2,535 research outputs found
Fitting stochastic epidemic models to gene genealogies using linear noise approximation
Phylodynamics is a set of population genetics tools that aim at
reconstructing demographic history of a population based on molecular sequences
of individuals sampled from the population of interest. One important task in
phylodynamics is to estimate changes in (effective) population size. When
applied to infectious disease sequences such estimation of population size
trajectories can provide information about changes in the number of infections.
To model changes in the number of infected individuals, current phylodynamic
methods use non-parametric approaches, parametric approaches, and stochastic
modeling in conjunction with likelihood-free Bayesian methods. The first class
of methods yields results that are hard-to-interpret epidemiologically. The
second class of methods provides estimates of important epidemiological
parameters, such as infection and removal/recovery rates, but ignores variation
in the dynamics of infectious disease spread. The third class of methods is the
most advantageous statistically, but relies on computationally intensive
particle filtering techniques that limits its applications. We propose a
Bayesian model that combines phylodynamic inference and stochastic epidemic
models, and achieves computational tractability by using a linear noise
approximation (LNA) --- a technique that allows us to approximate probability
densities of stochastic epidemic model trajectories. LNA opens the door for
using modern Markov chain Monte Carlo tools to approximate the joint posterior
distribution of the disease transmission parameters and of high dimensional
vectors describing unobserved changes in the stochastic epidemic model
compartment sizes (e.g., numbers of infectious and susceptible individuals). We
apply our estimation technique to Ebola genealogies estimated using viral
genetic data from the 2014 epidemic in Sierra Leone and Liberia.Comment: 43 pages, 6 figures in the main tex
Quantifying evolutionary constraints on B cell affinity maturation
The antibody repertoire of each individual is continuously updated by the
evolutionary process of B cell receptor mutation and selection. It has recently
become possible to gain detailed information concerning this process through
high-throughput sequencing. Here, we develop modern statistical molecular
evolution methods for the analysis of B cell sequence data, and then apply them
to a very deep short-read data set of B cell receptors. We find that the
substitution process is conserved across individuals but varies significantly
across gene segments. We investigate selection on B cell receptors using a
novel method that side-steps the difficulties encountered by previous work in
differentiating between selection and motif-driven mutation; this is done
through stochastic mapping and empirical Bayes estimators that compare the
evolution of in-frame and out-of-frame rearrangements. We use this new method
to derive a per-residue map of selection, which provides a more nuanced view of
the constraints on framework and variable regions.Comment: Previously entitled "Substitution and site-specific selection driving
B cell affinity maturation is consistent across individuals
Identifying entanglement using quantum "ghost" interference and imaging
We report a quantum interference and imaging experiment which quantitatively
demonstrates that Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) type entangled two-photon
states exhibit both momentum-momentum and position-position correlations,
stronger than any classical correlation. The measurements show indeed that the
uncertainties in the sum of momenta and in the difference of positions of the
entangled two-photon satisfy both EPR inequalities D(k1+k2)<min(D(k1),D(k2))
and D(x1-x2)<min(D(x1),D(x2)). These two inequalities, together, represent a
non-classicality condition. Our measurements provide a direct way to
distinguish between quantum entanglement and classical correlation in
continuous variables for two-photons/two photons systems.Comment: We have changed Eq.(2) from one inequality to two inequalities. The
two expressions are actually consistent with each other, but the new one
represents a more stringent condition for entanglement and, in our opinion,
better explains the original idea of EPR. We have clarified this point in the
paper. 4 pages; submitted to PR
Adding flavour to twistor strings
Twistor string theory is known to describe a wide variety of field theories
at tree-level and has proved extremely useful in making substantial progress in
perturbative gauge theory. We explore the twistor dual description of a class
of N=2 UV-finite super-Yang-Mills theories with fundamental flavour by adding
'flavour' branes to the topological B-model on super-twistor space and comment
on the appearance of these objects. Evidence for the correspondence is provided
by matching amplitudes on both sides.Comment: 6 pages; contribution to the proceedings for the European Physical
Society conference on High Energy Physics in Manchester, 19-25 July 2007. v3:
Typos correcte
Post-critical set and non existence of preserved meromorphic two-forms
We present a family of birational transformations in depending on
two, or three, parameters which does not, generically, preserve meromorphic
two-forms. With the introduction of the orbit of the critical set (vanishing
condition of the Jacobian), also called ``post-critical set'', we get some new
structures, some "non-analytic" two-form which reduce to meromorphic two-forms
for particular subvarieties in the parameter space. On these subvarieties, the
iterates of the critical set have a polynomial growth in the \emph{degrees of
the parameters}, while one has an exponential growth out of these subspaces.
The analysis of our birational transformation in is first carried out
using Diller-Favre criterion in order to find the complexity reduction of the
mapping. The integrable cases are found. The identification between the
complexity growth and the topological entropy is, one more time, verified. We
perform plots of the post-critical set, as well as calculations of Lyapunov
exponents for many orbits, confirming that generically no meromorphic two-form
can be preserved for this mapping. These birational transformations in ,
which, generically, do not preserve any meromorphic two-form, are extremely
similar to other birational transformations we previously studied, which do
preserve meromorphic two-forms. We note that these two sets of birational
transformations exhibit totally similar results as far as topological
complexity is concerned, but drastically different results as far as a more
``probabilistic'' approach of dynamical systems is concerned (Lyapunov
exponents). With these examples we see that the existence of a preserved
meromorphic two-form explains most of the (numerical) discrepancy between the
topological and probabilistic approach of dynamical systems.Comment: 34 pages, 7 figure
Convergence and multiplicities for the Lempert function
Given a domain , the Lempert function is a
functional on the space Hol (\D,\Omega) of analytic disks with values in
, depending on a set of poles in . We generalize its definition
to the case where poles have multiplicities given by local indicators (in the
sense of Rashkovskii's work) to obtain a function which still dominates the
corresponding Green function, behaves relatively well under limits, and is
monotonic with respect to the indicators. In particular, this is an improvement
over the previous generalization used by the same authors to find an example of
a set of poles in the bidisk so that the (usual) Green and Lempert functions
differ.Comment: 24 pages; many typos corrected thanks to the referee of Arkiv for
Matemati
Nowhere minimal CR submanifolds and Levi-flat hypersurfaces
A local uniqueness property of holomorphic functions on real-analytic nowhere
minimal CR submanifolds of higher codimension is investigated. A sufficient
condition called almost minimality is given and studied. A weaker necessary
condition, being contained a possibly singular real-analytic Levi-flat
hypersurface is studied and characterized. This question is completely resolved
for algebraic submanifolds of codimension 2 and a sufficient condition for
noncontainment is given for non algebraic submanifolds. As a consequence, an
example of a submanifold of codimension 2, not biholomorphically equivalent to
an algebraic one, is given. We also investigate the structure of singularities
of Levi-flat hypersurfaces.Comment: 21 pages; conjecture 2.8 was removed in proof; to appear in J. Geom.
Ana
Consistency Conditions on S-Matrix of Spin 1 Massless Particles
Motivated by new techniques in the computation of scattering amplitudes of
massless particles in four dimensions, like BCFW recursion relations, the
question of how much structure of the S-matrix can be determined from purely
S-matrix arguments has received new attention. The BCFW recursion relations for
massless particles of spin 1 and 2 imply that the whole tree-level S-matrix can
be determined in terms of three-particle amplitudes (evaluated at complex
momenta). However, the known proofs of the validity of the relations rely on
the Lagrangian of the theory, either by using Feynman diagrams explicitly or by
studying the effective theory at large complex momenta. This means that a
purely S-matrix theoretic proof of the relations is still missing. The aim of
this paper is to provide such a proof for spin 1 particles by extending the
four-particle test introduced by P. Benincasa and F. Cachazo in
arXiv:0705.4305[hep-th] to all particles. We show how n-particle tests imply
that the rational function built from the BCFW recursion relations possesses
all the correct factorization channels including holomorphic and
anti-holomorphic collinear limits. This in turn implies that they give the
correct S-matrix of the theory.Comment: 24 pages, 4 figure
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