Papers

Design of high-contrast freeform reflectors is challenging, as the presence of zero-intensity regions leads to degeneracy in the associated Monge-Ampere-type equation. A common remedy is to add a positive artificial background to the target intensity, which improves the regularity of the equation. However, this regularization inevitably reduces the achievable illumination contrast and introduces nonzero intensity into regions that are intended to remain dark. We propose a fast c-transform method based on optimal transport duality for high-contrast freeform reflector design in the far field without artificial background regularization. The method integrates repeated discrete c-transforms into a measure-based dual optimization scheme to maintain the c-concavity of the reflector potential throughout the iteration. This preserves the admissibility of the iterates and enables stable convergence for targets with zero-intensity regions. To efficiently compute the discrete c-transforms, we develop a localized search algorithm that exploits their contact structure and prove its exactness and linear complexity. Numerical experiments demonstrate that the proposed method accurately realizes high-contrast illumination targets with zero background.

By constructing Lax operators in the loop algebra of the $\mathbb{Z}_2^2$-graded extension of the Lie superalgebra $\mathfrak{osp}(1|2)$, we derive a $\mathbb{Z}_2^2$-graded extension of the Camassa-Holm equation. The resulting equation is an integrable nonlinear PDE for a system of four $\mathbb{Z}_2^2$-graded commutative functions, each associated with a distinct $\mathbb{Z}_2^2$-degree. We further show that the $\mathbb{Z}_2^2$-Camassa-Holm equation admits a bi-Hamiltonian structure. As a consequence, it possesses infinitely many conserved quantities, including one with non-trivial $\mathbb{Z}_2^2$-degree, which are mutually in involution with respect to the $\mathbb{Z}_2^2$-graded Poisson brackets.

We define a rank-two extension $\mathcal{H}^{(2)}$ of the spherical $\mathcal{H}$-transform, together with its associated transform $\mathcal{R}^{(2)}$. For sums, both transforms are additive. The transform $\mathcal{R}^{(2)}$ yields a $4\times4$ formula for the average product of two hermitized resolvents, and hence for off-diagonal eigenvector overlaps, recovering the Ginibre, elliptic, and bi-invariant formulas. We also treat correlated pairs of matrices, and obtain overlaps between their eigenvectors or singular vectors.

We study the action of quantum channels on states on a von Neumann algebra $\mathcal{M}$ with conserved quantities encoded by a subalgebra $\mathcal{N}$. We define a phase as an equivalence class of normal states on $\mathcal{M}$ under the action of quantum channels preserving $\mathcal{N}$. First, we establish a relative quasi-entropic characterization of phase equivalence using the Petz recovery map. We further introduce the operator algebra (OA) symmetry of a state and define an equivalence relation between OA symmetries via bishifts of biprojections. When $\mathcal{N}\subseteq\mathcal{M}$ is an irreducible finite-index subfactor of type II$_1$, we prove that phase equivalence implies OA symmetry equivalence. Consequently, OA symmetry breaking provides a sufficient mechanism for detecting phase transitions. Furthermore, combining finite-index subfactor theory with quantum Fourier analysis, we prove that the cardinality of each phase is finite and obtain an explicit upper bound depending only on the Jones index.

We present a simple argument providing a very general Bombieri–Taylor-type result to compute Bragg peaks in diffraction theory as limits. At its abstract core the argument relies on considering the Eberlein convolution as an inner product. This inner product gives an abstract version of a Cauchy–Schwarz type inequality which implies the Bombieri–Taylor-type result as well as generalizations.

We study a finite-domain event for the mirror model on the Manhattan lattice: every boundary-to-boundary trajectory crosses a marked connector an even number of times, while internal cycles are unrestricted. Our main theorem gives a finite-scale confinement criterion: if this event's probability reaches a universal threshold in one even two-square rectangle, then almost surely every trajectory in the plane is periodic. We construct an exactly normalized three-color tensor representation and prove deterministic bounds for approximate contractions using the signed partial-permutation structure of directed continuations. These tools turn numerical evaluations into rigorous finite-volume statements. At mirror density \(p=2/5\), we prove that the boundary-parity probability is nonmonotone in the rectangle width, with a decrease followed by a certified increase. These values remain below the sufficient confinement threshold and do not resolve planar localization at this density. Further experiments track how the measured finite-size minimum varies with density, compare matching-based and entrywise error bounds, and exhibit endpoint-sensitive and cooperative responses to local mirror changes.

Accurate methane source localization and emission-rate estimation at oil and gas facilities require wind fields that resolve site-scale spatial and temporal variability, which cannot be characterized by a single anemometer or coarse operational weather products. We develop a multiscale Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) framework for a Permian Basin facility that dynamically downscales hourly, 3 km High-Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) fields through four nested domains with grid spacings of 3 km, 1 km, 200 m, and 40 m. The two outer domains use planetary-boundary-layer parameterization, whereas the two inner domains operate in large-eddy-simulation mode. One-minute wind observations from two on-site anemometers are assimilated through wind-only observational nudging in the innermost domain, and the effects of nesting feedback and turbulence-closure choices are examined. Simulations for winter and summer 2025 periods are evaluated using near-surface wind-speed time series, power spectra, spatial fields, and statistical metrics. The baseline simulation reproduces the broad evolution of observed wind events but drifts during weak-wind periods. Observational nudging with one- and two-way nesting reduces the absolute bias of wind-speed by %65 at one sensor and %87 at the other, while reducing the corresponding root-mean-square errors by %33 and %44. Nudging also increases high-frequency energy and resolved spatial gradients, although improvements in turbulence statistics are not uniform. These results demonstrate a practical physics-based pathway for generating high-resolution wind fields for methane-plume modeling while emphasizing the need for independent spatial observations to validate accuracy away from assimilated sensors.

This paper studies axially symmetric Abrikosov-Nielsen-Olesen vortices in the quartic Abelian Higgs model as the magnetic flux becomes arbitrarily large. The emphasis is on developing the rigorous asymptotic analysis behind the formal large-flux expansions of Hakim, Lemaitre, and Mallick '01 and Dumitrescu, Gaikwad '25. For every coupling constant less than 4 we prove that the radius of the magnetic core is of the size predicted by the physics literature. We identify the interface between then normal and super-conducting regimes with the classical normal-to-superconducting transition layer in Ginzburg-Landau theory. The theorem of Chapman-Howison-McLeod-Ockendon '91 proves its existence, uniqueness and monotonicity. The connection of the Gaussian tail of the scalar field on the left with the interface is made directly with the Weber equation. The core Higgs equation is treated as a semiclassical Sturm-Liouville problem in the left overlap region, where the Higgs field decays like a Gaussian. The exterior region is described perturbatively around modified Bessel functions. A key step is to show that the matching map between the admissible Cauchy data at the two ends of the linearized interface equations has maximal rank.

This work analyzes the spectral zeta function associated with regular and singular Sturm–Liouville operators endowed with $N$ generalized point potentials. The point interactions are characterized as a particular class of self-adjoint extensions of Sturm–Liouville operators defined on a chain of $N+1$ adjacent intervals. Each interaction is described by $SL(2,\R)$ matching conditions relating generalized boundary values across neighboring intervals. We construct the spectral zeta function associated with Sturm–Liouville operators endowed with $N$ generalized point potentials in terms of a contour integral involving an appropriate characteristic function. The process of analytic continuation of the spectral zeta function to a neighborhood of the origin is illustrated by means of specific examples where the $\zeta$-regularized functional determinant is also explicitly computed.

Understanding the capabilities and limits of quantum systems is central to quantum information processing. This includes determining which correlations can arise in networks of quantum systems distributed by independent sources. Yet for general quantum networks, no systematic, dimension-free method is known to bound these correlations arbitrarily well. We resolve this problem for all quantum tree networks through a new source-transfer model, which we prove equivalent to a mixed quantum model. The mixed model places no restriction on dimension and reduces to the standard tensor-product model in finite dimensions; the source-transfer model instead describes these correlations through states on $C^*$-algebras and completely positive maps composed recursively along the tree. We prove the equivalence by reconstructing local measurements as Radon-Nikodym derivatives in the spatial tensor products prescribed by the network. Building on this characterization, we establish two convergent outer hierarchies of semidefinite programs (SDPs): a new source-transfer hierarchy and the inflation-NPA hierarchy. For the source-transfer hierarchy, we extend noncommutative real algebraic geometry to multi-state polynomials with completely positive maps, prove a reconstruction theorem establishing its convergence, and give a sufficient stopping criterion for extracting finite-dimensional realizations. For the inflation-NPA hierarchy, we reconstruct source-transfer realizations from weak-operator limits of averages over source copies produced by quantum inflation. Consequently, the game-value promise problem for quantum tree networks in the mixed model is $\mathsf{coRE}$-complete.

Conformal interfaces provide an important setting for studying universal transmission phenomena in one-dimensional quantum critical systems. While energy and information transmission across such interfaces are characterized by universal quantities in closed systems, the corresponding role of conformal interfaces in dissipative dynamics is less understood. In this work, we study relaxation in locally dissipative quantum critical chains with a conformal interface and show that a universal characterization emerges at the level of individual relaxation modes. We first show that the relaxation coefficient defined in the recent work [1] from the Liouvillian gap can become non-universal for certain boundary conditions because the mode determining the smallest decay rate can change as the interface transmission is varied. To resolve this ambiguity, we introduce a mode-resolved relaxation coefficient $c_{\rm relax}$ by continuously tracking the same Liouvillian rapidity mode as a function of the interface transmission. Using analytical and numerical calculations for a critical harmonic chain and a critical free-fermion chain, we find that, in the weak-dissipation regime, $c_{\rm relax}$ follows the same universal dependence on the interface transmission in all cases considered, independent of microscopic details such as the boundary conditions, dissipation strength, and location of the local dissipation. For boundary dissipation, this universal behavior persists even at finite dissipation strength. Our results establish a universal mode-resolved characterization of relaxation across conformal interfaces in open quantum critical systems.

Faster quantum gates can suppress the decoherence accumulated during a computation, but in superconducting processors stronger microwave pulses can also increase leakage, off-resonant excitation, stray-field errors, and crosstalk. This creates a central energy–speed–error tradeoff: can quantum state engineering make a gate parametrically faster without paying proportionally more drive energy? We address this question by treating the driving pulse as a quantum bosonic field rather than a classical waveform. For a finite-dimensional system coupled linearly to that field, we prove that fixed-fidelity gate transition rates grow at most as the square root of the pulse energy, under stated uniformity conditions on the coupling and accepted dynamics. The bound permits arbitrary pulse states, including squeezed and non-Gaussian states, as well as drive–system entanglement and back action; coherent Gaussian pulses attain its energy exponent. Thus squeezing or other state engineering alone cannot replace the square-root energy law of a conventional linear drive by the linear scaling allowed by general quantum speed limits. Achieving that improvement requires changing the interaction class, in addition to using a suitable nonclassical pulse, thereby identifying interaction nonlinearity as an essential resource for relaxing the practical gate-speed error tradeoff.

Decoherence in quantum systems is conventionally modeled as the effect of interactions with an external environment. However, such a prescription excludes isolated many-body systems, which are also expected to display classical behavior at macroscopic scales. In isolated systems, decoherence must emerge internally from microscopic degrees of freedom that are invisible to the macroscopic description. Here we explicitly show that classicality can emerge in such a fashion. We consider a weakly disordered, $3$-local chaotic kicked top of $N$ qubits, where the collective spin sector serves as the macroscopic description, while the microscopic permutation sector acts as an internal bath, decohering the collective spin sector. Starting from closed unitary dynamics, we derive and numerically confirm an effective Lindblad equation for the collective spin variables. In the thermodynamic limit these reduced dynamics converge to a classical chaotic Fokker–Planck equation with vanishingly small diffusion on the spherical phase space, producing a quantum-classical correspondence beyond the Ehrenfest time. The chaotic dynamics evolve the pure many-body wavefunction into continuously branching components associated with distinct classical trajectories. These branches acquire nearly orthogonal microscopic records in the permutation sector, preventing quantum interferences and ensuring the corresponding histories remain consistent.

We study the gradient-flow training dynamics of quantum physics-informed neural networks (QPINNs) for the solution of second-order elliptic partial differential equations with Dirichlet boundary conditions. We consider parameterized quantum circuits as function approximators and analyze their overparameterized regime through the lens of the neural tangent kernel (NTK). Our contribution is a nonasymptotic lazy-training theory for QPINNs and their variational formulation: we prove that, for sufficiently large circuit width, the nonlinear gradient flow is quantitatively approximated by a linearized NTK model, with explicit bounds depending on the number of qubits, circuit depth, circuit light-cone geometry, and the dimension of the domain of the solution to the PDE.

We investigate time-dependent semiclassical measures associated with the magnetic Schrödinger flow on the flat two-dimensional torus in long-time regimes. Under a geometric nonvanishing assumption on an effective magnetic force, we identify two thresholds and prove a dynamical form of quantum unique ergodicity for such systems. If the time scale $\tau_h \gg h^{-1/2}$, then the configuration marginal is the normalized Lebesgue measure on $\mathbb T^2$. In addition, if $\tau_h \gg h^{-1}$, then the momentum marginal is, conditionally on each regular level set, the normalized invariant measure on that curve.

This paper solves the Wehrl-type entropy problem for arbitrary compact connected semisimple Lie groups. Let $G$ be a compact connected semisimple Lie group, and let $\pi:G\to U(V_\lambda)$ be a finite-dimensional irreducible unitary representation associated with the highest weight $\lambda$. We prove that coherent projectors are the unique minimizers of the Wehrl entropy over all density matrices on $V_\lambda$. They also uniquely maximize every Husimi power moment of order $p>1$. The proof uses a second-variation at the extremizer by perturbation in directions associated with Killing fields, similar to the strategy of Frank and Lieb used in \cite{FrankLieb}. Then the problem reduces to the extreme-moment property of highest-weight vectors.

In this article, we study the facilitated exclusion process (FEP) on the $d$-dimensional discrete torus of side length $N$, with $d\ge2$. For Bernoulli initial data with a fixed density $\rho\in(0,1)$, we first prove that, with high probability, the particle-number sector selected by the initial configuration has a unique active recurrent class if $\rho>1-2^{-d}$ and multiple recurrent classes if $\rho<1-2^{-d}$. We then show that, for sufficiently small $\rho$, the process reaches an absorbing state (a singleton recurrent class) within a poly-logarithmic time in $N$ with high probability. In contrast, for $\rho\in(1/2,3/4)$ and even $N$, we establish a polynomial lower bound on the time required to reach the recurrent set. These results provide strong evidence for a double phase transition, analogous to absorbing-state phase transitions in the contact process, activated random walks, and stochastic sandpiles. To our knowledge, these are the first rigorous estimates for absorption and transient times for the FEP in dimensions two and higher.

The conditional probabilities achievable by local measurements on a shared quantum state in a Bell scenario form the set of quantum behaviors, whose structure was studied by Tsirelson. In 1993, Tsirelson asked whether this set is semialgebraic, that is, describable by finite Boolean combinations of polynomial equations and inequalities. This question has remained open. We answer it in the negative: with four binary measurements per party, the set of finite-dimensional quantum behaviors, its closure, and the commuting-operator set are all nonsemialgebraic. More strongly, none admits a finite real-analytic description even locally near a particular classical behavior. These results rule out exact finite semidefinite representations and show that no finite level of the Navascués-Pironio-Acín hierarchy characterizes these sets exactly.

We prove that strong solutions to the incompressible, homogeneous Navier-Stokes system on $\mathbb{R}^3$ are global in time for initial data in the Sobolev space $H^1_\sigma(\mathbb{R}^3)$. The central ingredient of the proof is a new energy estimate that rules out finite-time blow-up in $L^r(\mathbb{R}^3)$ for $r = 2 + 2 / \sqrt{3}$. This estimate is based crucially on properties of the material derivative in combination with the divergence-free constraint, together with an intricate estimate that harnesses the delicate interplay between the viscous coercivity of the new energy functional and the control of a perturbing pressure term. Notably, the estimate does not carry over to systems that merely share the standard energy structure, such as T. Tao's averaged Navier-Stokes system. As a consequence of the new energy estimate, every Leray-Hopf weak solution $u$ to the homogeneous Navier-Stokes system is globally unique whenever the initial value $u(0, \cdot)$ belongs to $L^2_\sigma(\mathbb{R}^3) \cap L^3(\mathbb{R}^3)$. Even for $u(0, \cdot) \in L^2_\sigma(\mathbb{R}^3)$, the only possible non-uniqueness in the class of Leray-Hopf weak solutions is initial branching, and every such solution is $C^\infty$-smooth on $\left( 0, \infty \right) \times \mathbb{R}^3$. Moreover, if $u(0, \cdot)$ is smooth with derivatives of all orders decaying rapidly at infinity, we show that $u$ is in fact $C^\infty$-smooth on all of $\left[ 0, \infty \right) \times \mathbb{R}^3$.

This work studies the placement of an entanglement source along a communication line formed by two noisy qubit channels. Recent work argued, on analytical and numerical grounds, that midpoint placement should be at least as favorable as endpoint placement. Here it is shown that, for arbitrary qubit channels, if a sequential composition can preserve entanglement, then the corresponding parallel action cannot annihilate all entanglement. The proof uses the transpose-factorization criterion introduced in that recent work. Quantum Sinkhorn scaling converts every strictly positive qubit channel into a unital representative, and the special normal form of unital qubit channels then yields the required factorization of the transposed map through the original channel. Depolarizing regularization and the closedness of the set of entanglement-breaking channels extend the result to arbitrary channels. Consequently, $\Lambda_1 \otimes \Lambda_2 \in \mathrm{EA}$ implies $\Lambda_2 \circ \Lambda_1 \in \mathrm{EB}$, and, by exchanging the two channels, the same holds for the opposite composition order. This proves the recent conjecture that midpoint placement is optimal for all qubit channels, in the feasibility sense in which that optimality was originally defined.

We construct theories of Carrollian electromagnetism coupled to an axion field. Obtained by performing a $c \to 0$ expansion of axion electrodynamics, these are of two types: electric and magnetic. We derive the Lagrangians and work out the general classical solutions for both. While the electric theory has the axion effectively decoupled from the electromagnetic fields, the magnetic theory is endowed with a nontrivial axion coupling that leads to interesting phenomenology. In particular, a Carrollian analogue of the Witten effect, wherein a magnetic monopole in the presence of a constant non-vanishing axion acquires an electric charge and becomes a dyon, is present in the magnetic theory. At the same time, the linear magnetoelectric effect vanishes entirely, a conclusion we establish by performing a thorough Dirac-Bergmann analysis of the constraint structure of the magnetic theory and a proper identification of its physical phase space.

In this paper, we study the effect of an external random field on the localisation / delocalisation of the long-range Discrete Gaussian Chain (DGC), recently studied by Garban arXiv:2312.04536 and Coquille et al. arXiv:2412.15782. We prove that the model is delocalised at every inverse temperature for any polynomial decay $\alpha > 3/2$. This behaviour differs qualitatively from the one of the disorder-free long-range DGC, for which delocalisation at every temperature occurs only for $\alpha > 2$, similarly to what happens for long-range Ising models as already proved by Aizenman and Wehr. Additionally, we provide a more detailed description of the delocalised phase by identifying the growth exponent and scaling limit of the height at the origin for any decay exponent $\alpha > 3/2$.

We prove that the very-high temperature long-range Ising model on $\mathbf{Z}^d$ is a factor of an i.i.d. process, and provide quantitative information on the coding radius. We do not assume that the model is ferromagnetic, but require the interactions to decay faster than $1/n^{2d}$. While previous constructions were known, the novelty of our approach is that we obtain an explicit polynomial upper bound on the tail of the coding radius. In particular, our construction yields a factor map with finite expected coding volume. This answers a question of a recent preprint by Chazottes, Gallo and Takahashi, see arXiv:2602.14618.

We consider the integrable dynamics of a planar Kepler billiard in the plane bounded by a branch of a hyperbola focused at the Kepler center. As a sequel to our previous work \cite{JZ2}, we use the existence of the foci-caustic circle to identify an elliptic curve on which the dynamics is linearized and we analyze Cayley's condition on $n$-periodic orbits in this setting. By taking various limits also we discuss the dynamics of planar Kepler billiards with boundary being a focused parabolic arc, as well as a straight line. In this last case, our approach offers a different way to deduce the elliptic curve as in \cite{Felder}.

We study the stationary focusing nonlinear Schrödinger equation on the product $\mathbb{R}^N \times \mathcal{G}$ of the Euclidean space with a compact metric graph, in the mass-constrained variational setting. Such a product is a hybrid structure of a new type: all its faces are $(N+1)$-dimensional and are glued along interfaces of codimension one, so that the energy space is a genuine Sobolev space, while both the metric and the topology of the graph enter the variational problem. We first develop the functional framework, giving two equivalent descriptions of $H^1(\mathbb{R}^N \times \mathcal{G})$, introducing partial rearrangements in each of the two variables together with the corresponding Pólya–Szegő inequalities, and proving Gagliardo–Nirenberg inequalities in a localized form, with a comparison of the optimal constants with those of $\mathbb{R}^{N+1}$ and of the half-space. We then study the mass-constrained problem. Ground states exist for every mass when $2<p<2_*:=2+4/(N+1)$. At the critical exponent $p=2_*$, they exist below a graph-dependent threshold lying between one half of the Euclidean critical mass and the full Euclidean critical mass. The latter value is attained when the graph admits a cycle covering, whereas the threshold is exactly halved in the presence of a terminal edge. In both cases, the threshold is sharp. For $2_*<p<2+4/N$ global minimizers do not exist, but we prove the existence of local minimizers below a further mass threshold, for which we give an explicit lower bound. Finally, we describe the dimensional crossover: below a critical mass the minimizers do not depend on the graph variable, and we characterize the threshold below which the semi-trivial solution is a local minimizer in terms of the first nonzero eigenvalue of the Kirchhoff Laplacian on $\mathcal{G}$.

We study conserved and dissipated quantities associated with contact canonoid transformations and their extension to possibly singular smooth maps. The defining condition is imposed on the pulled-back contact one-form, without requiring it to remain contact. A polynomial construction produces first integrals from one-forms having the same dissipation rate as the original contact form. Two normalizations extend this construction to maps whose associated Hamiltonians have different dissipation rates. On the set where the associated Hamiltonian is nonzero, we construct a smooth invariant endomorphism whose traces are conserved. This construction includes zeros of the original Hamiltonian, where the endomorphism vanishes. We relate the tensor traces to the coefficients of the Hamiltonian-normalized polynomial and obtain an upper bound of n functionally independent trace invariants in dimension 2n + 1. A five-dimensional singular map attains this bound. Examples include singular maps for the damped free particle, a transformation with unequal dissipation rates, the damped harmonic oscillator, and motion under gravity with linear friction.

We study maximum purity and minimum von Neumann entropy of absolutely positive partial transpose (APPT) states, together with the relative volume of their spectral sets. A consequence of Hildebrand's criterion gives an explicit outer spectral polytope, whose vertices we classify. Optimizing purity over this polytope, together with the Song–Chen result for the $2\otimes3$ system, yields, for every $mn\ge6$, an explicit upper bound on the purity of APPT states that is asymptotic to $4/(3mn)$. This improves the previous $2/(mn)$ upper bound for absolutely separable states. The new bound applies to every APPT state, a class containing all absolutely separable states, and is sharp for every $2\otimes n$ system with $n\ge3$. For every $3\otimes n$ system with $n\ge3$, however, the unique outer-polytope maximizer is not APPT, so the bound is strict and disproves the Dũng–Khôi qutrit–qudit conjecture. The polytope also gives an explicit entropy lower bound in arbitrary bipartite dimensions and, together with the Song–Chen extreme-point classification, the exact minimum entropy for every $2\otimes n$ system. Finally, exact formulas for the relative volumes of an inner polytope and the outer spectral polytope give explicit two-sided bounds on the qubit–qudit relative spectral volume $a_n$ whose ratio is less than $4$ and tends to $3$. Consequently, $a_n=\Theta\!\left(\sqrt n(4/27)^n\right)$, and the relative volume of the qubit–qudit APPT spectral set (equivalently, the absolutely separable spectral set) has exact exponential decay rate $\ln(27/4)$.

In this note we review and compare mathematical procedures aimed at rigorously deriving fluid-dynamic descriptions of classical particle systems in the large-scale limit of Hamiltonian dynamics. Despite the longstanding nature of this program, its fundamental problems remain open, with only a few notable exceptions that we briefly highlight.

We explain how to derive the Robinson-Schensted-Knuth (RSK) correspondence, a fundamental bijection in algebraic combinatorics, from the Yang-Baxter equation. The Yang-Baxter equation arose in the study of quantum many-body systems and later became a cornerstone of the theory of solvable lattice models, particularly vertex models. In a vertex model, arrows occupy the edges of a grid, and each vertex carries a Boltzmann weight determined by the arrows on the four edges meeting at it. The weight of a configuration is the product of these local weights, and a partition function is the sum of the weights of all configurations with prescribed boundary conditions. For a vertex model whose partition functions are the Schur polynomials, the two sides of each instance of the Yang-Baxter equation admit exactly one weight-preserving matching of their summands. Carried across a grid, this forced matching is the classical RSK correspondence in the form of Fomin's growth diagrams. In natural coordinates the local matching becomes the combinatorial three-dimensional R, a set-theoretic solution of the Zamolodchikov tetrahedron equation. Its periodic closure returns the combinatorial R-matrices of one-row crystals. The forced matching is special to the Schur weights. For the Hall-Littlewood and q-Whittaker deformations and their spin versions, at generic parameter values no deterministic matching works for all boundary data. Reading each instance of the Yang-Baxter equation probabilistically, we replace the matching by a coupling of the two sides - a bijectivization, or probabilistic bijection - and obtain Markov operators that transport probability measures attached to vertex models. Iterated over the grid, these operators produce randomized RSK-type dynamics and interacting particle systems, including q-PushTASEP and the stochastic six-vertex model.

We study higher-order differential equations corresponding to integrals of the Dotsenko–Fateev type and associated with four-point correlation functions with degenerate fields $\Phi_{n,1}$. We determine the general structure and coefficients of the equations in terms of the integral parameters $ \{ A,B,C,g \} $. In particular, special cases of these equations in CFT are used for verification. In addition, the relationship between higher-order differential equations and hypergeometric operators is established.