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Failure-mode index

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A searchable index of real negative results, null findings, and replication failures from the published literature — so you can learn what didn't work before repeating it.

WASTE indexes published research — it does not host or republish full papers. Each entry is a metadata record (title, authors, DOI) compiled from open scholarly databases, with the abstract shown in full only where the paper is openly licensed (e.g. Creative Commons); otherwise a short excerpt is shown for reference under fair use. WASTE classifies each work by failure type; classifications are automated and approximate.

21257 results · page 203 of 709

Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessComputer Science

Hartree-Fock all-heavy $c$, $b$ multiquarks and constraints on new top-sector physics

Alejandro Alonso-Valero, Daniel Berzal-Rozalén, Felipe J. Llanes-Estrada et al. · 2024 · arXiv

We deploy the Hartree-Fock approximation for all-heavy quark hadrons, including quarkonium, baryons, tetraquarks, pentaquarks, dibaryons and up to the 12-body dibaryon-antidibaryon which completely fill the $1s$ orbital, in a unified manner, with the spinless LO Coulomb interaction and beyond. After treating the $c$ and $b$ quarks in various combinations, we delve a bit longer on $t$-quark bound states. We extend the negative result of Kuchiev, Flambaum and Shuryak on the 12-body topball to now include the NLO QCD potential. We find that none of the examined multitop states should have binding

Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessComputer Science

Benefits and Pitfalls of the Exponential Mechanism with Applications to Hilbert Spaces and Functional PCA

Jordan Awan, Ana Kenney, Matthew Reimherr et al. · 2019 · arXiv

The exponential mechanism is a fundamental tool of Differential Privacy (DP) due to its strong privacy guarantees and flexibility. We study its extension to settings with summaries based on infinite dimensional outputs such as with functional data analysis, shape analysis, and nonparametric statistics. We show that one can design the mechanism with respect to a specific base measure over the output space, such as a Guassian process. We provide a positive result that establishes a Central Limit Theorem for the exponential mechanism quite broadly. We also provide an apparent negative result, sho

Failed Experiment ReportOpen accessMathematics

A Non-Existence Result for Hamiltonian Integrators

P. F. Tupper · 2006 · arXiv

We consider the numerical simulation of Hamiltonian systems of ordinary differential equations. Two features of Hamiltonian systems are that energy is conserved along trajectories and phase space volume is preserved by the flow. We want to determine if there are integration schemes that preserve these two properties for all Hamiltonian systems, or at least for all systems in a wide class. This paper provides provides a negative result in the case of two dimensional (one degree of freedom) Hamiltonian systems, for which phase space volume is identical to area. Our main theorem shows that there

Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessComputer Science

Convoluted generalized white noise, Schwinger functions and their continuation to Wightman functions

S. Albeverio, H. Gottschalk, J. -L. Wu · 2004 · arXiv

We construct Euclidean random fields $X$ over $\R^d$, by convoluting generalized white noise $F$ with some integral kernels $G$, as $X=G* F$. We study properties of Schwinger (or moment) functions of $X$. In particular, we give a general equivalent formulation of the cluster property in terms of truncated Schwinger functions which we then apply to the above fields. We present a partial negative result on the reflection positivity of convoluted generalized white noise. Furthermore, by representing the kernels $G_\a$ of the pseudo--differential operators $(-\D + m^2_0)^{-α}$ for $α\in (0,1)$ and

Failed Experiment ReportOpen accessComputer Science

On the physical limit of quantum computing

Yuri Ozhigov · 2019 · arXiv

Experimental attempts to implement quantum speedup of computations over the past 30 years have yielded a negative result, despite the absence of physical laws prohibiting such speedup. The article formulates the limitation of quantum formalism in the form of uncertainty "the complexity of the system - the accuracy of its description at the quantum level", and provides arguments in favor of its physical status. An experiment to determine this constant through Grover's algorithm is described. Rough estimates on the constant of this ratio are given, based on the possibility of applying the quantu

Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessEconomics, Econometrics and Finance

The Informativeness of Combined Experimental and Observational Data under Dynamic Selection

Yechan Park, Yuya Sasaki · 2024 · arXiv

This paper addresses the challenge of estimating the Average Treatment Effect on the Treated Survivors (ATETS; Vikstrom et al., 2018) in the absence of long-term experimental data, utilizing available long-term observational data instead. We establish two theoretical results. First, it is impossible to obtain informative bounds for the ATETS with no model restriction and no auxiliary data. Second, to overturn this negative result, we explore as a promising avenue the recent econometric developments in combining experimental and observational data (e.g., Athey et al., 2020, 2019); we indeed fin

Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessComputer Science

Boolean Matching Reversible Circuits: Algorithm and Complexity

Tian-Fu Chen, Jie-Hong R. Jiang · 2024 · arXiv

Boolean matching is an important problem in logic synthesis and verification. Despite being well-studied for conventional Boolean circuits, its treatment for reversible logic circuits remains largely, if not completely, missing. This work provides the first such study. Given two (black-box) reversible logic circuits that are promised to be matchable, we check their equivalences under various input/output negation and permutation conditions subject to the availability/unavailability of their inverse circuits. Notably, among other results, we show that the equivalence up to input negation and pe

Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessComputer Science

The Maximum k-Differential Coloring Problem

Michael Bekos, Stephen Kobourov, Michael Kaufmann et al. · 2014 · arXiv

Given an $n$-vertex graph $G$ and two positive integers $d,k \in \mathbb{N}$, the ($d,kn$)-differential coloring problem asks for a coloring of the vertices of $G$ (if one exists) with distinct numbers from 1 to $kn$ (treated as \emph{colors}), such that the minimum difference between the two colors of any adjacent vertices is at least $d$. While it was known that the problem of determining whether a general graph is ($2,n$)-differential colorable is NP-complete, our main contribution is a complete characterization of bipartite, planar and outerplanar graphs that admit ($2,kn$)-differential co

Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMathematics

How to Compare Copula Forecasts?

Tobias Fissler, Yannick Hoga · 2024 · arXiv

This paper lays out a principled approach to compare copula forecasts via strictly consistent scores. We first establish the negative result that, in general, copulas fail to be elicitable, implying that copula predictions cannot sensibly be compared on their own. A notable exception is on Fréchet classes, that is, when the marginal distribution structure is given and fixed, in which case we give suitable scores for the copula forecast comparison. As a remedy for the general non-elicitability of copulas, we establish novel multi-objective scores for copula forecast along with marginal forecast

Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessComputer Science

On the Impossibility of Convergence of Mixed Strategies with No Regret Learning

Vidya Muthukumar, Soham Phade, Anant Sahai · 2020 · arXiv

We study the limiting behavior of the mixed strategies that result from optimal no-regret learning strategies in a repeated game setting where the stage game is any 2 by 2 competitive game. We consider optimal no-regret algorithms that are mean-based and monotonic in their argument. We show that for any such algorithm, the limiting mixed strategies of the players cannot converge almost surely to any Nash equilibrium. This negative result is also shown to hold under a broad relaxation of these assumptions, including popular variants of Online-Mirror-Descent with optimism and/or adaptive step-si

Negative / Null Result Report

Beliefs and opinions about “illegal” and “undocumented” immigrants: Conceptual replication of a null result

Kirill Zhirkov, Robert H. Brehm · 2025 · Research & Politics

Activists and politicians often express a belief that the language used to describe immigrant populations, such as “illegal” vs. “undocumented,” can impact policy opinions. Existing experimental studies, however, have found relatively…

View details →DOI: 10.1177/20531680251355233
Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessComputer Science

On the eternal non-Markovianity of non-unital quantum channels

Shrikant Utagi, Subhashish Banerjee, R. Srikanth · 2022 · arXiv

The eternally non-Markovian Pauli channel is an example of a unital channel characterized by a negative decay rate for all time $t>0$. Here we consider the problem of constructing an analogous non-unital channel, and show in particular that a $d$-dimensional generalized amplitude damping (GAD) channel cannot be eternally non-Markovian when the non-Markovianity originates solely from the non-unital part of the channel. We study specific ramifications of this result for qubit GAD. Specifically, we construct a quasi-eternally non-Markovian qubit GAD channel, characterized by a time $t^\ast > 0$,

Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessComputer Science

Rethinking Intrinsic Dimension Estimation in Neural Representations

Rickmer Schulte, David Rügamer · 2026 · arXiv

The analysis of neural representation has become an integral part of research aiming to better understand the inner workings of neural networks. While there are many different approaches to investigate neural representations, an important line of research has focused on doing so through the lens of intrinsic dimensions (IDs). Although this perspective has provided valuable insights and stimulated substantial follow-up research, important limitations of this approach have remained largely unaddressed. In this paper, we highlight a crucial discrepancy between theory and practice of IDs in neural

Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessComputer Science

Israel-Wilson-Perjes Metrics in a Theory with a Dilaton Field

Metin Gurses, Tahsin Cagri Sisman, Bayram Tekin · 2023 · arXiv

We are interested in the charged dust solutions of the Einstein field equations in stationary and axially symmetric spacetimes; and inquire if the naked singularities of the Israel-Wilson-Perjes (IWP) metrics can be removed. The answer is negative in four dimensions. We examine whether this negative result can be avoided by adding scalar or dilaton fields. We show that IWP metrics also arise as solutions of the Einstein-Maxwell system with a stealth dilaton field. We determine the IWP metrics completely in terms of one complex function satisfying the Laplace equation. With the inclusion of the

Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessComputer Science

Maximal Fairness

MaryBeth Defrance, Tijl De Bie · 2023 · arXiv

Fairness in AI has garnered quite some attention in research, and increasingly also in society. The so-called "Impossibility Theorem" has been one of the more striking research results with both theoretical and practical consequences, as it states that satisfying a certain combination of fairness measures is impossible. To date, this negative result has not yet been complemented with a positive one: a characterization of which combinations of fairness notions are possible. This work aims to fill this gap by identifying maximal sets of commonly used fairness measures that can be simultaneously

Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessComputer Science

Monte Carlo Sampling for Analyzing In-Context Examples

Stephanie Schoch, Yangfeng Ji · 2025 · arXiv

Prior works have shown that in-context learning is brittle to presentation factors such as the order, number, and choice of selected examples. However, ablation-based guidance on selecting the number of examples may ignore the interplay between different presentation factors. In this work we develop a Monte Carlo sampling-based method to study the impact of number of examples while explicitly accounting for effects from order and selected examples. We find that previous guidance on how many in-context examples to select does not always generalize across different sets of selected examples and

Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessComputer Science

Separating Non-Interactive Classical Verification of Quantum Computation from Falsifiable Assumptions

Mohammed Barhoush, Tomoyuki Morimae, Ryo Nishimaki et al. · 2026 · arXiv

Mahadev [SIAM J. Comput. 2022] introduced the first protocol for classical verification of quantum computation based on the Learning-with-Errors (LWE) assumption, achieving a 4-message interactive scheme. This breakthrough naturally raised the question of whether fewer messages are possible in the plain model. Despite its importance, this question has remained unresolved. In this work, we prove that there is no quantum black-box reduction of non-interactive classical verification of quantum computation of $\textsf{QMA}$ to any falsifiable assumption. Here, "non-interactive" means that after an

Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessComputer Science

Multi-Modal Forecaster: Jointly Predicting Time Series and Textual Data

Kai Kim, Howard Tsai, Rajat Sen et al. · 2024 · arXiv

Current forecasting approaches are largely unimodal and ignore the rich textual data that often accompany the time series due to lack of well-curated multimodal benchmark dataset. In this work, we develop TimeText Corpus (TTC), a carefully curated, time-aligned text and time dataset for multimodal forecasting. Our dataset is composed of sequences of numbers and text aligned to timestamps, and includes data from two different domains: climate science and healthcare. Our data is a significant contribution to the rare selection of available multimodal datasets. We also propose the Hybrid Multi-Mo

Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMathematics

Deformations of canonical double covers

Francisco Javier Gallego, Miguel Gonzalez, Bangere P. Purnaprajna · 2015 · arXiv

In this paper, we show that if $X$ is a smooth variety of general type of dimension $m \geq 2$, for which its canonical map induces a double cover onto $Y$, where $Y$ is a projective bundle over $\mathbf P^1$, or onto a projective space or onto a quadric hypersurface, embedded by a complete linear series, then the general deformation of the canonical morphism of $X$ again is canonical and again induces a double cover. The second part of the article deals with the existence or non existence of canonical double structures on rational varieties. The negative result in this article has consequence

Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMathematics

Resultat negatif en theorie d'approximation de compacts fonctionnels par des varietes analytiques et application a un probleme inverse

Amadeo Irigoyen · 2006 · arXiv

In the theory of approximation there are some problems on approximation of compacts in functional spaces by nonlinear families : first we deal with the polynomial case, and then we consider the analytic case. We demonstrate a negative result in which we claim that an analytic familie of functions with $N$ parameters can not approach the compact $Λ_l(I^s)$ closer than of order $(N\log N)^{\frac{l}{s}}$, when $N$ increases. As applied to an inverse problem in Sturm-Liouville theory, this assertion provides an answer to a question about the best possible reconstruction of the negative potential $

Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessComputer Science

On Coresets for Logistic Regression

Alexander Munteanu, Chris Schwiegelshohn, Christian Sohler et al. · 2018 · arXiv

Coresets are one of the central methods to facilitate the analysis of large data sets. We continue a recent line of research applying the theory of coresets to logistic regression. First, we show a negative result, namely, that no strongly sublinear sized coresets exist for logistic regression. To deal with intractable worst-case instances we introduce a complexity measure $μ(X)$, which quantifies the hardness of compressing a data set for logistic regression. $μ(X)$ has an intuitive statistical interpretation that may be of independent interest. For data sets with bounded $μ(X)$-complexity, w

Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessComputer Science

Verification of Component-based Systems with Recursive Architectures

Marius Bozga, Radu Iosif, Joseph Sifakis · 2021 · arXiv

We study a sound verification method for parametric component-based systems. The method uses a resource logic, a new formal specification language for distributed systems consisting of a finite yet unbounded number of components. The logic allows the description of architecture configurations coordinating instances of a finite number of types of components, by means of inductive definitions similar to the ones used to describe algebraic data types or recursive data structures. For parametric systems specified in this logic, we show that decision problems such as reaching deadlock or violating

Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMathematics

Algorithmic identification of probabilities is hard

Laurent Bienvenu, Santiago Figueira, Benoit Monin et al. · 2014 · arXiv

Suppose that we are given an infinite binary sequence which is random for a Bernoulli measure of parameter $p$. By the law of large numbers, the frequency of zeros in the sequence tends to~$p$, and thus we can get better and better approximations of $p$ as we read the sequence. We study in this paper a similar question, but from the viewpoint of inductive inference. We suppose now that $p$ is a computable real, but one asks for more: as we are reading more and more bits of our random sequence, we have to eventually guess the exact parameter $p$ (in the form of a Turing code). Can one do such a

Failed Experiment ReportOpen accessMathematics

Small-time local control of a Schrödinger equation: a negative and a positive quadratic result

Karine Beauchard, Frédéric Marbach, Thomas Perrin · 2025 · arXiv

We study the small-time local controllability (STLC) of a bilinear Schrödinger equation with Neumann boundary conditions near its ground state. We focus on the degenerate case where the linearized system is not controllable, necessitating a second-order analysis. We prove two complementary results. The negative result provides a new PDE instance of Sussmann's classical quadratic obstruction, corresponding to a non-vanishing Lie bracket. The positive result appears to be the first to establish STLC at the quadratic order for a physical PDE with a single scalar control. Both proofs rely on a Fou

Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessComputer Science

On Compression of Cryptographic Keys

Aldar C-F. Chan · 2007 · arXiv

Any secured system can be modeled as a capability-based access control system in which each user is given a set of secret keys of the resources he is granted access to. In some large systems with resource-constrained devices, such as sensor networks and RFID systems, the design is sensitive to memory or key storage cost. With a goal to minimize the maximum users' key storage, key compression based on key linking, that is, deriving one key from another without compromising security, is studied. A lower bound on key storage needed for a general access structure with key derivation is derived. Th

Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMathematics

Solutions to multi-marginal optimal transport problems concentrated on several graphs

Abbas Moameni, Brendan Pass · 2015 · arXiv

We study solutions to the multi-marginal Monge-Kantorovich problem which are concentrated on several graphs over the first marginal. We first present two general conditions on the cost function which ensure, respectively, that any solution must concentrate on either finitely many or countably many graphs. We show that local differential conditions on the cost, known to imply local $d$-rectifiability of the solution, are sufficient to imply a local version of the first of our conditions. We exhibit two examples of cost functions satisfying our conditions, including the Coulomb cost from density

Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMathematics

Covariant Functors and Asymptotic Stability

Tony Se · 2015 · arXiv

Let R be a commutative Noetherian ring, I and J ideals of R and M a finitely generated R-module. Let F be a covariant R-linear functor from the category of finitely generated R-modules to itself. We first show that if F is coherent, then the sets of associated primes of F(M/I^n M) and F(I^n-1 M / I^n M) and the J-depths of F(M/I^n M) and F(I^n-1 M / I^n M) become independent of n for large n. Next, we consider several examples in which F is a rather familiar functor, but is not coherent or not even finitely generated in general. In these cases, the set of associated primes of F(M/I^n M) still

Abandoned HypothesisOpen accessMathematics

Stone duality above dimension zero: Axiomatising the algebraic theory of C(X)

Vincenzo Marra, Luca Reggio · 2015 · arXiv

It has been known since the work of Duskin and Pelletier four decades ago that KH^op, the category opposite to compact Hausdorff spaces and continuous maps, is monadic over the category of sets. It follows that KH^op is equivalent to a possibly infinitary variety of algebras V in the sense of Slominski and Linton. Isbell showed in 1982 that the Lawvere-Linton algebraic theory of V can be generated using a finite number of finitary operations, together with a single operation of countably infinite arity. In 1983, Banaschewski and Rosicky independently proved a conjecture of Bankston, establishi

Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessComputer Science

Null-Result Detection and Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) Correlations

Luiz Carlos Ryff · 2010 · arXiv

It follows from Bell's theorem and quantum mechanics that the detection of a particle of an entangled pair can (somehow) "force" the other distant particle of the pair into a well-defined state (which is equivalente to a reduction of the state vector): no property previously shared by the particles can explain the predicted correlations. This result has been corroborated by experiment. However, it has not been experimantally proved-and it is far from obvious-that the absence of detection, as in null-result (NR) experiments could have the very same effect. In this paper a way to try to bridge t