There has been an increasing use of master protocols in oncology clinical trials because of its efficiency and flexibility to accelerate cancer drug development. Depending on the study objective and design, a master protocol trial can be a basket trial, an umbrella trial, a platform trial, or any other form of trials in which multiple investigational products and/or subpopulations are studied under a single protocol. Master protocols can use external data and evidence (e.g., external controls) for treatment effect estimation, which can further improve efficiency of master protocol trials. This paper provides an overview of different types of external controls and their unique features when used in master protocols. Some key considerations in master protocols with external controls are discussed including construction of estimands, assessment of fit-for-use real-world data, and considerations for different types of master protocols. Similarities and differences between regular randomized controlled trials and master protocols when using external controls are discussed. A targeted learning-based causal roadmap is presented which constitutes three key steps: (1) define a target statis
We systematically study the master space of brane brick models that represent a large class of 2d (0,2) quiver gauge theories. These 2d (0,2) theories are worldvolume theories of D1-branes that probe singular toric Calabi-Yau 4-folds. The master space is the freely generated space of chiral fields subject to the J- and E-terms and the non-abelian part of the gauge symmetry. We investigate several properties of the master space for abelian brane brick models with U(1) gauge groups. For example, we calculate the Hilbert series, which allows us by using the plethystic programme to identify the generators and defining relations of the master space. By studying several explicit examples, we also show that the Hilbert series of the master space can be expressed in terms of characters of irreducible representations of the full global symmetry of the master space.
Master equations are of fundamental importance in modeling stochastic dynamical systems.However, solving master equations is challenging due to the exponential increase in the number of possible states or trajectories with the dimension of the state space. In this study, we propose repurposing language models as a machine learning approach to solve master equations. We design a prompt-based neural network to map rate parameters, initial conditions, and time values directly to the state joint probability distribution that exactly matches the input contexts. In this way, we approximate the solution of the master equation in its most general form. We train the network using the policy gradient algorithm within the reinforcement learning framework, with feedback rewards provided by a set of variational autoregressive models. By applying this approach to representative examples, we observe high accuracy for both multi-module and high-dimensional systems. The trained network also exhibits extrapolating ability, extending its predictability to unseen data. Our findings establish the connection between language models and master equations, highlighting the possibility of using a single pre
The work is devoted to superoperator master equations. Namely, the superoperator master equations in the case of the twirling hyperprojector with respect to the whole unitary group are derived. To be consistent with such a hyperprojector the free dynamics is assumed to be depolarizing. And it is perturbed by the arbitrary Gorini--Kossakowski--Sudarshan--Lindblad generator. The explicit form of the second order master equations are presented in this case.
Master equations are commonly employed in cosmology to model the effect of additional degrees of freedom, treated as an "environment", onto a given "system". However, they rely on assumptions that are not necessarily satisfied in cosmology, where the environment may be out of equilibrium and the background is dynamical. In this work, we apply the master-equation program to a model that is exactly solvable, and which consists of two linearly coupled scalar fields evolving on a cosmological background. The light field plays the role of the system and the heavy field is the environment. By comparing the exact solution to the output of the master equation, we can critically assess its performance. We find that the master equation exhibits a set of "spurious" terms that explicitly depend on the initial conditions, and which arise as a consequence of working on a dynamical background. Although they cancel out in the perturbative limit of the theory (i.e. at leading orders in the interaction strength), they spoil resummation. However, when those terms are removed, the master equation performs impressively well to reproduce the power spectra and the amount of the decoherence of the light f
The basic concepts of non-commutative probability theory are reviewed and applied to the large $N$ limit of matrix models. We argue that this is the appropriate framework for constructing the master field in terms of which large $N$ theories can be written. We explicitly construct the master field in a number of cases including QCD$_2$. There we both give an explicit construction of the master gauge field and construct master loop operators as well. Most important we extend these techniques to deal with the general matrix model, in which the matrices do not have independent distributions and are coupled. We can thus construct the master field for any matrix model, in a well defined Hilbert space, generated by a collection of creation and annihilation operators---one for each matrix variable---satisfying the Cuntz algebra. We also discuss the equations of motion obeyed by the master field.
Face authentication is now widely used, especially on mobile devices, rather than authentication using a personal identification number or an unlock pattern, due to its convenience. It has thus become a tempting target for attackers using a presentation attack. Traditional presentation attacks use facial images or videos of the victim. Previous work has proven the existence of master faces, i.e., faces that match multiple enrolled templates in face recognition systems, and their existence extends the ability of presentation attacks. In this paper, we perform an extensive study on latent variable evolution (LVE), a method commonly used to generate master faces. We run an LVE algorithm for various scenarios and with more than one database and/or face recognition system to study the properties of the master faces and to understand in which conditions strong master faces could be generated. Moreover, through analysis, we hypothesize that master faces come from some dense areas in the embedding spaces of the face recognition systems. Last but not least, simulated presentation attacks using generated master faces generally preserve the false-matching ability of their original digital for
We consider the master functions associated with one irreducible integrable highest weight representation of a Kac-Moody algebra. We study the generation procedure of new critical points from a given critical point of one of these master functions. We show that all critical points of all these master functions can be generated from the critical point of the master function with no variables. In particular this means that the set of all critical points of all these master functions form a single population of critical points. We formulate a conjecture that the number of populations of critical points of master functions associated with a tensor product of irreducible integrable highest weight representations of a Kac-Moody algebra are labeled by homomorphisms to $\C$ of the Bethe algebra of the Gaudin model associated with this tensor product.
In the framework of perturbative quantum field theory (QFT) we propose a new, universal (re)normalization condition (called 'master Ward identity') which expresses the symmetries of the underlying classical theory. It implies for example the field equations, energy-momentum, charge- and ghost-number conservation, renormalized equal-time commutation relations and BRST-symmetry. It seems that the master Ward identity can nearly always be satisfied, the only exceptions we know are the usual anomalies. We prove the compatibility of the master Ward identity with the other (re)normalization conditions of causal perturbation theory, and for pure massive theories we show that the 'central solution' of Epstein and Glaser fulfills the master Ward identity, if the UV-scaling behavior of its individual terms is not relatively lowered. Application of the master Ward identity to the BRST-current of non-Abelian gauge theories generates an identity (called 'master BRST-identity') which contains the information which is needed for a local construction of the algebra of observables, i.e. the elimination of the unphysical fields and the construction of physical states in the presence of an adiabatica
We continue our analysis of the field strength correlation functions of two-dimensional QCD on Riemann surfaces by studying the large $N$ limit of these correlation functions on the sphere for gauge group $U(N)$. Our results allow us to exhibit an explicit master field for the field strength $F_{μν}$ in a ``topological gauge'', given by a single master matrix in the Lie algebra of the maximal torus of the gauge group. Field correlators are obtained from traces of products of the master field. We also obtain a master field for the gauge potential $A_μ$ on the sphere, consistent with the master field for the field strength.
We investigate the thermodynamic consistency of the master equation description of heat transport through an optomechanical system attached to two heat baths, one optical and one mechanical. We employ three different master equations to describe this scenario: (i) The standard master equation used in optomechanics, where each bath acts only on the resonator that it is physically connected to; (ii) the so-called dressed-state master equation, where the mechanical bath acts on the global system; and (iii) what we call the global master equation, where both baths are treated non-locally and affect both the optical and mechanical subsystems. Our main contribution is to demonstrate that, under certain conditions including when the optomechanical coupling strength is weak, the second law of thermodynamics is violated by the first two of these pictures. In order to have a thermodynamically consistent description of an optomechanical system, therefore, one has to employ a global description of the effect of the baths on the system.
The master equation plays an important role in many scientific fields including physics, chemistry, systems biology, physical finance, and sociodynamics. We consider the master equation with periodic transition rates. This may represent an external periodic excitation like the 24h solar day in biological systems or periodic traffic lights in a model of vehicular traffic. Using tools from systems and control theory, we prove that under mild technical conditions every solution of the master equation converges to a periodic solution with the same period as the rates. In other words, the master equation entrains (or phase locks) to periodic excitations. We describe two applications of our theoretical results to important models from statistical mechanics and epidemiology.
Perturbation theory of vacuum spherically-symmetric spacetimes is a crucial tool to understand the dynamics of black hole perturbations. Spherical symmetry allows for an expansion of the perturbations in scalar, vector, and tensor harmonics. The resulting perturbative equations are decoupled for modes with different parity and different harmonic numbers. Moreover, for each harmonic and parity, the equations for the perturbations can be decoupled in terms of (gauge-invariant) master functions that satisfy 1+1 wave equations. By working in a completely general perturbative gauge, in this paper we study what is the most general master function that is linear in the metric perturbations and their first-order derivatives and satisfies a wave equation with a potential. The outcome of the study is that for each parity we have two branches of solutions with similar features. One of the branches includes the known results: In the odd-parity case, the most general master function is an arbitrary linear combination of the Regge-Wheeler and the Cunningham-Price-Moncrief master functions whereas in the even-parity case it is an arbitrary linear combination of the Zerilli master function and ano
We consider a pair of dipoles for which direct electrostatic dipole-dipole interactions may be significantly larger than the coupling to transverse radiation. We derive a master equation using the Coulomb gauge, which naturally enables us to include the inter-dipole Coulomb energy within the system Hamiltonian rather than the interaction. In contrast, the standard master equation for a two- dipole system, which depends entirely on well-known gauge-invariant S-matrix elements, is usually derived using the multipolar gauge, wherein there is no explicit inter-dipole Coulomb interaction. We show using a generalised arbitrary-gauge light-matter Hamiltonian that this master equation is obtained in other gauges only if the inter-dipole Coulomb interaction is kept within the interaction Hamiltonian rather than the unperturbed part as in our derivation. Thus, our master equation, while still gauge-invariant, depends on different S-matrix elements, which give separation-dependent corrections to the standard matrix elements describing resonant energy transfer and collective decay. The two master equations coincide in the large separation limit where static couplings are negligible. We provide
The old "glue--and--cut" symmetry of massless propagators, first established in [1], leads --- after reduction to master integrals is performed --- to a host of non-trivial relations between the latter. The relations constrain the master integrals so tightly that they all can be analytically expressed in terms of only few, essentially trivial, watermelon-like integrals. As a consequence we arrive at explicit analytical results for all master integrals appearing in the process of reduction of massless propagators at three and four loops. The transcendental structure of the results suggests a clean explanation of the well-known mystery of the absence of even zetas (zeta_{2n}) in the Adler function and other similar functions essentially reducible to the massless propagators. Once a reduction of massless propagators at five loops is available, our approach should be also applicable for explicit performing the corresponding five-loop master integrals.
Presentation of the probability as an intrinsic property of the nature leads researchers to switch from deterministic to stochastic description of the phenomena. The procedure of stochastization of one-step process was formulated. It allows to write down the master equation based on the type of of the kinetic equations and assumptions about the nature of the process. The kinetics of the interaction has recently attracted attention because it often occurs in the physical, chemical, technical, biological, environmental, economic, and sociological systems. However, there are no general methods for the direct study of this equation. Leaving in the expansion terms up to the second order we can get the Fokker-Planck equation, and thus the Langevin equation. It should be clearly understood that these equations are approximate recording of the master equation. However, this does not eliminate the need for the study of the master equation. Moreover, the power series produced during the master equation decomposition may be divergent (for example, in spatial models). This makes it impossible to apply the classical perturbation theory. It is proposed to use quantum field perturbation theory fo
We propose a "master" higher-spin (HS) particle system. The particle model relevant to the unfolded formulation of HS theory, as well as the HS particle model with a bosonic counterpart of supersymmetry, follow from the master model as its two different gauges. Quantization of the master system gives rise to a new form of the massless HS equations in an extended space involving, besides extra spinorial coordinates, also a complex scalar one. As solutions to these equations we recover the massless HS multiplet with fields of all integer and half-integer helicities, and obtain new multiplets with a non-zero minimal helicity. The HS multiplets are described by complex wave functions which are holomorphic in the scalar coordinate and carry an extra U(1) charge q. The latter fully characterizes the given multiplet by fixing the minimal helicity as q/2. We construct a twistorial formulation of the master system and present the general solution of the associate HS equations through an unconstrained twistor "prepotential".
We discuss hybrid master equations of composite systems which are hybrids of classical and quantum subsystems. A fairly general form of hybrid master equations is suggested, its consistency is derived from the consistency of Lindblad quantum master equations. We emphasize that quantum measurement is a natural example of exact hybrid systems. We derive a heuristic hybrid master equation of time-continuous position measurement
Convolutionless and convolution master equations are the two mostly used physical descriptions of open quantum systems dynamics. We subject these equations to time deformations: local dilations and contractions of time scale. We prove that the convolutionless equation remains legitimate under any time deformation (results in a completely positive dynamical map) if and only if the original dynamics is completely positive divisible. Similarly, for a specific class of convolution master equations we show that uniform time dilations preserve positivity of the deformed map if the original map is positive divisible. These results allow witnessing different types of non-Markovian behavior: the absence of complete positivity for a deformed convolutionless master equation clearly indicates that the original dynamics is at least weakly non-Markovian; the absence of positivity for a class of time-dilated convolution master equations is a witness of essentially non-Markovian original dynamics.
Despite current security implementations, Internet activity on DoD networks is susceptible to web trackers and commercial data collection, which have the potential to expose information about service members and unit operations. This report documents the outcomes of a study to characterize web tracking occurring on Army CONUS unclassified networks. We derived a dataset from the Cloud-Based Internet Isolation (CBII) platform, encompassing data measured over a two-month period in 2024. This dataset comprised the 1,000 most frequently accessed Internet resources, determined by the number of connection requests on CONUS DoDIN-A during the study period. We then compared all domains and subdomains in the dataset against Ghostery's WhoTracks.me, an open-source database of commercial tracking entities. We found that over 21% of the domains accessed during the study period were Internet trackers. The ACI recommends that the Army implement changes to its enterprise networks to limit commercial Internet-based tracking, as well as policy changes towards the same end. With relatively minor configuration changes, CBII can serve as a more effective mitigation against risks posed by commercially a