arXiv subjects

F. Di Renzo

Publications and source records attributed to F. Di Renzo.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

LIGO Detector Characterization in the Second and Third Parts of the Fourth Observing Run

LIGO detector characterization efforts enabled the confident detection of gravitational waves from hundreds of compact binary coalescences during the fourth observing run. Reliable production of high quality detector data and rapid noise mitigation efforts allow the extraction of the most in-depth knowledge of gravitational wave sources and their progenitors. In this paper we describe LIGO detector characterization activities during the second and third parts of O4-O4b and O4c. We summarize changes in detector configuration and performance at the LIGO Hanford and LIGO Livingston Observatories between the end of the first part of O4a and the end of O4c, including upgrades made during the commissioning break preceding O4b and during repairs performed in O4c. We describe instrumental investigations carried out at both sites designed to understand and subsequently mitigate the effect on detector sensitivity of transient glitches, narrowband spectral lines, and vibration-driven noise, among other data quality concerns. We then review the tools and procedures used to validate gravitational wave candidates and the data quality products thus supplied to searches for gravitational waves from compact binary coalescences and unmodeled transients, continuous gravitational waves, and the stochastic gravitational wave background. The efforts of the detector characterization group are essential for maintaining and improving the sensitivity and reliability of the LIGO detectors especially as observing runs lengthen and more events are detected. We conclude with prospects for LIGO detector characterization activities in future observing runs.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2025

Large fluctuations in NSPT computations: a lesson from $O(N)$ non-linear sigma models

In the last three decades, Numerical Stochastic Perturbation Theory (NSPT) has proven to be an excellent tool for calculating perturbative expansions in theories such as Lattice QCD, for which standard, diagrammatic perturbation theory is known to be cumbersome. Despite the significant success of this stochastic method and the improvements made in recent years, NSPT apparently cannot be successfully implemented in low-dimensional models due to the emergence of huge statistical fluctuations: as the perturbative order gets higher, the signal to noise ratio is simply not good enough. This does not come as a surprise, but on very general grounds, one would expect that the larger the number of degrees of freedom, the less severe the fluctuations will be. By simulating $2D$ $O(N)$ non-linear sigma models for different values of $N$, we show that indeed the fluctuations are tamed in the large $N$ limit, meeting our expectations: for a large number of internal degrees of freedom (i.e. for large enough $N$), NSPT perturbative computation can be pushed to large perturbative orders $n$. By re-expressing our perturbative expansions as power series in the $gN$ ('t Hooft) coupling, we show some evidence that at any given order $n$ there is a tendency to gaussianity for the stochastic process distributions at large $N$. By summing our series, we can verify leading order results for the energy and its (field theoretic) variance in the large $N$ limit. We finally establish general relationships between the various perturbative orders in the expansion of the (field theoretic) variance of a given observable and combinations of variances and covariances of given orders NSPT stochastic processes. Having established all this, we conclude discussing interesting applications of NSPT computations in the context of theories similar to $O(N)$ (i.e. $CP(N-1)$ models).

hep-lat↗

arXiv2024

BRiSTOL -- a Band-limited RMS Stationarity Test Tool for Gravitational Wave Data

Common techniques in Gravitational Wave data analysis assume, to some extent, the stationarity and Gaussianity of the detector noise. These assumptions are not always satisfied because of the presence of short-duration transients, namely glitches, and other slower variations in the statistical properties of the noise, which might be related to malfunctioning subsystems. We present here a new technique to test the stationarity hypothesis with minimal assumptions on the data, exploiting the band-limited root mean square and the two-sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. The outcome is a time-frequency map showing where the hypothesis is to be rejected. This technique was used as part of the event validation procedure for assessing the quality of the LIGO and Virgo data during O3. We also report on the applications of the test to both simulated and real data, highlighting its sensitivity to various kinds of non-stationarities.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2024

The International Lattice Data Grid (ILDG 2.0)

We report on status and perspectives of the International Lattice Data Grid. ILDG was established some twenty years ago as a community-wide initiative to enable the sharing of gauge configurations generated by many major lattice collaborations. After a phase in which availability and usage of services had degraded, an effort to modernize and reactivate ILDG 2.0 has been started. The initiative has made important progress and we can look forward to larger and fully FAIR data sets becoming available to a wider audience.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2024

Searching for the QCD critical point using Lee-Yang edge singularities

Using $N_f=2+1$ QCD calculations at physical quark mass and purely imaginary baryon chemical potential, we locate Lee-Yang edge singularities in the complex chemical potential plane. These singularities have been obtained by the multi-point Padé approach applied to the net baryon number density. We recently showed that singularities extracted with this approach are consistent with universal scaling near the Roberge-Weiss transition. Here we study the universal scaling of these singularities in the vicinity of the QCD critical endpoint. Making use of an appropriate scaling ansatz, we extrapolate these singularities on $N_τ=6$ and $N_τ=8$ lattices towards the real axis to estimate the position of a possible QCD critical point. We find an approach toward the real axis with decreasing temperature. We compare this estimate with a HotQCD estimate obtained from poles of a [4,4]-Padé resummation of the eighth-order Taylor expansion of the QCD pressure.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2024

Predictive power of a Bayesian effective action for fully-connected one hidden layer neural networks in the proportional limit

We perform accurate numerical experiments with fully-connected (FC) one-hidden layer neural networks trained with a discretized Langevin dynamics on the MNIST and CIFAR10 datasets. Our goal is to empirically determine the regimes of validity of a recently-derived Bayesian effective action for shallow architectures in the proportional limit. We explore the predictive power of the theory as a function of the parameters (the temperature $T$, the magnitude of the Gaussian priors $λ_1$, $λ_0$, the size of the hidden layer $N_1$ and the size of the training set $P$) by comparing the experimental and predicted generalization error. The very good agreement between the effective theory and the experiments represents an indication that global rescaling of the infinite-width kernel is a main physical mechanism for kernel renormalization in FC Bayesian standard-scaled shallow networks.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2024

Detecting Lee-Yang/Fisher singularities by multi-point Padè

The Bielefeld Parma Collaboration has in recent years put forward a method to probe finite density QCD by the detection of Lee-Yang singularities. The location of the latter is obtained by multi-point Padè approximants, which are in turn calculated matching Taylor series results obtained from Monte Carlo computations at (a variety of values of) imaginary baryonic chemical potential. The method has been successfully applied to probe the Roberge Weiss phase transition and preliminary, interesting results are showing up in the vicinity of a possible QCD critical endpoint candidate. In this talk we will be concerned with a couple of significant aspects in view of a more powerful application of the method. First, we will discuss the possibility of detecting finite size scaling of Lee-Yang/Fisher singularities in finite density (lattice) QCD. Second, we will briefly mention our attempts at detecting both singularities in the complex chemical potential plane and singularities in the complex temperature plane. The former are obtained from rational approximations which are functions of the chemical potential at given values of the temperature; the latter are obtained from rational approximations which are functions of the temperature at given values of the chemical potential.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2024

Exploring the Critical Points in QCD with Multi-Point Padé and Machine Learning Techniques in (2+1)-flavor QCD

Using simulations at multiple imaginary chemical potentials for $(2+1)$-flavor QCD, we construct multi-point Padé approximants. We determine the singularties of the Padé approximants and demonstrate that they are consistent with the expected universal scaling behaviour of the Lee-Yang edge singularities. We also use a machine learning model, Masked Autoregressive Density Estimator (MADE), to estimate the density of the Lee-Yang edge singularities at each temperature. This ML model allows us to interpolate between the temperatures. Finally, we extrapolate to the QCD critical point using an appropriate scaling ansatz.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2023

GWitchHunters: Machine Learning and citizen science to improve the performance of Gravitational Wave detector

The Gravitational waves have opened a new window on the Universe and paved the way to a new era of multimessenger observations of cosmic sources. Second-generation ground-based detectors such as Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo have been extremely successful in detecting gravitational wave signals from coalescence of black holes and/or neutron stars. However, in order to reach the required sensitivities, the background noise must be investigated and removed. In particular, transient noise events called "glitches" can affect data quality and mimic real astrophysical signals, and it is therefore of paramount importance to characterize them and find their origin, a task that will support the activities of detector characterization of Virgo and other interferometers. Machine learning is one of the most promising approaches to characterize and remove noise glitches in real time, thus improving the sensitivity of interferometers. A key input to the preparation of a training dataset for these machine learning algorithms can originate from citizen science initiatives, where volunteers contribute to classify and analyze signals collected by detectors. We will present GWitchHunters, a new citizen science project focused on the study of gravitational wave noise, that has been developed within the REINFORCE project (a "Science With And For Society" project funded under the EU's H2020 program). We will present the project, its development and the key tasks that citizens are participating in, as well as its impact on the study of noise in the Advanced Virgo detector.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2022

Subtracting glitches from gravitational-wave detector data during the third observing run

Data from ground-based gravitational-wave detectors contains numerous short-duration instrumental artifacts, called "glitches." The high rate of these artifacts in turn results in a significant fraction of gravitational-wave signals from compact binary coalescences overlapping glitches. In LIGO-Virgo's third observing run, $\approx 20\%$ of signals required some form of mitigation due to glitches. This was the first observing run that glitch subtraction was included as a part of LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA data analysis methods for a large fraction of detected gravitational-wave events. This work describes the methods to identify glitches, the decision process for deciding if mitigation was necessary, and the two algorithms, BayesWave and gwsubtract, that were used to model and subtract glitches. Through case studies of two events, GW190424_180648 and GW200129_065458, we evaluate the effectiveness of the glitch subtraction, compare the statistical uncertainties in the relevant glitch models, and identify potential limitations in these glitch subtraction methods. We finally outline the lessons learned from this first-of-its-kind effort for future observing runs.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2022

Contribution to understanding the phase structure of strong interaction matter: Lee-Yang edge singularities from lattice QCD

We present a calculation of the net baryon number density as a function of imaginary baryon number chemical potential, obtained with highly improved staggered quarks (HISQ) at temporal lattice extent of $N_τ=4,6$. We construct various rational function approximations of the lattice data and discuss how poles in the complex plane can be determined from them. We compare our results of the singularities in the chemical potential plane to the theoretically expected positions of the Lee-Yang edge singularity in the vicinity of the Roberge-Weiss and chiral phase transitions. We find a temperature scaling that is in accordance with the expected power law behavior.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2021

Net-baryon number fluctuations

The appearance of large, none-Gaussian cumulants of the baryon number distribution is commonly discussed as a signal for the QCD critical point. We review the status of the Taylor expansion of cumulant ratios of baryon number fluctuations along the freeze-out line and also compare QCD results with the corresponding proton number fluctuations as measured by the STAR Collaboration at RHIC. To further constrain the location of a possible QCD critical point we discuss poles of the baryon number fluctuations in the complex plane. Here we use not only the Taylor coefficients obtained at zero chemical potential but perform also calculations of Taylor expansion coefficients of the pressure at purely imaginary chemical potentials.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2017

One-dimensional QCD in thimble regularization

QCD in 0+1 dimensions is numerically solved via thimble regularization. In the context of this toy model, a general formalism is presented for SU(N) theories. The sign problem that the theory displays is a genuine one, stemming from a (quark) chemical potential. Three stationary points are present in the original (real) domain of integration, so that contributions from all the thimbles associated to them are to be taken into account: we show how semiclassical computations can provide hints on the regions of parameter space where this is absolutely crucial. Known analytical results for the chiral condensate and the Polyakov loop are correctly reproduced: this is in particular trivial at high values of the number of flavors N_f. In this regime we notice that the single thimble dominance scenario takes place (the dominant thimble is the one associated to the identity). At low values of N_f computations can be more difficult. It is important to stress that this is not at all a consequence of the original sign problem (not even via the residual phase). The latter is always under control, while accidental, delicate cancelations of contributions coming from different thimbles can be in place in (restricted) regions of the parameter space.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2015

Thimble regularization at work for Gauge Theories: from toy models onwards

A final goal for thimble regularization of lattice field theories is the application to lattice QCD and the study of its phase diagram. Gauge theories pose a number of conceptual and algorithmic problems, some of which can be addressed even in the framework of toy models. We report on our progresses in this field, starting in particular from first successes in the study of one link models.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2015

Thimble regularization at work besides toy models: from Random Matrix Theory to Gauge Theories

Thimble regularization as a solution to the sign problem has been successfully put at work for a few toy models. Given the non trivial nature of the method (also from the algorithmic point of view) it is compelling to provide evidence that it works for realistic models. A Chiral Random Matrix theory has been studied in detail. The known analytical solution shows that the model is non-trivial as for the sign problem (in particular, phase quenched results can be very far away from the exact solution). This study gave us the chance to address a couple of key issues: how many thimbles contribute to the solution of a realistic problem? Can one devise algorithms which are robust as for staying on the correct manifold? The obvious step forward consists of applications to gauge theories.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2014

High-loop perturbative renormalization constants for Lattice QCD (III): three-loop quark currents for Iwasaki gauge action and n_f=4 Wilson fermions

This is the third of a series of papers on three-loop computation of renormalization constants for Lattice QCD. Our main point of interest are results for the regularization defined by Iwasaki gauge action and n_f=4 Wilson fermions. Our results for quark bilinears renormalized according to the RI'-MOM scheme can be compared to non-perturbative results. The latter are available for Twisted Mass QCD: being defined in the chiral limit, renormalization constants must be the same. We also address more general problems. In particular, we discuss a few methodological issues connected to summing the perturbative series such as the effectiveness of Boosted Perturbation Theory and the disentanglement of irrelevant and finite volume contributions. Discussing these issues we consider ont only the new results of this paper, but also those for the regularization defined by tree-level Symanzik improved gauge action and n_f=2 Wilson fermions, which we presented in a recent paper of ours. We finally comment to which extent the techniques we put at work in the NSPT context can provide a fresher look into the lattice version of the RI'-MOM scheme.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2014

An efficient method to compute the residual phase on a Lefschetz thimble

We propose an efficient method to compute the so-called residual phase that appears when performing Monte Carlo calculations on a Lefschetz thimble. The method is stochastic and its cost scales linearly with the physical volume, linearly with the number of stochastic estimators and quadratically with the length of the extra dimension along the gradient flow. This is a drastic improvement over previous estimates of the cost of computing the residual phase. We also report on basic tests of correctness and scaling of the code.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2013

Quantum field theories on the Lefschetz thimble

In these proceedings, we summarize the Lefschetz thimble approach to the sign problem of Quantum Field Theories. In particular, we review its motivations, and we summarize the results of the application of two different algorithms to two test models.

hep-lat↗