@misc{15027, abstract = {This data repository underpins the paper, published in PNAS (doi pending) and bioarxiv (doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.07.05.547777).}, author = {Curk, Samo}, publisher = {Figshare}, title = {{aggregation_data}}, year = {2023}, } @misc{15035, abstract = {This artifact aims to reproduce experiments from the paper Monitoring Hyperproperties With Prefix Transducers accepted at RV'23, and give further pointers to implementation of prefix transducers. It has two parts: a pre-compiled docker image and sources that one can use to compile (locally or in docker) the software and run the experiments.}, author = {Chalupa, Marek and Henzinger, Thomas A}, publisher = {Zenodo}, title = {{Monitoring hyperproperties with prefix transducers}}, doi = {10.5281/ZENODO.8191723}, year = {2023}, } @unpublished{15039, abstract = {A crucial property for achieving secure, trustworthy and interpretable deep learning systems is their robustness: small changes to a system's inputs should not result in large changes to its outputs. Mathematically, this means one strives for networks with a small Lipschitz constant. Several recent works have focused on how to construct such Lipschitz networks, typically by imposing constraints on the weight matrices. In this work, we study an orthogonal aspect, namely the role of the activation function. We show that commonly used activation functions, such as MaxMin, as well as all piece-wise linear ones with two segments unnecessarily restrict the class of representable functions, even in the simplest one-dimensional setting. We furthermore introduce the new N-activation function that is provably more expressive than currently popular activation functions. We provide code at this https URL.}, author = {Prach, Bernd and Lampert, Christoph}, booktitle = {arXiv}, title = {{1-Lipschitz neural networks are more expressive with N-activations}}, doi = {10.48550/ARXIV.2311.06103}, year = {2023}, } @article{13443, abstract = {The ages of solar-like stars have been at the center of many studies such as exoplanet characterization or Galactic-archeology. While ages are usually computed from stellar evolution models, relations linking ages to other stellar properties, such as rotation and magnetic activity, have been investigated. With the large catalog of 55,232 rotation periods, Prot, and photometric magnetic activity index, Sph from Kepler data, we have the opportunity to look for such magneto-gyro-chronology relations. Stellar ages are obtained with two stellar evolution codes that include treatment of angular momentum evolution, hence using Prot as input in addition to classical atmospheric parameters. We explore two different ways of predicting stellar ages on three subsamples with spectroscopic observations: solar analogs, late-F and G dwarfs, and K dwarfs. We first perform a Bayesian analysis to derive relations between Sph and ages between 1 and 5 Gyr, and other stellar properties. For late-F and G dwarfs, and K dwarfs, the multivariate regression favors the model with Prot and Sph with median differences of 0.1% and 0.2%, respectively. We also apply Machine Learning techniques with a Random Forest algorithm to predict ages up to 14 Gyr with the same set of input parameters. For late-F, G and K dwarfs together, predicted ages are on average within 5.3% of the model ages and improve to 3.1% when including Prot. These are very promising results for a quick age estimation for solar-like stars with photometric observations, especially with current and future space missions.}, author = {Mathur, Savita and Claytor, Zachary R. and Santos, Ângela R. G. and García, Rafael A. and Amard, Louis and Bugnet, Lisa Annabelle and Corsaro, Enrico and Bonanno, Alfio and Breton, Sylvain N. and Godoy-Rivera, Diego and Pinsonneault, Marc H. and van Saders, Jennifer}, issn = {1538-4357}, journal = {The Astrophysical Journal}, keywords = {Space and Planetary Science, Astronomy and Astrophysics}, number = {2}, publisher = {American Astronomical Society}, title = {{Magnetic activity evolution of solar-like stars. I. Sph–age relation derived from Kepler observations}}, doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/acd118}, volume = {952}, year = {2023}, } @unpublished{13447, abstract = {Asteroseismology has transformed stellar astrophysics. Red giant asteroseismology is a prime example, with oscillation periods and amplitudes that are readily detectable with time-domain space-based telescopes. These oscillations can be used to infer masses, ages and radii for large numbers of stars, providing unique constraints on stellar populations in our galaxy. The cadence, duration, and spatial resolution of the Roman galactic bulge time-domain survey (GBTDS) are well-suited for asteroseismology and will probe an important population not studied by prior missions. We identify photometric precision as a key requirement for realizing the potential of asteroseismology with Roman. A precision of 1 mmag per 15-min cadence or better for saturated stars will enable detections of the populous red clump star population in the Galactic bulge. If the survey efficiency is better than expected, we argue for repeat observations of the same fields to improve photometric precision, or covering additional fields to expand the stellar population reach if the photometric precision for saturated stars is better than 1 mmag. Asteroseismology is relatively insensitive to the timing of the observations during the mission, and the prime red clump targets can be observed in a single 70 day campaign in any given field. Complementary stellar characterization, particularly astrometry tied to the Gaia system, will also dramatically expand the diagnostic power of asteroseismology. We also highlight synergies to Roman GBTDS exoplanet science using transits and microlensing.}, author = {Huber, Daniel and Pinsonneault, Marc and Beck, Paul and Bedding, Timothy R. and Joss Bland-Hawthorn, Joss Bland-Hawthorn and Breton, Sylvain N. and Bugnet, Lisa Annabelle and Chaplin, William J. and Garcia, Rafael A. and Grunblatt, Samuel K. and Guzik, Joyce A. and Hekker, Saskia and Kawaler, Steven D. and Mathis, Stephane and Mathur, Savita and Metcalfe, Travis and Mosser, Benoit and Ness, Melissa K. and Piro, Anthony L. and Serenelli, Aldo and Sharma, Sanjib and Soderblom, David R. and Stassun, Keivan G. and Stello, Dennis and Tayar, Jamie and Belle, Gerard T. van and Zinn, Joel C.}, booktitle = {arXiv}, title = {{Asteroseismology with the Roman galactic bulge time-domain survey}}, doi = {10.48550/arXiv.2307.03237}, year = {2023}, } @article{13963, abstract = {The many-body localization (MBL) proximity effect is an intriguing phenomenon where a thermal bath localizes due to the interaction with a disordered system. The interplay of thermal and nonergodic behavior in these systems gives rise to a rich phase diagram, whose exploration is an active field of research. In this paper, we study a bosonic Hubbard model featuring two particle species representing the bath and the disordered system. Using state-of-the-art numerical techniques, we investigate the dynamics of the model in different regimes, based on which we obtain a tentative phase diagram as a function of coupling strength and bath size. When the bath is composed of a single particle, we observe clear signatures of a transition from an MBL proximity effect to a delocalized phase. Increasing the bath size, however, its thermalizing effect becomes stronger and eventually the whole system delocalizes in the range of moderate interaction strengths studied. In this regime, we characterize particle transport, revealing diffusive behavior of the originally localized bosons.}, author = {Brighi, Pietro and Ljubotina, Marko and Abanin, Dmitry A. and Serbyn, Maksym}, issn = {2469-9969}, journal = {Physical Review B}, number = {5}, publisher = {American Physical Society}, title = {{Many-body localization proximity effect in a two-species bosonic Hubbard model}}, doi = {10.1103/physrevb.108.054201}, volume = {108}, year = {2023}, } @article{13965, abstract = {Many modes and mechanisms of epigenetic inheritance have been elucidated in eukaryotes. Most of them are relatively short-term, generally not exceeding one or a few organismal generations. However, emerging evidence indicates that one mechanism, cytosine DNA methylation, can mediate epigenetic inheritance over much longer timescales, which are mostly or completely inaccessible in the laboratory. Here we discuss the evidence for, and mechanisms and implications of, such long-term epigenetic inheritance. We argue that compelling evidence supports the long-term epigenetic inheritance of gene body methylation, at least in the model angiosperm Arabidopsis thaliana, and that variation in such methylation can therefore serve as an epigenetic basis for phenotypic variation in natural populations.}, author = {Hollwey, Elizabeth and Briffa, Amy and Howard, Martin and Zilberman, Daniel}, issn = {1879-0380}, journal = {Current Opinion in Genetics and Development}, number = {8}, publisher = {Elsevier}, title = {{Concepts, mechanisms and implications of long-term epigenetic inheritance}}, doi = {10.1016/j.gde.2023.102087}, volume = {81}, year = {2023}, } @article{13966, abstract = {We present a low-scaling diagrammatic Monte Carlo approach to molecular correlation energies. Using combinatorial graph theory to encode many-body Hugenholtz diagrams, we sample the Møller-Plesset (MPn) perturbation series, obtaining accurate correlation energies up to n=5, with quadratic scaling in the number of basis functions. Our technique reduces the computational complexity of the molecular many-fermion correlation problem, opening up the possibility of low-scaling, accurate stochastic computations for a wide class of many-body systems described by Hugenholtz diagrams.}, author = {Bighin, Giacomo and Ho, Quoc P and Lemeshko, Mikhail and Tscherbul, T. V.}, issn = {2469-9969}, journal = {Physical Review B}, number = {4}, publisher = {American Physical Society}, title = {{Diagrammatic Monte Carlo for electronic correlation in molecules: High-order many-body perturbation theory with low scaling}}, doi = {10.1103/PhysRevB.108.045115}, volume = {108}, year = {2023}, } @inproceedings{13967, abstract = {A classic solution technique for Markov decision processes (MDP) and stochastic games (SG) is value iteration (VI). Due to its good practical performance, this approximative approach is typically preferred over exact techniques, even though no practical bounds on the imprecision of the result could be given until recently. As a consequence, even the most used model checkers could return arbitrarily wrong results. Over the past decade, different works derived stopping criteria, indicating when the precision reaches the desired level, for various settings, in particular MDP with reachability, total reward, and mean payoff, and SG with reachability.In this paper, we provide the first stopping criteria for VI on SG with total reward and mean payoff, yielding the first anytime algorithms in these settings. To this end, we provide the solution in two flavours: First through a reduction to the MDP case and second directly on SG. The former is simpler and automatically utilizes any advances on MDP. The latter allows for more local computations, heading towards better practical efficiency.Our solution unifies the previously mentioned approaches for MDP and SG and their underlying ideas. To achieve this, we isolate objective-specific subroutines as well as identify objective-independent concepts. These structural concepts, while surprisingly simple, form the very essence of the unified solution.}, author = {Kretinsky, Jan and Meggendorfer, Tobias and Weininger, Maximilian}, booktitle = {38th Annual ACM/IEEE Symposium on Logic in Computer Science}, isbn = {9798350335873}, issn = {1043-6871}, location = {Boston, MA, United States}, publisher = {Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers}, title = {{Stopping criteria for value iteration on stochastic games with quantitative objectives}}, doi = {10.1109/LICS56636.2023.10175771}, volume = {2023}, year = {2023}, } @article{13968, abstract = {The use of multimodal readout mechanisms next to label-free real-time monitoring of biomolecular interactions can provide valuable insight into surface-based reaction mechanisms. To this end, the combination of an electrolyte-gated field-effect transistor (EG-FET) with a fiber optic-coupled surface plasmon resonance (FO-SPR) probe serving as gate electrode has been investigated to deconvolute surface mass and charge density variations associated to surface reactions. However, applying an electrochemical potential on such gold-coated FO-SPR gate electrodes can induce gradual morphological changes of the thin gold film, leading to an irreversible blue-shift of the SPR wavelength and a substantial signal drift. We show that mild annealing leads to optical and electronic signal stabilization (20-fold lower signal drift than as-sputtered fiber optic gates) and improved overall analytical performance characteristics. The thermal treatment prevents morphological changes of the thin gold-film occurring during operation, hence providing reliable and stable data immediately upon gate voltage application. Thus, the readout output of both transducing principles, the optical FO-SPR and electronic EG-FET, stays constant throughout the whole sensing time-window and the long-term effect of thermal treatment is also improved, providing stable signals even after 1 year of storage. Annealing should therefore be considered a necessary modification for applying fiber optic gate electrodes in real-time multimodal investigations of surface reactions at the solid-liquid interface.}, author = {Hasler, Roger and Steger-Polt, Marie Helene and Reiner-Rozman, Ciril and Fossati, Stefan and Lee, Seungho and Aspermair, Patrik and Kleber, Christoph and Ibáñez, Maria and Dostalek, Jakub and Knoll, Wolfgang}, issn = {2296-424X}, journal = {Frontiers in Physics}, publisher = {Frontiers}, title = {{Optical and electronic signal stabilization of plasmonic fiber optic gate electrodes: Towards improved real-time dual-mode biosensing}}, doi = {10.3389/fphy.2023.1202132}, volume = {11}, year = {2023}, } @article{13969, abstract = {Bundling crossings is a strategy which can enhance the readability of graph drawings. In this paper we consider good drawings, i.e., we require that any two edges have at most one common point which can be a common vertex or a crossing. Our main result is that there is a polynomial-time algorithm to compute an 8-approximation of the bundled crossing number of a good drawing with no toothed hole. In general the number of toothed holes has to be added to the 8-approximation. In the special case of circular drawings the approximation factor is 8, this improves upon the 10-approximation of Fink et al. [14]. Our approach also works with the same approximation factor for families of pseudosegments, i.e., curves intersecting at most once. We also show how to compute a 9/2-approximation when the intersection graph of the pseudosegments is bipartite and has no toothed hole.}, author = {Arroyo Guevara, Alan M and Felsner, Stefan}, issn = {1526-1719}, journal = {Journal of Graph Algorithms and Applications}, number = {6}, pages = {433--457}, publisher = {Brown University}, title = {{Approximating the bundled crossing number}}, doi = {10.7155/jgaa.00629}, volume = {27}, year = {2023}, } @article{13970, author = {Madani, Amiera and Sletten, Eric T. and Cavedon, Cristian and Seeberger, Peter H. and Pieber, Bartholomäus}, issn = {2333-3553}, journal = {Organic Syntheses}, pages = {271--286}, publisher = {Organic Syntheses}, title = {{Visible-light-mediated oxidative debenzylation of 3-O-Benzyl-1,2:5,6-di-O-isopropylidene-α-D-glucofuranose}}, doi = {10.15227/orgsyn.100.0271}, volume = {100}, year = {2023}, } @article{13971, abstract = {When in equilibrium, thermal forces agitate molecules, which then diffuse, collide and bind to form materials. However, the space of accessible structures in which micron-scale particles can be organized by thermal forces is limited, owing to the slow dynamics and metastable states. Active agents in a passive fluid generate forces and flows, forming a bath with active fluctuations. Two unanswered questions are whether those active agents can drive the assembly of passive components into unconventional states and which material properties they will exhibit. Here we show that passive, sticky beads immersed in a bath of swimming Escherichia coli bacteria aggregate into unconventional clusters and gels that are controlled by the activity of the bath. We observe a slow but persistent rotation of the aggregates that originates in the chirality of the E. coli flagella and directs aggregation into structures that are not accessible thermally. We elucidate the aggregation mechanism with a numerical model of spinning, sticky beads and reproduce quantitatively the experimental results. We show that internal activity controls the phase diagram and the structure of the aggregates. Overall, our results highlight the promising role of active baths in designing the structural and mechanical properties of materials with unconventional phases.}, author = {Grober, Daniel and Palaia, Ivan and Ucar, Mehmet C and Hannezo, Edouard B and Šarić, Anđela and Palacci, Jérémie A}, issn = {1745-2481}, journal = {Nature Physics}, pages = {1680--1688}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{Unconventional colloidal aggregation in chiral bacterial baths}}, doi = {10.1038/s41567-023-02136-x}, volume = {19}, year = {2023}, } @article{13972, abstract = {This Special Collection is dedicated to the field of photocatalytic synthesis and contains a diverse selection of original research contributions. It includes studies on catalyst development, mechanistic investigations, method development and the use of enabling technologies, illustrating the many facets of state-of-the-art research in photocatalytic synthesis. Further, emerging topics are surveyed and discussed in three reviews and a concept article.}, author = {Næsborg, Line and Pieber, Bartholomäus and Wenger, Oliver S.}, issn = {1867-3899}, journal = {ChemCatChem}, publisher = {Wiley}, title = {{Special Collection: Photocatalytic synthesis}}, doi = {10.1002/cctc.202300683}, year = {2023}, } @article{13973, abstract = {We construct families of log K3 surfaces and study the arithmetic of their members. We use this to produce explicit surfaces with an order 5 Brauer–Manin obstruction to the integral Hasse principle.}, author = {Lyczak, Julian}, issn = {0373-0956}, journal = {Annales de l'Institut Fourier}, number = {2}, pages = {447--478}, publisher = {Association des Annales de l'Institut Fourier}, title = {{Order 5 Brauer–Manin obstructions to the integral Hasse principle on log K3 surfaces}}, doi = {10.5802/aif.3529}, volume = {73}, year = {2023}, } @article{13974, abstract = {The Tverberg theorem is one of the cornerstones of discrete geometry. It states that, given a set X of at least (d+1)(r−1)+1 points in Rd, one can find a partition X=X1∪⋯∪Xr of X, such that the convex hulls of the Xi, i=1,…,r, all share a common point. In this paper, we prove a trengthening of this theorem that guarantees a partition which, in addition to the above, has the property that the boundaries of full-dimensional convex hulls have pairwise nonempty intersections. Possible generalizations and algorithmic aspects are also discussed. As a concrete application, we show that any n points in the plane in general position span ⌊n/3⌋ vertex-disjoint triangles that are pairwise crossing, meaning that their boundaries have pairwise nonempty intersections; this number is clearly best possible. A previous result of Álvarez-Rebollar et al. guarantees ⌊n/6⌋pairwise crossing triangles. Our result generalizes to a result about simplices in Rd, d≥2.}, author = {Fulek, Radoslav and Gärtner, Bernd and Kupavskii, Andrey and Valtr, Pavel and Wagner, Uli}, issn = {1432-0444}, journal = {Discrete and Computational Geometry}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{The crossing Tverberg theorem}}, doi = {10.1007/s00454-023-00532-x}, year = {2023}, } @article{13975, abstract = {We consider the spectrum of random Laplacian matrices of the form Ln=An−Dn where An is a real symmetric random matrix and Dn is a diagonal matrix whose entries are equal to the corresponding row sums of An. If An is a Wigner matrix with entries in the domain of attraction of a Gaussian distribution, the empirical spectral measure of Ln is known to converge to the free convolution of a semicircle distribution and a standard real Gaussian distribution. We consider real symmetric random matrices An with independent entries (up to symmetry) whose row sums converge to a purely non-Gaussian infinitely divisible distribution, which fall into the class of Lévy–Khintchine random matrices first introduced by Jung [Trans Am Math Soc, 370, (2018)]. Our main result shows that the empirical spectral measure of Ln converges almost surely to a deterministic limit. A key step in the proof is to use the purely non-Gaussian nature of the row sums to build a random operator to which Ln converges in an appropriate sense. This operator leads to a recursive distributional equation uniquely describing the Stieltjes transform of the limiting empirical spectral measure.}, author = {Campbell, Andrew J and O’Rourke, Sean}, issn = {1572-9230}, journal = {Journal of Theoretical Probability}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{Spectrum of Lévy–Khintchine random laplacian matrices}}, doi = {10.1007/s10959-023-01275-4}, year = {2023}, } @article{13976, abstract = {Conflicts and natural disasters affect entire populations of the countries involved and, in addition to the thousands of lives destroyed, have a substantial negative impact on the scientific advances these countries provide. The unprovoked invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria, and the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East are just a few examples. Millions of people have been killed or displaced, their futures uncertain. These events have resulted in extensive infrastructure collapse, with loss of electricity, transportation, and access to services. Schools, universities, and research centers have been destroyed along with decades’ worth of data, samples, and findings. Scholars in disaster areas face short- and long-term problems in terms of what they can accomplish now for obtaining grants and for employment in the long run. In our interconnected world, conflicts and disasters are no longer a local problem but have wide-ranging impacts on the entire world, both now and in the future. Here, we focus on the current and ongoing impact of war on the scientific community within Ukraine and from this draw lessons that can be applied to all affected countries where scientists at risk are facing hardship. We present and classify examples of effective and feasible mechanisms used to support researchers in countries facing hardship and discuss how these can be implemented with help from the international scientific community and what more is desperately needed. Reaching out, providing accessible training opportunities, and developing collaborations should increase inclusion and connectivity, support scientific advancements within affected communities, and expedite postwar and disaster recovery.}, author = {Wolfsberger, Walter and Chhugani, Karishma and Shchubelka, Khrystyna and Frolova, Alina and Salyha, Yuriy and Zlenko, Oksana and Arych, Mykhailo and Dziuba, Dmytro and Parkhomenko, Andrii and Smolanka, Volodymyr and Gümüş, Zeynep H. and Sezgin, Efe and Diaz-Lameiro, Alondra and Toth, Viktor R. and Maci, Megi and Bortz, Eric and Kondrashov, Fyodor and Morton, Patricia M. and Łabaj, Paweł P. and Romero, Veronika and Hlávka, Jakub and Mangul, Serghei and Oleksyk, Taras K.}, issn = {2047-217X}, journal = {GigaScience}, publisher = {Oxford Academic}, title = {{Scientists without borders: Lessons from Ukraine}}, doi = {10.1093/gigascience/giad045}, volume = {12}, 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{13988, abstract = {Most permissionless blockchains inherently suffer from throughput limitations. Layer-2 systems, such as side-chains or Rollups, have been proposed as a possible strategy to overcome this limitation. Layer-2 systems interact with the main-chain in two ways. First, users can move funds from/to the main-chain to/from the layer-2. Second, layer-2 systems periodically synchronize with the main-chain to keep some form of log of their activity on the main-chain - this log is key for security. Due to this interaction with the main-chain, which is necessary and recurrent, layer-2 systems impose some load on the main-chain. The impact of such load on the main-chain has been, so far, poorly understood. In addition to that, layer-2 approaches typically sacrifice decentralization and security in favor of higher throughput. This paper presents an experimental study that analyzes the current state of Ethereum layer-2 projects. Our goal is to assess the load they impose on Ethereum and to understand their scalability potential in the long-run. Our analysis shows that the impact of any given layer-2 on the main-chain is the result of both technical aspects (how state is logged on the main-chain) and user behavior (how often users decide to transfer funds between the layer-2 and the main-chain). Based on our observations, we infer that without efficient mechanisms that allow users to transfer funds in a secure and fast manner directly from one layer-2 project to another, current layer-2 systems will not be able to scale Ethereum effectively, regardless of their technical solutions. Furthermore, from our results, we conclude that the layer-2 systems that offer similar security guarantees as Ethereum have limited scalability potential, while approaches that offer better performance, sacrifice security and lead to an increase in centralization which runs against the end-goals of permissionless blockchains.}, author = {Neiheiser, Ray and Inacio, Gustavo and Rech, Luciana and Montez, Carlos and Matos, Miguel and Rodrigues, Luis}, issn = {2169-3536}, journal = {IEEE Access}, keywords = {General Engineering, General Materials Science, General Computer Science, Electrical and Electronic Engineering}, pages = {8651--8662}, publisher = {Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers}, title = {{Practical limitations of Ethereum’s layer-2}}, doi = {10.1109/access.2023.3237897}, volume = {11}, year = {2023}, }