Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Quasi-probabilities in Conditioned Quantum Measurement and a Geometric/Statistical Interpretation of Aharonov's Weak Value

We show that the joint behaviour of an arbitrary pair of quantum observables can be described by quasi-probabilities, which are extensions of the standard probabilities used for describing the behaviour of a single observable. The physical situations that require these quasi-probabilities arise when one considers quantum measurement of an observable conditioned by some other variable, with the notable example being the weak measurement employed to obtain Aharonov's weak value. Specifically, we present a general prescription for the construction of quasi-joint-probability (QJP) distributions associated with a given pair of observables. These QJP distributions are introduced in two complementary approaches: one from a bottom-up, strictly operational construction realised by examining the mathematical framework of the conditioned measurement scheme, and the other from a top-down viewpoint realised by applying the results of spectral theorem for normal operators and its Fourier transforms. It is then revealed that, for a pair of simultaneously measurable observables, the QJP distribution reduces to their unique standard joint-probability distribution, whereas for a non-commuting pair there exists an inherent indefiniteness in the choice, admitting a multitude of candidates that may equally be used for describing their joint behaviour. In the course of our argument, we find that the QJP distributions furnish the space of operators with their characteristic geometric structures such that the orthogonal projections and inner products of observables can, respectively, be given statistical interpretations as `conditionings' and `correlations'. The weak value $A_{w}$ for an observable $A$ is then given a geometric/statistical interpretation as either the orthogonal projection of $A$ onto the subspace generated by another observable $B$, or equivalently, as the conditioning of $A$ given $B$.
Efficient Er/O‐Doped Silicon Light‐Emitting Diodes at Communication Wavelength by Deep Cooling

A silicon light source at the communication wavelength is the bottleneck for developing monolithically integrated silicon photonics. Doping silicon with erbium and oxygen ions is considered one of the most promising approaches to produce silicon light sources. However, this method suffers from a high concentration of defects in the form of nonradiative recombination centers at the interface between the crystalline silicon and large Er2O3/ErSi1.7 precipitates during the standard rapid thermal treatment. Here, a deep cooling process is applied to suppress the growth of these precipitates by flushing the high‐temperature Er/O‐doped silicon substrates with helium gas cooled in liquid nitrogen. The resultant light‐emitting efficiency at room temperature is enhanced by two orders of magnitude in comparison with that of the sample treated via standard rapid thermal annealing. The deep‐cooling‐processed Si samples are further processed into light‐emitting diodes. Bright electroluminescence with a main spectral peak at 1536 nm is also observed from the silicon‐based diodes with the external quantum efficiency reaching ≈0.8% at room temperature. Based on these results, the development of electrically driven silicon optical amplifiers or even lasers at communication wavelengths is promising for monolithically integrated silicon photonics.
DISCOVERY OF TWO RARE RIGIDLY ROTATING MAGNETOSPHERE STARS IN THE APOGEE SURVEY

The Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE)—one of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III programs—is using near-infrared (NIR) spectra of ∼100,000 red giant branch star candidates to study the structure of the Milky Way. In the course of the survey, APOGEE also acquires spectra of hot field stars to serve as telluric calibrators for the primary science targets. We report the serendipitous discovery of two rare, fast-rotating B-stars of the σ Ori E type among those blue field stars observed during the first year of APOGEE operations. Both of the discovered stars display the spectroscopic signatures of rigidly rotating magnetospheres (RRM) common to this class of highly magnetized (B ∼ 10 kGauss) stars, increasing the number of known RRM stars by ∼10%. One (HD 345439) is a main-sequence B-star with unusually strong He absorption (similar to σ Ori E), while the other (HD 23478) fits a “He-normal” B3IV classification. We combine the APOGEE discovery spectra with other optical and NIR spectra of these two stars, and of σ Ori E itself, to show how NIR spectroscopy can be a uniquely powerful tool for discovering more of these rare objects, which may show little/no RRM signatures in their optical spectra. We discuss the potential for further discovery of σ Ori E type stars, as well as the implications of our discoveries for the population of these objects and insights into their origin and evolution.
Chromospheric activity among fast-rotating M dwarfs in the open cluster NGC 2516

We report radial velocities (RVs), projected equatorial velocities (v sini) and Ca II triplet (CaT) chromospheric activity indices for 237 late-K to mid-M candidate members of the young open cluster NGC 2516. These stars have published rotation periods between 0.1 and 15 d. Intermediate-resolution spectra were obtained using the Giraffe spectrograph at the Very Large Telescope. Membership was confirmed on the basis of their RVs for 210 targets. For these stars, we see a marked increase in the fraction of rapidly rotators as we move to cooler spectral types. About 20 per cent of M0–M1 stars have v sini > 15 km s −1 , increasing to 90 per cent of M4 stars. Activity indices derived from the first two lines of the CaT (8498 and 8542 A) show differing dependencies on the rotation period and mass for stars lying above and below the fully convective boundary. Higher mass stars, of spectral type K3–M2.5, show chromospheric activity which increases with a decreasing Rossby number (the ratio of period to convective turnover time), saturating for Rossby numbers <0.1. For cooler stars, which are probably fully convective and almost all of which have Rossby numbers <0.1, there is a clear decrease in chromospheric activity as (V − I)0 increases, amounting to a fall of about a factor of 2–3 between spectral types M2.5 and M4. This decrease in activity levels at low Rossby numbers is not seen in X-ray observations of the coronae of cluster M dwarfs or of active field M dwarfs. There is no evidence for supersaturation of chromospheric activity for stars of any spectral type at Rossby numbers <0.01. We suggest that the fall in the limiting level of chromospheric emission beyond spectral type M3 in NGC 2516 is, like the simultaneous increase in rotation rates in field stars, associated with a change in the global magnetic topology as stars approach the fully convective boundary and not due to any decrease in dynamo-generated magnetic flux.
Preoperative Tumor Texture Analysis on MRI for High-Risk Disease Prediction in Endometrial Cancer: A Hypothesis-Generating Study

Objective: To develop and validate magnetic resonance (MR) imaging-based radiomics models for high-risk endometrial cancer (EC) prediction preoperatively, to be able to estimate deep myometrial invasion (DMI) and lymphovascular space invasion (LVSI), and to discriminate between low-risk and other categories of risk as proposed by ESGO/ESTRO/ESP (European Society of Gynaecological Oncology—European Society for Radiotherapy & Oncology and European Society of Pathology) guidelines. Methods: This retrospective study included 96 women with EC who underwent 1.5-T MR imaging before surgical staging between April 2009 and May 2019 in two referral centers divided into training (T = 73) and validation cohorts (V = 23). Radiomics features were extracted using the MODDICOM library with manual delineation of whole-tumor volume on MR images (axial T2-weighted). Diagnostic performances of radiomic models were evaluated by area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve in training (AUCT) and validation (AUCV) cohorts by using a subset of the most relevant texture features tested individually in univariate analysis using Wilcoxon–Mann–Whitney. Results: A total of 228 radiomics features were extracted and ultimately limited to 38 for DMI, 29 for LVSI, and 15 for risk-classes prediction for logistic radiomic modeling. Whole-tumor radiomic models yielded an AUCT/AUCV of 0.85/0.68 in DMI estimation, 0.92/0.81 in LVSI prediction, and 0.84/0.76 for differentiating low-risk vs other risk classes (intermediate/high-intermediate/high). Conclusion: MRI-based radiomics has great potential in developing advanced prognostication in EC.
Predicting emission line fluxes and number counts of distant galaxies for cosmological surveys

We estimate the number counts of line emitters at high redshift and their evolution with cosmic time based on a combination of photometry and spectroscopy. We predict the H α, H β, [O ii], and [O iii] line fluxes for more than 35 000 galaxies down to stellar masses of ∼10^9 M_⊙ in the COSMOS and GOODS-S fields, applying standard conversions and exploiting the spectroscopic coverage of the FMOS-COSMOS survey at z ∼ 1.55 to calibrate the predictions. We calculate the number counts of H α, [O ii], and [O iii] emitters down to fluxes of 1 × 10^−17 erg cm^−2 s^−1 in the range 1.4 < z < 1.8 covered by the FMOS-COSMOS survey. We model the time evolution of the differential and cumulative H α counts, steeply declining at the brightest fluxes. We expect ∼9300–9700 and ∼2300–2900 galaxies deg^−2 for fluxes ≥1 × 10^−16 and ≥2 × 10^−16 erg cm^−2 s^−1 over the range of 0.9 < z < 1.8. We show that the observed evolution of the main sequence of galaxies with redshift is enough to reproduce the observed counts variation at 0.2 < z < 2.5. We characterize the physical properties of the H α emitters with fluxes ≥2 × 10^−16 erg cm^−2 s^−1 including their stellar masses, UV sizes, [N ii]/H α ratios and H α equivalent widths. An aperture of R ∼ R_e ∼ 0.5 arcsec maximizes the signal-to-noise ratio for a detection, whilst causing a factor of ∼2 × flux losses, influencing the recoverable number counts, if neglected. Our approach, based on deep and large photometric data sets, reduces the uncertainties on the number counts due to the selection and spectroscopic samplings whilst exploring low fluxes. We publicly release the line flux predictions for the explored photometric samples.
Real-time delineation of basement membrane in human oral and esophageal mucosa with micro-optical coherence tomography

Basement membrane is a thin, extracellular matrix-like structure, separating the epithelium from the stroma and having a vital role in determining cancer progression. Identification of this diagnostically important structure with histology is invasive and labor-intensive. Micro-optical coherence tomography (µOCT) which has the capability to recognize subcellular-level microstructures underneath the surface offers the possibility to resolve basement membrane noninvasively in situ and in vivo. In this study, we conducted numerical analysis of the back-scattering intensity of basement membrane and experimental µOCT imaging of human labial mucosa in vivo and esophageal mucosa ex vivo, in an attempt to characterize the basement membrane underlying stratified squamous epithelial tissues. The results disclose that the layered structure of mucosa could be clearly delineated and the basement membrane presented as a steep, low-scattering linear structure in between the relatively high-scattering epithelium and stroma. Besides, according to the knowledges on its ultrastructure, we assume the low-scattering signal is collectively determined by basal lamina and reticular lamina since the former alone is extremely thin to be recognized by µOCT. This study clarifies the scattering features of basement membrane and the capability of real-time delineation of basement membrane which will help to determine the progression of epithelial cancers without the need of resection and histology.
The dark matter of galaxy voids

How do observed voids relate to the underlying dark matter distribution? To examine the spatial distribution of dark matter contained within voids identified in galaxy surveys, we apply Halo Occupation Distribution models representing sparsely and densely sampled galaxy surveys to a high-resolution N-body simulation. We compare these galaxy voids to voids found in the halo distribution, low-resolution dark matter, and high-resolution dark matter. We find that voids at all scales in densely sampled surveys - and medium- to large-scale voids in sparse surveys - trace the same underdensities as dark matter, but they are larger in radius by ~20%, they have somewhat shallower density profiles, and they have centers offset by ~0.4Rv rms. However, in void-to-void comparison we find that shape estimators are less robust to sampling, and the largest voids in sparsely sampled surveys suffer fragmentation at their edges. We find that voids in galaxy surveys always correspond to underdensities in the dark matter, though the centers may be offset. When this offset is taken into account, we recover almost identical radial density profiles between galaxies and dark matter. All mock catalogs used in this work are available at this http URL
MULTIWAVELENGTH CONSTRAINTS ON PULSAR POPULATIONS IN THE GALACTIC CENTER

The detection of radio pulsars within the central few parsecs of the Galaxy would provide a unique probe of the gravitational and magneto-ionic environments in the Galactic center (GC) and, if close enough to Sgr A*, precise tests of general relativity in the strong-field regime. While it is difficult to find pulsars at radio wavelengths because of interstellar scattering, the payoff from detailed timing of pulsars in the GC warrants a concerted effort. To motivate pulsar surveys and help define search parameters for them, we constrain the pulsar number and spatial distribution using a wide range of multiwavelength measurements. These include the five known radio pulsars within 15′ of Sgr A*, non-detections in high-frequency pulsar surveys of the central parsec, radio and gamma-ray measurements of diffuse emission, a catalog of radio point sources from an imaging survey, infrared observations of massive star populations in the central few parsecs, candidate pulsar wind nebulae in the inner 20 pc, and estimates of the core-collapse supernova rate based on X-ray measurements. We find that under current observational constraints, the inner parsec of the Galaxy could harbor as many as ∼103 active radio pulsars that are beamed toward Earth. Such a large population would distort the low-frequency measurements of both the intrinsic spectrum of Sgr A* and the free–free absorption along the line of sight of Sgr A*.
MULTIFREQUENCY PHOTO-POLARIMETRIC WEBT OBSERVATION CAMPAIGN ON THE BLAZAR S5 0716+714: SOURCE MICROVARIABILITY AND SEARCH FOR CHARACTERISTIC TIMESCALES

Here we report on the results of the Whole Earth Blazar Telescope photo-polarimetric campaign targeting the blazar S5 0716+71, organized in 2014 March to monitor the source simultaneously in BVRI and near-IR filters. The campaign resulted in an unprecedented data set spanning ∼110 hr of nearly continuous, multiband observations, including two sets of densely sampled polarimetric data mainly in the R filter. During the campaign, the source displayed pronounced variability with peak-to-peak variations of about 30% and “bluer-when-brighter” spectral evolution, consisting of a day-timescale modulation with superimposed hour-long microflares characterized by ∼0.1 mag flux changes. We performed an in-depth search for quasi-periodicities in the source light curve; hints for the presence of oscillations on timescales of ∼3 and ∼5 hr do not represent highly significant departures from a pure red-noise power spectrum. We observed that, at a certain configuration of the optical polarization angle (PA) relative to the PA of the innermost radio jet in the source, changes in the polarization degree (PD) led the total flux variability by about 2 hr; meanwhile, when the relative configuration of the polarization and jet angles altered, no such lag could be noted. The microflaring events, when analyzed as separate pulse emission components, were found to be characterized by a very high PD (>30%) and PAs that differed substantially from the PA of the underlying background component, or from the radio jet positional angle. We discuss the results in the general context of blazar emission and energy dissipation models.
The superluminous supernova PS1-11ap: bridging the gap between low and high redshift

We present optical photometric and spectroscopic coverage of the superluminous supernova (SLSN) PS1-11ap, discovered with the Pan-STARRS1 Medium Deep Survey at z = 0.524. This intrinsically blue transient rose slowly to reach a peak magnitude ofMu =− 21.4 mag and bolometric luminosity of 8 × 10 43 erg s −1 before settling on to a relatively shallow gradient of decline. The observed decline is significantly slower than those of the SLSNe-Ic which have been the focus of much recent attention. Spectroscopic similarities with the lower redshift SN2007bi and a decline rate similar to 56 Co decay time-scale initially indicated that this transient could be a candidate for a pair instability supernova (PISN) explosion. Overall the transient appears quite similar to SN2007bi and the lower redshift object PTF12dam. The extensive data set, from 30 d before peak to 230 d after, allows a detailed and quantitative comparison with published models of PISN explosions. We find that the PS1-11ap data do not match these model explosion parameters well, supporting the recent claim that these SNe are not pair instability explosions. We show that PS1-11ap has many features in common with the faster declining SLSNe-Ic, and the light-curve evolution can also be quantitatively explained by the magnetar spin-down model. At a redshift of z = 0.524, the observer-frame optical coverage provides comprehensive rest-frame UV data and allows us to compare it with the SLSNe recently found at high redshifts between z = 2 and 4. While these high-z explosions
THE BLACK HOLE–DARK MATTER HALO CONNECTION

We explore the connection between the central supermassive black holes (SMBH) in galaxies and the dark matter halo through the relation between the masses of the SMBHs and the maximum circular velocities of the host galaxies, as well as the relationship between stellar velocity dispersion of the spheroidal component and the circular velocity. Our assumption here is that the circular velocity is a proxy for the mass of the dark matter halo. We rely on a heterogeneous sample containing galaxies of all types. The only requirement is that the galaxy has a direct measurement of the mass of its SMBH and a direct measurement of its circular velocity and its velocity dispersion. Previous studies have analyzed the connection between the SMBH and dark matter halo through the relationship between the circular velocity and the bulge velocity dispersion, with the assumption that the bulge velocity dispersion stands in for the mass of the SMBH, via the well-established SMBH mass–bulge velocity dispersion relation. Using intermediate relations may be misleading when one is studying them to decipher the active ingredients of galaxy formation and evolution. We believe that our approach will provide a more direct probe of the SMBH and the dark matter halo connection. We find that the correlation between the mass of SMBHs and the circular velocities of the host galaxies is extremely weak, leading us to state the dark matter halo may not play a major role in regulating the black hole growth in the present Universe.
Counter-Pedagogies of Cruelty across Abya Yala: A Move with Otherwise Present-Futurities

Abstract This paper is a call for “counter-pedagogies of cruelty” and memory as counteractions to colonial technologies of violence, erasure, loss, and linear spatio-temporalities and notions of “progress. ” In this paper, the authors move across geographic locations in Abya Yala to expose and unpack overlapping and often unnamed colonialities, violences, and racialized border logics. Centering a series of moments from our work and engagements in the nation-states of Chile, Guatemala, and the United States, we bring Segato’s concept of “pedagogies of cruelty” together with settler colonialism, decolonial feminisms, and decolonial geographies as central frameworks to illuminate ongoing colonial structures, violence, and resistance social movements across Abya Yala. We explore the ways “pedagogies of cruelty” are embodied, contested, and made visible when we move across borders and center the knowledges and demands of those most impacted. These frameworks also push us to think and move with and to an “otherwise” no longer beholden to modern/colonial frameworks. We center the “otherwise” as a future already present and past, that challenges neoliberal colonial temporalities and attends to the ways borders and the gratuitous nature of modern/colonial violences permeate schools and classrooms and the urgency of these disruptions.
Short-range correlations and entropy in ultracold-atom Fermi gases

We relate short-range correlations in ultracold atomic Fermi gases to the entropy of the system over the entire temperature, $T$, vs. coupling strength, $-1/k_Fa$, plane. In the low temperature limit the entropy is dominated by phonon excitations and the correlations increase as $T^4$. In the BEC limit, we calculate a boson model within the Bogoliubov approximation to show explicitly how phonons enhance the fermion correlations. In the high temperature limit, we show from the virial expansion that the correlations decrease as $1/T$. The correlations therefore reach a maximum at a finite temperature. We infer the general structure of the isentropes of the Fermi gas in the $T,-1/k_Fa$ plane, and the temperature dependence of the correlations in the unitary, BEC, and BCS limits. Our results compare well with measurements of the correlations via photoassociation experiments at higher temperatures.
A PHOTON-DOMINATED REGION MODEL FOR THE FIR MID-J CO LADDER WITH UNIVERSAL ROTATIONAL TEMPERATURE IN STAR FORMING REGIONS

A photon-dominated region (PDR) is one of the leading candidate mechanisms for the origin of warm CO gas with near universal ∼300 K rotational temperature inferred from the CO emission detected toward embedded protostars by Herschel/PACS. We have developed a PDR model in general coordinates, where we can use the most adequate coordinate system for an embedded protostar having outflow cavity walls, to solve chemistry and gas energetics self-consistently for given UV radiation fields with different spectral shapes. Simple one-dimensional tests and applications show that FIR mid-J (14 ⩽ J ⩽ 24) CO lines are emitted from close to the surface of a dense region exposed to high UV fluxes. We apply our model to HH46 and find that the UV-heated outflow cavity wall can reproduce the mid-J CO transitions observed by Herschel/PACS. A model with UV radiation corresponding to a blackbody of 10,000 K results in a rotational temperature lower than 300 K, while models with the Draine interstellar radiation field and the 15,000 K blackbody radiation field predict a rotational temperature similar to the observed one.