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In this letter, we study the proximal gradient dynamics. This recently-proposed continuous-time dynamics solves optimization problems whose cost functions are separable into a nonsmooth convex and a smooth component. First, we show that the cost function decreases monotonically along the trajectories of the proximal gradient dynamics. We then introduce a new condition that guarantees exponential convergence of the cost function to its optimal value, and show that this condition implies the proximal Polyak-{\L}ojasiewicz condition. We also show that the proximal Polyak-{\L}ojasiewicz condition guarantees exponential convergence of the cost function. Moreover, we extend these results to time-varying optimization problems, providing bounds for equilibrium tracking. Finally, we discuss applications of these findings, including the LASSO problem, quadratic optimization with polytopic constraints, and certain matrix based problems., Comment: Submitted to IEEE L-CSS and ACC, 6 pages

We have modified the metal-assisted transfer technique to obtain large-area few-layer flakes from transition metal dichalcogenides bulk crystals by introducing an initial stage - exfoliation of the bulk crystal onto an intermediate substrate, specifically a silicon wafer coated with polyvinyl alcohol. Following this, we thermally evaporate silver onto the sample and transfer the top layers of the crystal along with the silver layer to the target substrate. This technique allows the production of visually non-corrugated single- and few-layer flakes with high yield. A direct comparison of the micro-Raman and micro-photoluminescence spectra of flakes exfoliated using our method with the spectra of those exfoliated from scotch tape reveals differences in their properties. We identify signatures of deformations in the flakes exfoliated from the intermediate substrate, indicating the presence of static friction between the substrate and the flake. Our findings thus suggest a novel method to induce intrinsic deformation in 2D materials., Comment: 6 pages 4 figures; Supplementary available on request

We suggest a method for simultaneously generating high order quadrature weights for integrals over Lipschitz domains and their boundaries that requires neither meshing nor moment computation. The weights are determined on pre-defined scattered nodes as a minimum norm solution of a sparse underdetermined linear system arising from a discretization of a suitable boundary value problem by either collocation or meshless finite differences. The method is easy to implement independently of the domain's representation, since it only requires as inputs the position of all quadrature nodes and the direction of outward-pointing normals at each node belonging to the boundary. Numerical experiments demonstrate the robustness and high accuracy of the method on a number of smooth and piecewise smooth domains in 2D and 3D, including some with reentrant corners and edges.

The present work is the continuation of our paper [1]. It is devoted to the modeling of the interplay of equilibrium and non-equilibrium phase transitions. The modeling of equilibrium phase transition is based on the modified Cahn-Hilliard equation. The non-equilibrium phase transition is modeled by the Second Schl\"ogl reaction system. We consider the advancing front, which combines these both transitions. Different from [1], we consider here the memory effects, i.e. the effects of non-Fickian diffusion. The traveling wave solution is obtained, its dependence on the model parameters is studied in detail. The relative importance of memory effects for different process regimes is estimated., Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2002.07597

We report a twisted triple bilayer graphene platform consisting of three units of Bernal bilayer graphene (BLG) consecutively twisted at 1.49{\deg} and 1.68{\deg}. We observe inter-moir\'e Hofstadter butterflies from two co-existing moir\'e superlattices and a Hofstadter butterfly from reconstructed moir\'e-of-moir\'e lattice, and show that their Brown-Zak (BZ) oscillations quantitatively agree with each other, both evidencing strong atomic reconstruction with a lattice constant of 18.1 nm. We further demonstrate such atomic reconstruction strongly enhances the Berry curvature of each moir\'e and moir\'e-of-moir\'e band-insulator state, characterized by measured strong non-local valley Hall effect (VHE) that sensitively depends on the inter-moir\'e competition strength, tunable by manipulating the out-of-the-plane carrier distribution which controls the magnitude of the valley currents. Our study sheds new light on the microscopic mechanism of atomic and electronic reconstruction in twisted-multilayer systems, by investigating novel emergent quantum phenomena of reconstructed quasi-crystalline moir\'e-of-moir\'e superlattice, including a new type of moir\'e-of-moir\'e band-insulator states and atomically enhanced moir\'e Berry curvature. We show that the reconstructed electronic band can be versatilely tuned by electrostatics, providing an approach towards engineering the band structure and its topology for a novel quantum material platform with designer electrical and optical properties.

Gravitational shockwaves are geometries where components of the transverse curvature have abrupt behaviour across null hypersurfaces, which are fronts of the waves. We develop a general approach to describe classical field theories on such geometries in a linearized approximation, by using free scalar fields as a model. Perturbations caused by shockwaves exist above the wave front and are solutions to a characteristic Cauchy problem with initial data on the wave front determined by a supertranslation of ingoing fields. A special attention is paid to perturbations of fields of pointlike sources generated by plane-fronted gravitational shockwaves. One has three effects: conversion of non-stationary perturbations into an outgoing radiation, a spherical scalar shockwave which appears when the gravitational wave hits the source, and a plane scalar shockwave accompanying the initial gravitational wave. Our analysis is applicable to gravitational shockwaves of a general class including geometries sourced by null particles and null branes., Comment: 29 pages, 4 figures

Broadband absorption in the visible spectrum is essential in optoelectronic applications that involve power conversion such as photovoltaics and photocatalysis. Most ultrathin broadband absorbers use parasitic plasmonic structures that maximize absorption using surface plasmons and/or Fabry-Perot cavities, which limits the weight efficiency of the device. Here, we show the theoretical and experimental realization of an unpatterned/planar semiconductor thin-film absorber based on monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs). We experimentally demonstrate an average total absorption in the visible range (450 nm - 700 nm) of > 70% using > 4 nm of semiconductor absorbing materials scalable over large areas with vapor phase growth techniques. Our analysis suggests that a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 15.54% and a specific power > 300 W g^-1 may be achieved in a photovoltaic cell based on this metamaterial absorber.

Animal Re-ID is crucial for wildlife conservation, yet it faces unique challenges compared to person Re-ID. First, the scarcity and lack of diversity in datasets lead to background-biased models. Second, animal Re-ID depends on subtle, species-specific cues, further complicated by variations in pose, background, and lighting. This study addresses background biases by proposing a method to systematically remove backgrounds in both training and evaluation phases. And unlike prior works that depend on pose annotations, our approach utilizes an unsupervised technique for feature alignment across body parts and pose variations, enhancing practicality. Our method achieves superior results on three key animal Re-ID datasets: ATRW, YakReID-103, and ELPephants., Comment: Accepted to CVPR workshop CV4Animals 2024

The Super-Kamiokande and T2K collaborations present a joint measurement of neutrino oscillation parameters from their atmospheric and beam neutrino data. It uses a common interaction model for events overlapping in neutrino energy and correlated detector systematic uncertainties between the two datasets, which are found to be compatible. Using 3244.4 days of atmospheric data and a beam exposure of $19.7(16.3) \times 10^{20}$ protons on target in (anti)neutrino mode, the analysis finds a 1.9$\sigma$ exclusion of CP-conservation (defined as $J_{CP}=0$) and a preference for the normal mass ordering., Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures

Contraction theory is a mathematical framework for studying the convergence, robustness, and modularity properties of dynamical systems and algorithms. In this opinion paper, we provide five main opinions on the virtues of contraction theory. These opinions are (i) contraction theory is a unifying framework emerging from classical and modern works, (ii) contractivity is computationally-friendly, robust, and modular stability, (iii) numerous dynamical systems are contracting, (iv) contraction theory is relevant to modern applications, and (v) contraction theory can be vastly extended in numerous directions. We survey recent theoretical and applied research in each of these five directions.

The valley degree of freedom in 2D materials can be manipulated for low-dissipation quantum electronics called valleytronics. At the boundary between two regions of bilayer graphene with different atomic or electrostatic configuration, valley-polarized current has been realized. However, the demanding fabrication and operation requirements limit device reproducibility and scalability toward more advanced valleytronics circuits. We demonstrate a new device architecture of a point junction where a valley-chiral 0D PN junction is easily configured, switchable, and capable of carrying valley current with an estimated polarization of ~80%. This work provides a new building block in manipulating valley quantum numbers and scalable valleytronics.

Even the best current algorithms for estimating body 3D shape and pose yield results that include body self-intersections. In this paper, we present CLOAF, which exploits the diffeomorphic nature of Ordinary Differential Equations to eliminate such self-intersections while still imposing body shape constraints. We show that, unlike earlier approaches to addressing this issue, ours completely eliminates the self-intersections without compromising the accuracy of the reconstructions. Being differentiable, CLOAF can be used to fine-tune pose and shape estimation baselines to improve their overall performance and eliminate self-intersections in their predictions. Furthermore, we demonstrate how our CLOAF strategy can be applied to practically any motion field induced by the user. CLOAF also makes it possible to edit motion to interact with the environment without worrying about potential collision or loss of body-shape prior., Comment: CVPR 2024, 13 pages

In this letter, we investigate sufficient conditions for the exponential stability of LTI systems driven by controllers derived from parametric optimization problems. Our primary focus is on parametric projection controllers, namely parametric programs whose objective function is the squared distance to a nominal controller. Leveraging the virtual system method of analysis and a novel contractivity result for Lur'e systems, we establish a sufficient LMI condition for the exponential stability of an LTI system with a parametric projection-based controller. Separately, we prove additional results for single-integrator systems. Finally, we apply our results to state-dependent saturated control systems and control barrier function-based control and provide numerical simulations.

We analyze the convergence behavior of \emph{globally weakly} and \emph{locally strongly contracting} dynamics. Such dynamics naturally arise in the context of convex optimization problems with a unique minimizer. We show that convergence to the equilibrium is \emph{linear-exponential}, in the sense that the distance between each solution and the equilibrium is upper bounded by a function that first decreases linearly and then exponentially. As we show, the linear-exponential dependency arises naturally in certain dynamics with saturations. Additionally, we provide a sufficient condition for local input-to-state stability. Finally, we illustrate our results on, and propose a conjecture for, continuous-time dynamical systems solving linear programs., Comment: 16 pages, 4 Figures

Imposing incommensurable periodicity on the periodic atomic lattice can lead to complex structural phases consisting of locally periodic structure bounded by topological defects. Twisted trilayer graphene (TTG) is an ideal material platform to study the interplay between different atomic periodicities, which can be tuned by twist angles between the layers, leading to moir\'e-of-moir\'e lattices. Interlayer and intralayer interactions between two interfaces in TTG transform this moir\'e-of-moir\'e lattice into an intricate network of domain structures at small twist angles, which can harbor exotic electronic behaviors. Here we report a complete structural phase diagram of TTG with atomic scale lattice reconstruction. Using transmission electron microscopy combined with a new interatomic potential simulation, we show that a cornucopia of large-scale moir\'e lattices, ranging from triangular, kagome, and a corner-shared hexagram-shaped domain pattern, are present. For small twist angles below 0.1{\deg}, all domains are bounded by a network of two-dimensional domain wall lattices. In particular, in the limit of small twist angles, the competition between interlayer stacking energy and the formation of discommensurate domain walls leads to unique spontaneous symmetry breaking structures with nematic orders, suggesting the pivotal role of long-range interactions across entire layers. The diverse tessellation of distinct domains, whose topological network can be tuned by the adjustment of the twist angles, establishes TTG as a platform for exploring the interplay between emerging quantum properties and controllable nontrivial lattices.

Global stability and robustness guarantees in learned dynamical systems are essential to ensure well-behavedness of the systems in the face of uncertainty. We present Extended Linearized Contracting Dynamics (ELCD), the first neural network-based dynamical system with global contractivity guarantees in arbitrary metrics. The key feature of ELCD is a parametrization of the extended linearization of the nonlinear vector field. In its most basic form, ELCD is guaranteed to be (i) globally exponentially stable, (ii) equilibrium contracting, and (iii) globally contracting with respect to some metric. To allow for contraction with respect to more general metrics in the data space, we train diffeomorphisms between the data space and a latent space and enforce contractivity in the latent space, which ensures global contractivity in the data space. We demonstrate the performance of ELCD on the high dimensional LASA, multi-link pendulum, and Rosenbrock datasets., Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures. Under Review

When enough annotated training data is available, supervised deep-learning algorithms excel at estimating human body pose and shape using a single camera. The effects of too little such data being available can be mitigated by using other information sources, such as databases of body shapes, to learn priors. Unfortunately, such sources are not always available either. We show that, in such cases, easy-to-obtain unannotated videos can be used instead to provide the required supervisory signals. Given a trained model using too little annotated data, we compute poses in consecutive frames along with the optical flow between them. We then enforce consistency between the image optical flow and the one that can be inferred from the change in pose from one frame to the next. This provides enough additional supervision to effectively refine the network weights and to perform on par with methods trained using far more annotated data., Comment: 21 pages; TMLR

The Mu2e experiment at Fermilab searches for the neutrino-less conversion of a negative muon into an electron, with a distinctive signature of a mono-energetic electron with energy of 104.967 MeV. The calorimeter is made of two disks of pure CsI crystals, each read out by two custom large area UV-extended SiPMs. It plays a fundamental role in providing excellent particle identification capabilities and an online trigger filter while improving the track reconstruction, requiring better than 10% energy and 500 ps timing resolutions for 100 MeV electrons. In this paper, we present the status of construction and the Quality Control (QC) performed on the produced crystals and photosensors, the development of the rad-hard electronics, and the most important results of the irradiation tests. Construction of the mechanics is also reported. Status and plans for the calorimeter assembly and its first commissioning are described.

A method for solving elasticity problems based on separable physics-informed neural networks (SPINN) in conjunction with the deep energy method (DEM) is presented. Numerical experiments have been carried out for a number of problems showing that this method has a significantly higher convergence rate and accuracy than the vanilla physics-informed neural networks (PINN) and even SPINN based on a system of partial differential equations (PDEs). In addition, using the SPINN in the framework of DEM approach it is possible to solve problems of the linear theory of elasticity on complex geometries, which is unachievable with the help of PINNs in frames of partial differential equations. Considered problems are very close to the industrial problems in terms of geometry, loading, and material parameters.

In the literature, lines of the projective space $\mathrm{PG}(3,q)$ are partitioned into classes, each of which is a union of line orbits under the stabilizer group of the twisted cubic. The least studied class is named $\mathcal{O}_6$. This class contains lines external to the twisted cubic which are not its chords or axes and do not lie in any of its osculating planes. For even and odd $q$, we propose a new family of orbits of $\mathcal{O}_6$ and investigate in detail their stabilizer groups and the corresponding submatrices of the point-line and plane-line incidence matrices. To obtain these submatrices, we explored the number of solutions of cubic and quartic equations connected with intersections of lines (including the tangents to the twisted cubic), points, and planes in $\mathrm{PG}(3,q)$., Comment: 28 pages. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2209.04910, arXiv:2210.12821

Dark matter may consist of axion-like particles (ALPs). When polarized electromagnetic radiation passes through the dark-matter media, interaction with background ALPs affects the polarization of photons. The condensate of axionic dark matter experiences periodic oscillations, and the period of the oscillations is of order of years for ultra-light dark matter. This would result in observable periodic changes in the polarization plane, determined by the phases of the ALP field at the Earth and at the source. In this paper, we use recent polarimetric observations of the HL Tauri protoplanetary disk performed in different years to demonstrate the lack of changes of polarization angles, and hence to constrain masses and photon couplings of the hypothetical axion-like ultralight dark matter., Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, results in sec. III were corrected. Submitted to Phys. Rev. D

The critical behaviour of laser-induced changes in magnetic ordering is studied experimentally in two-dimensional zigzag antiferromagnets $XY$-like NiPS$_3$ and Ising-like FePS$_3$. To examine laser-induced dynamics in flakes of these compounds, we employ time-resolved exchange linear dichroism effect sensitive to zigzag magnetic ordering and independent of the orientation of the antiferromagnetic vector. In both compounds laser excitation in the vicinity of the absorption edge induces partial quenching of the antiferromagnetic ordering manifested by exchange linear dichroism reduction. The amplitude of the effect varies with temperature as the derivative of the antiferromagnetic vector and exhibits a critical behaviour with the exponents corresponding to $XY$- and Ising-models for NiPS$_3$ and FePS$_3$, respectively. Critical slowing down of the demagnetization in the vicinity of N\'eel temperature is found, however, only in FePS$_3$. In contrast, the increase of the demagnetization time near the ordering temperature in NiPS$_3$ is minor. We show that the difference in the demagnetization times correlates well with the spin specific heat in both compounds. Beyond the range of slowing down, the demagnetization times in NiPS$_3$ and FePS$_3$ are comparable, about 5 - 10 ps, and are longer than those reported earlier for CoPS$_3$ and considerably shorter than for MnPS$_3$. This points to the importance of the unquenched angular momentum of transition-metal ions in laser-induced demagnetization process., Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures

We fabricate a twisted trilayer graphene device with consecutive twist angles of 1.33 and 1.64 degrees, in which we electrostatically tune the electronic states from each of the two co-existing moir\'e superlattices and the interactions between them. When both moir\'e superlattices contribute equally to electrical transport, we report a new type of inter-moir\'e Hofstadter butterfly. Its Brown-Zak oscillation corresponds to one of the intermediate quasicrystal length scales of the reconstructed moir\'e of moir\'e (MoM) superlattice, shedding new light on emergent physics from competing atomic orders.

The vast high entropy alloy (HEA) composition space is promising for discovery of new material phases with unique properties. We explore the potential to achieve rare-earth-free high magnetic anisotropy materials in single-phase HEA thin films. Thin films of FeCoNiMnCu sputtered on thermally oxidized Si/SiO$_{2}$ substrates at room temperature are magnetically soft, with a coercivity on the order of 10 Oe. After post-deposition rapid thermal annealing (RTA), the films exhibit a single face-centered-cubic phase, with an almost 40-fold increase in coercivity. Inclusion of 50 at.% Pt in the film leads to ordering of a single L1$_{0}$ high entropy intermetallic phase after RTA, along with high magnetic anisotropy and 3 orders of magnitude coercivity increase. These results demonstrate a promising HEA approach to achieve high magnetic anisotropy materials using RTA., Comment: 28 pages, including 4 figures and 6 pages of supporting information (5 SI figures and 2 SI tables)

We present here definitions and constructions basic for the theory of monoidal and tensor categories. We provide references to the original sources, whenever possible. Group-theoretical categories are used as examples

We propose and analyze a continuous-time firing-rate neural network, the positive firing-rate competitive network (\pfcn), to tackle sparse reconstruction problems with non-negativity constraints. These problems, which involve approximating a given input stimulus from a dictionary using a set of sparse (active) neurons, play a key role in a wide range of domains, including for example neuroscience, signal processing, and machine learning. First, by leveraging the theory of proximal operators, we relate the equilibria of a family of continuous-time firing-rate neural networks to the optimal solutions of sparse reconstruction problems. Then, we prove that the \pfcn is a positive system and give rigorous conditions for the convergence to the equilibrium. Specifically, we show that the convergence: (i) only depends on a property of the dictionary; (ii) is linear-exponential, in the sense that initially the convergence rate is at worst linear and then, after a transient, it becomes exponential. We also prove a number of technical results to assess the contractivity properties of the neural dynamics of interest. Our analysis leverages contraction theory to characterize the behavior of a family of firing-rate competitive networks for sparse reconstruction with and without non-negativity constraints. Finally, we validate the effectiveness of our approach via a numerical example., Comment: 26 pages, 9 Figure, 1 Table

We report the results of polarization-dependent Raman spectroscopy of phonon states in single-crystalline quasi-one-dimensional NbTe$_4$ and TaTe$_4$ van der Waals materials. The measurements were conducted in the wide temperature range from 80 K to 560 K. Our results show that although both materials have identical crystal structures and symmetries, there is a drastic difference in the intensity of their Raman spectra. While TaTe4 exhibits well-defined peaks through the examined frequency and temperature ranges, NbTe4 reveals extremely weak Raman signatures. The measured spectral positions of the phonon peaks agree with the phonon band structure calculated using the density-functional theory. We offer possible reasons for the in-tensity differences between the two van der Waals materials. Our results provide insights into the phonon properties of NbTe$_4$ and TaTe$_4$ van der Waals materials and indicate the potential of Raman spectroscopy for studying charge-density-wave quantum condensate phases., Comment: 24 pages; 6 figures; 1 table

Null cosmic strings are shown to disturb gravitational fields of massive bodies and create outgoing gravitational waves (GW). Perturbations of the metric caused by a straight null string and a point-like massive source are found as solutions to linearized Einstein equations on a flat space-time. An analytic approximation for their asymptotic at future null infinity is derived. A space-time created by the source and the string is shown to have asymptotically polyhomogeneous form. We calculate GW flux in such space-times and demonstrate that the averaged intensity of the radiation is maximal in the direction of the string motion. Opportunities to detect null string generated gravity waves are briefly discussed., Comment: 30 paqes, 2 figures, v2, where a new section, comments and references are added

The length function $\ell_q(r,R)$ is the smallest possible length $n$ of a $ q $-ary linear $[n,n-r]_qR$ code with codimension (redundancy) $r$ and covering radius $R$. Let $s_q(N,\rho)$ be the smallest size of a $\rho$-saturating set in the projective space $\mathrm{PG}(N,q)$. There is a one-to-one correspondence between $[n,n-r]_qR$ codes and $(R-1)$-saturating $n$-sets in $\mathrm{PG}(r-1,q)$ that implies $\ell_q(r,R)=s_q(r-1,R-1)$. In this work, for $R\ge3$, new asymptotic upper bounds on $\ell_q(tR+1,R)$ are obtained in the following form: $\hspace{0.7cm} \bullet~\ell_q(tR+1,R) =s_q(tR,R-1)\le \sqrt[R]{\frac{R!}{R^{R-2}}}\cdot q^{(r-R)/R}\cdot\sqrt[R]{\ln q}+o(q^{(r-R)/R}), \hspace{0.3cm}r=tR+1,~t\ge1,~ q\text{ is an arbitrary prime power},~q\text{ is large enough};$ $\hspace{0.7cm} \bullet~\text{ if additionally }R\text{ is large enough, then }\sqrt[R]{\frac{R!}{R^{R-2}}}\thicksim\frac{1}{e}\thickapprox0.3679. $ The new bounds are essentially better than the known ones. For $t=1$, a new construction of $(R-1)$-saturating sets in the projective space $\mathrm{PG}(R,q)$, providing sets of small sizes, is proposed. The $[n,n-(R+1)]_qR$ codes, obtained by the construction, have minimum distance $R + 1$, i.e. they are almost MDS (AMDS) codes. These codes are taken as the starting ones in the lift-constructions (so-called "$q^m$-concatenating constructions") for covering codes to obtain infinite families of codes with growing codimension $r=tR+1$, $t\ge1$., Comment: 24 pages. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2108.13609

The ability to emit narrow exciton lines, preferably with a clearly defined polarization, is one of the key conditions for the use of nanostructures based on III-VI monochalcogenides and other layered crystals in quantum technology to create non-classical light. Currently, the main method of their formation is exfoliation followed by strain and defect engineering. A factor limiting the use of epitaxy is the presence of different phases in the grown films. In this work, we show that control over their formation makes it possible to create structures with the desired properties. We propose Ga$_2$Se$_3$/GaSe nanostructures by van der Waals epitaxy with a high VI/III flux ratio as a source of narrow exciton lines. Actually, these nanostructures are a combination of allotropes: GaSe and Ga$_2$Se$_3$, consisting of the same atoms in different arrangements. The energy position of the narrow lines is determined by the quantum confinement in Ga$_2$Se$_3$ inclusions of different sizes in the GaSe matrix, similar to quantum dots, and their linear polarization is due to the ordering of Ga vacancies in a certain crystalline direction in Ga$_2$Se$_3$. Such nanostructures exhibit single-photon emission with second-order correlation function $g^{(2)}(0)\sim$0.1 at 10 K that makes them promising for quantum technologies.

Experiments such as mu2e (FNAL, USA) and COMET (KEK, Japan), seeking the direct muon-to-electron conversion as part of the study of Charged Leptons Flavor Violation processes, should have a extremely high, up-to 99.99\%, efficiency muon detection system with a view to their subsequent suppression as background. In this article, the possibility to achieve such efficiency for a short and long term is discussed for modules based on 7- or 10-mm-thick but same 40-mm-wide plastic scintillation strips with single 1.2 mm WLS fiber glued into the groove along the strip and using MPPC/SiPM for light detection. A Simplified Light Yield Distribution method to estimate the efficiency of the module was proposed and the simulation results obtained with GEANT 4 for a system based on a 4-by-4 array of 7x40x3000 mm strips compared with the experimental data. Found that for the systems required the high level registration efficiency at the 99.99\% and more, it is important to improve the light yield as much as possible and achieve the gap between neighbor scintillation volumes as small as possible.

The Snowmass report on rare processes and precision measurements recommended Mu2e-II and a next generation muon facility at Fermilab (Advanced Muon Facility) as priorities for the frontier. The Workshop on a future muon program at FNAL was held in March 2023 to discuss design studies for Mu2e-II, organizing efforts for the next generation muon facility, and identify synergies with other efforts (e.g., muon collider). Topics included high-power targetry, status of R&D for Mu2e-II, development of compressor rings, FFA and concepts for muon experiments (conversion, decays, muonium and other opportunities) at AMF. This document summarizes the workshop discussions with a focus on future R&D tasks needed to realize these concepts., Comment: 68 pages, 36 figures

In this letter, we study distributed optimization and Nash equilibrium-seeking dynamics from a contraction theoretic perspective. Our first result is a novel bound on the logarithmic norm of saddle matrices. Second, for distributed gradient flows based upon incidence and Laplacian constraints over arbitrary topologies, we establish strong contractivity over an appropriate invariant vector subspace. Third, we give sufficient conditions for strong contractivity in pseudogradient and best response games with complete information, show the equivalence of these conditions, and consider the special case of aggregative games., Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, jointly submitted to the IEEE Control Systems Letters and the 2024 American Control Conference

We report an updated measurement of the $\nu_{\mu}$-induced, and the first measurement of the $\bar{\nu}_{\mu}$-induced coherent charged pion production cross section on $^{12}C$ nuclei in the T2K experiment. This is measured in a restricted region of the final-state phase space for which $p_{\mu,\pi} > 0.2$ GeV, $\cos(\theta_{\mu}) > 0.8$ and $\cos(\theta_{\pi}) > 0.6$, and at a mean (anti)neutrino energy of 0.85 GeV using the T2K near detector. The measured $\nu_{\mu}$ CC coherent pion production flux-averaged cross section on $^{12}C$ is $(2.98 \pm 0.37 (stat.) \pm 0.31 (syst.) \substack{ +0.49 \\ -0.00 } \mathrm{ (Q^2\,model)}) \times 10^{-40}~\mathrm{cm}^{2}$. The new measurement of the $\bar{\nu}_{\mu}$-induced cross section on $^{12}{C}$ is $(3.05 \pm 0.71 (stat.) \pm 0.39 (syst.) \substack{ +0.74 \\ -0.00 } \mathrm{(Q^2\,model)}) \times 10^{-40}~\mathrm{cm}^{2}$. The results are compatible with both the NEUT 5.4.0 Berger-Sehgal (2009) and GENIE 2.8.0 Rein-Sehgal (2007) model predictions.

Two-dimensional materials, such as transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs), have the potential to revolutionize the field of electronics and photonics due to their unique physical and structural properties. This research presents a novel method for synthesizing crystalline TMDCs crystals with < 10 nm size using ultra-fast migration of vacancies at elevated temperatures. Through in-situ and ex-situ processing and using atomic-level characterization techniques, we analyze the shape, size, crystallinity, composition, and strain distribution of these nanocrystals. These nanocrystals exhibit electronic structure signatures that differ from the 2D bulk i.e., uniform mono and multilayers. Further, our in-situ, vacuum-based synthesis technique allows observation and comparison of defect and phase evolution in these crystals formed under van der Waals heterostructure confinement versus unconfined conditions. Overall, this research demonstrates a solid-state route to synthesizing uniform nanocrystals of TMDCs and lays the foundation for materials science in confined 2D spaces under extreme conditions., Comment: MS+SI

This document presents the initial scientific case for upgrading the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF) at Jefferson Lab (JLab) to 22 GeV. It is the result of a community effort, incorporating insights from a series of workshops conducted between March 2022 and April 2023. With a track record of over 25 years in delivering the world's most intense and precise multi-GeV electron beams, CEBAF's potential for a higher energy upgrade presents a unique opportunity for an innovative nuclear physics program, which seamlessly integrates a rich historical background with a promising future. The proposed physics program encompass a diverse range of investigations centered around the nonperturbative dynamics inherent in hadron structure and the exploration of strongly interacting systems. It builds upon the exceptional capabilities of CEBAF in high-luminosity operations, the availability of existing or planned Hall equipment, and recent advancements in accelerator technology. The proposed program cover various scientific topics, including Hadron Spectroscopy, Partonic Structure and Spin, Hadronization and Transverse Momentum, Spatial Structure, Mechanical Properties, Form Factors and Emergent Hadron Mass, Hadron-Quark Transition, and Nuclear Dynamics at Extreme Conditions, as well as QCD Confinement and Fundamental Symmetries. Each topic highlights the key measurements achievable at a 22 GeV CEBAF accelerator. Furthermore, this document outlines the significant physics outcomes and unique aspects of these programs that distinguish them from other existing or planned facilities. In summary, this document provides an exciting rationale for the energy upgrade of CEBAF to 22 GeV, outlining the transformative scientific potential that lies within reach, and the remarkable opportunities it offers for advancing our understanding of hadron physics and related fundamental phenomena., Comment: Updates to the list of authors; Preprint number changed from theory to experiment; Updates to sections 4 and 6, including additional figures

Topological insulators (TI) and magnetic topological insulators (MTI) can apply highly efficient spin-orbit torque (SOT) and manipulate the magnetization with their unique topological surface states with ultra-high efficiency. Here, we demonstrate efficient SOT switching of a hard MTI, V-doped (Bi,Sb)2Te3 (VBST) with a large coercive field that can prevent the influence of an external magnetic field. A giant switched anomalous Hall resistance of 9.2 $k\Omega$ is realized, among the largest of all SOT systems, which makes the Hall channel a good readout and eliminates the need to fabricate complicated magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) structures. The SOT switching current density can be reduced to $2.8\times10^5 A/cm^2$. Moreover, as the Fermi level is moved away from the Dirac point by both gate and composition tuning, VBST exhibits a transition from edge-state-mediated to surface-state-mediated transport, thus enhancing the SOT effective field to $1.56\pm 0.12 T/ (10^6 A/cm^2)$ and the interfacial charge-to-spin conversion efficiency to $3.9\pm 0.3 nm^{-1}$. The findings establish VBST as an extraordinary candidate for energy-efficient magnetic memory devices.

We consider overlap splines that are defined by connecting the patches of piecewise functions via common values at given finite sets of nodes, without using any partitions of the computational domain. It is shown that some classical finite difference methods may be interpreted as collocation with overlap splines. Moreover, several versions of the meshless finite difference methods, such as the RBF-FD method, are equivalent to the collocation or discrete least squares with appropriately chosen spaces of overlap splines.

In this article, we provide a novel and broadly-applicable contraction-theoretic approach to continuous-time time-varying convex optimization. For any parameter-dependent contracting dynamics, we show that the tracking error is asymptotically proportional to the rate of change of the parameter with proportionality constant upper bounded by Lipschitz constant in which the parameter appears divided by the contraction rate of the dynamics squared. We additionally establish that any parameter-dependent contracting dynamics can be augmented with a feedforward prediction term to ensure that the tracking error converges to zero exponentially quickly. To apply these results to time-varying convex optimization problems, we establish the strong infinitesimal contractivity of dynamics solving three canonical problems, namely monotone inclusions, linear equality-constrained problems, and composite minimization problems. For each of these problems, we prove the sharpest-known rates of contraction and provide explicit tracking error bounds between solution trajectories and minimizing trajectories. We validate our theoretical results on three numerical examples including an application to control-barrier function based controller design.

The smallest possible length of a $q$-ary linear code of covering radius $R$ and codimension (redundancy) $r$ is called the length function and is denoted by $\ell_q(r,R)$. In this work, for $q$ \emph{an arbitrary prime power}, we obtain the following new constructive upper bounds on $\ell_q(3t+1,3)$: $\ell_q(r,3)\lessapprox \sqrt[3]{k}\cdot q^{(r-3)/3}\cdot\sqrt[3]{\ln q},~r=3t+1, ~t\ge1, ~ q\ge\lceil\mathcal{W}(k)\rceil, 18

Muon neutrino and antineutrino disappearance probabilities are identical in the standard three-flavor neutrino oscillation framework, but CPT violation and non-standard interactions can violate this symmetry. In this work we report the measurements of $\sin^{2} \theta_{23}$ and $\Delta m_{32}^2$ independently for neutrinos and antineutrinos. The aforementioned symmetry violation would manifest as an inconsistency in the neutrino and antineutrino oscillation parameters. The analysis discussed here uses a total of 1.97$\times$10$^{21}$ and 1.63$\times$10$^{21}$ protons on target taken with a neutrino and antineutrino beam respectively, and benefits from improved flux and cross-section models, new near detector samples and more than double the data reducing the overall uncertainty of the result. No significant deviation is observed, consistent with the standard neutrino oscillation picture.

Ultracompact chip-integrated single-photon sources of collimated beams with polarizationencoded states are crucial for integrated quantum technologies. However, most of currently available single-photon sources rely on external bulky optical components to shape the polarization and phase front of emitted photon beams. Efficient integration of quantum emitters with beam shaping and polarization encoding functionalities remains so far elusive. Here, we present ultracompact single-photon sources of linearly polarized vortex beams based on chip-integrated quantum emitter-coupled metasurfaces, which are meticulously designed by fully exploiting the potential of nanobrick arrayed metasurfaces. We first demonstrate on-chip single-photon generation of high-purity linearly polarized vortex beams with prescribed topological charges of -1, 0, and +1. We further realize multiplexing of single-photon emission channels with orthogonal linear polarizations carrying different topological charges and demonstrate their entanglement. Our work illustrates the potential and feasibility of ultracompact quantum emitter-coupled metasurfaces as a new quantum optics platform for realizing chip-integrated high-dimensional single-photon sources., Comment: 17 pages and 4 figures in the main text; 22 pages and 14 figures in supplementary information

We consider a limit theorem for the distribution of a r.v. $Y_n:=argmax {\{X_i, i= 1,..., n\}},$ where $X_i'$s are independent continuous non-negative random variables. The r.v.'s $\{X_i, i=1,..., n\}$, may be interpreted as the gains of $n$ players in a game, and the r.v. $Y_n$ itself as the number of a ``winner". In the case of i.i.d.r.v.'s, the distribution of $Y_n$ is, clearly, uniform on $\{1,..., n\},$ while when the $X'$s are non-identically distributed, the problem requires some calculations., Comment: 11 pages

Many phenomena can be modeled as network dynamics with punctuate interactions. However, most relevant dynamics do not allow for computational tractability. To circumvent this difficulty, the Poisson Hypothesis regime replaces interaction times between nodes by independent Poisson processes, allowing for tractability in several cases, such as intensity-based models from computational neuroscience. This hypothesis is usually only conjectured, or numerically validated. In this work, we introduce a class of processes in continuous time called continuous fragmentation-interaction-aggregation processes, by analogy with previously introduced processes in discrete time. The state of each node, described by the stochastic intensity of an associated point process, aggregates arrivals from its neighbors and is fragmented upon departure. We consider the replica-mean-field version of such a process, which is a physical system consisting of randomly interacting copies of the network of interest. Generalizing results proved in discrete time and in the particular case of excitatory intensity-based neural dynamics, we prove that the Poisson Hypothesis holds at the limit of an infinite number of replicas., Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:2211.11490

A method is presented that allows to reduce a problem described by differential equations with initial and boundary conditions to the problem described only by differential equations. The advantage of using the modified problem for physics-informed neural networks (PINNs) methodology is that it becomes possible to represent the loss function in the form of a single term associated with differential equations, thus eliminating the need to tune the scaling coefficients for the terms related to boundary and initial conditions. The weighted loss functions respecting causality were modified and new weighted loss functions based on generalized functions are derived. Numerical experiments have been carried out for a number of problems, demonstrating the accuracy of the proposed methods., Comment: 25 pages, 7 figures, 6 tables

Electric field control of the exchange bias effect across ferromagnet/antiferromagnet (FM/AF) interfaces has offered exciting potentials for low-energy-dissipation spintronics. In particular, the solid state magneto-ionic means is highly appealing as it may allow reconfigurable electronics by transforming the all-important FM/AF interfaces through ionic migration. In this work, we demonstrate an approach that combines the chemically induced magneto-ionic effect with the electric field driving of nitrogen in the Ta/Co$_{0.7}$Fe$_{0.3}$/MnN/Ta structure to electrically manipulate exchange bias. Upon field-cooling the heterostructure, ionic diffusion of nitrogen from MnN into the Ta layers occurs. A significant exchange bias of 618 Oe at 300 K and 1484 Oe at 10 K is observed, which can be further enhanced after a voltage conditioning by 5% and 19%, respectively. This enhancement can be reversed by voltage conditioning with an opposite polarity. Nitrogen migration within the MnN layer and into the Ta capping layer cause the enhancement in exchange bias, which is observed in polarized neutron reflectometry studies. These results demonstrate an effective nitrogen-ion based magneto-ionic manipulation of exchange bias in solid-state devices., Comment: 28 pages, 4 figures; supporting information: 17 pages, 11 figures

This paper reports the first measurement of muon neutrino charged-current interactions without pions in the final state using multiple detectors with correlated energy spectra at T2K. The data was collected on hydrocarbon targets using the off-axis T2K near detector (ND280) and the on-axis T2K near detector (INGRID) with neutrino energy spectra peaked at 0.6 GeV and 1.1 GeV respectively. The correlated neutrino flux presents an opportunity to reduce the impact of the flux uncertainty and to study the energy dependence of neutrino interactions. The extracted double-differential cross sections are compared to several Monte Carlo neutrino-nucleus interaction event generators showing the agreement between both detectors individually and with the correlated result., Comment: Updated discussion in Sec. V-A; Updated author list

While monotone operator theory is traditionally studied on Hilbert spaces, many interesting problems in data science and machine learning arise naturally in finite-dimensional vector spaces endowed with non-Euclidean norms, such as diagonally-weighted $\ell_1$ or $\ell_\infty$ norms. This paper provides a natural generalization of monotone operator theory to finite-dimensional non-Euclidean spaces. The key tools are weak pairings and logarithmic norms. We show that the resolvent and reflected resolvent operators of non-Euclidean monotone mappings exhibit similar properties to their counterparts in Hilbert spaces. Furthermore, classical iterative methods and splitting methods for finding zeros of monotone operators are shown to converge in the non-Euclidean case. We apply our theory to equilibrium computation and Lipschitz constant estimation of recurrent neural networks, obtaining novel iterations and tighter upper bounds via forward-backward splitting., Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2204.01877

The T2K experiment presents new measurements of neutrino oscillation parameters using $19.7(16.3)\times10^{20}$ protons on target (POT) in (anti-)neutrino mode at the far detector (FD). Compared to the previous analysis, an additional $4.7\times10^{20}$ POT neutrino data was collected at the FD. Significant improvements were made to the analysis methodology, with the near-detector analysis introducing new selections and using more than double the data. Additionally, this is the first T2K oscillation analysis to use NA61/SHINE data on a replica of the T2K target to tune the neutrino flux model, and the neutrino interaction model was improved to include new nuclear effects and calculations. Frequentist and Bayesian analyses are presented, including results on $\sin^2\theta_{13}$ and the impact of priors on the $\delta_\mathrm{CP}$ measurement. Both analyses prefer the normal mass ordering and upper octant of $\sin^2\theta_{23}$ with a nearly maximally CP-violating phase. Assuming the normal ordering and using the constraint on $\sin^2\theta_{13}$ from reactors, $\sin^2\theta_{23}=0.561^{+0.021}_{-0.032}$ using Feldman--Cousins corrected intervals, and $\Delta{}m^2_{32}=2.494_{-0.058}^{+0.041}\times10^{-3}~\mathrm{eV^2}$ using constant $\Delta\chi^{2}$ intervals. The CP-violating phase is constrained to $\delta_\mathrm{CP}=-1.97_{-0.70}^{+0.97}$ using Feldman--Cousins corrected intervals, and $\delta_\mathrm{CP}=0,\pi$ is excluded at more than 90% confidence level. A Jarlskog invariant of zero is excluded at more than $2\sigma$ credible level using a flat prior in $\delta_\mathrm{CP}$, and just below $2\sigma$ using a flat prior in $\sin\delta_\mathrm{CP}$. When the external constraint on $\sin^2\theta_{13}$ is removed, $\sin^2\theta_{13}=28.0^{+2.8}_{-6.5}\times10^{-3}$, in agreement with measurements from reactor experiments. These results are consistent with previous T2K analyses.

Channelling single-photon emission in multiple well-defined directions and simultaneously controlling its polarization characteristics is highly desirable for numerous quantum technology applications. We show that this can be achieved by using quantum emitters (QEs) nonradiatively coupled to surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs), which are scattered into outgoing free-propagating waves by appropriately designed metasurfaces. The QE-coupled metasurface design is based on the scattering holography approach with radially diverging SPPs as reference waves. Using holographic metasurfaces fabricated around nanodiamonds with single Ge vacancy centers, we experimentally demonstrate on-chip integrated efficient generation of two well-collimated single-photon beams propagating along different 15-degree off-normal directions with orthogonal linear polarizations.