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For decades, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) forms were processed electronically by the legacy Central Processing System. In 2021 the Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) initiated a system development effort and in December 2023 deployed a new system to process forms for the 2024-2025 school year. However, student aid applicants reported that the new system had availability issues, recurring errors, and long wait times. This Government Accountability Office (GAO) testimony (1) describes the delays in delivering on the FAFSA Processing System (FPS) requirements; (2) describes the defects that were identified before and after FPS deployment; (3) assesses the extent to which disciplined systems acquisition practices were used to manage FPS requirements, conduct systems testing, and carry out independent acquisition reviews; and (4) assesses the extent to which Education and FSA IT leadership provided oversight of FPS development. This statement is a companion to GAO's related statement on the simplified FAFSA rollout (GAO-24-107407). In addressing the first two objectives, GAO summarized the preliminary results of its continuing ongoing work describing delays and defects. For the latter two objectives on requirements, testing, and independent reviews, GAO completed its audit work and is making recommendations to address weaknesses.

The paper presents a micromechanical representation of deformation in 2D granular materials. The representation is a generalization of K. Bagi's work and is based upon the void-cell approach of M. Satake. The general representation applies to a material region partitioned into polygonal subregions. This representation possesses a certain consistency that allows for a unique assignment of the contribution that each contact displacement makes to the average deformation of an assembly. The paper addresses construction of the particle graph and appropriate data structures for use with the Discrete Element Method. The approach is applied in a numerical simulation of a two-dimensional assembly of disks. The author presents results of the distributions of deformation and particle-group rotation, with a resolution of about a single particle diameter. Deformation was very nonuniform, even at low strains. Micro-bands, thin linear zones of intense rotation, were also observed.

Large Language Models (LLMs) have demonstrated impressive capabilities across various tasks. However, LLMs often struggle with spatial reasoning which is one essential part of reasoning and inference and requires understanding complex relationships between objects in space. This paper proposes a novel neural-symbolic framework that enhances LLMs' spatial reasoning abilities. We evaluate our approach on two benchmark datasets: StepGame and SparQA, implementing three distinct strategies: (1) ASP (Answer Set Programming)-based symbolic reasoning, (2) LLM + ASP pipeline using DSPy, and (3) Fact + Logical rules. Our experiments demonstrate significant improvements over the baseline prompting methods, with accuracy increases of 40-50% on StepGame} dataset and 3-13% on the more complex SparQA dataset. The "LLM + ASP" pipeline achieves particularly strong results on the tasks of Finding Relations (FR) and Finding Block (FB) questions, though performance varies across different question types. The impressive results suggest that while neural-symbolic approaches offer promising directions for enhancing spatial reasoning in LLMs, their effectiveness depends heavily on the specific task characteristics and implementation strategies. We propose an integrated, simple yet effective set of strategies using a neural-symbolic pipeline to boost spatial reasoning abilities in LLMs. This pipeline and its strategies demonstrate strong and broader applicability to other reasoning domains in LLMs, such as temporal reasoning, deductive inference etc.

In this paper we showcase the strengths of polarized neutron imaging as a magnetic imaging technique through a case study on field-cooled multifilamentary YBCO tape carrying a transport current while containing a trapped magnetic field. The measurements were done at J-PARC's RADEN beamline, measuring a radiograph of a single polarization component, to showcase the analysis potential with minimal acquisition time. Regions of internal damage are easily and accurately identified as the technique probes the internal magnetic field of the sample, thereby avoiding surface-smearing effects. Quantitative measurements of the integrated field strength in various regions are acquired using time-of-flight information. Finally, we estimate the strength of the screening currents in the superconductor during the experiment by simulating an experiment with a model sample and comparing it to the experimental data. With this, we show that polarized neutron imaging is not only a useful tool for investigating magnetic structures but also for investigating samples carrying currents., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures with total of 6 or 7 images (some bundles, some seperate)

Graphs are essential representations in the professions and education concerning the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Beyond their academic relevance, graphs find extensive utility in everyday scenarios, ranging from news media to educational materials. This underscores the importance of people's being able to understand graphs. However, the ability to understand graphs is connected to the ability to create graphs. Therefore, in school education, particularly in STEM subjects, not only the understanding but also the skill of constructing graphs from numerical data is emphasized. Although constructing graphs is a skill that most people do not require in their everyday lives and professions, it is a well-established student activity that has been empirically studied several times. Therefore, since a synthesis of the research findings on this topic has not yet been conducted, a summary of the studies investigating graphing via various viewpoints and differing methods could be a valuable contribution. To provide an overview of the empirical literature on this important topic, our systematic review identifies how the construction of convention-based graphical representations of numerical data, referred to as graphing, has been studied in previous research, how effective graphing is, and which types of difficulties are encountered by students. Based on these aspects, we defined inclusion criteria that led to 50 peer-reviewed empirical studies on graphing in K-12 STEM education found in SCOPUS, ERIC, and PsychInfo. Graphing instruction seemed to be beneficial for student learning, not only improving graph construction but also graph interpretation skills. However, the students experienced various difficulties during graphing, both during graph construction and the interpretation and usage of data., Comment: 63 pages, 9 figures

This document summarizes the prospective physics plans of the French QCD and Heavy-Ion community, including the experimental programs at the LHC Run 5 and beyond and future colliders at CERN, within the context of the French contribution to the update of the European Strategy in Particle Physics (ESPPU 2025), as discussed in the workshop on European Strategy for Particle Physics Update 2025 organised by the QCD GdR in Oct. 2024., Comment: 6.5 pages without title page and without references, no figures. Keywords: QCD, Heavy Ions, Quark Gluon Plasma, LHC, FCC

Energy efficient, safe and reliable Li-ion batteries (LIBs) are required for a wide range of applications. Charging capabilities of thick electrodes still holding their stored high-energy is a most desirable characteristic in future advanced LIBs. The introduction of ultra-thick graphite anode meets limitations in internal electrode transport properties, leading to Li-ion gradients with detrimental consequences for battery cell performance and lifetime. Yet, there is a lack of experimental tools capable of providing a complete view of local processes and evolving gradients within such thick electrodes. Here, we introduce a multi-modal operando measurement approach, enabling quantitative spatio-temporal observations of Li concentrations and intercalation phases in ultra-thick, graphite electrodes. Neutron imaging and diffraction concurrently provide correlated information from the macroscopic scale of the cell and electrode down to the crystallographic scale portraying the intercalation and deintercalation processes. In particular, the evolving formation of the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI), observation of gradients in total lithium content, as well as in the formation of ordered LixC6 phases and trapped lithium have been mapped throughout the first charge-discharge cycle of the cell. Different lithiation stages co-exist during charging and discharging of an ultra-thick composite graphite-based electrode; delayed lithiation and delithiation processes are observed at the central region of the electrode, while the SEI formation, potential plating and dead lithium are predominantly found closer to the interface with the separator. The study furthermore emphasizes the potential of the method to study Li ion diffusion and the kinetics of lithiation phase formation in advanced ultra-thick electrodes.

We present the mission concept "Mission to Analyze the UltraViolet universE" (MAUVE), a wide-field spectrometer and imager conceived during the inaugural NASA Astrophysics Mission Design School. MAUVE responds to the 2023 Announcement of Opportunity for Probe-class missions, with a budget cap of \$1 billion, and would hypothetically launch in 2031. However, the formulation of MAUVE was an educational exercise and the mission is not being developed further. The Principal Investigator-led science of MAUVE aligns with the priorities outlined in the 2020 Astrophysics Decadal Survey, enabling new characterizations of exoplanet atmospheres, the early-time light curves of some of the universe's most explosive transients, and the poorly-understood extragalactic background light. Because the Principal Investigator science occupies 30% of the observing time available during the mission's 5 yr lifespan, we provide an observing plan that would allow for 70% of the observing time to be used for General Observer programs, with community-solicited proposals. The onboard detector (THISTLE) claims significant heritage from the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph on Hubble, but extends its wavelength range down to the extreme UV. We note that MAUVE would be the first satellite in decades with the ability to access this regime of the electromagnetic spectrum. MAUVE has a field of view of 900" x 900" a photometric sensitivity extending to $m_{UV}\leq 24$, and a resolving power of $R\sim1000$. This paper provides full science and mission traceability matrices for this concept, and also outlines cost and scheduling timelines aimed at enabling a within-budget mission and an on-time launch., Comment: 21 pages, 15 figures. Published by the Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific

Distributionally robust optimization (DRO) studies decision problems under uncertainty where the probability distribution governing the uncertain problem parameters is itself uncertain. A key component of any DRO model is its ambiguity set, that is, a family of probability distributions consistent with any available structural or statistical information. DRO seeks decisions that perform best under the worst distribution in the ambiguity set. This worst case criterion is supported by findings in psychology and neuroscience, which indicate that many decision-makers have a low tolerance for distributional ambiguity. DRO is rooted in statistics, operations research and control theory, and recent research has uncovered its deep connections to regularization techniques and adversarial training in machine learning. This survey presents the key findings of the field in a unified and self-contained manner.

Quantum cryptography is a central topic in the quantum technology field that is particularly important for secure communication. The training of qualified experts in this field is necessary for continuous development. However, the abstract and complex nature of quantum physics makes the topic difficult to understand. Augmented reality (AR) allows otherwise invisible abstract concepts to be visualized and enables interactive learning, offering significant potential for improving quantum physics education in university lab courses. In addition, personalized feedback on challenging concepts can facilitate learning, and large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT can effectively deliver such feedback. This study combines these two aspects and explores the impact of an AR-based quantum cryptography experiment with integrated ChatGPT-based feedback on university students' learning outcomes and cognitive processes. The study involved 38 students in a physics laboratory course at a German university and used four open-ended questions to measure learning outcomes and gaze data as a learning process assessment. Statistical analysis was used to compare scores between feedback and non-feedback questions, and the effect of ChatGPT feedback on eye-tracking data was examined. The results show that ChatGPT feedback significantly improved learning outcomes and affected gaze data. While the feedback on conceptual questions tended to direct attention to the visualizations of the underlying model, the feedback on questions about experimental procedures increased visual attention to the real experimental materials. Overall, the results show that AI-based feedback draws visual attention towards task-relevant factors and increases learning performance in general.

The actuator line method (ALM) is an approach commonly used to represent lifting and dragging devices like wings and blades in large-eddy simulations (LES). The crux of the ALM is the projection of the actuator point forces onto the LES grid by means of a Gaussian regularisation kernel. The minimum width of the kernel is constrained by the grid size; however, for most practical applications like LES of wind turbines, this value is an order of magnitude larger than the optimal value which maximises accuracy. This discrepancy motivated the development of corrections for the actuator line, which, however, neglect the effect of unsteady spanwise shed vorticity. In this work, we develop a model for the impact of spanwise shed vorticity on the unsteady loading of an airfoil modelled as a Gaussian body force. The model solution is derived both in the time and frequency domain and features an explicit dependence on the Gaussian kernel width. We validate the model with LES within the linear regime of the lift curve for both pitch steps and periodic pitching with reduced frequencies of k=0.1, 0.2 and 0.3. The Gaussian kernel width affects, in particular, the amplitude of the unsteady lift, which can be up to 40% smaller than the quasi-steady amplitude within the considered range of reduced frequencies and kernel widths.

With the advent and development of real-world quantum technology applications, a practically-focused quantum education including student quantum experiments are gaining increasing importance in physics curricula. In this paper, using the DeFT framework, we present an analysis of the representations in our AR-enhanced quantum cryptography student experiment, in order to assess their potential for promoting conceptual learning. We also discuss learner visual attention with respect to the provided multiple representations based on the eye gaze data we have obtained from a pilot study where N=38 students carried out the tasks in our AR-enhanced quantum cryptography student experiment.

Regular remote sensing of the magnetic field embedded within the million-degree solar corona is severely lacking. This reality impedes fundamental investigations of the nature of coronal heating, the generation of solar and stellar winds, and the impulsive release of energy into the solar system via flares and other eruptive phenomena. Resulting from advancements in large aperture solar coronagraphy, we report unprecedented maps of polarized spectra emitted at 1074 nm by Fe+12 atoms in the active corona. We detect clear signatures of the Zeeman effect that are produced by the coronal magnetic field along the optically thin path length of its formation. Our comparisons with global magnetohydrodynamic models highlight the valuable constraints that these measurements provide for coronal modeling efforts, which are anticipated to yield subsequent benefits for space weather research and forecasting., Comment: 23 pages, 10 figures, published in Science Advances

We define spin structures on perfect complexes outside of characteristic two, generalizing the usual notion for vector bundles. We give an explicit local characterization of spin structures, and show that for an oriented quadratic complex $E$ on an algebraic stack, spin structures on $E$ are parametrized by a degree $2$ gerbe. As an application, we show how to lift the K-theory class of Oh-Thomas in DT4 theory to a genuine (twisted) sheaf., Comment: 91 pages. Comments welcome

In the past few years, a successful line of research has lead to lower bounds for several fundamental local graph problems in the distributed setting. These results were obtained via a technique called round elimination. On a high level, the round elimination technique can be seen as a recursive application of a function that takes as input a problem $\Pi$ and outputs a problem $\Pi'$ that is one round easier than $\Pi$. Applying this function recursively to concrete problems of interest can be highly nontrivial, which is one of the reasons that has made the technique difficult to approach. The contribution of our paper is threefold. Firstly, we develop a new and fully automatic method for finding lower bounds of $\Omega(\log_\Delta n)$ and $\Omega(\log_\Delta \log n)$ rounds for deterministic and randomized algorithms, respectively, via round elimination. Secondly, we show that this automatic method is indeed useful, by obtaining lower bounds for defective coloring problems. We show that the problem of coloring the nodes of a graph with $3$ colors and defect at most $(\Delta - 3)/2$ requires $\Omega(\log_\Delta n)$ rounds for deterministic algorithms and $\Omega(\log_\Delta \log n)$ rounds for randomized ones. We note that lower bounds for coloring problems are notoriously challenging to obtain, both in general, and via the round elimination technique. Both the first and (indirectly) the second contribution build on our third contribution -- a new and conceptually simple way to compute the one-round easier problem $\Pi'$ in the round elimination framework. This new procedure provides a clear and easy recipe for applying round elimination, thereby making a substantial step towards the greater goal of having a fully automatic procedure for obtaining lower bounds in the distributed setting.

To further improve Lithium-ion batteries (LiBs), a profound understanding of complex battery processes is crucial. Physical models offer understanding but are difficult to validate and parameterize. Therefore, automated machine-learning methods (ML) are necessary to evaluate models with experimental data. Bayesian methods, e.g., Bayesian optimization for likelihood-free inference (EP-BOLFI), stand out as they capture uncertainties in models and data while granting meaningful parameterization. An important topic is prolonging battery lifetime, which is limited by degradation, such as the solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI) growth. As a case study, we apply EP-BOLFI to parametrize SEI growth models with synthetic and real degradation data. EP-BOLFI allows for incorporating human expertise in the form of suitable feature selection, which improves the parametrization. We show that even under impeded conditions, we achieve correct parameterization with reasonable uncertainty quantification, needing less computational effort than standard Markov chain Monte Carlo methods. Additionally, the physically reliable summary statistics show if parameters are strongly correlated and not unambiguously identifiable. Further, we investigate Bayesian alternately subsampled quadrature (BASQ), which calculates model probabilities, to confirm electron diffusion as the best theoretical model to describe SEI growth during battery storage.

Effective models to describe the dynamics of an open cavity have been extensively discussed in the literature. In many of these models the cavity leakage to the outside is treated as a loss introduced phenomenologically. In contrast to these, we focus here on characterizing the outgoing photon using a novel approach where the outside is treated as part of the system. In such a global system, in order to separately characterize the photon inside and outside cavity, we demonstrate a first-principle derivation of a coherent cavity-reservoir coupling function for cavities with mirrors consisting of a stack of dielectric layers. In particular, we show that due to the effects induced by the multilayer nature of the cavity mirror, even in the standardly defined high-finesse cavity regime, the cavity-reservoir system description might differ from the one where the structure of the mirror is neglected. Based on this, we define a generalized cavity response function and a cavity-reservoir coupling function, which account for the longitudinal geometric structure of the cavity mirror. This allows us to define an effective reflectivity for the cavity with a multilayer mirror as if it was sitting in a well-defined effective mirror plane. We estimate the error of such a definition by considering cavities of different lengths and mirror structures. Finally, we apply this model to characterize the dynamics of a single photon produced in such a cavity and propagating outside.

If Com is the reduced commutative operad, the category of Com-algebras in spectra is the category of nounital commutative ring spectra. The theme of this survey is that many important constructions on Com-algebras are given by taking the derived circle product with well chosen right Com-modules. Examples of constructions arising this way include the tensor product of a based space K with such an algebra I, and TQ(I), the Topological Andre-Quillen homology spectrum of I. We then show how filtrations of right Com-modules can be used to filter such constructions. A natural decreasing filtration on right Com-modules, when specialized to the Com-bimodule Com, defines the augmentation ideal tower of I, built out of the extended powers of TQ(I). A natural increasing filtration on right Com-modules, when specialized to the right Com-module used to define TQ(I), defines a filtration on TQ(I) built out of I and the spaces in the Lie cooperad. There are two versions of this in the literature -- by the author and by Behrens and Rezk -- and our setting here makes it easy to prove that these agree. Much of this applies with Com replaced by a more general reduced operad, and we make a few remarks about this., Comment: 18 pages

Follow-The-Regularized-Leader (FTRL) algorithms often enjoy optimal regret for adversarial as well as stochastic bandit problems and allow for a streamlined analysis. Nonetheless, FTRL algorithms require the solution of an optimization problem in every iteration and are thus computationally challenging. In contrast, Follow-The-Perturbed-Leader (FTPL) algorithms achieve computational efficiency by perturbing the estimates of the rewards of the arms, but their regret analysis is cumbersome. We propose a new FTPL algorithm that generates optimal policies for both adversarial and stochastic multi-armed bandits. Like FTRL, our algorithm admits a unified regret analysis, and similar to FTPL, it offers low computational costs. Unlike existing FTPL algorithms that rely on independent additive disturbances governed by a \textit{known} distribution, we allow for disturbances governed by an \textit{ambiguous} distribution that is only known to belong to a given set and propose a principle of optimism in the face of ambiguity. Consequently, our framework generalizes existing FTPL algorithms. It also encapsulates a broad range of FTRL methods as special cases, including several optimal ones, which appears to be impossible with current FTPL methods. Finally, we use techniques from discrete choice theory to devise an efficient bisection algorithm for computing the optimistic arm sampling probabilities. This algorithm is up to $10^4$ times faster than standard FTRL algorithms that solve an optimization problem in every iteration. Our results not only settle existing conjectures but also provide new insights into the impact of perturbations by mapping FTRL to FTPL.

In quantum physics (QP) education, the use of representations such as diagrams and visual aids that connect to mathematical concepts is crucial. Research in representation theory indicates that combining symbolic-mathematical elements (e.g. formulae) with visual-graphical representations enhances conceptual understanding more effectively than representations that merely depict phenomena. However, common representations vary widely, and existing categorisation systems do not adequately distinguish between them in QP. To address this, we developed a new set of differentiation criteria based on insights from representation research, QP education, and specific aspects of the quantum sciences. We created a comprehensive category system for evaluating visual QP representations for educational use, grounded in Ainsworths (2006) DeFT Framework. Twenty-one experts from four countries evaluated this category system using four qubit representations: the Bloch sphere, Circle Notation, Quantum Bead, and the pie chart (Qake) model. This evaluation enabled us to assess the discriminative power of our criteria and the effectiveness of each representation in supporting the learning of QP concepts. It evaluated how well each representation conveyed quantum concepts such as quantum state, measurement, superposition, entanglement, and quantum technologies (X-, Z-, and H-gates) across 16 criteria. The results showed significant differences in the effectiveness of these representations, particularly in conveying key concepts like superposition and measurement. Additionally, expert ratings indicated notable variations in the potential of each representation to induce misconceptions, linked to differences in shape, measurement behaviour, and requirements for understanding entanglement. We also discuss considerations for developing new representations and suggest directions for future empirical studies.

In a previous paper, one of us interpreted mod 2 Dyer-Lashof operations as explicit A-module extensions between Brown-Gitler modules, and showed these A-modules can be topologically realized by finite spectra occurring as fibers of maps between 2-local dual Brown-Gitler spectra. Starting from these constructions, in this paper, we show that infinite families of these finite spectra are of chromatic type 2, with mod 2 cohomology that is free over A(1). Applications include classifying the dual Brown-Gitler spectra after localization with respect to K-theory., Comment: 26 pages. v2: minor revisions, with a much improved formulation of the main theorem

The spin structure functions of the proton and the deuteron were measured during the EG4 experiment at Jefferson Lab in 2006. Data were collected for longitudinally polarized electron scattering off longitudinally polarized NH$_3$ and ND$_3$ targets, for $Q^2$ values as small as 0.012 and 0.02 GeV$^2$, respectively, using the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS). This is the archival paper of the EG4 experiment that summaries the previously reported results of the polarized structure functions $g_1$, $A_1F_1$, and their moments $\overline \Gamma_1$, $\overline \gamma_0$, and $\overline I_{TT}$, for both the proton and the deuteron. In addition, we report on new results on the neutron $g_1$ extracted by combining proton and deuteron data and correcting for Fermi smearing, and on the neutron moments $\overline \Gamma_1$, $\overline \gamma_0$, and $\overline I_{TT}$ formed directly from those of the proton and the deuteron. Our data are in good agreement with the Gerasimov-Drell-Hearn sum rule for the proton, deuteron, and neutron. Furthermore, the isovector combination was formed for $g_1$ and the Bjorken integral $\overline \Gamma_1^{p-n}$, and compared to available theoretical predictions. All of our results provide for the first time extensive tests of spin observable predictions from chiral effective field theory ($\chi$EFT) in a $Q^2$ range commensurate with the pion mass. They motivate further improvement in $\chi$EFT calculations from other approaches such as the lattice gauge method., Comment: 33 pages. 26 figures. Data table provided in supplementary material (30 pages)

Traditional Semantic Table Interpretation (STI) methods rely primarily on the underlying table data to create semantic annotations. This year's SemTab challenge introduced the ``Metadata to KG'' track, which focuses on performing STI by using only metadata information, without access to the underlying data. In response to this new challenge, we introduce a new term: Column Vocabulary Association (CVA). This term refers to the task of semantic annotation of column headers solely based on metadata information. In this study, we evaluate the performance of various methods in executing the CVA task, including a Large Language Models (LLMs) and Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) approach, as well as a more traditional similarity approach with SemanticBERT. Our methodology uses a zero-shot setting, with no pretraining or examples passed to the Large Language Models (LLMs), as we aim to avoid a domain-specific setting. We investigate a total of 7 different LLMs, of which three commercial GPT models (i.e. gpt-3.5-turbo-0.125, gpt-4o and gpt-4-turbo) and four open source models (i.e. llama3-80b, llama3-7b, gemma-7b and mixtral-8x7b). We integrate this models with RAG systems, and we explore how variations in temperature settings affect performances. Moreover, we continue our investigation by performing the CVA task utilizing SemanticBERT, analyzing how various metadata information influence its performance. Initial findings indicate that LLMs generally perform well at temperatures below 1.0, achieving an accuracy of 100\% in certain cases. Nevertheless, our investigation also reveal that the nature of the data significantly influences CVA task outcomes. In fact, in cases where the input data and glossary are related (for example by being created by the same organizations) traditional methods appear to surpass the performance of LLMs.

We present the first homogeneous release of several thousand Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia), all having spectroscopic classification, and spectroscopic redshifts for half the sample. This release, named the "DR2", contains 3628 nearby (z < 0.3) SNe Ia discovered, followed and classified by the Zwicky Transient Facility survey between March 2018 and December 2020. Of these, 3000 have good-to-excellent sampling and 2667 pass standard cosmology light-curve quality cuts. This release is thus the largest SN Ia release to date, increasing by an order of magnitude the number of well characterized low-redshift objects. With the "DR2", we also provide a volume-limited (z < 0.06) sample of nearly a thousand SNe Ia. With such a large, homogeneous and well controlled dataset, we are studying key current questions on SN cosmology, such as the linearity SNe Ia standardization, the SN and host dependencies, the diversity of the SN Ia population, and the accuracy of the current light-curve modeling. These, and more, are studied in detail in a series of articles associated with this release. Alongside the SN Ia parameters, we publish our force-photometry gri-band light curves, 5138 spectra, local and global host properties, observing logs, and a python tool to ease use and access of these data. The photometric accuracy of the "DR2" is not yet suited for cosmological parameter inference, which will follow as "DR2.5" release. We nonetheless demonstrate that the multi-thousand SN Ia Hubble Diagram has a typical 0.15 mag scatter., Comment: ZTF SN Ia DR2 release paper. Accepted for publication (Astronomy and Astrophysics). Reference paper for the ZTF SN Ia DR2 A&A Special Issue

The extraction of keypoints in images is at the basis of many computer vision applications, from localization to 3D reconstruction. Keypoints come with a score permitting to rank them according to their quality. While learned keypoints often exhibit better properties than handcrafted ones, their scores are not easily interpretable, making it virtually impossible to compare the quality of individual keypoints across methods. We propose a framework that can refine, and at the same time characterize with an interpretable score, the keypoints extracted by any method. Our approach leverages a modified robust Gaussian Mixture Model fit designed to both reject non-robust keypoints and refine the remaining ones. Our score comprises two components: one relates to the probability of extracting the same keypoint in an image captured from another viewpoint, the other relates to the localization accuracy of the keypoint. These two interpretable components permit a comparison of individual keypoints extracted across different methods. Through extensive experiments we demonstrate that, when applied to popular keypoint detectors, our framework consistently improves the repeatability of keypoints as well as their performance in homography and two/multiple-view pose recovery tasks., Comment: Accepted at ECCV 2024

For d/Deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) people, captioning is an essential accessibility tool. Significant developments in artificial intelligence (AI) mean that Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) is now a part of many popular applications. This makes creating captions easy and broadly available - but transcription needs high levels of accuracy to be accessible. Scientific publications and industry report very low error rates, claiming AI has reached human parity or even outperforms manual transcription. At the same time the DHH community reports serious issues with the accuracy and reliability of ASR. There seems to be a mismatch between technical innovations and the real-life experience for people who depend on transcription. Independent and comprehensive data is needed to capture the state of ASR. We measured the performance of eleven common ASR services with recordings of Higher Education lectures. We evaluated the influence of technical conditions like streaming, the use of vocabularies, and differences between languages. Our results show that accuracy ranges widely between vendors and for the individual audio samples. We also measured a significant lower quality for streaming ASR, which is used for live events. Our study shows that despite the recent improvements of ASR, common services lack reliability in accuracy.

The Word Error Rate (WER) is the common measure of accuracy for Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR). Transcripts are usually pre-processed by substituting specific characters to account for non-semantic differences. As a result of this normalisation, information on the accuracy of punctuation or capitalisation is lost. We present a non-destructive, token-based approach using an extended Levenshtein distance algorithm to compute a robust WER and additional orthographic metrics. Transcription errors are also classified more granularly by existing string similarity and phonetic algorithms. An evaluation on several datasets demonstrates the practical equivalence of our approach compared to common WER computations. We also provide an exemplary analysis of derived use cases, such as a punctuation error rate, and a web application for interactive use and visualisation of our implementation. The code is available open-source., Comment: Accepted in INTERSPEECH 2024

Computing ratios of normalizing constants plays an important role in statistical modeling. Two important examples are hypothesis testing in latent variables models, and model comparison in Bayesian statistics. In both examples, the likelihood ratio and the Bayes factor are defined as the ratio of the normalizing constants of posterior distributions. We propose in this article a novel methodology that estimates this ratio using stochastic approximation principle. Our estimator is consistent and asymptotically Gaussian. Its asymptotic variance is smaller than the one of the popular optimal bridge sampling estimator. Furthermore, it is much more robust to little overlap between the two unnormalized distributions considered. Thanks to its online definition, our procedure can be integrated in an estimation process in latent variables model, and therefore reduce the computational effort. The performances of the estimator are illustrated through a simulation study and compared to two other estimators : the ratio importance sampling and the optimal bridge sampling estimators.

In this study, we present an innovative fusion of language models and query analysis techniques to unlock cognition in artificial intelligence. The introduced open-source AI system seamlessly integrates a Chess engine with a language model, enabling it to predict moves and provide strategic explanations. Leveraging a vector database to achieve retrievable answer generation, our AI system elucidates its decision-making process, bridging the gap between raw computation and human-like understanding. Our choice of Chess as the demonstration environment underscores the versatility of our approach. Beyond Chess, our system holds promise for diverse applications, from medical diagnostics to financial forecasting. Our AI system is available at https://github.com/TheOpenSI/CoSMIC.git, Comment: This paper is accepted to Australasian Conference on Information Systems 2024

We present a resonant-mode, transverse-field, radio-frequency (rf) neutron spin flipper design that uses high-temperature superconducting films to ensure sharp transitions between uniform magnetic field regions. Resonant mode allows for low power, high frequency operation but requires strict homogeneity of the magnetic fields inside the device. This design was found to efficiently flip neutrons at 96.6$\pm 0.6\%$ at an effective frequency of 4 MHz with a beam size of $2.5~\times~2.5$~cm and a wavelength of 0.4 nm. The high frequency and efficiency enable this device to perform high-resolution neutron spectroscopy with comparable performance to currently implemented rf flipper designs. The limitation of the maximum frequency was found due to the field homogeneity of the device. We numerically analyze the maximum possible efficiency of this design using a Bloch solver simulation with magnetic fields generated from finite-element simulations. We also discuss future improvements of the efficiency and frequency to the design based on the experimental and simulation results.

Silicon presents itself as a high-capacity anode material for lithium-ion batteries with a promising future. The high ability for lithiation comes along with massive volume changes and a problematic voltage hysteresis, causing reduced efficiency, detrimental heat generation, and a complicated state-of-charge estimation. During slow cycling, amorphous silicon nanoparticles show a larger voltage hysteresis than after relaxation periods. Interestingly, the voltage relaxes for at least several days, which has not been physically explained so far. We apply a chemo-mechanical continuum model in a core-shell geometry interpreted as a silicon particle covered by the solid-electrolyte interphase to account for the hysteresis phenomena. The silicon core (de)lithiates during every cycle while the covering shell is chemically inactive. The visco-elastoplastic behavior of the shell explains the voltage hysteresis during cycling and after relaxation. We identify a logarithmic voltage relaxation, which fits with the established Garofalo law for viscosity. Our chemo-mechanical model describes the observed voltage hysteresis phenomena and outperforms the empirical Plett model. In addition to our full model, we present a reduced model to allow for easy voltage profile estimations. The presented results support the mechanical explanation of the silicon voltage hysteresis with a core-shell model and encourage further efforts into the investigation of the silicon anode mechanics.

We study decision problems under uncertainty, where the decision-maker has access to $K$ data sources that carry {\em biased} information about the underlying risk factors. The biases are measured by the mismatch between the risk factor distribution and the $K$ data-generating distributions with respect to an optimal transport (OT) distance. In this situation the decision-maker can exploit the information contained in the biased samples by solving a distributionally robust optimization (DRO) problem, where the ambiguity set is defined as the intersection of $K$ OT neighborhoods, each of which is centered at the empirical distribution on the samples generated by a biased data source. We show that if the decision-maker has a prior belief about the biases, then the out-of-sample performance of the DRO solution can improve with $K$ -- irrespective of the magnitude of the biases. We also show that, under standard convexity assumptions, the proposed DRO problem is computationally tractable if either $K$ or the dimension of the risk factors is kept constant.

Accurate segmentation of prostate tumours from PET images presents a formidable challenge in medical image analysis. Despite considerable work and improvement in delineating organs from CT and MR modalities, the existing standards do not transfer well and produce quality results in PET related tasks. Particularly, contemporary methods fail to accurately consider the intensity-based scaling applied by the physicians during manual annotation of tumour contours. In this paper, we observe that the prostate-localised uptake threshold ranges are beneficial for suppressing outliers. Therefore, we utilize the intensity threshold values, to implement a new custom-feature-clipping normalisation technique. We evaluate multiple, established U-Net variants under different normalisation schemes, using the nnU-Net framework. All models were trained and tested on multiple datasets, obtained with two radioactive tracers: [68-Ga]Ga-PSMA-11 and [18-F]PSMA-1007. Our results show that the U-Net models achieve much better performance when the PET scans are preprocessed with our novel clipping technique.

The Large Binocular Telescope, with its expansive collecting area, angular resolving power, and advanced optical design, provides a robust platform for development and operation of advanced instrumentation for astronomical research. The LBT currently hosts a mature suite of instruments for spectroscopy and imaging at optical through mid-infrared wavelengths, supported by sophisticated adaptive optics systems. This contribution summarizes the current state of instrumentation, including upgrades to existing instruments and commissioning of second generation instruments now in progress. The LBT is soliciting proposals for next generation instrument concepts, with participation open to consortium members and others interested in participation in the Observatory., Comment: 6 pages, Proc. SPIE 13096-4, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy X, Yokohama 2024

Diverse and realistic floor plan data are essential for the development of useful computer-aided methods in architectural design. Today's large-scale floor plan datasets predominantly feature simple floor plan layouts, typically representing single-apartment dwellings only. To compensate for the mismatch between current datasets and the real world, we develop \textbf{Modified Swiss Dwellings} (MSD) -- the first large-scale floor plan dataset that contains a significant share of layouts of multi-apartment dwellings. MSD features over 5.3K floor plans of medium- to large-scale building complexes, covering over 18.9K distinct apartments. We validate that existing approaches for floor plan generation, while effective in simpler scenarios, cannot yet seamlessly address the challenges posed by MSD. Our benchmark calls for new research in floor plan machine understanding. Code and data are open., Comment: ECCV 2024 (incl. Suppl. Mat.)

By prior work, we have many results related to distributed graph algorithms for problems that can be defined with local constraints; the formal framework used in prior work is locally checkable labeling problems (LCLs), introduced by Naor and Stockmeyer in the 1990s. It is known, for example, that if we have a deterministic algorithm that solves an LCL in $o(\log n)$ rounds, we can speed it up to $O(\log^*n)$ rounds, and if we have a randomized $O(\log^*n)$ rounds algorithm, we can derandomize it for free. It is also known that randomness helps with some LCL problems: there are LCL problems with randomized complexity $\Theta(\log\log n)$ and deterministic complexity $\Theta(\log n)$. However, so far there have not been any LCL problems in which the use of shared randomness has been necessary; in all prior algorithms it has been enough that the nodes have access to their own private sources of randomness. Could it be the case that shared randomness never helps with LCLs? Could we have a general technique that takes any distributed graph algorithm for any LCL that uses shared randomness, and turns it into an equally fast algorithm where private randomness is enough? In this work we show that the answer is no. We present an LCL problem $\Pi$ such that the round complexity of $\Pi$ is $\Omega(\sqrt n)$ in the usual randomized \local model with private randomness, but if the nodes have access to a source of shared randomness, then the complexity drops to $O(\log n)$. As corollaries, we also resolve several other open questions related to the landscape of distributed computing in the context of LCL problems. In particular, problem $\Pi$ demonstrates that distributed quantum algorithms for LCL problems strictly benefit from a shared quantum state. Problem $\Pi$ also gives a separation between finitely dependent distributions and non-signaling distributions.

We present beam measurements of the CHIME telescope using a radio calibration source deployed on a drone payload. During test flights, the pulsing calibration source and the telescope were synchronized to GPS time, enabling in-situ background subtraction for the full $N^{2}$ visibility matrix for one CHIME cylindrical reflector. We use the autocorrelation products to estimate the primary beam width and centroid location, and compare these quantities to solar transit measurements and holographic measurements where they overlap on the sky. We find that the drone, solar, and holography data have similar beam parameter evolution across frequency and both spatial coordinates. This paper presents the first drone-based beam measurement of a large cylindrical radio interferometer. Furthermore, the unique analysis and instrumentation described in this paper lays the foundation for near-field measurements of experiments like CHIME., Comment: Submitted to IEEE OJAP June 30, 2024

Condensed mathematics, developed by Clausen and Scholze over the last few years, proposes a generalization of topology with better categorical properties. It replaces the concept of a topological space by that of a condensed set, which can be defined as a sheaf for the coherent topology on a certain category of compact Hausdorff spaces. In this case, the sheaf condition has a fairly simple explicit description, which arises from studying the relationship between the coherent, regular and extensive topologies. In this paper, we establish this relationship under minimal assumptions on the category, going beyond the case of compact Hausdorff spaces. Along the way, we also provide a characterization of sheaves and covering sieves for these categories. All results in this paper have been fully formalized in the Lean proof assistant., Comment: The Journal of Symbolic Logic, In press

The measurement of magnitudes with different filters in photometric surveys gives access to cosmological distances and parameters. However, for current and future large surveys like the ZTF, DES, HSC or LSST, the photometric calibration uncertainties are almost comparable to statistical uncertainties in the error budget of type Ia cosmology analysis, which limits our ability to use type Ia supernovae for precision cosmology. The knowledge of the bandpasses of the survey filters at the per-mill level can help reach the sub-percent precision for magnitudes. We show how a misknowledge of the bandpasses central wavelengths or of the presence of out-of-band leakages leads to biased cosmological measurements. Then, we present how to measure the filter throughputs at the required precision with a Collimated Beam Projector., Comment: 2 pages, 2 figures, contribution to the 2024 Cosmology session of the 58th Rencontres de Moriond

The 1S hyperfine splitting in hydrogen is measured to an impressive ppt precision and will soon be measured to ppm precision in muonic hydrogen. The latter measurement will rely on theoretical predictions, which are limited by knowledge of the proton polarizability effect $\Delta_\text{pol}$. Data-driven evaluations of $\Delta_\text{pol}$ have long been in significant tension with baryon chiral perturbation theory. Here we present improved results for $\Delta_\text{pol}$ driven by new spin structure data, reducing the long-standing tension between theory and experiment and halving the dominating uncertainty in hyperfine splitting calculations.

In the rapidly evolving interdisciplinary field of quantum information science and technology, a big obstacle is the necessity of understanding high-level mathematics to solve complex problems. Visualizations like the (dimensional) circle notation enable us to visualize not only single-qubit but also complex multi-qubit states, entanglement, and quantum algorithms. Current findings in educational research suggest that incorporating visualizations in settings of problem solving can have beneficial effects on students' performance and cognitive load compared to solely relying on symbolic problem solving content. In this pilot study, we aim to take a first step to identify in which contexts students benefit from the presentation of visualizations of multi-qubit systems in addition to mathematical formalism. We compare students' performance, time taken, and cognitive load when solving problems using the mathematical-symbolic Dirac notation alone with using it accompanied by the circle notation or the dimensional circle notation in single- and multi-qubit systems. Although little overall differences in students' performance can be detected depending on the presented representations, we observe that problem-solving performance is student- and context-dependent. In addition, the results indicate reduced cognitive load when participants are presented with visualization. The results are discussed with respect to relevant design aspects for future studies., Comment: 32(+20) pages, 16(+6) figures

The ESO public survey VISTA Variables in the V\'ia L\'actea (VVV) surveyed the inner Galactic bulge and the adjacent southern Galactic disk from $2009-2015$. Upon its conclusion, the complementary VVV eXtended (VVVX) survey has expanded both the temporal as well as spatial coverage of the original VVV area, widening it from $562$ to $1700$ sq. deg., as well as providing additional epochs in $JHK_{\rm s}$ filters from $2016-2023$. With the completion of VVVX observations during the first semester of 2023, we present here the observing strategy, a description of data quality and access, and the legacy of VVVX. VVVX took $\sim 2000$ hours, covering about 4% of the sky in the bulge and southern disk. VVVX covered most of the gaps left between the VVV and the VISTA Hemisphere Survey (VHS) areas and extended the VVV time baseline in the obscured regions affected by high extinction and hence hidden from optical observations. VVVX provides a deep $JHK_{\rm s}$ catalogue of $\gtrsim 1.5\times10^9$ point sources, as well as a $K_{\rm s}$ band catalogue of $\sim 10^7$ variable sources. Within the existing VVV area, we produced a $5D$ map of the surveyed region by combining positions, distances, and proper motions of well-understood distance indicators such as red clump stars, RR Lyrae, and Cepheid variables. In March 2023 we successfully finished the VVVX survey observations that started in 2016, an accomplishment for ESO Paranal Observatory upon 4200 hours of observations for VVV+VVVX. The VVV+VVVX catalogues complement those from the Gaia mission at low Galactic latitudes and provide spectroscopic targets for the forthcoming ESO high-multiplex spectrographs MOONS and 4MOST., Comment: 17 pages, 11 figures (+ appendix). Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics in section 14: Catalogs and data

Measuring Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering on the neutron is one of the necessary steps to understand the structure of the nucleon in terms of Generalized Parton Distributions (GPDs). Neutron targets play a complementary role to transversely polarized proton targets in the determination of the GPD $E$. This poorly known and poorly constrained GPD is essential to obtain the contribution of the quarks' angular momentum to the spin of the nucleon. DVCS on the neutron was measured for the first time selecting the exclusive final state by detecting the neutron, using the Jefferson Lab longitudinally polarized electron beam, with energies up to 10.6 GeV, and the CLAS12 detector. The extracted beam-spin asymmetries, combined with DVCS observables measured on the proton, allow a clean quark-flavor separation of the imaginary parts of the GPDs $H$ and $E$., Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures

Probabilistic programming (PP) is a programming paradigm that allows for writing statistical models like ordinary programs, performing simulations by running those programs, and analyzing and refining their statistical behavior using powerful inference engines. This paper takes a step towards leveraging PP for reasoning about data-aware processes. To this end, we present a systematic translation of Data Petri Nets (DPNs) into a model written in a PP language whose features are supported by most PP systems. We show that our translation is sound and provides statistical guarantees for simulating DPNs. Furthermore, we discuss how PP can be used for process mining tasks and report on a prototype implementation of our translation. We also discuss further analysis scenarios that could be easily approached based on the proposed translation and available PP tools.

Excitons in twisted bilayers of transition metal dichalcogenides have strongly modified dispersion relations due to the formation of periodic moir\'e potentials. The strong coupling to a light field in an optical cavity leads to the appearance of moir\'e polaritons. In this paper, we derive a theoretical model for the linear absorption spectrum of the coupled moir\'e polariton-phonon system based on the time-convolutionless (TCL) approach. Results obtained by numerically solving the TCL equation are compared to those obtained in the Markovian limit and from a perturbative treatment of non-Markovian corrections. A key quantity for the interpretation of the findings is the generalized phonon spectral density. We discuss the phonon impact on the spectrum for realistic moir\'e exciton dispersions by varying twist angle and temperature. Key features introduced by the coupling to phonons are broadenings and energy shifts of the upper and lower polariton peak and the appearance of phonon sidebands between them. We analyze these features with respect to the role of Markovian and non-Markovian effects and find that they strongly depend on the twist angle. We can distinguish between the regimes of large, small, and intermediate twist angles. In the latter phonon effects are particularly pronounced due to dominating phonon transitions into regions which are characterized by van Hove singularities in the density of states.

The $\beta$ Pictoris system is the closest known stellar system with directly detected gas giant planets, an edge-on circumstellar disc, and evidence of falling sublimating bodies and transiting exocomets. The inner planet, $\beta$ Pictoris c, has also been indirectly detected with radial velocity (RV) measurements. The star is a known $\delta$ Scuti pulsator, and the long-term stability of these pulsations opens up the possibility of indirectly detecting the gas giant planets through time delays of the pulsations due to a varying light travel time. We search for phase shifts in the $\delta$ Scuti pulsations consistent with the known planets $\beta$ Pictoris b and c and carry out an analysis of the stellar pulsations of $\beta$ Pictoris over a multi-year timescale. We used photometric data collected by the BRITE-Constellation, bRing, ASTEP, and TESS to derive a list of the strongest and most significant $\delta$ Scuti pulsations. We carried out an analysis with the open-source python package maelstrom to study the stability of the pulsation modes of $\beta$ Pictoris in order to determine the long-term trends in the observed pulsations. We did not detect the expected signal for $\beta$ Pictoris b or $\beta$ Pictoris c. The expected time delay is 6 seconds for $\beta$ Pictoris c and 24 seconds for $\beta$ Pictoris b. With simulations, we determined that the photometric noise in all the combined data sets cannot reach the sensitivity needed to detect the expected timing drifts. An analysis of the pulsational modes of $\beta$ Pictoris using maelstrom showed that the modes themselves drift on the timescale of a year, fundamentally limiting our ability to detect exoplanets around $\beta$ Pictoris via pulsation timing., Comment: 16 pages, 16 figures, 4 tables, accepted for publication in A&A

We study the pair production, string breaking, and hadronization of a receding electron-positron pair using the bosonized version of the massive Schwinger model in quantum electrodynamics in 1+1 space-time dimensions. Specifically, we study the dynamics of the electric field in Bjorken coordinates by splitting it into a coherent field and its Gaussian fluctuations. We find that the electric field shows damped oscillations, reflecting pair production. Interestingly, the computation of the asymptotic total particle density per rapidity interval for large masses can be fitted using a Boltzmann factor, where the temperature can be related to the hadronization temperature in QCD. Lastly, we discuss the possibility of an analog quantum simulation of the massive Schwinger model using ultracold atoms, explicitly matching the potential of the Schwinger model to the effective potential for the relative phase of two linearly coupled Bose-Einstein condensates., Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures. v2: 2 references added includes minor clarifications, matches published version

Graph signal processing represents an important advancement in the field of data analysis, extending conventional signal processing methodologies to complex networks and thereby facilitating the exploration of informative patterns and structures across various domains. However, acquiring the underlying graphs for specific applications remains a challenging task. While graph inference based on smooth graph signal representation has become one of the state-of-the-art methods, these approaches usually overlook the unique properties of networks, which are generally derived from domain-specific knowledge. Overlooking this information could make the approaches less interpretable and less effective overall. In this study, we propose a new graph inference method that leverages available domain knowledge. The proposed methodology is evaluated on the task of denoising and imputing missing sensor data, utilizing graph signal reconstruction techniques. The results demonstrate that incorporating domain knowledge into the graph inference process can improve graph signal reconstruction in district heating networks. Our code is available at \href{https://github.com/Keiv4n/IGL}{github.com/Keiv4n/IGL}., Comment: Accepted to EUSIPCO 2024

Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) cosmology relies on the estimation of lightcurve parameters to derive precision distances that leads to the estimation of cosmological parameters. The empirical SALT2 lightcurve modeling that relies on only two parameters, a stretch x1, and a color c, has been used by the community for almost two decades. In this paper we study the ability of the SALT2 model to fit the nearly 3000 cosmology-grade SN Ia lightcurves from the second release of the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) cosmology science working group. While the ZTF data was not used to train SALT2, the algorithm is modeling the ZTF SN Ia optical lightcurves remarkably well, except for lightcurve points prior to -10 d from maximum, where the training critically lacks statistics. We find that the lightcurve fitting is robust against the considered choice of phase-range, but we show the [-10; +40] d range to be optimal in terms of statistics and accuracy. We do not detect any significant features in the lightcurve fit residuals that could be connected to the host environment. Potential systematic population differences related to the SN Ia host properties might thus not be accountable for by the addition of extra lightcurve parameters. However, a small but significant inconsistency between residuals of blue- and red-SN Ia strongly suggests the existence of a phase-dependent color term, with potential implications for the use of SNe Ia in precision cosmology. We thus encourage modellers to explore this avenue and we emphasize the importance that SN Ia cosmology must include a SALT2 retraining to accurately model the lightcurves and avoid biasing the derivation of cosmological parameters., Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures. Accepted for publication (Astronomy and Astrophysics)

As Type Ia supernova cosmology transitions from a statistics dominated to a systematics dominated era, it is crucial to understand leftover unexplained uncertainties affecting their luminosity, such as the ones stemming from astrophysical biases. Indeed, SNe Ia are standardisable candles, whose absolute magnitude reach a 0.15~mag scatter once empirical correlations with their lightcurve stretch and colour and with their environment are accounted for. In this paper, we investigate how the standardisation process of SNe Ia depends on environment, to ultimately reduce their scatter in magnitude, focusing on colour standardisation. We use the volume-limited ZTF SN Ia DR2 sample, which offers unprecedented statistics for the low redshift ($z<0.06$) range. We first study the colour distribution, focusing on the effects of dust, to then select a dustless subsample of objects from low stellar mass environments and from the outskirts of their host galaxies. We then look at the colour-residuals relation and its associated parameter $\beta$. Finally, we investigate the colour dependency of the environment-dependent magnitude offsets (steps), to try to disentangle intrinsic and extrinsic colour origin. Our sample probes well the red tail of the colour distribution, up to $c=0.8$. The dustless sample exhibits a significantly lower red tail ($4.6\sigma$) in comparison to the whole sample. This suggests that reddening above $c\geq0.2$ is dominated by host interstellar dust absorption. Looking at the colour-residuals relation, we find it to be linear with lightcurve colour. We show hints of a potential evolution of $\beta$ with host stellar mass at a $2.5\sigma$ level. Finally, unlike recent claims from the literature, we see no evolution of steps as a function of lightcurve colour, suggesting that dust may not be the dominating mechanism responsible for the environmental dependency of SNe Ia magnitude., Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, submitted to Astronomy and Astrophysics