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The Ultraviolet (UV) Type Ia Supernova CubeSat (UVIa) is a CubeSat/SmallSat mission concept that stands to test critical space-borne UV technology for future missions like the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) while elucidating long-standing questions about the explosion mechanisms of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia). UVIa will observe whether any SNe Ia emit excess UV light shortly after explosion to test progenitor/explosion models and provide follow-up over many days to characterize their UV and optical flux variations over time, assembling a comprehensive multi-band UV and optical low-redshift anchor sample for upcoming high-redshift SNe Ia surveys (e.g., Euclid, Vera Rubin Observatory, Nancy Roman Space Telescope). UVIa's mission profile requires it to perform rapid and frequent visits to newly discovered SNe Ia, simultaneously observing each SNe Ia in two UV bands (FUV: 1500-1800A and NUV: 1800-2400A) and one optical band (u-band: 3000-4200A). In this study, we describe the UVIa mission concept science motivation, mission design, and key technology development., Comment: submitted to JATIS under the call for papers "Ultraviolet Science & Instrumentation: On the Way to Habitable Worlds Observatory and Beyond"

We describe the origins of the theory of tannakian categories, and summarize its main results., Comment: Misprints fixed

This paper details the world's first live 3D holographic (diffractive) video call using off-the-shelf hardware. We introduce a novel pipeline that facilitates the capture, processing, and transmission of RGBZ data, using an iPhone for image and depth capture with VividQ's SDK for hologram generation and hardware for display., Comment: Published and Presented at Session 63: Emerging Approaches for AR/VR/MR, SID Display Week 2022. 4 pages, 9 figures

Large Language Models (LLMs) have demonstrated impressive capabilities across a range of natural language processing tasks. In particular, improvements in reasoning abilities and the expansion of context windows have opened new avenues for leveraging these powerful models. NL2SQL is challenging in that the natural language question is inherently ambiguous, while the SQL generation requires a precise understanding of complex data schema and semantics. One approach to this semantic ambiguous problem is to provide more and sufficient contextual information. In this work, we explore the performance and the latency trade-offs of the extended context window (a.k.a., long context) offered by Google's state-of-the-art LLM (\textit{gemini-1.5-pro}). We study the impact of various contextual information, including column example values, question and SQL query pairs, user-provided hints, SQL documentation, and schema. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work to study how the extended context window and extra contextual information can help NL2SQL generation with respect to both accuracy and latency cost. We show that long context LLMs are robust and do not get lost in the extended contextual information. Additionally, our long-context NL2SQL pipeline based on Google's \textit{gemini-pro-1.5} achieve strong performances on various benchmark datasets without finetuning and expensive self-consistency based techniques., Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures

Human tutoring interventions play a crucial role in supporting student learning, improving academic performance, and promoting personal growth. This paper focuses on analyzing mathematics tutoring discourse using talk moves - a framework of dialogue acts grounded in Accountable Talk theory. However, scaling the collection, annotation, and analysis of extensive tutoring dialogues to develop machine learning models is a challenging and resource-intensive task. To address this, we present SAGA22, a compact dataset, and explore various modeling strategies, including dialogue context, speaker information, pretraining datasets, and further fine-tuning. By leveraging existing datasets and models designed for classroom teaching, our results demonstrate that supplementary pretraining on classroom data enhances model performance in tutoring settings, particularly when incorporating longer context and speaker information. Additionally, we conduct extensive ablation studies to underscore the challenges in talk move modeling., Comment: Accepted to COLING'2025

Bitumen extraction for the production of synthetic crude oil in Canada's Athabasca Oil Sands industry has recently come under spotlight for being a significant source of greenhouse gas emission. A major cause of concern is methane, a greenhouse gas produced by the anaerobic biodegradation of hydrocarbons in oil sands residues, or tailings, stored in settle basins commonly known as oil sands tailing ponds. In order to determine the methane emitting potential of these tailing ponds and have future methane projections, we use real-time weather data, mechanistic models developed from laboratory controlled experiments, and industrial reports to train a physics constrained machine learning model. Our trained model can successfully identify the directions of active ponds and estimate their emission levels, which are generally hard to obtain due to data sampling restrictions. We found that each active oil sands tailing pond could emit between 950 to 1500 tonnes of methane per year, whose environmental impact is equivalent to carbon dioxide emissions from at least 6000 gasoline powered vehicles. Although abandoned ponds are often presumed to have insignificant emissions, our findings indicate that these ponds could become active over time and potentially emit up to 1000 tonnes of methane each year. Taking an average over all datasets that was used in model training, we estimate that emissions around major oil sands regions would need to be reduced by approximately 12% over a year, to reduce the average methane concentrations to 2005 levels., Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables

Harmful cyanobacterial blooms (CBs) have a growing global prevalence, emerging as a significant environmental concern due to their potential toxicity. Understanding how the different mechanisms affect CBs is crucial to develop actionable management strategies. For this, we derive a stoichiometric dynamical system that describes the qualitative population dynamics of cyanobacteria and their toxicity in north-temperate freshwater ecosystems. Our model quantifies the hypoxic effects of CBs on fish mortality and the effect of microcystin-LR (MC-LR), a potent toxin produced by cyanobacteria, on aquatic macro-invertebrates, phytoplankton, and fish species. By fitting the model to lakes with varying physical characteristics, eutrophic conditions, and water temperature, we can delineate and understand the driving components of CBs. We show that decreases in water exchange rate, depth of epilimnion, or light attenuation increases bloom intensity and duration. Furthermore, our models concur that eutrophication and increasing water temperatures exacerbate the intensity of CBs. We observe a severe bioaccumulative effect of MC-LR in aquatic species, stressing the potential impact on humans and other terrestrial animals. We validate our model with field measurements demonstrating its applicability to several realistic lake conditions. These insights are essential for informing targeted interventions to reduce CBs and their ecological impacts., Comment: Main Document: 11 pages

We present multi-epoch optical spectropolarimetric and imaging polarimetric observations of the nearby Type II supernova (SN) 2023ixf discovered in M101 at a distance of 6.85 Mpc. The first imaging polarimetric observations were taken +2.33 days (60085.08 MJD) after the explosion, while the last imaging polarimetric data points (+73.19 and +76.19 days) were acquired after the fall from the light curve plateau. At +2.33 days there is strong evidence of circumstellar material (CSM) interaction in the spectra and the light curve. A significant level of polarization $P_r = 0.88\pm 0.06 \% $ seen during this phase indicates that this CSM is aspherical. We find that the polarization evolves with time toward the interstellar polarization level ($0.35\%$) during the photospheric phase, which suggests that the recombination photosphere is spherically symmetric. There is a jump in polarization ($P_r =0.65 \pm 0.08 \% $) at +73.19 days when the light curve falls from the plateau. This is a phase where polarimetric data is sensitive to non-spherical inner ejecta or a decrease in optical depth into the single scattering regime. We also present spectropolarimetric data that reveal line (de)polarization during most of the observed epochs. In addition, at +14.50 days we see an "inverse P Cygn" profile in the H and He line polarization, which clearly indicates the presence of asymmetrically distributed material overlying the photosphere. The overall temporal evolution of polarization is typical for Type II SNe, but the high level of polarization during the rising phase has only been observed in SN 2023ixf., Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures, submitted to ApJL, comments welcome

This is an elementary exposition of the basic descent theorems for algebraic schemes over fields (Grothendieck, Weil, ...)., Comment: 27 pages

Given a frequency $\lambda=(\lambda_n)$, we consider the Hardy spaces $ \mathcal{H}_p^\lambda$ of $\lambda$-Dirichlet series $ D = \sum_n a_n e^{-\lambda_n s}$ and study the asymptotic behavior of the upper and lower democracy functions of its canonical basis $\mathcal B=\{e^{-\lambda_ns}\}$. For the ordinary case, $\mathcal B=\{n^{-s}\}$, we give the correct asymptotic behavior of all such functions, while in the general case we give sharp lower and upper bounds for all possible behaviors. Moreover, for $p>2$ we present examples showing that any intermediate behavior (between the extreme bounds) can occur. We also study how different properties of the frequency $\lambda$ lead to particular behaviors of the corresponding fundamental functions. Finally, we apply our results to analyze greedy-type properties of $\mathcal B=\{e^{-\lambda_ns}\}$ for some particular $\lambda$'s.

We introduce a new graph parameter called the cooling number, inspired by the spread of influence in networks and its predecessor, the burning number. The cooling number measures the speed of a slow-moving contagion in a graph; the lower the cooling number, the faster the contagion spreads. We provide tight bounds on the cooling number via a graph's order and diameter. Using isoperimetric results, we derive the cooling number of Cartesian grids. The cooling number is studied in graphs generated by the Iterated Local Transitivity model for social networks. We conclude with open problems.

We present photometry and spectroscopy of the slowly evolving superluminous Type IIn SN2015da. SN2015da is extraordinary for its very high peak luminosity, and also for sustaining a high luminosity for several years. Even at 8\,yr after explosion, SN2015da remains as luminous as the peak of a normal SNII-P. The total radiated energy integrated over this time period (with no bolometric correction) is at least 1.6 FOE. Including a mild bolometric correction, adding kinetic energy of the expanding cold dense shell of swept-up circumstellar material (CSM), and accounting for asymmetry, the total explosion kinetic energy was likely 5-10 FOE. Powering the light curve with CSM interaction requires an energetic explosion and 20 Msun of H-rich CSM, which in turn implies a massive progenitor system above 30 Msun. Narrow P Cyg features show steady CSM expansion at 90 km/s, requiring a high average mass-loss rate of roughly 0.1 Msun/yr sustained for 2 centuries before explosion (although ramping up toward explosion time). No current theoretical model for single-star pre-SN mass loss can account for this. The slow CSM, combined with broad wings of H$\alpha$ indicating H-rich material in the unshocked ejecta, disfavor a pulsational pair instability model for the pre-SN mass loss. Instead, violent pre-SN binary interaction is a likely cuprit. Finally, SN2015da exhibits the characteristic asymmetric blueshift in its emission lines from shortly after peak until the present epoch, adding another well-studied superluminous SNeIIn with unambiguous evidence of post-shock dust formation., Comment: 18 pages, 11 figs. submitted

The evolution of charge carriers in photoexcited room temperature ZnO nanoparticles in solution is investigated using ultrafast ultraviolet photoluminescence spectroscopy, ultrafast Zn K-edge absorption spectroscopy and ab-initio molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The photoluminescence is excited at 4.66 eV, well above the band edge, and shows that electron cooling in the conduction band and exciton formation occur in <500 fs, in excellent agreement with theoretical predictions. The X-ray absorption measurements, obtained upon excitation close to the band edge at 3.49 eV, are sensitive to the migration and trapping of holes. They reveal that the 2 ps transient largely reproduces the previously reported transient obtained at 100 ps time delay in synchrotron studies. In addition, the X-ray absorption signal is found to rise in ~1.4 ps, which we attribute to the diffusion of holes through the lattice prior to their trapping at singly-charged oxygen vacancies. Indeed, the MD simulations show that impulsive trapping of holes induces an ultrafast expansion of the cage of Zn atoms in <200 fs, followed by an oscillatory response at a frequency of ~100 cm-1, which corresponds to a phonon mode of the system involving the Zn sub-lattice.

Ultra-wide bandgap (UWBG) materials such as AlN and BN hold great promise for future power electronics due to their exceptional properties. They exhibit large bandgaps, high breakdown fields, high thermal conductivity, and high mechanical strengths. AlN and BN have been extensively researched, however, their alloys, B$_x$Al$_{1-x}$N, are much less studied despite their ability to offer tunable properties by adjusting $x$. In this article, we predict the electronic properties of 17 recently predicted ground states of B$_x$Al$_{1-x}$N in the $x=0-1$ range using first-principles density functional theory and many-body perturbation theory within $GW$ approximation. All the B$_x$Al$_{1-x}$N structures are found to be UWBG materials and have bandgaps that vary linearly from that of wurtzite-phase ($w$) AlN (6.19 eV) to that of $w$-BN (7.47 eV). The bandstructures of B$_x$Al$_{1-x}$N show that a direct-to-indirect bandgap crossover occurs near $x = 0.25$. Furthermore, we find that B$_x$Al$_{1-x}$N alloys have much larger dielectric constants than the constituent bulk materials (AlN=$9.3~\varepsilon_0$ or BN=$7.3~\varepsilon_0$), with values reaching as high as $12.1~\varepsilon_0$. These alloys are found to exhibit large dielectric breakdown fields in the range 9--35 MV/cm with a linear dependence on $x$. This work provides the much needed advancement in the understanding of the properties of B$_x$Al$_{1-x}$N to aid their application in next-generation devices., Comment: 24 pages, 5 figures

We present optical, infrared, ultraviolet, and radio observations of SN 2022xkq, an underluminous fast-declining type Ia supernova (SN Ia) in NGC 1784 ($\mathrm{D}\approx31$ Mpc), from $<1$ to 180 days after explosion. The high-cadence observations of SN 2022xkq, a photometrically transitional and spectroscopically 91bg-like SN Ia, cover the first days and weeks following explosion which are critical to distinguishing between explosion scenarios. The early light curve of SN 2022xkq has a red early color and exhibits a flux excess which is more prominent in redder bands; this is the first time such a feature has been seen in a transitional/91bg-like SN Ia. We also present 92 optical and 19 near-infrared (NIR) spectra, beginning 0.4 days after explosion in the optical and 2.6 days after explosion in the NIR. SN 2022xkq exhibits a long-lived C I 1.0693 $\mu$m feature which persists until 5 days post-maximum. We also detect C II $\lambda$6580 in the pre-maximum optical spectra. These lines are evidence for unburnt carbon that is difficult to reconcile with the double detonation of a sub-Chandrasekhar mass white dwarf. No existing explosion model can fully explain the photometric and spectroscopic dataset of SN 2022xkq, but the considerable breadth of the observations is ideal for furthering our understanding of the processes which produce faint SNe Ia., Comment: 38 pages, 16 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ, the figure 15 input models and synthetic spectra are now available at https://zenodo.org/record/8379254

Within the framework of Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory without the Axiom of Choice, we establish equivalents to the assertion "the union of a countable collection of finite sets is countable" in the context of metric spaces, probability theory, and Hilbert spaces. The categorical principle underlying these equivalences is identified.

Control of surface texture in strip steel is essential to meet customer requirements during galvanizing and temper rolling processes. Traditional methods rely on post-production stylus measurements, while on-line techniques offer non-contact and real-time measurements of the entire strip. However, ensuring accurate measurement is imperative for their effective utilization in the manufacturing pipeline. Moreover, accurate on-line measurements enable real-time adjustments of manufacturing processing parameters during production, ensuring consistent quality and the possibility of closed-loop control of the temper mill. In this study, we leverage state-of-the-art machine learning models to enhance the transformation of on-line measurements into significantly a more accurate Ra surface roughness metric. By comparing a selection of data-driven approaches, including both deep learning and non-deep learning methods, to the close-form transformation, we evaluate their potential for improving surface texture control in temper strip steel manufacturing.

We present very early photometric and spectroscopic observations of the Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) 2023bee, starting about 8 hr after the explosion, which reveal a strong excess in the optical and nearest UV (U and UVW1) bands during the first several days of explosion. This data set allows us to probe the nature of the binary companion of the exploding white dwarf and the conditions leading to its ignition. We find a good match to the Kasen model in which a main-sequence companion star stings the ejecta with a shock as they buzz past. Models of double detonations, shells of radioactive nickel near the surface, interaction with circumstellar material, and pulsational delayed detonations do not provide good matches to our light curves. We also observe signatures of unburned material, in the form of carbon absorption, in our earliest spectra. Our radio nondetections place a limit on the mass-loss rate from the putative companion that rules out a red giant but allows a main-sequence star. We discuss our results in the context of other similar SNe Ia in the literature., Comment: updated to match accepted version

We develop a theory for image restoration with a learned regularizer that is analogous to that of Meyer's characterization of solutions of the classical variational method of Rudin-Osher-Fatemi (ROF). The learned regularizer we use is a Kantorovich potential for an optimal transport problem of mapping a distribution of noisy images onto clean ones, as first proposed by Lunz, \"Oktem and Sch\"onlieb. We show that the effect of their restoration method on the distribution of the images is an explicit Euler discretization of a gradient flow on probability space, while our variational problem, dubbed Wasserstein ROF (WROF), is the corresponding implicit discretization. We obtain our geometric characterisation of the solution in this setting by first proving a more general convex analysis theorem for variational problems with solutions characterised by projections. We then use optimal transport arguments to obtain our WROF theorem from this general result, as well as a decomposition of a transport map into large scale "features" and small scale "details", where scale refers to the magnitude of the transport distance. Further, we leverage our theory to analyze two algorithms which iterate WROF. We refer to these as iterative regularization and multiscale transport. For the former we prove convergence to the clean data. For the latter we produce successive approximations to the target distribution that match it up to finer and finer scales. These algorithms are in complete analogy to well-known effective methods based on ROF for iterative denoising, respectively hierarchical image decomposition. We also obtain an analogue of the Tadmor Nezzar Vese energy identity which decomposes the Wasserstein 2 distance between two measures into a sum of non-negative terms that correspond to transport costs at different scales., Comment: 36 pages. This work appeared in part in the first author's Ph.D. thesis

We present multiepoch spectropolarimetry of the superluminous interacting Type IIn supernova SN2017hcc, covering 16 to 391 days after explosion. In our first epoch we measure continuum polarization as high as 6%, making SN 2017hcc the most intrinsically polarized SN ever reported. During the first 29 days of coverage, when the polarization is strongest, the continuum polarization has a wavelength dependence that rises toward blue wavelengths, and becomes wavelength independent by day 45. The polarization strength drops rapidly during the first month, even as the SN flux is still climbing to peak brightness. Nonetheless, record-high polarization is maintained until day 68, at which point the source polarization declines to 1.9%, comparable to peak levels in previous well-studied SNe IIn. Thereafter the SN continues in polarization decline, while exhibiting only minor changes in position angle on the sky. The blue slope of the polarized continuum during the first month, accompanied by short-lived polarized flux for Balmer emission, suggests that an aspherical distribution of dust grains in pre-shock circumstellar material (CSM) is echoing the SN IIn spectrum and strongly influencing the polarization, while the subsequent decline during the wavelength-independent phase appears broadly consistent with electron scattering near the SN/CSM interface. The persistence of the polarization position angle between these two phases suggests that the pre-existing CSM responsible for the dust scattering at early times is part of the same geometric structure as the electron-scattering region that dominates the polarization at later times. SN2017hcc appears to be yet another, but much more extreme, case of aspherical yet well-ordered CSM in Type IIn SNe, possibly resulting from pre-SN mass loss shaped by a binary progenitor system., Comment: Submitted to MNRAS April 21, 2023

We present multi-epoch spectropolarimetry and spectra for a sample of 14 Type IIn supernovae (SNe IIn). We find that after correcting for likely interstellar polarization, SNe IIn commonly show intrinsic continuum polarization of 1--3% at the time of peak optical luminosity, although a few show weaker or negligible polarization. While some SNe IIn have even stronger polarization at early times, their polarization tends to drop smoothly over several hundred days after peak. We find a tendency for the intrinsic polarization to be stronger at bluer wavelengths, especially at early times. While polarization from an electron scattering region is expected to be grey, scattering of SN light by dusty circumstellar material (CSM) may induce such a wavelength-dependent polarization. For most SNe IIn, changes in polarization degree and wavelength dependence are not accompanied by changes in the position angle, requiring that asymmetric pre-SN mass loss had a persistent geometry. While 2--3% polarization is typical, about 30% of SNe IIn have very low or undetected polarization. Under the simplifying assumption that all SN IIn progenitors have axisymmetric CSM (i.e. disk/torus/bipolar), then the distribution of polarization values we observe is consistent with similarly asymmetric CSM seen from a distribution of random viewing angles. This asymmetry has very important implications for understanding the origin of pre-SN mass loss in SNe IIn, suggesting that it was shaped by binary interaction., Comment: 76 pages, 54 figures (13 in main text, 41 in appendix A)

In clinical practice, many diagnosis tasks rely on the identification of cells in histopathology images. While supervised machine learning techniques require labels, providing manual cell annotations is time-consuming due to the large number of cells. In this paper, we propose a self-supervised framework (VOLTA) for cell representation learning in histopathology images using a novel technique that accounts for the cell's mutual relationship with its environment for improved cell representations. We subjected our model to extensive experiments on the data collected from multiple institutions around the world comprising of over 700,000 cells, four cancer types, and cell types ranging from three to six categories for each dataset. The results show that our model outperforms the state-of-the-art models in cell representation learning. To showcase the potential power of our proposed framework, we applied VOLTA to ovarian and endometrial cancers with very small sample sizes (10-20 samples) and demonstrated that our cell representations can be utilized to identify the known histotypes of ovarian cancer and provide novel insights that link histopathology and molecular subtypes of endometrial cancer. Unlike supervised deep learning models that require large sample sizes for training, we provide a framework that can empower new discoveries without any annotation data in situations where sample sizes are limited.

Atom-interferometric quantum sensors could revolutionize navigation, civil engineering, and Earth observation. However, operation in real-world environments is challenging due to external interference, platform noise, and constraints on size, weight, and power. Here we experimentally demonstrate that tailored light pulses designed using robust control techniques mitigate significant error sources in an atom-interferometric accelerometer. To mimic the effect of unpredictable lateral platform motion, we apply laser-intensity noise that varies up to 20$\%$ from pulse-to-pulse. Our robust control solution maintains performant sensing, while the utility of conventional pulses collapses. By measuring local gravity, we show that our robust pulses preserve interferometer scale factor and improve measurement precision by 10$\times$ in the presence of this noise. We further validate these enhancements by measuring applied accelerations over a 200 $\mu g$ range up to 21$\times$ more precisely at the highest applied noise level. Our demonstration provides a pathway to improved atom-interferometric inertial sensing in real-world settings., Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures

Real-space self-interaction corrected (time-dependent) density functional theory has been used to investigate the ground-state electronic structure and optical absorption profiles of a series of linear oligomers inspired by the natural product telomestatin. Length-dependent development of plasmonic excitations in the UV region is seen in the neutral species which is augmented by polaron-type absorption in the IR when the chains are doped with an additional electron/hole. Combined with a lack of absorption in the visible region this suggests these oligomers as good candidates for applications such as transparent antennae in dye-sensitised solar energy collection materials.

Let $\Omega=(a,b)\subset\mathbb{R}$, $0\leq m,n\in L^{1}(\Omega)$, $\lambda,\mu>0$ be real parameters, and $\phi:\mathbb{R}\rightarrow\mathbb{R}$ be an odd increasing homeomorphism. In this paper we consider the existence of positive solutions for problems of the form \[ \begin{cases} -\phi\left( u^{\prime}\right) ^{\prime}=\lambda m(x)f(u)+\mu n(x)g(u) & \text{ in }\Omega,\\ u=0 & \text{ on }\partial\Omega, \end{cases} \] where $f,g:[0,\infty)\rightarrow\lbrack0,\infty)$ are continuous functions which are, roughly speaking, sublinear and superlinear with respect to $\phi$, respectively. Our assumptions on $\phi$, $m$ and $n$ are substantially weaker than the ones imposed in previous works. The approach used here combines the Guo-Krasnoselski\u{\i}\ fixed-point theorem and the sub-supersolutions method with some estimates on related nonlinear problems., Comment: 14 pages

We present a series of ground-based photometry and spectroscopy of the superluminous Type IIn supernova (SN) ASASSN-15ua, which shows evidence for strong interaction with pre-existing dense circumstellar material (CSM). Our observations constrain the speed, mass-loss rate, and extent of the progenitor wind shortly before explosion. A narrow P Cygni absorption component reveals a progenitor wind speed of $\sim$100 km s$^{-1}$. As observed in previous SNe IIn, the intermediate-width H$\alpha$ emission became more asymmetric and blueshifted over time, suggesting either asymmetric CSM, an asymmetric explosion, or increasing selective extinction from dust within the post-shock shell or SN ejecta. Based on the CSM radius and speed, we find that the progenitor suffered extreme eruptive mass loss with a rate of 0.1-1 M$_\odot$ yr$^{-1}$ during the $\sim$12 years immediately before the death of the star that imparted $\sim$ 10$^{48}$ erg of kinetic energy to the CSM. Integrating its $V$-band light curve over the first 170 days after discovery, we find that ASASSN-15ua radiated at least 3$\times$10$^{50}$ erg in visual light alone, giving a lower limit to the total radiated energy that may have approached 10$^{51}$ erg. ASASSN-15ua exhibits many similarities to two well-studied superluminous SNe IIn: SN 2006tf and SN 2010jl. Based on a detailed comparison of these three, we find that ASASSN-15ua falls in between these two events in a wide variety of observed properties and derived physical parameters, illustrating a continuum of behavior across superluminous SNe IIn., Comment: Accepted to Monthly Notices Nov 15, 2023

Control of the surface texture of steel strip during the galvanizing and temper rolling processes is essential to satisfy customer requirements and is conventionally measured post-production using a stylus. In-production laser reflection measurement is less consistent than physical measurement but enables real time adjustment of processing parameters to optimize product surface characteristics. We propose the use of machine learning to improve accuracy of the transformation from inline laser reflection measurements to a prediction of surface properties. In addition to accuracy, model evaluation speed is important for fast feedback control. The ROCKET model is one of the fastest state of the art models, however it can be sped up by utilizing a GPU. Our contribution is to implement the model in PyTorch for fast GPU kernel transforms and provide a soft version of the Proportion of Positive Values (PPV) nonlinear pooling function, allowing gradient flow. We perform timing and performance experiments comparing the implementations

We present the first photometric analysis of the supernova (SN) impostor AT 2016blu in NGC 4559. This transient was discovered by the Lick Observatory Supernova Search in 2012 and has continued its outbursts since then. Optical and infrared photometry of AT 2016blu reveals at least 19 outbursts in 2012-2022. Similar photometry from 1999-2009 shows no outbursts, indicating that the star was relatively stable in the decade before discovery. Archival {\it Hubble Space Telescope} observations suggest that the progenitor had a minimum initial mass of $M >= 33$ M$_{\odot}$ and a luminosity of $L >= 10^{5.7}$ L$_{\odot}$. AT 2016blu's outbursts show irregular variability with multiple closely spaced peaks having typical amplitudes of 1-2 mag and durations of 1-4 weeks. While individual outbursts have irregular light curves, concentrations of these peaks recur with a period of $\sim 113 \pm 2$ d. Based on this period, we predict times for upcoming outbursts in 2023 and 2024. AT 2016blu shares similarities with SN 2000ch in NGC 3432, where outbursts may arise from periastron encounters in an eccentric binary containing a luminous blue variable (LBV). We propose that AT 2016blu's outbursts are also driven by interactions that intensify around periastron in an eccentric system. Intrinsic variability of the LBV-like primary star may cause different intensity and duration of binary interaction at each periastron passage. AT 2016blu also resembles the periastron encounters of $\eta$ Carinae prior to its Great Eruption and the erratic pre-SN eruptions of SN 2009ip. This similarity and the onset of eruptions in the past decade hint that AT 2016blu may also be headed for a catastrophe, making it a target of great interest., Comment: 18 pages, 14 figures, 6 tables, MNRAS Accepted

In this paper we consider a minimal classically conformal U(1) model of fermionic dark matter. We calculate the one loop effective potential which generates the mass scale quantum mechanically via dimensional transmutaion in the spirit of Gildener and Weinberg, and examine the effects of the new dark sector on the Standard Model Higgs as well as how the dark fermions receive a mass and can produce the observed relic abundance. We then consider constraints on the model coming from collider and direct detection experiments before calculating the thermal effects on the potential in the early universe. We examine the nature and conditions for a strongly first order phase transition in our model and calculate the associated gravitational wave signal and compare to the sensitivities of current and proposed experiments., Comment: v2: Minor changes, matches version accepted for publication in PRD

The transmission electron microscope (TEM) has become an essential tool for innovation in nanoscience, material science, and biology. Despite these instruments being widely used across both industry and academia, academics may hesitate to propose substantial modifications to the optical setup due to the instrument's significant purchase price, fear of voiding the service contract, or downtime being unacceptable in shared user facilities. For instruments found in industry, similarly the risk-reward balance makes substantive modifications untenable. This limits the development of radically new optical geometries, and with the performance of the TEM largely being dictated by the specification of the objective lens pole-piece, exploring novel designs may be valuable. Alternatively, potential lens designs can be analyzed rapidly and inexpensively using finite element analysis multiphysics simulation packages. Several are available, but here COMSOL Multiphysics was used, which is readily available in many universities. Changes to the geometry or materials of the lens can be investigated without any need to disassemble, reassemble, and realign the TEM column. Here we demonstrate an intuitive and accessible method to simulate charged particle optics using this 'digital twin' approach, with the hope that this encourages new creative and sustainable grassroots innovation in TEM lens design and microscope modification., Comment: Manuscript: 13 pages, 5 figures. Supplementary info: 5 pages, 5 figures

We analyse photometric observations of the supernova (SN) impostor SN 2000ch in NGC 3432 covering the time since its discovery. This source was previously observed to have four outbursts in 2000-2010. Observations now reveal at least three additional outbursts in 2004-2007, and sixteen outbursts in 2010-2022. Outburst light curves are irregular and multipeaked, exhibiting a wide variety of peak magnitude, duration, and shape. The outbursts after 2008 repeat with a period of 200.7$\pm{2}$ d, while the outburst in 2000 seems to match with a shorter period. The next outburst should occur around January/February 2023. We propose that these periodic eruptions arise from violent interaction around times of periastron in an eccentric binary system, similar to the periastron encounters of $\eta$ Carinae leading up to its Great Eruption, and resembling the erratic pre-SN eruptions of SN 2009ip. We attribute the irregularity of the eruptions to the interplay between the orbit and the variability of the luminous blue variable (LBV) primary star, wherein each successive periastron pass may have a different intensity or duration due to the changing radius and mass-loss rate of the LBV-like primary. Such outbursts may occasionally be weak or undetectable if the LBV is relatively quiescent at periastron, but can be much more extreme when the LBV is active. The observed change in orbital period may be a consequence of mass lost in outbursts. Given the similarity to the progenitor of SN 2009ip, SN 2000ch deserves continued attention in the event it is headed for a stellar merger or a SN-like explosion., Comment: 18 pages, 13 figures, 4 tables, MNRAS accepted

Wasserstein 1 optimal transport maps provide a natural correspondence between points from two probability distributions, $\mu$ and $\nu$, which is useful in many applications. Available algorithms for computing these maps do not appear to scale well to high dimensions. In deep learning applications, efficient algorithms have been developed for approximating solutions of the dual problem, known as Kantorovich potentials, using neural networks (e.g. [Gulrajani et al., 2017]). Importantly, such algorithms work well in high dimensions. In this paper we present an approach towards computing Wasserstein 1 optimal transport maps that relies only on Kantorovich potentials. In general, a Wasserstein 1 optimal transport map is not unique and is not computable from a potential alone. Our main result is to prove that if $\mu$ has a density and $\nu$ is supported on a submanifold of codimension at least 2, an optimal transport map is unique and can be written explicitly in terms of a potential. These assumptions are natural in many image processing contexts and other applications. When the Kantorovich potential is only known approximately, our result motivates an iterative procedure wherein data is moved in optimal directions and with the correct average displacement. Since this provides an approach for transforming one distribution to another, it can be used as a multipurpose algorithm for various transport problems; we demonstrate through several proof of concept experiments that this algorithm successfully performs various imaging tasks, such as denoising, generation, translation and deblurring, which normally require specialized techniques., Comment: 25 pages, 12 figures. The TTC algorithm detailed here is a simplified and improved version of that of arXiv:2111.15099

Ultra-wide band gap (UWBG) materials are poised to play an important role in the future of power electronics. Devices made from UWBG materials are expected to operate at higher voltages, frequencies, and temperatures than current silicon and silicon carbide based devices; and can even lead to significant miniaturization of such devices. In the UWBG field, aluminum nitride and boron nitride have attracted great interest, however, the B$_x$Al$_{1-x}$N alloys are much less studied. In this article, using first-principles simulations combining density-functional theory and cluster expansion method we predict the crystal structure of B$_x$Al$_{1-x}$N alloys. We find 17 ground state structures of B$_x$Al$_{1-x}$N with formation energies between 0.11 and 0.25 eV/atom. All of these structures are found to be dynamically stable. The B$_x$Al$_{1-x}$N structures are found to have predominantly a tetrahedral bonding environment, however, some structures exhibit $sp^2$ bonds similar to hexagonal BN. This work expands our knowledge of the structures, energies, and bonding in B$_x$Al$_{1-x}$N aiding their synthesis, innovation of lateral or vertical devices, and discovery of compatible dielectric and Ohmic contact materials., Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures

We study the possibility to observe heavy ($M_{\rm inst}> 60$ GeV) QCD instantons at the LHC in events with one or two tagged leading protons including fast simulation of detector and pile-up effects. We show that the expected instanton signal in a single-tagged configuration is strongly affected by central detector and pile-up effects. For double-tagged approach, where larger integrated luminosities and hence larger pile-up contaminations need to be considered, the combinatorial background overwhelms the expected signal. We suggest that additional time information about tracks at central and forward rapidities would be crucial for potential improvements., Comment: 23 pages, 4 figures, 1 table. Improved treatment of combinatorial background and an additional cut

We present a comprehensive optical and near-infrared census of the fields of 90 short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) discovered in 2005-2021, constituting all short GRBs for which host galaxy associations are feasible ($\approx$ 60% of the total Swift short GRB population). We contribute 245 new multi-band imaging observations across 49 distinct GRBs and 25 spectra of their host galaxies. Supplemented by literature and archival survey data, the catalog contains 335 photometric and 40 spectroscopic data sets. The photometric catalog reaches $3\sigma$ depths of $\gtrsim 24-27$ mag and $\gtrsim 23-26$ mag for the optical and near-infrared bands, respectively. We identify host galaxies for 84 bursts, in which the most robust associations make up 54% (49/90) of events, while only a small fraction, 6.7%, have inconclusive host associations. Based on new spectroscopy, we determine 17 host spectroscopic redshifts with a range of $z\approx 0.15-1.6$ and find that $\approx$ 25-44% of Swift short GRBs originate from $z>1$. We also present the galactocentric offset catalog for 83 short GRBs. Taking into account the large range of individual measurement uncertainties, we find a median of projected offset of $\approx 7.9$ kpc, for which the bursts with the most robust associations have a smaller median of $\approx 4.9$ kpc. Our catalog captures more high-redshift and low-luminosity hosts, and more highly-offset bursts than previously found, thereby diversifying the population of known short GRB hosts and properties. In terms of locations and host luminosities, the populations of short GRBs with and without detectable extended emission are statistically indistinguishable. This suggests that they arise from the same progenitors, or from multiple progenitors which form and evolve in similar environments. All of the data products are available on the BRIGHT website., Comment: 53 pages, 9 figures, 6 tables, submitted

We present cm-band and mm-band afterglow observations of five long-duration $\gamma$-ray bursts (GRBs; GRB 130131A, 130420B, 130609A, 131229A, 140713A) with dust-obscured optical afterglow emission, known as "dark" GRBs. We detect the radio afterglow of two of the dark GRBs (GRB 130131A and 140713A), along with a tentative detection of a third (GRB 131229A) with the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA). Supplemented by three additional VLA-detected dark GRBs from the literature, we present uniform modeling of their broadband afterglows. We derive high line-of-sight dust extinctions of $A_{V, \rm GRB} \gtrsim 2.2 - 10.6~{\rm mag}$. Additionally, we model the host galaxies of the six bursts in our sample, and derive host galaxy dust extinctions of $A_{V, \rm Host} \approx 0.3-4.7~{\rm mag}$. Across all tested $\gamma$-ray (fluence and duration) and afterglow properties (energy scales, geometries and circumburst densities), we find dark GRBs to be representative of more typical unobscured long GRBs, except in fluence, for which observational biases and inconsistent classification may influence the dark GRB distribution. Additionally, we find that $A_{V, \rm GRB}$ is not related to a uniform distribution of dust throughout the host, nor to the extremely local environment of the burst, indicating that a larger scale patchy dust distribution is the cause of the high line-of-sight extinction. Since radio observations are invaluable to revealing heavily dust-obscured GRBs, we make predictions for the detection of radio emission from host star formation with the next generation VLA., Comment: 40 pages, 15 figures, submitted to ApJ

This report, commissioned by the WTW research network, investigates the use of AI in property risk assessment. It (i) reviews existing work on risk assessment in commercial and industrial properties and automated information extraction from building blueprints; and (ii) presents an exploratory 'proof-of concept-solution' exploring the feasibility of using machine learning for the automated extraction of information from building blueprints to support insurance risk assessment., Comment: 36 pages, 30 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1907.09408 by other authors

We compare infrared surface brightness fluctuation (IR SBF) distances measured in galaxies that have hosted type Ia supernovae (SNIa) to distances estimated from SNIa light curve fits. We show that the properties of SNIa found in IR SBF hosts are very different from those exploding in Cepheid calibrators, therefore, this is a direct test of systematic uncertainties on estimation of the Hubble constant (Ho) using supernovae. The IR SBF results from Jensen et al. (2021; arXiv:2105.08299) provide a large and uniformly measured sample of IR SBF distances which we directly compare with distances to 25 SNIa host galaxies. We divide the Hubble flow SNIa into sub-samples that best match the divergent supernova properties seen in the IR SBF hosts and Cepheid hosts. We further divide the SNIa into a sample with light curve widths and host masses that are congruent to those found in the SBF-calibrated hosts. We refit the light curve stretch and color correlations with luminosity, and use these revised parameters to calibrate the Hubble flow supernovae with IR SBF calibrators. Relative to the Hubble flow, the average calibrator distance moduli vary by 0.03mag depending on the SNIa subsamples examined and this adds a 1.8% systematic uncertainty to our Hubble constant estimate. Based on the IR SBF calibrators, Ho=74.6$\pm$0.9(stat)$\pm$ 2.7(syst) km/s/Mpc, which is consistent with the Hubble constant derived from supernovae calibrated from Cepheid variables. We conclude that IR SBF provides reliable calibration of SNIa with a precision comparable to Cepheid calibrators, and with a significant saving in telescope time., Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures, 4 tables, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal

Using data from the Complete Nearby ($z_{host}<0.02$) sample of Type Ia Supernovae (CNIa0.02), we discover a linear relation between two parameters derived from the $B-V$ color curves of Type Ia supernovae: the "color stretch" $s_{BV}$ and the rising color slope $s_0^*(B-V)$ after the peak, and this relation applies to the full range of $s_{BV}$. The $s_{BV}$ parameter is known to be tightly correlated with the peak luminosity, and especially for "fast decliners" (dim Type Ia supernovae), and the luminosity correlation with $s_{BV}$ is markedly better than with the classic light-curve width parameters such as $\Delta{m_{15}(B)}$. Thus our new linear relation can be used to infer peak luminosity from $s_0^*$. Unlike $s_{BV}$ (or $\Delta{m_{15}}$), the measurement of $s_0^*(B-V)$ does not rely on the well-determined time of light-curve peak or color maximum, making it less demanding on the light-curve coverage than past approaches., Comment: Submitted to AAS Journals, 7 pages, 4 figures

In two earlier articles, we proved that, if the Hodge conjecture is true for ALL CM abelian varieties over the complex numbers, then both the Tate conjecture and the standard conjectures are true for abelian varieties over finite fields. Here we rework the proofs so that they apply to a single abelian variety. As a consequence, we prove (unconditionally) that the Tate and standard conjectures are true for many abelian varieties over finite fields, including abelian varieties for which the algebra of Tate classes is not generated by divisor classes., Comment: 26 pages; v2 added some expository material and improved some results

Inspired by ideas from optimal transport theory we present Trust the Critics (TTC), a new algorithm for generative modelling. This algorithm eliminates the trainable generator from a Wasserstein GAN; instead, it iteratively modifies the source data using gradient descent on a sequence of trained critic networks. This is motivated in part by the misalignment which we observed between the optimal transport directions provided by the gradients of the critic and the directions in which data points actually move when parametrized by a trainable generator. Previous work has arrived at similar ideas from different viewpoints, but our basis in optimal transport theory motivates the choice of an adaptive step size which greatly accelerates convergence compared to a constant step size. Using this step size rule, we prove an initial geometric convergence rate in the case of source distributions with densities. These convergence rates cease to apply only when a non-negligible set of generated data is essentially indistinguishable from real data. Resolving the misalignment issue improves performance, which we demonstrate in experiments that show that given a fixed number of training epochs, TTC produces higher quality images than a comparable WGAN, albeit at increased memory requirements. In addition, TTC provides an iterative formula for the transformed density, which traditional WGANs do not. Finally, TTC can be applied to map any source distribution onto any target; we demonstrate through experiments that TTC can obtain competitive performance in image generation, translation, and denoising without dedicated algorithms., Comment: 20 pages, 8 figures

We study the central production of QCD instantons at hadron colliders in events with two large rapidity gaps. These gaps in rapidity are formed by either Pomeron or photon exchanges or a combination of the two. The kT-factorization formalism is used to reduce the factorization scale dependence. We compute for the first time the relevant differential cross-sections for a complete set of central instanton production processes at the LHC, including gluon-induced and quark-induced amplitudes, and also show that the largest contribution comes from processes with Pomeron exchanges where a single gluon from each Pomeron couples to the instanton., Comment: v2: Added discussion on detection possibility at the LHC, matches version accepted for publication in PRD

We present deep, nebular-phase spectropolarimetry of the Type II-P/L SN 2013ej, obtained 167 days after explosion with the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope. The polarized flux spectrum appears as a nearly perfect (92% correlation), redshifted (by ~4,000 km/sec) replica of the total flux spectrum. Such a striking correspondence has never been observed before in nebular-phase supernova spectropolarimetry, although data capable of revealing it have heretofore been only rarely obtained. Through comparison with 2D polarized radiative transfer simulations of stellar explosions, we demonstrate that localized ionization produced by the decay of a high-velocity, spatially confined clump of radioactive 56-Ni -- synthesized by and launched as part of the explosion with final radial velocity exceeding 4,500 km/sec -- can reproduce the observations through enhanced electron scattering. Additional data taken earlier in the nebular phase (day 134) yield a similarly strong correlation (84%) and redshift, whereas photospheric-phase epochs that sample days 8 through 97, do not. This suggests that the primary polarization signatures of the high-velocity scattering source only come to dominate once the thick, initially opaque hydrogen envelope has turned sufficiently transparent. This detection in an otherwise fairly typical core-collapse supernova adds to the growing body of evidence supporting strong asymmetries across Nature's most common types of stellar explosions, and establishes the power of polarized flux -- and the specific information encoded by it in line photons at nebular epochs -- as a vital tool in such investigations going forward., Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) will produce world-leading neutrino oscillation measurements over the lifetime of the experiment. In this work, we explore DUNE's sensitivity to observe charge-parity violation (CPV) in the neutrino sector, and to resolve the mass ordering, for exposures of up to 100 kiloton-megawatt-years (kt-MW-yr). The analysis includes detailed uncertainties on the flux prediction, the neutrino interaction model, and detector effects. We demonstrate that DUNE will be able to unambiguously resolve the neutrino mass ordering at a 3$\sigma$ (5$\sigma$) level, with a 66 (100) kt-MW-yr far detector exposure, and has the ability to make strong statements at significantly shorter exposures depending on the true value of other oscillation parameters. We also show that DUNE has the potential to make a robust measurement of CPV at a 3$\sigma$ level with a 100 kt-MW-yr exposure for the maximally CP-violating values $\delta_{\rm CP}} = \pm\pi/2$. Additionally, the dependence of DUNE's sensitivity on the exposure taken in neutrino-enhanced and antineutrino-enhanced running is discussed. An equal fraction of exposure taken in each beam mode is found to be close to optimal when considered over the entire space of interest.

Wasserstein GANs with Gradient Penalty (WGAN-GP) are a very popular method for training generative models to produce high quality synthetic data. While WGAN-GP were initially developed to calculate the Wasserstein 1 distance between generated and real data, recent works (e.g. [23]) have provided empirical evidence that this does not occur, and have argued that WGAN-GP perform well not in spite of this issue, but because of it. In this paper we show for the first time that WGAN-GP compute the minimum of a different optimal transport problem, the so-called congested transport [7]. Congested transport determines the cost of moving one distribution to another under a transport model that penalizes congestion. For WGAN-GP, we find that the congestion penalty has a spatially varying component determined by the sampling strategy used in [12] which acts like a local speed limit, making congestion cost less in some regions than others. This aspect of the congested transport problem is new, in that the congestion penalty turns out to be unbounded and depends on the distributions to be transported, and so we provide the necessary mathematical proofs for this setting. One facet of our discovery is a formula connecting the gradient of solutions to the optimization problem in WGAN-GP to the time averaged momentum of the optimal mass flow. This is in contrast to the gradient of Kantorovich potentials for the Wasserstein 1 distance, which is just the normalized direction of flow. Based on this and other considerations, we speculate on how our results explain the observed performance of WGAN-GP. Beyond applications to GANs, our theorems also point to the possibility of approximately solving large scale congested transport problems using neural network techniques., Comment: 27 pages. This version accepted for publication at the 35th Annual Conference on Learning Theory (COLT 2022), https://proceedings.mlr.press/v178/milne22a.html

SN 2017jgh is a type IIb supernova discovered by Pan-STARRS during the C16/C17 campaigns of the Kepler/K2 mission. Here we present the Kepler/K2 and ground based observations of SN 2017jgh, which captured the shock cooling of the progenitor shock breakout with an unprecedented cadence. This event presents a unique opportunity to investigate the progenitors of stripped envelope supernovae. By fitting analytical models to the SN 2017jgh lightcurve, we find that the progenitor of SN 2017jgh was likely a yellow supergiant with an envelope radius of $\sim50-290~R_{\odot}$, and an envelope mass of $\sim0-1.7~M_{\odot}$. SN 2017jgh likely had a shock velocity of $\sim7500-10300$ km s$^{-1}$. Additionally, we use the lightcurve of SN 2017jgh to investigate how early observations of the rise contribute to constraints on progenitor models. Fitting just the ground based observations, we find an envelope radius of $\sim50-330~R_{\odot}$, an envelope mass of $\sim0.3-1.7~M_{\odot}$ and a shock velocity of $\sim9,000-15,000$ km s$^{-1}$. Without the rise, the explosion time can not be well constrained which leads to a systematic offset in the velocity parameter and larger uncertainties in the mass and radius. Therefore, it is likely that progenitor property estimates through these models may have larger systematic uncertainties than previously calculated., Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures. Accepted to MNRAS

The ProtoDUNE-SP detector is a single-phase liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) that was constructed and operated in the CERN North Area at the end of the H4 beamline. This detector is a prototype for the first far detector module of the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE), which will be constructed at the Sandford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in Lead, South Dakota, USA. The ProtoDUNE-SP detector incorporates full-size components as designed for DUNE and has an active volume of $7\times 6\times 7.2$~m$^3$. The H4 beam delivers incident particles with well-measured momenta and high-purity particle identification. ProtoDUNE-SP's successful operation between 2018 and 2020 demonstrates the effectiveness of the single-phase far detector design. This paper describes the design, construction, assembly and operation of the detector components.

The observation of 236 MeV muon neutrinos from kaon-decay-at-rest (KDAR) originating in the core of the Sun would provide a unique signature of dark matter annihilation. Since excellent angle and energy reconstruction are necessary to detect this monoenergetic, directional neutrino flux, DUNE with its vast volume and reconstruction capabilities, is a promising candidate for a KDAR neutrino search. In this work, we evaluate the proposed KDAR neutrino search strategies by realistically modeling both neutrino-nucleus interactions and the response of DUNE. We find that, although reconstruction of the neutrino energy and direction is difficult with current techniques in the relevant energy range, the superb energy resolution, angular resolution, and particle identification offered by DUNE can still permit great signal/background discrimination. Moreover, there are non-standard scenarios in which searches at DUNE for KDAR in the Sun can probe dark matter interactions., Comment: 19 pages, 13 figures

Domain walls arise in theories where there is spontaneous symmetry breaking of a discrete symmetry such as $\mathbb{Z}_{N}$ and are a feature of many BSM models. In this work we consider the possibility of detecting domain walls through their optical effects and specify three different methods of coupling domain walls to the photon. We consider the effects of these couplings in the context of gravitational wave detectors, such as LIGO, and examine the sensitivity of these experiments to domain wall effects. In cases where gravitational wave detectors are not sensitive we examine our results in the context of axion experiments and show how effects of passing domain walls can be detected at interferometers searching for an axion signal., Comment: v4: Added discussion on effects caused by change in Bohr radius, matches version accepted for publication in Physics Letters B

We measured high-quality surface brightness fluctuation (SBF) distances for a sample of 63 massive early-type galaxies using the WFC3/IR camera on the Hubble Space Telescope. The median uncertainty on the SBF distance measurements is 0.085 mag, or 3.9% in distance. Achieving this precision at distances of 50 to 100 Mpc required significant improvements to the SBF calibration and data analysis procedures for WFC3/IR data. Forty-two of the galaxies are from the MASSIVE Galaxy Survey, a complete sample of massive galaxies within ~100 Mpc; the SBF distances for these will be used to improve the estimates of the stellar and central supermassive black hole masses in these galaxies. Twenty-four of the galaxies are Type Ia supernova hosts, useful for calibrating SN Ia distances for early-type galaxies and exploring possible systematic trends in the peak luminosities. Our results demonstrate that the SBF method is a powerful and versatile technique for measuring distances to galaxies with evolved stellar populations out to 100 Mpc and constraining the local value of the Hubble constant., Comment: Accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series; 22 pages, 7 figures, with 61 additional figures to be published as an online figure set