Papers

The advent of large pretrained foundation models for computer vision has significantly improved the efficiency of visual data interpretation. The Segment Anything Model (SAM), in particular, offers powerful zero shot segmentation capabilities through prompt based interaction, thus making it a promising tool for seismic interpretation. However, most existing applications of SAM rely on fine tuning for specific geological targets, which requires extensive labeled data, incurs high computational cost, and often compromises the model's generalization capability. In this study, we introduce a principled framework for zero shot adaptation of foundation models to seismic data. The framework is built on two key components: (1) aligning seismic attributes and visualization choices (e.g., colormaps) with the geological target of interest, and (2) employing a hybrid prompting strategy that combines sparse user defined point prompts with dense mask prompts derived from SAM's internal feature activations. We systematically evaluate this framework across multiple geological targets, datasets, prompt configurations, and seismic attribute representations. Our results demonstrate that geologic target aware selection of seismic attributes and colormaps, combined with hybrid prompting, enhances the separability of geological features and improves boundary delineation and segmentation accuracy relative to point based prompting alone. Our findings show that, when these components are jointly applied, SAM can achieve competitive segmentation performance in a fully zero shot setting, thereby eliminating the need to retrain SAM for each geologic feature. This work establishes a practical and scalable pathway to leverage foundation models in seismic interpretation, reducing reliance on labeled data while preserving model generality.

We study the ringdown of the regular Jusufi-Singleton black hole, whose nonsingular core is controlled by a zero-point length arising from a non-local, T-duality-inspired gravitational model. Scalar, electromagnetic and Dirac perturbations are considered. The zero-point-length parameter raises the effective scattering barrier and produces a systematic increase of the oscillation frequencies, while also making the damping faster over most of the parameter range. High-order WKB results are checked against time-domain integration and show very good agreement for the dominant modes. We also compute excitation factors, which characterize the source-independent strength of the quasinormal-mode poles and show a smooth dependence on the new length scale.

The Zagros Orogenic Belt, formed by the Arabian-Eurasia collision, is a highly active collision zone hosting a large portion of Iran's seismicity. In this study, the IRSC catalog (2006-2024) was used to construct a homogeneous seismic dataset for the Zagros Belt. We analyzed the spatial and depth distribution of seismicity together with key parameters: b-value, fractal dimension (Dc-value), and differential stress (sigma1 - sigma3) to evaluate stress variations, fault clustering, and seismic hazard. The overall b-value of 0.81 +/- 0.01 indicates an elevated stress state, with persistently low b-value anomalies (0.4-0.7) systematically aligned along major fault zones (Mountain Front Fault, High Zagros Fault, and Main Zagros Reverse Fault). Cross-sectional analyses show that these low b-values (<0.6) are concentrated within the upper ~10 km of the crust, pointing to the shallow brittle layer as the primary zone of stress concentration. The correlation fractal dimension (Dc) ranges from 1.0 to 2.05, with high values (>=1.5) spatially coinciding with low b-value zones, reflecting intense deformation partitioning and structural complexity. This spatial complexity decreases with depth, where lower Dc-values show seismicity localizing onto simpler, discrete planes. Differential stress varies between 100 and 520 MPa (predominantly >=520 MPa) and is strongly anti-correlated with b-value, confirming that low b-values trace critically loaded fault segments. The spatial and depth convergence of these independent parameters confirms that seismic hazard is localized along shallow, highly stressed, and structurally complex fault segments capable of generating future moderate-to-large events. These findings highlight the need for targeted monitoring and hazard mitigation across the region.

We study spin-dependent transport in a hybrid magnetic system, where a non-magnetic (NM) wire is coupled to a side-attached antiferromagnetic (AFM) mesoscopic ring, placed between two non-magnetic electrodes subject to an in-plane electric field oriented perpendicular to the NM wire. The system is described within a tight-binding (TB) framework, and transport properties are computed using the non-equilibrium Green's function (NEGF) formalism. We consider two junction configurations distinguished by the ring-wire coupling: a single-coupled junction and a double-coupled junction. In the single-coupled configuration, the coupling geometry alone breaks the spin symmetry, yielding a finite spin polarization (SP) even without any external field. The in-plane electric field further enhances the symmetry breaking in both configurations, serving as an efficient tuning parameter that drives the SP nearly $100\%$ in the low-bias region. In the double-coupled configuration, spin symmetry is preserved in the absence of the external field, and the electric field acts as a sole source of symmetry breaking, producing a large SP. Finite temperature effects and different system sizes are examined, confirming the robustness of the observed features. To validate the findings over a wide parameter space, we considered different sets of parameters and found that the key signatures remain unchanged. Our results demonstrate that such hybrid structures are promising candidates for realizing an externally controllable spintronic device in low-dimensional systems.

Kagome oxides provide a fertile platform for exploring exotic electronic states arising from geometrical frustration and characteristic band topology. Here, we report the synthesis of a 5d transition-metal kagome oxide, Nd4Os3ZnO14, obtained via high-temperature, high-pressure hydrothermal synthesis. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction reveals a two-dimensional kagome network formed by corner-sharing OsO6 octahedra, with a nominal osmium valence of +4.67. In-plane resistivity and hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements indicate that the semimetallic electronic structure at room temperature evolves into a semiconducting ground state upon cooling, accompanied by a pronounced enhancement of hole mobility. Magnetic susceptibility measurements demonstrate localized Nd3+ moments without long-range magnetic order down to 2 K. The coexistence of a metallic kagome plane, strong spin-orbit coupling inherent to 5d electrons, and rare-earth magnetism establishes Nd4Os3ZnO14 as a promising platform for investigating correlated electron phenomena in kagome oxides within the itinerant regime.

This study investigates the sensitivity of the CEPC to CKM matrix elements $|V_{ij}|$ in semileptonic $W$-pair decays using simulated $e^+e^- \to W^+W^- \to \mu\nu \bar{q}q^\prime$ samples corresponding to $21.6\,\mathrm{ab}^{-1}$ at $\sqrt{s}=240\,\mathrm{GeV}$, with $|V_{ub}|$ excluded because of its negligible contribution. The projected statistical precisions reach $0.59\,\%$ for $|V_{cb}|$ and $0.01\,\%$ for $|V_{cs}|$, indicating that the CEPC can provide direct, high-precision, and largely model-independent determinations of CKM matrix elements from hadronic $W$ decays. The main sources of systematic uncertainty are discussed, and further improvements are expected from both experimental and theoretical developments, including dedicated data-driven calibrations of detector response and jet flavor tagging performance, as well as more precise higher-order calculations of the relevant electroweak and QCD corrections. Such measurements would provide stringent consistency tests of the Standard Model charged-current flavor structure and offer sensitivity to possible new physics effects through deviations from the Standard Model expectations.

Protecting quantum coherence against realistic environmental noise remains one of the fundamental obstacles to scalable quantum technologies. We develop a noise-adaptive dynamical decoupling framework that combines analytical open-quantum-system modeling with machine-learning-based forecasting for a qubit interacting with random telegraph noise. Unlike conventional dynamical decoupling protocols based on fixed pulse schedules, the proposed approach continuously forecasts short-time coherence evolution and adaptively applies control pulses according to the instantaneous noise dynamics. We investigate stationary and non-stationary environments spanning both Markovian and non-Markovian regimes. Numerical simulations demonstrate that the machine-learning-assisted adaptive control strategy substantially outperforms conventional periodic dynamical decoupling while using a comparable number of control pulses. The improvement becomes particularly pronounced in non-Markovian and non-stationary regimes, where memory effects, coherence revivals, and temporally evolving noise strongly limit the effectiveness of static pulse protocols. These results establish predictive machine-learning-assisted dynamical decoupling as a promising and scalable framework for adaptive quantum control in realistic noisy quantum devices.

Piston-driven shock waves in dusty plasma monolayers have been observed experimentally and studied using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. However, previous MD simulations were restricted to strictly two-dimensional geometries with periodic or reflecting boundaries and therefore could not capture the out-of-plane buckling of microparticles observed experimentally under shock compression. We present three-dimensional MD simulations of a piston-driven shock in a two-dimensional dusty plasma. The model incorporates finite-harmonic vertical confinement, fixed boundaries, Epstein drag and a microparticle size distribution matched to previous experiments. The simulations recover the experimentally observed linear scaling between the shock and piston Mach numbers and, to the best of our knowledge, reproduce, for the first time in MD, shock-induced buckling of the monolayer. These results bridge a long-standing gap between laboratory observations and simulations of two-dimensional dusty plasma shocks, and provide a validated framework for investigating out-of-plane and wake-mediated shock physics in strongly coupled systems.

Blazars and gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are both cosmic beacons of extreme energy release powered by relativistic jets. However, they originate from tremendously different environments. Blazars are the sustained powerhouses driven by supermassive black holes at galactic centers, whereas GRBs are the transient death signals of massive stars or merging compact objects. Here we show that, despite the enormous differences, a universal physics defines the radiation spectra of blazars and GRBs. The blazar spectrum is well described by a "log-parabola" function. Employing a simple toy model with a single optically-thin region of a decreasing magnetic field, we produce the log-parabola spectrum very naturally for blazars. We find that the blazar spectrum is shaped by the "cooling physics" of relativistic electrons in the fast-cooling regime, which we identify as the universal physics since we previously showed that the fast-cooling physics of electrons with a decreasing magnetic field also explains the mysterious low-energy spectral index of the gamma-ray spectrum for a majority of GRBs. This fast-cooling physics of electrons likely nails down the physical origin underlying the universal scaling of the jet energetics between blazars and GRBs, which was observationally suggested more than a decade ago. We highlight that the spectrum shaper in both blazars and GRBs is the cooling physics, not the acceleration mechanism. This finding is conventional-belief-defying and may open up new avenues in a wide range of astrophysics.

First, we present a new theory of "modular natives." A modular native is a basic building block that is born modular, e.g., a solar cell. The theory predicts that using modular natives in building things reduces complexity and improves predictability, resulting in better outcomes and faster scale-up. Second, we test the theory on the largest dataset of its kind. We find, at a high level of statistical significance, that modular natives operate under a fundamentally different risk regime than other project types, with finite and predictable risk, in contrast to non-natives that have infinite and unpredictable risk. The findings help explain why modularity is key to successful building while bespokeness often leads to failure. Third, we relate our findings to economic and geopolitical development, arguing that China understands modular natives and scale-up better than any other geography and that this is key to China's swiftly growing dominance in renewables, batteries, EVs, robots, etc. We argue that China's mastery of modularity and scale-up is a major innovation in its own right, among the greatest and most impactful in human history, falsifying the common notion that China cannot innovate. Business and government outside China ignore these findings at their peril. Finally, we spell out policy and practice implications and identify areas for further research.

Self-organized critical systems often exhibit three macroscopic features simultaneously: nonextensive thermodynamics (quantified by the Tsallis index $q$), structural fractality (measured by the Hausdorff dimension $D$), and non-Markovian dynamics (characterized by the memory exponent $\alpha$). Historically, these parameters have been treated as independent, to be empirically fitted case by case. Here we demonstrate that phase-space self-consistency imposes a unique algebraic closure: $\alpha=D/(2D-1)$. This relation, together with $q=1+1/D$ derived from the extensivity of Tsallis entropy on fractal supports, yields the known result $\alpha=1/(3-q)$ as a consequence, not as an independent assumption. The closure contains no free parameters and satisfies the physical boundary conditions $\alpha(1)=1$ (ballistic transport in Euclidean spaces) and $\alpha\to1/2$ as $D\to\infty$ (maximally subdiffusive regime). We validate the Troika relation across eight independent experimental systems, including seismicity, electromagnetic precursors, EEG, urban networks, botanical architectures, and space plasma. All measured values fall within error bars of the theoretical prediction, establishing the universality of the closure.

In this paper, we consider the Cauchy problem for the defocusing modified Korteweg-de Vries (mKdV) equation with a step-like initial data. Based on the Riemann-Hilbert problem associated with the mKdV equation, we derive the long-time asymptotic expansion of the solution to the defocusing mKdV equation in two transition regions using the nonlinear steepest descent method. It comes out that the leading term in the expansion is shown to match the corresponding background constants. The subleading term, however, decays at the order $\mathcal{O}(t^{-2/3})$, and its coefficient is derived from the associated Painlevé \uppercase\expandafter{\romannumeral34\relax} model.

The rapid advancement of quantum computing poses a significant threat to classical public-key cryptographic systems, necessitating the transition to Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC). This study investigates the implementation challenges of NISTstandardized signature schemes on resource-constrained embedded hardware. We present a comparative analysis of SPHINCS+ and CRYSTALS-Dilithium on an ARM Cortex-M4 (STM32F407G) microcontroller. Our findings reveal that SPHINCS+ is practically unusable in this software-only environment, with impractical execution times. Furthermore, the reference Dilithium implementation failed to execute entirely on the MCU due to severe RAM and timing constraints. To overcome these hardware limitations, we integrated a hardware-accelerated Dilithium core onto a Xilinx Zynq-7000 ZedBoard SoC. By implementing a specialized Number Theoretic Transform (NTT) accelerator in the FPGA fabric, we achieved successful execution with performance rates for key generation and signature generation at millisecond levels. These results demonstrate that while pure software PQC is non-viable for standard microcontrollers, a hardware-software codesign approach provides the necessary efficiency for quantumresistant embedded systems.

A fast parton moving through the quark-gluon plasma trails a wake of color fields, usually characterized through its screening cloud and the associated energy loss. Its behavior in a plasma carrying a chiral imbalance, set by a chiral chemical potential $\mu_5$, remains largely unexplored, in particular whether the imbalance induces a parity-odd component in the wake. We address this within chiral kinetic theory with Berry curvature corrections, at finite $\mu_5$ and zero magnetic field. The screening sector is found to be nearly insensitive to $\mu_5$, which enters only through the Debye mass. The chiral imprint resides instead in a parity-odd sector, comprising an azimuthal field encircling the parton, a poloidal chromo-magnetic field, and a circulating color current. All three are linear in $\mu_5$ and transverse to the velocity, and hence do no work on the parton. As the central result, these handed fields endow the wake with a net field angular momentum about the parton direction, odd in $\mu_5$ and of order $10^{-4}$–$10^{-3}\,\hbar$ per parton. The chiral medium thereby opens a parity-odd channel connecting hard probes to the chiral and vortical structure of the plasma.

In this work, a systematic investigation of the production of high-orbital-excitation kaons in $K^{-}p$ reactions is carried out within an effective Lagrangian approach. The relevant $t$-channel processes are constructed, and the model is calibrated using a single adjustable parameter determined from existing experimental data. With this parameter, the measured production cross sections for the $K_3^*(1780)$, $K_2(1820)$, $K_2(1770)$ and $K_4^*(2045)$ states are successfully reproduced. Employing the same framework, the production cross sections for other high-orbital kaons are predicted. The results indicate that these states possess sizable cross sections and exhibit characteristically forward-peaked angular distributions, which is a typical feature of $t$-channel exchange, highlighting their great potential for observation in future experiments.

We study flat gauging of continuous symmetries by summing over flat gauge-field configurations. We focus on the two-dimensional compact boson and construct the torus partition function with general flat $U(1)_M\times U(1)_W$ backgrounds. We show that flat gauging either $U(1)_M$ or $U(1)_W$ decompactifies the theory to the non-compact free boson, and that the dual $\mathbb{Z}$ background combines with the remaining $U(1)$ background into a non-compact $\mathbb{R}$ symmetry background due to the mixed anomaly. We also revisit the self-dual radius, where flat gauging the diagonal $SO(3)\subset (SU(2)_L\times SU(2)_R)/\mathbb{Z}_2$, first pointed out by Gaberdiel and Suchanek, gives the continuous orbifold which lies outside the usual $c=1$ moduli space. On the orbifold branch, we study finite and continuous non-invertible flat gaugings and explain why the continuous case requires a prescription for zero-measure fixed loci on the moduli space. Finally, we formulate the SymTFT of torus sigma models as a non-compact BF theory, whose topological boundary states encode the Narain moduli space and the $O(D,D;\mathbb{Z})$ T-duality action.

We investigate the observational appearance of a rotating black hole (BH) in Rastall gravity by analyzing its shadow and accretion signatures under different illumination environments. The spacetime geometry is characterized by the Rastall parameter $\mu$, the structure parameter $\gamma$, and the rotation parameter $a$. To visualize the BH environment, we employ a ray-tracing algorithm that follows photon trajectories from the observer's screen to the emission region. We analyze how the shadow radius, distortion, and photon ring morphology respond to changes in the spacetime parameters. For a fixed value of $a$, the shadow observables exhibit a pronounced dependence on the Rastall gravity parameters. In particular, increasing the structure parameter $\gamma$ leads to a gradual enlargement of the shadow radius, indicating an expansion of the photon capture region surrounding the BH. At the same time, the distortion parameter decreases, implying that the shadow boundary becomes progressively more circular and less deformed. These results suggest that larger values of $\gamma$ tend to suppress the asymmetry induced by rotation and enhance the apparent size of the shadow. Similar modifications are observed for different values of the Rastall parameter $\mu$, demonstrating that the combined effects of $\mu$ and $\gamma$ leave distinct signatures on the shadow morphology. Consequently, shadow observations may provide an effective tool for constraining the parameter space of rotating BHs in Rastall gravity.

Densities and excess molar volumes ($V_{\text{m}}^{\text{E}}$) at (293.15-303.15) K and excess molar enthalpies ($H_{\text{m}}^{\text{E}}$) at 298.15 K are reported for 2-undecanone + heptane, or + octane, or + decane, or + dodecane, or + tetradecane mixtures at 95 kPa. Densities and $H_{\text{m}}^{\text{E}}$ were measured using, respectively, a densitometer Anton Paar DMA 602 and a Tian-Calvet micro-calorimeter. $H_{\text{m}}^{\text{E}}$ results are positive, indicating that interactions between like molecules are dominant. Both $H_{\text{m}}^{\text{E}}$ and $V_{\text{m}}^{\text{E}}$ increase in line with $n$ (number of C atoms of the alkane), which reveals that the increase of $V_{\text{m}}^{\text{E}}$ can be ascribed to an increased interactional contribution. Nevertheless, systems with $n$ = 7,8 show negative $V_{\text{m}}^{\text{E}}$ values, which reveals that $V_{\text{m}}^{\text{E}}$ is determined mainly by structural effects. Isochoric excess molar internal energies ($U_{V\text{m}}^{\text{E}}$) at 298.15 K have been obtained from the present $H_{\text{m}}^{\text{E}}$ and $V_{\text{m}}^{\text{E}}$ data. At equimolar composition, $U_{V\text{m}}^{\text{E}}$is nearly constant for $n$ = 7-10, and then slightly increases. This has been explained in terms of a possible folding of 2-undecanone. From the comparison of $U_{V\text{m}}^{\text{E}}$ results for similar systems involving n-alkanoates, it is shown that folding is more likely in solutions with these compounds.

Combining effective field theory and numerical renormalization-group (NRG), we study the ground-state phase diagram and single-particle excitations of a spin-$\tfrac{1}{2}$ impurity in a superconducting system with a tunneling density of states behaving as $\rho(\epsilon) \sim |\epsilon|^{r}$, for $|\epsilon|\gg \Delta$ ($\Delta$ being the $s$-wave pairing potential). We focus on the properties of the doublet-singlet transition at large Kondo coupling. The effective field theory for the singlet phase is inferred from a strong coupling expansion in the Kondo coupling. For $\Delta \neq 0$, it contains a local pairing term which drives the system into a spin-singlet phase with enhanced paring correlations. We study how the singet-doublet phase boundary is affected by particle-hole symmetry breaking perturbations such as a scattering potential and/or the chemical potential. Results for the $T$-matrix spectral function are also reported near the transition both at particle-hole symmetry and away from it. It is shown that the singlet-doublet transition can be induced by the chemical potential rather than the Kondo coupling strength. At particle-hole symmetry, a resonance-like feature is observed for $r= 1$ and related to a two-quasiparticle excitation using a single-site model which is derived from effective field theory.

The deterministic unified gas-kinetic scheme (UGKS) provides a multiscale framework for nonequilibrium gas dynamics, but its high-dimensional phase-space discretization leads to severe memory pressure and communication overhead, especially on large unstructured meshes. This paper presents a GPGPU-oriented UGKS with velocity-block pipelining and full phase-space MPI decomposition. In the proposed formulation, the discrete velocity space is partitioned into fixed-size velocity blocks for accelerator execution, while MPI ranks are organized into coupled physical-space and velocity-space communicators. As a result, each rank stores and advances only a local physical subdomain together with a contiguous subset of velocity blocks, and macroscopic moments are recovered through lightweight reductions over the velocity-space communicator. To improve concurrency and reduce exposed communication cost, a triple-buffered pipeline is further developed to overlap microscopic reconstruction, physical-halo exchange, nonequilibrium flux evaluation, and the first-stage distribution update during the local velocity-block sweep. The implementation targets SIMT-based GPGPU accelerators through a portable device-runtime abstraction. Numerical experiments demonstrate that the $P_v=8$ configuration achieves a $33.4$–$35.4\times$ strong-scaling speedup on 64 nodes, while an Orion-like capsule simulation reaches approximately $1.33\times10^{11}$ phase-space degrees of freedom on 4096 GPGPU accelerators. These results indicate that the proposed method preserves the original UGKS flux construction and two-stage time discretization, while substantially reducing microscopic storage per rank and improving the scalability of large unstructured phase-space simulations.

In this paper, we attempt to establish the relationship between quantum coherence and the violation of the Leggett-Garg inequality. In particular, employing the Lindblad equation, we obtain the pseudo-density matrix for a damping system to study the effect of environment interaction on the violation of this inequality in a two-state quantum system. It is shown that the violation of the Leggett-Garg inequality can be observed as long as temporal evolution does not induce decoherence. This statement is independent of the initial state of the system. Furthermore, similar to the Horodecki criterion for the CHSH inequality (R. Horodecki et al. Phys. Lett. A200, 340), we study necessary and sufficient conditions for violating the Leggett-Garg inequality. Hereby, under the circumstance that the inequality violation occurs, an upper bound for the time interval between consecutive measurements with respect to the time scale of interaction with the environment (the relaxation time) is obtained.

Superconducting spin qubits, realized as Yu-Shiba-Rusinov spin-doublet states in quantum-dot-superconductor systems, represent a cornerstone of current research in quantum technologies. We analyze these ground states of quantum impurities in superconducting pseudogap systems, namely systems with a pseudogap tunneling density of states $\rho(\epsilon) \sim |\epsilon|^r$ for energies $|\epsilon|\gg \Delta$ ($\Delta$ being a $s$-wave pairing potential). For $r=1$, these hosts are realized as Dirac materials (graphene or 3D topological insulator surfaces) in proximity to conventional superconductors, or as $d+i s$ superconductors. Using effective field theory and numerical renormalization group, we map the phase diagram against the pseudogap exponent $r > 0$ and particle-hole symmetry-breaking perturbations. At particle-hole symmetry, increasing $r$ also increases the critical value, $J_c$, of the Kondo coupling that triggers the transition from spin doublet to singlet. Unlike the gapless pseudogap Kondo systems, numerical and analytical evidence suggest that Andreev reflection stabilizes a singlet ground state at $J$ for all $r > 0$. Breaking particle-hole symmetry – by potential scattering or chemical potential – eventually restores the transition at lower $J_c$. Our results indicate that coupling to superconducting hosts with large pseudogap exponents enhances the stability of spin qubits at large Kondo coupling.

Optical skyrmions, which are the topologically protected quasiparticles and characterized by the nontrivial polarization textures, have emerged as a promising candidate due to their potential applications in optical communication, data storage, and particle manipulation. In this article, we propose and experimentally demonstrate an efficient and tunable approach for the dynamic transformation of generalized optical skyrmionic textures through the interaction of structured vector vortex beams with chiral media. By controlling the enantiomeric excess of an optically active material, we achieve on-demand conversion among Bloch, Neel or any intermediate skyrmionic states, extending also to optical bimerons. The topological conservation of the skyrmion number proves its robustness towards even higher-order textures. While maintaining a common path and stable setup, the proposed methodology provides an efficient and cost-effective approach towards the flexible manipulation of the topological textures, paving the way towards the understanding of topological transformation and engineering optical skyrmions for information processing or particle manipulation.

The advent of optical sky surveys has enabled several automated programs for searching transients. Many of these programs extensively use supervised machine learning (ML) algorithms to automate these searches. Effective implementation of such a strategy has an advantage over non-automated methods of transient search in terms of reduced manual labour and reporting latency. Training the relevant ML algorithms often requires extensive labelled training datasets that might not be readily available for new or small field-of-view survey telescopes. Transfer Learning (TL) is an ML technique that is often employed to address this issue by transferring knowledge from a pre-trained model, trained on an extensive dataset for a related task, to enhance performance on a new task with a limited dataset available. This paper demonstrates TL for a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN)-based real/bogus classifier model for transient detection between extensive publicly available image data from the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) and a small and labelled dataset from the 4-m International Liquid Mirror Telescope (ILMT). The same technique was employed to train two different types of transient alert classifiers to characterise the detected candidates based on detection image stamps into 3 and 4 classes, respectively. The resulting model for the real/bogus classifier achieved an accuracy of 97.3% on the test dataset. Additionally, an accuracy of 92.9% was achieved for the 3-class classifier and 85.6% for the 4-class classifier. Furthermore, the statistical significance of the effectiveness of this technique was established with an unpaired t-test between TL models and baseline models trained without TL.

In correlated insulators, the interplay among coexisting charge, spin, orbital, and lattice degrees of freedom gives rise to rich quantum phenomena, while unraveling the interplay is not straightforward. In the family of cubic $5d^2$ double perovskites, the ground spin-orbit coupled electronic states of $5d$ metal sites are degenerate and couple to the Jahn-Teller active vibrations, whereas no experimental evidence of the symmetry-lowering in the low-temperature ordered phases has been reported. To quantitatively unravel the nature of $5d^2$ centers, we apply equation-of-motion coupled cluster (EOM-CC) theory to analyze the vibronic and magnetic properties of $5d^2$ W sites of Cs$_2$WCl$_6$. We derive the electronic and vibronic model Hamiltonians, calculate the W $L_3$ edge resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) spectra, and determine the effective magnetic moment. The simulated RIXS spectra show that vibronic coupling makes several peaks asymmetric. The effective magnetic moments exhibit a temperature dependence similar to that observed experimentally, confirming the validity of the calculated distribution of low-energy levels. Our calculations indicate that the Jahn-Teller effect in Cs$_2$WCl$_6$ is in a weak regime, and noticeable deformation would not occur, whereas the dynamic Jahn-Teller effect modulates the shapes of the RIXS spectra and affects the magnetic moment. This work demonstrates the usefulness of the EOM-CC method for predicting physical phenomena on metal sites in correlated insulating materials.

Splitting an ultrashort drive pulse into a weak leading pulse and a strong main pulse is known to raise the energy of protons accelerated by the target-normal-sheath-acceleration (TNSA) mechanism, because the leading pulseforms a preplasma that increases the absorption of the main pulse. The allocation of energy between the two pulses and their temporal separation are coupled control parameters, and under a fixed total energy they have not been optimized jointly in a systematic way. We address this problem with two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations driven by Bayesian optimization. Treating the prepulse energy fraction $r$ and the interpulse delay $\Delta t$ as free parameters under a fixed total energy, a campaign of 32 simulations, of which 16 are Sobol-initialized and 16 adaptively selected, locates an optimum at $r\approx0.07$ and $\Delta t\approx234$~fs. The proton cutoff energy increases from 7.7~MeV for the single pulse to 17.7~MeV at the optimum, a gain of about 130%. The optimum is asymmetric with only about 7% of the energy in the leading pulse. At the optimum the laser absorption rises from 4.84% to 20.09%, the bulk hot-electron temperature from 1.20 to 1.94~MeV, and the time-integrated rear sheath field by a factor of about 1.7. The optimum lies on a broad plateau in $\Delta t$, which relaxes the timing tolerance required in an experiment.

Determining the spatial distribution of heat-producing elements (HPEs) within the Earth is critical for understanding the planet's thermal and chemical evolution. A central debate is whether the deep mantle, particularly the Large Low-Velocity Provinces (LLVPs), retains anomalous, radiogenically enriched reservoirs. While mapping surface variations in geoneutrino flux offers a direct probe of Earth's internal radioactivity, current continental-located detectors measure only the angle-integrated flux. This limitation creates a fundamental parameter degeneracy, rendering it impossible to distinguish a chemically homogeneous mantle from a heterogeneous one. In this study, we quantify the potential of directional geoneutrino detection to overcome this limitation. By evaluating realistic LLVP geometries under the experimental framework of the proposed Ocean Bottom Detector (OBD), we demonstrate that resolving the incoming direction of geoneutrinos can successfully break the non-uniqueness inherent in rate-only measurements. These results indicate that future directional geoneutrino measurements could help determine whether LLVPs host enhanced HPE abundances and assess their contribution to Earth's radiogenic heat budget. Such measurements would provide a new observational constraint on the chemical heterogeneity of the deep mantle and its role in Earth's long-term thermal evolution.

We reanalyze previously reported gamma-ray periodicity candidates in jetted active galactic nuclei using more than 17 years of Fermi-LAT observations. The updated data provide a robust test of whether earlier results correspond to persistent periodic behavior, to transient quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs), or to fluctuations produced by stochastic variability. We apply complementary timing methods, including the Generalized Lomb-Scargle periodogram, Phase Dispersion Minimization, and Singular Spectrum Analysis, and estimate the test statistics using artificial light curves generated from different variability models, including simple and bending power-law power spectral densities, as well as ARIMA and ARFIMA autoregressive models. We find that most previously proposed candidates in literature are not confirmed when the longer baseline is considered, indicating that many reported periods were likely driven by limited temporal coverage and red-noise variability or transient QPO-like features rather than persistent periodic behavior. Only eight sources retain hints of periodic behavior at the >2sigma local test statistics. Among them, PG 1553+113 and S5 1044+71 remain the most significant cases, with local test statistics above 3sigma, and with a global significance consistent with ~0sigma (because of the large trial factor). In addition, we assess predictions from previous studies as an independent test of the proposed periods and find that some are consistent with the new observations.

Second-order nonlinear processes involving counter-propagating light generation have been explored for quantum applications and optical parametric oscillators. However, realizing these processes on integrated photonic platforms such as thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) remains challenging because of the extremely short quasi-phase matching (QPM) periods required, which are difficult to achieve with standard fabrication workflows. In this work, we achieve 1425 nm periodicity on 800 nm-thick X-cut TFLN via poling prior to etching. We present the first integrated demonstration of backward-wave difference-frequency generation (BWDFG), using a pump near 775 nm and a counter-propagating signal near 1980 nm, and thereby combine the high nonlinear efficiency of QPM with favorable dispersion characteristics. Within the same waveguide, we demonstrate backward-wave second-harmonic generation (BWSHG), where the pump and second-harmonic are counter-propagating, together with BWDFG. Idler generation spans from 1244 nm to 1290 nm and simulations predict extended coverage up to ~2200 nm. This process provides broad spectral tunability while remaining tolerant of fabrication-induced dimensional offsets, addressing a key challenge for the TFLN platform.

We report recurrent X-ray state transitions in the nearby narrow-line Seyfert~1 galaxy Mrk~382 using multi-epoch observations from Swift, Chandra, XMM-Newton, and eROSITA, together with archival ultraviolet, optical, and infrared data. The 0.3–2 keV flux varies by nearly an order of magnitude over the past $\sim15$ yr, with multiple transitions between bright and faint states. The source brightened by a factor of $\sim10$ between the 2010 Chandra observation and the 2011 XMM-Newton high state, then declined by $\sim6$–7 to a low state in 2019, followed by renewed brightening in recent Swift monitoring. The X-ray spectrum shows strong state-dependent evolution, changing from a steep high-state continuum ($\Gamma=2.32\pm0.04$) to a much harder low-state spectrum ($\Gamma=1.39\pm0.06$). The low-state spectrum also exhibits a narrow Fe K$\alpha$ line with an equivalent width of $\sim330$ eV. Reflection modeling indicates that the low-flux state is strongly reflection dominated, with the reflection fraction increasing from $R_{\rm refl}\sim4$ to $\sim34$, consistent with a compact corona subject to strong light-bending effects. The ultraviolet emission broadly follows the long-term X-ray variability but with smaller amplitude, while the optical and mid-infrared bands vary more mildly. Despite the dramatic X-ray variability, Mrk~382 does not enter an extreme X-ray-weak state, and we did not detect clear optical spectral-type changes based on the currently available observations. Mrk~382 is therefore a rare nearby Seyfert galaxy undergoing recurrent X-ray state transitions, providing a valuable laboratory for studying changing coronal geometry and multiwavelength AGN variability.