Papers

We present a local geometry refinement method and a 2D latent representation that took us to the top of the ConStellaration leaderboard on the geometric task in May 2026.

In this paper, we introduce a generalized framework for star products that preserve associativity while not necessarily obeying the canonical commutation relations. Within this framework, we formulate the augmented star product and investigate the associated augmented star exponentials. We further demonstrate several applications of these constructions to special functions and to problems arising in quantum physics.

Spin-boson models are paradigmatic examples of open quantum systems and serve as the theoretical paradigm for current quantum computers based on single-ion trap technology. Despite their ubiquity, a complete spectral diagonalization of these models remains an open problem, except in highly singular regimes. This paper establishes a rigorous framework for the approximate diagonalization of generalized spin-boson systems. Our approach is inspired by the Brockett-Wegner double-commutator flow, which is a non-linear differential equation governing the evolution of (here unbounded) operators. Unlike relatively recent applications of this flow to quadratic Hamiltonians in quantum field theory, it does not close in the spin-boson context. We overcome this fundamental obstruction by performing a detailed analysis of the resulting non-closed algebraic structure, allowing us to explicitly bound the higher-order error term with respect to the spin-boson coupling strength. Consequently, this work provides the first mathematically rigorous justification for several heuristic diagonalization techniques widely employed in the theoretical physics literature for small-coupling regimes, in the simplest non-trivial cases. More broadly, our framework renders a flow-based algorithm feasible for systematic higher-order diagonalization and self-energy renormalization. This strategy is conceptually akin to multi-scale analysis, or, much more recently, to the iterative, local Lie-Schwinger block-diagonalization method by Fröhlich and Pizzo.

We experimentally investigate the creeping motion of water droplets sliding along an inclined surface immersed in a viscous oil. The droplet velocity, width, and height are measured over a broad range of droplet sizes and inclination angles. The velocity increases with droplet radius according to a power law, but the corresponding exponent depends strongly on the inclination angle. At small inclinations, the exponent is close to 3/2, whereas at larger inclinations it progressively approaches 9/4. The results therefore reveal a continuous inclination-induced crossover in the velocity-size scaling of lubrication-mediated droplet motion. A scaling analysis based on Landau-Levich-Derjaguin film formation and viscous dissipation in the dynamic meniscus reproduces these limiting behaviors, which correspond to the quasi-spherical and pancake scaling regimes, respectively. Remarkably, the evolution of the velocity scaling is substantially more pronounced than the corresponding evolution of the macroscopic droplet shape. While the velocity data progressively approach the pancake scaling law at large inclinations, the global droplet dimensions evolve in a more complex manner than expected from a simple pancake-shape picture. In particular, the approach to pancake-like velocity scaling occurs even when the measured droplet dimensions remain far from the corresponding pancake-limit geometry. These observations suggest a crossover in the dominant lubrication-dissipation mechanism beneath the droplet that is not directly reflected in the global droplet morphology. The results identify inclination angle as a key control parameter governing lubrication-mediated droplet motion and highlight the distinction between global shape evolution and local dissipation dynamics in liquid-liquid systems.

In this paper, a minimal-length inspired deformation of hot and dense chiral quark matter is formulated within a \(2+1\)-flavor Nambu-Jona-Lasinio framework. The deformation is based on a complete Jacobi-consistent three-dimensional quadratic GUP algebra and modifies the microscopic phase-space density of states while leaving the quasiparticle spectrum unchanged, leading to a thermodynamically closed mean-field theory with coupled light and strange gap equations. The analysis shows that ultraviolet phase-space suppression weakens dynamical chiral symmetry breaking, lowers the light and strange constituent masses, and shifts the light-sector chiral transition boundary, including its crossover and critical endpoint toward lower temperature and chemical potential. The numerical results are obtained from a single self-consistent solution of the coupled gap equations, and explicit endpoint comparisons show that the temperature-dependent and chemical-potential dependent results are mutually consistent. The result is a systematic effective-model study of how minimal-length inspired ultraviolet deformations reorganize coupled chiral dynamics and bulk quark-matter thermodynamics.

This paper presents a complete classification of the formality of configuration spaces of $\mathbb{R}^{n'} \times \mathbb{C}^{n}$. We define a constructible de Rham-Dolbeault cohomology theory which provides a constructible CDGA (commutative differential graded algebra) model of $\Conf_m(\mathbb{R}^{n'} \times \mathbb{C}^{n})$. For $(n'=0,n\ge2)$ or $(n'=1,n\ge1)$, the CDGAs are non-formal. For $n'\ge2,n\ge1$, we establish an explicit quasi-isomorphism between the constructible CDGA and its cohomology by using a diagrammatic CDGA of admissible diagrams and a regularized configuration space integral, which leads to the formality. As an application, we show that the local operator algebra of a topological-holomorphic field theory on $\mathbb{R}^{n'} \times \mathbb{C}^{n}$ ($n'\ge2,n\ge1$) is homotopically equivalent to a higher dimensional analog of vertex algebras.

This research topic aims to explore and promote strategies for green computing in high-energy physics and astrophysics. The primary objectives include assessing current energy consumption patterns, identifying opportunities for resource optimization, and fostering cross-disciplinary collaborations to enhance sustainability. Key questions to be addressed include: What are the current energy demands in these fields? How can existing technologies be leveraged for more efficient resource usage? What synergies can be identified between high-energy and astrophysics projects to promote green computing?

Entanglement gives rise to correlations between distant quantum systems that cannot be explained by local realistic theories. Bell inequality violations provide a direct way to reveal these correlations and certify nonlocality, especially when the relevant experimental loopholes are closed. Time-bin encoding, in which quantum information is encoded into well-defined temporal modes, is a commonly used platform for distributing photonic entanglement in optical fibers. Yet loophole-free Bell tests with time-bin entanglement have received comparatively little attention, owing in part to the postselection loophole introduced by conventional interferometric measurements. Here, we demonstrate a fiber-based platform for Bell tests with time-bin entanglement that simultaneously closes the locality, freedom-of-choice, and postselection loopholes. We observe a CHSH violation of $S=2.583 \pm 0.002$, exceeding the local-realistic bound by over 265 standard deviations. Notably, this rigorous certification of nonlocality is achieved at a separation distance of $49.0 \pm 0.7$ m, substantially shorter than previous photonic Bell tests addressing comparable space-time constraints. Beyond its foundational significance, our results demonstrate time-bin entanglement as a viable route towards practical device-independent quantum communication and a future quantum internet.

The pronounced maximum ("horn") in the $K^+/\pi^+$ excitation function observed in central Pb+Pb collisions is well established feature of collision-energy dependence, but its dependence on system size remains poorly understood. We confront hadronic (SMASH) and partonic (PHSD) transport, Glauber core-corona, canonical-ensemble suppression, and the two-phase statistical model of the early stage (SMES) with $K^+/\pi^+$ data spanning the complete NA61/SHINE system-size ladder (p+p, Be+Be, Ar+Sc, Xe+La) together with NA49 Pb+Pb and STAR Au+Au, quantifying every comparison by $\chi^2$. No single framework describes the full range: core-corona is preferred for intermediate systems, SMES with canonical strangeness conservation for heavy systems, and none reproduces the small-system data. Neither transport model generates the horn, with or without partonic degrees of freedom. The data exhibit a step-like enhancement of $K^+/\pi^+$ between Be+Be and Ar+Sc, quantified within the core-corona framework by a step from $\fcore \approx 0.22$ (Be+Be) to $\fcore \approx 0.58$ (Ar+Sc). The strangeness saturation factor $\gs$ rises in two distinct steps, separating geometric core formation from thermodynamic equilibration. The $(K^+/\pi^+)/(K^-/\pi^-)$ double ratio, which at fixed $\sqrts$ cancels the system-independent $\mu_B$ contribution, shows a step between light and heavy systems at a global significance of $3.7\sigma$, providing evidence for genuine strangeness enhancement beyond the pair-production baseline. Preliminary Xe+La data favor core-corona ($\chindf = 5.8$) over SMASH ($\chindf = 23.3$); finalized spectra will sharpen the CC/SMES discrimination at the $27\%$ level.

We investigate black hole shadows and photon sphere properties for two families of covariant quantum-corrected black-hole metrics (hereafter called BH-I and BH-II) formulated within a general $\mu$-scheme, parameterised by a power-law exponent $s$ and an amplitude $\xi$. The extension to general (including non-integer) $s$ is a phenomenological interpolation between the $\mu_0$-scheme ($s=0$) and $\bar\mu$-scheme ($s=1$) and reveals a rich phenomenology masked when $s$ is usually fixed to 1 in previous literature. For BH-I, the photon sphere exists for all parameter values and exhibits an exact cancellation at $s=1$ where the coordinate location $r_{\rm ph}=3M$ is restored for any $\xi$. For BH-II, both the horizon and the photon sphere exhibit critical curves in the $(\xi,s)$ parameter plane; the photon sphere disappears when $\xi$ exceeds a closed-form critical value $\xi_c^{\rm PS}(s)$. We prove analytically that the photon sphere is always unstable ($\lambda_{\rm ph}>0$) throughout the physical parameter space of both metrics, and derive closed-form expressions for the Lyapunov exponent. Systematic parameter scans reveal that for fixed $\xi$ the shadow radius decreases monotonically with $s$ for BH-II and non-monotonically for BH-I. We derive small-parameter analytic expansions for the photon-sphere radius, shadow radius, and Lyapunov exponent, and demonstrate that a single shadow measurement suffers an observational degeneracy in the two-dimensional $(\xi,s)$ space; the degeneracy can be broken by a simultaneous measurement of the Lyapunov exponent. Using Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) measurements, we derive constraints on the $(\xi,s)$ parameter space and find that BH-II is constrained roughly $2$–$4$ times more tightly than BH-I.

We investigate the applicability of AAA rational approximation to scatterometry-related response functions of nanoscale gratings. A silicon line grating with material dispersion is considered. We compare the convergence of AAA rational approximation with that of cubic spline interpolation as the number of frequency samples is increased. The results demonstrate the potential of rational approximation, consistent with the pole structure of the considered response function arising from resonance effects of the grating.

Populations of large language model agents are increasingly used as experimental societies. Three doubts shadow every such result: whether the agents behave like the humans they stand in for, whether a finding survives changes to the apparatus that leave the rules untouched, and whether apparent social dynamics are interaction at all rather than the reproduction of experiments the models have read. This article introduces SILICA, an open instrument that tests all three. Five environments carry published human anchors, each paired with perturbations that re-render the same rules and with variants whose payoffs point away from the memorised result. Twelve open-weight models were run through it on a single consumer graphics card. Agreement with human data is confined to starting points: first-round public-goods contributions fall inside the equivalence margin for eight of eleven models, while no model matches end-state contributions or the human corridor of cooperation. Merely swapping the order in which two actions are listed costs one model 58 points of cooperation. Presenting responders with a fixed schedule of offers shows that only one model, the sole reasoning-trained one, places its acceptance threshold where the incentive requires; two move theirs part of the way, two move them the wrong way, and three never acquire one. Conventions form through a shared prior over the names rather than through negotiation, though negotiation reappears once that prior is disrupted. On the certification ladder defined here, current silicon societies support exploratory claims and no more.

We present ALMA Band 6 observations of the compact source SMA3 in the S255IR region, analysing both SiO (J = 5-4, 6-5) and CS (J = 5-4) emission to characterise the structure and kinematics of its outflow. The data reveal a highly collimated bipolar jet traced by SiO, reaching line-of-sight velocities of up to $\pm$60 km s$^{-1}$ and de-projected velocities of $\pm$~80 km s$^{-1}$, with a collimation ratio of ~4.7 over a spatial extent of ~5800 au. The inferred dynamical age is 343 yr. Position-velocity diagrams exhibit a continuous velocity structure with triangular morphology, consistent with a steady disk wind rather than an episodic or X-wind-driven flow. Excitation analysis yields a characteristic SiO temperature of ~42 K, and we derive the jet mass, momentum, and kinetic energy which are indicative of a dense, mass-loaded molecular outflow. The emission shows clear chemical and kinematic differentiation: SiO traces the high-velocity jet spine, while CS is observed at lower velocities close to the protostar, and only reaches high velocities at larger distances. Despite forming within a clustered high-mass star-forming region, the jet exhibits a high degree of symmetry, collimation, and dynamical coherence more commonly associated with protostars forming in isolation or less crowded star-forming regions. This demonstrates that well-ordered, narrowly collimated, disk-driven jets can be launched and maintained even in the dense, competitive environments characteristic of high-mass star formation.

We report on the calculation of heavy-to-light form factors at $\mathcal{O}(\alpha_s^3)$ and on selected phenomenological applications in inclusive $B$-decays. After outlining the loop calculation, we extract the hard function in $\bar B \to X_s \gamma$, and discuss our recent progress and preliminary results for the N$^3$LO corrections to partial decay rates in $\bar B \to X_u l \bar \nu_l$, important for the inclusive determination of $|V_{ub}|$. In particular, we establish relations for heavy-quark parameters in the shape-function scheme to four loops and improve a particular model of the $B$ meson shape-function.

In silico methods have emerged as a strategy to complement clinical trials. These are particularly relevant for rare or heterogeneous diseases for which traditional methods are costly or difficult to apply. While classical generative models have shown an extremely good ability to generate high fidelity data when trained using extensive databases, they often struggle when the available samples for training are scarce. In this work, we leverage the potential of quantum computers to represent complex probability distributions to generate high fidelity in silico patients. We propose a pipeline able to combine asymmetric databases into a quantum circuit that serves as a quantum generative model. We evaluate the efficacy of our proposal using a database of Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS) patients with 7 clinical variables as a proof-of-concept. We executed our quantum generative model in the IBM Heron r2 “ibm\_basquecountry” superconducting quantum computer and compare our method with well known classical baselines. Our results show that the quantum generative model surpasses the classical generative models in generalization and expressivity metrics, indicating its potential validity to generate high fidelity in silico patients for clinical trials.

We explore the formation, stability, and propagation dynamics of light bullets carrying orbital angular momentum (vorticity) in Bessel-structured nonlinear graded-index waveguides. While these waves are prone to the collapse in uniform three-dimensional media, we demonstrate that their stabilization is provided by a squared-Bessel index profile in the plane orthogonal to the propagation direction, which may play the role of the waveguiding or antiwaveguiding potential. Different solution families are obtained, revealing a variety of power-vs.-propagation-constant diagrams, characterizing the coexistence of multiple families. We analyze the propagation dynamics in a wide experimentally accessible parameter range. Our results contribute to the understanding of nonlinear light localization in multidimensional settings and suggest new possibilities for using structured light in advanced photonic applications.

We report the experimental observation of two-dimensional (2D) quantum Griffiths singularity (QGS) in $\sim$200-nm-thick epitaxial ZrN$_x$ superconducting films. The films possess a rock-salt structure and are three-dimensional (3D) with respect to superconductivity. For each film with $x \gtrsim 1.30$, the low-temperature magnetoresistance isotherms under fields perpendicular and parallel to the film plane cross over at a broad magnetic field range independently rather than at a single crossing point. Despite the macroscopic 3D nature of the superconductivity, the magnetoresistance isotherms at selected adjacent temperatures follow the theoretical prediction of power-law scaling for 2D superconducting systems, rather than that for 3D systems. The effective critical exponent $z\nu$, obtained by analyzing the magnetoresistance isotherms using the 2D power-law scaling, increases with decreasing temperature and diverges as the quantum phase transition is approached. In addition, the resistivity data near the superconductor-insulator or superconductor-metal transitions obey an activated scaling form that describes the quantum phase transition of 2D superconducting systems governed by an infinite-randomness critical point. The QGS in the ZrN$_x$ films is attributed to quenched disorder induced by intrinsic defects, such as Zr vacancies and N interstitials, which creates spatially inhomogeneous superconducting rare regions. The dynamics of these rare regions, which may exhibit effective 2D characteristics near the quantum critical point, dominate the transport properties of the system near the quantum phase transition. Our results provide compelling evidence for the existence of QGS in 3D superconductors and highlight the crucial role of disorder-induced inhomogeneity in determining the critical behavior of quantum phase transitions.

We consider an ultracold Bose gas in a half-open potential well, otherwise confined to a quasi-one-dimensional geometry. The Bogoliubov equations for its elementary excitations are solved in the continuous spectrum to explore the particle and energy content near the edge of the gas, beyond the often applied local density approximation. In particular, gradients in the condensate density enhance density-dominated excitations in the border region. We discuss excess (missing) particles and their energy by comparing to suitable reference solutions for quasi-homogeneous systems. The density profile near the edge shows no Friedel oscillations, but a dipolar feature from the spill-out of thermally excited particles. The calculations are performed in the grand-canonical ensemble and in the thermodynamic limit.

The Canadian Galactic Emission Mapper (CGEM) radio telescope is mapping polarized Galactic foregrounds from 8-10 GHz to aid in the search for B-modes in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). Here we describe the design and early on-sky characterization of the CGEM optics. CGEM employs an on-axis, hat feed optical design that is a body of revolution (BOR) and exhibits excellent intrinsic polarization purity. We describe how we have optimized the optics with a novel framework that can directly minimize simulated intensity to polarized intensity ($T\rightarrow P$) leakage in angular power spectrum space. The optimized optics exhibit simulated $T\rightarrow P$ leakage that is orders of magnitude below anticipated $C_\ell^{BB}$ for $r = 10^{-3}$ when scaled from 8-10 GHz to the CMB observing window near 95 GHz. We go on to describe the mechanical design of the optics, including a novel secondary mirror support made from Astroquartz composite that has low loss, low dielectric constant, and preserves the BOR symmetry of the optics. We then showcase the early on-sky performance of the optics with observations of the Sun and satellites, which probe the beam to 40 dB down from the peak. A beam model for the deployed CGEM optics based on electromagnetic simulations is in excellent agreement with the on-sky data.

We use particle-based numerical simulations to address a longstanding question regarding the origins of the linear frequency dependence of attenuation in fluid-saturated granular media. We study both the acoustic modes and wave propagation in damped, disordered particle packings. We calculate the damped vibrational modes of packings as a function of frequency, pressure, and grain-contact dissipation. The spatial structure and dissipation of these modes show a clear transition at a pressure-dependent critical frequency from viscous-like continuum behavior to more localized, scattering modes. We also measure how wavespeed and spatial attenuation rate depend on these same parameters. At the same critical frequency, wave propagation also shifts from coherent motion, where attenuation scales quadratically with frequency and linearly with contact damping, to much more incoherent particle-scale motion, where attenuation scales linearly with frequency and sublinearly with contact damping. All of these features, including the transition frequency, are consistent with a large collection of experimental data, which has not been explained by any framework based on grain-scale physics. We refer to this approach as “Jammed-Network Scattering” (JNS), and propose it as a grain-scale framework for understanding the acoustics of fluid-saturated granular media.

We investigate how the spatial arrangement of environment channel influences the dynamics of coherence and work extraction in a two-qubit quantum battery with resonant qubits coupled through an XY-exchange interaction. Qubit B is attached to a finite-temperature thermal bath, while RTN noise is applied either to qubit A or to qubit B, depending on whether it is in a separated or co-located configuration, respectively. Two complementary product states are considered to initialise the coherence on different qubits. The dynamics are evaluated using local $l_{1}$-norm coherence, global ergotropy and the global-local ergotropy gap. The results suggest that a stronger exchange interaction enhances the redistribution of coherence without necessarily improving retention of extractable work. For the parameter investigated, the greater global ergotropy is retained in the case of the co-located configuration, especially when the initially coherent qubit is not directly affected by the RTN. However, the configuration provides the largest global-local ergotropy gap, which varies with the exchange interaction, initial state and thermal coupling. Suppression of the gap at large $J$ is typically observed in the case of stronger thermalisation, although enhancement of intermediate-coupling may occur. These results establish that total extractable work, local coherence and collective work advantage quantify the distinct aspects of quantum battery performances. The initial distribution of coherence and the spatial arrangement thus provide complementary mechanisms for regulating locally and collectively extractable work in interacting open quantum batteries.

A proof is given that the six fixed points of the massless 1-loop renormalization group running of the CKM matrix in the Standard Model found previously at 1-loop are fixed points to all orders in perturbation theory. A previous proof required an extra assumption on the running which is eliminated in the proof presented here.

Relativistic effective field theory predicts a topological energy response to a gravitational field that appears at third order in spatial gradients. Here, we investigate how this response emerges in the nonrelativistic Haldane model using a microscopic lattice formulation of curvature-induced deformations. We find that the leading first-order energy response is nonuniversal and depends on the bond-resolved structure of the deformation; in particular, it vanishes for a symmetric modulation of the three nearest-neighbor hoppings. At third order, the curvature-induced energy response contains a bond-symmetric component together with nonuniversal bond-dependent contributions. The bond-symmetric component, which is isolated by a uniform modulation of the three hoppings, exhibits a universal discontinuity across the topological transition whose magnitude agrees with the relativistic gravitational Chern–Simons prediction. Thus, although the full curvature-induced energy response generally contains nonuniversal lattice contributions, its third-order response retains a universal topological component beyond the relativistic limit.

Atomic motion in solids is conventionally driven by elastic collisions between ionizing particles and atoms, which transfer momentum and induce lattice displacements. In this work, we demonstrate a different mechanism for atomic displacement based on optical excitation of scintillating ionic crystals. Ionic crystals are unique systems because of the closed-shell electronic configuration of their constituent ions. In these materials, excitation above the band gap generates a hole that strongly distorts the lattice, resulting in the formation of a self-trapped hole (STH). The STH is Coulomb-attracted to the electron, thereby forming a self-trapped exciton (STE). Here, we demonstrate that in BaF2 - one of the fastest scintillators - the STE structure promotes the formation of long-lived electron and hole traps that persist in the lattice at room temperature. Such trapped electron-hole pairs occupy vacancy-interstitial fluorine pair positions, and can be created indiscernibly using optical or ionizing radiation excitation, as long as the STH is formed. Further, we demonstrate that it is possible to control the defect evolution with light. Selective optical stimulation of the trapped electrons or holes enables the regeneration of the STE at later times. This light-controlled defect engineering allows us to increase the yield of the STE signal appearing as optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and to image the spatial distribution of the initial energy deposition, holding strong potential for ionizing-radiation detection. These findings provide a common framework underlying scintillation and OSL in ionic crystals of the fluorite structure, allowing for optical manipulation of atomic vacancies-interstitial pairs in similar systems.

The lattice Green's functions of the cubic lattices are classical: each is a symmetric square of a second-order operator, with a closed form in complete elliptic integrals. The hyperkagome lattice, realized by the iridium sublattice of the spin-liquid candidate Na4Ir3O8, has resisted such a treatment: Varma and Monien reduced its density of states to a threefold integral they found no way to solve exactly. From exact lattice moments we obtain an irreducible third-order linear differential (Picard-Fuchs) operator annihilating the Green's function. It is not a literal symmetric square, yet its symmetric square carries a rational solution: the differential Galois group is orthogonal, and an order-two differential intertwiner makes the operator projectively a symmetric square. Our main result is that the underlying second-order operator is the uniformizing equation of the genus-zero modular curve of Gamma_0(30)+, the level-thirty group generated by Gamma_0(30) and all its Atkin-Lehner involutions, an explicit eta quotient parametrizing the natural variable. That uniformizing equation is itself not new - it is a row of the Lian-Yau table of genus-zero groups - so what is new here is the identification of a lattice Green's function with it, together with a proof: the Schwarzian identity is established by an a priori pole-degree bound rather than checked numerically, which also proves the tabulated entry. The hyperkagome Green's function is therefore modular at level thirty, supplying the closed form Varma and Monien sought. Its weight-two period is obtained explicitly: a depth-one quasimodular form which we prove is not a modular form times an algebraic function at any weight.

China has become the world's largest producer of scientific publications, yet concerns persist that this growth is inflated by excessive domestic citation practices. In this study, we analyze a citation network of over 45 million publications from Web of Science (1980-2025) to investigate China's home citation bias and research impact. Using a network reshuffling null model to control for the structural effect of publication volume, we find that China's home citation bias is less pronounced than commonly assumed and has been steadily declining over the past two decades. Chinese researchers do not exhibit a significantly stronger home citation preference than other major countries, indicating increasing internationalization rather than insularity. Furthermore, using the persistent disruption framework, we show that Chinese papers are converging toward American papers in their capacity to produce paradigm-shifting work. These findings challenge prevailing narratives about Chinese scientific home bias and suggest that China's advances in research impact.

Recent space missions such as Kepler have provided large-scale observations of the {\gamma}-Doradus instability strips (IS), which can be used to constrain models and explore their limitations. One persistent limitation is the prediction of the blue edge of the {\gamma}- Doradus IS, where a significant number of {\gamma}-Doradus stars are observed. Despite these observational advances, no systematic study has been undertaken to explore the effects of different physical processes on the {\gamma}-Doradus. Our aim is to systematically explore the theoretical {\gamma}-Doradus IS with modern tools, accounting for the effects of rotation and metallicity, providing a large grid of models and their oscillation parameters for the scientific community. We investigated the non-adiabatic pulsation properties of stars in a grid of stellar models with masses between 1.35 M{_\odot} and 2.5 M{_\odot}, metallicities between Z= 0.01 and Z= 0.025, and solid-body rotation rates ranging from {\Omega} = 0 to 0.5 {\Omega_{crit}}, where {\Omega_{crit}} denotes the critical rotation rate. We find that, across all computations, the theoretical {\gamma}-Doradus IS agrees well with the observed IS, except in the extended blue region. In terms of radial orders, our models consistently reproduce the excited modes in broad agreement with observations for l= 1, l= 2, and Rossby modes. We also show that the range of excited radial orders is strongly dependent on the effective temperature. The range of excited radial orders can be used to constrain the position of a star within the {\gamma}-Doradus IS and may provide insights into the physical mechanisms responsible for the discrepancies observed in the blue region. All computed grids are made available and include mode damping and growth rates for {\gamma}-Doradus stars, obtained with a time-dependent treatment of the convection-oscillation interaction.

We consider a class of discrete multi-time determinantal point processes whose correlation kernels admit a double-contour integral form, containing Schur processes as simple examples. We show that the form of the correlation kernel is preserved under conditioning of the point process to a restricted domain, however, with an integrand which becomes more complicated and which is characterized by a Riemann-Hilbert problem. We apply our general result to domino tilings of reduced Aztec diamonds and to lozenge tilings of hexagons with holes. Our results show a striking analogy with the Its-Izergin-Korepin-Slavnov method for integrable kernels.

Time-modulation using semiconductor switches is a promising route to magnetless integrated nonreciprocal devices, as they can offer large modulation depths and high speeds. Yet, chip-scale devices are capped by the finite off-state capacitance of the switches, which induces detrimental leakage of the input wave to the isolated port, imposing a ceiling on the nonreciprocal isolation. Such leakage has largely constrained the development of nonreciprocal integrated systems at high frequency. Here, we beat this limit by using Floquet interference between leakages. In a time-Floquet switched-resonator circulator, two coherent leakages reach the isolated port: the release of the stored wave at the resonator's ring-down frequency, and the direct input leakage at the carrier frequency. We show that it is possible to create conditions under which the two leakages destructively interfere, and even completely cancel, yielding perfect isolation despite operating with non-ideal semiconductor switches. We experimentally confirm leakage interference in a 65-nm CMOS microwave Floquet circulator, reaching 40-dB isolation, which is more than 20 dB higher than the natural switch isolation. We also demonstrate that leakage interference has inherently fast dynamics, establishing itself within a single modulation period, allowing us to reverse the circulation chirality in 0.6~ns. Our results pave the way toward high-frequency integrated chips with ultra-high nonreciprocal isolation.

Short-reach optical interconnects are evolving toward data rates beyond 400 Gb/s per lane, driven by the bandwidth and energy-efficiency requirements of AI-enabled datacenter networks. At these operating speeds, channel impairments, device nonlinearities, and hardware constraints limit the effectiveness of conventional transceiver design and digital signal processing (DSP). This paper presents a unified framework for the optimization of direct-detection optical interconnects, encompassing digital surrogate modeling, receiver-side DSP optimization, and end-to-end (E2E) transceiver learning. The proposed formulation provides a common perspective for model-based and machine-learning-based approaches, including linear and nonlinear equalization, lookup tables, decision trees, neural-network receivers, and E2E optimization. Their performance is discussed together with computational complexity and hardware implementation aspects, highlighting the associated trade-offs. We show, through simulations and experimental validations, that for a 40~Gb/s 10~km link, decision trees can outperform by 0.5–1~dB conventional linear equalization, with negligible hardware requirements. Moreover, we show that an E2E technique based on transformers can provide a gain up to 6~dB, highlighting the potential of joint transceiver optimization to improve the performance of next-generation short-reach optical links.