title: Search for Physics beyond Standard Model at the Precision Frontiers

abstract:
  The article outlines the recent developments in the theoretical and
computational approaches to the higher-order electroweak effects needed for the
accurate interpretation of MOLLER and Belle II experimental data, and shows how
new-physics particles enter at the one-loop level. By analyzing the effects of
$Z'$-boson on the polarization asymmetry, we show how this hypothetical
interaction carrier may influence the future experimental results.


title: Robot Dream

abstract:
  In this position paper we present a novel approach to neurobiologically
plausible implementation of emotional reactions and behaviors for real-time
autonomous robotic systems. The working metaphor we use is the "day" and
"night" phases of mammalian life. During the "day" phase a robotic system
stores the inbound information and is controlled by a light-weight rule-based
system in real time. In contrast to that, during the "night" phase the stored
information is been transferred to the supercomputing system to update the
realistic neural network: emotional and behavioral strategies.


title:
On the Validity of the Assumptions of the classical Coupon Collector's
  Problem

abstract:
  The solution of the classical Coupon Collector's Problem is based on the
assumptions that all stickers are independently and uniformly distributed. We
can prove statistically as well as analytically that in particular the
assumption of independence is not fulfilled in the field. To achieve this
result we have systematically modeled and analyzed the production process of
the stickers by combinatorial methods. We have also derived measures for the
deviation from independence. Thus the results for the classical Coupon
Collector's Problem are not valid for practical applications anymore, but we
can show that they constitute an a upper bound. This means in particular that
in practice the deviation is advantageous for the collectors, not a fraud of
the vendors.
  ------
  Im klassischen Sammelbilderproblem wird angenommen, dass die Sammelbilder
gleichverteilt und unabh\"angig sind, d. h. alle Bilder kommen gleich h\"aufig
vor und werden zuf\"allig auf die P\"ackchen verteilt. Wir k\"onnen sowohl
statistisch als auch analytisch nachweisen, dass insbesondere die Annahme der
Zuf\"alligkeit bzw. Unabh\"angigkeit in der Praxis nicht erf\"ullt ist. Dazu
haben wir den Herstellungsprozess der Sammelbilder systematisch mit
kombinatorischen Methoden untersucht. Wir k\"onnen auch Ma{\ss}e daf\"ur
angeben, wie gro{\ss} die Abweichung vom Zufall ist. Damit sind die Ergebnisse
des klassischen Sammelbildermodells in der Praxis nicht mehr g\"ultig, aber wir
k\"onnen zeigen, dass sie eine Absch\"atzung nach oben darstellen. Dies
bedeutet insbesondere, dass kein Betrug durch den Hersteller vorliegt, sondern
vielmehr eine Bevorteilung der Sammler.


title:
Stasis domains and slip surfaces in the locomotion of a bio-inspired
  two-segment crawler

abstract:
  We formulate and solve the locomotion problem for a bio-inspired crawler
consisting of two active elastic segments (i.e., capable of changing their rest
lengths), resting on three supports providing directional frictional
interactions. The problem consists in finding the motion produced by a given,
slow actuation history. By focusing on the tensions in the elastic segments, we
show that the evolution laws for the system are entirely analogous to the flow
rules of elasto-plasticity. In particular, sliding of the supports and hence
motion cannot occur when the tensions are in the interior of certain convex
regions (stasis domains), while support sliding (and hence motion) can only
take place when the tensions are on the boundary of such regions (slip
surfaces). We solve the locomotion problem explicitly in a few interesting
examples. In particular, we show that, for a suitable range of the friction
parameters, specific choices of the actuation strategy can lead to net
displacements also in the direction of higher friction.


title: Molecular vibrational trapping revisited: a case study with D2+

abstract:
  This article presents a detailed study of the photodissociation probability
of D_{2}^{+} for a wide range of photon energy. One dimensional numerical
calculations have been performed to provide the best possible physical
quantities that characterize the vibrational trapping or bond hardening effect
during the photodissociation dynamics. These results undoubtedly show that the
nodes of the nuclear vibrational wave packets play a decisive role in the
vibrational trapping, in addition to the current understating of this
phenomenon.


title:
Towards a Semantics-Aware Transformation Toolchain for Heterogeneous
  Systems

abstract:
  Obtaining good performance when programming heterogeneous computing platforms
poses significant challenges for the programmer. We present a program
transformation environment, implemented in Haskell, where architecture-agnostic
scientific C code with semantic annotations is transformed into functionally
equivalent code better suited for a given platform. The transformation steps
are formalized (and implemented) as rules which can be fired when certain
syntactic and semantic conditions are met. These conditions are to be fulfilled
by program properties which can be automatically inferred or, alternatively,
stated as annotations in the source code. Rule selection can be guided by
heuristics derived from a machine learning procedure which tries to capture how
run-time characteristics (e.g., resource consumption or performance) are
affected by the transformation steps.


title: Capital Valuation Adjustment and Funding Valuation Adjustment

abstract:
  In the aftermath of the 2007 global financial crisis, banks started
reflecting into derivative pricing the cost of capital and collateral funding
through XVA metrics. Here XVA is a catch-all acronym whereby X is replaced by a
letter such as C for credit, D for debt, F for funding, K for capital and so
on, and VA stands for valuation adjustment. This behaviour is at odds with
economies where markets for contingent claims are complete, whereby trades
clear at fair valuations and the costs for capital and collateral are both
irrelevant to investment decisions. In this paper, we set forth a mathematical
formalism for derivative portfolio management in incomplete markets for banks.
A particular emphasis is given to the problem of finding optimal strategies for
retained earnings which ensure a sustainable dividend policy.


title:
Coupled nonlinear stochastic differential equations generating arbitrary
  distributed observable with 1/f noise

abstract:
  Nonlinear stochastic differential equations provide one of the mathematical
models yielding 1/f noise. However, the drawback of a single equation as a
source of 1/f noise is the necessity of power-law steady-state probability
density of the signal. In this paper we generalize this model and propose a
system of two coupled nonlinear stochastic differential equations. The
equations are derived from the scaling properties necessary for the achievement
of 1/f noise. The first equation describes the changes of the signal, whereas
the second equation represents a fluctuating rate of change. The proposed
coupled stochastic differential equations allows us to obtain 1/f spectrum in a
wide range of frequencies together with the almost arbitrary steady-state
density of the signal.


title:
Plagiarism Detection - State-of-the-art systems (2016) and evaluation
  methods

abstract:
  Plagiarism detection systems comprise various approaches that aim to create a
fair environment for academic publications and appropriately acknowledge the
authors' works. While the need for a reliable and performant plagiarism
detection system increases with an increasing amount of publications, current
systems still have shortcomings. Particularly intelligent research plagiarism
detection still leaves room for improvement. An important factor for progress
in research is a suitable evaluation framework. In this paper, we give an
overview on the evaluation of plagiarism detection. We then use a taxonomy
provided in former research, to classify recent approaches of plagiarism
detection. Based on this, we asses the current research situation in the field
of plagiarism detection and derive further research questions and approaches to
be tackled in the future.


title: Combining Magnetic and Electric Sails for Interstellar Deceleration

abstract:
  The main benefit of an interstellar mission is to carry out in-situ
measurements within a target star system. To allow for extended in-situ
measurements, the spacecraft needs to be decelerated. One of the currently most
promising technologies for deceleration is the magnetic sail which uses the
deflection of interstellar matter via a magnetic field to decelerate the
spacecraft. However, while the magnetic sail is very efficient at high
velocities, its performance decreases with lower speeds. This leads to
deceleration durations of several decades depending on the spacecraft mass.
Within the context of Project Dragonfly, initiated by the Initiative of
Interstellar Studies (i4is), this paper proposes a novel concept for
decelerating a spacecraft on an interstellar mission by combining a magnetic
sail with an electric sail. Combining the sails compensates for each
technologys shortcomings: A magnetic sail is more effective at higher
velocities than the electric sail and vice versa. It is demonstrated that using
both sails sequentially outperforms using only the magnetic or electric sail
for various mission scenarios and velocity ranges, at a constant total
spacecraft mass. For example, for decelerating from 5% c, to interplanetary
velocities, a spacecraft with both sails needs about 29 years, whereas the
electric sail alone would take 35 years and the magnetic sail about 40 years
with a total spacecraft mass of 8250 kg. Furthermore, it is assessed how the
combined deceleration system affects the optimal overall mission architecture
for different spacecraft masses and cruising speeds. Future work would
investigate how operating both systems in parallel instead of sequentially
would affect its performance. Moreover, uncertainties in the density of
interstellar matter and sail properties need to be explored.


title: On Grothendieck's tame topology

abstract:
  Grothendieck's Esquisse d'un programme is often referred to for the ideas it
contains on dessins d'enfants, the Teichm{\"u}ller tower, and the actions of
the absolute Galois group on these objects or their etale fundamental groups.
But this program contains several other important ideas. In particular,
motivated by surface topology and moduli spaces of Riemann surfaces,
Grothendieck calls there for a recasting of topology, in order to make it fit
to the objects of semialgebraic and semianalytic geometry, and in particular to
the study of the Mumford-Deligne compactifications of moduli spaces. A new
conception of manifold, of submanifold and of maps between them is outlined. We
review these ideas in the present chapter, because of their relation to the
theory of moduli and Te-ichm{\"u}ller spaces. We also mention briefly the
relations between Grothendieck's ideas and earlier theories developed by
Whitney, Lojasiewicz and Hironaka and especially Thom, and with the more recent
theory of o-minimal structures. The final version of this paper will appear as
a chapter in Volume VI of the Handbook of Teichm{\"u}ller theory. This volume
is dedicated to the memory of Alexander Grothendieck.


title:
Local density of states and its mesoscopic fluctuations near the
  transition to a superconducting state in disordered systems

abstract:
  We develop a theory of the local density of states (LDOS) of disordered
superconductors, employing the non-linear sigma-model formalism and the
renormalization-group framework. The theory takes into account the interplay of
disorder and interaction couplings in all channels, treating the systems with
short-range and Coulomb interactions on equal footing. We explore 2D systems
that would be Anderson insulators in the absence of interaction and 2D or 3D
systems that undergo Anderson transition in the absence of interaction. We
evaluate both the average tunneling density of states and its mesoscopic
fluctuations which are related to the LDOS multifractality in normal disordered
systems. The obtained average LDOS shows a pronounced depletion around the
Fermi energy, both in the metallic phase (i.e., above the superconducting
critical temperature $T_c$) and in the insulating phase near the
superconductor-insulator transition (SIT). The fluctuations of the LDOS are
found to be particularly strong for the case of short-range interactions --
especially, in the regime when $T_c$ is enhanced by Anderson localization. On
the other hand, the long-range Coulomb repulsion reduces the mesoscopic LDOS
fluctuations. However, also in a model with Coulomb interaction, the
fluctuations become strong when the systems approaches the SIT.


title: Faces of simplices of invariant measures for actions of amenable groups

abstract:
  We prove that every face in the simplex of invariant measures on a
zero-dimensional dynamical system with free action of an amenable group $G$ can
be modeled as the entire simplex of invariant measures on some other
zero-dimensional dynamical system with free action of $G$.


title: Reducing the generalised Sudoku problem to the Hamiltonian cycle problem

abstract:
  The generalised Sudoku problem with $N$ symbols is known to be NP-complete,
and hence is equivalent to any other NP-complete problem, even for the standard
restricted version where $N$ is a perfect square. In particular, generalised
Sudoku is equivalent to the, classical, Hamiltonian cycle problem. A
constructive algorithm is given that reduces generalised Sudoku to the
Hamiltonian cycle problem, where the resultant instance of Hamiltonian cycle
problem is sparse, and has $O(N^3)$ vertices. The Hamiltonian cycle problem
instance so constructed is a directed graph, and so a (known) conversion to
undirected Hamiltonian cycle problem is also provided so that it can be
submitted to the best heuristics. A simple algorithm for obtaining the valid
Sudoku solution from the Hamiltonian cycle is provided. Techniques to reduce
the size of the resultant graph are also discussed.


title: On CFT and Quantum Chaos

abstract:
  We make three observations that help clarify the relation between CFT and
quantum chaos. We show that any 1+1-D system in which conformal symmetry is
non-linearly realized exhibits two main characteristics of chaos: maximal
Lyapunov behavior and a spectrum of Ruelle resonances. We use this insight to
identify a lattice model for quantum chaos, built from parafermionic spin
variables with an equation of motion given by a Y-system. Finally we point to a
relation between the spectrum of Ruelle resonances of a CFT and the analytic
properties of OPE coefficients between light and heavy operators. In our model,
this spectrum agrees with the quasi-normal modes of the BTZ black hole.


title: Heisenberg Uncertainty Relations as Statistical Invariants

abstract:
  For a simple set of observables we can express, in terms of transition
probabilities alone, the Heisenberg Uncertainty Relations, so that they are
proven to be not only necessary, but sufficient too, in order for the given
observables to admit a quantum model. Furthermore distinguished
characterizations of strictly complex and real quantum models, with some
ancillary results, are presented and discussed.


title:
Towards Automatic Learning of Heuristics for Mechanical Transformations
  of Procedural Code

abstract:
  The current trend in next-generation exascale systems goes towards
integrating a wide range of specialized (co-)processors into traditional
supercomputers. However, the integration of different specialized devices
increases the degree of heterogeneity and the complexity in programming such
type of systems. Due to the efficiency of heterogeneous systems in terms of
Watt and FLOPS per surface unit, opening the access of heterogeneous platforms
to a wider range of users is an important problem to be tackled. In order to
bridge the gap between heterogeneous systems and programmers, in this paper we
propose a machine learning-based approach to learn heuristics for defining
transformation strategies of a program transformation system. Our approach
proposes a novel combination of reinforcement learning and classification
methods to efficiently tackle the problems inherent to this type of systems.
Preliminary results demonstrate the suitability of the approach for easing the
programmability of heterogeneous systems.


title: Imaging the dust sublimation front of a circumbinary disk

abstract:
  We present the first near-IR milli-arcsecond-scale image of a post-AGB binary
that is surrounded by hot circumbinary dust. A very rich interferometric data
set in six spectral channels was acquired of IRAS08544-4431 with the new RAPID
camera on the PIONIER beam combiner at the Very Large Telescope Interferometer
(VLTI). A broadband image in the \textit{H} band was reconstructed by combining
the data of all spectral channels using the SPARCO method. We spatially
separate all the building blocks of the IRAS08544-4431 system in our
milliarcsecond-resolution image. Our dissection reveals a dust sublimation
front that is strikingly similar to that expected in early-stage protoplanetary
disks, as well as an unexpected flux signal of $\sim$4\% from the secondary
star. The energy output from this companion indicates the presence of a compact
circum-companion accretion disk, which is likely the origin of the fast outflow
detected in H$\alpha$. Our image provides the most detailed view into the heart
of a dusty circumstellar disk to date. Our results demonstrate that binary
evolution processes and circumstellar disk evolution can be studied in detail
in space and over time.


title: Online Matching: Haste makes Waste!

abstract:
  This paper studies a new online problem, referred to as \emph{min-cost
perfect matching with delays (MPMD)}, defined over a finite metric space (i.e.,
a complete graph with positive edge weights obeying the triangle inequality)
$\mathcal{M}$ that is known to the algorithm in advance. Requests arrive in a
continuous time online fashion at the points of $\mathcal{M}$ and should be
served by matching them to each other. The algorithm is allowed to delay its
request matching commitments, but this does not come for free: the total cost
of the algorithm is the sum of metric distances between matched requests
\emph{plus} the sum of times each request waited since it arrived until it was
matched. A randomized online MPMD algorithm is presented whose competitive
ratio is $O (\log^{2} n + \log \Delta)$, where $n$ is the number of points in
$\mathcal{M}$ and $\Delta$ is its aspect ratio. The analysis is based on a
machinery developed in the context of a new stochastic process that can be
viewed as two interleaved Poisson processes; surprisingly, this new process
captures precisely the behavior of our algorithm. A related problem in which
the algorithm is allowed to clear any unmatched request at a fixed penalty is
also addressed. It is suggested that the MPMD problem is merely the tip of the
iceberg for a general framework of online problems with delayed service that
captures many more natural problems.


title: Quasirandom Cayley graphs

abstract:
  We prove that the properties of having small discrepancy and having small
second eigenvalue are equivalent in Cayley graphs, extending a result of
Kohayakawa, R\"odl, and Schacht, who treated the abelian case. The proof relies
on Grothendieck's inequality. As a corollary, we also prove that a similar
result holds in all vertex-transitive graphs.


title: Extreme fluctuations of active Brownian motion

abstract:
  In active Brownian motion, an internal propulsion mechanism interacts with
translational and rotational thermal noise and other internal fluctuations to
produce directed motion. We derive the distribution of its extreme fluctuations
and identify its universal properties using large deviation theory. The limits
of slow and fast internal dynamics give rise to a kink-like and parabolic
behavior of the corresponding rate functions, respectively. For dipolar Janus
particles in two and three dimensions interacting with a field, we predict a
novel symmetry akin to, but different from, the one related to entropy
production. Measurements of these extreme fluctuations could thus be used to
infer properties of the underlying, often hidden, network of states.


title:
Antiferroquadrupolar order and rotational symmetry breaking in a
  generalized bilinear-biquadratic model on a square lattice

abstract:
  The magnetic and nematic properties of the iron chalcogenides have recently
been the subject of intense interest. Motivated by the proposed
antiferroquadrupolar and Ising-nematic orders for the bulk FeSe, we study the
phase diagram of an $S=1$ generalized bilinear-biquadratic model with
multi-neighbor interactions. We find a large parameter regime for a ($\pi$,0)
antiferroquadrupolar phase, showing how quantum fluctuations stabilize it by
lifting an infinite degeneracy of certain semiclassical states. Evidence for
this C$_4$-symmetry-breaking quadrupolar phase is also provided by an unbiased
density matrix renormalization group analysis. We discuss the implications of
our results for FeSe and related iron-based superconductors.


title: Gaussian Process Single Index Models for Conditional Copulas

abstract:
  Parametric conditional copula models allow the copula parameters to vary with
a set of covariates according to an unknown calibration function. Flexible
Bayesian inference for the calibration function of a bivariate conditional
copula is proposed via a sparse Gaussian process (GP) prior distribution over
the set of smooth calibration functions for the single index model (SIM). The
estimation of parameters from the marginal distributions and the calibration
function is done jointly via Markov Chain Monte Carlo sampling from the full
posterior distribution. A new Conditional Cross Validated Pseudo-Marginal
(CCVML) criterion is introduced in order to perform copula selection and is
modified using a permutation-based procedure to assess data support for the
simplifying assumption. The performance of the estimation method and model
selection criteria is studied via a series of simulations using correct and
misspecified models with Clayton, Frank and Gaussian copulas and a numerical
application involving red wine features.


title: Chasing the cuprates with dilatonic dyons

abstract:
  Magnetic field and momentum dissipation are key ingredients in describing
condensed matter systems. We include them in gauge/gravity and systematically
explore the bottom-up panorama of holographic IR effective field theories based
on bulk Einstein-Maxwell Lagrangians plus scalars. The class of solutions here
examined appear insufficient to capture the phenomenology of charge transport
in the cuprates. We analyze in particular the temperature scaling of the
resistivity and of the Hall angle. Keeping an open attitude, we illustrate weak
and strong points of the approach.


title: Global and Local Uncertainty Principles for Signals on Graphs

abstract:
  Uncertainty principles such as Heisenberg's provide limits on the
time-frequency concentration of a signal, and constitute an important
theoretical tool for designing and evaluating linear signal transforms.
Generalizations of such principles to the graph setting can inform dictionary
design for graph signals, lead to algorithms for reconstructing missing
information from graph signals via sparse representations, and yield new graph
analysis tools. While previous work has focused on generalizing notions of
spreads of a graph signal in the vertex and graph spectral domains, our
approach is to generalize the methods of Lieb in order to develop uncertainty
principles that provide limits on the concentration of the analysis
coefficients of any graph signal under a dictionary transform whose atoms are
jointly localized in the vertex and graph spectral domains. One challenge we
highlight is that due to the inhomogeneity of the underlying graph data domain,
the local structure in a single small region of the graph can drastically
affect the uncertainty bounds for signals concentrated in different regions of
the graph, limiting the information provided by global uncertainty principles.
Accordingly, we suggest a new way to incorporate a notion of locality, and
develop local uncertainty principles that bound the concentration of the
analysis coefficients of each atom of a localized graph spectral filter frame
in terms of quantities that depend on the local structure of the graph around
the center vertex of the given atom. Finally, we demonstrate how our proposed
local uncertainty measures can improve the random sampling of graph signals.


title: Extracting Blink Rate Variability from EEG Signals

abstract:
  Generally, blinks are treated on equal with artifacts and noise while
analyzing EEG signals. However, blinks carry important information about mental
processes and thus it is important to detect blinks accurately. The aim of the
presented study is to propose a blink detection method and discuss its
application for extracting blink rate variability, a novel concept that might
shed some light on the mental processes. In this study, 14 EEG recordings were
selected for assessing the quality of the proposed blink detection algorithm.


title: Perturbative Instability of Cosmology from Quantum Potential

abstract:
  Apart from its debatable correctness, we examine the perturbative stability
of the recently proposed cosmology from quantum potential. We find that the
proposed quantum corrections invoke additional parameters which apparently
introduce perturbative instability to the Universe.


title: Augmented Zagreb Index of Polyhex Nanotubes

abstract:
  Augmented Zagreb Index is a newly defined degree based topological invariant
which has been well established for its better correlation properties and is
defined as $AZI(G)= \sum_{uv\in E(G)}(\frac{d_G (u)d_G (v)}{d_G (u)+ d_G
(v)-2})^3 $, where $E(G)$ is the edge set of graph $G$ and $d(u),\,\,d(v)$ are
the degrees of the end vertices $u$ and $v$ of edge $uv$, respectively. It has
outperformed many well known degree based topological indices. In this article
we give closed formulae for the augmented Zagreb index of arm-chair polyhex and
zigzag edge polyhex nanotubes.


title: The EXor phenomenon

abstract:
  Recent results obtained for the eruptive variables (EXors) are reviewed.
These data span from X-rays to the sub-mm band and are presented along with
perspectives for future observations achievable with the new advanced
instrumentation.


title:
The Evolution of the Intracluster Medium Metallicity in
  Sunyaev-Zel'dovich-Selected Galaxy Clusters at 0 < z < 1.5

abstract:
  We present the results of an X-ray spectral analysis of 153 galaxy clusters
observed with the Chandra, XMM-Newton, and Suzaku space telescopes. These
clusters, which span 0 < z < 1.5, were drawn from a larger, mass-selected
sample of galaxy clusters discovered in the 2500 square degree South Pole
Telescope Sunyaev Zel'dovich (SPT-SZ) survey. With a total combined exposure
time of 9.1 Ms, these data yield the strongest constraints to date on the
evolution of the metal content of the intracluster medium (ICM). We find no
evidence for strong evolution in the global (r<R500) ICM metallicity (dZ/dz =
-0.06 +/- 0.04 Zsun), with a mean value at z=0.6 of <Z> = 0.23 +/- 0.01 Zsun
and a scatter of 0.08 +/- 0.01 Zsun. These results imply that >60% of the
metals in the ICM were already in place at z=1 (at 95% confidence), consistent
with the picture of an early (z>1) enrichment. We find, in agreement with
previous works, a significantly higher mean value for the metallicity in the
centers of cool core clusters versus non-cool core clusters. We find weak
evidence for evolution in the central metallicity of cool core clusters (dZ/dz
= -0.21 +/- 0.11 Zsun), which is sufficient to account for this enhanced
central metallicity over the past ~10 Gyr. We find no evidence for metallicity
evolution outside of the core (dZ/dz = -0.03 +/- 0.06 Zsun), and no significant
difference in the core-excised metallicity between cool core and non-cool core
clusters. This suggests that strong radio-mode AGN feedback does not
significantly alter the distribution of metals at r>0.15R500. Given the
limitations of current-generation X-ray telescopes in constraining the ICM
metallicity at z>1, significant improvements on this work will likely require
next-generation X-ray missions.


title: The Implications of Extreme Outflows from Extreme Starbursts

abstract:
  Interstellar ultraviolet absorption-lines provide crucial information about
the properties of galactic outflows. In this paper, we augment our previous
analysis of the systematic properties of starburst-driven galactic outflows by
expanding our sample to include a rare population of starbursts with
exceptionally high outflow velocities. In principle, these could be a
qualitatively different phenomenon from more typical outflows. However, we find
that instead these starbursts lie on, or along the extrapolation of, the trends
defined by the more typical systems studied previously by us. We exploit the
wide dynamic range provided by this new sample to determine scaling relations
of outflow velocity with galaxy stellar mass (M*), circular velocity,
star-formation rate (SFR), SFR/M*, and SFR/area. We argue that these results
can be accommodated within the general interpretational framework we previously
advocated, in which a population of ambient interstellar or circum-galactic
clouds is accelerated by the combined forces of gravity and the momentum flux
from the starburst. We show that this simple physical picture is consistent
with both the strong cosmological evolution of galactic outflows in typical
star-forming galaxies and the paucity of such galaxies with spectra showing
inflows. We also present simple parameterizations of these results that can be
implemented in theoretical models and numerical simulations of galaxy
evolution.


title:
Modelling and interpreting spectral energy distributions of galaxies
  with BEAGLE

abstract:
  We present a new-generation tool to model and interpret spectral energy
distributions (SEDs) of galaxies, which incorporates in a consistent way the
production of radiation and its transfer through the interstellar and
intergalactic media. This flexible tool, named BEAGLE (for BayEsian Analysis of
GaLaxy sEds), allows one to build mock galaxy catalogues as well as to
interpret any combination of photometric and spectroscopic galaxy observations
in terms of physical parameters. The current version of the tool includes
versatile modeling of the emission from stars and photoionized gas, attenuation
by dust and accounting for different instrumental effects, such as
spectroscopic flux calibration and line spread function. We show a first
application of the BEAGLE tool to the interpretation of broadband SEDs of a
published sample of ${\sim}10^4$ galaxies at redshifts $0.1 \lesssim
z\lesssim8$. We find that the constraints derived on photometric redshifts
using this multi-purpose tool are comparable to those obtained using public,
dedicated photometric-redshift codes and quantify this result in a rigorous
statistical way. We also show how the post-processing of BEAGLE output data
with the Python extension PYP-BEAGLE allows the characterization of systematic
deviations between models and observations, in particular through posterior
predictive checks. The modular design of the BEAGLE tool allows easy extensions
to incorporate, for example, the absorption by neutral galactic and
circumgalactic gas, and the emission from an active galactic nucleus, dust and
shock-ionized gas. Information about public releases of the BEAGLE tool will be
maintained on http://www.jacopochevallard.org/beagle.


title: The Gaia-ESO Survey: Revisiting the Li-rich giant problem

abstract:
  The discovery of lithium-rich giants contradicts expectations from canonical
stellar evolution. Here we report on the serendipitous discovery of 20 Li-rich
giants observed during the Gaia-ESO Survey, which includes the first nine
Li-rich giant stars known towards the CoRoT fields. Most of our Li-rich giants
have near-solar metallicities, and stellar parameters consistent with being
before the luminosity bump. This is difficult to reconcile with deep mixing
models proposed to explain lithium enrichment, because these models can only
operate at later evolutionary stages: at or past the luminosity bump. In an
effort to shed light on the Li-rich phenomenon, we highlight recent evidence of
the tidal destruction of close-in hot Jupiters at the sub-giant phase. We note
that when coupled with models of planet accretion, the observed destruction of
hot Jupiters actually predicts the existence of Li-rich giant stars, and
suggests Li-rich stars should be found early on the giant branch and occur more
frequently with increasing metallicity. A comprehensive review of all known
Li-rich giant stars reveals that this scenario is consistent with the data.
However more evolved or metal-poor stars are less likely to host close-in giant
planets, implying that their Li-rich origin requires an alternative
explanation, likely related to mixing scenarios rather than external phenomena.


title:
Hand-waving and Interpretive Dance: An Introductory Course on Tensor
  Networks

abstract:
  The curse of dimensionality associated with the Hilbert space of spin systems
provides a significant obstruction to the study of condensed matter systems.
Tensor networks have proven an important tool in attempting to overcome this
difficulty in both the numerical and analytic regimes.
  These notes form the basis for a seven lecture course, introducing the basics
of a range of common tensor networks and algorithms. In particular, we cover:
introductory tensor network notation, applications to quantum information,
basic properties of matrix product states, a classification of quantum phases
using tensor networks, algorithms for finding matrix product states, basic
properties of projected entangled pair states, and multiscale entanglement
renormalisation ansatz states.
  The lectures are intended to be generally accessible, although the relevance
of many of the examples may be lost on students without a background in
many-body physics/quantum information. For each lecture, several problems are
given, with worked solutions in an ancillary file.

categories: quant-ph cond-mat.stat-mech cond-mat.str-el hep-th


title:
The Cannon 2: A data-driven model of stellar spectra for detailed
  chemical abundance analyses

abstract:
  We have shown that data-driven models are effective for inferring physical
attributes of stars (labels; Teff, logg, [M/H]) from spectra, even when the
signal-to-noise ratio is low. Here we explore whether this is possible when the
dimensionality of the label space is large (Teff, logg, and 15 abundances: C,
N, O, Na, Mg, Al, Si, S, K, Ca, Ti, V, Mn, Fe, Ni) and the model is non-linear
in its response to abundance and parameter changes. We adopt ideas from
compressed sensing to limit overall model complexity while retaining model
freedom. The model is trained with a set of 12,681 red-giant stars with high
signal-to-noise spectroscopic observations and stellar parameters and
abundances taken from the APOGEE Survey. We find that we can successfully train
and use a model with 17 stellar labels. Validation shows that the model does a
good job of inferring all 17 labels (typical abundance precision is 0.04 dex),
even when we degrade the signal-to-noise by discarding ~50% of the observing
time. The model dependencies make sense: the spectral derivatives with respect
to abundances correlate with known atomic lines, and we identify elements
belonging to atomic lines that were previously unknown. We recover
(anti-)correlations in abundance labels for globular cluster stars, consistent
with the literature. However we find the intrinsic spread in globular cluster
abundances is 3--4 times smaller than previously reported. We deliver 17 labels
with associated errors for 87,563 red giant stars, as well as open-source code
to extend this work to other spectroscopic surveys.


title:
Superconductivity from a confinement transition out of a fractionalized
  Fermi liquid with $\mathbb{Z}_2$ topological and Ising-nematic orders

abstract:
  The Schwinger-boson theory of the frustrated square lattice antiferromagnet
yields a stable, gapped $\mathbb{Z}_2$ spin liquid ground state with
time-reversal symmetry, incommensurate spin correlations and long-range
Ising-nematic order. We obtain an equivalent description of this state using
fermionic spinons (the fermionic spinons can be considered to be bound states
of the bosonic spinons and the visons). Upon doping, the $\mathbb{Z}_2$ spin
liquid can lead to a fractionalized Fermi liquid (FL*) with small Fermi pockets
of electron-like quasiparticles, while preserving the $\mathbb{Z}_2$
topological and Ising-nematic orders. We describe a Higgs transition out of
this deconfined metallic state into a confining superconducting state which is
usually of the Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov type, with spatial modulation
of the superconducting order.


title:
Universal Signatures of Quantum Critical Points from Finite-Size Torus
  Spectra: A Window into the Operator Content of Higher-Dimensional Conformal
  Field Theories

abstract:
  The low-energy spectra of many body systems on a torus, of finite size $L$,
are well understood in magnetically ordered and gapped topological phases.
However, the spectra at quantum critical points separating such phases are
largely unexplored for 2+1D systems. Using a combination of analytical and
numerical techniques, we show that the low-energy torus spectrum at criticality
provides a universal fingerprint of the underlying quantum field theory, with
the energy levels given by universal numbers times $1/L$. We highlight the
implications of a neighboring topological phase on the spectrum by studying the
Ising* transition (i.e. the transition between a $Z_2$ topological phase and a
trivial paramagnet), in the example of the toric code in a longitudinal field,
and advocate a phenomenological picture that provides insight into the operator
content of the critical field theory.


title: Sick, the spectroscopic inference crank

abstract:
  There exists an inordinate amount of spectral data in both public and private
astronomical archives which remain severely under-utilised. The lack of
reliable open-source tools for analysing large volumes of spectra contributes
to this situation, which is poised to worsen as large surveys successively
release orders of magnitude more spectra. In this Article I introduce sick, the
spectroscopic inference crank, a flexible and fast Bayesian tool for inferring
astrophysical parameters from spectra. sick can be used to provide a
nearest-neighbour estimate of model parameters, a numerically optimised point
estimate, or full Markov Chain Monte Carlo sampling of the posterior
probability distributions. This generality empowers any astronomer to
capitalise on the plethora of published synthetic and observed spectra, and
make precise inferences for a host of astrophysical (and nuisance) quantities.
Model intensities can be reliably approximated from existing grids of synthetic
or observed spectra using linear multi-dimensional interpolation, or a
Cannon-based model. Additional phenomena that transform the data (e.g.,
redshift, rotational broadening, continuum, spectral resolution) are
incorporated as free parameters and can be marginalised away. Outlier pixels
(e.g., cosmic rays or poorly modelled regimes) can be treated with a Gaussian
mixture model, and a noise model is included to account for systematically
underestimated variance. Combining these phenomena into a scalar-justified,
quantitative model permits precise inferences with credible uncertainties on
noisy data. Using a forward model on low-resolution, high S/N spectra of M67
stars reveals atomic diffusion processes on the order of 0.05 dex, previously
only measurable with differential analysis techniques in high-resolution
spectra. [abridged]


title: Line operators from M-branes on compact Riemann surfaces

abstract:
  In this paper, we determine the charge lattice of mutually local Wilson and
't Hooft line operators for class S theories living on M5-branes wrapped on
compact Riemann surfaces. The main ingredients of our analysis are the
fundamental group of the N-cover of the Riemann surface, and a quantum
constraint on the six-dimensional theory. This latter plays a central role in
excluding some of the possible lattices and imposing consistency conditions on
the charges. This construction gives a geometric explanation for the mutual
locality among the lines, fixing their charge lattice and the structure of the
four-dimensional gauge group.


title:
Quasiparticle interference of the Fermi arcs and surface-bulk
  connectivity of a Weyl semimetal

abstract:
  Weyl semimetals host topologically protected surface states, with arced Fermi
surface contours that are predicted to propagate through the bulk when their
momentum matches that of the surface projections of the bulk's Weyl nodes. We
use spectroscopic mapping with a scanning tunneling microscope to visualize
quasi-particle scattering and interference at the surface of the Weyl semimetal
TaAs. Our measurements reveal 10 different scattering wave vectors, which can
be understood and precisely reproduced with a theory that takes into account
the shape, spin texture, and momentum-dependent propagation of the Fermi arc
surface states into the bulk. Our findings provide evidence that Weyl nodes act
as sinks for electron transport on the surface of these materials.


title: Lorentz violations in multifractal spacetimes

abstract:
  Using the recent observation of gravitational waves (GW) produced by a
black-hole merger, we place a lower bound on the energy above which a
multifractal spacetime would display an anomalous geometry and, in particular,
violations of Lorentz invariance. In the so-called multifractional theory with
$q$-derivatives, we show that the deformation of dispersion relations is much
stronger than in generic quantum-gravity approaches (including loop quantum
gravity) and, contrary to the latter, present observations on GWs can place
very strong bounds on the characteristic scales at which spacetime deviates
from standard Minkowski. The energy at which multifractal effects should become
apparent is $E_*>10^{14}\,{\rm GeV}$ (thus improving previous bounds by 12
orders of magnitude) when the exponents in the measure are fixed to their
central value $1/2$. We also estimate, for the first time, the effect of
logarithmic oscillations in the measure (corresponding to a discrete spacetime
structure) and find that they do not change much the bounds obtained in their
absence, unless the amplitude of the oscillations is fine tuned. This feature,
unavailable in known quantum-gravity scenarios, may help the theory to avoid
being ruled out by gamma-ray burst (GRB) observations, for which $E_*>
10^{17}\,{\rm GeV}$ or greater.


title:
Optical Emission Line Nebulae in Galaxy Cluster Cores 1: The
  Morphological, Kinematic and Spectral Properties of the Sample

abstract:
  We present an Integral Field Unit survey of 73 galaxy clusters and groups
with the VIsible Multi Object Spectrograph (VIMOS) on VLT. We exploit the data
to determine the H$\alpha$ gas dynamics on kpc-scales to study the feedback
processes occurring within the dense cluster cores. We determine the kinematic
state of the ionised gas and show that the majority of systems ($\sim$ 2/3)
have relatively ordered velocity fields on kpc scales that are similar to the
kinematics of rotating discs and are decoupled from the stellar kinematics of
the Brightest Cluster Galaxy. The majority of the H$\alpha$ flux ($>$ 50%) is
typically associated with these ordered kinematics and most systems show
relatively simple morphologies suggesting they have not been disturbed by a
recent merger or interaction. Approximately 20% of the sample (13/73) have
disturbed morphologies which can typically be attributed to AGN activity
disrupting the gas. Only one system shows any evidence of an interaction with
another cluster member. A spectral analysis of the gas suggests that the
ionisation of the gas within cluster cores is dominated by non stellar
processes, possibly originating from the intracluster medium itself.


title: Deuterium target data for precision neutrino-nucleus cross sections

abstract:
  Amplitudes derived from scattering data on elementary targets are basic
inputs to neutrino-nucleus cross section predictions. A prominent example is
the isovector axial nucleon form factor, $F_A(q^2)$, which controls charged
current signal processes at accelerator-based neutrino oscillation experiments.
Previous extractions of $F_A$ from neutrino-deuteron scattering data rely on a
dipole shape assumption that introduces an unquantified error. A new analysis
of world data for neutrino-deuteron scattering is performed using a
model-independent, and systematically improvable, representation of $F_A$. A
complete error budget for the nucleon isovector axial radius leads to
$r_A^2=0.46(22) \,{\rm fm}^2$, with a much larger uncertainty than determined
in the original analyses. The quasielastic neutrino-neutron cross section is
determined as $\sigma(\nu_\mu n \to \mu^- p)\big|_{E_\nu =1\,{\rm GeV}} =
10.1(0.9) \times 10^{-39}{\rm cm}^2$. The propagation of nucleon-level
constraints and uncertainties to nuclear cross sections is illustrated using
MINERvA data and the GENIE event generator. These techniques can be readily
extended to other amplitudes and processes.


title: Is there room for CP violation in the top-Higgs sector?

abstract:
  We discuss direct and indirect probes of chirality-flipping couplings of the
top quark to Higgs and gauge bosons, considering both CP-conserving and
CP-violating observables, in the framework of the Standard Model effective
field theory. In our analysis we include current and prospective constraints
from collider physics, precision electroweak tests, flavor physics, and
electric dipole moments (EDMs). We find that low-energy indirect probes are
very competitive, even after accounting for long-distance uncertainties. In
particular, EDMs put constraints on the electroweak CP-violating dipole moments
of the top that are two to three orders of magnitude stronger than existing
limits. The new indirect constraint on the top EDM is given by $|d_t| < 5 \cdot
10^{-20}$ e cm at $90\%$ C.L.


title: Comments on Higher-Spin Fields in Nontrivial Backgrounds

abstract:
  We consider the free propagation of totally symmetric massive bosonic fields
in nontrivial backgrounds. The mutual compatibility of the dynamical equations
and constraints in flat space amounts to the existence of an Abelian algebra
formed by the d'Alembertian, divergence and trace operators. The latter, along
with the symmetrized gradient, symmetrized metric and spin operators, actually
generate a bigger non-Abelian algebra, which we refer to as the "consistency"
algebra. We argue that in nontrivial backgrounds, it is some deformed version
of this algebra that governs the consistency of the system. This can be
motivated, for example, from the theory of charged open strings in a background
gauge field, where the Virasoro algebra ensures consistent propagation. For a
gravitational background, we outline a systematic procedure of deforming the
generators of the consistency algebra in order that their commutators close. We
find that equal-radii AdSp X Sq manifolds, for arbitrary p and q, admit
consistent propagation of massive and massless fields, with deformations that
include no higher-derivative terms but are non-analytic in the curvature. We
argue that analyticity of the deformations for a generic manifold may call for
the inclusion of mixed-symmetry tensor fields like in String Theory.


title:
Hydrodynamics of local excitations after an interaction quench in 1D
  cold atomic gases

abstract:
  We discuss the hydrodynamic approach to the study of the time evolution
-induced by a quench- of local excitations in one dimension. We focus on
interaction quenches: the considered protocol consists in creating a stable
localized excitation propagating through the system, and then operating a
sudden change of the interaction between the particles. To highlight the effect
of the quench, we take the initial excitation to be a soliton. The quench
splits the excitation into two packets moving in opposite directions, whose
characteristics can be expressed in a universal way. Our treatment allows to
describe the internal dynamics of these two packets in terms of the different
velocities of their components. We confirm our analytical predictions through
numerical simulations performed with the Gross-Pitaevskii equation and with the
Calogero model (as an example of long range interactions and solvable with a
parabolic confinement). Through the Calogero model we also discuss the effect
of an external trapping on the protocol. The hydrodynamic approach shows that
there is a difference between the bulk velocities of the propagating packets
and the velocities of their peaks: it is possible to discriminate the two
quantities, as we show through the comparison between numerical simulations and
analytical estimates. In the realizations of the discussed quench protocol in a
cold atom experiment, these different velocities are accessible through
different measurement procedures.


title: Impact of Jet Veto Resummation on Slepton Searches

abstract:
  Several searches for new physics at the LHC require a fixed number of signal
jets, vetoing events with additional jets from QCD radiation. As the probed
scale of new physics gets much larger than the jet-veto scale, such jet vetoes
strongly impact the QCD perturbative series, causing nontrivial theoretical
uncertainties. We consider slepton pair production with 0 signal jets, for
which we perform the resummation of jet-veto logarithms and study its impact.
Currently, the experimental exclusion limits take the jet-veto cut into account
by extrapolating to the inclusive cross section using parton shower Monte
Carlos. Our results indicate that the associated theoretical uncertainties can
be large, and when taken into account have a sizeable impact already on present
exclusion limits. This is improved by performing the resummation to higher
order, which allows us to obtain accurate predictions even for high slepton
masses. For the interpretation of the experimental results to benefit from
improved theory predictions, it would be useful for the experimental analyses
to also provide limits on the unfolded visible 0-jet cross section.


title:
Universal chiral quasi-steady states in periodically driven many-body
  systems

abstract:
  We investigate many-body dynamics in a one-dimensional interacting
periodically driven system, based on a partially filled version of Thouless's
topologically quantized adiabatic pump. The corresponding single-particle
Floquet bands are chiral, with the Floquet spectrum realizing nontrivial cycles
around the quasienergy Brillouin zone. For generic filling, with either bosons
or fermions, the system is gapless and is expected to rapidly absorb energy
from the driving field. We identify parameter regimes where scattering between
Floquet bands of opposite chirality is exponentially suppressed, opening a long
time window in which the system prethermalizes to an infinite-temperature state
restricted to a single Floquet band. In this quasi-steady state, the
time-averaged current takes a universal value determined solely by the density
of particles and the topological winding number of the populated Floquet band.
This remarkable behavior may be readily studied experimentally in recently
developed cold atom systems.


title: How periodic driving heats a disordered quantum spin chain

abstract:
  We study the energy absorption in real time of a disordered quantum spin
chain subjected to coherent monochromatic periodic driving. We determine
characteristic fingerprints of the well-known ergodic (Floquet-ETH for slow
driving/weak disorder) and many-body localized (Floquet-MBL for fast
driving/strong disorder) phases. In addition, we identify an intermediate
regime, where the energy density of the system -- unlike the entanglement
entropy a local and bounded observable -- grows logarithmically slowly over a
very large time window.


title: A microscopic description of black hole evaporation via holography

abstract:
  We propose a description of how a large, cold black hole (black zero-brane)
in type IIA superstring theory evaporates into freely propagating D0-branes, by
solving the dual gauge theory quantitatively. The energy spectrum of emitted
D0-branes is parametrically close to thermal when the black hole is large. The
black hole, while initially cold, gradually becomes an extremely hot and
stringy object as it evaporates. As it emits D0-branes, its emission rate
speeds up and it evaporates completely without leaving any remnant. Hence this
system provides us with a concrete holographic description of black hole
evaporation without information loss.


title: Regularized inner products and errors of modularity

abstract:
  We develop a regularization for Petersson inner products of arbitrary weakly
holomorphic modular forms, generalizing several known regularizations. As one
application, we extend work of Duke, Imamoglu, and Toth on regularized inner
products of weakly holomorphic modular forms of weights $0$ and $3/2$. These
regularized inner products can be evaluated in terms of the coefficients of
holomorphic parts of harmonic Maass forms of dual weights. Moreover, we study
the errors of modularity of the holomorphic parts of such a harmonic Maass
forms and show that they induce cocyles in the first parabolic cohomology group
introduced by Bruggeman, Choie, and the second author. This provides explicit
representatives of the cohomology classes constructed abstractly and in a very
general setting in their work.


title:
Relative entropy of excited states in two dimensional conformal field
  theories

abstract:
  We study the relative entropy and the trace square distance, both of which
measure the distance between reduced density matrices of two excited states in
two dimensional conformal field theories. We find a general formula for the
relative entropy between two primary states with the same conformal dimension
in the limit of a single small interval and find that in this case the relative
entropy is proportional to the trace square distance. We check our general
formulae by calculating the relative entropy between two generalized free
fields and the trace square distance between the spin and disorder operators of
the critical Ising model. We also give the leading term of the relative entropy
in the small interval expansion when the two operators have different conformal
dimensions. This turns out to be universal when the CFT has no primaires
lighter than the stress tensor. The result reproduces the previously known
special cases.


title: Interstellar Gas and a Dark Disk

abstract:
  We introduce a potentially powerful method for constraining or discovering a
thin dark matter disk in the Milky Way. The method relies on the relationship
between the midplane densities and scale heights of interstellar gas being
determined by the gravitational potential, which is sensitive to the presence
of a dark disk. We show how to use the interstellar gas parameters to set a
bound on a dark disk and discuss the constraints suggested by the current data.
However, current measurements for these parameters are discordant, with the
uncertainty in the constraint being dominated by the molecular hydrogen
midplane density measurement, as well as by the atomic hydrogen velocity
dispersion measurement. Magnetic fields and cosmic ray pressure, which are
expected to play a role, are uncertain as well. The current models and data are
inadequate to determine the disk's existence, but, taken at face value, may
favor its existence depending on the gas parameters used.


title: A ternary square-free sequence avoiding factors equivalent to $abcacba$

abstract:
  We solve a problem of Petrova, finalizing the classification of letter
patterns avoidable by ternary square-free words; we show that there is a
ternary square-free word avoiding letter pattern $xyzxzyx$. In fact, we: (1)
characterize all the (two-way) infinite ternary square-free words avoiding
letter pattern $xyzxzyx$ (2) characterize the lexicographically least (one-way)
infinite ternary square-free word avoiding letter pattern $xyzxzyx$ (3) show
that the number of ternary square-free words of length $n$ avoiding letter
pattern $xyzxzyx$ grows exponentially with $n$.


title: Bohmian Classical Limit in Bounded Regions

abstract:
  Bohmian mechanics is a realistic interpretation of quantum theory. It shares
the same ontology of classical mechanics: particles following continuous
trajectories in space through time. For this ontological continuity, it seems
to be a good candidate for recovering the classical limit of quantum theory.
Indeed, in a Bohmian framework, the issue of the classical limit reduces to
showing how classical trajectories can emerge from Bohmian ones, under specific
classicality assumptions. In this paper, we shall focus on a technical problem
that arises from the dynamics of a Bohmian system in bounded regions; and we
suggest that a possible solution is supplied by the action of environmental
decoherence. However, we shall show that, in order to implement decoherence in
a Bohmian framework, a stronger condition is required (disjointness of
supports) rather than the usual one (orthogonality of states).


title:
Taming systematic uncertainties at the LHC with the central limit
  theorem

abstract:
  We study the simplifications occurring in any likelihood function in the
presence of a large number of small systematic uncertainties. We find that the
marginalisation of these uncertainties can be done analytically by means of
second-order error propagation, error combination, the Lyapunov central limit
theorem, and under mild approximations which are typically satisfied for LHC
likelihoods. The outcomes of this analysis are i) a very light treatment of
systematic uncertainties ii) a convenient way of reporting the main effects of
systematic uncertainties such as the detector effects occuring in LHC
measurements.


title:
Comment on "Analysis of General Power Counting Rules in Effective Field
  Theory"

abstract:
  In a recent paper [1] a master formula has been presented for the power
counting of a general effective field theory. We first show that this master
formula follows immediately from the concept of chiral dimensions (loop
counting), together with standard dimensional analysis. Subsequently, [1] has
disputed the relevance of chiral counting for chiral Lagrangians, and in
particular for the electroweak chiral Lagrangian including a light Higgs boson.
As an alternative, a power counting based on `primary dimensions' has been
proposed. The difficulties encountered with this scheme led the authors to
suggest that even the leading order of the electroweak chiral Lagrangian could
not be clearly defined. Here we demonstrate that the concept of primary
dimensions is irrelevant for the organization of chiral Lagrangians. We
re-emphasize that the correct counting is based on chiral dimensions, or the
counting of loop orders, and show how the problems encountered in [1] are
resolved.


title: An Algebraic PT-Symmetric Quantum Theory with a Maximal Mass

abstract:
  In this paper we draw attention to the fact that the studies by V. G.
Kadyshevsky devoted to the creation of the which \emph{\emph{to the geometric
quantum field theory with a fundamental mass}} containing non-Hermitian mass
extensions. It is important that these ideas recently received a powerful
development in the form of construction of the non-Hermitian algebraic
approach. The central point of these theories is the construction of new scalar
products in which the average values of non-Hermitian Hamiltonians are valid.
Among numerous works on this subject may be to allocate as purely mathematical
and containing a discussion of experimental results. In this regard, we
consider as the development of algebraic relativistic pseudo-Hermitian quantum
theory with a maximal mass and experimentally significant investigations are
discussed


title: Patterns of Strong Coupling for LHC Searches

abstract:
  Even though the Standard Model (SM) is weakly coupled at the Fermi scale, a
new strong dynamics involving its degrees of freedom may conceivably lurk at
slightly higher energies, in the multi TeV range. Approximate symmetries
provide a structurally robust context where, within the low energy description,
the dimensionless SM couplings are weak, while the new strong dynamics
manifests itself exclusively through higher-derivative interactions. We present
an exhaustive classification of such scenarios in the form of effective field
theories, paying special attention to new classes of models where the strong
dynamics involves, along with the Higgs boson, the SM gauge bosons and/or the
fermions. The IR softness of the new dynamics suppresses its effects at LEP
energies, but deviations are in principle detectable at the LHC, even at
energies below the threshold for production of new states. Our construction
provides the so far unique structurally robust context where to motivate
several searches in Higgs physics, diboson production, or WW scattering, which
were so far poorly justified. Perhaps surprisingly, the interplay between weak
coupling, strong coupling and derivatives, which is controlled by symmetries,
can override the naive expansion in operator dimension, providing instances
where dimension-8 dominates dimension-6, well within the domain of validity of
the low energy effective theory. This result reveals the limitations of an
analysis that is both ambitiously general and restricted to dimension-6
operators.


title:
Erratum: Standard-model prediction for direct CP violation in
  $K\to\pi\pi$ decay

abstract:
  In this document we address an error discovered in the ensemble generation
for our calculation of the $I=0$ $K\to\pi\pi$ amplitude (Phys. Rev. Lett. 115,
212001 (2015), arXiv:1505.07863) whereby the same random numbers were used for
the two independent quark flavors, resulting in small but measurable
correlations between gauge observables separated by 12 units in the
y-direction. We conclude that the effects of this error are negligible compared
to the overall errors on our calculation.


title:
Origin of the kink in the band dispersion of the ferromagnetic
  perovskite SrRuO3: Electron-phonon coupling

abstract:
  Perovskite SrRuO3, a prototypical conductive ferromagnetic oxide, exhibits a
kink in its band dispersion signalling the unusual electron dynamics therein.
However, the origin of this kink remains elusive. By taking advantage of the
combo of reactive molecular beam epitaxy and in situ angle-resolved
photoemission spectroscopy, we systematically studied the evolution of the
low-energy electronic structure of SrRuO3 films with thickness thinning down to
nearly two-dimensional limit in a well-controlled way. The kink structure
persists even in the 4-unit-cell-thick film. Moreover, through quantitative
self-energy analysis, we observed the negligible thickness dependence of the
binding energy of the kink, which is in sharp contrast to the downward trend of
the Curie temperature with reducing the film thickness. Together with
previously reported transport and Raman studies, this finding suggests that the
kink of perovskite SrRuO3 should originate from the electron-phonon coupling
rather than magnetic collective modes, and the in-plane phonons may play a
dominant role. Considering such a kink structure of SrRuO3 is similar to these
of many other correlated oxides, we suggest the possible ubiquity of the
coupling of electrons to oxygen-related phonons in correlated oxides.


title:
Radiation and Dynamics of Nanoparticle in Equilibrium Background
  Radiation upon Translational-Rotational Motion

abstract:
  We have obtained general expressions for the intensity of radiation and
tangential force of a small polarizable particle in the process of
translational-rotational motion in equilibrium radiation background
(thermalized photon gas) of certain temperature at an arbitrary relative
orientation of the linear and angular velocity vectors. It is shown that in
cold vacuum background the translational velocity of particle is independent of
time and the intensity of its spontaneous emission is determined by the angular
velocity and imaginary part of the polarizability.


title: Sum-avoiding sets in groups

abstract:
  Let $A$ be a finite subset of an arbitrary additive group $G$, and let
$\phi(A)$ denote the cardinality of the largest subset $B$ in $A$ that is
sum-avoiding in $A$ (that is to say, $b_1+b_2 \not \in A$ for all distinct
$b_1,b_2 \in B$). The question of controlling the size of $A$ in terms of
$\phi(A)$ in the case when $G$ was torsion-free was posed by Erd\H{o}s and
Moser. When $G$ has torsion, $A$ can be arbitrarily large for fixed $\phi(A)$
due to the presence of subgroups. Nevertheless, we provide a qualitative answer
to an analogue of the Erd\H{o}s-Moser problem in this setting, by establishing
a structure theorem, which roughly speaking asserts that $A$ is either
efficiently covered by $\phi(A)$ finite subgroups of $G$, or by fewer than
$\phi(A)$ finite subgroups of $G$ together with a residual set of bounded
cardinality. In order to avoid a large number of nested inductive arguments,
our proof uses the language of nonstandard analysis.
  We also answer negatively a question of Erd\H{o}s regarding large subsets $A$
of finite additive groups $G$ with $\phi(A)$ bounded, but give a positive
result when $|G|$ is not divisible by small primes.


title: Hydrodynamics of the Physical Vacuum: II. Vorticity dynamics

abstract:
  Physical vacuum is a special superfluid medium populated by enormous amount
of virtual particle-antiparticle pairs. Its motion is described by the modified
Navier-Stokes equation: (a)~the pressure gradient divided by the mass density
is replaced by the gradient from the quantum potential; (b)~time-averaged the
viscosity vanishes, but its variance is not zero. Vortex structures arising in
this medium show infinitely long lifetime owing to zero average viscosity. The
nonzero variance is conditioned by exchanging the vortex energy with zero-point
vacuum fluctuations. The vortex has a non-zero core where the orbital speed
vanishes. The speed reaches a maximal value on the core wall and further it
decreases monotonically. The vortex trembles around some average value and
possesses by infinite life time. The vortex ball resulting from topological
transformation of the vortex ring is considered as a model of a particle with
spin. Anomalous magnetic moment of electron is computed.


title: Self-Diagnosis, Scaffolding and Transfer: A Tale of Two Problems

abstract:
  Helping students learn from their own mistakes can help them develop habits
of mind while learning physics content. Based upon cognitive apprenticeship
model, we asked students to self-diagnose their mistakes and learn from
reflecting on their problem solution. Varying levels of scaffolding support
were provided to students in different groups to diagnose their errors on two
context-rich problems that students originally solved in recitation quizzes.
Here, we discuss students' cognitive engagement in the two self-diagnosis
activities and transfer tasks with different scaffolds.


title: Sumfree sets in groups: a survey

abstract:
  We discuss several questions concerning sum-free sets in groups, raised by
Erd\H{o}s in his survey "Extremal problems in number theory" (Proceedings of
the Symp. Pure Math. VIII AMS) published in 1965.
  Among other things, we give a characterization for large sets $A$ in an
abelian group $G$ which do not contain a subset $B$ of fixed size $k$ such that
the sum of any two different elements of $B$ do not belong to $A$ (in other
words, $B$ is sum-free with respect to $A$). Erd\H{o}s, in the above mentioned
survey, conjectured that if $|A|$ is sufficiently large compared to $k$, then
$A$ contains two elements that add up to zero. This is known to be true for $k
\leq 3$. We give counterexamples for all $k \ge 4$. On the other hand, using
the new characterization result, we are able to prove a positive result in the
case when $|G|$ is not divisible by small primes.


title:
Distinguishing screening mechanisms with environment-dependent velocity
  statistics

abstract:
  Alternative theories of gravity typically invoke an environment-dependent
screening mechanism to allow phenomenologically interesting deviations from
general relativity (GR) to manifest on larger scales, while reducing to GR on
small scales. The observation of the transition from screened to unscreened
behavior would be compelling evidence for beyond-GR physics. We show that
pairwise peculiar velocity statistics, in particular the relative radial
velocity dispersion, $\sigma_\parallel$ , can be used to observe this
transition when they are binned by some measure of halo environment. We
established this by measuring the radial velocity dispersion between pairs of
halos in N-body simulations for three $f(R)$ gravity and four symmetron models.
We developed an estimator involving only line-of-sight velocities to show that
this quantity is observable, and binned the results in halo mass, ambient
density, and the isolatedness of halos. Ambient density is found to be the most
relevant measure of environment; it is distinct from isolatedness, and
correlates well with theoretical expectations for the symmetron model. By
binning $\sigma_\parallel$ in ambient density, we find a strong
environment-dependent signature for the symmetron models, with the velocities
showing a clear transition from GR to non-GR behavior. No such transition is
observed for $f(R)$, as the relevant scales are deep in the unscreened regime.
Observations of the relative radial velocity dispersion in forthcoming peculiar
velocity surveys, if binned appropriately by environment, therefore offer a
valuable way of detecting the screening signature of modified gravity.


title:
Mechanisms for House Allocation with Existing Tenants under Dichotomous
  Preferences

abstract:
  We consider house allocation with existing tenants in which each agent has
dichotomous preferences. We present strategyproof, polynomial-time, and
(strongly) individually rational algorithms that satisfy the maximum number of
agents. For the endowment only model, one of the algorithms also returns a
core-stable allocation.


title: Effective Action for Hard Thermal Loops in Gravitational Fields

abstract:
  We examine, through a Boltzmann equation approach, the generating action of
hard thermal loops in the background of gravitational fields. Using the gauge
and Weyl invariance of the theory at high temperature, we derive an explicit
closed-form expression for the effective action.


title: Fock representations of $Q$-deformed commutation relations

abstract:
  We consider Fock representations of the $Q$-deformed commutation relations
$$\partial_s\partial^\dag_t=Q(s,t)\partial_t^\dag\partial_s+\delta(s,t), \quad
s,t\in T.$$ Here
  $T:=\mathbb R^d$ (or more generally $T$ is a locally compact Polish space),
the function $Q:T^2\to \mathbb C$ satisfies $|Q(s,t)|\le1$ and
$Q(s,t)=\overline{Q(t,s)}$, and
$$\int_{T^2}h(s)g(t)\delta(s,t)\,\sigma(ds)\sigma(dt):=\int_T
h(t)g(t)\,\sigma(dt),$$
  $\sigma$ being a fixed reference measure on $T$. In the case where
$|Q(s,t)|\equiv 1$, the $Q$-deformed commutation relations describe a
generalized statistics studied by Liguori and Mintchev (1995). These
generalized statistics contain anyon statistics as a special case (with
$T=\mathbb R^2$ and a special choice of the function $Q$). The related
$Q$-deformed Fock space $\mathcal F(\mathcal H)$ over $\mathcal
H:=L^2(T\to\mathbb C,\sigma)$ is constructed. An explicit form of the
orthogonal projection of $\mathcal H^{\otimes n}$ onto the $n$-particle space
$\mathcal F_n(\mathcal H)$ is derived. A scalar product in $\mathcal
F_n(\mathcal H)$ is given by an operator $\mathcal P_n\ge0$ in $\mathcal
H^{\otimes n}$ which is strictly positive on $\mathcal F_n(\mathcal H)$. We
realize the smeared operators $\partial_t^\dag$ and $\partial_t$ as creation
and annihilation operators in $\mathcal F(\mathcal H)$, respectively.
Additional $Q$-commutation relations are obtained between the creation
operators and between the annihilation operators. They are of the form
$\partial^\dag_s\partial^\dag_t=Q(t,s)\partial^\dag_t\partial^\dag_s$,
$\partial_s\partial_t=Q(t,s)\partial_t\partial_s$, valid for those $s,t\in T$
for which $|Q(s,t)|=1$.


title: A lower bound for the dimension of a highest weight module

abstract:
  For each integer $t>0$ and each complex simple Lie algebra $\mathfrak{g}$, we
determine the least dimension of an irreducible highest weight representation
of $\mathfrak{g}$ whose highest weight has height $t$. As a corollary, we
classify all irreducible modules whose dimension equals a product of two
primes.


title: The Analyst's traveling salesman theorem in graph inverse limits

abstract:
  We prove a version of Peter Jones' Analyst's traveling salesman theorem in a
class of highly non-Euclidean metric spaces introduced by Laakso and
generalized by Cheeger-Kleiner. These spaces are constructed as inverse limits
of metric graphs, and include examples which are doubling and have a Poincare
inequality. We show that a set in one of these spaces is contained in a
rectifiable curve if and only if it is quantitatively "flat" at most locations
and scales, where flatness is measured with respect to so-called monotone
geodesics. This provides a first examination of quantitative rectifiability
within these spaces.


title:
On an atom with a magnetic quadrupole moment subject to harmonic and
  linear confining potentials

abstract:
  The quantum dynamics of an atom with a magnetic quadrupole moment that
interacts with an external field subject to a harmonic and a linear confining
potentials is investigated. It is shown that the interaction between the
magnetic quadrupole moment and an electric field gives rise to an analogue of
the Coulomb potential and, by confining this atom to a harmonic and a linear
confining potentials, a quantum effect characterized by the dependence of the
angular frequency on the quantum numbers of the system is obtained. In
particular, it is shown that the possible values of the angular frequency
associated with the ground state of the system are determined by a third-degree
algebraic equation.


title:
Testing boundaries of applicability of quantum probabilistic formalism
  to modeling of cognition

abstract:
  Recently the mathematical formalism of quantum mechanics, especially methods
of quantum probability theory, started to be widely used in a variety of
applications outside of physics, e.g., cognition and psychology as well as
economy and finances. To distinguish such models from genuine quantum physical
models, they often called quantum-like (although often people simply speak
about, e.g., "quantum cognition"). These novel applications generate a number
of foundational questions. Nowadays we can speak about a new science -
foundations of quantum-like modeling. At the first stage this science was
mainly about comparison of classical and quantum models, mainly in the
probabilistic setting. It was found that statistical data from cognitive
psychology violate some basic constraints posed on data by classical
probability theory (Kolmogorov, 1933); in particular, the constraints given by
the formula of total probability and Bell's type inequalities. Recently another
question attracted some attention. In spite of real success in applications,
there are no reason to believe that the quantum probability would cover
completely all problems of, e.g., cognition. May be more general probability
models have to be explored. A similar problem attracted a lot of attention in
foundations of quantum physics culminating in a series of experiments to check
Sorkin's equality for the triple-slit experiment by Weihs' group. In this note
we present a similar test in the cognitive experimental setting. Performance of
this test would either give further confirmation of the adequacy of the quantum
probability model to cognitive applications or rejection of the conventional
quantum model. Thus this note opens the door for a series of exciting
experimental tests for the quantum-like model of cognition.


title:
The VLA Low Band Ionospheric and Transient Experiment (VLITE): A
  Commensal Sky Survey

abstract:
  The US Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) and the National Radio Astronomy
Observatory (NRAO) have collaborated to develop, install, and commission a new
commensal system on the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA). The VLA Low Band
Ionospheric and Transient Experiment (VLITE) makes use of dedicated samplers
and fibers to tap the signal from 10 VLA low band receivers and correlate those
through a real-time DiFX correlator. VLITE allows for the simultaneous use of
the VLA to observe primary science using the higher frequencies receivers (1-50
GHz) through the NRAO WIDAR correlator and lower frequencies through the DiFX
correlator. VLITE operates during nearly all observing programs and provides 64
MHz of bandwidth centered at 352 MHz. The operation of VLITE requires no
additional resources from the VLA system running the primary science and
produces an ad-hoc sky survey. The commensal system greatly expands the
capabilities of the VLA through value-added PI science, stand-alone
astrophysics, the opening of a new window on transient searches, and
serendipity. In the first year of operation we have recorded more than 6300
hours spread across the sky. We present an overview of the VLITE program,
discuss the sky coverage and depth obtained during the first year of operation,
and briefly outline the astrophysics and transients programs.


title: Two-Party Privacy Games: How Users Perturb When Learners Preempt

abstract:
  Internet tracking technologies and wearable electronics provide a vast amount
of data to machine learning algorithms. This stock of data stands to increase
with the developments of the internet of things and cyber-physical systems.
Clearly, these technologies promise benefits. But they also raise the risk of
sensitive information disclosure. To mitigate this risk, machine learning
algorithms can add noise to outputs according to the formulations provided by
differential privacy. At the same time, users can fight for privacy by
injecting noise into the data that they report. In this paper, we conceptualize
the interactions between privacy and accuracy and between user (input)
perturbation and learner (output) perturbation in machine learning, using the
frameworks of empirical risk minimization, differential privacy, and
Stackelberg games. In particular, we solve for the Stackelberg equilibrium for
the case of an averaging query. We find that, in equilibrium, either the users
perturb their data before submission or the learner perturbs the machine
learning output, but never both. Specifically, the learner perturbs if and only
if the number of users is greater than a threshold which increases with the
degree to which incentives are misaligned. Provoked by these conclusions - and
by some observations from privacy ethics - we also suggest future directions.
While other work in this area has studied privacy markets and mechanism design
for truthful reporting of user information, we take a different viewpoint by
considering both user and learner perturbation. We hope that this effort will
open the door to future work in the area of differential privacy games.


title: Scalable in-situ qubit calibration during repetitive error detection

abstract:
  We present a method to optimize qubit control parameters during error
detection which is compatible with large-scale qubit arrays. We demonstrate our
method to optimize single or two-qubit gates in parallel on a nine-qubit
system. Additionally, we show how parameter drift can be compensated for during
computation by inserting a frequency drift and using our method to remove it.
We remove both drift on a single qubit and independent drifts on all qubits
simultaneously. We believe this method will be useful in keeping error rates
low on all physical qubits throughout the course of a computation. Our method
is O(1) scalable to systems of arbitrary size, providing a path towards
controlling the large numbers of qubits needed for a fault-tolerant quantum
computer


title:
A Decentralized Mechanism for Computing Competitive Equilibria in
  Deregulated Electricity Markets

abstract:
  With the increased level of distributed generation and demand response comes
the need for associated mechanisms that can perform well in the face of
increasingly complex deregulated energy market structures. Using Lagrangian
duality theory, we develop a decentralized market mechanism that ensures that,
under the guidance of a market operator, self-interested market participants:
generation companies (GenCos), distribution companies (DistCos), and
transmission companies (TransCos), reach a competitive equilibrium. We show
that even in the presence of informational asymmetries and nonlinearities (such
as power losses and transmission constraints), the resulting competitive
equilibrium is Pareto efficient.


title:
Deep 3 GHz Observations of the Lockman Hole North with the Very Large
  Array - 1. Source extraction and uncertainty analysis

abstract:
  This is the first of two papers describing the observations and cataloguing
of deep 3-GHz observations of the Lockman Hole North using the Karl G. Jansky
Very Large Array. The aim of this paper is to investigate, through the use of
simulated images, the uncertainties and accuracy of source-finding routines, as
well as to quantify systematic effects due to resolution, such as source
confusion and source size. While these effects are not new, this work is
intended as a particular case study that can be scaled and translated to other
surveys. We use the simulations to derive uncertainties in the fitted
parameters, as well as bias corrections for the actual catalogue (presented in
Paper 2). We compare two different source-finding routines, OBIT and AEGEAN,
and two different effective resolutions, 8 and 2.75 arcsec. We find that the
two routines perform comparably well, with OBIT being slightly better at
de-blending sources, but slightly worse at fitting resolved sources. We show
that 30 to 70 per cent of sources are missed or fit inaccurately once the
source size becomes larger than the beam, possibly explaining source count
errors in high-resolution surveys. We also investigate the effect of blending,
finding that any sources with separations smaller than the beam size are fit as
single sources. We show that the use of machine-learning techniques can
correctly identify blended sources up to 90 per cent of the time, and
prior-driven fitting can lead to a 70 per cent improvement in the number of
de-blended sources.


title:
Deep 3 GHz Observations of the Lockman Hole North with the Very Large
  Array -2. Catalogue and \mu Jy source properties

abstract:
  This is the second of two papers describing the observations and source
catalogues derived from sensitive 3-GHz images of the Lockman Hole North using
the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array. We describe the reduction and cataloguing
process, which yielded an image with 8 arcsec resolution and instrumental noise
of \sigma$_{\rm n}$=1.0 \mu Jy beam$^{-1}$ rms (before primary beam
corrections) and a catalogue of 558 sources detected above 5\sigma$_{\rm n}$.
We include details of how we estimate source spectral indices across the 2-GHz
VLA bandwidth, finding a median index of -0.76$\pm$0.04. Stacking of source
spectra reveals a flattening of spectral index with decreasing flux density. We
present a source count derived from the catalogue. We show a traditional count
estimate compared with a completely independent estimate made via a P(D)
confusion analysis, and find very good agreement. Cross-matches of the
catalogue with X-ray, optical, infrared, radio, and redshift catalogues are
also presented. The X-ray, optical and infrared data, as well as AGN selection
criteria allow us to classify 10 per cent as radio-loud AGN, 28 percent as
radio-quiet AGN, and 58 per cent as star-forming galaxies, with only 4 per cent
unclassified.


title: EMMA: A New Platform to Evaluate Hardware-based Mobile Malware Analyses

abstract:
  Hardware-based malware detectors (HMDs) are a key emerging technology to
build trustworthy computing platforms, especially mobile platforms. Quantifying
the efficacy of HMDs against malicious adversaries is thus an important
problem. The challenge lies in that real-world malware typically adapts to
defenses, evades being run in experimental settings, and hides behind benign
applications. Thus, realizing the potential of HMDs as a line of defense - that
has a small and battery-efficient code base - requires a rigorous foundation
for evaluating HMDs.
  To this end, we introduce EMMA - a platform to evaluate the efficacy of HMDs
for mobile platforms. EMMA deconstructs malware into atomic, orthogonal actions
and introduces a systematic way of pitting different HMDs against a diverse
subset of malware hidden inside benign applications. EMMA drives both malware
and benign programs with real user-inputs to yield an HMD's effective operating
range - i.e., the malware actions a particular HMD is capable of detecting. We
show that small atomic actions, such as stealing a Contact or SMS, have
surprisingly large hardware footprints, and use this insight to design HMD
algorithms that are less intrusive than prior work and yet perform 24.7%
better. Finally, EMMA brings up a surprising new result - obfuscation
techniques used by malware to evade static analyses makes them more detectable
using HMDs.


title: Orbital Dimer Model for Spin-Glass State in Y$_2$Mo$_2$O$_7$

abstract:
  The formation of a spin glass usually requires both structural disorder and
frustrated magnetic interactions. Consequently, the origin of spin-glass
behaviour in Y$_2$Mo$_2$O$_7$ $-$ in which magnetic Mo$^{4+}$ ions occupy a
frustrated pyrochlore lattice with minimal compositional disorder $-$ has been
a longstanding question. Here, we use neutron and X-ray pair-distribution
function (PDF) analysis to develop a disorder model that resolves apparent
incompatibilities between previously-reported PDF, EXAFS and NMR studies and
provides a new and physical mechanism for spin-glass formation. We show that
Mo$^{4+}$ ions displace according to a local "2-in/2-out" rule on each Mo$_4$
tetrahedron, driven by orbital dimerisation of Jahn-Teller active Mo$^{4+}$
ions. Long-range orbital order is prevented by the macroscopic degeneracy of
dimer coverings permitted by the pyrochlore lattice. Cooperative O$^{2-}$
displacements yield a distribution of Mo$-$O$-$Mo angles, which in turn
introduces disorder into magnetic interactions. Our study demonstrates
experimentally how frustration of atomic displacements can assume the role of
compositional disorder in driving a spin-glass transition.


title: Reflection and Self-Monitoring in Quantum Mechanics

abstract:
  An assumed attribute of expert physicists is that they learn readily from
their own mistakes. Experts are unlikely to make the same mistakes when asked
to solve a problem a second time, especially if they have had access to a
correct solution. Here, we discuss a case study in which fourteen advanced
undergraduate physics students taking an honors-level quantum mechanics course
were given the same four problems in both a midterm and final exam. The
solutions to the midterm problems were provided to students. The performance on
the final exam shows that while some advanced students performed equally well
or improved compared to their performance on the midterm exam on the questions
administered a second time, a comparable number performed less well on the
final exam than on the midterm exam. The wide distribution of students'
performance on problems administered a second time suggests that most advanced
students do not automatically exploit their mistakes as an opportunity for
learning, and for repairing, extending, and organizing their knowledge
structure. Interviews with a subset of students revealed attitudes towards
problem-solving and gave insight into their approach to learning.


title:
Blind Source Separation: Fundamentals and Recent Advances (A Tutorial
  Overview Presented at SBrT-2001)

abstract:
  Blind source separation (BSS), i.e., the decoupling of unknown signals that
have been mixed in an unknown way, has been a topic of great interest in the
signal processing community for the last decade, covering a wide range of
applications in such diverse fields as digital communications, pattern
recognition, biomedical engineering, and financial data analysis, among others.
This course aims at an introduction to the BSS problem via an exposition of
well-known and established as well as some more recent approaches to its
solution. A unified way is followed in presenting the various results so as to
more easily bring out their similarities/differences and emphasize their
relative advantages/disadvantages. Only a representative sample of the existing
knowledge on BSS will be included in this course. The interested readers are
encouraged to consult the list of bibliographical references for more details
on this exciting and always active research topic.


title:
Large size and slow rotation of the trans-Neptunian object (225088) 2007
  OR10 discovered from Herschel and K2 observations

abstract:
  We present the first comprehensive thermal and rotational analysis of the
second most distant trans-Neptunian object (225088) 2007 OR10. We combined
optical light curves provided by the Kepler space telescope -- K2 extended
mission and thermal infrared data provided by the Herschel Space Observatory.
We found that (225088) 2007 OR10 is likely to be larger and darker than derived
by earlier studies: we obtained a diameter of d=1535^{+75}_{-225} km which
places (225088) 2007 OR10 in the biggest top three trans-Neptunian objects. The
corresponding visual geometric albedo is p_V=0.089^{+0.031}_{-0.009}. The light
curve analysis revealed a slow rotation rate of P_rot=44.81+/-0.37 h,
superseded by a very few objects only. The most likely light-curve solution is
double-peaked with a slight asymmetry, however, we cannot safely rule out the
possibility of having a rotation period of P_rot=22.40+/-0.18 h which
corresponds to a single-peaked solution. Due to the size and slow rotation, the
shape of the object should be a MacLaurin ellipsoid, so the light variation
should be caused by surface inhomogeneities. Its newly derived larger diameter
also implies larger surface gravity and a more likely retention of volatiles --
CH_4, CO and N_2 -- on the surface.


title: Cosmic Microwave Background Acoustic Peak Locations

abstract:
  The Planck collaboration has measured the temperature and polarization of the
cosmic microwave background well enough to determine the locations of eight
peaks in the temperature (TT) power spectrum, five peaks in the polarization
(EE) power spectrum and twelve extrema in the cross (TE) power spectrum. The
relative locations of these extrema give a striking, and beautiful,
demonstration of what we expect from acoustic oscillations in the plasma; e.g.,
that EE peaks fall half way between TT peaks. We expect this because the
temperature map is predominantly sourced by temperature variations in the last
scattering surface, while the polarization map is predominantly sourced by
gradients in the velocity field, and the harmonic oscillations have temperature
and velocity 90 degrees out of phase. However, there are large differences in
expectations for extrema locations from simple analytic models vs. numerical
calculations. Here we quantitatively explore the origin of these differences in
gravitational potential transients, neutrino free-streaming, the breakdown of
tight coupling, the shape of the primordial power spectrum, details of the
geometric projection from three to two dimensions, and the thickness of the
last scattering surface. We also compare the peak locations determined from
Planck measurements to expectations under the $\Lambda$CDM model. Taking into
account how the peak locations were determined, we find them to be in
agreement.


title: First-Order Logic with Isomorphism

abstract:
  The Univalent Foundations requires a logic that allows us to define
structures on homotopy types, similar to how first-order logic with equality
($\text{FOL}_=$) allows us to define structures on sets. We develop the syntax,
semantics and deductive system for such a logic, which we call first-order
logic with isomorphism ($\text{FOL}_{\cong}$). The syntax of
$\text{FOL}_{\cong}$ extends $\text{FOL}_{=}$ in two ways. First, by
incorporating into its signatures a notion of dependent sorts along the lines
of Makkai's FOLDS as well as a notion of an $h$-level of each sort. Second, by
specifying three new logical sorts within these signatures: isomorphism sorts,
reflexivity predicates and transport structure. The semantics for
$\text{FOL}_{\cong}$ are then defined in homotopy type theory with the
isomorphism sorts interpreted as identity types, reflexivity predicates as
relations picking out the trivial path, and transport structure as transport
along a path. We then define a deductive system $\mathcal{D}_{\cong}$ for
$\text{FOL}_{\cong}$ that encodes the sense in which the inhabitants of
isomorphism sorts really do behave like isomorphisms and prove soundness of the
rules of $\mathcal{D}_{\cong}$ with respect to its homotopy semantics. Finally,
as an application, we prove that precategories, strict categories and univalent
categories are axiomatizable in $\text{FOL}_{\cong}$.


title:
Beyond Dirac and Weyl fermions: Unconventional quasiparticles in
  conventional crystals

abstract:
  In quantum field theory, we learn that fermions come in three varieties:
Majorana, Weyl, and Dirac. Here we show that in solid state systems this
classification is incomplete and find several additional types of crystal
symmetry-protected free fermionic excitations . We exhaustively classify linear
and quadratic 3-, 6- and 8- band crossings stabilized by space group symmetries
in solid state systems with spin-orbit coupling and time-reversal symmetry.
Several distinct types of fermions arise, differentiated by their degeneracies
at and along high symmetry points, lines, and surfaces. Some notable
consequences of these fermions are the presence of Fermi arcs in non-Weyl
systems and the existence of Dirac lines. Ab-initio calculations identify a
number of materials that realize these exotic fermions close to the Fermi
level.


title:
Compact Symmetric Objects and Supermassive Binary Black Holes in the
  VLBA Imaging and Polarimetry Survey

abstract:
  We present multi-frequency Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) follow-up
observations of VLBA Imaging and Polarimetry Survey sources identified as
likely compact symmetric objects (CSOs) or super-massive binary black holes
(SBBHs). We also present new spectroscopic redshifts for 11 sources observed
with the Hobby-Eberly Telescope. While no new SBBHs can be confirmed from these
observations, we have identified 24 CSOs in the sample, 15 of which are newly
designated, and refuted 52 candidates leaving 33 unconfirmed candidates. This
is the first large uniform sample of CSOs which can be used to elicit some of
the general properties of these sources, including morphological evolution and
environmental interaction. We have detected polarised emission from two of
these CSOs the properties of which are consistent with Active Galactic Nuclei
unification schemes.


title: Geometric U-folds in four dimensions

abstract:
  We describe a construction of geometric U-folds compatible with a non-trivial
extension of the global formulation of four-dimensional extended supergravity
on a differentiable spin manifold. The topology of geometric U-folds depends on
certain flat fiber bundles which encode how supergravity fields are globally
glued together. We show that smooth non-trivial U-folds of this type can exist
only in theories where both the scalar and space-time manifolds have
non-trivial fundamental group and in addition, the scalar map of the solution
is homotopically non-trivial. Consistency with string theory requires smooth
geometric U-folds to be glued using subgroups of the effective discrete
U-duality group, implying that the fundamental group of the scalar manifold of
such solutions must be a subgroup of the latter. We construct simple examples
of geometric U-folds in a generalization of the axion-dilaton model of
$\mathcal{N}=2$ supergravity coupled to a single vector multiplet, whose scalar
manifold is a generally non-compact Riemann surface of genus at least two
endowed with its uniformizing metric. We also discuss the relation between
geometric U-folds and a moduli space of flat connections defined on the scalar
manifold, which involves certain character varieties not studied in the
literature.


title: Entanglement and nonclassicality: A mutual impression

abstract:
  We find a sufficient condition to imprint the single-mode bosonic phase-space
nonclassicality onto a bipartite state as modal entanglement and vice versa
using an arbitrary beam splitter. Surprisingly, the entanglement produced or
detected in this way depends only on the nonclassicality of the marginal input
or output states, regardless of their purity and separability. In this way, our
result provides a sufficient condition for generating entangled states of
arbitrary high temperature and arbitrary large number of particles. We also
study the evolution of the entanglement within a lossy Mach-Zehnder
interferometer and show that unless both modes are totally lost, the
entanglement does not diminish.