[zitterbewegung]

The authors website says they are studying for a PhD. Could it be their PhD thesis? http://www.cs.umd.edu/~amitc/publications.html

[munin]

That program has a requirement for writing a "scholarly paper" described here: http://www.cs.umd.edu/grad/policy-manual#7.2.MS-nonthesis-re...

This was most likely done to satisfy that requirement to earn a MS "along the way" to a PhD.

[greenyoda]

11 pages is way too short for a PhD thesis. And on the bottom of the first page, it says:

"Submitted for the fulfillment of requirement of a Scholarly Paper for Master of Science without thesis option."