title:
Pattern formation with repulsive soft-core interactions: discrete
  particle dynamics and Dean-Kawasaki equation

abstract:
  Brownian particles interacting via repulsive soft-core potentials can
spontaneously aggregate, despite repelling each other, and form periodic
crystals of particle clusters. We study this phenomenon in low-dimensional
situations (one and two dimensions) at two levels of description: performing
numerical simulations of the discrete particle dynamics, and by linear and
nonlinear analysis of the corresponding Dean-Kawasaki equation for the
macroscopic particle density. Restricting to low dimensions and neglecting
fluctuation effects we gain analytical insight into the mechanisms of the
instability leading to clustering which turn out to be the interplay between
diffusion, the intracluster forces and the forces between neighboring clusters.
We show that the deterministic part of the Dean-Kawasaki equation provides a
good description of the particle dynamics, including width and shape of the
clusters, in a wide range of parameters, and analyze with weakly nonlinear
techniques the nature of the pattern-forming bifurcation in one and two
dimensions. Finally, we briefly discuss the case of attractive forces.


title:
A Metric for Evaluating and Comparing Closed-Loop Deep Brain Stimulation
  Algorithms

abstract:
  Objective: Closed-loop deep brain stimulation (DBS) may improve current
clinical DBS treatment for neurological movement disorders, but control
algorithms may perform differently across patients. New metrics are needed for
comparing and evaluating closed-loop algorithm performance that address the
specific needs of closed-loop neuromodulation controllers. Approach: A metric
is proposed for system performance that includes normalized terms that can be
used to compare algorithm performance for a patient. This metric was evaluated
using two closed-loop control algorithms that were tested in patients with
Parkinson's Disease (PD) who experience rest tremor. Main Results: The metric's
resulting balance between tremor treatment and power savings varied on a per
patient and algorithm basis. This was expected given how each trial resulted in
a variable reduction in stimulation power at the cost of additional tremor for
the patient when compared to open-loop stimulation. Significance: The proposed
metric will aid in clinical evaluation of new algorithms and provide a
benchmark for future system designers. This will be important given the growing
potential applications of dynamically adjusted neural stimulation.
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02384421.


title:
Magneto-electric spectroscopy of Andreev bound states in Josephson
  quantum dots

abstract:
  We theoretically investigate the behavior of Andreev levels in a
single-orbital interacting quantum dot in contact to superconducting leads,
focusing on the effect of electrostatic gating and applied magnetic field, as
relevant for recent experimental spectroscopic studies. In order to account
reliably for spin-polarization effects in presence of correlations, we extend
here two simple and complementary approaches that are tailored to capture
effective Andreev levels: the static functional renormalization group (fRG) and
the self-consistent Andreev bound states (SCABS) theory. We provide benchmarks
against the exact large-gap solution as well as NRG calculations and find good
quantitative agreement in the range of validity. The large flexibility of the
implemented approaches then allows us to analyze a sizeable parameter space,
allowing to get a deeper physical understanding into the Zeeman field,
electrostatic gate, and flux dependence of Andreev levels in interacting
nanostructures.


title: Weighted Polya Inequality in Cn

abstract:
  In this article, we obtain a weighted version of Polya inequality in Cn whose
unweighted form was established by V. Zakharyuta in USSR Sbornik, 25 (1975),
350-364.


title: Strategies in seismic inference of supergranular flows on the Sun

abstract:
  Observations of the solar surface reveal the presence of flows with length
scales of around $35$ Mm, commonly referred to as supergranules. Inferring the
sub-surface flow profile of supergranules from measurements of the surface and
photospheric wavefield is an important challenge faced by helioseismology.
Traditionally, the inverse problem has been approached by studying the linear
response of seismic waves in a horizontally translationally invariant
background to the presence of the supergranule; following an iterative approach
that does not depend on horizontal translational invariance might perform
better, since the misfit can be analyzed post iterations. In this work, we
construct synthetic observations using a reference supergranule, and invert for
the flow profile using surface measurements of travel-times of waves belonging
to modal ridges $f$ (surface-gravity) and $p_{1}$ through $p_{7}$ (acoustic).
We study the extent to which individual modes and their combinations contribute
to infer the flow. We show that this method of non-linear iterative inversion
tends to underestimate the flow velocities as well as inferring a shallower
flow profile, with significant deviations from the reference supergranule near
the surface. We carry out a similar analysis for a sound-speed perturbation and
find that analogous near-surface deviations persist, although the iterations
converge faster and more accurately. We conclude that a better approach to
inversion would be to expand the supergranule profile in an appropriate basis,
thereby reducing the number of parameters being inverted for and appropriately
regularizing them.


title: Flexible Polyhedra and Their Volumes

abstract:
  We discuss some recent results on flexible polyhedra and the bellows
conjecture, which claims that the volume of any flexible polyhedron is constant
during the flexion. Also, we survey main methods and several open problems in
this area.


title: Ultrafast charge redistribution in small iodine containing molecules

abstract:
  The competition between intra molecular charge redistribution and
fragmentation has been studied in small molecules containing iodine by using
intense ultrashort pulses in the extreme ultraviolet regime (XUV). We show that
after an element specific inner-shell photoionization of diiodomethane
(CH$_2$I$_2$) and iodomethane (CH$_3$I), the induced positive charge is
redistributed with a significantly different efficiency. Therefore, we analyze
ion time-of-flight data obtained from XUV-pump XUV-probe experiments at the
Free Electron Laser in Hamburg (FLASH). Theoretical considerations on the basis
of ab initio electronic structure calculations including correlations relate
this effect to a strongly molecule specific, purely electronic charge
redistribution process that takes place directly after photoionization causing
a distribution of the induced positive charge predominantly on the atoms which
exhibit the lowest atomic ionization potential, i.e, in the molecules
considered, the iodine atom(s). As a result of the very different initial
charge distributions, the fragmentation timescales of the two molecules
experimentally observed are strikingly different.


title:
Search for pair production of gluinos decaying via stop and sbottom in
  events with $b$-jets and large missing transverse momentum in $pp$ collisions
  at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV with the ATLAS detector

abstract:
  A search for Supersymmetry involving the pair production of gluinos decaying
via third-generation squarks to the lightest neutralino is reported. It uses an
LHC proton--proton dataset at a center-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV with
an integrated luminosity of 3.2 fb$^{-1}$ collected with the ATLAS detector in
2015. The signal is searched for in events containing several energetic jets,
of which at least three must be identified as $b$-jets, large missing
transverse momentum and, potentially, isolated electrons or muons. Large-radius
jets with a high mass are also used to identify highly boosted top quarks. No
excess is found above the predicted background. For neutralino masses below
approximately 700 GeV, gluino masses of less than 1.78 TeV and 1.76 TeV are
excluded at the 95% CL in simplified models of the pair production of gluinos
decaying via sbottom and stop, respectively. These results significantly extend
the exclusion limits obtained with the $\sqrt{s} = 8$ TeV dataset.


title:
Harnessing transformation optics for understanding electron energy loss
  and cathodoluminescence

abstract:
  As the continual experimental advances made in Electron energy loss
spectroscopy (EELS) and cathodoluminescence (CL) open the door to practical
exploitations of plasmonic effects in metal nanoparticles, there is an
increasing need for precise interpretation and guidance of such experiments.
Numerical simulations are available but lack physical insight, while
traditional analytical approaches are rare and limited to studying specific,
simple structures. Here, we propose a versatile and efficient method based on
transformation optics which can fully characterize and model the EELS problems
of nanoparticles of complex geometries. Detailed discussions are given on 2D
and 3D nanoparticle dimers, where the frequency and time domain responses under
electron beam excitations are derived.


title: The Distribution of Mass Surface Densities in a High-Mass Protocluster

abstract:
  We study the probability distribution function (PDF) of mass surface
densities, $\Sigma$, of infrared dark cloud (IRDC) G028.37+00.07 and its
surrounding giant molecular cloud. This PDF constrains the physical processes,
such as turbulence, magnetic fields and self-gravity, that are expected to be
controlling cloud structure and star formation activity. The chosen IRDC is of
particular interest since it has almost 100,000 solar masses within a radius of
8 parsecs, making it one of the most massive, dense molecular structures known
and is thus a potential site for the formation of a "super star cluster." We
study $\Sigma$ in two ways. First, we use a combination of NIR and MIR
extinction maps that are able to probe the bulk of the cloud structure up to
$\Sigma\sim1\:{\rm{g\:cm}^{-2}}\:$($A_V\simeq200$ mag). Second, we study the
FIR and sub-mm dust continuum emission from the cloud utilizing Herschel PACS
and SPIRE images and paying careful attention to the effects of foreground and
background contamination. We find that the PDFs from both methods, applied over
a $\sim20^\prime$(30 pc)-sized region that contains
$\simeq1.5\times10^5\:M_\odot$ and encloses a minimum closed contour with
$\Sigma\simeq0.013\:{\rm{g\:cm}^{-2}}\:$($A_V\simeq3$ mag), shows a log-normal
shape with the peak measured at
$\Sigma\simeq0.021\:{\rm{g\:cm}^{-2}}\:$($A_V\simeq4.7$ mag). There is
tentative evidence for the presence of a high-$\Sigma$ power law tail that
contains from $\sim3\%$ to 8\% of the mass of the cloud material. We discuss
the implications of these results for the physical processes occurring in this
cloud.


title: Robust Beamforming in Cache-Enabled Cloud Radio Access Networks

abstract:
  Popular content caching is expected to play a major role in efficiently
reducing backhaul congestion and achieving user satisfaction in next generation
mobile radio systems. Consider the downlink of a cache-enabled cloud radio
access network (CRAN), where each cache-enabled base station (BS) is equipped
with limited-size local cache storage. The central computing unit (cloud) is
connected to the BSs via a limited capacity backhaul link and serves a set of
single-antenna mobile users (MUs). This paper assumes that only imperfect
channel state information (CSI) is available at the cloud. It focuses on the
problem of minimizing the total network power and backhaul cost so as to
determine the beamforming vector of each user across the network, the
quantization noise covariance matrix, and the BS clustering subject to
imperfect channel state information and fixed cache placement assumptions. The
paper suggests solving such a difficult, non-convex optimization problem using
the semidefinite relaxation (SDR). The paper then uses the $\ell_0$-norm
approximation to provide a feasible, sub-optimal solution using the
majorization-minimization (MM) approach. Simulation results particularly show
how the cache-enabled network significantly improves the backhaul cost
especially at high signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) values as
compared to conventional cache-less CRANs.


title: Symplectomorphisms and discrete braid invariants

abstract:
  Area and orientation preserving diffeomorphisms of the standard 2-disc,
referred to as symplectomorphisms of $\mathbb{D}^{2}$, allow decompositions in
terms of positive twist diffeomorphisms. Using the latter decomposition we
utilize the Conley index theory of discrete braid classes as introduced in
[Ghrist et al., C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris S\'er. I Math., 331(11), 2000, Invent.
Math., 152(2), 2003] in order to obtain a Morse type forcing theory of periodic
points: a priori information about periodic points determines a mapping class
which may force additional periodic points.


title:
Properties of cuspidal divisor class numbers of non-split Cartan modular
  curves

abstract:
  Let $ \mathfrak{C}^+_{ns}(p) $ be the Cuspidal Divisor Class Group of the
modular curves $X^+_{ns}(p) $ associated to the normalizer of a non-split
Cartan subgroup of level $ p$. I study the $ p-$primary part of $
\mathfrak{C}^+_{ns}(p) $ and estimate the order of growth of $
|\mathfrak{C}^+_{ns}(p)| $.


title: Modeling of gas sample behavior in gas chromatography column

abstract:
  The equilibrium-dispersive model of the linear GC (gas chromatography) was
derived using both assumptions and the method of its derivation different from
the known in literature. It was concluded that this model is a specific case of
the Fokker-Planck equation for diffusion with drift. The resolution of this
derived equation for assumed initial conditions is the normal distribution with
movable mean value. At the end of the GC column the standard deviation of this
distribution was investigated as a factor of the sample shape. This standard
deviation is independent of the retention factor.


title:
Transformation optics: a time- and frequency-domain analysis of
  electron-energy loss spectroscopy

abstract:
  Electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) and Cathodoluminescence (CL) play a
pivotal role in many of the cutting edge experiments in plasmonics. EELS and CL
experiments are usually supported by numerical simulations, which, whilst
accurate, may not provide as much physical insight as analytical calculations
do. Fully analytical solutions to EELS and CL systems in plasmonics are rare
and difficult to obtain. This paper aims to narrow this gap by introducing a
new method based on Transformation optics that allows to calculate the
quasi-static frequency and time-domain response of plasmonic particles under
electron beam excitation.


title: Measurement-dependent locality beyond i.i.d

abstract:
  When conducting a Bell test, it is normal to assume that the preparation of
the quantum state is independent of the measurements performed on it.
Remarkably, the violation of local realism by entangled quantum systems can be
certified even if this assumption is partially relaxed. Here, we allow such
measurement dependence to correlate multiple runs of the experiment, going
beyond previous studies that considered independent and identically distributed
(i.i.d.) runs. To do so, we study the polytope that defines block-i.i.d.
measurement-dependent local models. We prove that non-i.i.d. models are
strictly more powerful than i.i.d. ones, and comment on the relevance of this
work for the study of randomness amplification in simple Bell scenarios with
suitably optimised inequalities.


title: Non- Markovian Quantum Stochastic Equation For Two Coupled Oscillators

abstract:
  The system of nonlinear Langevin equations was obtained by using
Hamiltonian's operator of two coupling quantum oscillators which are
interacting with heat bath. By using the analytical solution of these
equations, the analytical expressions for transport coefficients was found.
Generalized Langevin equations and fluctuation-dissipation relations are
derived for the case of a nonlinear non-Markovian noise. The explicit
expressions for the time-dependent friction and diffusion coefficients are
presented for the case of linear couplings in the coordinate between the
collective two coupled harmonic oscillators and heat bath.


title: Effects of cell cycle noise on excitable gene circuits

abstract:
  We assess the impact of cell cycle noise on gene circuit dynamics. For
bistable genetic switches and excitable circuits, we find that transitions
between metastable states most likely occur just after cell division and that
this concentration effect intensifies in the presence of transcriptional delay.
We explain this concentration effect with a 3-states stochastic model. For
genetic oscillators, we quantify the temporal correlations between daughter
cells induced by cell division. Temporal correlations must be captured properly
in order to accurately quantify noise sources within gene networks.


title:
On the stability and the uniform propagation of chaos properties of
  Ensemble Kalman-Bucy filters

abstract:
  The Ensemble Kalman filter is a sophisticated and powerful data assimilation
method for filtering high dimensional problems arising in fluid mechanics and
geophysical sciences. This Monte Carlo method can be interpreted as a
mean-field McKean-Vlasov type particle interpretation of the Kalman-Bucy
diffusions. In contrast to more conventional particle filters and nonlinear
Markov processes these models are designed in terms of a diffusion process with
a diffusion matrix that depends on particle covariance matrices. Besides some
recent advances on the stability of nonlinear Langevin type diffusions with
drift interactions, the long-time behaviour of models with interacting
diffusion matrices and conditional distribution interaction functions has never
been discussed in the literature. One of the main contributions of the article
is to initiate the study of this new class of models The article presents a
series of new functional inequalities to quantify the stability of these
nonlinear diffusion processes. In the same vein, despite some recent
contributions on the convergence of the Ensemble Kalman filter when the number
of sample tends to infinity very little is known on stability and the long-time
behaviour of these mean-field interacting type particle filters. The second
contribution of this article is to provide uniform propagation of chaos
properties as well as Lp-mean error estimates w.r.t. to the time horizon. Our
regularity condition is also shown to be sufficient and necessary for the
uniform convergence of the Ensemble Kalman filter. The stochastic analysis
developed in this article is based on an original combination of functional
inequalities and Foster-Lyapunov techniques with coupling, martingale
techniques, random matrices and spectral analysis theory.


title: Nonequilibrium Anderson model made simple with density functional theory

abstract:
  The single-impurity Anderson model is studied within the i-DFT framework, a
recently proposed extension of density functional theory (DFT) for the
description of electron transport in the steady state. i-DFT is designed to
give both the steady current and density at the impurity, and it requires the
knowledge of the exchange-correlation (xc) bias and on-site potential (gate).
In this work we construct an approximation for both quantities which is
accurate in a wide range of temperatures, gates and biases, thus providing a
simple and unifying framework to calculate the differential conductance at
negligible computational cost in different regimes. Our results mark a
substantial advance for DFT and may inform the construction of functionals
applicable to other correlated systems.


title: Clues to the Structure of AGN through massive variability surveys

abstract:
  Variability studies hold information on otherwise unresolvable regions in
Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). Population studies of large samples likewise have
been very productive for our understanding of AGN. These two themes are coming
together in the idea of systematic variability studies of large samples - with
SDSS, PanSTARRS, and soon, LSST. I summarise what we have learned about the
optical and UV variability of AGN, and what it tells us about accretion discs
and the BLR. The most exciting recent results have focused on rare large-scale
outbursts and collapses - Tidal Disruption Events, changing-look AGN, and large
amplitude microlensing. All of these promise to give us new insight into AGN
physics.


title:
Parametric Exponential Linear Unit for Deep Convolutional Neural
  Networks

abstract:
  Object recognition is an important task for improving the ability of visual
systems to perform complex scene understanding. Recently, the Exponential
Linear Unit (ELU) has been proposed as a key component for managing bias shift
in Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), but defines a parameter that must be
set by hand. In this paper, we propose learning a parameterization of ELU in
order to learn the proper activation shape at each layer in the CNNs. Our
results on the MNIST, CIFAR-10/100 and ImageNet datasets using the NiN,
Overfeat, All-CNN and ResNet networks indicate that our proposed Parametric ELU
(PELU) has better performances than the non-parametric ELU. We have observed as
much as a 7.28% relative error improvement on ImageNet with the NiN network,
with only 0.0003% parameter increase. Our visual examination of the non-linear
behaviors adopted by Vgg using PELU shows that the network took advantage of
the added flexibility by learning different activations at different layers.


title:
Minimum distance of Line Orthogonal Grassmann Codes in even
  characteristic

abstract:
  In this paper we determine the minimum distance of orthogonal line-Grassmann
codes for $q$ even. The case $q$ odd was solved in "I. Cardinali, L. Giuzzi, K.
Kaipa, A. Pasini, Line Polar Grassmann Codes of Orthogonal Type, J. Pure
Applied Algebra."
  We also show that for $q$ even all minimum weight codewords are equivalent
and that symplectic line-Grassmann codes are proper subcodes of codimension
$2n$ of the orthogonal ones.


title:
Competing effects of Mn and Y doping on the low-energy excitations and
  phase diagram of La$_{1-y}$Y$_{y}$Fe$_{1-x}$Mn$_x$AsO$_{0.89}$F$_{0.11}$
  iron-based superconductors

abstract:
  Muon Spin Rotation ($\mu$SR) and $^{19}$F Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR)
measurements were performed to investigate the effect of Mn for Fe
substitutions in La$_{1-y}$Y$_{y}$Fe$_{1-x}$Mn$_x$AsO$_{0.89}$F$_{0.11}$
superconductors. While for $y = 0$ a very low critical concentration of Mn ($x
= 0.2$%) is needed to quench superconductivity, as $y$ increases the negative
chemical pressure introduced by Y for La substitution stabilizes
superconductivity and for $y= 20$% it is suppressed at Mn contents an order of
magnitude larger. A magnetic phase arises once superconductivity is suppressed
both for $y$=0 and for $y= 20$%. Low-energy spin fluctuations give rise to a
peak in $^{19}$F NMR $1/T_1$ with an onset well above the superconducting
transition temperature and whose magnitude increases with $x$. Also the static
magnetic correlations probed by $^{19}$F NMR linewidth measurements show a
marked increase with Mn content. The disruption of superconductivity and the
onset of the magnetic ground-state are discussed in the light of the proximity
of LaFeAsO$_{0.89}$F$_{0.11}$ to a quantum critical point.


title: Two Universality Results for Polynomial Reproducing Kernels

abstract:
  We prove two new universality results for polynomial reproducing kernels of
compactly supported measures. The first applies to measures on the unit circle
with a jump and a singularity in the weight at $1$ and the second applies to
area-type measures on a certain disconnected polynomial lemniscate. In both
cases, we apply methods developed by Lubinsky to obtain our results.


title: Learning the image processing pipeline

abstract:
  Many creative ideas are being proposed for image sensor designs, and these
may be useful in applications ranging from consumer photography to computer
vision. To understand and evaluate each new design, we must create a
corresponding image processing pipeline that transforms the sensor data into a
form that is appropriate for the application. The need to design and optimize
these pipelines is time-consuming and costly. We explain a method that combines
machine learning and image systems simulation that automates the pipeline
design. The approach is based on a new way of thinking of the image processing
pipeline as a large collection of local linear filters. We illustrate how the
method has been used to design pipelines for novel sensor architectures in
consumer photography applications.


title: A note on the semiclassicality of cosmological perturbations

abstract:
  Moving from the consideration that matter fields must be treated in terms of
their fundamental quantum counterparts, we show straightforward arguments,
within the framework of ordinary quantum mechanics and quantum field theory, in
order to convince readers that cosmological perturbations must be addressed in
term of the semiclassical limit of the expectation value of quantum fields. We
first take into account cosmological perturbations originated by a quantum
scalar field, and then extend our treatment in order to account for the
expectation values of bilinears of Dirac fermion fields. The latter can indeed
transform as scalar quantities under diffeomorphisms, as well as all the other
bilinear of the Dirac fields that belong to the Clifford algebra. This is the
first of a series of works that is intended to prove that cosmological quantum
perturbations can actually be accounted for in terms of Dirac fermion fields,
which must be treated as fundamental quantum objects, and their dynamics.


title:
Assessment of Effectiveness of Content Models for Approximating Twitter
  Social Connection Structures

abstract:
  This paper explores the social quality (goodness) of community structures
formed across Twitter users, where social links within the structures are
estimated based upon semantic properties of user-generated content (corpus). We
examined the overlap of the community structures of the constructed graphs, and
followership-based social communities, to find the social goodness of the links
constructed. Unigram, bigram and LDA content models were empirically
investigated for evaluation of effectiveness, as approximators of underlying
social graphs, such that they maintain the {\it community} social property.
Impact of content at varying granularities, for the purpose of predicting links
while retaining the social community structures, was investigated. 100
discussion topics, spanning over 10 Twitter events, were used for experiments.
The unigram language model performed the best, indicating strong similarity of
word usage within deeply connected social communities. This observation agrees
with the phenomenon of evolution of word usage behavior, that transform
individuals belonging to the same community tending to choose the same words,
made by Danescu et al. (2013), and raises a question on the literature that
use, without validation, LDA for content-based social link prediction over
other content models. Also, semantically finer-grained content was observed to
be more effective compared to coarser-grained content.


title:
About the triviality of the higher derivative sector in the abelian
  Lee-Wick model

abstract:
  Canonical quantization is reviewed here for the Abelian Lee-Wick model by
using the Dirac constraints method, a Gupta-Bleuler-like prescription is
implemented and the BRST charge operator for this model is built. New degrees
of freedom associated to the (higher derivatives) Lee-Wick ghost are excluded
from the (physical) space of observables by the imposition of a
Piguet-Nielsen-type BRST-extended symmetry for the Lee-Wick mass term, removing
the Lee-Wick mass parameter of the theory, which implies remove all the
higher-derivative sector. In addition, another prescription based on a new
subsidiary condition of invariance under a purely higher-derivative BRST-type
new symmetry is proposed.


title: Fourier multiplier theorems involving type and cotype

abstract:
  In this paper we develop the theory of Fourier multiplier operators
$T_{m}:L^{p}(\mathbb{R}^{d};X)\to L^{q}(\mathbb{R}^{d};Y)$, for Banach spaces
$X$ and $Y$, $1\leq p\leq q\leq \infty$ and $m:\mathbb{R}^d\to
\mathcal{L}(X,Y)$ an operator-valued symbol. The case $p=q$ has been studied
extensively since the 1980's, but far less is known for $p<q$. In the scalar
setting one can deduce results for $p<q$ from the case $p=q$. However, in the
vector-valued setting this leads to restrictions both on the smoothness of the
multiplier and on the class of Banach spaces. For example, one often needs that
$X$ and $Y$ are UMD spaces and that $m$ satisfies a smoothness condition. We
show that for $p<q$ other geometric conditions on $X$ and $Y$, such as the
notions of type and cotype, can be used to study Fourier multipliers. Moreover,
we obtain boundedness results for $T_m$ without any smoothness properties of
$m$. Under smoothness conditions the boundedness results can be extrapolated to
other values of $p$ and $q$ as long as $\tfrac{1}{p}-\tfrac{1}{q}$ remains
constant.


title:
Universal off-equilibrium scaling of critical cumulants in the QCD phase
  diagram

abstract:
  Exploiting the universality between the QCD critical point and the three
dimensional Ising model, closed form expressions derived (arXiv:1506.00645 )
for non-equilibrium critical cumulants on the crossover side of the critical
point reveal that they can differ both in magnitude and sign from equilibrium
expectations. We demonstrate here that key elements of the Kibble-Zurek
framework of non-equilibrium phase transitions can be employed to describe the
dynamics of these critical cumulants. Our results suggest that observables
sensitive to critical dynamics in heavy-ion collisions should be expressible as
universal scaling functions, thereby providing powerful model independent
guidance in searches for the QCD critical point.


title:
Cohomology of Lie algebras of polynomial vector fields on the line over
  fields of characteristic $2$

abstract:
  For a field $\mathbb{F}$, let $L_k(\mathbb{F})$ be the Lie algebra of
derivations $f(t)\frac{d}{dt}$ of the polynomial ring $\mathbb{F}[t]$, where
$f(t)$ is a polynomial of degree $\geqslant k$. For any $k\geqslant -1$, we
present a basis of the space of the cohomology with finite-dimensional support
of the Lie algebra $L_k(\mathbb{F})$ with coefficients in the trivial module
$\mathbb{F}$ for the case where ${\rm char}(\mathbb{F})=2$. The main result
obtained is an analog of the famous Goncharova's Theorem for the case ${\rm
char}(\mathbb{F})=0$ and $k\geqslant 1$.


title: Coloring Factors of Substitutive Infinite Words

abstract:
  In this paper, we consider infinite words that arise as fixed points of
primitive substitutions on a finite alphabet and finite colorings of their
factors. Any such infinite word exhibits a "hierarchal structure" that will
allow us to define, under the additional condition of strong recognizability,
certain remarkable finite colorings of its factors. In particular, we
generalize two combinatorial results by Justin and Pirillo concerning
arbitrarily large monochromatic $k$-powers occurring in infinite words, in view
of a recent paper by de Luca, Pribavkina and Zamboni, we will give new examples
of classes of infinite words $\mathbf{u}$ and finite colorings that do not
allow infinite monochromatic factorizations
$\mathbf{u}=\mathbf{u}_1\mathbf{u}_2\mathbf{u}_3\ldots$.


title: Surfaces in $\mathbb{R}^7$ obtained from harmonic maps in $S^6$

abstract:
  We will investigate the local geometry of the surfaces in the $7$-dimensional
Euclidean space associated to harmonic maps from a Riemann surface $\Sigma$
into $S^6$. By applying methods based on the use of harmonic sequences, we will
characterize the conformal harmonic immersions $\varphi:\Sigma\to S^6$ whose
associated immersions $F:\Sigma\to \mathbb{R}^7$ belong to certain remarkable
classes of surfaces, namely: minimal surfaces in hyperspheres; surfaces with
parallel mean curvature vector field; pseudo-umbilical surfaces; isotropic
surfaces.


title: On semitopological $\alpha$-bicyclic monoid

abstract:
  In this paper we consider a semitopological $\alpha$-bicyclic monoid
$\mathcal{B}_{\alpha}$ and prove that it is algebraically isomorphic to a
semigroup of all order isomorphisms between the principal upper sets of the
ordinal $\omega^\alpha$. We prove that for every ordinal $\alpha$ for every
$(a,b)\in \mathcal{B_\alpha}$ if either $a$ or $b$ is a non-limit ordinal then
$(a,b)$ is an isolated point in $\mathcal{B}_\alpha$. We show that for every
ordinal $\alpha<\omega+1$ every locally compact semigroup topology on
$\mathcal{B}_{\alpha}$ is discrete. However, we construct an example of a
non-discrete locally compact topology $\tau_{lc}$ on $\mathcal{B}_{\omega+1}$
such that $(\mathcal{B}_{\omega+1},\tau_{lc})$ is a topological inverse
semigroup. This example shows that there is a gap in
\cite[Theorem~2.9]{Hogan-1984}, where is stated that for every ordinal $\alpha$
there is only discrete locally compact inverse semigroup topology on
$\mathcal{B_\alpha}$.


title: Minding the Gaps for Block Frank-Wolfe Optimization of Structured SVMs

abstract:
  In this paper, we propose several improvements on the block-coordinate
Frank-Wolfe (BCFW) algorithm from Lacoste-Julien et al. (2013) recently used to
optimize the structured support vector machine (SSVM) objective in the context
of structured prediction, though it has wider applications. The key intuition
behind our improvements is that the estimates of block gaps maintained by BCFW
reveal the block suboptimality that can be used as an adaptive criterion.
First, we sample objects at each iteration of BCFW in an adaptive non-uniform
way via gapbased sampling. Second, we incorporate pairwise and away-step
variants of Frank-Wolfe into the block-coordinate setting. Third, we cache
oracle calls with a cache-hit criterion based on the block gaps. Fourth, we
provide the first method to compute an approximate regularization path for
SSVM. Finally, we provide an exhaustive empirical evaluation of all our methods
on four structured prediction datasets.


title: Excited state correlations of the finite Heisenberg chain

abstract:
  We consider short range correlations in excited states of the finite XXZ and
XXX Heisenberg spin chains. We conjecture that the known results for the
factorized ground state correlations can be applied to the excited states too,
if the so-called physical part of the construction is changed appropriately.
For the ground state we derive simple algebraic expressions for the physical
part; the formulas only use the ground state Bethe roots as an input. We
conjecture that the same formulas can be applied to the excited states as well,
if the exact Bethe roots of the excited states are used instead. In the XXZ
chain the results are expected to be valid for all states (except certain
singular cases where regularization is needed), whereas in the XXX case they
only apply to singlet states or group invariant operators. Our conjectures are
tested against numerical data from exact diagonalization and coordinate Bethe
Ansatz calculations, and perfect agreement is found in all cases. In the XXX
case we also derive a new result for the nearest-neighbour correlator
$\{\sigma_1^z\sigma_2^z\}$, which is valid for non-singlet states as well. Our
results build a bridge between the known theory of factorized correlations, and
the recently conjectured TBA-like description for the building blocks of the
construction.


title: On infinite order corks

abstract: We construct an infinite order loose cork.


title:
Recovering Best Statistical Guarantees via the Empirical
  Divergence-based Distributionally Robust Optimization

abstract:
  We investigate the use of distributionally robust optimization (DRO) as a
tractable tool to recover the asymptotic statistical guarantees provided by the
Central Limit Theorem, for maintaining the feasibility of an expected value
constraint under ambiguous probability distributions. We show that using
empirically defined Burg-entropy divergence balls to construct the DRO can
attain such guarantees. These balls, however, are not reasoned from the
standard data-driven DRO framework since by themselves they can have low or
even zero probability of covering the true distribution. Rather, their superior
statistical performances are endowed by linking the resulting DRO with
empirical likelihood and empirical processes. We show that the sizes of these
balls can be optimally calibrated using chi-square process excursion. We
conduct numerical experiments to support our theoretical findings.


title: Computing backup forwarding rules in Software-Defined Networks

abstract:
  The past century of telecommunications has shown that failures in networks
are prevalent. Although much has been done to prevent failures, network nodes
and links are bound to fail eventually. Failure recovery processes are
therefore needed. Failure recovery is mainly influenced by (1) detection of the
failure, and (2) circumvention of the detected failure. However, especially in
SDNs where controllers recompute network state reactively, this leads to high
delays. Hence, next to primary rules, backup rules should be installed in the
switches to quickly detour traffic once a failure occurs. In this work, we
propose algorithms for computing an all-to-all primary and backup network
forwarding configuration that is capable of circumventing link and node
failures. Omitting the high delay invoked by controller recomputation through
preconfiguration, our proposal's recovery delay is close to the detection time
which is significantly below the 50 ms rule of thumb. After initial recovery,
we recompute network configuration to guarantee protection from future
failures. Our algorithms use packet-labeling to guarantee correct and shortest
detour forwarding. The algorithms and labeling technique allow packets to
return to the primary path and are able to discriminate between link and node
failures. The computational complexity of our solution is comparable to that of
all-to-all-shortest paths computations. Our experimental evaluation on both
real and generated networks shows that network configuration complexity highly
decreases compared to classic disjoint paths computations. Finally, we provide
a proof-of-concept OpenFlow controller in which our proposed configuration is
implemented, demonstrating that it readily can be applied in production
networks.


title: Review of Fall Detection Techniques: A Data Availability Perspective

abstract:
  A fall is an abnormal activity that occurs rarely; however, missing to
identify falls can have serious health and safety implications on an
individual. Due to the rarity of occurrence of falls, there may be insufficient
or no training data available for them. Therefore, standard supervised machine
learning methods may not be directly applied to handle this problem. In this
paper, we present a taxonomy for the study of fall detection from the
perspective of availability of fall data. The proposed taxonomy is independent
of the type of sensors used and specific feature extraction/selection methods.
The taxonomy identifies different categories of classification methods for the
study of fall detection based on the availability of their data during training
the classifiers. Then, we present a comprehensive literature review within
those categories and identify the approach of treating a fall as an abnormal
activity to be a plausible research direction. We conclude our paper by
discussing several open research problems in the field and pointers for future
research.


title:
Semi-classical and quantum description of an ideal Bose gas in a uniform
  gravitational field

abstract:
  We consider an ideal Bose gas contained in a cylinder in three spatial
dimensions, subjected to a uniform gravitational field. It has been claimed by
some authors that there is discrepancy between the semi-classical and quantum
calculations in the thermal properties of such a system. To check this claim,
we calculate the heat capacity and isothermal compressibility of this system
semi-classically as well as from the quantum spectrum of the density of states.
The quantum calculation is done for a finite number of particles. We find good
agreement between the two calculations when the number of particles are taken
to be large. We also find that this system has the same thermal properties as
an ideal five dimensional Bose gas.


title:
Fast-slow bursters in the unfolding of a high codimension singularity
  and the ultra-slow transitions of classes

abstract:
  Bursting is a phenomenon found in a variety of physical and biological
systems. For example, in neuroscience, bursting is believed to play a key role
in the way information is transferred in the nervous system. In this work, we
propose a model that, appropriately tuned, can display several types of
bursting behaviors. The model contains two subsystems acting at different
timescales. For the fast subsystem we use the planar unfolding of a high
codimension singularity. In its bifurcation diagram, we locate paths that
underly the right sequence of bifurcations necessary for bursting. The slow
subsystem steers the fast one back and forth along these paths leading to
bursting behavior. The model is able to produce almost all the classes of
bursting predicted for systems with a planar fast subsystems. Transitions
between classes can be obtained through an ultra-slow modulation of the model's
parameters. A detailed exploration of the parameter space allows predicting
possible transitions. This provides a single framework to understand the
coexistence of diverse bursting patterns in physical and biological systems or
in models.


title: Functional truncations in asymptotic safety for quantum gravity

abstract:
  Finite dimensional truncations and the single field approximation have thus
far played dominant roles in investigations of asymptotic safety for quantum
gravity. This thesis is devoted to exploring asymptotic safety in infinite
dimensional, or functional, truncations of the effective action as well as the
effects that can be caused by the single field approximation in this context.
It begins with a comprehensive analysis of the three existing flow equations of
the single field f(R) truncation by determining their spaces of global fixed
point solutions and, where applicable, of corresponding eigenoperator
solutions. As a second result, it is then shown that one incarnation of the
single field f(R) approximation actually breaks down in the sense that there is
no physical content left to explore. In order to clarify whether such drastic
findings can be caused by the approximations used in setting up the
renormalisation group flow, we identify the single field approximation as a
prime candidate and show in the more familiar context of scalar field theory
that it can indeed lead to many types of non-physical results. As a way to
avoid such non-physical behaviour we highlight the importance of the previously
known split Ward identity and exemplify its usefulness by fully restoring the
correct physical picture in scalar field theory. Taking this result as evidence
that the split Ward identity may lead to well behaved functional truncations
also in gravity, we derive the flow equations of conformal gravity in a
bi-field truncation of the effective action that goes beyond the local
potential approximation in the fluctuation field. It is found that the split
Ward identity leads to a simplified set of renormalisation group equations for
the conformal factor that, while differing at crucial points, bear close
resemblance to flow equations obtained in scalar field theory.


title:
An ergodic process of zero divergence-distance from its time-reversed
  process

abstract:
  An ergodic process $P$ is constructed such that the divergence-rate $D(P ||
P^*)$ is zero, yet $P$ is not equal to its time-reversed process $P^*$. The
process $P$ is constructed as a special realization of the universal coding
found by Xu. This result shows that there exist time-asymmetric processes that
are indistinguishable under time-reversal and that can, in principle, be
generated with zero dissipation.


title:
Schr\"odinger operator with non-zero accumulation points of complex
  eigenvalues

abstract:
  We study Schr\"odinger operators $H=-\Delta+V$ in $L^2(\Omega)$ where
$\Omega$ is $\mathbb R^d$ or the half-space $\mathbb R_+^d$, subject to (real)
Robin boundary conditions in the latter case. For $p>d$ we construct a non-real
potential $V\in L^p(\Omega)\cap L^{\infty}(\Omega)$ that decays at infinity so
that $H$ has infinitely many non-real eigenvalues accumulating at every point
of the essential spectrum $\sigma_{\rm ess}(H)=[0,\infty)$. This demonstrates
that the Lieb-Thirring inequalities for selfadjoint Schr\"odinger operators are
no longer true in the non-selfadjoint case.


title:
Testing chirality of primordial gravitational waves with Planck and
  future CMB data: no hope from angular power spectra

abstract:
  We use the 2015 Planck likelihood in combination with the Bicep2/Keck
likelihood (BKP and BK14) to constrain the chirality, $\chi$, of primordial
gravitational waves in a scale-invariant scenario. In this framework, the
parameter $\chi$ enters theory always coupled to the tensor-to-scalar ratio,
$r$, e.g. in combination of the form $\chi \cdot r$. Thus, the capability to
detect $\chi$ critically depends on the value of $r$. We find that with present
data set $\chi$ is \textit{de facto}unconstrained. We also provide forecasts
for $\chi$ from future CMB experiments, including COrE+, exploring several
fiducial values of $r$. We find that the current limit on $r$ is tight enough
to disfavor a neat detection of $\chi$. For example, in the unlikely case in
which $r\sim0.1(0.05)$, the maximal chirality case, i.e. $\chi = \pm1$, could
be detected with a significance of $\sim2.5(1.5)\sigma$ at best. We conclude
that the two-point statistics at the basis of CMB likelihood functions is
currently unable to constrain chirality and may only provide weak limits on
$\chi$ in the most optimistic scenarios. Hence, it is crucial to investigate
the use of other observables, e.g. provided by higher order statistics, to
constrain these kind of parity violating theories with the CMB.


title: Fermi liquid theory applied to a film on an oscillating substrate

abstract:
  We have studied the transmission of transverse oscillations through a thin
Fermi liquid film, using Landau's Fermi liquid theory. Fermi liquid theory
describes the dynamics of interacting, degenerate fermion systems, for example
non-superfluid, i.e.\ normal state \textsuperscript{3}He at millikelvin
temperatures. The response of a Fermi liquid to the transverse oscillations of
a planar substrate has previously been calculated for a fluid layer of infinite
thickness. We have modified these calculations for application to a film of
finite thickness, either with a free surface, or as confined between two
parallel substrates. The equations take into account contributions to the
acoustic impedance from both the collective transverse zero sound mode, as well
as the incoherent single-quasiparticle excitations and are solved using
numerical methods.


title: NLO predictions for the production of a spin-two particle at the LHC

abstract:
  We obtain predictions accurate at the next-to-leading order in QCD for the
production of a generic spin-two particle in the most relevant channels at the
LHC: production in association with coloured particles (inclusive, one jet, two
jets and $t\bar t$), with vector bosons ($Z,W^\pm,\gamma$) and with the Higgs
boson. We present total and differential cross sections as well as branching
ratios as a function of the mass and the collision energy also considering the
case of non-universal couplings to standard model particles. We find that the
next-to-leading order corrections give rise to sizeable $K$ factors for many
channels, in some cases exposing the unitarity-violating behaviour of
non-universal couplings scenarios, and in general greatly reduce the
theoretical uncertainties. Our predictions are publicly available in the
MadGraph5\_aMC@NLO framework and can, therefore, be directly used in
experimental simulations of spin-two particle production for arbitrary values
of the mass and couplings.


title: The sup-norm problem for GL(2) over number fields

abstract:
  We solve the sup-norm problem for spherical Hecke-Maass newforms of
square-free level for the group GL(2) over a number field, with a power saving
over the local geometric bound simultaneously in the eigenvalue and the level
aspect. Our bounds feature a Weyl-type exponent in the level aspect, they
reproduce or improve upon all known special cases, and over totally real fields
they are as strong as the best known hybrid result over the rationals.


title:
Optimisation and Characterisation of Glass RPC for India-based Neutrino
  Observatory Detectors

abstract:
  The proposed magnetised Iron CALorimeter detector (ICAL) to be built in the
India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) laboratory aims to detect atmospheric
muon neutrinos. In order to achieve improved physics results, the constituent
components of the detector must be fully understood by proper characterisation
and optimisation of various parameters. Resistive Plate Chambers (RPCs) are the
active detector elements in the ICAL detector and can be made of glass or
bakelite. The number of RPCs required for this detector are very large so a
detailed study is necessary to establish the characterisation and optimisation
of these RPCs. These detectors once installed will be taking data for 15-20
years. In this paper, we report the selection criteria of the glass electrodes
procured from Indian manufacturers. Based on the factors that deteriorate the
quality of glass the choice of electrode is made. The glass characterisation
studies include UV-VIS transmission for optical properties, SEM, AFM for
surface properties, WD-XRF, PIXE for determining the composition of glass
samples and electrical properties. Based on these techniques a procedure is
adopted to arrive at the best glass sample. We have done a second order check
on the quality of the fabricated glass RPCs. In this regard, the efficiency and
cross-talk of RPCs were measured. Results from Asahi and Saint Gobain glass
RPCs came out to be the best.


title: Document Retrieval on Repetitive String Collections

abstract:
  Most of the fastest-growing string collections today are repetitive, that is,
most of the constituent documents are similar to many others. As these
collections keep growing, a key approach to handling them is to exploit their
repetitiveness, which can reduce their space usage by orders of magnitude. We
study the problem of indexing repetitive string collections in order to perform
efficient document retrieval operations on them. Document retrieval problems
are routinely solved by search engines on large natural language collections,
but the techniques are less developed on generic string collections. The case
of repetitive string collections is even less understood, and there are very
few existing solutions. We develop two novel ideas, {\em interleaved LCPs} and
{\em precomputed document lists}, that yield highly compressed indexes solving
the problem of document listing (find all the documents where a string
appears), top-$k$ document retrieval (find the $k$ documents where a string
appears most often), and document counting (count the number of documents where
a string appears). We also show that a classical data structure supporting the
latter query becomes highly compressible on repetitive data. Finally, we show
how the tools we developed can be combined to solve ranked conjunctive and
disjunctive multi-term queries under the simple tf-idf model of relevance. We
thoroughly evaluate the resulting techniques in various real-life
repetitiveness scenarios, and recommend the best choices for each case.


title: Groups with no Parametric Galois Extension

abstract:
  We disprove a strong form of the Regular Inverse Galois Problem: there exist
finite groups $G$ which do not have a realization $F/\Qq(T)$ that induces all
Galois extensions $L/\Qq(U)$ of group $G$ by specializing $T$ to $f(U) \in
\Qq(U)$. For these groups, we produce two extensions $L/\Qq(U)$ that cannot be
simultaneously induced, thus even disproving a weaker Lifting Property. Our
examples of such groups $G$ include symmetric groups $S_n$, $n\geq 7$,
infinitely many $PSL_2(\Ff_p)$, the Monster. Two variants of the question with
$\Qq(U)$ replaced by $\Cc(U)$ and $\Qq$ are answered similarly, the second one
under a diophantine "working hypothesis" going back to a problem of Schinzel.
We introduce two new tools: a comparizon theorem between the invariants of an
extension $F/\Cc(T)$ and those obtained by specializing $T$ to $f(U) \in
\Cc(U)$, and, given two regular Galois extensions of $k(T)$, a finite set of
polynomials $P(U,T,Y)$ that say whether these extensions have a common
specialization $E/k$.


title: The Future of Primordial Features with 21 cm Tomography

abstract:
  Detecting a deviation from a featureless primordial power spectrum of
fluctuations would give profound insight into the physics of the primordial
Universe. Depending on their nature, primordial features can either provide
direct evidence for the inflation scenario or pin down details of the inflation
model. Thus far, using the cosmic microwave background (CMB) we have only been
able to put stringent constraints on the amplitude of features, but no
significant evidence has been found for such signals. Here we explore the limit
of the experimental reach in constraining such features using 21 cm tomography
at high redshift. A measurement of the 21 cm power spectrum from the Dark Ages
is generally considered as the ideal experiment for early Universe physics,
with potentially access to a large number of modes. We consider three different
categories of theoretically motivated models: the sharp feature models,
resonance models, and standard clock models. We study the improvements on
bounds on features as a function of the total number of observed modes and
identify parameter degeneracies. The detectability depends critically on the
amplitude, frequency and scale-location of the features, as well as the angular
and redshift resolution of the experiment. We quantify these effects by
considering different fiducial models. Our forecast shows that a cosmic
variance limited 21 cm experiment measuring fluctuations in the redshift range
$30\leq z \leq 100$ with a 0.01-MHz bandwidth and sub-arcminute angular
resolution could potentially improve bounds by several orders of magnitude for
most features compared to current Planck bounds. At the same time, 21 cm
tomography also opens up a unique window into features that are located on very
small scales.


title: The Future of Primordial Features with Large-Scale Structure Surveys

abstract:
  Primordial features are one of the most important extensions of the Standard
Model of cosmology, providing a wealth of information on the primordial
universe, ranging from discrimination between inflation and alternative
scenarios, new particle detection, to fine structures in the inflationary
potential. We study the prospects of future large-scale structure (LSS) surveys
on the detection and constraints of these features. We classify primordial
feature models into several classes, and for each class we present a simple
template of power spectrum that encodes the essential physics. We study how
well the most ambitious LSS surveys proposed to date, including both
spectroscopic and photometric surveys, will be able to improve the constraints
with respect to the current Planck data. We find that these LSS surveys will
significantly improve the experimental sensitivity on features signals that are
oscillatory in scales, due to the 3D information. For a broad range of models,
these surveys will be able to reduce the errors of the amplitudes of the
features by a factor of 5 or more, including several interesting candidates
identified in the recent Planck data. Therefore, LSS surveys offer an
impressive opportunity for primordial feature discovery in the next decade or
two. We also compare the advantages of both types of surveys.


title:
Comparison of CMS Resistive Plate Chambers performance during LHC RUN-1
  and RUN-2

abstract:
  The Resistive Plate Chambers detector system at the CMS experiment at the LHC
provides robustness and redundancy to the muon trigger. A total of 1056
double-gap chambers cover the pseudo-rapidity region < 1.6. The main detector
parameters and environmental conditions are constantly and closely monitored to
achieve operational stability and high quality data in the harsh conditions of
the second run period of the LHC with center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. First
results of overall detector stability with 2015 data and comparisons with data
from the LHC RUN-1 period at 8 TeV are presented.


title: The 7.2/3 Years Collection of Well-Monitored Fermi-LAT GRB Afterglows

abstract:
  We present the light-curves and spectra of 24 afterglows that have been
monitored by Fermi-LAT at 0.1-100 GeV over more than a decade in time. All
light-curves (except 130427) are consistent with a single power-law starting
from their peaks, which occurred, in most cases, before the burst end. The
light-curves display a brightness-decay rate correlation, with all but one
(130427) of the bright afterglows decaying faster than the dimmer afterglows.
We attribute this dichotomy to a quick deposition of the relativistic ejecta
energy in the external-shock for the brighter/faster-decaying afterglows and to
an extended energy-injection in the afterglow shock for the
dimmer/slower-decaying light-curves. The spectra of six afterglows (090328,
100414, 110721, 110731, 130427, 140619B) indicate the existence of a harder
component above a spectral dip/ankle at energy 0.3-3 GeV, offering evidence for
an inverse-Compton emission at higher energies, and suggesting that the harder
power-law spectra of five other LAT afterglows (130327B, 131231, 150523,
150627, 160509) could also be inverse-Compton, while the remaining softer LAT
afterglows should be synchrotron. Marginal evidence for a spectral break and
softening at higher energies is found for two afterglows (090902B and 090926).


title:
GrayStarServer: Server-side spectrum synthesis with a browser-based
  client-side user interface

abstract:
  I present GrayStarServer (GSS), a stellar atmospheric modeling and spectrum
synthesis code of pedagogical accuracy that is accessible in any web browser on
commonplace computational devices and that runs on a time-scale of a few
seconds. The addition of spectrum synthesis annotated with line identifications
extends the functionality and pedagogical applicability of GSS beyond that of
its predecessor, GrayStar3 (GS3). The spectrum synthesis is based on a line
list acquired from the NIST atomic spectra database, and the GSS
post-processing and user interface (UI) client allows the user to inspect the
plain text ASCII version of the line list, as well as to apply macroscopic
broadening. Unlike GS3, GSS carries out the physical modeling on the server
side in Java, and communicates with the JavaScript and HTML client via an
asynchronous HTTP request. I also describe other improvements beyond GS3 such
as more realistic modeling physics and use of the HTML <canvas> element for
higher quality plotting and rendering of results, and include a comparison to
Phoenix modeling. I also present LineListServer, a Java code for converting
custom ASCII line lists in NIST format to the byte data type file format
required by GSS so that users can prepare their own custom line lists. I
propose a standard for marking up and packaging model atmosphere and spectrum
synthesis output for data transmission and storage that will facilitate a
web-based approach to stellar atmospheric modeling and spectrum synthesis. I
describe some pedagogical demonstrations and exercises enabled by easily
accessible, on-demand, responsive spectrum synthesis. GSS may serve as a
research support tool by providing quick spectroscopic reconnaissance. GSS may
be found at www.ap.smu.ca/~ishort/OpenStars/.


title: Entanglement Entropy in Jammed CFTs

abstract:
  We construct solutions to the Einstein equations for asymptotically locally
Anti-de Sitter spacetimes with four, five, and six dimensional
Reissner-Nordstr\"om boundary metrics. These spacetimes are gravitational duals
to "jammed" CFTs on those backgrounds at infinite N and strong coupling. For
these spacetimes, we calculate the boundary stress tensor as well as compute
entanglement entropies for ball shaped regions as functions of the boundary
black hole temperature $T_{BH}$. From this, we see how the CFT prevents heat
flow from the black hole to the vacuum at spatial infinity. We also compute
entanglement entropies for a three dimensional boundary black hole using the
AdS C-metric. We compare our results to previous work done in similar
spacetimes.


title:
Unsupervised Discovery of El Nino Using Causal Feature Learning on
  Microlevel Climate Data

abstract:
  We show that the climate phenomena of El Nino and La Nina arise naturally as
states of macro-variables when our recent causal feature learning framework
(Chalupka 2015, Chalupka 2016) is applied to micro-level measures of zonal wind
(ZW) and sea surface temperatures (SST) taken over the equatorial band of the
Pacific Ocean. The method identifies these unusual climate states on the basis
of the relation between ZW and SST patterns without any input about past
occurrences of El Nino or La Nina. The simpler alternatives of (i) clustering
the SST fields while disregarding their relationship with ZW patterns, or (ii)
clustering the joint ZW-SST patterns, do not discover El Nino. We discuss the
degree to which our method supports a causal interpretation and use a
low-dimensional toy example to explain its success over other clustering
approaches. Finally, we propose a new robust and scalable alternative to our
original algorithm (Chalupka 2016), which circumvents the need for
high-dimensional density learning.


title:
Magnetic field morphology in nearby molecular clouds as revealed by
  starlight and submillimetre polarization

abstract:
  Within four nearby (d < 160 pc) molecular clouds, we statistically evaluate
the structure of the interstellar magnetic field, projected on the plane of the
sky and integrated along the line of sight, as inferred from the polarized
thermal emission of Galactic dust observed by Planck at 353 GHz and from the
optical and NIR polarization of background starlight. We compare the dispersion
of the field orientation directly in vicinities with an area equivalent to that
subtended by the Planck effective beam at 353 GHz (10') and using the
second-order structure functions of the field orientation angles. We find that
the average dispersion of the starlight-inferred field orientations within
10'-diameter vicinities is less than 20 deg, and that at these scales the mean
field orientation is on average within 5 deg of that inferred from the
submillimetre polarization observations in the considered regions. We also find
that the dispersion of starlight polarization orientations and the polarization
fractions within these vicinities are well reproduced by a Gaussian model of
the turbulent structure of the magnetic field, in agreement with the findings
reported by the Planck collaboration at scales greater than 10' and for
comparable column densities. At scales greater than 10', we find differences of
up to 14.7 deg between the second-order structure functions obtained from
starlight and submillimetre polarization observations in the same positions in
the plane of the sky, but comparison with a Gaussian model of the turbulent
structure of the magnetic field indicates that these differences are small and
are consistent with the difference in angular resolution between both
techniques.


title:
Hierarchy of instabilities for two counter-streaming magnetized pair
  beams

abstract:
  The instabilities triggered when two counter-streaming pair beams collide are
analyzed. A guiding magnetic field is accounting for, while both beams are
considered identical and cold. The instability analysis is conducted over the
full \textbf{k}-spectrum, allowing to derive the hierarchy map of the dominant
unstable modes, in terms of the initial beams energy $\gamma_0$ and a magnetic
field strength parameter $\Omega_B$. Four different regions of the
$(\Omega_B,\gamma_0)$ phase space are identified, each one governed by a
different kind of mode. The analysis also unravels the existence of a "triple
point", where 3 different modes grow exactly the same rate. A number of
analytical expressions can be derived, either for the modes growth-rates, or
for the frontiers between the 4 regions.


title: Noncommutative Simple Harmonic Oscillator in Quantum Gravitational Well

abstract:
  This work is mainly based on some theoretical surveys on two dimensional
quantum gravitational well, considering harmonic oscillator potential causes an
effective plank constant. We find that there is a similarity between two
different cases, potential free and oscillator potential in noncommutative
phase space in commutative momentum, but in noncommutative, non zero space and
momentum The Hamiltonian would a little bit different in energy levels.


title: On approximating the free harmonic oscillator by a particle in a box

abstract:
  The main purpose of this paper is to demonstrate and illustrate, once again,
the potency of the variational technique as an approximation procedure for the
quantization of quantum mechanical systems. By choosing particle-in-a-box
wavefunctions as trial wavefunctions, with the size of the box as the variation
parameter, approximate eigenenergies and the corresponding eigenfunctions are
obtained for the one dimensional free harmonic oscillator.


title:
Comment on "Exact Classification of Landau-Majorana-Stuckelberg-Zener
  Resonances by Floquet Determinants"

abstract:
  In a recent Letter [S. Ganeshan, E. Barnes, and S. Das Sarma, Phys. Rev.
Lett. 111, 130405 (2013)], Ganeshan et al. present a general framework to
classify the resonance structure of Landau-Majorana-Stuckelberg-Zener
interferometry into three basic categories distinguished by whether these
resonances correspond to periodic or nonperiodic quantum evolution. In this
Comment, we show that their identification of the real resonances in the regime
of small drive amplitude is incorrect.


title: False Signals of CP-Invariance Violation at DUNE

abstract:
  One of the main goals of the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is
to look for new sources of CP-invariance violation. Another is to significantly
test the three-massive-neutrinos paradigm. Here, we show that there are
CP-invariant new physics scenarios which, as far as DUNE data are concerned,
cannot be distinguished from the three-massive-neutrinos paradigm with very
large CP-invariance violating effects. We discuss examples with non-standard
neutrino interactions and with a fourth neutrino mass eigenstate. We briefly
discuss how ambiguities can be resolved by combining DUNE data with data from
other long-baseline experiments, including Hyper-Kamiokande.


title: The radiation hydrodynamics of relativistic shear flows

abstract:
  We present a method for analyzing the interaction between radiation and
matter in regions of intense, relativistic shear that can arise in many
astrophysical situations. We show that there is a simple velocity profile that
should be manifested in regions of large shear that have "lost memory" of their
boundary conditions, and we use this self-similar velocity profile to construct
the surface of last scattering, or $\tau \simeq 1$ surface, as viewed from any
comoving point within the flow. We demonstrate that a simple treatment of
scattering from this $\tau \simeq 1$ surface exactly conserves photon number,
and derive the rate at which the radiation field is heated due to the shear
present in the flow. The components of the comoving radiation energy-momentum
tensor are calculated, and we show that they have relatively simple,
approximate forms that interpolate between the viscous (small shear) and
streaming (large shear) limits. We put our expression for the energy-momentum
tensor in a covariant form that does not depend on the explicit velocity
profile within the fluid and, therefore, represents a natural means for
analyzing general, radiation-dominated, relativistic shear flows.


title: Super-Heavy Dark Matter - Towards Predictive Scenarios from Inflation

abstract:
  A generic prediction of the Coleman-Weinberg inflation is the existence of a
heavy particle sector whose interactions with the inflaton, the lightest state
in this sector, generate the inflaton potential at loop level. For typical
interactions the heavy sector may contain stable states whose relic abundance
is generated at the end of inflation by the gravity alone. This general
feature, and the absence of any particle physics signal of dark matter so far,
motivates us to look for new directions in the dark sector physics, including
scenarios in which dark matter is super-heavy. In this article we study the
possibility that the dark matter is even heavier than the inflaton, its
existence follows from the inflaton dynamics, and its abundance today is {\it
naturally} determined by the weakness of gravitational interaction. This
implies that the super-heavy dark matter scenarios can be tested via the
measurements of inflationary parameters and/or the CMB isocurvature
perturbations and non-Gaussianities. We explicitly work out details of three
Coleman-Weinberg inflation scenarios, study the systematics of super-heavy dark
matter production in those cases, and compute which parts of the parameter
spaces can be probed by the future CMB measurements.


title:
The Horizon-AGN simulation: evolution of galaxy properties over cosmic
  time

abstract:
  We compare the predictions of Horizon-AGN, a hydro-dynamical cosmological
simulation that uses an adaptive mesh refinement code, to observational data in
the redshift range 0<z<6. We study the reproduction, by the simulation, of
quantities that trace the aggregate stellar-mass growth of galaxies over cosmic
time: luminosity and stellar-mass functions, the star formation main sequence,
rest-frame UV-optical-near infrared colours and the cosmic star-formation
history. We show that Horizon-AGN, which is not tuned to reproduce the local
Universe, produces good overall agreement with these quantities, from the
present day to the epoch when the Universe was 5% of its current age. By
comparison to Horizon-noAGN, a twin simulation without AGN feedback, we
quantify how feedback from black holes is likely to help shape galaxy
stellar-mass growth in the redshift range 0<z<6, particularly in the most
massive galaxies. Our results demonstrate that Horizon-AGN successfully
captures the evolutionary trends of observed galaxies over the lifetime of the
Universe, making it an excellent tool for studying the processes that drive
galaxy evolution and making predictions for the next generation of galaxy
surveys.


title:
Testing the wavelength dependence of cosmological redshift down to
  $\Delta z \sim 10^{-6}$

abstract:
  At the core of the standard cosmological model lies the assumption that the
redshift of distant galaxies is independent of photon wavelength. This
invariance of cosmological redshift with wavelength is routinely found in all
galaxy spectra with a precision of $\Delta$z~10$^{-4}$. The combined use of
approximately half a million high-quality galaxy spectra from the Sloan Digital
Sky Survey (SDSS) allows us to explore this invariance down to a nominal
precision in redshift of one part per million (statistical). Our analysis is
performed over the redshift interval 0.02<z<0.25. We use the centroids of
spectral lines over the 3700-6800\AA\ rest-frame optical window. We do not find
any difference in redshift between the blue and red sides down to a precision
of 10$^{-6}$ at z<0.1 and 10$^{-5}$ at 0.1<z<0.25 (i.e. at least an order of
magnitude better than with single galaxy spectra). This is the first time the
wavelength-independence of the (1+z) redshift law is confirmed over a wide
spectral window at this precision level. This result holds independently of the
stellar population of the galaxies and their kinematical properties. This
result is also robust against wavelength calibration issues. The limited
spectral resolution (R~2000) of the SDSS data combined with the asymmetric
wavelength sampling of the spectral features in the observed restframe due to
the (1+z) stretching of the lines prevent our methodology to achieve a
precision higher than 10$^{-5}$, at z>0.1. Future attempts to constrain this
law will require high quality galaxy spectra at higher resolution (R>10,000).


title: ALMA Resolves the Nuclear Disks of Arp 220

abstract:
  We present 90 mas (37 pc) resolution ALMA imaging of Arp 220 in the CO (1-0)
line and continuum at $\lambda = 2.6$ mm. The internal gas distribution and
kinematics of both galactic nuclei are well-resolved for the first time. In the
West nucleus, the major gas and dust emission extends out to 0.2\arcsec radius
(74 pc); the central resolution element shows a strong peak in the dust
emission but a factor 3 dip in the CO line emission. In this nucleus, the dust
is apparently optically thick ($\tau_{\rm 2.6mm} \sim1$) at $\lambda = 2.6$ mm
with a dust brightness temperature $\sim147$ K. The column of ISM at this
nucleus is $\rm N_{H2} \geq 2\times10^{26}$ cm$^{-2}$, corresponding to
$\sim$900 gr cm$^{-2}$. The East nucleus is more elongated with radial extent
0.3\arcsec or $\sim111$ pc. The derived kinematics of the nuclear disks provide
a good fit to the line profiles, yielding the emissivity distributions, the
rotation curves and velocity dispersions. In the West nucleus, there is
evidence of a central Keplerian component requiring a central mass of
$8\times10^8$ \msun. The intrinsic widths of the emission lines are $\Delta \rm
v (FWHM)$ = 250 (West) and 120 (East) \kms. Given the very short dissipation
timescales for turbulence ($\lesssim10^5$ yrs), we suggest that the line widths
may be due to semi-coherent motions within the nuclear disks. The symmetry of
the nuclear disk structures is impressive -- implying the merger timescale is
significantly longer than the rotation period of the disks.


title: Dark Forces in the Sky: Signals from Z' and the Dark Higgs

abstract:
  We consider the indirect detection signals for a self-consistent hidden
$U(1)$ model containing a Majorana dark matter candidate, $\chi$, a dark gauge
boson, $Z'$, and a dark Higgs, $s$. Compared with a model containing only a
dark matter candidate and $Z'$ mediator, the addition of the scalar provides a
mass generation mechanism for the dark sector particles and is required in
order to avoid unitarity violation at high energies. We find that the inclusion
of the two mediators opens up a new two-body s-wave annihilation channel,
$\chi\overline\chi\rightarrow sZ'$. This new process, which is missed in the
usual single-mediator simplified model approach, can be the dominant
annihilation channel. This provides rich phenomenology for indirect detection
searches, allows indirect searches to explore regions of parameter space not
accessible with other commonly considered s-wave annihilation processes, and
enables both the $Z'$ and scalar couplings to be probed. We examine the
phenomenology of the sector with a focus on this new process, and determine the
limits on the model parameter space from Fermi data on dwarf spheriodal
galaxies and other relevant experiments.


title: Neutrino Quantum Kinetic Equations: The Collision Term

abstract:
  We derive the collision term relevant for neutrino quantum kinetic equations
in the early universe and compact astrophysical objects, displaying its full
matrix structure in both flavor and spin degrees of freedom. We include in our
analysis neutrino-neutrino processes, scattering and annihilation with
electrons and positrons, and neutrino scattering off nucleons (the latter in
the low-density limit). After presenting the general structure of the collision
terms, we take two instructive limiting cases. The one-flavor limit highlights
the structure in helicity space and allows for a straightforward interpretation
of the off-diagonal entries in terms of the product of scattering amplitudes of
the two helicity states. The isotropic limit is relevant for studies of the
early universe: in this case the terms involving spin coherence vanish and the
collision term can be expressed in terms of two-dimensional integrals, suitable
for computational implementation.


title:
Wide binaries in ultra-faint galaxies: a window onto dark matter on the
  smallest scales

abstract:
  We carry out controlled $N$-body simulations that follow the dynamical
evolution of binary stars in the dark matter (DM) haloes of ultra-faint dwarf
spheroidals (dSphs). We find that wide binaries with semi-major axes $a\gtrsim
a_t$ tend to be quickly disrupted by the tidal field of the halo. In smooth
potentials the truncation scale, $a_t$, is mainly governed by (i) the mass
enclosed within the dwarf half-light radius ($R_h$) and (ii) the slope of the
DM halo profile at $R\approx R_h$, and is largely independent of the initial
eccentricity distribution of the binary systems and the anisotropy of the
stellar orbits about the galactic potential. For the reported velocity
dispersion and half-light radius of Segue I, the closest ultra-faint, our
models predict $a_t$ values that are a factor 2--3 smaller in cuspy haloes than
in any of the cored models considered here. Using mock observations of Segue I
we show that measuring the projected two-point correlation function of stellar
pairs with sub-arcsecond resolution may provide a useful tool to constrain the
amount and distribution of DM in the smallest and most DM-dominated galaxies.


title: Interaction-driven topological superconductivity in one dimension

abstract:
  We study one-dimensional topological superconductivity in the presence of
time-reversal symmetry. This phase is characterized by having a bulk gap, while
supporting a Kramers' pair of zero-energy Majorana bound states at each of its
ends. We present a general simple model which is driven into this topological
phase in the presence of repulsive electron-electron interactions. We further
propose two experimental setups and show that they realize this model at low
energies. The first setup is a narrow two-dimensional topological insulator
partially covered by a conventional s-wave superconductor, and the second is a
semiconductor wire in proximity to an s-wave superconductor. These systems can
therefore be used to realize and probe the time-reversal invariant topological
superconducting phase. The effect of interactions is studied using both a
mean-field approach and a renormalization group analysis.


title: What to expect from dynamical modelling of galactic haloes

abstract:
  Many dynamical models of the Milky Way halo require assumptions that the
distribution function of a tracer population should be independent of time
(i.e., a steady state distribution function) and that the underlying potential
is spherical. We study the limitations of such modelling by applying a general
dynamical model with minimal assumptions to a large sample of galactic haloes
from cosmological $N$-body and hydrodynamical simulations. Using dark matter
particles as dynamical tracers, we find that the systematic uncertainties in
the measured mass and concentration parameters typically have an amplitude of
25% to 40%. When stars are used as tracers, however, the systematic
uncertainties can be as large as a factor of $2-3$. The systematic
uncertainties are not reduced by increasing the tracer sample size and vary
stochastically from halo to halo. These systematic uncertainties are mostly
driven by underestimated statistical noise caused by correlated phase-space
structures that violate the steady state assumption. The number of independent
phase-space structures inferred from the uncertainty level sets a limiting
sample size beyond which a further increase no longer significantly improves
the accuracy of dynamical inferences. The systematic uncertainty level is
determined by the halo merger history, the shape and environment of the halo.
Our conclusions apply generally to any spherical steady-state model.


title:
Planck intermediate results. XLVIII. Disentangling Galactic dust
  emission and cosmic infrared background anisotropies

abstract:
  Using the Planck 2015 data release (PR2) temperature maps, we separate
Galactic thermal dust emission from cosmic infrared background (CIB)
anisotropies. For this purpose, we implement a specifically tailored
component-separation method, the so-called generalized needlet internal linear
combination (GNILC) method, which uses spatial information (the angular power
spectra) to disentangle the Galactic dust emission and CIB anisotropies. We
produce significantly improved all-sky maps of Planck thermal dust emission,
with reduced CIB contamination, at 353, 545, and 857 GHz. By reducing the CIB
contamination of the thermal dust maps, we provide more accurate estimates of
the local dust temperature and dust spectral index over the sky with reduced
dispersion, especially at high Galactic latitudes above $b = \pm 20{\deg}$. We
find that the dust temperature is $T = (19.4 \pm 1.3)$ K and the dust spectral
index is $\beta = 1.6 \pm 0.1$ averaged over the whole sky, while $T = (19.4
\pm 1.5)$ K and $\beta = 1.6 \pm 0.2$ on 21 % of the sky at high latitudes.
Moreover, subtracting the new CIB-removed thermal dust maps from the
CMB-removed Planck maps gives access to the CIB anisotropies over 60 % of the
sky at Galactic latitudes $|b| > 20{\deg}$. Because they are a significant
improvement over previous Planck products, the GNILC maps are recommended for
thermal dust science. The new CIB maps can be regarded as indirect tracers of
the dark matter and they are recommended for exploring cross-correlations with
lensing and large-scale structure optical surveys. The reconstructed GNILC
thermal dust and CIB maps are delivered as Planck products.


title: Ly\alpha\ emission line reconstruction for high-$z$ QSOs

abstract:
  We introduce an intrinsic Ly\alpha\ emission line profile reconstruction
method for high-$z$ quasars (QSOs). This approach utilises a covariance matrix
of emission line properties obtained from a large, moderate-$z$ ($2 \leq z \leq
2.5$), high signal to noise (S/N > 15) sample of BOSS QSOs. For each QSO, we
complete a Monte Carlo Markov Chain fitting of the continuum and emission line
properties and perform a visual quality assessment to construct a large
database of robustly fit spectra. With this dataset, we construct a covariance
matrix to describe the correlations between the high ionisation emission lines
Ly\alpha, C IV, Si IV + O IV] and C III], and find it to be well approximated
by an $N$-dimensional Gaussian distribution. This covariance matrix
characterises the correlations between the line width, peak height and velocity
offset from systemic while also allowing for the existence of broad and narrow
line components for Ly\alpha\ and C IV. We illustrate how this covariance
matrix allows us to statistically characterise the intrinsic Ly\alpha\ line
solely from the observed spectrum redward of 1275\AA. This procedure can be
used to reconstruct the intrinsic Ly\alpha\ line emission profile in cases
where Ly\alpha\ may otherwise be obscured. Applying this reconstruction method
to our sample of QSOs, we recovered the Ly\alpha\ line flux to within 15 per
cent of the measured flux at 1205\AA\ (1220\AA) ~85 (90) per cent of the time.


title:
Emission Signatures from Sub-parsec Binary Supermassive Black Holes I:
  Diagnostic Power of Broad Emission Lines

abstract:
  Motivated by advances in observational searches for sub-parsec supermassive
black hole binaries (SBHBs) made in the past few years we develop a
semi-analytic model to describe spectral emission line signatures of these
systems. The goal of this study is to aid the interpretation of spectroscopic
searches for binaries and help test one of the leading models of binary
accretion flows in the literature: SBHB in a circumbinary disk. In this work we
present the methodology and a comparison of the preliminary model with the
data. We model SBHB accretion flows as a set of three accretion disks: two
mini-disks that are gravitationally bound to the individual black holes and a
circumbinary disk. Given a physically motivated parameter space occupied by
sub-parsec SBHBs, we calculate a synthetic database of nearly 15 million broad
optical emission line profiles and explore the dependence of the profile shapes
on characteristic properties of SBHBs. We find that the modeled profiles show
distinct statistical properties as a function of the semi-major axis, mass
ratio, eccentricity of the binary, and the degree of alignment of the triple
disk system. This suggests that the broad emission line profiles from SBHB
systems can in principle be used to infer the distribution of these parameters
and as such merit further investigation. Calculated profiles are more
morphologically heterogeneous than the broad emission lines in observed SBHB
candidates and we discuss improved treatment of radiative transfer effects
which will allow direct statistical comparison of the two groups.


title: Thermal Transport in a one-dimensional Z$_{2}$ Spin Liquid

abstract:
  We study the dynamical thermal conductivity of the Kitaev spin model on a
two-leg ladder. In contrast to conventional integrable one-dimensional spin
systems, we show that heat transport is completely dissipative. This is a
direct consequence of fractionalization of spins into mobile Majorana matter
and a static $Z_{2}$ gauge field, which acts as an emergent thermally activated
disorder. Our finding rests on three complementary calculations of the current
correlation function, comprising a phenomenological mean-field treatment of
thermal gauge fluctuations, a complete summation over all gauge sectors, as
well as exact diagonalization of the original spin model. The results will also
be contrasted against the conductivity discarding gauge fluctuations.


title: Neutrino-Induced Reactions on Nuclei

abstract:
  Background: Long-baseline experiments such as the planned Deep Underground
Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) require theoretical descriptions of the complete
event in a neutrino-nucleus reaction. Since nuclear targets are used this
requires a good understanding of neutrino-nucleus interactions.
  Purpose: Develop a consistent theory and code framework for the description
of lepton-nucleus interactions that can be used to describe not only inclusive
cross sections, but also the complete final state of the reaction.
  Methods: The Giessen-Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck (GiBUU) implementation of
quantum-kinetic transport theory is used, with improvements in its treatment of
the nuclear ground state and of 2p2h interactions. For the latter an empirical
structure function from electron scattering data is used as a basis.
  Results: Results for electron-induced inclusive cross sections are given as a
necessary check for the overall quality of this approach. The calculated
neutrino-induced inclusive double-differential cross sections show good
agreement with data from neutrino- and antineutrino reactions for different
neutrino flavors at MiniBooNE and T2K. Inclusive double-differential cross
sections for MicroBooNE, NOvA, MINERvA and LBNF/DUNE are given.
  Conclusions: Based on the GiBUU model of lepton-nucleus descriptions a good
theoretical description of inclusive electron-, neutrino- and
antineutrino-nucleus data over a wide range of energies, different neutrino
flavors and different experiments is now possible. Since no tuning is involved
this theory and code should be reliable also for new energy regimes and target
masses. \end{description}


title:
Multi-triplet bound states and finite-temperature dynamics in highly
  frustrated quantum spin ladders

abstract:
  Low-dimensional quantum magnets at finite temperatures present a complex
interplay of quantum and thermal fluctuation effects in a restricted phase
space. While some information about dynamical response functions is available
from theoretical studies of the one-triplet dispersion in unfrustrated chains
and ladders, little is known about the finite-temperature dynamics of
frustrated systems. Experimentally, inelastic neutron scattering studies of the
highly frustrated two-dimensional material SrCu$_2$(BO$_3$)$_2$ show an almost
complete destruction of the one-triplet excitation band at a temperature only
1/3 of its gap energy, accompanied by strong scattering intensities for
apparent multi-triplet excitations. We investigate these questions in the
frustrated spin ladder and present numerical results from exact diagonalization
for the dynamical structure factor as a function of temperature. We find
anomalously rapid transfer of spectral weight out of the one-triplet band and
into both broad and sharp spectral features at a wide range of energies,
including below the zero-temperature gap of this excitation. These features are
multi-triplet bound states, which develop particularly strongly near the
quantum phase transition, fall to particularly low energies there, and persist
to all the way to infinite temperature. Our results offer valuable insight into
the physics of finite-temperature spectral functions in SrCu$_2$(BO$_3$)$_2$
and many other highly frustrated spin systems.


title: Tensored Segre classes

abstract:
  We study a class obtained from the Segre class $s(Z,Y)$ of an embedding of
schemes by incorporating the datum of a line bundle on $Z$. This class
satisfies basic properties analogous to the ordinary Segre class, but leads to
remarkably simple formulas in standard intersection-theoretic situations such
as excess or residual intersections. We prove a formula for the behavior of
this class under linear joins, and use this formula to prove that a `Segre zeta
function' associated with ideals generated by forms of the same degree is a
rational function.


title:
Blossoms from black hole seeds: properties and early growth regulated by
  supernova feedback

abstract:
  Massive black holes (BHs) inhabit local galaxies, including the Milky Way and
some dwarf galaxies. BH formation, occurring at early cosmic times, must
account for the properties of BHs in today's galaxies, notably why some
galaxies host a BH, and others do not. We investigate the formation,
distribution and growth of BH `seeds' by using the adaptive mesh refinement
code Ramses. We develop an implementation of BH formation in dense,
low-metallicity environments, as advocated by models invoking the collapse of
the first generation of stars, or of dense nuclear star clusters. The seed
masses are computed one-by-one on-the-fly, based on the star formation rate and
the stellar initial mass function. This self-consistent method to seed BHs
allows us to study the distribution of BHs in a cosmological context and their
evolution over cosmic time. We find that all high-mass galaxies tend to a host
a BH, whereas low-mass counterparts have a lower probability of hosting a BH.
After the end of the epoch of BH formation, this probability is modulated by
the growth of the galaxy. The simulated BHs connect to low-redshift
observational samples, and span a similar range in accretion properties as
Lyman-Break Analogs. The growth of BHs in low-mass galaxies is stunted by
strong supernova feedback. The properties of BHs in dwarf galaxies thus remain
a testbed for BH formation. Simulations with strong supernova feedback, which
is able to quench BH accretion in shallow potential wells, produce galaxies and
BHs in better agreement with observational constraints.


title:
Radio Counterparts of Compact Binary Mergers detectable in Gravitational
  Waves: A Simulation for an Optimized Survey

abstract:
  Mergers of binary neutron stars and black hole-neutron star binaries produce
gravitational-wave (GW) emission and outflows with significant kinetic
energies. These outflows result in radio emissions through synchrotron
radiation. We explore the detectability of these synchrotron generated radio
signals by follow-up observations of GW merger events lacking a detection of
electromagnetic counterparts in other wavelengths. We model radio light curves
arising from (i) sub-relativistic merger ejecta and (ii) ultra-relativistic
jets. The former produces radio remnants on timescales of a few years and the
latter produces $\gamma$-ray bursts in the direction of the jet and
orphan-radio afterglows extending over wider angles on timescales of weeks.
Based on the derived light curves, we suggest an optimized survey at $1.4$ GHz
with five epochs separated by a logarithmic time interval. We estimate the
detectability of the radio counterparts of simulated GW-merger events to be
detected by advanced LIGO and Virgo by current and future radio facilities. The
detectable distances for these GW merger events could be as high as 1 Gpc.
$20$--$60\%$ of the long-lasting radio remnants will be detectable in the case
of the moderate kinetic energy of $3\cdot 10^{50}$ erg and a circum-merger
density of $0.1 {\rm cm^{-3}}$ or larger, while $5$--$20\%$ of the orphan radio
afterglows with kinetic energy of $10^{48}$ erg will be detectable. The
detection likelihood increases if one focuses on the well-localizable GW
events. We discuss the background noise due to radio fluxes of host galaxies
and false positives arising from extragalactic radio transients and variable
Active Galactic Nuclei and we show that the quiet radio transient sky is of
great advantage when searching for the radio counterparts.


title: Entanglement Entropy and Duality

abstract:
  Using the algebraic approach to entanglement entropy, we study several dual
pairs of lattice theories and show how the entropy is completely preserved
across each duality. Our main result is that a maximal algebra of observables
in a region typically dualizes to a non-maximal algebra in a dual region. In
particular, we show how the usual notion of tracing out external degrees of
freedom dualizes to a tracing out coupled to an additional summation over
superselection sectors. We briefly comment on possible extensions of our
results to more intricate dualities, including holographic ones.


title: The fraction of BL Lac objects in groups of galaxies

abstract:
  Context: BL Lac objects are a rare class of active galactic nuclei that
typically show featureless optical spectra that make it difficult to estimate
the redshift. A novel method for estimating the redshift of BL Lac objects has
recently been proposed which assumes that these objects typically reside in
groups of galaxies.
  Aims: The aim of this work is to estimate the fraction of BL Lac objects that
reside in groups of galaxies.
  Methods: We use a sample of groups (M12 catalogue) selected by applying a
friends-of-friends algorithm in the SDSS DR12. Galaxies in the M12 sample were
cross-correlated with the sample of blazars in the BZCAT.
  Results: We found that 121 galaxies in the M12 catalogue are blazars in the
BZCAT sample, all but one are BL Lac objects, and a large fraction are
classified as BL Lac-galaxy dominated. Analysing the fraction of galaxies in
groups as a function of redshift we have estimated a correction factor that
takes into account the typical incompleteness of the catalogues based on the
friends-of-friends algorithm. Once this factor was applied to the sample of BL
Lac objects with a counterpart in the M12 catalogue, we found that the
percentage of BL Lac objects in groups is $\gtrsim 67 \pm 8\%$.
  Conclusions: The high rate of BL Lac objects in groups found in this work
strongly supports a recent method that has successfully estimated the redshift
of BL Lac objects with featureless spectra.


title:
Effect of lensing magnification on the apparent distribution of black
  hole mergers

abstract:
  The recent detection of gravitational waves indicates that stellar-mass black
hole binaries are likely to be a key population of sources for forthcoming
observations. With future upgrades, ground-based detectors could detect merging
black hole binaries out to cosmological distances. Gravitational wave bursts
from high redshifts ($z \gtrsim 1$) can be strongly magnified by gravitational
lensing due to intervening galaxies along the line of sight. In the absence of
electromagnetic counterparts, the mergers' intrinsic mass scale and redshift
are degenerate with the unknown magnification factor $\mu$. Hence, strongly
magnified low-mass mergers from high redshifts appear as higher-mass mergers
from lower redshifts. We assess the impact of this degeneracy on the
mass-redshift distribution of observable events for generic models of binary
black hole formation from normal stellar evolution, Pop III star remnants, or a
primordial black hole population. We find that strong magnification ($\mu
\gtrsim 3$) generally creates a heavy tail of apparently massive mergers in the
event distribution from a given detector. For LIGO and its future upgrades,
this tail may dominate the population of intrinsically massive, but unlensed
mergers in binary black hole formation models involving normal stellar
evolution or primordial black holes. Modeling the statistics of lensing
magnification can help account for this magnification bias when testing
astrophysical scenarios of black hole binary formation and evolution.