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Fatemeh Ghasemi

Publications and source records attributed to Fatemeh Ghasemi.

12 recordsLinked to original sources

Physics-Constrained Digital Twins for Sensor Integrity in Urban Pedestrian Flow: Detecting Stealthy False Data Injection with Conformal Guarantees

City pedestrian counting systems now feed economic indicators, planning decisions and safety operations, yet the twins built on top of them treat the incoming stream as ground truth. We study what happens when it is not. We formalise stealthy false data injection for city-scale pedestrian sensing, where the map from latent flow to observation is far more rank deficient than in the power and water networks for which stealth has been characterised. Our twin estimates directed flows on the pedestrian street graph, assimilates counts through a learned graph-localised gain, and is trained against a flow conservation residual that couples metered and unmetered segments. Detection combines the innovation with that residual, and the alarm threshold is set by adaptive conformal calibration rather than by hand. To measure what the physics buys, we define the attack margin, the relative reduction in worst-case corruption of the estimated flow field, achieved against a white-box adversary that optimises directly through the twin. On six years of Melbourne data the margin reaches 0.54 against a single compromised device and falls to 0.19 when a third of the fleet is compromised, on a network where only 1.18 per cent of walkable segments are metered. Replacing the street graph by a distance graph collapses it to 0.09, which shows that the gain comes from the conservation law rather than from locality.

cs.AI↗

Order-invariant cluster first-order logic on graph classes of bounded degree

We introduce a new logic, called \emph{cluster first-order logic}, a restricted fragment of first-order logic specifically designed to study order invariance. An order-invariant formula is one on a vocabulary that contains an order; however, whether a structure satisfies it or not is independent of the interpretation of the order. We show that while order-invariant cluster first-order logic can define properties outside the scope of plain first-order logic in general, its expressive power is included in that of first-order logic when it comes to classes of bounded degree. We establish this result by explicitly constructing linear orders such that similar structures remain similar when they are expanded with these orders. This similarity-preserving, local-to-global approach is technically involved and somewhat counterintuitive, since adding an order usually reveals distinctions that are otherwise hidden due to the locality of first-order logic. We believe that this work can be a stepping stone toward applying such techniques to plain first-order logic and toward settling the question of the expressive power of order-invariant plain first-order logic.

cs.LO↗

Transducing Linear Decompositions of Tournaments

Bojańczyk, Pilipczuk, and Grohe [LICS '18] proved that for graphs of bounded linear clique-width, clique-decompositions of bounded width can be produced by a CMSO transduction. We show that in the case of tournaments, a first-order transduction suffices. This implies that the logics CMSO and existential MSO are equivalent over bounded linear clique-width tournaments.

math.CO↗

Hybrid Quantum Algorithms for Computational Chemistry: Application to the Pyridine-Li ion Complex

Accurately capturing electron correlation in large-scale molecular systems remains one of the foremost challenges in quantum chemistry and a primary driver for the development of quantum algorithms. Classical configuration-interaction methods, while rigorous, suffer from exponential scaling, rendering them impractical for large or strongly correlated systems. Overcoming this limitation is central to realizing the promise of quantum computing in chemistry. Here, we investigate the pyridine-Li ion complex using three quantum algorithms: the variational quantum eigensolver (VQE), the subspace quantum diagonalization (SQD) method, and the recently introduced handover iterative VQE (HI-VQE). Our results demonstrate how new generations of hybrid quantum-classical frameworks overcome the scalability and noise sensitivity that constrain conventional VQE approaches. SQD and HI-VQE achieve ground-state energy calculations for problem sizes inaccessible to classical computation, marking a clear advance toward quantum advantage. In particular, HI-VQE enables calculations within active spaces as large as (24e,22o), requiring 44 qubits-well beyond the reach of classical CASCI and VQE. This capability provides a systematic pathway for incorporating increasing numbers of electrons into quantum treatment, thereby approaching exact molecular energies. Importantly, both SQD and HI-VQE exhibit robustness against hardware noise, a critical improvement over earlier approaches. By enabling quantum simulations of molecular systems previously deemed intractable, SQD and HI-VQE offer a realistic route toward practical quantum advantage in computational chemistry. The comparison between HI-VQE and SQD shows that optimizing circuit parameters is crucial for accurate simulation.

physics.chem-ph↗

On Modular Edge Colourings of Graphs

Given a graph $G$ and an integer $k\geq 2$, let $χ'_k(G)$ denote the minimum number of colours required to colour the edges of $G$ such that, in each colour class, the subgraph induced by the edges of that colour has all non-zero degrees congruent to $1$ modulo $k$. In 1992, Pyber proved that $χ'_2(G) \leq 4$ for every graph $G$, and posed the question of whether $χ'_k(G)$ can be bounded solely in terms of $k$ for every $k\geq 3$. This question was answered in 1997 by Scott, who showed that $χ'_k(G)\leq5k^2\log k$, and further asked whether $χ'_k(G) = O(k)$. Recently, Botler, Colucci, and Kohayakawa (2023) answered Scott's question affirmatively proving that $χ'_k(G) \leq 198k - 101$, and conjectured that the multiplicative constant could be reduced to $1$. A step towards this latter conjecture was made in 2024 by Nweit and Yang, who improved the bound to $χ'_k(G) \leq 177k - 93$. In this paper, we further improve the multiplicative constant to $9$. More specifically, we prove that there is a function $f\in o(k)$ for which $χ'_k(G) \leq 7k + f(k)$ if $k$ is odd, and $χ'_k(G) \leq 9k + f(k)$ if $k$ is even. In doing so, we prove that $χ'_k(G) \leq k + O(d)$ for every $d$-degenerate graph $G$, which plays a central role in our proof.

math.CO↗

Fourier Sparsity of Delta Functions and Matching Vector PIRs

In this paper we study a basic and natural question about Fourier analysis of Boolean functions, which has applications to the study of Matching Vector based Private Information Retrieval (PIR) schemes. For integers m and r, define a delta function on {0,1}^r to be a function f: Z_m^r -> C with f(0) = 1 and f(x) = 0 for all nonzero Boolean x. The basic question we study is how small the Fourier sparsity of a delta function can be; namely how sparse such an f can be in the Fourier basis? In addition to being intrinsically interesting and natural, such questions arise naturally when studying "S-decoding polynomials" for the known matching vector families. Finding S-decoding polynomials of reduced sparsity, which corresponds to finding delta functions with low Fourier sparsity, would improve the current best PIR schemes. We show nontrivial upper and lower bounds on the Fourier sparsity of delta functions. Our proofs are elementary and clean. These results imply limitations on improving Matching Vector PIR schemes simply by finding better S-decoding polynomials. In particular, there are no S-decoding polynomials that can make Matching Vector PIRs based on the known matching vector families achieve polylogarithmic communication with a constant number of servers. Many interesting questions remain open.

cs.IT↗

Permanental rank versus determinantal rank of random matrices over finite fields

This paper is motivated by basic complexity and probability questions about permanents of random matrices over finite fields, and in particular, about properties separating the permanent and the determinant. Fix $q = p^m$ some power of an odd prime, and let $k \leq n$ both be growing. For a uniformly random $n \times k$ matrix $A$ over $\mathbb{F}_q$, we study the probability that all $k \times k$ submatrices of $A$ have zero permanent; namely that $A$ does not have full "permanental rank". When $k = n$, this is simply the probability that a random square matrix over $\mathbb{F}_q$ has zero permanent, which we do not understand. We believe that the probability in this case is $\frac{1}{q} + o(1)$, which would be in contrast to the case of the determinant, where the answer is $\frac{1}{q} + Ω_q(1)$. Our main result is that when $k$ is $O(\sqrt{n})$, the probability that a random $n \times k$ matrix does not have full permanental rank is essentially the same as the probability that the matrix has a $0$ column, namely $(1 +o(1)) \frac{k}{q^n}$. In contrast, for determinantal (standard) rank the analogous probability is $Θ(\frac{q^k}{q^n})$. At the core of our result are some basic linear algebraic properties of the permanent that distinguish it from the determinant.

cs.CC↗

Improved PIR Schemes using Matching Vectors and Derivatives

In this paper, we construct new t-server Private Information Retrieval (PIR) schemes with communication complexity subpolynomial in the previously best known, for all but finitely many t. Our results are based on combining derivatives (in the spirit of Woodruff-Yekhanin) with the Matching Vector based PIRs of Yekhanin and Efremenko. Previously such a combination was achieved in an ingenious way by Dvir and Gopi, using polynomials and derivatives over certain exotic rings, en route to their fundamental result giving the first 2-server PIR with subpolynomial communication. Our improved PIRs are based on two ingredients: - We develop a new and direct approach to combine derivatives with Matching Vector based PIRs. This approach is much simpler than that of Dvir-Gopi: it works over the same field as the original PIRs, and only uses elementary properties of polynomials and derivatives. - A key subproblem that arises in the above approach is a higher-order polynomial interpolation problem. We show how "sparse S-decoding polynomials", a powerful tool from the original constructions of Matching Vector PIRs, can be used to solve this higher-order polynomial interpolation problem using surprisingly few higer-order evaluations. Using the known sparse S-decoding polynomials, in combination with our ideas leads to our improved PIRs. Notably, we get a 3-server PIR scheme with communication $2^{O^{\sim}( (\log n)^{1/3}) }$, improving upon the previously best known communication of $2^{O^{\sim}( \sqrt{\log n})}$ due to Efremenko.

cs.CC↗

An investigation into the energy transfer efficiency of a two-pigment photosynthetic system using a macroscopic quantum model

Despite several different measures of efficiency that are applicable to the photosynthetic systems, a precise degree of efficiency of these systems is not completely determined. Introducing an efficient model for the dynamics of light-harvesting complexes in biological environments is a major purpose in investigating such systems. Here, we investigate the effect of macroscopic quantum behavior of a system of two pigments on the transport phenomena in this system model which interacts with an oscillating environment. We use the second-order perturbation theory to calculate the time-dependent population of excitonic states of a two-dimensional Hamiltonian using a non-master equation approach. Our results demonstrate that the quantum efficiency is robust with respect to the macroscopicity parameter h solely, but the ratio of macroscopicity over the pigment-pigment interaction energy can be considered as a parameter that may control the energy transfer efficiency at a given time. So, the dynamical behavior and the quantum efficiency of the supposed photosynthetic system may be influenced by a change in the macroscopic behavior of the system.

physics.chem-ph↗

New Computational Approaches to Analysis of Interbeat Intervals in Human Subjects

We investigate the Markov nature, Cascade of information from large time scale to small scale and extended self similarity properties of the beat to beat fluctuations of healthy subjects as well as those with congestive heart failure. To check the Markov nature, we use a novel inverse method that utilizes a set of data to construct a simple equation that governs the stochastic process for which the data have been measured, hence enabling us to reconstruct the stochastic process. The inverse method provides a novel technique for distinguishing the two classes of subjects in terms of a drift and a diffusion coefficients which behave completely differently for the two classes of subjects.To investigate the cascade of information from large to small time scales we also analyze the statistical properties of interbeat intervals cascade by considering the joint probability distribution for two interbeat increments. As a result, the joint probability distributions of the increments in the interbeat intervals obey a Fokker-Planck equation. Finally we analyze the extended self-similarity (ESS) in the beat-to-beat fluctuations in the heart rates of healthy and congestive heart failure subjects.The proposed methods provide the novel techniques for distinguishing the two classes of subjects in terms of the drift and diffusion coefficients, intermittency exponents which behave differently for two classes of the subjects, namely, healthy subjects and those with congestive heart failure.

q-bio.QM↗

Statistical Properties of the Interbeat Interval Cascade in Human Subjects

Statistical properties of interbeat intervals cascade are evaluated by considering the joint probability distribution $P(Δx_2,τ_2;Δx_1,τ_1)$ for two interbeat increments $Δx_1$ and $Δx_2$ of different time scales $τ_1$ and $τ_2$. We present evidence that the conditional probability distribution $P(Δx_2,τ_2|Δx_1,τ_1)$ may obey a Chapman-Kolmogorov equation. The corresponding Kramers-Moyal (KM) coefficients are evaluated. It is shown that while the first and second KM coefficients, i.e., the drift and diffusion coefficients, take on well-defined and significant values, the higher-order coefficients in the KM expansion are very small. As a result, the joint probability distributions of the increments in the interbeat intervals obey a Fokker-Planck equation. The method provides a novel technique for distinguishing the two classes of subjects in terms of the drift and diffusion coefficients, which behave differently for two classes of the subjects, namely, healthy subjects and those with congestive heart failure.

q-bio.QM↗