Non-involutive constrained systems and Hamilton-Jacobi formalism

In this work we discuss the natural appearance of the Generalized Brackets in systems with non-involutive (equivalent to second class) constraints in the Hamilton-Jacobi formalism. We show how a consistent geometric interpretation of the integrability conditions leads to the reduction of degrees of freedom of these systems and, as consequence, naturally defines a dynamics in a reduced phase space.     

Explicit Semi-invariants and Integrals of the Full Symmetric {\mathfrak{sl}_n} Toda Lattice

We show how to construct semi-invariants and integrals of the full symmetric \({\mathfrak{sl}_n}\) Toda lattice for all n. Using the Toda equations for the Lax eigenvector matrix we prove the existence of semi-invariants which are homogeneous coordinates in the corresponding projective spaces. Then we use these semi-invariants to construct the integrals. The existence of additional integrals which constitute a full set of independent non-involutive integrals was known but the chopping and Kostant procedures have crucial computational complexities already for low-rank Lax matrices and are practically not applicable for higher ranks. Our new approach solves this problem and results in simple explicit formulae for the full set of independent semi-invariants and integrals expressed in terms of the Lax matrix and its eigenvectors, and of eigenvalue matrices for the full symmetric \({\mathfrak{sl}_n}\) Toda lattice.     

Elliptic curves from finite order recursions or non-involutive permutations for discrete dynamical systems and lattice statistical mechanics

We study birational mappings generated by matrix inversion and permutations of the entries of matrices. For q=3 we have performed a systematic examination of all the birational mappings associated with permutations of matrices in order to find integrable mappings and some finite order recursions. This exhaustive analysis gives, among 30 462 classes of mappings, 20 classes of integrable birational mappings, 8 classes associated with integrable recursions and 44 classes yielding finite order recursions. An exhaustive analysis (with a constraint on the diagonal entries) has also been performed for matrices: we have found 880 new classes of mappings associated with integrable recursions. We have visualized the orbits of the birational mappings corresponding to these 880 classes. Most correspond to elliptic curves and very few to surfaces or higher dimensional algebraic varieties. All these new examples show that integrability can actually correspond to non-involutive permutations. The analysis of the integrable cases specific of a particular size of the matrix and a careful examination of the non-involutive permutations, shed some light on the integrability of such birational mappings. Received: 9 February 1998 / Revised: 13 March 1998 / Accepted: 17 March 1998     

Characterizing the Typical Information Curves of Diverse Languages

Optimal coding theories of language predict that speakers will keep the amount of information in their utterances relatively uniform under the constraints imposed by their language, but how much do these constraints influence information structure, and how does this influence vary across languages? We present a novel method for characterizing the information structure of sentences across a diverse set of languages. While the structure of English is broadly consistent with the shape predicted by optimal coding, many languages are not consistent with this prediction. We proceed to show that the characteristic information curves of languages are partly related to a variety of typological features from phonology to word order. These results present an important step in the direction of exploring upper bounds for the extent to which linguistic codes can be optimal for communication.     

Maximal lensing: mass constraints on point lens configurations

We set constraints and an upper bound on the masses required for a configuration of n point lenses to produce the maximum of 5n − 5 images of a distant source. We show how this result can be used to detect and constrain the mass of planets or brown dwarfs in multiple-star systems.     

Ageing in granular aluminium insulating thin films

We present a new set of electrical field effect measurements on granular aluminium insulating thin films. We have explored how the conductance relaxations induced by gate voltage changes depend on the age of the system, namely the time elapsed since its quench at low temperature. A clear age dependence of the relaxations is seen, qualitatively similar to ageing effects seen in other well studied glassy systems such as spin glasses or polymers. We explain how our results differ from the previous ones obtained with different protocols in indium oxide and granular aluminium thin films. Our experimental findings bring new information on the dynamics of the system and put new constraints on the theoretical models that may explain slow conductance relaxations in disordered insulators.     

Strings in Anisotropic Cosmological Spacetimes

We present a general method to reduce the full set of equations of motion and constraints in the conformal gauge for the bosonic string moving in a four-dimensional curved spacetime manifold with two spacelike Killing vector fields, to a set of six coupled first-order partial differential equations in six unknown functions. By an explicit transformation the constraints are solved identically and one ends up with only the equations of motion and integrability conditions. We apply the method to the family of inhomogeneous, non-singular cosmological models of Senovilla possessing two spacelike Killing vector fields, and show how one can extract classes of special exact solutions, even for this highly complicated metric. For the case of the same family of exact cosmological spacetimes, we give an explicit example, not previously encountered, where we have a direct and mutual transfer of energy between the string and the gravitational field.     

Solution to constraints in Wess-Zumino supergravity formalism

We explicitly solve the constraints of the superfield supergravity formalism of Wess and Zumino, for an arbitrary gauge, in terms of superfields. Wess and Zumino's action turns out to be identical to one of a class of actions found earlier by the author: the one with the minimal set of auxiliary fields. We also show how to write chiral Lagrangians, including the cosmological term and the Lagrangian for conformal supergravity.     

Statistical physics, optimization and source coding

The combinatorial problem of satisfying a given set of constraints that depend on N discrete variables is a fundamental one in optimization and coding theory. Even for instances of randomly generated problems, the question “does there exist an assignment to the variables that satisfies all constraints?” may become extraordinarily difficult to solve in some range of parameters where a glass phase sets in. We shall provide a brief review of the recent advances in the statistical mechanics approach to these satisfiability problems and show how the analytic results have helped to design a new class of message-passing algorithms — the survey propagation (SP) algorithms — that can efficiently solve some combinatorial problems considered intractable. As an application, we discuss how the packing properties of clusters of solutions in randomly generated satisfiability problems can be exploited in the design of simple lossy data compression algorithms.     

Superspace geometry and the minimal,non minimal,and new minimal supergravity multiplets

We analyse superspace constraints in a systematic way and define a set of natural constraints. We give a complete solution of the Bianchi identities subject to these constraints and obtain a reducible, but not fully reducible multiplet. By additional constraints it can be reduced to either the minimal, non minimal or new minimal multiplet. We discuss the superspace actions for the various multiplets.     

Dirac quantization of open p-brane

We give the scheme of Dirac quantization of open p-brane in the D-brane background. Treating the mixed boundary conditions as primary constraints, we get a set of secondary constraints, then the constraints conditions are shown to be equivalent to orbifold conditions imposed on normal p-brane modes.     

6D microstate geometries from 10D structures

We use the formalism of Generalised Geometry to characterise in general the supersymmetric backgrounds in type II supergravity that have a null Killing vector. We then specify this analysis to configurations that preserve the same supersymmetries as the D1–D5–P system compactified on a four-manifold. We give a set of equations on the forms defining the supergravity background that are equivalent to the supersymmetry constraints and the equations of motion. This study is motivated by the search of new microstate geometries for the D1–D5–P black hole. As an example, we rewrite the linearised three-charge solution of arXiv:hep-th/0311092 in our formalism and show how to extend it to a non-linear, regular and asymptotically flat configuration.     

Comprehensive encoding and decoupling solution to problems of decoherence and design in solid-state quantum computing

Proposals for scalable quantum computing devices suffer not only from decoherence due to the interaction with their environment, but also from severe engineering constraints. Here we introduce a practical solution to these major concerns, addressing solid-state proposals in particular. Decoherence is first reduced by encoding a logical qubit into two qubits, then completely eliminated by an efficient set of decoupling pulse sequences. The same encoding removes the need for single-qubit operations, which pose a difficult design constraint. We further show how the dominant decoherence processes can be identified empirically, in order to optimize the decoupling pulses.     

Worldtube conservation laws for the null-timelike evolution problem

I treat the worldtube constraints which arise in the null-timelike initial-boundary value problem for the Bondi-Sachs formulation of Einstein’s equations. Boundary data on a worldtube and initial data on an outgoing null hypersurface determine the exterior spacetime by integration along the outgoing null geodsics. The worldtube constraints are a set of conservation laws which impose conditions on the integration constants. I show how these constraints lead to a well-posed initial value problem governing the extrinsic curvature of the worldtube, whose components are related to the integration constants. Possible applications to gravitational waveform extraction and to the well-posedness of the null-timelike initial-boundary value problem are discussed.     

Vassiliev invariants: A new framework for quantum gravity

We show that Vassiliev invariants of knots, appropriately generalized to the spin network context, are loop differentiable in spite of being diffeomorphism invariant. This opens the possibility of defining rigorously the constraints of quantum gravity as geometrical operators acting on the space of Vassiliev invariants of spin nets. We show how to explicitly realize the diffeomorphism constraint on this space and present proposals for the construction of Hamiltonian constraints.     

Bayesian Reasoning with Trained Neural Networks

We showed how to use trained neural networks to perform Bayesian reasoning in order to solve tasks outside their initial scope. Deep generative models provide prior knowledge, and classification/regression networks impose constraints. The tasks at hand were formulated as Bayesian inference problems, which we approximately solved through variational or sampling techniques. The approach built on top of already trained networks, and the addressable questions grew super-exponentially with the number of available networks. In its simplest form, the approach yielded conditional generative models. However, multiple simultaneous constraints constitute elaborate questions. We compared the approach to specifically trained generators, showed how to solve riddles, and demonstrated its compatibility with state-of-the-art architectures.     

How the Jones polynomial gives rise to physical states of quantum general relativity

Solutions to both the diffeomorphism and the hamiltonian constraint of quantum gravity have been found in the loop representation, which is based on Ashtekar's new variables. While the diffeomorphism constraint is easily solved by considering loop functionals which are knot invariants, there remains the puzzle why several of the known knot invariants are also solutions to the hamiltonian constraint. We show how the Jones polynomial gives rise to an infinite set of solutions to all the constraints of quantum gravity thereby illuminating the structure of the space of solutions and suggesting the existance of a deep connection between quantum gravity and knot theory at a dynamical level.This essay received the third award from the Gravity Research Foundation, 1992-Ed     

Constraints and conserved quantities of the Kadomtsev-Petviashvili equations

We present an infinite set of constraints and conserved quantities for the Kadomtsev-Petviashvili equations which govern shallow water waves. These constraints are consequences of the singular linear dispersion relation. Although it limits greatly the acceptable initial wave profiles for the solution to remain localized for all time, the known lump solutions do indeed satisfy these constraints.     

A Quantum-Bayesian Route to Quantum-State Space

In the quantum-Bayesian approach to quantum foundations, a quantum state is viewed as an expression of an agent’s personalist Bayesian degrees of belief, or probabilities, concerning the results of measurements. These probabilities obey the usual probability rules as required by Dutch-book coherence, but quantum mechanics imposes additional constraints upon them. In this paper, we explore the question of deriving the structure of quantum-state space from a set of assumptions in the spirit of quantum Bayesianism. The starting point is the representation of quantum states induced by a symmetric informationally complete measurement or SIC. In this representation, the Born rule takes the form of a particularly simple modification of the law of total probability. We show how to derive key features of quantum-state space from (i) the requirement that the Born rule arises as a simple modification of the law of total probability and (ii) a limited number of additional assumptions of a strong Bayesian flavor.     

Constrained molecular dynamics in the isothermal-isobaric ensemble and its adaptation for adiabatic free energy dynamics

The implementation of holonomic constraints within measure-preserving integrators for molecular dynamics simulations in the isothermal-isobaric ensemble is considered. We review the basic methodology of generating measure-preserving integrators for the microcanonical, canonical, and isothermal-isobaric ensembles and proceed to show how the standard SHAKE and RATTLE algorithms must be modified for the isothermal-isobaric ensemble. Comparison is made between constrained and unconstrained simulations employing multiple time scale integration techniques. Finally, we describe a temperature accelerated version of the isothermal-isobaric molecular dynamics approach, in which the cell matrix is adiabatically decoupled from the particles and maintained at a high temperature as a means of exploring polymorphism in molecular crystals. We demonstrate that constraints can be easily adapted for this new approach and, again, we compare the performace of this temperature-accelerated scheme with and without bond constraints.