Papers

We initiate a symmetry descent procedure for M-theory engineered quantum field theories. Starting from a higher form BF theory supplemented by a cubic bulk topological interaction, we construct a gauge-invariant bulk-boundary system whose edge modes acquire generalized Maxwell–Chern–Simons dynamics after the introduction of a metric-dependent boundary action. The nonlinear contribution to the boundary equation is induced entirely by the cubic bulk interaction. In the case of twelve dimensional bulk parent, the resulting boundary conditions reproduce the local flux equations of the eleven-dimensional supergravity $C$-field, including the gravitational $I_8$ correction. Thus, the electric–magnetic pairing and the nonlinear Maxwell–Chern–Simons dynamics descend from a single 12D topological model. Using Hypothesis H, we identify the bulk equations with the Sullivan model of $S^4$ and interpret their nonlinear gauge transformations as homotopies. We then propose a twisted 4-cohomotopy quantization of the bulk fields and a homotopy pullback description of the coupled bulk–boundary field space. The construction provides both a local dynamical mechanism for M-theory symmetry descent and a candidate global characterization of its fields.

We show that an $O(1)$ local defect is sufficient to generate approximate unitary $k$-designs from an otherwise integrable quantum many-body system. Using a two-Pauli-kick (2PK) protocol with temporal sampling, we demonstrate this mechanism in a fixed-magnetization sector of deterministic XXZ spin chains with a single integrability-breaking bulk defect. We derive an analytical selection rule for the Pauli kicks and show that symmetry-preserving strings with a specific domain-wall count, fixed by the couplings, govern design formation. An exhaustive search over all admissible Pauli strings identifies a broad family of kicks that produce designs in the chaotic regime, whereas no such kicks exist in the integrable limit, including for boundary defects. We further show that the design-forming mechanism remains effective for weak bulk defects as the system size increases.

We derive the 4d $D$-term and $F$-term potential generated by a D7-brane stack in Calabi-Yau orientifold compactifications of type IIB string theory, taking into account the effect of worldvolume and ISD bulk fluxes and the non-Abelian nature of the brane fields. This potential is an important ingredient for moduli stabilization in IIB, e.g., in de Sitter scenarios using a T-brane uplift. While aspects of the $D$-term and $F$-term parts of the potential have been inferred before with various arguments, we provide here a unified first-principles derivation of the full potential by dimensionally reducing the non-Abelian DBI action of the D7-branes. Our result generalizes previous expressions and agrees with them where applicable, thus confirming the mutual consistency of the various approaches. Moreover, we provide a thorough discussion of corrections from integrating out KK modes and argue that demanding control over such corrections implies bounds on the Calabi-Yau volume and the brane fields. Aside from these various results for the 4d effective action, our calculation also shows how bulk fluxes correct the potential and the BPS equations in the 8d worldvolume theory that governs the microscopic dynamics of non-Abelian branes.

We construct exact many-body scar towers in two dimensional gauge theories with two flavors of massless fundamental fermions. For oppositely charged fermions, the scar subspace is generated by a gauge-neutral $\eta$-pairing operator, and admits a purely algebraic construction. Exact diagonalization methods reveal anomalously low entanglement and long-range pair correlations in the scar states. Charge conjugation maps the $\eta$-tower to a vector-flavor polarization sector of the equal charge model, yielding an interpretation as a coherent flavor mode with Josephson-like phase dynamics. Finite fermion masses mix the protected pair with an orthogonal channel and destroy the exact tower. The identified scar tower can be algebraically realized in a large family of lattice field theories, revealing a universal character of these states. Our results provide an analytical construction of invariant scar subspaces in a gauge theory with a nontrivial continuum interpretation.

The study of super Riemann surfaces and their moduli led Witten and Felder, Kazhdan and Polishchuk to ask what is the smallest $d$ such that the $d$-th power of the Schottky ideal is contained in the super Schottky ideal. Felder, Kazhdan and Polishchuk proved that $d=g$ in odd genus $g\geq5$ and that $d\in\{g-1,g\}$ in even genus $g\geq4$; Y.~Shen subsequently proved that $d=g$ in even genus $g\geq6$. Thus the only remaining open case was $g=4$. Here we close this gap by showing that in genus $4$ too, the smallest power of the Schottky ideal contained in the super Schottky ideal is $d=g=4$. The question is equivalent to one concerning the codifferential of the super period map. The quadratic odd contribution sends a conormal vector to a bivector, represented by a skew-symmetric $(2g-2)\times(2g-2)$ matrix. The question is to find such a vector for which, at a generic point, this matrix has maximal rank $2g-2$, or $6$ in our case. Our computation uses the standard exact sequences on $C\times C$ attached to the sheaves $\OO(a,b,c)$, together with a degeneration to a vanishing theta-null and some facts about the Szegő kernel. At a curve with a vanishing theta-null, a regularized version of the codifferential can be described by an explicit multiplication map, allowing an easy computation of the rank. This rank turns out to be $4$. A first-order calculation on an explicit deformation of a cyclic trigonal vanishing theta-null differentiates the global Gaussian-map identity for the regularized conormal bivector. Including the variation of the Gaussian map gives a nonzero first normal symbol. The resulting first-order form is nonzero on the null space of the limiting skew-symmetric matrix, so the rank jumps to $6$ on nearby curves, showing that $d=4$.

We present a diagrammatic expansion for thermal expectation values of low-weight Majorana strings in a fixed realization of the $N$-fermion Sachdev–Ye–Kitaev (SYK) model. At each order in the expansion, the observable is expressed as a finite sum of polynomials in the couplings multiplied by temperature-dependent kernels built from the large-$N$ melonic propagator. At fixed $\beta J$, the expansion is organized in powers of $N^{-1/2}$, and each order can be efficiently evaluated with classical resources polynomial in $N$. The expansion also extends to correlations at arbitrary imaginary times and sufficiently short real times. For the four-body SYK model, we show that the diagrammatic predictions give an excellent account of exact diagonalization results at sizes up to $N=24$. We also apply the method to the Maldacena–Qi (MQ) model formed from two identical copies of a fixed SYK realization. This enables the identification of a nearby SYK-like Hamiltonian whose thermofield double state has higher fidelity with the Maldacena–Qi ground state than the thermofield double of the original SYK Hamiltonian.

Kehle and Unger have recently shown that, under suitable conditions, a massless charged classical scalar field can produce an extremal black hole in finite time. This result appears to violate the third law of thermodynamics (TLT), since extremal black holes have zero temperature. However, because the TLT is intrinsically a quantum principle, a self-consistent analysis of this problem must account for quantum effects. In particular, we point out that the electric field of the system may spontaneously polarize the vacuum, thereby creating massless charged pairs that will discharge the black hole. This mechanism guarantees the quantum validity of the TLT in the regime $|eQ|\geq\hbar/2$ (here ${Q,e}$ denote, respectively, the electric charges of the black hole and the scalar field). This leaves open the question of what happens for lower values of $|eQ|/\hbar$. Recently, Schneider derived a classical bound showing that extremal black holes cannot be formed à la Kehle-Unger in the small-charge regime $|eQ|\leq\hbar/3$. His analysis leaves open the possibility that a stronger bound may exist. We conjecture here that this bound can indeed be strengthened such that classical considerations would prevent extremal (zero-temperature) charged Reissner-Nordström black holes from forming dynamically in the regime $|eQ|<\hbar/2$, where quantum polarization effects are too weak to preserve the validity of the TLT.

We study baryon $(\mathcal{B})$ formation in the early Universe in a confining $SU(\mathcal{N})$ gauge theory with quarks transforming in the fundamental representation. Casimir scaling of the confining potential implies that, at large $\mathcal{N}$, $\mathcal{B}$ formation is hindered by a bottleneck: for small quark clusters, representing the initial stages of $\mathcal{B}$ assembly, destruction processes greatly outweigh formation processes. In a $\mathcal{B}$-$\bar{\mathcal{B}}$ symmetric plasma, the relic density of cosmologically stable $\mathcal{B}$'s is set, for large $\mathcal{N}$, during confinement rather than by annihilation freeze-out. This affects relic-density estimates for $SU(\mathcal{N})$ dark matter models.

We develop a new framework in which eclectic groups are realised as flavour symmetries without flavons. Focusing on the group $\Omega(1)$, we show that it can be realised as a finite image of the integral Jacobi group, i.e. the semidirect product of $H({\mathbb Z})$ with $SL(2,{\mathbb Z})$, acting on two moduli $(\tau,z)$. The Heisenberg subgroup $H({\mathbb Z})$ leaves the modulus $\tau$ unchanged, and its finite image $\Delta(27)$ plays the role of the traditional flavour symmetry. We provide the ingredients needed to construct supersymmetric Jacobi-invariant theories, both in globally supersymmetric theories and in supergravity. We develop a realistic model of fermion masses within this framework and formulate a consistent CP symmetry, which can be imposed at the Lagrangian level and broken spontaneously by the moduli. We discuss how the conventional eclectic-flavour description is recovered in an appropriate limit. We also extend this geometric interpretation to the $T^2/\mathbb Z_4$ and $T^2/\mathbb Z_2$ eclectic building blocks, and clarify why the $T^2/\mathbb Z_6$ case is structurally different.

Non-perturbative scalar potentials are a central ingredient for stabilising moduli in flux compactifications. A key target in this context is the direct 10d derivation of the LVS AdS potential, i.e., the scalar potential of the Large Volume Scenario before the uplift. The familiar result, relying on 4d supergravity machinery and large volume expansion, consists of three terms of parametric form $\exp(-2a\tau_s)/{\mathcal V}$, $W_0\exp(-a\tau_s)/{\mathcal V}^2$, and $W_0^2/{\mathcal V}^3$. In plain 10d EFT language, the first term is an instanton-anti-instanton effect while the second term comes from a single instanton coupled to 3-form flux. When attempting to derive the suppression by the volume ${\mathcal V}$ directly from the 10d EFT, one encounters a puzzle: One expects a flux-dilution factor $1/\sqrt{\mathcal V}$ for the second term and a factor $1/{\mathcal V}^2$ from Weyl rescaling to the 4d Einstein frame for both the first and second term. Thus, the total volume suppression for these two terms is stronger than in the aforementioned 4d EFT expectations. We discuss the underlying logic in detail, also in the gaugino condensation case, but fail to find a satisfactory explanation for the mismatch. While log-corrections to the Kähler potential may be responsible, these would have to be strong enough to affect the outcome of the LVS scheme at the ${\mathcal O}(1)$ level. What is worse, the origin of the required correction remains unclear.

Gravitational sums over spacetime topology suggest a baby-universe field theory whose quanta are entire universes. We develop such a description from group-averaged amplitudes that impose gravitational constraints and define physical inner products in the single-universe theory. To sharpen the contrast with ordinary QFT, we start with gravity on one-dimensional worldlines, which can arise from reducing higher-dimensional cylinders. For multiple noninteracting worldlines that pair boundary components, the baby-universe Hilbert space is the symmetric Fock space over the physical one-universe Hilbert space, and the universe field expands in the on-shell modes spanning the latter. Each mode multiplies the sum of creation and annihilation operators, so the mode coefficients commute. The mode expansion thus makes explicit the field's commutativity and its Wheeler-DeWitt linear field equation. Diagonalizing the coefficients recovers a statistical description by a Gaussian path integral over on-shell field configurations labelling superselection ($\alpha$-)sectors. We take exploratory steps toward more general topologies. Disk-like topologies coherently shift the no-boundary state, turning on the Hartle-Hawking wavefunction as a one-point function. Even with nontrivial topologies represented by interacting Feynman diagrams, we argue that group averaging near each boundary still enforces the same linear field equation, while interactions instead enter through a non-Gaussian measure over $\alpha$-sectors. In the topological Marolf-Maxfield model, we promote a disk-and-cylinder truncation to an exact Fock-space representation of the full theory incorporating all topologies. We also relate the truncated and exact inner products by an insertion of interactions, whose perturbative expansion produces a sum over time evolutions generated by pairs of pants, evoking an analogy to group averaging.

Recent progress in collider physics has reformulated phenomenological questions in terms of detector correlation functions and advanced their theoretical understanding. These advances have primarily focused on correlators of the average null energy operator, $\mathcal{E}(\vec{n})$, known as energy correlators. However, colliders have access to a much broader class of detector operators, $\mathcal{E}^n_R(\vec{n})$, which measure powers of the energy on a subset of hadrons $R$, such as charged hadrons. These generalized detectors are generically not infrared and collinear safe, and their description requires nonperturbative matching between the hadronic detectors measured in the infrared and the partonic detectors used in ultraviolet calculations. We develop a framework for computing their multi-point correlation functions. We introduce universal nonperturbative matching coefficients, termed "detector functions", that implement this infrared-ultraviolet matching. For the $\mathcal{E}_R^n$ operators studied here, these coefficients are represented by energy-weighted moments of single- and multi-hadron fragmentation functions. We present their renormalization group structure, derive QCD factorization theorems for the projected correlators, and compute jet functions through next-to-leading order. In the fixed-coupling pure Yang-Mills limit, we derive the light-ray OPE of hadronic detectors and connect it to the QCD factorization framework. We also identify universal nonperturbative power corrections generated by soft radiation, which are enhanced in the collinear limit and can substantially modify the perturbative angular scaling. A parton shower study finds qualitative agreement with the predicted perturbative and nonperturbative scaling behaviors. Our work significantly broadens the space of detector operators under theoretical control, with potential phenomenological applications.

We find the necessary and sufficient conditions for the gravitational path integral (GPI) to admit an interpretation in terms of (i) an inner product in the Hilbert space of open/closed universes or (ii) a statistical average of boundary observables. The conditions needed for (i) are necessary but not sufficient for (ii). Requiring the stronger condition (ii) places additional constraints on all wormhole amplitudes, giving a concrete diagnostic of whether the GPI computes an average or merely a pseudo-average. To exemplify the difference between the two constraints, we present a class of gravitational toy models that satisfy (i) but fail the stronger condition (ii); to emphasize the power of the stronger condition, we initiate a bootstrap study of statistical ensembles based on condition (ii), finding that the resulting constraints substantially sharpen the bounds on the moments of the ensemble obtained by imposing (i). More broadly, both of these positivity conditions impose nontrivial constraints on wormhole amplitudes and thereby restrict which gravitational effective field theories can be embedded in consistent theories of quantum gravity.

We completely classify unitary 2d CFTs with central charge $c=1$ and discrete spectrum. We confirm the folklore that the only such theories are the compact free boson, its $\mathbb{Z}_2$-orbifold, and three exceptional theories obtained as orbifolds of the SU(2)$_1$ WZW model. The proof is by recasting the $c=1$ modular bootstrap as a crystalline measure problem for the density of states, and analytically solving it. We also show that, once the density of states is specified, the full CFT can be uniquely reconstructed.

We address the axion quality/cosmology tension that often plagues QCD axion models in post-inflationary Peccei-Quinn (PQ) breaking scenarios. In the proposed framework, the PQ symmetry emerges accidentally from an ${\rm SU}(\mathcal{N})_L\times{\rm SU}(\mathcal{N})_R$ gauge symmetry spontaneously broken to ${\rm SU}(\mathcal{N})_{L+R}$, and its quality is protected because PQ breaking first appears at operator dimension $\mathcal{N}$. Moreover, the construction avoids the domain-wall problem, ensures that no stable fractionally charged relic survives ${\rm SU} (\mathcal{N})_{L+R}$ confinement, and remains free of Landau poles below the scale of PQ-breaking operators. The exotic quarks required to generate the PQ anomaly hadronize into unstable mesons and cosmologically stable neutral baryons. However, plausible arguments indicating a strong suppression of baryon formation in ${\rm SU}(\mathcal{N})$ gauge theories at large $\mathcal{N}$, suggest that their contribution to the dark matter energy density remains subdominant. Combining cosmological constraints with PQ quality and perturbativity requirements yields a viable parameter space in which the axion makes up most of the dark matter and its mass remains predictable.

What is the boundary dual of an Unruh-DeWitt detector in anti-de Sitter space? We argue that this question is naturally answered by the HKLL reconstruction program. A local detector in the bulk can be associated with a smeared detector in the boundary, where the choice of smearing depends on the choice of HKLL kernel. We use this formalism to analyze entanglement harvesting in the Poincaré patch of AdS$_{3}$ for a bulk Unruh-DeWitt detector paired either with a boundary detector or with a second bulk detector. We compute the amount of harvesting in the standard way, namely by evaluating the two-detector density matrix to quadratic order in the coupling $\lambda$. Additionally, we address an apparent tension between microcausality for spacelike-separated bulk detectors and the fact that the dual HKLL detectors may directly overlap in the boundary theory.

We follow a $D$-module approach to the construction of canonical differential equations for Feynman integrals directly from their Gel'fand-Kapranov-Zelevinsky (GKZ) hypergeometric systems. Starting from the Schwinger representation, we identify the associated generalized Euler integral and its GKZ system, as an alternative to the Lee-Pomeransky representation. The generalized Euler formulation allows reductions associated with facets of the Newton polytope to be identified directly, reducing the number of variables in the resulting differential systems. We construct the associated Pfaffian systems using Frobenius bases, which also provide direct access to the singular loci. After a suitable rationalizing change of variables, the systems are brought into canonical $\epsilon$-form. A key feature of the construction is that the dimension of the canonical basis is determined by the holonomic rank of the GKZ system and, for the examples considered, it is smaller than or equal to the number of master integrals obtained from integration-by-parts, thus providing a reduced description of the differential system.

Massive spin 2 fields on de Sitter must satisfy the Higuchi bound, $m^2\geq 2H^2$. Compactifications of higher dimensional gravity to $\mathrm{dS}_4$ come with a tower of Kaluza-Klein gravitons whose masses are fixed by the internal geometry, so the bound becomes a constraint on the compactification. We propose that the KK gravitons of a consistent compactification never violate it, and test this in a few examples. On a circle stabilized by Casimir energy the bound holds unless the circle shrinks below the species scale, and on a warped interval with negative tension branes the tower is gapped at $m^2\geq \tfrac{9}{4}H^2$ for any length of the interval. On group manifolds, we argue that if the internal curvature is not parametrically larger than the Hubble scale, the bound can apparently be violated by smooth deformations. The violation disappears once one promotes these deformations to moduli, which are immediately extremized when solving the 10d equations of motion.

We construct a complex spherical fusion category with cyclic Haagerup-Izumi fusion rules for every odd n >= 3, and deduce pseudo-unitary existence. The proof has four parts: explicit real coefficients and their quadratic identities; a contour calculation for a range of cubic Fourier coefficients; algebraic completion of all cubics; and categorical reconstruction. Matrix inversion supplies reflection, and an extension of the dimension-field automorphism supplies the positive-dimensional category.

We propose a Landau-analysis-inspired strategy for directly computing the symbol of integrals that evaluate to multiple polylogarithms in twisted cohomology. The central idea is to identify all ways in which singular hypersurfaces, twisted hypersurfaces, and integration boundaries can interact when external parameters are varied, giving rise to logarithmic or algebraic branch points. By tracking how an integral is modified when analytically continued around each of its branch points, we can recursively construct its symbol. We illustrate this approach by outlining an efficient algorithm for computing the symbol of finite integrals over twisted hyperplane arrangements, when they are expanded around special values of the twist parameter. This algorithm can be used to compute the (transcendental) integrands of cosmological correlators in conformally coupled theories to any order in the twist expansion.

We identify the spatial projection of a conserved string charge density with a bit-thread flow. This correspondence gives bit threads a string worldsheet description and allows us to compute black hole entropy from the maximal entropy flux of a worldsheet-derived current. We first reproduce the BTZ entropy and then extend the construction to the ten-dimensional F1-NS5-P and D1-D5-P systems. Under Type IIB S-duality, the F1 current maps to the D1 current. Although the local currents, metrics, and flow norms change, the maximal physical flux remains unchanged and gives the same entropy. This provides a nontrivial check of the correspondence. Finally, we propose a D1-D5 boundary-matching conjecture. In the coarse-grained picture, each string-charge line defines an entropy-carrying tube. The boundary CFT entanglement entropy and the bulk black hole entropy both fix the product of the number of tubes and the maximum entropy carried by each tube. For a fixed tube discretization, they assign the same capacity to each tube. They therefore describe the same conserved maximal entropy flux, providing an information-flow interpretation of the equality between entanglement entropy and black hole entropy.

We explore the thermodynamic properties of static black holes in conformal gravities in arbitrary, even dimensions. In the spherically symmetric case, up to local Weyl rescalings, these spacetimes are static and unique, due to a Birkhoff's theorem that applies for all conformal gravities whose Lagrangians are complete contractions of $k$ Weyl tensors in dimension $D=2k$. The solutions can be chosen to be asymptotically locally (A)dS or flat, and the horizon can be extended to be a surface of arbitrary constant curvature, $\gamma$. We focus on the asymptotically AdS case, for which the cosmological constant at infinity is an integration constant, and compute the mass of the spacetime in terms of the diverse hair parameters which have a purely gravitational origin. We show that the first law of thermodynamics is satisfied, and study phase transitions in the canonical ensemble, showing the existence of zeroth-order black-hole/black-hole phase transitions for arbitrary dimension.

In this paper, we derive the complete transformations of a generic first order perturbative metric in Schwarzschild spacetime to the Newman-Unti (NU) gauge in series expansion near null infinity. This allows us to determine the asymptotic shear, the mass aspect and the angular momentum aspect of the perturbative fields. As a direct application, we derive the corresponding asymptotic NU data for quasinormal modes (QNMs) of a Schwarzschild black hole. The total energy and angular momentum of QNMs obtained from the asymptotic NU data vanish but classical supertranslation charges are non-trivial, which can be applied to fix the BMS frame at first perturbative order.

In this paper we investigate accelerated gluodynamics for a broad intervals of temperature and acceleration. Our study is carried out within lattice simulation in the co-moving reference frame parameterized by the Rindler coordinates. We developed the renormalization prescription that allowed us to calculate renormalized Polyakov loop as a function of coordinate in the Rindler spacetime. Using the data for the renormalized local Polyakov loop, we calculated spatial dependence of the static quark free energy and effective mass of static quark. Besides the Rindler coordinates, it is believed that accelerated gluodynamics can be approximated utilizing non-accelerated gluodynamics with a properly adjusted temperature gradient in accordance with the Tolman-Ehrenfest law. We compared these approaches for the observables under study. It was found that they agree quite well close to the critical temperature and demonstrate disagreement at higher temperatures. We believe that this disagreement might be attributed to the Tolman-Ehrenfest law corrections which appear in the Rindler gluodynamics.

After proving the moonshine conjecture, Borcherds asked in 1995 whether there exist only finitely many holomorphic automorphic products of singular weight. We show that, up to conjugation, there are exactly 27 such products on lattices of the form $2U\oplus L$. The classification proceeds by identifying each product at a standard $1$-dimensional cusp with the superdenominator of a BKM superalgebra that carries a graded module structure over an affine Lie superalgebra $\hat{\mathfrak{g}}$. The auxiliary algebras $\hat{\mathfrak{g}}$ are shown to satisfy strong conditions that reduce the possibilities to an initial list of 1372 candidates. An elimination argument leaves exactly 85 algebras $\hat{\mathfrak{g}}$ that correspond to the 27 products. This classification is closely connected with certain distinguished families of vertex operator superalgebras. Our results provide a systematic framework for extending affine Lie superalgebras to hyperbolic ones with modularity, generalizing the work of Feingold and Frenkel (1983).

Motivated by high-energy xenon recoil searches, we study isotope-dependent endothermic dark-matter scattering near the upper speed boundary of a truncated Galactic halo. Small differences among xenon nuclear masses shift the minimum incident speed and can be strongly amplified when the required velocity approaches the end of the halo distribution. We formulate the isotope-resolved coherent-contact rate and separate this kinematic filtering from high-momentum nuclear suppression. For $m_\chi=1.1~\TeV$, $\delta=365~\keV$, and $E_R=248~\keV$, the kinematic-only benchmark gives $f_{136}^{\rm kin}\simeq0.289$, while after Helm weighting the largest contribution is $f_{132}\simeq0.346$ and the $^{136}$Xe fraction falls to $\simeq0.094$. For idealized pure-isotope targets at fixed detector mass, microscopic coupling, and halo, the integrated $225$–$271~\keV$ responses relative to natural xenon are approximately $0.404$, $1.235$, and $1.693$ for $^{129}$Xe, $^{132}$Xe, and $^{136}$Xe, respectively. A single effective-xenon nucleus also fails to reproduce the full isotope sum accurately near the edge, changing the benchmark window rate by about $8\%$ and producing larger spectral distortions. These quantitative results depend on the high-speed halo and on the assumed nuclear response; the isotope-dependent kinematic support does not. The calculation is a theory-level diagnostic rather than an LZ likelihood fit or event-by-event isotope identification.

We analyze the impact of rotation on the chiral crossover transition of QCD matter within the framework of a hadron resonance gas model. By extending the conventional formulation of the renormalized chiral condensate to a rotating hadronic medium, we find that rotation significantly modifies the chiral condensate and systematically suppresses the pseudocritical temperature as the angular velocity increases. The pseudocritical line in the $T-\omega$ plane is examined, and the rotational dependence of the pseudocritical temperature is quantified through leading- and next-to-leading-order rotational curvature coefficients. We further investigate the combined effects of angular velocity and baryon chemical potential and find that their interplay leads to a stronger suppression of the pseudocritical temperature. Additionally, the spatial dependence of the chiral crossover transition is examined through the radial variation of the pseudocritical temperature. We find that the pseudocritical temperature decreases with increasing radial distance, indicating that the chiral crossover sets in at progressively lower temperatures as one goes away from the rotation axis.

The large $D$ membrane paradigm establishes a duality between the dynamics of black holes and the evolution of a codimension-one timelike membrane in a non-gravitational background. In this work, we formulate the relativistic fluid dynamics dual to an uncharged black hole in asymptotically flat spacetime at the first subleading order in the $1/D$ expansion. Due to the absence of a timelike asymptotic boundary, unlike in AdS/CFT fluid-gravity duality, we construct an effective fluid intrinsically on the dynamical membrane, whose equations of motion are exactly equivalent to the subleading order membrane equations. By performing this fluid-dynamical analysis in the Landau frame, we show that the system behaves as a fluid influenced by an effective background force. Out-of-equilibrium viscous effects emerge naturally, allowing us to extract the fluid transport coefficients directly from the bulk viscous pressure and shear stress tensor. Furthermore, the fluid exhibits a negative pressure, capturing the intrinsic surface tension of the $(D-1)$-dimensional membrane worldvolume.

The Division of Particles and Fields (DPF) of the American Physical Society would like to thank SCAC for providing an opportunity for input to the SCAC facilities subpanel. The DPF represents scientists working at U.S. Universities and DOE Laboratories on understanding fundamental particles and forces. We are focused on Discovery Physics. The subpanel has been asked to consider two proposed DPF-related projects, the DUNE Phase II Detectors and supporting infrastructure and U.S. contributions to a future Higgs Factory. In this note, we briefly describe the questions driving our field and the P5 strategic plan and other community prioritization documents that form the backbone of our comment. The following sections provide short descriptions of the two projects, highlighting information relevant to your charge, answers to your specific questions, and a description of the process that produced this note.

We discuss the effectiveness of the recently proposed quantity $J_{s}$ in suppressing the contribution of a string's self-field to its spectrum, which is used in field theory simulations to track the emission of axions by decaying cosmic strings. We compute the contribution of the self-field to the spectrum of this quantity and to the usually computed spectrum of $\phi\partial_{t}\alpha$ for an infinitely long straight string. Although we demonstrate that the $J_s$ approach is a substantial improvement, we also point out that this highly symmetric model doesn't capture the full contribution of the self-field to the spectrum emitted by strings of a more complex shape, which are typical in network simulations. We then illustrate this point numerically using a simulation of a sinusoidally perturbed straight string. For this simple configuration, we managed to separate the contribution from the self-field and the radiation to the spectrum of $J_{s}$, using the self-field subtraction method. This allows us to show that the spectrum of $J_{s}$ is still dominated by the $n=1$ mode of the string's oscillation, which can be attributed to the self-field and is largely suppressed when the self-field is removed. We also demonstrate that this mode is predominantly sourced by variations along the direction parallel to the string, which is missing in the unconnected segment model, used by arXiv:2512.13653 to claim the effectiveness of $J_{s}$ in suppressing the self-field's contribution to the spectrum.