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Sunday 9 August

Chemical Physics

Canonical-Ensemble Response from Spin-Adapted Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory

Low-lying electronic states of different spins can be thermally populated in open-shell molecules, allowing optical absorption to begin from several initial states. We formulate their canonical optical response using the electronic levels and one-body matrices of spin-adapted time-dependent density functional theory. Boltzmann populations determine the contribution of each initial state, while transition density matrices determine its coupling to the final states. Absorption and stimulated emission then give the temperature-dependent strength of every allowed transition. Transition matrices are evaluated from the calculated first-order excitation amplitudes, with the additional mixed second-order electronic response omitted by this approximation identified explicitly. The resulting response function provides spin-resolved polarizabilities and absorption spectra with definite total spin assigned to each participating electronic state. Applications to diradicals provide a qualitative interpretation of their temperature-dependent absorption spectra.
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Optics

Broadly Tunable Compact Non-Coplanar X-Ray Cavity for Cavity-Based Free-Electron Lasers

Cavity-based x-ray free-electron lasers (CBXFELs) require tunable x-ray cavities to broaden their practical utility and enable access to a wider range of scientific applications. We propose and analyze a compact tunable non-coplanar x-ray cavity based on six Bragg-reflecting crystals arranged as two three-crystal backscattering units. The three-dimensional geometry provides a substantially larger tuning range than planar bowtie cavities while maintaining a compact transverse footprint. We derive analytical expressions for the cavity geometry, crystal kinematics, and polarization-dependent Bragg reflectivity both in the intrinsic and eigenpolarization bases. For a given Bragg reflection, the ultimate photon-energy tuning range is 100%, from $E=E_{_{H}}$ at backscattering to $E=2E_{_{H}}$ at Bragg angle $\theta=\pi/6$. Practical geometrical and polarization constraints reduce the directly usable range to approximately 45%, while operation in the cavity eigenpolarization basis can extend it to approximately 65%. By combining fundamental and harmonic diamond reflections, and using reflections from different crystallographic families, the accessible photon-energy range can be extended from about 3~keV to approximately 20~keV. These results establish non-coplanar multi-crystal cavities as a viable route toward compact, broadly tunable x-ray resonators for future CBXFELs.
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Slow Cosmic-Ray Diffusion in Supersonic and Super-Alfvénic Turbulence

Extended TeV-PeV gamma-ray halo observations imply cosmic-ray (CR) diffusion that is both substantially slower than the Galactic mean and only weakly anisotropic, despite the presence of a large-scale Galactic magnetic field. We investigate whether such transport can arise in partially ionized source environments, where ion-neutral damping removes the small-scale fluctuations responsible for gyroresonant scattering. Using two-fluid magnetohydrodynamic turbulence simulations with relativistic test-particle tracking, we find that damping increases the parallel diffusion coefficient by approximately two orders of magnitude in trans-sonic turbulence, thereby strongly enhancing field-aligned transport. In supersonic turbulence, shock-associated magnetic fluctuations survive the damping and sustain non-resonant pitch-angle scattering, limiting the increase in parallel diffusion to a factor of a few to ten. At high Alfvénic Mach numbers, $M_A\gtrsim5$, the magnetic-field direction decorrelates over the Alfvén scale, driving parallel diffusion coefficient $D_\parallel$ and perpendicular diffusion coefficient $D_\perp$ toward equality. For $M_s\simeq10$, $M_A\simeq5$-$10$, and representative parameters for hundred-TeV gamma-ray source environments, we obtain comparable $D_\parallel$ and $D_\perp$, within the observationally inferred range of $\sim10^{27}$-$10^{28}\,\mathrm{cm^2\,s^{-1}}$. These results show that strongly supersonic, highly super-Alfvénic turbulence in source environments can sustain slow, nearly isotropic CR transport even when the ion-neutral damping effect is important.
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Plasmoid-Mediated 2D Magnetic Reconnection in Partially Ionized Plasmas

Magnetic reconnection in partially ionized plasmas is an important channel for energy release. While the plasmoid instability is well characterized in 2D fully ionized plasmas, its behavior in the presence of neutral-dominated plasma remains poorly understood in the nonlinear, high-Lundquist-number ($S = 10^5$) regime. We present high-resolution ($16384 \times 4096$ cells) two-dimensional two-fluid (ion $+$ neutral) simulations of Harris-sheet reconnection with upstream plasma beta $\beta = 2$, comparing fully ionized and partially ionized (ionization fraction $\xi = 10^{-1}$ and $10^{-2}$) regimes. Neutral-ion decoupling accelerates the linear tearing stage and alters the plasmoid hierarchy: the large-scale “monster” plasmoid that dominates the fully ionized case is suppressed, and the sheet instead fragments into a dense chain of sub-scale plasmoids. Below the neutral-ion decoupling scale $\ell_{\rm dec}$, ions concentrate into the plasmoids, reaching peak overdensities $\rho_i/\rho_{i,0} \approx 10$ ($\xi = 10^{-1}$) and $3-5\times10^{3}$ ($\xi = 10^{-2}$), while the neutrals remain comparatively smooth. This local pile-up raises the ionization fraction and recouples the two fluids within the plasmoids. Measured from the out-of-plane electric field at the reconnection sites, the reconnection rate in the $\xi = 10^{-2}$ case achieves $R_{\rm rec}\approx0.01$, whereas the $\xi = 10^{-1}$ case rises to a rate $\approx0.02$ and further $0.035$ when apparent coalescence occurs. In the $\xi = 10^{-2}$ case, the ambipolar drift drives a rapid ion inflow $\sim0.5\,v_{A,0}$ into the layer at the same reconnection sites, far above the neutral inflow velocity $\sim0.1\,v_{A,0}$. Here, $v_{A,0}$ is the upstream total Alfvén speed.
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All authors Yue Hu, Siyao Xu, Grzegorz Kowal, James M. Stone, Alex Lazarian, Hui Li

Quantum Physics

The Input Problem: A Permanent Bottleneck for Quantum Machine Learning

Quantum algorithms are conventionally presented with their input state supplied for free. When the input is classical data, this convention conceals a cost that is frequently larger than the algorithm it precedes. We review what the three standard encodings, such as basis encoding, amplitude encoding, and Grover–Rudolph distribution loading, actually cost once transpiled to a hardware gate set, and argue that the resulting $\Theta(N)$ bound is a counting theorem rather than an engineering limitation that improved hardware will remove. Measured gate counts for a representative loading task are reported: an optimal library implementation requires $247$ CNOT gates at $n=8$ qubits and doubles with each additional qubit, while the classical preprocessing that produces the rotation angles requires reading the entire input vector. We show how this cost eliminates the quadratic advantage of quantum amplitude estimation for Monte Carlo integration, and argue that the same accounting constrains quantum machine learning more broadly: the strong input models that make quantum algorithms fast on classical data also enable classical dequantization, and quantum kernel methods carry a $\Theta(M^2)$ state-preparation cost for the Gram matrix that does not amortize. We explain that the efficiently preparable states, device-generated distributions, variationally learned loading, and amortized preparation are required to get advantage from quantum machine learning and close with a checklist for evaluating input-dependent advantage claims. Executable notebooks reproducing every construction and measurement discussed here are available.
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Quantum Physics

Optimal strategies for shadow tomography with limited resources

Shadow tomography addresses the task of efficiently predicting many expectation values of an unknown quantum state from randomized measurements on comparatively few copies. Existing analyses promise large scaling advantages, but the optimal strategies realizing these guarantees are not always known, and the required measurements are potentially challenging to implement on current hardware. We address this gap for Pauli observables by computing optimal sample-complexity parameters and constructing optimal measurement strategies under realistic resource constraints. We focus on memoryless protocols, where each copy is measured only once, and on measurements with bounded interaction range. Our approach reduces the problem to the analysis of graph parameters of the frustration graph encoding the Pauli anticommutation relations. We provide efficient numerical methods for the general case and analytically prove that Clifford measurements are optimal in many situations. This includes all perfect graphs, all single-qubit, all two-qubit measurement scenarios, and more. Applied to Hamiltonian energy estimation, our framework yields constructive strategies and improved variance bounds for molecular benchmarks.
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All authors Zhen-Peng Xu, Qi Ye, Jie Wang, Gereon Koßmann, Andreas Winter, René Schwonnek

High Energy Physics (Theory)

Organizing transitions and their cascades: Generalized symmetry enforcement in massless flows or Higgs transitions

We study the role of generalized symmetry in massless renormalization group flows or Higgs transitions. In particular, we revisit the massless renormalization group flows in unitary minimal models, $\mathbf{M}(p,p+1) \rightarrow \overline{\mathbf{M}(p-1,p)}$ preserving the fusion ring symmetry $\text{FR} (SU(2)_{p-2})\subset \mathbf{M}(p,p+1)$ where $p$ is an integer satisfying $p>3$. In this series of flows, we demonstrate that the unbroken fusion ring symmetry $\text{FR} (SU(2)_{p-2})$ eliminates all relevant perturbations in the $\overline{\mathbf{M}(p-1,p)}$ model. Hence, the infrared theory $\overline{\mathbf{M}(p-1,p)}$ is stable at the level of the scaling analysis and can be interpreted as a (weak-)symmetry-enforced gapless phase in contemporary theoretical physics. Phenomenologically, by the folding trick, the unbroken fusion ring symmetry corresponds to a (half-)integer spin nonsimple current, a variant of the Cooper pair involving nonabelian anyons generated from the coset or level-rank duality structures. Moreover, we demonstrate that the structure of (half-)integer spin nonsimple current plays a fundamental role in causing the resonance effect of relevant and dangerously irrelevant perturbations. This resonance effect may result in the cascade of phase transitions (or the system flows to unexplored fixed points), and the symmetry can be a stopper of such unconventional flows.
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Solar and Stellar Astrophysics

FORTVSH: A Fortran Library For Vector Spherical Harmonics Computations

The vector spherical harmonics (VSH) are crucial ingredients for representation of arbitrary vector fields in curvilinear coordinate systems throughout mathematical physics. Performant, efficient computations of the VSH are essential to high-performance computing applications that utilize spectral analysis, including magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) simulations for geophysics and astrophysics. The free open-source FORTVSH library provides a catalog of numerical routines for evaluating various VSH forms and related mathematical functions. This manuscript establishes the theoretical basis, addresses the computational need for efficient VSH solvers, and presents a comprehensive overview of the FORTVSH routines.
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Materials Science

Thermo-mechanical Characterization of 2D hexagonal Boron Phosphide (h-BP)

This study explores the thermo-mechanical properties of a two-dimensional (2D) monolayer hexagonal boron phosphide (h-BP). h-BP is predicted to possess a moderate band gap, high thermal stability, and excellent carrier mobility, making it suitable for advanced electronic, sensing, and energy applications. A classical molecular dynamics (MD) potential for h-BP was developed using density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The derived parameters were implemented in MD simulations to evaluate mechanical behavior under tensile loading along both zigzag and armchair directions at varying temperatures (300 K to 900 K). The results reveal significant anisotropy in mechanical performance, with higher tensile strength and elastic modulus in the zigzag direction across all temperatures. Increasing temperature reduces both tensile strength and stiffness due to thermal softening and increased atomic vibrations. The influence of structural defects was also investigated, revealing that Stone-Wales and vacancy defects reduce the tensile strength and failure strain of h-BP, with the two-atom vacancy producing the most pronounced mechanical degradation due to localized stress concentration and premature crack initiation. These findings provide a foundation for future research on the mechanical stability of h-BP in extreme environments.
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Three-Dimensional Expansion of Iron Ejecta in Cassiopeia A with Chandra and XRISM

Measurement of the expansion structure of ejecta in supernova remnants (SNRs) provides important information about their explosion mechanism. We combine Chandra proper-motion measurements with XRISM Doppler measurements to derive an approximate, region-averaged three-dimensional velocity map of the Fe-K-emitting ejecta in Cassiopeia A (Cas A), one of the youngest Galactic core-collapse SNRs. Proper motions were measured using the optical flow method. We find that the Fe-K-emitting ejecta expand predominantly outward, except in the western region, with projected velocities of up to ~4580 km/s. The southeastern ejecta exhibit the highest three-dimensional velocity, reaching 5160+-320 km/s, based on the combined proper-motion and Doppler measurements. This velocity exceeds those measured for intermediate-mass elements (IMEs) such as Si and S, and the corresponding ejecta exhibit a relatively small line-of-sight velocity dispersion. These results are broadly consistent with the previously suggested inversion between the Fe-rich and IME-rich ejecta layers. The apparent inward motion or emergence of a new Fe-K emission component in the western region may reflect interaction with dense surrounding material, although the present data do not allow us to distinguish uniquely between these possibilities or to determine their physical origin.
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All authors Aya Bamba, Tomoki Kadoya, Kouichi Hagino, Jacco Vink, Manan Agarwal, Masahiro Ichihashi, Paul Plucinsky

Astrophysics of Galaxies

A Catalog of Giant Radio Source Candidates from TGSS ADR1 Using a Deep Learning–based Pipeline

We present a catalog of 5,595 giant radio source (GRS) candidates, defined by a largest (projected) linear size (LLS) exceeding 0.7 Mpc. Of these, 4,566 would be new discoveries if confirmed. These candidates were identified through a systematic and automated search of the first Alternative Data Release of the TIFR GMRT Sky Survey (TGSS ADR1) using a deep learning–based pipeline that incorporates a radio sources detection model and the likelihood ratio method. Across the full sample, the LLS reaches up to $\sim$4.5~Mpc, with redshifts ranging from $z=0.056$ to at least $z=2.385$. The catalog comprises 4,210 giant radio galaxies and 1,030 giant radio quasars, with the remaining 355 candidates currently unclassified. We systematically analyze the distributions of their key physical properties, including spectral index, bending angle (BA), radio power ($P_{150}$), and $r$-band absolute magnitude. Our results show that GRS candidates are predominantly straight (a median BA of $11.0^\circ$) and follow an “L-shaped" BA–LLS distribution. The radio power vs. LLS ($P_{150}$–$D$) diagram reveals a concentration at $P_{150} < 10^{28}$ W Hz$^{-1}$, while rare high-power outliers ($>10^{28.5}$ W Hz$^{-1}$) with LLS $>$ 1 Mpc challenge self-similar evolutionary models. Additionally, 286 GRS candidates are found to be associated with cataloged galaxy clusters.
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All authors Baoqiang Lao, Binghua Liang, Shaoguang Guo, Junxiu Liu, Xiaolong Yang, Rushuang Zhao, Yang Kun

Mathematical Physics

Notes on the Optical-Lattice Hard-Core Bose Gas of Aizenman–Lieb–Seiringer–Solovej–Yngvason

These are detailed expository notes on the staggered optical-lattice hard-core Bose gas of Aizenman, Lieb, Seiringer, Solovej and Yngvason. They restate and expand the arguments and their principal inputs in a common notation, and describe the central and orbitwise decompositions of thermodynamic-limit equilibrium states. The purpose is to make compressed or delegated steps explicit, not to introduce a new method, strengthen the estimates, or otherwise improve the cited results.
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Quantum Physics

Deep Holes in the Clifford Hierarchy

We determine the covering radius of the topological closure of the single-qubit Clifford hierarchy in $\SU(2)\cong S^3$. This closure is a union of $18$ great circles — the Clifford–Pauli circles — and we prove that its covering radius is $\arccos\sqrt{5/6}$. The extremal points, which we call deep holes, form a single orbit of size $192$ under left and right multiplication by Clifford gates, and are described in closed form. Equivalently, the minimum over one-qubit unitaries of the all-level Clifford fidelity is $5/6$. The proof rests on two structures attached to the configuration of $18$ planes in $\R^4$: their centered rank-two projectors form an orthonormal basis of the irreducible $\SO(4)$-module $\Sym_0(4)$, and the projection profile of a unit quaternion is exactly its image under the double cover $\SU(2)\to\SO(3)$. These reduce the covering problem to a minimax statement for the $\ell^\infty$-norm on $\SO(3)$ which we solve exactly, classifying its equality cases.
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Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics · Cross-listed from cs.AI

Estimating Uncertainty in Galaxy Morphology Classification

Astronomers classify galaxy morphology to investigate cosmic evolution. While deep foundation models are increasingly utilized in Galaxy Morphology Classification (GMC), little work has been done on evaluating the uncertainty of GMC results. Uncertainty evaluation is important because astronomical data are inherently noisy due to instrumental and environmental limitations. Also, the continuous evolution of galaxies creates intrinsic morphological ambiguity. However, current foundation models operate as deterministic point estimators, failing to quantify the uncertainty. To overcome this limitation, we propose UEGMC, a post-hoc framework of Uncertainty Estimation for Galaxy Morphology Classification. It categorizes uncertainty in GMC into distinct types by model parameters, astronomical data, reference standards, or intrinsic physical ambiguities, thereby facilitating better classification. Our framework can directly predict uncertainties from representations extracted from the frozen backbones of foundation models, without computationally expensive sampling, therefore enabling fine-grained uncertainty evaluations. Our experimental results demonstrate that UEGMC provides competitive uncertainty quantification performance compared with previous methods.
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Mathematical Physics · Cross-listed from math.CA

A Riemann-Hilbert representation for Sobolev orthogonal polynomials

In this article we consider polynomials orthogonal with respect to the inner product $$\langle P,Q \rangle_S = \int_{\mathbb{R}}P(x)Q(x) \mathrm{e}^{-V(x)} \, \mathrm{d}x + \lambda\int_{\mathbb{R}}P^\prime(x)Q^\prime(x) \mathrm{e}^{-V(x)} \, \mathrm{d}x$$ where $V$ is a polynomial of even degree (at least four) and positive leading coefficient, and $\lambda > 0$ a constant. The above inner product is a special case of the so-called Sobolev inner product. We show how one can represent the associated Sobolev orthogonal polynomials as a species of Type I multiple-orthogonal polynomial. This correspondence makes use of the WKB asymptotics of a certain second order ODE. From this we may write a Riemann–Hilbert problem for the Sobolev orthogonal polynomials, from which one can deduce a Christoffel–Darboux-type formula for the projection kernel.
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Mathematical Physics

New results on the domain of analyticity of the free energy for the Ising model

We investigate the analyticity of the free energy of the Ising model in the presence of a non-zero external magnetic field, at high temperature, and at low temperature. Using the Fernandez–Procacci convergence criterion for cluster expansions, together with generating-function techniques and graph-theoretical methods, we derive improved convergence conditions in all three regimes. In particular, the generating-function approach yields sharper estimates for polymers and contours in the strong-field and low-temperature regimes, while a new high-temperature expansion based on Veblen's theorem provides a substantially larger analyticity region than the classical results in the literature.
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High Energy Physics (Phenomenology)

The $\pi/12$ model: trimaximal first-column lepton mixing with charged-lepton $\mu$–$\tau$ breaking

The first column of the lepton mixing matrix carries two independent magnitude conditions: the trimaximal norm $|U_{e1}|^2=2/3$ and the $\mu$–$\tau$ balance $|U_{\mu1}|=|U_{\tau1}|$. Parameterizing their violation by $\varepsilon_1\equiv\tfrac32|U_{e1}|^2-1$ and $\varepsilon_2\equiv3(|U_{\tau1}|^2-|U_{\mu1}|^2)$, we show that current data treat the two differently in central value: with the first JUNO measurement included, $\varepsilon_1=+0.014\pm0.010$ is consistent with zero, while $\varepsilon_2=+0.29^{+0.07}_{-0.13}$ is large but disfavors zero at only $1.5\sigma$ on the profile likelihood of the global fit, since the phase that drives it remains poorly measured. This asymmetry selects a specific framework, the $\pi/12$ model. Its neutrino sector is $\mathrm{TM}_1$, supplemented by the electron-row condition $|U_{e2}|/|U_{e3}|=2+\sqrt3$ that fixes $\sin^2\theta_{13}=(2-\sqrt3)/12=0.02233$ and $\sin^2\theta_{12}=0.31811$. A charged-lepton 2–3 rotation $R_{23}(\theta_e,\alpha)$ leaves the electron row exactly invariant and generates $\varepsilon_2=\sin2\theta_e\cos\alpha$. In a concrete $S_4\times C_4\times C_3\times C_2$ realization, a single additional flavon alignment forces $\alpha=0$; a natural angle $\theta_e\simeq2^\circ$ then reproduces the observed departure of $\theta_{23}$ from maximal while pinning $\delta=272^\circ\pm2^\circ$, near-maximal CP violation with $\varepsilon_2=-0.066$. The result is a sharp test: the predicted $\delta$ sits $1.7\sigma$ from the present central value on the same profile likelihood, the predicted $\varepsilon_2$ has the opposite sign to the measured one, and the Hyper-Kamiokande design precision of $20^\circ$ on $\delta$ resolves the question at the $3\sigma$ level. The mass predictions are inherited unchanged, $\Sigma m_\nu=65.6$ meV and $m_{\beta\beta}=5.4$ meV, placing the model at the current DESI bound in $\Lambda$CDM.
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Astrophysics of Galaxies

Constructing a Hydrogen Line Library for Ly{\alpha} Emitters at Low Redshifts (z < 0.4): Estimating Dust Extinction and Assessing Paschen line Detectability with SPHEREx

Hydrogen recombination lines, one of the strongest emission lines from star-forming galaxies, are used to probe the early Universe as indicators of star formation rates and ionizing photon production rates. Ratios between different recombination lines provide clues to estimate dust attenuation, in addition to the H II region physical diagnostics. To prepare for future near-infrared spectral surveys and optical narrow-band imaging surveys aiming for hydrogen lines in different redshifts, we construct hydrogen recombination line libraries by compiling data from published literature. Our compilation includes 260 galaxies mostly at z < 0.4, of which at least one hydrogen recombination line is observed. The specific hydrogen emission lines under investigation encompass three Balmer lines (H{\alpha}, He̱ta} and H{\gamma}) and Ly{\alpha} line. Of the compiled galaxies, we estimated dust extinction for 85 galaxies that have detections of at least two Balmer lines, by assuming the Case B recombination and Calzetti extinction curve, based on which Ly{\alpha} escape fraction is also inferred. For each of the 14 galaxies with detections of all three Balmer lines, we optimized the extinction curve so that it yields consistent E(B-V) values across the three possible Balmer line ratios, showing the variety in the slope of the dust attenuation curve. We further evaluated the feasibility of studying hydrogen emission line-selected galaxies with future spectral surveys such as SPHEREx by modeling the Paschen lines of our galaxy sample.
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High Energy Physics (Phenomenology)

QCD Sum Rule Analysis of Triply Heavy $(Q\bar{Q})(Q\bar{q})$ Tetraquark States with $J^P=0^{\pm}$

Within the framework of QCD sum rules, we systematically investigate the mass spectra and possible decay patterns of the $(c\bar{c})(c\bar{q})$ and $(b\bar{b})(b\bar{q})$ tetraquark states with quantum numbers $J^{P}=0^{\pm}$. Based on two distinct color configurations, $[8_c]_{Q\bar{Q}} \otimes [8_c]_{Q\bar{q}}$ and $[1_c]_{Q\bar{Q}} \otimes [1_c]_{Q\bar{q}}$, we construct 18 interpolating currents for these states, and obtain stable sum rules for a subset of them. By calculating the corresponding two-point correlation functions, we extract their mass spectra. For the $(c\bar{c})(c\bar{q})$ system, we identify four possible tetraquark states: two with $J^{P}=0^+$, namely $T_{3c,0}(4760)$ and $T_{3c,0}(5000)$, and two with $J^{P}=0^-$, denoted as $T_{3c,0}(5040)$ and $T_{3c,0}(5370)$. For the $(b\bar{b})(b\bar{q})$ system, the extracted masses are found to lie in the ranges $13.72$–$14.02$ GeV for the $J^{P}=0^+$ states and $13.90$–$14.22$ GeV for the $J^{P}=0^-$ states. We further analyze their possible decay modes. Our results indicate that $T_{3c,0}(5000)$, $T_{3c,0}(5040)$, and $T_{3c,0}(5370)$ can decay into a charmonium state and a charmed meson, and are therefore expected to have appreciable decay widths. By contrast, $T_{3c,0}(4760)$ and all predicted $(b\bar{b})(b\bar{q})$ tetraquark states are expected to be relatively narrow, since the corresponding two-body strong decays via the fall-apart mechanism are kinematically forbidden. Therefore, $T_{3c,0}(4760)$ and all predicted $(b\bar{b})(b\bar{q})$ tetraquark states are promising candidates for experimental searches in final states containing a $D$ or a $\bar{B}$ meson, accompanied by light hadrons or a photon.
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All authors Wen-Shuai Zhang, Chun-Gui Duan, Zhi-Hui Guo, Liang Tang

High Energy Physics (Theory)

Carrollian Quantum Mechanics: Time-like, Space-like and Hybrid Sectors

We develop a comprehensive theoretical framework for Carrollian quantum mechanics by performing systematic ultra-relativistic contractions of the Klein–Gordon equation in the limit $c \to 0$. This limiting process uncovers three distinct sectors—time-like, space-like, and hybrid—each governed by a Carroll-invariant wave equation and accompanied by a consistent probabilistic interpretation. The time-like sector exhibits a novel temporal tunneling phenomenon, characterized by the relation $|\mathcal{T}|^2 = 1 + |\mathcal{R}|^2$, which reflects the indefinite character of the Klein–Gordon norm. In the space-like sector, the presence of spatial propagation necessitates a tachyonic dispersion relation, which forces the density to vanish for energy eigenstates, yielding zero-norm (null) states that gain physical relevance within Carrollian physics due to the underlying null geometric structure. The hybrid sector combines features of both sectors and admits two distinct formulations, which may be either tachyonic or non-tachyonic, and can be interpreted as an inhomogeneous Klein–Gordon equation. For all three sectors, we derive the corresponding continuity equations, probability densities, and currents, and investigate canonical quantum systems—including the particle in a box and tunneling phenomena—within the Carrollian regime.
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Astrophysics of Galaxies

The ALMA carbon monoxide supernova (ACOS) survey II. Turbulent giant molecular clouds at the positions of core-collapse supernovae

Context. Study of cold molecular hydrogen gas (hereafter molecular gas) provides crucial insights into its interplay with star-forming regions. However, the connection between molecular gas turbulence and the sites of massive star ($> 8~\rm{M}_{\odot}$) explosions as core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe) remains unexplored. Aims. We measure for the first time the turbulence of molecular gas in environments of CCSNe, with the aim to constrain the nature of their progenitors. Methods. In order to reach spatial resolutions of giant molecular cloud (GMC) sizes ($\sim 100~\rm{pc}$), we collected ALMA carbon monoxide $J = 2 \rightarrow 1$ spectral line ($\sim 230.54~\rm{GHz}$) observations (as a tracer of molecular gas) at the locations of 33 nearby CCSNe ($< 100~\rm{Mpc}$). Results. We found that CCSNe prefer molecular gas regions with high velocity dispersion compared to the average of their host galaxies. Conclusions. For CCSN progenitors, this observational evidence supports their increased formation in regions of high densities and/or their binary nature.
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All authors M. Solar, M. J. Michałowski, J. Nadolny, J. Sollerman, E. Zapartas, A. Oliva, L. Galbany, J. Hjorth, B. Ayala, M. Koprowski, A. Leśniewska, P. Nowaczyk, O. Ryzhov, B. Šlaus

Fluid Dynamics

Correlated collisions and history filtering: unraveling and reproducing the statistics of coalescing particles in turbulence from the ghost-particle framework

This is the first in a series of papers aimed at understanding the statistics of coalescing particles in turbulent flow and their relation to collisionless ghost particles. We perform three families of Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) under identical flow conditions: ghost particles without mutual interactions; particles that coalesce upon collision with lost monomers replenished at random positions (CR); and particles with the same collision-coalescence kinetics without replenishment (CN). All analyses are monodisperse and concern only monomers. Across $St=0.01\text{-}3.0$, the ghost-particle system has higher collision kernels ($K$) and radial distribution functions (RDFs, $g(r)$) near contact than the coalescing systems. A velocity-filtered RDF, $g_{\mathrm{G}}^{(-)}(r)$, provides a reasonable estimate of the CR contact RDF, $g_{\mathrm{CR}}(d)$. We show that the residual discrepancy between $g_{\mathrm{G}}^{(-)}(d)$ and $g_{\mathrm{CR}}(d)$, and between the corresponding kernels, arises from correlations among successive collisions in the ghost-particle system. A history-filtered ghost-particle kernel, excluding such correlations, reproduces the coalescing-system kernel. We introduce a collision-correlation time $\tau_{\mathrm{cc}}$ that quantifies how long current collisions influence future events and find that it has a finite, narrow range across the studied $St$. Filtering particles with collisions within a period comparable to $\tau_{\mathrm{cc}}$ yields a history-filtered RDF that reproduces those of both coalescing systems. Finally, the fraction of repeated collisions involving identical particles decays exponentially with $St$. These results unify the coalescing and ghost-particle systems as a history-filtered framework.
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Soft Condensed Matter

Transient fluid removal at soft interfaces: Contact-time-controlled squeeze-out in a cylinder-on-flat contact

We study transient fluid removal in cylinder-on-flat contacts between stiff PMMA cylinders and a soft PDMS substrate. The cylinder geometry eliminates the edge-scraping mechanism that can occur for deformable rubber blocks, allowing the influence of sliding on fluid squeeze-out to be examined more directly. Experiments were performed mainly in glycerol at the low sliding speed $v=3 \ {\rm \mu m/s}$ using cylinders with different surface roughness. After the initial elastic-loading stage, we find that the friction during sliding depends primarily on the total time elapsed since application of the normal load rather than on the preceding sliding distance. The subsequent friction evolution follows approximately the same dependence on total contact time. Stationary squeeze-out calculations predict the evolution of the mean surface separation and real contact area, in reasonable agreement with that inferred from the measured friction. These results show that essentially the same squeeze-out process governs fluid removal during stationary contact and low-speed sliding, and that sliding-induced elastohydrodynamic effects have only a minor influence under these conditions.
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Saturday 8 August

Quantum Physics

Fisher-Information Geometry Linking Schrodinger Dynamics, Bipartite Correlations, and Decoherence

Fisher information appears in quantum theory in two mathematically distinct settings: as a classical probability functional in variational reconstructions of Schrodinger dynamics and as the quantum Fisher metric of parameterized density operators. Here we examine how far these roles can be connected without identifying the two objects. Starting from a Hamilton-Jacobi ensemble action, we recover the Fisher term that generates the quantum potential and isolate its contribution to the kinetic-energy expectation. We then analyze the quantum Fisher information matrix (QFIM) of bipartite states. For any pure two-qubit state, the optimized magnitude of the off-diagonal QFIM element for normalized local generators equals the concurrence, while a collective phase generator yields FQ = 4 C^2. Extending the optimized pure-state quantity by a convex roof gives an exact identity with Wootters concurrence for arbitrary mixed two-qubit states. This differs from evaluating the QFIM directly on a mixed density operator: for Werner states the raw optimized cross-QFIM is 2 p^2/(1 + p) and remains nonzero inside the separable region. The gap between the raw and convex-roof quantities therefore isolates, for this family, correlation geometry not captured by entanglement. Finally, in a two-path interferometer with a which-way marker, the optimal phase Fisher information available from local output statistics is I_phi^opt = V^2. These results place probability-gradient energy, bipartite correlation geometry, entanglement, and decoherence-induced loss of local phase sensitivity in a common mathematical setting while preserving the distinctions between classical Fisher information, QFIM geometry, Bell nonlocality, and global phase quantization.
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High Energy Physics (Phenomenology)

Isospin and flavor SU(3) symmetry breaking in doubly heavy baryons

The recent observations of the $\Xi_{cc}^{+}$ and the $\Omega_{cc}^{+}$ by the LHCb Collaboration complete the ground-state triplet of doubly charmed baryons, so that its internal mass pattern can be used to test symmetry breaking in the light-quark sector. We study the doubly heavy baryons within the pion mean-field approach, regarding them as bound states of the $N_c-2$ valence light quarks that generate the pion mean field in the presence of a compact heavy diquark. All dynamical parameters for flavor SU(3) and isospin symmetry breaking were determined in the light and singly heavy baryon sectors, and the hyperfine coupling is fixed by the singly heavy spectrum. With the heavy-quark masses taken from the PDG values, the measured $\Xi_{cc}^{++}$ mass is used only to determine the collective rotational energy of the light subsystem, so that the mass splittings within the triplet are predictions. We obtain $M_{\Xi_{cc}^{+}}=(3620.17\pm13.08)$ MeV and $M_{\Omega_{cc}^{+}}=(3746.62\pm13.22)$ MeV. The predicted isospin splitting, $M_{\Xi_{cc}^{++}}-M_{\Xi_{cc}^{+}}=(1.43\pm0.38)$ MeV, is consistent with the LHCb observation of the $\Xi_{cc}^{+}$. We also present the masses of the spin-3/2 doubly charmed states and the doubly bottom spectrum.
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Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics

Efficient searches of small signals across two-channel noisy data: a challenge in Big Data observations

Searching for novel small signals in noisy data is preferably pursued by correlation in two or more independently operating channels. Signals of potential interest exist in tails beyond $\kappa\sigma$, where $\kappa$ denotes a multiple of the standard deviation $\sigma$ of the data. Since moving data is a major cost factor in Big Data analysis and heterogeneous computing more generally, efficiency may be optimized by restricting the correlations computation to the tails of two-channel data exceeding $\kappa\sigma$. Already, a moderate value $\kappa\gtrsim2$ realizes a data-reduction by at least an order of magnitude. Here, we study this approach using a novel Excess Probability Ratio (EPR), correlating Boolean data resulting from tails beyond a cut-off $\kappa\sigma$. We compare and rank EPR performance against conventional direct cross-correlation (DCC) and Pearson coefficient (PC), applicable to the original data with no cut-off. This benchmark is performed over different combinations of background noise Gaussian, Poisson and Uniform and signals Gaussian, Poisson, Uniform, Chirps and Sine waves. Results show performance of EPR to be comparable to that of PC, providing a new approach for significant improvements in efficiency with essentially no loss of sensitivity, relevant to the present era of Big Data observatories.
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General Physics

Thermodynamic Regulation of Superradiance in a Charged Two-Dimensional Black Hole

Within the framework of gravitational thermodynamicization, we investigate the propagation of charged scalar fields in static two-dimensional black-hole spacetimes. Starting from the scalar-field action, we derive the exact radial wave equation and show that a neutral, massless, minimally coupled scalar field in a genuinely two-dimensional geometry exhibits neither an angular-momentum barrier nor superradiant amplification. For a charged scalar field, the condition for amplification is governed by the electrostatic potential evaluated at the event horizon. In the case of the charged two-dimensional string black hole, the horizon electrostatic potential is directly related to the Hawking temperature, implying that the superradiant frequency window is determined by the thermodynamic state of the black hole. We further formulate a near-horizon residue criterion that provides a coordinate-independent characterization of the superradiant threshold. When a reflecting outer boundary is imposed, necessary frequency conditions for unstable modes are derived, together with an upper bound on their growth rates. Numerical calculations verify the corresponding flux relation and clearly distinguish superradiant scattering from genuine superradiant instability.
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History and Philosophy of Physics

Does DESI Provide Evidence for Dynamical Dark Energy?

Recent results from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) have suggested that dark energy, long considered to be a cosmological constant, may actually be \lq{}dynamical\rq{}. To clarify what follows from these results, we distinguish three claims: (D1) the data disfavour the \LCDM expansion history; (D2) within the phenomenological Chevallier–Polarski–Linder (CPL) parametrisation, the data prefer $(w_0,w_a)\neq(-1,0)$; and (D3) there exist one or more genuine dynamical dark-energy degrees of freedom in the matter-sector, within GR and coupled to the standard sectors only gravitationally, whose dynamics account for the departure from the \LCDM expansion history. We demonstrate that DESI establishes D2, which supports D1, but does not establish D3. The \lq{}designer\rq{} construction in $f(R)$ gravity provides a gravitational realisation of the same background history, so that no observable determined solely by that history can discriminate, even in principle, between its \lq{}matter\rq{} and \lq{}gravitational\rq{} readings. Furthermore, non-minimally coupled models admit regular effective phantom-crossing realisations of the relevant phenomenology, while the selected crossing places additional pressure on a single-component, minimally coupled realisation of the matter-sector reading. We characterise the resulting underdetermination between matter and gravitational interpretations—exact at the level of background history, but breakable beyond it—and draw the corresponding norm for survey reporting.
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Quantum Physics

Local Complex Dependence and Separability in Madelung Hydrodynamics

For a many-particle pure state in a fixed position representation, we consider the mixed cross-particle derivatives of the logarithm of the wave function. Their real part is one half of the Holland-Wang local dependence function of the configuration density, while their imaginary part is the cross-Jacobian of the Madelung velocity field. On a node-free product region, vanishing of all cross blocks throughout the region is equivalent to local multiplicative separability. Under Schrodinger evolution with a real scalar potential, the initial growth of a cross block from a separable state is sourced by the corresponding mixed Hessian of the potential and is purely imaginary to first order in time. The construction is a local separability and dependence diagnostic, rather than a basis-independent entanglement measure.
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Plasma Physics

Dipole-Field Magnetic Windows for Radio-Frequency Transmission Through Hypersonic Plasma Sheaths: A Reduced-Order Scaling Model

Hypersonic vehicles and atmospheric-entry bodies can experience radio-frequency communication blackout when shock-heated gas surrounding the vehicle becomes sufficiently ionized that plasma cutoff and collisional attenuation restrict electromagnetic transmission. Magnetic-window approaches attempt to reduce this loss by exploiting the anisotropic dispersion of a magnetized plasma, in which selected right-hand or whistler-like modes may propagate along preferred directions. This paper develops a reduced-order scaling model for magnetic-window transmission through a finite-thickness hypersonic plasma sheath when the magnetic source is represented as an onboard axial dipole. The model gives a closed-form estimate of the collisionless angular aperture, compares the underlying projected-cyclotron criterion with full cold-plasma dispersion roots, and extends the aperture estimate to a loss-limited cone using a collisional optical-depth approximation. A simplified neutral-density, speed, and ionization closure is used only to generate qualitative parametric maps and sensitivity trends. The results clarify how dipole-field decay, sheath thickness, radio frequency, vehicle scale, electron density, and collisions jointly constrain the candidate transmission window. The contribution is intended as a screening framework for selecting cases for full-wave electromagnetic simulation, nonequilibrium aerothermochemistry, antenna-coupling analysis, and laboratory validation, rather than as a demonstrated engineering solution to plasma blackout.
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