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This study explores the potential of large language models (LLMs) for identifying and examining intertextual relationships within biblical, Koine Greek texts. By evaluating the performance of LLMs on various intertextuality scenarios the study demonstrates that these models can detect direct quotations, allusions, and echoes between texts. The LLM's ability to generate novel intertextual observations and connections highlights its potential to uncover new insights. However, the model also struggles with long query passages and the inclusion of false intertextual dependences, emphasizing the importance of expert evaluation. The expert-in-the-loop methodology presented offers a scalable approach for intertextual research into the complex web of intertextuality within and beyond the biblical corpus.

DarkSide-20k (DS-20k) is a dark matter detection experiment under construction at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) in Italy. It utilises ~100 t of low radioactivity argon from an underground source (UAr) in its inner detector, with half serving as target in a dual-phase time projection chamber (TPC). The UAr cryogenics system must maintain stable thermodynamic conditions throughout the experiment's lifetime of >10 years. Continuous removal of impurities and radon from the UAr is essential for maximising signal yield and mitigating background. We are developing an efficient and powerful cryogenics system with a gas purification loop with a target circulation rate of 1000 slpm. Central to its design is a condenser operated with liquid nitrogen which is paired with a gas heat exchanger cascade, delivering a combined cooling power of >8 kW. Here we present the design choices in view of the DS-20k requirements, in particular the condenser's working principle and the cooling control, and we show test results obtained with a dedicated benchmarking platform at CERN and LNGS. We find that the thermal efficiency of the recirculation loop, defined in terms of nitrogen consumption per argon flow rate, is 95 % and the pressure in the test cryostat can be maintained within $\pm$(0.1-0.2) mbar. We further detail a 5-day cool-down procedure of the test cryostat, maintaining a cooling rate typically within -2 K/h, as required for the DS-20k inner detector. Additionally, we assess the circuit's flow resistance, and the heat transfer capabilities of two heat exchanger geometries for argon phase change, used to provide gas for recirculation. We conclude by discussing how our findings influence the finalisation of the system design, including necessary modifications to meet requirements and ongoing testing activities., Comment: 45 pages, 24 figures

The internet offers tremendous access to services, social connections, and needed products. However, to those without sufficient experience, engaging with businesses and friends across the internet can be daunting due to the ever present danger of scammers and thieves, to say nothing of the myriad of potential computer viruses. Like a forest rich with both edible and poisonous plants, those familiar with the norms inhabit it safely with ease while newcomers need a guide. However, reliance on a human digital guide can be taxing and often impractical. We propose and pilot a simple but unexplored idea: could an LLM provide the necessary support to help the elderly who are separated by the digital divide safely achieve digital autonomy?

The dual-phase liquid argon time projection chamber is presently one of the leading technologies to search for dark matter particles with masses below 10 GeV/c$^2$. This was demonstrated by the DarkSide-50 experiment with approximately 50 kg of low-radioactivity liquid argon as target material. The next generation experiment DarkSide-20k, currently under construction, will use 1,000 times more argon and is expected to start operation in 2027. Based on the DarkSide-50 experience, here we assess the DarkSide-20k sensitivity to models predicting light dark matter particles, including Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) and sub-GeV/c$^2$ particles interacting with electrons in argon atoms. With one year of data, a sensitivity improvement to dark matter interaction cross-sections by at least one order of magnitude with respect to DarkSide-50 is expected for all these models. A sensitivity to WIMP--nucleon interaction cross-sections below $1\times10^{-42}$ cm$^2$ is achievable for WIMP masses above 800 MeV/c$^2$. With 10 years exposure, the neutrino fog can be reached for WIMP masses around 5 GeV/c$^2$., Comment: submitted to Nature Communications

In this article, we investigate vision-language models (VLM) as reasoners. The ability to form abstractions underlies mathematical reasoning, problem-solving, and other Math AI tasks. Several formalisms have been given to these underlying abstractions and skills utilized by humans and intelligent systems for reasoning. Furthermore, human reasoning is inherently multimodal, and as such, we focus our investigations on multimodal AI. In this article, we employ the abstractions given in the SMART task (Simple Multimodal Algorithmic Reasoning Task) introduced in \cite{cherian2022deep} as meta-reasoning and problem-solving skills along eight axes: math, counting, path, measure, logic, spatial, and pattern. We investigate the ability of vision-language models to reason along these axes and seek avenues of improvement. Including composite representations with vision-language cross-attention enabled learning multimodal representations adaptively from fused frozen pretrained backbones for better visual grounding. Furthermore, proper hyperparameter and other training choices led to strong improvements (up to $48\%$ gain in accuracy) on the SMART task, further underscoring the power of deep multimodal learning. The smartest VLM, which includes a novel QF multimodal layer, improves upon the best previous baselines in every one of the eight fundamental reasoning skills. End-to-end code is available at https://github.com/smarter-vlm/smarter., Comment: Accepted in ICML 2024 MATH AI Workshop

We present the results of the Large Binocular Telescope Satellites Of Nearby Galaxies Survey (LBT-SONG) ``Far Sample,'' including survey completeness estimates. We find 10 satellite candidates in the inner virial regions of 13 star-forming galaxies outside the Local Group. The hosts are at distances between $\sim 5-11$ Mpc and have stellar masses in the little explored range of $\sim 5 \times 10^8 - 5\times 10^{10}~\text{M}_{\odot}$. Among the 10 satellite candidates, 3 are new discoveries in this survey. In this paper, we characterize the properties of 8 low-mass satellite candidates, including the 3 new discoveries but excluding 2 well-studied massive satellites. Of the 8 low-mass dwarfs, optical colors from the LBT imaging and measurements in the ultraviolet with GALEX suggest that 2 show signs of active star formation, and 6 are likely quenched (although some may still have H\textsc{i} gas reservoirs). Notably, we report the discovery of an ultrafaint dwarf candidate, NGC 672 dwD, with $\text{M}_{\text{V}} = -6.6$ and an estimated stellar mass of $5.6 \times 10^4 ~\text{M}_{\odot}$ if its association with the host is confirmed. It is spatially coincident with a weak detection of H\textsc{i}, with $\text{M}_{\text{HI}}/\text{M}_{\text{*}} \sim 1$. If confirmed, it would be the least luminous known ultrafaint satellite to be so gas-rich. The prevalence of quenched satellites in our sample suggests there are environmental effects at work in lower mass hosts that are similar to those at play in Milky Way-size hosts, although the preponderance of H\textsc{i} detections is at odds with the paucity of H\textsc{i} detections in Milky Way satellites. By robustly measuring our survey completeness function, we are able to compare our observational results to predictions from theory, finding good agreement with the Cold Dark Matter galaxy evolution paradigm., Comment: 18 pages, 9 figures

We report the spectroscopic discovery of a massive quiescent galaxy at $z_{\rm spec}=7.29\pm0.01$, just $\sim700\,$Myr after the Big Bang. RUBIES-UDS-QG-z7 was selected from public JWST/NIRCam and MIRI imaging from the PRIMER survey and observed with JWST/NIRSpec as part of RUBIES. The NIRSpec/PRISM spectrum reveals one of the strongest Balmer breaks observed thus far at $z>6$, no emission lines, but tentative Balmer and Ca absorption features, as well as a Lyman break. Simultaneous modeling of the NIRSpec/PRISM spectrum and NIRCam and MIRI photometry (spanning $0.9-18\,\mu$m) shows that the galaxy formed a stellar mass of log$(M_*/M_\odot)=10.23^{+0.04}_{-0.04}$ in a rapid $\sim 100-200\,$Myr burst of star formation at $z\sim8-9$, and ceased forming stars by $z\sim8$ resulting in $\log \rm{sSFR/yr}^{-1}<-10$. We measure a small physical size of $209_{-24}^{+33}\,{\rm pc}$, which implies a high stellar mass surface density within the effective radius of $\log(\Sigma_{*,\rm e}/{\rm M_\odot\,kpc}^{-2})=10.85_{-0.12}^{+0.11}$ comparable to the densities measured in quiescent galaxies at $z\sim2-5$. The 3D stellar mass density profile of RUBIES-UDS-QG-z7 is remarkably similar to the central densities of local massive ellipticals, suggesting that at least some of their cores may have already been in place at $z>7$. The discovery of RUBIES-UDS-QG-z7 has strong implications for galaxy formation models: the estimated number density of quiescent galaxies at $z\sim7$ is $>100\times$ larger than predicted from any model to date, indicating that quiescent galaxies have formed earlier than previously expected., Comment: 21 pages, 7 figures, submitted to ApJ

The need for innovative ideas in data visualisation drives us to explore new creative approaches. Combining two or more creative words, particularly those that contradict each other, can positively impact the creative process, sparking novel ideas and designs. As we move towards AI-driven design, an open question arises: do these design contradictions work positively with AI tools? Currently, the answer is no. AI systems, like large language models (LLMs), rely on algorithms that engender similarity, whereas creativity often requires divergence and novelty. This poster initiates a conversation on how to drive AI systems to be more creative and generate new ideas. This research invites us to reconsider traditional design methods and explore new approaches in an AI-driven world. Can we apply the same techniques used in traditional design, like the double diamond model, or do we need new methods for design engineering? How can we quickly design visualisations and craft new ideas with generative AI? This paper seeks to start this critical conversation and offers practical insights into the potential of AI in driving creativity in data visualisation.

Creativity in visualisation design is essential for designers and data scientists who need to present data in innovative ways. It is often achieved through sketching or drafting low-fidelity prototypes. However, judging this innovation is often difficult. A creative visualisation test would offer a structured approach to enhancing visual thinking and design skills, which are vital across many fields. Such a test can facilitate objective evaluation, skill identification, benchmarking, fostering innovation, and improving learning outcomes. In developing such a test, we propose focusing on four criteria: Quantity, Correctness, Novelty, and Feasibility. These criteria integrate into a test that is easy to administer. We name it the Rowen Test of Creativity in Visualisation Design; We introduce the test, scoring system and results from using eight visualisation experts.

Let the join of two graphs be the union of two disjoint graphs connected by $j$ edges in a one-to-one manner. In previous work by Gyurov and Pinzon, which generalized the work of Badura and Rara, the determinant of the two joined graphs was decomposed to sums of determinants of these graphs with vertex deletions or directed graph handles. In this paper, we define a homomorphism from a quotient of graphs with the join operation to the monoid of integer matrices. We find the necessary and sufficient properties of a graph so that joining to any another graph will not change its determinant. We also demonstrate through examples that this decomposition allows us to more easily calculate determinants of chains of joined graphs. This paper begins the process of finding the algebraic structure of the monoid.

We present the discovery of a low-density planet transiting TOI-5688 A b, a high-metallicity M2V star. This planet was discovered as part of the search for transiting giant planets ($R \gtrsim8$ M$_\oplus$) through the Searching for GEMS (Giant Exoplanets around M-dwarf Stars) survey. The planet TOI-5688 A b was discovered with the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), and characterized with ground-based transits from Red Buttes Observatory (RBO), the Table Mountain Observatory of Pomona College, and radial velocity (RV) measurements with the Habitable-Zone Planet Finder (HPF) on the 10 m Hobby Eberly Telescope (HET) and NEID on the WIYN 3.5 m telescope. From the joint fit of transit and RV data, the mass of the planet is $124\pm24$ M$_\oplus$ and the radius is $10.4\pm0.7$ R$_\oplus$. This planet has a density of $0.61^{+0.20}_{-0.15}$ g/cm${}^3$, and is on a $\sim2.95$ day orbit around its host star. The spectroscopic and photometric analysis of the host star TOI-5688 A shows that it is a high metallicity ([Fe/H] $ = 0.47\pm0.16$ dex) M2V star, favoring the core-accretion formation pathway as the likely formation scenario for this planet. In this paper, we analyze potential mechanisms of planet formation in the context of the formation of TOI-5688 A b. Additionally, observations with Gaia suggest the presence of a wide-separation binary companion, TOI-5688 B, which has a projected separation of $\sim5"$ (1110 AU) and is an M4V. This makes TOI-5688 A b part of a growing number of GEMS in wide-separation binary systems., Comment: 20 pages, 7 figures, Submitted to AJ, Comments are welcome

We present a set of photometric catalogs primarily aimed at providing the community with a comprehensive database for the study of galaxy populations in the high redshift Universe. The set gathers data from eight JWST NIRCam observational programs, targeting the Abell 2744 (GLASS-JWST, UNCOVER, DDT2756 and GO3990), EGS (CEERS), COSMOS and UDS (PRIMER), and GOODS North and South (JADES and NGDEEP) deep fields, for a total area of $\sim$0.2 sq. degrees. Photometric estimates are obtained by means of well-established techniques, including tailored improvements designed to enhance the performance on the specific dataset. We also include new measurements from HST archival data, thus collecting 16 bands spanning from 0.44 to 4.44 $\mu$m. A grand total of $\sim$530 thousand sources is detected on stacks of NIRCam 3.56 and 4.44 $\mu$m mosaics. We assess the photometric accuracy by comparing fluxes and colors against archival catalogs. We also provide photometric redshift estimates, statistically validated against a large set of robust spectroscopic data. The catalogs are publicly available on the Astrodeep website., Comment: 28 pages, 16 figures; submitted to A&A

Parameter-efficient fine-tuning (PEFT) techniques have unlocked the potential to cheaply and easily specialize large pretrained models. However, the most prominent approaches, like low-rank adapters (LoRA), depend on heuristics or rules-of-thumb for their architectural choices -- potentially limiting their performance for new models and architectures. This limitation suggests that techniques from neural architecture search could be used to obtain optimal adapter architectures, but these are often expensive and difficult to implement. We address this challenge with Monarch Rectangular Fine-tuning (MoRe), a simple framework to search over adapter architectures that relies on the Monarch matrix class. Theoretically, we show that MoRe is more expressive than LoRA. Empirically, our approach is more parameter-efficient and performant than state-of-the-art PEFTs on a range of tasks and models, with as few as 5\% of LoRA's parameters.

We release fully reduced spectra obtained with NIRSpec onboard JWST as part of the GLASS-JWST Early Release Science Program and a follow-up Director's Discretionary Time program 2756. From these 263 spectra of 245 unique sources, acquired with low ($R =30-300$) and high dispersion ($R\sim2700$) gratings, we derive redshifts for 200 unique sources in the redshift range $z=0-10$. We describe the sample selection and characterize its high completeness as a function of redshift and apparent magnitude. Comparison with independent estimates based on different methods and instruments shows that the redshifts are accurate, with 80\% differing less than 0.005. We stack the GLASS-JWST spectra to produce the first high-resolution ($R \sim 2700$) JWST spectral template extending in the rest frame wavelength from 2000~\AA\ to 20, 000~\AA. Catalogs, reduced spectra, and template are made publicly available to the community., Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A

Data-art exhibitions offer a unique and real-world setting to foster creative visualisation skills among students. They serve as real-world platform for students to display their work, bridging the gap between classroom learning and professional practice. Students must develop a technical solution, grasp the context, and produce work that is appropriate for public presentation. This scenario helps to encourage innovative thinking, engagement with the topic, and helps to enhance technical proficiency. We present our implementation of a data-art exhibition within a computing curriculum, for third-year degree-level students. Students create art-based visualisations from selected datasets and present their work in a public exhibition. We have used this initiative over the course of two academic years with different cohorts, and reflect on its impact on student learning and creativity., Comment: 2 pages, 2 figures, Accepted for presentation in IEEE VIS Posters 2024

In this paper, we use the Fisher information matrix (FIM) to analyze the interaction between low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites and $5$G base stations in providing $9$D receiver localization and correcting LEO ephemeris. First, we give a channel model that captures all the information in the LEO-receiver, LEO-BS, and BS-receiver links. Subsequently, we use FIM to capture the amount of information about the channel parameters in these links. Then, we transform these FIM for channel parameters to the FIM for the $9$D ($3$D position, $3$D orientation, and $3$D velocity estimation) receiver localization parameters and the LEO position and velocity offset. Closed-form expressions for the entries in the FIM for these location parameters are presented. Our results on identifiability utilizing the FIM for the location parameters indicate: i) with one LEO, we need three BSs and three time slots to both estimate the $9$D location parameters and correct the LEO position and velocity, ii) with two LEO, we need three BSs and three time slots to both estimate the $9$D location parameters and correct the LEO position and velocity, and iii) with three LEO, we need three BSs and four-time slots to both estimate the $9$D location parameters and correct the LEO position and velocity. Another key insight is that through the Cramer Rao lower bound we show that with a single LEO, three time slots, and three BSs, the receiver positioning error, velocity estimation error, orientation error, LEO position offset estimation error, and LEO velocity offset estimation error are $0.1 \text{ cm}$, $1 \text{ mm/s}$, $10^{-3} \text{ rad}$, $0.01 \text{ m}$, and $1 \text{ m/s}$, respectively., Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2408.16710

In this paper, we derive the fundamental limits of low earth orbit (LEO) enabled localization by analyzing the available information in signals from multiple LEOs during different transmission time slots received on a multiple antennas and evaluate the utility of these signals for $9$D localization ($3$D position, $3$D orientation, and $3$D velocity estimation). We start by deriving the Fisher Information Matrix (FIM) for the channel parameters that are present in the signals received from LEOs in the same or multiple constellations during multiple transmission time slots. To accomplish this, we define a system model that captures i) time offset between LEOs caused by having relatively cheap clocks, ii) frequency offset between LEOs, iii) the unknown Doppler rate caused by high mobility LEOs, and iv) multiple transmission time slots from a particular LEO. We transform the FIM for the channel parameters to the FIM for the location parameters and determine the required conditions for localization. To do this, we start with the $3$D localization cases: i) $3$D positioning with known velocity and orientation, ii) $3$D orientation estimation with known position and velocity, and iii) $3$D velocity estimation with known position and orientation. Subsequently, we derive the FIM for the full $9$D localization case ($3$D position, $3$D orientation, and $3$D velocity estimation) in terms of the FIM for the $3$D localization. Using these results, we determine the number of LEOs, the operating frequency, the number of transmission time slots, and the number of receive antennas that allow for different levels of location estimation.

Transiting giant exoplanets around M-dwarf stars (GEMS) are rare, owing to the low-mass host stars. However, the all-sky coverage of TESS has enabled the detection of an increasingly large number of them to enable statistical surveys like the \textit{Searching for GEMS} survey. As part of this endeavour, we describe the observations of six transiting giant planets, which includes precise mass measurements for two GEMS (K2-419Ab, TOI-6034b) and statistical validation for four systems, which includes validation and mass upper limits for three of them (TOI-5218b, TOI-5616b, TOI-5634Ab), while the fourth one -- TOI-5414b is classified as a `likely planet'. Our observations include radial velocities from the Habitable-zone Planet Finder on the Hobby-Eberly Telescope, and MAROON-X on Gemini-North, along with photometry and high-contrast imaging from multiple ground-based facilities. In addition to TESS photometry, K2-419Ab was also observed and statistically validated as part of the K2 mission in Campaigns 5 and 18, which provides precise orbital and planetary constraints despite the faint host star and long orbital period of $\sim 20.4$ days. With an equilibrium temperature of only 380 K, K2-419Ab is one of the coolest known well-characterized transiting planets. TOI-6034 has a late F-type companion about 40\arcsec~away, making it the first GEMS host star to have an earlier main-sequence binary companion. These confirmations add to the existing small sample of confirmed transiting GEMS., Comment: Accepted in AJ

Quantum error correction provides a path to reach practical quantum computing by combining multiple physical qubits into a logical qubit, where the logical error rate is suppressed exponentially as more qubits are added. However, this exponential suppression only occurs if the physical error rate is below a critical threshold. In this work, we present two surface code memories operating below this threshold: a distance-7 code and a distance-5 code integrated with a real-time decoder. The logical error rate of our larger quantum memory is suppressed by a factor of $\Lambda$ = 2.14 $\pm$ 0.02 when increasing the code distance by two, culminating in a 101-qubit distance-7 code with 0.143% $\pm$ 0.003% error per cycle of error correction. This logical memory is also beyond break-even, exceeding its best physical qubit's lifetime by a factor of 2.4 $\pm$ 0.3. We maintain below-threshold performance when decoding in real time, achieving an average decoder latency of 63 $\mu$s at distance-5 up to a million cycles, with a cycle time of 1.1 $\mu$s. To probe the limits of our error-correction performance, we run repetition codes up to distance-29 and find that logical performance is limited by rare correlated error events occurring approximately once every hour, or 3 $\times$ 10$^9$ cycles. Our results present device performance that, if scaled, could realize the operational requirements of large scale fault-tolerant quantum algorithms., Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, Supplementary Information

In this paper we prove necessary conditions for the boundedness of fractional operators on the variable Lebesgue spaces. More precisely, we find necessary conditions on an exponent function $\pp$ for a fractional maximal operator $M_\alpha$ or a non-degenerate fractional singular integral operator $T_\alpha$, $0 \leq \alpha < n$, to satisfy weak $(\pp,\qq)$ inequalities or strong $(\pp,\qq)$ inequalities, with $\qq$ being defined pointwise almost everywhere by % \[ \frac{1}{p(x)} - \frac{1}{q(x)} = \frac{\alpha}{n}. \] % We first prove preliminary results linking fractional averaging operators and the $K_0^\alpha$ condition, a qualitative condition on $\pp$ related to the norms of characteristic functions of cubes, and show some useful implications of the $K_0^\alpha$ condition. We then show that if $M_\alpha$ satisfies weak $(\pp,\qq)$ inequalities, then $\pp \in K_0^\alpha(\R^n)$. We use this to prove that if $M_\alpha$ satisfies strong $(\pp,\qq)$ inequalities, then $p_->1$. Finally, we prove a powerful pointwise estimate for $T_\alpha$ that relates $T_\alpha$ to $M_\alpha$ along a carefully chosen family of cubes. This allows us to prove necessary conditions for fractional singular integral operators similar to those for fractional maximal operators.

Large multimodal models (LMMs) have exhibited proficiencies across many visual tasks. Although numerous well-known benchmarks exist to evaluate model performance, they increasingly have insufficient headroom. As such, there is a pressing need for a new generation of benchmarks challenging enough for the next generation of LMMs. One area that LMMs show potential is graph analysis, specifically, the tasks an analyst might typically perform when interpreting figures such as estimating the mean, intercepts or correlations of functions and data series. In this work, we introduce GRAB, a graph analysis benchmark, fit for current and future frontier LMMs. Our benchmark is entirely synthetic, ensuring high-quality, noise-free questions. GRAB is comprised of 2170 questions, covering four tasks and 23 graph properties. We evaluate 20 LMMs on GRAB, finding it to be a challenging benchmark, with the highest performing model attaining a score of just 21.7%. Finally, we conduct various ablations to investigate where the models succeed and struggle. We release GRAB to encourage progress in this important, growing domain., Comment: V2: Fixed references formatting

In order to tackle the problem of sampling from heavy tailed, high dimensional distributions via Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods, Yang, Latuszy\'nski, and Roberts (2022) (arXiv:2205.12112) introduces the stereographic projection as a tool to compactify $\mathbb{R}^d$ and transform the problem into sampling from a density on the unit sphere $\mathbb{S}^d$. However, the improvement in algorithmic efficiency, as well as the computational cost of the implementation, are still significantly impacted by the parameters used in this transformation. To address this, we introduce adaptive versions of the Stereographic Random Walk (SRW), the Stereographic Slice Sampler (SSS), and the Stereographic Bouncy Particle Sampler (SBPS), which automatically update the parameters of the algorithms as the run progresses. The adaptive setup allows us to better exploit the power of the stereographic projection, even when the target distribution is neither centered nor homogeneous. We present a simulation study showing each algorithm's robustness to starting far from the mean in heavy tailed, high dimensional settings, as opposed to Hamiltonian Monte Carlo (HMC). We establish a novel framework for proving convergence of adaptive MCMC algorithms over collections of simultaneously uniformly ergodic Markov operators, including continuous time processes. This framework allows us to prove LLNs and a CLT for our adaptive Stereographic algorithms., Comment: 49 pages, 11 figures

We study $D=11$ supergravity solutions which are dual to one-dimensional superconformal defects in $d=3$ SCFTs. We consider defects in ABJM theory with monodromy for $U(1)^4\subset SO(8)$ global symmetry, as well as in $\mathcal{N}=2$ mABJM SCFT, which arises from the RG flow of a mass deformation of ABJM theory, with monodromy for $U(1)^3\subset SU(3)\times U(1)$ global symmetry. We show that the defects of the two SCFTs are connected by a line of bulk marginal mass deformations and argue that they are also related by bulk RG flow. In all cases we allow for the possibility of conical singularities at the location of the defect. Various physical observables of the defects are computed including the defects conformal weight and the partition function, as well as associated supersymmetric Renyi entropies., Comment: 71 pages, 6 figures

We report the identification of two galaxy overdensities at $z\sim5.7$ in the sightline of the galaxy cluster Abell 2744. These overdensities consist of 25 and 17 member galaxies, spectroscopically confirmed with JWST NIRSpec/MSA and NIRCam/WFSS. Each overdensity has a total stellar mass of $\sim2\times10^{10} M_\odot$ and a star formation rate of $\sim200 M_\odot$/yr within a central region of radius $R=2$ Mpc (physical). The sensitive PRISM spectra allow us to identify six galaxies that show weak Ha+[NII] emissions within the overdensities ($27\pm6\%$), whereas the fraction of such galaxies is found significantly lower ($6\pm2\%$) in field samples of the equivalent redshift range. These weak emission line galaxies, dubbed as wELGs, exhibit a strong continuum break at $4000$AA rest-frame, a characteristic feature of evolved stellar populations. The high observed fraction of wELGs in the two overdensities is consistent with the idea that high-density environments are an ideal site where galaxies can accelerate their evolutionary pace compared to field analogs. Our study pinpoints an early onset of environmental effects, already important within one billion years after the Big Bang, and provides a complementary perspective on the emergence of quenched, massive galaxies at lower redshifts. Potential contributions from black hole accretion feedback to the reduction of star formation activity are discussed, but the connection to the local environments remains unclear., Comment: Submitted to ApJ

Traditional visualisation designers often start with sketches before implementation. With generative AI, these sketches can be turned into AI-generated visualisations using specific prompts. However, guiding AI to create compelling visuals can be challenging. We propose a new design process where designers verbalise their thoughts during work, later converting these narratives into AI prompts. This approach helps AI generate accurate visuals and assists designers in refining their concepts, enhancing the overall design process. Blending human creativity with AI capabilities enables rapid iteration, leading to higher quality and more innovative visualisations, making design more accessible and efficient.

We present a design study of developing a visualisation poster. Posters can be difficult to create, and the story on a poster is not always clear. Using a case-study approach we propose three important aspects: the poster should have a clear focus (especially a hero visualisation), envisioning its use helps to drive the important aspects, and third the essence (its fundamental concept and guiding idea) must be clear. We will use case studies that have focused on the use of the Five Design-Sheet method (FdS) as a way to sketch and plan a visualisation, before successfully implementing and creating the visual poster. The case studies serve as a practical illustration of the workflow, offering a means to explain the three key processes involved: (1) comprehending the data, (2) employing a design study with the FdS (Five Design-Sheet), (3) crafting, evaluating and refining the visualisation., Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, accepted for publication to the EG UK Computer Graphics & Visual Computing (CGVC) 2024

Accurate classification of haematological cells is critical for diagnosing blood disorders, but presents significant challenges for machine automation owing to the complexity of cell morphology, heterogeneities of biological, pathological, and imaging characteristics, and the imbalance of cell type frequencies. We introduce CytoDiffusion, a diffusion-based classifier that effectively models blood cell morphology, combining accurate classification with robust anomaly detection, resistance to distributional shifts, interpretability, data efficiency, and superhuman uncertainty quantification. Our approach outperforms state-of-the-art discriminative models in anomaly detection (AUC 0.976 vs. 0.919), resistance to domain shifts (85.85% vs. 74.38% balanced accuracy), and performance in low-data regimes (95.88% vs. 94.95% balanced accuracy). Notably, our model generates synthetic blood cell images that are nearly indistinguishable from real images, as demonstrated by a Turing test in which expert haematologists achieved only 52.3% accuracy (95% CI: [50.5%, 54.2%]). Furthermore, we enhance model explainability through the generation of directly interpretable counterfactual heatmaps. Our comprehensive evaluation framework, encompassing these multiple performance dimensions, establishes a new benchmark for medical image analysis in haematology, ultimately enabling improved diagnostic accuracy in clinical settings. Our code is available at https://github.com/Deltadahl/CytoDiffusion.

Language models are known to absorb biases from their training data, leading to predictions driven by statistical regularities rather than semantic relevance. We investigate the impact of these biases on answer choice preferences in the Massive Multi-Task Language Understanding (MMLU) task. Our findings reveal that differences in learned regularities across answer options are predictive of model preferences and mirror human test-taking strategies. To address this issue, we introduce two novel methods: Counterfactual Prompting with Chain of Thought (CoT) and Counterfactual Prompting with Agnostically Primed CoT (APriCoT). We demonstrate that while Counterfactual Prompting with CoT alone is insufficient to mitigate bias, our novel Primed Counterfactual Prompting with CoT approach effectively reduces the influence of base-rate probabilities while improving overall accuracy. Our results suggest that mitigating bias requires a "System-2" like process and that CoT reasoning is susceptible to confirmation bias under some prompting methodologies. Our contributions offer practical solutions for developing more robust and fair language models.

Clinical question answering systems have the potential to provide clinicians with relevant and timely answers to their questions. Nonetheless, despite the advances that have been made, adoption of these systems in clinical settings has been slow. One issue is a lack of question-answering datasets which reflect the real-world needs of health professionals. In this work, we present RealMedQA, a dataset of realistic clinical questions generated by humans and an LLM. We describe the process for generating and verifying the QA pairs and assess several QA models on BioASQ and RealMedQA to assess the relative difficulty of matching answers to questions. We show that the LLM is more cost-efficient for generating "ideal" QA pairs. Additionally, we achieve a lower lexical similarity between questions and answers than BioASQ which provides an additional challenge to the top two QA models, as per the results. We release our code and our dataset publicly to encourage further research., Comment: Accepted at AMIA Annual Symposium 2024

In order to understand the nature of super-Eddington accretion we must explore both the emission emerging directly from the inflow and its impact on the surroundings. In this paper we test whether we can use the optical line emission of spatially resolved, ionized nebulae around ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) as a proxy for their X-ray luminosity. We choose the ULX NGC 6946 X-1 and its nebula, MF16, as a test case. By studying how the nebular optical line emission responds to assumed irradiation, we can infer the degree to which we require the UV or X-ray emission from the inflow to be collimated by optically thick winds seemingly ubiquitously associated with ULXs. We find that the nebula is highly sensitive to compact UV emission but mostly insensitive to hard X-rays. Our attempts to quantify the beaming of the soft and hard X-rays therefore strongly depends on the UV luminosity of the ULX in the center of the nebula. We find that it is not possible to conclude a lack of geometrical beaming of hard X-rays from such sources via nebula feedback., Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, 4 tables

We present an authentic learning task designed for computing students, centred on the creation of data-art visualisations from chosen datasets for a public exhibition. This exhibition was showcased in the cinema foyer for two weeks in June, providing a real-world platform for students to display their work. Over the course of two years, we implemented this active learning task with two different cohorts of students. In this paper, we share our experiences and insights from these activities, highlighting the impact on student engagement and learning outcomes. We also provide a detailed description of the seven individual tasks that learners must perform: topic and data selection and analysis, research and art inspiration, design conceptualisation, proposed solution, visualisation creation, exhibition curation, and reflection. By integrating these tasks, students not only develop technical skills but also gain practical experience in presenting their work to a public audience, bridging the gap between academic learning and professional practice., Comment: 9 pages, 5 Figures, Accepted for publication in Proceedings EG UK Computer Graphics & Visual Computing (2024)

We theoretically study the impact of light-driven structural changes via nonlinear phononics on the magnetic order of untwisted bilayer van der Waals materials. We consider an illustrative example of the AA-stacked bilayer honeycomb lattice and show that high-intensity light in resonance with selected phonons induces large amplitude phonon displacements that modify the magnetic Hamiltonian of the system. We performed a group theory analysis to identify the vibrational modes of the honeycomb bilayer and the nonlinear couplings among them in the strongly driven regime. We find that the structural changes in the strongly driven regime lower the symmetry relative to the equilibrium lattice and produce changes in the magnetic interactions between the local moments. In particular, the lattice symmetry changes permit a non-zero interlayer Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction that induces a magnetic state with canted local moments. Using a spin-wave analysis about the new magnetic configuration we study the corresponding changes in the magnon spectrum and identify a protocol for engineering topological band transitions using a combination of nonlinear phononics and an external magnetic field. Our work suggests a strategy to induce interlayer Dyzaloshinskii-Moriya interactions in a class of layered van der Waals materials, the effect of which is to modify the magnetic ground state, magnon dispersions, and related band geometric properties, including topological invariants.

Data-art blends visualisation, data science, and artistic expression. It allows people to transform information and data into exciting and interesting visual narratives. Hosting a public data-art hands-on workshop enables participants to engage with data and learn fundamental visualisation techniques. However, being a public event, it presents a range of challenges. We outline our approach to organising and conducting a public workshop, that caters to a wide age range, from children to adults. We divide the tutorial into three sections, focusing on data, sketching skills and visualisation. We place emphasis on public engagement, and ensure that participants have fun while learning new skills., Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, IEEE EduVis workshop paper, proceedings of IEEE Visualization 2024 conference

We present a path-based design model and system for designing and creating visualisations. Our model represents a systematic approach to constructing visual representations of data or concepts following a predefined sequence of steps. The initial step involves outlining the overall appearance of the visualisation by creating a skeleton structure, referred to as a flowpath. Subsequently, we specify objects, visual marks, properties, and appearance, storing them in a gene. Lastly, we map data onto the flowpath, ensuring suitable morphisms. Alternative designs are created by exchanging values in the gene. For example, designs that share similar traits, are created by making small incremental changes to the gene. Our design methodology fosters the generation of diverse creative concepts, space-filling visualisations, and traditional formats like bar charts, circular plots and pie charts. Through our implementation we showcase the model in action. As an example application, we integrate the output visualisations onto a smartwatch and visualisation dashboards. In this article we (1) introduce, define and explain the path model and discuss possibilities for its use, (2) present our implementation, results, and evaluation, and (3) demonstrate and evaluate an application of its use on a mobile watch., Comment: 11 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics

We present new results on the rest-frame UV luminosity function (UVLF) and stellar mass-to-light (M/L) ratio of bright (M$_{\rm UV}\lesssim-20$ mag) spectroscopically-confirmed galaxies at $z=7-9$ derived from the BoRG-$JWST$ survey, a unique data set of NIRSpec prism follow up of $HST$-selected sources from random-pointing imaging. By selecting galaxies from over 200 independent sight lines, the survey minimizes cosmic variance ensuring a statistically robust sample of the bright-galaxy population during the epoch of reionization. The data is used to constrain, for the first time, the bright end of the UVLF at $z=7-9$ from spectroscopically-confirmed galaxies over eight independent fields. We find that the bright end of the UVLF is higher than found using imaging over $JWST$ legacy fields, suggesting the latter may be significantly affected by cosmic variance, and thus reducing the tension with recent findings from $JWST$ at $z>10$ and comparable to models invoking little dust attenuation and bursty star formation. Additionally, we use the galaxies' $JWST$ spectra to infer their stellar masses and M/L ratios relative to other $HST$ and $JWST$ studies. We show that the stellar mass scales almost linearly with UV luminosity (M$_* \propto L_{\rm UV}^{0.85\pm0.12}$), albeit with large ($\sim0.5$ dex) intrinsic scatter, consistent with stochastic bursts of star formation in early galaxy formation., Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables

We introduce a novel approach to options trading strategies using a highly scalable and data-driven machine learning algorithm. In contrast to traditional approaches that often require specifications of underlying market dynamics or assumptions on an option pricing model, our models depart fundamentally from the need for these prerequisites, directly learning non-trivial mappings from market data to optimal trading signals. Backtesting on more than a decade of option contracts for equities listed on the S&P 100, we demonstrate that deep learning models trained according to our end-to-end approach exhibit significant improvements in risk-adjusted performance over existing rules-based trading strategies. We find that incorporating turnover regularization into the models leads to further performance enhancements at prohibitively high levels of transaction costs.

We report evidence for enhanced quenching in low-redshift galaxy clusters hosting radio relics. This effect is strongest for low-mass galaxies and is consistent with a rapid quenching of star formation. These results imply that merger shocks in the intracluster medium play a role in driving environmental quenching, which we argue is due to the elevated ram pressure experienced by satellite galaxies in these disturbed systems., Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

We present the BoRG-JWST survey, a combination of two JWST Cycle 1 programs aimed at obtaining NIRSpec spectroscopy of representative, UV-bright $75$, highlighting the large abundance of high-redshift galaxies even in individual WFC3 pointings. The primary sample span an absolute magnitude range $-20.47$ sources currently known and comparable to the brightest sources at $z>10$. Prominent [O III]+H$\beta$ lines are found across the full sample, while a stack of sources reveals a plethora of other rest-optical lines and additional rest-UV C III]1909 \r{A} emission. Despite their luminosities, none of the low-resolution spectra display evidence for Type 1 AGN activity based on a search for broad-line emission. Lastly, we present a spectroscopic data release of 188 confirmed $0.5\lesssim z\lesssim5.0$ sources from filler MSA observations, highlighting the legacy value of the survey and a representative benchmark for comparisons to deep field observations., Comment: Submitted to ApJ, comments welcome

We report the discovery of robust spectroscopically confirmed Balmer break (BB) galaxies and candidates, with secure spectroscopic redshifts $7.1 \le z \le 9.6$ from publicly available JWST extra-galactic photometric and spectroscopic surveys. To do so, we used dedicated filters probing the Balmer break and inspected the objects with NIRSpec spectroscopy. We recover the previously known objects with strong Balmer breaks and reveal 10-11 new objects with clear BBs, thus tripling the number of spectroscopically confirmed galaxies with a BB at z >7. Approximately half of them show a pure BB and no signs of recent star formation, whereas the other half shows BB and emission lines, indicating most likely galaxies whose star formation ceased earlier and has restarted recently. Overall we find that ~10-20% of all galaxies from our sample show signatures of an evolved stellar population. Furthermore, we find that the strength of the BB does not strongly depend on the rest-optical brightness of these sources. In short, our work confirms that photometry alone has the potential to measure BB strengths and to identify evolved stellar populations at high redshift and that such objects may be more frequent than previously thought., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, Submitted to A&A, Comments are welcome

The rotation curves of spiral galaxies exhibit a great diversity that challenge our understanding of galaxy formation and the nature of dark matter. Previous studies showed that in self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) models with a cross section per unit mass of $\sigma/m\approx{\cal O}(1)~{\rm cm^2/g}$, the predicted dark matter central densities are a good match to the observed densities in galaxies. In this work, we explore a regime with a larger cross section of $\sigma/m\approx20-40~{\rm cm^2/g}$ in dwarf galactic halos. We will show that such strong dark matter self-interactions can further amplify the diversity of halo densities inherited from their assembly history. High concentration halos can enter the gravothermal collapse phase within $10~{\rm Gyr}$, resulting in a high density, while low concentration ones remain in the expansion phase and have a low density. We fit the rotation curves of $14$ representative low surface brightness galaxies and demonstrate how the large range of observed central densities are naturally accommodated in the strong SIDM regime of $\sigma/m\approx20-40~{\rm cm^2/g}$. Galaxies that are outliers in the previous studies due to their high halo central densities, are no longer outliers in this SIDM regime as their halos would be in the collapse phase. For galaxies with a low density, the SIDM fits are robust to the variation of the cross section. Our findings open up a new window for testing gravothermal collapse, the unique signature of strong dark matter self-interactions, and exploring broad SIDM model space., Comment: 21 pages, 14 figures

We consider the problem of optimizing the sum of a smooth, nonconvex function for which derivatives are unavailable, and a convex, nonsmooth function with easy-to-evaluate proximal operator. Of particular focus is the case where the smooth part has a nonlinear least-squares structure. We adapt two existing approaches for derivative-free optimization of nonsmooth compositions of smooth functions to this setting. Our main contribution is adapting our algorithm to handle inexactly computed stationary measures, where the inexactness is adaptively adjusted as required by the algorithm (where previous approaches assumed access to exact stationary measures, which is not realistic in this setting). Numerically, we provide two extensions of the state-of-the-art DFO-LS solver for nonlinear least-squares problems and demonstrate their strong practical performance.

In some fields, scientific data formats differ across experiments due to specialized hardware and data acquisition systems. Researchers need to develop, document, and maintain experiment-specific analysis software to interact with these data formats. These software are often tightly coupled with a particular data format. This proliferation of custom data formats has been a prominent challenge for small to mid-scale experiments. The widespread adoption of ROOT has largely mitigated this problem for the Large Hadron Collider experiments. However, many smaller experiments continue to use custom data formats to meet specific research needs. Therefore, simplifying the process of accessing a unique data format for analysis holds immense value for scientific communities within HEP. We have added Awkward Arrays as a target language for Kaitai Struct for this purpose. Researchers can describe their custom data format in the Kaitai Struct YAML (KSY) language. The Kaitai Struct Compiler generates C++ code to fill the LayoutBuilder buffers using the KSY format. In a few steps, the Kaitai Struct Awkward Runtime API can convert the generated C++ code into a compiled Python module. Finally, the raw data can be passed to the module to produce Awkward Arrays. This paper introduces the Awkward Target for the Kaitai Struct Compiler and the Kaitai Struct Awkward Runtime API. It also demonstrates the conversion of a given KSY for a specific custom file format to Awkward Arrays., Comment: presented at ACAT2024

The high contrast and spatial resolution requirements for directly imaging exoplanets requires effective coordination of wavefront control, coronagraphy, observation techniques, and post-processing algorithms. However, even with this suite of tools, identifying and retrieving exoplanet signals embedded in resolved scattered light regions can be extremely challenging due to the increased noise from scattered light off the circumstellar disk and the potential misinterpretation of the true nature of the detected signal. This issue pertains not only to imaging terrestrial planets in habitable zones within zodiacal and exozodiacal emission but also to young planets embedded in circumstellar, transitional, and debris disks. This is particularly true for H{\alpha} detection of exoplanets in transitional disks. This work delves into recent H{\alpha} observations of three transitional disks systems with MagAO-X, an extreme adaptive optics system for the 6.5-meter Magellan Clay telescope. We employed angular differential imaging (ADI) and simultaneous spectral differential imaging (SSDI) in combination with KLIP, a PCA algorithm in post-processing, for optimal starlight suppression and quasi-static noise removal. We discuss the challenges in protoplanet identification with MagAO-X in environments rich with scattered and reflected light from disk structures and explore a potential solution for removing noise contributions from real astronomical objects with current observation and post-processing techniques.

The next generation of extreme adaptive optics (AO) must be calibrated exceptionally well to achieve the desired contrast for ground-based direct imaging exoplanet targets. Current wavefront sensing and control system responses deviate from lab calibration throughout the night due to non linearities in the wavefront sensor (WFS) and signal loss. One cause of these changes is the optical gain (OG) effect, which shows that the difference between actual and reconstructed wavefronts is sensitive to residual wavefront errors from partially corrected turbulence. This work details on-sky measurement of optical gain on MagAO-X, an extreme AO system on the Magellan Clay 6.5m. We ultimately plan on using a method of high-temporal frequency probes on our deformable mirror to track optical gain on the Pyramid WFS. The high-temporal frequency probes, used to create PSF copies at 10-22 lambda /D, are already routinely used by our system for coronagraph centering and post-observation calibration. This method is supported by the OG measurements from the modal response, measured simultaneously by sequenced pokes of each mode. When tracked with DIMM measurements, optical gain calibrations show a clear dependence on Strehl Ratio, and this relationship is discussed. This more accurate method of calibration is a crucial next step in enabling higher fidelity correction and post processing techniques for direct imaging ground based systems., Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, proceedings of Adaptive Optics Systems IX at SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation 2024