Papers

The Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) era poses a challenge for developers: hardware providers expose capabilities through heterogeneous interfaces with proprietary metrics varying widely across providers, hindering informed backend selection. Static characterization metrics - coherence times T1/T2, gate error rates - exhibit limitations: they fail to capture dynamic variability across successive executions, overlook the impact of transpilation, and lack architectural comparability across physically distinct technologies. We propose a Figure of Merit (FoM) based on Grover's algorithm as an algorithmic stress test evaluating quantum backend performance holistically. The metric combines success probability on target states with penalties for non-uniform amplification and leakage to non-marked states, yielding a unified score across hardware architectures. Implemented via the Qonscious framework - a conditional execution platform using polymorphic adapters, it executes agnostically on IBM, IonQ backends, and simulators. Main contributions: (1) proposal and validation of GroverFigureOfMerit, incorporating uniformity and leakage penalties (adapted from GRADE) with emphasis on noise, transpilation, and topological constraints; (2) systematic analysis of heterogeneity across nine quantum providers motivating agnostic metrics; and (3) experimental demonstration via ideal simulators and real-processor noise models, confirming sensitivity to noise, topology, and transpilation overhead. Results confirm the metric distinguishes backend performance under a unified score, capturing intrinsic algorithmic limits. Validation on physical QPUs is identified as a natural next step.

The identification of molecules that combine long spin coherence times and efficient spin-optical interfaces, ideally at room temperature, is pivotal towards the development of molecular quantum technology. By means of advanced first-principles methods, we here unravel the electronic structure for triangulene (1), its aza-cation derivative (2), and the crystal of 2,6,10-tri-tert-butyl-4,8,12-trimesityl-triangulene (3), and show that these organic diradicals possess a triplet ground state well separated from the first singlet excited state approaching 0.5 eV, closely resembling solid-state defects like nitrogen vacancy centers. In addition, we compute spin decoherence times due to the interaction with phonons and surrounding nuclear spins, showing that a deuterated molecule of 3 in a nuclear spin-free environment would support $T_2 = 0.21$ ms at 10 K. Importantly, we show that the engineering of specific low-energy vibrations could significantly improve $T_2$ toward the limit imposed by the molecular core spin relaxation, here estimated to be as long as $T_1=27$ ms at 300 K for 2. Finally, we compute two-phonon contributions to inter-system crossing at 300 K for2 as a luminescent prototype, and find that it is highly spin-selective, supporting the possibility to engineer optical read out and spin initialization. These results advance a unified first-principles theoretical foundation of spin decoherence and spin-selective excited-state processes and point to novel chemical design strategies for optically addressable, highly coherent molecular qubits.

In these notes, basic concepts and necessary formulas for the modeling of elastic lepton-nucleon and quasielastic lepton-nucleus scattering using relativistic models are discussed. Certain theoretical developments are presented in meticulous detail, particularly those rarely found in papers or standard textbooks. In order to highlight the discrepancies between models and evaluate the impact of various nuclear effects, theoretical predictions are compared with inclusive electron scattering data. These notes are designed for Master's or PhD students embarking on their research in the field of neutrino-nucleus interactions at intermediate energies (ranging from several hundred MeV to a few GeV). They are intended to serve as a supplemental guide, never as a substitute for traditional textbooks on Scattering Theory and Quantum Field Theory. Currently, these notes are included in the course `Relativistic Quantum Theory: Nuclear Processes', which is integrated into both the Interuniversity Master in Nuclear Physics (https://master.us.es/fisicanuclear/index.php/) and the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree in Nuclear Physics (https://www.emm-nucphys.eu/en), with the University of Seville as one of the partner institutions. Previously, this material was part of the course `Weak Interactions', within the same Master's programs.

The effective dynamics of a colloidal particle immersed in a complex medium at equilibrium is usually described in terms of a linear overdamped Langevin equation, possibly with memory. However, numerical simulations and experiments have shown that this linear model fails, suggesting that the effective dynamics of the probe is actually nonlinear. Focusing on the case in which the medium is described by a fluctuating and correlated Gaussian field, linearly coupled to the colloid, we derive this effective dynamics and discuss its various consequences, including those on the stochastic thermodynamics of a driven particle. When the field is generated by the particle itself, with negligible fluctuations, the resulting self-chemotactic dynamics turns out to display anomalous diffusion and run-and-tumble motion in low spatial dimension, which we characterise analytically.

Quantum state purification aims to recover higher-fidelity quantum states from multiple noisy copies and is a fundamental primitive for quantum information processing. Magic resources enable operations beyond classically simulable dynamics and are central to universal fault-tolerant quantum computation. Recent no-go results show that classically simulable operations cannot achieve a nontrivial universal fidelity gain. This motivates a quantitative theory of the magic required for purification at prescribed success probability and target fidelity. For universal purification with two input copies, we prove an exact linear mana law in odd dimensions and a two-sided linear robustness law for multi-qubit systems, which becomes exact for a single qubit. We also identify an explicit successful purification map that makes the tradeoff transparent. These results establish universal purification as a task obeying a quantitative magic-fidelity law and link magic resources to error mitigation and fault-tolerant quantum information processing.

Poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimers are promising candidates for nucleic acid delivery; however, biocompatibility and transfection efficiency remain a challenge. Here, we investigated how the composition of short peptide tails conjugated to generation 2 PAMAM (G2) dendrimers influence DNA association and condensation across a range of pH values. Using a combination of potentiometric titrations, DNA precipitation assays, and coarse-grained molecular simulations with charge regulation, we show that the ionization of G2 dendrimers is strongly affected by both pH and proximity to DNA. Although charge regulation enhances dendrimer protonation and strengthens DNA association at low pH, DNA condensation by unmodified G2 remains largely insensitive to pH within the studied range. In contrast, conjugation of a single peptide tail introduces a pronounced pH dependence to DNA condensation. Histidine-containing conjugates exhibit the strongest response, with condensation efficiency decreasing markedly as the pH increases. Simulations reveal that the interaction strength between conjugates and DNA depends on both peptide composition and pH and that histidine-containing peptide tails become nearly neutral at physiological pH, contributing little to DNA binding. While single-conjugate simulations explain the trends in DNA association, they do not fully account for the observed condensation behavior, highlighting the importance of collective effects involving multiple conjugates. Overall, peptide conjugation transforms G2 PAMAM dendrimers from relatively pH-insensitive DNA condensing agents into pH-responsive DNA-binding systems. These findings provide molecular-level insight into the interplay between charge regulation, peptide composition, and DNA condensation.

Testing General Relativity (GR) with black hole ringdowns has conventionally focused on attempting to detect shifts away from the quasinormal mode (QNM) frequencies of the Kerr metric. It has recently been argued, however, that the ringdown signal will also be contaminated with the QNM frequencies of any new fields that are present in a beyond-GR scenario, provided that they couple nonminimally to gravity. We study black hole perturbations for the shift-symmetric Horndeski action, which includes all interactions between a massless scalar and gravity that lead to second order equations upon variation. We perturb linearly in the field and also employ a perturbative expansion in the scalar charge per unit black hole mass, $q$. Assuming that the scalar amplitude is suppressed by $q$, we demonstrate that, to order $q^2$, the coupling between the scalar and the Gauss-Bonnet invariant is the only term that contributes to both frequency shifts and contamination, and that the two effects appear at the same perturbative order. If the assumption about the suppression of the scalar amplitude is relaxed, contamination can appear at leading order in $q$, and hence dominate over frequency shifts. In this case, contamination also receives subleading corrections from an additional coupling

2D van der Waals (vdW) magnets provide new opportunities for spin-orbit torque magnetoresistive random-access memory (SOT-MRAM) due to their unique properties. Electrically manipulating the magnetization of vdW magnets is key to realizing 2D SOT-MRAM, whereas conventional spin Hall materials such as heavy metals and topological insulators suffer from limitations in torque efficiency and energy consumption. Although recent studies show that the orbital Hall conductivity in light metals greatly exceeds the spin Hall conductivity, direct experimental demonstrations that the orbital Hall effect (OHE) can induce more energy-efficient SOT switching than the spin Hall effect in vdW magnets remain scarce. Here, we utilize Cr as the orbital current source to efficiently manipulate the magnetization of the vdW ferromagnet Fe3GaTe2 at room temperature. In the Fe3GaTe2/Pt (1.5 nm)/Cr (4.5 nm) trilayer structure, the orbital current originating from Cr is converted into the spin current via Pt, which then exerts a torque on Fe3GaTe2. Compared with control samples using 6 nm Pt as the spin current source, the switching current density in OHE-based devices is reduced by 3.9 times, resulting in a 52% reduction in power consumption. This work presents the promising potential of harnessing orbital currents to realize energy-efficient 2D SOT-MRAM.

Amorphous indium oxide (a-In$_2$O$_3$) is a high-electron-mobility semiconductor of central importance in thin-film transistors and a promising photoanode for solar-driven water oxidation. Despite sustained experimental and computational investigations, the structural motifs underlying its unusual transport properties and the existence of O-O peroxide-like bonds within its network have remained unresolved. Here we develop a MACE-based machine-learned interatomic potential trained on first-principles molecular dynamics trajectories and use it to generate and analyze amorphous structures containing up to 5120 atoms, two orders of magnitude larger than those adopted in typical ab initio studies. We find X-ray structure factors in excellent quantitative agreement with experiment and we confirm that In$_2$O$_3$ is a poor glass former, with the likely presence of quasi-crystalline regions in amorphous samples. Our large-scale structural analysis reveals extended chains of edge-sharing InO$_k$ polyhedra providing a concrete structural basis for the high electron mobility of a-In$_2$O$_3$. Our results strongly support the formation of O-O peroxide-like bonds in the amorphous network, with a mean length of 1.5 Å. We show that these bonds introduce localized in-gap states near the conduction band minimum, acting as a source of intrinsic n-type self-doping and enhancing sub-gap optical absorption. These effects are detectable via a distinct Raman feature near 850 cm$^{-1}$ that is absent in the IR spectrum. Overall, our results establish a comprehensive structure-property picture of a-In$_2$O$_3$, provide directly testable experimental predictions, and suggest that controlled amorphization is a viable strategy for improving the photoelectrochemical activity of a-In$_2$O$_3$.

Self-attention neural networks provide powerful variational wavefunctions that surpass the expressivity of traditional variational ansatze. This expressivity, however, comes with increased computational complexity, raising a pressing question about scalability – can such wavefunctions retain their accuracy at large system sizes? We apply self-attention wavefunctions to the two-dimensional homogeneous electron gas for up to N=169 particles, obtaining energies systematically lower than state-of-the-art DMC. Direct access to the ground state wavefunction further lets us recover the full collective-mode dispersion of the liquid phase, from the small-q plasmon branch to a roton-like minimum near q=2k_F. Observables at N=91 and N=169 are in near-perfect agreement, indicating convergence to the thermodynamic limit.

We investigate how irreducible multipartite entanglement, a long-range correlation by nature, can emerge from short-range dynamics far from equilibrium. Focusing on the Markov gap as a probe of irreducible tripartite entanglement (IrTE) in free-fermion chains, we uncover qualitatively distinct dynamical behaviors: the Markov gap grows either quasi-linearly or in staircase-like jumps depending on the initial state. We also propose attainable upper and lower bounds for the onset time of IrTE based on the Lieb-Robinson bound. Strikingly, the Markov gap saturates to a volume-law value on a timescale $t\sim\! L^2$, much slower than the ballistic spreading of bipartite correlations. To understand what information about the wavefunctions is revealed by the Markov gap calculation, we introduce the concept of essential tripartite fermion (ETF) and an associated tripartite null matrix. The value of Markov gap closely tracks the number of small singular values of this tripartite null matrix, yielding a transparent, operational physical interpretation of the measure. We further demonstrate that several dynamical signatures persist in the interacting XXZ chain.

Measurements of thermodynamical quantities in galaxy clusters are differently affected by simplified modelling of radially averaged observables in the X-ray and millimetre bands. This includes assumptions about the cosmological model and the morphology of the cluster intracluster medium (ICM). Within a large sample of clusters extracted from The Three Hundred hydrodynamical simulations, we assess the systematic differences expected from the morphological assumptions between ICM temperatures as inferred from X-ray spectroscopy or joint X-ray and millimetre imaging. We find that these differences show a well-defined statistical behaviour that correlates with the cluster dynamical and morphological indicators. We then investigate how joint inferences of cluster temperature profiles, a priori informed by this statistical behaviour, allow us to constrain cosmological parameters inferred from the apparent cluster sizes. Assuming a flat $\Lambda$ cold dark matter ($\Lambda$CDM) cosmology and priors on $\Omega_\mathrm{m}$ and the helium abundance, this method provides us with unbiased estimates of the Hubble constant, $H_0$, characterised with a precision of about $4\%$ and $1.5\%$ for samples of 100 and 1000 clusters, respectively, and ultimately limited by systematic uncertainties of about $0.6$–$0.8\, {\rm km\, s^{-1} Mpc^{-1}}$. This work highlights the potential of joint X-ray and millimetre observations of galaxy cluster samples to place tight constraints on $H_0$.

Accurate evaluation of Gibbs free energies is essential for constructing pressure-temperature phase diagrams. Conventional methods based on the quasi-harmonic approximation (QHA) require phonon spectra at many volume points and are therefore expensive in general. Here we develop an efficient method based on the interpolation of a few ab initio data points for Gibbs free energy evaluation under volume compression. Phonon spectra are calculated only at selected volumes. An effective Gruneisen parameter derived from the zero-point energy (ZPE) reconstructs the static-ZPE branch, while piecewise mode-resolved Gruneisen slopes reconstruct the finite-temperature vibrational branches on the target volume grids. The method is validated against QHA benchmarks for diamond (C), Al, Si, Ge, rutile TiO2, beta-PtO2, and Ta2O5 polymorphs. For simple benchmark systems (C, Al, Si, Ge, rutile TiO2, and beta-PtO2), the Gibbs free energy mean absolute errors (MAEs) relative to the QHA benchmarks remain below 0.53 meV/atom, with a six-system average of 0.148 meV/atom, while the number of explicit phonon volume points is reduced from about 20-21 to 3 in the lowest-cost implementation. For the more complex Ta2O5 polymorphs, the reconstructed free energies reproduce the main phase-stability topology despite larger phase-dependent errors. With reference to the QHA workflows, the interpolation method in this work achieves speedups of 5.911-9.023 times and remains reliable for moderate compression ranges where phonon frequencies vary smoothly with volume.

Despite being key cosmological anchors, the empirical properties of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) remain subject to significant systematic uncertainties, the largest of which being their astrophysics and how this is linked to their environment. The relative importance of these uncertainties will grow as larger observational samples reduce statistical uncertainties. Here I explore if the presence of an active galactic nucleus (AGN) within a portion of SN Ia host galaxies could be one such systematic uncertainty. With the ZTF SNe Ia DR2 sample I find that, in the low redshift regime (z < 0.15), the presence of AGNs in some SN Ia hosts does not produce a significant systematic effect on their measured Hubble residuals.

We present visible-to-infrared (0.5-5.56 microns) observations of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS obtained with the Moons and Jupiter Imaging Spectrometer (MAJIS) aboard the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) spacecraft between 2025 November 2 and 25, shortly after perihelion. The fluorescence emission from H2O at 2.7 microns and CO2 at 4.3 microns is detected at heliocentric distances of 1.36-1.68 au. A weak dust-scattered continuum is identified from which we determine the spectral slope, with values ranging from ~15% per 100 nm in the 0.65-0.9 microns region to 1-3% per 100 nm from 0.9 to 2.6 microns. Spatially resolved measurements show that the radial distributions of H2O and CO2 species are consistent with release in the near-nucleus environment. We derive H2O production rates that decreased from 8 x 1028 s-1 to 4 x 1028 s-1 over the period November 2-25, while the CO2/H2O ratio remained nearly constant at ~10%. The heliocentric evolution of the CO2 production rate indicates activity controlled by solar heating. Combined with published CO measurements and the low gas expansion velocities, our analyses support a scenario in which CO2 plays a major role in driving the activity of 3I/ATLAS near perihelion. In addition, broad emission features are identified in the 3.2-3.6 microns region that cannot be explained by the fluorescence of common cometary CH-bearing volatiles. Their spectral characteristics are consistent with aliphatic C-H functional groups and provide tentative evidence for the release of complex organic material from dust grains in the coma.

We investigate the space-time evolution of the magnetization induced in a 2D ferromagnetic island by a short pulse of a rotating electric field. The field generates elastic twists that act on the magnetization via the Barnett effect: magnetization by rotation. Analytical studies are conducted within classical electrodynamics of continuous media and continuous elastic theory, while numerical studies are performed using discretized Landau-Lifshitz spin dynamics on the atomic lattice. The effect is studied for typical parameters of magnetic oxides at various field frequencies and amplitudes, and for various strengths of magnetic anisotropy, exchange, and damping. The possibility of reversing the island magnetization with an electric-field pulse is demonstrated.

We report the first detection of radio pulsations from PSR J2238+5903, a gamma-ray pulsar spatially coincident with the extended TeV source 1LHAASO J2238+5900. Our 3000 s FAST L-band observation reveals a weak periodic signal at the known Fermi-LAT spin period, with $P=162.76568$ ms and $\mathrm{DM}=247.5\pm3.0~\mathrm{pc~cm^{-3}}$. The signal is independently confirmed by both FFT-based and Fast Folding Algorithm searches. The radiometer equation gives a flux density of $S_{1250}\simeq3\,\mu$Jy, placing PSR J2238+5903 among the faintest radio-detected Fermi pulsars. Interpreting the DM with Galactic electron-density models gives $d_{\rm DM}=7.4\pm3.9$ kpc. At this distance, the LHAASO WCDA 39% containment radius corresponds to a characteristic diameter of $\sim132$ pc, and the $>1$ TeV luminosity is $L_{\rm TeV}\simeq7.1\times10^{34}$ erg s$^{-1}$, about 8% of the pulsar's spin-down power. The radio DM thus provides the first pulsar-specific distance constraint for assessing whether 1LHAASO J2238+5900 is a young relic-PWN / TeV-halo transition system.

Active galactic nuclei (AGNs), including blazars, exhibit distinctive variability in their optical light curves, making them ideal for classification studies. This work uses data from the latest GAIA and Pan-STARRS data releases to analyze these patterns. The goal of this work is to classify AGNs into two categories: "blazars" and "non-blazars” using only optical light curves. This strategy differs from most existing works, as it relies exclusively on optical variability without employing any other multiwavelength information. We processed optical light curves from GAIA and Pan-STARRS using the FATS library to extract standard time-series features. We computed additional features with custom algorithms based on literature methods. A Light Gradient-Boosting Machine (LightGBM) model was trained to classify AGNs into blazars and non-blazars based on these features. We then used this knowledge base to carry out a self-learning experiment with AGN candidates of an unknown nature. The LightGBM model achieved an accuracy of $86\%$, with precision, recall, and F1 score above $80-85\%$ for classifying blazars and non-blazar AGNs using optical data. The application of a BoostBoruta algorithm for feature selection reduced the feature space from 70 to 13. while maintaining comparable performance. A self-training classifier yielded similar results $85\%$, confirming the robustness of the model and the reliability of pseudo-labeling for unknown objects.

The origins of the universe remain one of the biggest mysteries in modern cosmology. While the Planck satellite has provided a wealth of information about the early universe, there is still much to be discovered. The Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO) offers a unique opportunity to probe the universe's infancy, going beyond the current limitations of our knowledge. By measuring the power spectrum of biased tracers of the dark matter distribution on the largest cosmological scales and exploring beyond 2-point statistics, SKAO will enable us to refine our understanding of the primordial universe, including the shape of the inflationary power spectrum and the presence of primordial non-Gaussianity. In this chapter we will review recent works looking at the potential of SKAO's surveys, and how synergies with other surveys can revolutionize our understanding of the origins of the cosmos.

Entanglement is monogamous: if it is shared among more than two parties, the entanglement between any pair cannot be very strong. For an integer $k\geq 2$, $k$-extendibility of a state $\rho_{AB}$ quantifies this as the number of copies of $B$ that can be simulated by the state's environment. We introduce fractional extendibility, which gives a finer characterization of the quantum correlation that is leaked to the environment, and prove that it is invariant under tensor products and monotonic under local processing. We also establish the distributed monogamy of entanglement: for any state on $AB_1B_2\dots B_n$, the maximum average probability of extracting an EPR pair from a random subset of $k \leq n/2$ systems among the $B_i$'s is the fraction $k/n$. With these tools we resolve a conjecture posed by Matthew Hastings: any quantum erasure channel with erasure probability at least $\frac{1}{2}$ cannot simulate a less noisy erasure channel, even with asymptotically many uses of the noisier channel.

We study the critical properties of random quantum circuits with a $U(1)$ symmetry subject to local projective measurements that explicitly break this symmetry. We find that, at the measurement-induced phase transition, symmetry-breaking measurements act as a relevant perturbation at large scales, leading to the same universal critical properties as the corresponding monitored random circuit with non-symmetric unitary dynamics. In particular, we consider monitored $U(1)$-symmetric Haar-random circuits in the limit of large local Hilbert-space dimension, where the trajectory-averaged entanglement entropy can be exactly obtained in terms of a classical statistical mechanics model. In this model, the charge associated with the conservation law follows a symmetric simple exclusion process, in which symmetry-breaking measurements correspond to disordered defects that create and destroy charges. We prove that the charge correlation length remains finite for any measurement rate, ruling out a charge-sharpening transition, in contrast to the case of symmetry-preserving measurements. We further support our predictions at finite local Hilbert-space dimension through numerical finite-size scaling analyses of the entanglement transition in monitored $U(1)$-symmetric Haar and stabilizer random circuits.

A neutron-sensitive sampling calorimeter based on alternating lead absorber and gadolinium-loaded liquid scintillator layers is investigated using detailed Geant4 Monte Carlo simulations. In addition to the conventional prompt calorimetric signal, the proposed detector records delayed energy from neutron moderation and capture, providing direct information on the neutron component of hadronic showers. A six-layer Pb/LAB-Gd calorimeter exposed to 10~GeV protons is studied to characterize its neutron response and evaluate its impact on calorimetric performance. The delayed deposited energy is found to be almost perfectly proportional to the neutron-capture multiplicity, providing a direct calibration of the neutron-sensitive signal. Event-by-event analyses further reveal a clear relationship between the prompt calorimetric response and the delayed neutron observable, demonstrating that the latter contains substantial information on the invisible hadronic energy. Exploiting this correlation through a simple nonlinear event-by-event correction improves the prompt-energy resolution from 21.8% to 13.3% without rejecting events. Furthermore, the analysis of events with similar neutron multiplicities indicates that neutron-production fluctuations constitute a major contribution to the overall hadronic energy resolution. These results demonstrate the potential of gadolinium-loaded sampling calorimeters to recover part of the invisible hadronic energy and significantly improve hadronic energy reconstruction and energy resolution.

We use a gate-defined Josephson junction (JJ) device made from twisted-layer graphene for studying vortex dynamics in two dimensions. The JJ sensor signals the presence of individual vortices in the superconducting leads nearby the junction through shifts in the Fraunhofer interference pattern of the magnetic-field-dependent critical current $I_c(B)$ across the junction. Rapid vortex fluctuations manifest as telegraph-type noise in time traces of the junction voltage $V(t)$. Measurements of $I_c(B)$ and $V(t)$ are interpreted in terms of multi-vortex processes where fast vortex fluctuations in the leads are modulated by quasi-stationary vortices trapped in the leads. The different timescales associated with these processes allow for their disentangling and quantitative analysis. Tracking the temperature dependence of the vortex-dynamical rates between $T = 7$ mK and $T = 120$ mK, we find that the creep type vortex motion is thermally activated above $T \approx 100$ mK, while the saturation of rates below $T \approx 80$ mK is suggestive of a sharp transition to macroscopic quantum tunneling of vortices.

We develop a general framework for the statistics of mixed-dimensional excitations subject to intertwined conservation laws, extending the familiar Fermi statistics with conserved particle number. We define statistics microscopically through a hopping-operator algebra: a local operator subalgebra (LOsA) generated by operators that locally move or deform excitations while preserving the conservation law. Nontrivial statistics arise when this subalgebra is nontrivial. We first focus on LOsAs that encode pointed conservation laws. These give rise to invertible excitations, whose fusion rules are exactly those of the symmetry defects of a higher group $\cG$. For such $\cG$-conserved excitations in $d$-dimensional space, we show that the corresponding LOsA – and hence the statistics it defines – is classified by a cohomology class $[\omega] \in H^{d+2}(B\cG;\R/\Z)$, where changing $[\omega]$ by a coboundary corresponds merely to a rephasing of the local operators. We further provide a holographic realization: excitations with this prescribed conservation law and statistics live on the boundary of a $\cG$ higher-group gauge theory in $(d+1)$-dimensional space, twisted by $[\omega]$. More generally, non-pointed conservation laws and the associated statistics of non-invertible excitations are defined by a pair: a LOsA together with its excitation-complex representation. This is equivalent to the pair consisting of a LOsA and its Hilbert-space representation, which is the data defining a generalized symmetry. Consequently, non-pointed conservation laws and their statistics in $d$-dimensional space are classified by fusion $d$-categories, just as generalized symmetries are. The higher-group results above are the fully-pointed special cases of this more general classification.

We show that geometric curvature, encoded in the folding angle between two corner-sharing triangles on a kagome lattice, provides a continuous tuning knob for topological magnon phase. Starting from an extended spin Hamiltonian with exchange, Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) interaction, and a higher-order bow-tie coupling of scalar chiralities, we derive the chirality-mediated hopping amplitude, which depends on the folding and spin canting of the bow-tie triangles. At small folding and canting angles, the bow-tie coupling surpasses DM, establishing a curvature-dominated regime. These results establish curvature as an intrinsic geometric control parameter for topological magnonics and reveal a direct analogy with chirality-induced spin selectivity in molecular systems, pointing to a unified mechanism for chirality driven transport across scales. The mechanism is particularly relevant for chiral crystals where the DM interaction is weak or forbidden by symmetry, as in systems with a six-fold screw axis.

We use high-resolution JWST/NIRCam imaging and measured time delays to model the quadruply imaged quasar WFI2033–4723 with a composite stellar plus dark-matter mass model. We first construct an elliptical power-law baseline model and recover Fermat-potential differences (fpd) consistent with previous HST-based and JWST-based analyses, providing a reference scale for composite modelling. We then replace the total mass profile with a physically motivated decomposition in which the stellar mass follows a multi-Gaussian expansion of the lens light, with a free radial mass-to-light gradient, and the dark matter is described by a generalized Navarro–Frenk–White (gNFW) halo. Using two external cosmological priors, Planck+DESI and Pantheon+SH0ES, the measured time delays constrain the mass-sheet-transformation freedom that would otherwise damage the stellar–dark-matter decomposition. In both cosmological cases, the stellar normalization lies between the expectations for Chabrier and Salpeter initial mass functions, while the radial mass-to-light gradient is not strongly required by the data (mildly positive). The dark matter halo has an inner slope $\gamma_{\rm in}\simeq1.3$, steeper than a standard NFW cusp, and the main astrophysical conclusions are insensitive to the adopted cosmological prior. This work shows that composite time-delay lens modelling can effectively separate baryons from dark matter. As a qualitative check, we reverse the logic and use our composite lens model without kinematic information to infer the cosmology instead. However, the strong degeneracy between $H_0$ and the halo scale radius $R_s$ prevents a robust standalone constraint.

Intracellular luminescence thermometry has long promised to reveal how heat is generated, dissipated, and regulated inside living cells. Yet, despite substantial progress, the field remains shaped by disagreement over the magnitude and physical plausibility of reported intracellular temperature gradients. In this manuscript, we discuss luminescence thermometry as a powerful approach for probing temperature at subcellular length scales, while emphasizing the experimental care required to make such measurements meaningful. After outlining the field's development, we outline the relevant heat-transfer concepts, before introducing luminescence thermometry and the performance metrics used to describe precision and accuracy. We then examine how thermometer design, intracellular localization, calibration, microscopy configuration, and data treatment influence the final thermal readout. Particular attention is given to two recurrent sources of error: bias, arising from measurement conditions and optical distortions, and cross-sensitivity, arising when the probe responds to parameters other than temperature, such as pH, viscosity, ionic strength, or biomolecular interactions. Finally, we outline practical directions for improving reproducibility, including multi-feature readouts, machine-learning-assisted analysis, and FAIR data practices, while suggesting future research directions.

Chaotic systems often evolve on a low-dimensional attractor whose geometry varies from one region to another. We propose a non-intrusive reduced-order model that reads this local geometry by clustering and uses it to shape a radial basis library whose kernels adapt to each region. Fitting the reduced velocity onto this library by one global least-squares solve gives an explicit, differentiable vector field that reproduces the long-term statistics without any use of the governing equations. A radial basis field decays away from the data and cannot by itself return an escaped state. The integration is therefore stabilised by a kinematic corrector, whose reported magnitude measures how far each result rests on the learned field. On Lorenz-63 the model recovers the attractor, its marginal densities and its Lyapunov spectrum. On Lorenz-96 its valid prediction time matches typical configurations of neural-network and reservoir-computing forecasters and trails their best-tuned ones, and the invariant measure is reproduced on both the full state and on a reduced observable. On the Kuramoto–Sivashinsky equation and the quasiperiodic Kolmogorov flow the model matches the energy distribution and spectrum of an intrusive quantised-local Galerkin model and improves on a global Galerkin projection of the same reduced dimension. The recovery is dictated by the distance from a state to its nearest kernels, not by the one-step regression error.

Direct waves from black-hole mergers may probe horizon dynamics, but their observed envelopes need not decay at the Kerr surface-gravity rate. We compute the complex-frequency spin-$-2$, $\ell=m=2$ Teukolsky response and combine it with a finite-duration near-horizon source whose outgoing amplitude is suppressed by gravitational redshift. The screened Kerr response to this finite-duration source produces an observable envelope damping $\geff<\kap$. For GW250114, this corresponds to $\geff\simeq0.4~{\rm ms}^{-1}$, consistent with a joint H1–L1 analysis of QNM-subtracted residuals. As a consistency check, the GW231226 remnant parameters give $\geff\simeq0.31~{\rm ms}^{-1}$, compatible with the event's residual profile. These results identify direct-wave envelope damping as an observable of horizon-redshift transfer rather than a direct measurement of surface gravity.

The total angular momentum current can be decomposed into orbital and spin contributions in different ways, known as pseudo-gauges. This freedom leads to ambiguities in the definition of local-equilibrium density operators, which in turn affect estimates of spin polarization in heavy-ion collisions. In this work, the pseudo-gauge ambiguity, together with other ambiguities associated with improvements of conserved currents, is reformulated in terms of spurious symmetries corresponding to conserved currents with vanishing total charge. A prescription for the unambiguous definition of a local-equilibrium density operator is introduced using the currents associated with genuine symmetries. The resulting density operator is invariant under transformations that add improvement terms to local currents, including the energy-momentum tensor.