General Physics
Curvature of Physical Space and Geometric Projection: A Possible Geometric Understanding of Quantum Mechanics and Relativity
Xiang Qi
Starting from a formal comparison between the Schrödinger equation and the Jacobi field equation, this paper proposes the hypothesis that, within the framework of non-relativistic
quantum mechanics, the sectional
curvature of microscopic physical space can be expressed as \(K(x) = 2m(E-V(x))/\hbar^2\), and attempts to offer a possible unified
geometric understanding of
quantum mechanics and relativity. The paper is divided into three parts. The first part identifies the Schrödinger equation, in its mathematical form, as a Jacobi field equation. The wave function is made to correspond to a Jacobi field, giving it the
geometric meaning of the deviation of geodesics in physical space. Phenomena such as
quantum tunneling, energy quantization, and the path integral are then interpreted, from this perspective, as
geometric manifestations of different spatial
curvatures. The second part proposes a
geometric projection scheme based on semi-geodesic coordinates. The transverse metric factor of a curved space, which satisfies a Jacobi field equation, is taken as a unified
geometric framework. It is demonstrated that the metric correction terms in classical mechanics, special relativity, general relativity, and
quantum mechanics can all be derived from the same equation, with the
curvature \(K\) arising from different physical sources. The third part extends this framework to statistical mechanics.
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Instrumentation and Detectors
Serenity-S1, a CMS Tracker Readout and Data Processing Card for HL-LHC
G. Fedi, L. E. Ardila-Perez, M. Balzer et al. (+13 more)
The CERN Large
Hadron Collider will be upgraded to the High-Luminosity LHC, increasing the particle-collision rate and the demands on detector readout. A key element of this upgrade is the new CMS Tracker, whose silicon sensors will generate data at an aggregate rate of about 10 TB/s. This data must be routed efficiently to processing systems and filtered before storage. Serenity-S1 is an ATCA readout and data-processing card based on an AMD Virtex UltraScale+ VU13P FPGA with 128 high-speed serial transceivers. Twenty 12-channel Samtec FireFly optical modules provide up to 120 transmit and 120 receive channels at line rates of up to 25 Gb/s, while an additional optical module supports CMS Tracker links at up to 10 Gb/s per channel. The modular optical layout, combined with the large FPGA, makes Serenity-S1 suitable for several applications within and beyond CMS. ATCA provides the power and cooling required for operation in the CMS service cavern. Low-level management and the IPMI interface are provided by an OpenIPMC mezzanine, while an AMD Kria K26 system-on-module running AlmaLinux 9 performs higher-level board management and application control. Firmware and software frameworks provide common infrastructure so that users can focus on application-specific logic. The paper describes the hardware, firmware and software architecture of Serenity-S1 and its deployment in CMS Tracker integration and R&D activities.
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All authors G. Fedi, L. E. Ardila-Perez, M. Balzer, M. Fuchs, M. Holmberg, A. Howard, G. M. Iles, H. A. Krause, T. Mehner, D. Parker, M. Pesaresi, A. Rose, K. Whalen, T. Williams, J. Zhao, for the CMS Collaboration
Instrumentation and Detectors
UPLOAD-HELIX: High-Helicity Single-Mode Microwave Haloscope with Low-Noise Interferometric Readout for Ultralight Axion Dark Matter
Robert C. Crew, Emma C.I. Paterson, Maxim Goryachev et al. (+5 more)
We propose a superconducting single-mode microwave haloscope based on
chiral cavity resonators for the detection of ultralight dark matter
axions over the mass range $4\times10^{-19}$-$~4\times10^{-14}\,\mathrm{eV}$. Building on the single-mode
chiral-cavity concept introduced by Bourhill et al. [Phys. Rev. D 108, 052014 (2023); arXiv:2208.01640], we develop a resonator geometry compatible with subtractive manufacturing from high-purity bulk niobium, taking advantage of the substantially lower surface resistance achievable relative to the additively manufactured Möbius cavity proposed in the earlier work. An inverse-design framework is then used to maximise a figure of merit derived to minimise the measurement time required to achieve a fixed experimental sensitivity. The resulting optimised bulk-niobium design achieves a figure of merit more than three orders of magnitude larger than the additively manufactured Mob̈ius
benchmark. An experimentally informed microwave interferometric readout model, incorporating measured electronics noise and active suppression of pump amplitude noise, is used to project the sensitivity of the proposed experiment. For an acquisition time of three months, the haloscope is projected to reach $g_{a\gamma\gamma}<10^{-11}\,\mathrm{GeV}^{-1}$ across more than four orders of magnitude in
axion mass. The projected sensitivity extends approximately one order of magnitude below the current exclusion limits set by CAST, providing a practical pathway towards a high-sensitivity direct search for ultralight dark matter
axions.
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All authors Robert C. Crew, Emma C.I. Paterson, Maxim Goryachev, Eugene N. Ivanov, Pashupati Dhakal, Tugrul Talha Ersoz, Michael E. Tobar, Jeremy F. Bourhill
Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics · Cross-listed from cs.LG
Efficient Neural-Network-Based High-Resolution Radiative Transfer for CO___ Retrieval, and Application to Interferometric Sensing
Jordan Lontsi Tedongmo, Yann Ferrec, Laurence Croizé et al. (+3 more)
Studying
climate change requires reducing uncertainties in CO2 and CH4 emission estimates to better distinguish anthropogenic from natural sources, which motivates spaceborne measurements with improved revisit frequency and spatial coverage. In this context, the Horizon Europe SCARBOn project assesses a low-cost satellite constellation featuring the NanoCarb imaging interferometer as its core sensor for monitoring CO2 and CH4 emissions in the atmosphere. However, estimating CO2 and CH4 concentrations with high revisit and spatial coverage poses significant challenges: full-physics
retrieval algorithms commonly used rely on repeated high-resolution radiative transfer (RT) simulations, which are computationally expensive when using line-by-line RT models. As an alternative, we propose in this study a feedforward multilayer perceptron (MLP) surrogate designed to accurately and efficiently predict top-of-atmosphere radiances in the CO2 weak band, using a combined mean absolute error (MAE) loss on radiances and RT Jacobians to preserve both spectral accuracy and sensitivity to geophysical parameters. Coupling the MLP-based RT surrogate with the NanoCarb instrumental response yields an efficient and precise forward model for NanoCarb measurements, which shows promising results for CO2 concentration
retrieval.
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All authors Jordan Lontsi Tedongmo, Yann Ferrec, Laurence Croizé, Pablo Musé, Gabriele Facciolo, Andrés Almansa
Optics · Cross-listed from cs.CV
From Pixels to PCells: A Neurosymbolic Approach to Photonic Component Creation
Aadarsh Agarwal, Kenaish Al Qubaisi and Dirk Englund
We present PixCell, a neurosymbolic system in which
multimodal agents convert a visually presented photonic component into a parametric program over a small domain-specific
language (DSL) of
geometric primitives. A system enabling deterministic visual verification renders evaluation asymmetrically cheaper than the generation attempt. While models using multi-seed sampling and iterative revision reach a mean best-turn IoU of only 0.416,
multimodal agents through PixCell's interface and verifier consistently exceed 0.9 mean IoU, with scores reaching 0.974 and 0.955 across eight component targets while also satisfying source contracts. These results demonstrate that frontier
multimodal agents can reliably understand and render executable parametric representations from visual targets. Using these live parameters, cross-stack studies on an interferometer reconstruct primitive programs that satisfy an 8.0 nm free spectral range target and the original footprint constraint on modeled 220-nm SOI, 400-nm SiN, and 400-nm TFLN stacks. PixCell further carries a paper-derived splitter from visual reconstruction through SOI full-wave simulation, producing symmetric propagation and balanced outputs. Finally, the same executable verifier supplies a training reward and
dataset used to train a Qwen3.6-35B-A3B model with LoRA and GRPO without supervised demonstrations. On eight training-excluded paper figures, its mean champion IoU rises from 0.422 after eight initial attempts to 0.491 after three verifier-guided revision rounds. These results therefore establish a controlled framework for measuring, retargeting, and improving visual-to-parametric photonic component design.
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Geophysics
Hybrid Quantum CNN for Cross-Sensor Spaceborne Volcanic Thermal Activity Recognition Worldwide
Claudia Corradino, Federica Torrisi, Alessandro Grilli et al. (+5 more)
As Earth Observation (EO) enters the Big Data era, the exponential volume of daily satellite imagery poses significant computational and storage challenges for classical Deep Learning (DL) models. Moreover, current approaches often struggle to generalize across heterogeneous sensors and volcanic environments while requiring large labeled
datasets and substantial computational resources. These limitations are particularly critical for emerging On-Board Processing (OBP) applications, where
memory, computational power, and annotated data are inherently limited. This work proposes a Hybrid
Quantum AlexNet architecture for cross-sensor recognition of volcanic thermal activity at the global scale. The proposed model combines a classical convolutional backbone for high-level spatial features extraction with a parameterized
quantum circuit (PQC) acting as a variational layer. By
embedding high-level image representations into a high-dimensional
Hilbert space, the
quantum layer learns task-specific representations that enhance feature discrimination. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed hybrid
quantum model learns more discriminative feature representations, leading to improved cross-sensor transferability and robustness across heterogeneous volcanic environments using fewer trainable parameters and reduced training data than its classical counterpart.
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All authors Claudia Corradino, Federica Torrisi, Alessandro Grilli, Tommaso Catuogno, Mattia Verducci, Elisabetta Paladino, Luigi Giannelli, Alessandro Sebastianelli
High Energy Physics (Phenomenology)
Laplace-Space Analysis of $xF_3$ Including Nuclear Effects and Gegenbauer-Polynomial Parton Distributions
Shahin Atashbar Tehrani, Javad Sheibani, Elham Astaraki et al. (+2 more)
We present a next-to-leading order (NLO) and next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) QCD analysis of the non-singlet structure function $xF_3$, utilizing a Gegenbauer-
polynomial representation for the input parton distribution functions (PDFs). The main objective is to assess how this flexible parameterization improves the extraction of valence
quark distributions in the presence of
nuclear effects. To this end, we incorporate
nuclear modification factors into the input PDFs for heavy
nuclear targets and solve the DGLAP
evolution equations analytically in Laplace space. The structure function in Bjorken-$x$ space is then reconstructed using a Jacobi
polynomial expansion. This combined framework enables a systematic investigation of the $xF_3$ data from the CCFR, NuTeV, and CHORUS experiments at both NLO and NNLO accuracies. We further examine the sensitivity of the extracted distributions to
nuclear corrections and discuss their implications for the Gross–Llewellyn Smith, Bjorken, and Adler sum rules. Our results demonstrate that the Gegenbauer-
polynomial PDF formalism provides a flexible and efficient framework for describing
nuclear $xF_3$ data, yielding improved phenomenological consistency across a wide kinematic range.
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All authors Shahin Atashbar Tehrani, Javad Sheibani, Elham Astaraki, Reyhaneh Farashaeian, Kourosh Gheisari
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Stellar impact on exoplanetary atmospheric evolution and habitability
Antígona Segura, Manuel Güdel, Konstantin Herbst et al. (+4 more)
This chapter will review the deep connection of planetary habitability and
stellar irradiation. We present the long-term
stellar evolution as one of the drivers of atmospheric escape and
climate changes on
exoplanets, as well as the chemistry driven by
stellar UV and
stellar energetic particles. Habitability is presented in the context of short and long-term
stellar variability and
evolution to layout what we understand and what we need to know about
stellar irradiation to constrain our planetary atmospheric models and choose the best targets for future missions that may characterize those
exoplanets.
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All authors Antígona Segura, Manuel Güdel, Konstantin Herbst, Dibyendu Nandy, Arghyadeep Paul, Raissa Estrela, Allison Youngblood
Quantum Physics
Noise-resilient and Scalable Quantum Error Correction for Nuclear Spin Qubits in Silicon with Electron Shuttling
Wayne M. Witzel, Matthew D. Grace and Dwight R. Luhman
Nuclear spin qubits in silicon are well-isolated from their environment. Consequently, they have very long lifetimes and low sensitivity to noise, but this also suggests that control and measurement is challenging. We introduce electron pair interferometry (EPI), a protocol to overcome this challenge and maintain robustness to noise. EPI is implemented using an array of
quantum dots with isoelectronic
nuclear spin qubits located in the dots. A pair of electrons are initialized into a singlet ground state, split apart, and shuttled to the dots containing
nuclear spin qubits. We show it is possible to coherently transfer the parity of the
nuclei onto the measurable state of singlet/triplet-encoded electrons. Global
nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) can be used to change bases and implement dynamical decoupling (DD). Combined with selective hyperfine-induced $Z_{\pi}$ rotations, our gate set is complete for universal
quantum computation, tailored to Calderbank-Shor-Steane (CSS)
quantum error correction, and robust to noise. We discuss very low sensitivity to charge noise and study the sensitivity to both DC and AC
magnetic field inhomogeneity which depends strongly on their relative strengths.
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General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
Structural morphology and the gravitational arrow of time
Julian Barbour, Francisco S. N. Lobo and Maria I. R. Lourenço
The Newtonian $N$-body problem in the zero-energy, zero-linear-momentum, and zero-angular-momentum sector provides a time-reversal-invariant setting in which generic complete solutions possess a Janus point and exhibit a gravitational arrow on both branches away from it. The dimensionless variety $V$, a global scale-invariant measure of clustering contrast, is not pointwise monotonic but fluctuates while growing between rising bounds away from the Janus region. Central configurations are critical shapes of the same scale-invariant landscape and therefore provide controlled probes of the structural information encoded by $V$. We investigate this question for two planar $N=5000$ central configurations using the numerical particle-coordinate data. Local morphology is quantified by the six-neighbour anisotropy $A_6$, which ranges from $0$ for an isotropic local environment to $1$ for an effectively one-dimensional one. Although the varieties of the two configurations differ by only $1.686\%$, their mean anisotropies differ by $156.8\%$, from $0.1331$ to $0.3419$. Moreover, $18.1\%$ of the particles in the higher-variety configuration satisfy $A_6>0.5$, whereas none do so in the lower-variety configuration. The anisotropy ordering persists for all tested neighbourhood sizes $4\le k\le12$, and the principal contrast survives a dimensionless close-pair robustness test. For this pair of critical shapes, nearby values of the global variety therefore coexist with markedly different local geometrical organization. Thus the scalar quantity whose long-term behavior characterizes the BKM gravitational arrow does not, by itself, uniquely specify morphology. This identifies local relational observables as a complementary level of description and provides a quantitative bridge between the static shape-space landscape and morphology along genuine Janus-point histories.
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Soft Condensed Matter
Design principles for energy dissipation in viscoelastic network metamaterials
Niranjan Sarpangala, Sean Fancher, Prashant K. Purohit et al. (+1 more)
Mechanical energy dissipation in networked materials is relevant for applications from vibration isolation to impact protection, yet identifying optimal dissipative architectures in large disordered truss networks is computationally prohibitive with conventional finite element methods. We develop an efficient graph
Laplacian-based spectral framework for viscoelastic truss networks, in which the full continuum dynamics of each rod are retained exactly and the problem size scales with the number of joints rather than element-level discretization points. Using this framework, we investigate how redistributing cross-sectional areas within a network (without changing material composition) controls energy dissipation. We find that random redistribution typically reduces dissipation relative to a uniform baseline, while gradient-based optimization yields nontrivial architectures whose form is governed by the intrinsic attenuation length of the base material. Focusing on driving frequencies near a global resonant mode of the network, we show that the optimal mass distribution decays from the source (driven joint) with the attenuation length scale, and at small attenuation lengths the optimal architecture is independent of the boundary conditions. These results motivate future studies of dissipation length scale based design principles on more complex disordered architectures and provide an efficient computational framework for exploring such structures at scale.
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All authors Niranjan Sarpangala, Sean Fancher, Prashant K. Purohit, Eleni Katifori
Quantum Physics
Floquet Abelian Multicycle Codes
Alexey A. Kovalev
Abelian multicycle (AMC) codes are compact
quantum low-density parity-check codes whose multiblock chain-complex structure provides redundant low-weight stabilizers and supports single-shot error correction. We introduce Floquet AMC codes by deriving a quotient-
lattice representation of a general level-$j$, $D$-dimensional AMC complex over a finite Abelian group
algebra, lifting this
lattice to spacetime, and rotating the
circuit-time direction in the associated ZX network. When the check and data spiders have even valence and admit a time-oriented local port matching, the network decomposes into a periodic schedule of native two-
qubit $XX$ and $ZZ$ measurements. We construct generalized-bicycle and level-$2$ AMC4 examples, determine their instantaneous stabilizer groups, and compute their embedded distances by minimizing over all inequivalent
circuit cuts. For AMC4 instances locally equivalent to four-dimensional toric codes, we obtain Floquet
memories with parameters $[[108,6,5]]$, $[[144,6,8]]$, and $[[324,6,10]]$. Local Pauli-web detector templates and beam-search decoding under the measurement-native EM3 noise model yield an estimated pseudothreshold of approximately $1.2\%$. These results provide compact measurement-only realizations of higher-dimensional homological redundancy without directly measuring the original weight-six stabilizers.
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Physics Education
Intro2QC: An Approachable Introduction to Quantum Computing for STEM Education in High Schools
Jaimie A. Greasley and Thomas E. Baker
In recent years,
quantum computing has gained strong traction on the global stage. Pioneering developments in
quantum engineering,
algorithms and software reinforce the view that
quantum computation will eventually catalyze transformative technological advancements across diverse sectors. In anticipation of the future impact of
quantum computing, many governments, universities and tech organizations have invested heavily into advancing
quantum science, boosting
quantum readiness, and building a diverse, talented workforce through
quantum education initiatives. Specialized university programs, public awareness campaigns and STEM outreach activities all serve a critical function in fostering a deeper understanding of
quantum physics and
quantum technologies among non-experts. At the level of high school, a major
vision is for these initiatives to reshape the teaching of 20th century physics in STEM classrooms, and inspire the future generation of
quantum scientists and professionals. In the current paper, we are presenting the materials we have created for an outreach workshop introducing
quantum computing to high school students in an approachable and engaging way. Intro2QC is an exploration of
quantum computing's relevance to solving real-world challenges by relating how the unintuitive behaviours of
quantum systems can be useful in providing computational advantage. The workshop materials include an online interactive
quantum programming tutorial hosted on the Intro2QC website, along with the full lesson plan for STEM instructors and the presentation slides available on the Github repository. This single-session 90-minute workshop has been delivered to approximately 160 students in multiple school groups from Grades 9-12 in British Columbia Canada in the highlight of the International Year of
Quantum Science and Technology.
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Materials Science
Temperature-doping phase diagram and endurance in Ce-doped HfO2
Amit Kumar Shah, Haidong Lu, Kawshan Hathurusingha et al. (+2 more)
The structural and ferroelectric properties of epitaxial Hf1-xCexO2 (CHO) thin films in the ultrathin regime are investigated as a function of Ce concentration (5% <= x <= 20%) and temperature. A temperature-doping phase diagram is established for 10 nm films, showing a systematic
evolution from the ferroelectric orthorhombic phase to tetragonal and cubic phases with increasing Ce content. The orthorhombic-tetragonal transition temperature decreases from ~800{\deg}C at x = 5% to $~300{\deg}C$ at x = 15%, indicating strong stabilization of higher-
symmetry phases with doping. Consistently, the remanent polarization decreases from ~15 to $3.8 {\mu}C/cm2$ as x increases from 5% to 20%. In contrast, the endurance improves significantly, with higher Ce concentrations exhibiting markedly enhanced cycling stability up to 108 cycles. The opposing trends of polarization and endurance are correlated with reduced orthorhombic distortion, suggesting that fatigue mitigation in Ce-doped HfO2 is linked to structural
evolution. These results provide a framework for optimizing composition and reliability in ultrathin ferroelectric HfO2 devices.
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All authors Amit Kumar Shah, Haidong Lu, Kawshan Hathurusingha, Alexei Gruverman, Xiaoshan Xu
Soft Condensed Matter
Phase transitions and microphases in elastomers. I. Emergence of stable domains
Manu Mannattil, Haim Diamant and David Andelman
Elasticity often plays a key role in regulating phase separation in physical systems. Recent experiments have shown that elastic effects can be used to control microphase separation in swollen elastomers. Here, microphase separation arises from a mismatch between the characteristic length scales of elastic and thermodynamic interactions. In this first part of a two-part paper, we show that microphase formation in elastomers can be explained using conventional theories of elasticity through a nonlocal thermodynamic-elastic coupling arising from volume conservation. Our theory reproduces the observed dependence of phase transition temperature and domain size on elastomer stiffness in isotropically swollen elastomers. In the companion paper, we investigate the effects of anisotropic swelling and inhomogeneous elastic
moduli.
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Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Unified dark sector approaches to cosmological tensions
Sergio Sevillano Muñoz and Mark Trodden
We present an analytical study of minimal mass-varying dark matter models, in which a single scalar field controls the dark matter mass, focusing on their utility in simultaneously addressing multiple cosmological tensions. We show that such minimal models can naturally become relevant at two critical epochs in the history of the Universe; matter-radiation equality and the present day, generating an early dark energy-like energy injection, as motivated by the Hubble tension, and an apparent phantom crossing, as suggested by
baryon acoustic oscillation data from the DESI project. Crucially, the characteristic timing of these effects is tied to the cosmological background
evolution itself, rather than specific energy scales. In addition, the intermediate
evolution reduces the clustering matter density and can therefore lower $S_8$, in the direction preferred by data, while avoiding new long-range interactions. We derive analytic arguments to understand the conditions for these effects to arise in the same model and assess whether they can occur without introducing additional fine-tuning. This provides a simple framework for identifying which potentials and couplings to dark matter can simultaneously affect early- and late-time cosmological tensions.
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Soft Condensed Matter
Nanobubbles, pristine emulsions, high ionic strength electrokinetics – paradoxes of Colloid and Interface Science
Andrei Dukhin, Renliang Xu and Darrell Velegol
There are three paradoxes in the modern Colloid and Interface Science supported by large bulk of experimental evidence and contradicting classical theoretical models: - Electrokinetics at high ionic strength; - Nanobubbles having life span on scale of days and weeks without any surface stabilization; - Pristine emulsions having life span on scale of days and weeks without any surface stabilization. We overview many dozens of experimental papers by broad spectrum of scientific groups from many countries. We consider this vast experimental data as unambiguous evidence that these phenomena exist. On other hand, classical theoretical models deny such possibility. This contradiction between experiment and theory justifies introduction of new theoretical models. We overview these models. It turns out that there is one common feature between most promising of them – assumption regarding structured water layer at hydrophobic interface. That is why we combine these three phenomena in this review. There is extensive literature on century old idea of the structured water layer, experimental and theoretical. We overview this literature, which provides convincing support to this hypothesis. We discuss existing theoretical models that incorporate the structured interfacial water layer for the successful explanation of these phenomena in more detail. Theoretical model of electrokinetics at high ionic strength was developed several decades ago. Theoretical model explaining paradoxical longevity of nanobubbles and pristine emulsions by interaction between structured water layer and electric double layer is more recent.
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Quantum Physics
Quantum Interference as a Proposal Mechanism for Combinatorial Optimization
Donald J. Jacobs
Quantum Interference Proposal Search (QIPS) uses seed-conditioned
quantum circuits to generate localized interference patterns as finite-shot proposal distributions for QUBO/Ising optimization. Candidate $n_b$-bit strings are sampled from these distributions, scored classically and used to update an elite frontier of low-energy solutions. QIPS uses a fixed two-layer gate-based
circuit architecture with 100 shots per
circuit while the
Hilbert-space dimension grows as $2^{n_b}$. Across six
benchmark families with $18 \le n_b \le 29$, QIPS maintains competitive progress relative to a matched classical control that preserves the same search loop, frontier update rule and proposal budget, with total proposals proportional to $n_b$. Performance is assessed using top-$K$ coverage, hit rate, multiplicity,
Hilbert-space coverage and dyadic-rank metrics. The results identify localized
quantum interference as a resource-efficient proposal mechanism for computational
quantum optimization.
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Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Entropic signatures of the single-impurity Kondo state
Johann Drayne, Silvia Lüscher, Will Grant et al. (+8 more)
The Kondo singlet—a many-body state formed by
entanglement between a localized
spin and the
Fermi sea—has been studied extensively through its transport signatures in
quantum dots. Here we report a thermodynamic measurement of the
entropy suppression associated with the formation of the Kondo singlet, using temperature-dependent charge sensing and a Maxwell relation to track the suppression of
spin entropy as the first electron is added to a strongly-coupled GaAs
quantum dot. Plotting $dN/dT$ against the simultaneously measured occupation $N$ reveals an asymmetric lineshape with its peak shifted to $N>1/2$—a hallmark of Kondo screening—that weakens with increasing temperature and is qualitatively reproduced by numerical renormalization group (NRG) calculations, with a small but persistent offset to lower occupation relative to the theory. An independent measurement of conductance versus occupation on the same device provides a test of these quantities through the mixed-valence crossover and matches NRG within experimental uncertainty.
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All authors Johann Drayne, Silvia Lüscher, Will Grant, Vahid Movahed, Tim Child, Saeed Fallahi, Geoffrey C. Gardner, Michael J. Manfra, Yaakov Kleeorin, Yigal Meir, Joshua Folk
High Energy Physics (Phenomenology) · Cross-listed from cs.LG
A Lightweight Foundation Model for Collider Physics with Multi-Domain Adaptation
Liangyu Wu, Qibin Liu, Alexander Yue et al. (+1 more)
We present a lightweight approach to foundation modeling (NEXUS) that leverages pre-trained learning from
collider physics data towards out-of-domain tasks in other scientific
datasets, using a fully connected autoencoder model with approximately 3 million parameters. The model pre-trains with no supervision over a large-scale collision
dataset from the Large
Hadron Collider modeled by charged particle track features. Downstream tasks for
collider analyses, such as kinematic regression and event classification, are developed on pre-trained model weights and achieve improved accuracy with only small labeled
datasets when compared to equivalent architectures trained from scratch. The benefits of pre-training are additionally investigated through latent space interpretation and application to other domains, including gravitational waves, flood
forecasting, and neural activity. Furthermore, the relative computational simplicity of NEXUS is demonstrated compared to
transformer approaches at comparable scale, opening the door to power-efficient inference and real-time or edge applications of foundation models in scientific experiments.
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All authors Liangyu Wu, Qibin Liu, Alexander Yue, Julia Gonski
Biological Physics
Information-driven stepping in dimeric transport motors
Antonio Patrón Castro and David A. Sivak
Dimeric transport motors are nanoscale
protein complexes that move along cytoskeletal filaments. Here we introduce a theoretical model for their stepping dynamics, in which the two motor heads undergo Brownian motion with mobilities periodically switching in a position-dependent manner so that only one head moves at a time. Through consumption of chemical free energy, this mechanism produces directed motion. We characterize at steady state the motor's mean velocity and its energy and information flows. The motor operates as a pure information engine, where only information is transduced between its components, without energy exchange. For localized switching, the model yields a thermodynamically consistent expression for the mean motor velocity that reproduces experimentally observed behavior, and captures the stall force characteristic of tightly coupled motors. Finally, coarse-graining the model to a single mechanical degree of freedom produces a second-order non-Markovian dynamics, from which we compute the four distinct dwell-time distributions that can be directly observed in single-molecule experiments. Our findings highlight how information transduction, via implicit operation as a Maxwell demon, may underlie the remarkable performance of these molecular motors.
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Materials Science
Topology of Shape and Data in Material Microstructures
Jeanie Schreiber, Zachary Grey and Adam Creuziger
One of the challenges in microstructure analysis is the rigorous quantification of the shape, size, and spatial arrangement of the microstructure beyond comparison of average values. We expound on formal principles combining Topological Data Analysis (TDA) and non-Euclidean distances between curves to motivate novel perspectives on the form and nature of pattern and shape in images. Specifically, TDA descriptors extracting persistent topological structures are combined with product submanifold learning of separable shape tensors (SST) to offer unique insights about electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) images of material microstructures through the lens of a dual-parameter filtration. Beyond standard approaches, our methodology highlights how different choices or permutations of shape distances can lead to distinct notions of topological persistence, thereby broadening the interpretive scope of TDA. The resulting visualizations of feature extraction are designed to be both principled and explanatory, offering novel tools for modern imaging science with applications to material metrology. More broadly, this framework has strong potential to impact domains where precise quantification of
topology and shape is critical for uncovering fundamental image patterns and features, and enables additional data-driven tools for microstructure analysis.
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Superconductivity
Extended s-wave superconductivity in M-point twisted bilayer SnSe2
Lennart Klebl, Ammon Fischer, Salahudin V. Smailagić et al. (+6 more)
We investigate the emergence of electronic order and unconventional superconductivity in M-valley moiré materials. Starting from a first-principles Wannier model of AB-stacked twisted SnSe2, we tackle the (gate-screened) long-ranged Coulomb interaction with functional renormalization group simulations resolving the momentum structure and energy scales of the leading
Fermi surface instabilities. Upon doping an
antiferromagnetic stripe state at half-filling ($\nu=3$ electrons per moiré unit
cell) of the moiré flat bands,
magnetic order gives way to unconventional superconductivity mediated by valley-selective
spin fluctuations: Large hole doping ($\nu\approx1$) leads to weak-coupling
superconductors with various pairing
symmetries, while slight electron- and hole-doping ($\nu\approx2,4$) stabilizes a
spin-singlet, extended s-wave state that benefits from scattering between virtual particle and hole states that are detuned from the
Fermi level. These findings establish M-point moiré materials as a
quantum simulation platform with phenomenological parallels to the class of iron pnictide
superconductors.
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All authors Lennart Klebl, Ammon Fischer, Salahudin V. Smailagić, Ming-Rui Li, Henning Schlömer, Haoyu Hu, B. Andrei Bernevig, Dante M. Kennes, Ronny Thomale
Materials Science
Dynamics of Null and Electrostatic Blind Spots for Quantitative PFM
Marti Checa, Holland Swicegood, Ruben Millan-Solsona et al. (+5 more)
Piezoresponse force microscopy is a cornerstone technique for probing nanoscale electromechanical phenomena, yet quantitative and in some cases qualitative interpretation remains hindered by parasitic electrostatic forces coupled through cantilever dynamics. Recent approaches aim to suppress these artifacts by operating at resonance defined null spots or electrostatic blind spots, but whether these conditions are equivalent and how they evolve under realistic measurement conditions has remained unclear. Here, combining analytical beam models, geometrically faithful finite-element simulations, and automated interferometric measurements, we show that NS and ESBS are fundamentally different operating conditions. The NS is a modal zero at contact resonance where sensitivity to all excitations vanishes, whereas the ESBS is a quasistatic position where only the distributed electrostatic response is suppressed. Automated measurements reveal that both conditions evolve with the tip sample boundary condition yet remain spatially separated under realistic experimental conditions. While beam models capture the dominant cantilever mechanics, finite-element simulations and experiment show that quantitative prediction of near tip behavior requires realistic three dimensional probe electrostatics and mechanics. These findings establish NS and ESBS as dynamic operating conditions and provide a practical framework for advancing interferometric PFM toward truly quantitative electromechanical metrology.
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All authors Marti Checa, Holland Swicegood, Ruben Millan-Solsona, Ralph Bulanadi, Jerry Zhao, Jack Lasseter, Stephen Jesse, Liam Collins
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Neptune's Inner Moons and Rings Are Exposed Icy Body Interiors
M. Ryleigh Davis, Matthew Belyakov, Ian Wong et al. (+2 more)
Neptune's single large moon, Triton, is accompanied by a set of dusty rings and small moons whose composition and origin are uncertain. Using the James Webb Space
Telescope, we observed Neptune's rings and three moons: Larissa, Galatea, and Proteus. Remarkably, these moons and rings have spectra that are distinct from other outer
solar system objects and show no evidence of water ice, despite hosting deep 3 micron OH absorption bands. Additionally, Larissa, Galatea, and the rings show a compositional signature unique among outer
solar system bodies: a 2.72 micron absorption band diagnostic of magnesium-rich phyllosilicates - a signpost of extensive aqueous alteration. These minerals likely formed in the interior of
primordial satellites destroyed during Triton's violent capture or a tidally shredded
dwarf planet. Our findings suggest that Neptune's present-day inner moons and rings reaccreted from this deep interior material and therefore uniquely access the interior composition of icy outer
solar system differentiated bodies.
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All authors M. Ryleigh Davis, Matthew Belyakov, Ian Wong, Zachariah Milby, Michael E. Brown
High Energy Physics (Theory)
Kerr Soft Dressing and the $w_{1+\infty}$ Frame Algebra at Null Infinity
Gabriel Menezes
We construct the charge-generated intrinsic/canonical frame dictionary associated with the Kerr-selected soft dressing. Starting from the VV supertranslation, we formulate the higher-
spin problem as an inverse problem at null infinity: the soft kernel ${\mathcal K}^{(s,0)}_{AB}[t]$, built from the parity-adapted maximally longitudinal scalar $\chi^{(s)}_t$, is matched to the Kerr-selected exponentiating projection of the universal soft contribution, thereby determining one parity component of the generator $t^{A_1\cdots A_s}$. Helicity conjugation fixes which one: the exponentiating source obeys $\overline{S^{(s)}_{+,{\rm exp}}}=(-1)^sS^{(s)}_{-,{\rm exp}}$, so the tower fixes the electric projection of the source at even levels and the
magnetic projection at odd ones, matching the alternation of the Kerr mass and current moments; for aligned
spin the projection is exhaustive and we solve the tower in closed form. The prescription reproduces the VV supertranslation at leading order and fixes the curl, not the divergence, of a smooth generalized-BMS vector at subleading order. The reason for the matching is physical: the same exponentiating soft factor is the classical limit of the Guevara–Ochirov–Vines spinning three-point operator and generates the Kerr multipole tower. We explain the corresponding hard flux charges and show how their external-state action gives the Ward representation of the soft
theorem. The
polynomial Poisson
algebra on $T^\ast S^2$, with local $w_{1+\infty}$-type reductions, then acts on these frame-changing generators; it does not close on the Kerr-selected data alone. This gives the physical role of the $w_{1+\infty}$-like structure in Kerr black-hole scattering: it moves the intrinsic/canonical dictionary. Its observable imprint begins with displacement
memory at $s=0$ and
spin memory at $s=1$, followed by higher electric and
magnetic memory moments.
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Quantum Physics
Closed Timelike Curve Decoding on Quantum Hardware
Sai Nandan Morapakula and Kazuki Ikeda
Deutsch closed timelike curves (D-CTCs) are described by a fixed-point condition for a chronology-violating register. We study a finite-dimensional
circuit model that places a Hayden–Preskill/Yoshida–Kitaev recovery map inside such a consistency loop. A register-routing construction makes the Deutsch map explicit: an initial SWAP moves the incoming CTC state to an idle dump register, the scrambler and decoder act on the remaining active registers, and a final SWAP writes the recovered message back to the CTC register. When the active branch recovers the message, the induced map on the CTC register is the replacement channel \(\sigma\mapsto \rho_M\), with the unique fixed point \(\rho_M\). We implement the associated Lloyd-type post-selected decoder
circuits on
quantum hardware and formulate a classical-feedback iteration for the experimentally estimated map. Qiskit simulations and IBM-hardware data for single-
qubit instances quantify decoder fidelity, post-selection overhead, routing-dependent noise, and
quantum-
geometric susceptibility.
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Quantum Gases
Bose-Einstein condensation and superfluidity on a fuzzy sphere
Vira Shyta, Flavio S. Nogueira and Ashley M. Cook
According to Hohenberg's
theorem, Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) in two dimensions is impossible for any temperature $T>0$. By contrast, superfluidity does occur in two dimensions at finite temperatures; it emerges due to the breaking of Galilei invariance. Here we consider BEC and superfluidity on a compact two-dimensional space taking the form of a non-commutative ("fuzzy") sphere, where the scalar bosonic fields are promoted to $N\times N$
matrices. The dimension $N$ is related to the non-commutativity parameter of space and introduces an additional scale into the system. We find that non-commutativity favors ordered phases and so enhances BEC and superfluidity. We analyze BEC in ideal and weakly interacting Bose gases on a fuzzy sphere, finding in each case that the critical temperature of BEC is greater compared to that found in the case of a commutative sphere $S^2$. Then we investigate the superfluid response of weakly interacting Bose systems. To account for
vortices in a superfluid, we show that, even on an ordinary sphere, the collective coordinates of
vortices induce non-commutativity. With this in mind, we extend the definition of
vortex defects to an inherently non-commutative sphere studied here, where the notion of a point is untenable. The non-commutativity is expected to be experimentally relevant to BEC and superfluidity since the fuzzy sphere has a thermodynamic limit distinct from the one defined over a plane, unlike the $S^2$ case. The significance of this difference is illustrated by the superfluid density calculation indicating that, in the large sphere limit, the normal fluid fraction on the fuzzy sphere yields a linear in $T$ dependence, while on a commutative $S^2$ it exhibits the usual two-dimensional $\sim T^3$ behavior. This linear dependence, arising directly from non-commutativity, is reminiscent of Uemura's law in cuprate high-$T_c$
superconductors.
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High Energy Physics (Theory)
$w_{1+\infty}$ as the Frame Algebra of Kerr Soft Dressing
Gabriel Menezes
The Veneziano–Vilkovisky supertranslation is the residual large diffeomorphism relating the canonical Bondi frame to the intrinsic frame of the scattering bodies. We show it leads a tower selected by the exponentiating soft expansion, the object generating the Kerr multipoles at three points. Since \(e^{\eta\omega a\cdot q}\) splits into even and odd parts, the tower alternates parity, and for aligned
spin we solve it to all orders in
hyperbolic integrals. After a
chiral projection its composition law is the classical $w_{1+\infty}$ bracket: the physical content we assign to that
algebra.
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
JWST Spectra Indicate a Large Mass of Postshock Dust Formed by SN 2010jl
Nathan Smith, Melissa Shahbandeh, Ori D. Fox et al. (+22 more)
We present new JWST mid-IR spectra and ground-based optical spectra of the lingering source at the position of SN 2010jl, which was a relatively nearby superluminous Type IIn
supernova having strong interaction with circumstellar material (CSM). Early-time data showed evidence of
dust, interpreted as either pre-existing CSM
dust, or as newly formed
dust in the SN ejecta and post-shock region. At 13 yr post explosion, JWST reveals a strong MIR excess from warm
dust, with broad features at 10-15 $\mu$m. Our analysis reveals a minimum
dust mass of $>$0.11 $M_{\odot}$, and a more likely value of 0.2 $M_{\odot}$ or more because the
dust is optically thick. This is among the largest masses of SN-produced
dust yet measured without far-IR/submm data, and greatly exceeds SN 2010jl's
dust mass inferred around 2-3 yr post-explosion. Ground-based optical spectra confirm the presence of a young massive cluster at the SN position, and confirm that blueshifted line profiles persisting until the latest epochs arise from
dust formed in the post-shock region. The warmest
dust emitting in the MIR is likely to be the same post-shock
dust causing the blueshift. The JWST spectrum also reveals silicate absorption, which may arise from cool SN ejecta
dust along the line of sight to the receding shock. The large mass of post-shock
dust in SN 2010jl suggests that strong CSM interaction promotes efficient
dust production, where the new post-shock
dust will survive. If strongly interacting SNe are common in the early Universe, this may contribute significantly to
dust seen in infant
galaxies.
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All authors Nathan Smith, Melissa Shahbandeh, Ori D. Fox, Thomas Moore, Jennifer E. Andrews, Thomas G. Brink, Eli Dwek, Michael Engesser, Alexei V. Filippenko, Bryony Nickson, Tea Temim, Yi Yang, WeiKang Zheng, Chris Ashall, Raphael Baer-Way, Geoffrey C. Clayton, Jacob E. Jencson, Joel Johansson, Zachary G. Lane, Dan Milisavljevic, Armin Rest, Arkaprabha Sarangi, Tamas Szalai, Schuyler D. Van Dyk, Brian J. Williams