@phdthesis{13175, abstract = {About a 100 years ago, we discovered that our universe is inherently noisy, that is, measuring any physical quantity with a precision beyond a certain point is not possible because of an omnipresent inherent noise. We call this - the quantum noise. Certain physical processes allow this quantum noise to get correlated in conjugate physical variables. These quantum correlations can be used to go beyond the potential of our inherently noisy universe and obtain a quantum advantage over the classical applications. Quantum noise being inherent also means that, at the fundamental level, the physical quantities are not well defined and therefore, objects can stay in multiple states at the same time. For example, the position of a particle not being well defined means that the particle is in multiple positions at the same time. About 4 decades ago, we started exploring the possibility of using objects which can be in multiple states at the same time to increase the dimensionality in computation. Thus, the field of quantum computing was born. We discovered that using quantum entanglement, a property closely related to quantum correlations, can be used to speed up computation of certain problems, such as factorisation of large numbers, faster than any known classical algorithm. Thus began the pursuit to make quantum computers a reality. Till date, we have explored quantum control over many physical systems including photons, spins, atoms, ions and even simple circuits made up of superconducting material. However, there persists one ubiquitous theme. The more readily a system interacts with an external field or matter, the more easily we can control it. But this also means that such a system can easily interact with a noisy environment and quickly lose its coherence. Consequently, such systems like electron spins need to be protected from the environment to ensure the longevity of their coherence. Other systems like nuclear spins are naturally protected as they do not interact easily with the environment. But, due to the same reason, it is harder to interact with such systems. After decades of experimentation with various systems, we are convinced that no one type of quantum system would be the best for all the quantum applications. We would need hybrid systems which are all interconnected - much like the current internet where all sorts of devices can all talk to each other - but now for quantum devices. A quantum internet. Optical photons are the best contenders to carry information for the quantum internet. They can carry quantum information cheaply and without much loss - the same reasons which has made them the backbone of our current internet. Following this direction, many systems, like trapped ions, have already demonstrated successful quantum links over a large distances using optical photons. However, some of the most promising contenders for quantum computing which are based on microwave frequencies have been left behind. This is because high energy optical photons can adversely affect fragile low-energy microwave systems. In this thesis, we present substantial progress on this missing quantum link between microwave and optics using electrooptical nonlinearities in lithium niobate. The nonlinearities are enhanced by using resonant cavities for all the involved modes leading to observation of strong direct coupling between optical and microwave frequencies. With this strong coupling we are not only able to achieve almost 100\% internal conversion efficiency with low added noise, thus presenting a quantum-enabled transducer, but also we are able to observe novel effects such as cooling of a microwave mode using optics. The strong coupling regime also leads to direct observation of dynamical backaction effect between microwave and optical frequencies which are studied in detail here. Finally, we also report first observation of microwave-optics entanglement in form of two-mode squeezed vacuum squeezed 0.7dB below vacuum level. With this new bridge between microwave and optics, the microwave-based quantum technologies can finally be a part of a quantum network which is based on optical photons - putting us one step closer to a future with quantum internet. }, author = {Sahu, Rishabh}, isbn = {978-3-99078-030-5}, issn = {2663 - 337X}, keywords = {quantum optics, electrooptics, quantum networks, quantum communication, transduction}, pages = {202}, publisher = {Institute of Science and Technology Austria}, title = {{Cavity quantum electrooptics}}, doi = {10.15479/at:ista:13175}, year = {2023}, } @article{13207, abstract = {We consider the linear BCS equation, determining the BCS critical temperature, in the presence of a boundary, where Dirichlet boundary conditions are imposed. In the one-dimensional case with point interactions, we prove that the critical temperature is strictly larger than the bulk value, at least at weak coupling. In particular, the Cooper-pair wave function localizes near the boundary, an effect that cannot be modeled by effective Neumann boundary conditions on the order parameter as often imposed in Ginzburg–Landau theory. We also show that the relative shift in critical temperature vanishes if the coupling constant either goes to zero or to infinity.}, author = {Hainzl, Christian and Roos, Barbara and Seiringer, Robert}, issn = {1664-0403}, journal = {Journal of Spectral Theory}, number = {4}, pages = {1507–1540}, publisher = {EMS Press}, title = {{Boundary superconductivity in the BCS model}}, doi = {10.4171/JST/439}, volume = {12}, year = {2023}, } @inproceedings{13221, abstract = {The safety-liveness dichotomy is a fundamental concept in formal languages which plays a key role in verification. Recently, this dichotomy has been lifted to quantitative properties, which are arbitrary functions from infinite words to partially-ordered domains. We look into harnessing the dichotomy for the specific classes of quantitative properties expressed by quantitative automata. These automata contain finitely many states and rational-valued transition weights, and their common value functions Inf, Sup, LimInf, LimSup, LimInfAvg, LimSupAvg, and DSum map infinite words into the totallyordered domain of real numbers. In this automata-theoretic setting, we establish a connection between quantitative safety and topological continuity and provide an alternative characterization of quantitative safety and liveness in terms of their boolean counterparts. For all common value functions, we show how the safety closure of a quantitative automaton can be constructed in PTime, and we provide PSpace-complete checks of whether a given quantitative automaton is safe or live, with the exception of LimInfAvg and LimSupAvg automata, for which the safety check is in ExpSpace. Moreover, for deterministic Sup, LimInf, and LimSup automata, we give PTime decompositions into safe and live automata. These decompositions enable the separation of techniques for safety and liveness verification for quantitative specifications.}, author = {Boker, Udi and Henzinger, Thomas A and Mazzocchi, Nicolas Adrien and Sarac, Naci E}, booktitle = {34th International Conference on Concurrency Theory}, isbn = {9783959772990}, issn = {1868-8969}, location = {Antwerp, Belgium}, publisher = {Schloss Dagstuhl - Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik}, title = {{Safety and liveness of quantitative automata}}, doi = {10.4230/LIPIcs.CONCUR.2023.17}, volume = {279}, year = {2023}, } @inproceedings{13262, abstract = {Determining the degree of inherent parallelism in classical sequential algorithms and leveraging it for fast parallel execution is a key topic in parallel computing, and detailed analyses are known for a wide range of classical algorithms. In this paper, we perform the first such analysis for the fundamental Union-Find problem, in which we are given a graph as a sequence of edges, and must maintain its connectivity structure under edge additions. We prove that classic sequential algorithms for this problem are well-parallelizable under reasonable assumptions, addressing a conjecture by [Blelloch, 2017]. More precisely, we show via a new potential argument that, under uniform random edge ordering, parallel union-find operations are unlikely to interfere: T concurrent threads processing the graph in parallel will encounter memory contention O(T2 · log |V| · log |E|) times in expectation, where |E| and |V| are the number of edges and nodes in the graph, respectively. We leverage this result to design a new parallel Union-Find algorithm that is both internally deterministic, i.e., its results are guaranteed to match those of a sequential execution, but also work-efficient and scalable, as long as the number of threads T is O(|E|1 over 3 - ε), for an arbitrarily small constant ε > 0, which holds for most large real-world graphs. We present lower bounds which show that our analysis is close to optimal, and experimental results suggesting that the performance cost of internal determinism is limited.}, author = {Fedorov, Alexander and Hashemi, Diba and Nadiradze, Giorgi and Alistarh, Dan-Adrian}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the 35th ACM Symposium on Parallelism in Algorithms and Architectures}, isbn = {9781450395458}, location = {Orlando, FL, United States}, pages = {261--271}, publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery}, title = {{Provably-efficient and internally-deterministic parallel Union-Find}}, doi = {10.1145/3558481.3591082}, year = {2023}, } @article{13274, abstract = {Viscous flows through pipes and channels are steady and ordered until, with increasing velocity, the laminar motion catastrophically breaks down and gives way to turbulence. How this apparently discontinuous change from low- to high-dimensional motion can be rationalized within the framework of the Navier-Stokes equations is not well understood. Exploiting geometrical properties of transitional channel flow we trace turbulence to far lower Reynolds numbers (Re) than previously possible and identify the complete path that reversibly links fully turbulent motion to an invariant solution. This precursor of turbulence destabilizes rapidly with Re, and the accompanying explosive increase in attractor dimension effectively marks the transition between deterministic and de facto stochastic dynamics.}, author = {Paranjape, Chaitanya S and Yalniz, Gökhan and Duguet, Yohann and Budanur, Nazmi B and Hof, Björn}, issn = {1079-7114}, journal = {Physical Review Letters}, keywords = {General Physics and Astronomy}, number = {3}, publisher = {American Physical Society}, title = {{Direct path from turbulence to time-periodic solutions}}, doi = {10.1103/physrevlett.131.034002}, volume = {131}, year = {2023}, } @phdthesis{13286, abstract = {Semiconductor-superconductor hybrid systems are the harbour of many intriguing mesoscopic phenomena. This material combination leads to spatial variations of the superconducting properties, which gives rise to Andreev bound states (ABSs). Some of these states might exhibit remarkable properties that render them highly desirable for topological quantum computing. The most prominent and hunted of such states are Majorana zero modes (MZMs), quasiparticles equals to their own quasiparticles that they follow non-abelian statistics. In this thesis, we first introduce the general framework of such hybrid systems and, then, we unveil a series of mesoscopic phenomena that we discovered. Firstly, we show tunneling spectroscopy experiments on full-shell nanowires (NWs) showing that unwanted quantum-dot states coupled to superconductors (Yu-Shiba-Rusinov states) can mimic MZMs signatures. Then, we introduce a novel protocol which allowed the integration of tunneling spectroscopy with Coulomb spectroscopy within the same device. Employing this approach on both full-shell NWs and partial-shell NWs, we demonstrated that longitudinally confined states reveal charge transport phenomenology similar to the one expected for MZMs. These findings shed light on the intricate interplay between superconductivity and quantum confinement, which brought us to explore another material platform, i.e. a two-dimensional Germanium hole gas. After developing a robust way to induce superconductivity in such system, we showed how to engineer the proximity effect and we revealed a superconducting hard gap. Finally, we created a superconducting radio frequency driven ideal diode and a generator of non-sinusoidal current-phase relations. Our results open the path for the exploration of protected superconducting qubits and more complex hybrid devices in planar Germanium, like Kitaev chains and hybrid qubit devices.}, author = {Valentini, Marco}, issn = {2663 - 337X}, pages = {184}, publisher = {Institute of Science and Technology Austria}, title = {{Mesoscopic phenomena in hybrid semiconductor-superconductor nanodevices : From full-shell nanowires to two-dimensional hole gas in germanium}}, doi = {10.15479/at:ista:13286}, year = {2023}, } @inproceedings{13292, abstract = {The operator precedence languages (OPLs) represent the largest known subclass of the context-free languages which enjoys all desirable closure and decidability properties. This includes the decidability of language inclusion, which is the ultimate verification problem. Operator precedence grammars, automata, and logics have been investigated and used, for example, to verify programs with arithmetic expressions and exceptions (both of which are deterministic pushdown but lie outside the scope of the visibly pushdown languages). In this paper, we complete the picture and give, for the first time, an algebraic characterization of the class of OPLs in the form of a syntactic congruence that has finitely many equivalence classes exactly for the operator precedence languages. This is a generalization of the celebrated Myhill-Nerode theorem for the regular languages to OPLs. As one of the consequences, we show that universality and language inclusion for nondeterministic operator precedence automata can be solved by an antichain algorithm. Antichain algorithms avoid determinization and complementation through an explicit subset construction, by leveraging a quasi-order on words, which allows the pruning of the search space for counterexample words without sacrificing completeness. Antichain algorithms can be implemented symbolically, and these implementations are today the best-performing algorithms in practice for the inclusion of finite automata. We give a generic construction of the quasi-order needed for antichain algorithms from a finite syntactic congruence. This yields the first antichain algorithm for OPLs, an algorithm that solves the ExpTime-hard language inclusion problem for OPLs in exponential time.}, author = {Henzinger, Thomas A and Kebis, Pavol and Mazzocchi, Nicolas Adrien and Sarac, Naci E}, booktitle = {50th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming}, isbn = {9783959772785}, issn = {1868-8969}, location = {Paderborn, Germany}, pages = {129:1----129:20}, publisher = {Schloss Dagstuhl - Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik}, title = {{Regular methods for operator precedence languages}}, doi = {10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2023.129}, volume = {261}, year = {2023}, } @inproceedings{13310, abstract = {Machine-learned systems are in widespread use for making decisions about humans, and it is important that they are fair, i.e., not biased against individuals based on sensitive attributes. We present runtime verification of algorithmic fairness for systems whose models are unknown, but are assumed to have a Markov chain structure. We introduce a specification language that can model many common algorithmic fairness properties, such as demographic parity, equal opportunity, and social burden. We build monitors that observe a long sequence of events as generated by a given system, and output, after each observation, a quantitative estimate of how fair or biased the system was on that run until that point in time. The estimate is proven to be correct modulo a variable error bound and a given confidence level, where the error bound gets tighter as the observed sequence gets longer. Our monitors are of two types, and use, respectively, frequentist and Bayesian statistical inference techniques. While the frequentist monitors compute estimates that are objectively correct with respect to the ground truth, the Bayesian monitors compute estimates that are correct subject to a given prior belief about the system’s model. Using a prototype implementation, we show how we can monitor if a bank is fair in giving loans to applicants from different social backgrounds, and if a college is fair in admitting students while maintaining a reasonable financial burden on the society. Although they exhibit different theoretical complexities in certain cases, in our experiments, both frequentist and Bayesian monitors took less than a millisecond to update their verdicts after each observation.}, author = {Henzinger, Thomas A and Karimi, Mahyar and Kueffner, Konstantin and Mallik, Kaushik}, booktitle = {Computer Aided Verification}, isbn = {9783031377020}, issn = {1611-3349}, location = {Paris, France}, pages = {358–382}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{Monitoring algorithmic fairness}}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-031-37703-7_17}, volume = {13965}, year = {2023}, } @article{13314, abstract = {The emergence of large-scale order in self-organized systems relies on local interactions between individual components. During bacterial cell division, FtsZ—a prokaryotic homologue of the eukaryotic protein tubulin—polymerizes into treadmilling filaments that further organize into a cytoskeletal ring. In vitro, FtsZ filaments can form dynamic chiral assemblies. However, how the active and passive properties of individual filaments relate to these large-scale self-organized structures remains poorly understood. Here we connect single-filament properties with the mesoscopic scale by combining minimal active matter simulations and biochemical reconstitution experiments. We show that the density and flexibility of active chiral filaments define their global order. At intermediate densities, curved, flexible filaments organize into chiral rings and polar bands. An effectively nematic organization dominates for high densities and for straight, mutant filaments with increased rigidity. Our predicted phase diagram quantitatively captures these features, demonstrating how the flexibility, density and chirality of the active filaments affect their collective behaviour. Our findings shed light on the fundamental properties of active chiral matter and explain how treadmilling FtsZ filaments organize during bacterial cell division.}, author = {Dunajova, Zuzana and Prats Mateu, Batirtze and Radler, Philipp and Lim, Keesiang and Brandis, Dörte and Velicky, Philipp and Danzl, Johann G and Wong, Richard W. and Elgeti, Jens and Hannezo, Edouard B and Loose, Martin}, issn = {1745-2481}, journal = {Nature Physics}, pages = {1916--1926}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{Chiral and nematic phases of flexible active filaments}}, doi = {10.1038/s41567-023-02218-w}, volume = {19}, year = {2023}, } @phdthesis{13331, abstract = {The extension of extremal combinatorics to the setting of exterior algebra is a work in progress that gained attention recently. In this thesis, we study the combinatorial structure of exterior algebra by introducing a dictionary that translates the notions from the set systems into the framework of exterior algebra. We show both generalizations of celebrated Erdös--Ko--Rado theorem and Hilton--Milner theorem to the setting of exterior algebra in the simplest non-trivial case of two-forms. }, author = {Köse, Seyda}, issn = {2791-4585}, pages = {26}, publisher = {Institute of Science and Technology Austria}, title = {{Exterior algebra and combinatorics}}, doi = {10.15479/at:ista:13331}, year = {2023}, } @phdthesis{13984, abstract = {Social insects fight disease using their individual immune systems and the cooperative sanitary behaviors of colony members. These social defenses are well explored against externally-infecting pathogens, but little is known about defense strategies against internally-infecting pathogens, such as viruses. Viruses are ubiquitous and in the last decades it has become evident that also many ant species harbor viruses. We present one of the first studies addressing transmission dynamics and collective disease defenses against viruses in ants on a mechanistic level. I successfully established an experimental ant host – viral pathogen system as a model for the defense strategies used by social insects against internal pathogen infections, as outlined in the third chapter. In particular, we studied how garden ants (Lasius neglectus) defend themselves and their colonies against the generalist insect virus CrPV (cricket paralysis virus). We chose microinjections of virus directly into the ants’ hemolymph because it allowed us to use a defined exposure dose. Here we show that this is a good model system, as the virus is replicating and thus infecting the host. The ants mount a clear individual immune response against the viral infection, which is characterized by a specific siRNA pattern, namely siRNAs mapping against the viral genome with a peak of 21 and 22 bp long fragments. The onset of this immune response is consistent with the timeline of viral replication that starts already within two days post injection. The disease manifests in decreased survival over a course of two to three weeks. Regarding group living, we find that infected ants show a strong individual immune response, but that their course of disease is little affected by nestmate presence, as described in chapter four. Hence, we do not find social immunity in the context of viral infections in ants. Nestmates, however, can contract the virus. Using Drosophila S2R+ cells in culture, we showed that 94 % of the nestmates contract active virus within four days of social contact to an infected individual. Virus is transmitted in low doses, thus not causing disease transmission within the colony. While virus can be transmitted during short direct contacts, we also assume transmission from deceased ants and show that the nestmates’ immune system gets activated after contracting a low viral dose. We find considerable potential for indirect transmission via the nest space. Virus is shed to the nest, where it stays viable for one week and is also picked up by other ants. Apart from that, we want to underline the potential of ant poison as antiviral agent. We determined that ant poison successfully inactivates CrPV in vitro. However, we found no evidence for effective poison use to sanitize the nest space. On the other hand, local application of ant poison by oral poison uptake, which is part of the ants prophylactic behavioral repertoire, probably contributes to keeping the gut of each individual sanitized. We hypothesize that oral poison uptake might be the reason why we did not find viable virus in the trophallactic fluid. The fifth chapter encompasses preliminary data on potential social immunization. However, our experiments do not confirm an actual survival benefit for the nestmates upon pathogen challenge under the given experimental settings. Nevertheless, we do not want to rule out the possibility for nestmate immunization, but rather emphasize that considering different experimental timelines and viral doses would provide a multitude of options for follow-up experiments. In conclusion, we find that prophylactic individual behaviors, such as oral poison uptake, might play a role in preventing viral disease transmission. Compared to colony defense against external pathogens, internal pathogen infections require a stronger component of individual physiological immunity than behavioral social immunity, yet could still lead to collective protection.}, author = {Franschitz, Anna}, isbn = {978-3-99078-034-3}, issn = {2663 - 337X}, pages = {89}, publisher = {Institute of Science and Technology Austria}, title = {{Individual and social immunity against viral infections in ants}}, doi = {10.15479/at:ista:13984}, year = {2023}, } @article{14032, abstract = {Arrays of Josephson junctions are governed by a competition between superconductivity and repulsive Coulomb interactions, and are expected to exhibit diverging low-temperature resistance when interactions exceed a critical level. Here we report a study of the transport and microwave response of Josephson arrays with interactions exceeding this level. Contrary to expectations, we observe that the array resistance drops dramatically as the temperature is decreased—reminiscent of superconducting behaviour—and then saturates at low temperature. Applying a magnetic field, we eventually observe a transition to a highly resistive regime. These observations can be understood within a theoretical picture that accounts for the effect of thermal fluctuations on the insulating phase. On the basis of the agreement between experiment and theory, we suggest that apparent superconductivity in our Josephson arrays arises from melting the zero-temperature insulator.}, author = {Mukhopadhyay, Soham and Senior, Jorden L and Saez Mollejo, Jaime and Puglia, Denise and Zemlicka, Martin and Fink, Johannes M and Higginbotham, Andrew P}, issn = {1745-2481}, journal = {Nature Physics}, keywords = {General Physics and Astronomy}, pages = {1630--1635}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{Superconductivity from a melted insulator in Josephson junction arrays}}, doi = {10.1038/s41567-023-02161-w}, volume = {19}, year = {2023}, } @phdthesis{14058, abstract = {Females and males across species are subject to divergent selective pressures arising from di↵erent reproductive interests and ecological niches. This often translates into a intricate array of sex-specific natural and sexual selection on traits that have a shared genetic basis between both sexes, causing a genetic sexual conflict. The resolution of this conflict mostly relies on the evolution of sex-specific expression of the shared genes, leading to phenotypic sexual dimorphism. Such sex-specific gene expression is thought to evolve via modifications of the genetic networks ultimately linked to sex-determining transcription factors. Although much empirical and theoretical evidence supports this standard picture of the molecular basis of sexual conflict resolution, there still are a few open questions regarding the complex array of selective forces driving phenotypic di↵erentiation between the sexes, as well as the molecular mechanisms underlying sexspecific adaptation. I address some of these open questions in my PhD thesis. First, how do patterns of phenotypic sexual dimorphism vary within populations, as a response to the temporal and spatial changes in sex-specific selective forces? To tackle this question, I analyze the patterns of sex-specific phenotypic variation along three life stages and across populations spanning the whole geographical range of Rumex hastatulus, a wind-pollinated angiosperm, in the first Chapter of the thesis. Second, how do gene expression patterns lead to phenotypic dimorphism, and what are the molecular mechanisms underlying the observed transcriptomic variation? I address this question by examining the sex- and tissue-specific expression variation in newly-generated datasets of sex-specific expression in heads and gonads of Drosophila melanogaster. I additionally used two complementary approaches for the study of the genetic basis of sex di↵erences in gene expression in the second and third Chapters of the thesis. Third, how does intersex correlation, thought to be one of the main aspects constraining the ability for the two sexes to decouple, interact with the evolution of sexual dimorphism? I develop models of sex-specific stabilizing selection, mutation and drift to formalize common intuition regarding the patterns of covariation between intersex correlation and sexual dimorphism in the fourth Chapter of the thesis. Alltogether, the work described in this PhD thesis provides useful insights into the links between genetic, transcriptomic and phenotypic layers of sex-specific variation, and contributes to our general understanding of the dynamics of sexual dimorphism evolution.}, author = {Puixeu Sala, Gemma}, isbn = {978-3-99078-035-0}, issn = {2663-337X}, pages = {230}, publisher = {Institute of Science and Technology Austria}, title = {{The molecular basis of sexual dimorphism: Experimental and theoretical characterization of phenotypic, transcriptomic and genetic patterns of sex-specific adaptation}}, doi = {10.15479/at:ista:14058}, year = {2023}, } @article{14077, abstract = {The regulatory architecture of gene expression is known to differ substantially between sexes in Drosophila, but most studies performed so far used whole-body data and only single crosses, which may have limited their scope to detect patterns that are robust across tissues and biological replicates. Here, we use allele-specific gene expression of parental and reciprocal hybrid crosses between 6 Drosophila melanogaster inbred lines to quantify cis- and trans-regulatory variation in heads and gonads of both sexes separately across 3 replicate crosses. Our results suggest that female and male heads, as well as ovaries, have a similar regulatory architecture. On the other hand, testes display more and substantially different cis-regulatory effects, suggesting that sex differences in the regulatory architecture that have been previously observed may largely derive from testis-specific effects. We also examine the difference in cis-regulatory variation of genes across different levels of sex bias in gonads and heads. Consistent with the idea that intersex correlations constrain expression and can lead to sexual antagonism, we find more cis variation in unbiased and moderately biased genes in heads. In ovaries, reduced cis variation is observed for male-biased genes, suggesting that cis variants acting on these genes in males do not lead to changes in ovary expression. Finally, we examine the dominance patterns of gene expression and find that sex- and tissue-specific patterns of inheritance as well as trans-regulatory variation are highly variable across biological crosses, although these were performed in highly controlled experimental conditions. This highlights the importance of using various genetic backgrounds to infer generalizable patterns.}, author = {Puixeu Sala, Gemma and Macon, Ariana and Vicoso, Beatriz}, issn = {2160-1836}, journal = {G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics}, keywords = {Genetics (clinical), Genetics, Molecular Biology}, number = {8}, publisher = {Oxford University Press}, title = {{Sex-specific estimation of cis and trans regulation of gene expression in heads and gonads of Drosophila melanogaster}}, doi = {10.1093/g3journal/jkad121}, volume = {13}, year = {2023}, } @article{14087, abstract = {Polar active matter of self-propelled particles sustain spontaneous flows through the full-integer topological defects. We study theoretically the incompressible flow profiles around ±1 defects induced by polar and dipolar active forces. We show that dipolar forces induce vortical flows around the +1 defect, while the flow around the −1 defect has an 8-fold rotational symmetry. The vortical flow changes its chirality near the +1 defect core in the absence of the friction with a substrate. We show analytically that the flow induced by polar active forces is vortical near the +1 defect and is 4-fold symmetric near the −1 defect, while it becomes uniform in the far-field. For a pair of oppositely charged defects, this polar flow contributes to a mutual interaction force that depends only on the orientation of the defect pair relative to the background polarization, and that enhances defect pair annihilation. This is in contradiction with the effect of dipolar active forces which decay inversely proportional with the defect separation distance. As such, our analyses reveals a long-ranged mechanism for the pairwise interaction between topological defects in polar active matter.}, author = {Rønning, Jonas and Renaud, Julian B and Doostmohammadi, Amin and Angheluta, Luiza}, issn = {1744-6848}, journal = {Soft Matter}, pages = {7513--7527}, publisher = {Royal Society of Chemistry}, title = {{Spontaneous flows and dynamics of full-integer topological defects in polar active matter}}, doi = {10.1039/d3sm00316g}, volume = {39}, year = {2023}, } @phdthesis{14226, abstract = {We introduce the notion of a Faustian interchange in a 1-parameter family of smooth functions to generalize the medial axis to critical points of index larger than 0. We construct and implement a general purpose algorithm for approximating such generalized medial axes.}, author = {Stephenson, Elizabeth R}, issn = {2791-4585}, pages = {43}, publisher = {Institute of Science and Technology Austria}, title = {{Generalizing medial axes with homology switches}}, doi = {10.15479/at:ista:14226}, year = {2023}, } @inproceedings{14260, abstract = {This paper presents Lincheck, a new practical and user-friendly framework for testing concurrent algorithms on the Java Virtual Machine (JVM). Lincheck provides a simple and declarative way to write concurrent tests: instead of describing how to perform the test, users specify what to test by declaring all the operations to examine; the framework automatically handles the rest. As a result, tests written with Lincheck are concise and easy to understand. The framework automatically generates a set of concurrent scenarios, examines them using stress-testing or bounded model checking, and verifies that the results of each invocation are correct. Notably, if an error is detected via model checking, Lincheck provides an easy-to-follow trace to reproduce it, significantly simplifying the bug investigation. To the best of our knowledge, Lincheck is the first production-ready tool on the JVM that offers such a simple way of writing concurrent tests, without requiring special skills or expertise. We successfully integrated Lincheck in the development process of several large projects, such as Kotlin Coroutines, and identified new bugs in popular concurrency libraries, such as a race in Java’s standard ConcurrentLinkedDeque and a liveliness bug in Java’s AbstractQueuedSynchronizer framework, which is used in most of the synchronization primitives. We believe that Lincheck can significantly improve the quality and productivity of concurrent algorithms research and development and become the state-of-the-art tool for checking their correctness.}, author = {Koval, Nikita and Fedorov, Alexander and Sokolova, Maria and Tsitelov, Dmitry and Alistarh, Dan-Adrian}, booktitle = {35th International Conference on Computer Aided Verification }, isbn = {9783031377051}, issn = {1611-3349}, location = {Paris, France}, pages = {156--169}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{Lincheck: A practical framework for testing concurrent data structures on JVM}}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-031-37706-8_8}, volume = {13964}, year = {2023}, } @article{14261, abstract = {In this work, a generalized, adapted Numerov implementation capable of determining band structures of periodic quantum systems is outlined. Based on the input potential, the presented approach numerically solves the Schrödinger equation in position space at each momentum space point. Thus, in addition to the band structure, the method inherently provides information about the state functions and probability densities in position space at each momentum space point considered. The generalized, adapted Numerov framework provided reliable estimates for a variety of increasingly complex test suites in one, two, and three dimensions. The accuracy of the proposed methodology was benchmarked against results obtained for the analytically solvable Kronig-Penney model. Furthermore, the presented numerical solver was applied to a model potential representing a 2D optical lattice being a challenging application relevant, for example, in the field of quantum computing.}, author = {Gamper, Jakob and Kluibenschedl, Florian and Weiss, Alexander K.H. and Hofer, Thomas S.}, issn = {1948-7185}, journal = {Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters}, number = {33}, pages = {7395--7403}, publisher = {American Chemical Society}, title = {{Accessing position space wave functions in band structure calculations of periodic systems - a generalized, adapted numerov implementation for one-, two-, and three-dimensional quantum problems}}, doi = {10.1021/acs.jpclett.3c01707}, volume = {14}, year = {2023}, } @phdthesis{14280, abstract = {Cell division in Escherichia coli is performed by the divisome, a multi-protein complex composed of more than 30 proteins. The divisome spans from the cytoplasm through the inner membrane to the cell wall and the outer membrane. Divisome assembly is initiated by a cytoskeletal structure, the so-called Z-ring, which localizes at the center of the E. coli cell and determines the position of the future cell septum. The Z-ring is composed of the highly conserved bacterial tubulin homologue FtsZ, which forms treadmilling filaments. These filaments are recruited to the inner membrane by FtsA, a highly conserved bacterial actin homologue. FtsA interacts with other proteins in the periplasm and thus connects the cytoplasmic and periplasmic components of the divisome. A previous model postulated that FtsA regulates maturation of the divisome by switching from an oligomeric, inactive state to a monomeric and active state. This model was based mostly on in vivo studies, as a biochemical characterization of FtsA has been hampered by difficulties in purifying the protein. Here, we studied FtsA using an in vitro reconstitution approach and aimed to answer two questions: (i) How are dynamics from cytoplasmic, treadmilling FtsZ filaments coupled to proteins acting in the periplasmic space and (ii) How does FtsA regulate the maturation of the divisome? We found that the cytoplasmic peptides of the transmembrane proteins FtsN and FtsQ interact directly with FtsA and can follow the spatiotemporal signal of FtsA/Z filaments. When we investigated the underlying mechanism by imaging single molecules of FtsNcyto, we found the peptide to interact transiently with FtsA. An in depth analysis of the single molecule trajectories helped to postulate a model where PG synthases follow the dynamics of FtsZ by a diffusion and capture mechanism. Following up on these findings we were interested in how the self-interaction of FtsA changes when it encounters FtsNcyto and if we can confirm the proposed oligomer-monomer switch. For this, we compared the behavior of the previously identified, hyperactive mutant FtsA R286W with wildtype FtsA. The mutant outperforms WT in mirroring and transmitting the spatiotemporal signal of treadmilling FtsZ filaments. Surprisingly however, we found that this was not due to a difference in the self-interaction strength of the two variants, but a difference in their membrane residence time. Furthermore, in contrast to our expectations, upon binding of FtsNcyto the measured self-interaction of FtsA actually increased. We propose that FtsNcyto induces a rearrangement of the oligomeric architecture of FtsA. In further consequence this change leads to more persistent FtsZ filaments which results in a defined signalling zone, allowing formation of the mature divisome. The observed difference between FtsA WT and R286W is due to the vastly different membrane turnover of the proteins. R286W cycles 5-10x faster compared to WT which allows to sample FtsZ filaments at faster frequencies. These findings can explain the observed differences in toxicity for overexpression of FtsA WT and R286W and help to understand how FtsA regulates divisome maturation.}, author = {Radler, Philipp}, isbn = {978-3-99078-033-6}, issn = {2663-337X}, keywords = {Cell Division, Reconstitution, FtsZ, FtsA, Divisome, E.coli}, pages = {156}, publisher = {Institute of Science and Technology Austria}, title = {{Spatiotemporal signaling during assembly of the bacterial divisome}}, doi = {10.15479/at:ista:14280}, year = {2023}, } @article{12349, abstract = {Statistics of natural scenes are not uniform - their structure varies dramatically from ground to sky. It remains unknown whether these non-uniformities are reflected in the large-scale organization of the early visual system and what benefits such adaptations would confer. Here, by relying on the efficient coding hypothesis, we predict that changes in the structure of receptive fields across visual space increase the efficiency of sensory coding. We show experimentally that, in agreement with our predictions, receptive fields of retinal ganglion cells change their shape along the dorsoventral retinal axis, with a marked surround asymmetry at the visual horizon. Our work demonstrates that, according to principles of efficient coding, the panoramic structure of natural scenes is exploited by the retina across space and cell-types.}, author = {Gupta, Divyansh and Mlynarski, Wiktor F and Sumser, Anton L and Symonova, Olga and Svaton, Jan and Jösch, Maximilian A}, issn = {1546-1726}, journal = {Nature Neuroscience}, pages = {606--614}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{Panoramic visual statistics shape retina-wide organization of receptive fields}}, doi = {10.1038/s41593-023-01280-0}, volume = {26}, year = {2023}, }