Daily Papers

We investigate the stability of superconducting strings as bound states of strings and fermion zero modes at both the classical and quantum levels. The dynamics of these superconducting strings can result in a stable configuration, known as a vorton. We mainly focus on global strings, but the majority of the discussion can be applied to local strings. Using lattice simulations, we study the classical dynamics of superconducting strings and confirm that they relax to the vorton configuration through Nambu-Goldstone boson radiation, with no evidence of over-shooting that would destabilize the vorton. We explore the tunneling of fermion zero modes out of the strings. Both our classical analysis and quantum calculations yield consistent results: the maximum energy of the zero mode significantly exceeds the fermion mass, in contrast to previous literature. Additionally, we introduce a world-sheet formalism to evaluate the decay rate of zero modes into other particles, which constitute the dominant decay channel. We also identify additional processes that trigger zero-mode decay due to non-adiabatic changes of the string configuration. In these decay processes, the rates are suppressed by the curvature of string loops, with exponential suppression for large masses of the final states. We further study the scattering with light charged particles surrounding the string core produced by the zero-mode current and find that a wide zero-mode wavefunction can enhance vorton stability.

We present the phenomenology of the charged Higgs boson H^pm appearing in a fermionic dark matter model mediated by an additional scalar doublet. In order to couple the dark matter fermion to the scalar doublet, we introduce a U(1)_X gauge symmetry, which is spontaneously broken at electroweak symmetry breaking, resulting in a massive Z' gauge boson. Since Z' is generically light, the model is subject to strong constraints from electroweak precision observables. As a result, the charged Higgs boson mass allowed by current experimental bounds is typically light in this model, 110 GeV <m_{H^pm}< 170 GeV. Such a light charged Higgs boson will be produced mainly through top-quark decays at the LHC. Additionally, depending on the mass of the additional neutral Higgs boson h and the dark gauge boson Z', the direct production channels pp to H^pm Z' and pp to H^pm h can become sizable. We investigate the corresponding signal processes at the LHC to assess the discovery potential for H^pm. Current ATLAS and CMS searches for light charged Higgs bosons already impose further constraints on the model. We also discuss the implications of dark matter in relation to the charged Higgs boson phenomenology.

This paper will discuss the microphysical simulation of interactions in liquid xenon, the active detector medium in many leading rare-event searches for new physics, and describe experimental observables useful for understanding detector performance. The scintillation and ionization yield distributions for signal and background will be presented using the Noble Element Simulation Technique (NEST), which is a toolkit based on experimental data and simple, empirical formulae, which mimic previous microphysics modeling, but are guided by data. The NEST models for light and charge production as a function of the particle type, energy, and electric field will be reviewed, as well as models for energy resolution and final pulse areas. NEST will be compared to other models or sets of models, and vetted against real data, with several specific examples pulled from XENON, ZEPLIN, LUX, LZ, PandaX, and table-top experiments used for calibrations.

New light particles have received considerable attention in recent years. Baryon-number-violating (BNV) nucleon decays involving such light particles are able to provide stringent constraints. They exhibit distinctive experimental signatures that merit thorough investigation. We systematically investigate BNV nucleon decay with a light scalar in an effective field theory framework. Within this framework, we set stringent bounds on BNV operators using available experimental data and predict the occurrence of several BNV three-body nucleon decays. We further study contributions to dinucleon to dilepton transitions in a nucleus mediated by the scalar, which complements single nucleon decay. Finally, we provide three ultraviolet-complete models that can generate different subsets of BNV operators in leading order. Our theoretical framework will facilitate experimental searches for those exotic nucleon decays.

The production of a top-quark pair, the heaviest known elementary particle, in association with a light jet is a key process for studying the properties of the Standard Model of Particle Physics. Due to its significance as a signal process with considerable sensitivity to the top-quark mass and as a background process for new physics searches, it is crucial to predict differential cross sections with high precision. In this article, we present, for the first time, predictions for various kinematical observables at next-to-next-to-leading order in Quantum Chromodynamics. The perturbative behavior is analyzed, and uncertainties arising from missing higher-order contributions are substantially reduced. The necessary two-loop amplitudes have been evaluated in the leading-color approximation, and we provide estimates for the impact of the missing contributions.

In oncology, treating cancer with a beam of photons is a well established therapeutic technique, developed over 100 years, and today over 50% of cancer patients will undergo traditional X-ray radiotherapy. However, ionizing radiation therapy is not the only option, as the high-energy photons delivering their cell-killing radiation energy into cancerous tumor can lead to significant damage to healthy tissues surrounding the tumor, located throughout the beam's path. Therefore, in nowadays, advances in ionizing radiation therapy are competitive to non-ionizing ones, as for example the laser light based therapy, resulting in a synergism that has revolutionized medicine. The use of non-invasive or minimally invasive (e.g. through flexible endoscopes) therapeutic procedures in the management of patients represents a very interesting treatment option. Moreover, as the major breakthrough in cancer management is the individualized patient treatment, new biophotonic techniques, e.g. photo-activated drug carriers, help the improvement of treatment efficacy and/or normal tissue toxicity. Additionally, recent studies support that laser technology progresses could revolutionize cancer proton therapy, by reducing the cost of the needed installations. The aim of this review is to present some laser-based future objectives for cancer radiation therapy, aiming to address the relevant advances in the ionizing and non-ionizing radiation therapy, i.e. protons and heavy ions therapy, as well as photodynamic targeted and molecular therapies.

We show evidence of particle acceleration at GEV energies associated directly with protons from the prompt emission of a long-duration M6-class solar flare on July 17, 2023, rather than from protons acceleration by shocks from its associated Coronal Mass Ejection (CME), which erupted with a speed of 1342 km/s. Solar Energetic Particles (SEP) accelerated by the blast have reached Earth, up to an almost S3 (strong) category of a radiation storm on the NOAA scale. Also, we show a temporal correlation between the fast rising of GOES-16 proton and muon excess at ground level in the count rate of the New-Tupi muon detector at the central SAA region. A Monte Carlo spectral analysis based on muon excess at New-Tupi is consistent with the acceleration of electrons and protons (ions) up to relativistic energies (GeV energy range) in the impulsive phase of the flare. In addition, we present another two marginal particle excesses (with low confidence) at ground-level detectors in correlation with the solar flare prompt emission.

We introduce a dark photon considering a U(1) gauge extension of the standard model in particle physics. Provided that the extra U(1) symmetry is unbroken, the dark photon is massless and has no coupling to the standard electromagnetic current. Higher-dimensional operators describe interactions of the massless dark photon with particles in the standard model. We investigate the interactions of the massless dark photon with charged leptons via dipole operators, mainly focusing on the lepton family-violating processes. We present an improved constraint in the polarized two-body muon decay and a set of new bounds in tau decays. We also examine possible lepton family-violating signals of the massless dark photon in future lepton colliders.

We discuss the effect of a strong magnetic field on the chemical freezeout points in the ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collision. As a result of the inverse magnetic catalysis or the magnetic inhibition, the crossover onset to hot and dense matter out of quarks and gluons should be shifted to a lower temperature. To quantify this shift we employ the hadron resonance gas model and an empirical condition for the chemical freezeout. We point out that the charged particle abundances are significantly affected by the magnetic field so that the electric charge fluctuation is largely enhanced especially at high baryon density. The charge conservation partially cancels the enhancement but our calculation shows that the electric charge fluctuation and the charge chemical potential could serve as a magnetometer. We find that the fluctuation exhibits a crossover behavior rapidly increased for eB >~ (0.4GeV)^2, while the charge chemical potential has better sensitivity to the magnetic field.

Axion-like particles (ALPs) are hypothetical pseudoscalar bosons, natural in extensions of the Standard Model. Their interactions with ordinary matter and radiation are suppressed, making it challenging to detect them in laboratory experiments. However, these particles, produced within stellar interiors, can provide an additional mechanism for energy loss, potentially influencing stellar evolution. Prominent methods for searching for such effects involve measuring the properties of red giants and helium-burning stars in globular clusters (GCs). Here we use published catalogs of stars selected as members of seven GCs on the basis of parallaxes and proper motions measured by Gaia (Data Realease 3). Making use of previously derived theoretical relations and the new data, we find the upper limit on the ALP-electron coupling, g_{ae}<5.2*10^{-14} (95% CL), and an indication (3.3 sigma) to nonzero ALP-photon coupling, g_{a\gamma}=(6.5+1.1-1.3)*10^{-11} GeV^{-1}. Given the precision of contemporary observational data, it is imperative to refine ALP constraints through more sophisticated analyses, which will be explored in detail elsewhere.

Colloids play an important role in fundamental science as well as in nature and technology. They have had a strong impact on the fundamental understanding of statistical physics. For example, colloids have helped to obtain a better understanding of collective phenomena, ranging from phase transitions and glass formation to the swarming of active Brownian particles. Yet the success of colloidal systems hinges crucially on the specific physical and chemical properties of the colloidal particles, i.e. particles with the appropriate characteristics must be available. Here we present an idea to create particles with freely selectable properties. The properties might depend, for example, on the presence of other particles (hence mimicking specific pair or many-body interactions), previous configurations (hence introducing some memory or feedback), or a directional bias (hence changing the dynamics). Without directly interfering with the sample, each particle is fully controlled and can receive external commands through a predefined algorithm that can take into account any input parameters. This is realized with computer-controlled colloids, which we term cybloids - short for cybernetic colloids. The potential of cybloids is illustrated by programming a time-delayed external potential acting on a single colloid and interaction potentials for many colloids. Both an attractive harmonic potential and an annular potential are implemented. For a single particle, this programming can cause subdiffusive behavior or lend activity. For many colloids, the programmed interaction potential allows to select a crystal structure at wish. Beyond these examples, we discuss further opportunities which cybloids offer.

A fully differential calculation in perturbative quantum chromodynamics is presented for the production of massive photon pairs at hadron colliders. All next-to-leading order perturbative contributions from quark-antiquark, gluon-(anti)quark, and gluon-gluon subprocesses are included, as well as all-orders resummation of initial-state gluon radiation valid at next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic accuracy. The region of phase space is specified in which the calculation is most reliable. Good agreement is demonstrated with data from the Fermilab Tevatron, and predictions are made for more detailed tests with CDF and DO data. Predictions are shown for distributions of diphoton pairs produced at the energy of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Distributions of the diphoton pairs from the decay of a Higgs boson are contrasted with those produced from QCD processes at the LHC, showing that enhanced sensitivity to the signal can be obtained with judicious selection of events.

Energy-energy correlators are constructed by averaging the number of charged particle pairs within jets, weighted by the product of their transverse momenta, as a function of the angular separation of the particles within a pair. They are sensitive to a multitude of perturbative and nonperturbative quantum chromodynamics phenomena in high-energy particle collisions. Using lead-lead data recorded with the CMS detector, energy-energy correlators inside high transverse momentum jets are measured in heavy ion collisions for the first time. The data are obtained at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 1.70 nb^{-1}. A similar analysis is done for proton-proton collisions at the same center-of-mass energy to establish a reference. The ratio of lead-lead to proton-proton energy-energy correlators reveals significant jet substructure modifications in the quark-gluon plasma. The results are compared to different models that incorporate either color coherence or medium response effects, where the two effects predict similar substructure modifications.

Short-pulse, ultra high-intensity lasers have opened new regimes for studying fusion plasmas and creating novel ultra-short ion beams and neutron sources. Diagnosing the plasma in these experiments is important for optimizing the fusion yield but difficult due to the picosecond time scales, 10s of micron-cubed volumes and high densities. We propose to use the yields of photons and neutrons produced by parallel reactions involving the same reactants to diagnose the plasma conditions and predict the yields of specific reactions of interest. In this work, we focus on verifying the yield of the high-interest aneutronic proton-boron fusion reaction ^{11}{B}(p,2α){}^4{He}, which is difficult to measure directly due to the short stopping range of the produced αs in most materials. We identify promising photon-producing reactions for this purpose and compute the ratios of the photon yield to the α yield as a function of plasma parameters. In beam fusion experiments, the {}^{11}{C} yield is an easily-measurable observable to verify the α yield. In light of our results, improving and extending measurements of the cross sections for these parallel reactions are important steps to gaining greater control over these laser-driven fusion plasmas.

In October 2007, a Research Proposal for the University of Sydney, Australia, the author suggested that biovie-physical phenomenon as `electrodynamic dependant biological vision', is governed by relativistic quantum laws and biovision. The phenomenon on the basis of `biovielectroluminescence', satisfies man/microbio/megabio/computer vision (MMMCV), as a robust candidate for physical and visual sciences. The general aim of this addendum is to present a refined text of Sections 1-3 of that proposal and highlighting the contents of its Appendix in form of a `Mechanisms' Section. We then briefly remind in an article aimed for December 2007, by appending two more equations into Section 3, a theoretical II-time scenario as a time model well-proposed for the phenomenon. The time model within the core of the proposal, plays a significant role in emphasizing the principle points on Objectives no. 1-8, Sub-hypothesis 3.1.2, mentioned in Article [arXiv:0710.0410]. It also expresses the time concept in terms of causing quantized energy f(|E|) of time |t|, emit in regard to shortening the probability of particle loci as predictable patterns of particle's un-occurred motion, a solution to Heisenberg's uncertainty principle (HUP) into a simplistic manner. We conclude that, practical frames via a time algorithm to this model, fixates such predictable patterns of motion of scenery bodies onto recordable observation points of a MMMCV system. It even suppresses/predicts superposition phenomena coming from a human subject and/or other bio-subjects for any decision making event, e.g., brainwave quantum patterns based on vision. Maintaining the existential probability of Riemann surfaces of II-time scenarios in the context of biovielectroluminescence, makes motion-prediction a possibility.

Pulsar Wind Nebulae (PWNe) dominate the galactic gamma-ray sky at very high energies, and are major contributors to the leptonic cosmic ray flux. However, whether or not pulsars also accelerate ions to comparable energies is not yet experimentally confirmed. We aim to constrain the birth period and pair-production multiplicity for a set of pulsars. In doing so, we aim to constrain the proportion of ions in the pulsar magnetosphere and hence the proportion of ions that could enter the pulsar wind. We estimate possible ranges of the value of the average pair production multiplicity for a sample of 26 pulsars in the Australia Telescope National Facility (ATNF) catalogue, which have also been observed by the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) telescopes. We then derive lower limits for the pulsar birth periods and average pair production multiplicities for a subset of these sources where the extent of the pulsar wind nebula and surrounding supernova shell have been measured in the radio. We also derive curves for the average pair production multiplicities as a function of birth period for sources recently observed by the Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO). We show that there is a potential for hadrons entering the pulsar wind for most of the H.E.S.S. and LHAASO sources we consider, dependent upon the efficiency of luminosity conversion into particles. We also present estimates of the pulsar birth period for six of these sources, which all fall into the range of simeq10-50 ms.

We interpret the recent excess in a rare decay of the Higgs boson, Hto Zgamma, using a light axion-like particle (ALP) in the massrange 0.05 - 0.1 GeV.The dominant decay of such a light ALP is into a pair of collimated photons, whose decay is required to happen before reaching the ECAL detector, such that it mimics a single photon in the detector. It can explain the excess with a coupling C^{rm eff}_{aZH} / Lambda sim 4 times 10^{-5};{rm GeV}^{-1}, while the decay of the ALP before reaching the ECAL requires the diphoton coupling C^{rm eff}_{gammagamma}/ Lambda ge 0.35 ,{rm TeV}^{-1} (0.1,{rm eV}/m_a)^2. A potential test would be the rare decay of the Z boson Z to a H^* to a (b bar b) at the Tera-Z option of the future FCC and CEPC. However, it has a branching ratio of only O(10^{-12}), and thus barely testable. The production cross section for pp to Z^* to a H via the same coupling C^{rm eff}_{aZH} / Lambda at the LHC is too small for detection.

The presence of strong electron clouds in the quadrupole magnetic field regions of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) leads to considerable heating that poses challenges for the cryogenic cooling system, and under certain conditions to proton beam quality deterioration. Research is being conducted on laser-treated inner beam screen surfaces for the upgraded High-Luminosity LHC to mitigate this issue. Laser-induced surface structuring, a technique that effectively roughens surfaces, has been shown to reduce secondary electron emission; an essential factor in controlling electron cloud formation. Conversely, the resulting surface roughening also alters the material's surface impedance, potentially impacting beam stability and increasing beam-induced resistive wall heating. Different laser treatment patterns have been applied to LHC beam screens to estimate this potential impact and assessed for their microwave responses.

We describe in the context of the particle physics (PP) standard model (SM) `PP-SM' the understanding of the primordial properties and composition of the Universe in the temperature range 130GeV>T>20keV. The Universe evolution is described using FLRW cosmology. We present a global view on particle content across time and describe the different evolution eras using deceleration parameter q. We follow the arrow of time in the expanding and cooling Universe: After the PP-SM heavies (t, h, W, Z) diminish in abundance below Tsimeq 50GeV, the PP-SM plasma in the Universe is governed by the strongly interacting Quark-Gluon content. Once the temperature drops below Tsimeq 150MeV, quarks and gluons hadronize into strongly interacting matter particles. Rapid disappearance of baryonic antimatter completes at T_B=38.2MeV. We study the ensuing disappearance of strangeness and mesons in general. We show that the different eras defined by particle populations are barely separated from each other with abundance of muons fading out just prior to T=O(2.5)MeV, the era of emergence of the free-streaming neutrinos. We discuss the two relevant fundamental constants controlling the decoupling of neutrinos. We subsequently follow the primordial Universe as it passes through the hot dense electron-positron plasma epoch. The high density of positron antimatter disappears near T=20.3keV: Nuclear reactions occur in the presence of a highly mobile and relatively strongly interacting electron-positron plasma phase. We apply plasma theory methods to describe the strong screening effects between heavy dust particle (nucleons). We analyze the paramagnetic characteristics of the electron-positron plasma when exposed to an external primordial magnetic field.

Results are presented from searches for the standard model Higgs boson in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 and 8 TeV in the Compact Muon Solenoid experiment at the LHC, using data samples corresponding to integrated luminosities of up to 5.1 inverse femtobarns at 7 TeV and 5.3 inverse femtobarns at 8 TeV. The search is performed in five decay modes: gamma gamma, ZZ, WW, tau tau, and b b-bar. An excess of events is observed above the expected background, with a local significance of 5.0 standard deviations, at a mass near 125 GeV, signalling the production of a new particle. The expected significance for a standard model Higgs boson of that mass is 5.8 standard deviations. The excess is most significant in the two decay modes with the best mass resolution, gamma gamma and ZZ; a fit to these signals gives a mass of 125.3 +/- 0.4 (stat.) +/- 0.5 (syst.) GeV. The decay to two photons indicates that the new particle is a boson with spin different from one.

Any observation of charged lepton flavor violation (CLFV) implies the existence of new physics beyond the SM in charged lepton sector. CLFV interactions may also contribute to the muon magnetic moment and explain the discrepancy between the SM prediction and the recent muon g-2 precision measurement at Fermilab. We consider the most general SM gauge invariant Lagrangian of Delta L=0 bileptons with CLFV couplings and investigate the interplay of low-energy precision experiments and colliders in light of the muon magnetic moment anomaly. We go beyond previous work by demonstrating the sensitivity of the LHC, the MACE experiment, a proposed muonium-antimuonium conversion experiment, and a muon collider. Currently-available LHC data is already able to probe unexplored parameter space via the CLFV process pptogamma^*/Z^*to ell_1^pm ell_1^pm ell_2^mp ell_2^mp.

The first direct detection of neutrinos at the LHC not only marks the beginning of a novel collider neutrino program at CERN but also motivates considering additional neutrino detectors to fully exploit the associated physics potential. We investigate the feasibility and physics potential of neutrino experiments located at the surface-level. A topographic desk study was performed to identify all points at which the LHC's neutrino beams exit the earth. The closest location lies about 9 km east of the CMS interaction point, at the bottom of Lake Geneva. Several detectors to be placed at this location are considered, including a water Cherenkov detector and an emulsion detector. The detector concepts are introduced, and projections for their contribution to the LHC forward neutrino program and searches for dark sector particles are presented. However, the dilution of the neutrino flux over distance reduces the neutrino yield significantly, limiting the physics potential of surface-level detectors compared to ones closer to the interaction point, including the proposed FPF.

Due to wave interference, an ultralight light dark matter halo has stochastic, granular substructures which can scatter stars, leading to the heating of stellar distributions. Studies of this phenomenon have placed lower bounds on the ultralight dark matter mass. In this paper we investigate a number of relevant systematic effects, including: (1) the heating by the central soliton, (2) the self-gravity of the stars, (3) the suppression of heating in a tidally stripped halo, and (4) the tidal field suppression of heating when the stellar cluster is much smaller than the de Broglie wavelength. The first three effects are quantified by studying the dynamics of stellar particles in Schrodinger-Poisson simulations of ultralight dark matter halos, while the last effect is studied using analytic approximations.

Ultralight dark matter is an interesting dark matter candidate describing the lightest end of the mass parameter space. This model produces an oscillating granular pattern in halo densities. These fluctuations have the potential to produce a time-varying density along the line of sight creating a small lensing signal for any stars observed through a dark matter halo which oscillates on the de Broglie timescale. In this work, we study this stochastic lensing signal taking into account the impact of density granules as well as the central soliton. We calculate the amplitude and temporal properties of this signal and estimate how stellar observations may be used to constrain the ultralight dark matter mass and abundance.

We use the AdS/CFT correspondence to compute the conductivity of massive N=2 hypermultiplet fields at finite baryon number density in an N=4 SU(N_c) super-Yang-Mills theory plasma in the large N_c, large 't Hooft coupling limit. The finite baryon density provides charge carriers analogous to electrons in a metal. An external electric field then induces a finite current which we determine directly. Our result for the conductivity is good for all values of the mass, external field and density, modulo statements about the yet-incomplete phase diagram. In the appropriate limits it agrees with known results obtained from analyzing small fluctuations around equilibrium. For large mass, where we expect a good quasi-particle description, we compute the drag force on the charge carriers and find that the answer is unchanged from the zero density case. Our method easily generalizes to a wide class of systems of probe branes in various backgrounds.

The trouble in detecting low mass dark matter due to its low kinetic energy can be ameliorated in the boosted dark matter framework, where a sub-population of galactic dark matter attains very high energy after being up-scattered by energetic standard model particles. However, in such a scenario the upper limits on the cross-section obtained hitherto are typically large. Hence in the minimal extension of standard model where new mediators act as a portal between the dark and visible sectors, the direct detection limits for sub-GeV dark matter might lie within the exclusion region of other ground based searches of the mediator. To evade this deadlock, we allude to blazar boosted dark matter electron scattering in multi-ton neutrino detector Super kamiokande. We consider minimal models such as axion like particle (ALP) and vector portal dark matter being upscattered by high energy blazar jet and analyse the interesting parameter reaches from Super kamiokande in the parameter space of the mediator, surpassing the existing constraints. Besides, this scenario exhibits stronger limits for previously unexplored ALP mediated sub-MeV dark matter search which is difficult due to associated momentum suppression.

Ultracold gases of highly magnetic lanthanide atoms have enabled the realisation of dipolar quantum droplets and supersolids. However, future studies could be limited by the achievable atom numbers and hindered by high three-body loss rates. Here we study density-dependent atom loss in an ultracold gas of {}^{166}Er for magnetic fields below 4 G, identifying six previously unreported, strongly temperature-dependent features. We find that their positions and widths show a linear temperature dependence up to at least 15,muK. In addition, we observe a weak, polarisation-dependent shift of the loss features with the intensity of the light used to optically trap the atoms. This detailed knowledge of the loss landscape allows us to optimise the production of dipolar BECs with more than 2 times 10^5 atoms and points towards optimal strategies for the study of large-atom-number dipolar gases in the droplet and supersolid regimes.

The classical Coulomb gas model has served as one of the most versatile frameworks in statistical physics, connecting a vast range of phenomena across many different areas. Nonequilibrium generalisations of this model have so far been studied much more scarcely. With the abundance of contemporary research into active and driven systems, one would naturally expect that such generalisations of systems with long-ranged Coulomb-like interactions will form a fertile playground for interesting developments. Here, we present two examples of novel macroscopic behaviour that arise from nonequilibrium fluctuations in long-range interacting systems, namely (1) unscreened long-ranged correlations in strong electrolytes driven by an external electric field and the associated fluctuation-induced forces in the confined Casimir geometry, and (2) out-of-equilibrium critical behaviour in self-chemotactic models that incorporate the particle polarity in the chemotactic response of the cells. Both of these systems have nonlocal Coulomb-like interactions among their constituent particles, namely, the electrostatic interactions in the case of the driven electrolyte, and the chemotactic forces mediated by fast-diffusing signals in the case of self-chemotactic systems. The results presented here hint to the rich phenomenology of nonequilibrium effects that can arise from strong fluctuations in Coulomb interacting systems, and a rich variety of potential future directions, which are discussed.

In this work, we compute multi-field core and halo properties in wave Dark Matter models. We focus on the case where Dark Matter consists of two light (real) scalars, interacting gravitationally. As in the single-field Ultra Light Dark Matter (ULDM) case, the scalar field behaves as a coherent BEC with a definite ground state (at fixed total mass), often referred to in the literature as a gravitational soliton. We establish an efficient algorithm to find the ground and excited states of such two-field systems. We then use simulations to investigate the gravitational collapse and virialization, starting from different initial conditions, into solitons and surrounding halo. As in the single-field case, a virialized halo forms with a gravitational soliton (ground state) at the center. We find some evidence for an empirical relation between the soliton mass and energy and those of the host halo. We use this to then find a numerical relation between the properties of the two. Finally, we use this to address the issue of alleviating some of the tensions that single-field ULDM has with observational data, in particular, the issue of how a galaxy's core and radius are related. We find that if galaxies of different masses have similar percentages of the two species, then the core-radius scaling tension is not addressed. However, more general possibilities occur if the relative abundance of species in each halo correlates with the total mass of the galaxy. If this is the case, the model predicts several other phenomenological signatures.

The interstellar medium (ISM) is all but empty. To date, more than 300 molecules have already been discovered. Because of the extremely low temperature, the gas-phase chemistry is dominated by barrierless exothermic reactions of radicals and ions. However, several abundant molecules and organic molecules cannot be produced efficiently by gas-phase reactions. To explain the existence of such molecules in the ISM, gas-surface interactions between small molecules and dust particles covered with amorphous solid water (ASW) mantles must be considered. In general, surface processes such as adsorption, diffusion, desorption, and chemical reactions can be linked to the binding energy of molecules to the surface. Hence, a lot of studies have been performed to identify the binding energies of interstellar molecules on ASW surfaces. Cosmic radiation and free electrons may induce a negative charge on the dust particles, and the binding energies may be affected by this charge. In this study, we calculate the binding energies of CO, CH4, and NH3, on neutral and charged ASW surfaces using DFT calculations. Our results indicate that CO can interact with the surface charge, increasing its binding energy. In contrast, the binding energy of CH4 remains unchanged in the presence of surface charge, and that of NH3 typically decreases.

Neutron tagging in Gadolinium-doped water may play a significant role in reducing backgrounds from atmospheric neutrinos in next generation proton-decay searches using megaton-scale Water Cherenkov detectors. Similar techniques might also be useful in the detection of supernova neutrinos. Accurate determination of neutron tagging efficiencies will require a detailed understanding of the number of neutrons produced by neutrino interactions in water as a function of momentum transferred. We propose the Atmospheric Neutrino Neutron Interaction Experiment (ANNIE), designed to measure the neutron yield of atmospheric neutrino interactions in gadolinium-doped water. An innovative aspect of the ANNIE design is the use of precision timing to localize interaction vertices in the small fiducial volume of the detector. We propose to achieve this by using early production of LAPPDs (Large Area Picosecond Photodetectors). This experiment will be a first application of these devices demonstrating their feasibility for Water Cherenkov neutrino detectors.

Neutron tagging in Gadolinium-doped water may play a significant role in reducing backgrounds from atmospheric neutrinos in next generation proton-decay searches using megaton-scale Water Cherenkov detectors. Similar techniques might also be useful in the detection of supernova neutrinos. Accurate determination of neutron tagging efficiencies will require a detailed understanding of the number of neutrons produced by neutrino interactions in water as a function of momentum transferred. We propose the Atmospheric Neutrino Neutron Interaction Experiment (ANNIE), designed to measure the neutron yield of atmospheric neutrino interactions in gadolinium-doped water. An innovative aspect of the ANNIE design is the use of precision timing to localize interaction vertices in the small fiducial volume of the detector. We propose to achieve this by using early production of LAPPDs (Large Area Picosecond Photodetectors). This experiment will be a first application of these devices demonstrating their feasibility for Water Cherenkov neutrino detectors.

The last decade has seen a marked shift in how the internal structure of hadrons is understood. Modern experimental facilities, new theoretical techniques for the continuum bound-state problem and progress with lattice-regularised QCD have provided strong indications that soft quark+quark (diquark) correlations play a crucial role in hadron physics. For example, theory indicates that the appearance of such correlations is a necessary consequence of dynamical chiral symmetry breaking, viz. a corollary of emergent hadronic mass that is responsible for almost all visible mass in the universe; experiment has uncovered signals for such correlations in the flavour-separation of the proton's electromagnetic form factors; and phenomenology suggests that diquark correlations might be critical to the formation of exotic tetra- and penta-quark hadrons. A broad spectrum of such information is evaluated herein, with a view to consolidating the facts and therefrom moving toward a coherent, unified picture of hadron structure and the role that diquark correlations might play.

Future collider experiments require unprecedented precision in measurements of Higgs, electroweak, and flavour observables, placing stringent demands on event reconstruction. The achievable precision on Higgs couplings scales directly with the resolution on visible final state particles and their invariant masses. Current particle flow algorithms rely on detector specific clustering, limiting flexibility during detector design. Here we present an end-to-end global event reconstruction approach that maps charged particle tracks and calorimeter and muon hits directly to particle level objects. The method combines geometric algebra transformer networks with object condensation based clustering, followed by dedicated networks for particle identification and energy regression. Our approach is benchmarked on fully simulated electron positron collisions at FCC-ee using the CLD detector concept. It outperforms the state-of-the-art rule-based algorithm by 10--20\% in relative reconstruction efficiency, achieves up to two orders of magnitude reduction in fake-particle rates for charged hadrons, and improves visible energy and invariant mass resolution by 22\%. By decoupling reconstruction performance from detector-specific tuning, this framework enables rapid iteration during the detector design phase of future collider experiments.

The collision system and multiplicity dependence of chemical freeze-out temperature (T_{rm ch}) and strangeness saturation factor (γ_{s}) are obtained by studying the particle ratios at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) energies. Here, we consider the new results in pp at 13 TeV, p+Pb at s_{rm NN} = 5.02 TeV, Xe+Xe at s_{rm NN} = 5.44 TeV and Pb+Pb at s_{rm NN} = 5.02 TeV along with the earlier results in pp at s = 7 TeV and Pb+Pb at s_{rm NN} = 2.76 TeV. A statistical thermal model is used to extract the chemical freeze-out parameters in different multiplicity classes. To understand the particle production from small to large collision systems two ensembles namely, canonical and grand canonical have been considered in this study. A clear observation of multiplicity dependence of T_{rm ch} and γ_{s} is observed. The values obtained in high-multiplicity pp collisions are found to be similar to the peripheral Pb+Pb collisions. A final state midrapidity charged particle multiplicity density of around 20-30 appears to be a threshold below which, the chemical freeze-out temperature is lower than the kinetic freeze-out temperature.

Context. Extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) observations have revealed small-scale transient brightenings that may share common physical mechanisms with larger-scale solar flares. A notable feature of solar and stellar flares is the presence of quasi-periodic pulsations (QPPs), which are considered a common and potentially intrinsic characteristic. Aims. We investigate the properties of QPPs detected in EUV brightenings, which are considered small-scale flares, and compare their statistical properties with those observed in solar and stellar flares. Methods. We extracted integrated light curves of 22,623 EUV brightenings in two quiet Sun regions observed by the Solar Orbiter/Extreme Ultraviolet Imager and identified QPPs in their light curves using Fourier analysis. Results. Approximately 2.7 % of the EUV brightenings exhibited stationary QPPs. The QPP occurrence rate increased with the surface area, lifetime, and peak brightness of the EUV brightenings. The detected QPP periods ranged from approximately 15 to 260 seconds, which is comparable to the periods observed in solar and stellar flares. Consistent with observations of QPPs in solar and stellar flares, no correlation was found between the QPP period and peak brightness. However, unlike the trend observed in solar flares, no correlation was found between the QPP period and lifetime/length scale. Conclusions. The presence of QPPs in EUV brightenings supports the interpretation that these events may be small-scale manifestations of flares, and the absence of period scaling with loop length further suggests that standing waves may not be the primary driver of QPPs in these events.

We investigate properties of holographic strange metals in p+2-dimensions, generalizing the analysis performed in arXiv:0912.1061. The bulk spacetime is p+2-dimensional Lifshitz black hole, while the role of charge carriers is played by probe D-branes. We mainly focus on massless charge carriers, where most of the results can be obtained analytically. We obtain exact results for the free energy and calculate the entropy density, the heat capacity as well as the speed of sound at low temperature. We obtain the DC conductivity and DC Hall conductivity and find that the DC conductivity takes a universal form in the large density limit, while the Hall conductivity is also universal in all dimensions. We also study the resistivity in different limits and clarify the condition for the linear dependence on the temperature, which is a key feature of strange metals. We show that our results for the DC conductivity are consistent with those obtained via Kubo formula and we obtain the charge diffusion constant analytically. The corresponding properties of massive charge carriers are also discussed in brief.

We continue study of equilibrium of two species of 2d coulomb charges (or point vortices in 2d ideal fluid) started in Lv. Although for two species of vortices with circulation ratio -1 the relationship between the equilibria and the factorization/Darboux transformation of the Schrodinger operator was established a long ago, the question about similar relationship for the ratio -2 remained unanswered. Here we present the answer.

In this work, we show that, if axion-like particles (ALPs) from core-collapse supernovae (SNe) couple to protons, they would produce very characteristic signatures in neutrino water Cherenkov detectors through their scattering off free protons via a , p rightarrow p , gamma interactions. Specifically, sub-MeV ALPs would generate photons with energies sim 30 MeV, which could be observed by Super-Kamiokande and Hyper-Kamiokande as a delayed signal after a future detection of SN neutrinos. We apply this to a hypothetical neighbouring SN (at a maximum distance of 100 kpc) and demonstrate that the region in the parameter space with ALP masses between 10^{-4} MeV and 1 MeV and ALP-proton couplings in the range 3 times 10^{-6}-4 times 10^{-5} could be probed. We argue that this new signature, combined with the one expected at sim 7 MeV from oxygen de-excitation, would allow us to disentangle ALP-neutron and ALP-proton couplings.

We show that a simple gravitational theory can provide a holographically dual description of a superconductor. There is a critical temperature, below which a charged condensate forms via a second order phase transition and the (DC) conductivity becomes infinite. The frequency dependent conductivity develops a gap determined by the condensate. We find evidence that the condensate consists of pairs of quasiparticles.

This paper presents the observation of four-top-quark (tttt) production in proton-proton collisions at the LHC. The analysis is performed using an integrated luminosity of 140 fb^{-1} at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected using the ATLAS detector. Events containing two leptons with the same electric charge or at least three leptons (electrons or muons) are selected. Event kinematics are used to separate signal from background through a multivariate discriminant, and dedicated control regions are used to constrain the dominant backgrounds. The observed (expected) significance of the measured tttt signal with respect to the standard model (SM) background-only hypothesis is 6.1 (4.3) standard deviations. The tttt production cross section is measured to be 22.5^{+6.6}_{-5.5} fb, consistent with the SM prediction of 12.0 pm 2.4 fb within 1.8 standard deviations. Data are also used to set limits on the three-top-quark production cross section, being an irreducible background not measured previously, and to constrain the top-Higgs Yukawa coupling and effective field theory operator coefficients that affect tttt production.

WIMP-type dark matter may have additional interactions that break baryon number, leading to induced nucleon decays which are subject to direct experimental constraints from proton decay experiments. In this work, we analyze the possibility of continuous baryon destruction, deriving strong limits from the dark matter accumulating inside old neutron stars, as such a process leads to excess heat generation. We construct the simplest particle dark matter model that breaks baryon and lepton numbers separately but conserves B-L. Virtual exchange by DM particles in this model results in di-nucleon decay via nnto nbarnu and npto ne^+ processes.

In this paper, we aim to examine the electric Penrose process (PP) around a charged black hole in 4D Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet (EGB) gravity and bring out the effect of the Gauss-Bonnet (GB) coupling parameter alpha and black hole charge on the efficiency of the energy extraction from the black hole. This research is motivated by the fact that electrostatic interactions significantly influence the behavior of charged particles in the vicinity of a charged static black hole. Under this interaction, decaying charged particles can have negative energies, causing energy to be released from black holes with no ergosphere. We show that the GB coupling parameter has a significant impact on the energy efficiency of the electric PP, but the efficiency can be strongly enhanced by the black hole charge due to the Coulomb force. Finally, we consider the accretion disk around the black hole and investigate in detail its radiation properties, such as the electromagnetic radiation flux, the temperature, and the differential luminosity. We show that the GB coupling parameter can have a significant impact on the radiation parameters, causing them to increase in the accretion disk in the vicinity of the black hole. Interestingly, it is found that the 4D EGB charged black hole is more efficient and favorable for the accretion disk radiation compared to a charged black hole in Einstein gravity.

Cavity quantum electrodynamics has been studied as a potential approach to modify free charge carrier generation in donor-acceptor heterojunctions because of the delocalization and controllable energy level properties of hybridized light-matter states known as polaritons. However, in many experimental systems, cavity coupling decreases charge separation. Here, we theoretically study the quantum dynamics of a coherent and dissipative donor-acceptor cavity system, to investigate the dynamical mechanism and further discover the conditions under which polaritons may enhance free charge carrier generation. We use open quantum system methods based on single-pulse pumping to find that polaritons have the potential to connect excitonic states and charge separated states, further enhancing free charge generation on an ultrafast timescale of several hundred femtoseconds. The mechanism involves that polaritons with proper energy levels allow the exciton to overcome the high Coulomb barrier induced by electron-hole attraction. Moreover, we propose that a second-hybridization between a polariton state and dark states with similar energy enables the formation of the hybrid charge separated states that are optically active. These two mechanisms lead to a maximum of 50% enhancement of free charge carrier generation on a short timescale. However, our simulation reveals that on the longer timescale of picoseconds, internal conversion and cavity loss dominate and suppress free charge carrier generation, reproducing the experimental results. Thus, our work shows that polaritons can affect the charge separation mechanism and promote free charge carrier generation efficiency, but predominantly on a short timescale after photoexcitation.

Turbulent magnetic fields are to some extent a universal feature in astrophysical phenomena. Charged particles that encounter these turbulence get on average accelerated according to the so-called second-order Fermi process. However, in most astrophysical environments there are additional competing processes, such as different kinds of first-order energy changes and particle escape, that effect the resulting momentum distribution of the particles. In this work we provide to our knowledge the first semi-analytical solution of the isotropic steady-state momentum diffusion equation including continuous and catastrophic momentum changes that can be applied to any arbitrary astrophysical system of interest. Here, we adopt that the assigned magnetic turbulence is constrained on a finite range and the particle flux vanishes beyond these boundaries. Consequently, we show that the so-called pile-up bump -- that has for some special cases long been established -- is a universal feature of stochastic acceleration that emerges around the momentum chi_{rm eq} where acceleration and continuous loss are in equilibrium if the particle's residence time in the system is sufficient at chi_{rm eq}. In general, the impact of continuous and catastrophic momentum changes plays a crucial role in the shape of the steady-state momentum distribution of the accelerated particles, where simplified unbroken power-law approximations are often not adequate.

Quantum battery (QB) is the energy storage and extraction device that is governed by the principles of quantum mechanics. Here we propose a three-level Dicke QB and investigate its charging process by considering three quantum optical states: a Fock state, a coherent state, and a squeezed state. The performance of the QB in a coherent state is substantially improved compared to a Fock and squeezed states. We find that the locked energy is positively related to the entanglement between the charger and the battery, and diminishing the entanglement leads to the enhancement of the ergotropy. We demonstrate the QB system is asymptotically free as N rightarrow infty. The stored energy becomes fully extractable when N=10, and the charging power follows the consistent behavior as the stored energy, independent of the initial state of the charger.

Observation of an exploding black hole would provide the first direct evidence of primordial black holes, the first direct evidence of Hawking radiation, and definitive information on the particles present in nature. However, indirect constraints suggest that direct observation of an exploding Schwarzschild black hole is implausible. We introduce a dark-QED toy model consisting of a dark photon and a heavy dark electron. In this scenario a population of light primordial black holes charged under the dark u(1) symmetry can become quasi-extremal, so they survive much longer than if they were uncharged, before discharging and exhibiting a Schwarzschild-like final explosion. We show that the answer is "yes", in this scenario the probability of observing an exploding black hole over the next 10 years could potentially be over 90%.

Relativistic magnetic turbulence has been proposed as a process for producing nonthermal particles in high-energy astrophysics. Particle energization may be contributed by both magnetic reconnection and turbulent fluctuations, but their interplay is poorly understood. It has been suggested that during magnetic reconnection the parallel electric field dominates particle acceleration up to the lower bound of the power-law particle spectrum, but recent studies show that electric fields perpendicular to magnetic field can play an important, if not dominant role. In this study, we carry out 2D fully kinetic particle-in-cell simulations of magnetically dominated decaying turbulence in a relativistic pair plasma. For a fixed magnetization parameter sigma_0=20, we find that the injection energy {varepsilon}_{rm inj} converges with increasing domain size to {varepsilon}_{rm inj}simeq 10m_ec^2. In contrast, the power-law index, the cut-off energy, and the power-law extent increase steadily with domain size. We trace a large number of particles and evaluate the contributions of the work done by the parallel (W_parallel) and perpendicular (W_perp) electric fields during both the injection phase and the post-injection phase. We find that during the injection phase, the W_perp contribution increases with domain size, suggesting that it may eventually dominate injection for a sufficiently large domain. In contrast, both components contribute equally during the post-injection phase, insensitive to the domain size. For high energy ({varepsilon}varepsilon_{rm inj}) particles, W_perp dominates the subsequent energization. These findings may improve our understanding of nonthermal particles and their emissions in astrophysical plasmas.

Attosecond pulses provide unique opportunities for studies of time-resolved electron dynamics. However, focusing these pulses, typically ranging from the vacuum ultraviolet to the soft-X-ray region, remains challenging. Conventional refractive lenses are not suitable owing to the large dispersion and the strong absorption, while reflective optics, despite avoiding these issues, still lead to high losses. Here we propose a tunable plasma lens capable of focusing attosecond pulses, and experimentally demonstrate focusing of these pulses at extreme-ultraviolet photon energies around 20 eV and 80 eV. A key advantage is its compatibility with nonlinear frequency conversion processes like high-harmonic generation. The different focusing properties of the fundamental light and the generated harmonic frequencies allow for efficient separation of these components. Consequently, the transmission of high-harmonic generation beamlines can be increased to more than 80%, making this approach highly suitable for photon-demanding applications.

We investigate the leading order correction of anomalous magnetic moment (AMM) to the electron in weak magnetic field and find that the magnetic correction is negative and magnetic field dependent, indicating a magnetic catalysis effect for the electron gas. In the laboratory to measure the g-2, the magnitude of the magnetic field B is several T, correspondingly the magnetic correction to the AMM of electron/muon is around 10^{-34}/10^{-42}, therefore the magnetic correction can be safely neglected in current measurement. However, when the magnitude of the magnetic field strength is comparable with the electron mass, the magnetic correction of electron's AMM will become considerable. This general magnetic correction to charged fermion's AMM can be extended to study QCD matter under strong magnetic field.

We report the measurement of the electric dipole moment of aluminum monochloride (AlCl) using a cryogenic buffer-gas beam source. Our measurements provide values for the dipole moments of the two lowest vibrational states of the X^1Sigma^+ and the A^1Pi electronic states. We also show that spin-orbit coupling with an extended number of spin states is essential in the ab initio calculation to correctly describe both the dipole moment and the Te energy of AlCl. We further lay out the implications of these results for astrophysical models of stellar and planetary evolution that have used a substitute value for the dipole moment of AlCl until now.

Ultrafast electron microscopy (UEM) has found widespread applications in physics, chemistry, and materials science, enabling real-space imaging of dynamics on ultrafast timescales. Recent advances have pushed the temporal resolution of UEM into the attosecond regime, enabling the attomicroscopy technique to directly visualize electron motion. In this work, we extend the capabilities of this powerful imaging tool to investigate ultrafast electron dynamics in a biological system by imaging and controlling light induced electronic and chemical changes in the conductive network of multicellular cable bacteria. Using electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS), we first observed a laser induced increase in {\pi}-electron density, accompanied by spectral peak broadening and a blueshift features indicative of enhanced conductivity and structural modification. We also traced the effect of ultrafast laser pumping on bulk plasmon electron oscillations by monitoring changes in the plasmon like resonance peak. Additionally, we visualized laser induced chemical structural changes in cable bacteria in real space. The imaging results revealed carbon enrichment alongside a depletion of nitrogen and oxygen, highlighting the controllability of chemical dynamics. Moreover, time resolved EELS measurements further revealed a picosecond scale decay and recovery of both {\pi}-electron and plasmonic features, attributed to electron phonon coupling. In addition to shedding light on the mechanism of electron motion in cable bacteria, these findings demonstrate ultrafast modulation and switching of conductivity, underscoring their potential as bio-optoelectronic components operating on ultrafast timescales.

It is well known that there is a particle-hole symmetry for spin-polarized electrons with two-body interactions in a partially filled Landau level, which becomes exact in the limit where the cyclotron energy is large compared to the interaction strength, so one can ignore mixing between Landau levels. This symmetry is explicit in the description of a half-filled Landau level recently introduced by D. T. Son, using Dirac fermions, but it was thought to be absent in the older fermion-Chern- Simons approach, developed by Halperin, Lee, and Read and subsequent authors. We show here, however, that when properly evaluated, the Halperin, Lee, Read (HLR) theory gives results for long-wavelength low-energy physical properties, including the Hall conductance in the presence of impurities and the positions of minima in the magnetoroton spectra for fractional quantized Hall states close to half-filling, that are identical to predictions of the Dirac formulation. In fact, the HLR theory predicts an emergent particle-hole symmetry near half filling, even when the cyclotron energy is finite.

Quantum materials hosting Weyl fermions have opened a new era of research in condensed matter physics. First proposed in 1929 in particle physics, Weyl fermions have yet to be observed as elementary particles. In 2015, Weyl fermions were detected as collective electronic excitations in the strong spin-orbit coupled material tantalum arsenide, TaAs. This discovery was followed by a flurry of experimental and theoretical explorations of Weyl phenomena in materials. Weyl materials naturally lend themselves to the exploration of the topological index associated with Weyl fermions and their divergent Berry curvature field, as well as the topological bulk-boundary correspondence giving rise to protected conducting surface states. Here, we review the broader class of Weyl topological phenomena in materials, starting with the observation of emergent Weyl fermions in the bulk and of Fermi arc states on the surface of the TaAs family of crystals by photoemission spectroscopy. We then discuss some of the exotic optical and magnetic responses observed in these materials, as well as the progress in developing some of the related chiral materials. We discuss the conceptual development of high-fold chiral fermions, which generalize Weyl fermions, and we review the observation of high-fold chiral fermion phases by taking the rhodium silicide, RhSi, family of crystals as a prime example. Lastly, we discuss recent advances in Weyl-line phases in magnetic topological materials. With this Review, we aim to provide an introduction to the basic concepts underlying Weyl physics in condensed matter, and to representative materials and their electronic structures and topology as revealed by spectroscopic studies. We hope this work serves as a guide for future theoretical and experimental explorations of chiral fermions and related topological quantum systems with potentially enhanced functionalities.

We search for dark matter (DM) annihilating subhalos of the Milky Way halo among the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) unassociated sources. We construct, for the first time, a statistical model of the unassociated sources at latitudes above 10 degrees. The latter is built as a combination of both DM annihilation subhalos as well as Galactic and extragalactic astrophysical components. The astrophysical components are constructed based on distributions of associated sources, while the distribution of DM subhalos is derived from Monte Carlo simulations. In this model we take into account the differences in the distributions of associated and unassociated sources including both covariate and prior probability shifts (both being forms of ``dataset shifts''). Previous searches of DM subhalos were based on classify-and-count strategies, while the approach adopted in this work is based on quantification learning, which allows one to determine a well-defined statistical interpretation of the contribution of a population of DM subhalos to the unassociated Fermi-LAT sources. In the bb annihilation channel and for a range of DM masses from 10 GeV to 1 TeV, we don't find a significant contribution from DM subhalos and derive a statistical 95% confidence upper limit on the DM annihilation cross section in this channel. While the derived limits are consistent with previous classify-and-count approaches, our generative statistical model opens new avenues for population studies of Fermi-LAT sources and, more generally, for searches of anomalies on top of backgrounds in presence of statistical and systematic uncertainties.

Nearly 30 years ago, two-photon interference was observed, marking the beginning of a new quantum era. Indeed, two-photon interference has no classical analogue, giving it a distinct advantage for a range of applications. The peculiarities of quantum physics may now be used to our advantage to outperform classical computations, securely communicate information, simulate highly complex physical systems and increase the sensitivity of precise measurements. This separation from classical to quantum physics has motivated physicists to study two-particle interference for both fermionic and bosonic quantum objects. So far, two-particle interference has been observed with massive particles, among others, such as electrons and atoms, in addition to plasmons, demonstrating the extent of this effect to larger and more complex quantum systems. A wide array of novel applications to this quantum effect is to be expected in the future. This review will thus cover the progress and applications of two-photon (two-particle) interference over the last three decades.

Very recently, the two-photon decay width of the η_b meson was computed with lattice QCD methods. This decay has not yet been measured. The knowledge of this width allows for the calculation of the η_b production cross section through photon-photon interactions in ultra-peripheral PbPb collisions. In this work we present this calculation, which is the first application of the lattice result. Since UPCs are gaining an increasing attention of the heavy ion community, we take the opportunity to perform a comprehensive study of the different ways of defining ultra-peripheral collisions and of the different ways to treat the equivalent photon flux.

In chemistry and biochemistry, chirality represents the structural asymmetry characterized by non-superimposable mirror images for a material like DNA. In physics, however, chirality commonly refers to the spin-momentum locking of a particle or quasiparticle in the momentum space. While seemingly disconnected, structural chirality in molecules and crystals can drive electronic chirality through orbital-momentum locking, i.e. chirality can be transferred from the atomic geometry to electronic orbitals. Electronic chirality provides an insightful understanding of the chirality-induced spin selectivity (CISS), in which electrons exhibit salient spin polarization after going through a chiral material, and electric magnetochiral anisotropy (EMCA), which is characterized by the diode-like transport. It further gives rise to new phenomena, such as anomalous circularly polarized light emission (ACPLE), in which the light handedness relies on the emission direction. These chirality-driven effects will generate broad impacts in fundamental science and technology applications in spintronics, optoelectronics, and biochemistry.

Context. Low-mass bodies, such as comets, asteroids, planetesimals, and free-floating planets, are continuously injected into the intra-cluster environment after expulsion from their host planetary systems. These can be modeled as massless particles (MLPs, hereafter). The dynamics of large populations of MLPs, however, has yet received little attention in literature. Aims. We investigate the dynamical evolution of MLP populations in star clusters, and characterize their kinematics and ejection rates. Methods. We present NBODY6++GPU-MASSLESS, a modified version of the N-body simulation code NBODY6++GPU, that allows fast integration of star clusters that contain large numbers of massless particles (MLPs). NBODY6++GPU-MASSLESS contains routines specifically directed at the dynamical evolution of low-mass bodies, such as planets. Results. Unlike stars, MLPs do not participate in the mass segregation process. Instead, MLPs mostly follow the gravitational potential of the star cluster, which gradually decreases over time due to stellar ejections and stellar evolution. The dynamical evolution of MLPs is primarily affected by the evolution of the core of the star cluster. This is most apparent in the outer regions for clusters with higher initial densities. High escape rates of MLPs are observed before the core-collapse, after which escape rates remain stable. Denser star clusters undergo a more intense core collapse, but this does not impact the dynamical evolution of MLPs. The speeds of escaping stars are similar to those of escaping MLPs, when disregarding the high-velocity ejections of neutron stars during the first 50 Myr.

Despite the recent advances in the field of computational Schr\"odinger Bridges (SB), most existing SB solvers are still heavy-weighted and require complex optimization of several neural networks. It turns out that there is no principal solver which plays the role of simple-yet-effective baseline for SB just like, e.g., k-means method in clustering, logistic regression in classification or Sinkhorn algorithm in discrete optimal transport. We address this issue and propose a novel fast and simple SB solver. Our development is a smart combination of two ideas which recently appeared in the field: (a) parameterization of the Schr\"odinger potentials with sum-exp quadratic functions and (b) viewing the log-Schr\"odinger potentials as the energy functions. We show that combined together these ideas yield a lightweight, simulation-free and theoretically justified SB solver with a simple straightforward optimization objective. As a result, it allows solving SB in moderate dimensions in a matter of minutes on CPU without a painful hyperparameter selection. Our light solver resembles the Gaussian mixture model which is widely used for density estimation. Inspired by this similarity, we also prove an important theoretical result showing that our light solver is a universal approximator of SBs. Furthemore, we conduct the analysis of the generalization error of our light solver. The code for our solver can be found at https://github.com/ngushchin/LightSB

In this article, we claim that axion-like particles (ALPs) with MeV masses can be produced with semi-relativistic velocities in core-collapse supernovae (SNe), generating a diffuse galactic flux. We show that these ALPs can be detected in neutrino water Cherenkov detectors via a , p rightarrow p , gamma interactions. Using Super-Kamiokande data, we derive new constraints on the ALP parameter space, excluding a region spanning more than one order of magnitude in the ALP-proton coupling above cooling bounds for ALP masses in the range of 1-80 MeV and ALP-proton couplings between 6times10^{-6}-2times10^{-4}. We show that the future Hyper-Kamiokande will be able to probe couplings as small as 2times10^{-6}, fully closing the allowed region above SN 1987A cooling bounds.

This paper presents measurements of W^{pm}Z production cross sections in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The data were collected in 2015 and 2016 by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb^{-1}. The W^{pm}Z candidate events are reconstructed using leptonic decay modes of the gauge bosons into electrons and muons. The measured inclusive cross section in the detector fiducial region for a single leptonic decay mode is σ_{W^pm Z rightarrow ell^{'} νell ell}^{fid.} = 63.7 pm 1.0 (stat.) pm 2.3 (syst.) pm 1.4 (lumi.) fb, reproduced by the next-to-next-to-leading-order Standard Model prediction of 61.5^{+1.4}_{-1.3} fb. Cross sections for W^+Z and W^-Z production and their ratio are presented as well as differential cross sections for several kinematic observables. An analysis of angular distributions of leptons from decays of W and Z bosons is performed for the first time in pair-produced events in hadronic collisions, and integrated helicity fractions in the detector fiducial region are measured for the W and Z bosons separately. Of particular interest, the longitudinal helicity fraction of pair-produced vector bosons is also measured.

An ultra high energy electromagnetic cascade, a purely leptonic process and initiated by either photons or e^pm, can be a source of high energy neutrinos. We present a public python3 code, MUNHECA, to compute the neutrino spectrum by taking into account various QED processes, with the cascade developing either along the propagation in the cosmic microwave background in the high-redshift universe or in a predefined photon background surrounding the astrophysical source. The user can adjust various settings of MUNHECA, including the spectrum of injected high energy photons, the background photon field and the QED processes governing the cascade evolution. We improve the modeling of several processes, provide examples of the execution of MUNHECA and compare it with some earlier and more simplified estimates of the neutrino spectrum from electromagnetic cascades.

Quantum liquids are characterized by the distinctive properties such as the low temperature behavior of heat capacity and the spectrum of low-energy quasiparticle excitations. In particular, at low temperature, Fermi liquids exhibit the zero sound, predicted by L. D. Landau in 1957 and subsequently observed in liquid He-3. In this paper, we ask a question whether such a characteristic behavior is present in theories with holographically dual description. We consider a class of gauge theories with fundamental matter fields whose holographic dual in the appropriate limit is given in terms of the Dirac-Born-Infeld action in AdS_{p+1} space. An example of such a system is the N=4 SU(N_c) supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory with N_f massless N=2 hypermultiplets at strong coupling, finite baryon number density, and low temperature. We find that these systems exhibit a zero sound mode despite having a non-Fermi liquid type behavior of the specific heat. These properties suggest that holography identifies a new type of quantum liquids.

The central molecular zone (CMZ) of our Galaxy exhibits widespread emission from SiO and various complex organic molecules (COMs), yet the exact origin of such emission is uncertain. Here we report the discovery of a unique class of long (>0.5 pc) and narrow (<0.03 pc) filaments in the emission of SiO 5-4 and eight additional molecular lines, including several COMs, in our ALMA 1.3 mm spectral line observations toward two massive molecular clouds in the CMZ, which we name as slim filaments. However, these filaments are not detected in the 1.3 mm continuum at the 5sigma level. Their line-of-sight velocities are coherent and inconsistent with being outflows. The column densities and relative abundances of the detected molecules are statistically similar to those in protostellar outflows but different from those in dense cores within the same clouds. Turbulent pressure in these filaments dominates over self gravity and leads to hydrostatic inequilibrium, indicating that they are a different class of objects than the dense gas filaments in dynamical equilibrium ubiquitously found in nearby molecular clouds. We argue that these newly detected slim filaments are associated with parsec-scale shocks, likely arising from dynamic interactions between shock waves and molecular clouds. The dissipation of the slim filaments may replenish SiO and COMs in the interstellar medium and lead to their widespread emission in the CMZ.

We describe a new detector, called NuLat, to study electron anti-neutrinos a few meters from a nuclear reactor, and search for anomalous neutrino oscillations. Such oscillations could be caused by sterile neutrinos, and might explain the "Reactor Antineutrino Anomaly". NuLat, is made possible by a natural synergy between the miniTimeCube and mini-LENS programs described in this paper. It features a "Raghavan Optical Lattice" (ROL) consisting of 3375 boron or ^6Li loaded plastic scintillator cubical cells 6.3\,cm (2.500") on a side. Cell boundaries have a 0.127\,mm (0.005") air gap, resulting in total internal reflection guiding most of the light down the 3 cardinal directions. The ROL detector technology for NuLat gives excellent spatial and energy resolution and allows for in-depth event topology studies. These features allow us to discern inverse beta decay (IBD) signals and the putative oscillation pattern, even in the presence of other backgrounds. We discuss here test venues, efficiency, sensitivity and project status.

Light-matter interactions that lead to nonthermal changes in size of the sample constitute a photostrictive effect in many compounds. The photostriction phenomenon was observed in four main groups of materials, ferroelectrics, polar, and non-polar semiconductors, as well as in organic-based materials that are reviewed here. The key mechanisms of photostriction and its dependence on several parameters and perturbations are assessed. The major literature of the photostriction is surveyed, and the review ends with a summary of the proposed technical applications.

We present a web-based software tool, the Virtual Quantum Optics Laboratory (VQOL), that may be used for designing and executing realistic simulations of quantum optics experiments. A graphical user interface allows one to rapidly build and configure a variety of different optical experiments, while the runtime environment provides unique capabilities for visualization and analysis. All standard linear optical components are available as well as sources of thermal, coherent, and entangled Gaussian states. A unique aspect of VQOL is the introduction of non-Gaussian measurements using detectors modeled as deterministic devices that "click" when the amplitude of the light falls above a given threshold. We describe the underlying theoretical models and provide several illustrative examples. We find that VQOL provides a a faithful representation of many experimental quantum optics phenomena and may serve as both a useful instructional tool for students as well as a valuable research tool for practitioners.

One way to model the strange metal phase of certain materials is via a holographic description in terms of probe D-branes in a Lifshitz spacetime, characterised by a dynamical exponent z. The background geometry is dual to a strongly-interacting quantum critical theory while the probe D-branes are dual to a finite density of charge carriers that can exhibit the characteristic properties of strange metals. We compute holographically the low-frequency and low-momentum form of the charge density and current retarded Green's functions in these systems for massless charge carriers. The results reveal a quasi-particle excitation when z<2, which in analogy with Landau Fermi liquids we call zero sound. The real part of the dispersion relation depends on momentum k linearly, while the imaginary part goes as k^2/z. When z is greater than or equal to 2 the zero sound is not a well-defined quasi-particle. We also compute the frequency-dependent conductivity in arbitrary spacetime dimensions. Using that as a measure of the charge current spectral function, we find that the zero sound appears only when the spectral function consists of a single delta function at zero frequency.

We consider N classical particles interacting via the Coulomb potential in spatial dimension d and in the presence of an external trap, at equilibrium at inverse temperature beta. In the large N limit, the particles are confined within a droplet of finite size. We study smooth linear statistics, i.e. the fluctuations of sums of the form {cal L}_N = sum_{i=1}^N f({bf x}_i), where {bf x}_i's are the positions of the particles and where f({bf x}_i) is a sufficiently regular function. There exists at present standard results for the first and second moments of {cal L}_N in the large N limit, as well as associated Central Limit Theorems in general dimension and for a wide class of confining potentials. Here we obtain explicit expressions for the higher order cumulants of {cal L}_N at large N, when the function f({bf x})=f(|{bf x}|) and the confining potential are both rotationnally invariant. A remarkable feature of our results is that these higher cumulants depend only on the value of f'(|{bf x}|) and its higher order derivatives evaluated exactly at the boundary of the droplet, which in this case is a d-dimensional sphere. In the particular two-dimensional case d=2 at the special value beta=2, a connection to the Ginibre ensemble allows us to derive these results in an alternative way using the tools of determinantal point processes. Finally we also obtain the large deviation form of the full probability distribution function of {cal L}_N.

Using the CLEO-c detector at the Cornell Electron Storage Ring, we have measured inclusive and exclusive cross sections for the production of D+, D0 and Ds+ mesons in e+e- annihilations at thirteen center-of-mass energies between 3.97 and 4.26 GeV. Exclusive cross sections are presented for final states consisting of two charm mesons (DD, D*D, D*D*, Ds+Ds-, Ds*+Ds-, and Ds*+Ds*-) and for processes in which the charm-meson pair is accompanied by a pion. No enhancement in any final state is observed at the energy of the Y(4260).

We consider the D4-D8-D8 brane system which serves as ultraviolet completion of the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model, where the only degrees of freedom carrying baryon charge are fermions. By turning on chemical potential for this charge one may expect the formation of the Fermi liquid ground state. At strong coupling we use the dual holographic description to investigate the responses of the system to small perturbations. In the chirally symmetric phase we find that the density dependent part of the heat capacity vanishes linearly with temperature. We also observe a zero sound excitation in the collisionless regime, whose speed is equal to that of normal sound in the hydrodynamic regime. Both the linear dependence of the heat capacity and the existence of zero sound are properties of the Fermi liquid ground state. We also compute the two-point function of the currents at vanishing frequency but do not find any singularities at finite values of the momentum.

Astrophysical uncertainties in dark matter direct detection experiments are typically addressed by parametrizing the velocity distribution in terms of a few uncertain parameters that vary around some central values. Here we propose a method to optimize over all velocity distributions lying within a given distance measure from a central distribution. We discretize the dark matter velocity distribution as a superposition of streams, and use a variety of information divergences to parametrize its uncertainties. With this, we bracket the limits on the dark matter-nucleon and dark matter-electron scattering cross sections, when the true dark matter velocity distribution deviates from the commonly assumed Maxwell-Boltzmann form. The methodology pursued is general and could be applied to other physics scenarios where a given physical observable depends on a function that is uncertain.

Since their discovery, AGN light curves are known to be intrinsically variable. In the optical/UV band, this variability is consistent with correlated or red noise and is particularly well described by the damped random walk (DRW) model. In this work, we evaluate the feasibility of a new method for identifying spatially unresolved couples of AGN through a fully Bayesian time-domain analysis of the observed light curves (LCs). More specifically, we check whether observed LCs are better described by a single DRW, which we interpret as emitted by a single massive black hole (MBH), or a pair of independent DRWs, generated by a pair of MBHs. We test the method on mock LCs associated with a single MBH and pairs generated with different cadences and lengths of observational campaigns. We constrained the occurrence of false positives, that is, the percentage of single MBH LCs that show substantial evidence in favour of the unresolved MBH pair scenario, finding a fraction of 0.2% and 0.59% in the even and uneven sampling scenarios. We discuss how well the method recovers the model parameters, showing that about 51% and 7% of the simulated LCs have all the recovered parameters within 20% of their true values in our best scenario of evenly sampled LCs for the single MBH and MBH pair scenarios, respectively. We finally study the region of the parameter space in which the detection of an MBH pair is possible, finding that such objects can be correctly identified if the timescales of the process describing the noise are very different, with a ratio smaller than ~0.2, and the variability amplitudes are similar, with their ratio bigger than ~0.2. When limiting to such a region of the parameter space, the fraction of pairs with all the recovered parameters within 20% of the injected values increases up to about 14% and 8% for evenly and unevenly sampled LCs, respectively.

We derive the discovery potential of a leptophilic Z', and a Z' rising from a SU(3) times SU(3)_L times U(1)_N symmetry at the Compact Linear Collider (CLIC), which is planned to host e^+e^- collisions with 3 TeV center-of-mass energy. We perform an optimized selection cut strategy on the transverse momentum, pseudorapidity, and invariant mass of the dileptons in order to enhance the collider sensitivity. We find that CLIC can potentially reach a 5sigma signal of a 1-3~TeV leptophilic Z' with less than 1fb^{-1} of integrated luminosity. As for the Z' belonging to a 3-3-1 symmetry, CLIC will offer a complementary probe with the potential to impose M_{Z^prime} > 3~TeV with L=2fb^{-1}.

Rapid advancement of machine learning solutions has often coincided with the production of a test public data set. Such datasets reduce the largest barrier to entry for tackling a problem -- procuring data -- while also providing a benchmark to compare different solutions. Furthermore, large datasets have been used to train high-performing feature finders which are then used in new approaches to problems beyond that initially defined. In order to encourage the rapid development in the analysis of data collected using liquid argon time projection chambers, a class of particle detectors used in high energy physics experiments, we have produced the PILArNet, first 2D and 3D open dataset to be used for a couple of key analysis tasks. The initial dataset presented in this paper contains 300,000 samples simulated and recorded in three different volume sizes. The dataset is stored efficiently in sparse 2D and 3D matrix format with auxiliary information about simulated particles in the volume, and is made available for public research use. In this paper we describe the dataset, tasks, and the method used to procure the sample.

Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is widely studied for numerous applications and is commercially employed in the semiconductor industry, where planar substrates are the norm. However, the inherent ALD feature of coating virtually any surface geometry with atomistic thickness control is equally attractive for coating particulate materials (supports). In this review, we provide a comprehensive overview of the developments in this decades-old field of ALD on particulate materials, drawing on a bottom-up and quantitative analysis of 799 articles from this field. The obtained dataset is the basis for abstractions regarding reactor types (specifically for particles), coating materials, reactants, supports and processing conditions. Furthermore, the dataset enables direct access to specific processing conditions (for a given material, surface functionality, application etc.) and increases accessibility of the respective literature. We also review fundamental concepts of ALD on particles, and discuss the most common applications, i.e., catalysis (thermo-, electro-, photo-), batteries, luminescent phosphors and healthcare. Finally, we identify historical trends, and provide an outlook on prospective developments.

We train a network to identify jets with fractional dark decay (semi-visible jets) using the pattern of their low-level jet constituents, and explore the nature of the information used by the network by mapping it to a space of jet substructure observables. Semi-visible jets arise from dark matter particles which decay into a mixture of dark sector (invisible) and Standard Model (visible) particles. Such objects are challenging to identify due to the complex nature of jets and the alignment of the momentum imbalance from the dark particles with the jet axis, but such jets do not yet benefit from the construction of dedicated theoretically-motivated jet substructure observables. A deep network operating on jet constituents is used as a probe of the available information and indicates that classification power not captured by current high-level observables arises primarily from low-p_T jet constituents.

Color centers in diamond, among them the negatively-charged germanium vacancy (GeV^-), are promising candidates for many applications of quantum optics such as a quantum network. For efficient implementation, the optical transitions need to be coupled to a single optical mode. Here, we demonstrate the transfer of a nanodiamond containing a single ingrown GeV- center with excellent optical properties to an open Fabry-P\'erot microcavity by nanomanipulation utilizing an atomic force microscope. Coupling of the GeV- defect to the cavity mode is achieved, while the optical resonator maintains a high finesse of F = 7,700 and a 48-fold spectral density enhancement is observed. This article demonstrates the integration of a GeV- defect with a Fabry-P\'erot microcavity under ambient conditions with the potential to extend the experiments to cryogenic temperatures towards an efficient spin-photon platform.

The polarization of an X-ray beam that produces electrons with velocity components perpendicular to the beam generates an azimuthal distribution of the ejected electrons. We present methods for simulating and for analyzing the angular dependence of electron detections which enable us to derive simple analytical expressions for useful statistical properties of observable data. The derivations are verified by simulations. While we confirm the results of previous work on this topic, we provide an extension needed for analytical treatment of the full range of possible polarization amplitudes.

While the temporal variations of the spectro-polarimetric nature of pulsars remains unexplored, this investigation offers significant potential for uncovering key insights into pulsar emission mechanisms, magnetic field geometry, and propagation effects within the magnetosphere. We developed a package for investigating time-varying spectral behavior for full Stokes parameters and demonstrate it on a millisecond pulsar (MSP) J2144-5237 in a binary system (orbital period ~10 days) using the Parkes UWL receiver. In this study we report rotation measure (RM) variation with orbital phase. We find that the temporal variations in the spectra of Stokes I, Q, and V are generally correlated throughout the orbit, while Stokes U exhibits intervals of both correlation and anticorrelation with Stokes I, depending on the orbital phase. We also provide a Poincare sphere representation of the polarization properties of J2144-5237, demonstrating a systematic temporal change of Poincare sphere location for the main component with orbital phase. To our knowledge, this is the first investigation of time-varying properties of the spectro-polarimetric nature of any pulsars or MSPs. Extending this study to probe the spectro-temporal nature of full Stokes data on a larger sample of MSPs or pulsars has the potential to provide vital information on emission mechanisms inside the magnetosphere, interstellar propagation effects, and binary interactions.

The AMS-02 experiment recently published time-dependent fluxes of deuterons (D) from May 2011 to April 2021, divided into 33 periods of four Bartels rotations each. These temporal structures are associated with solar modulation. In this study, three modified force-field approximation are employed to examine the long-term behavior of cosmic-ray (CR) isotopes such as D, ^3He, and ^4He, as well as the ratios D/^3He and ^3He/^4He. The solar modulation potential is rigidity-dependent for these modified force-field approximation models. Due to the unknown local interstellar spectrum (LIS) for these isotopes, we utilize the Non-LIS method for solar modulation. By fitting to the AMS-02 time-dependent fluxes, we derive the solar modulation parameters. Our findings prove the assumption in literature that all isotopes can be fitted using the same solar modulation parameters and it shown that the modified FFA models are validated parametrization for solar modulation. Based on these, we forecast the daily fluxes of D, ^3He and ^4He from 2011 to 2020.

In simulations for modern free-electron lasers (FEL), shot noise plays a crucial role. While it is inversely proportional to the number of electrons, shot noise is typically modeled using macroparticles, with their bunching factors corresponding to the bunching factors of the much larger number of electrons. For short-wavelength FELs, the macroparticles are assumed to be uniformly distributed on the scale of the resonant wavelength, since shot noise dominates the initial radiation - for instance, in the self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE) regime. In this paper, we show that this assumption does not hold at longer wavelengths, particularly in the THz range, where the bunch current profile is not uniform even within the length of the resonant wavelength. Instead, the current profile dominates the initial bunching factors, which can be several orders of magnitude higher than shot noise. The slice-based bunching factors and bunching phases are derived for Gaussian distributions and compared with shot noise under the assumption that the current within each slice remains constant. Using the THz FEL at the photoinjector test facility at DESY in Zeuthen (PITZ) as a case study, the influence of the current profile has been benchmarked through simulations under very low bunch charge, where the full number of electrons can be modeled using the Genesis1.3 code. Additional simulations with the nominal working parameters of PITZ THz FEL have been compared with experimental data, indicating better agreement when the actual current profile is taken into account.

The collisionless Boltzmann equation (CBE) is a fundamental equation that governs the dynamics of a broad range of astrophysical systems from space plasma to star clusters and galaxies. It is computationally expensive to integrate the CBE directly in a multi-dimensional phase space, and thus the applications to realistic astrophysical problems have been limited so far. Recently, Todorova & Steijl (2020) proposed an efficient quantum algorithm to solve the CBE with significantly reduced computational complexity. We extend the algorithm to perform quantum simulations of self-gravitating systems, incorporating the method to calculate gravity with the major Fourier modes of the density distribution extracted from the solution-encoding quantum state. Our method improves the dependency of time and space complexities on Nv , the number of grid points in each velocity coordinate, compared to the classical simulation methods. We then conduct some numerical demonstrations of our method. We first run a 1+1 dimensional test calculation of free streaming motion on 64*64 grids using 13 simulated qubits and validate our method. We then perform simulations of Jeans collapse, and compare the result with analytic and linear theory calculations. It will thus allow us to perform large-scale CBE simulations on future quantum computers.

A sizeable fraction of gamma-ray burst (GRB) light curves (LCs) features a sequence of peaks, which holds information on the unknown way energy is dissipated into gamma-rays over time. Traditional searches for periodic signals in GRB LCs turned out to be inconclusive, partly because they are challenging as a consequence of the short-lived, coloured-noise, and non-stationary nature of the LCs themselves. Yet, recent claims have revived the issue. We searched for periodic components in GRB LCs through a new approach to GRBs, that avoids most of the issues faced by traditional techniques. We identified peaks through a well tested algorithm and selected GRBs with at least 10 peaks out of 5 GRB catalogues (Swift/BAT, CGRO/BATSE, Fermi/GBM, Insight-HXMT, BeppoSAX/GRBM). Each GRB was simply treated as a discrete point process, whose realisation coincides with the sequence of peak times. We searched for possible periodic recurrences based on the multinomial distribution, after accounting for the clustering of peaks due to the non-stationarity of the GRB signals. The best candidate has a p-value of 3e-4 that there is no periodic recurrence. However, accounting for the multiple trials of 555 searched GRBs, its statistical significance is demoted to 17%. The overall distribution of the p-values obtained for all GRBs is compatible with a uniform distribution in [0,1]. We found no robust evidence for multi-peaked GRBs with periodic recurrences. We can exclude that a sizeable fraction (>~ 0.75) of peaks of each GRB with at least 10 peaks are periodic. While our result does not necessarily clash with claimed periodicities based on Fourier techniques, it constrains the putative recurrent behaviour, which would not manifest itself through the sequence of peaks, but, evidently, in a more elusive way.

Initial states of dense matter with nonzero electron chiral imbalance could potentially give rise to strong magnetic fields through chiral plasma instability. Previous work indicated that unless chiral chemical potential is as large as the electron vector chemical potential, the growth of magnetic fields due to the instability is washed out by chirality flipping rate enabled by electron mass. We re-examine this claim in a broader range of parameters and find that at higher temperatures the hierarchy is reversed supporting a growing magnetic field for an initial electron chiral chemical potential much smaller than the electron vector chemical potential. Further, we identify a qualitatively new effect relevant for magnetized hot and dense medium where chiral magnetic effect (CME) sourced by density fluctuation acts as a powerful source of Joule heating. Remarkably, even modest chiral chemical potentials (keV) in such environment can deposit energy densities set by the QCD scale in a relatively short time of the order of a few milliseconds or seconds. We speculate how this mechanism makes CME-driven Joule heating a potentially critical ingredient in the dynamics of turbulent density fluctuation of supernovae and neutron star mergers.

The rapid data surge from the high-luminosity Large Hadron Collider introduces critical computational challenges requiring novel approaches for efficient data processing in particle physics. Quantum machine learning, with its capability to leverage the extensive Hilbert space of quantum hardware, offers a promising solution. However, current quantum graph neural networks (GNNs) lack robustness to noise and are often constrained by fixed symmetry groups, limiting adaptability in complex particle interaction modeling. This paper demonstrates that replacing the Lorentz Group Equivariant Block modules in LorentzNet with a dressed quantum circuit significantly enhances performance despite using nearly 5.5 times fewer parameters. Additionally, quantum circuits effectively replace MLPs by inherently preserving symmetries, with Lorentz symmetry integration ensuring robust handling of relativistic invariance. Our Lorentz-Equivariant Quantum Graph Neural Network (Lorentz-EQGNN) achieved 74.00% test accuracy and an AUC of 87.38% on the Quark-Gluon jet tagging dataset, outperforming the classical and quantum GNNs with a reduced architecture using only 4 qubits. On the Electron-Photon dataset, Lorentz-EQGNN reached 67.00% test accuracy and an AUC of 68.20%, demonstrating competitive results with just 800 training samples. Evaluation of our model on generic MNIST and FashionMNIST datasets confirmed Lorentz-EQGNN's efficiency, achieving 88.10% and 74.80% test accuracy, respectively. Ablation studies validated the impact of quantum components on performance, with notable improvements in background rejection rates over classical counterparts. These results highlight Lorentz-EQGNN's potential for immediate applications in noise-resilient jet tagging, event classification, and broader data-scarce HEP tasks.

We propose a new representation of visual data that disentangles object position from appearance. Our method, termed Deep Latent Particles (DLP), decomposes the visual input into low-dimensional latent ``particles'', where each particle is described by its spatial location and features of its surrounding region. To drive learning of such representations, we follow a VAE-based approach and introduce a prior for particle positions based on a spatial-softmax architecture, and a modification of the evidence lower bound loss inspired by the Chamfer distance between particles. We demonstrate that our DLP representations are useful for downstream tasks such as unsupervised keypoint (KP) detection, image manipulation, and video prediction for scenes composed of multiple dynamic objects. In addition, we show that our probabilistic interpretation of the problem naturally provides uncertainty estimates for particle locations, which can be used for model selection, among other tasks. Videos and code are available: https://taldatech.github.io/deep-latent-particles-web/

Full-image relighting remains a challenging problem due to the difficulty of collecting large-scale structured paired data, the difficulty of maintaining physical plausibility, and the limited generalizability imposed by data-driven priors. Existing attempts to bridge the synthetic-to-real gap for full-scene relighting remain suboptimal. To tackle these challenges, we introduce Physics-Inspired diffusion for full-image reLight (π-Light, or PI-Light), a two-stage framework that leverages physics-inspired diffusion models. Our design incorporates (i) batch-aware attention, which improves the consistency of intrinsic predictions across a collection of images, (ii) a physics-guided neural rendering module that enforces physically plausible light transport, (iii) physics-inspired losses that regularize training dynamics toward a physically meaningful landscape, thereby enhancing generalizability to real-world image editing, and (iv) a carefully curated dataset of diverse objects and scenes captured under controlled lighting conditions. Together, these components enable efficient finetuning of pretrained diffusion models while also providing a solid benchmark for downstream evaluation. Experiments demonstrate that π-Light synthesizes specular highlights and diffuse reflections across a wide variety of materials, achieving superior generalization to real-world scenes compared with prior approaches.