Cycle-centrality in complex networks

Networks are versatile representations of the interactions between entities in complex systems. Cycles on such networks represent feedback processes which play a central role in system dynamics. In this work, we introduce a measure of the importance of any individual cycle, as the fraction of the total information flow of the network passing through the cycle. This measure is computationally cheap, numerically well-conditioned, induces a centrality measure on arbitrary subgraphs and reduces to the eigenvector centrality on vertices. We demonstrate that this measure accurately reflects the impact of events on strategic ensembles of economic sectors, notably in the US economy. As a second example, we show that in the protein-interaction network of the plant Arabidopsis thaliana, a model based on cycle-centrality better accounts for pathogen activity than the state-of-art one. This translates into pathogen-targeted-proteins being concentrated in a small number of triads with high cycle-centrality. Algorithms for computing the centrality of cycles and subgraphs are available for download

Quantum Mechanical Limits to Inertial Mass Sensing by Nanomechanical Systems

We determine the quantum mechanical limits to inertial mass-sensing based on nanomechanical systems. We first consider a harmonically oscillating cantilever whose vibration frequency is changed by mass accretion at its surface. We show that its zero-point fluctuations limit the mass sensitivity, for attainable parameters, to about an electron mass. In contrast to the case of a classical cantilever, we find the mass sensitivity of the quantum mechanical cantilever is independent of its resonant frequency in a certain parameter regime at low temperatures. We then consider an optomechanical setup in which the cantilever is reflective and forms one end of a laser-driven Fabry-P\'erot cavity. For a resonator finesse of 5 the mass sensitivity at T=0 is limited by cavity noise to about a quarter of a Dalton, but this setup has a more favorable temperature dependency at finite temperature, compared to the free cantilever

Continued Fractions and Unique Factorization on Digraphs

We show that the characteristic series of walks (paths) between any two vertices of any finite digraph or weighted digraph G is given by a universal continued fraction of finite depth involving the simple paths and simple cycles of G. A simple path is a walk forbidden to visit any vertex more than once. We obtain an explicit formula giving this continued fraction. Our results are based on an equivalent to the fundamental theorem of arithmetic: we demonstrate that arbitrary walks on G uniquely factorize into nesting products of simple paths and simple cycles. Nesting is a walk product which we define. We show that the simple paths and simple cycles are the prime elements of the ensemble of all walks on G equipped with the nesting product. We give an algorithm producing the prime factorization of individual walks. We obtain a recursive formula producing the prime factorization of ensembles of walks. Our results have already found applications in the field of matrix computations. We give examples illustrating our results

Optical squeezing of a mechanical oscillator by dispersive interaction

We consider a small partially reflecting vibrating mirror coupled dispersively to a single optical mode of a high finesse cavity. We show this arrangement can be used to implement quantum squeezing of the mechanically oscillating mirror

The walk-sum method for simulating quantum many-body systems

We present the method of walk-sum to study the real-time dynamics of interacting quantum many-body systems. The walk-sum method generates explicit expressions for any desired pieces of an evolution operator U independently of any others. The computational cost for evaluating any such piece at a fixed order grows polynomially with the number of particles. Walk-sum is valid for systems presenting long-range interactions and in any geometry. We illustrate the method by means of two physical systems

An Exact Formulation of the Time-Ordered Exponential using Path-Sums

We present the path-sum formulation for $\mathsf{OE}[\mathsf{H}](t',t)=\mathcal{T}\,\text{exp}\big(\int_{t}^{t'}\!\mathsf{H}(\tau)\,d\tau\big)$, the time-ordered exponential of a time-dependent matrix $\mathsf{H}(t)$. The path-sum formulation gives $\mathsf{OE}[\mathsf{H}]$ as a branched continued fraction of finite depth and breadth. The terms of the path-sum have an elementary interpretation as self-avoiding walks and self-avoiding polygons on a graph. Our result is based on a representation of the time-ordered exponential as the inverse of an operator, the mapping of this inverse to sums of walks on graphs and the algebraic structure of sets of walks. We give examples demonstrating our approach. We establish a super-exponential decay bound for the magnitude of the entries of the time-ordered exponential of sparse matrices. We give explicit results for matrices with commonly encountered sparse structures

An Exact Formulation of the Time-Ordered Exponential using Path-Sums

We present the path-sum formulation for $\mathsf{OE}[\mathsf{H}](t',t)=\mathcal{T}\,\text{exp}\big(\int_{t}^{t'}\!\mathsf{H}(\tau)\,d\tau\big)$, the time-ordered exponential of a time-dependent matrix $\mathsf{H}(t)$. The path-sum formulation gives $\mathsf{OE}[\mathsf{H}]$ as a branched continued fraction of finite depth and breadth. The terms of the path-sum have an elementary interpretation as self-avoiding walks and self-avoiding polygons on a graph. Our result is based on a representation of the time-ordered exponential as the inverse of an operator, the mapping of this inverse to sums of walks on graphs and the algebraic structure of sets of walks. We give examples demonstrating our approach. We establish a super-exponential decay bound for the magnitude of the entries of the time-ordered exponential of sparse matrices. We give explicit results for matrices with commonly encountered sparse structures