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1. Inexact Fixed-Point Proximity Algorithm for the $$\ell _0$$ Sparse Regularization Problem

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s10915-024-02600-7  

   Fang, Ronglong; Xu, Yuesheng; Yan, Mingsong (July 2024, Journal of Scientific Computing)

   Abstract We studyinexactfixed-point proximity algorithms for solving a class of sparse regularization problems involving the$$\ell _0$$ ${\ell }_0$norm. Specifically, the$$\ell _0$$ ${\ell }_0$model has an objective function that is the sum of a convex fidelity term and a Moreau envelope of the$$\ell _0$$ ${\ell }_0$norm regularization term. Such an$$\ell _0$$ ${\ell }_0$model is non-convex. Existing exact algorithms for solving the problems require the availability of closed-form formulas for the proximity operator of convex functions involved in the objective function. When such formulas are not available, numerical computation of the proximity operator becomes inevitable. This leads to inexact iteration algorithms. We investigate in this paper how the numerical error for every step of the iteration should be controlled to ensure global convergence of the inexact algorithms. We establish a theoretical result that guarantees the sequence generated by the proposed inexact algorithm converges to a local minimizer of the optimization problem. We implement the proposed algorithms for three applications of practical importance in machine learning and image science, which include regression, classification, and image deblurring. The numerical results demonstrate the convergence of the proposed algorithm and confirm that local minimizers of the$$\ell _0$$ ${\ell }_0$models found by the proposed inexact algorithm outperform global minimizers of the corresponding$$\ell _1$$ ${\ell }_1$models, in terms of approximation accuracy and sparsity of the solutions. 

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2. Simulations of radiatively cooled magnetic reconnection driven by pulsed power

   https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022377824000448  

   Datta, Rishabh; Crilly, Aidan; Chittenden, Jeremy P.; Chowdhry, Simran; Chandler, Katherine; Chaturvedi, Nikita; Myers, Clayton E.; Fox, William R.; Hansen, Stephanie B.; Jennings, Chris A.; et al (April 2024, Journal of Plasma Physics)

   Magnetic reconnection is an important process in astrophysical environments, as it reconfigures magnetic field topology and converts magnetic energy into thermal and kinetic energy. In extreme astrophysical systems, such as black hole coronae and pulsar magnetospheres, radiative cooling modifies the energy partition by radiating away internal energy, which can lead to the radiative collapse of the reconnection layer. In this paper, we perform two- and three-dimensional simulations to model the MARZ (Magnetic Reconnection on Z) experiments, which are designed to access cooling rates in the laboratory necessary to investigate reconnection in a previously unexplored radiatively cooled regime. These simulations are performed in GORGON, an Eulerian two-temperature resistive magnetohydrodynamic code, which models the experimental geometry comprising two exploding wire arrays driven by 20 MA of current on the Z machine (Sandia National Laboratories). Radiative losses are implemented using non-local thermodynamic equilibrium tables computed using the atomic code Spk, and we probe the effects of radiation transport by implementing both a local radiation loss model and$$P_{1/3}$$multi-group radiation transport. The load produces highly collisional, super-Alfvénic (Alfvén Mach number$$M_A \approx 1.5$$), supersonic (Sonic Mach number$$M_S \approx 4-5$$) strongly driven plasma flows which generate an elongated reconnection layer (Aspect Ratio$$L/\delta \approx 100$$, Lundquist number$$S_L \approx 400$$). The reconnection layer undergoes radiative collapse when the radiative losses exceed the rates of ohmic and compressional heating (cooling rate/hydrodynamic transit rate =$$\tau _{\text {cool}}^{-1}/\tau _{H}^{-1}\approx 100$$); this generates a cold strongly compressed current sheet, leading to an accelerated reconnection rate, consistent with theoretical predictions. Finally, the current sheet is also unstable to the plasmoid instability, but the magnetic islands are extinguished by strong radiative cooling before ejection from the layer. 

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3. Susy at the FPF

   https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-025-13839-1  

   Anchordoqui, Luis_A; Antoniadis, Ignatios; Benakli, Karim; Cunat, Jules; Lüst, Dieter (February 2025, The European Physical Journal C)

   Abstract Experimental searches for supersymmetry (SUSY) are entering a new era. The failure to observe signals of sparticle production at the large hadron collider (LHC) has eroded the central motivation for SUSY breaking at the weak scale. However, String Theory requires SUSY at the fundamental scale$$M_s$$ $M_s$and hence SUSY could be broken at some high scale below$$M_s$$ $M_s$. Actually, if this were the case, the lack of experimental evidence for low-energy SUSY could have been anticipated, because most stringy models with high-scale SUSY breaking predict that sparticles would start popping up above about 10 TeV, well beyond the reach of current LHC experiments. We show that using next generation LHC experiments currently envisioned for the Forward Physics Facility (FPF) we could search for signals of neutrino-modulino oscillations to probe models with string scale in the grand unification region and SUSY breaking driven by sequestered gravity in gauge mediation. This is possible because of the unprecedented flux of neutrinos to be produced as secondary products in LHC collisions during the high-luminosity era and the capability of FPF experiments to detect and identify their flavors. 

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4. Transient grating measurements at ultralow probe power

   https://doi.org/10.1364/JOSAB.377545  

   Lu, Baozhu; Abramchuk, Mykola; Tafti, Fazel; Torchinsky, Darius_H (January 2020, Journal of the Optical Society of America B)

   We report on an ultralow probe-power transient grating apparatus with probing based on a laser diode pulser, a digital delay generator, and a data acquisition card. The electronic triggering of the diode pulser permits stroboscopic measurement of arbitrarily slow laser-induced dynamics using pulses of probe light with average power $\sim <\#comment/>5\mathrm{n}\mathrm{W}$, significantly lower than what is currently used by continuous wave measurement. The proposed method also allows for flexibility in selection of the probe wavelength limited only by availability of low threshold current laser diodes. Examples of impulsive stimulated thermal scattering measurements are presented on liquid isopropanol, single crystal solid ${\mathrm{C}\mathrm{r}\mathrm{C}\mathrm{l}}_3$, and a thin film of Cu vapor deposited on a Si substrate, demonstrating the flexibility of the technique. 

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5. Time-domain Fabry–Perot resonators formed inside a dispersive medium

   https://doi.org/10.1364/JOSAB.428411  

   Zhang, J.; Donaldson, W_R; Agrawal, Govind_P (July 2021, Journal of the Optical Society of America B)

   We show that the temporal analog of a Fabry–Perot resonator (FPR) can be realized by using two moving temporal boundaries, formed by intense pump pulses inside a dispersive medium (such as an optical fiber). We analyze such FPRs using a transfer-matrix method, similar to that used for spatial structures containing multiple thin films. We consider a temporal slab formed using a single square-shape pump pulse and find that the resonance of such an FPR has transmission peaks whose quality ( $Q$) factors decrease rapidly with an increasing velocity difference between the pump and probe pulses. We propose an improved design by using two pump pulses. We apply our transfer-matrix method to this design and show considerable improvement in the $Q$factors of various peaks. We also show that such FPRs can be realized in practice by using two short pump pulses that propagate as solitons inside a fiber. We verified the results of the transfer-matrix method by directly solving the pulse propagation equation with the split-step Fourier method. 

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