Tuesdays 10:30 - 11:30 | Fridays 11:30 - 12:30
Showing votes from 2023-10-31 11:30 to 2023-11-03 12:30 | Next meeting is Friday Nov 1st, 11:30 am.
We present here estimates of the average rates of accretion of neutral gas onto main-sequence galaxies and the conversion of atomic gas to molecular gas in these galaxies at two key epochs in galaxy evolution: (i) $z\approx1.3-1.0$, towards the end of the epoch of peak star-formation activity in the Universe, and (ii) $z\approx1-0$, when the star-formation activity declines by an order of magnitude. We determine the net gas accretion rate $\rm{R_{Acc}}$ and the molecular gas formation rate $\rm{R_{Mol}}$ by combining the relations between the stellar mass and the atomic gas mass, the molecular gas mass, and the star-formation rate (SFR) at three epochs, $z=1.3$, $z=1.0$, and $z=0$, with the assumption that galaxies evolve continuously on the star-forming main-sequence. We find that, for all galaxies, $\rm{R_{Acc}}$ is far lower than the average SFR $\rm{R_{SFR}}$ at $z\approx1.3-1.0$; however, $\rm{R_{Mol}}$ is similar to $\rm{R_{SFR}}$ during this interval. Conversely, both $\rm{R_{Mol}}$ and $\rm{R_{Acc}}$ are significantly lower than $\rm{R_{SFR}}$ over the later interval, $z\approx1-0$. We find that massive main-sequence galaxies had already acquired most of their present-day baryonic mass by $z\approx1.3$. At $z\approx1.3-1.0$, the rapid conversion of the existing atomic gas to molecular gas was sufficient to maintain a high average SFR, despite the low net gas accretion rate. However, at later times, the combination of the lower net gas accretion rate and the lower molecular gas formation rate leads to a decline in the fuel available for star-formation, and results in the observed decrease in the SFR density of the Universe over the last 8 Gyr.
Confinement in $SU(N_{\rm DC})$ Yang-Mills theories is known to proceed through first-order phase transition. The wall velocity is bounded by $v_w \lesssim 10^{-6}$ due to the needed time for the substantial latent heat released during the phase transition to dissipate through Hubble expansion. Quarks much heavier than the confinement scale can be introduced without changing the confinement dynamics. After they freeze-out, heavy quarks are squeezed into pockets of the deconfined phase until they completely annihilate with anti-quarks. We calculate the dark baryon abundance surviving annihilation, due to bound-state formation occurring both in the bulk and - for the first time - at the boundary. We find that dark baryons can be dark matter with a mass up to $10^3~\rm TeV$. We study indirect and direct detection, CMB and BBN probes, assuming portals to Higgs and neutrinos.
We develop a model independent, robust method for determining galaxy rotation velocities across a 2D array of spaxels from an integral field spectrograph. Simulations demonstrate the method is accurate down to lower spectral signal-to-noise than standard methods: 99\% accurate when median $S/N=4$. We apply it to MaNGA data to construct the galaxy velocity map and galaxy rotation curve. We also develop a highly efficient cubic smoothing approach that is $25\times$ faster computationally and only slightly less accurate. Such model independent methods could be useful in studying dark matter properties without assuming a galaxy model.
Thermal relic dark matter below $\sim 10 \ \text{GeV}$ is excluded by cosmic microwave background data if its annihilation to visible particles is unsuppressed near the epoch of recombination. Usual model-building measures to avoid this bound involve kinematically suppressing the annihilation rate in the low-velocity limit, thereby yielding dim prospects for indirect detection signatures at late times. In this work, we investigate a class of cosmologically-viable sub-GeV thermal relics with late-time annihilation rates that are detectable with existing and proposed telescopes across a wide range of parameter space. We study a representative model of inelastic dark matter featuring a stable state $\chi_1$ and a slightly heavier excited state $\chi_2$ whose abundance is thermally depleted before recombination. Since the kinetic energy of dark matter in the Milky Way is much larger than it is during recombination, $\chi_1 \chi_1 \to \chi_2 \chi_2$ upscattering can efficiently regenerate a cosmologically long-lived Galactic population of $\chi_2$, whose subsequent coannihilations with $\chi_1$ give rise to observable gamma-rays in the $\sim 1 \ \text{MeV} - 100 \ \text{MeV}$ energy range. We find that proposed MeV gamma-ray telescopes, such as e-ASTROGAM, AMEGO, and MAST, would be sensitive to much of the thermal relic parameter space in this class of models and thereby enable both discovery and model discrimination in the event of a signal at accelerator or direct detection experiments.
We propose a new approach to improve the precision of astrophysical parameter constraints for the 21cm signal from Epoch of Reionization (EoR). Our method introduces new sets of summary statistics, hereafter evolution compressed statistics, that quantify the spectral evolution of the 2D spatial statistics computed a fixed redshift. We defined such compressed statistics for Power Spectrum (PS), as well as Reduced Wavelet Scattering Transform (RWST) and Wavelet Moments (WM), which also characterise non-Gaussian features. To compare these different statistics with fiducial 3D power spectrum, we estimate their Fisher information on three cosmological parameters from an ensemble of simulations of 21cm EoR data, both in noiseless and noisy scenarios using Square Kilometre Array (SKA) noise levels equivalent to 100 and 1000 hours of observations. For the noiseless case, the compressed wavelet statistics give constraints up to five times higher precision than the 3D isotropic power spectrum, while for 100h SKA noise, for which non-Gaussian features are hard to extract, they still give constraints which are 30% better. From this study, we demonstrate that evolution-compressed statistics extract more information than usual 3D isotropic approaches and that our wavelet-based statistics can consistently outmatch power spectrum-based statistics. When constructing such wavelet-based statistics, we also emphasise the need to choose a set of wavelets with an appropriate spectral resolution concerning the astrophysical process studied.
We conduct a statistical study of black hole masses of barred and unbarred galaxies in the IllustrisTNG100 cosmological magneto-hydrodynamical simulations. This work aims to understand the role of the bars in the growth of central supermassive black hole mass and its implications on AGN fueling. Our sample consists of 1191 barred galaxies and 2738 unbarred galaxies in the IllustrisTNG100 simulations. To have an unbiased study, we perform our analysis with an equal number of barred and unbarred galaxies by using various controlled parameters like total galaxy mass, stellar mass, gas mass, dark matter halo mass, etc. Except for the stellar mass controlling, we find that the median of the black hole mass distribution for barred galaxies is higher than that of the unbarred ones indicating that stellar mass is a key parameter influencing the black hole growth. The higher mean accretion rate of the black holes in barred galaxies, averaged since the bar forming epoch (z~2 ), explains the higher mean black hole masses in barred galaxies. Further, we also test that these results are unaffected by other environmental processes like minor/major merger histories and neighboring gas density of black hole. Although the relationship between stellar mass, bar formation, and black hole growth is complex, with various mechanisms involved, our analysis suggests that bars can play a crucial role in feeding black holes, particularly in galaxies with massive stellar disks.
If the dark matter in the Universe is made of $\mu$eV axion-like particles (ALPs), then a rich phenomenology can emerge in connection to their stimulated decay into two photons. We discuss the ALP stimulated decay induced by astrophysical beams of Galactic radio sources. Three signatures, made by two echoes and one collinear emission, are associated with the decay, and can be simultaneously detected, offering a unique opportunity for a clear ALP identification. We derive the formalism associated with such signatures starting from first principles, and providing the relevant equations to be applied to study the ALP phenomenology. We then focus on the case of Galactic pulsars as stimulating sources and derive forecasts for future observations.
This paper investigates a hypothesis proposed in previous research relating neutron star (NS) mass and its dark matter (DM) accumulation. As DM accumulates, NS mass decreases, predicting lower NS masses toward the Galactic center. Due to limited NSs data near the galactic center, we examine NSs located within DM clumps. Using the CLUMPY code simulations, we determine the DM clumps distribution, with masses from 10 to $10^{8}$ $M_{\odot}$ and scales from $10^{-3}$ to 10 kpc. These clumps' DM exhibit a peak at the center, tapering toward the outskirts, resembling our Galaxy's DM distribution. We analyse these DM clumps' NS mass variations, considering diverse DM particle masses and galaxy types. We find relatively stable NS mass within 0.01 to 5 kpc from the clump center. This stability supports the initial hypothesis, particularly for NSs located beyond 0.01 kpc from the clump center, where NS mass reaches a plateau around 0.1 kpc. Nevertheless, NS mass near the clump's periphery reveals spatial dependence: NS position within DM clumps influences its mass in Milky Way-type galaxies. Moreover, this dependence varies with the DM model considered. In summary, our study investigates the proposed link between NS mass and DM accumulation by examining NSs within DM clumps. While NS mass remains stable at certain distances from the clump center, spatial dependencies arise near the clump's outer regions, contingent on the specific DM model.
The connection between galaxies and dark matter halos is often quantified using the stellar mass-halo mass (SMHM) relation. Optical and near-infrared imaging surveys have led to a broadly consistent picture of the evolving SMHM relation based on measurements of galaxy abundances and angular correlation functions. Spectroscopic surveys at $z \gtrsim 2$ can also constrain the SMHM relation via the galaxy autocorrelation function and through the cross-correlation between galaxies and Ly$\alpha$ absorption measured in transverse sightlines; however, such studies are very few and have produced some unexpected or inconclusive results. We use $\sim$3000 spectra of $z\sim2.5$ galaxies from the Lyman-alpha Tomography IMACS Survey (LATIS) to measure the galaxy-galaxy and galaxy-Ly$\alpha$ correlation functions in four bins of stellar mass spanning $10^{9.2} \lesssim M_* / M_{\odot} \lesssim 10^{10.5}$. Parallel analyses of the MultiDark N-body and ASTRID hydrodynamic cosmological simulations allow us to model the correlation functions, estimate covariance matrices, and infer halo masses. We find that results of the two methods are mutually consistent and are broadly in accord with standard SMHM relations. This consistency demonstrates that we are able to accurately measure and model Ly$\alpha$ transmission fluctuations $\delta_F$ in LATIS. We also show that the galaxy-Ly$\alpha$ cross-correlation, a free byproduct of optical spectroscopic galaxy surveys at these redshifts, can constrain halo masses with similar precision to galaxy-galaxy clustering.
We propose an effective model to describe the backreaction on cosmological observables induced by Laniakea, the gravitational supercluster hosting the Milky Way, which was defined using peculiar velocity data from Cosmicflows-4 (CF4). The structure is well described by an ellipsoidal shape exhibiting triaxial expansion, reasonably approximated by a constant expansion rate along the principal axes. Our best fits suggest that the ellipsoid, after subtracting the background expansion, contracts along the two smaller axes and expands along the longest one, predicting an average expansion of $\sim -1.1 ~\rm{km}/\rm{s}/\rm{Mpc}$. The different expansion rates within the region, relative to the mean cosmological expansion, induce line-of-sight-dependent corrections in the computation of luminosity distances. We apply these corrections to two low-redshift datasets: the Pantheon+ catalog of type Ia Supernovae (SN~Ia), and 63 measurements of Surface Brightness Fluctuations (SBF) of early-type massive galaxies from the MASSIVE survey. We find corrections on the distances of order $\sim 2-3\%$, resulting in a shift in the inferred best-fit values of the Hubble constant $H_0$ of order $\Delta H_0^{\rm{SN~Ia}}\approx 0.5 ~\rm{km}/\rm{s}/\rm{Mpc}$ and $\Delta H_0^{\rm{SBF}}\approx 1.1 ~\rm{km}/\rm{s}/\rm{Mpc}$, seemingly worsening the Hubble tension.
A coherently oscillating ultra-light axion can behave as dark matter. In particular, its coherently oscillating pressure perturbations can source an oscillating scalar metric perturbation, with a characteristic oscillation frequency which is twice the axion Compton frequency. A candidate in the mass range $10^{(-24,-21)}{\rm eV}$ can provide a signal in the frequency range tested by current and future Pulsar Timing Array (PTA) programs. Involving the pressure perturbations in a highly nonlinear environment, such an analysis demands a relativistic and nonlinear treatment. Here, we provide a rigorous derivation of the effect assuming weak gravity and slow-motion limit of Einstein's gravity in zero-shear gauge and show that dark matter's velocity potential determines the oscillation phase and frequency change. A monochromatic PTA signal correlated with the velocity field would confirm the prediction, for example, by cross-correlating the PTA results with the future local velocity flow measurements.
Inflation with Weyl scaling symmetry provides a viable scenario that can generate both the nearly scaling invariant primordial density fluctuation and a dark matter candidate. Here we point out that, in additional to the primordial gravitational waves (GWs) from quantum fluctuations, the production of high-frequency GWs from preheating in such inflation models can provide an another probe of the inflationary dynamics. We conduct both linear analytical analysis and nonlinear numerical lattice simulation in a typical model. We find that significant stochastic GWs can be produced and the frequency band is located around $10^8$ Hz $\sim$ $10^9$ Hz, which might be probed by future resonance-cavity experiments.
The patchiness in the reionization process alters the statistics of Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), with the kinematic Sunyaev-Zeldovich (kSZ) effect in the CMB temperature power spectrum being a notable consequence. In this work, we aim to explore the potential of future kSZ power spectrum measurements in inferring the details of the reionization process. In this pursuit, we capitalize on the recent developments in foreground mitigation techniques using the Cross-Internal Linear Combination (Cross-ILC) technique, which enables robust detection of the kSZ power spectrum with signal-to-noise ($S/N$) roughly $20-30\sigma$ in this decade by SPT-3G and Simons Observatory (SO); and $\geq 80\sigma$ by CMB-S4, substantially improving on the marginal evidence for kSZ binned at $\ell=3000$ using SPT data (Reichardt et al. 2021). We use a fiducial kSZ power spectrum along with realistic error bars expected from the above technique for SPT-3G, SO, and CMB-S4 to constrain the parameter space for a physical model of reionization. We find that with the improved error bars it will be possible to place stringent constraints on reionization using solely the Cross-ILC recovered SPT-3G kSZ without imposing any prior on $\tau$ in the Bayesian inference. Notably, high-fidelity kSZ measurements from CMB-S4 coupled with $\tau$ measurements through LiteBIRD will enable unprecedented constraint on the midpoint of reionization with an error bar of $\sim 0.25$ and the duration of reionization with an error bar at $\sim 0.21$ exclusively using CMB data. This study highlights the need to capture kSZ power on a broad range of multipoles to gain insights into the inhomogeneous reionization era.
Weak gravitational lensing is an invaluable tool for understanding fundamental cosmological physics. An unresolved issue in weak lensing cosmology is to accurately reconstruct the lensing convergence $\kappa$ maps from discrete shear catalog with survey masks, which the seminal Kaiser-Squire (KS) method is not designed to address. We present the Accurate Kappa Reconstruction Algorithm for masked shear catalog (AKRA) to address the issue of mask. AKRA is built upon the prior-free maximum likelihood mapmaking method (or the unbiased minimum variance linear estimator). It is mathematically robust in dealing with mask, numerically stable to implement, and practically effective in improving the reconstruction accuracy. Using simulated maps with mask fractions ranging from 10\% to 50\% and various mask shapes, we demonstrate that AKRA outperforms KS at both the map level and summary statistics such as the auto power spectrum $C_\kappa$ of the reconstructed map, its cross-correlation coefficient $r_\ell$ with the true $\kappa $ map, the scatter plot and the localization measure. Unlike the Wiener filter method, it adopts no priors on the signal power spectrum, and therefore avoids the Wiener filter related biases at both the map level and cross-correlation statistics. If we only use the reconstructed map in the unmasked regions, the reconstructed $C_\kappa$ is accurate to $1\%$ or better and $1-r_\ell \lesssim 1\%$ (excluding $\ell$ at the smallest scales investigated), even for extreme cases of mask fraction and shape. As the first step, the current version of AKRA only addresses the mask issue and therefore ignores complexities such as curved sky and inhomogeneous shape measurement noise. AKRA is capable of dealing with these issues straightfowrardly, and will be addressed in the next version.
The reheating phase after inflation is one of the least observationally constrained epochs in the evolution of the Universe. The forthcoming gravitational wave observatories will enable us to constrain at least some of the non-standard scenarios. For example, if the radiation bath is produced via the perturbative inflaton decay that oscillates around a flat minimum of the potential of the form $V\propto\phi^{2n}$, with $n>2$. In such scenarios a part of the inflationary gravitational wave spectrum becomes blue tilted, making it observable, depending on the inflation energy scale and the reheating temperature. The degeneracy between the latter two parameters can be broken if dark matter in the Universe is produced by the freeze-in mechanism. The combination of the independent measurement of dark matter mass with gravitational wave observations makes it possible to constrain the reheating temperature and the energy density at the end of inflation.
Deep learning (DL) has recently been proposed as a novel approach for 21cm foreground removal. Before applying DL to real observations, it is essential to assess its consistency with established methods, its performance across various simulation models and its robustness against instrumental systematics. This study develops a commonly used U-Net and evaluates its performance for post-reionisation foreground removal across three distinct sky simulation models based on pure Gaussian realisations, the Lagrangian perturbation theory, and the Planck sky model. Stable outcomes across the models are achieved provided that training and testing data align with the same model. On average, the residual foreground in the U-Net reconstructed data is $\sim$10% of the signal across angular scales at the considered redshift range. Comparable results are found with traditional approaches. However, blindly using a network trained on one model for data from another model yields inaccurate reconstructions, emphasising the need for consistent training data. The study then introduces frequency-dependent Gaussian beams and gain drifts to the test data. The network struggles to denoise data affected by "unexpected" systematics without prior information. However, after re-training consistently with systematics-contaminated data, the network effectively restores its reconstruction accuracy. This highlights the importance of incorporating prior systematics knowledge during training for successful denoising. Our work provides critical guidelines for using DL for 21cm foreground removal, tailored to specific data attributes. Notably, it is the first time that DL has been applied to the Planck sky model being most realistic foregrounds at present.
Axion-like early dark energy (EDE) as an extension to $\Lambda$CDM has been proposed as a possible solution to the 'Hubble tension'. We revisit this model using a new cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature and polarization likelihood constructed from the {\it Planck} NPIPE data release. In a Bayesian analysis, we find that the maximum fractional contribution of EDE to the total energy density is $f_{\rm EDE} < 0.061$ (without SH0ES) over the redshift range $z\in[10^3,10^4]$ and that the Hubble constant is constrained to lie within the range $ 66.9 < H_0 < 69.5$ km/s/Mpc (both at 95 \% C.L.). The data therefore favour a model close to $\Lambda$CDM, leaving a residual tension of $3.7\sigma$ with the SH$0$ES Cepheid-based measurement of $H_0$. A comparison with the likelihood profile shows that our conclusions are robust to prior-volume effects. Our new CMB likelihood provides no evidence in favour of a significant EDE component.
We address the properties of extreme black holes by considering the Christodoulou-Ruffini/Hawking mass-energy formula. By simple geometrical arguments, we found that the mass/energy formula is satisfied by two meaningful extreme black holes where mass (m), charge (Q), and angular momentum/spin (L) are incommensurable with the black hole's irreducible mass (m_{ir}). These black holes have been studied in the Christodoulou diagram and their topology in E^3 has been investigated by differential geometry. We show that one of the analyzed Kerr-Newman black holes corresponds to the case where the Gaussian curvature becomes zero at the poles. In the second extreme black hole examined, the fundamental quantities m, Q, and L are linked to the irreducible mass by coefficients that depend solely on the golden ratio number -\phi_-. In this case, we show that if this extreme black hole satisfies the Pythagorean fundamental forms relation at the umbilic points, then both the "scale parameter" (corresponding to twice the irreducible mass) and the Gauss curvature of the surface at the poles are equal to the golden ratio numbers. For these two extreme black holes, we calculate the energy extractible by reversible transformations finding that, in percentage, the energy extractable from the latter black hole is higher than the former one.
CMB mapmaking relies on a data model to solve for the sky map, and this process is vulnerable to bias if the data model cannot capture the full behavior of the signal. We demonstrate that this bias is not just limited to small-scale effects in high-contrast regions of the sky, but can manifest as $\mathcal{O}(1)$ power loss on large scales in the map under conditions and assumptions realistic for ground-based CMB telescopes. This bias is invisible to simulation-based tests that do not explicitly model them, making it easy to miss. We identify two different mechanisms that both cause suppression of long-wavelength modes: sub-pixel errors and detector gain calibration mismatch. We show that the specific case of subpixel bias can be eliminated using bilinear pointing matrices, but also provide simple methods for testing for the presence of large-scale model error bias in general.
WEAVE, the new wide-field, massively multiplexed spectroscopic survey facility for the William Herschel Telescope, will see first light in late 2022. WEAVE comprises a new 2-degree field-of-view prime-focus corrector system, a nearly 1000-multiplex fibre positioner, 20 individually deployable 'mini' integral field units (IFUs), and a single large IFU. These fibre systems feed a dual-beam spectrograph covering the wavelength range 366$-$959\,nm at $R\sim5000$, or two shorter ranges at $R\sim20\,000$. After summarising the design and implementation of WEAVE and its data systems, we present the organisation, science drivers and design of a five- to seven-year programme of eight individual surveys to: (i) study our Galaxy's origins by completing Gaia's phase-space information, providing metallicities to its limiting magnitude for $\sim$3 million stars and detailed abundances for $\sim1.5$ million brighter field and open-cluster stars; (ii) survey $\sim0.4$ million Galactic-plane OBA stars, young stellar objects and nearby gas to understand the evolution of young stars and their environments; (iii) perform an extensive spectral survey of white dwarfs; (iv) survey $\sim400$ neutral-hydrogen-selected galaxies with the IFUs; (v) study properties and kinematics of stellar populations and ionised gas in $z<0.5$ cluster galaxies; (vi) survey stellar populations and kinematics in $\sim25\,000$ field galaxies at $0.3\lesssim z \lesssim 0.7$; (vii) study the cosmic evolution of accretion and star formation using $>1$ million spectra of LOFAR-selected radio sources; (viii) trace structures using intergalactic/circumgalactic gas at $z>2$. Finally, we describe the WEAVE Operational Rehearsals using the WEAVE Simulator.
Just like light, gravitational waves (GWs) are deflected and magnified by gravitational fields as they propagate through the Universe. However, their low frequency, phase coherence and feeble coupling to matter allow for distinct lensing phenomena, such as diffraction and central images, that are challenging to observe through electromagnetic sources. Here we explore how these phenomena can be used to probe features of gravitational lenses. We focus on two variants of the singular isothermal sphere, with 1) a variable slope of the matter density and 2) a central core. We describe the imprints of these features in the wave- and geometric-optics regimes, including the prospect of detecting central images. We forecast the capacity of LISA and advanced LIGO to study strongly lensed signals and measure the projected lens mass, impact parameter and slope or core size. A broad range of lens masses allows all parameters to be measured with precision up to $\sim 1/{\rm SNR}$, despite large degeneracies. Thanks to wave-optics corrections, all parameters can be measured, even when no central image forms. Although GWs are sensitive to projected quantities, we compute the probability distribution of lens redshift, virial mass and projection scale given a cosmology. As an application, we consider the prospect of constraining self-interacting and ultra-light dark matter, showing the regions of parameter space accessible to strongly-lensed GWs. The distinct GW signatures will enable novel probes of fundamental physics and astrophysics, including the properties of dark matter and the central regions of galactic halos.
We present a detailed exposition on the prospects of the formation of Primordial Black Holes (PBHs) during Slow Roll (SR) to Ultra Slow Roll (USR) sharp transitions in the framework of single-field inflation. We use an effective field theory (EFT) approach in order to keep the analysis model-independent and applicable to both the canonical and non-canonical cases. We show in detail how renormalizing the power spectrum to one loop order in $P(X,\phi)$ theories severely limits the prospects for PBH formation in a single-field inflationary framework. We demonstrate that for the allowed range of effective sound speed, $1<c_s<1.17$, the consistency of one-loop corrected power spectrum leaves a small window for black hole masses, $M_{\rm PBH}\sim \mathcal{O}(10^2-10^3)$gm to have sufficient e-foldings, $\Delta {\cal N}_{\rm Total}\sim {\cal O}(54-59)$ for inflation. We confirm that adding an SR regime after USR before the end of inflation does not significantly alter our conclusions. Our findings for sharp transition strictly rule out the possibility of generating large masses of PBHs from all possible models of single-field inflation (canonical and non-canonical). Our results are at least valid for the situation where constraints from the loop effects are computed using either Late-Time (LT) or Adiabatic-Wave function (AF) scheme followed by Power Spectrum (PS) renormalization schemes.
Extracting the CMB blackbody temperature power spectrum -- which is dominated by the primary CMB signal and the kinematic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (kSZ) effect -- from mm-wave sky maps requires cleaning other sky components. In this work, we develop new methods to use large-scale structure (LSS) tracers to remove cosmic infrared background (CIB) and thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (tSZ) contamination in such measurements. Our methods rely on the fact that LSS tracers are correlated with the CIB and tSZ signals, but their two-point correlations with the CMB and kSZ signals vanish on small scales, thus leaving the CMB blackbody power spectrum unbiased after cleaning. We develop methods analogous to delensing ($\textit{de-CIB}$ or $\textit{de-(CIB+tSZ)}$) to clean CIB and tSZ contaminants using these tracers. We compare these methods to internal linear combination (ILC) methods, including novel approaches that incorporate the tracer maps in the ILC procedure itself, without requiring exact assumptions about the CIB SED. As a concrete example, we use the $\textit{unWISE}$ galaxy samples as tracers. We provide calculations for a combined Simons Observatory and $\textit{Planck}$-like experiment, with our simulated sky model comprising eight frequencies from 93 to 353 GHz. Using $\textit{unWISE}$ tracers, improvements with our methods over current approaches are already non-negligible: we find improvements up to 20% in the kSZ power spectrum signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) when applying the de-CIB method to a tSZ-deprojected ILC map. These gains could be more significant when using additional LSS tracers from current surveys, and will become even larger with future LSS surveys, with improvements in the kSZ power spectrum SNR up to 50%. For the total CMB blackbody power spectrum, these improvements stand at 4% and 7%, respectively. Our code is publicly available at https://github.com/olakusiak/deCIBing.
Radio interferometers can potentially detect the sky-averaged signal from the Cosmic Dawn (CD) and the Epoch of Reionisation (EoR) by studying the Moon as a thermal block to the foreground sky. The first step is to mitigate the Earth-based RFI reflections (Earthshine) from the Moon, which significantly contaminate the FM band $\approx 88-110$ MHz, crucial to CD-EoR science. We analysed MWA phase-I data from $72-180$ MHz at $40$ kHz resolution to understand the nature of Earthshine over three observing nights. We took two approaches to correct the Earthshine component from the Moon. In the first method, we mitigated the Earthshine using the flux density of the two components from the data, while in the second method, we used simulated flux density based on an FM catalogue to mitigate the Earthshine. Using these methods, we were able to recover the expected Galactic foreground temperature of the patch of sky obscured by the Moon. We performed a joint analysis of the Galactic foregrounds and the Moon's intrinsic temperature $(T_{\rm Moon})$ while assuming that the Moon has a constant thermal temperature throughout three epochs. We found $T_{\rm Moon}$ to be at $184.4\pm{2.6}\rm ~K$ and $173.8\pm{2.5}\rm ~K$ using the first and the second methods, respectively, and the best-fit values of the Galactic spectral index $(\alpha)$ to be within the $5\%$ uncertainty level when compared with the global sky models. Compared with our previous work, these results improved constraints on the Galactic spectral index and the Moon's intrinsic temperature. We also simulated the Earthshine at MWA between November and December 2023 to find suitable observing times less affected by the Earthshine. Such observing windows act as Earthshine avoidance and can be used to perform future global CD-EoR experiments using the Moon with the MWA.
In recent years, several pulsar timing array collaborations have reported first hints for a stochastic gravitational wave background at nano-Hertz frequencies. Here we elaborate on the possibility that this signal comes from new physics that leads to the generation of a primordial stochastic gravitational wave background. We propose a set of simple but concrete models that can serve as benchmarks for gravitational waves sourced by cosmological phase transitions, domain wall networks, cosmic strings, axion dynamics, or large scalar fluctuations. These models are then confronted with pulsar timing data and with cosmological constraints. With only a limited number of free parameters per model, we are able to identify viable regions of parameter space and also make predictions for future astrophysical and laboratory tests that can help with model identification and discrimination.
We explore the role of galactic feedback on the low redshift Lyman-$\alpha$ (Ly$\alpha$)~forest ($z \lesssim 2$) statistics and its potential to alter the thermal state of the intergalactic medium. Using the Cosmology and Astrophysics with Machine Learning Simulations (CAMELS) suite, we explore variations of the AGN and stellar feedback models in the IllustrisTNG and Simba sub-grid models. We find that both AGN and stellar feedback in Simba play a role in setting the Ly$\alpha$ forest column density distribution function (CDD) and the Doppler width ($b$-value) distribution. The Simba AGN jet feedback mode is able to efficiently transport energy out to the diffuse IGM causing changes in the shape and normalization of the CDD and a broadening of the $b$-value distribution. We find that stellar feedback plays a prominent role in regulating supermassive black hole growth and feedback, highlighting the importance of constraining stellar and AGN feedback simultaneously. In IllustrisTNG, the AGN feedback variations explored in CAMELS do not affect the Ly$\alpha$ forest, but varying the stellar feedback model does produce subtle changes. Our results imply that the low-$z$ Ly$\alpha$ forest can be sensitive to changes in the ultraviolet background (UVB), stellar and black hole feedback, and that AGN jet feedback in particular can have a strong effect on the thermal state of the IGM.
We examine the effects of a stiff pre-recombination era on the present day's energy spectrum of the primordial gravitational waves. If the background total equation of state parameter at the pre-recombination era is described by a kination era one, this directly affects the modes with characteristic wavenumbers which reenter the Hubble horizon during this stiff era. The stiff era causes a broken-power-law effect on the energy spectrum of the gravitational waves. We use two approaches, one model agnostic and a specific model that can realize this scenario. In all cases, the inflationary era can be realized either by some theory leading to a standard red-tilted tensor spectral index or by some theory which has a mild tensor spectral index $n_{\mathcal{T}}=0.17-0.37$ like an Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet theory. For the model agnostic scenario case, the NANOGrav signal can be explained by the stiff pre-recombination era combined with an inflationary era with a mild blue-tilted tensor spectral index $n_{\mathcal{T}}=0.37$ and a low-reheating temperature $T_R\sim 0.1$GeV. In the same case, the red-tilted inflationary theory signal can be detectable by the future LISA, BBO and DECIGO experiments. The model dependent approach is based on a Higgs-axion model which can yield multiple deformations of the background total equation of state parameter, causing multiple broken-power-law behaviors occurring in various eras before and after the recombination era. In this case, the NANOGrav signal is explained by this model in conjunction with an inflationary era with a really mild blue-tilted tensor spectral index $n_{\mathcal{T}}=0.17$ and a low-reheating temperature $T_R\sim 20\,$GeV. In this case, the signal can be detectable by the future Litebird experiment, which is a very characteristic pattern in the tail of the primordial gravitational wave energy spectrum.
We present the predictions with standard sirens at Gravitational Waves detectors, such as the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) and the Einstein Telescope (ET), for interacting dark energy theories. We focus on four models characterised by couplings between the dark energy field and the dark matter fluid arising from conformal or disformal transformations of the metric, along with an exponential self-interacting potential. To this purpose we construct mock catalogues and perform a Markov Chain Monte Carlo analysis by considering ET and LISA standard sirens, and also their combination with Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO) and Supernovae Ia (SNIa) data. We find that in all the four models considered, the accuracy on the $H_0$ parameter increases by one order of magnitude at 1$\sigma$ when compared to the SNIa+BAO data set, possibly shedding light in the future on the origin of the $H_0$-tension. The combination of standard sirens with SNIa+BAO allows to improve the accuracy on some coupling and exponential parameters, hinting at future prospects for constraining interactions in the dark sector.
The current and next observation seasons will detect hundreds of gravitational waves (GWs) from compact binary systems coalescence at cosmological distances. When combined with independent electromagnetic measurements, the source redshift will be known, and we will be able to obtain precise measurements of the Hubble constant $H_0$ via the distance-redshift relation. However, most observed mergers are not expected to have electromagnetic counterparts, which prevents a direct redshift measurement. In this scenario, one of the possibilities is to use the dark sirens method that statistically marginalizes over all the potential host galaxies within the GW location volume to provide a probabilistic redshift to the source. Here we presented $H_{0}$ measurements using two new dark sirens compared to previous analyses using DECam data, GW190924$\_$021846 and GW200202$\_$154313. The photometric redshifts of the possible host galaxies of these two events are acquired from the DECam Local Volume Exploration Survey (DELVE) carried out on the Blanco telescope at Cerro Tololo in Chile. The combination of the $H_0$ posterior from GW190924$\_$021846 and GW200202$\_$154313 together with the bright siren GW170817 leads to $H_{0} = 68.84^{+15.51}_{-7.74}\, \rm{km/s/Mpc}$. Including these two dark sirens improves the 68% confidence interval (CI) by 7% over GW170817 alone. This demonstrates that the inclusion of well-localized dark sirens in such analysis improves the precision with which cosmological measurements can be made. Using a sample containing 10 well-localized dark sirens observed during the third LIGO/Virgo observation run, we determine a measurement of $H_{0} = 76.00^{+17.64}_{-13.45}\, \rm{km /s/Mpc}$.
4U 1210-64 is a peculiar X-ray binary that was first discovered in 1978 by the Uhuru satellite. The analysis of the X-ray data revealed a 6.7-day orbital period and an additional long-term modulation that is manifested as low and high flux states. Based on the previous classification of the donor star from the analysis of its optical spectra, the system has been suggested to be a high-mass X-ray binary. We re-visit the optical classification where, based on the spectra from the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT), we conclude that the donor star is of spectral class A8 III-IV, making it a member of the rare intermediate-mass X-ray binaries. We perform radial velocity analysis using the SALT spectra where we consider circular and eccentric orbits. From the mass function derived and the mass constraints of the donor star, we demonstrate that a neutron star is favoured as the compact object in the binary system. We show, for the first time, the folded optical lightcurves, whose shape is interpreted to be due to a combination of ellipsoidal variations, irradiation of the donor star, and mutual eclipses of the star and accretion disk.
Accreting supermassive black holes (SMBHs) produce highly magnetized relativistic jets that tend to collimate gradually as they propagate outward. However, recent radio interferometric observations of the 3C 84 galaxy reveal a stunning, cylindrical jet already at several hundred SMBH gravitational radii, $r\gtrsim350r_{\rm g}$. We explore how such extreme collimation emerges via a suite of 3D general-relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulations. We consider an SMBH surrounded by a magnetized torus immersed in a constant-density ambient medium that starts at the edge of the SMBH sphere of influence, chosen to be much larger than the SMBH gravitational radius, $r_{\text{B}}=10^3r_{\text{g}}$. We find that radiatively inefficient accretion flows (e.g., M87) produce winds that collimate the jets into parabolas near the BH. After the disk winds stop collimating the jets at $r\lesssim{}r_\text{B}$, they turn conical. Once outside $r_\text{B}$, the jets run into the ambient medium and form backflows that collimate the jets into cylinders some distance beyond $r_{\text{B}}$. Interestingly, for radiatively-efficient accretion, as in 3C 84, the radiative cooling saps the energy out of the disk winds: at early times, they cannot efficiently collimate the jets, which skip the initial parabolic collimation stage, start out conical near the SMBH, and turn into cylinders already at $r\simeq300r_{\rm g}$, as observed in 3C 84. Over time, jet power remains approximately constant, whereas the mass accretion rate increases: the winds grow in strength and start to collimate the jets, which become quasi-parabolic near the base; the transition point to a nearly cylindrical jet profile moves outward while remaining inside $r_\text{B}$.
We present a set of six general relativistic, multi-frequency, radiation magnetohydrodynamic simulations of thin accretion disks with different target mass accretion rates around black holes with spins ranging from non-rotating to rapidly spinning. The simulations use the $\mathbf{M}_1$ closure scheme with twelve, independent frequency (or energy) bins ranging logarithmically from $5\times 10^{-3}$ to $5\times 10^3$ keV. The multi-frequency capability allows us to generate crude spectra and energy-dependent light curves directly from the simulations without a need for special post-processing. While we generally find roughly thermal spectra with peaks around 1 to 4 keV, our high-spin cases showed harder than expected tails for the soft or thermally dominant state. This leads to radiative efficiencies that are up to five times higher than expected for a Novikov-Thorne disk at the same spin. We attribute these high efficiencies to the high-energy, coronal emission. These coronae mostly occupy the effectively optically thin regions near the inner edges of the disks and also cover or sandwich the inner $\sim 15 GM/c^2$ of the disks.
We study out-of-thermodynamic equilibrium effects in neutron star mergers with 3D general-relativistic neutrino-radiation large-eddy simulations. During merger, the cores of the neutron stars remain cold ($T \sim$ a few MeV) and out of thermodynamic equilibrium with trapped neutrinos originating from the hot collisional interface between the stars. However, within ${\sim}2{-}3$ milliseconds matter and neutrinos reach equilibrium everywhere in the remnant. Our results show that dissipative effects, such as bulk viscosity, if present, are only active for a short window of time after the merger.
Jetted astrophysical phenomena with black hole (BH) engines, including binary mergers, jetted tidal disruption events, and X-ray binaries, require a large-scale vertical magnetic field for efficient jet formation. However, a dynamo mechanism that could generate these crucial large-scale magnetic fields has not been identified and characterized. We have employed 3D global general relativistic magnetohydrodynamical (MHD) simulations of accretion disks to quantify, for the first time, a dynamo mechanism that generates large-scale magnetic fields. This dynamo mechanism primarily arises from the nonlinear evolution of the magnetorotational instability (MRI). In this mechanism, large non-axisymmetric MRI-amplified shearing wave modes, mediated by the axisymmetric azimuthal magnetic field, generate and sustain the large-scale vertical magnetic field through their nonlinear interactions. We identify the advection of magnetic loops as a crucial feature, transporting the large-scale vertical magnetic field from the outer regions to the inner regions of the accretion disk. This leads to a larger characteristic size of the, now advected, magnetic field when compared to the local disk height. We characterize the complete dynamo mechanism with two timescales: one for the local magnetic field generation, $t_{\rm g}$, and one for the large-scale scale advection, $t_{\rm adv}$. Whereas the dynamo we describe is nonlinear, we explore the potential of linear mean field models to replicate its core features. Our findings indicate that traditional $\alpha$-dynamo models, often computed in stratified shearing box simulations, are inadequate and that the effective large-scale dynamics is better described by the shear current effects or stochastic $\alpha$-dynamos.
Because of the electromagnetic radiation produced during the merger, compact binary coalescences with neutron stars may result in multi-messenger observations. In order to follow up on the gravitational-wave signal with electromagnetic telescopes, it is critical to promptly identify the properties of these sources. This identification must rely on the properties of the progenitor source, such as the component masses and spins, as determined by low-latency detection pipelines in real time. The output of these pipelines, however, might be biased, which could decrease the accuracy of parameter recovery. Machine learning algorithms are used to correct this bias. In this work, we revisit this problem and discuss two new implementations of supervised machine learning algorithms, K-Nearest Neighbors and Random Forest, which are able to predict the presence of a neutron star and post-merger matter remnant in low-latency compact binary coalescence searches across different search pipelines and data sets. Additionally, we present a novel approach for calculating the Bayesian probabilities for these two metrics. Instead of metric scores derived from binary machine learning classifiers, our scheme is designed to provide the astronomy community well-defined probabilities. This would deliver a more direct and easily interpretable product to assist electromagnetic telescopes in deciding whether to follow up on gravitational-wave events in real time.
In 2021, a catalog of 536 fast radio bursts (FRBs) detected with the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) radio telescope was released by the CHIME/FRB Collaboration. This large collection of bursts, observed with a single instrument and uniform selection effects, has advanced our understanding of the FRB population. Here we update the results for 140 of these FRBs for which channelized raw voltage (baseband) data are available. With the voltages measured by the telescope's antennas, it is possible to maximize the telescope sensitivity in any direction within the primary beam, an operation called beamforming. This allows us to increase the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) of the bursts and to localize them to sub-arcminute precision. The improved localization is also used to correct the beam response of the instrument and to measure fluxes and fluences with a ~ 10% uncertainty. Additionally, the time resolution is increased by three orders of magnitude relative to that in the first CHIME/FRB catalog, and, applying coherent dedispersion, burst morphologies can be studied in detail. Polarization information is also available for the full sample of 140 FRBs, providing an unprecedented dataset to study the polarization properties of the population. We release the baseband data beamformed to the most probable position of each FRB. These data are analyzed in detail in a series of accompanying papers.
We study how the nuclear symmetry energy slope ($L$) can affect the hadron-quark phase transition and neutron star properties. We show that the main physical quantities as the critical chemical potential and pressure are strongly influenced by the symmetry energy slope. In extreme cases, the total amount of deconfined quarks can reach up to 99$\%$ of the hybrid star mass.
The possible formation histories of neutron star binaries remain unresolved by current gravitational-wave catalogs. The detection of an eccentric binary system could be vital in constraining compact binary formation models. We present the first search for aligned spin eccentric neutron star-black hole binaries (NSBH) and the most sensitive search for aligned-spin eccentric binary neutron star (BNS) systems using data from the third observing run of the advanced LIGO and advanced Virgo detectors. No new statistically significant candidates are found; we constrain the local merger rate to be less than 150 $\text{Gpc}^{-3}\text{Yr}^{-1}$ for binary neutron stars in the field, and, 50, 100, and 70 $\text{Gpc}^{-3}\text{Yr}^{-1}$ for neutron star-black hole binaries in globular clusters, hierarchical triples and nuclear clusters, respectively, at the 90$\%$ confidence level if we assume that no sources have been observed from these populations. We predict the capabilities of upcoming and next-generation observatory networks; we investigate the ability of three LIGO ($\text{A}^{#}$) detectors and Cosmic Explorer CE (20km) + CE (40km) to use eccentric binary observations for determining the formation history of neutron star binaries. We find that 2 -- 100 years of observation with three $\text{A}^{#}$ observatories are required before we observe clearly eccentric NSBH binaries; this reduces to only 10 days -- 1 year with the CE detector network. CE will observe tens to hundreds of measurably eccentric binaries from each of the formation models we consider.
High-energy neutrino astrophysics is rapidly developing, and in the last two years, new and exciting results have been obtained. Among them are the confirmation of the existence of the diffuse astrophysical neutrino flux by the new independent Baikal-GVD experiment, the discovery of the neutrino emission of our Galaxy, new confirmations of the origin of a part of astrophysical neutrinos in blazars, and much more. This brief review, based on the author's presentation at the session of the RAS Physical Science Division "Gamma quanta and neutrinos from space: what we can see now and what we need to see more", summarizes the results obtained since the publication of the review arXiv:2112.09611, and can be considered as a companion to it.
Be X-ray binaries (Be XRBs) are high-mass X-ray binaries, with a neutron star or black hole orbiting and accreting material from a non-supergiant B-star that is rotating at a near critical rate. These objects are prime targets to understand past binary interactions as the neutron star or black hole progenitor likely experienced Roche lobe overflow to spin up the Be star we observe now. The stellar variability can then allow us to explore the stellar structure of these objects. It was recently demonstrated that the high-mass X-ray binary CPD -29 2176 descended from an ultra-stripped supernova and is a prime target to evolve into an eventual binary neutron star and kilonova. We present the photometric variability from both TESS and ASAS along with the spectral properties and disk variability of the system in this paper. All of the optical lines are contaminated with disk emission except for the He II $\lambda$4686 absorption line. The disk variability time-scales are not the same as the orbital time scale, but could be related to the X-ray outbursts that have been recorded by Swift. We end our study with a discussion comparing CPD -29 2176 to classical Be stars and other Be X-ray binaries, finding the stellar rotation to be near a frequency of 1.5 cycles d$^{-1}$, and exhibiting incoherent variability in three frequency groups.
We considered the generation of gravitational waves by the binary system associated with a wormhole. In the Newtonian limit, the gravitational potential of a wormhole requires the effective mass of the wormhole taking into account radial tension effects. This definition allows us to derive gravitational wave production in homogeneous and heterogeneous binary systems. Therefore, we studied gravitational waves generation by orbiting wormhole-wormhole and wormhole-black hole binary systems before coalescence. Cases involving negative mass require more careful handling. We also calculated the energy loss to gravitational radiation by a particle orbiting around the wormhole and by a particle moving straight through the wormhole mouth, respectively.
We present the discovery and timing results of five pulsars discovered in a pilot survey at intermediate Galactic latitudes with the Five-hundred Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST). Among these pulsars, two belong to the category of millisecond pulsars (MSPs) with spin periods of less than 20\,ms. Two others fall under the classification of `mildly recycled' pulsars, with massive white dwarfs as companions. Remarkably, this small survey, covering an area of 4.7 square degrees, led to the discovery of five pulsars, including four recycled pulsars. Such success underscores the immense potential of future surveys at intermediate Galactic latitudes. In order to assess the potential yield of MSPs, we conducted population simulations and found that both FAST and Parkes new Phased Array Feed surveys, focusing on intermediate Galactic latitudes, have the capacity to uncover several hundred new MSPs.
Magnetic fields regulate black hole (BH) accretion, governing both the inflow and outflow dynamics. When a BH becomes saturated with large-scale vertical magnetic flux, it enters a magnetically-arrested disk (MAD) state. The dynamically-important BH magnetic flux powers highly efficient relativistic outflows (or jets) and sporadically erupts from the BH into the disk midplane. Here we explore the evolution of MADs when the BH and gas angular momentum are misaligned, which is expected to be more common. Using numerical simulations, we find that jets from rapidly spinning, prograde BHs force the inner accretion flow into alignment with the BH spin via the magneto-spin alignment mechanism for disks initially misaligned at $\mathcal{T}\lesssim 60^{\circ}$. Extremely misaligned MAD disks, on the other hand, exhibit intermittent jets that blow out parts of the disk to $\approx 100$ gravitational radii before collapsing, leaving behind hot cavities and magnetized filaments. These intermittent jet mechanism forms a mini-feedback cycle and could explain some cases of X-ray and radio quasi-periodic eruptions observed in dim AGN. Further, we find that (i) for BHs with low power jets, the BH spin and initial disk tilt angle changes the amount of horizon magnetic flux, and (ii) geometrically-thick, misaligned accretion flows do not undergo sustained Lense-Thirring (LT) precession. Thereby, we suggest that low-luminosity accreting BHs ($\dot{M}\ll 10^{-3} \dot{M}_{\rm Edd}$) are not likely to exhibit quasi-periodic oscillations in lightcurves due to LT precession, in agreement with observations of BH X-ray binaries and AGN in the low-hard/quiescent state. Instead, we suggest that magnetic flux eruptions can mimic precession-like motion, such as observed in the M87 jet, by driving large-scale surface waves in the jets.
LS V +44 17 is a persistent Be/X-ray binary (BeXRB) that displayed a bright, double-peaked period of X-ray activity in late 2022/early 2023. We present a radio monitoring campaign of this outburst using the Very Large Array. Radio emission was detected, but only during the second, X-ray brightest, peak, where the radio emission followed the rise and decay of the X-ray outburst. LS V +44 17 is therefore the third neutron star BeXRB with a radio counterpart. Similar to the other two systems (Swift J0243.6+6124 and 1A 0535+262), its X-ray and radio luminosity are correlated: we measure a power law slope $\beta = 1.25^{+0.64}_{-0.30}$ and a radio luminosity of $L_R = (1.6\pm0.2)\times10^{26}$ erg/s at a $0.5-10$ keV X-ray luminosity of $2\times10^{36}$ erg/s (i.e. $\sim 1\%$ $L_{\rm Edd}$). This correlation index is slightly steeper than measured for the other two sources, while its radio luminosity is higher. We discuss the origin of the radio emission, specifically in the context of jet launching. The enhanced radio brightness compared to the other two BeXRBs is the first evidence of scatter in the giant BeXRB outburst X-ray - radio correlation, similar to the scatter observed in sub-classes of low-mass X-ray binaries. While a universal explanation for such scatter is not known, we explore several options: we conclude that the three sources do not follow proposed scalings between jet power and neutron star spin or magnetic field, and instead briefly explore the effects that ambient stellar wind density may have on BeXRB jet luminosity.
We address the problem of optimally identifying all kilonovae detected via gravitational wave emission in the upcoming LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA Collaboration observing run, O4, which is expected to be sensitive to a factor of $\sim 7$ more Binary Neutron Stars alerts than previously. Electromagnetic follow-up of all but the brightest of these new events will require $>1$ meter telescopes, for which limited time is available. We present an optimized observing strategy for the Dark Energy Camera during O4. We base our study on simulations of gravitational wave events expected for O4 and wide-prior kilonova simulations. We derive the detectabilities of events for realistic observing conditions. We optimize our strategy for confirming a kilonova while minimizing telescope time. For a wide range of kilonova parameters, corresponding to a fainter kilonova compared to GW170817/AT2017gfo we find that, with this optimal strategy, the discovery probability for electromagnetic counterparts with the Dark Energy Camera is $\sim 80\%$ at the nominal binary neutron star gravitational wave detection limit for the next LVK observing run (190 Mpc), which corresponds to a $\sim 30\%$ improvement compared to the strategy adopted during the previous observing run. For more distant events ($\sim 330$ Mpc), we reach a $\sim 60\%$ probability of detection, a factor of $\sim 2$ increase. For a brighter kilonova model dominated by the blue component that reproduces the observations of GW170817/AT2017gfo, we find that we can reach $\sim 90\%$ probability of detection out to 330 Mpc, representing an increase of $\sim 20 \%$, while also reducing the total telescope time required to follow-up events by $\sim 20\%$.
To investigate GRBs in depth, it is crucial to develop an effective method for identifying GRBs accurately. Current criteria, e.g., onboard blind search, ground blind search, and target search, are limited by manually set thresholds and perhaps miss GRBs, especially for sub-threshold events. We propose a novel approach that utilizes convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to distinguish GRBs and non-GRBs directly. We structured three CNN models, plain-CNN, ResNet, and ResNet-CBAM, and endeavored to exercise fusing strategy models. Count maps of NaI detectors onboard Fermi/GBM were employed as the input samples of datasets and models were implemented to evaluate their performance on different time scale data. The ResNet-CBAM model trained on 64 ms dataset achieves high accuracy overall, which includes residual and attention mechanism modules. The visualization methods of Grad-CAM and t-SNE explicitly displayed that the optimal model focuses on the key features of GRBs precisely. The model was applied to analyze one-year data, accurately identifying approximately 98% of GRBs listed in the Fermi burst catalog, 8 out of 9 sub-threshold GRBs, and 5 GRBs triggered by other satellites, which demonstrated the deep learning methods could effectively distinguish GRBs from observational data. Besides, thousands of unknown candidates were retrieved and compared with the bursts of SGR J1935+2154 for instance, which exemplified the potential scientific value of these candidates indeed. Detailed studies on integrating our model into real-time analysis pipelines thus may improve their accuracy of inspection, and provide valuable guidance for rapid follow-up observations of multi-band telescopes.
We study the impact of out-of-equilibrium, dissipative effects on the dynamics of inspiraling neutron stars. We find that modeling dissipative processes (such as those from the stars internal effective fluid viscosity) requires that one introduce a new tidal deformability parameter--the dissipative tidal deformability--which modifies the phase of gravitational waves emitted during the inspiral phase of a neutron star binary. We show that the dissipative tidal deformability corrects the gravitational-wave phase at 4 post-Newtonian order for quasi-circular binaries. This correction receives a large finite-size enhancement by the stellar compactness, analogous to the case of the tidal deformability. Moreover, the correction is not degenerate with the time of coalescence, which also enters at 4PN order, because it contains a logarithmic frequency-dependent contribution. Using a simple Fisher analysis, we show that physically allowed values for the dissipative tidal deformability may be constrained by measurements of the phase of emitted gravitational waves to roughly the same extent as the (electric-type, quadrupolar) tidal deformability. Finally, we show that there are no out-of-equilibrium, dissipative corrections to the tidal deformability itself. We conclude that there are at least two relevant tidal deformability parameters that can be constrained with gravitational-wave phase measurements during the late inspiral of a neutron star binary: one which characterizes the adiabatic tidal response of the star, and another which characterizes the leading-order out-of-equilibrium, dissipative tidal response. These findings open a window to probe dissipative processes in the interior of neutron stars with gravitational waves.
The proposed Daksha mission comprises of a pair of highly sensitive space telescopes for detecting and characterising high-energy transients such as electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational wave events and gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Along with spectral and timing analysis, Daksha can also undertake polarisation studies of these transients, providing data crucial for understanding the source geometry and physical processes governing high-energy emission. Each Daksha satellite will have 340 pixelated Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CZT) detectors arranged in a quasi-hemispherical configuration without any field-of-view collimation (open detectors). These CZT detectors are good polarimeters in the energy range 100 -- 400 keV, and their ability to measure polarisation has been successfully demonstrated by the Cadmium Zinc Telluride Imager (CZTI) onboard AstroSat. Here we demonstrate the hard X-ray polarisation measurement capabilities of Daksha and estimate the polarisation measurement sensitivity (in terms of the Minimum Detectable Polarisation: MDP) using extensive simulations. We find that Daksha will have MDP of~$30\%$ for a fluence threshold of $10^{-4}$ erg cm$^2$ (in 10 -- 1000 keV). We estimate that with this sensitivity, if GRBs are highly polarised, Daksha can measure the polarisation of about five GRBs per year.
Halo dark matter (DM) particles could lose energy due to the scattering off nuclei within the Earth before reaching the underground detectors of DM direct detection experiments. This Earth shielding effect can result in diurnal modulation of the DM-induced recoil event rates observed underground due to the self-rotation of the Earth. For electron recoil signals from DM-electron scatterings, the current experimental constraints are very stringent such that the diurnal modulation cannot be observed for halo DM. We propose a novel type of diurnal modulation effect: diurnal modulation in electron recoil signals induced by DM-nucleon scattering via the Migdal effect. We set so far the most stringent constraints on DM-nucleon scattering cross section via the Migdal effect for sub-GeV DM using the S2-only data of PandaX-II and PandaX-4T with improved simulations of the Earth shielding effect. Based on the updated constraints, we show that the Migdal effect induced diurnal modulation of electron events can still be significant in the low energy region, and can be probed by experiments such as PandaX-4T in the near future.
The population of optical transients evolving within a time-scale of a few hours or a day (so-called fast optical transients, FOTs) has recently been debated extensively. In particular, our understanding of extragalactic FOTs and their rates is limited. We present a search for extragalactic FOTs with the Tomo-e Gozen high-cadence survey. Using the data taken from 2019 August to 2022 June, we obtain 113 FOT candidates. Through light curve analysis and cross-matching with other survey data, we find that most of these candidates are in fact supernovae, variable quasars, and Galactic dwarf novae, that were partially observed around their peak brightness. We find no promising candidate of extragalactic FOTs. From this non-detection, we obtain upper limits on the event rate of extragalactic FOTs as a function of their time-scale. For a very luminous event (absolute magnitude $M<-26$ mag), we obtain the upper limits of $4.4 \times 10^{-9}$ Mpc$^{-3}$ yr$^{-1}$ for a time-scale of 4 h, and $7.4 \times 10^{-10}$ Mpc$^{-3}$ yr$^{-1}$ for a time-scale of 1 d. Thanks to our wide (although shallow) surveying strategy, our data are less affected by the cosmological effects, and thus, give one of the more stringent limits to the event rate of intrinsically luminous transients with a time-scale of $< 1$ d.
We report the detection of cold dust in an apparently quiescent massive galaxy ($\log({M_{\star}/M_{\odot}})\approx11$) at $z\sim2$ (G4). The source is identified as a serendipitous 2 mm continuum source in a deep ALMA observation within the field of Q2343-BX610, a $z=2.21$ massive star-forming disk galaxy. Available multi-band photometry of G4 suggests redshift of $z\sim2$ and a low specific star-formation rate (sSFR), $\log(SFR/M_{\star}) [yr^{-1}] \approx -10.2$, corresponding to $\approx1.2$ dex below the $z=2$ main sequence (MS). G4 appears to be a peculiar dust-rich quiescent galaxy for its stellar mass ($\log({M_{\rm dust}/M_{\star}}) = -2.71 \pm 0.26$), with its estimated mass-weighted age ($\sim$ 1-2 Gyr). We compile $z\gtrsim1$ quiescent galaxies in the literature and discuss their age-$\Delta$MS and $\log({M_{\rm dust}/M_{\star}})$-age relations to investigate passive evolution and dust depletion scale. A long dust depletion time and its morphology suggest morphological quenching along with less efficient feedback that could have acted on G4. The estimated dust yield for G4 further supports this idea, requiring efficient survival of dust and/or grain growth, and rejuvenation (or additional accretion). Follow-up observations probing the stellar light and cold dust peak are necessary to understand the implication of these findings in the broader context of galaxy evolutionary studies and quenching in the early universe.
A key event in the history of the Milky Way is the formation of the bar. This event affects the subsequent structural and dynamical evolution of the entire Galaxy. When the bar formed, gas was likely rapidly funnelled to the centre of the Galaxy settling in a star-forming nuclear disc. The Milky Way bar formation can then be dated by considering the oldest stars in the formed nuclear stellar disc. In this highly obscured and crowded region, reliable age tracers are limited, but bright, high-amplitude Mira variables make useful age indicators as they follow a period--age relation. We fit dynamical models to the proper motions of a sample of Mira variables in the Milky Way's nuclear stellar disc region. Weak evidence for inside-out growth and both radial and vertical dynamical heating with time of the nuclear stellar disc is presented suggesting the nuclear stellar disc is dynamically well-mixed. Furthermore, for Mira variables around a $\sim350$ day period, there is a clear transition from nuclear stellar disc-dominated kinematics to background bar-bulge-dominated kinematics. Using a Mira variable period-age relation calibrated in the solar neighbourhood, this suggests the nuclear stellar disc formed in a significant burst in star formation $(8\pm 1)\,\mathrm{Gyr}$ ago, although the data are also weakly consistent with a more gradual formation of the nuclear stellar disc at even earlier epochs. This implies a relatively early formation time for the Milky Way bar ($\gtrsim8\,\mathrm{Gyr}$), which has implications for the growth and state of the young Milky Way and its subsequent history.
We examine the stellar [$\alpha$/Fe]-[Fe/H] distribution of $\simeq1000$ present-day galaxies in a high-resolution EAGLE simulation. A slight majority of galaxies exhibit the canonical distribution, characterised by a sequence of low-metallicity stars with high [$\alpha$/Fe] that transitions at a "knee" to a sequence of declining [$\alpha$/Fe] with increasing metallicity. This population yields a knee metallicity - galaxy-mass relation similar to that observed in Local Group galaxies, both in slope and scatter. However, many simulated galaxies lack a knee or exhibit more complicated distributions. Knees are found only in galaxies with star formation histories (SFHs) featuring a sustained decline from an early peak ($t\simeq7~{\rm Gyr}$), which enables enrichment by Type Ia supernovae to dominate that due to Type II supernovae (SN II), reducing [$\alpha$/Fe] in the interstellar gas. The simulation thus indicates that, contrary to the common interpretation implied by analytic galactic chemical evolution (GCE) models, knee formation is not a consequence of the onset of enrichment by SN Ia. We use the SFH of a simulated galaxy exhibiting a knee as input to the VICE GCE model, finding it yields an $\alpha$-rich plateau enriched only by SN II, but the plateau comprises little stellar mass and the galaxy forms few metal-poor ([Fe/H]$\lesssim - 1$) stars. This follows from the short, constant gas consumption timescale typically assumed by GCEs, which implies the presence of a readily-enriched, low-mass gas reservoir. When an initially longer, evolving consumption timescale is adopted, VICE reproduces the simulated galaxy's track through the [$\alpha$/Fe]-[Fe/H] plane and its metallicity distribution function.
A detailed analysis of ground-based CCD UBV photometry and space-based Gaia Data Release 3 (DR3) data for the open clusters King 6 and NGC 1605 was performed. Using the pyUPMASK algorithm on Gaia astrometric data to estimate cluster membership probabilities, we have identified 112 stars in King 6 and 160 stars in NGC 1605 as the statistically most likely members of each cluster. We calculated reddening and metallicity separately using UBV two-color diagrams to estimate parameter values via independent methods. The color excess $E(B-V)$ and photometric metallicity [Fe/H] for King 6 are $0.515 \pm 0.030$ mag and $0.02 \pm 0.20$ dex, respectively. For NGC 1605, they are $0.840 \pm 0.054$ mag and $0.01 \pm 0.20$ dex. With reddening and metallicity kept constant, we have estimated the distances and cluster ages by fitting PARSEC isochrones to color-magnitude diagrams based on the Gaia and UBV data. Photometric distances are 723 $\pm$ 34 pc for King 6 and 3054 $\pm$ 243 pc for NGC 1605. The cluster ages are $200 \pm 20$ Myr and $400 \pm 50$ Myr for King 6 and NGC 1605, respectively. Mass function slopes were found to be 1.29 $\pm$ 0.18 and 1.63 $\pm$ 0.36 for King 6 and NGC 1605, respectively. These values are in good agreement with the value of Salpeter (1955). The relaxation times were estimated as 5.8 Myr for King 6 and 60 Myr for NGC 1605. This indicates that both clusters are dynamically relaxed since these times are less than the estimated cluster ages. Galactic orbit analysis shows that both clusters formed outside the solar circle and are members of the young thin-disc population.
In every proposed unification scheme for Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), an integral element is the presence of circumnuclear dust arranged in torus-like structures. A crucial model parameter in this context is the covering factor (CF), defined as the ratio between the infrared luminosity of the dusty torus $L_{\rm IR}$, and the accretion disk bolometric luminosity $L_{\rm agn}$. Our study aims to determine whether CF evolution is genuine or if selection effects significantly influence it. Based on cross-matched multiwavelength photometrical data from the five major surveys (SDSS, GALEX, UKIDSS, WISE, SPITZER), a sample of almost 2,000 quasars was derived. The main parameters of quasars, such as black hole masses and the Eddington ratios, were calculated based on the spectroscopic data. The data were divided into two redshift bins: Low-$z$ (redshift ~1) and High-$z$ (redshift ~2) quasars. We identified an issue with the accuracy of the WISE W4 filter. Whenever feasible, it is recommended to utilize SPITZER MIPS 24 $\mu$m data. The calculated median CF values for the highest quality SPITZER data are comparable within errors $\log$ CF$_{\textrm{low}-z} = -0.19\pm 0.11$ and $\log$ CF$_{\textrm{high}-z}= -0.18\pm 0.11$. The Efron & Petrosian test confirmed the presence of luminosity evolution with redshift for both $L_{\rm IR}$ and $L_{\rm agn}$. Both the Low-$z$ and High-$z$ samples exhibit a similar correlation between $L_{\rm agn}$ and $L_{\rm IR}$. No discernible evolution of the CF was observed in the subsample of quasars with high SMBH mass bin or high luminosities. The relationship between $L_{\rm IR}$ and $L_{\rm agn}$ deviates slightly from the expected 1:1 scaling. However, no statistically significant dependence of CF on luminosities could be claimed across the entire dataset.
The role of type Ia supernovae, mainly the Delay Time Distributions (DTDs) determined by the binary systems, and the yields of elements created by different explosion mechanisms, are studied by using the {\sc MulChem} chemical evolution model, applied to our Galaxy. We explored 15 DTDs, and 12 tables of elemental yields produced by different SN Ia explosion mechanisms, doing a total of 180 models. Chemical abundances for $\alpha$-elements (O, Mg, Si, S, Ca) and Fe derived from these models, are compared with recent observational data of $\alpha$-elements over Iron relative abundances, [X/Fe]. These data have been compiled and binned in 13 datasets. By using a $\chi^2$-technique, no model is able to fit simultaneously these datasets. A model computed with the 13 individual best models is good enough to reproduce them. Thus, a power law with a logarithmic slope $\sim -1.1$ and a delay in the range $\Delta \tau=40 --350$ Myr is a possible DTD, but a combination of several channels is more probable. Results of this average model for other disc regions show a high dispersion, as observed, which might be explained by the stellar migration. The dispersion might also come from a combination of DTDs or of explosion channels. The stellar migration joined to a combination of scenarios for SNIa is the probable cause of the observed dispersion.
We present the CO(3-2) APEX survey at 6 pc resolution of the bar of the SMC. We aboard the CO analysis in the SMC-Bar comparing the CO(3-2) survey with that of the CO(2-1) of similar resolution. We study the CO(3-2)-to-CO(2-1) ratio (R32) that is very sensitive to the environment properties (e.g., star-forming regions). We analyzed the correlation of this ratio with observational quantities that trace the star formation as the local CO emission, the Spitzer color [70/160], and the total IR surface brightness measured from the Spitzer and Herschel bands. For the identification of the CO(3-2) clouds, we used the CPROPS algorithm, which allowed us to measure the physical properties of the clouds. We analyzed the scaling relationships of such physical properties. We obtained an R32 of 0.65 as a median value for the SMC, with a standard deviation of 0.3. We found that R32 varies from region to region, depending on the star formation activity. In regions dominated by HII and photo-dissociated regions (e.g., N22, N66), R32 tends to be higher than the median values. Meanwhile, lower values were found toward quiescent clouds. We also found that R32 correlates positively with the IR color [70/160] and the total IR surface brightness. This finding indicates that R32 increases with environmental properties like the dust temperature, the total gas density, and the radiation field. We have identified 225 molecular clouds with sizes R > 1.5 pc and signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio > 3 and only 17 well-resolved CO(3-2) clouds increasing the S/N ratio to > 5. These 17 clouds follow consistent scaling relationships to the inner Milky Way clouds but with some departure. The CO(3-2) tends to be less turbulent and less luminous than the inner Milky Way clouds of similar size. Finally, we estimated a median virial-based CO-to-H2 conversion factor of 12.6_{-7}^{+10} Msun/(K km s^{-1} pc^{2}) for the total sample.
Large-scale astronomical surveys can capture numerous images of celestial objects, including galaxies and nebulae. Analysing and processing these images can reveal intricate internal structures of these objects, allowing researchers to conduct comprehensive studies on their morphology, evolution, and physical properties. However, varying noise levels and point spread functions can hamper the accuracy and efficiency of information extraction from these images. To mitigate these effects, we propose a novel image restoration algorithm that connects a deep learning-based restoration algorithm with a high-fidelity telescope simulator. During the training stage, the simulator generates images with different levels of blur and noise to train the neural network based on the quality of restored images. After training, the neural network can directly restore images obtained by the telescope, as represented by the simulator. We have tested the algorithm using real and simulated observation data and have found that it effectively enhances fine structures in blurry images and increases the quality of observation images. This algorithm can be applied to large-scale sky survey data, such as data obtained by LSST, Euclid, and CSST, to further improve the accuracy and efficiency of information extraction, promoting advances in the field of astronomical research.
The unexpected discovery of hot Jupiters challenged the classical theory of planet formation inspired by our solar system. Until now, the origin and evolution of hot Jupiters are still uncertain. Determining their age distribution and temporal evolution can provide more clues into the mechanism of their formation and subsequent evolution. Using a sample of 383 giant planets around Sun-like stars collected from the kinematic catalogs of the Planets Across Space and Time (PAST) project, we find that hot Jupiters are preferentially hosted by relatively younger stars in the Galactic thin disk. We subsequently find that the frequency of hot Jupiters declines with age. In contrast, the frequency of warm/cold Jupiters shows no significant dependence on age. Such a trend is expected from the tidal evolution of hot Jupiters' orbits, and our result offers supporting evidence using a large sample. We also perform a joint analysis on the planet frequencies in the stellar age-metallicity plane. The result suggests that the frequencies of hot Jupiters and warm/cold Jupiters, after removing the age dependence are both correlated with stellar metallicities. Moreover, we show that the above correlations can explain the bulk of the discrepancy in hot Jupiter frequencies inferred from the transit and radial velocity (RV) surveys, given that RV targets tend to be more metal-rich and younger than transits.
We report a new, rare detection of HI 21-cm absorption associated with a quasar (only six known at $1<z<2$) here towards J2339-5523 at $z_{em}$ = 1.3531, discovered through the MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey (MALS). The absorption profile is broad ($\sim 400$ km/s), and the peak is redshifted by $\sim 200$ km/s, from $z_{em}$. Interestingly, optical/FUV spectra of the quasar from Magellan-MIKE/HST-COS spectrographs do not show any absorption features associated with the 21-cm absorption. This is despite the coincident presence of the optical quasar and the radio `core' inferred from a flat spectrum component of flux density $\sim 65$ mJy at high frequencies ($>5$ GHz). The simplest explanation would be that no large HI column (N(HI)$>10^{17}$ cm$^{-2}$) is present towards the radio `core' and the optical AGN. Based on the joint optical and radio analysis of a heterogeneous sample of 16 quasars ($z_{median}$ = 0.7) and 15 radio galaxies ($z_{median}$ = 0.3) with HI 21-cm absorption detection and matched in 1.4 GHz luminosity (L$_{\rm 1.4\,GHz}$), a consistent picture emerges where quasars are primarily tracing the gas in the inner circumnuclear disk and cocoon created by the jet-ISM interaction. These exhibit L$_{1.4\,\rm GHz}$ - $\Delta V_{\rm null}$ correlation, and frequent mismatch between the radio and optical spectral lines. The radio galaxies show no such correlation and likely trace the gas from the cocoon and the galaxy-wide ISM outside the photoionization cone. The analysis presented here demonstrates the potential of radio spectroscopic observations to reveal the origin of the absorbing gas associated with AGN that may be missed in optical observations.
The accuracy of stellar distances inferred purely from parallaxes degrades rapidly with distance. Proper motion measurements, when combined with some idea of typical velocities, provide independent information on stellar distances. Here I build a direction- and distance-dependent model of the distribution of stellar velocities in the Galaxy, then use this together with parallaxes and proper motions to infer kinegeometric distances and transverse velocities for stars in Gaia DR3. Using noisy simulations I assess the performance of the method and compare its accuracy to purely parallax-based (geometric) distances. Over the whole Gaia catalogue, kinegeometric distances are on average 1.25 times more accurate than geometric ones. This average masks a large variation in the relative performance, however. Kinegeometric distances are considerably better than geometric ones beyond several kpc, for example. On average, kinegeometric distances can be measured to an accuracy of 19% and velocities (sqrt[vra^2 + vdec^2]) to 16 km/s (median absolute deviations). In Gaia DR3, kinegeometric distances are smaller than geometric ones on average for distant stars, but the pattern is more complex in the bulge and disk. With the much more accurate proper motions expected in Gaia DR5, a further improvement in the distance accuracy by a factor of (only) 1.35 on average is predicted (with kinegeometric distances still 1.25 times more accurate than geometric ones). The improvement from proper motions is limited by the width of the velocity prior, in a way that the improvement from better parallaxes is not limited by the width of the distance prior.
We present a multi-wavelength study of the brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) in a sample of the 95 most massive galaxy clusters selected from South Pole Telescope (SPT) Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) survey. Our sample spans a redshift range of 0.3 < z < 1.7, and is complete with optical spectroscopy from various ground-based observatories, as well as ground and space-based imaging from optical, X-ray and radio wavebands. At z~0, previous studies have shown a strong correlation between the presence of a low-entropy cool core and the presence of star-formation and a radio-loud AGN in the central BCG. We show for the first time that a central entropy threshold for star formation persists out to z~1. The central entropy (measured in this work at a radius of 10 kpc) below which clusters harbor star-forming BCGs is found to be as low as $K_\mathrm{10 ~ kpc} = 35 \pm 4$ keV cm$^2$ at z < 0.15 and as high as $K_\mathrm{10 ~ kpc} = 52 \pm 11$ keV cm$^2$ at z~1. We find only marginal (~1$\sigma$) evidence for evolution in this threshold. In contrast, we do not find a similar high-z analog for an entropy threshold for feedback, but instead measure a strong evolution in the fraction of radio-loud BCGs in high-entropy cores as a function of redshift. This could imply that the cooling-feedback loop was not as tight in the past, or that some other fuel source like mergers are fueling the radio sources more often with increasing redshift, making the radio luminosity an increasingly unreliable proxy for radio jet power. We also find that our SZ-based sample is missing a small (~4%) population of the most luminous radio sources ($\nu L_{\nu} > 10^{42}$ erg/s), likely due to radio contamination suppressing the SZ signal with which these clusters are detected.
We measure the CO-to-H$_2$ conversion factor ($\alpha_\mathrm{CO}$) in 41 galaxies at 2 kpc resolution, using dust surface density inferred from far-IR emission as a tracer of the gas surface density and assuming a constant dust-to-metals ratio. We have $\sim940$ and $\sim660$ independent measurements of $\alpha_\mathrm{CO}$ for CO (2-1) and (1-0), respectively. The mean values for $\alpha_\mathrm{CO~(2-1)}$ and $\alpha_\mathrm{CO~(1-0)}$ are $6.9^{+3.9}_{-4.5}$ and $3.1^{+1.6}_{-1.7}$, respectively. The CO-intensity-weighted mean for $\alpha_\mathrm{CO~(2-1)}$ is 4.37, and 2.58 for $\alpha_\mathrm{CO~(1-0)}$. We examine how $\alpha_\mathrm{CO}$ scales with several physical quantities, e.g.\ star-formation rate (SFR), stellar mass, and interstellar radiation field (ISRF). Among them, the strength of the ISRF and the resolved specific SFR have the strongest anti-correlation with spatially resolved $\alpha_\mathrm{CO}$. No strong correlations are found between galaxy-averaged $\alpha_\mathrm{CO}$ and galaxy properties. We also find that $\alpha_\mathrm{CO}$ decreases with stellar mass surface density ($\Sigma_\star$) in the dense regions ($\Sigma_\star\geq200~{\rm M_\odot~pc^{-2}}$), following the power-law relations $\alpha_\mathrm{CO~(2-1)}\propto\Sigma_\star^{-0.5}$ and $\alpha_\mathrm{CO~(1-0)}\propto\Sigma_\star^{-0.3}$. The power-law index is insensitive to the assumed D/M. Meanwhile, the discrepancy between the power-law index for CO~(2-1) and (1-0) data indicates a variation in the CO line ratio traced by $\Sigma_\star$. We interpret the decrease in $\alpha_\mathrm{CO}$ as a result of higher velocity dispersion compared to isolated, self-gravitating clouds. The decrease in $\alpha_\mathrm{CO}$ at high $\Sigma_\star$ is important for assessing molecular gas content and star-formation efficiency in the centers of galaxies, bridging MW-like to starburst-like conversion factors.
We present a multiwavelength investigation of the hub-filament system RCW 117 (IRAS 17059-4132), which shows intricate filamentary features in the far-infrared, mapped using Herschel images. We obtain the column density and dust temperature maps for the region using the Herschel images, and identify 88 cores and 12 filaments from the column density map of the region ($18'\times18'$). We employ the ThrUMMS $^{13}$CO (J=1-0) data for probing the kinematics in RCW 117, and find velocity gradients ($\sim 0.3-1$ km s$^{-1}$ pc$^{-1}$) with hints of matter inflow along the filamentary structures. Ionised gas emission from the associated HII region is examined using the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) at 610 and 1280 MHz, and is found to be of extent $5 \times 3$ pc$^2$ with intensity being brightest towards the hub. We estimate the peak electron density towards the hub to be $\sim 750$ cm$^{-3}$. Thirty four Class 0/I young stellar objects (YSOs) have been identified in the region using the Spitzer GLIMPSE colour-colour diagram, with many lying along the filamentary structures. Based on the (i) presence of filamentary structures, (ii) distribution of cores across the region, with $\sim39$% found along the filamentary structures, (iii) massive star-formation tracers in the hub, and (iv) the kinematics, we believe that global hierarchical collapse can plausibly explain the observed features in RCW 117.
The centers of galaxies host a supermassive black hole surrounded by a dense stellar cluster. The cluster is expected to develop mass segregation, in which gravitational scatterings among the stars cause heavier objects to sink closer to the central black hole, while lighter objects will tend to be over concentrated in the outer regions. This work focuses on the implications of mass segregation on the different channels for violent destruction of stars in the cluster: tidal disruptions, gravitational-wave driven inspirals and high-velocity destructive collisions between stars. All such events occur close to the central black hole, where the heavier objects congregate. The analysis is based on a simplified Monte Carlo simulation, which evolves a two-mass population in a cluster surrounding a Milky-Way-like super massive black hole. The simulation is based on the single mass scheme used by Sari and Fragione (2019) and Balberg and Yassur (2023), which has been extended to allow for the dynamical friction effects typical of non-equal mass populations. The effects of mass segregation on the rates of the different destruction channels are analyzed self-consistently in the overall evolution of the cluster. Also considered are stars which are injected into the cluster after being disrupted from a binary system by the supermassive black hole. Such stars are captured in the inner regions of the cluster, and so their orbital evolution, and their destruction rate, are therefore influenced by heavy objects that might be abundant in the vicinity of the supermassive black hole.
Interstellar dust (ISD) particles penetrate the solar system due to the relative motion of the Sun and the local interstellar cloud. Before entering the heliosphere, they pass through the heliospheric interface - the region of the solar wind interaction with the interstellar plasma. The size distribution and number density of dust grains are modified in the interface essentially. The modification depends on the charging of the dust particles along their trajectories. In this paper, we present modeling results of the charging of ISD particles passing through the heliospheric interface. The main physical processes responsible for the charging within the heliospheric conditions are the sticking of primary plasma particles, secondary electron emission, photoemission, and the effects of cosmic ray electrons. We consider two methods to calculate the electric charge of ISD particles based on (1) the classic steady-state assumption that the charge depends only on local plasma and radiation conditions and (2) the dynamical computation of charge along the particle trajectory. We demonstrate that the steady-state assumption is quite justified to model trajectories and number density distributions of relatively big ISD grains (radius of 100 nm and larger) penetrating the heliosphere. The estimates show that ISD grains of these sizes require less than 0.25 years (distance of ~ 1 au) after transition from the LISM into the heliosphere to reach an equilibrium. For small particles (radius of 10 nm), the dynamical computation of charge influences the trajectories and modifies the number density substantially. The dust density accumulations are distributed within a more elongated region along the heliopause in case of dynamically changed charge as compared with the use of a steady-state charge approximation.
We present the results of our Keck/DEIMOS spectroscopic follow-up of candidate galaxies of i-band-dropout protocluster candidate galaxies at $z\sim6$ in the COSMOS field. We securely detect Lyman-$\alpha$ emission lines in 14 of the 30 objects targeted, 10 of them being at $z=6$ with a signal-to-noise ratio of $5-20$, the remaining galaxies are either non-detections or interlopers with redshift too different from $z=6$ to be part of the protocluster. The 10 galaxies at $z\approx6$ make the protocluster one of the riches at $z>5$. The emission lines exhibit asymmetric profiles with high skewness values ranging from 2.87 to 31.75, with a median of 7.37. This asymmetry is consistent with them being Ly$\alpha$, resulting in a redshift range of $z=5.85-6.08$. Using the spectroscopic redshifts, we re-calculate the overdensity map for the COSMOS field and find the galaxies to be in a significant overdensity at the $4\sigma$ level, with a peak overdensity of $\delta=11.8$ (compared to the previous value of $\delta=9.2$). The protocluster galaxies have stellar masses derived from Bagpipes SED fits of $10^{8.29}-10^{10.28} \rm \,M_{\rm \odot}$ and star formation rates of $2-39\,\rm M_{\rm \odot}\rm\,yr^{-1}$, placing them on the main sequence at this epoch. Using a stellar-to-halo-mass relationship, we estimate the dark matter halo mass of the most massive halo in the protocluster to be $\sim 10^{12}\rm M_{\rm \odot}$. By comparison with halo mass evolution tracks from simulations, the protocluster is expected to evolve into a Virgo- or Coma-like cluster in the present day.
To investigate the relative amount of ejecta from high-mass versus intermediate-mass stars and to trace the chemical evolution of the Galaxy, we have performed with the IRAM 30m and the SMT 10m telescopes a systematic study of Galactic interstellar 18O/17O ratios toward a sample of 421 molecular clouds, covering a galactocentric distance range of 1-22 kpc. The results presented in this paper are based on the J=2-1 transition and encompass 364 sources showing both C18O and C17O detections. The previously suggested 18O/17O gradient is confirmed. For the 41 sources detected with both facilities, good agreement is obtained. A correlation of 18O/17O ratios with heliocentric distance is not found, indicating that beam dilution and linear beam sizes are not relevant. For the subsample of IRAM 30 m high-mass star-forming regions with accurate parallax distances, an unweighted fit gives 18O/17O = (0.12+-0.02)R_GC+(2.38+-0.13) with a correlation coefficient of R = 0.67. While the slope is consistent with our J=1-0 measurement, ratios are systematically lower. This should be caused by larger optical depths of C18O 2-1 lines, w.r.t the corresponding 1-0 transitions, which is supported by RADEX calculations and the fact that C18O/C17O is positively correlated with 13CO/C18O. After considering optical depth effects with C18O J=2-1 reaching typically an optical depth of 0.5, corrected 18O/17O ratios from the J=1-0 and J=2-1 lines become consistent. A good numerical fit to the data is provided by the MWG-12 model, including both rotating stars and novae.
The galaxy cluster Abell 746 (A746; $z$=0.214), featuring a double radio relic system, two isolated radio relics, a possible radio halo, disturbed V-shaped X-ray emission, and intricate galaxy distributions, is a unique and complex merging system. We present a weak-lensing analysis of A746 based on wide-field imaging data from Subaru/Hyper Suprime-Cam observations. The mass distribution is characterized by a main peak which coincides with the center of the X-ray emission. At this main peak, we detect two extensions toward the north and west, tracing the cluster galaxy and X-ray distributions. Despite the ongoing merger, our estimate of the A746 global mass $M_{500}=4.4\pm1.0\times10^{14}~M_{\odot}$ is consistent with the previous results from SZ and X-ray observations. We conclude that reconciling the distributions of mass, galaxies, and intracluster medium with the double radio relic system and other radio features remains challenging.
In this paper we attempt to construct a regular gravastar model using the UV corrected framework of Loop Quantum Cosmology. We find that a stable gravastar model can be constructed with a number of unique features: (i) no thin shell approximation needs to be invoked to obtain solutions in the shell which can be considered to be of a finite thickness, (ii) the central singularity of a self gravitating object can be averted by a bounce mechanism, such that the interior density of the gravastar reaches a maximum critical density and cannot be raised further due to an operative repulsive force, (iii) the inherent isotropy of the effective fluid description does not prevent the formation of a stable gravastar and anisotropic pressures is not an essential requirement.
Centers of galaxies host both a supermassive black hole and a dense stellar cluster. Such an environment should lead to stellar collisions, possibly at very high velocities so that the total energy involved is of the same order as supernovae explosions. We present a simplified numerical analysis of the destructive stellar collision rate in a cluster similar to that of the Milky Way. The analysis includes an effective average two-body relaxation Monte-Carlo scheme and general relativistic effects, as used by Sari and Fragione (2019), to which we added explicit tracking of local probabilities for stellar collisions. We also consider stars which are injected into the stellar cluster after being disrupted from a binary system by the supermassive black hole. Such stars are captured in the vicinity of the black hole and enhance the expected collision rate. In our results we examine the rate and energetic distribution function of high velocity stellar collisions, and compare them self-consistently with the other destructive processes which occur in the galactic center, namely tidal disruptions and extreme mass ratio inspirals.
The recent discovery of barred spiral galaxies in the early universe ($z>2$) poses questions of how these structures form and how they influence galaxy evolution in the early universe. In this study, we investigate the morphology and kinematics of the far infrared (FIR) continuum and [CII] emission in BRI1335-0417 at $z\approx 4.4$ from ALMA observations. The variations in position angle and ellipticity of the isophotes show the characteristic signature of a barred galaxy. The bar, $3.3^{+0.2}_{-0.2}$ kpc long in radius and bridging the previously identified two-armed spiral, is evident in both [CII] and FIR images, driving the galaxy's rapid evolution by channelling gas towards the nucleus. Fourier analysis of the [CII] velocity field reveals an unambiguous kinematic $m=2$ mode with a line-of-sight velocity amplitude of up to $\sim30-40$ km s$^{-1}$; a plausible explanation is the disk's vertical bending mode triggered by external perturbation, which presumably induced the high star formation rate and the bar/spiral structure. The bar identified in [CII] and FIR images of the gas-rich disk galaxy ($\gtrsim 70$\% of the total mass within radius $R\approx 2.2$ disk scale lengths) suggests a new perspective of early bar formation in high redshift gas-rich galaxies -- a gravitationally unstable gas-rich disk creating a star-forming gaseous bar, rather than a stellar bar emerging from a pre-existing stellar disk. This may explain the prevalent bar-like structures seen in FIR images of high-redshift submillimeter galaxies.
It is found that Gaia DR3 binary stars selected with stringent requirements on astrometric measurements and radial velocities naturally satisfy Newtonian dynamics without hidden close companions when projected separation $s < 2$~kau, showing that pure binaries can be selected. It is then found that pure binaries selected with the same criteria show a systematic deviation from the Newtonian expectation when $s > 2$~kau. When both proper motions and parallaxes are required to have precision better than 0.005 and radial velocities better than 0.2, I obtain 2,463 statistically pure binaries within a 'clean' $G$-band absolute magnitude range. From this sample, I obtain an observed to Newtonian predicted kinematic acceleration ratio of $\gamma_g=g_{\rm{obs}}/g_{\rm{pred}}=1.49^{+0.21}_{-0.19}$ for acceleration $< 10^{-10}$~m~s$^{-2}$, in excellent agreement with $1.49\pm 0.07$ for a much larger general sample with the amount of hidden close companions self-calibrated. I also investigate the radial profile of stacked sky-projected relative velocities without a deprojection to the 3D space. The observed profile matches the Newtonian predicted profile for $s < 2$~kau without any free parameters but shows a clear deviation at a larger separation with a significance of $\approx 4.95\sigma$. The projected velocity boost factor for $s > 5$~kau is measured to be $\gamma_{v_p} = 1.21\pm 0.06$ matching $\sqrt{\gamma_g}$. Finally, for a small sample of 40 binaries with exceptionally precise radial velocities (precision $<0.005$) the directly measured relative velocities in the 3D space also show a boost at larger separations. These results robustly confirm the recently reported gravitational anomaly at low acceleration for a general sample.
Photonics offer numerous functionalities that can be used to realize astrophotonic instruments. The most spectacular example to date is the ESO Gravity instrument at the Very Large Telescope in Chile. Integrated astrophotonic devices stand to offer critical advantages for instrument development, including extreme miniaturization, as well as integration, superior thermal and mechanical stabilization owing to the small footprint, and high replicability offering cost savings. Numerous astrophotonic technologies have been developed to address shortcomings of conventional instruments to date, including for example the development of photonic lanterns, complex aperiodic fiber Bragg gratings, complex beam combiners to enable long baseline interferometry, and laser frequency combs for high precision spectral calibration of spectrometers. Despite these successes, the facility implementation of photonic solutions in astronomical instrumentation is currently limited because of (1) low throughputs from coupling to fibers, coupling fibers to chips, propagation and bend losses, device losses, etc, (2) difficulties with scaling to large channel count devices needed for large bandwidths and high resolutions, and (3) efficient integration of photonics with detectors, to name a few. In this roadmap, we identify 24 areas that need further development. We outline the challenges and advances needed across those areas covering design tools, simulation capabilities, fabrication processes, the need for entirely new components, integration and hybridization and the characterization of devices. To realize these advances the astrophotonics community will have to work cooperatively with industrial partners who have more advanced manufacturing capabilities. With the advances described herein, multi-functional instruments will be realized leading to novel observing capabilities for both ground and space platforms.
For the strong gravitational wave model, an explicit transformation is obtained from a privileged coordinate system with a wave variable to a synchronous reference frame with separation of time and space variables. In a synchronous reference frame, a general form of the gravitational wave metric, solutions to the equations of trajectories for test particles in the Hamilton-Jacobi formalism, a solution to the eikonal equation for radiation, and a form of equations for the light cone of an observer in a gravitational wave were found. Using the obtained relations, the form the retarded time of radiation in the gravitational wave was found. The general relations obtained can be applied both in Einstein general theory of relativity and in modified theories of gravity. The obtained relations were applied in the work for an exact model of a gravitational wave in the Bianchi type VI universe based on an exact solution of Einstein vacuum equations.
NASA's all-sky survey mission, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is specifically designed to detect transiting exoplanets orbiting bright stars. TESS has already identified about 400 transiting exoplanets, as well as approximately 6000 candidates awaiting validation. In this work, we present the outcomes of the project Validation of Transiting Exoplanets using Statistical Tools (VaTEST), an ongoing endeavor dedicated to validating and characterizing new exoplanets using statistical validation tools. We have validated eight potential super-Earths using a combination of ground-based telescope data, high-resolution imaging, and the statistical validation tool known as \texttt{TRICERATOPS}. These validated planets bear the designations: TOI-238b (1.61$^{+0.09} _{-0.10}$ R$_\oplus$), TOI-771b (1.42$^{+0.11} _{-0.09}$ R$_\oplus$), TOI-871b (1.66$^{+0.11} _{-0.11}$ R$_\oplus$), TOI-1467b (1.83$^{+0.16} _{-0.15}$ R$_\oplus$), TOI-1739b (1.69$^{+0.10} _{-0.08}$ R$_\oplus$), TOI-2068b (1.82$^{+0.16} _{-0.15}$ R$_\oplus$), TOI-4559b (1.42$^{+0.13} _{-0.11}$ R$_\oplus$), and TOI-5799b (1.62$^{+0.19} _{-0.13}$ R$_\oplus$). We also studied the synthetic transmission spectra of all eight validated planets in the HST and JWST band-pass using \texttt{PLATON} and \texttt{PandExo}. Among all these validated planets, six of them fall within the region known as 'keystone planets,' which makes them particularly interesting for study. Based on the location of TOI-771b and TOI-4559b below the radius valley we characterized them as likely super-Earths, though radial velocity mass measurements for these planets will provide more details about their characterization. It is noteworthy that planets within the size range investigated herein are absent from our own solar system, making their study crucial for gaining insights into the evolutionary stages between Earth and Neptune.
In the following work we will introduce and discuss in detail a particular model of complex $\kappa$-deformed scalar field, whose behaviour under C, P , T transformation is particularly transparent from both a formal and phenomenological point of view. We will begin by introducing the key mathematical structure at the basis of our investigation, namely the $\kappa$-Poincar\'e (Hopf) algebra and the $\kappa$-Minkowski spacetime. We will then investigate the behaviour of general two-particle states under deformed boost. After this we will introduce the action of our $\kappa$-deformed complex scalar field. From it, we will derive the equations of motion, as well as the Noether charges due to the continuous symmetries. The peculiar features of $\kappa$-deformation in general, and of our model in particular, allow for very non-trivial interaction between discrete and continuous symmetries, of which we will investigate the phenomenological consequences (particularly in terms of difference of lifetime of decaying particles). To conclude, we will obtain the $\kappa$-deformed propagator of the $\kappa$-deformed complex scalar field, and the imaginary part of the 1-loop contribution to it, ending with additional phenomenological consequences. The third chapter is new, unpublished work.
Non-relativistic quantum field theory is a framework that describes systems where the velocities are much smaller than the speed of light. A large class of those obey Schr\"{o}dinger invariance, which is the equivalent of the conformal symmetry in the relativistic world. In this review, we pedagogically introduce the main theoretical tools used to study non-relativistic physics: null reduction and $c \rightarrow \infty$ limits, where $c$ is the speed of light. We present a historical overview of non-relativistic wave equations, Jackiw-Pi vortices, the Aharonov-Bohm scattering, and the trace anomaly for a Schr\"{o}dinger scalar. We then review modern developments, including fermions at unitarity, the quantum Hall effect, off-shell actions, and a systematic classification of the trace anomaly. The last part of this review is dedicated to current research topics. We define non-relativistic supersymmetry and a corresponding superspace to covariantly deal with quantum corrections. Finally, we define the Spin Matrix Theory limit of the AdS/CFT correspondence, which is a non-relativistic sector of the duality obtained via a decoupling limit, where a precise matching of the two sides can be achieved.
After a brief introduction to quasinormal modes in dissipative systems, we review the WKB formalism in the context of the analytical calculation of quasinormal frequencies. We apply these results to the calculation of quasinormal frequencies associated with gravitational perturbations of d-dimensional spherically symmetric black holes with string corrections. We do this for two distinct limits: the eikonal limit and the asymptotic limit.
Rastall gravity is the same as General Relativity, with a simple algebraic redefinition of what is called the energy-momentum tensor. Despite it having been very clearly explained by M. Visser several years go, there are still many papers claiming big differences between the two formulations of gravitational equations and trying to use them for problems of physics. When going this way, the totally ignored task is to explain why the conserved energy-momentum quantities and the quantities used for other purposes are different from each other. Moreover, when researchers are using the non-conserved energy density and pressure for determining the sound speed, it is just inconsistent with the Rastall gravity. I carefully explain all this, and also show how one could construct a variational principle for producing equations in the Rastall form.
Lattice regularizations are pivotal in the non-perturbative quantization of gauge field theories. Wilson's proposal to employ group-valued link fields simplifies the regularization of gauge fields in principal fiber bundles, preserving gauge symmetry within the discretized lattice theory. Maintaining gauge symmetry is desirable as its violation can introduce unwanted degrees of freedom. However, not all theories with gauge symmetries admit gauge-invariant lattice regularizations, as observed in general relativity where the diffeomorphism group serves as the gauge symmetry. In such cases, gauge symmetry-breaking regularizations become necessary. In this paper, we argue that a broken lattice gauge symmetry is acceptable as long as gauge symmetry is restored in the continuum limit. We propose a method to construct the continuum limit for a class of lattice-regularized Hamiltonian field theories, where the regularization breaks the Lie algebra of first-class constraints. Additionally, we offer an approach to represent the exact gauge group on the Hilbert space of the continuum theory. The considered class of theories is limited to those with first-class constraints linear in momenta, excluding the entire gauge group of general relativity but encompassing its subgroup of spatial diffeomorphisms. We discuss potential techniques for extending this quantization to the full gauge group.
This paper aims to formulate certain scalar factors associated with matter variables for self-gravitating non-static cylindrical geometry by considering a standard model $\mathcal{R}+\zeta\mathcal{Q}$ of $f(\mathcal{R},\mathcal{T},\mathcal{Q})$ gravity, where $\mathcal{Q}=\mathcal{R}_{\varphi\vartheta}\mathcal{T}^{\varphi\vartheta}$ and $\zeta$ is the arbitrary coupling parameter. We split the Riemann tensor orthogonally to calculate four scalars and deduce $\mathcal{Y}_{TF}$ as complexity factor for the fluid configuration. This scalar incorporates the influence of inhomogeneous energy density, heat flux and pressure anisotropy along with correction terms of the modified gravity. We discuss the dynamics of cylinder by considering two simplest modes of structural evolution. We then take $\mathcal{Y}_{TF}=0$ with homologous condition to determine the solution for dissipative as well as non-dissipative scenarios. Finally, we discuss the criterion under which the complexity-free condition shows stable behavior throughout the evolution. It is concluded that complex functional of this theory results in a more complex structure.
The optical characteristics of the Kazakov-Solodukhin (KS) black hole (BH) surrounded by a thin disk is investigated. By utilizing the ray-tracing technique, we derive the the direct and secondary images to illustrate the influence of observational inclination angle (\theta_{0}) and quantum correction parameter (a) on the observable properties. Our calculation involves determining the effective potential, light deflection, and azimuthal angle of the BH, as well as the radiation flux of the accretion disk. By assuming three function models, we determine that the exponential function is the most suitable for describing the relationship between the observed flux and the quantum deformation parameter. Our research reveals that the observable characteristics of a BH are affected not only by the shape of the accretion disk, but also by its spatiotemporal properties and the observer's inclination angle. We observe that a BH encircled by an optically thick accretion disk yields different results from those of an optically thin disk.
Non-perturbative contributions of the Euclidean path integral are important to understand the information loss paradox. In this paper, we revisit the Yang-Mills instantons in the Einstein-Yang-Mills theory. There exists a globally regular solution that is known as the Bartnik-McKinnon solution and a black hole solution. The regular and the black hole solutions are smoothly connected in the small horizon limit. Their Euclidean action is solely characterized by the ADM mass, and the transition probability follows the usual Bekenstein-Hawking entropy formula. Therefore, the Yang-Mills instantons provide a non-perturbative channel to the black hole evaporation, which competes effectively with perturbative processes, and becomes dominant toward the end of evaporation. We show that these instantons provide a smooth transition mechanism from a black hole to regular spacetime.
Black holes have sometimes been described as astrophysical particle accelerators because finite energy particles can collide near the horizon with divergent center-of-mass (CM) energy. The collisions are classified by the radial motion of the constituent particles at the moment of collision, with each class exhibiting a distinct near-horizon behavior. Divergence in the CM energy is sourced by the difference in the rate at which the collision radius approaches the horizon and the rate at which a particle's angular momentum is tuned to a critical value set by the superradiant bound. To produce a high energy collision around a near-extremal BH, at least one particle must approach criticality slower than the collision radius approaches the horizon. When both particles are ingoing or outgoing, it is additionally required that the particles approach criticality at different rates. Using a novel multi-scaling limit, we calculate the explicit form for the divergent CM energy.
We study the metric corresponding to a three-dimensional coset space $SO(4)/SO(3)$ in the lattice setting. With the use of three integers $n_1, n_2$, and $n_3$, and a length scale, $l_{\mu}$, the continuous metric is transformed into a discrete space. The numerical outcomes are compared with the continuous ones. The singularity of the black hole is explored and different domains are studied.
We investigate the quantum signature of gravity in optomechanical systems under quantum control. We analyze the gravity-induced entanglement and squeezing in mechanical mirrors in a steady state. The behaviors and the conditions for generating the gravity-induced entanglement and squeezing are identified in the Fourier modes of the mechanical mirrors. The condition of generating the entanglement between the mirrors found in the present paper is more severe than that of the gravity-induced entanglement between output lights. The gravity-induced entanglement in optomechanical systems is an important milestone towards verifying the quantum nature of gravity, which should be verified in the future.
We describe the relation between vectors and spinors in complex spacetime in an unconventional chirally asymmetric manner, using purely right-handed spinors, with Minkowski spacetime getting Wick rotated to a four-dimensional Euclidean spacetime with a distinguished direction. In this right-handed spinor geometry self-dual two-forms can be used to get chiral formulations of the Yang-Mills and general relativity actions. Euclidean spacetime left-handed spinors then transform under an internal $SU(2)$ symmetry, rather than the usual $SU(2)_L$ spacetime symmetry related by analytic continuation to the Lorentz group $SL(2,\mathbf C)$.
We consider homogeneous and isotropic cosmological models in the framework of three geometrical theories of gravitation: in the Einstein general relativity they are given in terms of the curvature of the Levi-Civita connection in torsion free metric spacetimes, in the teleparallel equivalent of general relativity they are given in terms of the torsion of flat metric spacetimes, and in the symmetric teleparallel equivalent of general relativity they are given in terms of the nonmetricity of flat torsion free spacetimes. We argue that although these three formulations seem to be different, the corresponding cosmological models are in fact equivalent and their choice is conventional.
We present for the first time the component structure of the supersymmetric completions for all curvature-squared invariants of five-dimensional, off-shell (gauged) minimal supergravity, including all fermions. This is achieved by using an interplay between superspace and superconformal tensor calculus techniques, and by employing results from arXiv:1410.8682 and arXiv:2302.14295. Our analysis is based on using a standard Weyl multiplet of conformal supergravity coupled to a vector and a linear multiplet compensator to engineer off-shell Poincar\'e supergravity. We compute all the descendants of the composite linear multiplets that describe gauged supergravity together with the three independent four-derivative invariants. These are the building blocks of the locally superconformal invariant actions. A derivation of the primary equations of motion for minimal gauged off-shell supergravity deformed by an arbitrary combination of these three locally superconformal invariants, is then provided. Finally, all the covariant descendants in the multiplets of equations of motion are obtained by applying a series of $Q$-supersymmetry transformations, equivalent to successively applying superspace spinor derivatives to the primary equations of motion.
In this letter, we investigate the cosmic expansion scenario of the universe in the framework of $f(R,L_m)$ gravity theory. We consider a non-linear $f(R,L_m)$ model, specifically, $f(R,L_m)=\frac{R}{2}+L_m^n + \beta$, where $n$ and $\beta$ are free model parameters. Then we derive the motion equations for flat FLRW universe and obtain the exact solution of corresponding field equations. Then we estimate the best fit ranges of model parameters by using updated $H(z)$ datasets consisting of 57 points and the Pantheon datasets consisting of 1048 points. Further we investigate the physical behavior of density and the deceleration parameter. The evolution of deceleration parameter depicts a transition from deceleration to acceleration phases of the universe. Moreover, we analyze the stability of the solution of our cosmological model under the observational constraint by considering a linear perturbation. Lastlty, we investigate the behavior of Om diagnostic parameter and we observe that our model shows quintessence type behavior. We conclude that our $f(R,L_m)$ cosmological model agrees with the recent observational studies and can efficiently describe the late time cosmic acceleration.
Here we prove a global gauge-invariant radiation estimates for the perturbations of the $3+1$ dimensional Minkowski spacetime in the presence of Yang-Mills sources. In particular, we obtain a novel gauge invariant estimate for the Yang-Mills fields coupled to gravity in a double null framework in the Causal complement of a compact set of a Cauchy slice. A consequence of our result is the global exterior stability of the Minkowski space under coupled Yang-Mills perturbations. A special structure present both in the null Bianchi equations and the null Yang-Mills equations is utilized crucially to obtain the dispersive estimates necessary to conclude the global existence property. Direct use of Bel-Robinson and Yang-Mills stress-energy tensor to obtain the energy estimates is avoided in favor of weighted integration by parts taking advantage of the manifestly symmetric hyperbolic characteristics of null Bianchi and null Yang-Mills equations. Our result holds for any compact semi-simple gauge group. This is the first stability result of Minkowski space including a non-linear source.
The compatibility between the de Sitter Swampland conjecture and Ho\v{r}ava--Lifshitz $F(\bar{R})$ theories with a flat FLRW metric is studied. We first study the standard $f(R)$ theories and show that the only way in which the dS conjecture can be made independent of $R$ is by considering a power law of the form $f(R)\sim R^{\gamma}$. The conjecture and the consistency of the theory puts restrictions on $\gamma$ to be greater but close to one. For $F(\bar{R})$ theories described by its two parameters $\lambda$ and $\mu$, we use the equations of motion to construct the function starting with an ansatz for the scale factor in the Jordan frame of the power law form. By performing a conformal transformation on the three metric to the Einstein frame, we can obtain an action of gravity plus a scalar field by relating the parameters of the theory. The non-projectable and projectable cases are studied and the differences are outlined. The obtained $F(\bar{R})$ function consists of terms of the form $\bar{R}^{\gamma}$ with the possibility of having negative power terms. The dS conjecture leads to inequalities for the $\lambda$ parameter; in both versions, it becomes restricted to be greater but close to $1/3$. We can also study the general case in which $\mu$ and $\lambda$ are considered as independent. The obtained $F$ function has the same form as before. The consistency of the theory and the dS conjecture lead to a set of inequalities on both parameters that are studied numerically. In all cases, $\lambda$ is restricted by $\mu$ around $1/3$, and we obtain $\lambda\to1/3$ if $\mu\to0$. We consider the $f(R)$ limit $\mu,\lambda \to 1$ and we obtain consistent results. Finally, we study the case of a constant Hubble parameter. The dS conjecture can be fulfilled by restricting the parameters of the theory; however, the constraint makes this compatibility exclusive to these kinds of theories.
A concise and self-contained derivation of hybrid quantum-classical dynamics is given in terms of Markovian master equations. Many previously known results are re-derived, revised, some of them completed or corrected. Using as simple method as possible, our goal is a brief introduction to state-of-the-art of hybrid dynamics, with a limited discussion of the implications for foundations. and without discussion of further relevance in quantum-gravity, or chemistry, numeric methods, etc. Hybrid dynamics is defined as special case of composite quantum dynamics where the observables of one of the two subsystems are restricted for the commuting set of diagonal operators in a fixed basis. With this restriction, the derivation of hybrid dynamical equations is clear conceptually and simple technically. Jump and diffusive dynamics follow in the form of hybrid master equations. Their stochastic interpretation (called unravellings) is derived. We discuss gauge-type ambiguities, problems of uniqueness, and covariance of the diffusive master equation. Also conditions of minimum noise and of monitoring the quantum trajectory are derived. We conclude that hybrid formalism is equivalent with standard Markovian theory of time-continuous quantum measurement (monitoring) on one hand, and is a motivating alternative formalism on the other hand.
In nonperturbative formulation of quantum field theory (QFT), the vacuum state is characterized by the Wilsonian renormalization group (RG) flow of Feynman type field correlators. Such a flow is a parametric family of ultraviolet (UV) regularized field correlators, the parameter being the strength of the UV regularization, and the instances with different strength of UV regularizations are linked by the renormalization group equation (RGE). For renormalizable QFTs, the flow is meaningful at any UV regularization strengths. In this paper it is shown that for these flows a natural, mathematically rigorous generally covariant definition can be given, and that they form a topological vector space which is Hausdorff, locally convex, complete, nuclear, semi-Montel, Schwartz. The other theorem proved in the paper is that the running of Wilsonian RG flows of renormalizable QFTs, for bosonic fields over flat (affine) spacetime, factorize in a rather simple manner: they always originate from a regularization-independent distributional correlator, and its running is described by an algebraic ansatz, independent of the underlying QFT model details.
We establish a new relation between classical observables for scattering and bound orbits of a massive probe particle in a Kerr background. We find an exact representation of the Hamilton-Jacobi action in terms of the conserved charges which admits an analytic continuation, both for the radial and polar contribution, for a general class of geodesics beyond the equatorial case. Remarkably, this allows to extend the boundary to bound dictionary and it provides an efficient method to compute the deflection angles and the time delay for scattering orbits, as well as frequency ratios for bound orbits, in the probe limit but at all orders in the perturbative expansion.
Inflationary spacetimes have been argued to be past geodesically incomplete in many situations. However, whether the geodesic incompleteness implies the existence of an initial spacetime curvature singularity or whether the spacetime may be extended (potentially into another phase of the universe) is generally unknown. Both questions have important physical implications. In this paper, we take a closer look at the geometrical structure of inflationary spacetimes and investigate these very questions. We first classify which past inflationary histories have a scalar curvature singularity and which might be extendible and/or non-singular in homogeneous and isotropic cosmology with flat spatial sections. Then, we derive rigorous extendibility criteria of various regularity classes for quasi-de Sitter spacetimes that evolve from infinite proper time in the past. Finally, we show that beyond homogeneity and isotropy, special continuous extensions respecting the Einstein field equations with a perfect fluid must have the equation of state of a de Sitter universe asymptotically. An interpretation of our results is that past-eternal inflationary scenarios are most likely physically singular, except in situations with very special initial conditions.
A presentation of the Vaidya type Schwarzschild-like black holes with flat, AdS and dS asymptotics in 4-dimensional general relativity in the form of a pointlike mass is given. True singularities are described by making the use of the Dirac $\delta$-function in a non-contradictory way. The results essentially generalize previous derivations where the usual Schwarzschild black hole solution is represented in the form of a point particle. The field-theoretical formulation of general relativity, which is equivalent to its standard geometrical formulation, is applied as an alternative mathematical formalism. Then perturbations on a given background are considered as dynamical fields propagating in a given (fixed) spacetime. The energy (mass) distribution of such field configurations is just represented as a point mass. The new description of black holes' structure can be useful in explaining and understanding their features and can be applied in calculations with black hole models. A possibility of application of the field-theoretical formalism in studying the regular black hole solutions is discussed.
We investigate possible traces of the nuclear symmetry energy slope ($L$) in the gravitational wave emission of neutron stars. For fixed stellar mass values, we examine how the slope influences the stellar radius, compactness, the tidal deformability, the frequency of the quadrupole fundamental fluid mode, and the damping time of the mode due to the gravitational wave emission. We demonstrate that all these physical quantities are sensitive to the slope and could potentially impose significant constraints on it.
We define a new geometric flow, which we shall call the $K$-flow, on 3-dimensional Riemannian manifolds; and study the behavior of Thurston's model geometries under this flow both analytically and numerically. As an example, we show that an initially arbitrarily deformed homogeneous 3-sphere flows into a round 3-sphere and shrinks to a point in the unnormalized flow; or stays as a round 3-sphere in the volume normalized flow. The $K$-flow equation arises as the gradient flow of a specific purely quadratic action functional that has appeared as the quadratic part of New Massive Gravity in physics; and a decade earlier in the mathematics literature, as a new variational characterization of three-dimensional space forms. We show the short-time existence of the $K$-flow using a DeTurck-type argument.
There is a possibility that the event horizon of a Kerr-like black hole with perfect fluid dark matter (DM) can be destroyed, providing a potential opportunity for understanding the weak cosmic censorship conjecture of black holes. In this study, we analyze the influence of the strength parameter of perfect fluid DM on the destruction of the event horizon of a Kerr-like black hole with spinning after injecting a test particle and a scalar field. We find that, when a test particle is incident on the black hole, the event horizon is destroyed by perfect fluid dark matter for extremal black holes. For nearly extremal black holes, when the dark matter parameter satisfies $\alpha \in \left (-r_{h} , 0\right ) \cup \left ( r_{h} ,k_2\right )$ i.e.$(A<0)$, the event horizon of the black hole will not be destroyed; when the dark matter parameter satisfies $\alpha \in\left ( k_1 ,-r_{h} \right ]\cup \left[0,r_{h}\right ]$ i.e.$(A\ge 0)$, the event horizon of the black hole will be destroyed. When a classical scalar field is incident into the black hole in the extremal black hole case, we find that the range of mode patterns of the scalar field that can disrupt the black hole event horizon is different for different values of the perfect fluid dark matter strength parameter. In the nearly extremal black hole case, through our analysis, we have found when $\alpha\neq0 $ and $\alpha\neq\pm\ r_h$ i.e.$A\neq0$, the event horizon of the black hole can be disrupted. Our research results indicate that dark matter might be capable of breaking the black hole horizon, thus potentially violating the weak cosmic censorship conjecture.
The Modified Gravity Model (MOG) has been proposed as a solution to the dark matter problem, but it does not meet the gauge invariant condition. The aim of this work is to propose a gauge-invariant theory, which suggests that symmetry can break at a low temperature in the Universe, leading to the MOG theory. This theory has the potential to alter the dynamics of the early and late Universe and naturally produce cosmological inflation.
We study the generalized free energy of the dyonic AdS black hole in an ensemble with varying electric charge $q_E$ and fixed magnetic charge $q_M$. When we adjust the temperature $T$ and the electric potential $\Phi_E$ of the ensemble, the Ricci scalar curvature $R$ and electromagnetic potential $A_u$ usually diverge at the horizon. We regularize them and incorporate the off-shell corrections into the Einstein-Hilbert action. Alternatively, we find that the off-shell corrections can also be obtained by adding a boundary near the horizon to exclude the singularities. Ultimately, we derive the generalized free energy which is consistent with the definition of the thermodynamic relations. Based on the generalized free energy landscape, we can describe the dynamics of state transition as a stochastic process quantified by the Langevin equation. The path integral framework can be formulated to derive the time-dependent trajectory of the order parameter and the time evolution of the transition probability. By comparing the probability with the result of the classical master equation, we attribute the contribution to the probability of one pseudomolecule or antipseudomolecule (the instanton and anti-instanton pair) to the rate of state transition. These results are consistent with the qualitative analysis of the free energy landscape.
We show that perturbations of a scalar field in the background of the black hole obtained with the Starobinsky-Bel-Robinson Gravity is unstable unless the dimensionless coupling $\beta$ describing the compactification of M-theory is small enough. In the sector of stability quasinormal spectrum show peculiar behavior both in the frequency and time domains: the ringing consists of two stages where two different modes dominate. The WKB method does not reproduce part of the spectrum including the fundamental mode, which is responsible for the first stage of the ringing. As a result, the correspondence between the high frequency quasinormal modes and characteristics of the null geodesics reproduces only one branch of the eikonal spectrum. The frequencies are obtained with the help of three methods (Frobenius, WKB and time-domain integration) with excellent agreement among them.
The total light deflection represents a concept, which allows one to decide which multipoles need to be implemented in the light trajectory for a given astrometric accuracy. The fundamental quantity of total light deflection is the tangent vector of the light trajectory at future infinity. It is found that this tangent vector is naturally given by Chebyshev polynomials. It is just this remarkable fact, which allows to determine strict upper limits of total light deflection for each individual multipole of solar system bodies. Special care is taken about the gauge terms. It is found that these gauge terms vanish at spatial infinity. The results are applied to the case of light deflection in the gravitational fields of Jupiter and Saturn.
The recently obtained $\textit{special}$ Buchdahl-inspired metric [Phys. Rev. D 107, 104008 (2023)] describes asymptotically flat spacetimes in pure Ricci-squared gravity. The metric depends on a new (Buchdahl) parameter $\tilde{k}$ of higher-derivative characteristic, and reduces to the Schwarzschild metric, for $\tilde{k}=0$. For the case $\tilde{k}\in(-1,0)$, it was shown that it describes a traversable Morris-Thorne-Buchdahl (MTB) wormhole [Eur. Phys. J. C 83, 626 (2023)], where the weak energy condition is formally violated. In this paper, we briefly review the $\textit{special}$ Buchdahl-inspired metric, with focuses on the construction of $\zeta-$Kruskal-Szekeres (KS) diagram and the situation for a wormhole to emerge. Interestingly, the MTB wormhole structure appears to permit the formation of closed timelike curves (CTCs). More specifically, a CTC straddles the throat, comprising of two segments positioned in opposite quadrants of the $\zeta-$KS diagram. The closed timelike loop thus passes through the wormhole throat twice, causing $\textit{two}$ reversals in the time direction experienced by the (timelike) traveller on the CTC. The key to constructing a CTC lies in identifying any given pair of antipodal points $(T,X)$ and $(-T,-X)$ $\textit{on the wormhole throat}$ in the $\zeta-$KS diagram as corresponding to the same spacetime event. It is interesting to note that the Campanelli-Lousto metric in Brans-Dicke gravity is known to support two-way traversable wormholes, and the formation of the CTCs presented herein is equally applicable to the Campanelli-Lousto solution.
A novel observable, the double nuclear modification factor, is proposed to probe simultaneously the initial and final state effects in nucleus-nucleus collisions. An interesting competition between the combinatorial enhancement in the double parton scattering and the suppression due to parton energy loss can be observed in the production rate of two hard particles. In particular, the production of $J/\psi$ mesons in association with a $W$ boson is not suppressed but is enhanced in the region of moderate transverse momenta, unlike the case of unassociated (inclusive) $J/\psi$ production. At the same time, in the region of high enough transverse momenta the nuclear modification factor for associated $J/\psi+W$ production converges to that of unassociated $J/\psi$.
After hypercharge $Y$, isospin $I$, isospin projection $I_3$, and four flavour quantum numbers ($S$, $C$, $B^*$ and $T$), weak isospin $I_{w3}$ and weak hypercharge $Y_w$ in the electroweak theory are substituted by fermion quantum number $F$ and unit electroweak charge $F_0$, both of which are conserved in electromagnetic interaction, weak interaction and strong interaction. Electrical charge $Q$ and neutral current weak charge $Q_Z$ in electroweak interaction can be expressed by mixture of $F$ and $F_0$ via the Weinberg angle $\theta_W$. Electroweak interaction is separated into two parts: one is neutral current electroweak interaction which has no change of particle types with only exchange of neutral bosons, and the other is charged current weak interaction which has change of particle types, i.e., decays.
We present a comprehensive analysis of electroweak, flavor, and collider bounds on the complete set of dimension-six SMEFT operators in the $U(2)^5$-symmetric limit. This operator basis provides a consistent framework to describe a wide class of new physics models and, in particular, the motivated class of models where the new degrees of freedom couple mostly to the third generation. By analyzing observables from all three sectors, and consistently including renormalization group evolution, we provide bounds on the effective scale of all 124 $U(2)^5$-invariant operators. The relation between flavor-conserving and flavor-violating observables is analyzed taking into account the leading $U(2)^5$ breaking in the Yukawa sector, which is responsible for heavy-light quark mixing. We show that under simple, motivated, and non-tuned hypotheses for the parametric size of the Wilson coefficients at the high scale, all present bounds are consistent with an effective scale as low as 1.5 TeV. We also show that a future circular $e^+ e^-$ collider program such as FCC-ee would push most of these bounds by an order of magnitude. This would rule out or provide clear evidence for a wide class of compelling new physics models that are fully compatible with present data.
Recent developments in the Standard Model analysis of semileptonic charged-current processes involving light quarks have revealed $\sim 3\sigma$ tensions in Cabibbo universality tests involving meson, neutron, and nuclear beta decays. In this paper, we explore beyond the Standard Model explanations of this so-called Cabibbo Angle Anomaly in the framework of the Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT), including not only low-energy charged current processes (`L'), but also electroweak precision observables (`EW') and Drell-Yan collider processes (`C') that probe the same underlying physics across a broad range of energy scales. The resulting `CLEW' framework not only allows one to test explanations of the Cabibbo Angle Anomaly, but is set up to provide near model-independent analyses with minimal assumptions on the flavor structure of the SMEFT operators. Besides the global analysis, we consider a large number of simpler scenarios, each with a subset of SMEFT operators, and investigate how much they improve upon the Standard Model fit. We find that the most favored scenarios, as judged by the Akaike Information Criterion, are those that involve right-handed charged currents. Additional interactions, namely oblique operators, terms modifying the Fermi constant, and operators involving right-handed neutral currents, play a role if the CDF determination of the $W$ mass is included in the analysis.
We study the annihilation of electroweak dumbbells and the dependence of their dynamics on initial dumbbell length and twist. Untwisted dumbbells decay rapidly while maximally twisted dumbbells collapse to form a compact sphaleron-like object, before decaying into radiation. The decay products of a dumbbell include electromagnetic magnetic fields with energy that is a few percent of the initial energy. The magnetic field from the decay of twisted dumbbells carries magnetic helicity with magnitude that depends on the twist, and handedness that depends on the decay pathway.
Sterile neutrinos with masses up to $\mathcal{O} (100)$ MeV can be copiously produced in a supernova (SN) core, through the mixing with active neutrinos. In this regard the SN 1987A detection of neutrino events has been used to put constraints on active-sterile neutrino mixing, exploiting the well-known SN cooling argument. We refine the calculation of this limit including neutral current interactions with nucleons, that constitute the dominant channel for sterile neutrino production. We also include, for the first time, the charged current interactions between sterile neutrinos and muons, relevant for the production of sterile neutrinos mixed with muon neutrinos in the SN core. Using the recent modified luminosity criterion, we extend the bounds to the case where sterile states are trapped in the stellar core. Additionally, we study the decays of heavy sterile neutrinos, affecting the SN explosion energy and possibly producing a gamma-ray signal. We also illustrate the complementarity of our new bounds with cosmological bounds and laboratory searches.
We introduce a novel and effective method to compute transport coefficients in strongly interacting plasma states in holographic QFTs. Our method is based on relating the IR limit of fluctuations on a gravitational background to its variations providing a previously overlooked connection between boundary and near horizon data. We use this method to derive analytic formulas for the viscosities of an ansiotropic plasma state in the presence of an external magnetic field or another isotropy breaking external source. We then apply our findings to holographic QCD.
New GeV-scale dark forces coupling predominantly to quarks offer novel signatures that can be produced directly and searched for at high-luminosity colliders. We compute the photon-proton and electron-proton cross sections for producing a GeV-scale gauge boson arising from a $U(1)_B$ gauge symmetry. Our calculation relies on vector meson dominance and a phenomenological model for diffractive scattering used for vector-meson photoproduction. The parameters of our phenomenological model are fixed by performing a Markov Chain Monte Carlo fit to existing exclusive photoproduction data for $\omega$ and $\phi$ mesons. Our approach can be generalized other GeV-scale dark gauge forces.
For many decades, the main source of information on the top-left corner element of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa quark mixing matrix $V_{ud}$ were superallowed nuclear beta decays with an impressive 0.01\% precision. This precision, apart from experimental data, relies on theoretical calculations in which nuclear structure-dependent effects and uncertainties play a prime role. This review is dedicated to a thorough reassessment of all ingredients that enter the extraction of the value of $V_{ud}$ from experimental data. We tried to keep balance between historical retrospect and new developments, many of which occurred in just five past years. They have not yet been reviewed in a complete manner, not least because new results are a-coming. This review aims at filling this gap and offers an in-depth yet accessible summary of all recent developments.
The discovery process of building new theoretical physics models involves the dual aspect of both fitting to the existing experimental data and satisfying abstract theorists' criteria like beauty, naturalness, etc. We design loss functions for performing both of those tasks with machine learning techniques. We use the Yukawa quark sector as a toy example to demonstrate that the optimization of these loss functions results in true and beautiful models.
Anomalous symmetries are known to strongly constrain the possible IR behavior along any renormalization group (RG) flow. Recently, the extension of the notion of symmetry in QFT has provided new types of anomalies with a corresponding new class of constraints on RG flows. In this paper, we derive the constraints imposed on RG flows from anomalies that can only be activated in the presence of specific background fluxes even though they do not necessarily correspond to a symmetry. We show that such anomalies can only be matched by gapped theories that exhibit either spontaneous symmetry breaking or symmetry fractionalization. In addition, we exhibit previously unstudied examples of these flux background anomalies that arise in $4d$ QCD and $4d$ SUSY QCD.
Searches for new physics in the top quark sector are of great theoretical interest, yet some powerful avenues for discovery remain unexplored. We characterize the expected statistical power of the LHC dataset to constrain the single production of heavy top partners $T$ decaying to a top quark and a photon or a top quark and a gluon. We describe an effective interaction which could generate such production, though the limits apply to a range of theoretical models. We find sensitivity to cross sections in the $10^{2}-10^{5}$ fb range, for $T$ masses between 300 and 1000 GeV, depending on decay mode.
The energy-energy correlator (EEC) in Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) serves as an important event shape for probing the substructure of jets in high-energy collisions. A significant progress has been make in understanding the collinear limit, where the angle between two detectors approaches zero, from the factorization formula in QCD and the light-ray Operator Product Expansion (OPE) in Conformal Field Theory. Building upon prior research on the renormalization of light-ray operators, we take an innovative step to extend the light-ray OPE into non-conformal contexts, with a specific emphasis on perturbative QCD. Our proposed form of the light-ray OPE is constrained by three fundamental properties: Lorentz symmetry, renormalization group invariance, and constraints from physical observables. This extension allows us to derive a factorization formula for the collinear limit of EEC, facilitating the future exploration and understanding on subleading power corrections in collinear limit.
In this paper, we study all transport coefficients of second-order dissipative fluid dynamics derived in Ref.\cite{Ambrus:2022vif} from the relativistic Boltzmann equation in the relaxation-time approximation for the collision integral. These transport coefficients are computed for a classical ideal gas of massive particles, with and without taking into account the conservation of intrinsic quantum numbers. Through rigorous comparison between kinetic theory, second-order dissipative fluid dynamics, and leading-order anisotropic fluid dynamics for a (0+1)--dimensional boost-invariant flow scenario, we show that both fluid-dynamical theories describe the early far-from-equilibrium stage of the expansion reasonably well.
Motivated by the need to increase the precision of theoretical predictions to test saturation physics at both the LHC and the EIC, we compute the cross-sections for the diffractive single and di-hadron production at the NLO in the shockwave formalism.
The decays $B\to\bar{D}^{(*)} \omega\pi$ are very important for the investigation of $\rho$ excitations and the test of factorization hypothesis for $B$ meson decays. The $B^{+}\to \bar{D}^{(*)0}\omega\pi^+$ and $B^{0}\to D^{(*)-}\omega\pi^+$ in particular have been measured by different collaborations but without any predictions for their observables from theoretical side. In this work, we study the contributions of $\rho(770,1450)\to \omega\pi$ for the cascade decays $B^{+}\to \bar{D}^{(*)0} \rho^+ \to \bar{D}^{(*)0}\omega\pi^+$, $B^{0}\to D^{(*)-} \rho^+ \to D^{(*)-}\omega\pi^+$ and $B_s^{0}\to D_s^{(*)-} \rho^+ \to D^{(*)-}\omega\pi^+$. We introduce $\rho(770,1450)\to \omega\pi$ subprocesses into the distribution amplitudes for $\omega\pi$ system via the vector form factor $F_{\omega\pi}(s)$ and then predict the branching fractions for the first time for concerned quasi-two-body decays with $\rho(770,1450)\to \omega\pi$, as well as the corresponding longitudinal polarization fractions $\Gamma_L/\Gamma$ for the cases with the vector $\bar{D}^{*0}$ or $D_{(s)}^{*-}$ in their final states. The branching fractions of these quasi-two-body decays are predicted at the order of $10^{-3}$, which can be detected at the LHCb and Belle-II experiments. The predictions for the decays ${B}^0 \to{D}^{*-} \rho(770)^+\to {D}^{*-} \omega\pi^+$ and ${B}^0 \to {D}^{*-} \rho(1450)^+\to {D}^{*-} \omega\pi^+$ agree well with the measurements from Belle Collaboration. In order to avoid the pollution from annihilation Feynman diagrams, we propose to take the decays $B_s^0 \to D_s^{*-}\rho(770,1450)^+$, which have only emission diagrams at quark level, to test the factorization hypothesis for $B$ decays.
We study the excitation spectrum of light and strange mesons in diffractive scattering. We identify different hadron resonances through partial wave analysis, which inherently relies on analysis models. Besides statistical uncertainties, the model dependence of the analysis introduces dominant systematic uncertainties. We discuss several of their sources for the $\pi^-\pi^-\pi^+$ and $K^0_S K^-$ final states and present methods to reduce them. We have developed a new approach exploiting a-priori knowledge of signal continuity over adjacent final-state-mass bins to stably fit a large pool of partial-waves to our data, allowing a clean identification of very small signals in our large data sets. For two-body final states of scalar particles, such as $K^0_S K^-$, mathematical ambiguities in the partial-wave decomposition lead to the same intensity distribution for different combinations of amplitude values. We will discuss these ambiguities and present solutions to resolve or at least reduce the number of possible solutions. Resolving these issues will allow for a complementary analysis of the $a_J$-like resonance sector in these two final states.
We present a review of the conceptual basis, present knowledge and recent progress in the field of global analysis of nuclear parton distribution functions (PDFs). After introducing the theoretical foundations and methodological approaches for the extraction of nuclear PDFs from experimental data, we discuss how different measurements in fixed-target and collider experiments provide increasingly precise constraints on various aspects of nuclear PDFs, including shadowing, antishadowing, the EMC effect, Fermi motion, flavor separation, deuteron binding, target-mass and other higher-twist effects. Particular emphasis is given to measurements carried out in proton-lead collisions at the Large Hadron Collider, which have revolutionized the global analysis during the past decade. These measurements include electroweak-boson, jet, light-hadron, and heavy-flavor observables. Finally, we outline the expected impact of the future Electron Ion Collider and discuss the role and interplay of nuclear PDFs with other branches of nuclear, particle and astroparticle physics.
The amplitude ratios of vector-meson production by heavy photons on spinless targets are shown to can be explicitly expressed in terms of the spin-density-matrix elements (SDMEs) only if the lepton beam is longitudinally polarized. Making use of the amplitude ratios as free fit parameters instead of the SDMEs reduces the number of the real parameters in data description from 23 to 8. The exact formula for $R = \frac{d \sigma_L}{d t}/\frac{d \sigma_T}{d t}$ in terms of the SDMEs is obtained for spinless targets and the new approximate formula for $R$ is proposed for nucleon targets.
pSecDec is a computer tool to evaluate Feynman integrals and their weighted sums (amplitudes) using the method of sector decomposition and numerical integration. The new release of pySecDec version 1.6 comes with a significant performance boost (3x-9x in common scenarios), and new features to make the evaluation and asymptotic expansion of amplitudes and integrals easier and faster. In this article we briefly review these features.
A theoretical model of two-pion photoproduction is presented. The model encodes the prominent $\rho(770)$ resonance and the expected leading background contribution coming from the Deck mechanism. To validate the model, angular moments are computed and compared with the CLAS dataset. After fitting a number of free parameters, the model provides a good description of the data.
The increasing interest in Long-Lived Particles (LLPs) has led to numerous proposed experiments in order to search for them. However, the sensitivity estimates published by these experiments tend to rely on disparate assumptions. To ensure an accurate comparison of their potential to find LLPs, a unified estimation of their sensitivity is therefore required. In this contribution, we introduce \texttt{SensCalc}, a \texttt{Mathematica}-based code that uses a semi-analytic approach to calculate the event rate of GeV-scale LLPs, and we present several case studies.
Although the LHC experiments have searched for and excluded many proposed new particles up to masses close to 1 TeV, there are many scenarios that are difficult to address at a hadron collider. This talk will review a number of these scenarios and present the expectations for searches at an electron-positron collider such as the International Linear Collider. The cases discussed include SUSY in strongly or moderately compressed models, heavy neutrinos, heavy vector bosons coupling to the s-channel in $e^+e^-$ annihilation, and new scalars.
The unpolarized and polarized massive operator matrix elements $A_{Qg}^{(3)}$ and $\Delta A_{Qg}^{(3)}$ contain first-order factorizable and non-first-order factorizable contributions in the determining difference or differential equations of their master integrals. We compute their first-order factorizable contributions in the single heavy mass case for all contributing Feynman diagrams. Moreover, we present the complete color-$\zeta$ factors for the cases in which also non-first-order factorizable contributions emerge in the master integrals, but cancel in the final result as found by using the method of arbitrary high Mellin moments. Individual contributions depend also on generalized harmonic sums and on nested finite binomial and inverse binomial sums in Mellin $N$-space, and correspondingly, on Kummer-Poincar\'e and square-root valued alphabets in Bjorken-$x$ space. We present a complete discussion of the possibilities of solving the present problem in $N$-space analytically and we also discuss the limitations in the present case to analytically continue the given $N$-space expressions to $N \in \mathbb{C}$ by strict methods. The representation through generating functions allows a well synchronized representation of the first-order factorizable results over a 17-letter alphabet. We finally obtain representations in terms of iterated integrals over the corresponding alphabet in $x$-space, also containing up to weight {\sf w = 5} special constants, which can be rationalized to Kummer-Poincar\'e iterated integrals at special arguments. The analytic $x$-space representation requires separate analyses for the intervals $x \in [0,1/4], [1/4,1/2], [1/2,1]$ and $x > 1$. We also derive the small and large $x$ limits of the first-order factorizable contributions.
In this work, we present a complete theoretical framework for analyzing the distribution of polarized hadrons within jets, with and without measuring the transverse momentum relative to the standard jet axis. Using soft-collinear effective theory (SCET), we derive the factorization and provide the theoretical calculation of both semi-inclusive and exclusive fragmenting jet functions (FJFs) under longitudinal and transverse polarization. With the polarized FJFs, one gains access to a variety of new observables that can be used for extracting both collinear and transverse momentum dependent parton distribution functions (PDFs) and fragmentation functions (FFs). As examples, we provide numerical results for the spin asymmetry $A_{TU,T}^{\cos(\phi _S - \hat{\phi}_{S_h})}$ from polarized semi-inclusive hadron-in-jet production in polarized $pp$ collisions at RHIC kinematics, where a transversely polarized quark would lead to the transverse spin of the final-state hadron inside the jet and is thus sensitive to the transversity fragmentation functions. Similarly, another spin asymmetry, $A_{TU, L}^{\cos(\phi _q - \phi _{S})}$ from polarized exclusive hadron-in-jet production in polarized $ep$ collisions at EIC kinematics would allow us to access the helicity fragmentation functions. These observables demonstrate promising potential in investigating transverse momentum dependent PDFs and FFs and are worthwhile for further measurements.
We study thermal production of dark matter (DM) in a realization of the minimal models of Ref.\cite{Bonnefoy:2023afx}, where parity is used to solve the strong CP problem by transforming the entire Standard Model (SM) into a mirror copy. Although the mirror electron $e^{\prime}$ is a good DM candidate, its viability is mired by the presence of the mirror up-quark $u^{\prime}$, whose abundance is intimately related to the $e^{\prime}$ abundance and must be suppressed. This can be achieved through a sequential freeze-in mechanism, where mirror photons are first produced from SM gluons, and then the mirror photons produce $e'$. After computing the details of this double freeze-in, we discuss the allowed parameter space of the model, which lies at the threshold of experimental observations. We find that this origin of $e'$ DM requires a low reheating temperature after inflation and is consistent with the baryon asymmetry arising from leptogenesis, providing mirror neutrinos have a significant degeneracy. Finally, we show that this $e'$ DM is not compatible with Higgs Parity, the simplest scheme with exact parity, unless SM parameters deviate significantly from their central values or the minimal model is extended.
Bayesian Model Mixing (BMM) is a statistical technique that can be used to combine models that are predictive in different input domains into a composite distribution that has improved predictive power over the entire input space. We explore the application of BMM to the mixing of two expansions of a function of a coupling constant $g$ that are valid at small and large values of $g$ respectively. This type of problem is quite common in nuclear physics, where physical properties are straightforwardly calculable in strong and weak interaction limits or at low and high densities or momentum transfers, but difficult to calculate in between. Interpolation between these limits is often accomplished by a suitable interpolating function, e.g., Pad\'e approximants, but it is then unclear how to quantify the uncertainty of the interpolant. We address this problem in the simple context of the partition function of zero-dimensional $\phi^4$ theory, for which the (asymptotic) expansion at small $g$ and the (convergent) expansion at large $g$ are both known. We consider three mixing methods: linear mixture BMM, localized bivariate BMM, and localized multivariate BMM with Gaussian processes. We find that employing a Gaussian process in the intermediate region between the two predictive models leads to the best results of the three methods. The methods and validation strategies we present here should be generalizable to other nuclear physics settings.
The angular moments for the $Z$ boson can be used as analyzers for the underlying production dynamics for the $t\bar t Z$ and $t Zj$ processes. In this manuscript, we derive these angular moments at leading and next-to-leading order in QCD at the LHC. We show that these observables work as efficient probes to beyond the Standard Model effects, considering the Standard Model Effective Field theory framework. Remarkably, we observe that these probes unveil blind directions to CP-odd operators, providing sizable new physics sensitivity at the 14 TeV LHC with 3 ab$^{-1}$ of data.
A common framework of particle physics consists of two sectors of particles, such as the Standard Model and a dark sector, with some interaction between them. In this work, we initiate the study of a qualitatively different setup in which one of the sectors is a topological quantum field theory (TQFT). Instead of particles, the physics of a TQFT only manifests itself in non-trivial spacetime topologies. Topological defects provide a natural place to investigate such effects. In particular, we consider two possible ways in which axionic cosmic strings can interact with a Zn TQFT. One of them, by extending the structure of the axion coupling, leads to specific predictions for the localized degrees of freedom on the cosmic string, which can in turn effect their evolution and leave observable signals. The second approach, by gauging a discrete subgroup of the axionic shift symmetry, leads to dramatic changes in the string spectrum. We stress that the scenario considered here should be regarded as a plausible way for new physics to arise since it can be the low energy effective field theory for quite generic scenarios at high energies. To demonstrate this point and further illustrate the physical implications, we constructed such UV completions for both of the cases of couplings to TQFTs. The detailed prediction for observable signals of such scenarios needs further investigation. At the same time, our results demonstrate that there are rich new phenomena in this scenario.
We investigate the prospects for resonant di-Higgs and heavy Higgs production searches at the 14 TeV HL-LHC in the combination of $bb\gamma\gamma$ and $4l$ channels, as a probe of a possible first order electroweak phase transition in real singlet scalar extension of the Standard Model. Event selection follows those utilized in the $bb\gamma\gamma$ and $4l$ searches by the ATLAS Collaboration, applied to simulation using benchmark parameters that realize a strong first order electroweak phase transition. The output of discriminant analysis is implemented by numerical calculation, optimised by the joint restriction from the two channels. The prospective reach for $bb\gamma\gamma$/$4l$ channel could be more competitive in probing the electroweak phase transition at lower/higher resonance masses. With 3 $ab^{-1}$ integrated luminosity, the combination of the $bb\gamma\gamma$ and $4l$ channels can discover/exclude a significant portion of %\mrmC{isn't it more accurate to say "a significant portion of" ?} of the viable parameter space that realizes a strong first order phase transition when the resonance mass is heavier than 500 GeV.
In this paper, the proton structure function $F_2 ^p (x,Q^2)$ at small-$x$ is investigated using an analytical solution of the Balitsky-Kovchegov (BK) equation. In the context of the color dipole description of deep inelastic scattering (DIS), the structure function $F_2 ^p (x,Q^2)$ is computed by applying the analytical expression for the scattering amplitude $N(k,Y)$ derived from the BK solution. At transverse momentum $k$ and total rapidity $Y$, the scattering amplitude $N(k,Y)$ represents the propagation of the quark-antiquark dipole in the color dipole description of DIS. Using the BK solution we extracted the integrated gluon density $xg(x,Q^2)$ and then compared our theoretical estimation with the LHAPDF global data fits NNPDF3.1sx and CT18. Finally, we investigated the behavior of $F_2 ^p (x,Q^2)$ in the kinematic region of $10^{-5} \leq x \leq 10^{-2}$ and $2.5$ $GeV^{2}$ $\leq$ $Q^2$ $\leq$ $60$ $GeV^{2}$. Our predicted results for $F_2 ^p (x,Q^2)$ within the specified kinematic region are in good agreement with the recent high-precision data for $F_2 ^p (x,Q^2)$ from HERA (H1 Collaboration) and the LHAPDF global parametrization group NNPDF3.1sx.
We investigate the possibility of observable proton decay within the improved missing doublet model (IMDM75), which utilizes a Higgs in 75 representation for $SU(5)$ gauge symmetry breaking. The realization of observable proton decay in IMDM75 is made feasible primarily due to chirality nonflipping color-triplet mediation, while chirality flipping mediation is adequately suppressed. Our predictions suggest a range of proton lifetimes between $10^{34}-10^{36}$ yr, which can be observed in upcoming experiments such as Hyper-K and DUNE, for a corresponding range of color-triplet mass parameter $M_T$ in the order of $10^{11}-10^{14}$GeV. IMDM75 is shown to offer unique predictions for branching ratios when compared to other grand unified theory models. Finally, a realization of successful gauge coupling unification is achieved, even with the presence of particles at intermediate scales.
We present an updated Standard Model (SM) estimate of the inclusive $b\to s\bar{\ell}\ell$ rate at high dilepton invariant mass ($q^2\geq 15~{\rm GeV}^2$). We show that this estimate is in good agreement with the result obtained summing the SM predictions for the leading one-body modes ($K$ and $K^*$) and the subleading non-resonant $K\pi$ channel (for which we also present an updated estimate). On the contrary, the semi-inclusive sum based on data exhibits a deficit compared to the inclusive SM prediction in the muon modes. The statistical significance of this deficit does not exceed $2\sigma$, but is free from uncertainties on hadronic form factors, and fully compatible with the deficit observed at low-$q^2$ on the exclusive modes. The implications of these results in conjunction with other SM tests on $b\to s\bar{\mu}\mu$ modes are briefly discussed.
We investigate the discovery potential for long-lived particles produced in association with a top-antitop quark pair at the (High-Luminosity) LHC. Compared to inclusive searches for a displaced vertex, top-associated signals offer new trigger options and an extra handle to suppress background. We design a search strategy for a displaced di-muon vertex in the tracking detectors, in association with a reconstructed top-antitop pair. For axion-like particles with masses above the di-muon threshold, we find that the (High-Luminosity) LHC can probe effective top-quark couplings as small as $|c_{tt}|/f_a = 0.03(0.002)/$TeV and proper decay lengths as long as $20(300)$ m, assuming a cross section of $1$ fb, with data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 150 fb$^{-1}$ (3 ab$^{-1}$). Our predictions suggest that searches for top-associated displaced di-muons will explore new terrain in the current sensitivity gap between searches for prompt di-muons and missing energy.
Top pairs produced at the Large Hadron Collider exhibit quantum entanglement of their spins near threshold and for boosted, central $t \bar t$ pairs. The entanglement is maintained between the decay products, in particular between the top quark and the $W^-$ boson from the anti-quark (or vice-versa, between $\bar t$ and $W^+$) in certain kinematical regions. Therefore, $t \bar t$ production provides a rare opportunity to verify the spin entanglement between a fermion and a boson. The $tW$ entanglement can be probed at the $7\sigma$ level near threshold with Run 2 data, and at the $5\sigma$ level in the boosted region with the foreseen Run 3 luminosity. In addition, the entanglement between the two $W$ bosons can be probed at the $4\sigma$ level at the LHC Run 3.
We analyse the cross-section of events with Large Rapidity Gaps observed in proton-lead collisions by the CMS collaboration. The role of the transverse size of elementary $pN$ amplitude is discussed. We emphasize that the cross-section of incoming proton dissociation caused by the photon radiated off the lead ion is close to the value of $d\sigma/d\Delta\eta^F$ measured by the CMS, and it is not clear why there is no room in the data for the Pomeron-induced contribution
We examine how different assumptions about the hadronic vacuum polarization, the $W$ boson mass, and the forward-backward asymmetry in $b$-quarks at the $Z$ pole can impact the precision electroweak fit. We study the implications for a kinetically mixed dark photon, addressing the complementarity of precision bounds and direct searches, particularly in the case where the dark photon can decay into the dark sector, and we consider implications for future Large Hadron Collider searches. We comment on cases where the precision effects of the dark photon may not be well-described by the oblique parameters.
Understanding the modification of jets and high-$p_T$ probes in small systems requires the integration of soft and hard physics. We present recent developments in extending the JETSCAPE framework to build an event generator, which includes correlations between soft and hard partons, to study jet observables in small systems. The multi-scale physics of the collision is separated into different stages. Hard scatterings are first sampled at binary collision positions provided by the Glauber geometry. They are then propagated backward in space-time following an initial-state shower to obtain the initiating partons' energies and momenta before the collision. These energies and momenta are then subtracted from the incoming colliding nucleons for soft-particle production, modeled by the 3D-Glauber + hydrodynamics + hadronic transport framework. This new hybrid approach (X-SCAPE) includes non-trivial correlations between jet and soft particle productions in small systems. We calibrate this framework with the final state hadrons' $p_T$-spectra from low to high $p_T$ in $p$-$p$, and and then compare with the spectra in $p$-$Pb$ collisions from the LHC. We also present results for additional observables such as the distributions of event activity as a function of the hardest jet $p_T$ in forward and mid-rapidity for both $p$-$p$ and $p$-$Pb$ collisions.
This note discusses the matter of probing Beyond the Standard Model physics and how, to succeed in this quest, the interpretations of the Standard Model regarding observed phenomena must be utilized with caution. We give several specific examples of why this is necessary and assess general scenarios in which it is specially important. In particular, we call attention to the fact that once the Standard Model (SM) is finally replaced, the parameters of the new theory which embed those of the SM must be rederived directly from data instead of inherited through their expected relations with those of the SM.
While the Standard Model remains the prevailing description of natural phenomena, several observed phenomena continue to elude its explanation. To address these challenges, we investigate the Minimal Left-Right Symmetric Model; an immediate extension of the Standard Model. This model adeptly resolves issues related to parity violation and neutrino mass smallness by incorporating the seesaw mechanism. Our study focuses on evaluating the contributions of the Minimal Left-Right Symmetric Model to specific phenomena: Anomalous magnetic moment, CP violation & Flavor violation of Charged leptons. We particularly perform one-loop calculations for quantities such as Magnetic Dipole Moments (MDM), Electric Dipole Moments (EDM), & Branching Ratios (BR) of flavor violating channels for Charged leptons; originating from the model's extended Higgs sector. By deriving these contributions, we constrain the model's couplings and derive an energy scale based on experimental constraints associated with the aforementioned phenomena, ultimately establishing the Minimal Left-Right Symmetric Model as a highly promising candidate for physics beyond the Standard Model.
The General Parton Distributions (GPDs) are applied to study the hard Pseudoscalar Meson Production (PMP) at high energies. The PMP amplitudes are be obtained within the GPDs factorization. They are expressed in terms of GPDs convolution functions, which are most essential in PMP reactions. We show that these convolution functions can be extracted from the PMP data in future EIC of China (EicC). Predictions of $\pi^0$ and $\eta$ production at typical EicC energies are performed.
We consider an effective theory with a single massive spin-2 particle and a gap to the cutoff. We couple the spin-2 particle to gravity, and to other lower-spin fields, and study the growth of scattering amplitudes of the particle in the Regge regime: where $s$ is much larger than $t$ and also any mass scales in the effective theory, but still much lower than the cutoff scale of the theory and therefore any further massive spin-2 particles. We include in the effective theory all possible operators, with an arbitrary, but finite, number of derivatives. We prove that the scattering amplitude grows strictly faster than $s^2$ in any such theory. Such fast growth goes against expected bounds on Regge growth. We therefore find further evidence for the Swampland spin-2 conjecture: that a theory with an isolated massive spin-2 particle, coupled to gravity, is in the Swampland.
Quiver theories constitute an important class of supersymmetric gauge theories with well-defined holographic duals. Motivated by holographic duality, we use localisation on $S^d$ to study long linear quivers at large-N. The large-N solution shows a remarkable degree of universality across dimensions, including $d = 4$ where quivers are genuinely superconformal. In that case we upgrade the solution of long quivers to quivers of any length.
This work challenges the conventional notion that in spacetime dimension higher than one, a supersymmetric Lagrangian invariably consists of purely bosonic terms, purely fermionic terms, as well as boson-fermion mixing terms. By recasting a relativistic Lagrangian in terms of its non-relativistic and ultra-relativistic sectors, we reveal that an ultra-relativistic (Carrollian) supersymmetric Lagrangian can exist without a purely bosonic contribution. Based on this result, we demonstrate a link between higher-dimensional Carrollian and (0+1)-dimensional quantum mechanical models, yielding higher-order extensions of supersymmetric SYK models in which purely bosonic higher order terms are absent. Given that supersymmetry plays an essential role in improving the quantum behavior and solubility, our findings may lead to interesting applications in non-AdS holography.
Symmetry topological field theory (SymTFT) gives a holographic correspondence between systems with a global symmetry and a higher-dimensional topological field theory. In this framework, classification of gapped phases of matter in spacetime dimension 1+1D correspond to classifications of mechanisms to confine the SymTFT by condensing anyons. In this work, we extend these results to characterize gapless symmetry-protected topological states: symmetry-enriched gapless phases or critical points that exhibit edge modes protected by symmetry and topology. We establish a one-to-one correspondence between 1+1D bosonic gSPTs, and partially-confined boundaries of 2+1D SymTFTs. From general physical considerations, we determine the set of data and consistency conditions required to define a 1+1D gSPT, and show that this data precisely matches that of symmetry-preserving partial confinement (or partially gapped boundaries) of 2+1D quantum double models. We illustrate this correspondence through a dimensional reduction (thin-slab) construction, which enables a physically-intuitive derivation of how properties of the gSPT such as edge modes, emergent anomalies, and stability to perturbations arise from the SymTFT perspective.ditions required to define a 1+1D gSPT and show that they fully determine the physics of the gSPT including edge modes and emergent anomaly.
We consider D1-D5-P states in the untwisted sector of the D1-D5 orbifold CFT where we excite one copy of the seed CFT with a left-moving superconformal descendant. When the theory is deformed away from this region of moduli space these states can `lift', despite being BPS at the orbifold point. For descendants formed from the supersymmetry $G^{\alpha}_{\!\dot{A},-s}$ and R-symmetry $J^a_{-n}$ current modes we obtain explicit results for the expectation value of the lifts for various subfamilies of states at second order in the deformation parameter. A smooth $\sim\sqrt{h}$ behaviour is observed in the lifts of these subfamilies for large dimensions. Using covering space Ward identities we then find a compact expression for the lift of the above $J^a_{-n}$ descendant states valid for arbitrary dimensions. In the large-dimension limit this lift scales as $\sim\sqrt{h}\,$, strengthening the conjecture that this is a universal property of the lift of D1-D5-P states. We observe that the lift is not simply a function of the total dimension, but depends on how the descendant level is partitioned amongst modes.
We study systems of staggered boson Hamiltonians in a one dimensional lattice and in particular how the translation symmetry by one unit in these systems is in reality a non-invertible symmetry closely related to T-duality. We also study the simplest systems of clock models derived from these staggered boson Hamiltonians. We show that the non-invertible symmetries of these lattice models together with the discrete ${\mathbb Z}_N$ symmetry predict that these are critical points with a $U(1)$ current algebra at $c=1$ and radius $\sqrt{2N}$ whenever $N>4$.
M{\o}ller maps are identifications between the observables of a perturbatively interacting physical system and the observables of its underlying free (i.e. non-interacting) system. This work studies and characterizes obstructions to the existence of such identifications. The main results are existence and importantly also non-existence theorems, which in particular imply that M{\o}ller maps do not exist for non-Abelian Chern-Simons and Yang-Mills theories on globally hyperbolic Lorentzian manifolds.
There is an explicit resolution of the Poisson reduction of four planar point vortices, in the case that three of the vortex strengths are equal and the total vorticity is zero. The resolution, a Hamiltonian system on a unified symplectic phase space with a symmetry breaking parameter, is obtained by appending redundant states. Though single point vortices do not have the attribute of mass, there are circular assemblages with the collective dynamics of free massive particles, demonstrating a finite dimensional dynamics where mass emerges from a gauge symmetry breaking. The internal vibration of these assemblages is coupled to their collective motion and has the same functional form as the de Broglie wavelength.
Based on the Caldirola-Canai approach, we endeavor to propose a dissipative scalar field theory in Minkowski space-time. We present its free particle solutions for complex $\omega^\mu$ components, and we find three profiles of dispersion relations, two of them support gapped momentum states. We also present an alternative view of this model, where dissipation acts as a geometric effect, and an effective negative scalar curvature space-time emerges. Finally, we illustrate how the present model could be adapted to describe shear waves in Frenkel liquids.
In this paper, we study symmetry-resolved entanglement entropy in free bosonic quantum many-body systems. Precisely, by making use of the lattice regularization scheme, we compute symmetry-resolved R\'enyi entropies for free complex scalar fields as well as for a simple class of non-local field theories in which entanglement entropy exhibits volume-law scaling. We present effective expressions for the eigenvalues of the correlation matrix used to compute the symmetry-resolved entanglement entropy and show that they are consistent with the numerical results. Furthermore, we explore the equipartition of entanglement entropy and verify an effective equipartition in the massless limit. Finally, we make a comment on the entanglement entropy in the non-local quantum field theories and write down an explicit expression for the symmetry-resolved R\'enyi entropies.
This study focuses on thermal superpotentials in asymptotically anti-de Sitter spacetimes. We study the thermal superpotential and its use as a counterterm for the renormalization of the gravitational action in designer AdS theories with a self-interacting scalar field. Our findings, which are consistent with prior works, demonstrate that, for the thermal superpotential to be a suitable counterterm, it must have some specific form.
The saturation of a recently proposed universal bound on the Lyapunov exponent has been conjectured to signal the existence of a gravity dual. This saturation occurs in the low temperature limit of the dense Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model, $N$ Majorana fermions with $q$-body ($q>2$) infinite-range interactions. We calculate certain Out of Time Order Correlators (OTOC) for $N\le 64$ fermions for a highly sparse SYK model and find no significant dependence of the Lyapunov exponent on sparsity up to near the percolation limit where the Hamiltonian breaks up into blocks. This suggests that in the sparse case, the Lyapunov exponent also saturates the low-temperature bound. A key ingredient to reaching $N = 64$ is the development of a novel quantum spin model simulation library that implements highly-optimized matrix-free Krylov subspace methods on Graphical Processing Units (GPUs). This leads to a significantly lower simulation time as well as vastly reduced memory usage over previous approaches, while using modest computational resources. Strong sparsity-driven statistical fluctuations require both the use of a vastly larger number of disorder realizations with respect to the dense limit and a careful finite size scaling analysis. Our results potentially broadens the landscape of theories that may have a gravity analogue.
We compute the form factors of the order and disorder operators, together with those of the stress-energy tensor, of the two-dimensional three-state Potts model with vacancies along its thermal deformation of the critical point. At criticality the model is described by the non-diagonal partition function of the unitary minimal model $\mathcal{M}_{6,7}$ of conformal field theories and is accompanied by an internal $S_3$ symmetry. Its off-critical thermal deformation is an integrable massive theory which is still invariant under $S_3$. The presence of infinitely many conserved quantities, whose spin spectrum is related to the exceptional Lie algebra $E_6$, allows us to determine the analytic $S$-matrix, the exact mass spectrum and the matrix elements of local operators of this model in an exact non-perturbative way. We use the spectral representation series of the correlators and the fast convergence of these series to compute several universal ratios of the Renormalization Group.
We study a class of newly-introduced CFTs associated with even quadratic forms of general signature, which we call generalized Narain theories. We first summarize the properties of these theories. We then consider orbifolds of these theories, thereby obtaining a large class of non-supersymmetric CFTs with exactly marginal deformations. We then discuss ensemble averages of such theories over their moduli space, and obtain a modular form associated with the quadratic form and an element of the discriminant group. The modular form can be written as a Poincare series, which contains novel invariants of lens spaces and suggests the interpretation of the holographic bulk as a theory of anyons.
In this paper, we construct new models for the Anderson duals $(I\Omega^G)^*$ to the stable tangential $G$-bordism theories and their differential extensions. The cohomology theory $(I\Omega^G)^*$ is conjectured by Freed and Hopkins [FH21] to classify deformation classes of possibly non-topological invertible quantum field theories (QFT's). Our model is made by abstractizing certain properties of invertible QFT's, thus supporting their conjecture.
This is the second part of the work on differential models of the Anderson duals to the stable tangential $G$-bordism theories $I\Omega^G$, motivated by classifications of invertible QFT's. Using the model constructed in the first part \cite{YamashitaYonekura2021}, in this paper we show that pushforwards in generalized differential cohomology theories induces transformations between differential cohomology theories which refine the Anderson duals to multiplicative genera. This gives us a unified understanding of an important class of elements in the Anderson duals with physical origins.
We study the $SU(\infty)$ lattice Yang-Mills theory at the dimensions $D=2,3,4$ via the numerical bootstrap method. It combines the Makeenko-Migdal loop equations, with a cut-off $L_{\mathrm{max}}$ on the maximal length of loops, and positivity conditions on certain matrices of Wilson loops. Our algorithm is inspired by the pioneering paper of P.Anderson and M.Kruczenski but it is significantly more efficient, as it takes into account the symmetries of the lattice theory and uses the relaxation procedure in line with our previous work on matrix bootstrap. We thus obtain rigorous upper and lower bounds on the plaquette average at various couplings and dimensions. For $D=4$, the lower bound data appear to be close to the MC data in the strong coupling phase and the upper bound data in the weak coupling phase reproduce well the 3-loop perturbation theory. Our results suggest that this bootstrap approach can provide a tangible alternative to the, so far uncontested, Monte Carlo approach.
We discuss invertible and non-invertible topological condensation defects arising from gauging a discrete higher-form symmetry on a higher codimensional manifold in spacetime, which we define as higher gauging. A $q$-form symmetry is called $p$-gaugeable if it can be gauged on a codimension-$p$ manifold in spacetime. We focus on 1-gaugeable 1-form symmetries in general 2+1d QFT, and gauge them on a surface in spacetime. The universal fusion rules of the resulting invertible and non-invertible condensation surfaces are determined. In the special case of 2+1d TQFT, every (invertible and non-invertible) 0-form global symmetry, including the $\mathbb{Z}_2$ electromagnetic symmetry of the $\mathbb{Z}_2$ gauge theory, is realized from higher gauging. We further compute the fusion rules between the surfaces, the bulk lines, and lines that only live on the surfaces, determining some of the most basic data for the underlying fusion 2-category. We emphasize that the fusion "coefficients" in these non-invertible fusion rules are generally not numbers, but rather 1+1d TQFTs. Finally, we discuss examples of non-invertible symmetries in non-topological 2+1d QFTs such as the free $U(1)$ Maxwell theory and QED.
We introduce a Floquet circuit describing the driven Ising chain with topological defects. The corresponding gates include a defect that flips spins as well as the duality defect that explicitly implements the Kramers-Wannier duality transformation. The Floquet unitary evolution operator commutes with such defects, but the duality defect is not unitary, as it projects out half the states. We give two applications of these defects. One is to analyze the return amplitudes in the presence of "space-like" defects stretching around the system. We verify explicitly that the return amplitudes are in agreement with the fusion rules of the defects. The second application is to study unitary evolution in the presence of "time-like" defects that implement anti-periodic and duality-twisted boundary conditions. We show that a single unpaired localized Majorana zero mode appears in the latter case. We explicitly construct this operator, which acts as a symmetry of this Floquet circuit. We also present analytic expressions for the entanglement entropy after a single time step for a system of a few sites, for all of the above defect configurations.
A relation between four manifolds and topological modular form (TMF) from the six dimensional approach was found by Gukov et al. We exhibit fiber sum formulas for smooth spin four manifolds associated to compactifications of free and interacting $6d\ (1,0)$ SCFTs using the link to the TMF. We find that even the free theories have nontrivial fiber sum formulas.
We discuss a matrix of periodic holomorphic functions in the upper and lower half-plane which can be obtained from a factorization of an Andersen-Kashaev state integral of a knot complement with remarkable analytic and asymptotic properties that defines a ${\rm PSL}_2({\mathbb Z})$-cocycle on the space of matrix-valued piecewise analytic functions on the real numbers. We identify the corresponding cocycle with the one coming from the Kashaev invariant of a knot (and its matrix-valued extension) via the refined quantum modularity conjecture of [arXiv:2111.06645] and also relate the matrix-valued invariant with the 3D-index of Dimofte-Gaiotto-Gukov. The cocycle also has an analytic extendability property that leads to the notion of a matrix-valued holomorphic quantum modular form. This is a tale of several independent discoveries, both empirical and theoretical, all illustrated by the three simplest hyperbolic knots.
We elaborate on various aspects of our top-down celestial holographic duality wherein the semiclassical bulk spacetime is a 4d asymptotically flat, self-dual K\"ahler geometry known as Burns space. The bulk theory includes an open string sector comprising a 4d WZW model and a closed string sector called "Mabuchi gravity" capturing fluctuations of the K\"ahler potential. Starting with the type I topological B-model on the twistor space of flat space, we obtain the twistor space of Burns space from the backreaction of a stack of $N$ coincident D1 branes, while the chiral algebra is obtained from (a twist of) the brane worldvolume theory. One striking consequence of this duality is that all loop-level scattering amplitudes of the theory on Burns space can be expressed as correlation functions of an explicit 2d chiral algebra. We also present additional large-$N$ checks, matching several 2 and 3-point amplitudes and their collinear expansions in the WZW$_4$ sector, and the mixed WZW$_4$-Mabuchi sector, of the bulk theory to the corresponding 2 and 3-point vacuum correlators and operator product expansions in the dual chiral algebra. Key features of the duality, along with our main results, are summarized in the introduction.
We consider three distinct methods to compute the mass spectrum of gauge theories in the Hamiltonian formalism: (1) correlation-function scheme, (2) one-point-function scheme, and (3) dispersion-relation scheme. The first one examines spatial correlation functions as we do in the conventional Euclidean Monte Carlo simulations. The second one uses the boundary effect to efficiently compute the mass spectrum. The third one constructs the excited states and fits their energy using the dispersion relation with selecting quantum numbers. Each method has its pros and cons, and we clarify such properties in their applications to the mass spectrum for the 2-flavor massive Schwinger model at $m/g=0.1$ and $\theta=0$ using the density-matrix renormalization group (DMRG). We note that the multi-flavor Schwinger model at small mass $m$ is a strongly coupled field theory even after the bosonizations, and thus it deserves to perform the first-principles numerical calculations. All these methods mostly agree and identify the stable particles, pions $\pi_a$ ($J^{PG}=1^{-+}$), sigma meson $\sigma$ ($J^{PG}=0^{++}$), and eta meson $\eta$ ($J^{PG}=0^{--}$). In particular, we find that the mass of $\sigma$ meson is lighter than twice the pion mass, and thus $\sigma$ is stable against the decay process, $\sigma \to \pi\pi$. This is consistent with the analytic prediction using the WKB approximation, and, remarkably, our numerical results are so close to the WKB-based formula between the pion and sigma-meson masses, $M_\sigma/M_\pi=\sqrt{3}$.
We study 't Hooft anomalies of global symmetries in 1+1d lattice Hamiltonian systems. We consider anomalies in internal and lattice translation symmetries. We derive a microscopic formula for the "anomaly cocycle" using topological defects implementing twisted boundary conditions. The anomaly takes value in the cohomology group $H^3(G,U(1)) \times H^2(G,U(1))$. The first factor captures the anomaly in the internal symmetry group $G$, and the second factor corresponds to a generalized Lieb-Schultz-Mattis anomaly involving $G$ and lattice translation. We present a systematic procedure to gauge internal symmetries (that may not act on-site) on the lattice. We show that the anomaly cocycle is the obstruction to gauging the internal symmetry while preserving the lattice translation symmetry. As an application, we construct anomaly-free chiral lattice gauge theories. We demonstrate a one-to-one correspondence between (locality-preserving) symmetry operators and topological defects, which is essential for the results we prove. We also discuss the generalization to fermionic theories. Finally, we construct non-invertible lattice translation symmetries by gauging internal symmetries with a Lieb-Schultz-Mattis anomaly.
Unitary Designs have become a vital tool for investigating pseudorandomness since they approximate the statistics of the uniform Haar ensemble. Despite their central role in quantum information, their relation to quantum chaotic evolution and in particular to the Eigenstate Thermalization Hypothesis (ETH) are still largely debated issues. This work provides a bridge between the latter and $k$-designs through Free Probability theory. First, by introducing the more general notion of $k$-freeness, we show that it can be used as an alternative probe of designs. In turn, free probability theory comes with several tools, useful for instance for the calculation of mixed moments or for quantum channels. Our second result is the connection to quantum dynamics. Quantum ergodicity, and correspondingly ETH, apply to a restricted class of physical observables, as already discussed in the literature. In this spirit, we show that unitary evolution with generic Hamiltonians always leads to freeness at sufficiently long times, but only when the operators considered are restricted within the ETH class. Our results provide a direct link between unitary designs, quantum chaos and the Eigenstate Thermalization Hypothesis, and shed new light on the universality of late-time quantum dynamics.
We consider a massive scalar field with a coordinate-dependent mass in higher-dimensional spacetime. The field satisfies Dirichlet boundary conditions on a brane representing the four-dimensional world. Despite being massive, the theory is scale-invariant. We quantize the theory calculating the zero-point energy. We find the lower bound for the uncertainty product in the uncertainty principle. We show that the zero-point energy density could be small if large extra dimensions exist. Identifying the zero-point energy as a source of dark energy, we extract the four-dimensional cosmological constant from higher-dimensional theory, considering quantum fluctuations close to the brane surface. We examine numerically ten- and eleven-dimensional spaces. The resulting zero-point energy is parameterized by the number of extra dimensions and the additional dimensionless {\it saturation parameter}, expressing the deviation from perfect saturation of the uncertainty principle. Letting the parameter to be small and of order of the fine-structure constant, we reproduce the experimental value of the cosmological constant in four dimensions.
We study 2d $\mathcal{N}=(0,2)$ and $\mathcal{N}=(0,4)$ theories derived from compactifying class $\mathcal{S}$ theories on $S^2$ with a topological twist. We present concise expressions for the elliptic genera of both classes of theories, revealing the TQFT structure on Riemann surfaces $C_{g,n}$. Furthermore, our study highlights the relationship between the left-moving sector of the (0,2) theory and the chiral algebra of the 4d $\mathcal{N}=2$ theory. Notably, we propose that the (0,2) elliptic genus of a theory of this class can be expressed as a linear combination of characters of the corresponding chiral algebra.
We investigate the bipartite and multipartite quantum entanglement structure in gravity and the dual holographic field theory based on the generalized Rindler wedge formalism. We deduce a separation theorem, which asserts that for subregions satisfying a certain geometric condition, the bipartite/multipartite squashed entanglement or the conditional entanglement of multipartite information vanishes, indicating that these subregions represent separable states with no quantum entanglement among them. We interpret this fact from the observer perspective in gravity and show how to probe the entanglement structure further in this framework by introducing a time cutoff in the gravitational spacetime. We also present the corresponding dual boundary field theory interpretation.
As in random matrix theories, eigenvector/value distributions are interesting quantities of random tensors in their applications. Recently, real eigenvector/value distributions of Gaussian random tensors have been explicitly computed by expressing them as partition functions of quantum field theories with quartic interactions. This procedure to compute distributions in random tensors is general, powerful and intuitive, because one can take advantage of well-developed techniques and knowledge of quantum field theories. In this paper we extend the procedure to the cases that random tensors have mean backgrounds and eigenvector equations have random deviations. In particular, we study in detail the case that the background is a rank-one tensor, namely, the case of a spiked tensor. We discuss the condition under which the background rank-one tensor has a visible peak in the eigenvector distribution. We obtain a threshold value, which agrees with a previous result in the literature.
Recent works have proposed the use of the formalism of Positive Operator Valued Measures to describe time measurements in quantum mechanics. This work aims to expand on the work done by other authors, by generalizing the previously proposed construction method of such measures to include causal Poincar\'e transformations, in order to construct measures which are covariant with respect to such transformations.
A search for an exotic decay of the Higgs boson to a Z boson and a light pseudoscalar particle (a), decaying to a pair of leptons and a pair of photons, respectively, is presented. The search is based on proton-proton collision data at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV, collected with the CMS detector and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. The analysis probes pseudoscalar masses a between 1 and 30 GeV, leading to two pairs of well-isolated leptons and photons. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set on the Higgs boson production cross section times its branching fraction to two leptons and two photons. The observed (expected) limits are in the range of 1.1-17.8 (1.7-17.9) fb within the probed $m_\mathrm{a}$ interval. An excess of data above the expected standard model background with a local (global) significance of 2.6 (1.3) standard deviations is observed for a mass hypothesis of $m_\mathrm{a}$ = 3 GeV. Limits on models involving axion-like particles, formulated as an effective field theory, are also reported.
This proceeding summarizes recent measurements of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) matrix elements $|V_{cb}|$ and $|V_{ub}|$ at the Belle and Belle~II experiments. It provides insights derived from both exclusive and inclusive determinations. Preliminary results from Belle~II are discussed, focusing on $B^0\to D^{*-}\ell^+ \nu$ and $B^{0} \to \pi^{-} \ell^{+} \nu$ utilizing $189 \, \mathrm{fb}^{-1}$ data collected at the $\Upsilon(4S)$ resonance. This reveals the derived branching fractions and $|V_{xb}|$. The shape measurement of $B \to D^{*} \ell \nu$ at Belle extracted $|V_{cb}|$ employing new lattice-QCD calculations as input and provided additional tests on the universality of light lepton flavors. In the realm of inclusive decay, the measurement for $|V_{ub}|$ and the differential spectra of $B \to X_{u} \ell \nu$ decays have been performed. This presentation also encapsulates the new analyses of $|V_{ub}|^{\mathrm{excl}}/|V_{ub}|^{\mathrm{incl}}$ and $|V_{ub}|^{\mathrm{incl}}/|V_{cb}|^{\mathrm{incl}}$ ratios.
We present two recent measurements of semileptonic B decays at Belle, offering valuable insights into the determination of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) matrix element $|V_{ub}|$. These analyses use the full Belle dataset, comprising $772 \times 10^6$ $B\bar{B}$ pairs collected at the $\Upsilon(4S)$ resonance. With an innovative strategy, the inclusive $B \to X_u \ell \nu$ and exclusive $B \to \pi \ell \nu$ decays are simultaneously analyzed for the first time, and the $|V_{ub}|$ ratio is extracted as $|V_{ub}^{\mathrm{excl.}}|/|V_{ub}^{\mathrm {incl.}}|=0.97 \pm 0.12$. Furthermore, we provide preliminary results for the inclusive branching fractions ratio of $B \to X_u \ell \nu$ and $B \to X_c \ell \nu$ decays, accompanied by additional interpretations aimed at deriving the inclusive $|V_{ub}|/|V_{cb}|$ ratio.
We present a measurement of the ratio of partial branching fractions of the semi-leptonic inclusive decays, $\overline{B} \to X_{u} \ell \overline{\nu}$ to $\overline{B} \to X_{c} \ell \overline{\nu}$, where $\ell = (e, \mu)$, using the full Belle sample of $772 \times 10^{6}$ $B \kern 0.18em\overline{\kern -0.18em B}$ pairs collected at the $\Upsilon(4S)$ resonance. The ratio is measured via a two-dimensional fit to the squared four-momentum transfer to the lepton pair, and the charged lepton energy in the $B$ meson rest frame, where the latter must be larger than $1$ Ge\kern -0.1em V, covering approximately $86\%$ and $78\%$ of the $\overline{B} \to X_{u} \ell \overline{\nu}$ and $\overline{B} \to X_{c} \ell \overline{\nu}$ phase space, respectively. We find $\Delta \mathcal{B}(\overline{B} \to X_{u} \ell \overline{\nu})/ \Delta \mathcal{B}(\overline{B} \to X_{c} \ell \overline{\nu}) = 0.0196(1 \pm 8.4\%_{\rm stat} \pm 7.9\%_{\rm syst})$ where the uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively. In addition, we report the partial branching fractions separately for charged and neutral $B$ meson decays, and for electron and muon decay channels. We place a limit on isospin breaking in $\overline{B} \to X_{u} \ell \overline{\nu}$ decays, and find no indication of lepton flavor universality violation in either the charmed or charmless mode. Furthermore, we unfold the $\overline{B} \to X_{u} \ell \overline{\nu}$ and $\overline{B} \to X_{c} \ell \overline{\nu}$ yields and report the differential ratio in lepton energy and four-momentum transfer squared.
Charge radii of hadrons are back in the focus since precision spectroscopic measurements in muonic hydrogen revealed a proton charge radius considerably smaller than generally accepted ever since R.~Hofstaedter's pioneering experiments. Recent experimental results also point to an underestimation of systematic uncertainties in most previous measurements. A new method was thus proposed by AMBER at CERN using elastic scattering by very high energy muons using an active hydrogen target. With a simplified setup we may resume elastic scattering of $\pi$ and K mesons on electrons in inverse kinematics, and, for the first time, probe antiprotons with few percent precision for their charge radius. Applying this method also for protons allows a separation of $G_E^p(Q^2)$ and $G_M^p(Q^2)$ down to $Q^2=10^{-3}(GeV/c)^2$.
We evaluate uncertainty quantification (UQ) methods for deep learning applied to liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) physics analysis tasks. As deep learning applications enter widespread usage among physics data analysis, neural networks with reliable estimates of prediction uncertainty and robust performance against overconfidence and out-of-distribution (OOD) samples are critical for their full deployment in analyzing experimental data. While numerous UQ methods have been tested on simple datasets, performance evaluations for more complex tasks and datasets are scarce. We assess the application of selected deep learning UQ methods on the task of particle classification using the PiLArNet [1] monte carlo 3D LArTPC point cloud dataset. We observe that UQ methods not only allow for better rejection of prediction mistakes and OOD detection, but also generally achieve higher overall accuracy across different task settings. We assess the precision of uncertainty quantification using different evaluation metrics, such as distributional separation of prediction entropy across correctly and incorrectly identified samples, receiver operating characteristic curves (ROCs), and expected calibration error from observed empirical accuracy. We conclude that ensembling methods can obtain well calibrated classification probabilities and generally perform better than other existing methods in deep learning UQ literature.
In previous papers we have shown how Schrodinger's equation which includes an electromagnetic field interaction can be deduced from a fluid dynamical Lagrangian of a charged potential flow that interacts with an electromagnetic field. The quantum behaviour was derived from Fisher information terms which were added to the classical Lagrangian. It was thus shown that a quantum mechanical system is drived by information and not only electromagnetic fields. This program was applied also to Pauli's equations by removing the restriction of potential flow and using the Clebsch formalism. Although the analysis was quite successful there were still terms that did not admit interpretation, some of them can be easily traced to the relativistic Dirac theory. Here we repeat the analysis for a relativistic flow, pointing to a new approach for deriving relativistic quantum mechanics.
We investigate a polarization-encoded BB84-QKD transmitter that is simplified from an architectural and technological point-of-view, demonstrating a silicon emitter sourcing a low-complexity polarization modulator for secure-key generation at a raw-key rate of 2.8kb/s and QBER of 10.47%, underpinning the feasibility of an all-silicon QKD transmitter.
In this work, we investigate the localization properties of a paradigmatic model, coupled to a monitoring environment and possessing a many-body localized (MBL) phase. We focus on the post-selected no-click limit with quench random rates, i.e., random gains and losses. In this limit, the system is modeled by adding an imaginary random potential, rendering non-Hermiticity in the system. Numerically, we provide an evidence that the system is localized for any finite amount of disorder. To analytically understand our results, we extend the quantum random energy model (QREM) to the non-Hermitian scenario. The Hermitian QREM has been used previously as a benchmark model for MBL. The QREM exhibits a size-dependent MBL transition, where the critical value scales as $W_c\sim \sqrt{L} \ln{L}$ with system size and presenting many-body mobility edges. We reveal that the non-Hermitian QREM with random gain-loss offers a significantly stronger form of localization, evident in the nature of the many-body mobility edges and the value for the transition, which scales as $W_c\sim \ln^{1/2}{L}$ with the system size.
We employ matrix product state simulations to study energy transport within the non-integrable regime of the one-dimensional $\mathbb{Z}_3$ chiral clock model. To induce a non-equilibrium steady state throughout the system, we consider open system dynamics with boundary driving featuring jump operators with adjustable temperature and footprint in the system. Given a steady state, we diagnose the effective local temperature by minimizing the trace distance between the true local state and the local state of a uniform thermal ensemble. Via a scaling analysis, we extract the transport coefficients of the model at relatively high temperatures above both its gapless and gapped low-temperature phases. In the medium-to-high temperature regime we consider, diffusive transport is observed regardless of the low-temperature physics. We calculate the temperature dependence of the energy diffusion constant as a function of model parameters, including in the regime where the model is quantum critical at the low temperature. Notably, even within the gapless regime, an analysis based on power series expansion implies that intermediate-temperature transport can be accessed within a relatively confined setup. Although we are not yet able to reach temperatures where quantum critical scaling would be observed, our approach is able to access the transport properties of the model over a broad range of temperatures and parameters. We conclude by discussing the limitations of our method and potential extensions that could expand its scope, for example, to even lower temperatures.
The mechanism by which an effective macroscopic description of quantum measurement in terms of discrete, probabilistic collapse events emerges from the reversible microscopic dynamics remains an enduring open question. Emerging quantum computers offer a promising platform to explore how measurement processes evolve across a range of system sizes while retaining coherence. Here, we report the experimental observation of evidence for an observable-sharpening measurement-induced phase transition in a chain of trapped ions in Quantinuum H1-1 system model quantum processor. This transition manifests as a sharp, concomitant change in both the quantum uncertainty of an observable and the amount of information an observer can (in principle) learn from the measurement record, upon increasing the strength of measurements. We leverage insights from statistical mechanical models and machine learning to design efficiently-computable algorithms to observe this transition (without non-scalable post-selection on measurement outcomes) and to mitigate the effects on errors in noisy hardware.
We investigate the dynamics of a spin system with facilitation constraint that can be studied using Rydberg atoms in arrays of optical tweezer traps. The elementary degrees of freedom of the system are domains of Rydberg excitations that expand ballistically through the lattice. Due to mechanical forces, Rydberg excited atoms are coupled to vibrations within their traps. At zero temperature and large trap depth, it is known that virtually excited lattice vibrations only renormalize the timescale of the ballistic propagation. However, when vibrational excitations are initially present -- i.e., when the external motion of the atoms is prepared in an excited Fock state, coherent state or thermal state -- resonant scattering between spin domain walls and phonons takes place. This coherent and deterministic process, which is free from disorder, leads to a reduction of the power-law exponent characterizing the expansion of spin domains. Furthermore, the spin domain dynamics is sensitive to the coherence properties of the atoms' vibrational state, such as the relative phase of coherently superimposed Fock states. Even for a translationally invariant initial state the latter manifests macroscopically in a phase-sensitive asymmetric expansion.
Variational quantum algorithms rely on the optimization of parameterized quantum circuits in noisy settings. The commonly used back-propagation procedure in classical machine learning is not directly applicable in this setting due to the collapse of quantum states after measurements. Thus, gradient estimations constitute a significant overhead in a gradient-based optimization of such quantum circuits. This paper introduces a random coordinate descent algorithm as a practical and easy-to-implement alternative to the full gradient descent algorithm. This algorithm only requires one partial derivative at each iteration. Motivated by the behavior of measurement noise in the practical optimization of parameterized quantum circuits, this paper presents an optimization problem setting that is amenable to analysis. Under this setting, the random coordinate descent algorithm exhibits the same level of stochastic stability as the full gradient approach, making it as resilient to noise. The complexity of the random coordinate descent method is generally no worse than that of the gradient descent and can be much better for various quantum optimization problems with anisotropic Lipschitz constants. Theoretical analysis and extensive numerical experiments validate our findings.
In this paper, we explore topological quantum computation augmented by subphases and phase transitions. We commence by investigating the anyon tunneling map, denoted as $\varphi$, between subphases of the quantum double model $\mathcal{D}(G)$ for any arbitrary finite group $G$. Subsequently, we delve into the relationship between $\varphi$ and the Floquet code, and extend the Abelian Floquet code to encompass non-abelian cases. We conclude by demonstrating how phase transitions in both the temporal and spatial directions can enhance the diversity of topological gates for general topological orders described by modular tensor categories.
In [Phys. Rev. A 107, 052420 (2023)] we showed that the quantum teleportation protocol can be used to detect quantum critical points (QCPs) associated with a couple of different classes of quantum phase transitions, even when the system is away from the absolute zero temperature (T=0). Here, working in the thermodynamic limit (infinite chains), we extend the previous analysis for several other spin-1/2 models. We investigate the usefulness of the quantum teleportation protocol to detect the QCPs of those models when the temperature is either zero or greater than zero. The spin chains we investigate here are described by the XXZ model, the XY model, and the Ising model, all of them subjected to an external magnetic field. Specifically, we use a pair of nearest neighbor qubits from an infinite spin chain at thermal equilibrium with a reservoir at temperature T as the resource to execute the quantum teleportation protocol. We show that the ability of this pair of qubits to faithfully teleport an external qubit from the chain is dramatically affected as we cross the QCPs related to the aforementioned models. The results here presented together with the ones of [Phys. Rev. A 107, 052420 (2023)] suggest that the quantum teleportation protocol is a robust and quite universal tool to detect QCPs even when the system of interest is far from the absolute zero temperature.
The complete characterization of Floquet topological phases is usually hard for the requirement of information about the micromotion throughout the entire driving period. Here we develop a full and feasible dynamical characterization theory for the $Z_{2}$ Floquet topological phases by quenching the system from a trivial and static initial state to the Floquet topological regime through suddenly changing the parameters and turning on the periodic driving. By measuring the minimal information of Floquet bands via the stroboscopic time-averaged spin polarizations, we show that the topological spin texture patterns emerging on certain discrete momenta of Brillouin zone called the $0$ or $\pi$ gap highest-order band-inversion surfaces provide a measurable dynamical $Z_{2}$ Floquet invariant, which uniquely determines the Floquet boundary modes in the corresponding quasienergy gap. The applications of our theory are illustrated via one- and two-dimensional models that are accessible in current quantum simulation experiments. Our work provides a highly feasible way to detect the $Z_{2}$ Floquet topological phases and shall advance the experimental studies.
We consider the question of how correlated the system hardness is between classical algorithms of electronic structure theory in ground state estimation and quantum algorithms. To define the system hardness for classical algorithms we employ empirical criterion based on the deviation of electronic energies produced by coupled cluster and configuration interaction methods from the exact ones along multiple bonds dissociation in a set of molecular systems. For quantum algorithms, we have selected the Variational Quantum Eigensolver (VQE) and Quantum Phase Estimation (QPE) methods. As characteristics of the system hardness for quantum methods, we analyzed circuit depths for the state preparation, the number of quantum measurements needed for the energy expectation value, and various cost characteristics for the Hamiltonian encodings via Trotter approximation and linear combination of unitaries (LCU). Our results show that the quantum resource requirements are mostly unaffected by classical hardness, with the only exception being the state preparation part, which contributes to both VQE and QPE algorithm costs. However, there are clear indications that constructing the initial state with a significant overlap with the true ground state (>10%) is easier than obtaining the state with an energy expectation value within chemical precision. These results support optimism regarding the identification of a molecular system where a quantum algorithm excels over its classical counterpart, as quantum methods can maintain efficiency in classically challenging systems.
When modeling the effects of noise on quantum circuits, one often makes the assumption that these effects can be accounted for by individual decoherence events following an otherwise noise-free gate. In this work, we address the validity of this model. We find that under a fairly broad set of assumptions, this model of individual decoherence events provides a good approximation to the true noise processes occurring on a quantum device during the implementation of a quantum circuit. However, for gates which correspond to sufficiently large rotations of the qubit register, we find that the qualitative nature of these noise terms can vary significantly from the nature of the noise at the underlying hardware level. The bulk of our analysis is directed towards analyzing what we refer to as the separability ansatz, which is an ansatz concerning the manner in which individual quantum operations acting on a quantum system can be approximated. In addition to the primary motivation of this work, we identify several other areas of open research which may benefit from the results we derive here.
We examine two conditions that can be used to detect bipartite entanglement, and show that they can be used to provide lower bounds on the negativity of states. We begin with two-qubit states, and then show how what was done there can be extended to more general states. The resulting bounds are then studied by means of a number of examples. We also show that if one has some knowledge of the Schmidt vectors of a state, better bounds can be found.
The theory of quantum states over time provides an approach to the dynamics of quantum information which is in direct analogy with spacetime and its relation to classical dynamics. In this work, we further such an analogy by formulating a notion of general covariance for the theory of quantum states over time. We then associate a canonical state over time with a density operator which is to evolve under a sequence of quantum processes modeled by completely positive trace-preserving (CPTP) maps, and we show that such a canonical state over time satisfies such a notion of covariance. We also show that the dynamical quantum Bayes' rule transforms covariantly with respect to states over time, and we conclude with a discussion of what it means for a physical law to be generally covariant when formulated in terms of quantum states over time.
We address metrological problems where the parameter of interest is encoded in the internal degree of freedom of a discrete-time quantum walker, and provide evidence that coin dimensionality is a potential resource to enhance precision. In particular, we consider estimation problems where the coin parameter governs rotations around a given axis and show that the corresponding quantum Fisher information (QFI) may increase with the dimension of the coin. We determine the optimal initial state of the walker to maximize the QFI and discuss whether, and to which extent, precision enhancement may be achieved by measuring only the position of the walker. Finally, we consider Grover-like encoding of the parameter and compare results with those obtained from rotation encoding.
We study the two-qubit asymmetric quantum Rabi model (AQRM) and find another hidden symmetry related to its dark-state solution. Such a solution has at most one photon and constant eigenenergy in the whole coupling regime, causing level crossings in the spectrum, although there is no explicit conserved quantity except energy, indicating another hidden symmetry. We find a symmetric operator in the eigenenergy basis to label the degeneracy with its eigenvalues, and compare it with the well-known hidden symmetry which exists when bias parameter $\epsilon$ is a multiple of half of the resonator frequency. Extended to the multimode case, we find not only hidden symmetries mentioned above, but also symmetries related with conserved bosonic number operators. This provides a new perspective for hidden symmetry studies on generalized Rabi models.
The use of cavity quantum electrodynamical effects, i.e., of vacuum electromagnetic fields, to modify material properties in cavities has rapidly gained popularity and interest in the last few years. However, there is still a scarcity of general results that provide guidelines for intuitive understanding and limitations of what kind of effects can be achieved. We provide such a result for the effective interactions between low-energy matter excitations induced either directly by their mutual coupling to the cavity electromagnetic (EM) field or indirectly through coupling to mediator modes that couple to the EM field. We demonstrate that the induced interactions are purely electrostatic in nature and are thus fully described by the EM Green's function evaluated at zero frequency. Our findings imply that reduced models with one or a few cavity modes can easily give misleading results.
We study the dissipative phase transition in a quantum oscillator with two-photon drive and two-photon dissipation. Using the semi-classical Langevin equation and the Fokker-Plank approach, we construct a theory of non-perturbative quantum fluctuations and go beyond the semi-classical approximation. We demonstrate the mapping of a two-photon quantum dissipative oscillator onto a classical equilibrium model of a nonlinear classical oscillator in a colored-noise environment. Then, we justify the applicability of the Landau theory for a given dissipative phase transition. To do that, we explicitly demonstrate the Boltzmann-like form of stationary distribution function depending on the effective temperature, which is determined by the frequency detuning and the rates of two-photon drive and dissipation. In addition, we provide a description of the quantum critical region and obtain critical exponents that appear to be in very good agreement with numerical simulations.
We experimentally test the error-disturbance uncertainty relation (EDR) in generalized, variable strength measurements of superconducting qubits on a NISQ processor. Making use of sequential weak measurements that keeps the initial signal state practically unchanged prior to the main measurement, we demonstrate that the Heisenberg EDR is violated, yet the Ozawa and Branciard EDRs are valid throughout the range of measurement strengths from no measurement to projection measurement. Our results verify that universal EDRs are valid even in a noisy quantum processor and will stimulate research on measurement-based quantum information and communication protocols using a NISQ processor.
A systematic analysis of the advantages and challenges associated with the satellite-based implementation of the high dimensional extended B92 (HD-Ext-B92) and high-dimensional BB84 (HD-BB84) protocol is analyzed. The method used earlier for obtaining the key rate for the HD-Ext-B92 is modified here and subsequently the variations of the key rate, probability distribution of key rate (PDR), and quantum bit error rate (QBER) with respect to dimension and noise parameter of a depolarizing channel is studied using the modified key rate equation. Further, the variations of average key rate (per pulse) with zenith angle and link length in different weather conditions in day and night considering extremely low noise for dimension d=32 are investigated using elliptic beam approximation. The effectiveness of the HD-(extended) protocols used here in creating satellite-based quantum key distribution links (both up-link and down-link) is established by appropriately modeling the atmosphere and analyzing the variation of average key rates with the probability distribution of the transmittance (PDT). The analysis performed here has revealed that in higher dimensions, HD-BB84 outperforms HD-Ext-B92 in terms of both key rate and noise tolerance. However, HD-BB84 experiences a more pronounced saturation of QBER in high dimensions.
The examination of entanglement across various degrees of freedom has been pivotal in augmenting our understanding of fundamental physics, extending to high dimensional quantum states, and promising the scalability of quantum technologies. In this paper, we demonstrate the photon-number path entanglement in the frequency domain by implementing a frequency beam splitter that converts the single-photon frequency to another with 50% probability using Bragg scattering four-wave mixing. The two-photon NOON state in a single-mode fiber is generated in the frequency domain, manifesting the two-photon interference with two-fold enhanced resolution compared to that of single-photon interference, showing the outstanding stability of the interferometer. This successful translation of quantum states in the frequency domain will pave the way toward the discovery of fascinating quantum phenomena and scalable quantum information processing.
We consider the Casimir pressure between two graphene sheets and contributions to it determined by evanescent and propagating waves with different polarizations. For this purpose, the derivation of the 2-dimensional (2D) Fresnel reflection coefficients on a graphene sheet is presented in terms of the transverse and longitudinal dielectric permittivities of graphene with due account of the spatial dispersion. The explicit expressions for both dielectric permittivities as the functions of the 2D wave vector, frequency, and temperature are written along the real frequency axis in the regions of propagating and evanescent waves and at the pure imaginary Matsubara frequencies using the polarization tensor of graphene. It is shown that in the application region of the Dirac model nearly the total value of the Casimir pressure between two graphene sheets is determined by the electromagnetic field with transverse magnetic (TM) polarization. By using the Lifshitz formula written along the real frequency axis, the contributions of the TM-polarized propagating and evanescent waves into the total pressure are determined. By confronting these results with the analogous results found for plates made of real metals, the way for bringing the Lifshitz theory using the realistic response functions in agreement with measurements of the Casimir force between metallic test bodies is pointed out.
We investigate quantum walks which play an important role in the modelling of many phenomena. The detailed and thorough description is given to the discrete quantum walks on a line, where the total quantum state consists of quantum states of the walker and the coin. In addition to the standard walker probability distribution, we introduce the coin probability distribution which gives more complete quantum walk description and novel visualization in terms of the so called polyanders (analogs of trianders in DNA visualization). The methods of final states computation and the Fourier transform are presented for the Hadamard quantum walk.
The state-of-the-art miniature atomic clocks (MACs) are based on the phenomenon of coherent population trapping (CPT) in alkali-metal atomic vapors (Rb or Cs). Increasing frequency stability of the clocks is an urgent issue that will lead to significant progress in many fields of application. Here, we examine a light field configuration composed of two bichromatic light beams with opposite handedness of their circular polarization. The beams are in resonance with optical transitions in the Cs D$_1$ line ($\lambda$$\approx$$895$ nm). This configuration has already been known for observing CPT resonances of an increased contrast compared to a standard single-beam scheme. However, in contrast to previous studies, we use a scheme with two independent pump and probe beams, where the probe beam transmission is separately monitored. The experiments are carried out with a buffer-gas-filled $5$$\times$$5$$\times$$5$ mm$^3$ vapor cell. It is shown that the resonance's line shape acquires asymmetry which can be efficiently controlled by a microwave (Raman) phase between the beams. As a proof of concept, we study the way how this asymmetry can help to significantly mitigate the influence of ac Stark (light) shift on a long-term frequency stability of CPT clocks. The experimental verification is performed both with a distributed-Bragg-reflector (DBR) laser and a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL). The latter has a particular importance for developing MACs. The results of experiments are in qualitative agreement with analytical theory based on a double $\Lambda$ scheme of atomic energy levels.
We provide a comprehensive theoretical study of the radio-frequency (rf) spectra of a two-component Fermi gas with balanced populations in the normal region of the temperature-vs-coupling phase diagram. In particular, rf spectra are analyzed in terms of two characteristic peaks, which can be either distinct or overlapping. On the BEC side of the crossover, these two contributions are associated with a fermionic quasi-particle peak and a bosonic-like contribution due to pairing. On the BCS side of the crossover, the two peaks are instead associated with interactions between particles occurring, respectively, at high or low relative momenta. Through this two-peak analysis, we show how and to what extent the correlation between the widths of the rf spectra and the pair size, previously identified in the superfluid phase at low temperature, can be extended to the normal phase, as well as how the temperature-vs-coupling phase diagram of the BCS-BEC crossover can be partitioned in a number of distinct physical sectors. Several analytic results for the shape and widths of the rf spectra are also derived in appropriate temperature and coupling limits.
Neural networks provide a prospective tool for error mitigation in quantum simulation of physical systems. However, we need both noisy and noise-free data to train neural networks to mitigate errors in quantum computing results. Here, we propose a physics-motivated method to generate training data for quantum error mitigation via neural networks, which does not require classical simulation and target circuit simplification. In particular, we propose to use the echo evolution of a quantum system to collect noisy and noise-free data for training a neural network. Under this method, the initial state evolves forward and backward in time, returning to the initial state at the end of evolution. When run on the noisy quantum processor, the resulting state will be influenced by with quantum noise accumulated during evolution. Having a vector of observable values of the initial (noise-free) state and the resulting (noisy) state allows us to compose training data for a neural network. We demonstrate that a feed-forward fully connected neural network trained on echo-evolution-generated data can correct results of forward-in-time evolution. Our findings can enhance the application of neural networks to error mitigation in quantum computing.
The CGI (CGI) has the potential of low cost, low dose, and high resolution, which is very attractive for the development of radiation imaging field. However, many sub-coding plates must be used in the modulation process, which greatly affects the development of CGI technology. In order to reduce the coding plates, we refer to the rotation method of computed tomography (CT), then propose a novel CGI method based on rotational modulation method of a single-column striped coding plate. This method utilizes the spatial variation of a single sub-coding plate (rotation) to realize multiple modulation of the ray field and improves the utilization rate of a single sub-coding plate. However, for this rotation scheme of CGI, the traditional binary modulation matrix is no longer applicable. To obtain the system matrix of the rotated striped coding plate, an area model based on beam boundaries is established. Subsequently, numerical and Monte Carlo simulations were conducted. The results reveal that our scheme enables high-quality imaging of N*N resolution objects using only N sub-coding plates, under both full-sampling and under-sampling scenarios. Moreover, our scheme demonstrates superiority over the Hadamard scheme in both imaging quality and the number of required sub-coding plates, whether in scenarios of full-sampling or under-sampling. Finally, an {\alpha} ray imaging platform was established to further demonstrate the feasibility of the rotational modulation method. By employing our scheme, a mere 8 sub-coding plates were employed to achieve CGI of the radiation source intensity distribution, achieving a resolution of 8*8. Therefore, the novel ray CGI based on rotational modulation method can achieve high-quality imaging effect with fewer sub-coding plates, which has important practical value and research significance for promoting single-pixel radiation imaging technology.
It was recently found that the indefinite causal order in the quantum switch can be certified device-independently when assuming the impossibility of superluminal influences. Here we strengthen this result in two ways. First, we give a proof of this fact which is possibilistic, rather than probabilistic, i.e. which does not rely on the validity of probability theory at the hidden variable level. Then, returning to the probabilistic setting, we show that the indefinite causal order in the quantum switch is also maximal, in the sense that the observed correlations are incompatible even with the existence of a causal order on only a small fraction of the runs of the experiment. While the original result makes use of quantum theory's violation of a Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt inequality, the proofs presented here are based on Greenberger, Horne, and Zeilinger's and Mermin's proofs of nonlocality, respectively.
Here we report the performance of a small scale 4 K pulse tube cryocooler operating with a low input power reaching a minimum temperature of 2.2 K, as well as a cooling capacity of over 240 mW at 4.2 K. The compressor is air cooled and can be supplied by single phase power sockets. With an input power of about 1.3 kW the coefficient of performance reaches values of up to 185 mW/kW, which is among the highest currently reported values for small to medium power pulse tubes. The combination of an oil-free Helium compressor and low maintenance pulse tube cryocooler provides a unique miniaturized, energy efficient and mobile cooling tool for applications at 4 K and below.
In this work we present a simulation of the semiconductor electrodes of photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting cells based on the nonequilibrium Green's function (NEGF) formalism. While the performance of simple PEC cells can be adequately explained with semi-classical drift-diffusion theory, the increasing interest towards thin film cells and nanostructures in general requires theoretical treatment that can capture the quantum phenomena influencing the charge carrier dynamics in these devices. Specifically, we study a p-type Cu2O electrode and examine the influence of the bias voltage, reaction kinetics and the thickness of the Cu2O layer on the generated photocurrent. The NEGF equations are solved in a self-consistent manner with the electrostatic potential from Poisson's equation, sunlight induced photon scattering and the chemical overpotential required to drive the water splitting reaction. We show that the NEGF simulation accurately reproduces experimental results from both voltammetry and impedance spectroscopy measurements, while providing an energy resolved solution of the charge carrier densities and corresponding currents inside the semiconductor electrode at nanoscale.
Inspired by protocols in relativistic quantum cryptography, we investigate quantum state discrimination using local operations and simultaneous classical or quantum communication (LOSCC/LOSQC). When one system is a qubit, we identify the structure of product ensembles that can be perfectly discriminated by LOSCC. We show these conditions fail for LOSQC and provide the smallest-sized example in which a gap between LOSCC and LOSQC exists. Finally, we prove an uncertainty relation that yields error bounds in LOSQC state discrimination and noise thresholds for quantum position verification.
Extracting arbitrary state properties from analog quantum simulations presents a significant challenge due to the necessity of diverse basis measurements. Recent advancements in randomized measurement schemes have successfully reduced measurement sample complexity, yet they demand precise control over each qubit. In this work, we propose the \emph{Hamiltonian shadow} protocol, which solely depends on quench dynamics with a single Hamiltonian, without any ancillary systems. We provide physical and geometrical intuitions and theoretical guarantees that our protocol can unbiasedly extract arbitrary state properties. We also derive the sample complexity of this protocol and show that it performs comparably to the classical shadow protocol. The Hamiltonian shadow protocol does not require sophisticated control and is universally applicable to various analog quantum systems, as illustrated through numerical demonstrations with Rydberg atom arrays under realistic parameter settings. The new protocol significantly broadens the application of randomized measurements for analog quantum simulators without precise control and ancillary systems.
It can be argued that the ordinary description of the reversible quantum process between two one-to-one correlated measurement outcomes is incomplete because, by not specifying the direction of causality, it allows causal structures that violate the time symmetry that is required of a reversible process. This also means that it can be completed simply by time-symmetrizing it, namely by requiring that the initial and final measurements evenly contribute to the selection of their correlated pair of outcomes. This leaves the description unaltered but shows that it is the quantum superposition of unobservable time-symmetrized instances whose causal structure is completely defined. Each instance consists of a causal loop: the final measurement that changes backwards in time the input state of the unitary transformation that leads to the state immediately before it. In former works, we have shown that such loops exactly explain the quantum computational speedup and quantum nonlocality. In this work we show that they lead to a completion of the anthropic principle that allows a universe evolution with quantum speedup.
Simulating quantum imaginary-time evolution (QITE) is a major promise of quantum computation. However, the known algorithms are either probabilistic (repeat until success) with impractically small success probabilities or coherent (quantum amplitude amplification) but with circuit depths and ancillary-qubit numbers unrealistically large in the mid term. Our main contribution is a new generation of deterministic, high-precision QITE algorithms significantly more amenable experimentally. These are based on a surprisingly simple idea: partitioning the evolution into several fragments that are sequentially run probabilistically. This causes a huge reduction in wasted circuit depth every time a run fails. Indeed, the resulting overall runtime is asymptotically better than in coherent approaches and the hardware requirements even milder than in probabilistic ones, remarkably. More technically, we present two QITE-circuit sub-routines with excellent complexity scalings. One of them is optimal in ancillary-qubit overhead (one single ancillary qubit throughout) whereas the other one is optimal in runtime for small inverse temperature or high precision. The latter is shown by noting that the runtime saturates a cooling-speed limit that is the imaginary-time counterpart of the no fast-forwarding theorem of real-time simulations, which we prove. Moreover, we also make two technical contributions to the quantum signal processing formalism for operator-function synthesis (on which our sub-routines are based) that are useful beyond QITE. Our findings are specially relevant for the early fault-tolerance stages of quantum hardware.
We find that, in the presence of weak incoherent effects from surrounding environments, the zero temperature conductance of nearest neighbour tight-binding chains exhibits a counter-intuitive power-law growth with system length at band-edges, indicating superballistic scaling. This fascinating environment assisted superballistic scaling of conductance occurs over a finite but extended regime of system lengths. This scaling regime can be systematically expanded by decreasing the coupling to the surrounding environments. There is no corresponding analog of this behavior for isolated systems. This superballistic scaling stems from an intricate interplay of incoherent effects from surrounding environments and exceptional points of the system's transfer matrix that occur at every band-edge.
A promising approach for scaling-up trapped-ion quantum computer platforms is by storing multiple trapped-ion qubit sets ('ion crystals') in segmented microchip traps and to interconnect these via physical movement of the ions ('shuttling'). Already for realizing quantum circuits with moderate complexity, the design of suitable qubit assignments and shuttling schedules require automation. Here, we describe and test algorithms which address exactly these tasks. We describe an algorithm for fully automated generation of shuttling schedules, complying to constraints imposed by a given trap structure. Furthermore, we introduce different methods for initial qubit assignment and compare these for random circuit (of up to 20 qubits) and quantum Fourier transform-like circuits, and generalized Toffoli gates of up to 40 qubits each. We find that for quantum circuits which contain a fixed structure, advanced assignment algorithms can serve to reduce the shuttling overhead.
When a time propagator $e^{\delta t A}$ for duration $\delta t$ consists of two noncommuting parts $A=X+Y$, Trotterization approximately decomposes the propagator into a product of exponentials of $X$ and $Y$. Various Trotterization formulas have been utilized in quantum and classical computers, but much less is known for the Trotterization with the time-dependent generator $A(t)$. Here, for $A(t)$ given by the sum of two operators $X$ and $Y$ with time-dependent coefficients $A(t) = x(t) X + y(t) Y$, we develop a systematic approach to derive high-order Trotterization formulas with minimum possible exponentials. In particular, we obtain fourth-order and sixth-order Trotterization formulas involving seven and fifteen exponentials, respectively, which are no more than those for time-independent generators. We also construct another fourth-order formula consisting of nine exponentials having a smaller error coefficient. Finally, we numerically benchmark the fourth-order formulas in a Hamiltonian simulation for a quantum Ising chain, showing that the 9-exponential formula accompanies smaller errors per local quantum gate than the well-known Suzuki formula.
Two exactly-solvable confined models of the completely positive oscillator-shaped quantum well are proposed. Exact solutions of the position-dependent mass Schr\"odinger equation corresponding to the proposed quantum well potentials are presented. It is shown that the discrete energy spectrum expressions of both models depend on certain positive confinement parameters. The spectrum exhibits positive equidistant behavior for the model confined only with one infinitely high wall and non-equidistant behavior for the model confined with the infinitely high wall from both sides. Wavefunctions of the stationary states of the models under construction are expressed through the Laguerre and Jacobi polynomials. In general, the Jacobi polynomials appearing in wavefunctions depend on parameters $a$ and $b$, but the Laguerre polynomials depend only on the parameter $a$. Some limits and special cases of the constructed models are discussed.
Effective information transmission is a central element in quantum information protocols, but the quest for optimal efficiency in channels with symmetrical characteristics remains a prominent challenge in quantum information science. In light of this challenge, we introduce a hybrid channel that encompasses thermal, magnetic, and local components, each simultaneously endowed with characteristics that enhance and diminish quantum correlations. To investigate the symmetry of this hybrid channel, we explore the quantum correlations of a simple two-qubit Heisenberg spin state, quantified using measures such as negativity, $\ell_1$-norm coherence, entropic uncertainty, and entropy functions. Our findings reveal that the hybrid channel can be adeptly tailored to preserve quantum correlations, surpassing the capabilities of its individual components. We also identify optimal parameterizations to attain maximum entanglement from mixed-entangled/separable states, even in the presence of local dephasing. Notably, various parameters and quantum features, including non-Markovianity, exhibit distinct behaviors in the context of this hybrid channel. Ultimately, we discuss potential experimental applications of this configuration.
Entanglement entropies of two-dimensional gapped ground states are expected to satisfy an area law, with a constant correction term known as the topological entanglement entropy (TEE). In many models, the TEE takes a universal value that characterizes the underlying topological phase. However, the TEE is not truly universal: it can differ even for two states related by constant-depth circuits, which are necessarily in the same phase. The difference between the TEE and the value predicted by the anyon theory is often called the spurious topological entanglement entropy. We show that this spurious contribution is always nonnegative, thus the value predicted by the anyon theory provides a universal lower bound. This observation also leads to a definition of TEE that is invariant under constant-depth quantum circuits.
Projection operators arise naturally as one-particle density operators associated to Slater determinants in fields such as quantum mechanics and the study of determinantal processes. In the context of the semiclassical approximation of quantum mechanics, projection operators can be seen as the analogue of characteristic functions of subsets of the phase space, which are discontinuous functions. We prove that projection operators indeed converge to characteristic functions of the phase space and that in terms of quantum Sobolev spaces, they exhibit the same maximal regularity as characteristic functions. This can be interpreted as a semiclassical asymptotic on the size of commutators in Schatten norms. Our study answers a question raised in [J. Chong, L. Lafleche, C. Saffirio, arXiv:2103.10946 [math.AP]] about the possibility of having projection operators as initial data. It also gives a strong convergence result in Sobolev spaces for the Weyl law in phase space.
We investigate whether it is possible to teleport the coherence of an unknown quantum state from Alice to Bob by communicating a lesser number of classical bits in comparison to what is required for teleporting an unknown quantum state. We find that we cannot achieve perfect teleportation of coherence with one bit of classical communication for an arbitrary qubit. However, we find that if the qubit is partially known, i.e., chosen from the equatorial and polar circles of the Bloch sphere, then teleportation of coherence is possible with the transfer of one cbit of information when we have maximally entangled states as a shared resource. In the case of the resource being a non-maximally entangled state, we can teleport the coherence with a certain probability of success. In a general teleportation protocol for coherence, we derive a compact formula for the final state at Bob's lab in terms of the composition of the completely positive maps corresponding to the shared resource state and joint POVM performed by Alice on her qubit and the unknown state. Using this formula, we show that teleportation of the coherence of a partially known state with real matrix elements is possible perfectly with the help of a maximally entangled state as a resource. Furthermore, we explore the teleportation of coherence with the Werner states and show that even when the Werner states become separable, the amount of teleported coherence is non-zero, implying the possibility of teleportation of coherence without entanglement.
Quantum neural networks represent a new machine learning paradigm that has recently attracted much attention due to its potential promise. Under certain conditions, these models approximate the distribution of their dataset with a truncated Fourier series. The trigonometric nature of this fit could result in angle-embedded quantum neural networks struggling to fit the non-harmonic features in a given dataset. Moreover, the interpretability of neural networks remains a challenge. In this work, we introduce a new, interpretable class of hybrid quantum neural networks that pass the inputs of the dataset in parallel to 1) a classical multi-layered perceptron and 2) a variational quantum circuit, and then the outputs of the two are linearly combined. We observe that the quantum neural network creates a smooth sinusoidal foundation base on the training set, and then the classical perceptrons fill the non-harmonic gaps in the landscape. We demonstrate this claim on two synthetic datasets sampled from periodic distributions with added protrusions as noise. The training results indicate that the parallel hybrid network architecture could improve the solution optimality on periodic datasets with additional noise.
I propose Ziv-Zakai-type lower bounds on the Bayesian error for estimating a parameter $\beta:\Theta \to \mathbb R$ when the parameter space $\Theta$ is general and $\beta(\theta)$ need not be a linear function of $\theta$.
Neural network quantum state (NNQS) has emerged as a promising candidate for quantum many-body problems, but its practical applications are often hindered by the high cost of sampling and local energy calculation. We develop a high-performance NNQS method for \textit{ab initio} electronic structure calculations. The major innovations include: (1) A transformer based architecture as the quantum wave function ansatz; (2) A data-centric parallelization scheme for the variational Monte Carlo (VMC) algorithm which preserves data locality and well adapts for different computing architectures; (3) A parallel batch sampling strategy which reduces the sampling cost and achieves good load balance; (4) A parallel local energy evaluation scheme which is both memory and computationally efficient; (5) Study of real chemical systems demonstrates both the superior accuracy of our method compared to state-of-the-art and the strong and weak scalability for large molecular systems with up to $120$ spin orbitals.
Analyzing quantum many-body problems and elucidating the entangled structure of quantum states is a significant challenge common to a wide range of fields. Recently, a novel approach using machine learning was introduced to address this challenge. The idea is to "embed" nontrivial quantum correlations (quantum entanglement) into artificial neural networks. Through intensive developments, artificial neural network methods are becoming new powerful tools for analyzing quantum many-body problems. Among various artificial neural networks, this topical review focuses on Boltzmann machines and provides an overview of recent developments and applications.
The Dicke model describes the collective behavior of a sub-wavelength--size ensemble of two-level atoms (i.e., spin-1/2) interacting identically with a single quantized radiation field of a cavity. Across a critical coupling strength it exhibits a zero-temperature phase transition from the normal state to the superradian phase where the field is populated and and the collective spin acquires a nonzero $x$-component, which can be imagined as ferromagnetic ordering of the atomic spins along $x$. Here we introduce a variant of this model where two sub-wavelength--size ensembles of spins interact with a single quantized radiation field with different strengths. Subsequently, we restrict ourselves to a special case where the coupling strengths are opposite (which is unitarily equivalent to equal-coupling strengths). Due to the conservation of the total spin in each ensemble individually, the system supports two distinct superradiant states with $x$-ferromagnetic and $x$-ferrimagnetic spin ordering, coexisting with each other in a large parameter regime. The stability and dynamics of the system in the thermodynamic limit are examined using a semiclassical approach, which predicts non-stationary behaviors due to the multistabilities. At the end, we also perform small-scale full quantum-mechanical calculations, with results consistent with the semiclassical ones.
Transduction of quantum information between distinct quantum systems is an essential step in various applications, including quantum networks and quantum computing. However, mediating photons of vastly different frequencies and designing high-performance transducers are challenging, due to multifaceted and sometimes conflicting requirements. In this work, we first discuss some general principles for quantum transducer design, and then propose solid-state anti-ferromagnetic topological insulators to serve as highly effective transducers. First, topological insulators exhibit band-inversion, which can greatly enhance their optical responses. This property, coupled with robust spin-orbit coupling and high spin density, results in strong nonlinear interaction in magnetic topological insulators, thereby substantially improving transduction efficiency. Second, the anti-ferromagnetic order can minimize the detrimental influence on other neighboring quantum systems due to magnetic interactions. Using MnBi2Te4 as an example, we showcase that single-photon quantum transduction efficiency exceeding 80% can be achieved with modest experimental requirements, while the transduction bandwidth can reach the GHz range. The strong nonlinear photonic interactions in magnetic topological insulators can find diverse applications, including the generation of entanglement between photons of disparate frequencies and quantum squeezing.
We propose a classification of measurement apparatuses based on their reliability and accessibility. Our notion of reliability parameterises the possibility of getting unexpected wrong results when using the apparatus in a given time window, and the one of accessibility describes the energy cost required to make the apparatus interact with a measured system. The classification is obtained by relating an apparatus's reliability and accessibility to the time dependence of the overlap of its pointer states. As an example, we study a one-to-all qubit interaction in which all the qubits act as a measurement apparatus for the one. This model shows that using randomly selected couplings results in accessible but unpredictable measurement apparatuses. Conversely, apparatuses with uniform coupling exhibit higher reliability but are energetically more costly.
Deterministic photon sources allow long-term advancements in quantum optics. A single quantum emitter embedded in a photonic resonator or waveguide may be triggered to emit one photon at a time into a desired optical mode. By coherently controlling a single spin in the emitter, multi-photon entanglement can be realized. We demonstrate a deterministic source of three-qubit entanglement based on a single electron spin trapped in a quantum dot embedded in a planar nanophotonic waveguide. We implement nuclear spin narrowing to increase the spin dephasing time to $T_2^* \simeq 33$ ns, which enables high-fidelity coherent optical spin rotations, and realize a spin-echo pulse sequence for sequential generation of high-fidelity spin-photon and spin-photon-photon entanglement. The emitted photons are highly indistinguishable, which is a key requirement for subsequent photon fusions to realize larger entangled states. This work presents a scalable deterministic source of multi-photon entanglement with a clear pathway for further improvements, offering promising applications in photonic quantum computing or quantum networks.
We theoretically investigate the merging behaviour of two identical supersolids through dipolar Bose-Einstein condensates confined within a double-well potential. By adiabatically tuning the barrier height and the spacing between the two wells for specific trap aspect ratios, the two supersolids move toward each other and lead to the emergence of a variety of ground state phases, including a supersolid state, a macrodroplet state, a ring state, and a labyrinth state. We construct a phase diagram that characterizes various states seen during the merging transition. Further, we calculate the force required to pull the two portions of the gas apart, finding that the merged supersolids act like a deformable plastic material. Our work paves the way for future studies of layer structure in dipolar supersolids and the interaction between them in experiments.
We demonstrate a simple technique for adding controlled dissipation to Rydberg atom experiments. In our experiments we excite cold rubidium atoms in a magneto-optical trap to $70$-S Rydberg states whilst simultaneously inducing forced dissipation by resonantly coupling the Rydberg state to a hyperfine level of the short-lived $6$-P state. The resulting effective dissipation can be varied in strength and switched on and off during a single experimental cycle.