arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to David Robertson.
We introduce the rigid tensor category of tubular partitions, and use it to provide a combinatorial model for the representation category of the quantum automorphism group of a homogeneous rooted tree.
BlueMUSE is a blue-optimised, medium spectral resolution, panoramic integral field spectrograph under development for the Very Large Telescope (VLT). With an optimised transmission down to 350 nm, spectral resolution of R$\sim$3500 on average across the wavelength range, and a large FoV (1 arcmin$^2$), BlueMUSE will open up a new range of galactic and extragalactic science cases facilitated by its specific capabilities. The BlueMUSE consortium includes 9 institutes located in 7 countries and is led by the Centre de Recherche Astrophysique de Lyon (CRAL). The BlueMUSE project development is currently in Phase A, with an expected first light at the VLT in 2031. We introduce here the Top Level Requirements (TLRs) derived from the main science cases, and then present an overview of the BlueMUSE system and its subsystems fulfilling these TLRs. We specifically emphasize the tradeoffs that are made and the key distinctions compared to the MUSE instrument, upon which the system architecture is built.
We introduce the notion of self-similarity for compact quantum groups. For a finite set $X$, we introduce a $C^*$-algebra $\mathbb{A}_X$, which is the quantum automorphism group of the infinite homogeneous rooted tree $X^*$. Self-similar quantum groups are then certain quantum subgroups of $\mathbb{A}_X$. Our main class of examples are called finitely-constrained self-similar quantum groups, and we find a class of these examples that can be described as quantum wreath products by subgroups of the quantum permutation group.
Response-adaptive randomization allows the probabilities of allocating patients to treatments in a clinical trial to change based on the previously observed response data, in order to achieve different experimental goals. One concern over the use of such designs in practice, particularly from a regulatory viewpoint, is controlling the type I error rate. To address this, Robertson and Wason (Biometrics, 2019) proposed methodology that guarantees familywise error rate control for a large class of response-adaptive designs. In this paper, we propose an improvement of their proposal that is conceptually simpler, in the specific context of block-randomised trials with a fixed allocation to the control arm. We show the modified method guarantees that there will never be negative weights for blocks of data, and can also provide a substantial power advantage in practice.
We present the baseline conceptual design of the Cassegrain U-Band Efficient Spectrograph (CUBES) for the Very Large Telescope. CUBES will provide unprecedented sensitivity for spectroscopy on a 8 - 10 m class telescope in the ground ultraviolet (UV), spanning a bandwidth of > 100 nm that starts at 300 nm, the shortest wavelength accessible from the ground. The design has been optimized for end-to-end efficiency and provides a spectral resolving power of R > 20000, that will unlock a broad range of new topics across solar system, Galactic and extraglactic astronomy. The design also features a second, lower-resolution (R \sim 7000) mode and has the option of a fiberlink to the UVES instrument for simultaneous observations at longer wavelengths. Here we present the optical, mechanical and software design of the various subsystems of the instrument after the Phase A study of the project. We discuss the expected performances for the layout choices and highlight some of the performance trade-offs considered to best meet the instrument top-level requirements. We also introduce the model-based system engineering approach used to organize and manage the project activities and interfaces, in the context that it is increasingly necessary to integrate such tools in the development of complex astronomical projects.
Since the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded for the observation of gravitational waves, it is fair to say that the epoch of gravitational wave astronomy (GWs) has begun. However, a number of interesting sources of GWs can only be observed from space. To demonstrate the feasibility of the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), a future gravitational wave observatory in space, the LISA Pathfinder satellite was launched on December, 3rd 2015. Measurements of the spurious forces accelerating an otherwise free-falling test mass, and detailed investigations of the individual subsystems needed to achieve the free-fall, have been conducted throughout the mission. This overview article starts with the purpose and aim of the mission, explains satellite hardware and mission operations and ends with a summary of selected important results and an outlook towards LISA. From the LISA Pathfinder experience, we can conclude that the proposed LISA mission is feasible.
We show how to reconstruct a finite directed graph E from its Toeplitz algebra, its gauge action, and the canonical finite-dimensional abelian subalgebra generated by the vertex projections. We also show that if E has no sinks, then we can recover E from its Toeplitz algebra and the generalised gauge action that has, for each vertex, an independent copy of the circle acting on the generators corresponding to edges emanating from that vertex. We show by example that it is not possible to recover E from its Toeplitz algebra and gauge action alone.
The science operations of the LISA Pathfinder mission has demonstrated the feasibility of sub-femto-g free-fall of macroscopic test masses necessary to build a LISA-like gravitational wave observatory in space. While the main focus of interest, i.e. the optical axis or the $x$-axis, has been extensively studied, it is also of interest to evaluate the stability of the spacecraft with respect to all the other degrees of freedom. The current paper is dedicated to such a study, with a focus set on an exhaustive and quantitative evaluation of the imperfections and dynamical effects that impact the stability with respect to its local geodesic. A model of the complete closed-loop system provides a comprehensive understanding of each part of the in-loop coordinates spectra. As will be presented, this model gives very good agreements with LISA Pathfinder flight data. It allows one to identify the physical noise source at the origin and the physical phenomena underlying the couplings. From this, the performances of the stability of the spacecraft, with respect to its geodesic, are extracted as a function of frequency. Close to $1 mHz$, the stability of the spacecraft on the $X_{SC}$, $Y_{SC}$ and $Z_{SC}$ degrees of freedom is shown to be of the order of $5.0\ 10^{-15} m\ s^{-2}/\sqrt{Hz}$ for X and $4.0 \ 10^{-14} m\ s^{-2}/\sqrt{Hz}$ for Y and Z. For the angular degrees of freedom, the values are of the order $3\ 10^{-12} rad\ s^{-2}/\sqrt{Hz}$ for $\Theta_{SC}$ and $3\ 10^{-13} rad\ s^{-2}/\sqrt{Hz}$ for $H_{SC}$ and $\Phi_{SC}$.
Recently, methodology was presented to facilitate the incorporation of interim analyses in stepped-wedge (SW) cluster randomised trials (CRTs). Here, we extend this previous discussion. We detail how the stopping boundaries, allocation sequences, and per-cluster per-period sample size of a group sequential SW-CRT can be optimised. We then describe methods by which point estimates, p-values, and confidence intervals, which account for the sequential nature of the design, can be calculated. We demonstrate that optimal sequential designs can reduce the expected required number of measurements under the null hypothesis, compared to the classical design, by up to 30%, with no cost to the maximal possible required number of measurements. Furthermore, the adjusted analysis procedure almost universally reduces the average bias in the point estimate, and consistently provides a confidence interval with coverage close to the nominal level. In contrast, the coverage of a naive 95% confidence interval is observed to range between 92 and 98%. Methodology is now readily available for the efficient design and analysis of group sequential SW-CRTs. In scenarios in which there are substantial ethical or financial reasons to terminate a SW-CRT as soon as possible, trialists should strongly consider a group sequential approach.
Following the selection of The Gravitational Universe by ESA, and the successful flight of LISA Pathfinder, the LISA Consortium now proposes a 4 year mission in response to ESA's call for missions for L3. The observatory will be based on three arms with six active laser links, between three identical spacecraft in a triangular formation separated by 2.5 million km. LISA is an all-sky monitor and will offer a wide view of a dynamic cosmos using Gravitational Waves as new and unique messengers to unveil The Gravitational Universe. It provides the closest ever view of the infant Universe at TeV energy scales, has known sources in the form of verification binaries in the Milky Way, and can probe the entire Universe, from its smallest scales near the horizons of black holes, all the way to cosmological scales. The LISA mission will scan the entire sky as it follows behind the Earth in its orbit, obtaining both polarisations of the Gravitational Waves simultaneously, and will measure source parameters with astrophysically relevant sensitivity in a band from below $10^{-4}\,$Hz to above $10^{-1}\,$Hz.
We study the external and internal Zappa-Sz\'ep product of topological groupoids. We show that under natural continuity assumptions the Zappa-Sz\'ep product groupoid is \'etale if and only if the individual groupoids are \'etale. In our main result we show that the C*-algebra of a locally compact Hausdorff \'etale Zappa-Sz\'ep product groupoid is a C*-blend, in the sense of Exel, of the individual groupoid C*-algebras. We finish with some examples, including groupoids built from *-commuting endomorphisms, and skew product groupoids.
Consider a product system over the positive cone of a quasi-lattice ordered group. We construct a Fell bundle over an associated groupoid so that the cross-sectional algebra of the bundle is isomorphic to the Nica-Toeplitz algebra of the product system. Under the additional hypothesis that the left actions in the product system are implemented by injective homomorphisms, we show that the cross-sectional algebra of the restriction of the bundle to a natural boundary subgroupoid coincides with the Cuntz-Nica-Pimsner algebra of the product system. We apply these results to improve on existing sufficient conditions for nuclearity of the Nica-Toeplitz algebra and the Cuntz-Nica-Pimsner algebra, and for the Cuntz-Nica-Pimsner algebra to coincide with its co-universal quotient.
For bi-Hilbertian $A$-bimodules, in the sense of Kajiwara--Pinzari--Watatani, we construct a Kasparov module representing the extension class defining the Cuntz--Pimsner algebra. The construction utilises a singular expectation which is defined using the $C^*$-module version of the Jones index for bi-Hilbertian bimodules. The Jones index data also determines a novel quasi-free dynamics and KMS states on these Cuntz--Pimsner algebras.
When a locally compact group acts on a C*-correspondence, it also acts on the associated Cuntz-Pimsner algebra in a natural way. Hao and Ng have shown that when the group is amenable the Cuntz-Pimsner algebra of the crossed product correspondence is isomorphic to the crossed product of the Cuntz-Pimsner algebra. In this paper, we have a closer look at this isomorphism in the case where the group is not necessarily amenable. We also consider what happens at the level of Toeplitz algebras.
We study the generalised Bunce-Deddens algebras and their Toeplitz extensions constructed by Kribs and Solel from a directed graph and a sequence $\omega$ of positive integers. We describe both of these $C^*$-algebras in terms of novel universal properties, and prove uniqueness theorems for them; if $\omega$ determines an infinite supernatural number, then no aperiodicity hypothesis is needed in our uniqueness theorem for the generalised Bunce-Deddens algebra. We calculate the KMS states for the gauge action in the Toeplitz algebra when the underlying graph is finite. We deduce that the generalised Bunce-Deddens algebra is simple if and only if it supports exactly one KMS state, and this is equivalent to the terms in the sequence $\omega$ all being coprime with the period of the underlying graph.
During the On-Station Thermal Test campaign of the LISA Pathfinder the data and diagnostics subsystem was tested in nearly space conditions for the first time after integration in the satellite. The results showed the compliance of the temperature measurement system, obtaining temperature noise around $10^{-4}\,{\rm K}\, {\rm Hz}^{-1/2}$ in the frequency band of $1-30\;{\rm mHz}$. In addition, controlled injection of heat signals to the suspension struts anchoring the LISA Technology Package (LTP) Core Assembly to the satellite structure allowed to experimentally estimate for the first time the phase noise contribution through thermo-elastic distortion of the LTP interferometer, the satellite's main instrument. Such contribution was found to be at $10^{-12}\,{\rm m}\, {\rm Hz}^{-1/2}$, a factor of 30 below the measured noise at the lower end of the measurement bandwidth ($1\,{\rm mHz}$).
We show that if $G$ is a second countable locally compact Hausdorff \'etale groupoid carrying a suitable cocycle $c:G\to\mathbb{Z}$, then the reduced $C^*$-algebra of $G$ can be realised naturally as the Cuntz-Pimsner algebra of a correspondence over the reduced $C^*$-algebra of the kernel $G_0$ of $c$. If the full and reduced $C^*$-algebras of $G_0$ coincide, we deduce that the full and reduced $C^*$-algebras of $G$ coincide. We obtain a six-term exact sequence describing the $K$-theory of $C^*_r(G)$ in terms of that of $C^*_r(G_0)$.
Zappa-Szép products of semigroups encompass both the self-similar group actions of Nekrashevych and the quasi-lattice-ordered groups of Nica. We use Li's construction of semigroup $C^*$-algebras to associate a $C^*$-algebra to Zappa-Szép products and give an explicit presentation of the algebra. We then define a quotient $C^*$-algebra that generalises the Cuntz-Pimsner algebras for self-similar actions. We indicate how known examples, previously viewed as distinct classes, fit into our unifying framework. We specifically discuss the Baumslag-Solitar groups, the binary adding machine, the semigroup $\mathbb{N}\rtimes\mathbb{N}^\times$, and the $ax+b$-semigroup $\mathbb{Z}\rtimes\mathbb{Z}^\times$.