New, “big data” sources allow measurement of city characteristics and outcomevariables at higher collection frequencies and more granular geographic scales thanever before. However, big data will not solve large urban social science questionson its own. Big urban data has the most value for the study of cities when it allowsmeasurement of the previously opaque, or when it can be coupled with exogenous shocksto people or place. We describe a number of new urban data sources and illustrate howthey can be used to improve the study and function of cities. We rst show how GoogleStreet View images can be used to predict income in New York City, suggesting thatsimilar imagery data can be used to map wealth and poverty in previously unmeasuredareas of the developing world. We then discuss how survey techniques can be improved tobetter measure willingness to pay for urban amenities. Finally, we explain how Internetdata is being used to improve the quality of city services.

Bosonic topological insulators (BTI) in three dimensions are symmetry-protected topological phases (SPT) protected by time-reversal and boson number conservation symmetries. BTI in three dimensions were first proposed and classified by the group cohomology theory which suggests two distinct root states, each carrying a Z2 index. Soon after, surface anomalous topological orders were proposed to identify different root states of BTI, which even leads to a new BTI root state beyond the group cohomology classification. In this paper, we propose a universal physical mechanism via vortex-line condensation from a 3d superfluid to achieve all three root states. It naturally produces bulk topological quantum field theory (TQFT) description for each root state. Topologically ordered states on the surface are rigorously derived by placing TQFT on an open manifold, which allows us to explicitly demonstrate the bulk-boundary correspondence. Finally, we generalize the mechanism to ZN symmetries and discuss potential SPT phases beyond the group cohomology classification.

We show that the semi-classical analysis of generic Euclidean path integrals necessarily requires complexification of the action and measure, and consideration of complex saddle solutions. We demonstrate that complex saddle points have a natural interpretation in terms of the Picard-Lefschetz theory. Motivated in part by the semi-classical expansion of QCD with adjoint matter on R3 ⇥ S1, we study quantum-mechanical systems with bosonic and fermionic (Grassmann) degrees of freedom with harmonic degenerate minima, as well as (related) purely bosonic systems with harmonic non-degenerate minima. We find exact finite action non-BPS bounce and bion solutions to the holomorphic Newton equations. We find not only real solutions, but also complex solution with non-trivial monodromy, and finally complex multi-valued and singular solutions. Complex bions are necessary for obtaining the correct non-perturbative structure of these models. In the supersymmetric limit the complex solutions govern the ground state properties, and their contribution to the semiclassical expansion is necessary to obtain consistency with the supersymmetry algebra. The multi-valuedness of the action is either related to the hidden topological angle or to the resurgent cancellation of ambiguities. We also show that in the approximate multi-instanton description the integration over the complex quasi-zero mode thimble produces the most salient features of the exact solutions. While exact complex saddles are more difficult to construct in quantum field theory, the relation to the approximate thimble construction suggests that such solutions may be underlying some remarkable features of approximate bion saddles in quantum field theories.

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We provide a unified approach for constructing Wick words in mixed q-Gaussian algebras, which are generated by sj = aj +a ∗ j , j = 1, · · · , N, where aia ∗ j −qija ∗ j ai = δij . Here we also allow equality in −1 ≤ qij = qji ≤ 1. This approach relies on Speicher’s central limit theorem and the ultraproduct of von Neumann algebras. We also use the unified argument to show that the Ornstein–Uhlenbeck semigroup is hypercontractive, the Riesz transform associated to the number operator is bounded, and the number operator satisfies the Lp Poincar´e inequalities with constants C √p. Finally we prove that the mixed q-Gaussian algebra is weakly amenable and strongly solid in the sense of Ozawa and Popa. Our approach is mainly combinatorial and probabilistic. The results in this paper can be regarded as generalizations of previous results due to Speicher, Biane, Lust-Piquard, Avsec, et al.