## Physics (physics) updates on the arXiv.org e-print archive



The ability of Anisotropic Minkowski Functionals (AMFs) to capture local anisotropy while evaluating topological properties of the underlying gray-level structures has been previously demonstrated. We evaluate the ability of this approach to characterize local structure properties of trabecular bone micro-architecture in ex vivo proximal femur specimens, as visualized on multi-detector CT, for purposes of biomechanical bone strength prediction. To this end, volumetric AMFs were computed locally for each voxel of volumes of interest (VOI) extracted from the femoral head of 146 specimens. The local anisotropy captured by such AMFs was quantified using a fractional anisotropy measure; the magnitude and direction of anisotropy at every pixel was stored in histograms that served as a feature vectors that characterized the VOIs. A linear multi-regression analysis algorithm was used to predict the failure load (FL) from the feature sets; the predicted FL was compared to the true FL determined through biomechanical testing. The prediction performance was measured by the root mean square error (RMSE) for each feature set. The best prediction performance was obtained from the fractional anisotropy histogram of AMF Euler Characteristic (RMSE = 1.01 +- 0.13), which was significantly better than MDCT-derived mean BMD (RMSE = 1.12 +- 0.16, p<0.05). We conclude that such anisotropic Minkowski Functionals can capture valuable information regarding regional trabecular bone quality and contribute to improved bone strength prediction, which is important for improving the clinical assessment of osteoporotic fracture risk.

To study radiotherapy-related adverse effects, detailed dose information (3D distribution) is needed for accurate dose-effect modeling. For childhood cancer survivors who underwent radiotherapy in the pre-CT era, only 2D radiographs were acquired, thus 3D dose distributions must be reconstructed. State-of-the-art methods achieve this by using 3D surrogate anatomies. These can however lack personalization and lead to coarse reconstructions. We present and validate a surrogate-free dose reconstruction method based on Machine Learning (ML). Abdominal planning CTs (n=142) of recently-treated childhood cancer patients were gathered, their organs at risk were segmented, and 300 artificial Wilms' tumor plans were sampled automatically. Each artificial plan was automatically emulated on the 142 CTs, resulting in 42,600 3D dose distributions from which dose-volume metrics were derived. Anatomical features were extracted from digitally reconstructed radiographs simulated from the CTs to resemble historical radiographs. Further, patient and radiotherapy plan features typically available from historical treatment records were collected. An evolutionary ML algorithm was then used to link features to dose-volume metrics. Besides 5-fold cross validation, a further evaluation was done on an independent dataset of five CTs each associated with two clinical plans. Cross-validation resulted in mean absolute errors $\leq$0.6 Gy for organs completely inside or outside the field. For organs positioned at the edge of the field, mean absolute errors $\leq$1.7 Gy for $D_{mean}$, $\leq$2.9 Gy for $D_{2cc}$, and $\leq$13% for $V_{5Gy}$ and $V_{10Gy}$, were obtained, without systematic bias. Similar results were found for the independent dataset. To conclude, our novel organ dose reconstruction method is not only accurate, but also efficient, as the setup of a surrogate is no longer needed.

In quiescence, Sgr A* is surprisingly dim, shining 100,000 times less than expected for its environment. This problem has motivated a host of theoretical models to explain radiatively inefficient accretion flows (RIAFs). The Chandra Galactic Center (GC) X-ray Visionary Program obtained approximately 3 Ms (one month) of Chandra HETG data, offering the only opportunity to examine the quiescent X-ray emission of Sgr A* with high resolution spectroscopy. Utilizing custom background regions and filters for removing overlapping point sources, this work provides the first ever look at stacked HETG spectra of Sgr A*. We model the background datasets with a cubic spline and fit the unbinned Sgr A* spectra with a simple parametric model of a power law plus Gaussian lines under the effects of interstellar extinction. We detect a strong 6.7 keV iron emission line in the HEG spectra and a 3.1 keV emission line in the MEG spectra. In all cases, the line centroids and equivalent widths are consistent with those measured from low-resolution CCD spectra. An examination of the unbinned, stacked HEG+/-1 spectrum reveals fine structure in the iron line complex. In addition to resolving the resonant and forbidden lines from He-like iron, there are apparent emission features arising with higher statistical significance at lower energy, potentially associated with FeXX-XXIV ions in a ~1 keV plasma arising near the Bondi radius of Sgr A*. With this work, we release the cleaned and stacked Sgr A* and background HETG spectra to the public as a special legacy dataset.

Biological tissues commonly consist of volume-preserving cells embedded within a fibrous biopolymer network. These cell-network composites exhibit unusual mechanical behaviors that distinguish them from cell-free networks. Whereas reconstituted biopolymer networks typically soften under applied uniaxial compression, various tissues, including liver, brain, and fat, have been observed to instead stiffen when compressed. The mechanism for this compression stiffening effect is not yet clear. Here, we demonstrate that when a material composed of stiff inclusions embedded in a fibrous network is compressed, heterogeneous rearrangement of the inclusions can induce tension within the interstitial network, leading to a macroscopic crossover from an initial bending-dominated softening regime to a stretching-dominated stiffening regime, and that this transition occurs before and independently of jamming of the inclusions. Using a coarse-grained particle-network model, we first establish a phase diagram for compression-driven, stretching-dominated stress propagation and jamming in uniaxially compressed 2- and 3-dimensional systems. Then, we demonstrate that a more detailed computational model of stiff inclusions in a subisostatic semiflexible fiber network exhibits quantitative agreement with the predictions of our coarse-grained model as well as qualitative agreement with experiments.

We propose a method for extracting hierarchical backbones from a bipartite network. Our method leverages the observation that a hierarchical relationship between two nodes in a bipartite network is often manifested as an asymmetry in the conditional probability of observing the connections to them from the other node set. Our method estimates both the importance and direction of the hierarchical relationship between a pair of nodes, thereby providing a flexible way to identify the essential part of the networks. Using semi-synthetic benchmarks, we show that our method outperforms existing methods at identifying planted hierarchy while offering more flexibility. Application of our method to empirical datasets---a bipartite network of skills and individuals as well as the network between gene products and Gene Ontology (GO) terms---demonstrates the possibility of automatically extracting or augmenting ontology from data.

Rapid gamma-ray flares pose an astrophysical puzzle, requiring mechanisms both to accelerate energetic particles and to produce fast observed variability. These dual requirements may be satisfied by collisionless relativistic magnetic reconnection. On the one hand, relativistic reconnection can energize gamma-ray emitting electrons. On the other, as previous kinetic simulations have shown, the reconnection acceleration mechanism preferentially focuses high-energy particles -- and their emitted photons -- into beams, which may create rapid blips in flux as they cross a telescope's line of sight. Using a series of 2D pair-plasma particle-in-cell simulations, we explicitly demonstrate the critical role played by radiative cooling in mediating the observable signatures of this kinetic beaming' effect. Only in our efficiently cooled simulations do we measure kinetic beaming beyond one light crossing time of the reconnection layer. We find a correlation between the cooling strength and the photon energy range across which persistent kinetic beaming occurs: stronger cooling coincides with a wider range of beamed photon energies. We also apply our results to rapid gamma-ray flares in flat-spectrum radio quasars, suggesting that a paradigm of radiatively efficient kinetic beaming constrains relevant emission models. In particular, beaming-produced variability may be more easily realized in two-zone (e.g. spine-sheath) setups, with Compton seed photons originating in the jet itself, rather than in one-zone external Compton scenarios.

High Voltage Monolithic Active Pixel Sensors (HV-MAPS) are based on a commercial High Voltage CMOS process and collect charge by drift inside a reversely biased diode. HV-MAPS represent a promising technology for future pixel tracking detectors. Two recent developments are presented. The MuPix has a continuous readout and is being developed for the Mu3e experiment whereas the ATLASPix is being developed for LHC applications with a triggered readout. Both variants have a fully monolithic design including state machines, clock circuitries and serial drivers. Several prototypes and design variants were characterised in the lab and in testbeam campaigns to measure efficiencies, noise, time resolution and radiation tolerance. Results from recent MuPix and ATLASPix prototypes are presented and prospects for future improvements are discussed.

In recent years, deep learning has become a part of our everyday life and is revolutionizing quantum chemistry as well. In this work, we show how deep learning can be used to advance the research field of photochemistry by learning all important properties for photodynamics simulations. The properties are multiple energies, forces, nonadiabatic couplings and spin-orbit couplings. The nonadiabatic couplings are learned in a phase-free manner as derivatives of a virtually constructed property by the deep learning model, which guarantees rotational covariance. Additionally, an approximation for nonadiabatic couplings is introduced, based on the potentials, their gradients and Hessians. As deep-learning method, we employ SchNet extended for multiple electronic states. In combination with the molecular dynamics program SHARC, our approach termed SchNarc is tested on a model system and two realistic polyatomic molecules and paves the way towards efficient photodynamics simulations of complex systems.

With the rising concerns of fossil fuel depletion and the impact of Internal Combustion Engine(ICE) vehicles on our climate, the transportation industry is observing a rapid proliferation of electric vehicles (EVs). However, long-distance travel withEV is not possible yet without making multiple halt at EV charging stations. Many remote regions do not have charging stations, and even if they are present, it can take several hours to recharge the battery. Conversely, ICE vehicle fueling stations are much more prevalent, and re-fueling takes a couple of minutes. These facts have deterred many from moving to EVs. Existing solutions to these problems, such as building more charging stations, increasing battery capacity, and road-charging have not been proven efficient so far. In this paper, we propose Peer-to-Peer Car Charging (P2C2), a highly scalable novel technique for charging EVs on the go with minimal cost overhead. We allow EVs to share charge among each others based on the instructions from a cloud-based control system. The control system assigns and guides EVs for charge sharing. We also introduce mobile Charging Stations (MoCS), which are high battery capacity vehicles that are used to replenish the overall charge in the vehicle networks. We have implemented P2C2 and integrated it with the traffic simulator, SUMO. We observe promising results with up to 65% reduction in the number of EV halts with up to 24.4% reduction in required battery capacity without any extra halts.

Recently, the coupling of ferroelectrics with electrochemical reactions has attracted increasing interest for harvesting waste heat. The change of polarisation of a ferroelectric with temperature can be used to influence chemical reactions, especially when the material is cycled near its Curie temperature. In this perspective, we introduce the principle of pyroelectric controlled electrochemical processes by harvesting waste heat energy and explore their potential electrochemical applications, such as water treatment, air purificiation and hydrogen generation. As an emerging approach for driving electrochemical reactions, the presence of thermal fluctuations and/or transient waste heat in the environment has the potential to be the primary thermal input for driving the change in polarisation of a pyroelectric to release charge for such reactions. There are a number of avenues to explore and we summarize strategies for forming multi-functional or hybrid materials and future directions such as selecting pyroelectrics with low Curie temperature (< 100 {\deg}C), improved heat conductivity, enhanced surface area or porosity, tailored microstructures and systems capable of operating over a broader temperature range.

An imaging technique with sensitivity to short duration optical transients is described. The technique is based on the use of wide-field cameras operating in a drift scanning mode, whereby persistent objects produce trails on the sensor and short duration transients occupy localised groups of pixels. A benefit of the technique is that sensitivity to short duration signals is not accompanied by massive data rates, because the exposure time >> transient duration. The technique is demonstrated using a pre-prototype system composed of readily available and inexpensive commercial components, coupled with common coding environments, commercially available software, and free web-based services. The performance of the technique and the pre-prototype system is explored, including aspects of photometric and astrometric calibration, detection sensitivity, characterisation of candidate transients, and the differentiation of astronomical signals from non-astronomical signals (primarily glints from satellites in Earth orbit and cosmic ray hits on sensor pixels). Test observations were made using the pre-prototype system, achieving sensitivity to transients with 21 ms duration, resulting in the detection of five candidate transients. An investigation of these candidates concludes they are most likely due to cosmic ray hits on the sensor and/or satellites. The sensitivity obtained with the pre-prototype system is such that, under some models for the optical emission from FRBs, the detection of a typical FRB, such as FRB181228, to a distance of approximately 100 Mpc is plausible. Several options for improving the system/technique in the future are described.

The nuclear spin of a He$^3$ quasiparticle dissolved in superfluid He$^4$ sees an apparent magnetic field proportional to the Fermi coupling constant, the superfluid condensate density, and the electron current at the He$^3$ nucleus. Whereas the direction of the current must be parallel to the quasiparticle momentum, calculating its magnitude presents an interesting theoretical challenge because it vanishes in the Born-Oppenheimer approximation. We find the effect is too small to be observed and present our results in the hope others will be inspired to look for similar effects in other systems.

We demonstrate locally coherent heteroepitaxial growth of silicon carbide (SiC) on diamond, a result contrary to current understanding of heterojunctions as the lattice mismatch exceeds $20\%$. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) confirms the quality and atomic structure near the interface. Guided by molecular dynamics simulations, a theoretical model is proposed for the interface wherein the large lattice strain is alleviated via point dislocations in a two-dimensional plane without forming extended defects in three dimensions. The possibility of realising heterojunctions of technologically important materials such as SiC with diamond offers promising pathways for thermal management of high power electronics. At a fundamental level, the study redefines our understanding of heterostructure formation with large lattice mismatch.

We investigate the slow flow of fluid-immersed frictional particles at high packing fractions. Centimeter-sized PDMS particles, immersed in glycerol-water mixture, are driven between roughened cones with a fixed total volume. We characterize the rate-dependent fluctuations of the packing under steady shearing, using time-resolved multi-component force measurements in combination with refraction-index-matched internal images. The occurrence of stick-slip avalanches provides a distinct signature that sets apart the regime of viscous sliding and that of plastic yielding. Our observations suggest a three-regime phase diagram as a generic description for flows of frictional particles that exhibit velocity-weakening tribology, and offer test grounds for theories in understanding packed systems with solid-fluid duality.

One primary concern in diluted magnetic semiconductors (DMSs) is how to establish a long-range magnetic order with a low magnetic doping concentration to maintain the gate tunability of the host semiconductor, as well as to increase Curie temperature. Two-dimensional van der Waals semiconductors have been recently investigated to demonstrate the magnetic order in DMSs; however, a comprehensive understanding of the mechanism responsible for the gate-tunable long-range magnetic order in DMSs has not been achieved yet. Here, we introduce a monolayer tungsten diselenide (WSe2) semiconductor with V dopants to demonstrate the long-range magnetic order through itinerant spin-polarized holes. The V atoms are sparsely located in the host lattice by substituting W atoms, which is confirmed by scanning tunneling microscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. The V impurity states and the valence band edge states are overlapped, which is congruent with density functional theory calculations. The field-effect transistor characteristics reveal the itinerant holes within the hybridized band; this clearly resembles the Zener model. Our study gives an insight into the mechanism of the long-range magnetic order in V-doped WSe2, which can also be used for other magnetically doped semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides.

The need for real-time processing fast moving objects in machine vision requires the cooperation of high frame rate camera and a large amount of computing resources. The cost, high detection bandwidth requirements, data and computation burden limit the wide applications of high frame rate machine vision. Compressive Video Sensing (CVS) allows capturing events at much higher frame rate with the slow camera, by reconstructing a frame sequence from a coded single image. At the same time, complex frame sequence reconstruction algorithms in CVS pose challenges for computing resources. Even though the reconstruction process is low computational complexity, image-dependent machine vision algorithms also suffers from a large amount of computing energy consumption. Here we present a novel CVS camera termed Temporal Ghost Fourier Compressive Inference Camera (TGIC), which provides a framework to minimize the data and computational burden simultaneously. The core of TGIC is co-design CVS encoding and machine vision algorithms both in optical domain. TGIC acquires pixel-wise temporal Fourier spectrum in one frame, and applies simple inverse fast Fourier transform algorithm to get the desired video. By implementing pre-designed optical Fourier sampling schemes, specific machine vision tasks can be accomplished in optical domain. In fact, the data captured by TGIC is the results of traditional machine vision algorithms derived from the video, therefore the computation resources will be greatly saved. In the experiments, we can recover 160 frames in 0.1s single exposure with 16x frame rate gain (periodic motion up to 2002 frames, 1000x frame rate gain), and typical machine vision applications such as moving object detection, tracking and extraction are also demonstrated.

Sperm cell motility and morphology observed under the bright field microscopy are the only criteria for selecting particular sperm cell during Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) procedure of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART). Several factors such as, oxidative stress, cryopreservation, heat, smoking and alcohol consumption, are negatively associated with the quality of sperm cell and fertilization potential due to the changing of sub-cellular structures and functions which are overlooked. A bright field imaging contrast is insufficient to distinguish tiniest morphological cell features that might influence the fertilizing ability of sperm cell. We developed a partially spatially coherent digital holographic microscope (PSC-DHM) for quantitative phase imaging (QPI) in order to distinguish normal sperm cells from sperm cells under different stress conditions such as cryopreservation, exposure to hydrogen peroxide and ethanol without any labeling. Phase maps of 10,163 sperm cells (2,400 control cells, 2,750 spermatozoa after cryopreservation, 2,515 and 2,498 cells under hydrogen peroxide and ethanol respectively) are reconstructed using the data acquired from PSC-DHM system. Total of seven feedforward deep neural networks (DNN) were employed for the classification of the phase maps for normal and stress affected sperm cells. When validated against the test dataset, the DNN provided an average sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of 84.88%, 95.03% and 85%, respectively. The current approach DNN and QPI techniques of quantitative information can be applied for further improving ICSI procedure and the diagnostic efficiency for the classification of semen quality in regards to their fertilization potential and other biomedical applications in general.

The characterization of thin film solar cells is of huge importance for obtaining high open circuit voltage and low recombination rates from the interfaces or within the bulk of the main materials. Among the many electrical characterization techniques, the two and four wire probe using the Cascade instrument is of interest since the resistance of the wires, and the electrical contacts can be excluded by the additional two wires in 4 wire probe configuration. In this paper, both two and four-point probes configuration are employed to characterize the CIGS chalcogenide thin film solar cells. The two wire probe has been used to measure the current-voltage characteristics of the cell which results in a huge internal resistance. Therefore, the four wire connection are also used to eliminate the lead resistance to enhance the characterization accuracy. The load resistance in the twowire probe diminishes the photogenerated current density at smaller voltage ranges. In contrast, the proposed four wire probe collects more current at higher voltages due to enhanced carrier collection efficiency from contact electrodes. The current conduction mechanism is also identified at every voltage region represented by the value of the ideality factor of that voltage region.

TurboRVB is a computational package for {\it ab initio} Quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) simulations of both molecular and bulk electronic systems. The code implements two types of well established QMC algorithms: Variational Monte Carlo (VMC), and Diffusion Monte Carlo in its robust and efficient lattice regularized variant. A key feature of the code is the possibility of using strongly correlated many-body wave functions. The electronic wave function (WF) is obtained by applying a Jastrow factor, which takes into account dynamical correlations, to the most general mean-field ground state, written either as an antisymmetrized geminal product with spin-singlet pairing, or as a Pfaffian, including both singlet and triplet correlations. This wave function can be viewed as an efficient implementation of the so-called resonating valence bond (RVB) ansatz, first proposed by L. Pauling and P. W. Anderson in quantum chemistry and condensed matter physics, respectively. The RVB ansatz implemented in TurboRVB has a large variational freedom, including the Jastrow correlated Slater determinant as its simplest, but nontrivial case. Moreover, it has the remarkable advantage of remaining with an affordable computational cost, proportional to the one spent for the evaluation of a single Slater determinant. The code implements the adjoint algorithmic differentiation that enables a very efficient evaluation of energy derivatives, comprising the ionic forces. Thus, one can perform structural optimizations and molecular dynamics in the canonical NVT ensemble at the VMC level. For the electronic part, a full WF optimization is made possible thanks to state-of-the-art stochastic algorithms for energy minimization. The code has been efficiently parallelized by using a hybrid MPI-OpenMP protocol, that is also an ideal environment for exploiting the computational power of modern GPU accelerators.

Over the last decade, systems of individually-controlled neutral atoms, interacting with each other when excited to Rydberg states, have emerged as a promising platform for quantum simulation of many-body problems, in particular spin systems. Here, we review the techniques underlying quantum gas microscopes and arrays of optical tweezers used in these experiments, explain how the different types of interactions between Rydberg atoms allow a natural mapping onto various quantum spin models, and describe recent results that were obtained with this platform to study quantum many-body physics.

The effects of a vertical static magnetic field on the flow structure and global transport properties of momentum and heat in liquid metal Rayleigh-B\'enard convection are investigated. Experiments are conducted in a cylindrical convection cell of unity aspect ratio, filled with the alloy GaInSn at a low Prandtl number of $\mathit{Pr}=0.029$. Changes of the large-scale velocity structure with increasing magnetic field strength are probed systematically using multiple ultrasound Doppler velocimetry sensors and thermocouples for a parameter range that is spanned by Rayleigh numbers of $10^6 \le \mathit{Ra} \le 6\times 10^7$ and Hartmann numbers of $\mathit{Ha} \le 1000$. Our simultaneous multi-probe temperature and velocity measurements demonstrate how the large-scale circulation is affected by an increasing magnetic field strength (or Hartmann number). Lorentz forces induced in the liquid metal first suppress the oscillations of the large-scale circulation at low $\mathit{Ha}$, then transform the one-roll structure into a cellular large-scale pattern consisting of multiple up- and downwellings for intermediate $\mathit{Ha}$, before finally expelling any fluid motion out of the bulk at the highest accessible $\mathit{Ha}$ leaving only a near-wall convective flow that persists even below Chandrasekhar's linear instability threshold. Our study thus proves experimentally the existence of wall modes in confined magnetoconvection. The magnitude of the transferred heat remains nearly unaffected by the steady decrease of the fluid momentum over a large range of Hartmann numbers. We extend the experimental global transport analysis to momentum transfer and include the dependence of the Reynolds number on the Hartmann number.

A metric for evaluation of overall metalens performance is presented. It is applied to determination of optimal operating spectral range of a metalens, both theoretically and experimentally. This metric is quite general and can be applied to the design and evaluation of future metalenses, particularly achromatic metalenses.

In this paper the new type of thermal corrections for the helium and helium-like atomic systems are introduced. These are thermal one-photon exchange between the bound electrons and nucleus as well as between the bound electrons induced by the blackbody radiation (BBR). All the derivations are given within the rigorous QED theory. It is shown that these thermal corrections are the same order in powers of $\alpha$ (fine structure constant) as the well-known BBR-induced Stark shift but the different behaviour in temperature. The numerical results presented in this paper make possible to expect their significance for modern experiments and testing the fundamental interactions in helium.

Intermittent turbulent-laminar patterns characterize the transition to turbulence in pipe, plane Couette and plane channel flows. The time evolution of turbulent-laminar bands in plane channel flow is studied via direct numerical simulations using the parallel pseudospectral code ChannelFlow in a narrow computational domain tilted by $24^{\circ}$ with respect to the streamwise direction. Mutual interactions between bands are studied through their propagation velocities. Profiles show that the flow surrounding isolated turbulent bands returns to the laminar base flow over large distances. Depending on the Reynolds number, a turbulent band can either decay to laminar flow or split into two bands. As with past studies of other wall-bounded shear flows, in most cases survival probability distributions are found to be exponential for both decay and splitting, indicating that the processes are memoryless. Statistically estimated mean lifetimes for decay and splitting are plotted as a function of the Reynolds number and lead to the estimation of a critical Reynolds number $Re_{\text{cross}}\simeq 950$, where decay and splitting lifetimes cross at greater than $10^6$ advective time units. The processes of splitting and decay are also examined through analysis of their Fourier spectra. The dynamics of large-scale spectral components seem to statistically follow the same pathway during the splitting of a turbulent band and may be considered as precursors of splitting.

A significant step has been made towards understanding the physics of the transient surface current triggered by ejected electrons during the interaction of a short intense laser pulse with a high-conductivity target. Unlike the commonly discussed hypothesis of neutralization current generation as a result of the fast loss of hot electrons to the vacuum, the proposed mechanism is associated with excitation of the fast current by electric polarization due to transition radiation triggered by ejected electrons. We present a corresponding theoretical model and compare it with two simulation models using the FDTD (finite-difference time-domain) and PIC (particle-in-cell) methods. Distinctive features of the proposed theory are clearly manifested in both of these models.

Jean Deshayes, a teacher of mathematics in his native France, single-handedly put Qu\'ebec on the map, literally. An accomplished astronomer, he used the lunar eclipse of 10--11 December 1685 to determine the settlement's longitude to unprecedented (although most likely fortuitously high) accuracy for the times. Deshayes contributed invaluable practical insights to the most important contemporary scientific debate---the discussion regarding the shape and size of the Earth---which still resonate today. Over the course of several decades and equipped with an increasingly sophisticated suite of surveyor's instruments, his careful scientific approach to hydrography and cartography of Canada's Saint Lawrence River is an excellent example of the zeitgeist associated with the 17th century's "Scientific Revolution."

In this paper we demonstrate that it is possible to produce low cost neutron-sensitive detectors using stereo-lithography additive manufacturing. A curable scintillating resin is made by mixing BN:ZnS with a commercially available UV resin. This resin is used to print several small area neutron detectors made of arrays of BN:ZnS cones that can be directly coupled to a photo-multiplier tube.

The ultrafast switching of magnetization in multiferroic materials by a femtosecond laser could provide various advantages in photonics and magnonics. An efficient approach to control the light matter interaction is the modulation of ultrafast coherent magnons and phonons in the high frequency range. Spontaneous Raman and infrared spectra reveal the excitation of magnons and optical phonons in multiferroic BiFeO3 in the sub few terahertz range. However, coherent control of such quasiparticles has not been achieved yet. In this study, we demonstrate that linearly polarized laser pulses simultaneously excite coherent magnons out of plane and in plane cyclone modes and optical phonon E mode in BiFeO3. Experimental results in conjugation with phenomenological theory, by considering three uniformly distributed magnetic domains reveal that impulsive stimulated Raman scattering is responsible for the generation of coherent magnons and phonons in BiFeO3. The observation of these terahertz magnon and optical phonon modes paves the way for the development of ultrafast magneto electro optical devices.

We develop a modified Poisson-Nernst-Planck model which includes both the long-range Coulomb and the short-range hard-sphere correlations in its free energy functional such that the model can accurately describe the ion transport in complex environment and under a nanoscale confinement. The Coulomb correlation is treated by solving a generalized Debye-H\"uckel equation which is a Green's function equation and the correlation energy of a test ion is described by the self Green's function. The hard-sphere correlation is modeled through the modified fundamental measure theory. The resulted model is available for problems beyond the mean-field theory such as problems with variable dielectric media, multivalent ions, and strong surface charge density. We solve the generalized Debye-H\"uckel equation by the Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin approximation, and study the electrolytes between two parallel dielectric surfaces. Compared to mean-field model and modified models partially including correlation effects, the new model is shown more accurate to capture the physical properties of ionic structures near interfaces.

This paper is a follow up of the article where Lemaire & Stegen (2016) introduced the novel method to calculate coronal temperature distribution when the Solar Corona is not assumed to be in hydrostatic equilibrium as it has been assumed until 1957. In their study as well as in the present paper it is considered that the corona plasma is expanding with supersonic speeds u_E, and with electron densities n_E, at 1AU is given by the average values determined from the statistical study of the Solar Wind parameters reported by Ebert et al. (2009). In inner coronal altitudes n_e(r) is taken from Saito's (1970) empirical electron density model. It is found that, at high altitudes, the radial profile of the dyn-temperature distributions differ significantly from those obtained by the scale-height method shm-method generally used in the past. It is also found that, at the base of the Corona, the dyn-temperature is smaller over the polar regions (and CHs) than in the equatorial plane. The temperature gradient dT_e/dr has very small and positive values at altitudes above the transition region, between 0.001 R_S and 0.02 R_S. We confirm also that larger Solar Wind (SW) velocities, u(r), observed in fast speed SW streams imply larger temperatures in the solar Corona. Furthermore, the maximum temperature T_{e,max} is always located significantly above the altitude of the transition region.

An H-mode plasma state free of edge-localized mode (ELM), close to the L-H transition with clear density and temperature pedestal has been observed both at the Joint European Torus (JET) and at the ASDEX Upgrade (AUG) tokamaks usually identified by a low frequency (LFO, 1-2 kHz), m=1, n=0 oscillation of the magnetics and the modulation of pedestal profiles. The regime at JET is referred to as M-mode while at AUG as intermediate phase or I-phase. This contribution aims at a comparative analysis of these phenomena in terms of the density and temperature pedestal properties, the magnetic oscillations and symmetries. Lithium beam emission spectroscopy (Li-BES) and reflectometer measurements at JET and AUG show that the M-mode and the I-phase modulates the plasma edge density. A high frequency oscillation of the magnetics and the density at the pedestal is also associated with both the M-mode and the I-phase, and its power is modulated with the LFO frequency. The power modulation happens simultaneously in every Mirnov coil signal where it can be detected. The bursts of the magnetic signals and the density at the pedestal region are followed by the flattening of the density profile, and by a radially outward propagating density pulse in the scrape-off layer (SOL). The analysis of the helium line ratio spectroscopy (He-BES) signals at AUG revealed that the electron temperature is modulated in phase with the density, thus the I-phase modulates the pressure profile gradient. This analysis gave opportunity to compare Li-BES and He-BES density profiles at different locations suggesting a toroidal and poloidal symmetry of the density modulation. The presented results indicate that the regimes, the AUG I-phase and the JET M-mode, exhibit similar characteristics, which leads to the conclusion that the regimes are likely the same.

We demonstrate for the first time flat-top interleavers based on cascaded Mach-Zehnder interferometers (MZIs) which use only single multimode interferometers (MMIs) as power splitters. Our previous designs were based on 4-stage cascades of MZIs, where we used single MMIs and double MMIs to achieve 85:15 splitting ratio and 31:69 splitting ratio respectively. This time, we propose instead a greatly simplified 2-stage configuration using only single MMIs, including a standard 50:50 MMI, and two tapered MMIs to achieve 71:29 and 92:08 splitting ratios. We have designed the interleaver based on its geometrical representation on the Bloch sphere, then confirmed by efficient 2D simulations of the building blocks and of the whole structure, based on the eigenmode expansion method. We show how important is to take into account the phase relations between the outputs of all MMIs in order to make a working design. We have successfully fabricated devices with different channel spacing on our micron-scale silicon photonics platform, and measurement results confirmed their expected flat-top operation on a broad band. Using only single MMI splitters we can not only greatly outperform the bandwidth achieved by standard directional couplers, but we can also ensure much higher robustness to fabrication errors, also compared to previous demonstrations based on double MMIs. Indeed, when compared to those previous attempts, the new results prove tapered MMIs to be the most robust approach to achieve arbitrary splitting ratios.

We investigate the viability of highly efficient organic solar cells (OSCs) based on non-fullerene acceptor (NFA) by taking into consideration efficiency loss channels and stability issues caused by triplet excitons (TE) formation. OSCs based on a blend of the conjugated donor polymer PBDB-T and ITIC as acceptor were fabricated and investigated with electrical, optical and spin-sensitive means. The spin-Hamiltonian parameters of molecular TEs and charge transfer TEs in ITIC e.g., zero-field splitting and charge distribution, were calculated by Density Functional Theory (DFT) modelling. In addition, the energetic model describing the photophysical processes in the donor-acceptor blend was derived. Spin-sensitive photoluminescence measurements prove the formation of charge transfer states (CTS) in the blend and the formation of TEs in the pure materials and the blend. However, no molecular TE signal is observed in the completed devices under working conditions by spin-sensitive electrical measurements. The absence of a molecular triplet state population allows to eliminate a charge carrier loss channel and irreversible photooxidation facilitated by long-lived triplet states. These results correlate well with the high power conversion efficiency of the PBDB-T:ITIC-based OSCs and their high stability.

Knowledge about deep-ocean turbulent mixing and flow circulation above abyssal hilly plains is important to quantify processes for the modelling of resuspension and dispersal of sediments in areas where turbulence sources are expected to be relatively weak. Turbulence may disperse sediments from artificial deep-sea mining activities over large distances. To quantify turbulent mixing above the deep-ocean floor around 4000 m depth, high-resolution moored temperature sensor observations have been obtained from the near-equatorial southeast Pacific (7{\deg}S, 88{\deg}W). Models demonstrate low activity of equatorial flow dynamics, internal tides and surface near-inertial motions in the area. The present observations demonstrate a Conservative Temperature difference of about 0.012{\deg}C between 7 and 406 meter above the bottom (hereafter, mab, for short), which is a quarter of the adiabatic lapse rate. The very weakly stratified waters with buoyancy periods between about six hours and one day allow for slowly varying mixing. The calculated turbulence dissipation rate values are half to one order of magnitude larger than those from open-ocean turbulent exchange well away from bottom topography and surface boundaries. In the deep, turbulent overturns extend up to 100 m tall, in the ocean-interior, and also reach the lowest sensor. The overturns are governed by internal-wave-shear and -convection. The turbulence inertial subrange is observed to extend into the internal wave frequency band. The associated mixing is not related to bottom friction processes but to internal wave breaking and near-inertial shear. The mixing facilitates long (hours to day) and high (exceeding 100 mab) dispersal of suspended sediments.

Amorphous TbCo magnetic alloys exhibit a list of intriguing properties, such as perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, high magneto-optical activity and magnetization switching using ultrashort optical pulses. Varying the Tb:Co ratio in these alloys allows for tuning properties such as the saturation magnetic moment, coercive field and the performance of the light-induced magnetization switching. In this work, we investigate the magnetic, optical and magneto-optical properties of various TbCo thin film alloy compositions. We report on the effect the choice of different seeding layers has on the structural and magnetic properties of TbCo layers. We also demonstrate that for a range of alloys with Tb content of 24-30 at.%, helicity dependent all-optical switching of magnetization can be achieved, albeit in a multi-shot framework. Our study provides an insight into material aspects for future potential hybrid magneto-plasmonic TbCo-based architectures, where enhanced light-induced magnetization switching might be achievable.

This paper presents a classical thermodynamic calculation of a Greens function that describes the declining rate of entropy growth as protons move under an applied electric field, through an amorphous SiO$_2$ layer in a MOS field-effect device gate oxide. The analysis builds on work by McLean and Ausman (1977) and Brown and Saks (1991). Polynomial models of fitting parameters dB/d$\alpha$, y$_0$, and A/y$_0$ based on interpolation TABLE I of McLean and Ausman are presented. Infinite boundary conditions are introduced for the parameter dB/d$\alpha$. Polynomial representations are shown of dB/d$\alpha$, y$_0$, A/y$_0$ and the Greens function as a function of the dispersion parameter $\alpha$. The paper shows that parameters y$_0$ and A/y$_0$ are nearly conic sections with small residuals of a few percent. This work is intended as a first step toward a near-equilibrium thermodynamic continuous-time random walk (CTRW) model (anomalous diffusion) of damage introduced into thick-oxide silicon-based powerMOS parts by space radiation effects such as those found in the Jovian radiation belts. Charge transport in amorphous silica electrical insulators is by thermally activated tunneling, not Brownian motion.

The recent outbreak of COVID-19 in Mainland China is characterized by a distinctive algebraic, sub-exponential increase of confirmed cases during the early phase of the epidemic, contrasting an initial exponential growth expected for an unconstrained outbreak with sufficiently large reproduction rate. Although case counts vary significantly between affected provinces in Mainland China, the scaling law $t^{\mu}$ is surprisingly universal, with a range of exponents $\mu=2.1\pm0.3$. The universality of this behavior indicates that despite social, regional, demographical, geographical, and socio-economical heterogeneities of affected Chinese provinces, this outbreak is dominated by fundamental mechanisms that are not captured by standard epidemiological models. We show that the observed scaling law is a direct consequence of containment policies that effectively deplete the susceptible population. To this end we introduce a parsimonious model that captures both, quarantine of symptomatic infected individuals as well as population wide isolation in response to mitigation policies or behavioral changes. For a wide range of parameters, the model reproduces the observed scaling law in confirmed cases and explains the observed exponents. Quantitative fits to empirical data permit the identification of peak times in the number of asymptomatic or oligo-symptomatic, unidentified infected individuals, as well as estimates of local variations in the basic reproduction number. The model implies that the observed scaling law in confirmed cases is a direct signature of effective contaiment strategies and/or systematic behavioral changes that affect a substantial fraction of the susceptible population. These insights may aid the implementation of containment strategies in potential export induced COVID-19 secondary outbreaks elsewhere or similar future outbreaks of other emergent infectious diseases.

We introduce a conditional Generative Adversarial Network (cGAN) approach to generate cloud reflectance fields (CRFs) conditioned on large scale meteorological variables such as sea surface temperature and relative humidity. We show that our trained model can generate realistic CRFs from the corresponding meteorological observations, which represents a step towards a data-driven framework for stochastic cloud parameterization.

We show that a magnetically levitated microsphere in high vacuum can be used as an accelerometer by comparing its response to that of a commercially available geophone. This system shows great promise for ultrahigh acceleration sensitivities without the need for large masses or cryogenics. With feedback cooling, the transient decay time is reduced and the center-of-mass motion is cooled to \SI{9}{K} or less. Remarkably, the levitated particle accelerometer gives measurements similar to those of the commercial geophone at frequencies up to \SI{14}{Hz} despite a test mass that is four billion times smaller. With no free parameters in the calibration, the responses of the accelerometers match within \num{3}\% at \SI{5}{Hz}. The system reaches this sensitivity due to a novel image analysis method that can measure the displacement with an uncertainty of \SI{1.6}{nm} in a single image, a relatively large particle mass of \SI{0.25}{\upmu g}, and a low center of mass oscillation frequency of \SI{1.75}{Hz}.

Predicting the morphodynamics of sedimentary landscapes due to fluvial and aeolian flows requires answering the following questions: Is the flow strong enough to initiate sediment transport, is the flow strong enough to sustain sediment transport once initiated, and how much sediment is transported by the flow in the saturated state (i.e., what is the transport capacity)? In the geomorphological and related literature, the widespread consensus has been that the initiation, cessation, and capacity of fluvial transport, and the initiation of aeolian transport, are controlled by fluid entrainment of bed sediment caused by flow forces overcoming local resisting forces, whereas aeolian transport cessation and capacity are controlled by impact entrainment caused by the impacts of transported particles with the bed. Here the physics of sediment transport initiation, cessation, and capacity is reviewed with emphasis on recent consensus-challenging developments in sediment transport experiments, two-phase flow modeling, and the incorporation of granular physics' concepts. Highlighted are the similarities between dense granular flows and sediment transport, such as a superslow granular motion known as creeping (which occurs for arbitrarily weak driving flows) and system-spanning force networks that resist bed sediment entrainment; the roles of the magnitude and duration of turbulent fluctuation events in fluid entrainment; the traditionally overlooked role of particle-bed impacts in triggering entrainment events in fluvial transport; and the common physical underpinning of transport thresholds across aeolian and fluvial environments. This sheds a new light on the well-known Shields diagram, where measurements of fluid entrainment thresholds could actually correspond to entrainment-independent cessation thresholds.

The main aim of this paper is to present accurate energy levels of the ground [Xe]$4f^{12}$ and first excited [Xe]$4f^{11}5d$ configurations of Er$^{2+}$. The energy level structure of the Er$^{2+}$ ion was computed using the multiconfiguration Dirac-Hartree-Fock and relativistic configuration interaction (RCI) methods, as implemented in the GRASP2018 program package. The Breit interaction, self-energy and vacuum polarization corrections were included in the RCI computations. The zero-first-order approach was used in the computations. Energy levels with the identification in $LS$ coupling for all (399) states belonging to the [Xe]$4f^{12}$ and [Xe]$4f^{11}5d$ configurations are presented. Electric dipole (E1) transition data between the levels of these two configurations are computed. The accuracy of the these data are evaluated by studying the behaviour of the transition rates as functions of the gauge parameter as well as by evaluating the cancellation factors. The core electron correlations were studied using different strategies. Root-mean-square deviations obtained in this study for states of the ground and excited configurations from the available experimental or semi-empirical data are 649 cm$^{-1}$, and 747 cm$^{-1}$, respectively.

We study the motion of a single point vortex in simply and multiply connected polygonal domains. In case of multiply connected domains, the polygonal obstacles can be viewed as the cross-sections of 3D polygonal cylinders. First, we utilize conformal mappings to transfer the polygonal domains onto circular domains. Then, we employ the Schottky-Klein prime function to compute the Hamiltonian governing the point vortex motion in circular domains. We compare between the topological structures of the contour lines of the Hamiltonian in symmetric and asymmetric domains. Special attention is paid to the interaction of point vortex trajectories with the polygonal obstacles. In this context, we discuss the effect of symmetry breaking, and obstacle location and shape on the behavior of vortex motion.

Scientific research is and was at all times a transnational activity. In this respect it crosses several borders: national, cultural, and ideological. Even in times when physical borders separated the scientific community, scientists kept their minds open and tried to communicate despite all obstacles. An example of such activities in the field of physics is the travel in the year 1838 of a group of three scientists through the Western Europe: Andreas Ettingshausen (professor at the University of Vienna), August Kunzek (professor at the University of Lviv) and P. Marian Koller (director of the observatory in Chremsminster, Upper Austria).

$155$ years later a vivid scientific exchange between physicists from Austria and Ukraine and in particular between the Institute for Condensed Matter Physics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in Lviv and the Institute for Theoretical Physics of Johannes Kepler University Linz began. This became possible due to programs financed by national institutions, but it had its scientific background in already knotted historic scientific networks, when Lviv was an international center of mathematics and in Vienna the School of Statistical Thought' arose.

In this paper, we discuss the above examples of scientific cooperation pursuing several goals: to record less known facts from the history of science in a general culturological context, to trace the rise of studies that resulted, with a span of time, in an emergence of statistical and condensed matter physics, to follow development of multilayer networking structures that join scientists and enable their research. It is our pleasure to submit this paper to the Festschrift devoted to the 60th birthday of a renowned physicist, our good colleague and friend Ihor Mryglod. In fact, his activities contributed a lot into strengthening the networks we describe in this paper.

TORCH is a time-of-flight detector designed to perform particle identification over the momentum range 2$-$10 GeV/c for a 10 m flight path. The detector exploits prompt Cherenkov light produced by charged particles traversing a quartz plate of 10 mm thickness. Photons are then trapped by total internal reflection and directed onto a detector plane instrumented with customised position-sensitive Micro-Channel Plate Photo-Multiplier Tube (MCP-PMT) detectors. A single-photon timing resolution of 70 ps is targeted to achieve the desired separation of pions and kaons, with an expectation of around 30 detected photons per track. Studies of the performance of a small-scale TORCH demonstrator with a radiator of dimensions 120 $\times$ 350 $\times$ 10 mm$^3$ have been performed in two test-beam campaigns during November 2017 and June 2018. Single-photon time resolutions ranging from 104.3 ps to 114.8 ps and 83.8 ps to 112.7 ps have been achieved for MCP-PMTs with granularity 4 $\times$ 64 and 8 $\times$ 64 pixels, respectively. Photon yields are measured to be within $\sim$10% and $\sim$30% of simulation, respectively. Finally, the outlook for future work with planned improvements is presented.

Instability mechanism based on Coriolis force, on a rapidly rotating portable device handling shear thinning fluids such as blood, is of utmost importance for eventual detection of diseases by mixing with the suitable reagents. Motivated by this proposition, the present study renders a modal stability analysis of shear thinning fluids in a rotating microchannel modelled by the Carreau rheological law. When a microchannel is engraved a rotating compact disc (CD) based device, the centrifugal force acts as the driving force that actuates the flow and the Coriolis force enhances the mixing process in significantly short span by destabilizing the flow. An OrrSommerfeld-Squire analysis is performed to explore the role of these forces on the linear stability of rotating shear-thinning flow. Reported results on shear thinning flow with streamwise disturbances indicate that the critical Reynolds number for the flow transition with viscosity perturbation is nearly half of that of the critical value for the same without viscosity perturbation. In sharp contrast, the present analysis considering spanwise disturbances reveals that the critical Reynolds numbers with and without viscosity perturbation remain virtually unaltered under rotational effects. However, the viscosity variation has no significant influence on the Coriolis force-based instability. Numerical results confirm that a momentous destabilization is possible by aid of the Coriolis force via generating secondary flow inside the channel. Interestingly, the roll cells corresponding to the instabilities at lower time constants exhibit the existence of two distinct vortices, and the centre of the stronger one is essentially settled towards the unstable stratified region. Moreover, for a higher value of the time constant, only one vortex occupies the entire channel.

ABSTRACT: Temperature monitoring is extremely im-portant during thermotherapy. Fiber-optic temperature sensors are preferred because of their flexibility and im-munity to electromagnetic interference. Although many types of fiber-optic sensors have been developed, it re-mains challenging for clinically adopting them. Here, we report a silica fiber-based radiometric thermometer using a low-cost extended InGaAs detector to detect black body radiation between 1.7um to 2.4 um. For the first time, this silica fiber-based thermometer is capable of measuring temperature down to 35{\deg}C, making it suitable for seamless integration with current silica fiber catheters used in laser interstitial thermotherapy to monitor hyperthermia during a surgery. The feasibility, capability, and sensitivity of track-ing tissue temperature variation were proved through ex vivo and in vivo tissue studies. The technology is promising for being translated into clinics after further improving the signal to noise ratio.

Large-scale optical quantum technologies require on-chip integration of single-photon emitters with photonic integrated circuits. A promising solid-state platform to address this challenge is based on two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors, in particular tungsten diselenide (WSe2), which host single-photon emitters that can be strain-localized by transferring onto a structured substrate. However, waveguide-coupled single-photon emission from strain-induced quantum emitters in WSe2 remains elusive. Here, we use a silicon nitride waveguide to simultaneously strain-localize single-photon emitters from a WSe2 monolayer and to couple and transmit the emitted single photons. We demonstrate single-photon emission and waveguide coupling by measuring second-order autocorrelation of $g2(0)=0.150\pm0.093$ through the on-chip waveguide. Our results illustrate the potential of coupling emitters hosted by 2D semiconductors with photonic integrated circuits, paving the way towards large-scale optical quantum technologies.

New line lists are presented for the two most abundant water isotopologues; H$_{2}$$^{16}O and H_{2}$$^{18}$O. The H$_{2}$$^{16}O line list extends to 25710 cm^{-1} with intensity stabilities provided via ratios of calculated intensities obtained from two different semi-empirical potential energy surfaces. The line list for H_{2}$$^{18}$O extends to 20000 cm$^{-1}$. The minimum intensity considered for all is $10^{-30}$ cm molecule$^{-1}$ at 296~K, assuming 100\% abundance for each isotopologue. Fluctuation of calculated intensities caused by changes in the underlying potential energy are found to be significant, particularly for weak transitions. Direct comparisons are made against eighteen different sources of line intensities, both experimental and theoretical, many of which are used within the HITRAN2016 database. With some exceptions, there is excellent agreement between our line lists and the experimental intensities in HITRAN2016. In the infrared region, many H$_{2}$$^{16}O bands which exhibit intensity differences of 5-10\% between to the most recent 'POKAZATEL' line list (Polyansky \textit{et al.}, [Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. \textbf{480}, 2597 (2018)] and observation, are now generally predicted to within 1\%. For H_{2}$$^{18}$O, there are systematic differences in the strongest intensities calculated in this work versus those obtained from semi-empirical calculations. In the visible, computed cross sections show smaller residuals between our work and both HITRAN2016 and HITEMP2010 than POKAZATEL. While our line list accurately reproduces HITEMP2010 cross sections in the observed region, residuals produced from this comparison do however highlight the need to update line positions in the visible spectrum of HITEMP2010. These line lists will be used to update many transition intensities and line positions in the HITRAN2016 database.

Measurements of self-pressure broadened line profiles of the R(8)$-$R(13) lines in the $v_1+v_3$ band of acetylene near 1.52$\mu$m are reported. The data were analyzed using a variety of line profile models ranging from a simple Voigt convolution of Gaussian and Lorentzian components to a complete implementation of the Hartmann-Tran profile (HTP). No evidence was found for a, previously reported [Iwakuni et al. \textit{Phys. Rev. Letts.} \textbf{117}, 143902(5) 2016], systematic alternation in self-pressure broadened line widths with the nuclear spin state of the molecule. Analysis of the data brought out the need for a careful accounting of weak background absorptions due to hot-band and lower abundance isotopomer lines as well as the requirement for the use of an accurate line profile model. The data were adequately fit using the quadratic speed-dependent Voigt profile model, and parameters describing the average and speed dependent broadening and shift, and line strengths were determined for each line. Smaller contributions to the full HTP including the rate of velocity-changing collisions and the correlation between velocity- and state-changing collisions were only marginally determined and did not significantly improve the overall quality of the line profile fitting.

High-purity germanium (HPGe) crystals are required to be well-characterized before being fabricated into Ge detectors. The characterization of HPGe crystals is often performed with the Hall Effect system, which measures the carrier concentration, the Hall mobility, and the electrical resistivity. The reported values have a strong dependence on the size of the ohmic contacts and the geometry of the samples used in conducting the Hall Effect measurements. We conduct a systematic study using four samples cut from the same location in a HPGe crystal made into different sized ohmic contacts or different geometries to study the variation of the measured parameters from the Hall Effect system. The results are compared to the C-V measurements provided by the Ge detector made from the same crystal. We report the systematic errors involved with the Hall Effect system and find a reliable technique that minimizes the systematic error to be only a few percent from the Hall Effect measurements.

Electrical conduction mechanisms in the disordered material system is experimentally studied for p-type amorphous germanium (a-Ge) used for high-purity Ge detector contacts. The localization length and the hopping parameters in a-Ge are determined using the surface leakage current measured from three high-purity planar Ge detectors. The temperature-dependent hopping distance and hopping energy are obtained for a-Ge fabricated as the electrical contact materials for high-purity Ge planar detectors. As a result, we find that the hopping energy in a-Ge increases as temperature increases while the hopping distance in a-Ge decreases as temperature increases. The localization length of a-Ge is on the order of $1.62^{-0.19}_{+0.43} A^\circ$ to $2.83^{-0.46}_{+1.44}A^\circ$, depending on the density of states near the Fermi energy level within bandgap. Using these parameters, we predict that the surface leakage current from a Ge detector with a-Ge contacts can be much smaller than one yocto amp (yA) at helium temperature, suitable for rare-event physics searches.

We present a comparison between lens cavity filters and atomic line filters, discussing their relative merits for applications in quantum optics. We describe the design, characterization and stabilization procedure of a lens cavity filter, which consists of a high-reflection coated commercially available plano-convex lens, and compare it to an ultra-narrow atomic band-pass filter utilizing the D$_{2}$ absorption line in atomic rubidium vapor. We find that the cavity filter peak transmission frequency and bandwidth can be chosen arbitrarily, while the atomic filter is intrinsically stable but tied to an atomic resonance frequency.

The Multi-Purpose Detector (MPD) is designed to study a hot and dense baryonic matter formed in heavy-ion collisions at SQRT(sNN)=4-11 GeV at the NICA accelerator complex (Dubna, Russia). Large-sized electromagnetic calorimeter (ECal) of the MPD spectrometer will provide precise spatial and energy measurements for photons and electrons in the central pseudorapidity region of |eta|<1.2. The Shashlyk-type sampling structure of the ECal is optimized for the photons energy range from about 40 MeV to 2-3 GeV. Fine segmentation and projective geometry of the calorimeter allow to deal with high multiplicity of secondary particles from Au-Au reactions. In this talk, we report on a design, a construction status and expected parameters of the ECal.

Understanding the dynamics of Fourier domain mode-locked (FDML) lasers is crucial in order to determine the physical coherence limits and to find new superior ways for experimental realization. In addition, the rich interplay of linear and nonlinear effects in a laser ring system is of great theoretical interest. Here we investigate the dynamics of a highly dispersion compensated setup where over a bandwidth of more than 100 nm a highly coherent output with nearly shot noise limited intensity fluctuations was experimentally demonstrated, called the sweet spot. We show by numerical simulations that a finite amount of residual dispersion in the fiber delay cavity of FDML lasers can be compensated by the group delay dispersion in the swept bandpass filter, such that the intensity trace exhibits no dips or high frequency distortions which are the main source of noise in the laser. In the same way a small detuning from the ideal sweep filter frequency can be tolerated. Furthermore, we find that the filter's group delay dispersion improves the coherence properties of the laser and acts as a self-stabilizing element in the cavity. Our theoretical model is validated against experimental data, showing that all relevant physical effects for the sweet spot operating regime are included.

Clusters appear in nature in a diversity of contexts, involving distances as long as the cosmological ones, and down to atoms and molecules and the very small nuclear size. They also appear in several other scenarios, in particular in biological systems as in ants, bees, birds, fishes, gnus and rats, for instance. Here we describe a model composed of a set of female and male individuals that obeys simple rules that rapidly transform an uniform initial state into a single cluster that evolves in time as a stable dynamical structure. We show that the center of mass of the structure moves as a random walk, and that the size of the cluster engenders a power law behavior in terms of the number of individuals in the system. Moreover, we also examine other possibilities, in particular the case of two distinct species that can evolve to form one or two distinct clusters.

Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) have been proposed as an ultimate solution for diverse applications including nanomedicine and logic devices over decades. However, none has emerged revolutionary because realizing their magnetization response in an assembly is, surprisingly, still elusive. We employ our fast and universal magnetic characterization method, called the projection method, to underlie the reversible (irreversible) magnetization response of several assemblies. We then illustrate how the reversible (irreversible) magnetization response is correlated to the intrinsic properties (the coercivity and interaction fields) of the MNPs in an assembly. Our experimental observations indicate that the reversible magnetization does not solely depend on the interaction field, but it is indeed a function of the interaction field to coercivity ratio. Furthermore, for large porosities, the interaction field linearly changes with the porosity highlighting the predominant effects of dipole-dipole interactions on the interaction fields. However, at low porosities, the interaction field shows a nonlinear relationship with the porosity indicating the dipole fluctuations effects dominantly determine the interaction fields.

We provide a novel methodology for computing the most likely path taken by drifters between arbitrary fixed locations in the ocean. We also provide an estimate of the travel time associated with this path. Lagrangian pathways and travel times are of practical value not just in understanding surface velocities, but also in modelling the transport of ocean-borne species such as planktonic organisms, and floating debris such as plastics. In particular, the estimated travel time can be used to compute an estimated Lagrangian distance, which is often more informative than Euclidean distance in understanding connectivity between locations. Our methodology is purely data-driven, and requires no simulations of drifter trajectories, in contrast to existing approaches. Our method scales globally and can simultaneously handle multiple locations in the ocean. Furthermore, we provide estimates of the error and uncertainty associated with both the most likely path and the associated travel time.

The Fields Medal, often referred as the Nobel Prize of mathematics, is awarded to no more than four mathematician under the age of 40, every four years. In recent years, its conferral has come under scrutiny of math historians, for rewarding the existing elite rather than its original goal of elevating mathematicians from under-represented communities. Prior studies of elitism focus on citational practices and sub-fields; the structural forces that prevent equitable access remain unclear. Here we show the flow of elite mathematicians between countries and lingo-ethnic identity, using network analysis and natural language processing on 240,000 mathematicians and their advisor-advisee relationships. We found that the Fields Medal helped integrate Japan after WWII, through analysis of the elite circle formed around Fields Medalists. Arabic, African, and East Asian identities remain under-represented at the elite level. Through analysis of inflow and outflow, we rebuts the myth that minority communities create their own barriers to entry. Our results demonstrate concerted efforts by international academic committees, such as prize-giving, are a powerful force to give equal access. We anticipate our methodology of academic genealogical analysis can serve as a useful diagnostic for equality within academic fields.

We reanalize data collected with the DarkSide-50 experiment and recently used to set limits on the spin-independent interaction rate of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) on argon nuclei with an effective field theory framework. The dataset corresponds to a total (16660 $\pm$ 270) kg d exposure using a target of low-radioactivity argon extracted from underground sources. We obtain upper limits on the effective couplings of the 12 leading operators in the nonrelativistic systematic expansion. For each effective coupling we set constraints on WIMP-nucleon cross sections, setting upper limits between $2.4 \times 10^{-45} \, \mathrm{cm}^2$ and $2.3 \times 10^{-42} \, \mathrm{cm}^2$ (8.9 $\times 10^{-45} \, \mathrm{cm}^2$ and 6.0 $\times 10^{-42} \, \mathrm{cm}^2$) for WIMPs of mass of 100 $\mathrm{GeV/c^2}$ (1000 $\mathrm{GeV/c^2}$) at 90\% confidence level.

Empirical networks are often globally sparse, with a small average number of connections per node, when compared to the total size of the network. However this sparsity tends not to be homogeneous, and networks can also be locally dense, for example with a few nodes connecting to a large fraction of the rest of the network, or with small groups of nodes with a large probability of connections between them. Here we show how latent Poisson models which generate hidden multigraphs can be effective at capturing this density heterogeneity, while being more tractable mathematically than some of the alternatives that model simple graphs directly. We show how these latent multigraphs can be reconstructed from data on simple graphs, and how this allows us to disentangle dissortative degree-degree correlations from the constraints of imposed degree sequences, and to improve the identification of community structure in empirically relevant scenarios.

Dark Energy is the dominant component of the energy density of the universe. In a previous paper, we have shown that the collapse of dark energy fields leads to the formation of Super Massive Black Holes with masses comparable to the masses of Black Holes at the centers of galaxies. Thus it becomes a pressing issue to investigate the other physical consequences of the collapse of Dark Energy fields. Given that the primary interactions of Dark Energy fields with the rest of the Universe are gravitational, it is particularly interesting to investigate the gravitational wave signals emitted during the process of the collapse of Dark Energy fields. This is the focus of the current work described in this paper. We describe and use the 3+1 BSSN formalism to follow the evolution of the dark energy fields coupled with gravity and to extract the gravitational wave signals. Finally, we describe the results of our numerical computations and the gravitational wave signals produced as a result of the collapse of the dark energy fields.

The placed electronic component can shift on the wet solder paste in pick and place (P&P) process of surface mount technology (SMT). It does not usually attract much attention, because the shift is considered to be negligibly small and the following self-alignment effect in the solder paste reflow soldering process could also make it up. However, with the decreasing size of the electronic components and the increasing demand for the low defective rate of PCB, the component shift in P&P process is becoming more and more important in quality control of SMT industries. Though a few papers are related to the component shift in P&P process, there is no earlier research using the data from the real production line. In this paper, we study two basic and important issues: the behavior of the component shift in P&P process and the contributing factors to it. Several statistical methods are used to explore the behavior component shift based on the data from a complete state-of-the-art SMT assembly line. Main effects and regression analysis are implemented to pinpoint the contributing factors. In order to investigate the issues comprehensively, six types of electronic components and multiple potential factors are considered in this work, e.g., solder paste properties (position, volume, area, height), designed position of the component, placement pressure. The results indicate that component shift cannot be ignored. Also, the position of solder paste, designed position of component and component type are the top three most important factors to study the component shifts in P&P process.

A true quantum reason for why people fib on April first.

In this contribution we present numerical and experimental results of a parametric quantitative study of radiative dipole antennas in a phased array configuration for efficient body magnetic resonance imaging at 7T via parallel transmission. For magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at ultrahigh fields (7T and higher) dipole antennas are commonly used in phased arrays, particularly for body imaging targets. This study reveals the effects of dipole positioning in the array (elevation of dipoles above the subject and inter-dipole spacing) on their mutual coupling, $B_1^{+}$ per $P_{acc}$ and $B_1^{+}$ per maximum local SAR efficiencies as well as the RF-shimming capability. The numerical and experimental results are obtained and compared for a homogeneous phantom as well as for a real human models confirmed by in-vivo experiments.

The thermodynamical properties of the photon-plasma system had been studied using statistical physics approach. Photons develop an effective mass in the medium thus -- as a result of the finite chemical potential -- a photon Bose-Einstein condensation can be achieved by adjusting one of the relevant parameters (temperature, photon density and plasma density) to criticality. Due to the presence of the plasma, Planck's law of blackbody radiation is also modified with the appearance of a gap below the plasma frequency where a condensation peak of coherent radiation arises for the critical system. This is in accordance with recent optical microcavity experiments which are aiming to develop such photon condensate based coherent light sources. The present study is also expected to have applications in other fields of physics such as astronomy and plasma physics.

We introduce a general framework for the construction of well-balanced finite volume methods for hyperbolic balance laws. The phrase well-balancing is used in a wider sense, since the method can be applied to exactly follow any solution of any system of hyperbolic balance laws in multiple spatial dimensions. The solution has to be known a priori, either as an analytical expression or as discrete data. The proposed framework modifies the standard finite volume approach such that the well-balancing property is obtained. The potentially high order of accuracy of the method is maintained under the modification. We show numerical tests for the compressible Euler equations with and without gravity source term and with different equations of state, and for the equations of compressible ideal magnetohydrodynamics. Different grid geometries and reconstruction methods are used. We demonstrate high order convergence numerically.

This Perspective surveys the state-of-the-art and future prospects of science and technology employing the nanoconfined light (nanophotonics and nanoplasmonics) in combination with magnetism. We denote this field broadly as nanoscale magnetophotonics. We include a general introduction to the field and describe the emerging magneto-optical effects in magnetoplasmonic and magnetophotonic nanostructures supporting localized and propagating plasmons. Special attention is given to magnetoplasmonic crystals with transverse magnetization and the associated nanophotonic non-reciprocal effects, and to magneto-optical effects in periodic arrays of nanostructures. We give also an overview of the applications of these systems in biological and chemical sensing, as well as in light polarization and phase control. We further review the area of nonlinear magnetophotonics, the semiconductor spin-plasmonics, and the general principles and applications of opto-magnetism and nano-optical ultrafast control of magnetism and spintronics.

Spontaneous emission of quantum emitters can be modified by engineering their optical environment. This allows a resonant nanoantenna to significantly modify the radiative properties of a quantum emitter. In this article, we go beyond the common electric dipole approximation for the molecular electronic transition and take light-matter coupling through higher order multipoles into account. We investigate, by means of theory and numerical simulations, a strong enhancement of the magnetic dipole and electric quadrupole emission channels of a molecule adjacent to a plasmonic patch nanoantenna. While this on its own had been considered, the assumption in prior work usually has been that each molecular transition is dominated only by one of those multipolar emission channels. This leads naturally to the notion of discussing the modified emission in terms of a modified local density of states defined for each specific multipolar transition. In reality, this restricts the applicability of the approach, since specific molecular transitions occur via multiple multipolar pathways that have to be considered all at once. Here, we introduce a framework to study interference effects between higher order transitions in molecules by (a) a rigorous quantum-chemical calculation of their multipolar moments and (b) by a consecutive investigation of the transition rate upon coupling to an arbitrarily shaped nanoantenna. Based on that formalism we predict interference effects between these transition channels. This allows for a strong suppression of radiation by exploiting destructive interference. Our work suggests that placing a suitably chosen molecule at a well defined position and at a well defined orientation relative to a nanoantenna can fully suppress the transition probability.

The description, interpretation and imagery of cloud sciences by remote sensing datasets from Earth-orbiting satellites have become a great debate for several decades. Presently, there are many models for cloud detection and its classifications have been reported. However, none of the existing models can efficiently detect the clouds within the small band of shortwave upwelling radiative wavelength flux (SWupRF) in the spectral range from 1100 nm to 1700 nm. Therefore, in order to detect the clouds more efficiently, a method known as the radiance enhancement (RE) can be implemented (Siddiqui et al., 2015; Siddiqui et al., 2016b; Siddiqui, 2017). Satellite remote sensing database is one of the most essential parts of research for monitoring different atmospheric changes. This article proposes a new approach how with RE and SWupRF to distinguish cloud and non-cloud scenes by space orbiting Argus 1000 spectrometer utilizing the GENSPECT line-by-line radiative transfer simulation tool for space data retrieval and analysis (Quine and Drummond, 2002; Jagpal, 2011; Siddiqui et al., 2015; Siddiqui, 2017). This approach may be used within the selected wavelength band of Argus 1000 spectrometer in the range from 1100 nm to 1700 nm to calculate the integrated SWupRF synthetic spectral datasets.

Combined measurements of velocity components and temperature in a turbulent Rayleigh-B\'enard convection flow at a low Prandtl number of $\mathit{Pr}= 0.029$ and Rayleigh numbers between $10^6 \le \mathit{Ra} \le 6 \times 10^7$ are conducted in a series of experiments with durations of more than a thousand free-fall time units. Multiple crossing ultrasound beam lines and an array of thermocouples at mid-height allow for a detailed analysis and characterization of the complex three-dimensional dynamics of the single large-scale circulation (LSC) roll in the cylindrical convection cell of unit aspect ratio which is filled with the liquid metal alloy GaInSn. We measure the internal temporal correlations of the complex large-scale flow and distinguish between short-term oscillations associated with a sloshing motion in the mid-plane as well as varying orientation angles of the velocity close to the top/bottom plates and the slow azimuthal drift of the mean orientation of the roll as a whole that proceeds on an up to a hundred times slower time scale. The coherent LSC drives a vigorous turbulence in the whole cell that is quantified by direct Reynolds number measurements at different locations in the cell. The velocity increment statistics in the bulk of the cell displays characteristic properties of intermittent small-scale fluid turbulence. We also show that the impact of the symmetry-breaking large-scale flow persists to small-scale velocity fluctuations thus preventing the establishment of fully isotropic turbulence in the cell centre. Reynolds number amplitudes depend sensitively on beam line position in the cell such that different definitions have to be compared. The global momentum and heat transfer scalings with Rayleigh number are found to agree with those of direct numerical simulations and other laboratory experiments.

Implementation of an outlet boundary condition is challenging in the context of the weakly-compressible Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics method. We perform a systematic numerical study of several of the available techniques for the outlet boundary condition. We propose a new hybrid approach that combines a characteristics-based method with a simpler frozen-particle (do-nothing) technique to accurately satisfy the outlet boundary condition in the context of wind-tunnel-like simulations. In addition, we suggest some improvements to the do-nothing approach. We introduce a new suite of test problems that make it possible to compare these techniques carefully. We then simulate the flow past a backward-facing step and circular cylinder. The proposed method allows us to obtain accurate results with an order of magnitude less particles than those presented in recent research. We provide a completely open source implementation and a reproducible manuscript.

Our curiosity-driven desire to "see" chemical bonds dates back at least one-hundred years, perhaps to antiquity. Sweeping improvements in the accuracy of measured and predicted electron charge densities, alongside our largely bondcentric understanding of molecules and materials, heighten this desire with means and significance. Here we present a method for analyzing chemical bonds and their energy distributions in a two-dimensional projected space called the condensed charge density. Bond "silhouettes" in the condensed charge density can be reverse-projected to reveal precise three-dimensional bonding regions we call bond bundles. We show that delocalized metallic bonds and organic covalent bonds alike can be objectively analyzed, the formation of bonds observed, and that the crystallographic structure of simple metals can be rationalized in terms of bond bundle structure. Our method also reproduces the expected results of organic chemistry, enabling the recontextualization of existing bond models from a charge density perspective.

A fundamental issue in multiscale materials modeling and design is the consideration of traction-separation behavior at the interface. By enriching the deep material network (DMN) with cohesive layers, the paper presents a novel data-driven material model which enables accurate and efficient prediction of multiscale responses for heterogeneous materials with interfacial effect. In the newly invoked cohesive building block, the fitting parameters have physical meanings related to the length scale and orientation of the cohesive layer. It is shown that the enriched material network can be effectively optimized via a multi-stage training strategy, with training data generated only from linear elastic direct numerical simulation (DNS). The extrapolation capability of the method to unknown material and loading spaces is demonstrated through the debonding analysis of a unidirectional fiber-reinforced composite, where the interface behavior is governed by an irreversible softening mixed-mode cohesive law. Its predictive accuracy is validated against the nonlinear path-dependent DNS results, and the reduction in computational time is particularly significant.

Plasma sheath is the non-neutral space charge region that isolates bulk plasma from boundary. Radio-frequency (RF) sheathes are formed when applying RF voltage to electrodes. Generally, applied bias is mainly consumed by RF sheath which shields external field. Here we report first evidence that intense boundary emission destroys normal RF sheath and establishes a novel type of RF plasma where external bias is consumed by bulk plasma instead of sheath. Ions are naturally confined while plasma electrons are unobstructed, generating strong RF current in entire plasma, combined with unique particle and energy balance. Proposed model offers possibility for ion erosion mitigation of plasma-facing component. It also inspires technics for reaction rate control in plasma processing and wave mode conversion.

We introduce a two-dimensional generalisation of the quasiperiodic Aubry-Andr\'e model. Even though this model exhibits the same duality relation as the one-dimensional version, its localisation properties are found to be substantially more complex. In particular, partially extended single-particle states appear for arbitrarily strong quasiperiodic modulation. They are concentrated on a network of low-disorder lattice lines, while the rest of the lattice hosts localised states. This spatial separation protects the localised states from delocalisation, so no mobility edge emerges in the spectrum. Instead, localised and partially extended states are interspersed, giving rise to an unusual type of mixed spectrum and enabling complex dynamics even in the absence of interactions. A striking example is ballistic transport across the low-disorder lines while the rest of the system remains localised. This behaviour is robust against disorder and other weak perturbations. Our model is thus directly amenable to experimental studies and promises fascinating many-body localisation properties.

We apply time-dependent Ginzburg Landau (TDGL) numerical simulations to study the finite frequency electrodynamics of superconductors subjected to intense rf magnetic field. Much recent TDGL work has focused on spatially uniform external magnetic field and largely ignores the Meissner state screening response of the superconductor. In this work, we solve the TGDL equations for a spatially non-uniform magnetic field created by a point magnetic dipole in the vicinity of a semi-infinite superconductor. A novel two-domain simulation is performed to accurately capture the effect of the inhomogeneous applied fields and the resulting screening currents. The creation and dynamics of vortex semiloops penetrating deep into the superconductor domain is observed and studied, and the resulting third-harmonic nonlinear response of the sample is calculated. The effect of point-like defects on vortex semi-loop behaviour is also studied. This simulation method will assist our understanding of the limits of superconducting response to intense rf magnetic fields.

Human behavioral responses play an important role in the impact of disease outbreaks and yet they are often overlooked in epidemiological models. Understanding to what extent behavioral changes determine the outcome of spreading epidemics is essential to design effective intervention policies. Here we explore, analytically, the interplay between the personal decision to protect oneself from infection and the spreading of an epidemic. We do so by coupling a decision game based on the perceived risk of infection with a Susceptible-Infected-Susceptible model. Interestingly, we find that the simple decision on whether to protect oneself is enough to modify the course of the epidemics, by generating sustained steady oscillations in the prevalence. We deem these oscillations detrimental, and propose two intervention policies aimed at modifying behavioral patterns to help alleviate them. Surprisingly, we find that pulsating campaigns, compared to continuous ones, are more effective in diminishing such oscillations.

We examine the efficiency of Recurrent Neural Networks in forecasting the spatiotemporal dynamics of high dimensional and reduced order complex systems using Reservoir Computing (RC) and Backpropagation through time (BPTT) for gated network architectures. We highlight advantages and limitations of each method and discuss their implementation for parallel computing architectures. We quantify the relative prediction accuracy of these algorithms for the longterm forecasting of chaotic systems using as benchmarks the Lorenz-96 and the Kuramoto-Sivashinsky (KS) equations. We find that, when the full state dynamics are available for training, RC outperforms BPTT approaches in terms of predictive performance and in capturing of the long-term statistics, while at the same time requiring much less training time. However, in the case of reduced order data, large scale RC models can be unstable and more likely than the BPTT algorithms to diverge. In contrast, RNNs trained via BPTT show superior forecasting abilities and capture well the dynamics of reduced order systems. Furthermore, the present study quantifies for the first time the Lyapunov Spectrum of the KS equation with BPTT, achieving similar accuracy as RC. This study establishes that RNNs are a potent computational framework for the learning and forecasting of complex spatiotemporal systems.

Modern graph or network datasets often contain rich structure that goes beyond simple pairwise connections between nodes. This calls for complex representations that can capture, for instance, edges of different types as well as so-called "higher-order interactions" that involve more than two nodes at a time. However, we have fewer rigorous methods that can provide insight from such representations. Here, we develop a computational framework for the problem of clustering hypergraphs with categorical edge labels --- or different interaction types --- where clusters corresponds to groups of nodes that frequently participate in the same type of interaction.

Our methodology is based on a combinatorial objective function that is related to correlation clustering on graphs but enables the design of much more efficient algorithms that also seamlessly generalize to hypergraphs. When there are only two label types, our objective can be optimized in polynomial time, using an algorithm based on minimum cuts. Minimizing our objective becomes NP-hard with more than two label types, but we develop fast approximation algorithms based on linear programming relaxations that have theoretical cluster quality guarantees. We demonstrate the efficacy of our algorithms and the scope of the model through problems in edge-label community detection, clustering with temporal data, and exploratory data analysis.

The BGOOD experiment at the ELSA facility in Bonn has been commissioned within the framework of an international collaboration. The experiment pursues a systematic investigation of non-strange and strange meson photoproduction, in particular $t$-channel processes at low momentum transfer. The setup uniquely combines a central almost $4\pi$ acceptance BGO crystal calorimeter with a large aperture forward magnetic spectrometer providing excellent detection of both neutral and charged particles, complementary to other setups such as Crystal Barrel, Crystal Ball, LEPS and CLAS.

After reviewing the variational approach to splitting mean flow and fluctuation kinetics in the standard Vlasov theory, the same method is applied to the drift-kinetic equation from Littlejohn's theory of guiding-center motion. This process sheds a new light on drift-ordered fluid (drift-fluid) models, whose anisotropic pressure tensor is then considered in detail. In addition, current drift-fluid models are completed by the insertion of magnetization terms ensuring momentum conservation. Magnetization currents are also shown to lead to challenging aspects when drift-fluid models are coupled to Maxwell's equations for the evolution of the electromagnetic field. In order to overcome these difficulties, a simplified guiding-center theory is proposed along with its possible applications to hybrid kinetic-fluid models.

The El Ni\~no Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is the most important driver of climate variability and can trigger extreme weather events and disasters in various parts of the globe. Recently we have developed a network approach, which allows forecasting an El Ni\~no event about 1 year ahead. Here we communicate that since 2012 this network approach, which does not involve any fit parameter, correctly predicted the absence of El Ni\~no events in 2012, 2013 and 2017 as well as the onset of the large El Ni\~no event that started in 2014 and ended in 2016. Our model also correctly forecasted the onset of the last El Ni\~no event in 2018. In September 2019, the model indicated the return of El Ni\~no in 2020 with an 80% probability.

In this paper, an interface with two 2D photonic crystals is constructed with different rectangular lattices of the same material, shape, and size of dielectric rods, which produce interface states. The interface states are analyzed with respect to the Zak phase and surface impedance. The retainability of the interface states with dislocated and non-dislocated photonic bandgaps (PBGs) is investigated. In addition, we study the relationship between the length/width ratio of the rectangular lattice and the Zak phase, when the length/width ratio of the rectangular lattices changes. It is found that, when the interface states are realized by changing the length/width ratio of rectangular lattices, the retainability of the interface states with dislocated PBGs depends mainly on the position of the PBGs. On the other hand, the retainability of the interface states with non-dislocated PBGs mainly depends on the Zak phases of the bands. For the selected ky in this paper, the retainability of the interface states with dislocated PBGs is better than for non-dislocated PBGs, and the former is adjustable. A more detailed examination confirms that these conclusions are universally applicable to rectangular photonic crystals with different materials, shapes, and sizes of dielectric rods. These results can lead to new ways to produce interface states easily, for only one kind of dielectric rod. In addition, these outcomes may enable the construction of optical waveguides with strong retainability in the future.

We use Time-Dependent Ginzburg-Landau theory to study the nucleation of vortices in type II superconductors in the presence of both geometric and material inhomogeneities. The superconducting Meissner state is meta-stable up to a critical magnetic field, known as the superheating field. For a uniform surface and homogenous material, the superheating transition is driven by a non-local critical mode in which an array of vortices simultaneously penetrate the surface. In contrast, we show that even a small amount of disorder localizes the critical mode and can have a significant reduction in the effective superheating field for a particular sample. Vortices can be nucleated by either surface roughness or local variations in material parameters, such as Tc. Our approach uses a finite element method to simulate a cylindrical geometry in 2 dimensions and a film geometry in 2 and 3 dimensions. We combine saddle node bifurcation analysis along with a novel fitting procedure to evaluate the superheating field and identify the unstable mode. We demonstrate agreement with previous results for homogenous geometries and surface roughness and extend the analysis to include variations in material properties. Finally, we show that in three dimensions, suface divots not aligned with the applied field can increase the super heating field. We discuss implications for fabrication and performance of superconducting resonant frequency cavities in particle accelerators.

We present a general coupled electron-phonon Boltzmann transport equations (BTEs) scheme designed to capture the mutual drag of the two interacting systems. By combining density functional theory based first principles calculations of anharmonic phonon-phonon interactions with physical models of electron-phonon interactions, we apply our implementation of the coupled BTEs to calculate the thermal conductivity, mobility, Seebeck and Peltier coefficients of n-doped gallium arsenide. The measured low temperature enhancement in the Seebeck coefficient is captured using the solution of the fully coupled electron-phonon BTEs, while the uncoupled electron BTE fails to do so. This work gives insights into the fundamental nature of charge and heat transport in semiconductors and advances predictive ab initio computational approaches. We discuss possible extensions of our work.

The creation of well-thermalized, hot and dense plasmas is attractive for warm dense matter studies. We investigate collisionally induced energy absorption of an ultraintense and ultrashort laser pulse in a solid copper target using particle-in-cell simulations. We find that, upon irradiation by a $2\times10^{20}{\rm\,W\,cm^{-2}}$ intensity, $60{\rm\,fs}$ duration, circularly polarized laser pulse, the electrons in the collisional simulation rapidly reach a well-thermalized distribution with ${\sim}3.5{\rm\,keV}$ temperature, while in the collisionless simulation the absorption is several orders of magnitude weaker. Circular polarization inhibits the generation of suprathermal electrons, while ensuring efficient bulk heating through inverse Bremsstrahlung, a mechanism usually overlooked at relativistic laser intensity. An additional simulation, taking account of both collisional and field ionization, yields similar results: the bulk electrons are heated to ${\sim}2.5{\rm\,keV}$, but with a somewhat lower degree of thermalization than in the pre-set, fixed-ionization case. The collisional absorption mechanism is found to be robust against variations in the laser parameters. At fixed laser pulse energy, increasing the pulse duration rather than the intensity leads to a higher electron temperature.

A key concept underlying the specific functionalities of metasurfaces, i.e. arrays of subwavelength nanoparticles, is the use of constituent components to shape the wavefront of the light, on-demand. Metasurfaces are versatile and novel platforms to manipulate the scattering, colour, phase or the intensity of the light. Currently, one of the typical approaches for designing a metasurface is to optimize one or two variables, among a vast number of fixed parameters, such as various materials' properties and coupling effects, as well as the geometrical parameters. Ideally, it would require a multi-dimensional space optimization through direct numerical simulations. Recently, an alternative approach became quite popular allowing to reduce the computational cost significantly based on a deep-learning-assisted method. In this paper, we utilize a deep-learning approach for obtaining high-quality factor (high-Q) resonances with desired characteristics, such as linewidth, amplitude and spectral position. We exploit such high-Q resonances for the enhanced light-matter interaction in nonlinear optical metasurfaces and optomechanical vibrations, simultaneously. We demonstrate that optimized metasurfaces lead up to 400+ folds enhancement of the third harmonic generation (THG); at the same time, they also contribute to 100+ folds enhancement in optomechanical vibrations. This approach can be further used to realize structures with unconventional scattering responses.

As a future Higgs or Z factory, construction of the circular electron positron collider(CEPC) has been proposed to precisely measure Higgs bosons. A particle flow-oriented electromagnetic calorimeter (ECAL) and a hadronic calorimeter comprise a baseline design for the CEPC calorimetry system. The scintillator-tungsten ECAL (Sc-ECAL) prototype is being developed within the CEPC calorimetry working group. The Sc-ECAL is a sampling calorimeter consisting of alternating absorber layers and high granularity active layers. Each component of the active layer has been studied and optimized from a variety of aspects to meet the design requirements. The complete technological Sc-ECAL prototype will contain 30 layers of ECAL-based unit (EBU) boards alternating with 30 layers of the absorber. The first two layers of the prototype have been developed, and primary commissioning has been performed to validate their performance.

A Monte Carlo simulation-based optimization of a multilayer 10B-RPC thermal neutron detector is performed targeting an increase in the counting rate capability while maintaining high (>50%) detection efficiency for thermal neutrons. The converter layer thicknesses of individual RPCs are optimized for several configurations of a detector containing a stack of 10 double gap RPCs. The results suggest that it is possible to reach a counting rate which is by a factor of eight higher in comparison to the rate of a detector with only one double-gap RPC. The effect of neutron scattering inside the detector contributing to the background is analyzed and design modifications of the first detector prototype, tested at neutron beam, are suggested.

Confinement time of electron plasmas trapped using a purely toroidal magnetic field has been extended to $\sim 100$ s in a small aspect ratio ($R_{o}/{a} \sim {1.59}$, $R_o$ and $a$ are device major and minor radius, respectively), partial torus. It surpasses the previous record by nearly two orders of magnitude. Lifetime is estimated from the frequency scaling of the linear diocotron mode launched from sections of the wall, that are also used for mode diagnostics. Confinement improves enormously with reduction in neutral pressure in the presence of a steady state magnetic field. In addition, confinement is seen to be independent of the magnetic field, a distinguishing feature of Magnetic Pumping Transport (MPT) theory. Since MPT predicts an upper limit to confinement comparisons have been made between our experiments and MPT estimates.

Matching to small beta functions is required to preserve emittance in plasma accelerators. The plasma wake provides strong focusing fields, which typically require beta functions on the mm-scale, comparable to those found in the final focusing of a collider. Such beams can be time-consuming to experimentally produce and diagnose. We present a simple, fast, and noninvasive method to measure Twiss parameters using two beam position monitors only, relying on the similarity of the beam phase space and the jitter phase space. By benchmarking against conventional quadrupole scans, the viability of this technique was experimentally demonstrated at the FLASHForward plasma-accelerator facility.

In the quest to realize analog signal processing using sub-wavelength metasurfaces, in this paper, we demonstrate the first experimental demonstration of programmable time-modulated metasurface processors based on the key properties of spatial Fourier transformation. Exploiting space-time coding strategy enables local, independent, and real-time engineering of not only amplitude but also phase profile of the contributing reflective digital meta-atoms at both central and harmonic frequencies. Several illustrative examples are demonstrated to show that the proposed multifunctional calculus metasurface is capable of implementing a large class of useful mathematical operators, including 1st- and 2nd-order spatial differentiation, 1st-order spatial integration, and integro-differential equation solving accompanied by frequency conversions. Unlike the recent proposals, the designed time-modulated signal processor effectively operates for input signals containing wide spatial frequency bandwidths with an acceptable gain level. Proof-of-principle simulations are also reported along with the successful realization of image processing functions like edge detection. This time-varying wave-based computing system can set the direction for future developments of programmable metasurfaces with highly promising applications in ultrafast equation solving, real-time and continuous signal processing, and imaging.

We propose a new route to accelerate molecular dynamics through the use of velocity jump processes allowing for an adaptive time-step specific to each atom-atom pair (2-body) interactions. We start by introducing the formalism of the new velocity jump molecular dynamics, ergodic with respect to the canonical measure. We then introduce the new BOUNCE integrator that allows for long-range forces to be evaluated at random and optimal time-steps, leading to strong computational savings in direct space. The accuracy and computational performances of a first BOUNCE implementation dedicated to classical (non-polarizable) force fields is tested in the cases of pure direct-space droplet-like simulations and of periodic boundary conditions (PBC) simulations using Smooth Particule Mesh Ewald. An analysis of the capability of BOUNCE to reproduce several condensed phase properties is provided. Since electrostatics and van der Waals 2-body contributions are evaluated much less often than with standard integrators using a 1fs timestep, up to a 400 % direct-space acceleration is observed. Applying the reversible reference system propagator algorithms (RESPA(1)) to reciprocal space (many-body) interactions allows BOUNCE-RESPA(1) to maintain large speedups in PBC while maintaining precision. Overall, we show that replacing the BAOAB integrator by the BOUNCE adaptive framework preserves a similar accuracy and lead to 2 to 4-fold computational savings depending on the molecular system, boundary condition choice and force field model compared to reference 1fs/BAOAB.

In a physical design problem, the designer chooses values of some physical parameters, within limits, to optimize the resulting field. We focus on the specific case in which each physical design parameter is the ratio of two field variables. This form occurs for photonic design with real scalar fields, diffusion-type systems, and others. We show that such problems can be reduced to a convex optimization problem, and therefore efficiently solved globally, given the sign of an optimal field at every point. This observation suggests a heuristic, in which the signs of the field are iteratively updated. This heuristic appears to have good practical performance on diffusion-type problems (including thermal design and resistive circuit design) and some control problems, while exhibiting moderate performance on photonic design problems. We also show in many practical cases there exist globally optimal designs whose design parameters are maximized or minimized at each point in the domain, i.e., that there is a discrete globally optimal structure.

We investigate a superconducting state irradiated by a laser beam with spin and orbital angular momentum. It is shown that superconducting vortices are created by the laser beam due to heating effect and transfer of angular momentum of light. Possible experiments to verify our prediction are also discussed.