Search

The science of social network analysis has co-evolved with the development of online environments and computer-mediated communication. Unique and precise data available from computer and information systems have allowed network scientists to explore novel social phenomena and develop new methods. Additionally, advances in the structural analysis and visualization of computer-mediated social networks have informed developers and shaped the design of social media tools. This article reviews some examples of research that highlight the ways that social network analysis has evolved with online data. Examples include the international hyperlink network, political blogs and hyperlinks, social media, and multi-user virtual environments. The data available from online environments makes several important contributions to network science, including reliable network flow data, unique forms of relational data across a myriad of contexts, and dynamic data allowing for longitudinal analysis and the animation of social networks.

Large amounts of detailed transactional information are generated by ongoing social processes. For managing and mining such data, we treat them as “objects” and “relations”. These ideas strongly parallel the way that social network analysts conceive of social structure. Modality (roughly, distinguishing multiple classes of social actors or nodes in networks) and equivalence classes (roughly, distinguishing general patterns in the ways that objects in classes are related to one another or to objects in other classes) have proven to be very useful in helping social network analysts to think about complex relational structures among social objects. Dimensional and generalized “block models” of multi-modal social networks provide tools for designing searches to identify patterns. The ideas are illustrated by descriptions of how a number of social process-produced data might be approached, including bibliographic databases, communications logs, virtual communities, and economic transactions.

Let M be a smooth, simply-connected, closed oriented manifold, and LM the free loop space of M. Using a Poincaré duality model for M, we show that the reduced equivariant homology of LM has the structure of a Lie bialgebra, and we construct a Hopf algebra which quantizes the Lie bialgebra.

We define the partition and n-point functions for a vertex operator algebra on a genus two Riemann surface formed by sewing two tori together. We obtain closed formulas for the genus two partition function for the Heisenberg free bosonic string and for any pair of simple Heisenberg modules. We prove that the partition function is holomorphic in the sewing parameters on a given suitable domain and describe its modular properties for the Heisenberg and lattice vertex operator algebras and a continuous orbifolding of the rank two fermion vertex operator super algebra. We compute the genus two Heisenberg vector n-point function and show that the Virasoro vector one point function satisfies a genus two Ward identity for these theories.

We give an interpretation of the Cremmer–Gervais r-matrices for $${\mathfrak{sl}_n}$$ in terms of actions of elements in the rational and trigonometric Cherednik algebras of type GL 2 on certain subspaces of their polynomial representations. This is used to compute the nilpotency index of the Jordanian r-matrices, thus answering a question of Gerstenhaber and Giaquinto. We also give an interpretation of the Cremmer–Gervais quantization in terms of the corresponding double affine Hecke algebra.

We describe the “Feynman diagram” approach to nonrelativistic quantum mechanics on $${\mathbb{R}^n}$$ , with magnetic and potential terms. In particular, for each classical path γ connecting points q 0 and q 1 in time t, we define a formal power series V γ (t, q 0, q 1) in $${\hbar}$$ , given combinatorially by a sum of diagrams that each represent finite-dimensional convergent integrals. We prove that exp(V γ ) satisfies Schrödinger’s equation, and explain in what sense the $${t \to 0}$$ limit approaches the δ distribution. As such, our construction gives explicitly the full $${\hbar\to 0}$$ asymptotics of the fundamental solution to Schrödinger’s equation in terms of solutions to the corresponding classical system. These results justify the heuristic expansion of Feynman’s path integral in diagrams.

The structure of the parafermion vertex operator algebra associated to an integrable highest weight module for any affine Kac-Moody algebra is studied. In particular, a set of generators for this algebra has been determined.

We consider the quenched and the averaged (or annealed) large deviation rate functions I q and I a for space-time and (the usual) space-only RWRE on $${\mathbb{Z}^d}$$ . By Jensen’s inequality, I a  ≤ I q . In the space-time case, when d ≥ 3 + 1, I q and I a are known to be equal on an open set containing the typical velocity ξ o . When d = 1 + 1, we prove that I q and I a are equal only at ξ o . Similarly, when d = 2 + 1, we show that I a

For the Toeplitz quantization of complex-valued functions on a 2n-dimensional torus we prove that the expected number of eigenvalues of small random perturbations of a quantized observable satisfies a natural Weyl law (1.3). In numerical experiments the same Weyl law also holds for “false” eigenvalues created by pseudospectral effects.

We establish convergence to SLE6 of the Exploration Processes for the correlated bond-triangular type models studied by two of us in an earlier work (Chayes and Lei in Rev. Math. Phys. 19:511–565, 2007). This (rigorously) establishes that these models are in the same universality class as the standard site percolation model on the triangular lattice. In the context of these models, the result is proven for all domains with boundary Minkowski dimension less than two. Moreover, the proof of convergence applies in the context of general critical 2D percolation models and for general domains, under the stipulation that Cardy’s Formula can be established for domains in this generality.

We show how to extract Cardy’s Formula for a general class of domains given the requisite interior analyticity statement. This is accomplished by a careful study of the interplay between discretization schemes and extraction of limiting boundary values. Of particular importance to the companion work (Binder et al. in J. Stat. Phys., 2010) we establish these results for slit domains and for the critical percolation models introduced in Chayes and Lei (Rev. Math. Phys. 19:511–565, 2007).

We establish a direct map between refined topological vertex and sl(N) homological invariants of the of Hopf link, which include Khovanov-Rozansky homology as a special case. This relation provides an exact answer for homological invariants of the Hopf link, whose components are colored by arbitrary representations of sl(N). At present, the mathematical formulation of such homological invariants is available only for the fundamental representation (the Khovanov-Rozansky theory) and the relation with the refined topological vertex should be useful for categorizing quantum group invariants associated with other representations (R 1, R 2). Our result is a first direct verification of a series of conjectures which identifies link homologies with the Hilbert space of BPS states in the presence of branes, where the physical interpretation of gradings is in terms of charges of the branes ending on Lagrangian branes.

We investigate the vanishing viscosity limit for Hamilton–Jacobi PDE with nonconvex Hamiltonians, and present a new method to augment the standard viscosity solution approach. The main idea is to introduce a solution σ ε of the adjoint of the formal linearization, and then to integrate by parts with respect to the density σ ε . This procedure leads to a natural phase space kinetic formulation and also to a new compensated compactness technique.

This is a continuation of our earlier paper (Tao and Vu, http://arxiv.org/abs/0908.1982v4[math.PR] , 2010) on the universality of the eigenvalues of Wigner random matrices. The main new results of this paper are an extension of the results in Tao and Vu ( http://arxiv.org/abs/0908.1982v4[math.PR] , 2010) from the bulk of the spectrum up to the edge. In particular, we prove a variant of the universality results of Soshnikov (Commun Math Phys 207(3):697–733, 1999) for the largest eigenvalues, assuming moment conditions rather than symmetry conditions. The main new technical observation is that there is a significant bias in the Cauchy interlacing law near the edge of the spectrum which allows one to continue ensuring the delocalization of eigenvectors.

Adaptation to a new environment (as well as its underlying mechanisms) is one of the most important topics in Evolutionary Biology. Understanding the adaptive process of natural populations to captivity is essential not only in general evolutionary studies but also in conservation programmes. Since 1990, the Group of Experimental Evolution (CBA/FCUL) has been performing long-term, real-time evolutionary studies, with the characterization of laboratory adaptation in populations of Drosophila subobscura founded in different times and from different locations. Initially, these experiments involved phenotypic assays and more recently were expanded to studies at the molecular level (microsatellite and chromosomal polymorphisms) and with different population sizes. Throughout these two decades, a clear pattern of evolutionary convergence to long-established laboratory populations has been consistently observed in several life-history traits. However, contingencies across foundations were also found during the adaptive process. In characters with complex evolutionary trajectories, the data suggested that the comparative method lacked predictive capacity relative to real-time evolutionary trajectories (experimental evolution). Microsatellite analysis revealed general similarity in gene diversity and allele number between studied populations, as well as an unclear association between genetic variability and evolutionary potential. Nevertheless, ongoing studies in all foundations are being carried out to further test this hypothesis. A comparison between recently introduced and long-term populations (founded from the same natural location) has shown higher degree of chromosomal polymorphism in recent ones. Finally, our findings suggest higher heterogeneity between small-sized populations, as well as a slower evolutionary rate in characters close to fitness (such as fecundity and mating behaviour). This comprehensive study is aimed at better understanding the processes and patterns underlying adaptation to captivity, as well as its genetic basis.

Recently, it has been proposed that the Navier–Stokes equations and a relevant linear advection model have the same long-time statistical properties, in particular, they have the same scaling exponents of their structure functions. This assertion has been investigate rigorously in the context of certain nonlinear deterministic phenomenological shell model, the Sabra shell model, of turbulence and its corresponding linear advection counterpart model. This relationship has been established through a “homotopy-like” coefficient λ which bridges continuously between the two systems. That is, for λ=1 one obtains the full nonlinear model, and the corresponding linear advection model is achieved for λ=0. In this paper, we investigate the validity of this assertion for certain stochastic phenomenological shell models of turbulence driven by an additive noise. We prove the continuous dependence of the solutions with respect to the parameter λ. Moreover, we show the existence of a finite-dimensional random attractor for each value of λ and establish the upper semicontinuity property of this random attractors, with respect to the parameter λ. This property is proved by a pathwise argument. Our study aims toward the development of basic results and techniques that may contribute to the understanding of the relation between the long-time statistical properties of the nonlinear and linear models.

In this article we prove a Sacks-Uhlenbeck/Struwe type global regularity result for wave-maps $${\Phi:\mathbb{R}^{2+1} \to\mathcal{M} }$$ into general compact target manifolds $${\mathcal{M} }$$ .

In this paper we state a uniqueness theorem for the inverse hyperbolic problem in the case of a finite time interval. We apply this theorem to the inverse problem for the equation of the propagation of light in a moving medium (the Gordon equation). Then we study the existence of black and white holes for the general second order hyperbolic equation and for the Gordon equation and we discuss the impact of this phenomenon on the inverse problems.

For the asymmetric simple exclusion process η t on the integer lattice with two-sided Bernoulli initial condition, we derive exact formulas for the following quantities: (1) ℙ(η t(x)=1), the probability that site x is occupied at time t; (2) the correlation function ℙ(η t(x)=1,η 0(0)=1); (3) the distribution function for Q t, the total flux across 0 at time t, and its exponential generating function.

In this article we consider large data Wave-Maps from $${\mathbb R^{2+1}}$$ into a compact Riemannian manifold $${(\mathcal{M},g)}$$ , and we prove that regularity and dispersive bounds persist as long as a certain type of bulk (non-dispersive) concentration is absent. This is a companion to our concurrent article [21], which together with the present work establishes a full regularity theory for large data Wave-Maps.

In this paper we give the distribution of the position of a particle in the asymmetric simple exclusion process (ASEP) with the alternating initial condition. That is, we find ℙ(X m (t)≤x) where X m (t) is the position of the particle at time t which was at m=2k−1, k∈ℤ at t=0. As in the ASEP with step initial condition, there arises a new combinatorial identity for the alternating initial condition, and this identity relates the integrand of the integral formula for ℙ(X m (t)≤x) to a determinantal form together with an extra product.

We study the following Brézis–Nirenberg problem (Comm Pure Appl Math 36:437–477, 1983): $$-\Delta u=\lambda u+ |u|^{2^\ast-2}u, \quad u\in H_0^1(\Omega),$$ where Ω is a bounded smooth domain of R N (N ≧ 7) and 2* is the critical Sobolev exponent. We show that, for each fixed λ > 0, this problem has infinitely many sign-changing solutions. In particular, if λ ≧ λ1, the Brézis–Nirenberg problem has and only has infinitely many sign-changing solutions except zero. The main tool is the estimates of Morse indices of nodal solutions.

We prove a priori estimates for the three-dimensional compressible Euler equations with moving physical vacuum boundary, with an equation of state given by p(ρ) = C γ ρ γ for γ > 1. The vacuum condition necessitates the vanishing of the pressure, and hence density, on the dynamic boundary, which creates a degenerate and characteristic hyperbolic free-boundary system to which standard methods of symmetrizable hyperbolic equations cannot be applied.

This comment addresses the work of Wang and Li (DOI: 10.1007/s12293-009-0012-0, hereafter referred to as WL) published online on September 01, 2009 in a (special) issue of Memetic Computing. We respectfully beg to differ in opinion with WL and argue that the concept of multi-strategy evolutionary search used by WL is not particularly novel. Similar ideas have been presented elsewhere, and these publications date back to at least early 2007. For instance, in a series of papers published in PNAS (2007), SSSAJ (2008), WRR (2008), IEEE-TEVC (2009), JH (2010), Vrugt and coworkers have introduced AMALGAM, a multi-method (or ensemble) search approach to solve emerging single and multiple objective search and optimization problems. In the past few years, MATLAB, C++, Python, and R implementations of AMALGAM have been distributed extensively among researchers and practitioners in various fields of study.

We study a model of mass-bearing coagulating-fragmenting planar Brownian particles. Coagulation occurs when two particles are within a distance of order ε. Our model is macroscopically described by an inhomogeneous Smoluchowski’s equation in the low ε limit provided that the initial number of particles N is of order |log ε|. When a detailed balance condition is satisfied, we establish a central limit theorem by showing that in the low ε limit, the particle density fluctuation fields obey an Ornstein-Uhlenbeck stochastic differential equation.

We study a simple, rational and C 2-cofinite vertex operator algebra whose weight 1 subspace is zero, the dimension of weight 2 subspace is greater than or equal to 2 and with c = c̃ = 1. Under some additional conditions it is shown that such a vertex operator algebra is isomorphic to $${L(\frac{1}{2},0)\otimes L(\frac{1}{2},0)}$$ .

We study weakly disordered quantum wires whose width is large compared to the Fermi wavelength. It is conjectured that such wires display universal metallic behavior as long as their length is shorter than the localization length (which increases with the width). The random matrix theory that accounts for this behavior—the DMPK theory—rests on assumptions that are in general not satisfied by realistic microscopic models. Starting from the Anderson model on a strip, we show that a twofold scaling limit nevertheless allows to recover rigorously the fundaments of DMPK theory, thus opening a way to settle some conjectures on universal metallic behavior.

In the heat-bath Glauber dynamics for the Ising model on the lattice, physicists believe that the spectral gap of the continuous-time chain exhibits the following behavior. For some critical inverse-temperature β c , the inverse-gap is O(1) for β < β c , polynomial in the surface area for β = β c and exponential in it for β > β c . This has been proved for $${\mathbb{Z}^2}$$ except at criticality. So far, the only underlying geometry where the critical behavior has been confirmed is the complete graph. Recently, the dynamics for the Ising model on a regular tree, also known as the Bethe lattice, has been intensively studied. The facts that the inverse-gap is bounded for β < β c and exponential for β > β c were established, where β c is the critical spin-glass parameter, and the tree-height h plays the role of the surface area.In this work, we complete the picture for the inverse-gap of the Ising model on the b-ary tree, by showing that it is indeed polynomial in h at criticality. The degree of our polynomial bound does not depend on b, and furthermore, this result holds under any boundary condition. We also obtain analogous bounds for the mixing-time of the chain. In addition, we study the near critical behavior, and show that for β > β c , the inverse-gap and mixing-time are both exp[Θ((β − β c )h)].

We construct infraparticle scattering states for Compton scattering in the standard model of non-relativistic QED. In our construction, an infrared cutoff initially introduced to regularize the model is removed completely. We rigorously establish the properties of infraparticle scattering theory predicted in the classic work of Bloch and Nordsieck from the 1930’s, Faddeev and Kulish, and others. Our results represent a basic step towards solving the infrared problem in (non-relativistic) QED.

Spatial patterns are a subfield of spatial ecology, and these patterns modify the temporal dynamics and stability properties of population densities at a range of spatial scales. Localized ecological interactions can generate striking large-scale spatial patterns in ecosystems through spatial self-organization. Possible mechanisms include oscillating consumer–resource interactions, localized disturbance–recovery processes, and scale-dependent feedback. However, in this paper, our main aim is to study the effect of tide on the pattern formation of a spatial plant-wrack model. We discuss the changes of the wavelength, wave speed, and the conditions of the spatial pattern formation, according to the dispersion relation formula. Both the mathematical analysis and numerical simulations reveal that the tide has great influence on the spatial pattern. More specifically, typical traveling spatial patterns can be obtained. Our obtained results are consistent with the previous observation that wracks exhibit traveling patterns, which is useful to help us better understand the dynamics of the real ecosystems.

It is well known that the concept of a point charge interacting with the electromagnetic (EM) field has a problem. To address that problem we introduce the concept of wave-corpuscle to describe spinless elementary charges interacting with the classical EM field. Every charge interacts only with the EM field and is described by a complex valued wave function over the 4-dimensional space time continuum. A system of many charges interacting with the EM field is defined by a local, gauge and Lorentz invariant Lagrangian with a key ingredient—a nonlinear self-interaction term providing for a cohesive force assigned to every charge. An ideal wave-corpuscle is an exact solution to the Euler-Lagrange equations describing both free and accelerated motions. It carries explicitly features of a point charge and the de Broglie wave. Our analysis shows that a system of well separated charges moving with nonrelativistic velocities are represented accurately as wave-corpuscles governed by the Newton equations of motion for point charges interacting with the Lorentz forces. In this regime the nonlinearities are “stealthy” and don’t show explicitly anywhere, but they provide for the binding forces that keep localized every individual charge. The theory can also be applied to closely interacting charges as in hydrogen atom where it produces discrete energy spectrum.

Within the framework of nonrelativistic QED, we prove that, for small values of the coupling constant, the energy function, $${E_{\vec{P}}}$$ , of a dressed electron is twice differentiable in the momentum $${\vec{P}}$$ in a neighborhood of $${\vec{P}=0}$$ . Furthermore, $${\frac{\partial^2E_{\vec{P}}}{(\partial |\vec{P}|)^2}}$$ is bounded from below by a constant larger than zero. Our results are proven with the help of iterative analytic perturbation theory.

We study the fluctuations of eigenvalues from a class of Wigner random matrices that generalize the Gaussian orthogonal ensemble.We begin by considering an n×n matrix from the Gaussian orthogonal ensemble (GOE) or Gaussian symplectic ensemble (GSE) and let x k denote eigenvalue number k. Under the condition that both k and n−k tend to infinity as n→∞, we show that x k is normally distributed in the limit.We also consider the joint limit distribution of eigenvalues $(x_{k_{1}},\ldots,x_{k_{m}})$ from the GOE or GSE where k 1, n−k m and k i+1−k i , 1≤i≤m−1, tend to infinity with n. The result in each case is an m-dimensional normal distribution.Using a recent universality result by Tao and Vu, we extend our results to a class of Wigner real symmetric matrices with non-Gaussian entries that have an exponentially decaying distribution and whose first four moments match the Gaussian moments.

We study the McKean–Vlasov equation on the finite tori of length scale L in d-dimensions. We derive the necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of a phase transition, which are based on the criteria first uncovered in Gates and Penrose (Commun. Math. Phys. 17:194–209, 1970) and Kirkwood and Monroe (J. Chem. Phys. 9:514–526, 1941). Therein and in subsequent works, one finds indications pointing to critical transitions at a particular model dependent value, θ ♯ of the interaction parameter. We show that the uniform density (which may be interpreted as the liquid phase) is dynamically stable for θ

A Lie 2-algebra is a ‘categorified’ version of a Lie algebra: that is, a category equipped with structures analogous to those of a Lie algebra, for which the usual laws hold up to isomorphism. In the classical mechanics of point particles, the phase space is often a symplectic manifold, and the Poisson bracket of functions on this space gives a Lie algebra of observables. Multisymplectic geometry describes an n-dimensional field theory using a phase space that is an ‘n-plectic manifold’: a finite-dimensional manifold equipped with a closed nondegenerate (n + 1)-form. Here we consider the case n = 2. For any 2-plectic manifold, we construct a Lie 2-algebra of observables. We then explain how this Lie 2-algebra can be used to describe the dynamics of a classical bosonic string. Just as the presence of an electromagnetic field affects the symplectic structure for a charged point particle, the presence of a B field affects the 2-plectic structure for the string.

We study the convergence rate of the solutions of the incompressible Euler-α, an inviscid second-grade complex fluid, equations to the corresponding solutions of the Euler equations, as the regularization parameter α approaches zero. First we show the convergence in H s , s>n/2+1, in the whole space, and that the smooth Euler-α solutions exist at least as long as the corresponding solution of the Euler equations. Next we estimate the convergence rate for two-dimensional vortex patch with smooth boundaries.

This paper proposes a physical model involving the key structures within the neural cytoskeleton as major players in molecular-level processing of information required for learning and memory storage. In particular, actin filaments and microtubules are macromolecules having highly charged surfaces that enable them to conduct electric signals. The biophysical properties of these filaments relevant to the conduction of ionic current include a condensation of counterions on the filament surface and a nonlinear complex physical structure conducive to the generation of modulated waves. Cytoskeletal filaments are often directly connected with both ionotropic and metabotropic types of membrane-embedded receptors, thereby linking synaptic inputs to intracellular functions. Possible roles for cable-like, conductive filaments in neurons include intracellular information processing, regulating developmental plasticity, and mediating transport. The cytoskeletal proteins form a complex network capable of emergent information processing, and they stand to intervene between inputs to and outputs from neurons. In this manner, the cytoskeletal matrix is proposed to work with neuronal membrane and its intrinsic components (e.g., ion channels, scaffolding proteins, and adaptor proteins), especially at sites of synaptic contacts and spines. An information processing model based on cytoskeletal networks is proposed that may underlie certain types of learning and memory.

We study dispersive properties for the wave equation in the Schwarzschild space-time. The first result we obtain is a local energy estimate. This is then used, following the spirit of [29], to establish global-in-time Strichartz estimates. A considerable part of the paper is devoted to a precise analysis of solutions near the trapping region, namely the photon sphere.

We give a popular introduction to formality theorems for Hochschild complexes and their applications. We review some of the recent results and prove that the truncated Hochschild cochain complex of a polynomial algebra is non-formal.

The matrix affine Poisson space (M m,n , π m,n ) is the space of complex rectangular matrices equipped with a canonical quadratic Poisson structure which in the square case m = n reduces to the standard Poisson structure on $${{\rm GL}_n(\mathbb{C})}$$ . We prove that the Hamiltonian flows of all minors are complete. As a corollary we obtain that all Kogan–Zelevinsky integrable systems on M n,n are complete and thus induce (analytic) Hamiltonian actions of $${\mathbb{C}^{n(n-1)/2}}$$ on (M n,n , π n,n ) (as well as on $${{\rm GL}_n(\mathbb{C})}$$ and on $${{\rm SL}_n(\mathbb{C})}$$ ). We define Gelfand–Zeitlin integrable systems on (M n,n , π n,n ) from chains of Poisson projections and prove that their flows are also complete. This is an analog for the quadratic Poisson structure π n,n of the recent result of Kostant and Wallach (Studies in Lie Theory. Progress in Mathematics, vol 243, pp 319–364. Birkhäuser, Boston, 2006) that the flows of the complexified classical Gelfand–Zeitlin integrable systems are complete.

For low–dimensional systems, (i.e. 2D and, to a certain extent, 1D) it is proved that mean–field theory can provide an asymptotic guideline to the phase structure of actual systems. In particular, for attractive pair interactions that are sufficiently “spead out” according to an exponential (Yukawa) potential it is shown that the energy, free energy and, in particular, the block magnetization (as defined on scales that are large compared with the lattice spacing but small compared to the range of the interaction) will only take on values near to those predicted by the associated mean–field theory. While this applies for systems in all dimensions, the significant applications are for d = 2 where it is shown: (a) If the mean–field theory has a discontinuous phase transition featuring the breaking of a discrete symmetry then this sort of transition will occur in the actual system. Prominent examples include the two–dimensional q = 3 state Potts model. (b) If the mean–field theory has a discontinuous transition accompanied by the breaking of a continuous symmetry, the thermodynamic discontinuity is preserved even if the symmetry breaking is forbidden in the actual system. E.g. the two–dimensional O(3) nematic liquid crystal. Further it is demonstrated that mean–field behavior in the vicinity of the magnetic transition for layered Ising and XY systems also occurs in actual layered systems (with spread–out interactions) even if genuine magnetic ordering is precluded.

We extend the notion of the cardinality of a discrete groupoid (equal to the Euler characteristic of the corresponding discrete orbifold) to the setting of Lie groupoids. Since this quantity is an invariant under equivalence of groupoids, we call it the volume of the associated stack rather than of the groupoid itself. Since there is no natural measure in the smooth case like the counting measure in the discrete case, we need extra data to define the volume. This data has the form of an invariant section of a natural line bundle over the base of the groupoid. Invariant sections of a square root of this line bundle constitute an “intrinsic Hilbert space” of the stack.

This paper extends earlier work on ASEP to the case of step Bernoulli initial condition. The main results are a representation in terms of a Fredholm determinant for the probability distribution of a fixed particle, and asymptotic results which in particular establish KPZ universality for this probability in one regime. (And, as a corollary, for the current fluctuations.)

We present an event-based feedback control method for randomizing the asymptotic phase of oscillatory neurons. Phase randomization is achieved by driving the neuron’s state to its phaseless set, a point at which its phase is undefined and is extremely sensitive to background noise. We consider the biologically relevant case of a fixed magnitude constraint on the stimulus signal, and show how the control objective can be accomplished in minimum time. The control synthesis problem is addressed using the minimum-time-optimal Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman framework, which is quite general and can be applied to any spiking neuron model in the conductance-based Hodgkin–Huxley formalism. We also use this methodology to compute a feedback control protocol for optimal spike rate increase. This framework provides a straightforward means of visualizing isochrons, without actually calculating them in the traditional way. Finally, we present an extension of the phase randomizing control scheme that is applied at the population level, to a network of globally coupled neurons that are firing in synchrony. The applied control signal desynchronizes the population in a demand-controlled way.

We classify all unitary modular tensor categories (UMTCs) of rank ≤ 4. There are a total of 35 UMTCs of rank ≤ 4 up to ribbon tensor equivalence. Since the distinction between the modular S-matrix S and −S has both topological and physical significance, so in our convention there are a total of 70 UMTCs of rank ≤ 4. In particular, there are two trivial UMTCs with S = (±1). Each such UMTC can be obtained from 10 non-trivial prime UMTCs by direct product, and some symmetry operations. Explicit data of the 10 non-trivial prime UMTCs are given in Sect. 5. Relevance of UMTCs to topological quantum computation and various conjectures are given in Sect. 6.

We study Glauber dynamics for the Ising model on the complete graph on n vertices, known as the Curie-Weiss Model. It is well known that at high temperature (β1) it is exp (Θ(n)). Recently, Levin, Luczak and Peres considered a censored version of this dynamics, which is restricted to non-negative magnetization. They proved that for fixed β>1, the mixing-time of this model is Θ(nlog n), analogous to the high-temperature regime of the original dynamics. Furthermore, they showed cutoff for the original dynamics for fixed β0 with δ 2 n→∞, then the mixing-time has order (n/δ)log (δ 2 n). The cutoff constant is (1/2+[2(ζ2 β/δ−1)]−1), where ζ is the unique positive root of g(x)=tanh (β x)−x, and the cutoff window has order n/δ.

We construct solitons in affine orbifold nets associated with outer automorphisms, and we show that our construction gives all the twisted representations of the fixed point subnet. This allows us to settle a number of questions concerning such orbifold constructions.

Asymptotic fluctuation theorems are statements of a Gallavotti-Cohen symmetry in the rate function of either the time-averaged entropy production or heat dissipation of a process. Such theorems have been proved for various general classes of continuous-time deterministic and stochastic processes, but always under the assumption that the forces driving the system are time independent, and often relying on the existence of a limiting ergodic distribution. In this paper we extend the asymptotic fluctuation theorem for the first time to inhomogeneous continuous-time processes without a stationary distribution, considering specifically a finite state Markov chain driven by periodic transition rates. We find that for both entropy production and heat dissipation, the usual Gallavotti-Cohen symmetry of the rate function is generalized to an analogous relation between the rate functions of the original process and its corresponding backward process, in which the trajectory and the driving protocol have been time-reversed. The effect is that spontaneous positive fluctuations in the long time average of each quantity in the forward process are exponentially more likely than spontaneous negative fluctuations in the backward process, and vice-versa, revealing that the distributions of fluctuations in universes in which time moves forward and backward are related. As an additional result, the asymptotic time-averaged entropy production is obtained as the integral of a periodic entropy production rate that generalizes the constant rate pertaining to homogeneous dynamics.

We present a method to quantify kinematic stretching in incompressible, unsteady, isoviscous, three-dimensional flows. We extend the method of Kellogg and Turcotte (J. Geophys. Res. 95:421–432, 1990) to compute the axial stretching/thinning experienced by infinitesimal ellipsoidal strain markers in arbitrary three-dimensional incompressible flows and discuss the differences between our method and the computation of Finite Time Lyapunov Exponent (FTLE). We use the cellular flow model developed in Solomon and Mezic (Nature 425:376–380, 2003) to study the statistics of stretching in a three-dimensional unsteady cellular flow. We find that the probability density function of the logarithm of normalised cumulative stretching (log S) for a globally chaotic flow, with spatially heterogeneous stretching behavior, is not Gaussian and that the coefficient of variation of the Gaussian distribution does not decrease with time as $t^{-\frac{1}{2}}$ . However, it is observed that stretching becomes exponential log S∼t and the probability density function of log S becomes Gaussian when the time dependence of the flow and its three-dimensionality are increased to make the stretching behaviour of the flow more spatially uniform. We term these behaviors weak and strong chaotic mixing respectively. We find that for strongly chaotic mixing, the coefficient of variation of the Gaussian distribution decreases with time as $t^{-\frac{1}{2}}$ . This behavior is consistent with a random multiplicative stretching process.

It is known that no length or time measurements are possible in sub-Planckian regions of spacetime. The Volovich hypothesis postulates that the micro-geometry of spacetime may therefore be assumed to be non-archimedean. In this letter, the consequences of this hypothesis for the structure, classification, and conformal symmetry of elementary particles, when spacetime is a flat space over a non-archimedean field such as the p-adic numbers, is explored. Both the Poincaré and Galilean groups are treated. The results are based on a new variant of the Mackey machine for projective unitary representations of semidirect product groups which are locally compact and second countable. Conformal spacetime is constructed over p-adic fields and the impossibility of conformal symmetry of massive and eventually massive particles is proved.