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Ming Xiao

Publications and source records attributed to Ming Xiao.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

Spectroastrometry and Reverberation Mapping (SARM) of Active Galactic Nuclei. I. The H$β$ Broad-line Region Structure and Black Hole Mass of Five Quasars

We conduct a reverberation mapping (RM) campaign to spectroscopically monitor a sample of selected bright active galactic nuclei with large anticipated broad-line region (BLR) sizes adequate for spectroastrometric observations by the GRAVITY instrument on the Very Large Telescope Interferometer. We report the first results for five objects, IC 4329A, Mrk 335, Mrk 509, Mrk 1239, and PDS 456, among which Mrk 1239 and PDS 456 are for the first time spectroscopically monitored. We obtain multi-year monitoring data and perform multi-component spectral decomposition to extract the broad H$β$ profiles. We detect significant time lags between the H$β$ and continuum variations, generally obeying the previously established BLR size-luminosity relation. Velocity-resolved H$β$ time lags illustrate diverse, possibly evolving BLR kinematics. We further measure the H$β$ line widths from mean and rms spectra and the resulting virial products show good consistency among different seasons. Adopting a unity virial factor and the full width at half maximum of the broad H$β$ line from the mean spectrum as the measure of velocity, the obtained black hole mass averaged over seasons is $\log M_\bullet/M_\odot=8.02_{-0.14}^{+0.09}$, $6.92_{-0.12}^{+0.12}$, $8.01_{-0.25}^{+0.16}$, $7.44_{-0.14}^{+0.13}$, and $8.59_{-0.11}^{+0.07}$ for the five objects, respectively. The black hole mass estimations using other line width measures are also reported (up to the virial factors). For objects with previous RM campaigns, our mass estimates are in agreement with earlier results. In a companion paper, we will employ BLR dynamical modeling to directly infer the black hole mass and thereby determine the virial factors.

astro-ph.GA↗

CA-FedRC: Codebook Adaptation via Federated Reservoir Computing in 5G NR

With the burgeon deployment of the fifth-generation new radio (5G NR) networks, the codebook plays a crucial role in enabling the base station (BS) to acquire the channel state information (CSI). Different 5G NR codebooks incur varying overheads and exhibit performance disparities under diverse channel conditions, necessitating codebook adaptation based on channel conditions to reduce feedback overhead while enhancing performance. However, existing methods of 5G NR codebooks adaptation require significant overhead for model training and feedback or fall short in performance. To address these limitations, this letter introduces a federated reservoir computing framework designed for efficient codebook adaptation in computationally and feedback resource-constrained mobile devices. This framework utilizes a novel series of indicators as input training data, striking an effective balance between performance and feedback overhead. Compared to conventional models, the proposed codebook adaptation via federated reservoir computing (CA-FedRC), achieves rapid convergence and significant loss reduction in both speed and accuracy. Extensive simulations under various channel conditions demonstrate that our algorithm not only reduces resource consumption of users but also accurately identifies channel types, thereby optimizing the trade-off between spectrum efficiency, computational complexity, and feedback overhead.

eess.SP↗

Monitoring AGNs with H$β$ Asymmetry. IV. First Reverberation Mapping Results of 14 AGNs

We report first-time reverberation mapping results for 14 AGNs from the ongoing Monitoring AGNs with H$β$ Asymmetry campaign (MAHA). These results utilize optical spectra obtained with the Long Slit Spectrograph on the Wyoming Infrared 2.3m Telescope between 2017 November-2023 May. MAHA combines long-duration monitoring with high cadence. We report results from multiple observing seasons for 9 of the 14 objects. These results include H$β$ time lags, supermassive black hole masses, and velocity-resolved time lags. The velocity-resolved lags allow us to investigate the kinematics of the broad-line region.

astro-ph.GA↗

Sensing-Resistance-Oriented Beamforming for Privacy Protection from ISAC Devices

With the evolution of integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) technology, a growing number of devices go beyond conventional communication functions with sensing abilities. Therefore, future networks are divinable to encounter new privacy concerns on sensing, such as the exposure of position information to unintended receivers. In contrast to traditional privacy preserving schemes aiming to prevent eavesdropping, this contribution conceives a novel beamforming design toward sensing resistance (SR). Specifically, we expect to guarantee the communication quality while masking the real direction of the SR transmitter during the communication. To evaluate the SR performance, a metric termed angular-domain peak-to-average ratio (ADPAR) is first defined and analyzed. Then, we resort to the null-space technique to conceal the real direction, hence to convert the optimization problem to a more tractable form. Moreover, semidefinite relaxation along with index optimization is further utilized to obtain the optimal beamformer. Finally, simulation results demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed SR-oriented beamforming design toward privacy protection from ISAC receivers.

eess.SP↗

Beamforming Design for Active RIS-Aided Over-the-Air Computation

Over-the-air computation (AirComp) is emerging as a promising technology for wireless data aggregation. However, its performance is hampered by users with poor channel conditions. To mitigate such a performance bottleneck, this paper introduces an active reconfigurable intelligence surface (RIS) into the AirComp system. Specifically, we begin by exploring the ideal RIS model and propose a joint optimization of the transceiver design and RIS configuration to minimize the mean squared error (MSE) between the target and estimated function values. To manage the resultant tri-convex optimization problem, we employ the alternating optimization (AO) technique to decompose it into three convex subproblems, each solvable optimally. Subsequently, we investigate two specific cases and analyze their respective asymptotic performance to reveal the superiority of the active RIS in mitigating the MSE relative to its passive counterpart. Lastly, we adapt our transceiver and RIS configuration design to account for the self-interference of the active RIS. To handle the resultant highly non-convex problem, we further devise a two-layer AO framework. Simulation results demonstrate the superiority of the active RIS in enhancing AirComp performance compared to its passive counterpart.

cs.IT↗

Low-complexity Resource Allocation for Uplink RSMA in Future 6G Wireless Networks

Uplink rate-splitting multiple access (RSMA) requires optimization of decoding order and power allocation, while decoding order is a discrete variable, and it is very complex to find the optimal decoding order if the number of users is large enough. This letter proposes a low-complexity user pairing-based resource allocation algorithm with the objective of minimizing the maximum latency. Closed-form expressions for power and bandwidth allocation for a given latency are first derived. Then a bisection method is used to determine the minimum latency and optimal resource allocation. Finally, the proposed algorithm is compared with unpaired RSMA using an exhaustive method to obtain the optimal decoding order, unpaired RSMA using a suboptimal decoding order, paired non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) and unpaired NOMA. The results show that our proposed algorithm outperforms NOMA and achieves similar performance to unpaired RSMA. In addition, the complexity of the proposed algorithm is significantly reduced.

cs.IT↗

NOMA Enabled Multi-Access Edge Computing: A Joint MU-MIMO Precoding and Computation Offloading Design

This letter investigates computation offloading and transmit precoding co-design for multi-access edge computing (MEC), where multiple MEC users (MUs) equipped with multiple antennas access the MEC server in a non-orthogonal multiple access manner. We aim to minimize the total energy consumption of all MUs while satisfying the latency constraints by jointly optimizing the computational frequency, offloading ratio, and precoding matrix of each MU. For tractability, we first decompose the original problem into three subproblems and then solve these subproblems iteratively until convergence. Simulation results validate the convergence of the proposed method and demonstrate its superiority over baseline algorithms.

cs.IT↗

Federated Learning via Active RIS Assisted Over-the-Air Computation

In this paper, we propose leveraging the active reconfigurable intelligence surface (RIS) to support reliable gradient aggregation for over-the-air computation (AirComp) enabled federated learning (FL) systems. An analysis of the FL convergence property reveals that minimizing gradient aggregation errors in each training round is crucial for narrowing the convergence gap. As such, we formulate an optimization problem, aiming to minimize these errors by jointly optimizing the transceiver design and RIS configuration. To handle the formulated highly non-convex problem, we devise a two-layer alternative optimization framework to decompose it into several convex subproblems, each solvable optimally. Simulation results demonstrate the superiority of the active RIS in reducing gradient aggregation errors compared to its passive counterpart.

cs.IT↗

Over-the-Air Computation Empowered Federated Learning: A Joint Uplink-Downlink Design

In this paper, we investigate the communication designs of over-the-air computation (AirComp) empowered federated learning (FL) systems considering uplink model aggregation and downlink model dissemination jointly. We first derive an upper bound on the expected difference between the training loss and the optimal loss, which reveals that optimizing the FL performance is equivalent to minimizing the distortion in the received global gradient vector at each edge node. As such, we jointly optimize each edge node transmit and receive equalization coefficients along with the edge server forwarding matrix to minimize the maximum gradient distortion across all edge nodes. We further utilize the MNIST dataset to evaluate the performance of the considered FL system in the context of the handwritten digit recognition task. Experiment results show that deploying multiple antennas at the edge server significantly reduces the distortion in the received global gradient vector, leading to a notable improvement in recognition accuracy compared to the single antenna case.

cs.IT↗

IRS Assisted Federated Learning A Broadband Over-the-Air Aggregation Approach

We consider a broadband over-the-air computation empowered model aggregation approach for wireless federated learning (FL) systems and propose to leverage an intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) to combat wireless fading and noise. We first investigate the conventional node-selection based framework, where a few edge nodes are dropped in model aggregation to control the aggregation error. We analyze the performance of this node-selection based framework and derive an upper bound on its performance loss, which is shown to be related to the selected edge nodes. Then, we seek to minimize the mean-squared error (MSE) between the desired global gradient parameters and the actually received ones by optimizing the selected edge nodes, their transmit equalization coefficients, the IRS phase shifts, and the receive factors of the cloud server. By resorting to the matrix lifting technique and difference-of-convex programming, we successfully transform the formulated optimization problem into a convex one and solve it using off-the-shelf solvers. To improve learning performance, we further propose a weight-selection based FL framework. In such a framework, we assign each edge node a proper weight coefficient in model aggregation instead of discarding any of them to reduce the aggregation error, i.e., amplitude alignment of the received local gradient parameters from different edge nodes is not required. We also analyze the performance of this weight-selection based framework and derive an upper bound on its performance loss, followed by minimizing the MSE via optimizing the weight coefficients of the edge nodes, their transmit equalization coefficients, the IRS phase shifts, and the receive factors of the cloud server. Furthermore, we use the MNIST dataset for simulations to evaluate the performance of both node-selection and weight-selection based FL frameworks.

cs.IT↗

A new Poincaré type rigidity phenomenon with applications

We discover a new Poincaré type phenomenon by establishing an optimal rigidity theorem for local CR mappings between circle bundles that are defined in a canonical way over (possibly reducible) bounded symmetric domains. We prove such a local CR map, if nonconstant, must extend to a rational biholomorphism between the corresponding disk bundles. The result includes as a special case the classical Poincaré--Tanaka--Alexander theorem. Among other applications, we show, for two irreducible bounded symmetric domains with rank at least two, a local CR diffeomorphism between (open connected pieces of) their anti-canonical circle bundles extends to a norm-preserving holomorphic isomorphism between their anti-canonical bundles. The statement fails in the rank one case. As another application, we construct, for any $n \geq 2,$ a countably infinite family of compact locally homogeneous strongly pseudoconvex CR hypersurfaces (in complex manifolds) of real dimension $2n+1$ with transverse symmetry such that they are all obstruction flat and Bergman logarithmically flat. Moreover, their local CR structures are mutually inequivalent. Such a family cannot exist in dimension three by known results: A Bergman logarithmically flat CR hypersurface must be spherical, and so is a compact obstruction flat CR hypersurface with transverse symmetry.

math.CV↗

Borel chain conditions of Borel posets

We study the coarse classification of partial orderings using chain conditions in the context of descriptive combinatorics. We show that (unlike the Borel counterpart of many other combinatorics), we have a distinct hierarchy of different chain conditions, similar to the classical case.

math.CO↗

Testing Super-Eddington Accretion onto a Supermassive Black Hole: Reverberation Mapping of PG 1119+120

We measure the black hole mass and investigate the accretion flow around the local ($z=0.0502$) quasar PG 1119+120. Spectroscopic monitoring with Calar Alto provides H$β$ lags and linewidths from which we estimate a black hole mass of $\log \left(M_{\bullet}/\mathrm{M}_{\odot} \right) = 7.0$, uncertain by $\sim0.4$ dex. High cadence photometric monitoring over two years with the Las Cumbres Observatory provides lightcurves in 7 optical bands suitable for intensive continuum reverberation mapping. We identify variability on two timescales. Slower variations on a 100-day timescale exhibit excess flux and increased lag in the $u'$ band and are thus attributable to diffuse bound-free continuum emission from the broad line region. Faster variations that we attribute to accretion disc reprocessing lack a $u'$-band excess and have flux and delay spectra consistent with either $τ\propto λ^{4/3}$, as expected for a temperature structure of $T(R) \propto R^{-3/4}$ for a thin accretion disc, or $τ\propto λ^{2}$ expected for a slim disc. Decomposing the flux into variable (disc) and constant (host galaxy) components, we find the disc SED to be flatter than expected with $f_ν \sim \rm{const}$. Modelling the SED predicts an Eddington ratio of $λ_{\rm Edd} > 1$, where the flat spectrum can be reproduced by a slim disc with little dust extinction or a thin disc which requires more dust extinction. While this accretion is super-Eddington, the geometry is still unclear, however a slim disc is expected due to the high radiation pressure at these accretion rates, and is entirely consistent with our observations.

astro-ph.GA↗

Revisiting Emission-Line Measurement Methods for Narrow-Line Active Galactic Nuclei

Measuring broad emission-line widths in active galactic nuclei (AGN) is not straightforward owing to the complex nature of flux variability in these systems. Line-width measurements become especially challenging when signal-to-noise is low, profiles are narrower, or spectral resolution is low. We conducted an extensive correlation analysis between emission-line measurements from the optical spectra of Markarian 142 (Mrk 142; a narrow-line Seyfert galaxy) taken with the Gemini North Telescope (Gemini) at a spectral resolution of 185.6+\-10.2 km/s and the Lijiang Telescope (LJT) at 695.2+\-3.9 km/s to investigate the disparities in the measured broad-line widths from both telescope data. Mrk~142 posed a challenge due to its narrow broad-line profiles, which were severely affected by instrumental broadening in the lower-resolution LJT spectra. We discovered that allowing the narrow-line flux of permitted lines having broad and narrow components to vary during spectral fitting caused a leak in the narrow-line flux to the broad component, resulting in broader broad-line widths in the LJT spectra. Fixing the narrow-line flux ratios constrained the flux leak and yielded the Hydrogen-beta broad-line widths from LJT spectra $\sim$54\% closer to the Gemini Hydrogen-beta widths than with flexible narrow-line ratios. The availability of spectra at different resolutions presented this unique opportunity to inspect how spectral resolution affected emission-line profiles in our data and adopt a unique method to accurately measure broad-line widths. Reconsidering line-measurement methods while studying diverse AGN populations is critical for the success of future reverberation-mapping studies. Based on the technique used in this work, we offer recommendations for measuring line widths in narrow-line AGN.

astro-ph.GA↗

Kähler-Einstein metrics and obstruction flatness II: unit sphere bundles

This paper concerns obstruction flatness of hypersurfaces $Σ$ that arise as unit sphere bundles $S(E)$ of Griffiths negative Hermitian vector bundles $(E, h)$ over Kähler manifolds $(M, g).$ We prove that if the curvature of $(E, h)$ satisfies a splitting condition and $(M,g)$ has constant Ricci eigenvalues, then $S(E)$ is obstruction flat. If, in addition, all these eigenvalues are strictly less than one and $(M,g)$ is complete, then we show that the corresponding ball bundle admits a complete Kähler-Einstein metric.

math.CV↗

Predicting the structural colors of films of disordered photonic balls

Photonic balls are spheres tens of micrometers in diameter containing assemblies of nanoparticles or nanopores with a spacing comparable to the wavelength of light. When these nanoscale features are disordered, but still correlated, the photonic balls can show structural color with low angle-dependence. Their colors, combined with the ability to add them to a liquid formulation, make photonic balls a promising new type of pigment particle for paints, coatings, and other applications. However, it is challenging to predict the color of materials made from photonic balls, because the sphere geometry and multiple scattering must be accounted for. To address these challenges, we develop a multiscale modeling approach involving Monte Carlo simulations of multiple scattering at two different scales: we simulate multiple scattering and absorption within a photonic ball and then use the results to simulate multiple scattering and absorption in a film of photonic balls. After validating against experimental spectra, we use the model to show that films of photonic balls scatter light in fundamentally different ways than do homogeneous films of nanopores or nanoparticles, because of their increased surface area and refraction at the interfaces of the balls. Both effects tend to sharply reduce color saturation relative to a homogeneous nanostructured film. We show that saturated colors can be achieved by placing an absorber directly in the photonic balls and mitigating surface roughness. With these design rules, we show that photonic-ball films have an advantage over homogeneous nanostructured films: their colors are even less dependent on the angle.

cond-mat.soft↗

On the analytic and geometric aspects of obstruction flatness

In this paper, we investigate analytic and geometric properties of obstruction flatness of strongly pseudoconvex CR hypersurfaces of dimension $2n-1$. Our first two results concern local aspects. Theorem 3.2 asserts that any strongly pseudoconvex CR hypersurface $M\subset \mathbb{C}^n$ can be osculated at a given point $p\in M$ by an obstruction flat one up to order $2n+4$ generally and $2n+5$ if and only if $p$ is an obstruction flat point. In Theorem 4.1, we show that locally there are non-spherical but obstruction flat CR hypersurfaces with transverse symmetry for $n=2$. The final main result in this paper concerns the existence of obstruction flat points on compact, strongly pseudoconvex, 3-dimensional CR hypersurfaces. Theorem 5.1 asserts that the unit sphere in a negative line bundle over a Riemann surface $X$ always has at least one circle of obstruction flat points.

math.CV↗

Design of Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface-Aided Cross-Media Communications

A novel reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-aided hybrid reflection/transmitter design is proposed for achieving information exchange in cross-media communications. In pursuit of the balance between energy efficiency and low-cost implementations, the cloud-management transmission protocol is adopted in the integrated multi-media system. Specifically, the messages of devices using heterogeneous propagation media, are firstly transmitted to the medium-matched AP, with the aid of the RIS-based dual-hop transmission. After the operation of intermediate frequency conversion, the access point (AP) uploads the received signals to the cloud for further demodulating and decoding process. Based on time division multiple access (TDMA), the cloud is able to distinguish the downlink data transmitted to different devices and transforms them into the input of the RIS controller via the dedicated control channel. Thereby, the RIS can passively reflect the incident carrier back into the original receiver with the exchanged information during the preallocated slots, following the idea of an index modulation-based transmitter. Moreover, the iterative optimization algorithm is utilized for optimizing the RIS phase, transmit rate and time allocation jointly in the delay-constrained cross-media communication model. Our simulation results demonstrate that the proposed RIS-based scheme can improve the end-to-end throughput than that of the AP-based transmission, the equal time allocation, the random and the discrete phase adjustment benchmarks.

eess.SP↗