@article{9101, abstract = {Behavioral predispositions are innate tendencies of animals to behave in a given way without the input of learning. They increase survival chances and, due to environmental and ecological challenges, may vary substantially even between closely related taxa. These differences are likely to be especially pronounced in long-lived species like crocodilians. This order is particularly relevant for comparative cognition due to its phylogenetic proximity to birds. Here we compared early life behavioral predispositions in two Alligatoridae species. We exposed American alligator and spectacled caiman hatchlings to three different novel situations: a novel object, a novel environment that was open and a novel environment with a shelter. This was then repeated a week later. During exposure to the novel environments, alligators moved around more and explored a larger range of the arena than the caimans. When exposed to the novel object, the alligators reduced the mean distance to the novel object in the second phase, while the caimans further increased it, indicating diametrically opposite ontogenetic development in behavioral predispositions. Although all crocodilian hatchlings face comparable challenges, e.g., high predation pressure, the effectiveness of parental protection might explain the observed pattern. American alligators are apex predators capable of protecting their offspring against most dangers, whereas adult spectacled caimans are frequently predated themselves. Their distancing behavior might be related to increased predator avoidance and also explain the success of invasive spectacled caimans in the natural habitats of other crocodilians.}, author = {Reber, Stephan A. and Oh, Jinook and Janisch, Judith and Stevenson, Colin and Foggett, Shaun and Wilkinson, Anna}, issn = {14359456}, journal = {Animal Cognition}, number = {4}, pages = {753--764}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{Early life differences in behavioral predispositions in two Alligatoridae species}}, doi = {10.1007/s10071-020-01461-5}, volume = {24}, year = {2021}, } @article{9111, abstract = {We study the probabilistic convergence between the mapper graph and the Reeb graph of a topological space X equipped with a continuous function f:X→R. We first give a categorification of the mapper graph and the Reeb graph by interpreting them in terms of cosheaves and stratified covers of the real line R. We then introduce a variant of the classic mapper graph of Singh et al. (in: Eurographics symposium on point-based graphics, 2007), referred to as the enhanced mapper graph, and demonstrate that such a construction approximates the Reeb graph of (X,f) when it is applied to points randomly sampled from a probability density function concentrated on (X,f). Our techniques are based on the interleaving distance of constructible cosheaves and topological estimation via kernel density estimates. Following Munch and Wang (In: 32nd international symposium on computational geometry, volume 51 of Leibniz international proceedings in informatics (LIPIcs), Dagstuhl, Germany, pp 53:1–53:16, 2016), we first show that the mapper graph of (X,f), a constructible R-space (with a fixed open cover), approximates the Reeb graph of the same space. We then construct an isomorphism between the mapper of (X,f) to the mapper of a super-level set of a probability density function concentrated on (X,f). Finally, building on the approach of Bobrowski et al. (Bernoulli 23(1):288–328, 2017b), we show that, with high probability, we can recover the mapper of the super-level set given a sufficiently large sample. Our work is the first to consider the mapper construction using the theory of cosheaves in a probabilistic setting. It is part of an ongoing effort to combine sheaf theory, probability, and statistics, to support topological data analysis with random data.}, author = {Brown, Adam and Bobrowski, Omer and Munch, Elizabeth and Wang, Bei}, issn = {2367-1734}, journal = {Journal of Applied and Computational Topology}, number = {1}, pages = {99--140}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{Probabilistic convergence and stability of random mapper graphs}}, doi = {10.1007/s41468-020-00063-x}, volume = {5}, year = {2021}, } @article{9113, abstract = {“Hydrogen economy” could enable a carbon-neutral sustainable energy chain. However, issues with safety, storage, and transport of molecular hydrogen impede its realization. Alcohols as liquid H2 carriers could be enablers, but state-of-the-art reforming is difficult, requiring high temperatures >200 °C and pressures >25 bar, and the resulting H2 is carbonized beyond tolerance levels for direct use in fuel cells. Here, we demonstrate ambient temperature and pressure alcohol reforming in a fuel cell (ARFC) with a simultaneous electrical power output. The alcohol is oxidized at the alkaline anode, where the resulting CO2 is sequestrated as carbonate. Carbon-free H2 is liberated at the acidic cathode. The neutralization energy between the alkaline anode and the acidic cathode drives the process, particularly the unusually high entropy gain (1.27-fold ΔH). The significantly positive temperature coefficient of the resulting electromotive force allows us to harvest a large fraction of the output energy from the surrounding, achieving a thermodynamic efficiency as high as 2.27. MoS2 as the cathode catalyst allows alcohol reforming even under open-air conditions, a challenge that state-of-the-art alcohol reforming failed to overcome. We further show reforming of a wide range of alcohols. The ARFC offers an unprecedented route toward hydrogen economy as CO2 is simultaneously captured and pure H2 produced at mild conditions.}, author = {Manzoor Bhat, Zahid Manzoor and Thimmappa, Ravikumar and Dargily, Neethu Christudas and Raafik, Abdul and Kottaichamy, Alagar Raja and Devendrachari, Mruthyunjayachari Chattanahalli and Itagi, Mahesh and Makri Nimbegondi Kotresh, Harish and Freunberger, Stefan Alexander and Ottakam Thotiyl, Musthafa }, issn = {2168-0485}, journal = {ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering}, number = {8}, pages = {3104--3111}, publisher = {American Chemical Society}, title = {{Ambient condition alcohol reforming to hydrogen with electricity output}}, doi = {10.1021/acssuschemeng.0c07547}, volume = {9}, year = {2021}, } @article{9118, abstract = {Cesium lead halides have intrinsically unstable crystal lattices and easily transform within perovskite and nonperovskite structures. In this work, we explore the conversion of the perovskite CsPbBr3 into Cs4PbBr6 in the presence of PbS at 450 °C to produce doped nanocrystal-based composites with embedded Cs4PbBr6 nanoprecipitates. We show that PbBr2 is extracted from CsPbBr3 and diffuses into the PbS lattice with a consequent increase in the concentration of free charge carriers. This new doping strategy enables the adjustment of the density of charge carriers between 1019 and 1020 cm–3, and it may serve as a general strategy for doping other nanocrystal-based semiconductors.}, author = {Calcabrini, Mariano and Genc, Aziz and Liu, Yu and Kleinhanns, Tobias and Lee, Seungho and Dirin, Dmitry N. and Akkerman, Quinten A. and Kovalenko, Maksym V. and Arbiol, Jordi and Ibáñez, Maria}, issn = {2380-8195}, journal = {ACS Energy Letters}, number = {2}, pages = {581--587}, publisher = {American Chemical Society}, title = {{Exploiting the lability of metal halide perovskites for doping semiconductor nanocomposites}}, doi = {10.1021/acsenergylett.0c02448}, volume = {6}, year = {2021}, } @article{9119, abstract = {We present DILS, a deployable statistical analysis platform for conducting demographic inferences with linked selection from population genomic data using an Approximate Bayesian Computation framework. DILS takes as input single‐population or two‐population data sets (multilocus fasta sequences) and performs three types of analyses in a hierarchical manner, identifying: (a) the best demographic model to study the importance of gene flow and population size change on the genetic patterns of polymorphism and divergence, (b) the best genomic model to determine whether the effective size Ne and migration rate N, m are heterogeneously distributed along the genome (implying linked selection) and (c) loci in genomic regions most associated with barriers to gene flow. Also available via a Web interface, an objective of DILS is to facilitate collaborative research in speciation genomics. Here, we show the performance and limitations of DILS by using simulations and finally apply the method to published data on a divergence continuum composed by 28 pairs of Mytilus mussel populations/species.}, author = {Fraisse, Christelle and Popovic, Iva and Mazoyer, Clément and Spataro, Bruno and Delmotte, Stéphane and Romiguier, Jonathan and Loire, Étienne and Simon, Alexis and Galtier, Nicolas and Duret, Laurent and Bierne, Nicolas and Vekemans, Xavier and Roux, Camille}, issn = {17550998}, journal = {Molecular Ecology Resources}, pages = {2629--2644}, publisher = {Wiley}, title = {{DILS: Demographic inferences with linked selection by using ABC}}, doi = {10.1111/1755-0998.13323}, volume = {21}, year = {2021}, } @article{9121, abstract = {We show that the energy gap for the BCS gap equation is Ξ=μ(8e−2+o(1))exp(π2μ−−√a) in the low density limit μ→0. Together with the similar result for the critical temperature by Hainzl and Seiringer (Lett Math Phys 84: 99–107, 2008), this shows that, in the low density limit, the ratio of the energy gap and critical temperature is a universal constant independent of the interaction potential V. The results hold for a class of potentials with negative scattering length a and no bound states.}, author = {Lauritsen, Asbjørn Bækgaard}, issn = {1573-0530}, journal = {Letters in Mathematical Physics}, keywords = {Mathematical Physics, Statistical and Nonlinear Physics}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{The BCS energy gap at low density}}, doi = {10.1007/s11005-021-01358-5}, volume = {111}, year = {2021}, } @article{9158, abstract = {While several tools have been developed to study the ground state of many-body quantum spin systems, the limitations of existing techniques call for the exploration of new approaches. In this manuscript we develop an alternative analytical and numerical framework for many-body quantum spin ground states, based on the disentanglement formalism. In this approach, observables are exactly expressed as Gaussian-weighted functional integrals over scalar fields. We identify the leading contribution to these integrals, given by the saddle point of a suitable effective action. Analytically, we develop a field-theoretical expansion of the functional integrals, performed by means of appropriate Feynman rules. The expansion can be truncated to a desired order to obtain analytical approximations to observables. Numerically, we show that the disentanglement approach can be used to compute ground state expectation values from classical stochastic processes. While the associated fluctuations grow exponentially with imaginary time and the system size, this growth can be mitigated by means of an importance sampling scheme based on knowledge of the saddle point configuration. We illustrate the advantages and limitations of our methods by considering the quantum Ising model in 1, 2 and 3 spatial dimensions. Our analytical and numerical approaches are applicable to a broad class of systems, bridging concepts from quantum lattice models, continuum field theory, and classical stochastic processes.}, author = {De Nicola, Stefano}, issn = {1742-5468}, journal = {Journal of Statistical Mechanics: Theory and Experiment}, keywords = {Statistics, Probability and Uncertainty, Statistics and Probability, Statistical and Nonlinear Physics}, number = {1}, publisher = {IOP Publishing}, title = {{Disentanglement approach to quantum spin ground states: Field theory and stochastic simulation}}, doi = {10.1088/1742-5468/abc7c7}, volume = {2021}, year = {2021}, } @article{9168, abstract = {Interspecific crossing experiments have shown that sex chromosomes play a major role in reproductive isolation between many pairs of species. However, their ability to act as reproductive barriers, which hamper interspecific genetic exchange, has rarely been evaluated quantitatively compared to Autosomes. This genome-wide limitation of gene flow is essential for understanding the complete separation of species, and thus speciation. Here, we develop a mainland-island model of secondary contact between hybridizing species of an XY (or ZW) sexual system. We obtain theoretical predictions for the frequency of introgressed alleles, and the strength of the barrier to neutral gene flow for the two types of chromosomes carrying multiple interspecific barrier loci. Theoretical predictions are obtained for scenarios where introgressed alleles are rare. We show that the same analytical expressions apply for sex chromosomes and autosomes, but with different sex-averaged effective parameters. The specific features of sex chromosomes (hemizygosity and absence of recombination in the heterogametic sex) lead to reduced levels of introgression on the X (or Z) compared to autosomes. This effect can be enhanced by certain types of sex-biased forces, but it remains overall small (except when alleles causing incompatibilities are recessive). We discuss these predictions in the light of empirical data comprising model-based tests of introgression and cline surveys in various biological systems.}, author = {Fraisse, Christelle and Sachdeva, Himani}, issn = {1943-2631}, journal = {Genetics}, number = {2}, publisher = {Genetics Society of America}, title = {{The rates of introgression and barriers to genetic exchange between hybridizing species: Sex chromosomes vs autosomes}}, doi = {10.1093/genetics/iyaa025}, volume = {217}, year = {2021}, } @article{9173, abstract = {We show that Hilbert schemes of points on supersingular Enriques surface in characteristic 2, Hilbn(X), for n ≥ 2 are simply connected, symplectic varieties but are not irreducible symplectic as the hodge number h2,0 > 1, even though a supersingular Enriques surface is an irreducible symplectic variety. These are the classes of varieties which appear only in characteristic 2 and they show that the hodge number formula for G¨ottsche-Soergel does not hold over haracteristic 2. It also gives examples of varieties with trivial canonical class which are neither irreducible symplectic nor Calabi-Yau, thereby showing that there are strictly more classes of simply connected varieties with trivial canonical class in characteristic 2 than over C as given by Beauville-Bogolomov decomposition theorem.}, author = {Srivastava, Tanya K}, issn = {0007-4497}, journal = {Bulletin des Sciences Mathematiques}, number = {03}, publisher = {Elsevier}, title = {{Pathologies of the Hilbert scheme of points of a supersingular Enriques surface}}, doi = {10.1016/j.bulsci.2021.102957}, volume = {167}, year = {2021}, } @article{9188, abstract = {Genomic imprinting is an epigenetic mechanism that results in parental allele-specific expression of ~1% of all genes in mouse and human. Imprinted genes are key developmental regulators and play pivotal roles in many biological processes such as nutrient transfer from the mother to offspring and neuronal development. Imprinted genes are also involved in human disease, including neurodevelopmental disorders, and often occur in clusters that are regulated by a common imprint control region (ICR). In extra-embryonic tissues ICRs can act over large distances, with the largest surrounding Igf2r spanning over 10 million base-pairs. Besides classical imprinted expression that shows near exclusive maternal or paternal expression, widespread biased imprinted expression has been identified mainly in brain. In this review we discuss recent developments mapping cell type specific imprinted expression in extra-embryonic tissues and neocortex in the mouse. We highlight the advantages of using an inducible uniparental chromosome disomy (UPD) system to generate cells carrying either two maternal or two paternal copies of a specific chromosome to analyze the functional consequences of genomic imprinting. Mosaic Analysis with Double Markers (MADM) allows fluorescent labeling and concomitant induction of UPD sparsely in specific cell types, and thus to over-express or suppress all imprinted genes on that chromosome. To illustrate the utility of this technique, we explain how MADM-induced UPD revealed new insights about the function of the well-studied Cdkn1c imprinted gene, and how MADM-induced UPDs led to identification of highly cell type specific phenotypes related to perturbed imprinted expression in the mouse neocortex. Finally, we give an outlook on how MADM could be used to probe cell type specific imprinted expression in other tissues in mouse, particularly in extra-embryonic tissues.}, author = {Pauler, Florian and Hudson, Quanah and Laukoter, Susanne and Hippenmeyer, Simon}, issn = {0197-0186}, journal = {Neurochemistry International}, keywords = {Cell Biology, Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience}, number = {5}, publisher = {Elsevier}, title = {{Inducible uniparental chromosome disomy to probe genomic imprinting at single-cell level in brain and beyond}}, doi = {10.1016/j.neuint.2021.104986}, volume = {145}, year = {2021}, } @article{9189, abstract = {Transposable elements exist widely throughout plant genomes and play important roles in plant evolution. Auxin is an important regulator that is traditionally associated with root development and drought stress adaptation. The DEEPER ROOTING 1 (DRO1) gene is a key component of rice drought avoidance. Here, we identified a transposon that acts as an autonomous auxin‐responsive promoter and its presence at specific genome positions conveys physiological adaptations related to drought avoidance. Rice varieties with high and auxin‐mediated transcription of DRO1 in the root tip show deeper and longer root phenotypes and are thus better adapted to drought. The INDITTO2 transposon contains an auxin response element and displays auxin‐responsive promoter activity; it is thus able to convey auxin regulation of transcription to genes in its proximity. In the rice Acuce, which displays DRO1‐mediated drought adaptation, the INDITTO2 transposon was found to be inserted at the promoter region of the DRO1 locus. Transgenesis‐based insertion of the INDITTO2 transposon into the DRO1 promoter of the non‐adapted rice variety Nipponbare was sufficient to promote its drought avoidance. Our data identify an example of how transposons can act as promoters and convey hormonal regulation to nearby loci, improving plant fitness in response to different abiotic stresses.}, author = {Zhao, Y and Wu, L and Fu, Q and Wang, D and Li, J and Yao, B and Yu, S and Jiang, L and Qian, J and Zhou, X and Han, L and Zhao, S and Ma, C and Zhang, Y and Luo, C and Dong, Q and Li, S and Zhang, L and Jiang, X and Li, Y and Luo, H and Li, K and Yang, J and Luo, Q and Li, L and Peng, S and Huang, H and Zuo, Z and Liu, C and Wang, L and Li, C and He, X and Friml, Jiří and Du, Y}, issn = {1365-3040}, journal = {Plant, Cell & Environment}, number = {6}, pages = {1846--1857}, publisher = {Wiley}, title = {{INDITTO2 transposon conveys auxin-mediated DRO1 transcription for rice drought avoidance}}, doi = {10.1111/pce.14029}, volume = {44}, year = {2021}, } @misc{9192, abstract = {Here are the research data underlying the publication " Effects of fine-scale population structure on inbreeding in a long-term study of snapdragons (Antirrhinum majus)." Further information are summed up in the README document.}, author = {Surendranadh, Parvathy and Arathoon, Louise S and Baskett, Carina and Field, David and Pickup, Melinda and Barton, Nicholas H}, publisher = {Institute of Science and Technology Austria}, title = {{Effects of fine-scale population structure on the distribution of heterozygosity in a long-term study of Antirrhinum majus}}, doi = {10.15479/AT:ISTA:9192}, year = {2021}, } @inproceedings{9200, abstract = {Formal design of embedded and cyber-physical systems relies on mathematical modeling. In this paper, we consider the model class of hybrid automata whose dynamics are defined by affine differential equations. Given a set of time-series data, we present an algorithmic approach to synthesize a hybrid automaton exhibiting behavior that is close to the data, up to a specified precision, and changes in synchrony with the data. A fundamental problem in our synthesis algorithm is to check membership of a time series in a hybrid automaton. Our solution integrates reachability and optimization techniques for affine dynamical systems to obtain both a sufficient and a necessary condition for membership, combined in a refinement framework. The algorithm processes one time series at a time and hence can be interrupted, provide an intermediate result, and be resumed. We report experimental results demonstrating the applicability of our synthesis approach.}, author = {Garcia Soto, Miriam and Henzinger, Thomas A and Schilling, Christian}, booktitle = {HSCC '21: Proceedings of the 24th International Conference on Hybrid Systems: Computation and Control}, isbn = {9781450383394}, keywords = {hybrid automaton, membership, system identification}, location = {Nashville, TN, United States}, pages = {2102.12734}, publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery}, title = {{Synthesis of hybrid automata with affine dynamics from time-series data}}, doi = {10.1145/3447928.3456704}, year = {2021}, } @article{9205, abstract = {Cryo-EM grid preparation is an important bottleneck in protein structure determination, especially for membrane proteins, typically requiring screening of a large number of conditions. We systematically investigated the effects of buffer components, blotting conditions and grid types on the outcome of grid preparation of five different membrane protein samples. Aggregation was the most common type of problem which was addressed by changing detergents, salt concentration or reconstitution of proteins into nanodiscs or amphipols. We show that the optimal concentration of detergent is between 0.05 and 0.4% and that the presence of a low concentration of detergent with a high critical micellar concentration protects the proteins from denaturation at the air-water interface. Furthermore, we discuss the strategies for achieving an adequate ice thickness, particle coverage and orientation distribution on free ice and on support films. Our findings provide a clear roadmap for comprehensive screening of conditions for cryo-EM grid preparation of membrane proteins.}, author = {Kampjut, Domen and Steiner, Julia and Sazanov, Leonid A}, issn = {25890042}, journal = {iScience}, number = {3}, publisher = {Elsevier}, title = {{Cryo-EM grid optimization for membrane proteins}}, doi = {10.1016/j.isci.2021.102139}, volume = {24}, year = {2021}, } @article{9206, abstract = {The precise engineering of thermoelectric materials using nanocrystals as their building blocks has proven to be an excellent strategy to increase energy conversion efficiency. Here we present a synthetic route to produce Sb-doped PbS colloidal nanoparticles. These nanoparticles are then consolidated into nanocrystalline PbS:Sb using spark plasma sintering. We demonstrate that the introduction of Sb significantly influences the size, geometry, crystal lattice and especially the carrier concentration of PbS. The increase of charge carrier concentration achieved with the introduction of Sb translates into an increase of the electrical and thermal conductivities and a decrease of the Seebeck coefficient. Overall, PbS:Sb nanomaterial were characterized by two-fold higher thermoelectric figures of merit than undoped PbS. }, author = {Cadavid, Doris and Wei, Kaya and Liu, Yu and Zhang, Yu and Li, Mengyao and Genç, Aziz and Berestok, Taisiia and Ibáñez, Maria and Shavel, Alexey and Nolas, George S. and Cabot, Andreu}, issn = {1996-1944}, journal = {Materials}, number = {4}, publisher = {MDPI}, title = {{Synthesis, bottom up assembly and thermoelectric properties of Sb-doped PbS nanocrystal building blocks}}, doi = {10.3390/ma14040853}, volume = {14}, year = {2021}, } @article{9207, abstract = {In this paper we experimentally study the transitional range of Reynolds numbers in plane Couette–Poiseuille flow, focusing our attention on the localized turbulent structures triggered by a strong impulsive jet and the large-scale flow generated around these structures. We present a detailed investigation of the large-scale flow and show how its amplitude depends on Reynolds number and amplitude perturbation. In addition, we characterize the initial dynamics of the localized turbulent spot, which includes the coupling between the small and large scales, as well as the dependence of the advection speed on the large-scale flow generated around the spot. Finally, we provide the first experimental measurements of the large-scale flow around an oblique turbulent band.}, author = {Klotz, Lukasz and Pavlenko, A. M. and Wesfreid, J. E.}, issn = {1469-7645}, journal = {Journal of Fluid Mechanics}, publisher = {Cambridge University Press}, title = {{Experimental measurements in plane Couette-Poiseuille flow: Dynamics of the large- and small-scale flow}}, doi = {10.1017/jfm.2020.1089}, volume = {912}, year = {2021}, } @inproceedings{9210, abstract = {Modern neural networks can easily fit their training set perfectly. Surprisingly, despite being “overfit” in this way, they tend to generalize well to future data, thereby defying the classic bias–variance trade-off of machine learning theory. Of the many possible explanations, a prevalent one is that training by stochastic gradient descent (SGD) imposes an implicit bias that leads it to learn simple functions, and these simple functions generalize well. However, the specifics of this implicit bias are not well understood. In this work, we explore the smoothness conjecture which states that SGD is implicitly biased towards learning functions that are smooth. We propose several measures to formalize the intuitive notion of smoothness, and we conduct experiments to determine whether SGD indeed implicitly optimizes for these measures. Our findings rule out the possibility that smoothness measures based on first-order derivatives are being implicitly enforced. They are supportive, though, of the smoothness conjecture for measures based on second-order derivatives.}, author = {Volhejn, Vaclav and Lampert, Christoph}, booktitle = {42nd German Conference on Pattern Recognition}, isbn = {9783030712778}, issn = {1611-3349}, location = {Tübingen, Germany}, pages = {246--259}, publisher = {Springer}, title = {{Does SGD implicitly optimize for smoothness?}}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-030-71278-5_18}, volume = {12544}, year = {2021}, } @article{9212, abstract = {Plant fitness is largely dependent on the root, the underground organ, which, besides its anchoring function, supplies the plant body with water and all nutrients necessary for growth and development. To exploit the soil effectively, roots must constantly integrate environmental signals and react through adjustment of growth and development. Important components of the root management strategy involve a rapid modulation of the root growth kinetics and growth direction, as well as an increase of the root system radius through formation of lateral roots (LRs). At the molecular level, such a fascinating growth and developmental flexibility of root organ requires regulatory networks that guarantee stability of the developmental program but also allows integration of various environmental inputs. The plant hormone auxin is one of the principal endogenous regulators of root system architecture by controlling primary root growth and formation of LR. In this review, we discuss recent progress in understanding molecular networks where auxin is one of the main players shaping the root system and acting as mediator between endogenous cues and environmental factors.}, author = {Cavallari, Nicola and Artner, Christina and Benková, Eva}, issn = {1943-0264}, journal = {Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology}, number = {7}, publisher = {Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press}, title = {{Auxin-regulated lateral root organogenesis}}, doi = {10.1101/cshperspect.a039941}, volume = {13}, year = {2021}, } @article{9224, abstract = {We re-examine attempts to study the many-body localization transition using measures that are physically natural on the ergodic/quantum chaotic regime of the phase diagram. Using simple scaling arguments and an analysis of various models for which rigorous results are available, we find that these measures can be particularly adversely affected by the strong finite-size effects observed in nearly all numerical studies of many-body localization. This severely impacts their utility in probing the transition and the localized phase. In light of this analysis, we discuss a recent study (Šuntajs et al., 2020) of the behaviour of the Thouless energy and level repulsion in disordered spin chains, and its implications for the question of whether MBL is a true phase of matter.}, author = {Abanin, D. A. and Bardarson, J. H. and De Tomasi, G. and Gopalakrishnan, S. and Khemani, V. and Parameswaran, S. A. and Pollmann, F. and Potter, A. C. and Serbyn, Maksym and Vasseur, R.}, issn = {1096035X}, journal = {Annals of Physics}, number = {4}, publisher = {Elsevier}, title = {{Distinguishing localization from chaos: Challenges in finite-size systems}}, doi = {10.1016/j.aop.2021.168415}, volume = {427}, year = {2021}, } @article{9225, abstract = {The Landau–Pekar equations describe the dynamics of a strongly coupled polaron. Here, we provide a class of initial data for which the associated effective Hamiltonian has a uniform spectral gap for all times. For such initial data, this allows us to extend the results on the adiabatic theorem for the Landau–Pekar equations and their derivation from the Fröhlich model obtained in previous works to larger times.}, author = {Feliciangeli, Dario and Rademacher, Simone Anna Elvira and Seiringer, Robert}, issn = {15730530}, journal = {Letters in Mathematical Physics}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{Persistence of the spectral gap for the Landau–Pekar equations}}, doi = {10.1007/s11005-020-01350-5}, volume = {111}, year = {2021}, }