Publications

The concurrent growth of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) and their host galaxies remains to be fully explored, especially at high redshift. While often understood as a consequence of self-regulation via AGN feedback, it can also be explained by alternative SMBH accretion models. Here, we expand on previous work by studying the growth of SMBHs with the help of a large suite of cosmological zoom-in simulations (MassiveFIRE) that are part of the Feedback in Realistic Environments (FIRE) project. The growth of SMBHs is modelled in post-processing with different black hole accretion models, placements, and merger treatments, and validated by comparing to on-the-fly calculations. Scaling relations predicted by the gravitational torque driven accretion (GTDA) model agree with observations at low redshift without the need for AGN feedback, in contrast to models in which the accretion rate depends strongly on SMBH mass. At high redshift, we find deviations from the local scaling relations in line with previous theoretical results. In particular, SMBHs are under-massive, presumably due to stellar feedback, but start to grow efficiently once their host galaxies reach M∗∼1010M⊙. We analyse and explain these findings in the context of a simple analytic model. Finally, we show that the predicted scaling relations depend sensitively on the SMBH location and the efficiency of SMBH merging, particularly in low-mass systems. These findings highlight the relevance of understanding the evolution of SMBH-galaxy scaling relations to predict the rate of gravitational wave signals from SMBH mergers across cosmic history.

Stars born on near-circular orbits in spiral galaxies can subsequently migrate to different orbits due to interactions with non-axisymmetric disturbances within the disc such as bars or spiral arms. This paper extends the study of migration to examine the role of external influences using the example of the interaction of the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy (Sgr) with the Milky Way (MW). We first make impulse approximation estimates to characterize the influence of Sgr disc passages. The tidal forcing from Sgr can produce changes in both guiding radius (ΔRg) and orbital eccentricity, as quantified by the maximum radial excursion, ΔRmax. These changes follow a quadrupole-like pattern across the face of the disc, with amplitude increasing with Galactocentric radius. We next examine a collisionless N-body simulation of a Sgr-like satellite interacting with a MW-like galaxy and find that Sgr's influence in the outer disc dominates over the secular evolution of orbits between disc passages. Finally, we use the same simulation to explore possible observable signatures of Sgr-induced migration by painting the simulation with different age stellar populations. We find that following Sgr disc passages, the migration it induces manifests within an annulus as an approximate quadrupole in azimuthal metallicity variations (δ[Fe/H]), along with systematic variations in orbital eccentricity, ΔRmax. These systematic variations can persist for several rotational periods. We conclude that this combination of signatures may be used to distinguish between the different migration mechanisms shaping the chemical abundance patterns of the Milky Way's thin disc.

The communities who develop and support open source scientific software packages are crucial to the utility and success of such packages. Moreover, these communities form an important part of the human infrastructure that enables scientific progress. This paper discusses aspects of the PETSc (Portable Extensible Toolkit for Scientific Computation) community, its organization, and technical approaches that enable community members to help each other efficiently

Dense assemblies of self-propelling rods (SPRs) may exhibit fascinating collective behaviors and anomalous physical properties that are far away from equilibrium. Using large-scale Brownian dynamics simulations, we investigate the dynamics of disclination defects in 2D fluidized swarming motions of dense dry SPRs (i.e., without hydrodynamic effects) that form notable local positional topological structures that are reminiscent of smectic order. We find the deformations of smectic-like rod layers can create unique polar structures that lead to slow translations and rotations of ±1/2-order defects, which are fundamentally different from the fast streaming defect motions observed in wet active matter. We measure and characterize the statistical properties of topological defects and reveal their connections with the coherent structures. Furthermore, we construct a bottom-up active-liquid-crystal model to analyze the instability of polar lanes, which effectively leads to defect formation between interlocked polar lanes and serves as the origin of the large-scale swarming motions.

A numerical scheme is presented for the solution of Fredholm second-kind boundary integral equations with right-hand sides that are singular at a finite set of boundary points. The boundaries themselves may be non-smooth. The scheme, which builds on recursively compressed inverse preconditioning (RCIP), is universal as it is independent of the nature of the singularities. Strong right-hand-side singularities, such as $1/|r|^\alpha$ with $\alpha$ close to $1$, can be treated in full machine precision. Adaptive refinement is used only in the recursive construction of the preconditioner, leading to an optimal number of discretization points and superior stability in the solve phase. The performance of the scheme is illustrated via several numerical examples, including an application to an integral equation derived from the linearized BGKW kinetic equation for the steady Couette flow.

This paper introduces a Bayesian multilevel model based on the age-period-cohort framework to examine Chinese happiness. Using 8 waves of the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) data between 2005–2015, the model not only solves the co-linearity problem with weakly informative priors and explicit assumptions, it also produces more computationally stable results. Our estimation results show how Chinese happiness changes in an individual’s life circle and how one’s life experience is accumulated to her/his happiness with cognitive development. We identify some different generation patterns and explain generation differences in happiness across the various birth years with narratives of historical events. This paper contributes to existing studies both theoretically and methodologically. The novel modeling strategy and the analytical framework which assisted with historical narratives altogether explain better the age, period, and cohort effects on Chinese happiness.

Most existing theoretical analysis of reinforcement learning (RL) is limited to the tabular setting or linear models due to the difficulty in dealing with function approximation in high dimensional space with an uncertain environment. This work offers a fresh perspective into this challenge by analyzing RL in a general reproducing kernel Hilbert space (RKHS). We consider a family of Markov decision processes $\mathcal{M}$ of which the reward functions lie in the unit ball of an RKHS and transition probabilities lie in a given arbitrary set. We define a quantity called perturbational complexity by distribution mismatch $\Delta_{\mathcal{M}}(\epsilon)$ to characterize the complexity of the admissible state-action distribution space in response to a perturbation in the RKHS with scale $\epsilon$. We show that $\Delta_{\mathcal{M}}(\epsilon)$ gives both the lower bound of the error of all possible algorithms and the upper bound of two specific algorithms (fitted reward and fitted Q-iteration) for the RL problem. Hence, the decay of $\Delta_\mathcal{M}(\epsilon)$ with respect to $\epsilon$ measures the difficulty of the RL problem on $\mathcal{M}$. We further provide some concrete examples and discuss whether $\Delta_{\mathcal{M}}(\epsilon)$ decays fast or not in these examples. As a byproduct, we show that when the reward functions lie in a high dimensional RKHS, even if the transition probability is known and the action space is finite, it is still possible for RL problems to suffer from the curse of dimensionality.

The structural phase transition in Ta

The layered vanadium antimonides AV3Sb5 (A = K, Rb, Cs) are a recently discovered family of topological kagome metals with a rich phenomenology of strongly correlated electronic phases including charge order and superconductivity. Understanding how the singularities inherent to the kagome electronic structure are linked to the observed many-body phases is a topic of great interest and relevance. Here, we combine angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and density functional theory to reveal multiple kagome-derived van Hove singularities (vHs) coexisting near the Fermi level of CsV3Sb5 and analyze their contribution to electronic symmetry breaking. Intriguingly, the vHs in CsV3Sb5 have two distinct flavors - p-type and m-type - which originate from their pure and mixed sublattice characters, respectively. This twofold vHs is unique property of the kagome lattice, and its flavor critically determines the pairing symmetry and ground states emerging in AV3Sb5 series. We establish that, among the multiple vHs in CsV3Sb5, the m-type vHs of the dxz/dyz kagome band and the p-type vHs of the dxy/dx2-y2 kagome band cross the Fermi level to set the stage for electronic symmetry breaking. The former band exhibits pronounced Fermi surface nesting, while the latter contributes via higher-order vHs. Our work reveals the essential role of kagome-derived vHs for the collective phenomena realized in the AV3Sb5 family, paving the way to a deeper understanding of strongly correlated topological kagome systems.

The geometric phase (Berry phase) of an electronic wave function is the fundamental basis of the topological properties in solids. Modulating band structure provides a tuning knob for the Berry phase, and in the extreme case drives a topological phase transition. Despite the significant developments in topological materials study, it remains a challenge to tune between different topological phases while tracing the impact of the Berry phase on quantum charge transport, in the same material. Here we report both in a magnetotransport study of ZrTe5. By tuning the band structure with uniaxial strain, we directly map a weak- to strong- topological phase transition through a gapless Dirac semimetal phase via quantum oscillations. Moreover, we demonstrate the impact of the strain-tunable spin-dependent Berry phase on the Zeeman effect through the amplitude of the quantum oscillations. We show that such a spin-dependent Berry phase, largely neglected in solid-state systems, is critical in modeling quantum oscillations in Dirac bands in topological materials.