Publications
Vortex Dynamics and Losses Due to Pinning: Dissipation from Trapped Magnetic Flux in Resonant Superconducting Radio-Frequency Cavities
We use a model of vortex dynamics and collective weak-pinning theory to study the residual dissipation due to trapped magnetic flux in a dirty superconductor. Using simple estimates, approximate analytical calculations, and numerical simulations, we make predictions and comparisons with experiments performed in CERN and Cornell on resonant superconducting radio-frequency NbCu, doped-Nb and Nb3Sn cavities.
Information loss under coarse graining: A geometric approach
We use information geometry in which the local distance between models measures their distinguishability from data to quantify the flow of information under the renormalization group. We show that information about relevant parameters is preserved with distances along relevant directions maintained under flow. By contrast, irrelevant parameters become less distinguishable under the flow with distances along irrelevant directions contracting according to renormalization group exponents. We develop a covariant formalism to understand the contraction of the model manifold.
Canonical sectors and evolution of firms in the US stock markets
Unsupervised machine learning can provide an objective and comprehensive broad-level sector decomposition of stocks. © 2018, © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Computation of a Theoretical Membrane Phase Diagram and the Role of Phase in Lipid-Raft-Mediated Protein Organization
Lipid phase heterogeneity in the plasma membrane is thought to be crucial for many aspects of cell signaling, but the physical basis of participating membrane domains such as "lipid rafts" remains controversial. Here we consider a lattice model yielding a phase diagram that includes several states proposed to be relevant for the cell membrane, including microemulsion - which can be related to membrane curvature - and Ising critical behavior. Using a neural-network-based machine learning approach, we compute the full phase diagram of this lattice model.
Light microscopy at maximal precision
Microscopy is the workhorse of the physical and life sciences, producing crisp images of everything from atoms to cells well beyond the capabilities of the human eye. However, the analysis of these images is frequently little more accurate than manual marking. Here, we revolutionize the analysis of microscopy images, extracting all the useful information theoretically contained in a complex microscope image.
Deformation of Crystals: Connections with Statistical Physics
We give a bird's-eye view of the plastic deformation of crystals aimed at the statistical physics community, as well as a broad introduction to the statistical theories of forced rigid systems aimed at the plasticity community. Memory effects in magnets, spin glasses, charge density waves, and dilute colloidal suspensions are discussed in relation to the onset of plastic yielding in crystals. Dislocation avalanches and complex dislocation tangles are discussed via a brief introduction to the renormalization group and scaling.
Impact of trapped magnetic flux and thermal gradients on the performance of Nb3Sn cavities
Trapped magnetic flux is known to degrade the quality factor of superconducting cavities by increasing the surface losses ascribed to the residual resistance. In Nb3Sn cavities, which consist of a thin layer of Nb3Sn coated on a bulk niobium substrate, the bimetallic interface results in a thermal current being generated in the presence of a thermal gradient, which will in turn generate flux that can be trapped. In this paper we quantify the impact of trapped flux, from either ambient fields or thermal gradients, on the performance of the cavity.
Quench studies in single-cell Nb3Sn cavities coated using vapour diffusion
The superconductor Nb3Sn is known to have a superheating field, Hsh, of approximately 400 mT. This critical field represents the ultimate achievable gradient in a superconducting cavity, and is equivalent to an accelerating gradient of 90 MV/m in an ILC single-cell cavity for this value of Hsh. However, the currently best performing Nb3Sn single-cell cavities remain limited to accelerating gradients of 17-18 MV/m, translating to a peak surface magnetic field of approx. 70 mT.
Using sloppy models for constrained emittance minimization at the Cornell Electron Storage Ring (CESR)
In order to minimize the emittance at the Cornell Electron Storage Ring (CESR), we measure and correct the orbit, dispersion, and transverse coupling of the beam. However, this method is limited by finite measurement resolution of the dispersion, and so a new procedure must be used to further reduce the emittance due to dispersion. In order to achieve this, we use a method based upon the theory of sloppy models. We use a model of the accelerator to create the Hessian matrix which encodes the effects of various corrector magnets on the vertical emittance.
Emergent SO(3) Symmetry of the Frictionless Shear Jamming Transition
We study the shear jamming of athermal frictionless soft spheres, and find that in the thermodynamic limit, a shear-jammed state exists with different elastic properties from the isotropically-jammed state. For example, shear-jammed states can have a non-zero residual shear stress in the thermodynamic limit that arises from long-range stress-stress correlations. As a result, the ratio of the shear and bulk moduli, which in isotropically-jammed systems vanishes as the jamming transition is approached from above, instead approaches a constant.