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Physics

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Wednesday 8 July

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Compact Objects Merging with Stars as an Origin of Ultra-Long Gamma-Ray Bursts and Luminous Fast Blue Optical Transients

V. Ashley Villar, Anya E. Nugent, Eric Burns et al. (+4 more)

Ultra-long gamma-ray bursts (ULGRBs) and luminous fast blue optical transients (LFBOTs) are two rare classes of engine-driven transients whose physical connection remains unknown. It has been suggested that both may arise from the mergers of a massive helium core with a compact object. We investigate this common origin by reanalyzing the optical counterpart of the highly unusual GRB 111209A/SN 2011kl associated with an ULGRB in the context of a recently developed, analytical LFBOT model. We find that SN 2011kl is broadly consistent with an LFBOT origin, exhibiting a rapid, luminous and blue early emission. However, compared to the LFBOT population, SN~2011kl features a longer "plateau" of emission ~2 weeks post-merger, suggesting an extended pre-merger mass-loss history, as well as stronger UV suppression. We additionally compare the host galaxy environments of five ULGRBs to those of LFBOTs and classical LGRBs. We find that ULGRBs, similar to LFBOTs and long GRBs, tend to occur in lower mass (<10^10 solar masses) galaxies with higher amounts of active star formation than observed for field galaxy populations at similar redshifts. Together, these results support a shared progenitor for at least a subset of ULGRBs and LFBOTs.
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All authors V. Ashley Villar, Anya E. Nugent, Eric Burns, Brian D. Metzger, Tarraneh Eftekhari, Jakub Klencki, Christopher L. Fryer

Astrophysics of Galaxies

The DESI View of the Faint Radio Source Population in LoTSS DR2

M. I. Arnaudova, L. R. Holden, D. J. B. Smith et al. (+10 more)

The faint radio-source population includes galaxies dominated by both star formation (SF) and active galactic nuclei (AGN), which are two key processes shaping galaxy evolution. To investigate this population, we probabilistically classified 251,413 radio sources from the second data release of the LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey (LoTSS DR2) using spectroscopic data from the first release of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI DR1). Our classification method includes: (i) the identification of radio excess relative to SF, (ii) the Baldwin, Philips & Terlevich (BPT) diagram, (iii) a modified Mass Excitation (MEx) diagram, and (iv) the [OIII]5007 equivalent width. These are combined with Monte Carlo methods to estimate the probability that each source is a star-forming galaxy (SFG), a radio-quiet AGN (RQ AGN), or a low- or high-excitation radio galaxy (LERG or HERG), allowing various thresholds to be applied depending on science goals. Considering classifications above a 90 per cent probability threshold, we identify 68,820 SFGs, 32,288 RQ AGN, 35,210 LERGs and 3,085 HERGs, representing the largest radio sample to date with high-confidence spectroscopic classifications. Using this sample, we show with higher statistical power than previous studies that LERGs typically accrete below 1 per cent of the Eddington limit and HERGs above it. We also identify a small subset of high-accreting LERGs whose stacked spectra reveal prominent star-forming features, highlighting difficulties in interpreting their accretion properties. Our results demonstrate the power of large spectroscopic samples to characterise the radio-source population, providing a foundation for studies in the SKA era.
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All authors M. I. Arnaudova, L. R. Holden, D. J. B. Smith, P. N. Best, R. Kondapally, K. J. Duncan, A. Bushi, S. Das, S. R. Flury, C. L. Hale, M. J. Hardcastle, H. J. A. Rottgering, S. Shenoy

Quantum Physics

A Sparse and Truncated State Vector Simulator for Peaked Circuits

Diogo R. Ferreira

In a class of quantum circuits known as peaked circuits, the goal is to predict the most probable bit string at the output of the circuit. Since these circuits are designed to have a sharp peak in their output distribution, in principle it should be possible to simulate them using a truncated state vector with a limited number of terms, or a fraction of the total probability mass. This approximate simulation can be carried out on a classical computer with a sparse representation that stores only the nonzero amplitudes of the state vector, in contrast to the dense representations that are common in most quantum simulators. For efficiency, all operations on the state vector should be vectorized to the furthest possible extent and, if available, hardware acceleration can also be used. This work describes how these requirements were met in an open-source implementation, and discusses its performance and limitations.
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General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology

Causal Horizons, Geodesic Completeness and Stability in Slow Contraction Cosmology

Mariam Khaldieh, Anna I. Rosenzweig and Paul J. Steinhardt

We show that cosmological models with a semi-infinite phase of slow contraction (ekpyrosis) possess a combination of properties that can address several fundamental problems in cosmology, otherwise faced in contracting de Sitter phases or standard big bang expansion. In particular, slow contraction admits a stable past attractor asymptoting to Minkowski space, as well as a stable, flat, homogeneous, and isotropic future attractor with negligible Weyl curvature (and, therefore, negligible gravitational entropy). In bouncing cosmologies, this contracting attractor is terminated by a smooth, non-singular bounce that transforms the attractor properties at the end of contraction into the initial conditions for the subsequent expanding phase. Cosmologies incorporating a slow contraction phase have no particle horizon and therefore avoid the causal horizon problem. The past Minkowski attractor also generates an initial spectrum of vacuum-like quantum fluctuations on all wavelengths. Moreover, because the averaged expansion rate along past-directed geodesics is non-positive, models incorporating a semi-infinite phase of slow contraction also evade the Borde,Guth and Vilenkin theorem and are past geodesically complete. By contrast, contracting de Sitter space possesses a finite particle horizon and becomes unstable in the presence of scalar fields, matter, or radiation.
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Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics

Intensity fluctuations of radio halo in galaxy cluster: Insights from power spectrum estimation

Srijita Pal, Nirupam Roy, Sameer Salunkhe et al. (+3 more)

Non-thermal synchrotron emissions from radio halo allow us to study mechanisms of particle (re)acceleration, magnetic field distribution, merger history, and turbulence in the intra-cluster medium. We propose power spectrum estimation as a novel and complementary method to study galaxy clusters. We use 610 MHz observations of MACSJ0014.3-302 and MACSJ0152.5-2852 to estimate the angular power spectrum (C_l) from the central halo regions. The C_l shows excess emission only for MACSJ0014.3-302. Using simulations, we find that a halo model with power-law fluctuations, in addition to the smooth exponential radial profile, is required to explain the observed C_l. We compare the observed power-law with existing models of MHD turbulence. The method may be useful for large data from SKA, finding megahalos in other sources, or detecting faint cluster emissions beyond the visible extent.
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All authors Srijita Pal, Nirupam Roy, Sameer Salunkhe, Surajit Paul, Tanu Sharma, Samir Choudhuri

Astrophysics of Galaxies

Scaling Relations for Binary Black Hole Merger Times from Cosmological Initial Conditions

Thibaut L. Francois, Alessia Gualandris and Walter Dehnen

Recent evidence from Pulsar Timing Arrays (PTAs) for a nanohertz gravitational wave background is broadly consistent with theoretical expectations from a population of massive black hole binaries (MBHBs), although the inferred amplitude appears somewhat higher than predicted by standard models. Interpreting these observations requires a robust understanding of the merger timescales of MBHBs, and of their connection to host galaxy properties. In this work, we investigate the evolution of MBHBs selected from cosmological galaxy mergers in the IllustrisTNG simulation. We re-simulate these systems at high resolution using the N-body code Griffin to accurately resolve the dynamical friction and stellar hardening phases, and follow their evolution to coalescence with a semi-analytical model. We find that cosmological galaxy encounters and the resulting MBHBs are typically highly eccentric. We characterise the distribution of binary eccentricities at formation and at entry into the PTA band, and quantify the corresponding residence times. We identify the key parameters governing the duration of the different stages of MBHB evolution, and derive scaling relations linking galaxy and orbital properties to dynamical friction, hardening, and total coalescence times. These relations provide a framework for subgrid prescriptions in cosmological simulations. Applying these scaling relations to the full IllustrisTNG merger population, we infer the probability distributions of galaxy merger and black hole coalescence times. We find that galaxy mergers typically complete within $\sim 0.7$ Gyr, while the total black hole coalescence time is $\sim 1.0$ Gyr. These short timescales imply efficient binary evolution, consistent with current PTA constraints.
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Superconductivity

Bogolyubov excitons as a microscopic origin of two-level systems

Andrey Grankin and Victor Galitski

Two-level systems (TLS) are a leading source of decoherence and dielectric loss in Josephson-junction qubits, yet their microscopic origin remains unresolved. We propose an intrinsic, purely electronic TLS candidate: subgap bound states of Bogolyubov quasiparticles. We show that, in a model of a conventional superconductor with electron-electron attraction in the $s$-wave channel and repulsion in higher-angular-momentum channels, the latter produce an effective attraction between Bogolyubov quasiparticles, forming bound states. These Bogolyubov excitons resemble Bardasis–Schrieffer excitons but are driven by repulsive interactions. Bulk Bogolyubov excitons are not easily detectable through single-particle tunneling or other conventional probes, but we show that surface excitons couple to an external electric field and behave as two-level systems. We examine an idealized model of a bulk superconductor proximity-coupled to a two-dimensional repulsive metal, which could represent an external metallic or semiconductor layer or an underscreened region of the superconductor. The two levels correspond to the absence and presence of a single exciton, which carries an electric dipole moment and exhibits an avoided crossing with a resonator, as observed for TLS. Because this mechanism requires no defects and cannot be eliminated by screening or annealing, it suggests that TLS-like excitations may be intrinsic to superconductors.
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High Energy Physics (Phenomenology)

Impact of QED Radiation on SMEFT Constraints in Deep Inelastic Scattering

Sonny Mantry, Jian-Wei Qiu and Jia-Yue Zhang

Deep-inelastic scattering (DIS) provides a powerful probe of physics beyond the Standard Model through precision measurements interpreted within the Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT). We study the impact of collision-induced QED radiation on SMEFT constraints using the joint QCD+QED factorization framework based on lepton distribution and fragmentation functions. QED radiation can substantially modify DIS cross sections and, in some kinematic regions, significantly alter the effective momentum transfer relevant for factorization. We find that while cross sections receive order-one corrections, longitudinal electron spin asymmetries are affected only at the few-percent level, making them significantly more robust observables for SMEFT studies. Benchmark projections for SoLID and the Electron-Ion Collider are provided to demonstrate the impact of QED radiation for future precision DIS analyses and the extraction of SMEFT constraints.
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High Energy Physics (Theory)

Relative entropy for $\lambda \phi^4$ in the Rindler wedge

Markus B. Fröb, Albert Much and Kyriakos Papadopoulos

We consider the relative entropy between the vacuum and a coherent state in the Rindler wedge for an interacting $\lambda \phi^4$ theory to first order in $\lambda$. We construct the perturbatively interacting Weyl algebra of the wedge, and employ Tomita-Takesaki modular theory and the Araki-Uhlmann formula to compute the relative entropy. We verify that the relative entropy reduces to the classical (interacting) boost Noether charge, analogously to the free theory, and that the Bekenstein bound holds.
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Quantum Physics

Non-Local Magic from the Entanglement Spectrum

Gianpaolo Torre, Fabio Franchini and Salvatore Marco Giampaolo

Non-local magic has recently emerged as a fundamental resource for characterizing genuinely non-local non-stabilizer correlations. However, its direct calculation is an intractable numerical problem, except for small systems, and its understanding remains limited. We derive a representation of non-local magic in terms of the Walsh–Hadamard autocorrelations of the entanglement spectrum. Our representation makes the underlying harmonic structure explicit and enables a systematic analysis of its behaviors for various scenarios. We prove that non-local magic can be upper-bounded by an entanglement entropy and we derive exact analytical results for broad classes of quantum states, characterizing the scaling of non-local magic for volume-law states, as well as ground states of one-dimensional gapped and critical systems. Our results identify the spectral organization of the entanglement spectrum as the key ingredient governing non-local magic and provide a framework for further systematic analytical investigation.
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Superconductivity

Parity Anomaly of Preformed Pairs Governs the Thermal Hall Effect above $T_c$

Kumar Ghosh

A large negative thermal Hall signal has been reported across multiple cuprate families in the pseudogap phase where the superconducting order parameter has vanished, with a magnitude that no existing microscopic theory reproduces without free parameters. Competing proposals based on chiral phonons, spinons, or loop currents each require undetermined coupling constants and do not predict the temperature dependence in terms of an independently measured spectroscopic gap. We show that the parity anomaly of $(2+1)$-dimensional quantum field theory resolves this long-standing puzzle: the preformed-pair pseudogap $\Delta_{\rm pg}(T)$ enters the parity-odd fermion determinant identically to a condensate mass, yielding the exact parameter-free formula $\kappa_{xy}/T = (\pi^2 k_B^2/6h)\,C\,\tanh[\Delta_{\rm pg}(T)/(2k_BT)]$, where $C$ is the Chern number of the chiral pairing channel and $\Delta_{\rm pg}(T)$ is directly measurable by ARPES or STM. Coleman-Hill non-renormalization protects the result against higher-loop corrections, and two independent numerical tests, Wilson-loop flux threading and DMRG on $p+ip$ cylinders, confirm the anomaly correlation length to $0.2\%$ accuracy with no power-law finite-size corrections. The theory predicts thermal Hall onset at $T^*$ rather than $T_c$, provides a falsifiable logarithmic-derivative test against ARPES data, and yields a concrete quantitative target for magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene.
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General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology

Singularity resolution and unitarity in two-dimensional dilaton black holes with negative central charge

César García-Pérez, F. Javier Marañón-González, José Navarro-Salas et al. (+1 more)

We study a one-loop corrected extension of the classical Callan-Giddings-Harvey-Strominger (CGHS) model of two-dimensional dilaton gravity. The effective action combines the non-local Polyakov action for matter fluctuations, a Polyakov-type term built from an auxiliary flat metric that implements Strominger's mechanism for the Faddeev-Popov reparametrization ghosts, and a local counterterm that simultaneously preserves the flatness of the auxiliary metric, ensures exact solvability, and keeps two-dimensional Minkowski spacetime as an exact solution of the backreacted equations. In the regime of negative total central charge, the classical curvature singularity is resolved and gives way to asymptotically flat regions inside the horizon. The exterior Hawking flux is preserved and turns out to be correlated with an internal radiation flux supported on null surfaces that approach null infinity from beyond the horizon; this internal flux, in particular, presents a short interval of negative values. These correlations point to the preservation of unitarity, provided the relevant null surfaces remain at a finite affine distance from the collapsing matter trajectory. Within the present formulation, however, a fully consistent energy balance cannot yet be established. We discuss possible strategies to overcome this issue.
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All authors César García-Pérez, F. Javier Marañón-González, José Navarro-Salas, Silvia Pla

Quantum Physics

Robust Ion-Photon Entanglement via Polarization-to-Time-Bin Conversion

Ana Luiza Ferrari, Denton Wu, Mika A. Zalewski et al. (+1 more)

Time-bin photonic qubits are well-suited for quantum network applications due to their robustness to polarization instability in fiber links and potential for heterogeneous networks. In this work, we implement the first entanglement-preserving polarization-to-time-bin conversion of a photon qubit in an entangled state with a matter qubit, together with the independent work of Haen et al. \cite{haen2026telecom}. Photons initially generated with polarization encoding are converted to the time-bin basis through a polarization-discriminating asymmetric Mach–Zehnder interferometer. The photonic qubits are generated via the $1092$~nm transition of a $^{88}$Sr$^{+}$ ion. We measure state fidelity bounds of $0.906 \pm 0.011 \le \mathcal{F} \le 0.934\pm 0.011$, with conversion error $< 0.028$, and find this fidelity shows no statistically significant reduction under depolarizing noise, even at full depolarization strength.
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All authors Ana Luiza Ferrari, Denton Wu, Mika A. Zalewski, Norbert M. Linke

Strongly Correlated Electrons

Electron-Phonon Functional Renormalization Group of Fermi Liquid Instabilities

C. Alexander Baum, Matteo Dürrnagel, Ronny Thomale et al. (+1 more)

We formulate a functional renormalization group (FRG) ansatz for correlated electron models that incorporates electronic interactions as well as electron-phonon coupling (EPC) stemming from dispersive phonon bands. Particularizing to the RG flow of the electron-electron interaction vertex, we treat phonon- and electron-mediated Fermi liquid instabilities on equal footing as we analyze tentative electronic order parameters related to charge, spin, nematicity, and superconducting pairing. We illustrate the approach at the example of Peierls-type transitions we find for the Hubbard model on the square lattice coupled to acoustic phonon bands. Our method allows to incorporate full electronic and phononic ab initio input, and thus lends itself to the analysis of electronic order from intertwined electronic interactions and EPC at a microscopically most substantiated level.
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All authors C. Alexander Baum, Matteo Dürrnagel, Ronny Thomale, Lennart Klebl

Astrophysics of Galaxies

Boötes III is a Tidally Disrupting Ultra-Faint Dwarf Galaxy on an Eccentric Polar Orbit

Ting S. Li, Denis Erkal, Andrew B. Pace et al. (+20 more)

We present updated systemic properties of the ultra-faint dwarf galaxy Boötes III from the Southern Stellar Stream Spectroscopic Survey (S$^5$). We identify 21 high-probability members and measure a velocity dispersion of $\sigma_{v} = 1.69^{+1.03}_{-0.85}$ km s$^{-1}$, about six times smaller than the previously reported $10.7 \pm 3.5$ km s$^{-1}$, and a mean metallicity of [Fe/H] $= -2.34 \pm 0.11$. The revised dispersion brings Boötes III in line with other tidally disrupting dwarfs such as Antlia II and Crater II. Orbit integrations in a Milky Way (MW) + Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) potential confirm a highly eccentric ($e \approx 0.8$), polar ($i \approx 89.5^\circ$) orbit with a recent pericentric passage $\sim 0.14$ Gyr ago at $r_{\rm peri} \approx 9.5$ kpc. Boötes III is thus likely actively tidally disrupting, as its tidal radius at pericenter, $r_t \approx 164$ pc, is only $\sim 0.35$ of its half-light radius. The unusually low dispersion also implies that Boötes III has either lost most of its dark matter to tides or hosts a cored inner density profile, making it a probe of the nature of dark matter. Simulated tidal streams are broadly consistent with the Styx stellar stream, though the predicted track and kinematics are sensitive to the MW halo mass, LMC mass, and solar velocity. Boötes III overlaps the Typhon stream in integrals-of-motion space but has a much lower mean metallicity, suggesting the two are not the same system but may have had a common group infall origin. Sagittarius-stream contamination prevents a direct tidal-tail detection, so deep spectroscopic follow-up remains essential, both to confirm Styx as a genuine stream and to establish it as Boötes III's tidal tail.
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All authors Ting S. Li, Denis Erkal, Andrew B. Pace, Jiaxun Yang, Sergey E. Koposov, Jo Bovy, Nathan R. Sandford, Andrew P. Li, Gustavo E. Medina, Lara R. Cullinane, Gary S. Da Costa, Alexander P. Ji, Kyler Kuehn, Geraint F. Lewis, Guilherme Limberg, Sarah L. Martell, Aldo Mura-Guzmán, Nora Shipp, Yong Yang, Daniel B. Zucker, Kaia R. Atzberger, Joss Bland-Hawthorn, John D. Dixon

Quantum Physics

Shortcuts to Adiabaticity for non-Hermitian systems in Krylov Space

Ankit W. Shrestha, Budhaditya Bhattacharjee and Adolfo del Campo

Shortcuts to adiabaticity (STA) reproduce adiabatic dynamics in finite time, but their counterdiabatic implementation relies on the adiabatic gauge potential (AGP), which is difficult to compute and implement in many-body systems and whose extension to open and non-Hermitian settings has remained largely model-specific. Here, we develop a general, diagonalization-free framework for engineering STA in non-Hermitian systems by representing the AGP in Krylov space. Starting from an integral representation of the counterdiabatic control, we recast the AGP as a nested-commutator series with controlled locality and generate the associated Krylov basis using the bi-Lanczos and Arnoldi algorithms. This reduces the exact or truncated AGP to a sparse tridiagonal or upper-Hessenberg matrix equation that generalizes the Hermitian construction. We demonstrate the method on a decaying two-level atom, where it recovers the exact drive and signals the exceptional point; on the interacting Hatano-Nelson model, where truncated controls rapidly suppress nonadiabatic excitations; and on a PT-symmetric Heisenberg chain, whose AGP norm detects the PT-symmetry-breaking transition. Throughout, the expansion converges with only a small fraction of the full Krylov space, offering a practical route to fast, accurate control of many-body non-Hermitian systems.
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Quantum Physics

Topology from Decoherence

Alexandre Chaduteau, Derek Lee, Frank Schindler et al. (+1 more)

Decoherence is conventionally regarded as an obstacle to realizing topological quantum phases. This has motivated extensive efforts to suppress noise in candidate topological materials and devices. Here, we show that decoherence can instead induce topological phenomena. We demonstrate this in a lattice system subject to environment-induced dephasing. The noise-averaged dynamics, governed by an interacting quantum master equation, realize a topological phase characterized by a winding number and the non-Hermitian skin effect. The dynamical consequence is striking: the correlated nature of the stochastic noise yields asymmetric diffusion, whose direction is fixed by the winding number and is reversible only through a topological phase transition. This effect is induced purely by interactions, distinguishing it from previous studies of free, effectively single-particle systems. It also disappears upon postselecting measurement outcomes, confirming that it is a genuinely open-system phenomenon with no effective Hamiltonian description. Remarkably, the model remains analytically tractable. Our results establish correlated quantum noise as a route to topology in open many-body systems, beyond free-particle and non-Hermitian Hamiltonian paradigms.
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All authors Alexandre Chaduteau, Derek Lee, Frank Schindler, Abhinav Prem

High Energy Physics (Experiment)

Search for axion-like particles decaying to two photons at Belle II

Belle II Collaboration: M. Abumusabh, I. Adachi, A. Aggarwal et al. (+449 more)

Axion-like particles (ALPs) are predicted in many extensions of the Standard Model and provide a well-motivated portal between visible and hidden sectors through their coupling to photons. We search for ALPs produced in the process $e^{+}e^{-}\to\gamma a$, $a\to\gamma\gamma$, using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $408~\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$ recorded by the Belle~II detector at the SuperKEKB $e^{+}e^{-}$ collider. Events containing three photons are used to reconstruct the ALP as a narrow peak in the di-photon invariant mass spectrum over the range $0.17 < m_{a} < 9.80~\mathrm{GeV}/c^{2}$. No significant excess above background is observed. We set 95% confidence level upper limits on the production cross section and on the ALP-photon coupling $g_{a\gamma\gamma}$, reaching sensitivities at the level of $10^{-4}~\mathrm{GeV}^{-1}$. The limits are the most restrictive to date over nearly the entire mass range $0.17 < m_{a} < 5.00~\mathrm{GeV}/c^{2}$, and improve upon previous results by up to a factor 9.
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All authors Belle II Collaboration: M. Abumusabh, I. Adachi, A. Aggarwal, H. Ahmed, Y. Ahn, H. Aihara, M. Akdag, N. Akopov, S. Alghamdi, M. Alhakami, A. Aloisio, N. Althubiti, K. Amos, M. Angelsmark, N. Anh Ky, C. Antonioli, K. Arai, D. M. Asner, H. Atmacan, T. Aushev, V. Aushev, R. Ayad, V. Babu, H. Bae, N. K. Baghel, S. Bahinipati, P. Bambade, Sw. Banerjee, S. Bansal, M. Barrett, M. Bartl, J. Baudot, A. Baur, A. Beaubien, F. Becherer, J. Becker, G. F. Benfratello, J. V. Bennett, F. U. Bernlochner, V. Bertacchi, M. Bertemes, E. Bertholet, M. Bessner, S. Bettarini, V. Bhardwaj, B. Bhuyan, F. Bianchi, T. Bilka, A. Biswas, D. Biswas, A. Bobrov, D. Bodrov, A. Bondar, G. Bonvicini, J. Borah, A. Boschetti, A. Bozek, M. Bračko, P. Branchini, T. E. Browder, A. Budano, S. Bussino, F. Callet, Q. Campagna, M. Campajola, L. Cao, M. Carminati, G. Casarosa, C. Cecchi, M.-C. Chang, P. Cheema, L. Chen, B. G. Cheon, C. Cheshta, H. Chetri, K. Chilikin, K. Chirapatpimol, H.-E. Cho, K. Cho, S.-J. Cho, S.-K. Choi, S. Choudhury, S. Chutia, J. Cochran, J. A. Colorado-Caicedo, I. Consigny, L. Corona, D. Crook, S. Cuccuini, J. X. Cui, E. De La Cruz-Burelo, S. A. De La Motte, G. De Nardo, G. De Pietro, R. de Sangro, M. Destefanis, S. Dey, R. Dhayal, A. Di Canto, J. Dingfelder, Z. Doležal, X. Dong, M. Dorigo, C. Driver, K. Dugic, G. Dujany, P. Ecker, D. Epifanov, J. Eppelt, R. Farkas, P. Feichtinger, T. Ferber, T. Fillinger, C. Finck, G. Finocchiaro, F. Forti, A. Frey, B. G. Fulsom, A. Gabrielli, P. Gagneja, A. Gale, E. Ganiev, M. Garcia-Hernandez, A. Garmash, L. Gärtner, G. Gaudino, V. Gaur, V. Gautam, A. Gaz, P. Gebeline, A. Gellrich, G. Ghevondyan, D. Ghosh, H. Ghumaryan, G. Giakoustidis, D. Giesegh, R. Giordano, A. Giri, P. Gironella Gironell, A. Glazov, B. Gobbo, R. Godang, O. Gogota, W. Gradl, E. Graziani, D. Greenwald, Y. Guan, K. Gudkova, I. Haide, H. Haigh, Y. Han, K. Hayasaka, H. Hayashii, S. Hazra, C. Hearty, M. T. Hedges, A. Heidelbach, G. Heine, I. Heredia de la Cruz, M. Hernández Villanueva, T. Higuchi, M. Hoek, M. Hohmann, R. Hoppe, P. Horak, X. T. Hou, C.-L. Hsu, T. Humair, T. Iijima, K. Inami, G. Inguglia, N. Ipsita, A. Ishikawa, R. Itoh, M. Iwasaki, P. Jackson, D. Jacobi, W. W. Jacobs, E.-J. Jang, Q. P. Ji, S. Jia, Y. Jin, A. Johnson, K. K. Joo, K. H. Kang, G. Karyan, T. Kawasaki, F. Keil, C. Ketter, C. Kiesling, C. Kim, D. Y. Kim, H. Kim, J.-Y. Kim, K.-H. Kim, H. Kindo, K. Kinoshita, P. Kodyš, T. Koga, S. Kohani, A. Korobov, S. Korpar, E. Kovalenko, R. Kowalewski, M. Krein, P. Križan, P. Krokovny, T. Kuhr, Y. Kulii, D. Kumar, K. Kumara, T. Kunigo, A. Kuzmin, Y.-J. Kwon, S. Lacaprara, T. Lam, J. S. Lange, T. S. Lau, R. Leboucher, F. R. Le Diberder, H. Lee, M. J. Lee, C. Lemettais, P. Leo, P. M. Lewis, C. Li, L. K. Li, Q. M. Li, S. X. Li, W. Z. Li, Y. Li, Y. B. Li, Y. P. Liao, J. Libby, J. Lin, S. Lin, Z. Liptak, V. Lisovskyi, C. Liu, G. Liu, M. H. Liu, Q. Y. Liu, Z. Q. Liu, D. Liventsev, S. Longo, A. Lozar, T. Lueck, C. Lyu, J. L. Ma, Y. Ma, M. Maggiora, S. P. Maharana, R. Maiti, G. Mancinelli, R. Manfredi, E. Manoni, M. Mantovano, D. Marcantonio, S. Marcello, M. Marfoli, C. Marinas, C. Martellini, A. Martens, T. Martinov, L. Massaccesi, M. Masuda, T. Matsuda, D. Matvienko, S. K. Maurya, M. Maushart, J. A. McKenna, Z. Mediankin Gruberová, R. Mehta, F. Meier, D. Meleshko, M. Merola, C. Miller, M. Mirra, K. Miyabayashi, H. Miyake, R. Mizuk, G. B. Mohanty, S. Moneta, A. L. Moreira de Carvalho, H.-G. Moser, N. Mudgal, Th. Muller, H. Murakami, R. Mussa, K. R. Nakamura, M. Nakao, Y. Nakazawa, M. Naruki, Z. Natkaniec, A. Natochii, M. Nayak, M. Neu, S. Nishida, R. Nomaru, S. Ogawa, R. Okubo, H. Ono, Y. Onuki, I. Ostrowski, G. Pakhlova, S. Pardi, J. Park, K. Park, S.-H. Park, A. Passeri, S. Patra, T. K. Pedlar, R. Pestotnik, M. Piccolo, L. E. Piilonen, P. L. M. Podesta-Lerma, T. Podobnik, L. Polat, A. Prakash, V. Prasad, C. Praz, S. Prell, E. Prencipe, M. T. Prim, S. Privalov, I. Prudiiev, H. Purwar, P. Rados, S. Raiz, K. Ravindran, J. U. Rehman, M. Reif, S. Reiter, M. Remnev, L. Reuter, D. Ricalde Herrmann, I. Ripp-Baudot, G. Rizzo, S. H. Robertson, J. M. Roney, A. Rostomyan, N. Rout, G. Russo, S. Saha, L. Salutari, D. A. Sanders, S. Sandilya, L. Santelj, C. Santos, V. Savinov, B. Scavino, J. Schmitz, S. Schneider, M. Schnepf, K. Schoenning, C. Schwanda, Y. Seino, K. Senyo, J. Serrano, M. E. Sevior, C. Sfienti, W. Shan, C. P. Shen, X. D. Shi, T. Shillington, T. Shimasaki, J.-G. Shiu, D. Shtol, B. Shwartz, A. Sibidanov, F. Simon, J. B. Singh, J. Skorupa, A. Soffer, A. Sokolov, E. Solovieva, W. Song, S. Spataro, K. Špenko, B. Spruck, M. Starič, P. Stavroulakis, S. Stefkova, R. Stroili, M. Sumihama, K. Sumisawa, M. Takahashi, M. Takizawa, U. Tamponi, K. Tanida, F. Testa, A. Thaller, D. V. Thanh, T. Tien Manh, O. Tittel, R. Tiwary, E. Torassa, K. Trabelsi, F. F. Trantou, I. Tsaklidis, M. Uchida, I. Ueda, T. Uglov, K. Unger, Y. Unno, K. Uno, S. Uno, P. Urquijo, Y. Ushiroda, S. E. Vahsen, R. van Tonder, K. E. Varvell, M. Veronesi, A. Vinokurova, V. S. Vismaya, L. Vitale, V. Vobbilisetti, R. Volk, R. Volpe, E. Waheed, M. Wakai, S. Wallner, M.-Z. Wang, X. L. Wang, A. Warburton, M. Watanabe, S. Watanuki, C. Wessel, X. P. Xu, B. D. Yabsley, S. Yamada, W. Yan, W. P. Yan, J. Yelton, K. Yi, J. H. Yin, K. Yoshihara, C. Z. Yuan, J. Yuan, L. Yuan, Y. Yusa, L. Zani, F. Zeng, M. Zeyrek, B. Zhang, X. Zhao, V. Zhilich, J. S. Zhou, Q. D. Zhou, X. Y. Zhou, L. Zhu, R. Žlebčík

High Energy Physics (Theory)

No off-diagonal quantum focusing for Rényi divergences

Tanay Kibe and Pratik Roy

The quantum focusing conjecture (QFC) is a mathematical expression of the idea that semiclassical gravity remains universally attractive. In its non-gravitational limit, the diagonal inequality is the quantum null energy condition (QNEC), which requires convexity of relative entropy with respect to the vacuum under null deformations. Rényi divergences generalize relative entropy, and positive results for the diagonal Rényi QNEC raise the question of whether they also satisfy the off-diagonal inequalities required by a full focusing principle. We show that classical correlations between distinct null generators obstruct this extension for any non-affine Rényi-type divergence satisfying data processing, tensor additivity, and matched classical-quantum conditioning.
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Quantum Physics

Observation of coherent flux-charge interaction in a gate-tunable fluxonium

Brian D. Isakov, Shikhar Singh, Adrian Parra-Rodriguez et al. (+7 more)

Interactions that mix conjugate variables, such as the flux through a circuit element and the charge across it, lie outside the reach of the elementary couplings of superconducting circuits. Capacitors connect charge to charge, and inductors connect flux to flux, while no two-terminal element couples flux to charge directly. A native flux-charge coupling would thus serve as a circuit primitive in its own right, opening direct routes to non-reciprocity, protected modes, and unconventional readout. In this work, we demonstrate a flux-charge coupling by harnessing a voltage-tunable Josephson junction with parametrically modulated critical current, which mediates the interaction between a classical charge variable and a quantum flux operator. Relying on parity-selection rules in a hybrid superconducting-semiconductor fluxonium, we isolate the flux-charge coupling from other parasitic capacitive contributions and perform cross-quadrature-activated coherent control of states. Critically, we realize a flux-charge coupling that scales linearly with driving amplitude while keeping the transition energy first-order-insensitive to gate voltage. Such unconventional interaction broadens the toolbox of superconducting circuits with a critical missing component that enables the coherent coupling of conjugate variables.
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All authors Brian D. Isakov, Shikhar Singh, Adrian Parra-Rodriguez, David Feldstein-Bofill, Zhenhai Sun, Anders Kringhøj, Svend Krøjer, Alexandre Blais, Morten Kjaergaard, András Gyenis

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics

Monte Carlo solution of the Kondo model

Nicolas Paris, Oscar Bouverot-Dupuis and Christophe Mora

The Kondo model is a paradigmatic quantum impurity problem realized in a wide variety of experimental platforms and central to the study of strongly correlated electrons. We introduce a discrete model that exactly reproduces the multichannel Kondo model and demonstrate that it can be simulated efficiently. Using cluster Monte Carlo algorithms, we completely eliminate critical slowing down, providing direct access to universal crossover functions and transport properties across a broad range of parameters. Remarkably, the same model captures both the weak- and strong-coupling regimes, unifying descriptions traditionally derived in complementary limits and revealing their common origin. Our method naturally accommodates large channel numbers, anisotropy, interacting one-dimensional leads, and channel asymmetry, yielding predictions for transport properties in charge-Kondo devices.
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High Energy Physics (Phenomenology)

Azimuthal momentum isotropization in the Quark-Gluon Plasma thermalization

Sergio Barrera Cabodevila, Xiaojian Du, Carlos A. Salgado et al. (+1 more)

Azimuthal anisotropies coming from the initial state of a heavy-ion collision have been historically disregarded in the study of thermalization because they are expected to be rapidly washed out due to final-state interactions. However, they may be important when one attempts to describe azimuthal correlations observed in the collisions of small systems. In this work, we study how these initial anisotropies relax in the context of the Boltzmann Equation in Diffusion Approximation (BEDA). We find a clear hierarchy in the relaxation time of the anisotropies in terms of each harmonic coefficient. We also explore the evolution of the $p_T$-dependent harmonic coefficients in time, finding a shift in the initial peak towards higher momenta that mimics the experimental data when we perform a phenomenologically motivated simulation.
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All authors Sergio Barrera Cabodevila, Xiaojian Du, Carlos A. Salgado, Bin Wu

Astrophysics of Galaxies

The incidence of eROSITA X-ray AGN in the local Universe: from dwarf to massive galaxies

Z. Igo, A. Merloni, A. Georgakakis et al. (+22 more)

Combining deep, wide-area X-ray surveys with multi-wavelength catalogues provides insights into rare, highly-accreting AGN and low-mass galaxies at low redshift, the latter potentially representing local analogues of the first galaxies in the early Universe. We use the four-pass eROSITA All Sky Survey to select the largest catalogue of X-ray AGN in a highly complete sample of low-redshift galaxies, including low-mass (logM*/Msol<10) ones. We probe their distribution of specific accretion rates, $\lambda$_SAR, and the cumulative AGN fraction above varying $\lambda$_SAR thresholds. Our parent sample consists of ~5.35 million galaxies selected from the Legacy Survey DR10 with z-band fluxes brighter than 20 mag and redshifts 0.03<z<0.2. We place particular emphasis on the detailed characterisation of our sample, including estimating unbiased physical galaxy properties and rigorous cleaning and validation of the X-ray aperture photometry and host-galaxy associations. We identify 874 X-ray AGN in low-mass galaxies, most of them newly discovered as X-ray emitters. Thanks to a Bayesian framework that makes use of the X-ray information from all parent sample galaxies, we constrain the specific accretion rate distribution, p(log$\lambda$_SAR | M*, z), across a wide range of $\lambda$_SAR and uncover second-order mass-dependent effects. We detect a break at high $\lambda$_SAR, possibly indicating Eddington-limited, self-regulated black hole growth. Integrating p(log$\lambda$_SAR | M*, z) above $\lambda$_SAR>10^-3, we find a cumulative AGN fraction of ~1% for low-mass galaxies, placing a firm lower limit on the black hole occupation fraction in this regime. Overall, our specific accretion rate distributions, sampling down to the as-of-yet unexplored low-mass regime, highlight a more nuanced, mass-dependent view of AGN growth and accretion history that must be taken into account in future modelling.
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All authors Z. Igo, A. Merloni, A. Georgakakis, J. Buchner, R. Arcodia, M. Salvato, J. Aird, K. Nandra, B. Trakhtenbrot, P. G. Boorman, J. Comparat, G. Lamer, B. Laloux, M. Kluge, W. Roster, E. Bulbul, F. Balzer, T. Dwelly, W. N. Brandt, R. Seppi, S. Morrison, E. Kyritsis, J. Gelfand, S. F. Anderson, D. P. Schneider

High Energy Physics (Phenomenology)

Universal seesaw mechanism for fermion masses and strong CP problem

Pavel Fileviez Perez and Clara Murgui

We propose a framework for fermion mass generation based on a universal seesaw. The Standard Model is extended by an Abelian gauge symmetry acting on right-handed fermions, together with vector-like fermions and scalar fields. The ordinary Yukawa couplings are forbidden, except for the top-quark coupling to the Higgs, which is allowed at the renormalizable level and remains unsuppressed. The charged-fermion hierarchies then arise from mixing with the vector-like sector, and light neutrino masses emerge from a neutral sector Majorana seesaw. CP is exact in the ultraviolet and broken spontaneously by scalar vacuum expectation values. The resulting CP-violating phase is transmitted to the quark sector and generates the CKM phase, while a Nelson-Barr structure, realized through the universal seesaw block form, keeps the physical QCD vacuum angle zero at tree level. Consistency with EDM bounds beyond tree level requires moderately suppressed Yukawa couplings between SM doublets to the vector-like sector. If the leading higher-dimensional operators are unsuppressed, the same requirement can favor a low breaking scale for the new Abelian symmetry. In this regime the vector-like fermions can lie at the TeV scale, with suppressed mixing with the electroweak sector. This framework provides a simple setting in which the hierarchies of charged-fermion masses, neutrino masses, and CP-violating parameters can be accounted for within a common extension of the Standard Model.
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Astrophysics of Galaxies

Tracing black hole and galaxy growth across environments since cosmic noon

Emma Jane Weller, Priyamvada Natarajan, Colin J. Burke et al. (+1 more)

The distribution of systems in the black hole (BH) mass-stellar mass ($M_\mathrm{BH}-M_\star$) plane encodes both the integrated growth of galaxies and their central black holes, and the processes that shape their evolution. Using the ASTRID and TNG300 cosmological simulations, we track massive BHs from cosmic noon ($z=2$) to $z=0.5$. TNG300 repositions BHs to the centers of their host galaxies at every time step, while ASTRID instead advances them under the resolved gravitational forces plus a subgrid dynamical friction model, allowing BHs to wander off-center when orbital decay is inefficient. We follow the BHs rather than their original host galaxies, thereby capturing central BHs, BHs in satellites, and wandering BHs. We find that central BHs in both simulations evolve along a tight, nearly redshift-invariant $M_\mathrm{BH}-M_\star$ relation that is broadly consistent with local empirical constraints. Departures from this relation trace distinct evolutionary channels in which mergers play a key role. Major galaxy mergers drive BH-BH coalescence that dominates the growth of the most massive central BHs. These BHs subsequently quench their hosts through active galactic nucleus (AGN) kinetic feedback. Minor mergers tidally strip satellites to lower $M_\star$ at nearly fixed $M_\mathrm{BH}$, producing weakly accreting, overmassive central BHs in gas-poor systems. In ASTRID, satellite accretion and inefficient dynamical friction generate wandering BHs that are undermassive relative to their new hosts and experience minimal accretion or merger-driven growth. A BH's location in the $M_\mathrm{BH}-M_\star$ and specific BH accretion rate-specific star formation rate planes is therefore a fossil record of its dynamical, accretion, merger, and feedback history.
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All authors Emma Jane Weller, Priyamvada Natarajan, Colin J. Burke, Shashank Dattathri

High Energy Physics (Phenomenology)

Dissecting Parton Showers with Multi-Point Energy Correlators

Mark Gonzalez, Philip Harris, Kyle Lee et al. (+2 more)

The last several years have seen tremendous progress in the ability to both compute and measure multi-point correlations in energy flux. The highly differential nature of energy correlators makes them ideal probes of multi-collinear factorization and azimuthal structure within jets. In this paper, we explore the phenomenology of four-point correlators in jet substructure. We identify experimentally realizable projections that probe different factorization channels onto splitting tensors and splitting functions. We perform a detailed phenomenological study using both Herwig and Pythia. By comparing parton shower results with analytic calculations in kinematic limits, we are able to disentangle intrinsic spin correlations from kinematic azimuthal correlations. In experimentally accessible kinematic regions, we find the spin correlations are subdominant, strongly motivating a complete calculation of the four-point correlator in QCD to provide a test of the parton shower results. We also present parameterizations and analysis algorithms that can be used experimentally. Our work sets the stage for the experimental measurement of these observables at the LHC, and their use as probes of the next generation of parton showers.
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All authors Mark Gonzalez, Philip Harris, Kyle Lee, Ian Moult, Simon Rothman

High Energy Physics (Phenomenology)

PDF effects in high-mass Drell-Yan SMEFT analyses across flavour space

David Marzocca and Manuel Morales-Alvarado

High-mass Drell-Yan dilepton production provides one of the most sensitive probes of semileptonic four-fermion operators in the Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT), thanks to the energy growth of the corresponding contributions. At the same time, these measurements also constrain parton distribution functions (PDFs) in the large-$x$ region, where PDF uncertainties can mimic or obscure smooth new-physics effects. In this work we study how the impact of PDF profiling on SMEFT constraints depends on the quark-flavour structure of the effective operators, by performing a joint fit of SMEFT Wilson coefficients and PDF nuisance parameters. We find that PDF profiling induces a strongly flavour-dependent degradation of the SMEFT sensitivity, both with current data and in HL-LHC projections. The largest broadenings occur for operators involving first-generation quarks, whose effects are correlated with the high-$x$ valence-quark luminosities that dominate the high-mass spectrum. Operators involving heavier quark flavours are less affected, although with non-negligible operator-dependent variations. As a byproduct of our analysis, we obtain an estimate on the changes induced in the PDF sector by profiling SMEFT effects. We also show that angular information provides an important handle to reduce degeneracies among SMEFT directions and between SMEFT effects and allowed PDF deformations. These results demonstrate that the relevance of PDF uncertainties in high-energy SMEFT fits is not uniform across flavour space, and must be assessed in a flavour-dependent way.
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General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology

Regular Black Holes in Nonlocal Quasitopological Gravity

Pablo Bueno, Pablo A. Cano, Robie A. Hennigar et al. (+1 more)

We present infinite-derivative completions of Quasitopological gravities that are ghost-free, avoid strong coupling instabilities and admit exact, spherically symmetric vacuum regular-black-hole solutions satisfying a perturbative Birkhoff theorem.
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All authors Pablo Bueno, Pablo A. Cano, Robie A. Hennigar, Ángel J. Murcia

Strongly Correlated Electrons

Anisotropic vacancy-induced magnetization textures in altermagnets

Ruben Burkard, Mathias S. Scheurer and Urban F. P. Seifert

We study magnetic textures induced by vacancies in altermagnets using microscopic simulations and low-energy field theory. We show that a vacancy generically produces a real-space anisotropic distortion of the magnetic order, whose structure encodes the symmetry of the underlying altermagnetic state. This impurity response offers a direct route to detecting altermagnetic order with locally resolved probes. We demonstrate this for both classical altermagnets, where vacancies generate anisotropic magnetization textures in a transverse magnetic field, and quantum models, where fluctuations induce longitudinal power-law decaying magnetic distortions even at zero field.
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High Energy Physics (Phenomenology)

Factorization of elastic, single, and double diffractive $pp$ scattering

Philipp B. Aretz, Kyle Lee, Stella T. Schindler et al. (+1 more)

We use effective field theory techniques to factorize elastic, single, and double diffractive forward $pp$ scattering in the Regge limit $|t|\ll s$, where $t$ is the squared momentum transfer. These processes involve a large rapidity gap and comprise about half the total $pp$ cross section. We explain why the diffractive PDFs appearing in $ep$ diffraction do not appear as universal hadronic functions for $pp$ diffraction. For $|t|\sim \Lambda_{\rm QCD}^2$, we show that the hadronic functions in $ep$ and $pp$ diffraction differ, and hence are non-universal. In general, we prove that rapidity anomalous dimensions are universal between diffractive $ep$ and $pp$ processes, and that color-singlet (Pomeron) evolution equations can be determined at the amplitude level.
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All authors Philipp B. Aretz, Kyle Lee, Stella T. Schindler, Iain W. Stewart