Multiparton scattering at the LHC

The large parton flux at high energy gives rise to events where different pairs of partons interact contemporarily with large momentum exchange. A main effect of multiple parton interactions is to generate events with many jets at relatively large transverse momenta. The large value of the heavy quarks production cross section may however give also rise a sizable rate of events with several $b$-quarks produced. We summarize the main features of multiparton interactions and make some estimate of the inclusive cross section to produce two $b{\bar b}$ pairs within the acceptance of the ALICE detector.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, contribution to ALICE PP

Local and nonlocal parallel heat transport in general magnetic fields

A novel approach that enables the study of parallel transport in magnetized plasmas is presented. The method applies to general magnetic fields with local or nonlocal parallel closures. Temperature flattening in magnetic islands is accurately computed. For a wave number $k$, the fattening time scales as $\chi_{\parallel} \tau \sim k^{-\alpha}$ where $\chi$ is the parallel diffusivity, and $\alpha=1$ ($\alpha=2$) for non-local (local) transport. The fractal structure of the devil staircase temperature radial profile in weakly chaotic fields is resolved. In fully chaotic fields, the temperature exhibits self-similar evolution of the form $T=(\chi_{\parallel} t)^{-\gamma/2} L \left[ (\chi_{\parallel} t)^{-\gamma/2} \delta \psi \right]$, where $\delta \psi$ is a radial coordinate. In the local case, $f$ is Gaussian and the scaling is sub-diffusive, $\gamma=1/2$. In the non-local case, $f$ decays algebraically, $L (\eta) \sim \eta^{-3}$, and the scaling is diffusive, $\gamma=1$

Boolean versus continuous dynamics on simple two-gene modules

We investigate the dynamical behavior of simple modules composed of two genes with two or three regulating connections. Continuous dynamics for mRNA and protein concentrations is compared to a Boolean model for gene activity. Using a generalized method, we study within a single framework different continuous models and different types of regulatory functions, and establish conditions under which the system can display stable oscillations. These conditions concern the time scales, the degree of cooperativity of the regulating interactions, and the signs of the interactions. Not all models that show oscillations under Boolean dynamics can have oscillations under continuous dynamics, and vice versa.Comment: 8 pages, 10 figure

The first nontrivial eigenvalue for a system of p−p-Laplacians with Neumann and Dirichlet boundary conditions

We deal with the first eigenvalue for a system of two $p-$Laplacians with Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions. If \Delta_{p}w=\mbox{div}(|\nabla w|^{p-2}w) stands for the $p-$Laplacian and $\frac{\alpha}{p}+\frac{\beta}{q}=1,$ we consider $$\begin{cases} -\Delta_pu= \lambda \alpha |u|^{\alpha-2} u|v|^{\beta} &\text{ in }\Omega,\\ -\Delta_q v= \lambda \beta |u|^{\alpha}|v|^{\beta-2}v &\text{ in }\Omega,\\ \end{cases}$$ with mixed boundary conditions $$u=0, \qquad |\nabla v|^{q-2}\dfrac{\partial v}{\partial \nu }=0, \qquad \text{on }\partial \Omega.$$ We show that there is a first non trivial eigenvalue that can be characterized by the variational minimization problem $$\lambda_{p,q}^{\alpha,\beta} = \min \left\{\dfrac{\displaystyle\int_{\Omega}\dfrac{|\nabla u|^p}{p}\, dx +\int_{\Omega}\dfrac{|\nabla v|^q}{q}\, dx} {\displaystyle\int_{\Omega} |u|^\alpha|v|^{\beta}\, dx} \colon (u,v)\in \mathcal{A}_{p,q}^{\alpha,\beta}\right\},$$ where $$\mathcal{A}_{p,q}^{\alpha,\beta}=\left\{(u,v)\in W^{1,p}_0(\Omega)\times W^{1,q}(\Omega)\colon uv\not\equiv0\text{ and }\int_{\Omega}|u|^{\alpha}|v|^{\beta-2}v \, dx=0\right\}.$$ We also study the limit of $\lambda_{p,q}^{\alpha,\beta}$ as $p,q\to \infty$ assuming that $\frac{\alpha}{p} \to \Gamma \in (0,1)$, and $\frac{q}{p} \to Q \in (0,\infty)$ as $p,q\to \infty.$ We find that this limit problem interpolates between the pure Dirichlet and Neumann cases for a single equation when we take $Q=1$ and the limits $\Gamma \to 1$ and $\Gamma \to 0$.Comment: 21 pages, 1 figur

Optimal generation of entanglement under local control

We study the optimal generation of entanglement between two qubits subject to local unitary control. With the only assumptions of linear control and unitary dynamics, by means of a numerical protocol based on the variational approach (Pontryagin's Minimum Principle), we evaluate the optimal control strategy leading to the maximal achievable entanglement in an arbitrary interaction time, taking into account the energy cost associated to the controls. In our model we can arbitrarily choose the relative weight between a large entanglement and a small energy cost.Comment: 4 page

TFAW: wavelet-based signal reconstruction to reduce photometric noise in time-domain surveys

There have been many efforts to correct systematic effects in astronomical light curves to improve the detection and characterization of planetary transits and astrophysical variability. Algorithms like the Trend Filtering Algorithm (TFA) use simultaneously-observed stars to remove systematic effects, and binning is used to reduce high-frequency random noise. We present TFAW, a wavelet-based modified version of TFA. TFAW aims to increase the periodic signal detection and to return a detrended and denoised signal without modifying its intrinsic characteristics. We modify TFA's frequency analysis step adding a Stationary Wavelet Transform filter to perform an initial noise and outlier removal and increase the detection of variable signals. A wavelet filter is added to TFA's signal reconstruction to perform an adaptive characterization of the noise- and trend-free signal and the noise contribution at each iteration while preserving astrophysical signals. We carried out tests over simulated sinusoidal and transit-like signals to assess the effectiveness of the method and applied TFAW to real light curves from TFRM. We also studied TFAW's application to simulated multiperiodic signals, improving their characterization. TFAW improves the signal detection rate by increasing the signal detection efficiency (SDE) up to a factor ~2.5x for low SNR light curves. For simulated transits, the transit detection rate improves by a factor ~2-5x in the low-SNR regime compared to TFA. TFAW signal approximation performs up to a factor ~2x better than bin averaging for planetary transits. The standard deviations of simulated and real TFAW light curves are ~40x better than TFA. TFAW yields better MCMC posterior distributions and returns lower uncertainties, less biased transit parameters and narrower (~10x) credibility intervals for simulated transits. We present a newly-discovered variable star from TFRM.Comment: Accepted for publication by A&A. 13 pages, 16 figures and 5 table