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Globular clusters being old and densely packed serve as ideal laboratories to test stellar evolution theories. Although there is enormous literature on globular clusters in optical bands, studies in the ultraviolet (UV) regime are sparse. In this work, we study the stellar populations of a metal poor and a rather dispersed globular cluster, NGC 5053, using the UV instrument of AstroSat, namely the Ultra Violet Imaging Telescope in three far-UV (F154W, F169M, F172M) and three near-UV (N219M, N245M, N263M) filters. Photometry was carried out on these images to construct a catalogue of UV stars, of which the cluster members were identified using Gaia EDR3 catalogue. UV and optical CMDs help us locate known stellar populations such as BHB stars, RR-Lyrae stars, RHB stars, BSSs, SX-Phe, RGB and AGB stars. Based on their locations in the CMDs, we have identified 8 new BSS candidates, 6 probable eBSSs, and an EHB candidate. Their nature has been confirmed by fitting their spectral energy distributions with stellar atmospheric models. We believe the BSS population of this cluster is likely to have a collisional origin based on our analyses of their radial distribution and SEDs. BaSTI-IAC isochrones were generated to characterize the cluster properties, and we find that the observed brightness and colours of cluster members are best-fit with a model that is alpha-enhanced with a helium fraction of 0.247, metallicity of -1.9 dex and age within a range of 10.5-14.5 Gyr., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS, 14 pages, 12 figures, 3 Tables

We propose a new model-free feature screening method based on energy distances for ultrahigh-dimensional binary classification problems. With a high probability, the proposed method retains only relevant features after discarding all the noise variables. The proposed screening method is also extended to identify pairs of variables that are marginally undetectable but have differences in their joint distributions. Finally, we build a classifier that maintains coherence between the proposed feature selection criteria and discrimination method and also establish its risk consistency. An extensive numerical study with simulated and real benchmark data sets shows clear and convincing advantages of our proposed method over the state-of-the-art methods., Comment: Paper: 34 pages, Supplementary: 33 pages

We describe a versatile pipeline for processing the data collected by the Ultra-Violet Imaging Telescope (UVIT) on board Indian Multi-wavelength astronomical satellite AstroSat.The UVIT instrument carries out simultaneous astronomical imaging through selected filters / gratings in Far-Ultra-Violet (FUV), Near-Ultra-Violet & visible (VIS) bands of the targeted circular sky field (~ 0.5 deg dia). This pipeline converts the data (Level-1) emanating from UVIT in their raw primitive format supplemented by inputs from the spacecraft sub-systems into UV sky images (& slitless grating spectra) and associated products readily usable by astronomers (Level-2). The primary products include maps of Intensity (rate of photon arrival), error on Intensity and effective Exposure. The pipeline is open source, extensively user configurable with many selectable parameters and its execution is fully automated. The key ingredients of the pipeline includes - extraction of drift in pointing of the spacecraft, and disturbances in pointing due to internal movements; application of various corrections to measured position in the detector for each photon - e.g. differential pointing with respect to a reference frame for shift and add operation, systematic effects and artifacts in the optics of the telescopes and detectors, exposure tracking on the sky, alignment of sky products from multi-episode exposures to generate a consolidated set and astrometry. Detailed logs of operations and intermediate products for every processing stage are accessible via user selectable options. While large number of selectable parameters are available for the user, a well characterized standard default set is used for executing this pipeline at the Payload Operation Centre (POC) for UVIT and selected products are archived and disseminated by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) through its ISSDC portal., Comment: Accepted for publication in Journal of Astrophysics & Astronomy, 50 pages, 16 figures

The ${\mathbb{Z}}_{2}$ topological metals $R$V$_3$Sb$_5$ ($R$ = K, Rb, Cs) with a layered kagome structure provide a unique opportunity to investigate the interplay between charge order, superconductivity and topology. Here, we report muon-spin relaxation/rotation ($\mu$SR) measurements performed on CsV$_3$Sb$_5$ across a broad temperature range, in order to uncover the nature of the charge-density wave order and superconductivity in this material. From zero-field $\mu$SR, we find that spontaneous magnetic fields appear below 50 K which is well below the charge-density wave transition ($T^* \sim 93$ K). We show that these spontaneous fields are dynamic in nature making it difficult to associate them with a hidden static order. The superconducting state of CsV$_3$Sb$_5$ is found to preserve time-reversal symmetry and the transverse-field $\mu$SR results are consistent with a superconducting state that has two fully open gaps., Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures

Autonomic computing investigates how systems can achieve (user) specified control outcomes on their own, without the intervention of a human operator. Autonomic computing fundamentals have been substantially influenced by those of control theory for closed and open-loop systems. In practice, complex systems may exhibit a number of concurrent and inter-dependent control loops. Despite research into autonomic models for managing computer resources, ranging from individual resources (e.g., web servers) to a resource ensemble (e.g., multiple resources within a data center), research into integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to improve resource autonomy and performance at scale continues to be a fundamental challenge. The integration of AI/ML to achieve such autonomic and self-management of systems can be achieved at different levels of granularity, from full to human-in-the-loop automation. In this article, leading academics, researchers, practitioners, engineers, and scientists in the fields of cloud computing, AI/ML, and quantum computing join to discuss current research and potential future directions for these fields. Further, we discuss challenges and opportunities for leveraging AI and ML in next generation computing for emerging computing paradigms, including cloud, fog, edge, serverless and quantum computing environments., Comment: Accepted for Publication in Elsevier IoT Journal, 2022

The Infrared Astronomy Group (Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics) at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) is presently developing controllers for the Teledyne HxRG Focal Plane Arrays (FPAs) to be used on board the Infrared Spectroscopic Imaging Survey (IRSIS) satellite payload. In this manuscript we discuss the results of our tests with different FPA controllers like the Astronomical Research Cameras (ARC) controller, Teledyne's SIDECAR ASIC as well as our new in-house designed Array controller. As part of the development phase of the IRSIS instrument, which is an optical fibre based Integral Field Unit (IFU) Near-Infrared (NIR) Spectrometer, a laboratory model with limited NIR bandwidth was built which consisted of various subsystems like a Ritchey-Chretien (RC) 30 cm telescope, optical fibre IFU, spectrometer optics, and the Teledyne H2RG detector module. We discuss the various developments during the building and testing of the IRSIS laboratory model and the technical aspects of the prototype in-house H2RG controller., Comment: 19 pages, 28 figures, 2 tables, Accepted for publication in The Journal of Astronomical Instrumentation (JAI)

Topological semimetals are three dimensional materials with symmetry-protected massless bulk excitations. As a special case, Weyl nodal-line semimetals are realized in materials either having no inversion or broken time-reversal symmetry and feature bulk nodal lines. The 111-family of materials, LaNiSi, LaPtSi and LaPtGe (all lacking inversion symmetry), belong to this class. Here, by combining muon-spin rotation and relaxation with thermodynamic measurements, we find that these materials exhibit a fully-gapped superconducting ground state, while spontaneously breaking time-reversal symmetry at the superconducting transition. Since time-reversal symmetry is essential for protecting the normal-state topology, its breaking upon entering the superconducting state should remarkably result in a topological phase transition. By developing a minimal model for the normal-state band structure and assuming a purely spin-triplet pairing, we show that the superconducting properties across the family can be described accurately. Our results demonstrate that the 111-family reported here provides an ideal test-bed for investigating the rich interplay between the exotic properties of Weyl nodal-line fermions and unconventional superconductivity., Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures

Bayesian estimation of short-time spectral amplitude is one of the most predominant approaches for the enhancement of the noise corrupted speech. The performance of these estimators are usually significantly improved when any perceptually relevant cost function is considered. On the other hand, the recent progress in the phase-based speech signal processing have shown that the phase-only enhancement based on spectral phase estimation methods can also provide joint improvement in the perceived speech quality and intelligibility, even in low SNR conditions. In this paper, to take advantage of both the perceptually motivated cost function involving STSAs of estimated and true clean speech and utilizing the prior spectral phase information, we have derived a phase-aware Bayesian STSA estimator. The parameters of the cost function are chosen based on the characteristics of the human auditory system, namely, the dynamic compressive nonlinearity of the cochlea, the perceived loudness theory and the simultaneous masking properties of the ear. This type of parameter selection scheme results in more noise reduction while limiting the speech distortion. The derived STSA estimator is optimal in the MMSE sense if the prior phase information is available. In practice, however, typically only an estimate of the clean speech phase can be obtained via employing different types of spectral phase estimation techniques which have been developed throughout the last few years. In a blind setup, we have evaluated the proposed Bayesian STSA estimator with different types of standard phase estimation methods available in the literature. Experimental results have shown that the proposed estimator can achieve substantial improvement in performance than the traditional phase-blind approaches., Comment: Submitted to IEEE

Superconductors with broken time-reversal symmetry represent arguably one of the most promising venues for realizing highly sought-after topological superconductivity that is vital to fault-tolerant quantum computation. Here, by using extensive muon-spin relaxation and rotation measurements, we report that the isostructural silicide superconductors (Ta, Nb)OsSi spontaneously break time-reversal symmetry at the superconducting transition while surprisingly showing a fully-gapped superconductivity characteristic of conventional superconductors. The first-principles calculations show that (Ta, Nb)OsSi are three-dimensional Dirac semimetals protected by nonsymmorphic symmetries. Taking advantage of the exceptional low symmetry crystal structure of these materials, we have performed detailed theoretical calculations to establish that the superconducting ground state for both (Ta, Nb)OsSi is most likely a nonunitary triplet state., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures

We study zero-sum stochastic games for controlled discrete time Markov chains with risk-sensitive average cost criterion with countable state space and Borel action spaces. The payoff function is nonnegative and possibly unbounded. Under a certain Lyapunov stability assumption on the dynamics, we establish the existence of a value and saddle point equilibrium. Further we completely characterize all possible saddle point strategies in the class of stationary Markov strategies. Finally, we present and analyze an illustrative example., Comment: 28 pages

We consider a Hamiltonian system of coupled Van der Pol-Duffing(VdPD) oscillators with balanced loss and gain. The system is analyzed perturbatively by using Renormalization Group(RG) techniques as well as Multiple Scale Analysis(MSA). Both the methods produce identical results in the leading order of the perturbation. The RG flow equation is exactly solvable and the slow variation of amplitudes and phases in time can be computed analytically. The system is analyzed numerically and shown to admit periodic solutions in regions of parameter-space, confirming the results of the linear stability analysis and perturbation methods. The complex dynamical behavior of the system is studied in detail by using time-series, Poincar$\acute{e}$-sections, power-spectra, auto-correlation function and bifurcation diagrams. The Lyapunov exponents are computed numerically. The numerical analysis reveals chaotic behaviour in the system beyond a critical value of the parameter that couples the two VdPD oscillators through linear coupling, thereby providing yet another example of Hamiltonian chaos in a system with balanced loss and gain. Further, we modify the nonlinear terms of the model to make it a non-Hamiltonian system of coupled VdPD oscillators with balanced loss and gain. The non-Hamiltonian system is analyzed perturbativly as well as numerically and shown to posses regular periodic as well as chaotic solutions. It is seen that the ${\cal{PT}}$-symmetry is not an essential requirement for the existence of regular periodic solutions in both the Hamiltonian as well as non-Hamiltonian systems., Comment: 26 pages; 12 multi-panel figures; Added results & discussions on Route to Chaos; To appear in Journal of Physics A: Mathematical & Theoretical

The dynamics of various optically controlled non-equilibrium phenomena in the condensed phase are studied using the Liouville equation. We study a projection of the same in a slow moving coordinate, identified as the Reaction Coordinate approach, with a position dependent diffusion coefficient. Introduction of position dependence is shown to induce non-monotonicity in relaxations of certain Non-equilibrium correlation functions, previously unexplored in the theoretical as well as experimental studies. This is in contrast to the exponential relaxation of its position independent analogue, irrespective of initial conditions. We characterize the dependence of this non-monotonicity on the strength of spatial inhomogeneity of diffusion and on the strength of the restoring forces and also indicate ranges of combinations where this feature is exhibited to pave the way for its experimental detection., Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures

We report observation of electric-field-driven resistive transition at a characteristic threshold field $E_{th}(T)$ across a temperature range 10-200 K in an off-stoichiometric composite of (~80 vol%) W- and (~20 vol%) Z-type hexaferrites. The dielectric constant $\epsilon$ and the relaxation time constant $\tau$ too exhibit anomalous jump at $E_{th}(T)$. The $E_{th}(T)$, the extent of jump in resistivity ($\Delta\rho$), and the hysteresis associated with the jump [$\Delta E_{th}(T)$] are found to decrease systematically with the increase in temperature ($T$). Several temperature-driven phase transitions have also been noticed in low and high resistive states (LRS and HRS). The temperature-driven conduction turns out to be governed by activated hopping of small polarons at all the phases with electric ($E$) and magnetic ($H$) field dependent activation energy $U(E,H)$. Interestingly, as the temperature is raised, the $E$-driven conduction at a fixed temperature evolves from $\textit{Ohmic}$ to $\textit{non-Ohmic}$ across 10-200 K and within 110-200 K, $\rho$ follows three-dimensional variable range hopping (3D-VRH) with stretched exponential $\sim$ $exp[(E_0/E)^4]$ or power law $\sim$ $(E_0/E)^m$ ($m$ varies within $\sim$0.6-0.7 and $\sim$0.6-0.8 at LRS and HRS, respectively) dependence depending on the localization length ($\zeta_E$) to diffusion length ($d_E$) ratio associated with $E$-driven conduction. The $\rho(E,T)$ follows universal scaling only at LRS within 10-110 K but not at higher temperature or at HRS. The entire set of observations has been discussed within the framework of structural evolution of the point-defect (cation vacancies or oxygen excess) network. This comprehensive map of esoteric $\rho-E-T-H$ and $\epsilon-E-T-H$ patterns provides insights on defect driven effects in a composite useful for tuning both the resistive transition and multiferroicity., Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures

We consider a class of one dimensional vector Non-linear Schr$\ddot{o}$dinger Equation(NLSE) in an external complex potential with Balanced Loss-Gain(BLG) and Linear Coupling(LC) among the components of the Schr$\ddot{o}$dinger field. The solvability of the generic system is investigated for various combinations of time modulated LC and BLG terms, space-time dependent strength of the nonlinear interaction and complex potential. We use a non-unitary transformation followed by a reformulation of the differential equation in a new coordinate system to map the NLSE to solvable equations. Several physically motivated examples of exactly solvable systems are presented for various combinations of LC and BLG, external complex potential and nonlinear interaction. Exact localized nonlinear modes with spatially constant phase may be obtained for any real potential for which the corresponding linear Schr$\ddot{o}$dinger equation is solvable. A method based on supersymmetric quantum mechanics is devised to construct exact localized nonlinear modes for a class of complex potentials. The real superpotential corresponding to any exactly solved linear Schr$\ddot{o}$dinger equation may be used to find a complex-potential for which exact localized nonlinear modes for the NLSE can be obtained. The solutions with singular phases are obtained for a few complex potentials., Comment: To be appeared in Annals of Physics Journal