Control with uncertain data of socially structured compartmental epidemic models

The adoption of containment measures to reduce the amplitude of the epidemic peak is a key aspect in tackling the rapid spread of an epidemic. Classical compartmental models must be modified and studied to correctly describe the effects of forced external actions to reduce the impact of the disease. In addition, data are often incomplete and heterogeneous, so a high degree of uncertainty must naturally be incorporated into the models. In this work we address both these aspects, through an optimal control formulation of the epidemiological model in presence of uncertain data. After the introduction of the optimal control problem, we formulate an instantaneous approximation of the control that allows us to derive new feedback controlled compartmental models capable of describing the epidemic peak reduction. The need for long-term interventions shows that alternative actions based on the social structure of the system can be as effective as the more expensive global strategy. The importance of the timing and intensity of interventions is particularly relevant in the case of uncertain parameters on the actual number of infected people. Simulations related to data from the recent COVID-19 outbreak in Italy are presented and discussed.

Studying the Bound State of the BK¯ System in the Bethe-Salpeter Formalism

In this work, we study the BK¯ molecule in the Bethe-Salpeter (BS) equation approach. With the kernel containing one-particle-exchange diagrams and introducing two different form factors (monopole form factor and dipole form factor) in the vertex, we solve the BS equation numerically in the covariant instantaneous approximation. We investigate the isoscalar and isovector BK¯ systems, and we find that X5568 cannot be a BK¯ molecule.

Sinusoidal Frequency Modulation Fourier-Bessel Series for Multicomponent SFM Signal Estimation and Separation

Multicomponent sinusoidal frequency modulated (SFM) signals are widely used in radar, acoustics, and biomedicine. The instantaneous frequency (IF) characterizes important physical parameters of the real applications. In this paper, a sinusoidal frequency modulation Fourier-Bessel (SFMFB) series is defined for IF estimation. It provides the signal decomposition on the Bessel function basis with a finer resolution, which proposes an extension of the performance and the applicability of the classic Fourier-Bessel transform (FBT). Based on the property analysis of the SFMFB series, an algorithm of IF estimation and signal separation is introduced. Unlike the existing estimation methods which apply sliding windows to make an instantaneous approximation, the proposed method uses the global data, which provides a longer period gain, therefore achieving a better estimation performance. Moreover, considering that most estimation methods are invalid in multicomponent separation, the individual signals are well separated by the proposed algorithm, which facilitates the further monocomponent analysis. A performance comparison between the proposed method, the FBT, and another recently proposed sinusoidal frequency modulation Fourier transform (SFMFT) is also provided. Simulation results indicate that the proposed method outperforms the existing methods in estimation precision and computation load, and it is free of interference which exists in SFMFT.

EXACT-PROPAGATOR INSTANTANEOUS BETHE–SALPETER EQUATION FOR QUARK–ANTIQUARK BOUND STATES

Recently an instantaneous approximation to the Bethe–Salpeter formalism for the analysis of bound states in quantum field theory has been proposed which retains, in contrast to the Salpeter equation, as far as possible the exact propagators of the bound-state constituents, extracted nonperturbatively from Dyson–Schwinger equations or lattice gauge theory. The implications of this improvement for the solutions of this bound-state equation, i.e. the spectrum of the mass eigenvalues of its bound states and the corresponding wave functions, when considering the quark propagators arising in quantum chromodynamics are explored.

LEPTONIC DECAYS OF VECTOR MESONS

In this paper, the general structure of leptonic decay constants of vector mesons is evaluated in the framework of the Bethe–Salpeter equation under the Covariant Instantaneous Ansatz (CIA), which is a Lorentz-invariant generalization of Instantaneous Approximation (IA). The numerical values of fV in this CIA framework are on the low side in comparison to recent calculations of these quantities. However, the overall asymptotic behavior of fV is in conformity with QCD predictions.