Papers

We investigate the rocky and volatile composition of small exoplanets by modeling the population-level distribution of densities using a mixture framework that links interior structure models to observable quantities. We analyze three complementary samples spanning different stellar environments: the Luque & Pallé M-dwarf sample, the DACE M-dwarf sample, and the DACE FGK sample. We consider a log-normal parameterization, which captures a characteristic core mass fraction (CMF) and the intrinsic dispersion to describe a single rocky population. The single rocky population inference suggests a higher CMF for small planets around FGK stars than those around M stars by $\sim$16% (7-11 $\sigma$ depending on sample selection). We also consider a power-law parameterization, which probes clustering near compositional boundaries at CMF=0.32. The power-law parameterization provides an alternative interpretation: 89.9% to 97.0% of the planets around FGK stars are rocky whereas up to 61.6% (ranging from 4.1% to 61.6%) of planets around M stars are rocky. In addition, we find that volatile mass fractions are highly concentrated. For example, to describe the DACE M-dwarf sample using a mixture of rocky, water-rich, and gas-rich planets, we find that more than 99.5% gaseous planets have an atmospheric mass fraction (AMF) $\lesssim 0.01\%$, and more than 55.4% (82.7%) gaseous planets have a water mass fraction (WMF) $\lesssim 0.1\%$ ($\lesssim 1\%$). These results suggest that while volatile-bearing planets are common, their composition and prevalence depend strongly on stellar environment, and their volatile inventories are tightly constrained by formation and evolutionary processes.

Protons and neutrons differ dramatically in their electromagnetic sizes, but are bound by the strong (color) force and have nearly identical masses, like two twin states of the same “nucleon". To reveal the overall spatial extent, it must be examined through the strong interaction rather than electromagnetism. The $J/\psi$ particle, a compact color-charge dipole of a charm quark and antiquark, provides an ideal probe. Recent high-precision measurements of near-threshold $J/\psi$ production at Jefferson Lab offer a more precise glimpse of the proton's gluonic spatial structure. Combining these data with recent quark-sector results, we extract the distribution of the color field underlying mass generation in the nucleon and find it extends beyond both charge and mass distributions, revealing the nucleon's overall strong-interaction spatial extent of $0.94\pm 0.09$ fm.

Fermionic quantum cellular automata (QCA) are automorphisms of local fermionic operator algebras ($\mathbb Z_2$-graded superalgebras) that have bounded spread: they map local operators to nearby operators. We prove that every 2-dimensional fermionic QCA on a locally finite-dimensional algebra is a composition of local automorphisms and a fermionic shift. This is implied by our result that every locally finite-dimensional fermionic invertible subalgebra in a one-dimensional lattice is Brauer trivial, i.e., it is stably bounded-spread isomorphic to a tensor product fermionic algebra.

Circumbinary disks around supermassive black hole binaries (SMBHBs) are expected to form across a broad range of inclinations, with retrograde configurations potentially a common occurrence. Here we present the first grid-based hydrodynamical simulations of retrograde circumbinary disks around eccentric SMBHBs, solving an energy equation that balances viscous and shock heating against blackbody radiative cooling. We investigate different initial disk Mach numbers $\mathcal{M}_a \in \{10, 20, 40\}$ and consider binary eccentricities $e_\mathrm{b}\in[0.0,\,0.8]$, finding that multiple stable states exist for the same binary eccentricity and Mach number. These states differ by the sense of rotation of their minidisks; both retrograde ($\downarrow\downarrow$), both prograde ($\uparrow\uparrow$), or one of each ($\uparrow\downarrow$), a property set by the initial conditions. Our findings indicate that each state produces qualitatively distinct orbital evolution: $\downarrow\downarrow$ and $\uparrow\downarrow$ minidisks drive circular inspirals whereas $\uparrow\uparrow$ minidisks drive eccentric inspirals with potentially observable eccentricity in the LISA band. We measure the electromagnetic emission produced by the disk, finding that a binary of mass $M_\mathrm{b}=8\times10^6\mathrm{M}_\odot$ at redshift $z=1$ would be detectable by both current and upcoming optical and UV instruments. We demonstrate that the time- and azimuthally-averaged disk profiles are well described by 1D models, which naturally set a cavity radius within which angular momentum transport is dominated by Reynolds stresses rather than viscosity.

Directional amplification, in which signals are amplified selectively depending on their propagation direction, is a key resource for quantum information processing and stands in one-to-one correspondence with non-trivial non-Hermitian topology. So far, this correspondence has concerned the mean fields, and thus classical response. Here we turn to the quantum fluctuations, giving access to correlations and entanglement. For phase-preserving amplifiers, we derive analytic expressions for the normal and anomalous correlations, showing that non-trivial topology produces correlations that grow exponentially with the distance between modes and approach the largest values compatible with the uncertainty relations. The associated correlation length diverges at the topological phase transition. Entanglement nonetheless remains local, set by the competition between normalised anomalous correlations and the asymmetry of the mode occupations. For the bosonic Kitaev chain, a phase-sensitive amplifier, the system instead splits into two halves that are internally fully correlated yet mutually uncorrelated. Our work prepares the ground for exploring the quantum properties of non-Hermitian topological systems with state-of-the-art platforms such as cavity optomechanics and superconducting circuits.

Neutron star-bearing compact-object mergers can create a kilonova, a transient powered by the radioactive decay of material synthesized via rapid neutron capture ($r$-process). During the merger, a fraction of the ejecta is launched at high speeds ($\gtrsim$ 0.4c) that can lead to neutrons evading capture onto seed nuclei, resulting in free neutrons. The free neutrons then decay and inject additional energy that power early-time ($\lesssim$1 day) emission. Here, using Sedona, we present a grid of the first non-local thermodynamic equilibrium and frequency-dependent opacity radiative transfer simulations to predict early X-ray/UV/optical emission from free neutron decay that span the expected theoretical range of free neutron mass, mixing with $r$-process material, and extent of the high-velocity ejecta tail. The emission can be characterized by an SED that rapidly shifts from X-rays of $\sim\rm{few} \times10^{41}-10^{42}$ erg s$^{-1}$ in the first $\sim$ minutes to a far-UV and near-UV peak on the timescale of $\sim$ minutes to hours, followed by enhanced optical and IR emission for sufficiently large free neutron masses. The properties of the free neutron ejecta are most distinguishable, in principle, at extreme-UV and far-UV wavelengths, with SED peak flux and wavelength determined by the maximum velocity of the ejecta and the mixing. In the far-UV and near-UV, free neutron ejecta masses as small as 10$^{-7}$ M$_\odot$ exhibit a unique bump compared to neutron-free models, demonstrating the importance of upcoming UV missions like UVEX and ULTRASAT to constraining the nucleosynthetic environment of neutron star mergers.

The valence electron concentration (VEC) is the most widely used predictor of FCC against BCC stability in high-entropy alloys (HEAs), yet it is a compositional average carrying no information about atomic size. Using the macroscopic atom model, we show that the mixing enthalpy is almost size-blind, shifting by less than 6% even when constituent volumes differ by a factor of 2, so that size can act only on the electron count. That action equals exactly the covariance of the atomic surface $V^{2/3}$ with the valence electron count, divided by its mean. This covariance is not free. Volume and valence are strongly anti-correlated across the elements used to build HEAs, so the size-corrected count is an affine rescaling of VEC over 265 characterized alloys and improves no prediction. VEC already encodes atomic size, which explains its success and locates its failure among large, electron-rich elements. Chemistry sets the enthalpy through one switch element.

N-body simulations are an essential tool for modelling the evolution of gravitating systems. Differentiable N-body simulations allow solving complicated reconstruction problems by connecting observations of evolved systems to simple informative priors on their initial conditions. While so far most reconstruction efforts focus on mildly non-linear large scale dynamics, the internal dynamics of galaxies and clusters should exhibit rich information about their formation. The exploration of reconstruction possibilities in this highly non-linear regime naturally requires highly performant differentiable N-body simulations with small scale forces. Here, we present JZ-FMM, a GPU-native differentiable implementation of the fast multipole method for N-body simulations. We show that the GPU oriented design of tree structure, dual tree traversal and multipole translation operators improves performance over established CPU-native and hybrid N-body codes by notably more than an order of magnitude. Further, we show that gradients can be evaluated efficiently and accurately so that JZ-FMM can be used as an essential building block in future field-level reconstruction efforts. We apply the new code to the reconstruction problem of a tidally stripped satellite to show that deeply non-linear problems can indeed be solved efficiently with simulation gradients, although appropriate care must be taken to navigate the complicated optimization landscape.

Quantum reaction-transport systems consist of coherently propagating particles that irreversibly react upon encounter. Their relaxation is commonly classified as reaction-limited or transport-limited, depending on the relative timescales of reaction and particle transport. We show that this expectation fails in low dimensions by studying the quantum binary annihilation, $A+A \to \emptyset$, where reaction processes acquire singular fluctuation corrections below the upper critical dimension $D_c=2$. Consequently, fluctuations dominate the asymptotic kinetics for $D<2$. In one dimension, they render mean-field relaxation transient and drive the system toward a transport-limited regime with $n\sim t^{-1/2}$, governed by a quantum-Zeno scale even for arbitrarily weak loss. At $D=2$, the kinetics acquires logarithmic corrections, whereas above two dimensions mean-field scaling is asymptotically restored. At and below the upper critical dimension, mean-field behavior can nevertheless persist over parametrically long crossover times before the asymptotic fluctuation-dominated regime emerges. We also show that the same fluctuations generate effective elastic collisions despite the absence of microscopic coherent interactions. In $D>1$, these collisions redistribute momentum populations and are parametrically faster than losses in the transport-limited regime, allowing the system to approach a quasi-stationary thermal state.

Quantics tensor trains are attracting intense interest for quantum-inspired computing and quantum state preparation. These methods, which approximate continuum functions by representing their amplitude encoding as a matrix product state (MPS), are exceedingly powerful for univariate functions but rapidly become challenging when handling multivariate functions, since the linear chain topology leads to a large distance between highly-entangled qubits. We overcome this limitation by introducing SCENT (Spectral Clustering for Entanglement miNimizing Trees). SCENT is a protocol that utilizes efficiently-computable pairwise entanglement metrics to determine a suitable tree tensor network (TTN) structure, which can then be efficiently approximated using tensor cross-interpolation (TCI); we find that it substantially outperforms MPS methods and improves upon previous TTN methods. We then apply these optimized TTNs to state preparation, introducing an approximate circuit compilation method based on environment-tensor methods without significantly conceding overall accuracy. Importantly, the inherent gauge freedom of TTNs can be directly exploited in this method, resulting in higher fidelity at a given circuit depth. We demonstrate this quantum state-preparation pipeline on archetypal state-preparation problems in quantum chemistry and financial portfolio optimization. In our flagship demonstration, we encode a 20-variable probability distribution with long-ranged, non-nearest neighbor inter-variable correlations in a 200-qubit state-preparation circuit with infidelity $7.44\times 10^{-9}$ using only 43284 CNOTs; depth and fidelity can be traded, allowing the same distribution to be prepared to infidelity $10^{-3}$ with as few as 5584 CNOTs.

We obtain one-point functions of the ambient Lagrangian $\mathcal{O}_{\mathcal{L}}$ in $\mathcal{N}=4$ SYM with $\frac{1}{2}$-BPS boundaries, defects and interfaces classified by Gaiotto and Witten, which include maximally supersymmetric Janus interfaces and BCFTs relevant for double holography, as well as for Janus interfaces with reduced supersymmetry. For Janus interfaces we extend recent results capturing $\langle \mathcal{O}_{\mathcal{L}}\rangle$ in certain limits to exact dependence on $N$ and $\lambda$, and confirm a non-renormalization conjecture. We also clarify recent results for Janus variants preserving less supersymmetry. For general $\frac{1}{2}$-BPS Gaiotto-Witten theories with genuine defect degrees of freedom we derive one-point functions using supersymmetric localization, confirm that the results agree with holographic predictions in the appropriate limits, and show that the one-point functions in general exhibit non-trivial coupling dependence.

I consider recent observations of the Little Dots (LDs) observed in high–redshift ($z\sim 7$) galaxies. I have suggested that the central black holes in these objects are probably fed mass at very super–Eddington (factors $\sim 50$) rates. In physical terms, this idea makes them supermassive analogues of the (stellar–mass) ultraluminous X–ray sources (ULXs), whose hard X–ray emission is strongly anisotropic (`beamed'). In this paper I argue that the recent discovery of extended rest–frame hard X–ray ionization cones from an LD gives strong quantitative support to this view, as its geometry is what one would expect from a ULX–like object viewed not along one of its X–ray beams, but instead `from the side', very similar to the extreme Galactic system SS433. This in turn agrees in quantitative terms with recent suggestions that LDs resemble supermassive versions of SS433–like systems. I emphasize that in contrast, the rest–frame soft X–ray emission from LDs must be roughly isotropic, and presumably power the torus emission observed from these galaxies.

In this paper, we study non-perturbative vortex partition functions of four-dimensional N=1 supersymmetric gauge theories on the space-time geometry $T^2 \times D^2$, and we propose that these partition functions offer a notion of quantum elliptic cohomology. For particular U(1)-gauge theories we calculate these partition functions explicitly by applying equivariant localization methods to Handsaw quiver varieties that realize for this particular class of U(1)-gauge theories the moduli spaces of the non-perturbative vortex sectors. The determined vortex partition functions are annihilated by difference operators, which are interpreted as Ward identities among N=(0,2) BPS surface defects. Compared to lower dimensional gauge theories with four supercharges, anomalies play an essential role for a consistent formulation of the four-dimensional partition functions. In our proposal towards a mathematical formulation of the vortex partition functions in terms of equivariant elliptic cohomology, the gauge theory anomalies relate to geometric properties of the Thom sheaves corresponding to the relevant quasimap moduli spaces. Motivated by the explicit computations we reflect on the existence of a `virtual structure sheaf' on the moduli space of quasimaps for a general mathematical theory of quantum elliptic cohomology.

In this work, we investigate the physical properties and cosmic evolution of galaxies and AGN in a sample of 280 protoclusters identified in the TNG300 simulation, selected to end up in $z = 0$ clusters with $M_{200, \rm c} > 10^{14} \, {\rm M_{\odot}}$. Our goal is to provide the first statistical view of AGN activity enhancement in a uniformly defined sample of overdense environments, and to identify the physical mechanisms driving it. We identify protoclusters as the progenitors of present-day galaxy clusters through merger-tree reconstruction and compare their galaxy and AGN populations with a control sample of field galaxies across the redshift range $0 \leq z \leq 6$. We investigate galaxy and SMBH demographics, AGN fractions, bolometric luminosity functions, and the SMBH accretion rate density, consistently applying homogeneous selection criteria in all environments. We find that TNG300 protoclusters host systematically more massive galaxies and SMBHs than the field by up to $1 \, {\rm dex}$ at all redshifts, with signatures of accelerated galaxy evolution already visible at $z \sim 3-4$. The AGN fraction increases with stellar mass in both environments and, at fixed host-galaxy stellar mass, is broadly consistent between protoclusters and field galaxies, indicating no strong environmental triggering of SMBH accretion. However, when analysed as a function of redshift, protoclusters exhibit a significant enhancement of AGN activity (by a factor $> 2$), particularly at high luminosities and early cosmic times. We show that this enhancement primarily arises from differences in the stellar-mass distributions of galaxies in overdense regions, where massive systems assemble earlier than in the field. Consistently, protoclusters dominate the bright end of the AGN bolometric luminosity function and contribute up to $\sim 50\%$ of the total SMBH accretion rate density at $z \sim 6$.

Quantum states generated by generic time evolution are locally featureless: local measurements return random outcomes that are identical for all states. However, global snapshots in the computational basis are surprisingly effective at distinguishing between quantum states. We explore the ability of Bayesian classifiers to discriminate between many random quantum states using a small number of measurement outcomes. We identify a phase transition in the ability of the classifier to distinguish between $k$ candidate states with $m$ shots controlled by the variable $x = m / \ln k$, and derive the threshold value $x_c$. We extend our results to low-depth circuits near the onset of anti-concentration, as well as to noisy circuits and phase-random states.

We propose Bell tests for collider decays using independently sampled analysis axes as settings and detector regions to assign binary or null outcomes. We show that a Bell violation requires postselection, opening a loophole. However, under measurement independence and operational equivalence of acceptance events across settings, any local model exploiting the loophole must be nonclassical in the sense of measurement contextuality. We derive a Bell inequality violated by singlet correlations when the effective spin-analyzing powers are sufficiently high. Its violation then witnesses Bell nonlocality or measurement contextuality.

Electronic rearrangements associated with bond forming/breaking in catalytic enzymes require quantum mechanical (QM) treatment beyond classical molecular mechanics (MM). Hybrid QM/MM methods enable tractable simulations but require system-specific setup and are sensitive to the QM region choice and treatment of the QM/MM interface. We demonstrate quantum-accurate treatment of all-atom, complete enzymes in explicit solvent comprising up to 54k atoms and 1 microsecond of total simulation time using the machine-learned interatomic potential (MLIP) eSEN-omol. We reproduce experimental barrier trends for Claisen rearrangement in chorismate mutase, resolve critical intermediate states in PETase catalyzed polymer depolymerization, and distinguish mechanistic alternatives for metal-activated phosphoryl transfer in nucleoside diphosphate kinase. We realize 1000x speedups relative to typical QM/MM calculations without system-specific tuning. These results establish MLIPs as a practical route to QM-accurate simulations of enzyme catalysis.

Quantum reservoir computing (QRC) is a machine learning approach which employs the internal dynamics of a physical system (the reservoir) to encode and process information. In this work, we explore the use of dual-unitary circuits in a brickwork architecture as a platform for QRC, well suited to current noisy intermediate-scale quantum devices. Dual-unitary circuits present both practical and conceptual advantages. Our results indicate that, under appropriate conditions, dual-unitarity can lead to an enhanced regime of operation: we numerically verify that it improves memory effects and nonlinear processing, and shields against finite-shot noise, mitigating exponential concentration. Moreover, dual unitarity offers an intuitive picture of how operator dynamics gives rise to memory and nonlinear processing in circuit-based reservoirs.

Preparing a quantum Gibbs state requires reproducing both its thermal distribution and the associated many-body eigenspaces. In this work, we formalize the spectral core-tail architecture (SCTA) as a framework comprising a structured thermal core, a geometrically characterized unitary tail, and an exact residual measuring the remaining core-frame Hamiltonian mismatch. We derive a local Gibbs-state error bound separating core-preparation, tail-implementation, and modeling errors. The modeling contribution is volume uniform when its Kubo-Mori response meets the shell summability condition and the relevant local data remain uniform. We then highlight three anchor Hamiltonian classes which admit exact core-tail constructions with zero residuals. For small deformations of an exact anchor, we employ a Schrieffer-Wolff reduction procedure to construct a corrected core-tail pair that formally removes the deformation order by order. Under uniform locality and solvability assumptions, we show that the first-order reduction yields a residual that remains bounded and is quadratic in the deformation strength. Furthermore, we numerically test the first-order reduction on deformed graph-stabilizer Hamiltonians. The numerical results show approximately quadratic suppression of both the Hamiltonian-level mismatch and the local Gibbs-state error in the perturbative regime. We also find that the constructed correction circuit structure remains useful as a variational ansatz beyond perturbative control, often improving on both the bare and prescribed first-order states.

Chemical tracers provide some of the strongest observational signatures of ongoing planet formation and localized dynamical perturbations in protoplanetary disks. In particular, sulfur-bearing molecules are predicted to be enhanced in regions of shock heating, ice sublimation, and gravitational instability. Here, we present high-angular-resolution ($\approx$0.$^{\prime\prime}$2) Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array observations of $^{12}$CO J=3-2, $^{13}$CO J=3-2, CS J=7-6, and SO J$_{\rm N}$=8$_8$-7$_7$ toward the large, edge-on Gomez's Hamburger ('GoHam'; IRAS 18059-3211) disk. We detect a narrow, one-sided arc of SO emission that peaks near a previously-identified gas over-density, suggesting localized heating around an early-stage giant protoplanet or disk fragment. The edge-on geometry of GoHam enables us to place this chemical signature in the broader context of the disk gas and dust structure. To do so, we map the vertical distribution of molecular gas relative to millimeter- and (sub)-micron-sized dust, identify a pronounced north-south continuum asymmetry, and detect non-Keplerian $^{12}$CO and $^{13}$CO emission indicative of a disk wind. We also derive a dynamical stellar mass of 2.2 $\pm$ 0.5 M$_{\odot}$ and a revised dust-extinction-map-based distance of 139 $\pm$ 24 pc, which places GoHam in the outskirts of the Scorpius-Centaurus association. Together, these observations reveal a highly dynamic disk in which localized sulfur chemistry may trace one of the earliest observable stages of wide-separation giant planet formation.

Kagome metals exhibit a rich interplay of topology, electronic correlations, and lattice dynamics. Recent discoveries of Kagome materials with a flat band near the Fermi level have revealed a variety of correlated electronic phases. However, elucidating their microscopic origin remains challenging, as realistic descriptions require accounting for multiple orbitals and competing interactions on an equal footing. To disentangle correlation effects from material-specific details and identify the essential physics of the flat-band regime, we study the single-orbital Kagome-Hubbard model at flat-band fillings using dynamical mean-field theory. We find strong signatures of flat-band ferromagnetism, consistent with exact and mean-field ground-state results. Moreover, we uncover an unconventional quasi-ordered phase in which a partially filled spin-polarized flat band pinned at the Fermi level gives rise to persistent local spin fluctuations down to zero temperature, in striking contrast to the classical behavior expected for a conventional ferromagnet. Our results demonstrate that these anomalous fluctuations are an intrinsic consequence of the flat-band degeneracy and establish a minimal framework for understanding correlation effects in flat-band Kagome systems.

Triangular loop signals appear frequently in cosmological collider models but their analytical forms remain unknown due to multiple technical challenges. Here, we determine for the first time the leading analytical cosmological collider signals generated by a massive scalar triangle loop in inflationary bispectrum and trispectrum. Combining a directional cutting rule with partial Mellin-Barnes representations, we obtain both the local and nonlocal trispectrum signals in a soft limit and derive the leading signal in the squeezed bispectrum. Remarkably, all these signals are reproduced by the corresponding bubble diagram with a single effective pinched coupling. Signals beyond leading order and cases with arbitrary internal masses, spins, and interactions can be generated within the same framework. Our approach also provides a systematic route to extracting analytical loop signals from general cosmological correlators.

Altermagnetism is a recently established class of magnetic order that combines fully compensated moments with momentum-dependent spin splitting, yet identifying its spectroscopic fingerprints remains an open challenge. In this work, we investigate finite-momentum two-magnon excitations in a two-dimensional $d$-wave altermagnet by calculating the two-magnon light scattering intensity in different polarization channels. Using linear spin-wave theory and further incorporating the leading $1/S$ quantum corrections, we demonstrate that the characteristic magnon splitting of altermagnets shifts the upper edge of the two-magnon continuum and the corresponding spectral features to higher energy at $\boldsymbol{X}=(\pi,0)$ relative to the conventional antiferromagnet, by an amount linear in the exchange anisotropy $|\delta J_2|$, while leaving the response at the Brillouin-zone center unchanged. Although magnon-magnon interactions strongly redistribute spectral weight toward lower energies, the energy scale associated with the high-energy momentum-selective reconstruction remains robust. The interactions additionally generate a pronounced low-energy two-peak structure that has no counterpart within linear spin-wave theory. At $\boldsymbol{K}=(\pi/2,\pi/2)$, we show that the interacting two-magnon resonance is twofold degenerate in the conventional antiferromagnetic phase, while a finite altermagnetic exchange anisotropy lifts this degeneracy, producing two peaks whose separation is linear in $|\delta J_2|$. The characteristic energy scales underlying both features are intrinsic to the two-magnon sector rather than to a specific scattering operator. These findings highlight the potential of finite-momentum two-magnon spectroscopy for identifying altermagnetic order in insulating magnets and motivate momentum-resolved resonant inelastic x-ray scattering studies of candidate altermagnetic materials.

Magnetars became favored engines of fast radio bursts (FRBs) following the discovery of a luminous radio burst coincident with a hard X-ray flare from a Galactic magnetar. Several repeating FRB sources exhibit time-variable rotation measures and compact, spatially coincident persistent radio emission, consistent with energetic-particle nebulae confined by young supernova ejecta. Secular changes in the dispersion measure (DM) of repeating FRBs have also been observed, offering a complementary probe of their local environments; for example, the DM of FRB 121102 rose until 2019 before declining in recent years. Although rising DM evolution has been attributed to shock ionization, shocked ejecta can cool efficiently through metal-line emission and recombine, especially if mixed with cooler gas. Here we argue that DM variations of the observed magnitude and timescale instead arise from changes in the ionization state of supernova ejecta irradiated by X-rays from a time-variable central engine. The dominant rapidly variable contribution comes from the dense, weakly ionized shell swept up by the expanding nebula, whose ionization and recombination times are shorter than those of the more extended ejecta. The model predicts that enhanced FRB activity should be accompanied by rising DM, with a response smoothed over the ionization/recombination time and superposed on a slower secular decline from ejecta expansion. In FRB 121102, the DM maximum occurred close to the burst-rich 2018-2019 activity episodes. If the recently reported renewed activity is sustained, its DM decline should flatten and may reverse into a fresh rise over the coming years.

Matter fields localized around black holes can produce small secondary bumps in the effective potentials governing black-hole perturbations, potentially leading to quasinormal-mode spectral instabilities and late-time echoes. Considering physically motivated models of anisotropic fluids surrounding a spherically symmetric black hole, we show that the appearance of such a secondary bump is accompanied by either singular matter profiles or divergent characteristic speeds in the fluid. These features indicate that the corresponding matter configurations are unphysical. We further demonstrate that a secondary bump in the effective potential does not necessarily imply the existence of additional light rings in the spacetime.

We study the gravitational collapse of a shell, modeled as a coherent state of quantum matter. Without adding any physics beyond semiclassical gravity, we show that the universal gravitational coupling between matter and geometry induces an interaction between the shell and the negative-frequency modes present in the $|in \rangle$ vacuum state. We find that this interaction occurs unavoidably immediately after a trapping horizon forms, making it a universal feature of semiclassical gravitational collapse. The resulting transfer of energy from the collapsing matter to outgoing Hawking radiation acts as a gravitational quantum friction, opposing the formation of trapped regions while simultaneously imprinting the information carried by the collapsing matter onto the emitted quanta. We discuss the implications of this mechanism for the black hole information-loss problem and speculate about the possible endpoints of collapse, potentially preventing horizon and singularity formation.

We initiate the study of two-to-two scattering amplitudes involving two distinct scalar particles in $d = 4$ spacetime dimensions using the primal S-matrix bootstrap. We impose a $\mathbb{Z}_2 \times \mathbb{Z}_2$ global symmetry under which the two particles are the lightest ones carrying charges $(-,+)$ and $(+,-)$, guaranteeing their absolute stability and absence of triangular anomalous thresholds. For unequal masses, the presence of a pseudo-physical cut whose discontinuity is not directly constrained by physical unitarity qualitatively changes the bootstrap problem. We find several observables to be unbounded, while others obey non-trivial one-sided bounds or become bounded once another observable is fixed. In the equal-mass limit, where the pseudo-physical region disappears, two-sided bounds are recovered. As a proof of concept, we show that supplying information about the pseudo-physical discontinuity through an Omnès parametrisation also restores boundedness. Our results provide a starting point for future studies of physical processes such as pion-kaon and pion-nucleon scattering.

We present JWST NIRSpec IFU spectroscopic measurements of one of the faintest (M$_{UV}>-13.6$) known ionizing sources at $z=5.66$, dubbed Small And Lensed Source Arc, SALSA. This source is highly magnified ($\mu>100$) by the lensing galaxy cluster Abell 2744, providing a unique opportunity to investigate the physical properties of faint sources in the Epoch of Reionization. We characterize SALSA's nebular emission using rest-frame UV and optical emission lines and investigate the relationship between its ionizing efficiency, nebular excitation, and chemical enrichment. We robustly detect H$\alpha$ emission and use it to predict the H$\beta$ flux assuming negligible dust attenuation. We also measure the [OIII]$\lambda$5007 emission and estimate oxygen abundance resulting in a high R3 index $2.82_{-0.25}^{+0.34}$ and relatively low metallicity $\mathrm{12+log(O/H)}= 7.43\pm0.09$. SALSA presents a high ionizing production efficiency log$(\xi_{ion})=25.49_{-0.08}^{+0.09}$ Hz erg $^{-1}$, consistent with theoretical models from very massive stars and constant star formation rate, and a high Ly$\alpha$ escape fraction $f_{\mathrm{esc}}^{\mathrm{Ly}\alpha}=0.39\pm0.14$. These properties place SALSA among the most extreme star-forming sources known at this epoch.

In modern density functional theory, effective Hamiltonians are constructed to reproduce densities and forces of electrons at equilibrium. However, their nonlocal potentials leave systematic errors in spectral properties and real-time dynamics. Access to local optimized or inverted effective potentials would remove this limitation, but the numerical fragility in finite orbital bases has long prevented their wide adoption. Here, we introduce multipole splats, a class of trial potentials that carry the correct asymptotic decay required to support the unoccupied spectrum. By connecting the computation of effective potentials to variational and supervised variants of Hamiltonian learning, we recast both problems as stable nonlinear optimization formulated directly in standard orbital basis sets and applicable to any hybrid functional approximation. The resulting solver allows us to resolve spatial profiles of exchange-correlation potential errors during molecular dissociation and accurately reconstruct key excited states without empirical asymptotic corrections. We also show the deviation from the ionization potential theorem for different exchange-correlation approximations on a dataset of molecular systems. Multipole splats extract insights from established approximations and provide capacity for robust dataset generation for downstream processing and learning.

We present an analytical, statistical solution to the binary-binary (2+2) outcome of the chaotic non-hierarchical four-body problem. The solution is based on the density-of-states formulation pioneered by J. J. Monaghan. The method skips the computationally expensive integration of the equations of motion, and instead samples the outcome from the chaotic phase-space, subject to conservation of energy, momentum, and angular momentum. From the joint distribution, we extract marginal distributions of several key parameters using Monte-Carlo integration, and numerically verify them by comparing to an identical ensemble of scattering experiments produced by the FEWBODY code. From the comparison, we identify a regime not represented by the density-of-states formulation: the hard binary regime, where one binary is much harder then the four-body energy scale, and the system acts as an effective three-body system. We hypothesize that at this regime the system's probability distribution spreads over an effective reduced three-body chaotic phase space. The process of transfer from four-body to three-body phase-space is still not understood, and represents the next natural extension of density-of-states methods.