Papers

Quantum metrology protocols typically consist of four steps: state preparation, evolution, measurement, and data processing. Often, the first three steps are prioritised when designing a scheme as they contain all the quantum elements. The data analysis is generally considered an add-on with an implicit assumption that this step is well behaved and so standard data techniques can be applied. However, the situation can be more nuanced, such as when the available data are limited. In limited-data quantum metrology the choice of data analysis technique and cost function of the estimator is of great importance, and a reliable prior distribution of the unknown parameters is required for Bayesian analysis. An interesting question is what we should do when no such prior is available. In this work, we consider how the James-Stein estimator can give significant advantages when measuring multiple unknown parameters with limited data and, importantly, does not require any prior distribution. We demonstrate the advantage by applying this methodology to simple quantum metrology schemes.

Field redefinitions connect many formulations of the same physics, but the standard equivalence theorem is an on-shell result and cannot be used to decide when two quantum descriptions are equivalent off shell. This paper develops an operational criterion for that problem in terms of the Vilkovisky–DeWitt effective action. The central idea is that equivalence should be tested on scalar observables built by pairing configuration-space tensors with admissible probes. This makes the criterion sensitive to the observable class under consideration and separates the usual on-shell notion of equivalence from the stronger off-shell notions needed in gravity, cosmology and non-equilibrium quantum field theory. Metric $f(R)$ gravity and a scalar field theory example serve as prototypes, showing how the formal criterion distinguishes local, branchwise and genuinely global equivalence. In particular, we show that metric $f(R)$ gravity and its auxiliary-field reformulation yield the same quantum theory when the auxiliary constraint is enforced in the path integral. This is distinct from quantizing the corresponding scalar–tensor action with the metric and scalar treated as independent integration variables, which defines a different quantum theory. Apparent quantum inequivalences can then be traced to comparisons between different quantum objects, rather than to a failure of actual equivalences. This leads to general and precise notions of local and global equivalence under both field redefinitions and auxiliary-variable extensions.

Electronic resonances play an important role in electron attachment-induced processes in biomolecules, and their properties can be significantly influenced by the local molecular environment. Here, we investigate the effect of amino acid micro-solvation on the uracil resonances by employing uracil-glycine as a model system. The resonance spectrum of the uracil-glycine complex consists of four {\pi}-type shape resonances and three core-excited resonances, including an additional glycine-centered resonance, as characterized using the CASSCF/Resonance via Padé (RVP) methodology. Comparison with isolated uracil and the uracil(ghostGly) model shows that explicit interaction with glycine stabilizes both the shape and core-excited resonances by lowering their energies and increasing their lifetimes, while the ghost calculations demonstrate that basis-set extension alone cannot account for the observed stabilization. The core-excited resonances exhibit states that retain non-negligible lifetimes despite their much higher energy, suggesting that they may play an important role in electron-induced dissociation pathways. Overall, the present results demonstrate that amino acid micro-solvation significantly modifies the resonance landscape of uracil, highlighting the importance of explicitly accounting for local biomolecular interactions in theoretical studies of electron attachment.

X-ray detection underpins a wide range of applications in medicine, security, industrial inspection, scientific research for non-destructive imaging and material analysis. The rapid development of Ga2O3-based X-ray detectors offers a promising pathway toward next-generation detectors with high sensitivity, low noise, and harsh environment applications, benefiting from its intrinsic material properties such as high density, wide band gap energy, and high thermal-chemical stability. However, the underlying device operating mechanisms, including both carrier excitation and transport processes, have not yet been adequately studied, largely due to the misuse of X-ray sources in previous studies. Besides, benchmarking of device characteristics has been problematic due to experimental or data analysis issues, as well as misunderstandings of the applied equations associated with parameter definitions. In this work, we have designed and performed an instructive research work based on epitaxial beta-Ga2O3:Si and its planar Schottky detectors, measured with energy-tuneable monochromatic X-ray beams on a synchrotron beamline, clarifying the device excitation and carrier transport mechanisms with properly benchmarked device performance. In the end, we propose a set of protocols for correctly measuring and analysing the device performance. The proposed protocols are broadly applicable and can be readily extended to other semiconductor X-ray detectors.

OLEDs are increasingly applied in illumination and displays because they offer excellent color quality, are mechanically flexible, and are self-emissive. However, their usage is limited by low external quantum efficiency (EQE) and efficiency roll-off at high driving voltages. These limitations, together with demands for smaller pixels and device sizes in emerging technologies, motivate innovations that increase efficiency and allow replacing external optical elements with embedded solutions. Here, we demonstrate enhanced outcoupling as well as directional and polarization control of OLED emission, based on collective surface lattice resonances of plasmonic nanoparticle arrays that are embedded in the active layers of four different state-of-the-art OLED structures. Both square arrays and more complex lattices producing flat bands are demonstrated to guide the light to directions and polarizations determined by their optical modes. We show that by the design of the array geometry and the OLED structure, spectral and angular enhancement of the electroluminescence (EL), up to 30 %, can be achieved. Our results verify that surface lattice resonances of nanoparticle arrays offer a robust and versatile embedded solution for tailoring the OLED emission, as well as exciting prospects for efficiency increase if combined with narrow-spectrum emitters.

The covariant density functional theory in a three-dimensional lattice space is extended to the PCF-PK1 functional with localized exchange terms and is employed to study the nuclear shape evolution of even-even Ra isotopes. Well-developed axial octupole deformations are found for the ground states of $^{222-228}$Ra with no evidence of triaxial shapes. The energy gain of octupole deformation is employed to assess the stability of octupole deformation, with relatively larger values observed for $^{224}$Ra and $^{226}$Ra. A simplified analysis method based on the single-particle spectrum at the octupole deformation parameter $\beta_3=0$ is proposed to identify the key single-particle levels driving octupole deformation. It is found that the $m_z=3/2$ orbitals from $\nu 1j_{15/2}$ and $\nu 2g_{9/2}$ and the $m_z=1/2$ orbitals from $\pi 1i_{13/2}$ and $\pi 2f_{7/2}$, play crucial roles in the formation of octupole deformation in Ra isotopes. Furthermore, increasing the tensor coupling strength promotes octupole deformation, whereas reducing the pairing strength stabilizes it. Our results provide a microscopic understanding of octupole deformation in the Ra isotopic chain and highlight the importance of both tensor coupling and pairing correlations in reflection-asymmetric nuclear shapes.

We propose a data-driven procedure, based on convolutional variational autoencoders, to identify the presence of signal pulses in long time-series. The dataset consists of synthetic waveforms, each composed of non-gaussian noise and a log-normal shaped signal of variable intensity, with a length of 10,000 samples. The model heavily compresses the input waveforms, allowing a direct study of such a reduced representation. After training for 150 epochs on 7,500 waveforms, a region in the latent space where the network encodes time-series presenting only background noise emerges, allowing in turn to tag as candidates for containing a signal those falling outside. When applied on a test dataset of freshly generated waveforms, 100% of the events with a large pulses are correctly labelled, and this fraction only decreases for signal amplitudes comparable with accidental noise pulses. This approach was designed to fully exploit the measurements in dual-phase Liquid Argon Time Projection Chambers, as the one of the Recoil Directionality experiment, built in the context of the Darkside project.

Closed-loop wall controllers learnt by multi-agent reinforcement learning are usually trained on periodic boxes far smaller than the flows they are meant to drive, and a large part of their drag reduction is lost when they are carried across. Retraining on the target domain is not an affordable remedy: the centralised critic that assigns credit to each wall patch degrades as patches are added, the zero-net-mass constraint couples the patches it is asked to separate, and the episodes must be collected in sequence at a cost that grows with the domain. We propose instead a short gradient-free refinement stage, applied to the transferred policy on the domain it will drive. An evolution strategy scores whole flow episodes against a regularised objective, so no credit has to be assigned to individual patches, and the candidates in a generation are independent and run in parallel. Applied to a recurrent multi-agent policy trained on a minimal flow unit at $\Retau\simeq180$ and evaluated on a channel sixteen times larger in wall-parallel area, a few generations raise the drag reduction from $19.0\%$ to $25.7\%$, above the $22.5\%$ of opposition control. Because the policies before and after refinement share an architecture and a training history, the difference between the controlled flows follows from the refinement alone. It shows in the friction decomposition, in the Reynolds stresses and in the near-wall spectra, and the actuation moves from a weak coupling to the wall-normal velocity towards a strong coupling to the streamwise fluctuation.

Retrieving dust properties in protoplanetary disks, including the surface density distribution, temperature, and grain size distribution, is a fundamental task in observational studies of planet formation. While multi-wavelength analysis of the spectral energy distribution (SED) using interferometers such as the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is a powerful diagnostic tool, traditional methods are often hindered by strong biases arising from a limited imaging beamsize. In this paper, we present a new retrieval framework for dust disk properties designed to overcome this challenge. We assume that the underlying physical structures are expressed as sample paths from Gaussian processes, compute the radial intensity distributions at observed wavelengths, and produce one-dimensional visibility models. The models are compared with the observed data and the posterior distributions are sampled via the Markov-Chain Monte-Carlo method. The whole procedure is implemented in JAX, which enables end-to-end auto-differentiation and significantly accelerates the inference. We validate our methodology using mock datasets, and find that the results are not strongly biased and better reproduce the input profiles. We also demonstrate its capabilities through an application to ALMA Band 3, 6, and 9 observations of the HD 169142 disk, revealing a new complex structure. Our developed code is publicly available as a Python module, FRAP (Flexible Radial Analysis of Protoplanetary disks). This framework provides a next-generation infrastructure for disk SED modeling, enabling high-precision studies of the physical environments in which planets form.

Gravitational waves affect the propagation of electromagnetic waves in laser cavities, modulating the frequency of emitted photons. We use this effect to search for high-frequency gravitational waves between 100 kHz and 100 MHz using optical precision spectroscopy. Our limits constrain much of this frequency range for the first time. We discuss future improvements of the technique, which we expect to enhance the sensitivity by eight orders of magnitude, and to extend the frequency coverage up to at least 1 GHz.

We present PSRDISP, a novel approach to modeling deterministic and stochastic dispersive processes in pulsar timing datasets using high-precision epoch-wise dispersion measure (DM) estimates, with a Gaussian Process-based approach. Unlike the conventional single-pulsar noise analysis methodology, which is applied to frequency-resolved times of arrival (ToAs) of pulses, this technique is applied to epoch-wise DMs which are derived from these ToAs. It can also be applied to wideband DMs measured simultaneously with wideband ToAs. Therefore, this framework provides a paradigm-agnostic approach to characterise single-pulsar dispersive processes. This method is expected to minimise the impact of achromatic red noise processes while characterising these dispersive effects. We substantiate the discussed technique with representative examples using simulated narrowband and wideband datasets with realistic noise injections. We found the recovery to be in close agreement with the injections, and agnostic to the estimation technique. Our method applies to pulsar timing experiments where precise, epoch-wise DM estimates are possible, such as the Indian Pulsar Timing Array. This technique can serve as a powerful diagnostic tool for validating single-pulsar noise analyses, which is crucial for precision pulsar timing experiments, such as Pulsar Timing Arrays.

Context: The origin of magnetic fields and the dynamo mechanism in red giants are still not fully understood. Aims: We aim to interpret the dynamo behaviour of global 3D simulations of red giants using mean-field dynamo models. Methods: We use mean-field models constrained by the differential rotation profile extracted from 3D simulations. We perform $\alpha^2$, $\alpha\Omega$, and $\alpha^2\Omega$ mean-field dynamo simulations, varying the strength of the $\alpha$ effect and the differential rotation. Results: The mean-field models can reproduce the growth rate of several 3D runs. The morphology of the large-scale magnetic field is better reproduced for the slowly rotating 3D cases than for the rapidly rotating ones. Faster rotation enhances dynamo action and it also modifies the dominant mode of the dynamo. Rapidly rotating 3D runs produce predominantly non-axisymmetric equatorial dipoles instead of axisymmetric fields at slower rotation. Mean-field models are supercritical even in the absence of differential rotation, indicating $\alpha^2$ dynamo action. By contrast, models using the $\alpha\Omega$ approximation require sufficiently strong differential rotation to become supercritical. Conclusions: Our results suggest that the magnetic field in red giants requires dynamo action. In our mean-field runs, differential rotation speeds up the magnetic decay, disfavouring the idea of a persistent fossil magnetic field in red giants.

Galaxy cluster samples based on X-ray and Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) observations are affected by selection biases. These catalogs preferentially include systems with high gas content and surface brightness. Excluding objects with depleted gas content, low-gas-fraction clusters (LGFCs), could lead to an incomplete sampling. We aim to investigate the abundance and the properties of the LGFCs population using The Three Hundred hydrodynamical simulations, focusing on the Gadget-X code. In particular, we study outliers in the $f_{\mathrm{g},500} - M_{500}$ relation, environmental influences, and their behavior in key scaling relations, with a focus on the Compton-Y observable. We analyze a sample of $N_{\mathrm{tot}} = 9858$ simulated objects from The Three Hundred, in the redshift band $z \in [0;0.817]$. LGFCs are selected statistically as outliers of the $f_{\mathrm{g},500}-M_{500}$ relation. To analyze environmental effects, we compare the gas density and temperature radial profiles of LGFCs against the No-LGFCs population. Finally, we study how the temperature, entropy, and spherical Compton parameter scaling relations are affected by the inclusion of LGFCs. We find that LGFCs are preferentially found at the low-mass end and their abundance increases toward low redshift. Radial profiles of LGFCs show lower gas concentrations in the core regions and higher temperatures, suggesting a more diffuse and heated ICM. This behavior is also reflected in the entropy scaling relation, where LGFCs are extreme positive outliers. Contrary to observations, the $Y_{\mathrm{sph},500}$ values of LGFCs show no significant deviation from the general population. Nevertheless, we cannot rule out that these differences are partly driven by the mass incompleteness at the low-mass end and the environmental bias of our simulated sample.

Recent advances are enabling quantum emitters to interact with photonic crystals, whose electromagnetic modes exhibit complex dispersion relations, spatial mode structure, and polarization textures. However, modeling light-matter behavior in these systems faces a persistent trade-off: electromagnetic approaches based on Maxwell-equation solvers provide realistic vectorial descriptions but are difficult to integrate with quantum many-body and non-perturbative methods, whereas simplified quantum-optical lattice models are tractable but typically rely on scalar and spatially independent light-matter couplings that miss essential features of these structured photonic environments. Here, we introduce a constructive framework to derive quantum-optical lattice descriptions that overcome this trade-off. Combining symmetry-constrained tight-binding constructions with numerically computed photonic band structures and field profiles, our method yields minimal, symmetry-enforced lattice Hamiltonians that reproduce the target photonic dispersion while retaining the mode-resolved (position- and polarization-dependent) structure of the light-matter coupling. We show that these models recover Green's-function-based emitter dynamics in the perturbative regime, while providing access to non-perturbative quantum dynamical simulations beyond emitter-only descriptions. As a proof of principle, we apply the framework to a two-dimensional photonic crystal and show that it captures polarization-dependent directional emission inaccessible to scalar models, while enabling the analysis of non-Markovian light-matter dynamics and entanglement. Our results provide a practical bridge between classical electromagnetic simulation tools and quantum-optical many-body and non-Markovian modeling in photonic crystal settings.

We report observations of two distinct nighttime F-region irregularities, plasma blob (localized density enhancement) and medium-scale traveling ionospheric disturbance (MSTID), in O(1D) 630.0 nm all-sky airglow images from Hanle (32.7{\deg}N, 78.9{\deg}E; Mlat~24.1{\deg}N), Ladakh, India, during the geomagnetically quiet (Ap=6) night of 06 July 2021. Global vertical total electron content (VTEC) maps revealed that the plasma blob developed beyond the southern edge of imager's field-of-view before appearing in airglow images and propagated predominantly westward, as confirmed from both the airglow and VTEC datasets. The existence of the plasma blob and MSTID outside the imager field-of-view was further confirmed by temporal VTEC fluctuations recorded by multiple GNSS receivers. Additionally, FORMOSAT-7/COSMIC-2 signal-to-noise ratio and ICON/MIGHTI wind profiles indicated the presence of sporadic-E (ES) layers at E-region near both the plasma blob and the MSTID. We propose that polarization electric field associated with either MSTID or ES-layers mapped along magnetic field lines to lower latitudes, driving upward plasma transport from F-peak region through vertical uplift of the F-layer. This F-layer uplift was confirmed by simultaneous in-situ O+/H+ density enhancements/reductions at LEO altitudes measured by FORMOSAT-7/COSMIC-2. Upward-transported plasma experienced reduced chemical loss at higher altitudes, producing localized VTEC enhancements (plasma blob). The plasma subsequently diffused along magnetic field lines to higher/lower latitudes/altitudes (~250 km), entering imager's field-of-view, where enhanced dissociative recombination of O2+ produced high intensity airglow region. Interestingly, interaction between the plasma blob and MSTID's plasma-depleted front caused gradual decay and bifurcation of the front due to plasma influx from the high-density blob region.

We study the magnetic Neumann Laplacian in an infinite planar sector of opening $\alpha\in(0,\pi)$ under a constant magnetic field. Building on earlier work by Bonnaillie-Noël and collaborators and by Exner, Lotoreichik, and Pérez-Obiol, we prove that the bottom of the spectrum lies strictly below the half-plane threshold for every convex sector. Consequently, $H_\alpha$ has a discrete ground-state eigenvalue for every $0<\alpha<\pi$. This resolves the bound-state problem for convex sectors, a model problem arising in the analysis of magnetic localization near corners and of the third critical field in type-II superconductivity.

The spin-orbital Mott insulators Ru$X_3$ ($X =$ Cl, Br) have attracted considerable attention as promising candidate materials for realizing a Kitaev spin liquid. In this study, we construct effective pseudospin models from multiorbital Hubbard models derived from first-principles calculations and investigate the magnetic states of RuCl$_3$ and RuBr$_3$. From the constructed effective models, we find that RuBr$_3$ has more extended Wannier orbitals and stronger interlayer exchange interactions than RuCl$_3$. These interactions enhance three-dimensional correlations, consistent with the stronger antiferromagnetic tendency experimentally inferred for RuBr$_3$. Orbital-dependent Coulomb anisotropy further reduces the energy difference between ferromagnetic and zigzag states. Our results clarify how halogen substitution controls magnetic competition in Ru$X_3$ through interlayer exchange interactions and effects of orbital-dependent Coulomb interactions.

Using theory and numerical simulations, here we describe the early stages of the impact with a velocity $V$ of a drop of radius $R_d$ of a low viscosity liquid such as water against a layer of generic thickness $H$ of the same liquid. Our predictions for the initial velocity $V_t\gg V$ and the diameter $H_t\ll R_d$ of the toroidal rim bordering the edge of the thin lamella which is ejected radially outwards after the impact, are in fair agreement with both the numerical results and also with the experimental measurements reported by Zhang et al [J. Fluid Mech, 690, 5, 2012]. Consequently, the present findings can be employed, for instance, to predict the initial diameters and velocities of the fastest tiny droplets which are ejected right after a rain drop falls on a liquid pool, an ubiquitous phenomenon with implications in the dispersal of contaminants and in the generation of aerosols and of ice condensation nuclei

In this work we derive statistical inequalities whose violation is equivalent to the impossibility of describing the data by a genuine joint probability distribution. So they are witnesses of the failure of a common probability space. We examine whether the most significant quantum quasidistributions violate these inequalities. We examine also whether these inequalitites are violated by the joint distributions derived form a noisy joint measurement. As a relevant example we find violations for the maximally mixed state, as well as cases where all system states violate them. This points to the idea that these results are more than a property of the system states, but are instead a property of the statistical structure of quantum mechanics.

We investigate the thermo-electric response of a magnetized non-extensive quark-gluon plasma within the framework of kinetic theory using the relaxation time approximation (RTA). The interactions among the partons are incorporated through a quasi-particle model, where the medium-dependent quark mass is obtained from the poles of the resummed hard-thermal-loop (HTL) propagator. Our results show that non-extensive effects suppress the Seebeck coefficient both in the absence and in the presence of an external magnetic field. In contrast, the Nernst coefficient, which arises only in the presence of a magnetic field, is found to be significantly enhanced by non-extensivity. These findings demonstrate that deviations from equilibrium can substantially modify the thermo-electric transport properties of the quark gluon plasma.

We show that a diffusion sampler for lattice-field configurations can be self-trained without preparing target-ensemble training configurations using an external Monte Carlo calculation. Starting from exactly sampled configurations at $\beta=0$, we use action-difference weights to train the score at the next coupling. Proposals from a fixed model are Metropolis-Hastings corrected at every noise level, and the resulting chain supplies training configurations for the next stage. This procedure defines the self-learning diffusion sampler SLDiffusion. In the two-dimensional compact XY model, self-training proceeds from $\beta=0.30$ to $0.50$ at $L=4$ and extends to $L=6,8,12$ at $\beta=0.5$. The energy and vortex densities agree with independent Hybrid Monte Carlo calculations within $1.6$ combined standard errors. Their integrated autocorrelation times, measured in stored updates, remain below two at all volumes studied. These results demonstrate a diffusion sampler whose training can be initialized and continued without external target-coupling ensembles.

In this work, we develop and study the classical Lanczos algorithm allowing us to define Krylov complexity using the symplectic structure of phase space: Poisson brackets take on the role of the quantum commutators and phase-space integrals furnish the inner product needed to define the Lanczos recursion. We show, using general methods of quantum mechanics in phase space, that the $\hbar \to 0$ limit of the usual quantum mechanical Krylov framework smoothly goes over into the classical one. In theories with well-defined semiclassical limits, we show that classical Krylov complexity accurately approximates quantum complexity at early enough times, and thus is a useful characteristic of early-time chaotic dynamics. We define a Krylov-Ehrenfest time, which quantifies the eventual divergence of classical and quantum complexities, corresponding to a characteristic depth of the Krylov chain, $n\sim n_*(\hbar)$, which in the time domain translates to the well-known scale, $t_*\sim\lambda_K^{-1}\log(1/\hbar)$, in generic chaotic systems. We additionally define microcanonical Krylov complexities, both in the classical and quantum setting, which allows one a fine-grained study of complexity, energy shell by energy shell. We apply this framework to the Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick (LMG) and Feingold-Peres (FP) models, which are collective spin systems known to classicalize in the thermodynamic limit. In particular, while the FP model features spectral chaos for some range of coupling values, the LMG model is known to exhibit early-time saddle-dominated scrambling. Our analysis shows that the instability in LMG is resolved by the microcanonical Krylov complexity, which is controlled by the integrable structure of the Hamiltonian in spectral windows away from the instability, both at early and late times.

We show that driven qubit junctions enable programmable control of physical entropy transport, with entropy conductance governed by quantum dynamics rather than by reservoir parameters alone. By comparing two simple quantum architectures – a driven single-qubit junction and a driven two-qubit junction – we find that the two-qubit junction enhances entropy transfer while requiring substantially lower driving power than its single-qubit counterpart. We further reveal two non-intuitive effects in both junctions: a sizable coherent contribution to the entropy current that emerges only under resonant driving, and negative differential entropy conductance, where increasing the thermal bias suppresses entropy flow into the probe reservoir. These results identify quantum logic architectures as programmable devices for entropy transport and suggest routes toward quantum feedback control, reservoir protection and refrigeration in driven quantum circuits.

The ability to precisely pattern micro- and nano-scale objects on surfaces is important for a range of different applications. For example, colloidal patterning has been used to create plasmonic surfaces, light-emitting diodes or authentication marks, while microbial cell patterning can be applied to screening antibiotic response and cellular interactions over larger populations at the single-cell level. However, we still lack versatile techniques that can pattern a wide range of synthetic and biological objects on a spectrum of different substrate types. Here, we present a robust patterning technique based on the directional freezing of a particle or bacterial suspension over a patterned substrate. Growing ice pushes the desired objects into traps in the substrate, while sweeping away non-trapped ones, leaving behind high-fidelity patterns. We show that this method works for a range of different materials (both synthetic particles and microbial cells), and is unaffected by substrate wettability. Furthermore, patterned bacterial cells retain excellent post-assembly viability, highlighting the gentle nature of the assembly technique. Beyond patterning applications, our results also give insights into processes involving the freezing of particulate suspensions. In particular, we demonstrate the importance of the temperature gradient as a key control which determines how particles interact with freezing fronts. Finally, we highlight a tight analogy between particles interacting with a freezing front and with air-water interfaces, suggesting that results from capillarity may shed light on freezing phenomena.

Thermally charged quantum batteries provide a stable and easy-to-have energy resource, but remain passive and therefore do not allow useful energy extraction on demand via unitary operations. We introduce a time-dependent stirring protocol that activates a thermally charged quantum battery through a time-dependent coupling to an auxiliary activator, thereby generating correlations that drive the battery into an active state. Accounting explicitly for the energetic cost of the stirring process, the entropic cost of correlation generation and the activation time, we derive bounds on the maximal net extractable energy. Incorporating projective measurement on the activator and exploiting the information gained through the measurement further enhances the extractable energy. As an experimentally relevant example, we analyze a waveguide-QED setup where a harmonic-oscillator battery (waveguide) is stirred and monitored by a two-level system. We characterize the performance of the protocol in terms of net extractable energy (net ergotropy) and power output.

The paper studies martensitic microstructures in polycrystals, focussing on their compatibility across grain boundaries. After a reduction to the case of a planar grain boundary, the case when the grain boundary separates two constant gradients of zero energy is considered. It is shown that for cubic-to tetragonal transformations such a configuration can occur when the relative grain rotation is not in the cubic group. Then the case when the grain boundary separates two simple laminates of zero energy is considered, it being shown using a computer-assisted symbolic calculation that in the cubic-to-tetragonal case compatibility is only possible for a closed set of measure zero in the manifold of grain boundary normals and relative grain rotations, and that a similar slightly weaker result holds for cubic-to-orthorhombic transformations. The results suggest why higher-order laminates are often observed for such transformations. The Taylor set of deformation gradients is defined and studied, this set having the property that any deformation whose gradient belongs to it corresponds to a zero-energy microstructure for the polycrystal independent of grain geometry and grain rotations. New upper bounds for the Taylor set are proved for cubic-to-tetragonal and cubic-to-orthorhombic transformations, generalizing those of Bhattacharya and Kohn using the geometrically linearized theory. We give a simple proof of a related result of Peigney characterizing the positive diagonal matrices in the quasiconvex hull of the energy wells for cubic-to-tetragonal transformations.

Physics-informed neural networks (PINNs) provide a pathway to reunify the simulation and control of quantum systems, in which these two tasks are typically decoupled in traditional strategies. However, most work remains confined to Markovian environments. When applied to non-Markovian systems, standard PINN architectures fail to converge reliably due to multi-objective optimization conflicts arising from the coupled differential equations. To address this fundamental limitation, we extend our previously proposed forked PINN (FPINN) by incorporating a dedicated control branch. By decoupling the optimization objectives at the gradient level via selective gradient flow, our method turns a previously intractable multi-task optimization into a well-conditioned one, allowing simulation and control to be optimized jointly without compromise. Numerical simulations on a two-qubit Heisenberg XXX model confirm that our framework faithfully reproduces the features of non-Markovian dynamics, including decoherence and information backflow. Taking a state-preparation task on the same model as an example, our FPINN achieves higher fidelity than gradient ascent pulse engineering, chopped random basis, and standard PINNs, with the advantage becoming more pronounced as the environment becomes more dissipative and more Markovian. The generated pulses are also noticeably smoother, which is advantageous for experimental implementation. Our framework thus provides a unified, end-to-end differentiable paradigm for simulation and control of open quantum systems, with potential implications for quantum computing, simulation, and control.

We study a number of holographic solutions describing conformal line defects within $N=2$ SCFTs from matter-coupled $N=4$ gauged supergravity in five dimensions. For $SO(2)_D\times SO(3)$ gauge group, the gauged supergravity admits two supersymmetric $AdS_5$ vacua with $N=4$ and $N=2$ unbroken supersymmetries. It turns out that only solutions that are asymptotic to the $N=4$ vacuum are possible leading to line defects within the dual $N=2$ SCFT. In gauged supergravity with $SO(2)\times ISO(3)$ gauge group, we find similar solutions with the $N=2$ SCFT appearing in the IR while the UV field theories correspond to six-dimensional $N=(0,2)$ field theories arising from M5-branes wrapped on a hyperbolic space $H^2$. The solution with $SO(2)\times SO(3)$ symmetry is also uplifted to eleven dimensions via a consistent truncation on $H^2\times S^4$. Finally, for gauged supergravity with $SO(2)\times SO(3)\times SO(3)$ gauge group that admits two $N=4$ supersymmetric $AdS_5$ vacua, we find a solution describing a line defect that interpolates between these two vacua as well as a solution with only one asymptotic $AdS_5$ geometry.

Large-scale Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger~(GHZ) state is useful for quantum technologies but difficult to be prepared. Here, we propose fast measurement-based preparation of large-scale GHZ states by a four-qubit quantum phase gate with nuclear-spin qubits of alkaline-earth-like atoms, which is named as quantum ferromagnetic gate~(QFG) due to its analogy to the alignment of molecular magnetic moments in a classical magnet. A high-fidelity Rydberg-mediated QFG can be realized in a time of $6\pi/\Omega_{\text{m}}$ with $\Omega_{\text{m}}$ the maximal Rydberg Rabi frequency. From a product state of three data atom and one ancilla atom, a gluing circuit with one QFG, two single-qubit gates, and a projective measurement of the ancilla can generate a 3-qubit GHZ state, and repetition of this gluing circuit can lead to 9, 27, 81, 243, $\cdots$-qubit GHZ states. Analyses based on currently available techniques show that a 243-qubit GHZ state is realizable, and more qubits can be entangled with higher detection fidelity.

This manuscript investigates the possibility of defining a quantum Hamiltonian that leads to the same mean acceleration high-harmonic generation (HHG) spectra as those predicted by Floquet theory in the regime where the number of infrared (IR) pump photons is much larger than the number of emitted UV photons. The key assumption underlying our derivation is that the intensity of the emitted high harmonics is many orders of magnitude smaller than that of the IR laser, and that the emission of the Nnt harmonic results from the absorption of N IR photons.