Bilingually motivated domain-adapted word segmentation for statistical machine translation

We introduce a word segmentation approach to languages where word boundaries are not orthographically marked, with application to Phrase-Based Statistical Machine Translation (PB-SMT). Instead of using manually segmented monolingual domain-specific corpora to train segmenters, we make use of bilingual corpora and statistical word alignment techniques. First of all, our approach is adapted for the specific translation task at hand by taking the corresponding source (target) language into account. Secondly, this approach does not rely on manually segmented training data so that it can be automatically adapted for different domains. We evaluate the performance of our segmentation approach on PB-SMT tasks from two domains and demonstrate that our approach scores consistently among the best results across different data conditions

The varieties of Heisenberg vertex operator algebras

For a vertex operator algebra $V$ with conformal vector $\omega$, we consider a class of vertex operator subalgebras and their conformal vectors. They are called semi-conformal vertex operator subalgebras and semi-conformal vectors of $(V,\omega)$, respectively, and were used to study duality theory of vertex operator algebras via coset constructions. Using these objects attached to $(V,\omega)$, we shall understand the structure of the vertex operator algebra $(V,\omega)$. At first, we define the set \on{Sc}(V,\omega) of semi-conformal vectors of $V$, then we prove that \on{Sc}(V,\omega) is an affine algebraic variety with a partial ordering and an involution map. Corresponding to each semi-conformal vector, there is a unique maximal semi-conformal vertex operator subalgebra containing it. The properties of these subalgebras are invariants of vertex operator algebras. As an example, we describe the corresponding varieties of semi-conformal vectors for Heisenberg vertex operator algebras. As an application, we give two characterizations of Heisenberg vertex operator algebras using the properties of these varieties.Comment: 30 pages, this is the revison of arxiv:1508.02963, and it has been accepted for publication in SCIENCE CHINA Mathematics, comments are welcome

HMM word-to-phrase alignment with dependency constraints

In this paper, we extend the HMMwordto-phrase alignment model with syntactic dependency constraints. The syntactic dependencies between multiple words in one language are introduced into the model in a bid to produce coherent alignments. Our experimental results on a variety of Chinese–English data show that our syntactically constrained model can lead to as much as a 3.24% relative improvement in BLEU score over current HMM word-to-phrase alignment models on a Phrase-Based Statistical Machine Translation system when the training data is small, and a comparable performance compared to IBM model 4 on a Hiero-style system with larger training data. An intrinsic alignment quality evaluation shows that our alignment model with dependency constraints leads to improvements in both precision (by 1.74% relative) and recall (by 1.75% relative) over the model without dependency information

Strange Matter: a state before black hole

Normal baryonic matter inside an evolved massive star can be intensely compressed by gravity after a supernova. General relativity predicts formation of a black hole if the core material is compressed into a singularity, but the real state of such compressed baryonic matter (CBM) before an event horizon of black hole appears is not yet well understood because of the non-perturbative nature of the fundamental strong interaction. Certainly, the rump left behind after a supernova explosion could manifest as a pulsar if its mass is less than the unknown maximum mass, $M_{\rm max}$. It is conjectured that pulsar-like compact stars are made of strange matter (i.e., with 3-flavour symmetry), where quarks are still localized as in the case of nuclear matter. In principle, different manifestations of pulsar-like objects could be explained in the regime of this conjecture. Besides compact stars, strange matter could also be manifested in the form of cosmic rays and even dark matter.Comment: 20 pages, 3 figures, contribution to "Centennial of general relativity - A celebration