arXiv subjects

Xin Zhang

Publications and source records attributed to Xin Zhang.

At least 1,189 records · Page 66Linked to original sources

arXiv2015

Parsimonious Tensor Response Regression

Aiming at abundant scientific and engineering data with not only high dimensionality but also complex structure, we study the regression problem with a multidimensional array (tensor) response and a vector predictor. Applications include, among others, comparing tensor images across groups after adjusting for additional covariates, which is of central interest in neuroimaging analysis. We propose parsimonious tensor response regression adopting a generalized sparsity principle. It models all voxels of the tensor response jointly, while accounting for the inherent structural information among the voxels. It effectively reduces the number of free parameters, leading to feasible computation and improved interpretation. We achieve model estimation through a nascent technique called the envelope method, which identifies the immaterial information and focuses the estimation based upon the material information in the tensor response. We demonstrate that the resulting estimator is asymptotically efficient, and it enjoys a competitive finite sample performance. We also illustrate the new method on two real neuroimaging studies.

stat.ME↗

arXiv2015

Algebraic structure of the two-qubit quantum Rabi model and its solvability using Bogoliubov operators

We have found the algebraic structure of the two-qubit quantum Rabi model behind the possibility of its novel quasi-exact solutions with finite photon numbers by analyzing the Hamiltonian in the photon number space. The quasi-exact eigenstates with at most $1$ photon exist in the whole qubit-photon coupling regime with constant eigenenergy equal to single photon energy \hbarω, which can be clear demonstrated from the Hamiltonian structure. With similar method, we find these special "dark states"-like eigenstates commonly exist for the two-qubit Jaynes-Cummings model, with $E=N\hbarω$ (N=-1,0,1,...), and one of them is also the eigenstate of the two-qubit quantum Rabi model, which may provide some interesting application in a simper way. Besides, using Bogoliubov operators, we analytically retrieve the solution of the general two-qubit quantum Rabi model. In this more concise and physical way, without using Bargmann space, we clearly see how the eigenvalues of the infinite-dimensional two-qubit quantum Rabi Hamiltonian are determined by convergent power series, so that the solution can reach arbitrary accuracy reasonably because of the convergence property.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2014

Sterile neutrinos help reconcile the observational results of primordial gravitational waves from Planck and BICEP2

We show that involving a sterile neutrino species in the $Λ$CDM+$r$ model can help relieve the tension about the tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$ between the Planck temperature data and the BICEP2 B-mode polarization data. Such a model is called the $Λ$CDM+$r$+$ν_s$ model in this paper. Compared to the $Λ$CDM+$r$ model, there are two extra parameters, $N_{\rm eff}$ and $m_{ν,{\rm sterile}}^{\rm eff}$, in the $Λ$CDM+$r$+$ν_s$ model. We show that in this model the tension between Planck and BICEP2 can be greatly relieved at the cost of the increase of $n_s$. However, comparing with the $Λ$CDM+$r$+$dn_s/d\ln k$ model that can significantly reduce the tension between Planck and BICEP2 but also makes trouble to inflation due to the large running of the spectral index of order $10^{-2}$ produced, the $Λ$CDM+$r$+$ν_s$ model is much better for inflation. By including a sterile neutrino species in the standard cosmology, besides the tension with BICEP2, the other tensions of Planck with other astrophysical data, such as the $H_0$ direct measurement, the Sunyaev-Zeldovich cluster counts, and the galaxy shear data, can all be significantly relieved. So, this model seems to be an economical choice. Combining the Planck temperature data, the WMAP-9 polarization data, and the baryon acoustic oscillation data with all these astrophysical data (including BICEP2), we find that in the $Λ$CDM+$r$+$ν_s$ model $n_s=0.999\pm 0.011$, $r=0.21^{+0.04}_{-0.05}$, $N_{\rm eff}=3.95\pm 0.33$ and $m_{ν,{\rm sterile}}^{\rm eff}=0.51^{+0.12}_{-0.13}$ eV. Thus, our results prefer $ΔN_{\rm eff}>0$ at the 2.7$σ$ level and a nonzero mass of sterile neutrino at the 3.9$σ$ level.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2014

Exploring the full parameter space for an interacting dark energy model with recent observations including redshift-space distortions: Application of the parametrized post-Friedmann approach

Dark energy can modify the dynamics of dark matter if there exists a direct interaction between them. Thus a measurement of the structure growth, e.g., redshift-space distortions (RSD), can provide a powerful tool to constrain the interacting dark energy (IDE) models. For the widely studied $Q=3βHρ_{de}$ model, previous works showed that only a very small coupling ($β\sim\mathcal{O}(10^{-3})$) can survive in current RSD data. However, all these analyses had to assume $w>-1$ and $β>0$ due to the existence of the large-scale instability in the IDE scenario. In our recent work [Phys. Rev. D 90, 063005 (2014)], we successfully solved this large-scale instability problem by establishing a parametrized post-Friedmann (PPF) framework for the IDE scenario. So we, for the first time, have the ability to explore the full parameter space of the IDE models. In this work, we reexamine the observational constraints on the $Q=3βHρ_{de}$ model within the PPF framework. By using the Planck data, the baryon acoustic oscillation data, the JLA sample of supernovae, and the Hubble constant measurement, we get $β=-0.010^{+0.037}_{-0.033}$ ($1σ$). The fit result becomes $β=-0.0148^{+0.0100}_{-0.0089}$ ($1σ$) once we further incorporate the RSD data in the analysis. The error of $β$ is substantially reduced with the help of the RSD data. Compared with the previous results, our results show that a negative $β$ is favored by current observations, and a relatively larger interaction rate is permitted by current RSD data.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2014

Revisit of constraints on holographic dark energy: SNLS3 dataset with the effects of time-varying $β$ and different light-curve fitters

Previous studies have shown that for the Supernova Legacy Survey three-year (SNLS3) data there is strong evidence for the redshift-evolution of color-luminosity parameter $β$ of type Ia supernovae (SN Ia). In this paper, we explore the effects of varying $β$ on the cosmological constraints of holographic dark energy (HDE) model. In addition to the SNLS3 data, we also use Planck distance prior data of cosmic microwave background (CMB), as well as galaxy clustering (GC) data extracted from Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) data release 7 and Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS). We find that, for the both cases of using SN data alone and using SN+CMB+GC data, involving an additional parameter of $β$ can reduce $χ^2$ by $\sim$ 36; this shows that $β$ deviates from a constant at 6$σ$ confidence levels. Adopting SN+CMB+GC data, we find that compared to the constant $β$ case, varying $β$ yields a larger fractional matter density $Ω_{m0}$ and a smaller reduced Hubble constant $h$; moreover, varying $β$ significantly increases the value of HDE model parameter $c$, leading to $c\approx 0.8$, consistent with the constraint results obtained before Planck. These results indicate that the evolution of $β$ should be taken into account seriously in the cosmological fits. In addition, we find that relative to the differences between the constant $β$ and varying $β(z)$ cases, the effects of different light-curve fitters on parameter estimation are very small.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2014

Parameter estimation with Sandage-Loeb test

The Sandage-Loeb (SL) test directly measures the expansion rate of the universe in the redshift range of $2\lesssim z\lesssim 5$ by detecting redshift drift in the spectra of Lyman-$α$ forest of distant quasars. We discuss the impact of the future SL test data on parameter estimation for the $Λ$CDM, the $w$CDM, and the $w_0w_a$CDM models. To avoid the potential inconsistency with other observational data, we take the best-fitting dark energy model constrained by the current observations as the fiducial model to produce 30 mock SL test data. The SL test data provide an important supplement to the other dark energy probes, since they are extremely helpful in breaking the existing parameter degeneracies. We show that the strong degeneracy between $Ω_m$ and $H_0$ in all the three dark energy models is well broken by the SL test. Compared to the current combined data of type Ia supernovae, baryon acoustic oscillation, cosmic microwave background, and Hubble constant, the 30-yr observation of SL test could improve the constraints on $Ω_m$ and $H_0$ by more than 60\% for all the three models. But the SL test can only moderately improve the constraint on the equation of state of dark energy. We show that a 30-yr observation of SL test could help improve the constraint on constant $w$ by about 25\%, and improve the constraints on $w_0$ and $w_a$ by about 20\% and 15\%, respectively. We also quantify the constraining power of the SL test in the future high-precision joint geometric constraints on dark energy. The mock future supernova and baryon acoustic oscillation data are simulated based on the space-based project JDEM. We find that the 30-yr observation of SL test would help improve the measurement precision of $Ω_m$, $H_0$, and $w_a$ by more than 70\%, 20\%, and 60\%, respectively, for the $w_0w_a$CDM model.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2014

ARPES insights on the metallic states of YbB6(001): E(k) dispersion, temporal changes and spatial variation

We report high resolution Angle Resolved PhotoElectron Spectroscopy (ARPES) results on the (001) cleavage surface of YbB$_{6}$, a rare-earth compound which has been recently predicted to host surface electronic states with topological character. We observe two types of well-resolved metallic states, whose Fermi contours encircle the time-reversal invariant momenta of the YbB$_{6}$(001) surface Brillouin zone, and whose full (E,$k$)-dispersion relation can be measured wholly unmasked by states from the rest of the electronic structure. Although the two-dimensional character of these metallic states is confirmed by their lack of out-of-plane dispersion, two new aspects are revealed in these experiments. Firstly, these states do not resemble two branches of opposite, linear velocity that cross at a Dirac point, but rather straightforward parabolas which terminate to high binding energy with a clear band bottom. Secondly, these states are sensitive to time-dependent changes of the YbB$_{6}$ surface under ultrahigh vacuum conditions. Adding the fact that these data from cleaved YbB$_{6}$ surfaces also display spatial variations in the electronic structure, it appears there is little in common between the theoretical expectations for an idealized YbB$_{6}$(001) crystal truncation on the one hand, and these ARPES data from real cleavage surfaces on the other.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2014

Revisiting the holographic dark energy in a non-flat universe: alternative model and cosmological parameter constraints

We propose an alternative model for the holographic dark energy in a non-flat universe. This new model differs from the previous one in that the IR length cutoff $L$ is taken to be exactly the event horizon size in a non-flat universe, which is more natural and theoretically/conceptually concordant with the model of holographic dark energy in a flat universe. We constrain the model using the recent observational data including the type Ia supernova data from SNLS3, the baryon acoustic oscillation data from 6dF, SDSS-DR7, BOSS-DR11, and WiggleZ, the cosmic microwave background data from Planck, and the Hubble constant measurement from HST. In particular, since some previous studies have shown that the color-luminosity parameter $β$ of supernovae is likely to vary during the cosmic evolution, we also consider such a case that $β$ in SNLS3 is time-varying in our data fitting. Compared to the constant $β$ case, the time-varying $β$ case reduces the value of $χ^2$ by about 35 and results in that $β$ deviates from a constant at about 5$σ$ level, well consistent with the previous studies. For the parameter $c$ of the holographic dark energy, the constant $β$ fit gives $c=0.65\pm 0.05$ and the time-varying $β$ fit yields $c=0.72\pm 0.06$. In addition, an open universe is favored (at about 2$σ$) for the model by the current data.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2014

An embryo of protocell membrane: The capsule of graphene oxide

Many signs indicate that the graphene could widely occur on the early Earth. Here, we report a new theory that graphene might be an embryo of protocell membrane, and found several evidences. Firstly, the graphene oxide and phospholipid-graphene oxide composite would curl into capsules in strongly acidic saturated solution of Pb(NO3)2 at low temperature, providing a protective space for biochemical reactions. Secondly, L-animi acids exhibit higher reactivity than D-animi acids for graphene oxides in favor of the formation of left-handed proteins. Thirdly, monolayer graphene with nanopores prepared by unfocused 84Kr25+ has high selectivity for permeation of the monovalent metal ions (Rb+ > K+ > Cs+ > Na+ > Li+), but does not allow Cl- through, which could be attributed to the ion exchange of oxygen-containing groups on the rim of nanopores. It is similar to K+ channels, which would cause efflux of some ions from capsule of graphene oxides with the decrease of pH in the primitive ocean, creating a suitable inner condition for the origin of life. Consequently, the strongly acidic, high salinity and strong radiation as well as temperature changes in the early Earth, regarded as negative factors, would be indispensable for the origin of protocell. In short, graphene bred life, but digested gradually by the evolution.

q-bio.PE↗

arXiv2014

Effects of time-varying $β$ in SNLS3 on constraining interacting dark energy models

It has been found that, for the Supernova Legacy Survey three-year (SNLS3) data, there is strong evidence for the redshift-evolution of color-luminosity parameter $β$. In this paper, adopting the $w$-cold-dark-matter ($w$CDM) model and considering its interacting extensions (with three kinds of interaction between dark sectors), we explore the evolution of $β$ and its effects on parameter estimation. In addition to the SNLS3 data, we also take into account the Planck distance priors data of the cosmic microwave background (CMB), the galaxy clustering (GC) data extracted from SDSS DR7 and BOSS, as well as the direct measurement of Hubble constant from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observation. We find that, for all the interacting dark energy (IDE) models, adding a parameter of $β$ can reduce $χ^2$ by $\sim$ 34, indicating that $β_1 = 0$ is ruled out at 5.8$σ$ confidence level (CL). Furthermore, it is found that varying $β$ can significantly change the fitting results of various cosmological parameters: for all the dark energy models considered in this paper, varying $β$ yields a larger $Ω_{c0}$ and a larger $w$; on the other side, varying $β$ yields a smaller $h$ for the $w$CDM model, but has no impact on $h$ for the three IDE models. This implies that there is a degeneracy between $h$ and $γ$. Our work shows that the evolution of $β$ is insensitive to the interaction between dark sectors, and then highlights the importance of considering $β$'s evolution in the cosmology fits.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2014

Measuring growth index in a universe with sterile neutrinos

Consistency tests for the general relativity (GR) can be performed by constraining the growth index $γ$ using the measurements of redshift-space distortions (RSD) in conjunction with other observations. In previous studies, deviations from the GR expected value of $γ\approx 0.55$ at the 2--3$σ$ level were found. In this work, we reconsider the measurement of $γ$ in a universe with sterile neutrinos. We constrain the sterile neutrino cosmological model using the RSD measurements combined with the cosmic microwave background data (Planck temperature data plus WMAP 9-yr polarization data), the baryon acoustic oscillation data, the Hubble constant direct measurement, the Planck Sunyaev-Zeldovich cluster counts data, and the galaxy shear data. We obtain the constraint result of the growth index, $γ=0.584^{+0.047}_{-0.048}$, well consistent with the GR expected value (the consistency is at the 0.6$σ$ level). For the parameters of sterile neutrino, we obtain $N_{\rm{eff}}=3.62^{+0.26}_{-0.42}$ and $m_{ν,{\rm{sterile}}}^{\rm{eff}}=0.48^{+0.11}_{-0.14}$ eV. We also consider the BICEP2 data and perform an analysis on the model with tensor modes. Similar fit results are obtained, showing that once light sterile neutrino is considered in the universe, GR will become well consistent with the current observations.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2014

Neutrinos and dark energy after Planck and BICEP2: data consistency tests and cosmological parameter constraints

The detection of the B-mode polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) by the BICEP2 experiment implies that the tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$ should be involved in the base standard cosmology. In this paper, we extend the $Λ$CDM+$r$+neutrino/dark radiation models by replacing the cosmological constant with the dynamical dark energy with constant $w$. Four neutrino plus dark energy models are considered, i.e., the $w$CDM+$r+\sum m_ν$, $w$CDM+r + $N_{\rm eff}$, $w$CDM+r + $\sum m_ν$ + $N_{\rm eff}$, and $w$CDM+r + $N_{\rm eff}$ + $m_{ν,{\rm sterile}}^{\rm eff}$ models. The current observational data considered in this paper include the Planck temperature data, the WMAP 9-year polarization data, the baryon acoustic oscillation data, the Hubble constant direct measurement data, the Planck Sunyaev-Zeldovich cluster counts data, the Planck CMB lensing data, the cosmic shear data, and the BICEP2 polarization data. We test the data consistency in the four cosmological models, and then combine the consistent data sets to perform joint constraints on the models. We focus on the constraints on the parameters $w$, $\sum m_ν$, $N_{\rm eff}$, and $m_{ν,{\rm sterile}}^{\rm eff}$.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2014

Diagnosing holographic dark energy models with statefinder hierarchy

We apply a series of null diagnostics based on the statefinder hierarchy to diagnose different holographic dark energy models including the original holographic dark energy, the new holographic dark energy, the new agegraphic dark energy, and the Ricci dark energy models. We plot the curves of statefinders $S^{(1)}_3$ and $S^{(1)}_4$ versus redshift $z$ and the evolutionary trajectories of $\{S^{(1)}_3, ε\}$ and $\{S^{(1)}_4, ε\}$ for these models, where $ε$ is the fractional growth parameter. Combining the evolution curves with the current values of $S^{(1)}_3$, $S^{(1)}_4$, and $ε$, we find that the statefinder $S^{(1)}_4$ performs better than $S^{(1)}_3$ for diagnosing the holographic dark energy models. In addition, the conjunction of the statefinder hierarchy and the fractional growth parameter is proven to be a useful method to diagnose the holographic dark energy models, especially for breaking the degeneracy of the new agegraphic dark energy model with different parameter values.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2014

Parametrized Post-Friedmann Framework for Interacting Dark Energy

Dark energy might directly interact with cold dark matter. However, in such a scenario, an early-time large-scale instability occurs occasionally, which may be due to the incorrect treatment for the pressure perturbation of dark energy as a nonadiabatic fluid. To avoid this nonphysical instability, we establish a new framework to correctly calculate the cosmological perturbations in the interacting dark energy models. Inspired by the well-known parametrized post-Friedmann approach, the condition of the dark energy pressure perturbation is replaced with the relationship between the momentum density of dark energy and that of other components on large scales. By reconciling the perturbation evolutions on the large and small scales, one can complete the perturbation equations system. The large-scale instability can be successfully avoided and the well-behaved density and metric perturbations are obtained within this framework. Our test results show that this new framework works very well and is applicable to all the interacting dark energy models.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2014

The Interlayer Shear Modes in Twisted Multi-layer Graphenes: Interlayer coupling, Davydov Splitting and Intensity Resonance

Graphene and other two-dimensional crystals can be combined to form various hybrids and heterostructures, creating materials on demand, in which the interlayer coupling at the interface leads to modified physical properties as compared to their constituents. Here, by measuring Raman spectra of shear modes, we probe the coupling at the interface between two artificially-stacked few-layer graphenes rotated with respect to each other. The strength of interlayer coupling between the two interface layers is found to be only 20% of that between Bernal-stacked layers. Nevertheless, this weak coupling manifests itself in a Davydov splitting of the shear mode frequencies in systems consisting of two equivalent graphene multilayers, and in the intensity enhancement of shear modes due to the optical resonance with several optically allowed electronic transitions between conduction and valence bands in the band structures. This study paves way for fundamental understanding into the interface coupling of two-dimensional hybrids and heterostructures.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2014

Structural Control of Metamaterial Oscillator Strength and Electric Field Enhancement at Terahertz Frequencies

The design of artificial nonlinear materials requires control over the internal resonant charge densities and local electric field distributions. We present a MM design with a structurally controllable oscillator strength and local electric field enhancement at terahertz frequencies. The MM consists of a split ring resonator (SRR) array stacked above an array of nonresonant closed conducting rings. An in-plane, lateral shift of a half unit cell between the SRR and closed ring arrays results in a decrease of the MM oscillator strength by a factor of 4 and a 40% change in the amplitude of the resonant electric field enhancement in the SRR capacitive gap. We use terahertz time-domain spectroscopy and numerical simulations to confirm our results and we propose a qualitative inductive coupling model to explain the observed electromagnetic reponse.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2014

Effects of a time-varying color-luminosity parameter $β$ on the cosmological constraints of modified gravity models

It has been found that, for the Supernova Legacy Survey three-year (SNLS3) data, there is strong evidence for the redshift-evolution of color-luminosity parameter $β$. In previous studies, only dark energy (DE) models are used to explore the effects of a time-varying $β$ on parameter estimation. In this paper, we extend the discussions to the case of modified gravity (MG), by considering Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati (DGP) model, power-law type $f(T)$ model and exponential type $f(T)$ model. In addition to the SNLS3 data, we also use the latest Planck distance priors data, the galaxy clustering (GC) data extracted from Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) data release 7 (DR7) and Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS), as well as the direct measurement of Hubble constant $H_0$ from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observation. We find that, for both cases of using the supernova (SN) data alone and using the combination of all data, adding a parameter of $β$ can reduce $χ^2$ by $\sim$ 36 for all the MG models, showing that a constant $β$ is ruled out at 6$σ$ confidence level (CL). Moreover, we find that a time-varying $β$ always yields a larger fractional matter density $Ω_{m0}$ and a smaller reduced Hubble constant $h$; in addition, it significantly changes the shapes of 1$σ$ and 2$σ$ confidence regions of various MG models, and thus corrects systematic bias for the parameter estimation. These conclusions are consistent with the results of DE models, showing that $β$'s evolution is completely independent of the cosmological models in the background. Therefore, our work highlights the importance of considering the evolution of $β$ in the cosmology-fits.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2014

Cosmological constraints on neutrinos after BICEP2

Since the B-mode polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) was detected by the BICEP2 experiment and an unexpectedly large tensor-to-scalar ratio, $r=0.20^{+0.07}_{-0.05}$, was found, the base standard cosmology should at least be extended to the 7-parameter $Λ$CDM+$r$ model. In this paper, we consider the extensions to this base $Λ$CDM+$r$ model by including additional base parameters relevant to neutrinos and/or other neutrino-like relativistic components. Four neutrino cosmological models are considered, i.e., the $Λ$CDM+$r$+$\sum m_ν$, $Λ$CDM+$r$+$N_{\rm eff}$, $Λ$CDM+$r$+$\sum m_ν$+$N_{\rm eff}$, and $Λ$CDM+$r$+$N_{\rm eff}$+$m_{ν,{\rm sterile}}^{\rm eff}$ models. We combine the current data, including the Planck temperature data, the WMAP 9-year polarization data, the baryon acoustic oscillation data, the Hubble constant direct measurement data, the Planck Sunyaev-Zeldovich cluster counts data, the Planck CMB lensing data, the cosmic shear data, and the BICEP2 polarization data, to constrain these neutrino cosmological models. We focus on the constraints on the parameters $\sum m_ν$, $N_{\rm eff}$, and $m_{ν,{\rm sterile}}^{\rm eff}$. We also discuss whether the tension on $r$ between Planck and BICEP2 can be relieved in these neutrino cosmological models.

astro-ph.CO↗