Quantum Physics
Entangling Power and Symmetries in the Quantum Rabi Model
Ian Low, Jens Koch and Sahel Ashhab
The
quantum Rabi model is a standard effective
Hamiltonian in studies of light-matter interaction, capturing the simplest nontrivial setting in which a
qubit couples to a single harmonic oscillator. Within the broader Rabi family, we focus on two special cases: the Jaynes-Cummings (JC) model, which carries an explicit $U(1)$
symmetry, and the asymmetric
quantum Rabi model (AQRM), which possesses a parameter-dependent "hidden”
symmetry that appears only at integer bias, $\varepsilon/\omega\in\mathbb{Z}$, and is not manifest in the
Hamiltonian. We use the time-averaged entangling power as an operator-level diagnostic of these
symmetry structures. Since the oscillator
Hilbert space is infinite-dimensional, we compare two finite input ensembles: a Haar average after Fock-space truncation and a coherent-state average at fixed mean occupation $\bar{n}$. Both diagnostics show peaks at the integer-bias points of the AQRM, where the hidden
symmetry resides. In contrast, the manifest $U(1)$
symmetry at the JC point instead gives a weak dip. Thus, the time-averaged entangling power responds to both the hidden
symmetry and the $U(1)$
symmetry in the Rabi family, with the sign of the response indicating how the
symmetry reorganizes the spectral expansion. These results demonstrate that the entangling power can serve as an operator diagnostic to reveal the presence and properties of hidden and manifest
symmetries in light-matter systems.
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Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Mitigating galaxy systematics with gravitational wave clustering
Caterina Scarpel, Nicola Bellomo, Sarah Libanore et al. (+2 more)
Although currently poorly constrained, cosmological ultra-large scales are expected to provide formidable tests not only of General Relativity, but also of the content of $\Lambda$CDM and the Early Universe. However, in this regime,
cosmic variance plays a major role in limiting sensitivity, and controlling systematic errors becomes a crucial aspect in preserving the limited information content of current and future observations. Multi-tracer analyses represent a useful technique that simultaneously allows to limit the impact of
cosmic variance and mitigate the presence of systematics. In this sense, gravitational waves might represent the perfect alternative tracer of the large-scale structure, since their detection suffers from a set of uncertainties completely different from that of traditional large-scale structure surveys. In this work, we provide a concrete example of how gravitational wave clustering mitigates the presence of systematics, and facilitate the discovery of New Physics signatures. Specifically, we focus on systematics that degrade the constraining power on local
Primordial non-Gaussianity for future
galaxy surveys; and show how catalogs of gravitational wave events detected by third-generation observatories reduce the impact of systematics while being able to maintain flexibility in the statistical analysis. Additionally, we release a new version of the Multi_CLASS code, which now provides an enhanced level of customization of the different tracers and is compatible with the latest releases of CLASS.
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All authors Caterina Scarpel, Nicola Bellomo, Sarah Libanore, Michele Liguori, Alvise Raccanelli
Quantum Physics
Observation of gravity-like signatures in holographic codes on a quantum computer
Debopriyo Biswas, Gong Cheng, Krishnanand Karthikeyan et al. (+12 more)
The unification of
quantum mechanics and general relativity remains one of the major open problems of theoretical physics. The Anti-de Sitter/Conformal Field Theory (AdS/CFT) correspondence provides a valuable theoretical framework for this effort via a
holographic duality between a theory of
quantum gravity in asymptotically AdS spacetime and a conformal
quantum field theory on the lower-dimensional boundary. Here, we implement a toy model of this duality called the HaPPY code, a
quantum error-correcting code in the form of a tensor network with
hyperbolic entanglement patterns, on a trapped-ion
quantum computer. We present the first experimental confirmation of the Faulkner-Lewkowycz-Maldacena formula in this model - a key test of the
holographic correspondence. We then enrich it with non-stabilizerness, or magic, and observe entropic precursors expected of emergent
gravity. Finally, we present and measure a code construction whose entropic behavior is reminiscent of a highly
quantum wormhole. Our experiments illustrate how
quantum computers can serve as testbeds for modeling the emergence of spacetime.
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All authors Debopriyo Biswas, Gong Cheng, Krishnanand Karthikeyan, Diana Muñoz-Valencia, Vincent P. Su, Hrant Gharibyan, Daiwei Zhu, Grant Salton, Evgeny Epifanovsky, Martin Roetteler, Christopher Monroe, John Preskill, Norbert M. Linke, ChunJun Cao, Crystal Noel
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Determination of kinematic distances of WISE & SMGPS H II regions in the Galactic plane using SEDIGISM cloud association
Moses Langa, Mark Thompson, Andrew Rigby et al. (+7 more)
One of the fundamental requirements for studying and understanding
Galactic structure and massive
star formation is accurate distances to H II regions. However, most distance assignments are hampered by kinematic distance ambiguity (KDA), sparse parallax measurements, and the large number of
radio continuum sources lacking velocity and distance measurements. We present a kinematic distance determination method via cloud association, linking H II regions from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) catalogue and the South African
Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) MeerKAT
Galactic Plane Survey (SMGPS) with molecular clouds from the Structure, Excitation and Dynamics of the Inner
Galactic Interstellar Medium (SEDIGISM) 13CO (2-1) survey. The associations are established through spatial overlap and velocity coherence, and the molecular cloud velocity and distance are then assigned to the associated H II region. The method yields 741 H II regions with adopted CO-based systemic velocities, of which 640 have reliable kinematic distances based on the SEDIGISM distance reliability criteria. We validate the method using 329 H II regions with independent
radio recombination line (RRL) velocities, finding excellent agreement with a median absolute velocity difference of 3.46km/s. Our analysis resolves ambiguous velocities for 40 H II regions with multiple WISE RRL velocity measurements. Compared to the unassociated clouds, the associated molecular clouds exhibit significantly higher masses, gas surface densities, linewidths,
star formation efficiencies and dense gas fractions, and slightly lower virial parameters. This work provides a large, homogeneously-derived catalogue of H II region distances and establishes a framework for further studying massive
star formation and
Galactic structure in general.
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All authors Moses Langa, Mark Thompson, Andrew Rigby, Gwenllian Williams, Mubela Mutale, Cristobal Bordiu, Simone Riggi, Willice Obonyo, James Chibueze, Paul Baki
Statistical Mechanics
Bulk and microphase separation in chiral active systems
Sumeja Bureković, S. J. Kole, Ananyo Maitra et al. (+1 more)
Many active particles phase-separate due to quorum-sensing interactions, and their self-propulsion mechanisms often break
chiral symmetry. Using particle and continuum models, we uncover the role of chirality in inducing bulk or microphase separation, including a
chiral phase formed of vapor bubbles. Analytical predictions for the emergence of these phases require a coarse-graining technique based on multiple-scale analysis. Further, introducing a minimal active field theory, we show that, in the bulk phase separation regime, chirality does not alter the diffusive $t^{1/3}$ coarsening law nor the dynamical exponent associated with capillary waves, but induces traveling waves at the interface. We finally demonstrate that, even in the absence of fluid flows, chirality can cause the breakup of elongated droplets, resembling phenomena previously observed experimentally.
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All authors Sumeja Bureković, S. J. Kole, Ananyo Maitra, Cesare Nardini
Quantum Physics
Dissipative phase transitions and chaos in two-photon driven quantum optomechanics
Giovanni Bragadin, Filippo Ferrari, Lorenzo Fioroni et al. (+4 more)
We investigate nonequilibrium criticality and chaos in a two-
photon-driven optomechanical system. The parametric drive preserves a discrete $\mathbb{Z}_2$
symmetry of the optical field, while radiation-pressure coupling transfers the resulting nonlinear dynamics to a mechanical oscillator. Combining semiclassical stability analysis, exact Liouvillian spectra, and
stochastic quantum trajectories, we show that this driven-dissipative optomechanical model supports both first- and second-order dissipative phase transitions. At negative detuning a second-order transition yields spontaneous breaking of the cavity-parity
symmetry in the thermodynamic limit. At positive detuning the same
symmetry breaking coexists with a first-order transition, signaled by metastability and by an additional symmetric Liouvillian mode. At stronger pump power the mean-field dynamics loses all stable fixed points and develops limit cycles and chaotic attractors with positive Lyapunov exponent.
Quantum trajectories in this regime display chaotic-like motion, enhanced steady-state
entropy, and delocalization over many entropic Liouvillian modes. These results establish two-
photon-driven optomechanics as a platform where dissipative criticality,
symmetry breaking, and
quantum signatures of chaos emerge within the same experimentally accessible setting.
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All authors Giovanni Bragadin, Filippo Ferrari, Lorenzo Fioroni, Matteo Seclì, Vincenzo Macrì, Vincenzo Savona, Alberto Mercurio
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
No persuasive evidence yet of gravitational-wave tails from perturbers along the line of sight in LVK observations
Kuba Kopczuk, Ethan Blake, Matthew F. Carney et al. (+7 more)
Observations of compact binary coalescences (CBCs) by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collaboration resulted in 90 events in the first three observing runs. We search the data near the loudest of these detections for so-called "gravitational glints," by performing
Bayesian model comparison. Gravitational glints are gravitational-wave tails caused by interactions between a signal and a spacetime perturber and are theorized to present as echoes of the primary signal. We do not find convincing evidence of gravitational glints in binary black hole or intermediate-mass black hole binary events with a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of at least 12. We also found that standard matched-filter CBC searches with template banks that do not contain gravitational glints would likely not have missed signals containing a gravitational glint. We therefore estimate upper limits on the probability of a glint as a function of its relative amplitude and use these estimates to constrain the properties of perturbers in the Universe. With increased sensitivity in the fourth observing run, which will increase the number and SNR of detectable events, we remain optimistic that glints will soon be detectable.
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All authors Kuba Kopczuk, Ethan Blake, Matthew F. Carney, Jeremy G. Baier, Michael Van Keuren, Adam Khan, Leslie Wade, Madeline Wade, Glenn Starkman, Craig Copi
High Energy Physics (Phenomenology)
Using $\gamma$+jets to quantify medium-induced jet broadening in heavy-ion collisions
Ankita Budhraja, Marco van Leeuwen and Wouter Waalewijn
The structure of jets produced in high-energy
nucleus-
nucleus collisions carries information on parton energy loss and interaction in the
quark-
gluon plasma. This parton energy loss results in migration of jets in terms of transverse momentum, leading to a selection bias in inclusive jet measurements. Using the JEWEL event generator, we investigate a strategy to reduce selection bias and access medium-induced jet broadening, in an experimentally viable way. As a baseline, we first consider large-R $\gamma$+jet events, with little selection bias, which show a clear signal of medium-induced broadening in the jet girth. However, large-R is experimentally inaccessible due to the large underlying event fluctuations in heavy-ion collisions, so we re-cluster a collection of small-radius ($r_{\rm sub}$ = 0.2) jets as a proxy for the large-radius (R = 1.2) jet, which we refer to as a trimmed jet. We quantify to what extent trimmed jets recover signals of jet broadening and investigate its dependence on the subjet cone size and the minimum transverse momentum. We study the internal structure of the subjets to expose the dependence of jet quenching on different subjet configurations, finding a strong narrowing of PbPb jets for the 1-subjet configurations, and a visible signature of medium-induced broadening for sub-leading subjets. The jet radial profile reveals that contributions from medium-induced broadening are distinct from radiation in pp collisions. These contributions are not easily recovered using our trimming procedure, but are substantially enhanced in single-subjet configurations when considering the profile beyond the subjet radius. This provides guidance for future experimental studies of jet-medium interactions using $\gamma$+jet in heavy-ion collisions.
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Superlinear Type II Superluminous Supernovae 2017fck and 2019cmv: A Possible Origin from Interacting Thermonuclear Supernovae
Daichi Hiramatsu, Takashi J. Moriya, D. Andrew Howell et al. (+9 more)
Additional power sources to traditional
supernovae (SNe) are necessary to account for the extreme luminosities of superluminous SNe (SLSNe). A main power source for hydrogen-rich SLSNe (SLSNe-II) is thought to be circumstellar material (CSM) interaction. However, the nature of underlying SNe and their progenitor systems remain elusive as they are hidden below strong CSM signatures. Here, we present optical photometry and spectroscopy of SLSNe-II 2017fck and 2019cmv. They are characterized by post-maximum "superlinear" light curves which we also identify in a sample of Type Ia SNe interacting with CSM (SNe Ia-CSM), along with their light-curve correlations and spectral similarities. Thus, we compute a numerical light-curve model grid of SNe Ia-CSM with various SN Ia subtypes and CSM distributions. Our model grid spans the observed parameter space of SNe Ia-CSM in terms of their rise times, peak luminosities, and decline rates with a wide CSM mass range of $\sim2-11$ M$_\odot$, indicating the diversity in their progenitor systems. For SNe 2017fck and 2019cmv, we infer high CSM masses of $\sim11$ and $6$ M$_\odot$, respectively, which might be produced during the common envelope
evolution of a white
dwarf and massive ($\geq8$ M$_\odot$) or intermediate-mass ($<8$ M$_\odot$) companion. Together with the proposed connection of SLSN-II 2006gy to SNe Ia-CSM, SNe 2017fck and 2019cmv may offer a possible thermonuclear origin for superlinear SLSNe-II with peak optical luminosities up to $10^{44}$ erg s$^{-1}$.
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All authors Daichi Hiramatsu, Takashi J. Moriya, D. Andrew Howell, Iair Arcavi, Jamison Burke, Griffin Hosseinzadeh, Curtis McCully, Stefano Valenti, Maria R. Drout, Saurabh W. Jha, Youssef Eweis, Sergei I. Blinnikov
High Energy Physics (Phenomenology)
Constraining the real singlet extension of the Standard Model: implications for vacuum stability
Moritz Bosse, Gudrun Hiller, Daniel Litim et al. (+4 more)
Amongst the simplest extensions of the Standard Model is the addition of a real singlet scalar field with profound phenomenological consequences. The singlet can catalyze a strong first-order electroweak phase transition, necessary for successful electroweak baryogenesis. Furthermore, the current prediction of a metastable
Higgs vacuum can be lifted towards absolute stability. While current data mainly constrain the scalar mixing angle, future measurements of the
Higgs self-coupling and direct searches for additional scalar states will probe much larger parts of the viable parameter space. We report on a combined study of theoretical and experimental constraints on the real singlet extension, highlighting here in particular its implications for
vacuum stability.
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All authors Moritz Bosse, Gudrun Hiller, Daniel Litim, Fabio Maltoni, Michael J. Ramsey-Musolf, Simone Tentori, Guotao Xia
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Mitigating the Timing Impact of Anomalous Pulse Profile Shape Variability in PSR J1713+0747 with Gaussian Component Modeling
Shania A. Nichols, Michael T. Lam, Gabriella Agazie et al. (+31 more)
The North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) achieves sub-microsecond timing precision for several millisecond
pulsars in its
pulsar timing array (PTA) with the objective of detecting and characterizing nanohertz gravitational waves. PSR J1713+0747 is one of the most precisely timed
pulsars in the array, achieving sub-microsecond timing precision. However, in April 2021, PSR J1713+0747 underwent a sudden and unusual change in pulse shape that disrupted its timing stability. As PSR J1713+0747 is a key contributor to PTA sensitivity, variations in its pulse profile significantly affect the array's sensitivity to nanohertz gravitational waves. We apply frequency-dependent Gaussian component models to decompose the pulse profile and track the
evolution of individual components through the event. This component-level method maintains phase-connected timing across the shape-change event. At L-band, the recovered TOAs have a median uncertainty of ~0.47 microseconds compared to ~0.69 microseconds for standard template matching. At 820 MHz, where profile
evolution is stronger, the recovered TOAs have a median uncertainty of ~1.63 microseconds compared to ~0.67 microseconds for standard template matching. The recovered TOAs achieve timing uncertainties comparable to conventional template matching while allowing data affected by profile variability to be retained in PTA gravitational-wave analyses. These results represent an initial step toward profile-domain timing methods capable of accounting for pulse-profile
evolution while reducing the need for additional timing model parameters.
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All authors Shania A. Nichols, Michael T. Lam, Gabriella Agazie, Anjana Ashok, Jeremy G. Baier, H. Thankful Cromartie, Kathryn Crowter, Megan E. DeCesar, Paul B. Demorest, Lankeswar Dey, William Fiore, Emmanuel Fonseca, Joseph Glaser, Deborah C. Good, Jeffrey S. Hazboun, Ross J. Jennings, David L. Kaplan, Bjorn Larsen, Georgia A. Lowes, Ryan S. Lynch, Ashley Martsen, Bradley W. Meyers, Patrick M. Meyers, Mason Ng, Daniel J. Oliver, Benetge B. P. Perera, Henri A. Radovan, Scott M. Ransom, Alexander Saffer, Ingrid H. Stairs, Mercedes S. Thompson, Amir Tresnjic, Joris P. W. Verbiest, David Wright
High Energy Physics (Phenomenology)
Static-Recoil Factorization in Heavy-Baryon Chiral EFTs
Ziyu Dong, Teng Ma, Chengjie Yang et al. (+1 more)
Extending heavy-
baryon \(\chi\)PT to higher-
spin resonances introduces unphysical lower-
spin admixtures, leading to costly path-integral projections. To resolve this, we develop an on-shell implementation of the heavy-
baryon expansion based on
recoil-channel partial-wave eigenoperators. These eigenoperators separate the static mass dependence from
recoil structures and assign
chiral order directly in amplitude space. The resulting static–
recoil factorization systematically generates non-redundant local operators for heavy-
baryon sectors involving higher-
spin resonances.
Flavor structures and identical-particle constraints are imposed through a new linear-algebraic reduction that uses von Neumann alternating projections to extract the corresponding common physical subspace. Beyond this specific application, the framework can be broadly applied to general nonrelativistic effective field theories.
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All authors Ziyu Dong, Teng Ma, Chengjie Yang, Zizheng Zhou
High Energy Physics (Phenomenology)
The Role of Symmetries in Dark Matter Detector Design
Benjamin Lillard, Jack D. Shergold and Juri Smirnov
Anisotropic materials have emerged as promising candidates for the next generation of sub-GeV dark matter direct detection experiments, because their intrinsic directionality gives rise to a daily modulation signal as the detector rotates with respect to a dark matter wind. Predicting the shape of the modulation signal requires knowledge of the electronic excited states: however, we show that the amplitude of the modulation can be estimated using only the
symmetries of the material. By decomposing the finite momentum dark matter–electron scattering form factor into spherical harmonics, we show that the 230 crystallographic space groups collapse to just 5 classes, distinguished by their suppression of the quadrupole modes of the squared form factor. We apply our
symmetry-projection framework to the special case of molecular
crystals, and derive an accurate group-theoretic
estimator for the loss of daily modulation signal due to crystallisation, which depends only on the
symmetries and relative orientations of the molecules within the
crystal. Finally, we demonstrate that these estimates are linearly proportional to the absolute magnitude of the modulation signal, allowing us to rank molecular
crystals without the need for expensive electronic structure calculations. Together, these results provide a fast and interpretable route to large-scale screening of anisotropic materials for directional dark matter detection.
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Quantum Physics
Quantum magic and non-commutativity as computational resources in quantum reservoir computing
Wei Xia, Shuaifan Cao, Xingze Qiu et al. (+1 more)
Quantum reservoir computing (QRC) provides a hardware-efficient paradigm for temporal information processing on near-term
quantum devices. Despite rapid experimental progress, a rigorous understanding of the structural conditions required for its scalable
quantum-enhanced performance remains lacking. Here, we develop a theoretical framework in Pauli-Liouville space that provides a unified analytical treatment of the echo state property (ESP), nonlinear expressive power, and
quantum resources. We first analyze the widely used
qubit-resetting scheme and establish that
quantum magic generated by reservoir dynamics is a necessary condition for effective computation, a requirement more fundamental than ESP. However, we prove that this architecture faces inherent expressivity limitations: all nonlinear processing originates exclusively from the classical encoding map, imposing an unavoidable trade-off between nonlinearity and
memory capacity. To circumvent this structural bottleneck, we rigorously analyze
Hamiltonian encoding, in which temporal inputs are embedded directly into the continuous dynamics generator. We show that the ESP is natively guaranteed by the Liouvillian spectral gap, decoupling it from
quantum magic. Crucially, for any non-trivial drive
Hamiltonian, the discrete-time update map exhibits a transcendental, infinite-order nonlinear dependence on the instantaneous input. Moreover, the intrinsic non-commutativity of the open-system generators governs the temporal coupling of these nonlinearities, producing highly non-separable processing of the input history. Our results establish a rigorous theoretical hierarchy of QRC architectures and provide prescriptive design principles for experiments targeting genuine
quantum advantages in temporal processing.
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All authors Wei Xia, Shuaifan Cao, Xingze Qiu, Xiaopeng Li
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Population demographics of post-interaction WDMS binaries: From common envelope evolution to stable mass transfer
Natsuko Yamaguchi, Kareem El-Badry and Cheyanne Shariat
Close white
dwarf (WD) + main-sequence (MS) binaries are end products of mass transfer (MT) that occurred prior to WD formation, making their population demographics a powerful probe of binary
evolution. Several recent works have constructed samples of WD+MS binaries with well-understood selection functions using data from wide-field surveys. These include (a) AU-scale astrometric binaries from
Gaia that can be shown to contain a WD on dynamical grounds, (b) AU-scale astrometric binaries in which a hot WD is detected through a GALEX UV excess, and (c) close binaries discovered through eclipses. Together, these samples probe outcomes of both stable MT and common-envelope
evolution, and interactions on both the red
giant branch (RGB) and asymptotic
giant branch (AGB). We forward model the three observed samples simultaneously. This approach produces robust constraints on uncertain binary
evolution parameters because binaries removed from one population are predicted to appear in another. Our modeling includes a realistic initial binary population and treatments of the selection effects affecting all samples. We confirm that MT from AGB donors requires a critical accretor-to-donor mass ratio of $\sim0.4$ as found in previous work, and find that this is more stable than MT from RGB donors, for which we constrain a critical ratio $\gtrsim0.65$. A common envelope efficiency of $\alpha\lambda\sim0.3$ matches the relative numbers of close and wide systems and the period distribution of close systems. Most stable MT products in the sample, including those with RGB donors, retain nonzero eccentricities ($\simeq0.1$). The model does not fully reproduce the mass distribution of main-sequence
stars in post-common envelope binaries, which shows a cliff below the fully convective limit, possibly pointing to missing physics that may warrant future work.
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High Energy Physics (Phenomenology)
Three-Loop QCD Corrections to Scattering Amplitudes of a Higgs Boson and Three Partons
Xin Guan, Bernhard Mistlberger and Michael S. Ruf
We present helicity amplitudes at three loops in the heavy-top
quark effective theory of QCD for the scattering of a
Higgs boson and three light partons with full-color dependence. To obtain these results, we use integration-by-parts identities implemented in the code Blade and evaluate the master integrals using canonical differential equations. We obtain compact analytic expressions in terms of generalized polylogarithms suitable for numerical evaluation. We observe that sub-leading color contributions at three loops are numerically as significant as leading-color terms. Our amplitudes are key ingredients for precision LHC phenomenology, for example in production cross sections involving a
Higgs boson and a hadronic jet.
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Quantum Physics
Quantum incompatibility of Born probabilities
Esteban Castro-Ruiz, Nathan Cohen, Luis C. Barbado et al. (+1 more)
Quantum theory challenges the view that individual measurement outcomes are predefined and independent of the measurement context. Yet the
quantum state itself – the catalogue of probabilities for all possible measurements – is usually assumed to be well defined. We argue that this assumption tacitly relies on measurements being performed relative to ideal, infinitely-resourceful reference frames. We show that, when measurements are made relative to non-ideal
quantum reference frames, the probabilities themselves become indefinite: even in the limit of arbitrarily large number of runs, the relative frequencies may remain uncertain. The uncertainty is irreducible in a
quantum-mechanical sense, as we show by proving a Bell-type
theorem for relative frequencies. We further propose a
quantum-optical implementation of these relational measurements based on pulsed homodyne detection. Our findings motivate an extension of the notion of the
quantum state to regimes constrained by finite resources. We expect them to be especially relevant at the interface between
quantum theory and general relativity, where the resources and information available in a bounded region of spacetime are fundamentally limited.
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All authors Esteban Castro-Ruiz, Nathan Cohen, Luis C. Barbado, Časlav Brukner
High Energy Physics (Theory)
A New Term in Type II Effective Action
Ashoke Sen
We show that the one loop effective action of type IIA and IIB string theories in ten dimensions have terms proportional to the dilaton times the ten dimensional Euler density, in apparent violation of the soft dilaton
theorem. This can be traced to the existence of the zero modes of the world-sheet superconformal ghost fields and resolves a puzzle that arose recently in the analysis of black hole index when we compactify these theories on Calabi-Yau
manifolds of non-zero Euler number.
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High Energy Physics (Phenomenology)
Scrutinizing the Mass Matrices in Three-Higgs-Doublet Models with Generalized CP Symmetries
Duarte D. Correia, Jorge C. Romao and Joao P. Silva
We investigate three-
Higgs-doublet models with a softly broken generalized CP (GCP)
symmetry, focusing on the Yukawa sector and its compatibility with
quark flavor data. We first show that the 40 GCP-symmetric models previously identified are not all physically distinct, by constructing the basis transformations relating equivalent realizations and identifying spurious parameters. We then perform numerical fits to the six
quark masses and the four independent parameters of the Cabibbo–Kobayashi–Maskawa
matrix, further reducing the set of viable models. In contrast to the GCP-symmetric two-
Higgs-doublet case, we find that GCP-symmetric three-
Higgs-doublet models can successfully reproduce all
quark masses and mixings. In total, 22 inequivalent models are compatible with current experimental data, and representative
benchmark points are presented. Our results establish softly broken GCP-symmetric three-
Higgs-doublet models as phenomenologically viable extensions of the Standard Model and provide a framework for further studies of their
flavor phenomenology.
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Strongly Correlated Electrons
Logarithmic corrections to bulk and surface criticality in a three-dimensional quantum Heisenberg antiferromagnet
Xuyang Liang, Xiao-Chuan Wu, Zenan Liu et al. (+3 more)
At the bulk upper critical dimension, marginally irrelevant interactions generate multiplicative logarithmic corrections to mean-field scaling. While these corrections are well understood for bulk observables, their consequences for boundary criticality, particularly for finite-size scaling, remain much less explored. Here we combine large-scale
quantum Monte Carlo simulations with boundary renormalization-group analysis to study a (3 + 1)D O(3)
quantum critical point. After verifying the known logarithmically modified bulk finite-size scaling, including the correlation-length scaling governed by the logarithmic finite-size exponent \hat{\coppa}, we tune the surface coupling to identify ordinary, special, and extraordinary boundary regimes. For the ordinary and special transitions, we derive logarithmic correction exponents and \hat{\coppa}-dependent finite-size scaling forms for boundary correlations, including results that have not been systematically established before. These predictions are quantitatively supported by Monte Carlo data. In the extraordinary regime, we find long-range surface
magnetic order and a logarithmically enhanced surface-bulk correlation.
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All authors Xuyang Liang, Xiao-Chuan Wu, Zenan Liu, Zhe Wang, Zheng Yan, Dao-Xin Yao
Astrophysics of Galaxies
The JADES Transient Survey III: Linking Core-Collapse Supernova Rates to Cosmic Star Formation
Christian Vassallo, Seppo Mattila, Christa DeCoursey et al. (+24 more)
We investigate how core-collapse
supernova (CCSN) rates trace the
star-formation rate densities (SFRDs) over the
redshift range $0 \le z \le 5$. For this we use new high-
redshift results from the James Webb Space
Telescope Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES) Transient Survey (JTS, see the companion paper by DeCoursey et al. 2026), together with published CCSN rates. Using the observed CCSN rates to constrain the CCSN production efficiency relating SFRDs to CCSN rates, we examine how the inferred connection between
star formation rates and CCSN production efficiency depends on the
stellar initial mass function (IMF) and the adopted CCSN progenitor mass range. We find that the observed CCSN rates are consistent with
dust extinction-corrected UV+IR based SFRDs for plausible CCSN progenitor masses. Using the observed CCSN rates to directly reconstruct the
cosmic star-formation history, we recover a peak at z $\sim2$, in agreement with
galaxy luminosity-based determinations. Allowing the IMF to evolve with
redshift has only a modest impact when SFRD estimates are treated consistently, indicating that CCSN rates are not as sensitive to the change of IMF as might be assumed. Adopting higher SFRDs that include a
dust-obscured population of faint millimeter sources implies a substantial and increasing fraction of missing,
dust-obscured CCSNe at higher
redshifts. Although the inferred fraction of CCSNe missed by the surveys depends on the adopted CCSN production efficiency, we find an increasing fraction of
supernovae missed due to obscuration, rising from modest values at low
redshift to a peak at z $\sim2$, and remaining substantial toward z $\sim5$.
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All authors Christian Vassallo, Seppo Mattila, Christa DeCoursey, Louis-Gregory Strolger, Erkki Kankare, Max M. Briel, Eiichi Egami, Iikka Mäntynen, David A. Coulter, Armin Rest, Andrew J. Bunker, Alex J. Cameron, Daniel J. Eisenstein, Ori D. Fox, Kevin Hainline, Ryan Hausen, Zhiyuan Ji, Benjamin D. Johnson, Roberto Maiolino, Takashi J. Moriya, Justin D. R. Pierel, Thomas M. Reynolds, Brant Robertson, Fengwu Sun, Sandro Tacchella, Christina C. Williams, Christopher N. A. Willmer
Strongly Correlated Electrons
Mapping vortices to anyons in toric code phases of generalized Kitaev models
Li Ern Chern, Roderich Moessner and Claudio Castelnovo
We present a comprehensive theory of mapping flux excitations, or
vortices, to electric and
magnetic particles in the toric code phases of generalizations of the Kitaev honeycomb model in two spatial dimensions. Our method, which is formulated with the Majorana
fermion representation, utilizes the fusion rule of the Abelian anyons and the physical constraint on the
fermion parity, and applies to generic model parameters including any perturbative limit. Not only are we able to reproduce the known mapping scheme in the dimer limit, we also derive the conditions for the invariance of anyon species of individual
vortices. We prove that the mapping of anyons is left unchanged by any continuous
evolution of model parameters that does not close the
fermion gap in both the
vortex-free and two-
vortex sectors, which enables precise demarcations between multiple regimes associated with different maps within a single phase characterized by a trivial Chern number. We illustrate our theory via extensive computations for a number of selected models, in particular those defined on the square-octagon
lattice and the honeycomb
lattice with a Kekulé structure. We also demonstrate that distinct mappings of anyons can nevertheless exhibit the same weak
symmetry breaking, and further argue that they belong to the same
symmetry-enriched topological order.
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High Energy Physics (Phenomenology)
How invisible can QCD axions be? From Supernova emission to Cherenkov signals
Luca Di Luzio, Vincenzo Fiorentino, Maurizio Giannotti et al. (+2 more)
We investigate the scenario of maximally invisible
axions, namely QCD
axions whose interactions with matter arise exclusively from the irreducible coupling to
gluons responsible for solving the strong-CP problem. We first analyze the production of such
axions in core-collapse
supernovae. In particular, we derive the corresponding SN 1987A cooling constraint and compute the emission spectra for the dominant production channels, namely nucleon-nucleon bremsstrahlung and pion conversion. We then investigate the prospects for detecting maximally invisible
axions in Cherenkov detectors, with the goal of establishing a robust lower bound on the overall detectability of QCD
axions.
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All authors Luca Di Luzio, Vincenzo Fiorentino, Maurizio Giannotti, Alessandro Lella, Federico Mescia
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Galaxy mergers drive enhancements in ionization states
A. Le Reste and K. B. Mantha
Recent studies have suggested that
galaxy mergers may help drive the escape of ionizing
photons from
galaxies. However, the ionization properties of merging
galaxies have not yet been systematically studied across the full merger sequence in a large, well-defined sample. Here, we investigate the impact of mergers on the line ratio $\rm{O}_{32}$ tracing the ionization state and study its
evolution as a function of merger progression. We identify 7641
galaxy mergers with robust ($\rm{SNR}>3$) emission line fluxes from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 17, using spectroscopic pair analysis and visual classifications from the participatory science experiment "
Cosmic Disco: Characterizing
Galaxy Collisions". We find a continuous increase in $\rm{O}_{32}$ as a function of merger progression traced by pair separation and visual merger stages, with median and 90th percentile peaking post-coalescence. $\rm{O}_{32}$ is significantly enhanced in mergers past the first pericenter passage as compared to a control sample of isolated
galaxies. We investigate the properties of
galaxy mergers with $\rm{O}_{32}>3$ and find that these are mainly low-mass ($\widetilde{\rm{M}_{*}}=6\times 10^{8}\,\rm{M}{_\odot}$) mergers close to coalescence. In this population, large $\rm{O}_{32}$ values are due to mergers driving a simultaneous increase in specific
star formation rate and decrease in
metallicity. Thus,
galaxy mergers enhance the ionization state of
galaxies and likely facilitate the escape of ionizing radiation from
galaxies, even at low
stellar masses. Finally, we infer that Green Pea
galaxies, a population characterized by high $\rm{O}_{32}$ , are low-mass
galaxy mergers at coalescence, a scenario that reconciles findings from environmental and interferometric 21cm studies.
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Strongly Correlated Electrons
Symmetry-twisted multi-entropies: Order parameters for 2D SPT phases
Ramanjit Sohal, Michael Levin and Ruben Verresen
Although
symmetry-protected topological phases (SPTs) can be distinguished by their
entanglement properties, it has been unclear how to extract this information directly from expectation values beyond the 1D case. Here, we close this gap and propose a pair of nonlocal order parameters that can detect and distinguish all bosonic SPTs in 2D protected by internal discrete, Abelian
unitary symmetries. The desired topological invariants are extracted by these quantities by effectively simulating the SPT path integral on topologically non-trivial spacetime
manifolds. Our order parameters are defined in terms of expectation values of partial
symmetry and permutation operations acting on fixed numbers of replicas of the system in finite spatial regions. These expectation values correspond to
symmetry-twisted versions of multipartite
entanglement quantities known as multi-
entropies. We show explicitly that our two order parameters detect
symmetry-protected four-party and six-party
entanglement, respectively, and we constrain possible "spurious" contributions. We analytically test our proposal in fixed-point
lattice models. Our results suggest multipartite
entanglement to be a defining feature of SPTs; indeed, we expect our methods to generalize to fermionic and higher-dimensional systems.
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High Energy Physics (Theory)
Strong-to-Weak Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking from Wormholes in Holography
Taishi Kawamoto, Kenya Tasuki and Masahito Yamazaki
We study strong-to-weak spontaneous
symmetry breaking (SWSSB) at finite temperature and its implications in holography. SWSSB is a novel critical phenomenon that arises only in mixed states. We demonstrate SWSSB with the BTZ black hole and show that, in the bulk, it is realized through wormhole geometries connecting the two copies in the thermofield-double construction. We point out that SWSSB can be recast as an emergence of global
symmetries under ensemble averaging. We further examine the interplay between SWSSB and the swampland program, and propose a new swampland
conjecture for
quantum-
gravity theories involving ensemble averages.
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Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Using SquiRels to Find LiMRs: A Model-Insensitive Approach to Cosmic Microwave Background Studies of Light but Massive Relics
Nicholas DePorzio, David Imig and Jessie Shelton
Light but Massive Relics (LiMRs), cosmological relics that are relativistic at some point in the observable early universe but are non-relativistic today, are a generic prediction of many theories of physics beyond the Standard Model, and are a target of high interest for current and upcoming cosmological surveys. The enormous variety of scenarios that can give rise to LiMRs also gives rise to a wide range of possible phase space distributions for these relics, making it valuable to have a model-agnostic quantification of LiMR signatures. Toward that end we identify three independent physical quantities that govern LiMRs' dominant effects on cosmological observables, and introduce a phenomenological family of "Squished Relics" (SquiRels) that allow us to efficiently and flexibly search for the imprint of LiMRs with different phase space distributions in data. Our primary focus here is on LiMRs that transition from radiation to matter during the
Cosmic Microwave Background epoch. Using this framework we explicitly demonstrate that current Planck observations are not sensitive to the shape of the LiMR's phase space distribution function, which allows us to provide a model-insensitive and readily reinterpretable limit on LiMRs that become non-relativistic at
redshifts z_{NR}<10^5. We further demonstrate that upcoming and future ground-based observatories will be able to distinguish LiMRs from massless dark radiation species, and could begin to provide information about the shape of its distribution.
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High Energy Physics (Theory)
Strongly-coupled black holes (are not) at weak coupling
Ben Heidenreich and Matteo Lotito
We prove sharp bounds on the
moduli space excursion that is possible outside the event horizon of a spherically symmetric charged black hole. In regions where the black hole charge $Q (\phi)$ is no less than its asymptotic value, we prove that the total
moduli space excursion is less than $\frac{\pi}{2\sqrt{k_N}}$ where $k_N$ is the rationalized Newton constant. We also show that the
moduli space excursion in a specified direction in which $Q (\phi)$ is non-decreasing satisfies the same bound. Applying our bound to electrically charged black holes, we rule out a potential loophole in a recent proof [arXiv:2401.14449] of the Weak
Gravity Conjecture in perturbative bosonic string theory.
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High Energy Physics (Theory)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to Tensionless String Limits in 4d SCFTs
José Calderón-Infante, Angel M. Uranga and Irene Valenzuela
We study the appearance of universality classes in overall weak-coupling infinite-distance limits in the conformal
manifold of 4d ${\cal N}=4,2,1$ superconformal gauge theories at large $N$ and their relation to the type of weakly-coupled emergent string in the AdS bulk dual using brane models. We focus on the complete set of theories with simple gauge group, and provide explicit Hanany-Witten constructions for each of them, including those that have non-Einstein bulk duals. This establishes that the three universality classes found in arXiv:2410.07309 are determined by the number of NS5-branes becoming coincident in a suitable double-scaling limit required to obtain the SCFT. Furthermore, all theories within a given universality class descend from the same parent theory by performing orbifold/orientifold projections (with possibly a small number of extra
flavors), which are subleading effects at large $N$. This explains the origin of the universality classes from a CFT perspective. Moreover, we argue that theories in the same universality class share the same closed-string background – generated by the double-scaled NS5-brane system – in which the backreaction of D-branes is expected to generate the AdS throat holographically dual to the SCFT. We describe the corresponding worldsheet theories, and find that the three kinds of emergent tensionless strings correspond to the 10d type IIB string, a subcritical string previously studied in a related context, and a novel kind of string which we characterize in detail. Our tools are not limited to this set of SCFTs, but can be naturally applied to more general theories, and allow us to study interpolating models yielding a network of SCFTs related by partial weak-coupling limits. We explicitly discuss the generalization of our results to large classes of theories with more than one gauge factor and even to some quasi-conformal gauge theories.
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Astrophysics of Galaxies
The JADES Transient Survey II: Volumetric Supernova Rates out to z~5
Christa DeCoursey, Christian Vassallo, Louis-Gregory Strolger et al. (+27 more)
The JADES Transient Survey (JTS) identified 83
supernova (SN) candidates in the JADES Deep Field, a $\sim$25 arcmin$^2$ region with deep ($\sim$30 mag) multi-band, multi-epoch JWST/NIRCam coverage. We use this sample to derive the first volumetric core-collapse (CC) SN and Type Ia (SN Ia) rates in the $z$$\sim$2-5 range. Many of these SNe are photometrically classified from single-epoch photometry (i.e., single spectral energy distributions (SEDs)), so we simulate and classify $\sim$23,000 CC SN and SN Ia mock SEDs over 0.7$\leq$$z$$\leq$5 to quantify single-SED classification accuracy as a function of
redshift. We report consistent rates for two samples: (1) the full JTS sample, including single-SED classifications, and (2) the "gold" sample, restricted to sources classified spectroscopically or with multi-epoch light curves. In units of 10$^{-4}$ CC SNe yr$^{-1}$ Mpc$^{-3}$, the full sample CC SN rates are 6.2$^{+2.2}_{-1.7}$ at 2.06$\leq$$z$$<$2.78 and 4.1$^{+1.5}_{-1.1}$ at 2.78$\leq$$z$$\leq$5.06, broadly consistent with the expectations from the
galaxy luminosity-based measurements of the
cosmic star formation rate density. Our full sample rates tentatively exhibit the predicted decline beyond
cosmic noon, providing the first direct observational indication of this behavior. A companion paper, C. Vassallo et al., presents a more detailed comparison. We measure a full sample SN Ia rate of 0.3$^{+0.3}_{-0.2}$$\times$10$^{-4}$ SNe Ia yr$^{-1}$ Mpc$^{-3}$ at 1.92$\leq$$z$$<$3.60. Future high-$z$ SN surveys with JWST and the Roman Space
Telescope will expand these samples and provide more robust constraints on SN rates in the high-$z$ Universe.
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All authors Christa DeCoursey, Christian Vassallo, Louis-Gregory Strolger, Justin D. R. Pierel, Eiichi Egami, Seppo Mattila, Armin Rest, David A. Coulter, Andrew J. Bunker, Alex J. Cameron, James M. DerKacy, Daniel J. Eisenstein, Michael Engesser, Ori D. Fox, Sebastian Gomez, Massimo Griggio, Kevin Hainline, Ryan Hausen, Zhiyuan Ji, Benjamin D. Johnson, Roberto Maiolino, Takashi J. Moriya, Brant Robertson, Koji Shukawa, Matthew R. Siebert, Fengwu Sun, Sandro Tacchella, Christina C. Williams, Christopher N. A. Willmer, Yossef Zenati