Papers

We predict exotic doubly heavy–strange pentaquarks with minimal quark content $u\bar d sQQ'$ ($QQ'=cc,bc,bb$) within a coupled-channel unitary framework where the interaction is derived from an extension of the local hidden gauge approach to the heavy-quark sector. We obtain a robust spectrum of manifestly exotic states; two states appear in the $u\bar d scc$ sector, three in $u\bar d scb$, and four in $u\bar d sbb$. These emerge either as bound states or resonances, along with five additional virtual states manifested as threshold cusps. The binding mechanism is dominated by off-diagonal transitions among heavy-baryon–light-meson channels, while diagonal interactions are strongly suppressed. These results extend exotic hadron spectroscopy into the doubly heavy–strange sector and provide concrete targets for future experimental searches.

Integral identities for Macdonald polynomials play an important role in modern mathematics and mathematical physics. Especially interesting are the Cherednik-Macdonald-Mehta (CMM) identities, with profound connections to Double Affine Hecke Algebras (DAHA) and representation theory of quantum groups. These identities are central in refined Chern-Simons theory, where they lead to refined S and T matrices and ultimately to refined knot invariants. We suggest an elliptic generalization of CMM identities, where trigonometric Vandermonde products are replaced by theta functions. At the same time Macdonald polynomials are promoted to Shiraishi functions – distinguished elliptic functions with several interesting avatars, from the non-stationary Ruijsenaars problem in integrable systems, to equivariant K-theory characters of the affine Laumon space in algebraic geometry, to surface defect partition functions in 5d super Yang-Mills theory. From the perspective of matrix models, we present an elliptic matrix model with a superintegrability property. We prove the suggested identities to the first order in the elliptic parameter.

Solving linear systems of polynomial equations is a ubiquitous problem in both mathematics and physics. The standard approach, Gaussian elimination, scales cubically with system size and often constitutes a computational bottleneck. The algorithm's inherent parallelism makes it well-suited for modern computing architectures, namely graphics processing units (GPUs), which offer significantly higher throughput than CPUs. Additionally, the use of finite fields – integers modulo a prime – in place of floating-point arithmetic offers a scalable solution to the issue of numerical precision loss, which becomes increasingly problematic at large system sizes. With Linac, we present a high-performance, open-source, parallel implementation of Gaussian elimination over finite fields and floating-point arithmetic. This tool has been developed for applications to analytic reconstruction of scattering amplitudes in quantum field theory.

According to usual calculations, the use of a hard cutoff $\Lambda$ in gauge theories leads to a violation of gauge invariance. This seems to generate a tension between gauge theories and the Wilsonian effective field theory (EFT) paradigm, where $\Lambda$ has the physical meaning of ultimate scale of the theory, the scale above which the latter has to be replaced by its UV completion. In the present work, considering the Euler-Heisenberg correction to the free Maxwell action, we present a way to introduce the Wilsonian hard UV cutoff $\Lambda$ that preserves gauge invariance at the quantum level. For both scalar and fermionic QED, we recover the well-known Euler-Heisenberg result obtained within proper-time regularization, apart from terms that are generically cutoff-suppressed. These terms, periodic in the inverse background field, might become relevant in regimes where the latter probes scales not much smaller than $\Lambda$. On the theoretical side, the methods developed in the present work represent a first step towards a new (closer in spirit to the Wegner-Houghton construction) realization of the Wilsonian renormalization group program in gauge theories.

Null strings, strings with Carrollian worldsheets, are traditionally described by the Isberg-Lindström-Sundborg-Theodoridis (ILST) action, which is obtained via a tensionless limit of standard tensile strings. In a recent work, we observed that the ILST action enjoys an overlooked partial-gauge symmetry whose existence calls into question the consistency of standard null-string analyses found in the literature. In this paper, we show that the Carrollian geometry provides us with two Weyl scaling options, in contrast to a single Weyl scaling available for the ordinary tensile string worldsheet. Defining the null string theory by the action that realizes the two Carroll-Weyl scalings as well as the 2D diffeomorphisms as local (gauge) symmetries, we construct the new null string action. We show that the ILST action is obtained after fixing one of the two Carroll-Weyl scalings of the action that we construct, and that the residual part of this symmetry is precisely the overlooked partial-gauge symmetry. We hence clarify the Carroll-geometric origin of the overlooked symmetry and pave the way for a consistent quantization of null strings.

We investigate static, spherically symmetric (SS) spacetimes in covariant teleparallel \(F(T)\) gravity in the presence of electromagnetic sources. Starting from the coframe/spin-connection (CSC) pair formalism, we derive the field equations and associated conservation laws, which constrain admissible electromagnetic configurations and reconstructed teleparallel sectors. A general reconstruction procedure is established, allowing the systematic construction of nonlinear teleparallel \(F(T)\) models for arbitrary coframe ansätze. Focusing on power-law (PL) configurations, we obtain several classes of exact solutions, including constant-radius, black-hole-like (BH-like), and wormhole-like (WH-like) branches, and analyze their horizon structures, torsion singularities, and stability properties. The inclusion of electromagnetic sources leads to new charged solutions that generalize Reissner–Nordström (RN) spacetimes and reveal modified near-horizon and asymptotic behaviors. The results are further organized within an invariant classification framework, highlighting the role of torsion in shaping the solution space. Overall, this work provides a unified and covariant approach to the construction and interpretation of physically relevant compact-object, effective cosmological, and regularized strong-field sectors in nonlinear teleparallel gravity, with potential implications for strong-field tests beyond General Relativity (GR).

Recently, for a limited class for bipartite links, the complicated Khovanov-Rozansky matrix factorization technique was reduced to an analogue of elementary Kauffman-Khovanov cycle calculus for an arbitrary $N$. In this note, we demonstrate the consistency of such reduction with the computation of the bipartite Khovanov polynomials for $N=2$. Namely, we explain how the Kauffman-Khovanov $2^2$-hypercube is shrinked to the bipartite 3-hypercube.

We study the \(N=2\), large–\(d\) sector of BFSS/BMN-type matrix quantum mechanics on the lattice in the Gaussian regime. We develop a radial endpoint formulation in which the bulk, gauge, and longitudinal degrees of freedom are integrated out, leaving transverse endpoint variables governed by an effective holonomy potential. We show that this planar endpoint formulation is equivalent to the angular Molien–Weyl description of the gauge-projected partition function, up to a universal spectator factor. This relation allows the low-temperature expansion of the endpoint partition function to be obtained from the Molien–Weyl result, whose quadratic coefficient \(d(d+1)/2\) counts Gaussian singlet states above the vacuum. We then analyze the continuum limit of the quadratic coefficient and show that it separates into a Gaussian contribution, a \(D\)-channel, and a \(\beta\)-channel. The naive Gaussian term becomes trivial, while the exact holonomy kernel generates finite continuum contributions through singular dependence on the endpoint Gaussian width and anisotropic coupling. We then study the geometry of the holonomy potential and show that its relevant saddle is a constrained boundary saddle on the aligned branch, rather than an unconstrained critical point. The associated transverse expansion captures the local saddle geometry, but any finite polynomial truncation has a trivial continuum limit. Finally, we introduce a non-polynomial toy model based on \(V_{\rm toy}(B)=-\log\cosh B\), which provides a completion of the transverse expansion and reproduces exactly the continuum \(D\)-channel contribution \(-2d\). This prepares the geometric interpretation of the \(D\)-channel as a Wishart–Stiefel entropy associated with an emergent four-dimensional geometry embedded \(\mathbb R^d\) in the endpoint formulation.

We investigate the form-factor dependence of Reggeized tensor Pomeron and Odderon exchanges in high-energy elastic $pp$ and $p\bar p$ scattering. The spin structure is implemented through explicit covariant spin-2 and spin-3 projectors, kept factorized from the Reggeized scalar kernels, so that vertex effects can be separated from trajectory dynamics. Seven Odderon–proton form-factor parametrizations are tested against a global dataset including TOTEM $pp$ data at $\sqrt{s}=2.76$, $7$, $8$, and $13$~TeV and Tevatron $p\bar p$ data at $\sqrt{s}=1.80$ and $1.96$~TeV. A clear hierarchy is found. Six dipole, polynomial, Gaussian, and hybrid parametrizations give comparable fit qualities, $\chi^2_{\rm red}\simeq 1.44$–$1.48$, whereas a one-parameter exponential form, $F_{\mathbb O}(t)=\exp[-B|t|/2]$, yields $\chi^2_{\rm red}=0.98$ for 138 degrees of freedom. The fitted couplings and Regge slopes remain comparatively stable across the form-factor choices, indicating that the improvement is driven mainly by the Odderon–proton vertex rather than by large compensating shifts in trajectory parameters. The exponential form admits an impact-parameter interpretation as a Gaussian transverse profile, with an effective radius $\sqrt{\langle b^2\rangle}=\sqrt{2B}\,\hbar c$. The extracted radii are of hadronic size and suggest a peripheral soft Odderon interaction. The shrinking $t$-range over which the single-Regge-exchange description remains accurate at increasing energy indicates the onset of absorptive and unitarity corrections. These results provide a compact phenomenological framework for connecting the $pp/p\bar p$ dip–bump difference with the transverse structure of $C$-odd color-singlet exchange.

Black-hole spectroscopy aims to infer properties of the remnant spacetime from the quasinormal-mode (QNM) spectrum of the gravitational-wave ringdown signal. In most implementations, however, this inference is performed with waveform models that already incorporate Kerr or other theory-specific QNM spectral relations, thereby entangling spectral measurement with remnant or beyond-Kerr parameter inference. At the same time, conventional ringdown analyses commonly excise the pre-merger data, which in principle contain information about the excitation amplitudes and phases of the QNMs. We introduce SPRING (Spectral-level Pre-merger-informed RINGdown inference), a framework designed to separate ringdown spectral inference from theory-side interpretation while propagating pre-merger information through amplitude-scale estimation. As a demonstration, we apply SPRING to GW250114 using an agnostic two-component damped-sinusoid (2DS) model for Kerr remnant inference. SPRING improves the Bayesian support for the agnostic 2DS signal model relative to analyses that do not use pre-merger information, with an increase of \(\Delta\ln B\sim 5\)–\(10\). The resulting remnant posterior remains closely consistent with the inspiral-merger-ringdown estimate, despite the extra freedom introduced by the second DS component. This work bridges pre-merger information and ringdown inference, establishing a fully spectral-level route for future black-hole spectroscopy.

We study axisymmetric 7-brane solutions in the dilaton-gravity sector of 10d supergravity, including the backreaction of the Casimir energy induced by monodromies around the transverse circle. Without Casimir energy, we find that the system is analytically solvable and admits locally flat asymptotics with arbitrary deficit angles, but the corresponding solutions contain a naked singularity at finite proper distance. We investigate whether this singularity can be replaced by a regular finite-horizon black-brane core once Casimir backreaction is included. We find that, within our ansatz, Casimir backreaction obstructs an asymptotically locally flat black-brane completion of the naked 7-brane solution.

We investigate the renormalized fermion-gluon vertex, the fermion effective mass, and the fermion condensate when the fermion propagates in an external Yang-Mills gauge field. We use an exact Green's function for the Dirac operator in a non-Abelian plane-wave gauge field to construct the renormalized vertex function, calculate the on-shell fermion self-energy, and the background-dependent condensate. We consider both the background and operator fields in the axial gauge $k^{\mu } \mathcal{A}_{\mu }^{a}=0$, thereby preserving the gauge. Its applications to strong-field QCD and non-Abelian Schwinger physics are discussed.

We compute the finite-$N$ Witten index of BMN matrix quantum mechanics after summing over all partition-labeled supersymmetric vacuum sectors. Starting from the unitary-matrix integral for each sector, we adapt two complementary evaluation methods to the BMN index: a symmetric-group character expansion, which reduces each fixed fugacity order to a finite combinatorial sum, and a residue expansion in which the contributing poles are organized by rooted trees, with a colored-tree generalization for multi-partition sectors. Where practical, direct integration and extraction of the constant term in the expanded integrand give independent coefficient-by-coefficient checks. We evaluate every vacuum sector for $N\leq 9$. In the equal-fugacity expansion, the coefficients near charges $j\sim N^2$ exhibit substantial cancellations between vacuum sectors, which tend to reduce the effective $N^2$ coefficient of the total index entropy. The finite-$N$ data also reveal a nontrivial sectoral organization: near $j=N^2$, the sector giving the largest contribution changes with $N$, from single-partition sectors at small rank to double-partition sectors starting at $N=6$. We call this phenomenon dominance switching. These results provide quantitative finite-$N$ input for using the BMN index as a diagnostic of protected plane-wave black-hole sectors and suggest in the controlled type-IIA regime a possible D2 dressed black-hole interpretation in which D0 black-hole sectors are accompanied by macroscopic spherical D2-brane degrees of freedom, analogous to dual dressed black holes in $AdS_5\times S^5$.

We present a dynamical systems approach to black hole thermodynamic criticality based on bifurcation equations. We construct an effective thermodynamic landscape in which black holes relax toward equilibrium fixed points. To describe this process, we introduce a flow parameter $\tau$, interpreted as a phenomenological relaxation time, which governs the approach toward equilibrium configurations in thermodynamic state space. Near critical points, the thermodynamic flow simplifies into universal mathematical forms, which allows different black holes to be grouped into different universality classes based on their critical behaviour. Our analysis further shows critical slowing down, with relaxation timescales determined entirely by the local bifurcation structure.

We study how bulk propagation in global AdS$_3$ is reflected in boundary energy densities of the dual CFT$_2$ on the cylinder. A key feature of the global geometry, which is absent in the Poincaré-patch description, is that a null excitation emitted from the boundary reaches the antipodal boundary point after $\Delta\tau=\pi$ and returns to the original boundary point after $\Delta\tau=2\pi$. We show that the CFT energy density reproduces this sequence through two chiral peaks that move along the boundary light-cone directions, meet at the antipodal point, and return to the original point after one global period. For a wave-packet state, the leading energy density consists of two chiral peaks moving along the boundary light-cone directions; their relative weights encode the impact parameter of the corresponding bulk null ray. For a state constructed from an operator of large conformal dimension with a Euclidean time regulator (LCD state), the exact cylinder stress tensor gives two periodic chiral pulses moving along the boundary light-cone directions. These pulses reach the antipodal point and return to the original point at the same global times as the radial null geodesic in the bulk. Thus the boundary energy density provides a time-dependent boundary profile that reflects characteristic global features of null propagation in AdS$_3$.

The logarithm of the time-evolution operator has been termed Magnusian, on account of the fact that its expansion describes the Magnus series. The diagrammatic expansion and computation of the classical Magnusian have been completely established in terms of tree graphs and their Hopf algebra. Recent works initiated extensions into quantum field theory, revealing general structures of loop expansions while finding intriguing relations between different diagrams. In this work, we advance the loop expansion further by providing an efficient diagrammatic algorithm to calculate the weight factor of each graph in the quantum Magnusian, known as the Murua coefficient. This is achieved by incorporating two complementary perspectives on the Magnusian at the same time: the color basis and the black-and-white basis. We extract the Murua coefficients from the Magnus series by utilizing these two bases while implementing an exponentiated Wick contraction. In turn, we identify the loop-level extension of Murua's recursive formula. Eventually, we establish a set of edge-contraction rules which facilitate a direct recursive computation of the Murua coefficients at the purely diagrammatic level, without referencing or directly manipulating the underlying Magnus expansion. This shows that the matrix elements of the quantum Magnusian can be computed from graph manipulations alone.

We derive the source moments that determine the leading tidal field and rotational clock shift inside a finite-thickness relativistic elastic shell. In weak gravity and slow rotation, these moments depend on the elastic response of the material and its two free vacuum faces. Two choices of elastic moduli, each causal near relaxation, give opposite signs for both observables. Both shells have oblate faces and gain rotational mass. The tide depends on differential flattening, bulk deformation, and rotational stress and energy; the central clock shift measures a distinct inverse-radius moment. A single constitutive action determines the material support and response. Nonnegative isotropic pressure cannot support a static spherical shell of positive-density matter with two free vacuum faces, whereas tangential elastic stress admits equilibria near relaxation. For sufficiently weak gravity these equilibria obey the dominant energy condition and have subluminal sound speeds. Their static cavities are locally flat, with clocks redshifted relative to infinity. At leading weak-gravity order, static redshift and linear frame dragging probe the same inverse-radius mass moment. Energy estimates establish radial linear stability and exclude exponentially growing odd-parity modes for weakly gravitating spherical equilibria. Nonlinear compression can nevertheless produce unbounded gradients while the material remains causal. Nonspherical even-parity and rotating stability, together with quantitative bounds at finite rotation, remain open. The cavity observables distinguish material responses that surface shape and total mass alone do not determine.

We extend the celestial Roiban-Spradlin-Volovich-Witten (RSVW) formalism developed in our previous work to minitwistor superspace. Using the Drummond-Henn formula for all tree-level amplitudes in N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills (SYM) theory, we construct tree-level N^k-MHV celestial leaf amplitudes and show that their minitwistor-Fourier transforms are given by integrals over moduli spaces of families of minitwistor lines. We also adapt the Korchemsky-Sokatchev twistor-transform techniques for gluon amplitudes to the minitwistor-Fourier transforms of leaf amplitudes. We then describe two dynamical formulations of these celestial amplitudes. First, we show that semiclassical correlators of Wilson operators supported on algebraic cycles in minitwistor superspace act as generating functionals for tree-level N^k-MHV leaf-gluon amplitudes. Second, we analyse a semiclassical minitwistor sigma model, identify its vertex operators, and construct from them celestial gluon operators that close on the S-algebra in the semiclassical approximation; their leading-trace semiclassical correlators again reproduce the tree-level N^k-MHV leaf amplitudes. A companion paper extends this construction beyond tree level, in particular to one-loop amplitudes via a celestial version of the Brandhuber-Spence-Travaglini formalism.

We present a microscopic statistical-mechanical foundation for interpreting the horizon area of a scrambling black hole as coherent information, equivalently negative conditional quantum entropy, in Hawking's pair-creation picture. We derive the entropy increase induced in a black hole when an infalling object is absorbed and scrambled into its microscopic degrees of freedom. Up to finite-reservoir corrections, this increase takes a canonical form at the Hawking temperature, regardless of the initial entropy carried by the infalling object. Applying this entropy formula to an incoming mode paired by time reversal with an outgoing Hawking radiation mode, we show that their partition-function contributions cancel in the coherent-information balance associated with the horizon area. The resulting area response is then determined only by the energy flux, in agreement with the black-hole first law.

In this work, first, we discuss the connections between various low-dimensional quantum gravity models, including 3d Chern-Simons, 2d Jackiw-Teitelboim (JT), 2d background field (BF) theory, 2d Liouville, 2d Wess-Zumino-Witten (WZW), and 1d Schwarzian, which are related through holography and dimension reduction, and discuss some universalities in their partition functions. Then, we specifically examine the JT partition function and the partition function of $\mathcal{N}=(2,2)$ on $S^2$ and $\text{AdS}_2$ and discuss their similarities and therefore examine our proposed universalities. We change the parameters in each model and based on the change in the structure of the partition functions, strengthen our conjectures. We also use eigenfunctions, spectra and the behaviors of Wheeler-DeWitt wavefunctions to generate more universalities between these low-dimensional quantum gravity models, specifically in their partition functions. Finally, we use entanglement entropy, complexity and RG flows, particularly in the context of wormholes, to find more universalities in quantum gravity models.

In this work, we investigate the thermodynamic properties, Hawking-radiation sparsity, and greybody-factor bounds of a hairy Kiselev black hole surrounded by a quintessential fluid. The spacetime geometry contains, in addition to the Schwarzschild mass term, a quintessence contribution controlled by the intensity parameter $N$ and the state parameter $\omega_q$, an exponential hair correction governed by the coupling $\alpha$ and the primary hair scale $\ell$, and a cosmological constant $\Lambda$. We first examined the horizon structure and derived the black hole mass from the horizon condition. The Hawking temperature, heat capacity, and Gibbs free energy were then analyzed in order to identify the influence of the hair and surrounding-field parameters on local and global thermodynamic behavior. The results show that the exponential hair mainly affects the small-horizon regime, while the quintessential sector and the cosmological constant produce significant changes in the large-scale behavior of the black hole. In particular, the heat capacity exhibits divergences associated with second-order phase transitions, and the Gibbs free energy reveals the possibility of competing thermodynamic branches. We also analyzed the sparsity of Hawking radiation and showed that the emitted flux is highly intermittent rather than continuous. The sparsity parameter is controlled by the combination of the Hawking temperature, the effective emitting area, and the greybody factors. Finally, we studied massless scalar perturbations in this background by reducing the Klein-Gordon equation to a radial equation with an effective potential.

We study the real-time quantum dynamics of Q-balls in the Friedberg-Lee-Sirlin model within the inhomogeneous Hartree approximation. The mean fields are evolved self-consistently with the leading quantum two-point functions, which are implemented numerically through a stochastic ensemble representation. After introducing a renormalized formulation and a classical-limit scaling, we simulate single-Q-ball configurations in $3+1$ dimensions and compare their quantum-corrected evolution with the corresponding classical dynamics. We find a clear separation between a classical regime, where quantum fluctuations remain small and the evolution closely follows the classical solution, and a quantum regime, where the fluctuation sector carries a sizable fraction of the Noether charge. We also observe a periodic exchange of Noether charge between the mean fields and the fluctuation modes within the Hartree approximation. We further investigate the stability of quantum-corrected Q-balls and find an intermediate window in which configurations that are classically stable become unstable once Hartree fluctuations are included. Our results provide a first step toward real-time quantum simulations of Q-balls in renormalizable two-field soliton models.

We argue that the SYK model provides a conditional realization of Cryptographic Censorship in JT gravity. By using the Weingarten calculus and random matrix universality, we prove that the SYK disorder ensemble is an approximate unitary $k$-design for all $k=\poly(N)$, with deviation controlled by the spectral form factor. We then formulate the planted-SYK hardness conjecture and provide evidence from spectral universality and the low-degree polynomial framework. Under this conjecture, the approximate design becomes a gravitationally pseudorandom unitary. Together with the efficient causal wedge reconstruction in JT gravity, this leads to the conclusion that typical states in the SYK microcanonical window must have event horizons in their bulk duals, with the horizonless fraction doubly exponentially small. We further identify the regularized geodesic length of the maximal interior slice as the explicit distinguishing operator. Its prediction gap grows linearly with time due to the stretching of the black hole interior, linking Cryptographic Censorship to the complexity equals volume conjecture.

We investigate the particle motion around a Schwarzschild black hole immersed in a swirling Bertotti-Robinson-Bonnor-Melvin background. This spacetime provides a physically well-motivated framework for studying how the two different electromagnetic components and the swirling deformation affect particle dynamics near compact objects. By employing Poincaré sections, the maximum Lyapunov exponent, the Fast Lyapunov indicator, recurrence analysis and bifurcation diagrams, we show that chaotic motion can already appear in the non-swirling Schwarzschild-Bertotti-Robinson black hole. This indicates that the swirling background is not a necessary condition for chaos in this family of spacetimes, it mainly shifts the parameter region where chaos occurs. We further find that the effects of the two electromagnetic fields are very complicated. In particular, the existence of bound orbits is strongly restricted by the strengths of the two electromagnetic fields and their relative direction. These results provide rich numerical evidence that the chaotic motion of particles is associated with the nonlinear interaction between the accessible phase space, the electromagnetic backreaction and the swirling deformation.

We investigate the field-theoretic realization of regular black holes sourced by dark matter halo profiles within nonlinear electrodynamics (NED) minimally coupled to gravity. Starting from a static, spherically symmetric geometry determined by a halo density profile $\rho(r)$, we reconstruct the associated mass function and derive the effective matter source supporting the spacetime. In the magnetic sector, the reconstruction is direct and yields a NED Lagrangian of the form $L(F)=-\rho(r(F))$, while in the electric sector the theory is obtained parametrically through the field equations. We analyze the admissibility and consistency of the reconstructed models by studying regularity at the origin, asymptotic behavior, and the relevant energy conditions. The formalism is applied to representative halo profiles, including the Einasto, Dehnen, Burkert, and pseudo-isothermal families. For halo distributions with finite central density, the resulting geometries naturally exhibit de Sitter cores and asymptotically Schwarzschild behavior, providing a controlled and physically transparent link between dark matter halo phenomenology and regular black-hole spacetimes. Our results show that a broad class of halo profiles admits an effective NED completion, offering a unified geometric and field-theoretic interpretation of regular black holes sourced by dark matter halos.

The traditional conjecture that RR-flux is quantized in stable K-cohomology fails to account for the presence of NS-brane sources: These impose nonlinear relations – reductions of the famous quadratic relation on M-brane flux – that can only be captured by unstable nonabelian cohomology theories. Here we consider a deformation of unstable K-theory which properly quantizes the fluxes coupling to D0/D2/NS5-branes, find a twisted version that quantizes also the fluxes coupling to NS1/D4-branes, and show that this oxidizes to a proper electromagnetic quantization of M-brane fluxes.

Electroweak symmetry breaking may arise from emergent nonlocal Källèn-Lehmann spectral densities in Hamiltonians with multiscalar interactions. The nonlocality scale $\Lambda_{NL}$ emerges naturally from the exponentially increasing degeneracy of mass eigenstates in the Higgs two-point function at scales $p^2 \geq \Lambda^2_{NL}$. Following the renormalization of the nonlocal Higgs propagator, we provide a framework for deriving analytic expressions for non-perturbative scattering amplitudes. We demonstrate that for energies exceeding the nonlocality scale, scattering amplitudes are exponentially suppressed. Furthermore, the real part of the Higgs self-energy is suppressed at deep spacelike momenta ($p^2 \sim -\Lambda^2_{NL}$), offering a solution to the Hierarchy problem. Such nonlocal scalar sectors are accessible to current and future LHC runs. We argue that the nonlocal Källèn-Lehmann spectral density can be constrained through a simultaneous global fit of LHC measurements in exclusive channels, including di-Higgs, electroweak di-boson, and di-photon production. This approach represents a paradigm shift in the search for new physics at high-energy colliders.

We investigate the renormalization group (RG) domain walls interpolating between the $\mathbb{Z}_N$ parafermion theory (the critical $N$-state Potts model) and the Virasoro minimal model $\mathcal{M}_{N+1}$. These flows are genuinely non-perturbative and an explicit construction of Gaiotto type RG domain wall remains elusive. We bypass this limitation by employing a bottom-up approach centered on the emergence of “phantom currents". By tracking the preserved non-invertible symmetries ($\mathfrak{so}(3)_N$) along the flow, we extract the exact spectrum of these currents localized on the defect. We demonstrate that the presence of a spin-1 phantom current allows the interface to be marginally deformed, dynamically generating a continuous defect conformal manifold. Furthermore, we show that an extra spin-2 operator, crucially as a $W^{(3)}$-algebra descendant of the spin-1 phantom current, rigidly constrains the UV-IR stress tensor mixing via the cluster decomposition principle. This algebraic framework enables the exact computation of the parameter-dependent transmission rate across the conformal manifold, which we observe strictly vanishes in the large-$N$ limit as a consequence of macroscopic target space collapse.

We present the first realization of multicritical points in four-dimensional general relativity, specifically within the context of Plebański nonlinear electrodynamics, using a polynomial structural function denoted as $\mathcal{H}(P)$. We show that this construction provides a systematic mechanism to engineer multicritical behavior in gravitational systems. By establishing an explicit mapping between matter theories expressed as power series in the Maxwell invariant $F$ and the Plebański formulation, we construct new families of electrically charged asymptotically anti-de Sitter black holes and magnetically charged solitons. In the grand-canonical ensemble, we analyze their thermodynamic properties and uncover a rich phase structure. We demonstrate that the soliton sector develops multiple swallowtail structures, signaling first-order phase transitions and allowing the coexistence of several magnetically charged solitons with a single electrically charged black hole. These configurations define multicritical points that generalize previously known triple points. We further show that the number of coexisting phases is controlled by the degree of the polynomial structural function, providing a direct link between the nonlinear electrodynamics couplings and the thermodynamic phase structure. In contrast, the black hole branch does not display swallowtail behavior, and it does not allow multiple electrically charged black holes to coexist with a magnetically charged soliton.

We investigate the rate at which chiral fermion localisation is lost when two domain walls merge in extra-dimensional braneworld scenarios, using the $(1+1)$-dimensional Jackiw-Rebbi framework as a controlled analytical laboratory. As the inter-brane separation $d$ decreases, left- and right-handed zero modes hybridise and chiral asymmetry is progressively lost. We show that the spatial separation between the chiral zero modes follows a universal power law $|\Delta_{\mathrm{abs}}|\propto d^{\gamma}$ in the merging limit $d\to 0^{+}$, with the critical exponent $\gamma$ determined solely by the Jackiw-Rebbi topological index $N_{\mathrm{JR}}$, and independent of the fermionic mass gap, the integrability of the scalar sector, and the detailed shape of the domain wall profile. Comparing the integrable sine-Gordon model with four members of the non-integrable double sine-Gordon family, all sharing $N_{\mathrm{JR}}=1$, we find $\gamma\in[0.930,0.985]$. For the sine-Gordon model we derive the closed-form overlap integral $I(d)=2d/\sinh(2d)$, from which the exact chiral separation follows as a ratio of hyperbolic functions without free parameters. This result identifies $\gamma$ as the crossover plateau of a local effective exponent $\gamma_{\mathrm{eff}}(d)$, explaining the sub-unit value analytically and tracing the universality to the Pöschl-Teller structure of the $N_{\mathrm{JR}}=1$ zero mode. The universality of $\gamma$ implies that the rate of four-dimensional Yukawa coupling collapse during brane merging is a topological invariant, insensitive to the microscopic scalar dynamics generating the walls.