Optimal Scheduling Using Branch and Bound with SPIN 4.0

The use of model checkers to solve discrete optimisation problems is appealing. A model checker can first be used to verify that the model of the problem is correct. Subsequently, the same model can be used to find an optimal solution for the problem. This paper describes how to apply the new PROMELA primitives of SPIN 4.0 to search effectively for the optimal solution. We show how Branch-and-Bound techniques can be added to the LTL property that is used to find the solution. The LTL property is dynamically changed during the verification. We also show how the syntactical reordering of statements and/or processes in the PROMELA model can improve the search even further. The techniques are illustrated using two running examples: the Travelling Salesman Problem and a job-shop scheduling problem

Directed Explicit Model Checking with HSF-SPIN

We present the explicit state model checker HSF-SPIN which is based on the model checker SPIN and its Promela modeling language. HSF-SPIN incorporates directed search algorithms for checking safety and a large class of LTL-specified liveness properties. We start off from the A* algorithm and define heuristics to accelerate the search into the direction of a specified failure situation. Next we propose an improved nested depth-first search algorithm that exploits the structure of Promela Never-Claims. As a result of both improvements, counterexamples will be shorter and the explored part of the state space will be smaller than with classical approaches, allowing to analyze larger state spaces. We evaluate the impact of the new heuristics and algorithms on a set of protocol models, some of which are real-world industrial protocols

PHENIX and the Reaction Plane: Recent Results

During the past several years, experiments at RHIC have established that a dense partonic medium is produced in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s)=200 GeV. Subsequently, a primary goal of analysis has been to understand and characterize the dynamics underlying this new form of matter. Among the many probes available, the measurements with respect to the reaction plane has proven to be crucial to our understanding of a wide range of topics, from the hydrodynamics of the initial expansion of the collision region to high-pt jet quenching phenomena. Few tools have the ability to shed light on such a wide variety of observables as the reacion plane. In this article, we discuss recent PHENIX measurements with respect to the reaction plane, and the implications for understanding the underlying physics of RHIC collisions.Comment: 9 pages, 13 figures, Submitted for proceedings to the Winter Workshop on Nuclear Dynamics 2010, Ocho Rios, Jamaic

Exploiting Behavioral Hierarchy for Efficient Model Checking

Inspired by the success of model checking in hardware and protocol verification, model checking techniques for software have been the focus of a lot of research in the last few years [5,3,2,6]. Model checking can be applied only to relatively small models due to its inherently high computational requirements, and there are two complementary trends to address scalability. The model extraction approach, exemplified by projects such as Bandera [6] and SLAM [3], involves constructing inputs to model checkers by abstracting programs written in languages such as C and Java. The model-based design approach, exemplified by modeling notations such as Statecharts [7], promotes design using high-level models that are compiled into code. Our research agenda is to develop model checking techniques for model-based design of software. Modern software design languages promote hierarchy as one of the key constructs for structuring complex specifications. The input language to our model checker is based on hierarchic reactive modules [1]. This choice was motivated by the fact that, unlike STATECHARTS and other languages, in hierarchic reactive modules, the notion of hierarchy is semantic with an observational trace-based semantics and a notion of refinement with assume-guarantee rules. The first contribution of this paper is the Hermes toolkit that implements hierarchic reactive modules. Our implementation has a visual front-end and XML-based back-end, consistent with modern software design tools, and is in Java. There are two basic techniques for reachability analysis. Enumerative model checkers such as SPIN [8] perform an on-the-fly exploration of the state-space using a depth-first search, while symbolic model checkers such as SMV [9] perform a breadth-first search by manipulating sets of states, rather than individual states, encoded typically by ordered binary (or multi-valued) decision diagrams. Since the two approaches are incomparable, and have been shown to be successful, Hermes supports both enumerative and symbolic reachability analysis. In this paper, we report progress on exploiting the structuring information in the behavioral hierarchy of the input model to speed up the exploration of reachable state-space of the model for both the approaches. More information about the tool is available at http://www.cis.upenn.edu/sdrl/hermes

Universal scaling of the elliptic flow data at RHIC

Recent PHOBOS measurements of the excitation function for the pseudo-rapidity dependence of elliptic flow in Au+Au collisions at RHIC, have posed a significant theoretical challenge. Here we show that these differential measurements, as well as the RHIC measurements on transverse momentum satisfy a universal scaling relation predicted by the Buda-Lund model, based on exact solutions of perfect fluid hydrodynamics. We also show that recently found transverse kinetic energy scaling of the elliptic flow is a special case of this universal scaling.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl

Decomposition of Harmonic and Jet Contributions to Particle-pair Correlations at Ultra-relativistic Energies

Methodology is presented for analysis of two-particle azimuthal angle correlation functions obtained in collisions at ultra-relativistic energies. We show that harmonic and di-jet contributions to these correlation functions can be reliably decomposed by two techniques to give an accurate measurement of the jet-pair distribution. Results from detailed Monte Carlo simulations are used to demonstrate the efficacy of these techniques in the study of possible modifications to jet topologies in heavy ion reactions.Comment: Updated version to be published in PRC Rapid Com

Absence of Fragmentation in Two-Dimensional Bose-Einstein Condensation

We investigate the possibility that the BEC-like phenomena recently detected on two-dimensional finite trapped systems consist of fragmented condensates. We derive and diagonalize the one-body density matrix of a two-dimensional isotropically trapped Bose gas at finite temperature. For the ideal gas, the procedure reproduces the exact harmonic-oscillator eigenfunctions and the Bose distribution. We use a new collocation-minimization method to study the interacting gas in the Hartree-Fock approximation and obtain a ground-state wavefunction and condensate fraction consistent with those obtained by other methods. The populations of the next few eigenstates increase at the expense of the ground state but continue to be negligible; this supports the conclusion that two-dimensional BEC is into a single state.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figur

The effect of disorder on the critical temperature of a dilute hard sphere gas

We have performed Path Integral Monte Carlo (PIMC) calculations to determine the effect of quenched disorder on the superfluid density of a dilute 3D hard sphere gas. The disorder was introduced by locating set of hard cylinders randomly inside the simulation cell. Our results indicate that the disorder leaves the superfluid critical temperature basically unchanged. Comparison to experiments of helium in Vycor is made.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Pluto: A Monte Carlo Simulation Tool for Hadronic Physics

Pluto is a Monte-Carlo event generator designed for hadronic interactions from Pion production threshold to intermediate energies of a few GeV per nucleon, as well as for studies of heavy ion reactions. This report gives an overview of the design of the package, the included models and the user interface.Comment: XI International Workshop on Advanced Computing and Analysis Techniques in Physics Research, April 23-27 2007, Amsterdam, the Netherland