Consensus Acceleration in Multiagent Systems with the Chebyshev Semi-Iterative Method

We consider the fundamental problem of reaching consensus in multiagent systems; an operation required in many applications such as, among others, vehicle formation and coordination, shape formation in modular robotics, distributed target tracking, and environmental modeling. To date, the consensus problem (the problem where agents have to agree on their reported values) has been typically solved with iterative decentralized algorithms based on graph Laplacians. However, the convergence of these existing consensus algorithms is often too slow for many important multiagent applications, and thus they are increasingly being combined with acceleration methods. Unfortunately, state-of-the-art acceleration techniques require parameters that can be optimally selected only if complete information about the network topology is available, which is rarely the case in practice. We address this limitation by deriving two novel acceleration methods that can deliver good performance even if little information about the network is available. The first proposed algorithm is based on the Chebyshev semi-iterative method and is optimal in a well defined sense; it maximizes the worst-case convergence speed (in the mean sense) given that only rough bounds on the extremal eigenvalues of the network matrix are available. It can be applied to systems where agents use unreliable communication links, and its computational complexity is similar to those of simple Laplacian-based methods. This algorithm requires synchronization among agents, so we also propose an asynchronous version that approximates the output of the synchronous algorithm. Mathematical analysis and numerical simulations show that the convergence speed of the proposed acceleration methods decrease gracefully in scenarios where the sole use of Laplacian-based methods is known to be impractical

Sequential Decision Making with Untrustworthy Service Providers

In this paper, we deal with the sequential decision making problem of agents operating in computational economies, where there is uncertainty regarding the trustworthiness of service providers populating the environment. Specifically, we propose a generic Bayesian trust model, and formulate the optimal Bayesian solution to the exploration-exploitation problem facing the agents when repeatedly interacting with others in such environments. We then present a computationally tractable Bayesian reinforcement learning algorithm to approximate that solution by taking into account the expected value of perfect information of an agent's actions. Our algorithm is shown to dramatically outperform all previous finalists of the international Agent Reputation and Trust (ART) competition, including the winner from both years the competition has been run

Sum Rule Description of Color Transparency

The assumption that a small point-like configuration does not interact with nucleons leads to a new set of sum rules that are interpreted as models of the baryon-nucleon interaction. These models are rendered semi-realistic by requiring consistency with data for cross section fluctuations in proton-proton diffractive collisions.Comment: 22 pages + 3 postscript figures attache

DeepFT: Fault-tolerant edge computing using a self-supervised deep surrogate model

The emergence of latency-critical AI applications has been supported by the evolution of the edge computing paradigm. However, edge solutions are typically resource-constrained, posing reliability challenges due to heightened contention for compute capacities and faulty application behavior in the presence of overload conditions. Although a large amount of generated log data can be mined for fault prediction, labeling this data for training is a manual process and thus a limiting factor for automation. Due to this, many companies resort to unsupervised fault-tolerance models. Yet, failure models of this kind can incur a loss of accuracy when they need to adapt to non-stationary workloads and diverse host characteristics. Thus, we propose a novel modeling approach, DeepFT, to proactively avoid system overloads and their adverse effects by optimizing the task scheduling decisions. DeepFT uses a deep-surrogate model to accurately predict and diagnose faults in the system and co-simulation based self-supervised learning to dynamically adapt the model in volatile settings. Experimentation on an edge cluster shows that DeepFT can outperform state-of-the-art methods in fault-detection and QoS metrics. Specifically, DeepFT gives the highest F1 scores for fault-detection, reducing service deadline violations by up to 37% while also improving response time by up to 9%

Multiple-Scattering Series For Color Transparency

Color transparency CT depends on the formation of a wavepacket of small spatial extent. It is useful to interpret experimental searches for CT with a multiple scattering scattering series based on wavepacket-nucleon scattering instead of the standard one using nucleon-nucleon scattering. We develop several new techniques which are valid for differing ranges of energy. These techniques are applied to verify some early approximations; study new forms of the wave-packet-nucleon interaction; examine effects of treating wave packets of non-zero size; and predict the production of $N^*$'s in electron scattering experiments.Comment: 26 pages, U.Wa. preprint 40427-23-N9

Friedmann branes with variable tension

We introduce brane-worlds with non-constant tension, strenghtening the analogy with fluid membranes, which exhibit a temperature-dependence according to the empirical law established by E\"otv\"os. This new degree of freedom allows for evolving gravitational and cosmological constants, the latter being a natural candidate for dark energy. We establish the covariant dynamics on a brane with variable tension in full generality, by considering asymmetrically embedded branes and allowing for non-standard model fields in the 5-dimensional space-time. Then we apply the formalism for a perfect fluid on a Friedmann brane, which is embedded in a 5-dimensional charged Vaidya-Anti de Sitter space-time.Comment: 12 pages, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Semi-transparent brane-worlds

We study the evolution of a closed Friedmann brane perturbed by the Hawking radiation escaping a bulk black hole. The semi-transparent brane absorbes some of the infalling radiation, the rest being transmitted across the brane to the other bulk region. We characterize the cosmological evolution in terms of the transmission rate $\epsilon$. For small values of $\epsilon$ a critical-like behaviour could be observed, when the acceleration due to radiation pressure and the deceleration induced by the increasing self-gravity of the brane roughly compensate each other, and cosmological evolution is approximately the same as without radiation. Lighter (heavier) branes than those with the critical energy density will recollapse slower (faster). This feature is obstructed at high values of $\epsilon$, where the overall effect of the radiation is to speed-up the recollapse. We determine the maximal value of the transmission rate for which the critical-like behaviour is observed. We also study the effect of transmission on the evolution of different source terms of the Friedmann equation. We conclude that among all semi-transparent branes the slowest recollapse occurs for light branes with total absorption.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figure

Distributed Asymptotic Minimization of Sequences of Convex Functions by a Broadcast Adaptive Subgradient Method

We propose a non-hierarchical decentralized algorithm for the asymptotic minimization of possibly time-varying convex functions. In our method, each agent in a network has a private, local (possibly time-varying) cost function, and the objective is to minimize asymptotically the sum of these local functions in every agent (this problem appears in many different applications such as, among others, motion planning, acoustic source localization, and environmental modeling). The algorithm consists of two main steps. First, to improve the estimate of a minimizer, agents apply a particular version of the adaptive projected subgradient method to their local functions. Then the agents exchange and mix their estimates using a communication model based on recent results of consensus algorithms. We show formally the convergence of the resulting scheme, which reproduces as particular cases many existing methods such as gossip consensus algorithms and recent decentralized adaptive subgradient methods (which themselves include as particular cases many distributed adaptive filtering algorithms). To illustrate two possible applications, we consider the problems of acoustic source localization and environmental modeling via network gossiping with mobile agents

Coherent QCD phenomena in the Coherent Pion-Nucleon and Pion-Nucleus Production of Two Jets at High Relative Momenta

We use QCD to compute the cross section for coherent production of a di-jet (treated as a $q\bar q$ moving at high relative transverse momentum,$\kappa_t$). In the target rest frame,the space-time evolution of this reaction is dominated by the process in which the high $\kappa_t$ $q\bar q$ component of the pion wave function is formed before reaching the target. It then interacts through two gluon exchange. In the approximation of keeping the leading order in powers of $\alpha_s$ and all orders in $\alpha_{s}\ln(\kappa_{t}^2/k_{0}^2),$ the amplitudes for other processes are shown to be smaller at least by a power of $\alpha_{s}$. The resulting dominant amplitude is proportional to $z(1-z) \kappa_t^{-4}$ ($z$ is the fraction light-cone(+)momentum carried by the quark in the final state) times the skewed gluon distribution of the target. For the pion scattering by a nuclear target, this means that at fixed $x_{N}= 2\kappa_{t}^2/s$ (but $\kappa_{t}^2\to \infty$) the nuclear process in which there is only a single interaction is the most important one to contribute to the reaction. Thus in this limit color transparency phenomena should occur.These findings are in accord with E971 experiment at FNAL. We also re-examine a potentially important nuclear multiple scattering correction which is positive and $\propto A^{1/3}/\kappa_t^4$. The meaning of the signal obtained from the experimental measurement of pion diffraction into two jets is also critically examined and significant corrections are identified.We show also that for values of $\kappa_t$ achieved at fixed target energies, di-jet production by the e.m. field of the nucleus leads to an insignificant correction which gets more important as $\kappa_t$ increases.Comment: 23 pages, 9 figure

Chiral Transparency

Color transparency is the vanishing of initial and final state interactions, predicted by QCD to occur in high momentum transfer quasielastic nuclear reactions. For specific reactions involving nucleons, the initial and final state interactions are expected to be dominated by exchanges of pions. We argue that these interactions are also suppressed in high momentum transfer nuclear quasielastic reactions; this is ``chiral transparency". We show that studies of the $e ^3He \to e'\Delta^{++} nn$ reaction could reveal the influence of chiral transparency.Comment: 20 pages, three figures available by fax from [email protected]; submitted to Phys. Rev.