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Wednesday 7 October

Dynamical Systems

Extrapolating escape dynamics from non-escaping trajectories in Hamiltonian systems

Hamiltonian systems exhibit rich dynamical behaviors, among which escape is a typical phenomenon. Below the escape threshold, trajectories initiated inside the central potential well remain bounded. Once the energy exceeds this threshold, and the initial conditions lie within the escape basin, the system eventually evolves along unbounded orbits toward infinity. Predicting the escape dynamics is important for understanding the evolution of these systems. In this study, we employ the next-generation reservoir computing framework, a powerful machine learning architecture widely used in dynamical prediction, to address this challenging issue. To capture the intrinsic features of the system, we train the model using data from multiple energy values. Numerical experiments on two Hamiltonian systems show that, with only three time series as training data, each corresponding to an energy value below the escape threshold, the model is capable of not only predicting the escape threshold itself, but also reliably predicting the structure of the escape channels. As a primary contribution of this work, these findings demonstrate that escape dynamics can be inferred from subcritical data alone in the two systems studied, offering a promising paradigm for data-driven studies of Hamiltonian systems.
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Optimization and Control

Consumption and Investment When Welfare Floors Change over Time

We study consumption and investment over a finite horizon when continuation utility must stay above a welfare floor that changes over time, and the floor at the horizon acts as a terminal wealth floor. A cumulative multiplier reduces the problem to a parabolic obstacle problem. When relative risk aversion exceeds one, the intervention boundary exists at every interior date. When it is below one, the boundary exists exactly at the dates where a discounted transformation of the floor is locally increasing and sets a strict running record, so it can disappear and later reenter. We prove local regularity of the boundary, construct the dual value from the obstacle solution, and verify the optimal cumulative multiplier, whose moments are controlled through its representation as a running supremum. Strong duality identifies the exact lower endpoint of feasible wealth. With stochastic income in a complete market, the floor becomes the value of an outside option, which links the boundary to limited commitment and endogenous borrowing capacity.
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Optimization and Control · Cross-listed from stat.AP

A Sensitivity-based Framework for Calibrating Coupled Ordinary Differential Equations under Model Discrepancy

Coupled systems of ordinary differential equations (ODEs) are widely used to model complex physical and biological processes. In these applications, ODE model parameters must be calibrated to field data to enable prediction and parameter inference. In practice, the governing ODEs are an imperfect approximation to the true system, leading to non-negligible model discrepancy that must be incorporated to avoid biased parameter estimates. However, it is well known that highly flexible discrepancy models can confound discrepancy and simulator parameters, leading to poor identifiability. As a result, practitioners often must impose problem-specific prior constraints to adequately regularize the discrepancy, which can be challenging and cumbersome. In this work, we propose a novel calibration framework for coupled, multi-output ODE systems that enforces automatic, model-structural constraints on the discrepancy, improving identifiability without requiring application-specific discrepancy priors. Forward-model gradients are computed via sensitivity equations, solved jointly with the ODE system as a coupled initial value problem. Posterior inference is performed using an adaptive Metropolis-within-Gibbs sampler tailored to the resulting constrained posterior. We demonstrate the approach on three model systems: a mass-spring oscillator, a model of infectious disease spread, and a neuron firing model. We show that our method leads to improved parameter inference and predictive accuracy compared to standard calibration approaches.
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Probability

Vertex crossings in a symmetric Markov multinomial model

We observe a ball bouncing down a Galton board with any number of directions. At each peg it either keeps its direction with some fixed probability or randomly turns to one of the other directions. Its bin measures how often it went each way, a point of a simplex. When the ball rarely turns, the most likely bins are the corners, which only a ball that never turns can reach. We ask when the best bin of each face of the simplex becomes as likely as a corner. To first order every face catches up at the same moment. We break this tie at second order, with an explicit constant for each face. Hence on a long board, as the expected number of turns grows to any fixed multiple of the length's logarithm, the most likely bin jumps once, from the corners straight to the center. A nonuniform start or a weak external field changes the constants, potentially allowing an intermediate face to win.
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Numerical Analysis

Shifted tapered-pole approximation on finite sectors: an exact asymptotic and dimension control

We study explicit lightning-plus-polynomial (LP) approximation of $g(z)z^\alpha(\log z)^m$ on a closed unit-radius sector, where $0<\alpha<1$, $m$ is fixed, and $g$ is analytic nearby. Since the basic sector root-exponential rate is already known, we address three finer questions. First, a one-sided Abel–Poisson formula and a pole-free notched contour give a branchwise error bound that is uniform for grid shifts in compact subsets of $(0,1)$ and valid for every fixed logarithmic power. Second, for $z^\alpha$ in the dense and balanced regimes, an exact vertex-scale rescaling identifies a positive finite leading constant for a specified shifted sequence. Third, a rate-matched band of additional representation poles followed by polynomial compression gives the explicit representation dimension $N+2\sqrt{2\alpha\lambda_\sigma N}+O(1)$ while leaving the first $N$ tapered poles unchanged. A slightly overresolved hybrid sequence also preserves the exact leading constant. Matched-dimension experiments, including reentrant sectors, illustrate the allocation. These exact-asymptotic and dimension statements concern the stated constructions, not sector minimax approximation or total computational complexity.
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Analysis of PDEs · Cross-listed from cs.LG

The Symbol of the Surrogate: Measuring Numerical Provenance in Neural PDE Solvers

Neural PDE surrogates are trained on numerical solver outputs that contain both physical evolution and solver-specific discretization errors. Because surrogates are also evaluated against held-out trajectories from the same solver, standard benchmarks cannot distinguish fidelity to the exact evolution from imitation of the numerical scheme. We introduce an empirical Fourier-symbol diagnostic that probes a trained surrogate's linearized one-step operator with individual Fourier modes and compares it with both exact-evolution and training-scheme references. To address architectural spectral bias, we train identical networks on schemes with orthogonal dissipative and dispersive signatures and compare their learned operators. In linear advection, the learned surrogates reproduce the training schemes' amplitude and phase errors, with the twin-scheme difference reaching more than 99.8% of the analytically predicted full-imitation ceiling. The same behavior occurs for a non-local Fourier neural operator and at the operator level for nonlinear Burgers dynamics. These results show that agreement with solver-generated test data does not by itself establish fidelity to the exact evolution. Fourier-symbol measurements provide a direct diagnostic of numerical provenance.
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Numerical Analysis

Convergence of repeated-pole rational approximation of the exponential on infinite sectors

For $h>0$, degree $m\ge0$, $0\le\beta<\pi$, and $q>0$, let $\Sigma_\beta=\{re^{i\theta}:r\ge0,\ |\theta|\le\beta/2\}$ and let $E_{m,\beta}(q)$ denote the best uniform error for approximating $e^{-hz}$ on $\Sigma_\beta$ by rational functions whose only possible finite pole is $s=-q/h$, with multiplicity at most $m$. For the linear scaling $q=\alpha m$ with a fixed $\alpha>0$, a Möbius map reduces the problem to polynomial approximation on a compact lens. Write $\gamma_\beta=2-\beta/\pi$ and let $\alpha_c(\gamma_\beta)$ denote the saddle-coalescence threshold. For $0<\alpha<\alpha_c(\gamma_\beta)$, let $H_\beta(\alpha)\in(0,1)$ be the exponential of the real saddle action. An exact boundary Faber integral, a global fractional-power contour deformation, and a two-saddle expansion yield the sharp two-sided order $E_{m,\beta}(\alpha m)\asymp m^{-1/2}H_\beta(\alpha)^m$, uniformly on compact subsets of $0<\alpha<\alpha_c(\gamma_\beta)$. On this noncoalescing interval, the exponential factor $H_\beta(\alpha)$ has the unique minimizer $\alpha_\beta^*=1/[\gamma_\beta\sin(\pi/(2\gamma_\beta))]$ and minimum $\tan(\pi/(4\gamma_\beta))$, recovering the classical half-line factor $\tan(\pi/8)=\sqrt{2}-1$ at $\beta=0$. Numerical-range estimates give matrix dimension-independent upper bounds for projected shift-and-invert Arnoldi, while finite-degree pole searches and nonnormal experiments illustrate the distinction between the sector-uniform law and individual matrix computations.
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Numerical Analysis

High-order entropy stable isothermal wall boundary condition for the compressible Navier–Stokes equations

Entropy stable boundary conditions are critical for ensuring that the corresponding numerical scheme satisfies the discrete entropy inequality, thus, mimicking the second law of thermodynamics for the compressible Navier-Stokes equations discretely. Provably entropy-stable adiabatic wall boundary conditions were introduced in Parsani 2014~\cite{parsani2014entropy}. These discrete wall boundary conditions were further generalized in Dalcin 2019~\cite{dalcin2019conservative} to a moving adiabatic solid wall or a wall with a prescribed heat flux for the compressible Navier–Stokes equations discretized by using summation-by-parts (SBP) and simultaneous-approximation-term (SAT) operators. Currently no entropy-stable formulation using SBP-SAT operators for isothermal wall boundary conditions is available in the literature. This paper presents a new isothermal no-slip wall boundary conditions that: 1) enforces the $T|_{y=0}=T^{wall}$ and $\vec{v}|_{y=0}=\vec{v}^{wall}$ conditions with the design order of accuracy while maintaining stability, 2) provides the correct sign of entropy production at the wall, and 3) mimics the entropy balance of the Navier-Stokes equations at the discrete level. The structure-preserving and design-order properties of the proposed methodology are demonstrated and verified on standard benchmark problems for compressible flows.
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Optimization and Control

Beyond Nominal Equilibria: Risk-Averse Multi-Population Mean-Field Games

Recent advances in mean-field games and its multi-population variants enable large-scale heterogeneous multi-agent systems to be modeled through representative agents and their associated mean-field distributions. However, existing approaches do not explicitly account for uncertainty in the behavior of other populations. To this end, we introduce a new paradigm: risk-averse multi-population mean-field games, where each population optimizes a worst-case expected reward over dynamically feasible ambiguity sets of mean-field flows of a subset of the other populations. Employing an occupation-measure formulation along with tools from set-valued analysis, we establish, under mild assumptions, several theoretical properties of the multi-population game, including the geometric properties of the ambiguity sets and the existence of a novel risk-averse multi-population mean-field equilibrium. Further, we derive contractivity results of the fixed-point operator under entropy regularization and show that it can be utilized to learn the equilibrium. Finally, we propose a risk-averse fictitious-play scheme and show that exploitability decays to zero, despite the additional nonlinearity introduced by the worst-case objective. We report several numerical experiments to illustrate convergence and risk-averse behavior.
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Functional Analysis

Embeddings of Generalized Weighted Morrey Spaces

We study continuous embeddings from two classes of generalized weighted Morrey spaces into generalized Morrey spaces. The Komori–Shirai-type spaces use the weighted measure of cubes in their normalization, whereas the Samko-type spaces use the Lebesgue measure. We first consider generalized Morrey spaces on bounded domains. In the non-radial setting, we establish embedding results under local radial comparability assumptions on the Morrey functions. As a consequence, we characterize the corresponding embeddings in the radial setting for the full range $0<p_1,p_2<\infty$. We then study embeddings from generalized Komori–Shirai-type weighted Morrey spaces associated with piecewise power weights and general Muckenhoupt weights. For the Samko-type scale, we treat both generalized and classical weighted Morrey spaces, again considering piecewise power weights and general Muckenhoupt weights. Finally, assuming that the weight is comparable to a positive constant on some cube or ball, we show that the continuous embeddings under consideration are not compact.
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Tuesday 6 October

Information Theory · Cross-listed from physics.data-an

Sorted Mutability as an Entropic Functional: Theory and Two Applications

We investigate sorted mutability, $\zeta_S$, as an information-based quantity with an explicit entropic character. We show that $\zeta_S$ is directly proportional to the diversity of a data sequence and can therefore be expressed in terms of Shannon entropies, establishing a connection between compression-based measures and conventional information theory. In contrast to regular mutability, which preserves the sequential ordering of the data, sorted mutability removes this ordering and provides a static characterization of the distribution of observed values. We illustrate these properties in two complementary settings: the two-dimensional ferromagnetic Q-clock model and wind-power production data. For the Q-clock model, sorted mutability and diversity display the same temperature dependence, consistent with their analytical relation, while conventional thermodynamic observables provide an independent reference. In the case of wind power, we report monthly results for sorted mutability and diversity, showing proportional time evolutions. These results support sorted mutability as a useful, easy-to-calculate entropic functional for analyzing both equilibrium and non-equilibrium data sets.
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All authors Michel Aguilera, Eugenio E. Vogel, Francisco J. Peña, Gonzalo Saravia, Patricio Vargas

Rings and Algebras

Linear maps preserving the matrix discriminant. An enhanced approach

The discriminant of a square matrix is defined as a discriminant of its characteristic polynomial. In this paper we provide a description of linear maps preserving the matrix discriminant assuming that the ground field is large enough. Our description generalizes the known results to the case where the field may have a finite cardinality and its characteristic may divide the size of considered matrices. To obtain this description, we extend the approach used in our previous work on the subject and, in addition to that, introduce new invariants for the action of all bijective linear maps preserving a given polynomial, which are on independent interest and could be applied to other problems in the theory of linear preservers.
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Metric Geometry

Upper bounds for Jung constants of $\ell_1^d$

For every integer $k\ge1$, we prove that each nonempty bounded set in real $\ell_1^{4k+1}$ has an ambient enclosing ball of radius at most $(4k-1)/(4k)$ times its diameter. The bound is sharp in dimension five: $J(\ell_1^5)=3/4$. If a Hadamard matrix of order $4k$ exists, then $J(\ell_1^{4k-1})=J(\ell_1^{4k})=J(\ell_1^{4k+1})=(4k-1)/(4k)$. The upper bound for every $k\ge1$ has been formalized in Lean.
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Combinatorics

The Game Chromatic Number of Complete Multipartite Graphs with Singletons and Large Parts

We study the game chromatic number of complete multipartite graphs whose parts are either singletons or are of size at least four. Building on the work of PawełObszarski et al., we give a formula in terms of the ordered part sizes, and the number of singleton parts.

Information Theory · Cross-listed from stat.ML

The optimal information complexity of VC learning

Steinke and Zakynthinou(2020) introduces the Conditional Mutual Information (CMI) framework of analyzing the information complexity of learning algorithms based on algorithm-dependent information-theoretic quantities. We study one of these quantities, the evaluated Conditional Mutual Information (eCMI). It has been an interesting question whether the optimal PAC guarantee for VC classes can be recovered from the algorithm-dependent analyses via CMI. And we show that it is possible to recover this guarantee by constructing a learning algorithm whose eCMI is of order O(d) in the realizable case, where d is the VC-dimension of the concept class. Specially, our algorithm is a randomized Majority-of-5 base learners with optimal in-expectation generalization guarantee.
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Probability · Cross-listed from cs.DM

An upper bound of 4.268 for the random 3-SAT satisfiability threshold

We prove that a random 3-SAT formula with $n$ variables and $\lfloor 4.268n\rfloor$ clauses is unsatisfiable with high probability. The satisfiability threshold has attracted considerable attention: successive upper bounds reached 4.4898 in the work of Díaz, Kirousis, Mitsche, and Pérez-Giménez, while the cavity method predicts a value near 4.267. Our bound brings the rigorous upper estimate close to this prediction. The proof builds on earlier interpolation methods, including the energetic approach of Achlioptas and Menchaca-Méndez. We study the smallest number of clauses that any assignment must violate, comparing the random formula with a simpler system of constraints on individual variables. This comparison reduces the bound to a finite calculation, which we verify using exact rational arithmetic. The proof is formalized in Lean 4.
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Information Theory

Performance Analysis and Sensing-Aware Resource Allocation for Full-Duplex Massive MIMO ISCC Networks

Emerging edge applications must sense their environment and process data within tight latency budgets. Full-duplex (FD) integrated sensing, communication, and computing (ISCC) supports these functions concurrently, but radar probing interferes with uplink reception while user transmissions degrade target estimation. These coupled effects call for joint sensing and offloading decisions. We investigate a FD massive multiple-input multiple-output (mMIMO) ISCC network in which users partially offload tasks to an edge server while an access point probes a target. For zero-forcing uplink reception with imperfect channel estimates, we derive a tractable rate bound and target-angle Cramer-Rao lower bounds (CRLBs) under the stated interference and beam-alignment assumptions. We then jointly optimize offloading fractions, user and radar transmit powers, and edge computing resources to minimize average end-to-end task latency subject to sensing-accuracy, communication-rate, energy, deadline, and resource constraints. A successive convex approximation algorithm is developed to efficiently address the resulting nonconvex problem. The analysis shows that larger arrays improve sensing and uplink performance, but residual radar interference creates a finite rate ceiling when user powers scale down with array size. Simulation results show joint allocation reduces radar transmit power by approximately 86% relative to equal communication-user power at a -40 dB CRLB threshold and lowers latency compared with fixed-allocation and half-duplex schemes.
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All authors Vo Phi Son, Van-Dinh Nguyen, Nhan Thanh Nguyen, Tuan-Vu Truong, Symeon Shatzinotas

Optimization and Control · Cross-listed from cs.DS

Dijkstra Is NOT Greedy: A Global-to-Local Proof of Correctness

Dijkstra's algorithm is traditionally classified as a greedy algorithm. We argue that this classification misrepresents the mechanism by which the algorithm determines shortest paths. We present a direct global-to-local proof of correctness. At each iteration, the algorithm identifies a shortest path over the entire set of paths whose endpoints remain unsolved. This global minimum is necessarily a shortest path to its own endpoint. More fundamentally, the algorithm uses already determined shortest paths to establish one additional shortest path at each iteration. We identify this progression as dynamic programming. A three-step exclusion proof shows how the full path space is reduced to frontier candidates, how relaxation removes inferior alternatives, and why minimum extraction yields the global minimum. The choice is thus determined by a global comparison, not by an optimistic local greedy choice. We conclude that the algorithm is more accurately characterized by dynamic programming and deterministic path exclusion than by the traditional greedy classification.
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Number Theory

Simple and accurate approximations to Dirichlet $L$-functions

We extend the quadrature method developed in [10] to Dirichlet $L$-functions associated with primitive characters. The approximations combine finite Dirichlet sums with correction terms whose quadrature coefficients can be precomputed for each character. Numerical experiments demonstrate high accuracy in the critical strip and in other vertical strips. We also describe how to combine these approximations with direct summation and Euler–Maclaurin summation to evaluate $L(s,\chi)$ throughout the complex plane.
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History and Overview of Mathematics

The Markov Accessibility Topology and its Probabilistic Structure

In this paper, we associate a canonical topology with the transition operator of a discrete-time Markov chain. We prove that this construction defines an Alexandroff topology, called the Markov Accessibility Topology, and subsequently establish that it coincides with the Alexandroff topology induced by the accessibility relation. This establishes a direct connection between probabilistic accessibility and order-theoretic topology, allowing several classical notions from Markov chain theory to be interpreted in topological terms. Among other results, we characterize absorbing subsets as closed sets, relate irreducibility to topological connectedness and the triviality of the topology, describe minimal open neighborhoods through accessibility and hitting probabilities, and investigate the communication quotient together with its relationship to lumpability.
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Group Theory

Local Presentations of Groups: Completion and Smith's Conjecture

For a symmetric subset of a group containing the identity, its universal local presentation records the multiplication relations visible within the subset. We prove that a group is recovered from every such generating subset if and only if it is trivial or cyclic of order two or three, as conjectured by P. A. Smith. The main step is an exact completion theorem: local maps into a target group always extend to generating domains if and only if every target element has a square root. By embedding an arbitrary group in a group with surjective squaring, we deduce that every partial local presentation embeds in a generating one. This gives subgroup inheritance and reduces the classification to finite generation. We also construct obstructions in one fixed countable metabelian target on domains of at most five elements. This bound is sharp even when the target is allowed to vary.
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Number Theory

Finite-radius Jensen and relative-entropy formulations of the Balazard–Saias–Yor criterion

We give two explicit reformulations of a Balazard–Saias–Yor type criterion for the Riemann hypothesis. First, Jensen's formula is applied to $u(s)=(s-1)\zeta(s)$ after mapping the unit disk onto $Re s<1/2$. For the normalization whose center corresponds to $s=-1/2$, the images $z_n=(4n-1)/(4n+3)$ of the trivial zeros yield a telescoping Jensen product. This isolates, at finite radius, the complete divergent contribution of the trivial zeros; the remaining defect is a nonnegative integrated count of mapped nontrivial zeros off the critical line. A one-parameter version gives a gamma-quotient product and an explicit finite part. Second, after passing through the established boundary identity, we combine two Poisson weights to obtain an absolutely convergent logarithmic integral of the Riemann $\Xi$-function. From the random variable $Z=|\Xi(T)/\Xi(0)|^2$ we define its law $\mu$ and the size-biased law $\nu(\,\mathrm d z)=z\mu(\,\mathrm d z)/M$. The data-processing inequality is lossless for this statistic, and the Riemann hypothesis is equivalent to saturation of an explicit upper bound for $D_{\rm KL}(\mu\|\nu)$. We also record the associated Donsker–Varadhan and moment forms and express the target constant through Riemann's positive Fourier kernel. The analytic boundary criterion and Jensen–Hardy mechanism used here are known. The purpose of the paper is an explicit finite-radius treatment of the trivial zeros and an information-theoretic reformulation, not a new proof of the Riemann hypothesis or an independent boundary-integral criterion.
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General Mathematics

A Local Proof of Langlands's First Main Lemma for Local Epsilon Factors over Nonarchimedean Local Fields

We give a complete local proof of Langlands's First Main Lemma for local epsilon factors over nonarchimedean local fields. The proof builds on Dwork's $p$-adic calculations and Langlands's formulation of the local method. The present paper reformulates these calculations in a common normalization and extends the argument to equal characteristic. A more systematic treatment of stationary parameters and conductor cases is intended to make the calculations easier to follow. Norm–trace correction formulas yield the equal-characteristic extension. The author is also completing a local proof of Langlands's Second Main Lemma and will verify it in Lean. Together with the present result and Langlands's remaining reductions, that work will give a complete proof of the local construction of local epsilon factors envisioned by Langlands. OpenAI ChatGPT assisted with drafting and wording revisions of this manuscript; the author audited the manuscript, checked the proof, and assumes full responsibility.
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Number Theory

Multiplicity Constants for Rough Numbers in Prime Gaps

Let $p_n$ be the $n$th prime and $g_n=p_{n+1}-p_n$. Following Gafni and Tao, an integer $m$ with $p_n<m<p_{n+1}$ is rough for the gap if its least prime factor is at least $g_n$; let $M_n$ be the number of such integers. Gafni and Tao proved that the number of $n$ with $X\le p_n\le 2X$ and $M_n=0$ is $O(X/\log^2 X)$, and that it is asymptotic to $cX/\log^2 X$ under a form of the Dickson-Hardy-Littlewood prime tuples conjecture. We study $N_r(X)$, the number of $n$ with $X\le p_n\le 2X$ and $M_n<r$. For every $r\ge 1$ we define a constant $c_r$ by an endpoint-conditioned local sieve model, with $c_1=c$, and we prove unconditionally that $c_r=h_r^*+O_\varepsilon(r^{1/2}(\log r)^{1+\varepsilon})$ for $r\ge 3$, where $h_r^*$ is the least even $h\ge 2$ with $h\prod_{p<h}(1-1/p)\ge r$. Consequently $c_r=H_r(1+O(e^{-\kappa\sqrt{\log r}}))$ for an absolute constant $\kappa>0$, where $H_r>e$ solves $e^{-\gamma}H_r/\log H_r=r$ ($\gamma$ is Euler's constant), and $c_r=e^\gamma r(\log r+\log\log r+\gamma+(\log\log r+\gamma)/\log r+O((\log\log r)^2/(\log r)^2))$. The proof combines the Montgomery-Vaughan moment bounds for reduced residues in short intervals with an exact removal of the endpoint conditioning. For each fixed $r$, the argument of Gafni and Tao extends to give $N_r(X)\ll_r X/\log^2 X$ unconditionally, and $N_r(X)\sim c_rX/\log^2 X$ under their conjecture. Exact enumeration of the local model gives $c\ge 2.7413$.
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General Mathematics

The first type of power mean bounds for the Gaussian hypergeometric function

In this paper, by using a signs rule for a class of special power series and a recurrence relation of coefficients involving hypergeometric series, we find the necessary and sufficient conditions for the sharp (at the left endpoint) inequalities between the hypergeometric function and power mean (Hm-Pm inequality) to hold in all possible cases, which greatly extends those known results and solve the rest of problem on the sharp (at the left endpoint) power mean bounds for the hypergeometric mean.
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Optimization and Control

Fluid Mixing and Incompressible Optimal Transport

The problem of incompressible fluid mixing is long-studied, yet many questions remain open. This paper aims to address the question “what do efficient flow fields for mixing look like, and how do they behave?” Inspired by the dynamic and geometric approach to optimal mass transport, we formulate a version of the fluid mixing problem as an optimal control problem for transport of a passive scalar, in which the dynamics are given by the continuity equation together with an incompressibility constraint. We then develop a geometric framework around this problem which parallels that of classical optimal transport: the optimal control problem induces a metric on the set of reachable states (analogous to the Wasserstein metric), and this metric carries a formal Riemannian structure when the optimal control objective is induced by an inner product. Using this structure, we decompose our problem into a series of more fundamental geometric problems and derive (formal) necessary conditions for optimality, geodesic equations, and gradient flows for mixing. Specializing the control objective to the kinetic energy recovers the incompressible Euler equation, connecting our framework to the geometric hydrodynamics of Arnold. The resulting problem appears to be ill-posed, however, suggesting that the kinetic energy is an unnatural measure of mixing effort. Specializing instead to the enstrophy, which we argue is better suited to mixing, yields the Euler-Poincaré (EPDiff) geodesic equation for the right-invariant homogeneous $\dot{H}^1$ metric on the group of volume-preserving diffeomorphisms, and we present numerical simulations of both geodesics and gradient flows in this case. Along the way, we generalize the classical Helmholtz decomposition of vector fields, rederive the Clebsch representation of incompressible flows, and develop a parallel to the Otto calculus of optimal transport.
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Optimization and Control

Regret-Optimal Linear-Quadratic Control under Distributional Drift

We study finite-horizon LQR with independent disturbances whose laws may drift over time. We address uncertainty in this evolution through ex-ante distributionally robust regret optimization (DRRO), which minimizes worst-case excess expected cost relative to the optimal causal controller that knows the law sequence. To specify the admissible law sequences, we introduce a temporally coupled moment ambiguity set with a Gelbrich kinetic-energy budget and a second budget limiting departures from reference moments and persistent cumulative mismatch. Despite the coupling of moments across time, affine disturbance-feedback synthesis reduces exactly to a semidefinite program. An optimal policy uses past disturbances to predict the correction to nominal LQR determined by current and future disturbance means. The SDP solution also yields worst-case moment paths and corresponding laws. For standard distributionally robust optimization (DRO), the analogous SDP relaxation can have a duality gap. Portfolio liquidation experiments show substantially lower worst-case regret over the drifting ambiguity set than common-law DRRO and nominal control.
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Information Theory · Cross-listed from eess.SY

Mission-critical spectrum sharing with decentralized Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning

Motivated by emerging mission-critical applications and an increasingly congested spectrum, we develop a decentralized multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) model for dynamic spectrum access. The model enables secondary users to learn effective transmission strategies across shared frequency bands while minimizing collisions with high-priority primary users and among themselves. We design the agent-level learners following a Markov potential game approach, connecting independent local updates to system-level improvement. We instantiate this design using lightweight linear actor-critic learners suitable for resource-constrained edge devices, rather than computationally intensive centralized or deep multi-agent architectures. Across spectrum environments with different incumbent activities, the learned policies adapt their transmission policy and waiting behavior to preserve throughput while greatly reducing transmission collisions relative to random and forecast-aware heuristic baselines. The results establish the value of decentralized MARL and shows up to 96.8% reduction in overall collisions.
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All authors Dimitrios Pylorof, Imtiaz Nasim, Humberto E. Garcia, Vivek Agarwal, Jasni A. Mannil, Mingyue Ji

Statistics Theory · Cross-listed from stat.ME

Sketched Calibration for Conformal Prediction under Covariate Shift

Weighted conformal prediction corrects for covariate shift by reweighting calibration scores with the likelihood ratio between target and source covariates. Its cost grows with the chi-square divergence between the two covariate laws, typically exponentially in the size of the shift, and much of it can be paid for shift in directions that do not affect the response. We propose sketched calibration: weighted conformal prediction with the ratio of compressed covariates $Z=T(X)$, used in the weights and optionally in the score. Compression never increases the shift-dependent calibration cost, and target coverage is at least $1-\alpha-\Delta_T$, where the leakage $\Delta_T$ measures how much of the discarded shift reappears as a change in the law of the response, or of the score, given $Z$. The leakage is a covariance between the discarded shift and the response on the fibres of the sketch; it vanishes when the sketch is sufficient or retains the shift, and a minimax construction shows that no threshold rule for a fixed score can avoid it. In a heteroscedastic simulation where unweighted calibration fails, a one-dimensional sketch cuts the fraction of infinite prediction sets from $37.8\%$ to $8.0\%$ at mean coverage $92.3\%$ for a $90\%$ target; nonlinear and real-data experiments show when learned sketches succeed and when they fail.
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Information Theory · Cross-listed from cs.LG

An Accuracy-Information Tradeoff for Loss-Difference Conditional Mutual Information

Loss-difference conditional mutual information (ld-CMI) uses the smallest of the standard observations in the supersample hierarchy of generalization bounds: it measures what a learner's loss differences reveal about which candidate of each pair it was trained on. Accuracy is known to force information into the model; data processing does not carry such lower bounds to losses. We show, by bounding three moments of the loss differences, that accuracy also forces ld-CMI. For linear predictors with a smooth convex loss of nonzero slope at zero, such as the logistic loss, plus a regularizer whose curvature and growth are both of power $r\ge2$, on product distributions over a scaled sign cube in dimension at least linear in $n$, every proper learner with expected excess risk at most $\varepsilon$ on these distributions at the optimal sample size $n\asymp\varepsilon^{-2+2/r}$ has worst-case ld-CMI of order $n$ bits, and $\Theta(n/(1+(\tau/\varepsilon)^2))$ bits under Gaussian noise of standard deviation $\tau$ on the loss differences. The same holds without a regularizer, at $n\asymp\varepsilon^{-2}$. Consequently, range-scaled ld-CMI bounds cannot vanish on these distributions, although every proper learner's generalization gap is $O(n^{-1/2})$. We also show that model-level information does not determine noisy loss-difference information, and that the growth, slope and dimension conditions are needed, the last up to a logarithm.
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