Tuesdays 10:30 - 11:30 | Fridays 11:30 - 12:30
Showing votes from 2024-01-12 12:30 to 2024-01-16 11:30 | Next meeting is Friday Oct 25th, 11:30 am.
We use the integrated Sachs-Wolfe (ISW) effect, by now detectable at $\sim 5\sigma$ within the context of $\Lambda{}$CDM cosmologies, to place strong constraints on dynamical dark energy theories. Working within an effective field theory framework for dark energy we find that including ISW constraints from galaxy-CMB cross-correlations significantly strengthens existing large-scale structure constraints, yielding bounds consistent with $\Lambda{}$CDM and approximately reducing the viable parameter space by $\sim 70\%$. This is a direct consequence of ${\cal O}(1)$ changes induced in these cross-correlations by otherwise viable dark energy models, which we discuss in detail. We compute constraints by adapting the $\Lambda{}$CDM ISW likelihood from [1] for dynamical dark energy models using galaxy data from 2MASS, WISE $\times$ SuperCOSMOS, SDSS-DR12, QSOs and NVSS, CMB data from Planck 18, and BAO and RSD large scale structure measurements from BOSS and 6dF. We show constraints both in terms of EFT-inspired $\alpha_i$ and phenomenological $\mu/\Sigma$ parametrisations. Furthermore we discuss the approximations involved and related aspects of bias modelling in detail and highlight what these constraints imply for the underlying dark energy theories.
This study investigates the formation of primordial black holes (PBHs) resulting from extremely large amplitudes of initial fluctuations in a radiation-dominated universe. We find that, for a sufficiently large initial amplitude, the configuration of trapping horizons shows characteristic structure due to the existence of bifurcating trapping horizons. We call this structure of the trapping horizons ``Type II PBH'', while the structure without a bifurcating trapping horizon ``Type I PBH'', which is typically generated from a relatively small amplitude of the initial fluctuation. In Ref.[1], in the dust-dominated universe, the Type II PBH can be realized by the Type II initial fluctuation, which is characterized by a non-monotonic areal radius as a function of the radial coordinate (throat structure) in contrast with the standard case with a monotonic areal radius (Type I fluctuation). Our research reveals that a type II fluctuation does not necessarily result in a type II PBH in the case of the radiation fluid. We also find that for the initial amplitude well above the threshold value, the resulting PBH mass may either increase or decrease with the initial amplitude depending on its specific profile rather than its fluctuation type.
Brane world models have shown to be promising to understand the late cosmic acceleration, in particular because such acceleration can be naturally derived, mimicking the dark energy behaviour just with a five dimensional geometry. In this paper we present a strong lensing joint analysis using a compilation of early-type galaxies acting as a lenses, united with the power of the well studied strong lensing galaxy cluster Abell\,1689. We use the strong lensing constraints to investigate a brane model with variable brane tension as a function of the redshift. In our joint analysis we found a value $n = 7.8^{+0.9}_{-0.5}$, for the exponent related to the brane tension, showing that $n$ deviates from a Cosmological Constant (CC) scenario (n=6). We obtain a value for the deceleration parameter, $q(z)$ today, $q(0)=-1.2^{+0.6}_{-0.8}$, and a transition redshift, $z_t=0.60\pm0.06$ (when the Universe change from an decelerated phase to an accelerated one). These results are in contrast with previous work that favors CC scenario, nevertheless our lensing analysis is in agreement with a formerly reported conclusion suggesting that the variable brane tension model is able to source a late cosmic acceleration without an extra fluid as in the standard one.
Gravitational microlensing of gravitational waves (GWs) opens up the exciting possibility of studying the spacetime geometry around the lens. In this work, we investigate the prospects of constraining the `charged' hair of a black hole (BH) from the observation of a GW signal microlensed by the BH. The charge can have electromagnetic or modified gravity origin. We compute the analytic form of the lensing potential with charge and construct the lensed waveforms for a range of BH mass, charge and impact parameters, assuming non-spinning BHs. Using an approximate likelihood function, we explore how future observations of microlensed GWs can constrain the charge of the BH lens. We find that positive values of the charge parameter (that can be of electromagnetic or modified gravity origin) can be tightly constrained using lensed GW signals, while the constraints on negative values of the charge parameter (modified gravity origin) are modest.
We show that energetic considerations enforce a Hopf fibration of the Standard Model topology within the 2HDM whose potential has either an $SO(3)$ or $U(1)$ Higgs-family symmetry. This can lead to monopole and vortex solutions. We find these solutions, characterise their basic properties and demonstrate the nature of the fibration along with the connection to Nambu's monopole solution. We point out that breaking of the $U(1)_{\rm EM}$ in the core of the defect can be a feature which leads to a non-zero photon mass there.
Effect of the electroweak non-conservation of the baryon number could be a key ingredient to explain the ratio of dark and baryonic densities. If dark matter is explained by dark atoms, in which stable -2n charged particles are bound with n nuclei of primordial helium, and this multiple charged particles possess SU(2) electroweak charges, the excess of -2n charged particles over their antiparticles can be related to baryon excess by sphaleron transitions. It provides relationship between the density of asymmetric dark atom dark matter and baryon asymmetry, The cosmological consequences of sphaleron transitions were considered for the minimal walking technicolor (WTC) model, which provides composite Higgs boson solution for the problem of Higgs boson mass divergence in the Standard model. The realisation of multi-component dark atom scenario is possible because the electric charges of new fermions are not fixed and several types of stable multiple charged states are possible. In particular cases the upper limits for the masses of techniparticles could be found, at which dark atom interpretation of dark matter is possible. These limits challenge search for multiple charged stable particles at the LHC.
We consider a theory in which a real scalar field is Yukawa-coupled to a fermion and has a potential with two non-degenerate vacua. If the coupling is sufficiently strong, a collection of N fermions deforms the true vacuum state, creating energetically-favored false-vacuum pockets in which fermions are trapped. We embed this model within General Relativity and prove that it admits self-gravitating compact objects where the scalar field acquires a non-trivial profile due to non-perturbative effects. We discuss some applications of this general mechanism: i) neutron soliton stars in low-energy effective QCD, which naturally happen to have masses around 2 solar masses and radii around 10 km even without neutron interactions; ii) Higgs false-vacuum pockets in and beyond the Standard Model; iii) dark soliton stars in models with a dark sector. In the latter two examples, we find compelling solutions naturally describing centimeter-size compact objects with masses around 10^-6 solar masses, intriguingly in a range compatible with the OGLE+HSC microlensing anomaly. Besides these interesting examples, the mechanism of non-perturbative vacuum scalarization may play a role in various contexts in and beyond the Standard Model, providing a support mechanism for new compact objects that can form in the early universe, can collapse into primordial black holes through accretion past their maximum mass, and serve as dark matter candidates.
The standard model of cosmology is based on the hypothesis that the Universe is spatially homogeneous and isotropic. When interpreting most observations, this cosmological principle is applied stricto sensu: the light emitted by distant sources is assumed to propagate through a Friedmann-Lema\^itre spacetime. The main goal of the present thesis was to evaluate how reliable this assumption is, especially when small scales are at stake. After having reviewed the laws of geometric optics in curved spacetime, and the standard interpretation of cosmological observables, the dissertation reports a comprehensive analysis of light propagation in Swiss-cheese models, designed to capture the clumpy character of the Universe. The resulting impact on the interpretation of the Hubble diagram is quantified, and shown to be relatively small, thanks to the cosmological constant. When applied to current supernova data, the associated corrections tend however to improve the agreement between the cosmological parameters inferred from the Hubble diagram and from the cosmic microwave background. This is a hint that the effect of small-scale structures on light propagation may become non-negligible in the era of precision cosmology. This motivated the development of a new theoretical framework, based on stochastic processes, which aims at describing small-scale gravitational lensing with a better accuracy. Regarding the isotropy side of the cosmological principle, this dissertation addresses, on the one hand, the potential effect of a large-scale anisotropy on light propagation, by solving all the equations of geometric optics in the Bianchi I spacetime. On the other hand, possible sources of such an anisotropy, namely scalar-vector models for inflation or dark energy, are analysed. Most of them turn out to be excluded as physically viable theories.
We study dark energy cosmological models, extensions of the standard model of particles, characterized by having an extra relativistic energy density at very early times, and that rapidly dilute after a phase transition occurs. These models generate well localized features (or bumps) in the matter power spectrum for modes crossing the horizon around and before the phase transition epoch. This is because the presence of the additional energy component enhances the growth of matter fluctuations during the radiation dominated epoch. Instead of considering a particular model, we focus on a parametric family of Gaussian bumps in the matter power spectrum, which otherwise would be a $\Lambda$CDM one. We study the evolution of such bump cosmologies and their effects in the halo mass function and halo power spectrum using N-body simulations, the halo-model based HMcode method, and the peak background split framework. The bumps are subject to different nonlinear effects that become physically well understood, and from them we are able to predict that the most distinctive features will show up for intermediate halo masses $10^{12.3} \,h^{-1}M_{\odot} < M < 10^{13.6} \,h^{-1}M_{\odot}$. Out of this range, we expect halos are not significantly affected regardless of the location of the primordial bump in the matter power spectrum. Our analytical results are accurate and in very satisfactory agreement with the simulated data.
The NANOGrav Collaboration has recently announced evidence for nHz gravitational waves (GWs), in the form of a Hellings-Downs angular correlation in the common-spectrum process that had been observed previously by them and other Pulsar Timing Arrays (PTAs). We analyze the possibility that these GWs originate from binary supermassive black holes (SMBHs) with total masses $\gtrsim 10^9\, M_{\odot}$. The spectral index of the GW signal differs at 95 % CL from that predicted for binary evolution by GW emission alone, and we find $> 3 \sigma$ evidence that environmental effects such as dynamical friction with gas, stars, and dark matter may be affecting the binary evolution. We estimate the required magnitude and spectrum of such environmental effects and comment on their possible implications for measurements of GWs at higher frequencies.
The last few years have seen the development of a promising theoretical framework for statistics of the cosmic large-scale structure -- the theory of large deviations (LDT) for modelling weak-lensing one-point statistics in the mildly non-linear regime. The goal of this series of papers is to make the leap and lay out the steps to perform an actual data analysis with this theoretical tool. Building upon the LDT framework, in this work (Paper I) we demonstrate how to accurately model the Probability Distribution Function (PDF) of a reconstructed Kaiser-Squires convergence field under a realistic mask, that of the third data release of the Dark Energy Survey (DES). We also present how weak lensing systematics and higher-order lensing corrections due to intrinsic alignments, shear biases, photo-$z$ errors and baryonic feedback can be incorporated in the modelling of the reconstructed convergence PDF. In an upcoming work (Paper II) we will then demonstrate the robustness of our modelling through simulated likelihood analyses, the final step required before applying our method to actual data.
We determine the efficacy of the kinematic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich signal extraction pipeline, using pairwise kSZ measurements, in recovering unbiased estimates of the signal and inference of the associated optical depth. We consider the impact of cluster co-alignments along the line of sight, the modeling of baryonic clustering, and the presence of diffuse gas, as well as instrument beam convolution and noise. We demonstrate that two complementary approaches, aperture photometry, and a matched filter, can be used to recover an unbiased estimate of the cluster kSZ signal and the associated optical depth. Aperture photometry requires a correction factor accounting for the subtraction of signal in the annulus while the matched filter requires a tuning of the signal template profile. We show that both of these can be calibrated from simulated survey data. The optical depth estimates are also consistent with those inferred from stacked thermal SZ measurements. We apply the approaches to the publicly available Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) data. The techniques developed here provide a promising method to leverage upcoming kSZ measurements, from ACT, Simons Observatory, CCAT, and CMB-S4 with spectroscopic galaxy surveys from DESI, Euclid, and Roman, to constrain cosmological properties of the dark energy, gravity, and neutrino masses.
We present a study of the evolution of cosmic filaments across redshift with an emphasis on some important properties: filament lengths, growth rates, and radial profiles of galaxy densities. Following an observation-driven approach, we build cosmic filament catalogues at z=0,1,2,3, and 4 from the galaxy distributions of the large hydro-dynamical run of the MilleniumTNG project. We employ the extensively used DisPerSE cosmic web finder code, for which we provide a user-friendly guide, including the details of a physics-driven calibration procedure, with the hope of helping future users. We perform the first statistical measurements of the evolution of connectivity in a large-scale simulation, finding that the connectivity of cosmic nodes (defined as the number of filaments attached) globally decreases from early to late times. The study of cosmic filaments in proper coordinates reveals that filaments grow in length and radial extent, as expected from large-scale structures in an expanding Universe. But the most interesting results arise once the Hubble flow is factored out. We find remarkably stable comoving filament length functions and over-density profiles, showing only little evolution of the total population of filaments in the past ~12.25 Gyrs. However, by tracking the spatial evolution of individual structures, we demonstrate that filaments of different lengths actually follow different evolutionary paths. While short filaments preferentially contract, long filaments expand along their longitudinal direction with growth rates that are the highest in the early, matter-dominated Universe. Filament diversity at fixed redshift is also shown by the different (~$5 \sigma$) density values between the shortest and longest filaments. Our results hint that cosmic filaments can be used as additional probes for dark energy, but further theoretical work is still needed.
A sub-component of dark matter with a short collision length compared to a planetary size leads to efficient accumulation of dark matter in astrophysical bodies. We analyze possible neutrino signals from the annihilation of such dark matter and conclude that in the optically thick regime for dark matter capture, the Earth provides the largest neutrino flux. Using the results of the existing searches, we consider two scenarios for the neutrino flux, from stopped mesons and prompt higher-energy neutrinos. In both cases we exclude some previously unexplored parts of the parameter space (dark matter mass, its abundance, and the scattering cross section on nuclei) by recasting the existing neutrino searches.
Strong gravitational lensing can be used to find otherwise invisible dark matter subhaloes. In such an analysis, the lens galaxy mass model is a significant source of systematic uncertainty. In this paper we analyse the effect of angular complexity in the lens model. We use multipole perturbations which introduce low-order deviations from pure ellipticity in the isodensity contours, keeping the radial density profile fixed. We find that, in HST-like data, multipole perturbations consistent with those seen in galaxy isophotes are very effective at causing false positive substructure detections. We show that the effectiveness of this degeneracy depends on the deviation from a pure ellipse and the lensing configuration. We find that, when multipoles of one per cent are allowed in the lens model, the area in the observation where a subhalo could be detected drops by a factor of three. Sensitivity away from the lensed images is mostly lost. However, the mass limit of detectable objects on or close to the lensed images does not change. We do not expect the addition of multipole perturbations to lens models to have a significant effect on the ability of strong lensing to constrain the underlying dark matter model. However, given the high rate of false positive detections, angular complexity beyond the elliptical power-law should be included for such studies to be reliable. We discuss implications for previous detections and future work.
Prompt $\rho\propto r^{-1.5}$ density cusps are the densest and most abundant dark matter systems. If the dark matter is a weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP), recent studies have shown that prompt cusps dominate the aggregate dark matter annihilation rate. This article explores whether individual prompt cusps could be detected as gamma-ray sources. At the Fermi telescope's point-source sensitivity, WIMPs with the canonical annihilation cross section could form detectable prompt cusps if the particle mass is of order 10 GeV. These objects could be 10-100 pc away and weigh under a solar mass; they would subtend around 0.1 degrees on the sky. For GeV-scale dark matter particles with below-canonical cross sections, searches for individual prompt cusps can be more sensitive than searches for the annihilation signals from galactic dark matter halos.
The axion is a long-postulated boson that can simultaneously solve two fundamental problems of modern physics: the charge-parity symmetry problem in the strong interaction and the enigma of dark matter. In this work we estimate, by means of Monte Carlo simulations, the sensitivity of the Dark-photons$\&$Axion-Like particles Interferometer (DALI), a new-generation Fabry-P\'erot haloscope proposed to probe axion dark matter in the 25-250 $\mu$eV band.
The low energy effective action of quantum gravity may include the higher curvature terms such as the Gauss-Bonnet term. The inflaton dynamics may be affected by the Gauss-Bonnet term if there is an inflaton-Gauss-Bonnet coupling. We show that an inflation model with a simple power law potential is made viable if it is coupled to the Gauss-Bonnet term since the prediction on the scalar spectral index and the tensor-to-scalar ratio are modified. We further point out that such a model predicts huge amount of gravitational waves at the high frequency range around 100GHz--100THz through the perturbative inflaton decay into gravitons induced by the Gauss-Bonnet term. Thus the spectrum of high frequency gravitational background is a unique feature of the inflation models with a Gauss-Bonnet correction.
The detectability of the gravitational-wave signal from $r$-modes depends on the interplay between the amplification of the mode by the CFS instability and its damping due to dissipative mechanisms present in the stellar matter. The instability window of $r$-modes describes the region of stellar parameters (angular velocity, $\Omega$, and redshifted stellar temperature, $T^\infty$), for which the mode is unstable. In this study, we reexamine this problem in nonbarotropic neutron stars, taking into account the previously overlooked nonanalytic behavior (in $\Omega$) of relativistic $r$-modes and enhanced energy dissipation resulting from diffusion in superconducting stellar matter. We demonstrate that at slow rotation rates, relativistic $r$-modes exhibit weaker amplification by the CFS instability compared to Newtonian ones. However, their dissipation through viscosity and diffusion is significantly more efficient. In rapidly rotating neutron stars within the framework of general relativity, the amplification of $r$-modes by the CFS mechanism and their damping due to shear viscosity become comparable to those predicted by Newtonian theory. In contrast, the relativistic damping of the mode by diffusion and bulk viscosity remains significantly stronger than in the nonrelativistic case. Consequently, account for diffusion and general relativity leads to a substantial modification of the $r$-mode instability window compared to the Newtonian prediction. This finding is important for the interpretation of observations of rotating neutron stars, as well as for overall understanding of $r$-mode physics.
AMS-02 on board the ISS provides precise measurements of Cosmic Rays (CR) near Earth, while Voyager measures CR in the local interstellar medium, beyond the effects of solar modulation. Based on these data, we test and revise various CR propagation scenarios under standard assumptions: pure diffusion, diffusion with convection, diffusion with reacceleration, and diffusion with reacceleration and convection. We report on the scenarios' performance against CR measurements, aiming to limit the number of model parameters as much as possible. For each scenario we find parameters that are able to reproduce Voyager and AMS-02 data for the entire energy band for all the CR species tested. Above several GV we observe a similar injection spectral index for He and C, with He harder than H. Some scenarios previously disfavored are now reconsidered. For example, contrary to usual assumptions, we find that the pure diffusion scenario does not need an upturn in the diffusion coefficient at low energy, while it needs the same number of low-energy breaks in the injection spectrum as diffusive-reacceleration scenarios. We show that scenarios differ in modeled spectra of one order of magnitude for positrons at around 1 GeV and of a factor of 2 for antiprotons at several GV. The force-field approximation describes well the AMS-02 and Voyager spectra analyzed, except antiprotons. We confirm the excess around 10 GeV in the antiproton spectrum for all scenarios. Also, for all scenarios, the resulting solar modulation should be stronger for positrons than for nuclei, with reacceleration models requiring much larger modulation.
Current generation of ground based gamma-ray telescopes observed dozens of sources of photons above 100 TeV. Supernova remnants, pulsar wind nebulae, young stellar clusters and superbubbles are considered as possible sites of PeV-regime particles producing the radiation. Another possible source of PeV particles could be gamma-ray binary systems. In these systems, a strong relativistic outflow from a compact object (neutron star or black hole) collides with the dense wind from a massive companion early-type star. Gamma-ray binaries are observed from radio to high energy gamma-rays as luminous non-thermal sources. Apart from acceleration of very high energy leptons producing most of the non-thermal radiation, these systems may also efficiently accelerate protons. We present here the results of numerical simulation of the PeV-regime proton acceleration in gamma-ray binaries. The simulation is based on relativistic MHD modeling of local flows of magnetized plasma in the region of interaction of two colliding winds. We then inject 0.1 PeV protons into the system and directly follow their trajectories to demonstrate that they are accelerated to energies above PeV. High magnetization of the wind of the young massive star providing a Gauss range field in the winds interaction region is of paramount importance for the acceleration of protons above PeV. The maximum energies of protons accelerated by colliding winds in gamma ray binaries can significantly exceed the energy of the pulsar potential's drop, which limits from above the energy of particles accelerated by an isolated pulsar.
Aims. We introduce the TELAMON program which is using the Effelsberg 100-m telescope to monitor the radio spectra of active galactic nuclei (AGN) under scrutiny in astroparticle physics, specifically TeV blazars and candidate neutrino-associated AGN. Here, we present and characterize our main sample of TeV-detected blazars. Methods. We analyze the data sample from the first ~2.5 years of observations between August 2020 and February 2023 in the range from 14 GHz to 45 GHz. During this pilot phase, we have observed all 59 TeV-detected blazars in the Northern Hemisphere (i.e., Dec. >0{\deg}) known at the time of observation. We discuss the basic data reduction and calibration procedures used for all TELAMON data and introduce a sub-band averaging method used to calculate average light curves for the sources in our sample. Results. The TeV-selected sources in our sample exhibit a median flux density of 0.12 Jy at 20 mm, 0.20 Jy at 14 mm and 0.60 Jy at 7 mm. The spectrum for most of the sources is consistent with a flat radio spectrum and we find a median spectral index ($S(\nu)\propto\nu^\alpha$) of $\alpha=-0.11$. Our results on flux density and spectral index are consistent with previous studies of TeV-selected blazars. Compared to the GeV-selected F-GAMMA sample, TELAMON sources are significantly fainter in the radio band. This is consistent with the double-humped spectrum of blazars being shifted towards higher frequencies for TeV-emitters (in particular for high-synchrotron peaked BL Lac type objects), which results in a lower radio flux density. The spectral index distribution of our TeV-selected blazar sample is not significantly different from the GeV-selected F-GAMMA sample. Moreover, we present a strategy to track the light curve evolution of sources in our sample for future variability and correlation analysis.
The blazar $TXS~0506+056$ has been proposed as a high-energy neutrino emitter. However, it has been shown that the standard one-zone model cannot produce sufficiently high neutrino flux due to constraints from the X-ray data, implying more complex properties of the radiation zones in the blazar than that described by the standard one-zone model. In this work we investigate multi-epoch high-energy muon neutrino events associated with the blazar $TXS~0506+056$ occured in 2014-2015, 2017-2018, 2021-2022 and 2022-2023, respectively. We applied the so-called ``stochastic dissipation model'' to account for the neutrino-blazar associations detected in the four epochs simultaenously. This model describes a scenario in which the emission of the blazar arise from the superimposition of two components: a persistent component related to the quasi-stable state of the blazar and a transient component responsible for the sudden enhancement of the blazar's flux, either in electromagnetic radiation or in neutrino emission. The latter component could form at a random distance along the jet by a strong energy dissipation event. Under such assumption, the multi-epoch broadband spectral energy distribution (SED) can be well explained and the expected number of high-energy neutrino events is statistically realistic. The expected number of neutrino events in half-year is around 8.2, 0.07, 0.73 and 0.41, corresponding to the epoch in 2014-2015, 2017-2018, 2021-2022 and 2022-2023, respectively. Hence, our model self-consistently explains the episodic neutrino emission from $TXS~0506+056$.
Spectral fitting of X-ray data usually involves minimizing statistics like the chi-square and the Cash statistic. Here we discuss their limitations and introduce two measures based on the cumulative sum (CuSum) of model residuals to evaluate whether model complexity could be increased: the percentage of bins exceeding a nominal threshold in a CuSum array (pct$_{CuSum}$), and the excess area under the CuSum compared to the nominal (p$_\textit{area}$). We demonstrate their use with an application to a $\textit{Chandra}$ ACIS spectral fit.
We investigate gravitational waves in the $f(Q)$ gravity, i.e., a geometric theory of gravity described by a non-metric compatible connection, free from torsion and curvature, known as symmetric-teleparallel gravity. We show that $f(Q)$ gravity exhibits only two massless and tensor modes. Their polarizations are transverse with helicity equal to two, exactly reproducing the plus and cross tensor modes typical of General Relativity. In order to analyze these gravitational waves, we first obtain the deviation equation of two trajectories followed by nearby freely falling point-like particles and we find it to coincide with the geodesic deviation of General Relativity. This is because the energy-momentum tensor of matter and field equations are Levi-Civita covariantly conserved and, therefore, free structure-less particles follow, also in $f(Q)$ gravity, the General Relativity geodesics. Equivalently, it is possible to show that the curves are solutions of a force equation, where an extra force term of geometric origin, due to non-metricity, modifies the autoparallel curves with respect to the non-metric connection. In summary, gravitational waves produced in non-metricity-based $f(Q)$ gravity behave as those in torsion-based $f(T)$ gravity and it is not possible to distinguish them from those of General Relativity only by wave polarization measurements. This shows that the situation is different with respect to the curvature-based $f(R)$ gravity where an additional scalar mode is always present for $f(R)\neq R$.
Primordial black holes (PBHs) are a compelling candidate for Dark Matter (DM). There remain significant parameter spaces to be explored despite current astrophysical observations have set strong limits. Utilizing advanced MeV observation instruments, we have statistically established the upper limit of Hawking radiation emitted by PBHs in DM-dense systems, such as galaxy clusters or dwarf galaxies. These results can set a stringent upper limit on the ratio of PBH to DM, expressed as $f_{\rm PBH}$. Our results highlight the efficacy of MeV observations in DM-dense environments. The constraints on $f_{\rm PBH}$ for PBHs in the mass range of $10^{16}-10^{17} ~\rm g$ can be improved significantly compared with the current observations.
The Extreme Universe Space Observatory on a Super Pressure Balloon 1 (EUSO-SPB1) was launched in 2017 April from Wanaka, New Zealand. The plan of this mission of opportunity on a NASA super pressure balloon test flight was to circle the southern hemisphere. The primary scientific goal was to make the first observations of ultra-high-energy cosmic-ray extensive air showers (EASs) by looking down on the atmosphere with an ultraviolet (UV) fluorescence telescope from suborbital altitude (33~km). After 12~days and 4~hours aloft, the flight was terminated prematurely in the Pacific Ocean. Before the flight, the instrument was tested extensively in the West Desert of Utah, USA, with UV point sources and lasers. The test results indicated that the instrument had sensitivity to EASs of approximately 3 EeV. Simulations of the telescope system, telescope on time, and realized flight trajectory predicted an observation of about 1 event assuming clear sky conditions. The effects of high clouds were estimated to reduce this value by approximately a factor of 2. A manual search and a machine-learning-based search did not find any EAS signals in these data. Here we review the EUSO-SPB1 instrument and flight and the EAS search.
Dwarf irregular galaxies (dIrrs), as rotationally-supported systems, have more reliable J-factor measurements than dwarf spheroidal galaxies and have received attention as targets for dark matter detection in recent years. In this paper, we use 10 years of IceCube muon-track data and an unbinned maximum-likelihood-ratio method to search for neutrino signals beyond the background from the directions of 7 dIrrs, aiming to detect neutrinos produced by heavy annihilation dark matter. We do not detect any significant signal. Based on such null results, we calculate the upper limits on the velocity-averaged annihilation cross section for 1 TeV - 10 PeV dark matter. Our limits, although weaker than the strictest constraints in the literature in this mass range, are also a good complement to the existing results considering the more reliable J-factor measurements of dIrrs.
We conduct one-dimensional stellar-evolution simulations of stars with zero age main sequence masses of $M_{ZAMS} = 8.8-9.45 M_\odot$ towards core collapse by electron capture, and find that the convective zone of the pre-collapse core can supply the required stochastic angular momentum fluctuations to set a jet-driven electron capture supernova (ECSN) explosion in the frame of the jittering jets explosion mechanism (JJEM). By our criteria of minimum convective specific angular momentum and an accreted mass during jet-launching of $M_{acc} \simeq 0.001-0.01 M_\odot$, the layer in the convective zone that when accreted launches the exploding jittering jets resides in the helium-rich zone. This exploding layer is accreted at about a minute to a few hours, depending on the model, after core collapse occurs, much shorter than the time the exploding shock crosses the star. The final (gravitational) mass of the neutron star (NS) remnant is in the range of $M_{NS} =1.25-1.43 M_\odot$. Our results add to the growing support of the JJEM as the main explosion mechanism of massive stars.
The realtime program for high-energy neutrino track events detected by the IceCube South Pole Neutrino Observatory releases alerts to the astronomical community with the goal of identifying electromagnetic counterparts to astrophysical neutrinos. Gamma-ray observations from the $Fermi$-Large Area Telescope (LAT) enabled the identification of the flaring gamma-ray blazar TXS 0506+056 as a likely counterpart to the neutrino event IC-170922A. By continuously monitoring the gamma-ray sky, $Fermi$-LAT plays a key role in the identification of candidate counterparts to realtime neutrino alerts. In this paper, we present the $Fermi$-LAT strategy for following up high-energy neutrino alerts applied to seven years of IceCube data. Right after receiving an alert, a search is performed in order to identify gamma-ray activity from known and newly-detected sources that are positionally consistent with the neutrino localization. In this work, we study the population of blazars found in coincidence with high-energy neutrinos and compare them to the full population of gamma-ray blazars detected by $Fermi$-LAT. We also evaluate the relationship between the neutrino and gamma-ray luminosities, finding different trends between the two blazar classes BL Lacs and flat-spectrum radio quasars.
The core shift method is a powerful method to estimate the physical parameters in relativistic jets from active galactic nuclei. The classical approach assumes a conical geometry of a jet and a constant plasma speed. However, recent observations showed that neither may hold close to the central engine, where plasma in a jet is effectively accelerating, and the jet geometry is quasi-parabolic. We modify the classical core shift method to account for these jet properties. We show that the core shift index may assume values in the range 0.8-1.2 or 0.53-0.8 depending on the jet geometry and viewing angle, with the indices close to both values are indeed being observed. We obtain the expressions to estimate jet magnetic field and a total magnetic flux in a jet. We show that the obtained magnetic field value can be easily recalculated down to the gravitational radius scales. For M 87 and NGC 315 these values are in good agreement with the ones obtained by different methods.
The large number of gravitational wave (GW) detections have revealed the properties of the merging black hole binary population, but how such systems are formed is still heavily debated. Understanding the imprint of stellar physics on the observable GW population will shed light on how we can use the gravitational wave data, along with other observations, to constrain the poorly understood evolution of massive binaries. We perform a parameter study on the classical isolated binary formation channel with the population synthesis code SeBa to investigate how sensitive the properties of the coalescing binary black hole population are on the uncertainties related to first phase of mass transfer and stellar winds. We vary five assumptions: 1 and 2) the mass transfer efficiency and the angular momentum loss during the first mass transfer phase, 3) the mass transfer stability criteria for giant donors with radiative envelopes, 4) the effective temperature at which an evolved star develops a deep convective envelope, and 5) the mass loss rates of stellar winds. We find that current uncertainties related to first phase of mass transfer have a huge impact on the relative importance of different dominant channels, while the observable demographics of GW sources are not significantly affected. Our varied parameters have a complex, interrelated effect on the population properties of GW sources. Therefore, inference of massive binary physics from GW data alone remains extremely challenging, given the large uncertainties in our current models.
Neutron-star cores contain matter at the highest densities in our Universe. This highly compressed matter may undergo a phase transition where nuclear matter melts into deconfined quark matter, liberating its constituent quarks and gluons. Quark matter exhibits an approximate conformal symmetry, predicting a specific form for its equation of state (EoS), but it is currently unknown whether the transition takes place inside at least some physical neutron stars. Here, we quantify this likelihood by combining information from astrophysical observations and theoretical calculations. Using Bayesian inference, we demonstrate that in the cores of maximally massive stars, the EoS is consistent with quark matter. We do this by establishing approximate conformal symmetry restoration with high credence at the highest densities probed and demonstrating that the number of active degrees of freedom is consistent with deconfined matter. The remaining likelihood is observed to correspond to EoSs exhibiting phase-transition-like behavior, treated as arbitrarily rapid crossovers in our framework.
Stellar-mass binary black holes (BBHs) embedded in active galactic nucleus (AGN) discs offer a distinct dynamical channel to produce black hole mergers detected in gravitational waves by LIGO/Virgo. To understand their orbital evolution through interactions with the disc gas, we perform a suite of 2D high-resolution, local shearing box, viscous hydrodynamical simulations of equal-mass binaries. We find that viscosity not only smooths the flow structure around prograde circular binaries, but also greatly raises their accretion rates. The torque associated with accretion may be overwhelmingly positive and dominate over the gravitational torque at a high accretion rate. However, the accreted angular momentum per unit mass decreases with increasing viscosity, making it easier to shrink the binary orbit. In addition, retrograde binaries still experience rapid orbital decay, and prograde eccentric binaries still experience eccentricity damping. Our numerical experiments further show that prograde binaries are more likely to be hardened if the physical sizes of the accretors are sufficiently small such that the accretion rate is reduced. The dependency of the binary accretion rate on the accretor size can be weaken through boosted accretion either due to a high viscosity or a more isothermal-like equation of state (EOS). Our results widen the explored parameter space for the hydrodynamics of embedded BBHs and demonstrate that their orbital evolution in AGN discs is a complex, multifaceted problem.
Ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) beyond the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin (GZK) cut-off provide us with a unique opportunity to understand the universe at extreme energies. Secondary GZK photons and GZK neutrinos associated with the same interaction are indeed interconnected and render access to multi-messenger analysis of UHECRs. The GZK photon flux is heavily attenuated due to the interaction with Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) and the Extra-galactic Radio Background (ERB). The present estimate of the ERB comprising of several model uncertainties together with the ARCADE2 radio results in large propagation uncertainties in the GZK photon flux. On the other hand, the weakly interacting GZK neutrino flux is unaffected by these propagation effects. In this work, we make an updated estimate of the GZK photon and GZK neutrino fluxes considering a wide variation of both the production and propagation properties of the UHECR like, the spectral index, the cut-off energy of the primary spectrum, the distribution of sources and the uncertainties in the ERB estimation. We explore the detection prospects of the GZK fluxes with various present and upcoming UHECR and UHE neutrino detectors such as Auger, TA, GRAND, ANITA, ARA, IceCube and IceCube-Gen2. The predicted fluxes are found to be beyond the reach of the current detectors. In future, proposed IceCube-Gen2, Auger upgrade and GRAND experiments will have the sensitivity to the predicted GZK photon and GZK neutrino fluxes. Such detection can put constraints on the UHECR source properties and the propagation effects due to the ERB. We also propose an indirect limit on the GZK photon flux using the neutrino-photon connection for any future detection of GZK neutrinos by the IceCube-Gen2 detector. We find this limit to be consistent with our GZK flux predictions.
The development of techniques to measure accurately black hole spins is crucial to study the physics and astrophysics of these objects. X-ray reflection spectroscopy is currently the most popular method to estimate the spins of accreting black holes; so far it has provided a spin measurement of about 40 stellar-mass black holes in X-ray binaries and 40 supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei. The relativistic precession model (RPM) is another method to measure the spins of stellar-mass black holes: it requires the measurement of the frequencies of three simultaneous quasi-periodic oscillations and can potentially provide precise estimates of the black hole mass and spin. However, the two methods do not seem to provide consistent results when applied to the same sources, which questions the reliability and accuracy of these measurements. Recently, the RPM has been applied to infer the spin of the black hole in XTE J1859+226. The authors found $a_* = 0.149 \pm 0.005$ (68% CL). There are no other spin measurements of this source. We looked for archived RXTE observations of XTE J1859+226 with blurred reflection features and found 23 spectra suitable for measuring the spin. We employed two different models with relxill and relxillD and obtained a higher spin value from all these fits. From simultaneous fitting of 7 spectra of higher quality, we found $a_* = 0.986^{+0.001}_{-0.004}$ and $a_* =0.987 \pm 0.003$ (90% CL, statistical) with relxill and relxillD, respectively. Our results confirm the discrepancy between the spin measurements inferred from the two techniques.
Recently, the pulsar timing array (PTA) collaborations, including CPTA, EPTA, NANOGrav, and PPTA, announced that they detected a stochastic gravitational wave background spectrum in the nHz band. This may be relevant to the cosmological phase transition suggested by some models. Magnetic monopoles and primordial black holes (PBHs), two unsolved mysteries in the universe, may also have their production related to the cosmological phase transition. Inspired by that, we revisit the model proposed by Stojkovic and Freese, which involves PBHs accretion to solve the cosmological magnetic monopole problem. We further develop it by considering the increase in the mass of the PBHs during accretion and taking the effect of Hawking radiation into account. With these new considerations, we find that solutions to the problem still exist within a certain parameter space. In {addition}, we also generalize the analysis to PBHs with {an} extended distribution in mass. This may be a more interesting scenario because PBHs that have accreted magnetic monopoles might produce observable electromagnetic signals if they are massive enough to survive in the late universe.
We present a 368 ks deep Chandra observation of Abell~1240, a binary merging galaxy cluster at a redshift of 0.195 with two Brightest Cluster Galaxies (BCGs) may have passed each other 0.3 Gyr ago. Building upon previous investigations involving GMRT, VLA, and LOFAR data, our study focuses on two prominent extended radio relics at the north-west (NW) and south-east (SE) of the cluster core. By leveraging the high-resolution Chandra imaging, we have identified two distinct surface brightness edges at $\sim$ 1 Mpc and 1.2 Mpc NW and SE of the cluster center, respectively, coinciding with the outer edges of both relics. Our temperature measurements hint the edges to be shock front edges. The Mach numbers, derived from the gas density jumps, yield $\cal{M}_{\rm SE}$ = 1.49$^{+0.22}_{-0.24}$ for the South Eastern shock and $\cal{M}_{\rm NW}$ = 1.41$^{+0.17}_{-0.19}$ for the North Western shock. Our estimated Mach numbers are remarkably smaller compared to those derived from radio observations ($\cal{M}_{\rm SE}$ = 2.3 and $\cal{M}_{\rm NW}$ = 2.4), highlighting the prevalence of a re-acceleration scenario over direct acceleration of electrons from the thermal pool. Furthermore, we compare the observed temperature profiles across both shocks with that of predictions from collisional vs. collisionless models. Both shocks favor the Coulomb collisional model, but we could not rule out a purely collisionless model due to pre-shock temperature uncertainties.
Differential equations of the form $\ddot R=-kR^\gamma$, with a positive constant $k$ and real parameter $\gamma$, are fundamental in describing phenomena such as the spherical gravitational collapse ($\gamma=-2$), the implosion of cavitation bubbles ($\gamma=-4$) and the orbital decay in binary black holes ($\gamma=-7$). While explicit elemental solutions exist for select integer values of $\gamma$, more comprehensive solutions encompassing larger subsets of $\gamma$ have been independently developed in hydrostatics (see Lane-Emden equation) and hydrodynamics (see Rayleigh-Plesset equation). This paper introduces a general explicit solution for all real $\gamma$, employing the quantile function of the beta distribution, readily available in most modern programming languages. This solution bridges between distinct fields and reveals insights, such as a critical branch point at $\gamma=-1$, thereby enhancing our understanding of these pervasive differential equations.
The Generalized Uncertainty Principle (GUP) is motivated by the premise that spacetime fluctuations near the Planck scale impose a lower bound on the achievable resolution of distances, leading to a minimum length. Inspired by a semiclassical method that integrates the GUP into the partition function by deforming its phase space, we induce a modification on the thermodynamic quantities of the MIT bag model that we propose serves as an effective semiclassical description of deconfined quark matter in a space with minimal length. We investigate the consequences of this deformation on the zero-temperature limit, revealing a saturation limit for the energy density, pressure and baryon number density and an overall decrease of the thermodynamic quantities which suggests an enhanced stability against gravitational collapse. These findings extend existing research on GUP-deformed Fermi gases. Ultimately, our description introduces effects of quantum gravity in the equations of state for compact stars in a mathematically simple manner, suggesting potential for extension to more complex systems.
We present the latest version of the GAEA model of galaxy formation. Our new model combines (i) an updated treatment of AGN feedback including an improved modelling of cold gas accretion on super-massive BHs and an explicit implementation of quasar winds; and (ii) an improved modelling of cold and hot gas stripping from satellite galaxies. We show that our latest model predicts specific SFR distributions that are in remarkable agreement with observational measurements in the local Universe. Our updated model predicts quenched fractions that are in very nice agreement with data up to z~3-4, and a turn-over of the number densities of quenched galaxies at low stellar masses that is in qualitative agreement with current observational estimates. We show that the main reasons for the improved behaviour with respect to previous renditions of our model are the updated treatment for satellites at low galaxy masses (<10^10 Msun) and the inclusion of quasar winds at intermediate to large stellar masses (>10^10 Msun). However, we show that the better treatment of the star formation threshold, due to our explicit partitioning of the cold gas in its atomic and molecular components, also plays an important role in suppressing excessive residual star formation in massive galaxies. While our analysis is based on a selection of quiescent galaxies that takes advantage of the information about their SFR, we demonstrate that the impact of a different (colour-colour) selection is not significant, at least for galaxies above the completeness limits of current surveys. Our new model predicts number densities of massive quiescent galaxies at z>3 that are the largest among recently published models. Yet, our model predictions appear still to be below post-JWST observational measurements. We show that the expected cosmic variance is large, and can easily accommodate some of the most recent measurements.
We performed synthetic observations of the Ulrich, Cassen, and Moosman (UCM) model to understand the relation between the physical structures of the infalling envelope around a protostar and their observational features in molecular lines, adopting L1527 as an example. We also compared the physical structure and synthetic position-velocity (P-V) diagrams of the UCM model and a simple ballistic (SB) model. There are multiple ways to compare synthetic data with observational data. We first calculated the correlation coefficient. The UCM model and the SB model show similarly good correlation with the observational data. While the correlation reflects the overall similarity between the cube datasets, we can alternatively compare specific local features, such as the centrifugal barrier in the SB model or the centrifugal radius in the UCM model. We evaluated systematic uncertainties in these methods. In the case of L1527, the stellar mass values estimated using these methods are all lower than the value derived from previous Keplerian analysis of the disk. This may indicate that the gas infall motion in the envelope is retarded by, e.g., magnetic fields. We also showed analytically that, in the UCM model, the spin-up feature of the P-V diagram is due to the infall velocity rather than the rotation. The line-of-sight velocity $V$ is thus $\propto x^{-0.5}$, where $x$ is the offset. If the infall is retarded, rotational velocity should dominate so that $V$ is proportional to $x^{-1}$, as is often observed in the protostellar envelope.
A dust nucleating agent may be present in interstellar or circumstellar media that has gone seemingly undetected and unstudied for decades. Some analyses of the Murchison CM2 meteorite suggest that at least some of the aluminum present within condensed as aluminum nitrides instead of the long studied, but heretofore undetected suite of aluminum oxides. The present theoretical study utilizes explicitly correlated coupled cluster theory and density functional theory to provide a pathway of formation from alane (AlH$_3$) and ammonia to the cyclic structure, Al$_2$N$_2$H$_4$ which has the proper Al/N ratio expected of bulk aluminum nitrides. Novel rovibrational spectroscopic constants are computed for alane and the first two formed structures, AlNH$_6$ and AlNH$_4$, along the reaction pathway for use as reference in possible laboratory or observational studies. The $\nu_8$ bending frequency for AlNH$_6$ at 755.7 cm$^{-1}$ (13.23 $\mu$m) presents a vibrational transition intensity of 515 km mol$^{-1}$, slightly more intense than the anti-symmetric C$-$O stretch of carbon dioxide, and contains a dipole moment of 5.40 D, which is $\sim 3 \times$ larger than that of water. Thus, the present reaction pathway and rovibrational spectroscopic analysis may potentially assist in the astrophysical detection of novel, inorganic species which may be indicative of larger dust grain nucleation.
We present emission maps (1.5'$\times$1.5' scale, corresponding to 0.18 pc) of the DCN ($J=2-1$) and DCO$^+$ ($J=2-1$) lines in the 2 mm band toward the Orion KL region obtained with the 2 mm receiver system named B4R installed on the Large Millimeter Telescope (LMT). The DCN emission shows a peak at the Orion KL hot core position, whereas no DCO$^+$ emission has been detected there. The DCO$^+$ emission shows enhancement at the west side of the hot core, which is well shielded from the UV radiation from OB massive stars in the Trapezium cluster. We have derived the abundance ratio of DCN/DCO$^+$ at three representative positions where both species have been detected. The gas components with $V_{\rm {LSR}} \approx 7.5-8.7$ km/s are associated with low abundance ratios of $\sim4-6$, whereas much higher abundance ratios ($\sim22-30$) are derived for the gas components with $V_{\rm {LSR}} \approx 9.2-11.6$ km/s. We have compared the observed abundance ratio to our chemical models and found that the observed differences in the DCN/DCO$^+$ abundance ratios are explained by different densities.
We introduce our new cosmological simulation dataset CROCODILE, executed using the GADGET4-Osaka smoothed particle hydrodynamics code. This simulation incorporates an updated supernova (SN) feedback model of Oku et al. (2022) and an active galactic nuclei (AGN) feedback model. A key innovation in our SN feedback model is the integration of a metallicity- and redshift-dependent, top-heavy IMF, which enables a higher energy injection rate per unit stellar mass formed at high redshift. The CROCODILE dataset is comprehensive, encompassing a variety of runs with diverse feedback parameters. This allows for an in-depth exploration of the relative impacts of different feedback processes in galactic evolution. Our initial comparisons with observational data -- spanning the galaxy stellar mass function, the star formation main sequence, and the mass-metallicity relation -- show promising agreement, especially for the Fiducial run. These results establish a solid foundation for our future work. We find that the SN feedback is a key driver in the chemical enrichment of the IGM. Additionally, the AGN feedback creates metal-rich, bipolar outflows that extend and enrich the CGM and IGM over a few Mpc scales.
The chemical composition of galaxies offers vital insights into their formation and evolution. A key aspect of this study is the correlation between helium abundance (He/H) and metallicity, which is instrumental in estimating the primordial helium generated by Big Bang nucleosynthesis. We study the chemical enrichment history of low-metallicity galaxies, specifically focusing on extremely metal-poor galaxies (EMPGs) and the first galaxies, using the one-zone model and cosmological hydrodynamic simulations. Our one-zone model, using the Limongi & Chieffi (2018) yield, aligns well with observed high He/H ratios at low metallicities and reproduces Fe/O ratios akin to EMPGs. Conversely, the Nomoto et al. (2013) yield does not fully match the high Fe/O ratios seen in EMPGs. Our cosmological hydrodynamic simulations of the first galaxy successfully replicate the stellar mass and star formation rate of galaxies like GN-z11 but fail to produce metallicity and high He/H at low O/H. This is consistent with the results of the one-zone model, which shows that the slope of the He/H-O/H relation is moderate in young, actively star-forming galaxies, suggesting the importance of using galaxies with similar star formation histories for the fit. These results highlight the need for high-resolution simulations and expanded observational datasets to refine our understanding of early galactic chemical evolution.
The dominant mechanism forming multiple stellar systems in the high-mass regime (M$_\ast \gtrsim $ 8 $M_{\odot}$) remained unknown because direct imaging of multiple protostellar systems at early phases of high-mass star formation is very challenging. High-mass stars are expected to form in clustered environments containing binaries and higher-order multiplicity systems. So far only a few high-mass protobinary systems, and no definitive higher-order multiples, have been detected. Here we report the discovery of one quintuple, one quadruple, one triple and four binary protostellar systems simultaneously forming in a single high-mass protocluster, G333.23--0.06, using Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array high-resolution observations. We present a new example of a group of gravitationally bound binary and higher-order multiples during their early formation phases in a protocluster. This provides the clearest direct measurement of the initial configuration of primordial high-order multiple systems, with implications for the in situ multiplicity and its origin. We find that the binary and higher-order multiple systems, and their parent cores, show no obvious sign of disk-like kinematic structure. We conclude that the observed fragmentation into binary and higher-order multiple systems can be explained by core fragmentation, indicating its crucial role in establishing the multiplicity during high-mass star cluster formation.
We compared the molecular clouds in the western part of SS 433 with near-ultraviolet radiation data obtained from GALEX. Near-ultraviolet radiation is prominently confirmed toward only N4, while no near-ultraviolet radiation is detected toward N1, N2, and N3. The radiative region of near-ultraviolet radiation is nearly the same as the CO-emitting region in N4, and does not extend beyond the jet seen in X-ray radiation. Near-ultraviolet radiation cannot be explained solely by broadband continuous radiation and may originate from line emissions. The intensity of near-ultraviolet radiation exhibits an anti-correlation with that of 13CO(J=3-2) emission. This anti-correlation, along with strong far-infrared radiation in the region with weaker near-ultraviolet radiation intensity compared to its surroundings, suggests that near-ultraviolet radiation originates from behind the molecular cloud, heating up the interstellar dust in N4. Subsequently, the dust in N4 re-radiates in the far-infrared band. In the same region, a high peak T_MB ratio of 12CO(J=3-2)/12CO(J=1-0) of ~0.9, and a high kinetic temperature of T_k ~56 K in the molecular cloud indicate that CO molecules are highly excited, and the molecular cloud is heated through photoelectric heating. This heating results from electrons released due to the photoelectric effect caused by the phenomenon where interstellar dust absorbs near-ultraviolet radiation. In terms of the timescale of near-ultraviolet radiation originating from line emissions, near-ultraviolet radiation towards N4 cannot be explained by the shock of the blast wave from a supernova that created W 50. These findings also suggest that N4 directly interacts with the jet from SS 433. As a result of this direct interaction, near-ultraviolet radiation is emitted from an interacting layer between the jet and N4.
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) observations have been demonstrated to be efficient in detecting globular clusters' (GCs) multiple stellar populations in the low-mass regime of M dwarfs. We present an overview, and first results, of different projects that can be explored by using the JWST observations gathered under the GO2560 for 47 Tucanae, a first program entirely devoted to the investigation of multiple populations in very low mass stars, which includes spectroscopic data for the faintest GC stars for which spectra are available. Our color-magnitude diagram (CMD) shows some substructures for ultracool stars, including gaps. In particular, we observe a minimum in the F322W2 luminosity function, that we tentatively associate with the H-burning limit. We detect stars fainter than this minimum, very likely the brown dwarfs. We corroborate the ubiquity of the multiple populations across different masses, from ~0.1 solar masses up to red giants (~0.8 solar masses). The oxygen range inferred from the M dwarfs, both from the CMD and from the NIRSpec spectra of two M dwarfs associated with different populations, is similar to that observed in giants from high-resolution spectra. We have not detected any change between the fractions of stars in different populations across stellar masses >~0.1 solar masses. This work demonstrates the JWST's capability in uncovering multiple populations within M dwarfs and illustrates the possibility to analyse very low-mass stars in GCs approaching the H-burning limit and the brown-dwarf sequence. The JWST data will mark a pivotal advancement in our understanding of these poorly-explored issues.
We explore the cosmic evolution of the fraction of dust obscured star formation predicted by the \textsc{simba} cosmological hydrodynamic simulations featuring an on-the-fly model for dust formation, evolution, and destruction. We find that up to $z=2$, our results are broadly consistent with previous observational results of little to no evolution in obscured star formation. However, at $z>2$ we find strong evolution at fixed galaxy stellar mass towards greater amounts of obscured star formation. We explain the trend of increasing obscuration at higher redshifts by greater typical dust column densities along the line of sight to young stars. We additionally see that at a fixed redshift, more massive galaxies have a higher fraction of their star formation obscured, which is explained by increased dust mass fractions at higher stellar masses. Finally, we estimate the contribution of dust-obscured star formation to the total star formation rate budget and find that the dust obscured star formation history (SFH) peaks around $z\sim 2-3$, and becomes subdominant at $z\gtrsim 5$.
Intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) are believed to be the missing link between the supermassive black holes (BHs) found at the centers of massive galaxies and BHs formed through stellar core collapse. One of the proposed mechanisms for their formation is a collisional runaway process in high-density young star clusters, where an unusually massive object forms through repeated stellar collisions and mergers, eventually collapsing to form an IMBH. This seed IMBH could then grow further through binary mergers with other stellar-mass BHs. Here we investigate the gravitational-wave (GW) signals produced during these later IMBH--BH mergers. We use a state-of-the-art semi-analytic approach to study the stellar dynamics and to characterize the rates and properties of IMBH--BH mergers. We also study the prospects for detection of these mergers by current and future GW observatories, both space-based (LISA) and ground-based (LIGO Voyager, Einstein Telescope, and Cosmic Explorer). We find that most of the merger signals could be detected, with some of them being multi-band sources. Therefore, GWs represent a unique tool to test the collisional runaway scenario and to constrain the population of dynamically assembled IMBHs.
Pre-main sequence disk accretion is pivotal in determining the final stellar properties and the early conditions for close-in planets. We aim to establish the impact of internal (stellar mass) and external (radiation field) parameters on disk evolution in the Lagoon Nebula massive star-forming region. We employ simultaneous $u,g,r,i,H\alpha$ time series photometry, archival infrared data, and high-precision $K2$ light curves, to derive stellar, disk, and accretion properties for 1012 Lagoon Nebula members. Of all young stars in the Lagoon Nebula, we estimate $34\%-37\%$ have inner disks traceable down to $\sim 12$ $\mu$m, while $38\%-41\%$ are actively accreting. We detect disks $\sim$1.5 times more frequently around G/K/M stars than higher-mass stars, which appear to deplete their inner disks on shorter timescales. We find tentative evidence for faster disk evolution in the central regions of the Lagoon Nebula, where the bulk of the O/B population is located. Conversely, disks appear to last longer at its outskirts, where the measured fraction of disk-bearing stars tends to exceed those of accreting and disk-free stars. The derived mass accretion rates show a non-uniform dependence on stellar mass between $\sim 0.2-5$ $M_\odot$. In addition, the typical accretion rates appear to differ across the Lagoon Nebula extension, with values two times lower in the core region than at its periphery. Finally, we detect tentative density gradients in the accretion shocks, with lags in the appearance of brightness features as a function of wavelength that can amount to $\sim7\%-30\%$ of the rotation period.
Investigating Protostellar Accretion (IPA) is a JWST Cycle~1 GO program that uses NIRSpec IFU and MIRI MRS to obtain 2.9--28~$\mu$m spectral cubes of young, deeply embedded protostars with luminosities of 0.2 to 10,000~L$_{\odot}$ and central masses of 0.15 to 12~M$_{\odot}$. In this Letter, we report the discovery of a highly collimated atomic jet from the Class~0 protostar IRAS~16253$-$2429, the lowest luminosity source ($L_\mathrm{bol}$ = 0.2 $L_\odot$) in the IPA program. The collimated jet is detected in multiple [Fe~II] lines, [Ne~II], [Ni~II], and H~I lines, but not in molecular emission. The atomic jet has a velocity of about 169~$\pm$~15~km\,s$^{-1}$, after correcting for inclination. The width of the jet increases with distance from the central protostar from 23 to~60 au, corresponding to an opening angle of 2.6~$\pm$~0.5\arcdeg. By comparing the measured flux ratios of various fine structure lines to those predicted by simple shock models, we derive a shock {speed} of 54~km\,s$^{-1}$ and a preshock density of 2.0$\times10^{3}$~cm$^{-3}$ at the base of the jet. {From these quantities and using a suite of jet models and extinction laws we compute a mass loss rate between $0.4 -1.1\times10^{-10}~M_{\odot}$~yr~$^{-1}$.} The low mass loss rate is consistent with simultaneous measurements of low mass accretion rate ($2.4~\pm~0.8~\times~10^{-9}~M_{\odot}$~yr$^{-1}$) for IRAS~16253$-$2429 from JWST observations (Watson et al. in prep), indicating that the protostar is in a quiescent accretion phase. Our results demonstrate that very low-mass protostars can drive highly collimated, atomic jets, even during the quiescent phase.
Magnetic fields are a defining yet enigmatic aspect of the interstellar medium (ISM), with their three-dimensional mapping posing a substantial challenge. In this study, we harness the innovative Velocity Gradient Technique (VGT), underpinned by magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence theories, to elucidate the magnetic field structure by applying it to the atomic neutral hydrogen (HI) emission line and the molecular tracer $^{12}$CO. We construct the tomography of the magnetic field in the low-mass star-forming region L1688, utilizing two approaches: (1) VGT-HI combined with the Galactic rotational curve, and (2) stellar polarization paired with precise star parallax measurements. Our analysis reveals that the magnetic field orientations deduced from stellar polarization undergo a distinct directional change in the vicinity of L1688, providing evidence that the misalignment between VGT-HI and stellar polarization stems from the influence of the molecular cloud's magnetic field on the polarization of starlight. When comparing VGT-$^{12}$CO to stellar polarization and Planck polarization data, we observe that VGT-$^{12}$CO effectively reconciles the misalignment noted with VGT-HI, showing statistical alignment with Planck polarization measurements. This indicates that VGT-$^{12}$CO could be integrated with VGT-HI, offering vital insights into the magnetic fields of molecular clouds, thereby enhancing the accuracy of our 3D magnetic field reconstructions.
Unobscured quasars (QSOs) are predicted to be the final stage in the evolutionary sequence from gas-rich mergers to gas-depleted, quenched galaxies. Studies of this population, however, find a high incidence of far-infrared-luminous sources -suggesting significant dust-obscured star formation-but direct observations of the cold molecular gas fuelling this star formation are still necessary. We present a NOEMA study of CO(2-1) emission, tracing the cold molecular gas, in ten lensed z=1-1.5 unobscured QSOs. We detected CO(2-1) in seven of our targets, four of which also show continuum emission (\lambda_rest = 1.3mm). After subtracting the foreground galaxy contribution to the photometry, spectral energy distribution fitting yielded stellar masses of 10^9-11 M_\odot, with star formation rates of 25-160 M_\odot yr^-1 for the host galaxies. These QSOs have lower $L'_\mathrm{CO}$ than star-forming galaxies with the same L_IR, and show depletion times spanning a large range (50-900 Myr), but with a median of just 90 Myr. We find molecular gas masses in the range 2-40 x 10^9(alpha_CO/4) M_\odot, which suggest gas fractions above ~50% for most of the targets. Despite the presence of an unobscured QSO, the host galaxies are able to retain significant amounts of cold gas. However, with a median depletion time of ~90 Myr, the intense burst of star formation taking place in these targets will quickly deplete their molecular gas reservoirs in the absence of gas replenishment, resulting in a quiescent host galaxy. The non-detected QSOs are three of the four radio-loud QSOs in the sample, and their properties indicate that they are likely already transitioning into quiescence. Recent cosmological simulations tend to overestimate the depletion times expected for these z~1 QSO-host galaxies, which is likely linked to their difficulty producing starbursts across the general high-redshift galaxy population.
We observe the magnetic field morphology towards a nearby star-forming filamentary cloud, G202.3+2.5, by the JCMT/POL-2 850 {\mu}m thermal dust polarization observation with an angular resolution of 14.4" (~0.053 pc). The average magnetic field orientation is found to be perpendicular to the filaments while showing different behaviors in the four subregions, suggesting various effects from filaments' collision in these subregions. With the kinematics obtained by N2H+ observation by IRAM, we estimate the plane-of-sky (POS) magnetic field strength by two methods, the classical Davis-Chandrasekhar-Fermi (DCF) method and the angular dispersion function (ADF) method, B_{pos,dcf} and B_{pos,adf} are ~90 {\mu}G and ~53 {\mu}G. We study the relative importance between the gravity (G), magnetic field (B) and turbulence (T) in the four subregions, find G > T > B, G >= T > B, G ~ T > B and T > G > B in the north tail, west trunk, south root and east wing, respectively. In addition, we investigate the projection effect on the DCF and ADF methods based on a similar simulation case and find the 3D magnetic field strength may be underestimated by a factor of ~3 if applying the widely-used statistical B_{pos}-to-B_{3D} factor when using DCF or ADF method, which may further underestimate/overestimate related parameters.
The Atacama Large Millimeter-submillimeter Array (ALMA) is a general purpose telescope that performs a broad program of astrophysical observations. Beginning in late-2016, solar observations with ALMA became available, thereby opening a new window onto solar physics. Since then, the number of solar observing capabilities has increased substantially but polarimetric observations, a community priority, have not been available. Weakly circularly polarized emission is expected from the chromosphere where magnetic fields are strong. Hence, maps of Stokes V provide critical new constraints on the longitudinal component of the chromospheric magnetic field. Between 2019-2022, an ALMA solar development effort dedicated to making solar polarimetry at millimeter wavelengths a reality was carried out. Here, we discuss the development effort to enable solar polarimetry in the 3 mm band (ALMA Band 3) in detail and present a number of results that emerge from the development program. These include tests that validate polarization calibration, including evaluation of instrumental polarization: both antenna based "leakage" terms and off-axis effects (termed "beam squint" for Stokes V). We also present test polarimetric observations of a magnetized source on the Sun, the following sunspot in a solar active region, which shows a significant Stokes V signature in line with expectations. Finally, we provide some cautions and guidance to users contemplating the use of polarization observations with ALMA.
Babcock-Leighton process, in which the poloidal field is generated through the decay and dispersal of tilted bipolar magnetic regions (BMRs), is observed to be the major process behind the generating poloidal field in the Sun. Based on this process, the Babcock-Leighton dynamo models have been a promising tool for explaining various aspects of solar and stellar magnetic cycles. In recent years, in the toroidal to poloidal part of this dynamo loop, various nonlinear mechanisms, namely the flux loss through the magnetic buoyancy in the formation of BMRs, latitude quenching, tilt quenching, and inflows around BMRs, have been identified. While these nonlinearities tend to produce a stable magnetic cycle, the irregular properties of BMR, mainly the scatter around Joy's law tilt, make a considerable variation in the solar cycle, including grand minima and maxima. After reviewing recent developments in these topics, I end the presentation by discussing the recent progress in making the early prediction of the solar cycle.
Context. Sunlight scattered from the surface of an airless body is generally partially polarized, and the corresponding polarization state includes information about the scattering surface, such as albedo, surface grain sizes, composition, and taxonomic types. Aims. We conducted polarimetry of two large airless bodies, the Dawn mission targets (1) Ceres and (4) Vesta, in the near-infrared region. We further investigated the change in the polarimetric phase curves over the wavelengths expected from previous works. Methods. We used the Nishiharima Infrared Camera (NIC) installed at the Nishi-Harima Astronomical Observatory (NHAO) to observe these objects at multiple geometric configurations in the J, H, and $\mathrm{K_s}$ bands ($ \lambda \sim 1.2\mathrm{-}2.3 \mathrm{\mu m} $). Results. Polarimetric parameters were determined and compared with previously reported experimental results. In particular, Vesta exhibits a characteristic change in the negative polarization branch as the wavelength increases to the $\mathrm{K_s}$ band, which we interpret as an indication of the dominant existence of $D \sim 10\mathrm{-}20 \mathrm{\mu m}$ particles. Our approach is supported by empirical reasoning and coincides well with an independent, theory-driven approach based on thermal modeling. Conclusions. This work demonstrates how near-infrared polarimetry can be utilized to quantitatively determine the particle size of airless objects. This finding will have important implications for asteroid taxonomy and regolith evolution.
In the context of the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), the laser subsystems exhibit frequency fluctuations that introduce significant levels of noise into the measurements, surpassing the gravitational wave signal by several orders of magnitude. Mitigation is achieved via time-shifting individual measurements in a data processing step known as time-delay interferometry (TDI). The suppression performance of TDI relies on accurate knowledge and consideration of the delays experienced by the interfering lasers. While considerable efforts have been dedicated to the accurate determination of inter-spacecraft ranging delays, the sources for onboard delays have been either neglected or assumed to be known. Contrary to these assumptions, analog delays of the phasemeter front end and the laser modulator are not only large but also prone to change with temperature and heterodyne frequency. This motivates our proposal for a novel method enabling a calibration of these delays on-ground and in-space, based on minimal functional additions to the receiver architecture. Specifically, we establish a set of calibration measurements and elucidate how these measurements are utilized in data processing, leading to the mitigation of the delays in the TDI Michelson variables. Following a performance analysis of the calibration measurements, proposed calibration scheme is assessed through numerical simulations. We find that in the absence of the calibration scheme, the assumed drifts of the analog delays increase residual laser noise at high frequencies of the LISA measurement band. A single, on-ground calibration of the analog delays leads to an improvement by roughly one order of magnitude, while re-calibration in space may improve performance by yet another order of magnitude. Towards lower frequencies, ranging error is always found to be the limiting factor for which countermeasures are discussed.
Deriving atmospheric parameters of a large sample of stars is of vital importance to understand the formation and evolution of the Milky Way. Photometric surveys, especially those with near-ultraviolet filters, can offer accurate measurements of stellar parameters, with the precision comparable to that from low/medium resolution spectroscopy. In this study, we explore the capability of measuring stellar atmospheric parameters from CSST broad-band photometry (particularly the near-ultraviolet bands), based on synthetic colors derived from model spectra. We find that colors from the optical and near-ultraviolet filter systems adopted by CSST show significant sensitivities to the stellar atmospheric parameters, especially the metallicity. According to our mock data tests, the precision of the photometric metallicity is quite high, with typical values of 0.17 dex and 0.20 dex for dwarf and giant stars, respectively. The precision of the effective temperature estimated from broad-band colors are within 50 K.
This paper presents the study of dark-energy compact stars in the context of modified Rastall teleparallel gravity. It is the first time that dark energy celestial phenomena have been explored in this modified gravitational theory. Employing the torsion-based functions, $f(T)$ and $h(T)$, we analyzed their effects in a spherically symmetric spacetime chosen as the interior geometry, while using the Schwarzschild geometry as an outer spacetime. In this study, we explored various dark energy stellar properties, including dark energy pressure components, energy conditions, and equation of state components. Our findings reveal that the observed negative behavior of these stellar properties served as compelling evidence, validating the presence of dark energy in stellar configurations. Detailed investigations of the energy conditions, pressure profiles, sound speeds, TOV equation, adiabatic index, gradients, mass function, compactness, and redshift function forecasts a comprehensive assessment, affirming the acceptability and realism of the investigated stellar configuration.
We propose a connection between the newly formulated Virasoro minimal string and the established minimal string by deriving the string equation from the expansion of the Virasoro minimal string's density of states in powers of $E^{m+1/2}$. This string equation is expressed as a power series involving double-scaled multicritical matrix models, which are dual to $(2,2m-1)$ minimal strings. This reformulation of Virasoro minimal strings enables us to employ matrix theory tools for computing $n$-boundary correlators. We analyze the scaling behavior of these correlators in the JT gravity limit and deduce the scaling of quantum volumes $V^{(b)}_{0,n}(\ell_1,\dots,\ell_n)$ in this limit.
The model of two dimensional quantum gravity defining the ``Virasoro Minimal String", presented recently by Collier, Eberhardt, M\"{u}hlmann, and Rodriguez, was also shown to be perturbatively (in topology) equivalent to a random matrix model. An alternative definition is presented here, in terms of double-scaled orthogonal polynomials, thereby allowing direct access to non-perturbative physics. Already at leading order, the defining string equation's properties yield valuable information about the non-perturbative fate of the model, confirming that the case $c{=}25$ (spacelike Liouville) is special, by virtue of sharing certain key features of the ${\cal N}{=}1$ supersymmetric JT gravity string equation. Solutions of the full string equation are constructed using a special limit, and the (Cardy) spectral density is complete to all genus and beyond. The distributions of the underlying discrete spectrum are readily accessible too, as is the spectral form factor. Some examples of these are exhibited.
Short review of the Weyl geometry is given. To describe the phenomenological particle creation we suggest the modified perfect fluid model taking into account the back reaction on the geometry of both the already created particles and the very process of their creation. It is found that the relation for particle creation is conformal invariant. This requires the creation law consisting of the source terms as the Weyl Lagrangian plus two quite new terms depending of the particle number density.
Love numbers of compact objects quantify their tidal deformability against external perturbations. It is expected that Love numbers of asymptotically flat black holes (BHs) in General Relativity are identically zero. We show that quite contrary to common expectations, the tidal Love numbers of asymptotically de Sitter black holes are non-zero.
We study the lensing phenomena of the strong gravity regime of the five-dimensional charged, equally rotating black holes with a cosmological constant, familiarly known as the Cveti\v c-L\"u-Pope black holes. These black holes are characterized by three observable parameters, the mass $M$, the charge $Q$ and the angular momentum $J$, in addition to the cosmological constant. We investigate the strong gravitational lensing observables, mainly the photon sphere radius, the minimum impact parameter, the deflection angle, the angular size, and the magnification of the relativistic images. We model the $M87$ and $SgrA^*$ for these observables. We also focus on the relativistic time delay effect in the strong field regime of gravity and the impact of the observable on it. The analytical expressions for the observables of the relativistic images with vanishing angular momentum ($j=0$) are discussed in some detail.
The general classification of 3+1-static black hole solutions of the Einstein equations, with or without matter, is central in General Relativity and important in geometry. In the realm of S1-symmetric vacuum spacetimes, a recent classification proved that, without restrictions on the topology or the asymptotic behavior, black hole solutions can be only of three kinds: (i) Schwarzschild black holes, (ii) Boost black holes, or (iii) Myers-Korotkin-Nicolai black holes, each one having its distinct asymptotic and topological type. In contrast to this, very little is known about the general classification of S1-symmetric static electrovacuum black holes although examples show that, on the large picture, there should be striking differences with respect to the vacuum case. A basic question then is whether or not there are charged analogs to the static vacuum black holes of types (i), (ii) and (iii). In this article we prove the remarkable fact that, while one can `charge' the Schwarzschild solution (resulting in a Reissner-Nordstr\"om spacetime) preserving the asymptotic, one cannot do the same to the Boosts and to the Myers-Korotkin-Nicolai solutions: the addition of a small or large electric charge, if possible at all, would transform entirely their asymptotic behavior. In particular, such vacuum solutions cannot be electromagnetically perturbed. The results of this paper are consistent but go far beyond the works of Karlovini and Von Unge on periodic analogs of the Reissner-Nordstr\"om black holes. The type of result as well as the techniques used are based on comparison geometry a la Bakry-\'Emery and appear to be entirely novel in this context. The findings point to a complex interplay between asymptotic, topology and charge in spacetime dimension 3+1, markedly different from what occurs in higher dimensions.
We present a self-contained introduction to the classical theory of spacetime and fields. This exposition is based on the most general principles: the principle of general covariance (relativity) and the principle of least action. The order of the exposition is: 1. Spacetime (principle of general covariance and tensors, affine connection, curvature, metric, space and time, tetrad and spin connection, Lorentz group, spinors); 2. Fields (principle of least action, gravitational field, matter, symmetries and conservation laws, particle limit of field, gravitational field equations, spinor fields, electromagnetic field). In this order, a particle is a special case of a field existing in spacetime, and classical mechanics can be derived from field theory.
In this article, we consider a class of four-dimensional Einstein-Maxwell theory which is coupled non-minimally to a scalar field and the Gauss-Bonnet invariant. We mainly use the numerical methods to find the solutions to the theory, with the NUT twist. We find explicitly the numerical solutions to all of the field equations. To find the appropriate consistent numerical solutions, we use the the perturbative expansion of the fields asymptotically, as well as near horizon. The solutions describe the NUTty black holes with the scalar charge which also depend explicitly on the values of the non-minimal coupling constants. We provide a detailed numerical analysis of the solutions in terms of all existing parameters of the theory.
We study gravitational and test-field perturbations for the two possible families of spherically symmetric black-hole mimickers that smoothly interpolate between regular black holes and horizonless compact objects accordingly to the value of a regularization parameter. One family can be described by the Bardeen-like metrics, and the other by the Simpson-Visser metric. We compute the spectrum of quasi-normal modes (QNMs) of these spacetimes enlightening a common misunderstanding regarding this computation present in the recent literature. In both families, we observe long-living modes for values of the regularization parameter corresponding to ultracompact, horizonless configurations. Such modes appear to be associated with the presence of a stable photon sphere and are indicative of potential non-linear instabilities. In general, the QNM spectra of both families display deviations from the standard spectrum of GR singular BHs. In order to address the future detectability of such deviations in the gravitational-wave ringdown signal, we perform a preliminary study, finding that third generation ground-based detectors might be sensible to macroscopic values of the regularization parameter.
We provide a consistent first principles prescription to compute gravitational R\'enyi entropy using Hayward corner terms. For Euclidean solutions to Einstein gravity, we compute R\'enyi entropy of Hartle--Hawking and fixed--area states by cutting open a manifold containing a conical singularity into a wedge with a corner. The entropy functional for fixed--area states is equal to the corner term itself, having a flat-entanglement spectrum, while extremization of the functional follows from the variation of the corner term under diffeomorphisms. Notably, our method does not require regularization of the conical singularity, and naturally extends to higher-curvature theories of gravity.
The ringdown (RD) phase of gravitational waves is of prime interest for testing general relativity (GR). The modelling of the linear quasi-normal modes (QNMs) within the Kerr spectrum -- or with agnostic parameterized deviations to that GR spectrum -- has become ordinary; however, specific attention has recently emerged to calibrate the effects of nonlinear perturbations for the predominant quadrupolar $l=2$, $m=2$ mode. In this paper, we test the performance of a few nonlinear toy models and of the nonlinear inspiral-merger-ringdown (IMR) model IMRPhenomD for faithfully representing the RD regime and we compare them with the results obtained using linear solutions as sums of QNM tones. Using several quasi-circular, non-precessing numerical waveforms, we fit the dominant $l=2$, $m=2$ mode of the strain, and we assess the results in terms of both the Bayes factor and the inferred posterior distributions for the mass and spin of the final black hole (BH). We find that the nonlinear models can be comparable or preferred over the linear QNM-only solutions when the analysis is performed from the peak of the strain, especially at high signal-to-noise ratios consistent with third-generation observatories. Since the calibration of the tones' relative amplitudes and phases in high-overtone models to the progenitor parameters is still missing, or even not achievable, we consider the use of non-linear models more pertinent for performing confident tests of general relativity based on the RD regime starting from early times.
In this paper, we obtain a complete list of stationary and axisymmetric spacetimes, generated from a Minkowski spacetime using the Ernst technique. We do so by operating on the associated seed potentials with a composition of Ehlers and Harrison transformations. In particular, assigning an additional ``electric'' or ``magnetic'' tag to the transformations, we investigate the new spacetimes obtained either via a composition of magnetic Ehlers and Harrison transformations (first part) or via a magnetic-electric combination (second part). In the first part, the resulting type D spacetime, dubbed electromagnetic swirling universe, features key properties, separately found in swirling and (Bonnor--)Melvin spacetimes, the latter recovered in appropriate limits. A detailed analysis of the geometry is included, and subtle issues are addressed. A detailed proof that the spacetime belongs to the Kundt family, is included, and a notable relation to the planar-Reissner-Nordstr\"om-NUT black hole is also meticulously worked out. This relation is further exploited to reverse-engineer the form of the solution in the presence of a nontrivial cosmological constant. A Schwarzschild black hole embedded into the new background is also discussed. In the second part, we present four novel stationary and axisymmetric asymptotically nonflat type I spacetimes, which are naively expected to be extensions of the Melvin or swirling solution including a NUT parameter or electromagnetic charges. We actually find that they are, under conditions, free of curvature and topological singularities, with the physical meaning of the electric transformation parameters in these backgrounds requiring further investigation.
Motivated by the potential connection between metric-affine gravity and linear Generalized Uncertainty Principle (GUP) in the phase space, we develop a covariant form of linear GUP and an associated modified Poincar\'e algebra, which exhibits distinctive behavior, nearing nullity at the minimal length scale proposed by linear GUP. We use 3-torus geometry to visually represent linear GUP within a covariant framework. The 3-torus area provides an exact geometric representation of Bekenstein's universal bound. We depart from Bousso's approach, which adapts Bekenstein's bound by substituting the Schwarzschild radius ($r_s$) with the radius ($R$) of the smallest sphere enclosing the physical system, thereby basing the covariant entropy bound on the sphere's area. Instead, our revised covariant entropy bound is described by the area of a 3-torus, determined by both the inner radius $r_s$ and outer radius $R$ where $r_s\leq R $ due to gravitational stability. This approach results in a more precise geometric representation of Bekenstein's bound, notably for larger systems where Bousso's bound is typically much larger than Bekensetin's universal bound. Furthermore, we derive an equation that turns the standard uncertainty inequality into an equation when considering the contribution of the 3-torus covariant entropy bound, suggesting a new avenue of quantum gravity.
The physics content of the QGSJET-III Monte Carlo generator of high energy hadronic collisions is described. In particular, a phenomenological implementation of higher twist corrections to hard parton scattering processes is discussed in some detail. Additionally addressed is the treatment of the so-called ``color fluctuation'' effects related to a decomposition of hadron wave functions into a number of Fock states characterized by different spatial sizes and different parton densities. Selected model results regarding the energy-dependence of the total, elastic, and diffractive proton-proton cross sections are presented.
Upcoming experiments will improve the sensitivity to $\mu\to e$ processes by several orders of magnitude, and could observe lepton flavour-changing contact interactions for the first time. In this paper, we investigate what could be learned about New Physics from the measurements of these $\mu\to e$ observables, using a bottom-up effective field theory (EFT) approach and focusing on three popular models with new particles around the TeV scale (the type II seesaw, the inverse seesaw and a scalar leptoquark). We showed in a previous publication that $\mu\to e$ observables have the ability to rule out these models because none can fill the whole experimentally accessible parameter space. In this work, we give more details on our EFT formalism and present more complete results. We discuss the impact of some observables complementary to $\mu\to e$ transitions (such as the neutrino mass scale and ordering, and LFV $\tau$ decays) and draw attention to the interesting appearance of Jarlskog-like invariants in our expressions for the low-energy Wilson coefficients.
We calculate the contribution of gluons to single inclusive hadron production at next-to-leading order (NLO) accuracy in Deep Inelastic Scattering (DIS) at small $x$ using the Color Glass Condensate formalism. It is shown that the only divergence present is the standard collinear divergence which is absorbed into evolution of gluon-hadron fragmentation function. Our calculations are performed at finite $N_c$ and we provide general finite $N_c$ expressions for the structure of Wilson lines appearing in inclusive dihadron and single hadron production cross sections. We also comment on how one can obtain rapidity distribution of hadron multiplicities from our results.
An updated analysis of the two-body $D\to PP, V\!P$ and $VV$ decays within the framework of the topological diagram approach is performed. A global fit to the Cabibbo-favored (CF) modes in the $V\!P$ sector gives many solutions with similarly small local minima in $\chi^2$. The solution degeneracy is lifted once we use them to predict for the singly Cabibbo-suppressed (SCS) modes. Topological amplitudes are extracted for the $\eta-\eta'$ mixing angles $\phi=40.4^\circ$ and $43.5^\circ$. The $K_S^0-K_L^0$ asymmetries in $D\to K_{S,L}^0M$ decays denoted by $R(D,M)$ are studied. While the predicted $R(D^0,P)$ for $P=\pi^0, \eta$ and $\eta'$ agree with experiment, the calculated $R(D^+,\pi^+)$, $R(D_s^+, K^+)$, $R(D^0,\omega)$ and $R(D^0,\phi)$ deviate from the data. We conjecture that the relative phase between the topological amplitudes $(C+A)$ and $(T+C)$ should be slightly smaller than $90^\circ$ in order to explain the first two discrepancies and that additional singlet contributions due to the SU(3)-singlet nature of $\omega$ and $\phi$ are needed to account for the last two. For doubly Cabibbo-suppressed (DCS) $D\to V\!P$ decays, their topological amplitudes (double-primed) cannot be all the same as the corresponding ones in the CF modes. The assumption of $E_{V,P}''=E_{V,P}$ for the $W$-exchange amplitude leads to some inconsistencies with the experiment. Through the measured relative phases between CF and DCS channels, the relations of $E_{V,P}''$ with $E_{V,P}$ are determined. Long-distance contributions to the $D^0$-$\overline {D}^0$ mixing parameter $y$ are evaluated in the exclusive approach. In particular, we focus on $D\to PP$ and $V\!P$ decays where $y$ can be reliably estimated. We conclude that $y_{_{P\!P}}\sim (0.110\pm 0.011)\%$ and the lower bound on $y_{_{V\!P}}$ is $(0.220\pm 0.071)\%$.
This talk reviews recent developments in the field of analytical Feynman integral calculations. The central theme is the geometry associated to a given Feynman integral. In the simplest case this is a complex curve of genus zero (aka the Riemann sphere). In this talk we discuss Feynman integrals related to more complicated geometries like curves of higher genus or manifolds of higher dimensions. In the latter case we encounter Calabi-Yau manifolds. We also discuss how to compute these Feynman integrals.
The paper presents for the first time a novel idea of exploiting asymmetry between differential cross sections of the $Z\gamma$ pair-production in proton-proton ($pp$) collisions for the final states of a charged-lepton pair plus a photon $pp \rightarrow Z\gamma \rightarrow l^{+}l^{-}\gamma$ (leptonic decay) and of a neutrino pair plus a photon $pp \rightarrow Z \gamma \rightarrow \nu \bar{\nu}\gamma$ (invisible decay). Asymmetry between the leptonic and invisible decays of the $Z\gamma$ process is investigated by using fixed-order predictions through inclusion of next-to-next-to-leading (NNLO) radiative corrections in quantum chromodynamics (QCD) perturbation theory. NNLO QCD predictions are presented at various $pp$-collision energies as functions of several key observables including transverse momenta and azimuthal-angle separation, regarding the $Z\gamma$ decay products. The predicted distributions for the $Z\gamma$ asymmetry are provided based on realistic fiducial phase-space requirements in line with the related hadron-collider measurements. The predicted distributions are assessed at various $pp$-collision energies and in different phase-space regions such as with higher lepton-pair invariant mass $m^{l^{+}l^{-}}$ or higher neutrino-pair transverse momentum $p_{\rm{T}}^{\nu \bar{\nu}}$ requirements. The $Z\gamma$ asymmetry is shown to be significantly sensitive in different regions of phase space including high-$m^{l^{+}l^{-}}$ and high-$p_{\rm{T}}^{\nu \bar{\nu}}$ regions. The $Z\gamma$ asymmetry can therefore be translated into an important quantity for probing deviation from the Standard Model (SM) predictions. In this regard, the asymmetry probe is proposed as a sensitive indicator for indirect searches for physics beyond the SM encompassing high-mass resonances and dark-matter sector.
Based on lattice QCD results of equation of state (EOS) and baryon number susceptibility at zero baryon chemical potential, and supplemented by machine learning techniques, we construct the analytic form of the holographic black hole metric in the Einstein-Maxwell-Dilaton (EMD) framework for pure gluon, 2-flavor, and 2+1-flavor systems, respectively. The dilaton potentials solved from Einstein equations are in good agreement with the extended non-conformal DeWolfe-Gubser-Rosen (DGR) type dilaton potentials fixed by lattice QCD EOS, which indicates the robustness of the EMD framework. The predicted critical endpoint (CEP) in the 2+1-flavor system is located at $(T^c$=0.094GeV, $\mu^c_B$=0.74GeV), which is close to the results from the realistic PNJL model, Functional Renormalization group(FRG) and holographic model with extended DeWolfe-Gubser-Rosen dilaton potential.
We present a compact formula, expressed in terms of classical polylogarithms up to weight three, for the leading order four-point energy correlator in maximally supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory, in the limit where the four detectors are collinear. This formula is derived by combining a simplified, manifestly dual conformal invariant form of the 1 -> 4 splitting function obtained from the square of the tree-level five-particle form factor of stress-tensor multiplet operators, with a novel integration-by-parts algorithm operating directly on Feynman parameter integrals. Our results provide valuable data for exploring the structure of physical observables in perturbation theory, and for calculations of jet substructure observables in quantum chromodynamics.
In this paper we study the universal properties of the baryon chemical potential Fourier coefficients in Quantum Chromodynamics. We show that by following a well-defined strategy, the Fourier coefficients can be used to locate Yang-Lee edge singularities associated with chiral phase transition (and by extension with the Roberge-Weiss) in the complex chemical potential plane. We comment on the viability of performing this analysis using lattice QCD data.
The MUonE experiment aims at providing a new independent evaluation of the leading hadronic contribution to the muon anomalous magnetic moment. The proposed method is based on the measurement of the running of the QED coupling in the space-like momentum region, through the elastic scattering of high-energy muons on atomic electrons. In this proceeding, the status of the theoretical effort for the MUonE experiment is reviewed. In order to achieve a competitive determination, the differential cross section of muon-electron scattering must be computed with an unprecedented precision of 10 ppm, which requires at least next-to-next-leading order corrections and the resummation of large logarithms. In addition, the simulation of the experiment needs an exhaustive theoretical description of the possible background processes, such as the lepton pair production in muon-nucleus scattering. All these processes must be implemented in a fully exclusive Monte Carlo event generator in order to be used in the MUonE data analysis.
The High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) is designed to achieve higher instantaneous luminosities, enabling the exploration of the rarest processes of the Standard Model (SM). The CMS collaboration has published an Expression of Interest to pursue the study of the central exclusive production processes, using near-beam detectors. This report details both the expected performance and the scientific potential of the CMS near-beam proton spectrometer at the HL-LHC.
We generalize the relativistic field-theoretic three-particle finite-volume scattering formalism to describe generic $DD\pi$ systems in the charm $C=2$ sector. This includes the isospin-0 channel, in which the recently discovered doubly-charmed tetraquark $T_{cc}(3875)^+$ is expected to manifest as a pole in the $DD \pi \to DD \pi$ scattering amplitude. The formalism presented here can also be applied to lattice QCD settings in which the $D^*$ is bound and, in particular, remains valid below the left-hand cut in $D D^*$ scattering, thus resolving an issue in previous analyses of lattice-determined finite-volume energies.
Atomic nuclei are self-organized, many-body quantum systems bound by strong nuclear forces within femtometer-scale space. These complex systems manifest a diverse set of shapes~, traditionally explored via non-invasive spectroscopic techniques at low energies. Their instantaneous shapes, obscured by long-timescale quantum fluctuations, are considered not directly observable at low energy. We introduce a complementary method, collective flow assisted nuclear shape imaging, to image the nuclear global shape by colliding them at ultrarelativistic speeds and analyzing the collective response of outgoing debris. This technique captures a collision-specific snapshot of the spatial matter distribution in the nuclei, which, through the hydrodynamic expansion, leaves imprints on the particle momentum distribution patterns observed in detectors. We benchmark this method in collisions of ground state Uranium-238 nuclei, known for its elongated, axial-symmetric shape. Our findings, while confirming an overall deformation broadly consistent with prior low-energy experiments, also indicate a small deviation from axial symmetry in the nuclear ground state. This approach marks a new way of imaging nuclei, especially those with uncertain shape characteristics, and refines initial conditions in high-energy nuclear collisions. It tackles the important issue of nuclear structure evolution across various energy scales.
We present a very simple method for calculating the mixed Coulomb-nuclear effects in the $pp$ and $\bar{p}p$ scattering amplitudes, and illustrate the method using simple models frequently used to describe their differential cross sections at small momentum transfers. Combined with the pure Coulomb and form-factor contributions to the scattering amplitude which are known analytically from prior work, and the unmixed nuclear or strong-interaction scattering amplitude, the results give a much simpler approach to fitting the measured $pp$ and $\bar{p} p$ cross sections and extracting information on the real part of the forward scattering amplitudes than methods now in use.
We reformulate the Boltzmann equation in the relaxation time approximation undergoing Bjorken flow in terms of a novel partial differential equation for the generating function of the moments of the distribution function. This is used to obtain an approximate analytic description of this system's far-from-equilibrium attractor via a series expansion at early times. This expansion possesses a finite radius of convergence and can be analytically continued to late times. We find that this procedure reproduces the known values of shear viscosity and other transport coefficients to high accuracy. We also provide a simple approximate analytic expression that describes the attractor in the entire domain of interest for studies of quark-gluon plasma dynamics.
Axion-gluon interaction induces quadratic couplings between the axion and the matter fields. We find that, if the axion is an ultralight dark matter field, it induces small oscillations of the mass of the hadrons as well as other nuclear quantities. As a result, atomic energy levels oscillate. We use currently available atomic spectroscopy data to constrain such axion-gluon coupling. We also project the sensitivities of future experiments, such as ones using molecular and nuclear clock transitions. We show that current and near-future experiments constrain a finely-tuned parameter space of axion models. These can compete with or dominate the already-existing constraints from oscillating neutron electric dipole moment and supernova bound, in addition to those expected from near future magnetometer-based experiments. We also briefly discuss the reach of accelerometers and interferometers.
In the deep learning era, improving the neural network performance in jet physics is a rewarding task as it directly contributes to more accurate physics measurements at the LHC. Recent research has proposed various network designs in consideration of the full Lorentz symmetry, but its benefit is still not systematically asserted, given that there remain many successful networks without taking it into account. We conduct a detailed study on the Lorentz-symmetric design. We propose two generalized approaches for modifying a network - these methods are experimented on PFN, ParticleNet, and LorentzNet, and exhibit a general performance gain. We also reveal that the notable improvement attributed to the "pairwise mass" feature in the network is due to its introduction of a structure that fully complies with Lorentz symmetry. We confirm that Lorentz-symmetry preservation serves as a strong inductive bias of jet physics, hence calling for attention to such general recipes in future network designs.
In 2017, the STAR collaboration at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) has measured finite global angular momentum in heavy-ion collisions through a spin polarization measurement of $\Lambda$ hyperons. This measurement revealed a high angular momentum of the heavy ions and provided experimental evidence for vorticity in the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) for the first time. In order to investigate the underlying mechanisms, a dynamic description of the transfer of angular momentum is required. In this work, the microscopic non-equilibrium transport approach SMASH (Simulating Many Accelerated Strongly-interacting Hadrons) is applied to study the generation of global angular momentum by the interaction of two nuclei. As SMASH provides access to the whole phase-space evolution of every particle at any given time, it allows to assess the fraction of angular momentum generated in the fireball by all participants. We confirm the previous modeling by Becattini \textit{et al} within a geometric Glauber model approach, which found that the angular momentum transfer reaches a unique maximum in mid-central collisions during time evolution. The corresponding impact parameter is around $b=4-6$ fm for all beam energies from $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=2.41-200$ GeV. Even though angular momentum is not conserved locally in the transport approach a priori, we identify the contributions to the conservation violation and propose optimal setups for different energy regimes that recover conservation, based upon the test particle method and the treatment of Fermi motion. Furthermore, the system size and centrality dependence are investigated.
We investigate the quality of the extrapolation procedure employed in Ref. [1] to extract the crossover line at real chemical potential from lattice data at imaginary potential. To this end we employ a functional approach that does not suffer from the sign problem. We utilize a well-studied combination of lattice Yang--Mills theory with a truncated set of Dyson--Schwinger equations in Landau gauge for $2 + 1$ quark flavors. This system predicts a critical endpoint at moderate temperatures and rather large (real) chemical potential with a curvature of the pseudo-critical transition line comparable to recent lattice extrapolations. We determine the light quark condensate and chiral susceptibility at imaginary chemical potentials and perform an analytic continuation along the lines described in [1]. We find that the analytically continued crossover line agrees very well (within one percent) with the explicitly calculated one for chemical potentials up to about 80 % of the one of the critical end point. The method breaks down in the region where the chiral susceptibility as a function of the condensate cannot any longer be well described by a polynomial.
We present the Mathematica package $\texttt{MultiHypExp}$ that allows for the expansion of multivariate hypergeometric functions (MHFs), especially those likely to appear as solutions of multi-loop, multi-scale Feynman integrals, in the dimensional regularization parameter. The series expansion of MHFs can be carried out around integer values of parameters to express the series coefficients in terms of multiple polylogarithms. The package uses a modified version of the algorithm prescribed in arXiv:2208.01000v2. In the present work, we relate a given MHF to a Taylor series expandable MHF by a differential operator. The Taylor expansion of the latter MHF is found by first finding the associated partial differential equations (PDEs) from its series representation. We then bring the PDEs to the Pfaffian system and further to the canonical form, and solve them order by order in the expansion parameter using appropriate boundary conditions. The Taylor expansion so obtained and the differential operators are used to find the series expansion of the given MHF. We provide examples to demonstrate the algorithm and to describe the usage of the package, which can be found in https://github.com/souvik5151/MultiHypExp.
This work presents a determination of the quark Collins-Soper kernel, which relates transverse-momentum-dependent parton distributions (TMDs) at different rapidity scales, using lattice Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). This is the first lattice QCD calculation of the kernel at quark masses corresponding to a close-to-physical value of the pion mass, with next-to-next-leading logarithmic matching to TMDs from the corresponding lattice-calculable distributions, and includes a complete analysis of systematic uncertainties arising from operator mixing. The kernel is extracted at transverse momentum scales $240\,\text{MeV}\lesssim q_{T}\lesssim 1.6\,\text{GeV}$ with a precision sufficient to begin to discriminate between different phenomenological models in the non-perturbative region.
Studies related to $\rm{J}/\psi$ meson, a bound state of charm and anti-charm quarks ($c\bar{c}$), in heavy-ion collisions, provide genuine testing grounds for the theory of strong interaction, quantum chromodynamics (QCD). To better understand the underlying production mechanism, cold nuclear matter effects, and influence from the quark-gluon plasma, baseline measurements are also performed in proton-proton ($pp$) and proton-nucleus ($p$--A) collisions. The inclusive $\rm{J}/\psi$ measurement has contributions from both prompt and non-prompt productions. The prompt $\rm{J}/\psi$ is produced directly from the hadronic interactions or via feed-down from directly produced higher charmonium states, whereas non-prompt $\rm{J}/\psi$ comes from the decay of beauty hadrons. In experiments, $\rm{J}/\psi$ is reconstructed through its electromagnetic decays to lepton pairs, in either $e^{+}+e^{-}$ or $\mu^{+}+\mu^{-}$ decay channels. In this work, for the first time, machine learning techniques are implemented to separate the prompt and non-prompt dimuon pairs from the background to obtain a better identification of the $\rm{J}/\psi$ signal for different production modes. The study has been performed in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 7$ and 13 TeV simulated using PYTHIA8. Machine learning models such as XGBoost and LightGBM are explored. The models could achieve up to 99\% prediction accuracy. The transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) and rapidity ($y$) differential measurements of inclusive, prompt, and non-prompt $\rm{J}/\psi$, its multiplicity dependence, and the $p_{\rm T}$ dependence of fraction of non-prompt $\rm{J}/\psi$ ($f_{\rm B}$) are shown. These results are compared to experimental findings wherever possible.
In this paper, the new particle $X(3842)$ discovered by the LHCb Collaboration is identified to be the $\psi_{_3}(1^3D_{_3})$ state. We study its strong decays with the combination of the Bethe-Salpeter method and the $^3P_{_0}$ model. Its electromagnetic (EM) decay is also calculated by the Bethe-Salpeter method within Mandelstam formalism. The strong decay widths are {$\Gamma[X(3842)\rightarrow D^{0}\bar{D}^{0}]=1.28$ MeV}, $\Gamma[X(3823)\rightarrow D^{+}D^{-}]=1.08$ MeV, and the ratio ${\cal B}[X(3842)\rightarrow D^{+}D^{-}]/{\cal B}[X(3823)\rightarrow D^{0}\bar{D}^{0}]=0.84$. The EM decay width is $\Gamma[X(3842)\rightarrow\chi_{_{c2}}\gamma]=0.29$ MeV. We also estimate the total width to be 2.87 MeV, which is in good agreement with the experimental data $2.79^{+0.86}_{-0.86}$ MeV. Since the used relativistic wave functions include different partial waves, we also study the contributions of different partial waves in electromagnetic decay.
We compute, in the framework of renormalon calculus, the ${\cal O}(\Lambda_{\rm QCD})$ corrections to the production of $t\bar{t}$ pairs in hadron collisions under the assumption that $q \bar q \to t \bar t$ is the dominant partonic channel. This assumption is not applicable to top quark pair production at the LHC but it is valid for the Tevatron where collisions of protons and anti-protons were studied. We show that the linear power correction to the total $t \bar t$ production cross section vanishes provided one uses a short-distance scheme for the top quark mass. We also derive relatively simple formulas for the power corrections to top quark kinematic distributions. Although small numerically, these power corrections exhibit interesting dependencies on top quark kinematics.
The present work focuses on Oxygen-Oxygen (O-O) collisions, which are planned at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. Oxygen, being a doubly magic number nucleus, has some very unique features. This study attempts to probe the exotic state of QCD matter in O-O collisions. Additionally, the role of different nuclear density profiles in governing the final state dynamics in ultra-relativistic nuclear collisions is also explored. Using a multi-phase transport model, we obtain the nuclear modification factor ($\textit R_{\textit {AA}}$) for all charged hadrons and identified particles for O-O collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm{NN}}}$ = 7 TeV. Furthermore, we investigate the behavior of $\textit R_{\textit {AA}}$ as a function of transverse momentum ($\textit{p}_{\rm{T}}$) for three centralities (most central, mid-central, and peripheral) considering both $\alpha$-cluster and Woods-Saxon nuclear density profiles. We also extend this work to study the rapidity dependence of $\textit R_{\textit {AA}}$ for all charged hadrons. To better understand our findings of O-O collisions, the results are confronted with the available data of $\textit R_{\textit {AA}}$ for Pb-Pb collisions. The present study sheds light on particle production mechanisms, emphasizing factors influencing particle yield from pre-collision to post-collision stages in the context of O-O collisions.
We present a parameter-free ab initio calculation of the $\alpha$-particle monopole transition form factor in the framework of nuclear lattice effective field theory. We use a minimal nuclear interaction that was previously used to reproduce the ground state properties of light nuclei, medium-mass nuclei, and neutron matter simultaneously with no more than a few percent error in the energies and charge radii. The results for the monopole transition form factor are in good agreement with recent precision data from Mainz.
We investigate the order of the QCD chiral transition in the limit of vanishing bare up/down quark masses and variations of the bare strange-quark mass $0 \le m_{\mathrm{s}} \le \infty$. In this limit and due to universality long range correlations with the quantum numbers of pseudoscalar and scalar mesons may dominate the physics. In order to study the interplay between the microscopic quark and gluon degrees of freedom and the long range correlations we extend a combination of lattice Yang--Mills theory and a (truncated) version of Dyson--Schwinger equations by also taking back-reactions of mesonic degrees of freedom into account. Both this system and the meson backcoupling approach have been studied extensively in the past but this is the first work in a full $(2 + 1)$-flavor setup. Starting from the physical point, we determine the chiral susceptibilities for decreasing up/down quark masses and find good agreement with both lattice and functional renormalization group results. We then proceed to determine the order of the chiral transition along the left-hand side of the Columbia plot, for chemical potentials in the range $-(30 \,\textrm{MeV})^2 \le \mu_q^2 \le (30 \,\textrm{MeV})^2$. We find a second-order phase transition throughout and no trace of a first-order region in the $N_{f} = 3$ corner of the Columbia plot. This result remains unchanged when an additional Goldstone boson due to a restored axial $\mathrm{U_A}(1)$ is taken into account.
The TMD soft function can be obtained by formulating the Wilson line in terms of auxiliary 1-dimensional fermion fields on the lattice. In this formulation, the directional vector of the auxiliary field in Euclidean space has the form $\tilde n = (in^0, \vec 0_\perp, n^3)$, where the time component is purely imaginary. The components of these complex directional vectors in the Euclidean space can be mapped directly to the rapidities of the Minkowski space soft function. We present the results of the one-loop calculation of the Euclidean space analog to the soft function using these complex directional vectors. As a result, we show that the calculation is valid only when the directional vectors obey the relation: $|r| = |n^3/n^0| > 1$, and that this result corresponds to a computation in Minkowski space with space-like directed Wilson lines. Finally, we show that a lattice calculable object can be constructed that has the desired properties of the soft function.
In this work, the $\gamma\to3\pi$ form factor is calculated within the Dyson-Schwinger equations framework using a contact interaction model within the so-called modified rainbow ladder truncation. The present calculation takes into account the pseudovector component in the pion Bethe-Salpeter amplitude (BSA) and $\pi-\pi$ scattering effects, producing a $\gamma\to3\pi$ anomaly which is $1+6\mathcal{R}_\pi^2$ larger than the low energy prediction. Here $\mathcal{R_\pi}$ is the relative ratio of the pseudovector and pseudoscalar components in the pion BSA; with our parameters input, this correction raises the $\gamma\to3\pi$ anomaly by around $10\%$. The main outcome of this work is the unveiling of the origin of such correction, which could be a possible explanation of the discrepancy between the existing experimental data and the low energy prediction. Moreover, it is highlighted how the magnitude of the anomaly is affected in effective theories that require an irremovable ultraviolet cutoff. We find that for both the anomalous processes $\pi\to2\gamma$ and $\gamma\to 3\pi$, the missing contribution to the anomaly can be compensated by the additional structures related with the quark anomalous magnetic moment.
We have shown, in a series of articles, that a classical description of a large number of economic agents can be replaced by a statistical fields formalism. To better understand the accumulation and allocation of capital among different sectors, the present paper applies this statistical fields description to a large number of heterogeneous agents divided into two groups. The first group is composed of a large number of firms in different sectors that collectively own the entire physical capital. The second group, investors, holds the entire financial capital and allocates it between firms across sectors according to investment preferences, expected returns, and stock prices variations on financial markets. In return, firms pay dividends to their investors. Financial capital is thus a function of dividends and stock valuations, whereas physical capital is a function of the total capital allocated by the financial sector. Whereas our previous work focused on the background fields that describe potential long-term equilibria, here we compute the transition functions of individual agents and study their probabilistic dynamics in the background field, as a function of their initial state. We show that capital accumulation depends on various factors. The probability associated with each firm's trajectories is the result of several contradictory effects: the firm tends to shift towards sectors with the greatest long-term return, but must take into account the impact of its shift on its attractiveness for investors throughout its trajectory. Since this trajectory depends largely on the average capital of transition sectors, a firm's attractiveness during its relocation depends on the relative level of capital in those sectors. Thus, an under-capitalized firm reaching a high-capital sector will experience a loss of attractiveness, and subsequently, in investors. Moreover, the firm must also consider the effects of competition in the intermediate sectors. An under-capitalized firm will tend to be ousted out towards sectors with lower average capital, while an over-capitalized firm will tend to shift towards higher averagecapital sectors. For investors, capital allocation depends on their short and long-term returns. These returns are not independent: in the short-term, returns are composed of both the firm's dividends and the increase in its stock prices. In the long-term, returns are based on the firm's growth expectations, but also, indirectly, on expectations of higher stock prices. Investors' capital allocation directly depends on the volatility of stock prices and {\ldots}rms'dividends. Investors will tend to reallocate their capital to maximize their short and long-term returns. The higher their level of capital, the stronger the reallocation will be.
We investigate the topological phase transitions driven by band warping and a transverse magnetic field, for three-dimensional Weyl semimetals. First, we use the Chern number as a mathematical tool to derive the topological phase diagram. Next, we associate each of the topological sectors to a given angular momentum state of a rotating wave packet. Then we show how the position of the Weyl nodes can be manipulated by a transverse external magnetic field that ultimately quenches the wave packet rotation, first partially and then completely, thus resulting in a sequence of field-induced topological phase transitions. Finally, we calculate the current-induced magnetization and the anomalous Hall conductivity of a prototypical warped Weyl material. Both observables reflect the topological transitions associated with the wave packet rotation and can help to identify the elusive 3D quantum anomalous Hall effect in three-dimensional, warped Weyl materials.
A bulge surface, on a time reflection-symmetric Cauchy slice of a holographic spacetime, is a non-minimal extremal surface that occurs between two locally minimal surfaces homologous to a given boundary region. According to the python's lunch conjecture of Brown et al., the bulge's area controls the complexity of bulk reconstruction, in the sense of the amount of post-selection that needs to be overcome for the reconstruction of the entanglement wedge beyond the outermost extremal surface. We study the geometry of bulges in a variety of classical spacetimes, and discover a number of surprising features that distinguish them from more familiar extremal surfaces such as Ryu-Takayanagi surfaces: they spontaneously break spatial isometries, both continuous and discrete; they are sensitive to the choice of boundary infrared regulator; they can self-intersect; they probe entanglement shadows and orbifold singularities; and they probe the compact space in AdS$_p\times S^q$. These features imply, according to the python's lunch conjecture, novel qualitative differences between complexity and entanglement in the holographic context. We also find, surprisingly, that extended black brane interiors have a non-extensive complexity; similarly, for multi-boundary wormhole states, the complexity pleateaus after a certain number of boundaries have been included.
We investigate a field-theoretical model that describes the interaction between kinks and antikinks and between kinks and other heterogeneous fields and impurities. We show that the long-range kink can tunnel through a barrier created by heterogeneous fields and impurities even when the energy of the center of mass of the kink is less than the height of the energy barrier. We also study the conditions under which the kink can pass freely through a disordered medium. We introduce the concept of "effective translational symmetry". We compare our results with those from recent papers published in this journal, where the Bogomol'nyi-Prasad-Sommerfield property is discussed.
The Lagrangian of any self-dual (electromagnetic duality invariant) theory of nonlinear electrodynamics (depending only on the field strength and not its derivatives) is implicitly determined by a real function $v(\tau )$ of a positive real variable $\tau $. We show that the necessary and sufficient conditions for causality are $\dot v \ge1$ and $\ddot v \ge0$. Simple examples are ModMax and its Born-Infeld-type extension, and we find several new causal self-dual extensions of Maxwell theory and ModMax. We also give a Lagrangian for the general self-dual theory in an arbitrary spacetime metric.
The covariantly constant gauge fields are solutions of the sourceless Yang-Mills equation and represent the classical vacuum fields. We found that the moduli space of covariantly constant gauge fields is much larger than the space of constant chromomagnetic and chromoelectric fields. A wider class of covariantly constant gauge field solutions is obtained through the nontrivial space-time dependence of the unit colour vector that provides an additional contribution to the field strength tensor. This new class of covariantly constant gauge field solutions can be constructed by using the general properties of the Cho Ansatz. We define the topological currents and the corresponding charges and demonstrate that the new solutions have zero monopole charge density. Instead, the solutions have nonzero Hopf invariant, which is the magnetic helicity of the Faraday force lines.
To a compact oriented surface of genus at most one with boundary, we associate a quantized $K$-theoretic Coulomb branch in the sense of Braverman, Finkelberg, and Nakajima. In the case where the surface is a three- or four-holed sphere or a one-holed torus, we describe a relationship between this quantized Coulomb branch and the Kauffman bracket skein algebra of the surface. We formulate a general conjecture relating these algebras.
Pseudo-unitary circuits are recurring in both S-matrix theory and analysis of No-Go theorems. We propose a matrix and diagrammatic representation for the operation that maps S-matrices to T-matrices and, consequently, a unitary group to a pseudo-unitary one. We call this operation ``partial inversion'' and show its diagrammatic representation in terms of permutations. We find the expressions for the deformed metrics and deformed dot products that preserve physical constraints after partial inversion. Subsequently, we define a special set that allows for the simplification of expressions containing infinities in matrix inversion. Finally, we propose a renormalized-growth algorithm for the T-matrix as a possible application. The outcomes of our study expand the methodological toolbox needed to build a family of pseudo-unitary and inter-pseudo-unitary circuits with full diagrammatic representation in three dimensions, so that they can be used to exploit pseudo-unitary flexibilization of unitary No-Go Theorems and renormalized circuits of large scattering lattices.
We develop a framework for systematic study of symmetry transformations of sigma-model currents in a special situation, when symmetries have a well-defined projection onto the target space. We then apply this formalism to pure spinor sigma-models, and describe the resulting geometric structures in the target space (which in our approach includes the pure spinor ghosts). We perform a detailed study of the transformation properties of currents, using the formalism of equivariant cohomology. We clarify the general structure of the dilaton zero mode, study the contact terms in the OPE of BRST currents, and derive some relations between currents and vertex operators which perhaps have not been previously acknowledged. We also clarify the geometrical meaning of the " minimalistic " BV action for pure spinors in AdS.
We show that the $\tau$-functions of the regular KP solitons from the totally nonnegative Grassmannians can be expressed by the Riemann theta functions on singular curves. We explicitly write the parameters in the Riemann theta function in terms of those of the KP soliton. We give a short remark on the Prym theta function on a double covering of singular curves. We also discuss the KP soliton on quasi-periodic background, which is obtained by applying the vertex operators to the Riemann theta function.
In this paper, we studied the relationship between celestial holography and chiral strings. Chiral strings differ from the usual string theory by a change of boundary conditions on the string propagators. It is shown that chiral strings would reproduce graviton amplitudes and could serve as an alternative description of Einstein's gravity. Celestial holography is a proposed duality between gravity in asymptotically flat space-time and a CFT living on its conformal boundary. Since both are CFT descriptions of gravity, we investigate the potential connection between these two formalisms. In this paper, we find that both the energetic as well as conformal soft theorems could be derived from the OPEs of vertex operators of chiral strings. All operators in the CCFT can be described by Mellin transforming the vertex operators in the chiral string theories, and the OPE coefficients of CCFT can also be obtained from the world-sheet description.
A $d$-dimensional elastic manifold at depinning is described by a renormalized field theory, based on the Functional Renormalization Group (FRG). Here we analyze this theory to 3-loop order, equivalent to third order in $\epsilon=4-d$, where $d$ is the internal dimension. The critical exponent reads $\zeta = \frac \epsilon3 + 0.04777 \epsilon^2 -0.068354 \epsilon^3 + {\cal O}(\epsilon^4)$. Using that $\zeta(d=0)=2^-$, we estimate $\zeta(d=1)=1.266(20)$, $\zeta(d=2)=0.752(1)$ and $\zeta(d=3)=0.357(1)$. For Gaussian disorder, the pinning force per site is estimated as $f_{\rm c}= {\cal B} m^{2}\rho_m + f_{\rm c}^0$, where $m^2$ is the strength of the confining potential, $\cal B$ a universal amplitude, $\rho_m$ the correlation length of the disorder, and $f_{\rm c}^0$ a non-universal lattice dependent term. For charge-density waves, we find a mapping to the standard $\phi^4$-theory with $O(n)$ symmetry in the limit of $n\to -2$. This gives $f_{\rm c} = \tilde {\cal A}(d) m^2 \ln (m) + f_{\rm c}^0 $, with $\tilde {\cal A}(d) = -\partial_n \big[\nu(d,n)^{-1}+\eta(d,n)\big]_{n=-2}$, reminiscent of log-CFTs.
This work challenges the conventional notion that in spacetime dimension higher than one, a supersymmetric Lagrangian invariably consists of purely bosonic terms, purely fermionic terms, as well as boson-fermion mixing terms. By recasting a relativistic Lagrangian in terms of its non-relativistic and ultra-relativistic sectors, we reveal that an ultra-relativistic (Carrollian) supersymmetric Lagrangian can exist without a purely bosonic contribution. Based on this result, we demonstrate a link between higher-dimensional Carrollian and (0+1)-dimensional quantum mechanical models, yielding higher-order extensions of supersymmetric SYK models in which purely bosonic higher order terms are absent. Given that supersymmetry plays an essential role in improving the quantum behavior and solubility, our findings may lead to interesting applications in non-AdS holography.
In this paper, we develop the holographic mean field theory for strongly interacting fermion systems. We investigate various types of the symmetry-breakings and their effect on the spectral function. We found analytic expressions of fermion Green's functions in the probe-limit for all types of tensor order parameter fields. We classified the spectral shapes and singularity types from the analytic Green's function. We calculated the fermions spectral function in the full backreacted background and then compared it with the analytic results to show the reliability of analytic results in the probe limit.
We consider a generalization of the $SO(2)$ gauged $O(3)$ Skyrme model in $2+1$ dimensions in the presence of a Skyrme--Chern-Simons (SCS) term, which is defined in terms of $SO(2)\times SO(2)$ gauge fields together with an auxiliary $O(5)$ Skyrme scalar. Several different truncations of the general model are considered, with the aim to reveal to what extent the properties found in models with a (usual) Chern-Simons (CS) term are present also for the case of a SCS term. The results in this work show that qualitatively a similar picture emerges, with $e.g.$ the presence of negative slopes in the $(E,Q)$ and $(E,J)$-curves. However, the deformation of the "baryon number" observed in the CS case (with a suitable potential function of the Skyrme scalar) is absent.
We analyze the Hamiltonian structure of an extended chiral bosons theory in which the self-dual constraint is introduced via a control $\alpha$-parameter. The system has two second-class constraints in the non-critical regime and an additional one in the critical regime. We use a modified gauge unfixing formalism to derive a first-class system, disclosing hidden symmetries. To this end, we choose one of the second-class constraints to build a corresponding gauge symmetry generator. The worked out procedure converts second-class variables into first-class ones allowing the lifting of gauge symmetry. Any function of these GU variables will also be invariant. We obtain the GU Hamiltonian and Lagrangian densities in a generalized context containing the Srivastava and Floreanini-Jackiw models as particular cases. Additionally, we observe that the resulting GU Lagrangian presents similarities to the Siegel invariant Lagrangian which is known to be suitable for describing chiral bosons theory with classical gauge invariance, however broken at quantum level. The final results signal a possible equivalence between our invariant Lagrangian obtained from the modified GU formalism and the Siegel invariant Lagrangian, with a distinct gauge symmetry.
We provide a formula for computing the overlap between two Generalized Coherent States of any rank one simple Lie algebra. Then, we apply our formula to spin coherent states (i.e. $\mathfrak{su}(2)$ algebra), pseudo-spin coherent states (i.e. $\mathfrak{su}(1,1)$ algebra), and the $\mathfrak{sl}(2,\mathbb{R})$ subalgebras of Virasoro. In all these examples, we show the emergence of a semi-classical behaviour from the set of coherent states and verify that it always happens when some parameter, depending on the algebra and its representation, becomes large.
We discuss rapidly rotating states of a superfluid. We concentrate on the Giant-Vortex (GV) state, which is a coherent rotating solution with a macroscopic hole at the center. We show that, for any trap, the fluctuations obey an approximately chiral dispersion relation, describing arbitrary shape deformations moving with the speed of the ambient superfluid. This dispersion relation is a consequence of a peculiar infinite symmetry group that emerges at large angular velocity and implies an infinite ground-state degeneracy. The degeneracy is lifted by small corrections which we determine both for smooth traps and the hard trap.
Ab-initio calculations of real-time evolution for lattice gauge theory have very interesting potential applications but present challenging computational aspects. We show that tensor renormalization group methods developed in the context of Euclidean-time lattice field theory can be applied to calculation of Trotterized evolution operators at real time. We discuss the optimization of truncation procedures for various observables. We apply the numerical methods to the 1D Quantum Ising Model with an external transverse field in the ordered phase and compare with universal quantum computing for $N_{s}=4$ and 8 sites.
Celestial holography is a new way to understand flat-space amplitudes. Self-dual theories, due to their nice properties, are good subjects to study celestial holography. In this paper, we developed a new formula to calculate the celestial color-ordered self-dual Yang-Mills amplitudes based on celestial Berends-Giele currents, which makes the leading OPE limit manifest. In addition, we explore some higher-order terms of OPE in the celestial self-dual Yang-Mills theory.
We present results from a beam test of a telescope that utilizes the JadePix-3 pixel sensor, designed using TowerJazz 180 nm CMOS imaging technology. This telescope consists of 5 planes, each equipped with a JadePix-3 sensor, having pitches of $26\times16$ \si{\um^2} and $23.11\times16$ \si{\um^2}. It also incorporates an FPGA-based synchronous readout system. The telescope underwent testing from an electron beam with energy ranging from \SI{4}{GeV} to \SI{6}{GeV}. At the electron energy of \SI{5.4}{GeV}, the telescope provided a superior spatial resolution of \SI{2.6}{\um} and \SI{2.3}{\um} in two dimensions, respectively. By designating one plane as the device under test, we evaluated the JadePix-3 sensor's spatial resolution of \SI{5.2}{\um} and \SI{4.6}{\um} in two dimensions, and achieving a detection efficiency of more than 99.0\%.
A systematic study of the nonlinear response of Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs) has been conducted through Monte Carlo simulations. SiPMs have been proven to show a universal nonlinear response when it is expressed in terms of relative parameters independent of both the gain and the photon detection efficiency (PDE). Nonlinearity has been shown to mainly depend on the balance between the photon rate and the pixel recovery time. However, exponential-like and finite light pulses have been found to lead to different nonlinear behaviors, which also depend on the correlated noise, the overvoltage dependence of the PDE, and the impedance of the readout circuit. Correlated noise has been shown to have a minor impact on nonlinearity, but it can significantly affect the shape of the SiPM output current. Considering these dependencies and previous statistical analysis of the nonlinear response of SiPMs, two simple fitting models have been proposed for exponential-like and finite light pulses, explaining the role of their various terms and parameters. Even though these models have only three fitting parameters, they provide an accurate description of the nonlinear response of SiPMs for a wide range of situations.
The ATLAS trigger system is a crucial component of the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. It is responsible for selecting events in line with the ATLAS physics programme. This paper presents an overview of the changes to the trigger and data acquisition system during the second long shutdown of the LHC, and shows the performance of the trigger system and its components in the proton-proton collisions during the 2022 commissioning period as well as its expected performance in proton-proton and heavy-ion collisions for the remainder of the third LHC data-taking period (2022-2025).
The PANDA experiment at the international accelerator Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research in Europe (FAIR), Darmstadt, Germany, will address fundamental questions of hadron physics using $\bar{p}p$ annihilations. Excellent Particle Identification (PID) over a large range of solid angles and particle momenta will be essential to meet the objectives of the rich physics program. Charged PID in the target region will be provided by a Barrel DIRC (Detection of Internally Reflected Cherenkov light) counter. The Barrel DIRC, covering the polar angle range of 22-140 degrees, will provide a $\pi/K$ separation power of at least 3 standard deviations for charged particle momenta up to 3.5 GeV/c. The design of the Barrel DIRC features narrow radiator bars made from synthetic fused silica, an innovative multi-layer spherical lens focusing system, a prism-shaped synthetic fused silica expansion volume, and an array of lifetime-enhanced Microchannel Plate PMTs (MCP-PMTs) to detect the hit location and arrival time of the Cherenkov photons. Detailed Monte-Carlo simulations were performed, and reconstruction methods were developed to study the performance of the system. All critical aspects of the design and the performance were validated with system prototypes in a mixed hadron beam at the CERN PS. In 2020 the PANDA Barrel DIRC project advanced from the design stage to component fabrication. The series production of the fused silica bars was successfully completed in 2021 and delivery of the MCP-PMTs started in May 2022.
The central exclusive production of charged hadron pairs in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV is examined, based on data collected in a special high-$\beta^*$ run of the LHC. Events are selected by requiring both scattered protons detected in the TOTEM Roman pots, exactly two oppositely charged identified particles in the CMS silicon tracker, and the energy-momentum balance of these four particles. The nonresonant continuum processes are studied with the invariant mass of the centrally produced two-pion system in the resonance-free region, $m < 0.7~\mathrm{GeV}$ or $m > 1.8~\mathrm{GeV}$. Differential cross sections as functions of the azimuthal angle between the surviving protons, squared four-momenta, and two-hadron invariant mass are measured in a wide region of scattered proton transverse momenta $0.2~\mathrm{GeV} < p_\text{1,T}, p_\text{2,T} < 0.8~\mathrm{GeV}$ and for hadron rapidities $|y| < 2$. A rich structure of interactions related to double pomeron exchange emerges. The parabolic minimum in the distribution of the two-proton azimuthal angle is observed for the first time. It can be understood as an effect of additional pomeron exchanges between the protons from the interference between the bare and the rescattered amplitudes. After model tuning, various physical quantities related to the pomeron cross section, proton-pomeron and hadron-pomeron form factors, trajectory slopes and intercepts, as well as coefficients of diffractive eigenstates of the proton are determined.
Differential cross section measurements of the associated production of top quark and b quark pairs, $\text{t}\bar{\text{t}}\text{b}\bar{\text{b}}$, are presented. The results are based on data from proton-proton collisions collected by the CMS detector at the LHC at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} = 13\text{ TeV}$, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $138 \text{ fb}^{-1}$. Four fiducial phase space regions are defined targeting distinct aspects of the $\text{t}\bar{\text{t}}\text{b}\bar{\text{b}}$ process. Kinematic variables are defined at the stable particle level and distributions are unfolded to the particle level through maximum likelihood fits. The cross sections are measured in the lepton+jets decay channel of the top quark pair, using events with exactly one isolated electron or muon and at least five jets. The results are compared with predictions from several event generators. The differential measurements have relative uncertainties in the range of $2\!-\!50\%$, depending on the phase space and the observable.
In this work we present a comparison of semi-inclusive muon and electron neutrino cross sections with $^{40}$Ar target measured by the MicroBooNE Collaboration with the predictions of an unfactorized model based on the relativistic distorted wave impulse approximation (RDWIA) and the SuSAv2-MEC model implemented in the neutrino event generator GENIE. The predictions based on the RDWIA approach, with a realistic description of the initial state and a phenomenological relativistic complex optical potential for the description of final state interactions, better describe the measured cross sections than GENIE-SuSAv2 and RDWIA with a purely real potential.
The strange quark content of the proton is probed through the measurement of the production cross section for a W boson and a charm (c) quark in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The analysis uses a data sample corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$ collected with the CMS detector at the LHC. The W bosons are identified through their leptonic decays to an electron or a muon, and a neutrino. Charm jets are tagged using the presence of a muon or a secondary vertex inside the jet. The W+c production cross section and the cross section ratio $R^\pm_\text{c}$ = $\sigma$(W$^+$+$\bar{\text{c}}$) / $\sigma$(W$^-$+$\text{c}$) are measured inclusively and differentially as functions of the transverse momentum and the pseudorapidity of the lepton originating from the W boson decay. The precision of the measurements is improved with respect to previous studies, reaching 1% in $R^\pm_\text{c}$. The precision of the measurements is improved with respect to previous studies, reaching 1% in $R^\pm_\text{c}$ = 0.950 $\pm$ 0.005 (stat) $\pm$ 0.010 (syst). The measurements are compared with theoretical predictions up to next-to-next-to-leading order in perturbative quantum chromodynamics.
A search is presented for single production of a vector-like $B$ quark decaying into a Standard Model $b$-quark and a Standard Model Higgs boson, which decays into a $b\bar{b}$ pair. The search is carried out in 139 fb$^{-1}$ of $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV proton-proton collision data collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC between 2015 and 2018. No significant deviation from the Standard Model background prediction is observed, and mass-dependent exclusion limits at the 95% confidence level are set on the resonance production cross-section in several theoretical scenarios determined by the couplings $c_W$, $c_Z$ and $c_H$ between the $B$ quark and the Standard Model $W$, $Z$ and Higgs bosons, respectively. For a vector-like $B$ occurring as an isospin singlet, the search excludes values of $c_W$ greater than 0.45 for a $B$ resonance mass ($m_B$) between 1.0 and 1.2 TeV. For 1.2 TeV < $m_B$ < 2.0 TeV, $c_W$ values larger than 0.50-0.65 are excluded. If the $B$ occurs as part of a $(B,Y)$ doublet, the smallest excluded $c_Z$ coupling values range between 0.3 and 0.5 across the investigated resonance mass range 1.0 TeV < $m_B$ < 2.0 TeV.
A search for a new massive charged gauge boson, $W'$, is performed with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The dataset used in this analysis was collected from proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} =13$ TeV, and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb$^{-1}$. The reconstructed $tb$ invariant mass is used to search for a $W'$ boson decaying into a top quark and a bottom quark. The result is interpreted in terms of a $W'$ boson with purely right-handed or left-handed chirality in a mass range of 0.5-6 TeV. Different values for the coupling of the $W'$ boson to the top and bottom quarks are considered, taking into account interference with single-top-quark production in the $s$-channel. No significant deviation from the background prediction is observed. The results are expressed as upper limits on the $W' \rightarrow tb$ production cross-section times branching ratio as a function of the $W'$-boson mass and in the plane of the coupling vs the $W'$-boson mass.
The measurement of Z boson production is presented as a method to determine the integrated luminosity of CMS data sets. The analysis uses proton-proton collision data, recorded by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC in 2017 at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. Events with Z bosons decaying into a pair of muons are selected. The total number of Z bosons produced in a fiducial volume is determined, together with the identification efficiencies and correlations from the same data set, in small intervals of 2 pb$^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity, thus facilitating the efficiency and rate measurement as a function of time and instantaneous luminosity. Using the ratio of the efficiency-corrected numbers of Z bosons, the precisely measured integrated luminosity of one data set is used to determine the luminosity of another. For the first time, a full quantitative uncertainty analysis of the use of Z bosons for the integrated luminosity measurement is performed. The uncertainty in the extrapolation between two data sets, recorded in 2017 at low and high instantaneous luminosity, is less than 0.5%. We show that the Z boson rate measurement constitutes a precise method, complementary to traditional methods, with the potential to improve the measurement of the integrated luminosity.
We present the first search for heavy neutral leptons (HNL) decaying into $\nu e^+e^-$ or $\nu\pi^0$ final states in a liquid-argon time projection chamber using data collected with the MicroBooNE detector. The data were recorded synchronously with the NuMI neutrino beam from Fermilab's Main Injector corresponding to a total exposure of $7.01 \times 10^{20}$ protons on target. We set upper limits at the $90\%$ confidence level on the mixing parameter $\lvert U_{\mu 4}\rvert^2$ in the mass ranges $10\le m_{\rm HNL}\le 150$ MeV for the $\nu e^+e^-$ channel and $150\le m_{\rm HNL}\le 245$ MeV for the $\nu\pi^0$ channel, assuming $\lvert U_{e 4}\rvert^2 = \lvert U_{\tau 4}\rvert^2 = 0$. These limits represent the most stringent constraints in the mass range $35<m_{\rm HNL}<175$ MeV and the first constraints from a direct search for $\nu\pi^0$ decays.
This Letter presents the most precise measurement to date of the matter/antimatter imbalance at midrapidity in Pb-Pb collisions at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon pair $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 5.02$ TeV. Using the Statistical Hadronization framework, it is possible to obtain the value of the electric charge and baryon chemical potentials, $\mu_Q=-0.18\pm0.90$ MeV and $\mu_B=0.71\pm0.45$ MeV, with unprecedented precision. A centrality-differential study of the antiparticle-to-particle yield ratios of charged pions, protons, $\Omega$-baryons, and light (hyper)nuclei is performed. These results indicate that the system created in Pb-Pb collisions at the LHC is on average baryon-free and electrically neutral at midrapidity.
The Ozawa's Intersubjectivity Theorem (OIT) proved within quantum measurement theory supports the new postulate of relational quantum mechanics (RQM), the postulate on internally consistent descriptions. But from OIT viewpoint postulate's formulation should be completed by the assumption of probability reproducibility
The frontier of quantum computing (QC) simulation on classical hardware is quickly reaching the hard scalability limits for computational feasibility. Nonetheless, there is still a need to simulate large quantum systems classically, as the Noisy Intermediate Scale Quantum (NISQ) devices are yet to be considered fault tolerant and performant enough in terms of operations per second. Each of the two main exact simulation techniques, state vector and tensor network simulators, boasts specific limitations. The exponential memory requirement of state vector simulation, when compared to the qubit register sizes of currently available quantum computers, quickly saturates the capacity of the top HPC machines currently available. Tensor network contraction approaches, which encode quantum circuits into tensor networks and then contract them over an output bit string to obtain its probability amplitude, still fall short of the inherent complexity of finding an optimal contraction path, which maps to a max-cut problem on a dense mesh, a notably NP-hard problem. This article aims at investigating the limits of current state-of-the-art simulation techniques on a test bench made of eight widely used quantum subroutines, each in 31 different configurations, with special emphasis on performance. We then correlate the performance measures of the simulators with the metrics that characterise the benchmark circuits, identifying the main reasons behind the observed performance trend. From our observations, given the structure of a quantum circuit and the number of qubits, we highlight how to select the best simulation strategy, obtaining a speedup of up to an order of magnitude.
We show how a driven-dissipative cavity coupled to a collective ensemble of atoms can dynamically generate metrologically useful spin-squeezed states. In contrast to other dissipative approaches, we do not rely on complex engineered dissipation or input states, nor do we require tuning the system to a critical point. Instead, we utilize a strong symmetry, a special type of symmetry that can occur in open quantum systems and emerges naturally in systems with collective dissipation, such as superradiance. This symmetry preserves coherence and allows for the accumulation of an atom number-dependent Berry phase which in turn creates spin-squeezed states via emergent one-axis twisting dynamics. This work shows that it is possible to generate entanglement in an atom-cavity resonant regime with macroscopic optical excitations of the system, going beyond the typical dispersive regime with negligible optical excitations often utilized in current cavity QED experiments.
Dissipative processes can drive different magnetic orders in quantum spin chains. Using a non-perturbative analytic mapping framework, we systematically show how to structure different magnetic orders in spin systems by controlling the locality of the attached baths. Our mapping approach reveals analytically the impact of spin-bath couplings, leading to the suppression of spin splittings, bath-dressing and mixing of spin-spin interactions, and emergence of non-local ferromagnetic interactions between spins coupled to the same bath, which become long-ranged for a global bath. Our general mapping method can be readily applied to a variety of spin models: We demonstrate (i) a bath-induced transition from antiferromangnetic (AFM) to ferromagnetic ordering in a Heisenberg spin chain, (ii) AFM to extended Neel phase ordering within a transverse-field Ising chain with pairwise couplings to baths, and (iii) a quantum phase transition in the fully-connected Ising model. Our method is non-perturbative in the system-bath coupling. It holds for a variety of non-Markovian baths and it can be readily applied towards studying bath-engineered phases in frustrated or topological materials.
Mean-field theories (MFTs) have proven to be efficient tools for exploring various phases of matter, complementing alternative methods that are more precise but also more computationally demanding. Conventional mean-field theories (MFTs) often fall short in capturing quantum fluctuations, which restricts their applicability to systems characterized by strong quantum fluctuations. In this article, we propose a novel mean-field theory, density-matrix mean-field theory (DMMFT).DMMFT constructs effective Hamiltonians, incorporating quantum environments shaped by entanglements quantified by the reduced density matrices. Therefore, it offers a systematic and unbiased approach to account for effects of fluctuations and entanglements in quantum ordered phases. As demonstrative examples, we show that DMMFT can not only quantitatively evaluate the renormalization of order parameters induced by quantum fluctuations but can even detect the topological order of quantum phases. Additionally, we discuss the extensions of DMMFT for systems at finite temperatures and those with disorders. Our work provides a novel and efficient approach to explore phases exhibiting unconventional quantum orders, which can be particularly beneficial for investigating frustrated spin systems in high spatial dimensions.
Many problems in linear algebra -- such as those arising from non-Hermitian physics and differential equations -- can be solved on a quantum computer by processing eigenvalues of the non-normal input matrices. However, the existing Quantum Singular Value Transformation (QSVT) framework is ill-suited to this task, as eigenvalues and singular values are different in general. We present a Quantum EigenValue Transformation (QEVT) framework for applying arbitrary polynomial transformations on eigenvalues of block-encoded non-normal operators, and a related Quantum EigenValue Estimation (QEVE) algorithm for operators with real spectra. QEVT has query complexity to the block encoding nearly recovering that of the QSVT for a Hermitian input, and QEVE achieves the Heisenberg-limited scaling for diagonalizable input matrices. As applications, we develop a linear differential equation solver with strictly linear time query complexity for average-case diagonalizable operators, as well as a ground state preparation algorithm that upgrades previous nearly optimal results for Hermitian Hamiltonians to diagonalizable matrices with real spectra. Underpinning our algorithms is an efficient method to prepare a quantum superposition of Faber polynomials, which generalize the nearly-best uniform approximation properties of Chebyshev polynomials to the complex plane. Of independent interest, we also develop techniques to generate $n$ Fourier coefficients with $\mathbf{O}(\mathrm{polylog}(n))$ gates compared to prior approaches with linear cost.
Photonic integrated circuits with second-order ($\chi^{(2)}$) nonlinearities are rapidly scaling to remarkably low powers. At this time, state-of-the-art devices achieve saturated nonlinear interactions with thousands of photons when driven by continuous-wave lasers, and further reductions in these energy requirements enabled by the use of ultrafast pulses may soon push nonlinear optics into the realm of single-photon nonlinearities. This tutorial reviews these recent developments in ultrafast nonlinear photonics, discusses design strategies for realizing few-photon nonlinear interactions, and presents a unified treatment of ultrafast quantum nonlinear optics using a framework that smoothly interpolates from classical behaviors to the few-photon scale. These emerging platforms for quantum optics fundamentally differ from typical realizations in cavity quantum electrodynamics due to the large number of coupled optical modes. Classically, multimode behaviors have been well studied in nonlinear optics, with famous examples including soliton formation and supercontinuum generation. In contrast, multimode quantum systems exhibit a far greater variety of behaviors, and yet closed-form solutions are even sparser than their classical counterparts. In developing a framework for ultrafast quantum optics, we will identify what behaviors carry over from classical to quantum devices, what intuition must be abandoned, and what new opportunities exist at the intersection of ultrafast and quantum nonlinear optics. While this article focuses on establishing connections between the classical and quantum behaviors of devices with $\chi^{(2)}$ nonlinearities, the frameworks developed here are general and are readily extended to the description of dynamical processes based on third-order ($\chi^{(3)}$) nonlinearities.
A promising strategy to protect quantum information from noise-induced errors is to encode it into the low-energy states of a topological quantum memory device. However, readout errors from such memory under realistic settings is less understood. We study the problem of decoding quantum information encoded in the groundspaces of topological stabilizer Hamiltonians in the presence of generic perturbations, such as quenched disorder. We first prove that the standard stabilizer-based error correction and decoding schemes work adequately well in such perturbed quantum codes by showing that the decoding error diminishes exponentially in the distance of the underlying unperturbed code. We then prove that Quantum Neural Network (QNN) decoders provide an almost quadratic improvement on the readout error. Thus, we demonstrate provable advantage of using QNNs for decoding realistic quantum error-correcting codes, and our result enables the exploration of a wider range of non-stabilizer codes in the near-term laboratory settings.
Quantum channel, as the information transmitter, is an indispensable tool in quantum information theory. In this paper, we study a class of special quantum channels named the mixed-permutation channels. The properties of these channels are characterized. The mixedpermutation channels can be applied to give a lower bound of quantum coherence with respect to any coherence measure. In particular, the analytical lower bounds for l1-norm coherence and the relative entropy of coherence are shown respectively. The extension to bipartite systems is presented for the actions of the mixed-permutation channels.
Image denoising is essential for removing noise in images caused by electric device malfunctions or other factors during image acquisition. It helps preserve image quality and interpretation. Many convolutional autoencoder algorithms have proven effective in image denoising. Owing to their promising efficiency, quantum computers have gained popularity. This study introduces a quantum convolutional autoencoder (QCAE) method for improved image denoising. This method was developed by substituting the representative latent space of the autoencoder with a quantum circuit. To enhance efficiency, we leveraged the advantages of the quantum approximate optimization algorithm (QAOA)-incorporated parameter-shift rule to identify an optimized cost function, facilitating effective learning from data and gradient computation on an actual quantum computer. The proposed QCAE method outperformed its classical counterpart as it exhibited lower training loss and a higher structural similarity index (SSIM) value. QCAE also outperformed its classical counterpart in denoising the MNIST dataset by up to 40% in terms of SSIM value, confirming its enhanced capabilities in real-world applications. Evaluation of QAOA performance across different circuit configurations and layer variations showed that our technique outperformed other circuit designs by 25% on average.
In photonic quantum applications, optical routers are required to handle single photons with low loss, high speed, and preservation of their quantum states. Single-photon routing with maintained polarization states is particularly important for utilizing them as qubits. Here, we demonstrate a polarization-maintaining electro-optic router compatible with single photons. Our custom electro-optic modulator is embedded in a configuration of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer, where each optical component achieves polarization-maintaining operation. We observe the performance of the router with 2-4% loss, 20 dB switching extinction ratio, 2.9 ns rise time, and $>$ 99% polarization process fidelity to an ideal identity operation.
Time series prediction (TSP) has been widely used in various fields, such as life sciences and finance, to forecast future trends based on historical data. However, to date, there has been relatively little research conducted on the TSP for quantum physics. In this paper, we explore the potential application of TSP in forecasting the dynamical evolution of open quantum systems. We employ deep learning techniques to train a TSP model and evaluate its performance by comparison with exact solution. We use the ratio of the prediction step length and the sequence length to define short and long-term forecasting. Our results show that the trained model has the ability to effectively capture the inherent characteristics of time series for both short-term and long-term forecasting. Accurate predictions for different coupling intensities and initial states are obtained. Furthermore, we use our method to train another model and find that it can successfully predict the steady state of the system. These findings suggests that TSP is a valuable tool for the prediction of the dynamics in open quantum systems.
Electrodynamical coupled cluster (CC) methodologies have been formulated employing standard QED Hamiltonian that is written in Coulomb gauge while using the DF and the MCDF pictures of the matter field for closed-shell and open-shell cases respectively. The general methodology employs a radiative cluster, pure matter clusters and their pair modifications, and a number state distribution of photons in thermal equilibrium. The closed-shell treatment relies on the customary CC approach. For open shells, QED and electron correlation through CC are treated on the same footing. An averaging over the radiation state is done to generate Lamb, Breit and hyperfine interactions from the radiative cluster. Because of the thermal distribution, it leaves a residual transverse interaction that may modify the static correlation in open shells. Dynamical correlation effects are determined next by using the exponential matter cluster in traditional ways of single- and multi-reference CC. When the matter cluster is extended to include de-excitations to negative-energy levels, vacuum polarization effects are generated from the pair part of Coulomb interaction. The dynamical correlation energy includes relativistic corrections as well as QED contributions, namely, Lamb, Breit, hyperfine and pair energy. This work has three novelties: (i) QED interactions (Lamb, Breit and hyperfine) are obtained from a single procedure based on the radiative cluster; (ii) pair energy is determined from an extended matter cluster formalism; and (iii) additional correlation energy can be had from radiative effects and pair terms, while the option for higher order pair energy in high-Z atoms is kept open. The open-shell formalism has one more novelty in finding an additional static correlation in certain cases when the radiation is not isotropic.
We propose and analyze a scheme for manipulating the propagation of single photon pulses with two polarization components in a Rydberg atomic gas via double electromagnetically induced transparency. We show that by storing a gate photon in a Rydberg state a deep and tunable potential for a photon polarization qubit can be achieved based on strong Rydberg interaction. We also show that the scheme can be used to realize all-optical switch in dissipation regime and generate a large phase shift in dispersion regime for the photon polarization qubit. Moreover, we demonstrate that such a scheme can be utilized to detect weak magnetic fields. The results reported here are not only beneficial for understanding the quantum optical property of Rydberg atomic gases, but also promising for designing novel devices for quantum information processing.
Topological quantum optics, an emerging area of study, holds the potential to bring about substantial enhancements for integrated quantum devices. Here we propose integrated topological quantum devices performing various functions including optical parametric amplification, frequency division, and frequency entangled biphoton generation. We show two distinct edge modes corresponding to different frequency ranges in both sandwich kagome and honeycomb topological designs that emulate the quantum valley Hall effect. These two topological edge modes enable two types of optical parametric processes through four-wave mixing, specifically inter-band and intra-band cases. The devices emulating photonic valley-Hall insulators allow the frequency division of two transverse modes, and furthermore, enable the separation of two quantum functionalities - optical parametric amplification and frequency entangled biphoton state generation. More importantly, the parametric processes are inborn topological protected, showing robustness against sharp bends and disorders. Our proposal significantly widens the possibilities for robust, multifunctional topological quantum devices on-chip, which may find applications in quantum information processing.
Quantum computation promises to advance a wide range of computational tasks. However, current quantum hardware suffers from noise and is too small for error correction. Thus, accurately utilizing noisy quantum computers strongly relies on noise characterization, mitigation, and suppression. Crucially, these methods must also be efficient in terms of their classical and quantum overhead. Here, we efficiently characterize and mitigate crosstalk noise, which is a severe error source in, e.g., cross-resonance based superconducting quantum processors. For crosstalk characterization, we develop a simplified measurement experiment. Furthermore, we analyze the problem of optimal experiment scheduling and solve it for common hardware architectures. After characterization, we mitigate noise in quantum circuits by a noise-aware qubit routing algorithm. Our integer programming algorithm extends previous work on optimized qubit routing by swap insertion. We incorporate the measured crosstalk errors in addition to other, more easily accessible noise data in the objective function. Furthermore, we strengthen the underlying integer linear model by proving a convex hull result about an associated class of polytopes, which has applications beyond this work. We evaluate the proposed method by characterizing crosstalk noise for a complete 27 qubit chip and leverage the resulting data to improve the approximation ratio of the Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm by up to 10 % compared to other established noise-aware routing methods. Our work clearly demonstrates the gains of including noise data when mapping abstract quantum circuits to hardware native ones.
The great scientific and technological advances that are being carried out in the field of quantum communications, accompanied by large investment programs such as EuroQCI, are driving the deployment of quantum network throughout the world. One of the final long-term objectives is to achieve the development of a quantum internet that provides greater security in its services and new functionalities that the current internet does not have. This article analyzes the possible integration strategies of already deployed networks or in the process of being deployed in order to reach a future global quantum network. Two strategies based on the SDN paradigm are proposed, based on a hierarchical controller scheme and on a distributed model. Each of these approaches shows pros and cons and could be applicable in different use cases. To define these strategies, the most relevant deployments of quantum communications networks carried out to date has been analyzed, as well as the different approaches for a quantum network architecture and topology, and the various proposed definitions of what quantum internet is and what are the components that would make it up in an ideal scenario. Finally, several detected opportunities and challenges regarding security and technological aspects are presented.
In the standard Bell scenario, when making a local projective measurement on each system component, the amount of randomness generated is restricted. However, this limitation can be surpassed through the implementation of sequential measurements. Nonetheless, a rigorous definition of random numbers in the context of sequential measurements is yet to be established, except for the lower quantification in device-independent scenarios. In this paper, we define quantum intrinsic randomness in sequential measurements and quantify the randomness in the Collins-Gisin-Linden-Massar-Popescu (CGLMP) inequality sequential scenario. Initially, we investigate the quantum intrinsic randomness of the mixed states under sequential projective measurements and the intrinsic randomness of the sequential positive-operator-valued measure (POVM) under pure states. Naturally, we rigorously define quantum intrinsic randomness under sequential POVM for arbitrary quantum states. Furthermore, we apply our method to one-Alice and two-Bobs sequential measurement scenarios, and quantify the quantum intrinsic randomness of the maximally entangled state and maximally violated state by giving an extremal decomposition. Finally, using the sequential Navascues-Pironio-Acin (NPA) hierarchy in the device-independent scenario, we derive lower bounds on the quantum intrinsic randomness of the maximally entangled state and maximally violated state.
Coherent spin resonance methods, such as nuclear magnetic resonance and electron spin resonance spectroscopy, have led to spectrally highly sensitive, non-invasive quantum imaging techniques. Here, we propose a pump-probe spin resonance spectroscopy approach, designed for electron microscopy, based on microwave pump fields and electron probes. We investigate how quantum spin systems couple to electron matter waves through their magnetic moments and how the resulting phase shifts can be utilized to gain information about the states and dynamics of these systems. Notably, state-of-the-art transmission electron microscopy provides the means to detect phase shifts almost as small as that due to a single electron spin. This could enable state-selective observation of spin dynamics on the nanoscale and indirect measurement of the environment of the examined spin systems, providing information, for example, on the atomic structure, local chemical composition and neighboring spins.
Algebraic quantum field theory (AQFT) puts forward three "causal axioms" that aim to characterize the theory as one that implements relativistic causation: the spectrum condition, microcausality, and primitive causality. In this paper, I aim to show, in a minimally technical way, that none of them fully explains the notion of causation appropriate for AQFT because they only capture some of the desiderata for relativistic causation I state or because it is often unclear how each axiom implements its respective desideratum. After this diagnostic, I will show that a fourth condition, local primitive causality (LPC), fully characterizes relativistic causation in the sense of fulfilling all the relevant desiderata. However, it only encompasses the virtues of the other axioms because it is implied by them, as I will show from a construction by Haag and Schroer (1962). Since the conjunction of the three causal axioms implies LPC and other important results in QFT that LPC does not imply, and since LPC helps clarify some of the shortcomings of the three axioms, I advocate for a holistic interpretation of how the axioms characterize the causal structure of AQFT against the strategy in the literature to rivalize the axioms and privilege one among them.
In this work we describe how to systematically implement a full graph decomposition to set up a linked-cluster expansion for the topological phase of Kitaev's toric code in a field. This demands to include the non-local effects mediated by the mutual anyonic statistics of elementary charge and flux excitations. Technically, we describe how to consistently integrate such non-local effects into a hypergraph decomposition for single excitations. The approach is demonstrated for the ground-state energy and the elementary excitation energies of charges and fluxes in the perturbed topological phase.
In this work, we present simulations of two Open Quantum System models, Collisional and Markovian Reservoir, with noise simulations, the IBM devices ($\textit{ibm_kyoto}$, $\textit{ibm_osaka}$) and the OQC device Lucy. Extending the results of Garc\'ia-P\'erez, et al. [npj Quantum Information 6.1 (2020): 1]. Using the Mitiq toolkit, we apply Zero-Noise extrapolation (ZNE), an error mitigation technique, and analyze their deviation from the theoretical results for the models under study. For both models, by applying ZNE, we were able to reduce the error and overlap it with the theoretical results. All our simulations and experiments were done in the qBraid environment.
We consider the impact that temporal correlations in the measurement statistics can have on the achievable precision in a sequential metrological protocol. In this setting, and for a single quantum probe, we establish that it is the transitions between the measurement basis states that plays the most significant role in determining the precision, with the resulting conditional Fisher information being interpretable as a rate of information acquisition. Projective measurements are shown to elegantly demonstrate this in two disparate estimation settings. Firstly, in determining the temperature of an environment and, secondly, to ascertain a parameter of the system Hamiltonian. In both settings we show that the sequential estimation approach can provide a useful method to enhance the achievable precision.
Performing nanoscale scanning electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) requires three essential ingredients. First, a static magnetic field together to field gradients to Zeeman split the electronic energy levels with spatial resolution. Second, a radiofrequency (rf) magnetic field capable of inducing spin transitions. Finally, a sensitive detection method to quantify the energy absorbed by spins. This is usually achieved by combining externally applied magnetic fields with inductive coils or cavities, fluorescent defects or scanning probes. Here, we {\color{black} theoretically propose the realization of a EPR scanning sensor merging all three characteristics into a single device}: the vortex core stabilized in ferromagnetic thin-film discs. On one hand, the vortex ground state generates a significant static magnetic field and field gradients. On the other hand, the precessional motion of the vortex core around its equilibrium position produces a circularly polarized oscillating magnetic field, which is enough to produce spin transitions. Finally, the spin-magnon coupling broadens the vortex gyrotropic frequency, {\color{black} suggesting} a direct measure of the presence of unpaired electrons. Moreover, the vortex core can be displaced by simply using external magnetic fields of a few mT, enabling EPR scanning microscopy with large spatial resolution. Our {\color{black} numerical} simulations show that, by using low damping magnets, it is {\color{black} theoretically} possible to detect single spins located on the disc's surface. Vortex nanocavities could also attain strong coupling to individual spin molecular qubits, with potential applications to mediate qubit-qubit interactions or to implement qubit readout protocols.
We characterise the category of finite-dimensional Hilbert spaces and linear contractions using simple category-theoretic axioms that do not refer to norms, continuity, dimension, or real numbers. Our proof directly relates limits in category theory to limits in analysis, using a new variant of the classical characterisation of the real numbers instead of Sol\`er's theorem.
Recent experimental results have validated a prediction made almost four decades ago, affirming the existence of quantized current steps in ultrasmall Josephson junctions and superconducting nanowires. These so-called dual Shapiro steps hold promise for a new current standard and thus could close the quantum metrological triangle. This is because the steps mark quantized current levels $I=\pm n \times 2ef$, where the elementary charge $e$ is a fixed constant in the new SI and the frequency $f$ is the physical quantity measured with the highest precision. To realize dual Shapiro steps, we embed an Al/AlO$_\mathrm{x}$/Al dc-SQUID in a high impedance environment made from granular aluminium and oxidized titanium. We successfully demonstrate quantized current steps in the IV-curves by applying sinusoidal driving signals of frequencies up to $6\:\mathrm{GHz}$ resulting in quantized current levels up to $I \approx \pm 2\:\mathrm{nA}$. Remarkably, if changing to a pulsed drive, the first dual Shapiro step has a larger voltage amplitude, while the opposite step vanishes, depending on the sign of the pulse. By using the peak values of the differential resistance as a measure of flatness, we demonstrate improvement due to the pulsed driving signals by a factor of $\sim 2$ compared to sinusoidal driving.
The growing interest in quantum information has enabled the manipulation and readout of microwave photon states with high fidelities. The presently available microwave photon counters, based on superconducting circuits, are limited to non-continuous pulsed mode operation, requiring additional steps for qubit state preparation before an actual measurement. Here, we present a continuous microwave photon counter based on superconducting cavity-coupled semiconductor quantum dots. The device utilizes photon-assisted tunneling in a double quantum dot with tunneling events being probed by a third dot. Our device detects both single and multiple-photon absorption events independently, thanks to the energy tunability of a two-level double-dot absorber. We show that the photon-assisted tunnel rates serve as the measure of the cavity photon state in line with the P(E) theory - a theoretical framework delineating the mediation of the cavity photon field via a two-level environment. We further describe the single photon detection using the Jaynes-Cummings input-output theory and show that it agrees with the P(E) theory predictions.
We prove that the natural isomorphism between GF(2^h) and GF(2)^h induces a bijection between stabiliser codes on n quqits with local dimension q=2^h and binary stabiliser codes on hn qubits. This allows us to describe these codes geometrically: a stabiliser code over a field of even order corresponds to a so-called quantum set of symplectic polar spaces. Moreover, equivalent stabiliser codes have a similar geometry, which can be used to prove the uniqueness of a [[4,0,3]]_4 stabiliser code and the nonexistence of both a [[7,1,4]]_4 and an [[8,0,5]]_4 stabiliser code.
In the development of quantum technologies, a reliable means for characterizing quantum devices, be it a measurement device, a state-preparation device, or a transformation device, is crucial. However, the conventional approach based on, for example, quantum state tomography or process tomography relies on assumptions that are often not necessarily justifiable in a realistic experimental setting. While the device-independent approach to this problem gets around the shortcomings above by making only minimal, justifiable assumptions, most of the theoretical proposals to date only work in the idealized setting where independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) trials are assumed. Here, we provide a versatile solution for rigorous device-independent certification that does not rely on the i.i.d. assumption. Specifically, we describe how the prediction-based-ratio (PBR) protocol and martingale-based protocol developed for hypothesis testing can be applied in the present context to achieve a device-independent certification of desirable properties with confidence interval. To illustrate the versatility of these methods, we demonstrate how we can use them to certify -- with finite data -- the underlying negativity, Hilbert space dimension, entanglement depth, and fidelity to some target pure state. In particular, we give examples showing how the amount of certifiable negativity and fidelity scales with the number of trials. Our results also show that, while the martingale-based protocol is more straightforward to implement, its performance depends strongly on the choice of the Bell function. Intriguingly, a Bell function useful for self-testing does not necessarily give the optimal confidence-gain rate for certifying the fidelity to the corresponding target state.
The quantum approximate optimization algorithm (QAOA) is one of the most promising candidates for achieving quantum advantage through quantum-enhanced combinatorial optimization. Optimal QAOA parameter concentration effects for special MaxCut problem instances have been observed, but a rigorous study of the subject is still lacking. Due to clustering of optimal QAOA parameters for MaxCut, successful parameter transferability between different MaxCut instances can be explained and predicted based on local properties of the graphs, including the type of subgraphs (lightcones) from which graphs are composed as well as the overall degree of nodes in the graph (parity). In this work, we apply five different graph embedding techniques to determine good donor candidates for parameter transferability, including parameter transferability between different classes of MaxCut instances. Using this technique, we effectively reduce the number of iterations required for parameter optimization, obtaining an approximate solution to the target problem with an order of magnitude speedup. This procedure also effectively removes the problem of encountering barren plateaus during the variational optimization of parameters. Additionally, our findings demonstrate that the transferred parameters maintain effectiveness when subjected to noise, supporting their use in real-world quantum applications. This work presents a framework for identifying classes of combinatorial optimization instances for which optimal donor candidates can be predicted such that QAOA can be substantially accelerated under both ideal and noisy conditions.
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most prevalent neurodegenerative brain disorder, which results in significant cognitive impairments, especially in the elderly population. Cognitive impairments can manifest as a decline in various mental faculties, such as concentration, memory, and other higher-order cognitive abilities. These deficits can significantly impact an individual's capacity to comprehend information, acquire new knowledge, and communicate effectively. One of the affected activities due to cognitive impairments is handwriting. By analyzing different aspects of handwriting, including pressure, velocity, and spatial organization, researchers can detect subtle alterations that might indicate early-stage cognitive impairments, especially AD. Recently, several classical artificial intelligence (AI) approaches have been proposed for detecting AD in elderly individuals through handwriting analysis. However, advanced AI methods require more computational power as the size of the data increases. Additionally, diagnoses can be influenced by factors such as limited relevant classical vector space and correlations between features. Recent studies have shown that using quantum computing technologies in healthcare can not only address these problems but also accelerate complex data analysis and process large datasets more efficiently. In this study, we introduced a variational quantum classifier with fewer circuit elements to facilitate the early diagnosis of AD in elderly individuals based on handwriting data. We employed ZZFeatureMap for encoding features. To classify AD, a parameterized quantum circuit consisting of repeated Ry and Rz rotation gates, as well as CY and CZ two-qubit entangling gates, was designed and implemented. The proposed model achieved an accuracy of 0.75 in classifying AD.
The electron spin of a nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond lends itself to the control of proximal $^{13}$C nuclear spins via dynamical decoupling methods, possibly combined with radio-frequency driving. Long-lived single-qubit states and high-fidelity electron-nuclear gates required for the realization of a multiqubit register have already been demonstrated. Towards the goal of a scalable architecture, linking multiple such registers in a photonic network represents an important step. Multiple pairs of remotely entangled qubits can enable advanced algorithms or error correction protocols. We investigate how a photonic architecture can be extended from the intrinsic nitrogen spin to multiple $^{13}$C spins per node. Applying decoherence-protected gates sequentially, we simulate the fidelity of creating multiple pairs of remotely entangled qubits. Even though the currently achieved degree of control of $^{13}$C spins might not be sufficient for large-scale devices, the two schemes are compatible in principle. One requirement is the correction of unconditional phases acquired by unaddressed nuclear spins during a decoupling sequence.
Product states, unentangled tensor products of single qubits, are a ubiquitous ansatz in quantum computation, including for state-of-the-art Hamiltonian approximation algorithms. A natural question is whether we should expect to efficiently solve product state problems on any interesting families of Hamiltonians. We completely classify the complexity of finding minimum-energy product states for Hamiltonians defined by any fixed set of allowed 2-qubit interactions. Our results follow a line of work classifying the complexity of solving Hamiltonian problems and classical constraint satisfaction problems based on the allowed constraints. We prove that estimating the minimum energy of a product state is in P if and only if all allowed interactions are 1-local, and NP-complete otherwise. Equivalently, any family of non-trivial two-body interactions generates Hamiltonians with NP-complete product-state problems. Our hardness constructions only require coupling strengths of constant magnitude. A crucial component of our proofs is a collection of hardness results for a new variant of the Vector Max-Cut problem, which should be of independent interest. Our definition involves sums of distances rather than squared distances and allows linear stretches. A corollary of our classification is a new proof that optimizing product states in the Quantum Max-Cut model (the quantum Heisenberg model) is NP-complete.
Genuine multiparty entangled probes lead to minimum error in estimating the phase corresponding to the generator of a unitary encoder, if the generator comprises of only local terms. We ask if genuine multiparty entanglement remains indispensable in attaining the best metrological precision if we employ higher-order interaction terms in the generator. We identify a dichotomy in the answer. Specifically, we find that generators having odd-body interactions necessarily require genuine multipartite entanglement in probes to attain the best metrological precision, but the situation is opposite in the case of generators with even-body interactions. The optimal probes corresponding to generators that contain even-body interaction terms, may be entangled, but certainly not so in all bipartitions, and particularly, for certain ranges of the number of parties including the large number limit, the optimal state is asymmetric. Asymmetry, which therefore is a resource in this scenario rather than genuine multiparty entanglement, refers to the disparity between states of local parts of the global system. Additionally, we provide an upper bound on the number of parties up to which one can always obtain an asymmetric product state that gives the best metrological precision for even-body interactions. En route, we find the quantum Fisher information in closed form for two- and three-body interactions for an arbitrary number of parties, and prove, in both the cases, that when the number of parties is large, the metrological precision is non-optimal if we consider only symmetric product probes. Further, we identify conditions on the local component of the generator, for which these results hold for arbitrary local dimensions.
The common feature of several experiments, performed and proposed, in which particles provide misleading evidence about where they have been, is identified and discussed. It is argued that the experimental results provide a consistent picture when interference amplification effects are taken into account.
We investigate the impact of quantum vibronic coupling on the electronic properties of solid-state spin defects using stochastic methods and first principles molecular dynamics with a quantum thermostat. Focusing on the negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond as an exemplary case, we found a significant dynamic Jahn-Teller splitting of the doubly degenerate single-particle levels within the diamond's band gap, even at 0 K, with a magnitude exceeding 180 meV. This pronounced splitting leads to substantial renormalizations of these levels and subsequently, of the vertical excitation energies of the doubly degenerate singlet and triplet excited states. Our findings underscore the pressing need to incorporate quantum vibronic effects in first-principles calculations, particularly when comparing computed vertical excitation energies with experimental data. Our study also reveals the efficiency of stochastic thermal line sampling for studying phonon renormalizations of solid-state spin defects.
The optical properties of a fixed atom are well-known and investigated. For example, the extraordinarily large cross section of a single atom as seen by a resonant photon is essential for quantum optical applications. Mechanical effects associated with light scattering are also well-studied, forming the basis of laser cooling and trapping, for example. Despite this, there is one fundamental problem that surprisingly has not been extensively studied, yet is relevant to a number of emerging quantum optics experiments. In these experiments, the ground state of the atom experiences a tight optical trap formed by far-off-resonant light, to facilitate efficient interactions with near-resonant light. However, the excited state might experience a different potential, or even be anti-trapped. Here, we systematically analyze the effects of unequal trapping on near-resonant atom-light interactions. In particular, we identify regimes where such trapping can lead to significant excess heating, and a reduction of total and elastic scattering cross sections associated with a decreased atom-photon interaction efficiency. Understanding these effects can be valuable for optimizing quantum optics platforms where efficient atom-light interactions on resonance are desired, but achieving equal trapping is not feasible.
We explore the problem of covertly communicating qubits over the lossy thermal-noise bosonic channel, which is a quantum-mechanical model of many practical channels, including optical. Covert communication ensures that an adversary is unable to detect the presence of transmissions, which are concealed in channel noise. We investigate an achievable lower bound on quantum covert communication using photonic dual-rail qubits. This encoding has practical significance, as it has been proposed for long-range repeater-based quantum communication over optical channels.
Sampling a diverse set of high-quality solutions for hard optimization problems is of great practical relevance in many scientific disciplines and applications, such as artificial intelligence and operations research. One of the main open problems is the lack of ergodicity, or mode collapse, for typical stochastic solvers based on Monte Carlo techniques leading to poor generalization or lack of robustness to uncertainties. Currently, there is no universal metric to quantify such performance deficiencies across various solvers. Here, we introduce a new diversity measure for quantifying the number of independent approximate solutions for NP-hard optimization problems. Among others, it allows benchmarking solver performance by a required time-to-diversity (TTD), a generalization of often used time-to-solution (TTS). We illustrate this metric by comparing the sampling power of various quantum annealing strategies. In particular, we show that the inhomogeneous quantum annealing schedules can redistribute and suppress the emergence of topological defects by controlling space-time separated critical fronts, leading to an advantage over standard quantum annealing schedules with respect to both TTS and TTD for finding rare solutions. Using path-integral Monte Carlo simulations for up to 1600 qubits, we demonstrate that nonequilibrium driving of quantum fluctuations, guided by efficient approximate tensor network contractions, can significantly reduce the fraction of hard instances for random frustrated 2D spin-glasses with local fields. Specifically, we observe that by creating a class of algorithmic quantum phase transitions, the diversity of solutions can be enhanced by up to 40% with the fraction of hard-to-sample instances reducing by more than 25%.
Device-independent quantum key distribution (DIQKD) aims to achieve secure key distribution with only minimal assumptions, by basing its security on the violation of Bell inequalities. While this offers strong security guarantees, it comes at the cost of being challenging to implement experimentally. In this thesis, we present security proofs for several techniques that help to improve the keyrates and noise tolerance of DIQKD, such as noisy preprocessing, random key measurements, and advantage distillation. We also show finite-size security proofs for some protocols based on combining several of these techniques. These results and proof techniques should be useful for further development of DIQKD protocols.
Quantum electronics is significantly involved in the development of the field of quantum information processing. In this domain, the growth of Blind Quantum Source Separation and Blind Quantum Process Tomography has led, within the formalism of the Hilbert space, to the introduction of the concept of a Random-Coefficient Pure State, or RCPS: the coefficients of its development in the chosen basis are random variables. This paper first describes an experimental situation necessitating its introduction. While the von Neumann approach to a statistical mixture considers statistical properties of an observable, in the presence of an RCPS one has to manipulate statistical properties of probabilities of measurement outcomes, these probabilities then being themselves random variables. It is recalled that, in the presence of a von Neumann statistical mixture, the consistency of the density operator \r{ho} formalism is based on a postulate. The interest of the RCPS concept is presented in the simple case of a spin 1/2, through two instances. The most frequent use of the \r{ho} formalism by users of quantum mechanics is a motivation for establishing some links between a given RCPS and the language of the density operator formalism, while keeping in mind that the situation described by an RCPS is different from the one which has led to the introduction of \r{ho}. It is established that the Landau - Feynman use of \r{ho} is mobilized in a situation differing from both the von Neumann statistical mixture and the RCPS. It is shown that the use of the higher-order moments of a well-chosen random variable helps solving a problem already identified by Zeh in 1970.
Whether a given target state can be prepared by starting with a simple product state and acting with a finite-depth quantum circuit is a key question in condensed matter physics and quantum information science. It underpins classifications of topological phases, as well as the understanding of topological quantum codes, and has obvious relevance for device implementations. Traditionally, this question assumes that the quantum circuit is made up of unitary gates that are geometrically local. Inspired by the advent of noisy intermediate-scale quantum devices, we reconsider this question with $k$-local gates, i.e. gates that act on no more than $k$ degrees of freedom, but are not restricted to be geometrically local. First, we construct explicit finite-depth circuits of symmetric $k$-local gates which create symmetry-protected topological (SPT) states from an initial a product state. Our construction applies both to SPT states protected by global symmetries and subsystem symmetries, but not to those with higher-form symmetries, which we conjecture remain nontrivial. Next, we show how to implement arbitrary translationally invariant quantum cellular automata (QCA) in any dimension using finite-depth circuits of $k$-local gates. These results imply that the topological classifications of SPT phases and QCA both collapse to a single trivial phase in the presence of $k$-local interactions. We furthermore argue that SPT phases are fragile to generic $k$-local symmetric perturbations. We conclude by discussing the implications for other phases, such as fracton phases, and surveying future directions. Our analysis opens a new experimentally motivated conceptual direction examining the stability of phases and the feasibility of state preparation without the assumption of geometric locality.
NP-hard problems are not believed to be exactly solvable through general polynomial time algorithms. Hybrid quantum-classical algorithms to address such combinatorial problems have been of great interest in the past few years. Such algorithms are heuristic in nature and aim to obtain an approximate solution. Significant improvements in computational time and/or the ability to treat large problems are some of the principal promises of quantum computing in this regard. The hardware, however, is still in its infancy and the current Noisy Intermediate Scale Quantum (NISQ) computers are not able to optimize industrially relevant problems. Moreover, the storage of qubits and introduction of entanglement require extreme physical conditions. An issue with quantum optimization algorithms such as QAOA is that they scale linearly with problem size. In this paper, we build upon a proprietary methodology which scales logarithmically with problem size - opening an avenue for treating optimization problems of unprecedented scale on gate-based quantum computers. In order to test the performance of the algorithm, we first find a way to apply it to a handful of NP-hard problems: Maximum Cut, Minimum Partition, Maximum Clique, Maximum Weighted Independent Set. Subsequently, these algorithms are tested on a quantum simulator with graph sizes of over a hundred nodes and on a real quantum computer up to graph sizes of 256. To our knowledge, these constitute the largest realistic combinatorial optimization problems ever run on a NISQ device, overcoming previous problem sizes by almost tenfold.
Randomness extraction is a key problem in cryptography and theoretical computer science. With the recent rapid development of quantum cryptography, quantum-proof randomness extraction has also been widely studied, addressing the security issues in the presence of a quantum adversary. In contrast with conventional quantum-proof randomness extractors characterizing the input raw data as min-entropy sources, we find that the input raw data generated by a large class of trusted-device quantum random number generators can be characterized as the so-called reverse block source. This fact enables us to design improved extractors. Specifically, we propose two novel quantum-proof randomness extractors for reverse block sources that realize real-time block-wise extraction. In comparison with the general min-entropy randomness extractors, our designs achieve a significantly higher extraction speed and a longer output data length with the same seed length. In addition, they enjoy the property of online algorithms, which process the raw data on the fly without waiting for the entire input raw data to be available. These features make our design an adequate choice for the real-time post-processing of practical quantum random number generators. Applying our extractors to the raw data generated by a widely used quantum random number generator, we achieve a simulated extraction speed as high as $300$ Gbps.
We present an experimental proposal for the rapid preparation of the center of mass of a levitated particle in a macroscopic quantum state, that is a state delocalized over a length scale much larger than its zero-point motion and that has no classical analog. This state is prepared by letting the particle evolve in a static double-well potential after a sudden switchoff of the harmonic trap, following initial center-of-mass cooling to a sufficiently pure quantum state. We provide a thorough analysis of the noise and decoherence that is relevant to current experiments with levitated nano- and microparticles. In this context, we highlight the possibility of using two particles, one evolving in each potential well, to mitigate the impact of collective sources of noise and decoherence. The generality and scalability of our proposal make it suitable for implementation with a wide range of systems, including single atoms, ions, and Bose-Einstein condensates. Our results have the potential to enable the generation of macroscopic quantum states at unprecedented scales of length and mass, thereby paving the way for experimental exploration of the gravitational field generated by a source mass in a delocalized quantum state.
In this proceedings we present Qibocal, an open-source software package for calibration and characterization of quantum processing units (QPUs) based on the Qibo framework. Qibocal is specifically designed for self-hosted QPUs and provides the groundwork to easily develop, deploy and distribute characterization and calibration routines for all levels of hardware abstraction. Qibocal is based on a modular QPU platform agnostic approach and it provides a general purpose toolkit for superconducting qubits with the possibility of extensions to other quantum technologies. After motivating the need for such a module, we explain the program's flow and show examples of actual use for QPU calibration. We also showcase additional features provided by the library including automatic report generation and live plotting.
There has been debate around applicability of exceptional points (EP) for quantum sensing. To resolve this, we first explore how to experimentally implement the nonhermitian non-diagonalizable Hamiltonians, that exhibit EPs, in quantum computers which run on unitary gates. We propose to use an ancilla-based method in this regard. Next, we show how such Hamiltonians can be used for parameter estimation using quantum computers and analyze its performance in terms of the Quantum Fisher Information ($QFI$) at EPs, both without noise and in presence of noise. It is well known that $QFI$ of a parameter to be estimated is inversely related to the variance of the parameter by the quantum Cramer-Rao bound. Therefore the divergence of the $QFI$ at EPs promise sensing advantages. We experimentally demonstrate in a cloud quantum architecture and theoretically show, using Puiseux series, that the $QFI$ indeed diverges in such EP systems which were earlier considered to be non-divergent.
The quantization of the two terminal conductance in 2D topological systems is justified by the Landauer-Buttiker (LB) theory that assumes perfect point contacts between the leads and the sample. We examine this assumption in a microscopic model of a Chern insulator connected to leads, using the nonequilibrium Greens function formalism. We find that the currents are localized both in the leads and in the insulator and enter and exit the insulator only near the corners. The contact details do not matter and a perfect point contact is emergent, thus justifying the LB theory. The quantized two-terminal conductance shows interesting finite-size effects and dependence on system-reservoir coupling.
We study the competing effects of collective generalized measurements and interaction-induced scrambling in the dynamics of an ensemble of spin-1/2 particles at the level of quantum trajectories. This setup can be considered as analogous to the one leading to measurement-induced transitions in quantum circuits. We show that the interplay between collective unitary dynamics and measurements leads to three regimes of the average Quantum Fisher Information (QFI), which is a witness of multipartite entanglement, as a function of the monitoring strength. While both weak and strong measurements lead to extensive QFI density (i.e., individual quantum trajectories yield states displaying Heisenberg scaling), an intermediate regime of classical-like states emerges for all system sizes where the measurement effectively competes with the scrambling dynamics and precludes the development of quantum correlations, leading to sub-Heisenberg-limited states. We characterize these regimes and the crossovers between them using numerical and analytical tools, and discuss the connections between our findings, entanglement phases in monitored many-body systems, and the quantum-to-classical transition.
Since its advent in 2011, boson-sampling has been a preferred candidate for demonstrating quantum advantage because of its simplicity and near-term requirements compared to other quantum algorithms. We propose to use a variant, called coarse-grained boson-sampling (CGBS), as a quantum Proof-of-Work (PoW) scheme for blockchain consensus. The users perform boson-sampling using input states that depend on the current block information, and commit their samples to the network. Afterward, CGBS strategies are determined which can be used to both validate samples and to reward successful miners. By combining rewards to miners committing honest samples together with penalties to miners committing dishonest samples, a Nash equilibrium is found that incentivizes honest nodes. The scheme works for both Fock state boson sampling and Gaussian boson sampling and provides dramatic speedup and energy savings relative to computation by classical hardware.
The variational quantum algorithms are crucial for the application of NISQ computers. Such algorithms require short quantum circuits, which are more amenable to implementation on near-term hardware, and many such methods have been developed. One of particular interest is the so-called variational quantum state diagonalization method, which constitutes an important algorithmic subroutine and can be used directly to work with data encoded in quantum states. In particular, it can be applied to discern the features of quantum states, such as entanglement properties of a system, or in quantum machine learning algorithms. In this work, we tackle the problem of designing a very shallow quantum circuit, required in the quantum state diagonalization task, by utilizing reinforcement learning (RL). We use a novel encoding method for the RL-state, a dense reward function, and an $\epsilon$-greedy policy to achieve this. We demonstrate that the circuits proposed by the reinforcement learning methods are shallower than the standard variational quantum state diagonalization algorithm and thus can be used in situations where hardware capabilities limit the depth of quantum circuits. The methods we propose in the paper can be readily adapted to address a wide range of variational quantum algorithms.
A restricted form of Landauer's Principle, independent of computational considerations, is shown to hold for thermal systems by reference to the joint entropy associated with conjugate observables. It is shown that the source of the compensating entropy for irreversible physical processes is due to the ontological uncertainty attending values of such mutually incompatible observables, rather than due to epistemic uncertainty as traditionally assumed in the information-theoretic approach. In particular, it is explicitly shown that erasure of logical (epistemic) information via reset operations is not equivalent to erasure of thermodynamic entropy, so that the traditional, information-theoretic form of Landauer's Principle is not supported by the physics. A further implication of the analysis is that, in principle, there can be no Maxwell's Demon in the real world.
We measure and model the combined relaxation of a qubit, a.k.a. central spin, coupled to a discrete two-level system (TLS) environment. If the TLSs are much longer lived than the qubit, non-exponential relaxation and non-Poissonian quantum jumps can be observed. In the limit of large numbers of TLSs the relaxation is likely to follow a power law, which we confirm with measurements on a superconducting fluxonium qubit. Moreover, the observed relaxation and quantum jump statistics are described by the Solomon equations, for which we present a derivation starting from the general Lindblad equation for an arbitrary number of TLSs. We also show how to reproduce the non-Poissonian quantum jump statistics using a diffusive stochastic Schr\"odinger equation. The fact that the measured quantum jump statistics can be reproduced by the Solomon equations, which ignore the quantum measurement back action, hints at a quantum-to-classical transition.
Quantum Key Distribution is a key distribution method that uses the qubits to safely distribute one-time use encryption keys between two or more authorised participants in a way that ensures the identification of any eavesdropper. In this paper, we have done a comparison between the BB84 and B92 protocols and BBM92 and E91 entanglement based protocols for satellite based uplink and downlink in low Earth orbit. The expressions for the quantum bit error rate and the keyrate are given for all four protocols. The results indicate that, when compared to the B92 protocol, the BB84 protocol guarantees the distribution of a higher secure keyrate for a specific distance. Similarly, it is observed that BBM92 ensures higher keyrate in comparison with E91 protocol.
The time-evolving matrix product operators (TEMPO) method, which makes full use of the Feynman-Vernon influence functional, is the state-of-the-art tensor network method for bosonic impurity problems. However, for fermionic impurity problems the Grassmann path integral prohibits application of this method. We develop Grassmann time-evolving matrix product operators, a full fermionic analog of TEMPO, that can directly manipulates Grassmann path integrals with similar numerical cost as the bosonic counterpart. We further propose a zipup algorithm to compute expectation values on the fly without explicitly building a single large augmented density tensor, which boosts our efficiency on top of the vanilla TEMPO. Our method has a favorable complexity scaling over existing tensor network methods, and we demonstrate its performance on the non-equilibrium dynamics of the single impurity Anderson models. Our method solves the long standing problem of turning Grassmann path integrals into efficient numerical algorithms, which could significantly change the application landscape of tensor network based impurity solvers, and could also be applied for broader problems in open quantum physics and condensed matter physics.
The transmission of strong laser light in nonlinear optical materials can generate output photons sources that carry quantum entanglement in multiple degrees of freedom, making this process a fundamentally important tool in optical quantum technology. However, the availability of efficient optical crystals for entangled light generation is severely limited in terms of diversity, thus reducing the prospects for the implementation of next-generation protocols in quantum sensing, communication and computing. To overcome this, we developed and implemented a multi-scale first-principles modeling technique for the computational discovery of novel nonlinear optical devices based on metal-organic framework (MOF) materials that can efficiently generate entangled light via spontaneous parametric down-conversion(SPDC). Using collinear degenerate type-I SPDC as a case study, we computationally screen a database of 114,373 synthesized MOF materials to establish correlations between the structure and chemical composition of MOFs with the brightness and coherence properties of entangled photon pairs. We identify a subset of 49 non-centrosymmetric mono-ligand MOF crystals with high chemical and optical stability that produce entangled photon pairs with intrinsic $G^{(2)}$ correlation times $\tau_c\sim 10-30$ fs and pair generation rates in the range $10^4-10^{8}$ s$^{-1}$mW$^{-1}$mm$^{-1}$ at 1064 nm. Conditions for optimal type-I phase matching are given for each MOF and relationships between pair brightness, crystal band gap and optical birefringence are discussed. Correlations between the optical properties of crystals and their constituent molecular ligands are also given. Our work paves the way for the computational design of MOF-based devices for optical quantum technology.
Here we investigate the role of quantum interference in the quantum homogenizer, whose convergence properties model a thermalization process. In the original quantum homogenizer protocol, a system qubit converges to the state of identical reservoir qubits through partial-swap interactions, that allow interference between reservoir qubits. We design an alternative, incoherent quantum homogenizer, where each system-reservoir interaction is moderated by a control qubit using a controlled-swap interaction. We show that our incoherent homogenizer satisfies the essential conditions for homogenization, being able to transform a qubit from any state to any other state to arbitrary accuracy, with negligible impact on the reservoir qubits' states. Our results show that the convergence properties of homogenization machines that are important for modelling thermalization are not dependent on coherence between qubits in the homogenization protocol. We then derive bounds on the resources required to re-use the homogenizers for performing state transformations. This demonstrates that both homogenizers are universal for any number of homogenizations, for an increased resource cost.
Quantum key distribution provides secure keys with information-theoretic security ensured by the principle of quantum mechanics. The continuous-variable version of quantum key distribution using coherent states offers the advantages of its compatibility with telecom industry, e.g., using commercial laser and homodyne detector, is now going through a booming period. In this review article, we describe the principle of continuous-variable quantum key distribution system, focus on protocols based on coherent states, whose systems are gradually moving from proof-of-principle lab demonstrations to in-field implementations and technological prototypes. We start by reviewing the theoretical protocols and the current security status of these protocols. Then, we discuss the system structure, the key module, and the mainstream system implementations. The advanced progress for future applications are discussed, including the digital techniques, system on chip and point-to-multipoint system. Finally, we discuss the practical security of the system and conclude with promising perspectives in this research field.
We analyze the scattering of light from dipolar emitters whose disordered positions exhibit correlations induced by static, long-range dipole-dipole interactions. The quantum-mechanical position correlations are calculated for zero temperature bosonic atoms or molecules using variational and diffusion quantum Monte Carlo methods. For stationary atoms in dense ensembles in the limit of low light intensity, the simulations yield solutions for the optical responses to all orders of position correlation functions that involve electronic ground and excited states. We calculate how coherent and incoherent scattering, collective linewidths, line shifts, and eigenmodes, and disorder-induced excitation localization are influenced by the static interactions and the density. We find that dominantly repulsive static interactions in strongly confined oblate and prolate traps introduce short-range ordering among the dipoles which curtails large fluctuations in the light-mediated resonant dipole-dipole interactions. This typically results in an increase in coherent reflection and optical depth, accompanied by reduced incoherent scattering. The presence of static dipolar interactions permits the highly selective excitation of subradiant eigenmodes in dense clouds. This effect becomes even more pronounced in a prolate trap, where the resonances narrow below the natural linewidth. When the static dipolar interactions affect the optical transition frequencies, the ensemble exhibits inhomogeneous broadening due to the nonuniformly experienced static dipolar interactions that suppress cooperative effects, but we argue that, e.g., for Dy atoms such inhomogeneous broadening is negligible.
We study the average and the standard deviation of the entanglement entropy of highly excited eigenstates of the integrable interacting spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ XYZ chain away from and at special lines with $U(1)$ symmetry and supersymmetry. We universally find that the average eigenstate entanglement entropy exhibits a volume-law coefficient that is smaller than that of quantum-chaotic interacting models. At the supersymmetric point, we resolve the effect that degeneracies have on the computed averages. We further find that the normalized standard deviation of the eigenstate entanglement entropy decays polynomially with increasing system size, which we contrast to the exponential decay in quantum-chaotic interacting models. Our results provide state-of-the art numerical evidence that integrability in spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ chains reduces the average, and increases the standard deviation, of the entanglement entropy of highly excited energy eigenstates when compared to those in quantum-chaotic interacting models.
We generalize the quantum Arimoto-Blahut algorithm by Ramakrishnan et al. (IEEE Trans. IT, 67, 946 (2021)) to a function defined over a set of density matrices with linear constraints so that our algorithm can be applied to optimizations of quantum operations. This algorithm has wider applicability. Hence, we apply our algorithm to the quantum information bottleneck with three quantum systems, which can be used for quantum learning. We numerically compare our obtained algorithm with the existing algorithm by Grimsmo and Still (Phys. Rev. A, 94, 012338 (2016)). Our numerical analysis shows that our algorithm is better than their algorithm.
Generating entanglement between distributed network nodes is a prerequisite for the quantum internet. Entanglement distribution protocols based on high-dimensional photonic qudits enable the simultaneous generation of multiple entangled pairs, which can significantly reduce the required coherence time of the qubit registers. However, current schemes require fast optical switching, which is experimentally challenging. In addition, the higher degree of error correlation between the generated entangled pairs in qudit protocols compared to qubit protocols has not been studied in detail. We propose a qudit-mediated entangling protocol that completely circumvents the need for optical switches, making it more accessible for current experimental systems. Furthermore, we quantify the amount of error correlation between the simultaneously generated entangled pairs and analyze the effect on entanglement purification algorithms and teleportation-based quantum error correction. We find that optimized purification schemes can efficiently correct the correlated errors, while the quantum error correction codes studied here perform worse than for uncorrelated error models.
Deep metric learning has recently shown extremely promising results in the classical data domain, creating well-separated feature spaces. This idea was also adapted to quantum computers via Quantum Metric Learning(QMeL). QMeL consists of a 2 step process with a classical model to compress the data to fit into the limited number of qubits, then train a Parameterized Quantum Circuit(PQC) to create better separation in Hilbert Space. However, on Noisy Intermediate Scale Quantum (NISQ) devices. QMeL solutions result in high circuit width and depth, both of which limit scalability. We propose Quantum Polar Metric Learning (QPMeL) that uses a classical model to learn the parameters of the polar form of a qubit. We then utilize a shallow PQC with $R_y$ and $R_z$ gates to create the state and a trainable layer of $ZZ(\theta)$-gates to learn entanglement. The circuit also computes fidelity via a SWAP Test for our proposed Fidelity Triplet Loss function, used to train both classical and quantum components. When compared to QMeL approaches, QPMeL achieves 3X better multi-class separation, while using only 1/2 the number of gates and depth. We also demonstrate that QPMeL outperforms classical networks with similar configurations, presenting a promising avenue for future research on fully classical models with quantum loss functions.
Attosecond physics enables the study of ultrafast coherent electron dynamics in matter upon photoexcitation and photoionization, revealing spectacular effects such as hole migration and coherent Auger dynamics in molecules. In the photoionization scenario, there has been a strong focus on probing the physical manifestations of the internal quantum coherence within the individual parent ion and photoelectron systems. However, quantum correlations between these two subsystems emerging from the attosecond photoionization event have thus far remained much more elusive. In this work, we design theoretically and model numerically a direct probe of quantum entanglement in attosecond photoionization in the form of a Bell test. We simulate from first principles a Bell test protocol for the case of noble gas atoms photoionized by ultrashort, circularly polarized infrared laser pulses in the strong-field regime predicting robust violation of the Bell inequality. This theoretical result paves the way to the direct observation of entanglement in the context of ultrafast photoionization of many-electron systems. Our work provides a different perspective on attosecond physics directed towards the detection of quantum correlations between systems born during attosecond photoionization and unravelling the signatures of entanglement in the ultrafast coherent molecular dynamics, including in the chemical decomposition pathways of molecular ions.
Manipulating Hamiltonians governing physical systems has found a broad range of applications, from quantum chemistry to semiconductor design. In this work, we provide a new way of manipulating Hamiltonians, by transforming their eigenvalues while keeping their eigenstates unchanged. We develop a universal algorithm that deterministically implements any desired (suitably differentiable) function on the eigenvalues of any unknown Hamiltonian, whose positive-time and negative-time dynamics are given as a black box. Our algorithm uses correlated randomness to efficiently combine two subroutines -- namely controlization and Fourier series simulation -- exemplifying a general compilation procedure that we develop. The runtime of our algorithm is significantly reduced using compilation compared to a na\"ive concatenation of the subroutines and outperforms similar methods based on the quantum singular value transformation. Finally, to circumvent the need for the negative-time dynamics, we present a universal algorithm to transform positive-time to negative-time dynamics without adding an auxiliary qubit, which could also be of standalone interest.
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.
Quantum optimization algorithms (QOAs) have the potential to fundamentally transform the application of optimization methods in decision making. For certain classes of optimization problems, it is widely believed that QOA enables significant run-time performance benefits over current state-of-the-art solutions. With the latest progress on building quantum computers entering the industrialization stage, quantum-based optimization algorithms have become more relevant. The recent extreme increase in the number of publications in the field of QOA demonstrates the growing importance of the topic in both the academia and the industry. The objectives of this paper are as follows: (1) First, we provide insight into the main techniques of quantum-based optimization algorithms for decision making. (2) We describe and compare the two basic classes of adiabatic and gate-based optimization algorithms and argue their potentials and limitations. (3) Herein, we also investigate the key operations research application areas that are expected to be considerably impacted by the use of QOA in decision making in the future. (4) Finally, current implications arising from the future use of QOA from an operations research perspective are discussed.
Efficient generation of entangled photon pairs at telecom wavelengths is a key ingredient for long-range quantum networks. While embedding semiconductor quantum dots into hybrid circular Bragg gratings has proven effective, it conflicts with $p$-$i$-$n$ diode heterostructures which offer superior coherence. We propose and analyze hybrid circular photonic crystal gratings, incorporating air holes to facilitate charge carrier transport without compromising optical properties. Through numerical simulations, a broad cavity mode with a Purcell factor of 23 enhancing both exciton and biexciton transitions, and exceptional collection efficiency of 92.4% into an objective with numerical aperture of 0.7 are achieved. Furthermore, our design demonstrates direct coupling efficiency over 90% into a single-mode fiber over the entire telecom C-band. The hybrid circular photonic crystal grating thereby emerges as a promising solution for the efficient generation of highly coherent, polarization-entangled photon pairs.
The long-range electrostatic interactions between molecules depend strongly on their relative orientation, which manifests as a rotational state dependence. Interactions between molecules in the same rotational quantum state are well-known attractive rotational van der Waals interactions. Interactions in rotational states that differ by one quantum show resonant dipole-dipole interactions. We show that where molecules are in rotational states that differ by more than one quantum, they exhibit repulsive van der Waals interactions. At temperatures below a millikelvin, this effect can reduce collisional loss by multiple orders of magnitude. These repulsive interactions lead to applications in quantum simulation and impurity physics with ultracold polar molecules.
We propose to repeatedly load laser-cooled molecules into optical tweezers, and transfer them to storage states that are rotationally excited by two additional quanta. Collisional loss of molecules in these storage states is suppressed, and a dipolar blockade prevents the accumulation of more than one molecule. Applying three cycles loads tweezers with single molecules at an 80~\% success rate, limited by residual collisional loss. This improved loading efficiency reduces the time needed for rearrangement of tweezer arrays, which would otherwise limit the scalability of neutral molecule quantum computers.