title:
Detection of north atlantic right whale upcalls using local binary
  patterns in a two-stage strategy

abstract:
  In this paper, we investigate the effectiveness of two-stage classification
strategies in detecting north Atlantic right whale upcalls. Time-frequency
measurements of data from passive acoustic monitoring devices are evaluated as
images. Vocalization spectrograms are preprocessed for noise reduction and tone
removal. First stage of the algorithm eliminates non-upcalls by an energy
detection algorithm. In the second stage, two sets of features are extracted
from the remaining signals using contour-based and texture based methods. The
former is based on extraction of time-frequency features from upcall contours,
and the latter employs a Local Binary Pattern operator to extract
distinguishing texture features of the upcalls. Subsequently evaluation phase
is carried out by using several classifiers to assess the effectiveness of both
the contour-based and texture-based features for upcall detection. Experimental
results with the data set provided by the Cornell University Bioacoustics
Research Program reveal that classifiers show accuracy improvements of 3% to 4%
when using LBP features over time-frequency features. Classifiers such as the
Linear Discriminant Analysis, Support Vector Machine, and TreeBagger achieve
high upcall detection rates with LBP features.


title: When the Hotter Cools More Quickly: Mpemba Effect in Granular Fluids

abstract:
  Under certain conditions, two samples of fluid at different initial
temperatures present a counterintuitive behavior known as the Mpemba effect: it
is the hotter system that cools sooner. Here, we show that the Mpemba effect is
present in granular fluids, both in uniformly heated and in freely cooling
systems. In both cases, the system remains homogeneous, and no phase transition
is present. Analytical quantitative predictions are given for how differently
the system must be initially prepared to observe the Mpemba effect, the
theoretical predictions being confirmed by both molecular dynamics and Monte
Carlo simulations. Possible implications of our analysis for other systems are
also discussed.


title:
Possibility of hypothetical stable micro black hole production at future
  100 TeV collider

abstract:
  We study the phenomenology of TeV-scale black holes predicted in theories
with large extra dimensions, under the further assumption that they are
absolutely stable. Our goal is to present an exhaustive analysis of safety of
the proposed 100 TeV collider, as it was done in the case of the LHC. We
consider the theories with different number of extra dimensions and identify
those for which a possible accretion to macroscopic size would have timescales
shorter than the lifetime of the Solar system. We calculate the cross sections
of the black hole production at the proposed 100 TeV collider, the fraction of
the black holes trapped inside the Earth and the resulting rate of capture
inside the Earth via an improved method. We study the astrophysical
consequences of stable micro black holes existence, in particular its influence
on the stability of white dwarfs and neutron stars. We obtain constraints for
the previously unexplored range of higher-dimensional Planck mass values.
Several astrophysical scenarios of the micro black hole production, which were
not considered before, are taken into account. Finally, using the astrophysical
constraints we consider the implications for future 100 TeV terrestrial
experiments. We exclude the possibility of the charged stable micro black holes
production.


title: The Fast Slepian Transform

abstract:
  The discrete prolate spheroidal sequences (DPSS's) provide an efficient
representation for discrete signals that are perfectly timelimited and nearly
bandlimited. Due to the high computational complexity of projecting onto the
DPSS basis - also known as the Slepian basis - this representation is often
overlooked in favor of the fast Fourier transform (FFT). We show that there
exist fast constructions for computing approximate projections onto the leading
Slepian basis elements. The complexity of the resulting algorithms is
comparable to the FFT, and scales favorably as the quality of the desired
approximation is increased. In the process of bounding the complexity of these
algorithms, we also establish new nonasymptotic results on the eigenvalue
distribution of discrete time-frequency localization operators. We then
demonstrate how these algorithms allow us to efficiently compute the solution
to certain least-squares problems that arise in signal processing. We also
provide simulations comparing these fast, approximate Slepian methods to exact
Slepian methods as well as the traditional FFT based methods.


title: Observational Properties of Feebly Coupled Dark Matter

abstract:
  We show that decoupled hidden sectors can have observational consequences. As
a representative model example, we study dark matter production in the Higgs
portal model with one real singlet scalar $s$ coupled to the Standard Model
Higgs via $\lambda_{\rm hs}\Phi^\dagger\Phi s^2$ and demonstrate how the
combination of non-observation of cosmological isocurvature perturbations and
astrophysical limits on dark matter self-interactions imply stringent bounds on
the magnitude of the scalar self-coupling $\lambda_{\rm s}s^4$. For example,
for dark matter mass $m_{\rm s}=10$ MeV and Hubble scale during cosmic
inflation $H_*=10^{12}$ GeV, we find $10^{-4}\lesssim \lambda_{\rm s}\lesssim
0.2$.


title:
Mass generation from a non-perturbative correction: Massive NS-field and
  graviton in $(3+1)$-dimensions

abstract:
  We show that the massless form fields, in $(4+1)$-dimensional
non-perturbation theory of emergent gravity, become massive in a perturbative
phase without Higgs mechanism. In particular an axionic scalar sourced by a
non-perturbative dynamical correction is absorbed by the form fields to
describe a massive NS field theory on an emergent gravitational pair of
$(3{\bar 3})$-brane. Arguably the novel idea of Higgs mechanism is naturally
invoked in an emergent gravity underlying a ${\rm CFT}_6$. Analysis reveals
"gravito-weak" and "electro-weak" phases respectively on a vacuum pair in
$(4+1)$ and $(3+1)$-dimensions. It is argued that the massive NS field quanta
may govern an emergent graviton on a gravitational $3$-brane.


title: End-to-End Neural Sentence Ordering Using Pointer Network

abstract:
  Sentence ordering is one of important tasks in NLP. Previous works mainly
focused on improving its performance by using pair-wise strategy. However, it
is nontrivial for pair-wise models to incorporate the contextual sentence
information. In addition, error prorogation could be introduced by using the
pipeline strategy in pair-wise models. In this paper, we propose an end-to-end
neural approach to address the sentence ordering problem, which uses the
pointer network (Ptr-Net) to alleviate the error propagation problem and
utilize the whole contextual information. Experimental results show the
effectiveness of the proposed model. Source codes and dataset of this paper are
available.


title: The Limits of Cosmic Shear

abstract:
  In this paper we discuss the commonly-used limiting cases, or approximations,
for two-point cosmic shear statistics. We discuss the most prominent
assumptions in this statistic: the flat-sky (small angle limit), the Limber
(Bessel-to-delta function limit) and the Hankel transform (large l-mode limit)
approximations; that the vast majority of cosmic shear results to date have
used simultaneously. We find that the combined effect of these approximations
can suppress power by >1% on scales of l<40. A fully non-approximated cosmic
shear study should use a spherical-sky, non-Limber-approximated power spectrum
analysis; and a transform involving Wigner small-d matrices in place of the
Hankel transform. These effects, unaccounted for, would constitute at least 11%
of the total budget for systematic effects for a power spectrum analysis of a
Euclid-like experiment; but they are unnecessary.


title:
Protein arrangement on modified diamond-like carbon surfaces - An ARXPS
  study

abstract:
  Understanding the nature of the interface between a biomaterial implant and
the biological fluid is an essential step towards creating improved implant
materials. This study examined a diamond-like carbon coating biomaterial, the
surface energy of which was modified by Ar+ ion sputtering and laser
graphitisation. The arrangement of proteins was analysed by angle resolved
X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and the effects of the polar component of
surface energy on this arrangement were observed. It was seen that polar groups
(such as CN, CO) are more attracted to the coating surface due to the stronger
polar interactions. This results in a segregation of these groups to the
DLC-protein interface; at increasing takeoff angle (further from to DLC-protein
interface) fewer of these polar groups are seen. Correspondingly, groups that
interact mainly by dispersive forces (CC, CH) were found to increase in
intensity as takeoff angle increased, indicating they are segregated away from
the DLC-protein interface. The magnitude of the segregation was seen to
increase with increasing polar surface energy, this was attributed to an
increased net attraction between the solid surface and polar groups at higher
polar surface energy.


title: Rational Catalan polynomials and rank words

abstract:
  For $m,n$ coprime we introduce a new statistic skip on $(m,n)$-rational Dyck
paths and give a fast way to compute dinv and skip statistics. We also
introduce $(m,n)$-rank words, which are in one-to-one correspondence with
$(m,n)$-Dyck paths. Defining an equivalence relation on pairs of certain ranks
in a rank word, we prove that the number of equivalence classes is the skips of
the rank word, and the skips of the corresponding Dyck path. We construct a
homogeneous generating function $W_{m,n}(q,t,b)$ using statistics area, dinv
and skip, where $W_{m,n}(q,t,1)=C_{m,n}(q,t)$, the rational Catalan polynomial.
We then give an explicit formula for $(3,n)$-rational Catalan polynomials and
prove they are $q,t$-symmetric.


title:
Interplay between electron pairing and Dicke effect in triple quantum
  dots structures

abstract:
  We study the influence of the proximity-induced pairing on electronic version
of the Dicke effect in a heterostructure, comprising three quantum dots
vertically coupled between the metallic and superconducting leads. We discuss a
feasible experimental procedure for detecting the narrow/broad
(subradiant/superradiant) contributions by means of the subgap Andreev
spectroscopy. In the Kondo regime and for small energy level detuning the Dicke
effect is manifested in the differential conductance.


title: Defect driven shapes in nematic droplets: analogies with cell division

abstract:
  Building on the striking similarity between the structure of the spindle
during mitosis in living cells and nematic textures in confined liquid
crystals, we use a continuum model of two-dimensional nematic liquid crystal
droplets, to examine the physical aspects of cell division. The model
investigates the interplay between bulk elasticity of the microtubule assembly,
described as a nematic liquid crystal, and surface elasticity of the cell
cortex, modelled as a bounding flexible membrane, in controlling cell shape and
division. The centrosomes at the spindle poles correspond to the cores of the
topological defects required to accommodate nematic order in a closed geometry.
We map out the progression of both healthy bipolar and faulty multi-polar
division as a function of an effective parameter that incorporates active
processes and controls centrosome separation. A robust prediction, independent
of energetic considerations, is that the transition from a single cell to
daughters cells occurs at critical value of this parameter. Our model
additionally suggests that microtubule anchoring at the cell cortex may play an
important role for successful bipolar division. This can be tested
experimentally by regulating microtubule anchoring.


title:
Data Acquisition with GPUs: The DAQ for the Muon $g$-$2$ Experiment at
  Fermilab

abstract:
  Graphical Processing Units (GPUs) have recently become a valuable computing
tool for the acquisition of data at high rates and for a relatively low cost.
The devices work by parallelizing the code into thousands of threads, each
executing a simple process, such as identifying pulses from a waveform
digitizer. The CUDA programming library can be used to effectively write code
to parallelize such tasks on Nvidia GPUs, providing a significant upgrade in
performance over CPU based acquisition systems.
  The muon $g$-$2$ experiment at Fermilab is heavily relying on GPUs to process
its data. The data acquisition system for this experiment must have the ability
to create deadtime-free records from 700 $\mu$s muon spills at a raw data rate
18 GB per second. Data will be collected using 1296 channels of $\mu$TCA-based
800 MSPS, 12 bit waveform digitizers and processed in a layered array of
networked commodity processors with 24 GPUs working in parallel to perform a
fast recording of the muon decays during the spill. The described data
acquisition system is currently being constructed, and will be fully
operational before the start of the experiment in 2017.


title: A PDE approach to a 2-dimensional matching problem

abstract:
  We prove asymptotic results for 2-dimensional random matching problems. In
particular, we obtain the leading term in the asymptotic expansion of the
expected quadratic transportation cost for empirical measures of two samples of
independent uniform random variables in the square. Our technique is based on a
rigorous formulation of the challenging PDE ansatz by S.\ Caracciolo et al.\
(Phys. Rev. E, {\bf 90} 012118, 2014) that "linearise" the Monge-Amp\`ere
equation.


title:
Wave-function approach to Master equations for quantum transport and
  measurement

abstract:
  This paper presents a comprehensive review of the wave-function approach for
derivation of the number-resolved Master equations, used for description of
transport and measurement in mesoscopic systems. The review contains important
amendments, clarifying subtle points in derivation of the Master equations and
their validity. This completes the earlier works on the subject. It is
demonstrated that the derivation does not assume weak coupling with the
environment and reservoirs, but needs only high bias condition. This condition
is very essential for validity of the Markovian Master equations, widely used
for a phenomenological description of different physical processes.


title:
The quantum drift-diffusion model: existence and exponential convergence
  to the equilibrium

abstract:
  This work is devoted to the analysis of the quantum drift-diffusion model
derived by Degond et al. The model is obtained as the diffusive limit of the
quantum Liouville-BGK equation, where the collision term is defined after a
local quantum statistical equilibrium. The corner stone of the model is the
closure relation between the density and the current, which is nonlinear and
nonlocal, and is the main source of the mathematical difficulties. The question
of the existence of solutions has been open since the derivation of the model,
and we provide here a first result in a one-dimensional periodic setting. The
proof is based on an approximation argument, and exploits some properties of
the minimizers of an appropriate quantum free energy. We investigate as well
the long time behavior, and show that the solutions converge exponentially fast
to the equilibrium. This is done by deriving a non-commutative logarithmic
Sobolev inequality for the local quantum statistical equilibrium.


title: Imprint of non-linear effects on HI intensity mapping on large scales

abstract:
  Intensity mapping of the HI brightness temperature provides a unique way of
tracing large-scale structures of the Universe up to the largest possible
scales. This is achieved by using a low angular resolution radio telescopes to
detect emission line from cosmic neutral Hydrogen in the post-reionization
Universe. We use general relativistic perturbation theory techniques to derive
for the first time the full expression for the HI brightness temperature up to
third order in perturbation theory without making any plane-parallel
approximation. We use this result and the renormalization prescription for
biased tracers to study the impact of nonlinear effects on the power spectrum
of HI brightness temperature both in real and redshift space. We show how mode
coupling at nonlinear order due to nonlinear bias parameters and redshift space
distortion terms modulate the power spectrum on large scales. The large scale
modulation may be understood to be due to the effective bias parameter and
effective shot noise.


title: The muon g-2 experiment at Fermilab

abstract:
  A new measurement of the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon, $a_{\mu}
\equiv (g-2)/2$, will be performed at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
with data taking beginning in 2017. The most recent measurement, performed at
Brookhaven National Laboratory and completed in 2001, shows a 3.5 standard
deviation discrepancy with the standard model prediction of $a_\mu$. The new
measurement will accumulate 21 times those statistics using upgraded detection
and storage ring systems, enabling a measurement of $a_\mu$ to 140 ppb, a
factor of 4 improvement in the uncertainty the previous measurement. This
improvement in precision, combined with recent and ongoing improvements in the
evaluation of the QCD contributions to the $a_\mu$, could provide a 7.5$\sigma$
discrepancy from the standard model if the current difference between
experiment and theory is confirmed, a possible indication of new physics.


title:
ASTERICS : Addressing Cross-Cutting Synergies and Common Challenges for
  the Next Decade Astronomy Facilities

abstract:
  The large infrastructure projects for the next decade will allow a new
quantum leap in terms of new possible science. ESFRI, the European Strategy
Forum on Research Infrastructures, a strategic initiative to develop the
scientific integration of Europe, has identified four facilities (SKA, CTA,
KM3Net and E-ELT) deserving priority in support. The ASTERICS project aims to
address the cross-cutting synergies and common challenges shared by the various
Astronomy ESFRI and other world-class facilities. The project (22 partners
across Europe) is funded by the EU Horizon 2020 programme with 15 MEuro in 4
years. It brings together for the first time the astronomy, astrophysics and
particle astrophysics communities, in addition to other related research
infrastructures.


title: Gluons at finite temperature

abstract:
  The gluon propagator is investigated at finite temperature via lattice
simulations. In particular, we discuss its interpretation as a massive-type
bosonic propagator. Moreover, we compute the corresponding spectral density and
study the violation of spectral positivity. Finally, we explore the dependence
of the gluon propagator on the phase of the Polyakov loop.


title:
Iterative Orthogonal Feature Projection for Diagnosing Bias in Black-Box
  Models

abstract:
  Predictive models are increasingly deployed for the purpose of determining
access to services such as credit, insurance, and employment. Despite potential
gains in productivity and efficiency, several potential problems have yet to be
addressed, particularly the potential for unintentional discrimination. We
present an iterative procedure, based on orthogonal projection of input
attributes, for enabling interpretability of black-box predictive models.
Through our iterative procedure, one can quantify the relative dependence of a
black-box model on its input attributes.The relative significance of the inputs
to a predictive model can then be used to assess the fairness (or
discriminatory extent) of such a model.


title: Dynamics of Coronal-Hole Boundaries

abstract:
  Remote and in-situ observations strongly imply that the slow solar wind
consists of plasma from the hot, closed-field corona that is released onto open
magnetic field lines. The Separatrix Web (S-Web) theory for the slow wind
proposes that photospheric motions, at the scale of supergranules, are
responsible for generating dynamics at coronal-hole boundaries, which result in
the closed plasma release. We use three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (3D
MHD) simulations to determine the effect of photospheric flows on the open and
closed magnetic flux of a model corona with a dipole magnetic field and an
isothermal solar wind. A rotational surface motion is used to approximate
photospheric supergranular driving and is applied at the boundary between the
coronal hole and helmet streamer. The resulting dynamics consist primarily of
prolific and efficient interchange reconnection between open and closed flux.
Magnetic flux near the coronal-hole boundary experiences multiple interchange
events, with some flux interchanging over fifty times in one day. Additionally,
we find that the interchange reconnection occurs all along the coronal-hole
boundary, even producing a lasting change in magnetic-field connectivity in
regions that were not driven by the applied motions. Our results show that
these dynamics should be ubiquitous in the Sun and heliosphere. We discuss the
implications of our simulations for understanding the observed properties of
the slow solar wind, with particular focus on the global-scale consequences of
interchange reconnection.


title: An integrated Graphical User Interface for Debugging Answer Set Programs

abstract:
  Answer Set Programming (ASP) is an expressive knowledge representation and
reasoning framework. Due to its rather simple syntax paired with
high-performance solvers, ASP is interesting for industrial applications.
However, to err is human and thus debugging is an important activity during the
development process. Therefore, tools for debugging non-ground answer set
programs are needed. In this paper, we present a new graphical debugging
interface for non-ground answer set programs. The tool is based on the
recently-introduced DWASP approach for debugging and it simplifies the
interaction with the debugger. Furthermore, the debugging interface is
integrated in ASPIDE, a rich IDE for answer set programs. With our extension
ASPIDE turns into a full-fledged IDE by offering debugging support.


title:
Studies of irradiated AMS H35 CMOS detectors for the ATLAS tracker
  upgrade

abstract:
  Silicon detectors based on the HV-CMOS technology are being investigated as
possible candidate for the outer layers of the ATLAS pixel detector for the
High Luminosity LHC. In this framework the H35Demo ASIC has been produced in
the 350 nm AMS technology (H35). The H35Demo chip has a large area ($18.49
\times 24.40 \, \mathrm{mm^2}$) and includes four different pixel matrices and
three test structures. In this paper the radiation hardness properties, in
particular the evolution of the depletion region with fluence is studied using
edge-TCT on test structures. Measurements on the test structures from chips
with different substrate resistivity are shown for non irradiated and
irradiated devices up to a cumulative fluence of $2 \cdot 10^{15} \,
\mathrm{1\,MeV\, n_{eq} / cm^{2}}$.


title: Noncommutative spherically symmetric spacetimes at semiclassical order

abstract:
  Working within the recent formalism of Poisson-Riemannian geometry, we
completely solve the case of generic spherically symmetric metric and
spherically symmetric Poisson-bracket to find a unique answer for the quantum
differential calculus, quantum metric and quantum Levi-Civita connection at
semiclassical order $O(\lambda)$. Here $\lambda$ is the deformation parameter,
plausibly the Planck scale. We find that $r,t,dr,dt$ are all forced to be
central, i.e. undeformed at order $\lambda$, while for each value of $r,t$ we
are forced to have a fuzzy sphere of radius $r$ with a unique differential
calculus which is necessarily nonassociative at order $\lambda^2$. We give the
spherically symmetric quantisation of the FLRW cosmology in detail and also
recover a previous analysis for the Schwarzschild black hole, now showing that
the quantum Ricci tensor for the latter vanishes at order $\lambda$. The
quantum Laplace-Beltrami operator for spherically symmetric models turns out to
be undeformed at order $\lambda$ while more generally in Poisson-Riemannian
geometry we show that it deforms to \[ \square f+{\lambda\over
2}\omega^{\alpha\beta}({\rm
Ric}^\gamma{}_\alpha-S^\gamma{}_{;\alpha})(\widehat\nabla_\beta d f)_\gamma +
O(\lambda^2)\] in terms of the classical Levi-Civita connection
$\widehat\nabla$, the contorsion tensor $S$, the Poisson-bivector $\omega$ and
the Ricci curvature of the Poisson-connection that controls the quantum
differential structure. The Majid-Ruegg spacetime $[x,t]=\lambda x$ with its
standard calculus and unique quantum metric provides an example with nontrivial
correction to the Laplacian at order $\lambda$.


title: Neutral pion form factor measurement at NA62

abstract:
  The NA62 experiment at CERN collected a large sample of charged kaon decays
with a highly efficient trigger for decays into electrons in 2007. The kaon
beam represents a source of tagged neutral pion decays in vacuum. A measurement
of the electromagnetic transition form factor slope of the neutral pion in the
time-like region from $1.05\times10^6$ fully reconstructed $\pi^0$ Dalitz decay
is presented. The limits on dark photon production in $\pi^0$ decays from the
earlier kaon experiment at CERN, NA48/2, are also reported.


title:
Macdonald symmetry at $q=1$ and a new class of inv-preserving bijections
  on words

abstract:
  We give a direct combinatorial proof of the $q,t$-symmetry relation $\tilde
H_{\mu}(X;q,t)=\tilde H_{\mu'}(X;t,q)$ in the Macdonald polynomials $\tilde
H_\mu$ at the specialization $q=1$. The bijection demonstrates that the
Macdonald inv statistic on the permutations of any given row of a Young diagram
filling is Mahonian. Moreover, our bijection gives rise a family of new
bijections on words that preserves the classical Mahonian inv statistic.


title:
Mathematical Modeling and System Identification Aspects of Heat Flow
  Process inside a Closed Box

abstract:
  This paper presents review points of mathematical modeling and system
identification issues of heat flow process inside a closed box. For system
parameter identification, the least squares method is employed and NI
Temperature Box is used as a test rig for different reference temperature
values. Curve Fitting toolbox and M-file codes written in MATLAB are used based
on the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm in solving least squares equations of the
system.


title: Band-gap switching and scaling of nanoperforated graphene

abstract:
  In this paper, a framework of {w_1, w_2, R} classification for constructing
the graphene nanomesh (GNM) of zigzag-edged hexagonal nanohole is
systematically built. The three integer indexes w_1, w_2, and R indicate the
distances between two neighboring sides of nanoholes in two directions and the
nanohole size respectively, which leading to a straightforward gap opening
criteria, i.e., w_1+w_2-R=3n+1,n is integer, steered via DFT band structure
calculations.The guiding rule indicates that the semimetallic and
semiconducting variation is consistent with a peculiar sequence "010" and "100"
("0"/"1" represent gap closure/opening) with a period of 3 for odd and even w_1
respectively. The periodic nanoperforation induced gap sizes agreewith a linear
fitting with a smaller sqrt(N_rem )/N_tot ratio, while deviates from that when
(w_1+w_2)<R+1. Particularly, the {p, 1, p} and {1, q, q} structures demonstrate
each unique scaling rule pertaining to the nanohole size only when n is set to
zero. Furthermore, the coexistence of Dirac and flat bands is observed for {1,
q, q} and {1, 1, m} structures, which is sensitive to the atomic patters


title:
Naming the Pain in Requirements Engineering: Design of a Global Family
  of Surveys and First Results from Germany

abstract:
  Context: For many years, we have observed industry struggling in defining a
high quality requirements engineering (RE) and researchers trying to understand
industrial expectations and problems. Although we are investigating the
discipline with a plethora of empirical studies, those studies either
concentrate on validating specific methods or on single companies or countries.
Therefore, they allow only for limited empirical generalisations. Objective: To
lay an empirical and generalisable foundation about the state of the practice
in RE, we aim at a series of open and reproducible surveys that allow us to
steer future research in a problem-driven manner. Method: We designed a
globally distributed family of surveys in joint collaborations with different
researchers from different countries. The instrument is based on an initial
theory inferred from available studies. As a long-term goal, the survey will be
regularly replicated to manifest a clear understanding on the status quo and
practical needs in RE. In this paper, we present the design of the family of
surveys and first results of its start in Germany. Results: Our first results
contain responses from 30 German companies. The results are not yet
generalisable, but already indicate several trends and problems. For instance,
a commonly stated problem respondents see in their company standards are
artefacts being underrepresented, and important problems they experience in
their projects are incomplete and inconsistent requirements. Conclusion: The
results suggest that the survey design and instrument are well-suited to be
replicated and, thereby, to create a generalisable empirical basis of RE in
practice.


title:
Query Data With Fuzzy Information In Object-Oriented Databases An
  Approach Interval Values

abstract:
  In this paper, we propose methods of handling attributive values of object
classes in object oriented database with fuzzy information and uncertainty
based on quantitatively semantics based hedge algebraic. In this approach we
consider to attributive values (as well as methods) object class is interval
values and the interval values are converted into sub interval in [0, 1]
respectively. That its the fuzziness of the elements in the hedge algebra is
also sub interval in [0,1]. So, we present an algorithm allows the comparison
of two sub interval [0,1] helping the requirements of the query data


title: Integration over families of Lagrangian submanifolds in BV formalism

abstract:
  Gauge fixing is interpreted in BV formalism as a choice of Lagrangian
submanifold in an odd symplectic manifold. A natural construction defines an
integration procedure on families of Lagrangian submanifolds. In string
perturbation theory, the moduli space integrals of higher genus amplitudes can
be interpreted in this way. We discuss the role of gauge symmetries in this
construction. We derive the conditions which should be imposed on gauge
symmetries for the consistency of our integration procedure. We explain how
these conditions behave under the deformations of the worldsheet theory. In
particular, we show that integrated vertex operator is actually an
inhomogeneous differential form on the space of Lagrangian submanifolds.


title: Search for $K^+\to\pi^+\nu\bar{\nu}$ at NA62

abstract:
  The decay $K^+\to\pi^+\nu\bar{\nu}$ is highly suppressed in the Standard
Model (SM), while its rate can be predicted with minimal theoretical
uncertainty. The branching ratio (BR) for this decay is thus a sensitive probe
of the flavor sector of the SM; its measurement, however, is a significant
experimental challenge. The primary goal of the NA62 experiment is to measure
${\rm BR}(K^+\to\pi^+\nu\bar{\nu})$ with 10% precision. NA62 took data in pilot
runs in 2014 and 2015, reaching the design beam intensity. The status of the
experiment and the prospects for the measurement of ${\rm
BR}(K^+\to\pi^+\nu\bar{\nu})$ are presented.


title:
Temperature dependence of the energy barrier and switching field of
  magnetic islands with perpendicular anisotropy

abstract:
  Using the highly sensitive anomalous Hall effect (AHE) we have been able to
measure the reversal of a single magnetic island, of diameter 220nm, in an
array consisting of more than 80 of those islands. By repeatedly traversing the
hysteresis loop, we measured the thermally actuated fluctuation of the
switching field of the islands at the lower and higher ends of the switching
field distribution. Based on a novel easy-to-use model, we determined the
switching field in the absence of thermal activation, and the energy barrier in
the absence of an external field from these fluctuations. By measuring the
reversal of individual dots in the array as a function of temperature, we
extrapolated the switching field and energy barrier down to 0K. The
extrapolated values are not identical to those obtained from the fluctation of
the switching field at room temperature, because the properties of the magnetic
material are temperature dependent. As a result, extrapolating from temperature
dependent measurements overestimates the energy barrier by more than a factor
of two. To determine fundamental parameters of the energy barrier between
magnetisation states, measuring the fluctuation of the reversal field at the
temperature of application is therefore to be preferred. This is of primary
importance to applications in data storagea and magnetic logic. For instance in
fast switching, where the switching field in the absence of thermal activation
plays a major role, or in long term data stability, which is determined by the
energy barrier in the absence of an external field.


title: Logic Gates with Ion Transistors

abstract:
  Electronic logic gates are the basic building blocks of every computing and
micro controlling system. Logic gates are made of switches, such as diodes and
transistors. Ion-selective, ionic switches may emulate electronic switches
[1-8]. If we ever want to create artificial bio-chemical circuitry, then we
need to move a step further towards ion-logic circuitry. Here we demonstrate
ion XOR and OR gates with electrochemical cells, and specifically, with two
wet-cell batteries. In parallel to vacuum tubes, the batteries were modified to
include a third, permeable and conductive mid electrode (the gate), which was
placed between the anode and cathode in order to affect the ion flow through
it. The key is to control the cell output with a much smaller biasing power, as
demonstrated here. A successful demonstration points to self-powered ion logic
gates.


title: Oracle Complexity of Second-Order Methods for Finite-Sum Problems

abstract:
  Finite-sum optimization problems are ubiquitous in machine learning, and are
commonly solved using first-order methods which rely on gradient computations.
Recently, there has been growing interest in \emph{second-order} methods, which
rely on both gradients and Hessians. In principle, second-order methods can
require much fewer iterations than first-order methods, and hold the promise
for more efficient algorithms. Although computing and manipulating Hessians is
prohibitive for high-dimensional problems in general, the Hessians of
individual functions in finite-sum problems can often be efficiently computed,
e.g. because they possess a low-rank structure. Can second-order information
indeed be used to solve such problems more efficiently? In this paper, we
provide evidence that the answer -- perhaps surprisingly -- is negative, at
least in terms of worst-case guarantees. However, we also discuss what
additional assumptions and algorithmic approaches might potentially circumvent
this negative result.


title: Deformed Fredkin Spin Chain with Extensive Entanglement

abstract:
  We introduce a new spin chain which is a deformation of the Fredkin spin
chain and has a phase transition between bounded and extensive entanglement
entropy scaling. In this chain, spins have a local interaction of three nearest
neighbors. The Hamiltonian is frustration-free and its ground state can be
described analytically as a weighted superposition of Dyck paths. In the purely
spin $1/2$ case, the entanglement entropy obeys an area law: it is bounded from
above by a constant, when the size of the block $n$ increases (and $t>1$). When
a local color degree of freedom is introduced the entanglement entropy
increases linearly with the size of the block (and $t>1$). The entanglement
entropy of half of the chain is tightly bounded by ${ n}\log s$ where $n$ is
the size of the block, and $s$ is the number of colors. Our chain fosters a new
example for a significant boost to entropy and for the existence of the
associated critical rainbow phase where the entanglement entropy scales with
volume that has recently been discovered in Zhang et al. (arXiv:1606.07795)

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


title: Programmable graphene doping via electron beam irradiation

abstract:
  Graphene is a promising candidate to succeed silicon based devices and doping
holds the key to graphene electronics. Conventional doping methods through
surface functionalization or lattice modification are effective in tuning
carrier densities. These processes, however, lead to degradation of device
performance because of structural defect creation. A challenge remains to
controllably dope graphene while preserving its superlative properties. Here we
show a novel method for tunable and erasable doping of on-chip graphene,
realized by using a focused electron beam. Our results demonstrate
site-specific control of carrier type and concentration achievable by
modulating the charge distribution in the dielectric substrate. Thereby, the
structural integrity and electrical performance of graphene are preserved, and
the doping states are rewritable. Different logic operations were thus
implemented in a single graphene sheet. By extending this method to other
two-dimensional materials, this work lays out a blueprint for powerful yet
simple means of incorporating two-dimensional materials into prospective
electronic technologies.


title:
'Proxy-equation' paradigm - A novel strategy for massively-parallel
  asynchronous computations

abstract:
  Massively parallel simulations of transport equation systems call for a
paradigm change in algorithm development to achieve efficient scalability.
Traditional approaches require time synchronization of processing elements
(PEs) which severely restricts scalability. Relaxing synchronization
requirement introduces error and slows down convergence. In this paper, we
propose and develop a novel `proxy-equation' concept for a general transport
equation that (i) tolerates asynchrony with manageable added error, (ii)
preserves convergence order and (iii) scales efficiently on massively parallel
machines. The central idea is to modify \textit{a priori} the transport
equation at the PE boundaries to offset asynchrony errors. Proof-of-concept
computations are performed using a one-dimensional advection-diffusion
equation. The results demonstrate the promise and advantages of the present
strategy.


title:
Multiatom Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states using cavity-induced
  Rydberg blockade

abstract:
  We describe a novel method for producing Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states
in cold atoms coupled to a superconducting coplanar cavity. In the proposed
scheme, atoms interact between each other by virtual photon exchange via a
cavity mode. These interactions cause an asymmetric Rydberg blockade mechanism
that suppresses simultaneous excitations into different atomic Rydberg levels,
thus forcing all atoms to occupy the same Rydberg state. This mechanism has
effect even if the atoms are separated by distances of the order of
millimeters. The atomic populations are transferred adiabatically from the
ground state into the entangled state by following a collective dark state with
low dissipation rates.


title:
Target and beam-target spin asymmetries in exclusive pion
  electroproduction for $Q^2>1$ GeV$^2$. II. $e p \rightarrow e \pi^0 p$

abstract:
  Beam-target double-spin asymmetries and target single-spin asymmetries were
measured for the exclusive $\pi^0$ electroproduction reaction $\gamma^* p \to p
\pi^0$, expanding an analysis of the $\gamma^* p \to n \pi^+$ reaction from the
same experiment. The results were obtained from scattering of 6 GeV
longitudinally polarized electrons off longitudinally polarized protons using
the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer at Jefferson Lab. The kinematic range
covered is $1.1<W<3$ GeV and $1<Q^2<6$ GeV$^2$. Results were obtained for about
5700 bins in $W$, $Q^2$, \cthcm, and $\phi^*$. The beam-target asymmetries were
found to generally be greater than zero, with relatively modest \phicmsp
dependence. The target asymmetries exhibit very strong \phicmsp dependence,
with a change in sign occurring between results at low $W$ and high $W$, in
contrast to $\pi^+$ electroproduction. Reasonable agreement is found with
phenomenological fits to previous data for $W<1.6$ GeV, but significant
differences are seen at higher $W$. When combined with cross section
measurements, as well as $\pi^+$ observables, the present results will provide
powerful constraints on nucleon resonance amplitudes at moderate and large
values of $Q^2$, for resonances with masses as high as 2.4 GeV.


title: Continuity Assumptions in Cake-Cutting

abstract:
  In important papers on cake-cutting -- one of the key areas in fair division
and resource allocation -- the measure-theoretical fundamentals are not fully
correctly given. It is not clear (i) which family of sets should be taken for
the pieces of cake, (ii) which set-functions should be used for evaluating the
pieces, and (iii) which is the relationship between various continuity
properties appearing in cake-cutting.
  We show that probably the best choice for the familiy of subsets of $[0,1]$
is the Borel $\sigma$-algebra and for the set-function any `sliceable' Borel
measure. At least in dimension one it does not make sense to work with only
finitely additive contents on finite unions of intervals. For the continuity
property we see two possibilities. The weaker is the traditional divisibility
property, which is equivalent to being atom-free. The stronger is simply
absolute continuity with respect to Lebesgue measure. We also consider the case
of a base set (cake or pie) more general than $[0,1]$.


title:
Recurrent Neural Network based Part-of-Speech Tagger for Code-Mixed
  Social Media Text

abstract:
  This paper describes Centre for Development of Advanced Computing's (CDACM)
submission to the shared task-'Tool Contest on POS tagging for Code-Mixed
Indian Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, and Whatsapp) Text', collocated with
ICON-2016. The shared task was to predict Part of Speech (POS) tag at word
level for a given text. The code-mixed text is generated mostly on social media
by multilingual users. The presence of the multilingual words,
transliterations, and spelling variations make such content linguistically
complex. In this paper, we propose an approach to POS tag code-mixed social
media text using Recurrent Neural Network Language Model (RNN-LM) architecture.
We submitted the results for Hindi-English (hi-en), Bengali-English (bn-en),
and Telugu-English (te-en) code-mixed data.


title: Ricci flow with surgery in higher dimensions

abstract:
  We present a new curvature condition which is preserved by the Ricci flow in
higher dimensions. For initial metrics satisfying this condition, we establish
a higher dimensional version of Hamilton's neck-like curvature pinching
estimate. Using this estimate, we are able to prove a version of Perelman's
Canonical Neighborhood Theorem in higher dimensions. This makes it possible to
extend the flow beyond singularities by a surgery procedure in the spirit of
Hamilton and Perelman. As a corollary, we obtain a classification of all
diffeomorphism types of such manifolds in terms of a connected sum
decomposition. In particular, the underlying manifold cannot be an exotic
sphere.
  Our result is sharp in many interesting situations. For example, the
curvature tensors of $\mathbb{CP}^{n/2}$, $\mathbb{HP}^{n/4}$, $S^{n-k} \times
S^k$ ($2 \leq k \leq n-2$), $S^{n-2} \times \mathbb{H}^2$, $S^{n-2} \times
\mathbb{R}^2$ all lie on the boundary of our curvature cone. Another borderline
case is the pseudo-cylinder: this is a rotationally symmetric hypersurface
which is weakly, but not strictly, two-convex. Finally, the curvature tensor of
$S^{n-1} \times \mathbb{R}$ lies in the interior of our curvature cone.


title:
Local dissipation limits the dynamics of impacting droplets on smooth
  and rough substrates

abstract:
  A droplet that impacts onto a solid substrate deforms in a complex dynamics.
To extract the principal mechanisms that dominate this dynamics we deploy
numerical simulations based on the phase field method. Direct comparison with
experiments suggests that a dissipation local to the contact line limits the
droplet spreading dynamics and its scaled maximum spreading radius
$\beta_\mathrm{max}$. By assuming linear response through a drag force at the
contact line, our simulations rationalize experimental observations for droplet
impact on both smooth and rough substrates, measured through a single contact
line friction parameter $\mu_f$. Moreover, our analysis shows that at low and
intermediate impact speeds dissipation at the contact line limits the dynamics
and we describe $\beta_\mathrm{max}$ by the scaling law $\beta_\mathrm{max}
\sim (Re \mu_\mathrm{l}/\mu_f)^{1/2}$ that is a function of the droplet
viscosity ($\mu_\mathrm{l}$) and its Reynolds number ($Re$).


title: An MDM Spin Transparent Quadrupole for Storage Ring based EDM Search

abstract:
  A storage ring provides an attractive option for directly measuring the
electric dipole moment~(EDM) of charged particles. To reach a sensitivity of
10^-29 e x cm, it is critical to mitigate the systematic errors from all
sources. This daunting task is pushing the precision frontier of accelerator
science and technology beyond its current state of the art. Here, we present a
unique idea of a magnetic dipole moment~(MDM) spin transparent quadrupole that
can significantly reduce the systematic errors due to the transverse electric
and magnetic fields that particle encounters.


title: On h(x)-Fibonacci polynomials in an arbitrary algebra

abstract:
  In this paper, we introduce h(x)-Fibonacci polynomials in an arbitrary
finite-dimensional unitary algebra over a field K (K = R,C), which generalize
both h(x)-Fibonacci quaternion polynomials and h(x)-Fibonacci octonion
polynomials. For h(x)-Fibonacci polynomials in such an arbitrary algebra, we
prove summation formula, generating function, Binet-style formula,
Catalan-style identity, and d Ocagne-type identity.


title:
One-to-Many Network for Visually Pleasing Compression Artifacts
  Reduction

abstract:
  We consider the compression artifacts reduction problem, where a compressed
image is transformed into an artifact-free image. Recent approaches for this
problem typically train a one-to-one mapping using a per-pixel $L_2$ loss
between the outputs and the ground-truths. We point out that these approaches
used to produce overly smooth results, and PSNR doesn't reflect their real
performance. In this paper, we propose a one-to-many network, which measures
output quality using a perceptual loss, a naturalness loss, and a JPEG loss. We
also avoid grid-like artifacts during deconvolution using a "shift-and-average"
strategy. Extensive experimental results demonstrate the dramatic visual
improvement of our approach over the state of the arts.


title:
Investigation on Finsler geometry as a generalization to curved
  spacetime of Planck-scale-deformed relativity in the de Sitter case

abstract:
  In recent years, Planck-scale modifications to particles' dispersion relation
have been deeply studied for the possibility to formulate some phenomenology of
Planckian effects in astrophysical and cosmological frameworks. There are some
indications [arXiv:gr-qc/0611024] that Finsler geometry can provide some
generalization of Riemannian geometry which may allow to account for
non-trivial (Planckian) structure of relativistic particles' configuration
space. We investigate the possibility to formalize Planck-scale deformations to
relativistic models in curved spacetime, within the framework of Finsler
geometry. We take into account the general strategy of analysis of
modifications of dispersion relations in curved spacetimes proposed in
[arXiv:1507.02056], generalizing to the de Sitter case the results obtained in
[arXiv:1407.8143], for deformed relativistic particle kinematics in flat
spacetime using Finsler formalism.


title:
Fast neutron background characterization with the Radiological
  Multi-sensor Analysis Platform (RadMAP)

abstract:
  In an effort to characterize the fast neutron radiation background, 16 EJ-309
liquid scintillator cells were installed in the Radiological Multi-sensor
Analysis Platform (RadMAP) to collect data in the San Francisco Bay Area. Each
fast neutron event was associated with specific weather metrics (pressure,
temperature, absolute humidity) and GPS coordinates. The expected exponential
dependence of the fast neutron count rate on atmospheric pressure was
demonstrated and event rates were subsequently adjusted given the measured
pressure at the time of detection. Pressure adjusted data was also used to
investigate the influence of other environmental conditions on the neutron
background rate. Using National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
coastal area lidar data, an algorithm was implemented to approximate sky-view
factors (the total fraction of visible sky) for points along RadMAPs route.
Three areas analyzed in San Francisco, Downtown Oakland, and Berkeley all
demonstrated a suppression in the background rate of over 50% for the range of
sky-view factors measured. This effect, which is due to the shielding of
cosmic-ray produced neutrons by surrounding buildings, was comparable to the
pressure influence which yielded a 32% suppression in the count rate over the
range of pressures measured.


title: Renormalization Group independence of Cosmological Attractors

abstract:
  The large class of inflationary models known as $\alpha$- and
$\xi$-attractors gives identical cosmological predictions at tree level (at
leading order in inverse power of the number of efolds). Working with the
renormalization group improved action, we show that these predictions are
robust under quantum corrections. This means that for all the models considered
the inflationary parameters $(n_s,r)$ are (nearly) independent on the
Renormalization Group flow. The result follows once the field dependence of the
renormalization scale, fixed by demanding the leading log correction to vanish,
satisfies a quite generic condition. In Higgs inflation (which is a particular
$\xi$-attractor) this is indeed the case; in the more general attractor models
this is still ensured by the renormalizability of the theory in the effective
field theory sense.


title: Convergence in topological groups and the Cohen reals

abstract:
  We show that it is consistent to have an uncountable sequential group of
intermediate sequential order while no countable such groups exist. This is
proved by adding $\omega_2$ Cohen reals to a model of $\diamondsuit$.


title:
Massively-Parallel Similarity Join, Edge-Isoperimetry, and Distance
  Correlations on the Hypercube

abstract:
  We study distributed protocols for finding all pairs of similar vectors in a
large dataset. Our results pertain to a variety of discrete metrics, and we
give concrete instantiations for Hamming distance. In particular, we give
improved upper bounds on the overhead required for similarity defined by
Hamming distance $r>1$ and prove a lower bound showing qualitative optimality
of the overhead required for similarity over any Hamming distance $r$. Our main
conceptual contribution is a connection between similarity search algorithms
and certain graph-theoretic quantities. For our upper bounds, we exhibit a
general method for designing one-round protocols using edge-isoperimetric
shapes in similarity graphs. For our lower bounds, we define a new
combinatorial optimization problem, which can be stated in purely
graph-theoretic terms yet also captures the core of the analysis in previous
theoretical work on distributed similarity joins. As one of our main technical
results, we prove new bounds on distance correlations in subsets of the Hamming
cube.


title: The seesaw path to leptonic CP violation

abstract:
  Future experiments such as SHiP and high-intensity $e^+ e^-$ colliders will
have a superb sensitivity to heavy Majorana neutrinos with masses below $M_Z$.
We show that the measurement of the mixing to electrons and muons of one such
state could imply the discovery of leptonic CP violation in the context of
seesaw models. We quantify in the minimal model the CP discovery potential of
these future experiments, and demonstrate that a 5$\sigma$ CL discovery of
leptonic CP violation would be possible in a very significant fraction of
parameter space.


title: Minimal Numerical Differentiation Formulas

abstract:
  We investigate numerical differentiation formulas on irregular centers in two
or more variables that are exact for polynomials of a given order and minimize
an absolute seminorm of the weight vector. Error bounds are given in terms of a
growth function that carries the information about the geometry of the centers.
Specific forms of weighted $\ell_1$ and weighted least squares minimization are
proposed that produce numerical differentiation formulas with particularly good
performance in numerical experiments.


title:
Performance Analysis of Partial Interference Cancellation in
  Multi-Antenna UDNs

abstract:
  The employment of partial zero-forcing (PZF) receivers at the base stations
represents an efficient and low-complexity technique for uplink interference
management in cellular networks. In this paper, we focus on the performance
analysis of ultra-dense networks (UDNs) in which the multi-antenna receivers
adopt PZF. We provide both integral expressions and tight closed-form
approximations for the probability of successful transmission, which can be
used to accurately evaluate the optimal tradeoff between interference
cancellation and array gain. Numerical results show that no more than half of
the available degrees of freedom should be used for interference cancellation.


title: Light Field Stitching for Extended Synthetic Aperture

abstract:
  Through capturing spatial and angular radiance distribution, light field
cameras introduce new capabilities that are not possible with conventional
cameras. So far in the light field imaging literature, the focus has been on
the theory and applications of single light field capture. By combining
multiple light fields, it is possible to obtain new capabilities and
enhancements, and even exceed physical limitations, such as spatial resolution
and aperture size of the imaging device. In this paper, we present an algorithm
to register and stitch multiple light fields. We utilize the regularity of the
spatial and angular sampling in light field data, and extend some techniques
developed for stereo vision systems to light field data. Such an extension is
not straightforward for a micro-lens array (MLA) based light field camera due
to extremely small baseline and low spatial resolution. By merging multiple
light fields captured by an MLA based camera, we obtain larger synthetic
aperture, which results in improvements in light field capabilities, such as
increased depth estimation range/accuracy and wider perspective shift range.


title:
Imposing LHC constraints on the combined Anomaly and $Z^\prime$
  Mediation Mechanism of Supersymmetry Breaking

abstract:
  Combining anomaly with $Z^\prime$ mediation allows us to solve the tachyonic
problem of the former and avoid fine tuning in the latter. This model includes
an extra $U(1)^\prime$ gauge symmetry and extra singlet scalar $S$ which
provides a solution to the `$\mu$ problem' of the Minimal Supersymmetric
Standard Model (MSSM). The low-energy particle spectrum is calculated from the
UV inputs using the Renormalization Group Equations. The benchmark points
considered in the original model, suggested before the Higgs discovery,
predicted a Higgs mass heavier than the generic MSSM value. In 2012, the Higgs
particle was discovered and found to have a mass of 125 GeV. Therefore, we can
use that value and other current LHC data to scan the parameter space and
update the predictions of the model, in particular the mass of the $Z^\prime$
gauge boson.


title: Divergence spectra and Morse boundaries of relatively hyperbolic groups

abstract:
  We introduce a new quasi-isometry invariant, called the divergence spectrum,
to study finitely generated groups. We compare the concept of divergence
spectrum with the other classical notions of divergence and we examine the
divergence spectra of relatively hyperbolic groups. We show the existence of an
infinite collection of right-angled Coxeter groups which all have exponential
divergence but they all have different divergence spectra. We also study Morse
boundaries of relatively hyperbolic groups and examine their connection with
Bowditch boundaries.


title:
Dust masses for SN 1980K, SN1993J and Cassiopeia A from red-blue
  emission line asymmetries

abstract:
  We present Monte Carlo line transfer models that investigate the effects of
dust on the very late time emission line spectra of the core collapse
supernovae SN 1980K and SN 1993J and the young core collapse supernova remnant
Cassiopeia A. Their blue-shifted emission peaks, resulting from the removal by
dust of redshifted photons emitted from the far sides of the remnants, and the
presence of extended red emission wings are used to constrain dust compositions
and radii and to determine the masses of dust in the remnants. We estimate dust
masses of between 0.08 - 0.15 M$_\odot$ for SN 1993J at year 16, 0.12 - 0.30
M$_\odot$ for SN 1980K at year 30 and $\sim$1.1 M$_\odot$ for Cas A at year
$\sim$330. Our models for the strong oxygen forbidden lines of Cas A require
the overall modelled profiles to be shifted to the red by between 700 - 1000 km
s$^{-1}$, consistent with previous estimates for the shift of the dynamical
centroid of this remnant.


title:
Imprint of DESI fiber assignment on the anisotropic power spectrum of
  emission line galaxies

abstract:
  The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), a multiplexed fiber-fed
spectrograph, is a Stage-IV ground-based dark energy experiment aiming to
measure redshifts for 29 million Emission-Line Galaxies (ELG), 4 million
Luminous Red Galaxies (LRG), and 2 million Quasi-Stellar Objects (QSO). The
survey design includes a pattern of tiling on the sky and the locations of the
fiber positioners in the focal plane of the telescope, with the observation
strategy determined by a fiber assignment algorithm that optimizes the
allocation of fibers to targets. This strategy allows a given region to be
covered on average five times for a five-year survey, but with coverage varying
between zero and twelve, which imprints a spatially-dependent pattern on the
galaxy clustering. We investigate the systematic effects of the fiber
assignment coverage on the anisotropic galaxy clustering of ELGs and show that,
in the absence of any corrections, it leads to discrepancies of order ten
percent on large scales for the power spectrum multipoles. We introduce a
method where objects in a random catalog are assigned a coverage, and the mean
density is separately computed for each coverage factor. We show that this
method reduces, but does not eliminate the effect. We next investigate the
angular dependence of the contaminated signal, arguing that it is mostly
localized to purely transverse modes. We demonstrate that the cleanest way to
remove the contaminating signal is to perform an analysis of the anisotropic
power spectrum $P(k,\mu)$ and remove the lowest $\mu$ bin, leaving $\mu>0$
modes accurate at the few-percent level. Here, $\mu$ is the cosine of the angle
between the line-of-sight and the direction of $\vec{k}$. We also investigate
two alternative definitions of the random catalog and show they are comparable
but less effective than the coverage randoms method.


title:
Hybrid Light Field Imaging for Improved Spatial Resolution and Depth
  Range

abstract:
  Light field imaging involves capturing both angular and spatial distribution
of light; it enables new capabilities, such as post-capture digital refocusing,
camera aperture adjustment, perspective shift, and depth estimation. Micro-lens
array (MLA) based light field cameras provide a cost-effective approach to
light field imaging. There are two main limitations of MLA-based light field
cameras: low spatial resolution and narrow baseline. While low spatial
resolution limits the general purpose use and applicability of light field
cameras, narrow baseline limits the depth estimation range and accuracy. In
this paper, we present a hybrid stereo imaging system that includes a light
field camera and a regular camera. The hybrid system addresses both spatial
resolution and narrow baseline issues of the MLA-based light field cameras
while preserving light field imaging capabilities.


title: OctNet: Learning Deep 3D Representations at High Resolutions

abstract:
  We present OctNet, a representation for deep learning with sparse 3D data. In
contrast to existing models, our representation enables 3D convolutional
networks which are both deep and high resolution. Towards this goal, we exploit
the sparsity in the input data to hierarchically partition the space using a
set of unbalanced octrees where each leaf node stores a pooled feature
representation. This allows to focus memory allocation and computation to the
relevant dense regions and enables deeper networks without compromising
resolution. We demonstrate the utility of our OctNet representation by
analyzing the impact of resolution on several 3D tasks including 3D object
classification, orientation estimation and point cloud labeling.


title: Anchor-Free Correlated Topic Modeling: Identifiability and Algorithm

abstract:
  In topic modeling, many algorithms that guarantee identifiability of the
topics have been developed under the premise that there exist anchor words --
i.e., words that only appear (with positive probability) in one topic.
Follow-up work has resorted to three or higher-order statistics of the data
corpus to relax the anchor word assumption. Reliable estimates of higher-order
statistics are hard to obtain, however, and the identification of topics under
those models hinges on uncorrelatedness of the topics, which can be
unrealistic. This paper revisits topic modeling based on second-order moments,
and proposes an anchor-free topic mining framework. The proposed approach
guarantees the identification of the topics under a much milder condition
compared to the anchor-word assumption, thereby exhibiting much better
robustness in practice. The associated algorithm only involves one
eigen-decomposition and a few small linear programs. This makes it easy to
implement and scale up to very large problem instances. Experiments using the
TDT2 and Reuters-21578 corpus demonstrate that the proposed anchor-free
approach exhibits very favorable performance (measured using coherence,
similarity count, and clustering accuracy metrics) compared to the prior art.


title: Extensive-Form Perfect Equilibrium Computation in Two-Player Games

abstract:
  We study the problem of computing an Extensive-Form Perfect Equilibrium
(EFPE) in 2-player games. This equilibrium concept refines the Nash equilibrium
requiring resilience w.r.t. a specific vanishing perturbation (representing
mistakes of the players at each decision node). The scientific challenge is
intrinsic to the EFPE definition: it requires a perturbation over the agent
form, but the agent form is computationally inefficient, due to the presence of
highly nonlinear constraints. We show that the sequence form can be exploited
in a non-trivial way and that, for general-sum games, finding an EFPE is
equivalent to solving a suitably perturbed linear complementarity problem. We
prove that Lemke's algorithm can be applied, showing that computing an EFPE is
$\textsf{PPAD}$-complete. In the notable case of zero-sum games, the problem is
in $\textsf{FP}$ and can be solved by linear programming. Our algorithms also
allow one to find a Nash equilibrium when players cannot perfectly control
their moves, being subject to a given execution uncertainty, as is the case in
most realistic physical settings.


title: Multi-Area Interchange Scheduling under Uncertainty

abstract:
  The problem of multi-area interchange scheduling under system uncertainty is
considered. A new scheduling technique is proposed for a multi-proxy bus system
based on stochastic optimization that captures uncertainty in renewable
generation and stochastic load. In particular, the proposed algorithm
iteratively optimizes the interface flows using a multidimensional demand and
supply functions. Optimality and convergence are guaranteed for both
synchronous and asynchronous scheduling under nominal assumptions.


title: PixelVAE: A Latent Variable Model for Natural Images

abstract:
  Natural image modeling is a landmark challenge of unsupervised learning.
Variational Autoencoders (VAEs) learn a useful latent representation and model
global structure well but have difficulty capturing small details. PixelCNN
models details very well, but lacks a latent code and is difficult to scale for
capturing large structures. We present PixelVAE, a VAE model with an
autoregressive decoder based on PixelCNN. Our model requires very few expensive
autoregressive layers compared to PixelCNN and learns latent codes that are
more compressed than a standard VAE while still capturing most non-trivial
structure. Finally, we extend our model to a hierarchy of latent variables at
different scales. Our model achieves state-of-the-art performance on binarized
MNIST, competitive performance on 64x64 ImageNet, and high-quality samples on
the LSUN bedrooms dataset.


title:
On Threshold Routing in a Service System with Highest-Bidder-First and
  FIFO Services

abstract:
  In this paper, we consider a two server system serving heterogeneous
customers. One of the server has a FIFO scheduling policy and charges a fixed
admission price to each customer. The second queue follows the
highest-bidder-first (HBF) policy where an arriving customer bids for its
position in the queue. Customers make an individually optimal choice of the
server and for such system, we characterize the equilibrium routing of
customers. We specifically show that this routing is characterized by two
thresholds.


title:
Linear Precoder Design for a MIMO Gaussian Wiretap Channel with
  Full-Duplex Source and Destination Nodes

abstract:
  We consider linear precoder design for a multiple-input multiple-output
(MIMO) Gaussian wiretap channel, which comprises two legitimate nodes, i.e.,
Alice and Bob, operating in Full-Duplex (FD) mode and exchanging confidential
messages in the presence of a passive eavesdropper. Using the sum secrecy
degrees of freedoms (sum S.D.o.F.) as reliability measure, we formulate an
optimization problem with respect to the precoding matrices. In order to solve
this problem, we first propose a cooperative secrecy transmission scheme, and
prove that its feasible set is sufficient to achieve the maximum sum S.D.o.F..
Based on that feasible set, we then determine the maximum achievable sum
S.D.o.F. in closed form, and provide a method for constructing the precoding
matrix pair which achieves the maximum sum S.D.o.F.. Results show that, the FD
based network provides an attractive secrecy transmission rate performance.


title: Probing the conformal Calabrese-Cardy scaling with cold atoms

abstract:
  We demonstrate that current experiments using cold bosonic atoms trapped in
one-dimensional optical lattices and designed to measure the second-order Renyi
entanglement entropy S_2, can be used to verify detailed predictions of
conformal field theory (CFT) and estimate the central charge c. We discuss the
adiabatic preparation of the ground state at half-filling where we expect a CFT
with c=1. This can be accomplished with a very small hoping parameter J, in
contrast to existing studies with density one where a much larger J is needed.
We provide two complementary methods to estimate and subtract the classical
entropy generated by the experimental preparation and imaging processes. We
compare numerical calculations for the classical O(2) model with a chemical
potential on a 1+1 dimensional lattice, and the quantum Bose-Hubbard
Hamiltonian implemented in the experiments. S_2 is very similar for the two
models and follows closely the Calabrese-Cardy scaling, (c/8)\ln(N_s), for N_s
sites with open boundary conditions, provided that the large subleading
corrections are taken into account.


title: Generalized Gauge U(1) Family Symmetry for Quarks and Leptons

abstract:
  If the standard model of quarks and leptons is extended to include three
singlet right-handed neutrinos, then the resulting fermion structure admits an
infinite number of anomaly-free solutions with just one simple constraint.
Well-known examples satisfying this constraint are $B-L$, $L_{\mu}-L_{\tau}$ ,
$B-3L_{\tau}$ , etc. We derive this simple constraint, and discuss two new
examples which offer some insights to the structure of mixing among quark and
lepton families, together with their possible verification at the Large Hadron
Collider.


title: In\"on\"u-Wigner Contraction and $D=2+1$ Supergravity

abstract:
  We present a generalization of the standard In\"on\"u-Wigner contraction by
rescaling not only the generators of a Lie superalgebra but also the arbitrary
constants appearing in the components of the invariant tensor. The procedure
presented here allows to obtain explicitly the Chern-Simons supergravity action
of a contracted superalgebra. In particular we show that the Poincar\'e limit
can be performed to a $D=2+1$ $\left(p,q\right) $ $% AdS$ Chern-Simons
supergravity in presence of the exotic form. We also construct a new
three-dimensional $\left(2,0\right) $ Maxwell Chern-Simons supergravity theory
as a particular limit of $\left(2,0\right) $ $AdS$ -Lorentz supergravity
theory. The generalization for $\mathcal{N}=p+q$ gravitini is also considered.


title:
Corrected mean-field model for random sequential adsorption on random
  geometric graphs

abstract:
  A notorious problem in mathematics and physics is to create a solvable model
for random sequential adsorption of non-overlapping congruent spheres in the
$d$-dimensional Euclidean space with $d\geq 2$. Spheres arrive sequentially at
uniformly chosen locations in space and are accepted only when there is no
overlap with previously deposited spheres. Due to spatial correlations,
characterizing the fraction of accepted spheres remains largely intractable. We
study this fraction by taking a novel approach that compares random sequential
adsorption in Euclidean space to the nearest-neighbor blocking on a sequence of
clustered random graphs. This random network model can be thought of as a
corrected mean-field model for the interaction graph between the attempted
spheres. Using functional limit theorems, we characterize the fraction of
accepted spheres and its fluctuations.

categories: math.PR cond-mat.stat-mech math-ph math.MP


title:
Overview of electromagnetic probes in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion
  collisions

abstract:
  An introductory overview of electromagnetic probes in ultra-relativistic
heavy-ion collisions is provided. Experimental evidence supporting the
production of thermal photons and dileptons in heavy-ion collisions at the
Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) are
reviewed. Thermal electromagnetic emission evaluated from hydrodynamical models
of collisions is discussed.


title:
The contextuality loophole is fatal for Bell inequalities: Reply to a
  comment by I. Schmelzer

abstract:
  Ilya Schmelzer wrote recently: {\it Nieuwenhuizen argued that there exists
some "contextuality loophole" in Bell's theorem. This claim in unjustified}. It
is made clear that this arose from attaching a meaning to the title and the
content of the paper different from the one intended by Nieuwenhuizen.
"Contextual loophole" means only that if the supplementary parameters
describing measuring instruments are correctly introduced, Bell and Bell-type
inequalities may not be proven. It is also stressed that a hidden variable
model suffers from a "contextuality loophole" if it tries to describe different
sets of incompatible experiments using a unique probability space and a unique
joint probability distribution.


title:
Ultrafast transmission electron microscopy using a laser-driven field
  emitter: femtosecond resolution with a high coherence electron beam

abstract:
  We present the development of the first ultrafast transmission electron
microscope (UTEM) driven by localized photoemission from a field emitter
cathode. We describe the implementation of the instrument, the photoemitter
concept and the quantitative electron beam parameters achieved. Establishing a
new source for ultrafast TEM, the G\"ottingen UTEM employs nano-localized
linear photoemission from a Schottky emitter, which enables operation with
freely tunable temporal structure, from continuous wave to femtosecond pulsed
mode. Using this emission mechanism, we achieve record pulse properties in
ultrafast electron microscopy of 9 {\AA} focused beam diameter, 200 fs pulse
duration and 0.6 eV energy width. We illustrate the possibility to conduct
ultrafast imaging, diffraction, holography and spectroscopy with this
instrument and also discuss opportunities to harness quantum coherent
interactions between intense laser fields and free electron beams.


title: Quasimap Wall-crossings and Mirror Symmetry

abstract:
  We state a wall-crossing formula for the virtual classes of epsilon-stable
quasimaps to GIT quotients and prove it for complete intersections in
projective space, with no positivity restrictions on their first Chern class.
As a consequence, the wall-crossing formula relating the genus g descendant
Gromov-Witten potential and the genus g epsilon-quasimap descendant potential
is established. For the quintic threefold, our results may be interpreted as
giving a rigorous and geometric interpretation of the holomorphic limit of the
BCOV B-model partition function of the mirror family.


title:
Quasi-adiabatic dynamics and state preparation in Floquet many-body
  systems

abstract:
  Periodic driving has emerged as a powerful experimental tool to engineer
physical properties of isolated, synthetic quantum systems. However, due to the
lack of energy conservation and heating effects, non-trivial (e.g.,
topological) many-body states in periodically driven (Floquet) systems are
generally metastable. Therefore it is necessary to find strategies for
preparing long-lived many-body states in Floquet systems. We develop a
theoretical framework for describing the dynamical preparation of states in
Floquet systems by a slow turn-on of the drive. We find that the dynamics of
the system is well approximated by the initial state evolving under a slowly
varying effective Hamiltonian $H_{\rm eff}^{(s)}(t)$, provided the ramp speed
$s \gg t_*^{-1} \sim e^{-{\mathcal{C} \frac{\omega}{J}}}$, the inverse of the
characteristic heating time-scale in the Floquet system. At such ramp speeds,
the heating effects due to the drive are exponentially suppressed. We compute
the slowly varying effective Hamiltonian $H_{\rm eff}^{(s)}(t)$, and show that
at the end of the ramp it is identical to the effective Hamiltonian of the
unramped Floquet system, up to small corrections of the order $O(s)$.
Therefore, the system effectively undergoes a slow quench from $H_0$ to $H_{\rm
eff}$. As an application, we consider the passage of the slow quench through a
quantum critical point (QCP), and estimate the energy absorbed due to the
non-adiabatic passage through the QCP via a Kibble-Zurek mechanism. By
minimizing the energy absorbed due to both the drive and the ramp, we find an
optimal ramp speed $s_* \sim t_*^{-z/({d+2z})}$ for which both heating effects
are exponentially suppressed. Our results bridge the gap between the numerous
proposals to obtain interesting systems via Floquet engineering, and the actual
preparation of such systems in their effective ground states.


title:
A time-correlation function approach to nuclear dynamical effects in
  X-ray spectroscopy

abstract:
  Modern X-ray spectroscopy has proven itself as a robust tool for probing the
electronic structure of atoms in complex environments. Despite working on
energy scales that are much larger than those corresponding to nuclear motions,
taking nuclear dynamics and the associated nuclear correlations into account
may be of importance for X-ray spectroscopy. Recently, we have developed an
efficient protocol to account for nuclear dynamics in X-ray absorption and
resonant inelastic X-ray scattering spectra [Karsten \textit{et al.}
arXiv:1608.03436], based on ground state molecular dynamics accompanied with
state-of-the-art calculations of electronic excitation energies and transition
dipoles. Here, we present an alternative derivation of the formalism and
elaborate on the developed simulation protocol on the examples of gas phase and
bulk water. The specific spectroscopic features stemming from the nuclear
motions are analyzed and traced down to the dynamics of electronic energy gaps
and transition dipole correlation functions. The observed tendencies are
explained on the basis of a simple harmonic model and the involved
approximations are discussed. The method represents a step forward over the
conventional approaches treating the system in full complexity and provides a
reasonable starting point for further improvements.


title: Undecidability of Asynchronous Session Subtyping

abstract:
  Session types are used to describe communication protocols in distributed
systems and, as usual in type theories, session subtyping characterizes
substitutability of the communicating processes. We investigate the
(un)decidability of subtyping for session types in asynchronously communicating
systems. We first devise a core undecidable subtyping relation that is obtained
by imposing limitations on the structure of types. Then, as a consequence of
this initial undecidability result, we show that (differently from what stated
or conjectured in the literature) the three notions of asynchronous subtyping
defined so far for session types are all undecidable. Namely, we consider the
asynchronous session subtyping by Mostrous and Yoshida for binary sessions, the
relation by Chen et al. for binary sessions under the assumption that every
message emitted is eventually consumed, and the one by Mostrous et al. for
multiparty session types. Finally, by showing that two fragments of the core
subtyping relation are decidable, we evince that further restrictions on the
structure of types make our core subtyping relation decidable.


title: On the prospects of gamma-ray burst detection in the TeV band

abstract:
  A gamma-ray burst (GRB) jet running into an external medium is expected to
generate luminous GeV-TeV emission lasting from minutes to several hours. The
high-energy emission results from inverse Compton upscattering of prompt and
afterglow photons by shock-heated {\it thermal} plasma. At its peak the
high-energy radiation carries a significant fraction of the power dissipated at
the forward shock. We discuss in detail the expected TeV luminosity, using a
robust "minimal" emission model. Then, using the statistical properties of the
GRB population (luminosity function, redshift distribution, afterglow energy)
we simulate the expected detection rates of GRBs by current and upcoming
atmospheric Cherenkov instruments. We find that GRBs exploding into a
low-density interstellar medium must produce TeV emission that would have
already been detected by the currently operating Cherenkov telescopes. The
absence of detections is consistent with explosions into a dense wind of the
GRB progenitor. If the typical environment of long GRBs is a Wolf-Rayet
progenitor wind, as suggested by the recent analysis of Fermi LAT data, then
the upcoming Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) should be able to detect a
fraction of GRBs that trigger the space-borne detectors. Since absorption by
the extragalactic background light limits the detectability above 0.1 TeV for
all but the most nearby bursts ($z\lesssim 1$), the reduced energy threshold of
CTA is the key improvement over current instruments, which should boost the
detection rate by at least a factor of 3.


title:
Gravitino or Axino Dark Matter with Reheat Temperature as high as
  $10^{16}$ GeV

abstract:
  A new scheme for lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP) dark matter is
introduced and studied in theories of TeV supersymmetry with a QCD axion, $a$,
and a high reheat temperature after inflation, $T_R$. A large overproduction of
axinos ($\tilde{a}$) and gravitinos ($\tilde{G}$) from scattering at $T_R$, and
from freeze-in at the TeV scale, is diluted by the late decay of a saxion
condensate that arises from inflation. The two lightest superpartners are
$\tilde{a}$, with mass of order the TeV scale, and $\tilde{G}$ with mass
$m_{3/2}$ anywhere between the keV and TeV scales, depending on the mediation
scale of supersymmetry breaking. Dark matter contains both warm and cold
components: for $\tilde{G}$ LSP the warm component arises from $\tilde{a}
\rightarrow \tilde{G}a$, while for $\tilde{a}$ LSP the warm component arises
from $\tilde{G} \rightarrow \tilde{a}a$. The free-streaming scale for the warm
component is predicted to be of order 1 Mpc (and independent of $m_{3/2}$ in
the case of $\tilde{G}$ LSP). $T_R$ can be as high as $10^{16}$ GeV, for any
value of $m_{3/2}$, solving the gravitino problem. The PQ symmetry breaking
scale $V_{PQ}$ depends on $T_R$ and $m_{3/2}$ and can be anywhere in the range
$(10^{10} - 10^{16})$ GeV. Detailed predictions are made for the lifetime of
the neutralino LOSP decaying to $\tilde{a}+ h/Z$ and $\tilde{G}+h/Z/\gamma$,
which is in the range of $(10^{-1}-10^6)$m over much of parameter space. For an
axion misalignment angle of order unity, the axion contribution to dark matter
is sub-dominant, except when $V_{PQ}$ approaches $10^{16}$ GeV.


title:
Complete minimal surfaces densely lying in arbitrary domains of
  $\mathbb{R}^n$

abstract:
  In this paper we prove that, given an open Riemann surface $M$ and an integer
$n\ge 3$, the set of complete conformal minimal immersions $M\to\mathbb{R}^n$
with $\overline{X(M)}=\mathbb{R}^n$ forms a dense subset in the space of all
conformal minimal immersions $M\to\mathbb{R}^n$ endowed with the compact-open
topology. Moreover, we show that every domain in $\mathbb{R}^n$ contains
complete minimal surfaces which are dense on it and have arbitrary orientable
topology (possibly infinite); we also provide such surfaces whose complex
structure is any given bordered Riemann surface.
  Our method of proof can be adapted to give analogous results for
non-orientable minimal surfaces in $\mathbb{R}^n$ $(n\ge 3)$, complex curves in
$\mathbb{C}^n$ $(n\ge 2)$, holomorphic null curves in $\mathbb{C}^n$ $(n\ge
3)$, and holomorphic Legendrian curves in $\mathbb{C}^{2n+1}$
$(n\in\mathbb{N})$.


title:
Approximate light cone effects in a non-relativistic quantum field
  theory after a local quench

abstract:
  We study the spreading of correlations after a local quench in a
non-relativistic quantum field theory. We focus on noninteracting
non-relativistic fermions and study the time evolution after two identical
systems in their ground states are suddenly joined together with a localized
impurity at the junction. We find that, even if the quasi-particles of the
system have unbounded dispersion, the correlations show light cone effects. We
carry out a detailed study of these effects by developing an accurate
asymptotic expansion of the two-point function and determining exactly the
density of particles at any time after the quench. In particular, we find that
the width of the light cone region is $\propto t^{1/2}$. The structure of
correlations, however, does not show a pure light cone form - "superluminal
corrections" are much larger than in the bounded-dispersion case. These
findings can be explained by inspecting the structure of excitations generated
by the initial state. We show that a similar picture also emerges in the
presence of a harmonic trapping potential and when more than two systems are
suddenly joined at a single point.


title: Second order higher-derivative corrections in Double Field Theory

abstract:
  HSZ Double Field Theory is a higher-derivative theory of gravity with exact
and manifest T-duality symmetry. The first order corrections in the massless
sector were shown to be governed solely by Chern-Simons deformations of the
three-form field strength. We compute the full action with up to six
derivatives ${\cal O} (\alpha'{}^2)$ for the universal sector containing the
metric, two-form and dilaton fields. The Green-Schwarz transformation of the
two-form field remains uncorrected to second order. In addition to the expected
Chern-Simons-squared and Riemann-cubed terms the theory contains a cubic
Gauss-Bonnet interaction, plus other six-derivative unambiguous terms involving
the three-form field strength whose presence indicates that the theory must
contain further higher-derivative corrections.


title: Four Tops for LHC

abstract:
  We design a search strategy for the Standard Model $t\bar t t \bar t$
production at the LHC in the same-sign dilepton and trilepton channels. We
study different signal features and, given the small expected number of signal
events, we scrutinize in detail all reducible and irreducible backgrounds. Our
analysis shows that by imposing a set of basic jet and lepton selection
criteria, the SM $pp \to t\bar t t \bar t$ process could be evidenced in the
near future, within Run-II, when combining both multi-lepton search channels.
We argue that this search strategy should also be used as a guideline to test
New Physics coupling predominantly to top-quarks. In particular, we show that a
non-resonant New Physics enhancement in the four-top final state would be
detectable through this search strategy. We study two {\it top-philic}
simplified models of this kind, a neutral scalar boson and a $Z^\prime$, and
present current and future exclusion limits on their mass and couplings.


title: Cusp-shaped structure of a jet observed by IRIS and SDO

abstract:
  On 29 August 2014, the trigger and evolution of a cusp-shaped jet were
captured in detail at 1330 {\AA} by the Interface Region Imaging
Spectrograph.At first, two neighboring mini-prominences arose in turn from low
solar atmosphere and collided with a loop-like system over them. The collisions
between the loop-like system and the mini-prominences lead to the blowout and
then a cusp-shaped jet formed with a spire and an arch-base.
  In the spire, many brightening blobs originating from the junction between
the spire and the arch-base, moved upward in a rotating manner and then in a
straight line in the late phase of the jet. In the arch-base, dark and bright
material simultaneously tracked in a fan-like structure and the majority of the
material moved along the fan's threads.
  At the later phase of the jet's evolution, bidirectional flows emptied the
arch-base, while down-flows emptied the spire, thus making the jet entirely
vanish. The extremely detailed observations in this study shed new light on how
magnetic reconnection alters the inner topological structure of a jet, and
provide a beneficial complement for understanding current jet models.


title: Local well-posedness of the EPDiff equation: a survey

abstract:
  This article is a survey on the local well-posedness problem for the general
EPDiff equation. The main contribution concerns recent results on local
existence of the geodesics on $\mathrm{Diff}(\mathbb{T}^{d})$ and
$\mathrm{Diff}(\mathbb{R}^{d})$ when the inertia operator is a non-local
Fourier multiplier.


title:
The Quantum Yang Baxter conditions: The fundamental relations behind the
  Nambu-Goldstone theorem

abstract:
  We demonstrate that when there is spontaneous symmetry breaking in any
system, relativistic or non-relativistic, the dynamic of the Nambu-Goldstone
bosons is governed by the Quantum Yang-Baxter equations. These equations
describe the triangular dynamical relations between pairs of Nambu-Goldstone
bosons and the degenerate vacuum. We then formulate a theorem and a corollary
showing that these relations guarantee the appropriate dispersion relation and
the appropriate counting for the Nambu-Goldstone bosons.


title: Self-consistent Spectral Functions in the $O(N)$ Model from the FRG

abstract:
  We present the first self-consistent direct calculation of a spectral
function in the framework of the Functional Renormalization Group. The study is
carried out in the relativistic $O(N)$ model, where the full momentum
dependence of the propagators in the complex plane as well as
momentum-dependent vertices are considered. The analysis is supplemented by a
comparative study of the Euclidean momentum dependence and of the complex
momentum dependence on the level of spectral functions. This work lays the
groundwork for the computation of full spectral functions in more complex
systems.


title:
Spin flip loss in magnetic confinement of ultracold neutrons for neutron
  lifetime experiments

abstract:
  We analyze the spin flip loss for ultracold neutrons in magnetic bottles of
the type used in experiments aiming at a precise measurement of the neutron
lifetime, extending the one-dimensional field model used previously by Steyerl
$\textit{et al.}$ [Phys.Rev.C $\mathbf{86}$, 065501 (2012)] to two dimensions
for cylindrical multipole fields. We also develop a general analysis applicable
to three dimensions. Here we apply it to multipole fields and to the bowl-type
field configuration used for the Los Alamos UCN$\tau$ experiment. In all cases
considered the spin flip loss calculated exceeds the Majorana estimate by many
orders of magnitude but can be suppressed sufficiently by applying a holding
field of appropriate magnitude to allow high-precision neutron lifetime
measurements, provided other possible sources of systematic error are under
control.


title: Caustics for Spherical Waves

abstract:
  We study the development of caustics in shift-symmetric scalar field theories
by focusing on simple waves with an $SO(p)$-symmetry in an arbitrary number of
space dimensions. We show that the pure Galileon, the DBI-Galileon, and the
extreme-relativistic Galileon naturally emerge as the unique set of
caustic-free theories, highlighting a link between the caustic-free condition
for simple $SO(p)$-waves and the existence of either a global Galilean symmetry
or a global (extreme-)relativistic Galilean symmetry.


title:
The structural and size evolution of star-forming galaxies over the last
  11 Gyrs

abstract:
  We present new results on the evolution of rest-frame blue/UV sizes and
Sersic indices of H$\alpha$-selected star-forming galaxies over the last 11
Gyrs. We investigate how the perceived evolution can be affected by a range of
biases and systematics such as cosmological dimming and resolution effects. We
use GALFIT and an artificial redshifting technique, which includes the
luminosity evolution of H$\alpha$-selected galaxies, to quantify the change on
the measured structural parameters with redshift. We find typical sizes of 2 to
3 kpc and Sersic indices of n~1.2, close to pure exponential disks all the way
from z=2.23 to z=0.4. At z=0 we find typical sizes of 4-5 kpc. Our results show
that, when using GALFIT, cosmological dimming has a negligible impact on the
derived effective radius for galaxies with <10 kpc, but we find a ~20% bias on
the estimate of the median Sersic indices, rendering galaxies more disk-like.
Star-forming galaxies have grown on average by a factor of 2-3 in the last 11
Gyrs with $r_e\propto(1+z)^{-0.75}$. By exploring the evolution of the stellar
mass-size relation we find evidence for a stronger size evolution of the most
massive star-forming galaxies since z~2, as they grow faster towards z~0 when
compared to the lower stellar mass counterparts. As we are tracing the
rest-frame blue/UV, we are likely witnessing the growth of disks where star
formation is ongoing in galaxies while their profiles remain close to
exponential disks, n<1.5, across the same period.


title:
The Tip of the Red Giant Branch Distances to Type Ia Supernova Host
  Galaxies. IV. Color Dependence and Zero-Point Calibration

abstract:
  We present a revised TRGB calibration, accurate to 2.7% of distance. A
modified TRGB magnitude corrected for the color dependence of the TRGB, the QT
magnitude, is introduced for better measurement of the TRGB. We determine the
color-magnitude relation of the TRGB from photometry of deep images of HST/ACS
fields around eight nearby galaxies. The zero-point of the TRGB at the fiducial
metallicity ([Fe/H]=-1.6 ((V-I)_{0,TRGB}=1.5)) is obtained from photometry of
two distance anchors, NGC 4258 (M106) and the LMC, to which precise geometric
distances are known: M_{QT,TRGB}=-4.023+-0.073 mag from NGC 4258 and
M_{QT,TRGB}=-4.004+-0.096 mag from the LMC. A weighted mean of the two
zero-points is M_{QT,TRGB}=-4.016+-0.058 mag. Quoted uncertainty is ~2 times
smaller than those of the previous calibrations. We compare the empirical TRGB
calibration derived in this study with theoretical stellar models, finding that
there are significant discrepancies, especially for red color ((F606W-F814W)_0
> 2.5). We provide the revised TRGB calibration in several magnitude systems
for future studies.


title: Models for Sixty Double-Lined Binaries containing Giants

abstract:
  The observed masses, radii and temperatures of 60 medium- to long-period
binaries, most of which contain a cool, evolved star and a hotter less-evolved
one, are compared with theoretical models which include (a) core convective
overshooting, (b)mass loss, possibly driven by dynamo action as in RS CVn
binaries, and (c) tidal friction, including its effect on orbital period
through magnetic braking. A reasonable fit is found in about 42 cases, but in
11 other cases the primaries appear to have lost either more mass or less mass
than the models predict, and in 4 others the orbit is predicted to be either
more or less circular than observed. Of the remaining 3 systems, two ($\gamma$
Per and HR 8242) have a markedly `over-evolved' secondary, our explanation
being that the primary component is the merged remnant of a former short-period
sub-binary in a former triple system. The last system (V695 Cyg) defies any
agreement at present. Mention is also made of three other systems (V643 Ori, OW
Gem and V453 Cep), which are relevant to our discussion.


title: Beyond WIMPs: the Quark (Anti) Nugget Dark Matter

abstract:
  We review a testable dark matter (DM) model outside of the standard WIMP
paradigm. The model is unique in a sense that the observed ratio $\Omega_{\rm
dark} \simeq \Omega_{\rm visible}$ for visible and dark matter densities finds
its natural explanation as a result of their common QCD origin when both types
of matter (DM and visible) are formed during the QCD transition and both are
proportional to single dimensional parameter of the system, $\Lambda_{\rm
QCD}$. We argue that the charge separation effect also inevitably occurs during
the same QCD transition in the presence of the $\cal{CP}$ odd axion field
$a(x)$. It leads to preferential formation of one species of nuggets on the
scales of the visible Universe where the axion field $a(x)$ is coherent. A
natural outcome of this preferential evolution is that only one type of the
visible baryons (not anti- baryons) remain in the system after the nuggets
complete their formation. Unlike conventional WIMP dark matter candidates, the
nuggets and anti-nuggets are strongly interacting but macroscopically large
objects. The rare events of annihilation of the anti-nuggets with visible
matter lead to a number of observable effects. We argue that the relative
intensities for a number of measured excesses of emission from the centre of
galaxy (covering more than 11 orders of magnitude) are determined by standard
and well established physics. At the same time the absolute intensity of
emission is determined by a single new fundamental parameter of the theory, the
axion mass, $10^{-6} {\rm eV} \lesssim m_a \lesssim 10^{-3}{\rm eV}$. Finally,
we comment on implications of these studies for the axion search experiments,
including microwave cavity and the Orpheus experiments.


title: Emission-line stars in M31 from the SPLASH and PHAT surveys

abstract:
  We present a sample of 224 stars that emit H$\alpha$ (H$\alpha$ stars) in the
Andromeda galaxy (M31). The stars were selected from $\sim$ 5000 spectra,
collected as part of the Spectroscopic and Photometric Landscape of Andromeda's
Stellar Halo survey using Keck II/DEIMOS. We used six-filter Hubble Space
Telescope photometry from the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury survey to
classify and investigate the properties of the H$\alpha$ stars. We identified
five distinct categories of H$\alpha$ star: B-type main sequence (MS) stars,
`transitioning'-MS (T-MS) stars, red core He burning (RHeB) stars, non-C-rich
asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars, and C-rich AGB stars. We found $\sim$ 12
per cent of B-type stars exhibit H$\alpha$ emission (Be stars). The frequency
of Be to all B stars is known to vary with the metallicity of their
environment. Comparing this proportion of Be stars with other environments
around the Local Group, the result could indicate that M31 is more metal rich
than the Milky Way. We predict that the 17 T-MS H$\alpha$ stars are Be stars
evolving off the MS with fading H$\alpha$ emission. We separated RHeB from AGB
H$\alpha$ stars. We conclude that the 61 RHeB and AGB stars are likely to be
Long Period Variables. We found that $\sim$ 14 per cent of C-rich AGB stars (C
stars) emit H$\alpha$, which is an upper limit for the ratio of C-rich Miras to
C stars. This catalogue of H$\alpha$ stars will be useful to constrain stellar
evolutionary models, calibrate distance indicators for intermediate age
populations, and investigate the properties of M31.