Papers

The presence of low-lying valley states in Si may hinder the development of large-scale spin-based quantum processors. Rapid prototyping of novel Si/SiGe heterostructures and gate stacks will be central to identifying pathways that increase the valley splitting. We compare the performance of pulsed-gate spectroscopy (PGS) and detuning axis spectroscopy (DAPS) at temperatures up to 700 mK. We find that DAPS outperforms PGS, with DAPS resolving valley splittings as small as ~86 $\mu$eV, while the energy resolution of PGS is only ~210~$\mu$eV. Our work demonstrates that DAPS can be used to efficiently extract valley splittings at elevated temperatures in high throughput cryostats.

The enrichment of heavy isotopes of volatile elements in the Martian atmosphere indicates that Mars lost a large portion of its atmosphere through escape to space. Recent atmospheric measurements by ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) have suggested that the vertical profiles of oxygen isotopic compositions are influenced by chemical reactions involving isotopic fractionation. However, their quantitative impacts have not yet been fully evaluated. In this study, we develop a 1D photochemical model that incorporates oxygen isotopic fractionation associated with CO$_2$ photolysis and O$_3$ formation to investigate the vertical profiles of oxygen isotopic compositions. Our calculations show that CO is depleted in heavy oxygen isotopes relative to CO$_2$, reaching $\delta ^{18}$O $\sim -25$ per mil and $\delta ^{17}$O $\sim -15$ per mil, primarily due to isotopic fractionation during CO$_2$ photolysis. The vertical profiles of oxygen and carbon isotopic compositions are in good agreement between our model and the TGO measurements. O$_3$ is strongly enriched in $^{18}$O and $^{17}$O, reaching $\delta ^{18}$O $\sim 100$ per mil and $\delta ^{17}$O $\sim 50$ per mil as a consequence of the isotopic fractionation during its formation, whereas atomic oxygen is highly depleted in the heavy oxygen isotopes with $\delta ^{18}$O $\lesssim -100$ per mil and $\delta ^{17}$O $\lesssim -50$ per mil so as to compensate for their enrichment in O$_3$. These chemical fractionation processes can deplete the heavy oxygen isotopes in species that escape from the upper atmosphere, and thereby enhance the isotopic fractionation associated with oxygen escape to space. Such fractionated isotopic compositions of escaping oxygen may be detectable by the Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission.

Hot electrons generated in laser-produced plasmas are a central focus in inertial confinement fusion, laboratory astrophysics, and high-energy-density physics. These electrons originate from instabilities in nonlinear laser-plasma interactions, which are critically modulated by laser bandwidth. Here, we experimentally demonstrate enhanced generation of hot electrons by utilizing instantaneous low-coherence lasers with two bandwidths (0.2% and 0.6%) at intensities of 2-8x10^{14} W/cm^2 and energies up to 620 J. A significant enhancement of hot electron temperature and hard X-ray yield is observed with the broadband lasers compared to a conventional narrowband laser. The results show that the hot electron energy conversion efficiency of the 0.6% broadband laser is approximately 4 times higher than that of the narrowband laser, reaching a maximum value of 2.8%. These findings validate a moderate-bandwidth laser as an efficient hot electron source and support the generation of bright X-ray sources for advanced imaging in high-energy-density physics.

Rydberg atoms, characterized by their strong and long-range dipole-dipole interactions, provide a versatile platform for exploring intriguing collective and many-body effects. Recently, the experimental realization of these effects in dense ensembles and reconfigurable atomic arrays has attracted significant interest, particularly for applications in quantum simulations and non-equilibrium physics. This review focuses on such recent development, discussing the theoretical foundations of the interactions between Rydberg atoms and the ensuing many-body physics, while providing a critical survey of experimental techniques for their precise manipulation and observation. We further discuss recent breakthroughs in leveraging Rydberg collective effects to probe novel many-body phases and non-equilibrium dynamics of these systems. By synthesizing theoretical insights with experimental milestones, we provide a comprehensive perspective on this rapidly evolving field and its transformative potential for future quantum technologies.

Chiral nonlinear optical (NLO) responses enable efficient discrimination of circularly polarized light (CPL) and are attracting increasing interest for optical and optoelectronic technologies. However, studies on NLO properties in chiral materials have largely focused on second-order NLO processes, while the role of chirality in third-order NLO processes remains poorly explored. Here, we demonstrate telecom-band CPL detection by third harmonic generation circular dichroism (THG-CD) in the chiral two-dimensional perovskite (R/S-MBACl)2PbI4 and uncover a giant hidden THG-CD anisotropy that is accessible via polarization-resolved detection. Polarization-resolved THG measurements reveal that opposite chiral NLO responses emerge in orthogonal THG polarization channels. Therefore, these chiral anisotropic contributions largely cancel each other in the total-THG signal detection, leading to underestimation of the THG-CD dissymmetry in conventional evaluations based on total-THG intensity. By separating these hidden chiral contributions, we observe exceptionally large dissymmetry factors exceeding 1.9 and achieve selective extraction of chiral NLO responses with opposite handedness, without any structural chiral inversion. These findings highlight the importance of polarization-resolved analysis for evaluating more accurate chiral NLO responses inherent to the material and provide a promising platform for optical information processing, encryption, and anti-counterfeiting technologies at technologically relevant telecommunication wavelengths.

We investigate the spin alignment of $J/\psi$ mesons in relativistic heavy-ion collisions within a two-component Boltzmann transport model. Starting from the relativistic spin Boltzmann equation, we derive the spin density matrix element $\rho_{00}$ under a non-relativistic approximation for heavy quarks. To interpret the recent ALICE measurements in Pb+Pb collisions, the observed $\rho_{00}$ is described as a $p_T$-dependent mixture of contributions from primordial production and the coalescence process. At forward rapidity, the $p_T$ dependence of charmonium $\rho_{00}$ is well reproduced by this two-component mechanism: at low $p_T$, charmonium production is dominated by the coalescence of partially polarized charm quarks induced by thermal vorticity; with increasing $p_T$, primordially produced charmonia become dominant, causing $\rho_{00}$ to approach $1/3$. To further test this spin alignment mechanism, we provide predictions for the $J/\psi$ $\rho_{00}$ in the mid-rapidity region, which exhibits a distinct $p_T$ trend due to the kinematic suppression of the thermal vorticity contribution. This study elucidates the underlying mechanism of $J/\psi$ spin alignment and advances our understanding of heavy quarkonium spin dynamics in strongly interacting matter.

This study compares high-Reynolds-number turbulent boundary layers under zero and low-to-moderate adverse pressure gradients, showing similar scaling and energy contributions from the wall-scaled attached-eddy hierarchy and superstructures in both flows. The main differences occur in the outer/wake region, where APG-induced energisation is linked to an outer-scaled, embedded-shear-layer-type organisation that progressively penetrates the logarithmic region as the pressure-gradient strength increases. The analysis uses two complementary datasets for ZPG and APG boundary layers at matched friction Reynolds numbers of approximately 10,000, with minimal upstream pressure-gradient history: a new two-point hot-wire dataset and a previously published two-dimensional particle image velocimetry dataset. In the hot-wire experiment, one probe is fixed near the wall while the second traverses the full boundary layer, allowing estimation of the linear coherence spectrum. The results confirm the geometric self-similarity of the wall-scaled eddy hierarchy that remains coherent with the wall. Using the linear coherence spectrum as a spectral filter shows that most of the additional APG-induced energy is incoherent with the wall and is linearly superimposed on the wall-coherent component of the streamwise variance. This wall-incoherent contribution explains the departure of the variance profile from the inverse logarithmic law observed in canonical high-Reynolds-number boundary layers. Conditional averaging of the particle image velocimetry data identifies the structures responsible for this energy amplification. The results link enhanced outer-region Reynolds stresses, an outer inflection point in the mean velocity profile, and an ejection-sweep organisation of Reynolds shear stress, all characteristic of shear-layer dynamics.

The influence of the initial-state geometry on the elliptic flow of prompt D$^0$ mesons in high-energy heavy ion collisions is explored. A lead-lead (PbPb) data sample at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of 5.02 TeV and with an integrated luminosity of 0.607 nb$^{-1}$ was collected in 2018 with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC. Based on these data, an event-shape engineering technique is used to isolate collisions with similar geometrical properties. An asymmetry parameter, $q_2$, is first determined from the distribution of transverse energy in the forward region of the detector. This parameter is shown to be linearly correlated with the elliptic anisotropy of inclusive charged particles measured near mid-rapidity, as characterized by the second-order Fourier coefficients, $v_2$. Taking the charged particle $v_2$ coefficients as proxies for the initial-state eccentricity, the correlation of D$^0$ meson $v_2$ values near mid-rapidity with those of inclusive charged particles is then studied. For D$^0$ mesons with transverse momenta in the range of 2$-$30 GeV and for different degrees of collision overlap, the $v_2$ values are found strongly correlated with those for charged particles when selected based on similar $q_2$ intervals. This correlation suggests that the initial-state geometry substantially impacts the development of charm-hadron flow in heavy ion collisions. A model calculation that explores the thermalization and collective motion of D$^0$ mesons and charged particles is compared to the experimental results.

A search for a pair of nonprompt dark matter (DM) candidates produced in association with an initial-state radiation jet, in a signature containing a four-prong large-radius jet, is presented. The signal model contains a heavy vector or axial-vector mediator, which produces long-lived dark-sector particles that decay to a stable DM particle and a light boson, which decays to quarks. The analysis is based on data collected in the years 2016$-$2018 with the CMS detector at the LHC in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. Signal candidates feature large-radius jets, which are identified using a jet substructure tagger based on a graph neural network. The large-radius jet aims to reconstruct the decay of light DM mediators into four quarks, which are produced in association with two stable DM particles. The standard model background contributions are estimated from data using dedicated control regions. The missing transverse momentum spectrum is probed for a potential signal over the expected background. No significant excess over the standard model expectation is observed. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set on the signal strength as functions of either the mediator mass or the relevant coupling. This is the first search for a pair of nonprompt DM candidates in the Lorentz-boosted topology, characterized by a large-radius jet and large missing transverse momentum.

Data re-uploading parameterized quantum circuits (DRU-PQCs) are universal function approximators, yet their expressivity produces oscillatory, non-convex loss landscapes that resist gradient-based optimization. We show that the primary optimization bottleneck in DRU-PQCs is not insufficient capacity but a structural failure mode we term Fourier locking (FL): because encoding weights and entangling layers are nonlinearly coupled, random initialization on high-frequency targets collapses the encoding parameters into spurious local minima. Two Fisher diagnostics characterize FL. The input-space quantum Fisher information $F_x$ measures the effective frequency content of the encoded state; the Fisher discriminant ratio of the measured features measures their alignment with the class labels. In two independent 50-seed experiments, the locking is literal: trapped circuits hold $F_x$ frozen for the entire run, while escaping circuits migrate their frequency content (direct training: $r_{pb} = -0.48$; curriculum: $d = 1.34$; both $p < 0.001$). The replicated signature is this spectral mobility, not any endpoint value of $F_x$, and trapped circuits retain a fully non-degenerate parameter-space QFIM ($r_{pb} \approx 0$): the failure is spectral misalignment of a responsive state, not a loss of geometric sensitivity. A frequency-staged homotopy protocol that paces the target frequency ($f: 1.0 \to 3.0$) convexifies the early loss landscape; escaping circuits raise $F_x$ in step with the curriculum, and the escape rate triples (18% vs. 6%). Fourier locking is a frequency-alignment problem, and its remedy is frequency pacing.

We identify a two-dimensional time-reversal-invariant topological metallic phase on a bilayer Lieb lattice, characterized by a quantized layer–resolved pseudo-spin Chern number. Without the orbital-angular-momentum-dependent (OAM-dependent) coupling, the system gives rise to a time-reversal-invariant topological semimetal with a zero indirect gap and quantized pseudo-spin Chern number. Opposite-sign intralayer OAM-dependent coupling immediately converts the zero-indirect-gap semimetal into a metal, in which the global spectrum is metallic while the layer–resolved pseudo-spin Chern number remains well defined as long as the direct gap at each crystal momentum and the pseudo-spin gap remain open. The model also exhibits asymmetric boundary states: in the semimetallic regime, one edge hosts perfectly flat bands, whereas the opposite edge supports gapless counter-propagating modes forming a one-dimensional Dirac cone. An edge-localized interlayer coupling gaps only the counter-propagating edge states, leaving the flat-band edge essentially intact, while intralayer OAM-dependent coupling bends the exact flat band into a dispersive boundary mode without affecting the gapped Dirac edge. These results open a route toward the controlled engineering of layer–resolved topological gapless phases in synthetic and quantum materials.

Ground-based radio observations below 30 MHz are severely limited by ionospheric interference and radio frequency interference (RFI) from Earth. A lunar-orbiting radio interferometer mission, the Discovering the Sky at the Longest wavelength (DSL, also known by its Chinese name “Hongmeng”), has been proposed to overcome these obstacles. However, for such a mission, there are new challenges, such as the nearly all-sky field of view and dynamic 3D baselines, which require a huge computational cost for interferometric image reconstruction. In this work, we present AMIGO (Augmented lagrangian Multiplier Imaging using Gradient descent Optimization), a novel imaging algorithm tailored to lunar-orbiting arrays like DSL, combining the Mini-Batch Gradient Descent (MBGD) method with the Augmented Lagrangian Multiplier (ALM) technique. MBGD reduces the computational complexity and memory cost, enabling efficient handling of large datasets. ALM flexibly incorporates physical priors like non-negative sky temperature and prior angular power spectrum into the imaging algorithm, with adjustable stopping criteria to quantitatively control prior strength. We validate AMIGO using mock visibility data generated under realistic DSL orbit configurations. Reconstructed sky maps at various frequencies and spatial resolutions show that this approach provides a computationally feasible framework for all-sky imaging with a lunar-orbiting array.

Microscopic theories predict that the critical temperature of a superconducting layer can be strongly modified in proximity to a ferroelectric; however, experimental evidence is lacking. We report on BaTiO3 (BTO)/YBa2Cu3O7-{\delta} (YBCO) heterostructures grown on SrTiO3 (001) substrates using pulsed laser deposition (PLD), with precise control of growth conditions and oxygen stoichiometry. Piezoresponse force microscopy confirms ferroelectric switching within both single-layer and heterostructured films. Neutron reflectometry measurements show low roughness parameters for the buried interfaces, which is critical for mediating the interfacial coupling between superconductivity and ferroelectric polarization. The superconducting transition temperature ($T_{\mathrm{C}}^{R}$) measured from the $R(T)$ curve of the single-layer YBCO was approximately 86 K, and a transition temperature ($T_{\mathrm{C}}^{M}$) of approximately 80-85 K was observed from the $M(T)$ curve. For the heterostructure film (YBCO/BTO/YBCO) grown under the same conditions, both resistivity and magnetization measurements indicate lower transition temperatures of approximately 75 K and approximately 55 K, respectively, as well as a lower overall susceptibility. These findings highlight the need to combine multiple techniques to characterize BTO/YBCO heterostructures and identify subtle features of the ferroelectric–superconducting coupling. This establishes BTO/YBCO heterostructures as promising systems for tunable oxide electronics and reconfigurable superconducting devices.

The magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE) occurs when polarized light reflects from a magnetized surface, causing a small change in the polarization angle and state. Measurement of the rotation in the angle (Kerr rotation) is well established and typically performed close to the null configuration in a polarizer-analyzer geometry. However, accurate measurement always remains a challenge and as the effect depends intricately on several optical parameters. Here we performed a series of longitudinal magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE) measurements on $p$ and $s$ polarized laser light at various polarizer angles on a Cobalt thin film and measured the orthogonal components of the reflected polarized light using a Wollaston prism. Analytical expressions for the orthogonal light components were fitted to the average intensity and the MOKE signal measured at different polarizer angles to obtain the Kerr roations. Our analysis yielded a $p (s)$-Kerr rotation of 0.46 (0.65) milliradians for a 633~nm laser at 45$^\circ$ angle of incidence, which agrees very well with our estimated value for Co using available literature data. Apart from being very accurate, the advantage of the process is that it eliminates the inherent uncertainties in single-point measurements of the Kerr rotation.

An acoustic platform is validated for implementing compact non-Abelian holonomic transformations (NHTs) guided by a global adiabatic criterion (GAC). A tripod model is mapped onto a digitally coupled four-waveguide structure, where designed coupling envelopes and an acoustically-induced-transparency phase-control module implement a two-stage phase-stitched holonomic evolution. Compared with a reference Gaussian envelope, the GAC-guided power-law profile flattens the spatial distribution of the global nonadiabatic burden, thereby providing a quantitative basis for compact acoustic implementation. Full-wave simulations show Pauli-$X$ and Hadamard-type target transformations, with excellent agreement between the extracted normalized intensities and analytical coupled-mode predictions. These target responses are obtained with half the coupling length required by the reference Gaussian implementations. More uniquely, the same phase-stitched structure also supports unidirectional acoustic mode conversion, which is closely related to a reduced two-mode non-Hermitian picture associated with an encircled exceptional point (EP). These results validate acoustic NHTs as a robust geometric route for compact wave control, establish the GAC as a powerful guideline for fast adiabatic transport in digitally coupled systems, and further demonstrate that the same phase-stitched architecture supports unidirectional mode conversion through EP-assisted branch selection.

We investigate localization transitions and spectral topology in a one-dimensional non-Hermitian generalization of the Aubry-André model in which both the nearest-neighbor and the next-nearest-neighbor hopping amplitudes are nonreciprocal. By extending the Fermi-surface point-matching method to nonreciprocal hopping, we derive a closed-form expression for the energy-dependent mobility edge in which the two nonreciprocity parameters are absorbed into exponentially renormalized effective hopping amplitudes. The mobility edge forms a single parabola in the energy–potential plane: nearest-neighbor nonreciprocity rigidly shifts the localization boundary toward stronger potentials, whereas next-nearest-neighbor nonreciprocity reduces the curvature of the boundary and thereby broadens the energy window in which extended and localized states coexist. Exact diagonalization confirms the analytical boundary for purely nearest-neighbor, purely next-nearest-neighbor, and combined nonreciprocity, and recovers the known Hermitian mobility edge in the reciprocal limit. We further analyze the spectral topology under periodic boundary conditions and show that the spectral winding numbers evaluated at base energies near the two band edges directly bracket the mixed phase: the winding number at the lower band edge drops when the mobility edge enters the spectrum and the first localized states appear, while the winding number at the upper band edge drops when the last extended states localize, delineating the full potential-strength window over which extended and localized states coexist. These results provide a compact analytical framework that connects energy-dependent localization, spectral topology, and nonreciprocity in quasiperiodic lattices, and they are directly testable in photonic, atomic, and electrical-circuit platforms.

Deuterium–tritium muon-catalyzed fusion is limited by a cycle-closure problem: a negative muon must complete enough catalytic cycles before decay or effective alpha sticking removes it from reuse. We formulate a Lawson-inspired criterion for this single-muon cycle. The effective cycle strength is defined as $\mathcal{L}_\mu=\Lambda_c\tau_\mu$, where $\Lambda_c$ is the effective cycle-completion rate and $\tau_\mu$ is the muon lifetime. Together with the residual effective sticking probability $\omega_S^{\rm eff}$, it gives the mean fusion yield per useful muon, $N_{\rm fus,\mu}=\mathcal{L}_\mu/(1+\omega_S^{\rm eff}\mathcal{L}_\mu)$. Introducing the useful D–T cycle energy $E_{\rm use}$, the system factor $\eta_{\rm sys}$, and the effective muon cost $E_\mu^{\rm cost}$, the one-muon gain is $G_\mu=(\eta_{\rm sys}E_{\rm use}/E_\mu^{\rm cost})N_{\rm fus,\mu}$. This leads to the required cycle strength $\mathcal{L}_\mu^{\rm req}=G_\mu N_L/(1-\omega_S^{\rm eff}G_\mu N_L)$, with $N_L=E_\mu^{\rm cost}/(\eta_{\rm sys}E_{\rm use})$, and to the conditional sticking boundary $\omega_S^{\rm eff}<1/(G_\mu N_L)$. The criterion separates rate-limited, sticking-limited, and cost-limited regimes in the $(\omega_S^{\rm eff},\mathcal{L}_\mu)$ plane. When representative historical D–T $\mu{\rm CF}$ anchors are projected onto this plane, they lie in a high-yield region but remain constrained by the effective-sticking boundary under conventional multi-GeV muon-cost accounting. The framework provides a compact diagnostic for assessing whether future improvements act mainly by increasing the effective cycle-completion rate, reducing residual sticking, or lowering the useful cost of delivered muons.

Efficient, differentiable Poisson solvers are a key component of modern particle–mesh simulations and field-level inference pipelines. FFT-based solvers are extremely effective on fixed Cartesian meshes, but they impose global all-to-all communication and rely on symmetries that are lost in adaptive or non-Cartesian coordinates. In this work, we present a JAX-native geometric multigrid framework for particle–mesh gravity and argue that multigrid plays two complementary roles: on fixed meshes it can be a competitive, communication-avoiding alternative to FFTs, while on moving meshes it becomes the enabling solver. For static FastPM evolution, warm-started Chebyshev multigrid acts as a defect-correction method, exploiting temporal coherence between time steps to reduce the number of V-cycles required for field-level accuracy. At large mesh sizes this reduces memory pressure and yields comparable or faster wall-clock performance than distributed FFTs, with up to a factor of two reduction in total GPU time at fixed final mesh size. We then embed the same solver in a differentiable moving-mesh particle–mesh method, where adaptive coordinate deformation produces a variable-coefficient curvilinear Poisson equation that cannot be solved by ordinary FFT diagonalization. The resulting method concentrates force resolution in nonlinear structures while retaining a regular, JAX-compilable, automatically differentiable array workflow. These results suggest geometric multigrid can be a practical bridge between fast fixed-grid PM methods and differentiable adaptive-force cosmological simulations.

Black holes are the sources of the strongest gravitational fields in the present-day Universe, offering unparalleled opportunities to test Einstein's theory of General Relativity in the strong-field regime. In this talk, I will examine the prospect of sending small spacecraft on an interstellar mission to the nearest black hole. While highly speculative and fraught with technical challenges, such an endeavor is not entirely beyond the realm of possibility. Although the necessary technology does not yet exist, it may become available within the next 20 to 30 years. The mission itself could span 80 to 100 years, yet the scientific return would be profound and potentially unattainable through other means.

It is widely believed that global symmetries cannot exist in a consistent theory of quantum gravity. A prominent mechanism underlying this expectation is provided by gravitational instantons or Euclidean wormholes, whose contributions to the Euclidean path integral generates local symmetry-breaking operators in the effective action with couplings parametrized by the $\alpha$-parameters $\overrightarrow{\alpha}=(\alpha_1^{},\alpha_2^{},\cdots)$. The appearance of these $\alpha$-parameters is often taken as evidence that wormholes explicitly break global symmetries. In this paper, we argue that this conclusion is premature. The fate of the symmetry is determined by the ensemble average over these $\alpha$-parameters. We show that, under broad situations, this average can be sharply dominated by the symmetric point $\overrightarrow{\alpha}=0$, while contributions from other symmetry-breaking critical points $\overrightarrow{\alpha}\neq 0$ are typically suppressed by a doubly exponential factor $\exp(-e^{2S_{\rm ins}})$, where $S_{\rm ins}$ is the instanton action. In particular, standard $\mathrm{U}(1)^{}$ Peccei–Quinn models fall into this class, implying that the conventional axion quality problem does not arise in the wormhole-induced effective theory. Our analysis is formulated for general $\mathrm{U}(1)^{}$ $p$-form global symmetries.

We investigate the statistical relationship between magnetic tilt angle and X-class flare productivity using 39 flare-productive active regions that produced 64 X-class flares. By classifying global magnetic tilt properties into four quadrants based on compliance with Hale's and Joy's laws, we identify their distinctive flare productivity characteristics. The Green quadrant (following both laws) contains 18 active regions producing 24 X-class flares, while the Yellow quadrant (following Hale's law but violating Joy's law) shows significantly enhanced productivity with 18 active regions producing 36 X-class flares. The Black quadrant (violating both laws), though containing only 3 active regions, produces 4 X-class flares. More importantly, flares in both the Yellow and Black quadrants exhibit systematically higher flare classes compared to those in the Green quadrant. Our statistical analysis demonstrates that violation of Hale's or Joy's law at the global scale are strongly associated with increased flare occurrence and flare intensity. Furthermore, examination of globally normal (Green quadrant) regions reveals that localized tilt anomalies are universally present and also contribute to X-class flare production. These results establish that abnormal magnetic tilt configurations - whether occurring at the global or local scale - are key indicators of major flare activity.

Understanding friction at single-asperity contacts is essential for bridging the gap between nanoscale structural superlubricity and realistic tribological systems dominated by Hertzian contact geometry. In this work, we combine atomistic simulations and a modified continuum model to investigate the onset of sliding at crystalline SiO$_2$/SiO$_2$ interfaces. Interfacial sliding potential energy surfaces (ISPES) are computed to determine the load-dependent shear strength and minimal-scale sliding (MSS) friction. Both quantities exhibit linear dependence on normal pressure below 3 GPa, and have non-zero values at zero pressure. Incorporating these parameters, we extend the classical Mindlin model by including adhesion and nanoscale load effects, allowing us to describe the stick to slip transition under realistic Hertzian stress distributions. The model shows that nonuniform pressure distributions substantially lower the effective static friction, and oscillatory-shear experiments on graphene-passivated contacts reproduce both the predicted stiffness-collapse signature and, in the passivated limit, the adhesion-limited shear strength obtained from simulation, supporting the model's relevance to real micro-asperity tribology.

Hard X-ray (HXR) emission in solar flares critically diagnoses nonthermal electron acceleration, transport, and precipitation. Observations commonly show asymmetric HXR photon fluxes between paired footpoints, whose physical origin remains debated, as the conventional magnetic mirroring mechanism often fails to explain the observed asymmetry. Here we performed rigorous statistical tests on the association between photospheric magnetic parameters within the HXR footpoint regions and the asymmetry of HXR production. We analyzed 103 time intervals taken from around the peaks of HXR bursts in 67 M- and X-class flares with a clear double-ribbon morphology observed by both the Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager and the Solar Dynamics Observatory. We found that conjugate HXR footpoint sources are asymmetric in photon fluxes, maximum intensities, and sizes, but rather symmetric in mean intensities. The photon flux ratio of the stronger over weaker footpoint source shows a strong linear correlation with the size ratio and a nonlinear correlation with the maximum intensity ratio. The asymmetry of magnetic field strength and flux at the conjugate footpoints shows a positive correlation with the HXR asymmetry, contrary to what magnetic mirroring effects predict. Importantly, the asymmetry of unsigned photospheric vertical electric current (PVEC) exhibits a strong positive correlation with the HXR footpoint asymmetry. PVEC at HXR footpoints most likely maps the footprints of coronal current layers where flaring reconnections occur. This tight linkage suggests that the electric-current-associated physical processes, including reconnection-induced electric fields and current-driven micro-turbulence, are at work to modulate the production and precipitation of nonthermal electrons.

We revisit the cross-correlation between the unresolved $\gamma$-ray background and galaxy shapes to constrain the annihilation cross section of particle dark matter. Our analysis uses $\gamma$-ray photons from 14 years of observations with the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT), together with galaxy shape catalogs from the Dark Energy Survey Year 3 (DES Y3) and the Dark Energy Camera All Data Everywhere (DECADE) project, enabling us to probe cosmological large-scale signals over a common sky area of $\sim 12{,}000\,\mathrm{deg}^2$ shared by the $\gamma$-ray and galaxy data sets. In order to better access signals from large-scale structure, we employ a Fourier-space estimator for the cross-correlation in contrast to the previous DES Y3 analysis. We find that our measurements are consistent with a null detection in a model-independent $\chi^2$ test, while template-based analyses yield signals at the $\sim 3\sigma$ level. Our null results exclude an enhanced annihilation cross section for wino-like dark matter with a mass of $2-3$ TeV under a modest substructure boost factor of $\sim 30$ in Milky Way-sized halos. For larger boost factors of $\sim 100$, the constraints become significantly stronger and exclude the canonical thermal annihilation cross section $\langle \sigma v \rangle = 3 \times 10^{-26}\,\mathrm{cm}^3/\mathrm{s}$ for a $7-40$ GeV dark matter particle annihilating into $b\bar{b}$ or $\tau^{+}\tau^{-}$. The template-based analysis favors a power-law $\gamma$-ray energy dependence of the cross-correlation, but also indicates deviations from that expected based on the mean intensity of the unresolved $\gamma$-ray background around 100 GeV. We further consider decaying dark matter scenarios and derive $2\sigma$ lower limits on the particle lifetime of $\sim 10^{26}-10^{27}\,\mathrm{s}$, depending on the decay channel.

For decades researchers have experimentally observed that the flow of dilute viscoelastic polymer solutions through contraction or contraction–expansion channels yields results at odds with theory and simulations. In particular, the experimentally reported pressure drops are larger than those of generalized Newtonian reference fluids with the same shear viscosity, while constitutive models, such as Oldroyd-B and FENE-P, predict smaller pressure drops under conditions of low Reynolds numbers and stable flow at small Weissenberg ($Wi$) or Deborah ($De$) numbers. This apparent contradiction between experiments and theory has been a long-standing puzzle in the field. Here, we characterize the properties of dilute viscoelastic polymer solutions and employ two distinct types of pressure-sensing systems, conventional recessed pressure taps and flush-mounted diaphragm sensors, to systematically measure pressure drops across channels of different geometrical configurations. These measurements yield qualitative agreement with theoretical predictions across all geometries if the largest relaxation time is adopted for the analysis of the flow. Our results indicate that the apparent discrepancies mentioned above can be attributed to improper interpretation of the measurements and to mismatches between experimental conditions and assumptions made in the theoretical and numerical studies, which include hole pressure effects, the choice of relaxation time of the fluid, and the presence of experimental flow instabilities. For quantitative improvements, our results suggest the use of continuum-level constitutive models containing more realistic microscopic features of polymer solutions.

Reduced-order models, such as latent dynamics models, are becoming mainstream for accelerating simulations for parameterized physical systems governed by nonlinear conservation laws. However, most existing latent dynamics frameworks suffer from two important limitations: they do not provide uncertainty estimates for model predictions, and they do not guarantee adherence to the underlying conservation laws. While these challenges have been addressed separately in prior work, a unified framework that simultaneously provides uncertainty quantification and exact conservation-law preservation remains largely unexplored. In this work, we develop a variational latent neural field framework that integrates Gaussian process-inspired surrogates, enabling estimation of predictive confidence for both in-distribution and out-of-distribution parameter regimes. Three variants of the framework are considered: IRS-UQ, PI-IRS-UQ, and ECLEIRS-UQ, corresponding to unconstrained, physics-informed, and conservation-structure-preserving formulations, respectively. Exact conservation-structure preservation is achieved by embedding the solution dynamics within a conservation-law manifold through a space-time divergence-free representation of the solution-flux field. We demonstrate the applicability of the framework through three numerical experiments: 1) 1-D advection, 2) 2-D Euler and 3) 2-D shallow water equations in parameterized settings. Numerical experiments demonstrate that the proposed approach provides accurate predictions together with uncertainty estimates, while remaining robust to sparse and noisy training data. Comparisons between the proposed three approaches show that conservation-structure preserving latent representations improve robustness to degraded training data while maintaining competitive predictive accuracy and uncertainty quantification capability.

We investigate the thermodynamic modifications of the Reissner-Nordstroem anti-de Sitter (RN AdS) black hole induced by a minimal length scale,which naturally emerges in $\kappa$-deformed space-time. By constructing the modified metric via phase-space commutation relations,we derive the deformed Hawking temperature, entropy, and enthalpy. We analyze the thermal stability through the heat capacity and study the P-V criticality, revealing that the black hole undergoes a small-to-large phase transition analogous to the Van der Waals system, albeit with a critical ratio slightly lowered by non-commutativity. Furthermore, we examine the Joule-Thomson expansion and find that the non-commutative (NC) parameter expands the cooling region in the temperature-pressure plane. Our results demonstrate that while the overall thermodynamic analogy with the Van der Waals fluid persists, the minimal length scale systematically deform the coexistence region and inversion curves, offering potential observational signatures for quantum gravity.

Understanding fracture behavior is critical for assessing the structural integrity and longevity. Highly time-consuming physics-based fracture simulations motivate the development of machine-learning-based fracture evolution prediction with surrogate models. However, most existing machine-learning models for fracture prediction operate as black boxes and require large training datasets to generalize reliably. In this work, Thermodynamically Consistent Latent Dynamics Identification (tLaSDI) for parametric systems is introduced to predict fracture patterns and evolution in heterogeneous materials. The model learns the thermodynamic state variable in a lower-dimensional latent space using parametric GENERIC Formalism-Informed Neural Networks (pGFINNs) that enforce key thermodynamic principles, such as total energy conservation and entropy generation. This model embeds physics into the neural network architecture using a hard-constraint method that inherently complies with the underlying thermodynamic principles. The proposed tLaSDI-pGFINNs is further enhanced by a Geometry-Conditioned Autoencoder in learning the geometry configuration for effective geometry-guided learning. The energy and entropy evolution histories demonstrate that the model preserves the thermodynamic constraints on unseen testing samples. The results further show that tLaSDI-pGFINNs can more accurately capture both fracture patterns and the subsequent fracture evolution than the purely data-driven Autoencoder Long Short-Term Memory (AE-LSTM) model.

Over the last several years, engineering identity research has gained prominence in education research circles, motivated by connections between "identity" and widely-desired outcomes such as career pursuits and selection of STEM college majors. However, quantitative research on engineering identity remains limited, with most studies focusing on qualitative research. This systematic literature review examines 85 research papers from 2007 to 2022, concentrating on survey measures related to engineering identity. Results of the review show a) a concentration of research at the postsecondary levels, with K-12 students underrepresented, and b) heavy male gender representation in survey samples. The analysis also revealed that several theoretical frameworks are frequently employed to operationalize engineering identity, but with a preference for the Engineering Identity Development Scale, the Physics Identity Scale, and the Critical Engineering Agency Framework. Drawing from our analysis, we consider the consequences of both 1) existing age and gender gaps in quantitative engineering identity research and 2) preferences of particular identity frameworks within and across age and gender categories. We discuss how these possible consequences point to focal areas in engineering identity survey-based research.

Holographic dark energy (HDE) models provide a natural framework for linking gravitational thermodynamics to the late-time accelerated expansion of the Universe. In this work, we investigate the observational viability of an extended HDE scenario arising from a recently proposed generalized entropy. For bounded systems, this entropy exhibits a generalized holographic scaling with two independent area contributions, giving rise to a modified HDE density that encompasses both standard HDE and $\Lambda$CDM as limiting cases. Focusing on the Hubble-horizon infrared cutoff, we constrain the model using Cosmic Chronometers, the Pantheon$^+$+SH0ES Type Ia supernova compilation, DESI DR2 baryon acoustic oscillations, and compressed Planck 2018 CMB shift parameters. We find that the model provides an excellent fit to the combined dataset and admits regions of parameter space in which the Pantheon$^+$+SH0ES and CMB constraints can be simultaneously accommodated. The preferred solutions lie close to the $\Lambda$CDM regime, although non-standard entropic contributions remain compatible with current observations. We further compare the complete realization of the model, containing both independent area contributions, with its reduced single-contribution limit, finding that both provide essentially equivalent descriptions of the data, with a mild preference for the latter. Our results establish generalized entropic HDE as a viable and theoretically motivated extension of the standard cosmological scenario and provide the first observational assessment of this cosmological framework.