title: Maximal $\mathrm{PSL_2}$ subgroups of exceptional groups of Lie type

abstract:
  We study embeddings of $\mathrm{PSL}_2(p^a)$ into exceptional groups $G(p^b)$
for $G=F_4,E_6,{}^2\!E_6,E_7$, and $p$ a prime with $a,b$ positive integers.
With a few possible exceptions, we prove that any almost simple group with
socle $\mathrm{PSL}_2(p^a)$, that is maximal inside an almost simple
exceptional group of Lie type $F_4$, $E_6$, ${}^2\!E_6$ and $E_7$, is the fixed
points under the Frobenius map of a corresponding maximal closed subgroup of
type $A_1$ inside the algebraic group.
  Together with a recent result of Burness and Testerman for $p$ the Coxeter
number plus one, this proves that all maximal subgroups with socle
$\mathrm{PSL}_2(p^a)$ inside these finite almost simple groups are known, with
three possible exceptions ($p^a=7,8,25$ for $E_7$).
  In the three remaining cases we provide considerable information about a
potential maximal subgroup.


title:
White Dwarf Period Tables - I. Pulsators with hydrogen-dominated
  atmospheres

abstract:
  We aimed at collecting all known white dwarf pulsators with
hydrogen-dominated atmospheres and list their main photometric and atmospheric
parameters together with their pulsation periods and amplitudes observed at
different epochs. For this purpose, we explored the pulsating white dwarf
related literature with the systematic use of the SIMBAD and the NASA's
Astrophysics Data System (ADS) databases. We summarized our results in four
tables listing seven ZZ Ceti stars in detached white dwarf plus main-sequence
binaries, seven extremely low-mass DA pulsators, three hot DAVs and 180 ZZ Ceti
stars.


title: Finite connected components of the aliquot graph

abstract:
  Conditional on a strong form of the Goldbach conjecture, we determine all
finite connected components of the aliquot graph containing a number less than
$10^9$, as well as those containing an amicable pair below $10^{14}$ or one of
the known perfect or sociable cycles below $10^{17}$. Along the way we develop
a fast algorithm for computing the inverse image of an even number under the
sum-of-proper-divisors function.


title:
Distilling Information Reliability and Source Trustworthiness from
  Digital Traces

abstract:
  Online knowledge repositories typically rely on their users or dedicated
editors to evaluate the reliability of their content. These evaluations can be
viewed as noisy measurements of both information reliability and information
source trustworthiness. Can we leverage these noisy evaluations, often biased,
to distill a robust, unbiased and interpretable measure of both notions?
  In this paper, we argue that the temporal traces left by these noisy
evaluations give cues on the reliability of the information and the
trustworthiness of the sources. Then, we propose a temporal point process
modeling framework that links these temporal traces to robust, unbiased and
interpretable notions of information reliability and source trustworthiness.
Furthermore, we develop an efficient convex optimization procedure to learn the
parameters of the model from historical traces. Experiments on real-world data
gathered from Wikipedia and Stack Overflow show that our modeling framework
accurately predicts evaluation events, provides an interpretable measure of
information reliability and source trustworthiness, and yields interesting
insights about real-world events.


title:
Spin orbit effects in CoFeB/MgO hetereostructures with heavy metal
  underlayers

abstract:
  We study effects originating from the strong spin orbit coupling in CoFeB/MgO
heterostructures with heavy metal (HM) underlayers. The perpendicular magnetic
anisotropy at the CoFeB/MgO interface, the spin Hall angle of the heavy metal
layer, current induced torques and the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction at the
HM/CoFeB interfaces are studied for films in which the early 5d transition
metals are used as the HM underlayer. We show how the choice of the HM layer
influences these intricate spin orbit effects that emerge within the bulk and
at interfaces of the heterostructures.


title:
One-Dimensional Self-Organization and Nonequilibrium Phase Transition in
  a Hamiltonian System

abstract:
  Self-organization and nonequilibrium phase transitions are well known to
occur in two- and three- dimensional dissipative systems. Here, instead, we
provide numerical evidence that these phenomena also occur in a one-dimensional
Hamiltonian system. To this end, we calculate the heat conductivity by coupling
the two ends of our system to two heat baths at different temperatures. It is
found that when the temperature difference is smaller than a critical value,
the heat conductivity increases with the system size in power law with an
exponent considerably smaller than 1. However, as the temperature difference
exceeds the critical value, the system's behavior undergoes a transition and
the heat conductivity tends to diverge linearly with the system size.
Correspondingly, an ordered structure emerges. These findings suggest a new
direction for exploring the transport problems in one dimension.


title:
Feature Sensitive Label Fusion with Random Walker for Atlas-based Image
  Segmentation

abstract:
  In this paper, a novel label fusion method is proposed for brain magnetic
resonance image segmentation. This label fusion method is formulated on a
graph, which embraces both label priors from atlases and anatomical priors from
target image. To represent a pixel in a comprehensive way, three kinds of
feature vectors are generated, including intensity, gradient and structural
signature. To select candidate atlas nodes for fusion, rather than exact
searching, randomized k-d tree with spatial constraint is introduced as an
efficient approximation for high-dimensional feature matching. Feature
Sensitive Label Prior (FSLP), which takes both the consistency and variety of
different features into consideration, is proposed to gather atlas priors. As
FSLP is a non-convex problem, one heuristic approach is further designed to
solve it efficiently. Moreover, based on the anatomical knowledge, parts of the
target pixels are also employed as graph seeds to assist the label fusion
process and an iterative strategy is utilized to gradually update the label
map. The comprehensive experiments carried out on two publicly available
databases give results to demonstrate that the proposed method can obtain
better segmentation quality.


title: Strongly robust toric ideals in codimension 2

abstract:
  A homogeneous ideal is robust if its universal Gr\"obner basis is also a
minimal generating set. For toric ideals, one has the stronger definition: A
toric ideal is strongly robust if its Graver basis equals the set of
indispensable binomials. We characterize the codimension 2 strongly robust
toric ideals by their Gale diagrams. This gives a positive answer to a question
of Petrovic, Thoma, and Vladoiu in the case of codimension 2 toric ideals.


title: Large-nf Contributions to the Four-Loop Splitting Functions in QCD

abstract:
  We have computed the fourth-order nf^2 contributions to all three non-singlet
quark-quark splitting functions and their four nf^3 flavour-singlet
counterparts for the evolution of the parton distributions of hadrons in
perturbative QCD with nf effectively massless quark flavours. The analytic form
of these functions is presented in both Mellin N-space and momentum-fraction
x-space; the large-x and small-x limits are discussed. Our results agree with
all available predictions derived from lower-order information. The large-x
limit of the quark-quark cases provides the complete nf^2 part of the four-loop
cusp anomalous dimension which agrees with two recent partial computations.


title: The Need for Structure in Quantum LDPC Codes

abstract:
  Existence of quantum low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes whose minimal
distance scales linearly with the number of qubits is a major open problem in
quantum information. Its practical interest stems from the need to protect
information in a future quantum computer, and its theoretical appeal relates to
a deep "global-to-local" notion in quantum mechanics: whether we can constrain
long-range entanglement using local checks. Given the inability of
lattice-based quantum LDPC codes to achieve linear distance, research has
recently shifted to the other extreme end of topologies, so called
high-dimensional expanders. In this work we show that trying to leverage the
mere "random-like" property of these expanders to find good quantum codes may
be futile: quantum CSS codes of $n$ quits built from $d$-complexes that are
$\varepsilon$-far from perfectly random, in a well-known sense called
discrepancy, have a small minimal distance. Quantum codes aside, our work
places a first upper-bound on the systole of high-dimensional expanders with
small discrepancy, and a lower-bound on the discrepancy of skeletons of
Ramanujan complexes due to Lubotzky.


title:
Coalescence and anti-coalescence of surface plasmons on a lossy
  beamsplitter

abstract:
  Surface plasma waves are collective oscillations of electrons that propagate
along a metal-dielectric interface. In the last ten years, several groups have
reproduced fundamental quantum optics experiments with surface plasmons.
Observation of single-plasmon states, waveparticle duality, preservation of
entanglement of photons in plasmon-assisted transmission, and more recently,
two-plasmon interference have been reported. While losses are detrimental for
the observation of squeezed states, they can be seen as a new degree of freedom
in the design of plasmonic devices, thus revealing new quantum interference
scenarios. Here we report the observation of two-plasmon quantum interference
between two freely-propagating, non-guided SPPs interfering on lossy plasmonic
beamsplitters. As discussed in the article "Quantum optics of lossy beam
splitters" by Barnett et al. (Phys. Rev. A 57, 2134 (1998)) , the presence of
losses (scattering or absorption) relaxes constraints on the reflection and
transmission factors of the beamsplitter, allowing the control of their
relative phase. By using this degree of freedom, we are able to observe either
coalescence or anticoalescence of identical plasmons.


title: 3D silicon pixel detectors for the High-Luminosity LHC

abstract:
  3D silicon pixel detectors have been investigated as radiation-hard
candidates for the innermost layers of the HL-LHC upgrade of the ATLAS pixel
detector. 3D detectors are already in use today in the ATLAS IBL and AFP
experiments. These are based on 50x250 um2 large pixels connected to the FE-I4
readout chip. Detectors of this generation were irradiated to HL-LHC fluences
and demonstrated excellent radiation hardness with operational voltages as low
as 180 V and power dissipation of 12--15 mW/cm2 at a fluence of about 1e16
neq/cm2, measured at -25 degree C. Moreover, to cope with the higher
occupancies expected at the HL-LHC, a first run of a new generation of 3D
detectors designed for the HL-LHC was produced at CNM with small pixel sizes of
50x50 and 25x100 um2, matched to the FE-I4 chip. They demonstrated a good
performance in the laboratory and in beam tests with hit efficiencies of about
97% at already 1--2V before irradiation.


title: One-dimensional reflected rough differential equations

abstract:
  We prove existence and uniqueness of the solution of a one-dimensional rough
differential equation driven by a step-2 rough path and reflected at zero. In
order to deal with the lack of control of the reflection measure the proof uses
some ideas we introduced in a previous work dealing with rough kinetic PDEs
[arXiv:1604.00437].


title:
Biological implications of possible unattainability of comprehensive,
  molecular-resolution, real-time, volume imaging of the living cell

abstract:
  Despite the impressive advances in biological imaging, no imaging modality
today generates, in a comprehensive manner, high-resolution images of crowded
molecules working deep inside the living cell in real time. In this paper,
instead of tackling this engineering problem in the hope of solving it, we ask
a converse question: What if such imaging is \emph{fundamentally} impossible?
We argue that certain decoherence processes could be suppressed because the
internal workings of the cell are not being closely "observed" in the quantum
mechanical sense, as implied by the assumed impossibility of imaging. It is
certainly true that the "wet and warm" living cell should not exhibit quantum
behavior merely because of the lack of observation. Despite this, we plow ahead
to see what \emph{might} result from such absence of the outward flow of
information. We suggest that chaotic dynamics in the cell could be quantum
mechanically suppressed --- a known phenomenon in quantum chaology, which is
potentially resistant to various mechanisms for the emergence of classicality.
We also consider places where experimental evidence for/against such a
possibility may be sought.


title:
Cameras a Million Miles Apart: Stereoscopic Imaging Potential with the
  Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes

abstract:
  The two most powerful optical/IR telescopes in history -- NASA's Hubble and
James Webb Space Telescopes -- will be in space at the same time. We have a
unique opportunity to leverage the 1.5 million kilometer separation between the
two telescopic nodal points to obtain simultaneously captured stereoscopic
images of asteroids, comets, moons and planets in our Solar System. Given the
recent resurgence in stereo-3D movies and the recent emergence of VR-enabled
mobile devices, these stereoscopic images provide a unique opportunity to
engage the public with unprecedented views of various Solar System objects.
Here, we present the technical requirements for acquiring stereoscopic images
of Solar System objects, given the constraints of the telescopic equipment and
the orbits of the target objects, and we present a handful of examples.


title:
Solar Coronal Loops Associated with Small-scale Mixed Polarity Surface
  Magnetic Fields

abstract:
  How and where are coronal loops rooted in the solar lower atmosphere? The
details of the magnetic environment and its evolution at the footpoints of
coronal loops are crucial to understanding the processes of mass and energy
supply to the solar corona. To address the above question, we use
high-resolution line-of-sight magnetic field data from the Imaging Magnetograph
eXperiment instrument on the SUNRISE balloon-borne observatory and coronal
observations from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly onboard the Solar Dynamics
Observatory of an emerging active region. We find that the coronal loops are
often rooted at the locations with minor small-scale but persistent
opposite-polarity magnetic elements very close to the larger dominant polarity.
These opposite-polarity small-scale elements continually interact with the
dominant polarity underlying the coronal loop through flux cancellation. At
these locations we detect small inverse Y-shaped jets in chromospheric Ca II H
images obtained from the SUNRISE Filter Imager during the flux cancellation.
Our results indicate that magnetic flux cancellation and reconnection at the
base of coronal loops due to mixed polarity fields might be a crucial feature
for the supply of mass and energy into the corona.


title: Relating Diversity and Human Appropriation from Land Cover Data

abstract:
  We present a method to describe the relation between indicators of landscape
diversity and the human appropriation of the net primary production in a given
region. These quantities are viewed as functions of the vector of proportions
of the different land covers, which is in turn treated as a random vector whose
values depend on the particular small terrain cell that is observed.
  We illustrate the method assuming first that the vector of proportions
follows a uniform distribution on the simplex. We then consider as starting
point a raw dataset of observed proportions for each cell, for which we must
first obtain an estimate of its theoretical probability distribution, and
secondly generate a sample of large size from it. We apply this procedure to
real historical data of the Mallorca Island in three different moments of time.
  Our main goal is to compute the mean value of the landscape diversity as a
function of the level of human appropriation. This function is related to the
so-called Energy-Species hypothesis and to the Intermediate Disturbance
Hypothesis.


title:
Neukirch's Approach to the Reciprocity Map and Global Class Field theory
  in Positive Characteristic

abstract:
  Neukirch developed an axiomatic and explicit approach to class field theory.
This was applied to local fields and number fields but was never done for
global function fields since he believed that geometric approach is more
suitable. Nonetheless all the axioms can be verified and we plan to prove that
global function fields satisfy the axioms Neukirch developed.


title: Parallelizing Spectral Algorithms for Kernel Learning

abstract:
  We consider a distributed learning approach in supervised learning for a
large class of spectral regularization methods in an RKHS framework. The data
set of size n is partitioned into $m=O(n^\alpha)$ disjoint subsets. On each
subset, some spectral regularization method (belonging to a large class,
including in particular Kernel Ridge Regression, $L^2$-boosting and spectral
cut-off) is applied. The regression function $f$ is then estimated via simple
averaging, leading to a substantial reduction in computation time. We show that
minimax optimal rates of convergence are preserved if m grows sufficiently
slowly (corresponding to an upper bound for $\alpha$) as $n \to \infty$,
depending on the smoothness assumptions on $f$ and the intrinsic
dimensionality. In spirit, our approach is classical.


abstract:
  The problem of fitting a union of subspaces to a collection of data points
drawn from multiple subspaces is considered in this paper. In the traditional
low rank representation model, the dictionary used to represent the data points
is chosen as the data points themselves and thus the dictionary is corrupted
with noise. This problem is solved in the low rank subspace clustering model
which decomposes the corrupted data matrix as the sum of a clean and
self-expressive dictionary plus a matrix of noise and gross errors. Also, the
clustering results of the low rank representation model can be enhanced by
using a graph of data similarity. This model is called Laplacian regularized
low rank representation model with a graph regularization term added to the
objective function. Inspired from the above two ideas, in this paper a
Laplacian regularized low rank subspace clustering model is proposed. This
model uses a clean dictionary to represent the data points and a graph
regularization term is also incorporated in the objective function.
Experimental results show that, compared with the traditional low rank
representation model, low rank subspace clustering model and several other
state-of-the-art subspace clustering model, the model proposed in this paper
can get better subspace clustering results with lower clustering error.


title: RG boundaries and interfaces in Ising field theory

abstract:
  Perturbing a CFT by a relevant operator on a half space and letting the
perturbation flow to the far infrared we obtain an RG interface between the UV
and IR CFTs. If the IR CFT is trivial we obtain an RG boundary condition. The
space of massive perturbations thus breaks up into regions labelled by
conformal boundary conditions of the UV fixed point. For the 2D critical Ising
model perturbed by a generic relevant operator we find the assignment of RG
boundary conditions to all flows. We use some analytic results but mostly rely
on TCSA and TFFSA numerical techniques. We investigate real as well as
imaginary values of the magnetic field and, in particular, the RG trajectory
that ends at the Yang-Lee CFT. We argue that the RG interface in the latter
case does not approach a single conformal interface but rather exhibits
oscillatory non-convergent behaviour.


title: Asymptotics of the quantization errors for condensation measures

abstract:
  Let $P:=\frac 1 3 P\circ S_1^{-1}+\frac 13 P\circ S_2^{-1}+\frac 13\nu$,
where $S_1(x)=\frac 15 x$, $S_2(x)=\frac 1 5 x+\frac 45$ for all $x\in \mathbb
R$, and $\nu$ be a Borel probability measure on $\mathbb R$ with compact
support. Such a measure $P$ is called a condensation measure, or an an
inhomogeneous self-similar measure, associated with the condensation system
$(\{S_1, S_2\}, (\frac 13, \frac 13, \frac 13), \gn)$. In this paper, we have
explicitly calculated optimal quantizers, quantization dimension, and the lower
and upper quantization coefficients for an inhomogeneous self-similar measure.


title: Study of VBF/VBS in the LHC at 13 TeV, the EFT Approach

abstract:
  We review the current status of vector boson fusion and vector boson
scattering studies in the frame of Run-2 of LHC. These processes are equally
interesting and challenging, and new ideas have to be applied for their
experimental analysis. These channels are optimal for the search of new
physics, and therefore we discuss two promising techniques for this purpose:
standard model effective field theory and pseudo observables. Regarding their
implementation in the analyses, we also discuss briefly how these techniques
should be included in the Monte Carlo generators.


title:
The surface tells it all: Relationship between volume and surface
  fraction of liquid dispersions

abstract:
  The properties of liquid dispersions, such as foams or emulsions, depend
strongly on the volume fraction $\phi$ of the continuous phase. Concentrating
on the example of foams, we show experimentally and theoretically that $\phi$
may be related to the fraction $\phi_s$ of the surface at a wall which is
wetted by the continuous phase - given an expression for the interfacial energy
or osmotic pressure of the bulk system. Since the surface fraction $\phi_s$ can
be readly determined from optical measurement and since there are good general
approximations available for interfacial energy and osmotic pressure we thus
arrive at an advantageous method of estimating $\phi$. The same relationship
between $\phi$ and $\phi_s$ is also expected to provide a good approximation of
the fraction of the bubble or drop surface which is wetted by the continuous
phase. This is a parameter of great importance for the rheology and ageing of
liquid dispersions.


title: Non-Local Control of Single Surface Plasmon

abstract:
  Quantum entanglement is a stunning consequence of the superposition
principle. This universal property of quantum systems has been intensively
explored with photons, atoms, ions and electrons. Collective excitations such
as surface plasmons exhibit quantum behaviors. For the first time, we report an
experimental evidence of non-local control of single plasmon interferences
through entanglement of a single plasmon with a single photon. We achieved
photon-plasmon entanglement by converting one photon of an entangled photon
pair into a surface plasmon. The plasmon is tested onto a plasmonic platform in
a Mach-Zehnder interferometer. A projective measurement on the polarization of
the photon allows the non-local control of the interference state of the
plasmon. Entanglement between particles of various natures paves the way to the
design of hybrid systems in quantum information networks.


title: On a Heegaard Floer theory for tangles

abstract:
  The purpose of this thesis is to define a "local" version of Ozsv\'{a}th and
Szab\'{o}'s Heegaard Floer homology $\operatorname{\widehat{HFL}}$ for links in
the 3-dimensional sphere, i.e. a Heegaard Floer homology
$\operatorname{\widehat{HFT}}$ for tangles in the closed 3-ball.
  After studying basic properties of $\operatorname{\widehat{HFT}}$ and its
decategorified tangle invariant $\nabla_T^s$, we prove a glueing theorem in
terms of Zarev's bordered sutured Floer homology, which endows
$\operatorname{\widehat{HFT}}$ with an additional glueing structure. For
4-ended tangles, we repackage this glueing structure into certain curved
complexes $\operatorname{CFT}^\partial$, which we call peculiar modules. This
allows us to easily recover oriented and unoriented skein relations for
$\operatorname{\widehat{HFL}}$.
  Our peculiar modules enjoy some symmetry properties, which support a
conjecture about $\delta$-graded mutation invariance of
$\operatorname{\widehat{HFL}}$. In fact, we show that any two links related by
mutation about a $(2,-3)$-pretzel tangle have the same $\delta$-graded link
Floer homology.
  In the last part of this thesis, we explore the relationship between peculiar
modules and twisted complexes in the fully wrapped Fukaya category of the
4-punctured sphere.
  This thesis is accompanied by two Mathematica packages. The first is a tool
for computing the generators of $\operatorname{\widehat{HFT}}$ and its
decategorified tangle invariant $\nabla_T^s$. The second allows us to compute
Zarev's bordered sutured Floer invariants of any bordered sutured manifold
using nice diagrams.


title: The Homotopy Obstructions in Complete Intersections

abstract:
  Let $A$ be a regular ring over a field $k$, with $1/2\in k$ and dimension
$d$. We discuss the Homotopy Conjecture of Madhav V. Nori, in the complete
intersection case (meaning when the projective module in question if free, of
rank at least 2). Recently, an obstruction set (sheaf) $\pi_0(Q_{2n})(A)$ was
introduced [F] to detect when a surjective map $A^n\to I/I^2$ lifts to a
surjective map $A^n\to I$. We establish that $\pi_0(Q_{2n})(A)$ coincides with
the obstruction set of equivalence classes, originally suggested by Nori. We
also establish that $\pi_0(Q_{2n})(A)$ has a natural groups structure, when
$2n\geq d+2$. Further, we establish that, when $2n\geq d+2$, there is a
surjective homomorphism $E^n(A) \to \pi_0(Q_{2n})(A) $, where $E^n(A)$ denotes
the Euler class group defined by Bhatwadekar and Sridharan [BS2]. This
homomorphism is an isomorphism, whenever triviality, in $\pi_0(Q_{2n})(A)$, of
an orientation $(I, \omega_I), guarantees that $omega_I$ lifts to a surjective
map $A^n\to I$. We also give a Quadratic version of Lindel's Theorem, on
extendibility of projective modules.


title:
4D Specialty Approximation: Ability to Distinguish between Related
  Specialties

abstract:
  Publication and citation patterns can vary significantly between related
disciplines or more narrow specialties, even when sharing journals.
Journal-based structures are therefore not accurate enough to approximate
certain specialties, neither subject categories in global citation indices, nor
cell sub-structures (Rons, 2012). This paper presents first test results of a
new methodology that approximates the specialty of a highly specialized seed
record by combining criteria for four publication metadata-fields, thereby
broadly covering conceptual components defining disciplines and scholarly
communication. To offer added value compared to journal-based structures, the
methodology needs to generate sufficiently distinct results for seed
directories in related specialties (sharing subject categories, cells, or even
sources) with significantly different characteristics. This is tested
successfully for the sub-domains of theoretical and experimental particle
physics. In particular analyses of specialties with characteristics deviating
from those of a broader discipline embedded in can benefit from an approach
discerning down to specialty level. Such specialties are potentially present in
all disciplines, for instance as cases of peripheral, emerging, frontier, or
strategically prioritized research areas.


title:
Analyzing the structure of multidimensional compressed sensing problems
  through coherence

abstract:
  Recently it has been established that asymptotic incoherence can be used to
facilitate subsampling, in order to optimize reconstruction quality, in a
variety of continuous compressed sensing problems, and the coherence structure
of certain one-dimensional Fourier sampling problems was determined. This paper
extends the analysis of asymptotic incoherence to cover multidimensional
reconstruction problems. It is shown that Fourier sampling and separable
wavelet sparsity in any dimension can yield the same optimal asymptotic
incoherence as in one dimensional case. Moreover in two dimensions the
coherence structure is compatible with many standard two dimensional sampling
schemes that are currently in use. However, in higher dimensional problems with
poor wavelet smoothness we demonstrate that there are considerable restrictions
on how one can subsample from the Fourier basis with optimal incoherence. This
can be remedied by using a sufficiently smooth generating wavelet. It is also
shown that using tensor bases will always provide suboptimal decay marred by
problems associated with dimensionality. The impact of asymptotic incoherence
on the ability to subsample is demonstrated with some simple two dimensional
numerical experiments.


title: Deuteron properties from muonic atom spectroscopy

abstract:
  Leading order ($\alpha^4$) finite size corrections in muonic deuterium are
evaluated within a few body formalism for the $\mu^- p n$ system in muonic
deuterium and found to be sensitive to the input of the deuteron wave function.
We show that this sensitivity, taken along with the precise deuteron charge
radius determined from muonic atom spectroscopy can be used to determine the
elusive deuteron D-state probability, $P_D$, for a given model of the
nucleon-nucleon (NN) potential. The radius calculated with a $P_D$ of 4.3\% in
the chiral NN models and about 5.7\% in the high precision NN potentials is
favoured most by the $\mu^-d$ data.


title: Dynamic Complexity of the Dyck Reachability

abstract:
  Dynamic complexity is concerned with updating the output of a problem when
the input is slightly changed. We study the dynamic complexity of Dyck
reachability problems in directed and undirected graphs, where updates may add
or delete edges. We show a strong dichotomy between such problems, based on the
size of the Dyck alphabet. Some of them are P-complete (under a strong notion
of reduction) while the others lie either in DynFO or in NL.


title: "Weak yet strong" restrictions of Hindman's Finite Sums Theorem

abstract:
  We present a natural restriction of Hindman's Finite Sums Theorem that admits
a simple combinatorial proof (one that does not also prove the full Finite Sums
Theorem) and low computability-theoretic and proof-theoretic upper bounds, yet
implies the existence of the Turing Jump, thus realizing the only known lower
bound for the full Finite Sums Theorem. This is the first example of this kind.
In fact we isolate a rich family of similar restrictions of Hindman's Theorem
with analogous properties.


title:
A 481pJ/decision 3.4M decision/s Multifunctional Deep In-memory
  Inference Processor using Standard 6T SRAM Array

abstract:
  This paper describes a multi-functional deep in-memory processor for
inference applications. Deep in-memory processing is achieved by embedding
pitch-matched low-SNR analog processing into a standard 6T 16KB SRAM array in
65 nm CMOS. Four applications are demonstrated. The prototype achieves up to
5.6X (9.7X estimated for multi-bank scenario) energy savings with negligible
(<1%) accuracy degradation in all four applications as compared to the
conventional architecture.


title: Mesoscopic fluctuations in biharmonically driven flux qubits

abstract:
  We investigate flux qubits driven by a biharmonic magnetic signal, with a
phase lag that acts as an effective time reversal broken parameter. The driving
induced transition rate between the ground and the excited state of the flux
qubit can be thought as an effective transmitance, profiting from a direct
analogy between interference effects at avoided level crossings and scattering
events in disordered electronic systems. For time scales prior to full
relaxation but large compared to the decoherence time, this characteristic rate
has been accessed experimentally and its sensitivity with both the phase lag
and the dc flux detuning explored. In this way signatures of Universal
Conductance Fluctuations-like effects have recently been analized in flux
qubits and compared with a phenomenological model that only accounts for
decoherence, as a classical noise. We here solve the full dynamics of the
driven flux qubit in contact with a quantum bath employing the Floquet Markov
Master equation. Within this formalism relaxation and decoherence rates result
strongly dependent on both the phase lag and the dc flux detuning.
Consequently, the associated pattern of fluctuations in the characteristic
rates display important differences with those obtained within the mentioned
phenomenological model. In particular we demonstrate the Weak Localization-like
effect in the averages values of the relaxation rate. Our predictions can be
tested for accessible, but longer time scales than the current experimental
times.


title:
Quasi-integrable non-linear Schr\"odinger models, infinite towers of
  exactly conserved charges and bright solitons

abstract:
  Deformations of the focusing non-linear Schr\"odinger model (NLS) are
considered in the context of the quasi-integrability concept. We strengthen the
results of JHEP09(2012)103 for bright soliton collisions. We addressed the
focusing NLS as a complement to the one in JHEP03(2016)005, in which the
modified defocusing NLS models with dark solitons were shown to exhibit an
infinite tower of exactly conserved charges. We show, by means of analytical
and numerical methods, that for certain two-bright-soliton solutions, in which
the modulus and phase of the complex modified NLS field exhibit even parities
under a space-reflection symmetry, the first four and the sequence of even
order charges are exactly conserved during the scattering process of the
solitons. We perform extensive numerical simulations and consider the bright
solitons with deformed potential $ V = \frac{ 2\eta}{2+ \epsilon} \(
|\psi|^2\)^{2 + \epsilon}, \epsilon \in \IR, \eta<0$. However, for two-soliton
field components without definite parity we also show numerically the vanishing
of the first non-trivial anomaly and the exact conservation of the relevant
charge. So, the parity symmetry seems to be a sufficient but not a necessary
condition for the existence of the infinite tower of conserved charges. The
model supports elastic scattering of solitons for a wide range of values of the
amplitudes and velocities and the set $\{\eta, \epsilon\}$. Since the NLS
equation is ubiquitous, our results may find potential applications in several
areas of non-linear science.


title: There is more to quantum interferometry than entanglement

abstract:
  Entanglement has long stood as one of the characteristic features of quantum
mechanics, yet recent developments have emphasized the importance of
quantumness beyond entanglement for quantum foundations and technologies. We
demonstrate that entanglement cannot entirely capture the worst-case
sensitivity in quantum interferometry, when quantum probes are used to estimate
the phase imprinted by a Hamiltonian, with fixed energy levels but variable
eigenbasis, acting on one arm of an interferometer. This is shown by defining a
bipartite entanglement monotone tailored to this interferometric setting and
proving that it never exceeds the so-called interferometric power, a quantity
which relies on more general quantum correlations beyond entanglement and
captures the relevant resource. We then prove that the interferometric power
can never increase when local commutativity-preserving operations are applied
to qubit probes, an important step to validate such a quantity as a genuine
quantum correlations monotone. These findings are accompanied by a
room-temperature nuclear magnetic resonance experimental investigation, in
which two-qubit states with extremal (maximal and minimal) interferometric
power at fixed entanglement are produced and characterized.

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


title:
Balancing Suspense and Surprise: Timely Decision Making with Endogenous
  Information Acquisition

abstract:
  We develop a Bayesian model for decision-making under time pressure with
endogenous information acquisition. In our model, the decision maker decides
when to observe (costly) information by sampling an underlying continuous-time
stochastic process (time series) that conveys information about the potential
occurrence or non-occurrence of an adverse event which will terminate the
decision-making process. In her attempt to predict the occurrence of the
adverse event, the decision-maker follows a policy that determines when to
acquire information from the time series (continuation), and when to stop
acquiring information and make a final prediction (stopping). We show that the
optimal policy has a rendezvous structure, i.e. a structure in which whenever a
new information sample is gathered from the time series, the optimal "date" for
acquiring the next sample becomes computable. The optimal interval between two
information samples balances a trade-off between the decision maker's surprise,
i.e. the drift in her posterior belief after observing new information, and
suspense, i.e. the probability that the adverse event occurs in the time
interval between two information samples. Moreover, we characterize the
continuation and stopping regions in the decision-maker's state-space, and show
that they depend not only on the decision-maker's beliefs, but also on the
context, i.e. the current realization of the time series.


title: Super-BMS$_3$ algebras from $\mathcal{N}=2$ flat supergravities

abstract:
  We consider two possible flat space limits of three dimensional $\mathcal{N}
= (1,1)$ AdS supergravity. They differ by how the supercharges are scaled with
the AdS radius $\ell$: the first limit (democratic) leads to the usual
super-Poincare theory, while a novel `twisted' theory of supergravity stems
from the second (despotic) limit. We then propose boundary conditions such that
the asymptotic symmetry algebras at null infinity correspond to supersymmetric
extensions of the BMS algebras previously derived in connection to non- and
ultra-relativistic limits of the $\mathcal{N}=(1,1)$ Virasoro algebra in two
dimensions. Finally, we study the supersymmetric energy bounds and find the
explicit form of the asymptotic and global Killing spinors of supersymmetric
solutions in both flat space supergravity theories.


title: High-Dimensional Adaptive Function-on-Scalar Regression

abstract:
  Applications of functional data with large numbers of predictors have grown
precipitously in recent years, driven, in part, by rapid advances in genotyping
technologies. Given the large numbers of genetic mutations encountered in
genetic association studies, statistical methods which more fully exploit the
underlying structure of the data are imperative for maximizing statistical
power. However, there is currently very limited work in functional data with
large numbers of predictors. Tools are presented for simultaneous variable
selection and parameter estimation in a functional linear model with a
functional outcome and a large number of scalar predictors; the technique is
called AFSL for $\textit{Adaptive Function-on-Scalar Lasso}.$ It is
demonstrated how techniques from convex analysis over Hilbert spaces can be
used to establish a functional version of the oracle property for AFSL over any
real separable Hilbert space, even when the number of predictors, $I$, is
exponentially large compared to the sample size, $N$. AFSL is illustrated via a
simulation study and data from the Childhood Asthma Management Program, CAMP,
selecting those genetic mutations which are important for lung growth.


title:
Hilbert and Thompson geometries isometric to infinite-dimensional Banach
  spaces

abstract:
  We study the horofunction boundaries of Hilbert and Thompson geometries, and
of Banach spaces, in arbitrary dimension. By comparing the boundaries of these
spaces, we show that the only Hilbert and Thompson geometries that are
isometric to Banach spaces are the ones defined on the cone of positive
continuous functions on a compact space.


title: Morse Cells

abstract:
  Along with excursions into manifolds with corners, resolution towers of Thom
and Whitney stratifications, I show that for a generic gradientlike vector
field on a manifold with a Morse function, the stable manifolds give a CW
decomposition of the manifold. This has been done before.


title:
Fluid Dynamics in Heart Development: Effects of Hematocrit and
  Trabeculation

abstract:
  Recent \emph{in vivo} experiments have illustrated the importance of
understanding the hemodynamics of heart morphogenesis. In particular,
ventricular trabeculation is governed by a delicate interaction between
hemodynamic forces, myocardial activity, and morphogen gradients, all of which
are coupled to genetic regulatory networks. The underlying hemodynamics at the
stage of development in which the trabeculae form is particularly complex,
given the balance between inertial and viscous forces. Small perturbations in
the geometry, scale, and steadiness of the flow can lead to changes in the
overall flow structures and chemical morphogen gradients, including the local
direction of flow, the transport of morphogens, and the formation of vortices.
The immersed boundary method was used to solve the fluid-structure interaction
problem of fluid flow moving through a two chambered heart of a zebrafish
(\emph{Danio rerio}), with a trabeculated ventricle, at $96\ hpf$ (hours post
fertilization). Trabeculae heights and hematocrit were varied, and simulations
were conducted for two orders of magnitude of Womersley number, extending
beyond the biologically relevant range ($0.2$ -- $12.0$). Both intracardial and
intertrabecular vortices formed in the ventricle for biologically relevant
parameter values. The bifurcation from smooth streaming flow to vortical flow
depends upon the trabeculae geometry, hematocrit, and $Wo$. This work shows the
importance of hematocrit and geometry in determining the bulk flow patterns in
the heart at this stage of development.


title:
Equilibration of High Molecular-Weight Polymer Melts: A Hierarchical
  Strategy

abstract:
  A strategy is developed for generating equilibrated high molecular-weight
polymer melts described with microscopic detail by sequentially backmapping
coarse-grained (CG) configurations. The microscopic test model is generic but
retains features like hard excluded volume interactions and realistic melt
densities. The microscopic representation is mapped onto a model of soft
spheres with fluctuating size, where each sphere represents a microscopic
subchain with $N_{\rm b}$ monomers. By varying $N_{\rm b}$ a hierarchy of CG
representations at different resolutions is obtained. Within this hierarchy, CG
configurations equilibrated with Monte Carlo at low resolution are sequentially
fine-grained into CG melts described with higher resolution. A Molecular
Dynamics scheme is employed to slowly introduce the microscopic details into
the latter. All backmapping steps involve only local polymer relaxation thus
the computational efficiency of the scheme is independent of molecular weight,
being just proportional to system size. To demonstrate the robustness of the
approach, microscopic configurations containing up to $n=1000$ chains with
polymerization degrees $N=2000$ are generated and equilibration is confirmed by
monitoring key structural and conformational properties. The extension to much
longer chains or branched polymers is straightforward.


title:
The Role of H2O and O2 Molecules and Phosphorus Vacancies in the
  Structure Instability of Phosphorene

abstract:
  The poor structural stability of phosphorene in air was commonly ascribed to
humidity and oxygen molecules. Recent exfoliation of phosphorene in
deoxygenated water promotes the need to re-examine the role of H2O and O2
molecules. Considering the presence of high population of vacancies in
phosphorene, we investigate the interaction of H2O and O2 molecules with
vacancy-contained phosphorene using first-principles calculations. In contrast
to the common notion that physisorbed molecules tend to have a stronger
adsorption at vacancy sites, we show that H2O has nearly the same adsorption
energy at the vacancy site as that at the perfect one. Charge transfer analysis
shows that O2 is a strong electron scavenger, which transfers the lone-pair
electrons of the phosphorus atoms to the 2{\pi}* antibonding orbital of O2. As
a result, the barrier for the O-O bond splitting to form O-P bonds is reduced
from 0.81 eV at the perfect site to 0.59 eV at the defect site, leading to an
about 5000 faster oxidizing rate at the defect site than at the perfect site at
room temperature. Hence, our work reveals that the vacancy in phosphorene shows
a stronger oxygen affinity than the perfect phosphorene lattice site.
Structural degradation of phosphorene due to oxidization may occur rapidly at
edges and grain boundaries where vacancies tend to agglomerate.


title:
On compact $3$-manifolds with nonnegative scalar curvature with a CMC
  boundary component

abstract:
  We apply the Riemannian Penrose inequality and the Riemannian positive mass
theorem to derive inequalities on the boundary of a class of compact Riemannian
$3$-manifolds with nonnegative scalar curvature. The boundary of such a
manifold has a CMC component, i.e. a $2$-sphere with positive constant mean
curvature; and the rest of the boundary, if nonempty, consists of closed
minimal surfaces. A key step in our proof is the construction of a collar
extension that is inspired by the method of Mantoulidis-Schoen \cite{M-S}.


title:
One size fits all: equilibrating chemically different polymer liquids
  through universal long-wavelength description

abstract:
  Mesoscale behavior of polymers is frequently described by universal laws.
This physical property motivates us to propose a new modeling concept, grouping
polymers into classes with a common long-wavelength representation. In the same
class samples of different materials can be generated from this representation,
encoded in a single library system. We focus on homopolymer melts, grouped
according to the invariant degree of polymerization. They are described with a
bead-spring model, varying chain stiffness and density to mimic chemical
diversity. In a renormalization group-like fashion library samples provide a
universal blob-based description, hierarchically backmapped to create
configurations of other class-members. Thus large systems with
experimentally-relevant invariant degree of polymerizations (so far accessible
only on very coarse-grained level) can be microscopically described.
Equilibration is verified comparing conformations and melt structure with
smaller scale conventional simulations.


title: Cryptosystems using subgroup distortion

abstract:
  In this paper we propose cryptosystems based on subgroup distortion in
hyperbolic groups. We also include concrete examples of hyperbolic groups as
possible platforms.


title:
Stripped red giants - Helium core white dwarf progenitors and their sdB
  siblings

abstract:
  Some gaps in the mosaic of binary star evolution have recently been filled by
the discoveries of helium-core white dwarf progenitors (often called extremely
low mass (ELM) white dwarfs) as stripped cores of first-giant branch objects.
Two varieties can be distinguished. One class is made up by SB1 binaries,
companions being white dwarfs as well, another class, the so-called EL CVn
stars, are composite spectrum binaries, with A-Type companions. Pulsating stars
are found among both classes. A riddle is posed by the apparently single
objects. There is a one-to-one correspondence of the phenomena found for these
new classes of star to those observed for sdB stars. In fact, standard
evolutionary scenarios explain the origin of sdB stars as red giants that have
been stripped close to the tip of first red giant branch. A subgroup of
subluminous B stars can also be identified as stripped helium-cores of red
giants. They form an extension of the ELM sequence to higher temperatures.
Hence low mass white dwarfs of helium cores and sdB stars in binaries are close
relatives in terms of stellar evolution.


title: Examples of minimal set for IFSs

abstract:
  We exhibit different examples of minimal sets for an IFS of homeomorphisms
with rotation number equal to 0. It is proved that these examples are, from a
topological point of view, the unique possible cases.


title: New observational constraints on $f(R)$ gravity from cosmic chronometers

abstract:
  We use the recently released cosmic chronometer data and the latest measured
value of the local Hubble parameter, combined with the latest joint light
curves of Supernovae Type Ia, and Baryon Acoustic Oscillation distance
measurements, in order to impose constraints on the viable and most used $f(R)$
gravity models. We consider four $f(R)$ models, namely the Hu-Sawicki, the
Starobinsky, the Tsujikawa, and the exponential one, and we parametrize them
introducing a distortion parameter $b$ that quantifies the deviation from
$\Lambda$CDM cosmology. Our analysis reveals that a small but non-zero
deviation from $\Lambda$CDM cosmology is slightly favored, with the
corresponding fittings exhibiting very efficient $AIC$ and $BIC$ Information
Criteria values. Clearly, $f(R)$ gravity is consistent with observations, and
it can serve as a candidate for modified gravity.


title:
A Variational Bayesian Approach for Image Restoration. Application to
  Image Deblurring with Poisson-Gaussian Noise

abstract:
  In this paper, a methodology is investigated for signal recovery in the
presence of non-Gaussian noise. In contrast with regularized minimization
approaches often adopted in the literature, in our algorithm the regularization
parameter is reliably estimated from the observations. As the posterior density
of the unknown parameters is analytically intractable, the estimation problem
is derived in a variational Bayesian framework where the goal is to provide a
good approximation to the posterior distribution in order to compute posterior
mean estimates. Moreover, a majorization technique is employed to circumvent
the difficulties raised by the intricate forms of the non-Gaussian likelihood
and of the prior density. We demonstrate the potential of the proposed approach
through comparisons with state-of-the-art techniques that are specifically
tailored to signal recovery in the presence of mixed Poisson-Gaussian noise.
Results show that the proposed approach is efficient and achieves performance
comparable with other methods where the regularization parameter is manually
tuned from the ground truth.


title: Nonlinear Adaptive Algorithms on Rank-One Tensor Models

abstract:
  This work proposes a low complexity nonlinearity model and develops adaptive
algorithms over it. The model is based on the decomposable---or rank-one, in
tensor language---Volterra kernels. It may also be described as a product of
FIR filters, which explains its low-complexity. The rank-one model is also
interesting because it comes from a well-posed problem in approximation theory.
The paper uses such model in an estimation theory context to develop an exact
gradient-type algorithm, from which adaptive algorithms such as the least mean
squares (LMS) filter and its data-reuse version---the TRUE-LMS---are derived.
Stability and convergence issues are addressed. The algorithms are then tested
in simulations, which show its good performance when compared to other
nonlinear processing algorithms in the literature.


title:
Constraints on Axion couplings from the CDEX-1 experiment at the China
  Jinping Underground Laboratory

abstract:
  We report the results of searches for solar axions and galactic dark matter
axions or axion-like particles with CDEX-1 experiment at the China Jinping
Underground Laboratory, using 335.6 kg-days of data from a p-type point-contact
germanium detector. The data are compatible with the background model and no
excess signals are observed. Limits of solar axions on the model independent
coupling $g_{Ae}<2.5\times10^{-11}$ from Compton, bremsstrahlung,
atomic-recombination and deexcitation channel and $g^{\text{eff}}_{AN}\times
g_{Ae}<6.1\times10^{-17}$ from $^{57}$Fe M1 transition at 90 % confidence level
are derived. Within the framework of the DFSZ and KSVZ models, our results
exclude the axion mass heavier than 0.9 eV/c$^{2}$ and 173 eV/c$^{2}$,
respectively. The derived constraints for dark matter axions below 1 keV
improves over the previous results.


title: Scalable Nuclear Density Functional Theory with Sky3D

abstract:
  In nuclear astrophysics, quantum simulations of large inhomogeneous dense
systems as they appear in the crusts of neutron stars present big challenges.
The number of particles in a simulation with periodic boundary conditions is
strongly limited due to the immense computational cost of the quantum methods.
In this paper, we describe techniques for an efficient and scalable parallel
implementation of Sky3D, a nuclear density functional theory solver that
operates on an equidistant grid. Presented techniques allow Sky3D to achieve
good scaling and high performance on a large number of cores, as demonstrated
through detailed performance analysis on a Cray XC40 supercomputer.


title: Seyfert 1 Composite Spectrum using SDSS Legacy Survey Data

abstract:
  We present a rest-frame composite spectrum for Seyfert 1 galaxies using
spectra obtained from the DR12 release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS).
The spectrum is constructed by combining data from a total of 10,112 galaxies,
spanning a redshift range of 0 to 0.793. We produce an electronic table of the
median and geometric mean composite Seyfert 1 spectrum. We measure the spectral
index of the composite spectrum, and compare it with that of the composite
quasar spectrum. We also measure the flux and width of the strong emission
lines present in the composite spectrum. We compare the entire spectrum with
the quasar spectrum in the context of the AGN unification model. The two
composite spectra match extremely well in the blue part of the spectrum, while
there is an offset in flux in the red portion of the spectrum.


title:
Fair prediction with disparate impact: A study of bias in recidivism
  prediction instruments

abstract:
  Recidivism prediction instruments provide decision makers with an assessment
of the likelihood that a criminal defendant will reoffend at a future point in
time. While such instruments are gaining increasing popularity across the
country, their use is attracting tremendous controversy. Much of the
controversy concerns potential discriminatory bias in the risk assessments that
are produced. This paper discusses a fairness criterion originating in the
field of educational and psychological testing that has recently been applied
to assess the fairness of recidivism prediction instruments. We demonstrate how
adherence to the criterion may lead to considerable disparate impact when
recidivism prevalence differs across groups.


title:
Generic Anomalous Vertices Detection Utilizing a Link Prediction
  Algorithm

abstract:
  In the past decade, network structures have penetrated nearly every aspect of
our lives. The detection of anomalous vertices in these networks has become
increasingly important, such as in exposing computer network intruders or
identifying fake online reviews. In this study, we present a novel unsupervised
two-layered meta-classifier that can detect irregular vertices in complex
networks solely by using features extracted from the network topology.
Following the reasoning that a vertex with many improbable links has a higher
likelihood of being anomalous,we employed our method on 10 networks of various
scales, from a network of several dozen students to online social networks with
millions of users. In every scenario, we were able to identify anomalous
vertices with lower false positive rates and higher AUCs compared to other
prevalent methods. Moreover, we demonstrated that the presented algorithm is
efficient both in revealing fake users and in disclosing the most influential
people in social networks.


title: Implication of the ALEPH 30 GeV dimuon resonance at the LHC

abstract:
  Recent reanalysis of ALEPH data on Z -> b bar{b} + X seems to indicate an
existence of the dimuon excess around 30 GeV with a branching fraction for Z ->
b bar{b} mu^+ mu^- around 1.1 X 10^{-5}. In this letter, we discuss three
different types of simplified models for this possible excess. In the first
class of models, we assume a new resonance couples to both b bar{b} and mu^+
mu^-. Within the allowed parameter space for the ALEPH data, this type of
models is excluded because of too large Drell-Yan production of dimuon from the
b bar{b} collision at the LHC. In the second model, we assume that the 30 GeV
excess is a new gauge boson Z' that couples to the SM b and a new vectorlike
singlet B quark heavier than Z and not to b bar{b}. Then one can account for
the ALEPH data without conflict with the DY constraint. The new vectorlike
quark B can be pair produced at the LHC 8/13 TeV by QCD with sigma(BB) ~
O(100-1000) pb, and Bq production rate is sigma(Bq) ~ a few pb which is larger
than sigma(Bb) roughly by an order of magnitude. Their signatures at the LHC
would be 2b + 4mu, bj + 2mu and 2b + 2mu, respectively, which however might
have been excluded already by LHC run I and II data since the multi-muon events
have low SM background and are rare at the LHC. In the third model, we consider
Z -> Z' phi followed by Z' -> mu^+ mu^- and phi -> b bar{b} assuming that the
Higgs field for Z' mass is also charged under the SM U(1)_Y gauge symmetry. In
this class of model, we could accommodate the Br(Z -> b bar{b} mu^+ mu^-) ~ 1.1
X 10^{-5} if we assume very large U(1)' charge for the U(1)' breaking Higgs
field. Finally, we study various kinematic distributions of muons and b jets in
all the three models, and find that none of the models we consider in this
paper are not compatible with the kinematic distributions extracted from the
ALEPH data.


title:
Absolute and relative surface profile interferometry using multiple
  frequency-scanned lasers

abstract:
  An interferometer has been used to measure the surface profile of generic
object. Frequency scanning interferometry has been employed to provide
unambiguous phase readings, to suppress etalon fringes, and to supersede
phase-shifting. The frequency scan has been performed in three narrow
wavelength bands, each generated by a temperature tuned laser diode. It is
shown, that for certain portions of measured object, it was possible to get
absolute phase measurement, counting all wave periods from the point of zero
path difference, yielding precision of 2.7nm RMS over 11.75mm total path
difference. For the other areas where steep slopes were present in object
geometry, a relative measurement is still possible, at measured surface
roughness comparable to that of machining process (the same 2.7nm RMS). It is
concluded, that areas containing steep slopes exhibit systematic error,
attributed to a combined factors of dispersion and retrace error.


title: Nielsen equivalence in mapping tori over the torus

abstract:
  We use the geometry of the Farey graph to give an alternative proof of the
fact that if $A \in GL_2\mathbb Z$ and $G_A=\mathbb Z^2 \rtimes_A \mathbb Z$ is
generated by two elements, there is a single Nielsen equivalence class of
$2$-element generating sets for $G_A$ unless $A$ is conjugate to $\pm
\left(\begin {smallmatrix} 2 & 1 \\ 1 & 1 \end {smallmatrix}\right )$, in which
case there are two.


title: Radial acceleration relation from symmetron fifth forces

abstract:
  We show that the radial acceleration relation for rotationally-supported
galaxies may be explained, in the absence of cold dark matter, by a
non-minimally coupled scalar field, whose fifth forces are partially screened
on galactic scales by the symmetron mechanism. In addition, we show that
sufficient energy is stored in the symmetron field to explain the dynamic
stability of galactic disks.


title: Target Set Selection in Dense Graph Classes

abstract:
  In this paper, we study the Target Set Selection problem from a parameterized
complexity perspective. Here for a given graph and a threshold for each vertex,
the task is to find a set of vertices (called a target set) which activates the
whole graph during the following iterative process. A vertex outside the active
set becomes active if the number of so far activated vertices in its
neighborhood is at least its threshold.
  We give two parameterized algorithms for a special case where each vertex has
the threshold set to the half of its neighbors (the so-called Majority Target
Set Selection problem) for parameterizations by the neighborhood diversity and
the twin cover number of the input graph.
  We complement these results from the negative side. We give a hardness proof
for the Majority Target Set Selection problem when parameterized by (a
restriction of) the modular-width - a natural generalization of both previous
structural parameters. We also show the Target Set Selection problem
parameterized by the neighborhood diversity or by the twin cover number is
W[1]-hard when there is no restriction on the thresholds.


title: PhaseMax: Convex Phase Retrieval via Basis Pursuit

abstract:
  We consider the recovery of a (real- or complex-valued) signal from
magnitude-only measurements, known as phase retrieval. We formulate phase
retrieval as a convex optimization problem, which we call PhaseMax. Unlike
other convex methods that use semidefinite relaxation and lift the phase
retrieval problem to a higher dimension, PhaseMax is a "non-lifting" relaxation
that operates in the original signal dimension. We show that the dual problem
to PhaseMax is Basis Pursuit, which implies that phase retrieval can be
performed using algorithms initially designed for sparse signal recovery. We
develop sharp lower bounds on the success probability of PhaseMax for a broad
range of random measurement ensembles, and we analyze the impact of measurement
noise on the solution accuracy. We use numerical results to demonstrate the
accuracy of our recovery guarantees, and we showcase the efficacy and limits of
PhaseMax in practice.


title:
Behaviour of plasma with arbitrary degree of degeneration of electronic
  gas in a slab of conducting medium

abstract:
  The analytical solution of the boundary problem on behaviour (oscillations)
of the electronic plasmas with arbitrary degree of degeneration of electronic
gas in a slab of the conducting medium is received. The kinetic
Vlasov---Boltzmann equation with integral of collisions type BGK (Bhatnagar,
Gross and Krook) and Maxwell equation for electric field are applied. Mirror
(reflections) boundary conditions are used.


title:
EBL effect on the observation of multi-TeV flaring of 2009 from
  Markarian 501

abstract:
  Markarian 501 is a high-peaked BL Lacertae object and has undergone many
major outburst since its discovery in 1996. As a part of the multiwavelength
campaign, in the year 2009 this blazar was observed for 4.5 months from March 9
to August 1 and during the period April 17 to May 5 it was observed by both
space and ground based observatories covering the entire electromagnetic
spectrum. A very strong high energy $\gamma$-ray flare was observed on May 1 by
Whipple telescope in the energy range 317 GeV to 5 TeV and the flux was about
10 times higher than the baseline flux. We use the photohadronic model
complimented by the extragalactic background radiation (EBL) correction to this
very high state flare and have shown that the EBL plays an important role in
attenuating the very high energy flux even though Markarian 501 is in the local
Universe.


title:
Simple Lie algebras, Drinfeld--Sokolov hierarchies, and multi-point
  correlation functions

abstract:
  For a simple Lie algebra $\mathfrak{g}$, we derive a simple algorithm for
computing logarithmic derivatives of tau-functions of Drinfeld--Sokolov
hierarchy of $\mathfrak{g}$-type in terms of $\mathfrak{g}$-valued resolvents.
We show, for the topological solution to the lowest-weight-gauge
Drinfeld--Sokolov hierarchy of $\mathfrak{g}$-type, the resolvents evaluated at
zero satisfy the $\textit{topological ODE}$.


title: Generating the Functions with Regular Graphs under Composition

abstract:
  While automata theory often concerns itself with regular predicates,
relations corresponding to acceptance by a finite state automaton, in this
article we study the regular functions, such relations which are also functions
in the set-theoretic sense. Here we present a small (but necessarily infinite)
collection of (multi-ary) functions which generate the regular functions under
composition. To this end, this paper presents an interpretation of the powerset
determinization construction in terms of compositions of input-to-run maps.
Furthermore, known results using the Krohn-Rhodes theorem to further decompose
our generating set are spelled out in detail, alongside some coding tricks for
dealing with variable length words. This will include two clear proofs of the
Krohn-Rhodes Theorem in modern notation.


title:
Plasma dynamics in solar macrospicules from high-cadence EUV
  observations

abstract:
  Macrospicules are relatively large spicule-like formations found mainly over
the polar coronal holes when observing in the transition region spectral lines.
In this study, we took advantage of the two short series of observations in the
He II 304 \r{A} line obtained by the TESIS solar observatory with a cadence of
up to 3.5 s to study the dynamics of macrospicules in unprecedented detail. We
used a one-dimensional hydrodynamic method based on the assumption of their
axial symmetry and on a simple radiative transfer model to reconstruct the
evolution of the internal velocity field of 18 macrospicules from this dataset.
Besides the internal dynamics, we studied the motion of the apparent end points
of the same 18 macrospicules and found 15 of them to follow parabolic
trajectories with high precision which correspond closely to the obtained
velocity fields. We found that in a clear, unperturbed case these macrospicules
move with a constant deceleration inconsistent with a purely ballistic motion
and have roughly the same velocity along their entire axis, with the obtained
decelerations typically ranging from 160 to 230 m/s^2, and initial velocities
from 80 to 130 km/s. We also found a propagating acoustic wave for one of the
macrospicules and a clear linear correlation between the initial velocities of
the macrospicules and their decelerations, which indicates that they may be
driven by magneto-acoustic shocks. Finally, we inverted our previous method by
taking velocities from the parabolic fits to give rough estimates of the
percentage of mass lost by 12 of the macrospicules. We found that typically
from 10 to 30% of their observed mass fades out of the line (presumably being
heated to higher coronal temperatures) with three exceptions of 50% and one of
80%.


title:
Exact analytical solutions for time-dependent Hermitian Hamiltonian
  systems from static unobservable non-Hermitian Hamiltonians

abstract:
  We propose a procedure to obtain exact analytical solutions to the
time-dependent Schr\"{o}dinger equations involving explicit time-dependent
Hermitian Hamitonians from solutions to time-independent non-Hermitian
Hamiltonian systems and the time-dependent Dyson relation together with the
time-dependent quasi-Hermiticity relation. We illustrate the working of this
method for a simple Hermitian Rabi-type model by relating it to a non-Hermitian
time-independent system corresponding to the one-site lattice Yang-Lee model.


title:
The $\Lambda$CDM simulations of Keller and Wadsley do not account for
  the MOND mass-discrepancy-acceleration relation

abstract:
  Keller and Wadsley (2016) have smugly suggested, recently, that the end of
MOND may be in view. This is based on their claim that their highly-restricted
sample of $\Lambda$CDM-simulated galaxies are "consistent" with the observed
MOND mass-discrepancy-acceleration relation (MDAR), in particular, with its
recent update by McGaugh et al. (2016), based on the SPARC sample. From this
they extrapolate to "$\Lambda$CDM is fully consistent" with the MDAR. I explain
why these simulated galaxies do not show that $\Lambda$CDM accounts for the
MDAR. a. Their sample of simulated galaxies contains only 18 high-mass
galaxies, within a narrow range of one order of magnitude in baryonic mass, at
the very high end of the observed, SPARC sample, which spans 4.5 orders of
magnitude in mass. More importantly, the simulated sample has none of the
low-mass, low-acceleration galaxies -- abundant in SPARC -- which encapsulate
the crux and the nontrivial aspects of the predicted and observed MDAR. The
low-acceleration part of the simulated MDAR is achieved, rather trivially, from
the flattish-velocity-curve regions of the simulated high-mass galaxies. b.
Half of the simulated galaxies have "wrong" rotation curves that differ greatly
from any observed ones. This, does not prevent these wrong galaxies from lying
on the observed MDAR (for trivial reasons, again). They, in fact, define the
high-acceleration branch of the simulated MDAR. c. To boot, even if
$\Lambda$CDM were made "consistent" with the MDAR through the elaborate
adjustments that the simulations allow, this would not obviate MOND, which
predicts much more than the MDAR.


title: Origami Constructions of Rings of Integers of Imaginary Quadratic Fields

abstract:
  In the making of origami, one starts with a piece of paper, and through a
series of folds along seed points one constructs complicated three-dimensional
shapes. Mathematically, one can think of the complex numbers as representing
the piece of paper, and the seed points and folds as a way to generate a subset
of the complex numbers. Under certain constraints, this construction can give
rise to a ring, which we call an origami ring. We will talk about the basic
construction of an origami ring and further extensions and implications of
these ideas in algebra and number theory, extending results of Buhler, et.al.
In particular, in this paper we show that it is possible to obtain the ring of
integers of an imaginary quadratic field through an origami construction.


title:
Nonconvex penalized multitask regression using data depth-based
  penalties

abstract:
  We propose a new class of nonconvex penalty functions, based on data depth
functions, for multitask sparse penalized regression. These penalties quantify
the relative position of rows of the coefficient matrix from a fixed
distribution centered at the origin. We derive the theoretical properties of an
approximate one-step sparse estimator of the coefficient matrix using local
linear approximation of the penalty function, and provide algorithm for its
computation. For orthogonal design and independent responses, the resulting
thresholding rule enjoys near-minimax optimal risk performance, similar to the
adaptive lasso (Zou, 2006). A simulation study and real data analysis
demonstrate its effectiveness compared to some of the present methods that
provide sparse solutions in multivariate regression.


title: On The Problem of Splitting Deformations of Super Riemann Surfaces

abstract:
  An odd deformation of a super Riemann surface $\mathcal S$ is a deformation
of $\mathcal S$ by variables of odd parity. In this article we study the
obstruction theory of these odd deformations $\mathcal X$ of $\mathcal S$. We
view $\mathcal X$ here as a complex supermanifold in its own right. Our
objective in this article is to show, when $\mathcal X$ is a deformation of
second order of $\mathcal S$ with genus $g>1$: if the primary obstruction class
to splitting $\mathcal X$ vanishes, then $\mathcal X$ is in fact split. This
result leads naturally to a conjectural characterisation of odd deformations of
$\mathcal S$ of any order.


title: Collapse transition of the interacting prudent walk

abstract:
  This article is dedicated to the study of the 2-dimensional interacting
prudent self-avoiding walk (referred to by the acronym IPSAW) and in particular
to its collapse transition. The interaction intensity is denoted by $\beta>0$
and the set of trajectories consists of those self-avoiding paths respecting
the prudent condition, which means that they do not take a step towards a
previously visited lattice site. The IPSAW interpolates between the interacting
partially directed self-avoiding walk (IPDSAW) that was analyzed in details in,
e.g., [Zwanzig and Lauritzen, 1968], [Brak et al., 1992], [Carmona, Nguyen and
P\'etr\'elis, 2013-2016], and the interacting self-avoiding walk (ISAW) for
which the collapse transition was conjectured in [Saleur, 1986]. Three main
theorems are proven. We show first that IPSAW undergoes a collapse transition
at finite temperature and, up to our knowledge, there was so far no proof in
the literature of the existence of a collapse transition for a non-directed
model built with self-avoiding path. We also prove that the free energy of
IPSAW is equal to that of a restricted version of IPSAW, i.e., the interacting
two-sided prudent walk. Such free energy is computed by considering only those
prudent path with a general north-east orientation. As a by-product of this
result we obtain that the exponential growth rate of generic prudent paths
equals that of two-sided prudent paths and this answers an open problem raised
in e.g., [Bousquet-M\'elou, 2010] or [Dethridge and Guttmann, 2008]. Finally we
show that, for every $\beta>0$, the free energy of ISAW itself is always larger
than $\beta$ and this rules out a possible self-touching saturation of ISAW in
its conjectured collapsed phase.


title: Quantifying Differential Privacy under Temporal Correlations

abstract:
  Differential Privacy (DP) has received increased attention as a rigorous
privacy framework. Existing studies employ traditional DP mechanisms (e.g., the
Laplace mechanism) as primitives, which assume that the data are independent,
or that adversaries do not have knowledge of the data correlations. However,
continuously generated data in the real world tend to be temporally correlated,
and such correlations can be acquired by adversaries. In this paper, we
investigate the potential privacy loss of a traditional DP mechanism under
temporal correlations in the context of continuous data release. First, we
model the temporal correlations using Markov model and analyze the privacy
leakage of a DP mechanism when adversaries have knowledge of such temporal
correlations. Our analysis reveals that the privacy leakage of a DP mechanism
may accumulate and increase over time. We call it temporal privacy leakage.
Second, to measure such privacy leakage, we design an efficient algorithm for
calculating it in polynomial time. Although the temporal privacy leakage may
increase over time, we also show that its supremum may exist in some cases.
Third, to bound the privacy loss, we propose mechanisms that convert any
existing DP mechanism into one against temporal privacy leakage. Experiments
with synthetic data confirm that our approach is efficient and effective.


title:
Magnetic flux density from the relative circular motion of stars and
  partially ionized gas in the Galaxy mid-plane vicinity

abstract:
  Observations suggest a slower stellar rotation relative to gas rotation in
the outer part of the Milky Way Galaxy. This difference could be attributed to
an interaction with the interstellar magnetic field. In a simple model, fields
of order 10 micro Gauss are then required, consistently with the observed
values. This coincidence suggests a tool for estimating magnetic fields in
spiral galaxies. A North-South asymmetry in the rotation of gas in the Galaxy
could be of magnetic origin too.


title:
Dark Matter characterization at the LHC in the Effective Field Theory
  approach

abstract:
  We have studied the complete set of dimension 5 and dimension 6 effective
operators involving the interaction of scalar, fermion and vector Dark Matter
(DM) with SM quarks and gluons, to explore the possibility to distinguish these
operators and characterise the spin of DM at the LHC. We have found that three
factors - the effective dimension of the operator, the structure of the SM part
of the operator and the parton densities of the SM particles connected to the
operator - uniquely define the shape of the (unobservable) invariant mass
distribution of the DM pair and, consequently, the shape of the (observable)
MET distribution related to it. Using $\chi^2$ analysis, we found that at the
LHC, with a luminosity of 300 fb$^{-1}$, certain classes of EFT operators can
be distinguished from each other. Hence, since DM spin is partly correlated
with the factors defining the shape of MET, the LHC can potentially shed a
light also on DM spin. We have also observed a drastic difference in the
efficiencies (up to two orders of magnitude) for large MET cuts scenarios with
different DM spin, thus indicating that the DM discovery potential strongly
depends on it. The study we perform here can be applied more generally than
within the EFT paradigm, where the DM mediator is not produced
on-the-mass-shell, such as the case of t-channel mediator or mediator with mass
below $2M_{DM}$, where the invariant mass of the DM pair is not fixed.


title: Cluster characters

abstract:
  These are lecture notes from a mini-course given at the CIMPA in Mar del
Plata, Argentina, in March 2016. The aim of the course was to introduce cluster
characters for 2-Calabi-Yau triangulated categories and present their main
properties. The notes start with the theory of F-polynomials of modules over
finite-dimensional algebras. Cluster categories are then introduced, before the
more general setting of 2-Calabi-Yau triangulated categories with
cluster-tilting objects is defined. Finally, cluster characters are presented,
and their use in the categorification of cluster algebras is outlined.


title: Model Selection for Pion Photoproduction

abstract:
  Partial-wave analysis of meson and photon-induced reactions is needed to
enable the comparison of many theoretical approaches to data. In both
energy-dependent and independent parametrizations of partial waves, the
selection of the model amplitude is crucial. Principles of the $S$-matrix are
implemented to different degree in different approaches, but a many times
overlooked aspect concerns the selection of undetermined coefficients and
functional forms for fitting, leading to a minimal yet sufficient
parametrization. We present an analysis of low-energy neutral pion
photoproduction using the Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator
(LASSO) in combination with criteria from information theory and $K$-fold cross
validation. These methods are not yet widely known in the analysis of excited
hadrons but will become relevant in the era of precision spectroscopy. The
principle is first illustrated with synthetic data, then, its feasibility for
real data is demonstrated by analyzing the latest available measurements of
differential cross sections ($d\sigma/d\Omega$), photon-beam asymmetries
($\Sigma$), and target asymmetry differential cross sections
($d\sigma_T/d\Omega$) in the low energy regime.


title: Electronic structure of Pr$_{1-x}$Ca$_x$MnO$_3$

abstract:
  The electronic structure of Pr$_{1-x}$Ca$_x$MnO$_3$ has been investigated
using a combination of first-principles calculations, X-ray photoelectron
spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), electron-energy loss
spectroscopy (EELS), and optical absorption. The full range of compositions,
$x=0,1/2,1$, and a variety of magnetic orders have been covered. Jahn-Teller as
well as Zener polaron orders are considered. The free parameters of the local
hybrid density functionals used in this study has been determined by comparison
with measured XPS spectra. A model Hamiltonian, valid for the entire doping
range, has been extracted. A simple local-orbital picture of the electronic
structure for the interpretation of experimental spectra is provided. The
comparison of theoretical calculations and different experimental sprectra
provide a detailed and consistent picture of the electronic structure. The
large variations of measured optical absorption spectra are traced back to the
coexistence of magnetic orders respectively to the occupation of local
orbitals. A consistent treatment of the Coulomb interaction indicate a partial
cancellation of Coulomb parameters and support the dominance of the
electron-phonon coupling.


title:
Enumeration of ancestral configurations for matching gene trees and
  species trees

abstract:
  Given a gene tree and a species tree, ancestral configurations represent the
combinatorially distinct sets of gene lineages that can reach a given node of
the species tree. They have been introduced as a data structure for use in the
recursive computation of the conditional probability under the multispecies
coalescent model of a gene tree topology given a species tree, the cost of this
computation being affected by the number of ancestral configurations of the
gene tree in the species tree. For matching gene trees and species trees, we
obtain enumerative results on ancestral configurations. We study ancestral
configurations in balanced and unbalanced families of trees determined by a
given seed tree, showing that for seed trees with more than one taxon, the
number of ancestral configurations increases for both families exponentially in
the number of taxa $n$. For fixed $n$, the maximal number of ancestral
configurations tabulated at the species tree root node and the largest number
of labeled histories possible for a labeled topology occur for trees with
precisely the same unlabeled shape. For ancestral configurations at the root,
the maximum increases with $k_0^n$, where $k_0 \approx 1.5028$ is a quadratic
recurrence constant. Under a uniform distribution over the set of labeled trees
of given size, the mean number of root ancestral configurations grows with
$\sqrt{3/2}(4/3)^n$ and the variance with approximately $1.4048(1.8215)^n$. The
results provide a contribution to the combinatorial study of gene trees and
species trees.


title:
Statistical inference in partially observed branching processes with
  application to cell lineage tracking of in vivo hematopoiesis

abstract:
  Single-cell lineage tracking strategies enabled by recent experimental
technologies have produced significant insights into cell fate decisions, but
lack the quantitative framework necessary for rigorous statistical analysis of
mechanistic models describing cell division and differentiation. In this paper,
we develop such a framework with corresponding moment-based parameter
estimation techniques for continuous-time, multi-type branching processes. Such
processes provide a probabilistic model of how cells divide and differentiate,
and we apply our method to study hematopoiesis, the mechanism of blood cell
production. We derive closed-form expressions for higher moments in a general
class of such models. These analytical results allow us to efficiently estimate
parameters of much richer statistical models of hematopoiesis than those used
in previous statistical studies. After validating the methodology in simulation
studies, we apply our estimator to hematopoietic lineage tracking data from
rhesus macaques. Our analysis provides a more complete understanding of cell
fate decisions during hematopoiesis in non-human primates, which may be more
relevant to human biology and clinical strategies than previous findings from
murine studies. For example, in addition to previously estimated hematopoietic
stem cell self-renewal rate, we are able to estimate fate decision
probabilities and to compare structurally distinct models of hematopoiesis
using cross validation. These estimates of fate decision probabilities and our
model selection results should help biologists compare competing hypotheses
about how progenitor cells differentiate. The methodology is transferrable to a
large class of stochastic compartmental models and multi-type branching models,
commonly used in studies of cancer progression, epidemiology, and many other
fields.


title:
Robustness of critical bit rates for practical stabilization of
  networked control systems

abstract:
  In this paper we address the question of robustness of critical bit rates for
the stabilization of networked control systems over digital communication
channels. For a deterministic nonlinear system, the smallest bit rate above
which practical stabilization (in the sense of set-invariance) can be achieved
is measured by the invariance entropy of the system. Under the assumptions of
chain controllability and a uniformly hyperbolic structure on the set of
interest, we prove that the invariance entropy varies continuously with respect
to system parameters. Hence, in this case the critical bit rate is robust with
respect to small perturbations.


title:
The Solar Neighborhood XXXVIII. Results from the CTIO/SMARTS 0.9m:
  Trigonometric Parallaxes for 151 Nearby M Dwarf Systems

abstract:
  We present 160 new trigonometric parallaxes for 151 M dwarf systems from the
REsearch Consortium On Nearby Stars (RECONS) group's long-term
astrometry/photometry program at the CTIO/SMARTS 0.9m telescope. Most systems
(124 or 82%) are found to lie within 25 pc. The stars have 119 mas/yr < mu <
828 mas/yr and 3.85 < (V-K) < 8.47. Among these are 58 systems from the
SuperCOSMOS-RECONS (SCR) search, discovered via our proper motion trawls of the
SuperCOSMOS digitized archival photographic plates, while the remaining stars
were suspected via photometric distance estimates to lie nearby. Sixteen are
systems that are newly discovered via astrometric perturbations to be binaries,
many of which are ideal for accurate mass determinations due to their proximity
and orbital periods on the order of a decade. A variability analysis of the
stars presented, two-thirds of which are new results, shows six of the stars to
vary by more than 20 mmag. This effort brings the total number of parallaxes
for M dwarf systems measured by RECONS to nearly 500 and increases by 26% the
number of southern M dwarf systems with accurate trigonometric parallaxes
placing them within 25 pc.


title: On the classification of definable ccc forcing notions

abstract:
  We show that for a Suslin ccc forcing notion $\mathbb Q$ adding a Hechler
real, $ZF+DC_{\omega_1}+$"All sets of reals are $I_{\mathbb
Q,\aleph_0}$-measurable" implies the existence of an inner model with a
measurable cardinal. We also further investigate the forcing notions from
[HwSh:1067], showing that some of them add Hechler reals (so the above result
applies to them) while others don't add dominating reals.


title: Some Relationships and Properties of the Hypergeometric Distribution

abstract:
  The binomial and Poisson distributions have interesting relationships with
the beta and gamma distributions, respectively, which involve their cumulative
distribution functions and the use of conjugate priors in Bayesian statistics.
We briefly discuss these relationships and some properties resulting from them
which play an important role in the construction of exact nested two-sided
confidence intervals and the computation of two-tailed P-values. The purpose of
this article is to show that such relationships also exist between the
hypergeometric distribution and a special case of the Polya (or beta-binomial)
distribution, and to derive some properties of the hypergeometric distribution
resulting from these relationships.
  KEY WORDS: Beta, binomial, gamma, Poisson, and Polya (or beta-binomial)
distributions; Conjugate prior distribution; Cumulative distribution function;
Posterior distribution.


title: Relative Chow stability and extremal metrics

abstract:
  We prove that the existence of extremal metrics implies asymptotically
relative Chow stability. An application of this is the uniqueness, up to
automorphisms, of extremal metrics in any polarization.


title:
On the set of points of smoothness for the value function for affine
  optimal control problems

abstract:
  We study the regularity properties of the value function associated with an
affine optimal control problem with quadratic cost plus a potential, for a
fixed final time and initial point. Without assuming any condition on singular
minimizers, we prove that the value function is continuous on an open and dense
subset of the interior of the attainable set. As a byproduct we obtain that it
is actually smooth on a possibly smaller set, still open and dense.


title:
Automatic and Manual Segmentation of Hippocampus in Epileptic Patients
  MRI

abstract:
  The hippocampus is a seminal structure in the most common surgically-treated
form of epilepsy. Accurate segmentation of the hippocampus aids in establishing
asymmetry regarding size and signal characteristics in order to disclose the
likely site of epileptogenicity. With sufficient refinement, it may ultimately
aid in the avoidance of invasive monitoring with its expense and risk for the
patient. To this end, a reliable and consistent method for segmentation of the
hippocampus from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is needed. In this work, we
present a systematic and statistical analysis approach for evaluation of
automated segmentation methods in order to establish one that reliably
approximates the results achieved by manual tracing of the hippocampus.


title:
The Grism Lens-Amplified Survey from Space (GLASS) X. Sub-kpc resolution
  gas-phase metallicity maps at cosmic noon behind the Hubble Frontier Fields
  cluster MACS1149.6+2223

abstract:
  (Abridged) We combine deep HST grism spectroscopy with a new Bayesian method
to derive maps of gas-phase metallicity, nebular dust extinction, and
star-formation rate for 10 star-forming galaxies at high redshift
($1.2<z<2.3$). Exploiting lensing magnification by the foreground cluster
MACS1149.6+2223, we reach sub-kpc spatial resolution and push the stellar mass
limit associated with such high-z spatially resolved measurements below
$10^8M_\odot$ for the first time. Our maps exhibit diverse morphologies,
indicative of various effects such as efficient radial mixing from tidal
torques, rapid accretion of low-metallicity gas, etc., which can affect the gas
and metallicity distributions in individual galaxies. Based upon an exhaustive
sample of all existing sub-kpc metallicity gradients at high-z, we find that
predictions given by analytical chemical evolution models assuming a relatively
extended star-formation profile in the early disk formation phase can explain
the majority of observed gradients, without involving galactic feedback or
radial outflows. We observe a tentative correlation between stellar mass and
metallicity gradient, consistent with the downsizing galaxy formation picture
that more massive galaxies are more evolved into a later phase of disk growth,
where they experience more coherent mass assembly at all radii and thus show
shallower metallicity gradients. In addition, we compile a sample of
homogeneously cross-calibrated integrated metallicity measurements spanning
three orders of magnitude in stellar mass at $z\sim1.8$. We use this sample to
study the mass-metallicity relation (MZR) and test the fundamental metallicity
relation (FMR). The slope of the observed MZR can rule out the momentum-driven
wind model at 3-$\sigma$ confidence level. We find no significant offset with
respect to the FMR, taking into account the intrinsic scatter and measurement
uncertainties.


title:
Dynamic Pricing in Smart Grids under Thresholding Policies: Algorithms
  and Heuristics

abstract:
  Minimizing the peak power consumption and matching demand to supply, under
fixed threshold polices, are two key requirements for the success of the future
electricity market. In this work, we consider dynamic pricing methods to
minimize the peak load and match demand to supply in the smart grid. As these
optimization problems are computationally hard to solve in general, we propose
generic heuristics for approximating their solutions. Further, we provide
theoretical analysis of uniform pricing in peak-demand minimization. Moreover,
we propose optimal-pricing algorithms for scenarios in which the time-period in
which tasks must be executed is relatively small. Finally, we conduct several
experiments to evaluate the various algorithms on real data.


title: Automated OCT Segmentation for Images with DME

abstract:
  This paper presents a novel automated system that segments six sub-retinal
layers from optical coherence tomography (OCT) image stacks of healthy patients
and patients with diabetic macular edema (DME). First, each image in the OCT
stack is denoised using a Wiener deconvolution algorithm that estimates the
additive speckle noise variance using a novel Fourier-domain based structural
error. This denoising method enhances the image SNR by an average of 12dB.
Next, the denoised images are subjected to an iterative multi-resolution
high-pass filtering algorithm that detects seven sub-retinal surfaces in six
iterative steps. The thicknesses of each sub-retinal layer for all scans from a
particular OCT stack are then compared to the manually marked groundtruth. The
proposed system uses adaptive thresholds for denoising and segmenting each
image and hence it is robust to disruptions in the retinal micro-structure due
to DME. The proposed denoising and segmentation system has an average error of
1.2-5.8 $\mu m$ and 3.5-26$\mu m$ for segmenting sub-retinal surfaces in normal
and abnormal images with DME, respectively. For estimating the sub-retinal
layer thicknesses, the proposed system has an average error of 0.2-2.5 $\mu m$
and 1.8-18 $\mu m$ in normal and abnormal images, respectively. Additionally,
the average inner sub-retinal layer thickness in abnormal images is estimated
as 275$\mu m (r=0.92)$ with an average error of 9.3 $\mu m$, while the average
thickness of the outer layers in abnormal images is estimated as 57.4$\mu m
(r=0.74)$ with an average error of 3.5 $\mu m$. The proposed system can be
useful for tracking the disease progression for DME over a period of time.


title: Asymptotics of the number of standard Young tableaux of skew shape

abstract:
  We give new bounds and asymptotic estimates on the number of standard Young
tableaux of skew shape in a variety of special cases. Our approach is based on
Naruse's hook-length formula. We also compare our bounds with the existing
bounds on the numbers of linear extensions of the corresponding posets.


title:
Motion of a nano-ellipsoid in a cylindrical vessel flow: Brownian and
  hydrodynamic interactions

abstract:
  We present comprehensive numerical studies of the motion of a buoyant or a
nearly neutrally buoyant nano-sized ellipsoidal particle in a fluid filled
cylindrical tube without or with the presence of imposed pressure gradient
(weak Poiseuille flow). The Fluctuating hydrodynamics approach and the
Deterministic method are both employed. We ensure that the
fluctuation-dissipation relation and the principle of thermal equipartition of
energy are both satisfied. The major focus is on the effect of the confining
boundary. Results for the velocity and angular velocity autocorrelations (VACF
and AVACF), diffusivities, and drag and lift forces as functions of shape,
aspect ratio, inclination angle, and proximity to the wall are presented. For
the parameters considered, the boundary modifies the VACF and AVACF such that
three distinct regimes are discernible --- an initial exponential decay,
followed by an algebraic decay culminating in a second exponential decay. The
first is due to thermal noise, the algebraic regime is due to both thermal
noise and hydrodynamic correlations, while the second exponential decay shows
the effect of momentum reflection from the confining wall. Our predictions
display excellent comparison with published results for the algebraic regime
(the only regime for which earlier results exist). We also discuss the role of
off-diagonal elements of the mobility and diffusivity tensor that enables the
quantification of the degree of lift and margination of the NC in the vessel.
Our study covers a range of parameters that are of wide applicability in
nanotechnology and in targeted drug delivery related to the health sciences.


title: On Multiplicative Multitask Feature Learning

abstract:
  We investigate a general framework of multiplicative multitask feature
learning which decomposes each task's model parameters into a multiplication of
two components. One of the components is used across all tasks and the other
component is task-specific. Several previous methods have been proposed as
special cases of our framework. We study the theoretical properties of this
framework when different regularization conditions are applied to the two
decomposed components. We prove that this framework is mathematically
equivalent to the widely used multitask feature learning methods that are based
on a joint regularization of all model parameters, but with a more general form
of regularizers. Further, an analytical formula is derived for the across-task
component as related to the task-specific component for all these regularizers,
leading to a better understanding of the shrinkage effect. Study of this
framework motivates new multitask learning algorithms. We propose two new
learning formulations by varying the parameters in the proposed framework.
Empirical studies have revealed the relative advantages of the two new
formulations by comparing with the state of the art, which provides instructive
insights into the feature learning problem with multiple tasks.


title: Quantized Precoding for Massive MU-MIMO

abstract:
  Massive multiuser (MU) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) is foreseen to
be one of the key technologies in fifth-generation wireless communication
systems. In this paper, we investigate the problem of downlink precoding for a
narrowband massive MU-MIMO system with low-resolution digital-to-analog
converters (DACs) at the base station (BS). We analyze the performance of
linear precoders, such as maximal-ratio transmission and zero-forcing, subject
to coarse quantization. Using Bussgang's theorem, we derive a closed-form
approximation on the rate achievable under such coarse quantization. Our
results reveal that the performance attainable with infinite-resolution DACs
can be approached using DACs having only 3 to 4 bits of resolution, depending
on the number of BS antennas and the number of user equipments (UEs). For the
case of 1-bit DACs, we also propose novel nonlinear precoding algorithms that
significantly outperform linear precoders at the cost of an increased
computational complexity. Specifically, we show that nonlinear precoding incurs
only a 3 dB penalty compared to the infinite-resolution case for an uncoded bit
error rate of 10^-3, in a system with 128 BS antennas that uses 1-bit DACs and
serves 16 single-antenna UEs. In contrast, the penalty for linear precoders is
about 8 dB.