Analytic families of quantum hyperbolic invariants

We organize the quantum hyperbolic invariants (QHI) of $3$-manifolds into sequences of rational functions indexed by the odd integers $N\geq 3$ and defined on moduli spaces of geometric structures refining the character varieties. In the case of one-cusped hyperbolic $3$-manifolds $M$ we generalize the QHI and get rational functions $\mathcal{H}_N^{h_f,h_c,k_c}$ depending on a finite set of cohomological data $(h_f,h_c,k_c)$ called {\it weights}. These functions are regular on a determined Abelian covering of degree $N^2$ of a Zariski open subset, canonically associated to $M$, of the geometric component of the variety of augmented $PSL(2,\mathbb{C})$-characters of $M$. New combinatorial ingredients are a weak version of branchings which exists on every triangulation, and state sums over weakly branched triangulations, including a sign correction which eventually fixes the sign ambiguity of the QHI. We describe in detail the invariants of three cusped manifolds, and present the results of numerical computations showing that the functions $\mathcal{H}_N^{h_f,h_c,k_c}$ depend on the weights as $N\rightarrow + \infty$, and recover the volume for some specific choices of the weights.Comment: 54 pages, 21 figures. New section with 3 examples; the results about the reduced invariants are postponed to a separate paper. To appear on Alg. Geom. Topo

Quantification of Nematic Cell Polarity in Three-dimensional Tissues

How epithelial cells coordinate their polarity to form functional tissues is an open question in cell biology. Here, we characterize a unique type of polarity found in liver tissue, nematic cell polarity, which is different from vectorial cell polarity in simple, sheet-like epithelia. We propose a conceptual and algorithmic framework to characterize complex patterns of polarity proteins on the surface of a cell in terms of a multipole expansion. To rigorously quantify previously observed tissue-level patterns of nematic cell polarity (Morales-Navarette et al., eLife 8:e44860, 2019), we introduce the concept of co-orientational order parameters, which generalize the known biaxial order parameters of the theory of liquid crystals. Applying these concepts to three-dimensional reconstructions of single cells from high-resolution imaging data of mouse liver tissue, we show that the axes of nematic cell polarity of hepatocytes exhibit local coordination and are aligned with the biaxially anisotropic sinusoidal network for blood transport. Our study characterizes liver tissue as a biological example of a biaxial liquid crystal. The general methodology developed here could be applied to other tissues or in-vitro organoids.Comment: 27 pages, 9 color figure

The GIST of Concepts

A unified general theory of human concept learning based on the idea that humans detect invariance patterns in categorical stimuli as a necessary precursor to concept formation is proposed and tested. In GIST (generalized invariance structure theory) invariants are detected via a perturbation mechanism of dimension suppression referred to as dimensional binding. Structural information acquired by this process is stored as a compound memory trace termed an ideotype. Ideotypes inform the subsystems that are responsible for learnability judgments, rule formation, and other types of concept representations. We show that GIST is more general (e.g., it works on continuous, semi-continuous, and binary stimuli) and makes much more accurate predictions than the leading models of concept learning difficulty,such as those based on a complexity reduction principle (e.g., number of mental models,structural invariance, algebraic complexity, and minimal description length) and those based on selective attention and similarity (GCM, ALCOVE, and SUSTAIN). GIST unifies these two key aspects of concept learning and categorization. Empirical evidence from three\ud experiments corroborates the predictions made by the theory and its core model which we propose as a candidate law of human conceptual behavior

CP violation conditions in N-Higgs-doublet potentials

Conditions for CP violation in the scalar potential sector of general N-Higgs-doublet models (NHDMs) are analyzed from a group theoretical perspective. For the simplest two-Higgs-doublet model (2HDM) potential, a minimum set of conditions for explicit and spontaneous CP violation is presented. The conditions can be given a clear geometrical interpretation in terms of quantities in the adjoint representation of the basis transformation group for the two doublets. Such conditions depend on CP-odd pseudoscalar invariants. When the potential is CP invariant, the explicit procedure to reach the real CP-basis and the explicit CP transformation can also be obtained. The procedure to find the real basis and the conditions for CP violation are then extended to general NHDM potentials. The analysis becomes more involved and only a formal procedure to reach the real basis is found. Necessary conditions for CP invariance can still be formulated in terms of group invariants: the CP-odd generalized pseudoscalars. The problem can be completely solved for three Higgs-doublets.Comment: RevTeX4 used. Minor modifications, in particular, the parameter counting of $Z$. v3: Eqs.(28)-(31) correcte

The m−m-dissimilarity map and representation theory of SLmSL_m

We give another proof that $m$-dissimilarity vectors of weighted trees are points on the tropical Grassmanian, as conjectured by Cools, and proved by Giraldo in response to a question of Sturmfels and Pachter. We accomplish this by relating $m$-dissimilarity vectors to the representation theory of $SL_m.$Comment: 11 pages, 8 figure

Are neutrino masses modular forms?

We explore a new class of supersymmetric models for lepton masses and mixing angles where the role of flavour symmetry is played by modular invariance. The building blocks are modular forms of level N and matter supermultiplets, both transforming in representations of a finite discrete group Gamma_N. In the simplest version of these models, Yukawa couplings are just modular forms and the only source of flavour symmetry breaking is the vacuum expectation value of a single complex field, the modulus. In the special case where modular forms are constant functions the whole construction collapses to a supersymmetric flavour model invariant under Gamma_N, the case treated so far in the literature. The framework has a number of appealing features. Flavon fields other than the modulus might not be needed. Neutrino masses and mixing angles are simultaneously constrained by the modular symmetry. As long as supersymmetry is exact, modular invariance determines all higher-dimensional operators in the superpotential. We discuss the general framework and we provide complete examples of the new construction. The most economical model predicts neutrino mass ratios, lepton mixing angles, Dirac and Majorana phases uniquely in terms of the modulus vacuum expectation value, with all the parameters except one within the experimentally allowed range. As a byproduct of the general formalism we extend the notion of non-linearly realised symmetries to the discrete case.Comment: 40 pages, 3 figures; added comments and a new section with an example of normal ordering of neutrino masses; to appear in the book "From my vast repertoire: the legacy of Guido Altarelli", S. Forte, A. Levy and G. Ridolfi, ed

The Kazhdan-Lusztig conjecture for W-algebras

The main result in this paper is the character formula for arbitrary irreducible highest weight modules of W algebras. The key ingredient is the functor provided by quantum Hamiltonian reduction, that constructs the W algebras from affine Kac-Moody algebras and in a similar fashion W modules from KM modules. Assuming certain properties of this functor, the W characters are subsequently derived from the Kazhdan-Lusztig conjecture for KM algebras. The result can be formulated in terms of a double coset of the Weyl group of the KM algebra: the Hasse diagrams give the embedding diagrams of the Verma modules and the Kazhdan-Lusztig polynomials give the multiplicities in the characters.Comment: uuencoded file, 29 pages latex, 5 figure