Papers

The effect of an inhomogeneous magnetic field on the QCD vacuum is addressed using the framework of chiral perturbation theory. The magnetic field is chosen to be localized along one spatial direction, with a profile for which the underlying quantum mechanical problem is exactly solvable. Particular attention is paid to regularization and renormalization using dimensional regularization. While the non-vanishing gradient of the magnetic field requires additional operators in chiral perturbation theory, their effect occurs at next-to-next-to-leading order in the chiral expansion. Consequently, the magnetic field dependence of equilibrium vacuum observables can be determined at next-to-leading order without undetermined parameters. We compute the zero-temperature free energy and chiral condensate for the inhomogeneous background, both as integrated quantities as well as spatially resolved local observables. Comparison with locally constant approximations enables a direct probe of the spatial response and nonlocal structure of the magnetized QCD vacuum. We additionally derive the induced vacuum current associated with the inhomogeneity of the magnetic field.

A nonzero commutator proves that two orderings differ as operators, but it does not ensure that a physical state can reveal the difference. We ask when non-Abelian ordering information becomes dynamically invisible. For Hermitian operators $B$ and $C$, we compare the evolutions generated by the opposite-order products $M=(B+iC)(B-iC)$ and $\widetilde M=(B-iC)(B+iC)$, and define their operational visibility from the minimum overlap of the output states over a normalized time window. This visibility bounds the difference produced by the two orderings in every observable on the chosen state. An exact one-qubit solution shows that the same fixed pair can be perfectly invisible in one state and visible in another. We then keep the ordered generators fixed and vary only the many-body ground state across a quantum phase transition. The same ordering difference is nearly invisible in one regime and clearly visible in the other. Moreover, states with identical leading quadratic decay can develop sharply different finite-time visibility because their first distinction appears at higher order. The effect persists across distinct operator pairs and coefficient perturbations. Thus dynamical Abelianization is a property of the state-dependent process, i.e., non-Abelian ordering information can become operationally inaccessible even though the underlying operators remain non-commuting.

Solving path integrals in quantum field theories often involves the numerical handling of noncommuting Grassmann fields, which is in many cases a highly nontrivial and numerically inefficient task, especially in large systems and at higher dimensions. In this paper a radial basis function type neural network construction is used to approximate fermionic path integrals that include local couplings in their hopping terms. By isolating the interaction terms from the purely fermionic components using a radial basis function expansion, the path integral can be approximated by a few percent accuracy even for very large lattice sizes. The method has been developed and tested using staggered fermions in one, and in two dimensions, through calculating the partition functions, and expectation values.

We propose a framework to determine the vacuum polarization functions in QED in the presence of an electromagnetic background field in the spacelike region on the lattice. This method consists in reweighting lattice Monte Carlo data generated without the background with the fermion determinant ratio evaluated in the continuous spacetime using worldline formalism. This proposal can be further extended to other applications in lattice gauge theory, such as QCD in finite chemical potential.

The theoretical prediction of the muon anomalous magnetic moment $a_\mu$ depends crucially on the Hadronic Vacuum Polarization (HVP), and the tension between its dispersive and lattice-QCD determinations remains unresolved. We show that part of this puzzle can be addressed in the heavy-quark sector, where both descriptions are theoretically clean, by recognizing that the heavy-quark mass and its contribution to $a_\mu$ are not independent quantities: both follow from integrals of the same hadronic spectral function, differing only in their integration kernel. Promoting this kernel to a free choice within the relativistic QCD Sum Rules used to determine heavy-quark masses, we break with the conventional notion of a single valid sum rule and instead determine the mass and its HVP contribution simultaneously, from a common, self-consistent framework. This intrinsic construction exploits the anticorrelation between the two quantities to sharpen the final uncertainty, and turns the residual disagreement between the perturbative and hadronic descriptions of the observable into a direct observable-specific diagnostic of residual theory/model dependence, including duality-violation and continuum-modeling effects, unavailable to a determination of the mass alone. We obtain $a_\mu^{\rm HVP_{c+b},LO} =(14.46(13)+0.3009(17))\times 10^{-10}$ at leading and $a_\mu^{\rm HVP_{c+b}, NLO_{a,b}} = ( -0.5738(95) - 0.01822(13) )\times 10^{-10}$ at next-to-leading order, for charm and bottom contributions, respectively. We compare our next-to-leading-order results with its first available lattice determination, finding good agreement in the charm sector. As a byproduct, we obtain $\hat m_c(\hat m_c)=1267.1(6.8)$ MeV and $\hat m_b(\hat m_b) = 4182.3(7.2)$ MeV, with unprecedented phenomenological precision.

We started the Living Review of Machine Learning for Particle Physics (HEP-ML Living Review) in 2020 as a community-maintained, near-comprehensive bibliography of machine learning in particle physics. The field was then growing faster than any single researcher could follow, finding the relevant papers was hard, and a structured, continuously updated reference paid off immediately. Since then the literature has grown by more than an order of magnitude, the methods reach far beyond the classification and generation tasks of the early years, and the community has built its own ecosystem of topic-specific reviews, benchmark papers, and software frameworks. The original model no longer serves this field well, and we can no longer sustain it. We therefore change direction. We freeze the Living Review as an archival reference covering the literature up to 1 June 2026, where it remains a stable record of the first phase of HEP-ML. A new resource, the HEP-ML Living Guide, replaces it. It does not list everything. It curates, it annotates, and it points readers to foundational and representative work, so that researchers can find their way into a mature and rapidly diversifying field. In this article we explain why we make this change and how the new resource works.

Within a holographic QCD framework, we numerically investigate chiral symmetry breaking and the associated phase transition at finite temperature and chemical potential. The model is constructed on a nonlinear charged Born-Infeld black hole background. The chiral condensate, extracted from the asymptotic behavior of the bulk scalar field, serves as the primary order parameter. At zero chemical potential, we find a chiral crossover transition for physical quark masses with a pseudocritical temperature of $T_{pc}=0.1477$ GeV. In the chiral limit, the transition becomes first-order with a critical temperature of $T_{c}=0.1337$ GeV. A critical strange quark mass of $m_s=37$ MeV, at zero light quark mass, separates first- and second-order transition regions. For finite chemical potential ($\mu$) and a physical strange mass ($m_s=95$ MeV) with massless light quarks, the transition remains second-order, with $T_c$ decreasing as $\mu$ increases. These results are further supported by the behavior of meson susceptibilities $(\chi_{\pi}-\chi_{\sigma})$, which exhibit a rapid thermal decay and convergence across the phase boundary. Introducing the Born-Infeld parameter $\beta$ shifts the second-order phase boundary to higher temperatures for smaller $\beta$ (stabilizing the chirally broken phase) but does not alter the transition order or introduce a critical endpoint within the studied range. Our findings are consistent with previous soft-wall model studies and highlight the significant role of nonlinear bulk electrodynamics in modifying the chiral phase diagram.

The quark spin-orbit correlation probes the alignment of quark helicity with longitudinal kinetic orbital angular momentum inside a hadron. This correlation is defined by a QCD operator: the position moment of the asymmetric parity-odd quark energy-momentum tensor. The matrix element of this rank-two tensor decomposes into symmetric-traceless, antisymmetric, and trace parts. The symmetric-traceless part is matched to moments of axial generalized parton distributions. The QCD equations of motion relate the antisymmetric part to vector and tensor form factors and set the trace to zero. Using these relations, we derive two gauge-invariant sum rules for the spin-orbit correlation in a spin-$1$ hadron. One gives the correlation in an unpolarized target. The other gives its tensor-polarization dependence, which is absent for spin-$0$ and spin-$1/2$ targets. We estimate the unpolarized spin-orbit correlations for the $\rho$ meson and deuteron using existing lattice and phenomenological inputs, respectively.

Reconstructing the analytic structure of a function from finite datasets is a fundamental problem across theoretical, numerical, and experimental physics. While Padé approximants provide a natural framework, finite-information effects, as well as statistical and systematic uncertainties, may obscure the underlying analytic structure and limit reconstruction reliability. In this work, we reinterpret the appearance of Froissart doublets not merely as numerical artifacts but as diagnostic objects carrying information about the analytic consistency of the input data. Accordingly, we develop a general Padé-based algorithm that exploits the dynamics of Froissart doublets along Padé sequences to identify localized inconsistencies and iteratively reconstruct the analytic structure most compatible with the data. The method requires no model for the origin of the inconsistencies and distinguishes genuine analytic features from spurious structures induced by finite-information effects. We validate it using Stieltjes functions, realistic pseudo-experimental datasets with statistical and systematic uncertainties, and general holomorphic functions. The complete algorithm is provided as a supplementary Mathematica notebook in an open GitLab repository.

We introduce a chemical potential for non-Hermitian lattice fermions and show that, for even flavors with degenerate masses and paired chemical potentials $(\mu,-\mu)$ or $(i\mu,i\mu)$, the Hybrid Monte Carlo algorithm is free of the sign problem. For one-dimensional free fermions, we demonstrate that the sign problem is a numerical rather than physical obstruction and derive the exact propagator, which is analytic at finite lattice spacing away from its poles but becomes non-analytic in the continuum limit. Finally, we use AI-assisted fitting to perform analytic continuation from imaginary to real chemical potentials.

The recent observations of the $\Xi_{cc}^{+}$ and the $\Omega_{cc}^{+}$ by the LHCb Collaboration complete the ground-state triplet of doubly charmed baryons, so that its internal mass pattern can be used to test symmetry breaking in the light-quark sector. We study the doubly heavy baryons within the pion mean-field approach, regarding them as bound states of the $N_c-2$ valence light quarks that generate the pion mean field in the presence of a compact heavy diquark. All dynamical parameters for flavor SU(3) and isospin symmetry breaking were determined in the light and singly heavy baryon sectors, and the hyperfine coupling is fixed by the singly heavy spectrum. With the heavy-quark masses taken from the PDG values, the measured $\Xi_{cc}^{++}$ mass is used only to determine the collective rotational energy of the light subsystem, so that the mass splittings within the triplet are predictions. We obtain $M_{\Xi_{cc}^{+}}=(3620.17\pm13.08)$ MeV and $M_{\Omega_{cc}^{+}}=(3746.62\pm13.22)$ MeV. The predicted isospin splitting, $M_{\Xi_{cc}^{++}}-M_{\Xi_{cc}^{+}}=(1.43\pm0.38)$ MeV, is consistent with the LHCb observation of the $\Xi_{cc}^{+}$. We also present the masses of the spin-3/2 doubly charmed states and the doubly bottom spectrum.

The combined chiral and large-$N_c$ expansion is increasingly employed in precision studies involving the $\eta$ and $\eta'$ mesons, including recent applications to low-energy axion phenomenology within U(3) chiral perturbation theory. We point out that the operator structure of the large-$N_c$ chiral Lagrangian naturally induces correlated directions among the low-energy constants $(F_0,L_4,C_{16})$ and $(F_0,L_6,C_{20})$, implying that phenomenological analyses determine correlated combinations of couplings rather than independent low-energy constants. Using the determination of the pion decay constant as an illustrative example, we reinterpret existing phenomenological and lattice determinations in terms of these correlated directions, showing that the well-known anticorrelation between $F_0$ and $L_4$ extends naturally to NNLO through $C_{16}$. These correlated directions lead to a practical prescription for interpreting and propagating phenomenological determinations of the low-energy constants consistently within the combined chiral and large-$N_c$ framework.

Quantum computers can generate real-time correlators of field theories. By adapting the generalized eigenvalue problem to these correlators, energy eigenvalues can be extracted directly. The method is tested using both classical simulations and quantum hardware, successfully resolving several low-lying energy levels in agreement with exact diagonalization. Comparison with an alternative spectrum determination based on the Fourier transform of correlators shows that the proposed approach is substantially more efficient.

The emergence of massless (Nambu-Goldstone) bosons in association with a dynamically global broken symmetry is a long known and widespread phenomenon in physics. However, practically nothing is known about the expressions of Nambu–Goldstone boson character on the internal structure of these bound states. Indeed, their structure is often ignored. In strong interactions, pions and kaons are the (would-be) Nambu-Goldstone bosons and experiments underway or planned at existing or anticipated high-energy, high-luminosity facilities will gather data that it is hoped will enable maps to be drawn of their internal structure. Meanwhile, theory and phenomenology find themselves in something of a quagmire. Herein, we provide a snapshot of the current status, highlighting issues under debate and identifying areas that deserve greater attention so that best use can be made of what is likely to be a huge volume of data delivered in the next decade or so.

Mesons and glueballs are paradigmatic bound states of confining quantum field theories (QFTs), but their nonperturbative spectroscopy in the continuum remains challenging beyond one spatial dimension. Here we perform such spectroscopy for the Ising QFT using a recently developed regularization based on noncommutative “fuzzy” geometry. On a thin fuzzy torus, we reproduce the universal low-lying $\mathbb E_8$ meson masses of the magnetically perturbed $(1{+}1)\mathrm{D}$ Ising QFT. By increasing the torus aspect ratio, we continuously track the second-lightest $\mathbb E_8$ meson as the system effectively crosses over from 1D to 2D. On the 2D fuzzy torus and sphere, we find a subthreshold scalar level and above-threshold response features consistent with previous estimates of glueball masses. The same excitations are revealed away from equilibrium using quench dynamics. Our results establish fuzzy geometries as nonperturbative spectroscopic probes of massive QFTs, including their bound-state evolution through dimensional crossover.

We study deformation of supersymmetric $t$-confining (truly confininig) gauge theories with small anomaly mediation of supersymmetry breaking. We identify breaking pattern of global symmetries in the theories. These results can be compared in priciple to lattice simulation of non-supersymmetric theories (except for one of the cases where the theory is pseudoreal and chiral).

We study the critical dynamics arising from a time-dependent periodic homogenous source coupled to the order-parameter field, which drives a classical ferromagnetic system across a continuous transition. For this purpose, we consider the paradigmatic two-dimensional (2D) Ising model in the presence of a periodic magnetic field $h(t)=-A\, \cos (2\pi t/P)$, evolving under a purely relaxational dynamics at the critical temperature. We show that the periodic driving gives rise to a peculiar dynamic scaling behavior in the thermodynamic limit, arising from a nontrivial interplay among the time $t$, the amplitude $A$ and period $P$ of $h(t)$. The relevant scaling variables are $\tau=t/P$ and $\sigma=A P^\kappa$, with $\kappa = y_h/z$, where $y_h=(d+2-\eta)/2$ is the critical dimension of the magnetic field, and $z$ is dynamic exponent for the critical relaxational dynamics ($\kappa\approx 0.865$ for the 2D Ising model). The dynamic scaling behaviors of the magnetization and bond-energy density show an oscillatory behavior around a smooth curve which approaches a large-$\tau$ stationary behavior. We also briefly discuss the dynamic behavior of an Ising system driven across the critical point by a periodic time-varying temperature at zero magnetic field.

We propose a universality-based reconstruction of the QCD chiral crossover line from Lee-Yang edge singularities in the complex baryon chemical potential plane. The framework maps lattice-extracted complex Lee-Yang-zero estimates, treated as proxies for edge singularities, to the universal chiral Lee-Yang edge and thereby determines the $\mu_B$ dependence of both the chiral critical line in the light-quark chiral limit and the pseudo-critical crossover line at physical quark masses. As an illustration, we apply the framework to Lee-Yang-zero estimates recently obtained by the Wuppertal-Budapest collaboration from high-statistics lattice QCD simulations. Without imposing the previously determined small-$\mu_B$ expansion of the crossover line as input, the reconstructed curvature is consistent with existing continuum lattice-QCD results at small $\mu_B$. The fitted chiral-limit transition temperature is also compatible with existing chiral-scaling analyses. These results demonstrate that lattice information on Lee-Yang singularities, combined with universal chiral scaling, provides a quantitatively consistent constraint on the QCD crossover line within the present temperature window and establishes a framework that can be systematically improved with future Lee-Yang-zero determinations.

Starting from SU(N) on the lattice, we give a rigorous derivation of the Dyson–Schwinger equations in the continuum limit. We formulate the Dyson–Schwinger identities for the lattice Yang–Mills theory directly in terms of the link variables $U_\mu(m)\in SU(N)$, exploiting the invariance of the Haar measure under left group translations. This provides an exact lattice derivation of the corresponding master equation for the Wilson action, expressed through left-invariant Lie derivatives acting on individual links. Because the construction is carried out directly on the compact gauge group, it avoids the ambiguities associated with introducing Lie-algebra valued gauge potentials as primary integration variables at finite lattice spacing. For practical applications, in a second part we then break down the gauge degree of freedom by choosing Feynman gauge. We analyze the continuum-limit form of the resulting lattice identities and derive equations for the one- and two-point connected functions. Under a further simplifying reduction, these equations close to a tractable scalar system. Our results establish a direct bridge between exact lattice identities and the functional equations commonly used in continuum nonperturbative studies of Yang–Mills theory.

Topological twisting provides a powerful framework for constructing lattice formulations of supersymmetric gauge theories. In three dimensions, a twisted version of ${\cal N} = 4$ super Yang–Mills theory can be discretized so that one nilpotent scalar supersymmetry is preserved exactly at nonzero lattice spacing. The remaining seven supersymmetries are broken by lattice artifacts of ${\cal O}(a)$, where $a$ is the lattice spacing. An important question is whether these supersymmetries are automatically restored in the continuum limit $a \to 0$, or whether fine-tuning of the lattice couplings is required. In this work, we derive the additional twisted supersymmetries by combining discrete $R$-symmetries of the continuum theory with the action of the scalar supercharge. This construction suggests that restoration of rotational symmetry in the continuum limit implies restoration of $R$-symmetry, leading to an automatic enhancement to the full ${\cal N} = 4$ supersymmetry without further tuning. These results may enable nonperturbative lattice studies of three-dimensional supersymmetric gauge theories relevant to string theory and mirror symmetry.

Multiple lattice evidences support the existence of a confining but chirally symmetric stringy fluid regime of QCD above the chiral symmetry restoration temperature at T_{ch} ~ 155 MeV. This regime is characterized by an approximate chiral spin symmetry and its extensions which means that the propagating excitations represent the chirally symmetric quarks connected into color singlets by the chromoelectric string. Clear \pi,\pi' peaks above T_{ch} were extracted on the lattice from the spatial and temporal correlators, which become broader with temperature and disappear roughly at $3T_{ch}$. The meson-like excitations above T_{ch} were studied within the manifestly confining and chirally symmetric model. It has been demonstrated that the chiral symmetry restoration in the confining regime happens because of Pauli blocking of the levels, required for the existence of the quark condensate, by the thermal quark excitation. The same Pauli blocking leads to a huge swelling of the low-spin mesons above T_{ch} which become infinitely large in the chiral limit. This property should be crucial for the explanation of the high collectivity and a very small mean-free path of the constituents above $T_{ch}$ seen experimentally. Here we demonstrate that the swelling of pions above T_{ch} is a model-independent effect required by current algebra.

We reconstruct the 2PI vertex $\Gamma(k,p;q)$ from Monte Carlo measurements of the connected two-particle correlator for the two-dimensional single-component $\phi^4$ lattice field theory and follow it across the Ising transition. Resolving the vertex in the irreducible representations of the point group $C_{4v}$, we find that the instability is driven by the $A_1$ (ferromagnetic) channel at zero transfer, whose leading eigenvalue of the symmetrized Bethe–Salpeter kernel approaches unity. Substantial $B_1$ (nematic) and $B_2$ (diagonal nematic) contributions cooperate with $A_1$ across all system sizes, highlighting that the soft sector is multidimensional. In real space, the vertex is short-ranged away from criticality while it develops a power-law tail at the critical point. In the ordered phase, the $q=0$ eigenvalue collapses because the ferromagnetic weight has condensed into the (one-particle-reducible) order parameter (or collective coordinate for a finite system), although finite-momentum fluctuations persist. By stripping the crossed-channel ladders, we obtain the fully irreducible vertex, which is a local contact – to a very good approximation. Inserted into the parquet and Schwinger–Dyson equations, this contact reproduces the Monte Carlo self-energy with an accuracy better than one-tenth of a percent. This provides a first-principles benchmark of the dynamical local-vertex approximation (D$\Gamma$A). Additionally, we demonstrate that in the critical region, the physical solution of the parquet equations behaves as a repulsive fixed point, driven initially by a single order-parameter mode.

We develop a non-perturbative analytic tensor network formulation of $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric scalar field theories defined on complex integration contours. Applying this formulation to the two-dimensional $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric $\phi^4$ theory at negative quartic coupling, we derive an explicit analytic expression for the initial tensor and show that its components separate into even and odd sectors according to the parity of the sum of the tensor indices. We further formulate the theory on an alternative complex contour and analytically establish, in arbitrary dimensions, an exact finite-volume relation between the lattice partition function defined on this contour and the real part of the analytic continuation of the Hermitian lattice $\phi^4$ partition function to negative quartic coupling.

Measurement-based quantum simulation (MBQS)—a recently proposed architecture for simulating lattice gauge theories—implements Hamiltonian dynamics by consuming a model-specific entangled resource state with adaptive mid-circuit measurements, rather than by a gate-based circuit. The local constraints in lattice gauge theories are mirrored by the higher-form symmetries of the resource state. Here we report, to our knowledge, the first experimental realization of MBQS of real-time dynamics in the $(2+1)$-dimensional $\mathbb{Z}_2$ gauge theory using the Quantinuum System Model H2 trapped-ion processor. We observe coherent evolution of gauge-invariant observables on $2\times2$ and $3\times3$ spatial lattices, consuming virtual three-dimensional cluster states of 200 and 288 resource-state qubits that are generated from instantaneous blocks of 48 and 54 qubits within the 56-qubit register by measurement, reset, and re-entanglement. The measurement record that drives the evolution simultaneously provides one-form-symmetry syndromes at no additional cost, enabling postselection that strongly suppresses observed Gauss-law violations and improves aggregate agreement with ideal Trotterized dynamics. Our results demonstrate that MBQS is a viable, symmetry-aware architecture for simulating lattice field theories on present-day hardware.

We investigate the in-medium properties of the open-charm vector mesons $D_s^{*}$ and $D^{*}$ in hot and dense nuclear matter within the framework of finite-temperature and finite-density QCD sum rules. The analysis incorporates temperature- and density-dependent quark and gluon condensates together with an in-medium continuum threshold constrained by the light-quark condensate. By solving the resulting QCD sum rules, we determine the in-medium masses and leptonic decay constants of the $D_s^{*\pm}$ and $D^{*\pm}$ mesons over a broad region of the $(T,\rho)$ plane. Both vector mesons undergo substantial in-medium softening, with their masses and leptonic decay constants decreasing as the baryon density increases. The masses exhibit a non-monotonic dependence on baryon density, whereas the leptonic decay constants decrease monotonically throughout the investigated density range. Increasing temperature generally weakens the density-induced modifications, although baryon density remains the dominant driver of the in-medium evolution. The largest mass shifts occur at intermediate-to-high densities, reaching approximately $-413~\mathrm{MeV}$ for the $D_s^{*-}$ meson and $-207~\mathrm{MeV}$ for the $D^{*-}$ meson, while the leptonic decay constants are reduced by more than $68\%$ in both channels at the highest densities considered. We further investigate the particle–antiparticle splittings of the masses and leptonic decay constants induced by finite baryon density. Finite baryon density lifts the vacuum degeneracy between the charge-conjugate states, while increasing temperature generally suppresses the resulting asymmetries. Although the strange and non-strange channels exhibit similar qualitative behavior, quantitative differences emerge in both the in-medium modifications and the particle–antiparticle splittings. ....

Many quarkoniumlike states have been observed above open-flavor thresholds, but their organization and internal structure remain unsettled. We study the isoscalar hidden-charm and hidden-bottom sectors in Born–Oppenheimer effective field theory (BOEFT), between the spin–isospin averaged $S+S$ and $S+P$ thresholds. At leading order, heavy-quark spin decouples, and the quarkonium static potential mixes through string breaking with the lowest tetraquark/open-flavor BO potentials of the same quantum numbers. These potentials are constrained by QCD symmetries, their short- and long-distance behavior, and lattice-QCD data. The only calibrated parameter is the lowest $1^{--}$ adjoint meson mass, fixed from the shallow multiplet associated with the $\chi_{c1}(3872)$. Using $T$-matrix, $K$-matrix, and complex-scaling methods, we determine bound states and resonance poles, their masses, pole widths from the included nonstrange $S+S$ channels, normalized pole couplings, and prescription-dependent quarkonium–open-flavor composition measures. Uncoupled hybrid BOEFT multiplets are included as reference levels. The spectrum exhibits a common heavy-quark-spin-symmetry multiplet organization. Most poles are predominantly quarkonium resonances localized at short distances, with the largest open-flavor components closest to threshold. The same equations also generate shallow, spatially extended, open-flavor-dominated states with molecular long-distance characteristics. Their binding energies, radii, and small quarkonium components are highly sensitive to the adjoint meson mass, whereas the higher spectrum is more stable. Together with the hybrid reference levels, the spectrum provides multiplet assignments for most candidates. States not naturally accommodated point to the need for hidden-strange and $S+P$ tetraquark/open-flavor BO sectors and for hybrid–tetraquark and hybrid–quarkonium mixings.

State-of-the-art solvers for the Dirac equation in Lattice QCD are based on adaptive multigrid methods. These require fine-tuning of many algorithmic parameters to achieve optimal performance. We apply a new multigrid approach to Lattice Field Theory adapted from oil-reservoir simulations: Structured-Multiscale Algebraic Multigrid (SM-AMG). This method builds compact aggregates with overlapping borders to coarsen the grid and yields accurate interpolation. A key advantage is that aggregate size is the primary tunable parameter. For our results, we used SM-AMG in an algebraic approach, called Aggregative-Multiscale AMG (AM-AMG). We benchmark the efficiency of AM-AMG against that of DD$\alpha$AMG, a successful adaptive multigrid solver which alleviates critical slowing down. The two solvers are compared within the framework of the two-flavor Schwinger model using the Wilson discretization. On fine lattices, the operation count of both methods is similar near the critical point and for large volumes, reflecting a comparable computational cost. However, the number of fine-grid iterations is larger for AM-AMG. On coarse lattices, AM-AMG encounters difficulties to remove the low modes close to the critical mass.

The recent success of error detecting codes points toward their potential application to fault-tolerant simulations of nature. In this work, we examine the utility of sparse error detection for simulating lattice gauge theories using quantum computers. In particular, we study the time evolution of the lattice Schwinger model embedded into the Iceberg code family, $[[N+2, N, 2]]$, as well as the Hypercube code family, $[[2^N, N, 2]]$. The lattice of electrons and positrons in the axial gauge is embedded into a single code block or into multiple code blocks, and this work finds that large codeblocks are advantageous in the absence of connectivity constraints. Noisy classical simulations with realistic near-term error rates, infrequent syndrome measurements and physics-aware postselection are found to improve observable estimation. Under realistic noise rates for near-term quantum computers, this work finds that sparse error detection in quantum simulations has the potential to improve accuracy of observable estimation. Additional rounds of error detection are found to systematically drive errors in observables to the noise floor set by the code. These findings suggest that incorporating minimal implementations of fault tolerance in the near-term will enhance the performance of quantum simulations in nuclear physics and high-energy physics.

Results for the isovector momentum fraction, $\langle x \rangle_{u-d}$, helicity moment, $\langle x \rangle_{\Delta u-\Delta d}$, and the transversity moment, $\langle x\rangle_{\delta u-\delta d}$, of the nucleon are presented using high-statistics data on thirteen NME ensembles of gauge configurations generated by the JLab/W&M/LANL/MIT/Marseille collaborations using $2+1$-flavors of dynamical Wilson-clover quarks. The much higher statistics facilitated better control over all systematics compared to our previous lattice calculation. The least controlled systematic—excited-state contamination—is quantified by studying the variation of the results as a function of three estimates of the mass gap of the first excited state, obtained from two- and three-point correlation functions. The final results are obtained using a simultaneous fit to extrapolate in the lattice spacing, $a$, pion and kaon masses, $M_\pi$ and $M_K$, and the finite volume parameter, $M_\pi L$. The data show no significant finite-volume correction, and some dependence on the lattice spacing and the renormalization factors. The largest systematic uncertainty is due to possible remaining excited states contributions. Our final results, in the $\overline{\rm MS}$ scheme at 2~GeV, are $\langle x \rangle_{u-d} = 0.154(10)(9)$, $\langle x \rangle_{\Delta u-\Delta d} = 0.177(10)(15)$ and $\langle x \rangle_{\delta u-\delta d} = 0.197(12)(18)$, where the first error is the overall statistical uncertainty and the second represents the various systematic uncertainties added in quadrature. Results for the momentum fraction and helicity moment are consistent with phenomenological global fit values, while the transversity moment is a prediction.

Gauge invariance is central to modern physics and underpins quantum simulations of lattice gauge theories (LGTs). Existing quantum simulation approaches employ Gauss's law either to energetically suppress gauge-violating processes in analog platforms or to detect and discard gauge-violating outcomes in digital devices. Here we introduce a third paradigm, in which Gauss's law is used to dynamically generate the gauge theory itself from a substantially simpler Hamiltonian. Starting from a readily programmable three-body XXX model, we employ experimentally efficient single-qubit U(1) gauge symmetry-generator terms that induce the dynamics of a U(1) LGT. We implement this approach using 101 qubits on a 156-qubit IBM quantum processor and observe real-time dynamics in quantitative agreement with the target LGT while reducing the entangling-gate depth per Trotter step by a factor of five compared with a direct implementation. Our results establish gauge protection as a resource for Hamiltonian engineering rather than merely symmetry preservation, opening a scalable resource-efficient route towards digital quantum simulations of increasingly complex gauge theories in higher spatial dimensions.