2,402 research outputs found
An informational approach to the global optimization of expensive-to-evaluate functions
In many global optimization problems motivated by engineering applications,
the number of function evaluations is severely limited by time or cost. To
ensure that each evaluation contributes to the localization of good candidates
for the role of global minimizer, a sequential choice of evaluation points is
usually carried out. In particular, when Kriging is used to interpolate past
evaluations, the uncertainty associated with the lack of information on the
function can be expressed and used to compute a number of criteria accounting
for the interest of an additional evaluation at any given point. This paper
introduces minimizer entropy as a new Kriging-based criterion for the
sequential choice of points at which the function should be evaluated. Based on
\emph{stepwise uncertainty reduction}, it accounts for the informational gain
on the minimizer expected from a new evaluation. The criterion is approximated
using conditional simulations of the Gaussian process model behind Kriging, and
then inserted into an algorithm similar in spirit to the \emph{Efficient Global
Optimization} (EGO) algorithm. An empirical comparison is carried out between
our criterion and \emph{expected improvement}, one of the reference criteria in
the literature. Experimental results indicate major evaluation savings over
EGO. Finally, the method, which we call IAGO (for Informational Approach to
Global Optimization) is extended to robust optimization problems, where both
the factors to be tuned and the function evaluations are corrupted by noise.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Journal of Global Optimization (This
is the revised version, with additional details on computational problems,
and some grammatical changes
Magnitude bias of microlensed sources towards the Large Magellanic Cloud
There are lines of evidence suggesting that some of the observed microlensing
events in the direction of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) are caused by
ordinary star lenses as opposed to dark Machos in the Galactic halo. Efficient
lensing by ordinary stars generally requires the presence of one or more
additional concentrations of stars along the line of sight to the LMC disk. If
such a population behind the LMC disk exists, then the source stars (for
lensing by LMC disk objects) will be drawn preferentially from the background
population and will show systematic differences from LMC field stars. One such
difference is that the (lensed) source stars will be farther away than the
average LMC field stars, and this should be reflected in their apparent
baseline magnitudes. We focus on red clump stars: these should appear in the
color-magnitude diagram at a few tenths of a magnitude fainter than the field
red clump. Suggestively, one of the two near-clump confirmed events,
MACHO-LMC-1, is a few tenths of magnitude fainter than the clump.Comment: To appear in ApJ Letters. Shortened to match the accepted version, 8
pages plus 1 ps figur
Black Hole Relics in String Gravity: Last Stages of Hawking Evaporation
One of the most intriguing problem of modern physics is the question of the
endpoint of black hole evaporation. Based on Einstein-dilaton-Gauss-Bonnet four
dimensional string gravity model we show that black holes do not disappear and
that the end of the evaporation process leaves some relic. The possibility of
experimental detection of the remnant black holes is investigated. If they
really exist, such objects could be a considerable part of the non baryonic
dark matter in our Universe.Comment: 15 pages, accepted to Class. Quant. Gra
An insight into polarization states of solid-state organic lasers
The polarization states of lasers are crucial issues both for practical
applications and fundamental research. In general, they depend in a combined
manner on the properties of the gain material and on the structure of the
electromagnetic modes. In this paper, we address this issue in the case of
solid-state organic lasers, a technology which enables to vary independently
gain and mode properties. Different kinds of resonators are investigated:
in-plane micro-resonators with Fabry-Perot, square, pentagon, stadium, disk,
and kite shapes, and external vertical resonators. The degree of polarization P
is measured in each case. It is shown that although TE modes prevail generally
(P>0), kite-shaped micro-laser generates negative values for P, i.e. a flip of
the dominant polarization which becomes mostly TM polarized. We at last
investigated two degrees of freedom that are available to tailor the
polarization of organic lasers, in addition to the pump polarization and the
resonator geometry: upon using resonant energy transfer (RET) or upon pumping
the laser dye to an higher excited state. We then demonstrate that
significantly lower P factors can be obtained.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figure
Inverse semigroup actions as groupoid actions
To an inverse semigroup, we associate an \'etale groupoid such that its
actions on topological spaces are equivalent to actions of the inverse
semigroup. Both the object and the arrow space of this groupoid are
non-Hausdorff. We show that this construction provides an adjoint functor to
the functor that maps a groupoid to its inverse semigroup of bisections, where
we turn \'etale groupoids into a category using algebraic morphisms. We also
discuss how to recover a groupoid from this inverse semigroup.Comment: Corrected a typo in Lemma 2.14 in the published versio
Constrained Dynamics of Universally Coupled Massive Spin 2-spin 0 Gravities
The 2-parameter family of massive variants of Einstein's gravity (on a
Minkowski background) found by Ogievetsky and Polubarinov by excluding lower
spins can also be derived using universal coupling. A Dirac-Bergmann
constrained dynamics analysis seems not to have been presented for these
theories, the Freund-Maheshwari-Schonberg special case, or any other massive
gravity beyond the linear level treated by Marzban, Whiting and van Dam. Here
the Dirac-Bergmann apparatus is applied to these theories. A few remarks are
made on the question of positive energy. Being bimetric, massive gravities have
a causality puzzle, but it appears soluble by the introduction and judicious
use of gauge freedom.Comment: 6 pages; Talk given at QG05, Cala Gonone (Italy), September 200
First Astronomical Use of Multiplexed Transition Edge Bolometers
We present performance results based on the first astronomical use of multiplexed superconducting bolometers. The Fabry-Perot Interferometer Bolometer Research Experiment
(FIBRE) is a broadband submillimeter spectrometer that achieved first light in June 2001 at the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory (CSO). FIBRE'S detectors are superconducting transition edge sensor (TES) bolometers read out by a SQUID multiplexer. The Fabry-Perot uses a low
resolution grating to order sort the incoming light. A linear bolometer array consisting of 16 elements detects this dispersed light, capturing 5 orders simultaneously from one position on the sky. With tuning of the Fabry-Perot over one free spectral range, a spectrum covering Δλ/λ= 1/7 at a resolution of δλ/λ ≈ 1/1200 can be acquired. This spectral resolution is sufficient to resolve
Doppler-broadened line emission from external galaxies. FIBRE operates in the 350 µm and 450 µm bands. These bands cover line emission from the important star formation tracers neutral
carbon [Cl] and carbon monoxide (CO). We have verified that the multiplexed bolometers are
photon noise limited even with the low power present in moderate resolution spectrometry
Cartan subalgebras and the UCT problem, II
We show that outer approximately represenbtable actions of a finite cyclic
group on UCT Kirchberg algebras satisfy a certain quasi-freeness type property
if the corresponding crossed products satisfy the UCT and absorb a suitable UHF
algebra tensorially. More concretely, we prove that for such an action there
exists an inverse semigroup of homogeneous partial isometries that generates
the ambient C*-algebra and whose idempotent semilattice generates a Cartan
subalgebra. We prove a similar result for actions of finite cyclic groups with
the Rokhlin property on UCT Kirchberg algebras absorbing a suitable UHF
algebra. These results rely on a new construction of Cartan subalgebras in
certain inductive limits of Cartan pairs. We also provide a characterisation of
the UCT problem in terms of finite order automorphisms, Cartan subalgebras and
inverse semigroups of partial isometries of the Cuntz algebra .
This generalizes earlier work of the authors.Comment: minor revisions; final version, accepted for publication in Math.
Ann.; 26 page
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