Disordered Systems and Neural Networks
Learning constructive models of emergent systems
Bipul Pandey, Caden Proctor, Vinay Ramanathan et al. (+2 more)
Emergent systems - systems with multiscale interactions - arise through iteration than forward design, leaving principles for building them under-explored. Current artificial intelligence architectures, while useful for generation, provide no logic for construction. Inspired by statistical phylogenetics, we show that inferring scales of system
entropy then constraining information from low to high entropic scales yields stepwise constructive models. We term this architecture the Layer-Restricted Boltzmann Machine (LRBM). Applied identically to digit images, natural
language, and enzyme sequences, LRBMs follow a common hierarchical logic: lower layers encode global structure, higher layers fine-grained features. As a stringent test, we assayed 160 synthetic chorismate mutase (CM) constructive trajectories alongside 1,130 natural homologs in vivo. Designed CMs functioned up to 53% divergent from nearest natural homolog. Fold emerged at intermediate layers while function required all layers, illustrating that fold was necessary but insufficient for function. Our results demonstrate a shared, learnable logic for constructing emergent systems.
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All authors Bipul Pandey, Caden Proctor, Vinay Ramanathan, Nico Roth, Arjun S. Raman
Optics
A compact low-frequency optomechanical triaxial inertial sensor
Daniel George, Jose D. Hernandez Rivero, Moritz Mehmet et al. (+5 more)
Triaxial optomechanical accelerometers offer compact, ground-testable alternatives to electrostatic sensors for satellite geodesy, seismometry, and various other applications. We demonstrate a low-CSWaP triaxial sensor using monolithic fused-silica resonators with dual heterodyne interferometric readout. The X axis reaches a 60~pico-g/$\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$ readout noise floor, and the in-plane axes resolve ambient seismic ground motion in agreement with a co-located commercial seismometer from 4~mHz to 8~Hz. The Z axis exhibits higher noise under $1g$ loading due to
gravity-induced
geometric stiffening (44.45~Hz versus 11.07~Hz in a 0g-equivalent configuration), with measurements indicating in-orbit performance on par with the in-plane sensors. These results support the feasibility of triaxial optomechanical accelerometry for space missions and ground-based applications.
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All authors Daniel George, Jose D. Hernandez Rivero, Moritz Mehmet, Ramses Miranda Espino, Xiangyu Guo, Andrea Nelson, Jose Sanjuan, Felipe Guzman
High Energy Physics (Experiment)
Search for anomalous couplings in WW and WZ production with single-lepton final states in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV
CMS Collaboration
A search for deviations from the standard model using an effective field theory approach is carried out using the
proton-
proton collision data set recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. In this study Wilson coefficients corresponding to dimension-six effective field theory operators that would lead to anomalous gauge
boson self-couplings and modified couplings between vector
bosons and
quarks are constrained. Diboson (WW and WZ) production processes with one W
boson decaying to a
lepton plus antineutrino or charge conjugate and the second W or Z
boson decaying hadronically are considered. Since the contribution from anomalous couplings is expected to be most visible at high energy scales, the focus is on final states where the hadronic decay products of a W or Z
boson are merged into a single large-radius jet. A dedicated classifier based on machine learning is employed to separate hadronic W and Z
boson decays from background processes. The most stringent constraints to date on the Wilson coefficients of operators corresponding to anomalous triple gauge
boson couplings are reported. The bounds set on the couplings between vector
bosons and
quarks are competitive with those from previous inclusive jet measurements.
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Lattice Field Theory
Searching for symmetric mass generation with staggered fermions in four dimensions
Nouman Butt, Simon Catterall, Gwen Hartshaw et al. (+1 more)
We conduct numerical simulations to map out the phase diagram and critical behavior of a
lattice Higgs model composed of two massless staggered
fermion fields forming a doublet under a global $SU(2)$ and coupled to a scalar field in the adjoint representation of the group. The scalar action consists of a potential comprising quadratic and quartic terms and a scalar kinetic term. At fixed quartic coupling we explore a two-dimensional parameter space finding a massless symmetric phase at weak coupling and a massive symmetric phase (SMG phase) at strong coupling. An intermediate anti-
ferromagnetic phase separates these two regimes. These results are consistent with leading order weak and strong coupling expansions. We find that the critical lines bounding the intermediate phase merge at a unique point where all
fermion bilinear condensates vanish but
fermion susceptibilities diverge as non-trivial powers of the
lattice size. We
conjecture that this merged point corresponds to a multicritical point and may describe a phase consisting of a condensate of certain topological defects.
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All authors Nouman Butt, Simon Catterall, Gwen Hartshaw, Anna Hasenfratz
Instrumentation and Detectors
Transferable Fast Calorimeter Shower Generation via Multi-Geometry Pre-training
Thorsten Buss, Henry Day-Hall, Frank Gaede et al. (+4 more)
Detailed Geant4 simulation of calorimeter showers dominates the computing budget of high-energy physics experiments. Deep generative surrogates reduce this cost, but they have remained tied to the detector they were trained on, so each new geometry needs a large in-domain
dataset. We study whether a single point cloud shower generator can be pre-trained on multiple detectors and transferred to unseen calorimeters. The pre-training geometries come from synthetic
geometric variation rather than real-detector data. We introduce SimpleBox, a family of $10^4$ box calorimeters spanning the plane of sampling fraction and longitudinal
segmentation, and
benchmark it against pre-training on realistic detectors. On a calorimeter unseen in pre-training, with $10^3$ target showers for fine-tuning, the two priors reduce the aggregated sliced Wasserstein distance to Geant4 by factors of 5.2 (synthetic) and 8.0 (realistic) relative to training from scratch. At larger target sizes the synthetic prior performs better than the realistic one.
Geometric diversity alone is therefore a practical way to pre-train a transferable shower generator.
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All authors Thorsten Buss, Henry Day-Hall, Frank Gaede, Gregor Kasieczka, Katja Krüger, Peter McKeown, Lorenzo Valente
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Testing MOND-like modifications to gravity using growth-rate measurements and one-loop corrections to the matter power spectrum
Gabriel Hartmann, Emanuelly Silva and Rafael C. Nunes
We develop a perturbative framework for structure formation in a broad class of MOND-like theories characterized by a generalized nonlinear Poisson equation. We derive the modified
evolution equations governing matter perturbations and obtain the corresponding linear growth equation, extending the analysis into the mildly nonlinear regime through one-loop corrections to the matter power spectrum. Beyond the theoretical framework, we perform a cosmological analysis based on two phenomenological scenarios: one parametrized by a quantity controlling the degree of nonlinearity in the generalized Poisson equation, and another describing the interplay between the MOND acceleration scale and the cosmological acceleration associated with the background expansion. We constrain these scenarios using recent measurements of the growth rate of structure, $f\sigma_8$, DESI-DR2
baryon acoustic oscillation data, and Type Ia
supernova compilations. We find no statistically significant evidence for departures from the standard $\Lambda$CDM cosmology. The inferred constraints are fully consistent with the GR + $\Lambda$CDM scenario within the current observational uncertainties. At nonlinear scales, we note that MOND-like modifications can alter $P_{\rm NL}(k)$ and leave signatures that current and future high-precision large-scale-structure observations may probe. Our results establish a systematic connection between MOND-like gravitational dynamics and large-scale structure observations, providing a consistent framework to assess the phenomenological viability of MOND-inspired modifications of
gravity in a cosmological context.
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Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Mapping the Information Geometry of an Unresolved Dark Matter Population using a Differentiable Strong Lensing Simulator
Alexandre Adam
Strong gravitational
lensing is a unique probe of the matter power spectrum on small scales, where the abundance of dark matter subhalos in
galaxies could be used to distinguish the predictions of the concordance cold dark matter model from alternatives such as warm dark matter. Extracting this signal poses major computational challenges, since perturbations of the
lensing potential induced by substructure can be degenerate with both the macro-model of the lens and highly flexible models of the background source. Here, we introduce a framework to quantify these degeneracies using a differentiable strong-
lensing simulator. Substructure is represented in a spectral basis confined to an annular domain surrounding the lensed image, allowing signals from a population of NFW subhalos to be encoded in a finite vector space. We then use the Fisher
matrix to determine how much information about substructure is absorbed by nuisance components of the model. We find that macro-model degeneracies are largely confined to low-order perturbations of the
lensing potential, while degeneracies with the source model can strongly suppress sensitivity across a broad range of scales as the expressivity of the source model is increased. Finally, we introduce the Fisher Graph
Laplacian prior as a diagnostic tool to study how the internal degeneracies of the source model can be used to regulate the sensitivity of the data to an unresolved population of dark matter subhalos.
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Quantum Physics
Symmetric $N \to M$ telecloning and remote quantum state inference
Adam G. Hawkins, Hannah McAleese and Hyukjoon Kwon
Teleporting unknown
quantum states between distant nodes of a network is a significant feature of
quantum communication. Few studies, however, have been conducted on $N \to M$ telecloning, in which $N$ copies of an unknown
quantum state are optimally teleported to $M \geq N$ receivers. Previous work requires global POVMs on all copies and auxiliaries; here, we show that symmetric $N \to M$ telecloning can be probabilistically performed using only sequential (or parallel) Bell state measurements (BSMs), allowing the copies to be spatially separated. When successful, the fidelity of each receiver's reduced state saturates the bound imposed by the no-cloning
theorem, with the probability of success being independent of $M$. In the case of an `unsuccessful' BSM, we show that the teleportation fidelity is likely to remain high, with the measurement outcome also providing information about the closest Pauli eigenbasis to the unknown state being telecloned. In this sense, each receiver can remotely infer the unknown
quantum state with a level of confidence that scales with the number of copies, even if the fidelity of their own reduced state is sub-optimal. We additionally analyze the required resources to ensure the classical-communication fidelity bound is surpassed, both in terms of two-
qubit inseparability and varying classes of multipartite
entanglement. Surprisingly, we uncover that, at a given iteration of the protocol, pairwise
entanglement is not always necessary to increase the teleportation fidelity and is never required to beat the classical bound for $N \geq 2$.
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Astrophysics of Galaxies
Automated Assignment and Prediction of Molecules in Astronomical Line Surveys Using Machine-Learning-Based Chemical Embeddings
Zachary T. P. Fried, Ryan A. Loomis, Jes K. Jørgensen et al. (+6 more)
Modern
radio telescopes generate vast amounts of observational data, offering valuable insights into the molecular composition of interstellar sources. Identifying the molecules within these
datasets typically involves time-consuming and labor-intensive manual analysis. This paper presents an automated method for assigning molecules in interstellar line surveys. The
algorithm operates in two main stages. First, it automatically determines key parameters of the data, including excitation temperature, line width, and source velocity. Next, it assigns the observed spectral peaks by evaluating the spectroscopic match of the molecular candidates along with analyzing their chemical relevance to the interstellar source. The chemical relevance is determined by leveraging machine-learning-based molecular
embedding techniques to analyze the regions of chemical space occupied by the observed species. Following the line assignment, this information is then used to generate new molecular candidates that occupy the same regions of chemical space. These newly generated species serve as promising targets for further investigation in the observational data. The
algorithm was validated on spectral line surveys of the dark molecular cloud TMC-1 and the
star-forming region IRAS 16293-2422B. In both cases, it identified at least 67 molecular species, accounting for over 90 percent of the analyzed line intensity, in 17 minutes or less while maintaining a high level of accuracy.
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All authors Zachary T. P. Fried, Ryan A. Loomis, Jes K. Jørgensen, Andrew Lipnicky, Ci Xue, Gabi Wenzel, Thomas H. Speak, Michael C. McCarthy, Brett A. McGuire
Atomic Physics
Probing the electroweak structure of nuclei with rare atoms and molecules
Silviu-Marian Udrescu, Antoine Belley, Jason D. Holt et al. (+2 more)
Precision experiments of atoms and molecules have become a powerful probe of the electroweak structure of atomic
nuclei and of physics beyond the Standard Model. We review how the interaction between a
nucleus and its surrounding bound electrons can be exploited to precisely measure the electromagnetic, parity-violating, and CP-violating properties of
nuclei and their fundamental constituents. We focus on rare, unstable isotopes, surveying the experimental techniques and facilities developed in recent years that have extended these measurements to the most exotic regions of the
nuclear chart. Recent advances in the precision control and interrogation of single molecules, together with direct
laser excitation of
nuclear transitions, are opening new frontiers in
nuclear and particle physics. At the same time, progress in
nuclear theory, machine learning, and high-performance computing is strengthening the connection between our microscopic description of nature and laboratory observables. In many cases, the precision with which
nuclear and particle physics properties can be extracted is now limited not by experiment, but by the molecular, atomic, or
nuclear theory required to interpret the measurements. This challenge presents a major opportunity for combined theoretical and experimental advances that will enable future discoveries.
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All authors Silviu-Marian Udrescu, Antoine Belley, Jason D. Holt, Gilad Perez, Ronald F. Garcia Ruiz
High Energy Physics (Theory)
Five-point spinor-helicity Compton amplitudes in gauge theory and gravity
Raikhik Das and Mao Zeng
We calculate the five-point tree-level Compton amplitudes for minimally coupled spinning matter in gauge theory and
gravity in the massive spinor-helicity formalism, using BCFW recursion and KLT relations. The results are written in terms of symmetrized spinor products and are simultaneously valid for a range of matter
spins, which directly generalizes the amplitudes of Arkani-Hamed, Huang, and Huang to the five-point case. Unlike the three- and four-point cases, each amplitude can be a sum of two or more distinct
spin structures. Spurious poles are manifestly canceled through a mechanism that holds for all massive
spins $s\leq 1$ in gauge theory and $s\leq 2$ in
gravity. While we keep the amplitudes exact, their classical limits are expected to be relevant for binary systems of Kerr black holes in the post-Minkowskian expansion.
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General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
Causal structure and light-conical singularities in Lorentzian simplicial quantum gravity
Bianca Dittrich and José Padua-Argüelles
The definition of a Lorentzian gravitational path integral requires specifying which causal struc- tures are admitted off shell. Of particular importance are light-conical singularities, codimension- two irregularities of the light cone structure that render the gravitational action complex and can therefore lead to exponential enhancement or suppression of configurations. We investigate the prevalence and structure of such singularities in Lorentzian Regge
gravity. We develop an efficient
algorithm for randomly generating realizable Regge geometries satisfying the generalized triangle inequalities, and use it to sample the configuration space of four-dimensional triangulations. We find that light-conical singularities are generic: for bones shared by many four-simplices, configurations with irregular light cone structure overwhelmingly dominate, with trouser-type singularities gen- erally entropically favored. Restrictions on the causal character of subsimplices, such as requiring all tetrahedra to be spacelike, can substantially alter these statistics. We further show that both yarmulke- and, in four dimensions, trouser-type singularities can occur on unbounded regions of configuration space associated with simple refinement moves. Beyond light-conical singularities, we analyze the causal structure of Lorentzian triangulations more generally, for example by introducing the notion of pairwise embeddable chrono-
topologies and a set of discrete causality data. Our re- sults demonstrate that causal irregularities are an intrinsic and abundant feature of the unrestricted Lorentzian Regge configuration space, sharpening the question of which causality conditions should be imposed in Regge
gravity,
spin-foam models, and ultimately the continuum gravitational path integral.
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Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
Radiation damage to the Hubble Space Telescope has been several years out of phase with the Solar cycle
Gavin Leroy, Juan Paolo Lorenzo Gerardo Barrios, Maximilian von Wietersheim-Kramsta et al. (+8 more)
As well as obtaining beautiful images of the Universe, the Hubble Space
Telescope's CCD detectors are sensitive radiation dosimeters that have been monitored in Low Earth Orbit for more than 24 years. The rate of radiation damage they received has varied over each
Solar cycle, but several years out of phase with the appearance of sunspots or coronal mass ejections. We investigate functional forms that successfully fit the time series of damage to
telescopes elsewhere in the
Solar system. We obtain remarkably accurate fits to Hubble data but with physically absurd parameter values. During image post-processing, such fits can be used empirically, to correct more than 99.5% of the radiation damage's effect on image quality. However, fits to the time series with physically reasonable parameters produce worse performance. Our results highlight the diversity of radiation environments in different parts of our
Solar system, and the complexity of Low Earth Orbit in particular. Our results also motivate continued monitoring of radiation damage to currently operational spacecraft, to more reliably predict the rate of degradation in (and useful lifespan of) future missions.
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All authors Gavin Leroy, Juan Paolo Lorenzo Gerardo Barrios, Maximilian von Wietersheim-Kramsta, Richard Massey, Richard G. Hayes, Jacob A. Kegerreis, David Lagattuta, Zane D. Lentz, James W. Nightingale, Jesper Skottfelt, Felix Vecchi
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
A more general exact solution for the Schwarzschild black hole in a Bertotti-Robinson-Bonnor-Melvin universe
Andrea Di Pinto
We begin by introducing a new parameterization for the Ovcharenko-Podolský family of exact solutions of the Einstein-Maxwell equations describing uncharged and non-accelerating static black holes immersed in an external Bertotti-Robinson electromagnetic field. The new spacetime is, in general, different from the original Ovcharenko-Podolský one, in particular on the branches solving the field equations, for which the original parameterization can lead to black holes with a negative mass, whereas the new one always leads to black holes with a positive mass. Moreover, by introducing additional gauge constants, we remove the various pathologies and ensure consistency with the laws of black hole thermodynamics. We then obtain a new family of Einstein-Maxwell solutions by generalizing this new parameterization, through Harrison transformation within the Ernst method, to also include an external electromagnetic field of the Bonnor-Melvin type. We again identify the appropriate gauge constants required to remove the possible pathologies and ensure that the resulting solutions satisfy the laws of black hole thermodynamics. Finally, we investigate the
vacuum subcase of the new family and establish its relation to previously known metrics.
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Astrophysics of Galaxies
Quasar Impostors: Two Extremely UV-Bright ($M_{\rm UV}\approx-23.5$) Reionisation-Epoch Galaxies Powered by Very Massive Stars
Daming Yang, Joseph F. Hennawi, Sarah E. I. Bosman et al. (+20 more)
The extreme bright end of the
galaxy UV luminosity function during reionisation remains poorly constrained, particularly where the
galaxy and
quasar luminosity functions overlap and source classification becomes ambiguous. We present JWST/NIRSpec and ALMA Band-6 observations of J1450-0144 ($z=6.627$) and J1429-0104 ($z=6.796$), two $M_{\rm UV}\simeq-23.5$ sources originally classified as faint
quasars by SHELLQs. NIRSpec reveals blue UV continua, strong P Cygni profiles in N V, Si IV, and C IV, broad He II $\lambda1640$ emission with rest-frame equivalent widths of $8.8\pm1.2$ and $3.7\pm1.1$ Å, respectively, and narrow nebular lines, reclassifying both as extremely UV-luminous
galaxies. Standard population-synthesis models cannot simultaneously reproduce the strong He II and wind features, whereas models incorporating very massive
stars (VMS; $M\gtrsim100\,M_\odot$) with dedicated wind prescriptions can. These models favor a
star-formation duration of 2-4 Myr for J1450-0144, with a broader allowed range for J1429-0104,
stellar masses of $\log(M_\star/M_\odot)\approx9.2$-$9.9$, and
star-formation rates of $\simeq300$-$540\,M_\odot\,{\rm yr}^{-1}$. Under the same VMS wind models, equivalent-width diagnostics imply $M_{\rm up}\gtrsim225\,M_\odot$ for J1429-0104, while J1450-0144 lies beyond even the $M_{\rm up}=475\,M_\odot$ grid. ALMA detects luminous [C II] 158 $\mu$m emission in both systems, with $L_{\rm [CII]}\approx0.8$ and $4.1\times10^{9}\,L_\odot$, respectively. J1429-0104 additionally shows bright
dust continuum, with both [C II] and
dust offset by $\sim5.4$ kpc from its UV emission. These sources demonstrate that VMS can power some of the most UV-luminous
galaxies at
cosmic dawn and show that source classifications, and hence the inferred demographics of both
galaxies and
quasars in the crossover regime, need revisiting.
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All authors Daming Yang, Joseph F. Hennawi, Sarah E. I. Bosman, Frederick B. Davies, Rychard Bouwens, Timo Kist, Eduardo Bañados, Jiamu Huang, Alice E. Shapley, Marianne Vestergaard, Hiddo S. B. Algera, Silvia Belladitta, Anna-Christina Eilers, Xiaohui Fan, Francesco Guarneri, Xiangyu Jin, Romain A. Meyer, Elia Pizzati, Huub Röttgering, Jan-Torge Schindler, Mauro Stefanon, Feige Wang, Jinyi Yang
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Recurrent Multi-year Mg II BAL Variability in SDSS J1333+0012
M. Vivek, P. Aromal, R. Srianand et al. (+3 more)
We present a long-term spectroscopic study of Broad Absorption Line (BAL) variability in the
quasar J1333+0012 (\zem = 0.9197) using an extensive multi-epoch
dataset spanning nearly two decades. The
dataset comprises multi-epoch observations from multiple observatories, delivering nearly uniform temporal coverage of the Mg II BAL profile, with close to one spectroscopic observation per year spanning the period from 2008 to 2025. We identify recurrent multi-year variability in the BAL absorption strength, characterized by a rest-frame timescale of $\sim$4 yr. Because the well-sampled baseline covers only a small number of candidate cycles, we present J1333+0012 as a candidate quasi-periodic BAL system. In contrast, contemporaneous optical photometric light curves from CRTS, Pan-STARRS, ZTF, and PTF show no statistically significant correlated variability on comparable timescales. However, ionization-driven variability cannot be ruled out, as the observed optical continuum does not directly trace the unobserved extreme-UV ionizing continuum. The coherence of the variability across distinct velocity components, coupled with the absence of large-scale profile reshaping, is consistent with a
geometric origin. We interpret the observed behavior as modulation of the line-of-sight absorption by the rotation of an inhomogeneous shielding-gas structure.
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All authors M. Vivek, P. Aromal, R. Srianand, K.A. Anjali, S. C. Gallagher, Rachana
High Energy Physics (Theory)
$\mathbb{R}$eal Ambitwistors & Massive Twistors for CFT$_4$
Aswini Bala, Sachin Jain, Deep Mazumdar et al. (+1 more)
We develop a real twistor-space formulation of four-dimensional CFT Wightman correlators. We write the conformal generators and little-group constraints in ambitwistor space. The quadric condition $Z\cdot W$=0 arises naturally from the little-group constraints. We then solve for both the parity-even and parity-odd correlators in the ambitwistor variables. We further establish the connection between the ambitwistor correlators and the ones in the helicity-basis Grassmannian via a half-
Fourier transform, and also develop the Penrose transform to recover the corresponding position-space correlators. We notice that for correlators with multiple tensor structures, the Penrose transform yields the full space of conformally invariant structures, but regularizing the associated Schwinger integrals selects the physical correlator. Finally, starting from the covariant Grassmannian formulation, we construct massive twistors that make the little-group
symmetries manifest and develop their Penrose transform, which again reproduces the correct position-space correlators.
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All authors Aswini Bala, Sachin Jain, Deep Mazumdar, Adithya A Rao
High Energy Physics (Theory)
The $\mathcal{N}=4$ Bethe Ansatz beyond $\mathrm{SU}(N)$
Marco Fazzi and Kuba Krawczyk
We solve the Bethe Ansatz equations (BAEs) to evaluate the superconformal index of four-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=4$ super-Yang–Mills with rank-two gauge
algebra, at equal angular momentum fugacities $p=q$. The solutions for $A_2$ are known, and those for $D_2\cong A_1\oplus A_1$ follow readily from the (equally known) $A_1$ ones. The first genuinely new case is $B_2\cong C_2$, for which we obtain the complete solution set in closed form; for the exceptional case $G_2$ our results are numerical, with a single fully rational solution obtained in closed form. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time any solution, analytic or numerical, has been found in non-$A$-type gauge
algebra (for $\mathcal{N}=4$ or any other $\mathcal{N}=1$ theory). Along the way we uncover several phenomena absent in type $A$: isolated Weyl-fixed solutions contributing nontrivially to the index; isolated solutions in which at most half of the holonomies have rational coefficients (in contrast with the $A$-type fully rational Hong–Liu family); and solutions whose $|\omega|\to0$ limit (with $p=q=:e^{2\pi i\omega}$) evades assumptions standardly made in the Cardy-like limit literature, landing on saddles that the usual analysis does not capture, for all types $BC\!D$. We also clarify the Bethe origin of the finite logarithmic correction to the Cardy expansion: it arises from the orbit size of a BAE solution under the gauge
symmetries of the equations, rather than from the one-form center
symmetry of the theory, to which the index is insensitive.
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
A deep learning algorithm for black hole spin estimation using hot-spot secondary images
Aristomenis I. Yfantis and Rami Al-Belmpeisi
Sagittarius A* exhibits frequent flaring activity across the electromagnetic spectrum that is often associated with a localized region of strong emission known as a hot spot. We aim to train a deep learning model to provide a link between key parameters of this phenomenon - hot-spot emission radius, and black hole inclination and
spin - to the observed angle difference between the primary and secondary image ($\Delta PA$) that present and future interferometric arrays could resolve. Using the general relativistic radiative transfer code IPOLE, we generated a library of $\sim100.000$ models with varying system parameters and computed the position angle difference on the image plane between the primary and secondary images of the hot spot. We explore equatorial and non-equatorial circular orbits and evaluate our models against approximate observational constraints, including partial-orbit visibility and observational errors. Our
algorithm STIHOS shows remarkable accuracy in calculating
spin and inclination from the majority of the observational tests we perform ($\sigma_{a_*}=0.04,\,\sigma_i=2^{\circ}$), even in extreme conditions where only half of the orbit is visible. The off-equatorial estimation provides softer constraints in the absence of prior information. Our results demonstrate the importance of hot-spot observations for spacetime estimations. Given the increasing efforts to detect the
photon-ring, our framework could prove valuable in interpreting the first observations of lensed emission.
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
The fraction of periodic SN Ib/c light curves
Asaf Horowicz, Eran O. Ofek and Avishay Gal-Yam
Periodic luminosity modulations have been recently identified for the stripped-envelope
supernovae SN 2022jli and SN 2022esa, motivating a systematic search for a similar behavior in a larger sample. Such modulations may indicate the explosions arise in binary progenitor systems. We perform the first systematic search for periodic modulation in a sample of 34 Type Ib/c
supernovae with high quality photometry from the Zwicky Transient Facility. We develop and apply a statistically rigorous pipeline for detecting periodic modulation in light curves. The pipeline successfully recovers the previously reported periodic undulations of SN 2022jli and SN 2022esa, and identifies SN 2020sgf as an additional promising periodic candidate. Injection-recovery simulations are used to quantify the survey sensitivity as a function of period and modulation amplitude. Comparing the observed detections with recent population synthesis models shows that, under the adopted assumptions, models predicting intrinsic periodic fractions of order ~20% are consistent with the observations. Our results suggest that periodically modulated SN 2022jli-like events may represent a significant sub-population of stripped-envelope
supernovae rather than being exceptionally rare events, while demonstrating a methodology suitable for future wide-field transient surveys.
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Physics Education
Teaching Quantum Design Automation with Block-Based Programming
Damian Rovara and Robert Wille
As
quantum circuits grow beyond small toy examples, preparing them for execution on physical devices becomes increasingly complex. Design automation is therefore essential for scalable
quantum computing: Compilation procedures optimize resource requirements and transform
circuits to a format compatible with specific hardware; resource estimation evaluates execution cost; verification methods prove
circuit correctness. However, these concepts present a steep learning curve for novices, particularly when
quantum circuits are introduced through low-level textual representations. To address this, we present a block-based programming framework for
quantum design automation, implemented as an extension to the Scratch programming platform. This system allows users to build
quantum circuits as a sequence of blocks and embed them in classical control logic to perform evaluations, compare simulation results, and directly apply different design automation techniques. We evaluated the approach in a user study with computer science students, who completed guided exercises using the platform and provided structured feedback in the form of self-reports and short knowledge assessments. Results demonstrate strong understanding and confidence in
quantum design automation concepts, suggesting that the block-based approach successfully lowers the entry barrier to
quantum design automation. The implemented framework is open-source and available at https://github.com/munich-
quantum-toolkit/scratch-
quantum.
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High Energy Physics (Theory)
A generating functional for infrared-safe QED amplitudes
Martin Ammon, Konrad Brandts, Federico Capone et al. (+1 more)
We construct a generating functional for infrared-finite scattering amplitudes in massive
quantum electrodynamics (QED) by including Faddeev-Kulish dressings in a holomorphic coherent-state representation, in the spirit of the construction of Aref'eva-Faddeev-Slavnov (AFS) for the undressed Dyson S-
matrix. At tree level, the dressed generating functional reduces to an AFS path integral with dressed boundary conditions.
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All authors Martin Ammon, Konrad Brandts, Federico Capone, Jakob Hollweck
High Energy Physics (Phenomenology)
Towards Quantum-Dot Detectors as Barcodes for Dark Matter Interactions
Marek Matas, Andrea Gallo Rosso, Antonio Cammarata et al. (+6 more)
Quantum dots are tunable
semiconductor nanocrystals that can be produced at industrial scales. We present the first ab initio calculation of the scattering of dark matter on electrons bound in
quantum dots. The momentum-dependence of a
quantum dot's electronic response depends on its morphology and on the dark matter mass, interaction operator, mediator coupling, and mediator mass. Therefore, the relative rates across an array of distinct
quantum dot targets form a “barcode” that carries information about the nature of the dark matter interaction. We project the sensitivity of a detector concept in which a collection of independent target subunits, each loaded with silicon
quantum dots of a particular morphology, are read out by Skipper CCDs. Given a future signal, this barcode could discriminate between interaction operators and mediator types. We quantify the discrimination power for a
benchmark pair of models as a function of readout noise and exposure.
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All authors Marek Matas, Andrea Gallo Rosso, Antonio Cammarata, Nora Hoch, Carlos Blanco, Jan Conrad, Rouven Essig, Tim Linden, Lindley Winslow
High Energy Physics (Phenomenology)
On the Origins of Varying Gauge Couplings
Carlos Henrique de Lima, David McKeen, David E. Morrissey et al. (+1 more)
Variations in the gauge couplings of the Standard Model have been searched for experimentally and proposed as solutions to open questions in fundamental physics. Varying gauge couplings can arise from a dynamical scalar field coupled to the gauge kinetic term. This mechanism has been invoked extensively, assuming a minimal linear coupling of the scalar to the gauge
bosons. In this work, we investigate how this operator is generated from the ultraviolet perspective. We argue that in weakly coupled, renormalizable completions in four spacetime dimensions, gauge invariance forces the leading dependence of the effective gauge coupling on the scalar to be logarithmic rather than linear. The gauge coupling
evolution in these scenarios can be entirely described by the renormalization-group running with dynamical mass thresholds. Beyond leading order or four dimensions, we provide examples showing that more general behavior is possible. Finally, we discuss the phenomenological implications of dynamically evolving gauge couplings, particularly in early-universe settings.
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All authors Carlos Henrique de Lima, David McKeen, David E. Morrissey, Michael Shamma
High Energy Physics (Theory)
Nonrelativistic Conformal Collider Physics of Multiparticle Point Production
Cyuan-Han Chang, Subham Dutta Chowdhury, Ian Moult et al. (+1 more)
We define detector operators in the nonrelativistic conformal field theory describing
fermions at unitarity. We reduce the problem of computing the momentum distribution and correlation between final particles produced by a local source ("point-produced") to the computation of correlation functions involving the detector operators. The general formalism is applied to the point production of three
unitary fermions, where we find the momentum and angular distribution of final particles. We discuss a nonrelativistic version of celestial holography, which maps the asymptotic out-state to a
quantum wave function in the so-called "oscillator frame."
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All authors Cyuan-Han Chang, Subham Dutta Chowdhury, Ian Moult, Dam Thanh Son
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
The impact of recombination during tidal disruption events
Simona Pacuraru, Clément Bonnerot and Martin E. Pessah
During a
tidal disruption event, the resulting debris stream cools down adiabatically due to the
tidal stretching. As the temperature drops, the gas is expected to undergo chemical processes, which can release thermal energy into the stream, potentially affecting the subsequent gas
evolution. For the first time, we investigate in detail this effect and its dynamical impact on the early-time
evolution of the stream by making use of three dimensional hydrodynamic simulations coupled with a realistic equation of state. We find that a few days after disruption, the energy injected by hydrogen recombination and molecular hydrogen formation causes the stream thickness to grow much more rapidly. In the bound debris, this effect stops the stream's confinement by self-
gravity before the gas reaches apocentre. As a result, the maximum stream thickness increases by a factor that ranges from a few, for the most bound gas, to a few tens for the near-
parabolic gas, reaching $\approx 30 \, R_{\star} $ around the peak of the mass fallback rate. We discuss how this accelerated stream expansion may affect the subsequent
evolution of the gas, estimate the luminosity powered by recombination in the unbound debris, and evaluate the potential influence of non-ideal magneto-hydrodynamic effects. By characterizing the thermodynamic and hydrodynamic properties of the stream before its return near pericentre, our results provide physically motivated initial conditions to self-consistently model the later stages of
tidal disruption events, offering a promising pathway to unveiling the physical origins of their observed emission.
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Heating Up the Black Hole X-ray Binary Accretion Disk by Superradiance
Antonios Kyriazis, Fengwei Yang and Siyu Zhou
A superradiant cloud of ultralight
axions around a black hole, that is part of an X-ray binary system, can heat up its
accretion disk and be detected by the thermal X-ray spectrum emitted by the disk. We consider a derivative coupling of the
axions to the
plasma fermions and calculate the emissivity of the inverse bremsstrahlung process that results in a temperature fluctuation of the disk. Based on the thin-disk model and the multicolor disk model, we derive the thermal spectrum with
axion heating, which shows an enhanced thermal
photon flux and a red-/blue- shifted peak spectral frequency. A single bump hunting search of the
axion heating signature in the thermal spectrum of a $10M_\odot$ black hole X-ray binary with a spectral measurement sensitivity of 10% (1%) can derive the constraint on
axion-electron coupling $|g_{ae}|\gtrsim7.5\times 10^{-12} ~(2.4 \times 10^{-12})$ for
axion mass $m_a=5.2\times 10^{-12}\,$eV in a saturated $|211\rangle$ state, and $|g_{ae}|\gtrsim4.5\times 10^{-12} ~(1.4 \times 10^{-12})$ for
axion mass $m_a=1.0\times10^{-11}\,$eV in a saturated $|322\rangle$ state. The projected sensitivities are competitive with those from XENONnT. A detailed continuum fitting can further improve the detectability and provide a complementary bound to the black hole
spin-down measurement.
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Strongly Correlated Electrons
Chern insulator boundary criticality
Benjamin Moy and Eduardo Fradkin
We investigate signatures of chirality at Chern
insulator transitions in the presence of a boundary. The transition between a trivial
insulator and a Chern
insulator with Chern number $C=1$ is described by a massless Dirac
fermion whose parity anomaly gives a critical
Hall conductivity $\sigma_{xy}=\frac{1}{2}\frac{e^2}{h}$. Using a Dirac mass domain wall construction, we show that the
chiral edge mode delocalizes into the bulk at criticality, but the boundary
fermion correlation function retains a
chiral structure and acquires the scaling dimension of the bulk
fermion. We compute current correlation functions and demonstrate that the anomaly of the bulk
Hall response is matched by delocalized
chiral modes near the boundary. Using only the residual conformal
symmetry of a (2+1)d conformal field theory (CFT) in a half-space, we identify parity-odd terms in current and energy-momentum tensor correlation functions that encode these modes and determine their electromagnetic and gravitational anomaly coefficients. Our analysis therefore applies to general time-reversal breaking (2+1)d CFTs, beyond the free Dirac transition. In particular, the analysis of the gravitational anomaly is also applicable to the free Majorana CFT governing the transition between a trivial
superconductor and a topological
superconductor. We also extend our results to more general Chern number changing transitions and to the transition between a (3+1)d topological
insulator and a trivial
insulator.
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
The Mass Function of Neutron Stars from Core-Collapse Supernova Simulations
Waly M Z Karim, Adam Burrows, David Vartanyan et al. (+2 more)
Using the mapping between progenitor core structure and the gravitational mass of
neutron stars derived from sophisticated 3D
supernova simulations, we determine the theoretical mass distribution of
neutron stars at birth and compare it with
neutron star mass function measurements. In the process, we explore the effects of islands of black hole formation and subsequent mass
accretion. We show that
supernova theory can explain the observed
neutron star mass function from its lower-mass peak near $\sim$1.35 $M_{\odot}$ to its higher-mass tail. Moreover, the lower predicted kick speeds expected during the birth of lower-mass
neutron stars and the higher expected kick speeds expected on average for higher mass
neutron stars both sculpt the observed mass function in desired directions. The upshot of all these influences is to imprint upon the measured
neutron star mass function features that reflect the varied physics of both
neutron star origins and the
neutron-
star/black-hole dichotomy. Very approximately, we derive a black hole birth fraction of $\sim$21%. In summary, we suggest that
supernova theory can now be used to explain, however provisionally, various measured attributes of the population of compact objects and that an era of productive engagement between
supernova theory and observation is at hand.
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All authors Waly M Z Karim, Adam Burrows, David Vartanyan, Anthony Fisher, James Burry
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Supernova remnant 0509-67.5 is consistent with an explosion inside an old planetary nebula (SNIP)
Noam Soker
I critically examine claims in the paper arXiv:2608.11978 that the double-detonation (DDet) scenario explains the type Ia
supernova (SN Ia) remnant (SNR Ia) SNR 0509-67.5, and find the arguments supporting the DDet scenario weak; hence, I reiterate my claim that the core-degenerate (CD) scenario, where a lonely white
dwarf (WD), which is the merger product of a lower-mass WD and the core of an asymptotic
giant branch
star, exploded inside an old planetary nebula, i.e., an SNIP, best explains SNR 0509-67.5. I find that the flat edge of the SNR in the north-northeast, which in the DDet scenario is due to a shadow by the companion to the WD that exploded, is not unique in this SNR, and that the circumstellar matter, i.e., an old planetary nebula, shaped this edge, as well as other structures on the edge of this SNR. I emphasize that analyses of SNRs Ia and SNe Ia at late stages must consider the claim that most normal SNe Ia are SNIPs, implying that old planetary nebulae can heavily shape their morphologies. The bulk velocity inferred from an iron emission line in SNR 0509-67.5, which the DDet explosion attributes to the orbital motion of the exploding WD around its companion, can be an outcome of the explosion of a near-Chandrasekhar lonely WD; an off-center delayed-detonation transition explosion can form asymmetrical nucleosynthesis, while leading to a bulk motion of nickel that decays to iron. I repeat my claim that the CD scenario of a SNIP is the most likely scenario for SNR 0509-67.5.
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