1,742 research outputs found
Answer Set Programming for Non-Stationary Markov Decision Processes
Non-stationary domains, where unforeseen changes happen, present a challenge
for agents to find an optimal policy for a sequential decision making problem.
This work investigates a solution to this problem that combines Markov Decision
Processes (MDP) and Reinforcement Learning (RL) with Answer Set Programming
(ASP) in a method we call ASP(RL). In this method, Answer Set Programming is
used to find the possible trajectories of an MDP, from where Reinforcement
Learning is applied to learn the optimal policy of the problem. Results show
that ASP(RL) is capable of efficiently finding the optimal solution of an MDP
representing non-stationary domains
Students' mental prototypes for functions and graphs
This research study investigates the concept of function developed by students studying English A-level mathematics. It shows that, while students may be able to use functions in their practical mathematics, their grasp of the theoretical nature of the function concept may be tenuous and inconsistent. The hypothesis is that students develop prototypes for the function concept in much the same way as they develop prototypes for concepts in everyday life. The definition of the function concept, though given in the curriculum, is not stressed and proves to be inoperative, with their understanding of the concept reliant on properties of familiar prototype examples: those having regular shaped graphs, such as x2 or sin*, those often encountered (possibly erroneously), such as a circle, those in which y is defined as an explicit formula in x, and so on. Investigations reveal significant misconceptions. For example, threequarters of a sample of students starting a university mathematics course considered that a constant function was not a function in either its graphical or algebraic forms, and threequarters thought that a circle is a function. This reveals a wide gulf between the concepts as perceived to be taught and as actually learned by the students
Pseudorandomness for Regular Branching Programs via Fourier Analysis
We present an explicit pseudorandom generator for oblivious, read-once,
permutation branching programs of constant width that can read their input bits
in any order. The seed length is , where is the length of the
branching program. The previous best seed length known for this model was
, which follows as a special case of a generator due to
Impagliazzo, Meka, and Zuckerman (FOCS 2012) (which gives a seed length of
for arbitrary branching programs of size ). Our techniques
also give seed length for general oblivious, read-once branching
programs of width , which is incomparable to the results of
Impagliazzo et al.Our pseudorandom generator is similar to the one used by
Gopalan et al. (FOCS 2012) for read-once CNFs, but the analysis is quite
different; ours is based on Fourier analysis of branching programs. In
particular, we show that an oblivious, read-once, regular branching program of
width has Fourier mass at most at level , independent of the
length of the program.Comment: RANDOM 201
The role of dredge-up in double white dwarf mergers
We present the results of an investigation of the dredge-up and mixing during
the merger of two white dwarfs with different chemical compositions by
conducting hydrodynamic simulations of binary mergers for three representative
mass ratios. In all the simulations, the total mass of the two white dwarfs is
. Mergers involving a CO and a He white dwarf have
been suggested as a possible formation channel for R Coronae Borealis type
stars, and we are interested in testing if such mergers lead to conditions and
outcomes in agreement with observations. Even if the conditions during the
merger and subsequent nucleosynthesis favor the production of , the merger must avoid dredging up large amounts of , or
else it will be difficult to produce sufficient to explain
the oxygen ratio observed to be of order unity. We performed a total of 9
simulations using two different grid-based hydrodynamics codes using fixed and
adaptive meshes, and one smooth particle hydrodynamics (SPH) code. We find that
in most of the simulations, of is
indeed dredged up during the merger. However, in SPH simulations where the
accretor is a hybrid He/CO white dwarf with a layer of
helium on top, we find that no is being dredged up, while in
the simulation of has been
brought up, making a WD binary consisting of a hybrid CO/He WD and a companion
He WD an excellent candidate for the progenitor of RCB stars.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap
Towards magnetic slowing of atoms and molecules
We outline a method to slow paramagnetic atoms or molecules using pulsed
magnetic fields. We also discuss the possibility of producing trapped particles
by adiabatic deceleration of a magnetic trap. We present numerical simulation
results for the slowing and trapping of molecular oxygen
Do R Coronae Borealis Stars Form from Double White Dwarf Mergers?
A leading formation scenario for R Coronae Borealis (RCB) stars invokes the
merger of degenerate He and CO white dwarfs (WD) in a binary. The observed
ratio of 16O/18O for RCB stars is in the range of 0.3-20 much smaller than the
solar value of ~500. In this paper, we investigate whether such a low ratio can
be obtained in simulations of the merger of a CO and a He white dwarf. We
present the results of five 3-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations of the
merger of a double white dwarf system where the total mass is 0.9 Mdot and the
initial mass ratio (q) varies between 0.5 and 0.99. We identify in simulations
with a feature around the merged stars where the temperatures
and densities are suitable for forming 18O. However, more 16O is being
dredged-up from the C- and O-rich accretor during the merger than the amount of
18O that is produced. Therefore, on a dynamical time scale over which our
hydrodynamics simulation runs, a 16O/18O ratio of ~2000 in the "best" case is
found. If the conditions found in the hydrodynamic simulations persist for 10^6
seconds the oxygen ratio drops to 16 in one case studied, while in a hundred
years it drops to ~4 in another case studied, consistent with the observed
values in RCB stars. Therefore, the merger of two white dwarfs remains a strong
candidate for the formation of these enigmatic stars.Comment: 42 pages, 19 figures. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical
Journa
Localized helium excitations in 4He_N-benzene clusters
We compute ground and excited state properties of small helium clusters 4He_N
containing a single benzene impurity molecule. Ground-state structures and
energies are obtained for N=1,2,3,14 from importance-sampled, rigid-body
diffusion Monte Carlo (DMC). Excited state energies due to helium vibrational
motion near the molecule surface are evaluated using the projection operator,
imaginary time spectral evolution (POITSE) method. We find excitation energies
of up to ~23 K above the ground state. These states all possess vibrational
character of helium atoms in a highly anisotropic potential due to the aromatic
molecule, and can be categorized in terms of localized and collective
vibrational modes. These results appear to provide precursors for a transition
from localized to collective helium excitations at molecular nanosubstrates of
increasing size. We discuss the implications of these results for analysis of
anomalous spectral features in recent spectroscopic studies of large aromatic
molecules in helium clusters.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Interaction of quasilocal harmonic modes and boson peak in glasses
The direct proportionality relation between the boson peak maximum in
glasses, , and the Ioffe-Regel crossover frequency for phonons,
, is established. For several investigated materials . At the frequency the mean free path of the
phonons becomes equal to their wavelength because of strong resonant
scattering on quasilocal harmonic oscillators. Above this frequency phonons
cease to exist. We prove that the established correlation between
and holds in the general case and is a direct consequence of
bilinear coupling of quasilocal oscillators with the strain field.Comment: RevTex, 4 pages, 1 figur
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