Pfaffians and Shuffling Relations for the Spin Module

We present explicit formulas for a set of generators of the ideal of relations among the pfaffians of the principal minors of the antisymmetric matrices of fixed dimension. These formulas have an interpretation in terms of the standard monomial theory for the spin module of orthogonal groups.Comment: 10 page

The ring of sections of a complete symmetric variety

We study the ring of sections A(X) of a complete symmetric variety X, that is of the wonderful completion of G/H where G is an adjoint semi-simple group and H is the fixed subgroup for an involutorial automorphism of G. We find generators for Pic(X), we generalize the PRV conjecture to complete symmetric varieties and construct a standard monomial theory for A(X) that is compatible with G orbit closures in X. This gives a degeneration result and the rational singularityness for A(X).Comment: 15 pages, Late

Pl\:ucker relations and spherical varieties: application to model varieties

A general framework for the reduction of the equations defining classes of spherical varieties to (maybe infinite dimensional) grassmannians is proposed. This is applied to model varieties of type A, B and C; in particular a standard monomial theory for these varieties is presented.Comment: 15 pages, accepted for publication in Transformation Group

Front Propagation in Chaotic and Noisy Reaction-Diffusion Systems: a Discrete-Time Map Approach

We study the front propagation in Reaction-Diffusion systems whose reaction dynamics exhibits an unstable fixed point and chaotic or noisy behaviour. We have examined the influence of chaos and noise on the front propagation speed and on the wandering of the front around its average position. Assuming that the reaction term acts periodically in an impulsive way, the dynamical evolution of the system can be written as the convolution between a spatial propagator and a discrete-time map acting locally. This approach allows us to perform accurate numerical analysis. They reveal that in the pulled regime the front speed is basically determined by the shape of the map around the unstable fixed point, while its chaotic or noisy features play a marginal role. In contrast, in the pushed regime the presence of chaos or noise is more relevant. In particular the front speed decreases when the degree of chaoticity is increased, but it is not straightforward to derive a direct connection between the chaotic properties (e.g. the Lyapunov exponent) and the behaviour of the front. As for the fluctuations of the front position, we observe for the noisy maps that the associated mean square displacement grows in time as $t^{1/2}$ in the pushed case and as $t^{1/4}$ in the pulled one, in agreement with recent findings obtained for continuous models with multiplicative noise. Moreover we show that the same quantity saturates when a chaotic deterministic dynamics is considered for both pushed and pulled regimes.Comment: 11 pages, 11 figure

Equations defining symmetric varieties and affine Grassmannians

Let $\sigma$ be a simple involution of an algebraic semisimple group $G$ and let $H$ be the subgroup of $G$ of points fixed by $\sigma$. If the restricted root system is of type $A$, $C$ or $BC$ and $G$ is simply connected or if the restricted root system is of type $B$ and $G$ is adjoint, then we describe a standard monomial theory and the equations for the coordinate ring $k[G/H]$ using the standard monomial theory and the Pl\"ucker relations of an appropriate (maybe infinite dimensional) Grassmann variety.Comment: 48 page

AI & Civil Liability

When dealing with novel fast-evolving technologies that are deemed ever more complex, autonomous, capable of learning and modifying themselves, and thus opaque and unpredictable, it is essential to assess the adequacy of civil liability rules

Bimodality in gene expression without feedback: From Gaussian white noise to log-normal coloured noise

Extrinsic noise-induced transitions to bimodal dynamics have been largely investigated in a variety of chemical, physical, and biological systems. In the standard approach in physical and chemical systems, the key properties that make these systems mathematically tractable are that the noise appears linearly in the dynamical equations, and it is assumed Gaussian and white. In biology, the Gaussian approximation has been successful in specific systems, but the relevant noise being usually non-Gaussian, non-white, and nonlinear poses serious limitations to its general applicability. Here we revisit the fundamental features of linear Gaussian noise, pinpoint its limitations, and review recent new approaches based on nonlinear bounded noises, which highlight novel mechanisms to account for transitions to bimodal behaviour. We do this by considering a simple but fundamental gene expression model, the repressed gene, which is characterized by linear and nonlinear dependencies on external parameters. We then review a general methodology introduced recently, so-called nonlinear noise filtering, which allows the investigation of linear, nonlinear, Gaussian and non-Gaussian noises. We also present a derivation of it, which highlights its dynamical origin. Testing the methodology on the repressed gene confirms that the emergence of noise-induced transitions appears to be strongly dependent on the type of noise adopted, and on the degree of nonlinearity present in the system.Comment: Review paper, 17 pages, 8 figure

Time-Reversal Symmetry in Open Classical and Quantum Systems

Deriving an arrow of time from time-reversal symmetric microscopic dynamics is a fundamental open problem in physics. Here we focus on several derivations of dissipative dynamics and the thermodynamic arrow of time to study precisely how time-reversal symmetry is broken in open classical and quantum systems. These derivations all involve the Markov approximation applied to a system interacting with an infinite heat bath. We find that the Markov approximation does not imply a violation of time-reversal symmetry. Our results show instead that the time-reversal symmetry is maintained in standard dissipative equations of motion, such as the Langevin equation and the Fokker-Planck equation in open classical dynamics, and the Brownian motion, the Lindblad and the Pauli master equations in open quantum dynamics. In all cases, the resulting equations of motion describe thermalisation that occurs into the future as well as into the past. As a consequence, we argue that the resulting dynamics are better described by a definition of Markovianity that is symmetric with respect to the future and the past.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figure