A rich hierarchy of functionals of finite types

We are considering typed hierarchies of total, continuous functionals using complete, separable metric spaces at the base types. We pay special attention to the so called Urysohn space constructed by P. Urysohn. One of the properties of the Urysohn space is that every other separable metric space can be isometrically embedded into it. We discuss why the Urysohn space may be considered as the universal model of possibly infinitary outputs of algorithms. The main result is that all our typed hierarchies may be topologically embedded, type by type, into the corresponding hierarchy over the Urysohn space. As a preparation for this, we prove an effective density theorem that is also of independent interest.Comment: 21 page

Comparing Functional Paradigms for Exact Real-number Computation

Abstract. We compare the definability of total functionals over the reals in two functional-programming approaches to exact real-number datatype of real numbers; and the intensional approach, in which one encodes real numbers using ordinary datatypes. We show that the type hierarchies coincide up to second-order types, and we relate this fact to an analogous comparison of type hierarchies over the external and internal real numbers in Dana Scott’s category of equilogical spaces. We do not know whether similar coincidences hold at third-order types. However, we relate this question to a purely topological conjecture about the Kleene-Kreisel continuous functionals over the natural numbers. Finally, although it is known that, in the extensional approach, parallel primitives are necessary for programming total first-order functions, we demonstrate that, in the intensional approach, such primitives are not needed for second-order types and below.

Flux compactifications in string theory: a comprehensive review

We present a pedagogical overview of flux compactifications in string theory, from the basic ideas to the most recent developments. We concentrate on closed string fluxes in type II theories. We start by reviewing the supersymmetric flux configurations with maximally symmetric four-dimensional spaces. We then discuss the no-go theorems (and their evasion) for compactifications with fluxes. We analyze the resulting four-dimensional effective theories, as well as some of its perturbative and non-perturbative corrections, focusing on moduli stabilization. Finally, we briefly review statistical studies of flux backgrounds.Comment: 85 pages, 2 figures. v2, v3: minor changes, references adde

Hierarchical fractional-step approximations and parallel kinetic Monte Carlo algorithms

We present a mathematical framework for constructing and analyzing parallel algorithms for lattice Kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) simulations. The resulting algorithms have the capacity to simulate a wide range of spatio-temporal scales in spatially distributed, non-equilibrium physiochemical processes with complex chemistry and transport micro-mechanisms. The algorithms can be tailored to specific hierarchical parallel architectures such as multi-core processors or clusters of Graphical Processing Units (GPUs). The proposed parallel algorithms are controlled-error approximations of kinetic Monte Carlo algorithms, departing from the predominant paradigm of creating parallel KMC algorithms with exactly the same master equation as the serial one. Our methodology relies on a spatial decomposition of the Markov operator underlying the KMC algorithm into a hierarchy of operators corresponding to the processors' structure in the parallel architecture. Based on this operator decomposition, we formulate Fractional Step Approximation schemes by employing the Trotter Theorem and its random variants; these schemes, (a) determine the communication schedule} between processors, and (b) are run independently on each processor through a serial KMC simulation, called a kernel, on each fractional step time-window. Furthermore, the proposed mathematical framework allows us to rigorously justify the numerical and statistical consistency of the proposed algorithms, showing the convergence of our approximating schemes to the original serial KMC. The approach also provides a systematic evaluation of different processor communicating schedules.Comment: 34 pages, 9 figure