On the Factorisation of the Connected Prescription for Yang-Mills Amplitudes

We examine factorisation in the connected prescription of Yang-Mills amplitudes. The multi-particle pole is interpreted as coming from representing delta functions as meromorphic functions. However, a naive evaluation does not give a correct result. We give a simple prescription for the integration contour which does give the correct result. We verify this prescription for a family of gauge-fixing conditions.Comment: 16 pages, 1 figur

Traintrack Calabi-Yaus from Twistor Geometry

We describe the geometry of the leading singularity locus of the traintrack integral family directly in momentum twistor space. For the two-loop case, known as the elliptic double box, the leading singularity locus is a genus one curve, which we obtain as an intersection of two quadrics in $\mathbb{P}^{3}$. At three loops, we obtain a K3 surface which arises as a branched surface over two genus-one curves in $\mathbb{P}^{1} \times \mathbb{P}^{1}$. We present an analysis of its properties. We also discuss the geometry at higher loops and the supersymmetrization of the construction.Comment: 23 pages, 5 figure

Parametric inference for discretely observed multidimensional diffusions with small diffusion coefficient

We consider a multidimensional diffusion X with drift coefficient b({\alpha},X(t)) and diffusion coefficient {\epsilon}{\sigma}({\beta},X(t)). The diffusion is discretely observed at times t_k=k{\Delta} for k=1..n on a fixed interval [0,T]. We study minimum contrast estimators derived from the Gaussian process approximating X for small {\epsilon}. We obtain consistent and asymptotically normal estimators of {\alpha} for fixed {\Delta} and {\epsilon}\rightarrow0 and of ({\alpha},{\beta}) for {\Delta}\rightarrow0 and {\epsilon}\rightarrow0. We compare the estimators obtained with various methods and for various magnitudes of {\Delta} and {\epsilon} based on simulation studies. Finally, we investigate the interest of using such methods in an epidemiological framework.Comment: 31 pages, 2 figures, 2 table

Defect multiplets of N=1 supersymmetry in 4d

Any 4d theory possessing $\mathcal{N}=1$ supersymmetry admits a so called $\mathcal{S}$-multiplet, containing the conserved energy-momentum tensor and supercurrent. When a defect is introduced into such a theory, the $\mathcal{S}$-multiplet receives contributions localised on the defect, which indicate the breaking of some translation symmetry and consequently also some supersymmetries. We call this the defect multiplet. We classify such terms corresponding to half-BPS defects which can be either three-dimensional, preserving 3d $\mathcal{N}=1$, or two-dimensional, preserving $\mathcal{N}=(0,2)$. The new terms localised on the defect furnish multiplets of the reduced symmetry and give rise to the displacement operator

Approximation of epidemic models by diffusion processes and their statistical inference

Multidimensional continuous-time Markov jump processes $(Z(t))$ on $\mathbb{Z}^p$ form a usual set-up for modeling $SIR$-like epidemics. However, when facing incomplete epidemic data, inference based on $(Z(t))$ is not easy to be achieved. Here, we start building a new framework for the estimation of key parameters of epidemic models based on statistics of diffusion processes approximating $(Z(t))$. First, \previous results on the approximation of density-dependent $SIR$-like models by diffusion processes with small diffusion coefficient $\frac{1}{\sqrt{N}}$, where $N$ is the population size, are generalized to non-autonomous systems. Second, our previous inference results on discretely observed diffusion processes with small diffusion coefficient are extended to time-dependent diffusions. Consistent and asymptotically Gaussian estimates are obtained for a fixed number $n$ of observations, which corresponds to the epidemic context, and for $N\rightarrow \infty$. A correction term, which yields better estimates non asymptotically, is also included. Finally, performances and robustness of our estimators with respect to various parameters such as $R_0$ (the basic reproduction number), $N$, $n$ are investigated on simulations. Two models, $SIR$ and $SIRS$, corresponding to single and recurrent outbreaks, respectively, are used to simulate data. The findings indicate that our estimators have good asymptotic properties and behave noticeably well for realistic numbers of observations and population sizes. This study lays the foundations of a generic inference method currently under extension to incompletely observed epidemic data. Indeed, contrary to the majority of current inference techniques for partially observed processes, which necessitates computer intensive simulations, our method being mostly an analytical approach requires only the classical optimization steps.Comment: 30 pages, 10 figure

On the Geometry of Null Polygons in Full N=4 Superspace

We discuss various formulations of null polygons in full, non-chiral N=4 superspace in terms of spacetime, spinor and twistor variables. We also note that null polygons are necessarily fat along fermionic directions, a curious fact which is compensated by suitable equivalence relations in physical theories on this superspace.Comment: 25 pages, v2: comment on correlation functions adde