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Physics Physics

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Monday 27 July

Optics · Cross-listed from cs.CV

BeyondFusion: Self-Aligned Latent Diffusion for Calibration-Free Infrared Super-Resolution and Infrared-Visible Fusion

Minchong Chen, Xiaoyun Yuan, Minyu Cao et al. (+4 more)

Mobile infrared-visible imaging typically pairs a compact infrared sensor with a high-resolution visible camera for complementary perception. While cross-sensor misalignment caused by different optics, viewpoints, fields of view, and exposure timings hinders practical deployment. In this paper, we propose BeyondFusion, a unified latent diffusion framework for calibration-free visible-guided infrared super-resolution and infrared-visible fusion tasks. The proposed framework supports both task-specific training and joint training where two tasks are optimized and executed as two readouts of the same generative process. Instead of relying on explicit registration or geometric warping, BeyondFusion introduces a cross-modal self-aligning (CMSA) module into the denoising U-Net. CMSA reorganizes infrared and visible latent tokens into a shared attention space to learn content-adaptive cross-modal correspondence during the denoising process. Together with misalignment augmentation module, the model is facilitated to exploit visible structural and semantic cues while preserving thermal consistency, enabling high-frequency infrared reconstruction and informative fused-image generation under uncalibrated conditions. Extensive experiments on public benchmarks and a mobile infrared-visible imaging system show strong performance across aligned inputs, low-resolution infrared observations, synthetic misalignments, and real mobile captures with unsynchronized sensors. Ablation studies, unified training analysis, and downstream pedestrian detection further validate the effectiveness of BeyondFusion for calibration-free multimodal imaging.
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All authors Minchong Chen, Xiaoyun Yuan, Minyu Cao, Jianing Zhang, Jun Zhang, Shuyang Liu, Xiaokang Yang

Geophysics

Earthquake Aftershock Forecasting using Conditional Generative Models

Weiqiang Zhu

Forecasting how aftershocks evolve in space and time after a large earthquake is a central problem in statistical seismology and underpins operational earthquake forecasting. Existing forecasting methods rest on statistical point-process models such as the epidemic-type aftershock sequence (ETAS) and Reasenberg-Jones models, which prescribe a fixed decay in time and an isotropic kernel in space. They match the average Omori-Utsu and Gutenberg-Richter statistics well but do not capture the fault-controlled spatial patterns of real sequences or the productivity that varies among sequences. Neural point-process models relax these fixed forms but keep the event-by-event view and have not consistently surpassed ETAS on common benchmarks. Rather than modeling individual events as a point process, we recast aftershock forecasting as conditional generation of a spatiotemporal field. We develop QuakeGen, a diffusion model that generates the evolving fields of aftershock rate and maximum magnitude conditioned on recent seismicity and the forecasting horizon. The same conditional generative framework can be trained on rich seismic catalogs to forecast global aftershock sequences and regional daily seismicity, and could further condition on physical fields such as fault geometry or geodetic deformation. On global sequences, the data-driven approach outperforms the operational USGS Reasenberg-Jones forecast, recovering the fault-controlled, anisotropic spatial structure that fixed kernels cannot express. On daily forecasting, QuakeGen also matches the well-tuned ETAS baselines, which neural point-process models have yet to surpass on the regional benchmark. Conditional generative modeling, which has transformed prediction in fields as diverse as weather forecasting and protein structure prediction, holds the potential to forecast more accurately how earthquake sequences unfold in space and time.
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Optics

Architecture-agnostic analysis of partially coherent light with programmable photonics

Kevin Zelaya, Matthew Markowitz, Jonathan Friedman et al. (+1 more)

The precise characterization of the spatial degree of coherence of a radiation field is important for assessing its suitability for specific applications in optical communications, advanced imaging, and quantum information processing. However, measuring the full coherence matrix traditionally requires complex, phase-sensitive interferometric setups that are highly susceptible to noise and difficult to scale on integrated platforms. To address this, we propose an architecture-agnostic approach for analyzing partially coherent light that is compatible with any universal programmable photonic unitary circuit, regardless of its internal topology. Leveraging the Schur-Horn theorem, our method diagonalizes the output coherence matrix, enabling direct extraction of its eigenvalues from output power measurements alone. We numerically validate this framework across various universal topologies and demonstrate its efficacy even in under-parameterized, non-universal architectures with only minor loss in precision. Finally, our black-box optimization approach proves inherently resilient to arbitrary optical losses and component deviations, paving the way for robust, lower-depth, and programmable spatial coherence analyzers.
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All authors Kevin Zelaya, Matthew Markowitz, Jonathan Friedman, Mohammad-Ali Miri

Space Physics · Cross-listed from cond-mat.mtrl-sci

Recrystallisation phenomena in an ultrafine-grained Al-Mg-Si alloy revealed by correlative in situ EBSD and TEM heating

Moritz Theissing, Sandra Gonzaga, Patrick Willenshofer et al. (+5 more)

Ultrafine-grained (UFG) aluminium alloys are promising lightweight structural materials for space applications, where a high grain-boundary density can act as sinks for irradiation-induced defects. Their deployment, however, is contingent on thermal stability: aluminium components in low-Earth orbit can reach $\sim$200 $^\circ$C under solar irradiation, close to where severely deformed aluminium alloys recrystallise. Accurate, bulk-representative determination of recrystallisation onset is therefore essential, yet conventional in situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) heating is compromised by thin-film effects, ambiguous grain-boundary contrast, and small sampling volumes. Here, a UFG AA6061 (Al-Mg-Si) alloy produced by high-pressure torsion was studied by a direct comparison of in situ TEM heating and in situ electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) heating, complemented by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), analytical scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM-EDX) and microhardness. In situ EBSD sampled $\sim 10^{3}$ grains from bulk material and resolved the microstructural evolution into sequential recovery, recrystallisation and grain-growth regimes, placing the onset of instability at $\sim$198 $^\circ$C. Calorimetry, microhardness and nanoscale elemental mapping showed that grain refinement suppresses GP-zones formation and shifts precipitation to lower temperatures, with precipitation neither retarding recrystallisation nor restoring strength once the UFG structure is consumed. Revisiting the Brailsford-Bullough-Hayns sink-strength theory with a KAM-informed, temperature-dependent internal sink strength, we show that the grain-boundary sink strength collapses as recovery and recrystallisation proceed. We establish in situ EBSD heating as an in operando method for bulk-representative determination of microstructural instabilities in advanced metallic systems.
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All authors Moritz Theissing, Sandra Gonzaga, Patrick Willenshofer, Thomas M. Kremmer, Stefan Pogatscher, Stefan Mitsche, Frank F. Sene, Matheus A. Tunes

Data Analysis and Statistics · Cross-listed from cond-mat.stat-mech

Thermodynamics with thermodynamic variable first-passage time. I. From stochastic trajectories to nonlinear transport equations

V. V. Ryazanov

The theoretical foundation of combining external nonequilibrium thermodynamics, the nonequilibrium statistical operator method, and stochastic first passage time thermodynamics are explored. It is shown that including a random lifetime of a metastable state in the generalized distribution function allows the first passage time to be considered as a fully - fledged macroscopic coordinate. A microscopic justification for this approach is provided, and a generalized thermodynamic potential is introduced. A procedure for closing the transport equations based on on thermodynamic consistency conditions is developed. It is shown that in the generalized Maxwell - Catteneo equation, the classical relaxation time is strictly replaced by the mean first passage time, which imparts internal macroscopic nonlinearity to the system. Using renewal theory, the exact mathematical structure of transport memory kernels for non-Markovian processes is derived. A qualitative comparative analysis of various approaches to the thermodynamic description of nonequilibrium phenomena is presented.
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Fluid Dynamics · Cross-listed from math.NA

A vectorial lattice Boltzmann scheme for the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations

Denise Aregba-Driollet, Thomas Bellotti, Roberto Natalini et al. (+1 more)

We introduce a second-order accurate vectorial lattice Boltzmann scheme for the incompressible Navier-Stokes system, inspired by a discrete-velocity kinetic approximation proposed by Carfora and Natalini [ESAIM: M2AN, 42(1), 93-112, 2008]. Advantages and drawbacks compared to relaxation schemes are investigated by providing spectral analyses in the linearized case, and numerical validations on the genuinely non-linear problem.
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All authors Denise Aregba-Driollet, Thomas Bellotti, Roberto Natalini, Tommaso Tenna

Applied Physics · Cross-listed from quant-ph

Pound-Drever-Hall Feedforward for Trapped-Ion Optical Qubits

Jia-Yang Gao, Jianwei Lee, Morteza Ahmadi et al. (+1 more)

Laser phase noise is one of the limiting factors that dictate gate fidelities and coherence times in trapped-ion quantum systems. Previous studies have reported that when the Rabi frequency of an ion qubit is close to the servo-bump phase-noise frequency, the driving laser limits the fidelity and coherence time. This issue has typically been mitigated by choosing a Rabi frequency outside the servo-bump region. However, this constrains the usable range of gate speeds and can limit the achievable fidelity. To address this issue, we developed an active phase-noise stabilization system for a barium-ion optical-qubit laser at 1762 nm, employing a fiber electro-optic modulator (EOM) with an electrical feedforward servo. Our results demonstrate that this setup, based on the Pound-Drever-Hall (PDH) feedforward method, can suppress servo-bump phase noise by 15 dB near the bump peak frequency in our locking system. The laser phase noise is analyzed using delayed self-heterodyne interferometry (DSHI). We further tested the stabilized laser on an optical qubit and observed a clear improvement in coherence time based on the measured amplitude decay of Rabi oscillations, even when the Rabi frequency lies within the servo-bump bandwidth. This technique can be readily adapted to other optical qubits with minimal modifications.
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All authors Jia-Yang Gao, Jianwei Lee, Morteza Ahmadi, Manas Mukherjee

Plasma Physics

Gravitational Sedimentation and Rebound of Strongly Coupled Dusty Plasma Crystals: A Molecular Dynamics Study

Gurudatt Gaur, Meet Contractor and Vikram Dharodi

The gravitational sedimentation of strongly coupled dusty plasma crystals is investigated using molecular dynamics simulations. Initially, the dust particles are levitated by the balance between the upward external electric field and gravity. Sedimentation is initiated by removing the electric field, allowing the particles to settle collectively under gravity while interacting through the Yukawa (screened Coulomb) potential. Single-layer, AB-stacked bilayer, and ABA-stacked trilayer crystals are investigated to examine the influence of crystal geometry on the sedimentation dynamics. All crystal configurations undergo collective gravitational settling while preserving their in-plane hexagonal ordering during the initial stages of sedimentation. Upon collision with a reflecting boundary, the multilayer crystals undergo transient interlayer compression followed by sequential momentum transfer between neighboring layers, producing coherent collective rebound. In particular, the trilayer exhibits sequential layer-by-layer momentum propagation from the lower to the middle and finally to the upper layer. During successive sedimentation–rebound cycles, repeated interlayer interactions progressively degrade the initial ABA stacking while preserving the collective mechanical response of the crystal. These results demonstrate that strong Yukawa coupling enables multilayer dusty plasma crystals to sustain repeated impacts while maintaining coherent collective motion despite gradual structural evolution. The present study provides a particle-resolved description of gravitational sedimentation in multilayer dusty plasma crystals and offers a theoretical framework for interpreting laboratory experiments following the removal of electrostatic confinement.
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Chemical Physics · Cross-listed from quant-ph

Scaling a CUDA-Q GQE + QSCI pipeline to 40 qubits for EUV photoresist chemistry

Karim Elgammal and Marc Maußner

We scale a CUDA-Q-native pipeline coupling a generative quantum eigensolver (GQE) to quantum-selected configuration interaction (QSCI) across active spaces of 14 to 44 qubits, applied to the extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) photoresist chemistry of monoalkyltin oxo-hydroxides. A GPT-2 policy emits UCCSD operator sequences; sampled bitstrings become determinants, diagonalised classically, and a cross-circuit generalised-eigenvalue refinement makes every reported GQE+QSCI energy a variational upper bound. Every rung from 14 to 40 qubits carries an exact CASCI or FCI reference, up to 166 million determinants for SnO at 32 qubits. The pipeline is chemically accurate, below 1.6 mHa, through 30 qubits on methyltin trihydroxide and through 32 on SnO, on the best seed at the top rungs. Circuit depth rather than training length is the scaling lever; the refined subspace grows near-linearly with the operator count while staying a vanishing fraction of the determinant space, 0.017% at the 32-qubit SnO rung. It also runs on the 54-qubit IQM Emerald processor, at the shallow depths its routed two-qubit gates allow, reaching +0.330 mHa for SnO at 14 qubits from a CCSD-amplitude-ordered pool prefix and +3.92 mHa for the industrial n-butyltin ligand at 22 qubits from depth-truncated trained circuits under per-circuit readout self-calibration, 81% of the active-space correlation; classical configuration recovery on those counts tightens the 22-qubit result to +0.18 to 0.21 mHa. For the methyl resist, ionisation collapses the classical UCCSD(T) Sn-C bond dissociation energy from 72.6 to 21.2 kcal/mol, the switch that flips solubility on exposure. Against that, the 40-qubit result is support-limited at 22.8 mHa, the full trained ansatz on hardware awaits better fidelities, and classical subspace expansion reaches the 32 to 40-qubit spaces with no quantum sampler, so that boundary is mapped, not beaten.
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Geophysics

HydroAgent: Formalizing Forecaster Expertise into Skill-Orchestrated Flood Forecasting Workflows

Qingyi Yang, Siqian Qiu, Bing Li et al. (+20 more)

Operational flood forecasting depends on tacit forecaster expertise that is difficult to formalize, audit, and transfer. Although artificial intelligence methods have advanced flood prediction and model-error correction, most existing studies have not explicitly represented the tacit expert rules, review checkpoints, and workflow constraints that connect model outputs to operational warning decisions. To address this issue, we propose HydroAgent, a skill-orchestrated agent framework that embeds Large Language Models (LLMs) into a model-driven flood forecasting workflow, where each skill encodes explicit rules to bound LLM reasoning. We validated its effectiveness using five state-of-the-art LLMs in the South Yamhill River basin. Our results demonstrate that prior judgment captures observed peak flow and flood volume within 5% tolerance in 10 and 11 out of 14 events, with 5-fold cross-validation over 129 events yielding Pearson correlations of 0.62 and 0.84. Building on a high-baseline scheme library (average KGE 0.890), the guided scheme selection further improves KGE by 0.023-0.154, with simulated peak flow and flood volume falling within the prior judgment ranges for 14 and 13 out of 14 events. All five tested LLMs successfully execute the HydroAgent workflow with comparable judgment accuracy (40%-80%), while showing moderate performance variation and substantial cost differences. HydroAgent does not aim to replace human forecasters; instead, it translates their tacit expertise into an auditable and reproducible workflow, streamlining analytical steps and supporting more informed decision-making. This skill-orchestrated paradigm demonstrates how explicit rule boundaries can guide language model reasoning to complement physically based simulation in next-generation flood forecasting.
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All authors Qingyi Yang, Siqian Qiu, Bing Li, Xu Shan, Jia Feng, Shunan Zhou, Xudong Zhou, Tiantian Xing, Jiale Guo, Xiaoyi Dong, Gaoyu Liu, Xiaohuan Liu, Haiqing Pu, Qingwen Deng, Xun Zhang, Zhongrun Xiang, Haiyang Qian, Ying Yan, Yongkang Xu, Nuo Lei, Tianlong Jia, Baoying Shan, Carlo De Michele

Optics · Cross-listed from quant-ph

Scalable Photon-Mediated Two-Qubit Gates with Spectrally Noisy Quantum Emitters

Shreekanth S. Yuvarajan, W. A. Coish, David Hucul et al. (+1 more)

When two quantum bits are coupled through a cavity, a two-qubit gate can be realized between them either in the near-resonant regime over a timescale established by the coupling strength of the qubits with the cavity, or in the dispersive regime, over a longer timescale established by the combination of the coupling strength and the frequency detuning between the qubits and the cavity. When the qubits are spectrally noisy or differently detuned from the cavity, the fidelity for the operation can be drastically reduced in either case, precluding scalable realizations. We introduce the protocol for optimal cavity-enabled gates (POCEG) that is shown, through reliable numerical and analytical solutions, to overcome spectral differences between quantum bits and to achieve high fidelity between disparate/noisy quantum emitters. Namely, for a cavity with low damping rate, we apply a sequence of pulses to the qubits at the frequency of the cavity while periodically modulating the coupling of the qubits to the cavity. Alternatively, in the case of a large damping rate, we operate in the dispersive regime and overcome spectral disparities by applying the pulses at a frequency far-detuned from the cavity. In both instances, we find for the quantum state transfer between the two qubits that, with a modest inter-pulse delay, the fidelity that would otherwise be strongly suppressed by the spectral mismatch of the qubits can be increased beyond 99.9%. These protocols have the capacity to bring two-qubit gates between solid state systems across the threshold required for fault-tolerant quantum computing.
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All authors Shreekanth S. Yuvarajan, W. A. Coish, David Hucul, Herbert F. Fotso

Optics

Quantitative infrared nanoscopy: Probe-cavity eigenmodes and nano-gap polaritons for strongly coupled nanoscale optics

Benjamin Allen, Brayden Lukaskawcez, Alyssa Bragg et al. (+6 more)

Optical nanoscopies including near-field optical microscopy and spectroscopy circumvent the diffraction limit of conventional optics thanks to the nanoscale light focus emerging at the apex of a sharp irradiated probe. However, while strong optical coupling between the apex and its dielectric environment affords both enhanced nanoscopic measurement sensitivity and potentially ultra-strong fields within a nano-gap cavity, the conditions for this coupling remain poorly quantified by prevailing analytic models. Here we present a robust formalism of probe-cavity eigenmodes that fully describes how mutual near-field interactions between probe and environment produce a composite response to external fields qualitatively distinct from that of its distinct components. This "EigenProbe" model identifies the fundamental excitations of realistic optical nanoscopies as nano-gap polaritons, which provide an elegant basis to accurately predict near-field microscopy and spectroscopy experiments especially when probe-sample interactions are non-perturbative. Through comparison to carefully controlled nanoscopies of polar phonons and molecular vibrations alike, we show how nano-gap polaritons are both realized and utilized for reliable and rapid "inversion" of local optical constants. This advance demands both a careful understanding of the probe response through quantitative calibration, and our efficient semi-analytic description of cavity eigenmode scattering at the probe apex. Our EigenProbe formalism sets the stage for maturing diverse and proliferating optical nanoscopies into precision metrologies of nano-scale optical environments, and guides future use of nano-gap cavities to manipulate local excitations of quantum materials and to achieve strong coupling over photonic emitters.
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All authors Benjamin Allen, Brayden Lukaskawcez, Alyssa Bragg, Nitzan Hirshberg, Michael Fogler, Dimitri N. Basov, Stephanie N. Gilbert Corder, Hans A. Bechtel, Alexander S. McLeod

Optics

Non-Centrosymmetric $\gamma$-Phase GaS Nanobelts for On-Chip Nonlinear Photonic Applications

Yukihiro Endo, Masato Takiguchi, Yoshiaki Sekine et al. (+2 more)

Second-order nonlinear optical processes in van der Waals (vdW) semiconductors offer a compelling route toward compact, integrable photon-conversion platforms. Among III-VI vdW semiconductors, GaS is particularly attractive owing to its wide bandgap suppressing two-photon absorption under near-infrared laser excitation. However, bulk GaS typically crystallizes in the centrosymmetric $\beta$ phase, which eliminates second-order nonlinearity and severely limits its application in nonlinear photonics. Here, we demonstrate that GaS nanobelts synthesized via self-catalyzed vapor-liquid-solid growth predominantly crystallize in non-centrosymmetric $\gamma$-phase stacking. This behavior originates from edge-selective growth kinetics at the Ga catalyst interface, which stabilizes the $\gamma$ phase and enables deterministic in-plane dipole moment alignment. The GaS nanobelts exhibit strong second-harmonic generation (SHG) with intensities comparable to those of GaSe, a widely used nonlinear optical material. Furthermore, we integrate the nanobelts onto SiN waveguides and demonstrate efficient on-chip SHG and sum-frequency generation. These results establish $\gamma$-GaS nanobelts as a transferable one-dimensional nonlinear materials well suited for on-chip photonic integration and indicate their strong potential for nonlinear optical applications.
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All authors Yukihiro Endo, Masato Takiguchi, Yoshiaki Sekine, Hisashi Sumikura, Yoshitaka Taniyasu

Instrumentation and Detectors

Leveraging Inexpensive Lab Tools for Hands-on RF Systems Course

B. Joel Gonzalez, Tom J. Zajdel and L. Richard Carley

As wireless technologies continue to develop and reshape our world, teaching students the fundamental building blocks of RF engineering is paramount. Relatively inexpensive lab equipment now makes teaching concepts such as the Internet-of-Things, beam steering, and MIMO accessible. A new course for students in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University aims to utilize affordable hardware to teach core concepts in RF systems design. This is accomplished through six laboratory exercises, culminating in a live demonstration of RF beam steering technology for students. The course can be run for less than $9,000 in one-time costs and is well-received by students as evidenced by survey data, with lab resources available in an open repository.
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Biological Physics · Cross-listed from cond-mat.soft

Growth and remodeling control shape memory in morphogenetic rods

Nicolas Romeo, David B. Brückner and Noah P. Mitchell

Mechanical instabilities provide a general design principle for shaping developing organs and engineering soft materials. However, in slender structures, simple elastic buckling tends to erase rather than preserve shape complexity: structures relax to the simplest possible shape, erasing finer detail. Living systems nonetheless build complex, reproducible morphologies from continually remodeling material, while remaining robust to noise arising across scales. Using analytical theory and numerical simulations of a minimal model of growing visco-elasto-plastic rods, we show that remodeling plays two opposing roles: At low plasticity, patterns coarsen through elastic relaxation, while high plasticity converts fluctuations into geometric disorder. This sets a trade-off between shape complexity and reproducibility with an optimal intermediate plasticity, which protects initial patterns. Growth breaks this trade-off by suppressing both failure modes, enabling complex shapes to be reproducibly generated. Our results identify remodeling and growth rates as two knobs governing whether an encoded pattern is remembered, degraded, or transformed.
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Sunday 26 July

General Physics

Noether's theorems for first and second order field theories in flat spacetimes

Mark Robert Baker

Technical derivations of the Noether identity (that is, showing and explaining all steps using methods of the calculus of variations), as well as of Noether's first and second theorems, are typically presented in explicit detail in the mathematics literature for scalar functions with first order derivatives in the action. This presentation has drawbacks for physicists wishing to learn these techniques to apply to physical field theories that have higher rank tensor fields (potentials) or higher orders of derivatives in the action. Motivated by this, and heavily influenced by the calculus of variations presentation of Gelfand and Fomin, we detail complete derivations of the Noether identity and Noether's theorems for first and second order field theories with tensor fields of arbitrary rank in flat (e.g., Minkowski) spacetimes, showing all steps explicitly. We then give some physical examples of how to apply the first and second theorems to field theories in physics, and detail the origin of conventional spacetime symmetries from the Killing and conformal Killing equations. We conclude by briefly reviewing the many areas of physics where the theorems have been discussed and applied.
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General Physics

$f(T,\mathcal{L}_m)$ Cosmology Embedded in a Viscous Barotropic Fluid

Suraj Kumar Behera, Raja Solanki and Pratik P. Ray

We examine the cosmological dynamics of a viscous fluid within the framework of $f(T,\mathcal{L}_m)$ gravity by using a barotropic equation of state for cosmic fluid. The modified Friedmann equations are used to construct an analytical Hubble model. Then $H(z)$, Pantheon+SH0ES, DESI DR II BAO, and Cosmic Microwave Background datasets are used in a Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo analysis to constrain its free parameters. Physically viable estimations of the Hubble constant and barotropic equation of state parameter are given by the obtained best-fit values. Based on the constrained parameters, we examine the redshift dependence of deceleration parameter, effective equation of state, dark energy equation of state, the effective pressure and viscous pressure quantities. While the deceleration parameter reveals how the universe evolved from an initially decelerating state to its present accelerating expansion, both equation of state parameters persist in the quintessence regime in the late epoch. Moreover, throughout the cosmic evolution, the viscous and effective pressures stay negative. The observational viability of the suggested viscous $f(T,\mathcal{L}_m)$ cosmological model is supported by the estimated Hubble constant, whose values agree well with the results from independent cosmological observations.
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Physics and Society

Role differentiation as ignition of a collective information engine: Structuration in Agent Populations

Maximilian Puelma Touzel

Informational active matter shows how measurement-informed decisions produce collective order, so far in systems that reach consensus. We design collective information engines structured by differentiation instead, and construct a minimal instance using anti-coordination games where differentiated role information has value. Within many coexisting games, agents infer their role from a noisy social signal grounded in a persistent identity, and role-following action feeds back into that signal, which shapes the incentive to follow roles. Resources accrued through coordinated role-play combine with identity variability to reinforce the schemas that generated them. The model thereby operationalizes Sewell's duality of schemas and resources in Structuration, a resolution to structure–agency debates across social science. The engine ignites when a social loop gain—the product of identity persistence, cognitive capacity, channel fidelity, and schema strength—exceeds one. For a repertoire of such schemas, roles emerge with increasing gain in a bifurcation cascade whose functional form is fixed by the repertoire's eigenvalue spectrum, ranging from monitorable logarithmic sequences to avalanches that arrive without warning. Resource accumulation supplies the fitness of a replicator dynamics on schema strengths, which selects the cascade type endogenously. Subcritical identity covariance reveals that type before onset, enabling early detection, while feedback channel parameters bias which type is selected. Platform design then becomes a control lever to throttle emergent coordination. This theory grounds distributional AGI takeoff in a mechanism and provides a monitor-based solution. Joining game theory, collective dynamics, and information engines, we open a route to an information thermodynamics of agent populations.
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Physics and Society · Cross-listed from cs.CY

Can AI-Assisted Inquiry Enhance Students' Decision-Making Skills in Socio-Scientific Issues? A Three-Group Experimental Study on Climate Change

Dimitrios Gousopoulos

Climate change is a socio-scientific issue: it rests on science but cannot be settled by science, because any serious response forces people to weigh costs, values, and competing interests under uncertainty. Helping students make such decisions well is a central aim of science education, and the arrival of generative artificial intelligence raises a sharp question: does a conversational AI partner deepen students' reasoning, or simply do the thinking for them? This study tested whether AI-assisted inquiry improves secondary students' decision-making about climate change. Using a pretest-posttest design with three groups (AI-assisted inquiry, inquiry without AI, and traditional instruction; 270 students, 90 per group), reasoning was assessed across seven decision-making steps, from defining the problem to monitoring with adaptive management, using a four-level analytic rubric scored through content analysis with high inter-coder agreement. All three groups began at comparable, mostly low levels and all improved, but the gains differed sharply. The AI-assisted group improved most, ahead of inquiry-only and of traditional instruction. Between-group effect sizes on gains were large for AI-assisted versus traditional instruction and moderate-to-large for AI-assisted versus inquiry-only, with the clearest advantages on stakeholder engagement, alternatives, implementation, and monitoring. Within the AI group, the number of times students checked the AI's claims against the sources predicted their gains, and no student was flagged for over-reliance. The findings suggest that AI helps most when it is designed to question rather than to answer, and that the inquiry it is embedded in carries much of the benefit.
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Plasma Physics

Spacecraft heat shield study in the DIII-D tokamak

Dmitri M. Orlov, Evdokiya G. Kostadinova, Igor Bykov et al. (+33 more)

We report a new experimental platform developed at the DIII-D National Fusion Facility to investigate carbon ablation and spallation under extreme heat fluxes relevant to fusion plasma-facing components and high-enthalpy atmospheric entry. Carbon samples were exposed to parallel heat fluxes of $30$–$40~\mathrm{MW\,m^{-2}}$ in the scrape-off layer using two complementary approaches: stationary carbon rods inserted near the divertor strike point and slow-launch carbon pellets injected vertically into the edge and core plasma. Pellets penetrating the core experienced heat fluxes approximately an order of magnitude higher. The conditions reproduce key aspects of the shock-layer environment encountered by the Galileo probe during entry into Jupiter's atmosphere. Fast visible imaging, divertor spectroscopy, infrared thermography, CO$_2$ interferometry, and post-exposure profilometry provided measurements of ablation rates, surface recession, and temperature evolution. Measured mass-loss rates of $(1$–$3)\times10^{-2}~\mathrm{g\,cm^{-2}\,s^{-1}}$ agree with semi-empirical aerospace ablation models, while wedge-shaped rods exhibited greater ablation than cylindrical and concave samples. UEDGE-DUSTT simulations incorporating parallel plasma flows, ${\bf j}\times{\bf B}$ forces, and ablation-cloud shielding reproduce the measured pellet trajectories and ablation timescales. These results establish tokamak plasma as a high-heat-flux environment for validating carbon ablation models and studying material response and impurity dynamics in reactor-relevant divertor plasmas.
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All authors Dmitri M. Orlov, Evdokiya G. Kostadinova, Igor Bykov, Dmitri L. Rudakov, Roman Smirnov, Jayson Barr, Gabrielle Bladon, Alessandro Bortolon, Justin Burzachiello, Lane Carlsson, Colin Chrystal, Jason Escalera, Jessica Eskew, Graeson Griffin, Michael O. Hanson, Georg Herdrich, Jeffrey Herfindal, Al Hyatt, Truell Hyde, Charles Lasnier, Claudio Marini, Lorin Matthews, Adam McLean, Christopher A. Mehta, Renato Perillo, Jens Schmidt, Filipo Scotti, Zola Spence, Hadith Taheri, Michael van Zeeland, Caitlyn Villareal, Huiqian Wang, Robert Wilcox, Theresa Wilks, Nandini Yadav, Daniel Zubovic

Optics

Dispersion models describing coupled systems in doped crystals. II. Infrared phonon excitations in GaAs single crystals and phonon-plasmon coupling in Zn-doped GaAs

Daniel Franta, Beata Hroncova, Mihai-George Muresan et al. (+1 more)

We present a temperature-dependent infrared study of intrinsic and Zn-doped GaAs within a generalized dispersion framework describing coupled phonon and free-carrier excitations. Reflectance, transmittance, and ellipsometric data measured from 300 to 440 K are fitted simultaneously using Gaussian-broadened distributions for single-phonon modes and triangle-delta-triangle representations for multiphonon absorption bands. The formalism provides a self-consistent description of lattice and carrier contributions to the dielectric response and reproduces the evolution of phonon-plasmon coupling with doping and temperature. In heavily doped samples, a pronounced Fano-type asymmetry of the TO-phonon resonance is observed and attributed to interference between phonon excitations and the Drude background of light and heavy holes. The resulting optical constants remain physically consistent across the far- and mid-infrared range and demonstrate the applicability of the framework to coupled bound and free excitations in doped semiconductors. The approach provides a quantitative tool for modeling infrared optical properties of GaAs and related photonic materials.
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All authors Daniel Franta, Beata Hroncova, Mihai-George Muresan, Stefan Zollner

Chemical Physics

Symmetry of Spin Systems as Automorphisms of Undirected Weighted Graphs: Realizability Criterion and Complete Taxonomy up to 14 Spins

Dmitry A. Cheshkov, Dmitry O. Sinitsyn and Artemiy I. Nichugovskiy

Exact simulation of high-resolution NMR spectra requires block diagonalization of the spin Hamiltonian, whose dimension grows exponentially with the number of spins $N$; symmetry is the principal tool for taming this growth, yet which permutation groups can occur as the full symmetry group of a scalar-coupled spin system has lacked an exhaustive treatment. Formulating the spin system as an undirected edge-weighted complete graph, we prove an exact realizability criterion: a subgroup of $S_N$ is realizable if and only if it coincides with its symmetrized (undirected) Wielandt 2-closure. In particular, purely rotational symmetry of a single spin ring is impossible, yet chiral spin systems do exist as multi-orbit twisted stacks, and we determine the minimal spin count $\mu^{*}(C_n)$ for every cyclic group, including the counter-intuitive realizations $C_8$ and $C_9$ at $N = 12$. A sequential symmetrization algorithm, completed by an orbit-partition decomposition, yields a provably exhaustive enumeration of all realizable symmetry types up to $N = 14$: the apparently new sequence $a(N) = 1, 1, 3, 8, 11, 27, 36, 90, 131, 282, 394, 948, 1316, 2866$ with the tower law $a(N) = a(N-1) + f(N)$ - a catalogue of 6112 entries in all, organized by canonical identifiers and a structural grammar extending the Pople nomenclature. Finally, we present a hierarchical methodology for exact block diagonalization without physical approximations: factorization by the conserved total spin projection, Schur-Weyl contraction of magnetically equivalent composites, orbit-weight deduplication of the spin configurations, and isotypic projection over the representations of the factor group, with a uniform treatment of non-abelian groups and complex characters.
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Optics

Position measurement of a levitated particle with vectorial light

Daniel Tandeitnik, Lucas Bianchi, Sebastian Gutierrez-Bernal et al. (+3 more)

We develop a fully vectorial, semiclassical scattering formalism for optically levitated dipolar scatterers, expressed within the angular spectrum representation and applicable to arbitrary trapping-field configurations as well as to high–numerical-aperture focusing. Within this framework, we introduce the information radiation pattern to characterize the angular distribution of position-dependent information and use a Richards–Wolf projection of the scattered field onto the local-oscillator mode to quantify the resulting mode-matching efficiency, yielding experimentally realistic forward- and backward-detection efficiencies. As a worked example, we apply the formalism to a radially polarized trapping beam and confirm that the axial recoil heating rate is reduced relative to a conventional linearly polarized Gaussian tweezer. The theoretical framework is implemented in LevitationToolbox, an open-source Python package intended to support the design and optimization of near-Heisenberg-limited levitated optomechanical experiments.
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All authors Daniel Tandeitnik, Lucas Bianchi, Sebastian Gutierrez-Bernal, Joanna A. Zielińska, Paulo A. Maia Neto, Thiago Guerreiro

Fluid Dynamics

Adjoint Sensitivity Maps for Passive Flow Control Around Rotating Circular Cylinders Across a Wide Operating Envelope

Niklas Kühl

Rotating circular cylinders are employed in a variety of engineering applications, one prominent example being Flettner rotors for wind-assisted ship propulsion. Besides optimizing the aerodynamic performance of the cylinder itself, passive flow-control devices placed in its vicinity offer additional potential for manipulating the resulting aerodynamic forces. The present work introduces a topology-based adjoint sensitivity analysis for rotating circular cylinders over a wide operating envelope covering Reynolds numbers from 1E+01 to 1E+07 and spinning ratios between 0 and 2 pi. Local sensitivity fields associated with drag, lift, and torque are derived using a porous-medium formulation and validated by dedicated forward simulations employing both distributed Darcy-type source terms and a sensitivity-informed passive flow-control structure. Particular emphasis is placed on the combined sign distribution of the drag and lift sensitivities, yielding intuitive design maps that directly identify regions where local momentum extraction simultaneously improves or deteriorates both objectives. A systematic investigation of the resulting sensitivity spectra reveals that the large-scale topology of the sensitivity fields is governed primarily by the spinning ratio, whereas the influence of the Reynolds number remains comparatively weak over large parts of the investigated operating envelope. The resulting sensitivity atlas provides practical design guidance for passive flow-control concepts and demonstrates that robust solutions may exist over moderate operating ranges.
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Chemical Physics · Cross-listed from cond-mat.stat-mech

The Uhlenbeck-Ford model in two dimensions: Reference system for fluid-phase free-energy calculations

Samuel Cajahuaringa, Rodolfo Paula Leite and Maurice de Koning

We investigate the Uhlenbeck-Ford (UF) model as a reference system for free-energy calculations in two-dimensional (2D) fluids. The 2D virial coefficients are computed exactly up to tenth order and combined with molecular simulation data to construct highly accurate numerical representations of the equation of state and the excess Helmholtz free energy. We then determine the phase diagram of the model in order to establish the thermodynamic stability limits of the fluid phase and thereby identify the range of applicability of the UF model as a fluid reference system. In the course of this analysis, we identify the solid, hexatic, and fluid phases, and show that the fluid remains the only thermodynamically stable phase, independent of density, for scaling parameters up to $p\lesssim 70$. Finally, we demonstrate the practical applicability of the 2D UF model as a reference system through thermodynamic integration calculations of the free energy of a two-dimensional Lennard-Jones fluid.
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Chemical Physics · Cross-listed from cond-mat.soft

Electrolytes confined between polarizable surfaces in slit pores with anisotropic permittivity tensor

Alexandre P. dos Santos and Yan Levin

We present a method that enables efficient simulations of coarse-grained electrolyte solutions inside a narrow slit pore with an anisotropic dielectric permittivity tensor. The electrostatic equations for polarizable surfaces are solved using a 2D periodic Green's function method combined with a slab-corrected anisotropic 3D Ewald summation. We apply this approach in Monte Carlo simulations to study 1:1 electrolytes confined between both polarizable dielectric and metallic surfaces. Our results show that dielectric anisotropy aggressively reshapes the double-layer structure. While a coordinate stretching transformation demonstrates that individual ion-image interactions depend strictly on the bulk-like parallel permittivity, the suppression of the perpendicular permittivity dramatically amplifies direct in-plane ion-ion correlations. Under strong anisotropy, these lateral correlations dominate the thermodynamics completely, rendering the structural profiles of mutually opposing dielectric and metallic boundaries practically identical by forcing the smaller cations directly into the contact plane of the larger anions.
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Optics

Nanoscale Photo-Thermal Interaction Theory

Pavel Shafirin, Pengli Feng, Huanbo Jiang et al. (+2 more)

Photothermal interaction in nanoscale systems has emerged as a versatile tool for selective heat deposition and robust tuning of optical responses with a myriad of applications from hyperthermal medical treatment to switching and routing of optical signals. However, to date a comprehensive theory of transient photothermal interaction is missing. Development of such a theory is particularly challenged when optical excitation duration is comparable to the timescale related of heat transport, an emergent regime with a mutually interconnected transient interplay of light abortion and heat-induced change of optical responses. Here, we develop a coupled mode theory that captures intricate transient photothermal phenomena in a wide range of nanoscale systems. We further reveal conditions for optimal energy deposition and heating. As an example scenario we apply our model to design metasurfaces with high contrast and efficient temperature and optical switching, demonstrating fast cooling to the rest state (within 40 ns). Beyond exquisite control of both transient temperature profiles and optical responses, our theory offers deep physical insights onto photo-thermal interaction at the nanoscale which can find use in variety of fields from medical treatment to active photonics and manufacturing.
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All authors Pavel Shafirin, Pengli Feng, Huanbo Jiang, Teri Odom, Artur Davoyan

Fluid Dynamics

Dynamics of fluid-fluid displacements in a model rough fracture beyond the quasistatic limit: A spectral approach

Mykyta Chubynsky, Jordi Ortin, Marco Dentz et al. (+1 more)

In fluid-fluid displacements in porous and fractured materials, viscous friction in microscale interfacial (Haines) jumps is intimately linked to macroscale energy dissipation and the associated pressure-saturation (retention) hysteresis. The mode of control (flow rate vs. pressure) and the driving rate (from quasistatic to finite) can substantially affect hysteresis. Despite the significance of hysteresis and dissipation in various technological and natural processes, a quantitative understanding of the link between the micro- and macro-scales, and of the impact of the inherent heterogeneity of porous media, remains elusive. An “imperfect” Hele-Shaw cell of variable aperture is a simple model system which allows to study all these in details. However, simulating fluid-fluid interface evolution in heterogeneous media, even in such a simple system, is computationally prohibitive, as multiple length and time scales need to be resolved simultaneously. We develop here a spectral computational approach for interface evolution and energy dissipation and validate it via comparison to computational fluid dynamics simulations and experiments. Computational efficiency is demonstrated by following interface evolution in a cell with a single “defect”, as well as with random roughness; in both, disparate length scales lead to nontrivial dynamics over many orders of magnitude in time. We also show theoretically that while viscous forces during Haines jumps fully account for the energy dissipated between consecutive metastable equilibria, viscosity does not change the total dissipated amount, merely the relaxation time. Our approach provides a stepping stone towards upscaling of fluid-fluid flows in porous media.
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All authors Mykyta Chubynsky, Jordi Ortin, Marco Dentz, Ran Holtzman

Plasma Physics · Cross-listed from astro-ph.SR

Spectral properties of mesoscale fluctuations in interplanetary coronal mass ejections

Anna-Sofia Jylhä, Simon Good and Emilia Kilpua

Magnetic fields in interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) often display a flux rope structure at large scales and a turbulent cascade of fluctuations at smaller scales. However, the nature of fluctuations at transition scales between the flux rope and turbulence - i.e., at mesoscales - has not been previously examined in detail. Mesoscale fluctuations of the magnetic field in 142 ICME intervals with clear flux rope signatures at 1 au have been examined using wavelet power spectra, with "mesoscale" defined here as spacecraft-frame frequencies $10^{-4}\ \text{Hz}<f_\mathrm{sc}< 10^{-3}\ \text{Hz}$, equivalent to timescales $2.8\ \text{hr}\gtrsim \tau \gtrsim 17\ \text{min}$. The spectra were found to be significantly less steep at mesoscales than at larger and smaller scales, with an average spectral slope close to $-1$ at these intermediate scales. The mesoscale fluctuations had relatively high cross helicity magnitudes and low compressibility, suggesting a significant degree of Alfvénicity, while also having more negative residual energy than the turbulent fluctuations found at smaller scales. Uncertainties in the spectral slope values at mesoscales were used to distinguish between spectra showing a relatively smooth power-law behavior or (less commonly) a more bumpy trend; the smoother power-law intervals had a balanced cross helicity distribution while the more bumpy spectra had a predominantly antisunward cross helicity. Slow wind intervals were similarly analyzed, and showed similar properties to the ICMEs. These results indicate that a spectrally narrow $1/f$ range is typically present in ICMEs at mesoscales.
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Geophysics

Critical slip distance on rough faults

Davide Zaccagnino and Giacomo Pozzi

The critical slip distance $D_c$ - the characteristic displacement over which a fault dynamically weakens from peak to residual strength - is a key parameter in earthquake rupture dynamics, controlling the nucleation process and slip evolution. Nevertheless, its physical origin and scaling remain debated: Dc is observed to span from micrometers in lab experiments to meters on natural faults, a scaling which cannot be explained within the standard friction framework, which interprets Dc as a material constant related to the contact population and provides no mechanism linking it to fault structure or event size. Here, we propose a first-principles derivation showing that Dc is a structural property of faults, governed by their self-affine roughness belonging to the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang universality class. We further demonstrate that rate-and-state friction emerges as the mean-field limit of the underlying fractal asperity dynamics and provide analytical formulas for its parameters: the state variable represents the population-averaged contact age, while the critical distance identifies the geometric unlocking of the dominant pinning bumps. Rate-and-state friction is therefore an emergent phenomenology whose mathematical form reflects the statistical mechanics of the underlying contact population, and its parameter values are strictly scale-dependent. This allows us to better characterize fault stability from a multiscale perspective; hence, we introduce a new concept named "fault retentivity”: the ability of a fault to arrest a nucleated rupture before it degenerates into run-away via the multiscale barrier population encoded in the fault structure. Retentivity determines whether a fault hosts only small earthquakes or can occasionally nucleate large ones. The key implication is that assessing fault stability requires to understand the hierarchical architecture of the fault system.
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