Triangulated categories of mixed motives

This book discusses the construction of triangulated categories of mixed motives over a noetherian scheme of finite dimension, extending Voevodsky's definition of motives over a field. In particular, it is shown that motives with rational coefficients satisfy the formalism of the six operations of Grothendieck. This is achieved by studying descent properties of motives, as well as by comparing different presentations of these categories, following and extending insights and constructions of Deligne, Beilinson, Bloch, Thomason, Gabber, Levine, Morel, Voevodsky, Ayoub, Spitzweck, R\"ondigs, {\O}stv{\ae}r, and others. In particular, the relation of motives with $K$-theory is addressed in full, and we prove the absolute purity theorem with rational coefficients, using Quillen's localization theorem in algebraic $K$-theory together with a variation on the Grothendieck-Riemann-Roch theorem. Using resolution of singularities via alterations of de Jong-Gabber, this leads to a version of Grothendieck-Verdier duality for constructible motivic sheaves with rational coefficients over rather general base schemes. We also study versions with integral coefficients, constructed via sheaves with transfers, for which we obtain partial results. Finally, we associate to any mixed Weil cohomology a system of categories of coefficients and well behaved realization functors, establishing a correspondence between mixed Weil cohomologies and suitable systems of coefficients. The results of this book have already served as ground reference in many subsequent works on motivic sheaves and their realizations, and pointers to the most recent developments of the theory are given in the introduction.Comment: This is the final version. To appear in the series Springer Monographs in Mathematic

Effect of Age and Food Novelty on Food Memory

The influence of age of the consumer and food novelty on incidentally learned food memory was investigated by providing a meal containing novel and familiar target items under the pretense of a study on hunger feelings to 34 young and 36 older participants in France and to 24 young and 20 older participants in Denmark and testing them a day later on recognition of the targets among a set of distractors that were variations of the target made by adding or subtracting taste (sour or sweet) or aroma (orange or red berry flavor). Memory was also tested by asking participants to indicate whether the target and the distractors were equal to or less or more intense than the remembered target in sourness sweetness and aroma. The results showed that when novelty is defined as whether people know or not a given product, it has a strong influence on memory performance, but that age did not, the elderly performing just as well as the young. The change in the distractors was more readily detected with familiar than with novel targets where the participants were still confused by the target itself. Special attention is given to the influence of the incidental learning paradigm on the outcome and to the ways in which it differs from traditional recognition experiments

The connection between elastic scattering cross sections and acoustic vibrations of an embedded nanoparticle

Arbitrary waves incident on a solid embedded nanoparticle are studied. The acoustic vibrational frequencies are shown to correspond to the poles of the scattering cross section in the complex frequency plane. The location of the poles is unchanged even if the incident wave is nonplanar. A second approach approximating the infinite matrix as a very large shell surrounding the nanoparticle provides an alternate way of predicting the mode frequencies. The wave function of the vibration is also provided.Comment: Accepted for publication in physica status solidi (c) (C) (2003) WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim Proceedings of Phonons200

Matrix inequalities from a two variables functional

Several matrix/operator inequalies are given. Most of them are unexpected extensions of the Araki Log-majorization theorem, obtained thanks to a new log-majorization for positive linear maps and normal operators (Theorem 2.9). The main idea and technical tool is a two variables log-convex norm functional (Theorem 1.2).Comment: Final version, to appear in International J. Math: Two corollaries on Schur products have been added at the end of Section

Inelastic neutron scattering due to acoustic vibrations confined in nanoparticles: theory and experiment

The inelastic scattering of neutrons by nanoparticles due to acoustic vibrational modes (energy below 10 meV) confined in nanoparticles is calculated using the Zemach-Glauber formalism. Such vibrational modes are commonly observed by light scattering techniques (Brillouin or low-frequency Raman scattering). We also report high resolution inelastic neutron scattering measurements for anatase TiO2 nanoparticles in a loose powder. Factors enabling the observation of such vibrations are discussed. These include a narrow nanoparticle size distribution which minimizes inhomogeneous broadening of the spectrum and the presence of hydrogen atoms oscillating with the nanoparticle surfaces which enhances the number of scattered neutrons.Comment: 3 figures, 1 tabl

Reaching optimally oriented molecular states by laser kicks

We present a strategy for post-pulse orientation aiming both at efficiency and maximal duration within a rotational period. We first identify the optimally oriented states which fulfill both requirements. We show that a sequence of half-cycle pulses of moderate intensity can be devised for reaching these target states.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Integrability, quantization and moduli spaces of curves

This paper has the purpose of presenting in an organic way a new approach to integrable (1+1)-dimensional field systems and their systematic quantization emerging from intersection theory of the moduli space of stable algebraic curves and, in particular, cohomological field theories, Hodge classes and double ramification cycles. This methods are alternative to the traditional Witten-Kontsevich framework and its generalizations by Dubrovin and Zhang and, among other advantages, have the merit of encompassing quantum integrable systems. Most of this material originates from an ongoing collaboration with A. Buryak, B. Dubrovin and J. Gu\'er\'e

Existence and multiplicity for elliptic problems with quadratic growth in the gradient

We show that a class of divergence-form elliptic problems with quadratic growth in the gradient and non-coercive zero order terms are solvable, under essentially optimal hypotheses on the coefficients in the equation. In addition, we prove that the solutions are in general not unique. The case where the zero order term has the opposite sign was already intensively studied and the uniqueness is the rule.Comment: To appear in Comm. PD

An algebra of deformation quantization for star-exponentials on complex symplectic manifolds

The cotangent bundle $T^*X$ to a complex manifold $X$ is classically endowed with the sheaf of \cor-algebras \W[T^*X] of deformation quantization, where \cor\eqdot \W[\rmptt] is a subfield of \C[[\hbar,\opb{\hbar}]. Here, we construct a new sheaf of \cor-algebras \TW[T^*X] which contains \W[T^*X] as a subalgebra and an extra central parameter $t$. We give the symbol calculus for this algebra and prove that quantized symplectic transformations operate on it. If $P$ is any section of order zero of \W[T^*X], we show that \exp(t\opb{\hbar} P) is well defined in \TW[T^*X].Comment: Latex file, 24 page

Optimal rates of convergence for persistence diagrams in Topological Data Analysis

Computational topology has recently known an important development toward data analysis, giving birth to the field of topological data analysis. Topological persistence, or persistent homology, appears as a fundamental tool in this field. In this paper, we study topological persistence in general metric spaces, with a statistical approach. We show that the use of persistent homology can be naturally considered in general statistical frameworks and persistence diagrams can be used as statistics with interesting convergence properties. Some numerical experiments are performed in various contexts to illustrate our results