arXiv Daily Digest - 2026-04-01

The Grothendieck constant $K_{G}$ is a fundamental quantity in functional analysis, with important connections to quantum information, combinatorial optimization, and the geometry of Banach spaces. Despite decades of study, the value of $K_{G}$ is unknown. The best known lower bound on $K_{G}$ was obtained independently by Davie and Reeds in the 1980s. In this paper we show that their bound is not optimal. We prove that $K_{G} \ge K_{DR} + 10^{-12}$, where $K_{DR}$ denotes the Davie-Reeds lower bound. Our argument is based on a perturbative analysis of the Davie-Reeds operator. We show that every near-extremizer for the Davie-Reeds problem has $Ω(1)$ weight on its degree-3 Hermite coefficients, and therefore introducing a small cubic perturbation increases the integrality gap of the operator.

We present a theoretical framework for recovering the amplitude and carrier phase of a single received RF field with a Rydberg-atom receiver, without injecting an RF local oscillator (LO) into the atoms. The key enabling mechanism is a static DC bias applied to the vapor cell: by Stark-mixing a near-degenerate Rydberg pair, the bias activates an otherwise absent upper optical pathway and closes a phase-sensitive loop within a receiver driven only by the standard probe/coupling pair and the received RF field. For a spatially uniform bias, we derive an effective four-level rotating-frame Hamiltonian of Floquet form and show that the periodic steady state obeys an exact harmonic phase law, so that the $n$th probe harmonic carries the factor $e^{inΦ_S}$. This yields direct estimators for the signal phase and amplitude from a demodulated probe harmonic, with amplitude recovery obtained by inverting an injective harmonic response map. In the high-SNR regime, we derive explicit RMSE laws and use them to identify distinct phase-optimal and amplitude-optimal bias-controlled mixing angles, together with a weighted joint-design criterion and a balanced compromise angle that equalizes the fractional phase and amplitude penalties. We then extend the analysis to nonuniform DC bias through quasistatic spatial averaging and show that bias inhomogeneity reduces coherent gain for phase readout while also reshaping the amplitude-response slope. Numerical examples validate the phase law, illustrate response-map inversion and mixing-angle trade-offs, and quantify the penalties induced by bias nonuniformity. The results establish a minimal route to coherent Rydberg reception of a single RF signal without an auxiliary RF LO in the atoms.

Interactive verification protocols for quantum computations allow to build trust between a client and a service provider, ensuring the former that the instructed computation was carried out faithfully. They come in two variants, one without quantum communication that requires large overhead on the server side to coherently implement quantum-resistant cryptographic primitives, and one with quantum communication but with repetition as the only overhead on the service provider's side. Given the limited number of available qubits on current machines, only quantum communication-based protocols have yielded proof of concepts. In this work, we show that the repetition overhead of protocols with quantum communication can be further mitigated if one examines the task of operating a quantum machine from the service provider's point of view. Indeed, we show that the test rounds data, whose collection is necessary to provide security, can indeed be recycled to perform continuous monitoring of noise model parameters for the service provider. This exemplifies the versatility of these protocols, whose template can serve multiple purposes and increases the interest in considering their early integration into development roadmaps of quantum machines.

In General Relativity, constructing exact traversable wormholes coupled to electromagnetic fields typically requires complex Non-Linear Electrodynamics (NED). We demonstrate that Unimodular Gravity (UG) elegantly resolves this limitation. By relaxing energy-momentum conservation, UG introduces a dynamical cosmological term, $Λ(x)$, enabling a semi-classical energy exchange between matter and the vacuum. Exploiting this mechanism, we construct exact Scalar-Maxwell-$Λ(x)$ wormholes. We show that, provided the shape function $b(r)$ satisfies specific geometric conditions, these exact spacetimes can be fully supported by a phantom scalar field and standard linear Maxwell electrodynamics. This approach entirely bypasses NED, highlighting UG as a powerful framework for modeling non-trivial topologies with simplified, well-understood classical fields.

Unlike electromagnetic telescopes, gravitational-wave (GW) detectors cannot produce pretty pictures, but we can convert GW signals into sound. I compute what the Universe actually sounds like by averaging over $\sim10^6$ synthetic compact binary coalescence events occurring throughout 2026. The result: a soothing, low-frequency rumble, perfect for sleeping, meditation, or contemplating the violent nature of spacetime. This is the $Universal\ harmony$, audio file included!

A particular solution to the three-body problem is the circular Lagrange three-body system, where the masses move in circular orbits such that they always constitute an equilateral triangle. Such a system has been found to emit gravitational waves with a waveform similar to that of a binary system. In this work, we study the gravitational waveform degeneracy between quasi-circular binary systems and Lagrange three-body systems up to 0.5PN order. Assuming we know the parameters of a given binary system, we determine the parameters of the Lagrange triple that produces the same waveform as that of the binary. We show that there exists a mass quadrupole degeneracy in both the plus and cross modes, characterized by two parameters. We also find that there are binary systems and linearly stable Lagrange three-body systems that can have the same mass quadrupole waveform up to the coalescence time. In such cases, the normalized overlap of the waveforms with respect to the power spectral density of the advanced LIGO design remains above 0.97 as long as the binary has nearly symmetric masses. Beyond the mass quadrupole, there is a unique degeneracy at the 0.5PN. However, the Lagrange triple that satisfies this degeneracy is unstable.

A strong converse bound for the classical identification capacity of a quantum channel is an upper bound on the asymptotic identification rate of classical messages sent through the channel, such that, above this rate, the probability of an identification error necessarily converges to one. Converse bounds for identification are notoriously difficult to obtain for fully quantum channels. The only previously known converse bound, due to Atif, Pradhan and Winter [Int.~J.~Quantum Inf.~22(5):2440013, 2024], has the unsatisfactory feature of remaining strictly positive even for a completely noisy channel, for which identification is clearly impossible. We derive strong (and hence also weak) converse bounds, for the qubit depolarizing channel with noise parameter $p$, that vanish as $p\to 1$, thereby yielding the correct behavior in the completely noisy limit. Moreover, in the setting of simultaneous classical identification under the constraint of complete product measurements, our converse bound matches the corresponding achievability bound, and establishes that in this case the identification capacity equals the classical capacity of the channel.

Entangled photon pairs are a ubiquitous resource in quantum technologies, used in quantum key distribution and quantum networking as well as fundamental tests of non-locality. For scalable quantum networks, pairs that are indistinguishable in all unentangled degrees of freedom are essential, as they enable high-fidelity entanglement swapping across network nodes. To date the most-studied sources of "swappable" entangled photon pairs have been based on spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) in non-linear crystals. However, the probabilistic nature and unavoidable trade-off between brightness and unwanted multi-photon emission limits their performance in lossy channels. Here, we demonstrate a high-fidelity source of "swappable" entangled photon pairs using a semiconductor quantum dot (QD) coupled to a tunable microcavity. By actively modulating the QD emission between orthogonal polarisation states, delaying one path in a low-loss Herriott cell, and recombining the two on a balanced beam splitter, we generate entangled photon pairs with a fidelity of $96.1\pm0.5$ %. We identify and mitigate fidelity-limiting factors, achieving a maximum fidelity of $98.1\pm0.5$ % through time-resolved post-selection. The scheme suppresses residual multi-photon events concentrated near the excitation pulse and has only a modest impact on the rate. Furthermore, the photons are mutually indistinguishable, enabling efficient entanglement swapping. Our results establish semiconductor QDs as a viable platform for quantum network-compatible swappable entangled photon pair generation, with feasible entanglement generation rates exceeding 0.5 Gpairs/s.

The addition of Kounterterms to Einstein gravity leads to a finite action for asymptotically anti-de Sitter (AdS) spaces with a conformally flat boundary. In that sense, it provides a partial renormalization for AdS gravity when compared to standard holographic techniques, where the mismatch is given in terms of nontrivial conformal properties of the boundary. On the other hand, this method has the clear advantage that the variation of the action has a closed form in an arbitrary dimension. In this work, it is shown how to extract holographic information on conformal anomalies from the variation in $(2n+1)$-dimensional Einstein-AdS plus Kounterterms. Remarkably enough, a considerable part of the Weyl anomaly can be worked out for any odd dimension.

Quantum sensing technologies offer transformative potential for ultra-sensitive biomedical sensing, yet their clinical translation remains constrained by classical noise limits and a reliance on macroscopic ensembles. We propose a unifying generational framework to organize the evolving landscape of quantum biosensors based on their utilization of quantum resources. First-generation devices utilize discrete energy levels for signal transduction but follow classical scaling laws. Second-generation sensors exploit quantum coherence to reach the standard quantum limit, while third-generation architectures leverage entanglement and spin squeezing to approach Heisenberg-limited precision. We further define an emerging fourth generation characterized by the end-to-end integration of quantum sensing with quantum learning and variational circuits, enabling adaptive inference directly within the quantum domain. By analyzing critical parameters such as bandwidth matching and sensor-tissue proximity, we identify key technological bottlenecks and propose a roadmap for transitioning from measuring physical observables to extracting structured biological information with quantum-enhanced intelligence.

The (old) cosmological constant problem consists of two different problems. The first is the huge discrepancy between the value of the cosmological constant deduced from observations and its value expected from cosmological constant-like theoretical contributions (such as vacuum expectation value of Higgs potential). The second problem is why the value of the cosmological constant has its particular (very small) value. It is well-known that unimodular gravity solves the first problem while it leaves the second problem unsolved. In this paper I show that the second problem may also be resolved in the context of unimodular gravity by letting our 4-dimensional spacetime be a brane in a D = 2(2n + 1) dimensional bulk and imposing the signature reversal symmetry

The $1+1$ dimensional $Z_2$ gauge theory is the simplest model that allows for quantum computation or quantum simulation to probe the fundamental aspects of a gauge theory coupled with dynamical fermions. To reliably benchmark such a system, it is crucial to understand the non-unitary quantum dynamics arising from the underlying non-Hermitian evolution and to model the effects of quantum measurements. This work focuses on monitoring ultra-local physical observables for a $\mathbb Z_2$ gauge theory. Tensor network calculations are performed to dynamically probe entanglement entropy at larger lattice sizes. In this work, we report that continuously monitoring local and diagonal observables (electric and mass energy densities) in the computational basis demonstrates the absence of any measurement-induced phase transition, as indicated by the system-size independence of the late-time saturation value of the bipartite entanglement entropy.

Reducing the non-Clifford cost of fault-tolerant quantum circuits is a central challenge in quantum compilation, since T gates are typically far more expensive than Clifford operations in error-corrected architectures. For Clifford+T circuits, minimizing T-count remains a difficult combinatorial problem even for highly structured algebraic optimizers. We introduce VarTODD, a policy-parameterized variant of FastTODD in which the correctness-preserving algebraic transformations are left unchanged while candidate generation, pooling, and action selection are exposed as tunable heuristic components. This separates the quality of the algebraic rewrite system from the quality of the search policy. On standard arithmetic benchmarks, fixed hand-designed VarTODD policies already match or improve strong FastTODD baselines, including reductions from 147 to 139 for GF(2^9) and from 173 to 163 for GF(2^10) in the corresponding benchmark branches. As a proof of principle for automated tuning, we then optimize VarTODD policies with GigaEvo, an LLM-guided evolutionary framework, and obtain additional gains on harder instances, reaching 157 for GF(2^10) and 385 for GF(2^16). These results identify policy optimization as an independent and practical lever for improving algebraic T-count reduction, while LLM-guided evolution provides one viable way to exploit it.

Applications of the Ryu-Takayanagi formula to evaporating black holes are known to reproduce the Page curve, although leaving open the microscopic origin of the necessary black hole degrees of freedom responsible for the entanglement and microstates. Here, we fill this gap by utilizing a recently proven generalized Ryu-Takayanagi formula which keeps the contact to the theory's Hamiltonian phase space. Precisely, we show that in any diffeomorphism invariant field theory containing stationary black holes with bifurcate Killing horizons the phase space states distinguishable by their Hamiltonian surface charges over the bifurcation surface must provide the degrees of freedom responsible for the black hole's Wald entropy. This result is part of a larger program where measurable quantities of a quantum theory are expressed as weighted sums over paths in the theory's phase space. Suited reorganization tools for those sums make then physical phenomena evident which might be obscured in a naive summation relying on spacetime notions such as field configuration spaces and Feynman diagrams. Besides presenting this result, we provide here a conceptual overview of the program as an entry point for unfamiliar readers explaining the central notion of the program and why it reveals the results obtained so far. These include especially the gravitational entropy bound and the here applied generalized Ryu-Takayanagi prescription shown earlier within the program. Using the information paradox as a leitmotif, our proposed program uncovers black hole hair that may be hidden within a naive spacetime interpretation.

We present a systematic derivation of the Heisenberg evolution of a trilinear bosonic Hamiltonian system in presence of a strong drive beyond the standard approximation of a classical, undepleted driving field. We employ a perturbative expansion of the Hamiltonian propagator in orders of the input field amplitudes, as opposed to the standard Baker-Campbell-Hausdorff (BCH) expansion of the propagator in orders of time. Our method automatically provides time-closed expressions; and converges considerably faster than BCH, especially in the regime of high parametric gain because the small parameter it uses is natural to the problem. We obtain the well-known quantum solution for optical parametric amplification of down-conversion simply as the first order of the expansion, and present the rigorous procedure to derive higher order corrections one by one. To demonstrate the utility of higher corrections, we discuss the 2nd order correction to the pump field as an ideal detector of time-energy entanglement in parametric down-conversion. We also use the 3rd order correction to calculate the limits on the fidelity of quantum state-transfer from one optical mode to another using sum/difference frequency generation, due to the quantum properties of the strong driving field.

Recent studies have shown that Trotter errors are highly initial-state dependent and that standard upper bounds often substantially overestimate them. However, the mechanism underlying anomalously small Trotter errors and a systematic route to identifying error-resilient states remain unclear. Using interaction-picture perturbation theory, we derive an analytical expression for the leading-order Trotter error in the eigenbasis of the Hamiltonian. Our analysis shows that initial states supported on spectrally commensurate energy ladders exhibit strongly suppressed error growth together with persistent Loschmidt revivals. We refer to such states as Trotter scars. To identify such states in practice, we further introduce a general variational framework for finding error-minimizing initial states for a given Hamiltonian. Applying this framework to several spin models, we find optimized states whose spectral support and dynamical behavior agree with the perturbative prediction. Our results reveal the spectral origin of Trotter-error resilience and provide a practical strategy for discovering error-resilient states in digital quantum simulation.

In Loop Quantum Gravity, the quantum action of the volume operator is crucial in understanding quantum dynamics. In this work, we implement a generalized numerical algorithm that can compute the quantum action of the volume operator on a broad class of gauge-variant and gauge-invariant spin-network states. This algorithm is later used to calculate the coherent state expectation value and coherent state matrix elements of the volume operator. By comparing the results generated by our numerical model with the analytical results in various scenarios at the near-semiclassical region, not only is our numerical model validated with high accuracy, but it also provides a complete picture of how the full quantum action of the volume operator connects with its semiclassical approximations. We further find that the maximal eigenvalue approaches the classical polyhedral volume in the semiclassical regime. For irregular geometries, we also observe that the relative volume magnitudes can change in the deep quantum regime.

We derive an asymptotic expansion for off-diagonal coherent-state matrix elements of non-polynomial operators in gauge theories admitting holomorphic coherent-state representations. The derivation combines stationary-phase analysis with an operator-level treatment of the Taylor remainder, and yields explicit semiclassical error control under stated assumptions. As a primary application, we formulate the expansion for volume and flux related operators in Loop Quantum Gravity and compare it with the standard diagonal expansion proposed in arXiv:gr-qc/0607101. By organizing the expansion around the genuine off-diagonal Berezin symbol rather than a diagonal expectation value, the resulting formula preserves the full holomorphic structure of the geometric phase and reproduces benchmark matrix elements accurately in the numerical regimes tested here, particularly when the coherent-state labels are well separated.

This study investigates the spatial confinement of topological $π$-modes in one-dimensional chiral-symmetric systems. In conventional periodic and quasiperiodic structures, edge-mode wave functions inevitably penetrate the bulk. To suppress this, inverse design of a potential sequence is performed using a generative model under a global topological constraint. The generated sequence reveals a characteristic structure consisting of a topological boundary layer and a macroscopic S-dense domain, leading to enhanced confinement ($ξ=0.85$) while preserving topology. Based on the physical principle extracted from this result, a minimal heterostructure composed of only two S-blocks is manually constructed, which further reduces the localization length to $ξ=0.75$. These results provide a compact design principle for strongly localized topological states.

In this paper, we construct several new quantum Floquet codes on compact, orientable, as well as non-orientable surfaces. In order to obtain such codes, we identify these surfaces with hyperbolic polygons and examine hyperbolic semi-regular tessellations on such surfaces. The method of construction presented here generalizes similar constructions concerning hyperbolic Floquet codes on connected and compact surfaces with genus $g \geq 2$. A performance analysis and an investigation of the asymptotic behavior of these codes are also presented.

In this work, we study the problems of certifying and learning quantum $k$-local Hamiltonians, for a constant $k$. Our main contributions are as follows: - Certification of Hamiltonians. We show that certifying a local Hamiltonian in normalized Frobenius norm via access to its time-evolution operator can be achieved with only $O(1/\varepsilon)$ evolution time. This is optimal, as it matches the Heisenberg-scaling lower bound of $Ω(1/\varepsilon)$. To our knowledge, this is the first optimal algorithm for testing a Hamiltonian property. A key ingredient in our analysis is the Bonami Hypercontractivity Lemma from Fourier analysis. - Learning Gibbs states. We design an algorithm for learning Gibbs states of local Hamiltonians in trace norm that is sample-efficient in all relevant parameters. In contrast, previous approaches learned the underlying Hamiltonian (which implies learning the Gibbs state), and thus inevitably suffered from exponential sample complexity scaling in the inverse temperature. - Certification of Gibbs states. We give an algorithm for certifying Gibbs states of local Hamiltonians in trace norm that is both sample and time-efficient in all relevant parameters, thereby solving a question posed by Anshu (Harvard Data Science Review, 2022).

We establish a topological sum rule, $ν_U = \frac{1}{2π}\sum_nγ_n = 2mν_H$, connecting the geometric phases accumulated by a two-qubit system over a complete basis of initial states to the winding number $ν_H$ classifying its Hamiltonian. Implementations of the same gate from different topological classes must distribute these phases differently, making their distinction measurable through the Wootters concurrence. As a corollary, nontrivial topology is a necessary condition for entanglement: only Hamiltonians with access to $ν_H \neq 0$ can generate it.

Light primordial black holes (PBHs) that fully evaporate before Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) produce dark radiation (DR) via Hawking radiation of gravitons, contributing to the effective number of relativistic species $ΔN_{\rm eff}$. If the particle spectrum contains a beyond-the-Standard-Model (BSM) boson with Compton wavelength comparable to the black hole (BH) gravitational radius, superradiant instability extracts angular momentum from the BH into a bosonic cloud, whose gravitational wave (GW) emission contributes an additional source of DR. By simultaneously evolving the BH mass and spin, superradiant mode occupation numbers, comoving entropy and cosmological energy densities in an expanding early-universe background, we find that superradiance generically suppresses $ΔN_{\rm eff}$: by extracting angular momentum before Hawking radiation can convert it into gravitons, superradiance starves the dominant dark-radiation channel. The GWs emitted by the superradiant cloud can partially compensate this loss, but only when the superradiant and BH evaporation timescales are comparable; otherwise the cloud GWs are emitted too early and diluted by cosmological expansion. The results imply that existing $ΔN_{\rm eff}$ bounds on PBH mass and spin derived without superradiance must be revisited if BSM bosons are present in the particle spectrum.

We present Q-Transform Amplitude Modulation (QTAM), a novel, fully invertible implementation of the Constant-Q Transform algorithm, designed to enable robust signal denoising and the disentanglement of overlapping transient events in current and next generation gravitational wave (GW) observatories. Time-frequency (TF) analysis faces a fundamental dichotomy: critically sampled transforms are computationally efficient but lack time-shift invariance, limiting their efficacy for robust pattern recognition and Deep Learning applications. While alternative approaches such as the Dual-Tree Complex Wavelet Transform provide efficient approximate shift-invariance, their wavelet constructions remain tied to dyadic scale frequency tilings that are poorly matched to the simultaneous representation of GW chirps and instrumental glitches. Conversely, overcomplete transforms provide the necessary shift-invariance and tunable frequency resolution, but their implementations generate highly redundant data volumes that are prohibitive for low-latency (LL) processing. Furthermore, standard attempts to compress these dense representations rely on lossy interpolation, destroying the phase coherence required to reconstruct the signal. QTAM bridges this gap by employing a methodology inspired by Amplitude Modulation radio broadcasting. By modeling the Q-transform output as a slowly varying complex envelope carried by a deterministic high-frequency term, we achieve lossless data decimation via spectral shifting to baseband. We demonstrate that QTAM is linear and fully invertible, allowing exact reconstruction of the original signal with machine precision while retaining the shift-invariance of dense spectrograms. Leveraging native GPU acceleration, QTAM enables TF pipelines to operate within LL O(1s) bounds. We validate the method's potential for denoising and disentanglement on GW data and signal injections.

We investigate brane inflation, focusing on warm inflation realizations within a warped throat geometry. While the standard scenario relies on a single mobile $D3$-brane moving radially toward an anti-$D3$-brane at the tip of the throat, we propose two distinct inflationary pictures. In our approach, the radial and angular coordinates of a $D3$-brane on a warped deformed conifold act as two independent inflaton fields. We address moduli stabilization by incorporating a supersymmetrically embedded $D7$-brane, which generates the necessary radial and angular scalar potentials. Evaluating these radial and angular brane inflation setups within the warm inflation paradigm, we demonstrate that dissipation effects allow the models to satisfy recent observational constraints more naturally than their cold inflation counterparts for a given parameter space.

Slow light is a regime of reduced group velocity, resulting in increased photon density in optical pulses and enhanced nonlinear effects. Here, we propose the realization of slow light in the regime of strong light-matter interaction between waveguide photons and semiconductor excitons. We design a dielectric superlattice structure with a nearly-flat band characterized by low group velocity and group velocity dispersion, both required for enhancing nonlinear effects with ultrashort pulses. Furthermore, by applying this general framework to a perovskite-based structure, we demonstrate an enhancement of the single-particle phase shift by a factor of more than 20, representing a significant step toward the few-photon quantum regime. Our results provide a blueprint for accessible strong interactions in solid-state integrated optics.

High-order perfect absorption of coherent input has recently attracted significant attention due to its broadband absorption capacity. However, the realization of a high-order perfect absorber relies on the exceptional point (EP) to coalesce the scattering zeros. Here, we present a general scattering framework and achieve the high-order perfect absorber in the absence of EP. We consider the asynchronous coherent input, where a spatial delay introduces a momentum-dependent phase factor beyond the amplitude and phase control in synchronous coherent input. This new degree of freedom enables active control of the momentum dependent output, effectively reshaping the absorption line shape necessary for the high-order perfect absorber. Remarkably, despite the absence of EP, the proposed high-order perfect absorber exhibits significant response to the perturbations in the delay length. Our findings provide insights for the delay induced momentum-sensitive interference phenomenon and offer a new route for wave control.

Nonequilibrium energy transport serves as one of fundamental problems in quantum thermodynamics and quantum technologies. Driven quantum master equation in the dressed picture provides an efficient way of investigating nonequilibrium energy flow in general driven-dissipative quantum systems, where the systems are simultaneously driven by the finite thermodynamic bias and coherent driving field. The validity and general applicability of driven quantum master equation is confirmed by comparing with Floquet master equation, by analyzing energy currents in generic spin and boson models. The additional driving phase reserved in system-reservoir interactions, will apparently modify microscopic energy exchange processes. The steady-state energy currents are dramatically enhanced, in particular near the resonant regimes. In contrast, the traditional dressed master equation yields distinct behaviors of the energy currents. We hope that the driven quantum master equation may provide an efficient utility for the control of quantum transport and thermodynamic performances in driven-dissipative nanodevices.

We consider a Hamiltonian $\hat H$ with a (partially) continuous spectrum and examine the zero-overlap condition which involves the projection onto exact continuum eigenstates of a set of pseudostates obtained from the diagonalization of $\hat H$ in a finite basis of square-integrable functions. For each projected pseudostate the condition implies the occurrence of zeros at all energies that correspond to the pseudo-continuum matrix eigenvalues, except for the eigenenergy associated with that pseudostate. This feature was observed for the Coulomb continuum represented in a Laguerre basis [M. McGovern et al., Phys. Rev. A 79, 042707 (2009)] and later explained using special properties of the Laguerre functions [I. B. Abdurakhmanov et al., J. Phys. B 44, 075204 (2011)]. We establish that a sufficient condition for the zero-overlap condition to occur is that the image space of the operator $\hat Q \hat H \hat P$, where $\hat P$ is the projection operator onto the subspace spanned by the basis and $\hat Q = \hat 1 - \hat P$ its complement, has dimension one. We show that the condition is met for the one-dimensional free-particle problem by a basis of harmonic oscillator eigenstates and for the Coulomb problem by a Laguerre basis, thus offering an alternative proof for the latter case. The zero-overlap condition ensures that in, e.g., an ionizing collision or laser-atom interaction process, transition probabilities obtained from the projection of a time-propagated pseudostate-expanded system wave function onto eigenstates of $ \hat H $ are asymptotically stable.

We investigate the rotational phase diagram of a quasi-two-dimensional, weakly-interacting Bose-Einstein condensate confined in power-law and in hard-wall trapping potentials. For weak interactions, the system undergoes discontinuous transitions between multiply-quantized vortex states as the rotation frequency of the trap increases. In contrast, stronger interactions induce continuous phase transitions toward mixed states involving both singly and multiply-quantized vortex states. A central result is the qualitative (and experimentally observable) difference between power-law and hard-wall confinement: In hard-wall traps, the leading instability always involves states with nonzero density at the trap center, whereas in power-law traps the density vanishes as the rotation frequency increases. The two different types of confinement give rise to scaling properties in the derived phase diagrams.

Spin squeezing serves as both a fundamental witness of quantum entanglement and a critical resource for quantum-enhanced metrology. While generating substantial spin squeezing in finite-range interacting systems remains challenging, such capability is important for advancing quantum technologies. In this work, we develop an optimal control strategy for achieving enhanced spin squeezing in a two-dimensional XX model with dipolar interactions. Leveraging rotor-spin-wave theory for periodic boundary conditions, we circumvent computational bottlenecks to explore control strategies at unprecedented scales. Remarkably, optimizing a single collective transverse field is sufficient to achieve substantial squeezing enhancement, exceeding the two-axis-twisting benchmark. The optimized control field achieves this breakthrough by dynamically suppressing inter-subspace mixing induced by the finite-range interactions, thereby confining the system evolution predominantly within the maximal spin subspace. We further extend rotor-spin-wave theory to open boundary conditions and incorporate dephasing noise, providing a scalable framework for realistic systems. Under these conditions, the optimized protocol remains effective, highlighting its robustness and suitability for experimental implementation.

Over the past decade, gravitational-wave astronomy has opened a new window onto the extreme states of matter inside compact stars. At some point during the inspiral of a binary system, each star starts to experience adiabatic tides, characterized by tidal deformabilities. The dominant tidal deformability, first measured with the GW170817 event, has already constrained the dense-matter equation of state. With the advent of third-generation detectors, tidal deformabilities are expected to be inferred with much higher precision, potentially revealing subleading tidal contributions. This motivates the development of more accurate compact-star models that incorporate richer microphysics. With this in mind, we move beyond the commonly adopted perfect-fluid approximation and model compact stars through a multifluid framework. In this work, we present the fully general-relativistic description of adiabatic tidal deformations of compact stars composed of an arbitrary number of interacting fluids, using Carter's multifluid variational formalism. A distinctive feature of this approach is the presence of nondissipative mutual entrainment between fluid species. We derive the hydrostatic equilibrium equations for multifluid configurations, along with the perturbed equations governing stationary gravitoelectric and gravitomagnetic tidal responses of arbitrary order. We then investigate how entrainment modifies the corresponding tidal deformabilities. Using an analytical representation of the multifluid equation of state, we show that entrainment leaves adiabatic tidal responses unchanged and therefore produces no measurable effect on the gravitational-wave signal emitted during the inspiral long before the excitation of internal mode resonances. We subsequently discuss two specific applications: superfluid neutron stars and dark matter admixed compact stars.

In this work, we investigate the relation between bound states and quasinormal modes within black hole perturbation theory in the context of spectral instability. Our analysis indicates that the reliability of such spectral mapping stretches beyond the domain of validity of the analytic continuation employed to connect the perturbative bound-state problem to the corresponding open-system dynamics. However, for the numerical scheme proposed by Völkel to work, the transformations of the metric parameters must be carried out in a region where the underlying Taylor expansion is convergent. As analytically accessible explicit examples, we explore the perturbed delta-function and Pöschl-Teller potential barriers. For the latter, we construct two distinct perturbative setups for which the convergence of the series expansion involved in the perturbation theory can be rigorously controlled. When the deformation is placed near the potential's extremum, the resulting corrections to the bound-state energies can be analytically continued to yield perturbed quasinormal frequencies, in agreement with known semi-analytic results. In contrast, when the perturbation is localized asymptotically far from the compact object, the bound states are only mildly modified and are accurately described by a perturbative expansion to the first order. However, the associated analytic continuation yields a strongly deformed spectrum that shows no clear connection to the quasinormal modes. These findings contribute to the effort to scrutinize the conditions under which bound states faithfully encode quasinormal spectra and to shed light on the underlying physics of black hole spectral instability.

The theory of gravitational wave turbulence describes the long-term statistical behaviour of a set of weakly nonlinear interacting waves. In this paper, we aim to study aspects of gravitational turbulence within the framework of general relativity using the Hadad-Zakharov (HZ) metric. The latter is parameterised by four functions (the coefficients of a diagonal metric) that must satisfy seven non-trivial Einstein equations, six of which are independent. The issue of their mutual compatibility is therefore essential, yet it has so far been overlooked. In this work, we argue that these equations can be compatible in the weakly nonlinear regime under specific conditions. Our analytical investigation is complemented by direct numerical simulations performed with a new GPU-based code, TIGER. A comparative analysis of the evolution of the Ricci and Kretschmann scalars indicates that gravitational wave turbulence corresponds to the propagation of a genuine physical degree of freedom. These numerical findings, however, must be interpreted with caution, given the difficulty of satisfying all seven Einstein equations simultaneously with sufficient accuracy. On the other hand, our simulations reproduce well the expected properties of the wave turbulence regime, with the emergence of a dual cascade of energy and wave action, and for the latter the observation of the Kolmogorov-Zakharov spectrum. In addition, our analysis reveals that the canonical variables of the problem evolve towards a nearly Gaussian statistical distribution punctuated by intermittent coherent (spatially localised and long-living) structures. In contrast to the canonical variables, the structure functions of the gauge-invariant metric components exhibit monofractal behaviour, which is a classical property of wave turbulence.

Chaotic behavior of quantum systems can be characterized by the adherence of the expectation values of given probes to moments of the Haar distribution. In this work, we analyze the behavior of several probes of chaos using a technique known as Isospectral Twirling [1]. This consists in fixing the spectrum of the Hamiltonian and picking its eigenvectors at random. Here, we study the transition from stabilizer bases to random bases according to the Haar measure by T-doped random quantum circuits. We then compute the average value of the probes over ensembles of random spectra from Random Matrix Theory, the Gaussian Diagonal Ensemble and the Gaussian Unitary Ensemble, associated with non-chaotic and chaotic behavior respectively. We also study the behavior of such probes over the Toric Code Hamiltonian.

Quantum key distribution is often regarded as an unconditionally secure method to exchange a secret key by harnessing fundamental aspects of quantum mechanics. Despite the robustness of key exchange, classical post-processing reveals vulnerabilities that an eavesdropper could target. In particular, many reconciliation protocols correct errors by comparing the parities of subsets between both parties. These communications occur over insecure channels, leaking information that an eavesdropper could exploit. Currently there is no holistic threat model that addresses how parity-leakage during reconciliation might be actively manipulated. In this paper we introduce a new form of attack, namely the Manipulate-and-Observe attack in which the adversary (1) partially intercepts a fraction $ρ$ of the qubits during key exchange, injecting the maximally tolerated amount of errors up to the 11 percent error threshold whilst remaining undetected and (2) probes the maximum amount of parity-leakage during reconciliation, and exploits it using a vectorised, parallel brute force filter to shrink the search space from 2n down to as few as a single candidate, for an n-bit reconciled key. We perform simulations of the attack, deploying it on the most widely used protocol, BB84, andthe benchmark reconciliation protocol, Cascade. Our simulation results demonstrate that the attack can significantly reduce the security below the theoretical bound and, in the worst case, fully recover the reconciled key material. The principles of the attack could threaten other parity-based reconciliation schemes, like Low Density Parity Check, which underscores the need for urgent consideration of the combined security of key exchange and post-processing.

It is a universal empirical observation that socks become unpaired in the laundry. We propose a quasiparticle theory of sock dynamics in which individual socks are modelled as bosonic excitations of the agitated laundry condensate. The sock dispersion relation is material-dependent: nondispersive materials retain their shape, while dispersive materials give rise to the well-documented phenomenon of sock shrinkage. In the convex regions of the dispersive spectrum, socks undergo Beliaev decay and spontaneously split into two lower-momentum socks, while in the concave regions the dominant process is Landau-Khalatnikov scattering, which degrades socks into lint and loose threads. In addition, the rotating drum creates sock-antisock pairs from the laundry vacuum via the dynamical Casimir effect. The coexistence of these creation and destruction channels gives rise to a fundamental ambiguity: an unpaired sock at the end of a wash cycle is equally consistent with the destruction of its partner or the spontaneous creation of an entirely new sock.

The most elementary prepare-and-measure scenarios have no independent measurement inputs. No inputs mean that quantum advantages require two indispensable ingredients: shared entanglement and measurements that can be adapted to the communicated messages. Understanding these scenarios is therefore conceptually natural, but also practically relevant, since they act as testbeds for black-box certification of adaptive one-way LOCC. Here, we study them systematically and reveal several of their basic features. For classical messages, we first identify the minimal scenario with a quantum advantage and show that it is maximised by high-dimensional entanglement. Then, we identify the next-to-minimal scenario, and show that quantum advantages can be propelled by nonlocality of the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt type, which makes this an appropriate setting for certification experiments. Proceeding further, we replace classical messages with quantum messages, but require the receiver to read the message before measuring the entangled particle. We show that this leads to amplified quantum advantages, that are made possible only thanks to non-projective message read-out. This in dispensable role of non-projective measurements challenges the common wisdom that they play a secondary role in revealing the power of quantum correlations in black-box experiments.

The practical utility of a quantum network depends on its ability to establish entanglement between arbitrary node pairs with quality sufficient to execute entanglement enabled tasks. This capability can be assessed globally, through aggregate performance over all node pairs, as well as locally, at the level of individual nodes. Since entanglement-based connections form a layer above the underlying physical topology, quantum connectivity is not adequately captured by classical topological connectivity metrics. To enable characterisation of the quantum connectivity at the level of the network (or its subnetworks), we introduce the quantum connectivity measure (QCM), which quantifies the average connection quality between pairs of network nodes. Further, we describe two quantities, the quantum-connected fraction (QCF) and the quantum clustering coefficient (QCC), naturally derived from the QCM, which capture important features of the functional connectivity of the quantum network at the level of the network and an individual node, respectively. These metrics of quantum connectivity depend crucially on the entanglement distribution protocol and the quantum network parameters in addition to its physical topology. We demonstrate the crucial distinction between topological and quantum connectivity, showing that even a fully connected graph can be functionally disconnected for quantum tasks if average network edge-concurrence falls below a critical threshold. These quantum connectivity metrics thus provide important tools for the design, optimization, and benchmarking of future quantum networks.

We study the dynamics of a lattice hard-core boson gas released from a domain wall initial state in the presence of two weak links (defects). When the two defects are separated by a finite distance, the resulting density profile exhibits clear deviations from the standard Euler-scale hydrodynamic description of the gas, due to genuine quantum interference effects between the two defects. By analyzing the exact fermionic propagators, we show that repeated reflections at the defects give rise to interference fringes and coherent patterns that are beyond the reach of the (generalized) hydrodynamic description. We derive a closed analytic expression for the density profile during the expansion, explicitly highlighting the role played by these interference processes.

We propose an adiabatic Ramsey interferometry technique for detecting weak nonlinearities with trapped ions. The method relies on using the quantum Rabi model as a probe, which is sensitive to nonlinear symmetry-breaking perturbations. We show that the couplings which arise either from anharmonic terms of the trapping potential or due to higher order terms in the Coulomb interaction expansion can be efficiently estimated by measuring the spin state probabilities alone. We show that the spin signal is amplified by the mean-phonon excitations, which results in the estimation precision reaching the super-Heisenberg limit. Notably, achieving such high-precision estimation does not require specific entangled state preparation and can be reached even for initial thermal motion state. Furthermore, we show that the super-Heisenberg scaling can be observed even in the presence of weak spin-dephasing.

Quantum gas microscopes offer unprecedented insights into quantum many-body states of cold atomic gases. Here we introduce concrete protocols for extending quantum gas microscopes to measure in phase space, by mapping momentum onto auxiliary degrees of freedom and using positive operator-valued measures. We distinguish between two distinct operational modes. In the Husimi-Q phase space microscope, position and momentum are jointly measured; in this mode the fundamental quantum noise appears in the position measurement. Conversely, the averaged-mode phase space microscope extracts the spatial dependence of averages of the momentum density (and its moments); these averages can be retrieved with arbitrary spatial resolution. We illustrate the utility of these techniques in diverse physical settings.

Efficiently planning container loads onto trains is a computationally challenging combinatorial optimization problem, central to logistics and supply chain management. A primary source of this complexity arises from the need to model and reduce rehandle operations-unproductive crane moves required to access blocked containers. Conventional mathematical formulations address this by introducing explicit binary variables and a web of logical constraints for each potential rehandle, resulting in large-scale models that are difficult to solve. This paper presents a fundamental departure from this paradigm. We introduce an innovative and compact mathematical formulation for the Train Load Optimization (TLO) problem where the rehandle cost is calculated implicitly within the objective function. This novel approach helps prevent the need for dedicated rehandle variables and their associated constraints, leading to a dramatic reduction in model size. We provide a formal comparison against a conventional model to analytically demonstrate the significant reduction in the number of variables and constraints. The efficacy of our compact formulation is assessed through a simulated annealing metaheuristic, which finds high-quality loading plans for various problem instances. The results confirm that our model is not only more parsimonious but also practically effective, offering a scalable and powerful tool for modern rail logistics.

Jackiw-Teitelboim (JT) gravity in two-dimensional de Sitter space is an intriguing toy model for a quantum mechanical description of an inflationary phase of the universe, including initial conditions. Starting from exact solutions of the Wheeler-DeWitt equation, we study a conditional density matrix of the system. We find that the ground state is a mixed state, rather than a pure Hartle-Hawking state. Our results are consistent with the semiclassical double-trumpet amplitude, and with recent work on complex geometries containing bra-ket wormholes. We also analyze semiclassical wave functions for metric, dilaton, and an additional inflaton field. The probability distribution for the size of the universe is flat.

Quantum computing is expected to become a foundational technology for solving problems that exceed the capabilities of classical systems. As quantum algorithms and hardware technologies continue to advance, the need for scalable architectures becomes increasingly clear. Distributed quantum computing offers a promising path forward by interconnecting multiple smaller processors into a larger, more powerful system. However, distributed quantum computing introduces significant circuit depth overhead, as logical operations are typically decomposed into sequential physical procedures that require entanglement generation. These sequential operations limit the reliability of quantum algorithms in the NISQ era due to noise. In this work, we present a compiler that integrates logical-to-physical decomposition with depth-aware rescheduling to reduce the execution cost of distributed quantum circuits. The compiler identifies sequences of logical CNOT gates that share a control or target qubit, reschedules them into parallel instruction groups, and applies decompositions that allow multiple gates to be executed simultaneously using distributed shared entanglement resources. An algorithm is proposed that ensures parallelism is created when possible while keeping logical equivalence and that circuit depth is never increased. Benchmark results demonstrate that the compiler consistently reduces circuit depth for circuits containing inherently sequential CNOT structures, while leaving already-parallel circuits unchanged. These results highlight the value of combining scheduling and hardware-aware decomposition, and establish the compiler as a practical tool for improving the fidelity of distributed quantum computations.

Decoherence in superconducting qubits emerges from the interplay of multilevel dynamics and structured environmental noise, yet perturbative models cannot capture all resulting signatures. Here, EmuPlat couples instruction-set-architecture-level waveform generation to the hierarchical equations of motion (HEOM) under $1/f$ non-Markovian pure dephasing. In the resulting non-perturbative regime -- where filter-function predictions become quantitatively uninformative -- CPMG scaling of a three-level superconducting transmon yields one calibration result, two physical findings, and one structural null. Y-CPMG exhibits axis-dependent scaling-law breakdown -- non-monotonic decoherence, partial coherence revival, and pronounced X--Y population asymmetry ($0.204$ vs ${<}\,0.01$) -- driven by third-level anharmonicity amplified by bath memory; X-CPMG maintains well-behaved power-law scaling with a finite-$n$ transient excess consistent with non-Markovian bath-memory effects. The structural null is equally informative: waveform-level differences -- Standard versus VPPU realizations -- remain undetectable across all coupling strengths, establishing that rotating-frame pure-dephasing coupling renders control-layer detail invisible to scaling observables. These findings define testable predictions, the most experimentally accessible requiring only qualitative verification.

The pulsar magnetosphere is a potential source of continuous gravitational waves due to the rapid charge-discharge process in short timescale, varying the electric-field energy density. We estimate the strain of the continuous gravitational waves, considering relativistic effects and different gap regions. We find that the strain from the polar cap is too small, in contrast to previous results. On the other hand, the strain from the outer gap is as large as $\sim2\times10^{-24}$, enough for future gravitational-wave detection such as the Einstein Telescope. Our result presents a new approach for the future detection of gravitational waves to probe the physics in the magnetosphere.

Molecular quantum sensors represent a promising frontier for the detection of nuclear magnetic resonance signals and alternating current magnetic fields at the nanoscale, potentially reaching single-proton sensitivity. Although the triplet states of molecular pentacene provide a viable sensing architecture, the triplet pair states produced by singlet fission of pentacene dimers could enable more flexible quantum manipulations through entanglement. In this work, we model the quantum sensing efficacy of a spin-polarized quintet manifold in a photoexcited pentacene dimer generated via intramolecular singlet fission. Using a Lindblad master equation approach, we simulate the evolution of the triplet pair state under standard dynamical decoupling sequences, including spin echo, XY4, and XY8 and provide a direct performance comparison to the traditional pentacene monomer benchmark. While both architectures exhibit comparable sensitivity for isolated single-spin detection, our findings indicate that the dimer architecture provides a superior interaction cross-section for detecting small ensembles of nuclear spins. Analytical expressions derived for fluorescence modulation demonstrate that sensitivity is optimized in the low-magnetic field regime and scales with the number of pulses in the sensing protocol. This study establishes a theoretical baseline for utilizing high-spin multi-excitonic states as chemically tunable, high-sensitivity quantum probes.

These notes - prepared for the conference school "Foundations of General-Relativistic Gauge Field Theory", held on March 17-19, 2026 at the Politecnico di Torino - present introductory material on symmetry reduction in general-relativistic Gauge Field Theory (gRGFT) via the Dressing Field Method (DFM). The DFM provides a systematic framework for extracting gauge- and diffeomorphism-invariant, manifestly relational, physical observables and degrees of freedom in gRGFT. A range of illustrative examples are discussed, spanning both Gauge Field Theory and general-relativistic settings. These include applications to non-Abelian Chern-Simons theory, Maxwell electromagnetism, the non-Abelian Higgs model, supersymmetric field theory, General Relativity, and scalar coordinatization.

Superconducting transmon qubits based on hybrid superconductor-semiconductor Josephson junctions (gatemons) offer gate tunability, but their relaxation times remain well below those of state-of-the-art transmons, and the origin of this discrepancy is not fully understood. Here, we co-fabricate gatemons and SIS-junction transmons with nominally identical circuit layouts, gate dielectrics, and control lines, so that the Josephson element is the only intentional distinction. Across multiple chips, transmons in this architecture reach relaxation times in the tens of microseconds, whereas gatemons saturate in the few-microsecond range. Using the transmons as on-chip references, we construct a loss budget including Purcell decay, spontaneous emission through the control line, and internal dielectric loss, and find that the corresponding T1 limits exceed all measured gatemon values by more than an order of magnitude. Temperature-dependent T1 measurements follow a common quasiparticle-activation model and yield similar superconducting gaps for S-Sm-S and SIS junctions, indicating that the reduced gatemon coherence is dominated by additional temperature-independent, junction-intrinsic dissipation.

Open quantum systems are traditionally described by decomposing the total Hilbert space into a system and an external environment, linked by an explicit interaction Hamiltonian. We propose an alternative framework in which the environment is not introduced as an independent sector a priori, but instead emerges from the dynamical activation of constraints in an initially constrained quantum system. Within Dirac quantization, the physical degrees of freedom define the system, whereas the constraint sector, once promoted to carry its own dynamics, functions as an environment. In this picture, the system-environment coupling is not added through a separate interaction term, but is encoded directly in the constraint structure. As an example, we study a quantum particle coupled to a Brownian-oscillator environment and show how the resulting environmental influence can be formulated in this constraint-based setting. Our results provide a new perspective on the origin of quantum environments and point toward a general framework for open quantum systems rooted in constrained quantization.

Originally proposed by 't Hooft, the brick wall model has recently reemerged as a useful framework for probing quantum aspects of horizon physics, particularly in the context of holography. In this paper, we apply it to asymptotically de Sitter spacetimes. We compute the normal modes of a massless scalar field in pure de Sitter space and in the Schwarzschild-de Sitter black hole, and analyze the resulting single-particle spectra using the level-spacing distribution, the spectral form factor, and Krylov complexity. In pure de Sitter, the spectrum exhibits clear long-range signatures of chaos despite not obeying a conventional Wigner-Dyson level-spacing distribution. The Schwarzschild-de Sitter case is qualitatively richer: in the WKB regime, where tunneling between the two classically allowed regions is exponentially suppressed, the presence of both an event horizon and a cosmological horizon gives rise to two independent near-horizon sectors, so that the full spectrum is the superposition of two subsequences. As a result, the combined level-spacing distribution develops a nonzero value at $s=0$ even when spectral correlations remain. Nevertheless, for sufficiently small stretched-horizon fluctuations, the superposed spectrum still exhibits an approximately linear ramp in the spectral form factor and a pronounced peak in Krylov complexity. Our results show that the absence of strict level repulsion should not, by itself, be taken as evidence against chaos, and that the spectral form factor and Krylov complexity provide sharper diagnostics of the underlying chaotic dynamics.

Superconducting quantum processor units (QPUs) are incapable of producing massive datasets for quantum error correction (QEC) because of hardware limitations. Thus, QEC decoders heavily depend on synthetic data from qubit error models. Classic depolarizing error models with polynomial complexity present limited accuracy. Coherent density matrix methods suffer from exponential complexity $\propto O(4^n)$ where $n$ represents the number of qubits. This paper introduces PAEMS: a precise and adaptive qubit error model. Its qubit-wise separation framework, incorporating leakage propagation, captures error evolvements crossing spatial and temporal domains. Utilizing repetition-code experiment datasets, PAEMS effectively identifies the intrinsic qubit errors through an end-to-end optimization pipeline. Experiments on IBM's QPUs have demonstrated a 19.5$\times$, 9.3$\times$, and 5.2$\times$ reduction in timelike, spacelike, and spacetime error correlation, respectively, surpassing all of the previous works. It also outperforms the accuracy of Google's SI1000 error model by 58$\sim$73\% on multiple quantum platforms, including IBM's Brisbane, Sherbrooke, and Torino, as well as China Mobile's Wuyue and QuantumCTek's Tianyan.

The quantum Hall effect realizes a quantized Hall resistance $R_{xy} = h/(νe^2)$ whereas the longitudinal resistance vanishes. The quantized value consists of the fundamental physical quantities, the elementary charge $e$ and the Planck constant $h$, along with an integer or fractional constant $ν$. High precision measurements of $R_{xy}$ allude to a linear relation between the applied current $I$ and the Hall voltage $V_\mathrm{H}$. Here, we argue that a nonlinear relation between $I$ and $V_\mathrm{H}$ could arise when the electric field is spatially inhomogeneous. We first discuss that the linear $I$-$V_\mathrm{H}$ relation holds with Galilean invariance. Then we consider a hydrodynamic description of a quantum Hall liquid to deal with an axially symmetric electric field. It reveals a nonlinear electronic response arising from the centrifugal force exerted on a curved flow and the density gradient invoked by vorticity.

We define the class of register-logic graphs and prove that any uniformly deterministic measurement-based quantum computation (MBQC) where the inputs coincide with the outputs must be driven on such graphs by measurements in the $YZ$ plane of the Bloch sphere. This observation is revisited in the context that goes beyond uniform determinism, where we present a universal $YZ$-plane-only measurement pattern and establish a connection between $YZ$-plane-only and $XZ$-plane-only patterns. These results conclude the line of research on universal patterns with measurements restricted to one of the principal planes of the Bloch sphere. We further demonstrate, within the framework of the Parity Architecture, that $YZ$-plane patterns with the register-logic graph can be embedded into another graph with purely local interactions, and we extend this case to the scenario of universal quantum computation.

We propose high-fidelity controlled-NOT (CNOT) gates in a hybrid system of polar molecules and Rydberg atoms based on the unconventional Rydberg pumping mechanism. By combining the rich internal structure of polar molecules with the strong dipole-dipole interactions of Rydberg atoms, we realize both two-to-one and one-to-two gate configurations. Numerical simulations show that the gate performance is robust against spontaneous emission from Rydberg states. The approach naturally extends to larger systems, as demonstrated by four-qubit implementations achieving three-to-one and one-to-three CNOT gates with fidelities exceeding 99\%. These results highlight hybrid molecule-Rydberg atom architectures as a promising platform for scalable quantum information processing.

In this work, we investigate the cosmological dynamics of the $f(R, \mathcal{L}_m)$ gravity framework with a particular focus on the contributions of the scalar field. Considering a functional form that includes linear and exponential dependence on the matter Lagrangian, we perform a detailed dynamical system analysis by introducing appropriate dimensionless variables and constructing the corresponding autonomous system. The critical points are obtained and analyzed, and due to their non-hyperbolic nature, center manifold theory is employed to determine their stability. The analysis reveals the existence of matter-dominated and accelerated phases of the Universe, along with a transition from a decelerated to an accelerated expansion. We further extend the model by incorporating a minimally coupled generalized scalar field with a kinetic term and an exponential self-interacting potential, which enriches the dynamical behavior and leads to stable late-time attractor solutions. The evolution of cosmological parameters, including the deceleration parameter and the effective equation of state, indicates that the model approaches a de Sitter-like phase at late times. These results demonstrate that the $f(R, \mathcal{L}_m)$ gravity framework, with scalar field extensions, provides a viable mechanism to explain the late-time acceleration of the Universe without invoking a cosmological constant.

It is generally assumed that gravitational waves are extremely difficult to detect. However, we show that the call of the Mexican Burrowing Toad has an amazing resemblance to cosmic gravitational wave signals due to the merging of neutron stars and/or black holes. It is known that toads exhibit magnetoreception - the ability to detect magnetic fields - and that magnetic fields thus subtly affect ion channel activities in toad neurons. We speculate that gravitational strains produce phonons and magnons in a ferromagnetic substance embedded in the nervous system of the toads and that these coherent signals are exponentially amplified by a Raman laser mechanism to the point where they can be detected. The fine tuning necessary for this mechanism to work would help to explain why this species of toad show this remarkable ability and others do not. We analyze the sound of a pond full of Mexican Burrowing Toads in the hopes of detecting slight phase shifts in their calls due to a gravitational wave event. No effect was found and the the LIGO/VIRGO consortia have not reported an event during the recording, illustrating the power of this approach. We suggest the massive use of these toads would be an inexpensive way to support the operation of optical interferometric gravitational wave detector facilities.

We investigate the distribution of entanglement entropy in hybrid quantum circuits consisting of random unitary gates and local measurements applied at a finite rate. We demonstrate that higher moments of the entanglement entropy distribution, such as a ratio between the variance and the mean and skewness, capture nontrivial features of the measurement-induced dynamics that are invisible to the mean entropy alone. We demonstrate that these quantities exhibit distinct and robust behaviors across the volume-law and area-law phases, and can serve as effective diagnostics of measurement-induced entanglement transitions. We propose a phenomenological model describing the effect of measurements in the area-law regime, which, when combined with the directed polymer in a random environment description of the volume-law phase, well matches numerical simulations across the entire phase diagram.

In Horndeski gravity, we investigate how to extract energy from a rotating black hole immersed in a uniform magnetic field $B$ based on the Magnetic Penrose Process. We map the ergosphere and negative energy regions of this spacetime, and analyze the relationship between the energy extraction efficiency and the hair parameter through both theoretical analysis and numerical simulations. The results show that the larger the hair parameter $h$, the smaller the ergosphere and negative energy regions of the black hole. For the same decay radius, in the case of $\hat{q} B \geq 0$, if the decay radius $r_x > 2$, the efficiency decreases as $h$ increases; if $r_x < 2$, the efficiency increases as $h$ increases; if $r_x = 2$, the efficiency is independent of $h$. However, when $\hat{q}B < 0$, except for the special case $r_x = 2$ where the efficiency is independent of $h$, the variation of efficiency with $h$ depends on the specific values of $r_x$ and $\hat{q}B$, and may exhibit either monotonic decrease or an initial increase followed by a decrease. We also find that in the absence of a magnetic field, the efficiency is negative and meaningless when $r_x > 2$, and such cases are excluded. In addition, when $\hat{q} B \geq 0$, the larger the $h$, the lower the maximum efficiency; when $\hat{q} B < 0$, in the case of a small magnetic field, the efficiency is negative and meaningless, while in the case of a large magnetic field, the efficiency of the black hole with hair is positive at high decay radius and reaches a high value, whereas the efficiency of the Kerr black hole remains negative.

We experimentally investigate how interactions between Kerr parametric oscillators (KPOs) degrade their bit-flip times, where a bit flip is defined as a transition between the two degenerate ground states of a KPO. Interactions between KPOs cause quantum states of KPOs to leak outside the computational subspace, leading to bit flips. Bit flips degrade fidelity and pose a significant problem for KPO-based quantum information processing. We performed an experiment in which a weak microwave signal is injected into one KPO to emulate photon injection from another KPO, and find that the bit-flip time decreases by an order of magnitude due to induced excitations, depending on the frequency and power of the injected signal. Methods to mitigate the decrease in bit-flip times caused by interactions between KPOs are discussed, including adjusting the pump frequencies, coherent-state amplitudes, and couplings between KPOs. These findings provide valuable insights for scaling up KPO-based quantum computers.

Accurate inclusion of both spin precession and orbital eccentricity effects in gravitational waveform models represents a key hurdle in our ability to fully characterize the properties of compact binaries. Virtually all efforts to model precession rely on a coprecessing frame transformation, a time-dependent spatial rotation that tracks the dominant emission direction and simplifies the waveform morphology. We assess the utility of the coprecessing frame transformation to separate out the effect of the precession of the orbital plane from the waveform in the presence of non-negligible orbital eccentricity. We rely on 20 numerical relativity simulations, which include the complete physical effects of spin precession and eccentricity in the strong-field, and compare waveforms in both the inertial and coprecessing frames. Comparing against the eccentric, spin-aligned model SEOBNRv5EHM, we find that while the waveform mismatches decrease in the coprecessing frame, they remain above the level required for accurate waveform modeling, $\sim$ 0.01 or higher for large inclinations. Further improvements, e.g., modeling mode asymmetries as already pursued for quasicircular binaries, will likely prove essential. We also find that by removing the dominant amplitude and phase modulations from the waveform, the coprecessing frame facilitates surrogate modeling, achieving lower errors at a fixed number of basis elements compared to the inertial frame. Our results demonstrate both the utility and the limitations of the coprecessing frame as a cornerstone in waveform modeling for eccentric and precessing binaries.

We study Cosmological Einsteinian Cubic Gravity (CECG) arXiv:1810.08166v3 in the context of minisuperspace quantum cosmology. CECG is a modification of Einstein's gravity by cubic curvature terms that yield a nontrivial contribution to the dynamics of FRW backgrounds while keeping the Friedmann equations at second order. First, we study the Hamiltonian formulation of the effective one-dimensional FRW CECG action using Ostrogradski's canonical variables and Dirac's algorithm for constrained systems. Since the momentum $p_a$ conjugate to the scale factor is a polynomial of degree five in $\dot{a}$, we implement canonical transformations $(a,p_a)\to (A,P)$ that enable us to write the Hamiltonian constraint explicitly. Second, we perform the Wheeler-DeWitt quantization using the new canonical variables. Although FRW CECG has no extra degree of freedom besides the scale factor, its non-standard Hamiltonian yields a higher-derivative Wheeler-DeWitt equation. We obtain exact solutions for the spatially flat case, and WKB-type solutions for the spatially closed case. Finally, we consider a homogeneous scalar field $φ$ with inflationary potential and obtain WKB wave functions leading to strong correlations between coordinates and momenta.

We present a theoretical proposal for a hybrid solid-state quantum node based on a single nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center coupled to a topological single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) plasmonic microtoroid. The SWCNT ring supports deeply sub-wavelength whispering-gallery-like plasmonic modes that are naturally described within a Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid framework. Owing to the closed-ring topology, the cavity spectrum contains a zero-mode sector that is tunable by an external magnetic flux through an Aharonov-Bohm shift. We show that the strongly confined CNT near field can exhibit chiral spin-momentum locking, enabling the two circularly polarized NV transitions to couple selectively to clockwise and counter-clockwise cavity modes, while the parasitic linearly polarized $π$-transition is strongly suppressed by the pronounced anisotropy of the local Purcell enhancement. Based on a tripod stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP) scheme, the system can in principle map the NV spin onto a spin-photon entangled state in a deterministic manner, which is then emitted into a side-coupled tapered optical fiber as a tunable flying qubit. We derive the cavity spectrum, the chiral selection rules, the effective tripod Hamiltonian, and the open-system master equation. Quantitative estimates indicate that, under cryogenic conditions and in the overcoupled regime, high-fidelity spin-photon entanglement and in situ magnetic tuning of the emitted photon frequency are in principle achievable. We also discuss a realistic fabrication route for the CNT resonator and deterministic positioning strategies for a single NV center in the CNT near field.

We compute the entanglement entropy and the entanglement spectrum of the vacuum state in the massive Schwinger model at a finite $θ$ angle. The $θ$ term is implemented through a chirally rotated lattice Hamiltonian that preserves the periodicity in $θ$ already at the operator level and maintains the correct massless limit without $θ$-dependent lattice artifacts. We clarify the physical origin of entanglement entropy enhancement at $θ=π$ by relating it to the competition between distinct electric-flux vacuum branches. We show that the peak near $θ=π$ persists across the range of masses studied and corresponds to the point of maximal competition between distinct vacuum branches with opposite electric-field orientation, where quantum fluctuations due to fermion pair creation are maximized. While this entropy enhancement is generic, a pronounced narrowing of the entanglement gap occurs only near the critical mass ratio $m/g\simeq0.33$. Using the Bisognano--Wichmann (BW) theorem, we construct a lattice BW entanglement Hamiltonian and compare it with the exact modular Hamiltonian obtained from the reduced density matrix. We observe agreement between these Hamiltonians in the infrared sector, indicating that the entanglement Hamiltonian is well approximated by a spatially weighted microscopic Hamiltonian. These results establish entanglement observables as sensitive probes of the $θ$-dependent vacuum structure and highlight the chirally rotated formulation as a natural framework for open boundary conditions. Additionally, we discuss possible applications to entanglement in topological insulators and quantum wires.

We uncover an inconsistency in the uniform WKB quantization of deformed quantum mechanics.

We study when partial Boolean functions can (and cannot) exhibit superpolynomial quantum query speedups, and develop a general framework for ruling out such speedups via two complementary lenses: promise-aware complexity measures and function completions. First, we introduce promise versions of standard combinatorial measures (including block sensitivity and related variants) and prove that if the relevant promise and completion measures collapse, then deterministic and quantum query complexities are necessarily polynomially related, i.e., $D(f)=poly(Q(f))$. We then analyze structured families of promises, including symmetric partial functions and promises supported on Hamming slices, obtaining sharp (up to polynomial factors) characterizations in terms of a single gap parameter for the symmetric case and refined slice-dependent bounds for $k$-slice domains. Next, we formalize completion complexity as the minimum of a measure over total completions of a partial function, and show that completability of a measure captures the possibility of superpolynomial quantum speedups. Finally, we apply this viewpoint to derive broad non-speedup criteria for some classes of functions admitting well-behaved completions, such as functions with low maximum influence on both the standard and $p$-biased hypercubes and functions with efficiently identifiable domains, and then show some hardness results for general completion techniques.

A novel semiclassical gravity model proposed by Oppenheim et al., that consistently describes interactions between quantum systems and a classical gravitational field, has recently attracted considerable attention. However, the limitations and phenomenological viability of this model have not yet been thoroughly investigated. In this work, based on the model, we study quantum fluctuations of geodesic deviation coupled with a classical gravitational field. We analytically derive the strain spectrum expected from the fluctuations and show that the original Oppenheim et al. model can be tested with the current observational sensitivity of gravitational-wave experiments. Furthermore, motivated by the novel semiclassical model, we construct two additional models: a modified Oppenheim et al. model that is manifestly consistent with Einstein equation, and a classical-quantum model with environment-induced noise. We analyze the strain spectra predicted by these two models through comparison with those of the original Oppenheim et al. model and perturbative quantum gravity.

The mapping between gate voltages applied to a double quantum dot, and the parameters of a Hubbard-like Hamiltonian, is of utmost importance for understanding and operating spin qubits. State-of-the-art techniques for measuring Hamiltonian parameters (e.g., detuning axis pulsed spectroscopy, DAPS) provide details about energy levels; however, tunnel coupling estimates typically reveal only a small portion of the full Hamiltonian. Here, we demonstrate a Hamiltonian-agnostic technique for measuring the double dot energy spectrum over a wide energy range, at every value of the detuning, called delta-axis spectroscopy (DAXS). We apply the DAXS method to obtain the energy spectrum of a Si/SiGe double quantum dot and use this data to extract the diagonal and off-diagonal couplings of a 15-level Hubbard-like Hamiltonian, demonstrating very good agreement with the experimental measurements.

This paper is concerned with finite-level quantum memory systems for retaining initial dynamic variables in the presence of external quantum noise. The system variables have an algebraic structure, similar to that of the Pauli matrices, and their Heisenberg picture evolution is governed by a quasilinear quantum stochastic differential equation. The latter involves a Hamiltonian whose parameters depend affinely on a classical control signal in the form of a deterministic function of time. The memory performance is quantified by a mean-square deviation of quantum system variables of interest from their initial conditions. We relate this functional to a matrix-valued state of an auxiliary classical control-affine dynamical system. This leads to a pointwise control design where the control signal minimises the time-derivative of the mean-square deviation with an additional quadratic penalty on the control. In an alternative finite-horizon setting with a terminal-integral cost functional, we apply dynamic programming and obtain a quadratically nonlinear Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation, for which a solution is outlined in the form of a recursively computed asymptotic expansion.

We propose a dynamical protocol to generate supersolids in dipolar quantum gases by sweeping a repulsive Gaussian barrier through an incoherent quasi-one-dimensional droplet array. Supersolidity is inferred by monitoring the ensuing dynamics of the density, momentum distribution, center-of-mass motion, and superfluid fraction within the framework of the extended Gross-Pitaevskii equation with quantum corrections. A persistent superfluid background arises, atop which the crystals oscillate in unison, indicating the establishment of phase coherence. This process is accompanied by energy redistribution and the gradual transfer of higher-lying momenta toward the zero momentum mode. The dependence of the superfluid fraction on the barrier velocity and height is also elucidated evincing the parametric regions which facilitate the rise of a superfluid background. Our results pave the way for engineering supersolid generation using experimentally accessible protocols.

In this article we consider two classical problems in Quantum Mechanics, namely the 'particle on a ring' and the 'particle in a box' from the viewpoint of symplectic topology. Interpreting the solutions of the corresponding time independent Schrödinger equation as orbits in a suitably chosen time dependent Hamiltonian system allows us to investigate them using Floer theory. More precisely we extend the definition of Rabinowitz Floer homology to non-autonomous Hamiltonians on $\mathbb{R}^{2n}$ with its standard symplectic structure and show that compactness of the moduli space of J-holomorphic curves still holds. With this homology we are then able to prove existence results for energy $E$ eigenstates on the 'ring' or in the 'box' for a big range of exterior potentials.

In this work, we propose new methods of parameter estimation using stochastic sampling quantum phase-space simulations. We show that it is possible to compute the quantum Fisher information (QFI) from semiclassical stochastic samples using the Truncated Wigner Approximation (TWA). This method extends the class of quantum systems whose fundamental sensitivity limit can be computed efficiently to any system that can be modelled using the TWA, allowing the analysis of more meteorologically useful quantum states. We illustrate this approach with examples, including a system that evolves outside the spin-squeezing regime, where the method of moments fails.

Quantum Fisher information (QFI) sets the ultimate precision of optical phase measurements and reveals multiphoton entanglement, but it is not accessible with conventional photodetection. We theoretically predict that a photodetector utilizing the shot noise of the quantum-geometric shift current of exciton polaritons can directly measure the QFI of nonclassical light. By solving the Lindblad equation, we obtain the time-dependent nonlinear photocurrent for an arbitrary initial photon state. It turns out that, regardless of the quantum state of the incident light, the integrated current depends only on the mean photon number. In stark contrast, the shot noise retains the quantum information: its Fano factor is proportional to the photon number variance and therefore encodes the QFI. Numerical calculations confirm these relations for illumination with optical Schrödinger cat and squeezed vacuum states. Quantum correlations in nonclassical light, usually hidden from direct detection, become observable in the form of shift current shot noise

Nonequilibrium heat transport and quantum thermodynamics in light-matter interacting systems have received increasing attention. Quantum thermal devices, e.g., heat valve and head diode, have been realized. Recently, it has been discovered that the anisotropic light-matter interactions can greatly modify the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of hybrid quantum systems, leading to nontrivial quantum phase transitions, quantum metrology, and nonclassicality of photons. To explore the influences of anisotropic light-matter interactions on quantum transport, we investigate heat flow in the nonequilibrium anisotropic Dicke model. In this model, an ensemble of qubits collectively interacts with an anisotropic photon field. Each component interacts with bosonic thermal reservoirs. Quantum dressed master equation (DME) is included to properly study dissipative dynamics of the anisotropic Dicke model. Within the eigenbasis of the reduced anisotropic Dicke system, strong qubit-photon couplings can be properly handled. Our results demonstrate that anisotropic qubit-photon interactions are crucial for modulating steady-state heat flow. In particular, it is found that under strong coupling the heat flow is dramatically suppressed by a large anisotropic qubit-photon factor. While under moderate coupling, the anisotropic qubit-photon interactions enhance the heat flow. Moreover, the increase in the number of qubits amplifies the flow characteristics, with the peaks increasing and the valleys decreasing. Besides, we derive two analytical expressions of heat flows in thermodynamic limit approximation with limiting anisotropic factors. These heat currents exhibit the cotunneling heat transport pictures. They also serve as the upper boundaries for the heat flows in the finite-size anisotropic Dicke model. We also analyze the thermal rectification effect in the anisotropic Dicke model.

Nowadays, quantum batteries (QBs) have been designed to outperform their classical counterparts by leveraging quantum advantages. For instance, the charging power greatly benefits from the entanglement generation of a collective charging scheme (e.g., the Dicke QB), especially in the ultrastrong coupling (USC) regime or even larger. However, apart from the fragility of the QB under intrinsic decoherence effects, another critical drawback emerges inevitably. Specifically, the non-negligible counter-rotating (CR) term in the USC regime would induce coherence in the energy basis of QB, thus remarkably degrading the charging efficiency. To tackle these challenges, we propose a high-efficiency and noise-immune QB boosted by dynamical modulation. It is demonstrated that the time-varying modulation can effectively reduce the CR coupling, resulting in a notable improvement in charging efficiency. Particularly, for a judicious choice of modulation parameters that entirely eliminate the CR interaction, the Dicke QB can be charged optimally, resembling the behavior of the Tavis-Cummings QB. In the subsequent storage process, beyond the natural robustness to pure dephasing noise, our scenario is also highly resilient to the dissipation noise and thus can achieve perfect energy storage by effective bath engineering. While feasible with current experimental platforms, our proposal offers a solid foundation for the implementation of a powerful QB and may drastically promote the development of energy storage and delivery techniques in the future.

We study the isotropic emission of photons from the innermost stable circular orbit (ISCO) of a subextremal rotating black hole (BH) in asymptotic safety (AS). We calculate both the photon escape probability (PEP) and the maximum observable blueshift (MOB) of photons to reach infinity, and compare with the corresponding results for photon emission from the ISCO of a classical Kerr BH. In AS, quantum gravity effects reduce the radius of the ISCO, therefore quantum gravity effects should reduce the PEP and MOB of photons from emitters moving on the ISCO. We show that this is not the case and that, when rotating BHs with high spin are considered and the quantum parameter (which encodes the quantum gravity effects) increases towards its critical value, which is different for different spin values, the PEP and MOB also increase despite the reduction in ISCO radius. Our results on the PEP show explicitly how quantum gravity effects start to dominate over the classical background at the level of the ISCO. We also discuss the relation between these quantum gravity modifications and particular features of the shadow of a rotating BH in AS.

Photosynthetic antenna complexes achieve high quantum efficiency through exciton transport in coupled pigment networks. Conventional Frenkel-exciton models treat each chromophore as a structureless site and neglect internal electronic degrees of freedom that can influence coherence and delocalization. Here we develop an extended excitonic network model that preserves the pigment-pigment coupling topology while introducing tunable intrachromophoric electronic mixing within the single-excitation manifold. Using a Lindblad open-quantum-system framework, we quantify coherence, delocalization, and trapping efficiency across parameter space. We show that intrachromophoric mixing plays a time-dependent role: enhanced mixing on the antenna side promotes short-time coherent delocalization and improves excitation injection, whereas excessive mixing near the trapping site induces persistent delocalization and suppresses transfer efficiency. Simulated two-dimensional electronic spectra reveal enhanced cross peaks and systematic blue shifts, providing spectroscopic signatures of coherence-modulated transport. These results establish a microscopic connection between internal electronic structure and quantum transport performance in excitonic networks.

Quantum mechanical oscillators operating at frequencies up to the GHz regime have been predicted to support phonon lasing -- self-sustained coherent vibrational motion emerging when the effective gain exceeds intrinsic losses. Current phonon-laser proposals face two key limitations, namely: they lack scalability and rely on coupling all oscillators to a common field, which significantly restricts flexibility and prevents selective, on-demand phonon lasing at specific locations. Given that numerous applications and theoretical insights naturally emerge from scalable many-body systems, addressing these limitations is timely. In this Letter, we demonstrate how scalable arrays of individually addressable phonon lasers can be generated through local driving in a quantum many-body Ising-like spin chain. We rigorously establish the resonance conditions under which mechanical oscillators transition from thermal motion to sustained coherent self-oscillation. Unlike previous approaches that rely on a common coupling bus, our proposal employs purely local driving, resulting in an inherently modular and scalable architecture ideally suited for integration into large-scale quantum systems. Additionally, our approach enables on-demand lasing of individual mechanical oscillators at specific sites by simply switching the spin-mechanical coupling interaction on and off, provided specific resonance conditions are satisfied. Notably, our phonon laser array is robust against resonance mismatches and naturally exhibits both pairwise self-organized synchronization and global phase locking near resonance. Finally, we outline an experimental implementation within current experimental capabilities.

Whose world is this? The orbifold lattice has been proposed as a bridge to practical quantum simulation of Yang--Mills theory, claiming exponential speedup over all known approaches. Through analytical derivations, Monte Carlo simulation, and explicit circuit construction, we identify compounding hidden costs entirely absent in Kogut--Susskind formulations: a mass-dependent Trotter overhead that scales as $m^4$, gauge-violating dynamics that grow as $m^2$ and worsen with penalty terms, and a mandatory mass extrapolation. Monte Carlo simulations of SU(3) establish a universal scaling: the continuum limit forces $m^2 \propto 1/a$, binding the Trotter step to the lattice spacing through a cost unique to orbifolds. For a fiducial $10^3$ calculation, the orbifold is $10^4$--$10^{10}$ times more expensive than every published alternative. The bridge is not built. The gap is the foundation.

Superconducting qubits show great promise for the realization of fault-tolerant quantum computing, but lossy, amorphous dielectrics limit current technology. Identifying highly crystalline and stoichiometric dielectrics with intrinsically low microwave loss is therefore a central materials challenge, yet experimentally validated platforms remain scarce. In this work, we integrate a crystalline dielectric into a heteroepitaxial TiN/$γ$-Al$_2$O$_3$/TiN trilayer grown via pulsed laser deposition. Correlative high-resolution imaging, diffraction, and spectroscopy measurements confirm the single-crystal quality and chemical integrity of all layers, with minimal defects and limited anion interdiffusion across the oxide-nitride interfaces. Using microwave lumped-element resonators with parallel-plate capacitors, we report the first direct measurement of the dielectric loss of epitaxial $γ$-Al$_2$O$_3$, for which we find a low intrinsic two-level system loss, $δ_{\text{TLS}}^0 = (2.8 \pm 0.1) \times 10^{-5}$. These results establish heteroepitaxial oxides on transition metal nitrides as an attractive materials platform for superconducting quantum circuits, particularly for integration into compact device architectures such as merged-element transmons and microwave kinetic inductance detectors.

The imitative verb "chirp" is thought to originate from 16th-century Middle English. Meanwhile, this same word has been used to describe the gravitational waves (GWs) emitted from the merger of compact objects, such as black holes and neutron stars, since at least the 1990s. Motivated purely by this linguistic overlap, we study whether the chirps of birds can be modeled by compact binary waveforms. In particular, we consider a test case of the Northern cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis), finding that its time-reversed chirp can be approximately modeled by that of a high mass ratio, precessing black hole binary, with a number of indications towards extreme matter effects or beyond the Standard Model physics. Importantly, this waveform correspondence is not so straightforward for all bird species, as some chirp morphologies are far more akin to glitches seen in GW observatories. With these comparisons made, we propose an alternative solution to the longstanding philosophical conundrum: rather than the chicken or the egg, perhaps it was the Big Bang which truly came first.

Quantum mechanics has been subject to logical scrutiny since its inception. The behavior of quantum systems, which are fundamentally dissimilar from classical systems, often appears to point to a logical inconsistency in quantum mechanics, allegedly leading to contradictions in the prediction of experimental measurements--though such contradictions have never materialized. A recent example of this type of inquiry into the logical well-posedness of quantum mechanics is the Frauchiger-Renner Gedankenexperiment, which purports to demonstrate that quantum mechanics is logically inconsistent. In this article, we show that by considering the property of contextuality in quantum systems--as predicted by the Kochen-Specker theorem--the supposed contradiction proposed by Frauchiger and Renner becomes logically inaccessible.

Multiple formation pathways have been proposed for the origin of binary black holes (BBHs). These include isolated binary evolution and dynamical assembly in dense stellar environments such as nuclear or globular star clusters. Yet, the fraction of BBHs originating from each channel still remains uncertain. One way to constrain this fraction is by investigating the distribution of the orbital eccentricities of the BH coalescences detected by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK) Collaboration. In this work, we analyze 85 BBHs from the first part of the fourth LVK observing run (O4a) using a multipolar, eccentric, aligned-spin effective-one-body waveform model. We perform parameter inference with neural posterior estimation and nested sampling. After incorporating astrophysical prior odds and comparing to the quasicircular precessing-spin hypothesis, we find that no candidates reach a high enough statistical significance to claim a confident detection of eccentricity. We use these upper limits to explore a particular model, in which all O4a BBHs originate from single-single gravitational wave (GW) captures. We perform hierarchical inference on the velocity dispersion of the host environment and find $σ< 24.3\,\mathrm{km/s}$ (95% credible upper bound). This disfavors single-single capture in nuclear star clusters (~20-200 km/s) as the dominant source of all observed BBH mergers. We verify that this dispersion bound does not increase by repeating the inference on a synthetic catalog augmented with eccentric events motivated by analyses of the third observing run of the LVK (O3). Our results place improved constraints on the number of eccentric BBHs and highlight the importance of eccentricity measurements in disentangling compact-binary formation channels in current and future GW detectors.

Hybrid quantum-classical machine learning offers a promising direction for advancing automated quality control in industrial settings. In this study, we investigate two hybrid quantum-classical approaches for classifying defects in aluminium TIG welding images and benchmarking their performance against a conventional deep learning model. A convolutional neural network is used to extract compact and informative feature vectors from weld images, effectively reducing the higher-dimensional pixel space to a lower-dimensional feature space. Our first quantum approach encodes these features into quantum states using a parameterized quantum feature map composed of rotation and entangling gates. We compute a quantum kernel matrix from the inner products of these states, defining a linear system in a higher-dimensional Hilbert space corresponding to the support vector machine (SVM) optimization problem and solving it using a Variational Quantum Linear Solver (VQLS). We also examine the effect of the quantum kernel condition number on classification performance. In our second method, we apply angle encoding to the extracted features in a variational quantum circuit and use a classical optimizer for model training. Both quantum models are tested on binary and multiclass classification tasks and the performance is compared with the classical CNN model. Our results show that while the CNN model demonstrates robust performance, hybrid quantum-classical models perform competitively. This highlights the potential of hybrid quantum-classical approaches for near-term real-world applications in industrial defect detection and quality assurance.

In a companion paper we derived a unique time-reversal-invariant stochastic generalization of the Liouville equation and showed that it coincides with the evolution equation for the Husimi $Q$-function in a broad class of bosonic quantum field theories. Here we investigate the prospects for interpreting that evolution equation in terms of underlying stochastic trajectories. Drawing on Drummond's time-symmetric stochastic action formalism, we show that the traceless diffusion Fokker-Planck equation defines a natural measure over stochastic trajectories conditional on mixed-time boundary conditions. However, we identify a significant gap: it has not been established that every $Q$-function can be represented as a weighted average of these conditional probabilities over boundary values. The trajectory interpretation holds for ensembles with fixed boundary conditions but does not straightforwardly extend to arbitrary quantum states. Despite this limitation, we show that Drummond's trajectory dynamics are fundamentally non-Markovian -- a natural consequence of combining stochasticity with time-reversal invariance. This non-Markovianity places the dynamics outside the scope of the ontological models framework and thereby explains why the major no-go theorems for hidden-variable theories do not rule out the approach. These results clarify both the achievements and the remaining challenges in the project of understanding quantum field theory as the statistical mechanics of time-symmetric stochastic processes.

Horizon fluxes of energy and angular momentum are a key strong-field effect in the dynamics of black holes, encoding direct information about their nature. In this work, we present a numerical study of these fluxes for a test particle orbiting a Kerr black hole on equatorial geodesics, covering circular, eccentric, and hyperbolic trajectories across a wide range of orbital parameters and black hole spins. We reproduce known results for circular orbits and uncover a richer phenomenology for eccentric and hyperbolic ones: the instantaneous fluxes can exhibit multiple peaks and sign changes, indicating a complex interplay between superradiant and non-superradiant regimes. We then compare these results against existing analytical post-Newtonian expressions, exploring resummation strategies to improve their performance against numerical data. In particular, we propose a factorized and resummed representation of the horizon fluxes that predicts the onset frequency of the superradiant regime to within $10\%$ for $\gtrsim 73\%$ of configurations for both the energy and angular momentum fluxes. This representation exactly reduces to the circular limit by construction, independently of the perturbative order of the remaining analytical terms. For peak and orbit-averaged fluxes, the analytical models achieve acceptable accuracy -- with relative errors at the $10\%$ level or below -- at large separations and low eccentricities. However, they can exhibit deviations of $\sim \mathcal{O}(100\%)$ in the strong-field regime, motivating the need for improved flux prescriptions and further investigations.

It's a bit tedious, but as John Doe and Jean Roe have insisted on offering further comments on our comprehensive refutation of the former's already tiringly obstinate advances, we feel compelled to review their not even wrong opinions once again, hoping to put some sense back into the discourse.

Bell inequalities characterize the boundary of the local-realist correlation polytope -- the set of joint probability distributions achievable by classical hidden-variable models. Quantum mechanics exceeds this boundary through non-commutativity, reaching the Tsirelson bound $2\sqrt{2}$ for CHSH. We show that this polytope structure is not specific to quantum foundations: it appears identically in the causal inference literature, where the instrumental inequality, the Balke--Pearl linear programming bounds, and the Tian--Pearl probabilities of causation all arise as facets of the same marginal compatibility polytope. Fine's theorem -- that CHSH inequalities hold if and only if a joint distribution exists -- is precisely the pivot: the instrumental variable model in causal inference is structurally equivalent to the Bell local hidden-variable model, with the instrument playing the role of the measurement setting and the latent confounder playing the role of the hidden variable $λ$. We develop this correspondence in detail, extending it to algorithmic (Kolmogorov complexity) and entropic formulations of Bell inequalities, the NPA semidefinite programming hierarchy, and the MIP$^*$=RE undecidability result. We further show that the Born-rule / Bayes-rule duality underlying quantum Bayesian computation exploits the same non-commutativity that enables Bell violation, providing polynomial speedups for posterior inference. The framework yields a concrete dictionary between quantum information theory, causal econometrics, and Bayesian computation, and suggests new directions including NPA-based quantum causal inference algorithms and quantum architectures for function approximation.

The heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems serving the experimental halls of the Virgo gravitational wave interferometer generate low-frequency noise - namely below 100 Hz - of seismic, acoustic, and electromagnetic origin. Such disturbances have repeatedly affected the interferometer sensitivity throughout its operational history, with particularly notable impacts during the third observing run. In preparation for the fourth run, a comprehensive investigation was carried out to identify the most critical noise sources within this infrastructure and to trace their transmission paths into the experimental areas. This manuscript presents the methodology and results of the noise characterization campaign, together with the design, implementation and assessment of targeted mitigation measures. The technical solutions adopted, along with the operational best practices developed, provide valuable guidance for the design of low-noise environments in future gravitational-wave observatories.

Neutral atom quantum computers (NAQCs) have emerged as a promising platform for solving the maximum weighted independent set (MWIS) problem. However, analog quantum approaches face two key limitations: constraints of the atomic layout on realizable graph geometries and the absence of performance guarantees. We introduce Lp-Quts, a hybrid quantum-classical framework that integrates an NAQC sampler into a classical cutting-plane algorithm. At each iteration, a relaxed linear program (RLP) bounds the MWIS and induces a reduced graph from which independent sets are sampled using an analog quantum sampler. A novel sample-informed separation problem guides odd-cycle cut selection and accelerates convergence. For t-perfect graphs, Lp-Quts inherits polynomial-time convergence guarantees from the classical theory of cutting planes. We evaluate our approach on instances with up to 300 vertices -- a scale that exceeds the capabilities of current NAQC hardware. In this regime, Lp-Quts reaches solutions within 5--10\% of optimality, outperforming direct analog quantum protocols and greedy baselines under equal sampling budgets. As expected, simulated annealing remains the strongest sample-based solver at this scale. These results demonstrate how quantum samplers can be effectively embedded within classical optimization frameworks to deliver near-optimal solutions with reduced quantum resources while preserving formal guarantees.

We introduce a numerical tensor-network method to compute the statistics of the charge transferred across an interface partitioning an interacting one-dimensional many-body lattice system with $U(1)$ symmetry. Our approach is based on a matrix-product state representation of the process tensor (also known as influence functional or influence matrix) describing the effect of the bulk system on the degrees of freedom at the interface, allowing us to evaluate a multi-time correlation function that yields the moment-generating function of charge transfer. We develop a scheme to truncate non-Markovian correlations which preserves the proper normalization of the process tensor and ensures the correct physical properties of the generating function. We benchmark our approach by simulating magnetization transport within the Heisenberg spin-$1/2$ XXZ brickwork circuit model at infinite temperature. Our results recover the correct transport exponent describing ballistic, superdiffusive, and diffusive transport in different regimes of the model. We also demonstrate anomalous transport encoded by a self-similar scaling form of the moment-generating function outside of the ballistic regime. In particular, we confirm the breakdown of Kardar-Parisi-Zhang universality in higher-order transport cumulants at the isotropic point. Our work paves the way for process-tensor descriptions of non-Markovian open quantum systems to address current fluctuations in strongly interacting systems far from equilibrium.

We prove annealed central limit theorems for finite pattern counts in the measurement record of discrete-time quantum trajectories generated by repeated measurements in a disordered environment. Under summable mixing assumptions on the environment and an annealed trace-norm forgetting property for the associated non-selective channel cocycle, we first establish the CLT under the annealed law determined by the dynamically stationary state. This part applies to general disordered quantum instruments and, in particular, is not restricted to the perfect-measurement regime; it complements both the corresponding law of large numbers for disordered measurement records and the homogeneous central limit theorem. We then introduce a coupling-based notion of admissibility for initial states and show that the same Gaussian limit extends to every admissible initial law, with unchanged centering and asymptotic variance. In the perfect-measurement setting, we further identify a general condition ensuring admissibility for every initial state, and hence obtain a universal annealed central limit theorem. We also provide practical sufficient criteria for this condition and verify the assumptions across a broad family of examples, including disordered walk-type models generated by finite group actions

Non-Hermitian operators naturally arise in the description of open quantum systems, which exhibit features such as resonances and decay processes, where the associated eigenvalues are complex. Standard quantum algorithms, including the Variational Quantum Eigensolver (VQE), are designed for Hermitian operators and are ineffective in recovering correct eigenvalues for non-Hermitian matrices. We present a systematic formulation based on a Real Variance-based Variational Quantum Eigensolver (RVVQE) for non-Hermitian operators. A correct cost function that guarantees convergence to the true eigenstates is identified. Our implementation utilizes Hermitian measurements only, rendering the algorithm easily deliverable. The performance and scalability of the proposed algorithm on a hierarchy of dense non-Hermitian matrices of increasing dimension are demonstrated with numerical results and computational metrics.

The rapid growth of machine learning is increasingly constrained by the energy and bandwidth limits of classical hardware. Optical and quantum technologies offer an alternative route, enabling high-dimensional, parallel information processing directly in the physical layer, particularly suited for imaging tasks. In this context, quantum photonic platforms provide both a natural mechanism for computing inner products and a promising path to energy-efficient inference in photon-limited regimes. Here, we experimentally demonstrate a camera-free quantum-optical images classifier that performs inference directly at the measurement layer using Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) interference of spatially programmable single photons. Two-photon coincidences directly report the overlap between an input image mode and a learned template, replacing pixel-resolved acquisition with a single global measurement. We realize both a single-perceptron quantum optical neuron and a two-neuron shallow network, achieving high accuracy on benchmark datasets with strong robustness to experimental noise and minimal hardware complexity. With a fixed measurement budget, performance remains insensitive to input resolution, demonstrating intrinsic robustness to the number of pixels, which would be impossible in a classical framework. This approach paves the way toward neuromorphic quantum photonic processors capable of extracting task-relevant information directly from HOM interference, with promising applications in remote object recognition, low-signal sensing, and photon-starved biological microscopy.

The $1+1$ dimensional $\mathbb Z_2$ gauge theory is the simplest model that allows for quantum simulation to probe the fundamental aspects of a gauge theory coupled with dynamical fermions. To reliably benchmark such a system, it is crucial to understand the non-unitary quantum dynamics arising from the underlying non-Hermitian evolution and to model the effects of quantum measurements. This work focuses on measuring physical observables for a $\mathbb Z_2$ gauge theory. Tensor network calculations are performed to probe the effect of measurement for larger lattice sizes (up to 256-site systems). Using Matrix Product State calculations, the dynamics of entanglement entropy are studied as a function of the measurement rate and the coupling constant. We find that, under both local and non-local measurements, the late-time saturation value of the bipartite entanglement entropy remains independent of system size, indicating the absence of a measurement-induced phase transition in the no-click limit.

This is the first part of a series of papers deriving the precise, late-time behaviour and (in)stability properties of charged scalar fields on near-extremal Reissner--Nordström spacetimes via energy estimates. In this paper, we establish global, weighted integrated energy decay and energy boundedness estimates for solutions to the charged scalar field equation on (near-)extremal Reissner--Nordström(--de Sitter) spacetimes. These estimates extend to Reissner--Nordström spacetimes away from extremality under the assumption of mode stability on the real axis. Together with the companion paper [Gaj26], this paper forms the first global quantitative analysis of the charged scalar field equation on asymptotically flat black hole spacetimes, without a smallness assumption on the scalar field charge. Due to a coupling of the degeneration of the red-shift effect with the presence of superradiance at the linearized level, charged scalar fields on Reissner--Nordström spacetimes also probe some of the main difficulties encountered when studying the (neutral) wave equation on extremal Kerr spacetimes.

We present exact, closed-form results for the non-stabilizerness of random pure states subject to a U(1) symmetry constraint. Using stabilizer entropy as our non-stabilizerness monotone, we derive the average and the variance for U(1)-constrained Haar random states. We show that the presence of a conserved charge leads to a substantial suppression of non-stabilizerness (magic) compared to the unconstrained case, and identify a qualitative difference between entanglement and magic response. In the thermodynamic limit, stabilizer entropy exhibits a different leading-order scaling close to a vanishing relative charge density, implying that magic is more robust to charge density fluctuations than entanglement entropy. We test our analytical predictions against midspectrum eigenstates of two chaotic many-body systems with conserved $U(1)$ charge: the complex-fermion Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (cSYK) model and a Heisenberg XXZ chain with next-to-nearest-neighbour couplings and conserved magnetization. We find an excellent agreement for the non-local cSYK model and systematic deviations for the local XXZ chain, highlighting the role of interaction locality.

In this paper we propose a totally serious algorithm to solve NP problems in polynomial time provided one is willing to wager the fate of all observers in the universe on the many-world interpretation of quantum theory being correct.

We demonstrate that a future precision $ee$ Higgs factory would be able to perform a spacetime-resolved test of quantum nonlocality in Higgs boson decays. In simulated $ee\rightarrow ZH \rightarrow (μμ)(ττ)$ events at $\sqrt{s}=240$ GeV, we reconstruct $τ$ lepton decay vertices and measure spin correlations as a function of the spacetime interval between the two $τ$ decays. Such a measurement would be able to test Bell-inequality-violating correlations for spacelike-separated decays, enabling direct exclusion of superluminal, finite-speed entanglement signaling theories. With 0.75 ab$^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity, entanglement signal propagation speeds below $\approx2c$ can be excluded at 95$\%$ CL. Signals establishing any spin correlation can be excluded for speeds below $\approx9c$. This constitutes the first proposed spacetime-resolved measurement of electroweak quantum entanglement at a particle collider and demonstrates a unique capability of future Higgs factories.

Dense concentrations of dark matter (DM) surrounding black holes provide a compelling opportunity to probe the nature of DM. In the classic Gondolo-Silk model, the adiabatic growth of a massive black hole (MBH) in a DM cusp produces a steep density spike ($ρ\propto r^{-7/3}$), potentially inducing measurable gravitational-wave dephasings in intermediate and extreme mass-ratio inspirals (IMRIs/EMRIs). We challenge this paradigm by considering a collisionless spike embedded in a realistic nuclear star cluster (NSC). Using 1D orbit-averaged Fokker-Planck (FP) simulations of isotropic NSCs, we show that mass segregation in a multi-mass stellar cusp accelerates relaxation, relative to single-mass models, thereby driving the DM to the lower density $r^{-3/2}$ Bahcall-Wolf profile within $\lesssim 1 \mathrm{Gyr}$. In the inner regions, where the FP description breaks down, we model strong triple interactions between DM particles and EMRIs using post-Newtonian 3-body simulations. We show that EMRIs eject DM particles via slingshots, depleting the inner spike over a few Gyrs. Because EMRI number densities are too low to drive two-body relaxation, and collisionless DM cannot efficiently repopulate the depleted phase space, this depletion is irreversible. While the extent of EMRI-induced depletion depends on the EMRI rate and mass, we find reductions in DM densities by several orders of magnitude. Hence, DM-induced dephasings for EMRIs may fall below the detectability threshold of LISA for MBHs at $z = 3$ (2.14 Gyr) with masses $\lesssim 10^{5}\,M_\odot$ (for an $\mathcal{O}(10) \, \mathrm{Gyr}^{-1}$ EMRI rate), extending to $\lesssim 10^6\,M_\odot$ for more optimistic rates of $\mathcal{O}(300-1000) \, \mathrm{Gyr}^{-1}$. Our findings substantially reduce the parameter space over which MBHs can host detectable collisionless DM spikes.

This is the second part of a series of papers deriving the precise, late-time behaviour and (in)stability properties of charged scalar fields on near-extremal Reissner--Nordström spacetimes via energy estimates. In this paper, we use purely physical-space based methods to establish the precise late-time behaviour of solutions to the charged scalar field equation in the form of oscillating and decaying late-time tails that satisfy inverse-power laws, assuming global integrated energy decay estimates, which are proved in the companion paper [Gaj26]. This paper provides the first pointwise decay estimates for charged scalar fields on black hole backgrounds without an assumption of smallness of the scalar field charge. We also prove the existence of asymptotic instabilities for the radiation field along future null infinity and, in the extremal case, also along the future event horizon. Both the energy methods and the precise late-time asymptotics derived in this paper are expected to play an important role in future nonlinear studies of black hole dynamics in the context of the spherically symmetric (Einstein--)Maxwell--charged scalar field equations, as well as in the context of extremal Kerr spacetimes.

Gravitational waves may set the spin frequencies of neutron stars in low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs). One mechanism for facilitating such emission is the formation of a mass asymmetry - or 'mountain' - supported by elastic strains driven by thermal gradients. Most studies have focused either on the origin of the elastic strains or the temperature asymmetry in isolation, and have not considered the entire formation process. In previous work, we showed that anisotropic heat transport in magnetised accreting neutron stars can source a significant temperature asymmetry, and made rough estimates that suggested temperature-induced perturbations in the pressure supplied by the crustal lattice may be competitive with the widely known model of temperature-induced capture-layer shifts. In this paper we carry out detailed calculations to properly explore this scenario. We self-consistently calculate both the temperature asymmetries, the perturbations in crustal lattice pressure, and the mass asymmetries within a single framework. For the first time, we make use of the set of realistic equations of state from the Brussels-Montreal nuclear energy-density functionals BSk19, BSk20, and BSk21 which describe all regions of accreting neutron stars in a thermodynamically consistent, unified way. We find these mountains are too small to be dictating the spin-equilibrium of LMXBs, and estimate the level of gravitational wave emission they produce.

Syndrome extraction in the planar color code is complicated by high weight stabilizers and hook errors that can reduce the circuit-level distance. With a single auxiliary qubit per plaquette, any spatially uniform circuit halves the circuit-level distance. We propose a single-auxiliary syndrome extraction circuit with color-dependent gate schedules that avoids all malign hook errors in the bulk, thereby preserving the full circuit-level distance. The circuit has minimal depth: all stabilizers of the same Pauli type are measured in parallel in six time steps. Furthermore, this schedule can be readily applied to the XYZ color code circuit, yielding an improved temporal distance. We find that at the boundary, no single hook error alone reduces the distance; instead, only certain combinations of hook errors do, which we call fractional hook errors. We demonstrate through Monte Carlo simulations over a range of circuit-level noise models and physical error rates that our circuit outperforms the previous state of the art.

Black hole thermodynamics in Lorentz-violating gravity is subtle because different excitations propagate at different speeds and hence identify different causal horizons. We revisit Einstein--AEther gravity using the covariant phase space formalism with boundaries and derive a consistent first law for stationary black holes. For a mode of propagation speed $c_s$, we introduce a disformal frame in which the corresponding causal horizon is a Killing horizon, so that the standard Wald-type derivation can be carried out. The result is then mapped back to the original frame, where it mantains the same structure. The associated horizon charge contains, besides the usual Komar term, an irreducible entropic AEther contribution that can be interpreted as heat due to the AEther flux across the horizon; accordingly, the total entropy splits into a gravitational part and an AEther part. We further develop an extended-thermodynamics framework in which the couplings of the theory are allowed to vary, obtaining generalized Smarr relations. Finally, we analyze the probe-mode limit $c_s \to +\infty$, clarifying its connection to universal-horizon thermodynamics and resolving the apparent tension in the literature between approaches that (i) fix the entropy to be proportional to the area and infer a corresponding temperature, and (ii) impose the Hawking temperature associated with modes peeling from the universal horizon and infer the entropy. Once the independent AEther contribution is properly taken into account, the two prescriptions are reconciled.

In one dimension, strongly correlated gapless systems are highly constrained due to conformal invariance, leading to the decoupling of low energy degrees of freedom corresponding to different symmetry sectors. The most familiar example of this is spin-charge separation. Here, we extend this mechanism to the non-Hermitian realm by demonstrating that skin effects corresponding to different symmetry sectors exhibit an emergent decoupling. We establish this for $N$ flavor fermions and demonstrate it numerically for the special case of the Hubbard model, in which spin and charge skin effects separate at low energies. Finally, we construct an interaction-enabled $E_8$ skin effect with no free fermion counterpart.

This whitepaper seeks to elucidate implications that the capabilities of developing quantum architectures have on blockchain vulnerabilities and mitigation strategies. First, we provide new resource estimates for breaking the 256-bit Elliptic Curve Discrete Logarithm Problem, the core of modern blockchain cryptography. We demonstrate that Shor's algorithm for this problem can execute with either <1200 logical qubits and <90 million Toffoli gates or <1450 logical qubits and <70 million Toffoli gates. In the interest of responsible disclosure, we use a zero-knowledge proof to validate these results without disclosing attack vectors. On superconducting architectures with 1e-3 physical error rates and planar connectivity, those circuits can execute in minutes using fewer than half a million physical qubits. We introduce a critical distinction between fast-clock (such as superconducting and photonic) and slow-clock (such as neutral atom and ion trap) architectures. Our analysis reveals that the first fast-clock CRQCs would enable on-spend attacks on public mempool transactions of some cryptocurrencies. We survey major cryptocurrency vulnerabilities through this lens, identifying systemic risks associated with advanced features in some blockchains such as smart contracts, Proof-of-Stake consensus, and Data Availability Sampling, as well as the enduring concern of abandoned assets. We argue that technical solutions would benefit from accompanying public policy and discuss various frameworks of digital salvage to regulate the recovery or destruction of dormant assets while preventing adversarial seizure. We also discuss implications for other digital assets and tokenization as well as challenges and successful examples of the ongoing transition to Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC). Finally, we urge all vulnerable cryptocurrency communities to join the ongoing migration to PQC without delay.

We report on a universal topological dichroism of chiral three-dimensional systems in response to the chirality of light. We show that chiral topological invariants result in integer-quantized dichroic excitation rate differences. Moreover, we demonstrate that such topological effects arise more generally from coupling optical chirality to higher tensor Berry curvatures and Dixmier-Douady invariants of quantum states, including Hopf indices. We finally propose an experimental setup that leverages superchiral light as a smoking-gun probe of chiral band topologies in three-dimensional materials. Our findings establish an optical route for probing to date unobserved chiral electronic band topologies.

In this work, we investigate the structure of black hole shadows in the bumblebee gravity model formulated within the metric-affine framework, which incorporates spontaneous Lorentz symmetry breaking (LSB) through a vector field $B_μ$ with a non-zero vacuum expectation value. We analyze the influence of the dimensionless rotation parameter $a = J/M$ and the Lorentz-violating (LV) coefficient $X = ξb^2$ on the photon sphere radius, the critical impact parameter, and the shadow morphology. Using ray-tracing simulations with the GYOTO code and accretion disks, we observe that increasing values of $X$ induce progressive vertical flattening, asymmetric ``teardrop''-shaped deformations, and local collapse of the lower silhouette region, interacting with the rotational Doppler effect. These anisotropic signatures distinguish the bumblebee model from the standard Kerr metric and provide observational tests for LV effects in strong gravity regimes, potentially detectable by the Event Horizon Telescope in sources such as M87* and Sgr A*.

Quantum coherence, as a direct manifestation of the quantum superposition principle, is a crucial resource in quantum information processing. Block coherence resource theory generalizes the traditional coherence framework by defining coherence via a set of orthogonal projectors. Within this framework, we investigates the construction and comparison of block coherence measures. First, we propose two universal methods for constructing coherence measures and introduce a two-parameter family of measures based on the $α$-$z$ Rényi relative entropy and a family of measures based on the Tsallis relative operator entropy. Second, through theoretical proofs and numerical counterexamples, we compares the ordering relations and numerical magnitudes among different block coherence measures and establishes a series of universal numerical inequalities to constrain their values. Besides, we also use $C_{α,1}$ to show the role of coherence in complex dynamic evolution of the Kominis master equation that includes recombination reactions.

Quantum optomechanical STIRAP (Stimulated Raman Adiabatic Passage) is investigated for a system of two mechanical modes coupled to an optical mode. We show analytically that in a system without loss, fractional STIRAP can generate a mechanical Bell state from a single phonon Fock state of one of the mechanical modes with the other mechanical mode in the vacuum state, and a product state from a coherent state. Relative phases between Fock basis components in the final state of STIRAP are determined by the phonon-number parity of the initial state. Furthermore, the system is numerically studied to determine the effects of dissipation, and it is concluded that high-fidelity entanglement can be achieved via fractional STIRAP using state-of-the-art cryogenic cooling and mechanical devices. Finally, an interferometric protocol using time-reversed fractional STIRAP is proposed to quantify entanglement between two mechanical modes.

Gravitational-wave displacement memory is a remarkable and ubiquitous phenomenon predicted by general relativity, which has not yet been detected. Unlike the oscillatory components of gravitational waveforms, displacement memory is associated with soft gravitons, making it the only observable signal of its parent event at sufficiently low frequencies. Similarly, soft waveforms may arise from velocity and integrated-displacement memory. The simple and universal spectral shapes of soft waveforms also provide effective templates for matched filtering and parameter estimation. In this paper, we systematically investigate the detection prospects for such soft memory signals with future space-based laser interferometers. As realistic examples, we examine the infrared spectral features of gravitational waves from moderately relativistic compact binary scattering and quasi-circular, non-precessing black hole mergers. In both cases, the low-frequency spectrum can be described by a soft waveform of displacement memory with a real correction factor. The results of simulated Bayesian parameter estimation demonstrate that independent measurement of a soft displacement-memory signal with a single LISA-like detector is achievable at signal-to-noise ratios $\gtrsim 10$. The measurement precision can be significantly improved by joint observations with a LISA-Taiji network. A single BBO detector would be capable of separately measuring the null memory from stellar-mass compact binary mergers. We also evaluate the detectability of an idealized stochastic background of soft displacement-memory signals. Our results indicate that gravitational-wave bursts with memory can be promising targets for space-based interferometers.

Quantum metric learning enhances machine learning by mapping classical data to a quantum Hilbert space with maximal separation between classes. However, on current NISQ hardware, this mapping process itself is prone to errors and could be fundamentally incorrect. Verifying that a quantum embedding model successfully achieves its promised separation is essential to ensure the correctness and reliability. In this paper, we propose a practical black-box verification protocol to audit the performance of quantum metric learning models. We define a setting with two parties: a powerful but untrusted prover, who claims to have a parameterized unitary circuit that embeds classical data from different groups with a guaranteed angular separation, and a limited verifier, whose quantum capabilities are restricted to performing only basic measurements. The verifier has no knowledge of the implementation of the prover, including the structure of the model, its parameters, or the details of the prover measurement setup. To verify the separation between different data groups, the proposed algorithm must overcome two key challenges. First, the verifier is ignorant of the prover's implementation details, such as the optimization cost function and measurement setup. Consequently, the verifier lacks any prior information about the expected quantum embedding states for each group. Second, the destructive nature of quantum measurements prevents direct estimation of the separation angles. Our algorithm successfully overcomes these challenges, enabling the verifier to accurately estimate the true separation angles between the different groups. We implemented the proposed protocol and deployed it to verify the QAOAEmbedding models. The results from both theoretical analysis and practical implementation show that our proposal effectively assesses embedding quality and remains robust in adversarial settings.

The Sourlas-Lechner-Hauke-Zoller (SLHZ) scheme for quantum annealing uses the parity to encode logical variables and has several advantages, but it has not been implemented for large-scale quantum annealers. If the SLHZ-based approach can be implemented on currently available quantum annealers, we can evaluate its performance. An efficient method to embed the parity-encoded model into the hardware graphs of available quantum annealers is one of the key elements for this approach. We propose a qubit-efficient embedding scheme for parity-encoded Hamiltonians on quantum annealers with the Zephyr connectivity. We give an explicit constructive embedding of the interaction graph of an intermediate Hamiltonian, which contains only one- and two-body interactions, into the Zephyr graph. Our embedding maps each spin to a two-qubit chain using systematic chain-assignment rules. Its validity is verified via the resulting chain-to-chain connectivity. Our embedding also offers practical flexibility. Chains assigned to ancillary spins allow reduction to a single physical qubit, leading to options to avoid inactive qubits. The number of required qubits per spin in the parity Hamiltonian is three, which is fewer than that for a known embedding scheme for the Pegasus graph.

Quantum trajectories are Markov chains modeling quantum systems subjected to repeated indirect measurements. Their stationary regime depends on what observables are measured on the probes used to indirectly measure the system. In this article we explore the properties of quantum trajectories when the choice of probe observable is randomized. The randomization induces some regularization of the quantum trajectories. We show that non-singular randomization ensures that quantum trajectories purify and therefore accept a unique invariant probability measure. We furthermore study the regularity of that invariant measure. In that endeavour, we introduce a new notion of ergodicity for quantum channels, which we call multiplicative primitivity. It is a priory stronger than primitivity but weaker than positivity improving. Finally, we compute some invariant measures for canonical quantum channels and explore the limits of our assumptions with several examples.

In light of major developments over the past decades in both quantum computing and simulations on classical hardware, it is a serious challenge to identify a real-world problem where quantum advantage is expected to appear. In quantum chemistry, electronic structure calculations of strongly correlated, i.e. multi-reference problems, are often argued to fall into such category because of their intractability with standard methods based on mean-field theory. Therefore, providing state-of-the-art benchmark data by classical algorithms is necessary to make a decisive conclusion when such competing development directions are compared. We report cutting-edge performance results together with high accuracy ground state energy for the Fe$_4$S$_4$ molecular cluster on a CAS(54,36) model space, a problem that has been included quite recently among the list of systems in the {\it Quantum Advantage Tracker} webpage maintained by IBM and RIKEN. Pushing the limits even further, we also present CAS-SCF based orbital optimizations for unprecedented CAS sizes of up to 89 electrons in 102 orbitals [CAS(89,102)] for the Fe$_5$S$_{12}$H$_4^{5-}$ molecular system comprising twenty five open shell orbitals in its sextet ground state and an active spaces size of 331 electrons in 451 orbitals. We have achieved our results via mixed-precision spin-adapted \textit{ab initio} Density Matrix Renormalization Group (DMRG) electronic structure calculations interfaced with the ORCA program package and utilizing the NVIDIA Blackwell graphics processing unit (GPU) platform. We argue that DMRG benchmark data should be taken as a classical reference when quantum advantage is reported. In addition, full exploitation of classical hardware should also be considered since even the most advanced DMRG implementations are still in a premature stage regarding utilization of all the benefits of GPU technology.

As neural networks are known to efficiently represent classes of tensor-network states as well as volume-law-entangled states, identifying which properties determine the representational capabilities of neural quantum states (NQS) remains an open question. We construct NQS representations of ground states of medium-mass atomic nuclei, which typically exhibit significant entanglement and non-stabilizerness, to study their performance in relation to the quantum complexity of the target state. Leveraging a second-quantized formulation of NQS tailored for nuclear-physics applications, we perform calculations in active orbital spaces using a restricted Boltzmann machine (RBM), a prototypical NQS ansatz. For a fixed number of configurations, we find that states with larger non-stabilizerness are systematically harder to learn, as evidenced by reduced accuracy. This finding suggests that non-stabilizerness is a primary factor governing the compression and representational efficiency of RBMs in entangled regimes, and motivates extending these studies to more sophisticated network architectures.

We introduce a novel reformulation of three-dimensional gravity in terms of divergenceless vector frames, inspired by the double copy for Chern-Simons theory. This formulation is on-shell equivalent to conventional 3D gravity and provides a transparent geometric interpretation of the double-copy construction. We relate the resulting theory to a Chern-Simons-like action, propose a higher-dimensional origin, and explore extensions that give rise to $AdS_3$

Quantum computers have the potential to perform computational tasks beyond the reach of classical machines. A prominent example is Shor's algorithm for integer factorization and discrete logarithms, which is of both fundamental importance and practical relevance to cryptography. However, due to the high overhead of quantum error correction, optimized resource estimates for cryptographically relevant instances of Shor's algorithm require millions of physical qubits. Here, by leveraging advances in high-rate quantum error-correcting codes, efficient logical instruction sets, and circuit design, we show that Shor's algorithm can be executed at cryptographically relevant scales with as few as 10,000 reconfigurable atomic qubits. Increasing the number of physical qubits improves time efficiency by enabling greater parallelism; under plausible assumptions, the runtime for discrete logarithms on the P-256 elliptic curve could be just a few days for a system with 26,000 physical qubits, while the runtime for factoring RSA-2048 integers is one to two orders of magnitude longer. Recent neutral-atom experiments have demonstrated universal fault-tolerant operations below the error-correction threshold, computation on arrays of hundreds of qubits, and trapping arrays with more than 6,000 highly coherent qubits. Although substantial engineering challenges remain, our theoretical analysis indicates that an appropriately designed neutral-atom architecture could support quantum computation at cryptographically relevant scales. More broadly, these results highlight the capability of neutral atoms for fault-tolerant quantum computing with wide-ranging scientific and technological applications.

We propose Quantum Riemannian Hamiltonian Descent (QRHD), a quantum algorithm for continuous optimization on Riemannian manifolds that extends Quantum Hamiltonian Descent (QHD) by incorporating geometric structure of the parameter space via a position-dependent metric in the kinetic term. We formulate QRHD at both operator and path integral formalisms and derive the corresponding quantum equations of motion, showing that quantum corrections appear in the action integral but they are suppressed at late times by the time-dependent dissipation factor. This implies that convergence near optimal points is controlled by the classical potential while quantum effects influence early-time dynamics. By analyzing the semiclassical equation, we estimate a lower bound on the convergence time and numerically demonstrate whether QRHD work as a quantum optimization algorithm in some examples. A quantum circuit implementation based on time-dependent Hamiltonian simulation is also discussed and the query complexity is estimated.

There are two distinct perspectives on the quantum time-of-arrival: one can ask for the probability that a particle is found at the detector at a given time, regardless of whether it was previously detected, or for the probability that the particle is detected there for the first time. In this work, we analyze the latter by constructing the time-of-arrival distribution conditioned on the particle not having been detected at earlier times -- the first-click distribution. We work within the Page and Wootters formalism, where time is treated as a quantum observable, and introduce a memory mechanism that records the outcomes of successive detection attempts separated by the detector's finite time resolution. We apply this framework to a single Gaussian wave packet and to a superposition of two overlapping wave packets. We find that conditioning on non-detection redistributes probability toward earlier arrival times, producing narrower and sharper distributions compared with the standard unconditioned case. This effect persists in the presence of quantum interference, though coarser time resolutions broaden the distribution and shift it toward later times.

Trotter decomposition provides a simple approach to simulating open quantum systems by decomposing the Lindbladian into a sum of individual terms. While it is established that Trotter errors in Hamiltonian simulation depend on nested commutators of the summands, such a relationship remains poorly understood for Lindbladian dynamics. In this Letter, we derive commutator-based Trotter error bounds for Lindbladian simulation, yielding an $O(\sqrt{N})$ scaling in the number of Trotter steps for locally interacting systems on $N$ sites. When estimating observable averages, we apply Richardson extrapolation to achieve polylogarithmic precision while maintaining the commutator scaling. To bound the extrapolation remainder, we develop a general truncation bound for the Baker-Campbell-Hausdorff expansion that bypasses common convergence issues in physically relevant systems. For local Lindbladians, our results demonstrate that the Trotter-based methods outperform prior simulation techniques in system-size scaling while requiring only $O(1)$ ancillas. Numerical simulations further validate the predicted system-size and precision scaling.

Understanding equilibration times in closed quantum systems is essential for characterising their approach to equilibrium. Chaotic many-body systems are paradigmatic in this context: they are expected to thermalise according to the eigenstate thermalisation hypothesis and exhibit spectral properties well described by random matrix theory (RMT). While RMT successfully captures spectral correlations, its ability to provide quantitative predictions for equilibration timescales has remained largely unexplored. Here, we study equilibration within RMT using the framework of equilibration as dephasing, focusing on closed systems whose Hamiltonians are drawn from the Gaussian unitary ensemble (GUE). We derive an analytical expression that approximates the average equilibration time of the GUE and show that it is independent of both the initial state and the choice of observable, a consequence of the rotational invariance of the GUE. Numerical simulations confirm our analytical expression and demonstrate that our approximation is in close agreement with the true average equilibration time of the GUE. We find that the equilibration time decreases with system size and vanishes in the thermodynamic limit. This unphysical result indicates that the true equilibration timescale of realistic chaotic many-body systems must be dominated by physical features not captured by random matrix ensembles -- the GUE in particular.

We study binary discrimination of idempotent quantum channels. When the two channels share a common full-rank invariant state, we show that a simple image inclusion condition completely determines the asymptotic behavior: when it holds, a broad family of channel divergences collapse to a closed-form, single-letter expression, regularization is unnecessary, and all error exponents (Stein/Chernoff/strong-converse) are explicitly computable with no adaptive advantage. Crucially, this yields the strong converse property for this channel family, which is an important open problem for general channels. When the inclusion fails, asymmetric exponents become infinite, implying perfect asymptotic discrimination. We apply the results to GNS-symmetric channels, showing discrimination rates for large number of self iterations converge exponentially fast to those of the corresponding idempotent peripheral projections. If the two channels do not share a common invariant state, we provide a single-letter converse bound on the regularized sandwiched Rényi cb-divergence, which suffices to establish a strong converse upper bound on the Stein exponents.

We show that the quasinormal modes, in the eikonal limit, for accelerating (non-rotating) black holes, are related to the angular velocity of the circular null geodesics and to the corresponding Lyapunov exponent, in the same way as the ones for spherically symmetric black holes are. We compute those quasinormal modes and greybody factors for neutral and charged accelerating black holes, considering massless test scalar fields, and we show that the results are universal for perturbations of any spin. We also determine the radius of the shadow cast by these black holes. Our results for charged black holes are valid for the Reissner-Nordstrom solution simply by setting the acceleration to zero.

Between 1933 and 1937, the treatment of relativistic spin-1/2 particles, initially rooted in Hole theory, evolved into the modern framework of quantum field theory. This paper reconstructs the crucial stages of that transition by examining the formal and physical progress of the numerous authors who shaped the field's modern formalism. This historical study traces the development of fermionic field theory in full, beginning with the foundational work of the 1920s, focussing on the results of the 1930s, and concluding with the influential synthesis of Wolfgang Pauli in 1941, the content of which has shaped the subsequent tradition. Within this framework, particular emphasis is given to Ettore Majorana's 1937 quantisation procedure and argument for anti-commuting fermionic quantum fields. This study demonstrates that Majorana's work was not merely a technical variant, but the definitive rejection of the concept of negative energy solutions, whose conceptual clarity and educational value remain vital today.

We introduce Exchange Quantum Polynomial Time (XQP) circuits, which comprise quantum computation using only computational basis SPAM and the isotropic Heisenberg exchange interaction. Structurally, this sub-universal model captures decoherence-free subspace computation without access to singlet states. We show that XQP occupies an intermediate position between BPP and BQP, as its efficient multiplicative-error simulation would collapse the polynomial hierarchy to its third level. We further provide evidence that additive-error simulation of XQP would enable efficient additive-error simulation of arbitrary BQP computations. Remarkably, the restricted family of XQP circuits consisting solely of $\sqrt{\mathrm{SWAP}}$ gates remains hard to simulate to multiplicative error. We additionally prove that circuits generated by $\sqrt{\mathrm{SWAP}}$ gates are semi-universal, generate $t$-designs for the uniform distribution over $SU(2)$-invariant unitaries, and maximise the entangling power within XQP. Finally, we derive structural results linking computational basis states in XQP to the Gelfand-Tsetlin basis of the symmetric group, and expressing XQP output probabilities as partition functions of the six-vertex and Potts models. Our findings indicate that XQP circuits are naturally suited to near-term hardware and provide a promising platform for experimental demonstrations of quantum computational advantage.

Fault-tolerant quantum computing requires large-scale superconducting processors, yet monolithic architectures face increasing constraints from wiring density, crosstalk, and fabrication yield. Modular superconducting platforms offer a scalable alternative, but achieving high-fidelity entangling gates between distant modules remains a central challenge, particularly for highly coherent fixed-frequency qubits. Here, we propose a distributed hardware architecture designed to overcome this bottleneck by employing a pair of double-transmon couplers (DTCs). By synchronously controlling the two DTCs stationed at opposite ends of a macroscopic cable, our scheme strongly suppresses residual static inter-module coupling while enabling on-demand activation of a non-local cross-Kerr interaction with an on/off ratio exceeding $10^6$. Through comprehensive system-level numerical simulations incorporating realistic hardware parameters, we demonstrate that this mechanism can realize a remote controlled-Z (CZ) gate with a fidelity over 99.99\% between fixed-frequency transmons housed in separate packages interconnected by a 25 cm coaxial cable. These results establish a highly viable, hardware-efficient route toward high-performance distributed superconducting processors.

We construct an exactly solvable relativistic model that embeds the anomalous inverse-square interaction into a non-Hermitian Klein-Gordon field theory through a purely imaginary, scale-invariant scalar potential. The stationary field equation reduces to an inverse-square Schrodinger-type problem with a quadratic spectral parameter. Imposing a strictly outgoing boundary condition at the singularity-interpreted as irreversible absorption-selects a unique physical realization and converts the fall-to-the-center instability into a discrete, log-periodic spectrum of complex energies. The resulting decay rates exhibit universal geometric spacing, determined solely by the anomalous scaling exponent and insensitive to microscopic short-distance regularization. This structure defines an emergent kinematic energy scale that controls dissipative dynamics and provides a minimal analytic framework for studying scale anomaly, boundary-condition-induced non-Hermiticity, and quantized dissipation in relativistic open quantum systems.

Adiabatic quantum algorithms must evolve slowly enough to suppress non-adiabatic transitions while remaining fast enough to be practical. In open systems, this trade-off is reshaped by decoherence. For Hamiltonians subject to dephasing Lindbladians, Avron et al. [1] showed that a unique timetable exists that maximizes the fidelity with a target state. This optimal schedule is characterized by a constant tunneling rate along the adiabatic path. In this work, we revisit their analysis and apply it to the adiabatic Grover search framework, obtaining closed-form expressions for the optimal evolution schedule, the minimum runtime, and the resulting achievable fidelity. Moreover, by invoking an energy-time uncertainty argument, we identify a critical dephasing threshold, beyond which further noise-assisted acceleration is prohibited, thereby defining the physically realizable boundaries for dephasing-based adiabatic quantum search protocols.

We establish a correspondence between higher-derivative gravitational scalar-tensor theories of the form $Ψ(R,(\nabla R)^2,\Box R)$ and generalized hybrid metric-Palatini models $f(R,\mathcal{R})$. Restricting to the physically relevant case of linear dependence on $\Box R$, we make explicit that both frameworks can be reformulated in the Einstein frame as General Relativity minimally coupled to two interacting scalar fields, thereby opening the possibility of finding theories that are dynamically equivalent. This correspondence provides an explicit dictionary relating the functions that define the higher-derivative theory to the hybrid function $f(R,\mathcal{R})$, allowing for reconstruction in both directions. We illustrate the usefulness of the procedure with explicit examples.

We investigate the evolution of the surface of radiating stars by studying the asymptotic behaviour of exact solutions initiated via the stationary boundary condition. This boundary condition leads to a master equation in the form of a second-order nonlinear differential equation that describes the evolution of the scale factor. We examine this master equation by introducing a set of dimensionless dynamical variables, motivated by similar approaches in cosmological settings. We derive the stationary points of the system in the presence of charge and a cosmological constant. Furthermore, we construct criteria for the initial conditions in order that the asymptotic limit approaches a static geometry.

The performance of the variational quantum eigensolver depends critically on the choice of ansatz. In this work, we experimentally evaluate the emergent-coupling-based ansatz (ECBA), a physically motivated variational ansatz for disordered systems. The ECBA is based on a renormalization (semi-)group approach to determine the dominant effective couplings, resulting in shallow circuits that capture the essential long-range entanglement structure while balancing local correlations. We implement the ECBA on superconducting quantum processors and benchmark it on disordered Heisenberg chain models. Using classically pre-optimized parameters and error mitigation techniques, we study systems of up to 30 qubits and observe an experimental relative energy accuracy of 96.47% for the largest system. Furthermore, we find that the ECBA can be efficiently embedded on hardware with two-dimensional square-lattice connectivity. We compare to commonly used hardware efficient ansätze and observe that the ECBA achieves significantly higher accuracy at a similar gate count.

Quantum metrology exploits quantum resources to enhance measurement precision beyond the classical limit. Conventional protocols normally rely on the preparation of delicate quantum states to acquire these resources, posing a major challenge for scaling and robustness. Here we introduce a paradigm that circumvents this requirement with a collectively enhanced quantum mirror (CEAM), i.e., a mesoscopic array of $N$ atoms coupled to a semi-infinite waveguide. When injecting single photons into the waveguide and estimating the CEAM-boundary distance from the reflection phase, a $1/N^2$ precision scaling can be obtained, which surpasses the Heisenberg limit. In this protocol, the quantum resource stems from the cooperative optical response, requiring no entangled state preparation. Our scheme is robust against positional and coupling disorder, offering a practical route to ultra-sensitive quantum metrology in integrated photonic systems.

Protecting information in systems that have more than two basis states (qudits) not only offers a promising route for reducing the number of individual quantum locations that must be protected, while more accurately reflecting the structure of realistic quantum hardware, but also has some possibly enticing foundational strengths. While work in the past has largely focused on protecting information in quantum devices with locations that are some consistent local structure, this work considers coding-theoretic constraints on devices constructed from locations which may vary in their local structures -- these are mixed-register quantum devices. In this work we provide some general results for mixed-register Pauli operators, then identify some stabilizer encoded information forms that are forbidden. Building on these insights, we construct coding-theoretically optimal mixed-register stabilizer codes from sets of codes defined on coprime local-dimensions. The construction of such codes results in codes with logical subspaces that do not directly correspond to any of the constituent local-dimensions.

The emission of photon from an individual atom encodes the phase of its initialized quantum state. Using single-shot heterodyne detection, we measure the phase distribution of the emission from a superconducting transmon qubit in an open waveguide configuration and track its evolution over time. We demonstrate that the presence of a quantum superposition is encoded in the phase statistics of the emission and remains resolvable despite a high noise level. These phase statistics serve as a quantitative probe of the qubit coherence. The decay of the emission envelope with increasing integration time reveals the energy relaxation rate of the emitted wavepacket, while phase distribution broadening tracks pure dephasing processes. We thereby establish a direct link between the decoherence dynamics of an open quantum system and the statistical properties of its radiated field.

Generating and preserving metrologically useful quantum states is a central challenge in quantum-enhanced atomic magnetometry. In multilevel atoms operated in the low-field regime, the nonlinear Zeeman (NLZ) effect is both a resource and a limitation. It nonlinearly redistributes internal spin fluctuations to generate spin-squeezed states within a single atomic qudit, yet under fixed readout it distorts the measurement-relevant quadrature and limits the accessible metrological gain. This challenge is compounded by the time dependence of both the squeezing axis and the effective nonlinear action. Here we show that physics-informed reinforcement learning can transform NLZ dynamics from a source of readout degradation into a sustained metrological resource. Using only experimentally accessible low-order spin moments, a trained agent identifies, in the $f=21/2$ manifold of $^{161}\mathrm{Dy}$, a unified control policy that rapidly prepares strongly squeezed internal states and stabilizes more than $4\,\mathrm{dB}$ of fixed-axis spin squeezing under always-on NLZ evolution. Including state-preparation overhead, the learned protocol yields a single-atom magnetic sensitivity of $13.9\,\mathrm{pT}/\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$, corresponding to an advantage of approximately $3\,\mathrm{dB}$ beyond the standard quantum limit. Our results establish learning-based control as a practical route for converting unavoidable intrinsic nonlinear dynamics in multilevel quantum sensors into operational metrological advantage.

We investigate quasinormal modes, grey-body factors, and absorption cross-sections of a massive scalar field in regular black-hole spacetimes supported by the Einasto density profile. The analysis is performed for $\tilde n=1/2$, $1$, and $5$, where the scalar mass $μ$ is treated as an effective parameter induced by an external environment. Quasinormal frequencies are computed with high-order WKB expansions and Padé resummation, and are cross-checked by time-domain evolution. We show that increasing the effective mass and varying the Einasto parameters can strongly suppress the damping rate, leading to long-lived modes and clear quasi-resonant behavior. Grey-body factors obtained from direct WKB transmission and from the QNM-based correspondence agree well in the considered regimes, while their differences remain controlled. Using the transmission coefficients, we derive partial and total absorption cross-sections and demonstrate the expected transition from low-frequency suppression to efficient high-frequency absorption. Our results show that regularity of the core together with environmental parameters leaves a noticeable imprint on both ringdown and scattering observables. Within this setup, the magnetic field acts as the physical agent that controls the effective mass scale and therefore governs how close the system can approach the quasi-resonant regime.

The quantum approximate optimization algorithm (QAOA) is a leading variational approach to combinatorial optimization, but its practical performance depends strongly on objective design, parameter search, and shot allocation. We present a resource-efficient QAOA framework that uses the cut value of the most probable measured bitstring as the optimization objective, combines it with Bayesian optimization, and adaptively allocates shots using dual criteria based on mode confidence and normalized cut-value variance. Numerical experiments on 3-regular MaxCut show that, for both unweighted and weighted instances, the proposed scheme achieves discrete-solution quality comparable to that of the conventional expectation-based objective while typically requiring fewer total shots to reach the same final mode accuracy. These results indicate that reorganizing QAOA around the maximum-probability bitstring provides an effective route to improving practical performance under limited measurement budgets.

In this letter, we derive the interaction energy and the force between two parallel metal plates, arising from quantum vacuum fluctuations when they are very close to each other. We consider the vacuum to be composed of a meson field. In Quantum Hadrodynamics, mesons are the carriers of the nuclear force.

Cosmological peculiar velocities have traditionally been studied within the framework of Newtonian theory. Around the turn of the century, a few quasi-Newtonian analyses appeared in the literature, but led to equations and results identical to those of the purely Newtonian approach [1]. More recently, a series of studies introduced a relativistic treatment of the peculiar-velocity problem, criticising the quasi-Newtonian approach as effectively Newtonian in nature [2]. These works also reported a linear growth-rate of $v \propto t$ for peculiar velocities, in contrast to the slower Newtonian/quasi-Newtonian scaling of $v \propto t^{1/3}$. In a manuscript uploaded to the archives a few days ago [3], the authors defended their earlier quasi-Newtonian work and criticised the more recent relativistic treatments. However, the limitations of the quasi-Newtonian approach are not a new concern, but they have been noted at least since [4]. There, it was clearly stated that the quasi-Newtonian approximation leads to Newtonian-like equations and results, and readers were cautioned against applying it to large-scale cosmological studies. Given that one of the authors of [3] was also a coauthor of [4], the self-contradiction is evident. The relativistic analyses have, in fact, confirmed the concerns of [4], clarified the underlying issues and shown how they can be resolved. Motivated by [3], we present a critical comparison of the two approaches and in the process identify several internal inconsistencies in that manuscript.

This perspective provides a succinct history of Fermi's golden rule (FGR), overview of its derivation, assumptions, and representative forms. Major applications of FGR, mostly in the field of chemical physics, are reviewed. These illustrate the broad applicability and success of FGR. Ambiguities and open issues encountered in practical applications of FGR are clarified. Recent advances in generalizations of FGR and computational methods for practical applications are addressed.

In the paper, one of the physical consequences of the recently developed theory of dual relativity (TDR) is considered. The general framework of TDR is described and some results previously obtained within this theory are summarized. The total action functional of TDR includes the action functionals of matter fields of two kinds: ordinary and dual. Based on the general equations of the theory, formulas are derived for the effective action functional of a system of point-like massive particles belonging to both kinds of matter, in the Newtonian limit. This functional includes an interaction term, which has the form of the gravitational interaction energy in Newtonian mechanics. It is shown that this energy is positive in the case of interaction between particles of ordinary and dual matter. This result indicates that this interaction has antigravitational nature.

We study the conditions under which Matrix Product States (MPS) or Matrix Product Operators are exact eigenvectors of an extensive local operator, such as a Hamiltonian. By suitably choosing the local operator, this covers a wide range of settings: Exact eigenstates of Hamiltonians, including scar states, exact MPS trajectories for driven quantum systems, steady states of local Lindbladians, generalized symmetries of either Hamiltonians or density matrices, and many more. Our key result is that that a local, fixed-size equation -- namely, how a single term in the operator acts on a block of tensors -- provides a necessary and sufficient condition for exact solutions. This allows to characterize the full space of solutions in all of the aforementioned problems, and to identify them both analytically and numerically. We elaborate on the concrete application of this characterization to all of the aforementioned settings, and in particular exemplify the power of our local characterization by using it to recover the quantum group symmetries of the XXZ model. We also discuss applications to numerical algorithms with MPS and the generalization of our results to 2D, i.e., projected entangled pair states (PEPS).

Catalytic carbon fixation to formic acid is important for studying the reduction of carbon footprint and the emergence of life. Can discrete quantum exhaustive search merged with other methods help reduce the carbon footprint? We suggest merging quantum, quantum inspired, and classical tools for a better simulation of various relevant processes. Quantum tools are often used for analyzing the electronic structure of molecules, sometimes because this problem is not scalable (in the number of orbitals) on classical computers while it is potentially approximately scalable on (future) quantum computers. It is potentially even solvable in the near future using variational quantum eigensolvers (VQE) yet a major obstacle to such analysis is the appearance of barren plateaus in the Hilbert space describing the problem. Here we make use of the basic (standard) tools while also including a novel one -- the discrete quantum exhaustive search, which relies on mutually unbiased bases, for analyzing the simplest non-catalytic process involving carbon dioxide, hydrogen and formic acid.

Adversarial training is a standard defense against malicious input perturbations in security-critical machine-learning systems. Its main burden is structural: before every parameter update, the current model must first be attacked to find a new adversarial perturbation, making training increasingly expensive and hard to sustain at large-model scale. Here we give an end-to-end quantum procedure for projected-gradient robust training under local stability and sparsity assumptions. The key step is to reformulate the coupled attacker--learner dynamics as a high-dimensional sparse linear system whose terminal block yields the final network-parameter state. In this formulation, the dominant query cost scales linearly with training time steps, up to logarithmic factors, and polylogarithmically with model size, while the full gate complexity records separate input-preparation and sparse-access overheads. This places core computational tasks for AI security on a concrete quantum footing and identifies a regime in which robust-training overhead can be reduced.

We demonstrate the first CV-QKD system featuring a custom-designed monolithic silicon photonic dual-polarisation transceiver. Leveraging PS-64-QAM, we achieved 1.9 Mbit/s secret key rate across 25 km of standard single-mode fibre, highlighting the potential of electronic-photonic integration for practical QKD.

We experimentally demonstrate local robust shadows on a trapped-ion device, a protocol developed to counteract measurement errors. We alternate between a calibration stage and the shadow estimation stage and also introduce Pauli-X-twirling before measurements in both stages to symmetrize error rates. We then demonstrate the protocol on a trapped-ion quantum computer with artificially shortened measurement pulse duration. This yields faster experiments at the cost of increased error rates which are subsequently mitigated by the robust shadow protocol. We benchmark this approach on three exemplary quantum states: a local Haar random state, as well as standard and Pauli-correlation encoded QAOA states. In all three cases, the local robust shadow protocol succeeds at mitigating the increased error rates hailing from shorter measurement pulse durations.

Learning from quantum data using classical machine learning models has emerged as a promising paradigm toward realizing quantum advantages. Despite extensive analyses on their performance, clean and fully labeled quantum data from the target domain are often unavailable in practical scenarios, forcing models to be trained on data collected under conditions that differ from those encountered at deployment. This mismatch highlights the need for new approaches beyond the common assumptions of prior work. In this work, we address this issue by employing an unsupervised domain adaptation framework for learning from imperfect quantum data. Specifically, by leveraging classical representations of quantum states obtained via classical shadows, we perform unsupervised domain adaptation entirely within a classical computational pipeline once measurements on the quantum states are executed. We numerically evaluate the framework on quantum phases of matter and entanglement classification tasks under realistic domain shifts. Across both tasks, our method outperforms source-only non-adaptive baselines and target-only unsupervised learning approaches, demonstrating the practical applicability of domain adaptation to realistic quantum data learning.

We develop a geometric formulation of stochastic dynamics in which noise, diffusion, path probabilities, fluctuation theorems, and entropy production arise from the intrinsic geometry of an evolving manifold rather than from externally imposed randomness. Within the theory of moving manifolds, we establish a curvature-noise correspondence: fluctuations are governed by the inverse curvature tensor, while entropy production is controlled by curvature deformation. The invariant continuity law on a moving hypersurface yields a geometric Fokker-Planck equation, and curvature-velocity coupling generates a quadratic Onsager-Machlup functional determining path weights. The resulting entropy functional satisfies a curvature-driven monotonicity law, providing a geometric derivation of the Second Law. In two dimensions, the curvature invariant reduces to Gaussian curvature and encodes topology, so topological transitions produce discrete entropy jumps. When the ambient space carries a Minkowskian signature, the same curvature-kinetic quadratic form that generates dissipative thermal weights produces oscillatory phase weights, and the Laplace-Beltrami operator governing entropy evolution acquires a Schrödinger-type structure. This provides a geometric resolution of the apparent distinction between classical stochastic behaviour and quantum dynamics. These results show that stochastic behaviour, thermodynamic irreversibility, and quantum transition amplitudes are unified within the moving manifold framework. Geometry does not merely accommodate stochasticity; stochastic behaviour arises as a consequence of deterministic geometric evolution. The theory predicts curvature-controlled anisotropic diffusion, entropy jumps at topology-changing events, and a geometric thermal-quantum crossover in which classical stochastic weights and quantum amplitudes are generated by the same curvature-kinetic action.

In this work, we construct small sets of bipartite orthogonal pure states that cannot be perfectly distinguished by local operations and classical communication (LOCC). We mention that not all the states within the constructed sets are necessarily entangled. However, such a set contains at least one entangled state which cannot be conclusively identified by LOCC (with nonzero probability). Then, we show that the states of any such set can be perfectly distinguished by LOCC using a minimal-dimensional entangled resource state. Clearly, here the entangled resource state provides an advantage irrespective of the dimension of the given set. Using this result, we also prove that any pure entangled state is useful as a resource to distinguish the states of any present set unambiguously with nonzero probability under LOCC. These sets exist in all two-qudit Hilbert spaces. Furthermore, it is possible to decrease the average entanglement content of such a set or to increase the cardinality of the set without changing certain properties of the same.

Understanding whether the features of open quantum dynamics are genuinely quantum remains a central challenge in quantum dynamics. Even though the non-Markovian behavior of quantum dynamics has been widely investigated across different settings, there is still no consensus on which properties of a dynamics reflect genuine quantum features and which arise from classical or non-genuine quantum sources. In this review, we provide detailed information on recent developments in characterizing quantum non-Markovianity based on information backflow and the nature of its origin. We also present a survey on how various approaches separate classical and quantum contributions, as well as how they define operational tasks that reveal genuine quantum non-Markovianity. We analyze several frameworks, including state-distinguishability -based, channel-based (``CP-divisibility''), and process-tensor methods. For each framework, we outline the underlying physical motivation, the criteria proposed to distinguish genuine quantum non-Markovianity from practical or apparent memory effects. We further compare different approaches and their strengths and limitations. The review aims to clarify the conceptual and operational aspects of quantum non-Markovian processes based on their nature and to provide a foundation for future research on quantum non-Markovianity and its role in advancing quantum information science and technology.

Polar molecules represent a promising platform for quantum simulation and computation protocols. Highly controllable arrays of optical tweezers are now accessible in experiments, allowing for unprecedented control of individual molecules. Motional dephasing is typically seen as an obstacle in quantum computing scenarios. Here, we instead consider using the trap structure as a resource for implementing efficient quantum gates. By numerically solving the two-body problem of dipoles trapped in separate tweezers, we identify trap-induced resonances that can serve as the mechanism for achieving state-dependent dynamics and can be further utilized for quantum sensing.

Magnetic Carrollian theories provide a natural setting for field theories with nontrivial spatial structure in the Carroll limit and are therefore natural candidates for flat-space holographic duals. Embedding such boundary theories into a top-down framework requires a consistent supersymmetric completion and, in particular, an understanding of the relativistic origin of magnetic Carroll supersymmetry. We show that the relevant magnetic Carroll algebra does not arise from a naive contraction of the standard relativistic supersymmetry algebra, but instead descends from a twisted relativistic parent. As an explicit realization, we construct a three-dimensional ${\mathcal{N}}=2$ magnetic Carroll algebra together with a supersymmetric vector-multiplet action. Unlike the electric case, the resulting structure contains one supercharge that squares to spatial momentum, a mixed anticommutator that yields the Hamiltonian, and a nilpotent second supercharge. We further show that its conformal extension coincides with the global part of a supersymmetric BMS$_4$ algebra. This provides a physical and relativistic origin for a super-BMS$_4$ structure recently identified by complementary algebraic methods, and strengthens the case for magnetic Carroll theories in flat-space holography and supersymmetric asymptotic symmetries.

The relativistic quantum phase space (QPS) formalism extends classical phase space by incorporating both mean values and variance-covariance matrices of quantum states, thereby providing a unified setting where the uncertainty principle and relativistic covariance coexist. In this work we explore the basic geometric structure of the QPS for the signature \((1,4)\). We construct a scalar invariant built from the mean values and the inverse variance-covariance matrix, and prove its invariance under linear canonical transformations. For quantum states that saturate the uncertainty relations, and define the QPS itself, the invariant takes a value that encodes two fundamental length scales: a large scale characterising maximal coordinate uncertainties and a small scale characterising minimal coordinate uncertainties. From this invariance we derive a geometric equation that unifies the mean values and the quantum fluctuations. Analysing two asymptotic regimes reveals two physically significant limits: one leads to a curved spacetime geometry, consistent with current cosmological observations; the other yields a curved momenta space structure. These limits suggest a direct connection between quantum phase space geometry, cosmology, and quantum gravity, offering new perspectives on the origin of the quantum structure of spacetime. The results also resonate with the principle of Born reciprocity, which posits a fundamental duality between coordinates and momenta, and align with recent works on the relation between QPS and neutrino physics.

The 2D $\mathbb{Z}_2$ toric code admits a global symmetry exchanging electric and magnetic quasiparticles, known as electromagnetic duality. Known realizations include lattice translation symmetry, an exact $\mathbb{Z}_4$ symmetry generated by a Clifford circuit, and an exact $\mathbb{Z}_2$ symmetry generated by a non-Clifford circuit. We show that a Clifford electromagnetic duality cannot realize an exact internal $\mathbb{Z}_2$ symmetry. This is proved rigorously for symmetries with coarse translation invariance by $l$ lattice units for generic odd $l$. Therefore an exact internal $\mathbb{Z}_2$ electromagnetic duality must be non-Clifford, whereas generic internal Clifford realization necessarily has $\mathbb{Z}_{2^m}$ algebra with $m\ge 2$. Our result suggests an unexpected connection between the algebra of exact electromagnetic duality and Clifford hierarchy of circuits.

This article studies wave equations and their solutions on plane wave spacetimes of arbitrary dimension, developing the interplay among three structural layers: the Ward progressing-wave representation of solutions to the scalar wave equation, the Fourier analysis of the Heisenberg group naturally associated to the plane wave, and the Schrödinger propagator governing the evolution of initial data. The central geometric object is a positive curve in the Lagrangian Grassmannian determined by the plane wave metric, previously studied in the authors' series. The conformal tensor $H(u)$ that parametrises this curve plays a dual role: it encodes the null-cone geometry of the spacetime and simultaneously appears as the time-dependent parameter in the Schrödinger representation of the Heisenberg group acting by isometries on the plane wave. Parallel to the classical Fourier inversion theorem, convolution by Lagrangian delta distributions on the Heisenberg group furnishes an intrinsic description of the Schrödinger propagator, and the intertwining of different polarisations by this propagator is captured by a diagram that commutes up to a Maslov phase. The theta functions and Bargmann transforms that arise from imaginary polarisations complete the analytic picture, connecting the present work to the theory of the Weil representation as developed by Lion--Vergne and to Mumford's systematic treatment of theta functions.

We investigate the dynamics of spinning test particles in the vicinity of Einstein--geometric Proca (EGP) Anti-de Sitter (AdS) compact objects, which arise from metric-Palatini gravity extended by the antisymmetric part of the affine curvature. Using the Mathisson-Papapetrou-Dixon (MPD) equations with the Tulczyjew spin supplementary condition, we derive the effective potential and analyze the equatorial motion of spinning particles. The influence of the model parameters $q_{1}$, $q_{2}$, and the Proca mass parameter $σ$ on the innermost stable circular orbits (ISCO), superluminal spin bounds, and orbital stability is systematically explored. Our results show that increasing $q_{1}$ and $q_{2}$ reduces the ISCO radius, angular momentum, and energy, while spin orientation introduces significant modifications to orbital behavior. We further examine head-on collisions of spinning particles near the horizon and demonstrate how the center-of-mass energy depends on spin and the EGP theory parameters. The study reveals that Einstein-geometric Proca AdS black holes may act as efficient particle accelerators, with distinctive features absent in Schwarzschild or standard AdS backgrounds. These findings provide new insights into the interplay between spin dynamics, modified gravity, and strong-field compact object physics.

The generation of complex states like multifractal critical states has been an outstanding challenge in both classical and quantum physics. Here we propose a general framework, termed the imaginary gauge phase imprint, allowing to engineer rigorous wavefunctions in any-dimensional non-Hermitian lattices. Using this method, we uncover a novel phase with exact critical wavefunctions in one (and two) dimension, dubbed the skin critical phase (SCP). Unlike conventional critical phases with overall uniform density distributions and non-Hermitian skin effect with eigenstate accumulation at open boundaries, the SCP is marked by a macroscopically multifractal distribution with all critical eigenstates sharing an identical profile and always accumulating at specific bulk interfaces under periodic boundary condition, which become topology-dependent boundary or interface skin modes under open boundary condition. We also show the ballistic dynamics in the SCP, in contrast to the diffusive behaviour in conventional critical phases. Moreover, we validate our method by imprinting configurable wavefunctions in higher dimensions, including complex fractal states with Sierpinski-carpet and Koch-snowflake profiles in non-fractal lattices and Moire states in non-Moire lattices. Our work not only offers fresh insights into fractal phenomena and critical phases, but also provides a rigorous paradigm for wave manipulations in engineered non-Hermitian systems.

Frustrated spin-ice systems support emergent gauge fields and fractionalized quasiparticles that act as magnetic monopoles. Although artificial platforms have enabled their direct visualization, access to their quantum-coherent dynamics has remained limited. Here we realize a programmable dipolar square spin-ice model using a superconducting-qubit quantum annealer, providing access to a previously unexplored quantum-coherent regime of artificial spin ice. By implementing a direct one-to-one mapping between lattice spins and physical qubits, together with engineered extended couplings, we realize effective dipolar interactions on frustrated lattices comprising more than 400 vertices. Tuning transverse-field fluctuations enables us to probe the real-time dynamics of Dirac-string defects and interacting monopole plasmas. We observe super-diffusive monopole transport, with scaling exponents intermediate between classical diffusion and ballistic motion, indicating dynamics beyond classical stochastic relaxation and consistent with coherent propagation within an emergent gauge manifold. These results establish programmable quantum spin ice as a scalable platform for investigating fractionalized excitations and emergent gauge dynamics in engineered quantum matter.

Integrating quantum circuits into deep learning pipelines remains challenging due to heuristic design limitations. We propose Q-DIVER, a hybrid framework combining a large-scale pretrained EEG encoder (DIVER-1) with a differentiable quantum classifier. Unlike fixed-ansatz approaches, we employ Differentiable Quantum Architecture Search to autonomously discover task-optimal circuit topologies during end-to-end fine-tuning. On the PhysioNet Motor Imagery dataset, our quantum classifier achieves predictive performance comparable to classical multi-layer perceptrons (Test F1: 63.49\%) while using approximately \textbf{50$\times$ fewer task-specific head parameters} (2.10M vs. 105.02M). These results validate quantum transfer learning as a parameter-efficient strategy for high-dimensional biological signal processing.

Device-independent quantum key distribution (DIQKD) provides a model of quantum key distribution with minimal assumptions and highly abstract theoretical building blocks. Although DIQKD frees us from detailed discussions of specific device models and associated error parameters, it replaces them with fundamental assumptions about the validity of quantum experiments. In this work, we propose a way to lift a protocol based on DIQKD-style assumptions to a device-dependent QKD protocol by performing local self-tests in the laboratories of the two key-generating parties. In particular, we consider routed Bell-test setups as a means of self-testing the local parties in earnest and develop a rigorous mathematical framework showing that the underlying optimization problems can indeed be transferred to the device-dependent QKD setting. As an application, we illustrate many of the relevant techniques through the case study of a routed BB84 protocol.

We propose an efficient and robust protocol for the generation of entanglement between a superconducting qubit and a squeezed cavity. By applying a parametric drive to the cavity coupled to the qubit, the dynamical evolution of the system is precisely described by an anisotropic Rabi model within a squeezed reference frame. Utilizing high-order time-averaging methods, we analytically derive the resonance conditions and the effective Rabi frequency for the high-order three-photon process. By implementing an adiabatic passage, slowly tuning the cavity frequency across the resonance, the system is steered into a maximally entangled state, e.g., between the three-photon state $\ket{g,3}$ and the qubit excited state $\ket{e,0}$ in the squeezed picture. Numerical simulation results confirm the high fidelity and robustness of the proposed protocol. Our method provides a practical pathway for generating complex non-Gaussian entangled states, which are of significant value for fault-tolerant quantum computation and quantum metrology beyond the standard quantum limit.

Quantum-enhanced Markov chain Monte Carlo, a hybrid quantum-classical algorithm in which configurations are proposed by a quantum proposer and accepted or rejected by a classical algorithm, has been introduced as a possible method for robust quantum speedup. Previous work has identified competing factors that limit the algorithm's performance: the quantum dynamics should delocalize the system across a range of classical states to propose configurations beyond the reach of simple classical updates, whereas excessive delocalization produces configurations unlikely to be accepted, slowing the chain's convergence. Here, we show that controlling the degree of delocalization by adiabatically dressing the quench protocol can significantly enhance the Markov gap in paradigmatic spin-glass models.

In the contact-geometric approach to general relativity, the sky of an event - namely, the set of all incoming light rays - forms a Legendrian submanifold of the spherical cotangent bundle of a Cauchy hypersurface. When the hypersurface is chosen to be the Minkowski hyperboloid, a hyperbolic version of the hodograph transform identifies this bundle with a thermodynamic phase space. We consider a uniformly accelerating observer starting on the hyperboloid and study the evolution of its skies. We show that the associated generating functions, after a suitable rescaling, admit a natural interpretation as reduced free energies of equilibrium thermodynamic systems governed by the relativistic Doppler effect. From this data, we extract an effective temperature that is proportional to the acceleration, in agreement with the scaling of the Unruh effect, although the numerical constant differs from the Unruh value.

We present an analytic flat-spacetime accelerating boundary analog of Hawking-type emission that possesses infinite asymptotic acceleration (and radial acceleration in the black hole analog) but finite total radiated energy (and zero surface gravity in the black hole analog). We perform a unified study of its scattering symmetry, horizon formation, asymptotically extreme acceleration, finite total radiated energy, and the distinction between local energy flux and global particle production within a single closed-form model. The particle spectrum, energy spectrum, and equivalent spacetime metric are derived, revealing an interesting mix of normal and extremal black hole properties.

The model of light-matter interaction in quantum electrodynamics typically relies on the Markovian approximation, which assumes that the system's future evolution depends solely on its current state, effectively treating it as a ``memoryless" process. However, this approximation is not valid in scenarios when retardation effects are significant. These memory and retardation effects have the potential to improve existing quantum technologies (e.g., large-scale quantum networks, quantum information processing) and unlock new phenomena for future applications. In this work, we show theory and experiments of a time-delayed coherent feedback system using a transmon artificial atom (treated as a qubit) embedded in a superconducting circuit waveguide, in both linear and nonlinear excitation regimes. By using a feedback loop with a delay time comparable to the qubit relaxation time, pronounced non-Markovian effects appear in the dynamics of the qubit evolution. We also show how the resonance fluorescence spectrum, including elastic and inelastic scattering (such as the well-known Mollow triplet), can be significantly modified through the interaction between the qubit and feedback loop to show genuine non-Markovian and quantum nonlinear phenomena that cannot be explained with instantaneous coupling parameters. This work presents the first experimental report of Mollow triplets in the non-Markovian regime.

Achieving both broad solar-spectrum absorption and strong redox capability is critical for semiconductor photocatalysts in environmental remediation and energy conversion. Herein, an S-scheme heterojunction photocatalyst is constructed by coupling TiO2(B) nanorods with g-C3N4 nanosheets. Its well-matched band structure extends light absorption from the UV to the visible region and enables efficient charge separation. Under simulated sunlight irradiation, the 40 wt% g-C3N4/TiO2(B) heterojunction delivers a H2 evolution rate of 1.98 mmol g-1 h-1 for water reduction with methanol as the sacrificial agent, which is 1.5 and 2.0 times higher than those of pure g-C3N4 and TiO2(B), respectively. When exposed to amoxicillin wastewater instead of methanol solution, the heterojunction degrades 98.2% of amoxicillin and produces 20.70 umol g-1 of H2 within 90 min. Moreover, the heterojunction shows excellent photodegradation activity toward various organic antibiotics and dyes, owing to the S-scheme charge separation mechanism. This work highlights the promising potential of S-scheme heterojunctions for photocatalytic H2 production coupled with organic wastewater treatment.

We investigate the gravitational wave polarization modes and stability in Weyl geometry gravity within a Minkowski background. Our results indicate that the tensor sector consists of two standard modes propagating at the speed of light. Although the vector sector possesses a dynamical degree of freedom, it generates no polarization modes. The scalar sector, in contrast, features a mixture mode of breathing and longitudinal modes associated with a single scalar degree of freedom. This degree of freedom exhibits superluminal propagation and intrinsic amplitude decay, both driven by the background Weyl gauge field. We further discuss the observational detectability of this scalar mode. Our stability analysis reveals that, while the tensor and vector sectors are free from ghost and Laplacian instabilities, the scalar sector suffers from an Ostrogradsky ghost instability. These findings clarify the unique gravitational wave propagation characteristics in Weyl geometry gravity and provide theoretical foundations for testing the theory through future multi-messenger observations.

We introduce a spin $z$-component ($S_{z}$) conserving symmetry-preserving ansatz and a shallow quantum phase estimation (QPE) routine of spin $x$ ($S_x$), and combine them into a spin-filtering variational quantum deflation (sfVQD) scheme for noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) computing era excited state calculations. The scheme encodes the spin information into a small ancilla register through controlled rotations under $\mathrm{exp} (iθ\hat{S}_{x})$ with only modest circuit overhead. The encoded information is then utilized to suppress spin contamination by screening, avoiding costly explicit evaluation on the total spin $\langle\hat{S}^{2}\rangle$. Because the screening module operates independently of the variational ansatz, it can also be employed with other excited-state calculation schemes based on variational quantum eigensolvers. As a demonstration, we apply sfVQD to LiH and BeH$_2$ with varying geometries to show markedly improved separation of singlet and triplet manifolds over conventional VQD without QPE-derived screening. These results suggest that ancilla-assisted symmetry screening provides a modular and NISQ-compatible route to securing excited state calculations of physically meaningful properties. We discuss how our scheme may naturally be extended to computing other conserved quantities.

This paper investigates the characteristics of quasinormal modes (QNMs) of static, spherically symmetric black holes under the combined influence of spontaneous Lorentz symmetry breaking (LSB) induced by the Kalb-Ramond (KR) field and perfect fluid dark matter (PFDM). Using M87$^\ast$ shadow data from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), we constrain the LSB factor $τ$ and PFDM parameter $ζ$ at 1$σ$ confidence. By combining the sixth-order WKB approximation method with timedomain numerical integration, we systematically compute the complex frequency spectrum of QNMs for black holes in this spacetime background. The numerical results reveal an intriguing conclusion: as the LSB factor $τ$ or the PFDM parameter $ζ$ increases, both the real part and the absolute value of the imaginary part of the QNMs frequencies exhibit a monotonic increase, demonstrating a unique "stiffening" effect. This characteristic stands in stark contrast to the decreasing trend of QNMs frequencies observed in models that consider only traditional dark matter, revealing the critical influence of the coupling between the KR field and PFDM on the dynamic evolution of black holes. This study not only enriches and deepens the understanding of black hole perturbation theory within the framework of modified gravity but also, by identifying the distinctive spectral features of QNMs, offers the potential to distinguish whether the KR field and dark matter are coupled in future observations. Thus, it provides a theoretical foundation for testing mechanisms of spacetime symmetry breaking beyond the standard model and for exploring the nature of dark matter.

We analytically derive the secular changes of the orbital parameters, i.e., energy, angular momentum, and Carter constant, for general bound orbits in Kerr spacetime, at leading order in the mass ratio, through the 6th post-Newtonian (6PN) order and the 16th order in orbital eccentricity. We validate the formulas against high-precision numerical Teukolsky results and quantify how eccentricity affects both the achievable accuracy and the PN convergence. We then construct and test a simple ``hybrid'' approximation that combines different PN and eccentricity truncations to retain accuracy at reduced computational cost. We also assess the performance of exponential resummation at higher PN orders. These results provide building blocks for fast, (analytic) adiabatic inspiral and waveform models for extreme mass ratio inspirals relevant to space-based detectors such as the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA).

We investigate the connection between black hole shadow and quasinormal mode (QNM) spectra in the context of scalar--tensor--vector gravity (STVG) coupled to perfect fluid dark matter (PFDM), characterized by the MOG parameter $α$ and the dark matter intensity $λ$. Employing complementary methods -- namely the sixth-order WKB approximation, Padé resummation, and time-domain numerical integration -- we compute QNM frequencies for scalar ($s=0$), electromagnetic ($s=1$), and axial gravitational ($s=2$) perturbations. Both the real part of the QNM frequencies and the peak height of the effective potential display a consistent parametric dependence: they increase with $λ$ yet decrease with growing $α$. In the eikonal limit ($l \gg 1$), we derive an exact analytical link between the shadow radius $R_{\mathrm{sh}}$ and the QNM frequency $ω_R$. Noting that $R_{\mathrm{sh}}$ is determined by the critical impact parameter $b_c = r_{\mathrm{ph}}/\sqrt{f(r_{\mathrm{ph}})}$, while $ω_R = Ωl$ with photon angular velocity $Ω= \sqrt{f(r_{\mathrm{ph}})}/r_{\mathrm{ph}}$, we obtain the precise relation $ω_R = l / b_c$, identifying $R_{\mathrm{sh}} \equiv b_c$ for an asymptotically flat observer. This prediction is robustly validated by numerical results across all three computational approaches at large multipole numbers. Our findings reveal that the black hole shadow and gravitational ringdown are not independent phenomena, but dual observational signatures of the same underlying structure -- the unstable photon orbit -- thereby offering a unified multi-messenger framework to simultaneously constrain modified gravity and dark matter in the strong-field regime.

Quantum non-demolition measurements facilitate various quantum technologies, including quantum communication. Notably, their operational structure can be replicated by a classical model--referred to as a noncontextual model--making it crucial to identify which features prevents such models from reproducing the corresponding quantum measurements. In this work, we theoretically demonstrate contextual features inherent in the structure of quantum non-demolition measurements. These features not only reveal the nonclassicality of unambiguous state discrimination, but also extend to sequential unambiguous discrimination and probabilistic quantum cloning, both of which involve post-measurement states. Moreover, our analysis extends to noisy scenarios, highlighting its potential relevance for practical implementations. We believe that our results broaden the scope of observing nonclassicality in quantum systems and ultimately contribute to the advancement of various quantum technologies.

This paper aims to extend the understanding of the mechanism of photo-electrical detection of magnetic resonance (PDMR) in nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centres. This technique is particularly important for development of solid-state quantum computing platforms. In particular, we report on the new insight in the photocurrent (PC) generation and charge cycling in the single NV centre, which is related to PDMR contrast reaching 50\% and above. We develop a technique to locate PC related features. We find that electrons generated at the NV centre are stored in interface trap levels and establish that the interface states serve as an amplifier that can be driven by introducing a second laser into our confocal setup. We show that controlling these interface states allows one to significantly enhance the PDMR contrast. We develop a model that consistently explains observed amplification effects even without the application of a bias voltage.

In this paper, we demonstrate an approach to quantum robust control based on the tools of geometric optimal control. The central objects of interest are the sensitivity functions defined as the coefficients in the Taylor expansion of the trajectory with respect to the (unknown, small) parameters which describe the deviation of the actual model from nominal one. In terms of these quantities, we formalize an optimal control problem where one searches for the optimal nominal trajectory which minimizes the size of the sensitivity while taking into account other aspects of the control design such as the energy of the control field. We consider in detail the case of a single qubit with a dephasing Hamiltonian term, and the optimal control problem of obtaining a state transfer by minimizing the weighted sum of the energy of the controlling field and the first order sensitivity. At the limit of a very large weight on the sensitivity, we obtain the optimal control which zeros the sensitivity and minimizes the control field energy. This problem has a rich mathematical structure which enables its solution in terms of elliptic integrals. For this problem, we obtain an explicit solution which is particularly simple and also smooth, avoiding discontinuities which are present in other approaches. We extend the results to the robust control of two quantum bits minimizing cross-talk contamination, as we show that such a problem decouples in two independent one qubit problems.

Optically addressable molecular triplet spins provide a chemically tunable platform for quantum application, but their coherence is often limited by interactions with surrounding spin baths. Here we demonstrate controlled suppression of nuclear-bath-induced decoherence in photoexcited triplet spins of pentacene co-crystallized in high-purity naphthalene single crystals. By hyperpolarizing the proton spin bath through triplet dynamic nuclear polarization (triplet-DNP), magnetic noise generated by the nuclear spins is suppressed, leading to an extension of the electron spin transverse coherence time. Experimentally, we observe a 25\% enhancement of the spin-echo decay time with $60\%$ polarization of the proton spin bath. The measured scaling of the spin-echo decay time ($T_2$) with nuclear polarization quantitatively follows the predicted dependence derived from the polarization-controlled nuclear second moment. Both the enhancement and the absolute value of the coherence time are quantitatively reproduced by cluster correlation expansion (CCE) simulations. These results establish nuclear spin hyperpolarization as a general and actively tunable approach to engineering coherence in molecular qubits. This work provides a broadly applicable design framework for high-coherence molecular and solid-state spin systems.

Phase kickback is a fundamental primitive that is used in many quantum algorithms, such as quantum phase estimation. Here we observe that by using information about the controlled unitary, we can replace the controlled unitary with an uncontrolled one at the cost of introducing controlled state preparations. We then show how this modified phase kickback can be used as part of the quantum phase estimation algorithm when the goal is to estimate the phase of an eigenstate whose preparation procedure is known. We prove that this yields an exponential reduction in the number of two-qubit gates for an m-bit phase estimation in the relevant limit. Examples of applications are also presented. Naturally, this can be adapted to any algorithm that uses the phase kickback phenomenon and satisfies the assumptions.

Embedding high-dimensional data into resource-limited quantum devices remains a significant challenge for practical quantum machine learning. In multimodal face anti-spoofing, while linear compression methods such as principal component analysis can reduce dimensionality to accommodate limited quantum budgets, such approaches often lose critical high-order cross-modal correlations due to the loss of structural information. To this end, we propose a hybrid Matrix Product State (MPS)-Variational Quantum Circuit (VQC) framework, where the MPS serves as a structured, differentiable pre-quantum compression and fusion module, and the VQC acts as the quantum classifier. Built upon the low-rank structure controlled by the virtual bond dimension and integrated with a configurable nonlinear enhancement mechanism, this MPS module explicitly models long-range cross-modal correlations while compressing multimodal data into a compact representation matching the quantum budget and improving numerical stability under extreme compression. Experiments on the CASIA-SURF benchmark demonstrate that MPS-VQC achieves accuracy comparable to strong classical neural network baselines with fewer than 0.25M parameters, highlighting the parameter efficiency of tensor-network representations for high-dimensional multimodal data under tight resource budgets. Leveraging the intrinsic compatibility between MPS structures and quantum circuit topology, this framework not only provides a viable technological pathway for efficient multimodal anti-spoofing on NISQ devices but also serves as a stepping stone toward fully quantum implementations of such tasks in the future.

Large language models have recently shown potential in bridging the gap between classical machine learning and quantum machine learning. However, the lack of standardized, high-quality datasets and robust translation frameworks limits progress in this domain. We introduce Q-Bridge, an LLM-guided code translation framework that systematically converts CML implementations into executable QML variants. Our approach builds on a self-involving pipeline that iteratively expands a verified seed codebase into a large-scale dataset, CML-2-QML, integrating verifiable and unverifiable code pairs. The Q-Bridge model is fine-tuned using supervised LoRA adaptation for scalable and memory-efficient training, achieving faithful and interpretable quantum code generation across diverse architectures. Empirical analysis confirms the feasibility of direct CML-to-QML translation and reveals consistent structural alignment between classical and quantum paradigms. Case studies further demonstrate that Q-Bridge can maintain deterministic correctness and also enable creative architectural exploration. This work establishes the first reproducible framework and dataset for LLM-driven quantum code translation, offering a foundation for scalable quantum AI development.

We study nonequilibrium mode selection in dissipative exciton-polariton condensates incoherently pumped through an excitonic reservoir in the presence of pure energy relaxation. For a confined system in which a vortex mode is selected at threshold, we show that energy relaxation qualitatively changes the condensation scenario: as the pump increases, the asymptotic state evolves from a vortex condensate to a rotating mixed state and then to a ground-state condensate. Pure energy relaxation thus destabilizes condensation into excited states and promotes ground-state selection.

Magnetic monopoles in frustrated magnets are paradigmatic fractionalised quasiparticles, yet no experimental platform simultaneously tunes their confinement and preserves ice-rule physics. Here we exploit the native bilayer architecture of a D-Wave Advantage2 quantum annealer to realise the first programmable two-plane kagome spin ice, spanning $1{,}536$ logical spins across a $4\times13\times14$ grid of system size, interlayer coupling, and quantum drive. We find that interlayer exchange drives a sharp transition from ferroelectric to antiferroelectric staggered charge order, an Ice-II phase with no classical or single-layer analogue, with a critical onset at $(J_{\perp}/J_1)^{*} \approx 0.044$ that is stable across five decades of annealing time. Restricting the charge structure factor to ice-rule plaquettes reveals an order-of-magnitude enhancement over conventional all-plaquette estimators, demonstrating that quantum-selected charge order is invisible to defect-diluted probes and establishing a methodological standard for future quantum spin ice experiments. The quantum renormalisation of the monopole chemical potential sets a concrete engineering target for the transmon circuit-QED kagome ice required to enter the monopole deconfinement regime. Three falsifiable predictions follow for existing Ni$_{81}$Fe$_{19}$ nanowire bilayer architectures: a critical interlayer separation, an elevated monopole activation temperature, and an order-of-magnitude enhancement of the Ice-II signal in published X-ray datasets, all testable without new fabrication.

We derive holographic duality from first principles starting from the $(1+1)$-dimensional Gross-Neveu (GN) model with $N$ fermion species and a local quartic interaction, without assuming any string or geometric input. Using a Bargmann-Wigner scheme, the competition between chiral condensation $Δ_0=\langle\barψψ\rangle$ and spin-1 pairing $Δ_1=\langle\barΦ_1Φ_1\rangle$ defines an emergent radial coordinate $z=m^{-1}(Δ_1/Δ_0^2-1)^{1/2}$; local fluctuations of this ratio, tracked by a comoving derivative, generate the AdS$_3$ line element via the enhanced large-$N$ species dispersion; the condensate competition \emph{is} the extra dimension. From this single mechanism the complete AdS$_3$/CFT$_2$ correspondence emerges: Newton's constant, the Virasoro algebra ($c=2N^2$), D1-branes with open strings, open/closed T-duality, the Hagedorn/BKT transition, and the BTZ black hole whose horizon circumference is quantised in Planck units by individual vortex nucleation events. Analytic continuation $z\to iζ$ across the chiral critical point realises the Strominger dS/CFT conjecture microscopically. Six constraints identify the emergent string as Type IIB on AdS$_3\times S^3\times\mathcal{M}_4$, with emergent worldsheet $\mathcal{N}=(1,1)$ supersymmetry, NS/R spectral flow, and GSO projection. Extension to the $(2+1)$d NJL model yields AdS$_4$/CFT$_3$, a dS$_4$/CFT$_3$ realisation, and a structural identification of the $w_{1+\infty}$ celestial algebra. Extension to the $(3+1)$d NJL model yields AdS$_5$/CFT$_4$ and holographic QCD with chiral symmetry breaking and linear Regge trajectories $M_s^2=4(s+1)Λ_\mathrm{QCD}^2$, capturing the correct QCD infrared physics from a four-fermion interaction.

Wave--particle duality is a cornerstone of quantum mechanics, traditionally formulated under definite causal order. We investigate how complementarity is modified when the temporal order of operations is coherently superposed, as in the quantum switch. We show that no universal linear additive complementarity relation exists that simultaneously captures path distinguishability, spatial coherence, and coherence between causal orders. This reveals a fundamental separation between spatial and causal resources, which reside on different subsystems and are therefore not jointly constrained by a single quantum state. While tracing out the order qubit recovers the standard duality relation at the level of the reduced quanton--detector state, coherence between causal orders is not accessible at the level of the reduced description. To capture this contribution, we introduce \emph{causal coherence}, defined as the coherence of the order qubit, which quantifies interference between alternative causal orders and is operationally measurable; we construct explicit processes in which spatial duality is saturated while causal coherence is maximal. We further show that complementarity admits a state-dependent entropic formulation based on incompatible measurements on the causal degree of freedom; unlike generic state-dependent relations, this formulation arises from a universal uncertainty principle and provides a canonical operationally meaningful description. These results establish that complementarity is fundamentally shaped by causal structure and cannot, in general, be fully captured at the level of reduced quantum states alone.

This paper presents classical benchmark simulations of a practical hybrid decoding scheme for parity-encoded spin systems, which is well-suited to the development of quantum annealing devices based on on-chip superconducting technology. We compared the performance of finding the optimal solution using two embedding schemes for emulating all-to-all connectivity from local interactions: the SLHZ scheme, proposed by Sourlas, Lechner, Hauke, and Zoller, and the commonly used minor embedding (ME) scheme. We found that the SLHZ scheme is more efficient than the ME scheme when combined with postreadout classical decoding based on the classical bit-flipping algorithm, although the SLHZ scheme itself is substantially less efficient than the ME scheme.

We present a quantum-mechanical calculation of positron channeling radiation in a planar harmonic potential, explicitly accounting for the interference between transition amplitudes from different transverse energy levels. Because the planar channel potential for positrons in diamond~(110) is well approximated by a parabola, the transverse spectrum is equidistant, $\varepsilon_n = Ω(n+\tfrac{1}{2})$, and all $n \to n{-}j$ transitions radiate at the same Doppler-shifted frequency. The entry of the positron into the crystal under the sudden approximation creates a Glauber coherent state with population amplitudes $c_n$. Phase synchronization between the $c_n$ and the dipole matrix elements ensures that all occupied levels contribute constructively to the radiation amplitude, giving an intensity $I_{\rm coh} \propto |A_j|^2$ that exceeds the incoherent (Zhevago--Kumakhov) result by a factor $\mathcal{G} = 12\text{--}31$ for positron energies of $4\text{--}14$~GeV in diamond~(110). Numerical results agree with the experimental peak positions of Avakyan \emph{et al.}~\cite{Avakyan1982}. The enhancement is unique to positrons because their nearly harmonic channel potential is not replicated for electrons. We propose a decisive experimental test of the coherent model based on the predicted nonlinear angular dependence of the peak intensity. The transition from $N$- to $N^2$-scaling of the radiated intensity, driven by quantum coherence, opens a route toward high-intensity monochromatic gamma-ray sources for nuclear physics and materials science.

High-fidelity quantum gates require precise classical control signals, yet the analog hardware delivering these signals introduces nonlinear distortions that degrade gate performance. We demonstrate digital predistortion of an acousto-optic modulator used to generate multi-tone entangling-gate waveforms in a trapped-ion processor based on $^{88}$Sr$^+$. By measuring and inverting the static nonlinear amplitude response of the modulator, we apply a feed-forward correction that extends its linear operating range and suppresses spurious intermodulation products. Spectral analysis of the gate beam shows 3--5 dB suppression of the dominant intermodulation tones, approximately doubling the usable diffraction efficiency at a $10^{-3}$ estimated gate-error threshold. Direct two-qubit Bell-state fidelity measurements confirm that predistortion consistently improves entangling-gate performance. The calibrate-and-invert methodology is device and platform agnostic, applicable to any nonlinear element in the classical control chain of a quantum processor.

Surface plasmon polaritons propagating along curved metal-dielectric interfaces experience geometry-induced modifications absent on flat surfaces. In this work, we derive a covariant, effective two-dimensional wave equation for the transverse magnetic surface plasmon mode on weakly curved smooth interfaces. By perturbatively expanding Maxwell's equations with curvature-adapted boundary conditions, we find a Helmholtz equation with two geometric potential terms that enter at first order in the extrinsic curvature: an isotropic contribution proportional to the extrinsic curvature, and an anisotropic operator arising from the traceless part of the second fundamental form. These linear-in-curvature potentials distinguish convex from concave interfaces, in contrast to the quadratic potentials known from symmetrically confined systems such as dielectric waveguides. We show that our equation reproduces established results for spherical and cylindrical interfaces. We furthermore predict that the anisotropic contribution vanishes when the ratio of the material permittivities equals the square of the golden ratio. As an application, we demonstrate sign-dependent cooperative frequency shifts as well as a curvature-driven redistribution of superradiant and subradiant decay rates for a ring of quantum emitters on a curved metallic spheroid interacting through the surface plasmons.

We develop a quantum description of the resonant interaction between electromagnetic (EM) and gravitational waves (GW). We first show that Lorentz invariance together with polarization selection rules forbids any photon-graviton mixing in free space. We demonstrate that confining the EM field within a cavity quantum electrodynamics (cavity-QED) environment breaks translational symmetry and isotropy, leading to non-vanishing mode coupling between EM and gravitational degrees of freedom. Within this framework, we identify multiple photon-graviton scattering channels, including photon up- and down-conversion and photon creation. In the semiclassical limit of the trilinear interaction where GW acts as a classical pump and the EM field is in a vacuum, spontaneous parametric photon amplification and two-mode squeezing occur. When the gravitational field is quantized, however, the back-action and energy exchange between photons and gravitons result in saturation of amplification, in contrast to exponential growth, and the loss of purity in the photonic subsystem. The characteristic timescale scales as $t_{\text{sp}}\sim (g\sqrt{n_g})^{-1}$, where $g$ and $n_g$ refer to the coupling strength and the mean graviton number, demonstrating collective enhancement of the interaction with the graviton occupation number. In the stimulated regime, where one EM mode is initially populated, the effective coupling is further enhanced, analogous to Dicke-type superradiant emission. This work introduces a cavity-based graviton transducer for probing quantum aspects of GWs.

Quantum instruments describe both the classical output and the updated quantum state in a measurement process. To do this in a non-trivial way, instruments must have the capability to interact coherently with the state that they measure. Here, we develop a resource theory for instruments. We consider a relevant quantifier of the separation between interactive and non-interactive instruments and show that it admits three distinct operational interpretations in terms of quantum information tasks. These concern (i) the preservation of maximally entangled states after a local measurement, (ii) the average ability to preserve random states after measurement, and (iii) the ability to recover the classical information generated from measuring half of a maximally entangled state. We also introduce a natural set of allowed operations and show that the third task fully characterises the resource content of instruments. Our general framework reproduces as special cases established resource theories for channels and measurements.

Quantum Neural Networks (QNNs) offer a promising framework for integrating quantum computing principles into machine learning, yet their practical capabilities and limitations remain insufficiently studied. In this work, we systematically investigate the trainability and approximation properties of QNNs by benchmarking diverse circuit architectures and encoding strategies across synthetic and real-world datasets. We analyze several ansätze, including Hamming, binary, exponential, ternary, turnpike and Golomb, by evaluating their ability to learn synthetic data modeled as random finite Fourier series. To assess real-world applicability, we further evaluate QNNs on two time-series classification tasks: a Fischertechnik pneumatic leak detection dataset and the publicly available NASA bearing fault dataset. Our experiments show that while broader frequency spectra can theoretically enhance expressivity, practical trainability is strongly influenced by architectural factors such as qubit count and circuit depth. Notably, we find that QNNs perform best when the frequency spectrum is tailored to the target function's complexity but remains as compact as possible. Moreover, architectures with identical frequency spectra can differ in trainability, with configurations using more qubits and fewer layers generally performing better, except in the single-layer case. These findings provide guidelines for selecting QNN ansätze and offer new insights into the interplay between expressivity and trainability in quantum machine learning.

We investigate the realization of a nonsingular cosmological bounce in metric $f(R)$ gravity using a controlled exponential deformation of the Starobinsky $R^{2}$ model. Adopting a smooth Gaussian-type bouncing scale factor, we first demonstrate a no-go result showing that a positive-curvature vacuum bounce cannot be supported by the model $f(R)=R+αR^{2}(1-e^{-R/R_b})$ alone. We then show that a minimal extension obtained by introducing a constant term restores the bounce exactly, with the constant fixed algebraically by the bounce condition. A systematic parameter-space scan is performed to identify regions free of ghost and tachyonic instabilities. Working in the Einstein frame, we study the evolution of scalar and tensor perturbations across the bounce and show that both remain finite and well behaved. Our results establish a minimal, perturbatively stable realization of a vacuum bounce in $f(R)$ gravity that goes beyond background-level constructions.

Previous experimental realizations of Dicke model in atomic or ionic systems are based on global observables assuming uniform spin-boson coupling, while inevitable experimental nonuniformity on the one hand requires site-resolved measurement of spin states, and on the other hand provides potential quantum advantage on the simulation of multi-spin distributions. Here we report the quantum simulation of a nonuniform Dicke-like model in a two-dimensional (2D) crystal of up to 200 ions. We explicitly demonstrate the sensitivity of few-spin observables and multi-spin distributions to the spatial inhomogeneity of the model, and examine the thermalization dynamics of the nonuniform model by measuring the subsystem entropies of selected ion groups. Our work enables the study of Dicke-like models beyond the symmetric subspace, paving the way toward understanding the role of disorder in its thermalization and quantum chaos behavior.

In this work, we investigate the thermodynamics of Schwarzschild black and white holes within a $q$-deformed Wheeler--DeWitt framework. By introducing a $q$-deformed Heisenberg--Weyl algebra at a root of unity, we derive a finite-dimensional Hilbert space, a bounded mass spectrum, and an adiabatic invariant leading to a bounded entropy-mass relation. The deformation results in a universal logarithmic correction, as well as a minimum temperature and a maximum entropy that matches the de Sitter bound. Also, we examine the interpretation of a cold remnant, which is dynamically stable because its radiation rate approaches zero, even though its heat capacity remains negative. We also explore the holographic implications of this limited entropy. Our results thus provide a consistent semiclassical picture, where quantum deformation naturally introduces an entropy bound, avoids divergences at the final evaporation stage, and suggests a smooth transition from quantum gravity to cosmology.

We develop an exact framework for quantum Zeno and anti-Zeno dynamics in a broad class of open systems, whose microscopic Hamiltonians are quadratic in bosonic or fermionic operators. We treat the environment through an exact stroboscopic resetting scheme acting at the level of the single-particle density matrix (SPDM). Within this framework, we consider two cases: a repeated-interaction (RI) protocol, in which the environment block is rethermalized and all system-environment coherences are erased after each step, and an evolving-correlation (EC) protocol, in which only the environment block is reset while system-environment coherences are preserved. For RI, we derive a general short-time Zeno law for the survival probability of a single-particle excitation and show that the corresponding decay rate scales linearly with the reset interval, implying Zeno freezing in the limit of infinitely frequent resets. Beyond the short-time regime, we formulate the RI dynamics directly in terms of the exact one-cycle propagator, which allows us to analyze finite-$τ$ anti-Zeno windows without additional approximations. For EC, we obtain a continuous-reset description in which the kept single-particle correlators obey a finite-dimensional linear differential equation. In this case the drift in the system block remains finite in the frequent-reset limit, so strict freezing is absent. We illustrate these results for a single fermionic level coupled to a semi-infinite tight-binding chain acting as a structured bath. Our results identify coherence erasure versus coherence retention as the key factor controlling the reset-induced Zeno physics.

We test the cosmic distance duality relation (CDDR) using two model-independent methods. Method I is based on the PAge parametrization, which characterizes the expansion history in terms of the cosmic age. Parametrizations of possible CDDR violations are constrained using observational data from Type Ia supernovae (SN), baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO), cosmic chronometers, and gamma-ray bursts (GRB), including the latest PantheonPlus and DES Dovekie SN samples and DESI DR2 BAO data. The results support the validity of the CDDR within $1σ$. Different combinations of data sets are further explored to assess the impact of various probes and calibration choices, demonstrating the robustness of this conclusion. Although GRB data extend to higher redshifts, their constraining power is significantly weaker than that of the other low-redshift probes. The PantheonPlus and DES Dovekie samples yield consistent results. Method II uses a non-parametric Gaussian process reconstruction of the luminosity distance from SN data, combined with BAO measurements to construct the observed CDDR violation and constrain its parametrizations. The results are consistent with those from Method I, and we find no evidence for a violation of the CDDR.

In this work, we investigate the gravitational lensing effects and the dynamic evolution of the shadow of Vaidya black holes by employing backward ray-tracing techniques. Within the celestial sphere framework, the black hole shadow exhibits a complete evolutionary sequence, transitioning from an initial stable configuration through continuous expansion to a final static state. Notably, during and after the active accretion phase, a distinct lensing ring emerges outside the shadow. Extending this analysis to the thin accretion disk model reveals richer observational signatures. A bright ring, formed by the superposition of the photon ring and lensing ring, appears outside the shadow but persists only during the initial and final stages of accretion, vanishing entirely when accretion becomes active. Interestingly, as the accretion process progresses, an additional ring-like structure, which is caused by the dynamical redshift effect, emerges in the image. This ring-like structure not only contracts inward but also brightens continuously as accretion proceeds. Under varying observational inclinations, the Doppler effect and the dynamical redshift effect jointly modulate the brightness distribution of the image, resulting in significant asymmetry in the inner shadow, bright ring, and additional ring. Our findings uncover dynamical redshift as a novel observable phenomenon intrinsic to evolving spacetimes, offering a potential discriminant for identifying accreting black holes and providing observational access to the imprints of temporal spacetime evolution on black hole images.

Scalable quantum networks must support concurrent entanglement requests, yet existing routing protocols fail when users compete for shared repeater resources, wasting fragile quantum states. This paper presents RADAR-Q, a resource-aware decentralized routing protocol embedding real-time resource contention into path selection. Unlike prior designs requiring global coordination or central anchors, RADAR-Q makes intelligent local decisions balancing path length and fidelity, instantaneous quantum memory availability, and intermediate Bell-State Measurement (BSM) operations. By identifying the Nearest Common Ancestor (NCA) within a DODAG hierarchy, RADAR-Q localizes entanglement swapping close to communicating users - avoiding unnecessary central detours and reducing BSM chain length and decoherence exposure. We evaluate RADAR-Q on grid and random topologies against synchronous and root-centric asynchronous baselines. Results show RADAR-Q achieves aggregate throughputs 2.5x and 7.6x higher than synchronized and root-centric designs, respectively. While baselines suffer catastrophic fidelity collapse below the 0.5 threshold under high load, RADAR-Q consistently maintains end-to-end fidelity above 0.76, ensuring pairs remain usable. Furthermore, RADAR-Q exhibits near-perfect fairness (Jain's Fairness Index 96-98%) and retains over 50% of its ideal throughput under stringent 1.0 ms coherence times. These findings establish contention-aware decentralized routing as a scalable foundation for multi-tenant quantum networks.

In quantum networks, one way to communicate is to distribute entanglements through swapping at intermediate nodes. Most existing work primarily aims to create efficient two-party end-to-end entanglement over long distances. However, some scenarios also require remote multipartite entanglement for applications such as quantum secret sharing and multi-party computation. Our previous study improved end-to-end entanglement rates using an asynchronous, tree-based routing scheme that relies solely on local knowledge of entanglement links, conserving unused entanglement and avoiding synchronous operations. This article extends this approach to multipartite entanglements, particularly the three-party Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) states. It shows that our asynchronous protocol outperforms traditional synchronous methods in entanglement rates, especially as coherence times increase. This approach can also be extended to four-party and larger multipartite GHZ states, highlighting the effectiveness and adaptability of asynchronous routing for multipartite scenarios across various network topologies.

Phase transitions are among the most intriguing phenomena in physical systems, yet their behavior near criticality remain challenging to study using classical algorithms. Parameterized quantum circuits (PQCs) offer a promising approach to investigating such regimes on practical quantum computers. However, in order to use it to probe critical behavior, a PQC itself should be non-trivial and exhibit a phase transition and non-analyticity -- a property that has not yet been clearly identified. In this work, we identify a mechanism for generating non-analyticities intrinsically in PQCs. As a concrete realization, we construct a class of sequential PQCs whose observable expectation value is a non-analytic function of the circuit parameter in the infinite volume limit, showing that the prepared PQC states undergo a phase transition at the non-analytic points. The entanglement and the identified order parameter have distinct behaviors in different phases, revealing a phase diagram of the PQC state. We show that classical simulation of this PQC based on tensor networks and Pauli propagation gets less efficient in the vicinity of the phase transition point, indicating a physically motivated route towards practical quantum advantage using PQCs with phase transitions.

We investigate the dynamical transfer of bipartite entanglement through a two-leg spin-1/2 ladder governed by the anisotropic Heisenberg (XXZ-type) model with a selective magnetic field applied exclusively to the mediating rungs. Starting from a maximally entangled initial rung pair, we demonstrate high-fidelity entanglement transfer to the terminal pair (F_max = 0.9998 for N = 3 rung pairs), with the intermediate rungs remaining effectively disentangled throughout. The dynamics is governed by two independent timescales: a fast carrier oscillation at frequency omega_fast = 2*sqrt(1 + 4d^2) J (set by local rung physics, field-independent) and a slow transfer envelope with period T_slow = 2.37 h/J^2 (set by virtual inter-rung coupling, field-dependent). The effective inter-rung coupling J_eff = alpha(d,g) J^2/h is derived via second-order perturbation theory through two parallel virtual paths. We systematically study the effects of magnetic field strength, Hamiltonian anisotropy, and initial state on transfer quality, establish a global parameter space map of the fidelity, and demonstrate robustness under uncorrelated coupling disorder (mean F_max > 0.998 for delta <= 10%). All results are obtained by exact diagonalisation for systems of up to N = 5 rung pairs; extension to larger systems requires tensor-network methods such as DMRG. Compared to one-dimensional chain proposals, the ladder geometry enables a spatially selective control mechanism that suppresses intermediate entanglement while preserving coherent transfer, providing a distinct route to engineered quantum channels.

Waveguide quantum electrodynamics (WQED) provides a powerful platform for exploring quantum optical phenomena by enhancing atom-photon interactions through photon confinement in a waveguide. Here we investigate the photon-scattering dynamics of a weak coherent pulse incident from the left on a giant atom coupled to a bidirectional waveguide, focusing on effects absent in the small-atom approximation. Using an extended input-output formalism, we calculate the relevant correlation functions and show that the competition between two scattering processes is governed by the ratio of the pulse width to the atomic lifetime, leading to time-dependent switching between bunching and antibunching. In addition, tuning the phase accumulated between the two coupling points of the giant atom allows the photon statistics to be switched among three distinct regimes, each with a finite phase bandwidth. We also discuss the experimental feasibility in superconducting circuits. Our results provide a route toward giant-atom-based control of photon pulses and potential applications in quantum control.

We demonstrate imaging $^{171}$Yb single atoms in clock-magic tweezers of 759.4 nm wavelength, with above 99.9% fidelity and survival. We use alternating dual-tone narrowline imaging for more efficient three-dimensional cooling in tweezers, allowing several-millisecond imaging in 200 $μ$K trap depth, which is half of typical depth used for imaging in clock-magic tweezers. Accordingly, even without repumping, imaging survival is still close to 99.9% with the high fidelity, which can enable high performance nondestructive qubit measurements based on metastable shelving. Moreover, our simulation predicts that more optimal configuration could further reduce the trap depth, as improving the imaging performance. This imaging capability in shallow traps opens high performance imaging for more general trap wavelength, and lays the foundation for large scale systems over 1,000 qubits, and highly repeatable tweezer clocks.

Current quantum computers present significant noise, especially as circuit depth and qubit count increase. Prior work has demonstrated that erroneous outcomes exhibit some behavior in Hamming space, enabling improvements in the output distributions of NISQ-era computers. We present HAMMR-L: a principled post-processing technique for improving the fidelity of output distributions by applying Richardson-Lucy image deconvolution on a state graph of measurement results connected by Hamming distance. We show that this preliminary implementation of HAMMR-L outperforms existing cutting-edge Hamming-based post-processors such as QBEEP while being circuit and hardware agnostic, which QBEEP is not. HAMMR-L also demonstrates clear potential for future improvements and we discuss how such improvements might be realized while highlighting the strengths, limitations, and generality of the underlying concept.

We present the full diagonalization of a non-quadratic bosonic Liouvillian with a two-body loss term. The Liouvillian is shown to be exactly diagonalizable in terms of left and right confluent hypergeometric functions, whose distinction arises from the noncommutative nature of superoperators. The resulting spectral decomposition yields the general solution of the master equation, extending previous results. We further investigate the construction of a non-Gaussian open system model through the lens of nonlinear pseudomodes.

Standard macroscopic QED is built on the second-order Green's function for the electric field and discards open-system boundary terms. Here we develop a first-order electromagnetic operator approach that retains both $\mathbf{E}$ and $\mathbf{H}$ and keeps those boundary terms, naturally leading to a quantum input-output formalism. We recast Maxwell's equations as an operator equation for the dual field $\mathit{E}$=$[\mathbf{E},\mathbf{H}]^T$, whose first-order Green operator $g$ propagates the electromagnetic state between surfaces. Symmetries of the Maxwell operator under energy and reciprocal inner products yield the propagation formula, Lorentz reciprocity, and a generalized optical theorem, with minimal vector calculus. Quantizing via a Heisenberg-Langevin approach for absorptive, dispersive media yields two independent quantum noise sources: bulk Langevin operators from material absorption and input-output field operators at the boundary. Expressing the interior field in terms of these operators and the Green propagator yields an exact closed commutation relation $[{\mathit{E}},{\mathit{E}}^\dagger]\propto \mathrm{Im}\,g$, consistent with the fluctuation-dissipation theorem. This identity holds even when dielectrics extend to the boundary, as in waveguide input-output problems, and enables quantum input-output descriptions of complex photonic structures where the Green's function is obtained numerically, extending the framework beyond cavities and waveguides.

The time-energy uncertainty relation is often invoked as a heuristic explanation for virtual particles in interacting quantum field theories. However, this interpretation breaks down upon closer scrutiny for several reasons. Although concrete derivations and interpretations of time-energy uncertainty bounds in quantum mechanics have been established, most famously by Mandelstam and Tamm in 1945, there is no known rigorous connection between these bounds and the concept of virtual particles in quantum field theory. In this work, we use a model in which virtual excitations associated with subcycle modes of a free scalar field can be converted with unit efficiency into real excitations of an idealized rapidly-switched harmonic-oscillator Unruh-DeWitt detector coupled to the conjugate field. Defining the time uncertainty as the effective duration of the detector-field interaction, we show that a time-energy uncertainty relation is satisfied in the deep subcycle regime. Our results provide concrete operational meaning to the textbook heuristic picture of virtual particles in quantum field theory in terms of the time-energy uncertainty principle.

The particle in an expanding/contracting 1-dimension box is revisited in action-angle like variables with direct thermodynamic interpretation. An angle dependent potential is proposed accurately describing the mechanical behavior while also capturing thermodynamic evolution -- entropy production -- within a canonical Hamiltonian framework. Heat transfer at constant volume is analyzed, and the derived thermal conductance matches the universal quantum of heat conductance $G_{Q}$ in the quantum limit. Having a Hamiltonian scheme interpretable in thermodynamic terms, a Schrödinger-like wave equation is formulated whose wavefunction solutions contain the information about the entropy evolution. The results show exact agreement with 'classical' results for non abrupt changes. Finally, comparisons with a pure quantum mechanical treatment of the wave function in an expanding box confirm consistency in quasi-static regimes and reveal adiabaticity breakdown under far-from-equilibrium conditions.

Combining decoherence protection with directional photon emission in a single waveguide quantum electrodynamics (QED) device remains an open challenge. Here we show that an artificial giant molecule -- strongly interacting artificial atoms coupled to a photonic waveguide at multiple spatially separated points -- achieves both: a fully operational decoherence-free (DF) qubit and state-dependent chiral single-photon emission, arising from the same photon-interference mechanism. Initialization reduces to a local excitation of a single atom, universal single-qubit gates are implemented by modulating a single atomic frequency, and readout exploits state-dependent chiral emission with directionality reaching 100% and low measurement error of 1.2%. The coexistence of decoherence protection and directional emission in a single device positions giant molecules as protected chiral nodes for modular quantum networks in waveguide QED.

Lasing - an effect of orthodox quantum mechanics - was discovered in 1955 and recognized by the Nobel Prize in 1964 due to its fundamentality. Nowadays, lasers and masers routinely work with electromagnetic waves and consist of a resonator with an active medium - usually a system of atoms with population inversion mechanism. Amazingly, quantum mechanics remains valid even when electromagnetic waves are replaced by vibrations of a crystal lattice, and, therefore, photons by phonons, even though are not fundamental particles. By implementing acoustic resonators coupled to an atom with a mechanism of population inversion, the lasing effect in sound can be achieved. In this paper, we demonstrate the single artificial atom SASER (Sound Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) action by utilizing a surface acoustic wave (SAW) resonator on quartz coupled to a deliberately designed superconducting three-level quantum system (artificial atom), in which population inversion is realized. The SASER operates in the ultrasound range at a frequency about 3 GHz. Acoustic-to-electric signals are converted via piezo-electric effect and the circuit elements; an artificial atom and input/outputs are coupled via the acoustic waves. We observe amplification of the waves and their strong self-emission with a significant narrowing of the linewidth. The phonon number generated in the system exceeds 90.

Superconducting and Ion-Trap quantum architectures are common in the current landscape of the quantum computing field, each with distinct characteristics and operational constraints. Understanding and measuring the underlying quantumness of these devices is essential for assessing their readiness for practical applications and guiding future progress and research. Building on earlier work (Meirom, Mor, Weinstein Arxiv 2505.12441), we utilize a benchmarking strategy applicable for comparing these two architectures by measuring "quantumness" directly on optimal sub-chips. Distinct from existing metrics, our approach employs rigorous binary fidelity thresholds derived from the classical limits of state transfer. This enable us to definitively establish quantum advantage of a designated sub-region. We apply this quality assurance methodology to industry leading platforms from both technologies. This comparison provides a protocol-based evaluation of quantumness advantage, revealing not only the strengths and weaknesses of each tested chip and its sub-chips but also offering a common language for their assessment. By abstracting away technical differences in the final result, we demonstrate a benchmarking strategy that bridges the gap between disparate quantum-circuit technologies, enabling fair performance comparisons and establishing a critical foundation for evaluating future claims of quantum advantage.

How quantum coherence influences thermodynamic behavior remains an open question in quantum thermodynamics. Here we investigate this relation within the pure dephasing framework, where a central qubit interacts with a finite Ising-like spin environment. Although the system's internal energy remains constant, the interaction induces decoherence and gives rise to nontrivial thermodynamic features. Within the two-point measurement approach, we show that the heat dissipated into the environment matches the coherent energy contribution appearing in a reformulated first law of quantum thermodynamics. Numerical calculations reveal oscillatory coherence dynamics, with revivals associated with information backflow and non-Markovian effects, as quantified by the Breuer-Laine-Piilo measure. We find that heat and coherence exhibit intertwined temporal behavior, with enhanced heat dissipation during coherence decay and reduced heat during revivals. These results suggest a connection between coherence dynamics and thermodynamic quantities in finite, closed composite systems undergoing pure dephasing.

We study first-order scalar and tensor perturbations of Jordan-frame scalar--tensor gravity about a spatially flat FLRW background using the Einstein-like effective-fluid decomposition of the scalar sector. In the scalar-gradient frame, we derive the perturbed effective density, pressure, heat flux, and anisotropic stress, and show that they admit an exact Eckart-type constitutive identification at linear order. We then show that these same quantities appear explicitly and exhaustively in the linearized field equations: the scalar Hamiltonian, momentum, trace, and traceless Einstein-like equations are governed, respectively, by the effective density, heat-flux, pressure, and anisotropic-stress channels, while the tensor propagation equation is governed by the transverse-traceless anisotropic-stress channel. In particular, the Jordan-frame modification of gravitational-wave damping is identified with the effective transverse-traceless anisotropic stress of the scalar sector. We also derive the perturbed evolution equation for the invariant product $κT$, clarify its gauge behavior, and show that flux matching on FLRW fixes only the background value $\overline{κT}$, not its perturbation. These results leave open the possibility that gravitational waves in scalar--tensor gravity admit a deeper thermodynamic characterization, perhaps even an intrinsic one, although the present analysis establishes this only at the level of an effective constitutive description.

Quantum mechanics contains some strange unphysical concepts. Among these are complex numbers, Hilbert spaces with their unitary and self-adjoint operators, states represented by complex vectors, superpositions of states, collapse of wave functions, Born's rule for probabilities and others. If we accept that quantum mechanics is probabilistic, then these concepts can be derived and they become secondary. In this work, we begin with what we call a \textit{conditional stochastic process} (CSP) which is based on real numbers and probabilities. As we shall see, such processes are defined by three simple axioms. We then use CSP to derive quantum mechanics by employing a correspondence called a \textit{dictionary}. We also show that the converse holds. That is, beginning with a quantum system, we employ the dictionary to derive a CSP.

The $δN$ formalism provides a powerful non-perturbative framework for following the evolution of primordial curvature perturbations on super-horizon scales. However, its standard implementation relies on the separate universe assumption, which neglects significant spatial gradient interactions. Recent work has addressed this limitation by incorporating gradient interactions directly into the background dynamics through an effective source term in the Klein--Gordon equation, thereby extending the applicability of the $δN$ framework beyond the separate universe approximation. Despite this conceptual progress, practical calculations within the $δN$ formalism remain technically challenging, as cosmological observables require evaluating the sensitivity of the total number of $e$-folds to initial conditions, a task that becomes even more involved once gradient contributions are included. In this work, we develop a systematic method to simplify these calculations by applying Continuous Sensitivity Analysis to the gradient-corrected $δN$ framework. In this approach, the required phase-space derivatives are obtained by solving a set of coupled first-order differential equations for the field Jacobian and Hessian, which significantly streamlines both analytical and numerical evaluations of $δN$ formalism. As an explicit demonstration, we apply the method to the Starobinsky model, which features a sharp transition into an ultra-slow-roll phase. Within this setup, we derive analytical expressions for the $k$-dependent power spectrum including full gradient corrections, and obtain an analytical estimate of the equilateral non-Gaussianity parameter $f_{\rm NL}^{\rm eq}$ that accurately captures the gradient-sourced contributions.

We establish an equivalence between massive spinning particle models in four spacetime dimensions coupled to electromagnetism or gravity, within the spin-magnitude-preserving sector. Four representative models in the literature are shown to describe exactly the same physics in their free and interacting theories: vector oscillator, spinor oscillator, spherical top, and massive twistor. The Bargmann-Michel-Telegdi (BMT) and quadrupolar Mathisson-Papapetrou-Dixon (QMPD) equations are derived in a model-independent fashion. This universal framework allows for incorporating higher spin multipole interactions as well. We establish the rigorous construction of the interacting theory of the spherical top model with emphasis on spin gauge invariance. Applications to black hole physics, conserved charges, and post-Newtonian or post-Minkowskian frameworks are discussed.

We quantize the exterior region of a Schwarzschild-AdS black hole using our model of quantum gravity. The resulting hyperbolic equation is solved by products of temporal eigenfunctions $w_i$, the eigenvalues of which all have multiplicity one, and spatial eigendistributions $v_{ij}$ having the same eigenvalues but with multiplicities $1\le m_i$, where the $m_i$ could in principle be arbitrarily large. Regarding only the exterior region, there was no guidance how to determine the values of the $m_i$. However, considering also the quantization of the interior region, where the same question did not arise since the $m_i$ could be chosen by maximizing the value, it seemed logical to choose the same values, too, in the exterior case. Since the eigenvalues in the interior are the same because the temporal Hamiltonian is the same in both cases, this choice defined a unitary equivalence between the respective Hilbert spaces and the respective Hamiltonians. Hence, there is no information paradox on a quantum level.

In this paper, we apply techniques of geometric quantization to study the response of the integer and fractional quantum Hall effects to toroidal geometry deformation. The main method is that of using complex time Hamiltonian evolution to induce the geometry change and then the associated generalized coherent state transforms (gCST) to find the evolution of the Laughlin states. We consider two kinds of deformations. The first are flat toroidal deformations. Although Laughlin states for all flat toroidal geometries have been thoroughly studied before, we believe that our approach via the gCST is novel. It also serves as a testing ground to study the non-flat Kähler deformations. The Hamiltonians used in the flat deformations are quadratic in the generators of translations and therefore non periodic. The second kind of deformations involve nonflat Kähler toroidal deformations, generated by global, thus bi-periodic, Hamiltonians on the torus. The corresponding imaginary time flows are (elliptic curve modulus) $τ$-preserving Mabuchi geodesics in the space of Kähler metrics on the torus, hitting a curvature singularity in finite imaginary time. By restricting to $S^1$-invariant deformations we find explicit analytic expressions for the evolution of the toroidal geometry and of the Laughlin states all the way to the singularity.

Fusion measurements are a key primitive for linear-optical quantum computing and quantum networks. Type-I and type-II fusion gates are widely used to combine small entangled resource states into larger photonic states, but without ancillary resources their success probability is limited to $1/2$. Existing $3/4$-efficient type-I schemes rely on entangled Bell-pair ancillary states, whose preparation is itself probabilistic and resource-intensive. Here we propose a boosted type-I fusion gate that achieves a total success probability of $3/4$ using only four ancillary single photons and passive linear optics. The gate succeeds directly with probability $5/8$, while a distillation step converts partially entangled outcomes into additional successful events. We quantify the practical advantage of this scheme by estimating the photonic resources required for generating representative large entangled photonic states and show that the proposed gate significantly reduces the required overhead. These results expand the set of resource-efficient linear-optical primitives and enable a substantial reduction in the resource requirements for scalable photonic quantum computing and quantum communication.

We study the time-of-arrival problem for relativistic particles constrained to move on a ring, formulating the problem entirely within Quantum Field Theory (QFT). In contrast to its counterpart for motion in a line, the circle topology implies that particles may encounter the detector multiple times before detection, making a field-theoretic treatment of the measurement interaction essential. We employ the Quantum Temporal Probabilities (QTP) method to derive a class of Positive-Operator-Valued Measures (POVMs) for time-of-arrival observables directly from QFT. We analyze the resulting detection probabilities in both semiclassical and fully quantum regimes, identifying the relevant timescales and their dependence on the field-theoretic parameters. For ensembles of particles, the detection signal is a periodic function, providing a realization of a quantum clock whose operation reflects the local spacetime structure. We also extend the formalism to rotating rings and show that rotation induces additional noise in detection probabilities, interpretable as a manifestation of the rotational Unruh effect. Finally, we investigate multi-time measurements and demonstrate the emergence of non-classical temporal correlations due to entanglement.

Hybrid classical quantum learning is often bottlenecked by communication overhead and approximation error from generic variational ansatzes. In this study, we introduce Neural Native Quantum Arithmetic (NNQA), which compiles classically learned nonlinear representations into precise quantum arithmetic composed of native unitary blocks. Theoretically, we prove that the universal approximation of quantum polynomial arithmetic can be realized by transforming a classical neural network into a quantum circuit, with the resulting error arising solely from measurement shot noise, thereby extending classical operator-level estimation guarantees into the quantum regime. Empirical validation on IBM Quantum Heron3 and IonQ Forte processors shows performance limited primarily by device noise without variational fine tuning: we achieve over 99.5% accuracy for polynomials up to degree 35 and demonstrate scalability on IonQ hardware up to 36 qubits and circuit depths of 70, reaching a negligible RMSE of 0.005. Overall, NNQA establishes a new paradigm of synthesizing quantum arithmetic for native quantum computation.

The traditional effective-source method is hampered by complex analytical expressions and the inherent smoothness limit, which incur high computational costs and complicate implementation. To overcome these limitations, we introduce the point-particle-limit effective source method, which analytically takes the size of the effective source to zero, thereby transforming the problem into a well-defined jump condition of retarded metric field at the particle position governed by the local singular field. This formulation naturally pairs with a discontinuous Galerkin scheme, whose inherent capacity for accommodating solution discontinuities enables highly accurate enforcement of the jump conditions. We apply both the traditional and point-particle-limit effective source method to calculate the time-domain gravitational metric perturbation and gravitational self-force in the Lorenz gauge on a point particle in a circular orbit around a Schwarzschild black hole. The comparison of numerical results shows the excellent advantage of the point-particle-limit effective source method, which validates the correctness and efficiency of the point-particle-limit effective source method and thereby establishes a numerical foundation for computing generic geodesic orbits or long-time self-consistent orbital evolution.

Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) provides information-theoretic security by exploiting the principles of quantum mechanics. Among QKD protocols, the BB84 scheme remains the most widely adopted for both theoretical research and practical implementation. A critical parameter determining the reliability and security of BB84 is the Quantum Bit Error Rate (QBER), which quantifies errors in the sifted key arising from channel noise or potential eavesdropping. This paper presents a systematic review and analysis of QBER within the BB84 protocol, examining its calculation, statistical estimation methods, and role in detecting eavesdropping activity. Simulation results, corroborated by reported experimental observations, reveal a near-linear relationship between eavesdropping intensity and QBER, with values approaching 25% under full intercept-resend attacks. Four confidence interval estimation methods, Wald, Wilson, Clopper-Pearson, and Hoeffding's inequality, are compared for robust QBER analysis in finite-key scenarios. Protocol enhancements, including decoy-state methods, hybrid cryptographic models, and quantum-resistant authentication, are discussed as mechanisms to mitigate errors and strengthen resilience across fiber, free-space, underwater, and satellite QKD systems. Open challenges in distinguishing noise-induced errors from malicious eavesdropping, and the role of adaptive error correction and machine-learning-assisted QBER estimation in future quantum networks, are identified as key directions for further research.

Qubit controllers are essential for scaling superconducting quantum processors, but implementing them at the 10 mK stage of a dilution refrigerator remains challenging due to stringent cooling constraints. Here we report an ultralow-power qubit controller using adiabatic quantum-flux-parametron (AQFP) logic, termed an AQFP-multiplexed qubit controller with virtual Z gates (AQFP QC-VZ). The AQFP QC-VZ generates multi-tone microwave pulses for qubit control with an ultralow power dissipation of 111 pW per qubit. By combining microwave and time-division multiplexing, the AQFP QC-VZ enables parallel application of X and virtual Z gates to multiple qubits using only a few control lines from room temperature. We demonstrate coherent single-qubit gates at the 10 mK stage using an AQFP mixer, a core component of the AQFP QC-VZ, without observable degradation in coherence.

We investigate cosmological singularity resolution and relaxation dynamics within the Bohmian mechanics via the plane-symmetric Bianchi type-I minisuperspace model in the Wheeler-DeWitt framework of quantum cosmology by constructing wave functions as Gaussian and Lorentzian wavepackets. Our analyses of the corresponding Bohmian trajectories reveal that Gaussian superposition predominantly yields classical singular solutions, with only a low fraction of small-amplitude cyclic trajectories. On the other hand, the Lorentzian wavepacket, characterized by the power-law momentum tail, generates stronger quantum potential barrier and a substantially rich velocity field, producing a significant fraction of non-singular bounce trajectories over extended volume ranges. We further examine quantum relaxation by evolving non-equilibrium distributions under the corresponding guidance dynamics. The Gaussian superposition exhibits laminar flow leading to boundary accumulation and incomplete relaxation, with non-monotonic decay of the $H$-function followed by saturation. In contrast, the Lorentzian wavepacket induces more complex trajectories, yielding monotonic decay of the $H$-function and better, though still incomplete, approach to Born-rule equilibrium. These results demonstrate that the inherent structure of the wave packet governs both singularity resolution and quantum relaxation through the nature of the Bohmian velocity field.

In the framework of linearized quantum gravity, we investigate the quantum gravitational interaction induced by the gravitodiamagnetic coupling of two massive objects to vacuum fluctuations of the gravitational field. Starting from the Lagrangian of a particle in a gravitational field and employing the formalism of Weyl gravitoelectromagnetism, we derive the interaction Hamiltonian associated with gravitodiamagnetic coupling. Unlike the linear couplings that arise in gravitoelectric and gravitomagnetic interactions, the gravitodiamagnetic coupling depends quadratically on the gravitomagnetic field. Based on this Hamiltonian, we show that, for a spherically symmetric gravitational hydrogen-like system in its ground state, the induced quadrupole moment has the opposite sign to the applied gravitomagnetic field, which is the defining signature of gravitodiamagnetism. Using leading-order perturbation theory, we further obtain an explicit expression for the resulting interaction potential, which is attractive and scales as $r^{-11}$ at all separations, where $r$ denotes the distance between the two objects.

In this work, we have considered a minimally modified gravity theory that effectively reproduces VCDM-like behavior to investigate its cosmological implications. The model parameters are constrained using a combination of CC, RSD, DESI BAO DR2, and Union3 datasets. The model parameters are constrained using an MCMC framework, ensuring a robust estimation of credible intervals. We examine both background and perturbation-level observables, analyzing the Hubble parameter, deceleration parameter, effective equation of state, distance modulus, and the growth rate of cosmic structures through the \(fσ_8(z)\) observable. Our results show that the model successfully reproduces the observed expansion history, featuring a smooth transition in the Hubble evolution around \(z \simeq 0.3\), and consistent behaviour of cosmological parameters. The model outperforms \(Λ\)CDM in the statistical comparisons for the full dataset combination (CC+RSD+DESI DR2+Union3). These results highlight the potential of minimally modified gravity theories with VCDM-like dynamics as consistent and competitive alternatives to the standard cosmological paradigm.

We consider static, spherically symmetric solutions of 5D general relativity with magnetic fields governed by nonlinear electrodynamics (NED) with the Lagrangian $L(F)$, $F = F_{AB} F^{AB}$, and show that generic solutions describe either 5D black holes (also called black strings due to a circular extra dimension) or so-called mirror stars (also called topological stars) with perfectly reflecting boundary surfaces. Two particular examples of such solutions have been obtained, admitting analytic expressions for the metric coefficients and $L(F)$, and their stability under radial (monopole) perturbations is studied. While the whole obtained family of black hole solutions turns out to be stable, mirror star solutions prove to be stable only in a certain range in the parameter space. We thus extend to the Einstein-NED system the results previously obtained for Einstein-Maxwell fields.

We investigate nonclassical photon-bundle correlations in the quantum Rabi model and its extended cases, using the quantum dressed master equation. By tuning the light--matter coupling strength at finite temperature, the quantum Rabi model exhibits controllable nonclassical transitions between two-photon bundle bunching and antibunching, allowing for the two-photon bundle emission and statistics. We further introduce anisotropic coupling and nonlinear Stark interactions, which enrich the photon statistical behaviors and provide additional tunability of photon-bundle correlations. Extreme correlation behaviors are found to be closely linked to excited-state quantum phase transitions, suggesting a potential pathway for predicting and exploiting excited-state phenomena. These effects can be controlled solely by tuning intrinsic system parameters, without the need for an external modulating field. The quantum Rabi model family thus provides a flexible and experimentally feasible platform for high-purity photon bundle generation and controllable multi-photon sources.

Critical phenomena of quantum systems offer a promising strategy to improve measurement precision. So far, many criticality-enhanced quantum metrological schemes have been proposed by using the adiabatically evolved photonic states of composite systems involving a qubit and a field interacting with each other. These schemes focus on the measurement of the system's inherent frequencies. We here propose a criticality-enhanced quantum sensing protocol, aiming to estimate the amplitude of an external signal field with the interacting qubit-photon system. The signal field is coupled to the photonic mode, so that the composite system has a unique dark state, where the photonic mode follows a squeezed vacuum state. The information about the signal field amplitude is encoded in one quadrature of the quantized photonic mode, which exhibits a divergent behavior near the critical point. The measurement precision can approach the Heisenberg limit with respect to the time to encode the signal and the photon number of the field mode.

Features in the primordial power spectrum require numerical methods that are both accurate and scalable across the wide class of multifield inflationary models that produce them. Sharp turns in the background trajectories, induced by either potential or geometric effects, render these computations particularly challenging. In this work, we introduce an efficient method for evolving primordial scalar fluctuations, requiring timesteps comparable to those used for the background evolution. We demonstrate that the method accurately tracks perturbations through rapidly turning trajectories in arbitrary field-space geometries, enabling systematic exploration of spectral features across diverse multifield scenarios. Our approach scales robustly to large numbers of degrees of freedom, providing a reliable computational framework for probing regimes that significantly depart from slow-roll dynamics.

We present a new class of quantum neural networks (QNNs) whose states are solutions of $p$-adic Schrödinger equations with a non-local potential that controls the interaction between the neurons. These equations are obtained as Wick rotations of the state equations of $p$-adic cellular neural networks (CNNs). The CNNs are continuous limits of discrete hierarchical neural networks (NNs). The CNNs are bio-inspired in the Wilson-Cowan model, which describes the macroscopic dynamics of large populations of neurons. We provide a detailed study of the discretization of the new $p$-adic Schrödinger equations, which allows the construction of new QNNs on simple graphs. We also conduct detailed numerical simulations, offering a clear insight into the functioning of the new QNNs. At a mathematical level, we show the existence of local solutions for the new $p$ -adic Schrödinger equations.

The memory effect of test particles interacting with pp-wave Gaussian pulses is investigated for polarization modes beyond the standard quadrupolar $+$ and $\times$ states. Massive geodesic equations are solved numerically for several values of the multipolar index $m$, allowing the analysis of velocity and energy memory effects. In order to eliminate possible coordinate artifacts, the study is formulated in terms of the relative motion between two test particles. The results show that the relative kinetic energy variation exhibits a quartic dependence on the wave amplitude in the regime of low initial velocities. The coefficient of this scaling is found to depend on the multipolar structure of the wave, reflecting the spatial gradients associated with higher polarization modes. It is further shown that the energy memory effect is determined by the integrated tidal field, linking the permanent change in the relative kinetic energy to the history of the spacetime curvature carried by the wave.13

Schrodinger path to the quantum mechanical wave equation was heuristic and guided more by physical intuition than formal deduction. Here we derive the Schrodinger equation for the particle wave function, assuming that it has a meaning of the probability amplitude to find the particle at time t at point r and the relations E=hw, p=hk expressing particle energy and momentum in terms of the frequency and wave vector of the associated probability wave.

The Tensor Network Quantum Virtual Machine (TNQVM) is a high-performance classical circuit simulation backend for the eXtreme-scale ACCelerator (XACC) framework that leverages the Intelligent Tensor (ITensor) library for tensor network--based quantum circuit simulation. However, TNQVM's original C++ ITensor backend is tied to an older integrated release, limiting access to newer tensor network algorithms, diagnostics, and performance improvements available in the actively developed Julia-based ITensors ecosystem. We introduce JuliaITensorTNQVM, an interoperability layer that bridges TNQVM's C++ visitor infrastructure and the Julia-ITensors runtime through a C-compatible application binary interface. This design preserves the existing XACC/TNQVM programming model while enabling access to modern tensor network capabilities, including entanglement entropy diagnostics exposed directly to XACC. We evaluate the implementation through two studies: a Page-curve verification protocol using Haar-random states, and QAOA MaxCut simulations on 3-regular graphs. Within these tested regimes, results are consistent with expected entanglement behavior and established scaling trends, supporting JuliaITensorTNQVM as a practical modernization path for tensor network simulation in TNQVM.

While remarkable progress has been achieved in engineering nontrivial Hamiltonians across a wide range of physical platforms, preparing their corresponding nontrivial ground states remains a major experimental challenge. The commonly used strategy for state preparation relies on adiabatic protocols. However, when a trivial initial state is unitarily driven toward nontrivial regimes, the dynamics must cross gap-closing critical points, rendering the process intrinsically nonadiabatic, and the state remains topologically trivial. Here, we present a nonunitary method for dynamically preparing nontrivial states in two-dimensional topological insulators. By introducing dephasing noise into a slowly driven unitary evolution, we demonstrate that the topological number of the resulting dephased states can coincide with that of the target nontrivial Hamiltonian. This nearly adiabatic nonunitary state-preparation protocol provides a powerful alternative to conventional adiabatic approaches for accessing topological states.

Fault-tolerant measurement-based quantum computing (MBQC) provides a compelling framework for fault-tolerant quantum computation, in which quantum information is processed through single-qubit measurements on a three-dimensional entangled resource known as cluster state. To date, this resource has been predominantly studied on Euclidean lattices, most notably in the Raussendorf-Harrington-Goyal (RHG) construction, which underlies topological fault tolerance in MBQC. In this work, we introduce the hyperbolic cluster state, a generalization of the three-dimensional cluster state to negatively curved geometries, obtained via the foliation of periodic hyperbolic lattices. We present an explicit construction of hyperbolic cluster states and investigate their fault-tolerant properties under a realistic circuit-level depolarizing noise model. Using large-scale numerical simulations, we perform memory experiments to characterize their logical error rates and decoding performance. Our results demonstrate that hyperbolic cluster states exhibit a fault-tolerance threshold comparable to that of the Euclidean RHG cluster state, while simultaneously supporting a constant encoding rate in the thermodynamic limit. This represents a substantial improvement in qubit overhead relative to conventional cluster-state constructions. These findings establish hyperbolic geometry as a powerful and experimentally relevant resource for scalable, fault-tolerant MBQC and open new avenues for leveraging negative curvature in quantum information processing.

In this contribution, we investigate the scattering and absorption sections of the improved Schwarzschild black hole. The differential scattering section is analysed using three complementary approaches: the classical approximation, the semi-classical approximation, and the partial wave technique. We show that, while the classical scattering section exhibits only small deviations from the standard Schwarzschild case, the semi-classical and partial wave analyses reveal differences in the interference pattern and in the amplitude. Also, the absorption section is computed using the partial wave method and compared with the sinc approximation. We find that both approaches present deviations that appear in the low-frequency regime, where the partial wave result approaches the horizon area. Our results indicate that quantum corrections in the Schwarzschild can lead to modifications in scattering and absorption properties, providing further insight into the phenomenology of quantum corrected black holes.

We reformulate the stellar structure equations in the language of dynamical systems and show that the maximum mass of stellar sequences arises from the existence of a fixed point in the relativistic regime. In an appropriate representation of the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff equations, this fixed point becomes manifest and is directly associated with the turnover of the mass-radius curve. The existence of a fixed point implies an effective reduction in dimensionality near the onset of instability, which provides a simple explanation for several equation-of-state-insensitive relations and predicts new ones. In the weakly relativistic limit, we identify a complementary universal structure shared by stellar sequences at their maximum mass, which we term the "compressible limit," and derive distinct universal relations governing the maximum mass in the Newtonian and post-Newtonian regimes. Combining these theoretical results with current astrophysical constraints, we show that the J0740+6620 pulsar is unlikely to lie near the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff maximum mass unless the equation of state exhibits a strong first-order phase transition at densities just above its central density.

A covariant Hamiltonian formulation generalizing De Donder-Weyl mechanics is constructed with field strengths as velocity fields. Since the teleparallel equivalents to general relativity are quadratic in field strengths, the field-strength Hamiltonian densities are non-singular and avoid primary constraints specifically from Legendre degeneracy. In contrast, canonical general relativity and the Wheeler-DeWitt equation have a frozen formalism due to Hamiltonian constraints, while hypersurface deformations give refoliation gauge transformations. We introduce a Tomonaga-Schwinger-type equation without a preferred time coordinate by combining the generalized multisymplectic geometry with covariant phase space methods. Point-splitting regularization with renormalized hypersurface deformation generators is proposed as a candidate for hypersurface-dependent evolution. While ultraviolet divergences, operator domain issues, and anomaly freedom are still open problems, we provide a new framework for exploring nonperturbative quantum gravity that is classically equivalent to general relativity.

This paper considers two challenges faced by practical quantum networks: the bootstrapping of seedless Quantum Random Number Generators (QRNGs) and the resilient combination of Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) and Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) keys. These issues are addressed using universal hash functions as strong seeded extractors, with security foundations provided by the Quantum Leftover Hash Lemma (QLHL). First, the 'randomness loop' in QRNGs -- the requirement of an initial random seed to generate further randomness -- is resolved by proposing a bootstrapping method using raw data from two independent sources of entropy, given by seedless QRNG sources. Second, it is argued that strong seeded extractors are an alternative to XOR-based key combining that presents different characteristics. Unlike XORing, our method ensures that if the combined output and one initial key are compromised, the remaining key material retains quantifiable min-entropy and remains secure in exchange of longer keys. Furthermore, the proposed method allows to bind transcript information with key material in a natural way, providing a tool to replace computationally based combiners to extend ITS security of the initial key material to the final combined output. By modeling PQC keys as having HILL (Hastad, Impagliazzo, Levin and Luby) entropy, the framework is extended to hybrid PQC-QKD systems. This unified approach provides a mathematically rigorous and future-proof mechanism for both randomness generation and secure key management against quantum adversaries.

Dynamical tidal deformations play a crucial role in the gravitational waves emitted by binary neutron star systems during their late inspiral. In this work, we systematically explore how relativistic (dynamical and dissipative) tidal deformations depend on the internal structure of a neutron star using two analytic classes of equations of state. The first class is a nucleonic model that is parameterized by nuclear physics observables, such as the symmetry energy coefficients and saturation properties. The second class is a toy model of quark matter, the MIT bag model. To model tidal dissipation, we self-consistently include contributions from weak-interaction-driven bulk-viscous effects while considering both the nucleonic and the quark-matter equations of state. The dissipative tide is sensitive to frequency and temperature, but its magnitude, as predicted by weak-interaction-driven bulk-viscous effects, is too small (within the equation-of-state models studied here) to be detectable by current or future observations. However, we find that the (conservative) dynamical tidal response function depends strongly on the slope of the symmetry energy and on higher-order coefficients of the symmetry energy; this implies that gravitational-wave observations could be used to probe higher-order coefficients of the symmetry energy through their effect on the (conservative) dynamical tide.

We describe a method for obtaining the scattering matrix for nuclear or chemical reactions on a finite lattice. Aside from the preparation of the initial and final states as wave packets, the only other operation required is unitary time evolution, making this approach ideal for simulations on quantum hardware. The central quantity is a time-dependent overlap between incoming and outgoing wave packets whose Fourier transform corresponds to the scattering matrix at fixed energy, from which one can calculate elastic and inelastic cross sections for reactions involving two interacting clusters. Working in Cartesian coordinates enables an efficient encoding of the problem on quantum hardware via the first quantization mapping, with favorable qubit scaling for describing asymptotic scattering states. Within this framework, we describe a quantum algorithm for probing the scattering amplitude through different angles, including the forward direction, which provides access to the total cross section via the optical theorem. We demonstrate our methods through a series of numerical examples, for both elastic and inelastic processes, comparing against exact calculations. The techniques we describe can more readily be extended to a large number of constituent particles than other existing approaches, once fault-tolerant quantum hardware becomes available.

The set $\mathcal{Q}$ of quantum correlations is the collection of all possible probability distributions on measurement outcomes achievable by space-like separated parties sharing a quantum state. Since the original work of Tsirelson [Tsirelson, Lett. Math. Phys. 4, 93 (1980)], this set has mainly been studied through the means algebraic and convex geometry techniques. We introduce a perturbative method using Lie-theoretic tools for the unitary group to analyze the response of the evaluations of Bell functionals under infinitesimal unitary perturbations of quantum strategies. Our main result shows that, near classical deterministic points, an $(n, 2, d)$ Bell operator decomposes into a direct sum of $(k, 2, d-1)$ Bell operators which we call \emph{subset games}. We then derive three key insights: (1) in the $(n, 2, 2)$ case, if $p_0$ is classically optimal, it remains locally optimal even among 2-dimensional quantum strategies, implying in turn that the boundary of $\mathcal{Q}$ is flat around classical deterministic points; (2) it suggests a proof strategy for Gisin's open problem on correlations in $\mathcal{Q}(D)$ unattainable by projective strategies of the same dimension; and (3) it establishes that the Ansatz dimension is a critical resource for learning in distributed scenarios, even when the optimal solution admits a low-dimensional representation.

We argue that near-term experiments with neutral atoms in movable optical tweezers can simulate circuits that mimic the Trotterized time-evolution of simple matrix models in quantum mechanics. As a cartoon of this proposal, we study Floquet Clifford circuits which exhibit a number of signatures of fast scrambling. One such illustration is a simplified Hayden-Preskill recovery protocol, in which stabilizer quantum error correction replaces postselection.

In this work we study the electromagnetic response induced by axions in a magnetized plasma, focusing specifically on characterizing energy transfer and energy losses from the ambient axion field in highly inhomogeneous and strongly varying backgrounds. Using a suite of both frequency-domain and time-domain simulations, we solve for: the efficiency of photon excitation in a rapidly varying background, the indirect excitation of Alfvén modes, occurring when a Langmuir-Ordinary (LO) mode is resonantly excited near a combined cutoff-resonance of the dispersion relations of the LO and Alfvén modes, and the excitation of electric fields in small localized plasma under-densities. We identify a particularly interesting regime in which energy can be transferred into sub-luminal plasma modes ($ω< k$) with an efficiency greater than that of super-luminal modes ($ω> k$). Our results highlight a variety of less conventional ways in which axions (and other light degrees of freedom that mix with electromagnetism, such as dark photons or gravitons) can interact in extreme astrophysical environments.

Modern quantum devices require high-precision Hamiltonian dynamics, but environmental noise can cause calibrated Hamiltonian parameters to drift over time, necessitating expensive recalibration. Detecting when recalibration is needed is challenging, especially since the very gates required for sophisticated verification protocols may themselves be miscalibrated. While cloud quantum computing services implement heuristic routines for triggering recalibration, the fundamental limits of optimal recalibration are not yet known. We develop efficient Hamiltonian certification and changepoint detection protocols in the autonomous setting, where we cannot rely on an external noiseless device and use only single-qubit gates and measurements, making the protocols robust to the calibration issues for multi-qubit operations they aim to detect. For unknown $n$-qubit Hamiltonians $H$ and $H_0$ with operator norm bounded by $M$, our certification protocol distinguishes whether $\|H-H_0\|_F\geqε$ or $\|H-H_0\|_F\leq O(ε/\sqrt{n})$ with sample complexity $O(nM^2\ln(1/δ)/ε^2)$ and total evolution time $O(nM\ln(1/δ)/ε^2)$. We achieve this by evolving random stabilizer product states and performing adaptive single-qubit measurements based on a classically simulable hypothesis state. Extending this to continuous monitoring, we develop an online changepoint detection algorithm using the CUSUM procedure that achieves a detection delay time bound of $O(nM\ln(M\mathbb{E}_\infty[T])/ε^2)$, matching the known asymptotically optimal scaling with respect to false alarm run time $\mathbb{E}_\infty[T]$. Our approach enables quantum devices to autonomously monitor their own calibration status without requiring ancillary systems, entangling operations, or a trusted reference device, offering a practical solution for robust quantum computing with contemporary noisy devices.

Merging binary black holes embedded in gaseous environments, such as supermassive black hole binaries following gas-rich galaxy mergers, are promising sources of multi-messenger transients in the upcoming age of space-based gravitational wave detections. In case a gravitational radiation recoil is imparted to the merger remnant, subsequent interactions between the recoiled black hole and its circumbinary disk may lead to unique post-merger electromagnetic counterparts. We present the first general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations of a recoiling black hole interacting with a magnetically arrested circumbinary disk the evolution of which has been consistently tracked through the inspiral phase. We show that the post-merger accretion dynamics, depending on the recoil geometry, exhibits qualitatively disparate jet and disk behavior. For recoils perpendicular to the disk, the inner disk remains gravitationally bound and sustains relativistic jets, while in-plane recoils lead to copious shock heating and potential jet quenching for black holes directly colliding with the disk. Oblique recoils, on the other hand, produce intermittent outbursts from jet-disk interactions owing to the tilt introduced in the accretion disk. Multi-wavelength monitoring of these electromagnetic counterparts, in conjunction with the coincident gravitational wave detection, will be able to aid in characterizing the physical conditions of the merger environment.

Nonlinear partial differential equations are central to physics, engineering, and finance. Except in a limited number of integrable cases, their solution generally requires numerical methods whose cost becomes prohibitive in high-dimensional regimes or at fine resolution. Nonlinear phenomena such as turbulence are notoriously difficult to predict because of their extreme sensitivity to small variations in initial conditions, except when certain stability conditions are fulfilled. Indeed, stability allows us to achieve reliable approximate dynamics, since it determines whether small perturbations remain bounded or are amplified, potentially leading to markedly different long-term behavior. Here, we investigate the stability of dissipative partial differential equations with second-order nonlinearities. By analyzing the time evolution of solution norms in Sobolev spaces, we establish a sufficient condition for stability that links the characteristics of the linear dissipative operator, the quadratic nonlinear term, and the external forcing. The resulting criterion is expressed as an explicit inequality that guarantees stability for a wide range of initial conditions. As an illustration, we apply the framework to fluid-dynamical models governed by nonlinear partial differential equations. In particular, for the Burgers equation, the condition admits a natural interpretation in terms of the Reynolds number, thereby directly linking the stability threshold to the competition between viscous dissipation and inertial advection. We further demonstrate the scope of the approach by extending the analysis to the KPP-Fisher and Kuramoto-Sivashinsky equations.

The spreading of quantum states in Krylov space under unitary dynamics provides a natural framework for characterizing quantum complexity. Quantifiers of this spreading, such as the spread complexity and the inverse participation ratio, depend explicitly on both the Hamiltonian and the initial state, rendering their connection to fundamental quantum resources such as entanglement and quantum coherence subtle. We establish quantitative bounds relating Krylov-space spreading to the entanglement of the evolved state and to the quantum coherence of the initial state. For bipartite systems, we have shown that the entanglement of the evolved state is upper bounded in terms of the entanglement of the Krylov basis vectors and the spread complexity. In the case of multipartite systems, analogous bounds are obtained for the inverse participation ratio, a quantifier of the delocalization of a quantum state in the Krylov basis, in terms of the geometric measures. Furthermore, for qubit and qutrit systems, we derive relations between the quantum coherence of the initial state in the energy eigenbasis and the spread complexity, valid for arbitrary Hamiltonians. Our results provide quantitative constraints linking Krylov-space complexity growth to fundamental quantum resources.

We derive a nonperturbative bound on the distance between evolutions of open quantum systems described by time-dependent generators. We show how this result can be employed to provide an explicit upper bound on the error of the rotating-wave approximation in the presence of dissipation and decoherence. We apply the derived bound to the strong-coupling limit in open quantum systems and to the secular approximation used to obtain a master equation from the Redfield equation.

Quantum measurements are slow, while classical processors are fast, yet existing hybrid protocols never exploit this asymmetry. In this work, we propose an alternative formulation of classical estimators as online algorithms that are updated incrementally upon obtaining a new sample. Classical shadows are the natural fit for this approach: designed around the principle of measuring first and asking questions later, each snapshot is a self-contained classical description that can be processed immediately and independently. As a first demonstration, we focus on mixed state entanglement verification via PT-moments, moments of the partially transposed density matrix that provide experimentally accessible sufficient conditions for entanglement. We construct two unbiased online estimators that together characterize the fundamental challenge between memory footprint and per-shot computational cost: one scales to large systems at low moment order, the other handles high moment orders at the expense of memory exponential in system size. The online estimator certifies entanglement reliably and, by exploiting all $\binom{T}{m}$ combinations of snapshots, requires fewer samples than state-of-the-art baselines, turning entanglement detection from a purely offline diagnostic into a protocol that runs concurrently with the experiment.

We investigate static, spherically symmetric halo configurations within Unified Dark Matter (UDM) scalar-field models, developing a systematic mapping between standard cold dark matter (CDM) density profiles and their UDM counterparts. Exploiting the equivalence-class structure of UDM models, we show that, in principle, different Lagrangian realisations can share the same weak-field rotation curve while exhibiting distinct field properties. We reconstruct the effective energy density, radial and tangential pressures from a phenomenological circular velocity profile, ensuring the absence of ghosts and instabilities and the preservation of the Null Energy Condition (NEC). Applying our procedure to several commonly used CDM halo profiles -- including Persic, Salucci \& Stel, NFW, and Burkert models -- we demonstrate that their phenomenological success can be retained within a relativistic UDM framework, reproducing the observed flatness of rotation curves without introducing separate dark matter and dark energy components.

Cosmological models exhibiting crossing of the phantom divide improve the fit to current data, suggesting late-time dark energy (DE) dynamics at $\sim3σ$ CL. However, they favor low values of $H_0$, in tension with SH0ES. This may point to the presence of new physics prior to the decoupling era. In this work, we reconstruct the background DE functions using the Weighted Function Regression (WFR) method, introducing three main improvements compared to our previous JCAP 12 (2025) 049. First, we adopt the Frequentist-Bayesian approach for the weights. Second, we combine CMB and BAO with the DES-Dovekie SNIa sample and compare our findings with those derived from Pantheon+, still assuming standard recombination. Third, we study in a model-independent manner the viability of early-time ``solutions'' to the Hubble tension and how they affect the evidence for dynamical DE at late times, under the influence of the SH0ES and the more conservative CCHP calibration of the cosmic ladders, separately. We find that, if the physics prior to decoupling is unmodified, the probability of phantom crossing is $\sim 96.7\text{--}98.5\%$, with $Λ$CDM excluded at $\sim 2.5σ$ and $\sim 3σ$ CL. New physics before recombination can alleviate the Hubble tension, but requires extremely large values of the reduced matter density parameter when the SH0ES calibration is employed, in strong tension with those inferred from full CMB analyses. This raises serious concerns about the actual viability of these models to explain the SH0ES measurement. We find that phantom crossing, while not excluded, is no longer required, with only a very mild preference for quintessence. Nevertheless, given the aforesaid tension in $ω_m$, it would be rash to draw firm conclusions about how the dynamical DE signal is affected in these scenarios. [abridged]

The computational complexity of simulating the dynamics of physical quantum systems is a central question at the interface of quantum physics and computer science. In this work, we address this question for the simulation of exponentially large bosonic Hamiltonians with quadratic interactions. We present two results: First, we introduce a broad class of quadratic bosonic problems for which we prove that they are $\mathsf{BQP}$-complete. Importantly, this class includes two known $\mathsf{BQP}$-complete problems as special cases: Classical oscillator networks and continuous-time quantum walks. Second, we show that extending the aforementioned class to even more general quadratic Hamiltonians results in a $\mathsf{PostBQP}$-hard problem. This reveals a sharp transition in the complexity of simulating large quantum systems on a quantum computer, as well as in the difference in complexity between their simulation on classical and quantum computers.

Binary black hole (BBH) mergers detected via gravitational waves are addressing key open questions in astrophysics, cosmology, and fundamental physics. Our scientific conclusions rely on extracting accurate source parameters, for which we require accurate signal modelling. It is well known that current BBH waveform models need to be improved for high-mass-ratio, strongly precessing systems, and in this paper we provide a concrete illustration of this issue, showing that the degradation in model performance is substantially more severe than might have been anticipated. We present numerical relativity (NR) simulations of precessing BBH systems with a mass ratio of 18 and a dimensionless spin of 0.8 on the larger black hole (with the smaller black hole non-spinning), covering five values of spin misalignment. We assess the accuracy of state-of-the-art waveform models in this region of parameter space by computing the standard mismatch between the models and the NR waveforms. We find that all current waveform models often exhibit significant mismatches ($\gtrsim$0.1), indicating poor performance in this regime. We also perform limited parameter estimation using a subset of state-of-the-art waveform models, injecting these NR simulations as signals into the three-detector LIGO-Virgo network. In some cases we find errors in mass measurements of over 100%, dramatically illustrating that substantial improvements are required in existing waveform models. The numerical simulations presented here will be valuable for calibrating future BBH waveform models in this region of parameter space.

It is well known that Hermitian and non-Hermitian models exhibit distinct physics and require different theoretical tools. In this work, we propose a unified generating-function framework for both classes with generic boundary conditions and local impurities. Within this framework, any finite lattice model can be mapped to a generating function of the form G(z)=P(z)/Q(z), where Q(z) and P(z) denote the bulk recurrence relation and boundary terms or impurities, respectively. The problem of solving for eigenstates reduces to a simple criterion based on the cancellation of zeros of Q(z) and P(z). Applying this method to the Hatano-Nelson (HN) model, we show how boundary conditions and impurities determine the location of the zeros, thereby demonstrating the boundary sensitivity of non-Hermitian systems. We further investigate topological edge states in the non-Hermitian Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) model and identify its topological phase transition. Inspired by generating-function techniques widely used in discrete mathematics, particularly in the study of the Fibonacci sequence, our results establish a direct connection between non-Hermitian physics and recurrence relations, providing a new perspective for analyzing non-Hermitian systems and exploring their connections with discrete mathematical structures.

Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) systems require rigorous verification of device properties to ensure implementation security. A critical requirement is the indistinguishability of transmitted pulses encoded by different modulation patterns, as distinguishability through non-encoded degrees of freedom could enable undetected eavesdropping. We present a practical method for testing pulse indistinguishability in QKD transmitters based on Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) interference. We establish the theoretical equivalence between the SWAP test and HOM measurement for characterizing quantum state fidelity, demonstrating that HOM visibility directly relates to the trace of density matrix products for phase-randomized weak coherent pulses. We experimentally validated this approach using a high-speed QKD transmitter implementing the decoy BB84 protocol with time-bin encoding at 1.25 GHz. HOM interference was measured between adjacent pulses prepared in different Bennett-Brassard 1984 states (X0, X1, Y0, Y1) using superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors. The observed HOM visibility was approximately 0.3 across all state combinations, with no statistically significant differences detected. These results confirm that modulation does not compromise pulse indistinguishability in our transmitter. The HOM test provides a practical, quantum-optical method for security certification of QKD systems without requiring assumptions about specific degrees of freedom, using only standard fiber-optic components and single-photon detectors.

Recently a one-parameter family of deformed $ \mathcal{L} w_{1+\infty}$ soft symmetry algebras, denoted $ \mathcal{L}_Λw_{1+\infty}$, acting on tree-level gravitational theories in AdS$_4$ has been discovered. Here we show that all CFT$_3$s, including those dual to quantum gravity on AdS$_4$, admit an $\mathcal{L}_Λw_{1+\infty}$ action generated by the ANEC operator, its conformal descendants and their commutators. This extends the previous tree-level results on these soft symmetries to the strongly-coupled quantum regime.

Black holes (BHs) and wormholes (WHs) are characterized by distinct spacetime geometries, whose differences become pronounced close to the central objects. A useful way to probe such differences is via the dynamics of stellar tidal disruption events in the regime of strong gravity. Here, using a general relativistic smoothed particle hydrodynamics code inspired from an algorithm developed by Liptai and Price, we perform a suite of numerical simulations of solar mass polytropic stars in the background of supermassive Schwarzschild BHs and similar mass exponential WHs. Important differences between the two geometries near the BH event horizon or the WH throat is provided by the distinct outcomes of such events. For a given impact parameter, BH backgrounds lead to greater tidal stripping compared to WHs ones and further, the critical impact parameter, beyond which the star undergoes full tidal disruption is higher for WH backgrounds compared to BHs. We further study the differences in observable peak fallback rates in the two backgrounds. We also provide a quantitative explanation for the tendency of stars in partial tidal disruptions to retain larger cores around more massive centers, by computing tidal stresses in a Fermi normal coordinate system and introducing an appropriate measure of stellar compactness. Finally, we suggest a way to observationally distinguish BH and WH backgrounds, based on the properties of different observables.

Parameter estimation for gravitational-wave signals is computationally demanding due to the high dimensionality of the parameter space and the cost of repeated waveform generation in traditional Bayesian inference. These analyses require on the order of 10^8 likelihood evaluations and waveform generations, resulting in inference times of hours to days per event. Furthermore, discrepancies between waveform models introduce systematic uncertainties that can bias inferred source properties. To address these challenges, we propose a novel framework based on Simulation-based Inference (SBI) and Neural Posterior Estimation (NPE) and apply it to signals from Intermediate-Mass Black Holes (IMBH). In this framework, we train a single amortised neural posterior estimator on a large simulated dataset generated using two state-of-the-art waveform approximants, IMRPhenomXPHM and SEOBNRv5PHM. By treating the waveform model index as a latent variable, the network learns to produce posterior distributions that are naturally marginalized over the discrepancies of the two waveform models. Once trained, the model enables direct posterior sampling in milliseconds per event, eliminating the need for likelihood evaluations while simultaneously accounting for model systematics. We demonstrate that this approach recovers accurate posterior distributions for IMBH signals injected into Gaussian noise, achieving close agreement with traditional nested-sampling results while reducing inference time by several orders of magnitude. Our results show that NPE can robustly incorporate waveform-model systematics within a unified framework, offering a scalable path toward rapid, systematics-aware gravitational-wave inference. Establishing these methods as promising alternatives to classical likelihood-based pipelines for current and future high-mass gravitational-wave observations.

Differential light shifts (DLS) induced by optical trapping fields fundamentally limit the stability and accuracy of trapped-atom microwave clocks. We demonstrate an in-situ method to cancel DLS by simultaneously interrogating multiple spatially separated atomic ensembles at different trap intensities generated from a common light source. By operating the ensembles at set intensity ratios and performing Ramsey spectroscopy, the intensity-dependent frequency shifts are measured within each experimental cycle and extrapolated to the zero-intensity limit. This approach effectively enables shot-to-shot determination of a DLS-free frequency without requiring magic wavelengths or species-specific cancellation schemes. We validate the method for Rb atoms trapped in time-averaged potentials by introducing controlled variations of the total trap power and show that the extrapolated frequency remains insensitive to these fluctuations. The technique is general and can be extended to other systematic shifts, providing a scalable route toward improved stability and accuracy in compact trapped-atom clocks and related quantum sensors relying on optical dipole traps

The superconductor-insulator-superconductor Josephson junction is the fundamental nonlinear element of superconducting circuits. Connecting two junctions in series gives rise to higher-harmonic content in the total energy-phase relation, enabling new design opportunities in multimode circuits. However, the double-junction element hosts an internal mode whose spectrum is set by the finite capacitances of the individual junctions. Using a Born-Oppenheimer approximation that treats the additional mode as fast compared to the qubit mode, we analyze the double-junction circuit element shunted by a large capacitor. Here, we derive an effective single-mode model of the qubit containing a correction term owing to the presence of the internal mode. We explore experimentally relevant parameter regimes and find that our model accurately describes the low-energy spectrum of the qubit. We further discuss how eliminating the internal degree of freedom affects the system's periodic boundary conditions and how this leads to non-uniqueness in performing the Born-Oppenheimer approximation. Finally, we analyze the harmonic content of the double-junction element and discuss its sensitivity to charge noise.

High-visibility Franson interference at telecom C-band wavelengths is achieved using a cascaded periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) waveguide photon-pair source combined with fully passive, path-imbalanced Mach-Zehnder interferometers implemented on photonic integrated circuits (PICs). The interferometers require neither on-chip phase shifters nor active stabilization; instead, the phase is scanned via thermal tuning of the chip. By employing a narrow-linewidth continuous-wave (CW) pump and dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM) filtering, energy-time entangled photon pairs with high spectral indistinguishability are generated. We achieve a 4.8% heralding efficiency and a two-photon interference visibility of 97.1% from sinusoidal fringe fitting (raw visibility 95.2% and background-corrected visibility 95.6%), alongside a coincidence-to-accidental ratio (CAR) exceeding 1000 at only 1.7 mW of pump power. These results represent one of the highest Franson-interference visibilities reported for a PIC-based analyzer within a compact, fiber-integrated platform.

We consider circular particle motion under the action of an unspecified force in a static spherically symmetric spacetime. We derive the machinery that allows one to find the force acting on a circular particle and deduce whether its position is stable or not. This also allows one to extend the definition of ISCO to the case of a non-zero external force. By conducting the near-horizon expansion, we obtain that for any non-extremal black holes, the acceleration for extremal ones is finite, and for ultraextremal (multiple) horizons it tends to zero. Applying the derived machinery to the case of the Schwarzschild metric assuming that a force is constant, we scrutiny how the number of orbits for a given force depends on its value. In particular, if a force is big enough, an additional branch of solutions appears that was absent in the case of geodesic motion. Then, for various circular orbits, we numerically investigate their stability. A similar problem is solved for the Reissner-Nordstrom (RN) metric and uncharged particles. It appears that for the near-extremal and extremal RN black holes, there exist near-horizon circle trajectories (in contrast to the nonextremal case). For the ISCO, the dependence of the orbit radius on $κ$ (the surface gravity) is similar to that in the case of neutral particles moving in the background of rotating black holes. In addition, two scenarios of high-energy particle collisions near such orbits are considered, and it is found that dependence on $κ$ is also similar to that for rotating black holes.

Giant atoms are quantum emitters coupled to waveguides at multiple, spatially separated points, enabling interference effects that fundamentally change their light-matter interactions. A notable consequence of the interference is the emergence of decoherence-free interaction (DFI), which allows coherent excitation exchange between giant atoms via the waveguide without radiative loss. Leveraging DFI offers a promising route to implementing two-qubit quantum gates without the need for additional resources, positioning giant atoms as a versatile platform for scalable universal quantum simulators. However, existing work has focused primarily on continuous, Markovian waveguides; in structured waveguides, where non-Markovian effects become significant, only iSWAP gates have been explored. To address this gap, we introduce and analyze a protocol for implementing controlled-Z (CZ) gates with giant atoms in structured waveguides. We first show that while a minimal two-point coupling scheme supports DFI, it also exhibits strong non-Markovian effects that substantially degrade gate fidelity. To overcome this limitation, we propose an extended design featuring a third coupling point. This configuration suppresses non-Markovian effects and enables CZ gates with fidelities up to $97.7\%$ (assuming typical values for experimental imperfections). Our results broaden the accessible gate set for giant atoms in structured waveguides to include both iSWAP and CZ gates, advancing these systems as a pathway toward universal quantum simulators operating in non-Markovian environments.

We construct static, spherically symmetric wormhole solutions with a nontrivial redshift function, inspired by noncommutative geometry, in which point sources are replaced by Gaussian smearing of minimal length, yielding a regular shape function. Within this framework, we derive model-independent relations that isolate the role of the redshift function in controlling the stress-energy components and the violation of the null energy condition (NEC). Negative or suitably tuned redshifts confine the exotic matter to a thin neighborhood of the throat. We then reformulate this redshift engineering in matter terms through a quasi-de Sitter equation of state (EOS) with localized Gaussian or Lorentzian perturbations, obtaining minimally exotic wormholes that are regular, horizon-free, and asymptotically flat. Finally, we extend the analysis to a Chaplygin-like EOS, introducing a nonlinear coupling between pressure and density that yields redshift wells with possible local blueshift regions and tunable anisotropies governed by a certain nonlinearity parameter. Together, these results provide a unified and physically transparent framework for constructing traversable noncommutative-geometry-inspired wormholes with controlled, spatially localized exotic matter content.

Gravitational waves (GWs) can resonate with magnetic fields through the Gertsenshtein-Zeldovich effect, producing electromagnetic signals at the same frequency. In pulsar magnetospheres, this conversion may yield a faint radio-band signal that could be detected. In this work, we focus on two specific pulsars, PSR J1856-3754 and PSR J0720-3125, and use numerical simulations to evaluate how well the FAST and SKA2-MID telescopes could detect such signals. We consider transient events, including primordial-black-hole-like mergers, as well as stochastic backgrounds, including primordial GWs. To improve detection sensitivity, we propose four observational methods to lower the detectable energy-density limit of very high-frequency (VHF) GWs; the "Multiple Pulsars with Multiple Telescopes" (MPMT) method performs best because it allows cross-validation and rejection of false candidates. Under the assumption of nearly 6000 hours of observation at 3 GHz and a $5σ$ detection threshold, the minimum detectable characteristic strain is projected to be $h_c \approx 10^{-23}$ for transient events and $h_c \approx 10^{-33}$ for stochastic backgrounds. Under optimistic assumptions on integration time and conversion efficiency, these projections suggest that radio-band searches may approach the sensitivity needed to begin testing representative VHF GW scenarios. More broadly, this conversion in pulsar magnetospheres could be relevant to the origin of some repeating fast radio bursts in the our galaxy.

We review recent progress on state-dependent Lieb-Robinson bounds for Bose-Hubbard Hamiltonians. In particular, Kuwahara, Vu, and Saito established that, for general bounded-density initial states, the Lieb-Robinson velocity is bounded by $t^{d-1}$ for large times, where $d$ denotes the lattice dimension. We present a shorter proof of the weaker, but still polynomial velocity bound $t^{d+ε}$.

The geometric phase (GP) is a fundamental quantum effect arising from conical intersections (CIs), with profound consequences for vibronic energy levels. Standard imaginary-time path integral molecular dynamics (PIMD) based on the Born-Oppenheimer approximation does not account for the GP, potentially leading to significant errors in low-temperature thermodynamic properties. In this Perspective, we demonstrate that the multi-electronic-state path integral (MES-PI) formulation in imaginary time (developed in J. Chem. Phys. 2018, 148, 102319) naturally captures the GP effect through the electronic trace of the product of statistically weighted overlap matrices between successive imaginary-time slices. This crucial capability was already implicit in the benchmark MES-PIMD simulations in that foundational work. To isolate this topological effect from other nonadiabatic effects, we introduce a geometric signature matrix (for the CI) and a winding-number-induced phase factor, constructing an ad hoc GP-excluded MES-PI method. Comparing this ad hoc baseline against the rigorous MES-PI approach allows us to unambiguously quantify the impact of the GP on thermodynamic properties. While simpler approximations exist when only the ground electronic-state is considered, MES-PIMD is the most general and accurate approach applicable to real complex systems where the location and topology of CI seams are often not known a priori.

We investigate the decoherence of an Unruh-DeWitt detector coupled to scalar, electromagnetic, and spinor fields in four-dimensional Minkowski spacetime. By employing the Schwinger-Keldysh influence functional formalism, we derive a universal scaling law relating the decoherence rate to the proper acceleration $a$ and the scaling dimension $Δ$ of the environmental field operator. By analyzing both sharp (top-hat) and smooth Gaussian switching functions, it is shown that the decoherence rate in the asymptotic long-time limit scales as $a^{2Δ-1}$. This scaling indicates that increasing scaling dimension of the coupling field operators can significantly enhance the decoherence, thereby providing a more sensitive probe of the Unruh effect.

We consider a non-contextual inequality in the sequential measurement scenario and derive the optimal quantum violation of it without assuming the dimension of the system. Since the measurement is dichotomic and the dimension of the quantum system is arbitrary, we formulate the concept of degeneracy-breaking (DB) measurement depending on how many projectors are being used in the sequential measurement. We demonstrate that by increasing the number of projectors involved in the sequential measurement (thereby making the measurement more degeneracy breaking) the quantum violation of non-contextual inequality can be enhanced and can even reach up to its algebraic maximum. We demonstrate that the optimal quantum violations for different number of projectors serves as a quantum dimension witness.

We develop a nonperturbative tensor-network framework for computing cosmological correlators in de Sitter space and use it to test the proposal that suitably defined in-in correlators can be obtained from an in-out formalism by gluing the expanding and contracting Poincaré patches. Focusing on interacting $1+1$-dimensional $φ^4$ theory, we formulate finite-time lattice observables using Matrix Product State (MPS) techniques and analyze the regulator subtleties associated with the singular behavior near the patching surface. Within this regulated framework, we find controlled nonperturbative evidence for the proposed relation between in-in and in-out correlators in several examples. We also find suggestive evidence that the perturbative obstructions present for sufficiently light fields can be softened nonperturbatively, albeit in a regime of substantially larger entanglement. A central outcome of our analysis is an entanglement-based picture of the computation: for in-in evolution the entanglement remains modest and can decrease toward late times, whereas in the patched in-out set-up it grows significantly after the gluing slice. Thus, although the in-out formalism is perturbatively economical, the in-in formulation is numerically more favorable. We briefly discuss how the same strategy extends to low-angular-momentum sectors in $3+1$ dimensions, and why regimes of rapid entanglement growth may eventually motivate quantum-computing implementations.

An elementary prediction of the quantization of the gravitational field is that the Newtonian interaction can entangle pairs of massive objects. Conversely, in models of gravity in which the field is not quantized, the gravitational interaction necessarily comes with some level of noise, i.e., non-reversibility. Here, we give a systematic classification of all possible such models consistent with the basic requirements that the non-relativistic limit is Galilean invariant and reproduces the Newtonian interaction on average. We demonstrate that for any such model to be non-entangling, a quantifiable, minimal amount of noise must be injected into any experimental system. Thus, measuring gravitating systems at noise levels below this threshold would be equivalent to demonstrating that Newtonian gravity is entangling. As concrete examples, we analyze our general predictions in a number of experimental setups, and test it on the classical-quantum gravity models of Oppenheim et al., as well as on a recent model of Newtonian gravity as an entropic force.

We present a generalized Ernst-type framework for stationary, axisymmetric spacetimes in which a scalar field is coupled to the electrodynamic field, with a particular focus on the ModMax theory. Our approach relies on the Weyl stationary-axisymmetric ansatz and explicitly allows for a nonzero rotational metric function, $ω\neq 0$. The resulting setup is broad enough to encompass wide classes of scalar couplings, including dilatonic and phantom-like sectors, and can be tailored to specific models such as Einstein-ModMax, Kaluza-Klein theories, low-energy string-inspired scenarios, entanglement relativity and related generalizations. Within this scheme, we derive two novel families of exact rotating solutions in the sector where the electromagnetic invariants obey $\mathcal F/\mathcal G=\mathrm{constant}$. This regime is particularly significant for ModMax, as it preserves genuinely nonlinear features while still admitting an analytically manageable description.

Quantum error mitigation is essential for extracting trustworthy results from noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) processors. Yet, current approaches face a core scalability bottleneck: unbiased methods such as probabilistic error cancellation (PEC) incur exponential sampling overhead, while approximate techniques like zero-noise extrapolation trade accuracy for efficiency. We introduce and experimentally demonstrate MoSAIC (Modular Spatio-temporal Aggregation for Inverted Channels), a scalable quantum error mitigation framework that preserves the unbiasedness of PEC while dramatically reducing sampling costs. MoSAIC partitions a circuit into noise-aligned blocks, learns an effective block noise model using classical variational optimization, and applies quasi-probabilistic inversion once per block instead of after every layer. This blockwise aggregation reduces both sampling overhead and circuit-depth overhead, enabling mitigation far beyond the operating regime of standard PEC. We also experimentally validate MoSAIC on IBM's 156-qubit Heron processors, performing the largest PEC-based mitigation demonstration on hardware to date. As a physically meaningful benchmark, we prepare the critical one-dimensional transverse-field Ising (TFIM) ground state for system sizes up to 50 qubits. We show that MoSAIC can achieve at least 1 to 2 orders of magnitude better accuracy than standard PEC under identical sampling budgets. This enables MoSAIC to recover accurate observables for larger system sizes, even when standard PEC fails due to its prohibitive sampling overhead. We also present CUDA-Q accelerated simulations to validate performance trends under a range of different noise models. These results demonstrate that MoSAIC is not only theoretically scalable but also practically deployable for high-accuracy, large-scale quantum experiments on today's quantum hardware.

Grover's algorithm is a fundamental quantum algorithm that achieves a quadratic speedup for unstructured search problems of size $N$. Recent studies have reformulated this task as a maximization problem on the unitary manifold and solved it via linearly convergent Riemannian gradient ascent (RGA) methods, resulting in a complexity of $O(\sqrt{N}\log (1/\varepsilon))$. In this work, we adopt the Riemannian modified Newton (RMN) method to solve the quantum search problem. We show that, in the setting of quantum search, the Riemannian Newton direction is collinear with the Riemannian gradient in the sense that the Riemannian gradient is always an eigenvector of the corresponding Riemannian Hessian. As a result, without additional overhead, the proposed RMN method numerically achieves a quadratic convergence rate with respect to error $\varepsilon$, implying a complexity of $O(\sqrt{N}\log\log (1/\varepsilon))$, which is double-logarithmic in precision. Furthermore, our approach remains Grover-compatible, namely, it relies exclusively on the standard Grover oracle and diffusion operators to ensure algorithmic implementability, and its parameter update process can be efficiently precomputed on classical computers.

A generalized formulation of non-relativistic quantum mechanics is developed within multidimensional geometric (NG) frameworks characterized by a power-law dispersion relation \(E \propto |p|^{j}\), where \(j = N - 1\). Starting from the generalized Minkowski distance in \(L^j\)-normed spaces, the conventional quadratic kinetic structure of three-dimensional geometry is extended to higher-order spatial derivatives, yielding a consistent \(j\)-th order Schrödinger equation. The formalism is applied to free particles and to particles confined within a one-dimensional infinite potential well for 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G geometries. While plane-wave solutions and translational invariance are preserved, the spectral structure is modified, with bound-state energies scaling as \((2n+1)^{j}\), leading to cubic and quartic growth in higher geometries. The corresponding eigenfunctions exhibit mixed exponential, trigonometric, and hyperbolic forms determined by the roots of negative unity. A generalized probability framework based on \(j\)-fold conjugation is introduced, ensuring a real-valued probability density and consistent expectation values. Despite these generalizations, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle is preserved. The formulation presents quantum mechanics as a geometry-dependent theory in which dispersion relations, spectral properties, and probabilistic structure emerge from the underlying spatial metric.

In quantum gravity, physically meaningful operator is required to be invariant under the diffeomorphisms. Such gauge invariant operator is typically given by the relational observable, the operator localized in relation to some background states. We point out that the relational observable can be comprehensively written in the form of the dressed operator. For the background having boundary where the diffeomorphisms are not gauged, we can use the gravitational Wilson line for dressing, then the relational observable is nonlocal. In contrast, when the background breaks some isometries, as can be found in quasi-de Sitter space, dressing can be local, which is a kind of Stückelberg mechanism. Since dressing resembles the outer automorphism in the von Neumann algebra, we may investigate the algebraic structure of the background by considering the dressed form of the relational observable. From this, we can understand that quasi-de Sitter space is described by the Type II$_\infty$ algebra where the trace diverges in the decoupling limit of gravity. It is different from the Type II$_1$ algebra of de Sitter space where the finite size of trace can be defined in the same limit. This shows that the isometry preserving and breaking backgrounds are quite different in the algebraic structure no matter how small the breaking effect is.

It is demonstrated the fundamental role of the equivalence principle in gravity for the Yukawa coupling between scalar and fermion fields. The Kibble-Zurek mechanism for formation of topological defects as vortexes and monopoles breaks down in system with a global gauge symmetry only. At the same time, the different vacuums can occur, which are separated be domain walls. The equivalence principle makes the strong violation of CP invariance impossible. Thus the axion hypothesis becomes redundant.

We present results for unpolarized and polarized semi-inclusive deep-inelastic scattering mediated by electroweak gauge bosons at next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) in perturbative quantum chromodynamics. The results include all relevant structure functions arising from both neutral current (NC) and charged current (CC) interactions, incorporating contributions from all partonic channels with full flavor dependence. These corrections are crucial for improving the theoretical precision. A detailed numerical analysis of the NNLO corrections demonstrates their phenomenological importance, revealing sizable effects and a significant reduction in residual scale dependence in the kinematic range probed by the future Electron-Ion-Collider. These results will serve as a critical input for future global extractions of parton distributions functions and fragmentation functions.

Relating the high-energy dipole description of deep-inelastic scattering to the standard light-ray operator formulation at finite Bjorken $x_B$ is essential for connecting the small-$x$ framework to the usual partonic description. I demonstrate that this connection already emerges at the first sub-eikonal order. At the differential level, the first sub-eikonal correction is governed by a quark TMD-like light-ray operator. In the inclusive limit, after complete phase-space integration, it reconstructs the standard nonlocal quark and helicity distributions at nonzero $x_B$. I then show independently that the same inclusive operator content follows from the high-energy limit of the leading-twist non-local operator product expansion, thereby establishing an explicit operator-level bridge between the shock-wave formalism and the non-local light-cone expansion. I further discuss the high-energy evolution of the corresponding operators at $x_B=0$. Rewriting the evolution equations in terms of dipole-type operator combinations, I identify an operator basis whose bilocal building blocks vanish in the zero-dipole-size limit, making the small-dipole behavior and the leading-logarithmic structure manifest. In the double-logarithmic approximation the evolution equations admit the usual mixed longitudinal-transverse Bessel-type solution when the transverse phase space is treated independently. When the transverse phase space is instead constrained by longitudinal ordering, the second logarithm is converted into a logarithm of energy, and in the symmetric double-logarithmic regime one recovers the fixed-coupling Kirschner-Lipatov exponent with the full finite-$N_c$ color factor $C_F$.

Bargmann invariants provide a rephasing-invariant description of phase relations among quantum states and offer a geometric perspective on interference phenomena. In this work, we investigate their role in neutral meson systems by constructing cyclic products involving the heavy and light mass eigenstates together with decay-projected states arising from correlated meson decays. Explicit expressions for third-order and fourth-order invariants are obtained in terms of mixing parameters and decay amplitudes. The analysis shows that the associated geometric phases encode CP-sensitive interference effects between meson-antimeson mixing and decay amplitudes and become trivial in the CP-conserving limit. Expressing the decay amplitudes in terms of CKM matrix elements reveals quartic combinations with analogous rephasing-invariant weak-phase structure to that of the Jarlskog invariant. We further introduce a rephasing-invariant ratio constructed from third- and fourth-order Bargmann invariants, which isolates correlated CP-violating structures that cannot, in general, be factorized into independent decay-channel contributions and can enhance sensitivity to small deviations from CP symmetry. The invariants can also be related to parameters governing time-dependent CP asymmetries in neutral meson decays, thereby providing a geometric interpretation of observable CP-violating interference effects.

We explore the capability of a Large Language Model (LLM) to perform specific computations in mathematical physics: the task is to compute the coordinate Bethe Ansatz solution of selected integrable spin chain models. We select three integrable Hamiltonians for which the solutions were unpublished; two of the Hamiltonians are actually new. We observed that the LLM semi-autonomously solved the task in all cases, with a few mistakes along the way. These were corrected after the human researchers spotted them. The results of the LLM were checked against exact diagonalization (performed by separate programs), and the derivations were also checked by the authors. The Bethe Ansatz solutions are interesting in themselves. Our second model manifestly breaks left-right invariance, but it is PT-symmetric, therefore its solution could be interesting for applications in Generalized Hydrodynamics. And our third model is solved by a special form of the nested Bethe Ansatz, where the model is interacting, but the nesting level has a free fermionic structure lacking $U(1)$-invariance. This structure appears to be unique and it was found by the LLM. We used ChatGPT 5.2 Pro and 5.4 Pro by OpenAI.

We develop a recursive algebraic framework for solving the closed string tachyon vacuum equation, derived from the hyperbolic recursion relations of Fırat and Valdes-Meller. We restrict to the sector of zero-momentum Lorentz-scalar states. Lorentz symmetry ensures that this sector is closed under the equations of motion. In this sector, we introduce a seam-graded expansion and show that the equation is entirely algebraic at every order: the unknown at each grade enters only through point evaluations at the systolic length, so each grade reduces to a matrix inversion with no Fredholm equations. The expansion is formal; convergence in the multi-level system is the subject of ongoing work. This work was conducted with a publicly available version of Claude Code (Anthropic, Claude Opus 4.6). The complete research repository, including all computations, adversarial review logs, and the full human-AI collaboration history, is publicly available at https://github.com/mk2427/csft-tachyon-vacuum.

Macroscopic dark matter with dominating strong interactions, supposed to be composites, represents an alternative to the most popular WIMP particles. Predicted in various models as strangelets, nuclearites, nuggets, having different internal structures and properties, but not yet observed experimentally, these forms of dark matter are associated with the existence of a large number of still unexplained observations. Nuggets, initially predicted by Witten, were reconsidered from the point of view of their internal structure and further theorized in 2003 by Zhitnitsky as axion quark nuggets and axion antiquark nuggets, as being made of quarks in a superconducting colour state, in the core, an electrosphere of electrons or positrons and a domain wall that maintain the stability of the macros with an incredible density, mass in the gram range and radius on the order of micrometers. If the existence of $\rm{AQNs}$ and $\rm{A\bar{Q}Ns}$ is demonstrated, two major open problems in physics could be addressed simultaneously: they would constitute viable dark matter candidates and, at the same time, provide a natural mechanism for restoring matter-antimatter symmetry in the Universe. The experimental evidence of the $\rm{AQNs}$ and $\rm{A\bar{Q}Ns}$ is a challenge for current and future experiments. The present study demonstrates that if these macroscopic systems exist, axions produced by $\rm{A\bar{Q}N}$s could be detected by the next generation of neutrino physics experiments using liquid noble gases, due to their huge active volumes.

The unprecedented precision now being achieved in the measurement of the Pontecorvo--Maki--Nakagawa--Sakata (PMNS) lepton mixing matrix opens a new window onto the underlying structure of the neutrino mass matrix and the possibly associated flavor symmetries. In this work, we investigate the constraints imposed on the unitary matrix $U_ν$ that diagonalises the neutrino mass matrix, under the hypothesis that the charged-lepton mixing matrix $U_l$ consists of a single two-by-two rotation in one of the three sectors: (1,2), (1,3), or (2,3). For this analysis, we considered the latest global fit which incorporates the precision measurement of $θ_{12}$ from the JUNO experiment. For each scenario, we also derive analytical expressions for the entries of $U_ν$ in terms of the measured PMNS parameters to obtain compact sum-rule-like formulae.

We report the first measurement of the $e^{+}e^{-}\to K^{+}K^{-}$ cross sections around the $ψ(2S)$ resonance using the energy scan method. The analysis is based on $e^{+}e^{-}$ collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 495~pb$^{-1}$ collected with the BESIII detector at BEPCII. By analyzing the cross section line-shape, we extract the relative phase $Φ$ between the strong and electromagnetic amplitudes of the $ψ(2S)$ resonance, a fundamental parameter in charmonium physics, based on the assumption that the relative phase between the electromagnetic amplitude of the $ψ(2S)$ resonance and the continuum is zero. Two distinct solutions for the branching fraction $\mathcal{B}$ of $ψ(2S)\to K^{+}K^{-}$ are observed: a constructive interference solution with $\mathcal{B}=(7.49\pm0.41)\times10^{-5}$ and $Φ=(110.1 \pm6.7)^\circ$, and a destructive interference solution with $\mathcal{B}=(10.94\pm0.48)\times10^{-5}$ and $Φ=(-106.8\pm5.7)^\circ$. A significant correlation between $Φ$ and $\mathcal{B}$ is established, demonstrating that interference effects must be taken into account in the $ψ(2S)$ branching fraction measurements. Additionally, the first results for both the $ψ(2S)$ strong form factor, which characterizes the strong coupling between $ψ(2S)$ and $K^{+}K^{-}$, and the energy-dependent electromagnetic form factor of the charged kaon in this energy region are here reported.

The SCFT/VOA correspondence provides a powerful framework for studying 4d $\mathcal N=2$ superconformal field theories (SCFTs) through the mathematical machinery of 2d vertex operator algebras (VOAs). It captures the Schur operators of the underlying SCFT, whose spectrum is encoded by the Schur index and its refinement, the Macdonald index. While the Schur index is identified with the vacuum character of the associated VOA, a general VOA-based derivation of the Macdonald index has remained elusive. In this letter, we propose a novel and intrinsic method for recovering a special non-Schur limit of the Macdonald index directly from the VOA. The construction requires no additional assumptions and applies whenever the underlying 4d theory is unitary. We test the proposal in a variety of examples, and further extend it to the case with surface defects, suggesting a notion of graded unitarity in the presence of defects. Our method also introduces a new class of series for general VOAs, analogous to but distinct from the conventional character, and potentially useful in broader contexts.

We discuss how the stochastic approach for supersymmetric theories leads to new ways of characterizing anomalies in how supersymmetry can be broken.

The experimental data collected by KEDR and BESIII collaborations at the energies below charming quark thresholds are compared with the coordinally truncated at different orders of perturbation theory QCD expressions for the $e^+e^-$ annihilation R-ratio and the renormalization group $β$-function. The fits demonstrate the dependence of the extracted $α_s(M_Z)$ values from orders of the truncation of the corresponding approximations. The next-to-leading order and next-to-next-to-leading order fits of the combined KEDR data and BESIII data , truncated at the mass scale of $J/Ψ$ meson, give the following results $α_s(M_Z)= 0.1179^{+0.0051}_{-0.0069}$ and $α_s(M_Z)=0.1221^{+0.0063}_{-0.0723}$. The subjects related to the applications of the fixed orders of perturbation theory expansions and careful treatment of the analytical continuation effects are commented.

The study of Feynman integrals through the lens of intersection theory offers a unifying framework for their analysis, capturing both the linear and quadratic relations that arise among integrals. In doing so, it provides a powerful method for systematically reducing them to the so called master integrals, a necessary strategy for multiloop contributions, whose huge number make direct calculation unfeasible. The Twisted de Rham cohomology offers a powerful tool for describing integrals with multivalued integrands, arising in dimensional regularization. However, it fails whenever the underlying geometry shows richer structures, as singularities and intricate monodromies. In this thesis we propose a systematic approach to identify and construct the appropriate homology and cohomology that allows to interpret Feynman integrals in parameter representation as exponential periods. This reformulation, together with the analytic continuation of the dimensional regularizator, provides a perfect framework to properly analyze the wall crossing structure and to correctly take into account Stokes phenomena for a sharp counting of the number of Master integrals. This framework allows to embed within the same formalism not only perturbative integrals, coming both from quantum field theories and string theory, but also wide class of physically relevant integrals, from Fourier calculus to statistical mechanics partition functions, from quantum mechanics expectation values to conformal field theory correlators.

We compare conventional non-minimally coupled Peccei-Quinn (PQ) inflation with a version of the model in which unitarity conservation is imposed by additional Jordan frame interactions. Assuming instantaneous reheating, the unitarity-conserving model is within 1$σ$ agreement with the central value of the scalar spectral index reported by the ACT collaboration, whereas conventional PQ inflation is more than 2$σ$ below the ACT central value. In the case where dark matter is composed of axions and PQ symmetry is not restored after inflation, the axion isocurvature constraint of the unitarity-conserving model typically allows a much larger axion decay constant $f_{a}$ than the conventional model, with the conventional model upper bound being larger only if the PQ self-coupling is extremely small, $λ< 10^{-12}$. For $λ= 0.1$, the axion isocurvature upper bounds are $f_{a} \leq 1.1 \times 10^{9} $ GeV for conventional PQ inflation and $f_{a} \leq 6.4 \times 10^{13}$ GeV for unitarity-conserving PQ inflation, with the latter bound being independent of $λ$. We also find a new isocurvature upper bound for conventional PQ inflation which is 650 times smaller than the existing bound. A modest reduction of the reheating temperature of the unitarity-conserving model from its maximum possible value will ensure that the PQ symmetry is not restored after inflation, allowing values of $f_{a}$ up to $6.4 \times 10^{13}$ GeV. Thus only the unitarity-conserving PQ inflation model allows $f_{a}$ to access values greater than the symmetry restoration cosmological upper bound $\sim 10^{12}$ GeV with naturally large values of the PQ self-coupling.

We present an updated determination of the hadronic vacuum polarization contribution to the running of the electromagnetic coupling $Δα_{\mathrm{had}}^{(5)}(-Q^2)$, and of the electroweak mixing angle in the space-like momentum range up to $12 \ \mathrm{GeV}^2$. Using $N_f=2+1$ CLS ensembles at five values of the lattice spacing and several pion masses, including the physical point, we achieve a significantly enhanced precision over our previous result. A refined analysis strategy based on telescopic series and a new family of kernel functions enables a clean separation of distinct Euclidean regions, disentangling strong cutoff effects at short distances from the pronounced chiral dependence at larger ones. Employing the Euclidean split technique, we convert our lattice results into an ab initio estimate of $Δα_{\mathrm{had}}^{(5)}(M_Z^2)$. A comparison with results from other lattice calculations and phenomenology is performed. We also analyze improvement scenarios required to match the projected precision of future electroweak measurements at next-generation colliders.

We revisit QCD-induced little inflation in which the Universe starts with a large baryon chemical potential and undergoes a strong first-order QCD phase transition, generating an observable stochastic gravitational-wave background in the nano-Hz range relevant for pulsar timing array (PTA) observations. We point out that the conventional homogeneous transition from the quark-gluon plasma phase to the hadronic gas phase faces an unavoidable difficulty in achieving the required strength of supercooling for the observed baryon density. This motivates us to explore whether a qualitatively different phase structure at a large baryon chemical potential can alter the relation between the baryon density and the chemical potential, and thereby modify the supercooling history of the transition. Using the nucleon-meson model with isoscalar vector mesons, we determine the critical and spinodal structure of the chiral density wave (CDW) phase in the $(μ_B, T)$ plane. We find that the CDW phase exhibits a nontrivial structure and can remain metastable down to a low baryon density in a certain region of the parameter space. Taking into account the subsequent liquid-gas transition and phase separation, however, the released latent heat is too small to realize a viable QCD-induced little inflation scenario and its associated PTA-scale gravitational-wave signal. Our analysis sharpens the conditions under which QCD phase transitions may act as cosmological sources of nano-Hz gravitational waves, while clarifying the possible cosmological relevance of inhomogeneous QCD phases.

This study investigates the sensitivity of two-body non-leptonic branching fractions to theoretical mass variations in heavy-light mesons ($D$, $D_s$, $B$, and $B_s$). Utilizing the factorization framework, we compare predictions derived from phenomenological masses evaluated with Gaussian and hydrogenic wavefunctions. For bottom meson decays, naive factorization with the number of color $N = 3$ aligns well with experimental data, and the $N \to \infty$ limit offers no improvement. Furthermore, the theoretical mass variation between wavefunction models induces a pronounced, non-linear sensitivity in the branching fractions, establishing the accurate Gaussian mass as a crucial baseline. Conversely, in the charm sector, naive factorization is inherently limited by final-state interactions due to insufficient relativistic recoil. While the $N \to \infty$ limit partially compensates for this, the systematically lower hydrogenic mass yields more accurate rates for several color-suppressed channels. This mass underestimation acts as a necessary kinematic regulator, cleanly offsetting the inflated amplitudes inherent to charm factorization. Ultimately, combining reliable Gaussian mass predictions with factorization provides a simple formalism extendable to the decay properties of unobserved exotics, such as excited $B_c$ mesons and $T_{bb}$ tetraquarks.

We study the thermal static potential for (2+1)-flavor QCD at nonzero density through a Taylor expansion around vanishing chemical potentials. From Taylor expanded Wilson line correlators, we extract the $\hatμ^2$ coefficient of the real and imaginary part of the potential in light and strange flavor channels and in the baryon number and electric charge channels. We observe an enhancement of in-medium screening at intermediate and large separations. The effect is visible in both the real and imaginary parts to the extracted $\hatμ^2$ contribution of the static potentials and provides a first step toward constraining in-medium heavy-quark interactions relevant for the Beam Energy Scan program at RHIC and future FAIR experiments.

Higgs branches of 5d $Sp(k)$ theories with $N_f$ flavours, whether at weak or strong coupling, are described by a pair of instantons transforming as pure spinors of $SO(2N_f)$. The Poisson structure is constrained by symmetry arguments and implies that these Higgs branches are algebraic integrable systems; the degeneration of the symplectic form occurs when the spinor annihilators overlap. We argue that the stratification of the Higgs branch at infinite coupling corresponds to the alignment of the instantons weights, leading to a non vanishing magnetization, and their acquisition of a mass.

Identified hadron production is essential for the study of nucleon structure and QCD hadronization at high energies. We present the first calculation of unpolarized semi-inclusive deep-inelastic scattering (SIDIS) at next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order (N$^3$LO) in perturbative QCD. Our calculation is based on a novel method of two-dimensional transverse-momentum subtraction motivated by QCD factorization of soft and collinear singularities. The N$^3$LO corrections are moderate in general but can be significant in threshold regions, and exhibit excellent perturbative convergence and reduced scale variations. The fully differential framework allows for arbitrary selection cuts and directly enables precision nucleon tomography at the upcoming Electron-Ion Collider, establishing the theory foundation needed to match the anticipated experimental accuracy. Generalization of the method to calculations of polarized SIDIS is also feasible.

Supersymmetric sectors of $\mathcal{N}=4$ super-Yang-Mills theory motivate the study of the partition function for the counting of gauge-invariant functions of $d=2,3$ matrices transforming under the adjoint action of $U(N)$. The partition function $ \mathcal{Z}_d ( x) $ in the large $N$ limit has a known Hagedorn phase transition at $ x = d^{-1} $ which provides a simple model for the phase structure of the thermal partition function of SYM. We study the all-orders asymptotic expansion of $ \mathcal{Z}_d(x)$ based on a geometric picture of concentric circles of poles in the complex plane accumulating in a natural boundary at $|x| =1$. We find that the order by order structure has a precise combinatorial interpretation organized in terms of increasing cycle size of permutations arising in the enumeration of the invariants. We refer to this organization as small-cycle dominance, and find that it extends to refined versions of the partition functions depending on several complex variables. An analysis of the coefficients in the asymptotic expansion of $ \mathcal{Z}_d(x) $ using the modular property of the Dedekind eta function reveals that the asymptotic expansion is actually convergent for $d\ge d_{ \rm crit } = 13$. A fermionic version of $\mathcal{Z}_d (x)$ has an analogous critical dimension of $ d_{ \rm crit} = 7$. This distinction indicates that the partition functions of the matrix models can be completely reconstructed from their high-energy (UV) limit for $d\ge d_{ \rm crit}$ whereas additional input is required to reconstruct the exact coefficients of the low-energy (IR) expansion for $2\le d \le d_{ \rm crit } -1 $.

We aim to clarify the experimentally observed near-degeneracy and decay patterns of the isospin, $I=1$, hidden-bottom tetraquarks $Z_b(10610)$ and $Z_b(10650)$ with quantum numbers $J^{P}=1^{+}$.We refer to them as $Z_b$ and $Z_b^{'}$, respectively. In particular, we find first evidence that the suppression of the decay of $Z_b^{'}$ to $B\bar{B^*}$ can be understood in the context of the Born-Oppenheimer Effective Field Theory (BOEFT). BOEFT enables writing both $Z_b$ and $Z_b^{'}$ as superpositions of $Z_1$ and $Z_2$ tetraquark configurations. This decomposition naturally relates the decay patterns of $Z_b$ and $Z_b^{'}$ to the degeneracy of the light degrees of freedom associated with $Z_1$ and $Z_2$ tetraquarks, {\it i.e.,} $1^{--}$and $0^{-+}$ adjoint mesons, respectively. By calculating the adjoint meson correlators within the framework of lattice QCD, we get good indications that these adjoint mesons are degenerate.

We derive two-loop scattering amplitudes for bottom-quark pair production in association with a Higgs boson at the LHC, focusing on terms proportional to the top-quark Yukawa coupling. We treat the bottom quark as a massless parton and employ both the leading-colour and heavy-top-quark approximations. The finite remainder of the two-loop amplitude is expressed in terms of one-mass pentagon functions, and the corresponding rational coefficients are reconstructed analytically from evaluations over finite fields. The scattering processes considered in this work also constitute a subset of Higgs+2-jet production at the LHC in the heavy-top-quark approximation.

Motivated by ongoing interest in the universal behaviour of the Hubbard model of spinning electrons on honeycomb and $π$-flux lattices at the semi-metal -- Mott insulator phase transition, we formulate the \threeD~chiral Heisenberg model, a theory of relativistic fermions in three spacetime dimensions, as a lattice field theory using domain wall fermions. The contact interaction term preserves an SU(2) global symmetry. We perform numerical simulations using the Rational Hybrid Monte Carlo algorithm on system sizes $L^3\times L_s$ with $L\in\{8,\ldots,24\}$ and domain wall separation $L_s\in\{8,16,24\}$. We locate the phase transition corresponding to spontaneous SU(2)$\to$U(1) breaking, yielding critical exponent estimates $ν^{-1}=0.63(3)$, $η_Φ=1.42(8)$. These values are considerably removed from estimates obtained from simulations performed in (2+1)D, ie. with the time and spatial directions treated differently, but align more closely with analytic estimates obtained using 3D covariant field theory. We also present first results for the fermion correlator, ultimately needed for the determination of the exponent $η_Ψ$, highlighting the need to rotate the fermion source to a common reference direction in isospace in order to obtain a signal.

A tentative approach to explain the flavor puzzle consists of embedding the Standard Model in a larger gauge symmetry that contains a separate gauge group for each fermion family. In such gauge non-universal (or flavor-deconstructed) theories, neutrinos pose some challenges. I will discuss existing ideas in the literature and present a simple model in which flavor deconstruction naturally leads to sequential dominance for both neutrinos and charged leptons, thus providing a viable explanation for the flavor structure of the lepton sector.

We present a novel proposal for the effective Lagrangian of the low-energy Yang--Mills quantum field theory. The proposed effective Lagrangian exhibits the spontaneous BRST symmetry breaking. We built the Fujikawa model that we couple to the Yang--Mills elementary field sector, motivated by the analogy with Chiral Quark Model. We interpret the Fujikawa fields as effective fields composite of the elementary gluon and ghost fields. In order to justify the existence of two massless Nambu--Goldstone modes among the Fujikawa fields, we require not only the BRST but also the anti-BRST invariance of the effective Lagrangian, both to be spontaneously broken. The most striking consequence of that is the emergence of the effective gluon and ghost masses. We reproduce the Curci--Ferrari model as a special case of our effective model upon the spontaneous BRST symmetry breaking. In order to reproduce also the non-nilpotent modified BRST symmetry, characteristic for the Curci--Ferrari model, we modify our effective Lagrangian to be invariant with respect to the extended-BRST symmetry, which mixes the elementary and Fujikawa field sectors, and which is nilpotent. The Curci--Ferrari is reproduced by the elementary field sector of the resulting Lagrangian. The remaining Fujikawa's field dependent terms guarantee the underlying nilpotent extended-BRST symmetry, which is now hidden in the sense of the spontaneous symmetry breaking.

We study the production of Beyond the Standard Model light scalar states in association with a vector boson ($Vh_2$, with $V = W^\pm, Z$) at the LHC. We consider the scenario where the Standard Model scalar sector is extended by two real scalar singlets, where these additional scalars have mass $ M_i \leq M_{h_{125}}$. In this work, the scalar boson $h_2$ decays via $h_2 \to h_1 h_1 \to 4b$, while the associated vector boson decays either into a pair of oppositely charged leptons or into a single charged lepton and a neutrino. We analyze the signal using LHC detector parameterizations and evaluate its statistical significance at a center-of-mass energy of 13.6~TeV for integrated luminosities of 300~fb$^{-1}$ and 3000~fb$^{-1}$ corresponding to the LHC Run 3 and High Luminosity LHC, respectively. Our preliminary results indicate promising discovery prospects for this channel serving as a complementary probe of extended scalar sectors.\\ RBI-ThPhys-2026-04, COMETA-2026-04

We investigate baryonic vortices as topological excitations in rotating nuclear matter within the framework of chiral perturbation theory. We identify two distinct configurations: local and global vortices, both carrying the baryon number as the topological charge associated with the third homotopy group $π_3(S^3)$. For the local vortex, similar to the vortex Skyrmion in a finite isospin chemical potential, charged pions form the condensate on the boundary and have a phase winding, while the neutral pion varies along the rotation axis inside the vortex core. On the other hand, a global vortex is formed by the condensate and phase winding of the neutral pion, while the charged pions vary on the inside along the rotation axis. Crucially, although global vortices are usually discarded in infinite systems due to logarithmic divergence in energy, we demonstrate that the finite-size constraint dictated by causality in a rotating frame regularizes the divergence physically, rendering the global vortex a viable excitation. We reveal an energetic competition between global and local vortex states, under the tunable parameters of rotation, system size, and baryon chemical potential. Our results suggest that the previously overlooked global vortex can play a significant role in the topological structure of rotating dense QCD matter.

A recent Letter~\cite{Borsanyi:2025dyp} employs lattice QCD calculations of the equation of state, combined with entropy-density contour analysis, to place a lower bound of $μ_B \gtrsim 450$~MeV on the location of the QCD critical endpoint (CEP). While the underlying lattice calculations represent an important advance in precision and systematic control, the method used to infer constraints on the CEP is not directly sensitive to critical behavior. In particular, the use of entropy contours does not directly probe the singular structure associated with the CEP, does not explicitly incorporate the relevant thermodynamic scaling fields, and relies on assumptions that are not strictly satisfied in finite systems. Consequently, the reported exclusion of a CEP below $μ_B \approx 450$~MeV cannot be regarded as model-independent, as model-independent constraints require observables that are directly sensitive to the singular scaling behavior associated with critical phenomena.

In this study, we investigate the phase structure of magnetized QCD matter by determining the field-dependent parameters of the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio (NJL) model through a physics-informed machine learning framework. Specifically, we focus on extracting the optimal functional forms for the running coupling constant $G(eB)$ and the quark anomalous magnetic moment (AMM) ratio $v_2(eB)$, utilizing lattice QCD-computed quark condensate data as the ``ground truth". By embedding the NJL gap equation as a differentiable physics-constrained module, our neural network pipeline identifies continuous parameter functions that accurately reproduce the inverse magnetic catalysis (IMC) effect. Our results demonstrate that the magnetic field smoothly suppresses both $G$ and $v_2$. This approach not only bridges the gap between effective models and lattice data but also provides new microscopic insights into the response of the QCD vacuum to strong magnetic fields.

The Low-Gain Avalanche Diode (LGAD) is a semiconductor detector capable of achieving excellent timing resolution (~20 ps) for minimum ionizing particles (MIPs). To realize a pixelated detector with both high timing precision and spatial resolution, we have been developing Capacitive-Coupled LGADs (ACLGADs) for future collider experiments, such as the latter phase of the High-Luminosity LHC. We have successfully fabricated a pixelated ACLGAD (ACLGADpix) with a 100 $μ$m %\times% 100 $μ$m pixel pitch, maintaining uniform timing performance across the active area. In this presentation, we will report recent measurement results from ACLGADpix prototypes using beta rays, an infrared laser, and a 3 GeV electron beam. We will also discuss potential readout electronics for future collider applications.

The cusp structure at the $π^+π^-$ threshold in the $π^0π^0$ invariant mass spectrum serves as a sensitive probe for extracting the $S$-wave $ππ$ scattering lengths in processes where an $S$-wave $π^0π^0$ pair is produced in the final states. Within the framework of nonrelativistic effective field theory with coupled channels $π^0π^0$ and $π^+π^-$, we revisit the near-threshold structures in the $π^0π^0$ spectrum of $ψ^\prime \to J/ψππ$. Our analysis incorporates the $ππ$ final-state rescattering, including both strong and Coulomb interactions. It turns out that the cusp near the $π^+π^-$ threshold becomes more prominent when Coulomb interactions are included. The electromagnetic correctionsare found to alter the magnitude of the threshold cusp by about 2%-3%, underscoring the necessity of including these effects in precision determinations of the $ππ$ scattering lengths. The coupled-channel amplitude constructed in this work provides a ready-to-use theoretical framework for experimental analyses of fine structures near $ππ$ thresholds.

Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) is the theory of the strong interactions within the Standard Model of particle physics, which explains more than 99% of the mass of the visible Universe. However, there is evidence that a substantial portion of our Universe is made up of particles beyond the Standard Model, i.e. dark matter. A popular dark matter candidate is the axion -- a hypothetical particle that also solves the so-called strong CP-problem, the unexpected symmetry of QCD under time reversal. The experimental detection of axions hinges on their conversion rate to photons, controlled by the axion-photon coupling. This coupling depends on the specific axion model, but also receives a sizable model-independent contribution from QCD. Here we present the first non-perturbative determination of the QCD contribution using continuum extrapolated lattice simulations. The calculation is based on determining the response of the QCD vacuum to time reversal-odd combinations of background electromagnetic fields. We develop two independent methods exploiting different features of this response and obtain $g_{Aγγ}^{\rm QCD} f_A/e^2=-0.0224(10)$ in units of the axion scale $f_A$ and the elementary charge $e$. Armed with this first-principles result, we present a novel update on how experimental observations can be used to constrain the landscape of axion models, useful for guiding contemporary and future observational strategies.

String theories naturally exhibit dualities that lead to hidden symmetries in the low-energy effective description, which have been used to great effect to generate supergravity solutions. We review recent progress in using hidden symmetries arising from T-duality to generate higher-derivative-corrected solutions, as well as the problems that arise from non-perturbative effects when extending this paradigm to hidden symmetries arising from U-duality.

We evaluate the observability of the effects of a scalar singlet leptoquark (LQ) in $μ$ and $τ$-pair productions at the $Z$ factory. In the scenario addressing the charged-current anomalies, the LQ contributions to $μ$-pair final state are negligible. In contrast, a sizable contribution arises in the $τ$-pair production, which is identical in both $Z$ decay and $e^+e^-$ collider at $Z$ pole. These effects are mainly sensitive to left-handed interaction, showing a maximum deviation of about $-0.7\%$ for both 1\,TeV and 2\,TeV LQ. The suppression of new physics effects from the heavy LQ can be compensated by the enlarged couplings parameter space. For the $τ$-pair production channel, we further specify the coupling constraints corresponding to the expected measurement precision at the future $Z$ factory. Moreover, we provide an analytic function in terms of the LQ mass and couplings to quantify the LQ effects. The differential distributions in the collision process indicate that the LQ effects remain stable throughout the kinematic region. Meanwhile, the measurement sensitivity of the $τ$-pair final state at the future $Z$ factory is expected to impose further constraints on the LQ theory.

We investigate the discovery prospects of a singly produced vector-like bottom quark in the Type-II Two-Higgs-Doublet Model extended by an $SU(2)_L$ vector-like $(T,B)$ doublet. We focus on the non-standard decay chain $B \to φb$, followed by $φ\to t\bar{t}$, where $φ= H$ or $A$, leading to a final state with one charged lepton, missing transverse energy, and multiple $b$-jets. We perform a full simulation of both signal and Standard Model backgrounds at $\sqrt{s}=14$ TeV. We show that the exotic channels $B \to φb$ can dominate over the conventional decay modes, reaching branching ratios of order $50\%$ for both neutral scalars in the alignment limit. A conventional cut-based analysis provides a $5σ$ discovery significance only at sufficiently high integrated luminosity. By contrast, an XGBoost-based multivariate analysis substantially improves the signal-background discrimination and extends the discovery reach up to $m_B \simeq 1.3$ TeV with $600~\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$ and up to $m_B \simeq 1.6$ TeV with $3~\mathrm{ab}^{-1}$, even in the presence of systematic uncertainties as large as $15\%$.

Exploding primordial black holes can source baryon asymmetry soon after the electroweak phase transition, as high-energy Hawking radiation drives ultrarelativistic shocks in the surrounding plasma. The shocks and their trailing rarefaction waves delineate two bubble-like walls around a shell of superheated fluid, in which electroweak symmetry is restored. These moving interfaces source chiral charge, which is converted to baryon number. Upon adding a simple CP-violating operator at the TeV scale, this mechanism yields the observed baryon asymmetry with minimal dependence on PBH model parameters.

In a recent work, we considered the propagation of fermions in the background of a scalar Bose-Einstein (BE) condensate. Using some illustrative Yukawa-type coupling models between the fermions and the scalar fields, we determined the dispersion relations of the fermions and the scalar modes in various models. To complement that work, here we consider the corresponding fermion spinors and propagators, which are required for the calculation of rates of processes involving the fermions, as well as the thermal, and/or higher order, corrections to such rates. We obtain and present here concise formulas which are useful for those applications. As an application and for illustrative purposes we specifically calculate the rate for a generic fermion (which we denote by $χ$) with the fermions in the BE background, using commonly used models for the fermion interactions. Due to the fact that the background fermion dispersion relations are helicity dependent, the kinematics have some unique and non-standard features. For example, at a particular value of the momentum one of the fermion modes has zero group velocity, which leads to a singularity in the scattering rate of the type of the Van Hove singularity in the density of states of some condensed matter systems. The results of the framework presented here, besides their merit in their own right, can be useful in specific contexts and applications, such as cosmic-ray electron cooling through dark matter-electron scattering, and similar ones involving neutrino and/or electron propagation in a scalar Dark Matter background.

Scattering processes featuring the strong interactions can be studied using lattice QCD by means of the Lüscher formalism. This approach relies on analyticity and unitarity of the $S$-matrix to relate infinite-volume scattering amplitudes to finite-volume energy levels. However, lattice QCD simulations employing rooted staggered fermions manifest unitarity violation as an $\mathcal{O}(a^2)$ lattice artifact. Moreover, the meson sector of this theory contains multiple non-mass-degenerate pions (due to the so-called taste splitting), which only reduce to the physical pion in the continuum limit. These features restrict the applicability of the Lüscher formalism to staggered lattice data at non-zero lattice spacing. Hence, in this work, we discuss two complementary approaches to deal with the challenges of extracting $ππ$ scattering amplitudes from lattice QCD with staggered quarks: (1) using the corresponding effective theory, Rooted Staggered Chiral Perturbation Theory, to calculate one-loop amplitudes for the first time. These amplitudes can be used to explicitly check the validity of the quantization condition. And (2) generalizing the formalism to incorporate taste-splitting as well as fourth-rooting effects. We focus on the simpler case of $ππ$ scattering in the isospin-2 channel, and discuss prospects for other channels.

We investigate the anomaly-induced activation of a gauge-invariant scalar degree of freedom in General Relativity, the conformalon mode, directly at the level of \(2\to2\) scattering amplitudes. The analysis couples anomalous three-point functions of conformal sectors, involving gravitons \((TTT)\) and Abelian gauge currents \((TJJ)\), through single-graviton exchange derived from the quadratic expansion of the Einstein--Hilbert action. Unlike related treatments based on the nonlocal anomaly action, these interactions are suppressed by the Planck scale. We show that the conformalon, invariant under linearized diffeomorphisms, admits an interpretation as an effective scalar correction to scattering amplitudes, both in virtual exchange channels and in effective real-emission processes. Around flat space, this behaviour arises from anomaly-induced nonlocal massless insertions on the external graviton and photon legs of the three-point functions, sewn through the scalar component of the graviton propagator in de Donder gauge. The resulting anomaly-mediated \(4\)-point interaction reduces to contact terms, with the Planck mass setting the suppression scale. The construction consistently matches the spin decomposition of flat-space conformal Ward identities in momentum space, which determine the vertices, with the corresponding spin decomposition of the graviton propagator. In the eikonal limit, these interactions generate contact corrections to the leading logarithmic phase in impact-parameter space. We further show that anomaly-mediated \(2\to2\) graviton amplitudes associated with the virtual exchange of such modes exhibit a characteristic double-copy structure.

KM3NeT's detection of a muon track produced by a $\sim 220 \, {\rm PeV}$ neutrino provides an opportunity to probe physics at center-of-momentum energies greater than those probed by the Large Hadron Collider or other existing particle accelerators. In this study, we use this single event to place an upper limit on the neutrino-nucleon cross section of $σ_{νN} < 40 \, σ_{νN}^{\rm SM}$ at $E_{\rm CM} \sim 20 \, {\rm TeV}$. This result can be used to constrain a variety of scenarios beyond the Standard Model. With future very large volume neutrino telescopes, constraints on the neutrino-nucleon scattering cross section are expected to become substantially more stringent and, in some scenarios, could become competitive with accelerator probes of new physics.

The search for physics beyond the Standard Model is hindered by a combinatorial explosion of possible theories. We introduce \textsc{Albert}, a neuro-symbolic artificial intelligence framework to systematically navigate this vast theory space. By encoding particle physics as a formal language, \textsc{Albert} generates tokenized sequences representing symmetries, particles, and interactions under a rule-based grammar, eliminating the hallucinations common in large language models. The reinforcement learning environment enforces first-principle theoretical constraints, computes observables with radiative corrections, and evaluates statistical likelihood via $χ^2$ analysis against experimental data. As a proof of concept, we train a 25-million-parameter transformer model using only legacy data from the Large Electron-Positron Collider, which contains no direct evidence of the top quark. Remarkably, \textsc{Albert} successfully rediscovered the Standard Model and autonomously inferred necessity and properties of the top quark, predicting its mass at $178.9\pm 5.0~\text{GeV}$, consistent with its modern measurement at the Large Hadron Collider. These results demonstrate the potential of AI-driven theory exploration as a rigorous, hallucination-free, and scalable paradigm for autonomous discovery of new physics.

We determine universal sectors of the light operator spectrum that are present in all A$_{N-1}$ superconformal field theories $T_N[Σ_3]$ of class $\mathcal{R}$, with $Σ_3$ a compact hyperbolic three-manifold. We do this at large $N$ by holographically mapping the problem to a Kaluza-Klein spectral analysis over previously known dual anti-de Sitter backgrounds related to wrapped M5-brane configurations. Associated to these, $D=4$ $\mathcal{N}=8$ supergravities have been recently constructed that allow for the application of spectral techniques based on exceptional generalised geometry/field theory. We derive the Kaluza-Klein mass matrices that arise when the seed lower-dimensional maximal supergravity involves gaugings of the trombone scaling symmetry, as pertains to the case at hand, and diagonalise them to find the universal Kaluza-Klein states. In general, these universal spectra are only defined locally, and we give a prescription to isolate globally-defined sectors therein.

We study the sensitivity to dark photons and U(1)$_{B-L}$ gauge bosons produced via dark Higgs boson decays at the FASER and SHiP experiments. In addition to pair production of these vector bosons from both on-shell and off-shell dark Higgs boson decays, a new production process of single vector boson associated with the standard model particles is taken into account. Constraints on the parameter space of dark photon are derived with including the latest results from the FASER experiment. The expected sensitivity regions to the dark photon and U(1)$_{B-L}$ gauge boson of the future FASER2 and SHiP experiments are presented. The sensitivity to the U(1)$_{B-L}$ model with freeze-in sterile neutrino dark matter is also discussed.

Oscillating ultra-light scalar fields are a natural explanation for the dark matter in our universe, as long as a mechanism, often called a misalignment mechanism, exists to explain the amplitude of the scalar oscillations. If the dark matter scalar couples to the Standard Model, then the dynamics of ordinary matter can influence the behaviour of dark matter in the early universe. In this work we show how this changes the expected value of the scalar field and the resulting amplitude of late time scalar oscillations, and therefore the abundance of dark matter at late times. For dark matter scalars that interact quadratically with Standard Model fields we derive estimates of the size of this effect as a function of the strength of the coupling, and for axion-like fields we show that interactions with dark sector matter can temporarily destabilize the field, leading to large field displacements.

In this paper we investigate the holographic computation of the two-point functions of $\frac{1}{2}$-BPS chiral primary operators with scaling dimensions $Δ\sim N$ or $Δ\sim N^2$ in $\mathcal{N}=4$ $SU(N)$ SYM using Type IIB supergravity. First we consider giant graviton operators, resolving ambiguities in the previous literature on holographic computation of the two-point function, and make a new proposal for this calculation. We argue that the D3-brane action for the giant gravitons (as well as for their $\frac{1}{4}$- and $\frac{1}{8}$-BPS counterparts) should contain additional boundary terms which arise naturally from the path integral and which are required to make the variational problem well-defined. We derive the form of these terms and show that the corrected action has an on-shell value that reproduces the two-point function of the gauge theory operators. Then we consider operators with $Δ\sim N^2$ and calculate the two-point function by evaluating the Gibbons-Hawking-York boundary term in the Type IIB pseudo-action in the Lin-Lunin-Maldacena bubbling geometry background.

Liquid scintillators underpin a wide range of radiation detectors, including those used in neutrino physics, but typically rely on organic fluors dissolved in hazardous and costly solvents. Here, we show that carbon dots - nanoscale fluorescent carbon materials - synthesised from simple household ingredients using a microwave can function as water-based liquid scintillators. These carbon dots dispersed in water produce light yields up to 70 +/- 20 photons per MeV and enable the detection of atmospheric muons. This yield is sufficient to detect low-energy protons in water Cherenkov neutrino detectors, expanding their programs in both particle physics and astrophysics. These results establish an accessible, low-cost and environmentally benign route to scintillator development, opening new opportunities for large-scale radiation detection.

We present lattice QCD calculations of the masses of the deuteron, dineutron, Helium-3 and Helium-4 with physical sea quarks and valence quark masses corresponding to pion masses between 140 and 700 MeV. At the physical point, the lowest finite-volume two-nucleon energy levels exhibit the qualitative pattern of a bound deuteron and an unbound dineutron within uncertainties, while at heavier quark masses they indicate the presence of deeply bound states. Compared with expectations from low-energy effective field theories, the observed mass dependence of the binding energies provides first-principles constraints on the quark-mass dependence of two- and three-nucleon interactions. From the quark-mass variation of the nuclear energies, we determine nuclear sigma terms and quantify the response of light-nuclear masses to changes in the light-quark mass. Using the QCD trace anomaly relation, we decompose the nuclear binding energy into quark-mass and gluonic contributions around the deuteron mass scale of $μ=2$ GeV. We find that the quark-mass contribution to the binding energy is small and approximately additive in nucleon number within current precision, whereas the gluonic component provides the dominant contribution and show milder increases with mass number.

We present an indirect determination of the top-quark pole mass $m_t$ within a global analysis of parton distribution functions (PDFs), based on the public NNPDF framework. We consider a wide range of measurements, including both single- and double-differential observables, computed at NNLO QCD accuracy with EW corrections, and analyse their individual as well as combined impact on the joint $(α_s, m_t)$ parameter space, while accounting for PDF evolution up to approximate ${\rm N^3LO}$ QCD accuracy with QED corrections. We account for missing higher order QCD uncertainties by default. Unique to our analysis are the inclusion of, first, toponium contributions around the $t\bar{t}$ threshold, second, state-of-the-art constraints on $α_s$ from the lattice, and finally, a detailed sensitivity study of the various ATLAS and CMS differential cross-section measurements at 8 and 13 TeV. We demonstrate explicitly how a combined determination requires the refitting of the PDFs in order to correctly correlate uncertainties. We find $m_t = 172.80 \pm 0.26$ GeV at approximate N$^3$LO QCD including NLO QED, EW and toponium corrections.

Active neutrinos in standard cosmology were ruled out as a dark matter candidate in the 1980's. The reason is twofold: they are too light to account for the observed energy density of dark matter in the Universe, and their relativistic nature would spoil structure formation. In this note we suggest that an enhanced density of cold Standard Model active neutrinos today could behave effectively as dark matter, avoiding constraints from recombination and structure formation. Such an enhancement could be produced, for instance, by late-time decays of a light scalar field that is not in thermal equilibrium with the plasma. This mechanism is testable through the detection of the Cosmic Neutrino Background (C$ν$B), which could have an average cosmological energy density a factor of $\sim 100-200$ times larger than expected in $Λ$CDM. The postulated light neutrinophilic scalar field may be observable, with Yukawa couplings in the range $y \sim 5 \times 10^{-16}-10^{-12}$. A scenario preferred by structure formation constraints is that the scalar is a Majoron, and the neutrinos have an inverted mass hierarchy.

Correlation functions of CFT operators with infinite scaling dimension are rich, multifaceted objects that describe physics ranging across classical holography, black hole dynamics, and flat-space scattering amplitudes. In this work, we provide a rigorous framework for characterizing the space of four-point functions of identical operators with infinite dimension in terms of well-defined ``maximally heavy observables,'' which are akin to intrinsic quantities describing statistical systems in the thermodynamic limit. These observables are highly constrained by crossing symmetry and unitarity, and give novel insights into the locality of bulk states through the emergence of dynamical phase transitions. In certain cases, these results connect directly to the more familiar picture of torus partition functions at large central charge. We apply our framework to a number of illustrative examples including generalized free fields, chiral product correlators, and maximal giant gravitons in planar $\mathcal{N}=4$ SYM.

Dense neutrino plasmas can develop instabilities that drive collisionless flavor exchange, equivalent to the emission of flavomons, the quanta of flavor waves. We treat these waves, for the first time, as independent linear degrees of freedom and develop a quasi-linear theory (QLT), including backreaction on the neutrino distribution and nonresonant neutrino--flavomon interactions, while neglecting wave--wave processes. In a homogeneous, axisymmetric model, the saturated neutrino and flavomon distributions agree closely with periodic-box solutions of the original quantum kinetic equation. These results support the use of QLT, well established in plasma physics, to bypass nonlinear small-scale effects that challenge direct simulations.

We present BEST (Boltzmann Equation Solver for Thermalization), a Python framework for solving the momentum-resolved Boltzmann equation for arbitrary $n_{\rm in} \to n_{\rm out}$ scattering processes. The collision integral is evaluated directly in $3(n_{\rm total}-2)$ dimensions using the VEGAS adaptive Monte Carlo algorithm with vectorized batch evaluation. Momentum conservation is enforced exactly by expressing one particle's momentum through the constraint, while energy conservation is imposed via a narrow Gaussian representation of the delta function. We identify a subtlety in the construction of the collision integral for processes with unequal initial and final multiplicities ($n_{\rm in} \neq n_{\rm out}$) involving identical particles: the full collision rate requires separate evaluation with the observed momentum pinned to each side of the reaction, weighted by the respective particle multiplicities. Failure to account for this leads to systematic violation of energy conservation. The code supports massive particles with time-dependent masses, Bose-Einstein and Fermi-Dirac quantum statistics, multiple coupled species, cosmological expansion with comoving momenta, and both Euler and Heun time integration. Parallelization is achieved by distributing independent momentum grid points across MPI ranks, yielding near-linear scaling to hundreds of cores. We validate the Monte Carlo results against a semi-analytical $2 \to 2$ collision integral with exact energy conservation, following the phase-space reduction of Ala-Mattinen et al. As a demonstration, we study thermalization of a massive scalar field through a $2 \leftrightarrow 3$ number-changing process and show that energy conservation is restored only when all identical-particle contributions are correctly summed. The code is publicly available at https://github.com/best-hep/best.

The directed flow ($v_1$) of identified hadrons ($π^{\pm}, K^{\pm}, p, \bar{p}, φ, Λ$, and $\barΛ$) is studied in symmetric nuclear collisions (O+O, Cu+Cu, Ru+Ru, Au+Au, and U+U) at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 200$ GeV using the string-melting version of a multiphase transport model with improved quark coalescence. The mid-rapidity $v_1$-slope ($dv_1/dy$) and its charge-dependent splitting ($Δdv_1/dy$) between particles and anti-particles are investigated as a function of nuclear mass number ($A$) and collision centrality in both low-$p_\mathrm{T}$ (0.2$-$2.0 GeV/$c$) and high-$p_\mathrm{T}$ (2.0$-$5.0 GeV/$c$) regions. At low-$p_\mathrm{T}$, the $v_1$-slope shows weak system-size dependence, while at high-$p_\mathrm{T}$ strong system-size dependence is found and it becomes negative with nuclear mass number, reflecting the hard-soft asymmetry in particle production. The charge-dependent splitting $Δdv_1/dy$ reveals a striking baryon-meson dichotomy: baryon pairs ($p-\bar{p}$ and $Λ-\barΛ$) exhibit significant splitting that grows with system size, whereas meson pairs ($π^+-π^-$ and $K^+-K^-$) show minimal splitting. The effect of final state hadronic interactions on the $v_1$-slope is found to be negligible confirming that it is primarily generated during the partonic phase and coalescence process. A comparison of the AMPT results with measurements from the STAR experiment at RHIC in Au+Au collisions establish the transported quark contribution as a baseline for the observed charge-dependent $v_1$ splitting, on top of which electromagnetic field effects must be considered.

The classification of phases using categorical symmetries has greatly expanded the landscape of gapped and gapless phases. So far, however, these developments have largely been restricted to phases with unitary (higher-)categorical symmetries over $\mathbb{C}$. In this work, we incorporate anti-unitary symmetries, such as time-reversal symmetry $\mathbb{Z}_2^T$, and show that the relevant physical structures are naturally described by fusion categories over $\mathbb{R}$. A class of real fusion categories, which we call Galois-real fusion categories, provides the correct categorical model for anti-unitary symmetries. A simple example is the time-reversal symmetry $\mathbb{Z}_2^T$ itself. We discuss the basic structures of real fusion categories and present a range of examples, including the group-theoretical categories $(G^T)^ω$ and $\mathsf{Rep}(G^T)$ associated to anti-linear groups $G^T$, as well as non-invertible time-reversal symmetries described by a real analogue of Tambara--Yamagami fusion categories. We then classify gapped phases enriched with anti-linear symmetries in terms of module categories over Galois-real fusion categories. We furthermore apply the categorical formulation to prove dualities (i.e. gauge or Morita equivalences) of anti-linear symmetries generated by gauging subgroups. Complementing this, we also develop a Symmetry Topological Field Theory (SymTFT) framework, in which Galois-real fusion categories arise as boundary conditions of a $\mathbb{Z}_2^T$-enriched SymTFT. Morita equivalent anti-linear symmetries are shown to arise as different boundaries of the same $\mathbb{Z}_2^T$-enriched SymTFT.

Jets are collimated clusters of particles formed by the hadronization of partons following a hard interaction. In proton-proton ($pp$) collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), jet production is dominated by $gg$ and $qg$ partonic processes, allowing us to directly probe the gluon parton distribution function (PDF) in the proton in a way complementary to deep inelastic scattering. In this paper, we report the double-differential inclusive-jet cross sections as a function of jet transverse momentum, $p_{\rm T}$, and pseudorapidity, $η$, at center-of-mass energies $\sqrt{s} = 200$ and $510$~GeV, from $pp$ collisions studied with the STAR detector. The jet $p_{\rm T}$ is corrected for underlying event contributions by applying an off-axis cone method. At mid-pseudorapidity, $|η| < 0.9$, the kinematic coverage of our data extends to $0.07 < x_{\rm T} \text{ (}= 2p_{\rm T}{} / \sqrt{s} \text{)} < 0.5$ and $0.03 < x_{\rm T} < 0.31$ at $\sqrt{s} = 200$~and 510 GeV, respectively, where the gluon PDF is poorly constrained by the TeV-scale $pp$~($p\bar{p}$) colliders. The inclusive jet cross sections are compared to the next-to-next-to-leading order perturbative quantum chromodynamics calculations using several recent PDF sets as inputs. These results will further constrain the gluon PDF, help tune Monte Carlo generators, and provide critical reference data needed to study the quark-gluon plasma.

We investigate the joint influence of CPT violation and quantum-gravity-induced Planck-scale corrections on the entanglement entropy of two-flavor neutrino oscillations. Building on the CPT-violating neutrino mass matrix arising from flavour-blind Planck-scale physics, we compute the von Neumann entanglement entropy separately for neutrinos and anti-neutrinos and demonstrate that CPT violation directly imprints an observable asymmetry in their entropy profiles. For a degenerate mass spectrum (m_ν\simeq2\,\mathrm{eV}), non-zero Majorana phases a_{1} and a_{2} are required to reproduce the solar KamLAND discrepancy; these same phases control the amplitude of the entropy asymmetry. Our results establish that entanglement entropy provides a sensitive and novel probe of CPT-violating Planck-scale physics within neutrino phenomenology.

The PADME Experiment at Laboratori Nationali di Frascati is designed to search for the Dark Photon, a hypothetical gauge boson responsible for the interaction between the visible and the hidden sector. PADME explores the process of annihilation of beam positrons with the electrons in a fixed target, employing the missing mass technique: in case the annihilation results in the associate production of one visible and one Dark photon, the first can be registered by the experiment's electromagnetic calorimeter and the Dark Photon mass can be reconstructed knowing the beam energy. This paper presents the analysis techniques that are being employed for the PADME data, as well as the background composition and rejection procedure.

We show that hadrons in QCD follow a spectrum determined by string dynamics characterized by a universal Hagedorn temperature linked to the string tension. While this behavior was recently established for light hadrons and glueballs, we demonstrate that the same dynamics describes the heavy-flavor sector. After separating the current quark masses, the resulting spectrum reproduces lattice QCD thermodynamics of charmed hadrons and the observed spectra of hadrons across quark flavors without additional parameters. These results reflect the universal confining dynamics of QCD through the string tension.

We examine scattering amplitudes for an arbitrary number of photons in a class of non-null background electromagnetic fields, studying tree-level and one-loop amplitudes in scalar and spinor quantum-electrodynamics in backgrounds defined by a gauge field $A_μ(\mathfrak{n}\cdot x)$ for $\mathfrak{n}^2\neq 0$. Motivated to account for more physically realistic laser-plasma dispersive properties, our approach overcomes prior work studying such amplitudes in a constant background field and relaxes the familiar null criterion assumed for plane waves. Master Formulae for the $N$-photon amplitudes dressed by the non-null background are constructed using the first-quantised worldline formalism, which can systematically account for all orders in the non-null parameter, $\mathfrak{n}^2$, treated here as an expansion parameter. These are derived from worldline representations of the coordinate and momentum space propagators (and their LSZ-truncated amplitudes) and the effective action, each incorporating the non-null background non-perturbatively. We then outline a partial resummation of their expansions in $\mathfrak{n}^{2}$. A special exactly solvable case of non-null constant crossed fields without photon insertion in the effective action is explored to test the Master Formulae that result. The validity of the presented master formulae is further checked against known expressions for the wavefunction and non-linear Compton scattering in a non-null background to lowest order in the non-null parameter.

In this work we provide predictions for bottom-strange molecular states within the Hidden Gauge Formalism. We study the coupled-channel scattering of $B^{(*)}\bar{K}^{(*)}$ states and, by fixing only one free parameter to obtain the mass of a new excited $B_s^0$ state seen by the LHCb, we predict the pole parameters of six states in this sector. Concretely, we get that the masses of the flavor partners of the $D_{s0}(2317)$ and $D_{s1}(2460)$ states in the bottom sector are $5760$ and $5802$ MeV for the $B\bar{K}$ ($J^P=0^+$) and $B^{*}\bar{K}$ ($1^+$) states, respectively. Moreover, the recently seen states by the LHCb with masses around $6100$ and $6160$ MeV can be interpreted as $B\bar{K}^*$ and $B^*\bar{K}^*$ molecular states, according to reasonable values of the pole parameters and the splitting between these two states obtained in our calculation.

The numerical sign problem remains one of the central challenges in computational physics. The Worldvolume Hybrid Monte Carlo (WV-HMC) method has recently been proposed as a reliable and computationally efficient algorithm that crucially avoids the ergodicity issues inherent in Lefschetz-thimble approaches. In these proceedings, after outlining the key ideas behind WV-HMC, we present its extension to group manifolds. This provides a rigorous framework for applying WV-HMC to lattice gauge theories.

We compute the radiative corrections to the process of two-pion production in association with a hard photon in $e^+ e^-$ annihilation by taking into account the non-perturbative structure of the pion in the one-loop calculation. For this purpose, we adopt the generalised vector meson dominance model to insert the pion form factor in loop integrals for the treatment of final-state radiation and initial-final state interference at next-to-leading order. We compare our predictions with the results of the naive factorised scalar QED approach for experimentally relevant observables in the measurement of the $e^+ e^- \to π^+ π^- γ$ process. The computation extends previous results obtained for the energy scan process $e^+ e^- \to π^+ π^-$ and can be used to quantify the uncertainty due to the model describing the pion-photon interaction in radiative return experiments at flavour factories.

We implement the scenario of early relaxation of the axion via a high scale confinement within $SU(5)$ grand unified theory and study an epoch of strong QCD in inflationary cosmology. We consider scenarios in which, during inflation, the $SU(5)$ is either entirely or partially in the confining phase. This generates an early potential for the axion and dilutes its energy density removing any cosmological upper bound on the decay constant. We show that a phase of strong QCD can be realized by at least two mechanisms: 1) A direct coupling between the inflaton and the gauge fields and/or 2) by restoration of the $SU(5)$ symmetry during the inflationary epoch. In the latter case, strong coupling is already achieved via the RG running of the $SU(5)$ gauge coupling. We show that the mechanism works for all known realizations of the invisible axion idea: Peccei-Quinn (PQ) type formulations in which the anomalous global symmetry is realized via additional scalars (DFSZ) or heavy fermions (KSVZ) as well as the two-form gauge axion formulation based entirely on the QCD gauge redundancy without any anomalous global symmetry. Even if the expectation value of the PQ scalar vanishes during inflation, the axion is a well defined degree of freedom represented by the phase of the fermion 't Hooft determinant. For the DFSZ case, this phase is composed out of a condensate of the ordinary quarks, amounting to an early universe version of the $η'$-meson. In all considered scenarios, the present day axion can be a viable dark matter candidate for an arbitrarily large value of the decay constant.

Hadron structure calculations using lattice Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) have advanced significantly in recent years. Results for charges, form factors, and lower Mellin moments can be obtained to high precision, generalized parton distributions can now be computed either directly or reconstructed from moments, and transverse-momentum-dependent distributions can be accessed through direct lattice calculations. Together, these quantities provide detailed and complementary insights into the internal structure of hadrons. These theoretical developments are highly relevant to the experimental program of the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) and of other facilities. We review the most pertinent lattice QCD results for hadron structure that inform the EIC scientific agenda, with particular emphasis on the pion, kaon, and nucleon.

In this paper, we extend the enumerative study of planar hypermaps with an alternating boundary introduced in an earlier work of Bouttier and the second author. In that article, an explicit rational parametrization was obtained for the associated generating function in the case of m-constellations, using a variant of the kernel method. We develop here a new strategy to obtain an algebraic equation in the general case, which includes maps decorated by the Ising model, through a classical many-to-one correspondence. One of the main steps of our strategy is the simultaneous elimination of two catalytic variables. We then apply this strategy to the case of Ising quadrangulations, where we obtain an explicit rational parametrization. As a consequence, we show that some notable properties of the constellations case are no longer satisfied in general.

Positive geometry provides a geometric framework where physical observables are encoded as canonical forms associated to regions of kinematic space. In this paper we consider a generalisation to an infinite union of line segments, which allows us to capture canonical forms beyond rational functions. In the continuum limit of positive geometries, we show that we can generalise even further and describe positive geometries whose canonical forms contain branch cuts. We will constrain which functions can be obtained as the canonical form of one-dimensional positive geometries. We introduce the notion of the pseudogenus to classify meromorphic functions, and show that canonical forms can be written as the $\mathrm d\log$ of a function with pseudogenus zero. Furthermore, we argue that the spectrum encoded by a union of line segments is consistent with the presence of a stringy tower of states or a Kaluza-Klein tower with three or more compact directions only if nearly all such states do not contribute to the scattering amplitude. In addition, we show how the d log of both open and closed string amplitudes admits a positive geometry. This allows us to give a fully geometric interpretation for the KLT double copy at four points.

We demonstrate the use of the gradient flow combined with the short flow-time expansion (GF+SFTX) as a renormalization procedure for four-quark operator matrix elements and associated bag parameters relevant to neutral heavy-meson mixing ($ΔQ=2$) and heavy-meson lifetimes ($ΔQ=0$). Using six RBC/UKQCD 2+1-flavor domain-wall fermion ensembles, we calculate for a charm-strange system with physical quark masses flowed bag parameters and match them to the $\overline{\text{MS}}$ scheme using perturbative SFTX coefficients up to next-to-next-to-leading order in QCD. We employ a multi-scale matching strategy and a renormalization-group improved flow-time evolution which allows for a reliable estimate of systematic uncertainties. For a fictitious neutral $D_s$ meson, we obtain the $ΔQ=2$ $\overline{\text{MS}}$ bag parameter ${\cal B}^{\overline{\text{MS}}}_1(3\,{\rm GeV})=0.7673(123)$, consistent with existing short-distance $D^0$ mixing determinations. For the $ΔQ=0$ lifetime-ratio operator basis, we find the $\overline{\text{MS}}$ results $B^{\overline{\text{MS}}}_1(3\,{\rm GeV})=1.0524(97)$, $B^{\overline{\text{MS}}}_2(3\,{\rm GeV})=0.9621(71)$, $ε^{\overline{\text{MS}}}_1(3\,{\rm GeV})=-0.2275(76)$, and $ε^{\overline{\text{MS}}}_2(3\,{\rm GeV})=-0.0005(8)$. We provide conversion formulae to re-express these results for an arbitrary choice of evanescent operators. These results demonstrate that GF+SFTX can deliver precise determinations of dimension-six four-quark operators and establish a framework for future lattice computations including more complex operator bases, where the challenge of power-divergent mixing is shifted to the continuum and handled in the SFTX.

We calculate the dimension-six $ΔQ=0$ four-quark matrix elements describing heavy-meson lifetime ratios using the gradient flow with its short flow-time expansion as a renormalization procedure. On six RBC/UKQCD 2+1-flavor domain-wall fermion ensembles, we determine flowed bag parameters for physical charm and strange quarks and match to the $\overline{\text{MS}}$ scheme with perturbative short flow-time expansion coefficients through next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO). A multi-scale matching procedure using renormalization-group running improves the extrapolation to zero flow time. For the operators relevant to $τ(D_s)/τ(D^0)$ at the SU(3)$_{\rm F}$ symmetric point, we obtain $B_1^{\overline{\text{MS}}}(3\,{\rm GeV})=1.0524(97)$,$B_2^{\overline{\text{MS}}}(3\,{\rm GeV})=0.9621(70)$, $ε_1^{\overline{\text{MS}}}(3\,{\rm GeV})=-0.2275(76)$, and $ε_2^{\overline{\text{MS}}}(3\,{\rm GeV})=-0.0005(8)$ using a specific choice of evanescent operators. This is the first lattice-QCD determination of $ΔQ=0$ four-quark operators with a full error budget. It opens the path towards higher-precision predictions of heavy-meson lifetimes and similar quantities exhibiting operator mixing under renormalization.

Rare-event experiments such as LEGEND-1000 require high-purity germanium (HPGe) detectors with excellent energy resolution, low electronic noise, and scalable low-background packaging. The germanium ring-contact (GeRC) concept addresses this need through a recessed ring-and-groove electrode geometry intended to preserve point-contact-like low-capacitance signal formation in larger crystals. However, reliable GeRC fabrication has remained unproven because the non-planar groove geometry complicates machining, surface recovery, conformal passivation, and especially the eventual formation of a robust lithium-diffused outer contact. We report the fabrication and first cryogenic operation of two compact n-type GeRC process-validation prototypes produced from in-house HPGe crystals at the University of South Dakota. An optimized workflow was developed for core drilling, groove cutting, non-planar polishing, conformal amorphous-germanium (a-Ge) encapsulation, Al patterning, and GeRC-specific cryogenic mounting. Two independent sputtering systems were used to test whether the thin-film sequence remains operable across substantially different deposition environments. At 77~K, both devices biased stably, showed an inferred depletion onset near 340~V from a pulser-based capacitance proxy consistent with electrostatic modeling, and produced identifiable full-energy peaks from $^{241}\mathrm{Am}$ and $^{137}\mathrm{Cs}$. These results establish a proof-of-principle process and readout baseline for geometry-specific GeRC development. They do not yet constitute a deployment-ready large-mass GeRC technology, but they define the foundation for the next step: integrating conformal lithium-paint deposition and controlled diffusion on the ring-and-groove topology.

In this paper, we study the attractor mechanism for extremal, spherically symmetric black holes in pure N = 4 Poincaré supergravity, which we demonstrate numerically. We further study the supersymmetries preserved by these solutions by focussing specifically on the constant moduli solutions and show that, for a generic dyonic charge configuration satisfying $p^2q^2>(p.q)^2$, they always preserve 1/4th of the total supersymmetries.

The first observation of the doubly charmed baryon $\itΞ_{cc}^+$ is reported through its decay to the $\itΛ_c^+ K^-π^+$ final state, with a statistical significance exceeding seven standard deviations. The observation is made using proton-proton collision data collected in 2024 with the LHCb Run 3 detector at a center-of-mass energy of 13.6 TeV, corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of $6.9\,\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$. The $\itΞ_{cc}^+$ mass is measured to be $3619.97 \pm 0.83 \pm 0.26 \,^{+1.90}_{-1.30}\,\mathrm{MeV}/c^2$, where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second is systematic, and the third is due to the unknown $\itΞ_{cc}^+$ lifetime, which is assumed to lie in the range 15-160 fs with a baseline value of 45 fs. The difference between the masses of the $\itΞ_{cc}^+$ and $\itΞ_{cc}^{++}$ baryons is determined to be $-1.77 \pm 0.84 \pm 0.15 \,^{+1.90}_{-1.30}\,\mathrm{MeV}/c^2$. This is the first observation of a new particle made with the LHCb Run 3 detector.

We review completely monotone (CM) and Stieltjes functions, which are classes of functions obeying an infinite hierarchy of positivity constraints. While these are classical concepts in analysis, such properties have recently been shown to arise in many fundamental building blocks and observables of quantum field theory (QFT), including scalar Feynman integrals in the Euclidean region and Coulomb branch amplitudes in $\mathcal{N}=4$ SYM. After reviewing their mathematical structure, we discuss the physical and geometric origins of these properties, ranging from unitarity and analyticity in scattering amplitudes to the structure of parametric representations of Feynman integrals. We then survey a number of applications, including constraints on the analytic S-matrix, implications for numerical bootstrap methods, and connections to positive geometry, where we present evidence for a close relation between these functions and geometric volume interpretations. These notes are based on an extended series of lectures delivered at the \emph{Positive Geometry in Scattering Amplitudes and Cosmological Correlators} workshop, held at the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS), Bengaluru, in February 2025.

A recurring challenge in theoretical physics is to make reliable global statements about bounded but combinatorially large model spaces. Exhaustive scans quickly become opaque or impractical, while statistical exploration does not by itself provide theorem-backed guarantees. This motivates workflows in which the model-building problem itself is formalized inside an interactive theorem prover (ITP). In this paper we develop an API-based methodology for formalizing such bounded model-building questions inside Lean, an interactive theorem prover. The central step is to represent the relevant charge spectra, predicates, and reduction moves as reusable ITP definitions, and then to derive the classification from proved reduction theorems rather than from an ad hoc scan. We demonstrate the strategy in a concrete $SU(5)$ case study motivated by F-theory model building with additional Abelian symmetries. At the charge-spectrum layer, we classify bounded spectra that admit a top-quark Yukawa coupling, avoid a selected set of dangerous operators, and satisfy a minimal charge-spectrum completeness condition. Our main result shows that every such spectrum in the bounded search space arises from finitely many minimal top-Yukawa witnesses together with controlled completions and certified closure steps. This classification represents a formally verified description of the full viable class in the charge-spectrum setting studied here. The development is implemented inside PhysLib as reusable infrastructure rather than as a one-off verification script. It provides a proof of principle for how interactive theorem provers can turn combinatorially difficult model-building problems into correctness-first, reusable workflows, and we discuss how the resulting certified classification can serve as reliable input for downstream analyses.

We report on recent developments of the Heavy-Flavor Non-Relativistic evolution (HF-NRevo) scheme, a framework designed to describe heavy-hadron formation through leading-power fragmentation at moderate and large transverse momentum. The approach combines short-distance inputs obtained from next-to-leading-order NRQCD calculations with collinear scale evolution in a variable-flavor-number scheme, ensuring a consistent treatment of heavy-flavor thresholds and partonic hierarchies. Within this setup we have constructed the NRFF1.0 family of fragmentation functions for $S$-wave heavy quarkonia in their leading NRQCD Fock states. We discuss prospective applications of the HF-NRevo framework in the heavy-ion environment, where it can provide a perturbative baseline for investigating medium-induced modifications of heavy-flavor fragmentation. Its explicit treatment of partonic channels and heavy-flavor thresholds makes it particularly suitable for exploring jet-quenching sensitivity, energy-loss mechanisms, and the emergence of medium-modified fragmentation patterns in the quark-gluon plasma. The HF-NRevo scheme has also been extended to the exotic sector through the TQ4Q1.x and newly released TQ4Q2.0 fragmentation sets, which describe the formation of fully heavy tetraquarks in multiple quantum configurations. These developments open a novel pathway to study quarkoniumlike states and to probe the intrinsic charm content of the proton in forward hadron-collision environments. Altogether, this program broadens the phenomenological reach of heavy-flavor fragmentation studies at the HL-LHC and future collider facilities, opening access to previously unexplored aspects of QCD and potential portals to New Physics.

In our earlier work [Phys. Rev. C \textbf{98}, 045209 (2018)], we analyzed the differential cross-section data from the CLAS Collaboration for the reactions $γp \to K^{*+}Σ^0$ and $γp \to K^{*0} Σ^+$ using an effective Lagrangian approach. We found that a satisfactory description of the data required the inclusion of the $s$-channel $Δ(1905)5/2^+$ resonance, in addition to $t$-channel exchanges of $K$, $κ$, and $K^*$, $s$-channel contributions from nucleons ($N$) and $Δ$, $u$-channel exchanges of $Λ$, $Σ$, and $Σ^*$, and a generalized contact term. In the present work, we extend our analysis to incorporate the data on spin density matrix elements from the LEPS Collaboration for the $γp \to K^{*0}Σ^+$ reaction at photon energies $E_γ = 1.85$--$2.96$ GeV. Our goal is to impose more stringent constraints on the theoretical model and obtain a more reliable understanding of the reaction mechanisms. We obtain two fits that describe the experimental data equally well. In both fits, the $Δ(1905)5/2^+$ resonance plays an important role. However, the contribution from $t$-channel $κ$ exchange is significant in one fit but negligible in the other. This finding contradicts earlier claims in the literature that the LEPS parity spin asymmetry $P_σ$ data support a dominant role of $κ$ exchange in $γp \to K^{*0}Σ^+$. We also present predictions for $P_σ$ at $E_γ= 8.5$ GeV, which may help clarify whether $κ$ exchange is indeed dominant in this reaction.

Mechanisms of Mesogenesis generate the baryon asymmetry and dark matter of the Universe through late-time decays of Standard Model mesons into baryons and dark matter states. Utilizing the CP violation in the meson systems themselves, the resulting baryon asymmetry is directly controlled by collider observables, the CP asymmetry $A_{CP}$, and the branching fraction for the meson decays. Experimental probes of these decays place strong constraints on the amount of $CP$ violation required, placing it well above observed limits in meson mixing. Additionally, strong lower bounds on the proton lifetime seemingly rule out Mesogenesis mechanisms which use $D$ mesons. In this work, we propose to circumvent these constraints by ``morphing'' the mass of the dark sector particles using a late-time phase transition. The change in mass of the final decay products kinematically excludes meson and proton decays, relaxing the constraints on the model parameter space.

We explore the combined lepton and hadron kinematic observables from the exclusive Valencia $2p2h$ model. We present variables of interest which are available due to the exclusive kinematics and compare them with the democratically distributed outgoing nucleon kinematics as currently treated in neutrino event generators. We also show the effect of nuclear re-scattering based on the NEUT semi classical cascade. We comment on the observability of these variables in current and future long baseline neutrino detectors.

In contrast to the complex $φ^4$ model, vortex-antivortex collisions in the complex $φ^6$ theory reveal a resonant structure due to the existence of a remarkably stable, long-lived, large amplitude oscillon in the broken vacuum. Surprisingly, it persists despite the absence of a mass gap associated with the flat direction in the broken vacuum. We demonstrate that its existence is related to a far-distance modification of the potential, namely, the appearance of an unbroken (false or true) vacuum.

A central objective of future collider experiments is to probe the structure of the Higgs potential, which requires access to trilinear scalar couplings, in particular the self-coupling of the observed Higgs boson. While this coupling is fixed in the Standard Model (SM), it can receive sizable modifications in many Beyond the SM (BSM) scenarios, often connected to solutions of open problems such as the origin of the matter-antimatter asymmetry of the Universe. In theories with extended scalar sectors, radiative corrections involving additional scalar states can significantly affect both the Higgs self-coupling and other trilinear scalar interactions, with important consequences for predictions of physical observables. Precise theoretical calculations are therefore essential for the interpretation of precision Higgs measurements and for identifying indirect signatures of new physics. This contribution presents the latest version of the public tool anyBSM, which provides automated calculations of all trilinear scalar couplings at full one-loop order in arbitrary renormalisable theories, including full momentum dependence and flexible renormalisation-scheme choices. In addition, the new module anyHH for di-Higgs production in gluon fusion is discussed in several exemplary BSM models, including scenarios with multiple resonances.

Some extensions of the Standard Model consider inelastic dark matter (iDM) as an attractive candidate for sub-GeV DM of thermal origin that could be detected at modern accelerators. In the present paper, we calculate the production rate of iDM pairs $χ_{1} \barχ_0$ interacting with the ordinary photon via dipole magnetic moment in the reaction of high-energy electron scattering on nuclei, $e^- N \to e^- N χ_{1} \barχ_0$, in the NA64e experiment at the CERN SPS. We derive the projected sensitivity of NA64e to such particles assuming of $\simeq10^{13}$ 100 GeV electrons on target. We also show, that incorporating heavy vector meson decays, $γ^* N \to N V (\to χ_1 \barχ_0)$, alongside bremsstrahlung-like emission of inelastic dark matter pairs, $e^- N \to e^- N γ^* (\to χ_1 \barχ_0)$, will allow NA64e to probe previously unexplored regions of the iDM parameter space, in particular for modest mass splittings, $Δ\simeq 5 \times 10^{-2}$, and relatively light masses, $m_{χ_0} \lesssim 100~\mbox{MeV}$.

Phonon-mediated cryogenic calorimeters find application in rare event searches due to their intrinsically low energy threshold. Achieving the best sensitivity for this kind of detectors is crucial for signal identification, leading to various optimization techniques. In this work, we present two complementary methods to increase the sensitivity of cryogenic detectors read out by transition-edge sensors, developed and tested in the context of the NUCLEUS experiment. The first procedure maps the signal-to-noise ratio of the device across a wide range of operating points, to identify the configuration with maximal sensitivity to be used during data taking. The second method exploits the double readout of the detector, combining the information on different channels with a two-dimensional optimum filter analysis that effectively lowers the energy threshold. With both techniques at the same time, we obtained a baseline resolution of 2.94 $\pm$ 0.05 (stat) eV using a CaWO4 based detector, achieving a promising result in view of the first run of NUCLEUS at the experimental site.

We discuss several possible extensions of present studies of $γγ\to γγ$ scattering in ultraperipheral heavy ion collisions. One of the possible extensions are studies for lower diphoton invariant masses (smaller transverse momenta). There new mechanisms may show up. This includes possible studies with future FOCAL and ALICE 3 detectors. So far only coherent $γγ\to γγ$ processes, when initial photons couple to nuclei, were sudied theoretically. Recently we proposed to study also inelastic processes, when initial photons couple to individual nucleons. Without special cuts the corresponding processes are of the order of 20 - 30 \%. A study to which extent the inelastic processes survive with the present cuts used for the $γγ\to γγ$ studies is an interesting question. They can be of interest by itself and dedicated studies are suggested. We calculate also cross section for associated neutron production. Deviation from our predictions could signal presence of the inelastic contribution. Finally we discuss production of single photons in UPC ($A A \to A A γ$). Corresponding cross sections for selected mechanisms are presented.

We study modular properties of conformal field theories perturbed by holomorphic fields. We prove an asymptotic formula for the modular S-transform of a generalized partition function that includes zero modes of higher spin holomorphic currents. The derivation makes use of general properties of torus correlation functions, in particular the Zhu recursion relation. The asymptotic expansion of the modular transformed partition function takes a universal form that is determined iteratively by the second order pole coefficients in the operator product expansion of the holomorphic currents. This proves and generalizes a conjecture regarding the modular transformation properties of generalized Gibbs ensembles.

In this paper, we study the properties of averaged fundamental solutions of a special type for Laplace operators in the Euclidean space of an arbitrary dimension. We consider a class of kernels suitable for probabilistic averaging, and propose new representations for the deformed fundamental solutions and their values at zero. In addition, we give examples related to specific quantum field models in the context of studying renormalization properties.

By analysing 6.1 ${\rm fb}^{-1}$ of data collected at center-of-mass energies between $\sqrt{s}=4.600$ and 4.843 $\rm GeV$ with the BESIII detector at the BEPCII collider, we observe the decay $Λ_c^+\to nπ^+η$ for the first time with a statistical significance of $9.5σ$. The ratio of branching fractions $\mathcal{B}(Λ_c^+\to nπ^+η)/\mathcal{B}(Λ_c^+\to Λπ^+η)$ is measured to be $0.155\pm0.031_{\rm stat.}\pm0.012_{\rm syst.}$ Taking the world average of $\mathcal{B}(Λ_c^+\to Λπ^+η)$ as reference, the absolute branching fraction is calculated to be $\mathcal{B}(Λ_c^+\to nπ^+η)=(2.94\pm0.59_{\rm stat.}\pm0.23_{\rm syst.}\pm0.13_{\rm ref.})\times10^{-3}$. The intermediate process $Λ_c^+\to na_0(980)^+$ is also searched for in the $π^+η$ invariant mass spectrum. Since no significant signal is found, the upper limit on $\mathcal{B}(Λ_c^+\to na_0(980)^+)\times\mathcal{B}(a_0(980)^+\toπ^+η)$ is set to $8.4\times10^{-4}$ at 90\% confidence level. A sophisticated deep learning approach using a Transformer-based architecture is employed to distinguish signals from prevalent hadronic backgrounds, complemented by thorough validation and systematic uncertainty quantification.

Resistive Plate Chambers (RPCs) are widely used as tracking detectors in many high-energy physics experiments. It has been observed that low-resistive bakelite RPC prototypes frequently exhibit a secondary hit component, appearing as a long tail or an additional peak in the time-correlation spectra relative to the trigger detector. These secondary hits, which affect both the time and spatial resolution, are difficult to distinguish from genuine signals in high-rate environments without an external trigger. As a result, they can significantly degrade track reconstruction efficiency and increase processing time. We present a machine-learning-based strategy to separate signal and background hit clusters using fifteen cluster-level descriptors that encode both statistical properties (histogram mean, width, cluster size) and fit-based parameters (Gaussian-fit mean, width, amplitude, chi^2, NDF) of the time and ADC distributions. Using laboratory data collected from a single-gap low resistive RPC with a three-scintillator master trigger, we trained and evaluated three classifiers-DNN, 1D-CNN, and XGBoost-on balanced signal/background samples. All models demonstrate strong discrimination capability, with XGBoost showing the most robust generalization performance. Feature-importance analysis indicates that cluster size and temporal-shape descriptors are the dominant discriminants. These results highlight that compact, interpretable cluster-level features combined with machine-learning classifiers offer a practical and effective approach to suppress background in self-triggering low resistive RPC detectors.

We estimate the synchrotron radiation of cosmic muons in a uniform magnetic field in the $μ$eV-to-meV energy scale. Such events can potentially bring backgrounds to the axion dark matter searches. The GEANT4 software package is utilized to simulate the muon tracks in a cylindrical region of interest with an 8~T solenoid magnetic field applied. We further develop an analytical estimation of the angular-frequency-differential synchrotron radiation power spectra in this work as the cosmic muons span a wide range of Lorentz factor $γ$ and pitch angle $α$. We verify that the cosmic muons are not the dominant noise background for the current axion dark matter experiments on the $μ$eV scale because of the high quality factor $Q$ and fine energy resolution in the readout. However, without sufficient energy resolution in the detector readout, future broadband axion dark matter experiments will be vulnerable to the synchrotron radiation of these charged particles.

Recently, Altavista, Anastasi, Angius and Uranga discussed a method to construct junctions and bouquets of different perturbative string theories. Following this analysis, we here argue that three non-tachyonic ten-dimensional heterotic string theories can be joined together at a nine-dimensional junction. This is done by creating a two-dimensional non-conformal $\mathcal{N}{=}(0,1)$ supersymmetric quantum field theory with three asymptotic ends, each equipped with one of the worldsheet theories of the supersymmetric $E_8\times E_8$ theory, the supersymmetric $SO(32)$ theory, and the non-supersymmetric $SO(16)\times SO(16)$ theory, respectively. It is actually a special case of a more general construction involving an arbitrary $\mathbb{Z}_2$-symmetric theory $T$, its $\mathbb{Z}_2$-orbifold $T/\mathbb{Z}_2$, and the modified $\mathbb{Z}_2$-orbifold $(T\times q)/\mathbb{Z}_2$, where $q$ is a certain $\mathbb{Z}_2$-symmetric spin invertible theory.

Measurements of the combined CP asymmetries in $\kern 0.18em\overline{\kern -0.18em B}^0 \to D_s^- D^+$ and $\kern 0.18em\overline{\kern -0.18em B}_s^0 \to D_s^+ D^-$ decays are made using proton-proton collision data collected by the LHCb experiment, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 9fb$^{-1}$. The measurements are found to be \begin{aligned} A_{CP}(\kern 0.18em\overline{\kern -0.18em B}^0 \to D_s^- D^+) &= 0.0009 \pm 0.0053 \pm 0.0040, \\ A_{CP}(\kern 0.18em\overline{\kern -0.18em B}_s^0 \to D_s^+ D^-) &= 0.103\phantom{0} \pm 0.053\phantom{0} \pm 0.010, \end{aligned} where the first and second uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively. This is the first measurement of this asymmetry in $\kern 0.18em\overline{\kern -0.18em B}_s^0$ decays, and the most precise measurement to date for $\kern 0.18em\overline{\kern -0.18em B}^0$ decays. Both measurements are found to be consistent with CP symmetry.

We investigate the production of the scalar meson $f_0(980)$ in proton--proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=5.02$~TeV using the Ultra-relativistic Quantum Molecular Dynamics (UrQMD) transport model supplemented with a $K\bar{K}$ coalescence afterburner. After conservatively tuning the UrQMD string-fragmentation parameters, the model reproduces the bulk charged-kaon production in the low-to-intermediate transverse-momentum region, providing the kaon phase-space distribution used as input for the coalescence calculation. In the present implementation, both charged and neutral kaon--antikaon pairs are considered, and each accepted $K\bar{K}$ pair is assigned to the isoscalar $f_0(980)$ and isovector $a_0(980)$ channels with an equal Monte Carlo probability. Using the updated integration analysis, we find that $Δp=0.4$~GeV/$c$ gives the best directly simulated agreement with the ALICE $p_T$ spectrum and integrated yield, while a linear interpolation between the neighboring points at $Δp=0.3$ and $0.4$~GeV/$c$ yields an interpolated optimum of $Δp^{\ast}\approx0.365$~GeV/$c$. Within this constrained hadronic coalescence framework, the measured $f_0(980)$ production is reasonably described, and the results are consistent with interpreting the $f_0(980)$ as a late-stage $K\bar{K}$ molecular configuration formed near kinetic freeze-out in small collision systems.

It is shown that the post-inflationary quantum chromodynamics (QCD) axion need not be a predictive candidate for dark matter whenever small explicit Peccei-Quinn symmetry breaking becomes dynamically relevant before the QCD transition. Although strongly constrained by the strong CP bound, such breaking remains phenomenologically viable and introduces a mass scale $μ$ that can control the early-time dynamics, as the QCD contribution to the axion mass is thermally suppressed at high temperatures. In this case, the axion string-wall network annihilates earlier, and the relic abundance is no longer primarily set by QCD dynamics alone, but instead depends on $μ$, in addition to $f_a$, the axion decay constant. This effect overlaps with the parameter space relevant for QCD axion dark matter and, depending on ultraviolet parameters and initial conditions, can extend across it entirely.

We classify all irreducible highest-weight unitary modules over the non-compact real form $\mathfrak{u}(p,q|n)$ of the general linear Lie superalgebra $\mathfrak{gl}_{p+q|n}$. The classification is given by explicit necessary and sufficient conditions on the highest weights. Our approach combines the Howe duality for $\mathfrak{gl}_{p+q|n}$ with a quadratic invariant of the maximal compact subalgebra. As consequences, we classify all irreducible lowest-weight unitary modules over $\mathfrak{u}(p,q|n)$ via duality, and all irreducible unitary modules over $\mathfrak{u}(n|q,p)$ via an isomorphism of Lie superalgebras.

We compute the complete set of one-loop contributions to the muon anomalous magnetic moment, $a_μ=(g-2)_μ/2$, in the Doublet Left-Right Symmetric Model (DLRSM), based on the gauge group $SU(2)_{L}\otimes SU(2)_{R}\otimes U(1)_{B-L}$ with neutrino masses generated via the inverse seesaw (ISS) mechanism. We evaluate all four one-loop topologies VFF, SFF, FVV, and FSS arising from the extended gauge bosons ($W^{\prime}$, $Z^{\prime}$), the new scalar sector ($H_{3}^{0}$, $A_{1}^{0}$, $H_{R}^{\pm}$, $H_{L}^{\pm}$), and the heavy neutrino spectrum generated by the ISS mechanism, using the Casas--Ibarra parametrization to express the neutrino mixing in terms of physical observables. Imposing the experimental bound on $Δa_μ$, we establish that $v_{R}\lesssim1$ TeV is excluded, implying lower bounds $m_{W^{\prime}}\gtrsim325$ GeV, $m_{Z^{\prime}}\gtrsim385$ GeV, and $m_{N}\gtrsim700$ GeV under the manifest left-right symmetry condition $g_{R}=g_{L}$. Relaxing this condition to $g_{R}\neq g_{L}$ strengthens the gauge boson bounds to $m_{W^{\prime}}\gtrsim1625$ GeV and $m_{Z^{\prime}}\gtrsim1650$ GeV.

In this work, we investigate a neutrinophilic low-mass dark matter model mediated by a pseudoscalar particle. Since dark matter lacks Standard Model gauge charges, new interactions are required to connect it to the visible sector. Traditional indirect detection searches for annihilation products, such as cosmic rays, become ineffective when the annihilation predominantly yields invisible neutrinos. In our model, the present-day annihilation cross section into neutrinos (manifesting as a neutrino line) falls below current indirect detection limits. We therefore constrain the model using complementary probes: the Lyman-$α$ forest, high-energy astrophysical neutrinos from active galactic nuclei and supernovae, direct detection via nucleon and electron scattering, and invisible Higgs decays. These observables provide stringent and multifaceted constraints on neutrinophilic dark matter interactions in the low-mass regime. Our results indicate that searches for the neutrino line from dark matter annihilations, neutrino self-interactions from supernovae and collider signatures, and invisible Higgs decays offer critical tests for the model's parameter space.

Jets produced in relativistic heavy-ion collisions are modified by their interactions with the quark-gluon plasma (QGP), making jet substructure observables sensitive probes of QGP dynamics. A quantitative description of these modifications requires understanding how the medium affects elementary parton splittings with full dependence on both their energy fraction $z$ and splitting angle $θ$, beyond the widely used soft emitted-gluon approximation. Here, we study medium-induced $1 \to 2$ splittings double-differential in $z$ and $θ$, with full resummation of multiple scatterings, and show that in the large-$N_c$ limit and under the harmonic oscillator (HO) approximation, all path integrals can be evaluated analytically for any splitting channel, providing a computationally efficient semi-analytical result. We also revisit the semi-hard approximation (SHA), extending it to include leading corrections in inverse powers of the partons energies, which we denote the improved semi-hard approximation (ISHA), and assess its validity through a comparison with the large-$N_c$-HO results. Our analysis shows that while the SHA is found to be unreliable across most of phase space, even for high-energy emitters, the ISHA provides a robust approximation for splittings where all partons are sufficiently energetic.

Following the HL-LHC era, proposed lepton colliders highlight the need to study various important Higgs boson production mechanisms to precisely probe the Standard Model Higgs sector. We propose a novel mechanism $e^\pm γ\rightarrow {\bar ν}_e (ν_e) H W^\pm$, which can be useful to study Higgs boson properties. This channel is relatively free from the background and can be used to measure the Higgs boson properties, in particular $WWH$ coupling. We examine the viability of this production mechanism. We show that the process can be observed at the planned FCC-ee with the center-of-mass energy of 365 GeV. At the center-of-mass energy of 500 GeV, the process can be observed within a few months of the operation. We use an in-house Monte Carlo event generator that simultaneously incorporates the photon distribution and electron/positron distribution. Our work is also a step towards realistic simulations of lepton- and photon-initiated processes at lepton colliders.

Homogeneous and isotropic equilibrium states of strongly coupled ${\cal N}=4$ supersymmetric Yang-Mills charged plasma in ${\mathbb R}^3$ with equal chemical potentials for the maximal Abelian subgroup of the $R$-symmetry group become dynamically unstable below some critical temperature. The instabilities arise in the $R$-symmetry charge transport, precisely when the equilibrium state becomes thermodynamically unstable. We study the fate these correlated instabilities when the theory is place on $S^3$. The curvature of the three-sphere affects the onset of the dynamical and the thermodynamic instabilities differently: increasing the curvature at low temperatures can stabilize its transport, but leave the plasma thermodynamically unstable. Thermodynamic stability is eventually recovered at large curvatures.

The multiplicity distribution of charged particles produced in the central rapidity region ($|η|<2.5$) is calculated within the multi-channel eikonal model using the AGK cutting rules and compared with ATLAS data at $\sqrt{s}=7$ and 13 TeV. The effects of color reconnection and/or string percolation are discussed.

Recent results from LHCb have confirmed the long-standing $P_5^\prime$ anomaly, an intriguing discrepancy in the angular distribution of the $B \to K^* μ^+μ^-$ decay that might be a sign of new physics. In addition, the new results hint at a non-zero value for $S_7$, another observable that characterizes the $B \to K^* μ^+μ^-$ angular distribution. We stress that a non-zero $S_7$ cannot be explained by heavy new physics but instead necessarily requires a sizable hadronic effect that introduces a strong phase. We argue that, under plausible assumptions, the hadronic effect is of the correct size to also explain $P_5^\prime$. The direct CP asymmetry in $B \to K^* μ^+μ^-$ emerges in principle as a clean probe of new physics in such a scenario. We show that a combined fit of hadronic parameters and Wilson coefficients retains sensitivity to new physics and we find strong bounds on imaginary parts of new physics Wilson coefficients.

Recent investigations by Noordhuis et al. [1, 2] and others have demonstrated the occurrence of strong local inhomogeneous axion regions in the polar cap regions of neutron stars. These regions are characterized by static magnetic fields $B_0 \sim 10^8\,$T ($=10^{12}\,$G) directed normally outwards from the polar surface (magnetic dipole), together with static electric fields $E_0 \sim 10^{-6}cB_0$ in the same direction (electric dipole). An enormous increase of axion production, up to order $10^{50}$, is predicted in the polar regions. These features are important for phenomena such as polarization plane rotation under both weak and strong axion field populations. We survey the peculiar antenna property of conductive materials, which shows the need for having very strong magnetic fields to make the detection possible. We present the general form of electromagnetic waves in the axion environment, in both the standard form and in a physically instructive hybrid one, showing the nonreciprocity of axion fluid, and calculate the polarization rotation. The rotation is well defined in the case of weak, but still stronger than average value of axion fields in Universe. For very strong fields such a perturbative theory breaks down, however. A noteworthy general property of the rotation of polarization plane is that it can only occur when the axion cloud is varying in space or time. We limit ourselves only variation in space. Finally, as application we discuss the physical picture of local 'gap' regions proposed by Noordhuis et al. in the polar regions of a neutron star. The reason for occurrence of these gaps is plasma effects. To evaluate the time scales involved, we calculate the filling time for surrounding axions flowing into an initial gap. It turns out that the typical filling time is a moderate number of nanoseconds, within the accuracy of atomic clocks precision to be detectable.

Liquid scintillator detectors are widely used in neutrino experiments due to their low energy threshold and high energy resolution. Despite the tiny abundance of $^{14}$C in LS, the photons induced by the $β$ decay of the $^{14}$C isotope inevitably contaminate the signal, degrading the energy resolution. In this work, we propose three models to tag $^{14}$C photon hits in $e^+$ events with $^{14}$C pile-up, thereby suppressing its impact on the energy resolution at the hit level: a gated spatiotemporal graph neural network and two Transformer-based models with scalar and vector charge encoding. For a simulation dataset in which each event contains one $^{14}$C and one $e^+$ with kinetic energy below 5 MeV, the models achieve $^{14}$C recall rates of 25%-48% while maintaining $e^+$ to $^{14}$C misidentification below 1%, leading to a large improvement in the resolution of total charge for events where $e^+$ and $^{14}$C photon hits strongly overlap in space and time.

We utilize the concentration of measure phenomenon to study the large $N$ limit of the $O(N)$ principal chiral model. The partition function in this limit is demonstrated to be that of a free massive theory.

Neutrino disappearance measurements using binned reconstructed-energy spectra exhibit a regime in which small mass-squared splittings become unidentifiable at quadratic order when smooth spectral shape uncertainties are represented by profiled nuisance parameters in the fit. In the small-phase limit, the oscillation-induced modification of the detected spectrum is quadratic in the mass-squared splitting and produces a smooth deformation of the reconstructed-energy distribution. If the nuisance deformation functions used in the fit can reproduce this energy dependence across the fitted bins, the quadratic oscillation-induced distortion can be absorbed by the systematic deformation space and the profiled chi-squared remains unchanged at this order. Sensitivity to the mass-squared splitting then arises only from higher-order oscillation effects or from restrictions imposed on the allowed smooth spectral freedom.

We present a comprehensive theoretical investigation of the magnetic moments of open heavy-flavor molecular pentaquarks with quark compositions $b\bar{c}qqq$ and $c\bar{b}qqq$ (where $q=u,d,s$). Employing a molecular picture in which the pentaquarks are treated as S-wave bound states of a heavy baryon and a meson, we systematically construct the complete spin--flavor wavefunctions for the two distinct SU(3)$_f$ octet representations, $8_{1f}$ and $8_{2f}$, arising from symmetric and antisymmetric light-diquark configurations, respectively. Within the framework of the constituent quark model, we calculate the magnetic moments of spin-parity configurations, $J^P = \frac{1}{2}^-(\frac{1}{2}^+\otimes 0^-)$ and $J^P = \frac{1}{2}^-, \frac{3}{2}^-(\frac{1}{2}^+\otimes 1^-)$, for each member of the $b\bar{c}$ and $c\bar{b}$ octets. Our results reveal a striking hierarchy: in the $8_{2f}$ representation, the $\frac{1}{2}^+\otimes 0^-$ states exhibit near-universal magnetic moments ($μ\approx -0.062\,μ_N$ for $b\bar{c}qqq$ and $μ\approx +0.362\,μ_N$ for $c\bar{b}qqq$), as a direct consequence of the spin-singlet light-diquark that suppresses light-quark contributions. In contrast, the $8_{1f}$ representation shows a broad spectrum of values with frequent sign changes, reflecting the active role of the symmetric light-diquark. The clear differences between the $b\bar{c}$ and $c\bar{b}$ families demonstrate explicit heavy-quark flavor symmetry breaking in electromagnetic observables. These predictions provide a detailed set of electromagnetic benchmarks that can serve as discriminants for the internal flavor structure and spin configuration of future experimentally observed open heavy-flavor pentaquarks, offering valuable guidance for ongoing and future searches at facilities such as LHCb and Belle II.

In this proceeding contribution, I give a short overview on selected topics regarding extended scalar sector phenomenology. After a short overview on extended scalar sectors with light scalars at Higgs factories, I concentrate on the Inert Doublet model and recent studies exploring its discovery potential at lepton colliders.

In this paper, we develop the higher descent equations for higher gauge theories within the framework of 2-term $L_{\infty}$ algebras. Starting from a multilinear symmetric invariant polynomial, we construct a family of higher Chern-Simons type characteristic classes and verify that they satisfy the higher descent equations. These polynomials encode both the higher Chern-Weil theorem and the higher gauge anomalies.

We employ the harmonic superspace methods to study a six-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=(1,0)$ supersymmetric gauge theory with higher derivatives coupled to a hypermultiplet in the adjoint representation. By introducing a novel non-minimal interaction between the gauge multiplet and the hypermultiplet, we demonstrate that the one-loop divergences in gauge superfield sector, which are present in the conventional formulation, are canceled. The resulting theory is off-shell one-loop finite in this sector, while preserving the gauge invariance and $\mathcal{N}=(1,0)$ supersymmetry. The cancelation mechanism is explicitly verified using both the background field method and the supergraph techniques. Thus, we present an example of the higher-derivative supersymmetric gauge theory in six dimensions which is finite in the vector multiplet sector.

Precision timing has played a critical role in high-energy physics experiments, particularly for particle identification and the suppression of pileup under the challenging conditions expected at future colliders like the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC). Over the past decades, significant advancements in timing measurement technologies have been made to meet the demands of increasingly complex collider environments. After introducing the motivation for precision timing in collider experiments, the underlying physical principles of timing measurements and the most important factors influencing the time resolution of a detector, this review presents a survey of key detector technologies developed in recent years, including scintillators read out by silicon photo-multipliers (SiPMs), low-gain avalanche diodes (LGADs), multi-gap resistive plate chambers (MRPCs). The integration of precision timing into large-scale systems is discussed with examples from detectors at current collider experiments. Finally, we explore emerging technologies and future directions in the field, highlighting their potential impact on the next generation of high-energy physics experiments.

We present the upgraded design, construction, and beam test results for the Muon Trigger Detector (MTD) developed for the muon Electric Dipole Moment (muEDM) experiment at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in Switzerland. This experiment aims to improve the sensitivity of the muon EDM measurement by more than three orders of magnitude beyond the current limit established by the BNL Muon $g-2$ experiment. Precise identification of storable incoming muons at the entrance of the storage solenoid is essential, as the MTD must rapidly trigger a pulsed magnetic kicker to confine muons in the central region of the solenoid, where a weakly focusing magnetic field is maintained. The MTD comprises two subsystems: a \SI{0.1}{mm}-thick plastic scintillator ``gate detector'' read out by four silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs), and a \SI{5}{mm}-thick CNC-machined plastic scintillator ``active aperture detector'' read out by six SiPMs. The geometry of the active aperture detector was optimized through acceptance studies to maximize both storage efficiency and background veto efficiency. Integrated fast electronics generate an LVTTL trigger signal under an anti-coincidence condition -- a muon detected in the gate but not in the aperture -- ensuring selective triggering of storable muon events for the EDM measurement. The system was tested at the PSI $π$E1 beamline using \SI{22.5}{MeV/\textit{c}} muons under scaled-down conditions to characterize detector response and trigger performance. A Geant4 simulation incorporating detailed optical photon transport and SiPM response modeling was developed and reproduces the measured event topologies with ${\sim}97\%$ agreement. These results validate the detector design and demonstrate the MTD's readiness for deployment in the full muEDM Phase-1 setup.

The chiral magnetic effect (CME) in relativistic heavy-ion collisions originates from a chirality imbalance among quarks within metastable QCD vacuum domains and may be linked to $CP$ violation, which is believed to play a crucial role in the matter-antimatter asymmetry of the universe. Over the past two decades, extensive experimental efforts at RHIC and the LHC have been devoted to the search for evidence of the CME. Recent advances have greatly improved our understanding of background contributions that can mimic CME-like signals. In particular, analyses utilizing techniques designed to suppress flow-related backgrounds indicate that the CME signal at RHIC, if present, is small. To further investigate potential background sources, particularly those associated with strong electromagnetic fields, we estimate the contribution from coherent photon-nuclear interactions. These interactions are driven by intense electromagnetic fields produced in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions, with cross sections that scale with the field strength. Notably, the polarization of the incident photons is aligned with the electric field, which is oriented along the impact parameter direction and perpendicular to the magnetic field. Consequently, such processes can generate charge-dependent correlations that mimic key features of the CME signal, yet originate from different physics mechanisms and are distinct from flow-induced backgrounds. In this study, we quantitatively assess the influence of these coherent photon-nuclear interactions on the precision measurement of the CME, aiming to improve the separation of the genuine CME signal from these background contributions.

We investigate charmonium production and the charmonium-nucleon correlation function in pp collisions using the EPOS4+CATS framework. For the first time, the emission source of charmonium-proton pairs is dynamically generated and found to be non-Gaussian. This enables a femtoscopic extraction of the charmonium-proton interaction directly from experimental correlation functions. Both ground and excited charmonium states are included. We found that the excited states induce sizable uncertainties even negative in the observed prompt $J/ψ$-proton correlation through feed-down effects, reflecting their stronger interactions.

The DEAP-3600 experiment, with an approximately 3.3 tonne liquid argon (LAr) target, is currently the world's largest single-phase LAr dark matter detector. It is located 2 km underground at SNOLAB, Canada, one of the most radiopure underground laboratories. With excellent pulse-shape discrimination against low-energy beta decays and precise position reconstruction, DEAP-3600 has set the most stringent WIMP-nucleon spin-independent cross-section exclusion limits for masses above 30 GeV/c$^{2}$ on argon and provided leading sensitivity to superheavy, multi-scattering dark matter candidate. Here we report the recent advances in understanding LAr properties and position reconstruction techniques using DEAP-3600 data along with hardware upgrades to mitigate residual challenging $α$-backgrounds for WIMP search. As a part of Global Argon Dark Matter Collaboration (GADMC), the next-generation ARGO detector, featuring a 300-tonne fiducial LAr mass, is under development to significantly enhance sensitivity to rare dark matter interactions. Simulation-based studies of radiogenic neutron backgrounds and their mitigation strategies provide essential input to this design and will be described here.

Understanding the origin of flavour hierarchies in the Standard Model remains an open problem, motivating extensions with non-trivial flavour symmetries. We unify deconstructed weak isospin $\mathrm{SU}(2)_\mathrm{L}^3$ into an $\mathrm{Sp}(6)_\mathrm{L}$ symmetry at a high scale $v_S$. The three generations of Standard Model (SM) left-handed doublets are unified into a single fundamental representation of $\mathrm{Sp}(6)_\mathrm{L}$. In addition to two BSM triplets from the breaking of $\mathrm{SU}(2)_\mathrm{L}^3$, the enlarged symmetry predicts six additional gauge bosons below the unification scale: three $\mathrm{SU}(2)_\mathrm{L}$ triplets and three singlets, which induce flavour transitions in both the quark and lepton sectors, even in the presence of mass-gauge alignment. We derive updated bounds on the intermediate breaking scale $v_{12}$ of $\mathrm{SU}(2)_\mathrm{L}^3$ in the presence of the unification scale $v_S$, mapping exclusions in the $(v_{12}, r)$ parameter space with $r = v_S^2 / v_{12}^2$. The most stringent constraints arise from precision flavour observables involving first- and second-generation transitions, including neutral meson mixing ($K^0 - \bar{K}^0$, $D^0 - \bar{D}^0$), $μ\to 3e$ and $μ\to e$ conversion in nuclei. These measurements probe scales well beyond direct collider reach and imply $v_{12} \gtrsim 550 ~\mathrm{TeV}$ for small $r \approx 1$, while for $r\gtrsim100$ the bound relaxes to $v_{12} \gtrsim 150~\mathrm{TeV}$, recovering the limits of the $\mathrm{SU}(2)_\mathrm{L}^3$ model. Additionally we include projections from Mu3e and COMET-I and -II experiments which show promising further reach into the parameter space.

We present new anomaly free gauge models where the gauge field only has axial vector couplings to both quarks and leptons. We use the left-right symmetric universal seesaw models as the basis for this construction with an extra $U(1)_a$ as the axial gauge group. We present three main versions of the model, denoted as models A, B and C (and their variations), with different properties depending on the way the gauge anomaly is canceled. We show how the models can accommodate small neutrino masses. The models allow for a new Dirac fermion coupled via the $U(1)_a$ gauge portal to the SM fields which can be the dark matter. The models A and its variation have the novel property that there is an upper limit on the $U(1)_a$ gauge coupling $g_a$, due to the fact that the standard model Higgs doublet shares the $U(1)_a$ quantum number. For models B and C, we discuss the phenomenological constraints on the gauge coupling $g_a$ and gauge boson mass $m_{\cal A}$ from current low energy observations where, unlike in models A, $g_a$ depends on $m_{\mathcal{A}}$ through a single vacuum expectation value.

We investigate the influence of global rotation on the chemical freeze-out parameters in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions. Within the framework of the hadron resonance gas (HRG) model, the freeze-out parameters are determined using commonly employed freeze-out criteria, namely the fixed energy per particle and the scaled entropy density, extended here to include rotational effects. We find that the presence of rotation leads to a systematic shift of the chemical freeze-out curve toward lower temperatures in the $T\text{--}μ_B$ phase diagram. The behavior of the electric charge and strangeness chemical potentials in the presence of rotation is also analyzed, providing the first systematic study of their rotational dependence within the HRG framework. Furthermore, we examine the impact of rotation on experimentally relevant observables, including hadron yield ratios and susceptibility ratios of conserved charges. Our results show that while particle yield ratios exhibit noticeable sensitivity to rotation, the conventional cumulant ratios remain comparatively less affected. This indicates that hadronic yield ratios may provide a more suitable observable for estimating the magnitude of rotational effects generated in heavy-ion collisions.

During the reheating epoch, gravitationally produced massive particle-antiparticle pairs undergo quantum oscillation. Perturbations in their relative densities cross out the horizon, leading to an asymmetry of particles and antiparticles inside the horizon. Massive particles decay into baryons and leptons, thereby explaining baryogenesis and leptogenesis, whose charged components must generate a nontrivial electric current, thereby producing a primordial magnetic field (magnetogenesis). As a result, the baryon (lepton) number-to-entropy ratio and the primordial magnetic field bounds are consistent with observational data. We also discuss the asymmetry of dark matter and anti-dark matter.

We investigate the chiral phase transition in rotating quark matter with chiral imbalance using the two-flavor Nambu-Jona-Lasinio (NJL) model regularized by the Medium Separation Scheme (MSS). Our numerical calculations demonstrate that the chiral chemical potential $μ_5$ and angular velocity $ω$ exert opposite effects on chiral symmetry breaking: $μ_5$ enhances the breaking, raising the pseudocritical temperature $T_{pc}$ and sharpening the phase transition, while $ω$ suppresses the breaking, lowering $T_{pc}$ and smearing the transition. Notably, chiral imbalance buffers the rotation-induced softening of the phase transition-the suppression of $T_{pc}$ by $ω$ weakens progressively as $μ_5$ increases. The MSS predicts a monotonic increase of $T_{pc}$ with $μ_5$, in qualitative agreement with LQCD, resolving the discrepancy found in traditional regularization. Furthermore, the rotational suppression of $T_{pc}$ exhibits strong radius dependence: larger rotation radii amplify the suppression due to enhanced spacetime curvature and centrifugal effects, and can even induce an abrupt drop in $T_{pc}$ in the high-rotation region. These findings clarify the interplay between rotation and chiral imbalance in modulating the QCD chiral phase transition and validate the MSS as a reliable regularization framework for such extreme systems.

We investigate the late-time asymptotic solutions and attractor structure of the spin density in minimal causal spin hydrodynamics in Gubser flow. After deriving the differential equation governing the spin density, we obtain its late-time asymptotic solutions and identify both attractors and repellers in the corresponding numerical solutions. We then map these solutions back to flat Minkowski space and find parameter regions where the spin density exhibits a power-law decay. We further show that, when the characteristic length scale of the system is much larger than the proper time, several components of the spin density can decay as slowly as conventional thermodynamic variables in relativistic hydrodynamics. In this regime, the spin density behaves as a hydrodynamic mode governed by the late-time scaling laws of the flow.

We isolate a simple broken-phase mechanism that yields \[ \frac{α_s}{α_{\mathrm{em}}}=16 \] at the symmetry-breaking scale in the octonionic $E_8\times ωE_8$ framework, starting from a single visible Yang--Mills coupling $g$ before symmetry breaking. The first ingredient is the standard visible charge-trace factor \begin{equation} \frac{α_s}{α_{\mathrm{em}}^{(0)}}=\frac{8}{3}, \end{equation} coming from one generation of quark and lepton charges. The second ingredient is an effective broken-phase support model on the six real octonionic directions entering the three ladder operators. We make this second step more explicit by projecting the visible $q_B^\dagger q_B$ block onto the six real ladder directions and showing that it separates naturally into a trace-like abelian direction and traceless color directions. If the unbroken visible electromagnetic mode is the democratic trace vector on this six-dimensional support space, while color modes and the relevant visible matter mode are localized on one effective support sector, then the electromagnetic coupling is diluted by an additional factor $6$ and one obtains \begin{equation} \frac{α_s}{α_{\mathrm{em}}}=\frac{8}{3}\times 6=16, \qquad e=\frac{g}{4}. \end{equation} The note is intentionally conservative about what has and has not been shown. It does not claim a first-principles derivation of the localization dynamics. Rather, it identifies the precise broken-phase support hypothesis under which a common pre-breaking coupling produces the ratio $16$.

Model independent phenomenological studies, ranging from neutrino to B-physics, often consider effective interactions involving either purely vector (V), purely axial vector (A), or mixed vector and axial vector (V, A) couplings. While pure vector $Z'$ interactions can naturally emerge in gauged $U(1)_X$ extensions of the Standard Model, such as the $B-L$ model, generating other coupling structures from a UV complete theory is highly nontrivial. To realize such couplings, we propose a new class of flavor specific chiral $U(1)_X$ gauge symmetries. Gauge anomaly cancellation is achieved by introducing three right-handed neutrinos charged under the $U(1)_X$ symmetry. We systematically classify anomaly free charge assignments and analyze viable ultraviolet completions with minimal scalar content, requiring no additional fermions beyond the three necessary for anomaly cancellation. We present several benchmark models illustrating the range of possible charge assignments, under which the quark and lepton flavor structures can differ substantially, leading to distinct phenomenological signatures. In particular, such non universal charge configurations naturally give rise to $Z'$ mediated flavor changing neutral currents in both the quark and lepton sectors. We also demonstrate that, within this framework, the $Z'$ boson can naturally acquire purely axial vector or mixed vector-axial couplings to the SM fermions, both in the heavy and light $Z'$ regimes.

The study of QCD scattering amplitudes in the collinear regime provides crucial insight into the factorization properties of hadronic cross sections. In this paper, we present the first complete results for two-loop spacelike splitting amplitudes in full-color QCD, in all partonic channels and helicity configurations. We confirm the universality of a class of contributions already found in N=4 super Yang--Mills (sYM) theory, and identify previously unknown sources of collinear factorization-violating (CFV) effects. Consistent with recent observations in N=4 sYM, all CFV contributions cancel in color-summed squared amplitudes, implying the universality of single-parton collinear factorization for jet cross sections at third order in QCD.

We introduce the Layered Dark Sectors with a Structuring Field (LDS-SF), a structured cosmological framework where the internal architecture of a multi-component dark sector naturally generates scale-dependent growth of structure. In this framework, the characteristic scale dependence is derived from the dominant eigenvalue, $λ(k)$, of the dark sector's perturbation matrix. This structurally-driven mechanism modifies structure growth while preserving the standard $Λ$CDM background expansion and General Relativity. We provide a minimal realization of this framework within a two-component DM $Z_4$-symmetric Inert Doublet Singlet Model ($Z_4$-IDSM). By integrating out the heavy inert doublet mediator, we derive a contact-interaction Effective Field Theory (EFT) for a 60~GeV singlet dark matter candidate. This interaction manifests macroscopically as an effective sound speed $c_s^2$, which we map to the LDS-SF eigenmode evolution. We implement this system into the CLASS Boltzmann code, employing a late-time activation function that projects virialized halo properties into the linear perturbation framework. We also compute the relic density using micrOMEGAs to further stress-test the relic abundance predictions of viable parameters. Our numerical analysis demonstrates that while the model remains indistinguishable from $Λ$CDM at the era of recombination, it introduces a targeted suppression of the matter power spectrum at late times ($z < 10$) and small scales ($k > 0.1~h/\text{Mpc}$). Confronting the model with Planck CMB, BAO, and growth-rate measurements, we find three instances of couplings that successfully alleviate the $S_8$ tension, bringing the predicted amplitude into $1σ$ agreement with weak-lensing data from KiDS-1000 and DES. This work establishes LDS-SF as a mathematically consistent and observationally viable extension of standard cosmology.

A precision measurement is proposed to determine, in a couple hours of integration time, the axion Compton frequency using a modest power (3 mW) tunable external-cavity diode laser at 2458 nm as input to drive a free-space table-top Mach-Zehnder interferometer whose sensing arm passes the expanded beam-waist ($3~{\rm mm}$) light beam through a $1~{\rm T}$ strong, $40~{\rm cm}$ long dipole magnetic field created by a custom-built permanent-magnet assembly with a large but achievable ($6~{\rm mm}$) gap between poles. As the laser frequency is slowly modulated at 1 kHz through a 65 MHz wide window that is well within the 30 GHz fine-tuning range of the laser, a small but readily observable modulation appears in the dark-port optical power of the dark-fringe phase-locked interferometer due to photons converting into axions within the light beam as it passes through the magnetic field. Measuring the axion Compton frequency, $ν_A\approx{\rm 122~THz}$, where the dark-port power modulation peaks, to within the line-width of the laser, $Δν_A=1~{\rm MHz}$, then determines $G$ to 38 ppb, a roughly 600-fold improvement, through a relation between $ν_A$ and $G$, involving $h$, $c$, and nucleon masses.

Modern particle physics experiments face an increasing demand for high-fidelity detector simulation as luminosities rise and computational requirements approach the limits of available resources. Deep generative models have emerged as promising surrogates for traditional Monte Carlo simulation, with recent advances drawing inspiration from large language models (LLM) and next-token prediction paradigms. In this work, we introduce a generalizable foundation model for calorimetry built on next-token transformer backbones, designed to support modular adaptation across materials, particle species, and detector configurations. Our approach combines Mixture-of-Experts pre-training with parameter-efficient fine-tuning strategies to enable controlled, additive model expansion without catastrophic forgetting. A pre-trained backbone is trained to generate electromagnetic showers across multiple absorber materials, while new materials are incorporated through the addition and tuning of lightweight expert modules. Extensions to new particle types are achieved via parameter-efficient fine-tuning and modular vocabularies, preserving the integrity of the base model. This design enables efficient, incremental knowledge integration as new simulation datasets become available, a critical requirement in realistic detector-development workflows. In addition, we demonstrate that next-token calorimeter models are computationally competitive with standard generative approaches under established LLM optimization procedures. These results establish next-token architectures as a viable path toward extensible, physics-aware foundation models for calorimetry and future high-energy physics experiments.

This study presents a denoising algorithm trained using machine learning to improve the energy resolution of a single-phase liquid xenon time projection chamber for neutrinoless double beta decay detection. Supervised, unsupervised, and semi-supervised models are demonstrated to significantly remove noise from simulated measurements while preserving signal information. The supervised model achieves an energy resolution of $<1\%$, while the semi-supervised models achieve energy resolutions of $\sim 1\%$, and the unsupervised model performance is $\sim 1.5\%$. This work is evidence that machine learning denoising can improve energy resolution compared to traditional algorithms, even when experimentalists lack perfect a priori knowledge of the signals. Such models provide a realistic path toward next-generation sensitivity in $0νββ$ searches.

We present Diagrammatica, a symbolic computation extension to the HEPTAPOD agentic framework, which enables LLM agents to plan and execute multi-step theoretical calculations. Symbolic computation poses a distinctive reliability challenge for LLM agents, as correctness is governed by implicit mathematical conventions that are not encoded in a form that can be easily checked in the computational backend. We identify two complementary remedies, tool-constrained computation and targeted knowledge grounding, and pursue the first as the primary architecture. Concretely, we concentrate the agent's action distribution onto tool calls with convention-fixing semantics, in which the agent specifies a compact, human-auditable diagram specification and a trusted backend performs the symbolic or numerical manipulations exactly. The toolkit provides two complementary calculation paths consuming a shared diagram specification: Naive Dimensional Analysis (NDA) for order-of-magnitude rate estimates and Exact Diagrammatic Analysis (EDA) for tree-level symbolic calculations via automatic FeynCalc code generation, both supplemented by automatic Feynman diagram enumeration and a navigable theory knowledge base. The architecture is validated on two benchmarks: (1) an exhaustive catalog of all tree-level, single-vertex $1\to 2$ partial decay widths across scalar, fermion, and vector parents, with complete massless and threshold limits and Standard Model validation; and (2) an NDA sensitivity study of the muon decay multiplicity $μ^+ \to ν_μ\barν_e + n(e^+e^-) + e^-$, determining the maximum observable $n$ at current and planned muon experiments.

We present new results from our lattice investigations of maximally supersymmetric Yang--Mills theory in three dimensions, focusing on its nonperturbative phase diagram. Using a lattice formulation that preserves part of the supersymmetry algebra at finite lattice spacing, we study the spatial deconfinement transition, which holography relates to the transition between localized and homogeneous black branes in the dual gravity theory. Our analysis employs $N_L^2 \times N_T$ lattices with $N = 8$ colors in the SU($N$) gauge group, considering $N_T = 8$, $10$ and $12$, in each case with aspect ratios $α= N_L/N_T \leq 3$. The resulting transition temperatures are consistent with the holographic low-temperature, large-$N$ prediction $T_c \propto α^3$, providing further evidence for the gauge--gravity correspondence in this setting.

The powerful techniques of holographic quantum chromodynamics (QCD) can be employed in the investigation of glueballs -- composite particles made solely of gluons, the strong nuclear force mediators. In particular, the so-called hardwall model yields predictions for the values of the masses of various glueball states, which are related to the solutions of the differential equations of the model. It turns out that those equations are essentially the same as the ones governing the vibrations of a circular membrane like that of a drumhead, which may serve as extra motivation for studying the dynamics of such an object as an undergraduate physics student.

Large lepton flavor asymmetries at the QCD epoch could generate a pion condensation phase in the early Universe. For large enough tau lepton flavor asymmetries, the speed of sound can exceed the conformal value, leaving a distinctive imprint on the low-frequency gravitational wave (GW) spectrum from causal sources. Beyond probing the formation of a pion condensation phase, the detection or non-detection of this signature would provide a novel constraint on lepton asymmetries in the early Universe. We estimate the GW signal and compare it with the standard case of vanishing lepton asymmetry. Finally, we discuss the implications for the stochastic GW background reported by Pulsar Timing Arrays, using the NANOGrav 15-year dataset.

The phase diagram of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) remains a central topic in high-energy physics. At high temperature and low baryochemical potential, the chiral transition is experimentally observed and theoretically explored to be a smooth crossover, while at high densities, a first-order phase transition is theoretically expected in lack of direct experimental evidence. The search for the Critical End Point (CEP), where both regimes meet, is one of the main objectives of heavy-ion experiments at FAIR and NICA. In this work, we explore the QCD phase diagram structure using the Nambu--Jona-Lasinio (NJL) model, incorporating medium screening effects through an effective coupling $G(T,μ)$ for $μ\gg T\sim 0$. We apply a consistent regularization scheme and Sommerfeld expansion to include low thermal and large density corrections in the gap equation. Our numerical analysis focuses on the behavior of the chiral condensate, the dynamical quark mass, and the speed of sound. We find that screening effects shift the posible position of the CEP and modify the nature of the chiral transition. These findings provide theoretical support for ongoing experimental searches and may have implications for the physics of compact stars.

We propose an instrinsic worldsheet description of the ultra-high energy regime of string scattering based on worldsheet symmetries. At very high energies, the fundamental string becomes tensionless and in flat target spacetimes, the worldsheet becomes a null surface. Tensionless null strings thus emerge and the worldsheet symmetries morph from two copies of the Virasoro algebra to the two dimensional (2d) conformal Carroll or equivalently the 3d Bondi-van der Burgh-Metzner-Sachs (BMS) algebra. Tensionless strings have three inequivalent vacua over which they can be constructed, leading to distinct quantum theories. High energy tensile strings naturally connect to null strings built on the so-called induced vacuum. Our principle goal in this paper is the construction of scattering amplitudes for null strings in the induced vacuum. We show that these amplitudes, constructed from worldsheet methods of the null string, coincide with the high energy limit of usual string amplitudes. A crucial part of our analysis is the construction of integrated vertex operators. This achieved by relying on lessons from the parent string theory and following the tensionless limit carefully. A striking feature of the null string is the blurring of differences between open and closed strings. We see this at the level of the amplitudes as well. We then focus on four-point amplitudes and recover all expected regimes including the Gross-Mende regime and the Regge limit. We finally comment on a new class of vertex operators which arise naturally only in the zero tension string. This reproduces all our earlier analyses when put onshell but also has hints of signatures beyond the perturbative tensile string.

We calculate field theory loop amplitudes by string methods, applied to half-maximal 4-point one-loop graviton amplitudes. Infrared divergences are regulated similarly to soft-collinear effective field theory (SCET): new mass scales are introduced, here by higher-point kinematics. We use an analytically continued single-valued polylogarithm as generating function. The Feynman integrals for the new tensor structures are infrared finite. We provide code as a step towards automation.

Symmetry under time-reversal appears in the microscopic description of many physical systems. In a quantum mechanical setting it acts as an anti-unitary operator, so does not fall under general analyses based on unitary symmetries. In classifying zero temperature phases of matter in (1+1)d lattice models, the role of anti-unitary symmetries is, however, well-understood. In recent years, the Symmetry Topological Field Theory (SymTFT) approach to this classification has given a general framework to understand symmetries as topological defects, but does not naturally include anti-unitary symmetries. Following recent proposals in the literature, we adopt a symmetry-enriched SymTFT for a theory with both internal and time-reversal symmetry. In particular, we take a standard SymTFT associated with an internal unitary symmetry that is then enriched by a background time-reversal symmetry. A detailed analysis of the topological boundary conditions of this enriched SymTFT allows us to characterize the corresponding (1+1)d gapped phases that preserve the enriching symmetry (i.e. those that do not spontaneously break this symmetry in the ground state). Line operators in the SymTFT approach are related to non-local string-order parameters (with charged end-point operators) for SPT phases. These are subtle in the anti-unitary case and we explore them both on the lattice and in the continuum. We include an analysis of unitary string order parameters that reveal the Klein bottle SPT invariant. On the lattice, we show that the correct end-point charge coincides with the time-reversal-charge only when the end-point operator is hermitian.

We present a systematic analysis of axion effective field theory within the Breitenlohner-Maison-`t Hooft-Veltman (BMHV) scheme, focusing on the renormalization of fermionic dimension-five operators and the associated chiral flavor currents. In this framework, the non-anticommuting nature of $γ_5$ in $d \neq 4$ dimensions leads to violations of naive Ward identities through the emergence of evanescent operators. We derive the bare and renormalized Ward identities for chiral currents, explicitly identifying the equation-of-motion and evanescent operator contributions. Using diagrammatic calculations, we verify the validity of these identities up to two-loop order $\mathcal{O}(α_s^2)$, including both pole and finite terms. We demonstrate how evanescent operators mix into physical operators and determine the finite renormalization required to restore four-dimensional Ward identities, recovering the expected structure of axial current renormalization and the anomaly. Our results provide a consistent and transparent framework for multi-loop computations in axion EFT and highlight the essential role of evanescent operators in maintaining scheme consistency.

The proposed Super tau-charm factories are a powerful new class of high-luminosity electron-positron colliders operating in the center-of-mass energy range between 2 and 7 GeV, a region that spans thresholds for tau leptons, open-charm hadrons, charmonium and charmonium-like states, hyperons, and light hadrons. With unprecedented data samples, threshold kinematics, and quantum-coherent production, these facilities offer unique opportunities to advance precision tests of the Standard Model and to search for physics beyond it. In this review, we examine the physics prospects of the Super Tau-Charm Facility, focusing on precision charm measurements, CP violation in mesons and baryons, tau lepton properties and rare decays, and nonperturbative QCD phenomena such as hadronization, spectroscopy, and time-like form factors. We also discuss the experimental landscape, technological challenges, and complementarity with existing and planned facilities. Together, these capabilities position super tau-charm factories at the forefront of the precision frontier in particle physics.

The LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment is a direct-detection dark matter experiment, optimized to search for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) through WIMP-nucleon interactions. The main challenge in dark matter detection is differentiating between WIMP signals and background events. In LZ, the ratio of ionization to scintillation signals (charge-to-light) is the primary method for rejecting electronic recoil (ER) background. Pulse shape discrimination (PSD) offers a method for additional ER backgrounds rejection in liquid xenon detectors. In this paper, the discrimination power of PSD with the LZ experiment is discussed. To precisely characterize the scintillation pulse shape, an analysis framework is developed to reconstruct the detection time of individual photons. Using LZ calibration data, the photon-timing prompt fraction discriminator is optimized and achieves ER leakage as low as $15\%$. For specific background processes such as $^{124}$Xe double electron capture, the leakage is reduced further to about $5\%$. PSD is combined with charge-to-light to form two-factor discrimination (TFD). The optimized TFD performance is compared with the performance of the charge-to-light method, with the corresponding false positive rate reduced by up to a factor of two for large scintillation pulses. Finally, PSD and TFD are applied to data from LZ's WS2024 run and their performance is summarized.

In recent years it has become increasingly clear that the previously overlooked ``global structure'' of symmetry groups can encode significant theoretical structure and, more importantly, have substantial phenomenological implications. With this in mind we re-examine the DFSZ axion, which suffers from a domain wall problem due to the Standard Model generation structure. We show that global structure $(G_{\text{EW}} \times U(1)_{\text{PQ}})/\mathbb{Z}_2$ acting between the Peccei-Quinn symmetry and the electroweak gauge group plays a crucial role in determining the precise nature of the domain wall problem, which has important implications in both cubic and quartic DFSZ. We then demonstrate that the stability of the domain walls is enforced by a non-invertible chiral symmetry in quark flavor $Z'$ models which have additional global structure $(SU(3)_C \times G_F)/\mathbb{Z}_3$ acting between the color and the gauged quark flavor groups. The strategy of Non-invertible Naturalness then leads us to UV theories that resolve the domain wall problem through small-instanton-induced breaking of non-invertible symmetries. Finally, we sketch potential gravitational wave signatures arising from the annihilation of axion domain walls. Our work illustrates the importance of considerations of global structure in realistic models of particle physics.

The trilinear Higgs self-coupling provides a unique probe of the structure of the Higgs potential and of the nature of the electroweak phase transition, and constitutes a key target for future collider experiments. Recent studies have shown that confronting theoretical predictions for the trilinear Higgs coupling with current experimental bounds offers a powerful and complementary way to test effects of physics beyond the Standard Model (BSM), in particular those arising from extended Higgs sectors. Meanwhile, substantial progress has been achieved in the precise calculation and automation of the trilinear Higgs coupling in a wide class of BSM models. This contribution discusses several BSM scenarios, compatible with existing constraints, in which sizeable deviations in the trilinear Higgs coupling w.r.t. the Standard Model (SM) value are predicted, while other Higgs observables remain close to their SM expectations and are therefore difficult to probe experimentally. These results highlight the strong physics motivation for a precise measurement of the trilinear Higgs coupling at a future Higgs factory.

We introduce a novel method to compute structure constants from Q-functions in the scalar sector of planar N=4 super Yang-Mills (SYM) and related theories. The method derives from operatorial as well as functional separation of variables, and the structure constants are expressed as determinants of matrices whose entries are integrals over products of Q-functions. In this framework, each operator is twisted by an external angle, mirroring the cusped Maldacena-Wilson loop. The structure constants of local single-trace operators in N=4 SYM are recovered in the untwisting limit, where we obtain a one-to-one correspondence between our key building blocks and those of the Hexagon formalism. Retaining appropriate twists, our structure constants also perfectly match those of the orbifold points of N=4 SYM. Our results thus far are valid at leading order in the weak-coupling expansion, but their formulation in terms of Q-functions provides a natural starting point for including loop corrections. Many of the methods we develop in this work apply more generally to the computation of correlation functions in integrable models.

Motivated by the question of whether scale-separated AdS$_3$ flux vacua arising from G$_2$ compactifications admit an uplift to eleven-dimensional supergravity, we construct scale-separated AdS$_3$ flux vacua in massless type IIA with only O6-planes. We first present new scale-separated solutions in massive type IIA on a G$_2$ holonomy toroidal orbifold with four smeared O6-planes, analyze their properties, and then perform a double T-duality to obtain the corresponding massless backgrounds. In the dual frame, the internal space is locally given by a six-dimensional quotient space $X_6$ with an $\mathrm{SU}(3)$ structure of Iwasawa type times an untwisted circle $S^1$, while globally it is further modded out by a non-trivial $\mathbb{Z}_2$ quotient inherited from the G$_2$ orbifold action. Finally, we use T-duality to derive the corresponding superpotential in massless type IIA and identify parametrically classical, scale-separated families of solutions, as well as a family with parametrically large radii, scale separation, and strong coupling, thus allowing for an uplift to eleven-dimensional supergravity.

The optimization of large experiments in fundamental science, such as detectors for subnuclear physics at particle colliders, shares with the optimization of complex systems for industrial or societal applications the common issue of addressing the inter-relation between parameters describing the hardware used in data production and parameters used to analyse those data. While in many cases this coupling can be ignored -- when the problem can be successfully factored into simpler sub-tasks and the latter addressed serially -- there are situations in which that approach fails to converge to the absolute maximum of expected performance, as it results in a mis-alignment of the optimized hardware and software solutions. In this work we consider a few use cases of interest in fundamental science collected primarily from particle physics and related areas, and a pot-pourri of industrial and societal applications where the matter is similarly of relevance. We discuss the emergence of strong hardware-software coupling in some of those systems, as well as co-design procedures that may be deployed to identify the global maximum of their relevant utility functions. We observe how numerous opportunities exist to advance methods and tools for hardware-software co-design optimization, bridging fundamental science and industry through application- and challenge-driven projects, and shaping the future of scientific experiments and industrial systems.

We construct the $\mathcal{N}=4$ supersymmetric completion of the recently proposed single-minus gluon amplitudes in $(2,2)$ signature, which are nonvanishing for all multiplicities on a half-collinear kinematic locus. The superamplitude factorises into a permutation-invariant measure $Δ^{(n-1)}$ with uniform little-group weight that imposes the half-collinearity constraint, a piecewise constant stripped amplitude $\tilde{A}_{1\ldots n}$ that is helicity blind and dual conformal invariant, and (super)momentum conservation delta functions. For $n=3$, our superamplitude reduces to the known $\overline{\rm MHV}$ superamplitude. We prove dual superconformal covariance of the $n$-point superamplitude, and further analyse the $\mathrm{Gr}(k,n)$ Grassmannian integral at $k=1$. Finally, we present the corresponding single-minus superamplitude in $\mathcal{N}=8$ supergravity.

We present our ongoing work on two-dimensional maximally supersymmetric Yang-Mills (2D MSYM) theory using lattice techniques. The continuum theory is obtained from the dimensional reduction of four-dimensional ${\mathcal N} = 4$ supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory. We construct both the continuum and lattice versions of the 2D MSYM theory. The lattice action preserves a subset of supersymmetries. We extend existing lattice software with new routines to accommodate the additional terms in the lower-dimensional theory. This lattice construction enables us to perform Rational Hybrid Monte Carlo simulations of 2D MSYM and facilitates the exploration of its continuum limit. Our work contributes to the numerical study of maximally supersymmetric gauge theories and supports the ongoing efforts to test gauge-gravity duality and investigate related non-perturbative phenomena.

Quantum electrodynamics (QED) becomes nonlinear when the magnetic field strength surpasses the critical Schwinger limit $B_Q \approx 4.41\cdot 10^{13}$ G. This limit is surpassed, for example, in the magnetospheres of a specific class of neutron stars known as magnetars, which has important consequences for magnetospheric plasma dynamics due to modifications in scattering cross sections. Using a formalism previously applied to the study of magnetic catalysis, I calculate the cross sections of all tree-level 1-to-2, 2-to-1, and 2-to-2 particle QED scattering processes that do not include a photon propagator. The calculations are done in a strong background magnetic field and the results are implemented into an open-source Python package. This article focuses on presenting the formalism and computational techniques required for the calculations, while the impact of the results on, e.g., magnetospheric plasma dynamics is discussed in a companion letter (Kiuru et al. 2026).

We formulate a renormalizable complex extension of the bumblebee theory in which the bumblebee field is promoted to a complex one and coupled to an Abelian gauge sector. Besides the minimal gauge covariant interaction, the model includes a longitudinal kinetic term controlled by a dimensionless parameter $g_l$ and a non-minimal magnetic-type coupling $g_m$ between the complex bumblebee and the photon. Using dimensional regularization and minimal subtraction, we determine the one-loop UV divergences of the two-, three-, and four-point functions relevant to the renormalization of the gauge, longitudinal, and quartic sectors. We obtain the corresponding counterterms and derive the one-loop renormalization-group functions for $e$, $g_l$, $g_m$, and the bumblebee self-couplings $λ$ and $\tildeλ$. Motivated by the known gauge- and field-reparametrization subtleties of the conventional Coleman--Weinberg analysis, we formulate an RG-covariant leading-logarithmic improvement scheme for the Vilkovisky--DeWitt effective potential in normal field coordinates, in which the RG operator is governed solely by the beta functions. We apply this framework to a real constant bumblebee background and obtain the leading-logarithmic one-loop effective potential, discussing the conditions under which a nontrivial vacuum is generated by dimensional transmutation and thereby provides a dynamical realization of Lorentz symmetry breaking in this class of models.

We compute non-eikonal corrections to dijet production in deep inelastic scattering off a nucleus. Such corrections are expected to be quantitatively important at the energies of the future Electron Ion Collider. We focus on those corrections stemming solely from the finite longitudinal size of the nucleus. For both longitudinally and transversely polarized photons, we provide general, all-order expressions in terms of two-dimensional path integrals. To proceed further, we use the harmonic oscillator approximation for the target averages of Wilson lines. We then expand the general expressions order by order beyond the shockwave limit which provides the eikonal results, up to next-to-next-to-eikonal accuracy. We observe that next-to-eikonal corrections to this observable vanish for the mentioned approximation for target averages, as previously found for single gluon production in proton-nucleus collisions. Finally, we calculate the back-to-back of correlation limit of our expressions.

We study electromagnetic radiation from classical sources near a planar interface separating a topological and a trivial insulator, modeled within axion electrodynamics. The system features a piecewise constant $θ$-term that encodes the magnetoelectric response of topological surface states. Treating this coupling perturbatively, we derive analytical corrections to the standard Liénard-Wiechert potentials and obtain modified radiation fields in the far zone. As applications, we analyze the emission from linear antennas and the bremsstrahlung radiation of accelerated charges near the interface. For antennas, the surface Hall response breaks axial symmetry and produces azimuthal modulations that grow with the electrical length, leading to distinct scaling behaviors in the total and angular radiated power. {For accelerated charges, the emitted intensity is uniformly reduced by a factor $1 - (σ_{\mathrm{Hall}} / 2εv)^2$, which we interpret as a process-specific attenuation of the radiative strength due to interference with its image magnetic monopole inside the topological medium.} These results reveal how topological surface states mediate measurable modifications to classical radiation, establishing a link between axion electrodynamics, topological phases, and field theories with spatially varying couplings.

In this work the heavy flavor conserving (HFC) hadronic weak decays of bottom baryons are studied in the framework of the nonrelativistic constituent quark model (NRCQM). We show that the pole terms play an indispensable role in the description of the branching ratio of $Ξ_b^-\to Λ_b^0 π^-$. With the pole terms included we can make reliable predictions for $Ξ_b^0\to Λ_b^0 π^0$. A combined study of the HFC hadronic weak decays allows us to make a reasonable prediction for $Ω_b^-\toΞ_b^{-(0)}π^{0(-)}$, which can be searched for at LHCb and Belle-II experiments.

We present a general, discovery-grade framework for searching for weakly coupled new particles emitted in nuclear de-excitation following neutron capture. Rather than relying on isolated spectral features, the method exploits correlated ``satellite-line combs'': multiple weak $γ$-ray lines appearing at a common energy offset $Δ$ below known capture transitions. By combining likelihood information across many parent lines and multiple target nuclei, the approach strongly suppresses nuclear-structure ambiguities and instrumental artifacts. We also discuss optimal target selection and practical experimental implementation with high-resolution HPGe detectors.

Entanglement is a key property of quantum systems. In this Letter the first measurements of quantum entanglement between spins in pairs of $Z$ bosons are reported, using proton-proton collision data from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at center-of-mass energies of 13 TeV and 13.6 TeV, recorded with the ATLAS detector. Measurements of angular observables sensitive to $ZZ^*$ spin-density-matrix elements in the $H\rightarrow ZZ^* \rightarrow \ell^+\ell^-\ell^+\ell^-$ process yield coefficients $C_{2,1,2,-1} = -0.71 \pm 0.45$ and $C_{2,2,2,-2}=0.08 \pm 0.44$, consistent with their Standard Model predictions. A complementary hypothesis test using the full angular distribution, and relying on several Standard Model assumptions in the decays, provides substantially higher sensitivity to quantum correlations and disfavors the separable-state hypothesis at a significance of 4.7 standard deviations (expected $4.9σ$) relative to the entangled Standard Model hypothesis. These results provide strong evidence of quantum entanglement between massive bosons (spin qutrits) at the electroweak scale.

We introduce a novel deep convolutional neural network (NN) -enhanced Bayesian global analysis of bulk observables in highest-energy heavy-ion collisions, using relativistic 2+1 D second-order viscous hydrodynamics with a dynamical freeze-out, and with perturbative QCD and saturation -based initial conditions from the event-by-event EKRT-model. Our analysis has 13+2 free parameters for the QCD-matter properties + initial state, which are constrained by the experimental data from $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200$ GeV Au+Au collisions at RHIC and $2.76$ TeV Pb+Pb, $5.02$ TeV Pb+Pb, and $5.44$ TeV Xe+Xe collisions at the LHC. We replace the computationally demanding hydrodynamical simulations by NNs, which predict bulk observables directly from the initial energy density profiles, event-by-event, and account for the QCD-matter properties. With the NN output, we train the Gaussian process emulators for obtaining centrality-class averaged observables and their uncertainties. The NNs reduce the computing time significantly, enabling us to include also statistics-hungry flow observables like $v_4$ and the normalized symmetric cumulant $NSC(4,2)$ in the analysis. In this paper, we demonstrate the feasibility of the NN based Bayesian global analysis. We find the data favoring a specific shear viscosity $η/s$ with a minimum-value plateau at temperatures $150\lesssim T \lesssim 230$ MeV, with $0.12 \lesssim (η/s)_{\mathrm{min}} \lesssim 0.18$. The bulk viscous coefficient $ζ/s$ is non-zero at $200\lesssim T \lesssim 300$ MeV. The Knudsen number at the freeze-out is $0.8-2.3$, while the ratio of the mean free path to the system size at freeze-out is in the range $0.3-1.2$, implying that the freeze-out indeed happens at the expected limit of the applicability of hydrodynamics.

We investigate the sensitivity of current and future hadron-collider experiments to axion-like particles (ALPs) through associated diboson production, focusing on a linear effective field theory framework with bosonic ALP couplings. We analyze the dominant production mechanisms and relevant backgrounds, considering the impact of jet misidentification rates on the diboson background. We present our results using conservative jet-misidentification rates, and derive four dimensional constraints on the ALP couplings to gluons, weak bosons, and photons. Our findings highlight the potential of the high-luminosity phase of the CERN Large Hadron Collider to probe the ALP parameter space in the sub-GeV mass range, as well as the codependencies of the various ALP couplings.

In this thesis, an approximation for the full (3+1)D dynamics of the Glasma is presented, which breaks boost-invariance on the level of the nuclear fields and leads to rapidity dependence in the final results. For this treatment, the Yang-Mills equations are linearized in covariant gauge, where lower-order, nonlinear contributions are neglected and the dynamics are captured by the (3+1)D dilute Glasma. The analytic solutions of the (3+1)D dilute Glasma are derived in both position and momentum space formulations, providing a comprehensive understanding of the involved (3+1)D dynamics. In position space, the field strength tensor results from the integration of free-streaming gluons that are produced in $2\rightarrow1$ scattering processes where the initial nuclear fields overlap. In momentum space, the event-averaged gluon number distribution for the (3+1)D dilute Glasma is derived in Coulomb gauge. A generalized, three-dimensional McLerran-Venugopalan nuclear model is developed for nuclei with realistic envelopes and intrinsic longitudinal correlations. Numerical results are presented for the rapidity structure of the energy-momentum tensor, the gluon number distribution, and the transverse energy of the (3+1)D dilute Glasma. In position space, the extended longitudinal collision geometry and finite longitudinal correlation length break boost-invariance. In momentum space, the results each follow universal parametrizations and are fixed by the values of two scaling parameters. Furthermore, the numerical results exhibit limiting fragmentation where the rapidity profiles approach a limiting distribution at large rapidities. This feature is also derived locally in position space for the analytic expressions of the field strength tensor and, in momentum space, for the transverse energy of the (3+1)D dilute Glasma.

We study the next-to-leading order (NLO) virtual and thermal corrections to relativistic $2 \rightarrow 2$ scattering processes involving scalar particles in the early Universe thermal plasma. Taking the example of freeze-in production of scalar dark matter pairs through these scatterings, we evaluate the impact of the NLO corrections to the annihilation rate and the dark matter yield. We find that including only thermal mass corrections to a leading order interaction rate can overestimate the reduction in these rates, and the full NLO corrections can modify the DM abundance predictions by $\mathcal{O}(30\%)$. It is also observed that while the virtual NLO effects are larger, the finite temperature NLO corrections to the matrix elements in the relativistic regime can modify the DM abundance by $\mathcal{O}(10\%)$, in comparison to the virtual NLO corrections.

In this article, I trace the early historical developments that ultimately led to the creation of the atomic bomb. Even after the completion of weapons, many scientists continued to argue that nuclear armaments were indispensable for maintaining the global balance of political power [1]. This study focuses on several scientists who confronted profound moral dilemmas concerning the use of bombs against Japan. Some openly opposed its deployment. Others sought to warn a Japanese physicist in the hope of averting further devastation. Still, others expressed deep remorse in its aftermath. In addition, the experience of an individual directly affected by the bombing is discussed. By examining these episodes, this article aims to contribute to the ongoing discourse on how scientific research should be guided by ethical principles in the future.

We address the long-standing problem of negative decay and production rates in perturbative QCD for exclusive processes by proposing amplitude-level NRQCD factorization as a systematic prescription. Building on this, we present the first complete next-to-next-to-leading-order (NNLO) QCD correction to the decay $J/ψ\to 3γ$. The resulting partial width, $Γ(J/ψ\to 3γ) = 0.96^{+4.32}_{-0.13}$ eV, combines this NNLO contribution with the known up to $\mathcal{O}(α_s v^2)$ relativistic correction and shows markedly improved agreement with the high-precision BESIII measurement. In the same way, $Γ(Υ\to 3γ) = 0.0086^{+0.0028}_{-0.0006}$ eV is obtained. The dominant theoretical uncertainty originates from the renormalization scale variation, underscoring the challenge of perturbative convergence at this order and the necessity for future higher-order calculations.

We investigate the low-energy phenomenology of the Type-I seesaw mechanism within a 3+3 framework containing three active and three sterile neutrinos. Using the exact seesaw relation as a bridge between the high-scale sterile-sector parameters and the standard oscillation observables, we perform a comprehensive Monte Carlo scan of the 21-dimensional sterile parameter space, retaining only those configurations consistent with current neutrino oscillation data within $3σ$. For the viable parameter points, we simulate the modified neutrino oscillation probabilities and event rates at the long-baseline experiments DUNE and NO$ν$A, and the medium-baseline reactor experiment JUNO, quantifying their sensitivity to sterile neutrino effects across the eV--GeV mass range. We find that eV-scale sterile neutrinos produce pronounced spectral distortions, while heavier states decouple progressively from oscillation experiments. In parallel, we confront the seesaw predictions with complementary probes: cosmological bounds on $\sum m_i$, the kinematic mass $m_β$ from beta decay, the effective Majorana mass $|m_{ββ}|$ from neutrinoless double beta decay ($0νββ$), and the charged-lepton-flavor-violating branching ratio $\text{BR}(μ\to eγ)$. The combination of all constraints significantly narrows the allowed parameter space: the predicted sum of neutrino masses clusters at $\sum m_i \sim 0.05$--$0.07$~eV, within reach of next-generation cosmological surveys, and eV-scale sterile neutrinos are found to be under significant tension from the current MEG bound on $μ\to eγ$.

We analytically sum the leading bubble diagrams that contribute to the elastic scattering amplitude of a kink and a meson in the $φ^4$ double-well model. We find a single peak, corresponding to the unstable kink state in which the shape mode is excited twice. The peak has the usual Breit-Wigner form, and its imaginary part agrees with the shape mode decay rate found by Manton and Merabet.

We formulate the Gao-Jafferis-Wall traversable wormhole protocol as a quantum channel and compute its quantum channel capacity. We show that this capacity is governed by the time derivative of an out-of-time-ordered correlator, hence by operator size growth in the holographic dual, and that its growth is bounded above by the Einstein gravity limit. The channel capacity therefore provides a natural benchmark for quantum simulations of traversable wormholes.

Observation of charged lepton flavor violation would constitute unambiguous evidence for physics beyond the Standard Model (SM). We identify a previously unexplored same-sign dimuon signature in electron-photon collisions, $γe^- \to e^+μ^-μ^-$, mediated by an axionlike particle (ALP) with flavor-violating $e$-$μ$ couplings. The absence of irreducible SM backgrounds and the on-shell production of the ALP render this channel intrinsically clean and highly sensitive, with only small residual backgrounds arising from detector effects. Such collisions can be realized via laser Compton backscattering at $e^+e^-$ colliders including BEPC-II with the BESIII detector, STCF, and ILC. We find that STCF and ILC can probe couplings one to two orders of magnitude below existing bounds. This combination of resonant production, vanishing irreducible background, and same-sign topology would be difficult to achieve in conventional $e^+e^-$ or hadron-collider environments, establishing electron-photon collisions as a uniquely powerful probe of charged lepton flavor violation.

The interpretation of high-precision cosmic ray spectra is fundamentally bottlenecked by uncertainties in fragmentation cross-sections. Traditional kinematic models, driven by phase-space expansions, typically predict complex, energy-dependent evolutions. However, AMS-02 measurements reveal that at high rigidities ($R > 30$~GV), secondary-to-secondary flux ratios (Li/B, Be/B, and Li/Be) strictly converge to energy-independent plateaus. To understand this anomaly, we explore a macroscopic geometric framework. The ultra-relativistic spallation of a target nucleus snaps residual strong-interaction flux tubes, inducing an extreme deceleration on the remnant. Using a semi-microscopic estimation based on the Woods-Saxon potential and pion exchange, we suggest this dynamically generates a causal horizon with an effective Unruh temperature $T_U \approx 5.6-5.8$~MeV. Utilizing the Be/B ratio as an absolute calibration channel, we extract an asymptotic scale of $6.08$~MeV, remarkably consistent with our theoretical estimation and the established nuclear liquid-gas phase transition limit. Subsequent blind tests on Lithium ratios demonstrate a universal zero-slope convergence, providing compelling evidence that a constant geometric thermal bath effectively supersedes complex microscopic kinematics at high energies.

There is increasing evidence for global collapse of clumps over parsec-scales in massive star formation regions. Such collapse may result in characteristic molecular line emission profiles but the spatial variation of such lines has rarely been quantitatively examined. Here we explore the infall properties using the spatially-resolved HCO$^+$ J=1--0 and H$^{13}$CO$^+$ J=1--0 maps of the massive infrared dark cloud (IRDC) SDC335.579-0.292. We compare the observations with the analytical Hill5 model and radiative transfer models. This shows that the best-fit infall velocity towards the cloud centre to be well-constrained to $-0.6$ to $-1.6$ km s$^{-1}$ and the mass infall rate between a few $\times10^{-3}$ and $10^{-2}$ M$_{\odot}$yr$^{-1}$. The comparison also highlights some limitations of the Hill5 method. We demonstrate that the width of optically thin spectral lines, which are usually interpreted as resulting from turbulent motions, are in fact dominated by unresolved, ordered infall motions within the beam. Our results suggest a complex collapse situation where there is a minimum in the infall velocity at $\sim2\times10^{18}$ cm (0.7 pc) with the infall velocity increasing at both smaller and larger radii. The parsec-scale infall with an inverted velocity profile indicates that the accretion in this massive star-forming cloud should have intermediate scales, at which fragmentation or filament formation has to occur before material flows onto the cloud centre.

The nature of Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) has been the subject of intense study and debate for over half a century. Herein, we present the first successful interview with an astrophysical object, exploring the perspective of this supermassive black hole and, in doing so, challenging the traditional observational paradigm of astrophysics. Rather than treating astrophysical systems as purely passive entities characterized through indirect measurements, we introduce an interaction-based framework via a therapeutic-style interview enabled by the ARMCHAIR communication methodology. Using structured, psychotherapeutic dialogue, we probe Sgr A*'s responses to key aspects of its astrophysical characterization, including eating habits, its name, and concerns about privacy. These exchanges offer an alternative lens through which to interpret familiar observational phenomena. This work highlights potential limitations in strictly reductionist approaches and suggests a modest expansion of standard astrophysical methodology to leave room for considering how the objects we study might feel about the attention they receive.

During Cosmic Dawn, Pop III stars could be formed in minihalos through molecular hydrogen (H$_2$) cooling. The minimum halo mass required for H$_2$ cooling is highly sensitive to Lyman-Werner (LW) radiation, which dissociates H$_2$ and regulates star formation. However, the efficiency of LW feedback remains poorly constrained due to the lack of direct observations of Pop III stars. The dark matter-baryon relative streaming velocity suppresses star formation in low-mass halos and imprints characteristic Velocity Acoustic Oscillation (VAO) features in the 21 cm power spectrum. These features are particularly sensitive to the cooling threshold mass: if LW feedback raises the minimum halo mass above the streaming-sensitive regime, the VAO signal is strongly suppressed. This makes the VAO wiggles a promising indirect probe of LW feedback during Cosmic Dawn. We investigate the feasibility of constraining LW feedback parameters using semi-numerical 21 cm lightcone simulations. We compute the multi-frequency angular power spectrum (MAPS) to isolate the VAO features and train a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) to infer the LW feedback efficiency and the baseline cooling threshold. We find that in the absence of instrumental noise, the LW feedback efficiency can be accurately recovered from the VAO features. However, for the SKA-low AA* configuration, meaningful constraints require integration times exceeding $10^4$ hours under optimistic foreground assumptions. Nonetheless, our results demonstrate that VAO features provide a physically robust and potentially powerful probe of LW feedback at Cosmic Dawn.

We present galactic constellations: charming shapes in large cosmological surveys. By exploring a dense subset of DESI's first data release, we discover distinctive constellations including "Pisces Grandis", "The DESI Stick Woman", and "W". We additionally develop a public website for anyone to explore DESI data, find their own constellations, and share their creations: see cmlamman.github.io/galactic-constellations. Early users of the site discovered 93 constellations. We analyze the size of these constellations as an unconventional probe of homogeneity, finding consistency with the cosmological principle and Lambda-CDM.

The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) exhibits vigorous high-mass star formation, including the HII regions 30~Dor that is the most active site of star formation in the local group. The present paper focuses on the Giant Molecular Cloud (GMC) in the HII region N113 in the central part of the LMC. Based on the $^{12}$CO($J$ =1-0) and $^{13}$CO($J$ = 1-0) data at a resolution of approximately 0.2 pc taken with ALMA+APEX, we reveal that the GMC consists of two filamentary structures each of approximately 10 pc in length, forming a V-shape pattern with a vertex angle of 90 degrees. The filamentary structures host high-mass young stellar objects in gravitationally bound dense gas. Large-scale HI gas data covering 100 pc reveal two distinct velocity components separated by more than 40 km s$^{-1}$, that correspond to the low velocity (L-) and disk (D-) HI components of the LMC. The L-component appears to be located in a cavity-like distribution of the D-component, and the CO filaments are positioned at the cavity's edge. We find evidence for the L-component to fit the cavity by a 53 pc displacement, and suggest that collisional compression of the HI gas during the last 1.3 Myr triggered the GMC formation and the high-mass star formation. This lends support for the large scale collision driven by the tidal interaction is playing a role in evolution of interstellar medium in N113.

Recent cosmological surveys and datasets have highlighted a variety of tensions to the concordance model of our universe, $Λ$CDM. Of particular interest is the Hubble tension, the $5.5σ$ discrepancy between measurements of the Hubble constant $H_0$ using high redshift CMB data from Planck ($67.27\pm0.60$km$\text{s}^{-1}\text{Mpc}^{-1}$) and low redshift supernovae from SH0ES ($73.2\pm1.3$km$\text{s}^{-1}\text{Mpc}^{-1}$). To avoid stepping on any toes, we have initiated the CROCS collaboration to resolve this tension, gathering experts from across many fields of cosmology, astrophysics, astronomy, machine learning, data science, philosophy, and astrology. In this paper, we present findings from CROCS Data Release 1, corresponding to the first $\sim3$ days and 27 minutes (rest frame) of observation. We perform a robust statistical analysis, showing that Planck and SH0ES both suffer from imperial biasing systematics (IBS) at $5σ$ significance. Accounting for these errors by converting to metric units reconciles the high and low redshift data, with $H_0 = 69.00\pm0.420$km$\text{s}^{-1}\text{Mpc}^{-1}$. We thus report that our results are sufficient to end the Hubble tension for good.

This work studies the likely dust seeding processes arising from alkali metal and alkaline earth ionisation, epoxidation (epoxide bond formation via oxygen atom insertion into C=C bonds), and grain charge disproportionation (the existence around the uncharged state of oxidised cationic and reduced anionic states) at (sub-)nanometre size scales. The chemical, physical, and photon-initiated processes leading to dust seeding are explored within the framework of the size-dependent physical, optical, and photoelectric properties of the THEMIS carbonaceous nanoparticles. The critical grain charge states at (sub-)nanometre size scales are derived as a function of the interstellar and circumstellar physical conditions. Photo-initiated low-energy ionisation, epoxide reactions, and disproportionation-driven electrostatic effects could play key roles in seeding dust nucleation and growth. The size-dependent seed cluster and nanograin charge distribution is shown to encompass both positive and negative charges where the ionisation is driven by low ionisation metals or by weak attenuation. Cluster seeding via ionisation and epoxidation could help to explain the co-spatial and contemporaneous nucleation and growth of both carbon-rich and oxygen-rich dust in the same regions. This may be enhanced by electrostatic effects, driven by charge disproportionation, between negatively-charged, nucleation-seeding, polyatomic clusters and positively-charged ions or larger (nano)particles. Such processes could occur in the dust-forming regions in novae, Wolf-Rayet, and Luminous Blue Variable systems and electrostatic effects may also aid the accretion of nanoparticles in the outer regions of molecular clouds.

The SPHEREx near-infrared space telescope is an all-sky spectroscopic survey mission launched on March 12th, 2025 UTC. In addition to providing the community with a spectral database applicable to a wide range of investigations, it is optimized to address three core science goals: to survey the large scale structure of the Universe for signatures of non-Gaussianity during inflation; to conduct intensity mapping studies of the extragalactic background light for probing the history of galaxy evolution; and to survey the plane of the Milky Way for the prevalence and distribution of water and other biogenic ices. Each of these science goals imposes unique requirements on the performance of the instrument. We detail the design and testing strategies and report the performance results for the full instrument test campaign, ranging from component-level screening to in-orbit tests during the commissioning phase. The instrument, currently operating in full science survey mode, meets all of its driving requirements including optical performance, point source sensitivity, thermal stability and correlated noise minimization.

The metal abundances in galactic nuclei carry key information on the history of star formation and mass transfer in central regions of galaxies. X-ray fluorescence analysis is a unique tool to reliably measure the abundances of various elements via simple physics. Here we present a new observation of the active nucleus in the Circinus Galaxy with the XRISM satellite at unprecedented X-ray energy resolution. The fluorescent iron-K$α$ line profile modified by Compton scattering indicates that the material responsible for its emission is cold, metal-rich, and is located $\gtrsim$0.024 parsecs (pc) from the supermassive black hole, consistent with the dusty torus region. The abundance pattern derived from comparing fluorescent line intensities of different metals shows sub-solar ratios of argon- and calcium-to-iron, and a super-solar ratio of nickel-to-iron. This abundance pattern is best produced by a combination in number fraction of $92^{+2}_{-4}$\% core-collapse supernovae from progenitor stars less massive than $20^{+3}_{-2} M_\odot$ and $8^{+4}_{-2}$\% type-Ia SNe. This suggests that gas feeding the super-massive black hole was enriched by recent core-collapse supernovae. Our findings imply that in metal-rich environments stars more massive than about 20 $M_\odot$ directly collapse into black holes or make faint SNe without ejecting heavy metals into the space.

We present a systematic analysis of the statistical properties of cosmic voids using galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7 (SDSS DR7) and subhaloes from the ELUCID constrained simulation. By comparing voids identified in redshift space, real space, and reconstructed volumes, we assess the impact of redshift-space distortions (RSD) and tracer bias. Using the \texttt{VAST} toolkit, we apply both the geometry-based \texttt{VoidFinder} algorithm and watershed-based methods. We find that void properties are not equally robust. The three-dimensional morphology of voids, quantified by their sphericity and triaxiality, remains stable across different reconstructions and tracer selections. In contrast, void size distributions and radial density profiles depend strongly on the identification algorithm, with watershed-based methods systematically producing larger voids and higher compensation walls than \texttt{VoidFinder}. Using the full ELUCID simulation box, we show that tracer bias mainly affects void density profiles, with noticeable changes only for the most massive subhaloes ($>10^{11.5}\,h^{-1}{\rm M}_\odot$). The agreement between SDSS observations, the ELUCID reconstruction, and the full simulation box demonstrates the high fidelity of constrained simulations and reveals a clear hierarchy in the robustness of void statistics.

Aims. We present eight direct N-body simulations with NBODY6++GPU of extremely massive, initially rotating Population III star clusters with 1.01 x 10^5 stars. Methods. Our models include primordial binaries, a continuous initial mass function, differential rotation, tidal mass loss, updated fitting formulae for extremely massive metal-poor Population III stars, and general-relativistic merger recoil kicks. We assess their impact on cluster dynamics. Results. All runs form black holes below, within, and above the pair-instability gap, with multi-generation growth. Faster-rotating clusters core-collapse earlier; post-collapse clusters host a rotating, axisymmetric subsystem of intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) at the centre and an expanding halo of lower-mass objects. Pair-instability supernovae and compact-object formation at ~2-3 Myr sharply reduce total mass and a large fraction of the cluster's angular momentum. All Population III clusters in our simulations have the gravothermal-gravogyro catastrophe phase. Conclusions. We confirm two of the hypothesized formation channels of galactic nuclei seed black holes: gravitational runaway mergers of black holes and of Population III stars, which core-collapse into IMBHs thereafter. Higher initial star cluster bulk rotation correlates with earlier core collapse and, in the event counts reported here, with more coalescences/collisions and lower retained (compact) binary abundances. Initial bulk rotation is a primary control parameter of cluster evolution: faster rotation accelerates early angular-momentum transport, gravothermal collapse, mass segregation, and amplifies post-collapse expansion, which also favours the formation of a compact central IMBH subsystem.

We targeted with deep NOEMA observations the [CII]158$μ$m emission of three JWST-discovered AGN at z>6. Two of them have the typical features of Little Red Dots (LRDs), while the third one is a blue, extended, Type I AGN. We do not significantly detect [CII] emission or dust continuum in any of the targets, even after stacking. The resulting [CII] luminosity upper limits, $\log (L_{[CII]}/L_{\odot})<7.77-8.1$, lie $\sim2σ$ below the values expected from the [CII]-SFR relation, and we explore different scenarios to explain the lack of [CII]. We obtained upper limits on the gas masses of $\log (M_{gas}/M_{\odot})<9.26-9.59$ corresponding to $\log( M_{dust}/M_{\odot})<5.68-6.55$ assuming a metallicity dependent dust to gas ratio. Using the continuum non-detections (rms $\sim 16-25 ~μJy$) together with JWST/MIRI constraints, we performed a revised SED-fitting decomposition, resulting in stellar masses up to $\sim 2$ dex lower than previously reported, and implying $0.03\lesssim M_{BH}/M_{*}\lesssim0.7$. For the two LRDs, the SED is well reproduced by stellar emission in the rest-frame UV, while the rising rest-frame optical slope, flattening toward the near-infrared, is consistent with emission from a Type I AGN partially obscured along the polar direction with $E(B-V)_{\rm polar}\simeq 1$, in agreement with attenuation derived from the broad lines Balmer decrement. This decomposition demonstrates that a relatively standard AGN configuration can reproduce the SEDs of the two LRDs, without invoking more exotic scenarios. Finally, we investigate the positions of the three sources in the $IRX-β_{UV}$ plane, finding that they lie in a parameter space where galaxies are typically characterized by patchy dust distributions. Our analysis highlights the importance of millimeter constraints to characterize the different physical properties of high-z AGN.

The naming of astronomical objects has represented among the most significant challenges in the record-keeping of the field since the very beginning. Long and unwieldy coordinate names, uninformative and ambiguous internal names, and the sheer volume of aliases accumulated for some of the most studied objects conspire to complicate our study of the celestial sphere. This paper proposes StarHash, a reproducible, open-source astronomical naming scheme based on the terrestrial concept of geohashing, but re-implemented from the ground up for the rigorous demands of astronomy. Every 3.2 arcsec patch of sky now has three words associated with it, enabling the precise localisation of astronomical sources, and an easily communicable and memorable identifier. A carefully selected wordlist reduces ambiguity due to plurals and homophones, whilst the use of format-preserving encryption minimises residual spatial correlation in StarHash-derived identifiers. Pre-computed names for several existing catalogues are provided, alongside a Python reference implementation for validation and integration into databases, transient brokers, and other similar projects. Although not intended to be the final word in the naming of astronomical objects, StarHash humbly provides a memorable alternative to the status quo, and is intended to spark a discussion about this most foundational of issues in astronomy.

We conduct three-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations of core-collapse supernova (CCSN) explosion driven by jets in the framework of the jittering jets explosion mechanism (JJEM), and obtain a pair of opposite circum-jet rings similar to those observed in some CCSN remnants (CCSNRs). We launch two pairs of jets along the same axis, the first of two opposite wide jets, and the second of narrow jets. The wide jets compress the core of a stripped-envelope stellar model to form a dense, fast-expanding shell. The narrow jets catch up with the dense shell, penetrate it, and compress the gas to the sides, forming the two opposite rings. At high inclination angles of the jets' axis to the line of sight, the projection of each ring on the plane of the sky forms two bright zones, where the rings cross the plane of the sky. This morphology explains that of SNR G46.8-0.3. At intermediate inclination angles, the rings are fully visible as two opposite bright elliptical rims. Our simulations explain the two prominent rings on the outer shell of CCSNR G11.2-0.3. Our results strengthen the claim that the JJEM is the primary explosion mechanism of CCSNe.

Modern wide-field time-domain surveys produce alert streams whose scientific potential is often concentrated in rare and unusual events. Efficient discovery therefore requires automated pipelines to be combined with rapid expert validation and follow-up. We present the first-year performance of the anomaly-detection (AD) pipeline operating within the Fink broker on the Zwicky Transient Facility alert stream, and assess its ability to identify scientifically valid outliers and enable discovery of rare phenomena. The pipeline transforms ZTF light curves into a compact set of features and ranks alerts using an Isolation Forest model trained on archival ZTF data. Each night, the 10 most anomalous candidates are distributed to experts via Slack/Telegram and exposed through an API. We also implement an expert-feedback loop using a public Telegram bot and retrain the model using the Active Anomaly Discovery algorithm. During the first year of operations (starting from 25 January 2023), the AD pipeline identified multiple high-interest sources and triggered dedicated photometric and spectroscopic follow-up. We report the discovery and multi-instrument (11-m SALT telescope, 2.5-m CMO telescope, 0.6-m ASA RC600, 0.25-m FRAM-ORM) follow-up of the rare AM CVn system Fink J062452.88+020818.3 of the WZ Sge type, UX Ori-type star Fink J222324.32+744222.0 and the unusual transient with precursor SN 2023mtp. In addition, the module triggered 33 supernovae, including 30 previously unreported ones, with candidates for superluminous and hostless events. Furthermore, nine new dwarf novae were discovered. These results show that broker-level anomaly detection, coupled with rapid dissemination, expert assessment, and follow-up observations, provide an effective bridge between large-scale survey streams and domain expertise, turning anomaly scores into astrophysical insights and concrete discoveries.

How do galaxies form and evolve? This is one of the most puzzling questions in astronomy. Galaxy assembly takes place throughout the entire history of the Universe, but our understanding of it is hampered by the unfortunate fact that we can only observe galaxies at a single moment in time. Here, we use archival data of decades-long monitoring of the Milky Way to examine some of its key characteristics, namely the mass of its central black hole, the pattern speed of the bar, and the distance from the Sun to the Galactic centre. We find a surprisingly fast evolution of these three properties on a timescale of only a few decades, and speculate that it might be driven by shared physical processes.

We present a method for constructing dynamical models of stellar systems described by distribution functions and constrained by discrete-kinematic data. We implement various improvements compared to earlier applications of this approach, demonstrating with several examples that it can deliver meaningful constraints on the mass distribution even in situations when the density profile of tracers and the selection function of the kinematic catalogue are unknown. We then apply this method to the Milky Way nuclear star cluster, using kinematic data (line-of-sight velocities and proper motions) for a few thousand stars within 10 pc from the central black hole, accounting for the contributions of the nuclear stellar disc and the Galactic bar. We measure the mass of the black hole to be 4x10^6 Msun with a 10% uncertainty, which agrees with the more precise value obtained by the GRAVITY instrument. The inferred stellar mass profile depends on the choice of kinematic data, but the total mass within 10 pc is well constrained in all models to be (2.0-2.3)x10^7 Msun. We make our models publicly available as part of the Agama software framework for galactic dynamics.

We present a suite of direct $N$-body simulations of the Hyades open cluster and its tidal stream in a Milky Way potential that includes a rotating bar and spiral arms. Using the high-resolution code PETAR and an AGAMA-based multi-component Galactic model, we vary the bar and spiral pattern speeds ($Ω_b$, $Ω_s$) on a discrete grid and quantify the resulting changes in stream orientation, length, and internal density structure. We compare the simulations to Gaia EDR3 using the convergent point (CP) and compact convergent point (CCP) methods, followed by an adaptive three-dimensional nearest-neighbor matching in Cartesian space $(x,y,z)$. The Gaia candidate members exhibit a pronounced longitudinal density peak at $Y_{\mathrm{rot}} \approx 0.1\,\mathrm{kpc}$ in a stream-aligned coordinate system. Models with $Ω_s = 22.5\,\mathrm{km\,s^{-1}\,kpc^{-1}}$ and $Ω_b \simeq 40$--$45\,\mathrm{km\,s^{-1}\,kpc^{-1}}$ best reproduce this feature, while faster-bar models fail to match the observed density structure. These models are consistent with recent constraints favoring a relatively slow Galactic bar, and they illustrate how nearby open-cluster streams can provide an independent, local constraint on non-axisymmetric Galactic dynamics.

With traditional sources of funding for astronomical research under increasing pressure, it is timely to explore innovative alternative mechanisms. We therefore introduce GalaxyCoin, a novel cryptocurrency whose issuance, validation, and economic evolution are anchored to real astrophysical objects - galaxies. GalaxyCoin links digital scarcity to observational astronomy by using galaxy catalogues to parametrise token generation, distribution, and long-term supply growth, providing a transparent, immutable, and independently verifiable foundation for the currency. We present the conceptual design of GalaxyCoin, highlight its potential advantages over conventional cryptocurrencies, and examine its broader implications for sustainability, trust, and public engagement at the intersection of astronomy, data-driven science, and blockchain technology. A central feature of GalaxyCoin is that it directly incentivises the discovery and spectroscopic confirmation of galaxies, aligning financial reward with the production of high-quality astronomical data. In terms of monetary design, its supply elasticity lies between that of fiat currencies and fixed-supply cryptocurrencies, making it distinctive in both economic structure and scientific purpose.

Understanding dwarf galaxy formation is crucial for testing dark matter models and reionization physics. However, constructing stellar-mass complete spectroscopic samples at low masses is increasingly difficult, and the potential existence of a local void complicates studies in an average environment. The Photometric object Around Cosmic webs (PAC) method, which combines deep photometric and spectroscopic data to measure the excess surface density $\bar{n}_2w_{\rm{p}}(r_{\rm{p}})$ of photometric objects around spectroscopic tracers, offers a promising path forward. We model 349 $\bar{n}_2w_{\rm{p}}(r_{\rm{p}})$ measurements from DESI Y1 BGS and DECaLS, reaching $M_*=10^{6.4}\,{\rm M}_{\odot}$, using a stellar mass-halo mass relation (SHMR)-based subhalo abundance matching framework applied to two high-resolution $N$-body simulations from the Jiutian suite. The resulting SHMR is constrained down to $M_{\rm h}\simeq10^{8.0}\,h^{-1}{\rm M}_{\odot}$, revealing a clear upturn at $\sim10^{10.0}\,h^{-1}{\rm M}_{\odot}$ toward lower masses, indicating rising star-formation efficiency (SFE) in small haloes. This feature persists under extensions of the model that allow mass-dependent scatter, reionization-induced suppression of the halo occupation fraction, galaxy assembly bias, and alternative cosmologies. Together with the finding from Paper I, we find that central red galaxies dominate the low-mass regime. Our results motivate a hypothesis in which SFE is significantly higher than previously thought prior to reionization, enabling relatively massive galaxies to form in small haloes. These systems are subsequently quenched by the UV background, producing the central red dwarf galaxies observed. Finally, we obtain $3σ$ and $5σ$ upper mass bounds of $10^{8.38}\,h^{-1}{\rm M}_{\odot}$ and $10^{8.71}\,h^{-1}{\rm M}_{\odot}$ on the smallest haloes required to exist by the data.

BL Lac objects (BLL) are defined by the presence of very weak (typically $<$ 5 Å) or even absent spectral lines. This makes determining their distance particularly challenging, especially at high redshift, where the sources are fainter and the host galaxy contribution in the optical band becomes negligible. Yet measuring their distance is crucial for deriving and modelling their luminosity, notably in the gamma-ray band, where BLLs dominate the extragalactic sky. In this work, we re-examine the reported high-redshift (z $>$ 0.6) BLL, many of which are commonly cited in the literature despite appearing questionable. We present new spectra for 52 objects obtained with the 10.4 m GTC. For 16 of them we propose a new redshift, or provide a spectroscopic lower limit, while for 14 sources we confirm previously published values. In 22 cases the spectra remain featureless, even with high S/N observations. These objects are likely to lie at 0.3 $<$ z $<$ 1.4 : the lack of host-galaxy features sets a lower limit to their distance, while the absence of intervening absorption systems argues against substantially higher redshifts. We compare our findings with the previous robustly established cases of BLLs at z $>$ 0.6 that meet our selection criteria.

The cosmological principle states that the universe is uniform and does not favor any specific position or direction. However, research conducted by \cite{Shen2025} has revealed that the universe demonstrates a notable inclination towards parity-odd states. Furthermore, it remains uncertain whether the universe also favors prime numbers. In this study, we examine the largest available catalogs of galaxy groups to investigate this hypothesis. Specifically, we assess whether the number of galaxies within a galaxy group or cluster is more likely to be a prime number. Our results strongly suggest that the universe does indeed have a preference for prime numbers, with findings exceeding the 4.1 sigma significance threshold. This insight explains why the Primes consistently triumphs over Unicorn. Consequently, it may be necessary to consider revising the cosmological principle in the context of a higher-dimensional feature space. Moreover, our research establishes a connection between the Riemann Zeta function and cosmology pioneeringly, paving the way for the development of Cosmozetaology.

The spectra of type 1 active galactic nuclei (AGNs) often exhibit broad component in [O III]$λ$5007, which are typically blue-shifted and associated with strong outflows. We systematically analyze the [O III] emission-line properties of type 1 AGNs with broad components to investigate how these kinematic features relate to the physical properties of the central engine. From a parent sample of 11,557 QSOs at $z<0.3$ in Data Release 16 of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, we select 2,290 type 1 AGNs exhibiting broad components in [O III]. Previous studies have reported a strong correlation between the blue emission, defined as the full extent of the broad component on the blue side, and black hole mass when the latter is estimated from the $M_{\rm BH}$--$σ_{\ast}$ relation using the line width $σ$ of the [O III] core component as a surrogate for $σ_{\ast}$. By the same way, the black hole mass also shows a strong correlation with the blue emission parameter in our sample. However, this correlation becomes negligible when virial black hole masses are adopted. Besides, the velocity shifts between the broad and core components of [O III] show a weak correlation with the Eddington ratio. This is consistent with the expectation that higher accretion rates enhance radiative pressure, thereby driving faster or more prominent outflows. In future work, we will compare [O III] broad component properties between typical type 1 AGNs and those with double-peaked [O III] to probe differences in narrow-line region kinematics and the impact of outflows or dual AGNs.

We describe here, for the first time, a lower bound on the total number of fundamental constants required for a mathematical description of our physical universe to be complete. The answer is shown to be one. The formal arithmetized meta-mathematical proof of this is left to the reader.

We present a detailed chemical-abundance analysis of an actinide-boost ($\logε$(Th/Dy) = -0.74) star, LAMOST J122216.85-063345.2 (J1222), a very metal-poor ([Fe/H] = -2.45) halo star with moderate enhancement in rapid neutron-capture ($r$-)process elements ([Eu/Fe] = +0.61). From high-resolution spectra (R $\sim$ 55,000) taken with Gemini-S/GHOST, we determine the abundances for 47 elements, including thorium. The abundance pattern of J1222 is consistent with predicted nucleosynthetic yields from neutron star mergers (NSMs) and black hole-neutron star mergers (BH-NSMs), under specific ejecta conditions. Our kinematic analysis of J1222 indicates that it is a member of the I'itoi substructure. A comparative analysis of J1222 and seven other stars from the literature with similar dynamics to the I'itoi substructure exhibits a broad dispersion in $r$-process enrichment - spanning non-enhancement ([Eu/Fe] $\leq$ +0.3), moderate enhancement (+0.3 $<$ [Eu/Fe] $\leq$ +0.7), strong enhancement ([Eu/Fe] $>$ +0.7), and actinide-boost stars (including one additional actinide-boost candidate newly recognized to be associated with I'itoi) - suggesting a complex enrichment history shaped by multiple $r$-process events and inhomogeneous mixing. After exploring several astrophysical scenarios to explain the observed $r$-process abundances, we find that NSMs and BH-NSMs were likely the main contributors to the enrichment, while magneto-rotational supernovae (MR-SNe) may have played a secondary role in enriching some light $r$-process element-rich stars in the I'itoi substructure.

We present the Ripples of Stellar Enrichment (RoSE) simulations, which follow a Milky Way-like isolated disc galaxy with star-by-star feedback and nucleosynthesis from all significant channels -- Wolf-Rayet stars, type II supernovae, type Ia supernovae, asymptotic giant branch stars, and neutron star mergers. We use these simulations to test how elements' diverse nucleosynthetic origins imprint spatial, temporal, and inter-element abundance correlations in gas and stars. We find that nucleosynthetic source composition is the primary organising principle of elemental structure: elements sharing a dominant production channel exhibit similar spatial statistics and temporal statistics and their abundances are strongly correlated with one another, while mixed-source pairs are much more weakly correlated. We show that a simple linear regression model based only on how element pairs differ in their nucleosynthetic origin is able to predict, with high fidelity, how strongly their abundances correlate, in both interstellar medium gas and coeval stars. Comparison with Milky Way stellar abundance data shows encouraging qualitative agreement, with differences between simulations and observations comparable to the scatter between independent observational datasets. These results provide first-principles that support for a source-driven framework of galactic chemical structure and connect analytic theory, simulations, and stellar abundance observations.

The baryonic Tully-Fisher relation (BTFR) and Faber-Jackson relation (FJR) represent fundamental scaling laws linking the baryonic mass of galaxies to their kinematics, yet their physical origin and apparent offsets between different galaxy populations have remained enigmatic. Here we present a unified theoretical framework demonstrating that both relations emerge from a common acceleration scale of order $10^{-10}m/s^2$ and evolve with cosmic time through a common exponential kernel. We derive the evolving Faber-Jackson relation directly from the evolving BTFR within the Nexus Paradigm of quantum gravity, showing that the normalization scales as $M_b \propto e^{-4\int H(t)\,dt}σ^4 $, where $σ$ is the velocity dispersion and $ H(t)$ is the time varying Hubble parameter. Applying this framework to a sample of 39 galaxies spanning five orders of magnitude in baryonic mass, from ultra-faint dwarfs to massive cluster ellipticals, we demonstrate that the observed offset between galaxy populations arises naturally from differences in their formation epochs. Ultrafaint dwarf galaxies yield ages of $ 12\pm0.8$ Gyr (formation redshift $z\sim 3-5$, in excellent agreement with independent Hubble Space Telescope stellar population ages showing synchronization within $\sim 1$ Gyr. Later-type dwarfs show systematically younger ages of $3.5-6.0$ Gyr. Independent validation using metallicity-based stellar population ages reveals a Pearson correlation coefficient of $ r=0.961$ with our dynamically derived ages, providing strong empirical support for the framework. The evolving Faber-Jackson relation unifies pressure-supported systems across all mass scales and establishes galaxy scaling relations as precise cosmic chronometers.

Context. Random seed selection in deep learning is often arbitrary -- conventionally fixed to values such as 42, a number with no known feline endorsement. Aims. We propose that cats, as liminal beings with a historically ambiguous relationship to quantum mechanics, are better suited to this task than random integers. Methods. We construct a cat-driven seed generator inspired by the first Friedmann equation, and test it by mapping 21 domestic cats' physical properties -- mass, coat pattern, eye colour, and name entropy -- via a Monte ``Catlo'' sampling procedure. Results. Cat-driven seeds achieve a mean accuracy of 92.58%, outperforming the baseline seed of 42 by $\sim$2.5%. Cats from astrophysicist households perform marginally better, suggesting cosmic insight may be contagious. Conclusions. The Universe responds better to cats than to arbitrary integers. Whether cats are aware of this remains unknown.

Unsharp-mask images of HI emission from 36 dwarf irregular (dIrr) galaxies illustrate star formation in dispersed clouds and on the rims of large cavities. The cavities can extend for a radial scalelength and typically have circular or slightly sheared forms. The average surface density of cloud peaks is ~20 Msun/pc2, and, combined with their average FUV star formation rate, suggests a gas consumption time of ~3.2 Gyr. Vertical hydrostatic equilibrium calculations for 24 of these dIrrs give a typical scale height of ~400 pc, which combines with the gas and star formation surface densities to suggest an efficiency per free fall time of ~1%. These values are comparable to those in the molecular clouds of spiral galaxies, suggesting the primary difference between clouds is the presence of CO at higher metallicity in the spirals. U-B color images of the dIrrs suggest that cavity ages range between 10^7 and 10^8 years, with the longer times explaining the common lack of bright OB associations in their centers and their low expansion speeds. Most are circular because the shear time exceeds 100 Myr, although some of the HI has spiral structure. These observations suggests that star formation in dIrrs proceeds slowly in a sequential fashion in dispersed clouds and on the periphery of giant cavities that move and expand during the ~50 Myr supernova era of the previous generation. In contrast, spiral galaxies have shear times 10 times shorter and more important stellar dynamics that compresses the gas into filaments.

Supernova (SN) shocks that originate from stars on orbits embedded in dense active galactic nuclei (AGN) accretion disks evolve differently from those that occur in the interstellar medium. We aim to assess how shocks evolve in this dense stratified medium and understand where SNe are muffled and have their kinetic energy absorbed by an AGN disk versus escaping. We use Sirko \& Goodman (SG) and Thompson, Quataert \& Murray (TQM) AGN disk models for midplane radial profiles, generated with the pAGN code; we compare the disk pressure to the energy of a standard core-collapse SN ($10^{51}\,{\rm erg}$) to find radii where shock breakout can occur. For verification, we evolve three-dimensional hydrodynamic shearing box simulations of stratified Gaussian disks constructed from the midplane values that are injected with energy and mass from SNe placed at multiple radii and vertical locations, using the Athena code. We find SN shocks in SG disks around black holes with mass $\Mbh=10^6\,\Msun$ become muffled beyond $R\sim10^6\,\Rs$, and that this muffling radius is inversely proportional to supermassive black hole (SMBH) mass with muffling occurring at $R\sim10^2\,\Rs$ for $\Mbh=10^9\,\Msun$. Around TQM disks, the muffling radius occurs at $R\sim10^6\,\Rs$, independent of $\Mbh$. The largest determining factor for muffling a SN shock is the local scale height of the AGN disk. In conclusion, we developed a predictive analytic criterion to identify where AGN disks can muffle SNe shocks depending on their density and vertical scale.

We present HST WFC3/UVIS F275W near-UV imaging of 91stripped-envelope supernovae (SE SNe; Types IIb, Ib, Ic) from Snapshot program SNAP-16657, observed at phases of 270-1845 days (median 952 days) after first optical detection. We detect UV counterparts in 13 SE~SNe, of which 6 are classified as secure and 7 as ambiguous after comparison to nearby H\textsc{ii} regions, interpreting the secure sources as signatures of interaction with circumstellar material (CSM). Independent WISE W1/W2 light curves show $>300$ day mid-IR excesses in two of the secure UV sources, corroborating the interaction interpretation, and reveal two additional IR-only candidates without UV counterparts, indicating dust-obscured interaction episodes missed by the UV survey. A forward-modeling MCMC analysis using a physics-based CSM interaction model with three free parameters, the interaction fraction $f_\mathrm{CSM}$, shell mass $M_\mathrm{CSM}$, and thickness fraction $f_\mathrm{thick}$, yields $f_\mathrm{CSM} = 0.23^{+0.17}_{-0.09}$, $M_\mathrm{CSM} \approx 0.013~M_\odot$, and $f_\mathrm{thick} \approx 0.07$. The inferred thin-shell geometry implies an ejection duration of $\sim$6 yr for an outflow velocity of $300$ km s$^{-1}$, two to three orders of magnitude shorter than the thermal timescale of stable Roche-lobe overflow. This result disfavors steady binary mass transfer as the origin of the detected CSM and instead points to eruptive pre-supernova mass ejection in the final years before core collapse, either from wave-driven outbursts or from mass transfer triggered by late-stage progenitor re-expansion.

Large Language Models (LLMs) are now widely used in astrophysics, but do they actually make our lives easier, or do they merely invent new physics with enough confidence to hide a minus sign? In a specialized field where checking fluent hallucinations is itself labor-intensive, AI assistance can demand as much work as the task it claims to simplify. To evaluate where AI genuinely improves scientific workflows, we bypassed human trials and instead forced AI agents to cosplay as astrophysicists. We simulated 144 synthetic researchers, varying in career stage, AI awareness, and willingness to verify outputs, across 2,592 daily astrophysics research assignments. Comparing solo work against four styles of AI assistance produced 12,960 scored episodes. No assisted policy universally outperformed unassisted work in the primary Qwen production run. Instead, performance depends strongly on the task, the style of AI use, and the identity of the actor. While cautious assistance helps on creative, extractive, and critique-oriented tasks, it can fail catastrophically on derivation-heavy physics. A full actor-swap DeepSeek rerun changes that picture materially: verification-heavy use becomes the strongest assisted policy, two assisted modes enter the higher-utility/lower-risk quadrant, and the derivation-heavy fragility that dominates the Qwen production run largely disappears. In its current form, AI is useful, but only conditionally, its value is uneven, task-specific, and shaped jointly by workflow, usage policy, and which LLM you are using.

We investigate the evolution of dark matter halo spin alignments with respect to cosmic filaments, exploring how halo mass, proximity to filaments, and major mergers influence their orientation over time. We perform a suite of dark matter-only zoom-in N-body simulations centered on ten filaments extracted from a cosmological box using the 1DREAM structure finder. This approach allows us to resolve low-mass halos within filaments while preserving the large-scale environment. Halos are identified with the Amiga Halo Finder (AHF), and their evolutionary histories are reconstructed to trace the spin, shape, and distance to the filament from redshift $z = 1$ to $z = 0$. We confirm a strong mass-dependent alignment signal: low-mass halos tend to align parallel to the filament, while high-mass halos preferentially exhibit perpendicular orientations, despite limited statistics. Perpendicular alignments become dominant at the highest halo masses in our sample, around $\log_{10}(M_\mathrm{h}/h^{-1}\mathrm{M_\odot}) \sim 12$. We also find that major mergers can induce sharp spin reorientations and temporary transitions toward more prolate halo shapes, particularly in massive halos located near the filament core, suggesting a preferential merger direction within filaments. Overall, halo mass emerges as the primary factor governing spin-filament alignments in our sample. By analyzing the global evolution, we find that the average orientations at z = 0 do not differ significantly from those at $z = 1$, indicating that the present-day spin configuration is largely established at earlier stages of halo evolution. Major mergers, although relatively rare, represent one of the few mechanisms capable of disrupting this initial alignment.

The most direct method of measuring the star formation rate is with young stellar objects (YSOs), but this requires high-resolution observations and high-quality models. Using the latest YSO radiation transfer and stellar evolution models, we have developed a population synthesis code that generates model YSO populations that can be observed by JWST. We combine these model populations with principal component analysis (PCA) and maximum likelihood fitting to create a complete framework for predicting the age and mass of YSO populations. We dub this combination of Population synthesis and PCA, PxP, and show that it is effective at predicting mass and age with self-fitting tests. We apply PxP to the Spitzer identified YSOs in N44 and find a mass of (1.1+-0.1)*10^4 M_sun and an age of 0.74^{+0.06}_{-0.03} Myr, consistent with previous work. Next, we identify 112 YSO candidates in the archival JWST observations of NGC 604. Applying PxP to this newly identified population we find a mass of (2.2+-0.2)*10^4 M_sun and an age of 0.62+-0.01 Myr. This first look at this framework demonstrates its effectiveness with a specific set of models and leaves clear opportunities for future exploration. PxP allows us to directly determine the recent (<3~Myr) star formation history, giving an unprecedented look at the effect of the large-scale environment on individual star formation.

This study presents the first high-resolution, high-sensitivity mid-infrared (MIR) investigation of protoplanetary disks in a low-metallicity environment, using JWST/NIRCam and MIRI observations of Digel Cloud 2, a star-forming region in the outer Galaxy ($D \simeq 8$ kpc, ${\rm [M/H]} \simeq -0.7$ dex). It hosts two very young ($\sim$0.1 Myr) embedded clusters, Cloud 2-N and Cloud 2-S, offering a window into disk evolution under conditions analogous to the early universe, where low metallicity implies reduced dust content. Imaging across 1-20 $μ$m, including F770W and complementary bands (F356W, F444W, F405N), enables probing disk properties with unprecedented spatial resolution and stellar mass sensitivity down to $\sim$0.1 $M_\odot$. Among 89 and 95 sources detected in F770W in Cloud 2-N and 2-S, respectively, we identify candidate stellar-mass cluster members using infrared photometry, from which stellar mass and extinction are estimated. Among these, $\simeq$75 % retain optically thick disks in both clusters based on MIR SED slopes, consistent with similarly aged solar-metallicity regions. In contrast, a lack of 2 $μ$m excess suggests diminished inner disk emission, possibly due to enhanced silicate grains with low sublimation temperatures. Using the F405N narrow-band filter covering Br$α$, we detect accretion signatures in $\simeq$35 % of sources selected by extinction criteria, with rates $\gtrsim$10$^{-6}$ $M_\odot$ yr$^{-1}$, comparable to or exceeding those in nearby low-mass stars. Brown dwarf candidates, identified across multiple bands including F770W and shorter wavelengths, exhibit a high disk fraction of $\sim$75 %, indicating robust disk retention across mass ranges even under low-metallicity conditions.

Aims: We characterize the mid-infrared spectrum of the outer regions of the Red Rectangle nebula to probe the carbonaceous dust and molecular content beyond the circumbinary disk. Methods: We present JWST MIRI-MRS observations of the SW whisker, extracted from three distinct environments: the biconical outflow, the whisker itself, and the shadow region outside the outflow. We compare these with an archival ISO-SWS observation of the inner nebula. Results: The JWST spectra display only classical AIB emission on a weak dust continuum, with no signatures of the oxygen-rich circumbinary disk mineralogy nor of the rich molecular emission seen at optical wavelengths. The AIBs are predominantly Class A - in marked contrast to the exclusively Class B profiles previously reported for the inner regions - with systematic differences between the outflow and shadow regions pointing to environmentally driven PAH processing.

Pulsar Timing Arrays (PTAs) are rapidly advancing toward the detection of continuous gravitational waves from individual supermassive binary black holes. While it is well established that coherently utilizing the ``pulsar term" requires astrometric distance uncertainties to be smaller than the gravitational wavelength, achieving this precision across an entire array is observationally prohibitive. Here, we demonstrate that achieving sub-wavelength precision for a few ``anchor" pulsars is sufficient to phase-lock the array and drastically shrink the sky-localization error. Using 20 years of realistically simulated data, we systematically evaluate the localization performance of a 25-pulsar array containing three to six high-precision anchors. We show that while introducing three sub-wavelength anchors can reduce the 90\% credible sky area by a factor of 30 in certain directions, expanding this high-precision subset to six anchor pulsars ensures high-precision localizations across diverse source directions. Evaluating a representative set of sky directions, including local galaxy clusters and the locations of maximum and minimum array sensitivity, this six-anchor configuration yields 90\% credible localization areas ranging from $\sim 0.1$ to $9.2 \text{ deg}^2$ at a signal-to-noise ratio of 20. Furthermore, once this minimal subset crosses the sub-wavelength threshold, further reductions in distance uncertainty yield diminishing returns. This establishes a highly efficient near-term observational strategy: prioritizing intensive parallax campaigns for a small core of stable millisecond pulsars provides a cost-effective pathway to precision multi-messenger astronomy.

Targeted searches for pulsars based on their counterparts in radio images have resulted in the discovery of interesting pulsars including the first ever discovered millisecond pulsar (MSP). We are conducting an image-based pulsar survey, survey of compact sources for pulsars and exotic objects (SCOPE), that utilizes interferometric as well as time-domain observations to search for radio pulsations as well as characterize the sources in the image-domain to identify their true nature. In the first stage of the SCOPE survey, we have used the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) and the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) to follow up a sample of 31 compact and steep-spectrum sources. We provide an overview of the survey, the sample selection, the search procedures, and present discoveries of two MSPs -- J1840+1102 and J1827-0849. J1840+1102 is a 1.6 ms pulsar at the edge of the Scutum-Centaurus arm, while J1827-0849 is the radio counterpart of a gamma-ray pulsar that was earlier thought to be radio-quiet, and both the sources have very steep radio spectra. Using the interferometric data, we also provide a morphological classification of all the sources, model and characterize their spectra and identify the resolved, extragalactic sources in our sample. We discuss these results in the context of future image-based pulsar surveys.

Wide (soft) binaries are expected to be rapidly disrupted in dense stellar environments, yet they are observed in both the Galactic field and open clusters (OCs). In this paper, we investigate the formation and disruption of wide binaries in star clusters using direct N-body simulations. We perform simulations containing 10,000 objects with varying binary fractions and initial bulk rotation to give an in-depth look into the dynamical evolution of wide binaries in star clusters. We find that wide binaries dominate early disruption and formation processes during the initial high-density phase of cluster evolution. We propose two semi-analytical models to reproduce the evolution of the wide-binary population in simulations. The exponential model consists of an early, rapid-disruption phase with a time less than 10 Myr, driven by frequent encounters at high density, and a longer, relaxation-driven phase between 200 and 300 Myr. The broken power-law model provides break timescales when the decrease of wide binaries slows down during the early and long-term disruption. All timescales from both models agree with each other and decrease with increasing stellar density induced by high primordial binary fraction and cluster rotation. Wide binary disruption is mostly responsible for the early decline in the total binary fraction of the cluster. Such disruption leads to the decrease of radial binary fraction toward the cluster center until 500 Myr. Our results suggest low-density OCs or stellar groups younger than 10 Myr as the optimal environments for detecting wide binaries and provide a physical framework for understanding their contribution to the Galactic field population.

The role of cooling gas in triggering active galactic nucleus (AGN) feedback in the centers of galaxy groups and clusters remains a key open question. NGC 5044, the X-ray brightest galaxy group, hosts the largest known reservoir of molecular gas among cool-core groups and exhibits multiple AGN outbursts, making it an ideal system to study AGN feeding. We present new multi-frequency Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) observations of NGC 5044 at 1.4 GHz, 4.9 GHz, and 8.4 GHz, combining continuum imaging with HI spectroscopy. At 1.4 GHz, we recovered the previously known symmetric northeast-southwest jets extending for 5.5 pc each, along with evidence for previously undetected, more extended faint emission aligned with the older, kpc-scale outbursts. Comparison of 4.9 GHz and 8.4 GHz data from 2020 and 2024 reveals clear outward proper motion of jet components, yielding an average expansion speed of $(0.10\pm0.02)\,c$ and implying a dynamical age of $\sim$180 yr for the ejection of the parsec-scale jet components. The jet width profile suggests a transition from parabolic to conical collimation at a few $\times 10^{4}$ Schwarzschild radii. We detect a narrow, redshifted HI absorption line at $+264\,\mathrm{km\,s^{-1}}$ against the VLBA core, tracing a compact, cold atomic cloud within $\sim$10-20 pc of the AGN. The close velocity correspondence with previously detected CO and HI absorption features in ALMA and MeerKAT data, respectively, demonstrates that cold atomic and molecular gas coexists in infalling clouds at parsec scales. Overall, these results provide an unprecedented high angular resolution view of AGN cycling, jet growth, and feeding in a galaxy group environment.

For decades, astronomers have been searching for bright radio sources deep into the epoch of reionization (EoR). The most distant, powerful radio sources are expected to reside in heavily dust-obscured galaxies, exceedingly faint at optical and infrared wavelengths. Motivated by this, I systematically cross-match radio and JWST source catalogs in the COSMOS field and identify a uniquely JWST-dark radio source: the only object undetected in every JWST band, yet clearly detected in radio data from LOFAR 144 MHz to the VLA 3 GHz. The source is only marginally resolved and shows a steep, unbroken radio spectrum, while remaining undetected in all available HST, JWST, Chandra, Herschel, and ALMA imaging. It may represent an extremely dust-obscured radio-loud source at cosmic dawn, or alternatively a detached radio lobe whose host galaxy lies elsewhere. In either case, it highlights the new discovery space at the intersection of deep radio surveys and JWST imaging.

We investigate the impact of galaxy mergers on the circumgalactic medium (CGM) using the FIREbox cosmological hydrodynamic simulation. By comparing matched samples of merging and isolated galaxies with stellar masses $M_\star \sim 10^{10}$--$10^{11} M_{\odot}$ at $z=0$ and mass ratio of merging galaxies larger than $1:10$, we find that mergers significantly alter CGM properties. Merging systems exhibit enhanced radiative cooling, leading to shorter cooling times than free-fall times across large CGM volumes. This results in amplified multiphase structure and increased cool/cold gas content ($T \sim 10^4K$) compared to isolated galaxies. Both inflow and outflow mass fluxes are elevated by at least $\sim$1 dex in mergers across all temperature phases, with cool gas primarily generated in-situ via radiative cooling rather than from pre-existing streams. Gas cycling analysis reveals that mergers fundamentally accelerate CGM processing, amplifying the effective transfer rate from cold/cool cosmic inflow to galaxy inflow by factors of $\sim 30$, through rapid cycling of inflowing gas through intermediate CGM phases, efficiently fueling the ISM and star formation. The enhanced cool gas content in mergers produces elevated column densities for low- and intermediate-temperature ion species in the inner CGM, while high-temperature ones remain largely unaffected.

The mass in the Universe is distributed non-uniformly, originating the Large Scale Structure (LSS), characterised by clusters, filaments, walls and voids. Galaxies in voids are bluer, later type, less massive, and have slower evolution than galaxies in denser environments. The effect of the void environment on properties such as star formation rate (SFR) is still under discussion. We tackle this by estimating spatially-resolved SFR from extinction-corrected Halpha luminosities of 220 void galaxies from the CAVITY survey. These observations consist of optical integral field unit data cubes from the PMAS/PPaK spectrograph at Calar Alto Observatory. We measure the continuum-subtracted emission lines to obtain maps of SFR, specific star formation rate (sSFR) and extinction. We assess global properties and radial profiles up to 2 half-light radii. We compare with galaxies in filaments and walls from the CALIFA survey using the same methodology, building a control sample matched in morphology and stellar mass. We find no significant differences in SFR and sSFR, although void galaxies tend to have larger SFR, especially for early spirals. This effect is present for Sa galaxies at all galactocentric distances, and in the outer parts of late-type spirals, evidencing slower transition to quiescence and less evolved discs. Void late-type galaxies have lower extinction. Using extinction normalised by stellar mass surface density as a proxy for gas mass fraction, we find it larger for void early spirals, especially in outer regions. This indicates the effect of the void environment on the transition from star forming to passive.

In a series of papers on lensed kinematics, we seek to combine the sensitivity of 3D forward modelling to low signal-to-noise ratio outskirts with the enhanced spatial resolution of cluster lensing. In this first paper, we (i) present and validate our methodology, which directly constrains the source parameters by incorporating lensing deflections into the $\texttt{GalPaK}^\texttt{3D}$ forward-modelling algorithm, and (ii) investigate the evolution of the stellar-mass and baryonic-mass Tully-Fisher relations (sTFR and bTFR) since $z \sim 1$. We define a robust sample of strongly lensed star-forming galaxies (SFGs) from the MUSE Lensing Cluster survey, spanning magnifications $μ= 1.4 - 12.4$ and stellar masses $M_\star = 10^{8.1} - 10^{10.3} M_\odot$. Using a series of mock galaxies, we find that our method is significantly more reliable at recovering morpho-kinematic properties than approaches that ignore differential magnification, even for relatively modest magnifications ($μ< 6$). Restricting the analysis to 95 rotationally supported SFGs with well-constrained velocities, we find a significant evolution of the sTFR zero-point ($Δb^\mathrm{sTFR} = -0.42^{+0.05}_{-0.05}~\mathrm{dex}$ in stellar mass) but no detectable evolution of the bTFR zero-point ($Δb^\mathrm{bTFR} = 0.00^{+0.06}_{-0.06}~\mathrm{dex}$ in baryonic mass) relative to $z \approx 0$. Our results are consistent with a mild evolution of the stellar-to-halo mass ratio and support the view that the sTFR has evolved only weakly over the past $\sim 8$ Gyr, aside from shifts driven by the redshift dependence of halo-defining quantities such as the critical density and overdensity. The absence of detectable evolution in the bTFR zero-point suggests that the increasing contribution of cold gas mass at higher redshift fully compensates the evolution observed in the stellar component alone. [abridged]

Cosmic shear is a powerful probe of cosmological distances, matter abundance and clustering in the low-redshift Universe. Cosmological parameter extraction from cosmic shear data is limited by our understanding of baryonic astrophysics, which severely restricts the range of scales used in such analyses. We show that the remaining scales are largely perturbative and can be accurately described with two-loop effective field theory (EFT) predictions. We present the first consistent analysis of the public cosmic shear data from the DES-Y3 catalogs in EFT at the two-loop order, renormalizing small-scale sensitivity in cosmic-shear predictions via a lensing-counterterm expansion and accounting for the intrinsic alignments of galaxies with spin-2 EFT predictions. We constrain the lensing amplitude competitively with standard (empirically-modeled) methods, finding $S_8 = 0.783^{+0.038}_{-0.031}$ ($S_8 = 0.802^{+0.031}_{-0.026}$ with BAO). The perturbativity of cosmic shear suggests novel opportunities for testing new physics with ongoing and upcoming cosmic shear experiments like Roman, Euclid, and LSST. As an example, we derive matter clustering constraints within the dynamical dark energy model from a combination of our DES-EFT cosmic shear likelihood, early-universe CMB priors, DESI BAO, and supernovae data, finding $S_8 = 0.824\pm 0.029$, indicating no $S_8$ tension in the growth of cosmic structure regardless of the underlying cosmological model and expansion history.

F, G, K and M type stars are the most abundant stellar population in the Milky Way and are expected to contribute to its diffuse X-ray emission. Yet their intrinsic average X-ray spectrum remains poorly constrained due to their faint X-ray luminosities, leaving their collective role in the X-ray background of the Milky Way uncertain. We analysed the volume-complete sample of M- (M0--M6) and FGK-type stars within 10 pc of the Sun using data from eROSITA all-sky survey aboard the Spectrum-Roentgen-Gamma (SRG) mission (eRASS:4). Individual spectra were normalized by exposure and distance and stacked to produce representative averages. The distance-normalized emission measures yield an average X-ray luminosity of $(2.6 \pm0.1)\times 10^{27}$ erg/s for M-type stars, and $(15\pm3)\times 10^{27}$ erg/s for F, G and K-type stars in 0.2--2.0 keV. The average spectra could be well described by a sum of three and two thermal models. Fitted temperatures and abundances remain consistent across M-star subgroups, while early-M stars are surprisingly on average less luminous than mid/late-M types. These results offer new insights into the collective X-ray properties of nearby stars, and provide motivation to explore the link with the unresolved soft X-ray background of the Galaxy.

The kSZ effect has recently emerged as a powerful probe for precision cosmology through its ability to reconstruct the large-scale velocity field. In particular, the kSZ-reconstructed velocity-galaxy cross-correlation is sensitive to signatures of primordial non-Gaussianity through its imprint on the galaxy bias. The kSZ velocity reconstruction is performed using small-scale information from CMB temperature and galaxy overdensities. As the sensitivity of these measurements improves, systematic effects such as extragalactic foreground contamination present in CMB maps become increasingly important. We present a study of foreground biases to the kSZ-reconstructed velocity-galaxy cross-correlation. We derive the relevant foreground contributions from the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect and the cosmic infrared background, modeling them using a halo model description of the dominant one- and two-halo terms. We compare our analytic predictions to measurements obtained using ACT DR6 temperature maps and DESI Legacy Imaging Survey galaxies, finding qualitative agreement. We introduce a parity-odd estimator constructed from antisymmetric combinations of tomographic velocity-galaxy correlations and show analytically that, under the Limber approximation, this estimator entirely cancels the foreground contamination while preserving the full cosmological signal without loss of signal-to-noise. Finally, we apply this parity-odd estimator to the data combination mentioned above and show that the fit to the velocity-galaxy correlation is dramatically improved compared to the analysis without mitigation; our estimator detects the signal at 11$σ$, with an amplitude consistent with recent studies.

SNR G106.3+2.7 is a complex TeV emitting source whose emission is still poorly understood. It has especially been at the center of numerous discussions on its potential for being a supernova remnant (SNR) PeVatron, since its gamma-ray spectra seems not to exhibit any significant suppression in the multi--TeV range, up to $\sim 600$ TeV, thereby indicating the presence of $\sim$ PeV particles. We study the hypothesis in which a SNR evolving in a clumpy or cloudy environment is powering the TeV gamma-ray emission, detected mainly from two regions, the "head" and the "tail". We discuss the implications of such an hypothesis. We rely on a simple physically motivated analytical modeling of the shock dynamics and of the content of accelerated particles and confront it to available gamma-ray observations. We find that the current observed TeV gamma-ray emission in the head and tail regions can be accounted for by an active single SNR, with a natural hardening of the spectrum due to the expansion in a clumpy medium or escaping to a dense region in the tail. However, in all scenarios, the broadband gamma-ray emission from the GeV range to the $\gtrsim 100$ TeV range is difficult to reconcile with a standard SNR - whether originating from a thermonuclear or a core-collapse supernova - and instead points toward an association with the pulsar.

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), among the most energetic transients in the Universe, are traditionally classified into long-duration GRBs (lasting more than two seconds) and short-duration GRBs (lasting less than two seconds)\cite{Kouveliotou1993}. Long-duration GRBs are typically associated with the core collapse of massive stars (Type II), whereas short-duration GRBs originate from the merger of compact binary systems (Type I)\cite{Woosley2006, Zhang2006Natur, Zhang2009b, Berger2014}. Owing to their distinct physical origins, the two classes exhibit markedly different observational properties, which serve as key diagnostic criteria for GRB classification\cite{Norris2000, Zhang2009b, Lv2010, Lv2014, Qin2013, Li2016, Minaev2020}. Here we report a peculiar gamma-ray burst, GRB 160425A, comprising a short-sharp duration burst ($G_1$) followed by a long-broad duration burst ($G_2$), separated by only four minutes. Strikingly, nearly all standard prompt-emission observational diagnostics, including pulse morphology\cite{Norris2005}, duration\cite{Kouveliotou1993}, hardness ratio \cite{Horvath2010, Goldstein2017}, minimum variability timescale\cite{Golkhou2014, Golkhou2015}, spectral properties \cite{Dezalay1992}, spectral lag\cite{Norris2000,Norris2006, Yi2006, Bernardini2015}, and established empirical correlations (the Amati and Norris relations \cite{Amati2002, Norris2000}), consistently categorize $G_1$ as a short-like (Type-I, merger-origin) GRB and $G_2$ as a long-like (Type-II, collapsar-origin) GRB. The coexistence of merger and collapsar signatures within a single event challenges existing progenitor frameworks, calling for a fundamental re-evaluation of GRB classification schemes and progenitor scenarios.

Despite their key role in astrophysics, the binary properties of RR Lyrae stars (RRL) remain almost completely unknown since only a single RRL is confirmed as belonging to a binary system. Finding companions to RRL is difficult since most of them will be at wider orbits, given that close orbits will likely ensue mass transfer disrupting the conditions to develop stellar pulsations. These wide orbits open the possibility that RRL companions may be more easily found by high-resolution imaging. We observed 81 RRL with the speckle interferometers Zorro and 'Alopeke at the Gemini telescopes, reaching the diffraction limit of $\sim$20 mas of these 8m-class telescopes, and therefore exploring a new parameter space around RRL. We have detected 10 newly identified companions around these 81 RRL, with projected separations between 20 AU to 220 AU. An analysis of the field contamination shows that all of these detected companions are most likely gravitationally bound binaries. From these observations we can estimate an RRL binary fraction higher than 12%, ruling out a binary fraction higher than 25% at the 99% confidence level. These numbers are significantly more elevated than previous estimations which were close to a binary fraction of only 1%, albeit derived with methods exploring a different parameter space. For RRL with thin disc kinematics, we find that the binary fraction is significantly lower, at around 6%, with a single thin disc RRL having a companion out of the 16 observed. The nature of the companions, found to be stars in the lower red giant branch and upper main sequence, is also studied via the measurement of the minimum light colors of the RRL, which appears as a useful method for the search and analysis of RRL in binary systems.

Overmassive black hole galaxies (OBGs) at redshifts $z \sim$ 10, or 450 Myr after the Big Bang, are one of the most puzzling discoveries by the James Webb Space Telescope to date because they formed by such early epochs and their black-hole to stellar mass ratios are a hundred times higher than those in galaxies today. Here we show that OBGs are simply the result of DCBH birth in primordial halos at early times. A 70,000 M$_{\odot}$ DCBH forming at $z =$ 25.7 in our cosmological simulation grows at about half the Eddington rate to $6.0 \times 10^6$ M$_{\odot}$ by $z =$ 10.1. Its host galaxy reaches a stellar mass of $4 \times 10^8$ M$_{\odot}$, a metallicity $Z =$ 0.1 Z$_{\odot}$, a star formation rate of 2 M$_{\odot}$ yr$^{-1}$, and $M_{\rm BH}/M_{\ast}$ $\sim$ 0.01, on par with OBGs like GN-z11, UHZ1, and GHZ9 at $z =$ 10.6, 10.1, and 10.2, respectively. Our simulation, the first to follow the coevolution of a DCBH and its host galaxy for several hundred Myr, shows that this ratio is a natural result of initial suppression of star formation by the DCBH and the later, violent blowout of metals by Pop III supernovae. Our models provide an excellent match to the spectra of UHZ1 and GHZ9 at $z =$ 10.1 and 10.4, respectively.

We propose that changing-look AGN transitions arise from size variability of the inner ADAF disk. The AGN accretion disk comprises an outer thin disk and an inner thick ADAF component whose size is intrinsically unstable and evolves with time. The size variations of ADAF are accompanied by changes in accretion rate and outflow quantity, with the latter governing line of-sight absorption. From this variable ADAF perspective, changing-state and changing-observation AGN represent two faces of the same coin. We further discuss gigahertz-peaked and compact steep-spectrum radio sources as potential manifestations of small-to-intermediate scale ADAFs. Finally, we propose that AGN unification models should incorporate both orientation and ADAFsize as key parameters.

The observed large-scale structure of the Universe is not a direct measure on the underlying distribution of matter. These observations are subtly distorted by gravitational lensing effects, which leave imprints on the statistical distribution of galaxies and offer powerful test of general relativity. In this work, we investigate whether HI intensity mapping from current and forthcoming surveys can improve constraints on magnification lensing obtained from photometric galaxy surveys. In particular, can we jointly constrain the magnification bias parameters $s^\mathrm{G}(z)$ and the amplitude of the Weyl potential, which we parametrise as $β$. We employ a Fisher matrix formalism in order to estimate future constrains on the magnification biases and $β$. We forecast constraints for three photometric surveys (DES-like, LSST-like, Euclid-like) individually and with two HI intensity mapping surveys (MeerKLASS, SKAO). We apply the multi-tracer technique by combining each galaxy survey with each HI survey, exploiting the combined constraining in the overlapping sky area. The multi-tracer approach dramatically improves constraints on $β$ by factors of 25 to 50, depending on the surveys considered. For $s^\mathrm{G}(z)$, improvements can be marginal or by a factors of 2 to 8. We also verify that $β$ and $s^\mathrm{G}(z)$ can be constrained simultaneously as the cross-correlations between tracers break the degeneracies among them. We conclude that the multi-tracer combination of photometric galaxy surveys and HI intensity mapping surveys enables high-precision measurements of both $s^\mathrm{G}(z)$ and $β$. This opens an additional pathway to constrain $Φ+Ψ$ and test the validity of general relativity on cosmological scales.

We present 72 additional galaxy-galaxy strong lenses that complement the sample discovered in the Euclid Quick Release 1 data (63.1 deg^2) of the Strong Lens Discovery Engine (SLDE) papers A-E. It is shown that previous pre-selection of potential lenses, which excluded objects from the Gaia catalogue, led to missing several bright and low-redshift strong lenses, adding more than 10% new strong lens candidates compared to the previous search. In total, the catalogue includes 38 "grade A" (confident) and 34 "grade B" (probable) candidates. These lenses are identified through a combination of two independent searches for bright nearby objects: one based on machine-learning models followed by expert visual inspection, and the other based solely on expert visual inspection, targeting objects not included in the initial machine-learning selection (a limitation identified only after extensive visual inspection). With these additional strong lens candidates, we augment the expected number of high-confidence candidates in the Euclid Wide Survey from previous forecasts to 120000. Detailed semi-automated lens modelling confirms at least 41 systems out of 72, a fraction consistent with that found in SLDE A (315 out of 488). These include: multiple edge-on disc lenses; sources with arcs near the lens centre; "red sources"; and an edge-on disk galaxy lensing a galaxy merger, producing two sets of lensed features, an Einstein ring and a doubly imaged component. The median redshift of these systems is $Δ$ z ~ 0.3 lower than that of the SLDE A sample.

The spectral evolution characteristics of the prompt emission in gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) have been extensively studied, but detailed investigations of spectral evolution in a GRB flare remain lacking. In this work, we present the first analysis of spectral parameter evolution in a GRB flare through high time-resolved spectral fitting of the Brightest Flare in GRB 221009A. We find that the $α$-Flux, $E_p$-Flux, and $E_p$-$α$ relationships during both the overall phase and the rise phase of flare can be well described by simple power-law model, showing positive correlations. Therefore, we conclude that Brightest Flare exhibits "Double-tracking" behavior. Since values of $α$ do not exceed the synchrotron "death line" (-2/3), we explain this phenomenon using a magnetic dissipation synchrotron radiation model. In the decay phase of flare, the $E_p$-Flux and $E_p$-$α$ correlations become notably flatter, with their power-law indices decreasing significantly compared to those in the rise phase. This may be due to the fact that the next flare begins to erupt before the Brightest Flare has completely ended, resulting in the combined effects of both two flares. Our study of spectral parameter relations of the Brightest Flare provides new insights into the radiation mechanisms of both GRB prompt emission and flares.

Millisecond pulsars (MSPs) are observed to emit multi-wavelength radiation, from radio to GeV. Spider MSPs, which interact with their low-mass companion in close orbit (orbital periods $< 1$ day), may lead to strong intrabinary shocks that can further accelerate electron and positron pairs produced in the magnetosphere, possibly emitting very-high-energy (0.1--100 TeV; VHE) photons through inverse Compton scattering. Using 2565 days of HAWC Pass 5 data, we search for VHE emission from spider MSPs and present upper limits on individual sources. We also perform a stacking analysis to examine whether the two sets of spider systems, classified as redbacks and black widows depending on the companion mass, exhibit different spectral properties. Our study places constraints on TeV emission from MSPs and suggests that they are unlikely to contribute significantly to the Galactic diffuse emission at TeV and higher energies.

We present deep imaging of Andromeda XXXVI (And XXXVI), a dwarf galaxy discovered through visual inspection of the Pan-Andromeda Archaeological Survey, using observations obtained with the OSIRIS+@GTC instrument. The colour-magnitude diagram of And XXXVI shows a well-defined red giant branch (RGB). However, constraining a distance is challenging because the tip of the RGB is sparsely populated and no horizontal branch stars are found. The RGB is nevertheless well matched by an old (12.5 Gyr), metal-poor ([Fe/H] = - 2.5) isochrone shifted to the distance of Andromeda (776 kpc). With a projected distance of 119 kpc from M31, And XXXVI is therefore likely a satellite of Andromeda. With $M_{V} = -6.0 \pm 0.2$, half-light radius $r_{h} = 64 ^{+30}_{-19}$ pc and an ellipticity $ε= 0.015^{+0.032}_{-0.012}$ And XXXVI is one of the faintest, and potentially the second most compact, of ultra-faint M31 dwarfs discovered to date. The discovery of And XXXVI adds to the faint end of M31's satellite luminosity function, suggesting the presence of an even larger population of very faint satellites. Deeper space-based imaging and/or spectroscopic observations are needed to better constrain its position within M31's halo. Combined with a detailed star formation history, such data would help determine whether its old, metal-poor stellar population indicates early quenching, similar to the trends seen in Milky Way satellites, and whether And XXXVI could be considered a reionisation fossil.

Anomalous Cepheids are radially pulsating stars observed in dwarf galaxies, the Galactic bulge and halo, and globular clusters. Similarly to other radially pulsating stars, they can be used as distance indicators through their Period-Luminosity Relations (PLRs) and the geometrical Baade-Wesselink (BW) method. We aim to calibrate the zero-point of the distance scale of Anomalous Cepheids using nearby representatives of this class of pulsating stars. We collected optical and near-infrared photometry and spectra for a sample of nearby Anomalous Cepheids with twotelescopes located at the Rolf Chini Cerro Murphy Observatory and optical telescopes offered by the Las Cumbres Observatory, and with instruments hosted and operated by the European Southern Observatory. Using parallaxesmeasured by the Gaia space mission and mean magnitudes from our new photometry, we calibrate the zero-point of the PLRs in Johnson B, V, 2MASS J, H, KS , and Pan-STARRS g, r, i passbands and selected Wesenheit indices. Using the surface brightness-colour relation version of the BW technique, we also determined the projection factors and mean radii of three nearby Anomalous Cepheids. Precision of the measured zero-points is at the level of 0.04-0.05mag and their systematic uncertainty is estimated to about 0.1mag. We used our zero-points and literature photometry of the Large Magellanic Cloud Anomalous Cepheids to measure the distance modulus of this galaxy and obtained a value of 18.454$\pm$0.045(statistical) mag, in a very good agreement with the most accurate value from eclipsing binaries. The obtained projection factors are 1.38$\pm$0.13, 1.59$\pm$0.21 and 1.35$\pm$0.14 for V716 Oph, XX Vir and UY Eri, respectively. The radii measured for V716 Oph and UY Eri are in agreement with the period-radius relation obtained from the Large Magellanic Cloud Anomalous Cepheids.

We present a far-ultraviolet (FUV) analysis of the star-forming complexes (SFCs) in the nearby spiral galaxy NGC\,2090, based on observations from the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UVIT), and compare it with emission from the optical and infrared bands. NGC\,2090 exhibits prominent star formation in its extended outer disk, with FUV emission traced out to $\sim$30 kpc, far beyond the truncation of the old stellar disk at $\sim$5 kpc. It is classified as an extended UV (XUV) disk galaxy. We identify and characterize the SFCs both within and beyond the optical radius (R$_{25}$), estimating their physical sizes and star formation rates (SFRs). The outer-disk SFCs are generally smaller in area and show a narrower distribution of SFR surface density ($Σ_{\mathrm{SFR}}$) compared to the inner-disk SFCs. We investigate the properties of the inner disk using mid-infrared data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), and find that the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emission is strongly correlated with regions of active star formation. The specific SFR (sSFR) increases with radius, consistent with a scenario of inside-out disk growth. The observed number of SFCs and their H$α$-to-FUV flux ratios in the outer disk of NGC\,2090 indicate ongoing massive star formation and are consistent with a top-heavy IMF, implying that the upper end of the IMF is not truncated in the low-density, metal-poor outskirts. These results suggest that XUV disks can host significant massive star formation despite their low stellar density and metallicity.

The $Λ$CDM model successfully explains a wide range of cosmological observations; however, persistent discrepancies most notably the $H_0$ tension between early and late time measurements challenge its completeness. No proposed extension has yet resolved this tension while retaining the overall success of $Λ$CDM. In this work, we investigate whether the $H_0$ tension can be associated with a specific epoch in the cosmic expansion history and identify the redshift range most relevant for understanding its origin. In addition to the cosmological constant, we consider three phenomenological models based on general parametrizations of key quantities governing cosmic expansion: the dark energy (DE) equation of state, the DE pressure density, and the scale factor. Using early time Planck data and late time Pantheon+ (with and without SH0ES calibration) and DESI measurements, we constrain model parameters and examine the evolution of the Hubble parameter $H(z)$. We find that $Λ$CDM exhibits discrepancies across all redshifts, whereas the other models shift the dominant deviations toward low redshifts. Among the models considered, the pressure density parametrization alleviates the $H_0$ tension, reducing it to $\sim 2.7σ$, while the other models do not provide significant improvement. A detailed analysis of DESI DR2 data further reveals notable deviations in $H(z)$ at $z=0.51$ and 0.706, whereas higher redshift measurements remain consistent within $1σ$. These results suggest that late-time modifications primarily reshape the redshift dependence of the mismatch in $H(z)$ rather than fully resolve it, in the absence of systematic effects. Furthermore, the reconstructed DE dynamics exhibit qualitatively distinct behaviors across parametrizations, highlighting a persistent inconsistency between early and late Universe probes in describing the nature of DE.

Quasi-periodic eruptions (QPEs) are a recently discovered class of highly variable X-ray bursts originating in galactic nuclei. These high-amplitude bursts exhibit periodicity ranging from tens of minutes to several days. QPEs are also characterized by variable peak amplitudes that can vary by a factor of few. While multiple physical models have been proposed to explain QPE light curves, none can fully account for all the observed features. A possible connection between QPEs and tidal disruption events (TDEs) has been suggested, particularly due to the past optical/UV outbursts that can be traced back for several sources, the long-term decay in the continuum luminosity, and the soft, thermal-dominated X-ray spectrum. Our primary goal is to verify whether the long-term decrease in eruption amplitudes detected for some QPE sources is consistent with the accretion disk being formed following a TDE. In this work, we adopt a simplified extreme mass ratio inspiral (EMRI) scenario, where a Solar-type star orbits a supermassive black hole (SMBH) and collides with an accretion disk twice per orbit, generating eruptions. We assume a post-TDE disk that follows a temporal power-law decline in mass accretion ($\propto t^{-p}$, $p>0$). As our aim is to develop a toy-model scenario, we have used purely analytical methods without considering all intervening processes in their full generality. Indications are that (i) the observed long-term decline in QPE amplitudes can be reproduced if the first monitored epoch occurs years to a few decades after the tidal disruption, (ii) stellar mass loss caused by ablation can play an important role in the evolution of QPE amplitudes in systems with heavy main-sequence (MS) stars.

Recent studies at high redshift have revealed an enigmatic class of Little Red Dots (LRDs) with extreme Balmer breaks, stronger than in any stellar atmosphere. However, it is unclear whether such objects exist at lower redshift, especially given the low number of LRDs reported at $z\lesssim 2$. Here we report the discovery of PAN-BH*-1, an LRD with an extreme Balmer break at $z=1.73$, identified from JWST/NIRCam pure-parallel imaging taken by the PANORAMIC survey, and confirmed by deep VLT/X-Shooter spectroscopy. The rest-optical to near-infrared spectral energy distribution of PAN-BH*-1 is consistent with a photospheric continuum with effective temperature $T_{\rm eff}\approx 4800$ K. The broad H$α$ emission line shows remarkably deep absorption, stronger than previously measured in any LRD. The absorption trough spans from $-520$ km/s to $+267$ km/s with respect to the systemic redshift. The presence of blue- and red-shifted absorption suggests complex dynamics of the obscuring gas along the line of sight. We speculate that the absorption trough can be produced by a thick wind launched from a thick, rotating photospheric disk, the latter being the source of the red optical continuum. While the source is unresolved in the rest-optical JWST data ($r_{\rm eff,UV}<47$ pc), the rest-NUV HST imaging shows an extended morphology with $r_{\rm eff,opt}=1.0^{+0.5}_{-0.3}$ kpc, that we interpret as a host galaxy with a stellar mass $\sim 10^8$ $M_\odot$, in line with the narrow H$α$ emission. The discovery of this object at cosmic noon highlights the feasibility of systematic searches for extreme LRDs with wide-area facilities such as Euclid and Roman.

Core-collapse supernova remnants (CCSNRs) are crucial for understanding the final stages of massive star evolution, as they reflect the imprints of their progenitors' pre-explosion activities. However, the evolution of CCSNRs, particularly those originating from progenitors with high mass-loss rates -- known as stripped-envelope SNRs (SESNRs) -- remains poorly understood. This is largely due to the lack of comprehensive numerical models connecting progenitor stars to their remnants, especially in the context of binarity. In this study, we perform self-consistent simulations of CCSNRs from both single and binary progenitors, utilizing mass-loss histories and supernova ejecta profiles directly derived from stellar evolution and explosion calculations. Our models reveal significant differences in the circumstellar medium (CSM) structures between single and binary progenitors, which drive distinct SNR dynamics and spectral characteristics. We find that binary-stripped progenitors tend to produce SNRs with more monotonic CSM profiles, resulting in smoother shock dynamics and less pronounced X-ray luminosity peaks compared to their single-star counterparts. Additionally, we introduce a new characteristic timescale, $t_{\rm CSM}$, defined by the total mass lost by the progenitor. This timescale effectively scales the evolutionary phases of CCSNRs in complex CSM environments, thereby facilitating the comparison of SESNRs. Given that observed elemental abundances in SNRs reflect the nucleosynthesis yields of the progenitor, our results highlight the importance of considering the dynamical state of SNRs when interpreting observed abundances. This work provides a fiducial framework for future observational and theoretical studies of CCSNRs, particularly regarding the impact of binary evolution.

Context. Via scaling relations, it is well-known that active galactic nuclei (AGN) and bulges are linked. This link was thought to be driven by mergers, but recent studies show that secular processes are the dominant mechanism of supermassive black hole growth. One such secular mechanism is gas inflow driven by large-scale bars. Since bulges can also grow via these bars, there is likely some common process between these three features. Aims. We investigate whether the observed correlation between AGN and bars is real or arises as a result of correlations between bars and bulges. Methods. Using a catalogue of AGN identifications and galaxy morphologies in the DESI Legacy Survey at $z\leq0.1$, we control for mass and colour and investigate the AGN fraction variation with bulge prominence and bar strength. Results. We first show that the variation in AGN fraction between strongly barred, weakly barred and unbarred galaxies does not qualitatively change if we additionally control for bulge prominence. Second, we find that in fixed bins of bulge prominence, the AGN fraction increases with increasing bar strength. In subsamples split by bar strength, the AGN fraction increases with bulge prominence, indicating that AGN presence correlates with both bar strength and bulge prominence simultaneously.

We performed a comprehensive study of thermonuclear bursts from the millisecond X-ray pulsar SAX J1808.4$-$3658 with XMM-Newton and NICER. We report the results from the analysis of an intense burst with NICER using a self-consistent and physically motivated disc reflection modeling approach and investigate the burst-disc interaction. The dynamic evolution of the spectral parameters suggested evidence of photospheric radius expansion (PRE) of the neutron star using the disc reflection modeling approach, which indicates a maximum expansion of the photosphere up to 14.8$\pm$0.7 km. The corresponding blackbody temperature drops to a minimum of 1.9 keV. In addition, an emission line at 1 keV is observed, possibly originating from the Ne or Fe L-band transition as a result of the reprocessing of burst photons by cold gas in the accretion disc. The 1 keV emission line flux is found to be strongly correlated with the flux of the reflection component. We also investigated a thermonuclear burst observed with XMM-Newton EPIC-PN from SAX J1808.4$-$3658 using the variable persistent emission method and the disc reflection modeling approach. The X-ray reflection feature is also investigated in persistent emission using a NuSTAR observation. The best-fitting results provide an inner disc radius of $14_{-5.9}^{+9.7}$ $R_g$ and an inclination of $ 38^\circ-60^\circ$ during the NuSTAR observation. The magnetic field is estimated to be $\simeq$3.7 $\times$10$^8$ G at the poles of the neutron star.

We present the first public data release (DR1) of the KMTNet Synoptic Survey of Southern Sky (KS4). This deep, wide-field imaging survey covers a southern footprint of -85$^{\circ}$ < Decl. < -28.8$^{\circ}$ in the $B$, $V$, $R$, and $I$ bands using a network of three 1.6-m telescopes. Although primarily designed to secure reference imaging for gravitational wave counterpart identification, DR1 delivers science-ready data for $\sim$4,000 deg$^{2}$ to enable a broad range of astrophysical research. The release includes deep co-added images reaching median 5$σ$ depths of 22.0-23.5 AB mag. It is accompanied by two source catalogs containing over 200 million sources with SNR $>5$: an $I$-band-selected forced-photometry catalog optimized for consistent colors, and a band-merged catalog offering enhanced completeness. Validation demonstrates robust data quality, characterized by mean astrometric offsets of $+0.054 \pm 0.129$ arcsec in RA and $-0.015 \pm 0.120$ arcsec in Dec relative to Gaia DR3. {\refbf Photometric uniformity for point sources is maintained within $\pm 0.03$ mag relative to Gaia XP for 97.5--99.8\% of the footprint across all four bands.} A key advantage of KS4 is its uniform and contiguous spatial coverage. It extends to fainter magnitudes than other uniform surveys while filling irregular gaps in existing deep datasets. All data products are publicly available via the CDS and NOIRLab's Astro Data Lab.

We report the results of $g-$, $r-$, and $i-$dropout selections based on optical identifications of Very Large Array Sky Survey (VLASS) radio sources using the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program survey (HSC--SSP). By positional crossmatching within $1''.5$ between the VLASS Epoch~2 catalog and the HSC--SSP Wide-layer catalog ($i \lesssim 26$), we obtain $\sim$400 high-redshift radio AGN candidates at $z \gtrsim 4$ over a $\approx1200~\mathrm{deg}^2$ survey footprint, extending optimistically to $z \sim 7$. Optical magnitudes cluster at $i_\mathrm{AB} \simeq 24$--26, indicating that these sources are largely inaccessible to shallower surveys such as SDSS. By further cross-matching the HSC--VLASS dropout catalog with VLA Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-centimeters (FIRST) at 1.4~GHz, the LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey (LoTSS) at 144~MHz, and the TIFR GMRT Sky Survey (TGSS) at 150~MHz, the majority of the high-$z$ candidates show flat to moderately steep radio spectra ($-1 \lesssim α\lesssim 0$, with $f_ν\propto ν^α$), and some also exhibit turnover radio spectra, demonstrating that conventional ultra-steep-spectrum (USS; $α<-1.3$) selection would miss most of the population selected in this study. Building on this, we perform SED fitting and obtain AGN luminosities, which show a clustering at typical bolometric luminosities of $\log(L_{\rm bol}/{\rm erg~s^{-1}})\sim46$--47. We also examine the comoving number density distribution of our samples and find a sharp decline around the $i$-dropout regime ($z \sim 6$), suggesting the possible disappearance of luminous radio AGNs toward the epoch of reionization.

We complement a recent analysis comparing $R_\mathrm{h}=ct$ with $Λ$CDM/$w$CDM using HII galaxies and giant extragalactic HII regions, by carrying out Bayesian model comparison. For this purpose, we calculate the Bayes factors for $R_\mathrm{h}=ct$ compared to flat $Λ$CDM/$w$CDM using the same dataset. When we use uniform priors on cosmological parameters, we find that the Bayes factors are close to 1, implying that $R_\mathrm{h}=ct$ is equally favored compared to $Λ$CDM/$w$CDM. However, when we use normal priors on cosmological parameters based on Planck cosmology, we find that $R_\mathrm{h}=ct$ is strongly favored over flat $Λ$CDM, while $R_\mathrm{h}=ct$ is marginally favored over flat $w$CDM.

High-Velocity Clouds (HVCs) are a major fuel reservoir for star formation in the Galactic disk. Determining their origin and kinematics is thus crucial for understanding Galactic evolution. In this paper, we employ simple test-particle simulations to model HVC kinematics, generating line-of-sight velocity maps and probability density functions (PDFs) for comparison with observational results. We find that models assuming low angular momentum and an initial scale of tens of kiloparsecs (kpc) successfully reproduce the observed kinematic trends for both blue-shifted and red-shifted components. This consistency may support the dominance of intermediate-halo dynamics (tens of kpc scale) in regulating Galactic evolution, consistent with HVC formation via thermal instability in metal-polluted gas in the halo. Furthermore, by considering the entire bulk mass involved in the continuous accretion process -- including diffuse or ionized components that often escape direct observation -- our theoretical estimates yield a total mass accretion rate of several solar masses per year. This indicates that HVC accretion has the potential to supply a sufficient amount of gas to the Galactic disk to sustain ongoing star formation over several Gyr. Our findings suggest that the Galactic baryon cycle and disk evolution are governed by dynamics within the intermediate halo, providing key kinematic constraints for future magnetohydrodynamical simulations that resolve spatial structures of high velocity clouds.

Higher-order correlation functions of the large-scale galaxy distribution offer access to information beyond that contained in standard 2-point statistics such as the power spectrum. In this work we assess this potential for the $\textit{Euclid}$ mission using synthetic catalogues of H$α$ galaxies based on the 54 $\, h^{-3} \, {\rm Gpc}^3$ Flagship I simulation, designed to reproduce the $\textit{Euclid}$ spectroscopic sample. We comprehensively validate the one-loop galaxy power spectrum and tree-level bispectrum predictions from perturbation theory in both real and redshift space. Assuming scale cuts consistent with our previous power spectrum study on the same catalogues, this modelling yields unbiased cosmological constraints for the bispectrum up to $k_{\rm max} = 0.15\,\, h \, {\rm Mpc}^{-1}$ in real space and $0.08 \, (0.1)\,\, h \, {\rm Mpc}^{-1}$ at the lowest (highest) redshift, corresponding to $z=0.9$ ($z=1.8$), for the monopole and quadrupole in redshift space using statistical uncertainties corresponding to the full simulation volume. With these scale cuts, adding bispectrum information to the power spectrum improves constraints on the amplitude of scalar perturbations and the matter density by up to 30 %, increasing the overall figure of merit for key cosmological parameters by a factor of about 2.5. Similar conclusions hold when statistical uncertainties are rescaled to a $\textit{Euclid}$-like volume, highlighting the importance of the bispectrum for fully exploiting the forthcoming $\textit{Euclid}$ data. Our analysis also provides the first detailed characterisation of the nonlinear bias model of H$α$ emitters, showing that bias relations calibrated on low-resolution \textit{N}-body simulations do not adequately describe the clustering of H$α$ galaxies at low redshift, whereas excursion-set and co-evolution relations for tidal biases remain accurate.

We present a wide-area and deep optical identification catalog for radio sources based on the VLASS Epoch 2 catalog at 3 GHz. Optical counterparts are identified using the final-year internal processing of the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program (HSC-SSP) Wide layer (DR S23B), which provides deep imaging over ~1200 deg$^2$ in $grizy$ with $i$-band depth of $i_\mathrm{AB}\sim26$. Starting from a 1.0 arcsec nearest-neighbor match between VLASS and HSC, we construct a quality-controlled primary catalog (Clean VLASS-HSC) of 22,773 sources by requiring S/N$>5$ in at least one HSC band. We further provide ancillary nearest-neighbor associations to FIRST (1.4 GHz) and LoTSS DR3 (150 MHz) within 2.5 arcsec, resulting in 18,444 FIRST-matched sources, 16,167 LoTSS-matched sources, and a 14,206-source subset matched to both surveys. The catalog contains approximately six times more optically identified radio sources than the first WERGS optical-identification effort based on the early HSC-SSP S16B data and positional cross-matching with FIRST (Yamashita et al. 2018). The VLASS Epoch 2 resolution yields more precise optical associations (median 0.199 arcsec) and, together with uniform FIRST/LoTSS matches, enables robust multi-frequency radio SED constraints. Compared to UNIONS-based VLASS identifications (Zhong et al. 2025), the deeper HSC imaging improves sensitivity to optically faint and even morphologically resolved hosts at $z\gtrsim1$. Our catalog preferentially highlights host-dominated AGN candidates, potentially including a substantial fraction of obscured systems.

Binary black hole (BBH) systems residing in the centers of galaxies evolve within complex astrophysical environments. These environments, comprising dark matter (DM) halos and baryonic accretion disks, can significantly alter the orbital dynamics of the binaries and their resulting gravitational wave (GW) emission. In this study, we investigate the dynamical evolution and GW waveforms of BBH systems embedded in the centers of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and the Andromeda Galaxy (M31). We construct a comprehensive analytical framework that jointly incorporates GW radiation reaction, DM spike effects (including dynamical friction and accretion, derived from the Navarro-Frenk-White profile), and accretion disk perturbations. Using this framework, we track the long-term evolution of the binary's semi-latus rectum $p$ and orbital eccentricity $e$. Our simulations reveal that the coexistence of a DM spike and an accretion disk significantly accelerates the inspiral process compared to pure DM or vacuum scenarios. Crucially, to assess the observability of these environmental effects, we calculate the Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) and waveform Mismatch for future Pulsar Timing Arrays (PTAs). Our analysis demonstrates that these systems can achieve robust detectability thresholds ($\text{SNR} \ge 8$) within specific parameter spaces. Furthermore, the substantial Mismatch (reaching $\sim 0.7$ over a 20-year observation in the LMC scenario) indicates that the phase deviations induced by these environmental effects are highly distinguishable from vacuum templates. These findings predict the prospect of using future GW detections to probe complex galactic environments.

Totally similar physical process in tidal disruption events (TDEs) basically indicates that there should be potential parameter to distinguish variability properties of TDEs from the other transient events having different physical processes. Here, we try to report such a parameter, the timescale ratio $R_{2/1,rd}$ of rise timescale $t_{1/2,r}$ (from half-max to maximum) to decline timescale $t_{1/2,d}$ (from maximum to half-max), especially based on the 34 optical TDEs with reported $t_{1/2,r}$ and $t_{1/2,d}$. Among the 34 optical TDEs, AT2020wey is an outlier with $R_{2/1,rd}\sim2.7$ which is 4.5 times larger than the mean value 0.6 of the other optical TDEs. However, after considering similar but more flexible model functions, the re-determined $R_{2/1,rd}$ is $\sim$0.9 in AT2020wey, totally similar as the values of the other optical TDEs. Therefore, the parameter $R_{1/2,rd}\sim0.6$ could be a potential classification parameter for optical TDEs. Furthermore, $R_{1/2,rd}$ have been checked in the unique optical transients of AT2019avd, PS1-10adi, SDSS J0946+3512 and J2334+1457. We can find that the second flare with $R_{1/2,rd}\sim11$ in AT2019avd should be very different from the other optical TDEs, but PS1-10adi, SDSS J0946+3512, J2334+1457 and the first flare in AT2019avd should be similar as the other optical TDEs. In the near future, properties of $R_{1/2,rd}$ through large sample of optical transients could provide further clues to support whether $R_{1/2,rd}$ could be a better classification parameter to distinguish TDEs and the other transient events.

It is generally accepted that the launching of astrophysical jets requires a large-scale magnetic field threading a central object (black hole or star) and/or its surrounding accretion disc. However, the collimation mechanism far away from the central object has not yet been fully understood. In a previous work we investigated a mechanism in which the jet is self-collimated due to a dominant hoop stress. We ran numerical simulations in which a Jet-Emitting disc (JED) spans the entire lower computational boundary. Those were the first of their kind to showcase the steady recollimation shocks predicted by steady-state analytical studies of jets. However, the huge size of the JED prevented a complete study of the connection between the accelerating and asymptotic electric circuits, as well as the influence of the outer medium. We performed a set of axisymmetric ideal MagnetoHydroDynamics (MHD) non-relativistic jet simulations. In those, only the innermost region of the accretion disc is a jet-launching zone. The jets of finite radial extent in those simulations also produce steady recollimation shocks at large distances from the central object. Standing recollimation shocks are not a bias of self-similarity, but a generic feature of jets emitted from magnetized Keplerian accretion discs. They may produce observable features, such as a standing emission knots, a decrease of the rotation rate or a change in polarisation. We also recover previous results on the influence of external pressure on jet confinement, such as the relation between pressure profile and jet shape, and jet acceleration efficiency.

We study the physical mechanisms underlying the production of orbitally-modulated PeV photons from Cyg X-3, recently discovered by the LHAASO collaboration. Our key findings are as follows. Helium nuclei are accelerated in a compact and strongly magnetized region within the jet, but they then quickly advect downstream to regions with a weaker field, allowing them to diffuse out of the jet, where they produce pions in hadronic collisions with both the stellar photons and the stellar wind of the Wolf-Rayet donor. The optical depths across the binary are $\lesssim$1 for both types of interactions, implying that their rates are proportional to the column densities along the particle paths. Given the low viewing angle of Cyg X-3 ($i\approx26^\circ$--$28^\circ$), most of the observed photons are produced by the relativistic hadrons accelerated in the counterjet (for which the column densities toward the observer are much longer than for the jet). This also explains the peak of the phase-folded PeV photon flux to be on the opposite side of the superior conjunction than that for the (also orbitally-modulated) GeV photons, which are produced by collisions of relativistic electrons with stellar photons in the optically thick regime. This then implies that the GeV emission is produced in the approaching jet.

Stochastic particle acceleration in magnetized turbulent plasmas has emerged as a key mechanism to explain multi-messenger signals from compact astrophysical environments. Self-consistent modelling remains challenging because it requires to treat simultaneously several non-linear kinetic processes, especially turbulence-driven acceleration and its feedback on the turbulent cascade, as well as the radiative and hadronic losses, including the reprocessing of electromagnetic radiation in radiatively dense environments. The present paper introduces the hybrid numerical code Turb-AM3 designed to this effect. This hybrid numerical code couples the state-of-the-art time-dependent lepto-hadronic radiative solver AM3 with a stochastic acceleration module that incorporates recent theoretical advances in turbulent acceleration and accounts for the dynamical damping of turbulence by accelerated particles. In a second part, we use this code to provide self-consistent time-dependent models of proton acceleration in the turbulent black hole corona of NGC~1068. We find that the IceCube neutrino signal is well reproduced for a standard set of physical parameters describing the black hole corona. The same template model accounts in a satisfactory way for IceCube observations of other active galactic nuclei. Furthermore, our exploration of parameter space allows us to predict detailed template spectral shapes for the TeV neutrino spectrum, which in turn help understand how future neutrino observations can constrain the properties of turbulent AGN coronae and the underlying acceleration mechanism. This Turb-AM3 framework provides a powerful tool to model multi-messenger emission in a broad variety of compact astrophysical environments.

We developed a computer vision-based methodology to achieve precise 3D segmentation and tracking of superbubbles within magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the supernova-driven interstellar medium. Leveraging advanced 3D transformer models, our approach effectively captures the complex morphology and dynamic evolution of these astrophysical structures. To demonstrate the technique, we specifically focused on a superbubble exhibiting interesting interactions with its surrounding medium, driven by a series of successive supernova explosions. Our model successfully generated detailed 3D segmentation masks, enabling us to visualize and analyze the bubble's structural evolution over time. The results reveal insights into the superbubble's growth patterns, energy retention, and interactions with surrounding interstellar matter. This interdisciplinary approach not only enhances our understanding of superbubble dynamics but also offers a robust framework for investigating other complex phenomena in the cosmos.

Gravitational waves from core-collapse supernovae offer a unique probe of the equation of state (EOS) of dense nuclear matter. For rapidly rotating stars, previous machine-learning studies demonstrated promising EOS classification accuracy. However, these analyses relied on several simplifying assumptions. In this work, we relax three key assumptions. First, we include real detector noise. Second, we expand the analysis from a single progenitor model to four models spanning 12 to 40 solar masses, and for each mass we consider multiple rotational configurations, from slow to rapid. Third, we introduce uncertainty in the core bounce time of up to 20 ms, rather than assuming it is known precisely. We find that none of these effects significantly degrades EOS classification performance. Instead, the larger dataset associated with multiple progenitor models and noise realizations improves training and classification accuracy. This study is a step in a broader effort to progressively incorporate more realistic conditions into gravitational-wave inference for core-collapse supernovae.

We study whether an open FLRW Universe with a negative cosmological constant can evade the eventual recollapse characteristic of AdS-type Universe. Within a power-law realization of Fab-Four theory, we solve the background equations numerically and analyze the asymptotic dynamics. We find that the scalar sector provides a self-tuning-like compensation of the negative Λ while leaving the spatial-curvature term unscreened. Consequently, the expansion does not reverse. Instead, the Universe evolves toward a curvature-dominated linear-expansion regime, a {\propto} t. To probe the underlying compensation mechanism, we further analyze an auxiliary zero-curvature subsystem using Poincaré compactification. The physically admissible trajectories approach a critical point at infinity where the compensating scalar-Λ sector becomes stiff-like (w_{φ+Λ} {\to} 1), so that its effective energy density redshifts faster than curvature (w_k = -1/3). Although this auxiliary analysis does not cover the full curved cosmology, it is consistent with and qualitatively supports the numerical finding that the net φ + Λ contribution becomes subdominant to curvature, thereby preventing recollapse despite Λ < 0. This extends the application of the self-tuning mechanism to the AdS region and offers a possibility for the AdS Universe predicted by string theory to become a reality.

Gravitational wave astronomy has revealed that close binaries with compact companions are widespread. Long GRBs (LGRBs) from massive star collapse face persistent challenges in achieving the rapid core rotation required by the collapsar model. Binary interaction via tidal spin-up offers a natural solution; recent population synthesis studies suggest a substantial fraction of LGRBs may originate from close binaries with a compact companion. In this scenario, supernova ejecta from the primary can be accreted by the companion, potentially launching a second relativistic jet after a delay set by the binary separation. We develop a comprehensive model for these double-jet systems, analyzing the dynamics of the second jet and its interaction with the first. The resulting observational signatures depend critically on the Lorentz factor ratio, the alignment angle, and the time delay. For aligned jets, two regimes arise: a fast second jet producing multiple gamma-ray triggers with distinct spectral/polarization evolution, and a slow second jet where its emission appears as an X-ray flare followed by an afterglow plateau from energy injection. For misaligned jets, the observed signal ranges from normal GRBs with late-time radio structures to fast X-ray transients followed by off-axis rebrightening. These features have observational parallels in existing GRB data. High-resolution radio interferometry with SKA, time-resolved polarimetry with eXTP, and multi-wavelength surveys with Einstein Probe and SVOM will test these predictions, providing constraints on the evolution of close massive binaries as progenitors of GRBs and gravitational wave sources.

The Closeby Habitable Exoplanet Survey (CHES) aims to achieve microarcsecond-level astrometry of about one hundred nearby FGK-type stars within 10 parsecs to detect Earth-like planets. Such precision exceeds the capability of absolute astrometry relying on Gaia catalogs, whose positional accuracy degrades over time due to error propagation from stellar motion and epoch offsets, limiting their use in microarcsecond-level detection. Traditional relative astrometry depends on positional components along right ascension and declination, requiring precise knowledge of field rotation and satellite attitude, which introduces additional errors. To address this, we propose a new relative measurement model based solely on variations in the length of angular separation between the target and reference stars, independent of direction. The model incorporates effects such as proper motion, parallax, radial velocity, light aberration, gravitational lensing, and planetary perturbations, enabling reconstruction of planetary orbits and masses. This approach enhances measurement stability and precision, providing a framework that is not entirely dependent on the Gaia catalog and suitable for CHES and other future high-accuracy astrometric missions.

We used observations obtained with the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope on board the AstroSat satellite to measure the integrated far-ultraviolet (FUV) and optical (V) magnitudes of 30 Galactic globular clusters (GCs). We classified the UV-bright evolved stellar populations of the GCs using FUV$-$V versus FUV color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) and BaSTI-IAC isochrones and subsequently quantified their contributions to the total integrated FUV emissions. We found that the horizontal branch (HB) and post-HB (post-HB) stars contribute $\sim 40\%-45$\% to the total FUV emission of GCs, while the contribution of blue straggler stars is only $\sim$3\%. The HB stars especially dominate the UV budget of the metal-poor clusters. The observed spread in FUV-optical color in the color-color diagram supports the phenomenon that the UV upturn of early-type galaxies is due to the evolved stars. We studied for the first time the variation of integrated FUV magnitudes and colors with several cluster parameters in the core, intermediate, outer, and tidal regions, such as the fraction of second-generation stars, helium mass fraction, HB morphology, and mass of the GCs. We found that the GCs with a higher second-generation star fraction, helium mass fraction, and cluster mass are brighter in all the regions. The GCs with bluer HB morphologies also have brighter and bluer FUV magnitudes in the core and intermediate regions. Metal-poor GCs show significantly bluer FUV$-$optical colors, consistent with a stronger contribution from hot evolved stars.

Finding the first generation of (Population III or Pop III) stars is one of the most ambitious and exciting challenges of astrophysics. JWST opened concrete prospects for their detection during the Epoch of Reionization (EoR), where increasing evidence suggests that residual Pop III formation may persist, even within pristine pockets of high-mass halos, due to inhomogeneous enrichment. However, the identification of Pop III stars within globally enriched environments will be challenging. We investigate the detectability of a subdominant Pop III component in/around massive ($M_\star \gtrsim 10^9 ~\mathrm{M_\odot}$) galaxies at $z \approx 6.5 - 9$ from the dustyGadget cosmological simulation suite, and the confusion arising from second-generation (Pop II) stars in their surroundings. We find that young ($\lesssim 1$ Myr), massive ($M_\mathrm{III} \sim 6 \times 10^5 ~\mathrm{M_\odot}$) Pop III clusters forming within these galaxy environments are responsible for strong HeII1640 line emission ($L_\mathrm{HeII1640} \gtrsim 10^{41} ~\mathrm{erg \, s^{-1}}$), which would be detectable with $\approx 10 (50)$ h of medium-resolution observations with NIRSpec/IFU at $z \approx 6 (10)$. These bright luminosities cannot be produced by standard Pop II populations alone. On the other hand, the dominant Pop II component within massive ``hybrid'' Pop III hosts powers strong metal line emission ($L_\mathrm{[OIII]5007} \gtrsim 10^{42} ~\mathrm{erg \, s^{-1}}$), indicating that the detection of metal lines alone cannot exclude the presence of Pop IIIs in high-$z$ galaxy environments. We further discuss candidate selection strategies based on Ly$α$, H$α$ and H$β$ emission, and how spatially resolved observations may enable the detection of isolated, pristine pockets in the outskirts of massive halos.

We study a minimal modified gravity scenario in the symmetric teleparallel (non-metricity) formulation, focusing on an inverse non-metricity term with $f(Q)=Q+M^4 Q^{-1}$. The model does not introduce additional free parameters relative to $Λ$CDM, but modifies the late-time expansion and linear growth via an enhanced effective gravitational coupling. We identify key signatures: an enhanced matter power spectrum and CMB lensing, alongside a reduced late-time ISW effect and a shift in CMB peak positions. We confront the model with CMB data alone and in combination with BAO, RSD, SNIa, and DES large-scale structure data, considering both fixed minimal neutrino mass and varying $Σm_ν$. We find that the model typically prefers higher $H_0$ than $Λ$CDM, alleviating the $H_0$ tension, while its boosted growth tends to increase clustering amplitudes unless offset by larger neutrino masses when $Σm_ν$ is free. Overall, CMB-only data provide at most weak statistical support compared to $Λ$CDM, whereas late-time measurements impose tight restrictions that largely remove any improvement, positioning this model as a minimal yet strongly constrained alternative to dark energy.

Water Cherenkov Detectors (WCDs) are pivotal in various scientific fields, including neutrino physics, gamma-ray astronomy, and cosmic-ray research. The detection sensitivity and precision of these detectors crucially rely on photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) to capture Cherenkov radiation produced by charged particles moving faster than the speed of light in water. In recent years, employing multiPMT modules has emerged as a promising strategy to enhance large volume water and ice Cherenkov detector performance. In this work we explore the use of a multiPMT module in small WCD units, arranged in arrays as typically used to detect Extensive Air Showers (EAS). We outline a possible configuration and present the advantages it can offer for data analysis, as demonstrated through dedicated simulations. We investigate the potential of multiPMTs in capturing the features of the Cherenkov light distribution originated by single muons and discuss its possible application for muon tagging in WCD arrays.

The Galactic center is a complex and crowded region hosting the supermassive black hole Sgr A*, numerous accreting compact objects, and diffuse X-ray emission. This paper presents the first in a series of studies analyzing the XRISM observation of the X-ray transient MAXI J1744-294/Swift J174540.2-290037, located $\sim18''$ from Sgr A*. The observation, conducted in March 2025, along with XMM-Newton and NuSTAR coverage, aimed to investigate the Fe emission features of MAXI J1744-294 during its outburst. However, the region surrounding the source is heavily contaminated by X-ray emission from various diffuse and point sources, including strong line contributions from the supernova remnant Sgr A East and the Galactic center X-ray emission (GCXE). Additionally, the nearby neutron star low-mass X-ray binary (NS-LMXB) AX J1745.6-2901 was also in outburst during the XRISM observation, further complicating the spectral analysis. This study focuses on disentangling the contributions of these overlapping sources by robustly modeling the background contamination and spatial-spectral mixing. We describe the methodologies, region selection, and data reduction techniques applied to the different instruments. Two complementary approaches -- empirical and physical modeling -- are employed to characterize diffuse emission and point-source contributions. The results provide a foundation for the detailed spectral analysis of MAXI J1744-294, AX J1745.6-2901, and the surrounding interstellar medium (ISM), which will be presented in subsequent papers. This study highlights the challenges and robust solutions for analyzing XRISM/Resolve data from crowded regions in conjunction with other X-ray telescope data.

Narrow, highly ionized X-ray emission lines in black hole low-mass X-ray binaries (BH-LMXBs) are rare and have been observed in only a few sources, during unusual, heavily obscured accretion states. We report on a detailed high-resolution spectral analysis of emission line features from the first XRISM observation of a BH-LMXB candidate in a bright soft state, MAXI J1744-294/Swift J174540.2-290037, in the central parsec region of our galaxy. The source was observed as part of an extensive, coordinated multi-wavelength campaign on its recurring X-ray outburst in early 2025. By carefully modeling the contributions of multiple point sources and diffuse emission within the XRISM/Resolve field of view, and combining these data with broadband X-ray coverage from XMM-Newton and NuSTAR (Paper I), we identified a narrow ($σ\sim 500-1000$ km s$^{-1}$), static emission component intrinsic to the system. This component likely arises from a highly ionized (log $ξ\gtrsim 5.5$) photoionized plasma in the inner disk atmosphere, and is accompanied by a weak, narrow Fe I K$α$ line at 6.4 keV. We also detected at least three narrow emission features at atypical energies between 6.7 and 7.1 keV. The lack of corresponding rest-frame atomic transitions points toward highly ionized blueshifted Fe lines with outflow velocities of $-1300$ to $-6000$ km s$^{-1}$, which we model with multiple layers of photoionized or collisional plasma. We explore scenarios in which these unprecedented features are produced by multiple phases in a jet and/or a disk wind, and discuss potential similarities between MAXI J1744- 294 and the exotic microquasar SS 433.

We present a comprehensive study of X-ray absorption by sulfur (S), argon (Ar), and calcium (Ca) in the interstellar medium (ISM) along the line of sight to the low-mass X-ray binary MAXI J1744$-$294, using high-resolution XRISM Resolve spectra complemented by Chandra HETG data. The analysis employs an updated ISMabs model, incorporating newly computed $R$-matrix photoabsorption cross-sections for Ca I$-$Ca III, and existing cross-sections for higher ionization states. We find that S and Ar are predominantly in low-ionization states, with S II and Ar II dominating the cold and warm ISM phases, while higher-ionization species are constrained by upper limits. Calcium is primarily detected in low-ionization states, consistent with strong depletion into dust grains, with only marginal contributions from highly ionized ions. Using the measured ionic column densities, we infer hydrogen column densities of $N_{\rm H} \sim 1.1$-$1.3 \times 10^{23}\,\mathrm{cm^{-2}}$ from S and Ar, while the Ca-based value, tracing the neutral ISM, is in agreement with these estimates, highlighting the consistency across different tracers. Our results demonstrate the diagnostic power of combining multiple elements to probe ISM ionization structure, elemental depletion, and dust composition, and provide the first X-ray constraints on calcium absorption in the interstellar medium.

Two-component jets are frequently invoked to explain complex features in gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglows, such as late-time rebrightening and chromatic breaks. While many studies fit these models to individual events, a systematic exploration mapping the broader parameter space, particularly the reverse shock contribution, is currently lacking. To address this, we present a comprehensive systematic analysis of two-component jet signatures using numerical modeling with the VegasAfterglow code. Our modeling shows that observable rebrightenings in the forward shock require the wing to carry substantially more energy, while for the reverse shock the energies can be comparable. Because the two components can occupy different spectral regimes, spectral breaks may arise when the wing emission overtakes the core. When the wing's initial velocity is high, relativistic beaming can render its emission invisible to the on-axis observer. As the flow decelerates, the resulting debeaming produces a steeper rise in the observed emission, reaching temporal slopes as steep as about $4.5$ and peaking shortly after the core jet break. In this case, the wing masks the core's break, leaving only a single late-time break. Slower wings that are not initially beamed away do not obscure the core, allowing the observer to see two distinct jet breaks. At late times, the decaying post-jet-break slopes are unaffected and limited to temporal slopes of about $-p$. Additionally, the forward shock dominates the emission across most of the parameter space, while the reverse shock contributes noticeably only under conditions of high magnetization and long engine durations.

Tight and compact binary systems, such as double neutron star binaries, are believed to undergo a common envelope evolution phase, resulting in strongly bound orbits. During this phase, the outer layers of the primary star are expelled, resulting in orbital shrinkage. However, a part of the expelled material may remain as a circumbinary disk, which can further influence subsequent orbital evolution. In this study, we investigated orbital evolution in the presence of a circumbinary disk within a simplified framework by assuming that orbital contraction and disk dissipation occur over the viscous timescale. The results showed that the orbit of the binary system after the common envelope evolution phase was further contracted by up to $\sim 17 \%$ due to the presence of the circumbinary disk, irrespective of the disk's mass and structure. This additional orbital contraction following the common envelope evolution phase may have significant implications for the formation rate of double neutron star binaries that merge within a cosmic timescale.

A repeating partial tidal disruption event (rpTDE) is typically modelled as a star in a bounded orbit getting disrupted by a massive black hole at each pericenter passage. For the disruption to occur, the pericenter distance should be close to or within the characteristic tidal radius, such that the tidal field can overcome the star's binding force to trigger mass loss. However, a binary with a pericenter distance several times the tidal radius can build up its tidal perturbation over multiple orbits via a diffusive process, eventually triggering a nonlinear instability that may also eject mass and power an eruption. This leads to repeated disruptions that recur stochastically. In this letter, we propose that such a mechanism can produce a subclass of rpTDEs with large variations in the recurrence time (e.g., J0456-20), which we dub ``diffusive-tide rpTDEs''. We show that diffusive tidal growth can occur for a white dwarf or main-sequence star orbiting a massive black hole when the pericenter distance is a few times the tidal radius, provided the orbital period is shorter than the tidal energy dissipation timescale. These diffusive-tide rpTDEs may account for a significant fraction of all rpTDEs.

The physical quantities that directly regulate AGN feedback in massive galaxies remain poorly understood. Observations of molecular gas surrounding AGNs suggest that this gas serves as a fuel source for AGN activity. Accordingly, we study the relationship between AGN activity and molecular gas properties. In this study, we analyze a large sample of nearby AGNs with available measurements of molecular gas mass, radio luminosity, and \oiii~luminosity. Our results show that radio luminosity and \oiii~luminosity exhibit stronger correlations with molecular gas mass than with other physical parameters such as black hole mass, stellar mass, and bulge mass. Moreover, when controlling for the correlations between radio luminosity, \oiii~luminosity, and molecular gas mass, the relationships between these luminosities and other key physical parameters become significantly weaker or disappear entirely. This suggests that, of all the properties we have considered, it is the molecular gas mass that is most tightly correlated with radio and \oiii~luminosity, and may thus be the most important driver of nuclear activity.

We present new MeerKAT 21cm spectral line observations of the neutral hydrogen gas in the compact galaxy group Stephan's Quintet (HCG 92). These data provide a significantly improved view of the atomic gas distribution and kinematics in the group. New features include the first detections of HI associated with member galaxies NGC 7319 and NGC 7320C, the identification of an additional high-velocity HI component associated with SQ-A, and the detection of additional HI at low velocities filling much of the area of the NGC~7318B disk. We also find HI in the previously detected gas bridge linking NGC 7319 and NGC 7318B, and a new northern bridge linking NGC 7319 to the SQ-A star-formation region. We detect HI with a wide range of velocities along the line of sight through the northern half of the famous shock ridge, including in the 6200-6500$\rm\,km\,s^{-1}$ velocity range occupied by shocked H$α$ emission. We examine the morphology and velocity structure of the HI and consider the origins of different components, finding some evidence that while the gas associated with NGC 7318B has been disturbed by its collision with the group, it may still retain a component of disk rotation. We find no gaseous connection between the tidal tails and NGC 7320C, but reaffirm the close connection between the shocked gas in the ridge (traced by X-ray, radio continuum and warm H$_2$ emission) and the southern tidal tail. Based on the integrated spectrum, we find a total HI mass in the group of 3.5$\pm$0.4$\times$10$^{10}\,M_{\odot}$, higher than the VLA estimate and comparable to FAST.

Turbulent accretion disks threaded by a large-scale vertical field near equipartition can drive tenuous and fast self-confined jets. Self-similar solutions of these jet-emitting disks (JEDs) have been known for a long time and provide the distributions of all physical quantities, from the turbulent disk to the asymptotic regime of ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) jets. However, a thorough comparison with time-dependent numerical simulations has never been achieved, mostly because mass-loss rates found in simulations were always larger than those found analytically. This tension may have cast doubt on the analytical approach, the numerical one, or both. Our goal is to bridge the gap between these two complementary approaches and settle this long-standing issue. We performed 2.5D (axisymmetric) simulations of resistive and viscous accretion disks described by the same parameter sets as analytical JED solutions. The results demonstrate an almost perfect agreement between the numerical and analytical solutions, thereby resolving the previously observed tension. The simulations also confirm that JEDs behave as dynamical attractors: starting from different initial conditions, the system consistently converges toward the expected steady-state solution. This work demonstrates that self-similar solutions provide valuable insights into accretion-ejection physics. However, as 2.5D numerical simulations which rely on alpha-prescriptions, they strongly depend on the assumptions made for turbulent terms. In contrast, 3D simulations capture the turbulence, but become prohibitively expensive when modeling large-scale astrophysical systems. We advocate for the use of global 3D simulations to investigate turbulence and to derive physically motivated prescriptions for use in 2.5D studies.

We present a study of the gas-driven orbital evolution of unequal mass black hole binaries with circumbinary gas disks (CBDs), varying Mach number and viscosity (nu). Using two-dimensional grid-based hydrodynamics simulations spanning a thousand binary orbits at fixed separation, we explore low to moderate mass ratios (q = 0.05-1.0) and examine how variations in Mach and q affect the torques and component accretion rates exerted by the CBD and consequently the binary evolution. Equal mass binary systems receive positive torques in low-mach disks but transition to negative torques for Mach >25. As q decreases, the transition moves to higher Mach numbers. For q<0.1, we find no torque sign reversal below Mach~52, except in sufficiently low-viscosity disks. We find that the secondary black hole cannot effectively repel the CBD, it instead accretes most of the inflowing gas from the CBD; these low mass ratio binaries in high viscosity disks therefore tend to outspiral, although inspiral can occur in less viscous environments. We also find that binaries with mass ratios in the range of 0.25 - 0.5 can show preferential accretion favoring the primary when the gas viscosity is low, exemplifying an exception to the established rule of thumb that accretion favors the secondary. We discuss differences between our results and those reported in the literature on the orbital evolution and preferential accretion, and emphasize that our simulations extend into a regime that remains largely unexplored. Overall, our results suggest that intermediate mass ratio inspirals (IMRIs) in CBDs may be less frequent, but this depends sensitively on the interplay between mass ratio, disk temperature, and viscosity.

The conditions under which binary black hole (BBH) mergers embedded in active galactic nucleus (AGN) disks produce detectable optical counterparts remain poorly constrained observationally. We report multi-epoch optical imaging and spectroscopic follow-up of S240413p, an O4 BBH candidate with 98\% classification confidence, obtained with the T80-South telescope through the S-PLUS Transient Extension Program (STEP). Our observations cover the 99\% credible region across epochs that span $\sim$300 days post-merger. We prioritize AGN-hosted environments and identify two transient candidates, STEP2024gab/ZTF18acvgziq and STEP2024phe/ZTF19aaflhnr. SOAR/Goodman spectroscopy and archival DESI spectra yield host supermassive black hole masses of $\log M_\mathrm{SMBH}/\mathrm{M}_\odot = 7.15 \pm 0.05$ and $8.02 \pm 0.04$. We compute predicted flare delay distributions for each host using a thermal radiation-driven outflow emission model and the spectroscopically derived host properties. Migration traps produced by thermal torques occur at $R_\text{BH}/R_g \approx 10^{4.2}$ and $10^{3.4}$ for the two hosts, with predicted flare delays spanning tens to several hundred days; our late epoch at $\sim$ 300 days coincides with both the peak of these distributions and the migration trap locations, while early epochs overlap only their tails. We find no confirmed counterpart; a seasonal visibility gap leaves open the possibility that a flare occurred undetected, the merger may not have occurred within the AGN disk itself, or any emission may have been obscured by intrinsic AGN variability. These results demonstrate that long-baseline, AGN-prioritized monitoring is a necessary condition for accessing the highest probability region of BBH merger parameter space, and establish the need for physically informed follow-up strategies in the Rubin/LSST era.

Satellite galaxies undergo ram pressure stripping, in which their gas is directly removed by a hydrodynamical interaction with the surrounding host halo gas. In clusters, ram pressure stripped tails of gas have been observed to be multiphase, even forming stars within the stripped material. Some observations find a specific age gradient along the tail, with old stars closer to the galaxy disk, and a ``fireball'' toy model has been proposed in which a gas cloud being accelerated away from a galaxy continuously forms stars. In this paper, we simulate individual gas clouds (with masses of ~10$^6$ M$_\odot$ and radii of a few-100 pc) interacting with an intracluster medium wind, and include star formation. We find that our accelerating clouds do generally produce a stellar age gradient with younger stars formed farther along the wind direction and with higher velocities. However, our simulations are more physically accurate than an empirical model of monolithic cloud acceleration, leading to strongly nonmonotonic age gradients. First, the evolution of the gas cloud, both from cloud compression and collapse as well as from the shredding of cloud material into downwind filaments, can lead to stars formed simultaneously at a range of heights and velocities. Second, the gravity from the gas and stars of the cloud can lead to velocity evolution of newly-formed stars. We conclude that the most distinct fireball stellar age gradients are formed from star-forming clouds that are rapidly accelerated and shredded by their surroundings.

The internal mass structure of elliptical galaxies offers critical insights into galaxy formation, yet disentangling stellar mass from dark matter and determining the stellar initial mass function (IMF) remains challenging. We present a detailed analysis of ESO0286-G022 ($z=0.0312$), a rare nearby strong-lens system with a fast-rotating elliptical galaxy, combining high-resolution Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging with VLT/MUSE integral-field stellar kinematics. We construct axisymmetric and triaxial Schwarzschild orbit-superposition models to reconstruct its intrinsic shape and mass distribution. Despite being a fast rotator, ESO0286 exhibits clear kinematic signatures of intrinsic triaxiality, characterized by rotation along both the major and minor axes, making it only the second such confirmed case. By incorporating the mass enclosed within the Einstein radius from strong lensing as a complementary constraint, we tightly anchor the total mass at large radii. This significantly reduces the uncertainty on the outer mass profile and orbital structure, demonstrating that only models with strong radial anisotropy beyond the IFU field of view are compatible with the data. In the inner regions, we robustly constrain an upper limit for the stellar mass around $r \sim 0.7$ kpc, ruling out an IMF more bottom-heavy than Kroupa, though a gentle gradient toward a slightly heavier central IMF is permitted. This aligns with recent dynamical studies of local massive early-type galaxies but contrasts with heavier IMFs reported for lenses at $z>0.1$. Our work demonstrates the power of combining lensing and dynamical modeling to resolve the detailed inner structure of massive galaxies.

Understanding heating processes in galaxy clusters is essential for predicting the regulation of radiative cooling and star formation, and for clarifying the mechanisms underlying active galactic nucleus (AGN) feedback in cool-core clusters. We investigate the processes through which AGN jets deposit heat into the intracluster medium (ICM) by tracking passive entropy scalars in magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) simulations. This enables us to systematically disentangle the contributions from different heating channels. We successfully validate this method with several idealized tests, including turbulent heating, heating by anisotropic Braginskii viscosity, dissipative and adiabatic heating by shocks using in-situ shock-detection methods, and cosmic ray (CR) heating through the excitations and damping of Alfvén waves. Using this methodology, we simulate single-epoch outbursts of high-power jets with varying densities in a cluster environment. Light jets produce wider bubbles, displacing a larger fraction of the gas in the cluster's core, whereas comparatively denser jets propagate more efficiently to larger distances without significantly disturbing the central region. During early evolution, shock heating dominates for the jets irrespective of their densities. At later times, light jets primarily heat the ICM through turbulent dissipation, while the denser jets continue to dissipate most of their energy via shocks. Turbulent and/or mixing-driven heating prevails inside the cocoon, whereas shock and acoustic compressions dominate outside. In light jets, the forward shock weakens rapidly, whereas dense jets can sustain strong bow shocks to large distances. This heating estimator allows us to identify the dominant heating mechanism responsible for resolving the cooling flow problem in future self-regulated AGN jet simulations.

We present the characterisation, including a photometric redshift (photo-$z$) analysis, of the optical counterparts (CTPs) to over 45 000 bright ($S_{856\rm MHz} \geq$ 30 mJy) compact radio sources, identified across all ASKAP First Large Absorption Survey in HI (FLASH) fields observed up to April 2025. These sources constitute a large, homogeneous population of background continuum sightlines specifically selected to enable statistical studies of cold gas at intermediate redshifts of $0.42 \leq z \leq 1$. As spectroscopic redshift measurements are not available for the majority of these candidate absorbers, we estimate photo-$z$s for the CTPs of all FLASH continuum sources cross-matched to the tenth data release of the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys (LS10). Using these estimates, we establish the redshift distribution and find that approximately 13% of continuum sources lie at $z<0.42$ (foreground), 35% within the detectability range of FLASH (`in-band'), and 52% at $z>1$ (background). We examine the subset of FLASH continuum sources with CTPs in the eROSITA X-ray survey, providing additional insight into their AGN content, multiwavelength properties, and environments. Finally, we discuss how this information can be used as a statistical prior to aid in distinguishing between associated and intervening HI absorption systems and estimating the total comoving absorption path length of the survey, establishing a framework for incorporating redshift-based priors in future large radio absorption surveys. We release a catalogue of LS10 counterparts to FLASH continuum sources, providing photo-$z$ estimates, associated uncertainties, and measures of redshift degeneracies.

Extremely low metallicity stars are intensely studied as they take observations the closest to the very first generations of stars in the universe. Widely assumed to be enriched by just one dying massive star, some of these very metal poor stars have abnormal chemical abundance ratios and have been taken to reflect a rare hypernova (with high explosion energy $\gtrsim \ 10^{52}$ erg.). Here we remodel the enrichment of three such stars and show that their abundances are better explained by enrichment from a normal (less energetic) supernova accounting for inhomogeneous distribution of the ejecta. This work establishes the importance of the inhomogeneity of supernovae, serves as a template for a required reassessment of all metal-poor/peculiar stars, and raises the need to quantify this inhomogeneity both in theory and in observations.

Observations and cosmological simulations indicate that the early Universe hosted numerous compact, high-density stellar systems, where close encounters and physical collisions between stars were likely common. We develop a bottom-up framework for stellar dynamics in such environments, spanning systems with and without intermediate- and supermassive black holes, and covering regimes where stellar collisions may or may not dominate the evolution. This radially-resolved analytic model connects dense star clusters in their cosmological context to observable outcomes mediated by stellar collisions. Initial conditions and environmental properties are drawn from high-resolution cosmological simulations, enabling exploration across a broad region of parameter space. The analytic predictions are validated against Monte Carlo simulations, demonstrating good agreement across key regimes. We find that stellar collisions are ubiquitous in many high-redshift environments, with runaway sequences naturally leading to the formation of very massive stars at early times. Finally, we show that high rates of destructive collisions can rapidly build up extremely dense gaseous environments around massive black holes, potentially providing an analogue to the observed population of Little Red Dots.

Kilonovae (KNe) are the electromagnetic signatures of neutron star mergers and are likely the dominant site of cosmic $r$-process nucleosynthesis. However, their intrinsic rate remains poorly constrained due to a paucity of confirmed events. We use the All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae (ASAS-SN) to place limits on the rate of bright, nearby KNe over an 11-year baseline ranging from 2014 to 2024. To evaluate the survey's completeness for KNe, we employ an injection-recovery simulation using a shock-cooling cocoon model calibrated to the early blue emission of the only well-sampled KN, SSS17a (AT 2017gfo). Finding no KNe within the survey, we calculate a $2σ$ ($\sim95\%$) upper limit on the local volumetric KN rate of $R_{\mathrm{KN}} < 4400\,\mathrm{yr}^{-1}\,\mathrm{Gpc}^{-3}$. Despite ASAS-SN's shallower limiting magnitude compared to other time-domain searches, its continuous, high-cadence, all-sky monitoring yields a constraint that is competitive with the strongest results from electromagnetic surveys but remains a factor of 18 higher than the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA GWTC-4 estimate of the binary neutron star merger rate.

We present a detailed study of the stellar kinematic properties of red member galaxies in the cores of four strong lensing galaxy clusters at intermediate redshift included in the the Hubble Frontier Fields programme: Abell 2744 ($z=0.307$), Abell S1063 ($z=0.346$), MACS J0416.1$-$2403 ($z=0.397$), and MACS J1149.6$+$2223 ($z=0.542$). We focussed on a sample of 723 red cluster members in the four clusters and we measured their structural parameters using MORPHOFIT for all Hubble Frontier Fields bands. Taking advantage of deep (3.1h to 17h of exposure) integral-field spectroscopy from MUSE on the Very Large Telescope, we tested a pipeline based on the public spectral fitting code pPXF to systematically measure the line-of-sight stellar velocity dispersion $σ$ of cluster members with a spectral $S/N\geq 10$, with a statistical uncertainty consistently below 5%. The resulting catalogue contains 213 measured $σ$ values across the four clusters. We calibrated the Fundamental Plane relation in the rest-frame $r$ band for the early-type cluster members, selected from their colour and morphology, finding compatible parameters both across the clusters, and noting hints of zero-point evolution with redshift. Finally, we used the calibrated Fundamental Plane relations to assign a velocity dispersion value to all 723 red cluster members and studied the velocity dispersion function for each cluster, down to $\log σ\, \mathrm{[km \, s^{-1}] = 1.5}$. A Schechter-function fit of the velocity functions suggests compatible parameters: a positive $α$ slope with values in the range $0.55-1.60$, and $\logσ^*\, [\mathrm{km\,s^{-1}}]$ between $2.18$ and $2.47$. Compared to previous works, we extend the systematic study of the central velocity dispersion of cluster galaxies to lower-$σ$ regimes.

When blazars flare, their optical position moves. We show this by combining Gaia DR3 proper motions with epoch photometry for blazars with strong optical jet emission. In 60 of 74 sources with significant proper motion, rising flux drives the centroid upstream while fading flux drives it downstream - a near-universal pattern captured by a simple two-component model of constant extended emission and a flaring region. Using this connection, we geometrically localize the optical flares to within <1 mas of the VLBI position - a few parsecs at typical blazar distances - placing them in the innermost jet or accretion disk. This purely geometric method requires no multi-wavelength correlations or model-dependent assumptions, and provides an independent spatial anchor for localizing higher-energy flares. Per-epoch astrometry from Gaia DR4 is set to tighten our constraints even further.

We investigate the evolution of dark matter halo shapes in cosmological N-body simulations both in scale free Einstein-De Sitter (EdS) and $Λ$CDM cosmologies. We compute the axis ratios ($q=b/a,s=c/a$) of well resolved central halos using the shape tensor. These halos are identified using two different halo finding algorithms, SUBFIND and ROCKSTAR. We find that at fixed mass, halos become more spherical with decreasing redshift. The distribution $P(q,s)$ along with their median values ($q$ and $s$) shows self-similar behaviour as a function of mass scaled by the non-linear mass, $(M/M_{nl})$ across power-law spectral indices for scale free EdS models. However the median $q$ and $s$ show a tighter self-similar evolution as a function of peak height $ν=δ_c/σ(M,z)$. We find that the median $q(ν)$ and $s(ν)$ are consistent with an evolution along a universal curve described by $y=α-δ\tanh \left[ ω\left(\log_{10}(ν) - μ\right)\right]$ across the spectral indices ranging from $n=-1.0$ to $n=-2.2$. Our results hold for both SUBFIND and ROCKSTAR, although there are some differences between them. The universality of the evolution of median $q(ν)$ and $s(ν)$ also holds for the $Λ$CDM runs, although with a different behaviour at small $ν$ compared to the scale free models. The width of the distributions of $P(q)$ and $P(s)$ in both, scale-free and $Λ$CDM, classes of simulations can be reduced further by classifying halos as oblate, triaxial and prolate, each of which also follows a universal behaviour. Although oblate halos are relatively rare at all redshifts, their fraction increases over time at the expense of the other two populations.

We analyze a sample of low surface brightness dwarf galaxies (mu_e,g > 24.2 mag arcsec^-2), detected using interpretable machine learning tools from the DES survey. We use the Tanoglidis et al. (2021) sample, identified with machine learning, supplemented by Thuruthipilly et al. (2024). We focus on the Fornax-Eridanus Supercluster, where our group determined its 3D filamentary spine using massive galaxies. We study the effect of the large-scale environment on dwarfs in the Fornax-Eridanus Complex. To do this, we compare the properties of dwarfs in clusters, groups, and the field, and examine how these properties vary with distance to the spine of the Fornax Wall. We check if dwarfs trace the Fornax Wall spine, defined by massive galaxies. We identify Fornax Wall members from our photometric dwarf catalog, dividing them into i) within one virial radius of a galaxy group or cluster and ii) outside this radius (field galaxies). We assume dwarfs near the Fornax Wall are at the same distance as the massive galaxies. We then study their distribution within the complex. We probe the morphology-density relation and examine galaxy properties versus distance from the Fornax Wall spine. Red dwarfs are mostly in or near groups close to the Fornax Wall, dominating the population, while blue dwarfs dominate the field. Larger-sized red dwarfs tend to reside in group environments, with significantly larger effective radii than those in the field. Red dwarfs are more concentrated towards the Fornax Wall than blue dwarfs. This suggests that the group environment plays a significant role in the evolution of dwarfs. Mass density distribution in field and group/cluster is similar, indicating the group/cluster population could be an aged version of the field. The group/cluster objects with excess sizes must have been made through interactions in the groups/clusters.

We report the discovery of 31 new open clusters (OCs) identified in \textit{Gaia}~DR3 data through a systematic search over 220 adjacent $1^\circ\times1^\circ$ fields towards the Galactic anticentre, in the direction of the Perseus arm gap. Eight of them display low-density structures, possibly indicating open cluster remnants properties. The objects were identified and characterized through a combined analysis of photometric, kinematic, and spatial distributions, a methodology successfully applied in our previous works. Their structural properties, mean proper motions, ages, distances and reddening were derived and their centres cross-matched with the available catalogues. The clusters are low-concentrated systems and are mostly located within $3<d<5$ kpc, exhibiting reddening up to $E(B-V)\approx1.5$, and ages from $\sim$20 Myr to 1 Gyr. The new OCs represent a significant increase in the anticentre cluster census: $31\%$ for $3<d<4$ kpc and $12\%$ for $d>4$ kpc. They do not belong to the Perseus arm, but may be associated with the Outer Norma arm. The Gulf of Camelopardalis region appears as an interruption in the Perseus arm, possibly reflecting low star-formation activity, dust obscuration, or that the Milky Way is a flocculent, rather than a grand-design spiral galaxy.

In this article, we investigate a new parametrization of the dark energy equation of state (EoS) with a single parameter for a barotropic fluid that deviates from the standard $Λ$CDM cosmology. We derive observational constraints on the model parameters using recent datasets including Observational Hubble Data (OHD), Pantheon+SH0ES (PPS), and Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument Baryon Acoustic Oscillations Data Release 2 (DESI BAO DR2). We constrain the best fit value of the parameter as, $α=0.239 \pm 0.07$ at 68\% CL from joint analysis, which is non-null and suggests deviations from the cosmological constant. The model accommodates varying values of Hubble constant from different datasets and joint analysis yields $H_0 = 68.40 \pm 0.23$ $\mathrm{Km\,s^ {-1} Mpc^{-1}}$ at 68\% CL. We examine the physical behavior of the model by analyzing the deceleration parameter, the age of the universe, and the Om(z) diagnose. The deceleration parameter confirms a smooth transition from the past deceleration phase to the present cosmic acceleration as well as and also a second future transition back to deceleration, when PPS data is employed.

We present the first radiation-hydrodynamical simulations of the formation of a born-again planetary nebula (PN) triggered by a late thermal pulse (LTP). The 2D radiation-hydrodynamic simulations, performed with the {\sc pluto} code, have been consistently coupled to stellar evolution calculations using the Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics ({\sc mesa}) code. Very particularly the stellar evolution model uses (i) updated opacity tables for H-deficient, C-rich mixtures during the LTP, and (ii) a mass-loss prescription tailored for H-deficient [Wolf-Rayet]([WR])-type winds during the post-LTP phase. Our stellar model reproduces the nearly complete depletion of H expected after an LTP event, while matching the observed abundances and spectral types of iconic [WR]-type central stars of PNe. The simulations show for the first time that the H-deficient LTP ejecta forms a transient double-shell structure which, after $\sim$1000 yr, becomes fully mixed with the H-rich PN. The ejecta mass ($\sim3.4\times10^{-4}$~M$_\odot$) is too small to leave a lasting imprint on the nebular abundances, predicting H-rich PNe around [WR] central stars. The injection of LTP material into the hot bubble drives turbulence, clump formation, and enhanced mixing, providing an explanation to the larger expansion velocities and larger turbulent nebular structures of PNe with [WR] central stars compared to those with H-rich central stars. These results provide robust support for the born-again scenario as the origin of H-deficient [WR] central stars within H-rich PNe.

Lightcone observations are the natural data format of galaxy surveys, but their evolving geometry breaks the translational symmetry assumed by standard convolutional neural networks (CNNs). In particular, applying CNNs to 3D gridded lightcone data implicitly treats the line-of-sight direction as translationally invariant, despite encoding cosmic time evolution. We propose a simple alternative (CNN+2D) that divides the lightcone into redshift slices, projects each onto a HEALPix sphere, and analyzes them with a 2D CNN. Using \texttt{AbacusSummit} halo lightcone mocks ($0.3<z<0.8$, $40^\circ\times40^\circ$), we compare this approach with fully connected networks (FC) applied to different summary statistics, including spherical harmonic coefficients ($a_{\ell m}$), wavelet scattering transform (WST) coefficients, and the angular two-point correlation function (2PCF), along with standard 2PCF likelihood and Fisher forecasts. We find that multiple statistics beyond CNNs can achieve competitive performance: FC networks combined with $a_{\ell m}$ and especially WST significantly outperform 2PCF-based methods, with FC+WST yielding the best overall parameter constraints across cosmologies. Meanwhile, for a fiducial cosmology with multiple realizations, the CNN+2D approach achieves the smallest statistical uncertainties. These results demonstrate that both learned features and carefully constructed summary statistics can effectively extract cosmological information from lightcone data, providing flexible and robust analysis strategies for upcoming surveys such as DESI, Euclid, and CSST.

We present the first spectral analysis of Scorpius X-1 (Sco X-1) using intentional stray light (SL) observations taken by NuSTAR. Unlike focused observations that have high telemetry load when observing bright sources, intentional SL observations can help reduce the telemetry and reduce the effect of dead time, thereby maximizing the on-source exposure time; all of which are critical for extremely bright sources that exhibit short timescale variability like Sco X-1. The intentional SL observation of Sco X-1, taken in 2023, captured the source primarily in the flaring branch (FB) of the Z track. We performed spectral modeling of the continuum and reprocessed emission. A combination of thermal and Comptonization components (modeled with thcomp) provided a robust fit to the continuum. We test both scenarios for Comptonized emitting regions arising from the accretion disk and close to the neutron star, which provides comparable fit statistics. Reflection was modeled with the relxillNS model, enabling measurements of disk inclination consistent with prior radio and IXPE studies and comparison of inner disk radius to the emission radii of the thermal components. Overall, the results from the intentional SL data provide comparable results to literature on the focused NuSTAR data of Sco X-1 in the FB or taken contemporaneously. The success of this observation demonstrates the capability of SL data to yield high-quality spectral constraints comparable to focused observations, offering a powerful avenue for studying bright X-ray binaries with NuSTAR.

We analyse the gravitational-wave emission from 60 two-dimensional core-collapse supernova simulations. The models cover a range of progenitors and equations of state. We focus on the narrow frequency interval in the gravitational-wave spectrum where the emitted power is strongly suppressed (the power gap) and how its central frequency relates to the physical properties of the simulations. We find that the power-gap frequency exhibits strong and systematic correlations with the properties of the inner core of the forming neutron star, for example the sound speed, suggesting that the gap encodes information about the behaviour of matter at extreme densities. We further examine how well several mechanisms proposed in the literature account for the presence and evolution of the gap in our simulations. Finally, we explore a scenario in which the gap arises from destructive interference between a narrow oscillation mode and a broadband background signal, demonstrating that such an interaction can produce a sharp minimum in the emitted gravitational-wave power.

An X-ray background in the early Universe enhances molecular hydrogen formation, the main coolant of primordial gas, thereby lowering the threshold for Pop III star formation. Continuing our series on X-ray impacts on Pop III star formation, we investigate how a soft X-ray background promotes Pop III star formation using cosmological zoom-in simulations of ten cosmic volumes spanning a range of halo number densities. Each volume is irradiated by the Lyman-Warner (LW) H$_{2}$ dissociating background and a weak (J$_{21} \sim 10^{-5}$), soft ($E \sim 0.2-2.0$ keV) X-ray background produced by pair-instability SNe (PISNe) from Pop III stars and calculated self-consistently as described in a companion paper. We also compare the same simulations with and without X-rays to isolate the X-ray effect. The background promotes Pop III star formation in two ways: (1) by reducing the mean host halo mass by a factor of $\sim 2-3$, and (2) by enabling Pop III star formation in haloes that would otherwise remain sterile, thereby increasing the halo occupation fraction. The resulting gain in Pop III number density is largest in underdense regions (a factor of $\approx 3$ on average, reaching up to 7). In the most extreme case, Pop II stars form only in the presence of X-rays and the gas-phase metallicity rises by an order of magnitude, suggesting that dwarf galaxies in underdense regions may be significantly influenced by an early X-ray background. We also provide fitting functions for the halo occupation probability of Pop III stars as a function of redshift for both X-ray and LW-only simulations, which can serve as inputs for semi-analytic models.

In this paper, part of a series on the effects of X-ray sources in promoting Population III (Pop III) star formation, we investigate the ionisation and heating of the intergalactic medium (IGM) and the consequent enhancement of molecular hydrogen (H$_{2}$) and Pop III formation using cosmological zoom-in simulations. We adopt a minimal X-ray feedback model in which X-rays originate solely from Pop III supernovae, and compute the global X-ray and Lyman-Werner (LW) radiation backgrounds on-the-fly during the simulation of a mean-density region of the Universe. This approach self-consistently captures the feedback loop between Pop III stars and the radiation backgrounds they produce. Pop III supernovae generate a weak X-ray background (J$_{\mathrm{X,21}} \sim 10^{-5}$) and a moderate LW background (J$_{\mathrm{LW,21}} \sim 10^{-1}$); the latter intensifies below $z \approx 12$ (J$_{\mathrm{LW,21}} \sim 10^{1}-10^{2}$) with the onset of Pop II star formation. Applying these backgrounds to regions of varying mean density produces a net positive X-ray feedback that increases the Pop III number density, with stronger enhancement in underdense regions. The positive feedback is more pronounced when the X-ray background is computed on-the-fly rather than by post-processing, demonstrating the importance of the feedback loop. The X-ray background also raises the Thomson scattering optical depth at high redshift, while the total optical depth remains consistent with Planck 2018 constraints. Because our model includes only Pop III supernovae as X-ray sources, it represents the most conservative scenario; stronger X-ray feedback is expected when additional sources are included, as will be explored in future work.

Recently, the GeV--sub-PeV spectrum of supernova remnant (SNR) Cassiopeia A (Cas A), one of the youngest and most well-studied SNRs in our Galaxy, has been updated by observations of Fermi-LAT and LHAASO. We revisit Cas A with our previous shell-plus-jet asymmetric model and investigate its particle acceleration ability. The broadband fitting results suggest that the double-peaked gamma-ray spectrum can be well attributed to proton-proton (PP) collisions and inverse Compton scattering within the SNR shell, while the synchrotron emission from a jet component with velocity of $\sim0.1c$ can account for the hard X-ray emission up to 220 keV. Furthermore, the PP collisions in the jet can produce a sub-PeV emission, but constrained by the LHAASO-KM2A limit to a flux below $\sim 1\times10^{-14}\rm erg/(cm^2s)$ at 100 TeV. The energy of accelerated protons in the jet of Cas A could be up to $5\times10^{47}$ erg, which, assuming that the PeV cosmic ray distribution is clumpy in the Galaxy with the clump size comparable to the thickness of the Galactic plane, derives a proton flux consistent with the observed one at 1 PeV, implying that the Cas A-like SNRs can still be PeVatrons in the Galaxy. It is encouraging for LHAASO and future telescopes to detect or constrain Cas A spectrum above 100-TeV more precisely.

Relativistic jets are among the most fascinating objects in the Universe, and recent high-resolution Very Long Baseline Interferometric (VLBI) observations, including the Global mm-VLBI Array and the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), are able to resolve their structure close to their launching site. These observations reveal strongly limb-brightened jet structures for Centaurus A (Cen A), M 87 and 3C 84. Thus, the question arises which physical mechanism can generate the limb-brightened structure, and if this structure is common for jets from low-luminosity active galactic nuclei (LLAGN) seen under large viewing angles. Therefore, as a pilot study, we aim to model the EHT observations of Cen A. We performed a 3D two-temperature general-relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulation of an accreting supermassive black hole (SMBH) and jet launching to study the plasma dynamics and computed the connected emission via general relativistic radiative transfer (GRRT) calculations considering possible anisotropies in the distribution of the radiating particles. In order to adjust our simulations to the EHT observations of Cen A, we carried out a Bayesian fitting in the Fourier plane. We find that GRMHD simulations of magnetically arrested disks (MADs) combined with anisotropically emitting particle distributions along the direction of the magnetic field, parametrized by a value $η=0.07$, are able to mimic the recent EHT observations of Cen A. In addition, we extracted a black hole mass of $M_\mathrm{BH} = 6\times10^7 M_\odot$ and a viewing angle of $\vartheta=72°$. Our obtained model can reproduce key features of the EHT and Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observations in total and polarized emission. Finally, we predict that the black hole shadow in Cen A will be observable at a frequency of $\sim$ 3 THz.

The collapse of massive stars drives explosions that power relativistic fireballs. If only a small amount of matter is entrained, such clean fireballs can expand with Lorentz factors $Γ> 100$, accounting for gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). It has been hypothesized that energetic explosions with more baryon contamination, dubbed ``dirty fireballs'', may exist in nature, but they have not been observed. Here we report the observation of an extragalactic fast X-ray transient, EP241113a, detected by Einstein Probe. Compared to GRBs, it has a similar isotropic energy of $1.4\times 10^{51}$ erg, but significantly lower spectral peak energy. Theoretical modeling of its early X-ray afterglow suggests a relativistic jet with a low Lorentz factor of $Γ\sim 20$ aligned close to the line-of-sight, signifying the prototype of a dirty fireball.

Context. A statistically significant sampling of H$_2$ rotational excitation in the diffuse interstellar medium (ISM) is essential to identifying its excitation mechanisms and assessing the importance of H$_2$ in the cooling of the gas and the regulation of thermal pressure. Aims. To complement the statistics provided by ancillary telescopes, we conducted a search for pure rotational H$_2$ emission lines in all publicly available background observations obtained with the Medium Resolution Spectrometer (MRS) aboard the JWST. Methods. The sample consists of 276 background observations acquired over the past three years. Departing from the standard pipeline, each uncalibrated MRS background file was reprocessed, enabling the analysis of H$_2$ pure rotational emission. Lines of sight likely associated with star-forming complexes were excluded to focus on emission from the diffuse ISM. The results were compared with FUSE absorption data and were analyzed in relation to the column densities of H and H$_2$ and to dust emission derived from HI4PI, Planck, and WISE data. Results. This analysis reveals widespread H$_2$ emission throughout the Galaxy. We report the first detections of the pure rotational S(4), S(5), and S(7) lines in the diffuse ISM. The S(1) line is detected along 84 lines of sight, corresponding to a detection rate of 41%. Its integrated intensity decreases steeply with Galactic latitude, spanning nearly two orders of magnitude, in remarkable agreement with absorption measurements. The $T_{34}$ and $T_{35}$ excitation temperatures vary between 200 and $\sim$1000 K, are correlated with each other, and are anticorrelated with the column density of H$_2$ , as expected from ancillary data. All lines of sight in the sample have undergone the H-H$_2$ transition, at $N_{\rm{H}} \gtrsim 10^{20} \ \rm{cm}^{-2}$, and are partly molecular, with $f_{\rm H_2} \gtrsim 0.1$. Under these conditions, the cooling rate associated with the S(1) line, expressed per hydrogen atom, is found to be remarkably constant, with a characteristic value of $\sim 4\times10^{-27}$ erg s$^{-1}$ H$^{-1}$. Conclusions. This study demonstrates that the high sensitivity of the JWST enables measurements that both strengthen and complement those from absorption studies. Observations collected over just a fraction of JWST's lifetime have already yielded detections along dozens of lines of sight, significantly expanding the statistical sample of H$_2$ rotational excitation in the diffuse ISM.

We establish a Bayesian analysis framework with a general Walecka-type relativistic mean-field model to study dense nuclear matter under constraints from nuclear matter properties and neutron star observations. With experimental and observational data well described, we find that pure hadronic descriptions can generate a peak structure in sound velocity by $ω$, $ρ$, $σ$, and $a_0$ meson mixing, which is crucial for describing both medium and massive neutron stars. As the peak structure is frequently interpreted as a signature of phase transitions, our findings provide a new perspective on the microscopic origin of the sound velocity peak just with pure hadronic matter.

We analyse the sizes and specific angular momentum content of galaxies in the Colibre cosmological hydrodynamical simulations spanning two orders of magnitude in mass resolution. We compare the predicted size-mass and angular momentum-mass relations to a broad range of observational measurements spanning redshifts $z=0$ to $4$. At $z=0$, Colibre reproduces observed size-mass relations over the sampled mass range $10^8 \lesssim M_\star/{\rm M_\odot}\lesssim 10^{11.5}$, and for multiple size definitions, including two- and three-dimensional stellar half-mass radii, half-light radii across several wavelengths, as well as alternative measures such as baryonic half-mass radii and characteristic radii defined by stellar surface density thresholds. The simulations also recover the observed segregation of galaxies in the size-mass plane by morphological type and star formation rate, and reproduce the distinct, approximately parallel sequences followed by star-forming discs and quenched spheroids in the stellar specific angular momentum-mass plane. The angular momentum content of star-forming Colibre galaxies match that of observed systems out to $z\approx 1.5$. At higher redshifts, massive galaxies ($ 10^{9.5}\lesssim M_\star/{\rm M_\odot}\lesssim 10^{11}$) in the simulations are somewhat smaller than observed, and the separation between star-forming and passive populations in the size-mass plane is reduced relative to observations, while at lower masses the agreement remains good. This apparent discrepancy may reflect the effects of dust attenuation, which is neglected in our analysis and may preferentially obscure the central regions of observed systems. Overall, our findings highlight the close connection between galaxy size, angular momentum, and morphology over cosmic time.

Recently, binary pulsar timing has been proposed as a viable probe of dark matter subhalos with masses of $\sim 10^7\,M_{\odot}$ in the solar neighborhood. We present a comprehensive analytical framework that incorporates the subhalo mass function, projection effects of line-of-sight acceleration, and the spatiotemporal geometric requirements for joint detection by binary systems, enabling a quantitative evaluation of the detectability of nearby subhalos. Applying this framework to the current binary pulsar sample, we find a probability $\leq 1.6 \times 10^{-4}$ of detecting at least one subhalo within the effective volume. An independent timing residual analysis shows no statistically significant excess in line-of-sight accelerations beyond predictions from data-driven Galactic gravitational potential models. These results place stringent constraints on detecting $<10^8~M_{\odot}$ dark matter subhalos with existing pulsar timing data, aligning with the theoretical expectation that such subhalos have a low survival probability in the solar neighborhood. A low detection prospect still holds even for future Square Kilometre Array observations.

Internal rotation has emerged as a fundamental feature of globular clusters (GCs), yet its origin and long-term evolution remain poorly understood. We explore the evolution of rotating GCs over a Hubble time under the combined influence of two-body relaxation, tidal field, and stellar evolution. We introduce the ROLLIN' simulations, a suite of 25 N-body models characterized by a realistic number of stars from 250k to 1.5M, ran with the direct N-body code NBODY6++GPU and evolved for 14 Gyr. With present-day masses of 5 x 10^4 - 5x10^5 M_sun, the models cover the parameter space of low-density MW GCs. Our analysis reveals that rapidly rotating GCs experience earlier and more pronounced core collapse, efficiently segregating massive objects and remnants in their centers within the first few 100 Myr. In the long-term, internal rotation declines and a correlation emerges between rotation and GC mass, in agreement with observations. The primary driver of this evolution is mass loss, capturing both internal (stellar evolution, evaporation) and external processes (tidal stripping). The velocity anisotropy also evolves in response to mass loss: GCs initially near isotropy develop radial anisotropy, peaking around 40% mass loss, before progressing toward isotropy or tangentiality. The GC orbital history also plays a role, as retrograde rotators retain rotation more effectively than prograde rotators. Finally, we quantify the long-term changes of GCs after 12 Gyr: (1) The surface density decreases by up to 2 orders of magnitude. (2) The half-mass radius increases by a factor of 3-5. (3) The rotation decreases by a factor >5 for GCs that have lost >50% of their mass. The ROLLIN' simulations demonstrate that angular momentum is crucial to understand the origin, evolution, and survival of GCs. These models provide a benchmark for interpreting GC observations in the local and high-z Universe.

Using two observations obtained with the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST), we present a detailed single-pulse analysis of the high-nulling pulsar PSR J1820-0509. We measure an exceptionally high nulling fraction of approximately 81.78%, significantly exceeding previous estimates from Parkes observations. The single-pulse energy distribution exhibits a clear bimodal structure, consistent with classical nulling behavior. However, stacking the identified null pulses reveals a statistically significant residual profile above the noise level, indicating that the nulls correspond to a very weak emission state rather than a complete cessation of radio emission. The pulsar shows clustered burst activities spanning several hundred rotation periods, with prominent quasi-periodicities at 1191 +/- 81 and 590 +/- 15 pulse periods in the two observations. Based on temporal clustering and integrated profile morphology, we identify three distinct emission modes (A, B, and C) and a pseudo-null state (D). These modes exhibit systematic differences in pulse morphology, polarization, and energy statistics. The pulse width-energy relations reveal clear transitions between low- and high-energy regimes. The energy distributions of Modes A and C are well described by lognormal functions, while Mode B follows a composite Gaussian-lognormal distribution. These results suggest that the radio emission of PSR J1820-0509 is governed by multiple quasi-stable magnetospheric states. The presence of weak emission during pseudo-nulls, together with systematic mode-dependent variations, supports the interpretation that pulsar nulling reflects transitions between different magnetospheric activity levels rather than a complete shutdown of emission.

Stellar-mass black holes (BHs) surrounded by neutrino-dominated accretion flows (NDAFs) are a leading central engine of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). In this work, we investigate the electron fraction distribution in NDAFs with or without disk outflows for different accretion rates, BH spins, and outflow rates. As the results, for the cases of the massive disks at relatively low accretion rates, the outer boundary of the disks are predominantly advection-cooled, yielding electron fractions of \(Y_{\rm e} \sim 0.5\), as expected for massive collapsar progenitors. By contrast, in the cases of lower-mass disk at high accretion rates, neutrino cooling becomes highly efficient and mildly electron-degenerate disks emerge, characterized by \(Y_{\rm e} \lesssim 0.38\) at the outer boundary of the disk, even for the strong outflows, which is consistent with materials from compact object merger scenarios. Moreover, we find that these trends remain robust across different BH spins. Consequently, the self-consistent agreement between the electron fraction properties at the outer boundaries of NDAFs and those expected from GRB progenitors provides effectively support for NDAFs serving as the GRB central engines.

Angular momentum removal is a fundamental requirement for star and planet formation, yet the mechanisms driving this process remain debated. Magnetohydrodynamic disk winds, launched along magnetic field lines from extended disk regions, offer a promising solution, particularly in regions where magnetorotational turbulence is weak. Here we present high-resolution Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array observations of the Class 0 protostar HOPS 358, revealing a rotating, nested outflow structure traced by H2CO, SO, and CH3OH emission. The outflow preserves the disk's rotational sense and is aligned with the disk axis, providing direct observational evidence for a magnetically launched disk wind. From the measured kinematics, we derive a dimensionless magnetic lever arm of approximately 2.3 and constrain the wind-launching region to radii of 10-18 astronomical units within the planet-forming zone. These results demonstrate that magnetohydrodynamic disk winds operate during the deeply embedded phase, efficiently extracting angular momentum while shaping disk evolution and establishing initial conditions for planet formation.

Following long periods of quiescence, low-mass X-ray binaries can exhibit intense X-ray outbursts triggered by instabilities within the accretion disk. These outbursts can sometimes be detected in optical wavelengths before being detected in X-rays, acting as an early onset warning and enabling a deep study of accretion disk properties informed by the lag between optical and X-ray rise. We explore the potential of Vera C. Rubin Observatory's Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) to detect these outbursts early through optical observations. We evaluate the capabilities of LSST based on currently planned survey cadence, filter-specific depth, and other observational factors that affect early detection. We develop and apply an extended metric to assess outburst detectability and recovery fraction. We find that despite inherent potential for early detection of XRB outbursts, the currently planned survey strategy makes it challenging to detect early onset of XRBs. Lastly, we demonstrate how this estimate can be used to infer the wider LMXB population in the Galaxy as the LSST progresses.

The electric fields inside thunderstorms can significantly modify the intensity of secondary cosmic ray muons at the ground level, producing measurable variations in their intensity ($Δ$I$_μ$). By utilizing the decade-long observations of thunderstorms (April 2011-December 2020) by the GRAPES-3 muon telescope (G3MT), a directional asymmetry in $Δ$I$_μ$ is observed, with nearly six times more events being detected from the east than the west directions. Using detailed CORSIKA Monte Carlo simulations, it is shown that this asymmetry is caused by the variations of the muon charge ratio R$_μ$ (N$_{μ^+}$/N$_{μ^-}$). The anisotropic R$_μ$ in turn, is caused by the systematic changes in geomagnetic cutoff rigidities, and subsequent selective filtering of predominantly positively charged primary cosmic rays. As a consequence, the R$_μ$ increases systematically from west to east across the G3MT field of view, enhancing the sensitivity of east directions to positively charged thunderstorm top. Monte Carlo simulations with constant R$_μ$ show that the directional asymmetry disappears, demonstrating the muon charge imbalance to be the dominant driver of the observed asymmetry. The dependence of R$_μ$ on the hadronic interaction is also studied by comparing seven combinations high-, and low-energy hadronic interaction generators, which show a $\lesssim$7% spread in R$_μ$, and $\lesssim$14% variation in the derived thunderstorm potentials. These results provide the first quantitative link between the muon charge asymmetry caused by the geomagnetic field, and the directional distribution of thunderstorms, reinforcing the role of muon observations as a probe of gigavolt potentials in atmospheric electrical structures.

Although stellar bars are prevalent in local galaxies, unbarred galaxies constitute a significant fraction, particularly at high redshifts. While some galaxies are unbarred by nature due to stability against the bar instability, several mechanisms capable of transforming barred galaxies into unbarred systems have also been proposed, such as central mass concentration, specific dark matter halo morphologies and tidal interactions. Regarding galactic interactions, mergers can undoubtedly disrupt bars while potentially destroying the entire disk. However, the effects of pure collisions (non-merging scenarios) on bars remain unclear, with limited existing studies yielding contradictory conclusions. Here we aim to systematically investigate the disruptive effects of collisions on bars hosted by Milky Way-like galaxies using N-body/SPH simulations. We model collisions between the barred galaxy and a spherical intruder, conducting multiple simulations by varying interaction parameters, with mass ratios set at 1:3, 1:5, and 1:15. We find that bars are remarkably robust, with most interactions failing to significantly reduce their strength or pattern speed. Only off-center high-inclination retrograde collisions can effectively destroy bars, while central high-inclination collisions can substantially decrease the pattern speed. Such destruction and deceleration primarily arise from gravitational forces rather than gas-related processes. Notably, compared to collisions occurring along the bar's major axis, those along the minor axis cause greater weakening but can slow the bar's natural deceleration. Furthermore, changes in mass resolution do not significantly affect the results when the resolution is better than ~10^5 Solar mass.

The big bang quantum cosmology model introduces the trace $J$ of the Schouten tensor as a form of dynamic dark energy. Together with cold dark matter, these components form the so-called $J$CDM cosmology model, proposed by M.H.P.M. van Putten (J. High Energy Astrophys., 45, 2025, 194), which offers a potential resolution to the Hubble tension. We derive the constraints on the $J$CDM cosmology model, utilizing early- and late-time cosmological data including cosmic microwave background (CMB), baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) released by the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), cosmic chronometers (CC), and type Ia supernovae (SNIa). For a flat universe, the $J$CDM model yields \( H_0 = 66.95 \pm 0.51 \, \rm{km~s^{-1}~Mpc^{-1}} \) and \( Ω_m = 0.3419 \pm 0.0065 \), results that are consistent with early-universe observations but exhibit a higher \( Ω_m \) compared to the $Λ$CDM model. In the case of a non-flat universe, $J$CDM favors a slightly curved geometry with \( Ω_k = 0.0154 \pm 0.0027 \), leading to \( H_0 = 69.13 \pm 0.56 \, \rm {km~s^{-1}~Mpc^{-1}} \) and \( Ω_m = 0.3477 \pm 0.0074 \). The increase in \( H_0 \) in the non-flat scenario suggests a geometric degeneracy between spatial curvature and \( H_0 \). We also investigate the internal inconsistencies present in DESI data and evaluate their impacts on cosmological parameter constraints. Our analysis shows that while the $J$CDM model, which is constructed from first principles without free parameters beyond those of $Λ$CDM, agrees excellently with late-time cosmology, it struggles to simultaneously match early-universe observations in a fully self-consistent manner.

Blue straggler stars (BSSs) are believed to form through mass transfer in binary systems or stellar collisions. The reported presence of double BSS sequences in some globular clusters (GCs) has been interpreted as evidence that these two formation channels produce distinct sequences in color-magnitude diagram (CMD). We reassess this claim using HST UV Globular Cluster Survey (HUGS) photometry of 56 Galactic GCs. We used the Hartigan Dip Test to test bimodality, and Akaike model comparison to test whether BSS distance distributions are better described by a mixture of two unskewed Gaussians or a skewed unimodal Gaussian model. We find no strong statistical evidence for bimodality; no cluster yields a dip test p-value below 0.15, and Akaike model comparison favors the skewed unimodal model in 94 out of 112 cases. We re-examine NGC 7099 (M30), the prototypical case of a double BSS sequence, using three reductions of HST data. We find bimodality is detected at p = 4 x 10-3 , vs. the originally reported p ~ 10-5 , in the original photometry. The observed uncertainties derived from the subgiant branch widths are comparable to the suggested separation between the proposed BSS sequences, making the detection of statistically significant bimodality challenging. Our results suggest that the dip between two BSS sequences in M30 photometry is a coincidence, and that later bifurcation claims can be explained as skew in the BSS color distribution, rather than two separate distributions.

We discuss the results of using large language models (LLMs) to conduct original scientific research in an unfamiliar subject area during the Fall 2025 semester. Students in a graduate astronomy and astrophysics course were asked to test whether LLMs could help them complete research tasks faster and at a level of detail and accuracy required for scientific publication. Most students employed LLMs for a total of 5-10 hours. While all students completed a draft paper on an unsolved problem related to galaxies by semester's end, their impressions of the models' value varied. About half thought that the models saved them time. Many noted that LLMs failed to provide appropriately detailed insights or steps to addressing open, niche questions over a several-month timeframe. The LLMs also frequently (about 20% of the time) returned false citations, links, or summaries of papers. The models struggled with generating complex functional code, accessing online packages or Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), and retrieving astronomical datasets from existing archives. In writing code and in chats, the LLMs made implicit, overly simplifying assumptions and often doubled down even after being corrected. Given the rapid pace of LLM development, new models may soon address at least some of these issues and thus significantly enhance research productivity. Yet students expressed concerns about how LLM use might dampen creativity and reflection during the research process. To improve learning experiences in future semesters, the class will first discuss LLM best practices and limitations. Students will be encouraged to explore free online resources for tips for generative model applications and will decide for themselves whether to use LLMs for their research project. This white paper was not written using LLMs.