title:
Abelian tensor hierarchy and Chern-Simons actions in 4D N=1 conformal
  supergravity

abstract:
  We consider Chern-Simons actions of Abelian tensor hierarchy of $p$-form
gauge fields in four-dimensional ${\cal N}=1$ supergravity. Using conformal
superspace formalism, we solve the constraints on the field strengths of the
$p$-form gauge superfields in the presence of the tensor hierarchy. The
solutions are expressed by the prepotentials of the $p$-form gauge superfields.
We show the internal and superconformal transformation laws of the
prepotentials. The descent formalism for the Chern-Simons actions is exhibited.


title:
Reflectivity calculated for a 3D silicon photonic band gap crystal with
  finite support

abstract:
  We study numerically the reflectivity of three-dimensional (3D) photonic
crystals with a complete 3D photonic band gap, with the aim to interpret recent
experiments. We employ the finite element method to study crystals with the
cubic diamond-like inverse woodpile structure. The high-index backbone has a
dielectric function similar to silicon. We study crystals with a range of
thicknesses up to ten unit cells ($L \leq 10 c$). The crystals are surrounded
by vacuum, and have a finite support as in experiments. The
polarization-resolved reflectivity spectra reveal Fabry-P{\'e}rot fringes
related to standing waves in the finite crystal, as well as broad stop bands
with nearly $100~\%$ reflectivity, even for thin crystals. From the strong
reflectivity peaks, it is inferred that the maximum reflectivity observed in
experiments is not limited by finite size. The frequency ranges of the stop
bands are in excellent agreement with stop gaps in the photonic band structure,
that pertain to infinite and perfect crystals. The frequency ranges of the
observed stop bands hardly change with angle of incidence, which is plausible
since the stop bands are part of the 3D band gap. Moreover, this result
supports the previous assertion that intense reflection peaks measured with a
large numerical aperture provide a faithful signature of the 3D photonic band
gap. The Bragg attenuation lengths $L_{B}$ exceed the earlier estimates based
on the width of the stop band by a factor $6$ to $9$. Hence crystals with a
thickness of $12$ unit cells studied in experiments are in the thick crystal
limit ($L >> L_{B}$). In our calculations for p-polarized waves, we also
observe an intriguing hybridization of the zero reflection of Fabry-P{\'e}rot
fringes and the Brewster angle, which has not yet been observed in experiments.


title:
Heisenberg-like uncertainty measures for $D$-dimensional hydrogenic
  systems at large D

abstract:
  The radial expectation values of the probability density of a quantum system
in position and momentum spaces allow one to describe numerous physical
quantities of the system as well as to find generalized Heisenberg-like
uncertainty relations and to bound entropic uncertainty measures. It is known
that the position and momentum expectation values of the main prototype of the
$D$-dimensional Coulomb systems, the $D$-dimensional hydrogenic system, can be
expressed in terms of some generalized hypergeometric functions of the type
$_{p+1}F_p(z)$ evaluated at unity with $p=2$ and $p=3$, respectively. In this
work we determine the position and momentum expectation values in the limit of
large $D$ for all hydrogenic states from ground to very excited (Rydberg) ones
in terms of the spatial dimensionality and the hyperquantum numbers of the
state under consideration. This is done by means of two different approaches to
calculate the leading term of the special functions $_{3}F_2\left(1\right)$ and
$_{5}F_4\left(1\right)$ involved in the large $D$ limit of the position and
momentum quantities. Then, these quantities are used to obtain the generalized
Heisenberg-like and logarithmic uncertainty relations, and some upper and lower
bounds to the entropic uncertainty measures (Shannon, R\'enyi, Tsallis) of the
$D$-dimensional hydrogenic system.


title:
Clustering and Velocity Distributions in Granular Gases Cooling by Solid
  Friction

abstract:
  We present large-scale molecular dynamics simulations to study the free
evolution of granular gases. Initially, the density of particles is homogeneous
and the velocity follows a Maxwell-Boltzmann (MB) distribution. The system
cools down due to solid friction between the granular particles. The density
remains homogeneous, and the velocity distribution remains MB at early times,
while the kinetic energy of the system decays with time. However, fluctuations
in the density and velocity fields grow, and the system evolves via formation
of clusters in the density field and the local ordering of velocity field,
consistent with the onset of plug flow. This is accompanied by a transition of
the velocity distribution function from MB to non-MB behaviour. We used
equal-time correlation functions and structure factors of the density and
velocity fields to study the morphology of clustering. From the correlation
functions, we obtain the cluster size, $L$, as a function of time, $t$. We show
that it exhibits power law growth with $L(t)\sim t^{1/3}$


title: On infinite spectra of first order properties of random graphs

abstract:
  In this paper, we study spectra of first order properties of Erdos-Renyi
random graph. We proved that minimal quantifier depth of a formula with an
infinite spectrum is either 4 or 5.


title: Modelling simultaneous broadcasting by level-disjoint partitions

abstract:
  Simultaneous broadcasting of multiple messages from the same source vertex in
synchronous networks is considered under restrictions that each vertex receives
at most one message in a unit time step, every received message can be sent out
only in the next time step, no message is sent to already informed vertex. The
number of outgoing messages in unrestricted, messages have unit length, and we
assume full-duplex mode. In [9] we developed a concept of level-disjoint
partitions to study simultaneous broadcasting under this model. In this work we
consider the optimal number of level-disjoint partitions. We also provide a
necessary condition in terms of eccentricity and girth on existence of $k$
$v$-rooted level-disjoint partitions of optimal height. In particular, we
provide a structural characterization of graphs admitting two level-disjoint
partitions with the same root.


title:
Reflections on Shannon Information: In search of a natural
  information-entropy for images

abstract:
  It is not obvious how to extend Shannon's original information entropy to
higher dimensions, and many different approaches have been tried. We replace
the English text symbol sequence originally used to illustrate the theory by a
discrete, bandlimited signal. Using Shannon's later theory of sampling we
derive a new and symmetric version of the second order entropy in 1D. The new
theory then naturally extends to 2D and higher dimensions, where by naturally
we mean simple, symmetric, isotropic and parsimonious. Simplicity arises from
the direct application of Shannon's joint entropy equalities and inequalities
to the gradient (del) vector field image embodying the second order relations
of the scalar image. Parsimony is guaranteed by halving of the vector data rate
using Papoulis' generalized sampling expansion. The new 2D entropy measure,
which we dub delentropy, is underpinned by a computable probability density
function we call deldensity. The deldensity captures the underlying spatial
image structure and pixel co-occurrence. It achieves this because each scalar
image pixel value is nonlocally related to the entire gradient vector field.
Both deldensity and delentropy are highly tractable and yield many interesting
connections and useful inequalities. The new measure explicitly defines a
realizable encoding algorithm and a corresponding reconstruction. Initial tests
show that delentropy compares favourably with the conventional intensity-based
histogram entropy and the compressed data rates of lossless image encoders
(GIF, PNG, WEBP, JP2K-LS and JPG-LS) for a selection of images. The symmetric
approach may have applications to higher dimensions and problems concerning
image complexity measures.


title:
Extracting replicable associations across multiple studies: algorithms
  for controlling the false discovery rate

abstract:
  Extracting associations that recur across multiple studies while controlling
the false discovery rate is a fundamental challenge. Here, we consider an
extension of Efron's single-study two-groups model to allow joint analysis of
multiple studies. We assume that given a set of p-values obtained from each
study, the researcher is interested in associations that recur in at least
$k>1$ studies. We propose new algorithms that differ in how the study
dependencies are modeled. We compared our new methods and others using various
simulated scenarios. The top performing algorithm, SCREEN (Scalable
Cluster-based REplicability ENhancement), is our new algorithm that is based on
three stages: (1) clustering an estimated correlation network of the studies,
(2) learning replicability (e.g., of genes) within clusters, and (3) merging
the results across the clusters using dynamic programming. We applied SCREEN to
two real datasets and demonstrated that it greatly outperforms the results
obtained via standard meta-analysis. First, on a collection of 29 case-control
large-scale gene expression cancer studies, we detected a large up-regulated
module of genes related to proliferation and cell cycle regulation. These genes
are both consistently up-regulated across many cancer studies, and are well
connected in known gene networks. Second, on a recent pan-cancer study that
examined the expression profiles of patients with or without mutations in the
HLA complex, we detected an active module of up-regulated genes that are
related to immune responses. Thanks to our ability to quantify the false
discovery rate, we detected thrice more genes as compared to the original
study. Our module contains most of the genes reported in the original study,
and many new ones. Interestingly, the newly discovered genes are needed to
establish the connectivity of the module.


title: Hamilton circles in Cayley graphs

abstract:
  For locally finite infinite graphs the notion of Hamilton cycles can be
extended to Hamilton circles, homeomorphic images of $S^1$ in the Freudenthal
compactification. In this paper we prove of a sufficient condition for the
existence of Hamilton circles in locally finite Cayley graphs.


title: Flow polynomials as Feynman amplitudes and their $\alpha$-representation

abstract:
  Let $G$ be a connected graph; denote by $\tau(G)$ the set of its spanning
trees. Let $\mathbb F_q$ be a finite field, $s(\alpha,G)=\sum_{T\in\tau(G)}
\prod_{e \in E(T)} \alpha_e$, where ${\alpha_e\in \mathbb F_q}$. Kontsevich
conjectured in 1997 that the number of nonzero values of $s(\alpha, G)$ is a
polynomial in $q$ for all graphs. This conjecture was disproved by Brosnan and
Belkale. In this paper, using the standard technique of the Fourier
transformation of Feynman amplitudes, we express the flow polynomial $F_G(q)$
in terms of the "correct" Kontsevich formula. Our formula represents $F_G(q)$
as a linear combination of Legendre symbols of $s(\alpha, H)$ with coefficients
$\pm 1/q^{(|V(H)|-1)/2}$, where $H$ is a contracted graph of $G$ depending on
$\alpha\in \left(\mathbb F^*_q\right)^{E(G)}$, and $|V(H)|$ is odd. The case
$q=5$ corresponds to the least number with which all coefficients in the linear
combination are positive. This allows us to hope that the obtained result can
be applied to prove the Tutte 5-flow conjecture.


title:
Multifractality of eigenstates in the delocalized non-ergodic phase of
  some random matrix models : Wigner-Weisskopf approach

abstract:
  The delocalized non-ergodic phase existing in some random $N \times N$ matrix
models is analyzed via the Wigner-Weisskopf approximation for the dynamics from
an initial site $j_0$. The main output of this approach is the inverse
$\Gamma_{j_0}(N)$ of the characteristic time to leave the state $j_0$ that
provides some broadening $\Gamma_{j_0}(N) $ for the weights of the
eigenvectors. In this framework, the localized phase corresponds to the region
where the broadening $\Gamma_{j_0}(N) $ is smaller in scaling than the level
spacing $\Delta_{j_0}(N) \propto \frac{1}{N}$, while the delocalized
non-ergodic phase corresponds to the region where the broadening
$\Gamma_{j_0}(N) $ decays with $N$ but is bigger in scaling than the level
spacing $\Delta_{j_0}(N) $. Then the number
$\frac{\Gamma_{j_0}(N)}{\Delta_{j_0}(N)} $ of resonances grows only
sub-extensively in $N$. This approach allows to recover the multifractal
spectrum of the Generalized-Rosenzweig-Potter (GRP) Matrix model [V.E.
Kravtsov, I.M. Khaymovich, E. Cuevas and M. Amini, New. J. Phys. 17, 122002
(2015)]. We then consider the L\'evy generalization of the GRP Matrix model,
where the off-diagonal matrix elements are drawn with an heavy-tailed
distribution of L\'evy index $1<\mu<2$ : the dynamics is then governed by a
stretched exponential of exponent $\beta=\frac{2 (\mu-1)}{\mu}$ and the
multifractal properties of eigenstates are explicitly computed.


title:
H-alpha features with hot onsets III. Fibrils in Lyman-alpha and with
  ALMA

abstract:
  In H-alpha most of the solar surface is covered by dense canopies of long
opaque fibrils, but predictions for quiet-Sun observations with ALMA have
ignored this fact. Comparison with Ly-alpha suggests that the large opacity of
H-alpha fibrils is caused by hot precursor events. Application of a recipe that
assumes momentary Saha-Boltzmann extinction during their hot onset to
millimeter wavelengths suggests that ALMA will observe H-alpha-like fibril
canopies, not acoustic shocks underneath, and will yield data more interesting
than if these canopies were transparent.


title:
H\"older gradient estimates for a class of singular or degenerate
  parabolic equations

abstract:
  We prove interior H\"older estimate for the spatial gradients of the
viscosity solutions to the singular or degenerate parabolic equation $$
u_t=|\nabla u|^{\kappa}\mbox{div} (|\nabla u|^{p-2}\nabla u), $$ where $p\in
(1,\infty)$ and $\kappa\in (1-p,\infty).$ This includes the from $L^\infty$ to
$C^{1,\alpha}$ regularity for parabolic $p$-Laplacian equations in both
divergence form with $\kappa=0$, and non-divergence form with $\kappa=2-p$.
This work is a continuation of a paper by the last two authors \cite{JS}.


title:
On the stability of KMS states in perturbative algebraic quantum field
  theories

abstract:
  We analyze the stability properties shown by KMS states for interacting
massive scalar fields propagating over Minkowski spacetime, recently
constructed in the framework of perturbative algebraic quantum field theories
by Fredenhagen and Lindner \cite{FredenhagenLindner}. In particular, we prove
the validity of the return to equilibrium property when the interaction
Lagrangian has compact spatial support. Surprisingly, this does not hold
anymore, if the adiabatic limit is considered, namely when the interaction
Lagrangian is invariant under spatial translations. Consequently, an
equilibrium state under the adiabatic limit for a perturbative interacting
theory evolved with the free dynamics does not converge anymore to the free
equilibrium state. Actually, we show that its ergodic mean converges to a non
equilibrium steady state for the free theory.


title:
HESS J1427-608: an unusual hard unbroken $\gamma-$ray spectrum in a very
  wide energy range

abstract:
  We report the detection of a GeV $\gamma$-ray source which is spatially
overlapping and thus very likely associated with the unidentified
very-high-energy (VHE) $\gamma$-ray source HESS J1427-608 with the Pass 8 data
recorded by the Fermi Large Area Telescope. The photon spectrum of this source
is best described by a power-law with an index of $1.85\pm0.17$ in the energy
range of $3-500$ GeV, and the measured flux connects smoothly with that of HESS
J1427-608 at a few hundred GeV. This source shows no significant extension and
time variation. The broadband GeV-TeV emission over four decades of energies
can be well fitted by a single power-law function with an index of 2.0, without
obvious indication of spectral cutoff toward high energies. Such a result
implies that HESS J1427-608 may be a PeV particle accelerator. We discuss
possible nature of HESS J1427-608 according to the multi-wavelength spectral
fittings. Given the relatively large errors, either a leptonic or a hadronic
model can explain the multi-wavelength data from radio to VHE $\gamma$-rays.
The inferred magnetic field strength is a few $\mu$G, which is smaller than
typical values of supernova remnants (SNRs), and is consistent with some pulsar
wind nebulae (PWNe). On the other hand, the flat $\gamma$-ray spectrum is
slightly different from typical PWNe but similar to that of some known SNRs.


title:
Observational Constraints on New Exact Inflationary Scalar-field
  Solutions

abstract:
  An algorithm is used to generate new solutions of the scalar field equations
in homogeneous and isotropic universes. Solutions can be found for pure scalar
fields with various potentials in the absence and presence of spatial curvature
and other perfect fluids. A series of generalisations of the Chaplygin gas and
bulk viscous cosmological solutions for inflationary universes are found.
Furthermore other closed-form solutions which provide inflationary universes
are presented. We also show how the Hubble slow-roll parameters can be
calculated using the solution algorithm and we compare these inflationary
solutions with the observational data provided by the Planck 2015 collaboration
in order to constraint and rule out some of these models.


title:
Stochastic boundary approaches to many-particle systems coupled to a
  particle reservoir

abstract:
  Stochastic boundary conditions for interactions with a particle reservoir are
discussed in many-particle systems. We introduce the boundary conditions with
the injection rate and the momentum distribution of particles coming from a
particle reservoir in terms of the pressure and the temperature of the
reservoir. It is shown that equilibrium ideal gases and hard-disk systems with
these boundary conditions reproduce statistical-mechanical properties based on
the corresponding grand canonical distributions. We also apply the stochastic
boundary conditions to a hard-disk model with a steady particle current
escaping from a particle reservoir in an open tube, and discuss its
nonequilibrium properties such as a chemical potential dependence of the
current and deviations from the local equilibrium hypothesis.


title: Ordering Unicyclic Graphs with Respect to F-index

abstract:
  F-index of a graph is the sum of the cube of the degrees of the vertices. In
this paper, we investigate the F-indices of unicyclic graphs by introducing
some transformation, and characterize the unicyclic graphs with the first five
largest F-indices and the unicyclic graphs with the first two smallest
F-indices, respectively.


title:
Estimation of the Vertical Disk Scale Height Using Young Galactic
  Objects

abstract:
  We have collected literature data on young Galactic objects such as masers
with VLBI-measured trigonometric parallaxes, OB associations, HII regions and
Cepheids. We have recently established that vertical disk scale height is
strongly influenced by the objects of the Local arm. In the present work we
used samples that do not contain objects in this arm. Based on the model of a
self-gravitating isothermal disk for the density distribution, we have found
the following vertical disk scale heights: h=46+/-5 pc from 69 masers with
trigonometric parallaxes, h=36+/-3 pc from 59 OB associations, h=35.6+/-2.7 pc
from 147 HII regions, h=52.1+/-1.9 pc from 195 young Cepheids, and h=72.0+/-2.3
pc from 192 old Cepheids.


title: Colliding-wind Binaries with strong magnetic fields

abstract:
  The dynamics of colliding wind binary systems and conditions for efficient
particle acceleration therein have attracted multiple numerical studies in the
recent years. These numerical models seek an explanation of the thermal and
non-thermal emission of these systems as seen by observations. In the
non-thermal regime, radio and X-ray emission is observed for several of these
colliding-wind binaries, while gamma-ray emission has so far only been found in
$\eta$ Carinae and possibly in WR 11. Energetic electrons are deemed
responsible for a large fraction of the observed high-energy photons in these
systems. Only in the gamma-ray regime there might be, depending on the
properties of the stars, a significant contribution of emission from neutral
pion decay. Thus, studying the emission from colliding-wind binaries requires
detailed models of the acceleration and propagation of energetic electrons.
This in turn requires a detailed understanding of the magnetic field, which
will not only affect the energy losses of the electrons but in case of
synchrotron emission also the directional dependence of the emissivity. In this
study we investigate magnetohydrodynamic simulations of different colliding
wind binary systems with magnetic fields that are strong enough to have a
significant effect on the winds. Such strong fields require a detailed
treatment of the near-star wind acceleration zone. We show the implementation
of such simulations and discuss results that demonstrate the effect of the
magnetic field on the structure of the wind collision region.


title: Proposal of Data Processing Platform for Direct Marketing Data

abstract:
  Data mining has been widely used to identify potential customers for a new
product or service. In this article is done a study of previous work relating
to the application of data mining methodologies for software projects,
specifically for direct marketing projects. Several data sets of demographic
and historical customer purchases data available for evaluation of algorithms
in this area, some of them very new and current are described. The main
contribution of this paper is the proposal of a platform for distributed data
stream processing for the processes of targeting customers and building
predictive models required response; thus facilitating several of the
functional requirements for development environments.


title:
Proposal for detection of a single electron spin in a microwave
  resonator

abstract:
  We propose a method for detecting the presence of a single spin in a crystal
by coupling it to a high-quality factor superconducting planar resonator. By
confining the microwave field in a constriction of nanometric dimensions, the
coupling constant can be as high as $5-10$\,kHz. This coupling affects the
amplitude of the field emitted by the resonator, and the integrated homodyne
signal allows detection of a single spin with unit signal-to-noise ratio within
few milliseconds. We further show that a stochastic master equation approach
and a Bayesian analysis of the full time dependent homodyne signal improves
this figure by $\sim 30\%$ for typical parameters.


title: On permutation numerical semigroups

abstract:
  In this paper we introduce the notion of $n$-permutation numerical semigroup.
While there are just three $2$-permutation numerical semigroups, there are
infinitely many $n$-permutation numerical semigroups if $n > 2$. We construct
$16$ families of $3$-permutation numerical semigroups and one family of
$n$-permutation numerical semigroups. Finally we present some experimental
data, which seem to support a conjecture about the classification of
$3$-permutation numerical semigroups.


title: Intensity Interferometry with Aqueye+ and Iqueye in Asiago

abstract:
  Since a number of years our group is engaged in the design, construction and
operation of instruments with very high time resolution in the optical band for
applications to Quantum Astronomy and more conventional Astrophysics. Two
instruments were built to perform photon counting with sub-nanosecond temporal
accuracy. The first of the two, Aqueye+, is regularly mounted at the 1.8 m
Copernicus telescope in Asiago, while the second one, Iqueye, was mounted at
the ESO New Technology Telescope in Chile, and at the William Herschel
Telescope and Telescopio Nazionale Galileo on the Roque (La Palma, Canary
Islands). Both instruments deliver extraordinarily accurate results in optical
pulsar timing. Recently, Iqueye was moved to Asiago to be mounted at the 1.2 m
Galileo telescope to attempt, for the first time ever, experiments of optical
intensity interferometry (a` la Hanbury Brown and Twiss) on a baseline of a few
kilometers, together with the Copernicus telescope. This application was one of
the original goals for the development of our instrumentation. To carry out
these measurements, we are experimenting a new way of coupling the instruments
to the telescopes, by means of moderate-aperture, low-optical-attenuation
multi-mode optical fibers with a double-clad design. Fibers are housed in
dedicated optical interfaces attached to the focus of another instrument of the
1.8 m telescope (Aqueye+) or to the Nasmyth focus of the 1.2 m telescope
(Iqueye). This soft-mount solution has the advantage to facilitate the mounting
of the photon counters, to keep them under controlled temperature and humidity
conditions (reducing potential systematics related to varying ambient
conditions), and to mitigate scheduling requirements. Here we will describe the
first successful implementation of the Asiago intensity interferometer and
future plans for improving it.


title:
Prospects for quarkonium measurements in p--A and A--A collisions at the
  LHC

abstract:
  The potential of the ALICE, ATLAS, CMS and LHCb detectors for the measurement
of quarkonium in heavy-ion collisions, both in nucleus-nucleus (A-A) and in
proton-nucleus (p-A) interactions, in the years 2015 until about 2030 in the
LHC Runs 2, 3 and 4 with larger statistics and detector upgrades is described.
A selection of newly available observables is discussed.


title: Constructions of Optimal Cyclic $(r,\delta)$ Locally Repairable Codes

abstract:
  A code is said to be a $r$-local locally repairable code (LRC) if each of its
coordinates can be repaired by accessing at most $r$ other coordinates. When
some of the $r$ coordinates are also erased, the $r$-local LRC can not
accomplish the local repair, which leads to the concept of
$(r,\delta)$-locality. A $q$-ary $[n, k]$ linear code $\cC$ is said to have
$(r, \delta)$-locality ($\delta\ge 2$) if for each coordinate $i$, there exists
a punctured subcode of $\cC$ with support containing $i$, whose length is at
most $r + \delta - 1$, and whose minimum distance is at least $\delta$. The
$(r, \delta)$-LRC can tolerate $\delta-1$ erasures in total, which degenerates
to a $r$-local LRC when $\delta=2$. A $q$-ary $(r,\delta)$ LRC is called
optimal if it meets the Singleton-like bound for $(r,\delta)$-LRCs. A class of
optimal $q$-ary cyclic $r$-local LRCs with lengths $n\mid q-1$ were constructed
by Tamo, Barg, Goparaju and Calderbank based on the $q$-ary Reed-Solomon codes.
In this paper, we construct a class of optimal $q$-ary cyclic $(r,\delta)$-LRCs
($\delta\ge 2$) with length $n\mid q-1$, which generalizes the results of Tamo
\emph{et al.} Moreover, we construct a new class of optimal $q$-ary cyclic
$r$-local LRCs with lengths $n\mid q+1$ and a new class of optimal $q$-ary
cyclic $(r,\delta)$-LRCs ($\delta\ge 2$) with lengths $n\mid q+1$. The
constructed optimal LRCs with length $n=q+1$ have the best-known length $q+1$
for the given finite field with size $q$ when the minimum distance is larger
than $4$.


title:
Enhanced Adhesion of S. Mutans to Hydroxyapatite after Inoculation in
  Saliva

abstract:
  Streptococcus mutans cells form robust biofilms on human teeth and are
strongly related to caries incidents. Hence, understanding the adhesion of S.
mutans in the human oral cavity is of major interest for preventive dentistry.
In this study, we report on AFM-based single cell force spectroscopy
measurements of S. mutans cells to hydroxyapatite surfaces. We observe a
significant increase of adhesion strength if S. mutans cells were exposed to
human saliva before adhesion. In contrast, Staphylococcus carnosus cells are
almost unaffected by the pre-treatment. Our results demonstrate that S. mutans
cells are well-adapted to their natural environment, the oral cavity. This
ability promotes the biofilm-forming capability of that species and hence the
production of caries-provoking acids. In consequence, understanding the
fundamentals of this mechanism may pave a way towards more effective
caries-reducing techniques.


title:
STIT Tessellations -- Ergodic Limit Theorems and Bounds for the Speed of
  Convergence

abstract:
  We consider homogeneous STIT tessellations in the $\ell$-dimensional
Euclidean space ${\mathbb R}^\ell$. Based on results for the spatial
$\beta$-mixing coefficient an upper bound for the variance of additive
functionals of tessellations is derived, using results by Yoshihara and
Heinrich. Moreover, ergodic theorems are applied to subadditive functionals.


title:
Sliding Window Spectrum Sensing for Full-Duplex Cognitive Radios with
  Low Access-Latency

abstract:
  In a cognitive radio system the failure of secondary user (SU) transceivers
to promptly vacate the channel can introduce significant access-latency for
primary or high-priority users (PU). In conventional cognitive radio systems,
the backoff latency is exacerbated by frame structures that only allow sensing
at periodic intervals. Concurrent transmission and sensing using
self-interference suppression has been suggested to improve the performance of
cognitive radio systems, allowing decisions to be taken at multiple points
within the frame. In this paper, we extend this approach by proposing a
sliding-window full-duplex model allowing decisions to be taken on a
sample-by-sample basis. We also derive the access-latency for both the existing
and the proposed schemes. Our results show that the access-latency of the
sliding scheme is decreased by a factor of 2.6 compared to the existing slotted
full-duplex scheme and by a factor of approximately 16 compared to a
half-duplex cognitive radio system. Moreover, the proposed scheme is
significantly more resilient to the destructive effects of residual
self-interference compared to previous approaches.


title:
Redefining the boundaries of interplanetary coronal mass ejections from
  observations at the ecliptic plane

abstract:
  On 2015 January 6-7, an interplanetary coronal mass ejection (ICME) was
observed at L1. This event, which can be associated with a weak and slow
coronal mass ejection, allows us to discuss on the differences between the
boundaries of the magnetic cloud and the compositional boundaries. A fast
stream from a solar coronal hole surrounding this ICME offers a unique
opportunity to check the boundaries' process definition and to explain
differences between them. Using Wind and ACE data, we perform a complementary
analysis involving compositional, magnetic, and kinematic observations
providing relevant information regarding the evolution of the ICME as
travelling away from the Sun. We propose erosion, at least at the front
boundary of the ICME, as the main reason for the difference between the
boundaries, and compositional signatures as the most precise diagnostic tool
for the boundaries of ICMEs.


title:
Constructing a free resolution and remarks on bar homology of
  Temperley-Lieb algebra $TL_3$

abstract:
  In this paper I try to construct the Anick's resolution for the
Temperley-Lieb algebra $TL_3$ and bar homology
$Tor_\ast^{TL_3}(\mathbb{C},\mathbb{C})$ and shows that how $\tau \in
\mathbb{C}$ given in the definition of $TL_3$ is actively involved in the
differentials both in free resolution and bar homology. It suggests that the
bar homology depends on the nature of $\tau$.


title:
Neurofilaments function as shock absorbers: compression response arising
  from disordered proteins

abstract:
  What can cells gain by using disordered, rather than folded, proteins in the
architecture of their skeleton? Disordered proteins take multiple co-existing
conformations, and often contain segments which act as random-walk-shaped
polymers. Using X-ray scattering we measure the compression response of
disordered protein hydrogels, which are the main stress-responsive component of
neuron cells. We find that at high compression their mechanics are dominated by
gas-like steric and ionic repulsions. At low compression, specific attractive
interactions dominate. This is demonstrated by the considerable hydrogel
expansion induced by the truncation of critical short protein segments.
Accordingly, the floppy disordered proteins form a weakly cross-bridged
hydrogel, and act as shock absorbers that sustain large deformations without
failure.


title:
Microlensing and dynamical constraints on primordial black hole dark
  matter with an extended mass function

abstract:
  The recent discovery of gravitational waves from mergers of $\sim 10 \,
M_{\odot}$ black hole binaries has stimulated interested in Primordial Black
Hole dark matter in this mass range. Microlensing and dynamical constraints
exclude all of the dark matter being in compact objects with a delta function
mass function in the range $10^{-7} \lesssim M/ M_{\odot} \lesssim 10^{5}$.
However it has been argued that all of the dark matter could be composed of
compact objects in this range with an extended mass function. We explicitly
recalculate the microlensing and dynamical constraints for compact objects with
an extended mass function which replicates the PBH mass function produced by
inflation models. We find that the microlensing and dynamical constraints place
conflicting constraints on the width of the mass function, and do not find a
mass function which satisfies both constraints.


title: Congruence Preserving Functions on Free Monoids

abstract:
  A function on an algebra is congruence preserving if, for any congruence, it
maps congruent elements to congruent elements. We show that, on a free monoid
generated by at least 3 letters, a function from the free monoid into itself is
congruence preserving %nonmonogenic if and only if it is of the form $x \mapsto
w_0 x w_1 \cdots w_{n-1} x w_n$ for some finite sequence of words
$w_0,\ldots,w_n$. We generalize this result to functions of arbitrary arity.
This shows that a free monoid with at least three generators is a
(noncommutative) affine complete algebra. Up to our knowledge, it is the first
(nontrivial) case of a noncommutative affine complete algebra.


title:
Experimental evidence for the influence of charge on the adsorption
  capacity of carbon dioxide on charged fullerenes

abstract:
  We show, with both experiment and theory, that adsorption of $CO_2$ is
sensitive to charge on a capturing model carbonaceous surface. In the
experiment we dope superfluid helium droplets with $C_{60}$ and $CO_2$ and
expose them to ionising free electrons. Both positively and negatively charged
$C_{60}(CO_2)_n^{+/-}$ cluster ion distributions are observed with a
high-resolution mass spectrometer and these show remarkable and reproducible
anomalies in intensities that are strongly dependent on the charge. The highest
adsorption capacity is seen with $C_{60}^+$. Complementary density functional
theory calculations and molecular dynamics simulations provided insight into
the nature of the interaction of charged $C_{60}$ with $CO_2$ as well as trends
in the packing of $C_{60}^+$ and $C_{60}^-$. The quadrupole moment of $CO_2$
itself was seen to be decisive in determining the charge dependence of the
observed adsorption features. Our findings are expected to apply to adsorption
of $CO_2$ by charged surfaces in general.


title: Optimal Quadrature Formulas for the Sobolev Space $H^1$

abstract:
  We study optimal quadrature formulas for arbitrary weighted integrals and
integrands from the Sobolev space $H^1([0,1])$. We obtain general formulas for
the worst case error depending on the nodes $x_j$. A particular case is the
computation of Fourier coefficients, where the oscillatory weight is given by
$\rho_k(x) = \exp(- 2 \pi i k x)$. Here we study the question whether
equidistant nodes are optimal or not. We prove that this depends on $n$ and
$k$: equidistant nodes are optimal if $n \ge 2.7 |k| +1 $ but might be
suboptimal for small $n$. In particular, the equidistant nodes $x_j = j/ |k|$
for $j=0, 1, \dots , |k| = n+1$ are the worst possible nodes and do not give
any useful information. To characterize the worst case function we use certain
results from the theory of weak solutions of boundary value problems and
related quadratic extremal problems.


title: Asymptotic For Primitive Roots Producing Polynomials

abstract:
  Let $x \geq 1$ be a large number, let $f(x) \in \mathbb{Z}[x]$ be a prime
polynomial of degree $\text{deg}(f)=m$, and let $u\ne \pm 1, v^2$ be a fixed
integer. Assuming the Bateman-Horn conjecture, an asymptotic counting function
for the number of primes $p=f(n) \leq x$ with a fixed primitve root $u$ is
derived in this note.


title: Grand unification and CP violation

abstract:
  I will talk on my recent works related to the flavor grand unification, weak
CP violation, and the phases in the CKM and PMNS matrices.


title:
The geometrical nature of the cosmological inflation in the framework of
  the Weyl-Dirac conformal gravity theory

abstract:
  The nature of the scalar field responsible for the cosmological inflation,
the \qo{inflaton}, is found to be rooted in the most fundamental concept of the
Weyl's differential geometry: the parallel displacement of vectors in curved
space-time. The Euler-Lagrange theory based on a scalar-tensor Weyl-Dirac
Lagrangian leads straightforwardly to the Einstein equation admitting as a
source the characteristic energy-momentum tensor of the inflaton field. Within
the dynamics of the inflation, e.g. in the slow roll transition from a
\qo{false} toward a \qo{true vacuum}, the inflaton's geometry implies a
temperature driven symmetry change between a highly symmetrical \qo{Weylan} to
a low symmetry \qo{Riemannian} scenario. Since the dynamics of the Weyl
curvature scalar, constructed over differentials of the inflaton field, has
been found to account for the quantum phenomenology at the microscopic scale,
the present work suggests interesting connections between the \qo{micro} and
the \qo{macro} aspects of our Universe.


title: Landau-Zener transitions in an open multilevel quantum system

abstract:
  We consider the Landau-Zener problem for a multilevel quantum system that is
coupled to an external environment. In particular, we consider a number of
cases of three-level systems coupled to a harmonic oscillator that represents
the external environment. We find that, similar to the case of the Landau-Zener
problem with a two-level system, when the quantum system and the environment
are both initially in their ground states the probability that the system
remains in the same quantum state is not affected by the coupling to the
environment. The final occupation probabilities of the other states are well
described by a common general principle: the coupling to the environment turns
each Landau-Zener transition process in the closed system into a sequence of
smaller transitions in the combined Hilbert space of the system and
environment, and this sequence of transitions lasts a total duration that
increases with increasing system-environment coupling strength. These results
provide an intuitive understanding of Landau-Zener transitions in open
multilevel quantum systems.


title: Modal and excitation asymmetries in magneto-dielectric particle chains

abstract:
  We study the properties of dipolar wave propagation in linear chains of
isotropic particles with independent electric and magnetic response, embedded
in vacuum. It is shown that the chain can support simultaneously right-handed
modes (RHM) and left-handed modes (LHM) of transverse-polarization. The LHM are
supported by the structure even if the chain's particles possess positive
polarizabilities and no Bi-isotropy; the needed structural Bi-isotropy is
provided by the propagator instead of by the particle's local properties. In
contrast to the transverse modes in chains that consist of purely electric
particles that are inherently RHM, the LHM dispersion lacks the light-line
branch since their dipolar features are not aligned with the electric and
magnetic fields of a right-handed plane-wave solution in free space.
Furthermore, it is shown that the spatial width of the LHM is significantly
smaller than that of the RHM. Excitation theory is developed, and it is shown
that the chain possesses modal and excitation asymmetries that can be used to
eliminate reflections from chain's termination.


title:
Well-Posedness and Output Regulation for Implicit Time-Varying Evolution
  Variational Inequalities

abstract:
  A class of evolution variational inequalities (EVIs), which comprises
ordinary differential equations (ODEs) coupled with variational inequalities
(VIs) associated with time-varying set-valued mappings, is proposed in this
paper. We first study the conditions for existence and uniqueness of solutions.
The central idea behind the proof is to rewrite the system dynamics as a
differential inclusion which can be decomposed into a single-valued Lipschitz
map, and a time-dependent maximal monotone operator. Regularity assumptions on
the set-valued mapping determine the regularity of the resulting solutions.
Complementarity systems with time-dependence are studied as a particular case.
We then use this result to study the problem of designing state feedback
control laws for output regulation in systems described by EVIs. The derivation
of control laws for output regulation is based on the use of internal model
principle, and two cases are treated: First, a static feedback control law is
derived when full state feedback is available, In the second case, only the
error to be regulated is assumed to be available for measurement and a dynamic
compensator is designed. As applications, we demonstrate how control input
resulting from the solution of a variational inequality results in regulating
the output of the system while maintaining polyhedral state constraints.
Another application is seen in designing control inputs for regulation in power
converters.


title: Gravitational smoothing of kinks on cosmic string loops

abstract:
  We analyze the effect of gravitational back reaction on cosmic string loops
with kinks, which is an important determinant of the shape, and thus the
potential observability, of string loops which may exist in the universe today.
Kinks are not rounded off, but may be straightened out. This means that back
reaction will only cause loops with kinks to develop cusps after some
potentially large fraction of their lifetimes. In some loops, symmetries
prevent even this process, so that the loop evaporates in a self-similar
fashion and the kinks are unchanged. As an example, we discuss back-reaction on
the rectangular Garfinkle-Vachaspati loop.


title: Local Quantum Thermometry using Unruh-De Witt detectors

abstract:
  We propose an operational definition for the local temperature of a quantum
field employing Unruh-DeWitt detectors, as used in the study of the Unruh and
Hawking effects. With this definition, an inhomogeneous quantum system in
equilibrium can have different local temperatures, in analogy with the
Tolman-Ehrenfest theorem from general relativity. We study the local
temperature distribution on the ground state of hopping fermionic systems on a
curved background. The observed temperature tends to zero as the
thermometer-system coupling $g$ vanishes. Yet, for small but finite values of
$g$, we show that the product of the observed local temperature and the
logarithm of the local speed of light is approximately constant. Our
predictions should be testable on ultracold atomic systems.


title:
The Transform of a line of Desargues Affine Plane in an additive Group
  of its Points

abstract:
  In this paper we present a set transformation of points in a line of the
Desargues affine plane in a additive group. For this, the first stop on the
meaning of the Desargues affine plane, formulating first axiom of his that show
proposition D1. Afterwards we show that little Pappus theorem, which we use in
the construction of group proofs in additions of points on a line on desargues
plane, also applies in the Desargues affine plane.


title:
Pushing the Qubit Rate Limit for Fast Quantum Data Transmission by
  Quantum Error Correction

abstract:
  Fast quantum data transmission faces several shortcomings such as the
indistinguishability of some partly overlapping signals, the channel noises,
and so on. Based on the encoded quantum data transmission protocol, an
unconventional scheme is presented to overcome the indistinguishability problem
of the encoded qubits effectively, so that the upper bound for qubit
transmission rate can be considerably raised compared with the un-encoded
cases. It can be regarded as a combination of an entanglement swapping
technique and a quantum error-correcting scheme, which also provides us a new
way of thinking for improving other technologies such as quantum communication,
quantum storage technology etc. Besides, from the quantum error correction's
point of view, our technique can also be regarded as a method to deal with some
families of nonlocal errors, which may facilitate the research in the relevant
field.


title:
(Sub)millimetre interferometric imaging of a sample of COSMOS/AzTEC
  submillimetre galaxies IV. Physical properties derived from spectral energy
  distributions

abstract:
  We characterise the physical nature of a 1.1 mm-selected, flux-limited, and
interferometrically followed up sample of SMGs in COSMOS. We used the MAGPHYS
code to fit the multiwavelength (UV-radio) SEDs of 16 of the target SMGs. We
also constructed the pure radio SEDs of our SMGs using three different radio
bands (325 MHz, 1.4 GHz, and 3 GHz). Moreover, since two SMGs in our sample,
AzTEC1 and AzTEC3, benefit from previous CO line observations, we studied their
properties in more detail. We found that 63% of our target SMGs lie above the
galaxy main-sequence by more than a factor of 3, and hence are starbursts. The
3 GHz radio sizes we have previously measured for the target SMGs were compared
with the present stellar mass estimates, and we found that the z>3 SMGs are
fairly consistent with the mass-size relationship of z~2 compact, quiescent
galaxies (cQGs). The median IR-radio correlation parameter is found to be
q=2.27, which is lower than measured locally (median q=2.64). AzTEC1 is found
to have a sub-Eddington SFR surface density (by a factor of 2.6), while AzTEC3
appears to be an Eddington-limited starburster. The gas reservoir in these two
high-z SMGs would be exhausted in only ~86 and 19 Myr at the current SFR,
respectively. A comparison of the MAGPHYS-based properties of our SMGs with
those of equally bright ALESS SMGs suggests that the two populations share
fairly similar physical characteristics, including the q parameter. A hint of
negative correlation is found between the 3 GHz size and the level of
starburstiness, and hence cosmic-ray electrons in more compact starbursts might
be more susceptible to free-free absorption. Some of the derived low and high q
values (compared to the local median) could be the result of a specific
merger/post-starburst phase of galaxy evolution. Overall, our results support
the scenario where z>3 SMGs evolve into today's giant ellipticals.


title: Magneto-optical properties of InSb for terahertz applications

abstract:
  Magneto-optical permittivity tensor spectra of undoped InSb, n-doped and
p-doped InSb crystals were determined using the terahertz time-domain
spectroscopy (THz-TDS) and the Fourier transform far-infrared spectroscopy
(far-FTIR). A Huge polar magneto-optical (MO) Kerr-effect (up to 20 degrees in
rotation) and a simultaneous plasmonic behavior observed at low magnetic field
(0.4 T) and room temperature are promising for terahertz nonreciprocal
applications. We demonstrate the possibility of adjusting the the spectral rage
with huge MO by increase in n-doping of InSb. Spectral response is modeled
using generalized magneto-optical Drude-Lorentz theory, giving us precise
values of free carrier mobility, density and effective mass consistent with
electric Hall effect measurement.


title: The Unexpected Fractal Signatures in Fibonacci chains

abstract:
  Quasicrystals are fractal due to their self similar property. In this paper,
a new cycloidal fractal signature possessing the cardioid shape in the
Mandelbrot set is presented in the Fourier space of a Fibonacci chain with two
lengths, L and S, where L/S = \{phi}. The corresponding pointwise dimension is
0.7. Various modifications, such as truncation from the head or tail,
scrambling the orders of the sequence, and changing the ratio of the L and S,
are done on the Fibonacci chain. The resulting patterns in the Fourier space
show that that the fractal signature is very sensitive to changes in the
Fibonacci order but not to the L/S ratio.


title: Reciprocity and orthogonality

abstract:
  Let $p$ be a prime and let $K$ be a finite extension of the field ${\bf Q}_p$
of $p$-adic numbers such that the group ${}_pK^\times$ has order $p$. The ${\bf
F}_p$-space $K^\times\!/K^{\times p}$ carries a natural filtration coming from
the valuation on $K$, and a natural bilinear pairing coming from the
reciprocity isomorphism for the exponent~$p$. We determine the orthogonal
filtration for this pairing. We also prove the analogous result for $p$-fields
of characteristic $p$.


title: Phase diagram of interacting spinless fermions on the honeycomb lattice

abstract:
  Fermions hopping on a hexagonal lattice represent one of the most active
research field in condensed matter since the discovery of graphene in 2004 and
its numerous applications. Another exciting aspect of the interplay between
geometry and quantum mechanical effects is given by the Haldane model (F. D. M.
Haldane, Phys. Rev. Lett. 61, 2015 (1988)) where spinless fermions experiencing
a certain flux pattern on the honeycomb lattice leads to the stabilization of a
topological phase of matter, distinct from a Mott insulator and dubbed Chern
insulator nowadays. In this context, it is crucial to understand the role of
interactions and this review will describe recent results that have been
obtained for a minimal model, namely spinless fermions fermions with nearest
and next-nearest neighbour density-density interactions on the honeycomb
lattice at half-filling.
  Topics addressed include an introduction of the minimal model and a
discussion of the possible instabilities of the Dirac semimetal, a presentation
of various theroretical and numerical approaches, and a summary of the results
with a particular emphasis on the stability or not of some exotic quantum
phases such as charge ordered ones (similar to Wigner crystals) or spontaneous
Chern insulator phase.


title:
Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): detection of low-surface-brightness
  galaxies from SDSS data

abstract:
  We report on a search for new low-surface-brightness galaxies (LSBGs) using
Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) data within the GAMA equatorial fields. The
search method consisted of masking objects detected with SDSS photo, combining
gri images weighted to maximise the expected signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and
smoothing the images. The processed images were then run through a detection
algorithm that finds all pixels above a set threshold and groups them based on
their proximity to one another. The list of detections was cleaned of
contaminants such as diffraction spikes and the faint wings of masked objects.
From these, selecting potentially the brightest in terms of total flux, a list
of 343 LSBGs was produced having been confirmed using VISTA Kilo-degree
Infrared Galaxy Survey (VIKING) imaging. The photometry of this sample was
refined using the deeper VIKING Z band as the aperture-defining band. Measuring
their $g-i$ and $J-K$ colours shows that most are consistent with being at
redshifts less than 0.2. The photometry is carried out using an AUTO aperture
for each detection giving surface brightnesses of $\mu_{r} \ge 25 \,
\mathrm{mag} \, \mathrm{arcsec}^{-2}$ and magnitudes of $r > 19.8$ mag. None of
these galaxies are bright enough to be within the GAMA main survey limit but
could be part of future deeper surveys to measure the low-mass end of the
galaxy stellar mass function.


title: Two examples of the relation between the contemporary science and Plato

abstract:
  The philosopher Plato is remembered even today by scientists, and his
writings are still inspiring the scientific research. In the present short note
(intended essentially for public outreach) two examples are briefly
illustrated: 1) the European space project that bears his name, dedicated to
the discovery of exoplanets; 2) the discussion about platonism in contemporary
physics.


title:
Strong pinning of vortices by antiferromagnetic domain boundaries in
  CeCo(In$_{1-x}$Cd$_x$)$_5$

abstract:
  We have studied the isothermal magnetization $M(H)$ of
CeCo(In$_{1-x}$Cd$_x$)$_5$ with $x$ = 0.0075 and 0.01 down to 50 mK. Pronounced
field-history dependent phenomena occur in the coexistence regime of the
superconducting and antiferromagnetic phases. At low-fields, a phenomenological
model of magnetic-flux entry well explains $M(H)$ implying the dominance of
bulk pinning effect. However, unless crystallographic quenched disorder is
hysteretic, the asymmetric peak effect (ASPE) which appears at higher fields
cannot be explained by the pinning of vortices due to material defects. Also
the temperature dependence of the ASPE deviates from the conventional scenario
for the peak effect. Comparison of our thermodynamic phase diagrams with those
from previous neutron scattering and magnetoresistance experiments indicates
that the pinning of vortices takes place at the field-history dependent
antiferromagnetic domain boundaries.


title: Integral estimation based on Markovian design

abstract:
  Suppose that a mobile sensor describes a Markovian trajectory in the ambient
space. At each time the sensor measures an attribute of interest, e.g., the
temperature. Using only the location history of the sensor and the associated
measurements, the aim is to estimate the average value of the attribute over
the space. In contrast to classical probabilistic integration methods, e.g.,
Monte Carlo, the proposed approach does not require any knowledge on the
distribution of the sensor trajectory. Probabilistic bounds on the convergence
rates of the estimator are established. These rates are better than the
traditional "root n"-rate, where n is the sample size, attached to other
probabilistic integration methods. For finite sample sizes, the good behaviour
of the procedure is demonstrated through simulations and an application to the
evaluation of the average temperature of oceans is considered.


title: On toric degenerations of flag varieties

abstract:
  Following the historical track in pursuing $T$-equivariant flat toric
degenerations of flag varieties and spherical varieties, we explain how
powerful tools in algebraic geometry and representation theory, such as
canonical bases, Newton-Okounkov bodies, PBW-filtrations and cluster algebras
come to push the subject forward.


title: Spectral and Polarization Signatures of Relativistic Shocks in Blazars

abstract:
  Relativistic shocks are one of the most plausible sites of the emission of
strongly variable, polarized multi-wavelength emission from relativistic jet
sources such as blazars, via diffusive shock acceleration (DSA) of relativistic
particles. This paper summarizes recent results on a self-consistent coupling
of diffusive shock acceleration and radiation transfer in blazar jets. We
demonstrate that the observed spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of blazars
strongly constrain the nature of hydromagnetic turbulence responsible for
pitch-angle scattering by requiring a strongly energy-dependent pitch-angle
mean free path. The prominent soft X-ray excess ("Big Blue Bump") in the SED of
the BL Lac object AO 0235+164 can be modelled as the signature of bulk Compton
scattering of external radiation fields by the thermal electron population,
which places additional constraints on the level of hydromagnetic turbulence.
It has further been demonstrated that internal shocks propagating in a jet
pervaded by a helical magnetic field naturally produce polarization-angle
swings by 180$^o$, in tandem with multi-wavelength flaring activity, without
requiring any helical motion paths or other asymmetric jet structures. The
specific application of this model to 3C279 presents the first consistent,
simultaneous modeling of snap-shot SEDs, multi-wavelength light curves and
time-dependent polarization signatures of a blazar during a polarization-angle
(PA) rotation. This model has recently been generalized to a lepto-hadronic
model, in which the high-energy emission is dominated by proton synchrotron
radiation. It is shown that in this case, the high-energy (X-ray and
$\gamma$-ray) polarization signatures are expected to be significantly more
stable (not showing PA rotations) than the low-energy (electron-synchrotron)
signatures.


title: A radial age gradient in the geometrically thick disk of the Milky Way

abstract:
  In the Milky Way, the thick disk can be defined using individual stellar
abundances, kinematics, or age; or geometrically, as stars high above the
mid-plane. In nearby galaxies, where only a geometric definition can be used,
thick disks appear to have large radial scale-lengths, and their red colors
suggest that they are uniformly old. The Milky Way's geometrically thick disk
is also radially extended, but it is far from chemically uniform:
alpha-enhanced stars are confined within the inner Galaxy. In simulated
galaxies, where old stars are centrally concentrated, geometrically thick disks
are radially extended, too. Younger stellar populations flare in the simulated
disks' outer regions, bringing those stars high above the mid-plane. The
resulting geometrically thick disks therefore show a radial age gradient, from
old in their central regions to younger in their outskirts. Based on our age
estimates for a large sample of giant stars in the APOGEE survey, we can now
test this scenario for the Milky Way. We find that the geometrically-defined
thick disk in the Milky Way has indeed a strong radial age gradient: the median
age for red clump stars goes from ~9 Gyr in the inner disk to 5 Gyr in the
outer disk. We propose that at least some nearby galaxies could also have thick
disks that are not uniformly old, and that geometrically thick disks might be
complex structures resulting from different formation mechanisms in their inner
and outer parts.


title:
Explicit Solving of the System of Natural PDE's of Minimal Surfaces in
  the Four-Dimensional Euclidean Space

abstract:
  The fact that minimal surfaces in the four-dimensional Euclidean space admit
natural parameters implies that any minimal surface is determined uniquely up
to a motion by two curvature functions, satisfying a system of two PDE's (the
system of natural PDE's). In fact this solves the problem of Lund-Regge for
minimal surfaces. Using the corresponding result for minimal surfaces in the
three-dimensional Euclidean space, we solve explicitly the system of natural
PDE's, expressing any solution by virtue of two holomorphic functions in the
Gauss plane. We find the relation between two pairs of holomorphic functions
(i.e. the class of pairs of holomorphic functions) generating one and the same
solution of the system of natural PDE's.


title: Lower bounds for Lyapunov exponents of flat bundles on curves

abstract:
  Consider a flat bundle over a complex curve. We prove a conjecture of Fei Yu
that the sum of the top k Lyapunov exponents of the flat bundle is always
greater or equal to the degree of any rank k holomorphic subbundle. We
generalize the original context from Teichmueller curves to any local system
over a curve with non-expanding cusp monodromies. As an application we obtain
the large genus limits of individual Lyapunov exponents in hyperelliptic strata
of Abelian differentials.
  Understanding the case of equality with the degrees of subbundle coming from
the Hodge filtration seems challenging, e.g. for Calabi-Yau type families. We
conjecture that equality of the sum of Lyapunov exponents and the degree is
related to the monodromy group being a thin subgroup of its Zariski closure.


title: A Generic Logic for Proving Linearizability (Extended Version)

abstract:
  Linearizability is a commonly accepted notion of correctness for libraries of
concurrent algorithms, and recent years have seen a number of proposals of
program logics for proving it. Although these logics differ in technical
details, they embody similar reasoning principles. To explicate these
principles, we propose a logic for proving linearizability that is generic: it
can be instantiated with different means of compositional reasoning about
concurrency, such as separation logic or rely-guarantee. To this end, we
generalise the Views framework for reasoning about concurrency to handle
relations between programs, required for proving linearizability. We present
sample instantiations of our generic logic and show that it is powerful enough
to handle concurrent algorithms with challenging features, such as helping.


title:
Localized operator partitioning method for electronic excitation
  energies in the time-dependent density functional formalism

abstract:
  We extend the localized operator partitioning method (LOPM) [J. Nagesh, A.F.
Izmaylov, and P. Brumer, J. Chem. Phys. 142, 084114 (2015)] to the
time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) framework to partition
molecular electronic energies of excited states in a rigorous manner. A
molecular fragment is defined as a collection of atoms using
Stratman-Scuseria-Frisch atomic partitioning. A numerically efficient scheme
for evaluating the fragment excitation energy is derived employing a resolution
of the identity to preserve standard one- and two-electron integrals in the
final expressions. The utility of this partitioning approach is demonstrated by
examining several excited states of two bichromophoric compounds:
9-((1-naphthyl)-methyl)-anthracene and 4-((2-naphthyl)-methyl)-benzaldehyde.
The LOPM is found to provide nontrivial insights into the nature of electronic
energy localization that are not accessible using simple density difference
analysis.


title: Reaction Spreading in Systems With Anomalous Diffusion

abstract:
  We briefly review some aspects of the anomalous diffusion, and its relevance
in reactive systems. In particular we consider {\it strong anomalous} diffusion
characterized by the moment behaviour $\langle x(t)^q \rangle \sim t^{q
\nu(q)}$, where $\nu(q)$ is a non constant function, and we discuss its
consequences. Even in the apparently simple case $\nu(2)=1/2$, strong anomalous
diffusion may correspond to non trivial features, such as non Gaussian
probability distribution and peculiar scaling of large order moments.
  When a reactive term is added to a normal diffusion process, one has a
propagating front with a constant velocity. The presence of anomalous diffusion
by itself does not guarantee a changing in the front propagation scenario; a
key factor to select linear in time or faster front propagation has been
identified in the shape of the probability distribution tail in absence of
reaction. In addition, we discuss the reaction spreading on graphs, underlying
the major role of the connectivity properties of these structures,
characterized by the {\em connectivity dimension}


title:
Spin Orbit Torque in two dimensional Antiferromagnetic Topological
  Insulators

abstract:
  We investigate spin transport in two dimensional ferromagnetic (FTI) and
antiferromagnetic (AFTI) topological insulators. In presence of an in plane
magnetization AFTI supports zero energy modes, which enables topologically
protected edge conduction at low energy. We address the nature of
current-driven spin torque in these structures and study the impact of
spin-independent disorder. Interestingly, upon strong disorder the spin torque
develops an antidamping component (i.e. {\em even} upon magnetization reversal)
along the edges, which could enable current-driven manipulation of the
antiferromagnetic order parameter. This antidamping torque decreases when
increasing the system size and when the system enters the trivial insulator
regime.


title: On two perturbation series for short-range attractive potentials

abstract:
  We compare two alternative expansions for finite attractive wells. One of
them is known from long ago and is given in terms of powers of the strength
parameter. The other one is based on the solution of the equations of the
Rayleigh-Schr\"{o}dinger perturbation theory in a basis set of functions of
period $L$. The analysis of exactly solvable models shows that although the
exact solution of the problem with periodic boundary conditions yields the
correct result when $L\rightarrow \infty$ the coefficients of the series for
this same problem blow up and fail to produce the correct asymptotic expansion.


title:
The Player Kernel: Learning Team Strengths Based on Implicit Player
  Contributions

abstract:
  In this work, we draw attention to a connection between skill-based models of
game outcomes and Gaussian process classification models. The Gaussian process
perspective enables a) a principled way of dealing with uncertainty and b) rich
models, specified through kernel functions. Using this connection, we tackle
the problem of predicting outcomes of football matches between national teams.
We develop a player kernel that relates any two football matches through the
players lined up on the field. This makes it possible to share knowledge gained
from observing matches between clubs (available in large quantities) and
matches between national teams (available only in limited quantities). We
evaluate our approach on the Euro 2008, 2012 and 2016 final tournaments.


title: Categorical localization for the coherent-constructible correspondence

abstract:
  We prove a microlocal counterpart of categorical localization for Fukaya
categories in the setting of the coherent-constructible correspondence.


title:
A New Approach to Constructing Quadratic Pseudo-Planar Functions over
  $\gf_{2^n}$

abstract:
  Planar functions over finite fields give rise to finite projective planes.
They were also used in the constructions of DES-like iterated ciphers,
error-correcting codes, and codebooks. They were originally defined only in
finite fields with odd characteristic, but recently Zhou introduced
pesudo-planar functions in even characteristic which yields similar
applications. All known pesudo-planar functions are quadratic and hence they
give presemifields. In this paper, a new approach to constructing quadratic
pseudo-planar functions is given. Then five explicit families of pseudo-planar
functions are constructed, one of which is a binomial, two of which are
trinomials, and the other two are quadrinomials. All known pesudo-planar
functions are revisited, some of which are generalized. These functions not
only lead to projective planes, relative difference sets and presemifields, but
also give optimal codebooks meeting the Levenstein bound, complete sets of
mutually unbiased bases (MUB) and compressed sensing matrices with low
coherence.


title:
Gravitational Light Bending Prevents $\gamma\gamma$ Absorption in
  Gravitational Lenses

abstract:
  The magnification effect due to gravitational lensing enhances the chances of
detecting moderate-redshift ($z \sim 1$) sources in very-high-energy (VHE; $E >
100$ GeV) $\gamma$-rays by ground-based Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescope
facilities. It has been shown in previous work that this prospect is not
hampered by potential $\gamma-\gamma$ absorption effects by the intervening
(lensing) galaxy, nor by any individual star within the intervening galaxy. In
this paper, we expand this study to simulate the light-bending effect of a
realistic ensemble of stars. We first demonstrate that, for realistic
parameters of the galaxy's star field, it is extremely unlikely (probability
$\lesssim 10^{-6}$) that the direct line of sight between the $\gamma$-ray
source and the observer passes by any star in the field close enough to be
subject to significant $\gamma\gamma$ absorption. Our simulations then focus on
the rare cases where $\gamma\gamma$ absorption by (at least) one individual
star might be non-negligible. We show that gravitational light bending will
have the effect of avoiding the $\gamma-\gamma$ absorption spheres around
massive stars in the intervening galaxy. This confirms previous results by
Barnacka et al. and re-inforces arguments in favour of VHE $\gamma$-ray
observations of lensed moderate-redshift blazars to extend the redshift range
of objects detected in VHE $\gamma$-rays, and to probe the location of the
$\gamma$-ray emission region in those blazars.


title:
Linear and anomalous front propagation in system with non Gaussian
  diffusion: the importance of tails

abstract:
  We investigate front propagation in systems with diffusive and sub-diffusive
behavior. The scaling behavior of moments of the diffusive problem, both in the
standard and in the anomalous cases, is not enough to determine the features of
the reactive front. In fact, the shape of the bulk of the probability
distribution of the transport process, which determines the diffusive
properties, is important just for pre-asymptotic behavior of front propagation,
while the precise shape of the tails of the probability distribution determines
asymptotic behavior of front propagation.


title: On the characterisation of SiPMs from pulse-height spectra

abstract:
  Methods are developed, which use the pulse-height spectra of SiPMs measured
in the dark and illuminated by pulsed light, to determine the pulse shape, the
dark-count rate, the gain, the average number of photons initiating a Geiger
discharge, the probabilities for prompt cross-talk and after-pulses, as well as
the electronics noise and the gain fluctuations between and in pixels. The
entire pulse-height spectra, including the background regions in-between the
peaks corresponding to different number of Geiger discharges, are described by
single functions. As a demonstration, the model is used to characterise a KETEK
SiPM with 4382 pixels of 15 \mu m x 15 \mu m area for voltages between 2.5 and
8 V above the breakdown voltage at 20{\deg}C. The results are compared to other
methods of characterising SiPMs. Finally, examples are given, how the complete
description of the pulse-eight spectra can be used to optimise the operating
voltage of SiPMs, and a method for an in-situ calibration and monitoring of
SiPMs, suited for large-scale applications, is proposed.


title:
Fission of Multiply Charged Cesium and Potassium Clusters in Helium
  Droplets - Approaching the Rayleigh Limit

abstract:
  Electron ionization of helium droplets doped with cesium or potassium results
in doubly and, for cesium, triply charged cluster ions. The smallest observable
doubly charged clusters are $Cs_{9}^{2+}$ and $K_{11}^{2+}$; they are a factor
two smaller than reported previously. The size of potassium dications
approaches the Rayleigh limit nRay for which the fission barrier is calculated
to vanish, i.e. their fissilities are close to 1. Cesium dications are even
smaller than nRay, implying that their fissilities have been significantly
overestimated. Triply charged cesium clusters as small as $Cs_{19}^{3+}$ are
observed; they are a factor 2.6 smaller than previously reported. Mechanisms
that may be responsible for enhanced formation of clusters with high
fissilities are discussed.


title: On central idempotents in the Brauer algebra

abstract:
  We provide a method for constructing central idempotents in the Brauer
algebra relating to the splitting of certain short exact sequences. We also
determine some of the primitive central idempotents, and relate properties of
the idempotents to known facts about the representation theory of the algebra.


title: Cost-efficient Scheduling on Machines from the Cloud

abstract:
  We consider a scheduling problem where machines need to be rented from the
cloud in order to process jobs. There are two types of machines available which
can be rented for machine-type dependent prices and for arbitrary durations.
However, a machine-type dependent setup time is required before a machine is
available for processing. Jobs arrive online over time, have machine-type
dependent sizes and have individual deadlines. The objective is to rent
machines and schedule jobs so as to meet all deadlines while minimizing the
rental cost.
  Since we observe the slack of jobs to have a fundamental influence on the
competitiveness, we study the model when instances are parameterized by their
(minimum) slack. An instance is called to have a slack of $\beta$ if, for all
jobs, the difference between the job's release time and the latest point in
time at which it needs to be started is at least $\beta$. While for $\beta < s$
no finite competitiveness is possible, our main result is an
$O(\frac{c}{\varepsilon} + \frac{1}{\varepsilon^3})$-competitive online
algorithm for $\beta = (1+\varepsilon)s$ with $\frac{1}{s} \leq \varepsilon
\leq 1$, where $s$ and $c$ denotes the largest setup time and the cost ratio of
the machine-types, respectively. It is complemented by a lower bound of
$\Omega(\frac{c}{\varepsilon})$.


title: A limit theorem for singular stochastic differential equations

abstract:
  We study the weak limits of solutions to SDEs
\[dX_n(t)=a_n\bigl(X_n(t)\bigr)\,dt+dW(t),\] where the sequence $\{a_n\}$
converges in some sense to $(c_- 1\mkern-4.5mu\mathrm{l}_{x<0}+c_+
1\mkern-4.5mu\mathrm{l}_{x>0})/x+\gamma\delta_0$. Here $\delta_0$ is the Dirac
delta function concentrated at zero. A limit of $\{X_n\}$ may be a Bessel
process, a skew Bessel process, or a mixture of Bessel processes.


title:
Un caso de big data punta a punta: an\'alisis de datos de transporte y
  su uso en el negocio

abstract:
  In this article we present the results of a data analysis project for a
public-transport company. This project encompassed data preparation, analysis
and visualization of three years of historical data. The data consisted in
ticket purchases and GPS location of the vehicles. This work describes the
project from start to end, including the incorporation of the results in the
business process.


title:
An\'alisis de resultados electorales: comparaci\'on de m\'etodos y
  estimaci\'on de votos por franja etaria

abstract:
  The State and its citizens generate lots of data. Once stored and processed,
data can help resolve questions in Social Sciences, where it is common to need
data in a different level of aggregation than the data is presented. In
election results, we would like to understand the decision of each voter or
group of voters, but the data is only available at the polling-place level.
This problem is known as ecological inference. In this work we compare two
methods to estimate the share of votes for each party according to different
age groups. This work is complemented with the analysis of votes between the
first and second rounds, as well as a referendum during the first. This
analysis was performed on the 2014 uruguayan presidential elections.


title:
Bi-Text Alignment of Movie Subtitles for Spoken English-Arabic
  Statistical Machine Translation

abstract:
  We describe efforts towards getting better resources for English-Arabic
machine translation of spoken text. In particular, we look at movie subtitles
as a unique, rich resource, as subtitles in one language often get translated
into other languages. Movie subtitles are not new as a resource and have been
explored in previous research; however, here we create a much larger bi-text
(the biggest to date), and we further generate better quality alignment for it.
Given the subtitles for the same movie in different languages, a key problem is
how to align them at the fragment level. Typically, this is done using
length-based alignment, but for movie subtitles, there is also time
information. Here we exploit this information to develop an original algorithm
that outperforms the current best subtitle alignment tool, subalign. The
evaluation results show that adding our bi-text to the IWSLT training bi-text
yields an improvement of over two BLEU points absolute.


title:
Exact partition functions for deformed $\mathcal{N}=2$ theories with
  $N_{f}=4$ flavours

abstract:
  We consider the $\Omega$-deformed $\mathcal{N}=2$ $SU(2)$ gauge theory in
four dimensions with $N_{f}=4$ massive fundamental hypermultiplets. The low
energy effective action depends on the deformation parameters $\varepsilon_{1},
\varepsilon_{2}$, the scalar field expectation value $a$, and the
hypermultiplet masses ${\bf m}=(m_{1}, m_{2}, m_{3}, m_{4})$. Motivated by
recent findings in the $\mathcal{N}=2^{*}$ theory, we explore the theories that
are characterized by special fixed ratios $\varepsilon_{2}/\varepsilon_{1}$ and
${\bf m}/\varepsilon_{1}$ and propose a simple condition on the structure of
the multi-instanton contributions to the prepotential determining the effective
action. This condition determines a finite set $\Pi_{N}$ of special points such
that the prepotential has $N$ poles at fixed positions independent on the
instanton number. In analogy with what happens in the $\mathcal{N}=2^{*}$ gauge
theory, the full prepotential of the $\Pi_{N}$ theories may be given in closed
form as an explicit function of $a$ and the modular parameter $q$ appearing in
special combinations of Eisenstein series and Jacobi theta functions with well
defined modular properties. The resulting finite pole partition functions are
related by AGT correspondence to special 4-point spherical conformal blocks of
the Virasoro algebra. We examine in full details special cases where the closed
expression of the block is known and confirms our Ansatz. We systematically
study the special features of Zamolodchikov's recursion for the $\Pi_{N}$
conformal blocks. As a result, we provide a novel effective recursion relation
that can be exactly solved and allows to prove the conjectured closed
expressions analytically in the case of the $\Pi_{1}$ and $\Pi_{2}$ conformal
blocks.


title:
SDFog: A Software Defined Computing Architecture for QoS Aware Service
  Orchestration over Edge Devices

abstract:
  Cloud computing revolutionized the information technology (IT) industry by
offering dynamic and infinite scaling, on-demand resources and utility-oriented
usage. However, recent changes in user traffic and requirements have exposed
the shortcomings of cloud computing, particularly the inability to deliver
real-time responses and handle massive surge in data volumes. Fog computing,
that brings back partial computation load from the cloud to the edge devices,
is envisioned to be the next big change in computing, and has the potential to
address these challenges. Being a highly distributed, loosely coupled and still
in the emerging phase, standardization, quality-of-service management and
dynamic adaptability are the key challenges faced by fog computing research
fraternity today. This article aims to address these issues by proposing a
service-oriented middleware that leverages the convergence of cloud and fog
computing along with software defined networking (SDN) and network function
virtualization (NFV) to achieve the aforementioned goals. The proposed system,
called "Software Defined Fog" (SDFog), abstracts connected entities as services
and allows applications to orchestrate these services with end-to-end QoS
requirements. A use-case showing the necessity of such a middleware has been
presented to show the efficacy of the SDN-based QoS control over the Fog. This
article aims at developing an integrated system to realize the software-defined
control over fog infrastructure.


title: Trace formula for spin chains

abstract:
  While detailed information about the semiclassics for single-particle systems
is available, much less is known about the connection between quantum and
classical dynamics for many-body systems. As an example, we focus on spin
chains which are of considerable conceptual and practical importance. We derive
a trace formula for coupled spin $j$ particles which relates the quantum energy
levels to the classical dynamics. Our derivation is valid in the limit
$j\rightarrow\infty$ with $j\hbar={\rm const.}$ and applies to time-continuous
as well as to periodically driven dynamics. We provide a simple explanation why
the Solari-Kochetov phase can be omitted if the correct classical Hamiltonian
is chosen.


title: A Compendium of Chameleon Constraints

abstract:
  The chameleon model is a scalar field theory with a screening mechanism that
explains how a cosmologically relevant light scalar can avoid the constraints
of intra-solar-system searches for fifth-forces. The chameleon is a popular
dark energy candidate and also arises in $f(R)$ theories of gravity. Whilst the
chameleon is designed to avoid historical searches for fifth-forces it is not
unobservable and much effort has gone into identifying the best observables and
experiments to detect it. These results are not always presented for the same
models or in the same language, a particular problem when comparing
astrophysical and laboratory searches making it difficult to understand what
regions of parameter space remain. Here we present combined constraints on the
chameleon model from astrophysical and laboratory searches for the first time
and identify the remaining windows of parameter space. We discuss the
implications for cosmological chameleon searches and future small-scale probes.


title: The three 'R's and Dual Riordan Arrays

abstract:
  We describe how the reversion of a series is related to convolutional
recurrence relations for the series, and we place this relationship in the
context of Riordan arrays. As an example of the approach, we give new
recurrence relations for the sequences of Patalan numbers. We also consider the
concepts of recursive matrices and dual Riordan arrays, and their application
to previous work on the super Patalan numbers.


title:
Eigenfunctions of the Multidimensional Linear Noise Fokker-Planck
  Operator via Ladder Operators

abstract:
  The eigenfunctions and eigenvalues of the Fokker-Planck operator with linear
drift and constant diffusion are required for expanding time-dependent
solutions and for evaluating our recent perturbation expansion for probability
densities governed by a nonlinear master equation. Although well-known in one
dimension, for multiple dimensions the eigenfunctions are not explicitly given
in the literature. We develop raising and lowering operators for the
Fokker-Planck (FP) operator and its adjoint, and use them to obtain expressions
for the corresponding eigenvalues and eigenfunctions. We show that the
eigenfunctions for the forward and adjoint FP operators form a bi-orthogonal
set, and that the eigenfunctions reduce to sums of products of Hermite
functions in a particular coordinate system.


title: Arithmetically Gorenstein Calabi-Yau threefolds in $\mathbb{P}^7$

abstract:
  We present a list of arithmetically Gorenstein Calabi-Yau threefolds in
$\mathbb{P}^7$ and give evidence that this is a complete list. In particular we
construct three new families of arithmetically Gorenstein Calabi-Yau threefolds
in $\mathbb{P}^7$ for which no mirror construction is known.


title: Hitting and escaping statistics: mixing, targets and holes

abstract:
  There is a natural connection between two types of recurrence law: hitting
times to shrinking targets, and hitting times to a fixed target (usually seen
as escape through a hole). We show that for systems which mix exponentially
fast, one can move through a natural parameter space from one to the other. On
the other hand, if the mixing is subexponential, there is a phase transition
between the hitting times law and the escape law.


title: Interpolation of $q$-analogue of multiple zeta and zeta-star values

abstract:
  We know at least two ways to generalize multiple zeta(-star) values, or
MZ(S)Vs for short, which are $q$-analogue and $t$-interpolation. The
$q$-analogue of MZ(S)Vs, or $q$MZ(S)Vs for short, was introduced by Bradley,
Okuda and Takeyama, Zhao, etc. On the other hand, the polynomials interpolating
MZVs and MZSVs using a parameter $t$ were introduced by Yamamoto. We call these
$t$-MZVs.
  In this paper, we consider such two generalizations simultaneously, that is,
we compose polynomials, called $t$-$q$MZVs, interpolating $q$MZVs and $q$MZSVs
using a parameter $t$ which are reduced to $q$MZVs as $t=0$, to $q$MZSVs as
$t=1$, and to $t$-MZVs as $q$ tends to $1$. Then we prove Kawashima type
relation, cyclic sum formula and Hoffman type relation for $t$-$q$MZVs.


title: On the nodes of wave function and the quantum Hamilton-Jacobi solution

abstract:
  We present the analytic solution for the stationary quantum HamiltonJacobi
equation. Knowing the strong relation between the Riccati and quantum
Hamilton-Jacobi equations, we develop a simple method to obtain the exact
solution. Then, in order to prove the validity of the proposed method, we use
two central potentials: the three-dimensional harmonic oscillator and Coulomb
potential, both with bound-states. Finally, we compute the action-angle
variables in a entirely quantum version for to achieve connect with the nodes
of the wave function.


title:
Inflows towards active regions and the modulation of the solar cycle: a
  parameter study

abstract:
  Aims: We aim to investigate how converging flows towards active regions
affect the surface transport of magnetic flux, as well as their impact on the
generation of the Sun's poloidal field. The inflows constitute a potential
non-linear mechanism for the saturation of the global dynamo and may contribute
to the modulation of the solar cycle in the Babcock-Leighton framework.
  Methods: We build a surface flux transport code incorporating a parametrized
model of the inflows and run simulations spanning several cycles. We carry out
a parameter study to assess how the strength and extension of the inflows
affect the build-up of the global dipole field. We also perform simulations
with different levels of activity to investigate the potential role of the
inflows in the saturation of the global dynamo.
  Results: We find that the interaction of neighbouring active regions can lead
to the occasional formation of single-polarity magnetic flux clumps
inconsistent with observations. We propose the darkening caused by pores in
areas of high magnetic field strength as a plausible mechanism preventing this
flux-clumping. We find that inflows decrease the amplitude of the axial dipole
moment by a $\sim30\,\%$, relative to a no-inflows scenario. Stronger (weaker)
inflows lead to larger (smaller) reductions of the axial dipole moment. The
relative amplitude of the generated axial dipole is about $9\%$ larger after
very weak cycles than after very strong cycles. This supports the inflows as a
non-linear mechanism capable of saturating the global dynamo and contributing
to the modulation of the solar cycle within the Babcock-Leighton framework.


title:
Field-induced Conductance Switching by Charge-state Alternation in
  Organometallic Single-Molecule Junctions

abstract:
  Charge transport through single molecules can be influenced by the charge and
spin states of redox-active metal centres placed in the transport pathway.
These molecular intrinsic properties are usually addressed by varying the
molecules electrochemical and magnetic environment, a procedure that requires
complex setups with multiple terminals. Here we show that oxidation and
reduction of organometallic compounds containing either Fe, Ru or Mo centres
can solely be triggered by the electric field applied to a two-terminal
molecular junction. Whereas all compounds exhibit bias-dependent hysteresis,
the Mo-containing compound additionally shows an abrupt voltage-induced
conductance switching, yielding high to low current ratios exceeding 1000 at
voltage stimuli of less than 1.0 V. DFT calculations identify a localized,
redox active molecular orbital that is weakly coupled to the electrodes and
closely aligned with the Fermi energy of the leads because of the
spin-polarised ground state unique to the Mo centre. This situation opens an
additional slow and incoherent hopping channel for transport, triggering a
transient charging effect of the entire molecule and a strong hysteresis with
unprecedented high low-to-high current ratios.


title: Chemistry in confined spaces: Reactivity of the Zn-MOF-74 channels

abstract:
  Using infrared spectroscopy combined with ab initio methods we study
reactions of H$_2$O and CO inside the confined spaces of Zn-MOF-74 channels.
Our results show that, once the water dissociation reaction
H$_2$O$\;\rightarrow\;$OH+H takes place at the metal centers, the addition of
40 Torr of CO at 200 $^{\circ}$C starts the production of formic acid via
OH+H+CO$\;\rightarrow\;$HCO$_2$H. Our detailed analysis shows that the overall
reaction H$_2$O+CO$\;\rightarrow\;$HCO$_2$H takes place in the confinement of
MOF-74 without an external catalyst, unlike the same reaction on flat surfaces.
This discovery has several important consequences: It opens the door to a new
set of catalytic reactions inside the channels of the MOF-74 system, it
suggests that a recovery of the MOF's adsorption capacity is possible after it
has been exposed to water (which in turn stabilizes its crystal structure), and
it produces the important industrial feedstock formic acid.


title:
Deep inelastic scattering off scalar mesons in the 1/N expansion from
  the D3D7-brane system

abstract:
  Deep inelastic scattering (DIS) of charged leptons off scalar mesons in the
$1/N$ expansion is studied by using the gauge/gravity duality. We focus on the
D3D7-brane system and investigate the corresponding structure functions by
considering both the high energy limit and the $1/N$ expansion. These limits do
not commute. From the D7-brane DBI action we derive a Lagrangian at sub-leading
order in the D7-brane fluctuations and obtain a number of interactions some of
which become relevant for two-hadron final-state DIS. By considering first the
high energy limit followed by the large $N$ one, our results fit lattice QCD
data within $1.27\%$ for the first three moments of $F_2$ for the lightest
pseudoscalar meson.


title:
Live Orchestral Piano, a system for real-time orchestral music
  generation

abstract:
  This paper introduces the first system for performing automatic orchestration
based on a real-time piano input. We believe that it is possible to learn the
underlying regularities existing between piano scores and their orchestrations
by notorious composers, in order to automatically perform this task on novel
piano inputs. To that end, we investigate a class of statistical inference
models called conditional Restricted Boltzmann Machine (cRBM). We introduce a
specific evaluation framework for orchestral generation based on a prediction
task in order to assess the quality of different models. As prediction and
creation are two widely different endeavours, we discuss the potential biases
in evaluating temporal generative models through prediction tasks and their
impact on a creative system. Finally, we introduce an implementation of the
proposed model called Live Orchestral Piano (LOP), which allows to perform
real-time projective orchestration of a MIDI keyboard input.


title: Generic and Effective Specification of Structural Test Objectives

abstract:
  While a wide range of different, sometimes heterogeneous test coverage
criteria have been proposed, there exists no generic formalism to describe
them, and available test automation tools usually support only a small subset
of them. We introduce a unified specification language, called HTOL, providing
a powerful generic mechanism to define test objectives, which permits encoding
numerous existing criteria and supporting them in a unified way. HTOL comes
with a formal semantics and can express complex requirements over several
executions (using a novel notion of hyperlabels), as well as alternative
requirements or requirements over a whole program execution. A novel
classification of a large class of existing criteria is proposed. Finally, a
coverage measurement tool for HTOL objectives has been implemented. Initial
experiments suggest that the proposed approach is both efficient and practical.


title:
New thresholds for Primordial Black Hole formation during the QCD phase
  transition

abstract:
  Primordial Black Holes (PBHs) might have formed in the early Universe as a
consequence of the collapse of density fluctuations with an amplitude above a
critical value $\delta_{c}$: the formation threshold. Although for a
radiation-dominated Universe $\delta_{c}$ remains constant, if the Universe
experiences some dust-like phases (e.g. phase transitions) $\delta_{c}$ might
decrease, improving the chances of PBH formation. We studied the evolution of
$\delta_{c}$ during the QCD phase transition epoch within three different
models: Bag Model (BM), Lattice Fit Model (LFM), and Crossover Model (CM). We
found that the reduction on the background value of $\delta_{c}$ can be as high
as $77\%$ (BM), which might imply a $\sim10^{-10}$ probability of PBHs forming
at the QCD epoch.


title:
Searches for Exotic Transient Signals with a Global Network of Optical
  Magnetometers for Exotic Physics

abstract:
  In this letter, we describe a novel scheme for searching for physics beyond
the Standard Model. The idea is based on correlation of time-synchronized
readouts of distant ($\gtrsim$100~km) optical magnetometers. Such an approach
limits hard-to-identify local transient noise, providing the system with unique
capabilities of identification of global transient events. Careful analysis of
the signal can reveal the nature of the events (e.g., its nonmagnetic origin),
which opens avenues for new class of exotic-physics searches (searches for
global transient exotic spin couplings) and tests of yet unverified theoretical
models.


title: Um, er: How meaning varies between speech and its typed transcript

abstract:
  We use an extract from an interview concerning gravitational wave physics to
show that the meaning of hesitancies within speech are different when spoken
and when read from the corresponding transcript. When used in speech,
hesitancies can indicate a pause for thought, when read in a transcript they
indicate uncertainty. In a series of experiments the perceived uncertainty of
the transcript was shown to be higher than the perceived uncertainty of the
spoken version with almost no overlap for any respondent. We propose that
finding and the method could be the beginning of a new subject we call
'Language Code Analysis' which would systematically examine how meanings change
when the 'same' words are communicated via different media and symbol systems.


title: Hairy Black Holes in a Box

abstract:
  We do a systematic study of the phases of gravity coupled to an
electromagnetic field and charged scalar in flat space, with box boundary
conditions. The scalar-less box has previously been investigated by Braden,
Brown, Whiting and York (and others) before AdS/CFT and we elaborate and extend
their results in a language more familiar from holography. The phase diagram of
the system is analogous to that of AdS black holes, but we emphasize the
differences and explain their origin. Once the scalar is added, we show that
the system admits both boson stars as well as hairy black holes as solutions,
providing yet another way to evade flat space no-hair theorems. Furthermore
both these solutions can exist as stable phases in regions of the phase
diagram. The final picture of the phases that emerges is strikingly similar to
that found recently for holographic superconductors in global AdS, arXiv:
1602.07211. Our construction lays bare certain previously unnoticed subtleties
associated to the definition quasi-local charges for gravitating scalar fields
in finite regions.


title:
A comprehensive photometric study of dynamically evolved small van den
  Bergh-Hagen open clusters

abstract:
  We present results from Johnson $UBV$, Kron-Cousins $RI$ and Washington
$CT_1T_2$ photometries for seven van den Bergh-Hagen (vdBH) open clusters,
namely, vdBH\,1, 10, 31, 72, 87, 92, and 118. The high-quality, multi-band
photometric data sets were used to trace the cluster stellar density radial
profiles and to build colour-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) and colour-colour (CC)
diagrams from which we estimated their structural parameters and fundamental
astrophysical properties. The clusters in our sample cover a wide age range,
from $\sim$ 60 Myr up to 2.8 Gyr, are of relatively small size ($\sim$ 1 $-$ 6
pc) and are placed at distances from the Sun which vary between 1.8 and 6.3
kpc, respectively. We also estimated lower limits for the cluster present-day
masses as well as half-mass relaxation times ($t_r$). The resulting values in
combination with the structural parameter values suggest that the studied
clusters are in advanced stages of their internal dynamical evolution
(age/$t_r$ $\sim$ 20 $-$ 320), possibly in the typical phase of those tidally
filled with mass segregation in their core regions. Compared to open clusters
in the solar neighbourhood, the seven vdBH clusters are within more massive
($\sim$ 80 $-$ 380$M_\odot$), with higher concentration parameter values ($c$
$\sim$ 0.75$-$1.15) and dynamically evolved ones.


title: Porous membranes built up from hydrophilic poly(ionic liquid)s

abstract:
  Porous polymer membranes via electrostatic complexation triggered by
neutralization are fabricated for the first time from a water-soluble
poly(ionic liquid) (PIL). The porous structure is formed as a consequence of
simultaneous phase separation of the PIL and ionic complexation, which occurred
in a basic solution of a non-solvent for the PIL. These membranes have a
stimuli-responsive porosity, with open and closed pores in isopropanol and in
water, respectively. This property is quantitatively demonstrated in filtration
experiments, where water is passing much slower through the membranes than
isopropanol.