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Zhiyuan Li

Publications and source records attributed to Zhiyuan Li.

At least 379 records · Page 21Linked to original sources
arXiv2018

Deep Template Matching for Offline Handwritten Chinese Character Recognition

Just like its remarkable achievements in many computer vision tasks, the convolutional neural networks (CNN) provide an end-to-end solution in handwritten Chinese character recognition (HCCR) with great success. However, the process of learning discriminative features for image recognition is difficult in cases where little data is available. In this paper, we propose a novel method for learning siamese neural network which employ a special structure to predict the similarity between handwritten Chinese characters and template images. The optimization of siamese neural network can be treated as a simple binary classification problem. When the training process has been finished, the powerful discriminative features help us to generalize the predictive power not just to new data, but to entirely new classes that never appear in the training set. Experiments performed on the ICDAR-2013 offline HCCR datasets have shown that the proposed method has a very promising generalization ability to the new classes that never appear in the training set.

cs.CV↗
arXiv2018

Searching for GeV gamma-ray emission from the bulge of M31

The three major large-scale, diffuse $γ$-ray structures of the Milky Way are the Galactic disk, a bulge-like GeV excess towards the Galactic center, and the Fermi bubble. Whether such structures can also be present in other normal galaxies remains an open question. M31, as the nearest massive normal galaxy, holds promise for spatially-resolving the $γ$-ray emission. Based on more than 8 years of Fermi-LAT observations, we use (1) disk, (2) bulge, and (3) disk-plus-bulge templates to model the spatial distribution of the $γ$-ray emission from M31. Among these, the disk-plus-bulge template delivers the best-fit, in which the bulge component has a TS value 25.7 and a photon-index of $2.57\pm0.17$, providing strong evidence for a centrally-concentrated gamma-ray emission from M31, that is analogous to the Galactic center excess. The total 0.2-300 GeV gamma-ray luminosity from this bulge component is $(1.16\pm0.14)\times10^{38} erg s^{-1}$, which would require $\sim1.5\times10^5$ millisecond pulsars, if they were the dominant source. We also search for a Fermi bubble-like structure in M31 using the full dataset (pass8), but no significant evidence is found. In addition, a likelihood analysis using only photons with the most accurate reconstructed direction (i.e., PSF3-only data) reveals a 4.8 $σ$ point-like source located at $\sim$ 10kpc to the northwest of the M31 disk, with a luminosity of $(0.97\pm0.27)\times10^{38} erg s^{-1}$ and a photon-index of $2.31\pm0.18$. Lacking of a counterpart on the southeast side of the disk, the relation between this point-like source and a bubble-like structure remains elusive.

astro-ph.HE↗
arXiv2018

A Chandra Survey of Milky Way Globular Clusters II: Testing the Hills-Heggie Law

Binary-single and binary-binary encounters play a pivotal role in the evolution of star clusters, as they may lead to the disruption or hardening of binaries, a novel prediction of the Hills-Heggie law. Based on our recent {\it Chandra} survey of Galactic globular clusters (GCs), we revisit the role of stellar dynamical interactions in GCs, focusing on main-sequence (MS) binary encounters as a potential formation channel of the observed X-ray sources in GCs. We show that the cumulative X-ray luminosity ($L_X$), a proxy of the total number of X-ray-emitting binaries (primarily cataclysmic variables and coronally active binaries) in a given GC, is highly correlated with the MS binary encounter rate ($Γ_{b}$), as $L_X \propto Γ_{b}^{0.77\pm0.11}$. We further test the Hills-Heggie law against the {\it binary hardness ratio}, defined as the relative number of X-ray-emitting hard binaries to MS binaries and approximated by $L_{X}/(L_{K}f_{b})$, with $L_{K}$ being the GC K-band luminosity and $f_b$ the MS binary fraction. We demonstrate that the binary hardness ratio of most GCs is larger than that of the Solar neighborbood stars, and exhibits a positive correlation with the cluster specific encounter rate ($γ$), as $L_{X}/(L_{K}f_{b}) \propto γ^{0.65\pm0.12}$. We also find a strong correlation between the binary hardness ratio and cluster velocity dispersion ($σ$), with $L_{X}/(L_{K}f_{b}) \propto σ^{1.71\pm0.48}$, which is consistent with the Hills-Heggie law. We discuss the role of binary encounters in the context of the Nuclear Star Cluster, arguing that the X-ray-emitting, close binaries detected therein could have been predominatly formed in GCs that later inspiralled to the Galactic center.

astro-ph.HE↗
arXiv2018

Probing the dynamical state, baryon content, and multiphase nature of galaxy clusters with bright background QSOs

We have initiated a programme to study the physical/dynamical state of gas in galaxy clusters and the impact of the cluster environment on gaseous halos of individual galaxies using X-ray imaging and UV absorption line spectroscopy of background QSOs. Here we report results from the analysis Chandra and XMM-Newton archival data of five galaxy clusters with such QSOs, one of which has an archival UV spectrum. We characterize the gravitational masses and dynamical states, as well as the hot intracluster medium (ICM) properties of these clusters. Most clusters are dynamically disturbed clusters based on the X-ray morphology parameters, the X-ray temperature profiles, the large offset between X-ray peak and brightest cluster galaxy (BCG). The baryon contents in the hot ICM and stars of these clusters within $r_{500}$ are lower than the values expected from the gravitational masses, according to the standard cosmology. We also estimate column densities of the hot ICM along the sightlines toward the background QSOs as well as place upper limits on the warm-hot phase for the one sightline with existing UV observations. These column densities, compared with those of the warm and warm-hot ICM to be measured with UV absorption line spectroscopy, will enable us to probe the relationship among various gaseous phases and their connection to the heating/cooling and dynamical processes of the clusters. Furthermore, our analysis of the archival QSO spectrum probing one cluster underscores the need for high quality, targeted UV observations to robustly constrain the 10$^{5-6}$ K gas phase.

astro-ph.GA↗
arXiv2018

An inverse problem for distributed order time-fractional diffusion equations

This paper deals with the distributed order time-fractional diffusion equations with non-homogeneous Dirichlet (Nuemann) boundary condition. We first prove the wellposedness of the weak solution to the initial boundary value problem for the distributed order time-fractional diffusion equation by means of eigenfunction expansion, which ensure that the weak solution has the classical derivatives. We next give a Harnack type inequality of the solution in the frequency domain under the Laplace transform, from which we further show a uniqueness result for an inverse problem in determining the weight function in the distributed order time derivative from point observation.

math.AP↗
arXiv2018

Unique continuation principle for the one-dimensional time-fractional diffusion equation

This paper deals with the unique continuation of solutions for a one-dimensional anomalous diffusion equation with Caputo derivative of order $α\in(0,1)$. Firstly, the uniqueness of solutions to a lateral Cauchy problem for the anomalous diffusion equation is given via the Theta function method, from which we further verify the unique continuation principle.

math.AP↗
arXiv2018

Towards Understanding the Role of Over-Parametrization in Generalization of Neural Networks

Despite existing work on ensuring generalization of neural networks in terms of scale sensitive complexity measures, such as norms, margin and sharpness, these complexity measures do not offer an explanation of why neural networks generalize better with over-parametrization. In this work we suggest a novel complexity measure based on unit-wise capacities resulting in a tighter generalization bound for two layer ReLU networks. Our capacity bound correlates with the behavior of test error with increasing network sizes, and could potentially explain the improvement in generalization with over-parametrization. We further present a matching lower bound for the Rademacher complexity that improves over previous capacity lower bounds for neural networks.

cs.LG↗
arXiv2018

Planetary Nebulae in the Circumnuclear Region of M31: A Spectroscopic Sample

Planetary nebulae (PNe) are an important tool for studying the dynamics and chemical evolution of galaxies in the Local Universe, given their characteristic, bright emission line spectra. The Andromeda Galaxy (M31) provides a unique laboratory for studying PNe in the circumnuclear region, thanks to its proximity and almost uniformly low line-of-sight extinction that ensures observations with high resolution and sensitivity. Using the WIYN/Hydra multi-fiber spectrograph, we have obtained optical (4119--6882Å) spectra of 77 PN candidates selected from Hubble Space Telescope narrow-band imaging, which are located within the central $\sim$500pc region of M31. Among these candidates, 49 (64%) are spectroscopically observed for the first time. The spectra of 300 previously known PNe and H II regions, which primarily reside in the disk, are also taken for comparison. All 77 circumnuclear PN candidates exhibit prominent emission lines, including [O III] $λ$5007, [N II] $λ$6583, H$α$ and H$β$, strongly suggesting that they are genuine PNe. We measured the line fluxes, radial velocities and line widths for all objects, and found that the radial velocities of the circumnuclear PNe generally trace rotation of the inner bulge. We also estimated a dynamical mass of $\sim$6.4$\pm$0.5$\times$10$^{9}$$M_{\odot}$ enclosed within an effective galactocentric radius of 340pc, which is compatible with the previously estimated total stellar mass in this region.

astro-ph.GA↗
arXiv2018

Deep Chandra observations of X-ray point sources in M87

We present a study of X-ray source populations in M87, the cD galaxy of the Virgo cluster, using 12 archival {\it Chandra} observations with a total exposure of $\sim$680 ks spanning about a decade. A total of 346 point-like sources are detected down to a limiting 0.5--8 keV luminosity of $4\times10^{37}{\rm~erg~s^{-1}}$ and out to a galactocentric radius of $\sim$40 kpc. We cross-correlate the X-ray sources with published catalogs of globular clusters (GCs), derived from the ACS Virgo Cluster Survey and the Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey. This results in 122 matches, making it one of the largest samples of GC-hosting X-ray sources in an external galaxy. These sources, most likely low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs), correspond to $\sim$5\% of all known GCs within the {\it Chandra} field-of-view. Conversely, $\sim$50\% of the detected X-ray sources are found in a GC. Moreover, red (metal-rich) GCs are $\sim$2.2 times more likely to host an X-ray source than blue (metal-poor) GCs. We also examine 76 currently known ultra-compact dwarf galaxies around M87, but find no significant X-ray counterparts. After statistically accounting for the cosmic X-ray background, we identify $\sim$110 field-LMXBs. The GC-LMXBs and field-LMXBs differ in their luminosity function and radial distribution, which indicates that the latter cannot be primarily originated from GCs. Using another set of deep {\it Chandra} observations toward $\sim$100 kpc northwest of the M87 center, we statistically constrain the abundance of field-LMXBs in the stellar halo, which is consistent with that found in the central region. We also identify 40 variable X-ray sources, among which one source is likely a black hole binary residing in a GC.

astro-ph.HE↗
arXiv2018

The Star Formation History in the M31 Bulge

We present the study of stellar populations in the central 5.5' (~1.2 kpc) of the M31 bulge by using the optical color magnitude diagram derived from HST ACS WFC/HRC observations. In order to enhance image quality and then obtain deeper photometry, we construct Nyquist-sampled images and use a deconvolution method to detect sources and measure their photometry. We demonstrate that our method performs better than DOLPHOT in the extremely crowded region. The resolved stars in the M31 bulge have been divided into nine annuli and the color magnitude diagram fitting is performed for each of them. We confirm that the majority of stars (> 70%) in the M31 bulge are indeed very old (>5 Gyr) and metal-rich ([Fe/H] > 0.3). At later times, the star formation rate decreased and then experienced a significant rise around 1 Gyr ago, which pervaded the entire M31 bulge. After that, stars formed at less than 500 Myr ago in the central 130". Through simulation, we find that these intermediate-age stars cannot be the artifacts introduced by the blending effect. Our results suggest that although the majority of the M31 bulge are very old, the secular evolutionary process still continuously builds up the M31 bulge slowly. We compare our star formation history with an older analysis derived from the spectral energy distribution fitting, which suggests that the latter one is still a reasonable tool for the study of stellar populations in remote galaxies.

astro-ph.GA↗
arXiv2018

Online Improper Learning with an Approximation Oracle

We revisit the question of reducing online learning to approximate optimization of the offline problem. In this setting, we give two algorithms with near-optimal performance in the full information setting: they guarantee optimal regret and require only poly-logarithmically many calls to the approximation oracle per iteration. Furthermore, these algorithms apply to the more general improper learning problems. In the bandit setting, our algorithm also significantly improves the best previously known oracle complexity while maintaining the same regret.

cs.LG↗
arXiv2018

Building Efficient CNN Architecture for Offline Handwritten Chinese Character Recognition

Deep convolutional networks based methods have brought great breakthrough in images classification, which provides an end-to-end solution for handwritten Chinese character recognition(HCCR) problem through learning discriminative features automatically. Nevertheless, state-of-the-art CNNs appear to incur huge computation cost, and require the storage of a large number of parameters especially in fully connected layers, which is difficult to deploy such networks into alternative hardware device with the limit of computation amount. To solve the storage problem, we propose a novel technique called Global Weighted Arverage Pooling for reducing the parameters in fully connected layer without loss in accuracy. Besides, we implement a cascaded model in single CNN by adding mid output layer to complete recognition as early as possible, which reduces average inference time significantly. Experiments were performed on the ICDAR-2013 offline HCCR dataset, and it is found that the proposed approach only needs 6.9ms for classfying a chracter image on average, and achieves the state-of-the-art accuracy of 97.1% while requiring only 3.3MB for storage.

cs.CV↗
arXiv2018

A Chandra Study of The Stellar X-ray Emissivity of Globular Clusters in M\,31 Bulge

The X-ray emissivity (i.e., luminosity per unit stellar mass) of globular clusters are an important indicator of their dynamical evolution history. Based on deep archival \textit{Chandra} observations, we report a stacking analysis of 44 globular clusters (GCs) with 0.5-8 keV luminosities $L_{\rm X} \lesssim 10^{35} {\rm~erg~s^{-1}}$ in the M\,31 bulge, which are supposed to be dominated by cataclysmic variables (CVs) and coronally active binaries (ABs). We obtain a significant detection at $5σ$ level in 0.5-8 keV band. The average X-ray luminosity per GC and the average X-ray emissivity are determined to be $5.3 \pm 1.6\times10^{33}\rm~erg~s^{-1}$ and $13.2\pm4.3\times10^{27}\rm~erg~{\rm s^{-1}~M^{-1}_{\odot}}$, respectively. Both of these values are consistent with those of MW GCs. What's more, the measured emissivity of M31 GCs is also consistent with that of the MW field stars. Massive GCs have X-ray luminosities which are marginally higher with less massive ones. Massive GCs also show a lower emissivity ($4.5\pm 2.4\times10^{27}{\rm~erg~s^{-1}~M^{-1}_{\odot}}$) than less massive ones ($15.0\pm 7.8\times10^{27}{\rm~erg~s^{-1}~M^{-1}_{\odot}}$), which is consistent with the scenario that the (progenitors of) CVs and ABs were more efficiently destructed via stellar encounters in the more massive GCs. No dependence of the X-ray emissivity on GC color or on the projected galactocentric distance of GCs were found.

astro-ph.HE↗
arXiv2018

A {\it Chandra} Survey of Milky Way Globular Clusters I: Emissivity and Abundance of Weak X-ray Sources

Based on archival {\it Chandra} data, we have carried out an X-ray survey of 69, or nearly half the known population of, Milky Way globular clusters (GCs), focusing on weak X-ray sources, mainly cataclysmic variables (CVs) and coronally active binaries (ABs). Using the cumulative X-ray luminosity per unit stellar mass (i.e., X-ray emissivity) as a proxy of the source abundance, we demonstrate a paucity (lower by $41\%\pm27\%$ on average) of weak X-ray sources in most GCs relative to the field, which is represented by the Solar neighborhood and Local Group dwarf elliptical galaxies. We also revisit the mutual correlations among the cumulative X-ray luminosity ($L_X$), cluster mass ($M$) and stellar encounter rate ($Γ$), finding $L_{X}\propto M^{0.74\pm 0.13}$, $L_{X}\proptoΓ^{0.67\pm0.07}$ and $Γ\propto M^{1.28 \pm 0.17}$. The three quantities can further be expressed as $L_{X} \propto M^{0.64\pm0.12}\ Γ^{0.19 \pm0.07}$, which indicates that the dynamical formation of CVs and ABs through stellar encounters in GCs is less dominant than previously suggested, and that the primordial formation channel has a substantial contribution. Taking these aspects together, we suggest that a large fraction of primordial, soft binaries have been disrupted in binary-single or binary-binary stellar interactions before they can otherwise evolve into X-ray-emitting close binaries, whereas the same interactions also have led to the formation of new close binaries. No significant correlations between $L_{X}/L_{K}$ and cluster properties, including dynamical age, metallicity and structural parameters, are found.

astro-ph.HE↗
arXiv2018

Initial-boundary value problems for multi-term time-fractional diffusion equations with x-dependent coefficients

In this paper, we discuss an initial-boundary value problem (IBVP) for the multi-term time-fractional diffusion equation with x-dependent coefficients. By means of the Mittag-Leffler functions and the eigenfunction expansion, we reduce the IBVP to an equivalent integral equation to show the unique existence and the analyticity of the solution for the equation. Especially, in the case where all the coefficients of the time-fractional derivatives are non-negative, by the Laplace and inversion Laplace transforms, it turns out that the decay rate of the solution for long time is dominated by the lowest order of the time-fractional derivatives. Finally, as an application of the analyticity of the solution, the uniqueness of an inverse problem in determining the fractional orders in the multi-term time-fractional diffusion equations from one interior point observation is established.

math.AP↗
arXiv2018

An Ultra-deep Chandra Catalog of X-ray Point Sources in the Galactic Center Star Cluster

We present an updated catalog of X-ray point sources in the inner 500$\arcsec$ ($\sim$20 parsec) of the Galactic Center (GC), where the {\it nuclear star cluster} (NSC) stands, based on a total of $\sim$4.5 Ms of {\it Chandra} observations taken from September 1999 to April 2013. This ultra-deep dataset offers unprecedented sensitivity for detecting X-ray sources in the GC, down to an intrinsic 2--10 keV luminosity of $1.0\times10^{31}{\rm~erg~s^{-1}}$. A total of 3619 sources are detected in the 2--8 keV band, among which $\sim$3500 are probable GC sources and $\sim$1300 are new identifications. The GC sources collectively account for $\sim$20\% of the total 2--8 keV flux from the inner 250$\arcsec$ region where detection sensitivity is the greatest. Taking advantage of this unprecedented sample of faint X-ray sources that primarily traces the old stellar populations in the NSC, we revisit global source properties, including long-term variability, cumulative spectra, luminosity function and spatial distribution. Based on the equivalent width and relative strength of the iron lines, we suggest that in addition to the arguably predominant population of magnetic cataclysmic variables (CVs), non-magnetic CVs contribute substantially to the detected sources, especially in the lower-luminosity group. On the other hand, the X-ray sources have a radial distribution closely following the stellar mass distribution in the NSC, but much flatter than that of the known X-ray transients, which are presumably low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) caught in outburst. This, together with the very modest long-term variability of the detected sources, strongly suggests that quiescent LMXBs are a minor ($\lesssim$ a few percent) population.

astro-ph.HE↗