Search

We report limits on WIMP dark matter derived from three years of data collected by the COSINE-100 experiment with NaI(Tl) crystals, achieving an improved energy threshold of 0.7 keV. This lowered threshold enhances sensitivity in the sub-GeV mass range, extending the reach for direct detection of low-mass dark matter. Although no excess of WIMP-like events was observed, the increased sensitivity enabled a model-independent comparison between the expected WIMP signal rate-based on mass limits from our data-and DAMA's reported modulation amplitude. Our findings strongly disfavor the DAMA signal as originating from WIMP interactions, fully excluding DAMA/LIBRA 3$\sigma$ allowed regions and providing enhanced WIMP mass limits by an order of magnitude in the spin-independent model compared to previous results. In the spin-dependent model, cross-section upper limits were obtained in the mass range [0.1-5.0] GeV/c$^2$, with additional sensitivity to sub-GeV WIMPs through the inclusion of the Migdal effect. These results represent substantial progress in low-mass dark matter exploration and reinforce constraints on the longstanding DAMA claim.

Current and upcoming generations of visible-shortwave infrared (VSWIR) imaging spectrometers promise unprecedented capacity to quantify Earth System processes across the globe. However, reliable cloud screening remains a fundamental challenge for these instruments, where traditional spatial and temporal approaches are limited by cloud variability and limited temporal coverage. The Spectroscopic Transformer (SpecTf) addresses these challenges with a spectroscopy-specific deep learning architecture that performs cloud detection using only spectral information (no spatial or temporal data are required). By treating spectral measurements as sequences rather than image channels, SpecTf learns fundamental physical relationships without relying on spatial context. Our experiments demonstrate that SpecTf significantly outperforms the current baseline approach implemented for the EMIT instrument, and performs comparably with other machine learning methods with orders of magnitude fewer learned parameters. Critically, we demonstrate SpecTf's inherent interpretability through its attention mechanism, revealing physically meaningful spectral features the model has learned. Finally, we present SpecTf's potential for cross-instrument generalization by applying it to a different instrument on a different platform without modifications, opening the door to instrument agnostic data driven algorithms for future imaging spectroscopy tasks., Comment: 23 pages, 5 figures, in review. Code repository: https://github.com/emit-sds/SpecTf

Vision-Language Models trained on massive collections of human-generated data often reproduce and amplify societal stereotypes. One critical form of stereotyping reproduced by these models is homogeneity bias-the tendency to represent certain groups as more homogeneous than others. We investigate how this bias responds to hyperparameter adjustments in GPT-4, specifically examining sampling temperature and top p which control the randomness of model outputs. By generating stories about individuals from different racial and gender groups and comparing their similarities using vector representations, we assess both bias robustness and its relationship with hyperparameter values. We find that (1) homogeneity bias persists across most hyperparameter configurations, with Black Americans and women being represented more homogeneously than White Americans and men, (2) the relationship between hyperparameters and group representations shows unexpected non-linear patterns, particularly at extreme values, and (3) hyperparameter adjustments affect racial and gender homogeneity bias differently-while increasing temperature or decreasing top p can reduce racial homogeneity bias, these changes show different effects on gender homogeneity bias. Our findings suggest that while hyperparameter tuning may mitigate certain biases to some extent, it cannot serve as a universal solution for addressing homogeneity bias across different social group dimensions.

This Letter reports the precise measurement of reactor antineutrino spectrum and flux based on the full data set of 4.7 million inverse-beta-decay (IBD) candidates collected at Daya Bay near detectors. Expressed in terms of the IBD yield per fission, the antineutrino spectra from all reactor fissile isotopes and the specific $\mathrm{^{235}U}$ and $\mathrm{^{239}Pu}$ isotopes are measured with 1.3$\%$, 3$\%$ and 8$\%$ uncertainties respectively near the 3 MeV spectrum peak in reconstructed energy, reaching the best precision in the world. The total antineutrino flux and isotopic $\mathrm{^{235}U}$ and $\mathrm{^{239}Pu}$ fluxes are precisely measured to be $5.84\pm0.07$, $6.16\pm0.12$ and $4.16\pm0.21$ in units of $10^{-43} \mathrm{cm^2/fission}$. These measurements are compared with the Huber-Mueller (HM) model, the reevaluated conversion model based on the Kurchatov Institute (KI) measurement and the latest Summation Model (SM2023). The Daya Bay flux shows good consistency with KI and SM2023 models, but disagrees with HM model. The Daya Bay spectrum, however, disagrees with all model predictions.

We report an updated neutrino mixing angle of $\theta_{13}$ obtained from a complete data sample of the RENO experiment. The experiment has measured the amplitude and frequency of reactor anti-electron-neutrinos ($\bar{\nu}_{e}$) oscillations at the Hanbit nuclear power plant, Younggwang, Korea, since August 2011. As of March 2023, the data acquisition was completed after a total of 3800 live days of detector operation. The observed candidates via inverse beta decay (IBD) are 1,211,995 (144,667) in the near (far) detector. Based on an observed energy-dependent reactor neutrino disappearance, neutrino oscillation parameters of $\theta_{13}$ and $\lvert\Delta m_{ee}^2\rvert$ are precisely determined as $\sin^{2}2\theta_{13}=0.0920_{-0.0042}^{+0.0044}(\text{stat.})_{-0.0041}^{+0.0041}(\text{syst.})$ and $\lvert\Delta m_{ee}^2\rvert=\left[2.57_{-0.11}^{+0.10}(\text{stat.})_{-0.05}^{+0.05}(\text{syst.})\right]\times10^{-3}~\text{eV}^{2}$. Compared to the previous RENO results published in Ref.~\cite{PhysRevLett.121.201801}, the precision is improved from 7.5\% to 6.4\% for $\sin^{2}2\theta_{13}$ and from 5.2\% to 4.5\% for $\lvert\Delta m_{ee}^2\rvert$. The statistical error of the measurement has reached our goal and is hardly improved with additional data-taking., Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures

JSNS$^2$ (J-PARC Sterile Neutrino Search at J-PARC Spallation Neutron Source) is an experiment searching for sterile neutrinos through the observation of $\bar{\nu}_{\mu} \rightarrow \bar{\nu}_e$ appearance oscillations, using neutrinos produced by muon decay-at-rest. A key aspect of the experiment involves accurately understanding the neutrino flux and the quantities of pions and muons, which are progenitors of (anti-)neutrinos, given that their production rates have yet to be measured. We present the first electron-neutrino flux measurement using $^{12}\mathrm{C}(\nu_{e},e^{-}) ^{12}\mathrm{N}_{g.s.}$ reaction in JSNS$^2$, yielding a flux of (6.7 $\pm$ 1.6 (stat.) $\pm$ 1.7 (syst.)) $\times$ 10$^{-9}$ cm$^{-2}$ proton$^{-1}$ at the JSNS$^2$ detector location, located at 24 meters distance from the mercury target. This flux measurement is consistent with predictions from simulations based on hadron models.

Robotic telescope networks play an important role in capturing early and bright optical afterglows, providing critical insights into the energetics and emission mechanisms of GRBs. In this study, we analyze GRB 230204B, an exceptionally energetic and multi-pulsed long GRB, detected by the Fermi GBM and MAXI detectors, with an isotropic equivalent gamma-ray energy exceeding 10$^{54}$ erg. Time-resolved spectral analysis reveals a transition in the prompt emission from hard (sub-photospheric dominated) spectra during early pulses to softer (synchrotron radiation dominated) spectra in later pulses, indicative of a hybrid jet composition. We report the discovery and characterization of the optical afterglow using the MASTER and BOOTES robotic telescope networks, alongside long-term radio observations extending to 335 days post-burst with the ATCA. At ~1.3 ks post-burst, the optical luminosity was exceptionally high, surpassing even other bright GRBs, such as GRB 221009A (the ``BOAT"). Multi-wavelength modeling, incorporating data from MASTER, BOOTES, DOT, Swift/XRT, and radio observations, was conducted using an external ISM forward-shock top-hat jet model with afterglowpy. The results reveal a narrow and highly collimated jet with a circumburst density of n$_{0}$ ~ 28.12 cm$^{-3}$, kinetic energy E$_{K}$ ~ 4.18 x 10$^{55}$ erg, and a relatively low value of $\epsilon_{B}$ = 2.14 x 10$^{-6}$, indicating shock-compression of the magnetic field in the surrounding interstellar medium. We constrained a low radiative efficiency of ~ 4.3 %. This study highlights the indispensable contribution of robotic networks to early afterglow observations and advances our understanding of GRB 230204B unique characteristics and underlying jet physics., Comment: 27 pages, 12 figures, 8 tables, submitted

In the class of immersed boundary (IB) methods, the choice of the delta function plays a crucial role in transferring information between fluid and solid domains. Most prior work has used isotropic kernels that do not preserve the divergence-free condition of the velocity field, leading to loss of incompressibility of the solid when interpolating velocity to Lagrangian markers. To address this issue, in simulations involving large deformations of incompressible hyperelastic structures immersed in fluid, researchers often use stabilization approaches such as adding a volumetric energy term. Composite B-spline (CBS) kernels offer an alternative by maintaining the discrete divergence-free property. This work evaluates CBS kernels in terms of volume conservation and accuracy, comparing them with isotropic kernel functions using a construction introduced by Peskin (IB kernels) and B-spline (BS) kernels. Benchmark tests include pressure-loaded and shear-dominated flows, such as an elastic band under pressure loads, a pressurized membrane, a compressed block, Cook's membrane, and a slanted channel flow. Additionally, we validate our methodology using a complex fluid-structure interaction model of bioprosthetic heart valve dynamics. Results demonstrate that CBS kernels achieve superior volume conservation compared to isotropic kernels, eliminating the need for stabilization techniques. Further, CBS kernels converge on coarser fluid grids, while IB and BS kernels need finer grids for comparable accuracy. Unlike IB and BS kernels, which perform better with larger mesh ratios, CBS kernels improve with smaller mesh ratios. Wider kernels provide more accurate results across all methods, but CBS kernels are less sensitive to grid spacing variations than isotropic kernels.

In deep-inelastic positron-proton scattering, the lepton-jet azimuthal angular asymmetry is measured using data collected with the H1 detector at HERA. When the average transverse momentum of the lepton-jet system, $\lvert \vec{P}_\perp \rvert $, is much larger than the total transverse momentum of the system, $\lvert \vec{q}_\perp \rvert$, the asymmetry between parallel and antiparallel configurations, $\vec{P}_\perp$ and $\vec{q}_\perp$, is expected to be generated by initial and final state soft gluon radiation and can be predicted using perturbation theory. Quantifying the angular properties of the asymmetry therefore provides an additional test of the strong force. Studying the asymmetry is important for future measurements of intrinsic asymmetries generated by the proton's constituents through Transverse Momentum Dependent (TMD) Parton Distribution Functions (PDFs), where this asymmetry constitutes a dominant background. Moments of the azimuthal asymmetries are measured using a machine learning method for unfolding that does not require binning., Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables, updated affiliations and acknowledgements

We address unsupervised dependency parsing by building an ensemble of diverse existing models through post hoc aggregation of their output dependency parse structures. We observe that these ensembles often suffer from low robustness against weak ensemble components due to error accumulation. To tackle this problem, we propose an efficient ensemble-selection approach that avoids error accumulation. Results demonstrate that our approach outperforms each individual model as well as previous ensemble techniques. Additionally, our experiments show that the proposed ensemble-selection method significantly enhances the performance and robustness of our ensemble, surpassing previously proposed strategies, which have not accounted for error diversity., Comment: Accepted by the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) 2025

Vision-Language Models (VLMs) combine Large Language Model (LLM) capabilities with image processing, enabling tasks like image captioning and text-to-image generation. Yet concerns persist about their potential to amplify human-like biases, including skin tone bias. Skin tone bias, where darker-skinned individuals face more negative stereotyping than lighter-skinned individuals, is well-documented in the social sciences but remains under-explored in Artificial Intelligence (AI), particularly in VLMs. While well-documented in the social sciences, this bias remains under-explored in AI, particularly in VLMs. Using the GAN Face Database, we sampled computer-generated images of Black American men and women, controlling for skin tone variations while keeping other features constant. We then asked VLMs to write stories about these faces and compared the homogeneity of the generated stories. Stories generated by VLMs about darker-skinned Black individuals were more homogeneous than those about lighter-skinned individuals in three of four models, and Black women were consistently represented more homogeneously than Black men across all models. Interaction effects revealed a greater impact of skin tone on women in two VLMs, while the other two showed nonsignificant results, reflecting known stereotyping patterns. These findings underscore the propagation of biases from single-modality AI systems to multimodal models and highlight the need for further research to address intersectional biases in AI.

Beam Drift Chamber (BDC) is designed to reconstruct the trajectories of incident rare isotope beams provided by RAON (Rare isotope Accelerator complex for ON-line experiments) into the experimental target of LAMPS (Large Acceptance Multi-Purpose Spectrometer). To conduct the performance test of the BDC, the prototype BDC (pBDC) is manufactured and evaluated with the high energy ion beams from HIMAC (Heavy Ion Medical Accelerator in Chiba) facility in Japan. Two kinds of ion beams, 100 MeV proton, and 200 MeV/u $^{12}$C, have been utilized for this evaluation, and the track reconstruction efficiency and position resolution have been measured as the function of applied high voltage. This paper introduces the construction details and presents the track reconstruction efficiency and position resolution of pBDC., Comment: 13 pages, 15 figures

Machine learning has become a central technique for modeling in science and engineering, either complementing or as surrogates to physics-based models. Significant efforts have recently been devoted to models capable of predicting field quantities but the limitations of current state-of-the-art models in describing complex physics are not well understood. We characterize the ability of generative diffusion models and generative adversarial networks (GAN) to describe the Ising model. We find diffusion models trained using equilibrium configurations obtained using Metropolis Monte Carlo for a range of temperatures around the critical temperature can capture average thermodynamic variables across the phase transformation and extrapolate to higher and lower temperatures. The model also captures the overall trends of physical properties associated with fluctuations (specific heat and susceptibility) except at the non-ergodic low temperatures and non-trivial scale-free correlations at the critical temperature, albeit with some difference in the critical exponent compared to Monte Carlo simulations. GANs perform more poorly on thermodynamic properties and are susceptible to mode-collapse without careful training. This investigation highlights the potential and limitations of generative models in capturing the complex phenomena associated with certain physical systems.

An upgrade of the COSINE-100 experiment, COSINE-100U, has been prepared for installation at Yemilab, a new underground laboratory in Korea, following 6.4 years of operation at the Yangyang Underground Laboratory. The COSINE-100 experiment aimed to investigate the annual modulation signals reported by the DAMA/LIBRA but observed a null result, revealing a more than 3$\sigma$ discrepancy. COSINE-100U seeks to explore new parameter spaces for dark matter detection using NaI(Tl) detectors. All eight NaI(Tl) crystals, with a total mass of 99.1 kg, have been upgraded to improve light collection efficiency, significantly enhancing dark matter detection sensitivity. This paper describes the detector upgrades, performance improvements, and the enhanced sensitivity to low-mass dark matter detection in the COSINE-100U experiment., Comment: 14 pages, 17 figures

For over 25 years, the DAMA/LIBRA collaboration has claimed to observe an annual modulation signal, suggesting the existence of dark matter interactions. However, no other experiments have replicated their result using different detector materials. To address this puzzle, the COSINE-100 collaboration conducted a model-independent test using 106 kg of sodium iodide as detectors, the same target material as DAMA/LIBRA. Analyzing data collected over 6.4 years, with improved energy calibration and time-dependent background description, we found no evidence of an annual modulation signal, challenging the DAMA/LIBRA result with a confidence level greater than 3$\sigma$. This finding represents a significant step toward resolving the long-standing debate surrounding DAMA/LIBRA's dark matter claim, indicating that the observed modulation is unlikely to be caused by dark matter interactions.

Active learning (AL) is a powerful sequential optimization approach that has shown great promise in the discovery of new materials. However, a major challenge remains the acquisition of the initial data and the development of workflows to generate new data at each iteration. In this study, we demonstrate a significant speedup in an optimization task by reusing a published simulation workflow available for online simulations and its associated data repository, where the results of each workflow run are automatically stored. Both the workflow and its data follow FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable) principles using nanoHUB's infrastructure. The workflow employs molecular dynamics to calculate the melting temperature of multi-principal component alloys. We leveraged all prior data not only to develop an accurate machine learning model to start the sequential optimization but also to optimize the simulation parameters and accelerate convergence. Prior work showed that finding the alloy composition with the highest melting temperature required testing 15 alloy compositions, and establishing the melting temperature for each composition took, on average, 4 simulations. By developing a workflow that utilizes the FAIR data in the nanoHUB database, we reduced the number of simulations per composition to one and found the alloy with the lowest melting temperature testing only three compositions. This second optimization, therefore, shows a speedup of 10x as compared to models that do not access the FAIR databases.

Dynamic programming (DP) is a fundamental and powerful algorithmic paradigm taught in most undergraduate (and many graduate) algorithms classes. DP problems are challenging for many computer science students because they require identifying unique problem structures and a refined understanding of recursion. In this paper, we present dpvis, a Python library that helps students understand DP through a frame-by-frame animation of dynamic programs. dpvis can easily generate animations of dynamic programs with as little as two lines of modifications compared to a standard Python implementation. For each frame, dpvis highlight the cells that have been read from and written to during an iteration. Moreover, dpvis allows users to test their understanding by prompting them with questions about the next operation performed by the algorithm. We deployed dpvis as a learning tool in an undergraduate algorithms class, and report on the results of a survey. The survey results suggest that dpvis is especially helpful for visualizing the recursive structure of DP. Although some students struggled with the installation of the tool (which has been simplified since the reported deployment), essentially all other students found the tool to be useful for understanding dynamic programs. dpvis is available at https://github.com/itsdawei/dpvis., Comment: Published as a conference paper at Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE TS '25); dpvis is available at https://dpvis.readthedocs.io/en/latest/

A new 2,400 L liquid scintillator has been produced for the COSINE-100 Upgrade, which is under construction at Yemilab for the next COSINE dark matter experiment phase. The linear-alkyl-benzene-based scintillator is designed to serve as a veto for NaI(Tl) crystal targets and a separate platform for rare event searches. We measured using a sample consisting of a custom-made 445 mL cylindrical Teflon container equipped with two 3-inch photomultiplier tubes. Analyses show activity levels of $0.091 \pm 0.042$ mBq/kg for $^{238}$U and $0.012 \pm 0.007$ mBq/kg for $^{232}$Th.

Conventional methods for Bayesian optimization (BO) primarily involve one-step optimal decisions (e.g., maximizing expected improvement of the next step). To avoid myopic behavior, multi-step lookahead BO algorithms such as rollout strategies consider the sequential decision-making nature of BO, i.e., as a stochastic dynamic programming (SDP) problem, demonstrating promising results in recent years. However, owing to the curse of dimensionality, most of these methods make significant approximations or suffer scalability issues, e.g., being limited to two-step lookahead. This paper presents a novel reinforcement learning (RL)-based framework for multi-step lookahead BO in high-dimensional black-box optimization problems. The proposed method enhances the scalability and decision-making quality of multi-step lookahead BO by efficiently solving the SDP of the BO process in a near-optimal manner using RL. We first introduce an Attention-DeepSets encoder to represent the state of knowledge to the RL agent and employ off-policy learning to accelerate its initial training. We then propose a multi-task, fine-tuning procedure based on end-to-end (encoder-RL) on-policy learning. We evaluate the proposed method, EARL-BO (Encoder Augmented RL for Bayesian Optimization), on both synthetic benchmark functions and real-world hyperparameter optimization problems, demonstrating significantly improved performance compared to existing multi-step lookahead and high-dimensional BO methods., Comment: 14 pages

Very-high-energy (0.1-100 TeV) gamma-ray emission was observed in HAWC data from the lobes of the microquasar SS 433, making them the first set of astrophysical jets that were resolved at TeV energies. In this work, we update the analysis of SS 433 using 2,565 days of data from the High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) observatory. Our analysis reports the detection of a point-like source in the east lobe at a significance of $6.6\,\sigma$ and in the west lobe at a significance of $8.2\,\sigma$. For each jet lobe, we localize the gamma-ray emission and identify a best-fit position. The locations are close to the X-ray emission sites "e1" and "w1" for the east and west lobes, respectively. We analyze the spectral energy distributions and find that the energy spectra of the lobes are consistent with a simple power-law $\text{d}N/\text{d}E\propto E^{\alpha}$ with $\alpha = -2.44^{+0.13+0.04}_{-0.12-0.04}$ and $\alpha = -2.35^{+0.12+0.03}_{-0.11-0.03}$ for the east and west lobes, respectively. The maximum energy of photons from the east and west lobes reaches 56 TeV and 123 TeV, respectively. We compare our observations to various models and conclude that the very-high-energy gamma-ray emission can be produced by a population of electrons that were efficiently accelerated.

Context. Transient sky astronomy is entering a new era with the advent of the SVOM mission (Space Variable Objects Monitor), which was successfully launched on the 26th of June, 2024. The primary goal of SVOM is to monitor the hard X-ray sky searching for gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). On top of its on-board follow-up capabilities, SVOM will be backed by its ground segment composed of several facilities, of which the near-infrared imager CAGIRE. Mounted on the robotic telescope COLIBRI, it will be a unique instrument, able to perform fast follow-up of GRB afterglows in J and H bands, an ideal combination to catch high-redshift (z>6) and/or obscured GRBs. Aims. This paper aims at estimating the performances of CAGIRE for GRB near-infrared afterglow detection based on the characteristics of the detector and the specificities of the COLIBRI telescope. Quickly fading GRB afterglows pose challenges that should be addressed by adapting observing strategies to the capabilities of CAGIRE. Methods. We use an end-to-end image simulator to produce realistic CAGIRE images, taking into account results from the characterization of the ALFA detector used by CAGIRE. We implemented a GRB afterglow generator that simulates infrared lightcurves and spectra based on published observation of distant GRBs (z>6). Results. We retrieved the photometry of 9 GRB afterglows in various scenarios covered by CAGIRE. Catching afterglows as early as two minutes after burst allows the identification of a nIR counterpart in the brightest 4 events. When artificially redshifted even further away, these events remain detectable by CAGIRE up to z=9.6 in J band, and z=13.3 in H band, indicating the potential of CAGIRE to be a pioneer in the identification of the most distant GRBs to date., Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in A&A

We study the estimation of distributional parameters when samples are shown only if they fall in some unknown set $S \subseteq \mathbb{R}^d$. Kontonis, Tzamos, and Zampetakis (FOCS'19) gave a $d^{\mathrm{poly}(1/\varepsilon)}$ time algorithm for finding $\varepsilon$-accurate parameters for the special case of Gaussian distributions with diagonal covariance matrix. Recently, Diakonikolas, Kane, Pittas, and Zarifis (COLT'24) showed that this exponential dependence on $1/\varepsilon$ is necessary even when $S$ belongs to some well-behaved classes. These works leave the following open problems which we address in this work: Can we estimate the parameters of any Gaussian or even extend beyond Gaussians? Can we design $\mathrm{poly}(d/\varepsilon)$ time algorithms when $S$ is a simple set such as a halfspace? We make progress on both of these questions by providing the following results: 1. Toward the first question, we give a $d^{\mathrm{poly}(\ell/\varepsilon)}$ time algorithm for any exponential family that satisfies some structural assumptions and any unknown set $S$ that is $\varepsilon$-approximable by degree-$\ell$ polynomials. This result has two important applications: 1a) The first algorithm for estimating arbitrary Gaussian distributions from samples truncated to an unknown $S$; and 1b) The first algorithm for linear regression with unknown truncation and Gaussian features. 2. To address the second question, we provide an algorithm with runtime $\mathrm{poly}(d/\varepsilon)$ that works for a set of exponential families (containing all Gaussians) when $S$ is a halfspace or an axis-aligned rectangle. Along the way, we develop tools that may be of independent interest, including, a reduction from PAC learning with positive and unlabeled samples to PAC learning with positive and negative samples that is robust to certain covariate shifts., Comment: Accepted for presentation at the 65th IEEE Symposium on Foundations of Computer Science (FOCS), 2024; abstract shortened for arXiv

A search for proton decay into $e^+/\mu^+$ and a $\eta$ meson has been performed using data from a 0.373 Mton$\cdot$year exposure (6050.3 live days) of Super-Kamiokande. Compared to previous searches this work introduces an improved model of the intranuclear $\eta$ interaction cross section, resulting in a factor of two reduction in uncertainties from this source and $\sim$10\% increase in signal efficiency. No significant data excess was found above the expected number of atmospheric neutrino background events resulting in no indication of proton decay into either mode. Lower limits on the proton partial lifetime of $1.4\times\mathrm{10^{34}~years}$ for $p\rightarrow e^+\eta$ and $7.3\times\mathrm{10^{33}~years}$ for $p\rightarrow \mu^+\eta$ at the 90$\%$ C.L. were set. These limits are around 1.5 times longer than our previous study and are the most stringent to date.

Thanks to the rapidly increasing time-domain facilities, we are entering a golden era of research on gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). In this Letter, we report our observations of GRB 240529A with the Burst Optical Observer and Transient Exploring System, the 1.5-meter telescope at Observatorio Sierra Nevada, the 2.5-meter Wide Field Survey Telescope of China, the Large Binocular Telescope, and the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo. The prompt emission of GRB 240529A shows two comparable energetic episodes separated by a quiescence time of roughly 400 s. Combining all available data on the GRB Coordinates Network, we reveal the simultaneous apparent X-ray plateau and optical re-brightening around $10^3-10^4$ s after the burst. Rather than the energy injection from the magnetar as widely invoked for similar GRBs, the multi-wavelength emissions could be better explained as two shocks launched from the central engine separately. The optical peak time and our numerical modeling suggest that the initial bulk Lorentz factor of the later shock is roughly 50, which indicates that the later jet should be accretion-driven and have a higher mass loading than a typical one. The quiescence time between the two prompt emission episodes may be caused by the transition between different accretion states of a central magnetar or black hole, or the fall-back accretion process. A sample of similar bursts with multiple emission episodes in the prompt phase and sufficient follow-up could help to probe the underlying physics of GRB central engines., Comment: Resubmitted to ApJL after addressing the referee's comments; comments are welcome

We report the first measurement of the azimuthal anisotropy of J$/\psi$ at forward rapidity ($1.2<|\eta|<2.2$) in Au$+$Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}=200$ GeV at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. The data were collected by the PHENIX experiment in 2014 and 2016 with integrated luminosity of 14.5~nb$^{-1}$. The second Fourier coefficient ($v_2$) of the azimuthal distribution of $J/\psi$ is determined as a function of the transverse momentum ($p_T$) using the event-plane method. The measurements were performed for several selections of collision centrality: 0\%--50\%, 10\%--60\%, and 10\%-40\%. We find that in all cases the values of $v_2(p_T)$, which quantify the elliptic flow of J$/\psi$, are consistent with zero. The results are consistent with measurements at midrapidity, indicating no significant elliptic flow of the J$/\psi$ within the quark-gluon-plasma medium at collision energies of $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}=200$ GeV., Comment: 369 authors from 72 institutions, 12 pages, 7 figures, 5 tables. v1 is version submitted to Physical Review C. HEPdata tables for the points plotted in figures for this and previous PHENIX publications are (or will be) publicly available at http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.html

We present the first forward-rapidity measurements of elliptic anisotropy of open-heavy-flavor muons at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. The measurements are based on data samples of Au$+$Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}=200$ GeV collected by the PHENIX experiment in 2014 and 2016 with integrated luminosity of 14.5~nb$^{-1}$. The measurements are performed in the pseudorapidity range $1.2<|\eta|<2$ and cover transverse momenta $1

Voice conversion (VC) aims to modify the speaker's identity while preserving the linguistic content. Commonly, VC methods use an encoder-decoder architecture, where disentangling the speaker's identity from linguistic information is crucial. However, the disentanglement approaches used in these methods are limited as the speaker features depend on the phonetic content of the utterance, compromising disentanglement. This dependency is amplified with attention-based methods. To address this, we introduce a novel masking mechanism in the input before speaker encoding, masking certain discrete speech units that correspond highly with phoneme classes. Our work aims to reduce the phonetic dependency of speaker features by restricting access to some phonetic information. Furthermore, since our approach is at the input level, it is applicable to any encoder-decoder based VC framework. Our approach improves disentanglement and conversion performance across multiple VC methods, showing significant effectiveness, particularly in attention-based method, with 44% relative improvement in objective intelligibility., Comment: Accepted to IEEE SLT 2024

Residential electrification - replacing fossil-fueled appliances and vehicles with electric machines - can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution. However, installing electric appliances or vehicle charging in a residential building can sharply increase its current draws. In older housing, high current draws can jeopardize electrical infrastructure, such as circuit breaker panels or electrical service (the wires that connect a building to the distribution grid). Upgrading electrical infrastructure can entail long delays and high costs, so poses a significant barrier to electrification. This paper develops and field-tests a control system that avoids the need for electrical upgrades by keeping an electrified home's total current draw within the safe limits of its panel and service. In the proposed control architecture, a high-level controller plans device set-points over a rolling prediction horizon. A low-level controller monitors real-time conditions and ramps down devices if necessary. The control system was tested in an occupied, electrified single-family house with code-minimum insulation, an air-to-air heat pump and backup resistance heat, a resistance water heater, and a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle with Level I charging. The field tests spanned 31 winter days with outdoor temperatures as low as -20 C. The control system maintained the whole-home current within the safe limits of electrical panels and service rated at 100 A, a common rating for older houses in North America, by adjusting only the temperature set-points of the heat pump and water heater. Simulations suggest that the same 100 A limit could accommodate a second electric vehicle with Level II charging. The proposed control system could allow older homes to safely electrify without upgrading electrical panels or service, saving a typical household on the order of $2,000 to $10,000.

We present the first measurement of the missing energy due to nuclear effects in monoenergetic, muon neutrino charged-current interactions on carbon, originating from $K^+ \rightarrow \mu^+ \nu_\mu$ decay-at-rest ($E_{\nu_\mu}=235.5$ MeV), performed with the JSNS$^2$ liquid scintillator based experiment. Towards characterizing the neutrino interaction, ostensibly $\nu_\mu n \rightarrow \mu^- p$ or $\nu_\mu$$^{12}\mathrm{C}$ $\rightarrow \mu^-$$^{12}\mathrm{N}$, and in analogy to similar electron scattering based measurements, we define the missing energy as the energy transferred to the nucleus ($\omega$) minus the kinetic energy of the outgoing proton(s), $E_{m} \equiv \omega-\sum T_p$, and relate this to visible energy in the detector, $E_{m}=E_{\nu_\mu}~(235.5~\mathrm{MeV})-m_\mu~(105.7~\mathrm{MeV}) - E_{vis}$. The missing energy, which is naively expected to be zero in the absence of nuclear effects (e.g. nucleon separation energy, Fermi momenta, and final-state interactions), is uniquely sensitive to many aspects of the interaction, and has previously been inaccessible with neutrinos. The shape-only, differential cross section measurement reported, based on a $(77\pm3)$% pure double-coincidence KDAR signal (621 total events), provides an important benchmark for models and event generators at 100s-of-MeV neutrino energies, characterized by the difficult-to-model transition region between neutrino-nucleus and neutrino-nucleon scattering, and relevant for applications in nuclear physics, neutrino oscillation measurements, and Type-II supernova studies.

COSINE-100 is a direct dark matter search experiment, with the primary goal of testing the annual modulation signal observed by DAMA/LIBRA, using the same target material, NaI(Tl). In previous analyses, we achieved the same 1 keV energy threshold used in the DAMA/LIBRA's analysis that reported an annual modulation signal with 11.6$\sigma$ significance. In this article, we report an improved analysis that lowered the threshold to 0.7 keV, thanks to the application of Multi-Layer Perception network and a new likelihood parameter with waveforms in the frequency domain. The lower threshold would enable a better comparison of COSINE-100 with new DAMA results with a 0.75 keV threshold and account for differences in quenching factors. Furthermore the lower threshold can enhance COSINE-100's sensitivity to sub-GeV dark matter searches.

The jet cross-section and jet-substructure observables in $p$$+$$p$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=200$ GeV were measured by the PHENIX Collaboration at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). Jets are reconstructed from charged-particle tracks and electromagnetic-calorimeter clusters using the anti-$k_{t}$ algorithm with a jet radius $R=0.3$ for jets with transverse momentum within $8.0

COSINE-100 aims to conclusively test the claimed dark matter annual modulation signal detected by DAMA/LIBRA collaboration. DAMA/LIBRA has released updated analysis results by lowering the energy threshold to 0.75 keV through various upgrades. They have consistently claimed to have observed the annual modulation. In COSINE-100, it is crucial to lower the energy threshold for a direct comparison with DAMA/LIBRA, which also enhances the sensitivity of the search for low-mass dark matter, enabling COSINE-100 to explore this area. Therefore, it is essential to have a precise and quantitative understanding of the background spectrum across all energy ranges. This study expands the background modeling from 0.7 to 4000 keV using 2.82 years of COSINE-100 data. The modeling has been improved to describe the background spectrum across all energy ranges accurately. Assessments of the background spectrum are presented, considering the nonproportionality of NaI(Tl) crystals at both low and high energies and the characteristic X-rays produced by the interaction of external backgrounds with materials such as copper. Additionally, constraints on the fit parameters obtained from the alpha spectrum modeling fit are integrated into this model. These improvements are detailed in the paper.

The AMoRE collaboration searches for neutrinoless double beta decay of $^{100}$Mo using molybdate scintillating crystals via low temperature thermal calorimetric detection. The early phases of the experiment, AMoRE-pilot and AMoRE-I, have demonstrated competitive discovery potential. Presently, the AMoRE-II experiment, featuring a large detector array with about 90 kg of $^{100}$Mo isotope, is under construction.This paper discusses the baseline design and characterization of the lithium molybdate cryogenic calorimeters to be used in the AMoRE-II detector modules. The results from prototype setups that incorporate new housing structures and two different crystal masses (316 g and 517 - 521 g), operated at 10 mK temperature, show energy resolutions (FWHM) of 7.55 - 8.82 keV at the 2.615 MeV $^{208}$Tl $\gamma$ line, and effective light detection of 0.79 - 0.96 keV/MeV. The simultaneous heat and light detection enables clear separation of alpha particles with a discrimination power of 12.37 - 19.50 at the energy region around $^6$Li(n, $\alpha$)$^3$H with Q-value = 4.785 MeV. Promising detector performances were demonstrated at temperatures as high as 30 mK, which relaxes the temperature constraints for operating the large AMoRE-II array.

AMoRE searches for the signature of neutrinoless double beta decay of $^{100}$Mo with a 100 kg sample of enriched $^{100}$Mo. Scintillating molybdate crystals coupled with a metallic magnetic calorimeter operate at milli-Kelvin temperatures to measure the energy of electrons emitted in the decay. As a demonstration of the full-scale AMoRE, we conducted AMoRE-I, a pre-experiment with 18 molybdate crystals, at the Yangyang Underground Laboratory for over two years. The exposure was 8.02 kg$\cdot$year (or 3.89 kg$_{\mathrm{^{100}Mo}}\cdot$year) and the total background rate near the Q-value was 0.025 $\pm$ 0.002 counts/keV/kg/year. We observed no indication of $0\nu\beta\beta$ decay and report a new lower limit of the half-life of $^{100}$Mo $0\nu\beta\beta$ decay as $ T^{0\nu}_{1/2}>3.0\times10^{24}~\mathrm{years}$ at 90\% confidence level. The effective Majorana mass limit range is $m_{\beta\beta}<$(210--610) meV using nuclear matrix elements estimated in the framework of different models, including the recent shell model calculations., Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures

AMoRE-II aims to search for neutrinoless double beta decay with an array of 423 Li$_2$$^{100}$MoO$_4$ crystals operating in the cryogenic system as the main phase of the Advanced Molybdenum-based Rare process Experiment (AMoRE). AMoRE has been planned to operate in three phases: AMoRE-pilot, AMoRE-I, and AMoRE-II. AMoRE-II is currently being installed at the Yemi Underground Laboratory, located approximately 1000 meters deep in Jeongseon, Korea. The goal of AMoRE-II is to reach up to $T^{0\nu\beta\beta}_{1/2}$ $\sim$ 6 $\times$ 10$^{26}$ years, corresponding to an effective Majorana mass of 15 - 29 meV, covering all the inverted mass hierarchy regions. To achieve this, the background level of the experimental configurations and possible background sources of gamma and beta events should be well understood. We have intensively performed Monte Carlo simulations using the GEANT4 toolkit in all the experimental configurations with potential sources. We report the estimated background level that meets the 10$^{-4}$counts/(keV$\cdot$kg$\cdot$yr) requirement for AMoRE-II in the region of interest (ROI) and show the projected half-life sensitivity based on the simulation study.

(Abridged) Core-collapse supernova remnants (SNRs) display complex morphologies and asymmetries, reflecting anisotropies from the explosion and early interactions with the circumstellar medium (CSM). Spectral analysis of these remnants can provide critical insights into supernova (SN) engine dynamics, the nature of progenitor stars, and the final stages of stellar evolution, including mass-loss mechanisms in the millennia leading up to the SN. This white paper evaluates the potential of the Line Emission Mapper (LEM), an advanced X-ray probe concept proposed in response to NASA 2023 APEX call, to deliver high-resolution spectra of SNRs. Such capabilities would allow detailed analysis of parent SNe and progenitor stars, currently beyond our possibilities. We employed a hydrodynamic model that simulates the evolution of a neutrino-driven SN from core-collapse to a 2000-year-old mature remnant. This model successfully replicates the large-scale properties of Cassiopeia A at an age of about 350 years. Using this model, we synthesized mock LEM spectra from different regions of the SNR, considering factors like line shifts and broadening due to plasma bulk motion and thermal ion motion, deviations from ionization and temperature equilibrium, and interstellar medium absorption. Analyzing these mock spectra with standard tools revealed LEM impressive capabilities. We demonstrated that fitting these spectra with plasma models accurately recovers the line-of-sight velocity of the ejecta, enabling 3D structure exploration of shocked ejecta, similar to optical methods. LEM also distinguishes between Doppler and thermal broadening of ion lines and measures ion temperatures near the limb of SNRs, providing insights into ion heating at shock fronts and cooling in post-shock flows. This study highlights LEM potential to advance our understanding of core-collapse SN dynamics and related processes., Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures. White Paper for the Line Emission Mapper (LEM) X-ray Probe concept proposed in response to NASA's 2023 APEX call. Comments are welcome

Data science and artificial intelligence are playing an increasingly important role in the physical sciences. Unfortunately, in the field of energetic materials data scarcity limits the accuracy and even applicability of ML tools. To address data limitations, we compiled multi-modal data: both experimental and computational results for several properties. We find that multi-task neural networks can learn from multi-modal data and outperform single-task models trained for specific properties. As expected, the improvement is more significant for data-scarce properties. These models are trained using descriptors built from simple molecular information and can be readily applied for large-scale materials screening to explore multiple properties simultaneously. This approach is widely applicable to fields outside energetic materials., Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables

We report new results from the Neutrino Elastic Scattering Observation with NaI (NEON) experiment in the search for light dark matter (LDM) using 2,636 kg$\cdot$days of NaI(Tl) exposure. The experiment employs an array of NaI(Tl) crystals with a total mass of 16.7 kg, located 23.7 meters away from a 2.8 GW thermal power nuclear reactor. We investigated LDM produced by the $\textit{invisible decay}$ of dark photons generated by high-flux photons during reactor operation. The energy spectra collected during reactor-on and reactor-off periods were compared within the LDM signal region of $1-10$ keV. No signal consistent with LDM interaction with electrons was observed, allowing us to set 90% confidence level exclusion limits for the dark matter-electron scattering cross-section ($\sigma_e$) across dark matter masses ranging from 1 keV/c$^2$ to 1 MeV/c$^2$. Our results set a 90% confidence level upper limit of $\sigma_e = 3.17\times10^{-35}~\mathrm{cm^2}$ for a dark matter mass of 100 keV/c$^2$, marking the best laboratory result in this mass range. Additionally, our search extends the coverage of LDM below 100 keV/c$^2$ first time.

Supernova remnants (SNRs) are believed to be capable of accelerating cosmic rays (CRs) to PeV energies. SNR G106.3+2.7 is a prime PeVatron candidate. It is formed by a head region, where the pulsar J2229+6114 and its boomerang-shaped pulsar wind nebula are located, and a tail region containing SN ejecta. The lack of observed gamma ray emission from the two regions of this SNR has made it difficult to assess which region would be responsible for the PeV CRs. We aim to characterize the very-high-energy (VHE, 0.1-100 TeV) gamma ray emission from SNR G106.3+2.7 by determining the morphology and spectral energy distribution of the region. This is accomplished using 2565 days of data and improved reconstruction algorithms from the HAWC Observatory. We also explore possible gamma ray production mechanisms for different energy ranges. Using a multi-source fitting procedure based on a maximum-likelihood estimation method, we evaluate the complex nature of this region. We determine the morphology, spectrum, and energy range for the source found in the region. Molecular cloud information is also used to create a template and evaluate the HAWC gamma ray spectral properties at ultra-high-energies (UHE, >56 TeV). This will help probe the hadronic nature of the highest-energy emission from the region. We resolve one extended source coincident with all other gamma ray observations of the region. The emission reaches above 100~TeV and its preferred log-parabola shape in the spectrum shows a flux peak in the TeV range. The molecular cloud template fit on the higher energy data reveals that the SNR's energy budget is fully capable of producing a purely hadronic source for UHE gamma rays.

The PHENIX experiment measured the centrality dependence of two-pion Bose-Einstein correlation functions in $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}=200$~GeV Au$+$Au collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The data are well represented by L\'evy-stable source distributions. The extracted source parameters are the correlation-strength parameter $\lambda$, the L\'evy index of stability $\alpha$, and the L\'evy-scale parameter $R$ as a function of transverse mass $m_T$ and centrality. The $\lambda(m_T)$ parameter is constant at larger values of $m_T$, but decreases as $m_T$ decreases. The L\'evy scale parameter $R(m_T)$ decreases with $m_T$ and exhibits proportionality to the length scale of the nuclear overlap region. The L\'evy exponent $\alpha(m_T)$ is independent of $m_T$ within uncertainties in each investigated centrality bin, but shows a clear centrality dependence. At all centralities, the L\'evy exponent $\alpha$ is significantly different from that of Gaussian ($\alpha=2$) or Cauchy ($\alpha=1$) source distributions. Comparisons to the predictions of Monte-Carlo simulations of resonance-decay chains show that in all but the most peripheral centrality class (50%-60%), the obtained results are inconsistent with the measurements, unless a significant reduction of the in-medium mass of the $\eta'$ meson is included. In each centrality class, the best value of the in-medium $\eta'$ mass is compared to the mass of the $\eta$ meson, as well as to several theoretical predictions that consider restoration of $U_A(1)$ symmetry in hot hadronic matter., Comment: 401 authors from 75 institutions, 23 pages, 15 figures, 2 tables. v2 is version accepted for publication by Physical Review C. HEPdata tables for the points plotted in figures for this and previous PHENIX publications are (or will be) publicly available at http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.html

A novel initialization method in the fuzzy c-means (FCM) algorithm is proposed for the color clustering problem. Given a set of color points, the proposed initialization extracts dominant colors that are the most vivid and distinguishable colors. Color points closest to the dominant colors are selected as initial centroids in the FCM. To obtain the dominant colors and their closest color points, we introduce reference colors and define a fuzzy membership model between a color point and a reference color.

The research interest of this paper is focused on the efficient clustering task for an arbitrary color data. In order to tackle this problem, we have tried to model the inherent uncertainty and vagueness of color data using fuzzy color model. By taking fuzzy approach to color modeling, we could make a soft decision for the vague regions between neighboring colors. The proposed fuzzy color model defined a three dimensional fuzzy color ball and color membership computation method with two inter-color distances. With the fuzzy color model, we developed a new fuzzy clustering algorithm for an efficient partition of color data. Each fuzzy cluster set has a cluster prototype which is represented by fuzzy color centroid.

A new cluster validity index is proposed for fuzzy clusters obtained from fuzzy c-means algorithm. The proposed validity index exploits inter-cluster proximity between fuzzy clusters. Inter-cluster proximity is used to measure the degree of overlap between clusters. A low proximity value refers to well-partitioned clusters. The best fuzzy c-partition is obtained by minimizing inter-cluster proximity with respect to c. Well-known data sets are tested to show the effectiveness and reliability of the proposed index., Comment: Accepted at FIP-2002

Homogeneity bias in Large Language Models (LLMs) refers to their tendency to homogenize the representations of some groups compared to others. Previous studies documenting this bias have predominantly used encoder models, which may have inadvertently introduced biases. To address this limitation, we prompted GPT-4 to generate single word/expression completions associated with 18 situation cues-specific, measurable elements of environments that influence how individuals perceive situations and compared the variability of these completions using probability of differentiation. This approach directly assessed homogeneity bias from the model's outputs, bypassing encoder models. Across five studies, we find that homogeneity bias is highly volatile across situation cues and writing prompts, suggesting that the bias observed in past work may reflect those within encoder models rather than LLMs. Furthermore, we find that homogeneity bias in LLMs is brittle, as even minor and arbitrary changes in prompts can significantly alter the expression of biases. Future work should further explore how variations in syntactic features and topic choices in longer text generations influence homogeneity bias in LLMs.

Recent advances in active materials and fabrication techniques have enabled the production of cyclically self-deployable metamaterials with an expanded functionality space. However, designing metamaterials that possess continuously tunable mechanical properties after self-deployment remains a challenge, notwithstanding its importance. Inspired by push puppets, we introduce an efficient design strategy to create reversibly self-deployable metamaterials with continuously tunable post-deployment stiffness and damping. Our metamaterial comprises contracting actuators threaded through beads with matching conical concavo-convex interfaces in networked chains. The slack network conforms to arbitrary shapes, but when actuated, it self-assembles into a preprogrammed configuration with beads gathered together. Further contraction of the actuators can dynamically tune the assembly's mechanical properties through the beads' particle jamming, while maintaining the overall structure with minimal change. We show that, after deployment, such metamaterials exhibit pronounced tunability in bending-dominated configurations: they can become more than 35 times stiffer and change their damping capability by over 50%. Through systematic analysis, we find that the beads'conical angle can introduce geometric nonlinearity, which has a major effect on the self-deployability and tunability of the metamaterial. Our work provides routes towards reversibly self-deployable, lightweight, and tunable metamaterials, with potential applications in soft robotics, reconfigurable architectures, and space engineering., Comment: 6 figures

We report an observation of ultra-high energy (UHE) gamma rays from the Galactic Center region, using seven years of data collected by the High-Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Observatory. The HAWC data are best described as a point-like source (HAWC J1746-2856) with a power-law spectrum ($\mathrm{d}N/\mathrm{d}E=\phi(E/26 \,\text{TeV})^{\gamma}$), where $\gamma=-2.88 \pm 0.15_{\text{stat}} - 0.1_{\text{sys}} $ and $\phi=1.5 \times 10^{-15}$ (TeV cm$^{2}$s)$^{-1}$ $\pm\, 0.3_{\text{stat}}\,^{+0.08_{\text{sys}}}_{-0.13_{\text{sys}}}$ extending from 6 to 114 TeV. We find no evidence of a spectral cutoff up to $100$ TeV using HAWC data. Two known point-like gamma-ray sources are spatially coincident with the HAWC gamma-ray excess: Sgr A$^{*}$ (HESS J1745-290) and the Arc (HESS J1746-285). We subtract the known flux contribution of these point sources from the measured flux of HAWC J1746-2856 to exclude their contamination and show that the excess observed by HAWC remains significant ($>$5$\sigma$) with the spectrum extending to $>$100 TeV. Our result supports that these detected UHE gamma rays can originate via hadronic interaction of PeV cosmic-ray protons with the dense ambient gas and confirms the presence of a proton PeVatron at the Galactic Center.

Model predictive control of residential air conditioning could reduce energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions while maintaining or improving occupants' thermal comfort. However, most approaches to predictive air conditioning control either do not model indoor humidity or treat it as constant. This simplification stems from challenges with modeling indoor humidity dynamics, particularly the high-order, nonlinear equations that govern heat and mass transfer between the air conditioner's evaporator coil and the indoor air. This paper develops a machine-learning approach to modeling indoor humidity dynamics that is suitable for real-world deployment at scale. This study then investigates the value of humidity modeling in four field tests of predictive control in an occupied house. The four field tests evaluate two different building models: One with constant humidity and one with time-varying humidity. Each modeling approach is tested in two different predictive controllers: One that focuses on reducing energy costs and one that focuses on constraining electric power below a utility-specified threshold. The two models lead to similar performance for reducing energy costs. Combining the results of this study and a prior heating study of the same house, the estimated year-round energy cost savings were $340-497 or 22-31% (95% confidence intervals); these savings were consistent across both humidity models. However, in the demand response tests, the simplifying assumption of constant humidity led to far more frequent and severe violations of the power constraint. These results suggest that accurate building models are important for nonlinear objectives, such as reducing or constraining peak demand, while for linear objectives such as reducing energy costs or emissions, model accuracy is less important.

We report an estimation of the injected mass composition of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) at energies higher than 10 EeV. The composition is inferred from an energy-dependent sky distribution of UHECR events observed by the Telescope Array surface detector by comparing it to the Large Scale Structure of the local Universe. In the case of negligible extra-galactic magnetic fields the results are consistent with a relatively heavy injected composition at E ~ 10 EeV that becomes lighter up to E ~ 100 EeV, while the composition at E > 100 EeV is very heavy. The latter is true even in the presence of highest experimentally allowed extra-galactic magnetic fields, while the composition at lower energies can be light if a strong EGMF is present. The effect of the uncertainty in the galactic magnetic field on these results is subdominant., Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in PRL