title:
A Corroborative Approach to Verification and Validation of Human--Robot
  Teams

abstract:
  We present an approach for the verification and validation (V&V) of robot
assistants in the context of human-robot interactions (HRI), to demonstrate
their trustworthiness through corroborative evidence of their safety and
functional correctness. Key challenges include the complex and unpredictable
nature of the real world in which assistant and service robots operate, the
limitations on available V&V techniques when used individually, and the
consequent lack of confidence in the V&V results. Our approach, called
corroborative V&V, addresses these challenges by combining several different
V&V techniques; in this paper we use formal verification (model checking),
simulation-based testing, and user validation in experiments with a real robot.
We demonstrate our corroborative V&V approach through a handover task, the most
critical part of a complex cooperative manufacturing scenario, for which we
propose some safety and liveness requirements to verify and validate. We
construct formal models, simulations and an experimental test rig for the HRI.
To capture requirements we use temporal logic properties, assertion checkers
and textual descriptions. This combination of approaches allows V&V of the HRI
task at different levels of modelling detail and thoroughness of exploration,
thus overcoming the individual limitations of each technique. Should the
resulting V&V evidence present discrepancies, an iterative process between the
different V&V techniques takes place until corroboration between the V&V
techniques is gained from refining and improving the assets (i.e., system and
requirement models) to represent the HRI task in a more truthful manner.
Therefore, corroborative V&V affords a systematic approach to 'meta-V&V,' in
which different V&V techniques can be used to corroborate and check one
another, increasing the level of certainty in the results of V&V.


title:
Reply to Comment on Nonlocal quartic interactions and universality
  classes in perovskite manganites

abstract:
  Comment [arXiv:cond-mat.stat.mech., 1602.02087v1 (2016)] has raised questions
claiming that the nonlocal model Hamiltonian presented in [Phys. Rev. E 92,
012123 (2015)] is equivalent to the standard (short-ranged) \Phi^4 theory.
These claims are based on a low momentum expansion of the interaction vertex
that cannot be applied to the vertex factors containing both low and high
momenta inside the loop-integrals. Elaborating upon the important steps of the
momentum shell decimation scheme, employed in the renormalization-group
calculation, we explicitly show the interplay of internal (high) and external
(low) momenta determining the loop integrals for self-energy and vertex
functions giving rise to corrections (to the bare parameters) different from
those of the standard (short-ranged) \Phi^4 theory. Employing explicit
mathematical arguments, we show that this difference persists when the range of
interaction is assumed to be long (short) ranged with respect to the lattice
constant (correlation-length), yielding the critical exponents as given in the
original paper.


title:
Direct fabrication and IV characterization of sub-surface conductive
  channels in diamond with MeV ion implantation

abstract:
  In the present work we report about the investigation of the conduction
mechanism of sp2 carbon micro-channels buried in single crystal diamond. The
structures are fabricated with a novel technique which employs a MeV focused
ion-beam to damage diamond in conjunction with variable thickness masks. This
process changes significantly the structural proprieties of the target
material, because the ion nuclear energy loss induces carbon conversion from
sp3 to sp2 state mainly at the end of range of the ions (few micrometers).
Furthermore, placing a mask with increasing thickness on the sample it is
possible to modulate the channels depth at their endpoints, allowing their
electrical connection with the surface. A single-crystal HPHT diamond sample
was implanted with 1.8 MeV He+ ions at room temperature, the implantation
fluence was set in the range 2.1x10^16 - 6.3x10^17 ions cm^-2, determining the
formation of buried micro-channels at 3 um. After deposition of metallic
contacts at the channels' endpoints, the electrical characterization was
performed measuring the I-V curves at variable temperatures in the 80-690 K
range. The Variable Range Hopping model was used to fit the experimental data
in the ohmic regime, allowing the estimation of characteristic parameters such
as the density of localized states at the Fermi level. A value of 5.5x10^17
states cm-3 eV-1 was obtained, in satisfactory agreement with values previously
reported in literature. The power-law dependence between current and voltage is
consistent with the space charge limited mechanism at moderate electric fields.


title:
On the homotopy fibre of the inclusion map F\_n(X) $\rightarrow$
  $\prod$\_1^n X for some orbit spaces X

abstract:
  Under certain conditions, we describe the homotopy type of the homo-topy
fibre of the inclusion map F\_n(X) $\rightarrow$ $\prod$\_1^n X for the n-th
configuration space F\_n(X) of a topological manifold X without boundary such
that dim(X) $\ge$ 3. We then apply our results to the cases where either the
universal covering of X is contractible or X is an orbit space S^k/G of a tame,
free action of a Lie group G on the k-sphere S^k. If the group G is finite and
k is odd, we give a full description of the long exact sequence in homotopy of
the homotopy fibration of the inclusion map F\_n(S^k/G) $\rightarrow$
$\prod$\_1^n S^k/G.


title: A Higgs in the Warped Bulk and LHC signals

abstract:
  Warped models with the Higgs in the bulk can generate light Kaluza-Klein (KK)
Higgs modes consistent with the electroweak precision analysis. The first KK
mode of the Higgs (h_{1}) could lie in the 1-2 TeV range in the models with a
bulk custodial symmetry. We find that the h_{1} is gaugephobic and decays
dominantly into a t\bar{t} pair. We also discuss the search strategy for h_{1}
decaying to t\bar{t} at the Large Hadron Collider. We used substructure tools
to suppress the large QCD background associated with this channel. We find that
h_{1} can be probed at the LHC run-2 with an integrated luminosity of 300
fb^{-1}.


title: Evolution of active region outflows throughout an active region lifetime

abstract:
  We have shown previously that SOHO/UVCS data allow us to detect active region
(AR) outflows at coronal altitudes higher than those reached by other
instrumentation. These outflows are thought to be a component of the slow solar
wind. Our purpose is to study the evolution of the outflows in the intermediate
corona from AR 8100, from the time the AR first forms until it dissolves, after
several transits at the solar limb. Data acquired by SOHO/UVCS at the time of
the AR limb transits, at medium latitudes and at altitudes ranging from 1.5 to
2.3 R_sun, were used to infer the physical properties of the outflows through
the AR evolution. To this end, we applied the Doppler dimming technique to UVCS
spectra. These spectra include the H I Lyman alpha line and the O VI doublet
lines at 1031.9 and 1037.6 A. Plasma speeds and electron densities of the
outflows were inferred over several rotations of the Sun. AR outflows are
present in the newly born AR and persist throughout the entire AR life.
Moreover, we found two types of outflows at different latitudes, both possibly
originating in the same negative polarity area of the AR. We also analyzed the
behavior of the Si XII 520 A line along the UVCS slit in an attempt to reveal
changes in the Si abundance when different regions are traversed. Although we
found some evidence for a Si enrichment in the AR outflows, alternative
interpretations are also plausible. Our results demonstrate that outflows from
ARs are detectable in the intermediate corona throughout the whole AR lifetime.
This confirms that outflows contribute to the slow wind.


title: Multitechnique characterization of lapis lazuli for provenance study

abstract:
  Lapis Lazuli is one of the oldest precious stone, being used for glyptic as
early as 7000 years ago: jewels, amulets, seals and inlays are examples of
objects produced using this material. Only few sources of Lapis Lazuli exist in
the world due to the low probability of geological conditions in which it can
form, so that the possibility to associate the raw material to man-made objects
helps to reconstruct trade routes. Since art objects produced using Lapis
Lazuli are valuable, only non-destructive investigations can be carried out to
identify the provenance of the raw materials. Ionoluminescence (IL) is a good
candidate for this task. Similarly to cathodoluminescence (CL), IL consists in
the collection of luminescence spectra induced by MeV ion (usually protons)
irradiation. The main advantage of IL consists in the possibility of working in
air while measuring simultaneously the composition of major and trace element
by means of complementary Ion Beam Analysis techniques like PIXE or PIGE
(Particle Induce X-ray or Gamma-ray Emission). In the present work a systematic
study of the luminescence properties of Lapis Lazuli under charged particles
irradiation is reported. In a first phase a multi-technique approach was
adopted (CL, SEM with microanalysis, micro-Raman) to characterise luminescent
minerals. This characterisation was propaedeutic for IL/PIXE/PIGE measurements
carried out on significant areas selected on the basis of results obtained
previously. Criteria to identify provenance of Lapis Lazuli from four of the
main sources (Afghanistan, Pamir Mountains in Tajikistan, Chile and Siberia)
were proposed.


title: Topological aggregation, the twin paradox and the no show paradox

abstract:
  Consider the framework of topological aggregation introduced by Chichilnisky
(1980). We prove that in this framework the Twin Paradox and the No Show
Paradox cannot be avoided. Anonymity and unanimity are not needed to obtain
these results.


title: An Octree-Based Approach towards Efficient Variational Range Data Fusion

abstract:
  Volume-based reconstruction is usually expensive both in terms of memory
consumption and runtime. Especially for sparse geometric structures, volumetric
representations produce a huge computational overhead. We present an efficient
way to fuse range data via a variational Octree-based minimization approach by
taking the actual range data geometry into account. We transform the data into
Octree-based truncated signed distance fields and show how the optimization can
be conducted on the newly created structures. The main challenge is to uphold
speed and a low memory footprint without sacrificing the solutions' accuracy
during optimization. We explain how to dynamically adjust the optimizer's
geometric structure via joining/splitting of Octree nodes and how to define the
operators. We evaluate on various datasets and outline the suitability in terms
of performance and geometric accuracy.


title:
Structure of states for which each localized dynamics reduces to a
  localized subdynamics

abstract:
  We consider a bipartite quantum system $S$ (including parties $A$ and $B$),
interacting with an environment $E$ through a localized quantum dynamics
$\mathcal{F}_{SE}$ . We call a quantum dynamics $\mathcal{F}_{SE}$ localized
if, e.g., the party $A$ is isolated from the environment and only $B$ interacts
with the environment: $\mathcal{F}_{SE}=id_{A}\otimes \mathcal{F}_{BE}$, where
$id_{A}$ is the identity map on the part $A$ and $\mathcal{F}_{BE}$ is a
completely positive (CP) map on the both $B$ and $E$. We will show that the
reduced dynamics of the system is also localized as
$\mathcal{E}_{S}=id_{A}\otimes \bar{\mathcal{E}}_{B}$, where
$\bar{\mathcal{E}}_{B}$ is a CP map on $B$, if and only if the initial state of
the system-environment is a Markov state. We then generalize this result to the
two following cases: when both $A$ and $B$ interact with a same environment,
and when each party interacts with its local environment.


title: $\chi$-bounds, operations and chords

abstract:
  A \emph{long unichord} in a graph is an edge that is the unique chord of some
cycle of length at least 5. A graph is \emph{long-unichord-free} if it does not
contain any long-unichord. We prove a structure theorem for long-unichord-free
graph. We give an $O(n^4m)$-time algorithm to recognize them. We show that any
long-unichord-free graph $G$ can be colored with at most $O(\omega^3)$ colors,
where $\omega$ is the maximum number of pairwise adjacent vertices in $G$.


title:
Mass Ansatze for the standard model fermions from a composite
  perspective

abstract:
  We consider a composite model in which the standard model fermions are bound
states of elementary spin $\frac{1}{2}$ particles, the preons, situated in the
conjugate product representation of the color group. In this framework we
propose and analyze two mass Ansatze one for the leptons, the other one for the
quarks, based on mass formulae of the Gell-Mann Okubo type. We find that these
mass Ansatze can give an adequate description of the known standard model
fermion masses.


title: Quasilinear viscous approximations to scalar conservation laws

abstract:
  We prove the convergence of quasilinear parabolic viscous approximations to
the entropy solution (in the sense of Bardos-Leroux-Nedelec) of a scalar
conservation law, considered on a bounded domain in $\R^d$.


title:
Directed flow in heavy-ion collisions at NICA: what is interesting to
  measure?

abstract:
  We study the formation of the directed flow of hadrons in nuclear collisions
at energies between AGS and SPS in Monte Carlo cascade model. The slope of the
proton flow at midrapidity tends to zero (softening) with increasing impact
parameter of the collision. For very peripheral topologies this slope becomes
negative (antiflow). The effect is caused by rescattering of hadrons in
remnants of the colliding nuclei. Since the softening of the proton flow can be
misinterpreted as indication of the presence of quark-gluon plasma, we propose
several measurements at NICA facility which can help one to distinguish between
the cases with and without the plasma formation.


title:
Probing the dynamical and X-ray mass proxies of the cluster of galaxies
  Abell S1101

abstract:
  Context: The galaxy cluster Abell S1101 (S1101 hereafter) deviates
significantly from the X-ray luminosity versus velocity dispersion relation
(L-sigma) of galaxy clusters in our previous study. Given reliable X-ray
luminosity measurement combining XMM-Newton and ROSAT, this could most likely
be caused by the bias in the velocity dispersion due to interlopers and low
member statistic in the previous sample of member galaxies, which was solely
based on 20 galaxy redshifts drawn from the literature. Aims: We intend to
increase the galaxy member statistic to perform a precision measurement of the
velocity dispersion and dynamical mass of S1101. We aim for a detailed
substructure and dynamical state characterization of this cluster, and a
comparison of mass estimates derived from (i) the velocity dispersion (M_vir),
(ii) the caustic mass computation (M_caustic), and (iii) mass proxies from
X-ray observations and the Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) effect. Methods: We carried
out new optical spectroscopic observations of the galaxies in this cluster
field with VIMOS, obtaining a sample of ~60 member galaxies for S1101. We
revised the cluster redshift and velocity dispersion measurements based on this
sample and also applied the Dressler-Shectman substructure test. Results: The
completeness of cluster members within r200 was significantly improved for this
cluster. Tests for dynamical substructure did not show evidence for major
disturbances or merging activities in S1101. We find good agreement between the
dynamical cluster mass measurements and X-ray mass estimates which confirms the
relaxed state of the cluster displayed in the 2D substructure test. The SZ mass
proxy is slightly higher than the other estimates. The updated measurement of
the velocity dispersion erased the deviation of S1101 in the L-sigma relation.


title: Single-loop multiple-pulse nonadiabatic holonomic quantum gates

abstract:
  Nonadiabatic holonomic quantum computation provides the means to perform fast
and robust quantum gates by utilizing the resilience of non-Abelian geometric
phases to fluctuations of the path in state space. While the original scheme
[New J. Phys. {\bf 14}, 103035 (2012)] needs two loops in the Grassmann
manifold (i.e., the space of computational subspaces of the full state space)
to generate an arbitrary holonomic one-qubit gate, we propose single-loop
one-qubit gates that constitute an efficient universal set of holonomic gates
when combined with an entangling holonomic two-qubit gate. Our one-qubit gate
is realized by dividing the loop into path segments, each of which is generated
by a $\Lambda$-type Hamiltonian. We demonstrate that two path segments are
sufficient to realize arbitrary single-loop holonomic one-qubit gates. We
describe how our scheme can be implemented experimentally in a generic atomic
system exhibiting a three-level $\Lambda$-coupling structure, by utilizing
carefully chosen laser pulses.


title:
Depinning and heterogeneous dynamics of colloidal crystal layers under
  shear flow

abstract:
  Using Brownian dynamics (BD) simulations and an analytical approach we
investigate the shear-induced, nonequilibrium dynamics of dense colloidal
suspensions confined to a narrow slit-pore. Focusing on situations where the
colloids arrange in well-defined layers with solidlike in-plane structure, the
confined films display complex, nonlinear behavior such as collective depinning
and local transport via density excitations. These phenomena are reminiscent of
colloidal monolayers driven over a periodic substrate potential. In order to
deepen this connection, we present an effective model which maps the dynamics
of the shear-driven colloidal layers to the motion of a single particle driven
over an effective substrate potential. This model allows to estimate the
critical shear rate of the depinning transition based on the equilibrium
configuration, revealing the impact of important parameters such as the
slit-pore width and the interaction strength. We then turn to heterogeneous
systems where a layer of small colloids is sheared with respect to bottom
layers of large particles. For these incommensurate systems we find that the
particle transport is dominated by density excitations resembling the so-called
"kink" solutions of the Frenkel-Kontorova (FK) model. In contrast to the FK
model, however, the corresponding "antikinks" do not move.


title:
Elastic vs. plastic strain relaxation in coalesced GaN nanowires: an
  x-ray diffraction study

abstract:
  The coalescence in dense arrays of spontaneously formed GaN nanowires
proceeds by bundling: adjacent nanowires bend and merge at their top, thus
reducing their surface energy at the expense of the elastic energy of bending.
We give a theoretical description of the energetics of this bundling process.
The bending energy is shown to be substantially reduced by the creation of
dislocations at the coalescence joints. A comparison of experimental and
calculated x-ray diffraction profiles from ensembles of bundled nanowires
demonstrates that a large part of the bending energy is indeed relaxed by
plastic deformation. The residual bending manifests itself by extended tails of
the diffraction profiles.


title:
Fluxes of diffuse gamma rays and neutrinos from cosmic-ray interactions
  with circumgalactic gas

abstract:
  The Milky Way is surrounded by a gravitationally bound gas corona extending
up to the Galaxy's virial radius. Interactions of cosmic-ray particles with
this gas give rise to energetic secondary gamma rays and neutrinos. We present
a quantitative analysis of the neutrino and gamma-ray fluxes from the corona of
the Milky Way together with a combined contribution of coronae of other
galaxies. The high-energy neutrino flux is insufficient to explain the IceCube
results, while the contribution to the FERMI-LAT diffuse gamma-ray flux is not
negligible.


title: Good families of Drinfeld modular curves

abstract:
  In this paper we investigate examples of good and optimal Drinfeld modular
towers of function fields. Surprisingly, the optimality of these towers has not
been investigated in full detail in the literature. We also give an algorithmic
approach on how to obtain explicit defining equations for some of these towers
and in particular give a new explicit example of an optimal tower over a
quadratic finite field.


title:
Multiple solutions of $p$-biharmonic equations with Navier boundary
  conditions

abstract:
  In this paper, exploiting variational methods, the existence of multiple weak
solutions for a class of elliptic Navier boundary problems involving the
$p$-biharmonic operator is investigated. Moreover, a concrete example of an
application is presented.


title: A multisymplectic manifold not covered by Darboux charts

abstract:
  The Darboux theorem in symplectic geometry implies that any two points in a
connected symplectic manifold have neighbourhoods symplectomorphic to each
other. The impossibility of such a theorem in the more general multisymplectic
framework appears to be, at least, folkloristic, but no explicit counterexample
seems to exist in the literature.
  In this note we provide such an example by constructing multisymplectic
three-forms on the connected manifold $\mathbb R^6$, which do not even have
constant linear type and therefore can not allow for an atlas consisting of
"Darboux charts".


title:
Lifetime of Feshbach dimers in a Fermi-Fermi mixture of $^6$Li and
  $^{40}$K

abstract:
  We present a joint experimental and theoretical investigation of the lifetime
of weakly bound dimers formed near narrow interspecies Feshbach resonances in
mass-imbalanced Fermi-Fermi systems, considering the specific example of a
mixture of $^6$Li and $^{40}$K atoms. Our work addresses the central question
of the increase in the stability of the dimers resulting from Pauli suppression
of collisional losses, which is a well-known effect in mass-balanced fermionic
systems near broad resonances. We present measurements of the spontaneous
dissociation of dimers in dilute samples, and of the collisional losses in
dense samples arising from both dimer-dimer processes and from atom-dimer
processes. We find that all loss processes are suppressed close to the Feshbach
resonance. Our general theoretical approach for fermionic mixtures near narrow
Feshbach resonances provides predictions for the suppression of collisional
decay as a function of the detuning from resonance, and we find excellent
agreement with the experimental benchmarks provided by our $^6$Li-$^{40}$K
system. We finally present model calculations for other Feshbach-resonant
Fermi-Fermi systems, which are of interest for experiments in the near future.


title: Nonlinear algebraic systems with discontinuous terms

abstract:
  Using a multiple critical points theorem for locally Lipschitz continuous
functionals, we establish the existence of at least three distinct solutions
for a parametric discrete differential inclusion problem involving a real
symmetric and positive definite matrix. Applications to tridiagonal,
fourth-order and partial difference inclusions are presented.


title:
Direct fabrication of three-dimensional buried conductive channels in
  single crystal diamond with ion microbeam induced graphitization

abstract:
  We report on a novel method for the fabrication of three-dimensional buried
graphitic micropaths in single crystal diamond with the employment of focused
MeV ions. The use of implantation masks with graded thickness at the
sub-micrometer scale allows the formation of conductive channels which are
embedded in the insulating matrix at controllable depths. In particular, the
modulation of the channels depth at their endpoints allows the surface
contacting of the channel terminations with no need of further fabrication
stages. In the present work we describe the sample masking, which includes the
deposition of semi spherical gold contacts on the sample surface, followed by
MeV ion implantation. Because of the significant difference between the
densities of pristine and amorphous or graphitized diamond, the formation of
buried channels has a relevant mechanical effect on the diamond structure,
causing localized surface swelling, which has been measured both with
interferometric profilometry and atomic force microscopy. The electrical
properties of the buried channels are then measured with a two point probe
station: clear evidence is given that only the terminal points of the channels
are electrically connected with the surface, while the rest of the channels
extends below the surface. IV measurements are employed also to qualitatively
investigate the electrical properties of the channels as a function of
implantation fluence and annealing.


title: Self-consistent evolution of accreting low-mass stars and brown dwarfs

abstract:
  We present self-consistent calculations coupling numerical hydrodynamics
simulations of collapsing pre-stellar cores and stellar evolution models of
accreting objects. We analyse the main impact of consistent accretion history
on the evolution and lithium depletion of young low-mass stars and brown
dwarfs. These consistent models confirm the generation of a luminosity spread
in Herzsprung-Russell diagrams at ages $\sim$ 1-10 Myr. They also confirm that
early accretion can produce objects with abnormal Li depletion, as found in a
previous study that was based on arbitrary accretion rates. The results
strengthen that objects with anomalously high level of Li depletion in young
clusters should be extremely rare. We also find that early phases of burst
accretion can produce coeval models of similar mass with a range of different
Li surface abundances, and in particular with Li-excess compared to the
predictions of non-accreting counterparts. This result is due to a subtle
competition between the effect of burst accretion and its impact on the central
stellar temperature, the growth of the stellar radiative core and the accretion
of fresh Li from the accretion disk. Only consistent models could reveal such a
subtle combination of effects. This new result could explain the recent,
puzzling observations of Li-excess of fast rotators in the young cluster NGC
2264. Present self-consistent accreting models are available in electronic
form.


title:
Optimization of nanocomposite materials for permanent magnets by
  micromagnetic simulations: effect of the intergrain exchange and the hard
  grains shape

abstract:
  In this paper we perform the detailed numerical analysis of remagnetization
processes in nanocomposite magnetic materials consisting of magnetically hard
grains (i.e. grains made of a material with a high magnetocrystalline
anisotropy) embedded into a magnetically soft phase. Such materials are widely
used for the production of permanent magnets, because they combine the high
remanence with the large coercivity. We perform simulations of nanocomposites
with Sr-ferrite as the hard phase and Fe or Ni as the soft phase, concentrating
our efforts on analyzing the effects of ({\it i}) the imperfect intergrain
exchange and ({\it ii}) the non-spherical shape of hard grains. We demonstrate
that - in contrast to the common belief - the maximal energy product is
achieved not for systems with the perfect intergrain exchange, but for
materials where this exchange is substantially weakened. We also show that the
main parameters of the hysteresis loop - remanence, coercivity and the energy
product - exhibit non-trivial dependencies on the shape of hard grains, and
provide detailed explanations for our results. Simulation predictions obtained
in this work open new ways for the optimization of materials for permanent
magnets.


title:
Nonlinear Neumann problems driven by a nonhomogeneous differential
  operator

abstract:
  We study a nonlinear parametric Neumann problem driven by a nonhomogeneous
quasilinear elliptic differential operator $\operatorname{div}(a(x,\nabla u))$,
a special case of which is the $p$-Laplacian. The reaction term is a
nonlinearity function $f$ which exhibits $(p-1)$-subcritical growth. By using
variational methods, we prove a multiplicity result on the existence of weak
solutions for such problems. An explicit example of an application is also
presented.


title: The Thermal Bath of de Sitter from Holography

abstract:
  We consider the AdS/dS CFT correspondence and study the nature of the thermal
bath of the de Sitter field theory using holography. Unlike the temperature of
a thermal field theory in flat spacetime, the temperature of a superconformal
field theory on de Sitter space is an integral part of the theory and leaves
intact the conformal symmetry and supersymmetry. In the dual AdS side, there is
no black hole. Instead we have cosmological expansion of the de Sitter factor.
We consider a number of different observables, such as the entanglement
entropy, two point correlation function, Wilson loops corresponding to static
and spinning mesons in the field theory, and study their thermal properties
using holography. The former two quantities have trivial temperature dependence
due to conformal symmetry. We compute the energy of the quark anti-quark bound
state for a static meson, as well as the energy and the angular momentum for a
spinning meson. We find that there is a maximum distance, as well as a maximum
spin for the latter case, beyond which the bound state become unstable. The
temperature behavior of the physical quantities in these meson systems are
similar to that of the usual thermal field theory with holographic black hole
dual. With these examples, we show clearly how the field theory observables get
their thermal properties from the bulk despite the absence of a black hole,
with the role of the black hole horizon played by the cosmological expansion of
the de Sitter factor of the AdS metric.


title:
Random Laser Emission at Dual Wavelengths in a Donor-Acceptor Dye
  Mixture Solution

abstract:
  The work was aimed to generate random laser emissions simultaneously at two
wavelengths in a weakly scattering system containing mixture of binary dyes,
rhodamine-B (Rh-B) and oxazine-170 (O-170) dispersed with ZnO nano-particles
served as scattering centres. Random lasing performances for individual Rh-B
dye were extensively studied for varying small signal gain/scatterer density
and found lasing threshold significantly depend upon number density of
dispersed nano-particles. In spite of inefficient pumping, we demonstrated
possibility of random lasing in O-170 dye solution on account of resonance
energy transfer from Rh-B dye served as donor. At optimum concentrations of
fluorophores and scatterer in dye mixture solution, incoherent random lasing
was effectively attained simultaneously at two wavelengths centered 90 nm
apart. Dual-emission intensities, lasing thresholds and rate of amplifications
were found to be equivalent for both donor and acceptor in dye mixture
solution.


title:
Mean Deviation Similarity Index: Efficient and Reliable Full-Reference
  Image Quality Evaluator

abstract:
  Applications of perceptual image quality assessment (IQA) in image and video
processing, such as image acquisition, image compression, image restoration and
multimedia communication, have led to the development of many IQA metrics. In
this paper, a reliable full reference IQA model is proposed that utilize
gradient similarity (GS), chromaticity similarity (CS), and deviation pooling
(DP). By considering the shortcomings of the commonly used GS to model human
visual system (HVS), a new GS is proposed through a fusion technique that is
more likely to follow HVS. We propose an efficient and effective formulation to
calculate the joint similarity map of two chromatic channels for the purpose of
measuring color changes. In comparison with a commonly used formulation in the
literature, the proposed CS map is shown to be more efficient and provide
comparable or better quality predictions. Motivated by a recent work that
utilizes the standard deviation pooling, a general formulation of the DP is
presented in this paper and used to compute a final score from the proposed GS
and CS maps. This proposed formulation of DP benefits from the Minkowski
pooling and a proposed power pooling as well. The experimental results on six
datasets of natural images, a synthetic dataset, and a digitally retouched
dataset show that the proposed index provides comparable or better quality
predictions than the most recent and competing state-of-the-art IQA metrics in
the literature, it is reliable and has low complexity. The MATLAB source code
of the proposed metric is available at
https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/59809.


title:
A robust scheme for the implementation of the quantum Rabi model in
  trapped ions

abstract:
  We show that the technique known as concatenated continuous dynamical
decoupling (CCD) can be applied to a trapped-ion setup for a robust
implementation of the quantum Rabi model in a variety of parameter regimes.
These include the case where the Dirac equation emerges, and the limit in which
a quantum phase transition takes place. We discuss the applicability of the CCD
scheme in terms of the fidelity between different initial states evolving under
an ideal quantum Rabi model and their corresponding trapped-ion realization,
and demonstrate the effectiveness of noise suppression of our method.


title: Skew-t Filter and Smoother with Improved Covariance Matrix Approximation

abstract:
  Filtering and smoothing algorithms for linear discrete-time state-space
models with skew-t-distributed measurement noise are proposed. The algorithms
use a variational Bayes based posterior approximation with coupled location and
skewness variables to reduce the error caused by the variational approximation.
Although the variational update is done suboptimally using an expectation
propagation algorithm, our simulations show that the proposed method gives a
more accurate approximation of the posterior covariance matrix than an earlier
proposed variational algorithm. Consequently, the novel filter and smoother
outperform the earlier proposed robust filter and smoother and other existing
low-complexity alternatives in accuracy and speed. We present both simulations
and tests based on real-world navigation data, in particular GPS data in an
urban area, to demonstrate the performance of the novel methods. Moreover, the
extension of the proposed algorithms to cover the case where the distribution
of the measurement noise is multivariate skew-$t$ is outlined. Finally, the
paper presents a study of theoretical performance bounds for the proposed
algorithms.


title: A remark on the word length in surface groups

abstract:
  Let $\Sigma$ be a surface of negative Euler characteristic and $S$ a
generating set for $\pi_1(\Sigma,p)$ consisting of simple loops that are
pairwise disjoint (except at $p$). We show that the word length with respect to
$S$ of an element of $\pi_1(\Sigma,p)$ is given by its intersection number with
a well-chosen collection of curves and arcs on $\Sigma$. The same holds for the
word length of (a free homotopy class of) an immersed curve on $\Sigma$. As a
consequence, we obtain the asymptotic growth of the number of immersed curves
of bounded word length, as the length grows, in each mapping class group orbit.


title: Multifrequency study of a double-double radio galaxy J1706+4340

abstract:
  We report the outcome of multifrequency radio observations of a double-double
radio source J1706+4340 carried out with the Very Large Array and Giant
Metrewave Radio Telescope. After supplementing our own data with those
available in the literature, we collected a considerable set of radio
measurements covering the range from 74 to 8460 MHz. This has enabled us to
perform a comprehensive review of physical properties of the source and its
dynamical evolution analysis. In particular, we found that, while the age of
the large-scale outer lobes is in the range 260-300 Myr, the renewal of the jet
activity, which is directly responsible for the double-double structure, took
place only about 12 Myr ago after about 27-Myr long period of quiescence.
Another important property of J1706+4340 we found is that the injection
spectral indices and the jet powers for the inner and the outer doubles are
very similar. This implies that it is the spin of the supermassive black hole
rather than e.g. an instability of the accretion disc that is likely
responsible for the jet production and its properties.


title:
Location and Weyl formula for the eigenvalues of some non self-adjoint
  operators

abstract:
  We present a survey of some recent results concerning the location and the
Weyl formula for the complex eigenvalues of two non self-adjoint operators. We
study the eigenvalues of the generator $G$ of the contraction semigroup
$e^{tG}, \: t \geq 0,$ related to the wave equation in an unbounded domain
$\Omega$ with dissipative boundary conditions on $\partial \Omega$. Also one
examines the interior transmission eigenvalues (ITE) in a bounded domain $K$
obtaining a Weyl formula with remainder for the counting function $N(r)$ of
complex (ITE). The analysis is based on a semi-classical approach.


title: Higher nonlocal problems with bounded potential

abstract:
  The aim of this paper is to study a class of nonlocal fractional Laplacian
equations depending on two real parameters. More precisely, by using an
appropriate analytical context on fractional Sobolev spaces due to Servadei and
Valdinoci, we establish the existence of three weak solutions for nonlocal
fractional problems exploiting an abstract critical point result for smooth
functionals. We emphasize that the dependence of the underlying equation from
one of the real parameter is not necessarily of affine type.


title: Activity Networks with Delays An application to toxicity analysis

abstract:
  ANDy , Activity Networks with Delays, is a discrete time framework aimed at
the qualitative modelling of time-dependent activities. The modular and concise
syntax makes ANDy suitable for an easy and natural modelling of time-dependent
biological systems (i.e., regulatory pathways). Activities involve entities
playing the role of activators, inhibitors or products of biochemical network
operation. Activities may have given duration, i.e., the time required to
obtain results. An entity may represent an object (e.g., an agent, a
biochemical species or a family of thereof) with a local attribute, a state
denoting its level (e.g., concentration, strength). Entities levels may change
as a result of an activity or may decay gradually as time passes by. The
semantics of ANDy is formally given via high-level Petri nets ensuring this way
some modularity. As main results we show that ANDy systems have finite state
representations even for potentially infinite processes and it well adapts to
the modelling of toxic behaviours. As an illustration, we present a
classification of toxicity properties and give some hints on how they can be
verified with existing tools on ANDy systems. A small case study on blood
glucose regulation is provided to exemplify the ANDy framework and the toxicity
properties.


title: Hard Negative Mining for Metric Learning Based Zero-Shot Classification

abstract:
  Zero-Shot learning has been shown to be an efficient strategy for domain
adaptation. In this context, this paper builds on the recent work of Bucher et
al. [1], which proposed an approach to solve Zero-Shot classification problems
(ZSC) by introducing a novel metric learning based objective function. This
objective function allows to learn an optimal embedding of the attributes
jointly with a measure of similarity between images and attributes. This paper
extends their approach by proposing several schemes to control the generation
of the negative pairs, resulting in a significant improvement of the
performance and giving above state-of-the-art results on three challenging ZSC
datasets.


title: Vacuum alignment with(out) elementary scalars

abstract:
  We systematically elucidate differences and similarities of the vacuum
alignment issue in composite and renormalizable elementary extensions of the
Standard Model featuring a pseudo-Goldstone Higgs. We also provide general
conditions for the stability of the vacuum in the elementary framework, thereby
extending previous studies of the vacuum alignment.


title:
Using an epidemiological approach to maximize data survival in the
  internet of things

abstract:
  The internet of things (IoT) has gained worldwide attention in recent years.
It transforms the everyday objects that surround us into proactive actors of
the Internet, generating and consuming information. An important issue related
to the appearance of such large-scale self-coordinating IoT is the reliability
and the collaboration between the objects in the presence of environmental
hazards. High failure rates lead to significant loss of data. Therefore, data
survivability is a main challenge of the IoT. In this paper, we have developed
a compartmental e-Epidemic SIR (Susceptible-Infectious-Recovered) model to save
the data in the network and let it survive after attacks. Furthermore, our
model takes into account the dynamic topology of the network where natural
death (crashing nodes) and birth are defined and analyzed. Theoretical methods
and simulations are employed to solve and simulate the system of equations
developed and to analyze the model.


title:
Who Leads the Clothing Fashion: Style, Color, or Texture? A
  Computational Study

abstract:
  It is well known that clothing fashion is a distinctive and often habitual
trend in the style in which a person dresses. Clothing fashions are usually
expressed with visual stimuli such as style, color, and texture. However, it is
not clear which visual stimulus places higher/lower influence on the updating
of clothing fashion. In this study, computer vision and machine learning
techniques are employed to analyze the influence of different visual stimuli on
clothing-fashion updates. Specifically, a classification-based model is
proposed to quantify the influence of different visual stimuli, in which each
visual stimulus's influence is quantified by its corresponding accuracy in
fashion classification. Experimental results demonstrate that, on
clothing-fashion updates, the style holds a higher influence than the color,
and the color holds a higher influence than the texture.


title:
NuSTAR and XMM-Newton observations of the ultraluminous X-ray source NGC
  5643 X-1

abstract:
  We present a high-quality hard X-ray spectrum of the ultraluminous X-ray
source (ULX) NGC 5643 X-1 measured with NuSTAR in May-June 2014. We have
obtained this spectrum by carefully separating the signals from the ULX and
from the active nucleus of its host galaxy NGC 5643 located 0.8 arcmin away.
Together with long XMM-Newton observations performed in July 2009 and August
2014, the NuSTAR data confidently reveal a high-energy cutoff in the spectrum
of NGC 5643 X-1 above ~10 keV, which is a characteristic signature of ULXs. The
NuSTAR and XMM-Newton data are consistent with the source having a constant
luminosity ~1.5E40 erg/s (0.2-12 keV) in all but the latest observation (August
2014) when it brightened to ~3E40 erg/s. This increase is associated with the
dominant, hard spectral component (presumably collimated emission from the
inner regions of a supercritical accretion disc), while an additional, soft
component (with a temperature ~0.3 keV if described by multicolor disk
emission), possibly associated with a massive wind outflowing from the disk, is
also evident in the spectrum but does not exhibit significant variability.


title: Non-semi-stable loci in Hecke stacks and Fargues' conjecture

abstract:
  We study a non-semi-stable locus in a Hecke stack, which appears in Fargues'
conjecture on a geometrization of the local Langlands correspondence. We find
that a generalization of a diamond of a non-basic Rapoport-Zink space at
infinite level covers the non-semi-stable locus, and show a twisted version of
the Harris-Viehmann conjecture for this generalized space under some
HN-reducibility condition. We show also that the cohomology of the
non-semi-stable locus with coefficient coming from a cuspidal Langlands
parameter vanishes. As an application, we show the Hecke eigensheaf property in
Fargues' conjecture for cuspidal Langlands parameters in the GL(2)-case.


title: Naturalness and lepton number/flavor violation in inverse seesaw models

abstract:
  We introduce three right-handed neutrinos and three sterile neutrinos, and
consider an inverse seesaw mechanism for neutrino mass generation. From
naturalness point of view, their Majorana masses should be small, while it
induces a large neutrino Yukawa coupling. Then, a neutrinoless double beta
decay rate can be enhanced, and a sizable Higgs mass correction is inevitable.
We find that the enhancement rate can be more than ten times compared with a
standard prediction from light neutrino contribution alone, and an analytic
form of heavy neutrino contributions to the Higgs mass correction. In addition,
we numerically analyze the model, and find almost all parameter space of the
model can be complementarily searched by future experiments of neutrinoless
double beta decay and $\mu \to e$ conversion.


title:
On the Binding Energy and the Charge Symmetry Breaking in A<=16
  Lambda-hypernuclei

abstract:
  In recent years, several experiments using magnetic spectrometers provided
high precision results in the field of Hypernuclear Physics. In particular, the
accurate determination of the Lambda-binding energy, B(Lambda), contributed to
stimulate considerably the discussion about the Charge Symmetry Breaking effect
in Lambda-hypernuclei isomultiplets. We have reorganized the results from the
FINUDA experiment and we have obtained a series of B(Lambda) values for
Lambda-hypernuclei with A <= 16 by taking into account data only from magnetic
spectrometers implementing an absolute calibration of the energy scale (FINUDA
at DAFNE and electroproduction experiments at JLab and at MaMi). We have then
critically revisited the results obtained at KEK by the SKS Collaboration in
order to make possible a direct comparison between data from experiments with
and without such an absolute energy scale. A synopsis of recent spectrometric
measurements of B(Lambda) is presented, including also emulsion experiment
results. Several interesting conclusions are drawn, among which the equality
within the errors of B(Lambda) for the A = 7, 12, 16 isomultiplets, based only
on recent spectrometric data. This observation is in nice agreement with a
recent theoretical prediction. Ideas for possible new measurements which should
improve the present experimental knowledge are finally put forward.


title:
Probing the symmetry of the potential of localized surface plasmon
  resonances with phase-shaped electron beams

abstract:
  Plasmonics, the science and technology of the interaction of light with
metallic objects, is fundamentally changing the way we can detect, generate and
manipulate light. Although the field is progressing swiftly, thanks to the
availability of nanoscale manufacturing and analysis methods, fundamental
properties such as the plasmonic excitations' symmetries cannot be accessed
directly, leading to a partial, sometimes incorrect, understanding of their
properties. Here we overcome this limitation by deliberately shaping the wave
function of an electron beam to match a plasmonic excitations' symmetry in a
modified transmission electron microscope. We show experimentally and
theoretically that this offers selective detection of specific plasmon modes
within metallic nanoparticles, while excluding modes with other symmetries.
This method resembles the widespread use of polarized light for the selective
excitation of plasmon modes with the advantage of locally probing the response
of individual plasmonic objects and a far wider range of symmetry selection
criteria.

categories: physics.optics cond-mat.mes-hall cond-mat.mtrl-sci quant-ph


title: A global exponential observer for velocity-aided attitude estimation

abstract:
  We propose a simple nonlinear observer for estimating the attitude and
velocity of a rigid body from the measurements of specific acceleration,
angular velocity, magnetic field (in body axes), and linear velocity (in body
axes). It is uniformly globally exponentially convergent, and also enjoys other
nice properties: global decoupling of pitch and roll estimation from magnetic
measurements, good local behavior, and easy tuning. The observer is
"geometry-free", in the sense that it respects only asymptotically the
rotational geometry. The good behavior of the observer, even when the
measurements are noisy and biased is illustrated in simulation.


title:
Charged grain boundaries reduce the open circuit voltage of
  polycrystalline solar cells--An analytical description

abstract:
  Analytic expressions are presented for the dark current-voltage relation
$J(V)$ of a $pn^+$ junction with positively charged columnar grain boundaries
with high defect density. These expressions apply to non-depleted grains with
sufficiently high bulk hole mobilities. The accuracy of the formulas is
verified by direct comparison to numerical simulations. Numerical simulations
further show that the dark $J(V)$ can be used to determine the open circuit
potential $V_{\rm oc}$ of an illuminated junction for a given short-circuit
current density $J_{\rm sc}$ . A precise relation between the grain boundary
properties and $V_{\rm oc}$ is provided, advancing the understanding of the
influence of grain boundaries on the efficiency of thin film polycrystalline
photovoltaics like CdTe and $\mathrm{Cu(In,Ga)Se_2}$.


title: Tensor Minkowski Functionals: first application to the CMB

abstract:
  Tensor Minkowski Functionals (TMFs) are tensorial generalizations of the
usual Minkowski Functionals which are scalar quantities. We introduce them here
for use in cosmological analysis, in particular to analyze CMB maps. They
encapsulate information about the shapes and the orientation of structures. We
focus on one of the TMFs, namely $W_2^{1,1}$, which is the generalization of
the genus. The ratio of the eigenvalues of the average of $W_2^{1,1}$ over all
structures, $\alpha$, encodes the net orientation; and the average of the
ratios of the eigenvalues of $W_2^{1,1}$ for each structure, $\beta$, encodes
the net anisotropy. We have developed a code that computes $W_2^{1,1}$, and
from it $\alpha$ and $\beta$, for a set of structures on the plane. We compute
$\alpha$ and $\beta$ as functions of threshold levels for simulated Gaussian
and isotropic CMB fields. We obtain $\alpha$ to be one for both temperature and
$E$ mode, which means that we recover the input statistical isotropy of density
fluctuations in the simulations. The level of net anisotropy of hotspots and
coldspots in the CMB fields is quantified by $\beta\sim 0.62$. Then we compute
$\alpha$ and $\beta$ for data from PLANCK. We find that the temperature field
agrees with the standard LCDM prediction of no net orientation within
$3-\sigma$. However, we find that $E$ mode data shows a net orientation that
deviates from the theoretical expectation at $14-\sigma$. The possible origin
of this deviation may be instrumental effects or other sources and needs to be
investigated further. For the net anisotropy we obtain values of $\beta$ for
both temperature and $E$ mode that are consistent with the expectations from
the standard LCDM simulations. Accurate measurements of $\alpha$ and $\beta$
can be used to test the standard model of cosmology and to search for
deviations from it.


title: Optical Manipulation of Single Flux Quanta

abstract:
  Magnetic field can penetrate into type-II superconductors in the form of
Abrikosov vortices, which are magnetic flux tubes surrounded by circulating
supercurrents often trapped at defects referred to as pinning sites. Although
the average properties of the vortex matter can be tuned with magnetic fields,
temperature or electric currents, handling of individual vortices remains
challenging and has been demonstrated only with sophisticated magnetic force,
superconducting quantum interference device or strain-induced scanning local
probe microscopies. Here, we introduce a far-field optical method based on
local heating of the superconductor with a focused laser beam to realize a
fast, precise and non-invasive manipulation of individual Abrikosov vortices,
in the same way as with optical tweezers. This simple approach provides the
perfect basis for sculpting the magnetic flux profile in superconducting
devices like a vortex lens or a vortex cleaner, without resorting to static
pinning or ratchet effects. Since a single vortex can induce a Josephson phase
shift, our method also paves the way to fast optical drive of Josephson
junctions, with potential massive parallelization of operations.


title: Fine Hand Segmentation using Convolutional Neural Networks

abstract:
  We propose a method for extracting very accurate masks of hands in egocentric
views. Our method is based on a novel Deep Learning architecture: In contrast
with current Deep Learning methods, we do not use upscaling layers applied to a
low-dimensional representation of the input image. Instead, we extract features
with convolutional layers and map them directly to a segmentation mask with a
fully connected layer. We show that this approach, when applied in a
multi-scale fashion, is both accurate and efficient enough for real-time. We
demonstrate it on a new dataset made of images captured in various
environments, from the outdoors to offices.


title: Positive operators of Extended Lorentz cones

abstract:
  In this paper necessary conditions and sufficient conditions are given for a
linear operator to be a positive operators of an Extended Lorentz cone.
Similarities and differences with the positive operators of Lorentz cones are
investigated.


title:
Creation of a group on particle accelerator science and technology in
  Mexico

abstract:
  The story-line of the activities that have produced the first group of
scientists in Mexico working on particle accelerator science and technology is
briefly presented.


title: Supersymmetrization: AKSZ and beyond?

abstract:
  In this paper we describe multigraded generalizations of some constructions
useful for mathematical understanding of gauge theories: we perform a
near-at-hand generalization of the Aleksandrov--Kontsevich--Schwarz--Zaboronsky
procedure, we also extend the formalism of $Q$-bundles introduced first by A.
Kotov and T. Strobl. We compare these approaches studying some supersymmetric
sigma models important in theoretical physics.


title: Testing Gravity on Accelerators

abstract:
  Weak equivalence principle (WEP) is one of the cornerstones of the modern
theories of gravity, stating that the trajectory of a freely falling test body
is independent of its internal structure and composition. Even though WEP is
known to be valid for the normal matter with a high precision, it has never
been experimentally confirmed for relativistic matter and antimatter. We make
an attempt to constrain possible deviations from WEP utilizing the modern
accelerator technologies. We analyze the (absence of) vacuum Cherenkov
radiation, photon decay, anomalous synchrotron losses and the Compton spectra
to put limits on the isotropic Lorentz violation and further convert them to
the constraints on the difference between the gravitational and inertial masses
of the relativistic electrons/positrons. Our main result is the 0.1% limit on
the mentioned difference.


title: Multiphasic interactions between nucleotides and target proteins

abstract:
  The nucleotides guanosine tetraphosphate (ppGpp) and guanosine pentaphosphate
(pppGpp) bind to target proteins to promote bacterial survival (Corrigan et al.
2016). Thus, the binding of the nucleotides to RsgA, a GTPase, inhibits the
hydrolysis of GTP. The dose response, taken to be curvilinear with respect to
the logarithm of the inhibitor concentration, is instead much better (P<0.001
when the 6 experiments are combined) represented as multiphasic, with high to
exceedingly high absolute r values for the straight lines, and with transitions
in the form of non-contiguities (jumps). Profiles for the binding of
radiolabeled nucleotides to HprT and Gmk, GTP synthesis enzymes, were,
similarly, taken to be curvilinear with respect to the logarithm of the protein
concentration. However, the profiles are again much better represented as
multiphasic than as curvilinear (the P values range from 0.047 to <0.001 for
each of the 8 experiments for binding of ppGpp and pppGpp to HprT). The binding
of GTP to HprT and the binding of the three nucleotides to Gmk are also poorly
represented by curvilinear profiles, but well represented by multiphasic
profiles (straight and, in part, parallel lines).


title:
Creating fractional quantum Hall states with atomic clusters using
  light-assisted insertion of angular momentum

abstract:
  We describe a protocol to prepare clusters of ultracold bosonic atoms in
strongly-interacting states reminiscent of fractional quantum Hall states. Our
scheme consists in injecting a controlled amount of angular momentum to an
atomic gas using Raman transitions carrying orbital angular momentum. By
injecting one unit of angular momentum per atom, one realizes a single-vortex
state, which is well described by mean field theory for large enough particle
numbers. We also present schemes to realize fractional quantum Hall states,
namely the bosonic Laughlin and Moore-Read states. We investigate the
requirements for adiabatic nucleation of a such topological states, in
particular comparing linear Landau-Zener ramps and arbitrary ramps obtained
from optimized control methods. We also show that this protocol requires
excellent control over the isotropic character of the trapping potential.


title:
A Four-Round LOCC Protocol Outperforms All Two-Round Protocols in
  Reducing the Entanglement Cost for A Distributed Quantum Information
  Processing

abstract:
  We prove that there is a trade-off relation between the entanglement cost and
the number of rounds of communication, for two distant parties to accomplish a
bidirectional quantum information task by local operations and classical
communication (LOCC). We consider an implementation of a class of two-qubit
controlled-unitary gate by LOCC assisted by shared entanglement, in an
information theoretical scenario of asymptotically many input pairs and
vanishingly small error. We prove the trade-off relation by showing that one
ebit of entanglement per pair is necessary to be consumed for implementing the
unitary by any two-round protocol, whereas the entanglement cost by a
four-round protocol is strictly smaller than one ebit per pair.


title:
RKKY oscillations in the spin relaxation rates of atomic scale
  nanomagnets

abstract:
  Exchange interactions with itinerant electrons are known to act as a
relaxation mechanism for individual local spins. The same exchange interactions
are also known to induce the so called RKKY indirect exchange interaction
between two otherwise decoupled local spins. Here we show that both the spin
relaxation and the RKKY coupling can be seen as the dissipative and reactive
response to the coupling of the local spins with the itinerant electrons. We
thereby predict that the spin relaxation rates of magnetic nanostructures of
exchanged coupled local spins, such as as nanoengineered spin chains, have an
oscillatory dependence on $k_F d$ , where $k_F$ is the Fermi wave length and
$d$ is the inter-spin distance, very much like the celebrated oscillations in
the RKKY interaction. We demonstrate that both $T_1$ and $T_2$ can be enhanced
or suppressed, compared to the single spin limit, depending on the interplay
between the Fermi surface and the nanostructure geometrical arrangement. Our
results open a route to engineer spin relaxation and decoherence in atomically
designed spin structures.


title:
The Hamburg/ESO R-process Enhanced Star survey (HERES) XI. The highly
  $r$-process-enhanced star CS 29497-004

abstract:
  We report an abundance analysis for the highly r-process-enhanced (r-II) star
CS 29497-004, a very metal-poor giant with Teff = 5013K and [Fe/H]=-2.85, whose
nature was initially discovered in the course of the HERES project. Our
analysis is based on high signal-to-noise, high-resolution (R~75000) VLT/UVES
spectra and MARCS model atmospheres under the assumption of local thermodynamic
equilibrium, and obtains abundance measurements for a total of 46 elements, 31
of which are neutron-capture elements. As is the case for the other 25 r-II
stars currently known, the heavy-element abundance pattern of CS 29497-004
well-matches a scaled Solar System second peak r-process-element abundance
pattern. We confirm our previous detection of Th, and demonstrate that this
star does not exhibit an "actinide boost". Uranium is also detected (log e(U)
=-2.20+/-0.30), albeit with a large measurement error that hampers its use as a
precision cosmo-chronometer. Combining the various elemental chronometer pairs
that are available for this star, we derive a mean age of 12.2+/-3.7 Gyr using
the theoretical production ratios from waiting-point approximation models
(Kratz et al. 2007). We further explore the high-entropy wind model (Farouqi et
al. 2010) production ratios arising from different neutron richness of the
ejecta (Y_e), and derive an age of 13.7+/-4.4 Gyr for a best-fitting Y_e=0.447.
The U/Th nuclei-chronometer is confirmed to be the most resilient to
theoretical production ratios and yields an age of 16.5+:-6.6 Gyr. Lead (Pb) is
also tentatively detected in CS 29497-004, at a level compatible with a scaled
Solar r-process, or with the theoretical expectations for a pure r-process in
this star.


title:
Bernoulli's type Law of Euler Equations on Sobolev Space in
  $\mathbb{R}^{3}$

abstract:
  In this paper, we discuss Bernoulli's principle to the 3-dimensional
incompressible Euler equation in a bounded local Lipschitz domain
$\Omega\subset\mathbb{R}^{3}$ with a Lipschitz boundary. Using topological
properties of the level set and Morse-Sard theorem, we will prove Bernoulli's
principle on Sobolev space.


title: Motion-Compensated Handheld Quantum Key Distribution System

abstract:
  Mobile devices have become an inseparable part of our everyday life. They are
used to transmit an ever-increasing amount of sensitive health, financial and
personal information. This exposes us to the growing scale and sophistication
of cyber-attacks. Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) can provide unconditional and
future-proof data security but implementing it for handheld mobile devices
comes with specific challenges. To establish security, secret keys of
sufficient length need to be transmitted during the time of a handheld
transaction (~1s) despite device misalignment, ambient light and user's
inevitable hand movements. Transmitters and receivers should ideally be compact
and low-cost, while avoiding security loopholes. Here we demonstrate the first
QKD transmission from a handheld transmitter with a key-rate large enough to
overcome finite key effects. Using dynamic beam-steering,
reference-frame-independent encoding and fast indistinguishable pulse
generation, we obtain a secret key rate above 30kb/s over a distance of 0.5m
under ambient light conditions.


title:
On the thermodynamic origin of the initial radiation energy density in
  warm inflation

abstract:
  In warm inflation scenarios, radiation always exists, so that the radiation
energy density is also assumed to be finite when inflation starts. To find out
the origin of the non-vanishing initial radiation energy density, we revisit
thermodynamic analysis for a warm inflation model and then derive an effective
Stefan-Boltzmann law which is commensurate with the temperature-dependent
effective potential by taking into account the non-vanishing trace of the total
energy-momentum tensors. The effective Stefan-Boltzmann law shows that the zero
energy density for radiation at the Grand Unification epoch increases until the
inflation starts and it becomes eventually finite at the initial stage of warm
inflation. By using the above effective Stefan-Boltzmann law, we also study the
cosmological scalar perturbation, and obtain the sufficient radiation energy
density in order for GUT baryogenesis at the end of inflation.


title:
f-Statistical Convergence of order $\beta $ for Sequences of Fuzzy
  Numbers

abstract:
  In this paper, we extend the notions of statistically convergence of order
$\beta $ and strong Ces\`{a}ro summability of order $\beta ,$ and introduce the
notions $f-$statistically convergence of order $\beta $ and strong Ces\`{a}ro
summability of order $\beta $ for $\beta \in \left( 0,1\right] $ with respect
to an unbounded modulus function $f$ for sequences of fuzzy numbers and give
some inclusion theorems.


title:
On Mathematical structures on pairwise comparisons matrices with
  coefficients in a group arising from quantum gravity

abstract:
  We describe the mathematical properties of pairwise comparisons matrices with
coefficients in an arbitrary group. We provide a vocabulary adapted for the
description of main algebraic properties of inconsistency maps, describe an
example where the use of a non abelian group is necessary. Algebraic,
topological, geometric and probabilistic aspects are considered.


title:
Reply to Comment on "Enhanced diffusion of enzymes that catalyze
  exothermic reactions"

abstract:
  Catalytically active enzymes have recently been observed to exhibit enhanced
diffusion. In a recent work [C. Riedel et al., Nature 517, 227 (2015)], it has
been suggested that this phenomenon is correlated with the degree of
exothermicity of the reaction, and a mechanism was proposed to explain the
phenomenon based on channeling the released heat into the center of mass
kinetic energy of the enzyme. I addressed this question by comparing four
different mechanisms, and concluded that collective heating is the strongest
candidate out of those four to explain the phenomenon, and in particular,
several orders of magnitude stronger than the mechanism proposed by Riedel et
al. In a recent preprint (arXiv:1608.05433), K. Tsekouras, C. Riedel, R.
Gabizon, S. Marqusee, S. Presse, and C. Bustamante present a comment on my
paper [R. Golestanian, Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 108102 (2015); arXiv:1508.03219],
which I address here in this reply.


title: A Fast Ellipse Detector Using Projective Invariant Pruning

abstract:
  Detecting elliptical objects from an image is a central task in robot
navigation and industrial diagnosis where the detection time is always a
critical issue. Existing methods are hardly applicable to these real-time
scenarios of limited hardware resource due to the huge number of fragment
candidates (edges or arcs) for fitting ellipse equations. In this paper, we
present a fast algorithm detecting ellipses with high accuracy. The algorithm
leverage a newly developed projective invariant to significantly prune the
undesired candidates and to pick out elliptical ones. The invariant is able to
reflect the intrinsic geometry of a planar curve, giving the value of -1 on any
three collinear points and +1 for any six points on an ellipse. Thus, we apply
the pruning and picking by simply comparing these binary values. Moreover, the
calculation of the invariant only involves the determinant of a 3*3 matrix.
Extensive experiments on three challenging data sets with 650 images
demonstrate that our detector runs 20%-50% faster than the state-of-the-art
algorithms with the comparable or higher precision.


title: Properties of Quasi-Oscillator in Position-Dependent Mass Formalism

abstract:
  After introducing Schr\"odinger equation within position- dependent mass
formalism, a quasi-oscillator has been considered. Eigen functions and energy
spectra have been obtained analytical. Then thermodynamic properties,
information entropy and uncertainty in coordinate and momentum corresponding
the considered system have calculated as well as some depicted.


title: Jacobi complexes on the Ran space

abstract:
  We study local theory of moduli schemes using the framework of the Ran space.
With the help of the study of sheaves and complexes over the Ran space by
Beilinson and Drinfeld in their theory of chiral algebras, we revisit Ran's
works on the Jacobi complexes (the Chevalley complexes for sheaves of Lie
algebras on the Ran space), the universal deformation rings of moduli problems,
the higher Kodaira-Spencer maps, and construction of Hitchin-type flat
connections. We give rigorous treatments in the algebraic setting, which seems
to be new.


title: From physical symmetries to emergent gauge symmetries

abstract:
  Gauge symmetries indicate redundancies in the description of the relevant
degrees of freedom of a given field theory and restrict the nature of
observable quantities. One of the problems faced by emergent theories of
relativistic fields is to understand how gauge symmetries can show up in
systems that contain no trace of these symmetries at a more fundamental level.
In this paper we start a systematic study aimed to establish a satisfactory
mathematical and physical picture of this issue, dealing first with abelian
field theories. We discuss how the trivialization, due to the decoupling and
lack of excitation of some degrees of freedom, of the Noether currents
associated with physical symmetries leads to emergent gauge symmetries in
specific situations. An example of a relativistic field theory of a vector
field is worked out in detail in order to make explicit how this mechanism
works and to clarify the physics behind it. The interplay of these ideas with
well-known results of importance to the emergent gravity program, such as the
Weinberg-Witten theorem, are discussed.


title:
A Picard family of curves and hypergeometric functions over finite
  fields I

abstract:
  We give an expression for the trace of Frobenius for the family of curves \[
y^3 = x (x-1)(x-\lambda)(x-\mu) \] over finite fields in terms of finite field
hypergeometric functions.


title: Photoproduction ofeta-pi pairs off nucleons and deuterons

abstract:
  Quasi-free photoproduction of $\pi\eta$-pairs has been investigated from
threshold up to incident photon energies of 1.4 GeV, respectively up to
photon-nucleon invariant masses up to 1.9 GeV. Total cross sections, angular
distributions, invariant-mass distributions of the $\pi\eta$ and meson-nucleon
pairs, and beam-helicity asymmetries have been measured for the reactions
$\gamma p\rightarrow p\pi^0\eta$, $\gamma n\rightarrow n\pi^0\eta$, $\gamma
p\rightarrow n\pi^+\eta$, and $\gamma n\rightarrow p\pi^-\eta$ from nucleons
bound inside the deuteron. For the $\gamma p$ initial state data for free
protons have also been analyzed. Finally, the total cross sections for
quasi-free production of $\pi^0\eta$ pairs from nucleons bound in $^3$He nuclei
have been investigated in view of final state interaction (FSI) effects. The
experiments were performed at the tagged photon beam facility of the Mainz MAMI
accelerator using an almost $4\pi$ covering electromagnetic calorimeter
composed of the Crystal Ball and TAPS detectors. The shapes of all differential
cross section data and the asymmetries are very similar for protons and
neutrons and agree with the conjecture that the reactions are dominated by the
sequential $\Delta^{\star}3/2^-\rightarrow\eta\Delta(1232)\rightarrow\pi\eta N$
decay chain, mainly with $\Delta(1700)3/2^-$ and $\Delta(1940)3/2^-$. The
ratios of the magnitude of the total cross sections also agree with this
assumption. However, the absolute magnitudes of the cross sections are reduced
by FSI effects with respect to free proton data.


title:
Affine focal sets of codimension $2$ submanifolds contained in hyper
  surfaces

abstract:
  In this paper we study the affine focal set, which is the bifurcation set of
the affine distance to submanifolds $N^n$ contained in hypersurfaces $M^{n+1}$
of the $(n+2)$-space. We give condition under which this affine focal set is a
regular hypersurface and, for curves in $3$-space, we describe its stable
singularities. For a given Darboux vector field $\xi$ of the immersion
$N\subset M$, one can define the affine metric $g$ and the affine normal plane
bundle $\mathcal{A}$. We prove that the $g$-Laplacian of the position vector
belongs to $\mathcal{A}$ if and only if $\xi$ is parallel.
  For umbilic and normally flat immersions, the affine focal set reduces to a
single line. Submanifolds contained in hyperplanes or hyperquadrics are always
normally flat. For $N$ contained in a hyperplane $L$, we show that $N\subset M$
is umbilic if and only if $N\subset L$ is an affine sphere and the envelope of
tangent spaces is a cone. For $M$ hyperquadric, we prove that $N\subset M$ is
umbilic if and only if $N$ is contained in a hyperplane. The main result of the
paper is a general description of the umbilic and normally flat immersions:
Given a hypersurface $f$ and a point $O$ in the $(n+1)$-space, the immersion
$(\nu,\nu\cdot(f-O))$, where $\nu$ is the co-normal of $f$, is umbilic and
normally flat, and conversely, any umbilic and normally flat immersion is of
this type.


title:
An explicit basis for the rational higher Chow groups of abelian number
  fields

abstract:
  We review and simplify A. Beilinson's construction of a basis for the motivic
cohomology of a point over a cyclotomic field, then promote the basis elements
to higher Chow cycles and evaluate the KLM regulator map on them.


title: Studying the $\rho$ resonance parameters with staggered fermions

abstract:
  We deliver a lattice study of $\rho$ resonance parameters with p-wave
$\pi\pi$ scattering phases, which are extracted by finite-size methods at one
center-of-mass frame and four moving frames for six MILC lattice ensembles with
pion masses ranging from $346$ to $ 176$ MeV. The effective range formula is
applied to describe the scattering phases as a function of the energy covering
the resonance region, this allows us to extract $\rho$ resonance parameters and
to investigate the quark-mass dependence. Lattice studies with three flavors of
the Asqtad-improved staggered fermions enable us to use the moving-wall source
technique on large lattice spatial dimensions ($L=64$) and small light $u/d$
quarks. Numerical computations are carried out at two lattice spacings, $a
\approx 0.12$ and $0.09$ fm.


title: Evidence of light guiding in ion-implanted diamond

abstract:
  We demonstrate the feasibility of fabricating light-waveguiding
microstructures in bulk single-crystal diamond by means of direct ion
implantation with a scanning microbeam, resulting in the modulation of the
refractive index of the ion-beam damaged crystal. Direct evidence of
waveguiding through such buried microchannels is obtained with a phase-shift
micro-interferometric method allowing the study of the multi-modal structure of
the propagating electromagnetic field. The possibility of defining optical and
photonic structures by direct ion writing opens a range of new possibilities in
the design of quantum-optical devices in bulk single crystal diamond.


title: Optical Management Techniques for Organic Solar Cells

abstract:
  In this thesis, two different optical management techniques for organics
based solar cells are explored. The first part is focused on the development of
a textured rear reflector for OPVs. The use of textured reflector (TR)
facilitates an increase in the optical path length along with light trapping
within the active layer. TR was fabricated through a relatively simpler
technique by depositing metal films over a microlens array (MLA). Zinc oxide
nanoparticles were used to minimize the shadowing effect. Using TR,
enhancements in short-circuit current density and power conversion efficiencies
up to 10-25% were demonstrated for a polymer based organic solar cell. The
second part is focused on improving the effectiveness of MLA incorporation in
OPVs. The increase in path length achieved using MLA can be improved by
increasing the refractive index of MLA and incorporating MLA directly on the
transparent electrode instead of glass substrate. This approach could avoid the
optical losses occurring at the interface between MLA and glass substrate and
increase the net path length of light within the active layer. Initial
experimental results are discussed to understand the potential of this
approach. Approximately, ~15% enhancement in short-circuit current density was
achieved by using MLA directly on the transparent electrode in ITO-free
devices.


title:
Uncovering Influence Cookbooks : Reverse Engineering the Topological
  Impact in Peer Ranking Services

abstract:
  Ensuring the early detection of important social network users is a
challenging task. Some peer ranking services are now well established, such as
PeerIndex, Klout, or Kred. Their function is to rank users according to their
influence. This notion of influence is however abstract, and the algorithms
achieving this ranking are opaque. Following the rising demand for a more
transparent web, we explore the problem of gaining knowledge by reverse
engineering such peer ranking services, with regards to the social network
topology they get as an input. Since these services exploit the online activity
of users (and therefore their connectivity in social networks), we provide a
precise evaluation of how topological metrics of the social network impact the
final user ranking. Our approach is the following : we first model the ranking
service as a black-box with which we interact by creating user profiles and by
performing operations on them. Through those profiles, we trigger some slight
topological modifications. By monitoring the impact of these modifications on
the rankings of those profiles, we infer the weight of each topological metric
in the black-box, thus reversing the service influence cookbook.


title:
Test for Temporal Homogeneity of Means in High-dimensional Longitudinal
  Data

abstract:
  This paper considers the problem of testing temporal homogeneity of
$p$-dimensional population mean vectors from the repeated measurements of $n$
subjects over $T$ times. To cope with the challenges brought by
high-dimensional longitudinal data, we propose a test statistic that takes into
account not only the "large $p$, large $T$ and small $n$" situation, but also
the complex temporospatial dependence. The asymptotic distribution of the
proposed test statistic is established under mild conditions. When the null
hypothesis of temporal homogeneity is rejected, we further propose a binary
segmentation method shown to be consistent for multiple change-point
identification. Simulation studies and an application to fMRI data are provided
to demonstrate the performance of the proposed methods.


title: Bregman Cost for Non-Gaussian Noise

abstract:
  One of the tasks of the Bayesian inverse problem is to find a good estimate
based on the posterior probability density. The most common point estimators
are the conditional mean (CM) and maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimates, which
correspond to the mean and the mode of the posterior, respectively. From a
theoretical point of view it has been argued that the MAP estimate is only in
an asymptotic sense a Bayes estimator for the uniform cost function, while the
CM estimate is a Bayes estimator for the means squared cost function. Recently,
it has been proven that the MAP estimate is a proper Bayes estimator for the
Bregman cost if the image is corrupted by Gaussian noise. In this work we
extend this result to other noise models with log-concave likelihood density,
by introducing two related Bregman cost functions for which the CM and the MAP
estimates are proper Bayes estimators. Moreover, we also prove that the CM
estimate outperforms the MAP estimate, when the error is measured in a certain
Bregman distance, a result previously unknown also in the case of additive
Gaussian noise.


title: Hadronic weak charges and parity-violating forward Compton scattering

abstract:
  Parity-violating elastic electron-nucleon scattering at low momentum transfer
allows one to access the nucleon's weak charge, the vector coupling of the
$Z$-boson to the nucleon. In the Standard Model and at tree level, the weak
charge of the proton is related to the weak mixing angle and accidentally
suppressed, $Q_W^{p,\,{\rm tree}}=1-4\sin^2\theta_W\approx0.07$. Modern
experiments aim at extracting $Q_W^p$ at $\sim1\%$ accuracy. Similarly, parity
non-conservation in atoms allows to access the weak charge of atomic nuclei. We
consider a novel class of radiative corrections, an exchange of two photons
with parity violation in the hadronic/nuclear system. These corrections may
affect the extraction of $\sin^2\theta_W$ from the experimental data at the
relevant level of precision because they are affected by long-range
interactions similar to other parity-violating radiative corrections, such as,
e.g., the $\gamma Z$-exchange, which has obtained much attention recently. We
show that the significance of this new correction increases with the beam
energy in parity-violating electron scattering, but the general properties of
the parity-violating forward Compton amplitude protect the formal definition of
the weak charge as a limit at zero-momentum transfer and zero-energy. We also
discuss the relevance of the new correction for upcoming experiments.


title:
When to use 3D Die-Stacked Memory for Bandwidth-Constrained Big Data
  Workloads

abstract:
  Response time requirements for big data processing systems are shrinking. To
meet this strict response time requirement, many big data systems store all or
most of their data in main memory to reduce the access latency. Main memory
capacities have grown, and systems with 2 TB of main memory capacity available
today. However, the rate at which processors can access this data--the memory
bandwidth--has not grown at the same rate. In fact, some of these big-memory
systems can access less than 10% of their main memory capacity in one second
(billions of processor cycles).
  3D die-stacking is one promising solution to this bandwidth problem, and
industry is investing significantly in 3D die-stacking. We use a simple
back-of-the-envelope-style model to characterize if and when the 3D die-stacked
architecture is more cost-effective than current architectures for in-memory
big data workloads. We find that die-stacking has much higher performance than
current systems (up to 256x lower response times), and it does not require
expensive memory over provisioning to meet real-time (10 ms) response time
service-level agreements. However, the power requirements of the die-stacked
systems are significantly higher (up to 50x) than current systems, and its
memory capacity is lower in many cases. Even in this limited case study, we
find 3D die-stacking is not a panacea. Today, die-stacking is the most
cost-effective solution for strict SLAs and by reducing the power of the
compute chip and increasing memory densities die-stacking can be cost-effective
under other constraints in the future.


title:
A $2n^2-log(n)-1$ lower bound for the border rank of matrix
  multiplication

abstract:
  Let M_n denote the matrix multiplication tensor for nxn matrices. We use the
border substitution method combined with Koszul flattenings to prove the border
rank lower bound of 2n^2-log(n)-1 for M_n.


title: The Algebraic Cluster Model: Structure of 16O

abstract:
  We discuss an algebraic treatment of four-body clusters which includes both
continuous and discrete symmetries. In particular, tetrahedral configurations
with T(d) symmetry are analyzed with respect to the energy spectrum, transition
form factors and B(EL) values. It is concluded that the low-lying spectrum of
16O can be described by four alpha-particles at the vertices of a regular
tetrahedron, not as a rigid structure but rather a more floppy structure with
relatively large rotation-vibration interactions and Coriolis forces.


title:
Quadratic band touching points and flat bands in two-dimensional
  topological Floquet systems

abstract:
  In this work we theoretically study, using Floquet-Bloch theory, the
influence of circularly and linearly polarized light on two-dimensional band
structures with Dirac and quadratic band touching points, and flat bands,
taking the nearest neighbor hopping model on the kagome lattice as an example.
We find circularly polarized light can invert the ordering of this three band
model, while leaving the flat-band dispersionless. We find a small gap is also
opened at the quadratic band touching point by 2-photon and higher order
processes. By contrast, linearly polarized light splits the quadratic band
touching point (into two Dirac points) by an amount that depends only on the
amplitude and polarization direction of the light, independent of the
frequency, and generally renders dispersion to the flat band. The splitting is
perpendicular to the direction of the polarization of the light. We derive an
effective low-energy theory that captures these key results. Finally, we
compute the frequency dependence of the optical conductivity for this 3-band
model and analyze the various interband contributions of the Floquet modes. Our
results suggest strategies for optically controlling band structure and
interaction strength in real systems.


title: An invariant for minimum triangle-free graphs

abstract:
  We study the number of edges, $e(G)$, in triangle-free graphs with a
prescribed number of vertices, $n(G)$, independence number, $\alpha(G)$, and
number of cycles of length four, $\operatorname{N}(C_4;G)$. We in particular
show that $$3e(G) - 17n(G) + 35\alpha(G) + \operatorname{N}(C_4;G) \geq 0$$ for
all triangle-free graphs $G$. We also characterise the graphs that satisfy this
inequality with equality.


title: Betti numbers of configuration spaces of surfaces

abstract:
  We give explicit formulas for the Betti numbers, both stable and unstable, of
the unordered configuration spaces of an arbitrary surface of finite type.


title:
The formation of ethylene glycol and other complex organic molecules in
  star-forming regions

abstract:
  We study the molecular abundance and spatial distribution of the simplest
sugar alcohol, ethylene glycol (EG), the simplest sugar glycoladehyde (GA), and
other chemically related complex organic species towards the massive
star-forming region G31.41+0.31. We have analyzed multiple single dish and
interferometric data, and obtained excitation temperatures and column densities
using an LTE analysis. We have reported for the first time the presence of EG
towards G31.41+0.31, and we have also detected multiple transitions of other
complex organic molecules such as GA, methyl formate (MF), dimethyl ether (DME)
and ethanol (ET). The high angular resolution images show that the EG emission
is very compact, peaking towards the maximum of the continuum. These
observations suggest that low abundance complex organic molecules, like EG or
GA, are good probes of the gas located closer to the forming stars. Our
analysis confirms that EG is more abundant than GA in G31.41+0.31, as
previously observed in other interstellar regions. Comparing different
star-forming regions we find evidence of an increase of the EG/GA abundance
ratio with the luminosity of the source. The DME/MF and EG/ET ratios are nearly
constant with luminosity. We have also found that the abundance ratios of pairs
of isomers GA/MF and ET/DME decrease with the luminosity of the sources. The
most likely explanation for the behavior of the EG/GA ratio is that these
molecules are formed by different chemical formation routes not directly
linked; although warm-up timescales effects and different formation and
destruction efficiencies in the gas phase cannot be ruled out. The most likely
formation route of EG is by combination of two CH$_{2}$OH radicals on dust
grains. We also favor that GA is formed via the solid-phase dimerization of the
formyl radical HCO, and a chemical link between MF and DME.


title: Mechanism Design Approach for Energy Efficiency

abstract:
  In this work we deploy a mechanism design approach for allocating a divisible
commodity (electricity in our example) among consumers. We consider each
consumer with an associated personal valuation function of the energy resource
during a certain time interval. We aim to select the optimal consumption
profile for every user avoiding consumption peaks when the total required
energy could exceed the energy production. The mechanism will be able to drive
users in shifting energy consumptions in different hours of the day. We start
by presenting a very basic Vickrey-Clarke-Groves mechanism, we discuss its
weakness and propose several more complex variants.


title: Frobenius and Cartier algebras of Stanley-Reisner rings (II)

abstract:
  It is known that the Frobenius algebra of the injective hull of the residue
field of a complete Stanley--Reisner ring (i.e. a formal power series ring
modulo a squarefree monomial ideal) can be only principally generated or
infinitely generated as algebra over its degree zero piece, and that this fact
can be read off in the corresponding simplicial complex; in the infinite case,
we exhibit a 1--1 correspondence between potential new generators appearing on
each graded piece and certain pairs of faces of such a simplicial complex, and
we use it to provide an alternative proof of the fact that these Frobenius
algebras can only be either principally generated or infinitely generated.


title: Estimating the Number of Clusters via Normalized Cluster Instability

abstract:
  We improve current instability-based methods for the selection of the number
of clusters $k$ in cluster analysis by developing a normalized cluster
instability measure that corrects for the distribution of cluster sizes, a
previously unaccounted driver of cluster instability. We show that our
normalized instability measure outperforms current instability-based measures
across the whole sequence of possible $k$ and especially overcomes limitations
in the context of large $k$. We also compare, for the first time, model-based
and model-free approaches to determine cluster-instability and find their
performance to be comparable. We make our method available in the R-package
\verb+cstab+.


title:
Quantifications of strictly singular operators and strictly cosingular
  operators

abstract:
  We investigate possible quantifications of strictly singular operators,
$l_{p}$-strictly singular operators, $c_{0}$-strictly singular operators,
strictly cosingular operators, $l_{p}$-strictly cosingular operators. We prove
quantitative, even strengthening versions of well-known results about
relationships of these five classes of operators and compact, weakly compact,
unconditionally converging operators.


title:
Fluctuations, large deviations and rigidity in hyperuniform systems: a
  brief survey

abstract:
  We present a brief survey of fluctuations and large deviations of particle
systems with subextensive growth of the variance. These are called hyperuniform
(or superhomogeneous) systems. We then discuss the relation between
hyperuniformity and rigidity. In particular we give sufficient conditions for
rigidity of such systems in d=1,2.

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


title: The classical dynamic symmetry for the $\mathrm{Sp}(1)$-Kepler problems

abstract:
  A Poisson realization of the simple real Lie algebra $\mathfrak {so}^*(4n)$
on the phase space of each $\mathrm {Sp}(1)$-Kepler problem is exhibited. As a
consequence one obtains the Laplace-Runge-Lenz vector for each classical
$\mathrm{Sp}(1)$-Kepler problem. The verification of these Poisson realizations
is greatly simplified via an idea due to A. Weinstein. The totality of these
Poisson realizations is shown to be equivalent to the canonical Poisson
realization of $\mathfrak {so}^*(4n)$ on the Poisson manifold $T^*\mathbb
H_*^n/\mathrm{Sp}(1)$. (Here $\mathbb H_*^n:=\mathbb H^n\backslash \{0\}$ and
the Hamiltonian action of $\mathrm{Sp}(1)$ on $T^*\mathbb H_*^n$ is induced
from the natural right action of $\mathrm{Sp}(1)$ on $\mathbb H_*^n$. )


title:
On the dynamic representation of some time-inconsistent risk measures in
  a Brownian filtration

abstract:
  It is well-known from the work of Kupper and Schachermayer that most
law-invariant risk measures do not admit a time-consistent representation. In
this work we show that in a Brownian filtration the "Optimized Certainty
Equivalent" risk measures of Ben-Tal and Teboulle can be computed through PDE
techniques, i.e. dynamically. This can be seen as a substitute of sorts
whenever they lack time consistency, and covers the cases of conditional
value-at-risk and monotone mean-variance. Our method consists of focusing on
the convex dual representation, which suggests extending the state space. With
this we can obtain a dynamic programming principle and use stochastic control
techniques, along with the theory of viscosity solutions, which we must adapt
to cover the present singular situation.


title: Stem Cell Therapy for Alzheimer's Disease

abstract:
  The loss of neuronal cells in the central nervous system may happen in
numerous neurodegenerative illnesses. Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is an intricate,
irreversible, dynamic neurodegenerative sickness. It is the main source of
age-related dementia, influencing roughly 5.3 million individuals in the United
States alone. Promotion is a typical feeble ailment in individuals more than 65
years, bringing on disability described by decrease in memory, failure to learn
and do every day exercises, intellectual weakness and influences the personal
satisfaction of patients. Pathologic qualities of AD are an irregular
development of specific proteins called Beta-amyloid "plaques" and Tau
"Tangles" in the mind. Notwithstanding, current treatments against AD are just
to calm manifestations and palliative yet are not the cure and a few promising
medications competitors have fizzled in late clinical trials. There is
consequently a critical need to enhance our comprehension for pathogenesis of
this sickness, making new and creative prescient models with powerful
treatments. As of late, stem cell treatment has been appeared to have a
potential way to deal with different illnesses, including neurodegenerative
disorders. In light of the far reaching nature of AD pathology, stem cell
substitution procedures have been seen as an extraordinarily difficult and
impossible treatment approach. Stem Cell may likewise offer an effective new
way to deal with model and concentrate AD. Patient derived induced Pluripotent
Stem Cells (iPSCs), for instance, may propel our comprehension of disease
mechanism. In this review we will examine the capability of stem cells to help
in these testing tries.


title:
Search for Mono-Higgs Signals at the LHC in the B-L Supersymmetric
  Standard Model

abstract:
  We study mono-Higgs signatures emerging in the $B-L$ supersymmetric standard
model induced by new channels not present in the minimal supersymmetric
standard model, i.e., via topologies in which the mediator is either a heavy
$Z'$, with mass of ${\cal O}(2~{\rm TeV})$, or an intermediate $h'$ (the
lightest CP-even Higgs state of $B-L$ origin), with mass of ${\cal O}(0.2~{\rm
TeV})$. The mono-Higgs probe considered is the SM-like Higgs state recently
discovered at the large hadron collider, so as to enforce its mass
reconstruction for background reduction purposes. With this in mind, its two
cleanest signatures are selected: $\gamma\gamma$ and $ZZ^*\to 4l$ ($l=e,~\mu$).
We show how both of these can be accessed with foreseen energy and luminosity
options using a dedicated kinematic analysis performed in presence of partonic,
showering, hadronisation and detector effects.


title: Systematic study of actinide and pre-actinide fission modes

abstract:
  In this work, we present new experimental data on mass distribution of
fission fragments from $^{241}$Am proton-induced fission at $660$ MeV measured
at the LNR Phasotron (JINR). The systematic analysis of several measured
fragment mass distributions from different fission reactions available in the
literature is also presented. The proton-induced fission of $^{241}$Am,
$^{237}$Np and $^{238}$U at 26.5, 62.9 and 660 MeV was studied. The
proton-induced fission of $^{232}$Th was studied at 26.5, 62.9 and 190 MeV. The
fission of $^{208}$Pb also by a proton was investigated at 190, 500 and 1000
MeV. The fission of $^{197}$Au was studied for 190 and 800 MeV protons.
Bremsstrahlung reactions with maximum photon energies of 50 and 3500 MeV were
studied for $^{232}$Th and $^{238}$U. The framework of the Random Neck Rupture
Model was applied in the analysis. The roles of the neutron excess and of the
so called fissility parameter were also investigated.


title:
Entity Embedding-based Anomaly Detection for Heterogeneous Categorical
  Events

abstract:
  Anomaly detection plays an important role in modern data-driven security
applications, such as detecting suspicious access to a socket from a process.
In many cases, such events can be described as a collection of categorical
values that are considered as entities of different types, which we call
heterogeneous categorical events. Due to the lack of intrinsic distance
measures among entities, and the exponentially large event space, most existing
work relies heavily on heuristics to calculate abnormal scores for events.
Different from previous work, we propose a principled and unified probabilistic
model APE (Anomaly detection via Probabilistic pairwise interaction and Entity
embedding) that directly models the likelihood of events. In this model, we
embed entities into a common latent space using their observed co-occurrence in
different events. More specifically, we first model the compatibility of each
pair of entities according to their embeddings. Then we utilize the weighted
pairwise interactions of different entity types to define the event
probability. Using Noise-Contrastive Estimation with "context-dependent" noise
distribution, our model can be learned efficiently regardless of the large
event space. Experimental results on real enterprise surveillance data show
that our methods can accurately detect abnormal events compared to other
state-of-the-art abnormal detection techniques.