The conjugate-pairing rule for non-Hamiltonian systems

In systems that satisfy the Conjugate Pairing Rule (CPR), the spectrum of Lyapunov exponents is symmetric. The sum of each conjugate pair of exponents is identical. Since in dissipative systems the sum of all the exponents is the entropy production divided by Boltzmann's constant, the calculation of transport coefficients from the Lyapunov exponents is greatly simplified in systems that satisfy CPR. Sufficient conditions for CPR are well known: the underlying adiabatic dynamics should be symplectic. However, the necessary conditions for CPR are not known. In this paper we report on the results of computer simulations which shed light on the necessary conditions for the CPR to hold. We provide, for the first time, convincing evidence that the standard molecular dynamics algorithm for calculating shear viscosity violates the CPR, even in the thermodynamic limit. In spite of this it appears that the sum of the maximal exponents is equal to the entropy production per degree of freedom. Thus it appears that the shear viscosity can still be calculated using the standard viscosity algorithm by summing the maximal pair of exponents.(c) 1998 American Institute of Physics.     

An SR1/BFGS SQP algorithm for nonconvex nonlinear programs with block-diagonal Hessian matrix

We present a quasi-Newton sequential quadratic programming (SQP) algorithm for nonlinear programs in which the Hessian of the Lagrangian function is block-diagonal. Problems with this characteristic frequently arise in the context of optimal control; for example, when a direct multiple shooting parametrization is used. In this article, we describe an implementation of a filter line-search SQP method that computes search directions using an active-set quadratic programming (QP) solver. To take advantage of the block-diagonal structure of the Hessian matrix, each block is approximated separately by quasi-Newton updates. For nonconvex instances, that arise, for example, in optimum experimental design control problems, these blocks are often found to be indefinite. In that case, the block-BFGS quasi-Newton update can lead to poor convergence. The novel aspect in this work is the use of SR1 updates in place of BFGS approximations whenever possible. The resulting indefinite QPs necessitate an inertia control mechanism within the sparse Schur-complement factorization that is carried out by the active-set QP solver. This permits an adaptive selection of the Hessian approximation that guarantees sufficient progress towards a stationary point of the problem. Numerical results demonstrate that the proposed approach reduces the number of SQP iterations and CPU time required for the solution of a set of optimal control problems.     

Spectral approximation for drainage of an Elastico‐viscous liquid and error analysis

A Fourier‐Galerkin spectral method is proposed and used to analyze a system of quasilinear partial differential equations governing the drainage of liquids of the Oldroyd four‐constant type. It is shown that, Fourier‐Galerkin approximations are convergent with spectral accuracy. An efficient and accurate algorithm based on the Fourier‐Galerkin approximations to the system of quasilinear partial differential equations are developed and implemented. Numerical results indicating the high accuracy and effectiveness of this algorithm are presented. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 28: 492–505, 2012     

A Practical Solution to a Cargo Loading Problem at Bethlehem Steel

The optimum assignment of structural steel shapes to rail cars is an important logistical problem in the steel industry. In this paper, we discuss an application at Bethlehem Steel that not only involves weight and dimensional constraints, but also customer unloading constraints. The formulation is a generalized bin packing problem which is solved by modifying and extending the first fit decreasing algorithm. The solution algorithm, SOLID (for Structural Optimal Loading IDentification), has been used extensively for one of Bethlehem's high tonnage customers providing very good practical (implementable) results that achieve the desired goals. Bethlehem has enhanced this approach for use with other customers.     

Off-equilibrium photon production during the chiral phase transition

In the early stage of ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions chiral symmetry is restored temporarily. During this so-called chiral phase transition, the quark masses change from their constituent to their bare values. This mass shift leads to the spontaneous non-perturbative creation of quark–antiquark pairs, which effectively contributes to the formation of the quark–gluon plasma. We investigate the photon production induced by this creation process. We provide an approach that eliminates possible unphysical contributions from the vacuum polarization and renders the resulting photon spectra integrable in the ultraviolet domain. The off-equilibrium photon numbers are of quadratic order in the perturbative coupling constants while a thermal production is only of quartic order. Quantitatively, we find, however, that for the most physical mass-shift scenarios and for photon momenta larger than 1 GeV the off-equilibrium processes contribute less photons than the thermal processes.     

On non-measurability of in its second dual

We show that with the weak topology is not an intersection of Borel sets in its Cech-Stone extension (and hence in any compactification). Assuming (CH), this implies that has no continuous injection onto a Borel set in a compact space, or onto a Lindelöf space. Under (CH), this answers a question of Arhangel'ski.

     

Light scattering observations of spin reversal excitations in the fractional quantum Hall regime

Resonant inelastic light scattering experiments access the low lying excitations of electron liquids in the fractional quantum Hall regime in the range 2/5≥ν≥1/3. Modes associated with changes in the charge and spin degrees of freedom are measured. Spectra of spin reversed excitations at filling factor ν?1/3 and at ν?2/5 identify a structure of lowest spin-split Landau levels of composite fermions (CFs) that is similar to that of electrons. Observations of spin wave excitations enable determinations of energies required to reverse spin. The spin reversal energies obtained from the spectra illustrate the significant residual interactions of composite fermions. At ν=1/3 energies of spin reversal modes are larger but relatively close to spin conserving excitations that are linked to activated transport. Predictions of composite fermion theory are in good quantitative agreement with experimental results.     

Intrinsic volumes of symmetric cones and applications in convex programming

Mathematical Programming - We express the probability distribution of the solution of a random (standard Gaussian) instance of a convex cone program in terms of the intrinsic volumes and curvature...     

Efficient terahertz coupling lens based on planar photonic crystals on silicon on insulator

We present a promising coupling device, namely, a terahertz (THz) planar photonic crystal (PhC) lens based on the effective refractive-index contrast between the PhC and the surrounding unpatterned area. Three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain calculations show a 90% power transfer from a 100-microm silicon waveguide to a 10-microm waveguide, and 45% coupling efficiency is confirmed experimentally. These results demonstrate the utility of the PhC lens as an effective approach to coupling into PhC THz circuits.     

On robust cross-validation for nonparametric smoothing

An essential problem in nonparametric smoothing of noisy data is a proper choice of the bandwidth or window width, which depends on a smoothing parameter $k$ . One way to choose $k$ based on the data is leave-one-out-cross-validation. The selection of the cross-validation criterion is similarly important as the choice of the smoother. Especially, when outliers are present, robust cross-validation criteria are needed. So far little is known about the behaviour of robust cross-validated smoothers in the presence of discontinuities in the regression function. We combine different smoothing procedures based on local constant fits with each of several cross-validation criteria. These combinations are compared in a simulation study under a broad variety of data situations with outliers and abrupt jumps. There is not a single overall best cross-validation criterion, but we find Boente-cross-validation to perform well in case of large percentages of outliers and the Tukey-criterion in case of data situations with jumps, even if the data are contaminated with outliers.