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Physics

Watch Physics

Tuesday 11 August

Quantum Physics

Projection measurement of the comb basis through free-electron-photon interactions

Zihang Zou, Feng-Xiao Sun, Yunquan Liu et al. (+1 more)

Free electrons, driven by rapid advances in photon-induced near-field electron microscopy, have emerged as a promising platform for quantum information processing, including quantum computing and quantum sensing. However, conventional measurements that rely on the electron energy loss spectrum (EELS) are inherently destructive to electron qubits, thereby constraining their applicability. In this Letter, we propose a scheme that performs projection measurement on the electron comb basis, where high measurement precision can be achieved with bright squeezed vacuum states and strong PINEM couplings. Notably, this approach is not only nondestructive to electron qubits but also maximally incompatible with energy measurements, enabling alternative quantum information applications, such as quantum error mitigation and Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen steering detection. Our findings open an avenue towards a systematic understanding of quantum free electrons and towards the development of nondestructive free electron quantum information tasks.
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All authors Zihang Zou, Feng-Xiao Sun, Yunquan Liu, Qiongyi He

Fluid Dynamics

Deep reinforcement learning for separation control in turbulent wind-tunnel flow

Sofia Avdiiv, Andre Weiner and Ben Steinfurth

This work investigates Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) as a tool for model-free closed-loop active separation control in a fully turbulent wind tunnel flow over a one-sided diffuser. The agent controls an array of magnetic valves (on/off) that eject compressed air into the boundary layer, while the environmental state is reduced to the signal from a single wall-shear-stress sensor placed near the natural transitory detachment point. The control law is learned in real time using Proximal Policy Optimization. Compared to the standard learning design based on the weighted sum of all rewards following an action, we demonstrate that a horizon aligned with the convective time of the flow leads to faster convergence and a more robust control strategy. The resulting control law corresponds to a low-duty-cycle actuation pattern that yields a forward-flow fraction of approximately $53\%$. This compares favorably with conventional and optimized periodic open-loop control ($\sim 40\%$ and $\sim 51\%$, respectively). The findings of this article indicate that, when embedded into an online experiment, DRL represents an efficient tool to identify robust and interpretable active separation control strategies.
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High Energy Physics (Experiment)

Study of muon-tagged $D_{s1}(2460)^+$ and $D_{s1}(2536)^+$ decays to the $D_s^{+}\pi^+\pi^-$ final state

LHCb collaboration: R. Aaij, M. Abdelfatah, A.S.W. Abdelmotteleb et al. (+1141 more)

Decays of the pseudovector $D_{s1}(2460)^+$ and $D_{s1}(2536)^+$ mesons to the three-body $D_{s}^+\pi^+\pi^-$ final state are studied. The data sample is based on decays of beauty hadrons into $D_{s1}^+$ states accompanied by a muon from the $b$-hadron decay chain collected by the LHCb detector during 2016–2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5.4 fb${}^{-1}$. The \mbox{$D_{s1}(2536)^+\to D_s^+\pi^+\pi^-$} branching fraction is measured for the first time, with the $D_{s1}(2536)^+\to D^+K^+\pi^-$ decay used as a reference. A simultaneous amplitude analysis of the $D_{s1}(2460)^+$ and $D_{s1}(2536)^+\to D_s^+\pi^+\pi^-$ decays is performed. The Dalitz-plot distributions of the two decays are found to be significantly different, suggesting differences in the internal structure of the two states, with evidence of exotic contributions to the $D_{s}^+\pi^{\pm}$ channel with the pole below the $DK$ threshold. Measurements of the masses of the $D_{s1}(2460)^+$ and $D_{s1}(2536)^+$ states are performed, and an upper limit on the $D_{s1}(2460)^+$ width is set.
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All authors LHCb collaboration: R. Aaij, M. Abdelfatah, A.S.W. Abdelmotteleb, C. Abellan Beteta, F. Abudinén, T. Ackernley, A.A. Adefisoye, B. Adeva, M. Adinolfi, P. Adlarson, C. Agapopoulou, C.A. Aidala, S. Akar, K. Akiba, H. Al Saleh, P. Albicocco, J. Albrecht, R. Aleksiejunas, F. Alessio, P. Alvarez Cartelle, S. Amato, J.L. Amey, Y. Amhis, L. An, L. Anderlini, M. Andersson, P. Andreola, M. Andreotti, S. Andres Estrada, A. Anelli, D. Ao, C. Arata, F. Archilli, Z. Areg, M. Argenton, S. Arguedas Cuendis, L. Arnone, M. Artuso, E. Aslanides, R. Ataíde Da Silva, M. Atzeni, B. Audurier, J.A. Authier, D. Bacher, I. Bachiller Perea, S. Bachmann, M. Bachmayer, J.J. Back, Z.B. Bai, V. Balagura, A. Balboni, W. Baldini, Z. Baldwin, L. Balzani, H. Bao, J. Baptista de Souza Leite, C. Barbero Pretel, M. Barbetti, I.R. Barbosa, R.J. Barlow, M. Barnyakov, S. Baron, S. Barsuk, W. Barter, J. Bartz, S. Bashir, B. Batsukh, P.B. Battista, A. Bavarchee, A. Bay, A. Beck, M. Becker, F. Bedeschi, I.B. Bediaga, N.A. Behling, S. Belin, A. Bellavista, I. Belyaev, G. Bencivenni, E. Ben-Haim, J.L.M. Berkey, R. Bernet, A. Bertolin, F. Betti, J. Bex, O. Bezshyyko, S. Bhattacharya, M.S. Bieker, N.V. Biesuz, A. Biolchini, M. Birch, F.C.R. Bishop, A. Bitadze, A. Bizzeti, T. Blake, F. Blanc, J.E. Blank, S. Blusk, J.A. Boelhauve, O. Boente Garcia, T. Boettcher, A. Bohare, C. Bolognani, R.B. Bonacci, A. Bordelius, F. Borgato, S. Borghi, M. Borsato, J.T. Borsuk, E. Bottalico, S.A. Bouchiba, M. Bovill, T.J.V. Bowcock, A. Boyer, C. Bozzi, J.D. Brandenburg, A. Brea Rodriguez, N. Breer, C. Breitfeld, J. Brodzicka, J. Brown, E. Buchanan, M. Burgos Marcos, C. Burr, C. Buti, J.S. Butter, J. Buytaert, W. Byczynski, S. Cadeddu, H. Cai, Y. Cai, A. Caillet, R. Calabrese, L. Calefice, M. Calvi, M. Calvo Gomez, P. Camargo Magalhaes, J.I. Cambon Bouzas, P. Campana, A.C. Campos, A.F. Campoverde Quezada, Y. Cao, S. Capelli, M. Caporale, L. Capriotti, R. Caravaca-Mora, A. Carbone, L. Carcedo Salgado, R. Cardinale, A. Cardini, P. Carniti, L. Carus, A. Casais Vidal, R. Caspary, G. Casse, M. Cattaneo, G. Cavallero, V. Cavallini, S. Celani, I. Celestino, S. Cesare, A.J. Chadwick, I. Chahrour, M. Charles, Ph. Charpentier, E. Chatzianagnostou, R. Cheaib, M. Chefdeville, C. Chen, J. Chen, S. Chen, Z. Chen, A. Chen Hu, M. Cherif, S. Chernyshenko, X. Chiotopoulos, G. Chizhik, V. Chobanova, A. Christakakis, M. Chrzaszcz, Y. Chu, V. Chulikov, P. Ciambrone, X. Cid Vidal, P. Cifra, P.E.L. Clarke, M. Clemencic, H.V. Cliff, J. Closier, C. Cocha Toapaxi, V. Coco, J. Cogan, E. Cogneras, L. Cojocariu, S. Collaviti, P. Collins, T. Colombo, M. Colonna, A. Comerma-Montells, L. Congedo, J. Connaughton, A. Contu, N. Cooke, G. Cordova, C. Coronel, I. Corredoira, A. Correia, G. Corti, G.C. Costantino, J. Cottee Meldrum, B. Couturier, D.C. Craik, N. Crepet, M. Cruz Torres, M. Cubero Campos, E. Curras Rivera, R. Currie, C.L. Da Silva, X. Dai, J. Dalseno, C. D'Ambrosio, G. Darze, A. Davidson, J.E. Davies, O. De Aguiar Francisco, C. De Angelis, F. De Benedetti, J. de Boer, K. De Bruyn, S. De Capua, M. De Cian, U. De Freitas Carneiro Da Graca, E. De Lucia, J.M. De Miranda, L. De Paula, M. De Serio, P. De Simone, F. De Vellis, J.A. de Vries, F. Debernardis, D. Decamp, S. Dekkers, L. Del Buono, B. Delaney, J. Deng, O. Deschamps, F. Dettori, B. Dey, P. Di Nezza, S. Ding, Y. Ding, L. Dittmann, A.D. Docheva, A. Doheny, C. Dong, F. Dordei, A.C. dos Reis, J. Dos Santos Oliveira, A.D. Dowling, L. Dreyfus, W. Duan, P. Duda, L. Dufour, V. Duk, P. Durante, M.M. Duras, J.M. Durham, O.D. Durmus, K. Duwe, A. Dziurda, S. Easo, E. Eckstein, U. Egede, S. Eisenhardt, E. Ejopu, L. Eklund, M. Elashri, D. Elizondo Blanco, J. Ellbracht, S. Ely, A. Ene, T. Evans, F. Fabiano, S. Faghih, L.N. Falcao, B. Fang, R. Fantechi, L. Fantini, M. Faria, K. Farmer, F. Fassin, D. Fazzini, L. Felkowski, C. Feng, M. Feng, A. Fernandez Casani, M. Fernandez Gomez, A.D. Fernez, F. Ferrari, F. Ferreira Rodrigues, R.A. Fini, M. Fiorini, M. Firlej, D.S. Fitzgerald, C. Fitzpatrick, T. Fiutowski, F. Fleuret, A. Fomin, M. Fontana, M. Fontes Vaz, L.A. Foreman, R. Forty, D. Foulds-Holt, V. Franco Lima, M. Franco Sevilla, M. Frank, E. Franzoso, G. Frau, C. Frei, D.A. Friday, J. Fu, Y. Fu, Q. Führing, T. Fulghesu, G. Galati, M.D. Galati, A. Gallas Torreira, D. Galli, S. Gambetta, M. Gandelman, P. Gandini, B. Ganie, H. Gao, R. Gao, T.Q. Gao, Y. Gao, Y. Gao, Y. Gao, L.M. Garcia Martin, P. Garcia Moreno, J. García Pardiñas, P. Gardner, L. Garrido, C. Gaspar, A. Gavrikov, E. Gersabeck, M. Gersabeck, T. Gershon, S. Ghizzo, Z. Ghorbanimoghaddam, F.I. Giasemis, V. Gibson, H.K. Giemza, A.L. Gilman, M. Giovannetti, A. Gioventù, L. Girardey, M.A. Giza, F.C. Glaser, V.V. Gligorov, C. Göbel, L. Golinka-Bezshyyko, E. Golobardes, A. Golutvin, S. Gomez Fernandez, W. Gomulka, F. Goncalves Abrantes, I. Gonçales Vaz, M. Goncerz, G. Gong, J.A. Gooding, C. Gotti, E. Govorkova, J.P. Grabowski, L.A. Granado Cardoso, R. Grande Quartieri, E. Graugés, E. Graverini, L. Grazette, G. Graziani, A.T. Grecu, N.A. Grieser, L. Grillo, C. Gu, M. Guarise, L. Guerry, A.-K. Guseinov, Y. Guz, T. Gys, K. Habermann, T. Hadavizadeh, C. Hadjivasiliou, G. Haefeli, C. Haen, S. Haken, G. Hallett, P.M. Hamilton, Q. Han, S. Han, X. Han, S. Hansmann-Menzemer, N. Harnew, T.J. Harris, L. Hartman, M. Hartmann, S. Hashmi, J. He, N. Heatley, A. Hedes, F. Hemmer, C. Henderson, R. Henderson, R.D.L. Henderson, A.M. Hennequin, K. Hennessy, J. Herd, P. Herrero Gascon, J. Heuel, A. Heyn, A. Hicheur, G. Hijano Mendizabal, J. Horswill, R. Hou, Y. Hou, D.C. Houston, N. Howarth, W. Hu, X. Hu, W. Hulsbergen, R.J. Hunter, D. Hutchcroft, M. Idzik, P. Ilten, A. Iohner, H. Jage, S.J. Jaimes Elles, S. Jakobsen, T. Jakoubek, E. Jans, A. Jawahery, C. Jayaweera, A. Jelavic, V. Jevtic, Z. Jia, E. Jiang, X. Jiang, Y. Jiang, Y.J. Jiang, E. Jimenez Moya, N. Jindal, M. John, A. John Rubesh Rajan, D. Johnson, C.R. Jones, S. Joshi, B. Jost, J. Juan Castella, N. Jurik, I. Juszczak, K. Kalecinska, D. Kaminaris, S. Kandybei, M. Kane, Y. Kang, C. Kar, M. Karacson, A. Kauniskangas, J.W. Kautz, M.K. Kazanecki, F. Keizer, M. Kenzie, T. Ketel, B. Khanji, S. Kholodenko, G. Khreich, F. Kiraz, T. Kirn, V.S. Kirsebom, N. Kleijne, A. Kleimenova, D. Klekots, K. Klimaszewski, M.R. Kmiec, T. Knospe, R. Kolb, S. Koliiev, L. Kolk, A. Konoplyannikov, P. Kopciewicz, P. Koppenburg, A. Korchin, I. Kostiuk, O. Kot, S. Kotriakhova, E. Kowalczyk, O. Kravcov, M. Kreps, W. Krupa, W. Krzemien, O. Kshyvanskyi, S. Kubis, M. Kucharczyk, A. Kupsc, V. Kushnir, B. Kutsenko, J. Kvapil, I. Kyryllin, D. Lacarrere, P. Laguarta Gonzalez, A. Lai, A. Lampis, D. Lancierini, C. Landesa Gomez, J.J. Lane, G. Lanfranchi, C. Langenbruch, T. Latham, F. Lazzari, C. Lazzeroni, R. Le Gac, H. Lee, R. Lefèvre, M. Lehuraux, E. Lemos Cid, O. Leroy, T. Lesiak, E.D. Lesser, B. Leverington, A. Li, C. Li, C. Li, H. Li, J. Li, K. Li, L. Li, L. Li, P. Li, P.-R. Li, Q. Li, T. Li, T. Li, W. Li, Y. Li, Y. Li, Y. Li, Z. Li, Z. Lian, Q. Liang, X. Liang, Z. Liang, S. Libralon, A. Lightbody, T. Lin, R. Lindner, H. Linton, R. Litvinov, D. Liu, F.L. Liu, G. Liu, K. Liu, S. Liu, W. Liu, Y. Liu, Y. Liu, Y.L. Liu, G. Loachamin Ordonez, I. Lobo, A. Lobo Salvia, A. Loi, T. Long, F.C.L. Lopes, J.H. Lopes, A. Lopez Huertas, C. Lopez Iribarnegaray, Q. Lu, C. Lucarelli, D. Lucchesi, M. Lucio Martinez, Y. Luo, A. Lupato, M. Lupberger, E. Luppi, K. Lynch, S. Lyu, X.-R. Lyu, H. Ma, S. Maccolini, F. Machefert, F. Maciuc, B. Mack, I. Mackay, L.M. Mackey, L.R. Madhan Mohan, M.J. Madurai, D. Magdalinski, J.J. Malczewski, S. Malde, L. Malentacca, G. Manca, G. Mancinelli, C. Mancuso, R. Manera Escalero, A. Mangalasseri, F.M. Manganella, D. Manuzzi, S. Mao, D. Marangotto, J.F. Marchand, R. Marchevski, U. Marconi, E. Mariani, S. Mariani, C. Marin Benito, J. Marks, A.M. Marshall, L. Martel, G. Martelli, G. Martellotti, L. Martinazzoli, M. Martinelli, C. Martinez, D. Martinez Gomez, D. Martinez Santos, F. Martinez Vidal, A. Martorell i Granollers, A. Massafferri, R. Matev, A. Mathad, C. Matteuzzi, K.R. Mattioli, L. Matzner, A. Mauri, E. Maurice, J. Mauricio, P. Mayencourt, J. Mazorra de Cos, M. Mazurek, D. Mazzanti Tarancon, M. McCann, N.T. McHugh, A. McNab, R. McNulty, B. Meadows, S.E.R. Medaer, D. Melnychuk, D. Mendoza Granada, P. Menendez Valdes Perez, F.M. Meng, M. Merk, A. Merli, L. Meyer Garcia, D. Miao, H. Miao, M. Mikhasenko, D.A. Milanes, A. Minotti, E. Minucci, B. Mitreska, D.S. Mitzel, R. Mocanu, A. Modak, L. Moeser, R.D. Moise, E.F. Molina Cardenas, T. Mombächer, M. Monk, T. Monnard, S. Monteil, A. Morcillo Gomez, G. Morello, M.J. Morello, M.P. Morgenthaler, A. Moro, J. Moron, W. Morren, A.B. Morris, A.G. Morris, R. Mountain, Z. Mu, N. Muangkod, E. Muhammad, F. Muheim, M. Mulder, K. Müller, F. Muñoz-Rojas, V. Mytrochenko, P. Naik, T. Nakada, R. Nandakumar, G. Napoletano, I. Nasteva, M. Needham, N. Neri, S. Neubert, N. Neufeld, J. Nicolini, D. Nicotra, E.M. Niel, L. Nisi, Q. Niu, B.K. Njoki, P. Nogarolli, P. Nogga, J. Nombela Royo, C. Normand, J. Novoa Fernandez, G. Nowak, H.N. Nur, A. Oblakowska-Mucha, T. Oeser, O. Okhrimenko, R. Oldeman, F. Oliva, E. Olivart Pino, M. Olocco, R.H. O'Neil, J.S. Ordonez Soto, D. Osthues, J.M. Otalora Goicochea, P. Owen, A. Oyanguren, O. Ozcelik, F. Paciolla, A. Padee, K.O. Padeken, B. Pagare, T. Pajero, A. Palano, L. Palini, M. Palutan, C. Pan, X. Pan, S. Panebianco, S. Paniskaki, L. Paolucci, A. Papanestis, M. Pappagallo, L.L. Pappalardo, C. Pappenheimer, C. Parkes, D. Parmar, G. Passaleva, D. Passaro, A. Pastore, M. Patel, J. Patoc, C. Patrignani, A. Paul, C.J. Pawley, A. Pellegrino, J. Peng, X. Peng, M. Pepe Altarelli, S. Perazzini, H. Pereira Da Costa, M. Pereira Martinez, A. Pereiro Castro, C. Perez, P. Perret, A. Perrevoort, A. Perro, M.J. Peters, K. Petridis, A. Petrolini, S. Pezzulo, J.P. Pfaller, H. Pham, L. Pica, M. Piccini, L. Piccolo, B. Pietrzyk, R.N. Pilato, D. Pinci, F. Pisani, M. Pizzichemi, V.M. Placinta, M. Plo Casasus, T. Poeschl, F. Polci, M. Poli Lener, A. Poluektov, I. Polyakov, E. Polycarpo, S. Ponce, D. Popov, K. Popp, K. Prasanth, C. Prouve, D. Provenzano, V. Pugatch, A. Puicercus Gomez, G. Punzi, J.R. Pybus, Q. Qian, W. Qian, N. Qin, R. Quagliani, R.I. Rabadan Trejo, B. Rachwal, R. Racz, J.H. Rademacker, M. Rama, M. Ramírez García, V. Ramos De Oliveira, M. Ramos Pernas, G. Ramsey, M.S. Rangel, G. Raven, M. Rebollo De Miguel, F. Redi, J. Reich, F. Reiss, Z. Ren, P.K. Resmi, M. Ribalda Galvez, R. Ribatti, G. Ricart, D. Riccardi, S. Ricciardi, K. Richardson, M. Richardson-Slipper, F. Riehn, K. Rinnert, P. Robbe, G. Robertson, E. Rodrigues, A. Rodriguez Alvarez, E. Rodriguez Fernandez, J.A. Rodriguez Lopez, E. Rodriguez Rodriguez, J. Roensch, A. Rogovskiy, D.L. Rolf, P. Roloff, V. Romanovskiy, A. Romero Vidal, G. Romolini, F. Ronchetti, T. Rong, W. Rose, M. Rotondo, M.S. Rudolph, M. Ruiz Diaz, J. Ruiz Vidal, J. Ruz Armendariz, J.J. Saavedra-Arias, J.J. Saborido Silva, D. Sahoo, N. Sahoo, B. Saitta, M. Salomoni, I. Sanderswood, R. Santacesaria, C. Santamarina Rios, M. Santimaria, L. Santoro, E. Santovetti, A. Saputi, A. Sarnatskiy, G. Sarpis, M. Sarpis, C. Satriano, A. Satta, M. Saur, H. Sazak, F. Sborzacchi, A. Scarabotto, S. Schael, S. Scherl, M. Schiller, H. Schindler, M. Schmelling, B. Schmidt, N. Schmidt, S. Schmitt, H. Schmitz, O. Schneider, A. Schopper, N. Schulte, H. Schumacher, M.H. Schune, G. Schwering, B. Sciascia, A. Sciuccati, G. Scriven, I. Segal, S. Sellam, M. Senghi Soares, A. Sergi, N. Serra, L. Sestini, B. Sevilla Sanjuan, Y. Shang, D.M. Shangase, R.S. Sharma, L. Shchutska, T. Shears, J. Shen, Z. Shen, S. Sheng, B. Shi, J. Shi, Q. Shi, W.S. Shi, E. Shmanin, R. Silva Coutinho, G. Simi, S. Simone, M. Singha, I. Siral, N. Skidmore, T. Skwarnicki, M.W. Slater, E. Smith, M. Smith, L. Soares Lavra, M.D. Sokoloff, F.J.P. Soler, A. Solomin, K. Solovieva, N.S. Sommerfeld, R. Song, Y. Song, Y. Song, Y.S. Song, F.L. Souza De Almeida, G. Souza De Castro, B. Souza De Paula, K.M. Sowa, E. Spadaro Norella, E. Spedicato, J.G. Speer, P. Spradlin, F. Stagni, M. Stahl, S. Stahl, S. Stanislaus, M. Stefaniak, O. Steinkamp, F. Suljik, J. Sun, L. Sun, M. Sun, D. Sundfeld, W. Sutcliffe, P. Svihra, V. Svintozelskyi, K. Swientek, F. Swystun, A. Szabelski, T. Szumlak, Y. Tan, Y. Tang, Y.T. Tang, M.D. Tat, J.A. Teijeiro Jimenez, F. Terzuoli, F. Teubert, E. Thomas, D.J.D. Thompson, A.R. Thomson-Strong, H. Tilquin, V. Tisserand, S. T'Jampens, M. Tobin, T.T. Todorov, L. Tomassetti, G. Tonani, X. Tong, T. Tork, L. Toscano, D.Y. Tou, C. Trippl, G. Tuci, N. Tuning, L.H. Uecker, A. Ukleja, A. Upadhyay, B. Urbach, A. Usachov, U. Uwer, V. Vagnoni, A. Vaitkevicius, V. Valcarce Cadenas, G. Valenti, N. Valls Canudas, J. van Eldik, H. Van Hecke, E. van Herwijnen, C.B. Van Hulse, R. Van Laak, M. van Veghel, G. Vasquez, R. Vazquez Gomez, P. Vazquez Regueiro, C. Vázquez Sierra, S. Vecchi, J. Velilla Serna, J.J. Velthuis, M. Veltri, A. Venkateswaran, M. Verdoglia, M. Vesterinen, W. Vetens, D. Vico Benet, P. Vidrier Villalba, M. Vieites Diaz, X. Vilasis-Cardona, E. Vilella Figueras, A. Villa, P. Vincent, B. Vivacqua, F.C. Volle, D. vom Bruch, K. Vos, C. Vrahas, J. Wagner, J. Walsh, N. Walter, E.J. Walton, G. Wan, A. Wang, B. Wang, C. Wang, G. Wang, H. Wang, J. Wang, J. Wang, J. Wang, J. Wang, M. Wang, N.W. Wang, R. Wang, X. Wang, X. Wang, X. Wang, X.W. Wang, Y. Wang, Y. Wang, Y.H. Wang, Z. Wang, Z. Wang, J.A. Ward, A. Wasili, M. Waterlaat, N.K. Watson, D. Websdale, Y. Wei, Z. Weida, J. Wendel, B.D.C. Westhenry, C. White, M. Whitehead, E. Whiter, A.R. Wiederhold, D. Wiedner, M.A. Wiegertjes, C. Wild, G. Wilkinson, M.K. Wilkinson, M. Williams, M.J. Williams, M.R.J. Williams, R. Williams, S. Williams, Z. Williams, F.F. Wilson, M. Winn, W. Wislicki, M. Witek, L. Witola, T. Wolf, E. Wood, G. Wormser, S.A. Wotton, H. Wu, J. Wu, X. Wu, Y. Wu, Z. Wu, K. Wyllie, S. Xian, Z. Xiang, Y. Xie, T.X. Xing, A. Xu, L. Xu, M. Xu, R. Xu, Z. Xu, Z. Xu, Z. Xu, Z. Xu, S. Yadav, K. Yang, X. Yang, Y. Yang, Y. Yang, Z. Yang, Z. Yang, H. Yeung, H. Yin, X. Yin, C.Y. Yu, J. Yu, K. Yu, X. Yuan, Y Yuan, J.A. Zamora Saa, M. Zavertyaev, M. Zdybal, F. Zenesini, C. Zeng, M. Zeng, S.H Zeng, C. Zhang, C. Zhang, D. Zhang, J. Zhang, L. Zhang, Q.Z. Zhang, R. Zhang, S. Zhang, S.L. Zhang, Y. Zhang, Z. Zhang, J. Zhao, Y. Zhao, A. Zhelezov, S.Z. Zheng, X.Z. Zheng, Y. Zheng, T. Zhou, X. Zhou, V. Zhovkovska, L.Z. Zhu, X. Zhu, X. Zhu, Y. Zhu, V. Zhukov, J. Zhuo, D. Zuliani, G. Zunica, X. Zuo

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics

Strong coupling between antiferromagnetic magnons and spoof surface plasmons

Yamin Sun, Ka Shen and H. Y. Yuan

Hybrid magnonic system provides a versatile platform for coherent information exchange between spin excitations and other physical degrees of freedom. While strong coupling between magnons and spoof plasmons has been observed based on ferrimagnetic spheres and localized microwave resonators, it remains unexplored whether coherent magnon-plasmon coupling can be achieved in planar magnetic structures. Here we study the hybridization of antiferromagnetic (AFM) magnons and spoof surface plasmons in a planar heterostructure consisting of an AFM thin film, a dielectric spacer, and a structured metal surface. By analytically solving the coupled Maxwell and magnetization dynamics equation, we predict strong magnon-plasmon coupling in the terahertz regime, manifested by pronounced avoided crossings in the dispersion. The coupling originates from the spatial overlap between magnonic and plasmonic modes in the dielectric spacer, and can be efficiently tuned through geometric parameters of the system. The calculated cooperativity confirms that the hybrid system can operate in the strong coupling regime, enabling coherent information transfer between magnons and plasmons. Our results establish a planar platform for plasmon-magnon hybridization, which is more amenable to on-chip manipulation and integration.
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Optics

Optical-Memory Transport Imaging: A Transport-History Framework for Finite-Memory Tracers

Haichun Liu and Jerker Widengren

Finite-memory optical tracers encode upstream transport histories rather than instantaneous local flow velocities. We introduce optical-memory transport (OMT) imaging, a framework in which finite memory couples internal-state relaxation to transport through memory kernels. Under structured illumination, these histories are converted into measurable complex spatial-frequency response, whose local transfer-function limit yields constant-velocity inversion. Fisher-information analysis establishes kernel-dependent information limits and design principles for finite-memory transport imaging.
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Solar and Stellar Astrophysics

Evidence for Solar-Cycle Modulation of the Alpha-to-Proton Temperature Ratio in Solar Wind

Aakash Gupta, Yogesh, Dibyendu Chakrabarty et al. (+2 more)

The influence of collisional age $(A_c)$ on the alpha-to-proton temperature ratio $(T_\alpha/T_p)$ has been explored in the past. However, the modulation of this ratio with respect to the solar cycle has remained unexplored so far. We show solar-cycle modulation of $T_\alpha/T_p$ and $A_c$ using nearly three decades of in-situ observations from Wind spacecraft across distinct solar wind speed regimes and solar activity phases. Our results reveal that in the slow solar wind with velocity $<400$ km s$^{-1}$, where $A_c$ happens to be typically $>1$, the ratio $T_\alpha/T_p$ stays close to unity. This suggests frequent Coulomb collisions efficiently iron out temperature differences. In contrast, the fast wind with velocity $>500$ km s$^{-1}$, where $A_c$ happens to be typically $<1$, mass-proportional heating is most pronounced, with $T_\alpha/T_p$ often exceeding 4. The intermediate speed regime ($400$-$500$ km s$^{-1}$) represents a gradual transition between the slow and fast wind populations in terms of their solar-cycle dependence. This behavior reflects the changing dominance of high-speed streams from polar coronal holes during minima to denser slow wind during maxima. These results suggest that mass-proportional ion heating at 1 AU is not solely governed by local collisional physics but is significantly modulated by the solar cycle dependent variations in the solar wind sources.
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All authors Aakash Gupta, Yogesh, Dibyendu Chakrabarty, Leon Ofman, Gregory G. Howes

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology

Conductors and superconductors in stationary spacetimes: generalized Schiff-Barnhill and Meissner effects

F. Masghatian, M.Nouri-Zonoz and H. Sadegh

Previous studies on conductors and superconductors in curved spacetimes, and the gravitationally-induced electric and magnetic fields in them, are mostly restricted to the limit of weak fields and low velocities. Also the observer-dependence of these phenomena are not discussed in the literature. In this article, following London's phenomenological approach to superconductivity, we consider the electrodynamics of superconductors in stationary spacetimes without employing any weak field or low velocity limit. To this end, first we define the 3-force acting on charged particles in gravitational and electromagnetic fields, and derive its explicit form in a general spacetime decomposition formalism. Then, to highlight the role of observers, we apply the force equation to the free charges in superconductors in stationary spacetimes in the two well known threading and slicing decomposition formalisms. Applying the stationary condition in the superconducting state, we arrive at the generalized Schiff-Barnhill and Meissner effects, which compared to the low velocity and weak field limit include extra terms originating from the recently introduced gravitationally-induced constitutive equations. To show the consistency of our approach, we also derive the generalized Meissner effect from the second London equation in stationary spacetimes.
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Quantum Physics

A Quantum Algorithm for Solving the Poisson Equation for Free Field Conditions via the Hockney Method

Hans A. Kösel, Roland Ewert and Jan W. Delfs

For the often encountered problem of the Poisson equation, this work presents a quantum algorithm solving it based on the quantum Fourier transform (QFT) for periodic boundary conditions as well as free field conditions, where the latter is realized via the Hockney method. Besides the QFT and an initialization procedure for amplitude encoding, the algorithm just uses a procedure for multiplying the state vector by a diagonal matrix w.r.t. amplitude encoding. For the latter, two alternative implementations are considered here. The first variant is a version of the LCU method and the second is a sequence of multi-controlled rotation gates that represents a factoring of the multiplied values into absolute values and complex phase factors. The functionality of the algorithm is verified via comparing the results obtained from state vector simulations for one- and two-dimensional test examples with their analytical solutions. For the considered test examples, it is found that the success probability for obtaining the desired ancilla qubit subspace in the LCU version is a factor of around two higher than that for the sequence of multi-controlled rotation gates. However, the LCU version requires a number of ancilla qubits up to the number of qubits that is set to store the discretized source term of the Poisson equation in amplitude encoding, whereas the sequence of multi-controlled rotation gates demands only one ancilla qubit. Computations of the success probabilities for both variants furthermore indicate that the success probability converges for a specific problem with increasing resolution. Concerning the required computational resources for the quantum algorithm, the conclusion is drawn that while the QFT is a more efficient procedure than its classical counterpart, the current implementations of the other necessary steps in the algorithm diminish the efficiency w.r.t. the runtime.
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Optics

Rf beam steering using on-ohip optical true time delay on 3 micrometer siliocn on insulator platfrom

Somnath Paul, Jussi Saily, Markus Schroder et al. (+2 more)

We present the design, packaging, and system-level experimental demonstration of a reconfigurable 5-bit, 4-channel optical true time delay (OTTD) chip realized on a 3 micrometer thick silicon on insulator (SOI) platform at VTT. The chip enables 32 discrete delay states over a 0 to 101 picoseconds range, with a delay resolution of 3.25 picoseconds, making it well suited for broadband RF beamforming with upcoming 6G FR3 band systems around 10 GHz. Each channel incorporates five binary weighted delay stages controlled by Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) based thermo-optic switches with an extinction ratio exceeding 25 decibels and an average switching power of 25 milliwatts. The chip is embedded within an analog radio-over-fibre (A-RoF) link, and the outputs are connected to a PCB-based four-element patch antenna array. Accurate RF beam steering is demonstrated at broadside and at 30 degrees from broadside using a 16 - QAM signal modulated at 100 MBaud on a 10 GHz carrier. An error vector magnitude (EVM) degradation of approximately 1 percent is observed upon steering, and an extinction ratio exceeding 50 decibels is measured between the two receiver positions. The results confirm the potential of integrated OTTD technology for compact, power-efficient, and broadband beamforming in next-generation wireless and radar systems.
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All authors Somnath Paul, Jussi Saily, Markus Schroder, Mikko Harjanne, Timo Aalto

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics

Anisotropic magnon spin transport in CrPS$_4$

Krishnaraajan Sundararajan, Muhammad Zohaib, Yulia Kreminska et al. (+2 more)

Crystal anisotropy provides a powerful route for realizing direction-dependent transport in solid-state systems. While its influence on electronic transport is well established, the role of anisotropy in magnon spin transport in van der Waals magnets is largely unexplored. Here, in a nonlocal geometry, utilizing the monoclinic van der Waals antiferromagnet CrPS$_4$, we observe pronounced anisotropy in both electrically and in thermally excited magnon spin transport. Electrically generated magnons exhibit a magnon spin conductivity at least 2.2 times larger and a spin diffusion length at least 2.7 times longer for transport along the crystallographic-b axis compared to the crystallographic-a axis, where $\lambda_m^{a} \sim$ 211 nm and $\lambda_m^{b} \geq$ 575 nm. In comparison, at 8T, we find the nonlocal second-harmonic resistance associated with thermally excited magnons to be $\sim$7 times larger along the crystallographic-b axis at 25K. We further show that a magnon spin diffusion length cannot be reliably extracted from the nonlocal second-harmonic resistance, owing to the extended temperature profile within CrPS$_4$. Likewise, we show that the anisotropy in the spin Seebeck coefficients cannot be reliably estimated from the thermally excited magnon spin transport alone, as it is intertwined with the anisotropic heat conductivity of CrPS$_4$. Utilizing the electrically generated magnon spin transport, we demonstrate that intrinsic crystalline anisotropy serves as an effective control parameter for tuning magnon spin transport, opening new avenues for magnonic device engineering.
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All authors Krishnaraajan Sundararajan, Muhammad Zohaib, Yulia Kreminska, Sytze H. Tirion, Bart J. van Wees

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology

Radiative Signatures from Warp Drives Traveling Through the Earth's Atmosphere

Shaun David Brocus Fell and Abraham Loeb

We investigate the observable signatures of zero ADM mass warp drive spacetimes traversing Earth's atmosphere. Numerical simulations indicate that an aircraft-scale spacetime bubble moving at relativistic velocities would have a pronounced observational signature, where interaction with the atmosphere can produce luminosities exceeding one terawatt. The signature of a spacetime bubble at rest or moving at low velocity relative to the Earth would not generate such extreme luminosities. These results establish observational constraints on spacetime-based propulsion operating within the terrestrial environment and provide a framework for identifying potential high-velocity signatures. In particular, a warp drive traveling through the atmosphere at speeds exceeding approximately 10% of the speed of light would produce a unique brilliant glow.
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Mathematical Physics

Emergence of fractal structures from breather interactions in the $(2+1)$-dimensional Konopelchenko–Dubrovsky equation

Snehalata Nasipuri, Prasanta Chatterjee and Saugata Dutta

Fractal structures generated through nonlinear breather interactions are investigated for the $(2+1)$-dimensional Konopelchenko–Dubrovsky (KD) equation by means of the Hirota bilinear method. The bilinear form of the system is first derived, after which breather interaction solutions are constructed analytically through suitable auxiliary functions. It is shown that the interaction of breather waves in the coupled nonlinear environment gives rise to highly intricate multiscale patterns exhibiting self-similar behaviour under successive magnification. To characterize the geometric complexity of the obtained structures, a three-dimensional voxel-based box-counting method is employed. The computed dimensions are found to be non-integer, confirming the fractal nature of the generated patterns. In addition, relative error analysis, standard error estimation, bootstrap standard deviation and convergence analysis are performed to examine the robustness and reproducibility of the estimated dimensions. The present work suggests that nonlinear breather interactions in coupled dispersive systems may provide a natural mechanism for the emergence of fractal geometries and complex multiscale structures. The combined analytical and quantitative framework developed here may provide further insight into nonlinear energy localization and scale-dependent structures arising in fluid dynamics, plasma physics and nonlinear wave propagation.
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Optics

Quantum Theory of Third-harmonic Generation in Epsilon-Near-Zero Materials

Sonia Alipour, Riccardo Franchi, Tornike Shubitidze et al. (+3 more)

We present a theoretical framework, based on the Green's tensor quantization method, to describe third-harmonic generation in epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) materials and derive analytical, closed-form solutions for the generation efficiency. We validate our model against experimental measurements of wavelength- and angle-resolved third-harmonic generation efficiency from 30 nm-thin ITO nanolayers at low pump intensity, described under the undepleted pump approximation. Our results provide a local and scalar effective model for quantum nonlinear processes in dispersive and lossy ENZ media, and establishes a simple and reliable framework for investigating a variety of nonlinear optical phenomena with applications to quantum sensing, quantum information, and quantum nondemolition measurements.
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All authors Sonia Alipour, Riccardo Franchi, Tornike Shubitidze, Smridhi Chawla, Luca Dal Negro, Marco Ornigotti

Quantum Physics

Resource-bounded controllability benchmarking of open quantum systems

Yule Mayevsky, Akram Youssry and Alberto Peruzzo

This paper develops a resource-bounded framework for evaluating practical controllability in open quantum systems using a trained graybox response model. Rather than treating controllability as a binary property of an idealised Hamiltonian model, the proposed approach evaluates the best-achievable process fidelity over a finite, hardware-realisable pulse family under explicit control constraints. The graybox model retains the known coherent dynamics while learning control-dependent open-system distortions from pulse-response data. The resulting surrogate predictions are used to reconstruct the implemented processes and compare them with Haar-random target gates. Practical controllability is then characterised through the distribution of best-achievable infidelities and an area-based summary metric. The framework is demonstrated for a driven qubit under closed-system, classical-noise, and combined quantum-plus-classical-noise dynamics, with pulse amplitude and inverse Gaussian width used as the control-resource coordinates. The results show how finite control resources and open-system noise jointly constrain the gate performance attainable by the chosen pulse family.
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Physics and Society

The Triadic Stress Index in Financial Markets

Alberto Acedo

The Triadic Stress Index (TSI) takes a network index whose four factors were first observed in soil microbiome co-occurrence networks and applies it, without alteration, to the correlation network of financial assets. We test it on five markets spanning 2006-2026 (equities including banking crises and the AI sector, cryptocurrencies, commodities, foreign exchange and sovereign debt), against three independent definitions of a crisis episode, at a fixed alarm budget, out of sample, with block-bootstrap intervals and a Holm correction across the family of tests. The benchmarks are the Absorption Ratio, the industry standard used by MSCI and central banks; the effective rank and the Vendi score, the sharpest spectral measures available; Ollivier-Ricci curvature; and the global and local balance indices of signed correlation networks. Three comparisons favour the index. It carries a per-node decomposition, diag(A^3), naming which asset is carrying the concentration with no parameter to select, and scores 0.97-0.99 against 0.33-0.84 for the only published per-node alternative, whereas spectral attribution must first choose how many components to read and collapses under a standard but wrong choice. Its alarms are the cleanest of anything tested, 4.0% of them with no matching episode against 14.7% for the effective rank and roughly 59% for the Absorption Ratio. And it beats the Absorption Ratio on detection by 0.273 in F1 out of sample, p<0.0005. The remaining comparisons are ties. Against the effective rank and the Vendi score the index ties in every scheme and both samples, and the margin over the Absorption Ratio narrows under the strictest labelling. On real matrices the far simpler node degree reproduces the attribution. A lead-lag analysis puts the peak cross-correlation at zero lag: this is a coincident state index, not a forecast.
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Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics

Wavefront Profiling via correlation of GLAO open loop telemetry

Eden A. McEwen, Ryan Dungee, Mark Chun et al. (+3 more)

Adaptive Optics (AO) used in ground based observatories can be strengthened in both design and algorithms by a more detailed understanding of the atmosphere they seek to correct. Nowhere is this more true than on Maunakea, where a clearer profile of the atmosphere informs AO system development from the small separations of Extreme AO (ExAO) to the wide field Ground Layer AO (GLAO). Employing telemetry obtained from the 'imaka GLAO demonstrator on the University of Hawaii 2.2-meter telescope, we apply a wind profiling method that identifies turbulent layer velocities through spatial-temporal cross correlations of multiple wavefront sensors (WFSs). We compare the derived layer velocities with nearby wind anemometer data and meteorological model predictions of the upper wind speeds and discuss similarities and differences. The strengths and limitations of this profiling method are evaluated through successful recovery of injected, simulated layers into real telemetry. We detail the profilers' results, including the percentage of data with viable estimates, on four characteristic 'imaka observing runs on open loop telemetry throughout both winter and summer targets. We report on how similar layers are to external measures, the confidence of these results, and the potential for future use of this technique on other multi conjugate AO systems.
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All authors Eden A. McEwen, Ryan Dungee, Mark Chun, Jessica R. Lu, Olivier Lai, Christoph Baranec

Quantum Physics

Quantum steering is equivalent to state-preserving conditional expectations

Lauritz van Luijk, Amine Marrakchi, Tobias Osborne et al. (+2 more)

In systems with infinitely many degrees of freedom, fundamental results from quantum information theory can fail. An important example is the uniqueness of purifications: Even when two subsystems, described by commuting von Neumann algebras $A$ and $B$, are tomographically complete, purifications of a state on $A$ need not be related by unitaries in $B$. It was recently shown that this occurs precisely when Haag duality fails, i.e., when the commutant $B'$ is strictly larger than $A$. This raises the question of which fundamental entanglement properties survive in such a setting. We show that, for a pure global state, the ability to steer any ensemble decomposition of the marginal state on $A$ by measurements on $B$ is equivalent to the existence of a state-preserving conditional expectation from $B'$ onto $A$. This establishes a direct connection between quantum steering and subfactor theory. The key observation is that steering is equivalent to the existence of extensions of ensemble decompositions from $A$ to $B'$. Working with general Jordan algebras, we prove that unital positive maps have state-preserving left inverses if and only if ensemble decompositions can be lifted. For the inclusion $A\hookrightarrow B'$, a left inverse is precisely a conditional expectation, yielding the characterization above.
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All authors Lauritz van Luijk, Amine Marrakchi, Tobias Osborne, Alexander Stottmeister, Henrik Wilming

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics

Evolution of Neutron Star Environment in the Galactic Halo : Implications for Dark Matter Accretion

Payaswinee Arvikar, Aseem Paranjape and Saee Dhawalikar

Neutron stars (NS) are one of the indirect detection probes for dark matter (DM). The presence of DM is known to affect the observable properties of NS. Theoretical calculations for various equations of state of a DM admixed NS lead to estimates of the DM mass in a NS of the order of $10^{-2} M_{\odot}$. On the other hand, simplistic estimates of the amount of DM that is accreted on to the NS in the Solar neighborhood, over its age, suggest that this number is of the order $10^{-14} M_{\odot}$. Various studies have addressed this non-agreement theoretically by explaining the mechanisms leading to higher fraction than expected from smooth spherically symmetric accretion. In this work, we attempt to assess the role of the dynamic DM environmental density in the Galactic halo to explain possible enhancement in DM accretion. We consider a high resolution N-body simulation and method of Voronoi tessellation to calculate local DM density around putative NS locations in a statistically representative sample of Milky Way analogues. We infer that the dynamics of substructure may enhance the DM mass in NS by about a factor 2 as compared to the baseline, spherically symmetric expectation. Environmental effects therefore cannot explain the orders of magnitude discrepancy between equation of state and accretion based estimates of DM admixed in NS.
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Solar and Stellar Astrophysics

Bernhard-1: An Eccentric Binary Periodically Obscured by its Misaligned Circumbinary Disk

Zhecheng Hu, Wei Zhu, Ping Chen et al. (+2 more)

Bernhard-1 is a proposed KH 15D-like circumbinary disk occultation (CBO) system, but its binary nature and disk geometry have not previously been confirmed. We present new optical and near-infrared spectroscopy together with multi-band photometric monitoring of the system. The radial velocities confirm that Bernhard-1 hosts a highly eccentric binary with $e = 0.80 \pm 0.09$, confirming that the periodic photometric variability arises from occultation by a misaligned circumbinary disk. Joint modeling of the spectra and phase-dependent spectral energy distributions yields pre-main-sequence components with masses of $\sim 1.1\,M_\odot$ and $\sim 0.8\,M_\odot$. Combining stellar isochrones with the measured lithium abundance yields a system age of $\sim$ 10 Myr. Together with the spatial, astrometric, and metallicity properties of Bernhard-1, this suggests that Bernhard-1 is probably a member of the open cluster Dolidze 42. By combining the RV orbit with a semi-transparent occultation-screen model, we infer a disk–binary mutual inclination of roughly $50^\circ$ or $130^\circ$, with the degeneracy arising from the unknown disk rotation direction. This geometric method can be applied to any CBO system once radial velocity monitoring yields an orbital solution. The new light curves deviate from earlier model predictions, consistent with ongoing disk precession, while the phase-dependent H$\alpha$ profiles indicate pulsed accretion near periastron. Bernhard-1 therefore joins KH 15D and Bernhard-2 as a rare spectroscopically confirmed CBO system.
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All authors Zhecheng Hu, Wei Zhu, Ping Chen, Richard Post, Weicheng Zang

Exactly Solvable and Integrable Systems · Cross-listed from math.CO

Differential equations for bipartite maps with bounded face degrees

Valentin Bonzom

In recent years, integrable hierarchies have been used to great advantage for the enumeration of combinatorial maps. They have led to recurrence formulas with respect to the size and genus of the maps, e.g. for triangulations, bipartite quadrangulations and bipartite maps, and for constellations. These formulas are not only remarkably simple but also provide the fastest way of calculating these numbers of maps. With the exception of Louf's work on constellations, it has however remained a challenge to obtain recurrence formulas that control the degrees of the faces of the maps. Here we show how to achieve this for bipartite maps with bounded face degrees. By combining equations from the KP hierarchy and from the Virasoro constraints, a differentially algebraic system is obtained. It couples the generating functions of bipartite maps with bounded root face degrees while controlling the numbers of edges, black vertices, white vertices and number of faces of each degree (and in particular the genus). Finally, this system of ODEs is shown to give recurrence formulas that allows to calculate all the corresponding numbers of maps.
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Materials Science

High-pressure electride superconductor Li5N for multifunctional applications: A theoretical insight into the physical properties

M. Abdul Hadi Shah and S.H. Naqib

This study aims to unveil the physical properties of multifunctional Li5N electride under high pressure in the range of 150-350 GPa through first principles analysis within the density functional theory.

Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics

Application of continuous corrections in widefield imaging obtained with the IDGCAL calibration method

Sebastiaan van der Tol

Image Domain Gridding (IDG) is an efficient method to evaluate A-projection, a method for correcting for direction dependent effects (DDEs) in radio astronomical imaging. The corrections i.e. the A-terms need to be estimated from the observed data through calibration. IDG-CAL is a calibration algorithm that employs the IDG algorithm in an iterative fashion to estimate A-terms directly. Initial results for low order A-terms are promising, however for deeper images higher order A-terms are needed. Here two improvements to IDG-CAL are proposed to 1) reduce the computational cost of A-terms described by more parameters and 2) optimize the set of basis functions describing the A-terms based on a stochastic model of the gain variations and the model image.
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High Energy Physics (Phenomenology)

Superfluid He-4 as Dark Matter Detectors

Zizhou Huang, Mihaela Parvu, Dmitry Budker et al. (+2 more)

Superfluid helium-4 is an attractive medium for high-sensitivity detection of dark matter (DM) candidates (as well as other particles). There are several collaborations that have built and tested superfluid helium detectors, particularly focusing on the sub-GeV DM mass range. In this paper we discuss a novel idea for detecting Axion (Anti)Quark Nuggets (AQN) by using parasitically the superfluid helium-4 LHC cooling system as a unique large-scale earth bound DM detector. In the case of the AQN, we address the question of propagation in the metal parts surrounding the helium. An AQN induces significant heating around the propagation track that damages the enclosure.
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All authors Zizhou Huang, Mihaela Parvu, Dmitry Budker, Ariel Zhitnitsky, Konstantin Zioutas

Soft Condensed Matter

Scalable Size- and Shape-Selective Purification of Colloidal Building Blocks via Excluded Volume Interactions

Thomas Kainz, Isobel McSweeney, Andrei-Micea Top et al. (+4 more)

Excluded-volume interactions, arising solely from steric constraints, play a crucial role in determining the structure, dynamics, and phase behaviour of colloidal suspensions. This is particularly important for non-spherical particles, where orientation-dependent effects also become significant. In this study, we employ depletion-driven phase separation to develop a scalable, size-selective method for purifying spherical and non-spherical colloidal clusters that exhibit an interplay of concave and convex surface areas. Phase diagrams of charge-stabilised polystyrene spheres ranging in size from 267 to 1008 nm demonstrate that the mixing-demixing transition occurs across a range of surfactant concentrations rather than at a single threshold. Taking advantage of this transition width enables the purification of a single component from binary mixtures at size ratios as low as 1.6 in a single step. When the same approach is applied to tetrameric colloidal clusters, these are enriched fifteenfold relative to uncoordinated spheres. Importantly, the efficiency of sorting depends not only on the effective size but also on the geometry of the aggregate. For instance, anisotropic, weakly fused clusters separate more efficiently than spherical aggregates because their concave surface curvature is reduced compared to unfused clusters. These findings establish excluded-volume-driven sorting as a practical and scalable route for purifying colloidal building blocks for hierarchical assembly.
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All authors Thomas Kainz, Isobel McSweeney, Andrei-Micea Top, Nicolas Bruder, David J. Pine, Andrea Dodero, Ullrich Steiner

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics

Exploring the long-term temporal variability in polarization through multi-epoch optical spectro-polarimetry - Part II: A sample of symbiotic and red-giant stars

Arijit Maiti, Ruchi Pandey, Sube Singh Gurjar et al. (+1 more)

Measuring polarization and its temporal variability in the continuum and across emission features provides a powerful probe of the small-scale circumstellar environments of astrophysical sources, on spatial scales otherwise inaccessible to direct imaging techniques. However, the photon-hungry nature of spectro-polarimetry has significantly limited the availability of such datasets in the literature. Here we present the results of a multi-epoch spectro-polarimetric survey of a sample of symbiotic and red giant stars. These observations were first conducted during the performance verification phase of a recently developed medium-resolution echelle spectro-polarimeter, named ProtoPol, mounted on the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) 2.5m telescope, Mt Abu, India. Considering the scarcity of such observing samples in the literature, the targets were re-observed over a period exceeding 26 months, from March 2024 to May 2026, in order to explore the time variability of their polarimetric measurements. Our sample comprises 6 symbiotic stars and 18 red giant stars. Our observations found that, unlike the Raman-scattered $\lambda \lambda$ 6830, 7088 angstrom features, the H$\alpha$ emission in most of the symbiotics did not exhibit any notable polarization signature. However, the continuum polarization of most symbiotics and red giants in the sample showed significant variation between observation epochs. The observations presented here constitute one of the rare multi-epoch spectro-polarimetric datasets spanning more than two years and should be of considerable interest to the broader astronomical community. This paper is Part-II of a two-part series of sample studies; corresponding results for Herbig Ae/Be and classical Be stars are presented in Part-I.
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All authors Arijit Maiti, Ruchi Pandey, Sube Singh Gurjar, Mudit K. Srivastava

Astrophysics of Galaxies

SIRIUS Project: Dynamical Evolution of Primordial Binaries during Star Cluster Formation

Naoto Harada, Michiko S. Fujii, Takayuki R. Saitoh et al. (+1 more)

Binary populations are closely linked to the star formation process; however, their primordial properties can be changed by subsequent dynamical interactions within their natal clusters. The aim of this study is to clarify how different primordial binary populations affect the evolution of multiplicity and the global structure of forming star clusters. We investigate the dynamical evolution of primordial binaries during star cluster formation using self-consistent Nbody/smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations that follow the collapse of a molecular cloud to a star cluster. We systematically compare three star formation models: close binary (CB), wide binary (WB), and single star (SS) formation model. In CB and WB models, the multiplicity fraction decreases with time due to dynamical interactions. In particular, the fraction in the WB model drops to a level comparable to that in the SS model. The multiplicity fraction of high-mass stars is similarly high in all models, whereas only the CB model shows a relatively high fraction for low-mass stars. Due to the assumption of equal-mass binary formation, the CB and WB models exhibit an excess at q= 1 in the mass-ratio distribution, while the SS model has no clear trend. Frequent few-body interactions generate distinct stellar populations inside and outside the cluster: the multiplicity fraction within the cluster is systematically higher, while mass functions in the outside have a shallower slope. Finally, stellar density profiles in the clusters are broadly similar among all models. The primordial binary population significantly affects the final binary properties, while having only a limited impact on their host cluster structures. Our results suggest that close binaries need to form at the star formation stage to reproduce the observed multiplicity fraction of low-mass stars and the excess of equal-mass binaries.
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All authors Naoto Harada, Michiko S. Fujii, Takayuki R. Saitoh, Yutaka Hirai

High Energy Physics (Experiment)

First measurement of kaonic deuterium X-ray transitions

Massimiliano Bazzi, Francesco Clozza, Carlo Guaraldo et al. (+38 more)

The study of the strong interaction among hadrons at low energies remains one of the key challenges in fundamental physics because of its non-perturbative nature, which makes theoretical descriptions strongly dependent on experimental input. Although substantial progress has been made for systems involving up and down quarks, theoretical models in the strangeness sector continue to face limitations due to the lack of experimental data. Kaonic atoms provide a powerful tool to study the low-energy strong interaction with strangeness through the energy shifts and widths induced on their lowest atomic levels. In this context, kaonic deuterium X-ray spectroscopy has long represented one of the major open challenges in hadronic-atom physics because of its extremely low X-ray yield. This measurement is particularly important because it gives access to the poorly constrained $K^-n$ interaction at threshold. Here, we report the first observation of kaonic deuterium X-ray transitions, performed with the SIDDHARTA-2 experiment at the DA$\Phi$NE collider. We determine the strong-interaction shift and width of the $1s$ level to be $\varepsilon_{1s}=-810.9\pm24.5\,(\mathrm{stat})\pm2.1\,(\mathrm{syst})\,\mathrm{eV}$ and $\Gamma_{1s}=812\pm97\,(\mathrm{stat})\pm33\,(\mathrm{syst})\,\mathrm{eV}$, respectively. This measurement constitutes the most precise experimental determination of the $K^-d$ strong interaction at threshold and allows discrimination among competing theoretical models. Combined with the kaonic hydrogen measurement, this result provides the experimental input required to determine the isospin-dependent $K^-N$ scattering lengths, with implications for the description of the nature of the molecular interpretation of the $\Lambda(1405)$, and neutron-rich matter.
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All authors Massimiliano Bazzi, Francesco Clozza, Carlo Guaraldo, Mihail Antoniu Iliescu, Alessandro Scordo, Francesco Sgaramella, Diana Sirghi, Florin Sirghi, Johann Zmeskal, Leonardo Abbene, Claude Amsler, Francesco Artibani, Giacomo Borghi, Damir Bosnar, Mario Bragadireanu, Antonino Buttacavoli, Marco Carminati, Alberto Clozza, Luca De Paolis, Raffaele Del Grande, Kamil Dulski, Carlo Fiorini, Ivica Friščić, Masa Iwasaki, Aleksander Khreptak, Simone Manti, Johann Marton, Catia Milardi, Pawel Moskal, Fabrizio Napolitano, Hiroaki Ohnishi, Kristian Piscicchia, Fabio Principato, Michał Silarski, Magdalena Skurzok, Antonio Spallone, Kairo Toho, Marlene Tüchler, Oton Vazquez Doce, Eberhard Widmann, Catalina Curceanu

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Synchrotron-Regulated Relativistic Magnetohydrodynamic Turbulence: Emission, Polarization, and Faraday Rotation

Xiaochen Sun, Luca Comisso, Lorenzo Sironi et al. (+2 more)

Relativistic magnetized plasmas in many high-energy astrophysical systems are both turbulent and strongly radiative, yet their nonlinear dynamics and radiative outcomes remain poorly understood. Here we present results from three-dimensional driven turbulence simulations in relativistic magnetohydrodynamics with synchrotron cooling. We compute Faraday rotation measures, synthetic synchrotron spectra and linear polarization maps from the simulated turbulence. The balance between energy injection from turbulent driving and synchrotron cooling keeps the plasma, on average, relativistically hot, thereby influencing the rotation measure. Synchrotron cooling triggers the thermal instability and drives the plasma into hot dilute and cold dense phases, which enhances the spatial and temporal variability of synchrotron emission, especially at high frequencies. These diagnostics show qualitative similarities to observations of fast radio bursts, pulsar wind nebulae, and blazars, suggesting that turbulence may play an important role in shaping emission and propagation effects around high-energy sources.
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All authors Xiaochen Sun, Luca Comisso, Lorenzo Sironi, Anatoly Spitkovsky, Alexander Philippov

Quantum Gases

Composite-Boson Ansatz for Fractional Quantum Hall Manifolds of Lattice Bosons at Generic Fillings $\nu<1/2$

Umut Can Turhan, A. Levent Subaş\i and Rifat Onur Umucal{\i}lar

Hofstadter systems provide a lattice route to fractional quantum Hall physics, but their low-energy manifolds often lack simple wave-function descriptions. Here we present a composite-boson ansatz for a broad family of finite-size lattice-split Laughlin-quasihole manifolds in the low-flux Hofstadter–Bose–Hubbard model on a torus at generic fillings \(\nu<1/2\). Attaching two vortices to each boson yields reduced-flux orbitals from which we construct a many-body trial basis. Its translation-resolved rank reproduces the expected low-energy-manifold dimension and provides a composite-boson interpretation of the established quasihole counting previously inferred from generalized exclusion rules and thin-torus arguments. For smaller systems, diagonalization within the lowest-band-projected ansatz span closely reproduces the exact projected spectrum, while variational Monte Carlo extends the rank and energetic analysis to larger systems for which explicit subspace construction becomes costly. To probe the fractional quantum Hall character of these manifolds, we calculate their many-body Chern-numbers and show that localized added-flux excitations exhibit quasihole-like behavior, with fractional density depletion and an Aharonov–Bohm-free braiding phase that both track the effective filling. Together, these results establish a microscopic composite-boson framework for organizing a broad family of sub-half-filled fractional quantum Hall manifolds of lattice bosons.
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Solar and Stellar Astrophysics

Exploring the long-term temporal variability in polarization through multi-epoch optical spectro-polarimetry - Part I: A sample of Herbig Ae/Be and classical Be stars

Arijit Maiti and Mudit K. Srivastava

Polarization signatures across emission line features, together with their temporal evolution, offer a powerful probe of the circumstellar environments of astrophysical sources, on spatial scales otherwise inaccessible to direct imaging techniques. However, the photon-hungry nature of spectro-polarimetry has significantly limited the availability of such datasets in the literature. This work reports a multi-epoch spectro-polarimetric monitoring campaign targeting a sample of Herbig Ae/Be and classical Be stars. The initial observations were obtained during the commissioning and performance-verification phase of ProtoPol, a recently developed medium-resolution echelle spectro-polarimeter mounted on the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) 2.5m telescope, Mt Abu, India. Given the limited number of comparable datasets available for this class of objects, follow-up observations of the same targets were carried out repeatedly over more than 28 months (December 2023-March 2026), enabling an investigation of the temporal behavior of their polarimetric properties. Our sample comprises 11 Herbig Ae/Be stars and 10 classical Be stars. Our observations found that, while the H$\alpha$ polarization remained relatively constant for the classical Be stars, they showed significant variability for most of the Herbig stars in the sample. The observations presented here constitute one of the rare multi-epoch spectro-polarimetric datasets spanning more than two years and should be of considerable interest to the broader astronomical community. This paper is Part-I of a two-part series of sample studies; corresponding results for symbiotic and red giant stars are presented in Part-II.
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