Statistical Physics Of Opinion Formation: Is it a SPOOF?

We present a short review based on the nonlinear q-voter model about problems and methods raised within statistical physics of opinion formation (SPOOF). We describe relations between models of opinion formation, developed by physicists, and theoretical models of social response, known in social psychology. We draw attention to issues that are interesting for social psychologists and physicists. We show examples of studies directly inspired by social psychology like: “independence vs. anticonformity” or “personality vs. situation”. We summarize the results that have been already obtained and point out what else can be done, also with respect to other models in SPOOF. Finally, we demonstrate several analytical methods useful in SPOOF, such as the concept of effective force and potential, Landau's approach to phase transitions, or mean-field and pair approximations.     

Phenomenology tools on cloud infrastructures using OpenStack

We present a new environment for computations in particle physics phenomenology employing recent developments in cloud computing. On this environment users can create and manage “virtual” machines on which the phenomenology codes/tools can be deployed easily in an automated way. We analyze the performance of this environment based on “virtual” machines versus the utilization of physical hardware. In this way we provide a qualitative result for the influence of the host operating system on the performance of a representative set of applications for phenomenology calculations.     

A stochastic approach to the Euler-Poincaré number of the loop space of a developable orbifold

We define a regularised version of the de Rham operator over the free loop space. We perform a semi-classical approximation of it, such that the index of the limit operator is equal to the “orbit Euler characteristic” of physicists.     

Phenomenology and theory of horizontally oscillated granular mixtures

We overview the physics of a granular mixture subject to horizontal oscillations, recently investigated via experiments and molecular dynamics simulations. First we discuss the rich phenomenology exhibited by this system, which encompasses both segregation and dynamical instabilities. Then we show that the phenomenology can be explained via an effective interaction approach, by which the driven, non-thermal, granular mixture in mapped into a monodispersed thermal system of particles interacting via an effective potential. After determining the effective interaction we discuss its microscopic origin and investigate how it induces the observed phenomenology. Finally, as much as in thermal fluids, from the effective interaction we derive a Cahn-Hilliard dynamics equation, which appears to capture the essential characteristics of the dynamics of the granular mixture.     

Landau theory for helical nematic phases

We propose Landau phenomenology for the phase transition from the conventional nematic into the conical helical orientationally non-uniform structure recently identified in liquid crystals formed by “banana”-shaped molecules. The mean field predictions are mostly in agreement with experimental data. Based on the analogy with de Gennes model, we argue that fluctuations of the order parameter turn the transition to the first order phase transition rather than continuous one predicted by the mean-field theory. This conclusion is in agreement with experimental observations. We discuss the new Goldstone mode to be observed in the low-temperature phase.     

Delimiting the Unconceived

It has been argued in Dawid (String theory and the scientific method, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, [4]) that physicists at times generate substantial trust in an empirically unconfirmed theory based on observations that lie beyond the theory’s intended domain. A crucial role in the reconstruction of this argument of “non-empirical confirmation” is played by limitations to scientific underdetermination. The present paper discusses the question as to how generic the role of limitations to scientific underdetermination really is. It is argued that assessing such limitations is essential for generating trust in any theory’s predictions, be it empirically confirmed or not. The emerging view suggests that empirical and non-empirical confirmation are more closely related to each other than one may expect at first glance.     

Why Does Deep and Cheap Learning Work So Well?

We show how the success of deep learning could depend not only on mathematics but also on physics: although well-known mathematical theorems guarantee that neural networks can approximate arbitrary functions well, the class of functions of practical interest can frequently be approximated through “cheap learning” with exponentially fewer parameters than generic ones. We explore how properties frequently encountered in physics such as symmetry, locality, compositionality, and polynomial log-probability translate into exceptionally simple neural networks. We further argue that when the statistical process generating the data is of a certain hierarchical form prevalent in physics and machine learning, a deep neural network can be more efficient than a shallow one. We formalize these claims using information theory and discuss the relation to the renormalization group. We prove various “no-flattening theorems” showing when efficient linear deep networks cannot be accurately approximated by shallow ones without efficiency loss; for example, we show that n variables cannot be multiplied using fewer than \(2^n\) neurons in a single hidden layer.     

Towards a separable “empirical reality”?

“To be” or “to be found”? Some contributions relative to this modern variant of Hamlet's question are presented here. They aim at better apprehending the differences between the points of view of the physicists who consider that present-day quantum measurement theories do reach their objective and those who deny they do. It is pointed out that these two groups have different interpretations of the verbs “to be” and “to have” and of the criterion for truth. These differences are made explicit. A notion of “empirical reality” is constructed within the representation of which the physicists of the first named group can consistently uphold their claim. A detailed way of sharpening this definition so as to make empirical reality free of nonlocal actions at a distance is also described.     

In social complex systems,the whole can be more or less than (the sum of) the parts

We discuss in a statistical physics framework the idea that “the whole is less than the parts”, as sometimes advocated by sociologists in view of the intrinsic complexity of humans, and try to reconcile this idea with the statistical physicists wisdom according to which “the whole is more than the sum of its parts” due to collective phenomena. We consider a simple mean-field model of interacting agents having an intrinsic complexity modeled by a large number of internal configurations. We show, by analytically solving the model, that interactions between agents lead, in some parameter range, to a ‘standardization’ of agents in the sense that all agents collapse in the same internal state, thereby drastically suppressing their complexity. Slightly generalizing the model, we find that agents standardization may lead to a global order if appropriate interactions are included. Hence, in this simple model, both agents standardization and collective organization may be viewed as two sides of the same coin.     

The Gauge-String Duality and Heavy Ion Collisions

I review at a non-technical level the use of the gauge-string duality to study aspects of heavy ion collisions, with special emphasis on the trailing string calculation of heavy quark energy loss. I include some brief speculations on how variants of the trailing string construction could provide a toy model of black hole formation and evaporation. This essay is an invited contribution to “Forty Years of String Theory” and is aimed at philosophers and historians of science as well as physicists.     

Light-cone distribution amplitudes of the ground state bottom baryons in HQET

We prove the existence of hidden symmetries in the general relativity theory defined by exact solutions with generic off-diagonal metrics, nonholonomic (non-integrable) constraints, and deformations of the frame and linear connection structure. A special role in characterization of such spacetimes is played by the corresponding nonholonomic generalizations of Stackel–Killing and Killing–Yano tensors. There are constructed new classes of black hole solutions and we study hidden symmetries for ellipsoidal and/or solitonic deformations of “prime” Kerr–Sen black holes into “target” off-diagonal metrics. In general, the classical conserved quantities (integrable and not-integrable) do not transfer to the quantized systems and produce quantum gravitational anomalies. We prove that such anomalies can be eliminated via corresponding nonholonomic deformations of fundamental geometric objects (connections and corresponding Riemannian and Ricci tensors) and by frame transforms.     

The Weinberg‐Salam Model of Electroweak Interactions: Ingenious Discovery or Lucky Hunch?

This contribution looks back at the papers published fifty years ago by Abdus Salam and Steven Weinberg, which are today regarded as marking the coming‐to‐be of the Weinberg‐Salam model of electroweak interactions. Despite their present fame, at the time of their publication the papers went largely unnoticed. Reconstructing the historical context from which they emerged will show how, against the traditional image of theoretical physicists as “lone geniuses,” the Weinberg‐Salam model actually came to be thanks to the interplay of many different actors and ideas.     

Random access sequence set design in wireless cellular communication networks

In modern wireless cellular communication systems, Zadoff–Chu (ZC) sequences have been chosen as random access sequences due to their perfect autocorrelation and cross-correlation properties. However, the orthogonality between these sequences is no longer true when there is a frequency offset between the access device and access point. Thereby, the overall performance of ZC sequence-based random access signals will be limited. In this paper, we give a comprehensive analysis on the effect of frequency offset. We show how frequency offset affects the orthogonal property between sequences, and hence incurs the “energy attenuation” and “energy leakage” problems. Consequently, the detection probabilities of the transmitted random access sequences and the false alarm probabilities of the unsent sequences are affected. A frequency offset resistant detection metric is proposed in this paper to improve the detection probability. In order to resist the frequency offset effect as well as apply to the proposed detection metric, mathematical properties of the optimized roots and cyclic shift set are exploited. Finally, we illustrate how to construct a practical random access signal set under the given timing and frequency offset uncertainties. This analytical framework provides a useful insight into ZC sequence-based random access signal design and performance analyses in wireless cellular communication systems.     

Casimir effects: An optical approach II. Local observables and thermal corrections

We recently proposed a new approach to the Casimir effect based on classical ray optics (the “optical approximation”). In this paper we show how to use it to calculate the local observables of the field theory. In particular, we study the energy–momentum tensor and the Casimir pressure. We work three examples in detail: parallel plates, the Casimir pendulum and a sphere opposite a plate. We also show how to calculate thermal corrections, proving that the high temperature ‘classical limit’ is indeed valid for any smooth geometry.