We study local power fluctuations in numerical simulations of stationary, homogeneous, isotropic turbulence in two and three dimensions with Gaussian forcing. Due to the near-Gaussianity of the one-point velocity distribution, the probability distribution function (pdf) of the local power is well modelled by the pdf of the product of two joint normally distributed variables. In appropriate units, this distribution is parameterised only by the mean dissipation rate, $\epsilon$. The large deviation function for this distribution is calculated exactly and shown to satisfy a Fluctuation Relation (FR) with a coefficient which depends on $\epsilon$. This FR is entirely statistical in origin. The deviation from the model pdf are most pronounced for positive fluctuations of the power and can be traced to a slightly faster than Gaussian decay of the tails of the one-point velocity pdf. The resulting deviations from the FR are consistent with several recent experimental studies.; Comment: 5 Pages, 5 Figures

The point at absolute zero where matter becomes unstable to new forms of order is called a quantum critical point (QCP). The quantum fluctuations between order and disorder that develop at this point induce profound transformations in the finite temperature electronic properties of the material. Magnetic fields are ideal for tuning a material as close as possible to a QCP, where the most intense effects of criticality can be studied. A previous study on theheavy-electron material $YbRh_2Si_2$ found that near a field-induced quantum critical point electrons move ever more slowly and scatter off one-another with ever increasing probability, as indicated by a divergence to infinity of the electron effective mass and cross-section. These studies could not shed light on whether these properties were an artifact of the applied field, or a more general feature of field-free QCPs. Here we report that when Germanium-doped $YbRh_2Si_2$ is tuned away from a chemically induced quantum critical point by magnetic fields there is a universal behavior in the temperature dependence of the specific heat and resistivity: the characteristic kinetic energy of electrons is directly proportional to the strength of the applied field. We infer that all ballistic motion of electrons vanishes at a QCP...

We present a detailed comparison of the most recent sets of NNLO PDFs from the ABM, CT, HERAPDF, MSTW and NNPDF collaborations. We compare parton distributions at low and high scales and parton luminosities relevant for LHC phenomenology. We study the PDF dependence of LHC benchmark inclusive cross sections and differential distributions for electroweak boson and jet production in the cases in which the experimental covariance matrix is available. We quantify the agreement between data and theory by computing the chi2 for each data set with all the various PDFs. PDF comparisons are performed consistently for common values of the strong coupling. We also present a benchmark comparison of jet production at the LHC, comparing the results from various available codes and scale settings. Finally, we discuss the implications of the updated NNLO PDF sets for the combined PDF+alphaS uncertainty in the gluon fusion Higgs production cross section.; Comment: 52 pages, 22 figures, accepted for publication in JHEP

Gibbs's inequality states that the differential entropy of a random variable with probability density function (pdf) $f$ is less than or equal to its cross entropy with any other pdf $g$ defined on the same alphabet, i.e., $h(X)\leq -\mathsf{E}[\log g(X)]$. Using this inequality with a cleverly chosen $g$, we derive a lower bound on the smallest output entropy that can be achieved by quantizing a $d$-dimensional source with given expected $r$th-power distortion. Specialized to the one-dimensional case, and in the limit of vanishing distortion, this lower bound converges to the output entropy achieved by a uniform quantizer, thereby recovering the result by Gish and Pierce that uniform quantizers are asymptotically optimal as the allowed distortion tends to zero. Our lower bound holds for any $d$-dimensional memoryless source that has a pdf and whose differential entropy and R\'enyi information dimension are finite. In contrast to Gish and Pierce, we do not require any additional constraints on the continuity or decay of the source pdf.; Comment: 15 pages, 2 figures

Let $n$ be any positive integer, the friendship graph $F_n$ consist of $n$ edge-disjoint triangles that all of them meeting in one vertex. A graph $G$ is called cospectral with a graph $H$ if their adjacency matrices have the same eigenvalues. Recently in [http://arxiv.org/pdf/1310.6529v1.pdf] it is proved that if $G$ is any graph cospectral with $F_n$ $(n\neq 16)$, then $G\cong F_n$. In this note, we give a proof of special case of the latter: Any connected graph cospectral with $F_n$ is isomorphic to $F_n$. Our proof is independent of ones given in [http://arxiv.org/pdf/1310.6529v1.pdf] and the proofs are based on our recent results given in [Trans. Com., 2 no. 4 (2013) 37-52.] Using an upper bound for the largest eigenvalue of a connected graph given in [J. Combinatorial Theory, Ser. B, 81 (2001) 177-183.].; Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures

In this paper, the classical problem of the probabilistic characterization of a random variable is re-examined. A random variable is usually described by the probability density function (PDF) or by its Fourier transform, namely the characteristic function (CF). The CF can be further expressed by a Taylor series involving the moments of the random variable. However, in some circumstances, the moments do not exist and the Taylor expansion of the CF is useless. This happens for example in the case of $\alpha$--stable random variables. Here, the problem of representing the CF or the PDF of random variables (r.vs) is examined by introducing fractional calculus. Two very remarkable results are obtained. Firstly, it is shown that the fractional derivatives of the CF in zero coincide with fractional moments. This is true also in case of CF not derivable in zero (like the CF of $\alpha$--stable r.vs). Moreover, it is shown that the CF may be represented by a generalized Taylor expansion involving fractional moments. The generalized Taylor series proposed is also able to represent the PDF in a perfect dual representation to that in terms of CF. The PDF representation in terms of fractional moments is especially accurate in the tails and this is very important in engineering problems...

We analyze the probability distribution function (PDF) of work done on a Luttinger liquid for an arbitrary finite duration interaction quench and show that it can be described in terms a generalized Gibbs ensemble. We construct the corresponding density matrix with explicit intermode correlations, and determine the duration and interaction dependence of the probability of an adiabatic transition and the PDF of non-adiabatic processes. In the thermodynamic limit, the PDF of work exhibits a non-Gaussian maximum around the excess heat, carrying almost all spectral weight. In contrast, in the small system limit most spectral weight is carried by a delta peak at the energy of the adiabatic process, and an oscillating PDF with dips at energies commensurate to the quench duration and with an exponential envelope develops. Relevance to cold atom experiments is also discussed.; Comment: 5+3 pages, 1+2 figures, new results on the generalized Gibbs ensemble and on the details of the calculations are added

We present the first measurements of the Probability Distribution Function (PDF) of galaxy fluctuations in the VIMOS-VLT Deep Survey (VVDS) cone, covering 0.4x0.4 deg between 0.40.8; ii) the formation of bright galaxies is inhibited below a characteristic mass-overdensity threshold whose amplitude increases with redshift and luminosity; iii) the biasing function is non linear in all the redshift bins investigated with non-linear effects of the order of a few to 10% on scales >5Mpc.; Comment: 30 pages...

We are interested in the tail behavior of the pdf of mass density within the one and $d$-dimensional Burgers/adhesion model used, e.g., to model the formation of large-scale structures in the Universe after baryon-photon decoupling. We show that large densities are localized near ``kurtoparabolic'' singularities residing on space-time manifolds of codimension two ($d \le 2$) or higher ($d \ge 3$). For smooth initial conditions, such singularities are obtained from the convex hull of the Lagrangian potential (the initial velocity potential minus a parabolic term). The singularities contribute {\em \hbox{universal} power-law tails} to the density pdf when the initial conditions are random. In one dimension the singularities are preshocks (nascent shocks), whereas in two and three dimensions they persist in time and correspond to boundaries of shocks; in all cases the corresponding density pdf has the exponent -7/2, originally proposed by E, Khanin, Mazel and Sinai (1997 Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 1904) for the pdf of velocity gradients in one-dimensional forced Burgers turbulence. We also briefly consider models permitting particle crossings and thus multi-stream solutions, such as the Zel'dovich approximation and the (Jeans)--Vlasov--Poisson equation with single-stream initial data: they have singularities of codimension one...

Within the Dyson-Schwinger equation formulation of QCD, a rainbow ladder truncation is used to calculate the pion valence-quark distribution function(PDF). The gap equation is renormalized at a typical hadronic scale, of order 0.5GeV, which is also set as the default initial scale for the pion PDF. We implement a corrected leading-order expression for the PDF which ensures that the valence-quarks carry all of the pion's light-front momentum at the initial scale. The scaling behavior of the pion PDF at a typical partonic scale of order 5.2GeV is found to be $(1-x)^{\nu}$, with $\nu\simeq 1.6$, as $x$ approaches one.; Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures

We study the effects of radiative transfer on the Probability Distribution Functions (PDFs) of simulations of magnetohydrodynamic turbulence in the widely studied $^{13}$CO 2-1 transition. We find that the integrated intensity maps generally follow a log-normal distribution, with the cases that have $\tau \approx 1$ best matching the PDF of the column density. We fit a 2D variance-sonic Mach number relationship to our logarithmic PDFs of the form $\sigma_{ln(\Sigma/\Sigma_0)}^2=A\times ln(1+b^2{\cal M}_s^2)$ and find that, for parameter $b=1/3$, parameter $A$ depends on the radiative transfer environment. We also explore the variance, skewness, and kurtosis of the linear PDFs finding that higher moments reflect both higher sonic Mach number and lower optical depth. Finally, we apply the Tsallis incremental PDF function and find that the fit parameters depend on both Mach numbers, but also are sensitive to the radiative transfer parameter space, with the $\tau \approx 1$ case best fitting the incremental PDF of the true column density. We conclude that, for PDFs of low optical depth cases, part of the gas is always sub-thermally excited so that the spread of the line intensities exceeds the spread of the underlying column densities and hence the PDFs do not reflect the true column density. Similarly...

A coarse grained Wigner distribution p_{W}(x,u) obeying positivity derives out of information-theoretic considerations. Let p(x,u) be the unknown joint PDF (probability density function) on position- and momentum fluctuations x,u for a pure state particle. Suppose that the phase part Psi(x,z) of its Fourier transform F.T.[p(x,u)]=|Z(x,z)|exp[iPsi(x,z)] is constructed as a hologram. (Such a hologram is often used in heterodyne interferometry.) Consider a particle randomly illuminating this phase hologram. Let its two position coordinates be measured. Require that the measurements contain an extreme amount of Fisher information about true position, through variation of the phase function Psi(x,z). The extremum solution gives an output PDF p(x,u) that is the convolution of the Wigner p_{W}(x,u) with an instrument function defining uncertainty in either position x or momentum u. The convolution arises naturally out of the approach, and is one-dimensional, in comparison with the two-dimensional convolutions usually proposed for coarse graining purposes. The output obeys positivity, as required of a PDF, if the one-dimensional instrument function is sufficiently wide. The result holds for a large class of systems: those whose amplitudes a(x) are the same at their boundaries (Examples: states a(x) with positive parity; with periodic boundary conditions; free particle trapped in a box).; Comment: pdf version has 16 pages. No figures. Accepted for publ. in PRA

We briefly summarise the "MSTW 2008" determination of parton distribution functions (PDFs), and subsequent follow-up studies, before reviewing some topical issues concerning the PDF dependence of cross sections at the Tevatron and LHC. We update a recently published study of benchmark Standard Model total cross sections (W, Z, gg->H and t-tbar production) at the 7 TeV LHC, where we account for all publicly available PDF sets and we compare to LHC data for W, Z, and t-tbar production. We show the sensitivity of the Higgs cross sections to the gluon distribution, then we demonstrate the ability of the Tevatron jet data, and also the LHC t-tbar data, to discriminate between PDF sets with different high-x gluon distributions. We discuss the related problem of attempts to extract the strong coupling alpha_S from only deep-inelastic scattering data, and we conclude that a direct data constraint on the high-x gluon distribution is required to obtain a meaningful result. We therefore discourage the use of PDF sets obtained from "non-global" fits where the high-x gluon distribution is not directly constrained by data.; Comment: 20 pages, 16 figures. To appear in the proceedings of the Ringberg Workshop on "New Trends in HERA Physics 2011"...

The parton distribution functions (PDFs) are a non-negotiable input to almost all theory predictions at hadron colliders. In this talk, I introduce PDF determination by global analysis and discuss selected topics concerning recent relevant data from HERA and the Tevatron, before giving some prospects for the LHC. The combination of H1 and ZEUS cross sections reduces uncertainties and will be an important input to future global PDF analyses. The theoretical description of the heavy-quark contribution to structure functions at HERA has a significant influence on predictions at the LHC. New W and Z data from the Tevatron Run II provide important PDF constraints, but there are currently problems describing the latest data on the lepton charge asymmetry from W -> l nu decays. The Tevatron Run II jet production data prefer a smaller high-x gluon than the previous Run I data, which impacts on predictions for Higgs cross sections at the Tevatron. It is now possible to consistently calculate a combined "PDF+alpha_S" uncertainty on hadronic cross sections, which is around 2-3% for the W and Z total cross sections at the LHC, reflecting their potential as a "standard candle" to measure machine luminosity. Parton luminosity functions are useful quantities for studying properties of hadronic cross sections. Precision measurements at the LHC will provide further constraints on PDFs as data accumulates in the early running period.; Comment: 6 pages. Invited talk at the XXth Hadron Collider Physics Symposium (HCP 2009)...

The recent development of a statistical model for incompressible Navier-Stokes (NS) fluids based on inverse kinetic theory (IKT, 2004-2008) poses the problem of searching for particular realizations of the theory which may be relevant for \textit{the statistical description of turbulence} and in particular for the so-called \textit{homogeneous, isotropic}and \textit{stationary} turbulence (HIST). Here the problem is set in terms of the $1-$point velocity probability density function (PDF) which determines a complete IKT-statistical model for NS fluids. This raises the interesting question of identifying the statistical assumptions under which a Gaussian PDF can be achieved in such a context. In this paper it is proven that for the IKT statistical model, HIST requires necessarily that $f_{1}$ must be SIED (namely \textit{stationary}, \textit{isotropic} and \textit{% everywhere-defined}). This implies, in turn, that the functional form of the PDF is uniquely prescribed at all times. In particular, it is found that necessarily the PDF must coincide with an isotropic Gaussian distribution. The conclusion is relevant for the investigation of the so-called homogenous, isotropic and stationary turbulence.

We investigate the single-point velocity probability density function (PDF) in three-dimensional fully developed homogeneous isotropic turbulence within the framework of PDF equations focussing on deviations from Gaussianity. A joint analytical and numerical analysis shows that these deviations may be quantified studying correlations of dynamical quantities like pressure gradient, external forcing and energy dissipation with the velocity. A stationary solution for the PDF equation in terms of these quantities is presented, and the theory is validated with the help of direct numerical simulations indicating sub-Gaussian tails of the PDF.; Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, corrected typo in eq. (4)

We propose the Kolmogorov stochasticity parameter, $\lambda$ for energy level spectra to classify quantum systems with corresponding classical dynamics ranging from integrable to chaotic. We also study the probability distribution function (PDF) of $\lambda$. Remarkably, the PDF of all the integrable systems studied here is the same and is found to be completely different from the PDF of chaotic systems. We also note that $\lambda_n$ for $n$ energy levels scales as $\lambda_n \sim n^{-\alpha}$. Furthermore, with $\alpha$, the stochastic probability (calculated from PDF) is seen to jump by about an order of magnitude as the systems turn chaotic.

We consider a wide class of spiking neuron models, defined by rather general set of conditions typical for basic models like leaky integrate and fire, or binding neuron model. A neuron is fed with a point renewal process. A relation between the three probability density functions (pdf): (i) pdf of input interspike intervals, (ii) pdf of output interspike intervals of a neuron with instantaneous feedback and (iii) pdf for that same neuron without feedback is derived. This allows to calculate any of the three pdfs provided the another two are given. Similar relation between corresponding means and variances is derived. The relations are checked exactly for the binding neuron model.; Comment: 5 pages letter. In this version, section about moments and variances is added, text style and language improved

The statistics of velocities in the cellular automaton model of Nagel and Schreckenberg for traffic are studied. From numerical simulations, we obtain the probability distribution function (PDF) for vehicle velocities and the velocity-velocity (vv) correlation function. We identify the probability to find a standing vehicle as a potential order parameter that signals nicely the transition between free congested flow for sufficiently large number of velocity states. Our results for the vv correlation function resemble features of a second order phase transition. We develop a 3-body approximation that allows us to relate the PDFs for velocities and headways. Using this relation, an approximation to the velocity PDF is obtained from the headway PDF observed in simulations. We find a remarkable agreement between this approximation and the velocity PDF obtained from simulations.; Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures

We analyse column density and temperature maps derived from Herschel dust continuum observations of a sample of massive infrared dark clouds (G11.11-0.12, G18.82-0.28, G28.37+0.07, G28.53-0.25). We disentangle the velocity structure of the clouds using 13CO 1-0 and 12CO 3-2 data, showing that these IRDCs are the densest regions in massive giant molecular clouds and not isolated features. The probability distribution function (PDF) of column densities for all clouds have a power-law distribution over all (high) column densities, regardless of the evolutionary stage of the cloud: G11.11-0.12, G18.82-0.28, and G28.37+0.07 contain (proto)-stars, while G28.53-0.25 shows no signs of star formation. This is in contrast to the purely log-normal PDFs reported for near/mid-IR extinction maps. We only find a log-normal distribution for lower column densities, if we perform PDFs of the column density maps of the whole GMC in which the IRDCs are embedded. By comparing the PDF slope and the radial column density profile, we attribute the power law to the effect of large-scale gravitational collapse and to local free-fall collapse of pre- and protostellar cores. Independent from the PDF analysis, we find infall signatures in the spectral profiles of 12CO for G28.37+0.07 and G11.11-0.12...