arXiv subjects

Martin Schäfer

Publications and source records attributed to Martin Schäfer.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

PLATO input catalogs for technical calibration and fine guidance

A few weeks after launch, the PLATO spacecraft is expected to start its payload commissioning, which will be completed within the first three months of the mission. This phase includes the in-orbit verification, calibration, and configuration of the instrument prior to nominal science operations. During this mission-critical period, and again later during regular spacecraft rotations and re-pointings, a set of reference stars is required to complete various calibration steps. This set, referred to as the calibration PLATO Input Catalog (cPIC), is part of the PIC. The cPIC comprises various stellar samples, each serving a dedicated technical calibration purpose, and it contains 71671 unique stellar targets across PLATO's entire field of view (FoV). Once the spacecraft commences science observations, the on-board Fine Guidance System (FGS) will rely on a small set of guide stars. These stars must be particularly bright and will be observed with the two fast cameras, which cover only a smaller central region of PLATO's FoV. This target list, referred to as the fine-guidance PLATO Input Catalog (fgPIC), contains 2640 unique targets, of which about 30 are used by the FGS at any given time. In this paper, we present the selection criteria for both the cPIC and the fgPIC, and asses their impact on the construction of these calibration catalogs for PLATO.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2025

Beyond Tchakaloff Quadrature: Positive Functionals, Frames and Widths

Tchakaloff's theorem from 1957 asserts the existence of exact quadrature rules with non-negative weights for any polynomial space of finite degree on $\mathbb{R}^d$ if the underlying measure is positive, compactly supported, and absolutely continuous with respect to the Lebesgue measure. This classical result coined the term Tchakaloff quadrature for quadrature that is exact and only uses non-negative weights. It has been a long-standing endeavor, under which conditions such rules exist. A final answer was given in 2012 by Bisgaard with the insight that, in fact, every finite-dimensional space of integrable functions on a positive measure space admits them. In this article we recall this result and provide a major extension to the question of positive discretizability of $\mathbb{C}$-linear functionals on finite-dimensional spaces. We introduce the notion of strict $S$-positivity for such functionals, where $S$ are subsets of the functional's domain, and show the equivalence of positive discretizability to being strictly $S$-positive for a suitable choice of $S$. We further investigate consequences for other discretization problems. One fundamental implication is the guaranteed existence of $L_p$-Marcinkiewicz-Zygmund equalities in finite-dimensional spaces of $p$-integrable functions in case that $p$ is an even integer, another the exact discretizability of any frame in $\mathbb{K}^n$, where $\mathbb{K}\in\{\mathbb{R},\mathbb{C}\}$, if a rescaling of the frame elements is allowed. In addition, we provide bounds for Tchakaloff quadrature widths $κ_n^+$ and, addressing the question of constructibility of discretization points, establish a connection to $D$-optimal design.

math.FA↗

arXiv2025

A practical approach to perturbative corrections to few-body observables

We formulate two methods to facilitate the calculation of perturbative corrections to quantum few-body observables. Both techniques are designed for a numerical realization in combination with any tool that obtains either the entire spectrum or solely the eigenvalues of an operator corresponding to the observable of interest. We exemplify these methods in the context of the nuclear contact theory without pions (Pionless EFT) and benchmark them in the deuteron channel with available analytical, field-theoretical calculations, as well as in the triton and 3-helium channels through earlier extractions within the dibaryon formalism, where in all three systems the point-proton root-mean-square charge radius (rms) was the perturbed observable of choice. Beyond these $A\leq3$ consistency and accuracy checks, we employ the numerical methods to predict the rms of the 4-helium nuclear ground state to assess three different ways of integrating the Coulomb interaction into Pionless EFT. By comparing the respective results at leading and next-to-leading order for 3- and 4-helium, we find that the uncertainty due to the strong, short-range interaction is significantly larger compared with that due to the long-range Coulomb interaction for both bound states with their different binding momenta. Thereby, we provide strong support for simplifying extractions of bound-state observables by shutting off any Coulomb interaction if the strong part of the potential is considered only up to first order in the effective range expansion.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2025

Charged Particle Scattering in Renormalizable Pionless Effective Field Theory at Next-to-Leading Order: The $pd$, $dd$, and $p^3\mathrm{He}$ Case

We formulate a renormalizable pionless effective field theory (Pionless EFT) with a non-perturbative treatment of the Coulomb interaction up to next-to-leading order (NLO) for few-nucleon systems. We extract scattering observables for charged clusters by employing two-, three-, and four-body contact interactions and using the stochastic variational method with a Coulomb-corrected harmonic oscillator trap. Our NLO results yield a $pd$ spin-quartet scattering length and effective range of $a_{pd}^{3/2} = 12.76(29)\,\mathrm{fm}$ and $r_{pd}^{3/2} = 1.17(7)\,\mathrm{fm}$; for $dd$ scattering in the spin-quintet channel, we find $a_{dd}^{2} = 6.26(3)\,\mathrm{fm}$ and $r_{dd}^{2} = 1.41(7)\,\mathrm{fm}$; and for $p^3\mathrm{He}$ scattering, the spin-singlet and spin-triplet channels are characterized by $a_{p^3\mathrm{He}}^0 = 11.26(4)\,\mathrm{fm}$, $r_{p^3\mathrm{He}}^0 = 1.65(26)\,\mathrm{fm}$ and $a_{p^3\mathrm{He}}^1 = 9.06(4)\,\mathrm{fm}$, $r_{p^3\mathrm{He}}^1 = 1.36(25)\,\mathrm{fm}$, respectively. Our predictions exhibit mild cutoff dependence and agree well with existing experimental phase shift analyses and potential model calculations. This demonstrates the predictive power of (Pionless EFT) for charged few-nucleon systems.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2025

Besov regularity of multivariate non-periodic functions in terms of half-period cosine coefficients and consequences for recovery and numerical integration

In the setting of $d$-variate periodic functions, often modelled as functions on the torus $\mathbb{T}^d\cong[0,1]^d$, the classical tensorized Fourier system is the system of choice for many applications. Turning to non-periodic functions on $[0,1]^d$ the Fourier system is not as well-suited as exemplified by the Gibbs phenomenon at the boundary. Other systems have therefore been considered for this setting. One example is the half-period cosine system, which occurs naturally as the eigenfunctions of the Laplace operator under homogeneous Neumann boundary conditions. We introduce and analyze associated function spaces, $S^{r}_{p,q}B_{\mathrm{hpc}}([0,1]^d)$, of dominating mixed Besov-type generalizing earlier concepts in this direction. As a main result, we show that there is a natural parameter range, where $S^{r}_{p,q}B_{\mathrm{hpc}}([0,1]^d)$ coincides with the classical Besov space of dominating mixed smoothness $S^{r}_{p,q}B([0,1]^d)$. This finding has direct implications for different functional analytic tasks in $S^{r}_{p,q}B([0,1]^d)$. It allows to systematically transfer methods, originally taylored to the periodic domain, to the non-periodic setup. To illustrate this, we investigate half-period cosine approximation, sampling reconstruction, and tent-transformed cubature. Concerning cubature, for instance, we are able to reproduce the optimal convergence rate $n^{-r}(\log n)^{(d-1)(1-1/q)}$ for tent-transformed digital nets in the range $1\le p,q\le\infty$, $\tfrac{1}{p}<r<2$, where $n$ is the number of samples. In our main proof we rely on Chui-Wang discretization of the dominating mixed Besov space $S^{r}_{p,q}B(\mathbb{R}^d)$, which we provide for the first time for the multivariate domain.

math.NA↗

arXiv2024

Exact discretization, tight frames and recovery via D-optimal designs

$D$-optimal designs originate in statistics literature as an approach for optimal experimental designs. In numerical analysis points and weights resulting from maximal determinants turned out to be useful for quadrature and interpolation. Also recently, two of the present authors and coauthors investigated a connection to the discretization problem for the uniform norm. Here we use this approach of maximizing the determinant of a certain Gramian matrix with respect to points and weights for the construction of tight frames and exact Marcinkiewicz-Zygmund inequalities in $L_2$. We present a direct and constructive approach resulting in a discrete measure with at most $N \leq n^2+1$ atoms, which discretely and accurately subsamples the $L_2$-norm of complex-valued functions contained in a given $n$-dimensional subspace. This approach can as well be used for the reconstruction of functions from general RKHS in $L_2$ where one only has access to the most important eigenfunctions. We verifiably and deterministically construct points and weights for a weighted least squares recovery procedure and pay in the rate of convergence compared to earlier optimal, however probabilistic approaches. The general results apply to the $d$-sphere or multivariate trigonometric polynomials on $\mathbb{T}^d$ spectrally supported on arbitrary finite index sets~$I \subset \mathbb{Z}^d$. They can be discretized using at most $|I|^2-|I|+1$ points and weights. Numerical experiments indicate the sharpness of this result. As a negative result we prove that, in general, it is not possible to control the number of points in a reconstructing lattice rule only in the cardinality $|I|$ without additional condition on the structure of $I$. We support our findings with numerical experiments.

math.NA↗

arXiv2024

Perturbative application of next-to-leading order pionless EFT for $A\le3$ nuclei in a finite volume

Lattice quantum chromodynamics (LQCD) calculations with physical pion mass would revolutionize nuclear physics by enabling predictions based on the fundamental theory of the strong force. To bridge the gap between finite-volume LQCD results and free-space physical observables, two primary extrapolation methods have been employed so far. The traditional approach relies on the Lüscher formula and its extensions, while a recent alternative employs effective field theories (EFTs) fitted directly to the finite volume data. In this study, we fit pionless EFT with perturbative inclusion of the next-to-leading order to finite-volume energies generated from a phenomenological $NN$ interaction. The theory is then used to extrapolate the finite-volume results into free space as well as to predict new few-body observables. As a benchmark, we also apply the Lüscher formalism directly to the finite-volume data. Through a comprehensive analysis, we explore the characteristics of order-by-order predictions of the pionless EFT fitted within a finite volume, investigate the limitations of the different extrapolation techniques used, and derive recommended box sizes required for reliable predictions.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2023

Five-body calculation of $s$-wave $n$-$^4$He scattering at next-to-leading order pionless effective field theory

We present the first five-body calculations of $s$-wave $n$-$^4$He scattering within leading order and next-to-leading order (NLO) pionless effective field theory. Using an harmonic oscillator trap technique and pionless effective field theory fitted to just six well-established experimental parameters, we predict the $s$-wave $n$-$^4$He phase shifts, scattering length $a^{1/2}_{n ^4\text{He}}(\text{NLO})=2.47(4\ \text{num.})~(17\ \text{theor.})~{\rm fm}$, and effective range $r^{1/2}_{n ^4\text{He}}(\text{NLO})=1.384(3\ \text{num.})~(211\ \text{theor.})~{\rm fm}$ in agreement with experiment. The apparent cutoff independence of our results is used to estimate the theoretical errors coming as an integral part of our final results.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2023

Emergence of $^4$H $J^π=1^-$ resonance in contact theories

We obtain the $s$- and $p$-wave low-energy scattering parameters for n$^3$H elastic scattering and the position of the $^4$H $J^π=1^-$ resonance using the pionless effective field theory at leading order. Results are extracted with three numerical techniques: confining the system in a harmonic oscillator trap, solving the Faddeev-Yakubovsky equations in configuration space, and using an effective two-body cluster approach. The renormalization of the theory for the relevant amplitudes is assessed in a cutoff-regulator range between $1\,\text{fm}^{-1}$ and $10\,\text{fm}^{-1}$. Most remarkably, we find a cutoff-stable/RG-invariant resonance in the $^4$H $J^π=1^-$ system. This $p$-wave resonance is a universal consequence of a shallow two-body state and the introduction of a three-body $s$-wave scale set by the triton binding energy. The stabilization of a resonant state in a few-fermion system through pure contact interactions has a significant consequence for the powercounting of the pionless theory. Specifically, it suggests the appearance of similar resonant states also in larger nuclei, like 16-oxygen, in which the theory's leading order does not predict stable states. Those resonances would provide a starting state to be moved to the correct physical position by the perturbative insertion of sub-leading orders, possibly resolving the discrepancy between data and contact EFT.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2023

Constructive subsampling of finite frames with applications in optimal function recovery

In this paper we present new constructive methods, random and deterministic, for the efficient subsampling of finite frames in $\mathbb C^m$. Based on a suitable random subsampling strategy, we are able to extract from any given frame with bounds $0<A\le B<\infty$ (and condition $B/A$) a similarly conditioned reweighted subframe consisting of merely $\mathcal{O}(m\log m)$ elements. Further, utilizing a deterministic subsampling method based on principles developed by Batson, Spielman, and Srivastava to control the spectrum of sums of Hermitian rank-1 matrices, we are able to reduce the number of elements to $\mathcal{O}(m)$ (with a constant close to one). By controlling the weights via a preconditioning step, we can, in addition, preserve the lower frame bound in the unweighted case. This permits the derivation of new quasi-optimal unweighted (left) Marcinkiewicz-Zygmund inequalities for $L_2(D,ν)$ with constructible node sets of size $\mathcal{O}(m)$ for $m$-dimensional subspaces of bounded functions. Those can be applied e.g. for (plain) least-squares sampling reconstruction of functions, where we obtain new quasi-optimal results avoiding the Kadison-Singer theorem. Numerical experiments indicate the applicability of our results.

math.NA↗

arXiv2022

Few nucleons scattering in pionless effective field theory

We present a comprehensive theoretical study of low-energy few nucleon scattering for systems with $A\leq 4$. To this end, we utilize pionless effective field theory, which we employ at next-to-leading order. We show that at this level the theory yields accurate predictions for the low-energy scattering parameters in all studied channels. These predictions are on par with the best experimental evaluations and the available theoretical calculations. We confirm the recent observation that a four-body force is needed at next-to-leading-order and find that for nuclear systems it only appears in a single spin-isospin channel.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2022

Spectrum of light nuclei in a finite volume

Lattice quantum chromodynamics calculations of multi-baryon systems with physical quark masses would start a new age of ab initio predictions in nuclear physics. Performed on a finite grid, such calculations demand extrapolation of their finite volume numerical results to free-space physical quantities. Such extraction of the physical information can be carried out fitting effective field theories (EFTs) directly to the finite-volume results or utilizing the Lüscher free-space formula or its generalizations for extrapolating the lattice data to infinite volume. To understand better the effect of periodic boundary conditions on the binding energy of few nucleon systems we explore here light nuclei with physical masses in a finite box and in free space. The stochastic variational method is used to solve the few-body systems. Substantial optimizations of the method are introduced to enable efficient calculations in a periodic box. With the optimized code, we perform accurate calculations of light nuclei $A \le 4$ within leading order pionless EFT. Using Lüscher formula for the two-body system, and its generalization for 3- and 4-body systems, we examine the box effect and explore possible limitations of these formulas for the considered nuclear systems.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2021

Multi-fermion systems with contact theories

We address the question of minimal requirements for the existence of quantum bound states. In particular, we demonstrate that a few-body system with zero-range momentum-independent two-body interactions is unstable against decay into clusters, if mixed-symmetry of its wave function is enforced. We claim that any theory in which the two-body scattering length is much larger than any other scale involved exhibits such instability. We exemplify this with the inability of the leading-order pionless effective field theory to describe stable states of $A>4$ nuclei. A finite interaction range is identified as a sufficient condition for a bound mixed-symmetry system. The minimal value of this range depends on the proximity of a system to unitarity, on the number of constituents, and on the particular realization of discrete scale invariance of the three-body spectrum.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2021

A new upper bound for sampling numbers

We provide a new upper bound for sampling numbers $(g_n)_{n\in \mathbb{N}}$ associated to the compact embedding of a separable reproducing kernel Hilbert space into the space of square integrable functions. There are universal constants $C,c>0$ (which are specified in the paper) such that $$ g^2_n \leq \frac{C\log(n)}{n}\sum\limits_{k\geq \lfloor cn \rfloor} σ_k^2\quad,\quad n\geq 2\,, $$ where $(σ_k)_{k\in \mathbb{N}}$ is the sequence of singular numbers (approximation numbers) of the Hilbert-Schmidt embedding $\text{Id}:H(K) \to L_2(D,\varrho_D)$. The algorithm which realizes the bound is a least squares algorithm based on a specific set of sampling nodes. These are constructed out of a random draw in combination with a down-sampling procedure coming from the celebrated proof of Weaver's conjecture, which was shown to be equivalent to the Kadison-Singer problem. Our result is non-constructive since we only show the existence of a linear sampling operator realizing the above bound. The general result can for instance be applied to the well-known situation of $H^s_{\text{mix}}(\mathbb{T}^d)$ in $L_2(\mathbb{T}^d)$ with $s>1/2$. We obtain the asymptotic bound $$ g_n \leq C_{s,d}n^{-s}\log(n)^{(d-1)s+1/2}\,, $$ which improves on very recent results by shortening the gap between upper and lower bound to $\sqrt{\log(n)}$.

math.NA↗

arXiv2018

$Λ^{\ast}(1405)$-matter: stable or unstable?

A recent suggestion [PLB 774 (2017) 522] that purely-$Λ^{\ast}(1405)$ nuclei provide the absolute minimum energy in charge-neutral baryon matter for baryon-number $A\gtrsim 8$, is tested within RMF calculations. A broad range of $Λ^{\ast}$ interaction strengths, commensurate with $(\bar K \bar K NN)_{I=0}$ binding energy assumed to be of order 100 MeV, is scanned. It is found that the binding energy per $Λ^{\ast}$, $B/A$, saturates for $A\gtrsim 120$ with values of $B/A$ considerably below 100 MeV, implying that $Λ^{\ast}(1405)$ matter is highly unstable against strong decay to $Λ$ and $Σ$ hyperon aggregates. The central density of $Λ^{\ast}$ matter is found to saturate as well, at roughly twice nuclear matter density. Moreover, it is shown that the underlying very strong $\bar K N$ potentials, fitted for isospin $I=0$ to the mass and width values of $Λ^{\ast}(1405)$, fail to reproduce values of single-nucleon absorption fractions deduced across the periodic table from $K^-$ capture-at-rest bubble chamber experiments.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2017

Onset of $η$ nuclear binding

Recent studies of $η$ nuclear quasibound states by the Jerusalem-Prague Collaboration are reviewed, focusing on stochastic variational method self consistent calculations of $η$ few-nucleon systems. These calculations suggest that a minimum value Re$\,a_{ηN} \approx 1$ fm (0.7 fm) is needed to bind $η\,^3$He ($η\,^4$He).

nucl-th↗

arXiv2017

Bendlets: A Second-Order Shearlet Transform with Bent Elements

We introduce bendlets, a shearlet-like system that is based on anisotropic scaling, translation, shearing, and bending of a compactly supported generator. With shearing being linear and bending quadratic in spatial coordinates, bendlets provide what we term a second-order shearlet system. As we show in this article, the decay rates of the associated transform enable the precise characterization of location, orientation and curvature of discontinuities in piecewise constant images. These results yield an improvement over existing directional representation systems where curvature only controls the constant of the decay rate of the transform. We also detail the construction of shearlet systems of arbitrary order. A practical implementation of bendlets is provided as an extension of the ShearLab toolbox, which we use to verify our theoretical classification results.

math.FA↗

arXiv2016

The Role of $α$-Scaling for Cartoon Approximation

The class of cartoon-like functions, classicly defined as piecewise $C^2$ functions consisting of smooth regions separated by $C^2$ discontinuity curves, is a well-established model for image data. The quest for optimal approximation of this class has among others led to the development of curvelets, contourlets, and shearlets. Due to parabolic scaling, these systems are able to provide a quasi-optimal $N$-term approximation rate of order $N^{-2}$. Replacing parabolic scaling by $α$-scaling, one obtains $α$-curvelets and $α$-shearlets, which interpolate between wavelet-type systems ($α=1$), parabolically scaled systems ($α=\frac12$), and ridgelet-type systems ($α=0$). Previous research shows that in the range $α\in[\frac{1}{2},1)$ they provide quasi-optimal approximation for cartoons of regularity $C^{1/α}$ with a rate of order $N^{-1/α}$. In this work we continue to explore $α$-scaled representation systems, with the aim to better understand the role of the parameter $α$ for approximation. Concerning $α$-curvelets with $α<1$, we prove that the best possible $N$-term approximation rate achievable for cartoons with curved edges is limited to at most $N^{-1/(1-α)}$, independent of the smoothness of the cartoons. The maximal rate achievable by simple thresholding of the frame coefficients is even bounded by $N^{-1/\max\{α,1-α\}}$. If the edges of the cartoons are straight the approximation performance of $α$-curvelets is different: Assuming $C^β$ regularity, we establish an approximation rate of order $N^{-\min\{α^{-1},β\}}$, which is quasi-optimal if $α\in [0,β^{-1}]$. Finally, via the framework of $α$-molecules, the obtained results are extended to other $α$-scaled systems including in particular $α$-shearlets.

math.FA↗