Papers

Recently, Benini, Mamroud, Reis and Serone have presented exact results for the Gross-Neveu model at finite density, both at finite N and in the large N limit. Generalizing previous studies, they introduce a chemical potential acting only on a subset of fermion flavors - the two-component Gross-Neveu model. Here, we take up this idea and extend the semiclassical study to finite temperature. The full (large N) phase diagram including inhomogeneous phases is constructed without solving the thermal Hartree-Fock problem. All phase boundaries can be found on the basis of various kinds of stability analyses. As a result, we find a qualitative change of the phase diagram at some critical filling fraction.

In this work we consider a particular codimension-1 region of a holographic spacetime which we call the entanglement wedge polygon (EWP). For a pure state and a partition of the boundary into a number of regions $A_i$ the EWP is defined as the region external to all the individual homology regions $r_{A_i}$ which consists of the intersection of the entanglement wedge EW($A_i$) with the time slice. In vacuum AdS$_3$ and BTZ spacetime, the quantity is topological as a direct consequence of the Gauss-Bonnet theorem. In higher dimensions we make progress by considering a number of concrete examples including vacuum, black brane, and soliton solutions of AdS$_{d+1}$ as well as spacetime geometries with end of the world branes dual to boundary conformal field theories. We provide a suitable generalization to mixed states and comment on possible connections between the EWP and measures of multi-partite entanglement.

The holographic time-like entanglement entropy (TEE) extends entanglement to time-like boundary subregions. While its definitive holographic dictionary remains debated, one concrete proposal utilizes piece-wise extremal surfaces. In this work, we adopt this geometric prescription as an exploratory framework to holographically investigate the late-time ($\tau_0\to \infty$) growth of TEE in asymptotically AdS black holes with a space-like singularity and no inner horizon. By assuming a Kasner geometry near the space-like singularity and using the null energy condition, we analytically show that a critical extremal surface $\mathcal{A}_c$ inside the event horizon completely governs the late-time linear growth of the TEE. This result suggests that the late-time behavior of TEE is tightly constrained by the geometry of black hole interiors. While the dominant energy condition (DEC) guarantees an upper bound for the real part's growth rate, we conjecture a corresponding universal lower bound for the imaginary part. Numerical results from Einstein-scalar theory demonstrate the robustness of this bounding behavior: the vacuum Schwarzschild-AdS geometry consistently maximizes the real growth rate and minimizes the imaginary part, suggesting these bounds hold in broader holographic setups.

The era of precision ab initio nuclear theory has arrived, enabling uncertainty-quantified predictions for nuclear structure and for interactions with external probes directly from the underlying nuclear force and electroweak currents. This review highlights recent breakthroughs that extend ab initio calculations to the heavy nucleus $^{208}$Pb, to medium-mass systems with complex deformation, and to weakly-bound nuclei near the driplines. We also summarize ab initio calculations of nuclear responses for dark matter direct detection. Together, these advances demonstrate how ab initio methods can substantially reduce nuclear-physics uncertainties in searches for physics beyond the Standard Model, providing a more robust interpretation of current and forthcoming precision experiments.

Generalized transverse-momentum-dependent parton distributions (GTMDs) are the most complete two-parton correlation functions in QCD, encoding the joint spatial and momentum structure of hadrons. Through appropriate projections and limits they yield generalized parton distributions (GPDs), transverse-momentum-dependent distributions (TMDs), parton distribution functions (PDFs), and phase-space (Wigner) distributions. We construct conformal moments of unpolarized gluon GTMDs at strong coupling using gauge/string duality. For fixed even conformal spin $j$, we distinguish the local boundary limit at $b_T=0$ from the finite-separation regime $b_T>0$, where the planar semiclassical amplitude is governed by a minimal worldsheet. There the GTMD moment factorizes into a universal staple-worldsheet soft factor and a stripped spin-$j$ Witten amplitude carrying target dependence. The cusp of the renormalized minimal area generates the rapidity-logarithmic Collins-Soper structure. We derive universal ultraviolet and infrared endpoint reductions. As $b_T\to0^+$, the finite-separation sector matches onto the local conformal moment through a universal overlap kernel. At large $b_T$, after cusp/perimeter subtraction, it factorizes into target projections and infrared transfer kernels. The ultraviolet endpoint is universal within the leading saddle, whereas the infrared tail depends on the holographic completion: soft-wall, gap-matched hard-wall, and repulsive-wall backgrounds generate algebraic, exponential, and Gaussian falloffs, respectively. Analytic continuation in $j$ yields the low-$x$ Regge regime governed by the holographic Pomeron spectral curve. The framework describes hadron tomography, transverse structure, rapidity evolution, and Reggeization for GTMD moments and provides a unified starting point for holographic studies of observables relevant to the Electron-Ion Collider.

The dark bubble model explains the existence of a positive cosmological constant by making explicit use of the instabilities underlying the de Sitter swampland conjectures to make the accelerated expansion of the universe inevitable. A distinctive consequence of the construction is a unique hierarchy connecting cosmological, gravitational, string, and higher-dimensional scales. In particular, the model naturally predicts the existence of a dark dimension of micron size, an idea that has been argued for on independent grounds in the literature. The same framework also predicts a weakening of gravity at distances of order the dark-dimension scale, leading to a fading of the gravitational force at micron distances. We argue that the dark bubble therefore provides a concrete realization of both the dark dimension proposal and Sundrum's fat graviton scenario, in which gravity effectively ceases to probe shorter distances. Additional predictions include a string scale of order tens of TeV and a measurable positive spatial curvature of the universe. We review these key aspects of the model, discuss their implications for gravity and cosmology, and highlight its key predictions.

We study the dynamical and scattering properties for the Euler-Heisenberg BH surrounded by perfect fluid dark matter. The geometry contains a compact non-linear electrodynamic correction governed by the EH coupling and a logarithmic dark-matter contribution governed by the surrounding PFDM halo. We study the scalar, electromagnetic and a particular effective axial spin-2 channel constructed on the fixed EH plus PFDM background, acting as a proxy for the gravitational-like perturbation problem and not for the fully coupled gravitational perturbation problem. We compute the quasinormal-mode spectrum employing a thirteenth-order WKB method supplemented with Padé resummation and compare it with the eikonal prediction calculated in terms of the angular frequency of the photon sphere and the Lyapunov exponent. Moreover, we study the near-extremal configurations and derive a purely imaginary branch of quasinormal frequencies in the near-horizon region, whose damping rate increases with the PFDM parameter and is nearly spin-independent. We then compute exact greybody factors by direct numerical integration of the radial wave equation and compare them to analytical lower bounds. We also analyze the absorption cross sections and the Hawking emission spectra. We also calculate the relativistic enhancement of the neutrino-antineutrino annihilation channel outside the EHPFDM black hole. We find that the PFDM parameter contracts the optical structure, increases the oscillation frequency, enhances the damping rate and suppresses transmission. On the other hand, the Euler-Heisenberg correction leads to a weaker near-horizon deformation whose effect becomes relevant for sufficiently large charge. These results provide a common scattering framework for comparing the impact of dark-matter environments and nonlinear electrodynamics

The renormalization of the primordial inflationary power spectrum has long raised the possibility that ultraviolet effects could significantly alter predictions for cosmological observables. We demonstrate that inflation dynamically suppresses the entire renormalization sector: while super-Hubble perturbations freeze after horizon crossing, renormalization contributions decay rapidly during inflation. As a consequence, the observable primordial spectrum is remarkably insensitive to renormalization ambiguities, providing strong evidence for the robustness under renormalization of standard inflationary predictions at observable scales.

We investigate a K-essence like cosmological model whose scalar-field potential is constructed from a negative power-law Sáez–Ballester potential. By means of a suitable field redefinition from $\phi$ to $\varphi$, we show that the resulting field equations acquire a mathematical structure analogous to that of a previously solved Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) cosmological model. This correspondence allows us to obtain exact classical solutions for both the scale factor and the scalar field within the Hamiltonian formalism. The resulting cosmological dynamics exhibits a late-time accelerated expansion, with the deceleration parameter approaching the asymptotic value $q\rightarrow -1$, characteristic of a de Sitter phase. At the quantum level, the corresponding Wheeler-DeWitt (WDW) equation is derived and exact quantum solutions are obtained. These results provide a consistent classical and quantum description of the cosmological evolution generated by this class of K-essence models. In this formalism, the scalar field remains as a cosmic background where the universe unfolds, which is glimpsed from the quantum solution perspective.

The interplay between symmetry and thermalization governs the late-time dynamics of local quantum and classical many-body systems at nonzero temperature. Recently, two parallel frontiers have emerged: the search for robust anomalous hydrodynamics – such as superdiffusion – in generic, non-integrable models, and the formal effort to generalize the fundamental concept of global symmetry. In this paper, we bridge these frontiers by demonstrating that quantum group symmetry provides a novel mechanism for anomalous hydrodynamics in chaotic systems. We study the dynamics of local operators carrying $U(1)$ charge in non-integrable lattice models that also have quantum group symmetry. One example is transverse spin in the XXZ model with integrability breaking deformations. While such excitations are expected to decay very quickly at high temperature because their charge forbids overlap with conventional hydrodynamic densities, we find that protection by the quantum group symmetry makes these modes long-lived, despite the absence of local quantum group charge density or current. Furthermore, the dynamics is superdiffusive across Hamiltonian, Floquet, and classical realizations, and exhibits unusual finite size effects at very late times. We also revisit transverse spin dynamics in the integrable XXZ model.

This work presents a comprehensive account of a gravitational model based on the gauging of the $\mathrm{ISIM}(2)$ Lorentz subgroup parameters through the so-called soft algebra formalism. After presenting a closed form for $\mathfrak{sim}(2)$ and its inhomogeneous extension, we proceed to develop a complete torsionless gravitational model, culminating in an invariant action.

The Stanford-Witten-Norbury generalization of Mirzakhani's volume recursion computes $V^{(2m)}_{g,n}(\{b_i\})$, the Weil-Petersson volumes of the moduli space of $N=1$ supersymmetric Riemann surfaces of genus $g$ with $n$ Neveu-Schwarz boundaries of geodesic lengths $b_i$ ($i{=}1,\ldots,n$), and $2m$ Ramond punctures. Recently, a spectral curve has been derived that allows their Laplace transforms $W^{(2m)}_{g,n}(\{{\hat z}_i\})$ to be computed using topological recursion. We prove that the Stanford-Witten-Norbury volume recursion is directly derivable from the spectral curve. An alternative volume recursion can also be derived from it. The difference comes from whether the Ramond information is in the initial data, or in the volume recursion's kernels. The latter invites a geometrical understanding.

We present a variational approach to quantum field theory based on wavefunctions parameterized by neural networks. While variational methods have a celebrated history across many fields, their application to quantum field theory has been limited by well-known challenges. We show that neural-network wavefunctions, combined with modern machine-learning techniques, enable competitive variational calculations in nontrivial field theories. As a demonstration, we reproduce the essential features of the two-dimensional nonlinear $\sigma$-model: asymptotic freedom, dynamical mass generation and the model's step-scaling function.

Motivated by the role of the holographic entropy cone in constraining the entanglement structure of states with classical gravitational duals, we investigate combinations of subsystem complexities associated with reduced density matrices in multipartite quantum systems. Focusing on subsystems composed of three disjoint regions, we introduce two quantities: a tripartite complexity, inspired by the tripartite information, and a complexity gap, designed to characterize emergent complexity in the full quantum state beyond that of its constituents. We study the sign structure of these quantities in three selected approaches to subsystem complexity. In holography, we employ the complexity=volume proposal in AdS spacetimes; for Gaussian many-body states, we use Fisher-Rao subsystem complexity; and we further develop a Krylov-space inspired, effective framework for reduced density matrices, which we test in few-qubit systems and coherent-state dynamics. Across all three approaches, we find that the tripartite complexity is not sign-definite in general. By contrast, the complexity gap exhibits a definite sign in every example we analyze, although the sign itself depends on the underlying notion of subsystem complexity. Our results suggest that the complexity gap could be a natural candidate building block for a prospective hierarchy of subsystem complexity inequalities.

We present a pedagogical introduction to the cosmological constant problem that requires only basic knowledge of quantum field theory and general relativity. A massive real scalar field is used to illustrate how the quantum vacuum energy density and pressure can be calculated both in flat spacetime and in an expanding universe. Detailed computations are provided for dimensional, cutoff, and adiabatic regularizations. No attempt is made to address quantum gravitational effects, and the expanding-universe background is treated classically. We point out that although the commonly cited discrepancy of 120 orders of magnitude between theory and observation is based on an estimate that does not account for regularization and renormalization, fundamental principles of quantum field theory nevertheless lead to a huge mismatch. In addition to this large discrepancy, we emphasize that there are also conceptual challenges related to cosmic expansion, such as the choice between comoving and physical scales in certain contexts and the non-uniqueness of vacuum.

In the decay of quantum particles under field theoretic consideration, the decay rate is typically a convolution of the density of modes the primary field is allowed to decay into and the allowed probability density for the field to decay into such modes. In free space, though many such processes show high amplitude of such transitions towards the infrared sector, the depletion of allowed mode density in that regime arrests the efficacy of such decays at low energies. Therefore in free space, in order to enhance the decay rate, one needs the transition probability density to be rich enough towards the high energy sector where mode density support is also high enough to make the rate sufficiently large. In this work we argue that in the controlled boundary condition environment e.g. in a cavity, the mode functions of product field receive significant support towards their infrared sector, boosting the probability (and hence rates) of low energy processes. The cavity geometry offers sweet spots in terms of resonant geometry around which the interaction of a primary field with product fields receives dramatic enhancement, significantly enlarging its decay rates. Therefore, a judicious selection of cavity geometry serves as a potential substitute to studying interesting processes at high energy. The results have direct relevance for the study of QED processes and implications for the study of exotic new physics are also discussed.

We study the statistical field-theoretic renormalization of active flocks via the Martin-Siggia-Rose-De Dominicis-Janssen (MSRDJ) formulation of stochastic dynamics, focusing on the Toner-Tu theory of Malthusian flocks, or polar-ordered, momentum non-conserving active fluids in which density fluctuations relax sufficiently rapidly to be eliminated as hydrodynamic degrees of freedom. Working in the limit of isotropic diffusion in two spatial dimensions, we perform an all orders analysis of the perturbative renormalization of propagators and interaction vertices. We show that a nonlinearly realized diagonal rotation/shift symmetry gives rise to Ward identities that protect the trigonometric structure of the convective derivative, ensuring that the sine and cosine interaction potentials retain their functional form under renormalization up to a rescaling of their overall couplings. We demonstrate that the freedom to renormalize the dynamical critical exponent in this boost non-invariant theory prevents the determination of the precise values of the critical exponents and anomalous dimensions in the theory, highlighting parallels and crucial differences with sine-Gordon and XY models. We express all anomalous dimensions as functions of the dynamical critical exponent, which remains undetermined due to the absence of a relation ordinarily forced upon boost invariant systems. We revisit and contextualize several claims and counterclaims in the recent literature in light of these results.

It was proposed that extra dimensions can acquire large size by higher dimensional inflation connecting two large hierarchies in particle physics and cosmology, namely the weakness of the actual gravitational force to the largeness of the observable universe, in terms of one fundamental scale. This proposal is consistent with the observed approximate scale invariant power spectrum of primordial density perturbations only for one or two extra dimensions of around the micron size. Assuming a stabilisation mechanism of the extra dimensions at the end of inflation, here we propose a cosmological history that describes the Universe evolution after the end of inflation up to the reheating temperature, that guarantees the absence of bulk gravitons at earlier times, avoiding their overproduction in the early universe. The proposed cosmological history connects the period of higher dimensional inflation to the beginning of the standard cosmology.

A defining feature of chirality is the distinction between a system and its mirror image. Despite extensive experimental observations of chiral phases and theoretical advances, a quantum-information theoretic characterization of chirality based solely on the entanglement structure of many-body quantum states remains elusive. Here, we introduce the notion of many-body chirality by formulating it as an obstruction to transforming a quantum state into its complex conjugate through finite-depth local operations. We rigorously establish many-body chirality for stabilizer realizations of $\mathbb{Z}_d^{(k)}$ anyon theories, proving that complex conjugation can be implemented by local quantum channels if and only if the underlying anyon data are mirror invariant. This reveals forms of chirality that evade conventional diagnostics, including examples with vanishing modular commutator, vanishing chiral central charge, and commuting-projector realizations. We further show that this obstruction is intrinsically four-partite, while invisible to tripartite entanglement structure. Finally, we prove that $\mathbb{Z}_d^{(k)}$ states with $d>2$ possess intrinsic many-body imaginarity: their complex phase structure cannot be removed by finite-depth local unitaries. Remarkably, this includes states that are not many-body chiral.

Characterising the universal aspects of non-equilibrium quantum many-body dynamics is one of the key goals of this century's physics research. Progress, however, is hindered by the lack of general theoretical frameworks for studying interacting quantum matter far from equilibrium. A recent breakthrough has been the realization that several key non-equilibrium quantities, such as the rate of growth of entanglement or the fluctuations of conserved charges within finite subsystems, can be related to equilibrium properties through a space-time duality that effectively exchanges the roles of space and time. This observation effectively enables the study of non-equilibrium phenomena using tools and concepts borrowed from equilibrium statistical mechanics and thermodynamics. A first proof of principle of this framework, dubbed space-time duality approach (SDA), was provided by interacting integrable systems, where thermodynamic properties can often be characterized exactly, while dynamical quantities typically remain beyond analytical reach. Subsequent developments, however, revealed that the SDA suffered from an intrinsic ambiguity, restricting its applicability to homogeneous quenches and to charge fluctuations arising from symmetric initial states. Here we resolve this ambiguity from first principles and derive closed-form predictions for entanglement growth and charge fluctuations after general quantum quenches. We benchmark our results against the exact analytical solution of the Rule 54 quantum cellular automaton and extensive TEBD simulations of the XXZ chain. Moreover we show that, when specialised to the entanglement entropy, our framework naturally reproduces the predictions of the quasiparticle picture.

We argue that celestial OPEs must be supplemented by shadow-basis operators. Although the shadow transform does not introduce new bulk degrees of freedom, it provides a distinct primary state in the boundary celestial theory. From OPE consistency, we show that the ordinary celestial OPE does not close on Mellin-basis exchanges alone. Rather, the same exchanged bulk particle must also appear through its shadow-basis representative. This leads to a shadow-completed OPE, with the shadow OPE coefficient fixed by the ordinary collinear coefficient through the universal shadow factor. We discuss the corresponding boundary Hilbert-space interpretation, extend this argument to gluons and gravitons, and verify the shadow exchange directly in tree-level regular celestial amplitudes, including a scalar $2\rightarrow n$ analysis and an explicit five-point example.

We revisit the charge-1/3 anyon fluid obtained by doping the $\nu = 2/3$ Jain fractional Chern insulator (FCI). In the standard composite fermion description, the doped anyons fractionalize into three translation-related flavors of secondary composite fermions, whose gauge-mediated interactions drive a robust inter-flavor pairing instability. In our previous work, we analyzed a flavor-asymmetric paired state and obtained a charge-ordered Fermi liquid. Inspired by a recent paper, we consider an alternative flavor-symmetric paired state and show that it is an SC* state: a charge-$2e$ condensate that coexists with residual $\mathbb{Z}_2$ topological order. The weak and strong pairing regimes share the same intrinsic topological order but differ in chiral central charge, giving $c_- = 7/2$ and $c_- = 2$. We further show how other proposed effective field theories fit within the same composite fermion description, and argue that across the doping driven FCI-to-superconductor transition, localized anyons evolve into Bogoliubov quasiparticles rather than vortices. At low doping, we identify an approximate SU(3)-symmetric regime in which the system instead realizes a non-Fermi liquid $\mathbb{Z}_3$ Orthogonal Metal with three charge-1/3 fermion pockets and no sharp electron quasiparticle. Finally, we comment on the energetics of various possible ground states and discuss implications for experiments in moire materials.

We reconsider the "fortuity” mechanism in the D1D5 CFT focusing on the K3 symmetric orbifold. Going beyond the counting of BPS states, we investigate perturbatively how the explicit form of the BPS cohomologies is modified by the twist-two deformations. We calculate the action of the supercharges in the sector $(h,j)=(1,0)$ for different values of the central charge and derive explicit expressions for the primary states. Equipped with this information, we compare some protected three-point couplings in the free and the gravity regime. We show that agreement between the two descriptions imposes non-trivial constraints on the identification of monotone and fortuitous states. In particular, we argue that the map relating theories with different values of the central charge must and can be defined so as to commute with the supercharges that define the cochain complex. We then study the three-point correlators between the fortuitous and monotone states identified in our analysis to assess whether the two sectors are dynamically decoupled. We find an explicit example of a non-vanishing coupling between two monotone and a fortuitous state, providing evidence that the two sectors are dynamically connected.

Defining $\gamma_5$ within dimensional regularization remains a fundamental challenge. Larin's prescription addresses this by introducing additional renormalization constants to restore standard and chiral Ward identities. While these constants are known up to four loops in pure quantum chromodynamics, current precision Standard Model phenomenology requires extending these corrections to mixed gauge sectors. In this article, we propose a novel technique utilizing form factors and the universality of infrared divergences to compute these constants. Applying this framework, we present the new three-loop results for the renormalization constants, as well as the pure-singlet contributions to the quark axial-vector form factor, for a mixed $SU(N) \times U(1)$ gauge group.

The black hole information paradox challenges us to do something that is seemingly impossible: find a violation of the semiclassical approximation in a region where all curvatures are low. The vecro hypothesis proposes a structure of the gravitational vacuum that can accomplish this task. In this article we explain the hypothesis, and give a lattice model to describe the essence of its idea. The Hamiltonian of the model is completely local, but the vacuum exhibits correlations among planck scale fluctuations which fall off relatively slowly with distance. These extended-scale correlations are able to `feel around' the region where a closed trapped surface is about to form, and to react by nucleating fuzzball structure that destroys semiclassical spacetime.

We demonstrate that, for a large black hole of radius $a$, Hawking radiation terminates around the scrambling time $u_{\text{scr}} \equiv 2a \log(a/\ell)$ due to the nonlocal, exponential suppression of trans-Planckian interactions inherent in string field theory (SFT). Modifying a massless scalar field's interaction with a dynamical black hole background via the smearing operator $e^{\ell^2\Box}$ (where $\ell$ denotes the string length scale), we calculate the time-dependent number expectation value $\langle \hat{N}(u) \rangle$ of outgoing Hawking particles at retarded time $u$. While the standard Planck spectrum at the Hawking temperature is reproduced at early times ($u \ll u_{\text{scr}}$), the particle number approaches zero shortly after the scrambling time. This early shutoff reflects the property that the collapsing shell becomes effectively invisible to trans-Planckian modes, offering an alternative resolution to the black hole information paradox via a macroscopic remnant.

We study high-frequency electromagnetic propagation in the rotating García–Díaz solution of Einstein gravity coupled to NLED. In this system, light is not governed only by the null cone of the spacetime metric, because the NLED field also behaves as an optical medium whose constitutive response determines the physical optical cones. Starting from the mixed electromagnetic potentials, we project the field $F$ and the excitation $P$ on a principal tetrad and obtain the aligned scalars $E$, $B$, $D$ and $H$. These scalars allow us to reconstruct the regular local constitutive branch connected with Maxwell theory through the map $(D,B)\mapsto(E,H)$. We then insert the resulting response matrix into the Fresnel characteristic problem. At the perturbative order considered here, the Fresnel quartic factorizes into two quadratic branches, each defining an effective optical metric. Both optical metrics admit Carter-type separation of the Hamilton–Jacobi equation and possess their own radial and angular potentials, critical constants and unstable critical families. By projecting these families onto the celestial sphere of a finite-distance observer, we obtain two critical contours, $\Gamma_+$ and $\Gamma_-$, which coincide in the Maxwell limit and split when the nonlinear constitutive response is active. We quantify this birefringent splitting through the maximum angular separation, the relative diameter shift and the normalized birefringent width. Numerical scans over the nonlinear coupling, spin and observer inclination show that the splitting is generated by the constitutive response, redistributed by rotation and stable under local projection changes within the perturbative domain. This provides a direct geometrical link between the local NLED response and a polarization-dependent critical structure on the observer screen.

We study the confining flux tube in the reconfined phase of trace deformed SU(2) Yang-Mills theory in (2+1) dimensions. Using lattice simulations above the standard deconfinement temperature, we analyze Polyakov-loop correlators and extract the ground state energy of the effective string. We show that the usual Nambu-Goto effective string description, including its standard higher-order corrections, fails to reproduce the data as the trace deformation is increased. Remarkably, deep in the reconfined regime the results are instead accurately described by the Polchinski-Yang rigid-string solution, corresponding to an effective string dominated by an extrinsic-curvature term. We further investigate the transverse profile of the chromo-electric flux tube and find significant deviations from the standard Yang-Mills behavior, including a substantial modification of the intrinsic width. Finally, we present an exploratory study of the phase diagram, finding evidence for a transition from a continuous to a first order reconfinement line as the deformation parameter increases. These results suggest that the reconfined phase realizes a qualitatively different effective-string regime from ordinary confinement.

Born-Infeld New Massive Gravity (BINMG) completes New Massive Gravity to all orders in curvature through the determinant of the metric shifted by the Einstein tensor. We recast it with an independent auxiliary metric $q_{\mu\nu}$, whose algebraic equation of motion $q_{\mu\nu}=g_{\mu\nu}+\frac{\sigma}{m^2}G_{\mu\nu}(g)$ recovers the determinant action exactly on the regular branch and resums the infinite curvature series into a single relation. In the densitized variable $P^{\mu\nu}=\sqrt{-q}\,q^{\mu\nu}$ the three-dimensional action is polynomial, with all derivative dependence carried by the coupling $P^{\mu\nu}G_{\mu\nu}(g)$. The formulation makes known properties follow with substantially less algebra: the unique vacuum follows in one line, and the quadratic action yields a single Pauli-Fierz massive spin-2 field with the Fierz-Pauli tuning generated rather than imposed. On locally AdS backgrounds the conserved charges, BTZ mass and angular momentum, central charge, and entropy reduce to the Einstein results times a common factor. The formulation also isolates the nonlinear degree-of-freedom problem in the right variables, leaving the full Dirac count to separate work.

The quantum wormhole length in sine-dilaton gravity has been shown to equal the Krylov spread complexity in the double-scaled SYK model. In the infinite temperature limit, we compute the five-loop semiclassical expansion of DSSYK complexity by singular perturbation of the operator Liouville-type equations of motion, extending the existing one-loop results. The same method is applied to evaluate the Krylov variance and third-order cumulant, related to the connected two- and three-point functions of the length operator at coincident points. The small- and large-time behaviour of these observables is also studied. In particular, for the large-time slope of the wormhole linear growth, we determine the all-order resummation of the perturbative series, and the leading non-perturbative corrections.