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Failure-mode index

Search what already failed

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.

21733 results · page 469 of 725

Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPhysics

Search for planets in hot Jupiter systems with multi-sector TESS photometry. II. Constraints on planetary companions in 12 systems

G. Maciejewski · 2022 · arXiv

Uninterrupted observations from space-borne telescopes provide the photometric precision that is required to detect shallow transits of small planets missed by ground-based surveys. We used data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) to search for nearby planetary companions in 12 planetary systems with hot Jupiters: HD 2685, Qatar-10, WASP-4, WASP-48, WASP-58, WASP-91, WASP-120, WASP-121, WASP-122, WASP-140, XO-6, and XO-7. We also applied the transit timing method based on homogeneously determined mid-transit times in order to search for non-transiting companions that could gr

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 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

Negative / Null Result Report

African languages- Failed plans and future possibilities

Ibrahima Diallo · 2024 · Journal for Translation Studies in Africa

The article contians a summary review of literature on the language question in Sub-Saharan Africa in order to understand what strategies were proposed for the promotion of African languages and what resulsts were achieved after half a…

View details →DOI: 10.38140/jtsa.v6i.8337
Negative / Null Result Report

Applications in Paleohistology: Osteohistology of Protostega gigas

Laura Wilson, null null, null null et al. · 2016 · John Heinrichs Scholarly & Creative Activities Day

Protostega gigas was a large sea turtle that lived in the Late Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway of North America. Protostega fossils are found in the Smoky Hill Member of the Niobrara Formation in Kansas. Despite their abundance, little…

View details →DOI: 10.58809/nztu8717
Negative / Null Result Report

Does Weapon Type Affect a BattleBot’s Performance?

Westin Mash, null null, null null et al. · 2023 · John Heinrichs Scholarly & Creative Activities Day

The objective of this research project is to investigate data from the 2021 BattleBots season, play-in, and championship matches to see if any variables have a statistically significant contribution to how many wins a bot achieves. A…

View details →DOI: 10.58809/freg1477
Negative / Null Result Report

FHSU Students' Economic Perceptions & Expectations

David Schulte, null null, null null et al. · 2023 · John Heinrichs Scholarly & Creative Activities Day

This project studies the economic perceptions and expectations (P&E) held by FHSU students, since these helps determine a student’s choice of major, student-loan balance, and post-graduation plans. The study is a continuation of a…

View details →DOI: 10.58809/ypio8354
Negative / Null Result Report

Does M1 Money Supply Affect US Exports?

Coy Lampe, null null, null null et al. · 2023 · John Heinrichs Scholarly & Creative Activities Day

M1 money is defined by the Federal Reserve as money in circulation as well as money in demand deposit accounts such as a checking account. The Fed, as it is commonly referred to as, uses this figure to target interest rates in the economy.…

View details →DOI: 10.58809/tgdc8343
Negative / Null Result Report

Prenatal Breastfeeding Preparation to Help Increase Breastfeeding Rates

Melissa Barron, null null, null null et al. · 2023 · John Heinrichs Scholarly & Creative Activities Day

Today breastfeeding (BF) is often widely promoted in healthcare settings; however, truly little preparation is provided to women. Studies have also shown many health benefits to women and children, leading to a positive economic effect…

View details →DOI: 10.58809/hrro6336
Negative / Null Result Report

Can Yeast Survive in the Mars-like Environment?

Mia Jang, null null, null null et al. · 2020 · John Heinrichs Scholarly & Creative Activities Day

Since yeasts have the most similar way of doing its cellular respiration to humans, we were interested in investigating if yeasts could survive in the Mars-like environment. Preparing for the future life, we thought that if yeast could…

View details →DOI: 10.58809/dqjj2407
Negative / Null Result Report

Retinal Spot Size Formation for Different Wavelengths of Light

Daniel Huantes, null null, null null et al. · 2023 · John Heinrichs Scholarly & Creative Activities Day

Chromatic aberration in the eye causes differences in the retinal spot size for different wavelengths of light. This work explores the limiting effect of retinal spot size for wavelengths around 590nm, and implements python code to attempt…

View details →DOI: 10.58809/neqf4878