Papers

We investigate traversable wormhole solutions within a four-dimensional effective theory derived from a five-dimensional Einstein-Maxwell-Chern-Simons action with a non-minimally coupled scalar field. A warped Kaluza-Klein compactification yields an Einstein-frame theory containing a phantom dilaton, a canonical axion, a Maxwell field, and a Kaluza-Klein vector, with the couplings fixed by the higher-dimensional origin. Focusing on the Ellis-Bronnikov geometry, we construct solutions that incorporate both dyonic Maxwell and Kaluza-Klein fields. For exponential gauge couplings, the Einstein equations determine the scalar kinetic term and the combined potentials, while the remaining field equations reduce to algebraic relations fixing the individual potentials and the radial behaviour of the electric charges. We obtain a systematic classification of configurations, ranging from the pure phantom-supported wormhole to fully coupled dilaton-axion-gauge configurations. The Kaluza-Klein sector enriches the solution space with additional structure while preserving analytic tractability. These results show that regular, asymptotically flat traversable four-dimensional wormholes arise naturally from higher-dimensional scalar-tensor theories.

We investigate entanglement dynamics in bipartite systems governed by inhomogeneous Hamiltonians of the form $H = H_L + H_R$, where $H_{L/R}$ acts only on the left or right region and is homogeneous within each region. Focusing on the XX chain and the transverse-field Ising chain, we derive analytical formulas for the entanglement entropy between the two regions in the hydrodynamic limit of long times. In this regime, fermions incident on the interface undergo scattering, generating entanglement between reflected and transmitted modes. The resulting quasiparticle picture is controlled by the transmission coefficient, which we obtain analytically by solving the stationary lattice Schrödinger equation. Due to the bounded dispersion, strong inhomogeneity suppresses both transport and entanglement growth. We benchmark our analytical predictions against numerical simulations in paradigmatic setups. Finally, we extend the analysis to the interacting XXZ chain using tDMRG. The numerical data show qualitative agreement with the quadratic case: entanglement growth remains suppressed in the strongly inhomogeneous limit. Notably, however, entanglement continues to increase even when transport is suppressed, at least at intermediate times.

Sophisticated Khovanov-Rozansky (KhR) description of knot invariants in the fundamental representation can be reformulated in terms of bicomplex with a simple physical meaning. Namely, the counterintuitive matrix factorization is substituted by simple operators $D$, locally constructed for every MOY resolution of a link diagram, which becomes nilpotent when the diagram has no external lines. Operators for different resolutions are related by equally simple conjugations $\chi^{(\pm)}$. The KhR procedure then splits in two steps - defining “vertical” cohomologies of $D$, which are associated with particular resolutions and will be put at vertices of the hypercube, and conjugations $\chi^{(\pm)}$, that define morphisms along its edges. As usual, standard combinations of morphisms are nilpotent, and one can define “horizontal” cohomologies - which are then combined into Poincaré polynomial, called KhR polynomial in application to links. This construction remains global in the sense that resulting cohomologies depend on the entire link diagram, but all its building blocks, including the operators and morphisms are local in the sense that they are defined for its particular vertices. Sometimes, this allows simple local reductions, allowing to eliminate or change particular vertices or sets of those. Along with the obvious case of Reidemeister equivalencies this happens also for antiparallel-lock tangles, what is responsible for simplification of bipartite calculus. In the $N=2$ and arbitrary $N$ bipartite cases, one can also provide global reductions transferring the local construction of the KhR double-complex to the global construction of the Khovanov(-like) single-complex.

The atomic nucleus, viewed as a system of bound quarks, should, in principle, be described within an effective theory of low-energy quantum chromodynamics. This paper provides an overview of recently developed models that embody essential features of the desired effective theory. The Fermi gas model helps explain why the number of $d$ quarks is approximately equal to that of $u$ quarks in stable light nuclei up to ${\rm {}^{40}_{20}Ca}$. A modified bag model accounts for the deviation from this rule in heavier nuclei. With this model, the static properties of a wide range of stable nuclei can be described with reasonable accuracy. To make the most of the modified bag model, it is useful to invoke gauge/gravity duality. A refined version of duality states: “The dynamics inside an extremal black hole in ${\rm AdS}_5$ is mapped onto the corresponding dynamics of a stable subnuclear system in ${\mathbb R}_{1,3}$”. This version of duality allows one to predict the primary decay channel of the lightest glueball. Another implication is that this framework explains why the periodic table contains a finite number of stable elements. Duality makes it possible to calculate the maximum allowed charge $Z_{\rm max}$ of stable heavy nuclei: $Z_{\rm max}\approx 82$, which is the charge of the ${\rm {}^{208}_{82}Pb}$ nucleus.

We present an uncertainty-aware description of leading-power fragmentation for all-charm pentaquark states ($S$-wave $|cccc\bar{c}\rangle$) at hadron colliders. We construct a multimodal set of collinear fragmentation functions, PQ5Q1.1, incorporating both perturbative and nonperturbative uncertainties. Perturbative effects are estimated via missing higher-order variations (F-MHOUs), while the nonperturbative wave function is modeled through controlled modifications of its transverse-momentum structure (F-NPWF), consistently combined within a replica-like framework. The initial-scale input for constituent charm fragmentation is refined to describe both compact multiquark and diquark-driven production mechanisms. We employ the (sym)JETHAD interface to study NLL/NLO$^+$ semi-inclusive pentaquark-plus-jet production at the HL-LHC and future FCC. The bottom sector is left to future dedicated studies due to its enhanced sensitivity to nonperturbative modeling. Our results provide a flexible framework for uncertainty-controlled predictions, bridging exotic-hadron structure, heavy-flavor fragmentation, and high-energy QCD.

Forward two-particle correlations in $pA$ collisions have long been recognized as a particularly sensitive observable for exploring gluon saturation effects. In the back-to-back regime, two-particle correlations receive substantial contributions from both soft-gluon radiation and saturation effects. In this work, we study heavy meson pair correlations in forward proton-nucleus collisions by incorporating a unified Sudakov resummation for heavy meson pair correlations in the Color Glass Condensate effective theory. Our results are in good agreement with the LHCb $\Delta\phi$ measurements for $D^0\bar D^0$ pairs in forward $pp$ and $pA$ collisions, as well as with the measurements of $J/\psi$ pairs from $b\bar b$ decays in forward $pp$ collisions. We further present predictions for the $\Delta \phi$ distribution and azimuthal anisotropies of $D\bar D$ and $B\bar B$ correlations in the forward rapidity region at the Large Hadron Collider. A pronounced mass hierarchy is found in both the nuclear modification factor $R_{pA}$ and the azimuthal anisotropy ratio $\langle \cos 2\phi_{qP} \rangle_{pA}/\langle \cos 2\phi_{qP} \rangle_{pp}$, with stronger suppression for bottom meson pairs than for charm meson pairs. As the rapidity increases, the suppression becomes more pronounced while the mass hierarchy remains robust. This study will help us to search for the saturation signal via heavy-meson pair correlations in forward $pA$ collisions.

We prove a projection-triangle statement for projective Calabi–Yau threefold conifold degenerations and use it to organize an intersection-space Hodge atom shadow package. For a nodal central fiber $X_0$, assume the relevant Banagl–Budur–Maxim, multi-node gluing, mixed-Hodge-module, and specialization-splitting hypotheses, so that $\psi_\pi(F)\simeq \mathcal{IS}^{H}_{X_0}\oplus\mathcal C^H_\Sigma$. Projection of the variation morphism to the intersection-space summand defines $\operatorname{var}_I:\phi_\pi(F)\to\mathcal{IS}^{H}_{X_0}$, and the octahedral axiom gives $P^H\to P^H_I\to\mathcal C^H_\Sigma\xrightarrow{+1}$, where $P^H=\operatorname{Cone}(\operatorname{var})[-1]$ and $P^H_I=\operatorname{Cone}(\operatorname{var}_I)[-1]$. This realizes the intersection-space atom shadow package $\mathsf{HA}^{I}(X_0)$ and compares it with the intersection-homology package $\mathsf{HA}^{IH}(X_0)$. Under the self-dual specialization-splitting hypothesis, the projected variation object satisfies $\mathbb D P^H_I\simeq Q^H_I(3)$, where $Q^H_I=\operatorname{Cone}(\operatorname{can}_I)[-1]$. Under the mixed-Hodge realization of Banagl's middle exact sequence, we isolate a rigid–vanishing filtration and identify the IIB vanishing atom with the realized kernel. For the classical $125$-node quintic, the middle-degree IC–intersection-space defect has rank $202$. The construction remains at Hodge-realization level and identifies $\mathcal C^H_\Sigma$ and $\Delta_{I/IC}(X_0)$ as geometry-side handoff objects for future DT/BPS comparisons.

The role of gauge invariance is reconsidered by "deriving it without assuming it" within an autonomous approach to interactions of Standard Model particles. In this approach, the renormalizable interactions are purely constrained by quantum principles, notably the representation on a Hilbert space, which forces interactions to be "string-localized". To some surprise, most interactions fulfilling the constraints enjoy an emergent but possibly "hidden" gauge invariance (uncovered via redefinitions of quantum fields). It is exact and unbroken even in the presence of massive vector bosons. It plays a major role in proving that S-matrices are insensitive to the string-localization, and in fact coincide with S-matrices of local interactions from the gauge theory approach on indefinite state spaces. Thus, particle physics with massless and massive vector bosons can be implemented without indefinite state spaces and ghosts.

We apply exact WKB analysis to the spectral problem arising in black hole perturbation theory. The boundary conditions for quasinormal modes lead to exact quantization conditions for the complex frequencies. To solve these conditions, one needs to evaluate the so-called quantum periods, or Voros symbols. For scalar perturbations of extremal Reissner–Nordström and Kerr black holes, we compute these quantities up to very high orders in the WKB expansion and perform Borel–Padé resummation. The resulting resummed quantization conditions successfully reproduce the correct quasinormal mode frequencies with high precision.

Liquid-liquid phase separation underlies phenomena ranging from protein condensate formation to the phase coexistence of synthetic polymers. Although the random phase approximation (RPA) is widely used to predict such phase behavior, its quantitative accuracy for binodals of polymer solutions, particularly outside the high-density regime, remains incompletely characterized. Here, we develop a field-theoretic loop expansion in homopolymer systems by identifying the inverse polymer density $\rho^{-1}$ as the Planck constant $\hbar$ in quantum field theory. We calculate the leading-order and next-to-leading-order corrections to the RPA free energy, denoted as RPA+ and RPA++, respectively. Testing the binodal predicted by the RPA+ against molecular dynamics simulations of bead-spring chains with Gaussian pair interactions, we find that the RPA+ qualitatively improves the dilute-phase coexistence density over the RPA, while the critical point error remains comparable to that of the RPA. Our results establish the loop expansion as a systematic route for refining the RPA-based binodal predictions for polymer phase separation.

There has been a lot of recent work addressing the representation theory that underlies logarithmic conformal field theories. A full understanding of these models will however also need analytic data, in particular the correlation functions. Here, we explore the correlators of one of the most fundamental of all logarithmic models: the bosonic ghost system. In this first part, we use differential equations to show that certain correlation functions may be expressed using hypergeometric functions. Our main result is the consequent verification that there are four-point functions with logarithmic singularities. In a sequel, we will employ Coulomb gas and bootstrap methods to further refine the results presented here.

We address several aspects of entanglement entropy of 2D interface CFT using the replica method. Unlike the case of boundary CFT, we consider the boundary OPE (BOPE) of the Rényi twist operator and find a boundary twist operator anchored on the interface. This approach gives the $O(1)$ contribution to the entanglement entropy in terms of the BOPE coefficients of the twist operator. We further analyze entanglement entropy of different intervals and compare our findings with previous holographic results.

We study the use of transformers to reconstruct the compositions of tensor products of two-dimensional rational conformal field theories (RCFTs) based on their low-energy spectra. The task is challenging due to its combinatorial nature. The constituent theories are characterized by their central charges and affine Lie algebra labels. We achieve 98% accuracy in recovering the constituents of tensor products theories constructed from Wess-Zumino-Witten models. We further demonstrate that our method generalizes to CFTs with larger central charge and unseen classes of RCFTs by adding a small number of out-of-domain examples. Our results show that transformers are effective at this task and point towards a new tool for bulk reconstruction in AdS/CFT.

The superconformal index is a grand-canonical partition function that counts the 1/16-BPS states in the theory, and its Legendre transform with respect to reduced chemical potentials accounts for the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy of electrically charged rotating black holes in anti-de Sitter spacetime. However, the superconformal index of $\mathcal{N}=4$ super Yang-Mills theory appears to allow shifts in chemical potentials, and the contributions of the shifted terms diverge exponentially. This puzzle was resolved by showing the instability of wrapped D3-branes corresponding to the shifts in the gravitational on-shell action. Analogously, we study the ABJM index and the M5-brane instability criterion.

Simulating physical systems on near-term quantum computers often requires preparing states within constrained subspaces, like those with fixed particle number or spin. We use Lie algebraic techniques to prove that hardware-efficient gates are universal for state preparation in these subspaces. The key mechanism is Pauli $Z$ dressing: commutators of overlapping gates produce Pauli $Z$ operators on shared qubits, acting as spectator projectors that decompose multi-plane rotations into single-plane generators spanning the full $\mathfrak{so}(w)$ algebra, where $w$ is the dimension of the constrained subspace, thereby guaranteeing universality for real state preparation. Adding independent complex phases extends this to $\mathfrak{su}(w)$, enabling arbitrary complex state preparation. We provide a computationally efficient Jacobian criterion for verifying that a circuit can explore any direction on the target manifold from almost any parameter configuration. Our findings are applicable to many problem areas, including Fermi-Hubbard models, Bose-Hubbard models, and molecular electronic structure. We apply our framework to two physical settings: we prove the completeness of the binary encoded multi-level particles ansatz on the conserved-particle-number subspace, and we construct symmetry-preserving circuits for the fuzzy sphere regularisation of the 3D Ising conformal field theory (CFT). For the latter, we variationally prepare the ground and excited states and extract some CFT data.

This paper investigates the chaotic properties of Arnol'd cat maps (ACMs) coupled on the nodes of a circulant graph. By demanding that the system's evolution matrix be symplectic, we determine the coupling matrix, which is naturally interpreted as the adjacency matrix of a circulant graph. Specifically, the study analyses the system's Lyapunov spectra and Kolmogorov-Sinai (K-S) entropy. Numerical simulations yield the counterintuitive result that the entropy production does not increase as the connectivity of the graph increases, due to the translational symmetry of the circulant graph. Moreover, we analyse the spectra of the periods of the evolution matrix on a finite toroidal phase space of the dynamical system.

Recently, Danielson, Satishchandran, and Wald (DSW) have proposed a novel source of decoherence for uniformly accelerated charges and masses in spatial superposition in spacetimes containing a bifurcating Killing horizon. Such an effect can be traced back to the emission and absorption of soft photons and gravitons, which effectively act as "which-path” information probes. This results in the decoherence of any such superposition in a finite proper time. With this in mind, we study the DSW mechanism using a gapless finite-time detector prepared in a spatial superposition of uniformly accelerated paths in Minkowski spacetime that interacts with a massive scalar field. The calculation is nonperturbative. Such a model will enable us to analyze the decoherence process in a more controlled manner, highlighting the main factors that give rise to this interesting mechanism.

In the ordered phase of a $\mathbb{Z}_2$-symmetric collective spin system, two natural bases – localised pointer states $\{|P\rangle,|R\rangle\}$ and energy eigenstates $\{|E_0\rangle,|E_1\rangle\}$ – yield Lindblad dephasing rates that differ by a factor approaching $2$ as $N\to\infty$ and reaching $2.42$ near the quantum-critical crossover. The discrepancy has a single algebraic origin: parity forces $\langle E_i|\hat{J}_z|E_i\rangle=0$ exactly, eliminating the cross-term that doubles the localised-state rate. Two distinct protection factors are identified: $\eta_{\rm MF}=(Nm_*)^2/(2G_{01})\approx2.42$, where $m_*$ is the order parameter and $G_{01}=\frac{1}{2}(\langle E_0|\hat{J}_z^2|E_0\rangle+\langle E_1|\hat{J}_z^2|E_1\rangle)$ (advantage over the classical mean-field estimate), and $\eta_{\rm exact}=(G_{01}+J_{01}^2)/G_{01}\approx1.86$, where $J_{01}=\langle E_0|\hat{J}_z|E_1\rangle$ (exact physical ratio of pointer-state to eigenstate decay rate). In the thermodynamic limit the secular approximation fails, the doublet degenerates, and both rates converge. The three-regime structure is demonstrated in the Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick model via exact diagonalisation, and the algebraic origin of the discrepancy is established via the $\mathbb{Z}_2$ parity of the Lindblad jump operator.

We study black hole formation and evaporation in a four-dimensional semiclassical model that preserves diffeomorphism invariance and reproduces the one-loop trace anomaly. Solving the quantum-corrected Einstein equations for the collapse of a spherically symmetric null shell, we follow the formation and evaporation of a black hole with back-reaction included. The semiclassical solutions develop a spacelike thunderbolt singularity that emerges after the apparent horizon has receded and extends far from the black hole where the semiclassical curvature is a priori expected to be parametrically small. This behavior arises from a nonlinear instability of the higher-derivative semiclassical equations and is generic in models with anomaly-induced quantum corrections. The thunderbolt signals a breakdown of semiclassical effective field theory over macroscopic distances and undermines the standard formulation of the black hole information paradox.

The Faddeev-Hopf model [1] supporting Hopfions was shown to emerge in the low-energy limit of four-dimensional scalar quantum electrodynamics (QED) with two charged scalar fields [2, 3]. Faddeev and Noemi conjectured that the Hopfions and Hopf-like solitons – vortons – can be based on a twisted toroidal structure inherent to QED [4-6]. This conjecture was discussed in detail in [2] in the approximation of negligibly small extrinsic curvature. Qualitative and semi-quantitative arguments were used to demonstrate the validity of the Faddeev-Noemi hypothesis. Here we further enhance the proof by applying a numerical analysis which confirms that large-size Hopf-like solitons exist as local energy minima in the full QED theory (in the Faddeev-Skyrme model they become topological solitons representing the global minima in the given topological sector).

The color structure of two-loop gluon amplitudes is examined both from a color trace basis expansion and an alternative based upon structure constants. We use use this as a vehicle for systemising relations between the partial amplitudes of the color trace formalism.

We study reflection symmetry and Atiyah-Patodi-Singer (APS) boundary conditions for twisted Dirac operators on a finite warped cylinder. For a complex line twist with holonomy parameter $A$, we show that the reflection lifts to a unitary symmetry of the twisted Dirac setting if and only if $2A\in\mathbb Z$. In the resulting reflection-compatible fixed-holonomy case, reflection pairs opposite shifted angular modes, and the paired APS blocks are unitarily equivalent. The reflection trace on the APS harmonic space localizes to the unique self-paired zero-mode sector. We then turn to parameter-dependent versions of the model. For fixed gauge-trivial holonomy, the family remains pointwise \(O(2)\)-equivariant, and its spectral flow admits an \(RO(O(2))\)-valued decomposition. For genuinely varying holonomy, pointwise \(O(2)\)-equivariance is lost along the path. The representation-ring-valued invariant is then replaced by a residual sign-level invariant: the mod-two parity of the APS crossing events.

We analyze a new family of weighted double Hurwitz numbers that was introduced as a notable example in the context of the $x-y$ duality for logarithmic topological recursion. We use this family to systematically demonstrate, refine and develop techniques that play a crucial role in the interaction of hypergeometric (Orlov–Scherbin) KP tau functions and intersection theory of moduli spaces of curves. In particular, we discuss the subtleties related to the derivation of the ELSV-type formulas in this context and derive a new, explicit ELSV-type formula in terms of the so-called $\Omega$-classes.

The mass spectra of $\rho$ mesons ($\rho_{Q=\pm 1}^{s_z=0,\pm 1}$ and $\rho_{Q=0}^{s_z=0,\pm 1}$) at finite magnetic field and temperature are studied in frame of the two-flavor Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model. Fully considering the breaking of translational invariance induced by external magnetic field, the analytical form of $\rho$ meson propagators have been derived in the Ritus scheme and Schwinger scheme, which gives the same algebraic formula. When solving the pole equation of $\rho$ meson propagators, multiple solutions of the meson mass appear due to the dimension reduction of their constituent quarks in magnetic fields. At vanishing temperature, we focus on the $\rho$ meson masses $M_{\rho}$ corresponding to the lowest value solution of the pole equation. $M_{\rho^{-}_+}$, $M_{\rho^{0}_+}$ and $M_{\rho^{\pm}_0}$ increase with magnetic field. $M_{\rho^{+}_+}$ firstly decreases and then becomes saturated with increasing magnetic field. $M_{\rho^0_0}$ is not sensitive to magnetic field. These results are consistent with the available LQCD simulations. At finite temperature, we discuss the lowest four/five solutions of $\rho$ meson masses $M^{i=0,1,2,3,4}_{\rho}$. With fixed magnetic field, they decrease with temperature, and approach the mass sum of their constituent quarks at high temperature. The mass solution $M^{i}_{\rho}$ for different mesons $\rho_+^{0,\pm}$ and $\rho_0^{0,\pm}$ may become degenerate at finite magnetic field and temperature.

We perform a complete one-loop renormalization analysis of CPT-odd Lorentz-violating scalar quantum chromodynamics with adjoint scalar matter. Working to first order in the preferred background vector and treating the corresponding operators as perturbative insertions, we compute the ultraviolet-divergent parts of the relevant two-, three-, and four-point Green's functions for the gauge, scalar, and ghost fields. We show that the gauge sector develops the expected Carroll-Field-Jackiw-type correction, which generically turns out to be divergent in our theory, although the divergence vanishes in a certain gauge, while the scalar sector displays the corresponding CPT-odd single-derivative term proportional to the background vector. We further demonstrate that several of the Lorentz-violating corrections the three- and four-point function are ultraviolet finite. All one-loop divergences may be absorbed into counterterms already allowed by the classical Lagrangian, providing an explicit proof of the multiplicative renormalizability of the theory at this order. We also obtain the associated renormalization constants and one-loop $\beta$-functions for the gauge coupling, the Lorentz violation parameters, and the scalar self-interaction.

We investigate the origin of non-Markovianity in stochastic inflation and its implications for nonlinear perturbation theory. In the Schwinger–Keldysh formulation, the noise terms sourcing the infrared (IR) Langevin equations are determined by ultraviolet (UV) modes evolving on top of the stochastic IR background. Since the UV-mode evolution generally depends on the past history of the IR sector, the resulting stochastic dynamics is intrinsically non-Markovian. Working perturbatively, we derive the UV-mode solutions up to second order and decompose the corresponding noise contributions into two parts. The first is a “deterministic” contribution, generated by the functional Taylor expansion of the first-order UV solution around the background trajectory. The second is a genuinely “stochastic” contribution, originating from terms in the UV-mode equations that are quadratic in the noise variables and are usually neglected in the standard formulation of stochastic inflation. Under this conventional truncation, the deterministic contribution reduces to a Markovian correction in attractor backgrounds, whereas it could become history dependent in non-attractor phases and gives rise to non-Markovian terms involving integrals over first-order IR perturbations. We finally show that the stochastic contribution is of the same perturbative order as the deterministic one, which indicate that the conventional truncation is generically inconsistent and quadratic-noise terms may be required for a consistent treatment of nonlinear perturbations in stochastic inflation. Our analysis clarifies the perturbative structure of non-Markovianity and provides the basis for a systematic treatment of quadratic-noise effects beyond the standard formulation.

In this work, we develop a general framework for deriving the first law of black hole thermodynamics and the associated Smarr-type relation for 4-dimensional static spherically symmetric spacetimes within a broad class of generalized entropy models. In addition, by employing the entropy representation for the Reissner–Nordström (RN) black hole, we determine a concise curvature functional that depends only on this representation and its derivatives. A general flatness condition is derived, demonstrating that when the entropy Hessian metric is regular and nondegenerate, both homogeneous power-law transformations and a separate logarithmic branch leave the RN black hole's Ruppeiner geometry flat. On the other hand, Rényi, Sharma-Mittal, Kaniadakis, and LQG-inspired entropy deformations typically give rise to nonvanishing curvature in the regular thermodynamic regime, demonstrating that the extremality of the RN black hole does not by itself require a curvature divergence.

We construct and compute a homotopy-theoretic model for the Bott spiral of symmetry-protected topological phases (SPTs) studied by Queiroz–Khalaf–Stern. We model free and interacting fermionic SPTs using K-theory and reflection-positive invertible field theories (IFTs), resp., and define a twisted generalization of the Atiyah–Bott–Shapiro orientation to produce a free-to-interacting map. We also define and compute spiral maps of IFTs to model dimensional reduction in this context, answering a question of Hason–Komargodski–Thorngren. Our analysis highlights two general aspects of homotopical free-to-interacting maps. First, IFTs are more sensitive than K-theory is to the input symmetry data; in particular, the specification of an Altland–Zirnbauer class is insufficient information to define symmetry type for an IFT. Second, the remnant of Bott periodicity on the interacting side relies on an isomorphism of two extraspecial groups of order 32. Our computations use a novel 4-periodic description of a sector of the twisted ko-homology of elementary abelian 2-groups.

We explore the possibility of explaining dark matter through six-dimensional (6D) primordial black holes (PBHs) in a theory with two extra dimensions. Interestingly, in this scenario the fundamental energy scale is of the order of $\sim 10$ TeV, accessible by future experiments. We analyse the viability of charged and rotating 6D black holes under standard Hawking evaporation as well as the memory burden scenario. In the case of pure Hawking evaporation, only PBHs with masses $M > 10^8$ g survive to present, while the lifetime of near-extremal configurations is extended by a factor $1/\beta^{1/2}$, where the parameter $\beta$ characterizes small deviations from extremality. In the memory burden scenario evaporation is enormously suppressed, and sub-gram mass PBHs can survive to the present epoch. At future colliders such as the Future Circular Collider, these micro black holes produce characteristic high multiplicity events, $\langle N \rangle \sim 21$, with thermal spectra, enabling direct probes of the fundamental scale and the number of extra dimensions. We find that the memory burden mechanism opens a broad new mass window for light PBH dark matter, while the Kaluza-Klein mass splitting $\Delta m$ aligns with the atmospheric neutrino scale, $\sqrt{\Delta m^2_{\text{atm}}}$ suggesting a unified framework between Swampland constraints, cosmology, collider physics, and low energy phenomenology.

In recent years, many interesting works providing a topological description for black hole (BH) properties have appeared in the literature. In particular, in this framework BHs correspond to topological defects in an enlarged (off-shell) parameter space, with an associated total topological charge. In gauge/gravity duality the transition from the confined to the deconfined phase is mapped into the dominance of a BH phase in the gravity side. Here we show, using a holographic AdS/QCD model, that the introduction of an energy scale in anti-de Sitter (AdS) space results in a change in the topological class. Such a modification corresponds to the existence of confined and deconfined phases, separated by a Hawking Page transition at a finite critical temperature.