302,545 research outputs found
Neural Nearest Neighbors Networks
Non-local methods exploiting the self-similarity of natural signals have been
well studied, for example in image analysis and restoration. Existing
approaches, however, rely on k-nearest neighbors (KNN) matching in a fixed
feature space. The main hurdle in optimizing this feature space w.r.t.
application performance is the non-differentiability of the KNN selection rule.
To overcome this, we propose a continuous deterministic relaxation of KNN
selection that maintains differentiability w.r.t. pairwise distances, but
retains the original KNN as the limit of a temperature parameter approaching
zero. To exploit our relaxation, we propose the neural nearest neighbors block
(N3 block), a novel non-local processing layer that leverages the principle of
self-similarity and can be used as building block in modern neural network
architectures. We show its effectiveness for the set reasoning task of
correspondence classification as well as for image restoration, including image
denoising and single image super-resolution, where we outperform strong
convolutional neural network (CNN) baselines and recent non-local models that
rely on KNN selection in hand-chosen features spaces.Comment: to appear at NIPS*2018, code available at
https://github.com/visinf/n3net
Discovery Of Cold, Pristine Gas Possibly Accreting Onto An Overdensity Of Star-Forming Galaxies At Redshift z ~ 1.6
We report the discovery of large amounts of cold (T ~ 10^4 K), chemically
young gas in an overdensity of galaxies at redshift z ~ 1.6 in the Great
Observatories Origins Deep Survey southern field (GOODS-S). The gas is
identified thanks to the ultra-strong Mg II absorption features it imprints in
the rest-frame UV spectra of galaxies in the background of the overdensity.
There is no evidence that the optically-thick gas is part of any massive galaxy
(i.e. M_star > 4x10^9 M_sun), but rather is associated with the overdensity;
less massive and fainter galaxies (25.5 < z_850 < 27.5 mag) have too large an
impact parameter to be causing ultra-strong absorption systems, based on our
knowledge of such systems. The lack of corresponding Fe II absorption features,
not detected even in co-added spectra, suggests that the gas is chemically more
pristine than the ISM and outflows of star-forming galaxies at similar
redshift, including those in the overdensity itself, and comparable to the most
metal-poor stars in the Milky Way halo. A crude estimate of the projected
covering factor of the high-column density gas (N_H >~ 10^20 cm-2) based on the
observed fraction of galaxies with ultra-strong absorbers is C_F ~ 0.04. A
broad, continuum absorption profile extending to the red of the interstellar Mg
II absorption line by <~ 2000 km/s is possibly detected in two independent
co-added spectra of galaxies of the overdensity, consistent with a large-scale
infall motion of the gas onto the overdensity and its galaxies. Overall, these
findings provides the first tentative evidence of accretion of cold, chemically
young gas onto galaxies at high redshift, possibly feeding their star formation
activity. The fact that the galaxies are members of a large structure, as
opposed to field galaxies, might play a significant role in our ability to
detect the accreting gas.Comment: 57 pages, 17 figures, 1 table; accepted for publication by ApJ (Aug
9, 2011); minor modifications to match the accepted versio
A symmetry breaking mechanism for selecting the speed of relativistic solitons
We propose a mechanism for fixing the velocity of relativistic soliton based
on the breaking of the Lorentz symmetry of the sine-Gordon (SG) model. The
proposal is first elaborated for a molecular chain model, as the simple
pendulum limit of a double pendulums chain. It is then generalized to a full
class of two-dimensional field theories of the sine-Gordon type. From a
phenomenological point of view, the mechanism allows one to select the speed of
a SG soliton just by tuning elastic couplings constants and kinematical
parameters. From a fundamental, field-theoretical point of view we show that
the characterizing features of relativistic SG solitons (existence of conserved
topological charges and stability) may be still preserved even if the Lorentz
symmetry is broken and a soliton of a given speed is selected.Comment: 23 pages, no figure
The Self-Financing Equation in High Frequency Markets
High Frequency Trading (HFT) represents an ever growing proportion of all
financial transactions as most markets have now switched to electronic order
book systems. The main goal of the paper is to propose continuous time
equations which generalize the self-financing relationships of frictionless
markets to electronic markets with limit order books. We use NASDAQ ITCH data
to identify significant empirical features such as price impact and recovery,
rough paths of inventories and vanishing bid-ask spreads. Starting from these
features, we identify microscopic identities holding on the trade clock, and
through a diffusion limit argument, derive continuous time equations which
provide a macroscopic description of properties of the order book. These
equations naturally differentiate between trading via limit and market orders.
We give several applications (including hedging European options with limit
orders, market maker optimal spread choice, and toxicity indexes) to illustrate
their impact and how they can be used to the benefit of Low Frequency Traders
(LFTs)
Supersparse Linear Integer Models for Optimized Medical Scoring Systems
Scoring systems are linear classification models that only require users to
add, subtract and multiply a few small numbers in order to make a prediction.
These models are in widespread use by the medical community, but are difficult
to learn from data because they need to be accurate and sparse, have coprime
integer coefficients, and satisfy multiple operational constraints. We present
a new method for creating data-driven scoring systems called a Supersparse
Linear Integer Model (SLIM). SLIM scoring systems are built by solving an
integer program that directly encodes measures of accuracy (the 0-1 loss) and
sparsity (the -seminorm) while restricting coefficients to coprime
integers. SLIM can seamlessly incorporate a wide range of operational
constraints related to accuracy and sparsity, and can produce highly tailored
models without parameter tuning. We provide bounds on the testing and training
accuracy of SLIM scoring systems, and present a new data reduction technique
that can improve scalability by eliminating a portion of the training data
beforehand. Our paper includes results from a collaboration with the
Massachusetts General Hospital Sleep Laboratory, where SLIM was used to create
a highly tailored scoring system for sleep apnea screeningComment: This version reflects our findings on SLIM as of January 2016
(arXiv:1306.5860 and arXiv:1405.4047 are out-of-date). The final published
version of this articled is available at http://www.springerlink.co
Selection Rules for Black-Hole Quantum Transitions
We suggest that quantum transitions of black holes comply with selection
rules, analogous to those of atomic spectroscopy. In order to identify such
rules, we apply Bohr's correspondence principle to the quasinormal ringing
frequencies of black holes. In this context, classical ringing frequencies with
an asymptotically vanishing real part \omega_R correspond to virtual quanta,
and may thus be interpreted as forbidden quantum transitions. With this
motivation, we calculate the quasinormal spectrum of neutrino fields in
spherically symmetric black-hole spacetimes. It is shown that \omega_R->0 for
these resonances, suggesting that the corresponding fermionic transitions are
quantum mechanically forbidden.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
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