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The growing adoption of IT solutions in the healthcare sector is leading to a steady increase in the number of cybersecurity incidents. As a result, organizations worldwide have introduced regulations, standards, and best practices to address cybersecurity and data protection issues in this sector. However, the application of this large corpus of documents presents operational difficulties, and operators continue to lag behind in resilience to cyber attacks. This paper contributes a systematization of the significant cybersecurity documents relevant to the healthcare sector. We collected the 49 most significant documents and used the NIST cybersecurity framework to categorize key information and support the implementation of cybersecurity measures., Comment: 14 pages

We consider a scenario in which Sgr A* is in a massive black hole binary (MBHB) with an as-of-yet undetected supermassive or intermediate-mass black hole companion. Dynamical encounters between this MBHB and single stars in its immediate vicinity would eject hypervelocity stars (HVSs) with velocities beyond the Galactic escape velocity. In this work, we use existing HVS observations to constrain for the first time the existence of a companion to Sgr A*. We simulate the ejection of HVSs via the `MBHB slingshot' scenario and show that the population of HVSs detectable today depends strongly on the companion mass and the separation of the MBHB. We demonstrate that the lack of uncontroversial HVS candidates in \textit{Gaia} Data Release 3 places a firm upper limit on the mass of a possible Sgr A* companion. Within one milliparsec of Sgr A*, our results exclude a companion more massive than $1000 \, \mathrm{M_\odot}$. If Sgr A* recently merged with a companion black hole, our findings indicate that unless this companion was less massive than $500 \, \mathrm{M_\odot}$, this merger must have occurred at least $10$ Myr ago. These results complement and improve upon existing independent constraints on a companion to Sgr A* and show that large regions of its parameter space can now be ruled out., Comment: Submitted to MNRAS. 16 pages, 9 figures. Comments welcome

Variably scaled kernels and mapped bases constructed via the so-called fake nodes approach are two different strategies to provide adaptive bases for function interpolation. In this paper, we focus on kernel-based interpolation and we present what we call mapped variably scaled kernels, which take advantage of both strategies. We present some theoretical analysis and then we show their efficacy via numerical experiments. Moreover, we test such a new basis for image reconstruction tasks in the framework of hard X-ray astronomical imaging.

Multiple photonic degrees of freedom can be explored to generate high-dimensional quantum states; commonly referred to as `qudits'. Qudits offer several advantages for quantum communications, including higher information capacity, noise resilience and data throughput, and lower information loss over different propagation mediums (free space, optical fibre, underwater) as compared to conventional qubits based communication system. However, qudits have been little exploited in literature, owing to their difficulty in transmission and detection. In this paper, for the first time, we develop and formulate the theoretical framework for transmission of classical information through entanglement distribution of qudits over two quantum channels in superposition of alternative causal order. For the first time we i) engineer quantum switch operation for 2-qudit systems and ii) formulate theoretical system model for entanglement distribution of qudits via quantum switch. Results show that entanglement distribution of a qudit provides a considerable gain in fidelity even with increase in noise.

The transformation and evolution of a galaxy is strongly influenced by interactions with its environment. Neutral hydrogen (\HI) is an excellent way to trace these interactions. Here, we present \HI\ observations of the spiral galaxy NGC~895, which was previously thought to be isolated. High-sensitivity \HI\ observations from the MeerKAT large survey project MIGHTEE reveal possible interaction features, such as extended spiral arms, and the two newly discovered \HI\ companions, that drive us to change the narrative that it is an isolated galaxy. We combine these observations with deep optical images from the Hyper Suprime Camera to show an absence of tidal debris between NGC 895 and its companions. We do find an excess of light in the outer parts of the companion galaxy MGTH$\_$J022138.1-052631 which could be an indication of external perturbation and thus possible sign of interactions. Our analysis shows that NGC~895 is an actively star-forming galaxy with a SFR of $\mathrm{1.75 \pm 0.09 [M_{\odot}/yr]}$, a value typical for high stellar mass galaxies on the star forming main sequence. It is reasonable to state that different mechanisms may have contributed to the observed features in NGC~895 and this emphasizes the need to revisit the target with more detailed observations. Our work shows the high potential and synergy of using state-of-the-art data in both \HI\ and optical to reveal a more complete picture of galaxy environments., Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

Using a mean field approach and simulation, we study the non-linear mechanical response of the vertex model (VM) of biological tissue under compression and dilation. The VM is known to exhibit a transition between rigid and fluid-like, or floppy, states driven by geometric incompatibility. Target perimeter and area set a target shape which may not be geometrically achievable, thereby engendering frustration. Previously, an asymmetry in the linear elastic response was identified at the rigidity transition between compression and dilation. Here we show and characterize how the asymmetry extends away from the transition point for finite strains. Under finite compression, an initially solid VM can totally relax perimeter tension, and thereby have reduced bulk and shear modulus. Conversely, an initially floppy VM under dilation can rigidify and have a higher bulk and shear modulus. These observations imply that re-scaling of cell area shifts the transition between rigid and floppy states. Based on this insight, we calculate the re-scaling of cell area engendered by intrinsic curvature and write a prediction for the rigidity transition in the presence of curvature. The shift of the rigidity transition in the presence of curvature for the VM provides a new metric for predicting tissue rigidity from image data for curved tissues in a manner analogous to the flat case., Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures

We analyse the molecular and atomic emission lines of 71 bright Herschel-selected galaxies between redshifts 1.4 to 4.6 detected by the Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array. These lines include a total of 156 CO, [C I], and H2O emission lines. For 46 galaxies, we detect two transitions of CO lines, and for these galaxies we find gas properties similar to those of other dusty star-forming galaxy (DSFG) samples. A comparison to photo-dissociation models suggests that most of Herschel-selected galaxies have similar interstellar medium conditions as local infrared-luminous galaxies and high-redshift DSFGs, although with denser gas and more intense far-ultraviolet radiation fields than normal star-forming galaxies. The line luminosities agree with the luminosity scaling relations across five orders of magnitude, although the star-formation and gas surface density distributions (i.e., Schmidt-Kennicutt relation) suggest a different star-formation phase in our galaxies (and other DSFGs) compared to local and low-redshift gas-rich, normal star-forming systems. The gas-to-dust ratios of these galaxies are similar to Milky Way values, with no apparent redshift evolution. Four of 46 sources appear to have CO line ratios in excess of the expected maximum (thermalized) profile, suggesting a rare phase in the evolution of DSFGs. Finally, we create a deep stacked spectrum over a wide rest-frame frequency (220-890 GHz) that reveals faint transitions from HCN and CH, in line with previous stacking experiments., Comment: 30 pages, 17 figures, accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Main Journal. Comments are warmly welcomed

The goal of this study is to reconstruct the evolution and the dust formation processes during the final AGB phases of a sample of carbon-rich, post-AGB Galactic stars, with particular attention to the determination of the past mass-loss history. We study the IR excess of sources classified as single stars by means of dust formation modelling where dust grains form and grow in a static wind and expand from the surface of the star. The method is applied to various evolutionary stages of the final AGB phase of stars with different masses and metallicities. The detailed analysis of the SED of the sources investigated, which included the derivation of the luminosities and the dust properties, is used to infer information on mass loss, efficiency of dust formation, and wind dynamics. We confirm previous results that most of the investigated sources descend from low-mass(M<1.5Msun) progenitors that reached the C-star stage. Metal-poor carbon stars are characterised by higher IR excesses with respect to their more metal-rich counterparts of similar luminosity due to a higher surface carbon-to-oxygen excess. This work confirms previous conclusions that more luminous stars descending from higher-mass progenitors are generally more opaque due to shorter evolutionary timescales that place the dust shell closer to the central object. We also find that the mass-loss rate at the tip of the AGB phase of metal-rich low-mass carbon stars is approximately 1-1.5x10^-5Msun/yr, whereas in the metal-poor domain M~4-5x10^-5Msun/yr is required. These results indicate the need for an upwards revision of the theoretical mass-loss rates of low-mass carbon stars in the available literature, which in turn require a revised determination of carbon dust yields by AGB stars., Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures

In May 1997 a consistent part of the services and structures committed to the industry had already been released to the commissioning group. The telescope itself was, with the exception of the Nasmyth derotators, motors and all the optics groups, basically ready in its mechanical parts to accept the integration of all services and control equipment. Also the verification of the cabling (interlocks, data-nets, power and controls) already mounted was started in the same period. Starting from June 1998 (telescope first-light date) the telescope went gradually in use, several nights per week, in order to test and tune the tracking and pointing system, the optics and the first derotator system (Nasmyth A station). At the end of the commissioning period and with the first scientific instruments mounted (April 1999) also the first routinely observations started. In this moment the telescope is doing astronomy 80% of time and the complete first-light instrumentation is mounted., Comment: 14 pages

In this article, we are proposing a closed-form solution for the capacity of the single quantum channel. The Gaussian distributed input has been considered for the analytical calculation of the capacity. In our previous couple of papers, we invoked models for joint quantum noise and the corresponding received signals; in this current research, we proved that these models are Gaussian mixtures distributions. In this paper, we showed how to deal with both of cases, namely (I)the Gaussian mixtures distribution for scalar variables and (II) the Gaussian mixtures distribution for random vectors. Our target is to calculate the entropy of the joint noise and the entropy of the received signal in order to calculate the capacity expression of the quantum channel. The main challenge is to work with the function type of the Gaussian mixture distribution. The entropy of the Gaussian mixture distributions cannot be calculated in the closed-form solution due to the logarithm of a sum of exponential functions. As a solution, we proposed a lower bound and a upper bound for each of the entropies of joint noise and the received signal, and finally upper inequality and lower inequality lead to the upper bound for the mutual information and hence the maximum achievable data rate as the capacity. In this paper reader will able to visualize an closed-form capacity experssion which make this paper distinct from our previous works. These capacity experssion and coresses ponding bounds are calculated for both the cases: the Gaussian mixtures distribution for scalar variables and the Gaussian mixtures distribution for random vectors as well., Comment: Needs further modifications

In this paper we are interested to model quantum signal by statistical signal processing methods. The Gaussian distribution has been considered for the input quantum signal as Gaussian state have been proven to a type of important robust state and most of the important experiments of quantum information are done with Gaussian light. Along with that a joint noise model has been invoked, and followed by a received signal model has been formulated by using convolution of transmitted signal and joint quantum noise to realized theoretical achievable capacity of the single quantum link. In joint quantum noise model we consider the quantum Poisson noise with classical Gaussian noise. We compare the capacity of the quantum channel with respect to SNR to detect its overall tendency. In this paper we use the channel equation in terms of random variable to investigate the quantum signals and noise model statistically. These methods are proposed to develop Quantum statistical signal processing and the idea comes from the statistical signal processing., Comment: needs further modifications

Functions with discontinuities appear in many applications such as image reconstruction, signal processing, optimal control problems, interface problems, engineering applications and so on. Accurate approximation and interpolation of these functions are therefore of great importance. In this paper, we design a moving least-squares approach for scattered data approximation that incorporates the discontinuities in the weight functions. The idea is to control the influence of the data sites on the approximant, not only with regards to their distance from the evaluation point, but also with respect to the discontinuity of the underlying function. We also provide an error estimate on a suitable {\it piecewise} Sobolev Space. The numerical experiments are in compliance with the convergence rate derived theoretically.

This work proposes an electrically small 3D beamforming antenna for PHYsical Layer (PHY-layer) security. The antenna comprises two layers of stacked patch structures and is a five-mode five-port MIMO system operating around 1.85 GHz with electrical size ${ka=0.98}$ and radiation efficiency of up to ${55\%}$. By studying the properties of the excited modes, phase and amplitude control allow for unidirectional beam scanning towards any direction around the elevation and azimuth planes. PHY-layer security is investigated using the directional modulation (DM) technique, which transmits unscrambled baseband constellation symbols to a pre-specified secure direction while simultaneously spatially distorting the same constellations in all other directions. Bit Error Rate (BER) calculations reveal very low values of ${2\times10^{-5}}$ for the desired direction of the legitimate receiver, with BER${<10^{-2}}$ beamwidths of ${55^{\circ}}$ and ${58^{\circ}}$ for the azimuth and elevation planes, respectively., Comment: Conference paper

Thanks to their easy implementation via Radial Basis Functions (RBFs), meshfree kernel methods have been proved to be an effective tool for e.g. scattered data interpolation, PDE collocation, classification and regression tasks. Their accuracy might depend on a length scale hyperparameter, which is often tuned via cross validation schemes. Here we leverage approaches and tools from the machine learning community to introduce two-layered kernel machines, which generalize the classical RBF approaches that rely on a single hyperparameter. Indeed, the proposed learning strategy returns a kernel that is optimized not only in the Euclidean directions, but that further incorporates kernel rotations. The kernel optimization is shown to be robust by using recently improved calculations of cross validation scores. Finally, the use of greedy approaches, and specifically of the Vectorial Kernel Orthogonal Greedy Algorithm (VKOGA), allows us to construct an optimized basis that adapts to the data. Beyond a rigorous analysis on the convergence of the so-constructed two-Layered (2L)-VKOGA, its benefits are highlighted on both synthesized and real benchmark data sets.

This work proposes an energy-efficient Directional Modulation (DM) scheme for on-body Internet of Things (IoT) devices. DM performance is tested using a 5-port stacked-patch MIMO antenna under two scenarios: a free space case and using a four-layer human forearm phantom to simulate the user's wrist. It is demonstrated that the scheme achieves steerable secure transmissions across the entire horizontal plane. With a low Bit Error Rate (BER) of ${1.5\times10^{-5}}$ at the desired directions, eavesdroppers experience a high error rate of up to ${0.498}$. Furthermore, this work investigates the DM performance using a subset of the stacked patches in the MIMO antenna, revealing that some combinations achieve a low BER performance using a lower antenna profile, albeit high side-lobes of BER${<10^{-2}}$ seen outside the desired region. Overall, the solution is proposed as a good candidate to enable secure wireless communications in emerging wearable IoT devices that are subject to size and energy constraints., Comment: 5 pages, conference

This work proposes compact, flexible Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) antennas. The design principle is based on the excitation of different orthogonal radiating modes within the same antenna volume. Via phase control of the excited modes, beamforming is demonstrated in azimuth and elevation planes using single-layered structures. For flexibility, the antennas are designed using Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) as the substrate. Numerical results demonstrate that isolation better than 23 dB is realized in all investigated antennas under different bend configurations. Moreover, the proposed technique demonstrates an antenna with unidirectional beamsteering across the entire elevation plane, and a second design realizes a bidirectional beamsteering in the horizontal plane. Overall, the results highlight the potential of multimode-based beamforming for flexible MIMO antennas in Internet of Things (IoT) systems., Comment: 5 pages, 7 figures, conference paper

We introduce Equivariant Isomorphic Networks (EquIN) -- a method for learning representations that are equivariant with respect to general group actions over data. Differently from existing equivariant representation learners, EquIN is suitable for group actions that are not free, i.e., that stabilize data via nontrivial symmetries. EquIN is theoretically grounded in the orbit-stabilizer theorem from group theory. This guarantees that an ideal learner infers isomorphic representations while trained on equivariance alone and thus fully extracts the geometric structure of data. We provide an empirical investigation on image datasets with rotational symmetries and show that taking stabilizers into account improves the quality of the representations., Comment: NeurIPS Workshop on Symmetry and Geometry in Neural Representations (v1), European Conference on Machine Learning and Principles and Practice of Knowledge Discovery in Databases (v2)

We present 101 and 151 GHz ALMA continuum images for 85 fields selected from Herschel observations that have 500 micron flux densities >80 mJy and 250-500 micron colours consistent with z > 2, most of which are expected to be gravitationally lensed or hyperluminous infrared galaxies. Approximately half of the Herschel 500 micron sources were resolved into multiple ALMA sources, but 11 of the 15 brightest 500 micron Herschel sources correspond to individual ALMA sources. For the 37 fields containing either a single source with a spectroscopic redshift or two sources with the same spectroscopic redshift, we examined the colour temperatures and dust emissivity indices. The colour temperatures only vary weakly with redshift and are statistically consistent with no redshift-dependent temperature variations, which generally corresponds to results from other samples selected in far-infrared, submillimetre, or millimetre bands but not to results from samples selected in optical or near-infrared bands. The dust emissivity indices, with very few exceptions, are largely consistent with a value of 2. We also compared spectroscopic redshifts to photometric redshifts based on spectral energy distribution templates designed for infrared-bright high-redshift galaxies. While the templates systematically underestimate the redshifts by ~15%, the inclusion of ALMA data decreases the scatter in the predicted redshifts by a factor of ~2, illustrating the potential usefulness of these millimetre data for estimating photometric redshifts., Comment: Accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

Line ratio diagnostics provide valuable clues on the source of ionizing radiation in galaxies with intense black hole accretion and starbursting events, such as local Seyfert or galaxies at the peak of the star formation history. We aim to provide a reference joint optical and mid-IR analysis for studying AGN identification via line ratios and testing predictions from photoionization models. We obtained homogenous optical spectra with the Southern Africa Large Telescope for 42 Seyfert galaxies with Spitzer/IRS spectroscopy and X-ray to mid-IR multiband data available. After confirming the power of the main optical ([OIII]) and mid-IR ([NeV], [OIV], [NeIII]) emission lines in tracing AGN activity, we explore diagrams based on ratios of optical and mid-IR lines by exploiting photoionization models of different ionizing sources (AGN, star formation and shocks). We find that pure AGN photoionization models are good at reproducing observations of Seyfert galaxies with an AGN fractional contribution to the mid-IR (5-40 micron) emission larger than 50 per cent. For targets with a lower AGN contribution these same models do not fully reproduce the observed mid-IR line ratios. Mid-IR ratios like [NeV]/[NeII], [OIV]/[NeII] and [NeIII]/[NeII] show a dependence on the AGN fractional contribution to the mid-IR unlike optical line ratios. An additional source of ionization, either from star formation or radiative shocks, can help explain the observations in the mid-IR. Among combinations of optical and mid-IR diagnostics in line ratio diagrams, only those involving the [OI]/Halpha ratio are promising diagnostics for simultaneously unraveling the relative role of AGN, star formation and, shocks. A proper identification of the dominant ionizing source would require the exploitation of analysis tools based on advanced statistical techniques as well as spatially resolved data., Comment: 31 pages, 15 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in A&A

The formation of silicates in circumstellar envelopes of stars evolving through the AGB is still debated given the uncertainties affecting stellar evolution modelling, the description of the dust formation process, and the capability of silicate grains to accelerate stellar outflows via radiation pressure. We study the formation of dust in the winds of intermediate mass (M $\geq 4 M_{\odot}$) stars of solar metallicity while evolving through the AGB phase. We tested the different treatments of the mass-loss mechanism by this class of stars, with the aim of assessing their contribution to the general enrichment of silicates of the interstellar medium of galaxies. We consider a sub-sample of AGB stars, whose SED is characterised by deep absorption features at $10$ and $18\mu$m, which can be regarded as the class of stars providing the most relevant contribution to the silicates' production across the Universe. Results from stellar evolution and dust formation modelling were used to fit the observed SED and to reproduce, at the same time, the detected pulsation periods and the derived surface chemical composition. This analysis leads to the derivation of tight constraints on the silicates' production rates experienced by these sources during the final AGB stages. Two out of the four sources investigated are interpreted as stars currently undergoing HBB, evolving through phases close to the stage when the mass-loss rate is largest. The remaining two stars are likely evolving through the very final AGB phases, after HBB was turned off by the gradual consumption of the convective mantle. Mass-loss rates of the order of $1-2\times 10^{-4} M_{\odot}/$yr are required when looking for consistency with the observational evidence. These results indicate the need for a revision of the silicate yields by intermediate mass stars, which are found to be $\sim 3$ times higher than previously determined.

This paper illustrates the results obtained by using pre-trained semantic segmentation deep learning models for the detection of archaeological sites within the Mesopotamian floodplains environment. The models were fine-tuned using openly available satellite imagery and vector shapes coming from a large corpus of annotations (i.e., surveyed sites). A randomized test showed that the best model reaches a detection accuracy in the neighborhood of 80%. Integrating domain expertise was crucial to define how to build the dataset and how to evaluate the predictions, since defining if a proposed mask counts as a prediction is very subjective. Furthermore, even an inaccurate prediction can be useful when put into context and interpreted by a trained archaeologist. Coming from these considerations we close the paper with a vision for a Human-AI collaboration workflow. Starting with an annotated dataset that is refined by the human expert we obtain a model whose predictions can either be combined to create a heatmap, to be overlaid on satellite and/or aerial imagery, or alternatively can be vectorized to make further analysis in a GIS software easier and automatic. In turn, the archaeologists can analyze the predictions, organize their onsite surveys, and refine the dataset with new, corrected, annotation, Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables

We introduce a novel computational unit for neural networks that features multiple biases, challenging the traditional perceptron structure. This unit emphasizes the importance of preserving uncorrupted information as it is passed from one unit to the next, applying activation functions later in the process with specialized biases for each unit. Through both empirical and theoretical analyses, we show that by focusing on increasing biases rather than weights, there is potential for significant enhancement in a neural network model's performance. This approach offers an alternative perspective on optimizing information flow within neural networks. See source code at https://github.com/CuriosAI/dac-dev., Comment: Major rewriting. Supersedes v1 and v2. Focusing on the fact that not all parameters are born equal: biases can be more important than weights. Accordingly, new title and new abstract, and many more experiments on fully connected architectures. This is the extended version of the paper published at WACV 2024

Orientational order, encoded in anisotropic fields, plays an important role during the development of an organism. A striking example of this is the freshwater polyp Hydra, where topological defects in the muscle fiber orientation have been shown to localize to key features of the body plan. This body plan is organized by morphogen concentration gradients, raising the question how muscle fiber orientation, morphogen gradients and body shape interact. Here, we introduce a minimal model that couples nematic orientational order to the gradient of a morphogen field. We show that on a planar surface alignment to a radial concentration gradient can induce unbinding of topological defects, as observed during budding and tentacle formation in Hydra, and stabilize aster/vortex-like defects, as observed at a Hydra's mouth. On curved surfaces mimicking the morphologies of Hydra in various stages of development -- from spheroid to adult -- our model reproduces the experimentally observed reorganization of orientational order. Our results suggest how gradient alignment and curvature effects may work together to control orientational order during development and lays the foundations for future modeling efforts that will include the tissue mechanics that drive shape deformations., Comment: v2: Published version with minor revisions. v1: 12 pages, 7 figures (4 main, 3 suppl.). Movies: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdejNN8-Lt6HJ52YfhyegpI0PGoRq8pSb

The polynomial kernels are widely used in machine learning and they are one of the default choices to develop kernel-based classification and regression models. However, they are rarely used and considered in numerical analysis due to their lack of strict positive definiteness. In particular they do not enjoy the usual property of unisolvency for arbitrary point sets, which is one of the key properties used to build kernel-based interpolation methods. This paper is devoted to establish some initial results for the study of these kernels, and their related interpolation algorithms, in the context of approximation theory. We will first prove necessary and sufficient conditions on point sets which guarantee the existence and uniqueness of an interpolant. We will then study the Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Spaces (or native spaces) of these kernels and their norms, and provide inclusion relations between spaces corresponding to different kernel parameters. With these spaces at hand, it will be further possible to derive generic error estimates which apply to sufficiently smooth functions, thus escaping the native space. Finally, we will show how to employ an efficient stable algorithm to these kernels to obtain accurate interpolants, and we will test them in some numerical experiment. After this analysis several computational and theoretical aspects remain open, and we will outline possible further research directions in a concluding section. This work builds some bridges between kernel and polynomial interpolation, two topics to which the authors, to different extents, have been introduced under the supervision or through the work of Stefano De Marchi. For this reason, they wish to dedicate this work to him in the occasion of his 60th birthday.

We study systematically the role of temperature in the optical response of doped two-dimensional semiconductors. By making use of a finite-temperature Fermi-polaron theory, we reveal a crossover from a quantum-degenerate regime with well-defined polaron quasiparticles to an incoherent regime at high temperature or low doping where the lowest energy "attractive" polaron quasiparticle is destroyed, becoming subsumed into a broad trion-hole continuum. We demonstrate that the crossover is accompanied by significant qualitative changes in both absorption and photoluminescence. In particular, with increasing temperature (or decreasing doping), the emission profile of the attractive branch evolves from a symmetric Lorentzian to an asymmetric peak with an exponential tail involving trions and recoil electrons at finite momentum. We discuss the effect of temperature on the coupling to light for structures embedded into a microcavity, and we show that there can exist well-defined polariton quasiparticles even when the exciton-polaron quasiparticle has been destroyed, where the transition from weak to strong light-matter coupling can be explained in terms of the polaron linewidths and spectral weights., Comment: 19 pages, 9 figures

We present a quantum virial expansion for the optical response of a doped two-dimensional semiconductor. As we show, this constitutes a perturbatively exact theory in the high-temperature or low-doping regime, where the electrons' thermal wavelength is smaller than their interparticle spacing. The virial expansion predicts new features of the photoluminescence, such as a non-trivial shape of the attractive branch related to universal low-energy exciton-electron scattering and an associated shift of the attractive peak from the trion energy. Our results are in excellent agreement with recent experiments on doped monolayer MoSe$_2$ [Zipfel et al., Phys. Rev. B 105, 075311 (2022)] and they imply that the trion binding energy is likely to have been overestimated in previous measurements. Our theory furthermore allows us to formally unify two distinct theoretical pictures that have been applied to this system, with the conventional trion picture results emerging as a high-temperature and weak-interaction limit of Fermi polaron theory., Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures (published version)

In this article, we propose a space spreading-assisted framework that leverages either time or frequency diversity or both to reduce interference and signal loss owing to channel impairments and facilitate the efficient operation of large-scale dense Internet-of-Things (IoT). Our approach employs dispersion of data-streams transmitted from individual IoT devices over indexed space-time (ST), space-frequency (SF) or space-time-frequency (STF) blocks. As a result, no two devices transmit on the same block; only one is activated while the rest of the devices in the network is silent, thereby minimizing possibility of interference on the transmit side. On the receive side, multiple-antenna array ameliorates performance in presence of channel impairments while exploiting array-processing gain. As interference due to superposition of multiple data-streams is killed at its root, no extra energy is wasted in fighting interference and other impairments, thereby enabling energy-efficient transmission from multiple devices over multiple access channel (MAC). To validate the proposed concept, we simulate the performance of the framework against dense IoT networks deployed in generalized indoor and outdoor scenarios in terms of probability of signal outage. Results demonstrate that our conceptualized framework benefits from interference-free transmission as well as enhancement in overall system performance.

Topological defects play a central role in the physics of many materials, including magnets, superconductors and liquid crystals. In active fluids, defects become autonomous particles that spontaneously propel from internal active stresses and drive chaotic flows stirring the fluid. The intimate connection between defect textures and active flow suggests that properties of active materials can be engineered by controlling defects, but design principles for their spatiotemporal control remain elusive. Here we propose a symmetry-based additive strategy for using elementary activity patterns, as active topological tweezers, to create, move and braid such defects. By combining theory and simulations, we demonstrate how, at the collective level, spatial activity gradients act like electric fields which, when strong enough, induce an inverted topological polarization of defects, akin to a negative susceptibility dielectric. We harness this feature in a dynamic setting to collectively pattern and transport interacting active defects. Our work establishes an additive framework to sculpt flows and manipulate active defects in both space and time, paving the way to design programmable active and living materials for transport, memory and logic., Comment: 11 pages (including Methods), 5 figures. Changed title and format, final version

The vertex model of epithelia describes the apical surface of a tissue as a tiling of polygonal cells, with a mechanical energy governed by deviations in cell shape from preferred, or target, area, $A_0$, and perimeter, $P_0$. The model exhibits a rigidity transition driven by geometric incompatibility as tuned by the target shape index, $p_0 = P_0 / \sqrt{A_0}$. For $p_0 > p_*(6) = \sqrt{8 \sqrt{3}} \approx 3.72$, with $p_*(6)$ the perimeter of a regular hexagon of unit area, a cell can simultaneously attain both the preferred area and preferred perimeter. As a result, the tissue is in a mechanically soft compatible state, with zero shear and Young's moduli. For $p_0 < p_*(6)$, it is geometrically impossible for any cell to realize the preferred area and perimeter simultaneously, and the tissue is in an incompatible rigid solid state. Using a mean-field approach, we present a complete analytical calculation of the linear elastic moduli of an ordered vertex model. We analyze a relaxation step that includes non-affine deformations, leading to a softer response than previously reported. The origin of the vanishing shear and Young's moduli in the compatible state is the presence of zero-energy deformations of cell shape. The bulk modulus exhibits a jump discontinuity at the transition and can be lower in the rigid state than in the fluid-like state. The Poisson's ratio can become negative which lowers the bulk and Young's moduli. Our work provides a unified treatment of linear elasticity for the vertex model and demonstrates that this linear response is protocol-dependent.

Controlling the continuum limit and extracting effective gravitational physics are shared challenges for quantum gravity approaches based on quantum discrete structures. The description of quantum gravity in terms of tensorial group field theory (TGFT) has recently led to much progress in its application to phenomenology, in particular cosmology. This application relies on the assumption of a phase transition to a nontrivial vacuum (condensate) state describable by mean-field theory, an assumption that is difficult to corroborate by a full renormalization group flow analysis due to the complexity of the relevant TGFT models. Here we demonstrate that this assumption is justified due to the specific ingredients of realistic quantum geometric TGFT models: combinatorially non-local interactions, matter degrees of freedom and Lorentz group data together with the encoding of micro-causality. This greatly strengthens the evidence for the existence of a meaningful continuum gravitational regime in group-field and spin-foam quantum gravity, the phenomenology of which is amenable to explicit computations in a mean-field approximation., Comment: Revised version in line with the publication in PRL

The study of post asymptotic giant branch (post-AGB) stars is a valuable tool to study still poorly known aspects of the evolution of the stars through the AGB. This is due to the accurate determination of their surface chemical composition and to the peculiar shape of the SED: the emission from the central star can be easily disentangled from the contribution from the dusty shell, which can then be characterized. The goal of the present study is to reconstruct the dust formation process and more generally the late phases of the evolution of O-rich stars across the AGB phase. This is performed by studying O-rich, post-AGB stars, which are analyzed in terms of their luminosity, Teff and infrared excess. We study sources classified as single, O-rich, post-AGB stars in the Galaxy, which exhibit a double-peaked (shell-type) SED. We use results from stellar evolution modelling combined with dust formation and radiative transfer modelling to reconstruct the late AGB phases and the initial contraction to the post-AGB phase. We also determine the mass-loss and dust formation rates for stars of different mass and chemical composition. The analysis of the IR excess of the post-AGB, O-rich stars examined in this study outlines an interesting complexity, in terms of the correlation between the dust in the surroundings of the stars, the evolutionary status and the progenitor's mass. The sources descending from massive AGBs (>3Msun depending on metallicity) are generally characterized by higher IR excess than the lower mass counterparts, owing to the more intense dust formation taking place during the final AGB phases. From the determination of the location of the dusty regions we deduce that the expanding velocities of the outflow change significantly from star to star. The possibility that radiation pressure is unable to accelerate the wind in the faintest objects is also commented., Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures and 1 table. Accepted for publication in A&A