No abstract uploaded!

We study homogenization of G-equation with a ow straining term (or the strain G-equation) in two dimensional periodic cellular ow. The strain G-equation is a highly non-coercive and non-convex level set Hamilton-Jacobi equation. The main objective is to investigate how the ow induced straining (the nonconvex term) in uences front propagation as the ow intensity A increases. Three distinct regimes are identified. When A is below the critical level, homogenization holds and the turbulent ame speed sT (effective Hamiltonian) is well-defined for any periodic ow with small divergence and is enhanced by the cellular ow as $s_T \ge O(A/logA)$. In the second regime where A is slightly above the critical value, homogenization breaks down, and $s_T$ is not well defined along any direction. Solutions become a mixture of fast moving part and a stagnant part. When $A$ is sufficiently large, the whole ame front ceases to propagate forward due to the flow induced straining. In particular, along directions $p = (1; 0)$ and $(0;1)$, $s_T$ is well-defined again with a value of zero (trapping). A partial homogenization result is also proved. If we consider a similar but relatively simpler Hamiltonian, the trapping occurs along all directions. The analysis is based on the two-player dierential game representation of solutions, selection of game strategies and trapping regions, and construction of connecting trajectories.

This article introduces the large portfolio selection using gross-exposure constraints. It shows that with gross-exposure constraints, the empirically selected optimal portfolios based on estimated covariance matrices have similar performance to the theoretical optimal ones and there is no error accumulation effect from estimation of vast covariance matrices. This gives theoretical justification to the empirical results by Jagannathan and Ma. It also shows that the no-short-sale portfolio can be improved by allowing some short positions. The applications to portfolio selection, tracking, and improvements are also addressed. The utility of our new approach is illustrated by simulation and empirical studies on the 100 FamaFrench industrial portfolios and the 600 stocks randomly selected from Russell 3000.

This dissertation splits into two distinct halves. The first half is devoted to the study of the holography of higher spin gauge theory in AdS_3. We present a conjecture that the holographic dual of W_N minimal model in a 't Hooft-like large N limit is an unusual ``semi-local" higher spin gauge theory on AdS_3×S^1. At each point on the S^1 lives a copy of three-dimensional Vasiliev theory, that contains an infinite tower of higher spin gauge fields coupled to a single massive complex scalar propagating in AdS_3. The Vasiliev theories at different points on the S^1 are correlated only through the AdS_3 boundary conditions on the massive scalars. All but one single tower of higher spin symmetries are broken by the boundary conditions. This conjecture is checked by comparing tree-level two- and three-point functions, and also one-loop partition functions on both side of the duality. The second half focuses on the holography of higher spin gauge theory in AdS_4. We demonstrate that a supersymmetric and parity violating version of Vasiliev's higher spin gauge theory in AdS_4 admits boundary conditions that preserve N=0,1,2,3,4 or 6 supersymmetries. In particular, we argue that the Vasiliev theory with U(M) Chan-Paton and N=6 boundary condition is holographically dual to the 2+1 dimensional U(N)_k×U(M)_{−k} ABJ theory in the limit of large N,k and finite M. In this system all bulk higher spin fields transform in the adjoint of the U(M) gauge group, whose bulk t'Hooft coupling is M/N. Our picture suggests that the supersymmetric Vasiliev theory can be obtained as a limit of type IIA string theory in AdS_4×CP^3, and that the non-Abelian Vasiliev theory at strong bulk 't Hooft coupling smoothly turn into a string field theory. The fundamental string is a singlet bound state of Vasiliev's higher spin particles held together by U(M) gauge interactions.

No abstract uploaded!