On the difficulty of finding spines

We prove that the set of symplectic lattices in the Siegel space $\mathfrak{h}_g$ whose systoles generate a subspace of dimension at least 3 in $\mathbb{R}^{2g}$ does not contain any $\mathrm{Sp}(2g,\mathbb{Z})$-equivariant deformation retract of $\mathfrak{h}_g$

PAC-Bayesian Theory Meets Bayesian Inference

We exhibit a strong link between frequentist PAC-Bayesian risk bounds and the Bayesian marginal likelihood. That is, for the negative log-likelihood loss function, we show that the minimization of PAC-Bayesian generalization risk bounds maximizes the Bayesian marginal likelihood. This provides an alternative explanation to the Bayesian Occam's razor criteria, under the assumption that the data is generated by an i.i.d distribution. Moreover, as the negative log-likelihood is an unbounded loss function, we motivate and propose a PAC-Bayesian theorem tailored for the sub-gamma loss family, and we show that our approach is sound on classical Bayesian linear regression tasks.Comment: Published at NIPS 2015 (http://papers.nips.cc/paper/6569-pac-bayesian-theory-meets-bayesian-inference

Convergence Rate of Frank-Wolfe for Non-Convex Objectives

We give a simple proof that the Frank-Wolfe algorithm obtains a stationary point at a rate of $O(1/\sqrt{t})$ on non-convex objectives with a Lipschitz continuous gradient. Our analysis is affine invariant and is the first, to the best of our knowledge, giving a similar rate to what was already proven for projected gradient methods (though on slightly different measures of stationarity).Comment: 6 page

Fluctuation relations for equilibrium states with broken discrete or continuous symmetries

Isometric fluctuation relations are deduced for the fluctuations of the order parameter in equilibrium systems of condensed-matter physics with broken discrete or continuous symmetries. These relations are similar to their analogues obtained for non-equilibrium systems where the broken symmetry is time reversal. At equilibrium, these relations show that the ratio of the probabilities of opposite fluctuations goes exponentially with the symmetry-breaking external field and the magnitude of the fluctuations. These relations are applied to the Curie-Weiss, Heisenberg, and $XY$~models of magnetism where the continuous rotational symmetry is broken, as well as to the $q$-state Potts model and the $p$-state clock model where discrete symmetries are broken. Broken symmetries are also considered in the anisotropic Curie-Weiss model. For infinite systems, the results are calculated using large-deviation theory. The relations are also applied to mean-field models of nematic liquid crystals where the order parameter is tensorial. Moreover, their extension to quantum systems is also deduced.Comment: 34 pages, 14 figure

Thermodynamic bounds on equilibrium fluctuations of a global or local order parameter

We analyze thermodynamic bounds on equilibrium fluctuations of an order parameter, which are analogous to relations, which have been derived recently in the context of non-equilibrium fluctuations of currents. We discuss the case of {\it global} fluctuations when the order parameter is measured in the full system of interest, and {\it local} fluctuations, when the order parameter is evaluated only in a sub-part of the system. Using isometric fluctuation theorems, we derive thermodynamic bounds on the fluctuations of the order parameter in both cases. These bounds could be used to infer the value of symmetry breaking field or the relative size of the observed sub-system to the full system from {\it local} fluctuations.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, in press for Europhys. Let

Isometric fluctuation relations for equilibrium states with broken symmetry

We derive a set of isometric fluctuation relations, which constrain the order parameter fluctuations in finite-size systems at equilibrium and in the presence of a broken symmetry. These relations are exact and should apply generally to many condensed-matter physics systems. Here, we establish these relations for magnetic systems and nematic liquid crystals in a symmetry-breaking external field, and we illustrate them on the Curie-Weiss and the $XY$ models. Our relations also have implications for spontaneous symmetry breaking, which are discussed.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, in press for Phys. Rev. Lett. to appear there in Dec. 201

A Poisson-Boltzmann approach for a lipid membrane in an electric field

The behavior of a non-conductive quasi-planar lipid membrane in an electrolyte and in a static (DC) electric field is investigated theoretically in the nonlinear (Poisson-Boltzmann) regime. Electrostatic effects due to charges in the membrane lipids and in the double layers lead to corrections to the membrane elastic moduli which are analyzed here. We show that, especially in the low salt limit, i) the electrostatic contribution to the membrane's surface tension due to the Debye layers crosses over from a quadratic behavior in the externally applied voltage to a linear voltage regime. ii) the contribution to the membrane's bending modulus due to the Debye layers saturates for high voltages. Nevertheless, the membrane undulation instability due to an effectively negative surface tension as predicted by linear Debye-H\"uckel theory is shown to persist in the nonlinear, high voltage regime.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figure