit this relation and prove, in an elementary fashion, that a
relevant function related to the DFT of characteristic elementary symmetric
functions (which produce the coefficients of characteristic polynomials) has a
sufficiently large least period (except for some genuine exceptions). This
bears a sharp contrast to previous techniques in literature employed to tackle
existence of irreducible polynomials with prescribed coefficients.


title:
Towards Automated Melanoma Screening: Proper Computer Vision & Reliable
  Results

abstract:
  In this paper we survey, analyze and criticize current art on automated
melanoma screening, reimplementing a baseline technique, and proposing two
novel ones. Melanoma, although highly curable when detected early, ends as one
of the most dangerous types of cancer, due to delayed diagnosis and treatment.
Its incidence is soaring, much faster than the number of trained professionals
able to diagnose it. Automated screening appears as an alternative to make the
most of those professionals, focusing their time on the patients at risk while
safely discharging the other patients. However, the potential of automated
melanoma diagnosis is currently unfulfilled, due to the emphasis of current
literature on outdated computer vision models. Even more problematic is the
irreproducibility of current art. We show how streamlined pipelines based upon
current Computer Vision outperform conventional models - a model based on an
advanced bags of words reaches an AUC of 84.6%, and a model based on deep
neural networks reaches 89.3%, while the baseline (a classical bag of words)
stays at 81.2%. We also initiate a dialog to improve reproducibility in our
community


title: Observation of Parity-Time Symmetry in Optically Induced Atomic Lattices

abstract:
  We experimentally demonstrate PT-symmetric optical lattices with periodical
gain and loss profiles in a coherently-prepared four-level N-type atomic
system. By appropriately tuning the pertinent atomic parameters, the onset of
PT-symmetry breaking is observed through measuring an abrupt phase-shift jump
between adjacent gain and loss waveguides. The experimental realization of such
readily reconfigurable and effectively controllable PT-symmetric waveguide
array structure sets a new stage for further exploiting and better
understanding the peculiar physical properties of these non-Hermitian systems
in atomic settings.


title:
Fast Parallel Randomized Algorithm for Nonnegative Matrix Factorization
  with KL Divergence for Large Sparse Datasets

abstract:
  Nonnegative Matrix Factorization (NMF) with Kullback-Leibler Divergence
(NMF-KL) is one of the most significant NMF problems and equivalent to
Probabilistic Latent Semantic Indexing (PLSI), which has been successfully
applied in many applications. For sparse count data, a Poisson distribution and
KL divergence provide sparse models and sparse representation, which describe
the random variation better than a normal distribution and Frobenius norm.
Specially, sparse models provide more concise understanding of the appearance
of attributes over latent components, while sparse representation provides
concise interpretability of the contribution of latent components over
instances. However, minimizing NMF with KL divergence is much more difficult
than minimizing NMF with Frobenius norm; and sparse models, sparse
representation and fast algorithms for large sparse datasets are still
challenges for NMF with KL divergence. In this paper, we propose a fast
parallel randomized coordinate descent algorithm having fast convergence for
large sparse datasets to archive sparse models and sparse representation. The
proposed algorithm's experimental results overperform the current studies' ones
in this problem.


title:
An ALMA Search for Substructure, Fragmentation, and Hidden Protostars in
  Starless Cores in Chamaeleon I

abstract:
  We present an Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) 106 GHz
(Band 3) continuum survey of the complete population of dense cores in the
Chamaeleon I molecular cloud. We detect a total of 24 continuum sources in 19
different target fields. All previously known Class 0 and Class I protostars in
Chamaeleon I are detected, whereas all of the 56 starless cores in our sample
are undetected. We show that the Spitzer+Herschel census of protostars in
Chamaeleon I is complete, with the rate at which protostellar cores have been
misclassified as starless cores calculated as <1/56, or < 2%. We use synthetic
observations to show that starless cores collapsing following the turbulent
fragmentation scenario are detectable by our ALMA observations when their
central densities exceed ~10^8 cm^-3, with the exact density dependent on the
viewing geometry. Bonnor-Ebert spheres, on the other hand, remain undetected to
central densities at least as high as 10^10 cm^-3. Our starless core
non-detections are used to infer that either the star formation rate is
declining in Chamaeleon I and most of the starless cores are not collapsing,
matching the findings of previous studies, or that the evolution of starless
cores are more accurately described by models that develop less substructure
than predicted by the turbulent fragmentation scenario, such as Bonnor-Ebert
spheres. We outline future work necessary to distinguish between these two
possibilities.


title: Partitions with fixed largest hook length

abstract:
  Motivated by a recent paper of Straub, we study the distribution of integer
partitions according to the length of their largest hook, instead of the usual
statistic, namely the size of the partitions. We refine Straub's analogue of
Euler's Odd-Distinct partition theorem, derive a generalization in the spirit
of Alder's conjecture, as well as a curious analogue of the first
Rogers-Ramanujan identity. Moreover, we obtain a partition theorem that is the
counterpart of Euler's pentagonal number theory in this setting, and connect it
with the Rogers-Fine identity. We concludes with some congruence properties.


title: Multi-Source Multi-View Clustering via Discrepancy Penalty

abstract:
  With the advance of technology, entities can be observed in multiple views.
Multiple views containing different types of features can be used for
clustering. Although multi-view clustering has been successfully applied in
many applications, the previous methods usually assume the complete instance
mapping between different views. In many real-world applications, information
can be gathered from multiple sources, while each source can contain multiple
views, which are more cohesive for learning. The views under the same source
are usually fully mapped, but they can be very heterogeneous. Moreover, the
mappings between different sources are usually incomplete and partially
observed, which makes it more difficult to integrate all the views across
different sources. In this paper, we propose MMC (Multi-source Multi-view
Clustering), which is a framework based on collective spectral clustering with
a discrepancy penalty across sources, to tackle these challenges. MMC has
several advantages compared with other existing methods. First, MMC can deal
with incomplete mapping between sources. Second, it considers the disagreements
between sources while treating views in the same source as a cohesive set.
Third, MMC also tries to infer the instance similarities across sources to
enhance the clustering performance. Extensive experiments conducted on
real-world data demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.


title: Predicted Unusual Magnetoresponse in Type-II Weyl Semimetals

abstract:
  We show several distinct signatures in the magneto-response of type-II Weyl
semimetals. The energy tilt tends to squeeze the Landau levels (LLs), and for a
type-II Weyl node, there always exists a critical angle between the B-fileld
and the tilt, at which the LL spectrum collapses, regardless of the fileld
strength. Before collapse, signatures also appear in the magneto-optical
spectrum, including the invariable presence of intraband peaks, the absence of
absorption tails, and the special anisotropic fileld dependence.


title: Boxy H$\alpha$ Emission Profiles in Star-Forming Galaxies

abstract:
  We assemble a sample of disk star-forming galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky
Survey Data Release 7, studying the structure of H$\alpha$ emission lines,
finding a large fraction of this sample contains boxy H$\alpha$ line profiles.
This fraction depends on galaxy physical and geometric parameters in the
following way: (1) it increases monotonically with star formation rate per unit
area ($\Sigma_{\rm SFR}$), and stellar mass ($M_*$), with the trend being much
stronger with $M_*$, from $\sim$0% at $M_*=10^{10}M_{\odot}$ to about 50% at
$M_*=10^{11}M_\odot$; (2) the fraction is much smaller in face-on systems than
in edge-on systems. It increases with galaxy inclination ($i$) while $i <
60\,^{\circ}$ and is roughly a constant of 25% beyond this range; (3) for the
sources which can be modeled well with two velocity components, blueshifted and
redshifted from the systemic velocity, these is a positive correlation between
the velocity difference of these two components and the stellar mass, with a
slope similar to the Tully-Fisher relation; (4) the two components are very
symmetric in the mean, both in velocity and in amplitude. The four findings
listed above can be understood as a natural result of a rotating galaxy disk
with a kpc-scale ring-like H$\alpha$ emission region.


title:
Generalized Wick theorems in conformal field theory and the Borcherds
  identity

abstract:
  As a counterpart of the well-known generalized Wick theorem by Bais et. al.
in 1988 for interacting fields in two dimensional conformal field theory, we
present a new contour integral formula for the operator product expansion of a
normally ordered operator and a single operator on its right hand. Quite
similar to the original Wick theorem for the opposite order operator product,
it expresses the contraction i.e.the singular part of the operator product
expansion as a contour integral of only two terms, each of which is a product
of a contraction and a single operator. We discuss the relation between these
formulas and the Borcherds identity satisfied by the quantum fields associated
with the theory of vertex algebras.


title: From dripline to dripline: Nuclear astrophysics in the laboratory

abstract:
  For the better part of a century the field of nuclear astrophysics has aimed
to answer fundamental questions about nature, such as the origin of the
elements and the behavior of high-density, low-temperature matter. Sustained
and concerted efforts in nuclear experiment have been key to achieving progress
in these areas and will continue to be so. Here I will briefly review recent
accomplishments and open questions in experimental nuclear astrophysics.


title:
Electron mobility of a two-dimensional electron gas at the interface of
  SrTiO$_3$ and LaAlO$_3$

abstract:
  We calculate the mobility of a two-dimensional electron gas residing at the
interface of LaAlO$_{3}$/SrTiO$_{3}$ following a three band Boltzmann approach
at low temperature, where carrier-charged impurity scattering process is
assumed to be dominant. We explain the anisotropic characteristic of the
dielectric function, which is a consequence of elliptical bands close to Fermi
surface. The screening effect, which weakens the long-range Coulomb interaction
of the electron-impurity is considered within the random phase approximation.
Working at carrier densities high enough to neglect the spin-orbit induced
splitting of the bands, we find that the mobility varies inversely with the
cubic power of the carrier density ($n_{2D}^{-3}$) in good agreement with the
experimental results. We also investigate the role of variable dielectric
constant of SrTiO$_{3}$, the multiband nature of the system and interband
interactions in exploring this result.


title:
Stability of heat kernel estimates for symmetric non-local Dirichlet
  forms

abstract:
  In this paper, we consider symmetric jump processes of mixed-type on metric
measure spaces under general volume doubling condition, and establish stability
of two-sided heat kernel estimates and heat kernel upper bounds. We obtain
their stable equivalent characterizations in terms of the jumping kernels,
variants of cut-off Sobolev inequalities, and the Faber-Krahn inequalities. In
particular, we establish stability of heat kernel estimates for
$\alpha$-stable-like processes even with $\alpha\ge 2$ when the underlying
spaces have walk dimensions larger than $2$, which has been one of the major
open problems in this area.


title: Polarization of massive fermions in a vortical fluid

abstract:
  Fermions become polarized in a vorticular fluid due to spin-vorticity
coupling. Such a polarization can be calculated from the Wigner function in a
quantum kinetic approach. Extending previous results for chiral fermions, we
derive the Wigner function for massive fermions up to the next-to-leading order
in spatial gradient expansion. The polarization density of fermions can be
calculated from the axial vector component of the Wigner function and is found
to be proportional to the local vorticity $\omega$. The polarizations per
particle for fermions and anti-fermions decrease with the chemical potential
and increase with energy (mass). Both quantities approach the asymptotic value
$\hbar\omega/4$ in the large energy (mass) limit. The polarization per particle
for fermions is always smaller than that for anti-fermions, whose ratio of
fermions to anti-fermions also decreases with the chemical potential. The
polarization per particle on the Cooper-Frye freeze-out hyper-surface can also
be formulated and is consistent with the previous result of Becattini et al..


title: An infinite-rank summand of knots with trivial Alexander polynomial

abstract:
  We show that there exists a $\mathbb{Z}^\infty$-summand in the subgroup of
the knot concordance group generated by knots with trivial Alexander
polynomial. To this end we use the invariant Upsilon $\Upsilon$ recently
introduced by Ozsv\'ath, Stipsicz and Szab\'o using knot Floer homology. We
partially compute $\Upsilon$ of $(n,1)$-cable of the Whitehead double of the
trefoil knot. For this computation of $\Upsilon$, we determine a sufficient
condition for two satellite knots to have identical $\Upsilon$ for any pattern
with nonzero winding number.


title:
More than a Million Ways to Be Pushed: A High-Fidelity Experimental
  Dataset of Planar Pushing

abstract:
  Pushing is a motion primitive useful to handle objects that are too large,
too heavy, or too cluttered to be grasped. It is at the core of much of robotic
manipulation, in particular when physical interaction is involved. It seems
reasonable then to wish for robots to understand how pushed objects move.
  In reality, however, robots often rely on approximations which yield models
that are computable, but also restricted and inaccurate. Just how close are
those models? How reasonable are the assumptions they are based on? To help
answer these questions, and to get a better experimental understanding of
pushing, we present a comprehensive and high-fidelity dataset of planar pushing
experiments. The dataset contains timestamped poses of a circular pusher and a
pushed object, as well as forces at the interaction.We vary the push
interaction in 6 dimensions: surface material, shape of the pushed object,
contact position, pushing direction, pushing speed, and pushing acceleration.
An industrial robot automates the data capturing along precisely controlled
position-velocity-acceleration trajectories of the pusher, which give dense
samples of positions and forces of uniform quality.
  We finish the paper by characterizing the variability of friction, and
evaluating the most common assumptions and simplifications made by models of
frictional pushing in robotics.


title: Improving bounds on the diameter of a polyhedron in high dimensions

abstract:
  In 1992, Kalai and Kleitman proved that the diameter of a $d$-dimensional
polyhedron with $n$ facets is at most $n^{2+\log_2 d}$. In 2014, Todd improved
the Kalai-Kleitman bound to $(n-d)^{\log_2 d}$. We improve the Todd bound to
$(n-d)^{-1+\log_2 d}$ for $n \ge d \ge 7$, $(n-d)^{-2+\log_2 d}$ for $n \ge d
\ge 37$, and $(n-d)^{-3+\log_2 d+O\left(1/d\right)}$ for $n \ge d \ge 1$.


title: Refined elliptic tropical invariants of toric surfaces

abstract:
  F. Block and L. G\"ottsche introduced refined tropical invariants of toric
surfaces that intertwine tropical Gromov-Witten and Welschinger invariants of
toric surfaces. L. G\"ottsche and the first author introduced refined broccoli
invariants that intertwine some genus zero descendant tropical invariants and
broccoli invariants of toric surfaces. In this note, we extend the refined
broccoli invariants to the genus one case.


title:
The MWA GLEAM 4Jy Sample; a new large, bright radio source sample at 151
  MHz

abstract:
  This paper outlines how the new GaLactic and Extragalactic All-sky MWA Survey
(GLEAM, Wayth et al. 2015), observed by the Murchison Widefield Array covering
the frequency range 72 - 231 MHz, allows identification of a new large,
complete, sample of more than 2000 bright extragalactic radio sources selected
at 151 MHz. With a flux density limit of 4 Jy this sample is significantly
larger than the canonical fully-complete sample, 3CRR (Laing, Riley & Longair
1983). In analysing this small bright subset of the GLEAM survey we are also
providing a first user check of the GLEAM catalogue ahead of its public release
(Hurley-Walker et al. in prep). Whilst significant work remains to fully
characterise our new bright source sample, in time it will provide important
constraints to evolutionary behaviour, across a wide redshift and intrinsic
radio power range, as well as being highly complementary to results from
targeted, small area surveys.


title: Angular analysis of $B^0 \to K^\ast(892)^0 \ell^+ \ell^-$

abstract:
  We present a measurement of angular observables, $P_4'$, $P_5'$, $P_6'$,
$P_8'$, in the decay $B^0 \to K^\ast(892)^0 \ell^+ \ell^-$, where
$\ell^+\ell^-$ is either $e^+e^-$ or $\mu^+\mu^-$. The analysis is performed on
a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of
$711~\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$ containing $772\times 10^{6}$ $B\bar B$ pairs, collected
at the $\Upsilon(4S)$ resonance with the Belle detector at the
asymmetric-energy $e^+e^-$ collider KEKB. Four angular observables,
$P_{4,5,6,8}'$ are extracted in five bins of the invariant mass squared of the
lepton system, $q^2$. We compare our results for $P_{4,5,6,8}'$ with Standard
Model predictions including the $q^2$ region in which the LHCb collaboration
reported the so-called $P_5'$ anomaly.


title: Roles of scalar mesons in charmless $\Lambda_b$ decays

abstract:
  We first study the charmless two-body $\Lambda_b$ decays with the scalar
mesons as the final states and predict that ${\cal B}(\Lambda_b\to \Lambda
f_0(980,1500))=(2.9\pm 0.7,12.4\pm 3.8)\times 10^{-6}$ and ${\cal
B}(\Lambda_b\to p K^{*-}_0(800,1430))=(1.9\pm 0.5,14.1\pm 4.5)\times 10^{-6}$.
With the resonant $f_0(980,1500)\to (\pi^+\pi^-,K^+K^-)$ and $K^{*-}_0\to \bar
K^0 \pi^-$ decays, we then obtain ${\cal B}(\Lambda_b\to \Lambda
(\pi^+\pi^-,K^+K^-))=(4.2\pm 1.0,3.5\pm0.7)\times 10^{-6}$ and ${\cal
B}(\Lambda_b\to p\bar K^0 \pi^-)=(10.4\pm2.9)\times 10^{-6}$, in comparison
with the data of $(4.6\pm 1.9,15.9\pm2.6)\times 10^{-6}$ and $(12.6\pm
4.0)\times 10^{-6}$ from LHCb, respectively. Our results for $\Lambda_b\to
\Lambda\pi^+\pi^-$ and $\Lambda_b\to p\bar K^0 \pi^-$ would be regarded as the
first evidences of the scalar meson productions in the anti-triplet $b$-baryon
decays. The smaller predicted value of ${\cal B}(\Lambda_b\to \Lambda K^+K^-)$
indicates the existences of other resonant contributions to the decay, such as
$\Lambda_b\to K^-(N^{*+}\to)\Lambda K^+$.


title:
A Framework for Predictive Analysis of Stock Market Indices : A Study of
  the Indian Auto Sector

abstract:
  Analysis and prediction of stock market time series data has attracted
considerable interest from the research community over the last decade. Rapid
development and evolution of sophisticated algorithms for statistical analysis
of time series data, and availability of high-performance hardware has made it
possible to process and analyze high volume stock market time series data
effectively, in real-time. Among many other important characteristics and
behavior of such data, forecasting is an area which has witnessed considerable
focus. In this work, we have used time series of the index values of the Auto
sector in India during January 2010 to December 2015 for a deeper understanding
of the behavior of its three constituent components, e.g., the trend, the
seasonal component, and the random component. Based on this structural
analysis, we have also designed five approaches for forecasting and also
computed their accuracy in prediction using suitably chosen training and test
data sets. Extensive results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of
our proposed decomposition approaches of time series and the efficiency of our
forecasting techniques, even in presence of a random component and a sharply
changing trend component in the time-series.


title: Pebbling in Semi-2-Trees

abstract:
  Graph pebbling is a network model for transporting discrete resources that
are consumed in transit. Deciding whether a given configuration on a particular
graph can reach a specified target is ${\sf NP}$-complete, even for diameter
two graphs, and deciding whether the pebbling number has a prescribed upper
bound is $\Pi_2^{\sf P}$-complete. Recently we proved that the pebbling number
of a split graph can be computed in polynomial time. This paper advances the
program of finding other polynomial classes, moving away from the large tree
width, small diameter case (such as split graphs) to small tree width, large
diameter, continuing an investigation on the important subfamily of chordal
graphs called $k$-trees. In particular, we provide a formula, that can be
calculated in polynomial time, for the pebbling number of any semi-2-tree,
falling shy of the result for the full class of 2-trees.


title: On extending Soul\'e's variant of Bloch-Quillen identification

abstract:
  Based on Balmer's tensor triangular Chow group [2], we propose
(Milnor)K-theoretic Chow groups of derived categories of schemes. These Milnor
K-theoretic Chow groups recover the classical ones [6] for smooth projective
varieties and can detect nilpotent, while the classical ones can't do. As an
application, we extend Soul\'e's variant of Bloch-Quilled identification from
smooth projective varieties to their trivial infinitesimal thickenings. This
answers affirmatively a question by Green-Griffiths for trivial deformations,
see Question 1.1 below.


title:
Reconciling simulated melting and ground-state properties of metals with
  a modified embedded-atom method potential

abstract:
  We propose a modification of the embedded-atom method-type potential aiming
at reconciling simulated melting and ground-state properties of metals by means
of classical molecular dynamics. Considering titanium, magnesium, gold, and
platinum as case studies, we demonstrate that simulations performed with the
modified force field yield quantitatively correctly both the melting
temperature of the metals and their ground-state properties. It is shown that
the accounting for the long-range interatomic interactions noticeably affect
the melting point assessment. The introduced modification weakens the
interaction at interatomic distances exceeding the equilibrium one by a
characteristic vibration amplitude defined by the Lindemann criterion, thus
allowing for the correct simulation of melting, while keeping its behavior in
the vicinity of the ground state minimum. The modification of the many-body
potential has a general nature and can be applicable to metals with different
characteristics of the electron structure as well as for many different
molecular and solid state systems experiencing phase transitions.


title: Deep Feature Based Contextual Model for Object Detection

abstract:
  Object detection is one of the most active areas in computer vision, which
has made significant improvement in recent years. Current state-of-the-art
object detection methods mostly adhere to the framework of regions with
convolutional neural network (R-CNN) and only use local appearance features
inside object bounding boxes. Since these approaches ignore the contextual
information around the object proposals, the outcome of these detectors may
generate a semantically incoherent interpretation of the input image. In this
paper, we propose an ensemble object detection system which incorporates the
local appearance, the contextual information in term of relationships among
objects and the global scene based contextual feature generated by a
convolutional neural network. The system is formulated as a fully connected
conditional random field (CRF) defined on object proposals and the contextual
constraints among object proposals are modeled as edges naturally. Furthermore,
a fast mean field approximation method is utilized to inference in this CRF
model efficiently. The experimental results demonstrate that our approach
achieves a higher mean average precision (mAP) on PASCAL VOC 2007 datasets
compared to the baseline algorithm Faster R-CNN.


title: Quest for the Origin of Heavy Fermion Behavior in $d$-Electron Systems

abstract:
  Spin fluctuation is presumed to be one of the key properties in understanding
the microscopic origin of heavy-fermion-like behavior in the class of
transition-metal compounds, including LiV$_2$O$_4$, Y(Sc)Mn$_2$, and
YMn$_2$Zn$_{20}$. In this review, we demonstrate by our recent study of muon
spin rotation/relaxation that the temperature ($T$) dependence of the
longitudinal spin relaxation rate ($\lambda\equiv 1/T_1$) in these compounds
exhibits a common trend of leveling off to a constant value ($\lambda\sim
const$.) below a characteristic temperature, $T^*$. This is in marked contrast
to the behavior predicted for normal metals from the Korringa relation,
$\lambda\propto T/\nu$, where the spin fluctuation rate ($\nu$) in the Pauli
paramagnetic state is given as a constant, $\nu\simeq 1/[h D(E_F)]$ [with
$D(E_F)$ being the density of states at the Fermi energy]. Thus, the observed
behavior of $\lambda$ implies that the spin fluctuation rate becomes linearly
dependent on temperature, $\nu\propto T$, suggesting that heavy quasiparticles
develop in a manner satisfying $D(E_F)\propto (m^*)^{\sigma}\propto 1/T$ at
lower temperatures ($\sigma$ determined by the electronic dispersion).
Considering that the theory of spin correlation for intersecting Hubbard chains
as a model of pyrochlore lattice predicts $\nu\propto T$, our finding strongly
indicates the crucial role of $t_{2g}$ bands which preserve the one-dimensional
character at low energies due to the geometrical frustration specific to the
undistorted pyrochlore lattice.


title: Waxing and Waning of Observed Extreme Annual Tropical Rainfall

abstract:
  We begin by providing observational evidence that the probability of
encountering very high and very low annual tropical rainfall has increased
significantly in the recent decade (1998-present) as compared to the preceding
warming era (1979-1997). These changes over land and ocean are spatially
coherent and comprise of a rearrangement of very wet regions and a systematic
expansion of dry zones. While the increased likelihood of extremes is
consistent with a higher average temperature during the pause (as compared to
1979-1997), it is important to note that the periods considered are also
characterized by a transition from a relatively warm to cold phase of the El
Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO). To further probe the relation between
contrasting phases of ENSO and extremes in accumulation, a similar comparison
is performed between 1960-1978 (another extended cold phase of ENSO) and the
aforementioned warming era. Though limited by land-only observations, in this
cold-to-warm transition, remarkably, a near-exact reversal of extremes is noted
both statistically and geographically. This is despite the average temperature
being higher in 1979-1997 as compared to 1960-1978. Taken together, we propose
that there is a fundamental mode of natural variability, involving the waxing
and waning of extremes in accumulation of global tropical rainfall with
different phases of ENSO.


title:
Note on Pontryagin maximum principle with running state constraints and
  smooth dynamics -- Proof based on the Ekeland variational principle

abstract:
  In this note our aim is to give a proof of the Pontryagin maximum principle
for a general optimal control problem with running state constraints and smooth
dynamics. Our proof is based on the classical Ekeland variational principle.
The main result (and its proof) of this note are not new and are already
well-known in the literature. The aim of the author is only to provide a
complete and detailed proof of this classical theorem in the case of smooth
dynamics. If you have any remarks or questions, do not hesitate to contact the
author at loic.bourdin@unilim.fr.


title:
Memory-efficient recycling of large Krylov-subspaces for sequences of
  Hermitian linear systems

abstract:
  We present a new short-recurrence reaidual-optimal Krylov subspace recycling
method for sequences of Hermitian systems of linear equations with a fixed
system matrix and changing right-hand sides. Such sequences of linear systems
occur while solving, e.g., discretized time-dependent partial differential
equations. With this new method it is possible to recycle large-dimensional
Krylov-subspaces with smaller computational overhead and storage requirements
compared to current Krylov subspace recycling methods as e.g. R-MINRES. In this
paper we derive the method from the residual-optimal preconditioned conjugate
residual method and duscuss implementation issues. Numerical experiments
illustrate the efficiency of our method.


title: Object Detection from Video Tubelets with Convolutional Neural Networks

abstract:
  Deep Convolution Neural Networks (CNNs) have shown impressive performance in
various vision tasks such as image classification, object detection and
semantic segmentation. For object detection, particularly in still images, the
performance has been significantly increased last year thanks to powerful deep
networks (e.g. GoogleNet) and detection frameworks (e.g. Regions with CNN
features (R-CNN)). The lately introduced ImageNet task on object detection from
video (VID) brings the object detection task into the video domain, in which
objects' locations at each frame are required to be annotated with bounding
boxes. In this work, we introduce a complete framework for the VID task based
on still-image object detection and general object tracking. Their relations
and contributions in the VID task are thoroughly studied and evaluated. In
addition, a temporal convolution network is proposed to incorporate temporal
information to regularize the detection results and shows its effectiveness for
the task.


title:
Optimal Rates For Regularization Of Statistical Inverse Learning
  Problems

abstract:
  We consider a statistical inverse learning problem, where we observe the
image of a function $f$ through a linear operator $A$ at i.i.d. random design
points $X_i$, superposed with an additive noise. The distribution of the design
points is unknown and can be very general. We analyze simultaneously the direct
(estimation of $Af$) and the inverse (estimation of $f$) learning problems. In
this general framework, we obtain strong and weak minimax optimal rates of
convergence (as the number of observations $n$ grows large) for a large class
of spectral regularization methods over regularity classes defined through
appropriate source conditions. This improves on or completes previous results
obtained in related settings. The optimality of the obtained rates is shown not
only in the exponent in $n$ but also in the explicit dependency of the constant
factor in the variance of the noise and the radius of the source condition set.


title: Hidden transient chaotic attractors of Rabinovich-Fabrikant system

abstract:
  In [1], it is shown that the Rabinovich-Fabrikant (RF) system admits
self-excited and hidden chaotic attractors. In this paper, we further show that
the RF system also admits a pair of symmetric transient hidden chaotic
attractors. We reveal more extremely rich dynamics of this system, such as a
new kind of "virtual saddles".


title:
Multiple Antiferromagnetic Spin Fluctuations and Novel Evolution of Tc
  in Iron-based superconductors LaFe(As1-xPx)(O1-yFy) revealed by 31P-NMR
  Studies

abstract:
  We report on 31P-NMR studies of LaFe(As_{1-x}P_x)(O_{1-y}F_{y}) over wide
compositions for 0<x<1 and 0<y<0.14, which provide clear evidence that
antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations (AFMSFs) are one of the indispensable
elements for enhancing Tc. Systematic 31P-NMR measurements revealed two types
of AFMSFs in the temperature evolution, that is, one is the AFMSFs that develop
rapidly down to Tc with low-energy characteristics, and the other, with
relatively higher energy than the former, develops gradually upon cooling from
high temperature. The low-energy AFMSFs in low y (electron doping) over a wide
x (pnictogen height suppression) range are associated with the two orbitals of
d_{xz/yz}, whereas the higher-energy ones for a wide y region around low x
originate from the three orbitals of d_{xy} and d_{xz/yz}. We remark that the
nonmonotonic variation of Tc as a function of x and y in
LaFe(As_{1-x}P_x)(O_{1-y}F_y) is attributed to these multiple AFMSFs
originating from degenerated multiple 3d orbitals inherent to Fe-pnictide
superconductors.


title:
Dynamic programming for optimal control of stochastic McKean-Vlasov
  dynamics

abstract:
  We study the optimal control of general stochastic McKean-Vlasov equation.
Such problem is motivated originally from the asymptotic formulation of
cooperative equilibrium for a large population of particles (players) in
mean-field interaction under common noise. Our first main result is to state a
dynamic programming principle for the value function in the Wasserstein space
of probability measures, which is proved from a flow property of the
conditional law of the controlled state process. Next, by relying on the notion
of differentiability with respect to probability measures due to P.L. Lions
[32], and It{\^o}'s formula along a flow of conditional measures, we derive the
dynamic programming Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation, and prove the viscosity
property together with a uniqueness result for the value function. Finally, we
solve explicitly the linear-quadratic stochastic McKean-Vlasov control problem
and give an application to an interbank systemic risk model with common noise.


title: Limit Theorems for the Sum of Persistence Barcodes

abstract:
  Topological Data Analysis (TDA) refers to an approach that uses concepts from
algebraic topology to study the "shapes" of datasets. The main focus of this
paper is persistent homology, a ubiquitous tool in TDA. Basing our study on
this, we investigate the topological dynamics of extreme sample clouds
generated by a heavy tail distribution on $\mathbb R^d$. In particular, we
establish various limit theorems for the sum of bar lengths in the persistence
barcode plot, a graphical descriptor of persistent homology. It then turns out
that the growth rate of the sum of the bar lengths and the properties of the
limiting processes all depend on the distance of the region of interest in
$\mathbb R^d$ from the weak core, that is, the area in which random points are
placed sufficiently densely to connect with one another. If the region of
interest becomes sufficiently close to the weak core, the limiting process
involves a new class of Gaussian processes.


title: Leggett--Garg inequality violations with a large ensemble of qubits

abstract:
  We investigate how discrete internal degrees of freedom in a
quasi-macroscopic system affect the violation of the Leggett--Garg inequality,
a test of macroscopic-realism based on temporal correlation functions. As a
specific example, we focus on an ensemble of qubits subject to collective and
individual noise. This generic model can describe a range of physical systems,
including atoms in cavities, electron or nuclear spins in NV centers in
diamond, erbium in Y$_2$SiO$_5$, bismuth impurities in silicon, or arrays of
superconducting circuits, to indicate but a few. Such large ensembles are
potentially more macroscopic than other systems that have been used so far for
testing the Leggett--Garg inequality, and open a route toward probing the
boundaries of quantum mechanics at macroscopic scales. We find that, because of
the non-trivial internal structure of such an ensemble, the behavior of
different measurement schemes, under the influence of noise, can be surprising.
We discuss which measurement schemes are optimal for flux qubits and NV
centers, and some of the technological constraints and difficulties for
observing such violations with present-day experiments.


title: Some regularity properties of viscosity solution defined by Hopf formula

abstract:
  Some properties of characteristic curves in connection with viscosity
solution of Hamilton-Jacobi equations $(H,\sigma)$ defined by Hopf formula
$u(t,x)=\max_{q\in\R^n}\{ \langle x,q\rangle -\sigma^*(q)-tH(q)\}$ are studied.
We are concerned with the points where the solution $u(t,x)$ is differentiable,
and the strip of the form $\mathcal R=(0,t_0)\times \R^n$ of the domain
$\Omega$ where $u(t,x)$ is of class $C^1(\mathcal R).$ Moreover, we investigate
the propagation of singularities in forward of this solution.


title:
Unruh radiation produced by a uniformly accelerating charged particle in
  thermal random motions

abstract:
  In this study, we investigate the signature of the Unruh effect in quantum
radiation from an accelerated charged particle interacting with vacuum
fluctuations. Because a charged particle in uniformly accelerated motion
exhibits thermal random motion around the classical trajectory because of the
Unruh effect, its quantum radiation might be termed Unruh radiation. We show
that the energy flux of the quantum radiation is negative and that its
amplitude is smaller than the classical Larmor radiation by a factor of $a/m$,
where $a$ is the acceleration and $m$ is the mass of the particle. The total
radiation flux of the classical Larmor radiation and the quantum radiation is
positive; therefore, the quantum radiation appears to suppress the total
radiation. Interestingly, the results are consistent with the prediction for
the quantum correction to classical Larmor radiation, which were obtained using
a different approach.


title: Noise Thresholds for the [[4, 2, 2]]-concatenated Toric Code

abstract:
  We analyze the properties of a 2D topological code derived by concatenating
the [[4, 2, 2]] code with the toric/surface code, or alternatively by removing
check operators from the 2D square-octagon or 4.8.8 color code. We show that
the resulting code has a circuit-based noise threshold of $\sim 0.41\%$
(compared to $\sim 0.6\%$ for the toric code in a similar scenario), which is
higher than any known 2D color code. We believe that the construction may be of
interest for hardware in which one wants to use both long-range two-qubit gates
as well as short-range gates between small clusters of qubits.


title:
Nematic Colloidal Swarms Assembled and Transported on Photosensitive
  Surfaces

abstract:
  We demonstrate a novel method to assemble and transport swarms of colloidal
particles by combining liquid crystals enabled electrophoresis and
photo-sensitive surface patterning. Colloidal particles are propelled in a
nematic liquid crystal via application of an alternating current electric
field. Swarms of particles are assembled into a rotating mill cluster, or moved
as a whole along predefined paths photo-imprinted on chemically functionalized
substrates. This technique represents an alternative approach to fluid based
lab-on-a-chip technologies guiding the motion of large ensembles of micrometer
scale solid or liquid inclusions.


title: The 90/10 phenomenon in directed signed social networks

abstract:
  We empirical study the signs' property in the directed signed social networks
of Slashdot and Epinions by using an reshuffled approach. Through calculating
the entropy $S_{out}$ and the giant component $G$, we find an interesting 90/10
phenomenon: each individual labels his/her neighbors as friends with $90\%$ or
foes with $10\%$ uniformly random from the macroscopic perspective. We also
find that the entropy $S_{out}$ is suppressed by the non-randomness of labeling
sign. Our present work can prove how do the randomness and the non-randomness
coexist in human behavior of labeling signs, qualitatively.


title: A structured description of the genus spectrum of abelian $p$-groups

abstract:
  The genus spectrum of a finite group $G$ is the set of all $g$ such that $G$
acts faithfully on a compact Riemann surface of genus $g$. It is an open
problem to find a general description of the genus spectrum of the groups in
interesting classes, such as the abelian $p$-groups. Motivated by the work of
Talu for odd primes $p$, we develop a general combinatorial machinery, for
arbitrary primes, to obtain a structured description of the so-called reduced
genus spectrum of abelian $p$-groups.
  We have a particular view towards how to generally find the reduced minimum
genus in this class of groups, determine the complete genus spectrum for a
large subclass of abelian $p$-groups, consisting of those groups in a certain
sense having `large' defining invariants, and use this to construct infinitely
many counterexamples to Talu's Conjecture, saying that an abelian $p$-group is
recoverable from its genus spectrum. Finally, we indicate the effectiveness of
our combinatorial approach by applying it to quite a few explicit examples.


title:
Simulated Gamma-Ray Pulse Profile of the Crab Pulsar with the Cherenkov
  Telescope Array

abstract:
  We present simulations of the very high energy (VHE) gamma-ray light curve of
the Crab pulsar as observed by the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA). The CTA
pulse profile of the Crab pulsar is simulated with the specific goal of
determining the accuracy of the position of the interpulse. We fit the pulse
shape obtained by the MAGIC telescope with a three-Gaussian template and
rescale it to account for the different CTA instrumental and observational
configurations. Simulations are performed for different configurations of CTA
and for the ASTRI mini-array. The northern CTA configuration will provide an
improvement of a factor of ~3 in accuracy with an observing time comparable to
that of MAGIC (73 hours). Unless the VHE spectrum above 1 TeV behaves
differently from what we presently know, unreasonably long observing times are
required for a significant detection of the pulsations of the Crab pulsar with
the high-energy-range sub-arrays. We also found that an independent VHE timing
analysis is feasible with Large Size Telescopes (LSTs). CTA will provide a
significant improvement in determining the VHE pulse shape parameters necessary
to constrain theoretical models of the gamma-ray emission of the Crab pulsar.
One of such parameters is the shift in phase between peaks in the pulse profile
at VHE and in other energy bands that, if detected, may point to different
locations of the emission regions.


title:
Level crossings, excess times and transient plasma-wall interactions in
  fusion plasmas

abstract:
  Based on a stochastic model for intermittent fluctuations in the boundary
region of magnetically confined plasmas, an expression for the level crossing
rate is derived from the joint distribution of the process and its derivative.
From this the average time spent by the process above a certain threshold level
is obtained. This provides novel predictions of plasma-wall interactions due to
transient transport events associated with radial motion of blob-like
structures in the scrape-off layer.


title:
Characterization of atmospheric pressure H2O/O2 gliding arc plasma for
  the production of OH and O radicals

abstract:
  Atmospheric pressure steam/oxygen plasma is generated by a 88 Hz, 6kV AC
power supply. The properties of the produced plasma are investigated by optical
emission spectroscopy (OES). The relative intensity, rotational, vibrational,
excitation temperatures and electron density are studied as function of applied
voltage, electrode spacing and oxygen flow rate. The rotational and vibrational
temperatures are determined simulating the bands with the aid of LIFBASE
simulation software. The excitation temperature is obtained from the CuI
transition taking non-thermal equilibrium condition into account employing
intensity ratio method. The electron density is approximated from the
H_{\alpha} Stark broadening using the Voigt profile fitting method. It is
observed that the rotational and vibrational temperatures are decreased with
increasing electrode spacing and O2 flow rate, but increased with the applied
voltage. The excitation temperature is found to increase with increasing
applied voltage and O2 flow rate, but decrease with electrode spacing. The
electron density is increased with increasing applied voltage while it seems to
downward trend with increasing electrode spacing and O2 flow rate.


title: Integral formulae for codimension-one foliated Randers spaces

abstract:
  Integral formulae for foliated Riemannian manifolds provide obstructions for
existence of foliations or compact leaves of them with given geometric
properties. This paper continues our recent study and presents new integral
formulae and their applications for codimension-one foliated Randers spaces.
The goal is a generalization of Reeb's formula (that the total mean curvature
of the leaves is zero) and its companion (that twice total second mean
curvature of the leaves equals to the total Ricci curvature in the normal
direction). We also extend results by Brito, Langevin and Rosenberg (that total
mean curvatures of arbitrary order for a codimension-one foliated Riemannian
manifold of constant curvature don't depend on a foliation). All of that is
done by a comparison of extrinsic and intrinsic curvatures of the two
Riemannian structures which arise in a natural way from a given Randers
structure.


title: The automorphism theorem and additive group actions on the affine plane

abstract:
  Due to Rentschler, Miyanishi and Kojima, the invariant ring for a ${\bf
G}_a$-action on the affine plane over an arbitrary field is generated by one
coordinate. In this note, we give a new short proof for this result using the
automorphism theorem of Jung and van der Kulk.


title: The Riemann mapping theorem from Riemann's viewpoint

abstract:
  This article presents a clear proof of the Riemann Mapping Theorem via
Riemann's method, uncompromised by any appeals to topological intuition.


title: Graph Nimors

abstract:
  In the game of Graph Nimors, two players alternately perform graph minor
operations (deletion and contraction of edges) on a graph until no edges
remain, at which point the player who last moved wins. We present theoretical
and experimental results and conjectures regarding this game.


title:
Suppression of Limit Cycle Oscillations using the Nonlinear Tuned
  Vibration Absorber

abstract:
  The objective of the present study is to mitigate, or even completely
eliminate, the limit cycle oscillations in mechanical systems using a passive
nonlinear absorber, termed the nonlinear tuned vibration absorber (NLTVA). An
unconventional aspect of the NLTVA is that the mathematical form of its
restoring force is not imposed a priori, as it is the case for most existing
nonlinear absorbers. The NLTVA parameters are determined analytically using
stability and bifurcation analyses, and the resulting design is validated using
numerical continuation. The proposed developments are illustrated using a Van
der Pol-Duffing primary system.


title: A simple numeric algorithm for ancient coin dies identification

abstract:
  A simple computer-based algorithm has been developed to identify pre-modern
coins minted from the same dies, intending mainly coins minted by hand-made
dies designed to be applicable to images taken from auction websites or
catalogs. Though the method is not intended to perform a complete automatic
classification, which would require more complex and intensive algorithms
accessible to experts of computer vision its simplicity of use and lack of
specific requirement about the quality of pictures can provide help and
complementary information to the visual inspection, adding quantitative
measurements of the "distance" between pairs of different coins. The distance
metric is based on a number of pre-defined reference points that mark key
features of the coin to identify the set of coins they have been minted from.


title:
Atomic Parameters for the $2p^53p~^2[3/2]_2 - 2p^53s~^2[3/2]^o_2$
  Transition of Ne I relevant in nuclear physics

abstract:
  We calculated the magnetic dipole hyperfine interaction constants and the
electric field gradients of $2p^53p~^2[3/2]_2$ and $2p^53s~^2[3/2]^o_2$ levels
of Ne I by using the multiconfiguration Dirac-Hartree-Fock method. The
electronic factors contributing to the isotope shifts were also estimated for
the $\lambda = 614.5$ nm transition connecting these two states. Electron
correlation and relativistic effects including the Breit interaction were
investigated in details. Combining with recent measurements, we extracted the
nuclear quadrupole moment values for $^{20}$Ne and $^{23}$Ne with a smaller
uncertainty than the current available data. Isotope shifts in the
$2p^53p~^2[3/2]_2 - 2p^53s~^2[3/2]^o_2$ transition based on the present
calculated field- and mass-shift parameters are in good agreement with the
experimental values. However, the field shifts in this transition are two or
three orders of magnitude smaller than the mass shifts, making rather difficult
to deduce changes in nuclear charge mean square radii. According to our
theoretical predictions, we suggest to use instead transitions connecting
levels arising from the $2p^53s$ configuration to the ground state, for which
the normal mass shift and specific mass shift contributions counteract each
other, producing relatively small mass shifts that are only one order of
magnitude larger than relatively large field shifts, especially for the
$2p^53s~^2[1/2]^o_1 - 2p^6~^1S_0$ transition.


title: Production and Decay of Di-photon Resonance at Future $e^+e^-$ Colliders

abstract:
  Motivated by the ATLAS and CMS announcements of the excesses of di-photon
events, we discuss the production and decay processes of di-photon resonance at
future $e^+e^-$ colliders. We assume that the excess of the di-photon events at
the LHC is explained by a scalar resonance decaying into a pair of photons. In
such a case, the scalar interacts with standard model gauge bosons and,
consequently, the production of such a scalar is possible at the $e^+e^-$
colliders. We study the production of the scalar resonance via the associated
production with photon or $Z$, as well as via the vector-boson fusion, and
calculate the cross sections of these processes. We also study the backgrounds,
and discuss the detectability of the signals of scalar production with various
decay processes of the scalar resonance. We also consider the case where the
scalar resonance has an invisible decay mode, and study how the invisible decay
can be observed at the $e^+e^-$ colliders.


title:
THz-driven ultrafast spin-lattice scattering in amorphous metallic
  ferromagnets

abstract:
  We use single-cycle THz fields and the femtosecond magneto-optical Kerr
effect to respectively excite and probe the magnetization dynamics in two
thin-film ferromagnets with different lattice structure: crystalline Fe and
amorphous CoFeB. We observe Landau-Lifshitz-torque magnetization dynamics of
comparable magnitude in both systems, but only the amorphous sample shows
ultrafast demagnetization caused by the spin-lattice depolarization of the
THz-induced ultrafast spin current. Quantitative modelling shows that such
spin-lattice scattering events occur on similar time scales than the
conventional spin conserving electronic scattering ($\sim30$ fs). This is
significantly faster that optical laser-induced demagnetization. THz
conductivity measurements point towards the influence of lattice disorder in
amorphous CoFeB as the driving force for enhanced spin-lattice scattering.


title:
The instability and non-existence of multi-stranded loops, when driven
  by transverse waves

abstract:
  In recent years, omni-present transverse waves have been observed in all
layers of the solar atmosphere. Coronal loops are often modeled as a collection
of individual strands, in order to explain their thermal behaviour and
appearance. We perform 3D ideal MHD simulations to study the effect of a
continuous small amplitude transverse footpoint driving on the internal
structure of a coronal loop composed of strands. The output is also converted
to synthetic images, corresponding to the AIA 171 A and 193 A passbands, using
FoMo. We show that the multi-stranded loop ceases to exist in the traditional
sense of the word, because the plasma is efficiently mixed perpendicularly to
the magnetic field, with the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability acting as the main
mechanism. The final product of our simulation is mixed loop with density
structures on a large range of scales, resembling a power-law. Thus,
multi-stranded loops are unstable to driving by transverse waves, and this
raises a strong doubt on the usability and applicability of coronal loop models
consisting of independent strands.


title:
Controllability of fractional stochastic neutral functional differential
  equations driven by fractional Brownian motion with infinite delay

abstract:
  In this paper we study the controllability of fractional neutral stochastic
functional differential equations with infinite delay driven by fractional
Brownian motion in a real separable Hilbert space.
  The controllability results are obtained by using stochastic analysis and a
fixed-point strategy. Finally, an illustrative example is provided to
demonstrate the effectiveness of the theoretical result.


title:
NLO QCD and electroweak corrections to $ZZ+{\rm jet}$ production with
  $Z$-boson leptonic decays at LHC

abstract:
  In this paper we present the full NLO QCD + NLO EW corrections to the
$Z$-boson pair production in association with a hard jet at the LHC. The
subsequent $Z$-boson leptonic decays are included by adopting both the naive
NWA and MadSpin methods for comparison. Since the $ZZ+{\rm jet}$ production is
an important background for single Higgs boson production and new physics
search at hadron colliders, the theoretical predictions with high accuracy for
the hadronic production of $ZZ+{\rm jet}$ are necessary. We present the
numerical results of the integrated cross section and various kinematic
distributions of final particles, and conclude that it is necessary to take
into account the spin correlation and finite width effects from the $Z$-boson
leptonic decays. We also find that the NLO EW correction is quantitatively
nonnegligible in matching the experimental accuracy at the LHC, particularly is
significant in high transverse momentum region.


title: Spin texture of an irradiated warped topological insulator surface

abstract:
  Topological insulator is a new state of matter which exhibits exotic surface
electronic properties. Determining the spin texture of this class of material
is of paramount importance for understanding its topological order and can lead
to potential applications in spintronics. Here, we have investigated the nature
of the surface state of the topological insulator with hexagonal warping
subjected to an off-resonant circularly polarized light. The resulting
electronic ground state exhibits a novel feature of spin texture breaking the
conventional spin-momentum locking present on a topological insulator surface.
The observed spin texture is shown to be a consequence of the symmetry group of
the underlying crystal. The generalisation of our method to the other 2D
graphene-like systems are straightforward. Our calculation charts a simple
experimental route for a realisation of the non-trivial spin-textures.


title: Global solution to the nematic liquid crystal flows with heat effect

abstract:
  The temperature-dependent incompressible nematic liquid crystal flows in a
bounded domain $\Omega\subset\mathbb{R}^N$ ($N=2, 3$) are studied in this
paper. Following Danchin's method in [J. Math. Fluid Mech., 2006], we use a
localization argument to recover the maximal regularity of Stokes equation with
variable viscosity, by which we first prove the local existence of strong
solution, then extend it to a global one provided that the initial data is a
sufficiently small perturbation around the trivial equilibrium state. This
paper also generalizes Hu-Wang's result in [Commun. Math. Phys., 2010] to the
non-isothermal case.


title:
The uniform time of existence of the smooth solution for 3D
  Euler-$\alpha$ equations with Dirichlet boundary conditions

abstract:
  After reformulate the incompressible Euler-$\alpha$ equations in 3D smooth
domain with Drichlet data, we obtain the unique classical solutions to
Euler-$\alpha$ equations exist in uniform time interval independent of
$\alpha$. We also show the solution of the Euler-$\alpha$ converge to the
corresponding solution of Euler equation in $L^2$ in space, uniformly in time.
In the sequel, it follows that the $H^s$ $(s>\frac{n}{2}+1)$ solutions of
Euler-$\alpha$ equations exist in any fixed sub-interval of the maximum
existent interval for the Euler equations provided that initial is regular
enough and $\alpha$ is small sufficiently.


title: Symmetric Generation of $M_{22}$

abstract:
  We give a computer-free proof that the Mathieu group $M_{22}$ is a
homomorphic image of the progenitor $2^{\ast 14}:L_3(2)$ factorized by three
relations.


title: Higgs plus one jet production at NNLO

abstract:
  We present the computation of Higgs boson plus one jet production at NNLO at
the LHC. The computation is carried out in the heavy-top-quark approximation
and using the antenna subtraction formalism to handle the IR divergent
structure of the individual contributions. All channels and all colours are
included. We illustrate aspects of the subtraction formalism and present
results for the total cross section as well as distributions in the kinematical
variables using a realistic experimental setting. We make a comparison between
our results and recent ATLAS data for $H+j$ production.


title:
In situ Observation of Dark Current Emission in a High Gradient RF
  Photocathode Gun

abstract:
  Undesirable electron field emission (a.k.a. dark current) in high gradient RF
photocathode guns deteriorates the quality of photoemission current and limits
the operational gradient. To improve the understanding of dark current
emission, a high-resolution (~100 um) dark current imaging experiment has been
performed in an L-band photocathode gun operating at ~100 MV/m of surface
gradient. Dark current from the cathode has been observed to be dominated by
several separated strong emitters. The field enhancement factor, beta, of
selected regions on the cathode has been measured. The post scanning electron
microscopy (SEM) and white light interferometer (WLI) surface examinations
reveal the origins of ~75% strong emitters overlap with the spots where rf
breakdown have occurred.


title: Bach-flat h-almost gradient Ricci solitons

abstract:
  On an $n$-dimensional complete manifold $M$, consider an $h$-almost gradient
Ricci soliton, which is a generalization of a gradient Ricci soliton. We prove
that if the manifold is Bach-flat and $dh/du>0$, then the manifold $M$ is
either Einstein or rigid. In particular, such a manifold has harmonic Weyl
curvature. Moreover, if the dimension of $M$ is four, the metric $g$ is
conformally flat.


title:
Statistics of Plastic Events in Post-Yield Strain-Controlled Amorphous
  Solids

abstract:
  Amorphous solids yield in strain-controlled protocols at a critical value of
the strain. For larger strains the stress and energy display a generic complex
serrated signal with elastic segments punctuated by sharp energy and stress
plastic drops having a wide range of magnitudes. Here we provide a theory of
the scaling properties of such serrated signals taking into account the
system-size dependence. We show that the statistics are not homogeneous - they
separate sharply to a regime of `small' and `large' drops, each endowed with
its own scaling properties. A scaling theory is first derived solely by data
analysis, showing a somewhat complex picture. But after considering the
physical interpretation one discovers that the scaling behavior and the scaling
exponents are in fact very simple and universal.


title: Energies and E1, M2 transition rates for Mo XXX

abstract:
  Based on relativistic wavefunctions from multiconfigurational
Dirac-Hartree-Fock (MCDHF) and configuration interaction calculations, energy
levels, radiative rates, and wavelengths are evaluated for all levels of
3s$^2$3p, 3s3p$^2$, 3s$^2$3d, 3p$^3$, 3s3p3d, 3p$^2$3d and 3s3d$^2$
configurations of Al-like Molybdenum ion (Mo XXX). Transition probabilities are
reported for E1 and M2 transitions from the ground level. The valence-valence
and core-valence correlation effects are accounted for in a systematic way.
Breit interactions and quantum electrodynamics effects are estimated in
subsequent relativistic configuration interaction calculations. Comparisons are
made with the available data in the literature and good agreement has been
found which confirms the reliability of our results.


title: Cobraided Smash Product Hom-Hopf Algebras

abstract:
  Let $(A,\a)$ and $(B,\b)$ be two Hom-Hopf algebras. In this paper, we
construct a class of new Hom-Hopf algebras: $R$-smash product $(A\natural_R
B,\a\o \b)$. Moreover, necessary and sufficient conditions for $(A\natural_R
B,\a\o \b)$ to be a cobraided Hom-Hopf algebra are given.


title:
Boundedness of the density normalised Jones' square function does not
  imply $1$-rectifiability

abstract:
  Recently, M. Badger and R. Schul proved that for a $1$-rectifiable Radon
measure $\mu$, the density weighted Jones' square function $$ J_{1}(x) =
\mathop{\sum_{Q \in \mathcal{D}}}_{\ell(Q) \leq 1}
\beta_{2,\mu}^{2}(3Q)\frac{\ell(Q)}{\mu(Q)} 1_{Q}(x) $$ is finite for
$\mu$-a.e. $x$. Answering a question of Badger-Schul, we show that the converse
is not true. Given $\epsilon > 0$, we construct a Radon probability measure on
$[0,1]^{2} \subset \mathbb{R}^{2}$ with the properties that $J_{1}(x) \leq
\epsilon$ for all $x \in \operatorname{spt} \mu$, but nevertheless the
$1$-dimensional lower density of $\mu$ vanishes almost everywhere. In
particular, $\mu$ is purely $1$-unrectifiable.


title: Vacancies and oxidation of 2D group-IV monochalcogenides

abstract:
  Point defects in the binary group-IV monochalcogenide monolayers of SnS,
SnSe, GeS, GeSe are investigated using density-functional-theory calculations.
Several stable configurations are found for oxygen defects, however we give
evidence that these materials are less prone to oxidation than phosphorene,
with which monochalcogenides are isoelectronic and share the same orthorhombic
structure. Concurrent oxygen defects are expected to be vacancies and
substitutional oxygen. We show that it is energetically favorable oxygen be
incorporated into the layers substituting for a chalcogen (O S/Se defects), and
different from most of the other defects investigated, this defect preserves
the electronic structure of the material. Thus, we suggest that annealing
treatments can be useful for the treatment of functional materials where loss
mechanisms due to the presence of defects are undesirable.


title: Detection of blinding attack in quantum key distribution

abstract:
  Security of an ideal system for quantum key distribution can be formally
proved. However, technological imperfections of real systems can be misused by
an eavesdropper to get information about the key without causing a detectable
change in the error rate. An example of this is the blinding attack where the
eavesdropper manipulates detectors of the receiving party. To avoid such an
attack, technical modifications of the device are usually required. In this
paper we show that an extended measurement, similar to the Bell test
measurement, can reveal the blinding attack without any modification of the
device.


title: Tailoring reflection of graphene plasmons by focused ion beams

abstract:
  Graphene plasmons are of remarkable features that make graphene plasmon
elements promising for applications to integrated photonic devices. The
fabrication of graphene plasmon components and control over plasmon propagating
are of fundamental important. Through near-field plasmon imaging, we
demonstrate controllable modifying of the reflection of graphene plasmon at
boundaries etched by ion beams. Moreover, by varying ion dose at a proper
value, nature like reflection boundary can be obtained. We also investigate the
influence of ion beam incident angle on plasmon reflection. To illustrate the
application of ion beam etching, a simple graphene wedge-shape plasmon
structure is fabricated and performs excellently, proving this technology as a
simple and efficient tool for controlling graphene plasmons.


title: Towards Better Models of Externalities in Sponsored Search Auctions

abstract:
  Sponsored Search Auctions (SSAs) arguably represent the problem at the
intersection of computer science and economics with the deepest applications in
real life. Within the realm of SSAs, the study of the effects that showing one
ad has on the other ads, a.k.a. externalities in economics, is of utmost
importance and has so far attracted the attention of much research. However,
even the basic question of modeling the problem has so far escaped a definitive
answer. The popular cascade model is arguably too idealized to really describe
the phenomenon yet it allows a good comprehension of the problem. Other models,
instead, describe the setting more adequately but are too complex to permit a
satisfactory theoretical analysis. In this work, we attempt to get the best of
both approaches: firstly, we define a number of general mathematical
formulations for the problem in the attempt to have a rich description of
externalities in SSAs and, secondly, prove a host of results drawing a nearly
complete picture about the computational complexity of the problem. We
complement these approximability results with some considerations about
mechanism design in our context.


title: A General Framework for Describing Creative Agents

abstract:
  Computational creativity is a subfield of AI focused on developing and
studying creative systems. Few academic studies analysing the behaviour of
creative agents from a theoretical viewpoint have been proposed. The proposed
frameworks are vague and hard to exploit; moreover, such works are focused on a
notion of creativity tailored for humans.
  In this paper we introduce General Creativity, which extends that traditional
notion. General Creativity provides the basis for a formalised theoretical
framework, that allows one to univocally describe any creative agent, and their
behaviour within societies of creative systems. Given the growing number of AI
creative systems developed over recent years, it is of fundamental importance
to understand how they could influence each other as well as how to gauge their
impact on human society. In particular, in this paper we exploit the proposed
framework for (i) identifying different forms of creativity; (ii) describing
some typical creative agents behaviour, and (iii) analysing the dynamics of
societies in which both human and non-human creative systems coexist.


title:
Characterization of generalized Young measures generated by symmetric
  gradients

abstract:
  This work establishes a characterization theorem for (generalized) Young
measures generated by symmetric derivatives of functions of bounded deformation
(BD) in the spirit of the classical Kinderlehrer-Pedregal theorem. Our result
places such Young measures in duality with symmetric-quasiconvex functions with
linear growth. The "local" proof strategy combines blow-up arguments with the
singular structure theorem in BD (the analogue of Alberti's rank-one theorem in
BV), which was recently proved by the authors. As an application of our
characterization theorem we show how an atomic part in a BD-Young measure can
be split off in generating sequences.


title:
Performance of autonomous quantum thermal machines: Hilbert space
  dimension as a thermodynamic resource

abstract:
  Multilevel autonomous quantum thermal machines are discussed. In particular,
we explore the relation between the size of the machine (captured by Hilbert
space dimension), and the performance of the machine. Using the concepts of
virtual qubits and virtual temperatures, we show that higher dimensional
machines can outperform smaller ones. For instance, by considering
refrigerators with more levels, lower temperatures can be achieved, as well as
higher power. We discuss the optimal design for refrigerators of a given
dimension. As a consequence we obtain a statement of the third law in terms of
Hilbert space dimension: reaching absolute zero temperature requires infinite
dimension. These results demonstrate that Hilbert space dimension should be
considered a thermodynamic resource.


title: Butterflies with rotation and charge

abstract:
  We explore the butterfly effect for black holes with rotation or charge. We
perturb rotating BTZ and charged black holes in 2+1 dimensions by adding a
small perturbation on one asymptotic region, described by a shock wave in the
spacetime, and explore the effect of this shock wave on the length of geodesics
through the wormhole and hence on correlation functions. We find the effect of
the perturbation grows exponentially at a rate controlled by the temperature;
dependence on the angular momentum or charge does not appear explicitly. We
comment on issues affecting the extension to higher-dimensional charged black
holes.


title:
Higher order asymptotic expansions to the solutions for a nonlinear
  damped wave equation

abstract:
  We study the Cauchy problem for a nonlinear damped wave equation. Under
suitable assumptions for the nonlinearity and the initial data, we obtain the
global solution which satisfies weighted $L^1$ and $L^\infty$ estimates.
Furthermore, we establish the higher order asymptotic expansion of the
solution. This means that we construct the nonlinear approximation of the
global solution with respect to the weight of the data. Our proof is based on
the approximation formula of the linear solution, which is given in [36], and
the nonlinear approximation theory for a nonlinear parabolic equation developed
by [18].


title:
Relation of vibrational excitations and thermal conductivity to elastic
  heterogeneities in disordered solids

abstract:
  In crystals, molecules thermally vibrate around the periodic lattice sites.
Vibrational motions are well understood in terms of phonons, which carry heat
and control heat transport. The situation is notably different in disordered
solids, where vibrational excitations are not phonons and can be even
localized. Recent numerical work has established the concept of elastic
heterogeneity: disordered solids show inhomogeneous local mechanical response.
Clearly, the heterogeneous nature of elastic properties strongly influences
vibrational and thermal properties, and it is expected to be the origin of
anomalous features, including boson peak, vibrational localization, and
temperature dependence of thermal conductivity. These are all crucial
long-standing problems in materials physics, which we address in the present
work. We have considered a toy model able to stabilize different states of
matter, by introducing an increasing amount of size disorder. The phase diagram
generated by molecular dynamics simulations encompasses the perfect crystalline
state with a spatially homogeneous elastic moduli distribution, multiple
defective phases with increasing moduli heterogeneities, and eventually a
series of amorphous states. We have established clear correlations among the
heterogeneous local mechanical response, vibrational states, and thermal
conductivity. We provide evidence that elastic heterogeneity controls both
vibrational and thermal properties, and is a key concept to understand the
anomalous puzzling features of disordered solids.


title:
Experimental demonstration of direct path state characterization by
  strongly measuring weak values in a matter-wave interferometer

abstract:
  A novel method was recently proposed and experimentally realized for
characterizing a quantum state by directly measuring its complex probability
amplitudes in a particular basis using so-called weak values. Recently Vallone
and Dequal showed theoretically that weak measurements are not a necessary
condition to determine the weak value [Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 040502 (2016)].
Here we report a measurement scheme used in a matter-wave interferometric
experiment in which the neutron path system's quantum state was characterized
via direct measurements using both strong and weak interactions. Experimental
evidence is given that strong interactions outperform weak ones. Our results
are not limited to neutron interferometry, but can be used in a wide range of
quantum systems.


title:
META-pipe - Pipeline Annotation, Analysis and Visualization of Marine
  Metagenomic Sequence Data

abstract:
  The marine environment is one of the most important sources for microbial
biodiversity on the planet. These microbes are drivers for many biogeochemical
processes, and their enormous genetic potential is still not fully explored or
exploited. Marine metagenomics (DNA shotgun sequencing), not only offers
opportunities for studying structure and function of microbial communities, but
also identification of novel biocatalysts and bioactive compounds. However,
data analysis, management, storage, processing and interpretation are
significant challenges in marine metagenomics due to the high diversity in
samples and the size of the marine flagship projects. We provide a new
pipeline, META-pipe, for marine metagenomics analysis. It offers pre-
processing, assembly, taxonomic classification and functional analysis. To
reduce the effort to develop and deploy it, we have integrated existing
biological analysis frameworks, and compute and storage infrastructure
resources. Our current META-pipe web service provides integration with identity
provider services, distributed storage, computation on a Supercomputer, Galaxy
workflows, and interactive data visualizations. We have evaluated the
scalability and performance of the analysis pipeline. Our results demonstrate
how to develop and deploy a pipeline on distributed compute and storage
resources, and discusses important challenges related to this process.


title: Optimal Perturbation Iteration Method for Bratu-Type Problems

abstract:
  In this paper, we introduce the new optimal perturbation iteration method
based on the perturbation iteration algorithms for the approximate solutions of
nonlinear differential equations of many types. The proposed method is
illustrated by studying Bratu-type equations. Our results show that only a few
terms are required to obtain an approximate solution which is more accurate and
efficient than many other methods in the literature.


title: Finite element method for extended KdV equations

abstract:
  The finite element method (FEM) is applied to obtain numerical solutions to a
recently derived nonlinear equation for the shallow water wave problem. A weak
formulation and the Petrov-Galerkin method are used. It is shown that the FEM
gives a reasonable description of the wave dynamics of soliton waves governed
by extended KdV equations. Some new results for several cases of bottom shapes
are presented. The numerical scheme presented here is suitable for taking into
account stochastic effects, which will be discussed in a subsequent paper.