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Most numerical methods for time integration use real time steps. Complex time steps provide an additional degree of freedom, as we can select the magnitude of the step in both the real and imaginary directions. By time stepping along specific paths in the complex plane, integrators can gain higher orders of accuracy or achieve expanded stability regions. We show how to derive these paths for explicit and implicit methods, discuss computational costs and storage benefits, and demonstrate clear advantages for complex-valued systems like the Schrodinger equation. We also explore how complex time stepping also allows us to break the Runge-Kutta order barrier, enabling 5th order accuracy using only five function evaluations for real-valued differential equations., Comment: 30 pages, 15 figures

Is flipping a coin a deterministic process or a random one? We do not allow bounces. If we know the initial velocity and the spin given to the coin, mechanics should predict the face it lands on. However, the coin toss has been everyone's introduction to probability and has been assumed to be the hallmark random process. So, what's going on here? This article discusses the problem first brought up by Keller in 1986 using a perspective tangential to the one used by Keller which leads us to new insight about the probability of getting heads.

A new method of solution is proposed for solution of the wave equation in one space dimension with continuously-varying coefficients. By considering all paths along which information arrives at a given point, the solution is expressed as an infinite series of integrals, where the integrand involves only the initial data and the PDE coefficients. Each term in the series represents the influence of paths with a fixed number of turning points. We prove that the series converges and provide bounds for the truncation error. The effectiveness of the approximation is illustrated with examples. We illustrate an interesting combinatorial connection between the traditional reflection and transmission coefficients for a sharp interface, and Green's coefficient for transmission through a smoothly-varying region.

The propagation of long waves onto a continental shelf is of great interest in tsunami modeling and other applications where understanding the amplification of waves during shoaling is important. When the linearized shallow water equations are solved with the continental shelf modeled as a sharp discontinuity, the ratio of the amplitudes is given by the transmission coefficient. On the other hand, when the slope is very broad relative to the wavelength of the incoming wave, then amplification is governed by Green's Law, which predicts a larger amplification than the transmission coefficient, and a much smaller amplitude reflection than given by the reflection coefficient of a sharp interface. We explore the relation between these results and elucidate the behavior in the intermediate case of a very steep continental shelf., Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures

The algorithm behind the Fast Fourier Transform has a simple yet beautiful geometric interpretation that is often lost in translation in a classroom. This article provides a visual perspective which aims to capture the essence of it., Comment: Corrected typos and added more details

Coherent Optical Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (CO-OFDM) based Elastic Optical Network (EON) is one of the emerging technologies being considered for next generation high data rate optical network systems. Routing and Spectrum Allocation (RSA) is an important aspect of EON. Apart from spectral fragmentation created due to spectrum continuity and contiguity constraints of RSA, transmission impairments such as shot noise, amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) beat noise due to coherent detection, crosstalk in cross-connect (XC), nonlinear interference, and filter narrowing, limit the transmission reach of optical signals in EON. This paper focuses on the cross-layer joint optimization of delay-bandwidth product, fragmentation and link congestion for RSA in CO-OFDM EON while considering the effect of physical layer impairments. First, we formulate an optimal Integer Linear Programming (ILP) that achieves load-balancing in presence of transmission impairments and minimizes delay-bandwidth product along with fragmentation. We next propose a heuristic algorithm for large networks with two different demand ordering techniques. We show the benefits of our algorithm compared to the existing load balancing algorithm.

The goal of this project is to develop a limited lip reading algorithm for a subset of the English language. We consider a scenario in which no audio information is available. The raw video is processed and the position of the lips in each frame is extracted. We then prepare the lip data for processing and classify the lips into visemes and phonemes. Hidden Markov Models are used to predict the words the speaker is saying based on the sequences of classified phonemes and visemes. The GRID audiovisual sentence corpus [10][11] database is used for our study.

The outskirts of galaxy clusters, near the virial radius, remain relatively unexplored territory and yet are vital to our understanding of cluster growth, structure, and mass. In this presentation, we show the first results from a program to constrain the state of the outer intracluster medium (ICM) in a large sample of galaxy clusters, exploiting the strengths of three complementary X-ray observatories: Suzaku (low, stable background), XMM-Newton (high sensitivity), and Chandra (good spatial resolution). By carefully combining observations from the cluster core to beyond r_200, we are able to identify and reduce systematic uncertainties that would impede our spatial and spectral analysis using a single telescope. Our sample comprises nine clusters at z ~ 0.1-0.2 fully covered in azimuth to beyond r_200, and our analysis indicates that the ICM is not in hydrostatic equilibrium in the cluster outskirts, where we see clear azimuthal variations in temperature and surface brightness. In one of the clusters, we are able to measure the diffuse X-ray emission well beyond r_200, and we find that the entropy profile and the gas fraction are consistent with expectations from theory and numerical simulations. These results stand in contrast to recent studies which point to gas clumping in the outskirts; the extent to which differences of cluster environment or instrumental effects factor in this difference remains unclear. From a broader perspective, this project will produce a sizeable fiducial data set for detailed comparison with high-resolution numerical simulations., Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures. To appear in the proceedings of the Suzaku 2011 Conference, "Exploring the X-ray Universe: Suzaku and Beyond."

The outskirts of galaxy clusters, near the virial radius, remain relatively unexplored territory and yet are vital to our understanding of cluster growth, structure, and mass. In this presentation, we show the first results from a program to constrain the sate of the outer intra-cluster medium (ICM) in a large sample of galaxy clusters, exploiting the strengths of three complementary X-ray observatories: Suzaku (low, stable background), XMM-Newton (high sensitivity),and Chandra (good spatial resolution). By carefully combining observations from the cluster core to beyond r200, we are able to identify and reduce systematic uncertainties that would impede our spatial and spectral analysis using a single telescope. Our sample comprises nine clusters at z is approximately 0.1-0.2 fully covered in azimuth to beyond r200, and our analysis indicates that the ICM is not in hydrostatic equilibrium in the cluster outskirts, where we see clear azimuthal variations in temperature and surface brightness. In one of the clusters, we are able to measure the diffuse X-ray emission well beyond r200, and we find that the entropy profile and the gas fraction are consistent with expectations from theory and numerical simulations. These results stand in contrast to recent studies which point to gas clumping in the outskirts; the extent to which differences of cluster environment or instrumental effects factor in this difference remains unclear. From a broader perspective, this project will produce a sizeable fiducial data set for detailed comparison with high-resolution numerical simulations.