Papers

Models with extra dimensions include a tower of massive states that unavoidably contribute to cosmological dynamics. In particular, after compactification, a higher-dimensional axion gives rise to a set of states whose dynamics at early times exhibit the properties of inflation and, at late times, those of dynamical dark matter. Interestingly, natural choices of parameters imply that the inflationary trajectory in field space is approximately geodesic, meaning that inflation is effectively driven by a single inflaton corresponding to the heaviest state. In this scenario, all inflationary observables, including the emerging spectral distortions, are consistent with current observational constraints, and exact numerical solutions of the equations of motion show that reheating can consistently proceed down to temperatures of a few MeV. Furthermore, all states lighter than the inflaton only come to dominate the energy density of the Universe during the matter-dominated era, thus behaving as dark matter at late times. These states undergo a cascade of decays into radiation, while maintaining a sufficient dark-matter abundance to account for the observed relic density. The lightest dark-matter candidate remains stable on timescales far exceeding the age of the Universe, thereby satisfying even the most conservative observational constraints.

A recent construction showed that iteratively gauging symmetries of a quantum field theory can generate an emergent extra spatial dimension. Here we identify the precise mechanism underlying this phenomenon: it is dimensional deconstruction, the procedure by which an extra dimension is encoded in the structure of a quiver gauge theory. We demonstrate this by showing that the standard deconstruction action, upon dualizing the Goldstone fields on the Higgs branch, is exactly equivalent to the action produced by iterative gauging. The dictionary is transparent: quiver nodes correspond to gauge fields, and quiver links correspond to the gauge fields introduced to couple to magnetic symmetries. We further show that starting by gauging the electric rather than the magnetic symmetry produces the deconstructed theory written in the dual variables, with all coupling constants inverted.

Post inflationary string cosmology can feature an initial population of multiple species of cosmic superstrings whose tension is controlled by a modulus rolling over a steep potential toward a late-time minimum. We perform a full analysis of the associated dynamical system, finding that overshooting the minimum is prevented by the friction of a radiation background of gravitational waves produced from the early decay of effective strings arising from NS5- and D3-branes wrapped around internal cycles. On the other hand, fundamental strings survive longer and decay when the modulus is oscillating around the minimum and they have about $1/3$ of the total energy density. The spectrum of gravitational waves generated by the decays of these multiple cosmic superstrings, even if diluted by a late epoch of modulus domination, can still result in a high-frequency, multi-peaked signal, offering an observational signature of generic features of string theory.

The persistent $H_0$ and $S_8$ tensions motivate the search for new dark-energy mechanisms capable of modifying the late-time expansion history while preserving the successful early-Universe predictions of $\Lambda$CDM scenario. Wald-Gauss-Bonnet (WGB) topological dark energy provides a physically motivated realization of this possibility, where the effective dark-energy sector emerges from cosmic horizon thermodynamics and the black-hole formation and merger history. We present the first early- and late-Universe analysis of WGB cosmology, implementing the model as an effective fluid in a modified CLASS solver and constraining it against CMB data from Planck, ACT~DR6 and SPT-3G, DESI~DR2 BAO, and Pantheon+ supernovae. While late-time data alone are consistent with $\Lambda$CDM, the full dataset prefers a non-zero WGB contribution, $\Cn=0.435^{+0.150}_{-0.132}$, corresponding to a $\sim3\sigma$ phantom-like deviation and an improved fit. The preferred solution raises $H_0$ from $68.5$ to $69.8~\kmsmpc$, reducing the Hubble tension by $\sim0.9\sigma$, at the cost of a mild increase in $S_8$. The reconstructed cosmological observables show that WGB leaves the primary CMB almost unchanged while enhancing lensing and small-scale clustering, revealing a characteristic $H_0$-$S_8$ trade-off. WGB dark energy therefore emerges as a physically motivated and observationally viable late-time mechanism for partially alleviating the Hubble tension without introducing new early-Universe physics.

We introduce Krylov-space memory cores as stationary, depth-resolved structures that reveal how anomalous initial-state memory is organized inside the Krylov space of otherwise thermalizing nonintegrable systems. The stationary occupation profile identifies where late-time probability is concentrated along the Krylov chain, while complementary diagnostics of residual equilibration fluctuations, deviation from the Gibbs reference, and long-time Krylov-current fluctuations determine the physical character of that region. Across weak thermalization, confinement-induced anomalous dynamics, and many-body scarring, anomalous initial states develop compact low-depth memory cores that carry appreciable residual fluctuations, Gibbs mismatch, and persistent current-fluctuation activity. These cores are often embedded within substantially broader stationary occupation halos. The reference states considered, by contrast, do not exhibit a comparable combination of signal strength and spatial compactness. An auxiliary integrable comparison further shows that compact Krylov memory is state selective rather than a generic consequence of integrability. Krylov-space memory cores therefore provide a stationary framework for identifying where structured quantum memory resides and how it remains dynamically encoded.

We recently presented a new $D=5$ $\mathcal{N}=8$ gauged supergravity involving the local trombone scaling symmetry. It arises by consistent truncation of M-theory on the internal space of the Maldacena-Núñez AdS$_5$ solution dual to the $\mathcal{N}=2$ four-dimensional superconformal field theory (SCFT) of class $\mathcal{S}$ associated to M5-branes wrapped on an unpunctured Riemann surface. Using exceptional generalised geometry/field theory, we extend that construction to show that the same $D=5$ $\mathcal{N}=8$ supergravity also arises by consistent truncation of $D=11$ supergravity on the family of $\mathcal{N}=1$ M5-brane-wrapped solutions of Bah-Beem-Bobev-Wecht, including the $\mathcal{N}=1$ Maldacena-Núñez (MN1) configuration. Then, using recently derived mass matrices, we compute universal sectors of the Kaluza-Klein spectrum on the MN1 solution. In general, this universal spectrum is only locally defined, and we give a prescription for extracting globally defined subsectors thereof. This globally defined universal Kaluza-Klein spectrum is dual to a universal sector of the light operator spectrum of the SU(2)-flavoured $\mathcal{N}=1$ class $\mathcal{S}$ SCFT dual to MN1.

We analytically determine the leading backreaction of a spherically symmetric massive complex scalar quasi-bound state (with mass $\mu$) on a Schwarzschild black hole with (initial) gravitational radius $r_0$. Working in the small-coupling regime, $r_0 \mu \ll 1$, we evaluate the stress-energy tensor of the fundamental scalar $s$-wave and solve the Einstein equations through quadratic order in its amplitude in ingoing Eddington-Finkelstein coordinates. We also determine the small-mass quasi-resonant frequency of the fundamental $s$-wave analytically by matched asymptotic expansions and validate it numerically using Leaver's method. Unlike steady-state treatments, the calculation retains the exponential decay of the quasi-bound state. We obtain explicit expressions for the metric perturbations and Misner-Sharp mass and derive the evolution of the future outer trapping horizon. The black-hole mass grows monotonically with the decaying horizon flux and saturates when the finite scalar cloud has been absorbed, with the decrease of the cloud mass exactly balancing the horizon growth at the perturbative order considered. We also determine the domain in which the scalar small-coupling approximation and the gravitational perturbative expansion are simultaneously valid.

We derive the $\kappa$-Poincaré Casimir from the de Sitter geometry of momentum space and employ it as the dynamical constraint governing charged particles within the framework of Poisson gauge theory. The resulting formalism is applied to scalar and spin-$1/2$ particles in a constant magnetic field. Within the semiclassical Poisson-gauge framework, exact energy spectra are obtained without expanding in the deformation parameter $1/\kappa$. On the positive-energy branch in bicrossproduct momentum coordinates, identifying these coordinates with the physical momenta entering the gauge coupling imposes an upper bound on their spatial magnitude. This bound leads to a finite number of admissible Landau-level indices and hence to a Highest Landau Level (HLL). In the fermionic case, the truncation is spin dependent for the factorization adopted here, resulting in a polarized HLL. Possible implications of this ultraviolet truncation and the limitations of the framework are briefly discussed.

The investigation of possible quantum-gravity effects in cosmology is of considerable interest, especially when such effects can be tested against observations of the late-time expansion. In the present work we study a quadratic generalized-uncertainty-principle (GUP) deformation of the FLRW minisuperspace Poisson algebra. At first order in the deformation parameter, the construction modifies the Friedmann equation and hence the homogeneous expansion history. Since it does not determine a unique perturbation sector, we restrict the analysis to background observables, using 31 cosmic-chronometer measurements, the uncalibrated 1580-object Pantheon$+$ Hubble-flow sample, and the 13-component DESI DR2 baryon-acoustic-oscillation likelihood, while treating the sound horizon as a nuisance parameter. We compare the resulting cosmology with flat \LCDM{} and with the Chevallier–Polarski–Linder parametrization. For the baseline normalization we obtain $\betastar=-0.086^{+0.040}_{-0.032}$ at $68\%$ credibility and $-0.142<\betastar<0.005$ at $95\%$ credibility.

Numerical Ricci-flat metrics on Calabi-Yau manifolds are becoming increasingly accurate. However, they often lack the interpretability required to extract theoretical insights. In this paper, we introduce a novel variant of Donaldson's algorithm based on the Moore-Penrose pseudo-inverse that operates on the global sections of the ambient space rather than the manifold itself. This approach allows us to use the canonical monomial basis to compute interpretable balanced metrics even at large degrees $k$. Applying our ambient algorithm to multiple families, including the Dwork family and complete intersection Calabi-Yau manifolds, we discover that the metric parameters obey novel power laws near the Large Complex Structure Limit (LCSL). We connect these to the Gromov-Hausdorff metric collapse predicted by the SYZ conjecture.

Quantum correlation functions in supersymmetric field theories can be encoded in the Nicolai map. The infinitesimal inverse map provides their response to a change in a coupling constant through a "flow equation". We investigate the flow in the gravitational constant $\kappa$ for four-dimensional Poincaré supergravity via its superconformal formulation. By expressing the full superconformal off-shell action as a supervariation we derive a "flow operator" in the effective vierbein theory, whose exponentiation yields the gauge-invariant part of an all-order (inverse) Nicolai map for supergravity. Alas, the BRST gauge fixing adds to this functional differential flow operator a multiplicative term, which ruins its derivational property and therefore jeopardizes its connection with the Nicolai map. We argue and present an example, however, that such multiplicative flow contributions might be rewritable as derivational ones with the help of Wick's theorem in the free effective theory where the Nicolai-transformed correlators are ultimately evaluated. At least in the Landau gauge, the supergravity flow equation is shown to be regular at $\kappa=0$, allowing for a perturbative expansion around Minkowski geometry. Therewith, we have overcome two of the three obstacles met in an earlier attempt towards a Nicolai map for Poincaré supergravity. Finally, we compare with the direct on-shell construction of a Nicolai map to leading order in $\kappa$.

We study the quantum mechanics of a charged particle confined to the surface of a cube enclosing a magnetic monopole. The magnetic field is chosen to have a constant magnitude on each face and to point along the outward normal, preserving the rotational symmetry of the cube. We formulate the continuum problem using two gauge patches on the cube surface and show that consistency of the wavefunction gives the Dirac quantization condition. Since an explicit vector potential does not remain invariant under ordinary rotations, we construct gauge-modified rotation operators and use them to classify the eigenstates. Even monopole charges are described by the irreducible representations of the cubic rotation group O, while odd monopole charges require the spinorial representations of the binary octahedral group 2O. We compute the spectrum with a gauge-covariant finite-difference discretization and find Landau-level-like manifolds whose degeneracies are split by the discrete cubic symmetry. We also study the corresponding tight-binding Hofstadter problem on the discretized cube. The resulting spectrum contains the usual magnetic subband structure together with additional gap states localized near the cube corners.

We discuss the structure constants of spacelike $\mathcal{N}=2$ Liouville theory on the two-sphere. Due to the absence of a particular $b \leftrightarrow b^{-1}$ self-dual symmetry, where $b$ is the theory's coupling, the standard analytic bootstrap toolkit that was used to solve the bosonic and $\mathcal{N}=1$ theories cannot be implemented in a straightforward way. Our approach, instead, relies on the fact that $\mathcal{N}=2$ Liouville theory is dual by mirror symmetry to the $\mathrm{SL}(2)_k/\mathrm{U}(1)$ supercoset, whose target space is the $2$d fermionic black hole. Leveraging this duality, we obtain explicit expressions for the winding number preserving and violating structure constants on the supercoset side, and test them on the Liouville side through a semiclassical analysis finding agreement up to one-loop order. We also discuss the chiral rings of the theory and evaluate correlators of $\frac 12$-BPS operators.

We present a numerical study of subsystem distance decay following a global quantum quench in the infinite one-dimensional transverse-field Ising chain, using the mathematically rigorous Bures distance $B_A(t)$ to quantify the deviation of the time-evolved reduced density matrix from its stationary generalized Gibbs ensemble state. We show that the late-time decay follows a discrete power law $B_A(t) \sim t^{-\lambda}$, with the exponent $\lambda$ confined to discrete values: $1$, $5/4$, $3/2$, $7/4$, $2$, $5/2$, and potentially further values. The specific exponent is jointly determined by the pre- and post-quench transverse fields, as well as by properties of the symmetric excitation-fraction function $m_S(\varphi)$, defined on $\varphi\in[0,\pi]$ to characterize the pre-quench Hamiltonian eigenstates, including continuity, boundary values, and first-derivative boundary values, among others. The previously established $t^{-3/2}$ decay for the initial ground state of the pre-quench Hamiltonian is naturally recovered as a special case of this general classification. Our results reveal a universal discrete structure governing local equilibration dynamics in integrable quantum systems.

We show that the Levi-Civita connection for the Taub-NUT metric is singular on Misner strings and generates an Einstein tensor containing the squares of the delta function. This can be improved by introducing torsion, in which case the Einstein tensor may be interpreted as that of a cosmic string with negative variable tension. Komar flows in Misner strings are generated by torsion, which is therefore responsible for the asymptotic Komar charges. The Taub-NUT metric then appears as a soliton supported by two spin-fluid beams.

Conserved gravitational charges are commonly expressed as surface integrals of the metric perturbation and its first derivatives. We show that, in the usual asymptotically AdS and asymptotically flat settings, the standard charges admit equivalent representatives as fluxes of linearized curvature. The construction uses a divergence-free rank-four tensor whose trace is proportional to the cosmological Einstein tensor. On a maximally symmetric AdS background, it reproduces the known curvature representation of the Abbott-Deser charges. The asymptotically flat construction is not obtained by taking a naive $\Lambda \rightarrow 0$ limit, since the Killing two-form vanishes for translations. We instead introduce an antisymmetric Poincaré Killing potential. A representative Killing potential adapted to the algebraic Bianchi identity converts the linearized Einstein current into a total divergence and yields a single curvature-flux formula. Its translation sector reproduces the ADM energy–momentum, while in four dimensions its Lorentz sector reproduces the angular momentum and boost/center-of-mass charges under the standard Regge-Teitelboim falloff and parity conditions. The normalization is checked explicitly for Schwarzschild, boosted Schwarzschild, and Kerr data. On non-maximally symmetric Einstein backgrounds, background Weyl curvature generates additional terms, so the maximally symmetric construction does not directly extend to a pure codimension-two curvature-flux formula.

The entanglement asymmetry measures how strongly a symmetry is broken inside a subsystem. Analytic results at equilibrium have so far covered free theories and, perturbatively, the critical XXZ chain. We compute the Rényi entanglement asymmetries of a large interval in the gapped, $U(1)$-breaking phase of the interacting XYZ chain. The calculation combines three ingredients. A charged-moment identity, which we prove for fermionic Gaussian and for injective matrix-product ground states, ties the asymmetry to the static susceptibility of the broken charge. A non-conservation sum rule then evaluates the susceptibility from sine-Gordon form factors, its two-kink and one-breather channels providing a lower bound on the universal amplitude. The Baxter–Johnson–Krinsky–McCoy solution supplies the kink mass for different couplings. Infinite-system density-matrix renormalization group simulations built on these masses reproduce the master formula.

In this work, we revisit the generalized emergent dark energy model by confronting it with DESI DR2 baryon acoustic oscillation measurements, in combination with joint CMB data from ACT, SPT, and Planck, as well as Type Ia supernova samples including Pantheon$^+$, DES-Dovekie, and Union3. We find that the GEDE model remains compatible with the $\Lambda$CDM paradigm, with no statistically significant preference for deviations when all datasets are combined. In particular, the key model parameter $\Delta$ is consistent with the $\Lambda$CDM value $\Delta = 0$ within $2\sigma$ once SNe Ia data are included. Despite this overall agreement, the GEDE model does not exhibit the phantom crossing suggested by DESI DR2. Instead, the evolution of the dark energy equation of state $w(z)$ indicates that the model behaves either as a full phantom ($w < -1$) or quintessence ($w > -1$), depending on the dataset combination, without a clear transition across $w = -1$. When Pantheon$^+$ data are included, the model converges closely to $\Lambda$CDM with $w \simeq -1$. The GEDE model does not alleviate the existing cosmological tensions. The inferred values of $H_0$ remain in the range $67.9$-$69.8\ \mathrm{km,s^{-1},Mpc^{-1}}$, while the sound horizon $r_d$ and clustering parameter $S_8$ remain consistent with $\Lambda$CDM, failing to resolve the $H_0$ and $S_8$ tensions. Finally, both Gaussian significance levels ($<2\sigma$) and Bayesian evidence ($\ln B_{i,j} < 1$) indicate no statistically significant preference for GEDE over $\Lambda$CDM. We conclude that, although DESI DR2 hints at dynamical dark energy, the GEDE model remains observationally indistinguishable from $\Lambda$CDM and does not support the Quintom-B-type behavior suggested by DESI DR2.

This contribution considers constraints from analyses of gravitational wave data from binary black hole coalescence, on possible corrections to the Bekenstein-Hawking Area Formula for black hole entropy. Most recent analyses of gravitational wave data from the LVK Consortium appear to confirm the Hawking Area Theorem for black holes at a $5 \sigma$ accuracy, for the `loudest' signal (SNR of the order of $80$) of binary black hole merger inherent in the recent observation GW250114. Amalgamating this result with Bekenstein's ideas of black hole entropy and the generalized second law of thermodynamics, we constrain leading inverse area corrections for large horizon area spherical black hole solutions of classical $F(R)$ gravity, using the Wald entropy function formalism. The implementation of the observational constraints entails the notion of `absolute consistency' which we introduce and contrast with `relative consistency'. This absolute consistency criterion is shown to relate some of the parameters of $F(R)$ gravity. Next we consider leading quantum general relativistic corrections to the Area formula, arising both from the non-perturbative matter-free Loop Quantum Gravity and matter-dependent, perturbative Entanglement entropy approaches. Combining the leading logarithmic corrections in horizon area (for large areas) from both approaches, and imposing absolute consistency with the observational validation of the Area Theorem, is shown to lead to significant restrictions on the spin and number of species of Beyond Standard Model spectrum of elementary particles, some of which are often assumed to be Dark Matter candidates.

Inspired by matrix techniques in quantum field theory and string theory, we review Permutation Invariant Gaussian Matrix Models (PIGMM), which replace the continuous symmetries of traditional Random Matrix Theory, for $ N \times N$ matrices, with finite permutation symmetry, $S_N$. This symmetry-driven approach reduces highly multivariate $N^2$-variable matrix data analysis problems to a rich but tractable space of parameters. The representation theory of $S_N$ brings a highly correlated quadratic matrix action to a near-diagonal form with $13$ parameters. The invariant observables are parameterised by graphs and their expectation values are computed with Wick contractions implemented algorithmically. We review the successful application of PIGMM for data reduction and anomaly detection in computational linguistics, statistical finance and neural network weights. We conclude with a brief discussion of potential future applications to matrix data analysis tasks that exploit hadronization algorithms and the modular structure of collider-physics data.

We investigate the thermodynamics of a photon gas within the Magueijo-Smolin formulation of doubly special relativity, a framework that augments the speed of light with an observer-independent energy scale of the order of the Planck energy. We derive the logarithmic grand partition function, and the complete set of thermodynamic quantities for the photon gas, including the Helmholtz free energy, internal energy, entropy, pressure, and heat capacity, and perform their numerical evaluation. Our results smoothly reduce to the conventional special relativistic expressions in the limit where the invariant energy scale tends to infinity. For temperatures approaching the Planck scale, the finite cutoff induces a systematic suppression of all thermodynamic functions relative to their standard special-relativistic counterparts.

Deformations of sandwich gravitational waves are considered. Squeezing a wave with pure displacement (DM) parameters to an impulsive wave, the DM property is lost, leaving us with the velocity effect (VM). For each fixed value of the deformation parameter $p$, DM can be restored by further increasing the amplitude which however diverge when $p\to\infty$, and no impulsive wave is obtained.

We record the Calabi-Yau version of Kontsevich's formality morphism from deformation quantization. As a special case we find that any unimodular holomorphic Poisson Calabi-Yau has a canonical closed deformation quantization of its resolved algebra of functions. A broader motivation is to find an explanation of Kontsevich's deformation quantization in the setting of Calabi-Yau categories via Sen-Zwiebach's string vertices.

In the early universe, neutrinos undergo many interactions with the particles in the plasma. Key processes are the scattering of neutrinos by free electrons and positrons. In this paper, we derive general expressions for the electron neutrino-electron scattering kernel in isotropic media, analytically simplifying the 5D collision integral to two dimensions. We follow a procedure that is similar to the derivation of the Compton scattering kernel to reduce the angular integrals, yielding a compact analytic expression in terms of elementary functions that can be easily evaluated. We illustrate the properties of this kernel and also compute its first moments analytically, providing insights into the energetics of the redistribution process. For comparison, we consider the photon-electron scattering kernel, highlighting differences and similarities. We then explain how the obtained expressions can also be applied to the $\nu_{\mu/\tau}$-electron and neutrino-positron scattering processes. The results presented here may be useful in the context of Big Bang Nucleosynthesis and were added as an extension to the Compton scattering library CSpack for more general applications.

We study the duality structure of lattice Maxwell theory with a theta term in the Hamiltonian Villain formulation. Reflecting the fact that odd-level Chern–Simons theory depends on a choice of spin structure, a complete realization of the full $\mathrm{SL}(2,\mathbb{Z})$ structure would require fermionic degrees of freedom. We therefore restrict our analysis to the bosonic theory and focus on the theta subgroup generated by the $\mathcal{S}$ and $\mathcal{T}^{2}$ transformations. We construct these transformations at the operator level and show that they realize the theta subgroup structure of $\mathrm{SL}(2,\mathbb Z)$. We also extend the analysis to sectors with electric and magnetic charges, introduced as violations of the Gauss-law constraint and the Bianchi identity, respectively. We show that the $\mathcal S$ transformation exchanges electric and magnetic charges, while the $\mathcal T^2$ transformation realizes the Witten effect. Finally, we discuss a related non-invertible defect obtained by gauging a $\mathbb Z_N$ subgroup of the global $\mathrm{U}(1)$ $1$-form symmetry, and show that its fusion rule reproduces the expected Tambara–Yamagami structure.

We study the evolution of superconducting cosmic-string networks in a $U(1)_{\rm local}\times U(1)_{\rm global}$ field-theoretic model using three-dimensional lattice field simulations in an expanding universe. The scalar field charged under $U(1)_{\rm local}$ forms cosmic strings, while the scalar field associated with $U(1)_{\rm global}$ acts as a current carrier and condenses in their vicinity. We investigate the evolution of the string network for several values of the coupling constant between the string-forming and current-carrier fields and estimate the gravitational-wave power spectrum sourced by the resulting superconducting cosmic-string network. We find that the spectral shape depends on the coupling constant: as the interaction strength increases, the spectrum is suppressed on small scales. This feature may be probed by future high-frequency gravitational-wave observations.

Modifications to General Relativity can significantly alter the perturbative response of black holes, leaving imprints on quasinormal-mode spectra, waveform amplitudes and phases, and late-time tails. The parametrized beyond-Teukolsky framework was introduced to capture possible deviations from Kerr dynamics, but the ringdown has so far only been explored as an eigenvalue problem. We present the first time-domain implementation of this framework and perform (2+1)-dimensional scattering experiments with Gaussian wave packets. This approach provides the full linear evolution of the perturbation, from the initial prompt response through the ringdown and into the late-time regime. Using frequency-domain eigenvalue results as benchmarks, we find excellent agreement for low azimuthal numbers, while higher azimuthal numbers are affected by mode mixing, which limits the precision of the extracted modes. We further use the time-domain waveforms to estimate quadratic and mixed coefficients within the linearized modified-potential model, providing a diagnostic for the regime of validity of the linear approximation. Beyond mode frequencies, we show that the deformation parameters can strongly affect the ringdown amplitude and phase, with trends that can be understood from the near-horizon structure of the modified potential. We also analyze the late- time behavior, finding that near-horizon deformations leave the tail exponent unchanged but can substantially shift the onset of the power-law decay. These results demonstrate that time-domain evolutions provide a complementary and flexible framework for testing parametrized deviations from General Relativity in black-hole perturbation theory.

The quantum electrodynamics for massive fermions carrying electric and magnetic charges, the dyons, is proposed based on the 1960's seminal works by Cabibbo, Ferrari, and Salam, with the gauge group being $U(1)\times U(1)$, which is associated to a vector field (photon) and a pseudo-vector field (metaphoton), wherein the Dirac quantization is set aside. At the tree level the spectrum consistency of the model is analyzed, and all continuous and discrete symmetries are established. The quantum analysis is performed by using the Becchi-Rouet-Stora (BRS) algebraic renormalization method, which is independent on any regularization scheme. Moreover, thanks to the presence of massless gauge fields, the Lowenstein-Zimmermann (LZ) subtraction scheme is required within the framework of the Bogoliubov-Parasiuk-Hepp-Zimmermann-Lowenstein (BPHZL) renormalization procedure. Finally, it is verified that the proposed model, the dyon quantum electrodynamics (dQED), is free from any anomaly and is multiplicative renormalizable at all orders in perturbation theory, proving, therefore, its quantum consistency.

We examine the two-dimensional conformal field theory (2D CFT) dual of the four-dimensional Kerr-MOG (Kerr-modified gravity) black hole using the black hole thermodynamics and monodromy techniques. From these independent procedures, we derive consistent expressions for the left- and right-moving temperatures and the central charge of the dual CFT. Finally, we derive the entropy product using these approaches. We show that the product is not universal as well as not quantized. We further explore the hidden conformal symmetry of the non-extremal Kerr-MOG black hole by analyzing the near-region dynamics of a massless scalar field. The resulting Kerr-MOG/CFT correspondence identifies the near-region geometry with a two-dimensional CFT characterized by the temperatures ($T_{L}, T_{R}$) derived in~(\ref{temperatures}). Moreover, using the Cardy formula, we reproduce the microscopic entropy of the dual CFT and find exact agreement with the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy of the Kerr-MOG black hole. We also show that the low-frequency scalar absorption cross section~(greybody factor) in the near-region Kerr-MOG geometry precisely matches the finite-temperature absorption cross section of the dual 2D CFT. In addition, the near-region scalar wave equation exhibits a hidden $(SL(2,\mathbb{R})_L \times SL(2,\mathbb{R})_R)$ conformal symmetry. These independent results provide strong evidence for the existence of a Kerr/CFT-type holographic duality for the Kerr-MOG black hole, establishing a consistent correspondence between the four-dimensional Kerr-MOG spacetime and a two-dimensional conformal field theory. horizon.

For a quantum Gibbs sampler whose mixing bottleneck is a weakly broken symmetry, I show that the correct initialization is determined by representation theory. I first prove a general speedup-versus-prefactor dichotomy: by exactly eliminating slow-mode overlap, I convert a nominal prefactor reduction into a fundamental, asymptotic acceleration of the system's mixing time. I then show that when the bottleneck is a weakly broken symmetry, the otherwise exponentially expensive bottleneck eigenvector is the symmetry charge.For a non-Abelian group $G$, I prove that the correct initialization target is the group-averaging asymmetry. Projecting this asymmetry out requires a $G$-invariant input. Partial, subgroup-invariant inputs produce a cascade of mixing-time speedups indexed by the subgroup lattice. Conversely, matching first moments alone is provably insufficient.The asymmetry is a directly measurable initialization target. I verify these results analytically and numerically in an $SU(2)$ Davies sampler where total-spin multiplets constitute the slow modes. The predicted speedup cascade emerges with relaxation rates scaling linearly with the symmetry-breaking parameter. Finally, the model maps the boundaries of the asymmetry target, illustrating where the separate matching of conserved logical data becomes necessary.