Papers

We investigate the different oscillatory modes, namely, complete synchronization, inphase synchronization, antiphase synchronization and desynchronization in a one-dimensional anisotropic Heisenberg ferromagnetic spin chain consisting of a large number of spins. By solving the associated Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert-Slonczewski equation for the spins we show the simultaneous existence of the above mentioned oscillatory modes in the spins. We observe that when the number of the spins is large the synchronization is lost between the spins; however, we identify that the field-like torque is able to induce synchronous oscillations of the spins in the chain again. We also confirm the agreement of the numerically obtained values of the frequency of the inphase synchronized oscillations with the analytically obtained values.

Interatomic potentials (IPs) enable large-scale atomistic simulations beyond the reach of first-principles methods, but their predictive reliability depends critically on the selection of training data, quantified uncertainty, and model expressiveness. Active learning (AL) provides a principled framework for constructing efficient and accurate IPs, yet most strategies reduce parameter uncertainty without explicitly accounting for the specific material properties being predicted. The information-matching (IM) approach addresses this limitation by requiring that the selected training data provide at least as much parameter space information as needed to achieve prescribed uncertainty targets for selected quantities of interest (QoIs). Here, we apply IM to develop bespoke IPs specifically tailored for predicting plastic strength in metals. Due to the high computational cost of simulating plastic strength, we employ an indirect IM strategy that targets inexpensive intermediate QoIs that correlate with strength. The IM method enables precise parameter constraints with minimal training data, yielding precise predictions for both the intermediate QoIs and plastic strength. Yet, model error remains a key limitation, and a post hoc uncertainty inflation correction provides a viable means to mitigate this limitation. These findings illustrate both the promise and limits of uncertainty-aware AL for predicting complex material properties.

A field theory in $3+1$ dimensions contains two fermions, two Abelian gauge fields, and one complex scalar, with dynamics fixed by a BRST symmetry. For a specific parameter configuration, the fermion mass matrix becomes non-Hermitian, and the propagators exhibit complex conjugate poles. We evaluate the one-loop fermion contribution to the two-point function of the composite operator $\phi^{\dagger}\phi$. Once the factor $i$ of the $e^{iS}$ normalization is removed, the contribution is real for real external momentum, which follows from the pairing of complex conjugate terms in the loop integral. The BRST construction of the action sets up a proof of renormalizability.

Particle physics models beyond the Standard Model often contain global symmetries to address various unanswered questions. However, a common criticism of theories based on global symmetries is that such symmetries are generally expected to be explicitly violated by gravitational effects at the Planck scale. In the case of a global $U(1)$ symmetry, this explicit breaking can reduce the symmetry to a discrete subgroup of $U(1)$, leading to the formation of cosmic strings attached to multiple domain walls (DWs). These DWs are usually cosmologically problematic, since their slow scaling behavior can eventually dominate the energy density of the Universe, giving rise to the well-known cosmological DW problem, which is strongly constrained by Big Bang Nucleosynthesis. In this work, we propose a mechanism for the annihilation of these DWs. If a fermion coupled to the symmetry-breaking scalar has a small bare mass, radiative corrections generate a temperature-dependent vacuum bias that drives DW collapse. As an example, we consider a majoron model with right-handed neutrinos, where gravity-induced operators produce a string-wall network. We show that a real bare Majorana mass is sufficient to induce complete DW annihilation for even-dimensional gravity-induced operators, whereas odd-dimensional operators require a complex bare Majorana mass whose phase lifts the residual vacuum degeneracy, enabling complete annihilation.

We study charge transport in a magnetized relativistic plasma using kinetic theory within the relaxation-time approximation. By exactly solving the linearized Boltzmann equation in a uniform magnetic field, we obtain an analytic solution for the distribution function in terms of Bessel functions. Using this solution, we compute the full set of retarded current-current correlators and verify the Ward identities. In the hydrodynamic limit, we extract the charge diffusion modes, demonstrating that the transverse diffusion coefficient is strongly suppressed by the magnetic field, scaling as $1/B_0^2$ in the strong-field regime, while the longitudinal diffusion remains unaffected. Furthermore, we analyze the non-hydrodynamic branch cuts in the complex frequency plane, determining their kinematic thresholds and identifying the underlying wave-particle interactions as longitudinal Landau damping and transverse cyclotron damping.

Eukaryotic DNA replication must remain robust under thermal, chemical, and genotoxic stress despite large fluctuations in replication dynamics. Here, we develop a lattice-based stochastic Monte Carlo framework for whole-genome replication in Saccharomyces cerevisiae at single base-pair resolution, incorporating probabilistic origin firing, replication fork-speed distributions, and a time-dependent limiting factor that governs the availability of cellular replication resources. The model is benchmarked quantitatively against experimental replication profiles before being applied to stress conditions, and reproduces diverse replication stress responses using only two effective parameters. Importantly, the analysis reveals that replication fork-speed heterogeneity underlies the emergence of Erlang-distributed S-phase durations and rare, anomalously prolonged replication events observed experimentally in Escherichia coli and human cell lines, while predicting similar behavior in S. cerevisiae. The framework further predicts non-monotonic thermal behavior, power-law scaling under hydroxyurea stress, and total replication-time dynamics under diverse genotoxic conditions.

This paper investigates the Markovian dynamics of open two-state quantum systems defined over the real numbers (rebits). Two main objectives are pursued. First, we present a comprehensive classification of Markovian rebit quantum channels, i.e. one-parameter semigroups of completely positive, trace-preserving (CPTP) maps acting on the rebit state space. We show that a full characterisation of their action can be achieved and that describing these channels as solutions of the GKSL equation allows us to explicitly identify the associated Lindblad generators and conditions for complete positivity. Second, we present an original application of this classification to colour perception. Using a recent model in which perceived colours arise from Lüders measurements on the rebit state space, we show how chromatic distortion induced by a non-neutral illuminant can be modelled by a Markovian rebit channel that progressively diminishes colour distinguishability. Other types of channels could be used to study colour vision deficiencies. These phenomena are illustrated by simulations on digital images, highlighting the relevance of rebit Markovian dynamics in modelling colour vision.

Pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe) interacting with the host supernova remnants (SNRs) can enter the reverberation phase in which reverse-shock-driven compression amplifies the magnetic field and rapidly reprocesses particles, sometimes producing "superefficiency", where the radiative output in a given frequency band exceeds the pulsar's instantaneous spin-down power. We investigate the prevalence of this phenomenon in the Galactic population by modeling PWNe with the hybrid TIDE+L framework, which self-consistently follows dynamical evolution, particle spectra, and emission from radio to PeV energies. We track superefficiency across frequency bands and evolutionary stages, analyzing both individual objects and ensemble properties, including compression-resolved samples and population spectral energy distributions. Superefficiency is most common in the far-infrared, but emerges across frequencies and evolutionary phases. It is enhanced in systems where accumulated low-energy electrons radiate in magnetically amplified nebulae. We predict substantially more superefficient sources than a purely thin-shell model would, with differences ranging from factors of a few in FIR and GeV bands to more than an order of magnitude in several optical/UV/X-ray bands.

We analytically evaluate the efficiency of continuous dynamical decoupling (CDD) to curb decoherence in generic qubit setups where diverse sources of noise can be present. Previous theoretical approaches to CDD have mainly focused on its potential to cope with longitudinal fluctuations. Here, the basic scenario tackled with CDD is generalized. Apart from dealing with pure dephasing induced by diagonal noise, we consider the impact of transverse fluctuations, usually present in the practical arrangements. In particular, the implications of anisotropic noisy inputs are studied. Additionally, we analyze the role of the fluctuations in the dressing of the qubit by the CDD field of control: since the driving field is usually switched on through linear ramps of its characteristic parameters, the associated dressing of the original states can be described in terms of noisy Landau-Zener transitions. In our approach, based on a sequence of unitary transformations, the noise entering the system is cast into effective stochastic terms whose spectral characteristics are dependent on the driving parameters. This description allows the design of strategies to mitigate the impact of the fluctuations using controlled changes in the effective-noise properties. Significant robustness of CDD against the generalization of the basic scenario can be achieved through an appropriate choice of the parameters of control.

Conjugated carbon rings are fundamental skeletons of organic functional materials, and their selective formation is of paramount importance in molecular materials engineering. However, steering the formation and 2D crystallization of conjugated carbon rings on the surface with high chemo- and stereoselectivities remains a great challenge. Here, we report a highly chemoselective [1+1+1+1] cycloaddition of isocyanides on the Au(111) surface, which affords the stereospecific tetraaza[4]radialene products and further enables their long-range-ordered 2D crystallization via enantioselective molecular recognition. Using the progressive annealing method, we found that at room temperature, isocyanides undergo a coordination reaction with Au adatoms to form two-fold symmetric isocyanide-Au-isocyanide complexes. In contrast, gradually increasing the annealing temperature induces the transformation of these complexes and subsequent covalent polymerization, leading to the selective generation of tetraaza[4]radialenes with homotactic configurations. The tetraaza[4]radialenes further assemble into 2D homochiral molecular crystals through enantioselective molecular recognition driven by multiple C-H – Cl hydrogen-bonding interactions. By combining scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy and non-contact atomic force microscopy, we determined the atomic structure and molecular orbitals of tetraaza[4]radialene, confirming that its four-membered ring adopts a planar geometry with a localized lowest unoccupied molecular orbital. Density functional theory calculations suggest that the [1+1+1+1] cycloaddition process involves stepwise formation of C-C bonds and its high selectivity arises from the spatial steric hindrance. Our findings provide new insights into the selective formation of conjugated rings on surfaces and have implications for engineering 2D homochiral molecular crystallization.

We present a Gaussian-process (GP) surrogate model for the normal-incidence reflectance spectrum of one-dimensional GaAs/Al$_{0.3}$Ga$_{0.7}$ distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs). A Latin-hypercube dataset of 1500 transfer-matrix-method (TMM) simulations is used to train and evaluate the model. Principal component analysis reduces the spectral output to 26 components; one GP is fitted per component. On a held-out test set the GP achieves RMSE=0.085 and $R^2=0.276$, while a Random Forest baseline reaches RMSE=0.065 and $R^2=0.572$. GP inference is 4.4 ms per spectrum compared with ~308 ms for TMM, yielding a ~70x speedup. Uncertainty calibration shows that the GP 95% prediction band covers 98.9% of test residuals. These results establish a rapid surrogate for DBR design-space exploration.

We present high-resolution X-ray spectroscopic observations of the cool-core galaxy cluster Abell~1795 obtained with XRISM/Resolve. The cluster was observed with two deep pointings: a 225 ks central exposure and a 113 ks northern exposure, extending to a projected radius of 320 kpc from the cluster center. Single-temperature fits reveal a clear radial gradient in the line-of-sight velocity dispersion, decreasing from 114 $\pm$ 11 km/s in the core to 68 $\pm$ 39 km/s at 320 kpc. The bulk velocities in the central regions are very low (22 $\pm$ 12 and 7 $\pm$ 21 km/s), indicating no significant relative motion between the brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) and the intracluster medium (ICM). Given that the central region includes the southward extending cool gas tail, this result disfavors the “cooling-wake” scenario and instead supports an AGN-uplift origin. We find that the nonthermal pressure fraction decreases with radius, from $P_{\rm NT}/P_{\rm T}\approx2\%$ in the core to $\sim0.6\%$ at 330 kpc, suggesting that the northern ICM of A1795 is largely quiescent. Two-temperature and split energy-band (2–4 keV and 6–7 keV) fits identify two gas phases within the central $<1.5'$ region, providing strong evidence for multiphase gas in the cluster core. We detect a $\sim14\%$ resonant suppression of the optically thick Fe XXV $w$ line in the center. Additionally, we observe a significant excess in the Fe XXV $y$ line-flux relative to models. Accounting for uncertainties in the atomic data reduces this discrepancy, suggesting that atomic data uncertainties may contribute to the observed residual flux.

Weyl conformal geometry is the natural underlying geometry of gauge theories of Weyl group (of dilatations and Poincaré symmetry), such as Weyl quadratic gravity and its generalisation, Weyl-Dirac-Born-Infeld action (WDBI). These are local, Weyl-anomaly free (quantum) gauge theories of gravity. We describe Weyl gauge symmetry from a more familiar Riemannian view of Weyl gauge invariant dressed fields by the Wilson line of dilatations. Weyl geometry can then be seen as Riemannian geometry of non-local dressed metric ($g_{\mu\nu}^*$), at the "cost" of (gauge-induced) non-commutativity in the UV, due to Wilson line. Then Weyl quadratic gravity and WDBI actions of Weyl geometry, which are Weyl gauge invariant in $d$ dimensions, have the same expression in Riemannian geometry defined by $g^*_{\mu\nu}$. This is a non-local map and dual description of the two geometries and actions in the symmetric phase. Unlike for the metric, the equation of motion of Weyl gauge field ($\omega_\mu$) does not commute with the dressing of the metric. Quantum non-locality, in particular entanglement, and non-commutativity are (gauge-invariant) physical artefacts of "translating" (local) Weyl geometry and Weyl gauge covariance into our real-world Riemannian geometry of Weyl gauge invariant observables, and they are evidence of Weyl gauge symmetry. At lower energies, $\omega_\mu$ becomes massive, can decouple and Einstein-Hilbert action and commutativity are recovered. The case of a light $\omega_\mu$ is also discussed.

We study a disorder-free variant of the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model with dissipation within the Gorini-Kossakowski-Sudarshan-Lindblad formalism. By utilizing the integrability of the clean SYK model, we derive an exact solution in a spectrum-resolved form, i.e., the eigenvalues and corresponding projection superoperators of the Liouvillian for arbitrary system size $N$. We determine the scaling of the gap that governs the long-time decay of the two-point correlation functions. Importantly, the gap does not vanish in the dissipationless limit when the thermodynamic limit is taken first, despite the integrability of the model. This phenomenon, known as anomalous relaxation, suggests a possible connection with chaotic dynamics and quantum Ruelle-Pollicott resonances. We also find several spectral features, such as transitions in the Liouvillian spectrum from complex to real eigenvalues with increasing dissipation strength, as well as the convergence of the dissipative form factor to the spectral form factor in the dissipationless limit. These findings indicate that the present model offers a useful platform for exploring nontrivial open dynamics of many-body quantum systems.

The universal solution of the Korteweg-de Vries equation (KdV) introduced by Gurevich and Pitaevskii in order to describe the onset of dispersive shock waves is known to also obey the self-similar reduction of the next member in the KdV hierarchy. We show that, if this common solution obeys some lower order partial differential equation, its differential order must be one, and we provide its local representation as a converging Laurent series depending on both space and time.

We report progress on the ongoing development of microcalorimeter detector technology for the Hot Universe Baryon Surveyor (HUBS) mission. We show the results from testing and characterizing selected pixels in a 10$\times$10 microcalorimeter array. The microcalorimeter is based on a Mo/Cu transition-edge sensor (TES) coupled to an Au absorber. To better understand the properties of the devices, we have first measured the energy resolution of a selected pixel in a TES array of the same design with a pulsed laser system that produces 3 eV photons, and found that individual photon peaks are easily resolved with the TES, indicating good performance. We have then exposed the microcalorimeter array to radiation from a $^{55}$Fe source, and found that the pixels tested show energy resolutions as good as 3.7$\pm$0.1 eV at 5.9 keV. The energy resolution is found to vary monotonically with the bias point for all the devices, showing little evidence for the presence of the so-called excess noise. This is consistent with the results from modeling the measured noise spectrum. The effects of thermal crosstalk are evident, leading to the degradation of energy resolution.

We present the first unified study of Earth matter-density stratification and Planck-scale quantum-gravity effects in long-baseline neutrino oscillations, treating both as correlated systematic uncertainties within a full three-flavor framework. Neutrino propagation is computed using matrix exponentiation with spatially resolved Preliminary Reference Earth Model (PREM) density profiles, allowing a quantitative assessment of matter-profile effects beyond the constant-density approximation. We find that the resulting bias in the reconstructed CP-violating phase remains below 0.3{\deg} for baselines (L \lesssim 5000) km, but increases to 17.8{\deg} at (L=7000) km and 172.2{\deg} at (L=12000) km, leading to a potential sign reversal of the inferred CP violation. We further incorporate Planck-scale corrections through the unique gauge-invariant dimension-5 operator of the Standard Model effective field theory. For quasi-degenerate neutrino masses ((m \sim 2) eV), the solar mass-squared splitting receives a correction of order ((1.0 \pm 0.5)\times10^{-5},\mathrm{eV}^2), while the atmospheric splitting remains essentially unchanged. Most importantly, we identify a previously unexplored degeneracy regime in which Planck-scale perturbations can partially compensate matter-induced biases. Around (L\approx7000) km, specific Majorana phases reduce the combined bias by about 30%, demonstrating that the two effects cannot be treated independently. These results highlight the necessity of propagating both Earth-density and quantum-gravity uncertainties as correlated systematics in precision measurements of leptonic CP violation.

Objective: To determine whether free-breathing golden-angle radial sparse parallel (GRASP) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can represent respiratory-induced organ motion in patients with liver malignancies undergoing stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT). Methods: A retrospective analysis of 54 patients undergoing liver SBRT was conducted. Four-dimensional computed tomography (4D-CT), the gold standard for motion assessment, was used to characterize liver tumor motion. Image fusion was performed between free-breathing GRASP MRI and each respiratory phase of 4D-CT using an in-house registration program, with fusion quality quantified by maximum cross-correlation coefficient (MCC). Validation involved two blinded radiation oncologists: one repeated image fusion using the Eclipse-built-in module, while the other evaluated clinical relevance on a five-point scale. Results: The 50% respiratory phase of 4D-CT achieved the highest fusion quality with GRASP MRI, showing no significant differences compared to the 30% (P = 0.106), 40% (P = 0.632), and 60% (P = 0.792) phases. In contrast, fusion quality declined significantly beyond the mid-respiratory window (30%-60%), with poor fusion at the 0%, 10%, 20%, 80%, and 90% phases (P < 0.001). Validation by radiation oncologists corroborated these findings, with the 50% phase achieving the highest score. Subjective scores remained above 4 for phases 30%-70%, while scores for the remaining phases fell below 4. Conclusion: Free-breathing GRASP MRI cannot independently represent organ motion across all respiratory phases; it accurately characterizes motion only within the mid-respiratory phases (30%-60%), with optimal performance at the 50% phase. When used as a delineation standard in liver SBRT, GRASP MRI should be combined with 4D-CT or dynamic imaging modalities to ensure comprehensive motion assessment and accurate target volume definition.

In this work, we propose an operator-splitting variational quantum algorithm, termed Dirac-sVQA, for simulating the nonlinear Dirac equation (NLDE). The main difficulty arises from the state-dependent nonlinear interaction, its time-discrete update depends explicitly on the intermediate spinor state and, in general, cannot be implemented as a fixed state-independent unitary circuit. To address this difficulty, we decompose the NLDE evolution into a structured linear Dirac substep and a nonlinear variational correction. The linear substep is implemented by a spinor-Fourier Dirac propagator on a joint position-spin register, preserving the spin-momentum coupling and mass-induced spin evolution of the Dirac operator. The nonlinear correction is reformulated as a measurement-based variational update through a small set of overlap, self-channel, and cross-channel observables. We provide the corresponding quantum circuits and derive measurement-aware resource and complexity estimates. Numerical experiments in several nonlinear regimes show that Dirac-sVQA accurately captures both the total density and the componentwise spinor dynamics, agrees well with classical Fourier pseudospectral splitting solutions, and exhibits stable error behavior over time. These results provide numerical evidence for the feasibility of operator-splitting variational quantum simulation for nonlinear relativistic wave equations.

We investigate the spectral energy dynamics of turbulent flows with variable viscosity using direct numerical simulation of homogeneous isotropic turbulence of generalised Newtonian fluids described by the Carreau constitutive model, covering both shear-thinning and shear-thickening regimes. The spectral evolution equations for the variable viscosity Navier-Stokes system show that the viscous term becomes nonlinear and gives rise to a convolution product in spectral space, formally analogous to that of the convective term. Unlike the constant viscosity case, where it acts as a purely local dissipation mechanism, the variable viscosity term carries both conservative (transfer) and non-conservative (dissipation) contributions entangled in the convolution product. We present novel computations of the viscous \mtm coupling $\hat{V}(\k, \kP)$, which does not satisfy a detailed conservation property analogous to that of the convective term. The viscous coupling maps reveal two distinct spectral regions: a sign-definite non-conservative region near $\kP \approx \bm{0}$, and a transfer-like dipole near $\kP \approx \k$ in shear-thickening fluids. The dipole satisfies the approximate antisymmetry $\hat{V}(\k, \kP) \approx -\hat{V}(\kP, \k)$, which is the defining signature of a conservative energy transfer. This demonstrates that energy transfer across scales, a role traditionally attributed exclusively to the convective nonlinearity, can arise from any nonlinear term in the momentum equation. The viscous energy transfer participates in the forward cascade alongside the convective transfer, eventually taking over the latter in the dissipation range. Its presence is connected to the emergence of power-law spectral decay replacing the classical exponential cutoff in shear-thickening fluids.

On four-dimensional (pseudo-)Riemannian manifolds $\mathcal{M}$ the curvature tensor (viewed as an endomorphism on 2-forms) admits a chiral $6 \times 6$ matrix representation which decomposes into four $3 \times 3$ blocks. $\mathcal{M}$ is Einstein if and only if the off-diagonal blocks vanish. If the manifold is a warped product $\mathcal{M} = F \times_f B$, then there exists an alternative matrix representation relative to the decomposition of the 2-forms into spaces induced by the exterior algebra on both the base and the fiber. These two representations are not independent and a similarity transformation can be found between them. We construct these matrices and associated transformations for $1+3$, $2+2$ and $3+1$ warped products, giving classifications for the Einstein limits from this algebraic perspective. Using this, one can easily Petrov classify the Einstein warped products for each case considered: $3+1$ are generically type-\RNum{1}, $2+2$ are type-D while $1+3$ are constrained to be type-O. In the closed Riemannian case, there are a number of topological restrictions on these manifolds that we discuss: in the half-conformally flat limit, each of these Einstein warped products must be flat.

Scaling extreme ultraviolet (EUV) source power for next-generation lithography demands higher conversion efficiency (CE) at reduced per-pulse energies. We demonstrated a 40% CE enhancement by simultaneous dual-beam irradiation of a planar Sn target with a 2090-nm, 20-ns Ho:YAG laser. Single-beam irradiation at 40 mJ yielded an EUV CE of 2.6%; splitting the same total energy equally into two beams of 20 mJ each - at identical peak intensity - raised the EUV CE to 3.6%, which was the highest reported for 2-{\mu}m-driven laser-produced plasma sources. The EUV source size (60-70 {\mu}m) and energetic-ion spectra were nearly identical across both configurations, confirming comparable plasma conditions. Because the scheme requires only passive beam splitting and scales readily to three or more beams, it offers a practical route toward multi-kW-class, energy-efficient EUV sources for high-NA and hyper-NA lithography.

The ALICE experiment will replace its three innermost tracking layers with the Inner Tracking System 3 (ITS3) during LHC Long Shutdown 3. This upgrade introduces the first fully cylindrical, wafer-scale silicon vertex detector, utilising Monolithic Active Pixel Sensors (MAPS) fabricated in a 65nm CMOS process. By thinning sensors to 50$\mu$m and bending them to radii as small as 19mm, the design achieves a self-supporting structure that eliminates traditional support material. Wafer-scale stitching enables 27cm-long seamless sensors with integrated power and signal distribution, removing the need for flexible printed circuits within the active volume. These innovations, combined with a move from water to air cooling, reduce the material budget to less than 0.09%X$_0$ per layer. The R&D program has been validated through full-scale prototypes (MOSS, MOST), which demonstrated stitching feasibility, high yield, and radiation hardness. Engineering models confirmed the feasibility of air-convection cooling, indicating effective thermal management and structural stability. This contribution summarises the key advances in stitched sensor development, mechanical integration, and the path toward the final qualification model.

The large number of existing nuclear species and the long list of their possible different exotic properties, such as presence of a halo (A), Borromean structure (B), clusterisation (C) and others, calls for a classification scheme that is universal, concise, categorical, informative, accessible and easily extensible. We provide here a first reasoned attempt to fill this gap with an abridged naming scheme, called $ABC$, based on definitions and properties that characterise modern nuclear physics. We limit our chart to light isotopes with $Z\le 10$ where most of these features appear presently.

X-ray thermally emitting isolated neutron stars (XINSs) are a rare population that provides insights into neutron star cooling, magnetic-field evolution, and Galactic demographics. Using more than two decades of observations from the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton Observatory, we searched the 4XMM-DR9 and 4XMM-DR12 catalogues for absorbed XINS candidates down to a flux of $10^{-14}$ erg cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ in the 0.5–1 keV band. Candidates were selected based on soft X-ray spectra and the absence of catalogued optical, ultraviolet, or infrared counterparts. Follow-up observations with XMM-Newton and FAST were complemented by data from the SRG/eROSITA All-Sky Survey, Chandra, and optical surveys. Of ten sources analysed, five are compelling XINS candidates, one is the known XINS 4XMM J022141.5-735632, two are extragalactic contaminants, and two remain ambiguous because of limited photon statistics. The five candidates exhibit soft ($kT\sim80-100$ eV), moderately absorbed, and stable X-ray emission consistent with distant XINSs. They are located primarily in the Galactic plane, with possible associations at distances of $\sim$1.8 and $\sim$6 kpc. Population-synthesis simulations predict $20\pm5$ XINSs within the 4XMM-DR12 footprint, of which $6^{+2}_{-3}$ exceed our flux threshold, consistent with the observed sample if additional candidates are confirmed. The model further predicts that $\sim$70% of the population remains below the detection threshold. Deep optical and additional X-ray observations are required to establish the nature of the candidates. Future missions such as NewAthena will enable more detailed studies of these distant populations and improve constraints on the Galactic XINS population.

We examine three degenerate spacetime configurations with wormhole topology, obtained via branching coordinate transformations of the Rindler, Minkowski, and Schwarzschild vacuum metrics.These configurations are, respectively, a Rindler wormhole with a planar throat, and the Klinkhamer and Schwarzschild Klinkhamer wormholes with spherical throats. Within the framework of the Einstein Palatini Cartan formulation, we demonstrate that these degenerate configurations are matter free. In this regard, they differ fundamentally from their nondegenerate wormhole counterparts in the thin shell model, which require exotic matter. Nevertheless, the degenerate configurations considered here exhibit distinct physical manifestations, ranging from purely topological structures to genuine gravitational effects. Furthermore, in all three examples, we demonstrate the absence of a limiting transition from the non-degenerate spacetime to the matter free degenerate configuration. This suggests that degenerate geometries constitute an independent sector of the configuration space of general relativity.

Hard-constraint decision systems usually veto infeasible candidates. This is too rigid when the system can act: if a known affordable repair would make an infeasible candidate feasible and valuable, rejection is a false veto rather than a ranking error. We introduce Q-RACL (Quantum Repair-Augmented Constraint Learning), a repair-before-veto framework that first defines RACL decision semantics and then identifies the single inference link where quantum feature access can be load-bearing. RACL accepts a candidate when a sequential repair plan restores feasibility and preference; otherwise it returns structured rejection credit. The hard link is repair-feasibility inference: which repair class restores feasibility from an observed candidate and context. We construct a discrete-logarithm-hidden RACL family where the repair class is a shifted interval rule in the latent exponent a = log_g(x), while the learner observes only x = g^a mod p. Under standard DLP-based learning separation, this coordinate is inaccessible to efficient raw-input classical policies but accessible to a quantum agent through Shor/Fourier structure. Across six primes and ten seeds, bounded raw-input classical policies and a wrong raw-Fourier encoding remain near chance, whereas the Q-DLP policy keeps false-veto rate below 1.1%, wins all paired seeds, and yields QNI_cond = 0.9777 to 0.9972. A classical DLog oracle matches it, isolating feature access rather than classifier capacity. Thus quantum AI is not added as a generic model upgrade; for this DLP-hidden repair family, it supplies the missing feature that closes the repair-before-veto loop.

Heavy transition metal compounds with strong spin-orbit coupling appeared as a platform for $d$-electron multipolar physics. We report the electronic, magnetic, and structural properties of antifluorite-type tungsten chloride A$_2$WCl$_6$ (A = Cs, Rb, and K), comprising a face-centered cubic lattice of W$^{4+}$ ions. The 5$d^2$ configuration of W$^{4+}$ ions in a cubic environment yields a spin-orbit-entangled $J$ = 2 state, which has been discussed to give rise to multipolar ordering such as charge quadrupolar or magnetic octupolar ordering. We found that K$_2$WCl$_6$ undergoes a cubic-to-tetragonal structural transition which lifts the degeneracy of the $J$ = 2 state, leading to a non-magnetic singlet ground state. By contrast, Rb$_2$WCl$_6$ and Cs$_2$WCl$_6$ show no signs of phase transition and remain non-magnetic down to the lowest temperature measured. At low temperatures, signatures of weak structural anomalies were revealed, which may point to the presence of local distortions of the WCl$_6$ octahedra. We argue that the subtle structural distortion arises from the local quadrupolar component of the $J$ = 2 state but the frustrated quadrupolar interaction, together with chemical disorder, inhibits the formation of long-range quadrupolar ordering.

We theoretically investigate the DC conductivity of two-dimensional tilted Dirac systems subject to short- and long-range impurity scattering. Using the Kubo formalism, we systematically study transport across the subcritical (Type I), critical, and overcritical (Type II) tilt regimes. In the subcritical phase, short-range impurities yield a frequency-independent conductivity that decreases monotonically with tilt. Conversely, long-range Coulomb scattering results in a strongly energy-dependent conductivity governed by a tilt-independent scattering rate. At the Lifshitz transition ($t = 1$), the transport signatures of these impurities diverge fundamentally: the van Hove singularity in the density of states induces a localized conductivity dip for short-range disorder, but a pronounced macroscopic peak for Coulomb impurities. In the overcritical regime, an ultraviolet momentum cutoff is required to regularize the open Fermi surface, leading to distinct behaviors for each impurity type. Notably, the conductivity perpendicular to the tilt direction ($\sigma_{xx}$) exhibits a cutoff-dependent, non-monotonic peak near $t = \sqrt{2}$ for short-range defects, while it decays monotonically with increasing tilt for long-range scattering. For both potentials, the conductivity along the tilt axis ($\sigma_{yy}$) increases without bound, revealing extreme transport anisotropy. For long-range impurities, the energy dependence of the conductivity becomes nearly quadratic and linear for Type I and II, respectively. Furthermore, vertex corrections vanish identically at the Lifshitz transition for both impurity types. Finally, we provide a unified geometric framework for these phenomena, establishing the tilt parameter as a powerful knob for engineering macroscopic transport in Dirac materials.

Metastable phases (MPs) are energetically unfavorable states typically suppressed in equilibrium phase diagrams. Rather than remaining ”hidden”, we show that they exist in the complex plane of thermal fields, as regions delineated by Lee-Yang zeros (LYZs). We demonstrate this numerically in a toy model with a tunable density of states featuring three Gaussian peaks and in a more realistic periodically driven system. In both cases, as artificial parameters or drive amplitudes increase, the LYZs bounding the MP approach the real axis and split into separated branches, signaling the emergence and stabilization of the MP within the enlarged gap between two adjacent stable phases. In the driven system, the imaginary part of LYZs correlates with drive strength, linking Lee-Yang theory to terahertz matter manipulation. These findings provide a scheme to describe MPs in phase diagram analysis. By viewing periodic drives as complex thermal fields, it also offers a new perspective for understanding and engineering non-equilibrium collective states.