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(comment deleted)
This was a suprisingly approachable and enjoyable read for a layman.

Thanks for posting!

its silly that someone who solo-publishes a paper still needs to refer to themselves as "we"

cool paper

I think it's fun when I'm writing documents.
Me, myself, and I.
I usually interpret the “we” in scientific papers as “you (the reader) and me (the author)”.
The Royal “we”.
It is silly. The guy may just want to avoid standing out or drawing attention to themselves. "I" is more appropriate for any solo paper. If the author really can't bring themselves to write "I", then they should just avoid the first-person entirely.

(Or maybe this is a field-specific thing. This guy is in a math dept, and I can only speak from the perspective of the social sciences)

Try replace each instance of “we” with “I” and you will notice it will sound weird and narcissistic. At least that’s how I (we) feel
Would you rather they add a cat to justify the plural? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F._D._C._Willard

(obviously this is indeed an improvement over a solo paper)

It's always better to avoid first person in the paper altogether.
Mentour Pilot recently released a video with another sensing method for estimating the last movements of MH370: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5K9HBiJpuk
I found this video to be the most well researched, cited, and coherent explanation of what must have happened. Amazing the scrutiny which can be applied by the global community on such singular events.
I'm always surprised that nobody has asked the US Navy if they heard anything. It's somewhat well known that US nuclear subs hang out in the Indian Ocean, and they have big ears.
My best guess is that its in their best intrist not to. We know the navy has super precise microphones underwater to detect weapons feasting both conventional and nuclear, as well as using the sensors to monitor for ship activity....like sub's or unmanned water drones.

I'd assume that if they release any info on if they heard something via a sub or some sensor.....its basically burning an intelligence asset, as it can reveal information about the actual sensor and possibly it's general area. Best option would be to just stay silent and deny if asked, and refuse any FOIA request on the grounds that releasing sensor data even if its not the raw data could lessen the effectiveness of our Intel/sensor network.

Could they perhaps secretly tell the exact location to the Australian Navy (which is a close ally), which will then say they found it during the normal search operations?
My personal opinion is several countries militaries know where it’s at, but fear they could reveal highly sensitive capabilities.