Transfinite thin plate spline interpolation

Duchon's method of thin plate splines defines a polyharmonic interpolant to scattered data values as the minimizer of a certain integral functional. For transfinite interpolation, i.e. interpolation of continuous data prescribed on curves or hypersurfaces, Kounchev has developed the method of polysplines, which are piecewise polyharmonic functions of fixed smoothness across the given hypersurfaces and satisfy some boundary conditions. Recently, Bejancu has introduced boundary conditions of Beppo Levi type to construct a semi-cardinal model for polyspline interpolation to data on an infinite set of parallel hyperplanes. The present paper proves that, for periodic data on a finite set of parallel hyperplanes, the polyspline interpolant satisfying Beppo Levi boundary conditions is in fact a thin plate spline, i.e. it minimizes a Duchon type functional

Quantum optics in the phase space - A tutorial on Gaussian states

In this tutorial, we introduce the basic concepts and mathematical tools needed for phase-space description of a very common class of states, whose phase properties are described by Gaussian Wigner functions: the Gaussian states. In particular, we address their manipulation, evolution and characterization in view of their application to quantum information.Comment: Tutorial. 23 pages, 1 figure. Updated version accepted for publication in EPJ - ST devoted to the memory of Federico Casagrand