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Showing votes from 2023-12-15 12:30 to 2023-12-19 11:30 | Next meeting is Tuesday Oct 29th, 10:30 am.

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astro-ph.CO

  • Bayesian Inference of Initial Conditions from Non-Linear Cosmic Structures using Field-Level Emulators.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Ludvig Doeser, Drew Jamieson, Stephen Stopyra, Guilhem Lavaux, Florent Leclercq, Jens Jasche
     

    Analysing next-generation cosmological data requires balancing accurate modeling of non-linear gravitational structure formation and computational demands. We propose a solution by introducing a machine learning-based field-level emulator, within the Hamiltonian Monte Carlo-based Bayesian Origin Reconstruction from Galaxies (BORG) inference algorithm. Built on a V-net neural network architecture, the emulator enhances the predictions by first-order Lagrangian perturbation theory to be accurately aligned with full $N$-body simulations while significantly reducing evaluation time. We test its incorporation in BORG for sampling cosmic initial conditions using mock data based on non-linear large-scale structures from $N$-body simulations and Gaussian noise. The method efficiently and accurately explores the high-dimensional parameter space of initial conditions, fully extracting the cross-correlation information of the data field binned at a resolution of $1.95h^{-1}$ Mpc. Percent-level agreement with the ground truth in the power spectrum and bispectrum is achieved up to the Nyquist frequency $k_\mathrm{N} \approx 2.79h \; \mathrm{Mpc}^{-1}$. Posterior resimulations - using the inferred initial conditions for $N$-body simulations - show that the recovery of information in the initial conditions is sufficient to accurately reproduce halo properties. In particular, we show highly accurate $M_{200\mathrm{c}}$ halo mass function and stacked density profiles of haloes in different mass bins $[0.853,16]\times 10^{14}M_{\odot}h^{-1}$. As all available cross-correlation information is extracted, we acknowledge that limitations in recovering the initial conditions stem from the noise level and data grid resolution. This is promising as it underscores the significance of accurate non-linear modeling, indicating the potential for extracting additional information at smaller scales.

  • Ultra-high frequency primordial gravitational waves beyond the kHz: the case of cosmic strings.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Géraldine Servant, Peera Simakachorn
     

    We investigate gravitational-wave backgrounds (GWBs) of primordial origin that would manifest only at ultra-high frequencies, from kilohertz to 100 gigahertz, and leave no signal at either LIGO, Einstein Telescope, Cosmic Explorer, LISA, or pulsar-timing arrays. We focus on GWBs produced by cosmic strings and make predictions for the GW spectra scanning over high-energy scale (beyond $10^{10}$ GeV) particle physics parameters. Signals from local string networks can easily be as large as the Big Bang nucleosynthesis/cosmic microwave background bounds, with a characteristic strain as high as $10^{-26}$ in the 10 kHz band, offering prospects to probe grand unification physics in the $10^{14}-10^{17}$ GeV energy range. In comparison, GWB from axionic strings is suppressed (with maximal characteristic strain $\sim 10^{-31}$) due to the early matter era induced by the associated heavy axions. We estimate the needed reach of hypothetical futuristic GW detectors to probe such GW and, therefore, the corresponding high-energy physics processes. Beyond the information of the symmetry-breaking scale, the high-frequency spectrum encodes the microscopic structure of the strings through the position of the UV cutoffs associated with cusps and/or kinks, as well as potential information about friction forces on the string. The IR slope, on the other hand, reflects the physics responsible for the decay of the string network. We discuss possible strategies for reconstructing the scalar potential, particularly the scalar self-coupling, from the measurement of the UV cutoff of the GW spectrum.

  • Unsupervised Searches for Cosmological Parity-Violation: An Investigation with Convolutional Neural Networks.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Peter L. Taylor, Matthew Craigie, Yuan-Sen Ting
     

    Recent measurements of the $4$-point correlation functions (4PCF) from spectroscopic surveys provide evidence for parity-violations in the large-scale structure of the Universe. If physical in origin, this could point to exotic physics during the epoch of inflation. However, searching for parity-violations in the 4PCF signal relies on a large suite of simulations to perform a rank test, or an accurate model of the 4PCF covariance to claim a detection, and this approach is incapable of extracting parity information from the higher-order $N$-point functions. In this work we present an unsupervised method which overcomes these issues, before demonstrating the approach is capable of detecting parity-violations in a few toy models using convolutional neural networks. This technique is complementary to the 4-point method and could be used to discover parity-violations in several upcoming surveys including DESI, Euclid and Roman.

  • The evolutionary path of void galaxies in TNG300 simulation.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Agustín Rodríguez-Medrano, Volker Springel, Federico Stasyszyn, Dante Paz
     

    The properties of galaxies in low-density regions of the universe suggest an interplay between galaxy formation and environment. However, the specific reason why this particular large-scale environment influences the evolution of galaxies remains unclear. This paper examines the properties and evolutionary paths of galaxies within cosmic voids using the Illustris TNG300 simulation. The population of void galaxies at z = 0 has a higher star formation rate, a smaller stellar-to-halo-mass ratio, higher gas metallicity, and lower stellar metallicity in comparison with non-void galaxies at fixed stellar mass. Our analysis shows that these differences are mainly due to the characteristics of galaxies classified as satellites, for which the largest differences between void and non-void samples are found. Although the mean number of mergers is similar between void and non-void samples at a fixed stellar mass, void galaxies tend to experience mergers at later times, resulting in a more recent accumulation of accreted stellar mass. While the mean net accreted mass is comparable for high mass galaxies, low mass void galaxies tend to exhibit higher fractions of accreted stars than non-void galaxies. This finding challenges the common notion that void galaxies predominantly experience growth with infrequent mergers or interactions.

  • Time Delay Cosmography: Analysis of Quadruply Lensed QSO SDSSJ1433 from Wendelstein Observatory.- [PDF] - [Article]

    G. Queirolo, 2), S. Seitz, 2), A. Riffeser, 2), M. Kluge, 1), R. Bender, 1), C. Gössl, U. Hopp, 2), C. Ries, M. Schmidt, R. Zöller, 2) ( (1) Universitäts-Sternwarte, Fakultät für Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians Universität München, Scheinerstr. 1, 81679 München, Germany, (2) Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Giessenbachstrasse 1, 85748 Garching, Germany)
     

    The goal of this work is to obtain a Hubble constant estimate through the study of the quadruply lensed, variable QSO SDSSJ1433+6007. To achieve this we combine multi-filter, archival $\textit{HST}$ data for lens modelling and a dedicated time delay monitoring campaign with the 2.1m Fraunhofer telescope at the $\textit{Wendelstein Observatory}$. The lens modelling is carried out with the public $\texttt{lenstronomy}$ Python package for each of the filters individually. Through this approach, we find that the data in one of the $\textit{HST}$ filters (F160W) contain a light contaminant, that would, if remained undetected, have severely biased the lensing potentials and thus our cosmological inference. After rejecting these data we obtain a combined posterior for the Fermat potential differences from the lens modelling in the remaining filters (F475X, F814W, F105W and F140W) with a precision of $\sim6\%$. The analysis of the $\textit{g'}$-band Wendelstein light curve data is carried out with a free-knot spline fitting method implemented in the public Python $\texttt{PyCS3}$ tools. The precision of the time delays between the QSO images has a range between 7.5 and 9.8$\%$ depending on the brightness of the images and their time delay. We then combine the posteriors for the Fermat potential differences and time delays. Assuming a flat $\Lambda$CDM cosmology, we infer a Hubble parameter of $H_0=76.6^{+7.7}_{-7.0}\frac{\mathrm{km}}{\mathrm{Mpc\;s}}$, reaching $9.6\%$ uncertainty for a single system.

  • Model-independent Gamma-Ray Bursts Constraints on Cosmological Models Using Machine Learning.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Bin Zhang, Xiaoyao Xie, Xiaodong Nong, Guangzhen Wang, Zhiguo Xiong, Puxun Wu, Nan Liang
     

    In this paper, we calibrate the luminosity relation of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) with the machine learning (ML) methods for reconstructing distance-redshift relation from the Pantheon+ sample of type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) in a cosmology-independent way. The A219 GRB data set at low redshift are used to calibrate the Amati relation ($E_{\rm p}$-$E_{\rm iso}$) relation by the ML methods selected with the best performance %and the calibrated results are extrapolated to the high redshift data to construct the Hubble diagram at high redshift. We constrain cosmological models via the Markov Chain Monte Carlo numerical method with the GRBs at high redshift and the latest observational Hubble data (OHD). By the K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN) methods, we obtain $\Omega_{\rm m}$ = $0.29^{+0.09}_{-0.06}$, $h$ = $0.66^{+0.04}_{-0.07}$ , $w_0$ = $-0.83^{+0.66}_{-0.31}$, $w_a$ = $-0.91^{+0.87}_{-0.46}$ at 1-$\sigma$ confidence level for the Chevallier-Polarski-Linder (CPL) model in a flat space, which favor the dark energy with a possible evolution ($w_a\neq0$) at 1-$\sigma$. These results are consistent with those obtained from GRBs calibrated via the Gaussian Process.

  • Model-independent confirmation of a constant speed of light over cosmological distances.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Fulvio Melia
     

    Recent attempts at measuring the variation of $c$ using an assortment of standard candles and the redshift-dependent Hubble expansion rate inferred from the currently available catalog of cosmic chronometers have tended to show that the speed of light appears to be constant, at least up to $z\sim 2$. A notable exception is the use of high-redshift UV $+$ X-ray quasars, whose Hubble diagram seems to indicate a $\sim 2.7\sigma$ deviation of c from its value $c_0$ ($\equiv 2.99792458 \times 10^{10}$ cm s$^{-1}$) on Earth. We show in this paper, however, that this anomaly is due to an error in the derived relation between the luminosity distance, $D_L$, and $H(z)$ when $c$ is allowed to vary with redshift, and an imprecise calibration of the quasar catalog. When these deficiences are addressed correctly, one finds that $c/c_0=0.95 \pm 0.14$ in the redshift range $0\lesssim z\lesssim 2$, fully consistent with zero variation within the measurement errors.

  • Analytic Formulae for Inflationary Correlators with Dynamical Mass.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Shuntaro Aoki, Toshifumi Noumi, Fumiya Sano, Masahide Yamaguchi
     

    Massive fields can imprint unique oscillatory features on primordial correlation functions or inflationary correlators, which is dubbed the cosmological collider signal. In this work, we analytically investigate the effects of a time-dependent mass of a scalar field on inflationary correlators, extending previous numerical studies and implementing techniques developed in the cosmological bootstrap program. The time-dependent mass is in general induced by couplings to the slow-roll inflaton background, with particularly significant effects in the case of non-derivative couplings. By linearly approximating the time dependence, the mode function of the massive scalar is computed analytically, on which we derive analytic formulae for two-, three-, and four-point correlators with the tree-level exchange of the massive scalar. The obtained formulae are utilized to discuss the phenomenological impacts on the power spectrum and bispectrum, and it is found that the scaling behavior of the bispectrum in the squeezed configuration, i.e., the cosmological collider signal, is modified from a time-dependent Boltzmann suppression. By investigating the scaling behavior in detail, we are in principle able to determine the non-derivative couplings between the inflaton and the massive particle.

  • Watching the Universe's acceleration era with the SKAO.- [PDF] - [Article]

    C. M. J. Marques, C. J. A. P. Martins, B. Gilabert López
     

    The possibility of watching the Universe expand in real time and in a model-independent way, first envisaged by Allan Sandage more than 60 years ago and known as the redshift drift, is within reach of forthcoming astrophysical facilities, particularly the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) and the Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO). The latter, probing lower redshifts, enables us to watch the Universe's acceleration era in real time, while the former does the same for the matter era. We use Fisher Matrix Analysis techniques, which we show to give comparable results to those of a Markov Chain Monte Carlo approach, to discuss forecasts for SKAO measurements of the redshift drift and their cosmological impact. We consider specific fiducial cosmological models but mainly rely on a more agnostic cosmographic series (which includes the deceleration and jerk parameters), and we also discuss prospects for measurements of the drift of the drift. Overall, our analysis shows that SKAO measurements, with a reasonable amount of observing time, can provide a competitive probe of the low-redshift accelerating Universe.

  • Non-gravitational signals of dark energy under a gauge symmetry.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Kunio Kaneta, Hye-Sung Lee, Jiheon Lee, Jaeok Yi
     

    We investigate non-gravitational signals of dark energy within the framework of gauge symmetry in the dark energy sector. Traditionally, dark energy has been primarily studied through gravitational effects within general relativity or its extensions. On the other hand, the gauge principles have played a central role in the standard model sector and dark matter sector. If the dark energy field operates under a gauge symmetry, it introduces the possibility of studying all major components of the present universe under the same gauge principle. This approach marks a significant shift from conventional methodologies, offering a new avenue to explore dark energy.

  • Dark Energy Survey Deep Field photometric redshift performance and training incompleteness assessment.- [PDF] - [Article]

    L. Toribio San Cipriano, J. De Vicente, I. Sevilla-Noarbe, W. G. Hartley, J. Myles, A. Amon, G. M. Bernstein, A. Choi, K. Eckert, R. A. Gruendl, I. Harrison, E. Sheldon, B. Yanny, M. Aguena, S. S. Allam, O. Alves, D. Bacon, D. Brooks, A. Campos, A. Carnero Rosell, J. Carretero, F. J. Castander, C. Conselice, L. N. da Costa, M. E. S. Pereira, T. M. Davis, S. Desai, H. T. Diehl, P. Doel, I. Ferrero, J. Frieman, J. García-Bellido, E. Gaztañaga, G. Giannini, S. R. Hinton, D. L. Hollowood, K. Honscheid, D. J. James, K. Kuehn, S. Lee, C. Lidman, J. L. Marshall, J. Mena-Fernández, F. Menanteau, R. Miquel, A. Palmese, A. Pieres, A. A. Plazas Malagón, A. Roodman, E. Sanchez, M. Smith, M. Soares-Santos, E. Suchyta, M. E. C. Swanson, G. Tarle, M. Vincenzi, N. Weaverdyck, P. Wiseman
     

    Context. The determination of accurate photometric redshifts (photo-zs) in large imaging galaxy surveys is key for cosmological studies. One of the most common approaches are machine learning techniques. These methods require a spectroscopic or reference sample to train the algorithms. Attention has to be paid to the quality and properties of these samples since they are key factors in the estimation of reliable photo-zs. Aims. The goal of this work is to calculate the photo-zs for the Y3 DES Deep Fields catalogue using the DNF machine learning algorithm. Moreover, we want to develop techniques to assess the incompleteness of the training sample and metrics to study how incompleteness affects the quality of photometric redshifts. Finally, we are interested in comparing the performance obtained with respect to the EAzY template fitting approach on Y3 DES Deep Fields catalogue. Methods. We have emulated -- at brighter magnitude -- the training incompleteness with a spectroscopic sample whose redshifts are known to have a measurable view of the problem. We have used a principal component analysis to graphically assess incompleteness and to relate it with the performance parameters provided by DNF. Finally, we have applied the results about the incompleteness to the photo-z computation on Y3 DES Deep Fields with DNF and estimated its performance. Results. The photo-zs for the galaxies on DES Deep Fields have been computed with the DNF algorithm and added to the Y3 DES Deep Fields catalogue. They are available at https://des.ncsa.illinois.edu/releases/y3a2/Y3deepfields. Some techniques have been developed to evaluate the performance in the absence of "true" redshift and to assess completeness. We have studied... (Partial abstract)

  • Machine learning applications in astrophysics: Photometric redshift estimation.- [PDF] - [Article]

    John Y. H. Soo, Ishaq Y. K. Alshuaili, Imdad Mahmud Pathi
     

    Machine learning has rose to become an important research tool in the past decade, its application has been expanded to almost if not all disciplines known to mankind. Particularly, the use of machine learning in astrophysics research had a humble beginning in the early 1980s, it has rose and become widely used in many sub-fields today, driven by the vast availability of free astronomical data online. In this short review, we narrow our discussion to a single topic in astrophysics - the estimation of photometric redshifts of galaxies and quasars, where we discuss its background, significance, and how machine learning has been used to improve its estimation methods in the past 20 years. We also show examples of some recent machine learning photometric redshift work done in Malaysia, affirming that machine learning is a viable and easy way a developing nation can contribute towards general research in astronomy and astrophysics.

  • Review of Hubble tension solutions with new SH0ES and SPT-3G data.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Ali Rida Khalife, Maryam Bahrami Zanjani, Silvia Galli, Sven Günther, Julien Lesgourgues, Karim Benabed
     

    We present an updated analysis of eleven cosmological models that may help reduce the Hubble tension, which now reaches the $6\sigma$ level when considering the latest SH0ES measurement versus recent CMB and BAO data, assuming $\Lambda$CDM. Specifically, we look at five classical extensions of $\Lambda$CDM (with massive neutrinos, spatial curvature, free-streaming or self-interacting relativistic relics, or dynamical dark energy) and six elaborate models featuring either a time-varying electron mass, early dark energy or some non-trivial interactions in the neutrino sector triggered by a light Majoron. We improve over previous works in several ways. We include the latest data from the South Pole Telescope as well as the most recent measurement of the Hubble rate by the SH0ES collaboration. We treat the summed neutrino mass as a free parameter in most of our models, which reveals interesting degeneracies and constraints. We define additional metrics to assess the potential of a model to reduce or even solve the Hubble tension. We validate an emulator that uses active learning to train itself during each parameter inference run for any arbitrary model. We find that the time-varying electron mass and the Majoron models are now ruled out at more than $3\sigma$. Models with a time-varying electron mass and spatial curvature or with early dark energy reduce the tension to 1.0-2.9$\sigma$. Nevertheless, none of the models considered in this work is favored with enough statistical significance to become the next concordance model of Cosmology.

  • Extra Dimensions Beyond the Horizon.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Jeffrey Kuntz, Andreas Trautner
     

    We discuss an extra-dimensional braneworld with a 5th dimension compactified on a circle. As a characteristic feature, the warp factor is hyperbolic and separates the hidden and visible branes by a bulk horizon without a singularity. The two most widely separated scales of 4D physics - the 4D Planck mass and 4D cosmological constant - are determined by two physical scales in the extra dimension, namely: $(i)$ the proper size of the extra dimension, $R$, and, $(ii)$ the distance between the visible brane and the horizon, $R_0$. A realistic scale hierarchy between 4D Planck mass and 4D cosmological constant is obtained for $R/R_0\sim2.34$. The usual fine tuning is not reduced but promoted to a fine tuning of two separate brane energy densities that must approach the fundamental scale of the model with very high precision. Our scenario is based on an exact solution to the 5D Einstein equations with a strictly empty bulk and Friedmann-Lema\^itre-Robertson-Walker metric on the 4D branes. This requires positive 4D brane energy densities and describes an adiabatic runaway solution in agreement with the de Sitter swampland conjecture. The Kaluza-Klein (KK) graviton states are solutions of a modified P\"oschl-Teller potential which permits a discrete graviton spectrum of $\textit{exactly two}$ modes. In addition to the usual massless graviton, our scenario predicts an extra massive spin-2 graviton with a mass gap of $m_1=\sqrt{2}H_0\approx2\times10^{-33}\,\mathrm{eV}$ which might be detectable in the foreseeable future. A KK tower of gravitons, or a possible continuum of massive graviton states, is prohibited by unitarity with respect to the horizon. We discuss hurdles in turning this model into a realistic cosmology at all times, which points us towards 4D brane tensions that that must be raising towards the fundamental scale of the model, while the observable 4D expansion rate is decreasing.

  • The observer-dependence of the Hubble parameter: a covariant perspective.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Roy Maartens, Jessica Santiago, Chris Clarkson, Basheer Kalbouneh, Christian Marinoni
     

    The disagreement between low- and high-redshift measurements of the Hubble parameter is emerging as a serious tension that challenges the standard model of cosmology. Here we focus not on the tension itself, but on a model-independent view of the Hubble parameter in a general spacetime. We define a covariant Hubble parameter that is in principle observable on the past lightcone. Then we present a careful analysis of the transformation of the Hubble parameter under a change of observer. To leading order in relative velocity, a moving observer will measure the same monopole and quadrupole as a matter-frame observer, but will also detect a dipole, generated by Doppler and aberration effects. The aberrated contribution to the dipole is neglected in a standard perturbative analysis. In order to connect the Hubble parameter to observables, we develop a covariant analysis of cosmic distances and their behaviour under boosts. This reveals that the standard relation between the Hubble parameter and luminosity distance is not invariant under boosts and holds only in the matter frame. A moving observer should correct the luminosity distance by a redshift factor -- otherwise an incorrect dipole and a spurious octupole are detected. In a standard perturbative analysis, this error leads to a false prediction of {\em no} dipole.

  • Enhancing CMB map reconstruction and power spectrum estimation with convolutional neural networks.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Belén Costanza, Claudia G. Scóccola, Matías Zaldarriaga
     

    The accurate reconstruction of Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) maps and the measurement of its power spectrum are crucial for studying the early universe. In this paper, we implement a convolutional neural network to apply the Wiener Filter to CMB temperature maps, and use it intensively to compute an optimal quadratic estimation of the power spectrum. Our neural network has a UNet architecture as that implemented in WienerNet, but with novel aspects such as being written in python 3 and TensorFlow 2. It also includes an extra channel for the noise variance map, to account for inhomogeneous noise, and a channel for the mask. The network is very efficient, overcoming the bottleneck that is typically found in standard methods to compute the Wiener Filter, such as those that apply the conjugate gradient. It scales efficiently with the size of the map, making it a useful tool to include in CMB data analysis. The accuracy of the Wiener Filter reconstruction is satisfactory, as compared with the standard method. We heavily use this approach to efficiently estimate the power spectrum, by performing a simulation-based analysis of the optimal quadratic estimator. We further evaluate the quality of the reconstructed maps in terms of the power spectrum and find that we can properly recover the statistical properties of the signal. We find that the proposed architecture can account for inhomogeneous noise efficiently. Furthermore, increasing the complexity of the variance map presents a more significant challenge for the convergence of the network than the noise level does.

  • Prediction of the bubble wall velocity for a large jump in degrees of freedom.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Mikel Sanchez-Garitaonandia, Jorinde van de Vis
     

    The bubble expansion velocity is an important parameter in the prediction of gravitational waves from first order phase transitions. This parameter is difficult to compute, especially in phase transitions in strongly coupled theories. In this work, we present a method to estimate the wall velocity for phase transitions with a large enthalpy jump, valid for weakly and strongly coupled theories. We find that detonations are disfavored in this limit, but wall velocities are not necessarily small. We also investigate the effect of two other features in the equation of state: non-conformal sound speeds and a limited range of temperatures for which the phases exist. We find that the former can increase the wall velocity for a given nucleation temperature, and the latter can restrict the wall velocities to small values. To test our approach, we use holographic phase transitions, which typically display these three features. We find excellent agreement with numerically obtained values of the wall velocity. We also demonstrate that the implications for gravitational waves can be significant.

  • The anomaly of the CMB power with the latest Planck data.- [PDF] - [Article]

    M. Billi, R. B. Barreiro, E. Martínez-González
     

    The lack of power anomaly is an unexpected feature observed at large angular scales in the CMB maps by the COBE, WMAP and Planck satellites. This signature, which consists in a missing of power with respect to that predicted by the $\Lambda$CDM model, might hint at a new cosmological phase before the standard inflationary era. The main point of this paper is taking the latest Planck polarisation data into account to investigate how CMB polarisation improves the understanding of this feature. With this aim, we apply to the last Planck data, both PR3 (2018) and PR4 (2020) releases, a new class of estimators able to evaluate this anomaly considering temperature and polarisation data both separately and in a jointly way. This is the first time that the PR4 dataset is used to study this anomaly. In order to critically evaluate this feature, taking into account the residuals of known systematic effects present in the Planck datasets, we analyse the cleaned CMB maps using different combinations of sky masks, harmonic range and binning on the CMB multipoles. Our analysis shows that the estimator based only on temperature data confirms the presence of a lack of power with a lower-tail-probability (LTP), depending on the component separation method, $\leq 0.33\%$ and $\leq 1.76\%$, for PR3 and PR4 respectively. To our knowledge the $LTP \leq 0.33\%$ for the PR3 dataset is the lowest one present in the literature obtained from Planck 2018 data considering the Planck confidence mask. We find significant differences between these two datasets when polarisation is taken into account. However, we also show that for the PR3 dataset the inclusion of the subdominant polarisation information provides estimates which are less likely accepted in a $\Lambda$CDM cosmological model than the only-temperature analysis on the whole harmonic-range considered.

  • Reconstructing the metric in group field theory.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Steffen Gielen, Lisa Mickel
     

    We study a group field theory (GFT) for quantum gravity coupled to four massless scalar fields, using these matter fields to define a (relational) coordinate system. We exploit symmetries of the GFT action, in particular under shifts in the values of the scalar fields, to derive a set of classically conserved currents, and show that the same conservation laws hold exactly at the quantum level regardless of the choice of state. We propose a natural interpretation of the conserved currents which implies that the matter fields always satisfy the Klein-Gordon equation in GFT. We then observe that in our matter reference frame, the same conserved currents can be used to extract all components of an effective GFT spacetime metric. Finally, we apply this construction to the simple example of a spatially flat homogeneous and isotropic universe. Our proposal goes substantially beyond the GFT literature in which only specific geometric quantities such as the total volume or volume perturbations could be defined, opening up the possibility to study more general geometries as emerging from GFT.

  • Earliest Galaxies in the JADES Origins Field: Luminosity Function and Cosmic Star-Formation Rate Density 300 Myr after the Big Bang.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Brant Robertson, Benjamin D. Johnson, Sandro Tacchella, 4), Daniel J. Eisenstein, Kevin Hainline, Santiago Arribas, William M. Baker, 4), Andrew J. Bunker, Stefano Carniani, Courtney Carreira, Phillip A. Cargile, Stéphane Charlot, Jacopo Chevallard, Mirko Curti, Emma Curtis-Lake, Francesco D'Eugenio, 4), Eiichi Egami, Ryan Hausen, Jakob M. Helton, Peter Jakobsen, 14), Zhiyuan Ji, Gareth C. Jones, Roberto Maiolino, 4, 15), Michael V. Maseda, Erica Nelson, Pablo G. Pérez-González, Dávid Puskás, 4), Marcia Rieke, Renske Smit, Fengwu Sun, Hannah Übler, 4), Lily Whitler, Christopher N. A. Willmer, Chris Willott, Joris Witstok, 4) ((1) University of California, Santa Cruz, (2) Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, (3) Kavli Institute for Cosmology, University of Cambridge, (4) Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, (5) Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, (6) Centro de Astrobiologıa (CAB), CSIC-SINTA, (7) University of Oxford, (8) Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, (9) Sorbonne Université, CNRS (10) European Southern Observatory, (11) University of Hertfordshire, (12) The Johns Hopkins University, (13) Cosmic Dawn Center, (14) Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, (15) University College London, (16) University of Wisconsin-Madison, (17) University of Colorado, Boulder, (18) Liverpool John Moores University, (19) NRC Herzberg)
     

    We characterize the earliest galaxy population in the JADES Origins Field (JOF), the deepest imaging field observed with JWST. We make use of the ancillary Hubble optical images (5 filters spanning $0.4-0.9\mu\mathrm{m}$) and novel JWST images with 14 filters spanning $0.8-5\mu\mathrm{m}$, including 7 medium-band filters, and reaching total exposure times of up to 46 hours per filter. We combine all the imaging data at $>2\mu\mathrm{m}$ to construct the deepest imaging ever taken at these wavelengths, reaching as deep as $\approx31.4$ AB mag in the stack and 30.1-30.8 AB mag ($5\sigma$, $r=0.1"$ circular aperture) in individual filters. We measure photometric redshifts and use robust selection criteria to identify a sample of eight galaxy candidates at redshifts $z=11.5-15$. These objects show compact half-light radii of $R_{1/2}\sim50-200$pc, stellar masses of $M_\star\sim10^7-10^8M_\odot$, and star-formation rates of $\mathrm{SFR}\sim0.1-1~M_\odot~\mathrm{yr}^{-1}$. Our search finds no candidates at $15<z<20$, placing upper limits at these redshifts. We develop a forward modeling approach to infer the properties of the evolving luminosity function without binning in redshift or luminosity that marginalizes over the photometric redshift uncertainty of our candidate galaxies and incorporates the impact of non-detections. We find a $z=12$ luminosity function in good agreement with prior results, and that the luminosity function normalization and UV luminosity density decline by a factor of $\sim2.5$ from $z=12$ to $z=14$. We discuss the possible implications of our results in the context of theoretical models for evolution of the dark matter halo mass function.

  • Once in a blue stream: Detection of recent star formation in the NGC 7241 stellar stream with MEGARA.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    David Martinez-Delgado, Santi Roca-Fabrega, Armando Gil de Paz, Denis Erkal, Juan Miro-Carretero, Dmitry Makarov, Karina T. Voggel, Ryan Leaman, Walter Boschin, Sarah Pearson, Giuseppe Donatiello, Evgenii Rubtsov, Mohammad Akhlaghi, M. Angeles Gomez-Flechoso, Samane Raji, Dustin Lang, Adam Block, Jesus Gallego, Esperanza Carrasco, Maria Luisa Garcia-Vargas, Jorge Iglesias-Paramo, Sergio Pascual, Nicolas Cardiel, Ana Perez-Calpena, Africa Castillo-Morales, Pedro Gomez-Alvarez
     

    In this work we study the striking case of a narrow blue stream around the NGC 7241 galaxy and its foreground dwarf companion. We want to figure out if the stream was generated by tidal interaction with NGC 7241 or it first interacted with the foreground dwarf companion and later both fell together towards NGC 7241. We use four sets of observations, including a follow-up spectroscopic study with the MEGARA instrument at the 10.4-m Gran Telescopio Canarias. Our data suggest that the compact object we detected in the stream is a foreground Milky Way halo star. Near this compact object we detect emission lines overlapping a bluer and fainter blob of the stream that is clearly visible in both ultra-violet and optical deep images. From its heliocentric systemic radial velocity (Vsyst= 1548.58+/-1.80 km s^-1) and new UV and optical broad-band photometry, we conclude that this over-density could be the actual core of the stream, with an absolute magnitude of M_g ~ -10 and a (g-r) = 0.08 +/- 0.11, consistent with a remnant of a low-mass dwarf satellite undergoing a current episode of star formation. From the width of the stream and assuming a circular orbit, we calculate that the progenitor mass can be the typical of a dwarf galaxy, but it could also be substantially lower if the stream is on a very radial orbit or it was created by tidal interaction with the companion dwarf instead of with NGC 7241. Finally, we find that blue stellar streams containing star formation regions are commonly predicted by high-resolution cosmological simulations of galaxies lighter than the Milky Way. This scenario is consistent with the processes explaining the bursty star formation history of some dwarf satellites, which are followed by a gas depletion and a fast quenching once they enter within the virial radius of their host galaxies for the first time.

  • Heavy QCD axion model in light of pulsar timing arrays.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Moslem Ahmadvand, Ligong Bian, Soroush Shakeri
     

    Recently, pulsar timing array experiments reported the observation of a stochastic gravitational wave background in the nanohertz range frequency band. We show that such a signal can be originated from a cosmological first-order phase transition (PT) within a well-motivated heavy (visible) QCD axion model. Considering the Peccei-Quinn symmetry breaking at the TeV scale in the scenario, we find a supercooled PT, in the parameter space of the model, prolonging the PT with the reheating temperature at the GeV scale.

  • Data Compression and Inference in Cosmology with Self-Supervised Machine Learning.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Aizhan Akhmetzhanova, Siddharth Mishra-Sharma, Cora Dvorkin
     

    The influx of massive amounts of data from current and upcoming cosmological surveys necessitates compression schemes that can efficiently summarize the data with minimal loss of information. We introduce a method that leverages the paradigm of self-supervised machine learning in a novel manner to construct representative summaries of massive datasets using simulation-based augmentations. Deploying the method on hydrodynamical cosmological simulations, we show that it can deliver highly informative summaries, which can be used for a variety of downstream tasks, including precise and accurate parameter inference. We demonstrate how this paradigm can be used to construct summary representations that are insensitive to prescribed systematic effects, such as the influence of baryonic physics. Our results indicate that self-supervised machine learning techniques offer a promising new approach for compression of cosmological data as well its analysis.

  • MeV dark energy emission from a de Sitter Universe.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Yasmín B. Alcántara-Pérez, Miguel A. García-Aspeitia, H. Martíınez-Huerta, A. Hernández-Almada
     

    The evolution of a de Sitter Universe is the base for both the accelerated Universe and the late stationary Universe. So how do we differentiate between both universes? In this paper, we state that it is not possible to design an experiment using luminous or angular distances to distinguish between both cases because they are the same during the de Sitter phase. However, this equivalence allows us to predict a signal of it a constant dark energy emission with a signal peak around 29.5 MeV, in where according to our astrophysical test of survival probability, the radiation must be non-standard photons. Remarkably, experiments beyond EGRET and COMPTEL could observe an excess of gamma photons in this predicted region, coming from a possible decay process of the dark energy emission, which might constitute the possible smoking gun of a late stationary Universe with the continuous creation of non-standard radiation, an alternative approach to understand the current stages of the Universe evolution.

  • Dissecting the Thermal SZ Power Spectrum by Halo Mass and Redshift in SPT-SZ Data and Simulations.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Josemanuel Hernandez, Lindsey Bleem, Thomas Crawford, Nicholas Huang, Yuuki Omori, Srinivasan Raghunathan, Christian Reichardt
     

    We explore the relationship between the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (tSZ) power spectrum amplitude and the halo mass and redshift of galaxy clusters in South Pole Telescope (SPT) data, in comparison with three $N$-body simulations combined with semi-analytical gas models of the intra-cluster medium. Specifically, we calculate both the raw and fractional power contribution to the full tSZ power spectrum amplitude at $\ell = 3000$ from clusters as a function of halo mass and redshift. We use nine mass bins in the range $1 \times 10^{14}\ M_\odot\ h^{-1} < M_{500} < 2 \times 10^{15}\ M_\odot\ h^{-1}$, and two redshift bins defined by $0.25 < z < 0.59$ and $0.59 < z < 1.5$. We additionally divide the raw power contribution in each mass bin by the number of clusters in that bin, as a metric for comparison of different gas models. At lower masses, the SPT data prefers a model that includes a mass-dependent bound gas fraction component and relatively high levels of AGN feedback, whereas at higher masses there is a preference for a model with a lower amount of feedback and a complete lack of non-thermal pressure support. The former provides the best fit to the data overall, in regards to all metrics for comparison. Still, discrepancies exist and the data notably exhibits a steep mass-dependence which all of the simulations fail to reproduce. This suggests the need for additional mass- and redshift-dependent adjustments to the gas models of each simulation, or the potential presence of contamination in the data at halo masses below the detection threshold of SPT-SZ. Furthermore, the data does not demonstrate significant redshift evolution in the per-cluster tSZ power spectrum contribution, in contrast to self-similar model predictions.

  • Cosmological model based on both holographic-like connection and Padmanabhan's holographic equipartition law.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Nobuyoshi Komatsu
     

    A cosmological model based on holographic scenarios is formulated in a flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universe. To formulate this model, the cosmological horizon is assumed to have a general entropy and a general temperature (including Bekenstein-Hawking entropy and Gibbons-Hawking temperature, respectively). In addition, a holographic-like connection [Eur. Phys. J. C 83, 690 (2023) (arXiv:2212.05822)] and Padmanabhan's holographic equipartition law are assumed for the entropy and temperature, and the Friedmann and acceleration equations are derived from these. The derived Friedmann and acceleration equations include both the entropy and the temperature and are slightly complicated, but can be combined into a single simple equation, corresponding to a similar equation that describes the background evolution of the universe in time-varying $\Lambda (t)$ cosmologies. The simple equation depends on the entropy but not on the temperature because the temperatures in the Friedmann and acceleration equations cancel each other. These results imply that the holographic-like connection should be consistent with Padmanabhan's holographic equipartition law through the present model and that the entropy plays a more important role. When the Gibbons-Hawking temperature is used as the temperature, the Friedmann and acceleration equations are found to be equivalent to those for a $\Lambda(t)$ model. A particular case of the present model is also examined, applying a power-law corrected entropy.

  • GW190521: a binary black hole merger inside an active galactic nucleus?.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Sophia Morton, Stefano Rinaldi, Alejandro Torres-Orjuela, Andrea Derdzinski, Maria Paola Vaccaro, Walter Del Pozzo
     

    GW190521, the most massive binary black hole merger confidently detected by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collaboration, is the first gravitational-wave observation of an intermediate-mass black hole. The signal was followed approximately 34 days later by flare ZTF19abanrhr, detected in AGN J124942.3+344929 by the Zwicky Transient Facility at the 78% spatial contour for GW190521s sky localization. Using the GWTC-2.1 data release, we find that the association between GW190521 and flare ZTF19abanrhr as its electromagnetic counterpart is preferred over a random coincidence of the two transients with a log Bayes factor of 8.6, corresponding to an odds ratio of $\sim$ 5400 to 1 for equal prior odds and $\sim$ 400 to 1 assuming an astrophysical prior odds of 1/13. Given the association, the multi-messenger signal allows for an estimation of the Hubble constant, finding $H_0 = 102^{+27}_{-25}\mathrm{\ km \ s^{-1} \ Mpc^{-1}}$ when solely analyzing GW190521 and $79.2^{+17.6}_{-9.6}\mathrm{\ km \ s^{-1} \ Mpc^{-1}}$ assuming prior information from the binary neutron star merger GW170817, both consistent with the existing literature.

  • The FLAMINGO project: Baryonic impact on weak gravitational lensing convergence peak counts.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Jeger C. Broxterman, Matthieu Schaller, Joop Schaye, Henk Hoekstra, Konrad Kuijken, John C. Helly, Roi Kugel, Joey Braspenning, Willem Elbers, Carlos S. Frenk, Juliana Kwan, Ian G. McCarthy, Jaime Salcido, Marcel P. van Daalen, Bert Vandenbroucke
     

    Weak gravitational lensing convergence peaks, the local maxima in weak lensing convergence maps, have been shown to contain valuable cosmological information complementary to commonly used two-point statistics. To exploit the full power of weak lensing for cosmology, we must model baryonic feedback processes because these reshape the matter distribution on non-linear and mildly non-linear scales. We study the impact of baryonic physics on the number density of weak lensing peaks using the FLAMINGO cosmological hydrodynamical simulation suite. We generate ray-traced full-sky convergence maps mimicking the characteristics of a Stage IV weak lensing survey. We compare the number densities of peaks in simulations that have been calibrated to reproduce the observed galaxy mass function and cluster gas fraction or to match a shifted version of these, and that use either thermally driven or jet AGN feedback. We show that the differences induced by realistic baryonic feedback prescriptions (typically $5-30$% for $\kappa = 0.1-0.4$) are smaller than those induced by reasonable variations in cosmological parameters ($20-60$% for $\kappa = 0.1-0.4$) but must be modeled carefully to obtain unbiased results. The reasons behind these differences can be understood by considering the impact of feedback on halo masses, or by considering the impact of different cosmological parameters on the halo mass function. Our analysis demonstrates that the baryonic suppression is insensitive to changes in cosmology up to $\kappa \approx 0.4$ and that the higher $\kappa$ regime is dominated by Poisson noise and cosmic variance.

astro-ph.HE

  • Evaporating Kerr black holes as probes of new physics.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Marco Calzà, João G. Rosa
     

    In the string axiverse scenario, primordial black holes (PBHs) can sustain non-negligible spin parameters as they evaporate. We show that tracking both the mass and spin evolution of a PBH in its final hour can yield a purely gravitational probe of new physics beyond the TeV scale, allowing one to determine the number of new scalars, fermions, vector bosons, and spin-3/2 particles. Furthermore, we propose a multi-messenger approach to accurately measure the mass and spin of a PBH from its Hawking photon and neutrino primary emission spectra, which is independent of putative interactions between the new degrees of freedom and the Standard Model particles, as well as from the Earth-PBH distance.

  • The Guided Moments formalism: a new efficient full-neutrino treatment for astrophysical simulations.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Manuel R. Izquierdo, J. Fernando Abalos, Carlos Palenzuela
     

    We present the new Guided Moments ($\texttt{GM}$) formalism for neutrino modeling in astrophysical scenarios like core-collapse supernovae and neutron star mergers. The truncated moments approximation ($\texttt{M1}$) and Monte-Carlo ($\texttt{MC}$) schemes have been proven to be robust and accurate in solving the Boltzmann's equation for neutrino transport. However, it is well-known that each method exhibits specific strengths and weaknesses in various physical scenarios. The $\texttt{GM}$ formalism effectively solves these problems, providing a comprehensive scheme capable of accurately capturing the optically thick limit through the exact $\texttt{M1}$ closure and the optically thin limit through a $\texttt{MC}$ based approach. In addition, the $\texttt{GM}$ method also approximates the neutrino distribution function with a reasonable computational cost, which is crucial for the correct estimation of the different neutrino-fluid interactions. Our work provides a comprehensive discussion of the formulation and application of the $\texttt{GM}$ method, concluding with a thorough comparison across several test problems involving the three schemes ($\texttt{M1}$, $\texttt{MC}$, $\texttt{GM}$) under consideration.

  • Rescuing The Primordial Black Holes all-Dark Matter Hypothesis from The Fast Radio Bursts Tension.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Dorian W. P. Amaral, Enrico D. Schiappacasse
     

    The primordial black holes (PBHs) as all-dark matter (DM) hypothesis has recently been demotivated by the prediction that these objects would source an excessive rate of fast radio bursts (FRBs). However, these predictions were based on several simplifying assumptions to which this rate is highly sensitive. In this article, we improve previous estimates of this rate arising from the capture of PBHs by neutron stars (NSs), aiming to revitalise this theory. We more accurately compute the velocity distribution functions of PBHs and NSs and also consider an enhancement in the NS and DM density profiles at galactic centers due to the presence of a central supermassive black hole. We find that previous estimates of the rate of FRBs sourced by the capture of PBHs by NSs were 3 orders of magnitude too large, concluding that the PBHs as all DM hypothesis remains a viable theory and that the observed FRB rate can only be entirely explained when considering a central, sufficiently spiky PBH density profile.

  • Bulk viscosity transport coefficients in neutron star mergers.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Yumu Yang, Mauricio Hippert, Enrico Speranza, Jorge Noronha
     

    We compute first and second-order bulk-viscous transport properties due to weak-interaction processes in $npe$ matter in the neutrino transparent regime. The transport coefficients characterize the out-of-beta-equilibrium pressure corrections, which depend on the weak-interaction rates and the equation of state. We calculate these coefficients for realistic equations of state and show they are sensitive to changes in the nuclear symmetry energy $J$ and its slope $L$.

  • Relativistic Effects on Circumbinary Disk Evolution: Breaking the Polar Alignment around Eccentric Black Hole Binary Systems.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Anna C. Childs, Rebecca G. Martin, C. J. Nixon, Aaron M. Geller, Stephen H. Lubow, Zhaohuan Zhu, Stephen Lepp
     

    We study the effects of general relativity (GR) on the evolution and alignment of circumbinary disks around binaries on all scales. We implement relativistic apsidal precession of the binary into the hydrodynamics code {\sc phantom}. We find that the effects of GR can suppress the stable polar alignment of a circumbinary disk, depending on how the relativistic binary apsidal precession timescale compares to the disk nodal precession timescale. Studies of circumbinary disk evolution typically ignore the effects of GR which is an appropriate simplification for low mass or widely separated binary systems. In this case, polar alignment occurs providing that the disks initial misalignment is sufficiently large. However, systems with a very short relativistic precession timescale cannot polar align and instead move toward coplanar alignment. In the intermediate regime where the timescales are similar, the outcome depends upon the properties of the disk. Polar alignment is more likely in the wavelike disk regime (where the disk viscosity parameter is less than the aspect ratio, $\alpha<H/r$) since the disk is in good radial communication. In the viscous disk regime disk breaking is more likely. Multiple rings can destructively interact with one another resulting in short disk lifetimes, and the disk moving towards coplanar alignment. Around main-sequence star or stellar mass black hole binaries, polar alignment may be suppressed far from the binary but in general the inner parts of the disk can align to polar. Polar alignment may be completely suppressed for disks around supermassive black holes for close binary separations.

  • Corona-heated Accretion-disk Reprocessing: Frequency-Resolved Lag Predictions for UV/Optical Reverberation Mapping of Active Galactic Nuclei.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Jie Chen, Mouyuan Sun, Zhi-Xiang Zhang
     

    Continuum reverberation mapping with high-cadence, long-term UV/optical monitoring of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) enables us to resolve the AGN central engine sizes on different timescales. The frequency-resolved time lags of NGC 5548 (the target for the AGN STORM I campaign) are inconsistent with the X-ray reprocessing of the classical Shakura $\&$ Sunyaev disk model. Here we show that the frequency-resolved time lags in NGC 5548 can be well produced by the Corona-Heated Accretion-disk Reprocessing (CHAR) model. Moreover, we make the CHAR model predictions of the frequency-resolved time lags for Mrk 817, the source of the AGN STORM II campaign. We also obtain the frequency-resolved time lags as a function of the black-hole mass and Eddington ratio, which is valid for black-hole masses from $10^{6.5}$ to $10^9\ M_{\odot}$, and Eddington ratios from 0.01 to 1. Moreover, we demonstrate that, with the time spans of current continuum reverberation-mapping campaigns, the lag-luminosity relation of the CHAR model can be $\tau_{\mathrm{gz}}\propto L_{\mathrm{5100}}^{0.55\pm0.04}$, which is consistent with observations. Future observations can test our results and shed new light on resolving the AGN central engine.

  • The bright black hole X-ray binary 4U 1543--47 during 2021 outburst: a thick accretion disk inflated by high luminosity.- [PDF] - [Article]

    S. J. Zhao, L. Tao, P. P. Li, R. Soria, H. Feng, Y. X. Zhang, R. C. Ma, W. D. Zhang, E. L. Qiao, Q. Q. Yin, S. N. Zhang, L. Zhang, Q. C. Bu, X. Ma, Y. Huang, M. Y. Ge, X. B. Li, Q. C. Zhao, J. Q. Peng, Y. X. Xiao
     

    The black hole X-ray binary source 4U 1543--47 experienced a super-Eddington outburst in 2021, reaching a peak flux of up to $\sim1.96\times10^{-7}\rm erg\ \rm cm^{-2}\ \rm s^{-1}$ ($\sim 8.2$ Crab) in the 2--10\,keV band. Soon after the outburst began, it rapidly transitioned into the soft state. Our goal is to understand how the accretion disk structure deviates from a standard thin disk when the accretion rate is near Eddington. To do so, we analyzed spectra obtained from quasi-simultaneous observations conducted by the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (Insight-HXMT), the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR), and the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory (Swift). These spectra are well-fitted by a model comprising a disk, a weak corona, and a reflection component. We suggest that the reflection component is caused by disk self-irradiation, that is by photons emitted from the inner disk which return to the accretion disk surface, as their trajectories are bent by the strong gravity field. In this scenario, the best-fitting parameters imply that the reflected flux represents more than half of the total flux. Using general relativistic ray-tracing simulations, we show that this scenario is viable when the disk becomes geometrically thick, with a funnel-like shape, as the accretion rate is near or above the Eddington limit. In the specific case of 4U 1543--47, an angle $\gtrsim$ 45 deg between the disk surface and the equatorial plane can explain the required amount of self-irradiation.

  • Multi-antenna probing of absorbing regions inside and outside Cassiopeia A.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Lev A. Stanislavsky, Ihor N. Bubnov, Aleksander A. Stanislavsky, Philippe Zarka, Alan Loh, Cedric Viou, Aleksander A. Konovalenko, Anatolii I. Brazhenko, Anatolii V. Frantsuzenko
     

    Context. Cassiopeia A occupies an important place among supernova remnants (SNRs) in low-frequency radio astronomy. The analysis of its continuum spectrum from low frequency observations reveals the evolution of the SNR absorption properties over time and suggests a method for probing unshocked ejecta and the SNR interaction with the circumstellar medium (CSM). Aims. In this paper we present low-frequency measurements of the integrated spectrum of Cassiopeia A to find the typical values of free-free absorption parameters towards this SNR in the middle of 2023. We also add new results to track its slowly evolving and decreasing integrated flux density. Methods. We used the New Extension in Nan\c{c}ay Upgrading LOFAR (NenuFAR) and the Ukrainian Radio Interferometer of NASU (URAN-2, Poltava) for measuring the continuum spectrum of Cassiopeia A within the frequency range of 8-66 MHz. The radio flux density of Cassiopeia A has been obtained on June-July, 2023 with two sub-arrays for each radio telescope, used as a two-element correlation interferometer. Results. We measured magnitudes of emission measure, electron temperature and an average number of charges of the ions for both internal and external absorbing ionized gas towards Cassiopeia A from its integrated spectrum. Generally, their values are comparable to those presented by Stanislavsky et al. (2023), but their slight changes show the evolution of free-free absorption parameters in this SNR. Based on high accuracy of the measurements, we have detected the SNR-CSM interaction. Conclusions. The integrated flux-density spectrum of Cassiopeia A obtained with the NenuFAR and URAN-2 interferometric observations opens up new possibilities for continuous monitoring the ionized gas properties in and around Cassiopeia A to observe theevolution of unshocked ejecta and the SNR-CSM interaction in future studies.

  • $\textit{Insights}$ into the phase-dependent cyclotron line feature in XTE J1946+274: An $\textit{AstroSat}$ and $\textit{Insight}$-HXMT view.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Ashwin Devaraj, Rahul Sharma, Shwetha Nagesh, Biswajit Paul
     

    XTE J1946+274 is a Be/X-ray binary with a 15.8s spin period and 172 d orbital period. Using $\textit{RXTE/PCA}$ data of the 1998 outburst, a cyclotron line around 37 keV was reported. The presence of this line, its dependence on the pulse phase, and its variation with luminosity have been of some debate since. In this work, we present the reanalysis of two $\textit{AstroSat}$ observations: one made during the rising phase of the 2018 outburst and the other during the declining phase of the 2021 outburst. We also present a new analysis of the $\textit{Insight}$-HXMT observations of the source at the peak of the 2018 outburst. We find the source to be spinning up over the course of the outburst and spinning down between the two outbursts. We report the presence of a higher cyclotron line energy using the 2018 $\textit{AstroSat}$ observation ($\sim 45$ keV) and 2018 $\textit{Insight}$-HXMT observation ($\sim$ 50 keV) and a line at $\sim$ 40 keV during the declining phase of the 2021 outburst using data from $\textit{AstroSat}$. We also investigate the pulse phase dependence of the cyclotron line parameters and find that the line is significantly detected in all the phases of both $\textit{AstroSat}$ observations, along with showing variation with the pulse phase. This differs from the previous results reported using $\textit{BeppoSAX}$ and $\textit{NuSTAR}$. We explain this behaviour of the cyclotron line to be due to photon spawning and different accretion column radii at the two poles of this neutron star.

  • Evidence for a dynamic corona in the short-term time lags of black hole X-ray binary MAXI J1820+070.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Niek Bollemeijer, Phil Uttley, Arkadip Basak, Adam Ingram, Jakob van den Eijnden, Kevin Alabarta, Diego Altamirano, Zaven Arzoumanian, Douglas J.K. Buisson, Andrew C. Fabian, Elizabeth Ferrara, Keith Gendreau, Jeroen Homan, Erin Kara, Craig Markwardt, Ronald A. Remillard, Andrea Sanna, James F. Steiner, Francesco Tombesi, Jingyi Wang, Yanan Wang, Abderahmen Zoghbi
     

    In X-ray observations of hard state black hole X-ray binaries, rapid variations in accretion disc and coronal power-law emission are correlated and show Fourier-frequency-dependent time lags. On short (~0.1 s) time-scales, these lags are thought to be due to reverberation and therefore may depend strongly on the geometry of the corona. Low-frequency quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) are variations in X-ray flux that have been suggested to arise because of geometric changes in the corona, possibly due to General Relativistic Lense-Thirring precession. Therefore one might expect the short-term time lags to vary on the QPO time-scale. We performed novel spectral-timing analyses on NICER observations of the black hole X-ray binary MAXI J1820+070 during the hard state of its outburst in 2018 to investigate how the short-term time lags between a disc-dominated and a coronal power-law-dominated energy band vary on different time-scales. Our method can distinguish between variability due to the QPO and broadband noise, and we find a linear correlation between the power-law flux and lag amplitude that is strongest at the QPO frequency. We also introduce a new method to resolve the QPO signal and determine the QPO-phase-dependence of the flux and lag variations, finding that both are very similar. Our results are consistent with a geometric origin of QPOs, but also provide evidence for a dynamic corona with a geometry varying in a similar way over a broad range of time-scales, not just the QPO time-scale.

  • Quark matter and nuclear astrophysics: recent developments.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Tyler Gorda
     

    Does deconfined cold quark matter occur in nature? This is currently one of the fundamental open questions in nuclear astrophysics. In these proceedings, I review the current state-of-the-art techniques to address this question in a model-agnostic manner, by synthesizing inputs from astrophysical observations of neutron stars and their binary mergers, and first-principles calculations within nuclear and particle theory. I highlight recent improvements in perturbative calculations in asymptotically dense cold quark matter, as well as compelling evidence for a conformalizing transition within the cores of massive neutron stars.

  • Causality Bounds on Dissipative General-Relativistic Magnetohydrodynamics.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Ian Cordeiro, Enrico Speranza, Kevin Ingles, Fábio S. Bemfica, Jorge Noronha
     

    We determine necessary and sufficient conditions under which a large class of relativistic generalizations of Braginskii's magnetohydrodynamics, described using Israel-Stewart theory, are causal and strongly hyperbolic in the fully nonlinear regime in curved spacetime. Our new nonlinear analysis provides stricter constraints on the dynamical variables that cannot be obtained via a standard linear expansion around equilibrium. Causality severely constrains the size of shear-viscous corrections, placing a bound on the far-from-equilibrium dynamics of magnetized weakly collisional relativistic plasmas, which rules out the onset of the firehose instability in such systems.

  • Zeeman splitting of torsional oscillation frequencies of magnetars.- [PDF] - [Article]

    D.G. Yakovlev
     

    Magnetars form a special class of neutron stars possessing superstrong magnetic fields and demonstrating power flares triggered likely by these fields. Observations of such flares reveal the presence of quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) at certain frequencies; they are thought to be excited in the flares. QPOs carry potentially important information on magnetar structure, magnetic field, and mechanisms of magnetar activity. We calculate frequencies of torsional (magneto-elastic) oscillations of the magnetar crust treating the magnetic field effects in the first order of perturbation theory. The theory predicts splitting of non-magnetic oscillation frequencies into Zeeman components. Zeeman splitting of torsional oscillation spectrum of magnetars was suggested, clearly described and estimated by Shaisultanov and Eichler (2009) but their work has not been given considerable attention. To extend it we suggest the technique of calculating oscillation frequencies including Zeeman splitting at not too strong magnetic fields for arbitrary magnetic field configuration. Zeeman splitting enriches the oscillation spectrum and simplifies theoretical interpretation of observations. We calculate several low-frequency oscillations of magnetars with pure dipole magnetic field in the crust. The results qualitatively agree with low-frequency QPOs detected in the hyperflare of SGR 1806--20, and in the giant flare of SGR 1900+14.

  • PhenomXO4a: a phenomenological gravitational-wave model for precessing black-hole binaries with higher multipoles and asymmetries.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Jonathan E. Thompson, Eleanor Hamilton, Lionel London, Shrobana Ghosh, Panagiota Kolitsidou, Charlie Hoy, Mark Hannam
     

    In this work we introduce PhenomXO4a, the first phenomenological, frequency-domain gravitational waveform model to incorporate multipole asymmetries and precession angles tuned to numerical relativity. We build upon the modeling work that produced the PhenomPNR model and incorporate our additions into the IMRPhenomX framework, retuning the coprecessing frame model and extending the tuned precession angles to higher signal multipoles. We also include, for the first time in frequency-domain models, a recent model for spin-precession-induced multipolar asymmetry in the coprecessing frame to the dominant gravitational-wave multipoles. The accuracy of the full model and its constituent components is assessed through comparison to numerical relativity and numerical relativity surrogate waveforms by computing mismatches and performing parameter estimation studies. We show that, for the dominant signal multipole, we retain the modeling improvements seen in the PhenomPNR model. We find that the relative accuracy of current full IMR models varies depending on location in parameter space and the comparison metric, and on average they are of comparable accuracy. However, we find that variations in the pointwise accuracy do not necessarily translate into large biases in the parameter estimation recoveries.

  • Addition of tabulated equation of state and neutrino leakage support to IllinoisGRMHD.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Leonardo R. Werneck, Zachariah B. Etienne, Ariadna Murguia-Berthier, Roland Haas, Federico Cipolletta, Scott C. Noble, Lorenzo Ennoggi, Federico G. Lopez Armengol, Bruno Giacomazzo, Thiago Assumpção, Joshua Faber, Tanmayee Gupte, Bernard J. Kelly, Julian H. Krolik
     

    We have added support for realistic, microphysical, finite-temperature equations of state (EOS) and neutrino physics via a leakage scheme to IllinoisGRMHD, an open-source GRMHD code for dynamical spacetimes in the Einstein Toolkit. These new features are provided by two new, NRPy+-based codes: NRPyEOS, which performs highly efficient EOS table lookups and interpolations, and NRPyLeakage, which implements a new, AMR-capable neutrino leakage scheme in the Einstein Toolkit. We have performed a series of strenuous validation tests that demonstrate the robustness of these new codes, particularly on the Cartesian AMR grids provided by Carpet. Furthermore, we show results from fully dynamical GRMHD simulations of single unmagnetized neutron stars, and magnetized binary neutron star mergers. This new version of IllinoisGRMHD, as well as NRPyEOS and NRPyLeakage, is pedagogically documented in Jupyter notebooks and fully open source. The codes will be proposed for inclusion in an upcoming version of the Einstein Toolkit.

  • Closed-form solutions of spinning, eccentric binary black holes at 1.5 post-Newtonian order.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Rickmoy Samanta, Sashwat Tanay, Leo C. Stein
     

    The closed-form solution of the 1.5 post-Newtonian (PN) accurate binary black hole (BBH) Hamiltonian system has proven to be difficult to obtain for a long time since its introduction in 1966. Closed-form solutions of the PN BBH systems with arbitrary parameters (masses, spins, eccentricity) are required for modeling the gravitational waves (GWs) emitted by them. Accurate models of GWs are crucial for their detection by LIGO/Virgo and LISA. Only recently, two solution methods for solving the BBH dynamics were proposed in arXiv:1908.02927 (without using action-angle variables), and arXiv:2012.06586, arXiv:2110.15351 (action-angle based). This paper combines the ideas laid out in the above articles, fills the missing gaps and provides the two solutions which are fully 1.5PN accurate. We also present a public Mathematica package BBHpnToolkit which implements these two solutions and compares them with a fully numerical treatment. The level of agreement between these solutions provides a numerical verification for all the five actions constructed in arXiv:2012.06586, and arXiv:2110.15351. This paper hence serves as a stepping stone for pushing the action-angle-based solution to 2PN order via canonical perturbation theory.

  • Bayesian model selection for GRB 211211A through multi-wavelength analyses.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Nina Kunert, Sarah Antier, Vsevolod Nedora, Mattia Bulla, Peter T. H. Pang, Shreya Anand, Michael Coughlin, Ingo Tews, Jennifer Barnes, Thomas Hussenot-Desenonges, Brian Healy, Theophile Jegou du Laz, Meili Pilloix, Weizmann Kiendrebeogo, Tim Dietrich
     

    Although GRB 211211A is one of the closest gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), its classification is challenging because of its partially inconclusive electromagnetic signatures. In this paper, we investigate four different astrophysical scenarios as possible progenitors for GRB~211211A: a binary neutron-star merger, a black-hole--neutron-star merger, a core-collapse supernova, and an r-process enriched core collapse of a rapidly rotating massive star (a collapsar). We perform a large set of Bayesian multi-wavelength analyses based on different models describing these scenarios and priors to investigate which astrophysical scenarios and processes might be related to GRB~211211A. Our analysis supports previous studies in which the presence of an additional component, likely related to $r$-process nucleosynthesis, is required to explain the observed light curves of GRB~211211A, as it can not solely be explained as a GRB afterglow. Fixing the distance to about $350~\rm Mpc$, namely the distance of the possible host galaxy SDSS J140910.47+275320.8, we find a statistical preference for a binary neutron-star merger scenario.

  • Accreting Primordial Black Holes: Dark Matter Constituents.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Brandon Curd, Richard Anantua, T. Kenneth Fowler
     

    This paper shows that accretion of positronium plasma between 0.01s-14s after the Big Bang could have created small black holes contributing at least 1% of present-day dark matter, with uncertainties ranging from 10% or more. General relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulations newly adapted to the early Universe confirm that accretion is due to magneto-rotational instability (MRI) in a rotating plasma. By contrast with Bondi accretion producing primordial masses above solar, MRI could produce masses 10^15-18g observable by their Hawking radiation contributing to background gamma rays.

  • A test of Einstein's equivalence principle in future VLBI observations.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Joseph P Johnson, IISER Mohali), Susmita Jana, S. Shankaranarayanan
     

    We show that very-long-baseline-interferometry (VLBI) observations of supermassive black holes will allow us to test the fundamental principles of General Relativity (GR). GR is based on the universality of gravity and Einstein's equivalence principle (EEP). However, EEP is not a basic principle of physics but an empirical fact. Non-minimal coupling (NMC) of electromagnetic fields violates EEP, and their effects manifest in the strong-gravity regime. Hence, VLBI observations of black holes provide an opportunity to test NMC in the strong-gravity regime. To the leading order in the spin parameter, we explicitly show that the NMC of the electromagnetic field introduces observable modifications to the black hole image. In addition, we find that the size of the photon rings varies by $\sim 3 r_H$, which corresponds to $\sim 30 \mu as$ for Sagittarius $A^*$ and $\sim 23 \mu as$ for M87. VLBI telescopes are expected to attain a resolution of $\sim 5 \mu as$ in the near future. However, direct detection of photon ring will require the resolution of $\sim 1 \mu as$ for M87, which can potentially be probed by the space-based Event Horizon Explorer.

  • R-process beta-decay neutrino flux from binary neutron star mergers and collapsars.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Yu An, Meng-Ru Wu, Gang Guo, Yue-Lin Sming Tsai, Shih-Jie Huang, Yi-Zhong Fan
     

    This study investigates the antineutrinos production by $\beta$-decay of $r$-process nuclei in two astrophysical sites that are capable of producing gamma-ray bursts (GRBs): binary neutron star mergers (BNSMs) and collapsars, which are promising sites for heavy element nucleosynthesis. We employ a simplified method to compute the $\beta$-decay $\bar\nu_e$ energy spectrum and consider a number of different representative thermodynamic trajectories for $r$-process simulations, each with four sets of $Y_e$ distribution. The time evolution of the $\bar\nu_e$ spectrum is derived for both the dynamical ejecta and the disk wind for BNSMs and collapsar outflow, based on approximated mass outflow rates. Our results show that the $\bar\nu_e$ has an average energy of approximately 3 to 9~MeV, with a high energy tail of up to 20 MeV. The $\bar\nu_e$ flux evolution is primarily determined by the outflow duration, and can thus remain large for $\mathcal{O}(10)$~s and $\mathcal{O}(100)$~s for BNSMs and collapsars, respectively. For a single merger or collapsar at 40~Mpc, the $\bar\nu_e$ flux is $\mathcal{O}(10-100)$~cm$^{-2}$~s$^{-1}$, indicating a possible detection horizon up to $0.1-1$~Mpc for Hyper-Kamiokande. We also estimate their contributions to the diffuse $\bar\nu_e$ background, and find that both sources should only contribute subdominantly to the diffuse background when compared to that expected from core-collapse supernovae.

  • NANOGrav signal from axion inflation.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Xuce Niu, Moinul Hossain Rahat
     

    Several pulsar timing arrays including NANOGrav, EPTA, PPTA, and CPTA have recently reported the observation of a stochastic background of gravitational wave spectrum in the nano-Hz frequencies. An inflationary interpretation of this observation is challenging from various aspects. We report that such a signal can arise from the Chern-Simons coupling in axion inflation, where a pseudoscalar inflaton couples to a (massive) $U(1)$ gauge field, leading to efficient production of a transverse gauge mode. Such tachyonic particle production during inflation exponentially enhances the primordial perturbations and leads to a unique parity-violating gravitational wave spectrum, that remains flat near the CMB scales but becomes blue-tilted at smaller scales. We identify the parameter space consistent with various cosmological constraints and show that the resultant gravitational wave signals can provide extra contribution on top of the standard astrophysical contribution from inspiraling supermassive black hole binaries towards explaining the observed excess at NANOGrav. The parity-violating nature of the signal can be probed in future interferometers, distinguishing it from most other new physics signals attempting to explain the NANOGrav result.

  • An Investigation of the state changes of PSR J2021+4026 and the Vela pulsar.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    H.-H. Wang, J.Takata, L.C.-C. Lin, P.-H. T. Tam
     

    We investigate the high energy emission activities of two bright gamma-ray pulsars, PSR~J2021+4026 and Vela. For PSR~J2021+4026, the state changes in the gamma-ray flux and spin-down rate have been observed. We report that the long-term evolution of the gamma-ray flux and timing behavior of PSR~J2021+4026 suggests a new gamma-ray flux recovery at around MJD~58910 and a flux decrease around MJD~59500. During this epoch, the staying time, the gamma-ray flux difference and spin-down rate are smaller than previous epochs in the same state. The waiting timescale of the quasi-periodic state changes is similar to the waiting timescale of the glitch events of the Vela pulsar. For the Vela pulsar, the quench of the radio pulse was in a timescale of $\sim0.2$~s after the 2016 glitch, and the glitch may disturb the structure of the magnetosphere. Nevertheless, we did not find any evidence for a long-term change in the gamma-ray emission properties using years of $Fermi$-LAT data, and therefore, no long-term magnetosphere structural change. We also conduct searching for photons above 100~GeV using 15-year $Fermi$-LAT data, and found none. Our results provide additional information for the relation between the state change of the gamma-ray emission and the glitch event.

  • Long-period radio pulsars: population study in the neutron star and white dwarf rotating dipole scenarios.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Nanda Rea, IEEC), Natasha Hurley-Walker, Curtin University), Celsa Pardo-Araujo, Michele Ronchi, Vanessa Graber, Francesco Coti Zelati, IEEC), Domitilla De Martino, Arash Bahramian, Sam J. McSweeney, Curtin University), Tim J. Galvin, Scott D. Hyman, M. Dall'Ora
     

    The nature of two recently discovered radio emitters with unusually long periods of 18min (GLEAM-X J1627-52) and 21min (GPM J1839-10) is highly debated. Their bright radio emission resembles that of radio magnetars, but their long periodicities and lack of detection at other wavelengths challenge the neutron-star interpretation. In contrast, long rotational periods are common in white dwarfs but, although predicted, dipolar radio emission from isolated magnetic white dwarfs has never been unambiguously observed. In this work, we investigate these long-period objects as potential isolated neutron-star or white-dwarf dipolar radio emitters and find that both scenarios pose significant challenges to our understanding of radio emission via pair production in dipolar magnetospheres. We also perform population-synthesis simulations based on dipolar spin-down in both pictures, assuming different initial-period distributions, masses, radii, beaming fractions, and magnetic-field prescriptions, to assess their impact on the ultra-long pulsar population. In the neutron-star scenario, we do not expect a large number of ultra-long period pulsars under any physically motivated (or even extreme) assumptions for the period evolution. On the other hand, in the white-dwarf scenario, we can easily accommodate a large population of long-period radio emitters. However, no mechanism can easily explain the production of such bright coherent radio emission in either scenarios.

  • Energy distribution and substructure formation in astrophysical MHD simulations.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Fatemeh Kayanikhoo, Miljenko Cemeljic, Maciek Wielgus, Wlodek Kluzniak
     

    During substructure formation in magnetized astrophysical plasma, dissipation of magnetic energy facilitated by magnetic reconnection affects the system dynamics by heating and accelerating the ejected plasmoids. Numerical simulations are a crucial tool for investigating such systems. In astrophysical simulations, the energy dissipation, reconnection rate and substructure formation critically depend on the onset of reconnection of numerical or physical origin. In this paper, we hope to assess the reliability of the state-of-the-art numerical codes, PLUTO and KORAL by quantifying and discussing the impact of dimensionality, resolution, and code accuracy on magnetic energy dissipation, reconnection rate, and substructure formation. We quantitatively compare results obtained with relativistic and non-relativistic, resistive and non-resistive, as well as two- and three-dimensional setups performing the Orszag-Tang test problem. We find the sufficient resolution in each model, for which numerical error is negligible and the resolution does not significantly affect the magnetic energy dissipation and reconnection rate. The non-relativistic simulations show that at sufficient resolution, magnetic and kinetic energies convert to internal energy and heat up the plasma. The results show that in the relativistic system, energy components undergo mutual conversion during the simulation time, which leads to a substantial increase in magnetic energy at 20\% and 90\% of the total simulation time of $10$ light-crossing times -- the magnetic field is amplified by a factor of five due to relativistic shocks. We also show that the reconnection rate in all our simulations is higher than $0.1$, indicating plasmoid-mediated regime. It is shown that in KORAL simulations magnetic energy is slightly larger and more substructures are captured than in PLUTO simulations.

  • Post-dynamical inspiral phase of common envelope evolution. The role of magnetic fields.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Damien Gagnier, Ondrej Pejcha
     

    During common envelope evolution, an initially weak magnetic field may undergo amplification by interacting with spiral density waves and turbulence generated in the stellar envelope by the inspiralling companion. Using 3D magnetohydrodynamical simulations on adaptively refined spherical grids with excised central regions, we studied the amplification of magnetic fields and their effect on the envelope structure, dynamics, and the orbital evolution of the binary during the post-dynamical inspiral phase. About $95\%$ of magnetic energy amplification arises from magnetic field stretching, folding, and winding due to differential rotation and turbulence while compression against magnetic pressure accounts for the remaining $\sim 5\%$. Magnetic energy production peaks at a scale of $3a_\text{b}$, where $a_\text{b}$ is the semimajor axis of the central binary's orbit. Because the magnetic energy production declines at large radial scales, the conditions are not favorable for the formation of magnetically collimated bipolar jet-like outflows unless they are generated on small scales near the individual cores, which we did not resolve. Magnetic fields have a negligible impact on binary orbit evolution, mean kinetic energy, and the disk-like morphology of angular momentum transport, but turbulent Maxwell stress can dominate Reynolds stress when accretion onto the central binary is allowed, leading to an $\alpha$-disk parameter of $\simeq 0.034$. Finally, we discovered accretion streams arising from the stabilizing effect of the magnetic tension from the toroidal field about the orbital plane, which prevents overdensities from being destroyed by turbulence and enables them to accumulate mass and eventually migrate toward the binary.

astro-ph.GA

  • Proper Motions and Orbits of Distant Local Group Dwarf Galaxies from a combination of Gaia and Hubble Data.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Paul Bennet, Ekta Patel, Sangmo Tony Sohn, Andres del Pino, Roeland P. van der Marel, Mattia Libralato, Laura L. Watkins, Antonio Aparicio, Gurtina Besla, Carme Gallart, Mark A. Fardal, Matteo Monelli, Elena Sacchi, Erik Tollerud, Daniel R. Weisz
     

    We have determined the proper motions (PMs) of 12 dwarf galaxies in the Local Group (LG), ranging from the outer Milky Way (MW) halo to the edge of the LG. We used HST as the first and Gaia as the second epoch using the GaiaHub software. For Leo A and Sag DIG we also used multi-epoch HST measurements relative to background galaxies. Orbital histories derived using these PMs show that two-thirds of the galaxies in our sample are on first infall with $>$90\% certainty. The observed star formation histories (SFHs) of these first-infall dwarfs are generally consistent with infalling dwarfs in simulations. The remaining four galaxies have crossed the virial radius of either the MW or M31. When we compare their star formation (SF) and orbital histories we find tentative agreement between the inferred pattern of SF with the timing of dynamical events in the orbital histories. For Leo~I, SF activity rises as the dwarf crosses the MW's virial radius, culminating in a burst of SF shortly before pericenter ($\approx1.7$~Gyr ago). The SF then declines after pericenter, but with some smaller bursts before its recent quenching ($\approx0.3$~Gyr ago). This shows that even small dwarfs like Leo~I can hold on to gas reservoirs and avoid quenching for several Gyrs after falling into their host, which is longer than generally found in simulations. Leo~II, NGC~6822, and IC~10 are also qualitatively consistent with this SF pattern in relation to their orbit, but more tentatively due to larger uncertainties.

  • CMZoom IV. Incipient High-Mass Star Formation Throughout the Central Molecular Zone.- [PDF] - [Article]

    H Perry Hatchfield, Cara Battersby, Ashley T. Barnes, Natalie Butterfield, Adam Ginsburg, Jonathan D. Henshaw, Steven N. Longmore, Xing Lu, Brian Svoboda, Daniel Walker, Daniel Callanan, Elisabeth A. C. Mills, Luis C. Ho, Jens Kauffmann, J. M. Diederik Kruijssen, Jürgen Ott, Thushara Pillai, Qizhou Zhang
     

    In this work, we constrain the star-forming properties of all possible sites of incipient high-mass star formation in the Milky Way's Galactic Center. We identify dense structures using the CMZoom 1.3mm dust continuum catalog of objects with typical radii of $\sim$0.1pc, and measure their association with tracers of high-mass star formation. We incorporate compact emission at 8, 21, 24, 25, and 70um from MSX, Spitzer, Herschel, and SOFIA, catalogued young stellar objects, and water and methanol masers to characterize each source. We find an incipient star formation rate (SFR) for the CMZ of ~0.08 Msun yr^{-1} over the next few 10^5 yr. We calculate upper and lower limits on the CMZ's incipient SFR of ~0.45 Msun yr^{-1} and ~0.05 Msun yr^{-1} respectively, spanning between roughly equal to and several times greater than other estimates of CMZ's recent SFR. Despite substantial uncertainties, our results suggest the incipient SFR in the CMZ may be higher than previously estimated. We find that the prevalence of star formation tracers does not correlate with source volume density, but instead ~75% of high-mass star formation is found in regions above a column density ratio (N_{SMA}/N_{Herschel}) of ~1.5. Finally, we highlight the detection of ``atoll sources'', a reoccurring morphology of cold dust encircling evolved infrared sources, possibly representing HII regions in the process of destroying their envelopes.

  • The detection and characterization of highly magnified stars with JWST: Prospects of finding Population III.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Erik Zackrisson, Adam Hultquist, Aron Kordt, José M. Diego, Armin Nabizadeh, Anton Vikaeus, Ashish Kumar Meena, Adi Zitrin, Guglielmo Volpato, Emma Lundqvist, Brian Welch, Guglielmo Costa, Rogier A. Windhorst
     

    Gravitational lensing may render individual high-mass stars detectable out to cosmological distances, and several extremely magnified stars have in recent years been detected out to redshifts $z\approx 6$. Here, we present Muspelheim, a model for the evolving spectral energy distributions of both metal-enriched and metal-free stars at high redshifts. Using this model, we argue that lensed stars should form a highly biased sample of the intrinsic distribution of stars across the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, and that this bias will typically tend to favour the detection of lensed stars in evolved stages characterized by low effective temperatures, even though stars only spend a minor fraction of their lifetimes in such states. We also explore the prospects of detecting individual, lensed metal-free (Population III) stars at high redshifts using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). We find that very massive ($\gtrsim 100\ M_\odot$) Population III stars at $z\gtrsim 6$ may potentially be detected by JWST in surveys covering large numbers of strong lensing clusters, provided that the Population III stellar initial mass function is sufficiently top-heavy, that these stars evolve to effective temperatures $\leq 15000$ K, and that the cosmic star formation rate density of Pop III stars reaches $\gtrsim 10^{-4}\ M_\odot$ cMpc$^{-3}$ yr$^{-1}$ at $z\approx$ 6-10. Various ways to distinguish metal-free lensed stars from metal-enriched ones are also discussed.

  • On the Late-Time Evolution of Velocity-Dependent Self-Interacting Dark Matter Halos.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Sophia Gad-Nasr, Kimberly Boddy, Manoj Kaplinghat, Nadav Joseph Outmezguine, Laura Sagunski
     

    We study the evolution of isolated self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) halos that undergo gravothermal collapse and are driven deep into the short-mean-free-path regime. We assume spherical Navarro-Frenk-White (NFW) halos as initial conditions and allow for elastic dark matter self-interactions. We discuss the structure of the halo core deep in the core-collapsed regime and how it depends on the particle physics properties of dark matter, in particular, the velocity dependence of the self-interaction cross section. We find an approximate universality deep in this regime that allows us to connect the evolution in the short- and long-mean-free-path regimes, and approximately map the velocity-dependent self-interaction cross sections to constant ones for the full gravothermal evolution. We provide a semi-analytic prescription based on our numerical results for halo evolution deep in the core-collapsed regime. Our results are essential for estimating the masses of the black holes that are likely to be left in the core of SIDM halos.

  • Most-Likely DCF Estimates of Magnetic Field Strength.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Philip C. Myers, Ian W. Stephens, Simon Coudé
     

    The Davis-Chandrasekhar-Fermi (DCF) method is widely used to evaluate magnetic fields in star-forming regions. Yet it remains unclear how well DCF equations estimate the mean plane-of-the-sky field strength in a map region. To address this question, five DCF equations are applied to an idealized cloud map. Its polarization angles have a normal distribution with dispersion ${\sigma}_{\theta}$,and its density and velocity dispersion have negligible variation. Each DCF equation specifies a global field strength $B_{DCF}$ and a distribution of local DCF estimates. The "most-likely" DCF field strength $B_{ml}$ is the distribution mode (Chen et al. 2022), for which a correction factor ${\beta}_{ml}$ = $B_{ml}$/$B_{DCF}$ is calculated analytically. For each equation ${\beta}_{ml}$ < 1, indicating that $B_{DCF}$ is a biased estimator of $B_{ml}$. The values of ${\beta}_{ml}$ are ${\beta}_{ml}\approx$ 0.7 when $B_{DCF} \propto {{\sigma}_{\theta}}^{-1}$ due to turbulent excitation of Afv\'enic MHD waves, and ${\beta}_{ml}\approx$ 0.9 when $B_{DCF} \propto {{\sigma}_{\theta}}^{-1/2}$ due to non-Alfv\'enic MHD waves. These statistical correction factors ${\beta}_{ml}$ have partial agreement with correction factors ${\beta}_{sim}$ obtained from MHD simulations. The relative importance of the statistical correction is estimated by assuming that each simulation correction has both a statistical and a physical component. Then the standard, structure function, and original DCF equations appear most accurate because they require the least physical correction. Their relative physical correction factors are 0.1, 0.3, and 0.4 on a scale from 0 to 1. In contrast the large-angle and parallel-${\delta}B$ equations have physical correction factors 0.6 and 0.7. These results may be useful in selecting DCF equations, within model limitations.

  • Discovery of a large-scale H I plume in the NGC 7194 Group.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Mina Pak, Junhyun Baek, Joon Hyeop Lee, Aeree Chung, Matt Owers, Hyunjin Jeong, Eon-Chang Sung, Yun-Kyeong Sheen
     

    We present the discovery of a new H I structure in the NGC 7194 group from the observations using the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array. NGC 7194 group is a nearby (z ~ 0.027) small galaxy group with five quiescent members. The observations reveal a 200 kpc-long H I plume that spans the entire group with a total mass of M$_{HI}$ = 3.4 x 10$^{10}$ M$_{\odot}$. The line-of-sight velocity of the H I gas gradually increases from south (7200 km s$^{-1}$) to north (8200 km $^{-1}$), and the local velocity dispersion is up to 70 km s$^{-1}$. The structure is not spatially coincident with any member galaxies but it shows close associations with a number of blue star-forming knots. Intragroup H I gas is not rare, but this particular structure is still one of the unusual cases in the sense that it does not show any clear connection with sizable galaxies in the group. We discuss the potential origins of this large-scale H I gas in the NGC 7194 group and its relation with the intergalactic star-forming knots. We propose that this HI feature could have originated from tidal interactions among group members or the infall of a late-type galaxy into the group. Alternatively, it might be leftover gas from flyby intruders.

  • Revisiting the Dragonfly Galaxy II. Young, radiatively efficient radio-loud AGN drives massive molecular outflow in a starburst merger at z=1.92.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Yuxing Zhong, Akio K. Inoue, Yuma Sugahara, Kana Morokuma-Matsui, Shinya Komugi, Hiroyuki Kaneko, Yoshinobu Fudamoto
     

    Radio-loud active galactic nuclei (RLAGNs) are a unique AGN population and were thought to be preferentially associated with supermassive black holes (SMBHs) at low accretion rates. They could impact the host galaxy evolution by expelling cold gas through the jet-mode feedback. In this work, we studied CO(6-5) line emission in a high-redshift radio galaxy, MRC 0152-209, at z=1.92 using ALMA up to a $0.024''$-resolution (corresponding to ~200 pc). This system is a starburst major merger constituted of two galaxies: the northwest (NW) one hosting the RLAGN with jet kinetic power $L_{\rm jet}\gtrsim2\times10^{46}$ erg/s and the southeast (SE) one. Based on the SED fitting for the entire system (NW+SE galaxies), we found AGN bolometric luminosity $L_{\rm AGN,bol}\sim0.9-3\times10^{46}$ erg/s for the RLAGN. We estimated BH mass through $M_{\rm BH}-M_\star$ scaling relations and found an Eddington ratio of $\sim0.7-4$ conservatively. These results suggest that the RLAGN is radiatively efficient and the powerful jets could be launched from a super-Eddington accretion disc. ALMA reveals a massive ($M_{\rm H_2}\sim2\times10^9$ Msun), compact ($\sim500$ pc), and lopsided molecular outflow perpendicular to the jet axis. The mass outflow rate (~1200-2600 Msun/yr) is comparable with the star formation rate of ~2000-3000 Msun/yr. The outflow kinetic power/$L_{\rm AGN,bol}$ ratio of ~0.008-0.02 and momentum boost factor ~3-24 agree with the radiative-mode AGN feedback. On the other hand, the jets can also drive the molecular outflow within its lifetime of $\sim2\times10^5$ yr without additional energy supply from AGN radiation. The jets then could remove all cold gas from the host galaxy through long-term, episodic launching. Our study reveals a unique object where starburst, powerful jets, and rapid BH growth co-exist, which may represent a fundamental stage of AGN-host galaxy co-evolution.

  • Atomic Diffusion and Mixing in Old Stars VIII: Chemical abundance variations in the globular cluster M4 (NGC 6121).- [PDF] - [Article]

    T. Nordlander, P. Gruyters, O. Richard, A. J. Korn
     

    Variations in chemical abundances with evolutionary phase have been identified among stars in globular and open clusters with a wide range of metallicities. In the metal-poor clusters, these variations compare well with predictions from stellar structure and evolution models considering the internal diffusive motions of atoms and ions, collectively known as atomic diffusion, when moderated by an additional mixing process with a fine-tuned efficiency. We present here an investigation of these effects in the Galactic globular cluster NGC 6121 (M4) ([Fe/H] = -1.13) through a detailed chemical abundance analysis of 86 stars using high-resolution ESO/VLT FLAMES spectroscopy. The stars range from the main-sequence turnoff point (TOP) to the red giant branch (RGB) just above the bump. We identify C-N-O and Mg-Al-Si abundance anti-correlations, and confirm the presence of a bimodal population differing by 1 dex in nitrogen abundance. The composition of the second-generation stars imply pollution from both massive (20-40 Msol) and asymptotic giant branch stars. We find evolutionary variations in chemical abundances between the TOP and RGB, which are robust to uncertainties in stellar parameters and modelling assumptions. The variations are weak, but match predictions well when employing efficient additional mixing. Without correcting for Galactic production of lithium, we derive an initial lithium abundance 2.63+-0.10, which is marginally lower than the predicted primordial BBN value.

  • Radio jets in NGC 1068 with e-MERLIN and VLA: structure and morphology.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Isaac M. Mutie, David Williams-Baldwin, Robert J. Beswick, Emmanuel K. Bempong-Manful, Paul O. Baki, Tom W. B. Muxlow, Jack F. Gallimore, Susanne E. Aalto, Bililign T. Dullo, Ranieri D. Baldi, (2) The University of Manchester (3) University of Bristol, (4) Bucknell University, (5) Chalmers University of Technology, (6) Universidad Complutense de Madrid, (7) Instituto di Radioastronomia - INAF)
     

    We present new high-sensitivity e-MERLIN and VLA radio images of the prototypical Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 1068 at 5, 10 and 21 GHz. We image the radio jet, from the compact components NE, C, S1 and S2 to the faint double-lobed jet structure of the NE and SW jet lobes. Furthermore, we map the jet between by combining e-MERLIN and VLA data for the first time. Components NE, C and S2 have steep spectra indicative of optically-thin non-thermal emission domination between 5 and 21 GHz. Component S1, which is where the AGN resides, has a flat radio spectrum. We report a new component, S2a, a part of the southern jet. We compare these new data with the MERLIN and VLA data observed in 1983, 1992 and 1995 and report a flux decrease by a factor of 2 in component C, suggesting variability of this jet component. With the high angular resolution e-MERLIN maps, we detect the bow shocks in the NE jet lobe that coincide with the molecular gas outflows observed with ALMA. The NE jet lobe has enough radio power considered to be responsible for driving out the dense molecular gas observed with ALMA around the same region.

  • The VISCACHA survey -- IX. The SMC Southern Bridge in 8D.- [PDF] - [Article]

    M. C. Parisi, R. A. P. Oliveira, M. Angelo, B. Dias, F. Maia, S. Saroon, C. Feinstein, J. F. C. Santos Jr., E. Bica, B. Pereira Lima Ferreira, J. G. Fernández-Trincado, P. Westera, D. Minniti, E. R. Garro, O. J. Katime Santrich, B. De Bortoli, S. Souza, L. Kerber, A. Pérez-Villegas
     

    The structure of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) outside of its main body is characterised by tidal branches resulting from its interactions mainly with the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). Characterising the stellar populations in these tidal components helps to understand the dynamical history of this galaxy and of the Magellanic system in general. We provide full phase-space vector information for Southern Bridge clusters. We performed a photometric and spectroscopic analysis of twelve SMC clusters, doubling the number of SMC clusters with full phase-space vector information known to date. We reclassify the sample considering 3D distances and 3D velocities. We found that some of the clusters classified as Southern Bridge objects according to the projected 2D classification actually belong to the Main Body and Counter-Bridge in the background. The comparison of the kinematics of the genuine foreground Bridge clusters with those previously analysed in the same way reveals that Southern Bridge clusters are moving towards the LMC and share the kinematics of the Northern Bridge. Adding to our sample clusters from the literature with CaT metallicity determinations we compare the age-metallicity relation of the Southern Bridge with the one of the Northern Bridge. We reinforce the idea that both regions do not seem to have experienced the same chemical enrichment history and that there is a clear absence of clusters in the Northern Bridge older than 3Gyr and more metal-poor than -1.1, which would not seem to be due to a selection effect.

  • Surveying the Whirlpool at Arcseconds with NOEMA (SWAN)- I. Mapping the HCN and N$_2$H$^+$ 3mm lines.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Sophia K. Stuber, Jerome Pety, Eva Schinnerer, Frank Bigiel, Antonio Usero, Ivana Beslić, Miguel Querejeta, María J. Jiménez-Donaire, Adam Leroy, Jakob den Brok, Lukas Neumann, Cosima Eibensteiner, Yu-Hsuan Teng, Ashley Barnes, Mélanie Chevance, Dario Colombo, Daniel A. Dale, Simon C.O. Glover, Daizhong Liu, Hsi-An Pan
     

    We present the first results from "Surveying the Whirlpool at Arcseconds with NOEMA" (SWAN), an IRAM Northern Extended Millimetre Array (NOEMA)+30m large program that maps emission from several molecular lines at 90 and 110 GHz in the iconic nearby grand-design spiral galaxy M~51 at cloud-scale resolution ($\sim$3\arcsec=125\,pc). As part of this work, we have obtained the first sensitive cloud-scale map of N$_2$H$^+$(1-0) of the inner $\sim5\,\times 7\,$kpc of a normal star-forming galaxy, which we compare to HCN(1-0) and CO(1-0) emission to test their ability in tracing dense, star-forming gas. The average N$_2$H$^+$-to-HCN line ratio of our total FoV is $0.20\pm0.09$, with strong regional variations of a factor of $\gtrsim 2$ throughout the disk, including the south-western spiral arm and the center. The central $\sim1\,$kpc exhibits elevated HCN emission compared to N$_2$H$^+$, probably caused by AGN-driven excitation effects. We find that HCN and N$_2$H$^+$ are strongly super-linearily correlated in intensity ($\rho_\mathrm{Sp}\sim 0.8$), with an average scatter of $\sim0.14\,$dex over a span of $\gtrsim 1.5\,$dex in intensity. When excluding the central region, the data is best described by a power-law of exponent $1.2$, indicating that there is more N$_2$H$^+$ per unit HCN in brighter regions. Our observations demonstrate that the HCN-to-CO line ratio is a sensitive tracer of gas density in agreement with findings of recent Galactic studies which utilize N$_2$H$^+$. The peculiar line ratios present near the AGN and the scatter of the power-law fit in the disk suggest that in addition to a first-order correlation with gas density, second-order physics (such as optical depth, gas temperature) or chemistry (abundance variations) are encoded in the N$_2$H$^+$/CO, HCN/CO and N$_2$H$^+$/HCN ratios.

  • Ages, metallicity, and alpha-enhancement of the globular cluster populations in NGC 3311.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Natalie Grasser, Magda Arnaboldi, Carlos Eduardo Barbosa, Chiara Spiniello, Lodovico Coccato, John Trevor Mendel
     

    Aims. We aim to investigate the stellar population properties, ages, and metal content of the globular clusters (GCs) in NGC 3311, the central galaxy of the Hydra I cluster, to better constrain its evolution history. Methods. We used integral-field spectroscopic data from the Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) to identify 680 sources in the central region of NGC 3311 and extract their 1D spectra. An analysis of these sources in terms of morphologies, radial velocities, and emission lines allowed us to narrow down our selection to 49 bona fide GC candidates. We split these candidates into two groups depending on their projected distance to the galaxy center (R), namely inner (R<20arcsec) and outer (R>20arcsec) GCs. We stacked the extracted 1D spectra of the inner and outer GC populations to increase the signal-to-noise ratios (S/Ns) of the resulting spectra and hence allow full-spectrum fitting. In addition, we also created a stacked spectrum of all GCs in NGC 3311 and one of the two most central GC candidates. Using the code pPXF, we performed a stellar population analysis on the four stacked 1D spectra, obtaining mass-weighted integrated ages, metallicities, and [$\alpha$/Fe] abundances. Results. All GCs are old, with ages >13.5 Gyr, and they have super-solar metallicities. Looking at the color distribution, we find that the inner ones tend to be redder and more metal rich than the outer ones. This is consistent with the two-phase formation scenario. Looking at the full-spectral fitting results, at face value the outer GCs have a larger [$\alpha$/Fe] ratio, which is in line with what is found for the stars that dominate the surface brightness profile at the same radii. However, the values for outer and inner GCs are consistent within the uncertainties.

  • The Next Generation Deep Extragalactic Exploratory Public Near-Infrared Slitless Survey Epoch 1 (NGDEEP-NISS1): Extra-Galactic Star-formation and Active Galactic Nuclei at 0.5 < z < 3.6.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Nor Pirzkal, Barry Rothberg, Casey Papovich, Lu Shen, Gene C. K. Leung, Micaela B. Bagley, Steven L. Finkelstein, Jennifer M. Lotz, Anton M. Koekemoer, Nimish P. Hathi, Yingjie Cheng, Nikko J. Cleri, L. Y., Aaron Yung, Bren E. Backhaus, Jonathan P. Gardner, Pablo G. Pérez-González, Henry C. Ferguson, Norman A. Grogin, Jasleen Matharu, Swara Ravindranath, Russell Ryan, Danielle A. Berg, Caitlin M. Casey, Marco Castellano, Oscar A. Chávez Ortiz, Katherine Chworowsky, Mark Dickinson, Rachel S. Somerville, Isabella G. Cox, Romeel Davé, Kelcey Davis, Vicente Estrada-Carpenter, Adriano Fontana, Seiji Fujimoto, Mauro Giavalisco, Andrea Grazian, Taylor A. Hutchison, Anne E. Jaskot, Intae Jung, Jeyhan S. Kartaltepe, Lisa J. Kewley, Allison Kirkpatrick, Dale D. Kocevski, Rebecca L. Larson, et al. (7 additional authors not shown)
     

    The Next Generation Deep Extragalactic Exploratory Public (NGDEEP) survey program was designed specifically to include Near Infrared Slitless Spectroscopic observations (\NGDEEP) to detect multiple emission lines in as many galaxies as possible and across a wide redshift range using the Near Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS). To date, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has observed 50$\%$ of the allocated orbits (Epoch 1) of this program (\NGDEEPA). Using a set of independently developed calibration files designed to deal with a complex combination of overlapping spectra, multiple position angles, and multiple cross filters and grisms, in conjunction with a robust and proven algorithm for quantifying contamination from overlapping dispersed spectra, \NGDEEPA\ has achieved a 3$\sigma$ sensitivity limit of 2 $\times$ 10$^{-18}$ erg/s/cm$^2$. We demonstrate the power of deep wide field slitless spectroscopy (WFSS) to characterize the dust content, star-formation rates, and metallicity ([OIII]/H$\beta$) of galaxies at $1<z<3.5$. Further, we identify the presence of active galactic nuclei (AGN) and infer the mass of their supermassive black holes (SMBHs) using broadened restframe MgII and H$\beta$ emission lines. The spectroscopic results are then compared with the physical properties of galaxies extrapolated from fitting spectral energy distribution (SED) models to photometry alone. The results clearly demonstrate the unique power and efficiency of WFSS at near-infrared wavelengths over other methods to determine the properties of galaxies across a broad range of redshifts.

  • Charting Circumstellar Chemistry of Carbon-rich AGB Stars: I. ALMA 3 mm spectral surveys.- [PDF] - [Article]

    R. Unnikrishnan, E. De Beck, L.A. Nyman, H. Olofsson, W.H.T. Vlemmings, D. Tafoya, M. Maercker, S.B. Charnley, M.A. Cordiner, I. de Gregorio, E. Humphreys, T.J. Millar, M.G. Rawlings
     

    AGB stars are major contributors to the chemical enrichment of the ISM through nucleosynthesis and extensive mass loss. Most of our current knowledge of AGB atmospheric and circumstellar chemistry, in particular in a C-rich environment, is based on observations of the carbon star IRC+10216. We aim to obtain a more generalised understanding of the chemistry in C-rich AGB CSEs by studying a sample of three carbon stars, IRAS15194-5115, IRAS15082-4808, and IRAS07454-7112, and test the archetypal status often attributed to IRC+10216. We performed spatially resolved, unbiased spectral surveys in ALMA Band 3. We identify a total of 132 rotational transitions from 49 molecular species. There are two main morphologies of the brightness distributions: centrally-peaked (e.g. HCN) and shell-like (e.g. C$_2$H). We estimated the sizes of the molecular emitting regions using azimuthally-averaged radial profiles of the line brightness distributions, and derived abundance estimates. Of the shell distributions, the cyanopolyynes peak at slightly smaller radii than the hydrocarbons, and CN and HNC show the most extended emission. The emitting regions for each species are the smallest for IRAS07454-7112. We find that, within the uncertainties of the analysis, the three stars present similar abundances for most species, also compared to IRC+10216. We find that SiO is more abundant in our three stars compared to IRC+10216. Our estimated isotopic ratios match well the literature values for the sources. The observed circumstellar chemistry appears very similar across our sample and compared to that of IRC+10216, both in terms of the relative location of the emitting regions and molecular abundances. This implies that, to a first approximation, the chemical models tailored to IRC+10216 are able to reproduce the observed chemistry in C-rich envelopes across roughly an order of magnitude in wind density.

  • Constraining the H2 column densities in the diffuse interstellar medium using dust extinction and HI data.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Raphael Skalidis, Paul F. Goldsmith, Philip F. Hopkins, Sam B. Ponnada
     

    Carbon monoxide (CO) is a poor tracer of H$_{2}$ in the diffuse interstellar medium (ISM), where most of the carbon is not incorporated into CO molecules unlike the situation at higher extinctions. We present a novel, indirect method to constrain H$_{2}$ column densities ($N_{H_{2}}$) without employing CO observations. We show that previously-recognized nonlinearities in the relation between the extinction, $A_{V} ({H}_{2})$, derived from dust emission and the HI column density ($N_{HI}$) are due to the presence of molecular gas. We employ archival $N_{H_{2}}$ data, obtained from the UV spectra of stars, and calculate $A_{V} ({H}_{2})$ towards these sight lines using 3D extinction maps. We derive an empirical relation between $A_{V} ({H}_{2})$ and $N_{H_{2}}$, which we use to constrain $N_{H_{2}}$ in the diffuse ISM. We construct a $N_{H_{2}}$ map of our Galaxy and compare it to the CO integrated intensity ($W_{CO}$) distribution. We find that the average ratio ($X_{CO}$) between $N_{H_{2}}$ and $W_{CO}$ is approximately equal to $2 \times 10^{20}$ cm$^{-2}$ (K km s$^{-1}$)$^{-1}$, consistent with previous estimates. However, we find that the $X_{CO}$ factor varies by orders of magnitude on arcminute scales between the outer and the central portions of molecular clouds. For regions with $N_{H_{2}} \gtrsim 10^{20}$ cm$^{-2}$, we estimate that the average H$_{2}$ fractional abundance, $f_{{H}_{2}}$ = $2N_{H_{2}}$/(2$N_{H_{2}}$ + $N_{{HI}}$), is 0.25. Multiple (distinct) largely atomic clouds are likely found along high-extinction sightlines ($A_{V} \geq 1$ mag), hence limiting $f_{{H}_{2}}$ in these directions. More than $50 \%$ of the lines of sight with $N_{H_{2}} \geq 10^{20}$ cm$^{-2}$ are untraceable by CO with a $J$ = 1-0 sensitivity limit $W_{CO} = 1$ K km s$^{-1}$.

  • Orbital Torus Imaging: Acceleration, density, and dark matter in the Galactic disk measured with element abundance gradients.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Danny Horta, Adrian M. Price-Whelan, David W. Hogg, Kathryn V. Johnston, Lawrence Widrow, Julianne J. Dalcanton, Melissa K. Ness, Jason A. S. Hunt
     

    Under the assumption of a simple and time-invariant gravitational potential, many Galactic dynamics techniques infer the Milky Way's mass and dark matter distribution from stellar kinematic observations. These methods typically rely on parameterized potential models of the Galaxy and must take into account non-trivial survey selection effects, because they make use of the density of stars in phase space. Large-scale spectroscopic surveys now supply information beyond kinematics in the form of precise stellar label measurements (especially element abundances). These element abundances are known to correlate with orbital actions or other dynamical invariants. Here, we use the Orbital Torus Imaging (OTI) framework that uses abundance gradients in phase space to map orbits. In many cases these gradients can be measured without detailed knowledge of the selection function. We use stellar surface abundances from the APOGEE survey combined with kinematic data from the Gaia mission. Our method reveals the vertical ($z$-direction) orbit structure in the Galaxy and enables empirical measurements of the vertical acceleration field and orbital frequencies in the disk. From these measurements, we infer the total surface mass density, $\Sigma$, and midplane volume density, $\rho_0$, as a function of Galactocentric radius and height. Around the Sun, we find $\Sigma_{\odot}(z=1.1$ kpc)$=72^{+6}_{-9}$M$_{\odot}$pc$^{-2}$ and $\rho_{\odot}(z=0)=0.081^{+0.015}_{-0.009}$ M$_{\odot}$pc$^{-3}$ using the most constraining abundance ratio, [Mg/Fe]. This corresponds to a dark matter contribution in surface density of $\Sigma_{\odot,\mathrm{DM}}(z=1.1$ kpc)$=24\pm4$ M$_{\odot}$pc$^{-2}$, and in total volume mass density of $\rho_{\odot,\mathrm{DM}}(z=0)=0.011\pm0.002$ M$_{\odot}$pc$^{-3}$. Moreover, using these mass density values we estimate the scale length of the low-$\alpha$ disc to be $h_R=2.24\pm0.06$kpc.

  • Slant, Fan, and Narrow: the Response of Stellar Streams to a Tilting Galactic Disk.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Jacob Nibauer, Ana Bonaca, Mariangela Lisanti, Denis Erkal, Zoe Hastings
     

    Stellar streams are sensitive tracers of the gravitational potential, which is typically assumed to be static in the inner Galaxy. However, massive mergers like Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus can impart torques on the stellar disk of the Milky Way that result in the disk tilting at rates of up to 10-20 deg/Gyr. Here, we demonstrate the effects of disk tilting on the morphology and kinematics of stellar streams. Through a series of numerical experiments, we find that streams with nearby apocenters $(r_{\rm apo} \lesssim 20~\rm{kpc})$ are sensitive to disk tilting, with the primary effect being changes to the stream's on-sky track and width. Interestingly, disk tilting can produce both more diffuse streams and more narrow streams, depending on the orbital inclination of the progenitor and the direction in which the disk is tilting. Our model of Pal 5's tidal tails for a tilting rate of 15 deg/Gyr is in excellent agreement with the observed stream's track and width, and reproduces the extreme narrowing of the trailing tail. We also find that failure to account for a tilting disk can bias constraints on shape parameters of the Milky Way's local dark matter distribution at the level of 5-10%, with the direction of the bias changing for different streams. Disk tilting could therefore explain discrepancies in the Milky Way's dark matter halo shape inferred using different streams.

astro-ph.IM

  • WRAP: A Tool for Efficient Cross-Identification of Proper Motion Objects Spanning Multiple Surveys.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Hunter Brooks, J. Davy Kirkpatrick, Dan Caselden, Adam C. Schneider, Aaron M. Meisner, Yadukrishna Raghu, Farid Cedeno, Jacqueline K. Faherty, Federico Marocco, Marc J. Kuchner, S.L.Casewell, Planet 9 Collaboration
     

    We introduce the Wide-field Retrieval of Astrodata Program (WRAP), a tool created to aid astronomers in gathering photometric and astrometric data for point sources that may confuse simple cross-matching algorithms because of their faintness or motion. WRAP allows astronomers to correctly cross-identify objects with proper motion across multiple surveys by wedding the catalog data with its underlying images, thus providing visual confirmation of cross-associations in real time. Developed within the Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 citizen science project, WRAP aims to aid in the characterization of faint, high motion sources by this collaboration (and others).

  • matvis: A matrix-based visibility simulator for fast forward modelling of many-element 21 cm arrays.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Piyanat Kittiwisit, Steven G. Murray, Hugh Garsden, Philip Bull, Christopher Cain, Aaron R. Parsons, Jackson Sipple, Zara Abdurashidova, Tyrone Adams, James E. Aguirre, Paul Alexander, Zaki S. Ali, Rushelle Baartman, Yanga Balfour, Adam P. Beardsley, Lindsay M. Berkhout, Gianni Bernardi, Tashalee S. Billings, Judd D. Bowman, Richard F. Bradley, Jacob Burba, Steven Carey, Chris L. Carilli, Kai-Feng Chen, Carina Cheng, Samir Choudhuri, David R. DeBoer, Eloy de Lera Acedo, Matt Dexter, Joshua S. Dillon, Scott Dynes, Nico Eksteen, John Ely, Aaron Ewall-Wice, Nicolas Fagnoni, Randall Fritz, Steven R. Furlanetto, Kingsley Gale-Sides, Bharat Kumar Gehlot, Abhik Ghosh, Brian Glendenning, Adelie Gorce, Deepthi Gorthi, Bradley Greig, Jasper Grobbelaar, Ziyaad Halday, Bryna J. Hazelton, Jacqueline N. Hewitt, et al. (50 additional authors not shown)
     

    Detection of the faint 21 cm line emission from the Cosmic Dawn and Epoch of Reionisation will require not only exquisite control over instrumental calibration and systematics to achieve the necessary dynamic range of observations but also validation of analysis techniques to demonstrate their statistical properties and signal loss characteristics. A key ingredient in achieving this is the ability to perform high-fidelity simulations of the kinds of data that are produced by the large, many-element, radio interferometric arrays that have been purpose-built for these studies. The large scale of these arrays presents a computational challenge, as one must simulate a detailed sky and instrumental model across many hundreds of frequency channels, thousands of time samples, and tens of thousands of baselines for arrays with hundreds of antennas. In this paper, we present a fast matrix-based method for simulating radio interferometric measurements (visibilities) at the necessary scale. We achieve this through judicious use of primary beam interpolation, fast approximations for coordinate transforms, and a vectorised outer product to expand per-antenna quantities to per-baseline visibilities, coupled with standard parallelisation techniques. We validate the results of this method, implemented in the publicly-available matvis code, against a high-precision reference simulator, and explore its computational scaling on a variety of problems.

  • A Review of NEST Models, and Their Application to Improvement of Particle Identification in Liquid Xenon Experiments.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    M. Szydagis, J. Balajthy, G.A. Block, J.P. Brodsky, E. Brown, J.E. Cutter, S.J. Farrell, J. Huang, E.S. Kozlova, C.S. Liebenthal, D.N. McKinsey, K. McMichael, M. Mooney, J. Mueller, K. Ni, G.R.C. Rischbieter, M. Tripathi, C.D. Tunnell, V. Velan, M.D. Wyman, Z. Zhao, M. Zhong
     

    This paper discusses microphysical simulation of interactions in liquid xenon, the active detector medium in many leading rare-event physics searches, and describes experimental observables useful to understanding detector performance. The scintillation and ionization yield distributions for signal and background are presented using the Noble Element Simulation Technique, or NEST, which is a toolkit based upon experimental data and simple, empirical formulae. NEST models of light and of charge production as a function of particle type, energy, and electric field are reviewed, as well as of energy resolution and final pulse areas. After vetting of NEST against raw data, with several specific examples pulled from XENON, ZEPLIN, LUX / LZ, and PandaX, we interpolate and extrapolate its models to draw new conclusions on the properties of future detectors (e.g., XLZD), in terms of the best possible discrimination of electronic recoil backgrounds from the potential nuclear recoil signal due to WIMP dark matter. We find that the oft-quoted value of a 99.5% discrimination is likely too conservative. NEST shows that another order of magnitude improvement (99.95% discrimination) may be achievable with a high photon detection efficiency (g1 about 15-20%) and reasonably achievable drift field of approximately 300 V/cm.

  • Optimal frequency-domain analysis for spacecraft time series: Introducing the missing-data multitaper power spectrum estimator.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Sarah E. Dodson-Robinson, Charlotte Haley
     

    While the Lomb-Scargle periodogram is foundational to astronomy, it has a significant shortcoming: the variance in the estimated power spectrum does not decrease as more data are acquired. Statisticians have a 60-year history of developing variance-suppressing power spectrum estimators, but most are not used in astronomy because they are formulated for time series with uniform observing cadence and without seasonal or daily gaps. Here we demonstrate how to apply the missing-data multitaper power spectrum estimator to spacecraft data with uniform time intervals between observations but missing data during thruster fires or momentum dumps. The F-test for harmonic components may be applied to multitaper power spectrum estimates to identify statistically significant oscillations that would not rise above a white noise-based false alarm probability. Multitapering improves the dynamic range of the power spectrum estimate and suppresses spectral window artifacts. We show that the multitaper - F-test combination applied to Kepler observations of KIC 6102338 detects differential rotation without requiring iterative sinusoid fitting and subtraction. Significant signals reside at harmonics of both fundamental rotation frequencies and suggest an antisolar rotation profile. Next we use the missing-data multitaper power spectrum estimator to identify the oscillation modes responsible for the complex "scallop shell" shape of the K2 light curve of EPIC 203354381. We argue that multitaper power spectrum estimators should be used for all time series with regular observing cadence.

  • A scanning device for spatial quantum efficiency measurements of photomultipliers tubes.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    P. Migliozzi, C.M. Mollo, A. Simonelli
     

    This paper presents a quantum efficiency measurement setup based on a 2D motorized stage, a wide spectrum xenon lamp, a beam splitter system, and two calibrated photo-diodes for measuring the quantum efficiency (QE) of photomultiplier tubes (1 to 10 inches). We will demonstrate the effectiveness of technical refinements on the measurements procedures over some existing setups already shown in literature. The large area covered by the 2D stages permit to study the quantum efficiency of PMTs with diameter up to ten inches. The results obtained will show the high precision and accuracy in characterizing the quantum efficiency versus wavelength over the range of 250 nm to 1100 nm and along the photo-catode surface. The setup monitors the light intensity synchronously with the output current yield from photosensors under test. This ensures the accuracy and repeatability of the measurements. The motorized stage allows precise positioning of the light source with respect to the active area. The emission spectrum of the xenon lamp provides a broad range of illumination in terms of dynamics and wavelength span.

gr-qc

  • Interior spacetimes sourced by stationary differentially rotating irrotational cylindrical fluids. II. Anisotropic pressure.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Marie-Noëlle Célérier, Observatoire de Paris-PSL)
     

    In a recent series of papers new exact analytical interior spacetimes sourced by stationary rigidly rotating cylinders of fluids have been displayed. A fluid with an axially directed pressure has been first considered, C\'el\'erier, Phys. Rev. D 104, 064040 (2021), J. Math. Phys. 64, 032501 (2023), then a perfect fluid, J. Math. Phys. 64, 022501 (2023), followed by a fluid with an azimuthally directed pressure, J. Math. Phys. 64, 042501 (2023), then, by a fluid where the pressure is radially oriented, J. Math. Phys. 64, 052502 (2023). The perfect fluid configuration has subsequently be extended to the case of differential rotation, J. Math. Phys. 64, 092501 (2023). In the present paper, three different cases of anisotropic pressure analogous to those studied for the rigidly rotating motion are considered in turn for differentially rotating fluids. General methods for generating mathematical solutions to the field equations and physically well-behaved examples are displayed for the axial and azimuthal pressure cases. As regards radial pressure fluids, four classes of solutions naturally emerge from the corresponding Einstein's equations, among which one class has been fully integrated and has been shown to exhibit physically proper solutions.

  • Spin-bounded correlations: rotation boxes within and beyond quantum theory.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Albert Aloy, Thomas D. Galley, Caroline L. Jones, Stefan L. Ludescher, Markus P. Mueller
     

    How can detector click probabilities respond to spatial rotations around a fixed axis, in any possible physical theory? Here, we give a thorough mathematical analysis of this question in terms of "rotation boxes", which are analogous to the well-known notion of non-local boxes. We prove that quantum theory admits the most general rotational correlations for spins 0, 1/2, and 1, but we describe a metrological game where beyond-quantum resources of spin 3/2 outperform all quantum resources of the same spin. We prove a multitude of fundamental results about these correlations, including an exact convex characterization of the spin-1 correlations, a Tsirelson-type inequality for spins 3/2 and higher, and a proof that the general spin-J correlations provide an efficient outer SDP approximation to the quantum set. Furthermore, we review and consolidate earlier results that hint at a wealth of applications of this formalism: a theory-agnostic semi-device-independent randomness generator, an exact characterization of the quantum (2,2,2)-Bell correlations in terms of local symmetries, and the derivation of multipartite Bell witnesses. Our results illuminate the foundational question of how space constrains the structure of quantum theory, they build a bridge between semi-device-independent quantum information and spacetime physics, and they demonstrate interesting relations to topics such as entanglement witnesses, spectrahedra, and orbitopes.

  • Noether symmetries of the minimal surface Lagrangian for G\"odel-type spacetimes.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Ugur Camci
     

    In this paper, we investigate the Noether symmetries of the minimal surface Lagrangian for four classes of metrics in G\"{o}del-type spacetimes. We calculate the Noether symmetries for all classes, namely, classes I, II, III and IV. Additionally, we determine the conserved fields corresponding to each classes, allowing us to derive a comprehensive characterization of the minimal surface equations for G\"{o}del-type spacetimes.

  • Fermionic quartet and vestigial gravity.- [PDF] - [Article]

    G.E. Volovik
     

    We discuss the two-step transitions in superconductors, where the intermediate state between the Cooper pair state and the normal metal is the 4-fermion condensate, which is called the intertwined vestigial order. We discuss different types of the vestigial order, which are possible in the spin-triplet superfluid $^3$He, and the topological objects in the vestigial phases. Since in $^3$He the order parameter $A_{\alpha i}$ represents the analog of gravitational tetrads, we suggest that the vestigial states are possible in quantum gravity. As in superconductors, the fermionic vacuum can experience two consequent phase transitions. At first transition the metric appears as the bilinear combination of tetrads $g_{\mu\nu} =\eta_{ab}< \hat E^a_\mu \hat E^b_\nu>$, while the tetrad order parameter is still absent, $e_\mu^a=< \hat E^a_\mu> =0$. This corresponds to the bosonic Einstein general relativity, which emerges in the fermionic vacuum. The nonzero tetrads $e_\mu^a=< \hat E^a_\mu> \neq 0$ appear at the second transition, where a kind of the Einstein-Cartan-Sciama-Kibble tetrad gravity is formed. This suggests that on the levels of particles, gravity acts with different strength on fermions and bosons.

  • Wormholes in the Non-minimally Coupled Gravity with Electromagnetism.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Özcan Sert
     

    Wormholes are geometric passages in spacetime which can connect two faraway regions of the same universe or two different universes with a shortcut. Although they are currently considered as hypothetical structures, they might be important observable structures that allow even time travel. But their general relativistic construction requires an exotic matter with negative energy density. The construction of wormholes containing realistic matter is a very important challenge. Therefore, in this work we investigate wormholes in the model which is non-minimally coupled electromagnetic fields to gravity. Then we give some traversable wormhole geometries with realistic dust matter.

  • Electromagnetic field in a cavity induced by gravitational waves.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Danho Ahn, Yeong-Bok Bae, Sang Hui Im, Chan Park
     

    The detection method of gravitational waves (GW) using electromagnetic (EM) cavities has garnered significant attention in recent years. This paper thoroughly examines the analysis for the perturbation of the EM field and raises some issues in the existing literature. Our work demonstrates that the rigid condition imposed on the material, as provided in the literature, is inappropriate due to its reliance on a gauge-dependent quantity that cannot be controlled experimentally. Instead, we incorporate elasticity into the material and revise the governing equations for the electric field induced by GWs, expressing them solely in terms of gauge-invariant quantities. Applying these equations to a cylindrical cavity with the TM010 mode, we present the GW antenna pattern for the detector.

  • The initial data problem for a traversable wormhole with interacting mouths.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Alexey L. Smirnov
     

    In this study, we consider the time-symmetric initial data problem for GR minimally coupled with a phantom scalar field and a Maxwell field. The main focus is on initial data sets describing two interacting mouths of the same traversable wormhole. These data sets are similar in many respects to the Misner initial data with two black holes.

  • Conformally symmetric wormhole solutions supported by non-commutative geometry in $f(Q,T)$ gravity.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Chaitra Chooda Chalavadi, V. Venkatesha, N. S. Kavya, S. V. Divya Rashmi
     

    This manuscript investigates wormhole solutions within the framework of extended symmetric teleparallel gravity, incorporating non-commutative geometry, and conformal symmetries. To achieve this, we examine the linear wormhole model with anisotropic fluid under Gaussian and Lorentzian distributions. The primary objective is to derive wormhole solutions while considering the influence of the shape function on model parameters under Gaussian and Lorentzian distributions. The resulting shape function satisfies all the necessary conditions for a traversable wormhole. Furthermore, we analyze the characteristics of the energy conditions and provide a detailed graphical discussion of the matter contents via energy conditions. Additionally, we explore the effect of anisotropy under Gaussian and Lorentzian distributions. Finally, we present our conclusions based on the obtained results.

  • Geometric conservation in curved spacetime and entropy.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Sinya Aoki, Yoshimasa Hidaka, Kiyoharu Kawana, Kengo Shimada
     

    We provide an improved definition of new conserved quantities derived from the energy-momentum tensor in curved spacetime by introducing an additional scalar function. We find that the conserved current and the associated conserved charge become geometric under a certain initial condition of the scalar function, and show that such a conserved geometric current generally exists in curved spacetime. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the geometric conserved current agrees with the entropy current for the perfect fluid, thus the conserved charge is the total entropy of the system. While the geometric charge can be regarded as the entropy for non-dissipative fluid, its physical meaning should be investigated for more general cases.

  • Propagation and lensing of gravitational waves in Palatini $f(\hat R)$ gravity.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Sreekanth Harikumar, Laur Järv, Margus Saal, Aneta Wojnar, Marek Biesiada
     

    Accelerated expansion of the Universe prompted searches of modified gravity theory beyond general relativity, instead of adding a mysterious dark energy component with exotic physical properties. One such alternative gravity approach is metric-affine Palatini $f(\hat{R})$ theory. By now routine gravitational wave detections have opened a promising avenue of searching for modified gravity effects. Future expected cases of strong lensing of gravitational waves will enhance this opportunity further. In this paper, we present a systematic study of the propagation and gravitational lensing of gravitational waves in Palatini $f(\hat R)$ gravity and compare it with general relativity. Using the WKB approximation we explore the geometric-optical limit of lensing and derive the corrections to the measured luminosity distance of the gravitational source. In addition, we study the lensing by the Singular Isothermal Sphere lens model and show that Palatini $f(\hat{R})$ modifies the lensing potential and hence the deflection angle. Then we show that the lens model and chosen theory of gravity influences the rotation of the gravitational wave polarization plane through the deflection angle. To be more specific we discuss the $f(\hat R)=\hat R+\alpha \hat R^2$ gravity theory and find that the modifications comparing to general relativity are negligible if the upper bound of $\alpha \sim 10^{9} \, $m$^2$ suggested in the literature is adopted. However, this bound is not firmly established and can be updated in the future. Therefore, the results we obtained could be valuable for further metric-affine gravity vs. general relativity tests involving lensing of gravitational waves and comparison of luminosity distances measured from electromagnetic and gravitational wave sources.

  • Induced motions on Carroll geometries.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Loïc Marsot
     

    In this article, we consider some Carrollian dynamical systems as effective models on null hypersurfaces in a Lorentzian spacetime. We show that we can realize Carroll models from more usual ``relativistic'' theories. In particular, we show how ambient null geodesics imply the classical ``no Carroll motion'' and, more interestingly, we find that the ambient model of chiral fermions implies Hall motion on null hypersurfaces, in agreement with previous intrinsic Carroll results. We also show how Wigner-Souriau translations imply (apparent) Carroll motion, and how ambient particles with a non vanishing gyromagnetic ratio cannot have a Carrollian description.

  • Observables from the Spinning Eikonal.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Andres Luna, Nathan Moynihan, Donal O'Connell, Alasdair Ross
     

    We study the classical dynamics of spinning particles using scattering amplitudes and eikonal exponentiation. We show that observables are determined by a simple algorithm. A wealth of complexity arises in perturbation theory as positions, momenta and spins must be iteratively corrected at each order. Even though we restrict ourselves to one-loop computations at quadratic order in spin, nevertheless we encounter and resolve a number of subtle effects. Finally, we clarify the links between our work and various other eikonal approaches to spinning observables.

  • Revisiting the gravitomagnetic clock effect.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Lorenzo Iorio
     

    To the first post-Newtonian order, if two test particles revolve in opposite directions about a massive, spinning body along two circular and equatorial orbits with the same radius, they take different times to return to the reference direction relative to which their motion is measured: it is the so-called gravitomagnetic clock effect. The satellite moving in the same sense of the rotation of the primary is slower, and experiences a retardation with respect to the case when the latter does not spin, while the one circling in the opposite sense of the rotation of the source is faster, and its orbital period is shorter than it would be in the static case. The resulting time difference due to the stationary gravitomagnetic field of the central spinning body is proportional to the angular momentum per unit mass of the latter through a numerical factor which so far has been found to be $4\pi$. A numerical integration of the equations of motion of a fictitious test particle moving along a circular path lying in the equatorial plane of a hypothetical rotating object by including the gravitomagnetic acceleration to the first post-Newtonian order shows that, actually, the gravitomagnetic corrections to the orbital periods are larger by a factor of $4$ in both the prograde and retrograde cases. Such an outcome, which makes the proportionality coefficient of the gravitomagnetic difference in the orbital periods of the two counter-revolving orbiters equal to $16\pi$, confirms an analytical calculation recently published in the literature by the present author.

  • Gravitational Spin-Orbit Hamiltonian at NNNLO in the post-Newtonian framework.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Manoj K. Mandal, Pierpaolo Mastrolia, Raj Patil, Jan Steinhoff
     

    We present the result of the spin-orbit interaction Hamiltonian for binary systems of rotating compact objects with generic spins, up to NNNLO corrections within the post-Newtonian expansion. The calculation is performed by employing the effective field theory diagrammatic approach, and it involves Feynman integrals up to three loops, evaluated within the dimensional regularization scheme. We apply canonical transformations to eliminate the non-physical divergences and spurious logarithmic behaviours of the Hamiltonian, and use the latter to derive the gauge-invariant binding energy and the scattering angle, in special kinematic regimes.

  • On the (Non)Hadamard Property of the SJ State in a $1+1$D Causal Diamond.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Yifeng Rocky Zhu, Yasaman K. Yazdi
     

    The Sorkin-Johnston (SJ) state is a candidate physical vacuum state for a scalar field in a generic curved spacetime. It has the attractive feature that it is covariantly and uniquely defined in any globally hyperbolic spacetime, often reflecting the underlying symmetries if there are any. A potential drawback of the SJ state is that it does not always satisfy the Hadamard condition. In this work, we study the extent to which the SJ state in a $1+1$D causal diamond is Hadamard, finding that it is not Hadamard at the boundary. We then study the softened SJ state, which is a slight modification of the original state to make it Hadamard. We use the softened SJ state to investigate whether some peculiar features of entanglement entropy in causal set theory may be linked to its non-Hadamard nature.

  • Features of a dark energy model in string theory.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Souvik Banerjee, Ulf Danielsson, Suvendu Giri
     

    In this paper we clear up misconceptions concerning the dark bubble model as a realization of dark energy in string theory. In particular we point out important differences with Randall-Sundrum, and explain why gravity neither is, nor need to be, localized on the dark bubble.

  • Interior spacetimes sourced by stationary differentially rotating irrotational cylindrical fluids. Perfect fluids.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Marie-Noëlle Célérier
     

    In a recent series of papers new exact analytical solutions of the Einstein equations representing interior spacetimes sourced by stationary rigidly rotating cylinders of different kinds of fluids have been displayed, [Phys. Rev. D {\bf 104}, 064040 (2021); J. Math. Phys. {\bf 64}, 022501 (2023); J. Math. Phys. {\bf 64}, 032501 (2023); J. Math. Phys. {\bf 64}, 042501 (2023); and J. Math. Phys. {\bf 64}, 052502 (2023)]. This work is currently being extended to the cases of differentially rotating irrotational fluids. The results are presented in a new series of papers considering in turn the same three anisotropic pressure cases, as well as a perfect fluid source. Here, the perfect fluid case is considered, and different classes are identified as directly issuing from the field equations. Among them, an explicit analytical set of solutions is selected as displaying perfect fluid spacetimes. Its mathematical and physical properties are analyzed. Its matching to an exterior Lewis-Weyl vacuum and the conditions for avoiding an angular deficit are discussed.

  • On the testability of the K\'arolyh\'azy model.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Laria Figurato, Angelo Bassi, Sandro Donadi
     

    K\'arolyh\'azy's original proposal, suggesting that space-time fluctuations could be a source of decoherence in space, faced a significant challenge due to an unexpectedly high emission of radiation (13 orders of magnitude more than what was observed in the latest experiment). To address this issue, we reevaluated K\'arolyh\'azy's assumption that the stochastic metric fluctuation must adhere to a wave equation. By considering more general correlation functions of space-time fluctuations, we resolve the problem and consequently revive the aforementioned proposal.

  • Modified particle lifetimes as a signature of deformed relativity.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Pedro H. Morais, Iarley P. Lobo, Christian Pfeifer, Rafael Alves Batista, Valdir B. Bezerra
     

    We demonstrate a compatibility between the relativity principle and the clock postulate in deformed special relativity, by identifying the relevant deformed Lorentz transformations in position space between arbitrary frames. This result leads to a first-principles correction to the dilated lifetime of fundamental particles. It turns out that these modified time dilations offer a way to scrutinize Lorentz invariance (or deviations thereof) to high precision.

  • Topologically Charged Rotating Wormhole.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Faizuddin Ahmed
     

    In this article, we present a stationary metric ansatz to describe a rotating traversable wormhole in the presence of the topological defect produced by a global monopole charge. This particular rotating space-time is referred to as the topologically charged rotating Schwarzschild-Klinkahmer wormhole. Our study involves the analysis of geodesic motion for test particles and photon rays in the context of this topologically charged rotating traversable wormhole. We aim to analyze the effects of global monopole charge and other parameters on the outcomes of this investigation. Additionally, we explore the matter-energy distribution within this rotating wormhole, considering it as a non-vacuum solution of Einstein's field equation. Notably, we demonstrate that the energy density of the matter content satisfies the criteria of the weak energy condition.

  • Modular Hamiltonian for de Sitter diamonds.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Markus B. Fröb
     

    We determine the Tomita-Takesaki modular data for CFTs in double cone and light cone regions in conformally flat spacetimes. This includes in particular the modular Hamiltonian for diamonds in the de Sitter spacetime. In the limit where the diamonds become large, we show that the modular automorphisms become time translations in the static patch. As preparation, we also provide a pedagogical rederivation of the known results for Minkowski spacetime. With our results and using the Araki formula, it becomes possible to compute relative entanglement entropies for CFTs in these regions.

  • Holographic Einstein rings of Non-commutative black holes.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Xin-Yun Hu, Xiao-Xiong Zeng, Li-Fang Li, Peng Xu
     

    With the help of the AdS/CFT correspondence, we easily derive the desired response function of QFT on the boundary. Using the virtual optical system with a convex lens, we are able to obtain the image of the black hole from the response function and further study the Einstein ring of the non-commutative black holes. All the results show that there are some common features and different features compared to the previous study of other background black holes. And with the change of the observation position, this ring will change into a luminosity-deformed ring, or light points. In addition to these similarities, there are some different features which are due to the singularity of the event horizon temperature. Explicitly, the relation between temperature and the event horizon $T-z_h$ has two branches when the non-commutative parameter $n$ is fixed. These in turn have an effect on the behavior of the response function and the Einstein ring. However, the amplitude of $|\langle O\rangle|$ increases with the decrease of the temperature $T$ for the left branch of $T-z_h$ relation, while the amplitude of $|\langle O\rangle|$ decreases with the decrease of the temperature $T$ for the right branch. These differences are also reflected in the Einstein ring. Therefore, these differences can be used to distinguish different black hole backgrounds. Furthermore, we show that the non-commutative parameter has an effect on the brightness and the position of Einstein ring.

hep-ph

  • Leptonic signatures of color-sextet scalars II: Exploiting unique large-$E_{\text{T}}^{\text{miss}}$ signals at the LHC.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Linda M. Carpenter, Katherine Schwind, Taylor Murphy
     

    The diverse and distinct collider phenomenology of color-sextet scalars motivates thorough investigation of their effective couplings to the Standard Model at the LHC. Some of the more unique sextet signals involve not only jets but also leptons. In previous work, we proposed an LHC search for color-sextet scalars in a channel with jets and a hard opposite-sign lepton pair, which results from a dimension-six coupling. In this sequel we study the counterpart processes with neutrinos, which produce jets in association with missing transverse energy ($E_{\text{T}}^{\text{miss}}$) in addition to possible leptons. We consider multiple search channels, including both single and pair sextet production, all characterized by significant missing energy and some featuring distinctive kinematic features. Our multifaceted study consists of three reinterpreted existing searches and a joint-likelihood analysis designed by us to maximize HL-LHC sensitivity to single sextet production. We show that our dedicated strategy in the jets + lepton + $E_{\text{T}}^{\text{miss}}$ channel can supersede today's limits from reinterpreted searches, and we make sensitivity projections for the HL-LHC. Altogether, our analysis can exclude sextet scalars lighter than 4.4 TeV or probe effective cutoffs as high as 16.8 TeV.

  • Flavoured Majorana Dark Matter then and now: From freeze-out scenarios to LHC signatures.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Harun Acaroğlu, Monika Blanke, Jan Heisig, Michael Krämer, Lena Rathmann
     

    We study a simplified Dark Matter model in the Dark Minimal Flavour Violation framework. Our model complements the Standard Model with a flavoured Dark Matter Majorana triplet and a coloured scalar mediator that share a Yukawa coupling with the right-handed up-type quarks with the coupling matrix $\lambda$. We extend previous work on this topic by exploring a large range of cosmologically viable parameter space, including the coannihilation region and, in particular, the region of conversion-driven freeze-out, while considering constraints from $D^0-\bar D^0$ mixing as well as constraints from direct and indirect Dark Matter searches. We find various realisations of conversion-driven freeze-out within the model, that open up allowed windows of parameter space towards small mass splittings and very weak Dark Matter couplings. Finally, we probe the model by reinterpreting current LHC searches for missing energy and long-lived particles. We point out gaps in the coverage of current constraints as well as new opportunities to search for the model at the LHC, in particular, the charge asymmetry in single-top production associated with jets and missing energy.

  • Baryogenesis and Leptogenesis from Supercooled Confinement.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Maximilian Dichtl, Jacopo Nava, Silvia Pascoli, Filippo Sala
     

    We propose a framework of baryogenesis and leptogenesis that relies on a supercooled confining phase transition (PT) in the early universe. The baryon or lepton asymmetry is sourced by decays of hadrons of the strong dynamics after the PT, and it is enhanced compared to the non-confining case, which was the only one explored so far. This widens the energy range of the PT, where the observed baryon asymmetry can be reproduced, down to the electroweak scale. The framework then becomes testable with gravity waves (GW) at LISA and the Einstein Telescope. We then study two explicit realisations: one of leptogenesis from composite sterile neutrinos that realises inverse see-saw; one of baryogenesis from composite scalars that is partly testable by existing colliders and flavour factories.

  • Normalizing Flows for High-Dimensional Detector Simulations.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Florian Ernst, Luigi Favaro, Claudius Krause, Tilman Plehn, David Shih
     

    Whenever invertible generative networks are needed for LHC physics, normalizing flows show excellent performance. A challenge is their scaling to high-dimensional phase spaces. We investigate their performance for fast calorimeter shower simulations with increasing phase space dimension. In addition to the standard architecture we also employ a VAE to compress the dimensionality. Our study provides benchmarks for invertible networks applied to the CaloChallenge.

  • The effects of pseudorapidity-dependent observables on (3+1)D Bayesian Inference of relativistic heavy-ion collisions.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Chun Shen, Björn Schenke, Wenbin Zhao
     

    This proceeding highlights the effects of pseudorapidity-dependent charged hadron observables $dN^\mathrm{ch}/d\eta$ and $v_2^{\rm ch}(\eta)$ in Au+Au collisions at 200 GeV on constraining the initial-state nuclear stopping for the beam remnants and the effective QGP specific shear viscosity in a recent Bayesian inference analysis using an event-by-event (3+1)D hydrodynamics + hadronic transport theoretical framework.

  • Constraints on doubly-charged-scalar lepton-triality models from 1-loop processes.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Gabriela Lichtenstein, Michael A. Schmidt, German Valencia, Raymond R. Volkas
     

    Discrete family symmetry models based on the $Z_3$ symmetry of "lepton triality" were recently studied in the context of charged-lepton flavour-violating processes at Belle II and the proposed $\mu^+ \mu^+$ and $\mu^+ e^-$ collider known as $\mu$TRISTAN. In this paper we augment these phenomenological analyses to include the $Z$ and Higgs boson decays $Z \to \ell^+ \ell^-$ ($\ell = e, \mu, \tau$), $H \to \gamma \gamma$ and $H \to Z \gamma$ that are induced at the $1$-loop level in these models.

  • Electromagnetic probes for critical fluctuations of phase transitions in dense QCD.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Toru Nishimura, Masakiyo Kitazawa, Teiji Kunihiro
     

    We study how the dilepton production rates and electric conductivity are affected by the phase transition to color superconductivity and the QCD critical point. Effects of the soft modes associated with these phase transitions are incorporated through the photon self-energy called the Aslamazov-Larkin, Maki-Thompson, and density-of-states terms, which are responsible for the paraconductivity in metallic superconductors. We show that anomalous enhancements of the production rate in the low energy/momentum region and the conductivity occur around the respective critical points.

  • QCD at finite temperature and density: Criticality.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Volodymyr Vovchenko
     

    We overview recent theoretical developments in the search for QCD critical point at finite temperature and density, including from lattice QCD, effective QCD theories, and proton number cumulants in heavy-ion collisions. We summarize the available constraints and predictions for the critical point location and discuss future challenges and opportunities.

  • Deep Generative Models for Detector Signature Simulation: An Analytical Taxonomy.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Hosein Hashemi, Claudius Krause
     

    In modern collider experiments, the quest to explore fundamental interactions between elementary particles has reached unparalleled levels of precision. Signatures from particle physics detectors are low-level objects encoding the physics of collisions. The complete simulation of them in a detector is a memory and storage-intensive task. To address this computational bottleneck in particle physics, "Fast Simulation" has been introduced and refined over the years. The field has seen a surge in interest in surrogate modeling the detector simulation, fueled by the advancements in deep generative models. These models aim to generate responses that are statistically identical to the observed data. In this paper, we conduct a comprehensive and exhaustive taxonomic review of the existing literature on the simulation of detector signatures from both methodological and application-wise perspectives. Initially, we formulate the problem of detector signature simulation and discuss its different variations that can be unified. Next, we classify the state-of-the-art methods into four distinct categories based on their underlying model architectures, summarizing their respective generation strategies. We then identify and discuss three key application areas. Finally, we shed light on the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead in detector signature simulation, setting the stage for future research and development.

  • Systematic description of hadron's response to non-local QCD probes: Froissart-Gribov projections in analysis of deeply virtual Compton scattering.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Kirill M. Semenov-Tian-Shansky, Paweł Sznajder
     

    We revisit the application of the Froissart-Gribov (FG) projections in the analysis of amplitudes for the Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering (DVCS), providing essential information on generalized parton distributions (GPDs). The pivotal role of these projections in a systematic description of a hadron's response to the string-like QCD probes characterised by different values of angular momentum $J$ is emphasised. For the first time, we establish a relationship between the FG projections and GPDs for spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ targets, and we investigate these quantities in various GPD models. Finally, we provide the first numerical estimates for the FG projections based on the DVCS amplitudes directly extracted from experimental data. We argue the method of the FG projections deserves a broad application in the DVCS phenomenology.

  • Gravitational form factors of the nucleon and one pion graviproduction in chiral EFT.- [PDF] - [Article]

    H. Alharazin
     

    In the framework of chiral effective field theory of delta resonances, nucleons and pions interacting with background gravitational field we calculate the gravitational form factors of the nucleon up to fourth order in the small scale expansion and obtain the long-range behavior of the corresponding contributions to the energy, spin, pressure and shear force distributions. By comparing nucleon gravitational form factors with and without delta contributions we conclude that explicit inclusion of deltas plays an important role. Next we explore the Lorentz structure of the $N \mapsto N \pi$ transition matrix element of the conserved symmetric energy-momentum tensor and introduce its parametrization in terms of twelve transition form factors. We use the chiral effective field theory to calculate the tree-order contributions to the gravitational transition form factors of the pion graviproduction off the nucleon up to third order.

  • Location of the QCD critical point predicted by holographic Bayesian analysis.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Mauricio Hippert, Joaquin Grefa, T. Andrew Manning, Jorge Noronha, Jacquelyn Noronha-Hostler, Israel Portillo Vazquez, Claudia Ratti, Rômulo Rougemont, Michael Trujillo
     

    We present results for a Bayesian analysis of the location of the QCD critical point constrained by first-principles lattice QCD results at zero baryon density. We employ a holographic Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton model of the QCD equation of state, capable of reproducing the latest lattice QCD results at zero and finite baryon chemical potential. Our analysis is carried out for two different parametrizations of this model, resulting in confidence intervals for the critical point location that overlap at one sigma. While samples of the prior distribution may not even predict a critical point, or produce critical points spread around a large region of the phase diagram, posterior samples nearly always present a critical point at chemical potentials of $\mu_{Bc} \sim 550 - 630$ MeV.

  • Collective Dynamics -- theoretical overview.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Yuuka Kanakubo
     

    I overview the recent progress of phenomenological studies exploring collective dynamics in relativistic nuclear collisions to understand various QCD properties. Originally, collectivity was interpreted as a manifestation of the hydrodynamic behaviour of the QGP as a response to the initial collision geometry. Over the past decade, however, particularly following the experimental observation of collectivity in small colliding systems, pioneering studies have demonstrated the possibility of other interpretations. In this talk, I highlight recent studies aimed at understanding various QCD properties at different collision stages through the lens of collectivity and emphasize the importance of establishing Monte Carlo event generators for relativistic nuclear collisions.

  • Study of a longitudinally expanding plasma with the 2PI effective action.- [PDF] - [Article]

    François Gelis, Sigtryggur Hauksson
     

    A central question in heavy-ion collisions is how the initial far-from-equilibrium medium evolves and thermalizes while it undergoes a rapid longitudinal expansion. In this work we use the two-particle irreducible (2PI) effective action for the first time to consider this question, focusing on $\phi^4$ scalar theory truncated at three loops. We calculate the momentum distribution of quasiparticles in the medium and show that isotropization takes place. We furthermore consider the thermal mass of quasiparticles and the importance of number-changing processes.

  • The rise and fall of light stops in the LHC top quark sample.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Emanuele Bagnaschi, Gennaro Corcella, Roberto Franceschini, Dibyashree Sengupta
     

    We discuss the possibility that light new physics in the top quark sample at the LHC can be found by investigating with greater care well known kinematic distributions, such as the invariant mass $m_{b\ell}$ of the $b$-jet and the charged lepton in fully leptonic $t\bar{t}$ events. We demonstrate that new physics can be probed in the rising part of the already measured $m_{b\ell}$ distribution. To this end we analyze a concrete supersymmetric scenario with light right-handed stop quark, chargino and neutralino. The corresponding spectra are characterized by small mass differences, which make them not yet excluded by current LHC searches and give rise to a specific end-point in the shape of the $m_{b\ell}$ distribution. We argue that this sharp feature is general for models of light new physics that have so far escaped the LHC searches and can offer a precious handle for the implementation of robust searches that exploit, rather than suffer from, soft bottom quarks and leptons. Recasting public data on searches for new physics, we identify candidate models that are not yet excluded. For these models we study the $m_{b\ell}$ distribution and derive the expected signal yields, finding that there is untapped potential for discovery of new physics using the $m_{b\ell}$ distribution.

  • Towards the full Heisenberg-Euler effective action at large $N$.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Felix Karbstein
     

    We study the Heisenberg-Euler effective action in constant electromagnetic fields $\bar{F}$ for QED with $N$ charged particle flavors of the same mass and charge $e$ in the large $N$ limit characterized by sending $N\to\infty$ while keeping $Ne^2\sim e\bar{F}\sim N^0$ fixed. This immediately implies that contributions that scale with inverse powers of $N$ can be neglected and the resulting effective action scales linearly with $N$. Interestingly, due to the presence of one-particle reducible diagrams, even in this limit the Heisenberg-Euler effective action receives contributions of arbitrary loop order. In particular for the special cases of electric- and magnetic-like field configurations we construct an explicit expression for the associated effective Lagrangian that, upon extremization for two constant scalar coefficients, allows to evaluate its full, all-order result at arbitrarily large field strengths. We demonstrate that our manifestly nonperturbative expression correctly reproduces the known results for the Heisenberg-Euler effective action at large $N$, namely its all-loop strong field limit and its low-order perturbative expansion in powers of the fine-structure constant.

  • A new causal and stable theory of viscous chiral hydrodynamics.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Nick Abboud, Enrico Speranza, Jorge Noronha
     

    We construct the general theory of first-order relativistic hydrodynamics for a fluid exhibiting a chiral anomaly, including all possible viscous terms allowed by symmetry. Using standard techniques, we compute the necessary and sufficient conditions for this theory to be relativistically causal in the nonlinear regime and for thermal equilibria to be linearly stable. This is the first theory of first-order chiral hydrodynamics suitable for numerical simulations.

  • A strategy for B-physics observables in the continuum limit.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Alessandro Conigli, Julien Frison, Patrick Fritzsch, Antoine Gérardin, Jochen Heitger, Gregorio Herdoiza, Simon Kuberski, Carlos Pena, Hubert Simma, Rainer Sommer
     

    In a somewhat forgotten paper [1] it was shown how to perform interpolations between relativistic and static computations in order to obtain results for heavy-light observables for masses from, say, $m_{\rm charm}$ to $m_{\rm bottom}$. All quantities are first continuum extrapolated and then interpolated in $1/m_h=1/m_{\rm heavy}$. Large volume computations are combined with finite volume ones where a relativistic bottom quark is accessible with small $am_{\rm bottom}$. We discuss how this strategy is extended to semi-leptonic form factors and other quantities of phenomenological interest. The essential point is to form quantities where the limit $m_h\to\infty$ is approached with power corrections O$(1/m_h)$ only. Perturbative corrections $\sim\alpha_s(m_h)^{\gamma+n}$ are cancelled in the construction of the observables. We also point out how such an approach can help to control systematics in semi-leptonic decays with just large volume data. First numerical results with $N_f = 2 + 1$ and lattice spacings down to 0.039 fm are presented in [2].

  • A fresh look at the LHC limits on scalar leptoquarks.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Arvind Bhaskar, Arijit Das, Tanumoy Mandal, Subhadip Mitra, Rachit Sharma
     

    The scalar Leptoquark (sLQ) parameter space is well-explored experimentally. The direct pair production searches at the LHC have excluded light sLQs almost model agnostically, and the high-$p_{\rm T}$ dilepton tail data have put strong bounds on the leptoquark-quark-lepton Yukawa couplings for a wide range of sLQ masses. However, these do not show the complete picture. Previously, Ref. [JHEP, 07, 028 (2015)] showed how the dilepton-dijet data from the pair production searches could give strong limits on these couplings. This was possible by including the single-production contribution to the dilepton-dijet signal. In this paper, we take a fresh look at the LHC limits on all sLQs by following the same principle and combine all significant contributions -- from pair and single productions, $t$-channel sLQ exchange and its interference with the Standard Model background -- to the $\mu\mu jj$ final state and recast the limits. We notice that the LQ exchange and its interference with the background processes play significant roles in the limits. The $\mu\mu jj$-recast limits are comparable to or, in some cases, significantly better than the currently known limits (from high-$p_{\rm T}$ dilepton data and direct searches), i.e., the LHC data rules out more parameter space than what is considered in the current literature. For the first time, we also show how including the QED processes can noticeably improve the LQ mass exclusion limits from the QCD-only limits.

  • A case study of SMEFT $\mathcal O(1/\Lambda^4)$ effects in diboson processes: $pp \to W^\pm(\ell^\pm \nu) \gamma$.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Adam Martin
     

    In this paper we explore $pp \to W^\pm (\ell^\pm \nu) \gamma$ to $\mathcal O(1/\Lambda^4)$ in the SMEFT expansion. Calculations to this order are necessary to properly capture SMEFT contributions that grow with energy, as the interference between energy-enhanced SMEFT effects at $\mathcal O(1/\Lambda^2)$ and the Standard Model is suppressed. We find that there are several dimension eight operators that interfere with the Standard Model and lead to the same energy growth, $\sim \mathcal O(E^4/\Lambda^4)$, as dimension six squared. While energy-enhanced SMEFT contributions are a main focus, our calculation includes the complete set of $\mathcal O(1/\Lambda^4)$ SMEFT effects consistent with $U(3)^5$ flavor symmetry. Additionally, we include the decay of the $W^\pm \to \ell^\pm\nu$, making the calculation actually $\bar q q' \to \ell^\pm \nu \gamma$. As such, we are able to study the impact of non-resonant SMEFT operators, such as $(L^\dag\bar\sigma^\mu \tau^I\, L) (Q^\dag\bar\sigma^\nu \tau^I\, Q)\, B_{\mu\nu}$, which contribute to $\bar q q' \to \ell^\pm \nu \gamma$ directly and not to $\bar q q' \to W^\pm \gamma$. We show several distributions to illustrate the shape differences of the different contributions.

  • Employing Approximate Symmetries for Hidden Pole Extraction.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Anuvind Asokan
     

    Recent lattice analyses of the $D\pi$ scattering by Hadron Spectrum Collaboration(HadSpec) report only one pole in the $D_0^*$ channel. This is in odds with the unitarised chiral perturbation theory analyses, which predict the $D_0^*(2300)$ as the interplay of two poles. We provide an explanation for this contradiction $-$ the exsistence of a hidden pole. We further show that the hidden pole can be better extracted from the lattice data by imposing SU(3) flavour constraints on the fitting amplitudes.

  • Top-Bottom Interference Contribution to Fully-Inclusive Higgs Production.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Michał Czakon, Felix Eschment, Marco Niggetiedt, Rene Poncelet, Tom Schellenberger
     

    We evaluate the top-bottom interference contribution to the fully-inclusive Higgs production cross section at next-to-next-to-leading order in QCD. Although bottom-quark-mass effects are power-suppressed, the accuracy of state-of-the-art theory predictions makes an exact determination of this effect indispensable. The total effect of the interference is $-1.99(1)^{+0.30}_{-0.15}$ pb, while the pure $\mathcal{O}(\alpha_s^4)$ correction is 0.43 pb. With this result, we address one of the leading theory uncertainties of the cross section.

  • One loop QCD corrections to $gg \to t\overline{t}H$ at $\mathcal{O}(\epsilon^2)$.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Federico Buccioni, Philipp Alexander Kreer, Xiao Liu, Lorenzo Tancredi
     

    We compute the one-loop corrections to \tth up to order $\mathcal{O}(\epsilon^2)$ in the dimensional regularization parameter. We apply the projector method to compute polarized amplitudes, which generalize massless helicity amplitudes to the massive case. We employ a semi-numerical strategy to evaluate the scattering amplitudes. We express the form factors through scalar integrals analytically, and obtain separately integration by parts reduction identities in compact form. We integrate numerically the corresponding master integrals with an enhanced implementation of the Auxiliary Mass Flow algorithm. Using a numerical fit method, we concatenate the analytic and the numeric results, to obtain fast and reliable evaluation of the scattering amplitude. This approach improves numerical stability and evaluation time. Our results are implemented in the \texttt{Mathematica} package \texttt{TTH}.

  • $m_B$ and $f_{B^{(\star)}}$ in $2+1$ flavour QCD from a combination of continuum limit static and relativistic results.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Alessandro Conigli, Julien Frison, Patrick Fritzsch, Antoine Gérardin, Jochen Heitger, Gregorio Herdoiza, Simon Kuberski, Carlos Pena, Hubert Simma, Rainer Sommer
     

    We present preliminary results for B-physics from a combination of non-perturbative results in the static limit with relativistic computations satisfying $am_{\mathrm{heavy}}\ll 1$. Relativistic measurements are carried out at the physical b-quark mass using the Schr\"{o}dinger Functional in a $0.5 \ \mathrm{fm}$ box. They are connected to large volume observables through step scaling functions that trace the mass dependence between the physical charm region and the static limit, such that B-physics results can be obtained by interpolation; the procedure is designed to exactly cancel the troublesome $\alpha_s(m_{\mathrm{heavy}})^{n+\gamma}$ corrections to large mass scaling. Large volume computations for both static and relativistic quantities use CLS $N_f=2+1$ ensembles at $m_u=m_d=m_s$, and with five values of the lattice spacing down to $0.039$ fm. Our preliminary results for the b-quark mass and leptonic decay constants have competitive uncertainties, which are furthermore dominated by statistics, allowing for substantial future improvement. Here we focus on numerical results, while the underlying strategy is discussed in a companion contribution.

  • Machine-Learned Exclusion Limits without Binning.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Ernesto Arganda, Andres D. Perez, Martin de los Rios, Rosa María Sandá Seoane
     

    Machine-Learned Likelihoods (MLL) combines machine-learning classification techniques with likelihood-based inference tests to estimate the experimental sensitivity of high-dimensional data sets. We extend the MLL method by including Kernel Density Estimators (KDE) to avoid binning the classifier output to extract the resulting one-dimensional signal and background probability density functions. We first test our method on toy models generated with multivariate Gaussian distributions, where the true probability distribution functions are known. Later, we apply the method to two cases of interest at the LHC: a search for exotic Higgs bosons, and a $Z'$ boson decaying into lepton pairs. In contrast to physical-based quantities, the typical fluctuations of the ML outputs give non-smooth probability distributions for pure-signal and pure-background samples. The non-smoothness is propagated into the density estimation due to the good performance and flexibility of the KDE method. We study its impact on the final significance computation, and we compare the results using the average of several independent ML output realizations, which allows us to obtain smoother distributions. We conclude that the significance estimation turns out to be not sensible to this issue.

  • Exploring light dark matter with the DarkSPHERE spherical proportional counter electroformed underground at the Boulby Underground Laboratory.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    L. Balogh, C. Beaufort, M. Chapellier, E. C. Corcoran, J. -M. Coquillat, A. Dastgheibi-Fard, Y. Deng, D. Durnford, C. Garrah, G. Gerbier, I. Giomataris, G. Giroux, P. Gorel, M. Gros, P. Gros, O. Guillaudin, E. W. Hoppe, I. Katsioulas, F. Kelly, P. Knights, P. Lautridou, I. Manthos, R.D. Martin, J. Matthews, J.-F. Muraz, T. Neep, K. Nikolopoulos, P. O'Brien, M.-C. Piro, N. Rowe, D. Santos, G. Savvidis, I. Savvidis, F. Vazquez de Sola Fernandez, R. Ward, E. Banks, L. Hamaide, C. McCabe, K. Mimasu, S. Paling
     

    We present the conceptual design and the physics potential of DarkSPHERE, a proposed 3 m in diameter spherical proportional counter electroformed underground at the Boulby Underground Laboratory. This effort builds on the R&D performed and experience acquired by the NEWS-G Collaboration. DarkSPHERE is primarily designed to search for nuclear recoils from light dark matter in the 0.05--10 GeV mass range. Electroforming the spherical shell and the implementation of a shield based on pure water ensures a background level below 0.01 dru. These, combined with the proposed helium-isobutane gas mixture, will provide sensitivity to the spin-independent nucleon cross-section of $2\times 10^{-41} (2\times 10^{-43})$ cm$^2$ for a dark matter mass of $0.1 (1)$ GeV. The use of a hydrogen-rich gas mixture with a natural abundance of $^{13}$C provides sensitivity to spin-dependent nucleon cross-sections more than two orders of magnitude below existing constraints for dark matter lighter than 1 GeV. The characteristics of the detector also make it suitable for searches of other dark matter signatures, including scattering of MeV-scale dark matter with electrons, and super-heavy dark matter with masses around the Planck scale that leave extended ionisation tracks in the detector.

  • Analysis of atomic-clock data to constrain variations of fundamental constants.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Nathaniel Sherrill, Adam O. Parsons, Charles F. A. Baynham, William Bowden, E. Anne Curtis, Richard Hendricks, Ian R. Hill, Richard Hobson, Helen S. Margolis, Billy I. Robertson, Marco Schioppo, Krzysztof Szymaniec, Alexandra Tofful, Jacob Tunesi, Rachel M. Godun, Xavier Calmet
     

    We present a new framework to study the time variation of fundamental constants in a model-independent way. Model independence implies more free parameters than assumed in previous studies. Using data from atomic clocks based on $^{87}$Sr, $^{171}$Yb$^+$ and $^{133}$Cs, we set bounds on parameters controlling the variation of the fine-structure constant, $\alpha$, and the electron-to-proton mass ratio, $\mu$. We consider variations on timescales ranging from a minute to almost a day. In addition, we use our results to derive some of the tightest limits to date on the parameter space of models of ultralight dark matter and axion-like particles.

  • $\nu^2$-Flows: Fast and improved neutrino reconstruction in multi-neutrino final states with conditional normalizing flows.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    John Andrew Raine, Matthew Leigh, Knut Zoch, Tobias Golling
     

    In this work we introduce $\nu^2$-Flows, an extension of the $\nu$-Flows method to final states containing multiple neutrinos. The architecture can natively scale for all combinations of object types and multiplicities in the final state for any desired neutrino multiplicities. In $t\bar{t}$ dilepton events, the momenta of both neutrinos and correlations between them are reconstructed more accurately than when using the most popular standard analytical techniques, and solutions are found for all events. Inference time is significantly faster than competing methods, and can be reduced further by evaluating in parallel on graphics processing units. We apply $\nu^2$-Flows to $t\bar{t}$ dilepton events and show that the per-bin uncertainties in unfolded distributions is much closer to the limit of performance set by perfect neutrino reconstruction than standard techniques. For the chosen double differential observables $\nu^2$-Flows results in improved statistical precision for each bin by a factor of 1.5 to 2 in comparison to the Neutrino Weighting method and up to a factor of four in comparison to the Ellipse approach.

  • Systematic classification of aGUT models in five dimensions: The SU(N) kinship.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Giacomo Cacciapaglia
     

    Asymptotic Grand Unification theories (aGUTs) in five dimensions provide a valid alternative to standard quantitative unification. We define the pathway towards viable models starting from a general unified bulk gauge symmetry. Imposing the presence of ultra-violet fixed points for both gauge and Yukawa couplings strongly limits the possibilities. Within the SU(N) kinship, we identify and characterise only two realistic minimal models, both based on a bulk SU(6) symmetry. Both models feature the generation of either up or down-type Yukawas via gauge scalars, two Higgs doublets with build-in minimal flavour violation at low energies, and conservation of baryon number. We also propose interesting avenues beyond the minimality criterion.

  • Light quark mass dependence of nucleon electromagnetic form factors in dispersively modified chiral perturbation theory.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Fernando Alvarado, Di An, Luis Alvarez-Ruso, Stefan Leupold
     

    The nucleon isovector electromagnetic form factors are calculated up to next-to-next-to-leading order by combining relativistic chiral perturbation theory (ChPT) of pion, nucleon, and $\Delta$(1232) with dispersion theory. We specifically address the light-quark mass dependence of the form factors, achieving a good description of recent Lattice QCD results over a range of $Q^2 < 0.6$ GeV$^2$ and $M_{\pi} < 350$ MeV. For the Dirac form factor, the combination of ChPT and dispersion theory outperforms the pure dispersive and pure ChPT descriptions. For the Pauli form factor, the combined calculation leads to results comparable to the purely dispersive ones. The anomalous magnetic moment and the Dirac and Pauli radii are extracted.

  • New bounds and future prospects for axion force searches at Penning trap experiments.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Xing Fan, Mario Reig
     

    In this note we consider Penning trap experiments as probes of axion-mediated forces. We show that the current measurement of electron's $g$-factor already sets a new exclusion limit for monopole-dipole axion forces acting on the electron spin. We also show that the Penning trap's capability of switching an electron and a positron can isolate the effect of an axion force and suppress systematic effects.

  • Searching for exclusive leptoquarks with the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio composite model at the LHC and HL-LHC.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Sehar Ajmal, Jethro Gaglione, Alfredo Gurrola, Orlando Panella, Matteo Presilla, Francesco Romeo, Hao Sun, She-Sheng Xue
     

    We present a detailed study concerning a new physics scenario involving four fermion operators of the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio type characterized by a strong-coupling ultraviolet fixed point where composite particles are formed as bound states of elementary fermions at the scale $\Lambda ={\cal O}(\text{TeV})$. After implementing the model in the Universal FeynRules Output format, we focus on the phenomenology of the scalar leptoquarks at the LHC and the High-Luminosity option. Leptoquark particles have undergone extensive scrutiny in the literature and experimental searches, primarily relying on pair production and, more recently, incorporating single, t-channel, and lepton-induced processes. This study marks, for the first time, the examination of these production modes at varying jet multiplicities. Novel mechanisms emerge, enhancing the total production cross-section, especially for leptoquarks couplings to higher fermion generations. A global strategy is devised to capture all final state particles produced in association with leptoquarks or originating from their decay, which we termed ``exclusive'', in an analogy to the nomenclature used in nuclear reactions. The assessment of the significance in current and future LHC runs, focusing on the case of leptoquark coupling to a muon - $\textit{c}$ quark pair, reveals superior sensitivity compared to ongoing searches. Given this heightened discovery potential, we advocate the incorporation of exclusive leptoquark searches in future investigations at the LHC.

  • Towards UV-Models of Kinetic Mixing and Portal Matter V: Indirect Probes of the New Physics Scale.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Thomas G. Rizzo
     

    Kinetic mixing of the dark photon, the gauge boson of a hidden $U(1)_D$, with the Standard Model (SM) gauge fields to induce an interaction between ordinary matter and dark matter (DM) at 1-loop requires the existence of portal matter (PM) fields having both dark and SM charges. As discussed in earlier work, these same PM fields can also lead to other loop-level mechanisms besides kinetic mixing that can generate significant interactions between SM fermions and the dark photon in a manner analogous to those that can be generated between a Dirac neutrino and a SM photon, \ie, dark moments. In either case, there are reasons to believe, \eg, due to the RGE running of the $U(1)_D$ gauge coupling, that PM fields may have $\sim$ TeV-scale masses that lie at or above those directly accessible to the HL-LHC. If they lie above the reach of the HL-LHC, then the only way to possibly explore the physics at this high scale in the short term is via indirect measurements made at lower energies, \eg, at lepton colliders operating in the $m_Z$ to 1 TeV range. In particular, processes such as $e^+e^- \to \gamma+$DM or $e^+e^-\to \bar ff$, where $f$ is a SM fermion, may be most useful in this regard. Here we explore these possibilities within the framework of a simple toy PM model, introduced in earlier work, based on a non-abelian dark gauge group completion operating at the PM scale. In the KM setup, we show these efforts fail due to the inherently tiny cross sections in the face of substantial SM backgrounds. However, in the case of interactions via induced dark moments, since they necessarily take the form of higher dimensional operators whose influence grows with energy, we show that access to PM-scale information may become possible for certain ranges of the toy model parameters for both of these $e^+e^-$ processes at a 1 TeV collider.

  • Spin-flip gluon GTMD $F_{1,2}$ at small-$x$.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Sanskriti Agrawal, Nahid Vasim, Raktim Abir
     

    Until recently the spin-flip processes in the deep inelastic scatterings are thought to be suppressed in the high energy. We found a positive intercept for the spin-flip generalized transverse momentum-dependent parton distribution (GTMDs) ${\rm Re}(F_{1,2})$ as, \begin{eqnarray} {\rm Re}(F_{1,2}) \sim \left(\frac{1}{x}\right)^{{\bar \alpha}_s\left(4\ln2-8/3\right)} \left(\cos 3\phi_{k\Delta} +\cos \phi_{k\Delta}\right). \nonumber \end{eqnarray} This is done by analytically solving the integro-differential evolution equation for ${\rm Re}(F_{1,2})$, recently proposed by Hatta and Zhou, in the dilute regime. Interestingly, the surviving solution corresponds to conformal spin $n=2$ and carries an explicit $\cos 3\phi_{k\Delta} + \cos \phi_{k\Delta}$ azimuthal dependence. As the imaginary part of $F_{1,2}$, is related to the spin-dependent odderon or gluon Siver function and scales as ${\rm Im}(F_{1,2}) \sim x^{0}$, the positive intercept for ${\rm Re}(F_{1,2})$, implies that it is expected to dominate over the gluon Siver function in the small-$x$ limit - and may directly impact the modeling of unpolarised GTMDs and associated spin-flip processes.

  • The Hierarchy Problem and $\mathcal{N} =2$ $\mathcal{D} = 5$ Supergravity.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Safinaz Salem
     

    We introduce a new scenario to solve the hierarchy problem based on $\mathcal{N}=2$, five-dimensional supergravity compactified on Calabi-Yau threefold down from $\mathcal{D}=11$ supergravity. When modeling the universe as a 3-brane embedded in a five-dimensional bulk, the background metric is proportional to one of the hypermultiplets fields, namely the dilaton, the volume modulus of the Calabi-Yau space. When solving the dilaton field equation, we find that it is dependent on the extra dimension. We solve the modified Friedmann equations and find the implications of the model on the relation between the effective four-dimensional gravity scale in the brane and the Planck scale of the fifth extra dimension ($\mathcal{M} $). A couple of different scales are considered for the extra dimension, the first where the extra dimension is in range of the solar system and $\mathcal{M} $ is of order of the electroweak scale, and the second where the scale of the extra dimension is of order $\mu m$ and the higher dimensional Planck scale $\mathcal{M} \sim 10^{13} ~ \text{GeV}$. In both cases, the signatures of Kaluza-Klein excitations are quite distinct from the signatures of any previous extra dimensions model.

hep-th

  • Non-invertible symmetry-protected topological order in a group-based cluster state.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Christopher Fechisin, Nathanan Tantivasadakarn, Victor V. Albert
     

    Despite growing interest in beyond-group symmetries in quantum condensed matter systems, there are relatively few microscopic lattice models explicitly realizing these symmetries, and many phenomena have yet to be studied at the microscopic level. We introduce a one-dimensional stabilizer Hamiltonian composed of group-based Pauli operators whose ground state is a $G\times \text{Rep}(G)$-symmetric state: the $G \textit{ cluster state}$ introduced in $[\href{this http URL}{\text{Brell, New Journal of Physics }\textbf{17}\text{, 023029 (2015)}}]$. We show that this state lies in a symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phase protected by $G\times \text{Rep}(G)$ symmetry, distinct from the symmetric product state by a duality argument. We identify several signatures of SPT order, namely protected edge modes, string order parameters, and topological response. We discuss how $G$ cluster states may be used as a universal resource for measurement-based quantum computation, explicitly working out the case where $G$ is a semidirect product of abelian groups.

  • Taming Mass Gap with Anti-de-Sitter Space.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Christian Copetti, Lorenzo Di Pietro, Ziming Ji, Shota Komatsu
     

    Anti-de-Sitter space acts as an infra-red cut off for asymptotically free theories, allowing interpolation between a weakly-coupled small-sized regime and a strongly-coupled flat-space regime. We scrutinize the interpolation for theories in two dimensions from the perspective of boundary conformal theories. We show that the appearance of a singlet marginal operator destabilizes a gapless phase existing at a small size, triggering a boundary renormalization group flow to a gapped phase that smoothly connects to flat space. We conjecture a similar mechanism for confinement in gauge theories.

  • Missing local operators, zeros, and twist-4 trajectories.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Johan Henriksson, Petr Kravchuk, Brett Oertel
     

    The number of local operators in a CFT below a given twist grows with spin. Consistency with analyticity in spin then requires that at low spin, infinitely many Regge trajectories must decouple from local correlation functions, implying infinitely many vanishing conditions for OPE coefficients. In this paper we explain the mechanism behind this infinity of zeros. Specifically, the mechanism is related to the two-point function rather than the three-point function, explaining the vanishing of OPE coefficients in every correlator from a single condition. We illustrate our result by studying twist-4 Regge trajectories in the Wilson--Fisher CFT at one loop.

  • Worldsheet kinematics, dressing factors and odd crossing in mixed-flux AdS3 backgrounds.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Olof Ohlsson Sax, Dmitrii Riabchenko, Bogdan Stefański jr
     

    String theory on AdS_3 x S^3 x T^4 geometries supported by a combination of NS-NS and R-R charges is believed to be integrable. We elucidate the kinematics and analytic structure of worldsheet excitations in mixed charge and pure NS-NS backgrounds, when expressed in momentum, Zhukovsky variables and the rapidity $u$ which appears in the quantum spectral curve. We discuss the relations between fundamental and bound state excitations and the role of fusion in constraining and determining the S matrices of these theories. We propose a scalar dressing factor consistent with a novel $u$-plane periodicity and comment on its close relation to the XXZ model at roots of unity. We solve the odd part of crossing and show that our solution is consistent with fusion and reduces in the relativistic limit to dressing phases previously found in the literature.

  • The Bubble of Nothing under T-duality.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Matilda Delgado
     

    The bubble of nothing is a solution to Einstein's equations where a circle shrinks and pinches off smoothly. As such, it is one of the simplest examples of a dynamical cobordism to nothing. We take a first step in studying how this solution transforms under T-duality in bosonic string theory. Applying Buscher's rules reveals that the dual solution features a singular, strongly coupled core, with a circle blowing-up rather than pinching off. This naive approach to T-duality solely accounts for the zero-modes of the fields after dimensional reduction on the circle. For this reason, we argue that this is not the full picture that the T-dual solution should depend non-trivially on the dual circle. We point out evidence to this effect both in the gravity description and on the worldsheet. A more complete description of the T-dual object would require a full-fledged sigma model for the bubble of nothing. Nevertheless, inspired by similar examples in the literature, we detail one possible scenario where the stringy bubble of nothing is mediated by closed string tachyon condensation and we discuss its T-duality.

  • Tree-level Scattering Amplitudes via Homotopy Transfer.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Roberto Bonezzi, Christoph Chiaffrino, Felipe Diaz-Jaramillo, Olaf Hohm
     

    We formalize the computation of tree-level scattering amplitudes in terms of the homotopy transfer of homotopy algebras, illustrating it with scalar $\phi^3$ and Yang-Mills theory. The data of a (gauge) field theory with an action is encoded in a cyclic homotopy Lie or $L_{\infty}$ algebra defined on a chain complex including a space of fields. This $L_{\infty}$ structure can be transported, by means of homotopy transfer, to a smaller space that, in the massless case, consists of harmonic fields. The required homotopy maps are well-defined since we work with the space of finite sums of plane-wave solutions. The resulting $L_{\infty}$ brackets encode the tree-level scattering amplitudes and satisfy generalized Jacobi identities that imply the Ward identities. We further present a method to compute color-ordered scattering amplitudes for Yang-Mills theory, using that its $L_{\infty}$ algebra is the tensor product of the color Lie algebra with a homotopy commutative associative or $C_{\infty}$ algebra. The color-ordered scattering amplitudes are then obtained by homotopy transfer of $C_{\infty}$ algebras.

  • Trace Anomalies and the Graviton-Dilaton Amplitude.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Denis Karateev, Zohar Komargodski, João Penedones, Biswajit Sahoo
     

    We consider 3+1 dimensional Quantum Field Theories (QFTs) coupled to the dilaton and the graviton. We show that the graviton-dilaton scattering amplitude receives a universal contribution which is helicity flipping and is proportional to $\Delta c-\Delta a$ along any RG flow, where $\Delta c$ and $\Delta a$ are the differences of the UV and IR $c$- and $a$-trace anomalies respectively. This allows us to relate $\Delta c-\Delta a$ to spinning massive states in the spectrum of the QFT. We test our predictions in two simple examples: in the theory of a massive free scalar and in the theory of a massive Dirac fermion (a more complicated example is provided in a companion paper [1]). We discuss possible applications.

  • Quantum Foundations as a Guide for Refining Particle Theories.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Gerard t Hooft
     

    All quantum field theories that describe interacting bosonic elementary particles, share the feature that the zeroth order perturbation expansion describes non-interacting harmonic oscillators. This is explained in the paper. We then indicate that introducing interactions still leads to classical theories that can be compared with the quantum theories, but only if we terminate the expansion somewhere. `Quantum effects' typically occur when some of the classical variables fluctuate too rapidly to allow a conventional description, so that these are described exclusively in terms of their energy eigen modes; these do not commute with the standard classical variables. Perturbation expansions are not fundamentally required in classical theories, and this is why classical theories are more precisely defined than the quantum theories. Since the expansion parameters involve the fundamental constants of nature, such as the finestructure constant, we suggest that research in these classical models may lead to new clues concerning the origin of these constants.

  • Derivations, holonomy groups and heterotic geometry.- [PDF] - [Article]

    G. Papadopoulos
     

    We investigate the superalgebra of derivations generated by the fundamental forms on manifolds with reduced structure group. In particular, we point out a relation between the algebra of derivations of heterotic geometries that admit Killing spinors and the commutator algebra of holonomy symmetries in sigma models. We use this to propose a Lie bracket on the space of fundamental forms of all heterotic geometries with a non-compact holonomy group and present the associated derivation algebras. We also explore the extension of these results to heterotic geometries with compact holonomy groups and, more generally, to manifolds with reduced structure group. A brief review of the classification of heterotic geometries that admit Killing spinors and an extension of this classification to some heterotic inspired geometries are also included.

  • Weyl formula and thermodynamics of geometric flow.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Parikshit Dutta, Arghya Chattopadhyay
     

    We study the Weyl formula for the asymptotic number of eigenvalues of the Laplace-Beltrami operator with Dirichlet boundary condition on a Riemannian manifold in the context of geometric flows. Assuming the eigenvalues to be the energies of some associated statistical system, we show that geometric flows are directly related with the direction of increasing entropy chosen. For a closed Riemannian manifold we obtain a volume preserving flow of geometry being equivalent to the increment of Gibbs entropy function derived from the spectrum of Laplace-Beltrami operator. Resemblance with Arnowitt, Deser, and Misner (ADM) formalism of gravity is also noted by considering open Riemannian manifolds, directly equating the geometric flow parameter and the direction of increasing entropy as time direction.

  • Holographic neutron stars at finite temperature.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Tobias Canavesi
     

    We use gauge gravity duality to describe the strange metal phase of High $T_c$ superconductors.

  • Entanglement entropy of two disjoint intervals and spin structures in interacting chains in and out of equilibrium.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Vanja Marić, Saverio Bocini, Maurizio Fagotti
     

    We take the paradigm of interacting spin chains, the Heisenberg spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ XXZ model, as a reference system and consider interacting models that are related to it by Jordan-Wigner transformations and restrictions to sub-chains. An example is the fermionic analogue of the gapless XXZ Hamiltonian, which, in a continuum scaling limit, is described by the massless Thirring model. We work out the R\'enyi-$\alpha$ entropies of disjoint blocks in the ground state and extract the universal scaling functions describing the R\'enyi-$\alpha$ tripartite information in the limit of infinite lengths. We consider also the von Neumann entropy, but only in the limit of large distance. We show how to use the entropies of spin blocks to unveil the spin structures of the underlying massless Thirring model. Finally, we speculate about the tripartite information after global quenches and conjecture its asymptotic behaviour in the limit of infinite time and small quench. The resulting conjecture for the ``residual tripartite information'', which corresponds to the limit in which the intervals' lengths are infinitely larger than their (large) distance, supports the claim of universality recently made studying noninteracting spin chains. Our mild assumptions imply that the residual tripartite information after a small quench of the anisotropy in the gapless phase of XXZ is equal to $-\log 2$.

  • Generalized Levy-Leblond equation with external potentials and effects of rest energy for non-relativistic Fermi fields.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Fuad M. Saradzhev
     

    The generalized Levy-Leblond equation (GLL) is used to study the bound state problem for a non-relativistic Fermi field in pseudoscalar external potentials. Two spherically symmetrical external potentials, a pseudoscalar spherical well of finite depth and a pseudoscalar Coulomb potential, are considered. It is shown that the rest energy of the Fermi field affects non-trivially the bound state spectrum. The existence of bound states, their number and energies all depend on the value of the rest energy.

  • Non-relativistic Fermi particle in one-dimensional pseudoscalar ${\delta}$-function potential.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Fuad M. Saradzhev
     

    It is shown that a non-relativistic Fermi particle with a non-zero rest energy moving in a pseudoscalar ${\delta}$-function potential in one dimension can be confined for both signs of the coupling constant. The binding energies depend on the value of the particle's rest energy, and in the limit of vanishing rest energy only one of the bound states survives. The coefficients of reflection and transmission are determined, and the conditions for complete reflection and transmission are discussed.

  • Tubings, chord diagrams, and Dyson--Schwinger equations.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Paul-Hermann Balduf, Amelia Cantwell, Kurusch Ebrahimi-Fard, Lukas Nabergall, Nicholas Olson-Harris, Karen Yeats
     

    We give series solutions to single insertion place propagator-type systems of Dyson--Schwinger equations using binary tubings of rooted trees. These solutions are combinatorially transparent in the sense that each tubing has a straightforward contribution. The Dyson--Schwinger equations solved here are more general than those previously solved by chord diagram techniques, including systems and non-integer values of the insertion parameter $s$. We remark on interesting combinatorial connections and properties.

  • Broken (super) conformal Ward identities at finite temperature.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Enrico Marchetto, Alessio Miscioscia, Elli Pomoni
     

    When a (super) conformal field theory is placed on a non-trivial manifold, the (super) conformal symmetry is broken. However, it is still possible to derive broken Ward identities for these broken symmetries, which provide additional constraints on the theory. We derive and apply the broken Ward identities associated with the (super) conformal group on the thermal manifold $\mathcal{M}_\beta = S_\beta^1 \times \mathbb{R}^{d-1}$ and $\mathcal{M} = T^2 \times \mathbb{R}^{d-2}$. The novel constraints not only systematically reproduce known results, including an implicit formulation of the generalized Cardy formula, but also elegantly relate the thermal energy spectrum with the conformal spectrum.

  • 5d SCFTs and their non-supersymmetric cousins.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Mohammad Akhond, Masazumi Honda, Francesco Mignosa
     

    We consider generalisations of the recently proposed supersymmetry breaking deformation of the 5d rank-1 $E_1$ superconformal field theory to higher rank. We generalise the arguments to theories which admit a mass deformation leading to gauge theories coupled to matter hypermultiplets at low energies. These theories have a richer space of non-supersymmetric deformations, due to the existence of a larger global symmetry. We show that there is a one-to-one correspondence between the non-SUSY deformations of the gauge theory and their $(p,q)$ 5-brane web. We comment on the (in)stability of these deformations both from the gauge theory and the 5-brane web point of view. UV duality plays a key role in our analysis, fixing the effective Chern-Simons level for the background vector multiplets, together with their complete prepotential. We partially classify super-Yang-Mills theories known to enjoy UV dualities which show a phase transition where different phases are separated by a jump of Chern-Simons levels of both a perturbative and an instantonic global symmetry. When this transition can be reached by turning on a non-supersymmetric deformation of the UV superconformal field theory, it can be a good candidate to host a 5d non-supersymmetric CFT. We also discuss consistency of the proposed phase diagram with the 't Hooft anomalies of the models that we analyse.

  • Regular $(2+1)$-dimensional spatially homogeneous $\alpha'$-corrected BTZ-like black hole in string theory.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    F. Naderi, A. Rezaei-Aghdam
     

    We consider a $(2+1)$-dimensional spacetime whose two-dimensional space part is Weyl-related to a surface of arbitrary negative constant Gaussian curvature with symmetries of two-dimensional Lie algebra. It is shown that the geometry is a Lobachevsky-type geometry described by deformed hyperbolic function. At leading order string effective action with the source given by dilaton and antisymmetric $B$-field in the presence of central charge deficit term $\Lambda$, we obtained a solution whose line element is Weyl-related to this homogeneous spacetime with arbitrary negative Gaussian curvature. The solution can be transformed to the BTZ-like black hole by coordinate redefinition, while the BTZ black hole can be recovered by choosing a special set of parameters. The solutions appear to be in the high curvature limit $R\alpha'\gtrsim1$, with emphasis on including the higher order $\alpha'$ corrections. Considering the two-loop (first order $\alpha'$) $\beta$-function equations of $\sigma$-model, we also present the $\alpha'$-corrected black hole solutions.

  • Perturbative RG flows in AdS: an \'etude.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Edoardo Lauria, Michael N. Milam, Balt C. van Rees
     

    We discuss general properties of perturbative RG flows in AdS with a focus on the treatment of boundary conditions and infrared divergences. In contrast with flat-space boundary QFT, general covariance in AdS implies the absence of independent boundary flows. We illustrate how boundary correlation functions remain conformally covariant even if the bulk QFT has a scale. We apply our general discussion to the RG flow between consecutive unitary diagonal minimal models which is triggered by the $\phi_{(1,3)}$ operator. For these theories we conjecture a flow diagram whose form is significantly simpler than that in flat-space boundary QFT. In several stand-alone appendices we discuss two-dimensional BCFTs in general and the minimal model BCFTs in particular. These include both an extensive review as well as the computation of several new BCFT correlation functions.

  • A principle of maximum ignorance for semiclassical gravity.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Jan de Boer, Diego Liska, Boris Post, Martin Sasieta
     

    The principle of maximum ignorance posits that the coarse-grained description of a system is maximally agnostic about its underlying microscopic structure. We briefly review this principle for random matrix theory and for the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis. We then apply this principle in holography to construct ensembles of random mixed states. This leads to an ensemble of microstates which models our microscopic ignorance, and which on average reproduces the effective semiclassical physics of a given bulk state. We call this ensemble the state-averaging ansatz. The output of our model is a prediction for semiclassical contributions to variances and higher statistical moments over the ensemble of microstates. The statistical moments provide coarse-grained -- yet gravitationally non-perturbative -- information about the microstructure of the individual states of the ensemble. We show that these contributions exactly match the on-shell action of known wormhole configurations of the gravitational path integral. These results strengthen the view that wormholes simply parametrize the ignorance of the microstructure of a fundamental state, given a fixed semiclassical bulk description.

  • Observational Tests of 4D Double Field Theory.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Shunrui Li, Yang Liu
     

    Although General Relativity (GR) is a very successful theory of gravity, it cannot explain every observational phenomenon. People have tried many kinds of modified gravity theory to explain these phenomena which GR cannot explain very well, such as string theory. In recent years Double Field Theory (DFT) has been an exciting research area in string theory. The most general, spherically symmetric, asymptotically flat, static vacuum solution to D = 4 double field theory has been derived by S.M. Ko, J.H. Park and M. Suh. In this article, we calculate the minor corrections to the three predictions in GR: optical deflation, planet precession and gravitational redshift. These three predictions should be able to tested by observations and find the discrepancies between GR and DFT in the future.

hep-ex

  • A modified slicing method with multi-dimensional unfolding to measure hadron-argon cross sections.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Yinrui Liu
     

    Liquid argon technology is widely used by many previous and current neutrino experiments, and it is also promising for future large-scale neutrino experiments. When detecting neutrinos using liquid argon, many hadrons are involved, which can also interact with argon nuclei. In order to gain a better understanding of detection processes, and to simulate neutrino events, knowledge of hadron-argon cross sections is needed. This paper describes a new procedure, which improves upon the previous work with a multi-dimensional unfolding, to measure hadron-argon cross sections in a liquid argon time projection chamber. Through a simplified version of simulation, we demonstrate the validity of this procedure.

  • Deployment of Water-based Liquid Scintillator in the Accelerator Neutrino Neutron Interaction Experiment.- [PDF] - [Article]

    M. Ascencio-Sosa, Z. Bagdasarian, J. Beacom, M. Bergevin, M. Breisch, G. Caceres Vera, S. Dazeley, S. Doran, E. Drakopoulou, S. Edayath, R. Edwards, J. Eisch, Y. Feng, V. Fischer, R. Foster, S. Gardiner, S. Gokhale P. Hackspacher, C. Hagner, J. He, B. Kaiser, F. Krennrich, T. Lachenmaier, F. Lemmons, D. Maksimovic, M. Malek, J. Martyn, A. Mastbaum, C. McGivern, J. Minock, M. Nieslony, M. O'Flaherty, G. D. Orebi Gann, T. Pershing, L. Pickard, N. Poonthottathil, C. Reyes, B. Richards, R. Rosero, M. C. Sanchez, D. T. Schmid, M. Smy, M. Stender, A. Sutton, R. Svoboda, E. Tiras, M. Vagins, V. Veeraraghavan, J. Wang, A. Weinstein, M. Wetstein, M. Wurm, M. Yeh, T. Zhang
     

    The Accelerator Neutrino Neutron Interaction Experiment (ANNIE) is a 26-ton water Cherenkov neutrino detector installed on the Booster Neutrino Beam (BNB) at Fermilab. Its main physics goals are to perform a measurement of the neutron yield from neutrino-nucleus interactions, as well as a measurement of the charged-current cross section of muon neutrinos. An equally important focus is placed on the research and development of new detector technologies and target media. Specifically water-based liquid scintillator (WbLS) is of interest as a novel detector medium, as it allows for the simultaneous detection of scintillation and Cherenkov light. This paper presents the deployment of a 366L WbLS vessel in ANNIE in March 2023 and the subsequent detection of both Cherenkov light and scintillation from the WbLS. This proof-of-concept allows for the future development of reconstruction and particle identification algorithms in ANNIE, as well as dedicated analyses, such as the search for neutral current events and the hadronic scintillation component within the WbLS volume.

  • Axionlike Particle Detection in Alkali-Noble-Gas Haloscopes.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Xiaofei Huang, Xiaolin Ma, Wei Ji, Jia Liu, Kai Wei
     

    Revealing the essence of dark matter (DM) and dark energy is essential for understanding our universe. Ultralight (rest energy $<$10 eV) bosonic particles, including pseudoscalar axions and axionlike particles (ALPs) have emerged among leading candidates to explain the composition of DM and searching for them has become an important part of precision-measurement science. Ultrahigh-sensitivity alkali-noble-gas based comagnetometers and magnetometers are being used as powerful haloscopes, i.e., devices designed to search for DM present in the galactic halo. A broad variety of such devices include clock-comparison comagnetometers, self-compensating comagnetometers, hybrid-spin-resonance magnetometer, spin-exchange-relaxation-free magnetometers, nuclear magnetic-resonance magnetometers, Floquet magnetometers, masers, as well as devices like the cosmic axion spin-precession experiment (CASPEr) using liquid $^{129}$Xe, prepolarized via spin-exchange optical pumping with rubidium atoms. The combination of alkali metal and noble gas allows one to take the best advantage of the complementary properties of the two spin systems. This review summarizes the operational principles, experimental setups and the successful explorations of new physics using these haloscopes. Additionally, some limiting factors are pointed out for further improvement.

  • Direct photon $p_{\rm T}$ spectra and correlations measured with ALICE.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Carolina Arata
     

    This contribution discusses the measurements of direct photons in pp and Pb--Pb collisions from the LHC Run 2, as recorded by the ALICE experiment. Specifically, we focus on the isolated photons results obtained at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV. The isolated photons $\gamma^{\rm iso}$ spectra in pp and Pb--Pb collisions are presented together with the nuclear modification factor, that is found to be consistent with unity. The azimuthal correlations of $\gamma^{\rm iso}$ with hadrons in Pb--Pb and the hadron$z_{\rm T}$ distributions $D(z_{\rm T})$ are presented, showing a centrality-dependent suppression compared to the pQCD NLO pp reference.

  • Latest ALICE results on charm and beauty hadronisation in hadronic collisions.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Jianhui Zhu
     

    The study of heavy-flavour mesons and baryons in hadronic collisions provides unique access to the properties of heavy-quark hadronisation in the presence of large partonic densities, where new mechanisms of hadron formation beyond in-vacuum fragmentation can emerge. Performing these measurements in intervals of charged-particle multiplicities across different collision systems provides sensitivity to understand whether different hadronisation mechanisms are at play in small and large hadronic colliding systems. In this contribution, a selection of the latest charm and beauty production measurements in proton--proton (pp) collisions is presented, which can shed light on the modification of the heavy-quark hadronisation mechanisms with respect to leptonic collisions. New published results of the production of all prompt charm ground states in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13$~TeV, which allowed us to measure the charm fragmentation fractions and the total $\rm c\bar{c}$ production cross section at midrapidity, will be shown. The new final measurement of non-prompt (i.e. originating from beauty-hadron decays) $\rm \Lambda_c^+$ baryons in the same collisions system will be discussed to provide a quantitative comparison between the hadronisation properties of beauty and charm hadrons. New measurements of $\rm \Xi_c^0$ production as a function of charged-particle multiplicity in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13$~TeV, and of $\rm \Xi_c^0$ production in p--Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=5.02$~TeV, will be also presented, shedding further light on the hadronisation of charm-strange baryons in different colliding systems.

  • Testing a Neural Network for Anomaly Detection in the CMS Global Trigger Test Crate during Run 3.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Noah Zipper
     

    We present the deployment and testing of an autoencoder trained for unbiased detection of new physics signatures in the CMS Level-1 Global Trigger (GT) test crate during LHC Run 3. The GT test crate is a copy of the main GT system, receiving the same input data, but whose output is not used to trigger the readout of CMS, providing a platform for thorough testing of new trigger algorithms on live data, but without interrupting data taking. We describe the integration of the Neural Network into the GT test crate, and the monitoring, testing, and validation of the algorithm during proton collisions.

  • Study of the $CP$ property of the Higgs boson to electroweak boson coupling in the VBF $H\to\gamma\gamma$ channel with the ATLAS detector.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    ATLAS Collaboration
     

    A test of $CP$ invariance in Higgs boson production via vector-boson fusion has been performed in the $H\rightarrow\gamma\gamma$ channel using 139 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data at $\sqrt{s}=13\,\mathrm{TeV}$ collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The Optimal Observable method is used to probe the $CP$ structure of interactions between the Higgs boson and electroweak gauge bosons, as described by an effective field theory. No sign of $CP$ violation is observed in data. Constraints are set on the parameters describing the strength of the $CP$-odd component in the coupling between the Higgs boson and the electroweak gauge bosons in two effective field theory bases: $\tilde{d}$ in the HISZ basis and $c_{H\tilde{W}}$ in the Warsaw basis. The results presented are the most stringent constraints on $CP$ violation in the coupling between Higgs and weak bosons. The 95% CL constraint on $\tilde{d}$ is derived for the first time and the 95% CL constraint on $c_{H\tilde{W}}$ has been improved by a factor of 5 compared to the previous measurement.

  • Measurement of the Higgs boson mass with $H \rightarrow \gamma\gamma$ decays in 140 fb$^{-1}$ of $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV $pp$ collisions with the ATLAS detector.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    ATLAS Collaboration
     

    The mass of the Higgs boson is measured in the $H\to\gamma\gamma$ decay channel, exploiting the high resolution of the invariant mass of photon pairs reconstructed from the decays of Higgs bosons produced in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV. The dataset was collected between 2015 and 2018 by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider, and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 140 fb$^{-1}$. The measured value of the Higgs boson mass is $125.17 \pm 0.11 \mathrm{(stat.)} \pm 0.09 \mathrm{(syst.)}$ GeV and is based on an improved energy scale calibration for photons, whose impact on the measurement is about four times smaller than in the previous publication. A combination with the corresponding measurement using 7 and 8 TeV $pp$ collision ATLAS data results in a Higgs boson mass measurement of $125.22 \pm 0.11 \mathrm{(stat.)} \pm 0.09 \mathrm{(syst.)}$ GeV. With an uncertainty of 1.1 per mille, this is currently the most precise measurement of the mass of the Higgs boson from a single decay channel.

  • CaloQVAE : Simulating high-energy particle-calorimeter interactions using hybrid quantum-classical generative models.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Sehmimul Hoque, 2), Hao Jia, Abhishek Abhishek, Mojde Fadaie, J. Quetzalcoatl Toledo-Marín, Tiago Vale, 4), Roger G. Melko, 6), Maximilian Swiatlowski, Wojciech T. Fedorko, (2) Faculty of Mathematics, University of Waterloo, (3) Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, (4) TRIUMF, (5) Department of Physics, Simon Fraser University, (6) Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo)
     

    The Large Hadron Collider's high luminosity era presents major computational challenges in the analysis of collision events. Large amounts of Monte Carlo (MC) simulation will be required to constrain the statistical uncertainties of the simulated datasets below these of the experimental data. Modelling of high-energy particles propagating through the calorimeter section of the detector is the most computationally intensive MC simulation task. We introduce a technique combining recent advancements in generative models and quantum annealing for fast and efficient simulation of high-energy particle-calorimeter interactions.

quant-ph

  • Towards establishing a connection between two-level quantum systems and physical spaces.- [PDF] - [Article]

    V. G. Valle, L. L. Brugger, B. F. Rizzuti, Cristhiano Duarte
     

    This work seeks to make explicit the operational connection between the preparation of two-level quantum systems with their corresponding description (as states) in a Hilbert space. This may sound outdated, but we show there is more to this connection than common sense may lead us to believe. To bridge these two separated realms -- the actual laboratory and the space of states -- we rely on a paradigmatic mathematical object: the Hopf fibration. We illustrate how this connection works in practice with a simple optical setup. Remarkably, this optical setup also reflects the necessity of using two charts to cover a sphere. Put another way, our experimental realization reflects the bi-dimensionality of a sphere seen as a smooth manifold.

  • Nanoscale magnetism and magnetic phase transitions in atomically thin CrSBr.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Märta A. Tschudin, David A. Broadway, Patrick Reiser, Carolin Schrader, Evan J. Telford, Boris Gross, Jordan Cox, Adrien E. E. Dubois, Daniel G. Chica, Ricardo Rama-Eiroa, Elton J. G. Santos, Martino Poggio, Michael E. Ziebel, Cory R. Dean, Xavier Roy, Patrick Maletinsky
     

    Since their first observation in 2017, atomically thin van der Waals (vdW) magnets have attracted significant fundamental, and application-driven attention. However, their low ordering temperatures, $T_c$, sensitivity to atmospheric conditions and difficulties in preparing clean large-area samples still present major limitations to further progress. The remarkably stable high-$T_c$ vdW magnet CrSBr has the potential to overcome these key shortcomings, but its nanoscale properties and rich magnetic phase diagram remain poorly understood. Here we use single spin magnetometry to quantitatively characterise saturation magnetization, magnetic anisotropy constants, and magnetic phase transitions in few-layer CrSBr by direct magnetic imaging. We show pristine magnetic phases, devoid of defects on micron length-scales, and demonstrate remarkable air-stability down the monolayer limit. We address the spin-flip transition in bilayer CrSBr by direct imaging of the emerging antiferromagnetic (AFM) to ferromagnetic (FM) phase wall and elucidate the magnetic properties of CrSBr around its ordering temperature. Our work will enable the engineering of exotic electronic and magnetic phases in CrSBr and the realisation of novel nanomagnetic devices based on this highly promising vdW magnet.

  • Solid-state single-photon sources: recent advances for novel quantum materials.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Martin Esmann, Stephen C. Wein, Carlos Antón-Solanas
     

    In this review, we describe the current landscape of emergent quantum materials for quantum photonic applications. We focus on three specific solid-state platforms: single emitters in monolayers of transition metal dichalcogenides, defects in hexagonal boron nitride, and colloidal quantum dots in perovskites. These platforms share a unique technological accessibility, enabling the rapid implementation of testbed quantum applications, all while being on the verge of becoming technologically mature enough for a first generation of real-world quantum applications. The review begins with a comprehensive overview of the current state-of-the-art for relevant single-photon sources in the solid-state, introducing the most important performance criteria and experimental characterization techniques along the way. We then benchmark progress for each of the three novel materials against more established (yet complex) platforms, highlighting performance, material-specific advantages, and giving an outlook on quantum applications. This review will thus provide the reader with a snapshot on latest developments in the fast-paced field of emergent single-photon sources in the solid-state, including all the required concepts and experiments relevant to this technology.

  • Exploring thermal equilibria of the Fermi-Hubbard model with variational quantum algorithms.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Jack Y. Araz, Michael Spannowsky, Matthew Wingate
     

    This study investigates the thermal properties of the repulsive Fermi-Hubbard model with chemical potential using variational quantum algorithms, crucial in comprehending particle behaviour within lattices at high temperatures in condensed matter systems. Conventional computational methods encounter challenges, especially in managing chemical potential, prompting exploration into Hamiltonian approaches. Despite the promise of quantum algorithms, their efficacy is hampered by coherence limitations when simulating extended imaginary time evolution sequences. To overcome such constraints, this research focuses on optimising variational quantum algorithms to probe the thermal properties of the Fermi-Hubbard model. Physics-inspired circuit designs are tailored to alleviate coherence constraints, facilitating a more comprehensive exploration of materials at elevated temperatures. Our study demonstrates the potential of variational algorithms in simulating the thermal properties of the Fermi-Hubbard model while acknowledging limitations stemming from error sources in quantum devices and encountering barren plateaus.

  • Employing an operator form of the Rodrigues formula to calculate wavefunctions without differential equations.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Joseph R. Noonan, Maaz ur Rehman Shah, Luogen Xu, James. K. Freericks
     

    The factorization method of Schrodinger shows us how to determine the energy eigenstates without needing to determine the wavefunctions in position or momentum space. A strategy to convert the energy eigenstates to wavefunctions is well known for the one-dimensional simple harmonic oscillator by employing the Rodrigues formula for the Hermite polynomials in position or momentum space. In this work, we illustrate how to generalize this approach in a representation-independent fashion to find the wavefunctions of other problems in quantum mechanics that can be solved by the factorization method. We examine three problems in detail: (i) the one-dimensional simple harmonic oscillator; (ii) the three-dimensional isotropic harmonic oscillator; and (iii) the three-dimensional Coulomb problem. This approach can be used in either undergraduate or graduate classes in quantum mechanics.

  • Wait-time Distributions for Photoelectric Detection of Light.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Luis Felipe Morales Bultron, Reeta Vyas, Surendra Singh
     

    Wait-time distributions for the $n$th photo-detection at a detector illuminated by a stationary light beam are studied. Both unconditional measurements, initiated at an arbitrary instant, and conditional measurements, initiated upon a photo-detection, are considered. Simple analytic expressions are presented for several classical and quantum sources of light and are used to quantify and compare photon sequences generated by them. These distributions can be measured in photon counting experiments and are useful in characterizing and generating photon sequences with prescribed statistics. Effects of non-unit detection efficiency are also discussed, and curves are presented to illustrate the behavior.

  • Excitation spectrum of a multilevel atom coupled with a dielectric nanostructure.- [PDF] - [Article]

    N.A. Moroz, L.V. Gerasimov, A.D. Manukhova, D.V. Kupriyanov
     

    We develop a microscopic calculation scheme for the excitation spectrum of a single-electron atom localized near a dielectric nanostructure. The atom originally has an arbitrary degenerate structure of its Zeeman sublevels on its closed optical transition and we follow how the excitation spectrum would be modified by its radiative coupling with a mesoscopicaly small dielectric sample of arbitrary shape. The dielectric medium is modeled by a dense ensemble of $V$-type atoms having the same dielectric permittivity near the transition frequency of the reference atom. Our numerical simulations predict strong coupling for some specific configurations and then suggest promising options for quantum interface and quantum information processing at the level of single photons and atoms. In particular, the strong resonance interaction between atom(s) and light, propagating through a photonic crystal waveguide, justifies as realistic the scenario of a signal light coupling with a small atomic array consisting of a few atoms. As a potential implication, the directional one-dimensional resonance scattering, expected in such systems, could provide a quantum bus by entangling distant atoms integrated into a quantum register.

  • Vacuum Beam Guide for Large-Scale Quantum Networks.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Yuexun Huang, Francisco Salces--Carcoba, Rana X Adhikari, Amir H. Safavi-Naeini, Liang Jiang
     

    The vacuum beam guide (VBG) presents a completely different solution for quantum channels to overcome the limitations of existing fiber and satellite technologies for long-distance quantum communication. With an array of aligned lenses spaced kilometers apart, the VBG offers ultra-high transparency over a wide range of optical wavelengths. With realistic parameters, the VBG can outperform the best fiber by three orders of magnitude in terms of attenuation rate. Consequently, the VBG can enable long-range quantum communication over thousands of kilometers with quantum channel capacity beyond $10^{13}$ qubit/sec, orders of magnitude higher than the state-of-the-art quantum satellite communication rate. Remarkably, without relying on quantum repeaters, the VBG can provide a ground-based, low-loss, high-bandwidth quantum channel that enables novel distributed quantum information applications for computing, communication, and sensing.

  • Utilizing Novel Quantum Counters for Grover's Algorithm to Solve the Dominating Set Problem.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Jehn-Ruey Jiang, Qiao-Yi Lin
     

    Grover's algorithm is a well-known unstructured quantum search algorithm run on quantum computers. It constructs an oracle and calls the oracle O($\sqrt N$) times to locate specific data out of N unsorted data. This represents a quadratic speedup compared to the classical unstructured data sequential search algorithm, which requires to call the oracle O(N) times. We are currently in the noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) era in which quantum computers have a limited number of qubits, short decoherence time, and low gate fidelity. It is thus desirable to design quantum components with three good properties: (i) a reduced number of qubits, (ii) shorter quantum depth, and (iii) fewer gates. This paper utilizes novel quantum counters with the above-mentioned three good properties to construct the oracle of Grover's algorithm to efficiently solve the dominating set problem (DSP), as defined below. For a given graph G=(V, E), a dominating set (DS) D is a subset of the vertex set V, such that every vertex is in D or has an adjacent vertex in D. The DSP is to decide for a given graph G and an integer k whether there exists a DS with size k. Algorithms solving the DSP have many applications. For example, they can be applied to check whether k routers suffice to connect all computers in a computer network. The DSP is an NP-complete problem, indicating that no classical algorithm exists to solve the DSP with polynomial time complexity in the worst case. Therefore, using quantum algorithms, such as Grover's algorithm, to exploit the potent computational capabilities of quantum computers to solve the DSP is highly promising. We execute the whole quantum circuit of Grover's algorithm using novel quantum counters through the IBM Quantum Lab service to validate that the circuit can solve the DSP efficiently and correctly.

  • Passive dynamical decoupling of trapped ion qubits and qudits.- [PDF] - [Article]

    R. Tyler Sutherland, Stephen D. Erickson
     

    We propose a method to dynamically decouple every magnetically sensitive hyperfine sublevel of a trapped ion from magnetic field noise, simultaneously, using integrated circuits to adiabatically rotate its local quantization field. These integrated circuits allow passive adjustment of the effective polarization of any external (control or noise) field. By rotating the ion's quantization direction relative to this field's polarization, we can perform `passive' dynamical decoupling (PDD), inverting the linear Zeeman sensitivity of every hyperfine sublevel. This dynamically decouples the entire ion, rather than just a qubit subspace. Fundamentally, PDD drives the transition $m_{F}\rightarrow -m_{F}$ for every magnetic quantum number $m_{F}$ in the system--with only one operation--indicating it applies to qudits with constant overhead in the dimensionality of the qudit. We show how to perform pulsed and continuous PDD, weighing each technique's insensitivity to external magnetic fields versus their sensitivity to diabaticity and control errors. Finally, we show that we can tune the sinusoidal oscillation of the quantization axis to a motional mode of the crystal in order to perform a laser-free two qubit gate that is insensitive to magnetic field noise.

  • Topological nonlocal operations on toroidal flux qubits.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Adel Ali, Alexey Belyanin
     

    We propose a conceptual model of a toroidal flux qubit, which consists of a quantized toroidal magnetic flux coupled to a charged particle on a quantum ring through field-free interaction. Scaling the system to two or more flux qubits results in emergent field-free coupling between them. We show that the topological and nonlocal aspects of this system can have profound applications in quantum information. We illustrate it with examples of nonlocal operations on these flux qubits which are protected from environmental noise, including creating entanglement and ``teleporting'' excitation energy between the flux qubits.

  • Transport response of topological hinge modes in $\alpha$-Bi$_4$Br$_4$.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Md Shafayat Hossain, Qi Zhang, Zhiwei Wang, Nikhil Dhale, Wenhao Liu, Maksim Litskevich, Brian Casas, Nana Shumiya, Jia-Xin Yin, Tyler A. Cochran, Yongkai Li, Yu-Xiao Jiang, Ying Yang, Guangming Cheng, Zi-Jia Cheng, Xian P. Yang, Nan Yao, Titus Neupert, Luis Balicas, Yugui Yao, Bing Lv, M. Zahid Hasan
     

    Electronic topological phases are renowned for their unique properties, where conducting surface states exist on the boundary of an insulating three-dimensional bulk. While the transport response of the surface states has been extensively studied, the response of the topological hinge modes remains elusive. Here, we investigate a layered topological insulator $\alpha$-Bi$_4$Br$_4$, and provide the first evidence for quantum transport in gapless topological hinge states existing within the insulating bulk and surface energy gaps. Our magnetoresistance measurements reveal pronounced h/e periodic (where h denotes Planck's constant and e represents the electron charge) Aharonov-Bohm oscillation. The observed periodicity, which directly reflects the enclosed area of phase-coherent electron propagation, matches the area enclosed by the sample hinges, providing compelling evidence for the quantum interference of electrons circumnavigating around the hinges. Notably, the h/e oscillations evolve as a function of magnetic field orientation, following the interference paths along the hinge modes that are allowed by topology and symmetry, and in agreement with the locations of the hinge modes according to our scanning tunneling microscopy images. Remarkably, this demonstration of quantum transport in a topological insulator can be achieved using a flake geometry and we show that it remains robust even at elevated temperatures. Our findings collectively reveal the quantum transport response of topological hinge modes with both topological nature and quantum coherence, which can be directly applied to the development of efficient quantum electronic devices.

  • Tighter monogamy inequalities of multiqubit entanglement.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Jia-Yi Li, Zhong-Xi Shen, Shao-Ming Fei
     

    Multipartite entanglement holds great importance in quantum information processing. The distribution of entanglement among subsystems can be characterized by monogamy relations. Based on the $\beta$th power of concurrence and negativity, we provide two new monogamy inequalities. Through detailed examples, we demonstrate that these inequalities are tighter than previous results.

  • General monogamy and polygamy relations of arbitrary quantum correlations for multipartite systems.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Zhong-Xi Shen, Ke-Ke Wang, Shao-Ming Fei
     

    Monogamy and polygamy of quantum correlations are the fundamental properties of quantum systems. We study the monogamy and polygamy relations satisfied by any quantum correlations in multipartite quantum systems. General monogamy relations are presented for the $\alpha$th $(0\leq\alpha \leq\gamma$, $\gamma\geq2)$ power of quantum correlation, and general polygamy relations are given for the $\beta$th $(\beta\geq \delta$, $0\leq\delta\leq1)$ power of quantum correlation. We show that these newly derived monogamy and polygamy inequalities are tighter than the existing ones. By applying these results to specific quantum correlations such as concurrence and the square of convex-roof extended negativity of assistance (SCRENoA), the corresponding new classes of monogamy and polygamy relations are obtained, which include the existing ones as special cases. Detailed examples are given to illustrate the advantages of our results.

  • Further improving quantum algorithms for nonlinear differential equations via higher-order methods and rescaling.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Pedro C. S. Costa, Philipp Schleich, Mauro E. S. Morales, Dominic W. Berry
     

    The solution of large systems of nonlinear differential equations is needed for many applications in science and engineering. In this study, we present three main improvements to existing quantum algorithms based on the Carleman linearisation technique. First, by using a high-precision technique for the solution of the linearised differential equations, we achieve logarithmic dependence of the complexity on the error and near-linear dependence on time. Second, we demonstrate that a rescaling technique can considerably reduce the cost, which would otherwise be exponential in the Carleman order for a system of ODEs, preventing a quantum speedup for PDEs. Third, we provide improved, tighter bounds on the error of Carleman linearisation. We apply our results to a class of discretised reaction-diffusion equations using higher-order finite differences for spatial resolution. We show that providing a stability criterion independent of the discretisation can conflict with the use of the rescaling due to the difference between the max-norm and 2-norm. An efficient solution may still be provided if the number of discretisation points is limited, as is possible when using higher-order discretisations.

  • Steered quantum coherence and quantum Fisher information in spin-chain system.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Biao-Liang Ye, Yao-Kun Wang, Shao-Ming Fei
     

    In this paper, we investigate steered quantum coherence, i.e., the $l_1$ norm of steered coherence and the relative entropy of steered coherence, and the quantum Fisher information in the Gibbs state of two-qubit $XXZ$ systems. Their variations with respect to the temperature, external magnetic field, and interaction intensities are analyzed both analytically and numerically in detail. The similar behaviors among these three quantum measures in the $XXZ$ model are presented.

  • Exploration of new chemical materials using black-box optimization with the D-wave quantum annealer.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Mikiya Doi, Yoshihiro Nakao, Takuro Tanaka, Masami Sako, Masayuki Ohzeki
     

    In materials informatics, searching for chemical materials with desired properties is challenging due to the vastness of the chemical space. Moreover, the high cost of evaluating properties necessitates a search with a few clues. In practice, there is also a demand for proposing compositions that are easily synthesizable. In the real world, such as in the exploration of chemical materials, it is common to encounter problems targeting black-box objective functions where formalizing the objective function in explicit form is challenging, and the evaluation cost is high. In recent research, a Bayesian optimization method has been proposed to formulate the quadratic unconstrained binary optimization (QUBO) problem as a surrogate model for black-box objective functions with discrete variables. Regarding this method, studies have been conducted using the D-Wave quantum annealer to optimize the acquisition function, which is based on the surrogate model and determines the next exploration point for the black-box objective function. In this paper, we address optimizing a black-box objective function containing discrete variables in the context of actual chemical material exploration. In this optimization problem, we demonstrate results obtaining parameters of the acquisition function by sampling from a probability distribution with variance can explore the solution space more extensively than in the case of no variance. As a result, we found combinations of substituents in compositions with the desired properties, which could only be discovered when we set an appropriate variance.

  • Variational Quantum Domain Adaptation.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Chunhui Wu, Junhao Pei, Yihua Wu, Shengmei Zhao
     

    Quantum machine learning is an important application of quantum computing in the era of noisy intermediate-scale quantum devices. Domain adaptation is an effective method for addressing the distribution discrepancy problem between the training data and the real data when the neural network model is deployed. In this paper, a variational quantum domain adaptation method is proposed by using a quantum convolutional neural network, together with a gradient reversal module, and two quantum fully connected layers, named variational quantum domain adaptation(VQDA). The simulations on the local computer and IBM Quantum Experience (IBM Q) platform by Qiskit show the effectiveness of the proposed method. The results demonstrate that, compared to its classical corresponding domain adaptation method, VQDA achieves an average improvement of 4% on the accuracy for MNIST to USPS domain transfer under the same parameter scales. Similarly, for SYNDigits to SVHN domain transfer, VQDA achieves an average improvement of 2% on the accuracy under the same parameter scales.

  • Topological atom optics and beyond with knotted quantum wavefunctions.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Maitreyi Jayaseelan, Joseph D. Murphree, Justin T. Schultz, Janne Ruostekoski, Nicholas P. Bigelow
     

    Atom optics demonstrates optical phenomena with coherent matter waves, providing a foundational connection between light and matter. Significant advances in optics have followed the realisation of structured light fields hosting complex singularities and topologically non-trivial characteristics. However, analogous studies are still in their infancy in the field of atom optics. Here, we investigate and experimentally create knotted quantum wavefunctions in spinor Bose--Einstein condensates which display non-trivial topologies. In our work we construct coordinated orbital and spin rotations of the atomic wavefunction, engineering a variety of discrete symmetries in the combined spin and orbital degrees of freedom. The structured wavefunctions that we create map to the surface of a torus to form torus knots, M\"obius strips, and a twice-linked Solomon's knot. In this paper we demonstrate striking connections between the symmetries and underlying topologies of multicomponent atomic systems and of vector optical fields--a realization of topological atom-optics.

  • Robust Estimation of Nonlinear Properties of Quantum Processes.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Yuqing Wang, Guoding Liu, Zhenhuan Liu, Yifan Tang, Xiongfeng Ma, Hao Dai
     

    Accurate and robust estimation of quantum process properties is crucial for quantum information processing and quantum many-body physics. Combining classical shadow tomography and randomized benchmarking, Helsen et al. introduced a method to estimate the linear properties of quantum processes. In this work, we focus on the estimation protocols of nonlinear process properties that are robust to state preparation and measurement errors. We introduce two protocols, both utilizing random gate sequences but employing different post-processing methods, which make them suitable for measuring different nonlinear properties. The first protocol offers a robust and sound method to estimate the out-of-time-ordered correlation, as demonstrated numerically in an Ising model. The second protocol estimates unitarity, effectively characterizing the incoherence of quantum channels. We expect the two protocols to be useful tools for exploring quantum many-body physics and characterizing quantum processes.

  • Involutive Markov categories and the quantum de Finetti theorem.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Tobias Fritz, Antonio Lorenzin
     

    Markov categories have recently emerged as a powerful high-level framework for probability theory and theoretical statistics. Here we study a quantum version of this concept, called involutive Markov categories. First, we show that these are equivalent to Parzygnat's quantum Markov categories but argue that they are simpler to work with. Our main examples of involutive Markov categories involve C*-algebras (of any dimension) as objects and completely positive unital maps as morphisms in the picture of interest. Second, we prove a quantum de Finetti theorem for both the minimal and the maximal C*-tensor norms, and we develop a categorical description of such quantum de Finetti theorems which amounts to a universal property of state spaces.

  • Optimal joint cutting of two-qubit rotation gates.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Christian Ufrecht, Laura S. Herzog, Daniel D. Scherer, Maniraman Periyasamy, Sebastian Rietsch, Axel Plinge, Christopher Mutschler
     

    Circuit cutting, the partitioning of quantum circuits into smaller independent fragments, has become a promising avenue for scaling up current quantum-computing experiments. Here, we introduce a scheme for joint cutting of two-qubit rotation gates based on a virtual gate-teleportation protocol. By that, we significantly lower the previous upper bounds on the sampling overhead and prove optimality of the scheme. Furthermore, we show that no classical communication between the circuit partitions is required. For parallel two-qubit rotation gates we derive an optimal ancilla-free decomposition, which include CNOT gates as a special case.

  • Heat radiation and transfer in the presence of a cylinder.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Kiryl Asheichyk, Matthias Krüger
     

    We study heat radiation and radiative heat transfer for nanoparticles in the presence of an infinitely long cylinder in different geometrical configurations, based on its electromagnetic Green's tensor. The heat radiation of a single particle can be enhanced by placing it close to a nanowire, and this enhancement can be much larger as compared to placing it close to plate of same material. The heat transfer along a cylinder decays much slower than through empty vacuum, being especially long ranged in case of a perfectly conducting nanowire, and showing nonmonotonic behavior in case of a SiC cylinder. Exploring the dependence on the relative azimuthal angle of the nanoparticles, we find that the results are insensitive to small angles, but they can be drastically different when the angle is large, depending on the material. Finally, we demonstrate that a cylinder can either enhance or block the heat flux when placed perpendicular to the interparticle distance line, where especially the blocking is strongly enhanced compared to the geometry of a sphere of same radius.

  • Quantum-centric Supercomputing for Materials Science: A Perspective on Challenges and Future Directions.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Yuri Alexeev, Maximilian Amsler, Paul Baity, Marco Antonio Barroca, Sanzio Bassini, Torey Battelle, Daan Camps, David Casanova, Young jai Choi, Frederic T. Chong, Charles Chung, Chris Codella, Antonio D. Corcoles, James Cruise, Alberto Di Meglio, Jonathan Dubois, Ivan Duran, Thomas Eckl, Sophia Economou, Stephan Eidenbenz, Bruce Elmegreen, Clyde Fare, Ismael Faro, Cristina Sanz Fernández, Rodrigo Neumann Barros Ferreira, Keisuke Fuji, Bryce Fuller, Laura Gagliardi, Giulia Galli, Jennifer R. Glick, Isacco Gobbi, Pranav Gokhale, Salvador de la Puente Gonzalez, Johannes Greiner, Bill Gropp, Michele Grossi, Emmanuel Gull, Burns Healy, Benchen Huang, Travis S. Humble, Nobuyasu Ito, Artur F. Izmaylov, Ali Javadi-Abhari, Douglas Jennewein, Shantenu Jha, Liang Jiang, Barbara Jones, Wibe Albert de Jong, et al. (79 additional authors not shown)
     

    Computational models are an essential tool for the design, characterization, and discovery of novel materials. Hard computational tasks in materials science stretch the limits of existing high-performance supercomputing centers, consuming much of their simulation, analysis, and data resources. Quantum computing, on the other hand, is an emerging technology with the potential to accelerate many of the computational tasks needed for materials science. In order to do that, the quantum technology must interact with conventional high-performance computing in several ways: approximate results validation, identification of hard problems, and synergies in quantum-centric supercomputing. In this paper, we provide a perspective on how quantum-centric supercomputing can help address critical computational problems in materials science, the challenges to face in order to solve representative use cases, and new suggested directions.

  • Demonstration of fault-tolerant Steane quantum error correction.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Lukas Postler, Friederike Butt, Ivan Pogorelov, Christian D. Marciniak, Sascha Heußen, Rainer Blatt, Philipp Schindler, Manuel Rispler, Markus Müller, Thomas Monz
     

    Encoding information redundantly using quantum error-correcting (QEC) codes allows one to overcome the inherent sensitivity to noise in quantum computers to ultimately achieve large-scale quantum computation. The Steane QEC method involves preparing an auxiliary logical qubit of the same QEC code used for the data register. The data and auxiliary registers are then coupled with a logical CNOT gate, enabling a measurement of the auxiliary register to reveal the error syndrome. This study presents the implementation of multiple rounds of fault-tolerant Steane QEC on a trapped-ion quantum computer. Various QEC codes are employed, and the results are compared to a previous experimental approach utilizing flag qubits. Our experimental findings show improved logical fidelities for Steane QEC. This establishes experimental Steane QEC as a competitive paradigm for fault-tolerant quantum computing.

  • Symmetry-preserving and gate-efficient quantum circuits for quantum chemistry.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Hugh G. A. Burton
     

    The ability of quantum computers to overcome the exponential memory scaling of many-body problems is expected to transform quantum chemistry. Quantum algorithms require accurate representations of electronic states on a quantum device, but current approximations struggle to combine chemical accuracy and gate-efficiency while preserving physical symmetries, and rely on measurement-intensive adaptive methods that tailor the wave function ansatz to each molecule. In this contribution, we present a spin-symmetry-preserving, gate-efficient ansatz that provides chemically accurate molecular energies with a well-defined circuit structure. Our approach exploits local qubit connectivity, orbital optimisation, and connections with generalised valence bond theory to maximise the accuracy that is obtained with shallow quantum circuits. Numerical simulations for molecules with weak and strong electron correlation, including benzene, water, and the singlet-triplet gap in tetramethyleneethane, demonstrate that chemically accurate energies are achieved with as much as 84% fewer two-qubit gates compared to the current state-of-the-art. These advances pave the way for the next generation of electronic structure approximations for future quantum computing.

  • Entropic uncertainty relations and entanglement detection from quantum designs.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Yundu Zhao, Shan Huang, Shengjun Wu
     

    Uncertainty relations and quantum entanglement are pivotal concepts in quantum theory. Beyond their fundamental significance in shaping our understanding of the quantum world, they also underpin crucial applications in quantum information theory. In this article, we investigate entropic uncertainty relations and entanglement detection with an emphasis on quantum measurements with design structures. On the one hand, we derive improved R\'enyi entropic uncertainty relations for design-structured measurements, exploiting the property that the sum of powered (e.g., squared) probabilities of obtaining different measurement outcomes is now invariant under unitary transformations of the measured system and can be easily computed. On the other hand, the above property essentially imposes a state-independent upper bound, which is achieved at all pure states, on one's ability to predict local outcomes when performing a set of design-structured measurements on quantum systems. Realizing this, we also obtain criteria for detecting multi-partite entanglement with design-structured measurements.

  • A Quantum Algorithm for Solving the Advection Equation using Hamiltonian Simulation.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Peter Brearley, Sylvain Laizet
     

    A quantum algorithm for solving the advection equation based on sparse Hamiltonian simulation is presented. The matrix arising from the finite difference discretisation with explicit Euler time integration is embedded within the Hamiltonian to advance the solution in time. The unitary operator embeds the matrix to a high accuracy regardless of the Hamiltonian evolution time, so a time step succeeds with a high probability and errors of the same order as the conventional Euler method. If postselection does fail, the enacted operation is close to the identity matrix, having a negligible impact on the quantum state and allowing the computation to continue. Qubit requirements grow logarithmically with the number of grid points $N$ and gate requirements grow polynomially as $\widetilde{O}(N^{1/D}Dk/\epsilon)$ (suppressing polylogarithmic terms) in $D$ dimensions with $k$-order spatial discretisation and allowable error $\epsilon$, yielding a significant polynomial speedup over the classical $O(N^{(1+D)/D})$. Statevector simulations of a scalar transported in a two-dimensional laminar channel flow with a combination of periodic and Dirichlet boundary conditions are presented as a proof of concept of the proposed approach.

  • The Spectrum of Asymptotic Cayley Trees.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Bergfinnur Durhuus, Thordur Jonsson, John Wheater
     

    We characterize the spectrum of the transition matrix for simple random walk on graphs consisting of a finite graph with a finite number of infinite Cayley trees attached. We show that there is a continuous spectrum identical to that for a Cayley tree and, in general, a non-empty pure point spectrum. We apply our results to studying continuous time quantum walk on these graphs. If the pure point spectrum is nonempty the walk is in general confined with a nonzero probability.

  • Phonon-photon conversion as mechanism for cooling and coherence transfer.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Alessandro Ferreri, David Edward Bruschi, Frank K. Wilhelm, Franco Nori, Vincenzo Macrì
     

    The dynamical Casimir effect is the physical phenomenon where the mechanical energy of a movable wall of a cavity confining a quantum field can be converted into quanta of the field itself. This effect has been recognized as one of the most astonishing predictions of quantum field theory. At the quantum scale, the energy conversion can also occur incoherently, namely without an physical motion of the wall. We employ quantum thermodynamics to show that this phenomenon can be employed as a tool to cool down the wall when there is a non-vanishing temperature gradient between the wall and the cavity. At the same time, the process of heat-transfer enables to share the coherence from one cavity mode, driven by a laser, to the wall, thereby forcing its coherent oscillation. Finally, we show how to employ one laser drive to cool the entire system including the case when it is composed of other subsystems.

  • Dynamic Hysteresis Across a Dissipative Multi-Mode Phase Transition.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Marvin Röhrle, Jens Benary, Erik Bernhart, Herwig Ott
     

    Dissipative phase transitions are characteristic features in open quantum systems. Key signatures are the dynamical switching between different states in the vicinity of the phase transition and the appearance of hysteresis. Here, we experimentally study dynamic sweeps across a first order dissipative phase transition in a multi-mode driven-dissipative system. In contrast to previous studies, we perform sweeps of the dissipation strength instead of the driving strength. We extract exponents for the scaling of the hysteresis area in dependence of the sweep time and study the $g^{(2)}(0)$ correlations, which show non-trivial behavior. Due to the multi-mode nature of the system, we can also study the influence of the temperature on the hysteresis area. We compare our results to numerical calculations done for a single mode variant of the system, and find surprisingly good agreement. Furthermore, we identify and discuss the differences between a scan of the dissipation strength and a scan of the driving strength.

  • Path integral for the quartic oscillator: A simple analytic expression for the partition function.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Michel Caffarel
     

    The path-integral method is used to derive a simple parameter-free expression for the partition function of the quartic oscillator described by the potential $V(x) = \frac{1}{2} \omega^2 x^2 + g x^4$. This new expression gives a free energy accurate to a few percent over the entire range of temperatures and coupling strengths $g$. Both the harmonic ($g\rightarrow 0$) and classical (high-temperature) limits are exactly recovered. Analytic expressions for the ground- and first-excited state energies are derived. The divergence of the power series of the ground-state energy at weak coupling, characterized by a factorial growth of the perturbational energies, is reproduced as well as the functional form of the strong-coupling expansion along with accurate coefficients. Our simple expression is compared to the approximate partition functions proposed by Feynman and Kleinert and by B\"uttner and Flytzanis.

  • Classical and quantum cost of measurement strategies for quantum-enhanced auxiliary field Quantum Monte Carlo.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Matthew Kiser, Anna Schroeder, Gian-Luca R. Anselmetti, Chandan Kumar, Nikolaj Moll, Michael Streif, Davide Vodola
     

    Quantum-enhanced auxiliary field quantum Monte Carlo (QC-AFQMC) uses output from a quantum computer to increase the accuracy of its classical counterpart. The algorithm requires the estimation of overlaps between walker states and a trial wavefunction prepared on the quantum computer. We study the applicability of this algorithm in terms of the number of measurements required from the quantum computer and the classical costs of post-processing those measurements. We compare the classical post-processing costs of state-of-the-art measurement schemes using classical shadows to determine the overlaps and argue that the overall post-processing cost stemming from overlap estimations scales like $\mathcal{O}(N^9)$ per walker throughout the algorithm. With further numerical simulations, we compare the variance behavior of the classical shadows when randomizing over different ensembles, e.g., Cliffords and (particle-number restricted) matchgates beyond their respective bounds, and uncover the existence of covariances between overlap estimations of the AFQMC walkers at different imaginary time steps. Moreover, we include analyses of how the error in the overlap estimation propagates into the AFQMC energy and discuss its scaling when increasing the system size.

  • Dynamical Casimir cooling in circuit QED systems.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Sadeq S. Kadijani, Nicolás Del Grosso, Thomas L. Schmidt, M. Belén Farias
     

    A transmission line coupled to an externally driven superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) can exhibit the Dynamical Casimir Effect (DCE). Employing this setup, we quantize the SQUID degrees of freedom and show that it gives rise to a three-body interaction Hamiltonian with the cavity modes. By considering only two interacting modes from the cavities we show that the device can function as an autonomous cooler where the SQUID can be used as a work source to cool down the cavity modes. Moreover, this setup allows for coupling to all modes existing inside the cavities, and we show that by adding two other extra modes to the interaction with the SQUID the cooling effect can be enhanced.

  • Dynamics of Quantum Coherence and Quantum Fisher Information of a V-type Atom in Isotropic Photonic Crystal.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Ghafar Ahmadi, Shahpoor Saeidian, Ghasem Naeimi
     

    The time evolution of quantum Fisher information, quantum coherence, and non-Markovianity of a V-type three-level atom embedded in free space or a photonic band gap crystal have been investigated. It has been demonstrated that the photonic band gap crystal, as a structured environment, significantly influences the preservation and enhancement of these quantum features. Additionally, we observe that by manipulating the initial relative phase values encoded in the atomic state and the relative positions of the upper levels within the forbidden gap, control over the dynamics of quantum features can be achieved. These findings highlight the potential benefits of utilizing photonic band gap crystals in quantum systems, offering improved preservation and manipulation of quantum information. The ability to control quantum features opens new avenues for applications in quantum information processing and related technologies.

  • Efficient quantum simulation of nonlinear interactions using SNAP and Rabi gates.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Kimin Park, Petr Marek, Radim Filip
     

    Quantum simulations provide means to probe challenging problems within controllable quantum systems. However, implementing or simulating deep-strong nonlinear couplings between bosonic oscillators on physical platforms remains a challenge. We present a deterministic simulation technique that efficiently and accurately models nonlinear bosonic dynamics. This technique alternates between tunable Rabi and SNAP gates, both of which are available on experimental platforms such as trapped ions and superconducting circuits. Our proposed simulation method facilitates high-fidelity modeling of phenomena that emerge from higher-order bosonic interactions, with an exponential reduction in resource usage compared to other techniques. We demonstrate the potential of our technique by accurately reproducing key phenomena and other distinctive characteristics of ideal nonlinear optomechanical systems. Our technique serves as a valuable tool for simulating complex quantum interactions, simultaneously paving the way for new capabilities in quantum computing through the use of hybrid qubit-oscillator systems.

  • Quantum Generative Adversarial Networks: Bridging Classical and Quantum Realms.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Sahil Nokhwal, Suman Nokhwal, Ram Swaroop, Raj Bala, Ankit Chaudhary
     

    In this pioneering research paper, we present a groundbreaking exploration into the synergistic fusion of classical and quantum computing paradigms within the realm of Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs). Our objective is to seamlessly integrate quantum computational elements into the conventional GAN architecture, thereby unlocking novel pathways for enhanced training processes. Drawing inspiration from the inherent capabilities of quantum bits (qubits), we delve into the incorporation of quantum data representation methodologies within the GAN framework. By capitalizing on the unique quantum features, we aim to accelerate the training process of GANs, offering a fresh perspective on the optimization of generative models. Our investigation deals with theoretical considerations and evaluates the potential quantum advantages that may manifest in terms of training efficiency and generative quality. We confront the challenges inherent in the quantum-classical amalgamation, addressing issues related to quantum hardware constraints, error correction mechanisms, and scalability considerations. This research is positioned at the forefront of quantum-enhanced machine learning, presenting a critical stride towards harnessing the computational power of quantum systems to expedite the training of Generative Adversarial Networks. Through our comprehensive examination of the interface between classical and quantum realms, we aim to uncover transformative insights that will propel the field forward, fostering innovation and advancing the frontier of quantum machine learning.

  • Disorder-induced decoupling of attracting identical fermions: transfer matrix approach.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Lolita I. Knyazeva, Vladimir I. Yudson
     

    We consider a pair of identical fermions with a short-range attractive interaction on a finite lattice cluster in the presence of a strong site disorder. This toy model imitates a low density regime of the strongly disordered Hubbard model. In contrast to spinful fermions, which can simultaneously occupy a site with a minimal energy and thus always form a bound state resistant to disorder, for the identical fermions the probability of pairing on neighboring sites depends on the relation between the interaction and the disorder. The complexity of 'brute-force' calculations (both analytical and numerical) of this probability grows rapidly with the number of sites even for the simplest cluster geometry in the form of a closed chain. Remarkably, this problem is related to an old mathematical task of computing the volume of a polyhedron, known as NP-hard. However, we have found that the problem in the chain geometry can be exactly solved by the transfer matrix method. Using this approach we have calculated the pairing probability in the long chain for an arbitrary relation between the interaction and the disorder strengths and completely described the crossover between the regimes of coupled and separated fermions.

  • QSweep: Pulse-Optimal Single-Qudit Synthesis.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Ed Younis, Noah Goss
     

    The synthesis of single-qudit unitaries has mainly been understudied, resulting in inflexible and non-optimal analytical solutions, as well as inefficient and impractical numerical solutions. To address this challenge, we introduce QSweep, a guided numerical synthesizer that produces pulse-optimal single-qudit decompositions for any subspace gateset, outperforming all prior solutions. When decomposing ququart gates, QSweep created circuits 4100x (up to 23500x) faster than QSearch with an average of 7.9 fewer pulses than analytical solutions, resulting in an overall 1.54x and 2.36x improvement in experimental single-qutrit and ququart gate fidelity as measured by randomized benchmarking.

  • Extrapolation of polaron properties to low phonon frequencies by Bayesian machine learning.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Pranav Kairon, John Sous, Mona Berciu, Roman V. Krems
     

    Feasibility of accurate quantum calculations is often restricted by the dimensionality of the truncated Hilbert space required for the numerical computations. The present work demonstrates Bayesian machine learning (ML) models that use quantum properties in an effectively lower-dimensional Hilbert space to make predictions for the Hamiltonian parameters that require a larger basis set as applied to a classical problem in quantum statistical mechanics, the polaron problem. We consider two polaron models: the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) model and the mixed SSH-Holstein model. We demonstrate ML models that can extrapolate polaron properties in the phonon frequency. We consider the sharp transition in the ground-state momentum of the SSH polaron and examine the evolution of this transition from the anti-adiabatic regime to the adiabatic regime. We also demonstrate Bayesian models that use the posterior distributions of highly approximate quantum calculations as the prior distribution for models of more accurate quantum results. This drastically reduces the number of fully converged quantum calculations required to map out the polaron dispersion relations for the full range of Hamiltonian parameters of interest.

  • A brief overview of programmed instructions for quantum software education.- [PDF] - [Article]

    Richard A. Wolf, Sho Araiba
     

    In this paper we provide an overview of the programmed instructions approach for the purpose of quantum software education. The article presents the programmed instructions method and recent successes in STEM fields before describing its operating mode. Elements tackled include the core components of programmed instructions, its behavioural roots and early use as well as adaptation to complex STEM material. In addition, we offer recommendations for its use in the specific context of quantum software education and provide one example of PI-based instruction for the notion of entanglement. The aim of this work is to provide high-level guidelines for incorporating programmed instructions in quantum education with the goal of disseminating quantum skills and notions more efficiently to a wider audience.

  • Continuum-electron interferometry for enhancement of photoelectron circular dichroism and measurement of bound, free, and mixed contributions to chiral response.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    R. Esteban Goetz, Alexander Blech, Corbin Allison, Christiane P. Koch, Loren Greenman
     

    We develop photoelectron interferometry based on laser-assisted extreme ultraviolet ionization for flexible and robust control of photoelectron circular dichroism in randomly oriented chiral molecules. A comb of XUV photons ionizes a sample of chiral molecules in the presence of a time-delayed infrared or visible laser pulse promoting interferences between components of the XUV-ionized photoelectron wave packet. In striking contrast to multicolor phase control schemes relying on pulse shaping techniques, the magnitude of the resulting chiral signal is here controlled by the time delay between the XUV and laser pulses. Furthermore, we show that the relative polarization configurations of the XUV and IR fields allows for disentangling the contributions of bound and continuum states to the chiral response. Our proposal provides a simple, robust and versatile tool for the control of photoelectron circular dichroism and experimentally feasible protocol for probing the individual contributions of bound and continuum states to the PECD in a time-resolved manner.

  • Maxwell Demon and Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Steering.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Meng-Jun Hu, Xiao-Min Hu, Yong-Sheng Zhang
     

    The study of Maxwell demon and quantum entanglement is important because of its foundational significance in physics and its potential applications in quantum information. Previous research on the Maxwell demon has primarily focused on thermodynamics, taking into account quantum correlations. Here we consider from another perspective and ask whether quantum non-locality correlations can be simulated by performing work. The Maxwell demon-assisted Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) steering is thus proposed, which implies a new type of loophole. The application of Landauer's erasure principle suggests that the only way to close this loophole during a steering task is by continuously monitoring the heat fluctuation of the local environment by the participant. We construct a quantum circuit model of Maxwell demon-assisted EPR steering, which can be demonstrated by current programmable quantum processors, such as superconducting quantum computers. Based on this quantum circuit model, we obtain a quantitative formula describing the relationship between energy dissipation due to the work of the demon and quantum non-locality correlation. The result is of great physical interest because it provides a new way to explore and understand the relationship between quantum non-locality, information, and thermodynamics.

  • Stability of the spectral gap and ground state indistinguishability for a decorated AKLT model.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Angelo Lucia, Alvin Moon, Amanda Young
     

    We use cluster expansions to establish local indistiguishability of the finite-volume ground states for the AKLT model on decorated hexagonal lattices with decoration parameter at least 5. Our estimates imply that the model satisfies local topological quantum order (LTQO), and so the spectral gap above the ground state is stable against local perturbations.

  • Generalization despite overfitting in quantum machine learning models.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Evan Peters, Maria Schuld
     

    The widespread success of deep neural networks has revealed a surprise in classical machine learning: very complex models often generalize well while simultaneously overfitting training data. This phenomenon of benign overfitting has been studied for a variety of classical models with the goal of better understanding the mechanisms behind deep learning. Characterizing the phenomenon in the context of quantum machine learning might similarly improve our understanding of the relationship between overfitting, overparameterization, and generalization. In this work, we provide a characterization of benign overfitting in quantum models. To do this, we derive the behavior of a classical interpolating Fourier features models for regression on noisy signals, and show how a class of quantum models exhibits analogous features, thereby linking the structure of quantum circuits (such as data-encoding and state preparation operations) to overparameterization and overfitting in quantum models. We intuitively explain these features according to the ability of the quantum model to interpolate noisy data with locally "spiky" behavior and provide a concrete demonstration example of benign overfitting.

  • Estimating phase transition of perturbed J1-J2 Heisenberg quantum chain in mixtures of ground and first excited states.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Sayan Mondal, George Biswas, Ahana Ghoshal, Anindya Biswas, Ujjwal Sen
     

    We show that the nearest neighbour entanglement in a mixture of ground and first excited states - a subjacent state - of the J1-J2 Heisenberg quantum spin chain can be used as an order parameter to detect the phase transition of the chain from a gapless spin fluid to a gapped dimer phase. We study the effectiveness of the order parameter for varying relative mixing probabilities between the ground and first excited states in the subjacent state for different system sizes, and extrapolate the results to the thermodynamic limit. We observe that the nearest neighbour concurrence can play a role of a good order parameter even if the system is in the ground state, but with a small finite probability of leaking into the first excited state. Moreover, we apply the order parameter of the subjacent state to investigate the response to separate introductions of anisotropy and of glassy disorder on the phase diagram of the model, and analyse the corresponding finite-size scale exponents and the emergent tricritical point in the former case. The anisotropic J1-J2 chain has a richer phase diagram which is also clearly visible by using the same order parameter.

  • Local coherence by thermalized intra-system coupling.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Michal Kolář, Radim Filip
     

    Quantum superposition of energy eigenstates can appear autonomously in a single quantum two-level system coupled to a low-temperature thermal bath, if such coupling has a proper composite nature. We propose here a principally different and more feasible approach employing engineered interactions between two-level systems being thermalized into a global Gibbs state by weakly coupled thermal bath at temperature $T$. Therefore, in such case quantum coherence appears by a different mechanism, whereas the system-bath coupling does not have to be engineered. We demonstrate such autonomous coherence generation reaching maximum values of coherence. Moreover, it can be alternatively built up by using weaker but collective interaction with several two-level systems. This approach surpasses the coherence generated by the engineered system-bath coupling for comparable interaction strengths and directly reduces phase estimation error in quantum sensing. This represents a necessary step towards the autonomous quantum sensing.

  • Optical-pumping enantio-conversion of chiral mixtures in presence of tunneling between chiral states.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Fen Zou, Chong Ye, Yong Li
     

    Enantio-conversion of chiral mixtures, converting the mixtures composed of left- and right-handed chiral molecules into the homochiral ensembles, has become an important research topic in chemical and biological fields. In previous studies on enantio-conversion, the tunneling interaction between the left- and right-handed chiral states was often neglected. However, for certain chiral molecules, this tunneling interaction is significant and cannot be ignored. Here we propose a scheme for enantio-conversion of chiral mixtures through optical pumping based on a four-level model of chiral molecules, comprising two chiral ground states and two achiral excited states, with a tunneling interaction between the chiral states. Under one-photon large detuning and two-photon resonance conditions, one of the achiral excited states is eliminated adiabatically. By well designing the detuning and coupling strengths of the electromagnetic fields, the tunneling interaction between two chiral states and the interaction between one of the chiral states and the remaining achiral excited state can be eliminated. Consequently, one chiral state remains unchanged, while the other can be excited to an achiral excited state, establishing chiral-state-selective excitations. By numerically calculating the populations of two chiral ground states and the enantiomeric excess, we observe that high-efficiency enantio-conversion is achieved under the combined effects of system dissipation and chiral-state-selective excitations.

  • Experimental realization of stable exceptional chains protected by non-Hermitian latent symmetries unique to mechanical systems.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Xiaohan Cui, Ruo-Yang Zhang, Xulong Wang, Wei Wang, Guancong Ma, C.T. Chan
     

    Lines of exceptional points are robust in the 3-dimensional non-Hermitian parameter space without requiring any symmetry. However, when more elaborate exceptional structures are considered, the role of symmetry becomes critical. One such case is the exceptional chain (EC), which is formed by the intersection or osculation of multiple exceptional lines (ELs). In this study, we investigate a non-Hermitian classical mechanical system and reveal that a symmetry intrinsic to second-order dynamical equations, in combination with the source-free principle of ELs, guarantees the emergence of ECs. This symmetry can be understood as a non-Hermitian generalized latent symmetry, which is absent in prevailing formalisms rooted in first-order Schr\"odinger-like equations and has largely been overlooked so far. We experimentally confirm and characterize the ECs using an active mechanical oscillator system. Moreover, by measuring eigenvalue braiding around the ELs meeting at a chain point, we demonstrate the source-free principle of directed ELs that underlies the mechanism for EC formation. Our work not only enriches the diversity of non-Hermitian degeneracies, but also highlights the new potential for non-Hermitian physics in second-order dynamical systems.

  • Comparing Quantum Service Offerings.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Julian Obst, Johanna Barzen, Martin Beisel, Frank Leymann, Marie Salm, Felix Truger
     

    With the emergence of quantum computing, a growing number of quantum devices is accessible via cloud offerings. However, due to the rapid development of the field, these quantum-specific service offerings vary significantly in capabilities and requirements they impose on software developers. This is particularly challenging for practitioners from outside the quantum computing domain who are interested in using these offerings as parts of their applications. In this paper, we compare several devices based on different hardware technologies and provided through different offerings, by conducting the same experiment on each of them. By documenting the lessons learned from our experiments, we aim to simplify the usage of quantum-specific offerings and illustrate the differences between predominant quantum hardware technologies.

  • Tight lower bounds on the time it takes to generate a geometric phase.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Niklas Hörnedal, Ole Sönnerborn
     

    Geometric phase is a concept of central importance in virtually every branch of physics. In this paper, we show that the evolution time of a cyclically evolving quantum system is restricted by the system's energy resources and the geometric phase acquired by the state. Specifically, we derive and examine three tight lower bounds on the time required to generate any prescribed Aharonov-Anandan geometric phase. The derivations are based on recent results on the geometric character of the Mandelstam-Tamm and Margolus-Levitin quantum speed limits.

  • Frame representations of qudit quantum mechanics.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Nicolae Cotfas
     

    There exist many attempts to define a Wigner function for qudits, each of them coming with its advantages and limitations. The existing finite versions have simple definitions, but they are artificial in their construction and do not allow an intuitive state analysis. The continuous versions have more complicated definitions, but they are similar to the original Wigner function and allow a visualization of the quantum states. The version based on the concept of tight frame we present is finite, but it has certain properties and applications similar to those of continuous versions.

  • Open quantum system in the indefinite environment.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    He Wang, Jin Wang
     

    In this paper, we investigate the interference engineering of the open quantum system, where the environment is made indefinite either through the use of an interferometer or the introduction of auxiliary qubits. The environments are modeled by fully connected qubit baths with exact analytical dynamics. As the system passes through the interferometer or is controlled by auxiliary qubits, it is propagated along different paths or their superpositions, leading to distinct interactions with the environment in each path. This results in the superposition of the environments, which can be detected through specific measurements that retain certain coherent information about the paths. Our results demonstrate that the indefiniteness of the environment can significantly enhance the quantum correlations. However, only the statistical mixture of the influences from the environments preserves provided that the path coherence is destructed. We also examine the serviceability of the indefiniteness as a resource for teleportation and quantum parameter estimation. Additionally, we discuss how to quantify the indefiniteness and the ways in which it affects the system's dynamics from the perspective of wave-particle-entanglement-ignorance complementarity. Overall, our study highlights the potential benefits of an indefinite environment in quantum information processing and sheds light on the fundamental principles underlying its effects.

  • Eliminating the "impossible": Recent progress on local measurement theory for quantum field theory.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Maria Papageorgiou, Doreen Fraser
     

    Arguments by Sorkin arXiv:gr-qc/9302018 and Borsten, Jubb, and Kells arXiv:1912.06141 establish that a natural extension of quantum measurement theory from non-relativistic quantum mechanics to relativistic quantum theory leads to the unacceptable consequence that expectation values in one region depend on which unitary operation is performed in a spacelike separated region. Sorkin labels such scenarios "impossible measurements". We explicitly present these arguments as a no-go result with the logical form of a reductio argument and investigate the consequences for measurement in quantum field theory (QFT). Sorkin-type impossible measurement scenarios clearly illustrate the moral that Microcausality is not by itself sufficient to rule out superluminal signalling in relativistic quantum theories that use L\"uders' rule. We review three different approaches to formulating an account of measurement for QFT and analyze their responses to the "impossible measurements" problem. Two of the approaches are: a measurement theory based on detector models proposed in Polo-G\'omez, Garay, and Mart\'in-Mart\'Inez arXiv:2108.02793 and a measurement framework for algebraic QFT proposed in Fewster and Verch arXiv:1810.06512. Of particular interest for foundations of QFT is that they share common features that may hold general morals about how to represent measurement in QFT. These morals are about the role that dynamics plays in eliminating "impossible measurements", the abandonment of the operational interpretation of local algebras as representing possible operations carried out in a region, and the interpretation of state update rules. Finally, we examine the form that the "impossible measurements" problem takes in histories-based approaches and we discuss the remaining challenges.

  • Multipartite Two-partite Quantum Correlation and Its Three Types of Measures.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Jing-Min Zhu
     

    Multipartite quantum correlation (MQC) not only explains many novel microscopic and macroscopic quantum phenomena, but also holds promise for specific quantum technologies with superiorities. MQCs descriptions and measures have been an open topic, due to their rich and complex organization and structure. Here reconsidering MQC descriptions and their practical applications in some quantum technologies, we propose a novel description called multipartite two-partite QC, which provides an intuitive and clear physical picture. Specifically, we present three types of measures: one class based on minimal entropy-like difference of local measurement fore-and-aft multipartite two-partite density matrix such as multipartite two-partite quantum discord (QD), another class based on minimal trace-like geometric distance such as multipartite two-partite Hilbert-Schmidt Distance (HSD), and a third class based on decoherence such as multipartite two-partite Local Measurement-Induced Minimal Decoherence (LMIMD) and Local Eigen-Measurement-Induced Decoherence (LEMID). Their computations required for these measures are relatively easy. All of the advantages make them promising candidates for specific potential applications in various quantum technologies. Finally, we employ these three types of measures to explore the organization and structure of some typical genuine MQCs, and analyze their relative characteristics based on their physical implications and mathematical structures.

  • Randomness-enhanced expressivity of quantum neural networks.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Yadong Wu, Juan Yao, Pengfei Zhang, Xiaopeng Li
     

    As a hybrid of artificial intelligence and quantum computing, quantum neural networks (QNNs) have gained significant attention as a promising application on near-term, noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) devices. Conventional QNNs are described by parametrized quantum circuits, which perform unitary operations and measurements on quantum states. In this work, we propose a novel approach to enhance the expressivity of QNNs by incorporating randomness into quantum circuits. Specifically, we introduce a random layer, which contains single-qubit gates sampled from an trainable ensemble pooling. The prediction of QNN is then represented by an ensemble average over a classical function of measurement outcomes. We prove that our approach can accurately approximate arbitrary target operators using Uhlmann's theorem for majorization, which enables observable learning. Our proposal is demonstrated with extensive numerical experiments, including observable learning, R\'enyi entropy measurement, and image recognition. We find the expressivity of QNNs is enhanced by introducing randomness for multiple learning tasks, which could have broad application in quantum machine learning.

  • Resonance states of the three-disk scattering system.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Jan Robert Schmidt, Roland Ketzmerick
     

    For the paradigmatic three-disk scattering system, we confirm a recent conjecture for open chaotic systems, which claims that resonance states are composed of two factors. In particular, we demonstrate that one factor is given by universal exponentially distributed intensity fluctuations. The other factor, supposed to be a classical density depending on the lifetime of the resonance state, is found to be very well described by a classical construction. Furthermore, ray-segment scars, recently observed in dielectric cavities, dominate every resonance state at small wavelengths also in the three-disk scattering system. We introduce a new numerical method for computing resonances, which allows for going much further into the semiclassical limit. As a consequence we are able to confirm the fractal Weyl law over a correspondingly large range.

  • Continuous-variable quantum key distribution field-test with true local oscillator.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Brian P. Williams, Bing Qi, Muneer Alshowkan, Philip G. Evans, Nicholas A. Peters
     

    Continuous-variable quantum key distribution (CV-QKD) using a true local (located at the receiver) oscillator (LO) has been proposed to remove any possibility of side-channel attacks associated with transmission of the LO as well as reduce the cross-pulse contamination. Here we report an implementation of true LO CV-QKD using "off-the-shelf" components and conduct QKD experiments using the fiber optical network at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. A phase reference and quantum signal are time multiplexed and then wavelength division multiplexed with the classical communications which "coexist" with each other on a single optical network fiber. This is the first demonstration of CV-QKD with a receiver-based true LO over a deployed fiber network, a crucial step for its application in real-world situations.

  • Random singlets and permutation symmetry in the disordered spin-2 Heisenberg chain: A tensor network renormalization group study.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Yen-Tung Lin, Shao-Fu Liu, Pochung Chen, Yu-Cheng Lin
     

    We use a tensor network renormalization group method to study random $S=2$ antiferromagnetic Heisenberg chains with alternating bond strength distributions. In the absence of randomness, bond alternation induces two quantum critical points between the $S=2$ Haldane phase, a partially dimerized phase and a fully dimerized phase, depending on the strength of dimerization. These three phases, called ($\sigma$,$4-\sigma$)=(2,2), (3,1) and (4,0) phases, are valence-bond solid (VBS) states characterized by $\sigma$ valence bonds forming across even links and $4-\sigma$ valence bonds on odd links. Here we study the effects of bond randomness on the ground states of the dimerized spin chain, calculating disorder-averaged twist order parameters and spin correlations. We classify the types of random VBS phases depending on the strength of bond randomness $R$ and dimerization $D$ using the twist order parameter, which has a negative/positive sign for a VBS phase with odd/even $\sigma$. Our results demonstrate the existence of a multicritical point in the intermediate disorder regime with finite dimerization, where (2,2), (3,1) and (4,0) phases meet. This multicritical point is at the junction of three phase boundaries in the $R$-$D$ plane: the (2,2)-(3,1) and (3,1)-(4,0) boundaries that extend to zero randomness, and the (2,2)-(4,0) phase boundary that connects another multicritical point in the undimerized limit. The undimerized multicritical point separates a gapless Haldane phase and an infinite-randomness critical line with the diverging dynamic critical exponent in the large $R$ limit at $D=0$. Furthermore, we identify the (3,1)-(4,0) phase boundary as an infinite-randomness critical line even at small $R$, and find the signature of infinite randomness at the (2,2)-(3,1) phase boundary only in the vicinity of the multicritical point.

  • Superdiffusive Transport in Quasi-Particle Dephasing Models.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Yu-Peng Wang, Chen Fang, Jie Ren
     

    Investigating the behavior of noninteracting fermions subjected to local dephasing, we reveal that quasi-particle dephasing can induce superdiffusive transport. This superdiffusion arises from nodal points within the momentum distribution of local dephasing quasi-particles, leading to asymptotic long-lived modes. By studying the dynamics of the Wigner function, we rigorously elucidate how the dynamics of these enduring modes give rise to L\'evy walk processes, a renowned mechanism underlying superdiffusion phenomena. Our research demonstrates the controllability of dynamical scaling exponents by selecting quasi-particles and extends its applicability to higher dimensions, underlining the pervasive nature of superdiffusion in dephasing models.

  • Quantum Financial Modeling on Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum Hardware: Random Walks using Approximate Quantum Counting.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Dominic Widdows, Amit Bhattacharyya
     

    Quantum computers are expected to contribute more efficient and accurate ways of modeling economic processes. Quantum hardware is currently available at a relatively small scale, but effective algorithms are limited by the number of logic gates that can be used, before noise from gate inaccuracies tends to dominate results. Some theoretical algorithms that have been proposed and studied for years do not perform well yet on quantum hardware in practice. This encourages the development of suitable alternative algorithms that play similar roles in limited contexts. This paper implements this strategy in the case of quantum counting, which is used as a component for keeping track of position in a quantum walk, which is used as a model for simulating asset prices over time. We introduce quantum approximate counting circuits that use far fewer 2-qubit entangling gates than traditional quantum counting that relies on binary positional encoding. The robustness of these circuits to noise is demonstrated. We compare the results to price change distributions from stock indices, and compare the behavior of quantum circuits with and without mid-measurement to trends in the housing market. The housing data shows that low liquidity brings price volatility, as expected with the quantum models.

  • Compressive quantum waveform estimation.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Alex Tritt, Joshua Morris, Christopher C. Bounds, Hamish A. M. Taylor, James Saunderson, L. D. Turner
     

    Quantum waveform estimation, in which quantum sensors sample entire time series, promises to revolutionize the sensing of weak and stochastic signals, such as the biomagnetic impulses emitted by firing neurons. For long duration signals with rapid transients, regular quantum sampling becomes prohibitively resource intensive as it demands many measurements with distinct control and readout. In this Manuscript, we demonstrate how careful choice of quantum measurements, along with the modern mathematics of compressive sensing, achieves quantum waveform estimation of sparse signals in a number of measurements far below the Nyquist requirement. We sense synthesized neural-like magnetic signals with radiofrequency-dressed ultracold atoms, retrieving successful waveform estimates with as few measurements as compressive theoretical bounds guarantee.

  • Handbook for Efficiently Quantifying Robustness of Magic.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Hiroki Hamaguchi, Kou Hamada, Nobuyuki Yoshioka
     

    The nonstabilizerness, or magic, is an essential quantum resource to perform universal quantum computation. Robustness of magic (RoM) in particular characterizes the degree of usefulness of a given quantum state for non-Clifford operation. While the mathematical formalism of RoM can be given in a concise manner, it is extremely challenging to determine the RoM in practice, since it involves superexponentially many pure stabilizer states. In this work, we present efficient novel algorithms to compute the RoM. The crucial technique is a subroutine that achieves the remarkable features in calculation of overlaps between pure stabilizer states: (i) the time complexity per each stabilizer is reduced exponentially, (ii) the space complexity is reduced superexponentially. Based on this subroutine, we present algorithms to compute the RoM for arbitrary states up to $n=7$ qubits on a laptop, while brute-force methods require a memory size of 86 TiB. As a byproduct, the proposed subroutine allows us to simulate the stabilizer fidelity up to $n=8$ qubits, for which naive methods require memory size of 86 PiB so that any state-of-the-art classical computer cannot execute the computation. We further propose novel algorithms that utilize the preknowledge on the structure of target quantum state such as the permutation symmetry of disentanglement, and numerically demonstrate our state-of-the-art results for copies of magic states and partially disentangled quantum states. The series of algorithms constitute a comprehensive ``handbook'' to scale up the computation of the RoM, and we envision that the proposed technique applies to the computation of other quantum resource measures as well.

  • Adiabatic-Passage Based Parameter Setting Method for Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm on 3-SAT Problem.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    Mingyou Wu, Zhihao Liu
     

    The Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA) exhibits significant potential for tackling combinatorial optimization problems. Despite its promise for near-term quantum devices, a major challenge in applying QAOA lies in the optimization cost associated with parameter setting. Existing methods for parameter setting generally incur at least a superlinear optimization cost. In this study, we propose a novel adiabatic-passage-based parameter setting method that remarkably reduces the optimization cost, specifically when applied to the 3-SAT problem, to a sublinear level concerning the depth p of QAOA. Beginning with an analysis of the random model of 3-SAT problem, this method applies a problem-dependent preprocessing on the problem Hamiltonian, effectively segregating the magnitude of parameters from the scale of the problem. Consequently, a problem-independent initialization is achieved without incurring any optimization cost. Furthermore, the parameter space is adjusted based on the continuity of the optimal adiabatic passage, resulting in a reduction in the disparity of parameters between adjacent layers of QAOA. By leveraging this continuity, the cost to find quasi-optimal parameters is significantly reduced to a sublinear level.

  • Failures of the Feynman-Dyson diagrammatic perturbation expansion of propagators.- [PDF] - [Article] - [UPDATED]

    So Hirata, Ireneusz Grabowski, Rodney J. Bartlett
     

    Using a general-order many-body Green's-function method for molecules, we numerically illustrate three pathological behaviors of the Feynman-Dyson diagrammatic perturbation expansion of one-particle many-body Green's functions as electron propagators. First, the perturbation expansion of the frequency-dependent self-energy is nonconvergent at the exact self-energy in many frequency domains. Second, the Dyson equation with an odd-order self-energy has a qualitatively wrong shape and, as a result, most of their satellite roots are complex and nonphysical. Third, the Dyson equation with an even-order self-energy has an exponentially increasing number of roots as the perturbation order is raised, which quickly exceeds the correct number of roots. Infinite partial summation of diagrams by vertex or edge modification exacerbates these problems. Not only does the nonconvergence render higher-order perturbation theories useless for satellite roots, but it also calls into question the validity of their combined use with the ans\"{a}tze requiring the knowledge of all poles and residues. Such ans\"{a}tze include the Galitskii-Migdal identity, self-consistent Green's-function methods, Luttinger-Ward functional, and some models of the algebraic diagrammatic construction.

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