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Mathematics

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Thursday 13 August

Probability

The classical discrete laws near the mode: complete local expansions for the negative binomial and hypergeometric distributions

We derive complete local asymptotic expansions near the mode for the negative binomial and hypergeometric laws, complementing the binomial expansion obtained in the companion papers. The coefficients are given in closed Bernoulli-polynomial form and retain the exact lattice displacement from the mean. For each law an entropy normalisation replaces the Bernoulli polynomials by reciprocal Bernoulli polynomials and makes the natural reflection symmetry visible. The first-order coefficient also recovers the exact mode rule: in the Katz cases the vertex gives the classical threshold exactly, while in the hypergeometric case its explicit discrepancy is always too small to change the selected integer mode.
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Number Theory

On the Existence of Hyperelliptic Curves over $\mathbb{Q}(T)$ with Certain Jacobian Ranks

Let $y^2 = f(x,T)$ be a hyperelliptic curve of genus $g\geq 1$, defined over $\mathbb{Q}(T)$. We prove the existence of infinitely many imaginary hyperelliptic curves with a fixed genus $g$ having a certain rank for $5\leq r\leq 4g+2$, and a similar result for real hyperelliptic curves with a fixed genus $g$ having a certain rank for $6\leq r\leq 4g+4$. We begin by constructing such curves and prove the rank using two methods. First, we apply the generalized Nagao's conjecture, which relates the first moment and the rank of the Jacobian variety $J_\mathcal{X}(\mathbb{Q}(T))$, and that the conjecture holds for our curves, making the result unconditional. Furthermore, we explicitly construct rational points in the Mordell-Weil group and use Shioda-Tate to prove that the rank is equal to $r$.
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All authors Lucas Chen, Joshua Im, Steven J. Miller, Devayani Pradhan

Group Theory

A Note on the FC-Center of Thompson's Group $F$

We show that the FC-center of Thompson's group $F$, the subgroup consisting of all elements with finite conjugacy classes, is trivial.

Probability

Equi-dependence implying independence

It is shown that, if an event $A$ has the same conditional probability in each trial in an infinite sequence of Bernoulli trials, then $A$ is independent of each trial. More general results are actually established.

Differential Geometry

Heat kernel geometry and Gromov's volume growth conjecture

In 1986, Gromov asked whether every complete noncompact $n$-dimensional Riemannian manifold with nonnegative Ricci curvature and scalar curvature at least one satisfies: \[ \Vol_g (B(p, R))\le C_{n}R^{n-2} \] for all $p\in M$ and $R>0$. We answer this question affirmatively using the heat-kernel Fisher metric and Nash entropy.
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Mathematical Physics · Cross-listed from quant-ph

Every PPT channel has finite entanglement breaking index

We prove that every PPT linear map has finite entanglement breaking index, thereby establishing the eventual entanglement breaking property of PPT channels in full generality. Furthermore, by utilizing completely positive maps with low entanglement dimensionality, we show that a large family of PPT maps, which strictly contains the class of 2-superpositive maps, has entanglement breaking index bounded above by 3, uniformly in the dimension. In particular, these results provide evidence that the PPT-cubed conjecture may hold in full generality.
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Functional Analysis

Comparing positive Toeplitz operators on holomorphic and pluriharmonic Fock spaces

We prove sharp norm comparisons between positive Toeplitz operators associated with the same positive Borel measure, acting respectively on holomorphic functions and on sums of holomorphic and antiholomorphic functions, both equipped with the Gaussian-weighted $L^2$ norm. For every positive Borel measure $\mu$ on $\mathbb{C}^n$ and $0<p<\infty$, both operators are compact with summable $p$th powers of their singular values (i.e. Schatten) exactly when $z\mapsto\mu(B(z,r))$ belongs to $L^p(\mathbb{C}^n)$ for some fixed radius $r>0$. For other weights, this agreement can fail dramatically. We construct a weight $e^{-2\phi}$ and a finite positive measure $\mu$ on $\mathbb{C}$ for which the operator on holomorphic functions has the same singular values as with the Gaussian weight and the same measure $\mu$. These values have summable $p$th powers for every $p>0$, yet the quadratic form on sums of holomorphic and antiholomorphic functions is unbounded in weighted $L^2$. The example still satisfies $\Delta\phi=2$, as for the Gaussian choice $\phi(z)=|z|^2/2$.
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Combinatorics

Skew Hives, Skew Skeps, Skew Schur Log-Concavity

Knutson and Tao's hives is a combinatorial model to compute Littlewood–Richardson coefficients. Similar to hives, Speyer introduced skeps and used them to prove a Schur log-concavity conjecture by Lam–Postnikov–Pylyavskyy. We first introduce skew hive and skew skep models, which specialize to both hives and skeps, and use this to prove a skew Schur log-concavity result generalizing Lam–Postnikov–Pylyavskyy conjecture. As a consequence, we obtain some log-concavity results concerning Newell–Littlewood numbers and shadow skew Schur functions. Finally, we explain bijections between (skew) hives, (skew) skeps, and peelable tableaux by Nguyen–Nguyen–Woodruff, answering Speyer's question.
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Mathematical Physics · Cross-listed from nucl-th

Effective field theory of quasi-hydrodynamics from kinetic theory

Quasi-hydrodynamics describes systems with quasi-conserved degrees of freedom, namely observables that relax on timescales that are finite but parametrically longer than microscopic relaxation times. Examples include kinetic chemistry and linear viscoelasticity. Here, we develop a rigorous effective-field-theory framework for linear quasi-hydrodynamics from kinetic-type theories. Starting from any linearized, causal kinetic-like theory endowed with slow degrees of freedom, we show that the exact dynamics of conserved and quasi-conserved observables admits a systematic expansion in the fast relaxation timescale. At zeroth order, the resulting equations form a causal, symmetric-hyperbolic theory belonging to the appropriate transient-hydrodynamic universality class, establishing Israel-Stewart-like dynamics as the universal description of slow relaxation modes. Higher-order corrections can be computed systematically and inherit universal symmetry, Onsager, positivity, and causality constraints from the underlying microscopic theory.
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Functional Analysis

HRT counterexamples with exponential tails

We build on the recent breakthrough of Faulhuber, Petersen, van Velthoven, and Voigtlaender that disproved the HRT conjecture with a Schwartz function and a $12$-point configuration. We give a human-readable treatment of their mechanism and find HRT counterexample functions with exponential (or faster) decay. By a result of Bownik and Speegle, this is the fastest possible decay for an HRT counterexample, up to a logarithmic factor in the exponent.
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Functional Analysis

A solution to Banach's isometric conjecture

Banach asked in 1932 whether a real Banach space $X$ whose $n$-dimensional subspaces, for some fixed $1<n<\dim X$, are all linearly isometric must be a Hilbert space. Gromov proved the conjecture for even $n$, and subsequent work settled several odd-dimensional cases. We prove the conjecture for every odd $n$, including all previously unresolved cases. Together with Gromov's result for even $n$, this completes Banach's isometric conjecture in the real case. The proof combines principal bundle theory with a Brouwer degree argument.
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Optimization and Control · Cross-listed from eess.SY

Joint Communication-Control Strategy Optimization with Partially Nested Information Structures: The Linear-Quadratic Case

In this paper, we formalize a joint communication-control strategy optimization (JCCO) problem in multi-agent linear systems with quadratic costs, under the common-information-based (CIB) framework from decentralized stochastic control. For computational tractability, we focus on such JCCO problems with partially nested (PN) information structures (ISs). In particular, with a baseline communication protocol that leads to a PN IS, we establish a series of conditions under which the partial nestedness is preserved under the (additional) communication strategies to be optimized, while violating them may cause nonlinearity of the optimal strategies in general, with open-loop communication strategies. We then develop a dynamic-programming-based approach to compute the optimal control strategies of JCCO with open-loop communication strategies, which yields a set of closed-form Riccati Equations. As a byproduct of independent interest, such an approach also offers a way to solve decentralized linear-quadratic control with PN ISs and output feedback, under the CIB framework. Finally, we extend such an approach to JCCOs with closed-loop communication strategies, yielding a more tractable dynamic program than an infinite-dimensional CIB-belief-based one.
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Dynamical Systems

Surfaces with nonpositive magnetic curvature

For a negatively curved surface, magnetic (or twisted geodesic) flows with nonpositive ”magnetic curvature” have a large-scale geometry on the universal cover that retains some features associated with geodesic flows: magnetic boundary and visibility, possibly magnetically flat strips. This has dynamical consequences: orbit-equivalence to the geodesic flow, density of periodic points, transitivity, entropy-expansivity, existence of equilibrium states.
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Analysis of PDEs

Non-uniqueness of Brakke flows starting from minimal surfaces with singularities

We prove the existence of a genuinely time-dependent Brakke flow starting from $\Gamma_0 \subset \mathbb{R}^{n+1}$ whose associated multiplicity-one varifold is stationary, provided that, at some singular point, the scale-invariant $L^2$ distance of $\Gamma_0$ from an $n$-dimensional plane has sufficiently small limsup as the scale tends to zero. This yields the dynamical instability of $\Gamma_0$, a notion recently introduced by Stuvard and Tonegawa, and hence the non-uniqueness of Brakke flows starting from $\Gamma_0$. A notable feature of our result is that it holds without assuming the uniqueness of tangent cones at the singular point.
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Dynamical Systems

Uniqueness of gluings and virtual finiteness of pseudo-Anosov flows on graph manifolds

In this article, we give a characterization of when two pseudo-Anosov flows obtained via gluings of pieces of pseudo-Anosov flows are orbit equivalent. As an application of this work, and the description of pseudo-Anosov flows in Seifert pieces due to Barbot and Fenley, we prove a “virtual” version of the Finiteness Conjecture for transitive pseudo-Anosov flows on graph-manifolds.
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Logic

Comeager hereditary families of compact sets are big

Let $X$ be a Polish space and let $\mathcal K(X)$ be its Vietoris hyperspace. A family $\mathcal I\subseteq\mathcal K(X)$ is hereditary if it is downward closed under inclusion. Matheron and Zelený asked whether every comeager hereditary family in $\mathcal K(X)$ contains a dense hereditary $G_\delta$ subfamily. We give an affirmative answer in ZFC.
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Information Theory · Cross-listed from quant-ph

Exponential quantum advantage for learning signals with a single qubit

Quantum technology has the potential to transform scientific discovery, but quantum advantages often require processing capabilities well beyond the reach of experimental platforms. We show that coupling a single controllable qubit to an otherwise conventional sensor can exponentially reduce the number of measurements required to learn classical signals. These rigorous quantum advantages apply to fundamental sensing tasks, including learning Fourier coefficients, extracting temporal correlations from time-varying signals, and estimating transformations of physical observables. Using a superconducting cavity–qubit architecture, we experimentally demonstrate $10^7$-fold reductions in the number of measurements required for Fourier-amplitude and time-varying signal learning. Our $\textit{quantum feature sensing}$ algorithms further enable orders-of-magnitude improvements in simulations of weak-signal dark matter detection and wireless communication applications. These quantum advantages are derived from Quantum Phase-Space Inference (Q$\Psi$), a unifying theory of quantum-enhanced experiments that simultaneously converts a set of experimental objectives and constraints into tight lower bounds and optimal quantum-enhanced learning algorithms while producing a certificate of quantum advantage. Q$\Psi$ extends beyond the regimes captured by quantum Fisher information and provides a framework for systematically identifying rigorous quantum advantages in practical experimental tasks. Together, our results establish that near-term quantum technology can exponentially enhance our ability to learn from classical signals.
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All authors Ishaan Kannan, Sridhar Prabhu, Saeed A. Khan, Mandar M. Sohoni, Xingrui Song, Saswata Roy, Alen Senanian, Valla Fatemi, Peter L. McMahon, Jordan Cotler

Information Theory · Cross-listed from cs.LG

The data geometry of masking diffusion: Certified-optimal schedules via unmasking growth complexity

We study masking diffusion for discrete sampling and introduce a path-resolved measure of data geometry called the unmasking growth complexity ({UGC\xspace}). Its local increments directly control Kullback–Leibler (KL) discretization error, yielding a unified analysis of Bernoulli-subset and fixed-cardinality unmasking schemes. In log-reveal-odds coordinates, this structure yields optimized single-block and multi-block schedules, and quantifies the gains from adapting computational effort to data geometry. Crucially, we show how {UGC\xspace} increments can be estimated from samples via KL increments along coupled reveal trajectories. This leads to certified-optimal samplers that achieve a prescribed KL error with high probability and iteration complexity within a constant factor of the corresponding oracle procedure. Collapsing the \ugc path yields the aggregate {UGC\xspace} mass, which connects to classical multivariate dependence measures and complexity measures from previous analyses of discrete diffusion. In the fine-partition limit, the squared integral of the square-root {UGC\xspace} density determines the sharp leading-order optimal Euler discretization error. Examples exhibit substantial dimension-dependent gains over coarse schedules, including $\widetilde{\Omega}(\sqrt{d})$ improvements achievable with a constant number of adaptively placed blocks.
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Combinatorics

Every fork-free graph is perfectly weight divisible

A graph $G$ is perfectly weight divisible if, for every positive integral weight function on $V(G)$ and every induced subgraph $H$ of $G$ with at least one edge, the vertex set $V(H)$ can be partitioned into two sets $A$ and $B$ such that $H[A]$ is perfect and the maximum weight of a clique in $H[B]$ is smaller than the maximum weight of a clique in $H$. Perfect divisibility and its weighted form provide a natural approach to polynomial $\chi$-boundedness. A fork, also known as a chair, is the graph obtained from a claw by subdividing one of its edges once. In this paper, we prove that every fork-free graph is perfectly weight divisible. As a consequence, we confirm a conjecture of Sivaraman that every fork-free graph is perfectly divisible.
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All authors Feng Liu, Shuang Sun, Yan Wang, Qi Wu, Jiasheng Zeng

Statistics Theory

On the Structural Limits of Machine Learning Decision Systems: An Information-Theoretic, Interaction-Based, and Stochastic-Dynamical Perspective

Machine learning procedures are commonly evaluated in terms of predictive accuracy and computational efficiency. However, their achievable performance is fundamentally constrained by structural properties of the underlying data-generating process, which are formalized in terms of informational bounds. In this work we examine intrinsic limits of data-driven decision systems from an information-theoretic and interaction-based perspective. We analyze minimal achievable error in classification through Fano-type bounds and precision limits in parametric estimation via the Cramér-Rao inequality, emphasizing that such limits depend on the underlying model rather than on algorithmic sophistication alone. We further discuss how implicit assumptions, such as independence, ergodicity, and distributional stability, affect the validity of inferential procedures. Building on interaction-based modeling principles, we review typical frameworks such as Markov Random Fields and potential based representations for encoding dependence mechanisms. We also describe decision systems, including LLM-integrated agent architectures, as feedback-driven stochastic processes where state-dependent dynamics may induce emergent macroscopic behavior. This perspective highlights the importance of having adequate models for the data as a prerequi- site for expanding predictive capability, and situates algorithmic learning within the informational limits imposed by the models.
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Number Theory

The distribution of $k$-free ideals in ray class groups

In this paper, we extend the classical problem of studying the distribution of $k$-free integers in arithmetic progressions to the setting of arbitrary number fields. Using the language of ray class groups, we establish asymptotic formulas, together with error terms, for the number of $k$-free ideals of bounded norm lying in a given ray class. In particular, our results show that $k$-free ideals are equidistributed among ray classes. We also obtain improved error estimates in the cases of ideal class groups and narrow class groups by using sharper ideal counting asymptotics due to Landau. Our results recover the classical formulas of Gegenbauer and Cohen–Robinson over $\mathbb{Q}$ and extend previous work of Benkowski, Nymann, and Sittinger to the setting of ray class groups. We also present explicit computational examples that illustrate the asymptotic formulas and the equidistribution of $k$-free ideals among ray classes.
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All authors Adrian Barquero-Sanchez, Jack Heimrath, Bernd Sing, Nicolás Sirolli, Caylee Spivey, Michael Wijaya

Optimization and Control · Cross-listed from eess.SY

Safety-Critical Control for Quadrotor UAVs via Decentralized Navigation Functions

We study safety-critical control for teams of quadrotor UAVs driven by decentralized navigation functions under learned model uncertainty. These functions generate fully actuated translational reference forces, while quadrotors can only produce thrust along their body-fixed vertical axes. We construct a thrust-attitude implementation of the induced navigation forces and quantify its error with respect to the fully actuated reference dynamics. An aggregated robust HOCBF-QP safety filter minimally modifies the nominal thrusts while guaranteeing pairwise collision avoidance with high probability.
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Combinatorics

The transversal achievement game on a square grid

In the transversal achievement game on the $n\times n$ board, two players alternately claim cells, and the first to own a transversal—a set of $n$ cells of which no two share a row or column—wins. Ran{\dj}elović showed that the first player wins for every $n\ge4$, while the game is a draw for $n=2,3$. We give an independent proof that the first player wins for $n\ge4$ that additionally establishes a bound on the length of the win: the given strategy forces a win by ply $2n+3$, i.e.\ on the first player's $(n+2)$-nd move, for every $n\ge4$. The proof yields a strategy that is fully determined by a fixed rule on the current position and can thus be implemented directly. We isolate the use of the hypothesis $n\ge4$ to two steps in the analysis, explaining why the argument fails at $n=3$. An exhaustive computational search implementing the strategy verifies it against every legal defense for $n=4,5,6$, confirming both the strategy's validity and that the $2n+3$ bound is attained in these cases. The main theorem has also been formalized and machine-checked in Lean 4.
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Mathematical Physics

Symmetry Emergence in Self-Organized Criticality

We describe a mechanism of affine symmetry emergence in the maximal density regime of the prototypical model of self-organized criticality when the inverse square of the mesh of the underlying lattice is much larger than the number of random perturbation points distributed according to a prescribed probability measure supported in the interior of the ambient convex domain. Moreover, an appropriate scaling limit of the toppling function (aka odometer), which counts the number of operations per site, is a solution to a non-linear partial differential equation well known in the context of optimal transport and differential geometry, making it possible to accurately estimate the deviation of the density from its maximal value in any macroscopic window. The mechanism for the affine symmetry emergence is due to the novel empirical fact, supported in addition by inductive arguments that have recently being upgraded to a rigorous proof, that the scaling limit of the toppling function is the unique concave solution of the Monge-Ampère equation with Dirichlet boundary condition on the convex domain with the potential given by the probability measure used above as the infinite-perturbation profile.
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Analysis of PDEs

A positive answer to the generalized Chang-Yang conjecture on $\mathbb{S}^N$

We prove that for every integer $N\geq 3$ and $\alpha\geq \frac{1}{2}$, Beckner's inequality \[ \frac{\alpha}{2}\int_{\mathbb{S}^N}u(P_{N}u) dw+(N-1)!\int_{\mathbb{S}^N}u dw-\frac{(N-1)!}{N}\log\int_{\mathbb{S}^N}e^{Nu} dw\geq 0 \] holds for every $u\in H^{\frac{N}{2}}(\mathbb{S}^N)$ whose center of mass is at the origin. The proof is mainly based on an integral representation formula and a rigidity theorem for stable critical points. Hence, we answer the generalized Chang-Yang conjecture positively for every integer $N\geq 3$.
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All authors Changfeng Gui, Tuoxin Li, Juncheng Wei, Zikai Ye

Probability · Cross-listed from cs.DS

Hit-and-Run Mixes as Fast as the Ball Walk

Let $K\subset\mathbb{R}^n$ be an isotropic convex body. We prove that the hit-and-run walk, started from any $M$-warm distribution, reaches total-variation distance $\varepsilon$ from the uniform distribution on $K$ in $O\!\left(n^2\psi_n^{-2}\log^3(M/\varepsilon)\right)$ steps, where $\psi_n^{-1}$ is the Kannan-Lovász-Simonovits (KLS) constant. Up to logarithmic factors, this matches the best-known warm-start mixing time for the ball walk. Chen and Eldan [Discrete Comput. Geom. 2026] obtained the same $n^2\psi_n^{-2}$ dependence for hit-and-run, but with polynomial dependence on $M/\varepsilon$. Our result improves that polynomial dependence to a polylogarithmic one, fully resolving their open question about warm-start mixing of hit-and-run in isotropic convex bodies.
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Differential Geometry

A negative Kähler-Einstein threefold with non-integrable infinitesimal Einstein deformations

We construct a smooth canonically polarized threefold, not biholomorphic to a product of positive-dimensional varieties, whose normalized Kähler-Einstein metric admits a non-integrable infinitesimal Einstein deformation. The same tangent direction is non-integrable as an infinitesimal complex deformation. In fact, the space of infinitesimal Einstein deformations in our example has real dimension 8, its integrable directions form a real 6-dimensional subspace, and every direction outside that subspace is obstructed. This answers both parts of a suitably generalized version of a question posed by Dai, Wang, and Wei in real dimension 6.
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Mathematical Physics

Hidden Dyson Universality in Inverse-Spectral Geometry

Dyson universality typically manifests itself in local eigenvalue statistics. Here we show that its signature survives a nonlinear inverse-spectral reconstruction and reappears in the matrix geometry of the reconstructed operator. Using a dressing transformation, we map each unfolded spectrum to a deformation $f(x)$ of a fixed harmonic oscillator and represent it in the common oscillator basis by $F_{mn}=\bra m|f|n\ket$. We resolve the matrix-element weight into shells of fixed distance $d=|m-n|$, corresponding to the energy-transfer channels of the reference oscillator, and characterize the resulting distribution by distance-shell moments. Independently calibrated on Gaussian $\beta$-ensembles, these moments vary smoothly with $\beta$ and distinguish the GOE, GUE, and GSE. With this calibration fixed, applying the same diagnostic to the nontrivial zeros of the Riemann zeta function places the reconstructed operators in the GUE sector. Thus, the GUE character of the zeros is recovered not through direct statistics of the input levels, but from the distance-resolved geometry of the reconstructed operator.
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Classical Analysis and ODEs

Fourier-invariant functions with dense zero sets

For every $0\leq\beta\leq1/2$, we construct a nonzero real-valued continuous function $f_\beta$ in $L^1(\mathbb R)\cap L^2(\mathbb R)$ such that $\widehat {f}_\beta=f_\beta$ and $f_\beta(\sqrt{n}/[\log(e+n)]^{\beta})=0$ for all $n\geq 0$. The case $\beta=0$ settles in the negative a question raised by Radchenko and Viazovska regarding their Fourier interpolation formula. The construction uses a scale of reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces generated by the Fourier-invariant Hermite functions. Applying the Mehler formula, we identify the reproducing kernels of these spaces. By suitable estimates of these kernels, we show that $(\sqrt{n}/[\log(e+n)]^{\beta})$, with one auxiliary point added to it, is a universal interpolating sequence for at least one of the Hilbert spaces under consideration. However, this result fails when $\beta>1/2$.
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Mathematical Physics · Cross-listed from quant-ph

Aperiodicity is sufficient for macroscopic thermalization

We identify a general mechanism for the finite-time thermalization of macroscopic observables, such as coarse-grained charge densities, in terms of elementary forms of the quantum dynamics of initial states: (1) aperiodicity, which provides a computable measure of (2) a dynamical partially ergodic exploration of the Hilbert space. Specifically, this mechanism predicts the equilibration of all (concentrated) macroscopic observables, in almost all states in an initial ensemble and almost all times within finite and longer intervals, given only the observable-independent information that the return probability of the ensemble of initial states is small over a finite time range. As a special case, it also accesses standard results on equilibration over infinitely long times in terms of (stronger versions of) the effective dimension of initial state delocalization in the energy eigenbasis. Our results incorporate macroscopic thermalization into the domain of operational quantum statistical mechanics, recently developed to provide finitely computable criteria for microscopic thermalization. We discuss an overall characterization of this approach as establishing connections between (1) the decay of a (theoretically or experimentally) computable probe indicating memorylessness, (2) a fundamental invariant mechanism in terms of the alignment of observables or states in the Hilbert space, and (3) predicting different natural forms of (classical and) quantum thermalization, most of which rigorously recover conventional eigenstate-based descriptions of infinite-time thermalization as a special case but provide stronger accessible predictions over finite observation times in the thermodynamic limit.
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