Quantum Cosmology and Conformal Invariance

According to Belinsky, Khalatnikov and Lifshitz, gravity near a space-like singularity reduces to a set of decoupled one-dimensional mechanical models at each point in space. We point out that these models fall into a class of conformal mechanical models first introduced by de Alfaro, Fubini and Furlan (DFF). The deformation used by DFF to render the spectrum discrete corresponds to a negative cosmological constant. The wave function of the universe is the zero-energy eigenmode of the Hamiltonian, also known as the spherical vector of the representation of the conformal group SO(1,2). A new class of conformal quantum mechanical models is constructed, based on the quantization of nilpotent coadjoint orbits, where the conformal group is enhanced to an ADE non-compact group for which the spherical vector is known.Comment: 4 pages, latex2e, uses revtex

Minimal representations, spherical vectors, and exceptional theta series I

Theta series for exceptional groups have been suggested as a possible description of the eleven-dimensional quantized BPS membrane. We present explicit formulae for these automorphic forms whenever the underlying Lie group $G$ is simply laced. Specifically, we review and construct explicitly the minimal representation of $G$ which generalizes the Schr\"odinger representation of symplectic groups. The real spherical vector invariant under the maximal compact subgroup is computed in this representation and yields the action appearing in the summand of the automorphic theta series. The summation measure can be obtained from the p-adic form of the spherical vector and is left to the sequel of this paper. The simplicity of our result is suggestive of a new Born-Infeld-like description of the membrane where U-duality is realized non-linearly. Our results may also be used in constructing quantum mechanical systems with hidden non-compact symmetries

A unified approach on Springer fibers in the hook, two-row and two-column cases

We consider the Springer fiber over a nilpotent endomorphism. Fix a Jordan basis and consider the standard torus relative to this. We deal with the problem to describe the flags fixed by the torus which belong to a given component of the Springer fiber. We solve the problem in the hook, two-row and two-column cases. We provide two main characterizations which are common to the three cases, and which involve dominance relations between Young diagrams and combinatorial algorithms. Then, for these three cases, we deduce topological properties of the components and their intersections.Comment: 42 page

The Impact of Non-Equipartition on Cosmological Parameter Estimation from Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Surveys

The collisionless accretion shock at the outer boundary of a galaxy cluster should primarily heat the ions instead of electrons since they carry most of the kinetic energy of the infalling gas. Near the accretion shock, the density of the intracluster medium is very low and the Coulomb collisional timescale is longer than the accretion timescale. Electrons and ions may not achieve equipartition in these regions. Numerical simulations have shown that the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich observables (e.g., the integrated Comptonization parameter Y) for relaxed clusters can be biased by a few percent. The Y-mass relation can be biased if non-equipartition effects are not properly taken into account. Using a set of hydrodynamical simulations, we have calculated three potential systematic biases in the Y-mass relations introduced by non-equipartition effects during the cross-calibration or self-calibration when using the galaxy cluster abundance technique to constraint cosmological parameters. We then use a semi-analytic technique to estimate the non-equipartition effects on the distribution functions of Y (Y functions) determined from the extended Press-Schechter theory. Depending on the calibration method, we find that non-equipartition effects can induce systematic biases on the Y functions, and the values of the cosmological parameters Omega_8, sigma_8, and the dark energy equation of state parameter w can be biased by a few percent. In particular, non-equipartition effects can introduce an apparent evolution in w of a few percent in all of the systematic cases we considered. Techniques are suggested to take into account the non-equipartition effect empirically when using the cluster abundance technique to study precision cosmology. We conclude that systematic uncertainties in the Y-mass relation of even a few percent can introduce a comparable level of biases in cosmological parameter measurements.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal, abstract abridged slightly. Typos corrected in version

Orthogonal subsets of classical root systems and coadjoint orbits of unipotent groups

Let $\Phi$ be a classical root system and $k$ be a field of sufficiently large characteristic. Let $G$ be the classical group over $k$ with the root system $\Phi$, $U$ be its maximal unipotent subgroup and $\mathfrak{u}$ be the Lie algebra of $U$. Let $D$ be an orthogonal subset of $\Phi$ and $\Omega$ be a coadjoint orbit of $U$ associated with $D$. We construct a polarization of $\mathfrak{u}$ at the canonical form on $\Omega$. We also find the dimension of $\Omega$ in terms of the Weyl group of $\Phi$. As a corollary, we determine all possible dimensions of irreducible complex represenations of the group $U$ for the case of finite field $k$.Comment: 11 page

Parameters for Twisted Representations

The study of Hermitian forms on a real reductive group $G$ gives rise, in the unequal rank case, to a new class of Kazhdan-Lusztig-Vogan polynomials. These are associated with an outer automorphism $\delta$ of $G$, and are related to representations of the extended group $$. These polynomials were defined geometrically by Lusztig and Vogan in "Quasisplit Hecke Algebras and Symmetric Spaces", Duke Math. J. 163 (2014), 983--1034. In order to use their results to compute the polynomials, one needs to describe explicitly the extension of representations to the extended group. This paper analyzes these extensions, and thereby gives a complete algorithm for computing the polynomials. This algorithm is being implemented in the Atlas of Lie Groups and Representations software

On the elliptic nonabelian Fourier transform for unipotent representations of p-adic groups

In this paper, we consider the relation between two nonabelian Fourier transforms. The first one is defined in terms of the Langlands-Kazhdan-Lusztig parameters for unipotent elliptic representations of a split p-adic group and the second is defined in terms of the pseudocoefficients of these representations and Lusztig's nonabelian Fourier transform for characters of finite groups of Lie type. We exemplify this relation in the case of the p-adic group of type G_2.Comment: 17 pages; v2: several minor corrections, references added; v3: corrections in the table with unipotent discrete series of G

Now you see me (CME): Concept-based model extraction

Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) have achieved remarkable performance on a range of tasks. A key step to further empowering DNN-based approaches is improving their explainability. In this work we present CME: a concept-based model extraction framework, used for analysing DNN models via concept-based extracted models. Using two case studies (dSprites, and Caltech UCSD Birds), we demonstrate how CME can be used to (i) analyse the concept information learned by a DNN model (ii) analyse how a DNN uses this concept information when predicting output labels (iii) identify key concept information that can further improve DNN predictive performance (for one of the case studies, we showed how model accuracy can be improved by over 14%, using only 30% of the available concepts)

On algebraic equations satisfied by hypergeometric correlators in WZW models. II

We give an explicit description of "bundles of conformal blocks" in Wess-Zumino-Witten models of Conformal field theory and prove that integral representations of Knizhnik-Zamolodchikov equations constructed earlier by the second and third authors are in fact sections of these bundles.Comment: 32 pp., amslate

Meromorphic tensor equivalence for Yangians and quantum loop algebras

Let ${\mathfrak g}$ be a complex semisimple Lie algebra, and $Y_h({\mathfrak g})$, $U_q(L{\mathfrak g})$ the corresponding Yangian and quantum loop algebra, with deformation parameters related by $q=\exp(\pi i h)$. When $h$ is not a rational number, we constructed in arXiv:1310.7318 a faithful functor $\Gamma$ from the category of finite-dimensional representations of $Y_h ({\mathfrak g})$ to those of $U_q(L{\mathfrak g})$. The functor $\Gamma$ is governed by the additive difference equations defined by the commuting fields of the Yangian, and restricts to an equivalence on a subcategory of $Y_h({\mathfrak g})$ defined by choosing a branch of the logarithm. In this paper, we construct a tensor structure on $\Gamma$ and show that, if $|q|\neq 1$, it yields an equivalence of meromorphic braided tensor categories, when $Y_h({\mathfrak g})$ and $U_q(L{\mathfrak g})$ are endowed with the deformed Drinfeld coproducts and the commutative part of the universal $R$-matrix. This proves in particular the Kohno-Drinfeld theorem for the abelian $q$KZ equations defined by $Y_h({\mathfrak g})$. The tensor structure arises from the abelian $q$KZ equations defined by a appropriate regularisation of the commutative $R$-matrix of $Y_h({\mathfrak g})$.Comment: Title changed, details added. 67 pages, 1 figure. Final version, to appear in Publ. Math IHE