A method for calculating spectral statistics based on random-matrix universality with an application to the three-point correlations of the Riemann zeros

We illustrate a general method for calculating spectral statistics that combines the universal (Random Matrix Theory limit) and the non-universal (trace-formula-related) contributions by giving a heuristic derivation of the three-point correlation function for the zeros of the Riemann zeta function. The main idea is to construct a generalized Hermitian random matrix ensemble whose mean eigenvalue density coincides with a large but finite portion of the actual density of the spectrum or the Riemann zeros. Averaging the random matrix result over remaining oscillatory terms related, in the case of the zeta function, to small primes leads to a formula for the three-point correlation function that is in agreement with results from other heuristic methods. This provides support for these different methods. The advantage of the approach we set out here is that it incorporates the determinental structure of the Random Matrix limit.Comment: 22 page

Two-point correlation function for Dirichlet L-functions

The two-point correlation function for the zeros of Dirichlet L-functions at a height E on the critical line is calculated heuristically using a generalization of the Hardy-Littlewood conjecture for pairs of primes in arithmetic progression. The result matches the conjectured Random-Matrix form in the limit as $E\rightarrow\infty$ and, importantly, includes finite-E corrections. These finite-E corrections differ from those in the case of the Riemann zeta-function, obtained in (1996 Phys. Rev. Lett. 77 1472), by certain finite products of primes which divide the modulus of the primitive character used to construct the L-function in question.Comment: 10 page

Arithmetic correlations over large finite fields

The auto-correlations of arithmetic functions, such as the von Mangoldt function, the M\"obius function and the divisor function, are the subject of classical problems in analytic number theory. The function field analogues of these problems have recently been resolved in the limit of large finite field size $q$. However, in this limit the correlations disappear: the arithmetic functions become uncorrelated. We compute averages of terms of lower order in $q$ which detect correlations. Our results show that there is considerable cancellation in the averaging and have implications for the rate at which correlations disappear when $q \rightarrow\infty$; in particular one cannot expect remainder terms that are of the order of the square-root of the main term in this context.Comment: The paper has been accepted by IMR

Attitude determination of the spin-stabilized Project Scanner spacecraft

Attitude determination of spin-stabilized spacecraft using star mapping techniqu

Investigating the Structure of the Windy Torus in Quasars

Thermal mid-infrared emission of quasars requires an obscuring structure that can be modeled as a magneto-hydrodynamic wind in which radiation pressure on dust shapes the outflow. We have taken the dusty wind models presented by Keating and collaborators that generated quasar mid-infrared spectral energy distributions (SEDs), and explored their properties (such as geometry, opening angle, and ionic column densities) as a function of Eddington ratio and X-ray weakness. In addition, we present new models with a range of magnetic field strengths and column densities of the dust-free shielding gas interior to the dusty wind. We find this family of models -- with input parameters tuned to accurately match the observed mid-IR power in quasar SEDs -- provides reasonable values of the Type 1 fraction of quasars and the column densities of warm absorber gas, though it does not explain a purely luminosity-dependent covering fraction for either. Furthermore, we provide predictions of the cumulative distribution of E(B-V) values of quasars from extinction by the wind and the shape of the wind as imaged in the mid-infrared. Within the framework of this model, we predict that the strength of the near-infrared bump from hot dust emission will be correlated primarily with L/L_Edd rather than luminosity alone, with scatter induced by the distribution of magnetic field strengths. The empirical successes and shortcomings of these models warrant further investigations into the composition and behaviour of dust and the nature of magnetic fields in the vicinity of actively accreting supermassive black holes.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

What is the probability that a random integral quadratic form in nn variables has an integral zero?

We show that the density of quadratic forms in $n$ variables over $\mathbb Z_p$ that are isotropic is a rational function of $p$, where the rational function is independent of $p$, and we determine this rational function explicitly. When real quadratic forms in $n$ variables are distributed according to the Gaussian Orthogonal Ensemble (GOE) of random matrix theory, we determine explicitly the probability that a random such real quadratic form is isotropic (i.e., indefinite). As a consequence, for each $n$, we determine an exact expression for the probability that a random integral quadratic form in $n$ variables is isotropic (i.e., has a nontrivial zero over $\mathbb Z$), when these integral quadratic forms are chosen according to the GOE distribution. In particular, we find an exact expression for the probability that a random integral quaternary quadratic form has an integral zero; numerically, this probability is approximately $98.3\%$.Comment: 17 pages. This article supercedes arXiv:1311.554

Moments of Moments and Branching Random Walks

We calculate, for a branching random walk $X_n(l)$ to a leaf $l$ at depth $n$ on a binary tree, the positive integer moments of the random variable $\frac{1}{2^{n}}\sum_{l=1}^{2^n}e^{2\beta X_n(l)}$, for $\beta\in\mathbb{R}$. We obtain explicit formulae for the first few moments for finite $n$. In the limit $n\to\infty$, our expression coincides with recent conjectures and results concerning the moments of moments of characteristic polynomials of random unitary matrices, supporting the idea that these two problems, which both fall into the class of logarithmically correlated Gaussian random fields, are related to each other.Comment: 26 pages, version published in Journal of Statistical Physic

On the moments of the moments of ζ(1/2+it)\zeta(1/2+it)

Taking $t$ at random, uniformly from $[0,T]$, we consider the $k$th moment, with respect to $t$, of the random variable corresponding to the $2\beta$th moment of $\zeta(1/2+ix)$ over the interval $x\in(t, t+1]$, where $\zeta(s)$ is the Riemann zeta function. We call these the `moments of moments' of the Riemann zeta function, and present a conjecture for their asymptotics, when $T\to\infty$, for integer $k,\beta$. This is motivated by comparisons with results for the moments of moments of the characteristic polynomials of random unitary matrices and is shown to follow from a conjecture for the shifted moments of $\zeta(s)$ due to Conrey, Farmer, Keating, Rubinstein, and Snaith \cite{cfkrs2}. Specifically, we prove that a function which, the shifted-moment conjecture of \cite{cfkrs2} implies, is a close approximation to the moments of moments of the zeta function does satisfy the asymptotic formula that we conjecture. We motivate as well similar conjectures for the moments of moments for other families of primitive $L$-functions.Comment: 18 pages, final version to appear in Journal of Number Theor