Papers

Semiconductor moiré superlattices, owing to strongly bound excitons and pronounced electronic correlation, have emerged as an intriguing solid platform for exploring correlated bosonic phenomena, where the moiré potential landscape plays a central role. Hydrostatic pressure allows continuous, in-situ tuning of this landscape, but remains underexplored because of experimental challenges. Here we integrate a diamond anvil pressure cell with high quality dual gated WSe2/WS2 twisted bilayers and perform cryogenic optical spectroscopy. We observe distinct pressure evolutions of moiré intralayer excitons, which reveal drastic modulation of the excitonic moiré-potential landscape captured by a continuum model and suggest the capability of engineering the exciton-band topology. Moreover, we demonstrate efficient pressure control over the interplay between charges and both intralayer and interlayer excitons: the intralayer charge-transfer exciton becomes less sensitive to doping, likely due to reduced charge-transfer character; in contrast, the interlayer exciton exhibits enhanced exciton-charge repulsion. Our results establish hydrostatic pressure as a powerful tuning knob for engineering bosonic quasiparticles and Bose-Fermi interactions in moiré materials.

In this article we present a new view on string theory that is rooted in quantum foundations extended to the domain of quantum gravity in the form of gravitized quantum theory, in which the canonical probability measure captured by the Born rule of quantum theory, turns out to be dynamical and contextual. We claim that this gravitization of quantum theory is the essence of string theory. String theory, according to this view, originates in foundations of quantum theory and Nambu's dynamics, which features in the non-perturbative definition of string theory in terms of a T-duality covariant and non-commutative formulation, called the metastring. Nambu's dynamics and the associated cubic and hypercubic objects also appear as the natural language for exploring the new observables and phenomena implied by a dynamical Born rule, including triple and higher order quantum interference, that can be investigated in experiments involving massive quantum probes, and that are also needed for direct empirical tests of the Born rule, a cornerstone of quantum theory.

We investigate gravitational wave (GW) signatures from extreme-mass-ratio inspirals (EMRIs) around a Bardeen black hole, modeling the small object as a test particle, and provide a framework for probing strong-field spacetime geometry. We first present the equations of motion for test particles around a Bardeen black hole and characterize circular orbits in the parameter space of energy and angular momentum. Using Levin's classification, we adopt the extended classification scheme to classify periodic orbits around a Bardeen black hole. We then compute GW waveforms in both the time and frequency domains, as well as the corresponding characteristic strains, for these periodic orbits and compare them with the sensitivity curves of the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), the evolved Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (eLISA), the TianQin mission, the Big Bang Observer (BBO), and the Decihertz Interferometer Gravitational wave Observatory (DECIGO). We find that detectability is controlled primarily by the luminosity distance. At a luminosity distance of 200 Mpc, the signals can exceed the sensitivity curves of BBO and DECIGO and are comparable to the LISA sensitivity curve, whereas at 2 Gpc, they remain below the sensitivity curves of all detectors considered. These results suggest that EMRIs on periodic orbits around Bardeen black holes offer a promising avenue to probe strong-field gravity and the properties of Bardeen black holes.

Ultrafast manipulation of light polarization plays a key role in modern high-speed photonics and optoelectronic operations. However, most current polarization-active modulation schemes are restricted by a limited operating wavelength range (visible to infrared), narrow-band resonant fundamental wavelength working condition, and relatively long modulation time (> 1 picosecond). Here, by taking advantage of the transient anisotropic nonlinearity of optical strong coupling between the epsilon-near-zero mode of indium tin oxide (ITO) film and polarization-selective plasmonic resonance, we achieve femtosecond polarization manipulation of broadband light that spans ultraviolet (UV) to visible region by controlling harmonic generation of the signal light under resonant pumping. We demonstrate polarization elliptic rotation of 23.3{\deg} at 407 nm for third-harmonic generation (THG) and 55.0{\deg} at 610 nm for second-harmonic generation (SHG) simultaneously within ~600 fs. In addition, the strongly coupled system can also serve as a universal femtosecond polarization modulation source, imprinting a 32.9{\deg} polarization rotation in the UV region by converting the modulation information of the fundamental signal light to that of THG light via a uniform ITO film in a cascaded configuration. Our study establishes a new paradigm for UV-based, ultrahigh-speed broadband polarization photonics with direct implications for high-speed optical information processing and programmable nonlinear photonic devices.

China's next-generation large telescopes, such as the Expandable Aperture Segmented Telescope (EAST) and the Large Optical/Infrared Telescope (LOT), are being planned as flagship facilities for high-angular-resolution astronomy, including the direct imaging and characterization of exoplanetary systems (e.g., exoplanets, circumstellar disks). However, their segmented, centrally obscured apertures present significant challenges for coronagraph design: diffraction from segmented gaps and spiders severely limit contrast, particularly at small inner working angles (IWAs). To address this, we investigate an optimal Shaped Pupil Lyot Coronagraph (SPLC) architecture tailored for these telescopes, which combines a binary shaped pupil apodizer, a focal-plane occulting mask, and a Lyot stop to suppress stellar glare and enhance contrast. We further augment the coronagraph design with a two-deformable-mirror (2-DM) adaptive optics (AO) system to correct atmospheric turbulence and residual aberrations. End-to-end simulations based on site parameters for Lenghu in Qinghai Province and assuming idealized extreme AO (ExAO) correction demonstrate that the optimized 2DM-SPLC designs can achieve raw contrasts of order 10^-6-10^-7 in the V, H, and K bands, providing an upper-bound estimate of the system performance. The simulated performance highlights the advantages of the SPLC in mitigating diffraction from segmented and centrally obscured pupils while maintaining a small IWA and practical throughput, indicating that the 2DM-SPLC is a promising coronagraphic architecture for high-contrast exoplanet imaging on China's future large segmented telescopes.

Magneto-optical traps (MOTs), indispensable to cold-atom-based quantum computing and quantum precision measurement, are increasingly desired in compact and stable form. Particularly, the six-beam 3D-MOT, distinguished by symmetric geometry and superior trapping performance, finds particularly broad applications. Conventional implementations, however, rely on complex and bulky free-space optics, hindering miniaturization, practical assembly, and long-term stability. Here, we demonstrate a compact six-beam 3D-MOT system that employs two multifunctional optical metasurface chips to implement the optical-field functionalities required for cooling and trapping atoms. By combining two metasurface chips and a vacuum cell, a photonic-integrated cell module (PICM) is implemented as the core assembly and the volume is only" 73*73*107 mm^3" . In success, 1.3 * 10^3 Rb atoms are trapped and cooled to the temperature of ~183 {\mu}K. It should be noticed that the laser beam is guided to the metasurface through optical fiber, thus such fully fiber-coupled architecture enables straightforward and stable operations. We believe that this work would pave a practical route toward compact and portable 3D-MOT.

Hydrodynamic fluctuations in the primordial plasma generate a gravitational-wave (GW) background that grows like $f^3_\mathrm{\scriptscriptstyle 0}$ in terms of the current frequency. However, within the ($10^{-4}_{ } ... 10^4_{ })\,$Hz band of upcoming interferometers, the modes likely re-entered the Hubble horizon when the hydrodynamic noise was no longer at its maximal value. To address this situation, we define a model-independent transfer function for GWs generated by hydrodynamic (or other white-noise) fluctuations at any time. Employing appropriate variables, we show how this transfer function, together with the simpler vacuum one, can be determined numerically for a general expansion history. The results are illustrated for Standard Model embedded warm inflation scenarios, including both the vacuum and hydrodynamic parts. Following previous estimates, we find that a pre-exit-generated hydrodynamic tail becomes almost flat below $(10^5_{ } ... 10^7_{ })\;$Hz. Its small-$f^{ }_\mathrm{\scriptscriptstyle 0}$ intercept remains finite, and can then moderately influence observational constraints through the tensor-to-scalar ratio ($r$).

Rapid prediction of pressure-driven flow in microfluidic porous media is important for experimental design, tracer-test interpretation, and digital-twin development for subsurface energy and critical mineral applications. High-fidelity simulations resolve geometry-controlled flow but are computationally expensive across large geometry ensembles. Here, we introduce GeONet, a Geometry-Encoded Operator Network that predicts steady-state pressure fields by jointly representing material properties, spatial coordinates, and solid–void geometry. GeONet extends the Branch–Trunk architecture with a dedicated Leaf Network encoding the binary domain mask through multiscale features. The Branch Network represents porosity and permeability, the Trunk Network combines coordinates with local geometric descriptors and random Fourier features, and a gated DeepMixer integrates these representations to predict pressure. GeONet was trained and evaluated using 5,000 PFLOTRAN simulations of heterogeneous Reduced Complexity Platform domains, comprising nearly 30 TB of data. Comparisons with pore-scale Stokes solutions across three geometries yielded Pearson correlations of 0.987–0.991 and $R^2$ values of 0.974–0.982, supporting PFLOTRAN as reference data. Under matched partitions and two-stage hyperparameter optimization, GeONet substantially outperformed a boundary-condition-aware DeepONet baseline. Across three held-out domains, GeONet achieved NRMSE of 0.0381–0.0500, MAPE of 1.76–2.59%, and $R^2$ of 0.9673–0.9822, versus 0.1483–0.2040, 7.81–10.45%, and 0.5658–0.7126 for DeepONet, respectively. On three additional unseen geometries, GeONet achieved NRMSE of 0.0448–0.0676 and $R^2$ of 0.9511–0.9770. These results demonstrate improved accuracy, pressure-range preservation, and cross-geometry generalization through explicit geometry encoding.

Mandlebrot's coastline paradox reframes measurement as a joint property of an object and its ruler. Here we ask how observational resolution shapes the apparent structure of neural computation. We introduce a scale-indexed decomposition that separates the predictive information captured by direct dependencies from the residual outside that model family. Exact constructions show that projection can convert higher-order dependence into pairwise structure. Projection can increase the direct fraction of surviving information even as total predictive information decreases. A schematic branch-to-soma cascade grounds these effects in local coincidence detection, saturating integration and somatic mixing. Resolving organized nonlinear subunits improves approximation and raises effective representational rank. In a nested hierarchy, these gains occur without increasing information about the target. This distinction separates information availability from access by a restricted readout. A point-neuron or direct population model therefore establishes an effective description at a specified scale. It does not uniquely identify the finer computation that generated the observed relation. Which resolution is adequate depends on the observable and perturbation of interest.

Velocity space discretization is a primary source of computational cost in deterministic methods for multiscale gas flows. A fixed velocity grid often retains redundant kinetic degrees of freedom (DOFs), particularly under near equilibrium conditions. To address this issue, this work develops a nonequilibrium-capturing formulation based on the unified gas kinetic scheme (UGKS), in which the number of kinetic DOFs adapts locally to the degree of nonequilibrium. A discrete orthogonal basis is constructed for numerical implementation, and the velocity distribution function is decomposed into an analytical local equilibrium and a basis expanded nonequilibrium component. The retained, locally adapted DOFs are evolved directly, substantially lowering computational overhead while preserving the discrete conservation of mass, momentum, and energy, as well as accurately capturing nonequilibrium states. The formulation retains the core multiscale coupling of molecular transport and collision inherent to UGKS, providing explicit and implicit schemes for unsteady and steady flows, respectively. Numerical tests across a wide range of flow speeds and rarefaction regimes (from continuum to highly rarefied) demonstrate close agreement with benchmark solutions. For unsteady flows, the explicit scheme achieves speedups of 12.64 to 58.50 over the standard UGKS. In steady state tests, only about $2\%$ of the original kinetic DOFs are required in continuum regions, accelerating each implicit iteration by a factor of 33.87. Even in the most rarefied cases, the scheme captures nonequilibrium behavior using only about $27\%$ of the original DOFs.

The gradient flow exact renormalization group (GFERG) is a formulation of the exact renormalization group for gauge theories that provides a renormalization group flow preserving the gauge Ward–Takahashi identity exactly. In this paper, we nonperturbatively solve the GFERG flow equation for the simplest nontrivial gauge-invariant Wilson action, introduced in a previous paper, for $D$-dimensional quantum electrodynamics with~$N_f$ flavors (for all~$D$, flavors are counted in units of four-component spinors). For $D=3$ and~$D=2$, a nontrivial infrared fixed point exists even for~$N_f=1$, and the structure of the critical exponents at the fixed point is qualitatively the same as that in the large-$N_f$ limit. We also obtain the gauge-field propagator in the continuum limit; for~$D=2$, it reproduces the dynamical mass of the Schwinger model within a few percent. To the best of our knowledge, apart from the large-$N_f$ approximation, this is the first example in which the Wilson renormalization group in a gauge theory is solved nonperturbatively while manifestly preserving gauge symmetry.

In this work, we study spectral functions of heavy and exotic mesons in a self-consistent Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton model at finite temperature and chemical potential, where the dilaton is allowed to back-react on the geometry. A non-quadratic dilaton profile is introduced to reproduce the nonlinear Regge trajectories of heavy-flavor mesons, and the corresponding spectral functions are computed for charmonium, bottomonium, tetraquark, and hybrid channels. In all cases, increasing either temperature or chemical potential suppresses and broadens the quasiparticle peaks, signaling sequential in-medium dissociation; for each radial family, the 2S-like state melts before the 1S-like state. The predicted melting temperatures obey the mass ordering $T_{\rm melt}^{\pi_1(1400)}<T_{\rm melt}^{J/\psi}<T_{\rm melt}^{Z_c(3900)}<T_{\rm melt}^{\Upsilon(1S)}$, with $T_{\rm melt}\simeq 1.08,\ 2.96,\ 4.44$, and $5.93\,T_c$, respectively, so heavier states remain bound up to higher temperatures. These results provide quantitative, testable predictions for heavy-ion experiments probing tetraquark and hybrid mesons in hot and dense QCD matter.

Response-spectrum matching is an underdetermined waveform inverse problem in which spectral compatibility must be achieved without uncontrolled changes in other engineering-relevant ground-motion characteristics. This study formulates the problem as differentiable waveform inverse design using a fixed SDOF dynamics engine and configurable optimization modules. An envelope-guided parameterization defines the correction waveform, while a hard projection enforces zero correction-induced terminal velocity and displacement. Differentiable SDOF responses then provide gradients for waveform optimization. Spectral fidelity and Arias-intensity accumulation are treated as adaptive objectives. Spectral feasibility, PGA, total Arias intensity, and displacement-path requirements are incorporated as constraints. The differentiable spectrum operator agrees with an exact solution of the equation of motion to within 0.002%. The complete five-damping configuration achieves a maximum spectral error of 5.00% over 375 ordinates. On a common benchmark, maximum errors of 2.61% and 8.47% are obtained for single- and multi-damping matching, respectively, while retaining the additional waveform constraints. Three-component applications further show that different engineering acceptance requirements can be accommodated through module reconfiguration without changing the forward dynamics.

Tangles of soft filaments are ubiquitous, from living worm blobs to the cables in a desk drawer. How do such tangles, held together by friction and entanglement, respond when one embedded filament is shaken? We suspend disordered tangles of tunable cohesion and ordered stitched meshes from a single thread (the tether) and oscillate it vertically at fixed amplitude. Extraction peaks at an intermediate drive frequency ($\sim 15$ Hz) and declines at higher frequencies, although the peak drive acceleration grows quadratically. Here we combine experiments, high-speed imaging, and a tension-only spring-mass model to show that this non-monotonic response is set by timing rather than resonance. The extraction window is bounded below by a slackening threshold, where the peak drive acceleration exceeds gravity and the tether, slack for part of each cycle, creates a tensile impulse each time it snaps taut. The window is bounded above by a transmission crossover, where the transmission time across the tangle exceeds a quarter of the drive cycle, so that the tangle no longer responds as a whole and the drive's work dissipates internally. The slackening threshold depends only on the drive and gravity, while the transmission crossover is set only by the tangle's size and transmission speed. By tracing extraction to the overlap of impulse creation and impulse transmission, we identify a generic principle of driven filamentous matter and suggest frequency-selective routes to its disassembly.

Quantifying the biological effects of radiation is essential for radiotherapy and radiation protection. While research has centered on statistical analyses of experimental data, this approach often fails to elucidate underlying mechanisms, limiting the development of generalizable models. Describing time dependent phenomena, such as sub-lethal damage (SLD) recovery during fractionated irradiation, presents a particularly significant challenge for existing static models. To address this, we developed a mechanistic mathematical model that extends the classical multi-target, single-hit model by introducing explicit recovery transitions among damage states, allowing the simultaneous description of radiation-induced damage accumulation and biological recovery. We applied this model to Elkind and Sutton's classical split-dose experimental data to determine its parameters. The model reproduced the major features of split-dose survival curves for treatments with 0-, 2.5-, and 23-hour recovery intervals. We visualized the temporal changes in damage state distributions within the cell populations. These simulations provided a process-level interpretation of the characteristic shoulder-like response appearing after an inter-fraction recovery interval. Furthermore, the estimated recovery half-life was about 120 minutes, which is broadly consistent with reported timescales of DNA double-strand break repair in mammalian cells, supporting the biological interpretability of the model parameters. The proposed framework provides a simple, interpretable description of radiation-induced cell death dynamics, including SLD recovery, and may serve as a basis for the improved mechanistic modeling of radiobiological effects under different irradiation protocols.

Frequency inhomogeneity can obscure the metrological advantage of squeezed spin states, making the choice of readout crucial. We study interacting spin-1/2 ensembles with static local frequency disorder and optimize a common collective readout over independent disorder realizations. Using Bayesian optimization of the full measurement-outcome distribution, we identify observables combining dipole and quadrupole operators that yield greater classical Fisher information than the optimized dipole readout considered here. For ensembles of up to 17 spins, their disorder-averaged CFI surpasses the standard quantum limit at both disorder strengths studied, including a regime where the dipole readout remains below it. For the larger ensembles studied, fixing the encoding axis to the direction that maximizes the disorder-averaged quantum Fisher information retains nearly the same performance. These results identify a route to extracting metrological information from frequency-disordered spin ensembles through the choice of collective observable.

We construct quantum codes from codewords of a cyclic code and the minors of a polynomial matrix. The construction uses a two-row, three-column matrix whose minors yield a second matrix satisfying the CSS orthogonality condition. We derive the code dimension from the greatest common divisors of the entries and minors, with a simplified formula for odd lifting factors. A residue characterization identifies additional common factors of the minors and leads to a method for controlling the dimension through polynomial selection. We also give a condition for changing the minor generator without changing the code. Explicit polynomial constructions yield 13 quantum codes with verified minimum distances, including a $[[255,80,12]]$ code of rate $80/255$.

In this work, we calculate the binding energies of an equal-mass fermion–antifermion system in the $0^{-+}$ and $1^{--}$ channels from the ladder Bethe–Salpeter (BS) equation with scalar, pseudoscalar, and vector exchange. The results are compared with those of the Schrödinger equation with the corresponding leading static interaction in two regimes: pointlike massless exchange at weak coupling and finite-mass exchange with monopole form factors at stronger coupling. For the BS calculation, we use two independent numerical methods based on momentum-space integral equations and coordinate-space differential equations. The differential-equation method gives estimated relative binding-energy errors below $10^{-9}$ in both regimes. For massless vector exchange in Coulomb gauge, the numerical results are consistent with the uncrossed-ladder perturbative spectrum through the $O(m\alpha^5)$ terms. The results for massless scalar exchange and vector exchange in Feynman gauge are consistent with the common Wick–Cutkosky expansion through order $m\alpha^3$. For finite exchange masses, the differences from the leading static Schrödinger spectra at the same masses, couplings, and form factors depend strongly on the exchange and channel. Scalar exchange gives nearly degenerate channels with much weaker binding than the Schrödinger reference. In contrast, vector exchange with only the metric term retained gives stronger binding than the Schrödinger reference in $0^{-+}$ and weaker binding in $1^{--}$. Notably, retaining the full Proca numerator substantially increases the vector binding in both channels. Pseudoscalar exchange also supports bound states and favors $1^{--}$, although its leading static central interaction vanishes.

Grand Unified models of particle physics inevitably give rise to magnetic monopoles. Often the model will also contain a weakly broken discrete symmetry that leads to the formation of biased domain walls that survive for a limited period in cosmology. For a range of the discrete symmetry breaking parameter, domain walls can collapse to form magnetically charged extremal black holes lighter than $\simeq 1\, {\rm kg}$ but these are not expected to survive until the present epoch due to Hawking evaporation and Schwinger pair production of monopoles. If the parameter is smaller still, the black holes may be astrophysical, with mass greater than $10^{15}\, {\rm g}$ and with sub-extremal magnetic charge: $Q \simeq 10^8$ (for our canonical choice of parameters). The cosmological energy density in residual magnetic monopoles depends on the discrete symmetry breaking parameter and for sufficiently small values of the parameter, the magnetic monopole density can satisfy all observational constraints.

Lyapunov exponents characterize the average rate at which nearby trajectories in phase space converge or diverge and therefore provide a useful criterion for dynamical stability. In this work, we develop a general framework for analyzing Lyapunov exponents in stationary spacetimes and extend previous studies beyond circular orbits. For a generic stationary spacetime described by $g_{\mu\nu}(r,\theta)$, we show that the phase space relevant to linear perturbations is spanned by $(r,p_r,\theta,p_\theta)$ and the corresponding linear stability matrix has rank four. When the spacetime admits a rank-2 Killing tensor, the linear stability matrix can be reduced to a block-diagonal form, allowing the Lyapunov exponents to be obtained analytically. By imposing the appropriate constraint conditions, the formalism further yields the linear stability matrices and Lyapunov exponents for circular and spherical orbits. The validity of the method is illustrated by several representative examples, including the (inverted) harmonic oscillator, planar Kepler motion, and particle motion in Schwarzschild and Kerr spacetimes. These results provide a unified framework for investigating the stability properties of particle orbits in both classical and relativistic dynamical systems.

We show that limit-periodic Jacobi matrices in the weak exponential class $EC(\eta)$ have purely absolutely continuous spectral type when $\eta$ is sufficiently large, depending only on the $R$-boundedness constant. The proof first establishes homogeneity of the spectrum from the weak exponential approximation rate. A closure theorem for reflectionless Jacobi matrices then transfers reflectionlessness from the periodic approximants to the limit, and a theorem of Poltoratski and Remling rules out singular spectrum on a homogeneous set.

We revisit the extraction of parton distribution functions (PDFs) in the pion in a global QCD analysis of pion–nucleus Drell–Yan and leading-neutron (LN) electroproduction data, in view of recent suggestions that uncertainties on the pion PDFs at small parton momentum fraction $x$ are dramatically underestimated. We perform a set of controlled fits that vary the LN data coverage, PDF parametrization, and positivity constraints, determining both the PDFs and pion-nucleon splitting functions simultaneously. While the use of a restricted H1 LN data sample used by the Fantômas group is found to enlarge the PDF uncertainties and admit solutions with vanishing gluon PDFs, our global analysis provides a good description of an extended H1 and ZEUS LN database, significantly reducing the parametrization dependence and strongly disfavoring a zero gluon distribution.

The optical Kerr effect in high-refractive-index membrane metasurfaces patterned with a square lattice of five-pointed star-shaped pores is investigated numerically using gallium phosphide as a model material. The star geometry supports resonances with pronounced electromagnetic energy confinement, including an anapole state. The sharp tips of the star-shaped pores concentrate the electric energy density in air, exceeding that of Mie voids by a factor of seven. The effective second-order refractive index is enhanced by up to three orders of magnitude relative to bulk GaP, with the largest values obtained near the anapole resonances. The nonlinear response remains stable under polarization rotation and random misalignment of the nanoholes, indicating tolerance to fabrication imperfections. These results establish star-shaped pore lattices in freestanding membranes as a promising platform for nonlinear optics exploiting strong field confinement.

The existence of multiple superconducting phases is a striking feature of UTe2, arising from the spin and orbital degrees of freedom and supporting a spin-triplet superconducting state. We present field-temperature phase diagrams under pressure for fields applied along the three principal crystallographic axes, as determined by AC calorimetry measurements. The pressure evolution of the multiple superconducting phases is highly anisotropic with respect to magnetic field direction, revealing rich superconducting phenomena arising from complex fluctuations.

Reticular chemistry allows metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) to be designed from their building units, yet their synthesis remains constrained by sparse experimental data, noisy crystallization outcomes, and the absence of benchmarks for comparing active-learning strategies. While data-driven approaches such as Bayesian optimization (BO) can improve synthesis success rates, selecting appropriate optimizers beforehand for mapping MOF crystallization landscapes remains largely empirical. Here we present ActMOF, an experiment-grounded benchmark for comparing search strategies in aluminum-carboxylate MOF synthesis. ActMOF is emulated from experimentally measured microwave syntheses with each encoded condition assigned a crystallinity index calculated based on diffraction peak intensity and full width at half-maximum. By benchmarking policies guided by Gaussian processes (GP), tree ensembles and large language models (LLM), ActMOF placed the GP family among the leading policies for active learning in sparse synthesis landscapes. It then demonstrated transferability by guiding the microwave synthesis of six reticularly related aluminum MOFs. All six campaigns gave crystalline products within a fixed budget of 12 experiments each, and established a reusable testbed for AI-driven MOF synthesis.

The iodine $4d$ giant resonance provides an unusually strong and predominantly iodine-centered photoionization channel in iodoalkanes. Recent attosecond measurements by Schröder et al. [Phys. Rev. A 112, L051104 (2025)] reported pronounced, nonmonotonic, and isomer-dependent variations of the streaking-derived $4d$ photoemission delay across the molecular series. We calculate field-free molecular Eisenbud–Wigner–Smith (EWS) delays from photoionization amplitudes represented in a multicenter B-spline basis of the time-dependent density-functional theory (TDDFT). A tensor formulation is developed in which the delay for randomly oriented molecules is evaluated from the same rank-0 and rank-2 contractions that determine the cross section and anisotropy parameter. The resulting TDDFT delays of CH$_3$I, C$_2$H$_5$I, 2-iodopropane, and both calculated conformers of 1-iodopropane form a narrow bundle throughout the 90–118~eV region and closely follow atomic-I and I$^-$ reference calculations. This robustness is consistent with the similarly weak molecular dependence of the giant resonance cross section and angular distribution, but it is in marked contrast with the much larger molecular variation found by streaking experiments. The asymptotic Coulomb–laser-coupling/continuum–continuum correction is controlled mainly by the photoelectron energy and residual charge and is therefore expected to be nearly common to the iodoalkane series. This does not exclude target-specific molecular IR effects beyond the universal Coulomb term.

We identify a strange-quark-number-dependent hierarchy in the response to explicit partonic dynamics by comparing PHSD5.2 with its hadron–string limit in baryon-rich Au+Au collisions at $\snn=3.0$–$7.2$~GeV. Crossing the local conversion threshold alone does not ensure a visible final-state signal: abundant-hadron flow changes little at 3–4.5~GeV, whereas the fractional yield response becomes ordered at 6.2–7.2~GeV, reaching $S_{|s|=1}\simeq0.2$–$0.3$, $S_{|s|=2}\simeq0.65$, and $S_{|s|=3}\simeq0.93$ at 7.2~GeV. The hierarchy is consistent with an enlarged recombination phase space for strange constituents released from different pre-hadronic sources, but does not by itself establish an increase in the total $s+\bar s$ abundance or stronger strange-quark clustering. Since $S_X$ is a model-defined response rather than a direct observable, matched excitation functions of $\Xi^-/\Lambda$ and $\Omega^-/\Lambda$, together with high-$m_T$ proton elliptic flow, provide experimentally accessible discriminants between the predicted PHSD and HSD dynamics.

Under anthropogenic greenhouse forcing, climate models project a decrease in year-to-year temperature variability in the mid-to-high latitudes and an increase in the tropics and subtropics. Here, we examine year-to-year temperature variability in the CESM Large Ensemble in concert with an idealized stochastic moist energy balance model (SMEBM) with effective surface heat capacity and local feedback parameter specified based on CESM. We find that the zonal-mean CESM variability change pattern largely persists after filtering out the impact of El Niño. The SMEBM largely captures this change pattern. In the SMEBM, changes in the mid-to-high latitudes are driven by changes in the effective heat capacity due to sea ice retreat, combined with changes in anomalous moist static energy convergence modulated by the polar-amplified time-mean temperature change. The CESM local feedback parameter evolves to be less stabilizing in the low latitudes, which causes tropical and subtropical variability to increase in the SMEBM.

In this work, we investigate the phase stability, electronic structure, and superconducting properties of the two-dimensional ternary borocarbides MB$_4$C$_2$ (M = Ca, Mg) using first-principles calculations and fully anisotropic Migdal-Eliashberg theory. Ab initio molecular dynamics, phonon dispersion, and elastic constant calculations confirm that both monolayers are dynamically, thermally, and mechanically stable. Electronic structure analysis reveals an intrinsic metallic nature with a multiband Fermi surface, where states near the $\Gamma$ point are dominated by in-plane B-$p_x$, $p_y$ orbitals, while zone-boundary states are primarily derived from out-of-plane B-$p_z$ orbitals. The electron-phonon coupling is determined to be $\lambda = 0.64$ for both materials, driven by the rigid covalent B-B and B-C honeycomb networks. By solving the anisotropic Eliashberg equations, we predict that CaB$_4$C$_2$ and MgB$_4$C$_2$ are nodeless two-gap superconductors with critical temperatures ($T_c$) of 33.4 K and 33.8 K, respectively, at a Coulomb pseudopotential of $\mu = 0.10$. Furthermore, the superconducting state remains robust under increased Coulomb repulsion ($\mu = 0.13$), retaining elevated $T_c$ values of 31.2 K and 30.9 K, respectively. These findings establish MB$_4$C$_2$ monolayers as promising candidates for nanoscale superconducting applications and enrich the family of two-dimensional multigap superconductors.

Correctly modeling the dust attenuation law in galaxies is essential to properly inferring their growth and physical properties. With the rapid discovery of $z>6$ galaxies by JWST and lack of constraints on the properties of dust at these redshifts, we must turn to theoretical models to predict the properties of dust at these redshifts. In this paper, we develop a theoretical foundation for the nature of high-redshift attenuation laws. We analyze $107$ cosmological zoom-in simulations of galaxies run with the SMUGGLE galaxy formation model. SMUGGLE includes an explicitly modeled multiphase interstellar medium and a state-of-the-art dust model with a self-consistently evolving dust grain size distribution. We forward model these simulations with the radiative transfer package POWDERDAY to produce synthetic spectra and attenuation curves for a set of $z=5-15$, $M_*\sim10^{6.5}-10^{10}\; \mathrm{M}_{\odot}$ galaxies. We find evidence for flatter attenuation curves than the commonly used locally-calibrated literature attenuation laws assumed when modeling high-redshift galaxies. The vast majority of our attenuation curves also lack the 2175 Angstrom absorption feature. Our attenuation laws do not evolve strongly over $z=15-5$, which we attribute to relatively constant fractions of small grains up to $z=4$ in our simulations. We present a set of simulation-informed priors on dust attenuation law parameterization that could be implemented in SED fitting codes. There is an anti-correlation between galaxy mass and attenuation curve slope and positive correlation between galaxy mass and $A_V$, which we attribute to dust growth becoming efficient in our massive galaxies with $\log{M_*/\mathrm{M}_{\odot}}\gtrsim9$ and with ISM conditions above a critical metallicity threshold.