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Greedy emulators for nuclear two-body scattering

Applications of reduced basis method emulators are increasing in low-energy nuclear physics because they enable fast and accurate sampling of high-fidelity calculations, enabling robust uncertainty quantification. Here, in this paper, we develop, implement, and test two model-driven emulators based on the (Petrov-)Galerkin projection using the prototypical test case of two-body scattering with the Minnesota potential and a more realistic local chiral potential. The high-fidelity scattering equations are solved with the matrix Numerov method, a reformulation of the popular Numerov recurrence relation for solving special second-order differential equations as a linear system of coupled equations. A novel error estimator based on reduced-space residuals is applied to an active learning approach (a greedy algorithm) to choosing training samples (“snapshots”) for the emulator and contrasted with a proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) approach. Both approaches allow for computationally efficient offline-online decompositions, but the greedy approach requires many fewer snapshot calculations. These developments set the groundwork for emulating scattering observables based on chiral nucleon-nucleon and three-nucleon interactions and optical models, where computational speed-ups are necessary for Bayesian uncertainty quantification. Our emulators and error estimators are widely applicable to linear systems.

Bayesian methods↗

Efficient tree decomposition of high-rank tensors [Efficient decomposition of high-rank tensors]

Tensors are a natural way to express correlations among many physical variables, but storing tensors in a computer naively requires memory which scales exponentially in the rank of the tensor. This is not optimal, as the required memory is actually set not by the rank but by the mutual information amongst the variables in question. Representations such as the tensor tree perform near-optimally when the tree decomposition is chosen to reflect the correlation structure in question, but making such a choice is non-trivial and good heuristics remain highly context-specific. In this work I present two new algorithms for choosing efficient tree decompositions, independent of the physical context of the tensor. The first is a brute-force algorithm which in most cases produces optimal decompositions but is generally impractical for high-rank tensors, as the number of possible choices grows exponentially in rank. Here, the second is a greedy algorithm, and while it is not optimal it performs extremely well in numerical experiments while having runtime which makes it practical even for tensors of very high rank.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Proceedings of the Second NASA Formal Methods Symposium

This publication contains the proceedings of the Second NASA Formal Methods Symposium sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and held in Washington D.C. April 13-15, 2010. Topics covered include: Decision Engines for Software Analysis using Satisfiability Modulo Theories Solvers; Verification and Validation of Flight-Critical Systems; Formal Methods at Intel -- An Overview; Automatic Review of Abstract State Machines by Meta Property Verification; Hardware-independent Proofs of Numerical Programs; Slice-based Formal Specification Measures -- Mapping Coupling and Cohesion Measures to Formal Z; How Formal Methods Impels Discovery: A Short History of an Air Traffic Management Project; A Machine-Checked Proof of A State-Space Construction Algorithm; Automated Assume-Guarantee Reasoning for Omega-Regular Systems and Specifications; Modeling Regular Replacement for String Constraint Solving; Using Integer Clocks to Verify the Timing-Sync Sensor Network Protocol; Can Regulatory Bodies Expect Efficient Help from Formal Methods?; Synthesis of Greedy Algorithms Using Dominance Relations; A New Method for Incremental Testing of Finite State Machines; Verification of Faulty Message Passing Systems with Continuous State Space in PVS; Phase Two Feasibility Study for Software Safety Requirements Analysis Using Model Checking; A Prototype Embedding of Bluespec System Verilog in the PVS Theorem Prover; SimCheck: An Expressive Type System for Simulink; Coverage Metrics for Requirements-Based Testing: Evaluation of Effectiveness; Software Model Checking of ARINC-653 Flight Code with MCP; Evaluation of a Guideline by Formal Modelling of Cruise Control System in Event-B; Formal Verification of Large Software Systems; Symbolic Computation of Strongly Connected Components Using Saturation; Towards the Formal Verification of a Distributed Real-Time Automotive System; Slicing AADL Specifications for Model Checking; Model Checking with Edge-valued Decision Diagrams; and Data-flow based Model Analysis.

Munoz, Cesar↗

Dose–volume histogram evaluation scheme for beam orientations in intensity-modulated radiation therapy

Beam orientations in intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) is an important, but difficult NP-hard optimization problem. A considerable part of this difficulty is due to the essential prerequisite of defining, appropriately, counter-intuitive criteria for a mathematical plan evaluation that coincides with the clinical judgment of the considered plan. Moreover, the quality of beam directions depends heavily on their intensities. Usually a stochastic selector is utilized for optimizing beam orientations, and the intensities are thus calculated many thousands of times, each time for a different selection of beam directions, resulting in excessive time complexity. Therefore, selecting an appropriate set of beam directions in IMRT is still a time-consuming manual trial-and-error search procedure that depends on intuition and empirical knowledge. To overcome these difficulties, this work utilizes the concept of dose–volume histogram (DVH), which is one of the main recognized quantitative measurement tools used for plan judgment, and presents a DVH evaluation scheme that parallelizes plan evaluation with clinical plan judgment. This scheme is then utilized to optimize the intensities of each individual beam, enabling it to be represented by its DVHs, produced for the different irradiated volumes. Finally, an evolutionary algorithm is employed to search for the best combination of those DVHs reflecting the clinical optimal. The presented methods have been applied to three real clinical examples. In comparison to the standard equally spaced beam plans, improvements were reported in all three cases. In comparison with the greedy algorithm, improvements were reported in those examples requiring more than five beam directions.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗

Application of an efficient generator-coordinate subspace-selection algorithm to neutrinoless double- β decay

The generator coordinate method begins with the variational construction of a set of nonorthogonal mean-field states that span a subspace of the full many-body Hilbert space. These states are then often projected onto states with good quantum numbers to restore symmetries, leading to a set with members that can be similar to one another, and it is sometimes possible to reduce this set without greatly affecting results. Here, we propose a greedy algorithm that we call the energy-transition-orthogonality procedure (ENTROP) to select subsets of important states. As applied here, the approach selects on the basis of diagonal energy, orthogonality, and contribution to the matrix element that governs neutrinoless double-β decay. We present both shell-model and preliminary ab initio calculations of this matrix element for the decay of 76Ge, with quadrupole deformation parameters and the isoscalar pairing strength as generator coordinates. ENTROP converges quickly, reducing significantly the number of basis states needed for an accurate calculation.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Contextual Multi-armed Bandits under Feature Uncertainty

We study contextual multi-armed bandit problems under linear realizability on rewards and uncertainty (or noise) on features. For the case of identical noise on features across actions, we propose an algorithm, coined NLinRel, having O(T⁷/₈(log(dT)+K√d)) regret bound for T rounds, K actions, and d-dimensional feature vectors. Next, for the case of non-identical noise, we observe that popular linear hypotheses including NLinRel are impossible to achieve such sub-linear regret. Instead, under assumption of Gaussian feature vectors, we prove that a greedy algorithm has O(T²/₃√log d)regret bound with respect to the optimal linear hypothesis. Utilizing our theoretical understanding on the Gaussian case, we also design a practical variant of NLinRel, coined Universal-NLinRel, for arbitrary feature distributions. It first runs NLinRel for finding the ‘true’ coefficient vector using feature uncertainties and then adjust it to minimize its regret using the statistical feature information. We justify the performance of Universal-NLinRel on both synthetic and real-world datasets.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Delaunay walk for fast nearest neighbor: accelerating correspondence matching for ICP

Point set registration algorithms such as Iterative Closest Point (ICP) are commonly utilized in time-constrained environments like robotics. Finding the nearest neighbor of a point in a reference 3D point set is a common operation in ICP and frequently consumes at least 90% of the computation time. We introduce a novel approach to performing the distance-based nearest neighbor step based on Delaunay triangulation. This greedy algorithm finds the nearest neighbor of a query point by traversing the edges of the Delaunay triangulation created from a reference 3D point set. Our work integrates the Delaunay traversal into the correspondences search of ICP and exploits the iterative aspect of ICP by caching previous correspondences to expedite each iteration. An algorithmic analysis and comparison is conducted showing an order of magnitude speedup for both serial and vector processor implementation.

3d point cloud processing↗

Polynomial meta-models with canonical low-rank approximations: Numerical insights and comparison to sparse polynomial chaos expansions

The growing need for uncertainty analysis of complex computational models has led to an expanding use of meta-models across engineering and sciences. The efficiency of meta-modeling techniques relies on their ability to provide statistically-equivalent analytical representations based on relatively few evaluations of the original model. Polynomial chaos expansions (PCE) have proven a powerful tool for developing meta-models in a wide range of applications; the key idea thereof is to expand the model response onto a basis made of multivariate polynomials obtained as tensor products of appropriate univariate polynomials. The classical PCE approach nevertheless faces the “curse of dimensionality”, namely the exponential increase of the basis size with increasing input dimension. To address this limitation, the sparse PCE technique has been proposed, in which the expansion is carried out on only a few relevant basis terms that are automatically selected by a suitable algorithm. An alternative for developing meta-models with polynomial functions in high-dimensional problems is offered by the newly emerged low-rank approximations (LRA) approach. By exploiting the tensor–product structure of the multivariate basis, LRA can provide polynomial representations in highly compressed formats. Through extensive numerical investigations, we herein first shed light on issues relating to the construction of canonical LRA with a particular greedy algorithm involving a sequential updating of the polynomial coefficients along separate dimensions. Specifically, we examine the selection of optimal rank, stopping criteria in the updating of the polynomial coefficients and error estimation. In the sequel, we confront canonical LRA to sparse PCE in structural-mechanics and heat-conduction applications based on finite-element solutions. Canonical LRA exhibit smaller errors than sparse PCE in cases when the number of available model evaluations is small with respect to the input dimension, a situation that is often encountered in real-life problems. By introducing the conditional generalization error, we further demonstrate that canonical LRA tend to outperform sparse PCE in the prediction of extreme model responses, which is critical in reliability analysis.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

An algorithm for optimal management of aggregated HVAC power demand using smart thermostats

Here, this paper presents an algorithm for optimal management of aggregated power demand of a group of heating, ventilating and air-conditioning (HVAC) units. The algorithm provides an advanced direct load control mechanism for HVACs that leverages the availability of smart thermostats, which are remotely programmable and controllable. The paper provides a theoretical basis and an optimal solution to the problem of cycling a large number of HVAC units while respecting customer-chosen temperature limits for the purpose of maximum load reduction. The problem is presented in a new light by transforming it into a job scheduling problem and is solved using a combination of a novel greedy algorithm and a binary search algorithm. By leveraging widespread availability of smart internet-based (also referred to as IoT-based) thermostats in today’s environment, the proposed approach can be readily applied to residential buildings without additional electrical/IT infrastructure changes.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Similarity Downselection: Finding the n Most Dissimilar Molecular Conformers for Reference-Free Metabolomics

Computational methods for creating in silico libraries of molecular descriptors (e.g., collision cross sections) are becoming increasingly prevalent due to the limited number of authentic reference materials available for traditional library building. These so-called “reference-free metabolomics” methods require sampling sets of molecular conformers in order to produce high accuracy property predictions. Due to the computational cost of the subsequent calculations for each conformer, there is a need to sample the most relevant subset and avoid repeating calculations on conformers that are nearly identical. The goal of this study is to introduce a heuristic method of finding the most dissimilar conformers from a larger population in order to help speed up reference-free calculation methods and maintain a high property prediction accuracy. Finding the set of the n items most dissimilar from each other out of a larger population becomes increasingly difficult and computationally expensive as either n or the population size grows large. Because there exists a pairwise relationship between each item and all other items in the population, finding the set of the n most dissimilar items is different than simply sorting an array of numbers. For instance, if you have a set of the most dissimilar n = 4 items, one or more of the items from n = 4 might not be in the set n = 5. An exact solution would have to search all possible combinations of size n in the population exhaustively. We present an open-source software called similarity downselection (SDS), written in Python and freely available on GitHub. SDS implements a heuristic algorithm for quickly finding the approximate set(s) of the n most dissimilar items. We benchmark SDS against a Monte Carlo method, which attempts to find the exact solution through repeated random sampling. We show that for SDS to find the set of n most dissimilar conformers, our method is not only orders of magnitude faster, but it is also more accurate than running Monte Carlo for 1,000,000 iterations, each searching for set sizes n = 3–7 out of a population of 50,000. We also benchmark SDS against the exact solution for example small populations, showing that SDS produces a solution close to the exact solution in these instances. Using theoretical approaches, we also demonstrate the constraints of the greedy algorithm and its efficacy as a ratio to the exact solution.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Unsupervised Learning for Improved Gamma-Ray Spectrometry in Pixelated Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CZT) Detectors

Machine learning has been found to be ubiquitously useful across many industries, presenting an opportunity to improve radiation detection performance using data-driven algorithms. Improved detector resolution can aid in the detection, identification, and quantification of radionuclides. Here, in this work, a novel, data-driven, unsupervised learning approach is developed to improve detector spectral characteristics by learning, and subsequently rejecting, poorly performing regions of the pixelated detector. Feature engineering is used to fit individual characteristic photo peaks to a Doniach lineshape with a linear background model. Then, principal component analysis is used to learn a lower-dimension latent space representation of each photo peak where the pixels are clustered, and subsequently ranked, based on the cluster mean distance to an optimal point. Pixels within the worst cluster(s) are rejected to improve the full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) by 10% to 15% (relative to the bulk detector) at 50% net efficiency when applied to training data obtained from measurements of a 100 μCi 154 Eu source using a H3D M400i pixelated cadmium zinc telluride detector. These results compare well with, but do not outperform, a greedy algorithm that accumulates pixels in order of FWHM from lowest to highest used as a benchmark. In the future, this approach can be extended to include the detector energy and angular response. Finally, the model is applied to newly seen natural and enriched uranium spectra relevant for nuclear safeguards applications.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

An Improved Discrete Least-Squares/Reduced-Basis Method for Parameterized Elliptic PDEs

It is shown that the computational efficiency of the discrete least-squares (DLS) approximation of solutions of stochastic elliptic PDEs is improved by incorporating a reduced-basis method into the DLS framework. In particular, we consider stochastic elliptic PDEs with an affine dependence on the random variable. The goal is to recover the entire solution map from the parameter space to the finite element space. To this end, first, a reduced-basis solution using a weak greedy algorithm is constructed, then a DLS approximation is determined by evaluating the reduced-basis approximation instead of the full finite element approximation. The main advantage of the new approach is that one only need apply the DLS operator to the coefficients of the reduced-basis expansion, resulting in huge savings in both the storage of the DLS coefficients and the online cost of evaluating the DLS approximation. In addition, the recently developed quasi-optimal polynomial space is also adopted in the new approach, resulting in superior convergence rates for a wider class of problems than previous analyzed. Numerical experiments are provided that illustrate the theoretical results.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Reduced-order modeling of parameterized multi-group diffusion k-eigenvalue problems

In this paper, a group-wise Reduced-Order Model, based on a Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) technique, is presented for parameterized multi-group diffusion k-eigenvalue problems. The group-wise approach is shown to be more robust than model-order reduction based on monolithic multi-group POD modes. In addition, fewer POD modes are required. The method of snapshots is employed to generate the offline training set. Two Naïve and a Greedy snapshot-generation strategies are compared. The input parameter space is surveyed using Latin Hypercube Sampling techniques. The effectiveness of the group-wise model-order reduction method is demonstrated on two reactor-physics benchmarks, a two-group 3D Pressurized Water Reactor problem with 26 uncertain input parameters and a seven-group UO 2 -MOX fuel 3D mini-core with 287 uncertain input parameters. In both examples the Reduced-Order Models built using the snapshots generated by the Greedy algorithm proved to be slightly better. Model-order reduction yields results that are within 1 pcm of the full-order model, with speed-up factors of about 1000–3000, depending upon the test case.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Application of machine learning for optical emission spectroscopy data in NAGDIS-II

In this study, we applied machine learning to optical emission spectroscopy (OES) data and device parameters from the linear plasma device NAGDIS-II to explore the potential application of machine learning for predicting electron density, $n$ e , and temperature, $T$ e . The covered ranges of $n$ e and $T$ e , which were measured by an electrostatic probe, are 3.6 × 10 17 –2.4 × 10 19 m -3 and 0.3–7.1 eV, respectively. A three hidden layer neural network (NN) is introduced to model the relationship between $n$ e /$T$ e and the combination of line intensities, radial position, and device parameters. It is shown that the errors in $n$ e and $T$ e become 18.0 and 18.8%, respectively, which were almost the same level for the electrostatic probe, using all available data. Lasso regression and greedy algorithm are used to select the necessary line emissions. In conclusion, it is shown that four- or five-line intensities are sufficient to obtain almost the same quality as the one with all the other lines.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Model's sparse representation based on reduced mixed GMsFE basis methods

In this paper, we propose a model's sparse representation based on reduced mixed generalized multiscale finite element (GMsFE) basis methods for elliptic PDEs with random inputs. A typical application for the elliptic PDEs is the flow in heterogeneous random porous media. Mixed generalized multiscale finite element method (GMsFEM) is one of the accurate and efficient approaches to solve the flow problem in a coarse grid and obtain the velocity with local mass conservation. When the inputs of the PDEs are parameterized by the random variables, the GMsFE basis functions usually depend on the random parameters. This leads to a large number degree of freedoms for the mixed GMsFEM and substantially impacts on the computation efficiency. In order to overcome the difficulty, we develop reduced mixed GMsFE basis methods such that the multiscale basis functions are independent of the random parameters and span a low-dimensional space. To this end, a greedy algorithm is used to find a set of optimal samples from a training set scattered in the parameter space. Reduced mixed GMsFE basis functions are constructed based on the optimal samples using two optimal sampling strategies: basis-oriented cross-validation and proper orthogonal decomposition. Although the dimension of the space spanned by the reduced mixed GMsFE basis functions is much smaller than the dimension of the original full order model, the online computation still depends on the number of coarse degree of freedoms. To significantly improve the online computation, we integrate the reduced mixed GMsFE basis methods with sparse tensor approximation and obtain a sparse representation for the model's outputs. The sparse representation is very efficient for evaluating the model's outputs for many instances of parameters. To illustrate the efficacy of the proposed methods, we present a few numerical examples for elliptic PDEs with multiscale and random inputs. In particular, a two-phase flow model in random porous media is simulated by the proposed sparse representation method.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Molecular dynamics on quantum annealers

Abstract In this work we demonstrate a practical prospect of using quantum annealers for simulation of molecular dynamics. A methodology developed for this goal, dubbed Quantum Differential Equations (QDE), is applied to propagate classical trajectories for the vibration of the hydrogen molecule in several regimes: nearly harmonic, highly anharmonic, and dissociative motion. The results obtained using the D-Wave 2000Q quantum annealer are all consistent and quickly converge to the analytical reference solution. Several alternative strategies for such calculations are explored and it was found that the most accurate results and the best efficiency are obtained by combining the quantum annealer with classical post-processing (greedy algorithm). Importantly, the QDE framework developed here is entirely general and can be applied to solve any system of first-order ordinary nonlinear differential equations using a quantum annealer.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗

Deep reinforcement learning of cell movement in the early stage of C.elegans embryogenesis

Motivation: Cell movement in the early phase of Caenorhabditis elegans development is regulated by a highly complex process in which a set of rules and connections are formulated at distinct scales. Previous efforts have demonstrated that agent-based, multi-scale modeling systems can integrate physical and biological rules and provide new avenues to study developmental systems. However, the application of these systems to model cell movement is still challenging and requires a comprehensive understanding of regulatory networks at the right scales. Recent developments in deep learning and reinforcement learning provide an unprecedented opportunity to explore cell movement using 3D time-lapse microscopy images. Results: We present a deep reinforcement learning approach within an agent-based modeling system to characterize cell movement in the embryonic development of C.elegans. Our modeling system captures the complexity of cell movement patterns in the embryo and overcomes the local optimization problem encountered by traditional rule-based, agent-based modeling that uses greedy algorithms. Here, we tested our model with two real developmental processes: the anterior movement of the Cpaaa cell via intercalation and the rearrangement of the superficial left-right asymmetry. In the first case, the model results suggested that Cpaaa’s intercalation is an active directional cell movement caused by the continuous effects from a longer distance (farther than the length of two adjacent cells), as opposed to a passive movement caused by neighbor cell movements. In the second case, a leader-follower mechanism well explained the collective cell movement pattern in the asymmetry rearrangement. These results showed that our approach to introduce deep reinforcement learning into agent-based modeling can test regulatory mechanisms by exploring cell migration paths in a reverse engineering perspective. Lastly, this model opens new doors to explore the large datasets generated by live imaging. Availability and implementation: Source code is available at https://github.com/zwang84/drl4cellmovement.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Active learning emulators for nuclear two-body scattering in momentum space

In this work we extend the active learning emulators for two-body scattering in coordinate space with error estimation, recently developed by Maldonado et al. [Phys. Rev. C 112, 024002], to coupled-channel scattering in momentum space. Our full-order model (FOM) solver is based on the Lippmann-Schwinger integral equation for the scattering t-matrix as opposed to the radial Schrödinger equation. We use (Petrov-)Galerkin projections and high-fidelity calculations at a few snapshots across the parameter space of the interaction to construct efficient reduced-order models (ROMs), trained by a greedy algorithm for locally optimal snapshot selection. Both the FOM solver and the corresponding ROMs are implemented efficiently in Python using Google's JAX library. We present results for emulating scattering phase shifts in coupled and uncoupled channels and cross sections, and assess the accuracy of the developed ROMs and their computational speedup factors. We also develop emulator error estimation for both the t-matrix and the total cross section. The software framework for reproducing and extending our results is publicly available. Together with our recent advances in developing active-learning emulators for three-body scattering, these emulator frameworks set the stage for full Bayesian calibrations of chiral nuclear interactions and optical models against scattering data with quantified emulator errors.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗