Polylogarithms, Multiple Zeta Values and Superstring Amplitudes

A formalism is provided to calculate tree amplitudes in open superstring theory for any multiplicity at any order in the inverse string tension. We point out that the underlying world-sheet disk integrals share substantial properties with color-ordered tree amplitudes in Yang-Mills field theories. In particular, we closely relate world-sheet integrands of open-string tree amplitudes to the Kawai-Lewellen-Tye representation of supergravity amplitudes. This correspondence helps to reduce the singular parts of world-sheet disk integrals -including their string corrections- to lower-point results. The remaining regular parts are systematically addressed by polylogarithm manipulations.Comment: 79 pages, LaTeX; v2: final version to appear in Fortschritte der Physik; for additional material, see: http://mzv.mpp.mpg.d

Maximal cuts and differential equations for Feynman integrals. An application to the three-loop massive banana graph

We consider the calculation of the master integrals of the three-loop massive banana graph. In the case of equal internal masses, the graph is reduced to three master integrals which satisfy an irreducible system of three coupled linear differential equations. The solution of the system requires finding a $3 \times 3$ matrix of homogeneous solutions. We show how the maximal cut can be used to determine all entries of this matrix in terms of products of elliptic integrals of first and second kind of suitable arguments. All independent solutions are found by performing the integration which defines the maximal cut on different contours. Once the homogeneous solution is known, the inhomogeneous solution can be obtained by use of Euler's variation of constants.Comment: 39 pages, 3 figures; Fixed a typo in eq. (6.16

Time-warping invariants of multidimensional time series

In data science, one is often confronted with a time series representing measurements of some quantity of interest. Usually, as a first step, features of the time series need to be extracted. These are numerical quantities that aim to succinctly describe the data and to dampen the influence of noise. In some applications, these features are also required to satisfy some invariance properties. In this paper, we concentrate on time-warping invariants. We show that these correspond to a certain family of iterated sums of the increments of the time series, known as quasisymmetric functions in the mathematics literature. We present these invariant features in an algebraic framework, and we develop some of their basic properties.Comment: 18 pages, 1 figur

On the Number of Zeros of Abelian Integrals: A Constructive Solution of the Infinitesimal Hilbert Sixteenth Problem

We prove that the number of limit cycles generated by a small non-conservative perturbation of a Hamiltonian polynomial vector field on the plane, is bounded by a double exponential of the degree of the fields. This solves the long-standing tangential Hilbert 16th problem. The proof uses only the fact that Abelian integrals of a given degree are horizontal sections of a regular flat meromorphic connection (Gauss-Manin connection) with a quasiunipotent monodromy group.Comment: Final revisio

Time-warping invariants of multidimensional time series

In data science, one is often confronted with a time series representing measurements of some quantity of interest. Usually, in a first step, features of the time series need to be extracted. These are numerical quantities that aim to succinctly describe the data and to dampen the influence of noise. In some applications, these features are also required to satisfy some invariance properties. In this paper, we concentrate on time-warping invariants.We show that these correspond to a certain family of iterated sums of the increments of the time series, known as quasisymmetric functions in the mathematics literature. We present these invariant features in an algebraic framework, and we develop some of their basic properties

Time-warping invariants of multidimensional time series

In data science, one is often confronted with a time series representing measurements of some quantity of interest. Usually, in a first step, features of the time series need to be extracted. These are numerical quantities that aim to succinctly describe the data and to dampen the influence of noise. In some applications, these features are also required to satisfy some invariance properties. In this paper, we concentrate on time-warping invariants.We show that these correspond to a certain family of iterated sums of the increments of the time series, known as quasisymmetric functions in the mathematics literature. We present these invariant features in an algebraic framework, and we develop some of their basic properties

On Buffon Machines and Numbers

The well-know needle experiment of Buffon can be regarded as an analog (i.e., continuous) device that stochastically "computes" the number 2/pi ~ 0.63661, which is the experiment's probability of success. Generalizing the experiment and simplifying the computational framework, we consider probability distributions, which can be produced perfectly, from a discrete source of unbiased coin flips. We describe and analyse a few simple Buffon machines that generate geometric, Poisson, and logarithmic-series distributions. We provide human-accessible Buffon machines, which require a dozen coin flips or less, on average, and produce experiments whose probabilities of success are expressible in terms of numbers such as, exp(-1), log 2, sqrt(3), cos(1/4), aeta(5). Generally, we develop a collection of constructions based on simple probabilistic mechanisms that enable one to design Buffon experiments involving compositions of exponentials and logarithms, polylogarithms, direct and inverse trigonometric functions, algebraic and hypergeometric functions, as well as functions defined by integrals, such as the Gaussian error function.Comment: Largely revised version with references and figures added. 12 pages. In ACM-SIAM Symposium on Discrete Algorithms (SODA'2011

On the periods of some Feynman integrals

We study the related questions: (i) when Feynman amplitudes in massless $\phi^4$ theory evaluate to multiple zeta values, and (ii) when their underlying motives are mixed Tate. More generally, by considering configurations of singular hypersurfaces which fiber linearly over each other, we deduce sufficient geometric and combinatorial criteria on Feynman graphs for both (i) and (ii) to hold. These criteria hold for some infinite classes of graphs which essentially contain all cases previously known to physicists. Calabi-Yau varieties appear at the point where these criteria fail

Regularity of laws and ergodicity of hypoelliptic SDEs driven by rough paths

We consider differential equations driven by rough paths and study the regularity of the laws and their long time behavior. In particular, we focus on the case when the driving noise is a rough path valued fractional Brownian motion with Hurst parameter $H\in(\frac{1}{3},\frac{1}{2}]$. Our contribution in this work is twofold. First, when the driving vector fields satisfy H\"{o}rmander's celebrated "Lie bracket condition," we derive explicit quantitative bounds on the inverse of the Malliavin matrix. En route to this, we provide a novel "deterministic" version of Norris's lemma for differential equations driven by rough paths. This result, with the added assumption that the linearized equation has moments, will then yield that the transition laws have a smooth density with respect to Lebesgue measure. Our second main result states that under H\"{o}rmander's condition, the solutions to rough differential equations driven by fractional Brownian motion with $H\in(\frac{1}{3},\frac{1}{2}]$ enjoy a suitable version of the strong Feller property. Under a standard controllability condition, this implies that they admit a unique stationary solution that is physical in the sense that it does not "look into the future."Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/12-AOP777 the Annals of Probability (http://www.imstat.org/aop/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org