arXiv subjects

Qian Shen

Publications and source records attributed to Qian Shen.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Children's English Reading Story Generation via Supervised Fine-Tuning of Compact LLMs with Controllable Difficulty and Safety

Large Language Models (LLMs) are widely applied in educational practices, such as for generating children's stories. However, the generated stories are often too difficult for children to read, and the operational cost of LLMs hinders their widespread adoption in educational settings. We used an existing expert-designed children's reading curriculum and its corresponding generated stories from GPT-4o and Llama 3.3 70B to design different experiments for fine-tuning three 8B-parameter LLMs, which then generated new English reading stories that were subjected to quantitative and qualitative evaluation. Our method prioritizes controllability over scale, enabling educators to target reading levels and error patterns with a compact, affordable model. Our evaluation results show that with appropriate fine-tuning designs, children's English reading stories generated by 8B LLMs perform better on difficulty-related metrics than those from zero-shot GPT-4o and Llama 3.3 70B, with almost no discernible safety issues. Such fine-tuned LLMs could be more broadly used by teachers, parents, and children in classrooms and at home to generate engaging English reading stories with children's interests, controllable difficulty and safety.

cs.CL↗

arXiv2026

Personality-Driven Student Agent-Based Modeling in Mathematics Education: How Well Do Student Agents Align with Human Learners?

It is crucial to explore the impact of different teaching methods on student learning in educational research. However, real-person experiments face significant ethical constraints, and we cannot conduct repeated teaching experiments on the same student. LLM-based generative agents offer a promising avenue for simulating student behavior. Before large-scale experiments, a fundamental question must be addressed: are student agents truly credible, and can they faithfully simulate human learning? In this study, we built a Big Five Personality-based student agent model with a full pipeline of student-teacher interaction, self-study, and examination. To evaluate behavioral fidelity, we collected 13 empirical studies on Big Five traits and learning, and distilled them into 14 criteria. We found that the 71.4% of the student agents' behavior was aligned with human learners.

cs.MA↗

arXiv2025

Causal-Copilot: An Autonomous Causal Analysis Agent

Causal analysis plays a foundational role in scientific discovery and reliable decision-making, yet it remains largely inaccessible to domain experts due to its conceptual and algorithmic complexity. This disconnect between causal methodology and practical usability presents a dual challenge: domain experts are unable to leverage recent advances in causal learning, while causal researchers lack broad, real-world deployment to test and refine their methods. To address this, we introduce Causal-Copilot, an autonomous agent that operationalizes expert-level causal analysis within a large language model framework. Causal-Copilot automates the full pipeline of causal analysis for both tabular and time-series data -- including causal discovery, causal inference, algorithm selection, hyperparameter optimization, result interpretation, and generation of actionable insights. It supports interactive refinement through natural language, lowering the barrier for non-specialists while preserving methodological rigor. By integrating over 20 state-of-the-art causal analysis techniques, our system fosters a virtuous cycle -- expanding access to advanced causal methods for domain experts while generating rich, real-world applications that inform and advance causal theory. Empirical evaluations demonstrate that Causal-Copilot achieves superior performance compared to existing baselines, offering a reliable, scalable, and extensible solution that bridges the gap between theoretical sophistication and real-world applicability in causal analysis. A live interactive demo of Causal-Copilot is available at https://causalcopilot.com/.

cs.AI↗

arXiv2024

Proof of 5D $A_n$ AGT conjecture at $β=1$

In this paper, we give a proof of 5D $A_n$ AGT conjecture at $β=1$, where the gauge theory side is one dimension higher than the original 4D case, and corresponds to the q-deformation of the 2D conformal field theory side. We define a q-deformed $A_n$ Selberg integral, which generalizes the $A_n$ Selberg integral and the q-deformed $A_1$ Selberg integral in the literature. A q-deformed $A_n$ Selberg average formula with $n+1$ Schur polynomials is proposed and proved to complete the proof.

hep-th↗

arXiv2023

Unidirectional guided-wave-driven metasurfaces for arbitrary wavefront control

Metasurfaces, composed of subwavelength electromagnetic microstructures, known as meta-atoms, are capable of reshaping the wavefronts of incident beams in desired manners, making them great candidates for revolutionizing conventional optics. However, the requirement for external light excitation and the resonant nature of meta-atoms make it difficult to fully integrate metasurfaces on-chip or to control wavefronts at deep-subwavelength scales. Here, we introduce the concept and design of a new class of metasurfaces, driven by unidirectional guided waves, and being capable of arbitrary wavefront control based on the unique dispersion properties of unidirectional guided waves rather than resonant meta-atoms. Upon experimentally demonstrating the feasibility and practicality of the unidirectional nature of our designs in the microwave regime, we numerically validate this new principle through the design of several microwave meta-devices using metal-air-gyromagnetic unidirectional surface magnetoplamons, agilely converting unidirectional guided modes into the wavefronts of 3D Bessel beams, focused waves, and controllable vortex beams. We also numerically demonstrate sub-diffraction focusing, which is currently beyond the capability of conventional metasurfaces. Furthermore, we directly show how these concepts can be transferred to the terahertz regime, and discuss their feasibility in the optical domain, too. Based on this nonresonant (that is, broadband) mechanism and on standard plasmonic platforms, our metasurfaces can be integrated on-chip, enabling the manipulation of electromagnetic waves on deep subwavelength scales and over wide frequency ranges, thereby opening up new opportunities for applications in communications, remote sensing, displays, and so forth.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2022

Realization of a photonic topological insulator in Kagome crystals at terahertz wavelengths

Topological systems are inherently robust to disorder and continuous perturbations, resulting in dissipation-free edge transport of electrons in quantum solids, or reflectionless guiding of photons and phonons in classical wave systems characterized by topological invariants. Despite considerable efforts, direct experimental demonstration of theoretically predicted robust, lossless energy transport in topological insulators operating at terahertz frequencies is needed further investigations to shed affirmative light on the unique properties enabled by topological protection. Here, we introduce Kagome lattice that exhibits a new class of symmetry-protected topological phases with very low Berry curvature but nontrivial bulk polarization, and fabricate an optical topological insulator that provide the valley hall effect. Theoretical analysis show that four type edge states can be obtained. Measurements of THz-TDs with high time-resolution demonstrate that terahertz wave propagating along the straight topological edge and Z-shape edge with sharp turns have almost same high transmission in 0.440 THz to 0.457 THz domain range. Those results quantitatively illustrate the suppression of backscattering due to the non-trivial topology of the structure. The THz-TDs measurement yields amplitude and phase information, showing significant advantage compared to general broadband infrared, single wavelength continuous-wave THz measurements and visible spectroscopy. It allows further exploration of the effective refractive index, group velocity and dispersion relations of edge states. Our work offers possibilities for advanced control of the propagation and manipulation of THz waves, and facilitates the applications including sixth-generation (6G) wireless communication, terahertz integrated circuits, and interconnects for intrachip and interchip communication.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2020

Fermi velocity renormalization in graphene probed by terahertz time-domain spectroscopy

We demonstrate terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) to be an accurate, rapid and scalable method to probe the interaction-induced Fermi velocity renormalization νF^* of charge carriers in graphene. This allows the quantitative extraction of all electrical parameters (DC conductivity σDC, carrier density n, and carrier mobility μ) of large-scale graphene films placed on arbitrary substrates via THz-TDS. Particularly relevant are substrates with low relative permittivity (< 5) such as polymeric films, where notable renormalization effects are observed even at relatively large carrier densities (> 10^12 cm-2, Fermi level > 0.1 eV). From an application point of view, the ability to rapidly and non-destructively quantify and map the electrical (σDC, n, μ) and electronic (νF^* ) properties of large-scale graphene on generic substrates is key to utilize this material in applications such as metrology, flexible electronics as well as to monitor graphene transfers using polymers as handling layers.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2019

Slow light,double directional rainbow trapping and releasing at terahertz frequencies

Slow light and rainbow trapping attract many attentions in last twenty years, and in most of the previous works, the researchers achieve the slow light and rainbow trapping with complicate configurations or techniques, for example, metamaterial techniques. In this paper, we propose a simple waveguide consisted with semiconductor and dielectric layers, and we find that the slow-light peaks appear in the dispersion curves. Besides, the cutoff frequency with $v_g = 0$ ($v_g$ is the group velocity) in the slow-light peaks is depending on the thicknesses of the semiconductor and dielectric. Then, we design a tapered, horizontally symmetric structure. By using software COMSOL and finite difference time domain method as well, we achieve double directional rainbow trapping and more importantly, releasing the rainbow in such structure. This approach is promising for optical isolator, optical buffer, optical switch and other optical functional devices in miniaturization optical integrated circuit.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2011

Creating and modulating electronic states on noble metal surfaces: ultrathin Ag islands on Si(111)-7$\times$7 as a prototype

Various-thickness Ag islands were prepared on Si(111)-7$\times$7 using the one-step deposition at a high substrate temperature. An electronic state centered at -0.40$\sim$-0.15eV versus E$_{Fermi}$, detectable on the surface of the Ag islands thinner than 9 layers, was created by the electronic hybridization between Ag and Si at the Ag-Si interface. Scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy and density functional theory revealed that the thickness of Ag islands determined the strength of the hybridization, leading to a modulation to the energy and intensity of the state on the surface.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗