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Wednesday 1 July

High Energy Physics (Theory)

Dirac oscillator in a helically twisted spacetime with axial torsion

Matheus D. Moro, Fabiano M. Andrade, Faizuddin Ahmed et al. (+1 more)

We investigate the Dirac oscillator in a helically twisted spacetime endowed with a uniform axial torsion. Starting from an orthonormal coframe, we compute the Levi–Civita spin connection explicitly and separate the geometric contribution from the axial contortion. Retaining the matrix $\beta$ in the radial Moshinsky coupling, we show that the second-order problem is the ordered product $\hat\Pi_+\hat\Pi_-$ rather than the square of a single operator. The resulting radial dynamics is a coupled, self-adjoint two-component system in which the spin connection supplies the correct cylindrical radial operator, while the off-diagonal metric generates the helical combination $m/r-\omega k$ and a Coulomb-like geometric term. A finite-element solution reproduces the planar Dirac-oscillator spectrum in the flat limit and reveals asymmetric dependence on the longitudinal momentum, avoided level crossings, and a supersymmetric zero mode at $E=Mc^2$. The axial torsion and longitudinal momentum preserve this zero mode, whereas the helical twist lifts it quadratically. Sector-resolved thermodynamic functions are obtained from the relativistic bound-state spectrum. The explicit spinors further determine longitudinal vector and axial currents, and a Witten-index analysis identifies the helical twist as the deformation that removes the protected zero mode.
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All authors Matheus D. Moro, Fabiano M. Andrade, Faizuddin Ahmed, Edilberto O. Silva

Nuclear Theory

Nuclear shell evolution near N = 6, 14, 20 and 28: insights from nuclear charge radii of short-lived nuclei derived from binding energies

Xingquan Liu, Wanjun Chen, Xing Xu et al. (+7 more)

A deep understanding of the evolution of nuclear shell structure correlating with the nucleon number is crucial for unraveling the fundamental properties of the nuclear structure and for exploring new nuclear physics phenomena far from the $\beta$-stability line. Although significant progress has been made in probing nuclear shell evolution via the measurements of nuclear root-mean-square charge radii, $R_{\text{ch}}$, the scarcity of new data for short-lived and exotic nuclei due to the increasing difficulty of measurements presents a formidable challenge in obtaining deeper and more universal insights into the nature of shell evolution. To mitigate this issue, we develop an improved method, accounting for the exchange term, charge-symmetry breaking effect, and odd-even staggering effect in the Coulomb energy formulation compared with that proposed by Liu et al. [Phys. Lett. B 872, 140046 (2026)], to determine unmeasured $R_{\text{ch}}$ values. Using the improved method, the $R_{\text{ch}}$ values of 59 nuclei are determined from their measured binding energies ($B$) and the respective $B$ and $R_{\text{ch}}$ of their mirror partners. We then systematically study the shell evolution near $N=6$, 14, 20 and 28 (sub)shells by placing the newly obtained $R_{\text{ch}}$ values into the corresponding isotopic chains. More comprehensive insights into the properties of nuclear shell evolution, particularly for the neutron-deficient sectors of the studied shell regions, e.g., $p$, $sd$ and $pf$ shells, are acquired, advancing our understanding of nuclear shell evolution in the light and intermediate mass region.
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All authors Xingquan Liu, Wanjun Chen, Xing Xu, Yi Hua Lam, Hua Zheng, Jianfeng Han, Weiping Lin, Xi Duan, Xin Zhang, Peipei Ren

Quantum Physics

Exact quantum time compatible with positive energy

Ovidiu Cristinel Stoica

What would it be like to be in a superposition of yesterday, today, and tomorrow? This question may seem at best entertaining, but it is necessary, and exploring it allows us to understand how exact irreversible clocks and change are possible, despite the Unruh-Wald and Hegerfeldt-Ruijsenaars no-go theorems forbidding them. Unruh and Wald (1989) proved that if energy is bounded from below, no observable can increase monotonically with the Schrödinger time parameter t. Perfectly monotonic clocks and irreversible observable changes (Hegerfeldt-Ruijsenaars, 1980) seem impossible. From the perspective of the Schrödinger time, the world appears in a superposition of different intrinsic clock states indicating different times and opposite time directions. This seems to directly contradict our daily experiences of time and change. I show that there is no contradiction: from an intrinsic perspective of the world, sharp irreversible changes do happen, because the macroscopic pointer states resolve the superposition of different times. Large-scale time-reversing or discontinuous transitions are not internally observable in the records. From the intrinsic perspective, an unbounded intrinsic-time translation generator plays the role of the Hamiltonian, generating only forward time evolution with respect to the intrinsic time, but not to the Schrödinger parameter t, which is thus not justified to play the role of time. This allows sharp time observables even if the external Hamiltonian is bounded from below. In addition, this leads to a stationary wavefunction of the universe satisfying a Wheeler-DeWitt-type equation, without assuming gravity.
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High Energy Physics (Phenomenology)

Can Primordial Black Holes Be Seeds for Early Galaxies in Models Satisfying the Covariant Entropy Bound?

Sidan A, Tom Banks and Willy Fischler

We argue that cosmological models obeying the Covariant Entropy Bound (CEB) mathematically favor states with no localized excitations or one large black hole containing all the energy in a constrained initial state. In order to get a long radiation-dominated era, one must postulate that at a very early time, most horizon volumes of the universe contained tiny black holes that decayed into radiation. A previous work by two of the authors showed that such a scenario could fit the data on the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). In order to account for dark matter, we also postulate some random black holes of at least horizon size at that time. A reasonable distribution of such primordial black holes can account for all of dark matter as well as the early galaxies seen by the James Webb Space Telescope. Some of the dark matter may also be in Planck-scale remnants of the decaying black holes. We describe our model both in terms of approximate solutions to General Relativity and a speculative quantum gravity model whose hydrodynamics matches the flat $p = \pm \rho$ FRW model that saturates the CEB.
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Mathematical Physics · Cross-listed from math.PR

On perturbations that preserve the connectivity properties in tree percolations

Mirmukhsin Makhmudov and Ville Suomala

We consider a general bond percolation on an infinite locally finite tree, where the edge retention probabilities $p_e$ are replaced by $\min\{1,q_{|e|}p_e\}$, where $\{q_n\}_{n\ge 1}$ is a sequence of positive perturbation factors and $|e|$ denotes the distance between the edge $e$ and the root. If the original percolation model admits infinite clusters, it is of interest to investigate under which perturbations $0<q_n\le 1$ this connectivity property is preserved. Conversely, if the original percolation does not admit infinite clusters, we are led to study the stability of such a property under perturbations satisfying $q_n\ge 1$. In both cases, under minimal assumptions on the original model, we show that the percolative behaviour is stable against certain quantitative non-trivial perturbations. We also discuss an application of our results to the Erdős similarity conjecture for Cantor sets.
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History and Philosophy of Physics

Nomic Structure and Reduction

Sean Gryb and Karim P. Y. Thébault

The canonical formulation of physical theories with irregular nomic structure is as constrained Hamiltonian theories within which ill-posedness of the equations of motion is connected to a pernicious form of surplus representational capacity. Such theories can be converted into theories with regular nomic structure and a well-posed initial value problem via the process of symplectic reduction. We analyse, synthesise, and contrast different approaches to the presentation and analysis of constrained Hamiltonian theories, drawing upon recent work on formalisation of nomic structure on model spaces (Gryb and Thébault 2024) and comparisons of theoretical structure and representational capacity via category theory (Bradley and Weatherall 2020; Bradley 2025b). We suggest that the case of irregular nomic structure is most naturally suited to a category theoretic presentation in which state spaces are arrows and symplectic reduction is arrow composition (Landsman 2005). Under this approach one obtains the natural results that theories with isomorphic state spaces are equivalent and theories whose reduced state spaces are isomorphic are equivalent at the level of the regular representations of their nomic structure. This analysis provides a suitable foundation for the case of quantization of theories with irregular nomic structure, which will be in a companion paper.
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Pulsar Science with the SKAO

Bhal Chandra Joshi, Aris Karastergiou and Marta Burgay

The large instantaneous sensitivity, wide frequency coverage and flexible observation modes, with large number of beams in the sky, are the main features of the SKA observatory's two telescopes, the SKA-Low and the SKA-Mid. Owing to these capabilities, the SKAO telescopes are going to be a game-changer for radio astronomy in general and pulsar astronomy in particular. Eleven chapters in this book describe their impact on different areas of pulsar science. In this overview article each chapter is briefly summarised and the inter-relationship between different pulsar science use cases are explored: new deep surveys, covering the Galactic field, globular clusters and the Galactic centre, will discover thousands of new pulsars; these will form the backbone for studies of neutron star physics and of their environments. The enhanced understanding provided by these studies will feed into the main contributions to fundamental physics from pulsar astronomy: testing relativistic gravity, studying gravitational waves in the nano-Hz regime and studying the equation of state of nuclear matter. Synergies with other science cases are also highlighted throughout this overview.
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2607.01288 · 1 Jul · 13 pages, 2 figures, Published in Advancing Astrophysics with the SKA II (AASKAII), 2026 (arXiv:2606.20366). Report number AASKAII/Joshi01. Advancing Astrophysics with the SKA II (AASKA II) outlines the transformative scientific advances that will be enabled by the SKA telescopes. An earlier version of this chapter was published in The Open Journal of Astrophysics with arXiv ID: arXiv:2512.16152

Abstract PDF $PLSR ×6$GALAC ×2$TSCP ×2$GRAV ×1 +4

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology

Hypersurface Anchored Variational Principle for General Relativity

Prasanta Sahoo

A hypersurface anchored variational extension of General Relativity is formulated in which the Einstein-Hilbert action is supplemented by a diffeomorphism invariant functional supported on an embedded spacelike hypersurface whose embedding is varied independently of the spacetime metric. The resulting Euler-Lagrange system consists of the Einstein equations with a localized distributional contribution together with an anchoring equation determining admissible embeddings. For the admissible class of hypersurface functionals considered here, the bulk field equations retain the standard second order principal structure away from the hypersurface and no additional propagating bulk gravitational degrees of freedom are introduced. Under ellipticity and invertibility assumptions, local persistence and linear stability of anchoring hypersurfaces follow from standard implicit function and elliptic estimates. The anchoring condition is generically inequivalent to local slicing gauge conditions and therefore defines a genuine variational restriction rather than a coordinate choice. In the canonical formulation, the momentum constraints retain their standard form, whereas the Hamiltonian constraint acquires a hypersurface supported term. The corresponding smeared generators close in the weak sense: the Dirac algebra is recovered in the bulk, with deviations confined to localized distributional surface contributions. The construction therefore defines a constrained sector of the classical solution space of General Relativity consisting of spacetimes that admit at least one embedded hypersurface satisfying the anchoring equation. In homogeneous cosmology, the localized term induces matching conditions across the anchoring surface, allowing finite transitions in the expansion rate while preserving standard evolution away from the transition hypersurface.
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Materials Science

On the limits of the energetic coupling between field dislocation mechanics and phase field crystal

Aymane Graini, Jorge Viñals and Manas V. Upadhyay

This paper investigates the energetic coupling between Field Dislocation Mechanics (FDM) and the Phase Field Crystal (PFC) model proposed in Phys. Rev. B 102, 064109, 2020. While FDM correctly solves the initial boundary value problem of a continuum body with dislocation fields, PFC captures the underlying crystallographic structure. The coupling, which penalizes the $L^2$ distance between elastic distortion from FDM and configurational distortion from PFC in the $L^2$ sense, had been proposed to reconcile dislocation mechanics with crystallography in a single continuum framework. Variational analysis reveals that the coupling term acts as a divergence-driven forcing in the phase-field evolution that matches only the compatible (curl-free) parts of the distortion fields. Consequently, its contributions are insensitive to the incompatible (divergence-free) elastic distortion carrying all the information on dislocation topology. Furthermore, the nature of the configurational distortion causes mechanical boundary conditions to be transmitted diffusively from FDM to PFC rather than elastically. Numerical simulations demonstrate that this coupling cannot prevent the unnatural core spreading in FDM. Finally, it is shown that even in the most general case, an energetic coupling suffers from the same drawbacks, which limits its ability to integrate dislocation mechanics with crystallography.
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Statistical Mechanics

Brownian ratchets and pumps universally simulate many-body active dynamics

Charles Stahl, Ethan Lake and Vedika Khemani

Active systems can exhibit a broad range of phenomena forbidden in equilibrium. Their dynamics are often specified by abstract local update rules, and it is generally unclear when the same behavior can arise from physically natural driving. Here we show that two simple driving mechanisms can universally simulate any local active dynamics in spin systems. The first is the familiar setting of a time-periodic Hamiltonian coupled to a cold bath, which we call a "many-body Brownian pump." As a second mechanism, we promote the Brownian ratchet, traditionally a mechanism for transport, to a "many-body Brownian ratchet": a static Hamiltonian coupled to a hot bath and a cold bath, where the resulting steady heat current can be harnessed not only to drive transport but also to generate local active dynamics. Using probabilistic cellular automata as an explicit model, we prove that for any continuous-time (or discrete-time) local active dynamics, there is always a many-body Brownian ratchet (or pump) that approximates the dynamics, up to noise that can be made arbitrarily weak by tuning energy scales and other parameters. As a concrete demonstration, we construct a simple ferromagnetic Ising ratchet on a bilayer lattice. When the two layers are coupled to baths at different temperatures, this model serves as a robust classical memory even under a symmetry-breaking field, something impossible in equilibrium. More broadly, our work shows that ratchets can use steady heat currents to autonomously generate and stabilize novel collective behavior, realizing a new static setting for nonequilibrium many-body dynamics.
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Beta-Particle Transport and Thermalization in Kilonova Ejecta with Detailed Atomic Microphysics

Zachary L. Andalman, Christopher L. Fryer, Christopher J. Fontes et al. (+2 more)

When two neutron stars collide, they eject material containing heavy nuclei formed by the rapid neutron capture process ($r$-process). As these nuclei decay, they power a bright optical/near-infrared transient known as a kilonova (KN). Modeling KN emission is a complex problem involving atomic opacities, radiation transport, and heating powered by the thermalization of radioactive decay products like $\gamma$-rays, $\alpha$-particles, and $\beta$-particles. For heating by $\gamma$-rays, many KN modeling codes do full radiation transport calculations. However, heating by $\alpha$- and $\beta$-particles relies on simplified descriptions of collisions and transport, and remains an important source of uncertainty in KN models. In this paper, we study the thermalization and transport of $\beta$-particles. To study thermalization, we use evaluated atomic physics data to estimate per-species contributions to energy deposition, scattering, and electron impact ionization, which we make available online. To include non-local effects, we develop a fully relativistic framework for charged particle transport in a spherically symmetric, homologously expanding ejecta, considering two limiting magnetic-field geometries. Non-local energy deposition and escape reduce thermalization efficiency, especially in the innermost and outermost ejecta, lowering the ejecta temperature and ionization state compared to local deposition models. Coulomb scattering partially offsets these effects by trapping particles at intermediate times $\sim 3-30$ days. Ionization by secondary electrons significantly enhances the overall ionization rate. We provide analytic prescriptions for the spatially dependent thermalization efficiency for use in future light-curve calculations. Our results demonstrate that evaluated atomic data and charged-particle transport should be incorporated into the next generation of KN models.
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All authors Zachary L. Andalman, Christopher L. Fryer, Christopher J. Fontes, Matthew R. Mumpower, Ryan T. Wollaeger

Quantum Physics

Polynomial equivalence of the global transverse-field Ising model and the gate model of quantum computation

Matthias Werner

The transverse-field Ising model has attracted a lot of attention in recent years, especially in the quantum simulation and quantum computation literature. This interest is driven by many platforms for analog quantum computation, which implement the transverse-field Ising model for solving optimization problems, such as quantum annealing. However, it has remained an open question whether the Ising model with a global transverse field is equivalent to the gate model of quantum computation. Here we answer this question affirmatively for the case of a non-monotonic time-dependent transverse field. Building on a recent result by Cesa and Pichler on global control of Rydberg atoms, we provide a construction that allows simulating arbitrary quantum circuits using the Ising model with global transverse field with polynomial overhead in time, qubit number, and energy scale. Although the polynomial overheads we establish here are large relative to what is feasible on real-world quantum hardware, our result motivates the development of more sophisticated methods for simulating quantum circuits using the Ising model with a global transverse field. Additionally, under the assumption that quantum computing is strictly more powerful than classical computing, our result serves as a no-go theorem for efficient classical simulation of the transverse-field Ising model with a time-dependent global transverse field. Therefore, our finding is relevant for multiple communities, from analog quantum simulation and quantum optimization on various platforms to complexity and control theory.
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Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics

Intertwined Constraints in Extended Cosmologies: Dark Energy, Curvature, Neutrinos, and Inflation

William Giarè, Dong Ha Lee and Eleonora Di Valentino

We present a systematic reassessment of cosmological constraints beyond $\Lambda$CDM by progressively relaxing the assumptions underlying Dark Energy (DE), Curvature, Neutrinos, and Inflation. Using the latest CMB data together with DESI BAO and different SN catalogues, we show that the preference for dynamical DE persists across all the extended cosmologies considered. $\Omega_k$ remains compatible with flatness, despite a mild $2.2\sigma$ preference for $\Omega_k>0$ that is substantially degraded in dynamical DE extensions. Constraints on $N_{\rm eff}$ are broadly consistent with $N_{\rm eff}=3.04$, while cosmological upper limits on the total neutrino mass vary substantially across the cosmologies explored, ranging from $\sum m_\nu\lesssim 0.06$ eV to $\lesssim 0.2$ eV. We quantify both the preference for the mass ordering and the apparent tension between cosmology and oscillation experiments, showing that they are strongly framework dependent. We find no evidence for inflationary tensor modes, with $r\lesssim 0.035$. Constraints on the spectral index $n_s$ show significant model dependence. Allowing for the scalar runnings produces a mild shift toward $\alpha_s>0$ and $\beta_s>0$ that can reabsorb the preference for larger $n_s$ found in small-scale CMB data, although both $\alpha_s$ and $\beta_s$ remain consistent with zero at $\sim 1.5\sigma$. We highlight the implications for slow-roll inflation and benchmark models. None of the extensions considered here can resolve the $H_0$ tension. We discuss the implications for $\Omega_m$ and $S_8$. Overall, dynamical DE is the only significant deviation from $\Lambda$CDM and has the strongest impact on the inferred conclusions in the other sectors of the model.
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High Energy Physics (Theory)

Type IIB Axion–Dilaton Wormholes and the BPS Limit Hessian

Soo-Jong Rey

I revisit Type-IIB axion–dilaton Euclidean saddles in a specified axion charge sector. In that sector, the solution with $E=0$ is the BPS instanton, while $E>0$ gives non-BPS wormholes with a smooth throat. The two cases solve the same radial equations but define different fluctuation problems. For the $E=0$ instanton, the Hamiltonian constraint, gauge quotient, charge-sector boundary condition, and removal of collective zero modes reduce the quadratic action to a physical Hessian. This Hessian factorizes, $ {\cal H}_\nu={\mathcal Q}_\nu^\dagger{\mathcal Q}_\nu$. I interpret this as an endpoint theorem, beyond a stability theorem for the full $E>0$ wormhole. This puts Type IIB wormhole spectra on firmer grounds. I also separate the connected two-ended wormhole throat from its long-distance two-end multipole operator term. Once the coefficient matrix $C^{ij}$ is derived, the different-component and same-component placements of the two end insertions are terms in the same quadratic expression. Removing either term requires a genuine projection or cancellation.
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Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics

TIME Commissioning Observations: II. On-sky Characterization and the 2D Map Data Processing Pipeline

Benjamin J. Vaughan, Abigail T. Crites, Dongwoo T. Chung et al. (+24 more)

The Tomographic Ionized-carbon Mapping Experiment (TIME) is a line intensity mapping (LIM) instrument that is designed to observe the power spectrum of the [CII] $158$~$\mu$m emission line during the Epoch of Reionization. TIME completed a commissioning run in 2022 at the Arizona Radio Observatory onboard the 12-M Radio Telescope at Kitt Peak, where it observed galactic sources for the first time. In this paper we report on an analysis of observations of the Orion Molecular Cloud (OMC) and G49.5 (a local HII region). The OMC observations were taken at least once a day to assess the stability of the instrument and demonstrate its on-sky performance. We describe a spectral image processing pipeline to make calibrated maps of raster scans of these sources, incorporating planet observations for gain calibration. We show with G49.5 that, when compared to the Bolocam Galactic Plane Survey, we are able to achieve a $< 3\%$ calibration difference. Based on the outcomes from this commissioning phase of TIME, we have demonstrated preliminary performance, and identified sources of improvement necessary for pursuing a LIM measurement.
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All authors Benjamin J. Vaughan, Abigail T. Crites, Dongwoo T. Chung, Ryan P. Keenan, James J. Bock, Charles M. Bradford, Victoria L. Butler, Tzu-Ching Chang, Yun-Ting Cheng, Audrey Dunn, Nicholas Emerson, Clifford Frez, Jonathon Hunacek, Chao-Te Li, Ian N. Lowe, King Lau, Daniel P. Marrone, Evan C. Mayer, Sophie M. McAtee, Dang Pham, Shwetha Prakash, Guochao Sun, Isaac Trumper, Anthony D. Turner, Ta-Shun Wei, Selina F. Yang, Michael Zemcov

Quantum Physics

Diverse efficiency of observable optimization for four-level quantum systems with higher-order traps

Alexander Pechen and Boris Volkov

In this work, we perform an analytical and numerical analysis of quantum landscapes for controlling special four-level quantum systems for which we prove that the null control is a five-order trap: a $V-V$ system and an anharmonic system. As a control goal, an observable optimization is considered. The rigorous theoretical analysis is followed by the numerical experiments based on the GRadient Ascent Pulse Engineering (GRAPE) algorithm and Gradient Projection Method (GPM), performed to investigate the behavior of the efficiency of optimization for unconstrained (using GRAPE) and constrained (using GPM) controls. As the main result, we observe an interesting phenomenon with a diverse behavior of the optimization efficiency depending on the system Hamiltonian – sharp increase of the optimization efficiency up to 100% at certain distance from the null control for a V-V system, while much slower and less significant increase (and even small decrease) for a system with the chain interaction. This sharp difference might be related with the fine structure of the subspace of controls where second derivative of the objective functional is zero.
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Fluid Dynamics

No evidence of vorticity production from irrotational turbulent gravitational collapse yet

Axel Brandenburg, Evangelia Ntormousi and Jennifer Schober

Gravitational collapse creates large amounts of kinetic energy that could potentially seed turbulence. If such turbulence were also suitable to initiate dynamo action, the resulting magnetic field would further modify the dynamics, especially on small length scales. However, a small-scale dynamo is believed to require vortical turbulence, whereas the collapse produces mainly irrotational motions, which may not be efficient for dynamo action. Here, we study the efficiency of vorticity production during a turbulent collapse. We adopt a barotropic equation of state, where pressure and density gradients are parallel, and no magnetic field, so that vorticity can only be produced by viscosity and by vortex dynamo-type amplification. Using direct numerical simulations of gravitational collapse, we show that, for the parameter space accessible to our numerical resolution, these effects are related to the initial irrotational turbulence and are not induced by the collapse. Vorticity production along with the associated small-scale dynamo action are still expected to occur for sufficiently large Reynolds numbers, especially when baroclinic effects are allowed for, but some of the earlier numerical evidence in the literature using a barotropic equation of state is now found to be the result of subgrid scale modeling and not reproduced in direct numerical simulations.
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Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics

Interpretation of the binned SNe Ia Master Sample data via a scalar quintessence component: phantom transition?

Giovanni Montani, Iolanda Navone, Maria Giovanna Dainotti et al. (+1 more)

We study a modified cosmological scenario for the late Universe, involving an evolutionary dark energy model associated with the dynamics of a self-interacting scalar field in a potential-dominated regime. Through the analogy with a fluid energy-momentum tensor, we introduce a viscous contribution to the scalar dynamics, accounting for effective non-equilibrium behaviour of the self-interacting scalar cluster. The resulting picture is that of an intrinsic quintessence contribution which, due to the bulk viscosity, admits an effective equation of state parameter that can also take values below -1. Within this framework, we set up the diagnostic tool of the so-called "effective running Hubble constant", which allows us to trace possible deviations from a standard LambdaCDM model. We then compare this theoretical function with binned data from the Master Sample of Supernovae Ia, constructed assuming a LambdaCDM model in the MCMC procedure performed in each bin. We show that the self-interacting scalar field corresponding to the best fit satisfies a slow-rolling condition, since the kinetic energy remains small compared to the potential contribution throughout the redshift interval. The key finding is that, when limiting the model to specific regions of the parameter space and fitting it to the data, the transition only occurs at redshifts significantly lower than the redshift value identified by the DESI Collaboration. Furthermore, for the parameter values ensuring the best fit, no quintessence-to-phantom transition occurs (i.e., the effective equation of state parameter remains below -1 across the whole redshift domain). In other words, Supernovae data alone provide no indication of a change in the nature of the dark energy.
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All authors Giovanni Montani, Iolanda Navone, Maria Giovanna Dainotti, Shigehiro Nagataki

Quantum Physics

Non-signaling assistance in prepare-and-measure scenarios with classical communication

José Nogueira, Carlos Vieira, Lucas E. A. Porto et al. (+3 more)

Extracting the full power of non-local correlations in prepare-and-measure (PM) scenarios requires precise control over the timing and structure of the receiver's measurements. Indeed, recent developments in entanglement-assisted classical communication scenarios have shown that adaptive strategies-where the receiver uses the transmitted message to guide their measurement choice-can outperform standard non-adaptive protocols. Moving beyond quantum theory, however, the ultimate limits of such advantages remain largely unexplored. In this work, we thoroughly study adaptive and non-adaptive non-signaling (NS) assistance in PM scenarios with classical communication. We provide simple characterizations of the sets of behaviors that can be realized using both non-adaptive and adaptive NS assistance in arbitrary PM scenarios. As a consequence, we show that non-adaptive NS assistance is already strong enough to reproduce quantum communication with the same message dimension: the transmission of a qudit can be simulated by a classical dit assisted non-adaptively by NS correlations. We then compare adaptive and non-adaptive NS assistance. We prove that any adaptive NS advantage can be traced back to scenarios in which the receiver has no measurement choice, ruling out the genuinely multi-setting advantages found in entanglement-assisted quantum protocols. Finally, we identify all PM scenarios where adaptive NS strategies provide a strict advantage over non-adaptive ones.
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All authors José Nogueira, Carlos Vieira, Lucas E. A. Porto, Lucas Pollyceno, Rafael Rabelo, Otfried Gühne

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics

Confinement in a magnetically induced WSe$_2$ quantum dots

Rachid El Aitouni, Mohammed El Azar, Clarence Cortes et al. (+2 more)

Monolayer tungsten diselenide (WSe$_2$) has become a suitable platform for quantum transport and spintronics and valleytronics applications because it possesses an intrinsic band gap and strong spin-orbit coupling and spin-valley coupling features. The electrostatic confinement of Dirac fermions proves challenging in graphene because of Klein tunneling, yet WSe$_2$ provides an environment that supports both carrier localization and the development of confined quantum states. In this work, we theoretically investigate the confinement of massive Dirac fermions in a WSe$_2$ quantum dot generated by a localized magnetic field. Using the effective Dirac Hamiltonian in the presence of a magnetic flux, we derive the exact wave functions and scattering coefficients by employing Kummer's confluent hypergeometric functions together with Bessel and Hankel functions. Our results show that the localized magnetic field provides an efficient mechanism to suppress Klein tunneling and promote the formation of stable quasibound states. We systematically examine the scattering efficiency and carrier density distributions as functions of the incident energy, magnetic field strength, and quantum dot radius. We find that low-energy carriers are strongly confined by the magnetic barrier, while the interplay between magnetic localization and geometric confinement gives rise to sharp and tunable resonance peaks. These results provide valuable insight into the control of spin-valley transport in transition metal dichalcogenide nanostructures and establish a theoretical basis for the development of quantum confinement devices and quantum information technologies.
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All authors Rachid El Aitouni, Mohammed El Azar, Clarence Cortes, David Laroze, Ahmed Jellal

Nuclear Theory

Semi-regularised three-body pseudopotential for mean-field and beyond-mean-field calculations

Valentin Guillon, Michael Bender, Karim Bennaceur et al. (+1 more)

We derive the most general form of a local leading-order semi-regularised three-body pseudopotential. This particular form of pseudopotential is developed with the aim of generating contributions to the nuclear energy density functional (EDF) in both the particle-hole and particle-particle channels and, hence, to be usable in mean-field and beyond-mean-field calculations without ambiguities or mathematical difficulties. Once the EDF is obtained, analytical expressions of commonly considered properties of infinite nuclear matter are provided. Finally, the structure of the EDF and the associated mean fields are given for spherically-symmetric systems.
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All authors Valentin Guillon, Michael Bender, Karim Bennaceur, Philippe Da Costa

Materials Science · Cross-listed from cs.AI

Optimal Resource Utilization for Autonomous Laboratory Orchestrators

Austin McDannald, Julia Tisaranni and Howie Joress

In autonomous laboratories, AI agents suggest the next batch of experiments to do. However, planning and executing those tasks taking full advantage of the available resources is a completely different question. This can be challenging when dealing with real-world hardware constraints, especially so when there are multiple instruments with different capacities and throughputs. Here we demonstrate a 2-step method to address resource utilization for our autonomous platform for metal-organic framework synthesis. First, we use constraint programming to find optimal schedules. This finds schedules that minimizes the total time while still satisfying the limitations and capacities of the hardware. Secondly, we use a system of status dependencies for each task, which allows for the robust execution of the optimal schedules.
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Quantum Physics

Exploiting Symmetry in Quantum Reservoir Computing

Markus Baumann, Michael Poppel, Thomas Gabor et al. (+3 more)

Quantum reservoir computing (QRC) uses a quantum processor without training it. The input is encoded into a quantum state, a fixed random circuit evolves it, selected observables are measured, and only a simple linear readout is trained on the measured values. We study QRC for forecasting on a ring of sensors, such as weather stations around a circle of latitude. On such a ring, the same physical rule governs every position, so a model that respects this symmetry can learn one shared local rule from all sensors at once instead of a separate rule per sensor. This is especially valuable when data is scarce. Because the readout sees only the measured numbers, the symmetry can be lost even when the quantum state respects it. We show how to preserve the symmetry by measuring every observable together with all its shifted copies and by using one shared rule for encoding, circuit, and readout, and we prove that this construction is sufficient. In a controlled audit the aligned design consistently outperforms misaligned alternatives, and the advantage persists in noisy simulations, on IBM hardware, and on real weather data.
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All authors Markus Baumann, Michael Poppel, Thomas Gabor, Maximilian Zorn, Claudia Linnhoff-Popien, Jonas Stein

Materials Science

Observation of Flat Bands in Type-II Weyl Semimetal TaRhTe$_{4}$

Harry Rankin, Tyler J. Slade, Benjamin Schrunk et al. (+7 more)

Flat bands have been theoretically predicted for decades but have only recently been realized in quantum materials such as magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene, kagome and Lieb lattices, and rare-earth metal compounds. To date, only twisted layered materials have enabled tuning of flat-band energies near the electronic chemical potential, thereby influencing transport and thermodynamic properties. Here, we report the presence of flat bands near the chemical potential in bulk TaRhTe$_{4}$, a noncentrosymmetric van-der Waals type-II Weyl semimetal. Flat bands are rarely observed in Weyl semimetals, particularly in nonmagnetic bulk systems, and the observed flat bands were not predicted by density functional theory calculations. TaRhTe$_{4}$ therefore provides a platform in which nontrivial topology coexists with flat bands near the Fermi level, as evidenced by our angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy measurements.
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All authors Harry Rankin, Tyler J. Slade, Benjamin Schrunk, Yevhen Kushnirenko, Andrew Eaton, K. U. R. R. S. Rathnayaka, Maxwell Doyle, Lin-Lin Wang, Paul C. Canfield, Adam Kaminski

Mathematical Physics

A scheme for topological phases of the Weyl $C^*$-algebra

Giuseppe De Nittis and Santiago G. Rendel

In this work, we introduce a classification scheme for topological phases of matter based on the topology of the space of pure states of a model $C^*$-algebra. Under it, topological phases are described by homotopy classes of sections of certain fiber bundles of (pure) states. Applying this classification procedure on states of the Weyl $C^*$-algebra that are invariant under translations by a lattice, we recover the $K$-theoretic classification of gapped spectral projectors for topological insulators of types A and AI, thus essentially generalizing this notion.
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Quantum Physics

Non-Clifford Benchmarking via Ensemble Feature Selection

Stancho G. Stanchev and Nikolay V. Vitanov

We propose an Ensemble Feature Selection (EFS) method for fast estimation of process infidelity of involutory multi-qubit gates, including non-Clifford targets, for which standard Clifford-based benchmarking does not apply. The method selects a compact set of experimentally executable circuit measurements from a candidate pool through offline training on a physically motivated ensemble of noisy channels, and combines them into a linear estimator with weights learned by ridge regression. The training ensemble is an explicit and tunable component of the protocol, incorporating prior knowledge about dominant hardware noise mechanisms. The estimator is validated on ibm_kingston using two Clifford validation benchmarks structurally related to the transpiled CCZ circuit, against independent Interleaved Randomized Benchmarking (IRB). Both show close EFS-IRB agreement across a wide range of process infidelities, with an estimation precision of approximately 0.01 over a process infidelity range of 0.02-0.2. EFS is subsequently applied directly to CCZ on the same device.
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General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology

Preheating and oscillon formation in Einstein-scalar-Gauss-Bonnet gravity

Areef Waeming, Josu C. Aurrekoetxea, Katy Clough et al. (+2 more)

Non-perturbative processes in the early universe may create overdense structures in scalar fields like the inflaton, called oscillons. In this work, we explore whether the leading order higher derivative contributions to the scalar-tensor theory change the formation and growth of these structures, and investigate the limits in which the effective field theory (EFT) description breaks down. We find that whilst the properties of the oscillons are not significantly modified, and black holes do not generically form, for large couplings the period of formation can result in the evolution leaving the regime of validity of the EFT, at which point predictivity is lost and the next order terms in the EFT should become relevant. If the oscillons survive their formation, they tend to be stable and the EFT corrections remain bounded. The EFT breakdown is triggered by large curvature terms in the metric in the densest regions of the oscillon, meaning that approximations of such modified theories that neglect the local backreaction and non-linear dynamics of the fields may miss important effects.
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All authors Areef Waeming, Josu C. Aurrekoetxea, Katy Clough, Pau Figueras, Áron D. Kovács

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics

Galaxy Clusters Selected via the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect in 5 year data from the SPT-3G Main Survey

L. E. Bleem, M. Klein, K. Kornoelje et al. (+148 more)

We report a new galaxy cluster catalog, selected using the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect, from 5 years of observations of the SPT-3G Main field. Drawn from arcminute-resolution data with white noise levels of 3.2, 2.5, and 8.9 $\mu$K-arcmin at 95, 150, and 220 GHz, respectively, the sample consists of 8,892 cluster candidates detected above significance $\xi=4$, with an expected purity of $>82\%$ (4,480 at $\xi\ge5$ with purity $>99\%$). Using optical and infrared data we have confirmed 7,190 candidates as clusters. The sample spans a mass range $7.9 \times 10^{13}$ $M_\odot/h_{70}$ \ $< M_\textrm{500c} < $ $1.6 \times 10^{15}$ $M_\odot/h_{70}$ with a median mass of $1.65 \times 10^{14}$ $M_\odot/h_{70}$, and a redshift range of $0.037<z\lesssim 2$ with a median redshift of $z_{\textrm{med}}$ = 0.73; 1,780 clusters are at $z>1$ and 271 at $z>1.5$. Compared to previous SZ cluster samples from South Pole Telescope and Atacama Cosmology Telescope data, the SPT-3G sample is highly consistent in mass and redshift but is significantly deeper, with per-cluster detection signal-to-noise 2-4 times higher and a cluster density of 4.5 confirmed clusters/deg$^2$. We cross match with eRASS1 cluster and point source catalogs, finding 1,279 and 1,319 matches, respectively. The SPT and eROSITA cluster mass estimates are in relatively good agreement. We perform a series of validation checks using both internal data splits and comparisons to external samples. These tests show increasing correlated (dusty) emission with redshift, with a $\sim17\times$ larger 220 GHz temperature increment for clusters at $z\sim1.5$ than $z\sim0.25$, but only weak evidence for correlated synchrotron emission. Finally, a number of clusters are flagged as candidate strong gravitational lenses.
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All authors L. E. Bleem, M. Klein, K. Kornoelje, S. Bocquet, J. A. Sobrin, M. Aguena, E. Anderes, A. J. Anderson, F. Andrade-Oliveira, B. Ansarinejad, M. Archipley, L. Balkenhol, D. R. Barron, P. S. Barry, M. Bayliss, K. Benabed, A. N. Bender, B. A. Benson, F. Bianchini, F. R. Bouchet, D. Brooks, D. L. Burke, M. Calzadilla, R. Camilleri, E. Camphuis, M. G. Campitiello, J. E. Carlstrom, A. Carnero Rosell, J. Carretero, J. Carron, C. L. Chang, P. M. Chichura, A. Chokshi, T.-L. Chou, A. Coerver, M. Costanzi, T. M. Crawford, L. N. da Costa, C. Daley, T. M. Davis, T. de Haan, J. De Vicente, S. Desai, K. R. Dibert, H. T. Diehl, M. A. Dobbs, M. Doohan, D. Dutcher, S. Everett, G. Evrard, C. Feng, K. R. Ferguson, N. C. Ferree, K. Fichman, B. Flaugher, B. Floyd, K. Fosdick, A. Foster, S. Galli, A. E. Gambrel, A. K. Gao, J. García-Bellido, F. Ge, M. D. Gladders, S. Grandis, F. Guidi, S. Guns, G. Gutierrez, N. W. Halverson, S. R. Hinton, E. Hivon, G. P. Holder, D. L. Hollowood, W. L. Holzapfel, J. C. Hood, A. Hryciuk, N. Huang, T. Jhaveri, S. Kent, F. Kéruzoré, A. R. Khalife, G. Khullar, L. Knox, K. Kuehn, C.-L. Kuo, O. Lahav, K. Levy, Y. Li, A. E. Lowitz, C. Lu, G. P. Lynch, T. J. Maccarone, G. Mahler, A. S. Maniyar, J. L. Marshall, E. S. Martsen, M. McDonald, J. Mena-Fernández, F. Menanteau, M. Millea, R. Miquel, J. J. Mohr, J. Montgomery, J. Myles, Y. Nakato, T. Natoli, R. C. Nichol, V. Novosad, R. L. C. Ogando, Y. Omori, A. Ouellette, Z. Pan, K. A. Phadke, A. A. Plazas Malagón, A. W. Pollak, A. Porredon, K. Prabhu, J. Prat, W. Quan, S. Raghunathan, M. Rahimi, A. Rahlin, C. L. Reichardt, A. K. Romer, M. Rouble, J. E. Ruhl, E. Sanchez, D. Sanchez Cid, T. Schrabback, I. Sevilla-Noarbe, A. C. Silva Oliveira, A. Simpson, T. Somboonpanyakul, A. A. Stark, E. Suchyta, M. E. C. Swanson, C. Tandoi, C. To, C. Trendafilova, J. D. Vieira, A. G. Vieregg, V. Vikram, A. Vitrier, Y. Wan, N. Weaverdyck, J. Weller, N. Whitehorn, W. L. K. Wu, M. R. Young, J. A. Zebrowski, J. Zhan

High Energy Physics (Phenomenology)

The cleanest of them all: NLO electroweak corrections to vector-boson scattering into doubly polarised ZZ pairs at the LHC

Ansgar Denner, Robert Franken, Santiago Lopez Portillo Chavez et al. (+2 more)

We present the first calculation of the next-to-leading-order electroweak corrections to vector-boson scattering into doubly polarised Z bosons at the LHC in the fully leptonic decay channel. The production and decay of the two polarised Z bosons are consistently modelled in the double-pole approximation, separating polarisation states at the amplitude level and including factorisable real and virtual electroweak corrections. Doubly polarised and unpolarised signals are investigated and confronted with off-shell results. A broad analysis, including results at integrated and differential level, is carried out in a realistic, CMS-inspired fiducial setup. Our study paves the way to upcoming analyses with LHC Run-3 and High-Luminosity data as well as to further phenomenological investigations.
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All authors Ansgar Denner, Robert Franken, Santiago Lopez Portillo Chavez, Daniele Lombardi, Giovanni Pelliccioli

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics

The local galaxy distribution does not violate the cosmological principle

Till Sawala

The cosmological principle, which states that the Universe is statistically homogeneous and isotropic on sufficiently large scales, is a foundational assumption of the standard cosmological model. A recent analysis of DESI DR1 galaxy samples reported coherent anisotropic features in the local galaxy distribution extending to gigaparsec scales. If correct, this result would directly contradict the cosmological principle and motivate inhomogeneous cosmologies. Here I analyze the same data and compare them with galaxy distributions predicted by the FLAMINGO cosmological hydrodynamic simulation, performed in the standard $\Lambda$CDM paradigm. I show that the apparent anomaly disappears when the correct comoving distance scale is used and when the observations are compared to mock catalogs that account for bias and redshift-space distortions. Rather than violating the cosmological principle, the observed structures are consistent with those expected in a $\Lambda$CDM Universe.
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