• #### On the Late-Time Behavior of Virasoro Blocks and a Classification of Semiclassical Saddles

Recent work has demonstrated that black hole thermodynamics and information loss/restoration in AdS$_3$/CFT$_2$ can be derived almost entirely from the behavior of the Virasoro conformal blocks at large central charge, with relatively little dependence on the precise details of the CFT spectrum or OPE coefficients. Here, we elaborate on the non-perturbative behavior of Virasoro blocks by classifying all `saddles' that can contribute for arbitrary values of external and internal operator dimensions in the semiclassical large central charge limit. The leading saddles, which determine the naive semiclassical behavior of the Virasoro blocks, all decay exponentially at late times, and at a rate that is independent of internal operator dimensions. Consequently, the semiclassical contribution of high-energy states does not resolve a well-known version of the information loss problem in AdS$_3$. However, we identify two infinite classes of sub-leading saddles, and one of these classes does not decay at late times.
Virasoro blocksMonodromyConformal field theoryOperator product expansionAnti de Sitter spaceCentral chargeClassificationInstantonBlack holeUnitarity...
• #### A Geometric Formulation of Supersymmetry

The scalar fields of supersymmetric models are coordinates of a geometric space. We propose a formulation of supersymmetry that is covariant with respect to reparametrizations of this target space. Employing chiral multiplets as an example, we introduce modified supersymmetry variations and redefined auxiliary fields that transform covariantly under reparametrizations. The resulting action and transformation laws are manifestly covariant and highlight the geometric structure of the supersymmetric theory. The covariant methods are developed first for general theories (not necessarily supersymmetric) whose scalar fields are coordinates of a Riemannian target space.
SupersymmetryAuxiliary fieldCovariant transformationScalar fieldManifoldSupergravityCovariant derivativeCurvatureDiffeomorphismSuperpotential...
• #### What galaxy masses perturb the local cosmic expansion?

We use 12 cosmological $N$-body simulations of Local Group systems (the Apostle models; Sawala et al. 2016) to inspect the relation between the virial mass of the main haloes ($M_{\rm vir,1}$ and $M_{\rm vir,2}$), the mass derived from the relative motion of the halo pair ($M_{\rm tim}$), and that inferred from the local Hubble flow ($M_{\rm lhf}$). We show that within the Spherical Collapse Model (SCM), which provides an idealized description of structure formation in an expanding Universe, the correspondence between the three mass estimates is exact, i.e. $M_{\rm lhf}=M_{\rm tim}=M_{\rm vir,1}+M_{\rm vir,2}$. However, comparison with Apostle simulations reveals that, contrary to what the SCM states, a relatively large fraction of the mass that perturbs the local Hubble flow and drives the relative trajectory of the main galaxies is not contained within $R_{\rm vir}$, and that the amount of "extra-virial" mass tends to increase in galaxies with a slow accretion rate. In addition, we find that modelling the peculiar velocities around the Local Group returns an unbiased constraint on the virial mass ratio of the main galaxy pair ($f_m\equiv M_1/M_2\approx M_{\rm vir,1}/M_{\rm vir,2}$), as well as the individual masses of the main galaxies ($M_1$ and $M_2$) without a priori assumptions on the matter distribution nor the equilibrium state of these systems. Adopting Diemer \& Kravtsov (2014) outer halo profile, which scales as $\rho\sim R^{-4}$ at $R\gtrsim R_{\rm vir}$, indicates that $M_1$ and $M_2$ roughly correspond to the asymptotically-convergent (total) masses of the individual haloes. In contrast, we find that estimates of $M_{\rm vir}$ based on the dynamics of tracers at $R\gg R_{\rm vir}$ require a priori information on the internal matter distribution and the growth rate of the main galaxies, both of which are typically difficult to quantify.
Virial massLocal groupHubble flowGalaxy massMilky WayExpansion of the UniverseKinematicsSpherical collapse modelNavarro-Frenk-White profileAccretion...
• #### On Gravitational Chirality as the Genesis of Astrophysical Jets

It has been suggested that single and double jets observed emanating from certain astrophysical objects may have a purely gravitational origin. We discuss new classes of plane-fronted and pulsed gravitational wave solutions to the equation for perturbations of Ricci-flat spacetimes around Minkowski metrics, as models for the genesis of such phenomena. These solutions are classified in terms of their chirality and generate a family of non-stationary spacetime metrics. Particular members of these families are used as backgrounds in analysing time-like solutions to the geodesic equation for test particles. They are found numerically to exhibit both single and double jet-like features with dimensionless aspect ratios suggesting that it may be profitable to include such backgrounds in simulations of astrophysical jet dynamics from rotating accretion discs involving electromagnetic fields.
GeodesicAstrophysical jetGravitational waveChiralityHelicityGenesisCoframeAccretion diskProper timeGravitational fields...
• #### Energy spectra of 3He-rich solar energetic particles associated with coronal waves

In addition to their anomalous abundances, 3He-rich solar energetic particles (SEPs) show puzzling energy spectral shapes varying from rounded forms to power laws where the later are characteristics of shock acceleration. Solar sources of these particles have been often associated with jets and narrow CMEs, which are the signatures of magnetic reconnection involving open field. Recent reports on new associations with large-scale EUV waves bring new insights on acceleration and transport of 3He-rich SEPs in the corona. We examined energy spectra for 32 3He-rich SEP events observed by ACE at L1 near solar minimum in 2007-2010 and compared the spectral shapes with solar flare signatures obtained from STEREO EUV images. We found the events with jets or brightenings tend to be associated with rounded spectra and the events with coronal waves with power laws. This suggests that coronal waves may be related to the unknown second stage mechanism commonly used to interpret spectral forms of 3He-rich SEPs.
Helium-3Solar energetic particlesSolar Terrestrial Relations ObservatoryAbundanceRadio burstsSolar minimumMagnetic reconnectionCoronaLarge Angle and Spectrometric CoronagraphSolar flare...
• #### Programming quantum computers using 3-D puzzles, coffee cups, and doughnuts

The task of programming a quantum computer is just as strange as quantum mechanics itself. But it now looks like a simple 3D puzzle may be the future tool of quantum software engineers.
QubitOptimizationQuantum circuitQuantum computationQuantum technologyQuantum algorithmsQuantum programmingQuantum mechanicsArchitectureComputational modelling...
• #### Twitter-Network Topic Model: A Full Bayesian Treatment for Social Network and Text Modeling

Twitter data is extremely noisy -- each tweet is short, unstructured and with informal language, a challenge for current topic modeling. On the other hand, tweets are accompanied by extra information such as authorship, hashtags and the user-follower network. Exploiting this additional information, we propose the Twitter-Network (TN) topic model to jointly model the text and the social network in a full Bayesian nonparametric way. The TN topic model employs the hierarchical Poisson-Dirichlet processes (PDP) for text modeling and a Gaussian process random function model for social network modeling. We show that the TN topic model significantly outperforms several existing nonparametric models due to its flexibility. Moreover, the TN topic model enables additional informative inference such as authors' interests, hashtag analysis, as well as leading to further applications such as author recommendation, automatic topic labeling and hashtag suggestion. Note our general inference framework can readily be applied to other topic models with embedded PDP nodes.
Topic modelTwitterSocial networkInferenceNetwork modelLatent Dirichlet allocationBayesianDirichlet processGaussian processCosine similarity...
• #### Is the deconvolution layer the same as a convolutional layer?

In this note, we want to focus on aspects related to two questions most people asked us at CVPR about the network we presented. Firstly, What is the relationship between our proposed layer and the deconvolution layer? And secondly, why are convolutions in low-resolution (LR) space a better choice? These are key questions we tried to answer in the paper, but we were not able to go into as much depth and clarity as we would have liked in the space allowance. To better answer these questions in this note, we first discuss the relationships between the deconvolution layer in the forms of the transposed convolution layer, the sub-pixel convolutional layer and our efficient sub-pixel convolutional layer. We will refer to our efficient sub-pixel convolutional layer as a convolutional layer in LR space to distinguish it from the common sub-pixel convolutional layer. We will then show that for a fixed computational budget and complexity, a network with convolutions exclusively in LR space has more representation power at the same speed than a network that first upsamples the input in high resolution space.
TransposeNetworksResolution
• #### A Panchromatic View of Relativistic Jets in Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 Galaxies

The discovery by the Large Area Telescope on board Fermi of variable gamma-ray emission from radio-loud narrow-line Seyfert 1 (NLSy1) galaxies revealed the presence of a possible third class of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) with relativistic jets in addition to blazars and radio galaxies. Considering that NLSy1 are usually hosted in spiral galaxies, this finding poses intriguing questions about the nature of these objects and the formation of relativistic jets. We report on a systematic investigation of the gamma-ray properties of a sample of radio-loud NLSy1, including the detection of new objects, using 7 years of Fermi-LAT data with the new Pass 8 event-level analysis. In addition we discuss the radio-to-very-high-energy properties of the gamma-ray emitting NLSy1, their host galaxy, and black hole mass in the context of the blazar scenario and the unification of relativistic jets at different scales.
Relativistic jetBlazarAstrophysical jetSingle background subtractionActive Galactic NucleiBlack holeFlat spectrum radio quasarSpectral energy distributionHost galaxyTest statistic...
• #### Complete Reionization Constraints from Planck 2015 Polarization

We conduct an analysis of the Planck 2015 data that is complete in reionization observables from the large angle polarization $E$-mode spectrum in the redshift range $6 < z < 30$. Based on 5 principal components, all of which are constrained by the data, this single analysis can be used to infer constraints on any model for reionization in the same range; we develop an effective likelihood approach for applying these constraints to models. By allowing for an arbitrary ionization history, this technique tests the robustness of inferences on the total optical depth from the usual step-like transition assumption, which is important for the interpretation of many other cosmological parameters such as the dark energy and neutrino mass. The Planck 2015 data not only allow a high redshift $z>15$ component to the optical depth but prefer it at the $2\sigma$ level. This preference is associated with excess power in the multipole range $10 \lesssim \ell \lesssim 20$ and may indicate high redshift ionization sources or unaccounted for systematics and foregrounds in the 2015 data.
Principal componentIonizationReionizationPlanck missionCosmological parametersMonte Carlo Markov chainCosmic microwave backgroundBayesian posterior probabilityGravitational lensingMaximum likelihood...
• #### Chiral medium produced by parallel electric and magnetic fields

We compute (pseudo)critical temperature, $T_c$, of chiral symmetry restoration for quark matter in the background of parallel electric and magnetic fields. This field configuration leads to the production of a chiral medium on a time scale $\tau$, characterized by a nonvanishing value of the chiral density that equilibrates due to microscopic processes in the thermal bath. We estimate the relaxation time $\tau$ to be about $\approx 0.1-1$ fm/c around the chiral crossover; then we compute the effect of the fields and of the chiral medium on~$T_c$. We find $T_c$ to be lowered by the external fields in the chiral medium.
Relaxation timeNambu-Jona-Lasinio modelChiralityQuantum chromodynamicsCritical temperatureQuark massQuark matterChiral anomalyChiral symmetryChiral symmetry breaking...
• #### Direct Search for keV Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter with a Stable Dysprosium Target

We investigate a new method to search for keV-scale sterile neutrinos that could account for Dark Matter. Neutrinos trapped in our galaxy could be captured on stable $^{163}$Dy if their mass is greater than 2.83~keV. Two experimental realizations are studied, an integral counting of $^{163}$Ho atoms in dysprosium-rich ores and a real-time measurement of the emerging electron spectrum in a dysprosium-based detector. The capture rates are compared to the solar neutrino and radioactive backgrounds. An integral counting experiment using several kilograms of $^{163}$Dy could reach a sensitivity for the sterile-to-active mixing angle $\sin^2\theta_{e4}$ of $10^{-5}$ significantly exceeding current laboratory limits. Mixing angles as low as $\sin^2\theta_{e4} \sim 10^{-7}$ / $\rm m_{^{163}\rm Dy}\rm{(ton)}$ could possibly be explored with a real-time experiment.
Dark matterKeV sterile neutrinosCountingNeutrinoMixing angleSterile neutrinoElectron captureSolar neutrinoSterile neutrino DMNuisance parameter...
• #### Lectures on the Quantum Hall Effectver. 2

The purpose of these lectures is to describe the basic theoretical structures underlying the rich and beautiful physics of the quantum Hall effect. The focus is on the interplay between microscopic wavefunctions, long-distance effective Chern-Simons theories, and the modes which live on the boundary. The notes are aimed at graduate students in any discipline where $\hbar=1$. A working knowledge of quantum field theory is assumed. Contents: 1. The Basics (Landau levels and Berry phase). 2. The Integer Quantum Hall Effect. 3. The Fractional Quantum Hall Effect. 4. Non-Abelian Quantum Hall States. 5. Chern-Simons Theories. 6. Edge Modes.
WavefunctionAnyonHamiltonianLandau levelQuantum Hall EffectLaughlin wavefunctionChern-Simons termGauge fieldChern-Simons theoryBerry phase...
• #### EPR before EPR: a 1930 Einstein-Bohr thought experiment revisitedver. 4

In 1930 Einstein argued against consistency of the time-energy uncertainty relation by discussing a thought experiment involving a measurement of mass of the box which emitted a photon. Bohr seemingly triumphed over Einstein by arguing that the Einstein's own general theory of relativity saves the consistency of quantum mechanics. We revisit this thought experiment from a modern point of view at a level suitable for undergraduate readership and find that neither Einstein nor Bohr was right. Instead, this thought experiment should be thought of as an early example of a system demonstrating nonlocal "EPR" quantum correlations, five years before the famous Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paper.
Quantum mechanicsQuantum nonlocalityGeneral relativityQuantum correlationEntanglementHamiltonianEarthExperimental verificationEPR paradoxDegree of freedom...
• #### Einstein's Boxesver. 2

At the 1927 Solvay conference, Einstein presented a thought experiment intended to demonstrate the incompleteness of the quantum mechanical description of reality. In the following years, the thought experiment was picked up and modified by Einstein, de Broglie, and several other commentators into a simple scenario involving the splitting in half of the wave function of a single particle in a box. In this paper we collect together several formulations of this thought experiment from the existing literature; analyze and assess it from the point of view of the Einstein-Bohr debates, the EPR dilemma, and Bell's theorem; and generally lobby for Einstein's Boxes taking its rightful place alongside similar but historically better-known quantum mechanical thought experiments such as EPR and Schroedinger's Cat.
• #### EPR and Bell Localityver. 3

A new formulation of the EPR argument is presented, one which uses John Bell's mathematically precise local causality condition in place of the looser locality assumption which was used in the original EPR paper and on which Niels Bohr seems to have based his objection to the EPR argument. The new formulation of EPR bears a striking resemblance to Bell's derivation of his famous inequalities. The relation between these two arguments -- in particular, the role of EPR as part one of Bell's two-part argument for nonlocality -- is also discussed in detail.
EPR paradoxQuantum mechanicsBell's theoremCompletenessHidden variable theoryRelativityCausalityQuantum theoryLight conesLocality principle...
• #### Statistics of fractionalized excitations through threshold spectroscopy

We show that the anyonic statistics of fractionalized excitations display characteristic signatures in threshold spectroscopic measurements. Drawing motivation from topologically ordered phases such as gapped quantum spin liquids and fractional chern insulators which possess fractionalized excitations, we consider gapped systems with abelian anyonic excitations. The low energy onset of associated correlation functions near the threshold show universal behaviour depending on the statistics of the anyons. This explains some recent theoretical results in spin systems and also provides a route towards detecting statistics in experiments such as neutron scattering and tunneling spectroscopy.
StatisticsAnyonSpin liquidTwo-point correlation functionHamiltonianDynamic structure factorInsulatorsTunneling spectroscopyNeutron scatteringHarmonic oscillator...
• #### Matrix product states and equivariant topological field theories for bosonic symmetry-protected topological phases in (1+1) dimensions

Matrix Product States (MPSs) provide a powerful framework to study and classify gapped quantum phases --symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phases in particular--defined in one dimensional lattices. On the other hand, it is natural to expect that gapped quantum phases in the limit of zero correlation length are described by topological quantum field theories (TFTs or TQFTs). In this paper, for (1+1)-dimensional bosonic SPT phases protected by symmetry $G$, we bridge their descriptions in terms of MPSs, and those in terms of $G$-equivariant TFTs. In particular, for various topological invariants (SPT invariants) constructed previously using MPSs, we provide derivations from the point of view of (1+1) TFTs. We also discuss the connection between boundary degrees of freedom, which appear when one introduces a physical boundary in SPT phases, and "open" TFTs, which are TFTs defined on spacetimes with boundaries.
Topological field theoryMatrix product statesSymmetry protected topological orderTopological invariantPartition functionOrientationTime-reversal symmetryDegree of freedomGroup cohomologyTorus...
• #### Topological Field Theory and Matrix Product States

It is believed that most (perhaps all) gapped phases of matter can be described at long distances by Topological Quantum Field Theory (TQFT). On the other hand, it has been rigorously established that in 1+1d ground states of gapped Hamiltonians can be approximated by Matrix Product States (MPS). We show that the state-sum construction of 2d TQFT naturally leads to MPS in their standard form. In the case of systems with a global symmetry G, this leads to a classification of gapped phases in 1+1d in terms of Morita-equivalence classes of G-equivariant algebras. Non-uniqueness of the MPS representation is traced to the freedom of choosing an algebra in a particular Morita class. In the case of Short-Range Entangled phases, we recover the group cohomology classification of SPT phases.
Topological field theoryMatrix product statesHamiltonianProjective representationPartition functionClassificationHolonomyRenormalization groupManifoldGauge field...
• #### Strictification of weakly equivariant Hopf algebrasver. 3

A weakly equivariant Hopf algebra is a Hopf algebra A with an action of a finite group G up to inner automorphisms. We show that each weakly equivariant Hopf algebra can be replaced by a Morita equivalent algebra B with a strict action of G and with a coalgebra structure that leads to a tensor equivalent representation category. However, the coproduct of this strictification cannot, in general, be chosen to be unital, so that a strictification of the G-action can only be found on a weak Hopf algebra B.
Hopf algebraInner automorphismTensor productTopological field theoryOrbifoldAutomorphismIsomorphismDualityConformal field theoryVector space...
• #### Surprises with Nonrelativistic Naturalness

We explore the landscape of technical naturalness for nonrelativistic systems, finding surprises which challenge and enrich our relativistic intuition already in the simplest case of a single scalar field. While the immediate applications are expected in condensed matter and perhaps in cosmology, the study is motivated by the leading puzzles of fundamental physics involving gravity: The cosmological constant problem and the Higgs mass hierarchy problem.
PhononShift symmetryTechnical NaturalnessNaturalnessScalar fieldClassificationGraph theoryHiggs boson massSuperconductivityCosmology...
• #### Holographic Renormalization of Einstein-Maxwell-Dilaton Theoriesver. 2

We generalize the boundary value problem with a mixed boundary condition that involves the gauge and scalar fields in the context of Einstein-Maxwell-Dilaton theories. In particular, the expectation value of the dual scalar operator can be a function of the expectation value of the current operator. The properties are prevalent in a fixed charge ensemble because the conserved charge is shared by both fields through the dilaton coupling, which is also responsible for non-Fermi liquid properties. We study the on-shell action and the stress energy tensor to note practical importances of the boundary value problem. In the presence of the scalar fields, physical quantities are not fully fixed due to the finite boundary terms that manifest in the massless scalar or the scalar with mass saturating the Breitenlohner-Freedman bound.
Expectation ValueGauge fieldField theoryScalar fieldAnti de Sitter spaceDilatonRenormalizationMixed boundary conditionQuantizationRadiative correction...
• #### SpaceTime from Hilbert Space: Decompositions of Hilbert Space as Instances of Timever. 2

There has been recent interest in identifying entanglement as the fundamental concept from which space may emerge. We note that the particular way that a Hilbert space is decomposed into tensor factors is important in what the resulting geometry looks like. We then propose that time may be regarded as a variable that parameterizes a family of such decompositions, thus giving rise to a family of spatial geometries. As a proof of concept, this idea is demonstrated in two toy models based on Kitaev's toric code, which feature a dynamical change of dimension and topology.
Mutual informationEmbeddingGraphToric codeStarTorusEntanglementHamiltonianEntropyManifold...
• #### Classically stable non-singular cosmological bouncesver. 2

One of the fundamental questions of theoretical cosmology is whether the universe can undergo a non-singular bounce, i.e., smoothly transit from a period of contraction to a period of expansion through violation of the null energy condition (NEC) at energies well below the Planck scale and at finite values of the scale factor such that the entire evolution remains classical. A common claim has been that a non-singular bounce either leads to ghost or gradient instabilities or a cosmological singularity. In this letter, we examine cubic Galileon theories and present a procedure for explicitly constructing examples of a non-singular cosmological bounce without encountering any pathologies and maintaining a sub-luminal sound speed for co-moving curvature modes throughout the NEC violating phase. We also discuss the relation between our procedure and earlier work.
Null energy conditionInstabilityCurvature perturbationScalar fieldSpeed of soundFriedmann Robertson WalkerGalileon modelPlanck scaleScale factorFriedmann equations...
• #### Absolute Stability and Spatiotemporal Long-Range Order in Floquet systemsver. 3

Recent work has shown that a variety of novel phases of matter arise in periodically driven Floquet systems. Among these are many-body localized phases which spontaneously break global symmetries and exhibit novel multiplets of Floquet eigenstates separated by quantized quasienergies. Here we show that these properties are stable to all weak local deformations of the underlying Floquet drives -- including those that explicitly break the defining symmetries -- and that the models considered until now occupy sub-manifolds within these larger "absolutely stable" phases. While these absolutely stable phases have no explicit global symmetries, they spontaneously break Hamiltonian dependent emergent symmetries, and thus continue to exhibit the novel multiplet structure. The multiplet structure in turn encodes characteristic oscillations of the emergent order parameter at multiples of the fundamental period. Altogether these phases exhibit a form of simultaneous long-range order in space and time which is new to quantum systems. We describe how this spatiotemporal order can be detected in experiments involving quenches from a broad class of initial states.
HamiltonianGlobal symmetrySymmetry protected topological orderCat stateQuenchingDomain wallTopological orderWeak localizationSpin glassIncommensurate...
• #### Holographic Wilson Loopsver. 3

We show that all half-BPS Wilson loop operators in N=4 SYM -- which are labeled by Young tableaus -- have a gravitational dual description in terms of D5-branes or alternatively in terms of D3-branes in AdS_5xS^5. We prove that the insertion of a half-BPS Wilson loop operator in the cal N=4 SYM path integral is achieved by integrating out the degrees of freedom on a configuration of bulk D5-branes or alternatively on a configuration of bulk D3-branes. The bulk D5-brane and D3-brane descriptions are related by bosonization.
• #### An advanced Study on Cryptography Mechanisms for Wireless Sensor Networks

Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is consisting of independent and distributed sensors to monitor physical or environmental conditions, such as temperature, sound, pressure, etc. The most crucial and fundamental challenge facing WSN is security. Due to minimum capacity in-term of memory cost, processing and physical accessibility to sensors devices the security attacks are problematic. They are mostly deployed in open area, which expose them to different kinds of attacks. In this paper, we present an illustration of different attacks and vulnerabilities in WSN. Then we describe and analyze security requirement, countermeasures based on cryptography mechanisms in literature. Finally, we present possible directions in future research.
Sensor networkCryptographySecurityTemperaturePressure...
• #### Abundances of Suprathermal Heavy Ions in CIRs during the Minimum of Solar Cycle 23

In this paper we examine the elemental composition of the 0.1-1 MeV/nucleon interplanetary heavy ions from H to Fe in corotating interaction regions (CIRs) measured by the SIT (Suprathermal Ion Telescope) instrument. We use observations taken on board the STEREO spacecraft from January 2007 through December 2010, which included the unusually long solar minimum following solar cycle 23. During this period instruments on STEREO observed more than 50 CIR events making it possible to investigate CIR ion abundances during solar minimum conditions with unprecedented high statistics. The observations reveal annual variations of relative ion abundances in the CIRs during the 2007-2008 period as indicated by the He/H, He/O and Fe/O elemental ratios. We discuss possible causes of the variability in terms of the helium focusing cone passage and heliolatitude dependence. The year 2009 was very quiet in CIR event activity. In 2010 the elemental composition in CIRs were influenced by sporadic solar energetic particle (SEP) events. The 2010 He/H and He/O abundance ratios in CIRs show large event to event variations with values resembling the SEP-like composition. This finding points out that the suprathermal SEPs could be the source population for CIR acceleration.
Solar cycle 23South ecliptic poleSolar Terrestrial Relations ObservatorySolar minimumTelescopesAbundance ratioStatisticsSolar energetic particlesHelium Focusing ConeIon...
• #### Simulation of a Time-Of-Flight Telescope for Suprathermal Ions in the Heliosphere

A Monte Carlo code based on Geant 3.21 has been used for simulations of energy losses and angular scattering in a time-of-flight Suprathermal Ion Telescope (SIT) on the Solar-Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO). A hemispherical isotropic particle distribution, a monoenergetic or power law in energy is used in these simulations. The impact of scattering, energy losses and system noise on the instrument mass resolution is discussed.
TelescopesTime-of-flightHeliosphereSolar Terrestrial Relations ObservatoryMonte Carlo methodIonEnergyScatteringResolutionParticles...
• #### Abundances of Suprathermal Heavy Ions in CIRs on STEREO during the Minimum of Solar Cycle 23

We examine the composition of the 0.1 - 1 MeV/n interplanetary heavy ions from H to Fe in corotating interaction regions (CIRs) measured by the SIT (Suprathermal Ion Telescope) instrument. We use observations taken on board the two STEREO spacecraft during the unusually long minimum of Solar Cycle 23 from January 2007 through December 2010. During this period instruments on STEREO observed more than 50 CIR events making it possible to investigate CIR ion abundances during solar minimum conditions with unprecedentedly high statistics. The observations reveal annual variations of relative ion abundances in the CIRs during the 2007 - 2008 period. In 2010 the elemental composition in CIRs were influenced by solar energetic particle events.
Solar Terrestrial Relations ObservatorySouth ecliptic poleSolar cycle 23Pickup ionsAbundance ratioIntensityChemical abundanceSolar minimumTelescopesSolar wind...
• #### Recurring 3He-rich Solar Energetic Particle Events

Using the SIT instrument aboard STEREO we have examined the abundance of the 3He during the ascending phase of solar cycle 24 from January 2010 through December 2012. We report on several cases when 3He-rich solar energetic particle events were successively observed on ACE and STEREO-A with delays consistent with the Carrington rotation rate. In the investigated period ACE and STEREO-A were significantly separated in the heliolongitude corresponding to solar rotation times of 5 to 10 days. We inspect STEREO-A EUV images and use the potential-field source-surface extrapolations together with in-situ magnetic field data to identify responsible solar sources. We find the 3He/4He ratio highly variable in these events and correlated between the spacecraft for the cases with the same connection region on the Sun.
South ecliptic poleSolar energetic particlesEclipticParker spiralAbundanceX-ray flaresHelium-3EarthSunSolar Terrestrial Relations Observatory...
• #### Case studies of multi-day 3He-rich solar energetic particle periods

Context. Impulsive solar energetic particle events in the inner heliosphere show the long-lasting enrichment of 3He. Aims. We study the source regions of long-lasting 3He-rich solar energetic particle (SEP) events Methods. We located the responsible open magnetic field regions, we combined potential field source surface extrapolations (PFSS) with the Parker spiral, and compared the magnetic field of the identified source regions with in situ magnetic fields. The candidate open field regions are active region plages. The activity was examined by using extreme ultraviolet (EUV) images from the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and STEREO together with radio observations from STEREO and WIND. Results. Multi-day periods of 3He-rich SEP events are associated with ion production in single active region. Small flares or coronal jets are their responsible solar sources. We also find that the 3He enrichment may depend on the occurrence rate of coronal jets.
Solar energetic particlesSouth ecliptic poleHelium-3Solar Terrestrial Relations ObservatorySolar Dynamics ObservatoryWINDPlageParker spiralHeliospherePeriodate...
• #### Long-lived energetic particle source regions on the Sun

Discovered more than 40 years ago, impulsive solar energetic particle (SEP) events are still poorly understood. The enormous abundance enhancement of the rare 3He isotope is the most striking feature of these events, though large enhancements in heavy and ultra-heavy nuclei are also observed. Recurrent 3He-rich SEPs in impulsive events have only been observed for limited time periods, up to a few days which is typically the time that a single stationary spacecraft is magnetically connected to the source active regions on the Sun. With the launch of the two STEREO spacecraft we now have the possibility of longer connection time to solar active regions. We examined the evolution of source regions showing repeated 3He-rich SEP emissions for relatively long time periods. We found that recurrent 3He-rich SEPs in these long-lived sources occur after the emergence of magnetic flux.
South ecliptic poleSunAbundanceEarthSolar Terrestrial Relations ObservatorySolar energetic particlesSolar activityInterplanetary magnetic fieldIsotopeHelium-3...
• #### Observations of EUV Waves in 3He-Rich Solar Energetic Particle Events

Small 3He-rich solar energetic particle (SEP) events with their anomalous abundances, markedly different from solar system, provide evidence for a unique acceleration mechanism that operates routinely near solar active regions. Although the events are sometimes accompanied by coronal mass ejections (CMEs) it is believed that mass and isotopic fractionation is produced directly in the flare sites on the Sun. We report on a large-scale extreme ultraviolet (EUV) coronal wave observed in association with 3He-rich SEP events. In the two examples discussed, the observed waves were triggered by minor flares and appeared concurrently with EUV jets and type III radio bursts but without CMEs. The energy spectra from one event are consistent with so-called class-1 (characterized by power laws) while the other with class-2 (characterized by rounded 3He and Fe spectra) 3He-rich SEP events, suggesting different acceleration mechanisms in the two. The observation of EUV waves suggests that large-scale disturbances, in addition to more commonly associated jets, may be responsible for the production of 3He-rich SEP events.
South ecliptic poleCoronal mass ejectionRadio burstsSolar energetic particlesSolar activityIntensitySunTurbulenceAbundanceMeridian...
• #### Observations of solar X-ray and EUV jets and their related phenomenaver. 2

Solar jets are fast-moving, elongated brightenings related to ejections seen in both images and spectra on all scales from barely visible chromospheric jets to coronal jets extending up to a few solar radii. The largest, most powerful jets are the source of type III radio bursts, energetic electrons and ions with greatly enhanced $^3$He and heavy element abundances. The frequent coronal jets from polar and equatorial coronal holes may contribute to the solar wind. The primary acceleration mechanism for all jets is believed to be release of magnetic stress via reconnection; however the energy buildup depends on the jets' source environment. In this review, we discuss how certain features of X-ray and EUV jets, such as their repetition rate and association with radio emission, depends on their underlying photospheric field configurations (active regions, polar and equatorial coronal holes, and quiet Sun).
Coronal holeSunspotGalaxy filamentPlageQuiet sunRadio burstsSouth ecliptic polePhotosphereChromospherePenumbra...
• #### Association of 3He-Rich Solar Energetic Particles with Large-Scale Coronal Waves

Small 3He-rich solar energetic particle (SEP) events have been commonly associated with extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) jets and narrow coronal mass ejections (CMEs) which are believed to be the signatures of magnetic reconnection involving field lines open to interplanetary space. The elemental and isotopic fractionation in these events are thought to be caused by processes confined to the flare sites. In this study we identify 32 3He-rich SEP events observed by the Advanced Composition Explorer near the Earth during the solar minimum period 2007-2010 and examine their solar sources with the high resolution Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) EUV images. Leading the Earth, STEREO-A provided for the first time a direct view on 3He-rich flares, which are generally located on the Sun's western hemisphere. Surprisingly, we find that about half of the 3He-rich SEP events in this survey are associated with large-scale EUV coronal waves. An examination of the wave front propagation, the source-flare distribution and the coronal magnetic field connections suggests that the EUV waves may affect the injection of 3He-rich SEPs into interplanetary space.
Coronal mass ejectionRadio burstsHelium-3EarthSunSolar energetic particlesIntensityX-ray flaresInterplanetary magnetic fieldMagnetic reconnection...
• #### On conservation laws in quantum mechanics

We raise fundamental questions about the very meaning of conservation laws in quantum mechanics and we argue that the standard way of defining conservation laws, while perfectly valid as far as it goes, misses essential features of nature and has to be revisited and extended.
HamiltonianQuantum mechanicsCausalityPlane waveConserved quantitiesRelativityFree propagatorWave packetPast light conesStatistical ensemble...
• #### A new view on quantum electrodynamics

We analyze the equations of quantum electrodynamics and establish that the electron must be described by two bispinors that satisfy two mutually connected Dirac equations. The equations of the electronic and electromagnetic fields are reformulated in terms of c-numbers, which enables one to elucidate the structure of the electron. Although the equations obtained allow only for numerical solution, some characteristics of the electron, in particular its size, can be found at this stage. It is shown also that the Dirac equation should, instead of the mass of the electron, contain a combination involving the electron Compton wavelength. In this case the equations obtained can be used not only for the description of the electron but also for the description of other leptons, which will allow one to find the mass spectrum of leptons.
Quantum electrodynamicsBispinorMass spectrumCompton wavelengthElectronLeptonsDirac equationMassElectromagnetic field...
• #### A new interpretation of quantum mechanics

The present paper is based upon equations obtained in an earlier paper by the author devoted to a new formulation of quantum electrodynamics. The equations describe the structure of the electron as well as its motion in external fields, interaction with a measuring apparatus inclusive, in a deterministic manner without any jumps. Quantum mechanics is an approximate theory because its equations follow from the above equations upon neglecting the self-field of the electron itself. Just this leads to paradoxes, seeming contradictions and jumps in quantum mechanics. The quantum mechanical wavefunction has a dual interpretation. In some problems the square of its modulus represents a real distribution of the electronic density while in others the same square determines the probability distribution of coordinates. It is shown why, given the different interpretations of the wavefunction, it satisfies one and the same Dirac or Schr\"odinger equation. Description of many-electron systems is also considered in the starting approach as well as in quantum mechanics. Neutrinos are discussed in brief.
Quantum mechanicsInterpretations of quantum mechanicsWavefunctionSelf fieldElectronic densityQuantum electrodynamicsNeutrinoElectronContradictionProbability...
• #### Collision geometry fluctuations and triangular flow in heavy-ion collisionsver. 3

We introduce the concepts of participant triangularity and triangular flow in heavy-ion collisions, analogous to the definitions of participant eccentricity and elliptic flow. The participant triangularity characterizes the triangular anisotropy of the initial nuclear overlap geometry and arises from event-by-event fluctuations in the participant-nucleon collision points. In studies using a multi-phase transport model (AMPT), a triangular flow signal is observed that is proportional to the participant triangularity and corresponds to a large third Fourier coefficient in two-particle azimuthal correlation functions. Using two-particle azimuthal correlations at large pseudorapidity separations measured by the PHOBOS and STAR experiments, we show that this Fourier component is also present in data. Ratios of the second and third Fourier coefficients in data exhibit similar trends as a function of centrality and transverse momentum as in AMPT calculations. These findings suggest a significant contribution of triangular flow to the ridge and broad away-side features observed in data. Triangular flow provides a new handle on the initial collision geometry and collective expansion dynamics in heavy-ion collisions.
Triangular flowElliptic flowEccentricityHeavy ion collisionTransverse momentumTwo-particle azimuthal correlationsReaction planeCentrality of collisionTwo-point correlation functionAzimuthal correlation...
• #### Principal component analysis of event-by-event fluctuationsver. 2

We apply principal component analysis to the study of event-by-event fluctuations in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. This method brings out all the information contained in two-particle correlations in a physically transparent way. We present a guide to the method, and apply it to multiplicity fluctuations and anisotropic flow, using ALICE data and simulated events. In particular, we study elliptic and triangular flow fluctuations as a function of transverse momentum and rapidity. This method reveals previously unknown subleading modes in both rapidity and transverse momentum for the momentum distribution as well as elliptic and triangular flows.
RapidityAnisotropic flowPrincipal componentTransverse momentumTriangular flowPrincipal component analysisEvent-by-event fluctuationsALICE experimentAzimuthHeavy ion collision...
• #### Why does deep and cheap learning work so well?

We show how the success of deep learning depends not only on mathematics but also on physics: although well-known mathematical theorems guarantee that neural networks can approximate arbitrary functions well, the class of functions of practical interest can be approximated through "cheap learning" with exponentially fewer parameters than generic ones, because they have simplifying properties tracing back to the laws of physics. The exceptional simplicity of physics-based functions hinges on properties such as symmetry, locality, compositionality and polynomial log-probability, and we explore how these properties translate into exceptionally simple neural networks approximating both natural phenomena such as images and abstract representations thereof such as drawings. We further argue that when the statistical process generating the data is of a certain hierarchical form prevalent in physics and machine-learning, a deep neural network can be more efficient than a shallow one. We formalize these claims using information theory and discuss the relation to renormalization group procedures. Various "no-flattening theorems" show when these efficient deep networks cannot be accurately approximated by shallow ones without efficiency loss - even for linear networks.
Neural networkEllipticityHamiltonianDeep learningStatisticsMachine learningRenormalizationClassificationDeep Neural NetworksActivation function...
• #### Deep Networks with Stochastic Depthver. 3

Very deep convolutional networks with hundreds of layers have led to significant reductions in error on competitive benchmarks. Although the unmatched expressiveness of the many layers can be highly desirable at test time, training very deep networks comes with its own set of challenges. The gradients can vanish, the forward flow often diminishes, and the training time can be painfully slow. To address these problems, we propose stochastic depth, a training procedure that enables the seemingly contradictory setup to train short networks and use deep networks at test time. We start with very deep networks but during training, for each mini-batch, randomly drop a subset of layers and bypass them with the identity function. This simple approach complements the recent success of residual networks. It reduces training time substantially and improves the test error significantly on almost all data sets that we used for evaluation. With stochastic depth we can increase the depth of residual networks even beyond 1200 layers and still yield meaningful improvements in test error (4.91% on CIFAR-10).
ArchitectureSurvival probabilityHyperparameterConvolutional neural networkTraining setOverfittingNeural networkCOCO simulationInformation flowHidden layer...
• #### Total Variation Applications in Computer Vision

The objectives of this chapter are: (i) to introduce a concise overview of regularization; (ii) to define and to explain the role of a particular type of regularization called total variation norm (TV-norm) in computer vision tasks; (iii) to set up a brief discussion on the mathematical background of TV methods; and (iv) to establish a relationship between models and a few existing methods to solve problems cast as TV-norm. For the most part, image-processing algorithms blur the edges of the estimated images, however TV regularization preserves the edges with no prior information on the observed and the original images. The regularization scalar parameter {\lambda} controls the amount of regularization allowed and it is an essential to obtain a high-quality regularized output. A wide-ranging review of several ways to put into practice TV regularization as well as its advantages and limitations are discussed.
RegularizationImage ProcessingAlgorithmsObjectiveScalar...
• #### Improving Initial Conditions for Cosmological $N$-Body Simulationsver. 3

In cosmological $N$-body simulations, the representation of dark matter as discrete "macroparticles" suppresses the growth of structure, such that simulations no longer reproduce linear theory on small scales near $k_{\rm Nyquist}$. Marcos et al. demonstrate that this is due to sparse sampling of modes near $k_{\rm Nyquist}$ and that the often-assumed continuum growing modes are not proper growing modes of the particle system. We develop initial conditions that respect the particle linear theory growing modes and then rescale the mode amplitudes to account for growth suppression. These ICs also allow us to take advantage of our very accurate $N$-body code Abacus to implement 2LPT in configuration space. The combination of 2LPT and rescaling improves the accuracy of the late-time power spectra, halo mass functions, and halo clustering. In particular, we achieve 1% accuracy in the power spectrum down to $k_{\rm Nyquist}$, versus $k_{\rm Nyquist}/4$ without rescaling or $k_{\rm Nyquist}/13$ without 2LPT, relative to an oversampled reference simulation. We anticipate that our 2LPT will be useful for large simulations where FFTs are expensive and that rescaling will be useful for suites of medium-resolution simulations used in cosmic emulators and galaxy survey mock catalogs. Code to generate initial conditions is available at https://github.com/lgarrison/zeldovich-PLT
Second order lagrangian perturbation theoryZeldovich approximationInitial conditions for cosmological simulationsGlassTwo-point correlation functionRankSpherical OverdensityFast Fourier transformFriends of friends algorithmHalo mass function...
• #### Stellar clusterings around "Isolated" Massive YSOs in the LMC

Observations suggest that there is a significant fraction of O-stars in the field of the Milky Way that appear to have formed in isolation or in low mass clusters ($<$100 $M_\odot$). The existence of these high-mass stars that apparently formed in the field challenges the generally accepted paradigm, which requires star formation to occur in clustered environments. In order to understand the physical conditions for the formation of these stars, it is necessary to observe isolated high-mass stars while they are still forming. With the $Hubble$ $Space$ $Telescope$, we observe the seven most isolated massive ($>$8 $M_\odot$) young stellar objects (MYSOs) in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). The observations show that while these MYSOs are remote from other MYSOs, OB associations, and even from known giant molecular clouds, they are actually not isolated at all. Imaging reveals $\sim$100 to several hundred pre--main-sequence (PMS) stars in the vicinity of each MYSO. These previously undetected PMS stars form prominent compact clusters around the MYSOs, and in most cases they are also distributed sparsely across the observed regions. Contrary to what previous high-mass field star studies show, these observations suggest that high-mass stars may not be able to form in clusters with masses less than 100 $M_\odot$. If these MYSOs are indeed the best candidates for isolated high-mass star formation, then the lack of isolation is at odds with random sampling of the IMF. Moreover, while isolated MYSOs may not exist, we find evidence that isolated clusters containing O-stars can exist, which in itself is rare.
Large Magellanic CloudHigh mass starYoung stellar objectStar formationStarO starPre-main-sequence starHigh massTelescopesOB associations...
• #### Planck 2015 results. XIX. Constraints on primordial magnetic fieldsver. 2

We compute and investigate four types of imprint of a stochastic background of primordial magnetic fields (PMFs) on the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies: the impact of PMFs on the CMB spectra; the effect on CMB polarization induced by Faraday rotation; the impact of PMFs on the ionization history; magnetically-induced non-Gaussianities; and the magnetically-induced breaking of statistical isotropy. Overall, Planck data constrain the amplitude of PMFs to less than a few nanogauss. In particular, individual limits coming from the analysis of the CMB angular power spectra, using the Planck likelihood, are $B_{1\,\mathrm{Mpc}}< 4.4$ nG (where $B_{1\,\mathrm{Mpc}}$ is the comoving field amplitude at a scale of 1 Mpc) at 95% confidence level, assuming zero helicity, and $B_{1\,\mathrm{Mpc}}< 5.6$ nG for a maximally helical field.For nearly scale-invariant PMFs we obtain $B_{1\,\mathrm{Mpc}}<2.0$ nG and $B_{1\,\mathrm{Mpc}}<0.9$ nG if the impact of PMFs on the ionization history of the Universe is included. From the analysis of magnetically-induced non-Gaussianity we obtain three different values, corresponding to three applied methods, all below 5 nG. The constraint from the magnetically-induced passive-tensor bispectrum is $B_{1\,\mathrm{Mpc}}< 2.8$ nG. A search for preferred directions in the magnetically-induced passive bispectrum yields $B_{1\,\mathrm{Mpc}}< 4.5$ nG, whereas the the compensated-scalar bispectrum gives $B_{1\,\mathrm{Mpc}}< 3$ nG. The analysis of the Faraday rotation of CMB polarization by PMFs uses the Planck power spectra in $EE$ and $BB$ at 70 GHz and gives $B_{1\,\mathrm{Mpc}}< 1380$ nG. In our final analysis, we consider the harmonic-space correlations produced by Alfv\'en waves, finding no significant evidence for the presence of these waves. Together, these results comprise a comprehensive set of constraints on possible PMFs with Planck data.
Cosmological magnetic fieldBispectrumCosmic microwave backgroundFaraday rotationHelicityNon-GaussianityScale invarianceAlfvén waveCMB temperature anisotropyAnisotropy...