Impurity effects on optical response in a finite band electronic system coupled to phonons

The concepts, which have traditionally been useful in understanding the effects of the electron--phonon interaction in optical spectroscopy, are based on insights obtained within the infinite electronic band approximation and no longer apply in finite band metals. Impurity and phonon contributions to electron scattering are not additive and the apparent strength of the coupling to the phonon degrees of freedom is substantially reduced with increased elastic scattering. The optical mass renormalization changes sign with increasing frequency and the optical scattering rate never reaches its high frequency quasiparticle value which itself is also reduced below its infinite band value

Double Hurwitz numbers via the infinite wedge

We derive an algorithm to produce explicit formulas for certain generating functions of double Hurwitz numbers. These formulas generalize a formula of Goulden, Jackson and Vakil for one part double Hurwitz numbers. Immediate consequences include a new proof that double Hurwitz numbers are piecewise polynomial, an understanding of the chamber structure and wall crossing for these polynomials, and a proof of the Goulden, Jackson and Vakil's Strong Piecewise Polynomiality conjecture. The method is a straightforward application of Okounkov's expression for double Hurwitz numbers in terms of operators on the infinite wedge. We begin with a introduction to the infinite wedge tailored to our use.Comment: 25 pages, 2 figures. Comments welcom

Infinite Shannon entropy

Even if a probability distribution is properly normalizable, its associated Shannon (or von Neumann) entropy can easily be infinite. We carefully analyze conditions under which this phenomenon can occur. Roughly speaking, this happens when arbitrarily small amounts of probability are dispersed into an infinite number of states; we shall quantify this observation and make it precise. We develop several particularly simple, elementary, and useful bounds, and also provide some asymptotic estimates, leading to necessary and sufficient conditions for the occurrence of infinite Shannon entropy. We go to some effort to keep technical computations as simple and conceptually clear as possible. In particular, we shall see that large entropies cannot be localized in state space; large entropies can only be supported on an exponentially large number of states. We are for the time being interested in single-channel Shannon entropy in the information theoretic sense, not entropy in a stochastic field theory or QFT defined over some configuration space, on the grounds that this simple problem is a necessary precursor to understanding infinite entropy in a field theoretic context.Comment: 13 pages; V2: 4 references adde

Gravitational clustering in N-body simulations

In this talk we discuss some of the main theoretical problems in the understanding of the statistical properties of gravity. By means of N-body simulations we approach the problem of understanding the r\^ole of gravity in the clustering of a finite set of N-interacting particles which samples a portion of an infinite system. Through the use of the conditional average density, we study the evolution of the clustering for the system putting in evidence some interesting and not yet understood features of the process.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figur

Infinite dimensional moment problem: open questions and applications

Infinite dimensional moment problems have a long history in diverse applied areas dealing with the analysis of complex systems but progress is hindered by the lack of a general understanding of the mathematical structure behind them. Therefore, such problems have recently got great attention in real algebraic geometry also because of their deep connection to the finite dimensional case. In particular, our most recent collaboration with Murray Marshall and Mehdi Ghasemi about the infinite dimensional moment problem on symmetric algebras of locally convex spaces revealed intriguing questions and relations between real algebraic geometry, functional and harmonic analysis. Motivated by this promising interaction, the principal goal of this paper is to identify the main current challenges in the theory of the infinite dimensional moment problem and to highlight their impact in applied areas. The last advances achieved in this emerging field and briefly reviewed throughout this paper led us to several open questions which we outline here.Comment: 14 pages, minor revisions according to referee's comments, updated reference