title:
Exoplanet transits enable high-resolution spectroscopy across spatially
  resolved stellar surfaces

abstract:
  Observations of stellar surfaces - except for the Sun - are hampered by their
tiny angular extent, while observed spectral lines are smeared by averaging
over the stellar surface, and by stellar rotation. Exoplanet transits can be
used to analyze stellar atmospheric structure, yielding high-resolution spectra
across spatially highly resolved stellar surfaces, free from effects of spatial
smearing and the rotational wavelength broadening present in full-disk spectra.
During a transit, stellar surface portions successively become hidden, and
differential spectroscopy between various transit phases provides spectra of
those surface segments then hidden behind the planet. The small area subtended
by even a large planet (about 1% of a main-sequence star) offers high spatial
resolution but demands very precise observations. We demonstrate the
reconstruction of photospheric FeI line profiles at a spectral resolution
R=80,000 across the surface of the solar-type star HD209458. Any detailed
understanding of stellar atmospheres requires modeling with 3-dimensional
hydrodynamics. The properties predicted by such models are mapped onto the
precise spectral-line shapes, asymmetries and wavelength shifts, and their
variation from the center to the limb across any stellar disk. This method
provides a tool for testing and verifying such models. The method will soon
become applicable to more diverse types of stars, thanks to new spectrometers
on very large telescopes, and since ongoing photometric searches are expected
to discover additional bright host stars of transiting exoplanets.


title: Intensity interferometry: Optical imaging with kilometer baselines

abstract:
  Optical imaging with microarcsecond resolution will reveal details across and
outside stellar surfaces but requires kilometer-scale interferometers,
challenging to realize either on the ground or in space. Intensity
interferometry, electronically connecting independent telescopes, has a noise
budget that relates to the electronic time resolution, circumventing issues of
atmospheric turbulence. Extents up to a few km are becoming realistic with
arrays of optical air Cherenkov telescopes (primarily erected for gamma-ray
studies), enabling an optical equivalent of radio interferometer arrays.
Pioneered by Hanbury Brown and Twiss, digital versions of the technique have
now been demonstrated, reconstructing diffraction-limited images from
laboratory measurements over hundreds of optical baselines. This review
outlines the method from its beginnings, describes current experiments, and
sketches prospects for future observations.


title: Strain induced Chiral Magnetic Effect in Weyl semimetals

abstract:
  We argue that strain applied to a time-reversal and inversion breaking Weyl
semi-metal in a magnetic field can induce an electric current via the chiral
magnetic effect. A tight binding model is used to show that strain generically
changes the locations in the Brillouin zone but also the energies of the band
touching points (tips of the Weyl cones). Since axial charge in a Weyl
semi-metal can relax via inter-valley scattering processes the induced current
will decay with a timescale given by the lifetime of a chiral quasiparticle. We
estimate the strength and lifetime of the current for typical material
parameters and find that it should be experimentally observable.


title:
Symmetry Breaking and Convex Set Phase Diagrams for the q-state Potts
  Model

abstract:
  We demonstrate that the occurrence of symmetry breaking phase transitions
together with the emergence of a local order parameter in classical statistical
physics is a consequence of the geometrical structure of probability space. To
this end we investigate convex sets generated by expectation values of certain
observables with respect to all possible probability distributions of classical
q-state spins on a two-dimensional lattice, for several values of q. The
extreme points of these sets are then given by thermal Gibbs states of the
classical q-state Potts model. As symmetry breaking phase transitions and the
emergence of associated order parameters are signaled by the appearance ruled
surfaces on these sets, this implies that symmetry breaking is ultimately a
consequence of the geometrical structure of probability space. In particular we
identify the different features arising for continuous and first order phase
transitions and show how to obtain critical exponents and susceptibilities from
the geometrical shape of the surface set. Such convex sets thus also constitute
a novel and very intuitive way of constructing phase diagrams for many body
systems, as all thermodynamically relevant quantities can be very naturally
read off from these sets.


title:
Minor Mergers or Progenitor Bias? The Stellar Ages of Small and Large
  Quenched Early-Type Galaxies

abstract:
  We investigate the origin of the evolution of the population-averaged size of
quenched galaxies (QGs) through a spectroscopic analysis of their stellar ages.
The two most favoured scenarios for this evolution are either the size growth
of individual galaxies through a sequence of dry minor merger events, or the
addition of larger, newly quenched galaxies to the pre-existing population
(i.e., a progenitor bias effect). We use the 20k zCOSMOS-bright spectroscopic
survey to select bona fide quiescent galaxies at 0.2<z<0.8. We stack their
spectra in bins of redshift, stellar mass and size to compute stellar
population parameters in these bins through fits to the rest-frame optical
spectra and through Lick spectral indices. We confirm a change of behaviour in
the size-age relation below and above the ~10^11 MSun stellar mass scale: In
our 10.5 < log M*/MSun < 11 mass bin, over the entire redshift window, the
stellar populations of the largest galaxies are systematically younger than
those of the smaller counterparts, pointing at progenitor bias as the main
driver of the observed average size evolution at sub-10^11 MSun masses. In
contrast, at higher masses, there is no clear trend in age as a function of
galaxy size, supporting a substantial role of dry mergers in increasing the
sizes of these most massive QGs with cosmic time. Within the errors, the
[alpha/Fe] abundance ratios of QGs are (i) above-solar over the entire redshift
range of our analysis, hinting at universally short timescales for the buildup
of the stellar populations of QGs, and (ii) similar at all masses and sizes,
suggesting similar (short) timescales for the whole QG population and
strengthening the role of mergers in the buildup of the most massive QGs in the
Universe.


title: The Kepler Catalog of Stellar Flares

abstract:
  A homogeneous search for stellar flares has been performed using every
available Kepler light curve. An iterative light curve de-trending approach was
used to filter out both astrophysical and systematic variability to detect
flares. The flare recovery completeness has also been computed throughout each
light curve using artificial flare injection tests, and the tools for this work
have been made publicly available. The final sample contains 851,168 candidate
flare events recovered above the 68% completeness threshold, which were
detected from 4041 stars, or 1.9% of the stars in the Kepler database. The
average flare energy detected is ~$10^{35}$ erg. The net fraction of flare
stars increases with $g-i$ color, or decreasing stellar mass. For stars in this
sample with previously measured rotation periods, the total relative flare
luminosity is compared to the Rossby number. A tentative detection of flare
activity saturation for low-mass stars with rapid rotation below a Rossby
number of ~0.03 is found. A power law decay in flare activity with Rossby
number is found with a slope of -1, shallower than typical measurements for
X-ray activity decay with Rossby number.


title:
Diffuse Galactic antimatter from faint thermonuclear supernovae in old
  stellar populations

abstract:
  Our Galaxy hosts the annihilation of a few $\times 10^{43}$ low-energy
positrons every second. Radioactive isotopes capable of supplying such
positrons are synthesised in stars, stellar remnants, and supernovae. For
decades, however, there has been no positive identification of a main stellar
positron source leading to suggestions that many positrons originate from
exotic sources like the Galaxy's central super-massive black hole or dark
matter annihilation. %, but such sources would not explain the
recently-detected positron signal from the extended Galactic disk. Here we show
that a single type of transient source, deriving from stellar populations of
age 3-6 Gyr and yielding ~0.03 $M_\odot$ of the positron emitter $^{44}$Ti, can
simultaneously explain the strength and morphology of the Galactic positron
annihilation signal and the solar system abundance of the $^{44}$Ti decay
product $^{44}$Ca. This transient is likely the merger of two low-mass white
dwarfs, observed in external galaxies as the sub-luminous, thermonuclear
supernova known as SN1991bg-like.


title:
Universal crossover from ground state to excited-state quantum
  criticality

abstract:
  We study the nonequilibrium properties of a nonergodic random quantum chain
in which highly excited eigenstates exhibit critical properties usually
associated with quantum critical ground states. The ground state and excited
states of this system belong to different universality classes, characterized
by infinite-randomness quantum critical behavior. Using strong-disorder
renormalization group techniques, we show that the crossover between the zero
and finite energy density regimes is universal. We analytically derive a flow
equation describing the unitary dynamics of this isolated system at finite
energy density from which we obtain universal scaling functions along the
crossover.


title: Heavy spin-2 Dark Matter

abstract:
  We provide further details on a recent proposal addressing the nature of the
dark sectors in cosmology and demonstrate that all current observations related
to Dark Matter can be explained by the presence of a heavy spin-2 particle.
Massive spin-2 fields and their gravitational interactions are uniquely
described by ghost-free bimetric theory, which is a minimal and natural
extension of General Relativity. In this setup, the largeness of the physical
Planck mass is naturally related to extremely weak couplings of the heavy
spin-2 field to baryonic matter and therefore explains the absence of signals
in experiments dedicated to Dark Matter searches. It also ensures the
phenomenological viability of our model as we confirm by comparing it with
cosmological and local tests of gravity. At the same time, the spin-2 field
possesses standard gravitational interactions and it decays universally into
all Standard Model fields but not into massless gravitons. Matching the
measured DM abundance together with the requirement of stability constrains the
spin-2 mass to be in the 1 to 100 TeV range.


title:
Revisiting the admissibility of non-contextual hidden variable models in
  quantum mechanics

abstract:
  We construct a non-contextual hidden variable model consistent with all the
kinematic predictions of quantum mechanics (QM). The famous Bell-KS theorem
shows that non-contextual models which satisfy a further reasonable restriction
are inconsistent with QM. In our construction, we define a weaker variant of
this restriction which captures its essence while still allowing a
non-contextual description of QM. This is in contrast to the contextual hidden
variable toy models, such as the one by Bell, and brings out an interesting
alternate way of looking at QM. The results also relate to the Bohmian model,
where it is harder to pin down such features.


title: On the geometry of thin exceptional sets in Manin's Conjecture

abstract:
  Manin's Conjecture predicts the rate of growth of rational points of a
bounded height after removing those lying on an exceptional set. We study
whether the exceptional set in Manin's Conjecture is a thin set.


title:
An Integral Formalism for the Construction of Scheme Transformations in
  Quantum Field Theory

abstract:
  We present an integral formalism for constructing scheme transformations in a
quantum field theory. We apply this to generate several new useful scheme
transformations. A comparative analysis is given of these scheme
transformations in terms of their series expansion coefficients and their
resultant effect on the interaction coupling, in particular at a zero of the
beta function away from the origin in coupling-constant space.


title:
The transition from quantum field theory to one-particle quantum
  mechanics and a proposed interpretation of Aharonov-Bohm effect

abstract:
  In this article we demonstrate a sense in which the one-particle quantum
mechanics (OPQM) and the classical electromagnetic four-potential arise from
quantum field theory (QFT). In addition, the classical Maxwell equations are
derived from a QFT scattering process, while both classical electromagnetic
fields and potentials serve as mathematical tools to approximate the
interactions among elementary particles described by QFT physics. Furthermore,
a plausible interpretation of the Aharonov-Bohm (AB) effect is raised within
the QFT framework. We provide a quantum treatment of the source of
electromagnetic potentials and argue that the underlying mechanism in the AB
effect can be understood via interactions among electrons described by QFT
where the interactions are mediated by virtual photons.


title:
Natural brain-information interfaces: Recommending information by
  relevance inferred from human brain signals

abstract:
  Finding relevant information from large document collections such as the
World Wide Web is a common task in our daily lives. Estimation of a user's
interest or search intention is necessary to recommend and retrieve relevant
information from these collections. We introduce a brain-information interface
used for recommending information by relevance inferred directly from brain
signals. In experiments, participants were asked to read Wikipedia documents
about a selection of topics while their EEG was recorded. Based on the
prediction of word relevance, the individual's search intent was modeled and
successfully used for retrieving new, relevant documents from the whole English
Wikipedia corpus. The results show that the users' interests towards digital
content can be modeled from the brain signals evoked by reading. The introduced
brain-relevance paradigm enables the recommendation of information without any
explicit user interaction, and may be applied across diverse
information-intensive applications.


title: A Bieberbach theorem for crystallographic group extensions

abstract:
  In this paper we prove that for each dimension $n$ there are only finitely
many isomorphism classes of pairs of groups $(\Gamma,\mathrm{N})$ such that
$\Gamma$ is an $n$-dimensional crystallographic group and $\mathrm{N}$ is a
normal subgroup of $\Gamma$ such that $\Gamma/\mathrm{N}$ is a crystallographic
group.


title:
Neutrino Jets from High-Mass $W_R$ Gauge Bosons in TeV-Scale Left-Right
  Symmetric Models

abstract:
  We re-examine the discovery potential at hadron colliders of high-mass
right-handed (RH) gauge bosons $W_R$ - an inherent ingredient of Left-Right
Symmetric Models (LRSM). We focus on the regime where the $W_R$ is very heavy
compared to the heavy Majorana neutrino $N$, and investigate an alternative
signature for $W_R \rightarrow N$ decays. The produced neutrinos are highly
boosted in this mass regime. Subsequently, their decays via off-shell $W_R$
bosons to jets, i.e., $N \rightarrow \ell^\pm j j$ are highly collimated,
forming a single neutrino jet $(j_N)$. The final-state collider signature is
then $\ell^\pm j_N$, instead of the widely studied $\ell^\pm\ell^\pm jj$.
Present search strategies are not sensitive to this hierarchical mass regime
due to the breakdown of the collider signature definition. We take into account
QCD corrections beyond next-to-leading order (NLO) that are important for
high-mass Drell-Yan processes at the 13 TeV Large Hadron Collider (LHC). For
the first time, we evaluate $W_R$ production at NLO with threshold resummation
at next-to-next-to-leading logarithm (NNLL) matched to the threshold-improved
parton distributions. With these improvements, we find that a ${W_R}$ of mass
$M_{W_R} = 3~(4)~[5]$ TeV and mass ratio of $(m_N/M_{W_R})<0.1$ can be
discovered with a $5-6 \sigma$ statistical significance at 13 TeV after
${10~(100)~[2000]~\text{fb}^{-1}}$ of data. Extending the analysis to the
hypothetical 100 TeV Very Large Hadron Collider (VLHC), $5\sigma$ can be
obtained for $W_R$ masses up to $M_{W_R}=15~(30)$ with approximately
$100~\text{fb}^{-1}~(10~\text{ab}^{-1})$.


title:
Einstein and M{\o}ller energy-momentum complexes for a new regular black
  hole solution with a nonlinear electrodynamics source

abstract:
  A study about the energy and momentum distributions of a new charged regular
black hole solution with a nonlinear electrodynamics source is presented. The
energy and momentum are calculated using the Einstein and M{\o}ller
energy-momentum complexes. The results show that in both pseudotensorial
prescriptions the expressions for the energy of the gravitational background
depend on the mass $M$ and the charge $q$ of the black hole, an additional
factor $\beta $ coming from the spacetime metric considered, and the radial
coordinate $r$, while in both prescriptions all the momenta vanish. Further, it
is pointed out that in some limiting and particular cases the two complexes
yield the same expression for the energy distribution as that obtained in the
relevant literature for the Schwarzschild black hole solution.


title:
Coupled quintessence and the impossibility of an interaction: a
  dynamical analysis study

abstract:
  We analyze the coupled quintessence in the light of the linear dynamical
systems theory, with two different interactions: i) proportional to the energy
density of the dark energy and ii) proportional to the sum of the energy
densities of the dark matter and dark energy. The results presented here
enlarge the previous analyses in the literature, wherein the interaction has
been only proportional to the energy density of the dark matter. In the first
case it is possible to get the well-known sequence of cosmological eras. For
the second interaction only the radiation and the dark energy era can be
described by the fixed points. Therefore, from the point-of-view of the
dynamical system theory, the interaction proportional to the sum of the energy
densities of the dark matter and dark energy does not describe the universe we
live in.


title: Dynamics of Particles Near Black Hole with Higher Dimensions

abstract:
  This paper explores the dynamics of particles in higher dimensions. For this
purpose, we discuss some interesting features related to the motion of
particles near Myers-Perry black hole with arbitrary extra dimensions as well
as single non-zero spin parameter. Assuming it as a supermassive black hole at
the center of galaxy, we calculate red-blue shifts in the equatorial plane for
the far away observer as well as corresponding black hole parameters of the
photons. Next, we study the Penrose process and find that the energy gain of
particle depends on the variation of black hole dimensions. Finally, we discuss
the center of mass energy for eleven dimensions which indicates similar
behavior as that of four dimensions but it is higher in four dimensions than
five or more dimensions. We conclude that higher dimensions have a great impact
on the particle dynamics.


title: Structure of Compact Stars in R-squared Palatini Gravity

abstract:
  We analyse configurations of compact stars in the so-called R-squared gravity
in the Palatini formalism. Using a realistic equation of state we show that the
mass-radius configurations are lighter than their counterparts in General
Relativity. We also obtain the internal profiles, which run in strong
correlation with the derivatives of the equation of state, leading to regions
where the mass parameter decreases with the radial coordinate in a
counter-intuitive way. In order to analyse such correlation, we introduce a
parametrisation of the equation of state given by multiple polytropes, which
allows us to explicitly control its derivatives. We show that, even in a
limiting case where hard phase transitions in matter are allowed, the internal
profile of the mass parameter still presents strange features and the
calculated M-R configurations also yield NSs lighter than those obtained in
General Relativity.


title: Eigenlogic: a Quantum View for Multiple-Valued and Fuzzy Systems

abstract:
  We propose a matrix model for two- and many-valued logic using families of
observables in Hilbert space, the eigenvalues give the truth values of logical
propositions where the atomic input proposition cases are represented by the
respective eigenvectors. For binary logic using the truth values {0,1} logical
observables are pairwise commuting projectors. For the truth values {+1,-1} the
operator system is formally equivalent to that of a composite spin 1/2 system,
the logical observables being isometries belonging to the Pauli group. Also in
this approach fuzzy logic arises naturally when considering non-eigenvectors.
The fuzzy membership function is obtained by the quantum mean value of the
logical projector observable and turns out to be a probability measure in
agreement with recent quantum cognition models. The analogy of many-valued
logic with quantum angular momentum is then established. Logical observables
for three-value logic are formulated as functions of the Lz observable of the
orbital angular momentum l=1. The representative 3-valued 2-argument logical
observables for the Min and Max connectives are explicitly obtained.


title: Holographic Space-time Models of Anti-deSitter Space-times

abstract:
  We study the constraints on HST models of AdS space-time. The causal diamonds
of HST along time-like geodesics of AdS space-time, fit nicely into the FRW
patch of AdS space. The coordinate singularity of the FRW patch is identified
with the proper time at which the Hilbert space of the causal diamond becomes
infinite dimensional. For diamonds much smaller than the AdS radius, RAdS, the
time dependent Hamiltonians of HST are the same as those used to describe
similar diamonds in Minkowski space. In particular, they are invariant under
the fuzzy analog of volume preserving diffeomorphisms of the holographic
screen, which leads to fast scrambling of perturbations on the horizon of a
black hole of size smaller than RAdS. We argue that, in order to take a limit
of this system which converges to a CFT, one must choose Hamiltonians, in a
range of proper times of order RAdS, which break this invariance, and become
local in a particular choice of basis for the variables. We show that,
beginning with flat, sub-RAdS, patches of dimension D, the resulting CFT,
constructed from the variables of HST, is inconsistent with the entropy of
large black holes, unless one has at least two compact dimensions, whose size
is of order RAdS. The argument is connected to a new observation about the
scrambling rate of information localized on the compact dimensions. Our
construction explains why large AdS black holes do not have the fast scrambling
property. Our present approach cannot deal with models where string theory is
weakly coupled and RAdS is of order the string scale, because the relationship
between area and entropy is non-universal in such models. On spatial length
scales longer than RAdS, our mapping of HST variables into CFT shares much with
the Tensor Network Renormalization Group (TNRG)[1] and is a sort of evolving
error correcting code[2].


title: Construction of cusp forms using Rankin-Cohen brackets

abstract:
  For a fix modular form g and a non negative ineteger {\nu}, by using
Rankin-Cohen bracket we first define a linear map $T_{g,{\nu}}$ on the space of
modular forms. We explicitly compute the adjoint of this map and show that the
n-th Fourier coefficients of the image of the cusp form f under this map is,
upto a constant a special value of Rankin-Selberg convolution of f and g.


title:
KELT-17b: A hot-Jupiter transiting an A-star in a misaligned orbit
  detected with Doppler tomography

abstract:
  We present the discovery of a hot-Jupiter transiting the V=9.23 mag
main-sequence A-star KELT-17 (BD+14 1881). KELT-17b is a 1.31 -0.29/+0.28 Mj,
1.525 -0.060/+0.065 Rj hot-Jupiter in a 3.08 day period orbit misaligned at
-115.9 +/- 4.1 deg to the rotation axis of the star. The planet is confirmed
via both the detection of the radial velocity orbit, and the Doppler
tomographic detection of the shadow of the planet over two transits. The nature
of the spin-orbit misaligned transit geometry allows us to place a constraint
on the level of differential rotation in the host star; we find that KELT-17 is
consistent with both rigid-body rotation and solar differential rotation rates
(alpha < 0.30 at 2 sigma significance). KELT-17 is only the fourth A-star with
a confirmed transiting planet, and with a mass of 1.635 -0.061/+0.066 Msun,
effective temperature of 7454 +/- 49 K, and projected rotational velocity v sin
I_* = 44.2 -1.3/+1.5 km/s; it is amongst the most massive, hottest, and most
rapidly rotating of known planet hosts.


title:
Derived equivalences, restriction to self-injective subalgebras and
  invariance of homological dimensions

abstract:
  Derived equivalences between finite dimensional algebras do, in general, not
pass to centraliser (or other) subalgebras, nor do they preserve homological
invariants of the algebras, such as global or dominant dimension. We show that,
however, they do so for large classes of algebras described in this article.
  Algebras $A$ of $\nu$-dominant dimension at least one have unique largest
non-trivial self-injective centraliser subalgebras $H_A$. A derived restriction
theorem is proved: A derived equivalence between $A$ and $B$ implies a derived
equivalence between $H_A$ and $H_B$.
  Two methods are developed to show that global and dominant dimension are
preserved by derived equivalences between algebras of $\nu$-dominant dimension
at least one with anti-automorphisms preserving simples, and also between
almost self-injective algebras. One method is based on identifying particular
derived equivalences preserving homological dimensions, while the other method
identifies homological dimensions inside certain derived categories.
  In particular, derived equivalent cellular algebras have the same global
dimension. As an application, the global and dominant dimensions of blocks of
quantised Schur algebras with $n \geq r$ are completely determined.


title: Multidimensional Plasma Wake Excitation in the Non-linear Blowout Regime

abstract:
  Plasma accelerators can sustain very high acceleration gradients. They are
promising candidates for future generations of particle accelerators for
several scientific, medical and technological applications. Current plasma
based acceleration experiments operate in the relativistic regime, where the
plasma response is strongly non-linear. We outline some of the key properties
of wakefield excitation in these regimes. We outline a multidimensional theory
for the excitation of plasma wakefields in connection with current experiments.
We then use these results and provide design guidelines for the choice of laser
and plasma parameters ensuring a stable laser wakefield accelerator that
maximizes the quality of the accelerated electrons. We also mention some of the
future challenges associated with this technology.


title: Local dimensions of measures of finite type on the torus

abstract:
  The structure of the set of local dimensions of a self-similar measure has
been studied by numerous mathematicians, initially for measures that satisfy
the open set condition and, more recently, for measures on $\mathbb{R}$ that
are of finite type.
  In this paper, our focus is on finite type measures defined on the torus, the
quotient space $\mathbb{R}\backslash \mathbb{Z}$. We give criteria which
ensures that the set of local dimensions of the measure taken over points in
special classes generates an interval. We construct a non-trivial example of a
measure on the torus that admits an isolated point in its set of local
dimensions. We prove that the set of local dimensions for a finite type measure
that is the quotient of a self-similar measure satisfying the strict separation
condition is an interval. We show that sufficiently many convolutions of
Cantor-like measures on the torus never admit an isolated point in their set of
local dimensions, in stark contrast to such measures on $\mathbb{R}$. Further,
we give a family of Cantor-like measures on the torus where the set of local
dimensions is a strict subset of the set of local dimensions, excluding the
isolated point, of the corresponding measures on $\mathbb{R}$.


title:
Deep Reconstruction-Classification Networks for Unsupervised Domain
  Adaptation

abstract:
  In this paper, we propose a novel unsupervised domain adaptation algorithm
based on deep learning for visual object recognition. Specifically, we design a
new model called Deep Reconstruction-Classification Network (DRCN), which
jointly learns a shared encoding representation for two tasks: i) supervised
classification of labeled source data, and ii) unsupervised reconstruction of
unlabeled target data.In this way, the learnt representation not only preserves
discriminability, but also encodes useful information from the target domain.
Our new DRCN model can be optimized by using backpropagation similarly as the
standard neural networks.
  We evaluate the performance of DRCN on a series of cross-domain object
recognition tasks, where DRCN provides a considerable improvement (up to ~8% in
accuracy) over the prior state-of-the-art algorithms. Interestingly, we also
observe that the reconstruction pipeline of DRCN transforms images from the
source domain into images whose appearance resembles the target dataset. This
suggests that DRCN's performance is due to constructing a single composite
representation that encodes information about both the structure of target
images and the classification of source images. Finally, we provide a formal
analysis to justify the algorithm's objective in domain adaptation context.


title:
The Mission Accessible Near-Earth Objects Survey (MANOS): first
  photometric results

abstract:
  The Mission Accessible Near-Earth Objects Survey (MANOS) aims to physically
characterize sub-km Near-Earth Objects (NEOs). We report first photometric
results from the survey which began in August, 2013. Photometric observations
were performed using 1 m to 4 m class telescopes around the world. We present
rotational periods and lightcurve amplitudes for 86 sub-km NEOs, though in some
cases, only lower limits are provided. Our main goal is to obtain lightcurves
for small NEOs (typically, sub-km objects) and estimate their rotational
periods, lightcurve amplitudes, and shapes. These properties are used for
statistical study to constrain overall properties of the NEO population. A weak
correlation seems to indicate that smaller objects are more spherical than the
larger ones. We also report 7 NEOs that are fully characterized (lightcurve and
visible spectra) as the most suitable candidates for a future human or robotic
mission. Viable mission targets are objects fully characterized, with a
Delta_v(NHATS) <12 km s^-1, and a rotational period P>1h. Assuming a similar
rate of object characterization as reported in this paper, approximately 1,230
NEOs need to be characterized in order to find 100 viable mission targets.


title:
Airborne contaminant source estimation using a finite-volume forward
  solver coupled with a Bayesian inversion approach

abstract:
  We propose a numerical algorithm for solving the atmospheric dispersion
problem with elevated point sources and ground-level deposition. The problem is
modelled by the 3D advection-diffusion equation with delta-distribution source
terms, as well as height-dependent advection speed and diffusion coefficients.
We construct a finite volume scheme using a splitting approach in which the
Clawpack software package is used as the advection solver and an implicit time
discretization is proposed for the diffusion terms. The algorithm is then
applied to an actual industrial scenario involving emissions of airborne
particulates from a zinc smelter using actual wind measurements. We also
address various practical considerations such as choosing appropriate methods
for regularizing noisy wind data and quantifying sensitivity of the model to
parameter uncertainty. Afterwards, we use the algorithm within a Bayesian
framework for estimating emission rates of zinc from multiple sources over the
industrial site. We compare our finite volume solver with a Gaussian plume
solver within the Bayesian framework and demonstrate that the finite volume
solver results in tighter uncertainty bounds on the estimated emission rates.


title:
Common-Message Broadcast Channels with Feedback in the Nonasymptotic
  Regime: Stop Feedback

abstract:
  We investigate the maximum coding rate for a given average blocklength and
error probability over a K-user discrete memoryless broadcast channel for the
scenario where a common message is transmitted using variable-length
stop-feedback codes. For the point-to-point case, Polyanskiy et al. (2011)
demonstrated that variable-length coding combined with stop-feedback
significantly increases the speed of convergence of the maximum coding rate to
capacity. This speed-up manifests itself in the absence of a square-root
penalty in the asymptotic expansion of the maximum coding rate for large
blocklengths, i.e., zero dispersion. In this paper, we present nonasymptotic
achievability and converse bounds on the maximum coding rate of the
common-message K-user discrete memoryless broadcast channel, which strengthen
and generalize the ones reported in Trillingsgaard et al. (2015) for the
two-user case. An asymptotic analysis of these bounds reveals that zero
dispersion cannot be achieved for certain common-message broadcast channels
(e.g., the binary symmetric broadcast channel). Furthermore, we identify
conditions under which our converse and achievability bounds are tight up to
the second order. Through numerical evaluations, we illustrate that our
second-order expansions approximate accurately the maximum coding rate and that
the speed of convergence to capacity is indeed slower than for the
point-to-point case.


title:
Panchromatic Imaging of a Transitional Disk: The Disk of GM Aur in
  Optical and FUV Scattered Light

abstract:
  We have imaged GM Aur with HST, detected its disk in scattered light at 1400A
and 1650A, and compared these with observations at 3300A, 5550A, 1.1 microns,
and 1.6 microns. The scattered light increases at shorter wavelengths. The
radial surface brightness profile at 3300A shows no evidence of the 24AU radius
cavity that has been previously observed in sub-mm observations. Comparison
with dust grain opacity models indicates the surface of the entire disk is
populated with sub-micron grains. We have compiled an SED from 0.1 microns to 1
mm, and used it to constrain a model of the star+disk system that includes the
sub-mm cavity using the Monte Carlo Radiative Transfer code by Barbara Whitney.
The best-fit model image indicates that the cavity should be detectable in the
F330W bandpass if the cavity has been cleared of both large and small dust
grains, but we do not detect it. The lack of an observed cavity can be
explained by the presence of sub-microns grains interior to the sub-mm cavity
wall. We suggest one explanation for this which could be due to a planet of
mass <9 Jupiter masses interior to 24 AU. A unique cylindrical structure is
detected in the FUV data from the Advanced Camera for Surveys/Solar Blind
Channel. It is aligned along the system semi-minor axis, but does not resemble
an accretion-driven jet. The structure is limb-brightened and extends 190 +/-
35 AU above the disk midplane. The inner radius of the limb-brightening is 40
+/- 10 AU, just beyond the sub-millimeter cavity wall.


title: Optical Force and Torque on Dipolar Dual Chiral Particles

abstract:
  On the one hand, electromagnetic dual particles preserve the helicity of
light upon interaction. On the other hand, chiral particles respond differently
to light of opposite helicity. These two properties on their own constitute a
source of fascination. Their combined action, however, is less explored. Here,
we study on analytical grounds the force and torque as well as the optical
cross sections of dual chiral particles in the dipolar approximation exerted by
a particular wave of well-defined helicity: A circularly polarized plane wave.
We put emphasis on particles that possess a maximally electromagnetic chiral
and hence dual response. Besides the analytical insights, we also investigate
the exerted optical force and torque on a real particle at the example of a
metallic helix that is designed to approach the maximal electromagnetic
chirality condition. Various applications in the context of optical sorting but
also nanorobotics can be foreseen considering the particles studied in this
contribution.


title:
Continuous tenor extension of affine LIBOR models with multiple curves
  and applications to XVA

abstract:
  We consider the class of affine LIBOR models with multiple curves, which is
an analytically tractable class of discrete tenor models that easily
accommodates positive or negative interest rates and positive spreads. By
introducing an interpolating function, we extend the affine LIBOR models to a
continuous tenor and derive expressions for the instantaneous forward rate and
the short rate. We show that the continuous tenor model is arbitrage-free, that
the analytical tractability is retained under the spot martingale measure, and
that under mild conditions an interpolating function can be found such that the
extended model fits any initial forward curve. This allows us to compute value
adjustments (i.e. XVAs) consistently, by solving the corresponding
`pre-default' BSDE. As an application, we compute the price and value
adjustments for a basis swap, and study the model risk associated to different
interpolating functions.


title: Reassessing the link between B-modes and inflation

abstract:
  We reevaluate the predictions of inflation regarding primordial gravity
waves, which should appear as B-modes in the CMB, in light of the fact that the
standard inflationary paradigm is unable to account for the transition from an
initially symmetric state into a non-symmetric outcome. We show that the
incorporation of an element capable of explaining such a transition
dramatically alters the prediction for the shape and size of the B-mode
spectrum. In particular, we find that by adapting a realistic objective
collapse model to the situation at hand, the B-mode spectrum gets strongly
suppressed with respect to the standard prediction. We conclude that the
failure to detect B-modes in the CMB does not rule-out the simplest
inflationary models.


title:
Positivity in $T$-equivariant $K$-theory of flag varieties associated to
  Kac-Moody groups II

abstract:
  We prove sign-alternation of the structure constants in the basis of
structure sheaves of opposite Schubert varieties in the torus-equivariant
Grothendieck group of coherent sheaves on the flag varieties $G/P$ associated
to an arbitrary symmetrizable Kac-Moody group $G$, where $P$ is any parabolic
subgroup. This generalizes the work of Anderson-Griffeth-Miller from the finite
case to the general Kac-Moody case, and affirmatively answers a conjecture of
Lam-Schilling-Shimozono regarding the signs of the structure constants in the
case of the affine Grassmannian.


title:
The nonlocal Liouville-type equation in $\mathbb{R}$ and conformal
  immersions of the disk with boundary singularities

abstract:
  In this paper we perform a blow-up and quantization analysis of the
fractional Liouville equation in dimension $1$. More precisely, given a
sequence $u_k :\mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}$ of solutions to \begin{equation}
  (-\Delta)^\frac{1}{2} u_k =K_ke^{u_k}\quad \text{in }\mathbb{R},
\end{equation} with $K_k$ bounded in $L^\infty$ and $e^{u_k}$ bounded in $L^1$
uniformly with respect to $k$, we show that up to extracting a subsequence
$u_k$ can blow-up at (at most) finitely many points $B=\{a_1,\dots, a_N\}$ and
either (i) $u_k\to u_\infty$ in $W^{1,p}_{loc}(\mathbb{R}\setminus B)$ and
$K_ke^{u_k} \stackrel{*}{\rightharpoondown} K_\infty e^{u_\infty}+ \sum_{j=1}^N
\pi \delta_{a_j}$, or (ii) $u_k\to-\infty$ uniformly locally in
$\mathbb{R}\setminus B$ and $K_k e^{u_k}\stackrel{*}{\rightharpoondown}
\sum_{j=1}^N \alpha_j \delta_{a_j}$ with $\alpha_j\ge \pi$ for every $j$. This
result, resting on the geometric interpretation and analysis provided in a
recent collaboration of the authors with T. Rivi\`ere and on a classical work
of Blank about immersions of the disk into the plane, is a fractional
counterpart of the celebrated works of Br\'ezis-Merle and Li-Shafrir on the
$2$-dimensional Liouville equation, but providing sharp quantization estimates
($\alpha_j=\pi$ and $\alpha_j\ge \pi$) which are not known in dimension $2$
under the weak assumption that $(K_k)$ be bounded in $L^\infty$ and is allowed
to change sign.


title: Probabilistic solvers for partial differential equations

abstract:
  This work is concerned with the quantification of the epistemic uncertainties
induced the discretization of partial differential equations. Following the
paradigm of probabilistic numerics, we quantify this uncertainty
probabilistically. Namely, we develop a probabilistic solver suitable for
linear partial differential equations (PDE) with mixed (Dirichlet and Neumann)
boundary conditions defined on arbitrary geometries. The idea is to assign a
probability measure on the space of solutions of the PDE and then condition
this measure by enforcing that the PDE and the boundary conditions are
satisfied at a finite set of spatial locations. The resulting posterior
probability measure quantifies our state of knowledge about the solution of the
problem given this finite discretization.


title: On Bilinear Maximal Bochner-Riesz Operators

abstract:
  We prove that the bilinear maximal Bochner-Riesz operator $T_*^\lambda$ is
bounded from $L^{p_1}(\mathbb R^n)\times L^{p_2}(\mathbb R^n)$ to $L^p(\mathbb
R^n)$ for appropriate $(p_1,p_2,p)$ when $\lambda>(4n+3)/5$.


title: Strongly interacting ultracold polar molecules

abstract:
  This paper reviews recent advances in the study of strongly interacting
systems of dipolar molecules. Heteronuclear molecules feature large and tunable
electric dipole moments, which give rise to long-range and anisotropic
dipole-dipole interactions. Ultracold samples of dipolar molecules with
long-range interactions offer a unique platform for quantum simulations and the
study of correlated many-body physics. We provide an introduction to the
physics of dipolar quantum gases, both electric and magnetic, and summarize the
multipronged efforts to bring dipolar molecules into the quantum regime. We
discuss in detail the recent experimental progress in realizing and studying
strongly interacting systems of polar molecules trapped in optical lattices,
with particular emphasis on the study of interacting spin systems and
non-equilibrium quantum magnetism. Finally, we conclude with a brief discussion
of the future prospects for studies of strongly interacting dipolar molecules.


title:
Physical Properties of the Spin Hamiltonian on Honeycomb Lattice Samples
  with Kekul\'e and Vacuum Polarization Corrections

abstract:
  Magnetic and thermodynamical properties of a system of spins in a honeycomb
lattice, such as magnetization, magnetic susceptibility and specific heat, in a
low-temperature regime are investigated by considering the effects of a
Kekul\'e scalar exchange and QED vacuum polarization corrections to the
interparticle potential. The spin lattice calculations are carried out by means
of Monte Carlo simulations. We present a number of comparative plots of all the
physical quantities we have considered and a detailed analysis is presented to
illustrate the main features and the variation profiles of the properties with
the applied external magnetic field and temperature.


title: Controlling the optical spin Hall effect with light

abstract:
  The optical spin Hall effect (OSHE) is a transport phenomenon of exciton
polaritons in semiconductor microcavities, caused by the polaritonic spin-orbit
interaction, that leads to the formation of spin textures. In the semiconductor
cavity, the physical basis of the spin orbit coupling is an effective magnetic
field caused by the splitting of transverse-electric and transverse-magnetic
(TE-TM) modes. The spin textures can be observed in the near field (local spin
distribution of polaritons), and as light polarization patterns in the more
readily observable far field. For future applications in spinoptronic devices,
a simple and robust control mechanism, which establishes a one-to-one
correspondence between stationary incident light intensity and far-field
polarization pattern, is needed. We present such a control scheme, which is
made possible by a specific double-microcavity design.


title: Uncanny subsequence selections that generate normal numbers

abstract:
  Given a real number $0.a_1a_2 a_3\dots$ that is normal to base $b$, we
examine increasing sequences $n_i$ so that the number
$0.a_{n_1}a_{n_2}a_{n_3}\dots$ are normal to base $b$. Classically it is known
that if the $n_i$ form an arithmetic progression then this will work. We give
several more constructions, including $n_i$ that are recursively defined based
on the digits $a_i$.
  Of particular interest, we show that if a number is normal to base $b$, then
removing all the digits from its expansion which equal $(b-1)$ leaves a
base-$(b-1)$ expansion that is normal to base $(b-1)$.


title: Gradient-driven diffusion and pattern formation in crowded mixtures

abstract:
  Gradient-driven diffusion in crowded, multicomponent mixtures is a topic of
high interest because of its role in biological processes such as transport in
cell membranes. In partially phase-separated solutions, gradient-driven
diffusion affects microstructure, which in turn affects diffusivity; a key
question is how this complex coupling controls both transport and pattern
formation. To examine these mechanisms, we study a two-dimensional
multi-component lattice gas model, where "tracer" molecules diffuse between a
source and a sink separated by a solution of sticky "crowder" molecules that
cluster to form dynamically evolving obstacles. In the high temperature limit,
crowders and tracers are miscible and transport may be predicted analytically.
At intermediate temperatures, crowders phase separate into clusters that drift
toward the tracer sink. As a result, steady-state tracer diffusivity depends
non-monotonically on both temperature and crowder density and we observe a
variety of complex microstructures. In the low temperature limit, crowders
rapidly aggregate to form obstacles that are kinetically arrested; if crowder
density is near the percolation threshold, resulting tracer diffusivity shows
scaling behavior with the same scaling exponent as the random resistor network
model. Though highly idealized, this simple model reveals fundamental
mechanisms governing coupled gradient-driven diffusion, phase separation, and
microstructural evolution in crowded solutions.


title:
Algorithm XXX: SC-SR1: Matlab software for solving shape-changing L-SR1
  trust-region subproblems

abstract:
  We present a MATLAB implementation of the symmetric rank-one (SC-SR1) method
that solves trust-region. subproblems when a limited-memory symmetric rank-one
(L-SR1) matrix is used in place of the true Hessian matrix, which can be used
for large-scale optimization. The method takes advantage of two shape-changing
norms[Burdakov and Yuan 2002; Burdakov et al. 2017] to decompose the
trust-region subproblem into two separate problems. Using one of the proposed
norms, the resulting subproblems have closed-form solutions. Meanwhile, using
the other proposed norm, one of the resulting subproblems has a closed-form
solution while the other is easily solvable using techniques that exploit the
structure of L-SR1 matrices. Numerical results suggest that the SC-SR1 method
is able to solve trust-region subproblems to high accuracy even in the
so-called "hard case". When integrated into a trust-region algorithm, extensive
numerical experiments suggest that the proposed algorithms perform well, when
compared with widely used solvers, such as truncated CG.


title: A Flexible Bayesian Model for Estimating Subnational Mortality

abstract:
  Reliable mortality estimates at the subnational level are essential in the
study of health inequalities within a country. One of the difficulties in
producing such estimates is the presence of small populations, where the
stochastic variation in death counts is relatively high, and so the underlying
mortality levels are unclear. We present a Bayesian hierarchical model to
estimate mortality at the subnational level. The model builds on characteristic
age patterns in mortality curves, which are constructed using principal
components from a set of reference mortality curves. Information on mortality
rates are pooled across geographic space and smoothed over time. Testing of the
model shows reasonable estimates and uncertainty levels when the model is
applied to both simulated data which mimic US counties, and real data for
French departments. The estimates produced by the model have direct
applications to the study of subregional health patterns and disparities.


title:
Temperature structures in Galactic Center clouds - Direct evidence for
  gas heating via turbulence

abstract:
  The Central Molecular Zone (CMZ) at the center of our Galaxy is the best
template to study star formation processes under extreme conditions, similar to
those in high-redshift galaxies. We observed on-the-fly maps of para-H$_{2}$CO
transitions at 218 GHz and 291 GHz towards seven Galactic Center clouds. From
the temperature-sensitive integrated intensity line ratios of
H$_{2}$CO(3$_{2,1}-$2$_{2,0}$)/H$_{2}$CO(3$_{0,3}-$2$_{0,2}$) and
H$_{2}$CO(4$_{2,2}-$3$_{2,1}$)/H$_{2}$CO(4$_{0,4}-$3$_{0,3}$) in combination
with radiative transfer models, we produce gas temperature maps of our targets.
These transitions are sensitive to gas with densities of $\sim$10$^{5}$
cm$^{-3}$ and temperatures <150 K. The measured gas temperatures in our sources
are all higher (>40 K) than their dust temperatures ($\sim$25 K). Our targets
have a complex velocity structure that requires a careful disentanglement of
the different components. We produce temperature maps for each of the velocity
components and show that the temperatures of the components differ, revealing
temperature gradients in the clouds. Combining the temperature measurements
with the integrated intensity line ratio of
H$_{2}$CO(4$_{0,4}-$3$_{0,3}$)/H$_{2}$CO(3$_{0,3}-$2$_{0,2}$), we constrain the
density of this warm gas to 10$^{4}-$10$^{6}$ cm$^{-3}$. We find a positive
correlation of the line width of the main H$_{2}$CO lines with the temperature
of the gas, direct evidence for gas heating via turbulence. Our data is
consistent with a turbulence heating model with a density of n = 10$^5$
cm$^{-3}$.


title:
Probing neutrino nature at Borexino detector with chromium neutrino
  source

abstract:
  In this paper, we indicate a possibility of utilizing the intense chromium
source ($\sim 370 PBq$) in probing the neutrino nature in low energy neutrino
experiments with the ultra-low threshold and background real-time Borexino
detector located near the source ($\sim 8 m$). We analyze the elastic
scattering of electron neutrinos (Dirac or Majorana, respectively) on the
unpolarized electrons in the relativistic neutrino limit. We assume that the
incoming neutrino beam is the superposition of left-right chiral states. Left
chiral neutrinos may be detected by the standard $V A$ and non-standard scalar
$S_L$, tensor $T_L$ interactions, while right chiral ones partake only in the
exotic $V + A$ and $S_R, T_R$ interactions. Our model-independent study is
carried out for the flavour (current) neutrino eigenstates. We compute the
expected event number for the standard $V-A$ interaction of the left chiral
neutrinos using the current experimental values of standard couplings and in
the case of left-right chiral superposition. We show that the significant
decrement in the event number due to the interference terms between the
standard and exotic interactions for the Majorana $\nu_e$'s may appear. The $90
\%$ C. L. sensitivity contours in the planes of corresponding exotic couplings
are also found. The presence of interferences in the Majorana case gives the
stronger constraints than for the Dirac neutrinos, even if the neutrino source
is placed outside the detector.


title:
Hubble parameter measurement constraints on the redshift of the
  deceleration-acceleration transition, dynamical dark energy, and space
  curvature

abstract:
  We compile an updated list of 38 measurements of the Hubble parameter $H(z)$
between redshifts $0.07 \leq z \leq 2.36$ and use them to place constraints on
model parameters of constant and time-varying dark energy cosmological models,
both spatially flat and curved. We use five models to measure the redshift of
the cosmological deceleration-acceleration transition, $z_{\rm da}$, from these
$H(z)$ data. Within the error bars, the measured $z_{\rm da}$ are insensitive
to the model used, depending only on the value assumed for the Hubble constant
$H_0$. The weighted mean of our measurements is $z_{\rm da} = 0.72 \pm 0.05\
(0.84 \pm 0.03)$ for $H_0 = 68 \pm 2.8\ (73.24 \pm 1.74)$ km s$^{-1}$
Mpc$^{-1}$ and should provide a reasonably model-independent estimate of this
cosmological parameter. The $H(z)$ data are consistent with the standard
spatially-flat $\Lambda$CDM cosmological model but do not rule out non-flat
models or dynamical dark energy models.


title:
Spectral Functions with the Density Matrix Renormalization Group:
  Krylov-space Approach for Correction Vectors

abstract:
  Frequency-dependent correlations, such as the spectral function and the
dynamical structure factor, help understand condensed matter experiments.
Within the density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) framework, an accurate
method for calculating spectral functions directly in frequency is the
correction-vector method. The correction-vector can be computed by solving a
linear equation or by minimizing a functional. This paper proposes an
alternative to calculate the correction vector: to use the Krylov-space
approach. This paper then studies the accuracy and performance of the
Krylov-space approach, when applied to the Heisenberg, the t-J, and the Hubbard
models. The cases studied indicate that Krylov-space approach can be more
accurate and efficient than conjugate gradient, and that the error of the
former integrates best when a Krylov-space decomposition is also used for
ground state DMRG.


title:
Magnetic-Field-Induced Topological Reorganization of a P-wave
  Superconductor

abstract:
  In this work we illustrate the detrimental impact of the Cooper pair's
spin-structure on the thermodynamic and topological properties of a
spin-triplet superconductor in an applied Zeeman field. We particularly focus
on the paradigmatic one-dimensional case (Kitaev chain) for which we
self-consistently retrieve the energetically preferred Cooper pair spin-state
in terms of the corresponding spin d-vector. The latter undergoes a substantial
angular and amplitude reorganization upon the variation of the strength and the
orientation of the field and results to a modification of the bulk topological
phase diagram. Markedly, when addressing the open chain we find that the
orientation of the d-vector varies spatially near the boundary, affecting in
this manner the appearance of Majorana fermions at the edge or even altering
the properties of the bulk region. Our analysis reveals the limitations and
breakdown of the bulk-boundary correspondence in interacting topological
systems.


title: Binary neutron-star mergers: a review of Einstein's richest laboratory

abstract:
  The merger of binary neutron-stars systems combines in a single process:
extreme gravity, copious emission of gravitational waves, complex microphysics,
and electromagnetic processes that can lead to astrophysical signatures
observable at the largest redshifts. We review here the recent progress in
understanding what could be considered Einstein's richest laboratory,
highlighting in particular the numerous significant advances of the last
decade. Although special attention is paid to the status of models, techniques,
and results for fully general-relativistic dynamical simulations, a review is
also offered on initial data and advanced simulations with approximate
treatments of gravity. Finally, we review the considerable amount of work
carried out on the post-merger phase, including: black-hole formation, torus
accretion onto the merged compact object, connection with gamma-ray burst
engines, ejected material, and its nucleosynthesis.


title:
Is there a signal for Lorentz non-invariance in existing radioactive
  decay data?

abstract:
  Measurements of the beta decay rates of nuclei have revealed annual
periodicities with approximately the same relative amplitude even though the
half-lives range over nine orders of magnitude. Here we show that this can be
explained if the emitted neutrinos behave as if they propagate in a medium with
a refractive index which varies as the Earth orbits the sun. This refractive
index may be due to fundamental Lorentz non-invariance (LNI), or apparent LNI
arising from interactions with solar or relic neutrinos, or dark matter.
Additionally, this medium could have consequences for experiments attempting to
measure the neutrino mass.


title:
Open-Vocabulary Semantic Parsing with both Distributional Statistics and
  Formal Knowledge

abstract:
  Traditional semantic parsers map language onto compositional, executable
queries in a fixed schema. This mapping allows them to effectively leverage the
information contained in large, formal knowledge bases (KBs, e.g., Freebase) to
answer questions, but it is also fundamentally limiting---these semantic
parsers can only assign meaning to language that falls within the KB's
manually-produced schema. Recently proposed methods for open vocabulary
semantic parsing overcome this limitation by learning execution models for
arbitrary language, essentially using a text corpus as a kind of knowledge
base. However, all prior approaches to open vocabulary semantic parsing replace
a formal KB with textual information, making no use of the KB in their models.
We show how to combine the disparate representations used by these two
approaches, presenting for the first time a semantic parser that (1) produces
compositional, executable representations of language, (2) can successfully
leverage the information contained in both a formal KB and a large corpus, and
(3) is not limited to the schema of the underlying KB. We demonstrate
significantly improved performance over state-of-the-art baselines on an
open-domain natural language question answering task.


title: Anomalous Spectral Types and Intrinsic Colors of Young Stars

abstract:
  We highlight differences in spectral types and intrinsic colors observed in
pre-main sequence (pre-MS) stars. Spectral types of pre-MS stars are
wavelength-dependent, with near-infrared spectra being 3-5 spectral sub-classes
later than the spectral types determined from optical spectra. In addition, the
intrinsic colors of young stars differ from that of main-sequence stars at a
given spectral type. We caution observers to adopt optical spectral types over
near-infrared types, since Hertzsprung-Russell (H-R) diagram positions derived
from optical spectral types provide consistency between dynamical masses and
theoretical evolutionary tracks. We also urge observers to deredden pre-MS
stars with tabulations of intrinsic colors specifically constructed for young
stars, since their unreddened colors differ from that of main sequence dwarfs.
Otherwise, V-band extinctions as much as ~0.6 mag erroneously higher than the
true extinction may result, which would introduce systematic errors in the H-R
diagram positions and thus bias the inferred ages.


title:
Suppressing escape events in maps of the unit interval with demographic
  noise

abstract:
  We explore the properties of discrete-time stochastic processes with a
bounded state space, whose deterministic limit is given by a map of the unit
interval. We find that, in the mesoscopic description of the system, the large
jumps between successive iterates of the process can result in probability
leaking out of the unit interval, despite the fact that the noise is
multiplicative and vanishes at the boundaries. By including higher-order terms
in the mesoscopic expansion, we are able to capture the non-Gaussian nature of
the noise distribution near the boundaries, but this does not preclude the
possibility of a trajectory leaving the interval. We propose a number of
prescriptions for treating these escape events, and we compare the results with
those obtained for the metastable behavior of the microscopic model, where
escape events are not possible. We find that, rather than truncating the noise
distribution, censoring this distribution to prevent escape events leads to
results which are more consistent with the microscopic model. The addition of
higher moments to the noise distribution does not increase the accuracy of the
final results, and it can be replaced by the simpler Gaussian noise.


title:
Markov processes conditioned on their location at large exponential
  times

abstract:
  Suppose that $(X_t)_{t \ge 0}$ is a one-dimensional Brownian motion with
negative drift $-\mu$. It is possible to make sense of conditioning this
process to be in the state $0$ at an independent exponential random time and if
we kill the conditioned process at the exponential time the resulting process
is Markov. If we let the rate parameter of the random time go to $0$, then the
limit of the killed Markov process evolves like $X$ conditioned to hit $0$,
after which time it behaves as $X$ killed at the last time $X$ visits $0$.
Equivalently, the limit process has the dynamics of the killed "bang--bang"
Brownian motion that evolves like Brownian motion with positive drift $+\mu$
when it is negative, like Brownian motion with negative drift $-\mu$ when it is
positive, and is killed according to the local time spent at $0$.
  An extension of this result holds in great generality for Borel right
processes conditioned to be in some state $a$ at an exponential random time, at
which time they are killed. Our proofs involve understanding the Campbell
measures associated with local times, the use of excursion theory, and the
development of a suitable analogue of the "bang--bang" construction for general
Markov processes.
  As examples, we consider the special case when the transient Borel right
process is a one-dimensional diffusion. Characterizing the limiting conditioned
and killed process via its infinitesimal generator leads to an investigation of
the $h$-transforms of transient one-dimensional diffusion processes that goes
beyond what is known and is of independent interest.


title: Expanding K\"ahler-Ricci solitons coming out of K\"ahler cones

abstract:
  We give necessary and sufficient conditions for a K\"ahler equivariant
resolution of a K\"ahler cone, with the resolution satisfying one of a number
of auxiliary conditions, to admit a unique asymptotically conical (AC)
expanding gradient K\"ahler-Ricci soliton. In particular, it follows that for
any $n\in\mathbb{N}_{0}$ and for any negative line bundle $L$ over a compact
K\"ahler manifold $D$, the total space of the vector bundle $L^{\oplus (n+1)}$
admits a unique AC expanding gradient K\"ahler-Ricci soliton with soliton
vector field a positive multiple of the Euler vector field if and only if
$c_{1}(K_{D}\otimes(L^{*})^{\otimes (n+1)})>0$. This generalises the examples
already known in the literature. We further prove a general uniqueness result
and show that the space of certain AC expanding gradient K\"ahler-Ricci
solitons on $\mathbb{C}^{n}$ with positive curvature operator on
$(1,\,1)$-forms is path-connected.


title:
Improved Multi-Class Cost-Sensitive Boosting via Estimation of the
  Minimum-Risk Class

abstract:
  We present a simple unified framework for multi-class cost-sensitive
boosting. The minimum-risk class is estimated directly, rather than via an
approximation of the posterior distribution. Our method jointly optimizes
binary weak learners and their corresponding output vectors, requiring classes
to share features at each iteration. By training in a cost-sensitive manner,
weak learners are invested in separating classes whose discrimination is
important, at the expense of less relevant classification boundaries.
Additional contributions are a family of loss functions along with proof that
our algorithm is Boostable in the theoretical sense, as well as an efficient
procedure for growing decision trees for use as weak learners. We evaluate our
method on a variety of datasets: a collection of synthetic planar data, common
UCI datasets, MNIST digits, SUN scenes, and CUB-200 birds. Results show
state-of-the-art performance across all datasets against several strong
baselines, including non-boosting multi-class approaches.


title:
Silicon photonic crystal cavity enhanced second-harmonic generation from
  monolayer WSe2

abstract:
  Nano-resonator integrated with two-dimensional materials (e.g. transition
metal dichalcogenides) have recently emerged as a promising nano-optoelectronic
platform. Here we demonstrate resonatorenhanced second-harmonic generation
(SHG) in tungsten diselenide using a silicon photonic crystal cavity. By
pumping the device with the ultrafast laser pulses near the cavity mode at the
telecommunication wavelength, we observe a near visible SHG with a narrow
linewidth and near unity linear polarization, originated from the coupling of
the pump photon to the cavity mode. The observed SHG is enhanced by factor of
~200 compared to a bare monolayer on silicon. Our results imply the efficacy of
cavity integrated monolayer materials for nonlinear optics and the potential of
building a silicon-compatible second-order nonlinear integrated photonic
platform.


title: Statistical Issues in Neutrino Physics Analyses

abstract:
  Various statistical issues relevant to searches for new physics or to
parameter determination in analyses of data in neutrino experiments are briefly
discussed.


title: Compact quantum stabilizer subgroups

abstract: We generalize the concept of stabilizer subgroups to compact quantum groups.


title: Do Sums of Squares Dream of Free Resolutions?

abstract:
  We associate to a real projective variety $X$ two convex cones which are
fundamental in real algebraic geometry: the cone $P_X$ of quadratic forms
nonnegative on $X$, and the cone $\Sigma_X$ of sums of squares of linear forms.
The dual cone $\Sigma_X^\ast$ is a spectrahedron and we show that its convexity
properties are closely related to homological properties of $X$. For instance,
we show that all extreme rays of $\Sigma_X^\ast$ have rank one if and only if X
has Castelnuovo-Mumford regularity two. More generally, if $\Sigma_X^\ast$ has
an extreme ray of rank $p > 1$, then $X$ does not satisfy the property
$N_{2,p}$. We show that the converse also holds in a wide variety of
situations: the smallest $p$ for which property $N_{2,p}$ does not hold is
equal to the smallest rank of an extreme ray of $\Sigma_X^\ast$ greater than
one. These results allow us to generalize the work of Blekherman-Smith-Velasco
on equality of nonnegative polynomials and sums of squares from irreducible
varieties to reduced schemes and to classify all spectrahedral cones with only
rank one extreme rays. Our results have applications to the positive
semidefinite matrix completion problem and to the truncated moment problem on
projective varieties.


title:
Inverse Mellin Transformation of Continuous Singular Value
  Decomposition: A Route to Holographic Renormalization

abstract:
  We examine holographic renormalization by the singular value decomposition
(SVD) of matrix data generated by the Monte Carlo snapshot of the 2D classical
Ising model at criticality. To take the continuous limit of the SVD enables us
to find the mathematical form of each SVD component by the inverse Mellin
transformation as well as the power-law behavior of the SVD spectrum. We find
that each SVD component is characterized by the two-point spin correlator with
a finite correlation length. Then, the continuous limit of the decomposition
index in the SVD corresponds to the inverse of the correlation length. These
features strongly suggest that the SVD contains mathematical structure the same
as the holographic renormalization.


title:
The Connection Between Galaxy Environment and the Luminosity Function
  Slopes of Star-Forming Regions

abstract:
  We present the first study of GALEX far ultra-violet (FUV) luminosity
functions of individual star-forming regions within a sample of 258 nearby
galaxies spanning a large range in total stellar mass and star formation
properties. We identify ~65,000 star-forming regions (i.e., FUV sources),
measure each galaxy's luminosity function, and characterize the relationships
between the luminosity function slope (alpha) and several global galaxy
properties. A final sample of 82 galaxies with reliable luminosity functions
are used to define these relationships and represent the largest sample of
galaxies with the largest range of galaxy properties used to study the
connection between luminosity function properties and galaxy environment. We
find that alpha correlates with global star formation properties, where
galaxies with higher star formation rates and star formation rate densities
(Sigma_SFR) tend to have flatter luminosity function slopes. In addition, we
find that neither stochastic sampling of the luminosity function in galaxies
with low-number statistics nor the effects of blending due to distance can
fully account for these trends. We hypothesize that the flatter slopes in high
Sigma_SFR galaxies is due to higher gas densities and higher star formation
efficiencies which result in proportionally greater numbers of bright
star-forming regions. Finally, we create a composite luminosity function
composed of star-forming regions from many galaxies and find a break in the
luminosity function at brighter luminosities. However, we find that this break
is an artifact of varying detection limits for galaxies at different distances.


title:
Metallicity and Age of the Stellar Stream Around the Disk Galaxy NGC
  5907

abstract:
  Stellar streams have become central to studies of the interaction histories
of nearby galaxies. To characterize the most prominent parts of the stellar
stream around the well-known nearby (d = 17 Mpc) edge-on disk galaxy NGC 5907,
we have obtained and analyzed new, deep gri Subaru/Suprime-Cam and 3.6 micron
Spitzer/Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) observations. Combining the near-infrared
3.6 micron data with visible-light images allows us to use a long wavelength
baseline to estimate the metallicity and age of the stellar population along a
~60 kpc long segment of the stream. We have fitted the stellar spectral energy
distribution (SED) with a single-burst stellar population synthesis model and
we use it to distinguish between the proposed satellite accretion and
minor/major merger formation models of the stellar stream around this galaxy.
We conclude that a massive minor merger (stellar mass ratio of at least 1:8)
can best account for the metallicity of -0.3 inferred along the brightest parts
of the stream.


title:
Boron Nitride Nanosheets Improve Sensitivity and Reusability of Surface
  Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy

abstract:
  Surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is a useful multidisciplinary
analytic technique. However, it is still a challenge to produce SERS substrates
that are highly sensitive, reproducible, stable, reusable, and scalable. Here,
we demonstrate that atomically thin boron nitride (BN) nanosheets have many
unique and desirable properties to help solve this challenge. The synergic
effect of the atomic thickness, high flexibility, stronger surface adsorption
capability, electrical insulation, impermeability, high thermal and chemical
stability of BN nanosheets can increase the Raman sensitivity by up to two
orders, and in the meantime attain long-term stability and extraordinary
reusability not achievable by other materials. These advances will greatly
facilitate the wider use of SERS in many fields.


title:
A data scalable augmented Lagrangian KKT preconditioner for large scale
  inverse problems

abstract:
  Current state of the art preconditioners for the reduced Hessian and the
Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) operator for large scale inverse problems are
typically based on approximating the reduced Hessian with the regularization
operator. However, the quality of this approximation degrades with increasingly
informative observations or data. Thus the best case scenario from a scientific
standpoint (fully informative data) is the worse case scenario from a
computational perspective. In this paper we present an augmented
Lagrangian-type preconditioner based on a block diagonal approximation of the
augmented upper left block of the KKT operator. The preconditioner requires
solvers for two linear subproblems that arise in the augmented KKT operator,
which we expect to be much easier to precondition than the reduced Hessian.
Analysis of the spectrum of the preconditioned KKT operator indicates that the
preconditioner is effective when the regularization is chosen appropriately. In
particular, it is effective when the regularization does not over-penalize
highly informed parameter modes and does not under-penalize uninformed modes.
Finally, we present a numerical study for a large data/low noise Poisson source
inversion problem, demonstrating the effectiveness of the preconditioner. In
this example, three MINRES iterations on the KKT system with our preconditioner
results in a reconstruction with better accuracy than 50 iterations of CG on
the reduced Hessian system with regularization preconditioning.


title: Assembly maps for topological cyclic homology of group algebras

abstract:
  We use assembly maps to study $\mathbf{TC}(\mathbb{A}[G];p)$, the topological
cyclic homology at a prime $p$ of the group algebra of a discrete group $G$
with coefficients in a connective ring spectrum $\mathbb{A}$. For any finite
group, we prove that the assembly map for the family of cyclic subgroups is an
isomorphism on homotopy groups. For infinite groups, we establish
pro-isomorphism, (split) injectivity, and rational injectivity results, as well
as counterexamples to injectivity and surjectivity. In particular, for
hyperbolic groups and for virtually finitely generated abelian groups, we show
that the assembly map for the family of virtually cyclic subgroups is injective
but in general not surjective.


title: Pentagrams, inscribed polygons, and Prym varieties

abstract:
  The pentagram map is a discrete integrable system on the moduli space of
planar polygons. The corresponding first integrals are so-called monodromy
invariants $E_1, O_1, E_2, O_2,\dots$ By analyzing the combinatorics of these
invariants, R.Schwartz and S.Tabachnikov have recently proved that for polygons
inscribed in a conic section one has $E_k = O_k$ for all $k$. In this paper we
give a simple conceptual proof of the Schwartz-Tabachnikov theorem. Our main
observation is that for inscribed polygons the corresponding monodromy
satisfies a certain self-duality relation. From this we also deduce that the
space of inscribed polygons with fixed values of the monodromy invariants is an
open dense subset in the Prym variety (i.e., a half-dimensional torus in the
Jacobian) of the spectral curve. As a byproduct, we also prove another
conjecture of Schwartz and Tabachnikov on positivity of monodromy invariants
for convex polygons.


title:
Fast Sampling for Strongly Rayleigh Measures with Application to
  Determinantal Point Processes

abstract:
  In this note we consider sampling from (non-homogeneous) strongly Rayleigh
probability measures. As an important corollary, we obtain a fast mixing Markov
Chain sampler for Determinantal Point Processes.


title: Tuning the electronic and the crystalline structure of LaBi by pressure

abstract:
  Extreme magnetoresistance (XMR) in topological semimetals is a recent
discovery which attracts attention due to its robust appearance in a growing
number of materials. To search for a relation between XMR and
superconductivity, we study the effect of pressure on LaBi taking advantage of
its simple structure and simple composition. By increasing pressure we observe
the disappearance of XMR followed by the appearance of superconductivity at
P=3.5 GPa.The suppression of XMR is correlated with increasing zero-field
resistance instead of decreasing in-field resistance. At higher pressures, P=11
GPa, we find a structural transition from the face center cubic lattice to a
primitive tetragonal lattice in agreement with theoretical predictions. We
discuss the relationship between extreme magnetoresistance, superconductivity,
and structural transition in LaBi.


title:
Search for lepton flavour violating decays of the Higgs boson to e tau
  and e mu in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV

abstract:
  A direct search for lepton flavour violating decays of the Higgs boson (H) in
the H to e tau and H to e mu channels is described. The data sample used in the
search was collected in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV with the
CMS detector at the LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 19.7
inverse femtobarns. No evidence is found for lepton flavour violating decays in
either final state. Upper limits on the branching fractions, B(H to e tau ) <
0.69% and B(H to e mu) < 0.035%, are set at the 95% confidence level. The
constraint set on B(H to e tau) is an order of magnitude more stringent than
the existing indirect limits. The limits are used to constrain the
corresponding flavour violating Yukawa couplings, absent in the standard model.


title:
Robustness analysis of bimodal networks in the whole range of degree
  correlation

abstract:
  We present exact analysis of the physical properties of bimodal networks
specified by the two peak degree distribution fully incorporating the
degree-degree correlation between node connection. The structure of the
correlated bimodal network is uniquely determined by the Pearson coefficient of
the degree correlation, keeping its degree distribution fixed. The percolation
threshold and the giant component fraction of the correlated bimodal network
are analytically calculated in the whole range of the Pearson coefficient from
$-1$ to $1$ against two major types of node removal, which are the random
failure and the degree-based targeted attack. The Pearson coefficient for
next-nearest-neighbor pairs is also calculated, which always takes a positive
value even when the correlation between nearest-neighbor pairs is negative.
From the results, it is confirmed that the percolation threshold is a
monotonically decreasing function of the Pearson coefficient for the degrees of
nearest-neighbor pairs increasing from $-1$ and $1$ regardless of the types of
node removal. In contrast, the node fraction of the giant component for bimodal
networks with positive degree correlation rapidly decreases in the early stage
of random failure, while that for bimodal networks with negative degree
correlation remains relatively large until the removed node fraction reaches
the threshold. In this sense, bimodal networks with negative degree correlation
are more robust against random failure than those with positive degree
correlation.


title:
Multiband superconductivity in the correlated electron filled
  skutterudite system Pr(1-x)Ce(x)Pt4Ge12

abstract:
  Studies of superconductivity in multiband correlated electronic systems has
become one of the central topics in condensed matter/materials physics. In this
paper, we present the results of thermodynamic measurements on the
superconducting filled skutterudite system Pr$_{1-x}$Ce$_x$Pt$_4$Ge$_{12}$ ($ 0
\leq x \leq 0.2$) to investigate how substitution of Ce at Pr sites affects
superconductivity. We find that an increase in Ce concentration leads to a
suppression of the superconducting transition temperature from $T_{c}\sim 7.9$
K for $x=0$ to $T_c\sim 0.6$ K for $x=0.14$. Our analysis of the specific heat
data for $x\leq 0.07$ reveals that superconductivity must develop in at least
two bands: the superconducting order parameter has nodes on one Fermi pocket
and remains fully gapped on the other. Both the nodal and nodeless gap values
decrease, with the nodal gap being suppressed more strongly, with Ce
substitution. Ultimately, the higher Ce concentration samples ($x>0.07$)
display a nodeless gap only.


title:
Ground Testing and Flight Demonstration of Charge Management of
  Insulated Test Masses Using UV LED Electron Photoemission

abstract:
  The UV LED mission demonstrates the precise control of the potential of
electrically isolated test masses that is essential for the operation of space
accelerometers and drag free sensors. Accelerometers and drag free sensors were
and remain at the core of geodesy, aeronomy, and precision navigation missions
as well as gravitational science experiments and gravitational wave
observatories. Charge management using photoelectrons generated by the 254 nm
UV line of Hg was first demonstrated on Gravity Probe B and is presently part
of the LISA Pathfinder technology demonstration. The UV LED mission and prior
ground testing demonstrates that AlGaN UV LEDs operating at 255 nm are superior
to Mercury vapor lamps because of their smaller size, lower draw, higher
dynamic range, and higher control authority. We show flight data from a small
satellite mission on a Saudi Satellite that demonstrates AC charge control (UV
LEDs and bias are AC modulated with adjustable relative phase) between a
spherical test mass and its housing. The result of the mission is to bring the
UV LED device Technology Readiness Level (TRL) to TRL 9 and the charge
management system to TRL 7. We demonstrate the ability to control the test mass
potential on an 89 mm diameter spherical test mass over a 20 mm gap in a drag
free system configuration. The test mass potential was measured with an ultra
high impedance contact probe. Finally, the key electrical and optical
characteristics of the UV LEDs showed less than 7.5 percent change in
performance after 12 months in orbit.


title:
Generalized thermodynamic identity and new Maxwell's law for charged AdS
  black hole

abstract:
  We study the thermodynamic properties of the RN-AdS black hole in full phase
space and propose a generalized thermodynamic identity. As an example, we use
it to find relations of thermodynamical coefficients between the grand
canonical and canonical ensembles. We also show, for the first order phase
transition, that the usual Maxwell's equal area law should be extended to a new
form for the RN-AdS black hole.


title: Polyhedral approximation in mixed-integer convex optimization

abstract:
  Generalizing both mixed-integer linear optimization and convex optimization,
mixed-integer convex optimization possesses broad modeling power but has seen
relatively few advances in general-purpose solvers in recent years. In this
paper, we intend to provide a broadly accessible introduction to our recent
work in developing algorithms and software for this problem class. Our approach
is based on constructing polyhedral outer approximations of the convex
constraints, resulting in a global solution by solving a finite number of
mixed-integer linear and continuous convex subproblems. The key advance we
present is to strengthen the polyhedral approximations by constructing them in
a higher-dimensional space. In order to automate this extended formulation we
rely on the algebraic modeling technique of disciplined convex programming
(DCP), and for generality and ease of implementation we use conic
representations of the convex constraints. Although our framework requires a
manual translation of existing models into DCP form, after performing this
transformation on the MINLPLIB2 benchmark library we were able to solve a
number of unsolved instances and on many other instances achieve superior
performance compared with state-of-the-art solvers like Bonmin, SCIP, and
Artelys Knitro.


title:
Constraining warm dark matter mass with cosmic reionization and
  gravitational wave

abstract:
  We constrain the warm dark matter (WDM) particle mass with the observations
of cosmic reionization and CMB optical depth. We suggest that the GWs from
stellar mass black holes (BHs) could give a further constraint on WDM particle
mass for future observations. The star formation rates (SFRs) of Population
I/II (Pop I/II) and Population III (Pop III) stars are also derived. If the
metallicity of the universe have been enriched beyond the critical value of
$Z_{\rm crit}=10^{-3.5}Z_{\odot}$, the star formation shift from Pop III to Pop
I/II stars. Our results show that the SFRs are quite dependent on the WDM
particle mass, especially at high redshifts. Combing with the reionization
history and CMB optical depth derived from the recent \emph{Planck} mission, we
find that the current data requires the WDM particle mass in a narrow range of
$1 < m_x < 3$ keV. Furthermore, we suggest that the stochastic gravitational
wave background (SGWB) produced by stellar BHs could give a further constraint
on the WDM particle mass for future observations. For $m_{x}=3$ keV with
Salpeter (Chabrier) initial mass function (IMF), the SGWB from Pop I/II BHs has
a peak amplitude of $\Omega_{\rm GW}\approx2.8\times 10^{-9}~(5.0\times
10^{-9})$ at $f= 316 {\rm Hz}$, while the GW radiation at $f<10$Hz is seriously
suppressed. For $m_{\rm x}=1$ keV, the SGWB peak amplitude is the same as that
of $m_{\rm x}=1$ keV, but a little lower at low frequencies. Therefore, it is
hard to constrain the WDM particle mass by the SGWB from Pop I/II BHs. To
assess the detectability of GW signal, we also calculate the signal to noise
ratio (SNR), which are $\rm SNR=37.7~ (66.5)$ and $27~(47.7)$ for $m_{\rm x}=3$
keV and $m_{\rm x}=1$ keV for Einstein Telescope (ET) with Salpeter (Chabrier)
IMF, respectively.


title:
Bismuthylene Monolayer: A Promising Quantum Spin Hall Insulator with
  Large Band Gaps

abstract:
  By means of first-principles calculations, we predict a new 2D QSH insulator
in the porous allotrope of Bismuth monolayer, bismuthylene, its dynamics
stability being confirmed by phonon spectrum and molecular dynamics
simulations. The analyses of electronic structures reveal that it is a native
QSH state with a gap much as large as 0.29 eV at the {\Gamma} point, which is
larger than the buckled (0.2 eV) and flattened (0.2 eV) bismuth, Bi4Br4 (0.18
eV), as well as stanene (0.1 eV), also more stable energetically than these
systems. Interestingly, the bismuthylene has tunable band gaps and nontrivial
band topology under strains within -6 - 5 % and electric fields up to 0.8
eV/{\AA}. Furthermore, a tight-binding model is constructed to explain the
low-energy physics behind band topology induced by spin-orbit coupling. We also
propose a quantum well by sandwiching bismuthylene between two BN sheets and
reveals that this structure remains topologically nontrivial with a sizeable
band gap. This findings on QSH effect of bismuthylene provide a viable platform
in new generation of dissipationless electronics and spintronics devices.


title:
Partition structure and the A-hypergeometric distribution associated
  with the rational normal curve

abstract:
  A distribution whose normalization constant is an A-hypergeometric polynomial
is called an A-hypergeometric distribution. Such a distribution is in turn a
generalization of the generalized hypergeometric distribution on the
contingency tables with fixed marginal sums. In this paper, we will see that an
A-hypergeometric distribution with a homogeneous matrix of two rows,
especially, that associated with the rational normal curve, appears in
inferences involving exchangeable partition structures. An exact sampling
algorithm is presented for the general (any number of rows) A-hypergeometric
distributions. Then, the maximum likelihood estimation of the A-hypergeometric
distribution associated with the rational normal curve, which is an algebraic
exponential family, is discussed. The information geometry of the Newton
polytope is useful for analyzing the full and the curved exponential family.
Algebraic methods are provided for evaluating the A-hypergeometric polynomials.


title:
Equilibrium Sequences and Gravitational Instability of Rotating
  Isothermal Rings

abstract:
  Nuclear rings at centers of barred galaxies exhibit strong star formation
activities. They are thought to undergo gravitational instability when
sufficiently massive. We approximate them as rigidly-rotating isothermal
objects and investigate their gravitational instability. Using a
self-consistent field method, we first construct their equilibrium sequences
specified by two parameters: alpha corresponding to the thermal energy relative
to gravitational potential energy, and R_B measuring the ellipticity or ring
thickness. Unlike in the incompressible case, not all values of R_B yield an
isothermal equilibrium, and the range of R_B for such equilibria shrinks with
decreasing alpha. The density distributions in the meridional plane are steeper
for smaller alpha, and well approximated by those of infinite cylinders for
slender rings. We also calculate the dispersion relations of nonaxisymmetric
modes in rigidly-rotating slender rings with angular frequency Omega_0 and
central density rho_max. Rings with smaller alpha are found more unstable with
a larger unstable range of the azimuthal mode number. The instability is
completely suppressed by rotation when Omega_0 exceeds the critical value. The
critical angular frequency is found to be almost constant at ~ 0.7
sqrt(G*rho_c) for alpha > 0.01 and increases rapidly for smaller alpha. We
apply our results to a sample of observed star-forming rings and confirm that
rings without a noticeable azimuthal age gradient of young star clusters are
indeed gravitationally unstable.


title:
Traffic Management for Heterogeneous Networks with Opportunistic
  Unlicensed Spectrum Sharing

abstract:
  This paper studies how to maximize the per-user-based throughput in an M-tier
heterogeneous wireless network (HetNet) by optimally managing traffic flows
between the access points (APs) in the HetNet. The APs in the first M-1 tiers
can use the licensed spectrum at the same time whereas they share the
unlicensed spectrum with the APs in the Mth tier by the proposed opportunistic
carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) protocol. The
APs that access the licensed and unlicensed spectra simultaneously are able to
integrate their spectrum resources by the carrier aggregation technique. We
first characterize the distribution of the cell load and the channel access
probability of each AP using a generalized AP association scheme. For an AP in
each tier, the tight lower bounds on its mean spectrum efficiencies in the
licensed and unlicensed spectra are derived for the general random models of
the channel gain and AP association weights. We define the per-user link
throughput and per-user network throughput based on the derived the mean
spectrum efficiencies and maximize them by proposing the decentralized and
centralized traffic management schemes for the APs in the first M-1 tiers under
the constraint that the per-user link throughput of the tier-M APs must be
above some minimum required value. Finally, a numerical example of coexisting
LTE and WiFi networks is provided to validate our derived results and findings.


title:
Energy-Reliability Limits in Nanoscale Feedforward Neural Networks and
  Formulas

abstract:
  Due to energy-efficiency requirements, computational systems are now being
implemented using noisy nanoscale semiconductor devices whose reliability
depends on energy consumed. We study circuit-level energy-reliability limits
for deep feedforward neural networks (multilayer perceptrons) built using such
devices, and en route also establish the same limits for formulas (boolean
tree-structured circuits). To obtain energy lower bounds, we extend Pippenger's
mutual information propagation technique for characterizing the complexity of
noisy circuits, since small circuit complexity need not imply low energy. Many
device technologies require all gates to have the same electrical operating
point; in circuits of such uniform gates, we show that the minimum energy
required to achieve any non-trivial reliability scales superlinearly with the
number of inputs. Circuits implemented in emerging device technologies like
spin electronics can, however, have gates operate at different electrical
points; in circuits of such heterogeneous gates, we show energy scaling can be
linear in the number of inputs. Building on our extended mutual information
propagation technique and using crucial insights from convex optimization
theory, we develop an algorithm to compute energy lower bounds for any given
boolean tree under heterogeneous gates. This algorithm runs in linear time in
number of gates, and is therefore practical for modern circuit design. As part
of our development we find a simple procedure for energy allocation across
circuit gates with different operating points and neural networks with
differently-operating layers.


title:
Spectral and scattering theory for Schr\"odinger operators on perturbed
  topological crystals

abstract:
  In this paper we investigate the spectral and the scattering theory of
Schr\"odinger operators acting on perturbed periodic discrete graphs. The
perturbations considered are of two types: either a multiplication operator by
a short-range or a long-range function, or a short-range type modification of
the measure defined on the vertices and on the edges of the graph. Mourre
theory is used for describing the nature of the spectrum of the underlying
operators. For short-range perturbations, existence and completeness of local
wave operators are also proved.


title: Effects of Additional Data on Bayesian Clustering

abstract:
  Hierarchical probabilistic models, such as mixture models, are used for
cluster analysis. These models have two types of variables: observable and
latent. In cluster analysis, the latent variable is estimated, and it is
expected that additional information will improve the accuracy of the
estimation of the latent variable. Many proposed learning methods are able to
use additional data; these include semi-supervised learning and transfer
learning. However, from a statistical point of view, a complex probabilistic
model that encompasses both the initial and additional data might be less
accurate due to having a higher-dimensional parameter. The present paper
presents a theoretical analysis of the accuracy of such a model and clarifies
which factor has the greatest effect on its accuracy, the advantages of
obtaining additional data, and the disadvantages of increasing the complexity.


title: IntelliAd Understanding In-APP Ad Costs From Users Perspective

abstract:
  Ads are an important revenue source for mobile app development, especially
for free apps, whose expense can be compensated by ad revenue. The ad benefits
also carry with costs. For example, too many ads can interfere the user
experience, leading to less user retention and reduced earnings ultimately. In
the paper, we aim at understanding the ad costs from users perspective. We
utilize app reviews, which are widely recognized as expressions of user
perceptions, to identify the ad costs concerned by users. Four types of ad
costs, i.e., number of ads, memory/CPU overhead, traffic usage, and bettery
consumption, have been discovered from user reviews. To verify whether
different ad integration schemes generate different ad costs, we first obtain
the commonly used ad schemes from 104 popular apps, and then design a framework
named IntelliAd to automatically measure the ad costs of each scheme. To
demonstrate whether these costs indeed influence users reactions, we finally
observe the correlations between the measured ad costs and the user
perceptions. We discover that the costs related to memory/CPU overhead and
battery consumption are more concerned by users, while the traffic usage is
less concerned by users in spite of its obvious variations among different
schemes in the experiments. Our experimental results provide the developers
with suggestions on better incorporating ads into apps and, meanwhile, ensuring
the user experience.


title:
Faithfulness of Directed Complete Posets based on Scott Closed Set
  Lattices

abstract:
  By Thron, a topological space $X$ has the property that $C(X)$ isomorphic to
$C(Y)$ implies $X$ is homeomorphic to $Y$ iff $X$ is sober and $T_D$, where
$C(X)$ and $C(Y)$ denote the lattices of closed sets of $X$ and $T_0$ space
$Y$, respectively. When we consider dcpos (directed complete posets) equipped
their Scott topologies, a similar question arises: which dcpos $P$ have the
property that for any dcpo $Q$, $C_\sigma(P)$ isomorphic to $C_\sigma(Q)$
implies $P$ is isomorphic to $Q$ (such a dcpo $P$ will be called Scott closed
set lattice faithful, or SCL-faithful in short)? Here $C_{\sigma}(P)$ and
$C_{\sigma}(Q)$ denote the lattices of Scott closed sets of $P$ and $Q$,
respectively. Following a characterization of continuous (quasicontinuous)
dcpos in terms of $C_{\sigma}(P)$, one easily deduces that every continuous
(quasicontinuous) dcpo is SCL-faithful. Note that the Scott space of every
continuous (quasicontinuous) dcpo is sober. Compared with Thron's result, one
naturally asks whether every SCL-faithful dcpo is sober (with the Scott
topology). In this paper we shall prove that some classes of dcpos are
SCL-faithful, these classes contain some dcpos whose Scott topologies are not
bounded sober. These results will help to obtain a complete characterization of
SCL-faithful dcpos in the future.