Papers

We revisit the quantum Hall analog of Hawking radiation in which a Fermi sea of electrons occupying half of a plane, subjected to a quadrupolar electric potential, gives rise to analog Hawking radiation of chiral edge modes. We show that the phenomenon is accurately captured by quantization of the classical guiding center theory, where the gyroscopic motion of the electrons is coarse grained and only the drift motion is resolved. The quantum dynamics takes place on a non-commutative plane, which requires an electron localized in the half-plane to be supported everywhere along the edge direction. This kinematical constraint on the quantum state leads directly to the radiation, which propagates in both directions away from the origin along the edge. The radiation is thermal with respect to laboratory time, which is equal (up to a constant factor) to the boost angle in the analog Minkowski spacetime in which the chiral edge modes propagate, so in fact it corresponds to analog Unruh radiation.

Non-commutative sphere regularization of CFT has become a powerful tool for computing conformal data of 3d CFTs and was recently extended to 4d CFTs. In this work we further construct 5d free-scalar CFT and Yang-Lee CFT on a fuzzy 4-sphere. We observe a continuous phase transition and conformal towers in these examples. We obtain the first three scalar primaries of the 5d free-scalar CFT, furthermore, we compute the 5d Yang-Lee $\Delta_\phi,\Delta_{\phi^3}$ with $N_e=10$ fermions using exact diagonalization (ED) and $N_e=20$ fermions using density matrix renormalization group (DMRG), obtaining relatively good agreement with both $\epsilon$-expansion and the Gliozzi truncated bootstrap result.

It is well-known that the spectrum of two-dimensional electrons in a perpendicular magnetic field is given by discrete flat Landau levels. By contrast, electrons in a two-dimensional tight-binding model give rise to a fractal Hofstadter butterfly spectrum. In this paper, we connect these two opposite limits by showing how a butterfly spectrum emerges from broadened Landau `caterpillars', by continuously increasing the periodic potential strength. We identify a series of topological transitions that isolate a lowest trivial band, a necessary condition for the butterfly to emerge. The resulting butterfly is topologically distinct from the Hofstadter butterfly at fluxes $\phi>1$, due to anomalous behavior of diagonal hopping. Moreover, the hopping parameters of an effective tight-binding model, obtained by a Wannierization procedure at large magnetic field, are highly dependent on the flux, revealing that Wannier orbitals themselves change under the applied magnetic field. Our methods and results are relevant for artificial materials, such as moiré systems, where a full quantum of flux per lattice unit cell is experimentally accessible. On a theoretical level, having Wannierization methods for each specific flux allows more accurate many-body calculations in large magnetic fields.

The kinetic Wulff construction predicts symmetric nonequilibrium shapes when crystallographically equivalent facets share a fixed growth rate. However, nanocrystals grow through finite facets whose nucleation barriers and ligand coverages depend on facet size. Here we develop a size-dependent kinetic construction and show that as a consequence infinitesimal seed asymmetries can be amplified into strongly asymmetric nanocrystal morphologies even when all symmetry-related facets obey the same microscopic growth law. Spatially heterogeneous nucleation rates and boundary limited growth generate facet growth velocities that depend on size, and deterministic shape evolution translates these local rates into global shape symmetry breaking. We illustrate the mechanism of persistent anisotropic growth on square and triangular lattices in two dimensions and on FCC seeds in three dimensions, where cuboctahedra can evolve toward rods or tetrahedra depending on which facet-area perturbations are amplified.

We study Bayesian tracking of a diffusing target monitored by a noisy distributed sensor array. Building on an earlier mapping to KPZ growth with a moving defect (or an equivalent directed polymer pinning problem) we determine the phase structure, beyond the previously-studied one-dimensional case, for both Bayes-optimal and suboptimal inference. In $d=2$, theoretical analysis and numerical simulations both give a depinning transition between a successful tracking phase and a failure phase. Weak-coupling RG shows that Bayes-optimal tracking is always successful in $d=2$, but failure can arise from overconfident (suboptimal) inference. In $d=3$, tracking can succeed, or can fail in two distinct ways: the posterior probability distribution may delocalize (no detection), or may become sharply localized, but at the wrong position (a false detection). The two possibilities correspond to Edwards-Wilkinson or Kardar-Parisi-Zhang statistics for the log-posterior. The three phases meet at a Nishimori-like multicritical point on a Bayes-optimal line in a two-parameter phase diagram. (Model misspecification alone can drive depinning into either unpinned phase: underconfidence gives diffuse failure, while overconfidence gives localized-but-wrong failure.) We analyze the transitions between the various phases numerically and with renormalization group arguments. We show that some of these have unusual critical behavior, which the conventional $\epsilon$ expansion fails to describe. Recent rigorous results for directed polymers indicate an alternative scenario. Many of our results, including a scaling relation for exponents at pinning transitions and results for RG flows, are relevant to other phase transitions that involve surface growth or directed polymers in 2+1D or 3+1D.

We find that a single non-magnetic dynamical impurity (e.g., a low-frequency localized "vibron" mode) induces a subgap bound state in an s-wave superconductor. A closed-form solution for the bound state energy is found as a function of the vibron frequency in the elastic scattering limit, with the salient features of the bound state energies unaffected by inelastic scattering processes in the sub-THz regime. In addition to subgap features in the low-frequency local density of states, such impurities result in real space regions of reduced spectroscopic weight outside the gap peak.

Using scale-bridging simulations based on electronic structure theory and atomistic spin dynamics, we investigate the magnetic properties of skyrmionic GdRu$_2$Si$_2$ and GdRu$_2$Ge$_2$ layered rare-earth magnets and similar Gd-based compounds (GdAu$_2$Si$_2$, GdAu$_2$Ge$_2$, GdAg$_2$Si$_2$ and GdAg$_2$Ge$_2$). By studying the trends across this structural family, we confirm the importance of magnetic frustration and dipolar interactions for the stability of non-collinear and skyrmion phases. Furthermore, our calculations predict promising opportunities for chemical tuning of these magnets in terms of the balance between various exchange interactions and the character of the magnetic anisotropy. These changes lead to the formation of new types of skyrmions that are stable in a wide range of applied external magnetic field. In particular, we propose partial alkali-metal substitution of Gd in GdRu$_2$Si$_2$ leading to GdKRu$_4$Si$_4$, GdRbRu$_4$Si$_4$, GdCsRu$_4$Si$_4$ as well as GdYRu$_4$Si$_4$ compounds, and suggest that it is likely to result in an ordered layered structure, similarly to previously reported iron pnictides like CaKFe$_4$As$_4$.

Higher-winding skyrmion textures can generate emergent magnetic fields with multiple flux quanta per unit cell. This opens an intriguing route toward fractionalization, allowing fractionalized quantum anomalous Hall states to arise even at integer filling of the microscopic unit cell. We show that, in this setting, increasing lattice-scale inhomogeneity of the emergent magnetic field drives a Berezinskii–Kosterlitz–Thouless (BKT) transition between a fractionalized liquid and a crystalline dielectric state. This transition carries a topological signature: under flux insertion, the many-body polarization defines a quantized winding number that is nonzero in the fractionalized phase and vanishes in the dielectric crystal.

Quantum complexity has emerged as a natural probe of chaos, thermalization, and the black hole interior on timescales long after local observables have equilibrated. However, its time evolution has been studied almost exclusively in subsystems confined to a single connected region. We show, using complementary tools from holography and random quantum circuits, that noncontiguous subsystems composed of multiple disjoint regions give rise to qualitatively new physics compared to the contiguous case. First, at finite temperature, a subsystem occupying less than half of the total system can carry high complexity at late times, even as the complexity of its larger complement remains low. This inversion of the usual hierarchy is intrinsically thermal: it vanishes in the infinite-temperature limit, which is the regime modeled by random quantum circuits. Second, if a subsystem's complexity equilibrates at an early time, then fragmenting it into $m$ disjoint components can further reduce this timescale by a factor of $m$, a phenomenon we exhibit in both holography and random quantum circuits. These results not only sharpen the correspondence between geometric and computational notions of complexity, but also motivate the search for novel complexity phenomena in quantum dynamics.

Strongly-coupled light-matter exciton-polaritons constitute an on-chip solid-state platform where the macroscopic quantum phenomenon of condensation is not only achievable at elevated temperatures, but can also be optically controlled, including through their interaction with inaccessible "dark" states. A recent study has shown that polariton condensation can be established under nonlinear two-photon pumping, paving the way towards dark state-condensate coherent control and highly-efficient terahertz (THz) lasing. In this letter, we show for the first time a temporal signature of dark exciton induced bosonic stimulation by investigating one- and two-photon pumped condensation with time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy. Our results show a clear difference in the detuning dependence of the buildup and relaxation rates of the condensate-induced blueshifts under one- and two-photon pumping. This difference is associated with the stronger exciton-fraction dependence expected for one-photon pumped condensation, where polariton-polariton stimulation dominates, compared with two-photon pumped condensation, where a 2p-exciton-to-lower-polariton THz transition can provide another stimulation channel, together with various spin-flip, electron-hole exchange and phonon-based mechanisms. These observations indicate the presence of a new dark state originated stimulation channel that could facilitate highly-efficient THz lasing in semiconductor microcavities.

While correlated insulators are devoid of low-energy quasiparticle poles, their Green functions retain clean momentum structure through zeros. However, precisely what zeros imply is not clear. By studying the extended Hubbard model both analytically and numerically, we establish a new paradigm for strongly correlated matter: the dispersion of Green function zeros is determined by both microscopic spin-spin correlations and defect kinematics. In fact, we find that the dispersion changes discontinuously across the transition between the Mott and the checkerboard charge-density wave phases as is expected for a first-order transition. This physics is robust to the inclusion of further neighbor hopping which simply fine tunes the spin-correlation or charge-defect kinematics. We conclude that it is the dispersion of the Green-function zeros that encode the physics of ordering resultant from the strong correlations.

For mathematicians: In this first in a series of two papers, we give a mathematically rigorous classification of (sufficiently nice) $c=1$ vertex operator algebras (VOAs) and vertex operator superalgebras (VOSAs). We confirm the lore that any such VO(S)A is either a lattice VO(S)A $V_L$ associated to a rank-1 integral lattice $L$, or can be obtained as an orbifold thereof, i.e. a $G$-invariant subalgebra $V_L^G$ for some finite group $G$ of automorphisms. All such $G$ are known, allowing for an explicit enumeration of nice $c=1$ VO(S)As. A key ingredient in our approach is to establish a general criterion for nice VOAs, requiring knowledge only of the vacuum character, for testing when the simple modules with integer conformal dimension span a symmetric fusion subcategory which is braided tensor equivalent to $Rep(G)$. In our companion paper, we calculate the ribbon auto-equivalences of the representation categories of the nice $c=1$ VOAs, and leverage this to obtain the classification of nice bosonic and fermionic $c=1$ full conformal field theories. For physicists: We rigorously classify the chiral algebras that can arise in the holomorphic sector of a bosonic or fermionic rational $c=1$ conformal field theory (CFT) whose non-identity primaries all have positive conformal dimension. Thinking of chiral algebras as gapless boundary conditions of 3D topological quantum field theories (TQFTs), our result says that any such chiral algebra is either a holomorphic boundary of $U(1)_k$ Chern-Simons theory, or can be obtained by passing to the $G$-invariant states thereof for some finite group $G$ of symmetries. We explicitly enumerate these chiral algebras and also discuss their non-invertible symmetries. In a companion paper, we build on these results using techniques from the study of 3D TQFTs to classify full bosonic and fermionic rational $c=1$ CFTs.

Corrosion accounts for approximately 4% of global GDP, and reliable prediction is essential for timely mitigation. Machine learning effectively predicts corrosion rates from composition, microstructure, and environmental variables, but cannot explain the underlying mechanisms. A reliable approach in safety-critical materials engineering requires not only accurate retrieval but also mechanistically defensible reasoning, a capability that existing factuality metrics cannot assess. This work presents a domain-adapted retrieval-augmented generation framework for corrosion knowledge synthesis, demonstrated on magnesium alloy corrosion. Three open-weight language models (Llama-3.1-8B, Qwen-2.5-7B, Mistral-7B) are fine-tuned on 3,309 expert-verified question-answer pairs from 840 peer-reviewed papers and integrated with a hybrid dense-lexical retrieval pipeline. Retrieval augmentation produces Token F1 gains of 143-194%, with system faithfulness of 0.964 and context recall of 0.988. Blind external validation on newly published literature and in-house electrochemical data confirms trend-level generalisation. Reason Map, a proposition-graph framework, is further introduced; it independently constructs directed evidence graphs from generated answers and retrieved literature, enabling systematic detection of causal direction inversions and unsupported inferential leaps that flat factuality metrics cannot expose. The modular architecture can be applied across domains, offering a generalizable blueprint for trustworthy AI-assisted knowledge synthesis to circumvent corrosion, which can also be applied to other engineering domains.

We describe the staged modernization of a local multilayer TRIM.SP implementation, denoted TRIM.SP-NL. The work included behavior-preserving refactoring, correction of localized bookkeeping and initialization defects, support for more than five elements per layer, reproducible build modes, and a runtime-selectable random-number-generator (RNG) interface. The RANLUX RNG remains the default reference backend, while PCG32 and xoshiro256** provide faster alternatives without changing the input-deck format. The code validation combined exact regression testing with statistical comparisons over 13 representative target multilayer configurations, comprising 143 energy-configuration points per backend and 429 simulations in total. Across the test suite, PCG32 and xoshiro256** reduced runtime by factors of 1.98 and 2.01, respectively. The implanted, backscattered, and transmitted fractions, as well as the mean implantation depths, range straggling, and representative depth profiles showed no systematic RNG dependence. Together with a Node.js-based graphical interface for setup, scans, and result collection, the Fortran engine forms the open-source TRIM.SP-NL Workbench.

Superconductivity in graphite intercalation compounds requires occupancy of a carbon-derived interlayer band filled by charge from an electropositive intercalant. Bis-hexahapto (eta6-eta6) coordination binds transition metals covalently to two graphene sheets with little charge transfer: the mechanism defining this chemistry removes the donation that superconductivity rests on. We ask, for group-6 Cr, Mo and W in bilayer graphene, whether Fermi-level states retain the interstitial, carbon-p character of ionic references, with bulk CaC6 and same-cell C12Ca/C12Li controls. Electron-phonon coupling is not computed. At one metal per gallery (C12M), the ionic controls retain 68 and 45 per cent of gallery spectral weight in atom-masked interstitial regions at EF; the group-6 systems retain 15, 22 and 23 per cent. The contrast is compositional: group-6 galleries carry more absolute interstitial weight than C12Li, but projected density of states within +/-0.15 eV of EF is carbon dominated in the ionic references and metal dominated (~73 per cent, of which 89-98 per cent is d) in all three group-6 bilayers. Every system studied is metallic; they differ in what carries the Fermi surface. Zone-centre phonons are clean for all three ordered bilayers; the pristine AA bilayer is not, its unstable mode being the AA-to-AB shear. Geometrically, eta6-eta6 coordination requires AA stacking and reverses the intrinsic Bernal preference by 400-600 meV wherever metal is present. Ordered phases are metastable against bulk metal (+2.9-5.0 eV per atom) but bound against isolated atoms (-1.6-4.1 eV); instability ordering (Cr least, W most) matches Cr > Mo > W reactivity. C12Cr is metallic; tungsten alone carries 0.65 muB. Bis-hexahapto intercalation delivers strong interlayer bonding and a definite AA registry, but not the interlayer-band character of superconducting graphite intercalation compounds.

We identify a memory effect produced by phonon scattering in a superfluid: a localized scattering event generates a far-field pressure pulse with vanishing time integral but a nonzero first temporal moment, corresponding to a permanent shift in a prepotential for the far-field velocity. The effect is controlled by the soft factor for phonon emission, including corrections from nonlinear dispersion. In superfluid $^4$He, scattering macroscopic phonon wave packets produces a signal whose estimated magnitude may lie within experimental reach, thereby providing a laboratory analogue of electromagnetic and gravitational memory.

Germanium is a leading platform for semiconductor spin qubits and spintronics. Yet its electron and hole spin dynamics remain understood primarily through phenomenological models. Here, we predict electronic transport and spin relaxation in bulk Ge entirely from first principles, combining hybrid-functional band structures with fully relativistic electron-phonon ($e$-ph) interactions. Without empirical parameters, we predict carrier mobilities, velocity-field curves, and electron and hole spin relaxation times in close agreement with experiments over 100$-$400 K. By resolving spin-flip scattering by valley and phonon mode, we identify the microscopic mechanisms governing spin relaxation and show that spin and momentum relaxation, although both mediated by $e$-ph scattering, are controlled by distinct processes. We further show that compressive biaxial strain enhances the hole spin lifetime by up to two orders of magnitude at 5% strain, through strain-induced valence-band splitting and suppressed spin mixing. This mechanism is directly relevant to Ge-on-Si devices, where strain provides a practical route to engineering long-lived hole spins for quantum technologies.

Kinetically constrained systems, such as those representing Rydberg atom arrays in the blockade regime, have gathered considerable attention due to the presence of atypical eigenstates in their spectrum. The latter manifests itself through the presence of quantum many-body scars as well as unusually large zero-mode (ZM) subspaces which contain analytically tractable eigenstates with various entanglement scalings. In particular, some of the latter are excitable zero-modes (EZMs), meaning that they can be promoted to a non-zero energy for open boundary conditions. In this work, I present an efficient protocol for finding analytical expressions for translation-invariant EZMs in constrained systems, based on the eigendecomposition of the local unconstrained Hamiltonian. I demonstrate the power of this method on a decorated Rydberg chain. In that model, my protocol directly produces a continuous matrix-product-state manifold located entirely in the zero-energy eigenspace for periodic boundary conditions. The span of that manifold grows exponentially with the system, and for odd system sizes it covers the entire zero-momentum eigenspace with zero energy. I then show how the physical structure of the manifold, which is tied to the local eigenbasis, also allows one to derive analytical expressions for ZMs at non-zero momentum and for a polynomial number of exact scars at $E=\pm\sqrt{3}$.

Multi-photon dissipation – a key resource for bosonic qubits – is usually realized by parametrically pumping a Josephson coupler at the cost of spurious nonlinear terms. Here we instead engineer it using a dc-voltage-biased SQUID, such that these parasitic terms average out. We activate the conversion of one, two, or four photons of a high-Q mode into a single photon of a lossy mode. We characterize the two-photon dissipation by Wigner tomography, establishing dc-biased junctions as a resource for reservoir engineering and a viable route to cat-qubit stabilization.

We study the free energy of a critical vector model at large $N$ on $S^{1}\times S^{2}$ with an angular velocity $\hat\mu$ without the singlet constraint. We study the model for which the large $N$ dynamics is controlled by the uniform saddle point of the auxiliary field arising in the Hubbard-Stratanovich transformation. The leading high-temperature behaviour is determined analytically both as an expansion about $\hat\mu r=0$ and $\hat\mu^{2}r^{2}=1$ where $r$ is the radius of the sphere. We supplement the analytic results with a numerical analysis that agrees with both the analytical expansions in their respective regimes and smoothly interpolates between them. The leading high-temperature contribution to the free energy develops a pole at $\hat\mu^{2}r^{2}=1$, in agreement with expectations from the thermal effective field theory. Its residue coincides with that of the massless free theory. Sub-leading terms, however, exhibit non-analytic dependence on the angular velocity and distinguish the critical fixed-point result from the free theory answer. The residue at the pole can also be obtained by placing the model on the pp-wave geometry. We show that the residue agrees with that obtained from the direct computation. The free energy of the model connects the non-trivial fixed point of the $O(N)$ model at $\hat\mu r=0$ to its free fixed point at $\hat\mu^2r^2=1$.

In this paper, we initiate the study of colored exponential random graph models (ERGMs), a class of exponential-family models for networks with multiple types of edge relations. Using the framework of probability graphons, we first derive a variational representation for the limiting free energy, whose maximizers determine the asymptotic structure of typical samples from the model. Then we identify several general families of colored ERGMs exhibiting replica symmetry, where the variational problem has constant maximizers and the model asymptotically concentrates on product colorings with independent edges. For general colored ERGMs, we derive Euler-Lagrange fixed-point equations for the variational maximizers, which in turn yield a general high-temperature uniqueness criterion. In the complementary zero-temperature regime, we establish a two-level selection principle: the leading energy term determines the ground states, while the lower-order energy terms, combined with entropy, act as a tie-breaker to determine the asymptotic zero-temperature structure of the model. We illustrate this principle through the induced wedge and rainbow triangle ERGMs. Both models have natural interpretations in multitype networks, and their zero-temperature limits exhibit interesting structures that connect to well-known results in extremal combinatorics. We further establish finite-temperature symmetry breaking for both these models and complement the rigorous results with numerical experiments.

We report the first experimental observation of a steady-state, microwave-driven inverse Faraday effect in a high-temperature superconductor. Circularly polarized microwave radiation generates a helicity-dependent response in an epitaxial $\mathrm{YBa_2Cu_3O_{7-\delta}}$ film, detected using homodyne Hall transport. The optomagnetic response emerges exclusively below $T_c$, vanishes in the normal state, and exhibits no power-dependent counterpart under linearly polarized excitation. The effective optomagnetic conversion reaches $1.75\,\mathrm{T}/(\mathrm{W\,cm^{-2}})$, surpassing optical benchmarks by several orders of magnitude. At higher microwave powers, the signal collapses when the self-generated field exceeds $B_{c1}$, marking the onset of a vortex phase-slip regime, and subsequently re-emerges at mode-locked vortex-washboard harmonics. These results establish steady-state microwave optomagnetism as a route to contactless, non-inductive magnetic control and nonequilibrium vortex spectroscopy in superconducting quantum systems.

The strong, tunable dipolar interactions of ultracold molecules make them a powerful platform for quantum many-body physics, but reaching degeneracy by evaporative cooling requires suppressing inelastic collisions. Microwave collisional shielding has enabled the preparation of degenerate Fermi gases and Bose-Einstein condensates of polar molecules, whereas static electric field shielding has been limited to fermionic species, which are less prone to inelastic loss. We demonstrate static-field Förster shielding of bosonic $^{23}$Na$^{87}$Rb molecules, suppressing two-body loss by up to four orders of magnitude. Within a bound-state-free electric-field window, three-body loss is also strongly suppressed, enabling efficient evaporation. Evaporating with an efficiency of 2.09(9), we increase the phase-space density of the gas by two orders of magnitude, reaching degeneracy with 7200(1000) molecules. We observe self-bound droplets at the end of evaporation over a wide range of field strengths, emerging from either degenerate or non-degenerate parent gases. We perform Path Integral Monte Carlo simulations, which suggest that the observed droplets are filamentary in nature, and find good agreement with the experimentally observed droplet formation temperatures. Our results establish Förster shielding as a single-field route to prepare degenerate gases and self-bound droplets of bosonic polar molecules.

Cluster algorithms, such as the Swendsen–Wang and Wolff methods, are among the most successful MCMC methods for mitigating critical slowing down in statistical systems. These constructive cluster algorithms, however, fail in the presence of even extremely weak frustration. Here, we sidestep this fundamental limitation by learning rather than constructing the relevant clusters. Specifically, we use the wavelet conditional renormalization group (WCRG) sampling method to learn the probability distribution of collective fluctuations of a frustrated two-dimensional soft-spin model. Configurations are then generated recursively from coarse to fine scales by sampling conditional wavelet distributions. The WCRG method reproduces the main statistical properties of the system across different phases, including the local-field distribution and the structure factor. At an Ising-like critical point, the conditional dynamics remains decorrelated within $\mathcal{O}(1)$ sweeps at each scale, yielding an overall sampling complexity of $\mathcal{O}(\log_2 L)$, thus making WCRG much more efficient than standard local MCMC methods. These results show that learned multiscale sampling can overcome critical slowing down in frustrated systems for which conventional cluster algorithms fail. By assessing the sampling accuracy of different observables, we also clarify the main tradeoff of the WCRG method: the accuracy of the fast sampling scheme depends on the expressiveness of the energy-based model used to estimate the wavelet conditional distributions.

Exchange-based semiconductor qubits encompass a broad family of encodings constructed from singlet- and triplet-like spin states, several of which are compatible with operation at zero applied magnetic field. Their reliable operation requires characterization of environmental noise, residual idle interactions, and exchange-dependent decay, but this characterization often relies on multi-axis control calibration or deliberately engineered magnetic-field gradients. A simpler zero-applied-field diagnostic is particularly valuable for hybrid semiconductor-superconductor systems, in which magnetic fields can degrade superconducting components. Here, we use the intrinsic magnetic-field gradient produced by residual nuclear spins in isotopically enriched Si/SiGe to implement exchange oscillations between two quantum dots as a characterization tool without a micromagnet, dynamic nuclear polarization, or prior multi-axis calibration. Using Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill exchange sequences, we extend the singlet coherence from $T_2^*=1.17\pm0.02~\mu$s to $T_2^{\mathrm{CPMG}}=74.8\pm1.8~\mu$s with $N=70$ refocusing pulses. The oscillation phase resolves residual exchange in the tens-of-kilohertz regime and enables it to be mapped across the $(1,1)$ charge cell. These results establish intrinsic-gradient exchange oscillations as a simple, more relevant zero-field diagnostic for exchange-only and related semiconductor qubit encodings that is amenable to rapid, high-throughput device characterization.

The generalized Bethe ansatz framework formulated in [P. R. Pasnoori, Phys. Rev. B 112, L060409 (2025)] provides a unified framework to find exact solutions to quantum many-body systems with time-dependent coupling strengths with periodic boundary conditions. In this work we extend this framework to the case of open boundary conditions where in addition to the time-dependent interactions in the bulk, the boundary conditions are explicitly time-dependent. We show that for integrable time-dependent bulk coupling strengths, the generalized Bethe ansatz framework provides the time-dependent boundary conditions compatible with integrability and reduces the time-dependent Schrodinger equation to a set of matrix difference equations called the boundary quantum Knizhnik-Zamolodchikov (BqKZ) equations. The solution to the BqKZ equations provides the explicit form of the exact wavefunction. We further show that the RG invariants of the corresponding static model identify with the dynamical invariants in the time-dependent model.

The orbital Edelstein effect converts an electric field into a non-equilibrium orbital polarization, opening new opportunities for orbitronics. Although signatures of the orbital Edelstein effect have been reported, its microscopic mechanisms and quantitative validation remain underexplored. Here, by directly linking the atomic structure of KTaO$_3$(110) two-dimensional electron gases to both their calculated and measured electronic band dispersions, we predict and provide experimental evidence for an orbital Edelstein effect that largely counterbalances its spin counterpart. Scanning transmission electron microscopy and electron energy-loss spectroscopy resolve the interfacial atomic configuration, which is used as input for density-functional calculations. Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy then confirms the resulting band structure, which is fitted by a tight-binding model enabling computation of the spin and orbital Edelstein responses. Harmonic magnetotransport indicates that a $\sim$20 % contribution from the orbital Edelstein response is necessary to describe the magnitude and anisotropy of the effect. Our results establish KTaO$_3$(110) as a model platform for orbitronics and demonstrate a pathway to generate and harness orbital polarization in quantum oxide systems while also offering new insights into pairing mechanisms in their superconducting state.

Porous triboelectric materials offer significant potential for enhancing the performance of triboelectric nanogenerators, yet their practical application is limited by structural instability and humidity-induced performance degradation. In this work, a bio-derived, sustainable polyamide containing disulfide linkages was developed to enable spontaneous formation of a porous dielectric without external templating. Hydrophilic MOF fillers comprising HKUST-1 crystals are incorporated within the porous matrix to reinforce the membrane structure and regulate moisture effects. Mechanical characterization demonstrates that HKUST-1 suppresses pore collapse and improves structural robustness under repeated deformation, while analysis of stress-strain behaviour reveals the critical role of pore stability in achieving stable triboelectric output. In addition, HKUST-1 mitigates humidity-induced charge dissipation by confining water molecules within its framework, giving enhanced triboelectric output stability and reduced performance degradation under increasing relative humidity compared to the neat porous system. This work demonstrates a strategy that integrates self-foamed porous structures, sustainable polymer design, and functional filler reinforcement to engineer mechanically robust and environmentally stable triboelectric systems.

Thermodynamics is operational in the sense that the very concept of thermal equilibrium depends crucially on the choice of observables, while the amount of extractable work is defined relative to the allowed operations. Here we show that isolated quantum many-body states admit a thermodynamic hierarchical structure of observables and allowed operations, where the same state can be thermal at one level of the hierarchy and athermal at another. Enlarging the set of allowed operations therefore renders such hidden athermality a potential resource for work extraction; the resulting work gain is bounded in terms of the difference between the entropy densities of the two levels. This entropy difference takes the form of the mutual-information density. We establish the bounds for three extensions of operational access: increased spatial resolution, increased duration of control, and nonlocal connectivity, which provide access to position-state Holevo information, correlations between neighboring regions and spatially nonlocal correlations, respectively. Thus the difference between entropies at different levels of the thermodynamic hierarchy governs the bound on the work gain associated with moving to a less restricted level.

We investigate the flow and segregation of binary granular mixtures with density differences down a long chute using a continuum framework that couples a particle-force-based segregation model with an inertial-number-based local rheology. The steady-state momentum and convection-diffusion-segregation equations are solved simultaneously, explicitly accounting for the two-way coupling between segregation and flow. Predicted concentration and velocity fields at different streamwise locations are validated against representative DEM simulations. The validated model is then used to examine the influence of density ratio, mixture composition, and chute inclination on segregation over a wide range of conditions. The chute length required to achieve fully developed segregation is quantified and compared with the development length for monodisperse granular flow. At low density ratios and/or low inclinations, segregation develops over much longer distances than the velocity field. In contrast, at higher inclinations and larger density contrasts, the two length scales become comparable, demonstrating that neglecting flow development can significantly underestimate segregation evolution.